Irrational Exuberance, Part Zillion

Every day there's a story like this one that both confirms my decision to move and gives me uneasy flashbacks of the breathless pronouncements of the Internet bubble (version 1.0, pre-Google.)

HONG KONG -- Only in booming China could double-digit growth be a disappointment.

Spending on advertising in China grew 18% last year from 2004, according to a report released yesterday by CTR Market Research Co. Such a jump is the envy of many markets, but it was off from 22% the year before and a skyscraping 39% jump in 2003, as ad spending was in hot pursuit of the new Chinese consumer.

Multinational ad agencies, spurred by the promise of massive growth, have poured into China, which some industry executives expect to become the world's second-largest market by 2010. By contrast, ad spending in the U.S., the world's biggest ad market, rose just 3% in 2005, to $150 billion, according to TNS Media Intelligence, a joint-venture partner with CTR. - Wall Street Journal, February 21, 2006

Global economy - don't fail me now!