A few months ago I asked "Is China's bubble bursting?" Here's a brief update, from Bloomberg today:
China's economy probably expanded at the slowest pace in almost four years in the third quarter .... Gross domestic product grew 9.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the median estimate of 12 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News
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Growth is slowing across Asia, where Japan's economy shrank in the second quarter and Singapore has tumbled into a recession.
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Export orders fell to the lowest since 2005 in the third quarter ..... More than 3,600 Chinese toy exporters, about half of the total, closed in the first seven months of this year, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
Housing prices in Shanghai fell 19.5 percent in the third quarter from the previous three months, according to real estate broker Savills Plc.
Speaking of China, look at what CBS Market Watch is reporting:
China is forecast to surpass the United States as the world's leading manufacturer in nominal dollar terms next year, earlier than expected, as the U.S. economy slows down and China's continues to grow at unprecedented rates, according to consulting firm Global Insight.
They have just released a study that is so damning, it really deserves a full bore blog post. For now, some snippets:
The growth of U.S. trade with China since China entered the World Trade Organization in 2001 has had a devastating effect on U.S. workers and the domestic economy. Between 2001 and 2007 2.3 million jobs were lost or displaced, including 366,000 in 2007 alone. New demographic research shows that, even when re-employed in non-traded industries, the 2.3 million workers displaced by the increase in China trade deficits in this period have lost an average $8,146 per worker/year. In 2007, these losses totaled $19.4 billion
and it goes into details, but here is something I think should raise all eyebrows!
China violates global trade rules by requiring automakers operating there to buy components from local suppliers or face penalties, the World Trade Organization ruled on Friday.
Skip to next paragraph
The decision, issued in Geneva on a complaint brought by the European Union, the United States and Canada, is the first time China has lost a case since it joined the global trade arbiter in 2001
Note this is the first time China has lost.
Now read the last line in the article:
In April 2005, China began a system of levying tariffs on auto parts based on the amount of imports in the complete vehicle. Automakers must register with Chinese authorities and provide detailed information on the quantity and value of foreign parts used in their vehicles.
Check this out about China playing a brazenly rigged game (duh) in their stock markets:
the government is pulling out all the stops to try to provoke a rally this summer ahead of the Olympic Games.
Earlier in the week, the Chinese government limited block trades in a way that it hoped would reduce the volatility that has wiped more than $2 trillion in market cap off the market since last year. On another day, it imposed a limit on casino growth in the booming gambling city of Macau, causing a surge in shares of the casinos that are already there, including the big Las Vegas boys.
In 2007, buoyed by strong performances by dynamic emerging economies such as China. India, Brazil, and Russia, world merchandise trade in value terms increased by 15 per cent to $13.6 trillion (£6.8 trillion).
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday released an upward revision of 2007 gross domestic product (GDP) that showed growth of 11.9 percent, or 0.5 point more than the initial estimate.
A statement from the agency said that last year's GDP was 291.1 billion yuan (about $41.63 billion) larger than originally estimated, which meant that GDP was 24.953 trillion yuan last year
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