News + Events
Richmond partner pens column on China’s economy
Richmond Times-Dispatch
September 6, 2009
A guest column by Richmond partner David Cohn titled “How Will America’s Economy Compete With China’s?” was published in the September 6
Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Cohn, who spent 11 months in the Shanghai office of Troutman Sanders, writes that China’s new-found display “of wealth, entrepreneurial spirit, and competence led me to worry about the ability of our economy to compete successfully with China's.”
“After all, we are in a deep recession while China's gross domestic product is growing. Our national debt is $11 trillion, and we will need many trillions more to make Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid fiscally sound. Many of our important banks still hold toxic assets, and our infrastructure is crumbling. Meanwhile, China's reserves exceed $2 trillion, its banks appear less at-risk, its people are big savers, and its largest cities are becoming ultramodern, adding impressive high-speed rail lines, magnetic levitation transportation, interstate-type highways, and high tech airports.”
Cohn concludes that we must prepare for this economic competition by offering “rigorous education in science, technology, engineering, and economics” and not by cutting corners “because our Chinese friends are as smart, entrepreneurial, and industrious as we are and they also want to succeed.”
“They will be worthy competitors,” he notes.
To read the article in its entirety, please click
here.