QUESTIONS ABOUT CHINA’S ECONOMIC DATA: “Forgive us for not being shocked. China’s self-reported economic stats have been under scrutiny for some time now. The temptation for China’s central planners to fudge the numbers is especially strong given the pressure the country and the ruling party is under to continue to produce phenomenal growth. Not surprisingly, China’s National Bureau of Statistics has denied accusations of number-fixing. Their response to these allegations in the past has been to say: ‘prove it.’ That has been difficult, as China’s economy seems to be getting less transparent over time.”

What’s really disturbing isn’t just that China is lying to the rest of the world, but that China is most likely lying to itself — that the higher-ups can’t trust the numbers from the provinces, etc.