In a world of chaos, China signals that stability is possible

Wei Wei is the former chief correspondent of the Eurasian bureau of China-central-television" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="23282" data-entity-type="organization">China Central Television, based on Moscow, covering events in the states of the former Soviet Union.Three polls firmly caught my attention over the past month or so. Each was conducted by a different outlet and addressed different questions. However, taken together, they tell one overarching story – implicitly, but unmistakably. Beyond an assortment of data, the story is about direction.The first was a CNN poll. It showed that 76 per cent of Americans now see high prices and the cost of living as their country’s most serious economic problem. Even more striking, nearly seven in 10 expect a recession within the next year.What stayed with me wasn’t just the numbers. It was the mood around them: a sense that economic anxiety in the United States is no longer cyclical, but settling into something more persistent, almost structural.