China, Japan And Our Economy

Did you hear the one about the argument between China and Japan? Well China and Japan both claim ownership of a small group of uninhabited islands in the South China Sea. Actually it's the sea around the islands and the oil that may be under it that's of interest to both. Anyway, Japan has been administering the islands (whatever that means) and a Chinese fishing boat ( I'll bet it was fishing) rammed into two separate Japanese coastguard boats. So Japan arrested the captain of the Chinese boat. So China stopped all Chinese tourists from going to Japan and stopped shipping all "rare earth" metals and minerals to Japan. Then China threatened to do even more to Japan if Japan didn't release the captain. Now, let's go back to these rare earths. They're metals that are very rare hence the title RARE. You need them to build hybrid cars and most electronics and in guidance systems for bombs and missiles. China controls about 93% of the world supply. So, Japan backed down and released the captain. So what's the joke? I never said there was a joke. But the joke is that Japan who used to be the second largest economy behind the U.S. is now third behind China and in this little confrontation gave up the supremacy in the Pacific Asian region and bolstered Chinese ego allowing them to exert more pressure throughout Asia and the world. How does that help us? Since China controls so much of these rare earths, what's to stop them from pushing America around? Hey. They already are, by manipulating their currency hurting our economy. Everything is interconnected in the world today. Japan may not matter in the long haul, but for the short term they pulled a Democrat. They wimped out.