"Russia became a country with a market economy. By 1995-1997, institutions of this new economy were still in their infancy. However, the troubles of socialism, including some of the most obvious, such as the lack of goods in the shops, were over. Money now had real value and a new structure of the economy came into being. For the first time in decades it was based on the concept of supply and demand.
"There is a lot of talk about how the Russian economy depends on exporting fuel and raw materials, but this is something that was also true decades ago. In the late 1960s, rich oil and gas deposits were discovered in Western Siberia. This dependency only strengthened as oil prices around the world peaked in the 1970s.
"Over these years, Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 185% compared with 1998. Its average rate of growth reached 7.3% per year.
, which is translated from
MK Venu, Viewpoint: India - a BRIC between China and US. BBC, Nov 30, 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15950508
("In the past 15 years, India's trade with the US and Japan has been almost stagnant, but that with China has almost doubled every four years and is expected to touch $100bn by 2013. * * * its [Inida's] trade with China surpassed that with the United States two years ago")
My comment: There is no need to read the rest of the article.
(a) "The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks the stock performance of major mainland companies listed in Hong Kong, is down 26% so far this year, making it the worst-performing market gauge in Asia.
"The practice of short-selling — betting that a stock will fall in value — has become so pervasive among traders of Chinese equities that analysts at French banking firm Societe Generale deemed China the 'world's most crowded short.'
(b) "'The reasonable bulls and bears among us agree on most of the facts,' Northwestern's [Victor] Shih said. 'But at the end of the day, we disagree on the Chinese government's ability to make tough changes.'
My comment:
(a) Nostradamus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostradamus
(Michel de Nostredame (1503-1566), usually Latinised to Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies)
(b) View the graphic to the left of the text. There is no need to read the text except the quotation above, for the rest does not say much new.
(6)
(a) 深圳IBM代工厂千人罢工抗议长时间加班. VOA Chinese, Nov 24, 2011 http://www.voanews.com/chinese/n ... IKES-134455963.html
(台资企业深圳精模电子科技有限公司)
(b) 订单减少，珠三角工潮再现. VOA Chinese, Nov 24, 2011 http://www.voanews.com/chinese/n ... abor-134466673.html
(东莞贝乐园玩具厂的经理沈力行对美国之音说，受国内外经济大环境的影响，东莞制造业、特别是中小加工产业已经提前进入寒冬，不少工厂都是勉强支撑，估计撑不过这个年关，很快就要倒闭了。他说：'订单少，资金方面也很紧张，工人的工资就会有拖欠等等，工人就罢工了。税收方面、政府的压力、海外订单、人民币升值，这些都是有原因的。再有就是原材料拼命地涨价，物价涨得厉害'")
(c) David Pierson, Chinese Factories Hit by Strikes Amid Manufacturing Slowdown. Los Angeles Times, Nov 29, 2011 http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/ ... uring-slowdown.html
("The strike at the plant owned by the Taiwanese Pou Chen Group came shortly after 18 managers were laid off because of declining orders, according to the Economic Observer, a Chinese newspaper")
(9) Anne VanderMey, By the numbers: Ikea in China, one of its fastest-growing markets. Fortune, Dec 12, 2011 (print cover date; published online Nov 30, the latest issue). http://features.blogs.fortune.cn ... res/?iid=SF_F_River