China loses 2000 bronze medal to Americans because of underage gymnast. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! – http://bit.ly/aJibE8
4 thoughts on “Twitter: China loses 2000 …”
ceiliazul
No mention of any team warnings or future consequences. …but I’m sure China won’t try anything like that again. right?
Jazz
I was sort of casually thinking about China today, specifically about three investments in Chinese stocks for a small portfolio I actively manage (CSKI, CEU and SOHU, in case anyone’s curious). Each of those stocks have unusually low P/E’s (ex-cash) without reported debt. When this happens that often means investors are worried about marketplace conditions, in this case, that current “what to do about China” sigh, specifically whether the CPC can continue to effectively wring growth out of China’s economy.
This got me thinking about dcl’s recent equivalence of “community” and “government” and how a controlled, non-free society like China is at a polar extreme to the community=government concept as described by dcl. Where people are not free, the community is definitively something separate from the government.
Which raises a question: where on the continuum between “community=government” and “China” is the US? By virtue of enfranchisement, we’re no doubt on the good side of China on that continuum. But how far? I then pondered the conventional wisdom that, if the forces come together correctly (a nasty double-dip recession, some severe international blunder, no better primary challenger), a Republican could win the Presidency in 2012, and that Republican could easily be Sarah Palin.
Given that I have PDS, I’m tempted to editorialize, but that would be beside the point. Rather, what even Palin’s supporters must realize is that her road to the Presidency, assuming the stars align, will not include an interview even as challenging as the softball-ish Couric one. Which fact in and of itself does not make her a bad President.
Indeed, when Alasdair opines that Palin took on the established interests in her party, that does seem to be true, as she did have conflict with the party when she resigned from the Oil and Gas Commission. That conflict certainly may have been principled, while those of us with PDS suspect that the resignation paved the way to the Governor’s office, but the key insight is that under the right circumstances, Palin is electable to the Presidency without much additional data to decide between those two viewpoints.
Again, none of this automatically makes her a bad President. I’m even picking on her here because I have PDS; essentially the same case could more or less be made about Obama, I suppose. The conclusion is: what is the difference between electing Palin President because she is mavericky and allegedly takes on the powerful, and not electing Hu Jintao to be the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China?
There’s certainly a difference. The sheer process of holding scheduled elections means there’s a difference. It’s even a pretty big difference. But its also a pretty big spectrum between China and community=government. I bet we’re closer to China than most folks casually think.
China loses 2000 bronze medal to Americans because of underage gymnast. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! – http://bit.ly/aJibE8
No mention of any team warnings or future consequences. …but I’m sure China won’t try anything like that again. right?
I was sort of casually thinking about China today, specifically about three investments in Chinese stocks for a small portfolio I actively manage (CSKI, CEU and SOHU, in case anyone’s curious). Each of those stocks have unusually low P/E’s (ex-cash) without reported debt. When this happens that often means investors are worried about marketplace conditions, in this case, that current “what to do about China” sigh, specifically whether the CPC can continue to effectively wring growth out of China’s economy.
This got me thinking about dcl’s recent equivalence of “community” and “government” and how a controlled, non-free society like China is at a polar extreme to the community=government concept as described by dcl. Where people are not free, the community is definitively something separate from the government.
Which raises a question: where on the continuum between “community=government” and “China” is the US? By virtue of enfranchisement, we’re no doubt on the good side of China on that continuum. But how far? I then pondered the conventional wisdom that, if the forces come together correctly (a nasty double-dip recession, some severe international blunder, no better primary challenger), a Republican could win the Presidency in 2012, and that Republican could easily be Sarah Palin.
Given that I have PDS, I’m tempted to editorialize, but that would be beside the point. Rather, what even Palin’s supporters must realize is that her road to the Presidency, assuming the stars align, will not include an interview even as challenging as the softball-ish Couric one. Which fact in and of itself does not make her a bad President.
Indeed, when Alasdair opines that Palin took on the established interests in her party, that does seem to be true, as she did have conflict with the party when she resigned from the Oil and Gas Commission. That conflict certainly may have been principled, while those of us with PDS suspect that the resignation paved the way to the Governor’s office, but the key insight is that under the right circumstances, Palin is electable to the Presidency without much additional data to decide between those two viewpoints.
Again, none of this automatically makes her a bad President. I’m even picking on her here because I have PDS; essentially the same case could more or less be made about Obama, I suppose. The conclusion is: what is the difference between electing Palin President because she is mavericky and allegedly takes on the powerful, and not electing Hu Jintao to be the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China?
There’s certainly a difference. The sheer process of holding scheduled elections means there’s a difference. It’s even a pretty big difference. But its also a pretty big spectrum between China and community=government. I bet we’re closer to China than most folks casually think.
FYI, there is no truth to the rumor that the underage Dong Fangxiao was last seen at a bar being sexually assaulted by Big Ben.
Where she lost her iPhone prototype