The Real China

From the BBC, a Chinese activist who investigated whether shoddy construction contributed to deaths in the 2008 Sichuan quake has been sentenced to five years in jail. Another recent story told how Saudi Arabia is threatening to behead a man for make astrological predictions about them from his home in Lebanon.

People who think that buying from China is like buying from non-union plants in Arkansas only more so should think again. Or that running trade deficits with OPEC have no consequences.

There are a lot of foreign countries that I don't mind trading with. Pretty much all in Europe and North America, most of South America. Most of the Pacific Rim. But there are others that I detest and so should all freedom loving Americans. Starting with the Chinese and including pretty much all of OPEC.

We should pressure that Chinese to revalue their currency, and we should put enough tax on gasoline to cut demand to where our petroleum imports are mostly from Canada and Mexico. We are making tyrants rich and this folly will eventually come back to haunt us.