The root of the current financial crisis is that Americans have spent the money of other countries and the money of their own children and grandchildren to maintain their current standard of living.

This has not been the case for just one or two years, but for many years. It began with the Clinton presidency, and it was about making the American dream come true.

The American dream is to own your own home. Everyone wanted to have a house, but they didn't consider whether they had enough savings or the financial ability, and that's what created today's problems.

Of course, supervision and control of the financial system was poorly done, and because the amount CEOs get paid is directly proportionate to their company's performance, they'll do whatever it takes to inflate results. All these are causes (of the financial crisis).

But to get to the root of the problem, whether we say Americans were greedy or ignorant, the crisis came about because they lived beyond their means.

The Unaffordable American Dream

This problem has to be solved in a fundamental way. It is necessary for Americans to change the way they live. But this is easier said than done. It is of course not easy for a member of the middle class to lower his or her living standard and become lower middle class or poor. I think that societies in which people live a simple life are better societies, just like the kind of life that people lived in the Taiwan of 30 or 40 years ago as portrayed in the movie “Cape No. 7.”

However, expecting everyone to return to the life of 30 or 40 years ago on their own initiative is impossible. The next president of the United States needs to face this problem.

I can say for sure that the current crisis will not make the United States change even a bit. Of course everyone feels that life has gotten worse, but now that the oil price has come down again, the big cars have immediately reappeared on the streets. Will people have any fundamental awakening? They won't.

When the financial crisis had just erupted, people would ask, 'Where is the best place to put my money?'. But as soon as the crisis abated a bit, they returned to their old money-wasting habits. Expecting Americans to change due to self-awareness is a fruitless approach.

Man is extremely shortsighted. The price of oil only needs to drop a few dollars and your world view will not be the same.

At this moment in time we also don't see any scholars or religious leaders step forward to make a strong call for action. Clearly, everyone knows too much money has been spent, far beyond earnings, but actually achieving a balancing between expenditures and earnings is extremely difficult. If they do change, it will only be a partial change. They will make a few corrections, like adding some financial oversight and control, restricting CEO remunerations, stricter requirements for the formation of boards of directors and so on. But the fundamental lifestyle won't change. That would take a Great Cultural Revolution. So far that is not on the horizon.

This means that the U.S. will continue to use deficit spending to maintain people's lifestyles. How long can that be maintained? It depends on how long other countries are willing to maintain such money-squandering by the U.S. I believe that other countries will still support the U.S., because this is not a game that the U.S. plays by itself – it's everbody's game.

Dragging down the United States is not a multiple win-win situation. China is currently still buying U.S. government bonds so it has sufficient reason to support the U.S. If the American economy is doing well, the Chinese economy will be good. China won't demand that the U.S. lower its living standard, since that would be detrimental to the whole world.

The World Foots the Bill for Saving America

It is very unfortunate that the world's economic prosperity has been built upon the wastefulness of Americans. For the past century or so, since capitalism became humankind's sole system, we have in fact been walking down this road.

The driving force behind capitalism is the pursuit of growth. Capitalism without economic growth is inconceivable, but growth means consuming more. The only difference is that presently the U.S. is leading the pack. Currently, there is no other force that could challenge this situation.

The world is flat, but Empire isn't. Empire exists in order to exploit other countries. That can't be changed. Ultimately, the whole world will foot the bill for this financial crisis, because everyone will join hands to save America.

It's as if America is saying, 'If I can't survive, none of you should even think about surviving.' Such an attitude is even more devastating than throwing a nuclear bomb.

American-style capitalism is about satisfying one's own consumption by exploiting other countries, using their technologies and resources. This is not just an American disease – all capitalist societies suffer from overconsumption. Presently we have reached an extreme.

What we need to consider is how much more resources are left for humankind to consume. Within the foreseeable future we will see this problem emerge.

From a religious perspective it resembles the biblical prophecy of the apocalypse. Putting it more gravely, the financial crisis is the beginning of the end of humankind. This is not just American-style capitalism in crisis, but humankind in crisis.

I studied computer sciences and therefore know that partial change may cause an entire system to lose balance, that it may unleash a very big crisis within a very short time and lead to rapid collapse.

Nowadays, the world is flat, so not a single country can stay on the sidelines. We are all sitting in the same boat.

Will the financial crisis jeopardize American hegemony? In fact, a shift in world power emerged some time ago. It's only that this time the U.S. has been dealt the final blow.

Yet we also cannot say that hereafter China will be No. 1, Europe No. 2 and the U.S. No. 3.

China has many problems. Right now, if it were to play the role of Big Brother, people wouldn't be willing to acquiesce. Europe also faces internal problems. If they want to maintain the euro monetary system they will have to pay a very high price. Europe is still very frail and is bound together with the United States. I think neither of these regions will necessarily replace the United States. What we have now is a balance of terror among these three regions.

Taiwan Needs to Pursue Its Own Dream

Taiwan doesn't need to be pessimistic. Being small has its advantages. Even though it doesn't show up on the global radar screen, that won't have too big of an impact.

Taiwan should actually switch to a simpler life. Let the people here feel that they have a better life. That's not necessarily a bad thing. On the contrary, it better suits human nature.

Taiwan should look at itself with more ideals and more dreams in mind. It should not think about playing a spectacular role among the big countries and not regard itself as a card in the hands of the United States. Such ideas can be discarded.

I hope that this financial crisis makes humankind learn that more crises, one right after the other, will come. The economic crisis is just one part of this blizzard. Problems may crop up in terms of the environment and energy. This also shows that the world is a single entity and that people around the globe need to solve these problems together.

Translated from the Chinese by Susanne Ganz

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Chinese Version: 張系國 世界是平的，帝國是凸的