The Chinese trade deficit tells us that consumerism is alive in China. But that’s impossible, because our economic wizards told us that consumerism won’t rise there.
What are they buying?
The China trade deficit tells us that the US consumer is tapped out while China is still ramping up for a boom that most likely isn’t coming.
China is an export dependent economy as are most of the developing countries. If you add together the consumption of BRIC, Brazil Russia India China, it adds up to one fourth of American consumption. Those countries need American consumption. If it doesn’t come back they will be in big trouble.