A quick look at the effects of economic crises on China now

A familiar troublesome site. Now it is closed like so many other factories and bussinesses. Few workers remain with high hopes that things will improve as there is little official news to the seriousness of the current situaiton. A year ago these streets were filled with foreign buyers from all over the world. Now the streets are bare, and many wholesale shops are closed. It is such a contrast that its almost scary. Many of the migrant workers have fled by the millions home early for the Spring festival as jobs were lost. Those who remain are the most desperate. China is attempting to and must focus on emergent markets if it is going to survive this economic slowdown. After many years of double digit growth, a growth forecasted at only 5% is going to cause tremendous stress for the economy. One especially magnified by the very large income gap which has been all but forgotten in the mainstream media. Local Chinese news offers little coverage of these grim scenes in an attempt to maintain domestic consumer confidence. As demand from the west slows, this charade will not be able to last much longer. As if they had a crystal ball, China cracked down on issuing visas for the 2008 Olympic games, and enforced slowdown in many areas of its domestic market. Investors slowed down to a trickle during the games do to the tight visa policies, and now even more so due to the economic crises. This was either a smart or a lucky move. If the economy didn’t slow gradually with the beginning of the Olympics continuing with the current crises; and rather slowed down all at once as within other nations the consequences would be dire.