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The real China threat

By ROBERT J. SAMUELSON
The Washington Post
Obsessed with rankings, Americans are bound to see the Beijing Olympics as a metaphor for a larger andSamuelson_2

more troubling question. Will China overtake the United States as the world’s biggest economy? Well, stop worrying. It almost certainly will. China’s economy is now only a fourth the size of the $14 trillion U.S. economy, but given plausible growth rates in both countries, China’s output will exceed America’s in the 2020s, projects Goldman Sachs. But this is the wrong worry. By itself, a richer China does not make America poorer. Indeed, because there are so many more Chinese than Americans, average Chinese living standards may lag behind ours indefinitely. By Goldman’s projections, average American incomes will still be twice Chinese incomes in 2050....

  • Saturday Letters to the Editor

    Poor sound quality ruins Goodwin concert
    On Aug. 9, we attended the Dick Goodwin band concert at Finlay Park, which should have been an outstanding experience, as this is an excellent band made up of very talented musicians, and the weather was ideal.

    However, the person running the sound equipment came very close to totally ruining the evening. (My guess is he either has never done a music concert before, or only does rock bands.)...

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