To turn to a specific, currently relevant example, if fixed-interest bonds are bad, but equity investments are acceptable, then what if an investor buys a non-voting equity instrument whose return is based on profit shared between him and the venture--with any profit above 6% given to the venture as a "reward"?

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That stimulus, mostly in the form of fixed asset investments in infrastructure, followed by low interest rates, fueled a hard asset bubble that the Chinese government has been trying to pop since last year.

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Although the investments resembled bonds, paying buyers a fixed interest rate for taking on the default risk of corporate debt, the products invested in synthetic collateralized debt obligations held by Lehman.

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