Things I’ve Been Thinking About Lately 

Some Good News about China’s Economy… and Why I Am Happy About It 

I’ve never understood why politicians and other thought leaders in the US celebrate economic decline in large economies like China or Russia. I understand why influential and powerful people make a living by casting the world as a battleground between the US and some big, powerful political enemy. I understand the trillions of dollars made by the Military-Industrial Complex. But I can’t figure out how they can convince large swaths of the public that Russia or China getting power is an economic negative for the US.

It doesn’t take a deep dive into macro-economics to understand that as wealth increases in any country, all kinds of desirable things happen. More international trade, for example, which means more global profits and less war, which means less wealth destruction for every country involved. Maybe someone can explain that to me.

In the meantime, I was happy to hear that in March, after five months of decline, China’s factory activity edged up to 50.8 from February’s 49.1, beating a forecast of 50 by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. (The 50 level separates expansion from contraction.)

This news followed a number of indicators for the January-February period showing the world’s second-largest economy started off the year on a solid footing, led by the manufacturing sector, with exports topping expectations and industrial profits returning to growth.

While the recent run of positive data will help lift the immediate pressure on China’s leaders, who recently set a growth target of around 5% for the year, they must still deal with a long slump in real estate property values, which I, for one, am hoping they can overcome.

Click here.

Speaking of China’s economic potential…

I loved this piece by Garrett Baldwin in the March 31 issue of Postcards from the Florida Republic:

“The Francis Scott Key Bridge won’t be ‘quick, easy, or cheap’ to replace.
“Those are Pete Buttigieg’s words.
“To that… I say… ‘Of course not.’
“Every politician in Maryland has their hand out right now.
“China built a mega bridge in 43 hours with 8,000 workers. [Click here.]
“And they did it for $1 billion.
“We can’t do that.
“You see, because of red tape, the US government will likely have to commission a study on the bridge’s impact on diversity and equity.
“Do you think I’m kidding?
“I’m not.”

Read on here.