Question

select an article from a print or online news source that addresses economic issues or problems in an editorial fashion (you can also use political cartoons or memes that are presented as providing factual information). Using the tools of analysis, you should briefly (1-2 paragraphs) summarize the article, and then analyze and critique the article. You must critique the article and not merely summarize it. Your paper should be well-written and should reflect your current knowledge of economic theory (as limited as it is). (Hint: A good starting point is to identify the assumptions of the author.)

Answer 1

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/23/china-america-economic-system-xi-jinping-trump

Summary:

It is not because of China that the United States economy is in it's current state. It is wrong to blame China's trade policy for our problems. The real cause is US's broken economic system where the system is dominated by corporations that are merely focused on maximizing shareholder value. While on one hand real incomes of Americans have stagnated on the other the Chinese state planning has brought millions out of poverty.

The reason is our system where corporations control the political agenda whereas the normal voter has little impact on political agenda.What we need to do is fixed our broken economic system and not focus on China.

Analysis and critique:

The author while correct is deacribind the symptoms of an ailing patient has done a bad job of the diagnosis. Since when .did become enhancing shareholder value become a wrong aim. This is the very process that makes economic system efficient. And even the ordinary citizens are shareholders of corporations. Then the way the Chinese economic system has been presented has been very incomplete. It's is the State there that has kept wages artificially low, manipulated its currency and kept it's financial system opaque.

And is ist just the economic system that determines welfare of people. What about the political system, the government policies especially in education. A political system that legitimises corporate funding of elections, open lobbying may also have a role here ? A public education system that fails to provide the requisite human capital, is another reason for state of jobs. The author has done a very lazy and biased analysis of the issues ignored the real issues involved.