Eric Jackson spoke today with Benzinga regarding Jim Chanos’ appearance on CNBC today and his bearish perspective on China. Jackson, as opposed to Chanos, is very bullish on China from a macro perspective and even visited the country to verify his position. In contrast, the famous hedge fund manager Chanos is very bearish on China, despite having never visiting its mainland.
Jackson was quick to mention his projection of China is only meant to be interpreted for next year or two. In this mid-term perspective, Jackson brings the timing of Chanos’s famed prediction of a Chinese property market crash into question. Jackson particularly singles out the fact that Chanos has harped upon an imminent crash for over a year and this crash has, well, yet to occur. Jackson is confident this supposed “crash” will not occur over the next year.
On the phone, Jackson felt strongly that Chanos, as an influential hedge fund manager with over $6B under management, should do his requisite due diligence before making his bold predictions. Chanos needs to visit these “ghost towns” and other foreshadows of doom before he can be confident that China will actually crash. Jackson thinks that if Chanos actually went to China, he might be pleasantly surprised at the state of the economy and the housing market. On twitter, Jackson suggested that Chanos meet with Chinese people to have better understanding of the true situation.
Overall, Jackson found Chanos’s concerns to be valid, and even agreed with several of Chanos’ points, but still felt that Chanos would have a more well rounded view if he visited the country in person.
However, not everyone agrees with Jackson. Herb Greenberg responded to Jackson via Twitter stating that going to China is not relevant in forming an opinion. Greenberg likened it to not talking to the management of a shady company, as obviously their perspective would be biased. Instead, Greenberg said that Chanos should be able to “let the numbers do the talking,” according to his tweet.
Jackson disagreed with Greenberg’s assertion. On the phone, Jackson reiterated that Chanos is making a macroeconomic level projection and proper due diligence is absolutely necessary.
CNBC worker John Carney cautioned in a tweet, “time spent in China is not proxy for understanding. Proximity often creates illusion of knowledge.” Over time, Jackson and Carney both eventually agreed that the market would ultimately decide who was right in the battle between Jackson’s China bull and Chanos’ China bear.