Re-imagining America 

COVID-19 in America was not merely a mismanagement issue. It was a direct consequence of a political system that neglects the welfare of its citizens. The government prioritised economic vitality over human life. The COVID-19 debacle is no different from the homelessness crisis, from the health care affordability crisis, from declining public education, from crumbling infrastructure, from rampant gun violence, from the opioid addiction crisis, from the refugee crisis at the southern border, and so on. They're all "mismanagement." They're all examples of profound neglect.

American cross continental railroads and Panama canals were built mainly by Chinese labor. But in the photos, stories, the most important contributors, the Chinese, were omitted.

It's remarkable how the three of you made a scholar-level discussion understandable and entertaining. Kudos to you all, bravo!

It’a joy listening to Warwick and John. I’ve lived in the US for 5 decades. My observations: 1. Hubris reigns in the US. So much so that it is incapable of looking itself in the mirror and reflect. Until it can do that, nothing is going to change. 2. The ruling class is entirely intoxicated with the notion of the American exceptionalism, it is so blinded that it is in denial of reality. That’s why their policies have no reverse gear; double-down and triple-down, never admit you’re wrong. 3. Compromise does not exist in the political culture; it’s always winner-take-all. When you’re not in power, you must do everything to get back in power. It’s perfectly OK to smear, lie obstruct and sabotage. That’s the culture and it manifests on the global stage as well. 4. The elites and the powerful see no reasons to change the system. They are happy as can be. There is not a chance that US will change course anytime soon. You get my vote to make this a regular discussion panel. Thank you!

Such a joy listening to John and Warwick. Thanks Jerry for making this happen .

Great intellectual discussion from three very knowledgeable persons .

Golly gee I missed the live again. Oh well still valuable information thank you for your efforts Jerry always appreciated.

not neglect but purpose driven destruction that goes against common good

Another excellent debate .....

Fun fact - Boeing is the most subsidised US company - taxpayers essentially own it by now only they get 0% ROI - China wisely subsidises their small/medium companies America the largest most powerful ones - which model is more successful- well I think we know

The ongoing conflict polarizing between the US-led West and the East has become a crucial challenge to the Western world's claims of moral superiority and military supremacy. The profound savagery and extensive devastation of the Middle East conflict, along with Ukraine, have revealed the intricate and paradoxical nature of the Western world's professed moral superiority. The ongoing atrocity in the Middle East has highlighted a significant inconsistency in the assertions of moral superiority put forth by Western nations. The proxy Ukraine conflict exemplifies the conflict's profound global geopolitical impact, marked by intense violence and the devastating loss of numerous lives. By doing so, it brings attention to a crucial aspect: the inherent limitations of the perceived might and moral superiority of the West. This conflict has highlighted the fact that the Western world, despite its self-proclaimed moral superiority, is not exempt from the difficulties and obstacles that come with creating such a devastating situation. Another East Asian target on the list is on the verge of unnecessary confrontation. This upcoming confirmation will surely add to the ongoing turmoil and add more fuel to the all-out global conflict, ignoring and underestimating the region's defendable might, importance, and impact. The current state of the United States of America is characterized by a significant level of division and conflict, resulting in a decline in its credibility and global influence. It seems that the Biden administration will face challenges in finding an escape or a workable solution and may have to acknowledge defeat to prevent additional disruptions, both for their own sake and for the well-being of our planet. For the first time since World War II, the US has exposed its vulnerabilities. They have demonstrated a lack of military and economic strength, rendering their once intimidating threats ineffective. The world has undeniably observed the consequences of the decline of the Western powers following centuries of supremacy.

Jerry! Jerry!🎉🎉 A great “outside looking in discussion” of America. Maybe sometime you will do a reimagining of America by Americans. The Page Act of 1875 was the first U.S. federal law to block immigration, specifically of Chinese women. The Exclusion Act would come a few years later. Tennessee was the first state to pass a “one drop” law in 1910. The US administration acts in a way similar to the old Spanish Empire, trying (and failing) to create a closed mercantile system. The vast wealth of the empire was spent on military adventures, with the church having too much influence over development. The empire had to rely on foreign manufacturers for too many goods, as it was more profitable for citizens to invest in government securities and financial assets rather than take the risks of developing hard capital. It finally went broke.

Please enable subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing folks. Thank you. Also, thank you Jerry for all your videos. They are great and enlightening.

Fantastic conversation. Hopefully more like this

Great discussion, and good to know the existence of the think tank, Taihe (supreme harmony) Institute.

A very intelligent, reasonable,thoughtful discussion by 3 knowledgeable fellows! Quite a pleasure to listen to you all.

Jerry, you are a fountain of intelligent, reasonable discussion. My kind of guy.

Good chat you have organized there, Jerry!

