Images in this archived article have been removed.
(CNBC) The collapse of the housing bubble sent the world spiraling into recession. The collapse of the energy and commodity bubble threatens to be just as damaging.
That few are willing to even use the term “bubble” with regard to the boom and bust in the price of oil, copper, iron ore, and other materials tells how early we still are in the painful unwind phase.
As with housing, there was a fundamental reason for these prices to soar. China has been on a historic commodities binge as it doubled the size of its economy in recent years to become one of the world’s largest. Even so, those fundamentals begat—as they have so often throughout human history—a feeding frenzy.
That frenzy of financing, mining, fracking and dealmaking exacerbated the boom and now, the bust as China’s growth and appetite for such raw materials has slowed dramatically.
The collapse of this apparatus is already proving deeply painful for the world economy.
Read full post at www.cnbc.com