Notice anything wrong with this St Louis Fed chart showing U.S. imports from China?
No?
Look at the figures down the left hand side. Imports are given as roughly $30,000 million: i.e. $30,000,000,000.
Still not got it?
Divide current imports from China by the U.S. population (roughly 300 million) and the answer is $100 per U.S. citizen per year.
Er . . . I think that’s a bit low. In fact I think there is a zero missing from those numbers down the left hand side.
I contacted the St Louis Fed to tell them. And they’ll probably write back to say it’s me that is talking bo**ocks (which it usually is).
.
Unless that's the value when it leaves China, and before it's been handled by (often US-owned) intermediaries based in the Caribbean and elsewhere? James Kynge reckons China gets 15% of the end user price.
ReplyDeleteI think those are monthly numbers. $100 a month. That would add the zero you're thinking should be there on a yearly basis
ReplyDeleteMichael, Looks like you are right. But they should put $ / month on that chart, because most people will assume its $ / year I think.
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