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Tsinghua PBCSF
Chief Economists
Forum
Turbulent 2022
Edited by
Jiandong Ju
Tsinghua PBCSF Chief Economists Forum
Jiandong Ju
Editor
Tsinghua PBCSF
Chief Economists
Forum
Turbulent 2022
Editor
Jiandong Ju
PBC School of Finance
Tsinghua University
Beijing, China
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023
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Contents
1 Introduction 1
Jiandong Ju
2 Dialogue with Ray DALIO—Development
and Cooperation in the New World Order 7
Ray Dalio
3 Outlook on the World Economy, Finance, and Global
Order 19
Justin Yifu Lin, Shijin Liu, Yongding Yu,
and David Daokui Li
3.1 China Needs to Maintain a Dynamic Economic
Growth Rate and Speed up the Process of Opening Up 20
3.2 Accelerate the Promotion of Green Technology
Innovation in China and Turn Climate Change
Pressure into a Driving Force for Innovation Growth 24
3.3 Adjusting the Structure of China’s Overseas Assets
to Cope with New Changes in the International
Monetary System 28
3.4 Coordinate Epidemic Prevention and Control
and Economic Development Goals, Improve Life
Expectancy and People’s Welfare and Maintain
Strategic Focus and Patience 37
v
vi CONTENTS
References 135
Index 137
List of Contributors
ix
x LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Introduction
Jiandong Ju
J. Ju (B)
PBC School of Finance, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
e-mail: jujd@pbcsf.tsinghua.edu.cn
Ray Dalio
R. Dalio (B)
Bridgewater Associates, Westport, CT, USA
e-mail: yangly@pbcsf.tsinghua.edu.cn
Jiandong Ju: Thank you, Mr. Dalio. It’s such a great presentation and
brings us to the past one thousand and five hundred years, especially the
last five hundred years. So, I guess everybody cares about peace in this
world. And as from your theory now, we are at a critical point to either
intensify the competition between big countries or possibly avoid military
competition and have peace. I kind of just want to understand the logic
of the sequence as your saying that would be the trade competitions, tech
competitions, capital competitions, and then military competitions in the
past. Could you please explain to us more, what do you think the current
situation which period we are, and naturally is that possible we may go to
the final period of military competitions?
Ray Dalio: We are saying they follow a sequence. Trade dispute at first,
and we can see from the news. Then, we see technology competition,
and then, we see a competition for geopolitical inflow to influence what
2 DIALOGUE WITH RAY DALIO—DEVELOPMENT … 9
countries around the world. And now, we are seeing capital and economic
competition, and we’re seeing those intensify.
The world doesn’t have a judge to play their case between competing
nations. As a result, the competition between the two countries will inten-
sify and eventually may cross the boundary of competition and become a
real conflict. So yes, obviously there’s a risk, and we should be very clear
about that. It’s being demonstrated very clearly, as Russian and NATO
countries conflict, from competition to conflict. But it doesn’t have to be
that way.
I have a principle: if you worry, you don’t have to worry. And if you
don’t worry, you need to worry. If you worry, then there is a greater
chance that will protect yourself against the things that you worry about.
I think that history is shown that some leaders may consider it a good
thing to go to a military war experience, but everyone regretted that kind
of military war. And I would wish that the same psychology that existed
after the war existed now, but unfortunately, a memory only lasts for the
person. We individually did not go through that experience and we don’t
have the benefit of that memory. So yes, I think that if it was put as the
number one objective to avoid military conflict, to have our competition
in our various ways between countries, it would reduce the odds of that
happening. Unfortunately, I don’t see many signs of that.
Jiandong Ju: Thank you, Ray. I remember once we heard Mr. Einstein
mentioning that. He said he did not know what would be used in World
War Three, but he knew that in World War Four, people would just
use rocks. Now, it is nuclear power time, is that possible the current
cycle would be different than before? Nuclear war is just unimaginable; if
nuclear power countries had a major war, that would destroy each other
and would be the worst thing to all of us. So, is that possible for this time
will be different?
Ray Dalio: Technologies of warfare, like technologies and everything,
have advanced enormously, so the capacity to hard destroy each other has
become greater than the benefit that is ever been. Also, it is held by more
countries than it has ever been helpful. It’s not just nuclear, but their
cyber, their space, and their other forms of warfare that have developed,
which means the capacity to harm is greater than it has ever been by a
lot. And also, that capacity exists in many other countries’ cases, so one
would say that the risks could be taken by any country. The risks of this
are greater if it’s applied to Russia in the NATO conflict because their
fighting is a conventional war that uses cyber right now, but if Russia lost
10 R. DALIO
that war and there is a reasonably high likelihood that they would not be
accepted that loss and could be an escalation to other forms of war.
So, I would say that we have to be fearful of that, we have to be
concerned about that, and hopefully, that level of concern could put
avoiding it above everything else.
Jiandong Ju: Thank you Ray. The major competition is between the
U.S. and China, so my question remains will it be any different this time?
We understand your theory of the big cycles, which is a dominant country
cycle, such as the Dutch being replaced by Britain and replaced by the
U.S.. People would say if those cycles go on, the next dominant country
would be China. Is that possible?
We may not see the dominant country’s replacement; instead, we see
the coexistence, a competitive coexistence, peaceful coexistence among
China, the U.S., and Europe. My main reason for that is one country,
to become a dominant country, would need to have a dominant power.
Both the Dutch and Britain had dominant power when became dominant
countries. The U.S.’s GDP share was more than 50% of the world after
World War II, but for China, according to predictions by OECD, even
forty years later, in 2060, China will already be the largest economy in
the world, and its GDP share would be just around 25–28% of the world
GDP. At that time, we would have the largest four economies: China,
India, the U.S., and the EU.
So, my question is given that we will not see a dominant country just
like the U.S. had before, do we see this time is different? We will have a
co-existence rather than the replacement of the dominant country.
Ray Dalio: I think you asked a very good question, and it is true that
for several years. There will be great powers between the United States
and China, some ways that the United States is more powerful, some ways
that China is more powerful, but that through be comparability in power.
That’s also a very risky period because no country fights a war knowing
the other one is more powerful. They would avoid the war, so comparable
periods of power mean that they are riskier than power-dominant period.
But I think you point out what an important difference is a cultural
difference. In Chinese history, there is an inclination to avoid conflicts; in
other words, Chinese leaders do not occupy and control in the same way
that the Western powers do. In the influence of Mediterranean culture,
Eastern culture, and Chinese culture, I think that the capacity to operate
in a way of coexistence has a real opportunity, depending on the behavior
2 DIALOGUE WITH RAY DALIO—DEVELOPMENT … 11
of those parties. So, I don’t think it’s predestined that there has to be a
military war.
There is another phenomenon, which is called a prisoner’s dilemma.
The prisoner’s dilemma means, for example, if you have two entities, two
people, two countries, and you don’t know if the other country is going
to cooperate with you or destroy you, and clearly, cooperation is the best
path. What should you do? According to the prisoner’s dilemma, both
have the motivation to destroy each other, because we worry ourselves
would be destroyed by the other.
I think we could all understand these things and perhaps realized that
cooperation can create an environment that could be the best that the
world is ever seen. If there’s cooperation and healthy competition, it raises
living standards for everyone. If it’s possible, there should be cooperation
in avoiding this pattern.
Jiandong Ju: Thank you. Professor Li, do you have questions for Ray?
David Daokui Li: Yes, thank you very much for the wonderful speech,
which is extremely insightful to the force of your thoughts. I wish
our students at Tsinghua University, especially students in Schwarzman
Scholars, would be able to get a chance to get a thorough understanding
of your analysis.
In finance, on Wall Street, there is a phenomenon that if we talk about
something all the time, then that phenomenon disappears. For example,
there used to be a January effect in January. The January stock market
goes up, but today, we no longer observe this equity premium, because
people talk about it a lot. Let’s focus on the U.S. and China, with so
many people discussing the potential conflict between the U.S. and China
both virtually and in real life, and there are people like you so insightful
in giving talks to Chinese top decision-makers for advices, also we have
Chinese analysts talking about the US affair directly or indirectly.
So, when we talk so much about the potential conflict between the
U.S. and China, when we understand so well with each other, and when
we have so many interpersonal connections and so much information
exchange, will there be a situation where the US and China will be able to
work out a solution in the end? In such regard, you are making a tremen-
dous contribution, your saying also is, because you change the reality in
the end. Ray, please. Ray, please.
Ray Dalio: Well, I hope for that, and I’m doing my best and other
people are doing their best. Unfortunately, right now, there is almost no
12 R. DALIO
technology, green technology, etc.? What’s your take on that? These are
two questions for you if I may. Thank you.
Ray Dalio: I think that we are in a phase where we are going to learn
three very important things and we will probably learn those things in
September or October.
The first is whether Russia will lose or win this conflict. Winning
the conflict means Russia controls Eastern Ukraine, as having economic
conditions in Russia being bad but not terrible, such as a decline of twelve
or fifteen percent in GDP. And Putin remaining in power, which would be
symbolized by his and Russia attending the G20 meeting. If that happens,
that would be viewed as probably worth the cost, but that will or will
not happen. If he loses any of that, I believe he will probably make the
conflicts intensified. The war existed so far has been a very easy war for the
west. But if the conflict escalates, that would make things very different,
perhaps change psychology and so on. So, that’s the first thing we will
learn.
The second is we will learn the power of American sanctions. Will
American sanctions be so powerful to have the indirect effect of winning
this war? Will it overwhelm Russia to the point of indirectly winning
the conflict, and so on? Will it be extended to other countries? These
sanctions generate great costs to the United States and the existing finan-
cial system because American capital markets have been weaponized. I
referred to that earlier that we no longer have free markets operating.
You can see that if there is a stepping up of those sanctions, the world
will be different. For example, twenty-two percent of American imports
of manufactured goods come from China. If those were shut off, what
should these companies do? So, when these American companies continue
to do business with Chinese companies, they would proceed as not being
a patriot. If they do business in China and such things, the risks of these
sanctions are going to be clear and how they will operate will become
clear over the next several months.
The third one that we’re going to see is how countries align with each
other? Then, we will see what each country is doing, how does the US
sanction Russia, how does Russia react, and how do India, Brazil, Mexico,
and Indonesia react? And as we’re moving forward, we will see how their
great power aligns and we’ll see that more over the next several months.
So, summarizing these three points, I think will going to be able to
make these conclusions. I think it is very risky. So, the answer to that
question is yes. Some compromise should be reached because the cost
14 R. DALIO
them around the world, and then decided the exchange rates. So, the
internationalization of RMB is a natural evolution, like all of the great
powers. They all had their city as the world financial centers there during
the periods of prosperity, like the Dutch and British. New York was and
is still the dominated financial center. Developing a financial center in
China is closely involved with the development of the financial markets in
China, even though the Chinese financial market is now very developed
and has been remarkable development. And it will be very important to
stay on that road well and not be stopped by the conflicts if it is avoidable,
because, in the long run, places that are most competitive will be the best.
The issue of free foreign exchange movement is always a difficult one
at such times. The internationalization of RMB can allow it to operate
more, but it is a difficult question due to the pros and cons of being fully
international. However, there’s a widening of the band of the exchange
ban. I think that’s a good move because there is also a challenge of
how to keep the interest rates and operate them. If you tie the coun-
try’s currency to another country’s currency, there will be the pressure to
have an interest rate that is the same as capital. So, this is called an inter-
national finance trilemma. It is impossible to have a fixed exchange rate
with capital controls simultaneously and an independent monetary policy
for dealing with economic conditions.
I think that it’s more likely to have to look at what the competi-
tion is doing. You might see more capital controls coming out of the
United States because one man’s debt is certain of the other man’s
assets. It’s difficult to balance inflation and recession if producing exces-
sive amount of debt. I think that Chinese policymakers understand that.
Other challenges are happening at the same time, including the COVID-
19 pandemic, and need to balance those well. The financial markets
continuing to develop in moving in that direction are better.
Jiandong Ju: Thank you, Ray. There is a good reason for China to
manage this cross-border capital flow because we are concerned about the
currency crisis. That’s the major reason in the past forty years, China is
very successful to prevent financial crises. But right now, we have another
concern which is as you mentioned that it’s the financial sanctions. So,
we have a dilemma to manage our cross-border capital flow well, and we
should continue to manage our capital account, but to prevent financial
sanctions. We need to speed up RMB internationalization, which we need
to make the RMB convertible. So, I just want to ask your opinion in such
2 DIALOGUE WITH RAY DALIO—DEVELOPMENT … 17
a situation, for the concern about the financial sanctions, maybe just some
months away, should we speed up this convertible RMB capital account?
Ray Dalio: I think speeding up is not as good as slowing down right
now; in this situation, shocks should be minimized. Widening the band
of the exchange rate is a wise move, but the changing of capital controls
at this time probably is not the best. I think there are two purposes for
currency. It’s an intermediary of exchange and also a door holds of wealth.
Another problem is the printing of money, the real effect of money
is diminished which is leading to inflation. Interest rates are below infla-
tion rates and the normal GDP growth rates. If an interest rate is below
the inflation rate that means the holder of currency loses buying power,
and cannot buy other assets. We also see that happens, in the nineteen-
thirties, that all countries, all currency devalue against each other one
after another, or the price of other things decreased. I think we are in a
similar environment. It’s important for RMB to be a strong currency, not
so strong to hurt the economy or lower interest rates, but to strike that
balance. And the most important thing is that Chinese leadership recog-
nizes it very well. It is not to have debt rise faster relative to GDP and
not to have interest rates go so low that results in the risk of inflation so
that it avoids the decline in the value of the ultimate currency, RMB.
