As much as I disliked the red carpet treatment for Xi Jinping in Washington, DC, I applaud the brilliant choice of music at the State Banquet at the @WhiteHouse It cannot have been an accident that Les Miserables was played. Thank you @POTUS @FLOTUS @SusieWiles47 @USProtocol @StateDept 🙏 #FreeHongKong #FreeTibet #FreeUyghurs #FreeChina #StandWithTaiwan

I hope Bill Gates is watching this. He once said electric semi-trucks would never happen.

大音希声，大象无形。 特斯拉 Semi 的发布，绝非只是一辆重卡的登场，而是人类对这颗星球最深沉的救赎。它以钢铁般的沉默，打破了燃油时代百年的轰鸣与喧嚣；它用纯净的力量，重塑了物流大动脉的绿色轮廓。 大音希声，是电驱重卡穿越山海时、那近乎无声却撼动文明的寂静； 大象无形，是科技化入清风、将无形的碳排化为未来天空之湛蓝。 这不仅是对运输边界的重构，更是特斯拉将理想主义投射于苍穹的宏大叙事。愿这一道寂静的闪电，劈开旧世界的滚滚浓烟，以无声载万物，用无形塑未来，引领人类驶向那长风万里、重归纯净的明天。

BREAKING: Tesla Semi is launching mass-scale production. When fully loaded, Tesla Semi can haul 82,000 lbs, reach 500 miles on a single charge, and still hit 0-60 mph in 20 seconds.

When they realize it's not your first rodeo

I’m crying bro lured the cop away from the bike so he could go back and grab it

The fundamental flaw of Plaza 1.0 was that it was a one time revaluation, where countries agreed to push the currency to a certain level and then let it go. But a one time revaluation can be offset with any number of counteracting policies, anything that implicitly taxes consumers and subsidizes producers. This is exactly what Japan did in response to Plaza 1.0 (explanation at the end). The currency moved once, and then the policy distortions that led to the need for Plaza went right back to work. And the same result will happen again if we design it as a one time revaluation. A durable solution requires that the currency be continually determined by the trade account, and not the capital account. Under a one time revaluation, a country can enact policies to offset the revaluation so that the trade account resists rebalancing. But under a system where the currency is continuously determined by the trade account, those offsets are self defeating, because the persisting surplus keeps forcing the currency up. The adjustment doesn’t stop until the surplus closes. Whatever we call the next currency agreement, it should not be based on setting a predetermined level. Instead we must institute a mechanism that ensures currency values are continuously driven by the trade account and not the capital account. That will allow currencies to fulfill the role Keynes and others at Bretton Woods envisioned: a regime that reacts to the trade account so that trade naturally rebalances and persistent imbalances cannot exist. *While currency changes matter, they’re not the only factor driving external balances. Despite the massive yen appreciation, Japan’s current account surplus actually expanded post-Plaza. Germany’s, in contrast, declined meaningfully in response to the Deutsche Mark appreciation. The reason is that Japan set off a credit surge at negative real interest rates. This transferred wealth from net savers (households), to net borrowers (Japanese corporates), which counteracted the change in the value of the currency. It reduced the household share of GDP by more than the currency appreciation raised it. So the savings rate actually went up, not down, and their current account surplus went up, not down.

Meanwhile, @Bluebearmonkey's argument appears to be: "China makes good stuff, so you buy it. If you resist, you are an idiot and will lose. I'm just trying to help you white boys who cannot do maths." Few in the Global North or South will accept this perpetual insubordination.

The easiest way to sabotage the West is to find something China does well and suggest wypipos try it. They will refuse out of sheer butthurt. So… the EU should learn mafs. Lots of low hanging fruit, folks. Sometimes, I question my motives. 😐