Original subtitles

Okay. So, um let us review last class.

So, last class we discussed the British

Empire and how it ultimately triumphed

over its main rivals who were the

French, the Spanish and the Dutch

because of three major

uh powers. Okay. The first is the Bank

of England.

What made the Bank of England

so important is that it could absorb

foreign capital,

okay, from all around the world. So at

first it absorbed capital from the Dutch

Republic, but then if you uh were a

French aristocrat, if you were the

Catholic Church, if you're the

Habsburgs, you could all move your

capital to England where it would be

safe because it' be be protected by the

law. Okay, that your property rights. Um

and when Britain became an empire, this

was important because uh local elites in

China, in India, in Southeast Asia would

help the British because they were

incentivized to do so. They could help

the British steal from these places and

then move capital, their wealth to

England or uh one of the British

colonies for safekeeping. Okay, so

that's a source of English power. Second

is the idea of soft power right so we

are in school learning English because

we want to go and study in the west

that's soft power right so Shakespeare

the BBC

um Oxbridge are all components of

British soft power which still rules the

world today and the third of course is

the British navy which controls seal

lanes and therefore controls all trade.

Okay. So for the longest time for 100

100 years Britain was able to maintain a

global empire

which really was the first global empire

because it spanned the entire world.

But there were three problems or three

limitations

to the British Empire. Okay. So the

first major limitation

limitations

the first major limitation is that

Britain

had an ethnicity. It had a race. It was

the white people, the Anglo-Saxons.

And so even though Britain was ruling

over Vasco Empire, it was very much

racist. It saw itself as superior to

everyone else and that limited its

capacity to work with local elites.

Okay. So in other words, eventually

India rebelled to establish its

independence and eventually Britain lost

its over overseas empire. A classic

[snorts] example of course is 2016

Brexit when the English people decided

that we we no longer wanted to be part

of Europe. Okay? And so even though

Britain is an empire, its people are

very provincial. Okay? They see

themselves as better and they they see

themselves as separate from everyone

else. I've met English people who've

told me like English people cannot learn

a foreign language. English speak people

speak English very well and that's it.

They can't learn French, they can't

learn Spanish, they refuse to learn

Chinese. And they told me it's because

their brains are different. Okay, their

brains are hardwired to speak English

really well and that's it. All right, so

that's just the British attitude. Um,

second problem is the idea of currency

um or wealth

standard.

The idea here is that okay, yes, you're

uh you're stealing wealth from other

places, but what is wealth? Okay. And

for the longest time, people understood

wealth as gold. The problem with this is

that there's a limitation or there's a

limit the amount of gold in the world

and therefore there's a limit to how

many people can participate in this game

and how much money they can win in the

end. Okay? So, it's really a game only

for the elite. That's the second major

limitation.

Okay. And the third problem for Britain

is that it's really a small island

with very few people and very limited

resources and therefore it was really

not sustainable for Britain to control

the entire world. there's a limitation

to its reach and ultimately other powers

in Europe would arise to challenge uh

British hegemony including Russia

including Germany. [snorts] Ultimately

the power that would overthrow the

British Empire to create its own empire

is of course America and what America

would do that's very important is

resolve all three of these limitations

to to create a world game in which we

all play today. Okay, so Britain um

basically

birthe this game, but there were

limitations to how far this game could

spread. America will then take the

concept of this game and spread it all

around the world until it conquered the

entire world. Okay, so how did they do

so? All right, so let's go over America.

Well, first of all, America is not a

small island. It is a continental

fortress. And in fact, it controls the

entire western western hemisphere. We

know that the western hemisphere is very

very wealthy. Okay. So America h is not

just the country of America. It's really

the western hemisphere

[clears throat] and as such has

unlimited population and it's unlimited

resources has unlimited land. Okay. So

this resolves the issue of um resources.

Okay. Second problem the currency. Well,

what America would do [clears throat]

that would revolutionize the world is

make the US dollar the standard of

wealth in the world. And because the US

dollar is just a concept, it's just an

idea.

Everyone can now play this game and

wealth can now be infinite. Okay,

but that makes sense, right? Before gold

was what everyone was playing for, but

there's a limit to gold. But with US

dollars, anyone and everyone in the

world can now play. Okay. So I'll talk

about how the US dollar became uh the

center of wealth in the world. Now the

ethnicity is another problem. Okay. And

so what America did that was very clever

is tell the world we are not an

ethnicity. Okay? We're not a land. What

we really are is a game. All right. So

the idea is that America became a nation

game.

