The Looming Economic Crises in China and the United States: A Tale of Two Corrupt Systems

This article is a continuation of The collapsing worlds – both the US and China.

Let’s explore further the economic challenges facing China and the United States, focusing on structural flaws, and the potential for collapse, while making key comparisons for clarity.

The Looming Economic Crises in China and the United States: A Tale of Two Corrupt Systems

I. Introduction

In a world shaped by globalization, China and the United States—two economic titans—stand at a precipice. Despite their vastly different systems, both nations are plagued by deepening corruption that threatens not only their prosperity but also stability.

China’s investment- and export-driven model has enriched the ruling party and elites while leaving most citizens with a shrinking share of prosperity.

Meanwhile, the United States’ consumption-based economy, propped up by debt and an addiction to cheap imports, masks severe structural weaknesses.

This article examines how these divergent paths are driving both countries toward economic disaster, exacerbated by America’s indulgence in cheap money and cheap goods over the past 35 years. Through a detailed analysis of economic trends, wealth distribution, and global dynamics, we reveal the shared cause of vulnerabilities imperiling the middle classes and future generations of both nations.

China and the United States epitomize contrasting economic paradigms. China’s growth stems from investment, exports, and state control, while the US relies on robust consumer spending.

Yet, beneath these differences lies a common challenge:

Corruption.

In China, consumer spending accounts for just 39% of GDP, reflecting a system that prioritizes state and elite interests over the masses.

In the US, consumer spending exceeds 68% of GDP, but this strength is illusory, sustained by debt, cheap imports, and short-term policies. Central to the US’s plight is its addiction to cheap consumable goods, which, over the past 35 years—especially the last 25—has become one of the primary drivers of generational financial destruction.  

This seemingly benevolent consumerism is actually a significant force behind two major economic problems the US as a nation faces:

(1) the out-of-control national debt; and

(2) the generational degradation of asset price inflation.

See, for example, The DDD (Detrimental Dollar Dominance) Syndrome.

As the Chinese proverb warns, “贪小便宜吃大亏” (being greedy for small gains leads to big losses), both nations are on unsustainable trajectories that could unravel into economic and societal collapse unless radical reforms are enacted. 

II. China’s Economic Situation

A. Xi Jinping’s Leadership and Its Impact

Since taking power in 2012, Xi Jinping has doubled down on China’s state-driven economic model. Ambitious projects like the Belt and Road Initiative and Made in China 2025 have propelled GDP growth averaging over 6% during his tenure, funneling resources into infrastructure and high-tech industries. This has undeniably strengthened China’s global standing, but the benefits have largely accrued to public images, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and politically connected elites. Crackdowns on private firms like Alibaba signal a retreat from entrepreneurship, further shifting wealth from private to the state-owned.

While the Chinese model once lifted millions out of poverty, it now increasingly leaves ordinary citizens with a diminishing share of prosperity.

B. The Paradox of Infrastructure Investment

China’s investment in public infrastructure—think sprawling highways, high-speed rail networks, and modern airports—stands as a testament to its economic might. Over the past few decades, this focus has created millions of jobs, spurred growth, and modernized the nation, benefits that should, in theory, uplift the general public. Yet, herein lies a paradox: while these investments have built a strong nation in a collective sense, they have not made the Chinese people as prosperous as they could be. The issue isn’t that individuals are worse off than before—living standards have improved—but that the model prioritizes national strength over individual well-being, resulting in systemic economic flaws.

The root of this problem lies in the nature of China’s investment strategy. Much of the spending on infrastructure and manufacturing is driven by political objectives rather than market demand. For instance, the government might construct a gleaming high-speed rail line to a remote region to showcase technological prowess, even if passenger demand doesn’t justify the cost. This leads to overcapacity—think “ghost cities” or underused transportation hubs and facilities —and wasted resources. China’s debt-to-GDP ratio, now exceeding 300%, reflects the scale of this overinvestment, a figure higher than many developed nations and a warning sign of inefficiency.

