In November 2009, Al Jazeera English reported that part of China’s stimulus plan was to create jobs for Chinese losing work due to the 2008 economic crises (caused by New York’s greedy Wall Street and US banks).
To do this, Beijing pledged $585 (US) billion in stimulus spending. Some of that money went to encourage social development and domestic spending.
Rural residents received up to 17% in rebates for buying televisions and refrigerators.
However, about $220 billion went into building roads and other public infrastructure. Two hundred billion dollars went into expanding the railway system.
The theory was to keep people working and spending.
For example, China built the empty city of Ordos in Inner Mongolia in just five years for a population of one million.
One reason was to increase GDP by spending more money. Since the more a country builds, the more its economic activity increases and the higher the GDP will be.
Al Jazeera’s Melissa Chan reported that most of the residential apartments in Ordos have been sold but remain empty since the buyers bought them as investments.
The reason that Ordos was built in this location of Inner Mongolia was because the region is China’s Texas (oil country), which has created many millionaires.
______________
Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.
iLook China 