Well, if you read today’s Commerce department numbers on consumer spending literally, like the New York Times does, consumer spending “went up slightly” in February. It’s true the number is on the plus side, meaning consumer spending increased from the previous month of January 0.2%. But if you read the 0.2% increase in comparison with the January’s 1.0% increase in consumer spending, wouldn’t you say consumers actually spend less in February than in January, therefore consumer spending contracted, as Bloomberg News said today? This is from the “fun with numbers” section of the ManufactureThis blog, by the way. The markets slid today, after a week-long rally. The drop in stocks was led by declining commodities, in yet another reminder that the global economic output is contracting. For an anatomy of the business expansion that took hold in China, read a fascinating article in today’s Wall Street Journal. Now are the humbling times for many of China’s entrepreneurs, as the world has severely cut its demand for Chinese-made goods. Chinese business class wonders if China’s boom is perhaps over, too. Many Chinese entrepreneurs relied on the exploding manufacturing sector to build their own fortunes. But the calculation that Chinese economy could continue to grow indefinitely by expanding exports (and the manufacturing sector, by extension) has proven faulty, as Chinese exports plummet in today’s global recession. Perhaps, the protagonist of the WSJ story, Mr. Yu, contends, Chinese business model of relying a hundred percent on investment and infinite expansion is unsustainable? Hmm, that’s food for thought.