Moreover, this fixation on infrastructure and manufacturing has sidelined other critical sectors, like the social safety net, services, and domestic consumption. The economy remains heavily dependent on exports and investment, rather than the spending power of its own people. This imbalance is compounded by a weak social safety net. Unlike in developed countries, where robust healthcare, pension, and unemployment systems provide security, Chinese citizens must save heavily for emergencies, retirement, and medical costs. This reduces their disposable income, curtails consumption, and keeps consumer spending at just 39% of GDP, far below the US’s 68%.

High income inequality further exacerbates this: the rich amass wealth, often tied to political connections, while the average person struggles to build financial security.

This isn’t just individual hardships; it’s a systemic economic flaw. When people are financially insecure (especially for lack of a social safety net), lack disposable income, domestic demand weakens, leaving the economy vulnerable to external shocks, like declining export markets or global recessions. Overreliance on investment also fuels debt and overcapacity, risking a financial crisis if growth slows. The lack of a safety net and suppressed consumption thus undermine the very foundation of sustainable prosperity, creating a nation that’s strong in a political and collective sense, but weak in a human and individual sense.

C. Uneven Wealth Distribution

China’s economic engine runs on a cycle of investment, exports (coupled with almost absolute foreign currency exchange control), and reinvestment, inherently limiting how wealth is distributed. The so-called “policy inclination” (preferential policies) plays a fundamental role before market forces even come into play. In addition, the hukou system, which denies rural migrants equal access to urban benefits, locks a majority of the populace into economic disadvantage. This skewed distribution, paired with the infrastructure-driven model, stifles the middle class and domestic consumption, amplifying the systemic risks.

D. Risks of Collapse

The cracks in China’s model are widening. The real estate sector, accounting for nearly 30% of GDP, teeters under massive debt (Evergrande’s $300 billion default is a stark example). Youth unemployment has remained high for years and is skyrocketing now, and a shrinking workforce, projected to decline by at least 50 million by 2050, looms as a demographic time bomb.

The absence of a strong social safety net heightens these vulnerabilities, as high savings rates signal insecurity, not confidence. Without pivoting to a consumption-driven economy, China risks stagnation or collapse. The Chinese Communist Party’s legitimacy rests on delivering economic success; if the people don’t feel prosperous, social unrest could erupt, destabilizing the system.

III. The US Economic Situation

A. A Façade of Prosperity

The US economy, driven by consumer spending, appears robust, but this is a “fake” boom. Post-2008, the Federal Reserve’s trillions in quantitative easing and low interest rates inflated asset prices, while stimulus checks provided fleeting relief. Central to this illusion is America’s 35-year indulgence to cheap consumable goods, particularly in the last 25 years.

This indulgence is really at an addiction level. It has pacified the masses with affordable products. On top of that, near-free digital content induces passiveness and addictions in their own right, masking a devastating reality:

The financial destruction of the middle class and future generations.

All this has been accomplished with a highly sophisticated, greedy and deeply immoral financial system that sucks the values from the future to feed frontrunning consumption and push the accumulated debt to future generations.

All this is not nearly a financial and economic problem but also a moral problem because it stems from unearned benefits, where easy gains breed indulgence and indulgence breeds destruction that cannot be escaped.

B. The Numbers Tell the Story

From 1995 to 2025, the average US worker’s income grew 2.5 times without inflation adjustment and 1.5 times with official inflation figures. Yet, essential costs have surged far beyond:

• Housing prices: 5x
• Medical costs: 5x
• Higher education: 5x

In real terms, young Americans today are twice as poor (or half as rich) as their 1990s counterparts regarding essential living expenses. In California, the cost of buying a home has risen 10 times in the last 30 years, while young people’s incomes have only a bit more than doubled. Thirty years ago, a $30,000 annual income (then average) could buy a good home in Southern California; today, a comparable home requires $300,000, a top 5% income. This erosion of affordability epitomizes the deteriorating American dream.

