This blog entry from the LA Times is a typical article about the Chinese economy: a lot of numbers whose importance is easily lost on readers not familiar with economic terms. Examples of terms that were not defined or whose importance is not explained are "inflation", "deficits overseas", "consumer price index", "commodity prices", "currency fluctuation", "interest rates", "reserve ratio", and much more.
This article demonstrates exactly why China's rise is such a mystery to many and why the situation is vastly oversimplified. For example, the following sentence means nothing to most people: "Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao blamed deficits overseas and volatile global commodity prices for complicating China's economy." There are no links drawn, no explanations as to the mechanisms of how the two factors are tied into the Chinese economy and how the economy has been complicated. The word that is easily understandable, however, is "blamed" -- a word that is laden with judgement and emotion that is akin to petulance.
To its credit, the article does also report on the steps taken by the Chinese government to try and slow down the overheated economy and measures that have been taken. However, little explanation is given as to how their measures will address the inflation concerns, once again making economics a magic wave of the hand and incomprehensible to the average reader.
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