The part of this article that stuck out to me and related back to our discussion of China's building boom and the import/export relationship that it has with the US was:
"Macau, whose population is half a million, feels like China amplified and miniaturized. It is animated by the same formula of ambition and speed and risk, but the sheer volume of money and people passing through has distilled the mixture into an extract so potent that it can seem to be either the city’s greatest strength or its greatest liability. A generation ago, Macau made fireworks, toys, and plastic flowers. Today, the factories are gone, the average citizen earns more than the average European, and the gap between the rich and the poor is vast and widening. Construction is ceaseless, and at night welders’ torches flare from scaffolding overhead."
Money makes the world go round. "Be not afraid of moving ahead slowly, be afraid of standing still." - Chinese Proverb
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/04/09/120409fa_fact_osnos#ixzz1temUAXul
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