Loved this talk - so pleased to hear from both Warwick and John. Still v concerned about the US - admired to v wary of in my lifetime. As though the older sibling in the Anglophone world - who has represented the 'family' on the world stage with due deference has been revealed as a teenage stand over merchant. On the other hand I am pleased to see the maturity and patience and resilience of China become more evident. I can only think that the latter has thousands of years of experience in a continuing culture/civilisation to call upon whereas the former has had only a few hundred years in which to forge a sense of themselves from people's who have displaced themselves from their different roots.

Good deal of wisdom in your conversation. To be honest, I struggle to understand or follow the content, especially when some academic jargon were used. Anyway, I will keep watching. Look forward to your next conversation. Cheers.

Great panel, do it often! John was great, hope he can stay next time. I understand why some commenters say it's US neglect, but I'm afraid it's worse than that. As Iran-Contra showed in an unintended exposure of US covert operations, it's not just neglect and incompetence that have sent gun and addictive drugs into every crevice of US and Latin American societies. Don't underestimate how the very legal alcohol has also taken an immense toll. Alcoholism and other addictions are profitable for a few, treatment is expensive and requires paying many qualified medical and psychological staffers. The US is just corrupt for profit, through and through, from the running of public services to health care to zoning to water rights. China can tackle corruption with Xi and the community representatives who want outcomes that improve everyone's lives. We in the US have had zero leaders who want to or could, and when they come close to even trying, watch out! At the very least, their careers are wrecked. Elections determine influential appointments and elections are corrupt with bribery. The US needs an underground economy to help fund its covert activities around the world. Mexican citizens cannot go out and buy guns. The cartels throughout Central America are armed clandestinely and often using loopholes by US arms dealers, a necessity in a seemingly unstoppable stream of addictive substances from other countries and a result of training militias for coups for profit. Add the fact that anyone with a bribe can get a prescription from immoral US doctors who rarely end up in prison, and you have a pandemic. Add criminalization and you've wasted an enormous amount of human potential for yet another counterproductive jobs program, jailers and cops meant to abuse poor communities and meet quotas. Profit for a few at all costs is not logical, and the US is determined to stay illogical. China must be very careful and protect itself.

Jerry, as a youngster growing up in Australia in the 60's you were lured into the "American mystique" via TV programs, movies & pop music. USA excelled in exporting an image of exciting, daring, thrilling, youthful vitality. Crew cuts eventually gave way to the Elvis look. But the emphasis was on being "hip" & "with it" as distinct from being old fashioned & following understood cultural norms. This cultural propaganda blanketed the world wherever people had access to radio. Your impression of how "great" USA was in those days has been shaped by this media image.

USA, EU, Brits and Australian politicians and elites have this mightier-than-thou attitude towards all other countries of colored origins. Most of the people on the ground are friendly though, as long as you observe their cultural nuances. I experienced it first-hand for 10 years in Melbourne, Australia, and when I attended several global WEF meetings. They are also very self-reassuring.

That America that you - and I - to an extent idolised, was in some respects always a myth. Yes they had the consumer goods and suburbia. As Warwick says they had the manufacturing - but also the military, the bases, the wars in Asia, endless meddling in central and South America. Racial divide (Jim Crow) etc. the rise of the middle class (mostly white) was brief blip now decaying. The “war on drugs” caused far more problems (ie criminalisation) than the drugs themselves. See “chasing the scream” by Johann Hari for an in depth look at this. The fentanyl crisis contributes to issues but is born out of the hopelessness and despair of a sick society - with all the ills laid out by Warwick. Great talk, thanks all hope we hear more from everyone soon.

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I have a cousin who works at TSMC and reiterates the fact that the AZ operations are having cultural difficulites finding professionals in the US. TSMC pays well; however, they expect an unwavering work ethic. It is not unusual for people to work 12 hour days, 6-7 days a week@ the Taiwan operations. Additionally they must be "on-call" for any issues that should arise in the lab. I am skeptical that there will be many Americans willing to make such a sacrifice.

America has lost its collective minds. Warwick was spot on. I might add that the Chinese are persistently thinking of a way (Xiang banfa 想辦法) especially when it comes to challenging, unethical and duplicitous American economic tactics. I personally am ashamed at my gov'ts complete deviation from a free and open market, fair play and a RULES based order. This hypocrisy is becoming more clear as it deals with the rapidly arising Chinese economy and foreign policy. The Tonya Harding" is disgusting and further erodes confidence in the US as a world leader.

Now that Huawei has decided to start charging licensing fees, the shoe is on the other foot. Will the majority of Chinese contributors to GitHub migrate completely off GitHub?

How would China's "100 years of humiliation", never to be repeated, determine it's response to US provocations?

Jerry - as to Southside Mike's question, my take is less nuanced , but more coloured - White Supre macy, Yellow Peril and Red Scare.

