David Brooks:

The frictions are building and will lead to divorce, conflict and
potential catastrophe. China, Ferguson argued, is now decoupling from
the United States. Chinese business leaders assume that American
consumers will never again go on a spending binge. The Chinese are
developing an economy that relies more on internal consumption.

Chinese officials are also aware that the U.S. will never get its
fiscal house in order. There may be theoretical plans to reduce the
federal deficit and the national debt, but there is no politically
practical way to get there. Depreciation is inevitable and the Chinese
are working to end the dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency.