• 里贝里禁赛，罗本复出，主宰比赛。不得不提的是小猪与克罗斯的状态也发生了变化：自从上周中冠军杯给罗本的单刀球没有传好之后，TK的一大弊病——快速反击高速运行时候的出球问题，随着罗本越来越多的上场，而暴露了出来；本场比赛中上半程也有一次非常明显的出球不果断和不到位的情况——这也是TK难以胜出厄齐尔的关键。
• 与之相反的是小猪在中场区域的闪亮表现，这里的中场指的是两个禁区以外的所有区域。施魏因施泰格今天尤其兴奋，对球的控制欲和积极性也很强，并展示了非常良好的竞技风貌，在克罗斯和马丁内斯都略微发紧的情况下，很好地对拜仁中场进行了梳理和硬度上的加强。这让人回想起前几年形容前队长范博梅尔的一句话，只要他积极地跑起来了，那就是世界级的。
• 拜仁拿出了上周同样时间对阵阿森纳时候的统治级表现，对手没有像样的机会，胜利实至名归。

Jack Lew’s golden parachute

• paychecks he received from his last two employers before returning to government — a bonus guarantee (from Citi) if he left the bank for a “high level position with the United States government or regulatory body.”
• “Citi knew from the start that Mr. Lew was headed back to a powerful job in Washington, and that it wanted him to remember the bank fondly when he left.”

Michelle Obama’s Oscar turn sparks debate

• inappropriate in its affirmation of the hard power behind the soft power—the connection of real politics to the representational politics of the movies, of the peculiar and long-standing symbiosis of Washington and Hollywood;
  
• (Jennifer Rubin) It is not enough that President Obama pops up at every sporting event in the nation. Now the first lady feels entitled, with military personnel as props, to intrude on other forms of entertaining.

Barnes’s chairman mulls store buyout

• biggest shareholder, Leonard Riggio, expressed interest in buying out the consumer-store chain — not Nook Media LLC;
• B&N market capitalization $809 million, down from $2.2 billion in 2001; physical stores, profitable; the Nook business, suffered $262 million in fiscal 2012;
• management buyout: insiders are seen as having an advantaged position over outside buyers;

Hidden risks of a hard landing in China

• (Stephen Green, Standard Chartered) calculate GDP growth at just 5.5% (official figure 7.8%) in 2012, using an alternative measure of inflation that better
• (official data) exports up 14%, but compare import data from Hong Kong, four percentage points lower;
• (official data) consumption up 15.2%; Nielsen’s index of sales of fast-moving consumer goods, which include fewer of the government purchases that distort the official data, was up just 9%;
• (official data) fixed asset investment increased 21%; that looks odd against 14% fall in sales of excavators and 19% drop in steel prices — measures that should track investment growth;

舆论热议如何斩断“删帖生意链”

• 删帖公司“雅歌时代”5000万的大生意中，竟然有大半的收入来自于二三线城市政府官员的删帖。
  
• （南都评论）“这绝非一种简单的市场供需关系，因为其间所被侵害、被羞辱的，是公众对公共事务的表达与知情权利，以及新闻媒体依法行使的批评监督权。”

徐志摩为什么反对苏俄

• 年长一辈知识分子，章太炎，王国维，梁启超，对苏俄暴力革命的方式很是警惕；年轻一代，陈独秀，李大钊，则对苏俄充满了希望，包括后来的胡适；
• 纵观这一时期，年轻一代中，对苏俄从各方面提出批评与反思，进而提醒国人警惕苏俄的是徐志摩；
• （翟秋白）《饿乡纪程》，明明知道苏俄民众生活穷苦，依然一心一意学习苏俄；
• 引起徐志摩反感的是：对个人财产的不尊重；对书籍的查禁；红色恐怖；
• “他们相信天堂是有的，可以实现的，但在现实世界与那天堂的中间隔着一座海，一座血污海，人类泅得过这血海，才能登彼岸，他们决定先实现那血海。”
• 胡适在苏俄受了假象的迷惑，并没有看清苏俄党化教育的本质。

许小年：城镇化或城镇神化？

• 改革开放30余年，政府从未（主动）推动城镇化，然而不知不觉中，城镇化率就从1978年的18%上升到2012年的53%；即使扣除进城不落户的农民工，也达到了35%左右；
• 贡献的力量来自于：农业改革和民营经济的发展壮大；以市场为基础的资源重新配置；
• 农业改革：不仅为城镇提供低廉劳动力；还产生农业剩余，可供城市人口消费的粮食压力减少；
• 实现（城镇）聚集效应的主体是企业和城乡居民，而不是政府官员；
• 相关改革问题：取消户籍制度；土地制度改革；平衡各级政府财政预算；减少管制；广泛吸收民间资金；停止按行政级别分配公共资源；探索新型的城市治理方式和管理体制；

Google works on launching retail stores

• last year completed its acquisition of Motorola Mobility; even though Google wants Motorola to succeed as a device maker, the company is being careful not to appear to favor Motorola over other device makers — Samsung, Sony, etc.;
• there would a lot to display for Google in its own retail stores: home-entertainment devices, Chromebook laptops, Google Glass, Google TV software;
• Apple has about 400 retail stores world-wide, generating $10 billion in annual sales; Microsoft has opened about 300 full-fledged stores and is developing another 11 stores.

Warren Romney

• $23 billion acquisition of Heinz; the role of 3G capital, which has a reputation for cost-cutting and layoffs (as in Burger King);
• a classic private-equity turnaround in which better management improves the value of a business v.s. rapacious capitalists;
• the usual media critics of private equity are ignoring 3G’s takeover history, perhaps because of the role Mr. Buffet, the billionaire patron saint of taxing the rich; the deal is even being portrayed as one sign of the return of business animal spirits and a healthier economy;

China’s Yen for currency appreciation

• Pushing up the yuan helps stave off imported inflationary pressure;
• higher inflows through the trade account add to pressure for the yuan to rise;
• the pressure on China’s exporters from Japan’s falling yen is limited — Japan high-end, China low-end manufacturing;

Seoul is a currency pacifist

• Seoul’s inaction makes sense: South Korean exporters are among the biggest beneficiaries of Japan’s spat with China;
• and also, the weaker Yen means the energy cost for Japan is rising;
• what’s more, favorable currency movement will partially help Japanese companies with overseas sales — won’t do much damage to Samsung Galaxy;

李大卫：《云图》背后

• 现代小说，一种类似照片（一目了然，轻而易举说出一本书是关于什么），另一种更像音乐（往往牵涉出懂和不懂的问题）；乔伊斯《芬尼根守灵夜》；
• 乔的遗产被后人承袭：贝克特《等待戈多》、伯吉斯《发条橙子》《世俗权力》、拉什迪《午夜的儿女》等；米切尔的《云图》；
• “于是我注意到一个原本平淡无奇、无需注意的事实，即一种健康的文化，对于例外现象总是宽容的。不但宽容，有时甚至鼓励。”

