[non_repro_blue]

That's a big number, way too large for anyone to take personally in an emotional sense. But it's definitely big enough for a purge. Jailing, disappearances and more.

This is a pretty large economic tide. Almost twice the size of California's economy, all at once. Ranking it The Fifth Largest Economy, worldwide, if it's worth thinking in those terms.

Given that an approximate number of participating Chinese nationals have been enumerated, if they suddenly disappeared (and ~20,000 is certainly within the realm of possibility), what would a sudden halt of two trillion (legal or not) do to the rest of the world?

[ac29]

>This is a pretty large economic tide. Almost twice the size of California's economy, all at once.

Well, not all at once, that number (USD 1.5T, the 2T number is CAD) is cumulative from 1995-2013, per the article.

[non_repro_blue]

You're right. I skimmed the numbers too fast.

[tajen]

Can you rephrase the question? If a tide of $2T suddenly stops (but doesn't reverse), would the worldwide economy tank? Well, every change in flows can be seen as "a crisis", the question is where the money belongs in the first place. At worst, it has made the city of Vancouver (or rather the former landlords who exited by selling) richer for a while, and they will learn to come back to their previous richness levels. Which is still better than never having seen the tide of money at all.

[angry_octet]

Remember, there are no Chinese 401k plans. There is no retirement plan except for what you save and your children provide.

Hang on, you only have one child. And the stock market is just smoke and mirrors and you can't actually own land in China...

This is just a trickle of the money that needs to be invested for retirement or a rainy day. Western economies were left totally flat-footed by this, a combination of greed and incompetence.