China’s Economy Surpassing U.S.? Well, Yes and No

Wall Street Journal ^ | 4/30/14 | Tom Wright

[SoFloFreeper]

There are a number of reports around Wednesday (here and here) that China’s economy, by one measure at least, is likely to surpass the U.S. in size sometime this year. The headlines will surprise many people, used to hearing China’s economy will overtake the U.S. sometime in the 2020s, or even later. On Wednesday, the International Comparison Program, a statistical project coordinated by the World Bank, announced new data on the size of economies by purchasing power parity that suggests China’s economy is bigger than previously thought.

[SoFloFreeper]

Regardless of the measure, the VERY fact that this is happening shows Obamanomics to be an extreme failure.

But the man child remains protected by the media.

[samtheman]

The number googol is 1 followed by a hundred zero’s, 10 to the 100 power, 10^100

A googolplex is 1 followed by a googol zero’s, 10 to the googol power, 10^(10^100)

The 2008 US presidential election was a googol times pathetic

The 2012 re-election of our Maximum Moron was a googolplex pathetic...

We will reap the consequences for generations to come.

[Neidermeyer]

Good luck coming up with a valid measure ,, between their ghost cities and our counting gov’t spending in the GDP ,, along with the entire finance sector I don’t see how.

[LS]

True, but to keep this in the realm of economis, there is a dynamic that China is already experiencing: as countries climb out of poverty, they have to rely on more skilled and educated workers. . . Who demand more money. When they start getting more money, the PPP ratio narrows. Eventually it disappears until the only factor driving productivity is innovation, which usually comes from the most educated groups.

It's like trying to get 100% efficiency ---the first gains are huge, but by. The 90s each additional percent is vastly more expensive.

Finally, for China, this is all dependent on allowing greater property ownership and freedom. Whether China can or will permit this level of freedom remains to be seen. So far, no communist country has done so, largely because they don't have common law to hold together society when collectivism goes.

[Alberta's Child]

I'm no fan of Obama, but that's simply not true.

China's population is at least four times larger than ours. As time goes on and their standard of living improves, it would be shocking if China's economy wasn't larger than ours.

[bert]

No, it shows that the Chicaps are emerging as a strong force. The latent entrepreneurial bent of China is being released and the result in addition to some inadvertent chaos is growth. The opportunity for better lives is the culprit.

Chinese girls wanting Daisy Mae’s are more responsible than Obama’s failure. Like all things Obama, he could not influence anything positive, much less economic growth in China.

[silverleaf]

so how many illegal immigrants are sneaking into China?

[BobL]

What does it matter, I am an AMERICAN and therefore WE ARE THE BEST and BIGGEST and the STRONGEST.

(how I was treated here when I brought this subject up over the past few years - oh well, I guess I was right)

[sphinx]

The sooner China becomes rich, the better. One can slice and dice the numbers different ways, but China has four times our population and will have the world's largest economy when their per capita GDP reaches one fourth our level. I, for one, am not going to be resentful of Chinese people earning 25% of our incomes. The sooner they climb the income ladder, the better.

A generation ago, Japan was the unstoppable juggernaut that was going to dominate the world. But as Japan achieved rough parity, lo and behold, its wage advantage disapppeared, and it acquired all the problems of mature economies with which we have long struggled. We can compete just fine with Japan, as equals, and that's how it should be.

China is still climbing the learning curve. There is vigorous internal debate in China on modernization issues. The reformers understand that China is now too big to play stupid little mercantilist games; it needs instead to assume its share of responsibility for the orderly functioning of global markets. The reformers, however, are still battling an old guard that still wants to play beggar-thy-neighbor games. That makes China unpredictable.

This is a stage of growth issue. China has had a generation of extraordinary economic growth but is now at a point at which an established formula needs to change. That isn't easy, especially when the country is governed by a closed party elite whose sole claim to legitimacy is economic performance. They may have to learn some hard lessons before the old guard accepts greater openness and transparency. The good news, however, is that plenty of Chinese have already figured this out, and they are likely to win in the end because they are right, which usually helps in the long run.