“”"”"”One thing I’d like to know is, is China’s economic performance measured by statistics produced by the Chinese government? Is there any reliable way to measure Chinese economic performance generally? I ask in light of the American Economic Meltdown, by the way, in which our own performance was grossly overvalued. “”"”"”

#15 Dan: I can only try to answer a fragment of your question regarding China’s economic and sociopolitical status: The IMF admitted/found out that it had overestimated China’s GDP (I think in 2007) as $9 trillion, when in fact it is $6 trillion — vs. the U.S.’s $14 trillion. Also China has more than 4 times the population of the U.S., and that population is still majority agrarian and poor.