China has been in the news a tremendous amount lately, and most of it has been bad: speculation about a hard landing for its economy; persistent charges of currency and data manipulation; fears of a bursting real-estate bubble; widespread corruption; and a general unease about a potential economic collapse.
By all reports, China is coming in for that “hard” landing (which means 5 percent growth instead of the 8 percent that has been the standard of the last several years). It is a landing that we would gladly welcome in the United States, of course. Part of the what’s-wrong-with-China focus in our politics and media is how much it inflames our own economic anxiety, the sense that things are not going well economically in our own backyard. We are angry about our economic woes, and we need someone or something to blame. China is our fall guy....
Comments