Krugman uses a negative tone to introduce the article by referring to “China’s problems,” then proceeding to list “good” and “bad news” with the dreadful news outnumbering the pleasant. By altering the phrase, “so far so good,” into, “so far so bad,” the tone solidifies into one that is rather hopeless due to the overwhelming frightful news. Although the beginning of the article is despairing, a tone shift occurs when Krugman mentions that “Even a drastic fall in Chinese imports would be only a modest hit to world spending,” and uses this phrase to segue into a more cheerful and optimistic tone by revealing that China’s difficulties would not impact the world severely. Skepticism and caution are tones that lie beneath the surface of the positive
