Chapter 1
Wagers of the Dance
China, America, and the Interplay of Public Equity
Looking at China today, I see a whole lot of room for upward growth in Chinese industry, including power and energy, tourism and media, agriculture, infrastructure, high-tech . . . For those willing to put aside old prejudices and put in the time, the future AT&Ts, Microsofts, and General Motors are waiting to be discovered. No wonder I’m a bull when it comes to this China shop.
—Jim Rogers1
A Hierarchy of Financial Footwork
In the beginning years of the second decade of the twenty-first century, dynamic flows of financial supply and demand have been drawing China and the United States ever more closely together. The dynamism of Sino-American financing has created an array of entwined motions between the world’s two economic superpowers—countries basically on friendly terms with one another, yet often casting suspicious glances back and forth—as if they were engaged in a series of intricate dances.
Consider the capital flows driven by national account balances, for example. In this setting for financial interaction, we can imagine an opulent scene, as of a banquet held in a stately ballroom. Like someone who has eaten sparingly during a prolonged feast, China has resisted temptation to splurge its national wealth, leaving a large portion of its economic harvest untouched. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) stashes away more than half of its rapidly expanding annual gross domestic product (GDP), ...
