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Yiiiiikes. Also: what? These unmoored political action committee ads are always so confusing. Let’s pretend for a second that you see this and you AREN’T bothered by how racist and insane it is. What next? How exactly do you keep America from being DESTROYED by turning its back on the principles that made us great? Ugh, never mind, don’t answer that question, who cares, barf barf barf. This is seriously the worst. I’m pretty sure the Roman Empire didn’t fall by offering subsidized health care to CHILDREN, although it might have had something to do with its fractious and violent political in-fighting and over-enthusiasm for military prowess. I also did not know that the principles that made us great in the first place were just how we did…not…try to extricate ourselves from an economic downturn? But, my apologies to this whole video if it turns out it’s just an ad for the Android tablet that dude is using, or whatever. Neat tablet! iPad 2 in stores now! Download the Post-Apocalyptic Potable Drinking Water And Black Market Bullets Locator app! (Thanks for the tip, @malgs.)
*Sarcasm.
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The whole time I was waiting for a woman to come in and throw a javelin at the screen.
Throwing javelins at screens is what made this country great.
I think you mean throwing sledgehammers at screens made this country great. Javelins are pointy, designed for efficient flight, and require finesse to throw properly, which is to say javelins are Socialist.
America dosen’t love itself enough for Socialism .
If this prophecy comes true I know a certain girl from UCLA who’s going to have the worst time in libraries.
I saved up a bunch of upvotes for a comment just like this to come along, and it turns out I can only use ONE
In 19 years, the first time that young people in China will EVER have heard of Wall St. will be in college classes.
Yep, within the next year or so, Wall St. will be something that doesn’t exist any more and nobody will talk about it.
Hmmm, maybe some positives will come out of this…
I see that China’s One Bond Villain Per Classroom program is a massive success.
“How exactly do you keep America from being DESTROYED by turning its back on the principles that made us great?”
Well, considering slavery and imperialism had a lot to do with making us great, I guess we do more of those things?
So we have to enslave the Chinamen?
Sorry. Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian-American slaves
“Slavery and imperialism made this country great.”
-Topknot
Can you add Zunes to that list too?
I demand a return to powdered wigs and jodhpurs!
This is pretty awful, But can it measure up to the terribleness that is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umTITWQuXwY&feature=player_embedded#at=39
These actors don’t even look Chinese. I bet the casting call was for “squinty eyes”.
I’m calling up my college friend to see what she thinks about all of this
How the fuck did they find over 100 asian actors willing to play the maniacally laughing evil orcs in a sci-fi commercial when they also had to at least on some level tell those people “we’re actually serious about this. we’re THAT fucking stupid”
Actors be broke, yo. The gotta get all the Yuan they can.
well, also, I’m acting like it’s already 2030
relax backwaxer. it’s still 2011. the Chinese still work for us!
MUHUHAHAHAHAHA
YES! I was coming to wonder how these types of things are cast too! Let’s ask Dan Finelli.
A: If you spoke Chinaman then you’d realize this is actually just the opening scene of the Chinese version of The Da Vinci Code. They just took a few liberties with the subtitles.
We can all rest assured that God would destroy China with an earthquake before He would allow anything like this to happen.
This comment brought to you by my Facebook feed.
The best (worst) thing about ads like this is how the villains don’t have normal human concerns.
In real life, Chinese people (like all people!) are just trying to look out for their best interests and the best interests of the people they care about. They are not, in fact, collectively bent on world domination.
Also, the Chinese government definitely controls a lot of the things in China that are part of the private sector here, so the whole thesis (?) of this ad is kinda wrong no duh?
“They are not, in fact, collectively bent on world domination. ” Their plan is working perfectly, excellent
What is mildly amusing is that all the things the Chinese professor is saying brought down future America are exactly the things China has done to weather the recession as well as they have. It’s almost as though the ad were designed to be effective only to those who know absolutely nothing about China.
No, it is exactly as though the ad was designed to be effective only to those who know absolutely nothing about China because that is exactly how it was designed
Once again:
Canada, you guys. I’m glad I’m from there.