Jiandong Ju: Thank you Ray. It’s such a wonderful conversation and
we thank you so much.
David Daokui Li: Can I ask a quick question, Ray? Thank you very
much again for the wonderful speech full of wisdom. As a wonderful and
great friend of China who also gives big support to the U.S. and China
relationship, what is your single and most important piece of advice to
Chinese policymakers dealing with such a complicated world?
Ray Dalio: Not going to war. This is the number one priority to
emphasize and to find technical ways, saying that each side can get
comfort that the worst-case scenario cannot happen. Taking responsibility
on each side of avoiding the prisoner’s dilemma, so that the risk of war is
minimized.
Jiandong Ju: Thank you, Ray. That’s such an important suggestion.
As you mentioned that at this particular period, the exchange of opinions,
especially between Chinese people and U.S. people, becomes harder but
much more important than before. We thank you for your time, insights,
and suggestions. Let’s work together, we will see a peaceful world in the
future. Thank you so much.
18 R. DALIO
Abstract In the personal statement stage, Justin Yifu Lin believes China
needs to maintain a dynamic economic development growth rate and
accelerate the process of opening up to the outside world. Shijin Liu
argues that we should accelerate China’s green technology innovation to
turn climate change pressure into innovative growth drivers. Yongding
Yu proposes that under the new changes in the international mone-
tary system, China should adjust the structure of its overseas assets
to cope with the new changes in the global monetary system. David
Daokui Li believes China should integrate epidemic prevention and
control with economic development goals, improve life expectancy and
J. Y. Lin (B)
Peking University, Beijing, China
e-mail: justinlin@nsd.pku.edu.cn
S. Liu
National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference,
Beijing, China
e-mail: xiazhw@pbcsf.tsinghua.edu.cn
Y. Yu
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China
e-mail: yongdingyu@126.com
D. D. Li
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
e-mail: lidk@sem.tsinghua.edu.cn
3 OUTLOOK ON THE WORLD ECONOMY, FINANCE, … 21
the world market for exports and imports of advanced technologies and
industries.
In this great change of global economic map, the biggest loser psycho-
logically is the United States. Throughout the twentieth century, the
U.S. had been the largest economy and most powerful country in the
world. But by the time of 2014, China overtook U.S. as the largest
economy, measured by purchasing power parity, in the world. Because of
this change, the U.S. felt loss. It tries to adopt some measures to main-
tain its dominance by containing China’s development. For the US, in
terms of economic size, measured by purchasing power parity, China is
larger, but in terms of per capita GDP, China is much lower. The U.S.
has a higher per capita GDP, meaning that the U.S. has more advanced
technologies and certainly also larger financial and military power. We can
see many maneuvers in the U.S., trying to form some kinds of alliance to
decouple China economically, which is a way to contain China’s devel-
opment, and pivoting to Asian Pacific and so on so as to encircle China
militarily.
This situation may cause a lot of dangers, as Mr. Dario pointed out.
Historically if a great power declined while a new power emerged, such
a change might result in tensions and troubles in the world. Under such
a circumstance, what would be the best strategy for China? First, I fully
agree with Mr. Dalio’s suggestion, China should try the best to avoid war
and China needs to draw lessons and wisdoms from the past to avoid war.
In addition to that, I would like to give two advices:
● The first one is China should try the best to maintain dynamic
economic growth.
● The second one is China should maintain open and be a champion
of globalization.
maintain dynamic growth and open, other countries are likely to resist
U.S.’s pressure to decouple from China. China can continue to enjoy the
latecomer advantage by trading with other advanced countries.
If China maintains dynamic growth and open, someday China’s per
capita GDP, measured by purchasing power parity, will be around half of
that of the U.S.. By that time, the world may come into a new, stable situ-
ation. This is because if China’s per capita GDP is about half of the U.S.,
and China’s population size is around four times of the U.S., China’s
economic size will be double of that of the U.S.. By that time, U.S. will
find to maintain good relation and trade with China would be important
for its leading companies to maintain their global leadership position, and
also for its own growth and employment. So, by that time, the world may
have a new global order, a peaceful, stable global order. Let me stop here.
Thank you very much.
digital transformation in these areas and has the potential to drive them
to become leaders in digital transformation.
So I think we are now dealing with climate change as a global matter,
and there are many things to do, but the focus still has to shift to
promoting green technology innovation. Just now, I asked Mr. Dalio’s
question: he thinks that the world is entering a new cycle, so what is
the new cycle technology? I thought that green technology is a very
important aspect, and this is not active; it is passive, and the results will
exceed expectations. Suppose we adopt the right goals and approaches. In
that case, it will not only help to achieve the goal of combating climate
change, but it can also introduce a major technological change on a
global scale that will provide momentum for global economic growth.
Developed economies have more mature economies, but greening, espe-
cially led by the digital economy, represents a new growth opportunity
for them. Developing countries, on the other hand, have the potential to
break away from the previous pattern of growth while polluting and move
toward a green development path with little or no emissions and growth
at the same time.
Let me say one more thing: the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict
was discussed earlier, and some professionals have recently been discussing
what impact the Russia-Ukraine conflict has on the global response to
climate change, which is a more complex issue. What is the view on this
matter of a significant increase in energy prices? It does put pressure on
real economic growth, but it objectively reduces the green premium for
clean energy and is a stimulus for green innovation. I remember when
OPEC used to control global oil prices, and they sometimes raised them,
but quite cautiously, because they understood the rationale that if the
price of oil was raised too high, then there would be an opportunity for
alternative energy development. Such a principle is still at work at the
moment.
The fight against climate change requires international cooperation,
but the globalization process is stormy. Can green innovation provide
some opportunities? Just now, Mr. Ray Dalio talked about Sino-US rela-
tions. New energy is an essential area of Sino-US cooperation. We are
more concerned about Tesla; its factory in Shanghai is developing well
and recently engaged in the second phase. Musk spoke highly of Chinese
workers, the quality of Chinese workers is better, which is a significant
advantage of China.
28 J. Y. LIN ET AL.
This morning Mr. Ray Dalio spoke very well and I learned a lot from
his speech. Now, I would like to talk about two issues: the reform of
the international monetary system and the returns and security of China’s
foreign assets.
I argued in my recent project syndicate column that, after the gold
standard was abandoned owing to the so-called Triffin dilemma, U.S.
dollar’s position as the predominant international currency strengthened
rather than weakened in the post-Bretton Woods system.
