o Chinese Money Habits

This is from a post on http://www.wisebread.com.

1. Being frugal is a virtue - Being frugal did not start as communist propaganda. Actually it is a concept that has been taught for thousands of years. The classic Chinese text Dao De Jing states that the three greatest treasures one can have are love, frugality, and generosity. Frugality is really a integral part of the Chinese culture.
2. Save as much as possible
3. Pay for things in cash - Chinese people are wary of debt.
4. Always look for a bargain
5. Your salary is not a secret
6. Cash gifts are the best

Maybe, if economists would have known a little bit about Chinese culture, they would have downgraded their foreign consumption expectations. OMG, there are a billion people in China with disposable income now that the USA has outsourced jobs to that nation. Therefore, they will all buy TVs and drink Coke and upgrade their I-pods every year. Wrong, they will buy nothing. And time has run out, because now our debtor nation has no purchasing power either. Coal is being added to the consumption economy furnace through low interest rates, yet the flames shrink and the embers turn from white hot to red to grey. The Fed and the US government are no wiser than the Little Match Girl, yet they have to come up with the ideas to resuscitate the economy. Scary.