The $6,390 Toilet

Near all bull market peaks, there are lots of tales of lavish luxury consumption.  In 2008, I remember hearing about the $1,000 hamburger in New York City.  This hamburger was special because it was "hand crafted" with "exotic truffles", etc.  After the market crashed, we were bombarded with stories about "recessionistas" and "cloth diapers", etc.    Fast forward to today.  A week ago, there was a story about a gold plated car in China.  And today, we learn about the $6,390 toilet:     http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2011/04/14/6471845-6390-toilet-is-fit-for-a-king   This is a fitting analogy, because over the next two years, the prices for most risk assets will be going into the toilet.  Yesterday, we received news that the greatest real estate bubble in history has begun to collapse in China.  Real estate prices in Beijing were down 26.7% from the previous month:   http://imarketnews.com/node/29203   This is probably the most important financial story at this time, but it is not getting much attention in the mainstream press.  This is the first big dominoe to fall.