The fundamental reason was that trust in the dollar’s integrity had
not been fundamentally shaken. Despite the fact that it was no longer
convertible to gold, the world needed the dollar as a stable standard for
denominating values of goods and services, an easily available means of
exchange, and a safe store of value.
The basic contradiction in using the dollar—a national fiat money—
as a reserve currency is that the U.S. is running current account deficits
3 OUTLOOK ON THE WORLD ECONOMY, FINANCE, … 29
to provide dollars to the rest of the world. This implies that the more
the dollar is provided, the larger the U.S. foreign debt will be. Under
the Bretton Woods System, when the ratio between the dollars held by
foreigners-to-gold reserves held by the United States increased to 7:1 in
1971,1 foreign holders’ confidence in America’s ability to maintain the
exchange rate of 35 dollars per ounce of Gold collapsed, and so did the
Bretton Woods System. Under the post-Bretton Woods System, when the
U.S. net debt–to–GDP ratio surpasses a certain threshold, it is also very
likely that the foreign holders of the dollar-denominated financial assets
would lose the confidence in America’s ability and desire to repay its debt
with the purchasing power of the dollar unimpaired, and the dollar will
collapse. Essentially, this is still a Triffin problem.
For decades, for a variety of different reasons, the rest of the world,
especially China, has unsaturated demand for the dollar and dollar-
denominated financial assets. In fact, a significant percentage of the U.S.
Treasury bonds were purchased by foreign countries. The top five foreign
purchasers were Japan, China, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, and
Ireland. Their total holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds amounted to
$3.6 trillion. Collectively, they are the second largest holders of U.S.
government bonds, just behind the Federal Reserves. The accumula-
tion of foreign exchange reserves and dollar-denominated financial assets
by Asian central banks and oil exporting countries has kept the dollar
undeservedly strong.
By the end of 2021, America’s net foreign debt has reached to a stag-
gering amount of $18 trillion and its net foreign debt-to-GDP ratio has
reached to 78%. Asian central banks and oil exporting countries may
become hesitating to continue to pile up U.S. treasuries, due to the fear
of U.S. default, perhaps not de jure, but de facto by inflation.
The Fed printed trillions of dollars out of thin air in response to
COVID-19. At the same time, U.S. government adopted extremely
expansionary fiscal policy by doling out tons of dollars. America’s budget
deficit-to-GDP ratio shot up to 15% in 2020 and 12% in 2021, respec-
tively. As a result of the combination of supply shock brought about by
COVID-19 and excess demand created by expansionary macroeconomic
policy aimed at combating COVID-19, America’s inflation worsened
dramatically. In May 2022, America’s CPI increased 8.6%, the largest
1 https://www.nytimes.com/1971/10/13/archives/the-dollar-overhang-would-A-mar
shall-plan-in-reverse-help-us-in-its.html.
30 J. Y. LIN ET AL.
Roubini and Setser observed in 2005 that: “The PBOC is doing far more
than just taking China’s current account surplus and lending that back to
the U.S.. Around 75% of China’s reserve accumulation over the past two
years has been financed by capital inflows, not China’s current account
surplus. The PBOC effectively selling renminbi to a range of foreign
investors at 8.28 for dollars (and euros), and then uses those dollars to
buy low-yielding dollar and euro assets. Foreign investors (“speculators”)
get the upside of the renminbi dollar or renminbi-euro, China’s central
bank gets the downside”.2
Why this has happened is a rather complicated issue; due to time
constraint, I cannot elaborate. What I can say is that this was quite natural
at the initial stage of reforms and opening up. But later China has gone
too far along this direction.
To cut a long story short, China’s holdings of $3.3 trillion of foreign
exchange reserves far exceed whatever adequacy requirements that are
commonly accepted in the world. China had better to adjust its interna-
tional investment position to turn the negative investment income into
positive one sooner rather than later. Otherwise, the Chinese economy
with an aging population will be serious trouble in the future.
Second, China should be aware of that the United States may never
be able to repay its huge foreign debt because of persistent increase in
America’s net foreign debt-to-GDP ratio. Because the dollar is a reserve
currency, in theory, the United States can roll over its debt indefinitely
by operating the printing press. But paper assets are not the same as real
assets, which consist of oil and gas, food, consumer and capital goods,
technology, and so on. The question is whether foreign investors’ finan-
cial claims on the United States can be backed up by America’s real
resources. There should be a certain threshold, over which the value of
paper assets-to-the quantity of real resources ratio, measured somehow,
should not surpass. This is similar to the threshold under the Bretton
Woods System, over which the dollar liquidity-to-gold reserves ratio could
not surpass. In fact, heavily in debt, America may have already loss its
ability to pay its debt. At Henry Hazlitt Memorial Lecture in March 23,
2009, in response to the Chinese government’s worry about the possi-
bility of America’s failure to repay its debt owed to China, Peter Schiff,
2 Nouriel Roubini and Brad Setser, Will the Bretton Woods 2 Regime Unravel Soon?
The Risk of a Hard Landing in 2005–2006, February 2005, https://econpapers.repec.
org/article/fipfedfpr/y_3a2005_3ai_3afeb_3ax_3a13.htm.
3 OUTLOOK ON THE WORLD ECONOMY, FINANCE, … 33
who made his name by predicting the coming subprime financial crisis
correctly, said: “Of course, we are not going to pay Chinese back their
money. It is impossible. We don’t have (the money), we can’t, we can’t
possibly.” This is because, according to him, U.S. politics would not allow
the U.S. government to increase taxes and cut social security expenditures
to repay its debt. He pointed out, whenever American bonds mature or
America needs to pay interests, it borrows more until nobody wants to
lend it any more money. Then he said: “We have to default…There are
only two ways to default: we just legitimately don’t pay or we print the
money.” “There is no way we are going to pay the debt”.3
To be sure, if many countries, especially China, continue to purchase
large quantities of dollar-denominated foreign exchange reserves, the U.S.
dollar can remain strong for quite some time. But at some point, when
the threshold is surpassed, the greenback’s value will fall and inflation in
the United States will rise. As a result, the second largest foreign holder
of U.S. treasuries—China—will suffer huge losses, if it fails to shift away
from the dollar and dollar-denominated financial assets in time. Certainly,
to do so is not easy. In an NYT editorial entitled “China’s Dollar Trap”
in 2009, Krugman noted that “China now owns so many dollars that it
can’t sell them off without driving the dollar down and triggering the very
capital loss its leaders fear.”4 Hence, how to reduce the holdings of U.S.
government bonds without causing too much disturbance in the market
is a great challenge to China’s monetary authorities.
