[ExI] chinese ghost towns

[BillK]

2011/6/2 spike wrote:
>  This is what happens when commies try to be capitalists:
>
> http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/43214976#43214976
>
> This blows my mind.  If China and the US can work out some kind of deal
> where we trade immigrants perhaps by the millions, and form little
> capitalist empires with its own rules, we could turn that place into the new
> Las Vegas.
>
>


As you might suspect, this has been much discussed in the financial blogs.
Some think it is simply to increase GDP statistics. Most countries are
playing similar games with GDP and other stats.
(Gotta keep the system going somehow. Lying is a tried and tested method).  :(

Some point out that the ratio of empty homes to population is very
similar in China and the US. The property slump in the US has produced
many empty homes. A lot of US towns have over 50% vacancy rates.

Some think that the Chinese want to invest in something 'real', like
property or gold. If fiat currencies disappear in the press of a
button, 'real' investments will still exist.  In some cases it is
local states investing in their own infrastructure to keep the money
in-house, like building new suburbs on to existing cities.

A few speculate that the Chinese government is thinking long-term.
They might think that empty cities could come in very useful in the
future. (In the Cold War the USSR built some cities in the middle of
nowhere as well). If they needed to reallocate a population in a hurry
for some reason, a new city would be handy.


BillK