China to get $586B "power dose"

China Daily reports on the massive $586 billion economic stimulus program announced by the Chinese government earlier today, loosely translated as a "power dose".
The picture above is from sometime around 2002 and is in no way associated with the stimulus package - it seemed like a nice touch, recalling the previous economic world order when the Beijing Olympics were still years away and China shipped us inexpensive goods that we'd pay for with money we borrowed from them.

Anyway, here's the report:

Economy gets $586b power dose
The government has cleared a 4 trillion-yuan ($586 billion) investment package till 2010 to spur domestic demand and boost the slowing economy.

A State Council meeting, presided by Premier Wen Jiabao, has resolved that it is necessary to adopt "proactive" fiscal and "moderately loose" monetary policies now, Xinhua reported on Sunday.
...
Worries over an excessive slowdown have been rising recently, especially because a rebound in overseas demand is nowhere in sight and domestic businesses and consumers have started tightening their purse strings.

Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank governor, said over the weekend that the economy could slow down further - from 9.9 percent in the first three quarters of this year to between 8 and 9 percent in 2009.
...
The government plans to put it into major infrastructure, social welfare and environmental protection projects, as well as to reconstruct areas devastated by natural disasters.

What, no stimulus checks?

ooo

This week's cartoon from The Economist: