The changing face of Chinese growth

QUALITY NOT QUANTITY

Goldman Sachs Asset Management chairman Jim O'Neill discusses the debt ceiling crisis and explains how the China rail disaster could affect authorities' thinking.

Did you manage to distract yourself from the US budget fiasco this past week? Or did you spend the whole week wondering about what might happen if the US doesn't pass its debt ceiling on 2 August? I had a visit from a really smart hedge fund from Outer Space, and the CIO said he expected US treasuries to fall significantly as a result of Congress' inability to reach a deal and the US being downgraded. I told him that while it seemed very sound reasoning, here on Planet Earth, things do not necessarily pan out that way. In fact, treasuries would be the major beneficiary as investors ad...