Chinese government

Three weeks ago we reported an amusing anecdote out of China in which robot waiters in a Guangzhou restaurant had been "fired" because whencustomers flocked to the Heweilai Restaurant chain in the southern Chinese city, they found they were not all they are cracked up to be. "A staff member said the robots couldn't effectively handle soup dishes, often malfunctioned, and had to follow a fixed route that sometimes resulted in clashes. A customer also said the robots were unable to do tasks such as topping up water or placing a dish on the table."

China's credit growth in March (and $1 trillion surge in total social financing in Q1) is a "warning sign" according to billionaire George Soros, "because it shows how much work is needed to stop the slowdown." Speaking at an event in new York this evening, Soros commented on "troubling developments" in China, the anti-corruption drive's impact on capital outflows and the real-estate bubble "feeding on itself." His conclusion, rather ominously, was that despite all the naysayers and fiction-peddlers, China "resembles US in

Ripley's believe it or not world continues. Earlier today, Hong Kong's Hang Seng market entered a bull market, rising 20% from its February lows, just as Hong Kong retail sales plunged 20.6%, the bigest drop since 1999...

... and then moments ago, in a move that pushed the Chinese Yuan stronger at least initially, S&P revised its Chinese outlook to negative, saying , the economic rebalancing is likely to proceed more slowly than had expected over next 5 years.

Among the report highlights:

Authored by Paul Craig Roberts,

With much help from the failures of neoliberal economic policy and neoconservative foreign policy, we are changing the world.

Submitted by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,

The Red Chip casino took another one of its patented 6.5% belly flops this week. In fact, more than 1,300 stocks in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell by 10% - the maximum drop permitted by regulators in one day - implying that the real decline was far deeper.