4 ms·
My guess is that this is not truly about "corruption" and that the US government is mostly happy about this arrangement. Consider these possible upsides from t
by HillaryBriss 9y ago
My guess is that this is not truly about "corruption" and that the US government is mostly happy about this arrangement.
Consider these possible upsides from the US perspective:
* The US can use the whole operation as a bargaining chip with China's governing party, which probably finds the operation irritating, given their policy of currency controls.
* US intelligence gatherers may be able to glean some info about who the wealthy are in China and what they want to do with their money.
* US intelligence gatherers may be able to strike up useful relationships with certain wealthy/elite/influential people in China.
* The operation itself may well be helping to pay the US costs for occupying such a remote island.
- gwern 9y agoAlso the trade deficit issue. If China's ultra-rich are exporting billions of dollars of capital a year out of China, then it helps balance the trade deficit and means more capital in the rest of the world and probably mostly the USA.
- jordanb 9y agoIt doesn't balance the trade deficit at all. It does improve the current account balance but that's not necessarily a good thing for US exports.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoIt then goes into housing bubbles...which may or may not be in your interest depending if you own a home or not.