"To spend is glorious, China tells populace; Stimulus plan sends coupons to country's poor" by Don Lee, Los Angeles Times | February 3, 2009
HANGZHOU, China - With layoffs spreading and the traditional annual workers bonuses cut or eliminated altogether this year, many Chinese were in no mood to splurge during the recent Lunar New Year holiday - even in a well-off city like this.
So just before the Chinese calendar turned to the Year of the Ox, the local government issued millions of dollars' worth of store coupons to encourage its penny-pinching residents to go out and spend.
Si Gendi, 55, wasted no time in redeeming some of her vouchers. She and hundreds of thousands of other elderly, jobless workers and students received a booklet worth $30 each, for use at some 240 local supermarkets and general merchandise stores.
We threw money away at banks and corporations.
"The last time I got something like this was when I was young," she said. That was back in the 1970s, and those coupons were issued to ration everything from soap to sewing machines.
"Before it was to restrict consumption so you don't waste," Si said, coming out of a Carrefour supermarket with a bag of dumplings. "This time the government wants us to spend more."
Hangzhou, about 120 miles southwest of Shanghai, isn't alone in doling out consumption coupons to its lower-income citizens. Other cities, including Nanjing and Chengdu, are distributing "tourism coupons" to spur spending at restaurants and shops. And throughout rural China, local governments are using money from Beijing to give rebates on purchases of televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, and cellphones.
Such programs are all part of a broader effort to help the needy and boost domestic demand in the face of a global financial crisis that has sapped China's exports and investments and triggered waves of layoffs throughout the economy, from the factories in the south to the high-rise office buildings in the north.
The Chinese Communists may be pricks in a lot of ways, but here is one area they have us beat: compassion. The COMPASSIONATE CHINESE COMMUNIST?
Chinese consumers were already feeling the pinch from the nation's languishing stock and real estate markets.
Car sales in China, which in recent years had surged 20 percent or more annually, sank 10 percent in December from a year ago, according to J.D. Power & Associates. Major chain stores in China have seen a sharp slowdown in sales, analysts say, and expectations for the near future are grim, from both retailers and consumers.
"People have this psychology of crisis," said Victor Yuan, chairman of Beijing-based consultant Horizon Research Consultancy Group, which does polling for the private sector and the government. Horizon's latest survey showed consumer confidence at its lowest since 2003, when severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, broke out.
"The real, real winter for the Chinese economy hasn't come yet," said Chen Jian, chairman of Hangzhou Hengwei Investment Co., which has business in restaurants, real estate and trading.
Hangzhou, one of China's top tourist destinations, is better off than most, but it's not hard to find people here who have cut back. Since October, Liu Jie says, she and her husband have been squirreling away twice as much savings as before, because they could see business was slowing.
In years past, the 31-year-old accountant for a software company received an annual bonus of two months' salary, or about $600, just before the Lunar New Year holiday. "This year, not a penny," she said. Her husband works as a train conductor, earning about $700 a month. His job is safe, Liu said. Still, the couple, which has an 11-month-old son, has cut spending to the bone.
Few expect a big economic lift from the coupon programs, even larger-scale ones in the countryside, where villagers are receiving 15 percent rebates on home appliances. The coupons went to people who don't have much money to spend anyway, which limits their effectiveness.I guess we aren't that much different after all -- except the U.S. never even looked at the poor.
--more--"
I guess the program didn't assuage all Chinese anxieties:
"Shoe hurled at China's Wen misses
CAMBRIDGE, England - A protester hurled abuse and then a shoe at China's prime minister yesterday while he delivered a speech on the global economy at Cambridge University at the end of his trip to Britain.
The protester leaped up from his seat near the back of a crowded auditorium, blew a whistle and yelled that Prime Minister Wen Jiabao was a "dictator" before throwing the shoe.
"How can this university prostitute itself with this dictator here, how can you listen . . . to him unchallenged," he shouted. Like the now-famous incident when an Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at President Bush in December, the gray athletic shoe missed its intended target.
Security staff escorted the protester out of the auditorium. He was arrested and taken to a police station for questioning on suspicion of committing a public order offense, said police spokeswoman Shelly Spratt.
Or more.
--more--"
And I always wonder why some things only get a photograph:
"Field Maneuvers -- Chinese soldiers used washbasins to help irrigate crops in Xuchang yesterday. China declared an emergency to combat a drought that has affected drinking water supplies and farming in eight northern provinces."
Gee, that seems like a BETTER WAY to use the Army -- rather than in these mass-murdering occupations and invasions.
And why would the media want to censor Chinese suffering, 'eh?
Well, back to the important ($$$) things:
BEIJING - Government data showing that China's economy is cooling but still growing have obscured what economists say is a sharp and painful recent decline. The effects have included plunging exports, factory closures, and more than 20 million lost jobs.
What is happening matters far beyond China. Whether the third-largest economy is stalling or still growing could affect how quickly the world recovers. A stagnant China would mean less demand for industrial materials and consumer goods from the United States and other countries....
The pain is evident in factories that are losing business, and in empty restaurants and shops....
--more--"
I must confess, I find it hard to feel too much sympathy since those used to be American factories.
