I was surprised that up until the last presentation there had been little mention of the relationship between the Chinese and US economies. There was some mention of China now and then, but it was generally only in passing.
Michael Drury on China. A fun presentation with lots of surprise statements.
The CPI in China is near 2%; also the PPI is low, too, near zero. Inflation has not run rampant there....yet.
Growth is slower than expected and than it has been. That shows up in real GDP, rail shipments, electricity production.
"The people in power in China are not all that different from those in Russia. It’s a kleptocracy." Whoa. Yes, he really said that. And then he followed it up with,
"Don’t invest in the Chinese stock market because it doesn’t really exist."
As a result of these observations, he is skeptical about the effectiveness of proposed banking reforms.
It is and would be a difficult project breaking up the state-owned enterprises. There are too many vested interests.
Environmental controls are really important. Pollution in the major cities is serious and Chinese officials are trying to do something(s) about it.
Fun concluding note (paraphrased):
The most important price in the world is not the price of oil. It is not the price of gold. It is the price of pork in China, which affects the world price of corn. The two move together.
My attendance at the summit is supported by several sponsors, including the Department of Economics at The University of Regina.