Tag Archives: China

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? European Union jacks up import duties by 70%

“We are considering quitting the European market because the import duty is far beyond our ability to withstand.”-Wu Jianfeng, Hongyu Ceramics

Chinese media reporting that many small Chinese manufactures are in trouble, because they can no longer afford to send products to Europe.

In March the European Union jacked up its import duties on Chinese ceramics from just 3% to 73%!  If you study the world wide depression of the 1920-30s you’ll find that protectionist measures, like outrageous import duties, helped turn a recession into a depression.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Chinese manufacturing stalls, not enough orders to fill, blames bad economy in United States

“Manufacturers are struggling with multiple difficulties including increased lending costs and fewer international orders.”-Zhang Shiqing, Nankai University

Chinese economics professors are warning that the Chinese economy will stall.  China has become a major exporter of products to the world, but most of the world is in financial trouble.  That is resulting in less orders to be filled.

Also, the recent revelation that local governments, in China, are in debt to the tune of $1.65 trillion, is making it difficult for Chinese companies to get loans to continue operating.  It’s now obvious that the Chinese have been running their economy just like the United States.

Surprisingly from January to May 2011, U.S. exports to China actually went up, by 31%.   “China’s industrial production has notably declined in the previous month, which is a good opportunity for U.S. enterprises to boost production to fill the gap.”-Fan Jishe, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Many Chinese industry analyst are now doing what analysts in the U.S. are doing; hoping the economy will pick up by the end of the year.

 

Business/Economics, International

Communist China’s experiment with U.S. style capitalism a failure, only the rich got richer, created more poor

The Chinese government announced that they must revise their income tax laws, to account for the huge increase in poor people.  Their experiment with capitalism only created more poor people while a minority of people got rich.

Beginning in September the minimum income level for exemption from paying income tax will be raised, to the equivalent of $540.00 per month.  Currently it is $300.00 per month.  It will affect about 60 million workers.

Also, people making between $540.00 and $700.00 per month will see a decrease in the percentage they must pay; dropped to 3% from the current 5%.

This comes after riots by workers in several regions of China.  They are protesting low wages, no benefits, and they wanted to know where all the wealth was going, because after all these years most workers still aren’t seeing an improvement in their lives.

The Chinese government admits only a small portion of China’s people are benefiting from the U.S. style of doing business.

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? China is a paper tiger, reveals $1.65 trillion in debt, get ready for Global Great Depression

A surprise announcement, China says local governments (cities, provinces and autonomous regions) have racked up $1.65 trillion in debt, threatening a new credit crisis.

The revelation came after the Chinese government conducted audits of local governments.  It seems the local governments are playing the same financing games that got the United States (and Europe) into its own credit crisis, which led to one of its worst recessions.

The local governments were using loan after loan on infrastructure projects and real estate development.  The audit by the Chinese government came as national leaders expressed concern over evidence of the skyrocketing number of potentially bad loans being held by Chinese banks (sound familiar?).

Is this the real reason China is dumping U.S. bonds, to raise cash to pay its debts?

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

No Economic Recovery for the U.S.: Nissan says U.S. no longer target car market, the money is in South America, China, India & Russia

Nissan/Renault announced they plan to expand their global market share by 8% (an increase of about 10 million cars by 2017).  How are they going to do that? Definitely not by selling more cars in the United States.

Nissan/Renault says it will expand sales in China, India and Brazil.  They will boost production in China and India, and build a new factory in Brazil, that will produce 200,000 cars per year.

They will also buy more than 50% stake in Russian car maker Avtovaz.

 

International, Opinion, U.S.

Global diabetes exploding, health officials continue to blame fat people, yet the majority of diabetics not fat

The Lancet Journal reporting that despite efforts to stop diabetes, world rates have only gone up.   There are now 347 million people considered diabetic.

The United States and Russia clam 36 million of those diabetics, but China and India beat the U.S. and Russia by 100 million.  China and India have 138 million diabetics.

UN World Health Organization officials were not expecting such a high number of diabetics.  They had estimated about 285 million, not 347 million that the study came up with.

Type 2 diabetes is the fastest growing form, and is always blamed on being fat and lazy.  But there’s a problem with that reasoning: 138 million diabetics in China and India, where not that many people are fat or lazy!

Anyone who understands the diet of most people in China and India, and knows how hard they work, should question the standard reasons for getting type 2 diabetes.  There must be something else going on to cause this explosion of diabetes.

International

Global Food Crisis: China hit with long drought & big wheat harvest

China is a land of extremes, literally.

In Central China the drought has become so bad that people are being told not to expect any water for another year.  It has drastically cut rice production.  The area is normally flooded at this time of year: “Usually it’s the season to fight floods, local villagers would ride on these boats to reinforce dams along the way. However, the drought has reduced water levels significantly, and as you can see, all the boats are stranded.”-local farmer

At the other end of the extreme, in Anhui, Henan and Shandong provinces, wheat farmers think they will have their best harvest for the first time in five years.  If they do, China hopes it will reduce their need for foreign wheat: “This year is supposed to be a bumper year for wheat harvest. That is of great importance to the whole macroeconomic situation, and stabilization of the price level for commodity prices. It could also enhance China’s capability to minimize the impact of wheat price fluctuations brought by international grain prices.”-Li Guoxiang, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Surprise; China does not own the United States

“China’s hold or ownership is only 8 percent of our outstanding debt and in no way does China’s position influence U.S. foreign policy.”-Gary Locke, U.S. Commerce Secretary

The United States Commerce Secretary made the statement while being interviewed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for the job of U.S. ambassador to China.

Locke says the majority of U.S. government debt is held by…U.S. domestic investors.  Find out who they are and you’ll know who the real shadow government is.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Sign that U.S. & China at odds: U.S. suddenly inspecting Chinese products for fair trade violations

According to Chinese media, the United States has investigated Chinese products for “Section 337” violations, at least 56 times since 2006.  That’s more times than all the previous 20 years prior to 2006.

Section 337 investigates claims of unfair trade and competition, as well as possible U.S. copyright violations.