Is Western dominance near its end?
1 Mar 2011 [0 Comments | 109 views]
A new TV series, The West and the Rest, narrated by Niall Ferguson and based on his book of the same name, will be getting its airing soon. But Ferguson’s book is not alone. The last couple of months have also seen the release of ‘Why the West rules for now’ and ‘Why the West [...]
China prepares to save the world, or at least the West’s grocers
1 Mar 2011 [0 Comments | 59 views]
The ‘great bubble of China’ theory is gaining momentum. More are signing up to the view that China’s economy is set to crash, or at the very least go the way of Japan 20 years ago. Here are some reasons why we don’t think this will happen, and here is one example of a British [...]
Now China is slated for Spanish rescue
14 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 299 views]
The answer is: China is a currency manipulator. What’s the question? Sometimes it seems the conclusions that people like to draw are the same, regardless of what the intelligence says. And so it is, or at least this is what we reckon, that China gets hammered whatever it does. You may have heard this one [...]
The world in 2050: India will be close to overtaking the US, and the UK will be a long way down the premier economic league
10 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 582 views]
The UK is set to grow by an average of 2.3 per cent a year for the next 40 years, whereas China will grow by an average of 5.9 per cent, and India by 8.1 per cent. And by the half-way point of this century, not only will China be the world’s largest economy, India [...]
Ford leads the way into China
7 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 197 views]
As you know, China doesn’t buy Western goods. For that matter, Western companies wishing to set up in China have to deal with a sea of red tape making it nigh on impossible for them. It’s all a part of China’s refusal to play fair. And yet, if that is so, explain why it is [...]
Cost of food set to escalate, but is this crisis what it seems?
6 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 339 views]
According to data out from the UN, global food prices hit a new all-time high in December. The Guardian and the Independent were full of woe on the news, warning that prices are now higher than their levels in 2008 when we saw rioting across the world. The Guardian quoted Abdolreza Abbassian, an economist at [...]
Are fears of Chinese inflation exaggerated?
5 Jan 2011 [1 Comment | 344 views]
When food prices go up in China, social unrest builds. It has been argued elsewhere that it was food inflation that led to the rise of Mao, and was also occurring at the time of the Tiananmen Square atrocities. China’s central bank is set to up rates, they say, and the Chinese bubble will be [...]
The world’s most populous country is running out of workers – what are the implications?
16 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 571 views]
China is running out of workers. Around 60 per cent of China’s workforce, or 469 million people, are known as rural. But it seems that a big chunk of these people – around 145 million – spent at least six months away from home last year, presumably working in towns and cities. It is thought [...]
China’s bubble inflates that little bit more
13 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 554 views]
Two bits of news have come out of China over the last few days. Inflation is up, leaving many to forecast hikes in interest rates, which in turn, or so they argue, will lead to the crash in asset prices so many have been predicting. If the Chinese economy is a bubble, then it seems [...]
US and China circle each other like sharks preparing to strike
7 Dec 2010 [3 Comments | 1,073 views]
The burgeoning row between China and the US is like a Great White shark circling off the coast, and the authorities are just about as inept as the mayor of Amity Island who tried to reassure everyone that the waters were safe. Steven Spielberg may have shown remarkable prescience with his famous 1975 film, apparently [...]
