China, the Ghost Cities, and Idols with Feet of Clay
Posted: December 18th, 2014 | Author: Domingo | Filed under: Apropos of | Tags: Daniel Lacalle, Frederik Balfour, the Chinese ghost cities, The Energy World is Flat: Opportunities from the End of Peak Oil, the great leap forward | Comments Off on China, the Ghost Cities, and Idols with Feet of ClaySome months ago I forwarded a good friend of mine this video about the Chinese ghost cities. Upon reading the book The Energy World is Flat: Opportunities from the End of Peak Oil by Daniel Lacalle, I found the following:
“In March 2014 the Chinese government announced its willingness to move 100 million people from the rural areas to cities throughout the next seven years. Currently around 54% of the Chinese population lives in urban areas, unlike 80% of the developed countries… The “New National Urbanization Plan” aims at reaching 60% by the year 2020 through building on a large scale transportation means, urban infrastructures, and suburbs, under the protection of the government promise that the Chinese urbanization will be more focused on human beings and more respectful with the environment.”
Just two marginal notes from my side:
1.- In 2008 the analyst Frederik Balfour, regarding the Chinese incentives to its economy, stated: “The monetary policy provokes disorders and the expansionary measures send wrong demand signals which we, as human beings, tend to mistake with paradigm changes”.
2.- Lacalle, in his last and afore-mentioned book, said the following: “The big infrastructure development in China show the will to grow at any price”.
Once read this, I find quite difficult to believe China, following USA, will be the next first superpower… with those feet of clay.
P.S.: upon reading the statement “…to move 100 million people from the rural areas to cities” just because the Chinese government has taken this decision, it reminds the “great leap forward” by the comrade Mao: when he decided unilaterally to transform the Chinese agricultural economy into a communist society through a swift industrialization and collectivizing resources, what resulted in the death of more than 30 million people by famine.