Tulips Anyone?

The China Daily, an English-language, government run paper, reported some scary stnumbers today in a story about China’s current stock market frenzy. In Shanghai alone, the paper said, some $9.1 billion was transferred from savings accounts to stock trading accounts in the first four months of the year. The main market index has risen around 50 per cent this year, having climbed 130 per cent last year so no doubt more and more ordinary Chinese will be doing the same. Anecdotal evidence abounds of grannies pouring their life savings into any stock they can get their hands on, banks unable to cope with the flow of orders, etc etc All that’s missing is the shoeshine boys giving stock tips, as is supposed to have happened to to Joe Kennedy (Jack’s father) in 1929, causing him to pull his money our of Wall Street. The government is doing its best to staunch the hysteria but their efforts don’t seem to have much effect. Just what would happen if (when?) there is a serious crash or correction as brokers like to term it, is not certain. It would be a very rough ride for millions of punters, that is sure. And, depending on how angry/desperate they get, it could be ugly for the country as a whole.