All right. So um what so this is pretty

easy to understand. Okay. So I'm going

to explain this first and then I'm I'm

going to explain how the dollar came to

dominate the world. Okay. All right.

[snorts] All right. So for the longest

time

we had problems deciding what a game or

a nation ought to be. Okay. So um

traditionally nations have been ruled uh

politically through the monarchy. Okay.

um an oligarchy,

a democracy

or a theocracy. Okay, so there are

others but these are the four major

ones. A monarchy is very simple. A king

is in charge. Everyone just obeys the

king. Uh oligarchy is where the nobility

are in charge. Another name for

oligarchy is the aristocracy. Okay? And

that's basically Rome.

A democracy is where the people make all

the decisions. And so what happens is

that if a decision is to be made, people

get together and they give speeches.

Whoever gives the best speech gets the

most votes and then that decision is

implemented. Okay? And of course the

classic example of democracy is Athens.

[snorts]

Okay? And then you have a theocracy

which is to say that the priests are in

charge and the priests represent the

will of God. Okay. And of course uh

theocracy the last example is a Catholic

Europe. This is a medieval Europe when

the Catholic Church was in charge. All

right. But starting with the

enlightenment

uh when God was no longer considered

that important philosophers debated

amongst themselves what a nation ought

to be what society ought to be. Okay.

And so let's discuss the major theories

of this time period. All right. So the

first idea is

[snorts and clears throat] if God

doesn't really matter. Okay. If it's up

to humans to decide how to structure

societies, how can you best do so? And

at this time, the most popular idea is

social contract theory, social contract

theory.

And there are two major theorists. Okay.

The first is John Lock who of course is

English.

And for him,

government it's very simple. Okay. Human

beings have three fundamental rights

that God gave us. Okay. Which are inel

inelable which means that no one can

take take away from us. The first is

life. Okay. The second is liberty. The

right to say whatever we want. The right

to do whatever we want. The third is the

pursuit of property wealth. Okay. So

they have private property. In other

words, [clears throat]

government exists in order to pro

protect the wealth that we generate for

our hard work. And if we steal it,

that's okay as well. Okay. If we kill

out people uh in India, China, and

France to get it, that's okay, too,

because it happened elsewhere. Okay. All

right. So, private property. And as you

can imagine, um if you have wealth, you

like the system a lot. And not only

that, but you are encouraged, you're

incentivized to work really hard. And

that's what actually allowed uh England

to overtake um the French, the Dutch,

and the Spanish. Okay. Then you have

another theorist named John Rouso.

And this theory is different. Okay. It's

also social contract theory, but it's a

different idea, which is okay, we're

born in a state of nature. We have

complete freedom. We can do whatever we

want.

So why do we choose to give up this

freedom and come into society? Okay, the

reason why is when we do so we create a

social social contract that creates the

general will.

Okay? And the general will is a

substitute for God. It is the expression

of the best of who we are. Okay? Do you

understand? So by ourselves we're fine.

Okay? When we come together, we create a

new concept that allows us to be truly

and fully human. The general will. So

what is general will? Okay. All right.

So uh think of Emilion Kant

[clears throat]

was a German philosopher and he

explained that the very basis of

humanity

what we should all try to achieve is

something called the categorical

imperative.

Okay, the categorical imperative is the

highest moral law, right? It's really

God's law. And there are three

components to the categorical

imperative. Okay, the first is the idea

of universality. [clears throat]

Universality just means that imagine

this. Whatever you do, everyone else

around you will automatically do. Okay?

So, if you want to go drink alcohol,

everyone's going to drink alcohol. Do

you want to live in a study of

alcoholics? Okay. If you cheat on a

test, everyone immediately is going to

cheat as well. Do you want to live

inside of cheaters?

Okay. If you read books, everyone else

is going to read books. So, imagine that

whatever you do will be replicated by

everyone else immediately. Okay? That's

the idea of universality. Second is the

idea of free will.

Okay, I know that eating ice cream is

bad. I know that uh eating protein,

chicken is good. Okay, but I cannot be

forced to eat chicken even though it's

better for me. I have to choose to eat

chicken by myself. If I want to eat ice

cream, I can do that. Okay. So we cannot

coersse people to do what they do not

want to do.

All right.

