Is China’s “credit frenzy” for real? Some analysts, including Jim Grant of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, are beginning to question this historic run up. In the January 24 issue, Jim Grant notes that from year-end 2008 through the third quarter of 2013, Chinese bank balance sheets swelled, growing by $15.1 trillion, larger than the $14.6 stock of assets at American commercial banks. For perspective, Grant notes that China’s reported GDP is $8.9 trillion compared to the US GDP of $16.7 trillion. In other words, China’s economic output is 12.2% of world GDP while their bank assets represent 33.1% of world…
Jim Grant: The world Has Never Seen The likes of China’s Credit Frenzy
Mark Melin
Mark Melin is an alternative investment practitioner whose specialty is recognizing the impact of beta market environment on a technical trading strategy. A portfolio and industry consultant, wrote or edited three books including High Performance Managed Futures (Wiley 2010) and The Chicago Board of Trade’s Handbook of Futures and Options (McGraw-Hill 2008) and taught a course at Northwestern University's executive education program.