China's EMPTY cities & malls, ALL to retain 10% GDP is a mirage

[StarsInHerHair]

http://consumerist.com/2011/07/chinas-hypergrowth-fueled-by-building-giant-cities-no-one-lives-in.html

"Chin up, America. China ain't so great. That 10% GDP growth they've been having? A lot of it is fake. Take this investigate report that looks at the big trend over there of Chinese ghost cities and ghost malls. China is building ten of these cities a year, cities that can serve millions, with rows of apartment complexes, shopping malls, and universities. But almost no one lives in them. By pouring materials and resources and labor in, the government can keep national GDP at its state-mandated levels, even if its not meeting any real demand. It's like someone is playing SimCity with all cheat codes, but this is a game China is going to lose.

With 64 million of these apartments sitting empty, too expensive for most Chinese to rent - artificially inflated prices keep "value" up high, which is also helpful on the spreadsheets - they've created the largest property bubble in history. The tiger's paper is wearing thin."

WATCH THE VIDEO AT THE LINK, incredible! WAY empty.

[KittyWampus]

1. I did watch, this was posted maybe 2 weeks ago. Well worth watching. It's eerie.

[villager]

2. so when the global economy tanks for good, everyone head to China to squat?

:shrug:

[marmar]

3. The Mother of all Bubbles.....

When it goes "Pop!", well......

:nuke:

[Gregorian]

4. They won't be empty for long.

Huh, that's an autocomplete from the last time this subject was posted.

There are a billion Chinese yet to come. OK, half a billion.

[Yavin4]

5. The Big Myth/Lie Is That China Has A Thriving Middle Class

China has a thin layer of extremely wealthy people and everyone else is dirt poor.

[3waygeek]

11. Which is what the US is becoming...

thanks to the Repub policies of the last 30+ years.

[w4rma]

6. A whole lot of folks live in rural China, and the only things keeping them from living there are

prices and wages.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

7. Tick, tock.

It is time for the sea change. The ravaging of the 90%, by the 10%, will have immense ramifications.

[BOG PERSON]

9. what china needs is communist revolution!

(i must be the first person to make that joke, today... in this particular thread.)

[StarsInHerHair]

8. yeah I kept thinking of rent control in NYC & how 1 of their cities is built for

16 MILLION PEOPLE?! They could implement rent control for up to a certain floor, maybe up to floor #40; above that floor is where the wealthy buy their apt. for $70,000 to $100,000......did anyone catch their payment plans: HALF down now & full payment in THREE YEARS. Holy! What are they thinking?


Thanks for the recc's

[3waygeek]

10. How do you say 'Potemkin' in Mandarin? n/t

[jwirr]

12. Their bubble is as dangerous as ours. Either way the economy is

not secure.

[Fool Count]

13. I wouldn't worry about the Chinese too much yet.

They have almost $3 trillion (that's with 12 zeroes) USD in the bank. That's enough to buy
all those empty apartments out and give them away for free or rent out at affordable prices
to those who need their housing improved, which is well over half the population. What they
don't have a shortage of is the people more than wiling to move into those apartments if
the price is right. On China's scale 68 million apartments is nothing really. They will need
to build that many every year for five years to satisfy the demand.

[Yavin4]

14. The Value of that $3 Trillion Is Dropping Every Year

Esp. if the Republicans don't raise the debt ceiling.

[Fool Count]

15. That is true. Which gives them another incentive to spend

that money fast.