And number three is

uh human

um is the end onto itself. Okay. And the

idea here is that you cannot

use humans a human being to achieve a

higher purpose because humans are the

ultimate purpose. So I can't be like a

king that says you know what I'm going

to war to make a lot of money for

everyone and I'll sacrifice 50% of my

people but the other 50% who live will

be happy. They'll live in paradise. You

can't do that. Okay. Because you cannot

sacrifice anyone's life in order to

achieve a higher end because the

ultimate end is the human life. Okay. So

that's the idea of the categorical

imperative. And this becomes the

theoretical basis for the general will.

Okay. Now in practical terms, how do you

implement this in society? Well, the

general will gives rise to government

and then the government gives rise to

laws.

Okay? So the legitimacy of the

government comes from the consensus of

the people which is the general will.

The general will is not democracy,

right? The general will is an abstract

idea which represents the best of who we

can be.

All right. So just because everyone's

like, "Okay, we should all vote to kill

that person because we don't like him."

No, that's not the general will. The

general will is everyone is important.

Do unto others as you would want others

to do unto you. Okay? So you can't kill

anyone. Okay? And if you if people vote

for this, then government is

illegitimate because it goes against the

general will. All right? And this is

important for us because this becomes

the basis of the French Revolution.

And the French Revolution,

the entire European [clears throat]

continent, okay, including Britain,

Prussia, Austria, Russia, everyone got

together and attacked France. France was

poor. France had no monarchy. But France

defeated everyone.

Why? Because people were energized to

fight for their nation. They believe

that I am now part of a greater good of

equity in this game. Therefore, I will

defend this nation with my life. And

France for the longest time was

unbeatable on the battlefield. Okay.

All right. So that is the French

conception of a nation. A nation is a

social contract which guarantees rights

to its citizens and in return its

citizens must be willing to sacrifice

its life for the nation and that's why

um the French revolution was so

successful which ultimately led to the

French empire under Napoleon. Okay, does

that make sense? Now there's another

conception of the nation state which is

this.

Okay, and these are the Prussians or the

Germans. Okay. And it's idea of um iron

and blood.

So a nation is not something that you

choose to get into. Okay? It's not

something that you sign in contact with.

A nation is in your blood. A nation is

language,

heritage,

land. Okay?

and you prove that you are worthy by

sacrifice your sacrificing yourself in

battle. Okay, this is this comes to us

from the German in 1870.

Okay, in the FrancoRussian war between

Prussia and France, these two concepts

of the nation state came into battle.

Okay, the French was a social contract.

You fight for us because you agree to be

a citizen of this nation which

guarantees you certain rights. Prussia

is like no you fight because it is your

duty to fight because it is in your

blood it is in your language it is in

your culture it's in your family and

then when these two cultures clash it

was the Prussians who won and

um that created of course Germany okay

so in 1870 the current the modern nation

of Germany was founded by the Persians

when it defeated France in the Franco

Pussian war right so Now we go to

America.

Okay. And America

has a different conception

of the nation state. Okay. So at this

time in history first of all

um America it's a very small place 13

colonies and the continent is controlled

by these indigenous people. The French

are there the Spanish are there. Okay.

And but the Americans are very very

ambitious and they are expanding really

really fast and Britain the home country

actually becomes

um afraid of America because at this

time about the 1700s America has more

people. It's wealthier. It's welcoming

people from all around Europe. And so

Britain tries to limit the expansion of

America. Okay? It tries to say you can't

cross the certain line, the Appalachian

Mountains. America says screw you. We're

going to revolt. Okay, this creates the

American Revolution.

And in 1789,

um, America creates the Constitution,

which becomes the highest law in the

land. And so at this point in history,

America, the American founding fathers,

they look around the world, they know

about the British system, they know

about the French system. Um, they're

trying to grow the country as fast as

possible. They're they have to fight the

Spanish, the French, the British, and

the indigenous people in their land.

They're trying to welcome as many people

as possible. Okay? So they decide that

the nation will become a game. Okay? a

game

where the citizen is a player and the

citizen is trying to maximize his

wealth. Okay? And through this process

of maximizing his wealth, trying to get

as much wealth as possible, he will be

energetic. He will work hard and this

energy will contribute to the overall

wealth of the nation which will allow

America to grow very very fast. Okay,

that's a plan. All right, so for this to

work, they have to control the game that

has three major characteristics. All

right, the first is that it has to be

open,

meaning anyone can come and play. Okay,

but that just means also limiting the

history and the ethnicity of the uh

place. Okay. So the concept that America

creates is the idea of melting pot.

We welcome anyone who comes to America

regardless of your race, regardless of

your history, regardless of your wealth,

as long as you're willing to assimilate

into America into the melting pot. Okay,

that's the first idea. Second idea is

fairness.

And the third is clarity.

So, in other words, people are willing

to play a game and work really hard to

win this game if first of all they can

play this game. They're allowed to play

this game. They're not discriminated

against.

Um, also if the rules are really clear,

okay, you understand what the rules are.

In America, the rules are very simple.

You go to America, you follow the law,

you work really hard, you get rich,

okay, really simple. It's called the

American dream, right?

Um

and the third thing of course is that

the game is fair. Meaning the only

criterion

to generate wealth is how hard you work,

how much talent you have, how much merit

you have, right? The idea of merit.

Okay? And look, this is true. When you

go to America, you will discover this.

If you work really hard, if you're

really talented, if you're really smart,

they will respect that. Okay? I've been

to a lot of countries and I can tell you

that America in America this is true but

it's not true in Canada. I grew up in

Canada and they don't really care if

you're ambitious don't care if you're

smart don't care if you work hard. They

don't care. They expect you to follow

the rules and conform. Okay, that's

Canada. You go China. Okay, we all know

what China is. Okay, no one cares if you

work hard. No one cares if you're smart.

No one cares. Okay, it's all about your

guanchi about where your family. Okay.

But it's true for actually this is true

for most of the world. And I would say

that the idea of merit is only true for

two places. America is the most obvious

example. Okay. I've been to meetings

where at first Americans are like this

guy is Chinese. He probably doesn't

speak any English. He's not that smart.

Okay. So there's discrim discrimination

going on. But the moment I speak, the

moment I try to make my case, they are

win over won over by my logic. Okay. by

my arguments, by my creativity, and they

welcome me into the club. That's just

the American attitude of being

open-minded, of being generous, of

appreciating your talent above everyone

else. Okay. The British are the English

are also very similar in that way in

that, yeah, maybe they're racist, but if

you can make a good argument in front of

them, they will accept your argument.

Okay? But guess what, guys? Nowhere else

is this true. Okay? In China, China, you

have the best argument in the world. No

one cares, right? Okay. So, we there are

lots of issues with America, but in all

honesty, America is a place that really

does appreciate merit and which really

does reward merit. That's why everyone

wants to go go to America. All right.

All right. So, the question then is how

did America create the system? Okay.

Well, it did so through the

constitution.

The idea of the constitution is to

create a game and make this game above

power. Okay? And how they did that is

creating a system of government that

checks and balances each other. So you

have the president,

you have the congress, okay?

And you have the Supreme Court.

Okay. The Supreme Court it's very

simple. It's to interpret the

constitution

which the highest law in the land. Okay.

And then the powers of the government

are divided equally amongst these

different branches. So the Congress can

create laws and control spending. Okay.

what's called the purse.

The president has war powers basically

or the sword.

Okay. But if the president were to

declare war, he needs congress to

approve because congress has to give the

money to start the war. Okay. And um the

idea that the constitution is the

highest law in the land means that it's

really rule of law.

Okay. So even though you have this

government system in place, you also

have another parallel system called the

judiciary, the court system which

protects property rights in the same way

that they do in um Britain. Okay, does

that make sense? So so the very idea is

that this is a game. The government is a

system to maintain the openness, clarity

and fairness of the game. And because of

this, America was very quickly

able to dominate the world. Okay. The

thing about this game, okay, that's very

important for us to understand is it is

expansionist.

Okay. [snorts]

So what happened is that in its history,

America faced certain challenges to this

game and this game won out every single

time. Okay. So the first major challenge

to this game is called the American

Civil War.

All right. So let me explain what

happened.

From 1861 to 1864, the Civil War was

fought between the North and the South.

This was a clash of e economic systems.

Okay? So the north played the game.

Okay? And so it believed in free labor.

The South was its own independent

economic system that focused on

agriculture. And so it used slave labor.

For many Americans in the north, slave

labor was offensive because it corrupted

the game. Okay? Because remember,

America started on the idea of openness,

fairness, and clarity. But if you're a

slave, that's not fair, okay? Because

you were born a slave and you can never

participate in this game. And so they

fought a civil war to decide which who

will trumpet in the end. And of course

the north won because the north focused

on free labor. So that meant that there

were more people in the north. That

meant that the north was wealthier

because of manufacturing and that meant

that the north were more energetic.

