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China’s different kind of problem

Well, different folks have different problems.

Still, in all, it was a bit of a surprise to read in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal that China’s government is going to work hard to hold growth of its economy to around 7.5 percent this year.

Hmm . . . we’re trying like the devil to get our economy to grow by around 2 percent and China is fighting to get away from the double-digit increases it’s had for the last couple of decades.

It seems that with new leadership coming along, the Chinese Communist Party is trying to shift the economy from a reliance on exports to more domestic consumption.

The Journal story said details of the new economic strategy will be worked out during this week’s National People’s Congress.

Even before the meeting, though, leaders were working hard to keep down surging home prices to ward off resistance to the new Communist leadership by average citizens. The government has had to institute price controls to make housing affordable.

The new president of China will be a fellow named Xi Jinping. The Journal said his leadership group will face a lot of scrutiny to see if it is truly committed to forgo growth by making the switch to public consumption.

One can only surmise that our leaders in Washington would love to have the problem of stifling a growing economy.

* Editorials reflect the opinion of the publisher.

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