DJ Levy

American immigrant to China since 1986 (one of the very few). Four decades building & improving ethical manufacturing in Taipei, Shenzhen, Dongguan & Suzhou.

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

@joequant Not my field (I'm just a manfucturing guy) but is it possible the US MIC has promised to backstop the large AI companies (& maybe SpaceX) with guaranteed future orders. They would be "too integrated (into the MIC) to fail".

Maybe that's why the pentagon is looking for $1.5T?

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

@esaagar China also just cut gasoline & diesel prices at the pump.

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

So the argument is....
-Illegitimate governments are weak.
-China's government is illegitimate.
-Therefore, China appears strong but it's actually weak (and it will fall in our lifetime).

Objectively, how do you determine which govt, the US or China, is more "legitimate"?

The US has lots of elections, but the political processes are corrupted by corporate sponsorship and legalized corruption (for instance, lawmakers are allowed to engage in inside trading).

China's govt, on the other hand, maintains the support of its people (according to Harvard U) and punishes corruption to ensure it maintains that support.

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

@JillFilipovic In China if you have a Chinese ID, you are Chinese and you will be treated like a Chinese. It may surprise some people, but that's about it.

Shocking fact: Chinese are much LESS ethno-nationalist than westerners imagine.

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

@shaunrein Americans, hearing their government insult & threaten China, project corresponding behavior onto China. But it simply isn't true. Maybe out of 1,000 official Chinese govt. statements, one or two are a bit stern (usually warning against US support for TW separatism).

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

@jojjeols With regards to TW, this is an apples to oranges comparison. About 900K of TW's foreign residents are guest laborers, nannies, etc., a class of foreign resident that doesn't exist in China. In China, permanent residence status is sought after.

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

@D162Michele As a foreigner in China, I agree with you 100%. Also, doesn't Palantir do something similar in the USA (and elsewhere)?

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

@thecyrusjanssen @shaunrein @CarlaHSands Any sentient being who spends 1 week in China knows it can't possibly be true.

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

https://t.co/isbbQO54mn

Jeff Bezos defending Amazon's $75M spend on "Melania" (which garnered $17M worldwide plus some streaming revenues).

"...it was a good business decision."
"...this idea that [it was] a way of buying influence... [is] just not correct. [But] I can see why people say this."

Two things are true:
1- Ofc they were buying influence
2- And yes, it was good for business

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

Yes.
Taiwan is, currently, the most independent it can ever be. It already has *de facto* sovereignty with US backing and Beijing's blessing. It is free to pursue trade & investment throughout the world while benefitting from its proximity to a rising China. Taiwanese are free to choose their leaders and make their own laws.

The ONLY thing they cannot do is decare or imply independence.

Doing so would cut them off from the Chinese economy (which even the USA and Europe cannot seem to tolerate) while making them a vassal of the USA.

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

@McCarthy_JT Sure! In English, anyway, great writing flows on the page as it would flow off the toungue (if read aloud).

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

@Lily4Liberty A few things:

-It's just access control. Many buildings & gated communities have them.

-There is no Chinese Social Credit System. It's just a hoax. It simply doesn't exist.

-Americans need not be vigilant. This is in China & doesn't impact the USA at all.

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

@FurkanGozukara Looks like he's merged Simulation (pseudo) theory with Conspiracy nuttery which he then applies to economics.

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

@TJHarrell14 @adamemedia1 There are plenty of Jews in China (look at my last name). There are rabbis and synogogs operating openly (at least in Shanghai & Shenzhen).

There is even a group of native Chinese Jews with a very long history.

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

@Yaqiu Wrong!
China has to restrict immigration to, and residency in, the country. Those of us who get permision to live and work permanently amonst its citizens celebrate and honor it.

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

@michaelsobolik @ABCNewsLive @KyraPhillips @HudsonInstitute McDonalds, KFC, Tesla, Apple, Microsoft...

Nvidia's having some issues, though. Must be Xi's fault.

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

Having "lost China", the govt. purged those experts who'd made it clear from the get-go that CKS had already lost China (because it lost the people) & that Mao had already won it (by winning the people).

This partially drove the poor decion-making in Asia, and to the choppers on a Saigon rooftop.

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

@Mylovanov Why would anyone expect China to become more "like us"? Who ever thought this was a requirement? Who assumed it would be a good idea? When did "be like us" become an obligation for the Chinese?

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

@Mylovanov I've run 4 US-owned factories in China since 2000. None of the facilities ever had property rights with the government. We had issues with locsl landlords once, but never with the govt. That there are "no property rights" is simply untrue.

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

Or... let Chinese cars in with a calibrated tariff policy (higher tariffs in the near term, declining predictably over time). At the same time, support the industry with R&D financing, tax incentives, etc.) so that while protected, they feel and respond to competition. The result is they attain competitiveness in both the US and overseas markets.

[DJ Levy @d_levy]

Wouldn't it make more sense to encourage Chinese/US JV companies to make & sell EVs in the USA (Using US labor)? You could have a sliding tariff schedule to incentivize increased localization going forward. US workers get the jobs, US companies get the revenue, and US consumers get the cars.