Thank you Lew.
One thing I forgot to mention at the banquet during which the Chinese official discussed the problems with fiat money with me: He went into a very interesting, almost Misean, discussion of how the Chinese govenment finally realized the impossibility of arbritrarily deciding the price of goods and services in China. How they have embraced real and true market pricing. He said, "it is impossible for us to decide how much things should cost, only people buying and selling can determine the proper price for themselves."
No, China is not a Rothbardian utopia by a long shot. But speaking with Chinese official after Chinese official I realize that they "get it" much more than bureaucrats of two of our branches of governments (here I will not name names).
Oh and by the way, today we visited a wonderfully free-market kind of Siberian tiger zoo (as opposed to our statist and horrific National Zoo), where for a small to moderate fee you can purchase live animals to have fed to the tigers as you pass by in an open air van with only some metal protection. You buy what you wish to pay and they release the animal in the midst of dozens of beautiful but hungry tigers. Or upi can just purchase some raw meat and hang it out of the open air van and have them jump upon it and eat, just inches from your face. What an interactive delight! It would never be allowed back home, I fear...
I shall have to make available my complete notes, if anyone is interested.
Off to Shanghai tomorrow, then Hong Kong...
