Beijing
We’re starting to like this Julian Assange character, trumped-up rape charges in Sweden notwithstanding. Thanks to the diplomatic cables made public by Assange’s WikiLeaks, we’re getting a better look at GDP numbers published by China.
One of the cables tells of a dinner between the U.S. ambassador to China and the head of the Communist Party. Li Keqiang is his name, and he’s widely expected to become the new premier in a little over two years.Li says if he really wants the pulse of the economy, he needs to know just three things.
Li must be reading from our playbook: We check in from time to time on rail volume and other real-world economic indicators that can’t be massaged by government statisticians.
“By looking at these three figures,” the cable says, “Li said he can measure with relative accuracy the speed of economic growth. All other figures, especially GDP statistics, are ‘for reference only,’ he said smiling,”
Just like the Bureau of Labor Statistics!
Three Things You Need to Know About the Chinese Economy by Addison Wiggin originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe.
No comments:
Post a Comment