Labour: always on the wrong side of history. First they were against EU membership. Now they think China is the future.
On Forbes right now – a good explanation of why China’s economic system is headed for collapse: it doesn’t have a market. And our government wants to hitch us to this particular wagon while selling European Union passports even as he fights with the European Union.
MAJOR DEFAULT IN CHINA SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 31
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Observers make the logical argument that “to have a market meltdown, you have to have a market” and China does not have one. Instead, Beijing technocrats dictate outcomes.
That’s correct, but that is also why China is now heading to catastrophic failure. Because Chinese leaders have the power to prevent corrections, they do so. Because they do so, the underlying imbalances become larger. Because the underlying imbalances become larger, the inevitable corrections are severe.
Downturns, which Beijing hates, are essential, allowing adjustments to be made while they are still relatively minor. The last year-on-year contraction in China’s gross domestic product, according to the official National Bureau of Statistics, occurred in 1976, the year Mao Zedong died.
Why will China’s next correction be historic in its severity? Because Chinese leaders will prevent adjustments until they no longer have the ability to do so. When they no longer have that ability, their system will simply fail. Then, there will be nothing they can do to prevent the freefall.
We are almost at that critical point, as events last June and December demonstrate.
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Maybe the Chinese knew this would happen all along and want a quick fast (and possibly secret) way of jumping ship.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2014/01/19/mega-default-in-china-scheduled-for-january-31/
One additional fact is that the Chinese are still refusing to float their currency. The so called Chinese growth is due to key factors: cheap (read slave) labour, and a non-floating and artificial (read manipulated) currency exchange rate.
If the Chinese had to open the exchange rate, the whole fictitious Chinese economy would collapse. I think we might see this collapse within our lifetime.
One additional fact that is barely mentioned is the uprising and violence in the rural west of China where provinces are pushing for autonomy or outright independence.
That’s why they’re preparing for an escalation of the conflict with Japan, ratcheting up the rhetoric and carrying our more aggressive patrolling. Keep the people afraid of an external threat, and they’ll unite behind you.
They’re even building a second carrier. Back home, we’ve had a short but sharp exchange in The Times’ letter pages.
See what comes of not having foreign policy experts among our pundits? Everyone thinks China is the bees’ knees and there is no one to say otherwise. I wish Manduca (who is not a foreign policy expert, but the best we can do) would stop bashing Russia and do a bit of research on China. Then he’d realise who the real bastards are.
It’s actually quite amazing how lacking commentary on the real situation in China is over here.
I understand all the focus on the Mediterranean, but with all the talk of rapprochement between Malta and China, we should be taking more interest in what really is going on there.
China is shopping for ports in the Mediterranean.
They are stocking up ships and weapons, enough to,pose threat against the US and its allies.
The us focus is currently on Asia and the Pacific sea to protect countries like Japan, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, and yes even Vietnam (very subtly).
China, on the other hand, is expanding close to our home. In Malta, they found the perfect stooge. Why are the Chinese opening a massive embassy (I.e. Military Operations center) in Pembroke? Why is the MLP talking of alliances with non -European partners.
As long as Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri cash in, the hell with the future prospects and long term harm done to Malta.
Hear, hear!
It boils down to one of the main differences between LP and PN: short-sightedness and instant gratification versus strategic thinking and delayed gratification.
I believe many of the LP voters’ reasons (especially the switchers’) were about instant gratification: I want this, I want it now rather than work for my goal and reap the results later.
I know nothing of economics but even a cursory look at modern history shows that, by their very nature, dictatorships are economically vulnerable.
In a small way, we experienced this in Malta itself when the Mintoff government started taking over the role of the private sector: engaging in bulk-buying, opening factories and negotiating barter agreements with foreign governments.
It was an economic disaster.
See Time magazine of 2/12/2013 (time magazine.com) for an in depth analysis of the current economic and social situation in China. It doesn’t bode well for the future.
They are exploring China at the time its economy is dwindling from double figures to single figures and still on the decline. A snail and a crab are safer and more secure than Labour`s international politics. The snail lumbers and does not rush but always gets to the finish without glitches, u turns, fibs and quibbles. The mythical crab never walks backwards, it goes either forward or at least sideways but never backwards as Labour does. I do strongly recommend that henceforth we should be saying “SEJRIN LURA BHAL LABOUR” and do justice to the crab.
As for China, I would say that all that glitters is certainly not gold. And lest we forget, in spite of all whitewashing attempts to the contrary, China is a totalitarian centrally controlled state where human rights are crushed and the rule of law is anathema. In short, it is the complete antithesis of the Europe we proudly form part of. Let no Joseph Muscat hoodwink us otherwise.
No comments necessary.
‘Malta and China have signed a cultural agreement which will see China involved in several cultural projects in Malta.’
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140122/local/malta-signs-cultural-agreement-with-china.503658#.Ut_vKMukqSM
http://rt.com/news/hypersonic-vehicle-missile-china-665/
Underestimating China would be a huge mistake. Despite all talk of economics, the old concept of might is right still is the rule. Unless you believe there will just be a ‘freefall’