Josh Sigurdson talks with author and economic analyst John Sneisen about the recent bank run in China on P2P lenders as countless people hit the streets.
Chinese household debt has climbed 40% in the past year alone. To top off that problem, one of the most at risk financial sectors has reached its inevitable end. Peer to peer lenders.
Peer to peer lenders collect money from investors and dispense small loans to consumers. These loans are usually done without collateral, putting the loans at risk of default with no recovery whatsoever.
China’s peer to peer industry is far bigger than the rest of the world’s combined. It had risen 50% just last year alone, totally $215 billion! Interest rates are often as high as 37%.
Investors have been pulling their funds from these P2P lenders for some time, but in recent weeks the volatility got far worse. Countless P2P lenders have closed their doors in the last few weeks. Over 200 since June. Investors have been pulling funds in massive numbers causing a bank run! 243 online lending platforms have recently gone bust!
This piles on top of the growing centralization in China as debt weighs down on people’s shoulders. The Chinese government has been encouraging people to buy gold so to stand as one of the most powerful dominoes to fall.
China is going cashless, fast. The IMF has spoken about putting their headquarters in Beijing. China clearly wants to be the next world reserve currency as the US dollar inevitably falls alongside all other current fiat empires.
The Bank For International Settlements recent named China, Hong Kong and Canada as the economies most at risk of a banking crisis. The bubble worsens and the centralization applied to fix the problems of centralization will simply get to heavy to sustain. All fiat currencies have eventually reverted to their true value of zero. They always have, they always will, going back to 1024 AD in China interestingly enough.
So as we see the markets and the economy inevitably crash, the only thing one can do is decentralized, protect their purchasing power and learn to be far more independent. Financial education and responsibility are key. Individual responsibility is the hallmark of freedom itself after all.
We hope individuals prepare themselves. It’s better to over prepare than under prepare.