Jake's View | China becomes scapegoat for America's economic troubles

...blah,blah, blah ... could fuel fears that the China led global economic slowdown is sapping America's strength ... blah,blah, blah ...one of the biggest lodestones on America's economy was in the commodity sector, which has slowed in part because of weaker demand from China. The price of oil has fallen nearly 50 per cent over the last year.

And more blah-blah yet. It seems the biggest export of the United States these days is to blame. Americans are certainly not keeping much of it at home when it comes to figuring out why the US economy has troubles.

The variant that particularly wins my prize at the moment is the one about how things are going badly in the US because a minor stock market in which foreigners have only recently been allowed to invest, Shanghai's, suffered a sharp correction when not enough foreigners came in to keep it propped up.

This has upset the whole world order and it's all China's fault. Anyone can see that.

But I also like the latest line about how the commodity sector has slowed in part because of weaker demand from China. Yes, China's iron ore imports, for instance, have flattened out at about 840 million tonnes a year. In 2001 they totalled 84 million tonnes. Some slowdown.

And why has commodity demand in China slowed? Could the reason possibly lie in the fact that American demand for imports from China is in decline just now? Might it be American consumers who are driving things here or shall we just close our eyes again and go for the easy option?