China’s mortgage boycotts are a symptom of a broader crisis

The german mathematician David Hilbert once imagined a hotel with an infinite number of rooms. Even if all of the rooms were occupied, he pointed out, the hotel could accommodate a new arrival, simply by asking each guest to move into the room next door. One guest would move into a second guest’s room, freeing up a spot for the new arrival. The second guest would move into a third guest’s room, and so on. With an infinite number of rooms, the sequence would never end.