金雁：“转型正义”与政治和解——勿忘斯塔西系列（上）

• 统一后的国家既要创造和谐氛围，也要体现公正原则；
• 苏联模式的哲学是，与其让人信服不如让人恐惧；
• （麦德维杰夫）苏联文化和意识形态的垄断后果是“要求人们虚伪、顺应、愚昧和装傻，不断玩弄那种令人哭笑不得的、宗教意识般的、普遍宣誓效忠的把戏；”
• （兰德尔·彼特沃克《弯曲的脊梁》）“一个压制分歧的体系面临着无法解决的困境，它用以施加公共一致性的方法越严酷，公民们隐藏真实看法和显示许可看法的行为就越勤勉，而这个体系就越担心它的公民不站在他这边。” — 恶性循环；

• 比赛结束后看着温格的背影消失在球员通道尽头，内心一股苍凉，这支极具气质也曾经叱咤风云的队伍，终于也沦落到“陪客”的角色；两年前几乎同样的时候，比赛尾声沃尔科特助攻阿尔沙文，酋长球场见证了阿森纳顽强扳倒（过去、现在、和将来都）不可一世的巴塞罗那的伟大时刻；而今夜，依然坚守的球迷们只能目睹自己的阵地在二十分钟后即告沦陷；
• “没有坚固的防守，不要和拜仁打对攻。”——在德甲打惯了对手铁桶阵的拜仁，终于来到欧冠赛场呼吸上几口新鲜空气，大开大合，其实正是他们想要的；前两个奠定胜局的进球，全都出自典型的拜仁进攻套路：（1）穆勒套上倒三角传后点（这只有穆勒能做到，因为罗本是内切），克罗斯禁区弧顶劲射；（2）范比滕角球前点头槌，门将扑出，离得最近的人（穆勒）补射（三年前打尤文时戈麦斯进过一个一模一样的）；
• 其实道理很简单，一个球队的进攻点，有的负责打雷，有的负责下雨；里贝里、罗本，属于前者，不停制造机会，看着也很热闹，但命中率不一定高；克罗斯、范比滕的杀招则正相反，一旦出手，随即致命；所以反观阿森纳那边的沃尔科特、威尔希尔等几个小个子，充其只是在边路通道恣意游走的“雷公”，能够“降雨”的神器们（如范大将军），现在都已经在别的球队了。

第一讲 希腊罗马神话（一）

• “木屋”寓言：只要心意诚，神祗就大，智慧更大；
• 古人类最大的快乐：非劳动，非性爱，而是战争胜利之后，唱跳欢乐；久而久之，诗出；
• 文学以前是文字的起源：战歌，祷词，劳动号子；
• “史前期”的希腊神话，否定之否定，无论，动物性；朱庇特家族后，希腊神话正文开始，极具人性；
• 欧罗巴：朱庇特化身白牛，渐近，美女套花环于牛，牛跪，女骑，牛走 — 心理描写很对：人见到初爱的人，从不直接趋前；
• 巴克斯精神：人类的快乐，不是靠理性、电脑、物质，而来自情感、直觉、本能、快乐行动；
• 阿里安因情人走，知巴克斯更好；巴克斯因阿里安死，更知其可贵；
• 神话，多听，多想，人得以归真返璞；希腊神话，无为而治，自在自为；中国神话，善恶相报，太现实，神权、夫权渗透，令人惧怕；
• 阿波罗追随达佛涅，以肉身之爱追求形上之爱；
• 画中，人多与狮和羊一起安然共听俄耳浦斯弹奏——这是人类的理想；
• 俄耳浦斯回头，欧律狄刻骤失 — 天琴座；
• 狄安娜误为阿波罗所骗，射死俄里翁 — 猎户座；
• 每年早春，阿多尼斯出见维纳斯，六月后返地狱：阿多尼斯象征春天，维纳斯象征爱；
• 人间英雄赫拉克勒斯，终生劳作无止息，象征白昼，那十二件大事，或指黄道十二宫，或一年十二月，或白昼十二时；
• 希腊众神之上，有一命运，诸神无可抗拒；

第二讲 希腊罗马神话（二）

• 悲剧写命运，人的反抗毫无用处；中国算命，可卜生死，但从未有人问：谁决定命运？
• 爱琴士之子之子忒修斯杀怪成功，循线出迷楼，弃阿里安，遭惩罚，父投海自杀 — 爱琴海；
• 俄狄浦斯，典型之命运悲剧，弑父，娶母，命运无法逃避；
• 美少年林达，天天游到岛上，赫罗执火炬迎候，后一日风浪太大，被吞没，赫罗举火炬彻夜等候，至晨见林达尸，悲而入海，拥抱着林达死去——“这神话简单，然而动人。”
• 迷楼，象征社会，监囚人，人不得出，包括婚姻、法律、契约；唯一的办法是飞，（伊卡洛斯）宁可飞高，宁可摔死；
• 那耳喀索斯是人的自我，水中倒影便是艺术，超自我的自我；艺术不能实际占有，只可保持距离；现实主义者取消距离，水即乱——人生与艺术的宿命；
• 整个人类文化就是自恋，自恋文化是人类文化；
• 口传，好则留，坏则不留，到现代近世，传播出版发达，坏的容易传播，好的不易流传——人类文化的悲哀，是流俗的易传，高雅的失传；
• 古代只有文学，没有作家，个人完全湮没；洞窟壁画，从不签名；哲学家不写书；古文化结结巴巴地传下来；
• 人类不安分，动物性是稳定的，正常的；伟大的文艺，记录的都不是幸福，而是不安与骚乱；
• 希腊神话是一笔美丽得发昏的糊涂账。因为糊涂，因为发昏，才如此美丽。

第三讲 希腊史诗

• 人人知道荷马，谁读过荷马？人所崇拜的东西，常是他们不知道的东西。
• 诗人、子、书，是最高尊称：荷马是诗人，诗人就是荷马；孔丘为“子”，新旧约为“书”；
• 《伊利亚特》阳刚：王子抢海伦，丈夫开战，众神参战，希腊军内讧，阿喀琉斯退战，请战，请其友出，死，为战友复仇，亲往战，胜，回来葬友；
• 世界各大国、各大族，历史都很丰富悲壮，但伟大的诗才太少 — 中国没有史诗；
• 《奥德赛》温和的，富人情味；
• 史诗中的英雄美人，性格鲜明——古典文学的方法论；荷马史诗的“神”与“人”，既有性格上的相通，又有凡尘和天庭的差异，希腊传统的又一个好典范；
• “人类有童年。各民族有各自的童年。希腊这孩童最健康，他不是神童，很正常、很活泼，故荷马史诗是人类健康活泼时期的诗。” — 迅速，直捷，明白，壮丽；
• 荷马喜用“Similes”（简洁的比喻），直捷，不深奥，不暗示：（希腊奔赴前进）大火吞没森林；（匆忙的声音）群鸟噪音；（军队聒噪）苍蝇飞鸣；（军败退）羊群奔散；
• 克罗齐的唯心史观：历史不属于科学（“普遍”性）的范畴，属于艺术的范畴 — 历史并不在于理解客体，而仅止于凝想那个客体；
• 荷马史诗是历史与艺术的理想结合；司马迁《史记》“史家之绝唱，无韵之离骚”，也很理想；

