I agree...in my eyes China is living off the fat of American consumerism (altho obviously other countries play a part too)....and American consumers while seemingly have an unquenchable thirst for products have to slow down at some point, with negative savings rate and housing equity slowing down in not just the US but many countries that have been buying cheap China goods. Right now America and China need each other to keep their economies going along, one without the other will just implode. I read a report from Morgan Stanley mentioning that Chinese save over a 1/3rd of their annual income while Americans now save -1.5% or so...if China is to survive without America it will need its own people to start spending more of their own cash to pick up the short fall. If China really made an effort to bring the majority of its people up in living standards however price of world commodities would rocket even more due to the strains on demand.
Like all bubbles they can last longer than you expect, right now things seem at a tipping point as the major world economies have to try and find a sustainable trade equilibrium. I think the western standard of living will drop a lot and the developing nations standard will rise a little.
Then again, im a big pessamist on the whole situation!
I always find stories like this disturbing also:
http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/14/news...tune/index.htm