Speaking of exports

Chinese consumers are beginning to resemble American consumers - two or three years ago. For the first time, Chinese will buy more cars this year than Americans. From the NYT:

For more and more consumer goods, China is surpassing the United States as the world's biggest market -- from cars to refrigerators to washing machines, even desktop computers. The Chinese market is "on full tilt -- booming is an understatement these days," said John Bonnell, the director of Asia vehicle forecasting at J.D. Power & Associates.

Keep in mind that some of this spending is being artificially flavored by government subsidies and heavy bank lending. Makes a difference.