Attraction: A bored
attendant makes a phone call next to the ghost train ride at the mall(Photo: Daily Mail, UK)
From Wikipedia:
Since its opening in 2005, it has suffered from a severe lack of occupants. Much of the retail space remained empty in 2008, with 99.2 percent of the stores vacant...The only occupied areas are near the entrance where several Western fast food chains are located and a parking structure repurposed as a kart racing track. The planned Shangri-La Hotel has not been constructed...
The New South China Mall was featured on the PBS show, POV: Utopia, Part 3: The World's Largest Shopping Mall...
But the Chinese have imported yet another concept familiar to Americans -- South China Mall is considered too big to fail. So, employees line up for flag-raising ceremonies and pep talks about "brand building" before going off to maintain the deserted concourses meticulously. If China is the future of the world economy, Utopia, Part 3: The World's Largest Shopping Mall just may be a startling peek at what's to come.
This is a good point. The skeleton picture fits in with a Halloween theme. But this is not about the fantasy world of Halloween, it is about the real world we live in today.
(Source: The Oil Drum:
Europe)
The point made in the blurb from PBS, "If China is the future of the world economy, Utopia, Part 3: The World's Largest Shopping Mall just may be a startling peek at what's to come, is salient. We were counting on "decoupling," that is, the ability of emerging economies to stay relatively strong, in the face of economic problems in the developed world. The idea was that if the US consumers faltered, the Chinese (and Russian, Indian, and Brazilian) consumers would continue to provide demand for goods and services.
Consumers in the US are not going to fix the economy, and the empty mall in China indicates that the consumers in the developing world aren't, either. I know, a single failed commercial real estate development is not proof. But there's more: from Minyanville, The Myth of Chinese Decoupling, and from Market Oracle: The China Growth Myth Debunked, What Happens When the Credit Bubble Pops?
For decades, the US has been waging a war against its own middle class. Meanwhile, China has been battling to expand its middle class. Unfortunately, it is easier to destroy things than to build them, and if there is one thing the US is really good at, it is good at destroying things.
Some companies in the US have been showing profits lately, but for many, this has come not from selling more stuff, but from reducing costs. That is, laying people off. This increases profit in the short term, but it the long term, it means less fewer paying customers. It is a reasonable strategy if the crisis passes quickly, but this crisis is not passing quickly. It is getting worse.
Comments
For those of us with longer memories and an interest in policy and economics, it might seem obvious that the US has been waging war against the middle class, but I'm not so sure that it's obvious to the majority of the (former) middle class. People seem too happy blame scapegoats (immigrants, homosexuals, feminists, whatever) rather than notice how the powers that be have systematically disenfranchised them. It would be great if we had some references to back up the assertion that there's a war against the middle class, else it's too easy to dismiss this important 'decoupling' reality check as an emotional, ideological reaction.
FWIW, the death of the dream of decoupling is the scariest story I've seen this Halloween. IMO, it's past time to stop pursing the pipe dream of endless growth and to start building a sustainable global economy.
Posted by: Tree | October 31, 2009 5:09 AM
I left out the reference to the war on the middle class, because I've mentioned it a couple of times before. It's Thom Hartmann's book: Screwed: The Undeclared War Against The Middle Class. Bill Moyers has covered the topic as well. Also see Bill Moyers' book: Moyers on Democracy.
Posted by: Joseph j7uy5 | October 31, 2009 12:17 PM
What a cool post, thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Subliminal | November 4, 2009 7:11 AM