Chinese-made covid vaccinations have 50% effectiveness or less. 65 million new covid infections per day in China is a self inflicted problem.
They test for covid where my 92 year old Mom lives, and having been vaccinated she has tested positive twice without any symptoms, so Moderna is doing its job.
Heavily over-indebted in all sectors of their economy, China has a reported inflation rate of 0.7% but is likely experiencing deflation as their factory output continues to sink for the second straight month.
Unemployment in China among those under age 25 is now over 20% with Xi Jinping telling young people "they should learn to eat bitterness" harking back to the Cultural Revolution of his youth suggesting young graduates should not consider themselves above moving to the countryside and taking up manual labor.
By contrast inflation is 4.9% in the US, compared with 6% in the EU and a horrifying 10% in the UK.
Services Inflation, which makes up most of the remaining inflation in the United States averaged 4.44% from 1950 to 2023 a 0.91% annual rise relative to a 3.53% average for all inflation. This is actually a good thing as incomes rise relative to prices. So a 2% inflation target should expect service inflation closer to 3%.
I suspect further moderation in services inflation will come primarily from efficiency as production per worker rises in the service sector.
We've run out of other people's Social Security taxes needed to subsidize our low income tax rates.
