Topic 46 Tight Purse Strings or Spend More?

China’s economy is not immune to the influence of the global economic crisis. As China’s economy is heavily dependent on global trade and investment flows, the global economic slowdown has already had a negative impact on China’s export sector and industries. There are some observations that our economy is already slowing down. In response, many scholars call on Chinese people to spend more money to create domestic demands in various magazines and newspapers. They even equal consumption with being patriotic. In my point of view, we should hold the strings of purse tight, instead of spending more.

Firstly, as even some economic big shots acknowledge that they can not see the bottom of the global economic crisis, we should get prepared by holding the strings of our purse tight in case that the crisis lasts longer than anticipated. In terms of traditions, Chinese people have formed the habit of saving money for long-term consideration. While many foreigners accuse Chinese of being conservative, it is time-honored wisdom to save money for emergencies in the future.

As a matter of fact, many foreign countries are characterized by their advanced welfare systems, so that they can still make their needs meet in times of crisis. In China, while we admit that the government has made progress in the establishment of social security systems, there are still many members of our society that are not included in social security systems. Therefore, it is impractical to call on those excluded members of the social security systems to spend more money.

Secondly, though Chinese people earn more money than before in the aggregate, the majority of us still do not amass enough wealth to live a guaranteed life. According to the latest release of national incomes, urban citizens earn a per capita income of 15, 781 yuan while people in the rural areas earn only 4, 761 yuan. However, we must bear in mind that wealth amassed by relatively limited number of millionaires and billionaires contribute a large share of the per capita income growth. Many people in the rural areas and those laid-off and unemployed workers can not even earn an average income. I think everyone wants to live a luxurious life, but without enough money how can they make it?

To sum up, in a time of economic slowdown, we should hold the strings of our purse tight so that we can tide ourselves over in case of emergencies.And it is impractical to call on spending more when China is still a developing country. As an alternative, I think we can boycott exports of foreign goods so that we can still create domestic demands.