Becoming China's Bitch: And Nine More Catastrophes We Must Avoid Right Now

by Peter D. Kiernan

A Manifesto for the Radical Center

America is frozen. We have failed to face our nation’s most crucial challenges—and we are about to pay the price.

When it comes to solving our country’s problems, we have become utterly bipartisanship has lulled us into a deadlock, preventing us from taking action. Yet we can no longer ignore the inevitable catastrophes or hand them off to Washington to fix—they must be addressed now, or we will suffer the long-term consequences. In the New York Times bestseller Becoming China’s Bitch , Peter Kiernan presents an unflinching manifesto in which he explores five factors that have sustained our national paralysis, then uncovers the ten challenges that pose the greatest threat to the future of America. Presented from a fresh yet informative Centrist perspective, these ten impending catastrophes include our semiconscious dependency on China, our lack of a centrally coordinated intelligence effort, our downward-spiraling health-care system, and the continually expanding problem of illegal immigration. In a logical, personal, and persuasive voice, Kiernan offers radical yet common-sense solutions to these challenges—solutions that every American must acknowledge and act upon before it’s too late. With provocative insight and analytical depth, Becoming China’s Bitch is the answer to securing our country’s immediate future and restoring our national soul.
 

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics

434 pages, Hardcover

First published February 10, 2012

Reviews

[Brian Griffith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, Kiernan's effort is worthy. It’s great when an American appeals for “radical centrism,” rather than the prevailing zero-tolerance for sentiments different from mine: “Our basic problem is that we lurch between the silver-bullet solutions and the silver blame, as if this was a battle between angels and demons.”

Kiernan targets ten main “catastrophes” that America must avoid, and dives into assessing what must be done. Sometimes he acts like a consultant, trying to engage others in a participatory process. Other times he’s like a coach, prodding his readers to get real and shape up for the task. And sometimes he seems less concerned to encourage participation that to signal his insider credentials. For example he explains that “Anyone looking to find the center of things must be thoroughly versed in the world of Think Tanks. Because wherever there is a room with decision makers, Think Tanks have found a way in.
You haven’t.
And in all likelihood, you won’t.”

Most often, he presents his own ideas as the solution for each emergency. When he deals with healthcare, education, or immigration, his proposals are obviously informed and practical. But when he wades into foreign policy and military strategy, his professional expertise often sounds like wise-guy opinion. Concerning Pakistan, he insists that the USA must intervene to defeat the Pakistani Taliban. He commends the CIA for a successful drone attack that killed the radical Islamist Baitallah Mehrud and his second wife. Then he cracks a joke: “Ever notice when a bad cat encounters the dreaded tenth life, it is rarely in the company of his first wife?

[Bill Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kiernan's normative argument against "All Politics is Local."

Rather than allowing the Right/Left pundits to continue pulling us further apart, encourages us to individually "rise above," compromise, and regain our national competitiveness.

His "Radical Centrist" proposals seem to depend heavily on the Eastern notion of Fate. e.g., "Universal healthcare is gonna' happen regardless; stop fighting it and help find a more efficient solution."

Huge, expansive subject matter... impossible to make it "academically tight," and is therefore unsatisfying to some.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite it's many flaws...

P.S. I sure would like to dump all my notes into a TextEdit file... still haven't found the pertinent files on my MacBook Air :-(

[Azabu · Rating 2 out of 5]

“In my youth we were a nation obsessed with the Soviet Union….Where is our paranoia about China?”


The answer lies in this attention-grabbing albeit non-pc ridiculous and exaggerated title by former Goldman Sachs senior partner Peter Kiernan. In thought-provoking “manifesto” format, Kiernan analyzes the reasons behind China’s quick rise and its potential, or veiled threat, to overtake the US . As the self-appointed spokesperson for a proposed movement that he dubs “Radical Centrist” Kiernan underscores two measures that require the reader’s immediate attention: the strength of the Chinese currency (the Renminbi or Yuan) , and the growth of its reserves. As long the Renminbi remains artificially weak the West can indulge its unbridled appetite for cheap goods, services and production . What deeply concerns the author is the lack of a global strategy by the West once the Chinese government takes the cap off its currency value . Despite the hawkish title Kiernan suggests that the secret weapon to success is not force but rather an understanding of what makes China tick . Part I enumerates five factors responsible for America’s current woes: the media , political lobbyists , think tanks , loss of religious beliefs , and an ineffectual two-party system . OK, great! Part II spells out the Radical Centrist platform for ten key challenges that the nation must face, beginning with increasing the retirement age , legalizing same-sex marriage , raising taxes on the tobacco industry (including higher premiums for smokers) and working on prison reform to reduce the number of people behind bars, which is growing at a rate 13 times faster than that civilian population . Now we're talking!

