[nathanbedford]

I have followed Chanos for some years and regard him to be a pretty smart fella. On the other hand, many an investor has gone broke being right at the wrong time.

The problem with China is it is so opaque and so corrupt that one cannot begin to measure the degree of corruption and therefore one cannot even begin to assess the dangers. It is clear that China has mountainous internal problems and it does not appear that China has the flexibility to adopt the right solutions. It's opaqueness alone makes flexibility impossible and it's totalitarian rigidity makes hope for its nimbleness equally unlikely.

If the world's second-largest economy goes down catastrophically we are all in deep trouble, Obama has made us absolutely vulnerable to any tremor.

Good comments.

[gwjack]

Thanks for your comments.

“Aftershock” has the following shortly after the passage about Chanos:

“China has long been a country of mystery. Exactly when and how the Chinese bubble will pop is also somewhat mysterious. But, there is no question that the country is currently on an unsustainable path and that their bubble economy will pop. This dragon is blowing more smoke than fire.”

I find it odd that the President of China (Xi Jinping) is in the US, and his first meetings were with technology barons of Silicon Valley.

One of the things I’ve read, but never really considered, is the fragility of the German export market if China crumbles. Do you have thoughts about that? I heard (can’t remember the source) that the German economy is not as strong (because of China) as what it appears. Valid?

Gwjack