When China was booming, they couldn’t keep up with the demand for steel and cement. Now things are slowing down, and the over-investment in factories is leading to zombie factories that the government is afraid to let die.

When you read this article you get another glimpse as to why the China experiment may end badly. In the rush to move hundreds of millions of people from the farms to the cities, too much money was poured into more factories and apartments that weren’t needed. Central planning can work for a while, but then economic reality sets in, and projects built more to line the pockets of local officials end up being a huge drain on the overall economy.