第四讲 希腊悲剧及其他

• “那时候地球上出现许多天才，伟大的人格、伟大的思想，而柏拉图、亚里士多德压根儿不知道老子、孔子、释迦牟尼。”
• 希腊的酒神精神，最符合艺术家性格；“诗人不宜多知世事” — 希腊整个文化艺术像是一个童贞的美少年，想起希腊，好像那里一天到晚都是早晨，空气清凉新鲜；
• 多神 — 泛神 — 无神：希腊的活泼健康，是他们早在神的多元性上，伏下了无神论的观念；而一神很难通向泛神；此所以尼采无比向往希腊；文艺复兴，复的也是希腊精神；
• 为什么希腊悲剧能净化心灵？事已至此，好自为之；正视命运，正视之后，是好自为之——人道；希腊将“美”在人道中推到第一位；朴素的唯美主义；为什么美好？美就是快乐；希腊没有历史负担，没有传统风俗、习惯、教条约束；天然地没有伤感情调，希腊的一切艺术，真实、朴素、单纯；
• 埃斯库罗斯，暴狂，有力；索福克勒斯，从宗教热情转到人间合理化；欧里庇得斯，写人间普通人，浪漫主义的开山祖 — 道德即美，不应赏罚是非；

第五讲 新旧约的故事和涵义

• 《圣经》不是神学的总集，没有被清理、被规范，所以庞杂，像人类生活本身，忍耐、懦弱、胜利、失败，像一个老实人的日记；所以文字明白简朴，思想直接有力；
• 《旧约》的文字与思想，天然和谐，出于希伯来人的语言；《新约》的作者似乎都是犹太人；
• （作者）坚持《新约》的文学价值高于《旧约》，纪德、王尔德的观点也相同；
• （《旧约》）“出埃及记”，故事性强，“创世记”，艺术家必须读；（作者）偏爱“诗篇”和“雅歌”，美丽幽婉，沁人肺腑；“现代人只要忘掉现代，同样可以肝肠如火，色笑似花。”
• 《新约》采用口语化的文体，得以广为宣传；（作者）每当写出近乎“圣经体”，心中光明快乐，如登宝山，似归故乡；为什么文字趋近《圣经》风格会莫名其妙地安静、畅快？（神秘点）圣灵感召；（实在点）归真返朴；

第六讲 新旧约再谈

• 耶稣的理想主义毫无目标；以现代理性看耶稣的话，破洞很多；要不求甚解地去解；不求甚解就是一种解；包涵、圆融地看；
• 耶稣反对发誓；真正的善，不必誓；可世界誓言不断，耶稣归耶稣说，人类归人类做；
• 凡真的先知，总是时而雄辩，时而结巴；“一个爱我的人，如果爱得讲话结结巴巴，语无伦次，我就知道他爱我。”
• 艺术家能以自身的快乐来证明世俗的快乐不是万能的：康德从不出家门，克尔凯郭尔只玩过一次柏林；
• 耶稣的思想襟怀，纯粹理想主义，极端无政府主义，形上的，空灵的，不能实践的 — “真理”大致如此，凡切实可行的不是真理；
• 耶稣看到百合花，想到人类的枉自劳苦；耶稣、老子、乔达摩，都是极度真诚敏感 — 弄虚作假的人其实是麻木的；他们鉴貌辨色，八面玲珑，而对自然、宇宙，极麻木；真正敏于感受，是内心真诚的人；

第七讲 福音

• 献身信仰，不能考虑伦理伦常关系；苦行，如羊放入狼群，要机警如蛇，驯良如鸽；
• 小孩子在学校走，突告母亲、姐姐送伞来，必羞臊 — 小学，性质上就是伊甸园；儿童有儿童的浪漫主义，一时出现父母，即拉回现世；天堂人间不能共存，世俗和理想难以沟通；

第八讲 新旧约续谈

• 大多数人是愚氓，极少数人是精英；听道的群众，顽石点头了，点过之后，依然是顽石；教堂，人进人出，谁懂教堂？你来也罢，不来也罢，但总有二三贤者智者懂；
• 为什么先知、宗教家、哲学家要用比喻？人类的智力还在低级阶段；最美的是数学和音乐，令人着迷，完全没有比喻；绘画和文学都脱不了比喻；
• 先知在故乡不受尊敬 — 艺术家要留一份“神秘感”；你自以为君子坦荡荡，结果呢，招鬼上门，引狼入室；
• （“马太”十四章）某次五千人听道，饿，耶稣以五个饼、两条鱼，掰开平分，都得到，还有余 — 没有比这个比喻更显示艺术的伟大功能；艺术以最少的材料，表呈最多的涵量；
• （“马太”十四章）传道散了，耶稣独自在海面走；门徒惊异，耶稣说勿惊；彼得也从水面过去，怕落水，呼救，耶稣拉他的手近拢，说，你这小信的人，为什么不信我？ — 一个人能否成大器，主观因素最重要，被人忽略的是信心，是信念；信心来自天性的纯真朴厚；
• 一个人衷心赞美别人，欣赏别人，幸福最多——他是在调整自己，发现自己；自我教育；
• 爱，原来是一场自我教育；耶稣对人类的爱，是一场单恋。

第九讲 东方的圣经

• 西方大科学家不满于老是追求科学，总想进入哲学、宗教；不能太早做浪子（艺术家），要在宗教、哲学里泡一泡；
• 乔达摩：自我牺牲，清静寂寞，思辨深刻，灵感丰富；佛教不需要人祭，重视悔过和祈祷；犹太教讲崇拜，基督教重内心修行；
• 研究佛经，是东方智者和知识分子的一个“底”；
• 宗教长期迫害哲学家，哲学家不迫害宗教，但可置宗教于死命；一个是信仰，一个是怀疑；宗教是由对自然现象要求正名而来，正名，赋形，遂有人身的神的形象出现；
• 音乐、建筑、绘画所体现的宗教情操——圆融的刚执，崇高的温柔；
• 人类这般伟大、聪明，为什么不用于人类，而去奉神？给父母、子弟、情人的，也不及把人类最好的情操送给上帝，送给宗教；

第十讲 印度的史诗、中国的诗经

• 《摩诃婆罗多》讲战争，艰深，有哲学，难懂；《罗摩衍那》讲英雄，浪漫，易传；
• （《摩》）依卡拉夫耶求师不得，塑特洛那泥像，特洛那亲自去看，孩子下跪听训，称可献任何东西给老师，遂割大拇指——愚忠；古人最高情感是“忠”；古人忠而愚，今人聪明，但也失去了真挚的情感，智慧是思维，道德只是行为的一部分；
• （《罗》）老二不肯受位，置金鞋而代为王——好人和好人之间的戏剧性；
• 中国的神话是零星的；神话、英雄，加天才，即史诗，中国没有此物；
• 《郑风·将仲子》写女性心理，好极，委婉之极；最要讲的是“仲可怀也”，却讲了那么多，不拘四言五言七言；
• “中世纪所谓蒙昧，倒是保存了人的元气。”

