Pffft. Journalism would be dead if we didn't manipulate every little detail and string our sheep readers along for the ride. Look around the web for news about America or our western allies. It is not a flattering sight in the least. Yea, America was such a poverty stricken desert and rampaged by scavenging wasteland riders atop untamed steeds before Women's Suffrage or Civil Rights....
And America emerged as the superpower of the world despite all those. That's the difference, my friend.
Vaguely related: Interesting post on slashdot.org about China's problems with safety standards and debt regarding their high-speed rail. The former seems to be unfortunately common, the latter is news to me...
You can take it for what it's worth, but a financial analyst that I respect said that China has been trying to "pave their way out of recession" and show a lot of signs of being in the same position Japan was before the depression of the 1990s. That being said, for China's economy, $276 Billion of debt is pretty mild. The train system is hemmorhaging money, so it seems to be systemic, but they could shut down the inter-city trains tomorrow and pay the debt off relatively quickly.
I like this quote: 'I think it is more serious than your subprime mortgage crisis. You can always leave a house or use it. The rail system is there. It's a burden. You must operate the rail system, and when you operate it, the cost is very high.' This is the same reasoning given by the newly elected Ohio Governor for why they didn't want the high-speed rail money.
Did someone say monorail? <iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jF_yLodI1CQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
