There is this perception that the only China skeptics are foreigners. Let me tell you that is completely wrong. The debate within China is much more interesting and much more ferocious than the debate outside of China about problems with the growth model.
Michael Pettis is a professor at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, where he specializes in Chinese financial markets. Here
he talks about China's economic prospects.
posted by storybored
on Oct 30, 2011 -
25 comments
The housing bubble was the last chance most middle-class families saw for grasping the brass ring. Working hard didn’t pay off. Investing in the stock market was a sucker’s bet. But the housing bubble allowed middle-class families to dream again and more importantly to keep spending as if they were getting a big fat raise every year. -
How the Bubble Destroyed the Middle Class
posted by Slap*Happy
on Jul 11, 2011 -
205 comments
The Higher Education (Debt) Bubble - "[H]igh and increasing college costs mean students need to take out more loans, more loans mean more securities lenders can package and sell, more selling means lenders can offer more loans with the capital they raise, which means colleges can continue to raise costs. The result is over $800 billion in outstanding student debt, over 30 percent of it securitized, and the federal government directly or indirectly on the hook for almost all of it. If this sounds familiar, it probably should...
[more inside]
posted by kliuless
on May 17, 2011 -
185 comments
Earlier this week, Toxie, NPR's cutest toxic asset
died. One of the mortgages bundled into this asset was an investment property in Bradenton, Florida, which, like many Florida homes, has never been occupied or served as anything other than a financial instrument. Boston.com's Big Picture recently took
a look from above at the effects that this (and previous) housing bubbles have had on the development of Florida's cities and landscapes. How do you design a city that nobody plans to live in? (
Previously)
posted by schmod
on Oct 1, 2010 -
82 comments
Finally, finally - Zubbles are available for pre-order! Inventor
Tim Kehoe has been searching for
the elusive colored bubble for a long time. Through his experimentation he's stained his eyes a deep blue, along with his car, his kitchen, and his bathtub (he's also permanently stained the family dog). But in 2005, after 11 years and over $500,000 in funding, Kehoe successfully created a colored bubble that wouldn't stain. His invention,
Zubbles, was given the "Best of What's New, Grand Award" from Popular Science.
[more inside]
posted by avoision
on Jun 26, 2009 -
71 comments
Sunday Afternoon Flash Fun/Metafilter Convalescence Flash Fun:
BubbleQuod. You have lived your entire life in a bubble. Now you want out. Burst your bubble.
posted by schyler523
on Jan 25, 2009 -
7 comments
There are still some
smart people left on Wall St. Hedge fund manager, John Paulson, made a cool $15B for his fund as the housing market imploded. His cut? $3-4B. Not too shabby for a year's worth of work.
[more inside]
posted by blahblah
on Sep 26, 2008 -
45 comments
Countrywide Empties Out on Widowmaker gives a vivid idea of the turmoil in the mortgage market, and the difficult American real estate environment. "You sold your unlimited subway card after the 5th race, plunged full-bore on a filthy hot dog, a beer and a 9-1 shot that finished next-to-last. You are Countrywide."
posted by Adamchik
on Aug 16, 2007 -
42 comments
Bubbleprice.com is the handy guide for Internet startup entrepreneurs to use to calculate their next investment round. If you've recently raised money for your startup, how do you plan to use it? If you're working for a startup, better hope
Matt Marshall doesn't tag you with the dreaded
bubble tag.
posted by gen
on Jan 7, 2007 -
7 comments
The Specter of Recession in 2007. With the US housing bubble falling for the first time in over a decade, oil traders are dumping inventories (and driving down prices) in fear of a US-led global recession brought on by the end of the biggest housing bubble in history.
Previous.
posted by stbalbach
on Oct 4, 2006 -
40 comments
I've become obsessed with the idea of the
Real Estate Bubble. I don't even live in NYC or SF, but I must read
Brownstoner,
Curbed, and
Curbed SF every day. For more local, but less spectacular, chills I read
Urban Trekker. And for a more global view of the gloom:
The Matrix,
The Housing Bubble, and
Bubble Meter. Finally, for one last depressing shot,
America's Overvalued Real Estate tracks down the most depressingly overpriced
"pieces of shit" across the country. Related discussions
here,
here,
here, and (premature or prescient?)
here.
posted by ereshkigal45
on Apr 3, 2006 -
87 comments
itulip.com has returned. Back in the go-go days when Internet stocks ruled the world, iTulip was one of a very few voices warning about the Nasdaq bubble and the likely fallout. (
Prudent Bear was another.) As bad as things got, the overall financial bubble never really popped, it just shifted into debt and real estate after furious slashing of interest rates and money-printing by the Fed. Financial manias are terrible; their unraveling has been compared with economic nuclear weapons. (cf:
The Secret History of the South Sea Bubble [amazon book link] and the
Dutch Tulip Mania.) The only good solution to a bubble is not to have one in the first place. [more inside]
posted by Malor
on Mar 15, 2006 -
13 comments
The Global Housing Price Bubble is bursting. Prices are already declining in Australia and Britain. The Economist has another
story that outlines how a global bursting of this bubble could be deleterious to the world's economy. The bubble is bigger than the stock market bubble of the late 90s. Will there be a smooth landing or will spending collapse when it cannot be funded on housing price gains?
posted by sien
on Jun 16, 2005 -
52 comments
I know this has been on
everyone's mind, but I just read
this article today and was astounded at my lack of foresight.
Silly me, here I was worrying about global warming when what I need to be fretting about is the decrease in fuel's impact on the
structure of international banking! Will we run out of fossil fuel before
it's too late to
save the environment from pollution and greenhouse gasses? The
abiotic nuts think we've got plenty more.
Personally, I think we can kiss the marvel that is
suburbia goodbye and start contemplating the fact that the focus on the post-post industrial revolution will not be information, but rather
agriculture.
And since solar panels and windmills and the like are made of materials that are extracted, transported, and fashioned by using oil-powered machinery, my money's on the folks who're
stockpiling uranium for all those shiny new nuclear plants we're going to need.
So, do we have a plan?
You bet we do! Oh. Well, we'll just rely on the
advancement of technology to allow us to weasel out of it!
Me? I've actually always wanted a
horse.
posted by Specklet
on Apr 14, 2005 -
67 comments
