Not Made in China

I stood at the top of the mountain

And China sang to me

In the peaceful haze of harvest time

A song of eternity

I thought of time and distance

The hardships of history

I heard the hope and the hunger

When China sang to me...

When China sang to me

-        Neil Peart

I have noticed something strange for the last several weeks, and today was prompted to write something about it.  Let me explain.

Until about six weeks ago, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard was all Greece all the time.  (The link is to a perpetual list of his articles, so it may not make any sense in a week or two….)

Since July 20, his posts have been all China all the time – ten out of seventeen posts have been about China – slump this, currency that, etc.

What prompted me to write something today – nothing very insightful, just an interesting note – is a post by Peter Schiff, “The Fed Is Spooking the Markets Not China”:

Have no illusions, while most market observers are quick to blame the sell-off on China, this market was given life by the Fed, and the Fed is the only force that will keep it alive.

Schiff is correct – no reason to single out China.  The reality – perhaps being faced now or yet to come – is that the boom (as defined by Austrians) will be followed by a bust (as defined by Austrians).

This is true for the Fed, the BOE, the ECB, the PBOC, the BOJ, etc.  All have supported asset prices beyond the value justified by underlying economic reality.

I know I am offering nothing earth-shattering in this post.  It’s just that for several weeks I found it strange regarding AEP’s almost singular focus.  It seems he was doing his part to plant the seed of the narrative, such that the explanation will be common knowledge by the time reality came about.

Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!  Here come those chickens.