Much has been said about the fact that President Obama has not pressed China on human rights during this trip, and that China has not released any dissidents as they have in the past during previous visits from US Presidents. Human rights advocates, of which I like to think I am one, are calling for the US to take a stronger role in applying pressure on China to improve its human rights record, to free Tibet, to buy more American goods, to expand democracy within its borders.
The problem is, the US has lost its power where China is concerned and Obama is well aware of the lack of leverage he has to assert the usual demands. China has very quietly over the past few years been buying up the US debt in the form of treasury securities, and currently owns nearly a quarter of the US debt. That is more than any other nation.
In 1988, foreign interests owned only 13% of the debt; by 2007 that figure had climbed to 25%. At that time, Japan topped the list of foreign holders of US debt with $644 billion compared to China's $350 billion. China now leads the way with $800 billion which generates about $50 billion a year in interest for that nation.
The US has clearly lost its bargaining chips in the face of these facts. If China loses interest in its investment in US bonds and tries to dump its holdings, it could collapse our economy. Such a move would also mean a collapse in China's investment, which is a no-win for everyone. But there's no doubt that the balance of power has shifted as the ownership of the United States has moved to the East.
The current cycle involving Saturn (challenge and limitation) and Pluto (endings and transformation) is tightly aspecting the Midheaven in the chart of the United States. The Midheaven in a national chart describes its government and its standing in the world, as well as the President of the country. Pluto began to square the Midheaven back in 2008 as the nation floundered under economic pressures, and Saturn is crossing the Midheaven right now as Obama attempts to bring the American message of democracy, human rights and spending to the Chinese.
I think we will look back on this period over the next few months as Saturn moves back and forth over the US Midheaven, and realize that this was the time that global power shifted to the East. I wrote about this last month when George Soros indicated that China needed to be included in any global discussions.
China is certainly behaving as if they understand that the balance of power has shifted. Hopefully the folks that run things in Washington will wake up to that before it's too late.
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Unfortunately, I choose not to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.
Analysa, I don't see how you can logically pin this on Obama. The Chinese have been buying up American debt ever since George Bush took office and began inflating the deficit with his tax cuts and wars, no one asked them to take on the debt. Obama didn't go over there to ask them to keep funding the debt, but now that they own such a big portion it's important for everyone's economic stability that they don't suddenly pull out of it. And until the Chinese no longer has this hold of the US, I think there is a limit to how much pressure Obama can exert on the human rights issue.
As fine a president / person as Obama is, in the current situation the world finds itself there's only so much he can accomplish. Though miracles are always possible, given a surprise move by Fate. Has this ever happened in human history ??? (Well, the Bible does mention the parting of the sea that allowed Moses and his people to escape the pursuing Egyptians.) For us there are still about 15 years before Pluto is finished with Capricorn. During which time the collective has been provided a chance to show its worth and effectiveness.
And yet we now have countries pulling back from their earlier targets for climate change planned for the meeting at Copenhagen. And in Canada, for instance, securities regulators are putting on hold enforcing the new rules for the finance industry because companies say they are too busy dealing with the recession. And so on.
My opinion, and one held for some time..... for our planet now capitalism is basically a canoe with paddlers with their paddles upside down in the water. Not only are we not making any headway in getting back on track to what was thought to be real growth / development / progress, we are drifting backwards in that regard.
Obviously the present model is not working, is not going to get back to working. Capitalism as we know it for world economics and finance is downright outmoded as a concept and practical vehicle for our continued existence, never mind a healthful one. How long will it take before this is fully realized at the collective level ??? And how long before a replacement is put together in a way agreeable to the majority nations ???
Looking at it this way, Pluto in Capricorn can only be thought of as nothing other than a period for coming up with a totally revolutionary solution to the problems of our times.
For this to actually materialize, a country such as China will first have to be brought to its knees. Perhaps we will see that miracle where untoward incident after untoward incident proliferates in that nation, its economy becomes fully contaminated by a worsening global recession and its people are fed up / rise up to overthrow the Reprobate Regime in Beijing.
I, for one, can easily visualize this happening. The Regime's karma is heavy enough for its power to be turned on its end. It's possible Obama's trip to the PRC wasn't all useless kowtowing, seen from the perspective of the invisible. The ways of Pluto are more often than not secretive. With a square to Saturn present it makes that tougher to see.
And Pluto is too early in Capricorn for anything formative to appear on any real scale. Which gives us time. Are we up for that effort to show our worthiness for receiving
that special miracle ???
What I am pinning on Obama, (and Bush was no different) only that Obama is doing it on a much grander scale, is the fact that he thinks government central planning is the solution to the economic imbalances, when this is absolutely nonsense. Government caused these problems in the first place, it has nothing to do with Capitalism. By blowing up the debt the way he is doing through all his fiscal and monetary policies, bailouts and stimulus (and indirectly he is asking foreigners to pay for this), he not only is destroying the American economy but perpetuating the imbalances that exist with China and other countries. Both governments, the Chinese and the American lack in integrity on all levels. I think it is ridiculous to even say "I think there is a limit to how much pressure Obama can exert on the human rights issue" when his own policies perpetuate them not only in China and across the world, but in America itself. Just look at the tent cities in the US. He is doing nothing to move in a different direction, THAT is the problem here. No one could turn these things around magically and without pain, but the DIRECTION he is pursuing is totally erroneous. He is following the Keynesian school and from an economic point of view, Keynesian economics is the root of the problem for all these imbalances.
Keynesianism does not understand CAUSE and EFFECT, it is totally delusional.
If I had to classify it from a spiritual viewpoint, Keynesian economics is stuck in the negative aspects of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd chakra, which is where most people are locked in, therefore they end up choosing a leader who just reflects this.
When the citizens of our country are willing to do their part and make the sacrifices necessary, then and only then can we see positive change. We want, but we don't want to pay taxes, we don't want to defer gratification. We want more than we are willing to pay for.
We are in these Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan when we really should just have the Special forces chasing down Al Quaida. Wars are expensive and the resulting corporate corruption and greed are horrific, but instead of putting this under the microscope we are all nit picking health care reform. Health care reform is for us and war profiteering is for corporations, so why aren't we putting these war expenses under the microscope? Our goal was to destroy Al Quaida but there wouldn't have been much money for the corporations and "out sourcing" if we had kept focused on the goal. Think of the unchecked billions of dollars being poured into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Think what that money could do instead.
People who liked the idea of a smaller government and all the outsourcing should have had to drink the bad water provided our soldiers in Iraq by the outsourced corporation. There are so many examples of corporate greed and the harm it has brought to the youngmen and women we have sent overseas to fight our wars - why don't we care anymore? Why aren't we talking about these types of issues and putting the spotlight on these thefts and dis-service to our country?
Our president can not change anything by himself, he needs the citizens of the USA behind him. We aren't going to get positive solutions and results without some sweat equity, spending some money, standing up for what is right, and defering gratification.
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