。 "In the past four years, the Chinese have relied on cheap goods to occupy most of the Western world's markets, which not only caused the depression in Europe, but also stole as many as 8 million jobs from the Americans, and it's time to put an end to it all!"

At the canvassing scene in Florida, the 56th presidential candidate of the United States, Cissé, waved his fist and appealed loudly in a sonorous voice, and the supporters in the audience followed him with waving their fists and shouting loudly:

"Take back our jobs! It's time to put an end to it all! ”

Time has passed, and it is now the autumn of 2008. In this year, China successfully hosted the 29th Summer Olympic Games, and the gorgeous Olympic venues, the grand opening ceremony, and the outstanding performance of the Chinese Olympic team in the competition all showed the world an impressive China.

This year, China's foreign exchange reserves soared to $2 trillion, and the country imported more than 200 million tons of crude oil, more than 600 million tons of iron ore, and a large number of other mineral resources. At the same time, industrial products marked with the words "Made in China" have also flocked to major markets, with more than 50% of the world's household appliances, more than 40% of textiles, 40% of machine tools and other industrial equipment, as well as an equally large proportion of various household utensils, all of which are produced by Chinese workers, winning China the title of "World Factory".

It was also the same year that China's total industrial output surpassed that of the United States, which was the first time that the United States was surpassed by another country since 1894, when it surpassed Britain to become the world's largest industrial output. In fact, due to the gap in the pricing of industrial products between China and the United States, China's industrial production in physical quantities surpassed that of the United States a few years ago, and now it is only confirmed in terms of value and quantity.

Catching up with the United States is a slogan put forward at the beginning of the founding of New China. At that time, a country that had not yet completed industrialization would pale in raising such a slogan against the world's first industrial country. That's ridiculous. Nowadays, the ideal of catching up with the United States seems to have become a reality only inadvertently, but people are no longer overly excited. Because everybody knows it's just a matter of time coming.

Compared to the glory of China, the situation in the Western world is somewhat bleak. Since the financial crisis in the early 90s of the last century, Japan's economy has not improved for nearly 20 years, and the economic growth rate has been below 1% for several years. The situation in Europe is also worrying, with most EU countries with debt ratios well above the borders warned by the International Monetary Fund, and several countries are already in deep debt crises.

The U.S. economy is still a bit shiny on the surface. But savvy economists know that this glamour is built on a huge foundation of domestic and external debt. The United States runs a trade deficit every year, and its trade with China alone is a deficit of hundreds of billions of dollars a year, and it has to rely on borrowing from China to balance the deficit. Unconsciously, the United States has become the world's largest debtor, and its biggest creditor is naturally the booming China.

The domestic debt of the United States is equally dangerous. Wall Street tycoons are frantically expanding credit in order to maximize profits, and the credit bubble is blowing bigger and bigger. Every financial tycoon knows it all too well. Sooner or later, this bubble will burst, and then the entire United States will suffer one of the most terrible financial crises in history. But these tycoons don't care about this, they firmly believe that they will not be the last stick in this game of "drumming and passing flowers", after the bubble bursts, the loss is only the people and the real business, what does it have to do with the financial world?

The madness of the financial industry has brought about a depression in the real economy. It's too easy to make money in the financial markets, and who wants to bother to make that little bit of hard-earned money in a physical business? All the light industries in the United States have been transferred to developing countries represented by China, and heavy industries such as steel, shipbuilding, and machine tools have also been lost. The United States is no longer the super-industrial empire it once was able to equip the world. …,

The recession of industry has led to a rising unemployment rate, so much so that at the time of the presidential election, the issue of employment has become an important topic that candidates have to talk about. Intriguingly, when it comes to unemployment among American workers, both candidates invariably blame China for the problem.

There are always some striking similarities in the thinking of politicians. Back then, when China's economy was in trouble. The leaders then told everyone that this was due to the imperialist blockade. And now, when it is the turn of the US economy to run into trouble, US presidential candidates have adopted the same strategy, pointing the finger at China across the ocean.

