But many Western politicians (and, to be fair, their constituents) are unable to let go of the syllogism that seemed so unassailable just a decade ago: (1) The Chinese have joined the world economy; (2) their wages are $0.50 an hour; (3) there are a billion of them; and (4) Chinese wages will never be bid up in line with the usual textbook laws of economics, so their exports will rise without limit. But it turns out that the basic laws of economics eventually apply after all – even in China.
这些对大部分中国国际观察者来说都不是新闻。但许多西方政客（平心而论，还包括他们的选民）还没有从十年前的陈腐观念中摆脱：（1）中国已经加入了世界经济；（2）那里的工资只有每小时0.5美元；（3）那里有十亿人口；（4）中国的工资永远不会达到教科书中的经济学定律所推论的水平，因此其出口将无限制增长下去。但事实是，经济学基本定律还是见效了，即使那是在中国。