What China's economic problems mean for the world

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
"There is a saying that when the United States sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. But what happens when China is unwell?

The world's second-largest economy, home to more than 1.4 billion people, is facing a host of problems - including slow growth, high youth unemployment and a property market in disarray.

Now the chairman of the country's heavily indebted real estate developer, Evergrande, has been placed under police surveillance and the company's shares have been suspended on the stock market.

While these issues add up to a major headache for Beijing, how much does it matter to the rest of the world?

Analysts believe worries of an impending global catastrophe are overstated. But multinational corporations, their workers and even people with no direct links to China are likely to feel at least some of the effects. Ultimately, it depends on who you are."...

We will see a hard recession and job losses in 2025-2026. It will probably be worse than 2008. Borrowing will become unaffordable. The commercial property bubble is about to break here, too. We will be lucky to avoid a depression. Time to get out of debt, batten down the hatches, have a place to live that you own and don’t rent. Everything looked pretty good in 1929…until it wasn’t.