Confirmation of another supreme-court judge
If we have to ensure no sexual
wrong doing of an appointee, we will never find a capable male in the US. Sigh!
Tibet today
Watched a travel show on Tibet.
Tibet’s living standard has been at least doubled after the train. It has made
everything cheaper to import to Tibet and has attracted a lot of tourists. I
bet the ‘liberation’ is good for Tibet. They do not have one-child policy and
children can go to school.
Wheel of Fortune
My late mom was a big fan of the
show even she did not know English. It is the biggest compliment to the show.
Charity donations
In lieu of flowers, I donated.
Why they asked me for the phone number? Use 1234 for the last 4 digits if it is
a requited field to enter. On the same subject, sign it with “No robo call”
which is supposed to reduce market calls.
Chow Yun Fat, the star in
Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon, donated most of his money to charities and
leads a frugal life style. Great Mr. Chow (not Mr. Fat).
I should not mock at Buffett’s
income taxes as he had donated most to charities too. His foundation uses money
more wisely and effectively than the government. Two thumbs up!
The story of Yanxi Palace
You can watch it from YouTube. It
is the most-watched series in Asia. Check out the one with English subtitles.
Hope the US channels will pick it up and dub English.
Health
Take care of it when you’re
young. Many friends in my age group lose some hearing due to listening to loud
music.
India
India is growing faster recently.
But, India starts at a very low level. Just compare the number of high rises,
railway, high speed rail, airports, highways and bridges. The 7.2% has no
meaning and it will not catch up with China in 20 years:
·
China maintains 6.5% and India is only 1% ahead.
Ignoring compounding, India will only be 20*1% = 20% total growth.
From the web,
India's GDP (PPP) is four trillion whereas China's GDP (PPP) is ten trillion.
·
Diminishing growth. China had been grown in
double digit in 10 years or so as it started with a low level. Today's 6.5%
(heading to 6%) is decent compared to a developed country such as 3% for US.
India looks better than the
figures as its population is less. India should address why it is not
competitive and cannot copy a model from China. My guess: poor governance
resulting corruption, bureaucracy and protectionism and social inequality.
Oct 13, 2018. 08:30 AM
Link
Learn from your
competitors
Recognize your competitors. Then
learn from them. Apply where appropriate.
China did the same and now is our turn.
Global warming
The recent natural disasters may
be caused by global warming. The warmer water and warmer air pass the energy to
storms. The melting of the poles give rise to sea levels.
Better to believe it and take actions than ignoring global
warming.
There are many we can do.
1. Reduce
carbon gas. Live in a smaller house to save energy to heat and cool the house.
Wear more clothes instead of turning up the heat Use public transportation
and/or drive energy efficient cars.
2. Protect
the environment. We need to repair rather than buy new stuffs such as iPhone and
cars.
3. Build
sea wall.
4. Control
flooding.
5. Do
not build houses next to the ocean unless they're safe.
Oct 12, 2018. 03:59 PM
Link
Better deal than
buying Manhattan
Or Alaska from Russia. Even better without Sarah.
Actually the goose (US) is getting too old with no meat.
Time to make soup with the bone.
Taiwan
In general, the citizens in north
Taiwan are Chiang's followers and now their descendants while the south are
original folks and/or folks came to Taiwan before Chiang.
Tibet
Tibet has closer relation with
China throughout the long history. It is more peaceful due to longer distance
and the royal marriages. Two of the last three dynasties were ruled by
'foreigners' (Mongolia and Manchuria). Mao made them part of the 56 ethnic
groups.
Three blind mice
"Three blind mice" is a
popular tune for the band in football games against the bad judgement of the referees.
It should be our national anthem:
President, Congress and House of Representatives. Joke of the day?
Category 4
Category 4 is the worst for the
region. Hope most areas have been evacuated. In some countries they cannot.
For the last two years the world
has record-high natural disasters - a statistics that cannot be fake news.
The impacts of constant flooding
and constant droughts cannot be avoided but can be reduced if we devote more of
our resources here than fighting endless wars.
Hong Kong’s worst hurricane was bad, but ours is even worse.
From the web:
"In records dating back to
1851, there has never been a Category 4 or Category 5 hurricane to make
landfall in the Florida Panhandle."
Oct 10, 2018. 11:28 AM
Link
Contradiction
We will punish the Saudi. However, we will continue to sell
them state-of-the-art weapons including our jet fighters.
US can bomb and destroy their jet fighters to punish them,
so they can buy more from us. A win-win proposal.
Smile Index
Hong Kong was second last and moved up several steps up. A
rich city does not mean its citizens are happy. It is due to competition (even
from kindergarten) and the expensive housing.