Okay? So they defeated the south. And so

that was the first major challenge.

Now the game is spreading. Okay, it

spreads across America and now it stops

because America can't expand anymore.

Okay, it basically conquers the west

and be and now the game is an issue

because of the nature of money. The

problem with money is that

ultimately the the longer you play this

game

at the end of the game one person

controls all the money. Okay, does that

make sense? That's a problem of

capitalism. That's a problem with this

game. So now now that the frontier has

been settled, now that the borders have

been controlled, a few people are now

controlling all the money which leads to

the great depression. Okay. So now the

solution is America has to go and

conquer the world which it does. Okay.

In World War II, America conquers the

world. And so now what America needs to

do is spread this game throughout the

world. And it does that by creating the

US dollar. Okay. So 1945 America wins

the war. A year before in July July 1944

for one month what happens is that

America organizes something called a

bread and woods conference.

in New Hampshire. Okay. And the idea of

the bread and woods conference is to

establish

the world game. Okay. Before America's

game was limited to America, but now

America wants to scale its game to the

entire world. Okay. So, how does it do

that? Well, first thing it does is

it makes the US dollar

the reserve currency of the world.

All right. What does that mean? It means

that every other currency has to be

derived from the US dollar. Every other

currency will find value from the US

dollar. Okay? which means that if you

have Canadian dollars, you can now um

change it for US dollars, which is

what's valuable. The Canadian dollars is

just not valuable. Okay? All right. They

also agree on um exchange rate.

Okay?

It doesn't make sense. Okay? And this

this is a system that we have today.

Okay? All right. The global reserve

currency is the US dollar. That's what's

valuable. The ring B deres value from

its relationship with the US dollar. The

room is not valued by by itself. Okay.

All right. That's number one.

Um, okay. So now you're like, wait a

minute here.

If this is true, the US dollar can the

Americans can just put as much money as

they want. And so to solve this problem,

uh, the Americans said

the US dollar

will be pegged to gold.

Okay.

doesn't make sense. Okay? Meaning like

you can always take your dollar and

change exchange it for gold. And because

there's a limit [clears throat] to gold,

there has to be a limit to the US

dollars which keeps the system stable.

Okay? All right. That's number one.

Number two is

America needs to expand this game. Okay?

Because it is in competition with the

Soviet Union which is against this game.

Okay? So it creates two new

organizations to spread the game

throughout the world. And these two game

and these two organizations are called

the World Bank and the International

Monetary Fund, the IMF, IMF. Okay? So

um I'm so for the sake of simplicity.

Okay, understand this.

The World Bank, their job is to give you

loans. Okay? So let's say you are China

and you are poor, right? And you need to

build dams. Well, the World Bank gives

you money. And when he gives you money,

what it does is it allows you to start

playing this game. Okay? It allows you

to participate in this game. Now, what

always happens is

um eventually the countries pour so much

money they have to go into debt and they

can't pay off the money, right? So then

what happens is the IMF comes in and

changes your government and it policies

to make it conform more to the game.

Okay? Does that make sense? And its main

mechanism is called privatization.

All right? So, what the IMF says is,

okay, well, you're inefficient. You

can't pay off the debt because you're

inefficient. You're inefficient because

the public should not be control of

infrastructure. The public should not be

control of water. Okay? Private

companies should be in charge of the

water and electricity and the land.

Okay? So, uh the the goal of the World

Bank MF is to spread the game throughout

the world. All right. Okay. Then in um

1947

they create create something called the

GAT. Okay. The GAT is a general

agreement on tariff and trade. So this

is the WTO basically. Okay. That changes

into the WTO

in 1995.

All right. So [clears throat] it's

basically agreement on free trade.

Right? Does that make sense? 1973

um Swift

is an agreement um amongst different

banks in the world on how to transfer

money. Okay. So for example, if you want

to transfer money from China B into

America to go to university, right?

Guess what guys? It has let's go for

Swift. Okay. So now it allow allows for

more cooperation among banks in the

world to use US dollars.

All right. Um now the last thing is okay

how do these countries get together and

decide on how to cooperate economically?

And the answer is the bank of

international settlements. Okay.

