Word: merely
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...like Xi'an that are leading this transition. In China's heartland, you won't find many factories churning out cheap toys or clothing for overseas markets, the kind of industrial activity that underpinned China's economic miracle and made Shanghai and Shenzhen wealthy. Total international trade represents a mere 18% of Xi'an's GDP, compared with 160% in Shanghai. Xi'an is being built instead on the burgeoning spending power of its own consumers, and on the expansion of Chinese companies churning out products for Chinese. "The domestic market will be the leading reason for China's future...
...That fact was obvious one recent Wednesday morning at a Wuling minivan dealership in Xi'an. Customers streamed into the showroom, briefly opened and closed the doors of the displayed minivans, and then marched over to the front desk to plop down their money, often within mere minutes of arriving. Xu Zhanrong, the dealership's deputy general manager, can barely keep the Wulings in stock. Sales of the minivans - manufactured by a joint venture between General Motors, Liuzhou Wuling Motors and Shanghai Automotive Industry - are up some 40% this year, Xu says, with about 50 purchased each...
...China, making it actually happen will take additional reform. The economy is still too dependent on investment and government spending instead of private consumption. Even though consumer spending is increasing, it is not growing quickly enough. Private consumption's role in the economy has actually been declining, to a mere 35% of GDP in 2008 from 46% in 2000. Economists say policymakers need to speed up the development of a better social safety network, encourage small-scale finance and liberalize service industries dominated by big state firms to further raise incomes and encourage Chinese to spend more and save less...
...protection for those who sacrificed in the past, and today’s elderly maintain a duty of active stewardship for those who will come in the future. There are live wires between us, and to describe the American contract of caring for citizens of other generations as a mere siphoning process, as Brooks does, is to cheapen...
...mere fact that Obama has reached a decision on Afghanistan, coupled with the speech's West Point backdrop and the President's oratorical gifts, will probably boost public support for the war effort in the short run. But it is unlikely to convince most Americans that a war that has already lasted more than eight years is worth fighting indefinitely. Even if Obama sets a target date for leaving Afghanistan, he'll still be asking the public to sign on to a major escalation that will see many more Americans killed and wounded, and will cost hundreds of billions more...