Calm down, dear, it's only China

I am amongst those who have persisted in rudely shouting at the Chinese government things like, "Show us your noodle!"  I do so because I don't believe a damn thing they say about anything, least of all their economic statistics.  Mind you, I am not unsympathetic to their plight in that they are a command apparat trying desperately to reap the rewards of free capitalism whilst maintaining their iron grip on every other facet of Chinese society.

Even so, I bow to the superior knowledge - and intellect - of John Redwood MP who, in his diary today, seeks to calm nerves following the recent dives in the Chinese stock market and the blatant government price-fixing of the value of the yuan.  Nothing to see here, says Mr. Redwood, move along!  Well, OK, but only because you say so.  However, I will continue to  watch them carefully because all governments make mistakes but dictatorial ones make the biggest!

I am off this afternoon to visit the Memsahib's family - yeeeeeees quite!  I should be back late Thursday afternoon.  Feel free to enjoy yourselves in the comments section - but please leave the place tidy!

 

Comments

[Whitewall]

Enjoy your visit with your in-laws. I'm curious, when you arrive, do they bow their heads or go all out and bend the knee?

[David Duff]

They smile, politely, and do their best to keep their grand-kiddie-winkie out of my way!

[AussieD]

G'day Duffers and Whitewall.

Just smile a lot on nod your head Duffers. Works for most situations.

Winter here and the temperature [in our scale of things] colder than the average Aussies greeting for our cricket team.

It was warmer in Norway above the Arctic Circle.

[Whitewall]

AussieD, good to see you back safe and sound.

[Lawrence Duff]

AEP thinks the China alarmists are just so too ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/11810420/Chinas-August-scare-is-a-false-alarm-as-fiscal-crunch-fades.html

... but hedges his bets by saying meltdown will come later rather than sooner.

SoD

[Whitewall]

"... but hedges his bets by saying meltdown will come later rather than sooner". They always do it seems.

[Andra]

I think we should talk among ourselves....after all, we are more interesting than our host, handsome and suave as he is, and all that stuff.
In the land Down Under we have a really boring Prime Minister, who couldn't make up his mind whether to be a monk or a politician. Frankly, I think he's for sure in the wrong profession.
The rest of his team is pretty awful too.
The Opposition is even worse. Lots of people there who should rightfully be in gaol (or even jail).
Then we have our Donald Trump - he's called Clive Palmer and just as good a clown, comic relief and all that. Plenty of money and a lot of balls.... although the word is that his money is dwindling mightily. I think we're all sort of happy about that. Always good to kick a rich man in the gonads, isn't it?
Surely, there used to be "good politicians" or are we just all too cynical now?
And that's my bitch for the day. Aussie D, what do you have to say about our crop of no-hopers?

[David Duff]

Welcome back, AussieD, I gather the Salvation Army rescued you from that bar in Bergen where the schnapps is suspiciously cheap.

As for China, the Commissars are finding out the hard way how difficult it is to control the capitalist beast once it is set even partially free. Overnight the PMI index, that is, Purchasing Managers Index, fell to its lowest in six years. As a commentator said on the radio, a great deal of the Chinese PMI index is from private companies and it is therefore more accurate than any government stats.

Thank goodness we have some wise and shrewd Aussie commenters on this site. You could go a long day's march to read this sort of highly intelligent assessment: "our host, handsome and suave". Couldn't have put it better myself, Andra!