Zombie Factories Stalk the Sputtering Chinese Economy

Re:Zombie Factories Stalk the Sputtering Chinese Economy by aurelianito on Saturday August 29, 2015 @07:03AM (#10139633)

Reading it reminded me of the articles in the same tone that were written against Argentina, also asking for more misery for the people here. They were wrong. Argentina recovered from e 2001 crisis by kicking the IMF out of the country. The IMF uses this kind of discourse to oppress countries. I hope China's government will be wise enough to not let the IMF bankrupt them.

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Re:Zombie Factories Stalk the Sputtering Chinese Economy by adventured on Saturday August 29, 2015 @11:52AM (#10140383)

Argentina didn't recover by kicking the IMF out. Their growth over that time is almost identical to Chile and Brazil. It began at the exact same time all economies began expanding, including Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador as well. The expansion was a macro effect, not something Argentina did.

Worse, Argentina's GDP has hardly moved in 20 years on an inflation adjusted basis. Their debt is soaring faster than during the 2001-02 crisis. [1] Last year their economy had 40% to 60% inflation [2], and is in dire condition. I'd say Argentina is doing a fine job of bankrupting itself. I'm just wondering who they're going to blame this time. [3]

[1] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-01/argentina-...

[2] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-07/argentina-...

[3] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-07-17/-no-why-ar...

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Re:Zombie Factories Stalk the Sputtering Chinese Economy by ghaff on Saturday August 29, 2015 @12:56PM (#10140613)

This article from The Economist a while back [1] gives what seems to be a pretty good rundown of Argentina's rather sad economic and political history.

[1] http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21596582-one-hundred-...

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Re:Zombie Factories Stalk the Sputtering Chinese Economy by AJ007 on Saturday August 29, 2015 @01:08PM (#10140652)

China isn't dependent on external creditors. Greece would be a better comparison.

If one wishes to participate in global trade then unfortunately there isn't much a country can do once it has borrowed money in a foreign currency. Germany just finished paying off debt dating back to World War I reparations last year. Greece, Argentina may have a hundred years to go before they are back to "normal."

China is more in a situation where they have let things get far out of balance. It is hard to sympathize. Irreversible environmental destruction on a massive scale has occurred across the world trying to rush the delivery of raw material so that China could construct infrastructure rapidly. Much of this may not have even been built in a quality that will last for a long time.

Fast growth always creates imbalances -- whether you are a country or a private company. China now has to decide how they will re-balance. For now they are making the decisions for themselves, however as a participant in global trade the actions of many other countries will provide constraints.

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