Remember when our Prime Minister was declared to be in Contempt of Parliament and it wasn’t a press release for a John Grisham novel? Those were the yesterdays.
“Too much reading,” Tea Partygoers.
Look at the YouTube screencap. I think we found the one American in that class, Sleepy Pete.
While some (most) of the points made in the spot are pretty spurious, I find myself hard pressed to argue with the assertion that America’s time as the dominant player on the world stage is coming to an end (if it hasn’t already…)
In 2030, all Americans will work for the Chinese? So, the complaint is that they are going to give us jobs? Go back to complaint school, CAGW.
I’m not sure that I buy the charge that this ad is racist. I mean, the owner of a large bulk of our debt is China, and China is made up predominately of Chinese people, and these particular Chinese people are not presented in a positive light, but that isn’t because of any particular racial element to their characterization.
Granted the ad is crazy demagogic, but it is playing on nationalistic and economic fears rather than racial ones. While the use of Asian actors in this context could be used to create a sense of “otherness” that could be a racist tactic, it is unreasonable to make that charge since only Asian actors could reasonable be used to stoke the nationalistic fears that this ad was targeting, as, again, China is made up of Asian people. If our largest creditor was a European nation, I’m sure that this ad would be full of white people, and it would be just as insane and nationalistic and demagogic.
I’m not trying to defend the ad, which I think is crappy and offensive and harmful to efforts to bring the cost of government under control, but it seems like a lazy attack to use the word “racist” to describe it when the racial element is incidental to the point. Seriously, would this make any sense if the Chinese classroom was full of pan-racial youths like a street gang from a mid-nineties television show? Would that be less crazy or demagogic?
I don’t think that the ad is really racist, but racists watching this would see a whole lot that they liked.
Perhaps, but that wasn’t Gabe’s assertion. If we’re going to criticize this advertisement, we need to do so on its merits. There is plenty here to make fun of without falling into the lazy habit of calling things racist just because they have a racial element and we disagree with them.
Right. I mean, if the speaker is responsible, I think it’s valid to point out how what they are saying would appeal to racists, but when the speaker is clearly already just blahhhhh, then it loses it’s reason. The thing is though, I bet someone in the making of this ad probably did think, “Hey, I bet racists will totally go for this….sweeeeet.”
So yeah, I agree with you, and think you are even more on-point down below, I guess I’m just explicating.
I basically agree with you, Godsauce, but it’s not true that China owns the large bulk of our debt. China owns a little over a trillion dollars of U.S. securities, and the national debt is about 12 trillion dollars. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt)
About 28% of U.S. securities are owned by foreign nations, and China makes up about a quarter of that figure. (http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Documents/mfh.txt). The numbers don’t match because not all of the U.S. debt is issued as securities.
That’s a hell of a lot, but it’s not a majority, or a bulk, or anything like like that.
You’re right… but I think the point is that of all entities to whom we owe money, we owe the most to China.
The point is actually more likely ignorance.
Hah… I’m not really looking to start a e-argument here over this stupid ad…. but, why do you think this is ignorant?
If China is the largest holder of our debt, what happens if they just stop buying our bonds (especially since it seems like the 2nd largest holder, Japan, isn’t really able to buy anymore)? What happens if China actually wants us to pay them back the money we already owe them? We’ll default, and the value of the dollar will plummet, and that will put China in a prime position to take over as the new world hegemon….which…. I believe… is what that ad was trying to characterize. What part of that is “ignorant”? I’ll agree that it may be slightly exaggerated… but, ignorant?
I mean that the people making this ad, the people responding to this add, most likely do not understand the details that Clambone put out above, but probably see China as evilly owning over half of the 12 trillion.
Also, that whole China trying to make the US pay and then..buying the US out?…scenario is just ridiculous. The US owes China too much money for them to even really do anything about it, really. And collapsing the US money doesn’t just collapse the US
I’m responding to your 2:13 post cause I can’t reply anymore.
I will agree with you that it’s misleading in the ad, and could cause people to believe we owe China way more money than we do…. but, we do still owe them more money than we owe anybody else.
