China fears unrest – with good reason.
Chinese riot cops.
As much as I dislike China, more specifically the Chinese government, I have to admit they’ve been pretty consistent and candid about one fact: They have to keep GDP growth at at least 8% or risk facing wide-spread social disorder.
In an article on the McClatchy News site, Tom Lasseter notes the unease Chinese officials and other observers are feeling:
Lots of export factories will be shut down, and a lot of migrant workers will lose their jobs,” said Ma Yang, the director of a Beijing-based migrant workers advocacy group called On Action. Ma paused and considered his words: “If the government does not provide assistance to help them through this economic transition, it will create a lot of social problems.”
As a side note, this weekend I was in an REI store (not by my choice) and I happened to notice that all of the products on offer were made in China. ALL of them. At last, I found a flashlight made in the good ol’ USA, albeit with a caveat attached: “Some” of the parts “might” be imported. SIGH!
“The World is in Trouble” sez German Bank Econ
Weimar Currency.
The top economist at Germany’s D-Bank says the green shoots are about to turn brown.
‘The World Is in Trouble’: Deutsche Bank Chief Economist
The global economy still faces turmoil as governments try to figure out how to move out of fiscal rescue packages, which could lead to another two downturns, Deutsche Bank Chief Economist Norbert Walter said Thursday. In addition, nervousness on the part of major dollar holders could pressure the greenback and lead to a very worrying 2010, Walter said. Norbert said recently in research notes “the world is in trouble.”
“I believe that the rescue packages brought on have been so costly for so many governments that the exit from this fiscal policy will be very painful, very painful indeed,” he said. “Some of us are already talking about a W-shaped recovery. I’d probably talk about a triple-U-shaped recovery because there are so many stumbling blocks here to get out of this.”
Mob beats Chinese steel factory executive to death
China Unrest: Chinese riot police get into position as Uighur protesters gather during a demonstration in Urumqi, earlier this month.
Thousands of workers had gathered in northeastern rust belt city of Tonghua to protest the takeover of their company and threatened layoffs.
Chinese state media confirmed Monday that a steel factory executive was beaten to death after thousands of workers gathered to protest the takeover of their company.
Chen Guojun, an executive at Jianlong Steel Holding Co., died Friday after an angry mob in the northeastern rust belt city of Tonghua beat him and then blocked ambulances from reaching him, according to the China Daily.
The protesters worked at the state-owned Tonghua Iron and Steel Group, which was going to be sold to Chen’s privately owned Jianlong Steel. Chen sparked the riot by announcing 30,000 workers would be laid off, the newspaper said.
They dispersed later only after they were assured by authorities the sale would not go through.
– David Pierson
The End of Empire – The BRIC is hitting the fan, folks!
Children playing with stacks of cash in Weimar Germany.
Stop reading right now unless you are prepared to be massively depressed. Our empire has fallen. We are now, officially, the Romans. In a stunning, devastating piece at TruthDig, Chris Hedges puts together the cataclysmic chain of events to come that many of us have struggled to round up and articulate since September of 2007. It took a year after that for the situation to get so bad, on September 21, 2008, that the Congressional leadership was called together by the Fed and Treasury and told without a massive cash infusion of tax dollars the whole rotten movie set that was our economy was going to fall on top of us. Riot, mayhem, violence and disintegration were sure to follow. Out of that meeting was born TARP, TALF, AIG, GM, the stimulus package, etc.
The whole piece is a must read, but some snippets after the jump will curl your hair.
Day Old Bread – 05/26/09
- The Swine flu is a particularly tricky bug.
- It looks like you could get both pig flu and seasonal flu at the same time. (By the way, please note, they’re really only telling the Chinese this, and not us.)
- Meanwhile, the World Bank is not being shy about the possibility of widespread civil unrest as a result of the Depression.
- Speaking of the Depression, many think it could go on for three more years.
It’s The Economy, Stupid! – 04/10/09
Treasury to Banks: Shut up about the freakin’ stress tests!- New Deal 2.0 – ARRA funds working their way into the system.
