Now that the big discussion is when, not if, the asset bubbles here are going to burst, the government comes along with this:

China will crack down on insider trading by government officials as part of the ruling Communist Party’s effort to limit corruption, state Xinhua News Agency said Thursday. 

Officials and their families who also use their positions to profit from construction bids, land sales and trading of property rights will face renewed anti-corruption efforts, the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Inspection and Discipline said at a meeting this week, according to Xinhua.  <LINK>

Gee, I don’t know, seems kind of late for all of this, doesn’t it? Or is it just me?

Kind of reminds me of another country, where the government allowed ridiculous new derivatives to be created and sold on the markets, allowed a lot of shady practices in the real estate industry, and allowed a bankruptcy bill written by financial services companies to be passed that offers consumers saddled by debt no way out of their dilemma – and then when the shit hits the fan, that government sits around and wrings its hands, claiming that everything is all a big surprise.

Could be that the cold weather is just making me cranky.