First Short Quiz - American Tianxia

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johnkarls
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First Short Quiz - American Tianxia

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First Short Quiz

1. What does “Tianxia” mean in the Chinese language and culture?

2. What is the origin and meaning of “American Tianxia”?

3. Is “American Tianxia” similar to “Pax Americana” and, historically, Pax Britannica?

4. Why/how did the U.S. get saddled with being the center of “all under the heaven”?

5. Does our author claim (p. 18) that ordinary Americans benefit from being the center of “all under the heaven”?

6. Haven’t we studied on numerous occasions how the U.S. routinely ranks at the bottom of (OR BELOW) the rest of the world’s 35 economically-developed nations which are members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in virtually EVERY CATEGORY of civilization?

7. For example, does the OECD rank “the health system performance” (e.g., life expectancy, infant mortality, etc.) of the U.S. as 37th in the world -- which means that since there are only 35 OECD member countries, American healthcare is outranked BY AT LEAST TWO THIRD-WORLD COUNTRIES?

8. And to create the Tianxia in which the U.S. is “the center of all under the heaven,” didn’t the U.S. foot the bill after WW-II for re-building Europe and Japan?

9. And to maintain American Tianxia, hasn’t the U.S. exported American jobs to all of its European and Asian allies for at least the last quarter century -- at the expense of its own citizens?

10. And to enforce American Tianxia, hasn’t the U.S. paid “the lion’s share” for the common defense -- for example, saddling American taxpayers with a defense budget of typically 5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while most NATO allies don’t even come close to the mere 2% of GDP to which they have committed?

11. Isn’t it ironic that as we studied for our 3/13/2013 meeting, America’s national debt had reached the level of Greece when it was forced to default -- and that since our national debt now vastly exceeds our GDP, a rise in interest rates to the 21.50% prime rate that prevailed in December 1980 under President Jimmy Carter would mean that interest on the national debt WOULD EXCEED 100% of our national budget (which typically runs about 20% of GDP) so that THERE WOULD BE NOTHING LEFT FOR ANYTHING ELSE???

12. And why doesn’t the mainstream media ever mention that the Federal Reserve IS FORCED TO KEEP AMERICAN UNEMPLOYMENT HIGH because virtually any reduction in unemployment would result in higher interest rates that would soon cause the U.S. dollar to tank, if not crater???

13. BTW, since the world’s economy (not just the American economy) runs on the U.S. dollar, why don’t economists recognize that the tremendous EXTRA AMOUNT of U.S. dollars needed to comprise THE WORLD’S FUNCTIONAL CURRENCY are nothing more than ZERO-COUPON INFINITE-MATURITY debt obligations of the U.S. which is A HIDDEN PART OF THE U.S. NATIONAL DEBT PROBLEM???

14. So although our author may be partially right (p. 18) that some (rather than "all" as claimed by our author) Americans benefit from Tianxia, isn’t it primarily what, since studying Dana Milbank’s “Homo Politicus” and Robert Kuttner’s “The Squandering of America” 10 years ago, we have called “The Establishment” which we have defined as the billionaires who “own” both political parties, who “own” many, if not most, of the members of the Mainstream Media, and who “own” many members of academia?

15. And isn’t it ironic that after “The Establishment” has exported American jobs for the last 25 years, “The Establishment” has the gall to compel American taxpayers to pay for the FREE USE of the American military to protect the foreign investments of “The Establishment” resulting from the exportation of American jobs?

16. How is “The Establishment” able to fool American voters into paying for the FREE USE of the American military to protect the foreign investments of “The Establishment” resulting from the exportation of American jobs?

17. Are Hollywood movies the “heart and soul” of fooling American voters into paying for the FREE USE of the American military to protect the foreign investments of “The Establishment” resulting from the exportation of American jobs?

18. Has the Mainstream Media been a “co-conspirator” of Hollywood in fooling American voters into paying the FREE USE of the American military to protect the foreign investments of “The Establishment” resulting from the exportation of American jobs?

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