C. The Debt Addiction

What has been sustaining this façade of prosperity is the US national debt, which now exceeds $37 trillion and is increasing at a pace of $2 trillion a year.

The US national debt is already in a vicious cycle that has no return: richer elites, poorer youth (and even poorer future generations), and a debt-addicted nation.

Few people truly understand how desperate the situation is. Many say that the US debt-GDP ratio is only about 150%, significantly lower than that of Japan and China. But there’s a fundamental misunderstanding about this matter.

The national debt is also devastating Japan and China, and there’s no cover-up for that fact. However, the problem is not the debt numbers themselves, but the annual interest that a nation must pay for its debt, and how hard it is for the nation to restructure the debt to avoid a default. All this has to do with how the debt is sold and purchased, and who the creditors are.

Japan’s debt, as devastating as it is, is largely owned by the Bank of Japan (45%) and other financial institutions and corporations that took the burden due to social pressure. This is done not through a free market, but a persuaded “patriotic” participation. These institutions expect a disaster. Not that a disaster is nothing, but much of the pain of the disaster was already built-in, requiring much less political and social restructure when disaster strikes.

China’s debt, also devastating, is even more internally controlled than the Japanese counterpart. Here, “internally” doesn’t mean merely domestically, but politically. It’s mostly within the Chinese government. It doesn’t mean that any necessary reconstruction will be painless, but it does not require the destruction of a productive free-market system, which China mostly lacks in the first place. Ironically, this lacking in the first place works as a pain relief when a disaster strikes.

To put it simply, in China and Japan, when a crisis rises to a point that the governments have to force the creditors to write down what they own or accept an artificially lower interest rate, they would be able to do it.

Not in the US. The US debt is of an entirely different nature. The whole thing is based on free market principles, meaning that the creditors buy the US national debt for their own financial gains. This is not an evil to start with, because this is exactly where the strength of the US economy lies: the free market.

But as always is the case in this world, the better a thing is, the worse the effect of abusing the thing will be.

The free market is the bedrock of the US economy and society, but when the nation abuses it by taking on an excessive amount of debt, it will find that it is left with no non-market administrative means to solve the problem.

Rather, the US will face the devastating cost of its own abuse of the free market: destruction of the free market.

The bottom line is that, without drastic political reform, the US cannot solve its debt problem without damaging or even destroying its economic foundation: the free market.

The US is already paying $1.2 trillion in interest annually, and this is expected to rise dramatically due to the much higher interest rate now (and very likely in the future as well) than the previous years.

For people who don’t realize what a $1.2 trillion payment in interest means, it is almost 1/3 of the entire US internal revenue. Imagine one-third of your income goes to pay for just the interest on your debt. Then try to also imagine that this interest payment is increasing, and could easily double in the near future.

Not an amortized monthly payment, but a payment for interest only.

If you don’t see an inevitable collapse of the system, you will need to check your brain and your pulse.

D. The Trade Deficit’s Role

The trade deficit, especially with China, is a key culprit. It has two effects:

• Direct Impact: Surplus dollars from countries like China are funneled into US assets such as stocks and housing, rather than goods or services, driving uneven inflation. Foreign buyers lack the proximity to invest in productive US businesses, amplifying asset price spikes.
• Indirect Impact: Excess dollars purchase US Treasury notes, enabling cheap government borrowing. This has fostered a debt addiction, dubbed the “Detrimental Dollar Dominance (DDD) Syndrome,” weakening fiscal discipline.

As asset markets outpace the real economy, capital flows into speculation rather than production, creating a parasitic financial system too entrenched to dismantle.

E. Inequality

Wealth inequality has soared, with the upper 50% holding 97.5% of US wealth and the lower 50% just 2.5%. The middle class’s share dropped from 32% in 1983 to below 15% in 2024. Wages stagnated—median household income grew only 0.5% annually (inflation-adjusted) from 1990 to 2020—while essential costs ballooned.

