Ramping Up China’s Domestic Consumption: What’s Taking So Long?

Patrick Chovanec submits: One of the most insightful and articulate commentators on China’s economy is my counterpart at Peking University, Michael Pettis. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed in March , he offered this succinct summary of the current situation: China’s recent economic problems come courtesy of declining American demand for Chinese exports, and have sparked renewed talk of how Beijing needs to shift from export-dependent growth to a greater focus on domestic consumption. If onl

Entering the Greatest Depression in History

Andrew Gavin Marshall Global Research Friday, August 7, 2009 Introduction While there is much talk of a recovery on the horizon, commentators are forgetting some crucial aspects of the financial crisis. The crisis is not simply composed of one bubble, the housing real estate bubble, which has already burst. The crisis has many bubbles, all of which dwarf the housing bubble burst of 2008. Indicators show that the next possible burst is the commercial real estate bubble. However, the

Is the news business like the music business?

Mark CubanSeveral commentators are buzzing this week about a new book by Chris Anderson, editor of Wired magazine, called “Free: The Future of a Radical Price.” The subject is particularly topical for people in the news industry these days, who are grappling with how to adjust their business models in a time when so much news, information and entertainment is out there free for the taking — including the web site on which you’re reading this.If you’re a fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s (as I am), it’s

Stepping on Superman’s cape causes Iranian inability to count

Xymphora June 20, 2009 Last election, Ahmadinejad won with about 62% of the votes cast and nobody said anything; this election Ahmadinejad won with about 62% of the votes cast and apparently it is the most corrupt election in world history (at least according to American commentators, who should know a corrupt election when they see one). What happened? Did he start unprovoked wars? Did he steal the land of others? Did he lock people up in a cage and then slaughter them? Did he preside over gr

Video-o-rama: Regulatory reform dominates debate

The financial debate during the past few days was dominated by President Obama’s sweeping revamp of financial market supervision, and this issue also occupies a number of slots in today’s Video-o-rama. But it was not all about regulation, as pundits were also trying to figure out whether there were in fact economic “green shoots” and what the implications for financial markets might be. Commentators include Michael Lewis, John Rogers, Robert Kleinschmidt, Jack Welch, Barry Ritholtz, Nouriel Ro