06 October 2011

The Folly of Central Planning

Over 65 M completed new homes sit unused in China, 
along with public buildings/accompanying infrastructure...


If the Chinese property bubble pops... what then?

The massive public projects under way in communist China today include sprawling housing developments, retail shopping districts, and 'forests' of skyscrapers. Since they were built to support the country's ongoing economic boom and real-estate rush, all these tower block condos, economic centers, and recently-built neighborhoods should be bustling with hard-working Chinese newcomers from the countryside... or so you'd think.

But satellite pictures taken earlier this year revealed that China's odd unused-housing stock glut has only gotten worse, if anything: they indeed built it, yet nobody came as of yet. The photos betrayed dozens of newly-erected 'ghost-towns' that have resulted from Beijing's communist leaders' insistence upon building "20 cities a year for the next 20 years"- as recently announced in the government-controlled Chinese newspapers.

I myself have always enjoyed exploring ghost towns of the American west, those crafted by enterprising pioneers whose time had passed on-by.  How more opposite could it be then, the Chinese predicament brought about by government bureaucrats in a far-away capitol crafting soulless cement apartments for towns who's time has yet to arrive... if ever:









How weird is this one, a mini-Switzerland
Chinese Ghost Cities









Reminds me of Omega Man... pretty creepy:


Satellite imagery -here-