Source: New York Times
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS — The American jobs that vanished don’t appear to be returning. The stock market is plunging. Seemingly everyone, from the guy at the corner bar to the U.S. Treasury Department, is in debt. The country’s credit rating just got knocked. Smart people on television are speaking of a looming “lost decade.”
Throughout history, for millions of people in less prosperous societies, the solution to such circumstances has been obvious: You sail away.
So could America, that great nation of immigrants, become in harder times a nation of emigrants? Could the metropolises of China one day have Americatowns?
Imagine a bustling one in the heart of Beijing. Local Chinese stream past, scratching their heads at those Americans who come just for money, never learning China’s language or customs, living in their own little world. The signs are all spelled out in Roman letters — even for local outfits like Zhongguo Jianshe Yinhang (China Construction Bank) and Hong Gao Liang (Red Sorghum, a fast food joint).
Categories: Economics, United States