Third, the geopolitical conflict between the United States and China
poses a new threat to the security of China’s overseas assets, especially
its foreign exchange reserves. The fact that the United States has frozen
Russia’s foreign exchange reserves shows that it is entirely possible that
the United States could seize China’s overseas assets, especially its foreign
exchange reserves, if it feels the need to do so.
In fact, as early as in December 2013, in an article in the Financial
Times, Martin Wolf has warned that “If open conflict arrived, the U.S.
could cut off the world’s trade with China. It could also sequester a good
part of China’s liquid foreign assets. The economic consequences would
be devastating for the world, but they would, almost certainly, be worse
3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkEtArDFNYA.
4 Paul Krugman, China’s Dollar Trap, NYT, April 2, 2009.
34 J. Y. LIN ET AL.
for China than for the US and its allies.”5 Faced with such challenges,
what China should do?
First, China should try to turn its negative investment income into
positive one by readjusting its structure of international investment posi-
tion (IIP). On the asset side, China should reduce its holding of U.S.
government bonds and increasing the holdings of other forms of financial
assets. For example, China can increase its holdings of foreign port-
folio equity and corporate bonds, rather than foreign government bonds.
China may continue to facilitate out-bond FDI in strategic areas such as
oil fields in countries, where China has the ability to protect its invest-
ment interests. To increase portfolio equity investment, there could be
a good investment strategy. In view of the fact that China has large
excess production capacity, especially in manufacturing and infrastructural
construction. Hence, Chinese firms’ outbound direct investment should
be supported. But it is harmful to mix the profit-seeking economic activi-
ties with geopolitics. Business is business. It will do more harm than good
to base investment decisions on noneconomic considerations except in
very rare occasions. China needs particularly vigilant to avoid falling into
“debt trap” in the hosting countries of China’s outbound investment.
On the liability side, while continue to welcome FDI, China may need
to be pickier in introducing FDI; local governments’ competition for
FDI should be discouraged; greater efforts should be made to mobilize
domestic saving to finance domestic investment. Certainly, to adjust the
structure of foreign assets and liabilities so as to improve the efficiency
of cross-border and intertemporal allocation of resources is a gradual
process. China cannot complete the adjustment in one-go.
Second, compared with the adjustment of the structure of foreign
assets and liabilities, in the long run, an equally, if not more, urgent chal-
lenge China has to tackle is to run a more balanced trade account. For the
existing foreign assets that China is holding, the room for adjustment may
be limited. To reduce the share of foreign exchange reserves in China’s
foreign assets, the focus should be on flows rather than on stocks. In other
words, China should import more so as to covert the “IOU” issued by
the United States into something more real.
Third, to run a balanced current account means that China has
to narrow or eliminate the saving-investment gap. China runs current
5 Martin Wolf, China Must Not Copy Kaiser’s Errors, FT, December 4, 2013.
3 OUTLOOK ON THE WORLD ECONOMY, FINANCE, … 35
has come up with a brilliant strategy to keep the good times rolling.6 It
should be pointed out that China has made tremendous head way in the
reform of the exchange rate regime since late 2010s.
Fifth, more expansionary fiscal and monetary policy should be intro-
duced to stimulate domestic consumption and investment. China’s
imports, as in other countries, are a function of GDP growth. When the
economy is slowing down, the growth of imports will fall, while exports
are more susceptible to growth of the world economy. Hence, expan-
sionary fiscal and monetary policy not only is necessary for China to
achieve a decent growth rate, but also can contribute to a more balanced
current account and less accumulation of foreign exchange reserves.
Sixth, China is a country of 1.4 billion people. At the same time, China
is a resource poor country. Hence, to ensure an ironclad safety of food and
energy should always be the top priority of the Chinese government. As
a separated issue from trade account balance, China should have a long-
term plan for importing commodities and strategic materials in a gradual
and orderly fashion to build up energy and food reserves. To facilitate
the imports, more deposes and storages should be built, which can also
contribute to the increase in China’s domestic demand and hence China’s
economic growth.
Seventh, in 2020, the United States and China reached an agree-
ment in which China promised to purchase $200 billion of additional
U.S. exports before December 31, 2021. Because of COVID-19, a force
majeure event, China could not fulfill the commitment. China and United
States should renegotiate the agreement with good faith. China should try
its best to import more American products as long as they are what China
needs.
Eighth, despite American government’s hostile actions against Chinese
corporates, China should protect the legal interests of American corpo-
rates unwaveringly. When retaliation is necessary, the retaliation should
be measured out cautiously. It is worth noting that American investors,
who have come to China to invest perhaps are precisely those who are
relatively friendly to China, and China must try its best to avoid causing
collateral damage.
Last but not least, the freezing of Russian central bank’s foreign
exchange reserves by America and its allies has done great harm on
the creditability of the dollar. Even countries such as India are some-
what worried. Many countries have started to consider to use the RMB
as invoicing currency, settlement currency and reserve currency. This is
something that has never happened since the PBOC launched the RMB
internationalization in 2009. Indeed, a sort of opportunity has opened
up for the RMB to play a bigger role in global trade and finance. China
should facilitate the demand for the RMB by its foreign trade and invest-
ment partners. To facilitate RMB internationalization, China also needs
to make a great strike to build the infrastructures such as message system,
settlement system and clearing system by fully utilizing China’s digital
capacity.
The barkeep shook his head. "Too much trouble. I am happy as I am.
I, Terran officers, can mix the best veliqua on Mars, and no one on
Terra can mix one at all. So I cannot drive a spacer, nor build a long
range communicator. But I mix the best veliqua—observe?"
They observed as the barkeep made rapid motions with several
bottles, whirled them overhead and came in on a tangent landing with
three glasses, brimful to a bulging meniscus, without spilling a drop.
"Personally," grinned Bill, "I think we've just been hydraulic-pressured
into buying a drink."
"Smart lad, he."
"I'd not put up with that. We didn't ask for it," objected Weston.
"No? Well, so what," grinned Bill, lifting the glass.
"It's okay," said Jack "But look, Al. You still sound as though you were
enjoying life—or should be."
"I'm not."
"Well, Al, if you aren't, it's your fault."
"It wasn't my fault that I got clipped?"
"Hardly. No one is putting any blame on you for getting hung on the
wrong end of a beam. Despite popular rumor, they don't hand out
them things for cutting your hand on a can-opener," said Bill, nodding
toward the purple ribbon on Weston's breast. It was beside another
colored bit, awarded for his efforts in the initial directive attack.
"That one," said Weston, catching Bill's eye, "was a consolation prize.
I didn't earn it."
"My friend, you must learn to tell the difference between humility and
the job of fishing for compliments. Well, chum, you've had a rough
time and we gotta go back and play traffic cop. Let us know if there's
anything we can do."
Weston nodded. They left. They left him alone. Far back in his mind
something mentioned the fact that they were on duty, but he thought
they could have stayed around a bit longer.
