371–380 of 560 posts
If US or China stock market was to go down, govt will immediately infuse such massive cash that things would be back up in no time. I'm wondering this is why there had been no recession past the entire decade and very likely none ahead. Somehow we have arrived at economic prosperity level where enough wealth is "buffered" to smooth out downturns.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The cost of owning a house includes the cost of financing, you can't get around that. Stocks can also be created. Land is a hard one. We have no choice but to share it somehow. But overly tight money is really really not the way to make land affordable. Reducing land prices through overly tight money is basically price control through making people too unemployed and too poor to have demand for land. It's an exceptio…
"But overly tight money is really really not the way to make land affordable." It is the other way around. Please google "asset price inflation". "It's an exceptionally destructive approach." Only in your head my friend.
My wife asked me at breakfast why the new virus is such a big deal: hundreds dying vs. the 5K to 10K babies and infants who die everyday in the world from dehydration and/or starvation. My response was exponential growth of viruses and mutation into something very deadly. China is taking the outbreak seriously, locking down large and high population regions. I wondered if some of that is PR since after a previous out…
Gorbachev used to say that Chernobyl was where the USSR really started to crumble. The disaster made clear how morally bankrupt and technically incompetent the system really was, wiping out any remaining goodwill or trust. Similarly, Katrina was where the semi-fascist US consensus under GW Bush went to pieces. I suspect China will experience a similar moment at some point. This might well be it.
> Similarly, Katrina was where the semi-fascist US consensus under GW Bush went to pieces. Leaving aside the offensive comparison of the US to the USSR, you overlook that after GWB, we doubled down on the “US consensus” by electing Barack “drone strike” Obama. (I think Obama was a great President, but he was also very little different than George Bush except in his oration.)
My argument is that you could see the turning point in public opinion breaking a political arrangement that had looked untouchable (and downright tyrannical, with journalists being ostracized and people getting marginalized as "unpatriotic") just a few months earlier. Katrina is when even Republicans decided the regime they had supported since 2001 was not fit for purpose anymore.
> you overlook that after GWB, we doubled down on the “US consensus”
That's hindsight after a decade. Obama ran on a campaign of dramatic change; at the time he was seen as a massive disruption of the status-quo, way to the left of the Clintons - let alone of Cheney. Whether he then delivered on his original promises, and in which areas, is irrelevant to why he was voted in the first time.
Here's a map with the latest coronavirus data: https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.h...
According to your link the survivability rate is almost 98% (305 deaths for 14628 cases). (I'm trying to inject a bit of optimism here, people are so gloomy).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> All the shopkeepers aren't from Beijing originally, so they close shop for two weeks and go back to their hometown. Sounds like an opportunity for someone to open some bagel shops.
Hm yea. Bagels aren't very popular in China. Or really outside the US.
1) Beigels don't have as much variety here, and I've only found them on Brick Lane or Chapel Market. Presumably there are some more places in Tottenham.
2) Chinese restaurants are not open on Christmas.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
China is currently fighting 7 wars 1.) internal political war between xi jing ping of the old guards and the moderates. Check sinoinsider if you wish to know more. 2.) internal provincial wars with Tibet, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong. 3.) conflicts with immediate neighbors over the south sea and other illegitimate claims, including Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Philippines. 4.) trade wars with South Korea, japan, US, an…
8.) They're in the beginning stage of a huge demographic bomb. China's birth rate is plunging rapidly, consequence of the (now defunct) one child policy and better standards of living. China's population is aging rapidly, and there is no immigration to sustain the labor pool, like in Western countries.
In many ways perhaps it is better to face the reckoning earlier rather then later as Japan, Korea and soon PRC will have to do
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You might be surprised to learn why there's excess housing. Young men who are courting a lady need two or three houses to have any chance of winning her hand: Why 50 Million Chinese Homes are Empty - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5SE47Xjx2Q&t=2s
That's a gross misrepresentation. China has a female shortage, so some males will not get mates, regardless of how much housing is built. The extra houses aren't convincing women to turn from lesbian/asexual to heterosexual.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's true, but my point is that the "Emperor is far away" problems can be found in any type of governing model. Some may limit it, but even then, there are tradeoffs. One advantage of a centralized top-down system is that when an issue becomes sufficiently prioritized at the top, everyone below falls in line. The primary advantage here is speed and the ability to see through long-term plans. You see this in China's…
You're getting knee-jerk downvotes, but I think your reply is more thoughtful than some are giving you credit for. My original comment more or less agrees with you. However, I'd also temper it by saying that one of the downsides of a highly central government is that it falls prey to the negatives of the "Eye of Sauron". This means that where the relatively few people at the top can focus, and for however long they c…
A little off-topic, but this is an interesting point. Made me wonder if our corporations fall prey to the same problem as well, since they're basically authoritarian states in structure. But I guess it's because they have such one-dimensional goals that this structure is so effective, as you said.
> If the Chinese government can ever arrive at a good solution to local, delegated authority (and I'm not hopeful it will), these smaller issues can be attended to
Do you think it's possible for delegated authority to exist under an authoritarian system at all?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
[flagged]
We have huge problems with policing in this country, no doubt. This is simply not comparable to the systemic oppression and persecution of political and ethnic undesirables in places like China. Note that millions of us Americans who are disgusted with systemic racism and authoritarian overreach in our country are free to discuss it openly, assemble in opposition, and vote our conscience. Do you imagine a person in C…
Americans have no idea they are being fed propaganda. That's my point. That's what I said right back at the start.
It's not relevant what a person in China can or can't do.