Chinese timber giant, Sino-Forest Corp, has filed for bankruptcy protection on March 31st, 2012. The company has been under investigation for allegedly exaggerating its timber holdings in China, essentially defrauding investors of their money. The company has put itself up for sale and is suing the research firm making these serious allegations. They are also under investigation by the Canadian national police force, and are being sued by their investors for fraud. Sino-Forest says it will attempt to restructure itself, if no suitable take over options emerge.This firm is just one example of fraudulent Chinese business practices that leaves the integrity of the Chinese economy in question. If analysts don't have a clear understanding of how things operate in the Chinese economy, how can the Chinese leaders make decisions based on what's there, when there is much deception about what is there.Frankly, it throws the whole idea of Chinese usurpation of the West into question. If most of the growth that's actually projected in China, is actually exaggerated growth that's not actually solid, how can they actually be catching up with us? This is only plausible if you consider the American economy to be sliding backward towards Chinese levels, as a result of our own economic follies and foibles.
Just how substantial is the field of economics if, at present, theories bandied about in such prestigious economic institutions like Chicago University, are leading to misrepresentation and misinterpretations of facts on the ground. Have these theories been actually linked to economic health and well being for life on this planet?
These are fundamental questions to ask when seriously attempting to getting our economy back on track, by correcting some of the mistakes in academia which got us here in the first place.
In light of all that's happened in the past thirty years, how do we continue to allow for fraud, deception and false reckonings of reality in our economic markets and, more significantly, in our economic policies? Bearing in mind, even a free market policy is just a policy set by the governing body of the state. So, how beneficial are these theories and practices in real life? How do our policy choices help or hurt us, in terms of socioeconomic conditions?