National Security and Federal Spending

http://www.ohiochannel.org/multimedia/programs/media.cfm?file_id=121530&program_id=88

Some of the key point in Mr. Slane's talk are:

• China views itself at the "Middle Kingdom" and historically the rest of the world comes to China
• China has 40 to 50 million people unemployed
• China plans to build 8 aircraft carriers, the U.S. has 5
• The U.S.'s chief exports to China are scrap paper and wood
• China has 2.4 trillion U.S. dollars in cash reserves
• China has 30 million cars
• China's savings rate is 51%
• China needs to change from an export dominated economy to a domestic consumption economy
• Chinese politicians are like U.S. politicians - maintaining their power is paramount
• China faces the threat of instability and implosion
• Power in the world shifted from the Atlantic to the Pacific
• China is developing an electric car
• China wants to be the largest manufacturer of electric cars
• The United States needs a national Industrial Policy

Daniel M. Slane, the speaker in the above video is an Ohioan, a renowned international businessman, a former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of "The Ohio State University" and among other prestigious appointments worked in the White House under President Gerald Ford. He has owned numerous businesses' including several in China, which makes him uniquely qualified to serve on the U.S. - China Economic and Security Commission in Washington D.C. Since the days of the Nixon presidency United States relations with China have seen great change. A visit from our Ping Pong team was major international news back then.

Our current economic and political relationship with China is complicated and huge. Matters of human rights, international trade, and the environment hold far ranging global ramifications in this relationship. Will we have the prestige, clout and negotiating leverage previously afforded us by our economic and technological edge? Could the largest economy in the world succumb to national debt that is owned and controlled by others, principally the Chinese, leaving us unable to recover because we don't make anything worth selling anymore.

I feel two immensely important factors effecting China that Mr. Slane did not discuss is first the tremendous growth of Christianity in China. Christianity has the power and is slowly changing China. Second, there has always been a sociological and other divisions between coastal China and interior China. Indeed, the growth of China's economic juggernaut has been focused on China's coast.

My fellow citizens we are at war, it is an economic war and we are falling behind China. The consequence could be instability in our nation and a loss of our national sovereignty. We are squandering our nation's blessings and the wealth we built up over two hundred years. The Lord calls upon us to be stewards of our money and we are failing.