[merrylander]

Funny thing was that when my wife was teaching in Japan they told her much the same thing, that they may have lost the shooting war but they would win the economic war. Well they as good as destroyed the Big Three, but their own economy is on the rocks now, Wonder how long the Chinese will last? Their one family one child policy is backfiring as many familes aborted the girls so that they would have boys. Not enough women to go around now. Having taught a few of their software engineers before I retired I can tell you one thing - those 'only child' types got spoiled rotten, not the sort of personality that makes wise decisions. Since they were not replacing themselves the society is aging rapidly, of course if that becomes a problem they government will simply kill them off. What Chairman Mao forgot was that greed is universal and does them as much damage as it does us - recall the poisoned infant formula - anything for profit.