K-12 Tax & Spending Climate: Washington adapts to eastwards power shift

Edward Luce:

A few months ago Tim Geithner, the US Treasury secretary, assured a group of Chinese students in Beijing that their country's US dollar investments were in good hands. "Chinese assets are very safe," Mr Geithner said. His comments brought the house down.

White House officials will be hoping that Barack Obama can avoid a similar loss of face on Monday when he meets a group of students in Shanghai for the set piece "town hall" that has become the US president's signature event.

The chances are that he will. But no amount of dexterity can disguise the fact that Mr Obama's visit to China crystallises a big shift in the global centre of gravity over the past few years. Just a decade ago Bill Clinton persuaded Capitol Hill that China's membership of the World Trade Organisation would strengthen the forces of democracy within China.

Today, almost nobody in Washington even tries to make that case. Subsequent developments in China - and elsewhere - make it hard to sustain the argument that economic liberalisation leads necessarily to political liberty. More importantly, the US no longer has the luxury of being able to play teacher to China's student (not that China ever took instruction).

It's difficult to see significant increases in K-12 spending over the next few years.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at November 16, 2009 1:36 AM
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