Reading a fascinating book called “The Chinese Century” by Oded Shenkar (see recommended books). China is already the main global player in toys (70 percent of the world’s output), bicycles (60 percent), half its shoes and one-third of its luggage. But, Shenkar’s main point is that it is wrong to assume that China is simply capturing the labor-intensive, low-wage industrial capacity. “It is already active in areas where technology plays an important role and labor is not a dominant factor,” he writes. China will “leverage its dominance in labor-intensive and mid-technology industries to fund a major push into knowledge-intensive areas that will drive the future world economy.”

Which, once and for all, should rupture the idea that all we have to in America is become highly-trained and highly-skilled to triumph in the world economy.