- Opinion divided on Recovery. Investors still worried. Some wiseguys are calling for a September rebound. I have my doubts. Aso, there is no TRUE recovery until there is full employment of the workers!
- Apparently, it sucks to be the head of that insurance company we own.
Day Old Bread – Odds and Ends – 04/02/09
- Our Barry steps in to break up a fight between the French and the Chinese.
- President and Mrs. Obama put the wow on London. Also, here and here.
- This new government in Israel has a distinct odor about it, and some unsavory characters at its top.
- Unemployment figures keep climbing. Screw the Dow, we better start paying attention to jobs.
- O’Reilly defends the outragous a-holes who work for him.
- Big weaknesses noted in our spy system.
- One in ten Americans now on foodstamps.
Day Old Bread – Odds and Ends – 03/24/09
Williams-Sonoma Net Income Plummets 90%. Are you kidding? Yard sales in my neighborhood are booming with this stuff for pennies on the dollar.- Bishop to skip Notre Dame graduation over Obama’s views. Yes, but diddling altar boys was just okie-dokie, right Excellency?
Daily Gloom – 03/20/09
- Peggy wants the President to be more like this.
- Ms. Noonanham is still bummed. Scared of Islamists, freaked out by Dick Cheney, wishes president were some kind of hog. What vicious brand of Quaalude is this woman ON?
- Speaking of hogs, Goldman Sachs lives high on the one we bought them.
Daily Gloom – 03/18/09
Analyst says banks’ problems will get worse.- World Bank lowers Chinese growth prediction to below civil unrest threshold.
Daily Gloom – 03/13/09
- Polar Bears Know.
- Record number of Americans on unemployment. 5.3 million continuing claims.
- China’s nervous about our T-Bills. Will we default?
- They should talk. They need us worse than we need them. Stop buying crap made in China by prisoners.
Day Old Bread – Odds and Ends – 03/11/09
- Coming soon to a city near you.
- Roubini sez Depression could drag on three more years.
- Republican leaders stash earmarks cash in spending bill.
- Freddie Mac is still in trouble.
Daily Gloom -03/10/09
- Experts sees consumer credit crunch coming. I still say watch out for the big national car loan default.
- Measured by 1930’s methods, we are at 19% unemployment.
- Feds prep for big bank failure.
- Brooks charts course that Republicans should, but won’t take.
Daily Gloom – 03/09/09
China in crisis as once-mighty economy crumbles.- Record 32 million on food stamps!
- GM warns of bankruptcy.
Blood in the Streets? Here? What are the chances of THAT?
- Poll Tax Riot in London, 1990.
- Some prognosticators think it is likely, if not inevitable.
- A European think tank thinks sporadic civil war is possible here in the US.
Bird Flu Update
- It’s official: UN says Chinese bird flu outbreak has pandemic potential.
- UN Experts: “What we are lacking today is a complete and full understanding of the epidemiology of the disease.” That’s comforting.
- Bird flu hits eight provinces of Vietnam nationwide.
Daily Gloom – 02/18/09
- GM considers cuts of 47,000 + jobs.
Crime dramatically increases in a bad economy.
- Goodyear to cut 5,000 jobs. Nobody can afford tires.
- Brink’s Home Security Profits Up. People are preparing for the unrest to come.
- Asian unemployment will continue to balloon – 7.2 million more possible. (more…)
Death Sentence in China for Exec Who Stole $14.6 million.
Say what you will, but the Chinese do not fuck around when handing out punishments. They definitely do not play.
China Also Faces Deflationary Pressures
WSJ’s Marketwatch site has the story here.
Only the scarcity of food “saves” them.
China watchers said declines in consumer price inflation would be sharper if it hadn’t been for resilient food prices as a winter drought ravaged part of the nation’s main agricultural belt. Buoyant consumer spending over the Chinese new year, which fell in the later part of January, also helped underpin prices.
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