On Tuesday, a story I wrote about the joy of biking to Costco was published on a website called InsideHook. On Wednesday, life imitated art: I rode my bike to Costco to purchase supplies for a Golden State Warriors NBA Finals watching party that I will be hosting at my home on Thursday.
Completely unrelated, although I did find this essay fun. Hoping to draw on your expertise. This is a comment which I left on Brad Delong's commentary on China. I'm particularly interested in Xi's pursuit of corruption. Was it just a stick to beat up other factions?
The Economist is late to the game. It has seemed obvious to me that Xi's neo-Maoism was very likely to damage the Chinese economy. Beyond that, I'm wondering if the PRC military is a paper dragon. From coverage of the Russian/Ukraine war, it seems that the kleptocratic nature of Russian elites has gravely impaired military effectiveness. I.e resources that should have flowed, to the military ended up financing real estate and mega-yachts.
I know that one of Xi's early, and popular, campaigns was directed at "corruption". I'm not in position to know if these campaigns were actually genuinely anti-corruption, or just a stick to employ in factional warfare. If the net effect of the campaigns was to shift the corruption rents to Xi's faction, then the possibility of the Chinese military being similarly hobbled seems print. I know the PLA is heavily involved with non-military production. Certainly, the opportunities for balancers, etc. will be noted.
Always interesting, wonderful prose. Love it!
Completely unrelated, although I did find this essay fun. Hoping to draw on your expertise. This is a comment which I left on Brad Delong's commentary on China. I'm particularly interested in Xi's pursuit of corruption. Was it just a stick to beat up other factions?
The Economist is late to the game. It has seemed obvious to me that Xi's neo-Maoism was very likely to damage the Chinese economy. Beyond that, I'm wondering if the PRC military is a paper dragon. From coverage of the Russian/Ukraine war, it seems that the kleptocratic nature of Russian elites has gravely impaired military effectiveness. I.e resources that should have flowed, to the military ended up financing real estate and mega-yachts.
I know that one of Xi's early, and popular, campaigns was directed at "corruption". I'm not in position to know if these campaigns were actually genuinely anti-corruption, or just a stick to employ in factional warfare. If the net effect of the campaigns was to shift the corruption rents to Xi's faction, then the possibility of the Chinese military being similarly hobbled seems print. I know the PLA is heavily involved with non-military production. Certainly, the opportunities for balancers, etc. will be noted.