Selling Taiwan and other matters Mail 683 20110714-2

Mail 683 Thursday July 14, 2011 – 2

A Modest Proposal

Dear Jerry Pournelle:

In the following email I satirically take on the persona of a Chinese Communist Party apparatchnik, sending a message to you, satirically given the persona of a higher-up official. In it I propose an offer that the Chinese would be foolish not to make, and the Americans would be hard-pressed not to accept. And it has precedent in our own history.

Satirically yet sincerely,

Nathaniel Hellerstein

***

Dear Comrade Pournelle:

I write you to propose a way for us, the People’s Republic of China, to

reclaim Taiwan without firing a shot. Our army is strong and could

easily over-run the rebel province, were it not for the Americans. Also

it would be a shame to damage the property while repossessing it; and

the use of force could have a negative propaganda effect.

The key is to convince the Americans to go. Fortunately they are

trillions of dollars in debt to us, due to their foolish greed and our

foresight. The solution, then, is simple; we need merely _buy_ Taiwan.

This has historical precedent; consider the Louisiana Purchase.

The procedure would be simplicity itself. We would merely agree to

cancel part of the debt we hold over them, along with interest payments

owed to us; and in exchange the Americans withdraw all of their armed

forces from the area; and then, for political cover, hold a referendum

on the island, agreeing to the transfer of power. The election will, of

course, be fixed to ensure the correct outcome; the Americans are

skilled at such things.

Some of your comrades in the Party will object that the barbarous

Americans are too proud to betray an ally. They are indeed proud and

bellicose, but they are also corrupt, and they are economically

vulnerable. So much so that our trillions of dollars of holdings might

depreciate badly, soon; so I suggest that we bargain that debt away

while it’s still worth something.

Sincerely,

Comrade Hellerstein

= = = =  Surprise. it’s working. ===

 

Re: A Modest Proposal

Dear Comrade Pournelle:

Our plan is working perfectly. The Americans are aware of what’s

happening, but they can’t prove it, and they lack the political will to

resist. Right now they are too busy destroying their own credit rating.

I would like to brag that our agents were responsible for that triumph,

but it seems that the Americans are doing it to themselves. Amazing!

I am informed that there is another historical precedent for our plan

to purchase Taiwan; namely, the absorption of the Republic of Texas

into the United States, in exchange for assuming the Republic’s debt.

Buying instead of invading Taiwan will of course be an ideological

victory for capitalism. Perhaps the Americans will console themselves

with that.

Sincerely,

Comrade Hellerstein

Alpha, Omega

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/two-photos-thirty-years-apart-move-192313669.html

Steven J. Dunn

"Economic miracles never happen with command economies"

The counter example to that is the USSR during the late 1920s & 30s. Stalin may have exaggerated his productivity figures but WW2 proved that the USSR’s economy really had grown from destitution to the world’s second. Much of the appeal of communism was based on this achievement (at one time it appealed to me on those grounds) while the rest of the world was in Depression and I believe it has to be explained It can partly be explained by the pure human cost paid but if the command economy was that moribund that would not have been sufficient.

My current explanation is that Trotsky became electricity commissar in 1925 and set in train a decade of 23% annual growth in electricity capacity and that, then, newish technology was the or a pivotal one and allowed the economy to grow at 10% at a time when introduction of command factors into the US economy had depressed it. However this may be an after the fact rationalisation (and iprojection onto Trotsky) and I would be interested in your thoughts.

Neil Craig

Actually, Lenin was forced to resort to his New Economic Policy much to the dismay of many devoted Marxists. Russia went from being the breadbasket of Europe to famine. Command economies can always produce some spectacular results in their areas of concentration. Intelligent masters understand that it is best not to bind the mouths of the kine who tread the grain.

"The Disappearing Recovery"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304911104576443953024891120.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

We can only hope America is paying attention.

Phil=

If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.

Armed guards at fast food restaurants

Dear Jerry:

The person who thinks that only China has armed guards at fast food restaurants needs to get out more. This is very common and depends, as do all such services, on the crime rate, threat level, and insurance premiums for not having such a guard. You will recall I used to sell these services. Private security officers, armed and unarmed, are used at thousands of such restaurants around the world. Here in L.A. some of them have died in the line of duty, shot by gang-bangers who didn’t like them challenging their dominance. Sometimes off-duty police officers are hired for this, but generally, they are too expensive, expect free food not just for themselves but for their fellow officers and disappear just when there is a real emergency because they get called back to duty to respond to it. The most dangerous account like this I ever sold myself was in Chicago, located at the juncture of five different gang turfs and going broke because the off-duty cops would only work it if there were two of them. We replaced them with one officer, a burned out Lieutenant from the Housing Projects force, who was a Black Muslim, and took no guff from anyone. He simply looked at anyone who acted up and they got real quiet, real fast. And that restaurant actually started making money for the first time in its history because people were no longer afraid to come there. And all our guy did was sit there and look hard at anyone who was acting out.

Sometimes the private sector can do it better.

Sincerely,

Francis Hamit

Shades of Dune

Jerry,

"The properties of shear-thickening fluids lead to the strange result, however, that while such a vest would defend against a sudden, aggressive knife attack, it wouldn’t guard against a slowly piercing one."

A Bomb-Proof Bag to Foil Terrorists

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/helloworld/26959/?ref=rss

Reminiscent of the personal shields in Frank Herbert’s Dune.

Regards,

George