22 hours ago
BEIJING (AFP) — China will invest nearly 300 billion dollars in its overburdened rail system as a stimulus measure aimed at blunting the impact of the global financial crisis, state press said on Saturday.
The investment is part of plans to extend the country's railway network from the current roughly 78,000 miles to nearly 100,000 miles by 2010, Shanghai's Oriental Morning Post reported.
The Beijing News quoted a rail official as saying that, while the network needed extending, the massive investment of 292 billion dollars was also intended to help lift the nation's economy as it suffers amid the global woes.
"New rail investment will become a shining light in efforts to push forward economic growth," railway ministry spokesman Wang Yongping was quoted saying.
China's economy recorded its slowest growth in five years at 9.0 percent in the third quarter of 2008.
The situation has looked increasingly dire in recent days with export-dependent factories closing and laying off thousands of workers, with warnings from industry heads of much worse to come.
The China Daily newspaper said the rail investment plan had been approved by the State Council.
About 1.2 trillion yuan (about 170 billion dollars) had already been allocated, it said.
The paper quoted a government policy advisor saying the plan was similar to China's successful strategy for warding off the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s.
"In 1997, we dealt with the Asian financial crisis by stimulating domestic economic growth through investment in the construction of highways," policy advisor Zheng Xinli was quoted as saying.
"This time the money will go to improving the rail network."
China's railway network is one of the most extensive in the world, but has come under pressure as the nation's economy has boomed, giving millions more the opportunity to travel.
Among them, more than 200 million migrant workers are estimated to have left their homes in the countryside for work in urban or coastal areas.
The vulnerability of the rail network was laid bare last winter, when fierce snowstorms crippled China's transport systems, stranding millions of passengers trying to return to their homes during the peak Chinese New Year travel period.
Quote from the article:
"China's economy recorded its slowest growth in five years at 9.0 percent in the third quarter of 2008."
Compared to more mature economies, that is an incredible growth rate, even though the rate given is an annual not a quarterly figure. . It's easy to understand that they need infrastructure, including railroads.
These RR infrastructure improvements will pay off for China for a hundred years into the future. That is what should be done here in the USA during the present economic downturn. Many historians believe that if FDR had not done all the infrastructure improvements during the 1930s we could not have won WWII. As it was the neglect of the RRs during that time really caused a run down of their infrastructure during the war.
blue streak 1 Many historians believe that if FDR had not done all the infrastructure improvements during the 1930s we could not have won WWII.
Many historians believe that if FDR had not done all the infrastructure improvements during the 1930s we could not have won WWII.
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blue streak 1 These RR infrastructure improvements will pay off for China for a hundred years into the future. That is what should be done here in the USA during the present economic downturn. Many historians believe that if FDR had not done all the infrastructure improvements during the 1930s we could not have won WWII. As it was the neglect of the RRs during that time really caused a run down of their infrastructure during the war.
I'm not sure we should be following China's communist economic leadership. Although it's obvious any investment in infrastructure will produce benifits in years to come, the real question is what are they giving up to get those benifits. All benifits have costs. These costs include the things that don't get built because government fiat has directed resources into the rail system.
In China some honchos sit around and decide what to do with resources. They'll point to what gets built with pride - but there will never be an accounting of whether it was worth it or not. They can produce "benifits" and make their people worse off if the beifits cost more than they're worth.
Currently, it doesn't work that way here, and hopefully it never will. Be careful what you wish for.
As to the historians lauding FDR....
Could you please provide some citations so we may read for ourselves how FDR's foresight on infrastructure won WWII? I realize the government had to fund some war production plants once it became obvious that: 1) we would join WWII, and 2) we weren't prepared to join WWII, (The International Harvester truck plant in Ft. Wayne was one.) But aside from that, just what are you talking about?
FDR had a pretty bad record for preparedness. An example being the Philippines. The military repeatedly went to him with the question: "Are you planning on defending the Philippines. If you are, then we need to do the following things..... but if you're not going to defend the Philippines then we need to get the heck out of there because we can't leave American territory indefensible."
FDR ignored the question and a whole lot of people suffered and died. Most of them Filipino. (Source: "Clash of Titans" by Walter J. Boyne)
Again, can you provide some backup to your claim?
Murphy: Remember that all the CCC and WPA and others caused the steel, coal, cement, water systems, electrical, lend lease and other industries allowed the country to build those up leading to WWII. Remember Japan started in the 1920s and Hitler in the 1930s building up their basic industries. Thanks though for the question. We always need to study unintended consequenses.
blue streak1: Viewed from that angle, yes-that did help to sustain and expand those industries, which was helpful when war came. Given the amount of infrastructue expansion after the war started, I think it's a stretch to say we wouldn't have won the war anyway. It may have just taken a little bit longer to get there.
My parents were both the youngest of large families (I'm 52) and I had 2 or 3 uncles who would talk about what was done on the 30s depression projects here in the Huron, SD area.
The only time railroads were mentioned was building highway crossing viaducts over the tracks. There was one east of Iroquois that was HUGE. Very tall (they could have run double stack containers under it) and large earth berms on each side with the viaduct having an S curve in it. All built with men and horses. It was torn down in the 1980s when they rebuilt the highway and now there's a level crossing on US 14 there.
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To be perfectly clear it has not been said FDR invested into RR infrastructure during the 1930s. My point is that the RRs were left to fend for themselves and they ate their infrastructure by scrapping many items made of steel for cash. I personally believe that slowed the moiblization efforts in 1942 and 1943 before the RRs could pick up the slack.
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