Okay. And this is the idea is that the

central banks of different countries get

together and they agree on certain

policies. All right. And this is all

done privately in secret. No one knows

about them. Okay. All right. So this is

the game that America uh creates. It's

very simple. Okay. Um and there are

other components but but we'll focus on

this now throughout the semester we will

focus more we will focus on how this

game is played specifically but first I

just introduce it to you. All right.

Okay. So now let's talk about how the

dollar conquers the world.

All right.

So for the longest time

um this system works well. Okay. The

United States is in competition with the

Soviet Union. But over time, the

Americans start to abuse this system. So

they pay for things they can't really

pay for. For example, the war in

Vietnam, for example, a space race, for

example, something called the Great

Society. Okay? They're just spending too

much money. And other countries start to

freak out. So France basically withdraws

all all its gold from the United States.

So, in 1971,

what Nixon does is say, "You know what?

Um, here's the secret, guys. We actually

don't have have enough gold to pay off

everyone." Okay? So, screw this. We're

not going to peg the gold uh the dollar

to gold anymore. Okay? Do you

understand? You can now you can no

longer redeem your US dollars for gold.

It's done. Okay? So now what happens is

the US dollar becomes a Ponzi scheme.

All right. What is a Ponzi scheme? A

Ponzi scheme is basically

the US dollar is valuable because people

want to use it. Do you understand? It

has no value in itself. It's only

valuable because people want to use it.

So now Nixon has to go and create demand

for the US dollar. Right? So the first

thing he does is he goes to Saudi Arabia

[clears throat]

and he creates something called a petro

dollar. [applause]

Right? The idea of the petro dollar is

very simple. Saudi Arabia which is the

largest oil exporter in the world will

only accept payment in US dollars.

Therefore if you want oil you have to

have US dollars. Okay? That's the first

thing that Nixon does. The second thing

that Dixon does is actually even more

important. What does he do? You guys

know he visits China. Okay.

Not only does he visit China, but he's

established a framework in which America

will give China everything. Okay. In

1980s, what happens? America gives China

its market access.

Right

now, US consumers can buy goods from

China. That's a huge deal, guys. Okay,

that's number one. Number two is America

gives China FDI

technology

education.

All right, imagine what happens. America

gives foreign investment to China, gives

all this capital to China, gives all

this technology to China, right? All

these military secrets that America has,

it gives to China for free.

And not only that, but America educates

the Chinese elite. Okay. 1980s, all

these Chinese students, Chinese students

for grad school, go to America to learn

America technology.

Okay. And the third thing, and this is

the most important, is

military protection.

All these conflicts that China has with

Southeast Asia, with Japan, Vietnam,

America will now protect China. When

Chinese ships export goods to Europe,

Africa, and United States, the US Navy

will now protect these ch Chinese ships.

Okay, you understand? You're like, "Oh

my god,

America gave China everything.

America made China rich. Why would

America do that?" And there's one answer

and only one answer. It's to make you

China use US dollars.

Okay,

it's that simple. Okay, so now when

China trades with the world, it gets US

dollars in return. You understand?

Okay, and the entire idea is to make the

world addicted to US dollars.

And now that the world is addicted to US

dollars, now that the world depends on

US dollars, America can now control the

global economy. Okay. So in 1999,

[clears throat] sorry, 1991,

the Soviet Union collapses.

Okay? And now America is the only game

in town. There's no one who can

challenge the supremacy of the

Americans. And so now what happens is

America creates something called the new

world order. The new world order is

based on global trade. But because

United States controls the US dollar, it

can now control something called

pricing.

Pricing just means that the Americans

can decide the value of everything.

Okay? So what America does is create a

price hierarchy.

So at the very bottom are resources.

Above that is manufacturing.

Then there's knowledge

and then finance.

Okay. This is the price hierarchy for

the world. All right. And it divides the

world into a division of labor. Okay. So

what is resources? Well guys, it's

Russia.

Okay, that doesn't make sense. Russia,

Africa, South America. What's made

factory?

China.

What's knowledge? Europe.

And what is finance? America.

Okay, does that make sense? So, what's

going to happen is that America is going

to take its manufacturing and transfer

to China. Okay? Because it's cheaper for

China to do it than for America to do

it. And all America is going to do is

finance.

Okay? What is finance? Finance is just

the creation of money

for the purpose of creating more money,

right? Okay. So, this is the system in

place and at first it sounds great

because everyone's making money. Okay.

But there are inherent instability in

this system. Okay? And we will discuss

all this instability throughout the

semester. But for the sake of

simplicity, uh let's talk about America.