And, why is that scenario ridiculous? We owe them money… it’s ridiculous if they ask us to pay them back? I’ll change the scenario for you with something I think is way less ridiculous. Japan is the second largest creditor to the United States. Japan just suffered one of the worst natural disasters in history. Is Japan going to keep borrowing money in order to spend it on rebuilding, like they’ve been doing for the past 20 years (which has resulted in a 20 year bear market), or, are they going to say, “Hey, U.S, we’re PRETTY screwed over here… think you guys can pay us back some of the $900 Billion you owe us? We KINDA need it.” I don’t really see that as far-fetched at all….. although, Japan’s history suggests they’ll continue to be idiots and borrow more in order to spend. But, if there was ever a situation that may make them consider changing their ways… this would be it.
Japan really isn’t going to be asking for tons of money from the US considering the US military is already working it’s ass off over there to help with the recovery and in general we are sending aid.
Hey, I hope you’re right! But, I don’t really see where they’re going to get billions of dollars from to rebuild their country that is suffering from a nuclear meltdown.
Yeah, that’s why I said “a large bulk” rather than “the large bulk”. As jles points out, they are still our largest single creditor, unless you count the Social Security Trust Fund, which isn’t even included in those calculations. The ad was meant to make people afraid of national decline from economic insolvency, which is easier to dramatize this way than with global inflation which would probably hurt the Chinese as much as it would hurt us. There are numerous ways that the logic in the ad doesn’t work for anyone with a basic understanding of how national debt works, but that wasn’t really my point. My point was that the ad’s presentation of China and Chinese people was incidental to its goal of stoking nationalistic fears that are unrelated to race.
So I have a question for you. Where exactly do you see the logic in this ad breaking down? If they call us on our debt, and we default (cause we certainly can’t pay it back at this pace)…. wouldn’t we see a dramatic decline in the value of the dollar relative to the yuan, which, theoretically, could make the Chinese economy larger than ours by 2030 (isn’t it already predicted to be bigger by then anyway?).
Godsauce already pointed out, like I did also, that China isn’t calling any in debt because it’s not like the US is some dude who owes his bookie some money and the bookie is going to come in and break his legs or threaten his family. And besides, once the dude owes the bookie enough money, the bookie can’t even just kill him to send a message anymore, because he needs to actually get the money back.
1. International, country-level debt is not the same as individual or company debt.
2. Even if it were, the US owes enough that China can’t kill the US to send a message.
The Chinese economy is largely manufacturing based, with a strong emphasis on exporting goods around the world, to the U.S. in particular. Their primary investments are in U.S. Securities. If we default on our debts, it would send the world into an inflationary spiral, which would destroy worldwide demand for Chinese products and crash their economy as well. They would be unable to fall back on investments, because we’ve already defaulted on them. They would be hard-pressed to collect by force, because our military is still too powerful, but they might try. The result of our insolvency would probably be worldwide depression and possible war, and no one, especially not newly-drafted young Chinese men, would likely be sitting around laughing about it.
Your answer is smarter than mine, Godsauce.
this is for ptsmith_vt on the 2:24 post:
No, China isn’t calling any debt now…. but if we keep printing dollars out of thin air, I don’t think it’s far-fetched to be concerned that they would. Or, at the very least, they would stop buying our treasury bonds (which, they already started being net-sellers of). So, no, they’re not going to come over here and “break our legs”…. they just going to stop buying our bonds, and the value of our dollar is going to free-fall, because we’ll have nobody else to buy our bonds in their absence. Same is true with Japan.
“the US owes enough that China can’t kill the US to send a message.” – I don’t understand what this means….
Sorry… we can stop this conversation. It feels wrong on this site! But, I do enjoy these discussions in general… just on other sites.
This is for Godsauce at 2:29pm
Yes, the Chinese economy is largely manufacturing based…. and the U.S economy is no longer. Their primary investments are in U.S Securities, and, as we continue to print more dollars out of thin air, the “value” of those investments is depleted. I agree that the world would have rampant inflation (dollar based inflation that is…other currencies will survive). But, where I disagree with your argument is that “they would be unable to fall back on their investments”. As you already stated, China is making the things that the U.S, and the world, actually needs. They are the manufacturers. The investment of theirs that will actually pay off is their investment in the manufacturing base of their country, because in the end, they can just supply themselves with what they need to survive.