Anyone who argues that the US society and economy are on a healthy trend is either blind or dishonest.

IV. Comparative Analysis

A.  GDP growth is a lie

Long-Term Trends (30 Years):

Indicator	China (national average)	US (national average)
GDP increase	30x	3x
Average income increase	15x (nominal; 20x in tier 1 cities)	2.5x (nominal)
Housing price increase	8x （20x in tier 1 cities)	5x

Interpretations from the Data:

1. Income Benefit/GDP Ratio:

Country	Income Benefit per GDP Unit
China	0.5 units
United States	0.85 units

Although China outpaces the US in sheer GDP growth, Americans derive a greater portion of benefits from per-unit economic expansion.

2. Housing Affordability:

Country	Housing price increase per unit income increase (1.0 being neutral)
China	0.55 units (smaller than 1, better affordability)
United States	2 units (greater than 1, worse affordability)

From the above simple data, carefully consider the key points: housing affordability in China, the GDP benefit ratios, the housing price-to-income ratios, and their implications for the middle class and future generations. 

These need to be elaborated upon to reflect their significance in telling the fundamental social-economic story of China and the United States.  These elements highlight the structural differences and long-term trends between the two nations.

The above simple data leads to three critical conclusions about the economic situations in China and the United States, namely:

(1) housing affordability,

(2) the distribution of economic benefits, and

(3) their societal impacts.  The data reveal the deeper, structural stories beneath the surface-level data.

Housing Affordability: A Counterintuitive Reality

One of the most striking insights highlighted above is that, despite popular perceptions, housing affordability in China actually improved over the last 30 years compared to the US, where affordability has drastically worsened.

Here is the long-term trend: over the past 30 years, China’s GDP has surged 30 times, average incomes have risen 15 times, and housing prices have increased 8-fold. Simple math reveals the ratio: for every unit of income increase, housing prices have risen by only half a unit (8 ÷ 15 = 0.55). This means that, relative to income growth, housing has become more affordable for the average Chinese citizen compared to 30 years ago. Even in tier-1 cities like Beijing and Shanghai, where housing prices have gone up 20 times, the average affordability didn’t change because average income has also gone up 20 times.

It is commonly accepted that China’s real estate bubble is evidence of an out-of-control market.  The Chinese housing market is indeed out of control in terms of price inflation, but even with such out-of-control inflation, housing affordability in China has actually increased over time.

Note, however, this does not mean that housing is now affordable in China, nor is it more affordable in China than in the US; the opposite is true. It just means housing affordability in China is better today than it was 30 years ago, or housing affordability in China was even worse 30 years ago than it is today.

The real story behind the scenes is that, despite the hyped housing bubble, the massive housing construction has more than compensated for the housing price inflation.

This is a remarkable contrast to the United States, where the opposite trend holds. Over the same period, U.S. GDP tripled, average incomes increased 2.5 times, and housing prices more than quadrupled (in some areas 10 times).

From the above data, one can derive the following ratio in the US: for every unit of income increase, housing prices have risen by 2 units (5 ÷ 2.5 = 2), meaning that the housing price rises at least 2 times faster than income.

This indicates that housing affordability in the U.S. has worsened significantly, as costs have outpaced income growth at twice the rate. Far from the stable, healthy market often portrayed, the U.S. housing sector reveals a structurally unsustainable trend that undermines long-term economic health.

Why does this matter? The media often highlights China’s real estate volatility—bubbles, developer debts like Evergrande’s $300 billion default, and speculative overbuilding—while framing the U.S. market as a bedrock of stability. But these superficial snapshots mislead. The fundamental ratio of housing price growth to income growth tells a deeper story: China’s system, for all its flaws, has actually managed to lower the ratio between the housing costs and incomes, because although both have risen fast, the income rose faster. With the recent downturn of China’s housing prices, the housing affordability in China may further improve. The affordability is still poor and not as good as that in the US, but it’s the trend that requires people’s attention. In comparison, the U.S. has seen the housing affordability spiral out of reach of most people. This difference has profound implications for the middle class and future generations, as we’ll explore later.

