K2mbs Loc: Southern Tier of, NY

After traveling to China, and marrying my Chinese wife I have seen several of Chinas cities first hand seeing the booming growth of their cities.
I am embarrassed to pretend she has come to a wonderful country.
They have so many high rise cranes working feverishly, and we have virtually none.
Chinas cities have such amazing technological attractions, beauty, and are so vibrant. Really China is amazing right now.
I have since noticed, and shown my wife virtually everything we purchase here is made in China.
We have bought everything from Christmas ornaments, to kitchenware, to even Broyhill furniture with "made in China" labels on them.
Can anyone explain how the hell we are still the # one economy in the World with projections to still be for the next few years?
Given the fact that 1 in 5 people on Earth are Chinese....
I honestly don't understand how it is possible given the apparent fact that we produce almost nothing (apparently) here.
How are we even in their league?....let alone still considered a stronger economy than theirs.
What is our advantage?
Obviously we have something, but I can't figure out what it is....
I don't need bullish*t. I need to know what we are doing to beat them economically still?

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Here's an answer for you.

http://www.worldsrichestcountries.com/top_us_exports.html

magicray Loc: Tampa Bay, Florida

We are importing oil and exporting oil. Does that make any sense?

TucsonCoyote Loc: Tucson AZ

Very informative, thanks Steve!
No BS there !:)

TucsonCoyote Loc: Tucson AZ

That does seem odd but somebody is making a lot of money, they just haven't bothered to let me in on the deal !

JR1 Loc: Tavistock, Devon, UK

India and China will overtake the US in 2015 I believe, my opinion

historian65 Loc: Holtville, Callifornia

Of course China's cities look spiffy because they are starting from scratch in many cases where as we have been doing this for a century or so. We don't need to build like they do as our cities are already established and in some cases are trashed from age (Detroit) and need to be re-habilitated. Likewise with our highways, they were begun under President Eisenhower in the 50's to facilitate transport of troops if that was necessary. Check China out in 100 years to see how their cities look.

sarge69 Loc: Ft Myers, FL

I guess U.S. Oil Companies can make more profit by taking U.S. Oil and selling it overseas while we pay high prices for oil we import from the middle east.

Nice going money hungry bas-a-tards.

Sarge69

K2mbs Loc: Southern Tier of, NY

Thanks Steve, very interesting, but all the #'s crunching leaves me just as confused..HAhHAhA

I see that China exports $1.89 trillion
America only $1.48 trillion

China has grown 37% since 2008, India 30%, and USA 5.5%
What I am seeing doesn't show us as a leader, but a 'has been' more-like.

Drigby1 Loc: American Fork, UT

I guess we are the export experts.

TucsonCoyote Loc: Tucson AZ

Would seem you are confused yes!
Growth in % is one thing ......37% up from nothing = a little.
5.5% growth when you are already the biggest = a shit load. :)
Also if you read up on China or just watch the news sometimes you will see it is not all rosie and cool.....for one, air pollution is terrible in the large cities!
Then they build totally empty cities where people are supposed to flock to....but it's not happening!
Anyway carry on!

SteveR Loc: Michigan

I found the types of items that we export interesting. We may find all the little trinkets that we buy "made in China." But those aren't the kinds of things that we export.

Ambrose Loc: North America

I somewhat agree with JR1 (that the China/India economy will overtake the US market), but I would say China alone will be more like 2020.

The Chinese economy is finally "flicking the switch" on allowing it's own citizenship to build a stronger middle class with better wages and a rapidly growing standard of living. The predictablitly of their current "5 year plan" (which predicted of the 2015 date) is in question as their growth has slowed below expectations.

Still, they'll get there. They are steady, methodical and well, just plain scary.

Buy U.S whenever you can! (No offense to the wife :))

magicray Loc: Tampa Bay, Florida

Hopefully, we are importing low and exporting high. But the way our gov't works it's probably just the opposite.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Government? This is business. And you can bet they're making money.