第十一讲 诗经续谈

第十二讲 楚辞与屈原

• 贫穷是一种浪漫；
• 政治、生活、爱情都成功，可以是伟大的文学家，譬如歌德；政治、生活、爱情都失败，更可以是伟大的文学家，譬如屈原；
• 文学可以抓到痒处，绘画强迫给人接受画家个人的意象，文学给人想象的余地；
• 屈原的死，也是作品，是一种自我完成；屈原写诗，一定知道他已经永垂不朽；每个大艺术家生前都公正地衡量过自己，有人熬不住，说出来，如但丁、普希金，有种人不说的，如陶渊明；
• 《九歌》中《少司命》《山鬼》两篇最好；神，鬼，都是人性的升华；比希腊神话更优雅，更安静，极端唯美主义；

第十三讲 中国古代的历史学家

• 《诗经》被政治家、儒家弄成尊严和工具；后人都不敢将《诗经》编入文选；可见儒家在中国势力之大，成了集体潜意识；儒家是最重功利的 — 对待《诗经》，伪善，霸道；汉乐府偷偷继承发扬《诗经》；竹林七贤，建安七子，陶渊明，不被教条吓倒，仍把《诗经》作为文学看待；中国的纯文学，是《诗经》，是《楚辞》；
• 中国古代历史，一上来就是文学，已经写得极其完美；古代之所以有这光荣现象，因为文学家、史家、哲学家都是贯通的 — 古代文化的总和性现象，一定出华而又实的大人物；现代分工，是投机取巧；
• 老子精炼奥妙，庄子汪洋恣肆，孟子庄严雄辩，墨子质朴生动，韩非子犀利明畅，荀子严密透辟，孔子圆融周到——孔子调皮、滑头，话从不说死；
• 国穷民穷，或可转富，精神文化一失，再也回不来；
• “郑伯克段于鄢” — 讥笑了哥哥，责备了弟弟，而且批评他们自己的家事弄到像两国交战 — 高度的概括，态度、立场、观点都毫不假借，就叫做“春秋笔法”；
• 左丘明著《左转》，盲者，生平不可考 — 只留作品，不留作者，这是大自然的作风；他是第一个以文学水平写史书的人；
• 如果司马迁不全支持孔丘立场，而用李耳的宇宙观治史，以他的天才，《史记》这才真正伟大——不可能，中国文化五千年、三千年，几乎没有哲学家，没有正式的大自然科学家；诸子百家是热心于王、霸的伦理学家、权术家；什么是哲学？是思考宇宙，思考人在宇宙的位置，思考生命意义，无功利可言；
• 读《史记》，当司马迁写出人物、忘掉儒家时，是他最精彩的部分；古时候不写商人，不写流氓，司马迁才气大，胆魄大，皆入文章，写得出了神，忘了儒家的训诫；

第十四讲 先秦诸子：老子

• 春秋战国，哲学的黄金时代，中国从那以后不再出哲学家了，吃老本吃了两千多年，坐吃山空；胡适当初写《中国哲学史大纲》，只有上集，下集写不出；
• 宇宙观决定世界观，世界观决定人生观，老子、庄子、尼采、释迦牟尼，都从这样顺序而思考的；
• 一般书生之见、市侩之见，乃至学者、专家、大儒，都说老子消极、悲观、厌世；从五十年代开始，要求人人都要积极、乐观、热爱生活；
• 具有永恒性、世界性的中国哲学家，恐怕不多；诸子百家，是伦理学家，研究社会结构、人际关系；是政论家，讨论治国之策；只有老子思考宇宙、生命；庄子，是老子的继续，是老子哲理的艺术化；
• 老子主张退、守、弱、柔；“民不畏死，奈何以死惧之” — 暴君和暴民；老子的理想世界，全然梦境，是他个人的诗的乌托邦；“无为”“无治”是生气，是绝望，是唱反调，是现状逼得他往极端走；“天地不仁” — 决绝的人生观、世界观；“道”是他的理论支点（黑格尔的总念，观念先于物质而存在）；
• 凡宇宙观糊涂，或者忽而偏向有神论，忽而偏向无神论，想说又不敢说，或者说不清，总是差劲的，不能算哲学家；例如孔丘；
• “蒙田不事体系”；建立体系而成一家之言，并不难，不事体系而能千古不朽，却是极难极难；
• （卡普拉）“《道德经》就是以一种令人费解的、似乎不合逻辑的风格写成的，它充满了迷人的矛盾，它那有力而富有诗意的语言，捕获了读者的心灵，使读者摆脱了习以为常的逻辑推理的轨道。”

第十五讲 先秦诸子：孔子、墨子

• 孔丘的思想与李耳正好相反，乐观、积极、务实；他的理想是恢复尧、舜、文、武的礼乐，以中庸之道架构人伦关系；根据周公的原则，周详地建立了一个生活模式；
• 整本《论语》文学性极强；几乎是精炼的散文诗；文学的伟大，在于某种思想过时了，某种观点荒谬错误，如果文学性强，就不会消失；
• 儒家重礼、厚葬、守制，目的是尽人事，以愚孝治国，是宗族主义的大传统；墨翟一下子就看出不对，根本在于“真诚”；孔子是偷换概念的老手，墨子诚实、聪明；
• 墨家不重文采，但通顺朴实，明白痛快，条理严谨，逻辑性很强；墨子认为孔子的“仁”，没有新意，是“以水救水，以火救火”，救不出名堂来的；孔子的宿命论不是宇宙观上的宿命，他在世界观、人生观上的宿命是伪宿命论，目的是为帝王提供麻痹奴隶们的自强；墨子的思想就是科学、民主、平等、博爱的先驱；
• 帝制长期的统治，一定得伪善，礼表法里；