He drank too much that long Martian afternoon and was definitely
hung over most of the next day.
Al Weston gave up at that point. Never again would he try to prove
his sorry plight to any one of his former friends. They all insisted upon
looking at the brighter side of his life and ignored his trouble as
though it did not exist.
They were glad enough to see him alive, it seemed, when he'd have
preferred death to this lack-luster existence. He wondered whether
any of them would worry about him if he disappeared. Perhaps if they
thought he were dead—
Well, he had a four-mark commission, which entitled him among other
things to commandeer anything now in the experimental field. He'd
make a show of commandeering a directive power drive and then
drop out of sight.
They'd suspect both his untimely end, and suspect the advisability of
the directive drive. Then he'd show up and prove both worthy. That
would give him his prestige again.
He'd do it at Pluto and, on the way, he'd stop at every way-station
long enough to leave a wide trail. He'd enter a post, discuss Jordan
Green at length. He'd take pictures, make tests and then head
outward—to disappear for about a year. That would fix them all.
CHAPTER IV
Free For All
"Pluto," said Al Weston drily. He'd come through the entrance dome
of one of the sealed cities and was standing atop the Corps
Administration building, looking out over the sprawling city. Since
Pluto was utterly cold, the sealed cities were the only habitable
places on the planet and even they were too chilly for comfort.
He had no Pluto-garb, but he did have his spaceman's suit, which
was internally heated. He, like most of the Corpsmen there, wore the
spaceman's suit with the fishbowl swung back across his
shoulderblades.
Some of them had had the helmets removed entirely, though this was
troublesome around the entrance-locks because none of the men
who were without their fishbowl headgear could work outside of the
inner lock.
But—this was Pluto, and from here, as soon as he could leave, Al
Weston was heading, just plain out!
In accordance with regulations he reported to the port commandant's
office. This time he had no intention of forcing entry to the Inner
Sanctum. His ears were still red from his last abortive effort. All he
intended to do was to report to the office aide and, if the Big Brass
wanted to see him, he'd eventually call.
Inside of the office was the usual scrawl—Yes, Jordan Green has
been even here!
It was authentic and Weston said so aloud. The office aide looked up.
"You're Senior Captain Weston?"
"I'm known?" asked he, slightly surprised.
"By reputation," grinned the clerk. "It's said that you can tell an
authentic Jordan Green by seeing it through a visiscope."
"Not quite," said Weston.
"Have you uncovered anything yet, sir?" asked the aide.
"Are you interested?"
"Everyone is interested," said the clerk. "It will make a darned
amusing yarn when you get all done."
"Uh-huh," grunted Weston. Amusing, he thought. Was his value to the
Space Corps only an amusement value?
"See here," he said to the clerk, "I'd like to try a directive power drive."
"You were on the first directive power expedition against Mars,
weren't you?" mused the clerk. "According to custom and regulations,
you are entitled to any experimental equipment that you used during
the war. Seems to me, too, that you are probably using more power
for space flight than about ninety-eight percent of the corps at the
present time. We have a directive power unit here."
"Then I can have it immediately?"
The clerk nodded. "I'm merely ruminating," he said to Weston. "I'd
prefer several good reasons why you took it other than your fancy to
try it out. It'll make the Old Man less fratchy.
"It's slightly haywire, of course, since it came right from the Power
Laboratory with a boatload of long-hairs on a test mission. They left it
here and we've been tinkering with it off and on. We can get a new
one in a month or so, but you can have the haywire model if you'd
prefer not to wait."
"I'll take it."
"Okay. I'll issue orders for the engine gang to swap power in your
crate."
"Thanks," said Weston.
"Oh, and sir, I almost forgot. It's just an unfounded rumor and I've
been unable to check the truth of it, but they claim there's a Jordan
Green scrawl on Nergal, too."
"Nergal?" said Weston explosively. His mind envisioned a minute
hunk of cosmic dust not much more than a hundred miles in diameter
—Pluto's only claim to a satellite. It was better than thirteen million
miles from Pluto and its rotation was necessarily slow due to its tiny
mass and great distance.
It had been and would continue to be for some years, the solar object
most distant from Sol.
It was uninhabited, airless, cold, forbidding, and completely useless.
There was not even a station on it. Science found the airless outer
surface of Pluto more to their liking. On Pluto, at least, there was
gravity to hold them down. The escape velocity of Nergal was not
really known, but it must have been minute.
"Might be sheer fancy," said the clerk apologetically.
"Better check on it," said Weston. This was an opportunity. When he
left it would be recorded that he went to Nergal. He even wished that
he'd started to write his own name under the countless Jordan Green
scrawls he'd visited. Then they could find one out there, and know
he'd been there and from there...?
In relaxation uniform, Weston sat in a small, out of the way restaurant
and finished his dinner. He was the only uniformed man in the place,
and so when the unlovely pair behind him made mention of the
Corps, he knew they were talking about him.
He did not know them by name, but after a glimpse of them
immediately labeled one of them as 'Dirty' and the other one as
'Ratty'. It was Ratty's voice that caught his attention. He missed the
statement, but caught Dirty's answer.
"By the time all the Fancy Brass gets them, maybe we can have a
couple too."
"The war's over," Ratty snarled. "Why does the Corps need directive
drives?"
"How should I know? Ask Pretty, up there."
"He wouldn't know," snapped Ratty. "He's just taking orders."
"Must be nice to roam all over space with your feed and power free."
"Yeah, but he'd go broke if he had to live on what he's worth."
"That's why most guys get in the Corps anyway."
"That guy is spending about thirty thousand bucks just to track down
a myth."
"Maybe his myth has a sister for me?" guffawed Dirty. "Wonder where
he was hiding when the shooting was going on."
"He wouldn't say," grunted Ratty. "Mosta the dirty work was done by
draftees."
"Well, now the schemozzle is over, he'll come out beating his chest
and telling how he won the war. I'll bet he piloted a office desk and
got that wound ribbon from pinching his finger in a desk drawer."
"Yeah, the Corps is rotten with slinkers."
"He's tooken months to track down this myth. Bet he makes it another
year. Then they'll hang a medal on him for it."
"Any good spaceman could run Jordan Green down in a week,"
grunted Ratty.
"But it wouldn't be profitable to do it quick," answered Dirty with a leer
in his voice.
Weston got up and went to their table.
"Sit down!" he snarled. "You, too!" he snapped at Dirty, taking the
man by the jacket front and ramming him back in his chair with a
crash. Heads looked up, and men faded back out of the way, clearing
the area.
"One," said Weston. "I was in the hospital for seven months,
unconscious from a fracas off Mars with the first directive power
attack. Remember? I was doing a job so that stinkers like you could
roam space unbothered by Martie pirates. Where were you? Hiding in
a mine somewhere?
