Bear in a China Shop?

This could be it, folks. Get those bolt holes ready. The big China bubble may be about to blow.



According to Stratfor and Ming Pao, rumours are circulating in China that the governor of the People's Bank of China has disappeared, and that he was under investigation for a book loss of $430 billion.

The Chinese government is blocking web pages mentioning the rumor. Meantime, the governor has not appeared in public since the rumour started--the obvious thing to do to kill it.

Hate to be alarmist, but I've been expecting this for some time. Things are never what they seem in China, there is no transparency in that economy, and the current boom seems to violate several historical principles.

If China goes into an economic tailspin, in turn, it lacks the limited resilience of more open nations. The government will probably collapse, and the government has taken care to ensure that there is nobody else around in a position to take over.

This one bears watching.