China’s Economic Cracks Are Widening—and Exports Are the Only Thing Holding It Together

LISTEN and SUBSCRIBE on: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/watchdog-on-wall-street-with-chris-markowski/id570687608 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2PtgPvJvqc2gkpGIkNMR5i WATCH and SUBSCRIBE on: https://www.youtube.com/@WatchdogOnWallstreet/featured The latest economic data out of China is flashing warning signs everywhere. Retail sales are barely growing, industrial production is slowing, fixed asset investment is falling, and property investment has collapsed nearly 16%. Home prices are sliding, millions have their wealth tied up in unfinished or overbuilt real estate, and confidence in the future is evaporating. China is running a massive trade surplus—nearly $1 trillion so far this year—but that export dominance is masking much deeper problems at home. Consumer spending remains weak, unemployment among young people is high, the population is aging, and there’s no real social safety net to fall back on. Without exports flooding global markets, the situation would look far worse. In this episode, Chris discusses why command-and-control economics never work, how Xi Jinping reversed years of liberalization, and why governments—whether in Beijing or Washington—fail when they try to pick winners and losers. From China’s real estate bust to the dot-com era lessons of pets.com versus Amazon, the message is the same: when government micromanages the economy, bad outcomes follow. The free market, not central planners, is what drives real growth.