Saturday, October 24, 2009

Signs Of Wealth Transfer In US-China Car Sales

This should be a milestone. Car sales in China has surpassed the US.

According to the Economist,

(all bold highlights mine)

``CHINA'S car market has overtaken America’s in sales volume for the first time, several years earlier than analysts had predicted before the financial crisis. Plummeting demand in the West is to blame. Earlier this year, as the American government was buying 61% of General Motors and 8% of Chrysler to prevent them from collapsing, the two manufacturers’ sales in China were rocketing. GM’s sales in China in August more than doubled on a year earlier. For 2009 as a whole the company predicted a 40% rise. Sales of all car brands in China in August were up by about 90%, helped by a cut in the purchase tax on smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. There is also huge pent-up demand as a new middle class takes to the road."

Additional observations:

-the economic orientation of the West had been built mainly on policy induced culture of dissaving and debt financed consumption spending, whereas China has revolved around savings, thrift and production. The difference is that the West consumed its capital whereas the East accumulated capital. The eventual outcome: a dynamic of wealth transfer

-GM's iconic Hummer is still in the process of being sold to a lowly heavy machinery outfit called Tengzhong, this adds salt to injury.

-the apparent dynamics of wealth transfer is now being manifested in the car sales above where China has supplanted the US.

-yet this is a clear sign of decoupling, from which globalization hasn't totally eliminated.

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