Where debating everything under the sun is only the beginning

Of course the world sees America as the top economy

Alibaba couldn't list on Hong Kong, but New York, New York...

China produces and consumes about 60 percent of the world’s cement – the Three Gorges Dam alone required 16 million tonnes of it. To put China’s massive 21st century construction splurge and concrete consumption into perspective, Bill Gates made a mind blowing comparison.

According to his blog, between 2011 and 2013, China consumed 6.6 gigatons of concrete – that’s more than the U.S. used in the entire 20th century. Look at what the U.S. built between 1901 and 2000: all those skyscrapers, the Interstate, the Hoover Dam, the list goes on and on but all that concrete only amounted to 4.5 gigatons.

China’s poverty is, therefore, a matter of some contention and confusion. Indeed, China itself may not be as poor as its own official media seem to think. Xinhua reports incorrectly that China’s official poverty line is lower than the World Bank’s global standard of $1.25 a day. By that international standard, claims another state-backed newspaper, the country still has more than 200m poor people. In citing that depressing statistic, it echoes a speech in June by Li Keqiang, China’s premier, in which he said that “some 200 million Chinese still live below the poverty line by World Bank standards.”

This American couldn't be happier to see a couple of decades of isolationism. Our involvement in the world since WWII has been destructive. Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan did nothing good for the country. US support for Israel? 

Here's something I never understood about american politics and to a large degree, americans - it's almost always all or nothing. World police or isolationism. Spanish inquisition or no real airport security at all. Teabagger or commie bastard. With us or against us. No reaction or overreaction. Black or white, nothing in between.

Panda Express presumably is an American chain serving Chinese

We're about to see a very different world — one with "two Asias" — according to Australia's former prime minister.

In the next decade or so, China's economy is expected to surpass that of the US. (And, by some measures, it already has.)



However, even though China's increased defense spending will continue to close the gap, the US is expected remain the dominant regional and global military power.

Consequently, we will see the emergence of an "asymmetric world" in which China will become the dominant economic power, while the United States will remain the dominant military power, writes former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, in his summary report on "The Future of US-China Relations Under Xi Jinping."

The interesting thing here is that both military power and economic power inevitably lead to political power, which means that we'll see two political giants take center stage — especially in Asia, according to Rudd.