Speaking of China, the LA Times has a good look at the country’s “worst manufacturing decline in at least a decade,” which it says is shuttering plants all over the country

Even before the global financial crisis, factory owners in China were straining under soaring labor and raw-material costs, an appreciating Chinese currency and tougher legal, tax and environmental requirements. When the credit crunch took hold — prompting Western businesses to slash orders for Chinese goods and bankers to curtail loans to factories — many operations were pushed over the edge.
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