China has reached the end of its economic boom. What comes next should worry every American business — and the rest of the world.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The end of China’s economic boom, just means they cannot maintain above 10% economic growth anymore.

    China has had that for about 40 years now, which is insane compared to anything I know of regarding economic miracles.

    Chances are that China will manage to beat the west again on economic growth, because they invest heavily in infrastructure and education.

    The Chinese Communist Party relentlessly pursued economic development over all else

    Yes many countries have tried that, but none have had a 40 year long success story like China. It could easily be argued that in the same period the west too have had policies of economic growth, to sustain these societies. Just not as successful as China.

    Let’s start with the country’s real-estate market

    Yes and contrary to the financial crises where western governments protected the rich mega companies, China does the Opposite, seemingly a lot like Iceland, that during the financial crisis was among the hardest hit, but let the unprofitable institutions collapse, and was among the first to recover.

    China’s largest real-estate developer, is on the brink of collapse.

    Yes exactly, a company that China may be better off without. As it engages in wild speculative projects that turn sour. So maybe they are better off just letting it collapse? If it collapses, the equipment and projects will probably be split many ways, the rot removed, and the remaining good projects may continue with other contractors. It remains to be seen how China will manage this. But it’s pretty obvious that 40 years of 10% growth will create crazy markets. That may need to be rebalanced and stabilized.

    The real-estate sector is the most visible sign of China’s fading star,

    To be honest, this sounds to me more like wishful thinking, than what we can actually reasonably expect will happen.

    I am absolutely not a fan of Xi Jinping, and his authoritarian style and recent power grab. I hope he will be replaced soon, and China can continue on a more humane inclusive and tolerant path.

    • Remmock@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      No amount of “control” will work to fix something that is inherently flawed at a systemic level. The fall of Evergrande Group was merely one high-profile case of the real estate sector’s general collapse. With Beijing’s crackdown on developers’ high reliance on debt for growth, the entire real estate market, and all the companies within it, have been suffering. However, the Chinese government has been trying to resolve the crisis, having set up a financial stability fund through which it raised $9.6 billion in the first round of fundraising.

      Assume you can prop up their real-estate sector long enough, which at this juncture is akin to a federal department, and you still have to look at the reality of the real estate itself. The only value in Chinese real estate comes from the volume and location of the plot. Chinese construction teams build with the cheapest materials, regularly to the detriment of the building’s ability to last. While some have touted China’s “disposable cities”, the fact is that they are collapsing on their own and ahead of schedule. The buildings are inherently worthless and trust in the companies that construct them are at an all time low in conjunction with the real estate planning and development groups, leading to a brewing economic crisis.

      In addition, China is employing other stopgap measures that indicate a failing economy including massive currency buybacks utilizing agents to inflate the value of their yuan. However, they are not taking meaningful measures to secure the economy in the long term to my knowledge.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        flawed at a systemic level

        Funny how you considered it fundamentally flawed for having problems after 40 years of continuous growth, when we in the west have regular “corrections” generally every 10 years. Some of them major like the .com bubble and the financial crisis.

        Assume you can prop up their real-estate sector long enough,

        How exactly do you measure that for an economy that has increased about 50 fold over 40 years? Obviously the growth in that sector would be enormous compared to anything previously seen. Yes it may have heated too much, but avoiding any serious turbulence for as long as they have, is still impressive by any standard.

        They may experience a few years of turbulence now, probably because they never expected the decline resulting from COVID. But it’s way to early to tell how they will manage. China probably has one of the most self sufficient economies in the world, I think that will make them less vulnerable than most countries.

        • Edgelord_Of_Tomorrow@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Funny how you considered it fundamentally flawed for having problems after 40 years of continuous growth, when we in the west have regular “corrections” generally every 10 years.

          This guy thinks an economy correcting itself is a bad thing