Business.view: Beware the Beijing model

The most notable overnight event was the release of the Chinese Government Work Report as part of the annual meeting of the National People's Congress which kicked off today and runs until March 17. This is the Chinese equivalent of the State of the Union address, delivered in this case by the outgoing premier Wen Jiabao. In it, Wen summarized his administration’s achievement in the past ten years in some detail, while voicing a sense of crisis when talking about existing social and economic problems.

By Simon Johnson

By John Ruwitch

ANALYSIS WASHINGTON — Consensus may be hard to find in Washington these days, but many corporate executives and economists seem to agree on one point: the biggest risk to the world’s largest economy may be its own elected representatives. Down-to-the-wire budget and debt crises, indiscriminate spending cuts and a 16-day government shutdown may not be enough to push the U.S. economy back into recession.

The big political news in America last week was the House vote to avoid a total government shutdown while President Obama broke bread with several GOP Senators (POTUS paid…with his own money!)

Back in April, I posted an astonishing video of China's "ghost cities" - sprawling, brand new cities replete with malls, office buildings and apartments, but with literally no actual residents.

YESTERDAY, Mitt Romney, Republican candidate for the presidential nomination, released his plan to invigorate the American economy. It's mostly a collection of Republican orthodoxy, with one notable exception: Mr Romney declared his intention to get tough with China and push for a revaluation of the yuan against the dollar.

YESTERDAY, Mitt Romney, Republican candidate for the presidential nomination, released his plan to invigorate the American economy. It's mostly a collection of Republican orthodoxy, with one notable exception: Mr Romney declared his intention to get tough with China and push for a revaluation of the yuan against the dollar.