In comparison, the US saw slower growth but distributed more to its people.

However, the relative housing affordability improvement in China was not a result of a fair distribution of wealth but a mere attenuated effect of ultra-rapid overall growth. In other words, the relative improvement is a special (perhaps one-time) historical benefit, not a general structural advantage. See below for further discussion.

This multifaceted nature of the Chinese economic development is the source of misunderstanding by many of the Chinese economy.

Benefit from GDP Growth: Who Really Wins?

On the other hand, the above simple data reveals even deeper nuance: even though average Chinese income outpaced the housing price increase, it is lagging behind the overall GDP growth significantly. 

This nuance reflects a deep structural flaw in the Chinese economic model.  The flaw is now emerging as a damaging effect on China’s economy.

It relates to the distribution of economic benefits from GDP growth, encapsulated in the following Conclusion:

For every unit of GDP increase, Chinese people receive far smaller benefits in personal income than Americans.

Let’s break this down with the data. In China, a 30-fold GDP increase over 30 years yielded a 15-fold rise in average incomes (15 ÷ 30 = 0.5).

In comparison, in the U.S., a 3-fold GDP increase resulted in a 2.5-fold income rise (2.5 ÷ 3 ≈ 0.85).

At first glance, China’s massive GDP growth seems enviable—30x versus 3x is a headline-grabbing disparity. But the ratio reveals an important nuance: Americans capture a larger share of their economy’s growth (0.85 vs. 0.5), suggesting a healthier distribution mechanism.

This ratio is important in the long term, because it reflects the structural quality of an economic system beyond flashy GDP figures. China’s model is driven by state-led investment, exports, and infrastructure. It generates impressive national growth but funnels much of it to public images, state-owned enterprises and elites, leaving ordinary citizens with a smaller slice.

The U.S., despite slower overall growth, has historically spread its gains more broadly, thanks to a consumption-driven economy and less centralized control.

People often fixate on China’s GDP success, but this surface metric obscures the reality: the U.S. economy, in this aspect, is structurally healthier because it delivers more of its growth to its people.

However, this isn’t a blanket endorsement of the U.S. system.  Even though the average US income has a fair share of the GDP growth relative to that of China, it is significantly outpaced by the asset price increase, especially the housing price and stock price.  

But you usually don’t hear too many complaints about this in the US. It is because most people who have a voice, especially those through the media, celebrate it rather than worry about it. These people are the beneficiaries. They happily celebrate the high housing prices and stock prices because they lead to their wealth appreciation. But holding such a view is selfish and overlooks the systemic effect on the economy in the long term and on future generations.

To put it simply, the US economy model, despite its fair share of consumer income, has also managed to destroy the middle class and the future generation.

The healthier distribution coexists with soaring inequality, and the benefits increasingly fail to reach the middle and lower classes and harm the younger and future generations, as stagnant wages and rising costs erode the nominal income gains.

China’s lower ratio, meanwhile, reflects not just inefficiency but a deliberate prioritization of national strength over individual prosperity, a trade-off that sustains high savings rates and weak domestic consumption (just 38% of GDP vs. the U.S.’s 68%).

Both systems have fundamental flaws.

