US and China, the two superpowers

Is it time to push adolescents to learn Chinese? Probably. As much as it is hard to accept, if things continue in the direction they have taken China might go from his role of co-superpower with the US, something that seems to be happening, to become the main world leader at least in the economy field. While this could take a while and even never happen if the US were to change drastically from its current direction, people like the British economic historian Niall Ferguson who has coined the term “Chimerica” have the view that the two countries are closely joined.
The problem is that the US politicians have a hard time accepting that their number one position in many fields has if no already disappeared is very close to it. Thus the attitude of President Obama who is continuing where George W. Bush left off and complaining about China. Recently he blamed the Chinese’s monetary policy saying that it was hurting the US job market. While that goes well domestically and it might be accurate, Obama should realize that the US is borrowing a large part of the money he wants to spend in 2010 from China. Instead of complaining the US should try to learn from the Chinese. The Chinese don’t borrow like the Americans, they save. And then comes their sophisticated monetary policy. They have increased interest rates and forced commercial banks to hold large reserves. The days of cheap money are gone. In the US the approach is different with the Federal Reserve lending money at close to zero interest and the attempt to buy the recovery, never mind when to pay for it. Something also quite clever is that, with the Chinese currency pegged to the dollar, when the dollar depreciates against the euro and the yen, the yuan declines as well and that helps to increase exports to Europe and other Asian countries.
In a way, the two countries have never been more dependent in one another than today. China needs the American market and American investments and in the current economic situation Americans need the cheap imported Chinese goods.