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> China has very little in the way of a consumer sector, quite the opposite of the US consumerism. This means there's very little for consumers to spend their
by caskstrength 3y ago
> China has very little in the way of a consumer sector, quite the opposite of the US consumerism. This means there's very little for consumers to spend their money on versus a US consumer.
FWIW Chinese middle class tend to gobble up ridiculous amount of foreign overpriced luxury crap instead, starting from designer clothes and ending up with several thousands of dollars worth bottles of whisky (that I bet absolute majority of the buyers couldn't distinguish from random Johnnie Walker in blind testing). High saving rates must be cultural and not just a result of not having the ability to spend the money.
- zdragnar 3y ago> High saving rates must be cultural and not just a result of not having the ability to spend the money. You can see this too in the generation that lived through the Great Depression, and some carry-over into the next one. OTOH those who grew up in boom times tend to take on unhealthy amounts of debt (esp credit card, for weddings and vacations, and fancy cars) and have to struggle to learn to live within their means. China has had a lot of rough times to until relatively very recently, and much of the country hasn't shared in a lot of the economic growth.