[FPSPACE] the Celestial Empire

[Keith Gottschalk]

Maybe a year ago. Dwayne posed a conundrum in this forum: How, he asked, can we believe Chinese  statistics of 9% annual growth rate when unemployment is rising; they have deflation; & energy consumption is falling?

   His 1st query could be explained. Alas, automation often means 3rd world countries have jobless growth, or job-shedding growth, in certain sectors. But falling energy demand while you claim 9% economic growth seemed extraordinary.

   Since his posting of so many months ago, the daily media have been full of reports of China's hunger to buy oil everywhere in the world it can. Those newspaper reports also report marine traffic jams of ships queuing outside South American and African ports while waiting to load up with raw materials for the PRC. They also report the 3 Gorges hydro-electric power station coming on stream, simultaneously with building nuclear power stations, plus coal-to-oil plants.

    So it seems that China's boom is sustantiated. The relevance of this for FPSPACE is that a sustained space budget is only possible if there is no economic slump, where other needs have priority. 

    The latest newspaper reports are that current Chinese statisticians might be, if anything,  understating annual economic growth, because that is what their Govt. wants to hear.

   So far so good for the forthcoming decade of PRC budgets for the long march into lunar orbit, & into human LEO. Latest news is that India is now also reaching 7% annual economic growth figures. That looks good for more GSLV Mk.3s!

Keith