China's Ravenous Hunger for Natural Resources

... is fueled by the fact that its Middle Class is already 400 million people -- larger than the population of the US -- and growing ...

China wants to boost middle class

China hopes to grow its middle-class to more than half of its population by the end of the next decade, a Communist party planner said Wednesday.

The goal is part of quadrupling China's per capita gross domestic product by 2020, said Zheng Xinli, vice-minister of the Communist party's Central Policy Research Office.

A bigger middle class will also challenge the government to provide greater social security and services and better education systems, Zheng said at a news conference.

"A growing middle-income population will ensure that more people will benefit from reform so that our reform will be endorsed and supported by more people," Zheng said.

I wonder what this will mean for consumption of oil, iron, copper, and more, don't you?

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