"At the present time if I spend five years rambling all over space
looking for Jordan Green, you'll still owe me plenty. I wasn't making
money while I was fighting. How much did you make? If it hadn't been
for the Corps you'd be dead."
Weston cuffed Dirty across the face with the back of his hand and
spat into Ratty's face.
They rose with a roar and Ratty hurled table and chairs out of the
way. They rushed Weston heavily.
Weston grinned.
He drove his fist into Ratty's stomach and sliced Dirty's throat with the
edge of his hand.
Here was something tangible for Weston to fight! For almost a year,
he had been railing at the wind, storming at an invisible hand of fate
that had clipped him hard. The men before him were the embodiment
of all his ill luck and he drove into them with a burning hatred to maim
and destroy.
It was a dirty fight. The space rats had no qualms about
sportsmanship and Weston had been tumble-trained on Terra to
accept battle only when it was inevitable, at which point nothing was
barred.
Dirty came in, hammering at his abdomen, and got a knee in the face.
Ratty pulled a knife and rushed in with a slicing swing. Weston faded
back, hit the bar, felt its edge crease his back as the rats moved after
him.
He lashed out with a foot and drove Ratty and his knife back, turned
to roll with a roundhouse swing from Dirty and his right arm knocked
over a beer bottle. His right hand closed on the neck of the bottle, and
he rapped it sharply against the edge of the bar, knocking off the
base.
He kneed Dirty and closed with Ratty. He caught the knife-wielder in
the face with the jagged bottle and thrust him back with a twisting
punch of the bottle. There was a wordless scream.
Weston caught Dirty in the ribs with a hard fist and then cracked the
man's head with what was left of the bottle. It shattered completely as
Dirty staggered back and Weston dropped the useless end. They
closed again, and wrestled viciously across the floor, tripped over a
table and went down with a crash in a tight lock.
Dirty swung his elbow free and Weston missed catching it in the
throat by a mite. Weston let go of Dirty's wrist and grabbed Dirty by
the collar. Up he lifted and down he slammed.
Dirty's head made a thudding crack against the floor.
"Rye," gasped Weston and swallowed it neat.
Then he walked out, paused at the door and said:
"Call the cops and tell 'em to pick up—"
He left with a quizzical smile. He didn't even know their names.
He didn't stop to clean up, but entered his ship immediately. The
directive power drive had been installed and he made radio contact
with the control center that opened the locks in the sealed city.
He went out with a rush and hit the high trail for Nergal.
They'd give him a stupid job, would they? Well, he'd frittered enough
on it. Now he was going to polish this off in a hurry and go back and
hurl his commission in the teeth of Big Brass and stamp out snarling.
A big strong man hunting a myth...!
Nergal appeared within minutes under the directive drive. He landed
and slapped the magnets on to keep him down. If there were
anything to this rumor Jordan Green would have needed a wall or
something to write his name on.
In the scanner Weston searched every square yard of his horizon and
then moved. Four times he moved, each time searching his very
limited line of sight circle. The fifth time he came upon a sheet of
metal, fixed to a metal post, emanating out of a box.
He looped the ship into the air, caught box and post with a tractor and
pulled it into the airlock.
Drifting free, he inspected the slab of metal.
Jordan Green has been here, it said in bold letters.
And below, on the top of the box, there was a pointer in gimbals. A
surveyor's telescope. Gyro-stabilized it was and it pointed off slightly
below the plane of the ecliptic. Weston took it to the observation
dome and applied his eye to it as it stood. In the narrow field he saw
the stars, and the crosshairs centered on a small one. Around the
circumference of the reticule, tiny letters shone:
Jordan Green has been there too!
The star was Proxima Centauri.
"Oh, yeah?" growled Weston angrily. "That I have to see!"
Feeling challenged and outraged, Al Weston shoved in the Directive
Power Drive all the way and headed across interstellar space for
Proxima Centauri.
"Jordan Green!" he growled as the ship passed above the velocity of
light. "That Jordan Green!"
He forgot the incongruity of Al Weston, the first man to penetrate
interstellar space—seeking a phantom that claimed to have been on
Alpha Centauri or, more practically, on one of the star's planets. All
that Weston knew was that Jordan Green had been having fun at the
expense of the Space Corps, just as Ratty and Dirty had in riding him.
It was a private fight. He might hate the High Command's brass but
let no craven civilian criticize so much as the polish on the buttons of
the third-assistant lubrication technician's uniform!
Jordan Green indeed! Well, Senior Captain Alfred Weston would
bring this Jordan Green in by the ears.
And then they'd let Jordan Green explain his pranks.
CHAPTER V
Trail's End
The humiliation of his project died. He began to feel a hearty dislike
for Jordan Green. Not only had the joker caused waste of time and
money and kilowatts during the war, he was now instrumental in the
expenditure of time and money—and was keeping a qualified ranking
officer from performing a task compatible with his training.
Weston growled and swore to finish up this job in quick time. He
could then return to his rightful position and do a job that would set
him up in his friends' eyes once more.
He considered Tony Larkin—a good enough fellow. Jeanne Tarbell—
well, after all, he'd been ill and no girl could sit around all the time.
Larkin was a nice enough egg and could be trusted. But Larkin would
have to take a seat far to the rear when Weston returned!
He'd really show 'em!
The experimental spacecraft, driven by the experimental directive
power unit, bored deeper and deeper into interstellar space and its
velocity mounted high, running up an exponential scale that was
calculated in terms of multiples of the speed of light.
He calculated turnover from sheer theory and a grasp of higher
mathematics, since the heavens were an angry gray-blue outside of
his ports. Then he decelerated and began to wait for the long long
hours to pass before he could see how close his calculations were.
His clocks and chronometers went haywire and he lost track of time.
He slept at odd moments, as he had done on the acceleration-half of
this first interstellar trip.
The idea of interstellar travel came home to him. He, Al Weston, was
making the first interstellar trip. The incongruity was not considered.
He knew that he would find Jordan Green on some planet of Proxima
Centauri. He began to enjoy the idea. His friends, Tom, Bill, Jack, all
of them had considered him lucky. Well, confound Jordan Green, he
was lucky!
And, regardless of what Jordan Green meant, he'd go down in
history, not as a conquerer that went out with the Solar System's most
destructive invention, but as the first peacetime user of directive
power for interstellar flight. He'd comb the Centaurian system, and
then return home with proof. He'd be his own hero!
His ship's velocity dropped below light and he set course for Proxima
IV as a guess. He checked the panoramic receiver, located one very
heavy signal coming from that planet and knew that he was right.
Not only would he be a Terran celebrity, he would also be an
ambassador—first interstellar user of directive power and first
discoverer of an extra-solar race of intelligences!