What happens when you focus on finance

is that you become a speculative

economy. You focus on gambling. Okay,

basically gambling.

And this leads to something called the

2008 great financial crisis

when the

American economy collapsed. Okay. And at

this time the entire world economy

should have collapsed. And so what

happened was all these central banks

from around the world came together at

in Basil Switzerland the bank of

international settlements. Okay. Right.

The secretive body in which all economic

policies are made and they decide the

only way to save the world is if China

spends money. You understand? Why do we

have all these skyscrapers? Why are the

there all these airports? Why are all

these highspeed railways? Because

America because China to save the global

economy decided to invest in

infrastructure.

Okay.

And belit initiative and that saved the

global economy. Now after China did

this, [clears throat]

China developed a lot of debt. Okay? And

China basically said to the world,

listen,

um, we saved the global economy, so we

deserve a seat at the table, right? We

deserve to be equals to America. And so,

we're going to sell our products, our

Huawei phones around the world. Uh,

we're going to compete with America for

global dominance. And America said,

"Screw you." Okay? And that led, of

course, to Donald Trump. 2016, Donald

Trump.

And [snorts] the first thing Donald

Trump did, of course, was initiate the

USChina trade war, right? China wants to

be an equal to America. America says,

"Nope, screw you. We're going to destroy

you." Okay? So, America tried to

sanction China. Uh, America tried to

blockade China. Okay? So, we'll discuss

this again later on throughout the

semester. Okay? Then what happened of

course is 2022

Russia invades Ukraine. Okay? So what

Russia is saying is you know this price

hierarchy

screw this. Okay? Because guess what

happens guys? If you don't have any

resources this system doesn't work.

Okay? Try manufacturing manufacturing

without any resources. Try having

knowledge about resources. Try having

finance about resources. Okay? So when

Russia invades Ukraine, it's trying to

control the resources of Ukraine. Russia

and Ukraine together controls onethird

of the world's carbohydrates.

Africa, the Middle East starves to death

without Russian and Ukrainian grain.

Okay? Does that make sense? So now this

entire system is in jeopardy. Okay? And

so what's happening today is America is

fighting to save its game. It's trying

to fight to save the system. It's trying

to fight to save the US dollar. It's

trying to fight to save its hedge money.

Okay? And Russia and China are trying to

exert themselves. [snorts] So we are in

a time of game reset.

All right?

Game reset.

and that this is the world that we live

in today. Okay.

All right. So, we will discuss this

throughout the semester. Any questions?

Are you guys clear?

So, I I know this was a lot to take in,

but we'll go into just the specifics

throughout the semester. Okay. We'll go

we'll go and we'll we'll apply to

current events to explain why this is

happening. Any questions?

Okay.

So the only purpose of America like they

produce a service for China is to let

them use US dollars, right? So American

can use this game to everyone. But think

China does not do the same thing as

America. Like they created this this

game. Why?

Okay. [clears throat and cough]

All right. So,

um we'll discuss this throughout the

semester. Okay. The relationship between

China and uh the United States. So

remember that the United States wants

China to play this game, but they can't

really say to the world, "Oh, we're

doing this because we're greedy and we

want China to be subservient to us."

Okay? So they said that we we want China

to play the game because this game will

allow the middle class to rise. It will

make China much more democratic. Okay?

But that's that was just BS. That was

just a fraud, a lie, hypocrisy.

All right. So now that China is in this

game all right what it's trying to do is

restructure the game so that is more

more independent

okay because the problem for China is

okay

um

to play this game what you're doing is

you're taking resources right

you're um creating manufacturing exports

okay and so that's the role China in

this game. There's certain problems with

this game. The first problem is

um America controls the entire game,

right? So America can say, you know, we

don't like you, so you can't trade

anymore. So basically they stop

uh they limit the resources and they

limit the market access. Okay? So what

China needs to do to survive is idea of

diversify.

[snorts]

Create markets outside of the United

States. Create um like find resources

that are not dependent on the US. Okay.

So that's a game that China is playing

and that's the idea of bricks. Okay.

We'll discuss bricks later on.

All right. But the bricks is a very

different concept where before America

was trying to impose its game on

everyone. Now China is just trying to

create a system that is not so dominated

by the Americans.

Okay. That's a Chinese mentality,

right? Does that make sense? Okay. All

right. Any more questions, guys?

Okay. Great. So, I will we'll continue

this on Thursday. Okay.