The consequences of a wealthy China

[PornoDoggy]

To quote one of the greatest television shows ever*, sounds to me like you are singin' a chorus of "Gloom, despair, and agony on me ... "

Some of the things you mention are in fact problems; there's only one of them I think is complete hogwash.

But look at a little history. Race relations have improved vastly in the last 40 years, and will continue to improve - no country confronts it head on like the United States does. The drug problem? Read about the drunkenness problems from Colonial times into the 1880s. Read about the Know-Nothings, who lamented the unmanagable horde of immigrants in the 1840s (+/-). Budgets can be balanced; world perception can be changed (and if the world perception of the U.S. is so bad, why in the fuck does everybody want to come here?).

China has it's own share of minorities and ethnic tensions; it's even got a couple of provinces with Islamic majorities and borders some Islamic Republics, if I'm not mistaken. And they happen to have a Communist government, which will prevent them from ever realizing their potential.

Nope - don't see it the way you do.

Hee-Haw