View on China’s Meltdown: The End of a Flawed Globalization

The stock market declines in China herald a new era with fewer imbalances. The economic slowdown was expected and may signal other countries are developing and restoring capabilities to manufacture. US consumers have eased spending and can no longer be depended on to snap up exports from around the globe. China oversaw a huge economic expansion, lifting many from poverty. The government invested in the country’s future and will continue to post growth rates envied by other nations. Still, double-digit growth could not be sustained, notes an editorial in the Guardian, and the government did not handle the market declines well, going into denial and targeting messengers who delivered bad news. The end is in sight for “a terribly skewed system in which western consumers made up for disappointing wages by borrowing money from Chinese producers, who in turn bought up western bonds, banks and land,” concludes the Guardian, and that is good for both China and the West. – YaleGlobal