A wealth effect.<p>An ill-sighted policy, but striving at a wealth effect.  The housing market was already crashing in 2012, and gold was booming so much so it seemed like a peak.  Wages were stagnant and had been for some time.  So where to encourage people to have a feeling of generating wealth?  A stagnant stock market.<p>I have a feeling the Chinese leadership, as a body that agrees on consensus, understand western economic and political history better than anywhere else in the world.  They also have a sense of control over messages that get sent out by official media.<p>This combination led to a belief that nothing can go wrong when the 2 are put together: in this case a stampede to the stock market and quite a few savvy investors recognising this.<p>This search for a wealth effect reflects something much deeper, however:  There is deep malaise in China&#x27;s economy which is felt across the board, and there is a desperate desire to keep the ball that has rolled for the past 20 years to continue rolling.