you are absolutely right, china will one day eclipse the developed world in terms of consumption and economic prowess, but that wasnt the point i was making.
i was addressing the point that many people attribute china's potential to everything but its ridiculously low wages. even its lead in alternative energy fields is only feasible because of its low wages.
i think people take it for granted that china will pull its population into the middle class,.... the problem with that is a question of it whether or not china herself can handle the process never mind actually getting there.
its as you said, if china doesnt regulate her own growth then the market will do it for her,.... in the same way that the crude oil markets are currently playing chicken with the health of the global economy.
dont get me wrong, china has every right to rise as fast as she wants, and everyone in china has a right to a two car garage and a white picket fence and credit up the wazoo, but the chinese themselves know that their own growth is their own worst enemy which is why they themselves are trying to tame it. they know theyre headed in the same direction everyone else went, and they know they cant stop it, but they are trying to slow it down until they find some alternative, if they ever do.
if china stops becoming cost effective, then investments will simply go else where, to the new china, which many are thinking is going to be africa, again for the same reasons they went to china,... population and low wage structure.
i think we'll start seeing things labeled "made in zimbabwe" in the next 20 years.
