In fact, according to Standard Chartered Bank, China ranks first worldwide in terms of both overall M2 and newly issued currency.

Manila Standard Today, a major daily newspaper, questioned the wisdom of this policy, saying it amounts to a Potemkin Village approach.

The Standard ampamp Poor s price earnings ratio recently stood at around 20, well above the long term average of around 16 since 1881.

In the US, for example, the Standard and Poor s 500 index in July recorded six days of declines and only three days of increases amounting to more than 1 .

Five year real earnings growth on the S P 500 set an all time record in the period ending in the first quarter of 2007, at 192 .

Standard Poor s analyst Juan Pablo de Mollein points out that Mexico does not have a liquid secondary market where mortgage securities can be traded to buyers who are far removed from the original issuer.

Funds invested, and reinvested, in the S P composite from 1998 2008 have yielded a real return of zero the dividends earned on the portfolio have been just enough to offset inflation.

Before that, between the third quarter of 2000 and the first quarter of 2002, real S P 500 earnings fell 55 the biggest ever decline since the index was created in 1957.

After all, the Standard ampamp Poor s US price earnings ratio is still above its long term average 26.84 in 2007, compared to its long term average since 1881 of 16.31.

Poor s analyst Juan Pablo de Mollein points out that Mexico does not have a liquid secondary market where mortgage securities can be traded to buyers who are far removed from the original issuer. That tends to make buyers more cautious.

On average, since the inception of the Standard and Poor s composite stock index in 1926, the reward for putting your money in the market has been about 16 percentage points lower per presidential term under Republicans than under Democrats.