In what amounts to the top economic story of the year (or decade, or century), U.S. print and broadcast media were silent as the U.S. slipped to No. 2 spot in world economy while China edged ahead as the global leader, notes Grumpy Editor.
Under the headline, It’s official: America is now No. 2, MarketWatch columnist Brett Arends on Thursday pointed out: “It just happened --- and almost nobody noticed.”
He’s right. Most editors, focusing on other attention-getting stories in recent days, overlooked the economic development that puts the U.S. in second place for the first time since 1872. That’s when the U.S. overtook Great Britain.
International Monetary Fund figures showed the Chinese economy this year is worth $17.6 trillion, compared to the U.S.’s $17.4 trillion, wrote Arends. “As recently as 2000, the U.S. produced nearly three times as much as the Chinese,” he added.
Boosted by rapid industrialization, including manufacturing a wide range of products for U.S. businesses, China’s wealth accelerated in recent years and is expected to extend its lead with the IMF estimating China’s economy will rise to about $26.98 trillion by 2019, 20 percent above the U.S. level.
Arends, in his MarketWatch piece, noted “China now accounts for 16.5 percent of the global economy when measured in real purchasing-power terms, compared with 16.3 percent for the U.S.” He added, “This latest economic earthquake follows the development last year when China surpassed the U.S. for the first time in terms of global trade.”
Actually, a red flag was hoisted on this development by Bloomberg News a little over seven months ago with: “China is poised to overtake the U.S. as the world’s biggest economy earlier than expected, possibly as soon as this year, using calculations that take purchasing power into account.”
First with the news, however, was London’s Daily Mail. It reported the same information and statistics on Oct. 6 under the headline: “America usurped: China becomes world’s largest economy --- putting USA in second place for the first time in 142 years.”
FYI, IN CASE YOU MISSED THESE…
Hotter or colder? As representatives from 190 nations attending a United Nations climate conference in Lima, Peru, heard that this year is on track to be the hottest on record, the Washington Post cited, “In 46 years of records, more snow covered the Northern Hemisphere this fall than any other time”…Gannett Co.-owned USA Weekend, distributed to more than 800 newspapers in the U.S., will close with the Dec. 28 issue, resulting in layoffs of about 30 staffers…Question of the week: Will Harry Reid (D-Nev.), as majority leader, clear the way for the Senate to vote on a House-passed bill extending tax breaks --- including deductions for state and local sales taxes that would benefit taxpayers in the state he represents…President Barack Obama proposed a three-year, $263 million spending package that includes 50,000 body-worn cameras and expanded training for law enforcement…Fast work: Sixty nine years after the end of World War II, both parties in Congress agreed that Nazis should not receive U.S. government retirement benefits. The No Social Security for Nazis Act sailed through the House and Senate last week…Anchor Candy Crowley will be departing CNN after 27 years with the cable network…The three words, “I can’t breathe,” the rallying cry for nationwide protesters during the past week, were edited out of a Walmart commercial promoting a family mobile phone plan. It involved a female’s tight hug around the neck of a man who said he can’t breathe…A CBS Radio News top-of-the hour item on Thursday mentioned cars caught in a flood from a rainstorm “in Southern California,” comparing the large territory to something like a city. Actually, Southern California is about the size of Wyoming. The site where seven vehicles were stuck: near Gilman Hot Springs in Riverside County…Restart the presses: A tractor-trailer carrying 19,000 advanced sections of Sunday’s New York Times overturned Thursday morning on a highway ramp outside Philadelphia. The destroyed papers were replaced in time for home deliveries.
SOGGY PAPERS AHEAD? While backing a landmark environmental law that bans plastic bags use by grocery stores by July 1, the Los Angeles Times doesn’t indicate what it will use to protect driveway delivery of its newspapers when there is inclement weather.
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