Bloomberg (June 15)
“The trouble is, every time China’s leadership finds itself with the appetite for the long-awaited rebalancing away from investment and toward consumption, it finds itself staring into a terrifying abyss of slowing growth…. Beijing has been trying to take its foot off the accelerator of state fixed-asset investment almost since it tapped it two years ago, but private investment clearly hasn’t been sufficient to fill the gap.” Now a trade war is likely to “trample” the long-awaited rebalancing.
Tags: Appetite, China, Consumption, Investment, Leadership, Private, Rebalancing, State, Trade war
Washington Post (April 18)
“Nothing like this has happened in human history…. Men outnumber women by 70 million in China and India.” The results are “far-reaching: Beyond an epidemic of loneliness, the imbalance distorts labor markets, drives up savings rates in China and drives down consumption, artificially inflates certain property values, and parallels increases in violent crime, trafficking or prostitution.” Moreover the consequences extend all the way to Europe and the U.S.
Tags: China, Consequences, Consumption, Distortions, Europe, Imbalance, India, Labor markets, Loneliness, Men, Property values, Savings, U.S., Violent crime, Women
Bloomberg (January 24)
This April, Capetown may become the first “great world city” to run out of water. Experts now expect “the reservoirs that feed this most beautiful of coastal cities will drop below critical levels, and stand at 13.5 percent of capacity. Taps will run dry in homes and businesses, and residents may have to start lining up” to fill containers with no more than “25 liters per person, as the city government desperately tries to reduce water consumption.” This is what happens when you “ignore warnings, underinvest and pretend that the rain will fall.”
Tags: Capetown, Consumption, Dry, Rain, Reservoirs, Taps, Underinvestment, Warnings, Water
CNN (December 1)
“Nearly every piece of plastic ever made still exists today. More than five trillion pieces of plastic are already in the oceans, and by 2050 there will be more plastic in the sea than fish, by weight… Some 8 million tons of plastic trash leak into the ocean annually, and it’s getting worse every year. Americans are said to use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.” The potentially catastrophic impact largely lies beyond our gaze in remote places, like Midway Atoll, where birds are dying from plastic consumption. There is now also “growing evidence that fish may prefer eating plastic to food,” and that the nano-plastics and styrene that make their way into the food chain could have profoundly negative consequences for humankind.
Tags: Birds, Consequences, Consumption, Evidence, Fish, Food, Food chain, Midway Atoll, Nano-plastics, Oceans, Plastic, Remote, Styrene
Financial Times (January 14)
“Decades of anaemic wage increases, lower job security and lacklustre consumption” have undermined a generation of Japanese who are now coming to age. Dismal economic factors have “stripped away” their incentives “to leave home, buy cars, marry, have children, take risks and generally grow up.”
Tags: Anaemic, Cars, Children, Consumption, Dismal, Incentives, Japan, Job security, Marriage, Risks, Wages
The Economist (September 26)
“With China’s “decades-old investment boom fast dwindling, it needs consumption to kick in as a new driver of growth.” Fortunately, rebalancing is progressing with retail sales increasing “by 10.5% in real terms this year, well ahead of economic growth.” Amid industrial downturn, “China’s consumer boom is real. But do not count on it to lift the global economy.” This great consumer rebalancing is even less likely to benefit “commodity-exporting countries whose fortunes have hinged on China.”
Tags: China, Commodities, Consumption, Growth, Industrial downturn, Investment, Rebalancing, Retail sales
The Economist (August 15)
“This is the year that the economic plan of Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, should be taking wing…. Yet the economy’s performance has been underwhelming. The problems have been weak industrial production, thanks to a slowdown in exports to America and China, and anaemic household consumption.”
Tags: Abe, China, Consumption, Economy, Exports, Industrial production, Problems, Slowdown, U.S., Underwhelming
The Economist (January 25, 2014)
“In some ways, China’s market is still the world’s most enticing. Although it accounts for only around 8% of private consumption in the world, it contributed more than any other country to the growth of consumption in 2011-13.” But China is proving vexing to foreign firms as they find themselves subject to government whims, strong local competition, a tighter labor market and slowing growth. Some are scaling down. Others stumbling or even pulling out. “China is still a rich prize. Firms that can boost productivity, improve governance and respond to local tastes can still prosper. But the golden years are over.”
Tags: China, Competition, Consumption, Enticing, Foreign firms, Golden years, Governance, Government, Growth, Labor market, Productivity, Slowing
Council on Foreign Relations (February Issue)
“Economists have long argued that taxing oil consumption would be the most efficient way to address U.S. vulnerability to overpriced and unreliable oil supplies. Yet energy taxes are a third rail in American politics.” This may change, however, amid increasing focus on narrowing the deficit. “It might be possible to reconsider oil taxes not only as an unwelcome burden, but as an alternative to something worse.” If done optimally, taxing oil consumption “can improve economic performance while reducing oil consumption.”
Tags: Consumption, Deficit, Economists, Oil tax, Performance, U.S.