Our high national debt
A convenient fact has been
ignored by our presidents: our rising DEBT.
I can make all corporations look
great with P/E, Sales... except the Debt/Equity that the competitive edge of
the company will suffer in the long run. The company would bankrupt if it
cannot service the debt.
Opiod crisis
Social Security was designed when the life expectancy is
around 65 and now is around 80 for male and 85 for female - thanks to Opiod it
takes out about 2 years of our miserable lives.
Ocean bridge
The ocean bridge connecting
cities in S. China and Hong Kong is the world’s longest after a decade of
construction and many technical problems resolved.
Our last big project is Big Dig
and it is dwarfed in comparison. If we do not see the project done in 4 years,
most likely it will not pass the approval phase.
Saudi
China will benefit from our
problem with Saudi. China is selling military drones to Middle East countries.
Some of the drones have been used for real. So, you cannot say they are not
tested.
China's drones are below ours
technically but at about half off. The limit of CH-4 is without the internet
link for remote control but it will be fixed (if not already) by CH-5. They also
fly lower than ours so they should be detected by radar easily - but not a
problem reported so far. They look similar to ours - another security leak?
Israel does not sell their drones
to Middle East countries and we just lifted the restriction of selling drones
to many countries. A perfect opportunity for China.
China is collapsing?
I was told China would collapse
15 years ago, then 10 years ago, then 5 years ago and even now. It has not. If
you go to any Tier I city in China, you know it will not. Just compare their
subway system with NYC as shown last night from 60 Minutes on NYC subway.
Shenzhen's subway is incredible. HSR is connected to HK that China has more
than half of the HSR of the world. There is a new airport and enhanced subway
system in Beijing being worked on. The 'new' airport in Beijing opened in 2000
is now old.
Trump
I do not agree with Trump's
presentation, but he does have some good actions and proposals.
* On immigration. We have the
worst system. Japanese do not allow immigration in general and they have no
terrorist attacks from foreigners compared to EU. The Mexicans treat the
illegals (most on the way to US) badly.
What happened to the policy of
sponsoring the new immigrants and no social welfare for the first 3 years? Why
one immigrant can bring their entire family here? Why one caring for their
elderly can receive generous wages? Buying votes is bad for the country long
term.
Many countries treat their
immigrants badly and some even force them to change their last names to local
names.
* Tough with China. We do need to
fix why we're not competitive.
* Tough with EU (same for Japan
and S.Korea). They're wealthier than us (when our national debts are included.
Why we defend them?
No, India will not catch up with China in 10 years
1. China should maintain 6.5% and
India is only .5% ahead. Ignoring compounding, India will only be 20*.5% = 10%
total growth.
From the web: India's GDP (PPP)
is four trillion whereas China's GDP (PPP) is ten trillion.
2. Diminishing growth. China had
been double digit growth in 10 years or so as it started with a low level.
Today's 6.5% (heading to 6%) is decent compared to a developed country (3% for
US).
India looks better as its
population is less.
India should address why it is
not competitive and cannot copy a model from China. My guess: poor governance,
corruption, bureaucracy, social inequality, protectionism...
Yes, India is growing faster
recently. But, India starts at a very low level. The 7.2% has no meaning and it
will take a LONG time to catch up with China. Just compare the number of high
rises, railway, high speed rail, airports, highways...
Taiwan
In general, the citizens in north
Taiwan are Chiang's followers and now their descendants while the south are
original folks and/or folks came to Taiwan before Chiang.
Taiwan used to proclaim
"returning the lost land". They used to have the imaginary governors
of every province in China. These old men (most died now) fell asleep in all
the meetings except the first meeting. Not any more. Now they seek the better
deal by proclaiming independence. Today Taiwan's economy depends too much on
China. China offers them “One Country and Two Systems.
Tibet
Tibet has closer relation with
China through out the long history. It is more peaceful due to longer distance
and the royal marriages. Two of the last three dynasties were ruled by
'foreigners' (Mongolia and Manchuria). Mao made them part of the 56 ethnic
groups.
After the train, the living
standard of Tibetans have been improved substantially via easy to import /
export and tourism.
Should we ‘liberate’ the blacks
and the Red Indians first? Check out Detroit or any Indian reservation. Except
the suppression of Tibetan monks a long while ago, China gives more to Tibetans
than Tibet contributes.
In the old days, monks were the
only class that could get an education. Now, China provides free education,
same as all Chinese.
For example, they never have the
‘one-child policy’. In the days before the ‘liberation’, only monks can get an
education. Every city I went in Western China, Chinese preserve their cultures.
Actually China treat the minorities so good and makes other Chinese jealous.
