North Korea, China, et al . . .

I was accused of being too flip in that last post, which is funny, because I thought I wasn't flip enough . . .

See, here's the thing: North Korea is at best a side show. The big fact of life that we'll be dealing with over the next - I don't know, hundred years? certainly the decade - is China.

The Olympics were a glitzy promo, with China pulling out all the stops to put its best face forward, while a few miles from the games people were still scratching a living out of the dirt . . . but make no mistake: that face you saw is the future. China - and all of Asia - kicks our butt in many, many ways. And part of the reason is that they just plain work harder than we do.

Sucks to say, but it's the truth.

In many ways, China's development is a good thing - the place is a heck of lot less scary now than it was a decade ago. But we have to be serious about our infrastructure, our education, our investment, or we're going to find we're the third world country a decade from now.

I never thought I'd recommend a Thomas Friedman* column, but a lot of what he says here is right on:

NY Times link

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/27/opinion/27friedman.html?ex=1377576000&en=1b1efd63601e7e7a&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink.

As for North Korea, the fact that they have to resort to nuclear blackmail just shows how out of it they really are. Doesn't mean we can ignore them, of course.

Now all I have to do is figure out what being flip means, and I'll be having a good day . . .

* He oughta stop with that flat earth bs... a gimmick's a gimmick, but this one was doa before it arrived. Poor Columbus is probably turning over in his grave... And for those of you who don't like the Times - hold your nose and read it anyway...