The Cart. Well, we are fortunate to live in this time and place where Stores supply you with transportation to get around in the store so we do not have to sit at home and have the expense of hiring someone to shop for you. I know you already know this without me saying it and and yah, it still feels like crap.
China. I think that the economics and politics discussed in your Broken China pings has pretty much come to pass. You cannot rely on any accounting by banks or businesses. People's savings are tied up in apartments that will never be paid for or built or if built, are all kinds of shoddy. The people have decided to not support the CCP by not reproducing and not working more than they have to.
CCP Power politics. They have the rosters and scorecards, but from our standpoint, a bit like A game of "Capture The Flag" with camouflaged players in a dense forest with 5 or 6 teams, no sidelines and, like Native American La Crosse, people die playing the game. Xi keeps taking out Generals, the question is, who till take out Xi?
Thank you. I am pretty pleased with my prognostication record for Chinese economics. I hope none of you got caught up in the crash of the Singapore or Hang Seng (Hong Kong) exchanges.
As bad as I may have painted the situation in West Taiwan, things are worse, much worse. Fortunately, you (FReepers) don't have the frame of reference to understand what the average Chinese person has to put up with on a daily basis. You have no way to understand the hollowing out of the population. Villages are being consolidated and the empty ones demolished. Shopping districts that were jammed 10 years ago are empty and shuttered. Workers are disappearing but jobs are disappearing faster. Babies, mostly disappeared 30 years ago.
SpyNavy
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)