第十六讲 先秦诸子：孟子、庄子、荀子及其他

• 中国哲学少得可怜；西方哲学像歌剧，中国哲学像民歌；
• 但孟子文学才能极高；墨子吃点亏，文学才能不及其余；老庄是不折不扣的艺术家；
• （诗人死得早，哲学家多长寿）“吾善养吾浩然之气”，（作者认为）“浩然之气”指元气，艺术会给你不尽元气，一份诚意，换一份元气；
• 中国的伦理观是孔孟的，艺术观是老庄的；汉的赋家，魏晋高士，唐代诗人，全从庄子来；嵇康、李白、苏轼，诠释庄子思想；一直流到民国的鲁迅，骨子里都是庄子思想；石涛、八大，似信佛，也是庄子思想；
• “至人无己，神人无功，圣人无名”，禅的境界，是要把生命寂灭；浪漫主义致命的弱点，是拼命追求自然，最后弄到不自然；
• 荀子将“法”填入“礼”，历代帝王的统治术，历来不肯明说，扬孔而隐荀；（谭嗣同）两千年来之学，荀学也；
• “神莫大于化道”，“神”，微妙的事理，高深的修养，“化道”，受知识的熏陶而使气质变化——学问的最高境界；
• 为什么这些古代史家、哲学家、思想家，都有这么高的文学才华？到宋代、近代，文学才能就差了？思维、情操的创造性，必然伴随着形式的创造性；后世哲学家不过是思想的翻版、盗版，不是创造性的，所以，不可能有文学性；
• 每一宗教的创教者，都是坦荡真诚的；凡教会就有功利性，然而又不能公开，故向上用经院哲学，向下是标语口号；任何一种意识形态，先要从语言入手，共产运动也是如此；

第十七讲 魏晋文学

• 两种思潮：希伯来思潮，希腊思潮；前者苦行，克制，重来世，理想，修行，但做不到，必伪善，违反人性；后者是重现世，重快乐，肉体，欲望，享受；世界史总是两种思潮起伏，很分明；唯中国没有希腊思潮；
• 艺术家的才能自是天赋，创造美，又是天赋中的天赋；富有艺术才能而不能创造美：卡拉瓦乔，库尔贝，米勒，珂勒惠支；又例如达芬奇，他想画丑，可是画不出来，他对丑是盲的；
• 《世说新语》，洋洋大观，其实草草；一言一语记录得如此之详；外国历史、中国历史的其他时期，都没有这样的文体；其中许多观点过时了，和现代不能通，没有永久意义，好在记录是真实的，注解是翔实的，最好是好在文体，一刀一刀，下刀轻快；

第十八讲 谈音乐

第十九讲 陶渊明及其他

•  

• 欧冠前的联赛打得很省力，不慌不忙，用控制力和抓机会杀死比赛，曼祖延续了冬歇期后只要首发就能进球的神奇。整支球队一个月来攒足的内力就看四天后在酋长球场怎么释放出来吧。拭目以待。
• PPTV的解说也为最近饱受批评的小猪开脱了几句，说到大家都发挥得好所以球评只能去黑他，而且他的精神作用对拜仁至关重要。前半句同意，而后半句呢，我觉得前两任6号球员——巴拉克、埃芬博格相比，（起码从结果上看）还是有一定差距。巴拉克时期的拜仁太过羸弱，或许难以比较，但埃芬博格时期，他的王者之风给球队气质上的提升，是现在的小猪还很难企及的。放眼望去，这种精神球员如杰拉德、兰帕德，还是稍微比小猪高半个档次的，而由于位置关系，小猪也会比皇马后期的劳尔高了半个档次。希望下一个“范加尔”能把他再次盘活！

 

G-7 attempts to avoid currency war

• U.S., Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, and U.K.
• monetary policies designed to boost economies that have side effect of lessening the value of currency;
• (Richard Gilhooly) “Rather than calm the markets, the poorly communicated statement has significantly raised volatility, and now we have to wait to see the actual outcome of G-20 on the weekend.”
• (a senior official of G-20) “the statement put the rest talk of targeting specific exchange rates.”
• singling out specific members as currency manipulators won’t happen.

Venezuela slashes currency value

• 4.3 per dollar to 6.3 per dollar, nearly a third of its value;
• help narrow government’s budget shortfall; but also spur inflation that is already among the world’s highest — trade-offs faced by Mr. Chavez more than a decade of populist economic policies;
• raise the cost of imports, and Venezuela’s economy is increasingly dependent on imports;
• foreign companies sales in local currency terms are among biggest losers;
• many world’s economies moved away from fixed exchange rates in the 1990s, but Mr. Chavez populist polices have gone in the other direction — since then, periodically devalued currency every few years — driven economy with one foot on the gas and the other on the brakes;

Insurance as punishment

• proposed that CA gun owners to buy liability insurance to cover damages or inquiries caused by their weapons;
• (proponent) some owners would avoid high premium by purchasing less-lethal weapons;
• unfounded assumptions here — FBI statistics show that handguns not rifles consistently account for large majority of firearms homicides.
• home insurance company will likely favor gun owners who have safely locks and proper storage;
• deter gun ownership? punish law-abiding gun owners?

Is this the new face of racism?

• (Latanya Sweeney, a Havard professor) black-identifying names turned out to be much more likely than white-identifying names to generate ads that including the word “arrest”;
• (a decade ago, from U Chicago) resumes with white-sounding names were about half again as likely to yield callback as those with black-sounding names — implicit racism;
• correlate with 1970’s Black Power Movement — before the movement, names given to black and white children were not distinctly different; but after the movement, distinctly black names appear.
• Google algorithm based on the pattern of clicks but these clicks reflect no bias; people click the link because it is her/his name.

Daniel Grofine and Ben Miller: who needs Wall Street?

• shift in how companies raise money: through private transactions (rose by 31%) than through debt and equity offering (fell by 11%);
• companies don’t have to go through the SEC’s costly and time-consuming registration and reporting requirements;
• (public markets) liquidity by advertising to a wider public;
• it could also mean fewer investment opportunities for the general public; private exchange not accessible to those who don’t qualify as accredited investors — 97% of U.S. population.

中金：空气污染根源在市场失灵和政策缺位

• 库兹涅茨曲线 — 环境污染指标与人均收入水平遵循倒U形的关系：在收入水平较低的时期，污染程度随着收入水平的提高而上升；当人均收入水平增长到了8000美元（1985年价格）左右，污染程度开始随着收入增长而下降；
• 中国目前人均GDP刚超过5000美元，若按购买力平价计算，已经超过9000美元，接近拐点；

吴谦立：不是一家人，进了一家门

• 德国财政状况相当稳健，但也不愿意援助希腊等小兄弟们；
• 自2000年以来，德国单位劳动力成本仅有轻微的涨幅，其他确实直线上升，希腊40%，法国25%；
• “在欧元大家庭刚成立的最初几年里，德国人继续苦吃苦做，而其他兄弟们，尤其是那些处于欧洲南部的小兄弟们，却只顾享受快乐的生活，生活水平不断上涨，但是工作效率与德国人的差距却进一步拉大。”
• 欧洲统一市场使德国马克贬值，出口更具竞争力，其他国家货币升值，增加进口；但并没有形成劳动力市场统一，各国生产效率依然存在差异；希腊工厂必须雇佣至少五倍于德国工厂的律师、会计师以对付政府部门的干扰；
• “欧洲问题之所以比较特别，是因为由于实行统一货币，那些陷入危机的国家无法应用常见的大幅度贬值的耍赖手段，把自己拯救出来。另一方面，各国财政却又是独立预算的，在这个虚拟的家庭里面，亲兄弟明算账，无法像一个真正的国家那样可以容易地实现内部利益转移。”

