Wednesday, October 11, 2006
The Solution to Globalization
It was recently a "Golden Week" here in China which is one of two week-long holidays created about 7 years ago by the government to spur domestic spending. Seems a problem China has is that consumer spending isn't high enough to fuel the growth rate the government would like to sustain. I heard one account that consumer spending went up 14% during that week. It's a rather strange holiday system as it's technically only 3 working days off but almost every business shuts down for 5 days, forcing workers to use up their flex time.
I've got another solution for the Chinese government to consider: they should buy the US! A good old fashioned LBO of the US and it's consumer-oriented economy would provide more than enough markets for Chinese goods. Given the Chinese peg to the US dollar and the huge trade deficit, it's in essence what's going on anyways.
It's rather ironic that China is looking for markets to sell their goods. I remember in 8th grade World History the factoid that back in the 1800s, the British were salivating that if every person in China lengthened their shirt by just 1 inch, it would keep every British tailor employed for the rest of his life.
I've got another solution for the Chinese government to consider: they should buy the US! A good old fashioned LBO of the US and it's consumer-oriented economy would provide more than enough markets for Chinese goods. Given the Chinese peg to the US dollar and the huge trade deficit, it's in essence what's going on anyways.
It's rather ironic that China is looking for markets to sell their goods. I remember in 8th grade World History the factoid that back in the 1800s, the British were salivating that if every person in China lengthened their shirt by just 1 inch, it would keep every British tailor employed for the rest of his life.
