[allendale]

China sits on the granddaddy of all real estate bubbles. Its real estate is artificially valued and many loans and mortages are made against these psudo assets. Also Chinese Central bankers, still controlled by the Party, directed the squandering of $3 trillion of lost capital building huge ghost cities that sit empty, decaying, and have no return on investment. The days when productive, intelligent Chinese will work for $40/month plus room and board are over. Chinese factories and the markets they serve are shrinking. One reason that China supports Iran and the lifting of sanctions is because it views Iran not only as an energy source but Iran’s 75 million citizens as a big market for its export driven economy.

[Bluewater2015]

“One reason that China supports Iran and the lifting of sanctions is because it views Iran not only as an energy source but Iran’s 75 million citizens as a big market for its export driven economy”

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That’s a parasitic economy, like Japan’s was, only worse. Relies on the outside world buying its stuff to keep it afloat.

[L,TOWM]

Real Estate bubbles are still the biggest cause of economic distress in modern economies. Japan in the late 1980’s - us in 2008 - maybe it’s China’s turn now.

The article does speak a lot of demographics and that is certainly a huge root cause of Japan’s 3 decades worth of stagnant performance.