OFFBEAT MAIL

The issue on the impending fiscal cliff that America may experience this year doesn't bode well with domestic consumers. Try to get inside any Wal-Mart or K-Mart shopping stores and you will witness how the diverse consumers are being taken for a joy ride. This despite calls by some cause-oriented sectors to boycott Chinese-made products that form majority of the display at these shopping stores across America. But why do American consumers flock to these giant stores to buy cheap goods from China? Has it ever occurred to them that the more they buy Chinese products being sold at these big shopping stores, the more China's economy become much stronger and stable? In short, the more trade imbalance between the two countries will be experienced. The answer is simple. Chinese products are much cheaper to buy, even though their quality and durability are questionable. To the millions of consumers, it doens't matter anymore. In these trying times, when the value of the dol...

Economic growth in the East Asia and Pacific region may slow down by a full percentage point from 8.2 percent in 2011 to 7.2 percent this year, before recovering to 7.6 percent in 2013. Growth in developed countries will remain modest, with recovery in the region to be driven mainly by strong domestic demand in developing countries, said the World Bank in its East Asia and Pacific Economic Data Monitor, released today. The new report says that weak exports and lower investment growth will cut down China's GDP growth from 9.2 percent in 2011 to 7.7 percent this year. In 2013, however, China's growth is expected to rebound to 8.1 percent as the impact of stimulus measures kicks in, supported further by an uptick in global trade. "The East Asia and Pacific region's share in the global economy has tripled in the last two decades, from 6 percent to almost 18 percent today, which underscores the critical importance of this region's continued growth for the rest of the wo...

American property developer Donald Trump has accused China of "ripping off the United States." His negative comment came at a time when China's President Hu Jintao visited Washington D.C. as an official guest of President Obama recently. His negative comment was considered timely. Or was it meant to drum up his political plans where Trump was reported to be planning to join the presidential race comes 2012? The issue that Trump was trying to play up was immediately snatched by the media considering his popularity in the international and domestic business communities. But many people, particularly the pundits, are asking as to his intention of poking his ire against China. And who wouldn't? China's trade surplus with United States is now estimated to have totaled $236 billion. Until now, the Obama administration is left with no choice but to use its diplomatic and economic initiatives to convince China to devalue its currency to no avail. In the CNN news poll, 61 ...