The Chinese Link

I am interested by the link between China and the U.S. in this economic cycle. Here is a story about Chinese migrant worker Dong Bo:

But as with many of China's 130 million migrant workers, the grim realities of the global economy weigh heavily in Dong's heart. For the first time since leaving home seven years ago, the 25-year-old does not have a job waiting for him after the weeklong festival ends.

Dong and many others like him plan to go back to coastal cities that for three decades have been churning out goods for American consumers and improving the living standard of China's peasant farmers. But with the Chinese economy in the throes of its worst industrial decline in years, analysts say, there won't be enough jobs to satisfy the crush of returning workers -- raising the specter of more social turmoil and, for those staying in villages, conflicts over land and farming rights.

Dong was laid off from an electronics factory in southeastern Guangdong province, one of countless plants in China suffering from a drop-off in orders from the U.S. and Europe.