The Fundamental Story: GDP growth is a lie

Together, these ratios—housing price-to-income and GDP-to-income—tell the fundamental socio-economic story of two different nations. They cut through the noise of temporary fluctuations and media hype to reveal long-term trends:

• China: High GDP growth (30x) paints a rosy picture, but the half-unit benefit ratio (0.5) shows that much of this wealth isn’t reaching the people’s personal well-being.   This duality—growth without widespread benefit, yet improved affordability—highlights a state-centric model that builds national power but sacrifices equitable prosperity. Paradoxically, however, the half-unit housing price increase per income unit suggests a system that, intentionally or not, has somehow improved housing affordability despite the rapid rise in housing prices, thanks to the rapid income rise and massive construction.  This does look good retrospectively, but it is a result of unusually high speed of GDP and income growth, not that of a healthier structure.  As the GDP and income growth rate decrease, this temporary advantage disappears.  In fact, it has already disappeared.  The data for the next five or 10 years will certainly reflect this.
• U.S.: Modest GDP growth (3x) seems underwhelming, but the much higher benefit ratio (0.85 vs. 0.55 of China) indicates a system better at sharing gains, historically, at least. Yet, the near two-unit average housing price surge per unit of income increase exposes a critical failure: an economy where essential costs, especially housing, have detached from income realities, signaling deep structural unsustainability.  The major culprit behind this problem is the trade deficit (The American addiction and the trade war)  and the dollar dominance (The DDD (Detrimental Dollar Dominance) Syndrome).

The U.S. economy appears “far healthier” in terms of benefit distribution, but its housing trend contradicts the notion of overall stability. China, conversely, lags in distributing growth but manages housing costs better relative to incomes. These ratios flip the script on common perceptions—China’s “crazy” housing market isn’t as unaffordable as assumed, and the U.S.’s “stable” market is far less healthy than it seems. Focusing only on surface numbers like GDP growth or nominal housing prices misleads; the structural parameters reveal the true long-term trajectories.

Superficial economic metrics do not line up with societal health.

B. Even income growth is a lie.

US Cost Increases vs. Income (1996-2025):

Item	Increase
Income (no inflation)	2.5x
Income (with “official” inflation)	1.25x (0.5x in reality)
Housing prices	5x
Higher education	5x
Medical costs	5x
Stock prices	12x

These numbers further highlight the US’s core issue: income growth lags far behind essential costs, hollowing out the middle class.

In practical terms, today’s younger Americans are effectively half as wealthy as their counterparts from 1990.

Americans have not revolted largely because inexpensive consumer goods and easy access to digital distractions have pacified them, masking deeper structural inequalities.

Structural Causes: Uneven Inflation

Why have essential living costs skyrocketed faster than general inflation? Primarily due to excessive money entering the economy unevenly, driven significantly by America’s persistent trade deficits.

The trade deficit directly and indirectly injects money into asset markets:

• Directly: Trade surplus countries like China invest heavily in US assets such as real estate and stocks, rather than productive businesses.
• Indirectly: These surplus countries invest remaining dollars in US Treasury securities, encouraging government reliance on debt and fueling unsustainable fiscal practices.

This process inflates asset markets, disconnecting them further from real economic productivity, creating a vicious cycle of financial dependency and speculative growth.

Vicious Cycle Effects

This cycle produces profound socioeconomic impacts:

• Rich top 20%, impoverished bottom 80%; older generations wealthier, younger and future generations poorer.
• Deepening debt addiction: government, businesses, and households increasingly dependent on debt.

Both outcomes originate from easily accessible unearned benefits that encourage short-term indulgence at significant long-term costs.

C.  Destroying the Middle Class and Future Generations: Different Paths, Same Outcome

The following conclusion ties these insights together: both the U.S. and China are destroying the lives of the middle class and particularly the future generation, albeit using different methods.

This is where the rubber meets the road—economic systems aren’t just numbers; they shape societies.

• China’s Method: The state-driven model prioritizes infrastructure and exports over domestic consumption, leaving the middle class with limited disposable income and a weak safety net. For every unit of GDP growth, the half-unit benefit means insufficient downward distribution, while high savings rates (psychologically imposed on people to cover healthcare, retirement, etc.) stifle spending. Housing affordability has improved, yes, but this is cold comfort when overall prosperity is curtailed by inequality and systemic risks like real estate debt and youth unemployment. Future generations face a shrinking workforce and an economy that may stagnate without a consumption shift, a challenge that the authoritarian system is ill-equipped to address.
• U.S.’s Method: The consumption-driven, debt-fueled model has hollowed out the middle class and the stole from the future generations through different means. The much higher income benefit from GDP growth is overshadowed by essentials outpacing incomes: housing (5x), education (5x), and healthcare (5x) have surged against a 2.5x nominal income rise since 1990. The two-unit housing price increase per unit of income increase has made homeownership a distant dream. Add a $37 trillion national debt and a trade deficit propped up by cheap imports, and the result is a system that burdens young people with unaffordable costs and eroded opportunities. Future generations inherit this mess, compounded by wealth concentration (the bottom 50% of Americans collectively own less than 2.5% of the total wealth).

Both nations, then, are eroding their societal foundations: China by underinvesting in its people’s well-being, while the U.S. by overindulging in debt and consumption without securing industries and consumer affordability.

The result is the same: The middle class shrinks, the young bear the brunt, and the unborn have already been cheated before they have seen the world, whether through China’s structural neglect or America’s structural excess.

These conclusions aren’t just data points; they demand we rethink how we assess economic success. China’s GDP growth is a siren song—impressive but deceptive if the people don’t thrive. The U.S.’s consumption strength is a house of cards, collapsing under unaffordable essentials. The housing affordability paradox—China’s improvement vs. the U.S.’s decline—challenges narratives and underscores the need for policies that align costs with incomes. The GDP benefit disparity warns that growth without distribution is hollow, while the U.S.’s edge here is squandered by inequality and debt.

In China, state favoritism shrinks the middle class. In the US, debt and cheap goods enrich the top 20% while impoverishing the majority, especially the young. Both systems fail to deliver equitable prosperity, burdening future generations.

For China, reform means boosting consumption and safety nets, a tall order under centralized control.

For the U.S., it’s curbing debt, addressing cost spirals, and redistributing gains—equally daunting amid political gridlock. Without change, both risk not just economic crises but social unraveling, as middle-class erosion and generational burdens fuel discontent.

But all have a common cause: corruption.

V. Conclusion

China and the US face economic crises rooted in corruption, inequality, and flawed systems.

China’s state-led model risks collapse without consumer growth, unlikely under authoritarianism. The US, tethered to democracy’s short-termism, sustains a false prosperity via debt and cheap goods, devastating its middle class.

Over 35 years, America’s indulgence has enriched the few, impoverished the young, and indebted the future. The trade war, while necessary, is no panacea without addressing these deeper issues. Both nations must reform—China by empowering its people, the US by curbing indulgence —but entrenched interests obstruct change. Without drastic action, the Devil’s destructive scissors will sever economic and social fabrics in both societies, leaving a legacy of destruction.

Both Chinese and American societies are currently under immense pressure and crisis, even at risk of collapse. The cause is not simply a matter of social systems, but a deeper reason: the corruption of human nature, which is what the Bible calls sin.

At the individual level, regardless of the society, the mechanism of sin is the same, emanating from each person’s heart. However, at the macro level, sin operates very differently in different societies. China and the United States are typical contrasting examples. In today’s era, both societies are harmed and corrupted by sin, with the only difference being that in these two societies, the macro symptoms and mechanisms of corruption are completely different.

The economic reality is forcing us to look beyond the normal economic factors and consider more fundamental matters. We cannot place our ultimate hope on political systems. Different societies and systems do have relative merits. However, in the early days of the United States, founding fathers like Washington and Franklin clearly recognized that political systems are merely the fruits of the tree of humanity, and the foundation of a healthy humanity lies in faith—not just any faith, but faith in the true God who created the world, with its core being “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

May all those who seek true faith, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, whether American, Chinese, or people from around the world, awaken now.