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The consensus is that China has a real-estate bubble. The only argument is whether it will burst in some crash that will take down China’s economy or come in for a relatively soft landing that slows China’s economic growth but in no measure extinguishes it.

It’s tough for me to come down on either side of that debate, because most of the time the protagonists don’t bother to set out what the bursting of a real-estate bubble would look like in China. There’s a kind of unspoken vague agreement that a Chinese bust wouldn’t look like a U.S.-style one, but no real effort to put flesh on the bones of a China-style bust.And without fleshing out what a real-estate bust in China would be like, it’s just about impossible to decide the seriousness of that bust or the extent of its consequences.

Let me take a run at that and see if the effort helps settle the crash-versus-soft-landing debate.

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Brent Hunsberger, The Oregonian
Follow Share this story Story tools Last week we asked all about Social Security.

This week let’s focus on something positive: The handy Health Savings Account.

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Answer to the last quiz: Yes, you can increase your benefits by delaying your “normal retirement age.” A one-year delay in taking your benefits beyond “full retirement age” can increase them between three and eight percent, depending on when you were born. Full Article…

() - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday that France wants to work with Germany to achieve convergence of their tax systems.

In the weekly cabinet meeting, he called French auditors and their German counterparts to review tax systems in each country so as to make them similar. Media reports said there were no immediate response on this from the German side, although German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was present at the French cabinet meeting.

It is the first time a foreign minister participated in the French cabinet meeting. Sarkozy noted that both France and Germany want to establish a credible framework to resolve the crisis.

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Thousands of baby boomers a day are tuning 65 and now qualify for Medicare. The process of applying for Medicare is simple. You can visit a local Social Security office and pick up an application or go online at SocialSecurity.gov. 

You first need to apply for your Medicare cards a few months before you turn age 65. You will receive your Medicare card with an eligibility number and qualification date for both parts A and B.You need these cards and dates before you can apply for a Medicare Supplement policy. Medicare pays for most of your medical costs after age 65 but there are gaps in the coverage. Some people refer to the additional insurance as a Medigap policy or a Medicare Supplement.

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Is Facebook finally ready to “friend” the stock market?

Speculation about the vast social-networking website going public is nothing new, and, officially, Facebook doesn’t have any plans for an IPO. “But Google said the same thing a month before they filed,” says Paul Bard, an analyst with Renaissance Capital, which specializes in IPOs. The market for initial public offerings has been heating up, though, and experts say they wouldn’t be surprised to see an IPO filing by the world’s biggest online clubhouse as soon as September or October.

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