Mr. GPUs (Rufus Wright)

Increasingly certain the core problem with our society is its run by a bunch of mentally ill psychopaths whose primary motivation is success for the sake of success. Anyone who doesn’t quit their job to play golf and drink after hitting $10M should be put in an insane asylum

Amtrak’s vision for the 800 long distance train cars it wants to purchase is nothing short of beautiful. A great way to celebrate Tax Day.

the exchange at 34 minutes… wow.

I should have mentioned that in future posts in the series, I will be connecting the CCP's obsession with repressing foreign philosophies and religions that start with the individual and his/her inner insights and spiritual connections to Dao/"world" and the inability of China to have a fully convertible currency that other countries have a strong desire to hold as "foreign currency reserves" (as they do now with the U.S. dollar, the Euro, and the Yen). This inability is a major constraint on China ever being able to be the dominant global economic power, as the U.S. has been for eighty years. Without getting into the details, the problem for CCP leaders is this: because of the attractiveness of individualistic philosophic systems such as Buddhism, Christianity, and western philosophy more generally, were China to end constraints on Chinese citizens being able to take their money, measured in Renminbi, and convert it to U.S. dollars or Euros, there would be a massive emigration out of the country of China's best and brightest (and wealthiest). Already, rich elites within China are finding ways around the restrictions that make it hard to take out more than about $60,000 a year from China. A fully convertible currency that made it legal to just emigrate to the U.S. or Europe with all of one's money would be an unmitigated disaster, both for China's financial asset base and for its "human capital" base (accumulated skills, tech knowledge, organizational abilities, etc.). Indeed, the very fact that for two decades CCP leaders have been trying to square the circle of making the Renminbi convertible and keeping China's elite families in the country and always retreating from full convertibility when push came to shove only reinforces the larger thesis of the series: That the CCP puts domestic stability first, above all else, and adjusts foreign policies to ensure this internal stability is maintained. In short, the idea that China hawks promote -- that China wants to "take over the world" both economically and militarily -- must come to grips with the fact that CCP leaders have continually sacrificed China's ability to "dominate the world" (or at least its economy) the way the U.S. did after 1945 for the sake of domestic cohesion and the maintenance of the Party's control as a "dynasty". I'll leave you with a dramatic fact that demonstrates just how much of a trade-off China's capital control policy has on its "standing" in the world: China's GDP is now about 18-19% of the world's GDP (the U.S. about 22-23%). But the U.S. dollar still constitutes about 58-60% of all foreign currency reserves held abroad in the central banks of states. The figure for China's Renminbi? Four percent. And if you were a tinpot dictator in a resource rich African country, which foreign currency would you want to hold in reserve to pay for oil and food imports and medicines from abroad to keep your population happy? One that can only really buy goods from China?