"it is looking less likely that China will ever overtake the USA."

They were never going to overtake the USA in terms of the total value of the economy and absolutely not in terms of per capita wealth. It was just another one of the fantasies of the anti-US brigade. I remember in the 1970-80's we were told that the Soviet Union was going to overtake the US. Famously, JK Galbraith said in 1985 that the takeover would happen within a decade. Six years later the USSR was no more. then it was going to be Japan that overtook the great Satan. Oops. Then it was going to be the EU. Double oops. Then it was going to be China.

Japan slipped into a deflationary period in the 1990's and, despite stabilising the situation, they've never really been able to recover their previous dynamism. Deflationary cycles are notoriously hard to break, even if the economy is basically sound. And the Chinese economy is anything but sound.

Still, making assessments about China is difficult because no one can trust any of the official government statistics. Whatismore, those doctored numbers are so bad that the government has simply stopped publishing them.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/china-suspends-data-youth-unemployment-rcna99929

(Actually China has stopped publishing ie started hiding about 70000 statistical reports)

The most important number we don't know about China is the population data. Few believe the official numbers, but the unofficial numbers range from 800 million to 1.2 billion. Whatever, the demography is a disaster for the CCP and they can't change the direction.

Mark Steyn said 20 years ago "China will get old before it gets rich." And so it has come to pass.

Totalitarian countries with a failing economic system have a tendency to divert the population with foreign adventures. Where are those Tomahawk missiles?

AC,

I see that you have served up another plate of bollocks.

-The US does not control the world's money system,
-Dollar reserves are not required to trade in oil, it is just simpler.
-All countries are free to trade in any currency they want, the yuan and ruble are not freely traded reliable currencies.

The British pound is used for trading far more than the yuan because it is freely traded not because the UK is imperialistic.

Clearly you have no clue as to economics.

Heckle and Jeckle

"it is looking less likely that China will ever overtake the USA."
- It's actually inevitable.

"The US does not control the world's money system"
Yes they do, it's not just about the US dollar, it's about the SWIFT payment system and the ability to sanction.

The BRICS 11 (with OPEC members) will control 47% of oil supply
The new BRICS members officially come into the bloc on Jan 1 and Russia also takes the leadership of BRICS 11 next year.
A further expansion BRICS next year may add Algeria, Venezeula, Kazakhstan (and others) and control 70% of global oil supply.

The bloc will have food and energy security and the US will not be able to sanction them as they will de-dollarise and use their own payment system.
They may in fact be able to sanction the West.
Developing nations within the bloc will stop exporting as much raw materials and start producing more refined and value-added end products, like coffee.

Watch 5 or 10 minutes of this, and see what's in store.
PEPE ESCOBAR AND MICHAEL HUDSON JOIN ON BRICS PLUS SIX, UKRAINE, AND THE MULTIPOLAR WORLD ECONOMY!
http://www.youtube.com/live/g32m8XaSnEE?si=pbY1ho0tW4XIIxRk&t=845

"Clearly you have no clue as to economics."
- Well, it's always good to learn something new, maybe you could do the same.

I may not always be right, but you pair aren't really any better.
Where you two frequently say I'm wrong, I'm certainly no more wrong than either of you.

Baldrick,

The Swift system is owned and controlled by the EU not the US. As for sanctions, the reason China is so poorly regarded by the world is that it has happily applied sanctions to countries writ large.

If China's economy continues following the Japanese model, China will stagnate for a decade or more. That they have a demographic crisis will cripple them after that.

When everyone has woken up to the Chinese economic crisis but you, perhaps you should wake up.

Well, I see that you haven't woken up to the fact that if it's on the evening news, it's likely 80% propaganda, if you take into account the fearmongering and lying by omission.

Oh btw -
"I see that you have served up another plate of bollocks."
- I see that you and your Ukrainian NAZI buddies still haven't kicked off the beach party in Crimea