The planet was unpopulated!
Thick jungle covered it and it was full of wild life. On no hand could he
see any sign of culture. There was no evidence but the single heavy
signal, which he tracked halfway around the jungle-laden planet to
land in a clearing beside a huge, white-marble building.
Weston tracked halfway around the jungle-laden planet to land in a
clearing beside a huge, white-marble building.
On the lintel above the door were the words, in letters of shimmering
jewel-like substance.
Here lives Jordan Green!
Weston smiled cynically. This—was it! He polished the knuckles of his
right hand in the palm of his left hand, flexed both hands, loosed the
needler in his holster and strode forward, hands at his sides, alert.
He hit the door with a hard straight-arm and sent it crashing open.
He faced four people, three men and a woman.
"Well, well!" he said, one portion of his mind wondering what to do
about the woman when the shooting started. He disliked harming
women but he knew that women had no compunctions against doing
a man as best they could.
"Which of you—or how many of you—is or are Jordan Green?"
"Why?" asked the elder man mildly.
"Because I want to strangle him—or even her—slowly and painfully!
Then I'm taking him—he, she or it—back to Terra to answer some
questions!"
"Why?" asked the man. "Has he harmed you?"
Weston stopped short. To be honest with himself, Jordan Green had
harmed no one, but he had been a plagued nuisance at least to
Weston personally. Jordan Green was a sort of a symbol of
something that caused him trouble.
"See here," he said. "They hung the job of locating Jordan Green on
me, thinking I needed some sort of cockeyed feather nest of a job
because I couldn't handle anything real. I didn't want it, but they've
tossed time and money into the job.
"Me—I want to take the joker back by the ears and show them that at
least I'm worth their time and money and let them figure out whether
my efforts were worth it. At least I've paid my way and done what they
wanted me to do! Now—which?"
"What do you intend to do then?" asked the man. The younger man
headed for a huge machine that stood inert, its pilot lights glimmering
to show that it was ready to perform. The older called something in a
strange tongue and the other one stopped and turned with
puzzlement written in every line of his body.
"Who are you?" gritted Weston.
"I am called Dalenger. He is Valentor, she, his sister, Jasentor. The
fourth is Desentin."
"I'm stupefied," gritted Weston. "A fine bunch of nom de plumes. Who
are you? Or do I take you all back?"
"Tell me. Why are you angry?" asked Dalenger.
Al Weston told them. He told them of his ambition and his hopes and
his own personal defeats—and though he did not know it he was
extending himself to convince a total stranger that he, Weston, was a
very unhappy man.
"And now, which of you is responsible for all the scribbling that's been
going on?" he concluded.
Dalenger smiled. "Please sit down, Senior Captain Weston. Jasey!
Get him a dollop of refreshments. I think we're about a have a talk!"
"Get to the point," snapped Weston.
"Patience, my friend. Look. Look well and see this room. We are
official observers for the Galactic Union. We—"
"The what?" exploded Weston.
"In the galaxy are seventy-four suns, all peopled with humanoid
races, entire stellar systems of us. We all possess what you call
directive power. Not only is directive power the key to interstellar
flight, but it is also the key to supremacy. That machine back there is
an example. If the button behind the safety door is pressed your star
will become a supernova because of our development of directive
power.
"With such a means of wiping out an entire star-system, we must be
certain that any newcomers who develop directive power will not be
of a culture that is basically warlike, or filled with manifest destiny to
rule the galaxy.
"This is harsh judgment, Senior Captain Weston, but it is a matter of
being harsh or losing our lives. We are not cruel, but we are not soft
where our future is at stake.
"Ergo, our detectors cover the galaxy, a job that would be impossible
to do manually. At the first release of directive power we set up an
observation post, such as you have found here, and we provide
means to ensure a quick decision.
"When the first flight arrives we can judge the culture from the men
who come with it. If the culture is favorable to the Galactic Union it is
joined. If it is inimical or undesirable in any way, their sun becomes a
supernova, wiping out the undesirable civilization immediately."
Weston looked at Dalenger with a hard, cynical glance.
"Like to play at being God?" he asked sharply.
"We do not. But we like to live!"
"You, I gather, are responsible for that Jordan Green gag?"
Dalenger smiled. "Yes. Your people have no doubt wondered how the
fellow could get around as he did. Actually, it was a controlled-writing,
using directive power from here. We have come no closer to your sun
than this. Our grasp of your language was obtained by reading books,
by listening to your radio and by other means—all available across
the light-years by directive power.
"You see," said Dalenger, "if we came as emissaries we would be
shown only that which your leaders wanted us to see. If we came as
spies there would always be suspicion in your minds. Our spying is
restricted to learning your language and setting up the means by
which you will seek us out."
"But this Jordan Green business?"
"There are a number of reasons why a race will seek the origin of
such a joke. A well-developed sense of humor and the willingness to
spend money on such is desirable. Suspicion is not bad, depending
upon whether it is sheer hatred of the alien or a desire to maintain
integrity."
Weston thought for a moment. They were going to judge his race by
him. He considered and came to the conclusion that he was a sorry
specimen to grade an entire culture on.
"How can you grade a race on one specimen?" he said.
"Since the specimen is usually a competent man, highly trained, a
scientist, we normally discount him a bit. A hand-picked sample is
never representative, but represents the peak of the race."
Weston swallowed. "But look," he said. "That is not fair. I'm—"
"Senior Captain Weston, you strode in here angry. You displayed no
sense of humor. You snarled and promised us all bodily harm and
accused us of having interfered with your plans. Right?"
"Yes—but—"
"Yet," said Dalenger, "you were changing. You see, Weston, you were
a sick man. There is one characteristic that is quite desirable. It is a
sense of social responsibility to the individual by the collective
government. Most undesirable is the type that claims the individual
must be immersed in the good of the state.
"In one extension this sense is called pity. In the other extension it is
called pride. You were hurt and you became ill mentally. And, instead
of casting you out, your fellow men gave you a job that would result in
your convalescence regardless of success or failure, providing that
you yourself managed to follow through—in any manner. You did, by
desperation and anger.
"We don't always judge by the mental calibre of the man who comes.
We must consider the reason why he was selected. We don't value
personal feelings in judgment of a race—we'd be inevitably wrong if
we valued the opinion of a psychoneurotic.
"The judging was finished when I called Desentin to stop. He is young
and impetuous and was about to press the button. So, Senior Captain
Alfred Weston, we welcome you and your race to the Galactic Union!"
Weston blinked. He'd fought against it. He'd been angry at something
every instant of the time between his awakening after the disaster to
the present moment—angry because there was nothing he could do
to gain real recognition. So they hung a joke-job on him to cure him!
And, by the grace of the gods and a long-handled spoon, he had
walked into a situation that might have caused the destruction of the