Watching an asset bubble burst is a little like watching a tornado: You know lives are being destroyed, yet nature's awesome power has a strange, terrifying beauty.
The bust we're seeing now is in China, where a spectacular yearlong stock-market boom has turned into a rout. After soaring about 100 percent since late 2014, the Shanghai Composite index has now lost about a third of its peak value in a few days. The Chinese government is pulling out all the stops to prop up the markets, no doubt to preserve the illusion that it controls the economy. Perhaps not coincidentally, its interventions also allow party cadres and the well-connected to cash out without taking a big loss.
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