re: it may be too late for the Chinese Recent events show that the Chinese may have overplayed their hand and dragged their buyer's strike in order to force the prices of raw materials for steel down for too long. Since the allocation of capital is not determined by market conditions in China but the Central Planning Authority, a delay in capital allocation may trigger social unrest in China, hence the haste of the Chinese Government to lower the bank reserves and even to lower the interest rates by 25pp, something they had not done in four years. This lowering of the interest rates so quickly roillied the markets couple weeks ago for the market took this action as an act of desparation. According to the Chinese officials now there may be more bank reserve reductions and interest rate cuts in the months ahead in order to avoid a so called hard landing and spur social unrest. It seems whatever money they saved by forcing raw material prices for steel down for so long, they will have to pay it back once they get production and their infrastructure projects in overdrive. It's the typical pay now or pay later, but pay you must.