Lee Haywood
From Wiktionary: Lose Face- To lose the respect of others; to be humiliated or experience public disgrace.
I’ve always been a news junkie. I remember when Nixon made his historic trip to China. It was the year 1972 and I was 12. Even then, at that young age I remember instinctively knowing that this was not a good thing and as usual, I was right.
I also remember when Bill Clinton was The Dude. I was 40.
From Wikipedia:
“President Bill Clinton in 2000 pushed Congress to approve the U.S.-China trade agreement and China’s accession to the WTO, saying that more trade with China would advance America’s economic interests: “Economically, this agreement is the equivalent of a one-way street. It requires China to open its markets—with a fifth of the world’s population, potentially the biggest markets in the world—to both our products and services in unprecedented new ways,” said Clinton.”
More from Slick Willie:
“For the first time, our companies will be able to sell and distribute products in China made by workers here in America without being forced to relocate manufacturing to China, sell through the Chinese government, or transfer valuable technology—for the first time. We’ll be able to export products without exporting jobs.”
Hmmm.
So, here we are. It is said if you have made a deal with someone from Japan, they will take a loss rather than face dishonor by not living up to an agreement.
On the other hand, someone from China would rather see you go broke than live up to its promises and lose face by personally taking a loss.
It’s not China’s fault that they have used us. It’s who they are. It is our fault that we have let them get away with it. Thankfully we have a President that gets it. We can no longer be the Schmutz that sits back and takes it while the Chinese and the rest of the world take advantage of our good nature.
I am now at the wise old age of 64. I started business in the middle of a recession and have lived through numerous economic slumps including the Great Recession of 2008 when I lost 60% of my sales. Brenda and I have always managed to recover. Should Trumps attempt to level the playing field and bring the Chinese back to reality trigger an economic downturn I am willing to endure the consequences, short or long term, and if in the process they lose face that just makes it that much better.
China can kiss my butt.
Lee Haywood is a franchise owner for Winzer USA, an MRO supply company based in Plano, TX. He services industrial and government accounts across NC. Lee and his wife Brenda reside in Summerfield, NC and have been married for 39 years. He was born on the cusp of Scorpio and Sagittarius. He is partial to the color red and his lucky number is 3.