SPECIAL REPORT: Trump's trade war puts China's once vaunted economy in real peril

The Washington Times ^ | Tuesday, March 19, 2019 | Ethan Epstein

[E. Pluribus Unum]

BEIJING — Since the 2009 global financial crisis hobbled most of the world’s developed countries, China has been the economic locomotive pulling the rest of the world behind it.

As the economies of Europe, the U.S. and Japan stagnated, China went from strength to strength. It surpassed its Asian rival to the east a decade ago in total gross domestic product to become the world’s second-largest economy, with its sights trained squarely on the United States.

Indeed, judged by what economists call purchasing power parity — the idea that services such as a haircut are valued equally — Beijing already can claim the title of the world’s largest economy.

But the sputtering Chinese-driven train appears to have pulled into the station. Growth targets have been slashed. Exports have fallen. Debt levels are rising. Some economists even say China is in a recession.

“It is true that China’s economy has encountered new, downward pressure,” Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told reporters last week at the conclusion of the annual National People’s Congress gathering in Beijing. Faced with growing pressures within and without, the government said it plans to create more than 11 million jobs this year to avoid a politically disruptive slowdown.

Mr. Li used unusually stark language to describe the challenges China faces. He said government planners at all levels need to “turn the blade inward” and “cut our own wrists” to carry out the sacrifices needed to keep the economy afloat.

In the long-run competition between the U.S. and China for economic supremacy, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said he is betting on the U.S.

[central_va]

Why we need a 25% import tariff NOW!!!!

[bert]

but mostly, you lack the competence to run a business so you dreamup paltry rationalizations