On a morning which brings the news that the Chinese markets dropped 8.5% overnight with the result that the FTSE100 is off 2.7% and most of the rest of Europe is down over 3.0%, I can bring you one small item of good cheer. In China, as the Communist Party has gingerly allowed capitalism, red not in politics but in tooth and claw, to have space to operate, it will come as no surprise to us hard-bitten, twice-shy westerners to know that various dodgy investment outfits have started up. The Chinese are inveterate gamblers and anyone who offers them a deal too good to be true will have plenty of takers.
Thus it was with Fanya Metals Exchange, a company dealing in minor metals which offered the punters some enticing deals but suddenly - quelle surprise - not! - they stopped paying out. And then something very surprising happened, hundreds of investors from all round China identified where the boss was staying and they flew in, mobbed the hotel and carried out what we would call a citizens' arrest, handing the rascal over to the police - who released him later, so who did he know? . Even so, to quote my heading, 'that's what I call people power' and if I was President Xi Jinping I would be exceedingly worried. If, as seems probable, the Chinese economy is tanking then it might be a case of ' first they came for the bankers, then they came for the apparatchiks'!
Story on Zero Hedge but the site is not responding probably due to the number of visitors trying to find out what's going on with the markets!
Are we seeing the catalyst that brings my many pessimistic predictions that I have been making but never happen for the last zillion years come true at last. The pessimist in me will make me deliriously happy but the other side of me will make me very fearful. Is the future to see a world economic recession that will make all previous ones look like a tea part, conflict in Asia perhaps triggering WWIII and chaos, lawlessness and social unrest everywhere.
Perhaps I should hope I am wrong yet again and be grateful.
Posted by: Antisthenes | Monday, 24 August 2015 at 10:46
It's being so cheerful, Antis, that keeps you so young!
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 24 August 2015 at 13:47
Antisthenes, we are seeing a long over due correction in the markets around the world. Central banks have pumped money into stock markets for too long making investing almost "no risk". No telling what will be uncovered on the beach when the tide rolls out. Keep your stash of millions dry and when it is clear--buy low.
Posted by: Whitewall | Monday, 24 August 2015 at 14:02
I trust your millions are safely stuffed away in your mattress?
Posted by: Whitewall | Monday, 24 August 2015 at 14:03
Oops... my question is meant for our gracious host.
Posted by: Whitewall | Monday, 24 August 2015 at 14:05
Thank you for your interest, Whiters, and my overdraft is safely in the bank where it has been for years!
Posted by: David Duff | Tuesday, 25 August 2015 at 08:24
I've always assumed that all statistics, data, prices, or anything else coming out of China was rigged and fiddled by the Communist Party and has no meaning in reality at all.
So if the share "prices" there are falling, it's probably because that is what the old men in charge want.
I do not believe those "prices" represent a fair and free market valuation of anything in the sense that we in the West understand such a thing.
Posted by: Andrew Duffin | Tuesday, 25 August 2015 at 12:17
Andrew, I realised a few years ago that China's biggest product was 'BS' when I first saw those huge cities built on borrowed money and with only about 5% occupancy.
Posted by: David Duff | Tuesday, 25 August 2015 at 12:39