Reading Roundup (XIV) - Nonsense about "Crafty" Chinese, Food for Nerds, JeffMatthewsIsNotMakingThisUp, Beijing Property Weather Report

Articles I've recently read with my comments in italics, and other miscellany:

China's Stealth War on the U.S., by Max Boot.
[via Bill Bishop. "Chinese strategists, in the best tradition of Sun Tzu, are working on craftier schemes to topple the American hegemon ... Their different approaches include financial warfare (subverting banking systems and stock markets), drug warfare (attacking the fabric of society by flooding it with illicit drugs), psychological and media warfare (manipulating perceptions to break down enemy will), international law warfare (blocking enemy actions using multinational organizations), resource warfare (seizing control of vital natural resources), even ecological warfare (creating man-made earthquakes or other natural disasters)." Those crafty, scheming Chinese, lol. Look, the Chinese have enough problems at home without making trouble abroad.]

Inflation-Adjusted NYSE Seat Sale Prices: 1910-2005, by Paul Kedrosky.
[A nice chart to check out... you can see how wild things were in 1929... I only wish Paul had log-scaled the seat prices.]

Google is Unnecessarily Searching for Chefs
[Google posted a sample menu from one of their cafeterias with all kinds of fancy stuff listed, which I found hilarious. If management just provides the nerds with an ample supply of Pepsi and Peanut Butter on Toast, they'll be thrilled (and maybe even more productive). Ahi Tuna & Avocado Poke Salad, ha!]

Jeff Matthews Is Not Making This Up
[I've added Jeff Matthews to my A-List Blogroll despite the fact that he's on Blog*Spot (I'm a terrible URL snob). His posts are entertaining, and I love the fact that his font grows wildly larger as his occasional rant reaches its climax. Check him out if you haven't already.]

I went over to the property developer's office yesterday to do some paperwork. (They messed up my Chinese name on some documents, which needed to be fixed.) Anyway, I had to battle through about 100 Taiwanese people to get to my "contact" there. (In China, you need to develop contacts to get anything accomplished quickly and easily... if you don't have someone on the inside, you'll just be another zhlub standing in line.) It seems that there was a group from Taiwan all purchasing apartments at the same time, which was pretty chaotic. China is still a cash culture so people were standing around with hundreds of thousands of RMB (down payment money) in their hands. My weather report on the property market in Beijing remains the same: it's still 110 degrees in the shade.

Following the Trend in T-Bill Rates

The lesson is clear: you have to buy high and sell low. ;-)

13-Week T-Bill Rates, Weekly Chart