Political planning should not apply to stock markets

A litte story from the frontlines of day to day capitalism. Back a couple of years a Chinese lithium processing company, Ganfeng, decided to take over a London listed lithium miner, Bacanora Lithium. There was much huffing and puffing about the Heathen Chinee taking over a good and stoutly British company and so on, echoes of Yellow Peril and all that. We noted it at the time and insisted that it should be left be.

The thing is the potential mine that Bacanora owned was in Mexico, the Sonora deposit.

Ganfeng was left be, did take over Bacanora. Now the Mexican Government has cancelled all the mining licences at Sonora. Other than the most wonderful shrieking argument to come there’s little to no value there, therefore.

British shareholders, who were left be, therefore are now cashed out and paid, their money fructifying in their pockets. The Chinese have that argument to come. From the point of view of the British Government, of British politics, this is about as a good a result as it is possible to gain. This being the result of exactly the opposite of what the government was urged to do of course.

The correct policy to have over stock markets is, once we’ve ensured the basic rule of law, leave it be. Things will sort themselves out. For markets in the ownership of assets really do work.

If intervention had happened then it would be assets owned by Britons made valueless. The policy of benign intervention means it’s foreigners losing their money in foreign. And really, isn’t that the best possible outcome?