China Spends Billions on Internal Security!

INTERNAL SECURITY

Recently the British magazine, The Economist, breathlessly announced: "China's domestic-security budget has surged to an astonishing $110 billion a year, larger than declared defence spending."

The Economist has never been very good with numbers – or economics – though that hasn't stopped them offering advice and criticism to countries like China. The Economist has predicted a 'hard landing' for the Chinese economy 51 times since 1985, while completely missing the Great Financial Crisis.

The intent of the "astonishing" news of China's $110 billion internal security budget was to demonstrate how insecure the Chinese government is and terrified of its own people. Here's what it really shows:

1. The Chinese don't spend enough on its military. Compared to the USA, for example, Chinese military spending is tiny.
2. China spends $84 per capita annually on internal security (police, prisons, etc.)

What The Economist neglected to mention is that the USA spends $275 billion annually on everything from The Department of Homeland Security to the FBI, the CIA, and even HHS–all of which participate in America's internal security, along with the NSA and other intelligence agencies. This come out to about $670 annually for each American man, woman, and child.

If we multiply the Chinese figure of $84 by 3 to account for the dollar's higher purchasing power in China, we find that China spends about $260 equivalent dollars.  Perhaps that figure is lower because Chinese police are unarmed.

Here's a clue to the US Government's approach to 'internal security' in President Obama's speech.

As if the "astonishing" figure weren't enough, the US Army is also being trained and equipped to participate in internal security:
U.S. Army Purchases Riot Gear As Fears Over Civil Unrest Grow

OUR DEFENSE DOLLARS AT WORK

Paul Joseph Watson

Infowars.com. Monday, July 30, 2012

It’s not just the Department of Homeland Security that is gearing up for the prospect of civil unrest in America. The U.S. Army also recently purchased a stock of riot gear including batons, face masks and body shields.

As we reported last week, the DHS has put out an urgent solicitation for hundreds of items of “riot gear,” in preparation for expected unrest at the upcoming Republican National Convention, Democratic National Convention and next year’s presidential inauguration.

In a previous solicitation, the U.S. Army also put out a contract for riot gear to be delivered to the United States Military Academy at West Point in New York.

The contract, which was eventually awarded to A2Z Supply Corp, included requests to supply riot shields, face shields, batons and body protection.

Fears that the U.S. military would be used to quell domestic unrest in violation of Posse Comitatus have raged over recent years.

A recently leaked US Army Military Police training manual for “Civil Disturbance Operations” outlines how military assets are to be used domestically to quell riots, confiscate firearms and even kill Americans on U.S. soil during mass civil unrest.  Read more...

As always, your comments are welcome and encouraged. Issues like this need more than just one opinion. And do feel free to add links to useful sources and stories!

Some links to follow: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv7EEhsCf7E http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_police_officers_are_employed_in_the_United_states#ixzz1iA6aaI4H External Security: 
http://www.wallstats.com/blog/total-military-and-national-security-spending-in-the-us-federal-budget/

China "World's Most Financially Secure Country" on Earth

China 'world's most financially secure country'

GOT MONEY?

CHINA DAILY, MAY 21, 2013

China has emerged as the most financially secure country in an index jointly launched by PICC Property and Casualty Co Ltd, the largest non-life insurance company in the Chinese mainland, and Genworth Financial Inc, a Fortune 500 insurance holding company.

The report surveyed 13,000 households in 14 European countries, and five Latin American countries and China. China scored 78 out of 100, the highest score of any country and the highest since the index was launched in 2007.

Only 3 percent of Chinese households are financially vulnerable, whereas the same figure for Germany is 22 percent and 26 percent for France, according to the report.

Of more than 1,000 households surveyed in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Wuhan, only 1 percent said their financial situation will worsen over the next 12 months. Only 3 percent believed they were financially vulnerable, while 97 percent said that they have rarely experienced financial problems or had a positive outlook for the future.

Henry Chang, general manager of Genworth Consulting Services (Beijing) Ltd, said: "While Chinese households are very positive about their financial situations, they do have a number of short-term to medium-term concerns regarding job security, credit viability and income stream."

Digging deeper into the survey's underlying results, some 39 percent said they had seen their total household income fall due to several factors. Forty-eight percent reported it was due to a drop in level of income, 20 percent reported it was due to stopping work for health reasons, and 12 percent said it was due to job loss.

Chang said PICC and Genworth planned to fill this gap with their products. He also noted that a major reason for China's high savings ratio is the lack of social security coverage.

The top concern for Chinese respondents in terms of their financial security, according to the survey, was their income from work, followed by cost of living and social security. By contrast, the top concern for European respondents in terms of their financial security was the cost of living, then came income from work and savings levels.

Kevin Fleming, Genworth's vice-president for new markets, said that in southern Europe where countries were hit hardest by the sovereign debt crisis, people were more likely to link their financial security with the wider economy, whereas in China people were much less concerned with the wider economy.

Fleming noted that 76 percent of Chinese respondents said they have as much in savings as they receive in income every month.

Northern Europe was still the most financially secure region in Europe, according to the report, with Norway and Sweden ranked just after China. Three percent of respondents in Norway and 5 percent in Sweden reported feeling financially vulnerable.

An earlier report by the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics found that the average asset of a Chinese household is 1.21 million yuan ($195,000), and their average liability is 62,600 yuan.

The majority of Chinese household assets were in property. PICC and Genworth's report cautioned that Chinese households were too focused on property investments, and said their investment portfolio should be diversified.