Why the US, local, and global economic future may be more perilous than we think

In this photo released by Maritime New Zealand, the Rena, grounded on the Astrolabe reef 14 miles (22 kilometers) from Tauranga Harbour on New Zealand's North Island, is seen Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011. After a three-day break due to bad weather and rough seas, the agency Maritime New Zealand says nine salvage workers reboarded the Rena and resumed pumping oil Thursday afternoon. The ship has been stuck on the Astrolabe reef near Tauranga harbor since Oct. 5 and has spilled about 350 tons of oil into the ocean.

-- Chinese TV Host Says Regime Nearly Bankrupt from the Epoch Times

I hadn't really thought of it so much, but the Chinese expansion bubble has been driven by the same kinds of factors that led to an economic bubble in the US--overbuilding, financial engineering, cheap credit, and as a special case, manufacturing expansion driven by selling cheap stuff to North American and European markets.

As the North American and European markets continue to experience recession/depression, demand will continue to drop. Relatedly, increases in cost of energy means that a bit more manufacturing is being relocated back to the US because of rises in transportation costs cancelling some of the cost benefits from lower production costs ("Bringing Manufacturing back to the United States" from Area Development Online).

So if China can't continue to run an export driven economy based on selling stuff to overseas markets, thereby generating massive funds surpluses which have in turn been used to prop up foreign markets through loans and currency purchases, what happens then?