China Grows Mutant-Like While the USA Founders 

It’s been about 40 years since I wrote Information Beijing: How to Do Business in China. I wrote it as an employee of Welt Publishing, which specialized in books and newsletters about doing business overseas. I wrote it like the uninformed writer I was at the time, from secondary research and a few conversations with colleagues. I hadn’t even traveled to Beijing. And yet it got good reviews.

Since then, I’ve been to China, for business and pleasure, about a half-dozen times. And I’ve seen firsthand how things have changed. Back in the 1990s, business opportunities were opening up for foreigners but with considerable restrictions. By the early 2000s, things had loosened up and all sorts of sectors were growing. And in the last 10 to 15 years, the Chinese government began to invest hugely in infrastructure, building roads and dams and cities like nothing I’d ever seen or even read about.

Instead of spending billions each year on policing the world, the Chinese government had a different idea: They would do everything possible to become the world’s leading economy –  leveraging their huge population and the combination of central control and semi-free markets and investing commercially in developing countries to open up new markets. And then, about 10 years ago, they began to buy lots and lots of gold as US reserves were depleting.

In short, it looked like China was outpacing the US in every economic and commercial category of growth. But in recent visits, I noticed two things that disturbed me: the enormous smog that hung over many of its most populated cities, and the unfathomable lack of people in some of the new cities.

Tom Dyson has been noticing the same things as he and his family travel through China. If you are interested in this massively important global trend, you might want to check out his blog post– “Prepare for ‘Stagflation’ by Owning Gold and Silver” – and perhaps subscribe to his service.

“The Persecution and Assassination of Donald J. Trump, Part 1” 

The S&P hit a record high last Monday, Oct. 28. But as Bill Bonner explains in this essay, if you measure the S&P’s total corporate earnings in real terms of gold, the stock market is creating half the wealth it was created 20 years ago. That bodes trouble ahead.

“Uber Is Going to Zero and Their VC Backers Know It” 

In a previous post, I wrote about the possible demise of Uber. In this essay on Medium.com, Matt Ward presents a similar view, comparing the deep “moat” AirBnB has against its competition with the shallow “puddle” that surrounds Uber.

The important lesson here is the idea I mentioned in my essay: User-built networks – like AirBnB –  get more valuable (and less vulnerable to competition) as they grow because they provide customers with more of what they want: reach. But company-built networks like Uber have no advantage over upstarts because, as Ward points out, they are essentially in a marketplace of local commerce catering to customers that have no loyalty.

“How Economists Cheat the Working Stiff” by Bill Bonner LINK

“How Fatherhood Should Be” by Tom Dyson 

Tom Dyson, a friend, and former protegé/partner of mine, recently made a major change in his life. He’s been on a journey around the world with his reunited family, and it’s given him a lot to think about.

In this essay, he talks about bonding with his children. LINK

“Arrests at MoMA” in ART news

This is an interesting example of how little some leftists understand about the issues they rally against. In this case, they seem to believe that lending money to poor countries is unethical. LINK

“Why Today’s Best Business Leaders Look to Stoicism” in Entrepreneur Daily 

It’s true. Stoicism is all the rage among Internet business gurus. And for good reason, as explained in this essay by Aytekin Tank. LINK

Remembering Harold Bloom 

On October 14, one of my heroes died. Harold Bloom was probably the best-known literary critic of my generation. His books and essays were erudite but accessible, insightful and witty, forthright but charming. He was a serious critic – miles above the intellectual drivel put out by most academic critics today. And, as you will read in this engaging obituary, he became a bit of a persona non grata at Yale when identity politics and what he called the school of resentment took over literary criticism.

But Bloom never buckled to the tyranny. And I’m hopeful that one day, when this fog of animus and stupidity clears, he will be recognized as one of the few in academia that kept his vision clear.

“The Power of Imagining Ten Thousand Dollars”

A very funny send-up of the financial industry from The New Yorker LINK

Tips for Late Sleepers From an Unexpected Source: How to Wake Up Earlier and Accelerate Your Career 

There aren’t many decisions in one’s career that are game changing, but the decision to start working earlier was definitely one for me. It was so important, in fact, that I named my first blog Early to Rise.

Yes, there are “night people” –  individuals whose circadian rhythms favor waking late and working at night. I’m one of them. But I don’t make the mistake of pretending that I am better off submitting to my natural inclinations. It’s just not true. I’m way stronger, smarter, more productive, and happier when I start my working day before most people get out of bed.

I wasted a lot of time before I figured this out. Had I done it earlier, I’m sure I would have achieved my goals much sooner. Sadly, this is not something that most young people understand. (Which is one of the reasons I wrote Automatic Wealth for Grads.)

And that’s why I was so impressed by this essay on Medium.com by Bryan Ye… a college student: “How To Wake Up at 5 A.M. Every Day.” LINK

In this “unconventional and passionate guide to becoming an early bird,” Ye explains that though he knew about the benefits of waking up early, he thought he was “destined to be a night owl forever.” He’d tried to change his routine many times, and always failed. But then, struck by “a surge of motivation,” he tried again. And this time, it worked. He goes on to describe how he “taught” his body to do what he wanted it to do.

I don’t know who you are. I don’t know your biorhythms. I don’t know about all your responsibilities and personal challenges. If you are a late riser, I only know this: If you wake up earlier and put your early energy into doing something that is important (but not urgent), your life will improve immensely. And if, like Ye, you have tried and failed to become an early riser, there’s a lot in his essay to help you succeed.