The same reason does not mean that there is the same coping strategy. After scolding China, the two presidential candidates each prescribed their own prescriptions. The solution proposed by the Republican candidate is to tighten trade sanctions on Chinese goods and force the renminbi to appreciate in order to weaken the competitiveness of Chinese goods. On the other hand, Cissé, who came from the Democratic Party, has a rather strongman style, and he proposed that the United States cannot rely on trade protection to safeguard its own interests, and that the United States should actively participate in competition and use its strength to defeat China in the economic field.

"Mr. Cisse, if you are elected president, what measures do you plan to take back these jobs from the Chinese?"

The reporters standing in the audience raised the microphone and threw questions to Cissé, but in fact, these reporters were "trusts" arranged in advance by Cisse's campaign team, and their role was to constantly ask various questions and give Cisse the opportunity to fully perform. In the terminology of Chinese cross talk, Cisse is the tease in this scene, and the reporters are the tease.

"If I am elected, I will provide massive financial subsidies to the manufacturing industry and at the same time introduce a tax cut bill to Congress to revive the manufacturing industry in the United States," Cisse replied in a high-spirited manner. We in the United States not only want to lead the world in the fields of science and technology, information, and finance, but we also need to maintain our eternal advantage in manufacturing.

According to economists' predictions, China's manufacturing output will surpass that of the United States for the first time this year and become the world's first. If I am elected president, I am confident that this first time for the Chinese will become the last, and they will never have the next chance to surpass the United States! ”

Cisse's words naturally received a round of warm applause. Cicese was younger and more ambitious than his opponents, which he called the American spirit in himself. In the context of the drowsiness of the entire real economy, his positive spirit can indeed give people a bright feeling.

"Mr. Cisse, do you mean that we Americans will have to produce our own pants and socks in the future?" The reporter asked the next question appropriately, and he knew that Cisse had prepared a more brilliant narrative.

"No, these labor-intensive industries will never be the choice of the United States!" "We want to revitalize the manufacturing industry by technological innovation, and in this regard, we have an advantage that no one can match, especially far beyond the level of the Chinese." We should make use of our advantages to develop emerging industries and occupy the global market share of emerging industries. ”

"So, which emerging industries do you think are the most worth advocating?" The reporter asked.

"Clean energy!" Cisse replied without hesitation, "As global warming becomes more and more concerned, the use of clean energy will inevitably become the development trend in the next 20 years, and the United States will be at the forefront of the world in this regard." We need to vigorously develop the wind power industry and the solar industry, we want to make every wind turbine that rotates on the seashore in the world be marked with the words "Made in the United States", and we want to make every solar panel covered on the roof of the world come from the hands of hard-working and intelligent American workers. ”…,

The reporter asked: "Mr. Cisse, as far as we know, China has also launched the wind power and solar industry, does this mean that Chinese and American companies will have fierce competition in these fields in the future?" ”

With a smile on his face, Cisse replied, "Dear sir, I think your concerns are completely unnecessary. In these new areas, the advantages of technology cannot be replaced. What the Chinese are good at is only producing low-end products and relying on low prices to occupy the market. I've consulted with technical experts that U.S. companies are at least two generations ahead of China in both wind and solar power. It can be said that the Chinese are completely unqualified for dialogue with the United States in these two areas. ”

"Wow!" The applause erupted again, and the audience was infected by Cisse's optimism, convinced that China had no power to compete with the United States, and that the final victory must belong to the Americans.

Echoing Cisse's wild words, in the Hanhe Industrial Review published shortly thereafter, Ping Tuzi, who had always been known for his reputation for singing about China, published a new article saying that "China will become another rusty zone", a term in English called Rust_Belt.

In this article, Ping Tuzi lists a series of data such as China's steel production and power generation, and uses a very twisting logic to conclude that China's manufacturing advantage no longer exists. Ping Tuzi predicts that as the United States launches a plan to revitalize the manufacturing industry, China's manufacturing industry will be in trouble, a large number of factories will be forced to close, and the equipment waiting for these factories will be rusty fate.

Ping Tu Zi's macro essay has unsurprisingly been sought after by the US government and the opposition. No one remembers that a few years ago he predicted that China would collapse within a few years, and now the time of his prediction of collapse is long gone. Following the theory of China's collapse, the theory of China's rust once again appeared on the pages of the mainstream media in the United States, and the whole country fell into the longing for "China's rust". (To be continued)