Hello Joel, On some days, I feel I do not know very much at all about the world we, or at least I live in. At these times I am comforted knowing that there is a hoard of physical Pt/Au, paper gold and mining shares answerable to nature and Jay.
On some nights, I suspect I may know more about the world we or perhaps I live in, then 'They' do. At these other times, I am calmed that I command a wallop of precious metals and their paper derivatives.
This is not going to be a post about gold, a subject on which I prefer to defer to Jim Willie. This will simply be idle thought put to my iPAQ while I make way from Nanjing to Hong Kong.
I have just concluded my tagging along of a delegation of US visitors to China. The entire party numbered over thirty men and women, of many professional trainings, work experiences, ages, and ethnic backgrounds. All except perhaps half a dozen had not been to China, and many had never visited Asia before this trip.
Each visitor had his or her own reasons to be part of the delegation. Some were concerned about China and its impact on environment, others had an interest in labour unions and women/children’s rights, all were committed to human rights, while 100% were focused on bilateral trade. A few had a hope to do God's work, and one had a wish to import bibles.
I visited, sometimes with the entire delegation, at other times with a subset of the procession, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Beijing, and Nanjing. We met with government officials, toured historical sites, construction locations, department stores, hospital, Catholic church, Buddhist scripture publishing house, university, manufacturing zone, and, of course, many restaurants.
Some of the visitors feel if-ish about returning to the ‘Bamboo Grove’ and ‘Hunan Garden’ restaurants that are so plentiful elsewhere, some felt nostalgic for a hamburger.
The highlight of the trip was yesterday. The big group of many was broken apart into small groups of a few, guided by equal number of Chinese and American university students studying at a Nanjing school; we visited where the students decided to show the newbies. The day was capped off by a town hall meeting of open discussion and energized debate, then a group dinner in the cafeteria.
The discussions ranged far and wide, covering death taxes, government fiat, individual initiative, group think, religious freedom, God and gods, war and peace, rights and justice, rich and poor, now and later, past and present, Korea and Iraq.
The trip was educational for the hosts as well as the visitors, and, by all accounts and observation of body language, gave each side the hope that the future is bright, worthy of hope, and deserving of effort.
The consensus on both sides seemed to be that the Chinese knew more about America than the Americans knew about China, and that more Americans should learn a foreign language.
Many in the group had probably imagined they knew much about the world, thought they understand plenty about China. Gradually, as the formation proceeded across China, their long held imaginations wavered, old understandings improved, curiosities piqued, and new thoughts grew on top of old contemplations, and all believed they would visit again.
I do not remember anything about my role in the trip, but performed my SI function to explain one point of view concerning the facts about gold, the truth about money, the evils of Greensputin, and the concerns of Jay, a French Creole Hakka Chinese investor electorate living on Money Rock HK, next to Freedom Mountain Kowloon.
Chugs, Jay |
