[The following was contributed by  Farmer, a subscriber from Nairobi who is active in the Rick’s Picks chat room.] 

Of all the lies we read reported without question by the news media, one of the most egregious is that of China’s GDP is still running hot at over 6% annually. It’s an astonishing number for such a large economy and even more incredible during a global economic slowdown. With semiconductor sales crashing, alarm bells being rung by courier companies and freight, and China auto sales crashing as a backdrop during a trade war, we are being treated to fantasy GDP prints of current and expected growth over there that border on the absurd. All good wars are fought with propaganda of course and this one will be no exception. But for those with a background in economics, we would be remiss to ignore the close correlation between falling auto sales and recession and therefore between general retail consumption and economic slowdowns.