The way the world is set up now (VERY simplistically) is like there are 5 people on an island, 4 Chinese, and 1 American. The 4 Chinese catch fish, clean fish, cook fish, and serve fish, and the Americans role is to consume the fish. In return the American gives those Chinese an I.O.U (treasury bond). At some point, once the Chinese realize that the American I.O.U is worth far less than advertised, they’re going to just start fishing for themselves.
So, I don’t think they’re going to collect by force, or start a war… they’re just simply going to stop buying U.S Treasury bonds, and keep supplying the world with the goods they need (and supplying themselves with the goods they need). We, on the other hand, don’t have that type of manufacturing infrastructure to fall back on (anymore).
That’s how I see it! Again, I sincerely apologize for discussions like this on this site.
China is not as self-sufficient as your model suggests, and America is not nearly so worthless. In a situation where the dollar is severely devalued in relation to the Yuan, there would be a huge resurgence in American manufacturing, because it would become profitable. Your model looks mercantilist, and ignores that China is thriving in a world economy, and is quite reliant on our exports to them. China’s ability to produce cheap small appliances and consumer electronics doesn’t mean that they would flourish following a global economic disaster. It might even be worse for them. Either way, there is no real way of knowing until it happens, and I’d prefer not to find out.
No, I admittedly presented an oversimplified version of our relationship with China, and am not trying to suggest that is our current state of affairs. It’s just heading more and more that way over time, and we should consider the potential consequences of it. I think.
But, I don’t think I ignored that China is thriving in a world economy, quite the opposite. And, I think your suggestion that we’d somehow be equipped for a devaluation relative the yuan, and suddenly ready to rev up our manufacturing base, is somewhat oversimplified as well. That will cause massive contraction and forced re-allocation of resources. We need China for their stuff way more than they need us for our money. The only way we hold the end of our bargain is to keep the dollar valuable by making stuff here that other people want to buy.
But, one thing is definitely agreed, I hope we’re never faced with this situation. But, I think it’s on us to consider ways to potentially avoid it, rather than just presume it never will be a problem.
Anyway, this conversation was probably MUCH too long for this site. Appreciate you taking the time to engage me, and keep up the phenomenal work you do for this site Godsauce. I’ll go back to quietly enjoying and occasionally weighing in….
Yeah, I don’t think the ad is racist. It’s basically saying that China is smart, efficient, economically sound and may be the last chess piece standing when all of civilization collapses. Isn’t that complimentary?
But I do agree that a lot of ignorant morons will see this and be like, “FUCKIN’ CHINAMEN WANNA TAKE OVER OUR COUNTRY?!”
It’s also saying that young, educated Chinese people would respond to the recent downfall and submission of an entire country with unrestrained glee. They lack empathy, which is generally one of the defining characteristics of being all person-y. So, that’s gross. Perhaps not racist; it’s hard to say what ideas about Chinese people went into making this.
I don’t think the ad itself is racist, but I do think it preys on the xenophobic racist thinking of most Americans. I mean their is no way this ad would have ever been made with white european people. Its sort of like professional wrestling. Whenever our country gets paranoia about our national interst they bring on a super heal from the country causing the perceived threat.
For example. Yokozuna late 80′s early 90′s Japan, The Iron Sheik 70′s, Razor Ramon 90′s Latin (this one is questionable).
These characters themselves were not really racist, but they played on peoples fears of other ethnic nations hurting US interests.
It is insulting to claim that American can’t manage to be xenophobic against white Europeans. This country has managed that very well, thank you.
That was American Ginger hate.
Was I the only one waiting for Natalie Portman laughing at the Globes to show up at the end?
Man… my Libertarian viewpoints are really starting to isolate me from people… I thought that was neither racist nor insane.
China is the largest holder of our debt, and we’re actively printing more dollars to cope with our debt issue. Why would anybody buy our bonds if we just print money out of thin air? And China is predominately filled with Chinese people….so is that why it’s racist?
I don’t like talking politics or economics on this site.
