China Doll

Faithful Reader will likely recall the number of times (well... I don't without looking it up) the problem for slave-wage economies has been mentioned; to wit - such economies can only function (mostly, if not completely, for The Elites running the country) if they have open access to high-wage counterparts to dump the goods and services. The USofA and Europe specifically in this day and age. China has been the archetype since Nixon "opened China" in 1972, allegedly for the purpose of providing a new market space for USofA made goods and services. That was all a lie, of course, just as it was for Mexico and the rest of southern America. The purpose was getting access to slave-wage labor; and so it has happened.

So, today brings fresh data that the gag isn't working anymore. Xi's xenophobic and stupid "Zero Covid" 'policy' is being blamed for the burgeoning crisis, but one may also posit that this is the inevitable result of China's ravenous assault on the West.

Exports from China, which has the world's second-largest economy after that of the United States, have now declined for three months in a row while imports have fallen for five consecutive months. The numbers reflect declining foreign demand for Chinese-made products, falling domestic demand, a real estate crisis and geopolitical tensions, including the war in Ukraine.

Note that reference to "real estate crisis". It's been long known that Xi has tried to rein in real estate speculation, but how much different is the Chinese model of 'investment' in one's house than the USofA?

China - 30% of GDP.
USofA - 17.7% of GDP.

But while smaller as a percent of GDP, housing and related activities remain bigly

When looking at gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the economy, housing plays a significant role. Housing's share of GDP was 17.7% in the first quarter of 2021, the latest data available when writing this, which represents a near 14-year high. The housing market can therefore push up or pull down growth, and, right now, housing is a main driver of the expansion.

Well, what about household wealth?
China - 70%
USofA - 68% (but with some caveats)

As we found with The Great Recession, figures don't lie by liars figure. Xi is learning that lesson.