[lbo-talk] Chinese high-speed rail to Europe?

John Gulick john_gulick at hotmail.com
Tue Mar 16 06:31:11 PDT 2010


Sandy Harris says:


>China already has a large high-speed rail network and is aggressively
expanding it.


>Recently opened Guangzhou-Wuhan line covers over 1000 km (600-odd miles)

in


>three hours. Lines ten years old, like Hangzhou-Shanghai-Nanjing, that
run at only


>250 km/hr (150 mph) are being upgraded.

JG says:

Hong Kong native, Giovanni Arrighi progeny, and University of Indiana sociologist Ho-fung Hung claims that China's high-speed rail investments are part of the problem -- sops to the PRC's public-private state capitalists, further overcapacity in physical infrastructure -- and not part of the solution -- subsidies and income in the hands of China's bottom 80% of households. According to Hung, the vast chunk of China's $600 billion stimpak ended up in real estate, company shares, overinvested mega-projects and industrial stock. The PRC's household spending as a % of GDP remains woefully low and hasn't budged an inch. What happens if the US launches a full-scale trade war? Maybe that's why China's financial authorities might actually reinstitute the controlled floating yuan peg, although in a manner that does not betray capitulation to Obama Admin-Congressional pressure.

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