[Terry Cornell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book title could've been better, and it seemed to take Kiernan a long time to get to the point in his introduction before getting to the heart of the book. Kiernan takes the position of the 'Radical Centrist' on ten issues facing our country and writes about the polar entrenchment created by our partisan politics that have paralyzed our country. One of the issues include our dependency on China--ironic considering our stock market dip this last week based on China's faltering economy. Other issues include our continuing lack of coordinated efforts with all U.S. intelligence agencies (this was written before Snowden revealed the NSA dirty laundry), our continuing inadequate health care system, immigration, and energy. Some of Kiernan's solutions I agree with, some I don't--but makes you think about the issues. The most important message --without all parties working together for solutions we will fail. Without compromise we never would have had a Constitution, or a country.

[Jay Rain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 8.8

Appreciate the Radical Centrism concept & many of the issues flagged still exist in some form today; Would be interesting (as w most business/social reads) to see what the trendlines are 10 years later

Kiernan has an engaging writing style w an enjoyable use of metaphors - you have to take a leap of faith on his data sources however it makes for a faster (& more risky) read; Misleading title is attention-grabbing obvious

Key Points

China
1. Need a global strategy
2. Invest in rare earths
3. Understand them like they understand us

Ageing of America
1. Extend retirement age to 67
2. Pay out less
3. Rethink elder care, immigration & city design/planning

Labor Movement
1. Instil better operating oversight of Pensions
2. Measure pension asset risk exposure
3. Pensioners to pay taxes where they are not

Same Sex Marriage
1. Allow same sex marriage

Intelligence
1. Integrate all the departments data sources
2. Focus on our enemies & our government who are supposed to protect us
3. Understand the language of war better

Tobacco
1. Implement a sin tax
2. Tobacco corporations to pay a health subsidy
3. FDA to regulate the tobacco industry

Healthcare
1. Establish periodic reviews of primary healthcare spend
2. Launch electronic patient records
3. Reduce bureaucracy in medical research
4. Keep politicians out of laboratories

Incarceration
1. Abandon three strike laws
2. Invest in their education when in jail
3. Use more community supervision & jails for juveniles & non-violent inmates
4. Provide decent health services
5, Bring rehabilitation into parole

Education
1. Make teachers accountable
2. Extend the school day & school year
3. Have parents co-commit to attendance & excellence
4. Train & develop outstanding principals
5. Develop challenging courses for at-risk youth

Security & Immigration
1. Empower the INS to clear all naturalization backlogs
2. Build an international solution for Mexico
3. Establish stricter enforcement & penalty
4. Develop a broad immigration plan
5. Hold businesses accountable for cheap immigration labor

Energy
1. Build a partnership with big business to make massive investment in alternative big bets
2. Modernize transmission & distribution infrastructure
3. Expand biofuel infrastructure

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated the chapters on energy and education the most. The author seems to have put a lot of effort towards presenting his notion of radical centricism. This is appreciated and helps to help the “medicine go down” for the parts of the book you may not agree with.

Having said that the book is now fairly dated in 2023 as it makes mention of Obama’s policies. Despite this there are still things to take away.

[Terrence Spurlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dated now.

[Janastasia Whydra · Rating 1 out of 5]

The best part about this book is it's title, "Becoming China's Bitch: And Nine More Catastrophes We Must Avoid Right Now." Once you read the title of Peter D. Kiernan's book, stop, you're done and it's time to move on with your life.

The book is divided by two parts. The first part discusses how people who think they are in the middle of the political spectrum are capable of looking both ways, but this is not true. Everyone is biased towards a particular party. Political parties do not form because we are capable of solving our problems. They form because two or more sects of people continually disagree rather than compromising or working through an argument. Instead of progressing the nation, politicians are often to busy either undermining each other or undoing whatever the other party previously did. However, the duopoly of politics will lead to disaffected party members who will form their own political stance (Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street). Although interesting, this section does not connect to the majority of the latter part of the book.

The majority of the latter part of the book consists of ten catastrophes that Kiernan is ever so graciously enlightening all the readers on. I have a real problem with anyone who wants to discuss "facts," but does not actually provide any nor cites any resources so the reader may double-check these so-called "facts." In the end I regarded Kiernan as an idiot on many issues, which I'll list: China's economics and its impact on the United States; the dwindling security in Social Security as Baby Boomers retire and the unfortunately smaller generation that follows; the unnecessary (so he thinks) need for unions in modern times, whether cigarettes should be included in the "War on Drugs" or, at least, further demonized; education and incarcerations reforms; and anything that had to do with taxes.

In the end, Kiernan is just another white man who is scaring people into believing whatever he does with or without any proven facts to support his theories. At the end of this book, he claims all that he had written was to show how being a Radical Centrists was a better path to take instead of following the same ol' road of politics where Democrats are on the left and Republicans are on the right side of the street. Kiernan failed to get his point across in all 10 catastrophes. Often he would cite what was being done that he felt was wrong in his opinion and would fail to give the reader a clearly defined course of action that Radical Centrists should take. He'd say ambiguous things instead, like, "Government should do..., instead of doing..." How does that make Radical Centrists any different from the already elected officials from a two-party system? Radical Centrists like Kiernan offers very little new ideas and when they do, if they are anything like how Kiernan portrays himself in this book then they often ignore the consequences that their actions will have on the economy and minorities.

