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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KyrosL who wrote (97996)	1/18/2013 6:47:19 PM
From: TobagoJack	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 217975

it is a blessing to have one such as you, one who holds the view that somehow i need to toe some invisible line, as one of my counterparties ;0) bet on. name the shares you shall be shorting based on your views and i shall info you my wager placement

To: KyrosL who wrote (97996)	1/18/2013 7:06:57 PM
From: GPS Info	1 Recommendation Respond to of 217975

Well, you lobbed a softball at me, but I'll swing nonetheless. If I were in TJ's boots, I would take the bet depending on my cash-flow situation, and whether the money was actually mine to spend. I think I could justify the bet to the CCP authorities by stating that the bet represents "my unwavering support for the highest communist principles." I would tell them that Xi Jingping will make all necessary changes to strengthen the CCP and China will be the dominate world power in one generation, if not sooner. I'd also say the after the bet is won, the money will go to the Ministry of Civil Affairs (not that I know how that would happen). A harder question would be: would I defy or openly criticize the CCP on their polices on censorship, or labor camps or on corruption in the party? In this case, if the CCP decided they wanted me to stop, they wouldn't have to try too hard. They could suggests things about my kids or their school, and maybe whether they'd be better off somewhere else, etc. Personally, I wouldn't want to stand in front of a freight train or charge a machine-gun nest for no good purpose. I would hate to die in vain, but we don't often have the choice. The student protestors in Tiananmen Square were unaware how much force would come down from the CCP (well, the PLA). They may have thought that a peaceful protest could move the CCP to liberalize some of their policies. Once a person realizes that they could beaten or shot or run over by tanks, you would have to think twice about open defiance. It's very likely that other protestors went to "earn their keep" in labor camps and were subject to torture for years. I think that the fall of the Berlin Wall was a gradual increase in the dissatisfaction with the political system and that something snaps in a group of people. One thing leads to another and people are out of political office. This was always my best guess of what the CCP feared at Tiananmen Square, hence the massacre. I probably don't have the same level of bravery as the man who stood up the tank column. I would want to know that if I did confront the state that my sacrifice wouldn't go unnoticed. Then again, if I thought about five years of torture in too much detail, I might take the more discretionary route.