How many entrepreneurs have sat down and thought to themselves, “If only the Chinese would buy my product…Heck, if only one in 10 Chinese would buy my product, I’d be rich!” Call it the China Dream. It has a long history.
Many commentators have picked the East Asian economies of China, Korea and Taiwan to emerge the most vigorously from the ongoing global financial crisis.
Back in February, I wrote about an impending crisis in Eastern Europe. In my column, I mentioned that if Eastern Europe begins to head downhill, we could see a domino effect, with the contagion spreading very quickly. Yesterday, the first domino may have fallen, courtesy of debt-laden Latvia. The country attempted to raise $100 million by selling debt securities. But there were no takers. Let me repeat that. Latvia didn’t raise one measly dollar. That is staggering.
As you’ve likely heard, a Chinese company will soon own the Hummer brand. Heh, let’s count the ways this transaction epitomizes the new economic landscape…
The investment outlook for Japan is pretty grim right now. The world’s No. 2 economy saw its gross domestic product (GDP) decline by 4% in the first quarter – the equivalent of 15.2% annualized decline, and the worst showing in more than 50 years.
India remains a great long-term profit play. But global investors should beware of the near-term exuberance that followed that nation’s weekend elections.
Venezuela’s oil production is already below 1997 levels, but could fall significantly lower as the country’s president, Hugo Chavez, has alienated oil service companies by refusing to pay their fees, and in some cases, seizing their assets.
As deep as the U.S. auto industry’s financial crisis seems to be, there may actually be a fairly simple solution. Sell out to China. Nearly a decade ago, I warned that Detroit’s Big Three – General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and Chrysler LLC – had better learn to speak Chinese if they wanted to survive.
Wall Street is constantly hung up on finding the next giant economy. Is China going to continue to grow as a superpower? What about India?
