The Party's image is only starting to recover after the disastrous meltdown of the stock market in June of this year, the bursting of a bubble that had been pumped up by People's Daily, the Party mouthpiece, which was encouraging retail investors to put their savings into the market as a patriotic duty. As the speculation got to unsustainable levels, the ratio of stock prices to the actual profits in the companies became detached from reality. The Shanghai Composite Index is now down 40 percent of its June 12 peak, lower than it was at the start of the year.