This link has been bookmarked by 3 people . It was first bookmarked on 25 Jun 2008, by injera x.
-
26 Jun 08
-
25 Jun 08
-
-
Global demand for these commodities is at a rising high - and that demand is driven, in large part, by fast-industrialising economies such as India, Brazil and, particularly, China, which is where a lot of this metal is going.
-
most of it is entirely above-board and legal, "we know," says a spokesman for the British Transport Police, "there's more arriving in the far east than we have specifically leaving".
-
build 50 cities the size of London in the next 20 years; a country that has already achieved, in 30 years, a level of industrialisation that took Britain and the west 300.
-
Chinese industrialisation has brought untold levels of advantage to Britain, and the west in general, through the "Chinese effect", whereby cheap goods
-
have offset rising prices for domestically produced goods, and kept the cost of living, and thus inflation, down
-
"subsidised our way of life".
-
last year, the country was using 40% of the world's cement, 40% of its coal, 30% of its steel, and 12% of its energy
-
the first time that an oil crisis has been driven by demand rather than supply
-
they're incredibly inefficient as well, so for every £1 of economic growth in China you have several times the increase of energy consumption as you do for economic growth in an OECD
-
costs are rising very fast in China
-
an attempt by Beijing to wean the economy off dependence on exports and refocus it on domestic consumption
-
elsewhere the effect is far more dire
-
Rocketing commodity prices have "had a huge impact on developing countries. Because what the developed world was telling Africans was that they should focus on developing manufacturing industries and finished products rather than simply exporting unfinished goods and commodities - whereas, in fact, when they've tried to go into manufacturing and finished goods they've been completely uncompetitive against China
-
Need is leading them to invest, says Leonard, "in all these dodgy regimes in the world, from Zimbabwe to Iran to Sudan. And that's also changing the balance of power in those parts of the world. So China has emerged as an incredibly influential broker in all these places, and they're places that we don't necessarily associate with China.
-
now it's American and British banks that are collapsing," he says. "And it's probably going to be Chinese banks that bail them out.
-
China is emerging as an intellectual power. It's coming up with its own ideas, which are very influential, which other people are copying.
-
The debate we're having about managing China's rise has got a mirror image in China, where they're having an argument about how to manage the west's decline.
-
Would you like to comment?
Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.