Mice
"Three blind mice" is a
popular tune for the band in football games against the misjudgement of the
referees.
It should be our national anthem:
President, Congress and House of Representatives. Joke of the day?
Merging and employee treatments
New England Tel used to have the
best compensation package with bonus and/or options to many management
employees. The more mergers they have, the worse is the compensation.
The secretary is the management
employee. Hence they cannot strike with the union.
New changes in tax law
Most will lose in the tax law
changes for 2018.
1. Exemptions are eliminated. It
is about $4,000 per person.
2 Standard deductions are
doubled. I do not have real estate interest to deduct. Not much for me.
3. Estate tax exemption is $5 M
or so (forget the exact amount) per person. Fine with me with some planning
such as using trusts. My friend's father died in Dec. when the estate tax
exemption was increased from 1M. Poor timing. Should use life extension device
for one more week.
The changes beneficial for the
rich. The poor lose a lot esp. the health care cost (do not know the exact
details). Without too much publicity, Trump introduced a new tax law to save a
lot for real estate developers. Conflict of interest?
Bullying
Embargoing with other puppets to
a specific country is bullying to me. Australia and India ban China's 5G field
test. It will good for China in the long term.
5G
5G will be the future. It is more
than speed alone. China has a cheap solution to install 5G antenna in existing
antenna tower.
China has spent more money in 5G
research than the other two network companies. US does not even build 4G
network.
Huawei is one of the 3 companies
that build network. Its network and phone dominate the world except in US for
security reason. However, more than 20% of global traffic is accessible in
China if they want.
Unknown here, Huawei's mobile
phones could be one of the best if not the best. The latest phone has 3 cameras
for different purposes and plenty of innovations. That's why Trump tries to cut
down the US chips inside the phone. I bet Huawei uses its own chips combining
AI, speed and low-energy consumption.
Wealth gap
All countries have wealth
inequality even communists (the inner circle enjoying better stuffs in life).
With the middle class growing,
some the policy of helping the poor and suppressing corruptions, the gap in
China has been reduced. Again, I compare China today to China 5 years ago.
My last post is on wealth gap
between countries. When a country is richer than another one which is strong in
military, we have wars. Examples abound.
US is rich for many reasons. The
major one is natural resources per capita. So is Norway with its long coast
line and small population. India's wealth gap is the worst.
High female achievers
I met several female high
achievers (doctors, lawyers, managers making over 200K...). They have one thing
in common: no spouse.
They miss their best chance in
college to get a mat (more funny than 'mate') and they forget to hide their
superiority (the college does not teach you.
Chinese and railroad in US
It is cheaper to hire Chinese on
building CA's high-speed rail which is a legacy project for the governor. They
have machines to lay rails and build bridges. Their trains have been tested and
most cost effective.
In addition, do you think our
workers would work in the tough, hot climate? It is better to sit back and
enjoy the generous welfare checks.
Without Chinese, the railroad
would not be connected to California in such short time and so is the
cross-country rail in Canada. At one time, the west Canada would join the US if
the railroad were not connected.
Tariff on Chinese products
After the tariff, if Chinese
products are still competitive, then the tariff is added to the consumer.
If they are not competitive, very
few of them will be replaced by US products and the majority will be replaced
by low wage countries without tariff.
What will we gain from the
tariff?
Huawei
Huawei dominates some mobile
phone markets in Europe esp. those using Huawei's network. Apple is NOT the
best phone for the money compared to Huawei and Samsung. Apple's current
strength is the ecosystem and Apple's lawyers. US fends off Huawei on national
security reason. It is debatable as there are already at least 20% of the
global network passing thru Huawei's networks.
Trump is making China great again
It seems we're getting more
isolated than before and China is just the opposite. Good or bad?
The embargo of Iran drives cheap
oil to China.
The trade wars with our partners
drive them to China.
His silly tweets make Xi look
like a saint.
His immoral acts and talks make
us immoral too.
His firing on his own selected
folks is unpresidential.
The lack of major projects on
infrastructure makes us pale.
We have too many problems at home
such as constant shootings, lack of gun control, forest fires, flooding,
hurricanes, expensive health care, failing infrastructure, huge national debt,
endless wars etc. Please fix them first before we fix other countries’
problems.
I do agree with many of Trump’s
actions and policy such as tough on our partners and immigration policy.
Communist China
Contrary to many of your belief,
accepting to Communist party is very honorable in China. It gives one many
privileges including entrance to better universities and jobs. It is a top club
but China is no communists today. It is 'socialism with Chinese characters'.
Japan and war crimes
They raped so many women and
killed even babies.