谢国忠：美元牛市再来

• 第三次美元牛市：20世纪80年代的第一次牛市是由于Paul Volker为了解决滞胀而推出的高利率政策造成的；20世纪90年代中期的第二次牛市源于 IT革命将投资吸入美国；即将到来的美元牛市，则是因为其他经济体的疲软，而非美国经济的实力；
• 欧元危机的解决方案：北欧国家进一步通胀来平衡南欧国家的竞争力问题 — 欧洲央行的货币扩张；
• 过去20年间，强势的日元将日本引向通缩，名义GDP一直在下跌，国债飞速上涨，日元走弱是唯一出路；
• 第一次美元牛市引发拉丁美洲债务危机，第二次引发亚洲金融危机 — 不是巧合：（美元熊市）热钱流入，造成通胀，逐渐失去竞争力，美元走强，流动性随之转向，债务负担不可逆转；
• 金砖国家体现了滥发贷款所能导致的全部症状：高债务水平、通胀和强势货币。
• “像澳元和巴西雷亚尔这样的商品货币，在接下来的美元强势时期将会极度脆弱。前者尤其容易受影响。澳大利亚已经变得十分依赖商品出口收入和外国资本流入。后者培育了一个巨大的房地产泡沫。在资本开始外流后，澳大利亚很可能将会经历一场金融危机。”

Jenkins: Apple’s new normal

• now the newest thing aren’t hardware or operating system, they are cloud services, which Apple hasn’t been strong at;
• “The (Ford) Model T couldn’t have been the Model T unless the automobile were on its way to becoming too interesting a product for consumers ever to be satisfied with a single model, a single manufacturer, a single design statement.”
• same for Apple: “Different customers not only want different things from their smartphones, they want difference for its own sake.”
• drop in share price has not been the popping of bubble or a collapse of confidence in management, it is easy to arrive at simply as some modest lowering of Apple’s expected sales growth and some modest lowering of its expected profit margin on those sales.

Chinese firm shrug at rising debt

• Rongsheng, a Chinese shipbuilding company, debt six times than three years ago;
• accessible loans may be good news for struggling companies, could be bad news down the road;
• exacerbate overcapacity, solar panel, steel sector, resource not going to the most efficient firms;
• (Zhang Weiying) currently, doing businesses in China is still a privilege, not a right.
• Rongsheng is a vital part of local economy in Rugao, paid more taxes than the next seven biggest firms, though in good years the tax bills dwarfed by government subsidies;

Party eyes ‘red-state model’ to drive Republican revival

• Sam Brownback, Kansas state governor, to create a red-state model;
• focus: fiscal innovations, slash income taxes while increasing sales taxes; the supposition is that tax cut will spark more growth, hence more revenue from all taxes, including sales taxes;
• the tax gambles in the red states, sharply contrast with proposals put forward by some Democratic governors —  unsually stark divisions;
• Republican critics worry that state’s schools and infrastructure will suffer; shift burden to less affluent;

Zahra’ Langhi: why Lybia’s revolution didn’t work — and what might

• end Qaddafi but replaced by another Qaddafi-like regime?
• “Mercy instead of revenge, collaboration instead of competition, inclusion instead of exclusion — these are the ideals that a war-torn Libya needs desperately.”
  
• “Peace has an alchemy: … the intertwining, the alternation, between the feminine and masculine perspectives.”

Tyler DeWitt: hey science teachers — make it fun

• “If a young learner thinks that all viruses have DNA, that’s not going to ruin their chances of success in science. But if a young learner can’t understand anything in science and learns to hate it, [then] that will.”
• (My comment) This is quite a interesting point. No one will deny the importance of vivid introductory story for middle juniors. And this brings us another look of our primary and secondary education system, which in my opinion, is still superior than its American counterpart, both in terms of cultivating a good sense of “science” (scientific thinking), and of making students believe it is a cool thing. What might be lost in our system, or at least worth thinking twice is whether we can efficiently explore students’ inner interest towards science, or broadly, any subject.

Tillett Wright: fifty shades of grey

• photographed 2,000 people who consider themselves somewhere on the LGBTQ — they are just looking the same as people who are not.
• “My mission to photograph gays was inherently flawed, because there were a million different shades of gay.”
• “There are just as many jerks and sweethearts and Democrats and Republicans and jocks and queens and every other polarization you can possibly think of within the LGBT community as there are within the human race.”

刘利刚：日元贬值为人民币带来机遇

• 日元贬值降低企业融资成本，增强出口竞争力：自90年代初以来已经量化宽松近20次，经济停滞的痼疾在于扭曲的经济结构与人口老龄化；日本经济依赖贸易程度不大；
• 日元贬值引发周边货币恐慌性贬值，（受到升值压力的人民币）若升，出口更困难；若干预汇率，导致国内流动性大幅宽松，资产泡沫进一步吹大；
• 动荡的日元给人民币“区域化”的机会，考虑首先成为亚洲的“锚货币”；

陈昌华：非银行信贷支持地方举债的风险

• 经济反弹依赖于基建项目投资增长，不仅审批宽松，而且融资渠道多样；
• 企业融资转向非银行领域是健康发展方向，但是：银行贷款依然在增加；银行销售渠道在非银行信贷快速增长过程中也扮演重要角色（道德风险）；
• 中国应尽早决定地方融资以城投债还是市政债为主；

Economic Observer Issue 606 04-02-2013

• Yingkou’s real estate bubble: will take six to seven years to unload all supply of properties; severe market risk; because of housing restrictions, developers move from top-tier cities;
• China Southern’s A380 headache: main battlefield is long-distance international routes; headquarters Guangzhou can’t make much use of this advantage;

How Amazon trained its investors to behave

• Jeff Bezos, a hedge fund veteran, skeptical of Wall St: putting investment ahead of profitability; emphasis on EPS diverts resources away;
• very few companies want to come into Amazon’s core businesses and try to compete with them at 1% or 2% margins.
• trained its shareholders to believe that everything will work out in the end.

