is an old proverb attributed to the Chinese:
May
you live in interesting times.
This past week has been very interesting indeed! The whole world has watched the Shanghai Stock Exchange plummet.
The country's 1.4 billion people – and the world watch as
the turbulent market continues to fall. While censorship clouds hard facts
about the nation’s economy, with indications of a near 300% economic slowdown,
and close to $30 Trillion debt, China’s leadership continues as though business
is usual.
One of the most extraordinary things about the world's number two economy is that when it faces a crisis, the leadership carries on in public as if nothing has happened.
~ BBC News
The 30% drop of SSE stocks in July 2015 caused more than 50% of the listed companies to file for a halt in trading. As stocks continue to falter this past week, one has to wonder about the attraction of this foreign market. Suddenly it has all the appeal of The China Syndrome.
I remember having discussions about currency values about
a year and a half ago with colleagues urging me to invest in the Yuan.
Apparently that was where all the “smart money” was going.
I had my reservations, not because I didn’t believe in
the countries industrious and ingenious talent, but because I was appalled at a
nation that would sell tainted milk products to children and other products
containing lead as an ingredient.
Surely the governing regulatory organizations were not as
efficient and modern as they should be in overseeing such expanding new industry
for this emerging economy. This did not inspire my confidence in the Chinese
currency nor its bullish market at the time.
