The economy is doing just fine here. As this article in The Times states, the economy here is booming. They are buying more new cars and appliances than we are! Oh my God!
Wait. There are a billion more people here than in the US, too. The vast majority still scrub their clothes by hand, and get to work on public transportation, on foot, or two wheeled conveyance.
However, things really are pretty good here in Guangdong Province. There is work, and people are doing just fine. And things just keep getting more prosperous. You can tell by the increase of bad drivers behind the wheels of new cars. I still can't figure out how anybody in their right mind would want to own a car here. The streets are inadequate for the traffic and parking is non existent. If we go somewhere with a friend in their car we can expect the trip to take at least 10 minutes longer than if we took a taxi since they have to find a parking place. Parking in front of a department store is usually about 2 spaces deep and has a couple of attendants directing traffic. People wait a long time for a space to become available. To me it is a sad commentary that some of the once thrifty Chinese now shell out 20 thousand bucks to make a trip that takes longer, that could have been made for a two dollar cab fare.
According to the article, people are borrowing more and using credit cards more, but the government told the banks to back off of the loaning if they don't have the capital to cover the loans. Can you imagine the US government telling our banks to do anything prudent that didn't have a giant loophole? While the US government pretends to fix the economy at home, the government here seems to be keeping its economic beast moving along at a sound pace.
