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China's economy is tanking. The world expected it to bounce back from the pandemic. Exports were supposed to boom. Investment was supposed to explode. Instead, Beijing's best-laid plans appear set to implode. Industrial output. Property financing. Infrastructure spends. Foreign investment. A string of economic assessments have all come in well below expectations. But a Friday Politburo session in Beijing put on a calm, brave face. Premier Li Qiang presented the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) State Council with plans to boost "effective demand" inside the country's unexpectedly stagnant economy. Chairman Xi Jinping was nowhere to be seen. "In response to the…