China's economy collapses - Largest recession in world history!

[Kerberos]

Well, not quite, but apparently China’s GDP, adjusted for Purposing Power Parity, has been overstated by 40%, because the price levels in China have been vastly understated, so the Chinese Tiger is not as impressive as it seems.

http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10209215

 

[casebro]

Commies seem to lie about everything.

I wonder what their population really is? They claim that they have five times the population of the US, but they feed them on only 60% as much arable land. And 80% of them are farmers. Hmmm. I guess labor intense techniques can raise 800% more food per acre?

 

[Darth Rotor]

Commies seem to lie about everything.

I wonder what their population really is? They claim that they have five times the population of the US, but they feed them on only 60% as much arable land. And 80% of them are farmers. Hmmm. I guess labor intense techniques can raise 800% more food per acre?

Maybe they eat less, don't export food all over the world, and don't have as much trouble with morbidly obese people.

DR

 

[Wolfman]

"China's economy is not growing as fast as they claim" is a far cry from "China's economy is collapsing". Even with these amended figures, China's economy is still booming.

I do think that some sort of recession, or even total financial collapse, is looming over the horizon. (And I think that when it hits, it will have a huge negative impact on many, many countries other than China...in fact, it could well set off similar crises in numerous other countries). But nobody with even the most passing knowledge of China today would seriously suggest that it is in a recession.

 

[sackett]

"The mountains are high and the Emperor is far away."

Commies seem to lie about everything..../QUOTE]

Are they really commies anymore? Private ownership of the means of production doesn't gibe w/ communism of any type I ever heard of. Lonewolf will correct me, but I think we see Party and Army capitalism in China nowadays. Local organizations, e.g., state governors, appear to be hogging as much property as they can, for the benefit of themselves, their families, and such cronies as they need to get rich -- and, as we know, "To get rich is glorious."

 

[Beerina]

Maybe they eat less, don't export food all over the world, and don't have as much trouble with morbidly obese people.

DR

Technically you are correct. Near-starving, subsistence-level economy where almost everyone farms just to stay alive does tend to not produce large numbers of obese people.

I wouldn't use "don't export food all over the world", given they can't much more than won't, as a bragging point, though. Why do you hate America?

 

[Wolfman]

Are they really commies anymore?

Well, so far as China itself goes, it is officially classified as a socialist country, not a Communist country. Certainly, so far as the economy goes, it is very very very non-Communist.

The government is run by a party that calls itself Communist, but that has abandoned by far the majority of Communist precepts. Two years ago, they even changed their charter in order to allow capitalists to become members of the party.

The whole "commie" label is one that tends to be used primarily by Americans; thanks in particular to McCarthy and his cronies, slapping the label "Communist" on anyone automatically makes them the "enemy", and shuts down any further discussion, since "commies" are 100% evil. The truth is, about 95% of China's population do not belong to the Communist Party; the vast majority of Chinese consider Communism to be proven as false; and even the Chinese Communist Party has rejected the majority of the principles it supposedly stands for.

So, are they really commies any more? If you're a reasonably intelligent person with even a basic understanding of the situation here, then no...they're not really commies any more.

They (and by "they", I mean the government) are an autocratic dictatorship. But one does not need to be Communist to pull that off.

 

[Wolfman]

Technically you are correct. Near-starving, subsistence-level economy where almost everyone farms just to stay alive does tend to not produce large numbers of obese people.

Wow...talk about sweepingly inaccurate generalizations! I will freely grant that there are areas of China where people still live subsistence-level lives, but almost none of them could be described as near-starving, or farming "just to stay alive". In fact, I've set up a non-profit organization in one of the very poorest regions of China (with an average annual income of US$100-150/person), and although those people are poor, they're also very healthy and well fed. They are quite capable of raising enough food for themselves.

Then you move to the cities -- which house more people than the entire US population -- and you find very rapidly rising standards of living. China has more millionaires than the U.S. Countless millions of people with very high standards of living. And yet, even among that specific class, rates of obesity in China are far lower than those in the U.S.

So, you raised some good points...except the ones that were entirely and embarassingly, utterly, completely wrong.

 

[Kerberos]

Commies seem to lie about everything.

That's true except that they're not really commies, that it's a mistake rather than a lie, and that it's a mistake made by international organisations who measure these things, rather than China.

"China's economy is not growing as fast as they claim" is a far cry from "China's economy is collapsing". Even with these amended figures, China's economy is still booming.

I do think that some sort of recession, or even total financial collapse, is looming over the horizon. (And I think that when it hits, it will have a huge negative impact on many, many countries other than China...in fact, it could well set off similar crises in numerous other countries). But nobody with even the most passing knowledge of China today would seriously suggest that it is in a recession.

That's why I started the post with "well, not quite". The title was a joke.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Technically you are correct. Near-starving, subsistence-level economy where almost everyone farms just to stay alive does tend to not produce large numbers of obese people.

I wouldn't use "don't export food all over the world", given they can't much more than won't, as a bragging point, though. Why do you hate America?

People buying Chinese crap, that's why.

DR

 

[Matteo Martini]

Technically you are correct. Near-starving, subsistence-level economy where almost everyone farms just to stay alive does tend to not produce large numbers of obese people.

The year 2001 saw China's average life expectancy reached 71.8 years, as is told by sources from a 2002 national conference on senior people sports being presently held in Shanghai.

Thanks to improved living conditions and medical facilities, as well as promoted nationwide fitness campaign, China's average life expectancy has been climbing steadily in recent years. Statistics show the average lifespan of the Chinese people was 67.77 years in 1981, which has increased by 4 years in two decades. While before the advent of New China in 1949, the figure only stood at 35 years.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200203/28/eng20020328_93017.shtml

I wouldn't use "don't export food all over the world", given they can't much more than won't, as a bragging point, though. Why do you hate America?

Ah!!
If you say that things in China are improving greatly, you are an America-hater, I see..