US And China Find Common Ground. In A Moody’s Outlook Cut
Beijing is "disappointed." With a lot of things and also with a lot of people, but on Tuesday with Moody's.
The ratings agency cut its outlook for the country's credit rating to negative from stable, citing the likelihood that a shrunken property sector means less revenue for regional and local governments, some of which could "face financial strain for the foreseeable future," imperiling their capacity to support local government financing vehicles and other local state-owned enterprises.
Tha
A wise man used to say that humans have a tendency to claim we’re unequivocally better off than our ancestors, and that we all worship at the altar of growth, without which the world would likely be a more primitive place. As much as you do, I dislike Xi’s China. But if Xi’s efforts to shrink the property sector translate into lower home prices, then the average Chinese should be happier, no? Sure, all of the ‘happiness’ from lower home prices could easily be offset by the psychological impact from the 3-yr lockdown. But that’s another matter (I dislike Xi for that, and Taiwan, of course). I think we can find common ground on the notion that the world’s a better place without persistent home price growth. All of his ‘evilness’ aside, there’s a sense in which Xi is really concerned about the socially deleterious effects from elevated home prices and that he’s committed to arresting the trend, even if it means losing momentum in the superpower race. That’s to say he’s probably more concerned about domestic inequality gap than about moving past the US on the world’s stage. And besides, can we really say for sure that an average American is more happy than an average Chinese?
I’m not Chinese, by the way.