Soros: China has better functioning government than U.S., Murdoch Warns Of China Economic Prowess

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/11/16/soros_china_has_better_functioning_government_than_us

Posted By Joshua Keating

If nothing else, Glenn Beck probably has his top story set for tonight's show:

"There is a really remarkable, rapid shift of power and influence from the United States to China," Mr. Soros said, likening the U.S.'s decline to that of the U.K. after the Second World War.

Because global economic power is shifting, Mr. Soros said China needs to change its focus. "China has risen very rapidly by looking out for its own interests," he said. "They have now got to accept responsibility for world order and the interests of other people as well."

Mr. Soros even went so far as to say that at times China wields more power than the U.S. because of the political gridlock in Washington. "Today China has not only a more vigorous economy, but actually a better functioning government than the United States," he said, a hard statement for him to make because he spent much of his life donating to anti-communist groups in Eastern Europe.

Soros's statement is similar to the frequent "China-for-a-day" musings of columnist Tom Friedman.

On a related subject, Kay King of the Council on Foreign Relations has a new report out on the U.S. congress's impact on national security. King's critiques of congressional procedure, in particular the filibuster, won't be news to anyone who's read recent critiques of congressional dysfunction, but she makes a compelling case that because of limited public interest, congress is effectively abandoning its oversight role on national security affairs. Issues like energy, trade, and immigration are typically treated as purely domestic issues by congress, while membership on foreign affairs committees appeal only to members positioning themselves for higher office or those dependent on ethnic or business special interests.

King writes:

When Congress fails to perform, national security suffers thanks to ill-considered policies, delayed or inadequate resources, and insufficient personnel. Without congressional guidance, allies and adversaries alike devalue U.S. policies because they lack the support of the American people that is provided through their representatives in Congress.

King provides a number of ideas for reform which will hopefully be a bit more palatable to U.S. sensibilities than taking cues on good governance from Beijing.

Murdoch Warns Of China Economic Prowess

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/your_money/murdoch-warns-of-china-economic-prowess-20101116-ncx

NewsCore - The US faces an immense economic challenge from China's explosive economic growth, free trade has gotten a bad rap, and President Barack Obama will have trouble getting reelected, News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch told FOX Business Tuesday in a wide-ranging interview.

Speaking with Fox Business' Liz Claman, Murdoch also explained that the US is still in the middle of a very bad recession and defended the motives of the up-and-coming Tea Party.

"What was really scary," Murdoch said, "was when Larry Summers, the chief economic adviser of the President, said, when we look back at the end of the century, people are not going to talk about this recession, they are going to talk about the rise of China."

China, Summers pointed out in a speech earlier Monday at the Wall Street Journal's CEO Council in Washington, has doubled its standard of living in less than ten years, compared to the US where it has doubled every thirty years over the last century.

"They [China] have enormous economic power," Murdoch added. "I'm not saying they would use it to hurt people, they would use it to certainly help themselves."

Saying that China's staggering population of 1.3 billion will continue to drive the country's economy, Murdoch added that, "They [China] are not going to give up on expanding and manufacturing jobs, service jobs -- anything at all -- so they can lift the standard of living of the whole population."

The News Corp. chairman also lamented recent discourse on free trade.

"There is a lot of ignorant talk this morning about how free trade has become a dirty word with the public," Murdoch said. "If we don't have free trade, we don't have Walmart, we don't have low prices, we don't have non-inflation.

"We have got to use free trade to sell more to these developing countries like Brazil, like China, like Vietnam and I think it is happening," he added.

On the Tea Party, the political movement that helped energize Republican efforts to retake the House earlier this month, Murdoch said, "People talk about them being extremists. They're not extremists, they're moderate centrists. They simply say that we ought to have a balanced budget with a smaller government and people ought to take more responsibility for themselves and their own lives."

And as to whether Obama will be re-elected president in 2012, Murdoch said, "I don't know."

"He's talking the talk. Will he walk it -- is the big question. I think he has a real problem. I think if he does the sort of things which his commissions are suggesting, then he would be in great danger of losing his left wing base."

And as for the economy, "We're still in a very deep recession," Murdoch said.

"We have got a long way to go and there are a lot of people that are hurting. For a long time we have been living way beyond our means," he added.

"The old-fashioned thing is you used to have to save before you bought your first house," Murdoch said. "That all went by the board. That was all too easy. We have been on an enormous spending and borrowing spree, which is related right into people's lives. Now it is going to be paid for and it is going to be tough on all people, wealthy people as well as poor people."