Hi Derek,
I can see why my posts would appear esoteric when viewed from So Cal.
I visit California about once every 3 months or so, and I lunch often in South of Market area and cruise to Carmel courtesy of rental SUVs, enjoying every minute of the buzz and boom, watching the VW bugs of the pre-IPO vs. the Audi TT Roadsters of the post-IPO crowd. I keep busy bringing the same precious IPO dollars back out to Asia, into dot.coms, power stations, and optical component plants. Really appreciate the flow. I got a bit alarmed last November when one of my business plans found its way to my wife's VC fund via a gun slinger who had no clue of what it was about but pitching it third hand none the less. You can imagine my resulting alarm on the state of money flow.
I am familiar with money in its various quantities and velocity and mostly do a better job than the World Bank, and having thrived so very many crisis based on luck, luck and more luck, and most important of all, I consider all esoteric opinions, in case they appear to have been not so odd later on.
On the money of dictators, much more sits in HK than all of the US, for the simple reason that in the US, you have rights granted by folks, whereas in HK we have freedom granted by wallet. But that is another discussion altogether.
The sky always appear as big as a manhole cover when viewed from the bottom of a well. I am not sure whether the well is HK or So. Cal., only time will tell. Most folks generally do not consider HK, even the one square kilometer of it in CBD, as a refrigerator. It is hot here, both temperature-wise and financially, sometimes deadly so. The last Heritage Foundation and WSJ survey puts HK as #1 in terms of economic freedom. HK has been amongst the top 3 for as far as I can remember. All those who bet against HK in any sustained manner had lost, especially recently. Ask Soros and Robertson.
It is just possible that communists of any influence are mostly closeted in the sunny parts of America. Communism to me, a survivor of their doings, mostly mean confiscation of private property, and that certainly is being done on a grand scale, but not, thankfully, in HK, where the Chief Executive Officer (our version of the president, a quaint title in our capitalist ways) elections are decided by 600 folks selected across class lines, professions, and popularly elected folks. I know, a ridiculous system that is not nearly as scientific as an election decided by a smaller group of lawyers and judges.
I know I am stretching a point here, just for Sunday fun. Do not, as I am sure you are not, take me too seriously. May the force be with you always, preferably in the Audi TT. Like you, I believe in and adore California. |
