Thread: Inflation in China Escalates - Miracle Expansion or Bubble

Inflation in China Escalates - Miracle Expansion or Bubble to Burst?

Economics / Inflation
Sep 12, 2010 - 01:29 PM

By: Mike_Shedlock

The New York Times reports Inflation in China Is Rising at a Fast Pace http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/busin ... ss&emc=rss

From street markets to corporate offices, consumers and executives alike in China are trying to cope with rising prices. The National Bureau of Statistics announced on Saturday that consumer prices in China were 3.5 percent higher compared with a year earlier, the largest increase in nearly two years.

To make matters worse, inflation over the short term also seems to be accelerating. A seasonally adjusted comparison of August prices to July prices showed that inflation was running at an annualized pace closer to 4.8 percent.

Prices are rising in China for reasons that many Americans or Europeans might envy. The economy is growing, stores are full and banks are lending lots of money, according to other statistics released by the government on Saturday.

Compared with August of last year, industrial production rose 13.9 percent last month, retail sales increased 18.4 percent, bank lending climbed 18.6 percent and fixed-asset investment surged 24 percent.

All four categories rose slightly more than economists had expected, in the latest sign of the Chinese economy’s strength even as recoveries seem to be flagging elsewhere.

But salaries for recent college graduates, at $300 to $500 a month in coastal areas, have actually declined in the last few years, even before adjusting for inflation. A rapid expansion of universities over the last decade has resulted in more young men and women with undergraduate degrees than companies are ready to hire, except at lower pay.

And as in many countries, retirees are among the most vulnerable to inflation. Ms. Lam said her own mother lived on a pension of just $150 a month.

Rising wages are putting pressure on companies to increase their prices. Mr. Dong, the sales manager at the Ningbo Deye Domestic Electrical Appliance Technology Company, said the company had to raise wages by 10 percent a year, while raw material costs were also climbing.

“It is impossible to transfer our cost increases entirely to our customers, because if we do so, they will all run away,â€

It's not a miracle or bubble, it's real and the result of increased productivity and low taxes, something we used to have here.