For example, Kiernan recognizes that there is not enough Social Security going around for Baby Boomers, so he suggest letting older folks re-enter the workforce after retirement. It's not such a great idea when you realize that limits the available opportunities for younger workers, thus forcing them to work into their old age involuntarily. Another example of Kiernan's flawed logic was to increase the price of cigarettes and health insurance for smokers. In defense of Kiernan, he acknowledges that a cigarette prohibition will not deter smokers, so instead he wants to punish them? Kiernan may think that it's only fair to allow smokers take financial responsibility for their habits. But here's the kicker, Kiernan also acknowledges the majority of smokers are poor and part of a minority. If the addiction is strong enough and the prices are high enough, a black market will exist. When these smokers get caught, does Kiernan think they'll be able to afford a decent lawyer? That these smokers won't be punished severely like with any other drug offense? Or when they get out of prison, they won't just end up in the cycle again? This leads into the education and incarceration reforms Kiernan talks about, but once again the Radical Centrist has no new good ideas.

[Elaine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actually, SIL influenced this review greatly. Because of her superior knowledge of business and economics, I asked her to read and make notes on it before I took the plunge, this being the only economics book I've ever read.

I confess the title grabbed me. Perhaps, unconsciously, I thought it would be funny. Besides, I wanted to know what being China's bitch would entail, dammit! He never says. In fact, there is only one chapter about China and, in it, he makes a convincing, and SIL assures me, accurate argument that China has tied her fate to ours, which is unwise. As SIL commented, "Who is whose bitch?" I am guessing that being someone's bitch means you have to do what your master demands. What is hilarious to me about Kiernan's article about China is that he clearly intends to say that we are becoming China's bitch. However, his arguments suggest the opposite! I haven't read such inept argumentation since I retired from teaching--and I rarely encountered it then.

As for the other 9 disasters awaiting us, Kiernan just spews his thoughts on matters like gay marriage, which he favors (as do I). Even if you don't, how can preventing it, as most states do, lead to disaster?

Unfortunately, the other disasters he warns about are the same old: the aging of America, our oil dependency, and the like. SIL says his facts are accurate, but he does not cite any sources. Are we to believe that Mr. Kiernan is the only person who has figured out that as our population ages, there won't be enough workers to sustain Social Security and Medicare? And, what does he propose to prevent this coming disaster? Nothing except to descry American's paucity of saving. My ex-physician, Dr. Michael Fine, proposed that nobody over 80 should be allowed to get health insurance. Well, at least that would get rid of all those people who, Kiernan assures us, will be living to be 100 by 2050 or so.

Well, I was taught to say nothing if I couldn't say good things about someone I can't say good things about Kiernan, so I won't say any more.

[Stephen Houser · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first part of the book does not connect well with the catastrophes. The author sets the context with short biographies, but then does not follow through with these characters later in the book.

There are a lot of facts, without citations, in the catastrophic section of the book. And a lot of rambling. If he only had more time it could have been a shorter book.

The solutions are good, mostly well thought out. The author has a good view and compelling thoughts about the issues. Except for connecting immigration with health care. Somehow the notion that these things are connected is missed.

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book deals with timely politics and is fairly enjoyable reading. Kiernan's points are well researched. He asks that American voters award politicians who make far-sited decisions which may not be immediately popular. Although the book seems politically balanced, I learned about how the Murdoch and hate talkers came into their empires. I'd give it a third star if it was more concise and the humor less contrived. Although Kiernan describes our problems as surmountable, is there really a chance a majority of people will stop be entertained by hate talk or consider long-range consequences over short term rewards? I think not, unfortunately.

[Monica Willyard Moen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book challenged me to think in some new ways and broadened my understanding of how our government works beyond the basic mechanics. I came away with a new curiosity and passion about how I can do my part to make a positive impact in my community and a desire to learn more about the cultures and economies of China and India. The book has prompted me to ask myself new questions, and I'm checking out some assumptions I've held for years that might not be accurate. I consider that a win for the author since it's so easy to stay in my comfort zone.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you can slog through the first section, the final 11 chapters provide interesting food for thought on issues facing our country -- fuel, unions, the aging population, and, yes, our relationship with China.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. Centrist-based opinion...that gives you a lot to think about.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise but the issues are too broad to be discussed in his sparse chapters. This will get you thinking but wanting more. Also, be warned he is arrogant and somewhat contradictory

[Lawrence Rubal · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty good but a little all over the place, the title is a little deceiving

[Mark Peterson]

Peter kiernan interviewed on TV 3/16/2012
Past executive Goldman Sachs

[Brooke Oels · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting points, but I also found him contradictory at times.