From time to time I’ve written about the troubles facing China, mostly focusing on demographics and resources. Today at Business Insider Linette Lopez has a long, fascinating article on China’s economic crisis—and every crisis in the Chinese economy threatens a crisis in Chinese society and politics. It’s the nature of things in China. I picked the article up at FR:
Chinese institutions are thoroughly corrupt. Bribes must be paid at every level. Basic things like building material safety standards are not effectively enforced. It's not just their export goods that are shoddily made: the trains come off the rails and the buildings fall down. The only things propping up their thoroughly rotten socio-economic structure is the constant state terror and repression of any dissidents and a constant massive influx of foreign trade.
When it falls down, we're going to really feel the consequences of exporting all our jobs and facilities to take advantage of their near-slave labor rates and near complete lack of environmental regulation.
Chinese institutions are thoroughly corrupt. Bribes must be paid at every level. Basic things like building material safety standards are not effectively enforced. It's not just their export goods that are shoddily made: the trains come off the rails and the buildings fall down. The only things propping up their thoroughly rotten socio-economic structure is the constant state terror and repression of any dissidents and a constant massive influx of foreign trade.
When it falls down, we're going to really feel the consequences of exporting all our jobs and facilities to take advantage of their near-slave labor rates and near complete lack of environmental regulation.