In business, the five Ps are often referenced: “Poor preparation prevents proper performance.” That extends to planning a national economy.

China has just done that in its 4th Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, held from 20 to 23 October, where it laid out its 15th Five Year Plan (2026-30).

The contrast could not be clearer with its competing superpower, the US, where policy swings from one economic plan to another, with seemingly little, or no, logical pattern guiding the changes.

Budgetary disagreements between the two US parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, currently have whole segments of government shut down into a second month. Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s erratic tariff policies, rates set one day, then varied the next, have thrown a spanner into the workings of the US economy by making planning more difficult, while pushing up consumer prices and fuelling inflation. The US Government has also come into conflict with the Federal Reserve, pressuring it, despite an inflationary environment, to cut interest rates, then threatening to undermine its independence when it fails to comply........

© Pearls and Irritations