Through the lens of Yani Varoufakis, contemporary capitalism has its deep root in the soil of feudalism. Landlords are mutated into techolords that devour democracy and weaken the political leadership. My understanding is that no matter who is in power in the USA, it is no way for China to escape from the technolords' furious attacks and fuedal mindset political system. Although it is hard for China to deal with, the great advantage is that the dragon has the patince to store its energy to make a leap, while the USA is no longer able to produce strong politicians. Looking at the coexistence of the "China threat theory" and the "collapse theory", it is obvious that American politicans have fallen into a state of schizophrenia. In the severe social and political scissions and the fear of losing its hegemony, it is hard to maintain calm to make a rational peace strategy to settle internal and external conflicts. They can travel on belton road or high speed railway, but choose a way to make imaginary enemies to divert the attention of internal conflicts and portray themselves as Hollywood-style heros to save the earth in order to win votes and gain international supports. Landlords and technolords are greedy. 1% of them devour 99% of world resources. Think logically, if 1% can devour 99% of world resources, that 1% can also easily manipulate the discourse power of media, corrupt the political and law system, and fans the military threats. Under the current geopolitical situation, l can visualise the reasons that Confucius placed merchants at the bottom of the society (scholars, farmers, artisans and merchants). He emphasised that a country should be governed by merit scholars. Due to the great influence of Confucius, it was difficult for landlords and merchants' wealth survived more than three generations because money was invested in studies and knowledge achivements. China did not experience a Western-style feudal society, where the imperial examinations allowed the poor to ascend to the upper class. Speaking of "open resources"（including land and techno fields), I personally think that "open resources" have territorial sovereignty. During the Qing Dynasty, China was weak, and the sovereignty of its territory was divided up by the Eight-Nation Alliance, and Chinese cultural relics and resources flowed out. At that time, the East India Company controlled the distribution of land cultivation for crops and labour in Southeast Asian countries. Although weak countries have great resources, people are poor and gain no profits. Basically, their resources are insitutionalised. Similarly, if Biden signs the bill to block Tiktok, it is also the result of constitutionalisation.

Racism is a major factor driving behaviour of Anglo-Saxon countries, if not all white countries. Only that blatant slavery and genocide policies of the imperial colonialism era is replaced by more clandestine approaches in present time. One of this is the ‘Geopolitical Realism’ approach/argument of John Mearsheimer, developed under the cover as academic study/research. With some simplification, ‘Geopolitical Realism’ essentially says that all countries want to be regional hegemony, and when they run into each other, conflict is unavoidable. However, hiding in it is the rationale who should be the natural hegemony and who must not be allowed. Look at JM’s different approach regarding the Ukraine war, the Gaza ‘cleaning’ actions, and the need to prepare for war with China. To JM, the Ukraine war is a mistake and could be avoided. When Carlson Tucker said that US should ally with Russia to fight China, he is at least honest, contrasting JM’s underhanded approach. Although JM said that there may be gen-ocide in Gaza but he never condemns ‘Isr ael’ and hinting the war is reflecting natural order. Similarly, JM says that US’s need to stop China rise is the right thing to do to preserve natural order of things. In both cases, race argument is not openly used but obvious.

I'm afraid I disagree as there is one line that can't be crossed which is Taiwan declaring independence. My understanding is that if this happens China will respond, not maybe but "WILL" and this I think is legislated !!!

Ok this racism thing? Ive never sat down and thought about it long enough, i dont give it my time.... even though we live among this issue everyday! ive experienced racism in the UK growing up in school, ive witnessed other people of other colours go through the same BS, we get used to it! We learn to deal with it, we laugh and joke it away we carry on, we have to carry on! 'its just words' you cant control other peoples mouths and what they think, just like youtube comments XD ive witnessed all forms of racism from banter to seriously this is uncomfortable and do i get violent or do i not to the blatant offensive.... heck i got mild banter racism from my scottish boss, i never took it to heart or took any notice... i was put on maths problems or studio I.T. problems XDDDD And hilariously enough my boss was being tight! a stereotype of the scottish, i found this out retroactively XDDD i never knew about the Scottish being tight but now i see it XD im sure EVERYONE even white people in the UK get racism back! Ive dealt with it like i have bullying, i dont think there is anyone that goes through life without some sort of bullying.... America and the West are like the bullies! They have gotten used to a particular way.... way of life..... being on top! and now with a room full of strange speaking, strangely dressed coloured people with strange skills and aptitudes are all insecure and have to have some sort of confirmation that theyre "ok" not even "better" or "superior" that they feel good about themselves, that the West have not been superceded! This is my personal understanding of bullies.... and i can see all the same traits in how the West put out headlines where its blatant double standards..... And the issue that compounds the West or highlights the Wests issues even more is that theyre now really woke and politically correct! and even more unsure of themselves what is wrong and right to say and do!!!! Just applying to a job and filling in the forms!!! Its all pronouns and youre not welcome if youre Russian! etc YES the Russian thing is real! Come across a few now!

Why the British did not impose Christianity on India despite their prolonged rule of over 200 years?

I didn't follow this one for very long. Sorry to be critical but I have to say that I didn't find John's comments about race enlightening. Way too broad a brush, to the point of being unhelpful and wrongheaded. The truth is much more nuanced and subtle than the overly academic, imagined categorical sortings he describes. It's no wonder that he's somewhat apologetic about it - rightly so.