Except this ad isn’t aiming to make any real coherent point. It simply is claiming that anything conservatives disagree with right now, economic or social policy, is going to ruin our civilization and the Chinese will take over.
What? That’s not true at all. It’s saying that what we’re currently trying to do to get out of a recession is the classic way that many other world hegemons before us have fallen. We’re printing American dollars out of thin air. And, when you do that, you dissuade people from buying bonds backed by American dollars (because if we keep printing them, each dollar is worth less down the road).
So, if China is the largest holder of our debt and buys more bonds than anyone else, what happens if they say “Pay Us?” I think that’s the real point of this commercial. We can’t, nor do we have any plans to be able to, pay off what we owe people. And, if they actually call us out on that… we’ll be in trouble.
“turned their backs on the principals that made them great.” “health care.” The Right continually, when speaking of the principals or values of America, ties the moral with the economic, with everything. They continually speak of us turning our backs on what has made us great, and they use this when talking about social, economic, and political principals. Health care was always framed as both a social-moral issue and an economic one. The rhetoric of this ad is continuing that.
That is a fair argument. My interpretation of what we did to “turn our backs on the principals that made us great”, particularly with regard to China, is exporting our manufacturing base overseas, and making 70% of our economy rely on the service sector. Now, everyone in America is a “paper pusher” or “burger flipper”, and that is not what made us great, but rather, is a symptom our our success, and the belief that we’re “above” the manufacturing jobs we outsource to China.
Healthcare is a low, random, blow. But, most projections (including the CBO after 10 years) do believe that the cost of this will add to our deficit over time. So, that isn’t great for our debt crisis. But, you’re right, it’s more of a social moral issue. So, maybe instead of now entering our 3rd war, we can cut some military spending and make Healthcare coverage more affordable? Don’t we owe more to uninsured Americans than we do Libyans, Iraqis or Afghanis? I think we do.
Overall though, I see your point, and just slightly disagree. Hopefully I was able to make you see mine as well.
I think you believe the ad to be made in an intellectually and rhetorically honest way, directed at intellectually and rhetorically honest people and when you judge it from that way, you find things that make sense, so I totally see where you are coming from. Thing is, it isn’t honest, and it for sure isn’t directed at people who are intellectually in-tune and honest.
Fair enough…. You’re probably right about that. I don’t know if I could say it is dishonest, but it certainly conveys these arguments in a manipulated, over-characterized light….which opens the door wide open for mis-interpretations the likes of which you illustrated well above.
“DEM DAMN CHINAMEN! TRY-NA RUIN AMERICA!” is a likely reaction at a Glen Beck rally.
The Economicsgum Monsters called, they were wondering where everyone’s been all day. They’re gonna be pissed when they find out
Hah
Like no one in China ever gets wasted.
“Ugh, I hate subtitles.” – America
“You got your rabies in my peanut butter!”.
Two great tastes that taste great together!
And by that I mean this post and the racoon post. Obviously.
I’m Iowan (It’s a mixed-bag of a state but let’s REALLY get into the debate on Iowa’s value sometime soon, you guys!), and I remember this ad from the last election. I recall commenting on how offensive it was. Dad said “Yeah. Pretty much.” and mom responded “BUT CHINA WILL OWN US.” It’s xenophobia angle apparently worked because we traded in our chronically worthless democratic gov for an actively harmful republican one.
SHRUG.
This ad is total bullsh, etc., but my main concern is that it takes place in 2030? Like in 19 years well-educated humans (in what is apparently the most country on earth and became so in a very short period of time) are going to need to be taught what happened in the United States while they were all presumably alive in a way that supposes that it’s not still VERY germane to international politics/China’s alleged new status of Head Country In Charge (HCIC, if you will). Other than that, I find this commercial to be very libertari-YAWN.
But piling piles of money into massively-cast, special-effects-laden esoteric commercials will surely avert economic collapse.
Perhaps I can forgive your gross misunderstanding of the audience of this blog, or even the schizophrenic punctuation of the program that typed this message, but to add up all of these factors and to expect that we believe your trashy advertisement will actually lead us to a “H’ot p’lace” is just silly.