I think China was about to collapse due to Shanghai's botched handling of COVID containment but then Gordon Chang just had to butt in at the last minute, and China is fine again.
Chinese Economics Thread
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I think China was about to collapse due to Shanghai's botched handling of COVID containment but then Gordon Chang just had to butt in at the last minute, and China is fine again.
Bloomberg's storymaker asked a stupid, provocative question. The spokesperson of China National Stats politely lectured the idiot.
Bloomberg asked: "In the first quarter of 2022, steel and cement output dropped a lot but at the same time investment in industries increased. How do you explain the contradiction here?"
Spokesperson of the National Stats explained: "Because the Chinese economy has changed a lot. China has been climbing up the value chain and moving focus from speed of progress to quality. In the first quarter, investment in high end manufacturing increased faster than that in the traditional sectors."
Then he followed with this remark, "One must observe and analyze this economic phenomenon objectively and seriously to arrive at the correct conclusion."
Bloomberg asked: "In the first quarter of 2022, steel and cement output dropped a lot but at the same time investment in industries increased. How do you explain the contradiction here?"
Spokesperson of the National Stats explained: "Because the Chinese economy has changed a lot. China has been climbing up the value chain and moving focus from speed of progress to quality. In the first quarter, investment in high end manufacturing increased faster than that in the traditional sectors."
Then he followed with this remark, "One must observe and analyze this economic phenomenon objectively and seriously to arrive at the correct conclusion."
It's not really due to Shanghai's "botched" handling of COVID. Nobody can handle that kind of situation much better, not in a modern metropolis of 25 million people with administrative measures and orders. And Shanghai is not an isolated case. This zero COVID policy is just going to kill China's vitality softly and gradually ...
NOPE, it was totally botched.
Just look at all the other cities and provinces, basically only Shanghai and Jilin where it became a problem, due to them NOT recognizing the need to quickly test when they got a few cases.
Like if Shanghai had done a lockdown 7-14 days earlier than it did, chances are it would be somewhat over by now (not to mention Shanghai has been pretty bad at locking down, sure it's a much bigger city than many others, but that also means it should have a lot more resources and manpower).
Iirc, Shenzhen just did a 1 week lockdown against Omicrom and then got control of the situation.
I really wonder if Gordon Chang is a psyop or something. Whatever he says the exact opposite happens.
You are overthinking it. If I get paid that much money to fail at my job, I'd do it too.
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Don't forget services. Consumption of services is a major part of the economies of any developed country and why the US is the dominant world economy. There are simply more ways to spend money there than anywhere else. Any time money is spent it is also generating wealth for the person on the receiving end of the transaction and expanding the economy.
Services consumption has now become monetization of previously free activities. Charging for what was previously free is destruction of value.