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Beijing struggles to defuse anger over China's P2P lending crisis

reuters.com

81–90 of 107 posts

Re: Beijing struggles to defuse anger over China's P2P lending crisis

#81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the Japanese perfected that approach with their lost decade.

Japan would be thrilled with just a lost decade. It's a 25 year blackhole of destruction and counting. Before adjusting for inflation, their GDP is at 1994 levels in USD terms. If you adjust for inflation, it's a brutal rollback. Not only did they stagnate on economic output, they accumulated extreme amounts of debt, heavily debased the Yen, saw their savings rate drop to near zero, and lost their demographics age wi…

> heavily debased the Yen

What debasing? USD/JPY has moved around 110 for 20 years now.

Re: Beijing struggles to defuse anger over China's P2P lending crisis

#82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> in a country with a bias towards savings that's a myth that keeps being persisted, much like their consistent 6-7% gdp growth every year. if you read the article, it mentions that 'He and his family had invested 7 million yuan - their life savings'. "The Myth Of China's 'Excess Savings' Is Weighed Down By Excessive Debt. Bank balances offset against enormous, rapidly rising, bad debts, a property bubble out of all…

Those property prices aren’t unreasonable given lack of property tax and higher population density. It’s the same in india. https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2018-03-08/don-t-b...

IIRC there's also no such thing as property ownership in the US sense - it's just a 70 year lease, which can be renewed.

Re: Beijing struggles to defuse anger over China's P2P lending crisis

#83
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's reported in the Chinese media almost daily right now.

Probably not the part about protestors having their doors kicked in and being rounded up and put into holding centers, I imagine. This is probably the most important thing people should know about.

Chinese people know that protesting is illegal and that their government is oppressive. It largely doesn't matter to them because they don't want to protest.

How they are investing their life savings is clearly the more important thing they should know about.

Re: Beijing struggles to defuse anger over China's P2P lending crisis

#85
post #14

In the last 5 years retail Chinese investors had massive losses in bitcoin, gold, the local stock market, bitcoin again, now P2P. Is it fair to say that they rush from one investment fad to the next, typically buying the top? This is how it looks from far away, can someone with local knowledge comment? http://static.atimes.com/uploads/2015/07/retail-investors.jp...

I remember a significant anecdote about Chinese assumptions when a Chinese-Canadian I was dating explained she always goes to busy restaurants on the assumption that a lot of customers means they have good food. The western bias is towards being the first to discover an unknown restaurant with great food that just hasn't had time to build a reputation, but that's not how a typical Chinese person would approach the re…

> Chinese assumptions when a Chinese-Canadian I was dating explained she always goes to busy restaurants on the assumption that a lot of customers means they have good food.

Same concept here in Pakistan [guess we Asians think alike ;) ] - we go to busy restaurants and shops assuming they are full because they meet the requirements (good food, low prices etc)

Re: Beijing struggles to defuse anger over China's P2P lending crisis

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember a significant anecdote about Chinese assumptions when a Chinese-Canadian I was dating explained she always goes to busy restaurants on the assumption that a lot of customers means they have good food. The western bias is towards being the first to discover an unknown restaurant with great food that just hasn't had time to build a reputation, but that's not how a typical Chinese person would approach the re…

> The western bias is towards being the first to discover an unknown restaurant with great food that just hasn't had time to build a reputation, but that's not how a typical Chinese person would approach the restaurant problem. "I found it before it was cool" is a comparatively small thing in the US. The crowded restaurants aren't Chili's or On the Border, as trends have changed, but Instagram, Yelp, etc, drive huge…

This is actually a very old notion that pre-dates social media, and even computers.

Back when long summer family road trips were the norm, a common saying was, "Eat where the truckers eat." Truckers were the Yelp influencers of the era.

Roadside diners, especially chains, would have oversized parking lots to attract truckers, which would then attract families. This was further capitalized on by the diners opening motels in back. (Think Howard Johnsons.) Or by other hospitality chains deliberately opening near popular diners. In a college marketing course, I remember it being noted that a certain hotel chain (Holiday Inn, maybe?) rarely did its own location research, and instead just opened across the street from every outlet of a particular diner chain (maybe Denny's) that it could.

To this day, motels and diners have a symbiotic relationship, though now probably for convenience reasons since, as you noted, people can find out about other options more easily on their smartphones.

Re: Beijing struggles to defuse anger over China's P2P lending crisis

#87
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’ve done well on real estate. The government would never let the real estate sector crash, the bubble must be maintained at all costs, or at least the landing must be soft. Well, thats the hope anyways. I think that sector will crash eventually, but they’ve kept it going for so long.

>or at least the landing must be soft. The state, has valid legal pretext and a joker in the sleeve: the special interpretation of article 149 of property law. Not a single municipality in China ever honoured the textualist interpretation of the law, in all and every case ever going to court over article 149, the outcome was that the state can't deny the automatic lease extensions, but it leaves municipality the priv…

I thought that was Wenzhou, not Shenzhen. I didn’t hear of any lease issues happening there, not that I don’t believe you, but got a source where I can read more?

Re: Beijing struggles to defuse anger over China's P2P lending crisis

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's actually a very useful heuristic because, unlike perhaps in the US, in many parts of the world food standards even in higher quality restaurants are rather lax.

Even in the US I learned the hard way about eating lunch early. Chipotle is perfectly fine with serving old steak from yesterday if you're one of the first customers of the day.

I was told once that Wendy's chili is made from the hamburgers that weren't sold the day before. I don't know if it's true or not, though. Even if it is, that's some fine chili for a chain fast food restaurant.

Re: Beijing struggles to defuse anger over China's P2P lending crisis

#89
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japan would be thrilled with just a lost decade. It's a 25 year blackhole of destruction and counting. Before adjusting for inflation, their GDP is at 1994 levels in USD terms. If you adjust for inflation, it's a brutal rollback. Not only did they stagnate on economic output, they accumulated extreme amounts of debt, heavily debased the Yen, saw their savings rate drop to near zero, and lost their demographics age wi…

> heavily debased the Yen What debasing? USD/JPY has moved around 110 for 20 years now.

That‘s the point. The US had growth in the past 20 years, Japan did not. So the Yen shoukdn‘t have been at a steady 110.

Re: Beijing struggles to defuse anger over China's P2P lending crisis

#90
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember a significant anecdote about Chinese assumptions when a Chinese-Canadian I was dating explained she always goes to busy restaurants on the assumption that a lot of customers means they have good food. The western bias is towards being the first to discover an unknown restaurant with great food that just hasn't had time to build a reputation, but that's not how a typical Chinese person would approach the re…

Why do you think that perspective does not apply to americans? I don't eat at proper restaurants much but when I ate fast food,the busiest ones also had more people flocking to them(chick-fil-a for example). Not many people line up to eat at a no-name off brand chain that just opened,and I see those pop up and go out of business a lot. It's not a cultural thing but how one is brought up. Upper class or rural chinese…

Why do you think that perspective does not apply to americans?

I can't speak to his logic, but I think the whole issue is a lot more complex than is presented in this discussion.

Convenience plays a big role in American dining habits. So does price and habit. And some people react strongly to coupons and advertising.

I think Chick-fil-a is far better quality than Raising Cane's. But the Chick-fil-a in my town is on the wrong side of a road median, and if I'm picking something up on my way home, I'll hit the other chicken place instead of wasting 20 minutes making U-turns.

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