Under the Radar: China Surpasses US in PPP GDP; China -- World's Largest Car Market; #1 Mideast Oil Importer; To Use More Coal Than Rest of the World; Produces More Autos Than US

Quietly, under the radar, China is where the MDW predicted it would be much sooner than some others were predicting. The Washington Times is reporting:

China passed a milestone last year by surpassing the United States as the top oil importer from the Middle East, but oil is not the only fuel China is voraciously consuming these days. The Asian economic giant in recent years became the world’s biggest energy consumer overall, taking all sources of fuel into account, and it soon will use more coal than the rest of the world combined, the agency estimates.

China’s oil consumption is burgeoning as the result of millions more Chinese acquiring cars each year in what is now the world’s biggest and fastest-growing market for automobiles. Chinese auto production reached 16 million units last year, compared with 14.5 million in the U.S., the second-largest auto producer.

I remember making a comment about the Chinese economy as compared to the US some years ago for which Chester took me to task. One can't blame Chester. A lot of folks forget that China's GDP is growing anywhere between six and twelve percent per annum while the US GDP growth is flat. In fact, until the revision, the GDP growth for the US in 4Q12 was marginally negative.

It is now being reported that China has passed the US in purchasing power parity GDP. The nextbigfuture is reporting:

China ended 2012 with $15.4 trillion USD.

There is also the need to add $300 billion for Hong Kong and Macau's GDP. Hong Kong and Macau were turned back over to China in the late 1990s.

The US GDP was about 15.8 trillion USD at the end of 2012.

Now 3 months into 2013, China-Hong Kong-Macau has passed the USA in PPP GDP.

Other economists and academics have calculated that China passed the US in purchasing power parity in the 2009-2012 timeframes.

In other news, it was announced this week that the president will use a law already in effect to further slow down the US economy as reported by Bloomberg. I can't make this stuff up. 

P-P-P-G-D-P-E-I-E-I-O. And so it goes.