[Marxism] News of the Recovery

[S. Artesian]

The latest data I have on China is that the rate of growth of industrial 
production measured 7.3% , which was half the rate of growth that April 08 
achieved over its predecessor year.  In addition the April mark was a 
percentage point below the March growth rate.

But.......but sometimes China's statistical reporting is a bit opaque... 
China also reported that ELECTRICITY production in April declined 3.5% 
year-on-year, which does not square well with the reported growth in 
industrial output.  I don't know if China has ever reported such a 
divergence in these two measures before.

And.... China's exports were down 22.6% y-o-y in April with imports down 23%

The scenario you describe regarding dollar collapse-debt reduction certainly 
is possible-- hell the US did that and in spades to Japan... But... and 
there's always a but, I'm not sure that the bourgeoisie wouldn't rather play 
it a different way, in the interim having the yuan-renminbi appreciate 
slowly/quickly to the point where China has to allow full convertibility and 
then...  flip the script, and  launch the Soros missile,  the currency 
traders, to make China defend the yuan and gut the economy in the process.

Anyway, in other lovely news,  on May 12 Trichet of the ECB said that "the 
bottom has been reached"  in the current contraction, by which he must have 
meant on exactly that day because Eurostat is reporting that in the 1Q 2009 
the eurozone GDP fell by a larger than anticipated 2.5%, dragged down by a 
4% contraction in Germany [the largest exporter in the EU].

4Q 2008 decline in the eurozone had been 1.6 percent.

So much for green shoots, and the optimism brought about by the " sure it's 
lower, but it's get lower at a slower rate" ideology... speaking of which, 
do you know what it means when a falling body is no longer accelerating in 
its fall?  The body has reached its terminal velocity.  Now that's a cause 
for celebration, isn't it?

Right here at home, for those interested, rail traffic [measured in 
ton-miles] is off a mere 22% in April year-on-year.  There are a lot of 
locomotives, auto-carriers, container/trailer flat cars, in storage--  
actually presenting major logistical problems as railroad sytems, yard and 
mainline, are designed for capacity based on movement, not storage.

Unlike the airlines, railroads don't have a big fat desert to park unused 
equipment.

And ocean-going vessels?  Laid up at sea, like floating warehouses, EMPTY 
floating warehouses.

Circulation, wrote Marx, sweats money from every pore.  Gives a whole 
different meaning to "No Sweat."

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "brad bauerly" <bbauerly at gmail.com>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2009 10:20 AM
Subject: [Marxism] News of the Recovery


>I would also like to look at some data on China.