What’s going on in the Hong Kong Island?
China is the largest exporter in the world? Really…that’s, like, so yesterday’s news. Today’s gossip is that the Middle Kingdom has convincingly taken over the US as the world’s largest auto market; something that would surely have Mr. Henry Ford rolling over in his grave. Auto sales in China jumped 46% for 2009, compared to a 21% slump in American markets. Sales of passenger cars, buses and trucks rose to a huge 13.6 million. The US managed to sell only 10.1 million vehicles during that same period. Figures in the now-number-two market haven’t been that weak in almost three decades. And, thanks to President Obama’s “Cash for Clunkers” fiasco, the US has already spent a huge chunk of tomorrow’s demand, too. The elite economists in the administration think they have saved the auto industry, because the supposed demand for trucks has been stimulated. They will spin that jobs have been saved, and Detroit has been given a shot in the arm.
China is not without its own government meddling, however. Eventually all bureaucratic meddlers become aware that their spot would be better left vacant.
An article in this morning’s Flipping Real Estate blog warns that the Chinese economy may soon reach a overheated 16% growth rate if China’s loose monetary policy is not tightened up and reformed. Either way, Economic realities care not for economists’ or politicians’ definition of jobs saved, and growth. To capitalize on the meddling, buy and hold residential real estate. Prices have bottomed out and started to rise.
