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China’s shock + awe economy

8-4-2024 < Attack the System 25 217 words
 
If you build it, they will come. Even if they don’t, just keep building.

That’s the West’s major concern with China these days. The country is overproducing goods and then flooding global markets with them to save its struggling economy, writes Business Insider’s Huileng Tan.



We’ve seen this strategy before in China. Decades ago, as the country opened up its economy, China underwent rapid industrialization, allowing it to produce cheap goods.



The US and other countries cheered China on, profiting handsomely along the way from the lower production costs. But the result was US communities that relied on manufacturing jobs were decimated.



The process was known as “China shock,” and the rest of the world isn’t interested in a sequel, Huileng writes.



China shock 2.0 isn’t a total repeat. This time, China’s focused on green energy, which involves making electric vehicles, solar cells, and lithium-ion batteries. And it’s also building out a supply chain to get the materials to produce the stuff, which is also concerning for the West.


US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has already warned China shock 2.0 could destabilize the global economy, specifically impacting green-energy exports. And a New York Federal Reserve report suggests this could ultimately lead to higher inflation in the US.

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