Is China Wealthy? No, Bankrupt.
What do Patricia Kluge and the Chinese government have in common? They both look rich, but theyre both bankrupt.
This month the Wall Street Journal reported:
Socialite Patricia Kluge had debts of $47.5 million when she filed for bankruptcy, and so she had to sell off her 45-room house, her Virginia winery and lots of jewelry. As if that werent enough, Kluge may now have to sell two marble cupid statues. Bankruptcy Beat reported that a bankruptcy trustee wants to sell the statues at an auction in January in Philadelphia. The cupids, which possibly date back to the 1800s, are worth $4,000 to $6,000.
Thats what happens when your debts exceed your assets. And that, according to Larry Lang, chair professor of Finance at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is the state of China's government finances.
In a private speech in late October that was not supposed to be recorded, the professor divulged
He asserts that:
- The regimes debt sits at about 36 trillion yuan (US$5.68 trillion). The total is arrived at by adding up Chinese local government debt of US$2.5 trillion and US$3 trillion and debt owed by state-owned enterprises, another US$2.5 trillion and US$3 trillion.
- The real inflation rate is 16 percent, not 6.3% as the regime claims.
- There is serious excess capacity in the economy. Private consumption is only 30 percent of economic activity. Starting this July, the Purchasing Managers Index, a measure of the manufacturing industry, plunged to a new low of 50.7.
- Chinas economy is in recession. GDP has decreased 10 percent
- Taxes are ridiculously high. Taxes on Chinese businesses (including direct and indirect taxes) are at 70 percent of earnings and the individual tax rate sits at 81.6 percent.
Prof. Lang is no crank. He got both his Master and Ph.D. degrees in Finance from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in 1986. He has been lecturer at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania and professor of Finance at Graduate School of Business, Michigan State University, the College of Business, Ohio State University, the Stern School of Business, New York University and Visiting Professor of Finance at Graduate School of Business, the University of Chicago. Now he is Chair Professor of Finance, the Faculty of Business Administration, the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
From 1994 to 1996 he was Partner of GITIC-Lehman Infrastructure Fund, Lehman Brothers. From 1998 to 2000 he worked as Consultant on Corporate Governance Projects to World Bank, Washington, D.C. After that he was Consultant on WTO/Banking Issues to Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Now Prof. Lang is Consultant on Corporate Governance to China Shenzhen Stock Exchange Hong Kong Government.
In addition to stating that Chinas regime is bankrupt, Lang also talked about the censorship that is placed on intellectuals and public figures. According to The Epoch Times, he said:
What Im about to say is all true. But under this system, we are not allowed to speak the truth, he said.
He said: Dont think that we are living in a peaceful time now. Actually the media cannot report anything at all. Those of us who do TV shows are so miserable and frustrated, because we cannot do any programs. As long as something is related to the government, we cannot report about it.
He said that the regime doesnt listen to experts, and that Party officials are insufferably arrogant. If you dont agree with him, he thinks you are against him, he said.
After that outburst of truthfulness, we hope Prof. Lang is making arrangements to leave Hong Kong for safer ground.
I can also say my Socceroos jersey is a load of rubbish also.
