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# May 30, 2017
- URL: https://www.thejanusobserver.com/may-30-2017/
- Published: 2017-05-30T12:00:20.000Z
- Updated: 2017-05-30T12:00:20.000Z
- Author: Jonathan Janus
- Tags: Uncategorized, Auto Industry, China, #Migrated-1792957904788, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-10-25 19:52

**Markets / Economy**

[FT – US banks pull back from $1.2tn car loans market – Ben McLannahan 5/29](https://www.ft.com/content/92ec8204-4251-11e7-9d56-25f963e998b2?emailId=592c6cfbc8a0c10004f7f92c&segmentId=ce31c7f5-c2de-09db-abdc-f2fd624da608&ref=thejanusobserver.com)

- *"Lenders piled into the sector in the years after the financial crisis, as low defaults and an improving economy encouraged them to focus on a market that performed relatively well as mortgages soured. Total loans across the industry rose to $1.17tn at the end of the first quarter, according to the New York Federal Reserve, up almost 70% from a trough in 2010."*
- *"But data released last week by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation showed the first sequential drop in car loans outstanding at commercials banks in at least six years."*

**Energy** 

[Science – Goodbye smokestacks: Startup invents zero-emission fossil fuel power – Robert Service 5/24](http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/goodbye-smokestacks-startup-invents-zero-emission-fossil-fuel-power?ref=thejanusobserver.com)

**China**

[NYT – In China, Umbrellas and Basketballs Join the Sharing Economy – Amy Qin 5/28](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/28/business/china-communal-sharing.html?emc=edit%5Fth%5F20170529&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=55810106&%5Fr=0&ref=thejanusobserver.com)

- *"Behind China's sharing boom is a surplus of money and – some critics say – a shortage of good ideas. Venture capital firms in China invested $31 billion in 2016, up nearly one-fifth from the previous year, according to a recent KPMG report. Much of that has gone to sharing companies, as some big-money winners and a thriving start-up scene draw investors from home and abroad."*

[FT – Sharing economy takes mercantile twist in China – Louise Lucas 5/28](https://www.ft.com/content/4d060364-41b6-11e7-9d56-25f963e998b2?desktop=true&conceptId=TnN0ZWluX0dMX0NO-R0w=&segmentId=7c8f09b9-9b61-4fbb-9430-9208a9e233c8&ref=thejanusobserver.com#myft:notification:daily-email:content:headline:html)

- *"The sharing economy is taking off in China, where you can rent anything from basketballs to apartments, umbrellas to songs."*
- *"But it has taken a mercantile twist in the officially Communist country, with venture capital rather than citizens taking the spoils."*
- *"The big prize for these companies is not a slice of transaction revenues but data. Goods rented out many times provide troves of statistics on usage habits. Data can also be used for credit scoring systems: fail repeatedly to return an umbrella, and your credit score will go down."*