re: #12 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

our own busines speople do not think far past next quarter’s bottom line

Good point. I’ve seen it argued that there’s a cultural divide between American thinking and Chinese thinking (indeed, a divide between Western and Asian thought). Basically, Americans are focused on immediate gain with no pain and set short-term goals, whereas China is focused on long-term gains, is willing to tolerate quite a good deal of pain, and tend to set goals with an eye towards the future, even a couple of generations out.

Also, Chinese culture has a very strong emphasis on cultural harmony whereas American culture puts a far greater emphasis on individualism and personal liberty.

China has endured as a civilization for 5,000 years (it’s recorded history goes back the Shang Dynasty of ~1600 BC to 1046 BC, and I should emphasize that’s China’s accurately recorded history that isn’t myth or legend, said myths and legends perhaps being memories of actual persons and events). It’s been up and it’s been down.

And it looks to me like China’s on the ascendancy again.