MIT Engineers

[eCat]

The story basically goes like this - the middle class chinese are flush with income so instead of putting their money into a banking system where the currency is controlled, they put it into real estate that has had double digit gains over the last decade or so, so China is building condo's, office space, malls , etc but they have far exceeded demand. The bulk of the country still lives on just a few dollars per day and these condo's average about $80K so these entire cities are ghost towns waiting for a population to arrive once they get the income.

60 minutes alluded that this was a house of cards just waiting to fall but China has enough cash reserves to buy all of the worlds gold 3X over, so it doesn't seem to be an imminent problem.


here is the video and story

[sardis]

"60 minutes alluded that this was a house of cards just waiting to fall but China has enough cash reserves to buy all of the worlds gold 3X over, so it doesn't seem to be an imminent problem."

In the short term they are ok, but long term they have a severe aging issue which will eat up those reserves. The battle of survival 20 years from now will be which country can lure in the most Indian and African workforce to prop up a dying country.

[hedge]

Or just get them to work from home...

[sardis]

No, we want them here, paying taxes, buying homes, running 7-elevens...

[eCat]

and asking "where's the white women?"!

[Bklyn]

at

[eCat]

love blazing saddles

[CAT]

If you look at the buildings in China, Chairman Mao promised everyone would have a balcony (or 2) and all the buildings do have a balcony!!! All those empty building but in the main cities some still have to accomodate a couple of families. I only went to Beijing, Xi-An (the thousands of Terra Cotta warriors were amazing) Shanghai--gorgeous city--and Hong Kong where we have friends who wined and dined us. Definitely want to go back!
On another subject, I am going to buy an ipad, I just got out of the hospital and having my husband bring in my laptop so I could edit his report never mind all the IV's wires other details I was hooked up to!!--- made the decision easy and I have a 3 year old who can teach me how to use it! Figure price on an ipad is about the same anywhere so will probably go Best Buy to get the points--but--where do I shop for accessories like a stylus, cover (want one with Union Jack on it), car charger and anything else you collectively think I need (for the ipad!!!) Help Please.

[aTm]

The internet is a good place to start...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/iPad-smart-co ... 0862159729

[aTm]

Best Buy will probably have most everything else you mentioned.

[AugustWest]

I hope you're ok Cat.

[Jungle Rat]

Got my Meatballs. each Samsung tablets. As Im sure you've seen on FB they work well. Mom has a zoom tablet that someone here suggested. She never uses it though because she's an old bitter nasty itch who just wants to die tomorrow. Go with the Samsung. Even Apple admires them.

[Bklyn]

After a 20 minute heli-ride over NYC, autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire could draw the entire skyline from memory.

[eCat]

one day they will find a way to unlock that kind of stuff for all of us.

and TV will really suck then

[crashcourse]

I prefer to stay locked

you dont see too many artistic autistics

[Bklyn]

How would you even be able to tell? The spectrum is quite wide, so while types like that dude may not produce a bunch of artists, milder ones with social struggles but the ability for extreme singular focus seem to be well suited for artistic endeavors.

[crashcourse]

a quick google search did not yield many autiscics although mozart was the most famous artist (albeit a musical one) speculated to be autistic.

[aTm]

Wait, autistic isnt just a mispelling of artistic?

[Bklyn]

Not all the time.

[Jungle Rat]