China Passes Japan as Second-Largest Economy

[groovedaddy]

(But bigger isn't always better, is it? gd)
SHANGHAI — After three decades of spectacular growth, China passed Japan in the second quarter to become the world’s second-largest economy behind the United States, according to government figures released early Monday.

The milestone, though anticipated for some time, is the most striking evidence yet that China’s ascendance is for real and that the rest of the world will have to reckon with a new economic superpower.

The recognition came early Monday, when Tokyo said that Japan’s economy was valued at about $1.28 trillion in the second quarter, slightly below China’s $1.33 trillion. Japan’s economy grew 0.4 percent in the quarter, Tokyo said, substantially less than forecast. That weakness suggests that China’s economy will race past Japan’s for the full year.

Experts say unseating Japan — and in recent years passing Germany, France and Great Britain — underscores China’s growing clout and bolsters forecasts that China will pass the United States as the world’s biggest economy as early as 2030. America’s gross domestic product was about $14 trillion in 2009.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/business/global/16yuan.html?th&emc=th

[jtuck004]

1. And even with the size diff between US and China...

According to Wikipedia,

U.S. economy (GDP) $14.266 trillion (2009)
China economy (GDP) $4.99 trillion (2009) (though it's actually $5.34 trillion today (multiply the quarter numbers above by 4)
Japan economy (GDP) $5.073 trillion (2009) (nominal; 2nd)

And yet...

China close to catching U.S. in manufacturing

By Chris Isidore, senior writerJune 21, 2010: 3:52 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- China's manufacturing sector is on the brink of passing that of the United States, according to a report released Monday.

Analysis of the latest government readings by economic research firm IHS Global Insight show that China's manufacturing sector nearly caught the U.S. output in 2009. The value of goods produced by China's factories reached about $1.6 trillion last year, compared to $1.7 trillion by U.S. manufacturers.
...
More here...

And that was in only 30 years. Given the billions China is investing in its people they are likely to be the world leaders in solar\alternative technologies and polysilicone production (computers and nearly anything electronic) in less than another 30.

Assuming we sit here and don't invest in our people.

...
And Chinese producers are hardly standing still. In a recent survey of Chinese and U.S. manufacturers by Industry Week, 54% of Chinese companies cited innovation as one of their top objectives, while only 26% of U.S. respondents did. Chinese companies spend more on worker training and enterprise-management software. And 91% of U.S. plants are more than a decade old, vs. 54% in China....

More here...

'Course, that's an evaluation by a group trying to sell automation to U.S. manufacturers, but still...

[jtuck004]

2. Here's another interesting link.

From the site -

"This entry gives the gross domestic product (GDP) or value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year. A nation's GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates is the sum value of all goods and services produced in the country valued at prices prevailing in the United States. This is the measure most economists prefer when looking at per-capita welfare and when comparing living conditions or use of resources across countries."

More at this link...

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html?countryName=China&countryCode=ch®ionCode=eas&rank=3#ch

According to this China is (and has been for a while) much larger than Japan, and has passed the halfway point in being as large as the U.S.

[winslowd]

3. Not suprised

...