Hikes? Yikes!

I do find developments like this massive increase in Chinese defence spending have a distinctly sobering effect. The biggest challenge of this century is going to be how we can compete and relate to China and deal with its enormous internal market. Many, especially France and Germany I believe, think that access to a large, but still relatively small, market in the EU will enable us to weather the storm if we can be protectionist enough. The only real way is to ensure we keep a flexible, adaptable economy that isn't overly fettered by legislation, regulation and drains by the state so that we can change to meet new challenges. We do not have a god-given right to create enough money to be able to guarantee the minimum wage for ever.