China's infamous "ghost cities" are even scarier than they sound. As home prices across China have fallen 10.2 percent in the first five months of this year, property developers are showing signs of panic. Now they seem to be drawing their inspiration from Angelo Mozilo. Like the former head of Countrywide Financial Corp., they're doing their worst to evade regulations meant to tamp down on property speculation, and have even started offering no-money-down loans to China's 1.3 billion property-obsessed citizens. When you consider how badly such schemes ended for Countrywide, and ultimately the U.S. economy, you begin to understand why this is such a chilling development.
Read Full Article »
