Thursday 20 November 2008


US TEMPLATE WRONG FOR CHINA

Samuel Bleicher

Asia Times, November 20, 2008

A recent New York Times editorial gives China broad advice on the economic and financial crises, most of it wrong. Headlined "As Goes China, so Goes ..." (an allusion to the old US presidential election bromide, "As goes Maine, so goes the nation), the editorial distills the essence of the macroeconomists' conventional wisdom about the proper future direction of the Chinese economy: reduce exports, expand imports, and create a modern consumer economy.

The Times implies that China's government budget surplus, high individual savings rate, and endless consumer and social welfare needs make the task easy, if only Chinese policymakers would catch on. In fact, this transformation would be far more disruptive. Moreover, neither China nor the world can survive the creation of a clone of the 20th-century US economy in the coming era of high-cost energy and low-carbon footprints.

(...) [artículo aquí]

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