A large building next to China’s Olympic stadium, the Bird’s Nest, was draped with a tarp during the Beijing Olympics to cover the hideous site of the unfinished construction project. It gave the area the appearance of beauty. Turns out the true ugliness of the building bust in China has come to light.
The National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest, has only one event scheduled for this year: a performance of the opera “Turandot” on Aug. 8, the one-year anniversary of the Olympic opening ceremony. China’s leading soccer club backed out of a deal to play there, saying it would be an embarrassment to use a 91,000-seat stadium for games that ordinarily attract only 10,000 spectators.
The venue, which costs $9 million a year to maintain, is expected to be turned into a shopping mall in several years, its owners announced last month.
Unfortunately for the Chinese they believe they can build their way out of this mess.
Mr. Roche is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Discipline Funds.Discipline Funds is a low fee financial advisory firm with a focus on helping people be more disciplined with their finances.
He is also the author of Pragmatic Capitalism: What Every Investor Needs to Understand About Money and Finance, Understanding the Modern Monetary System and Understanding Modern Portfolio Construction.