Low interest rates force companies to pour cash into pensions

• companies required to calculate PV of pension liabilities using discount rates — based on corporate bond yields — rates fall liabilities rise;
• Ford’s pension plans had strong real-world returns, but had to lower its discount rates to 3.84% from 4.6%, creating bigger liabilities — increase of non-cash expense;

虽是一场大比分但过程却很简单，抓住关键的时间点（上半场结束前与下半场开场），并把出现的机会给把握住，就足够了。看似三分的力气却也撬起了七分的结果。拜仁现在踢的是“章法”足球，说力量也不是很有力量，说创造力也不是很有创造力 — 单个元素其实并不夺目 — 但捏合在一起就能产生“赢球方程”的解，就像书法看重的其实是字与字之间的呼应，而非具体哪一点是多么龙飞凤舞。

Amanda观影归来，甚兴奋，美国观众对Argo的捧场加之闭幕时全场的起立鼓掌，一定为此行加分不少。这部金球奖双料得主反映出“好莱坞是美国价值传播的先行者”这一基本论断依然成立，而伊朗人的自我陈述和表达则成为接下来我们需要特别关注的主题。

历史事件为题材的电影有如下受众：攻方，受方，还有像我们这样的局外人，而对于大部分人来说，我觉得一部电影称之为“好”不在于它传递的价值与信息本身，而是因此触发的更加多元、深入而立体的思考展开——而这种展开也必须要从学界、评论人扩散到平民百姓中。Argo应该算完成了任务。

历史本身既是宏观也是微观的，与其说是有血有肉，不如说是：血肉模糊。

Dudley晚饭，席间与杨meng闲聊到科技发展到最后人性的落脚之处——我们存在而且认为我们的存在很重要的一大因素是由于记忆，由记忆而引发的一系列感官、情绪和思想及其能动性；如果记忆被移植，那么人性也就不复存在了。由此谈及日本，及其艺术作品中常常出现的后现代主题，究其根源，应是由于局限的地理、资源因素而产生的深刻的危机意识，从而使得思考蔓延至现世之外。同时，日本文化的传承性、封闭性而造成的与时代脱节，又成了这种“后现代”思考植根的土壤。

朱民：全球金融市场趋同性加强

• 2003年趋同度只有10%；现在高达70-80%；
• 中国金融业在全球的代表性并不高；GDP占10.2%，资产只占8.2%；
• 亚洲债券市场虽表现好，但太小；银行占资产55%，股票占32%。

卢锋：经济易热难冷

• 中国体制转型下特殊的扭曲因素，对经济增长产生过度的助推力；
• 官员选用体制和地方竞争机制：扩大投资多上项目，冲破预算约束；
• 独一无二的城乡分割土地制度：农地一旦投入城市建设，产生几十倍的增值溢价；

陈志武：现代技术催生民主法治

• 现代交通运输工具和网络：增大了政府不受约束而侵犯民间财富的能力；
• 金融技术：全国金融机构一体化，城镇银行的信贷也受到国务院、发改委的统一调配，权力一旦失控将造成巨大伤害；
• 在世界范围内，除极少数国家，民主、法治都是19世纪、20世纪才有的；需要对由现代技术、现代金融技术带来的权力进行制约；

The doctor’s office as union shop

• increasing trend for physicians to become employees, rather than self-employed.
  
• Obama administration driving this trend: reducing the reimbursement for certain office-based specialists while enhancing related payment to hospitals;
• Doctors now in training appear willing to forsake income for a better quality of life and are less interested in the entrepreneurship required to run a private practice;
• (if doctors unionize) their right to strike?

 

Home prices turn up across region

• Guerneville, the most, jump 38.4%; Oakland, 35%; San Francisco 28.3%; San Jose 21.2%;
• social media employee — “Our gold rush right now is in social media.”
• market become tougher for buyer; impossible for entry-level buyer to compete; outbid by investors who often offers all cash;

The State Tax Reformers

• Nine states now have no income tax; instead, raising sales tax;
• income taxes are a direct penalty on saving, investment and labor; sales tax hit consumption;
• Louisiana and Oklahoma, with big energy production, another option: replacing the income tax with revenues from oil and gas extraction taxes, drilling leases and royalty payments;
• union-dominated high-tax model: California, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts and now Minnesota;

Euro Zone’s risk in currency wars

• hit 14-month high: $1.35;
• ECB: the only traditional inflation hawk in town — BOJ continue print money, raise inflation target; Fed open-ended bond purchases until unemployment falls;
• (BNP Paribas) fair value at $1.32; it is only slightly overvalued now.
• problem is: one rate may not suit all —  as world demand for euro-zone export grow sluggishly, making price is more important; each country has its own exchange-rate pain threshold, $1.22 for France and $1.16 for Italy due to lack of competitiveness and flexibility;

《娱乐、明星与政治》

• （一般）美国学术、传媒、文化和娱乐界左倾，支持民主党自由派，好莱坞更是宣传美国自由派政治理想的急先锋（大片中黑人总统的形象十多年前就已出现）；
• 俄罗斯Pussy Riot因“煽动宗教仇恨”被判决；普京辩驳：“这三名妇女被投入监狱，西方人就谴责，而《穆斯林的无知》的制作者纳库拉·贝兹利·纳库拉也被收监时，他们却缄默不语了。”
• （美国）塑造精神世界、道德价值、政治观念的三大力量：宗教，联邦最高法院，娱乐工业；
• 但人们并非像反对宗教人士和法律人士的政见那样来反对娱乐明星的政治表态，（其实认为）他们没有资格高度专业地对政治问题大放厥词；
• 但这就是他们应该噤声的理由吗？

《新民，一个未竟的使命》

• 中国队宪政观念的表达与对西方的看法有关，“优越性”；但挪用（而不是研究）西方并不讨论其“学术和理性”，而是思考“日常合理性”；
• 从而激发出关于“民”的思考：公民的锻造 — 现代国家；
• “重构”西方和“重述”中国传统 — “新民”，从心理层面真正面对西方，又不能彻底与自己的文化割断；
• 梁启超的新民事业 — “满街都是睁眼瞎”成了最大障碍；
• 梁引述中国的古典并不是为了使其支持新民计划，而是提醒国人不能忘了对古人君子的效仿；孔子、曾国藩等是策略上为了克服国人不适感、自卑感的解剂；
• 革掉满足政府是一回事，革命以后又是另一回事，梁对人民的失望，革命青年则是极度乐观；中国民众缺乏政治能力，但革命本身便是最好的锻炼；
• 五四的“新青年”在思想路线上产生分歧，为孔孟预留的位置被连根拔掉；
• 劳工庶民的胜利 + 巴黎和会的冷水 — “新文化运动”转化为反帝爱国的“政治运动”，工人和农民成了主角，最先作为启蒙对象的下层取代了启蒙者；

黄荭：《没有谁的日子》

• 我依然从容。依然不爱哭。依然相信明天会更好。只是，没有你的日子，我不习惯。
• （荣格）我是谁的梦？在这个梦里，我做了一次旅行。我在山丘的小路上漫步，阳光明媚，四野开阔。之后，我走近一座小教堂。门开着，我走进去。让我讶异的是祭坛上既没有圣母像也没有十字架，只有一簇美丽的花束。但我在祭坛前的地上看到一个瑜伽师，面朝我，打着莲花座，正在冥想。待我走近细看，我发现他的脸就是我的脸。我惊恐地离开，醒来时脑子里还在琢磨：“啊！如此看来，是他在冥想的时候想到了我。他做了一个梦，而那个梦就是我。”故而，等他醒来的那一刻，我将不复存在。

John Taylor: Fed policy is a drag on Economy

• kept extending the near-zero federal funds rate and it will remain in the place for several more years.
• search for higher yields: take on questionable investments; bank roll over rather than write off bad loans;
• foreign central banks follow the easy money policy — global increase in money risks commodity booms and busts;
• (respond) increase aggregate demand; but micro analysis shows not.
• Fed is imposing an interest-rate ceiling on the long-term market by saying it will keep the short rate unusually low —  reduce the supply of credit, reduce aggregate demand and increase unemployment;

The web-deprived study on McDonald’s

• McDonald’s, Starbucks, free access to wi-fi, for students who cannot access internet connection at home to do assignment;
• “21-century skills”. but school close at 5, public library close at 6.
• high speed internet and advanced wireless network aren’t subject to rules such as the ones that required carriers to make traditional telephone service available to everyone;
• “No one disagrees with the concept of 100% connectivity, the rub is how do you get there in a way that doesn’t distort the market.”

