China seems to do everything big. It has the largest power station in the world and the longest high-speed railway line. It also has the world’s largest public bathroom (which can hold over 1,000 people) and the world’s largest pyramid.
So when it came to attempts to pull its floundering economy out of the muck, the Chinese went big. Economist Ben Simpfendorfer writes that China’s total credit stimulus in the four years since 2009 was worth $11 trillion. “Enough to buy the world’s entire oil supply for three consecutive years,” Simpfendorfer writes, “even with oil prices at above $100 a barrel.”
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The Unexpected Winner Of The U.S. War In Iraq: Turkey
The winner of the U.S. war in Iraq looks like it will be Turkey. Ironic, because Turkey opposed the war. Nonetheless, a story in the Financial Times resonated with me — as I just returned from the country:
“A new candidate has emerged as the true victor of the Iraq war. A decade after Turkey infuriated Washington by blocking the deployment of U.S. troops through its territory for the 2003 invasion, its businessmen are proving the champions in the battle for the Iraqi market.”
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