Things are going to get worse for America

[Happyville]

A couple of weeks ago I commented on a signs article, China Slowdown

I can't reference this or link it to an English language source, but info from credible sources working in China suggests that something strange is happening. Prices for raw materials, (oil based plastics) have sky-rocketed. This coupled with new Chinese labour policies doubling worker wages effective Jan 1 08, has caused panic across the chinese manufacturing sector. Last month over a thousand factories in Guangdong Province had shut down. Many goods produced in China are produced on 4-8 month lead times, so dramatic price increases on goods from China could be felt in 8-12 months time... Sorry I can't reference this info but I am sure more direct and indirect evidence of this will soon surface...

After mining the internet for english language stories I found one in Todays N/Y Times.

China’s Inflation Hits American Price Tags

Because of new cost pressures here,(china) American consumers could see prices increase by as much as 10 percent this year on specific products — including toys, clothing, footwear and other consumer goods — just as the United States faces a possible recession.

I was hoping maybe David Hunt could factor this in to his economic outlook as these price increases will negativley affect an already strained US economy, one that TPB are still trying to convince people is nothing more than a blip. But the reality is that there is NO Good news on the horizon for the US economy for the foreseeable future.

Of Course the NYtimes does not comment on the approx 1200 soft-goods factories that have gone out of buisness in the last 4 months. These closures are not due to ecomomic reasons, but due to to the fact that their is a cheap labour shortage in china. There is something to be said when the worlds richest (greediest) countries have exhausted the worlds most populous labor market...

On a good note however, the Chinese labour force, is starting to gain power and momentum; gaining the luxury of demanding human rights and safe/comfortable working conditions. Over the last couple of months and years the World has demanded that China fix their human rights problems. Now that the government is passing laws in favor of the labour force, the world should be content to know that we are all going to pony up $$$ for human rights in China...

 

[Mr. Premise]

Yes, and the effect will be much worse because of the dropping dollar.

Because of new cost pressures here,(china) American consumers could see prices increase by as much as 10 percent this year on specific products — including toys, clothing, footwear and other consumer goods — just as the United States faces a possible recession.

I was hoping maybe David Hunt could factor this in to his economic outlook as these price increases will negativley affect an already strained US economy, one that TPB are still trying to convince people is nothing more than a blip. But the reality is that there is NO Good news on the horizon for the US economy for the foreseeable future.

...