5 Comments

Dr. Paul Romer agreed with you yesterday: https://blinks.bloomberg.com/news/stories/QWUTFVT0AFB8

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I disagree.

Ant Financial IPO block was the CCP re-asserting its control over the Chinese financial universe. Allowing an enormous shadow lending operation as practiced by Ant would be the surrender of government control over a significant part of said universe.

I am also ambivalent over the tech crackdown being a fear of tech monopolists, as opposed to a fear of Chinese tech monopolists becoming beholden to non-Chinese interests (i.e. the US markets, US government, US tech sector, you name it).

I also see your ongoing thesis of "CCP acting out of weakness" as being tonally wrong.

Is it weakness to understand areas of vulnerability and to correct them?

How would you characterize the near-drinking age American venture into Afghanistan - weakness?

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Xi must have drawn important lessons from the introduction of the late Soviet Glastnost' policy [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasnost] which heavily contributed to the collapse of the USSR... I surmise he would direct CCP to stay clear from both excesses.

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fear and control and very close cousins. another obvious example of this china's crackdown on bitcoin.

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This crackdown will obviously slow the listing of Chinese firms on the NYSE. Maybe to a stop? How sour do you think the relations between the US and China will get since both sides have a "relentless retaliation" policy (https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202107/1228232.shtml)? Will we see firms restart manufacturing in the US as we start Cold War 2.0?

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