About those tins of beans...

...I think I'd add a tin helmet to the shopping list. My favourite source, Der Spiegel strikes again:

This October was the third straight month Chinese exports decreased. Along with it, the hopes of German manufacturers that Asia's growth market might help lift them out of the global crisis as it did in 2008 are also evaporating. This time China faces enormous challenges of its own -- a real estate market bubble and local government debt -- that could even pose a risk to the global economy.

The Germans can't borrow, and Chinese growth is about to hit the skids. *Gulp*

It's worth reading that article in full. In world terms, this is the crisis spreading from the financial sector into the real economy of manufacturing: coupled with a massive balance of trade gap. Remember, China holds much of the dollar debt in the world, and it has been China that has helped prop up the debt bubble in America in order to keep its markets going.

I also note the mention of the ghost cities -- so reminiscent of Ireland's boom/slump situation (and, I believe consistent with David Harvey's model of capitalist crisis).

Part of what this shows is that even state capitalism and pump priming isn't enough to end the crisis: we've seen austerity here and spending for growth there, eventually, someone has to admit that a market economy just doesn't work for the majority of humanity. In the meantime, get tying kitchen knives to broomsticks and start a pike practice squad in your street:you may be needing it soon.