They had a challenge to see how
many Chinese' heads they could cut. One said it was not fair as his sword was
dull and started over again. What kind of animals these criminals were?
Bombs were dropped in populated
cities for many years. Many horrible stories were told from victims.
To me, bye-gone is bye-gone.
Today this generation of Japanese will not commit the same crime. If they do,
the entire Japan will be wiped out in less than a day. No kidding.
For facts, check out Chang's
Nanjing or the movie (available in Netflix) with the same title. That will make
you angry even if you're not a Chinese.
Today the Japanese leaders
including Abe visits the 'shrines' every year to pay honor of these war
criminals. Just hail to Hitler to me.
I believe Chang's book was not
allowed to be sold in Japan. The Japs rewrote the text books. The mayor of
Osaka did not think the massacre of Nanjing ever happened even with the museum
dedicated to it. Give me a break please.
They forced Korean women to be
sex slaves to their soldiers. Some were fxxx so many times that they could not
move. No compensation and no sorry!
The A-bomb should be dropped in
the palace to end the war. If you believe in Karma, the Japs got their share.
The Japanese war criminals of WW2
should have the same treatment as the Jews trialing the German war criminals.
It could be China and the suffering countries were financially weak.
Now all these criminals died of
old age and I hope they all be judged by a higher court in hell.
Long Chinese history
The US history is relatively
short. You may feel sorry for me to study the long history of China in high
school. Creatively, in my test I wrote down the dynasty fell due to corruption
and out-of-touch with the common folks. When we do not learn from history, we
will repeat history.
Common for smart guys
What is Einstein and Newton have
in common besides science? They both lost big money in the stock market. The
market cannot be determined by formula and equations. It is a multi-disciplined
'science'.
Paradise and the market
Should have shorted PG&E
which is down by about 24%. It is a regulated utility, so will California chip
in to maintain a specific profit level?
I selected stocks to short from
my screens. But, some will not be shown on the screens faster than my eyes and
ears (and the internet). Always lessons to be learned in investing.
Why China rises
It is more than cheap labor.
There are many countries with labor cost far cheaper than China. Many countries
do not have embargo for decades.
Here are some besides labor:
1. Hard working of Chinese after
suffering from century of humiliation and Mao's poor governance. They are
motivated and educated. Many Africans are just opposite today.
2. Government build
infrastructure. Without electricity, the factory does not work. Without roads
and ports, no goods can be shipped. Thanks to Deng's vision to start with small
economic zoom in the coastal area with infrastructure.
3. Nixon took out the embargo.
They should build a statute by the side of Deng.
4. Our companies need cheap labor
to assemble the products. China gave incentives and the cheaper transportation
cost helped.
5. We are the victims of our
success. A rich, developed country needs to protect their workers with good
salaries. protect our environment...
It seems to be mutually beneficial
until China can change to be a designer / competitor from a factory assembler.
China’s political system
Chinese call their system
"socialism with Chinese characteristics". You can call it group
dictatorship. It is far better and money saving not to overturn the
achievements (good or bad) overnight when a new party takes over such as
ObamaCare.
A basic system such as capitalism
has to be modified to treat the country's needs and restrictions. For example,
China does not have the resources on trialing cases such as OJ but a bullet
will do. It is harsh to us.
Compared to China 40 years ago,
it is not that harsh. China will fail if it does not adopt as in every country.
From the last 40 years, China has been improved by leaps and bounds in most
fronts. Their citizens' living standard has been improved immensely. When it
works including Xi, there is no need to change. I do not say China does not
have her own problems and every country has her own share.
Communism is everyone gets
everything equal such as salary. It has its advantages and disadvantages as in
every system. The biggest disadvantage is there is no incentive to work hard
(such as our union workers).
It does not happen in China today
unless you twist the definition. Chinese are more incentive to work hard and
the students study hard. This is the good result of capitalism. However, the
wealth gap has been widened. But most benefit even the lowest citizens of
society when the country is richer. Today, few Chinese are starving to my
knowledge.
China
* China is not communism only in
the word CCP. It is more capitalist than us. Communism does not allow you to
set up shops.
* China has been semi colonized
and bankrupted by the 8-nation alliance when Brits pushed opium to China. China
ignored the Industrial Revolution and it was their error not opening trades
(how ironic!)
* The embargo with our alliance
made China poor and Mao's poor governance did not help.
* In the last 40 years, China has
grown faster than any country esp. in this scale.
* It is over-capacity and the
debts are high. However, they are under control.
* It has been helping many
developing countries in exchange for the trade such as Africa and now the
countries in their OROB projects.
If they can do so much in the
last 40 years, I expect they can do more in the next 40 years - I'm naturally
biased.
