Not on an individual level, but as a country as a whole, yes.
In 2003, with its 1.3 billion people but a GDP of just $5,000 per capita, China stood as the second-largest economy in the world after the US (measured on a purchasing power parity basis).
A) I think you're absolutely right. Whenever we depend on other nations for things we use every day we are creating a risk to ourselves. What happens when something goes horribly wrong and US based companies can no longer use the outsourcing centers in India? Immediate economic strife until we can create what we need here, which is going to be insanely expensive and take time.
B) Think of the pattern of very large countries that are economically prosperous: US, China, Japan. Why do we three make up the majority of the world's wealth? Because other countries depend on these three to provide many of the goods and services they need to thrive. If everyone became largely self-sufficient we would see a leveling off of political power, and there would be no worries of one country (like the US) ruling the world through economics.
Slashdot Mirror
http://www.exxun.com/China/e_ec.html
Two points:
A) I think you're absolutely right. Whenever we depend on other nations for things we use every day we are creating a risk to ourselves. What happens when something goes horribly wrong and US based companies can no longer use the outsourcing centers in India? Immediate economic strife until we can create what we need here, which is going to be insanely expensive and take time.
B) Think of the pattern of very large countries that are economically prosperous: US, China, Japan. Why do we three make up the majority of the world's wealth? Because other countries depend on these three to provide many of the goods and services they need to thrive. If everyone became largely self-sufficient we would see a leveling off of political power, and there would be no worries of one country (like the US) ruling the world through economics.