Adviser Optimism Raises Cautionary Signal

• Investors Intelligence Advisory Sentiment Index: determine market risks by measuring the level of optimism or pessimism;
• Currently, the index is showing a strong level of optimism among advisers.
• has to be cautious — too many people are ignoring the short-term risks inherent in stocks.

How the digital age is turning the financial planning industry upside down

• the past: large firm their own proprietary solutions; independent firms and advisers struggles; 
• changes: increase in bandwidth; the emergence of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), software packages able to “talk” to one another;
• impact: no longer good to build their own proprietary software; advisers now have more flexibility to change which firms they affiliate with; 
  
• the rise of the “middleware” programmers and integrators specialized in the software that is built for advisory firms. like designing “Apps”;

Home Prices Help Advance Economy’s Slow Recovery

• rose 5.5% from November a year ago;
• Case-Shiller report track 20 metropolitan cities, only NYC shows decline; Phoenix 22.8%, San Francisco 12.7%;
• in 2013, rising taxes and dysfunction in Washington make less optimistic;
• Home ownership rate 65.4% from 65.5% last year; but 69.2% in 2005.

CNN makes flurry of changes

• Managing director Mark Whitaker stepping down, replaced by Jeff Zucker;
• past: focus on hard news, while other rivals more opinionated;
• now pull back international reporting and focus more on stories of people talk about on any given day;
• (Zucker) “News is more than just about politics and war.”

She is elegantly shaped

like a beautiful castle

firm, defensive, and sophisticated inside

or perhaps not.

And she is sharp, straightforward

in a way of suddenly getting hurt

at the very first moment but soon

recovered if you are strong enough

or just swallow the truth.

And she is dangerous

being nothing by default

nor can be trained easily

therefore I am always and still wondering

if this machine is that fast to process the inputs

or just simply filter them out

in, I would rather say, sometimes

a smart way.

The Economic Observer Issue 605 28-01-2013

• Caterpillar write down Zhengzhou Siwei due to accounting fraud; two former shareholders of Siwei bought the company cheap and sold to Caterpillar high; “Americans cheating American”;
• Chinese urbanization: “establishing cities by rescinding townships”; “removing mountains to build cities”; but local government still put much pace and relied on land sale for revenues; must carry out a deep reform of the existing land management system;

张丹红：欧洲人事竞争德国为何屡败

• 德国人原则至上：前联邦银行行长韦伯坚决反对购买希腊国债，辞职拒接欧洲央行行长；央行首席经济师斯塔克抗议央行越来越依赖于政治而辞职；
• 法国的掣肘：竞争更露骨、执着和具外交手腕（拉加德接替卡恩IMF职位）；
• 成功进入欧洲决策层的德国人努力忘却本国利益（不愿在外界引起民族主义重新抬头的嫌疑）；
• 将本国利益交由同属北欧阵营的荷兰、芬兰去维护。

Treasury Gets A Citibanker

• nominated treasury secretary Jack Lew, took CAI job in 2008;
• “The greatest irony is that given Mr. Lew’s crisis-era resumé, he bears a remarkable resemblance to the bankers who President Obama says created the financial crisis and deserve federal investigation.”

B&N Aims to Whittle Its Stores For Years

• now 689 stores wit 674 college stores; in ten year will have 450 to 500 stores;
• Random House (the world’s largest publisher) ‘s ebook sales count for 22% from almost nothing five years ago;
• bookstores serve for different purposes from other retail outlets, people could not sit and chat in bedbath&beyond;

How trust deficit is hurting the economy

• trust breaks down, economy is damaged; 
• (Gallup) 25% trust in newspaper, 21% in television, only 13% to congress;
• food industry spending 30% more time meeting with regulators today than they did few years ago;

Noonan: Lessons Conservatives Need to Learn

• Mr. Mickelson is not alone in thinking paying more than half salary in city, state, county and federal taxes is unjust;
• (Obama) “He has no talent for or interest in sustained, good-faith negotiations, he has no real sense of alarm about the great issue of the day, America’s debt. He’s a chill presence in a warm-blooded profession.”
• changing the economic balance between rich and poor — redistribution;
• Compare to Franklin Roosevelt, Obama has the same seriousness of intent but nothing like the base of support: (FDR) 58% to 30% in 1932, 61% to 36.5% in 1936; (Obama) 53% to 46% in 2008 and 51% to 47% in 2012.

Travis Kalanick: The Transportation Trustbuster

• Co-founder of Uber, a limo service company (search map in app and call limo nearby, charge more), putting premium on customer satisfaction;
• facing “cease and desist” from transportation agency, not “beg for forgiveness” approach (they are legal);
• “there’s been so much corruption and so much cronyism in the taxi industry and so much regulatory capture that if you ask for permission upfront for something that’s already legal, you’ll never get it. There’s no upside to them.”
• have supporters sent 50,000 emails and 37,000 tweets;
• Uber Amendments: set floor on the company’s rates — anticapitalist taxi protectionism (put it into populist terms);
• “My politics are: I’m a trustbuster. Very focused. And yeah, I’m pro-efficiency. I want the most economic activity at the lowest price possible. It’s good for everybody, it’s not red or blue.“

世行：城市化须依赖财产税及长期信贷

• 发展中国家快速人口迁移，基础设施建设融资成为问题；
• 缺少国内信贷市场，市政债券缺乏透明度；
• 应协调公共和私人融资缓解财政负担；土地销售和财产税均可发挥杠杆效应；

德意志银行：2013年中国GDP将持续上升

• 大中华区首席经济学家，马骏；推动经济恢复的三个理由；
• 社会融资总额比例的增长；利润的恢复（消化产能过剩的过程基本结束）；出口的复苏（2013下半年预计同比增长12%；美国上半年解决债务上限问题，欧洲二季度会进入环比正增长）；

陈龙：谁来为银行系统再注资？

• 银行股盈利能力强但估值低 — 市场预期银行有大量不良贷款尚未暴露；
• “4万亿”过程中的不良贷款从哪来的？
• GDP考核机制下，各地投资冲动一直非常强烈，但受限于资金、土地和审批；“4万亿”后，闸门全部打开，多年难遇的“机会窗口”，“大干快上”，“弯道超车”；
• 三个明显的受益者：中央政府（经济恢复，国际声誉）；地方政府（财税受益，政绩）；银行（竞争重视的也是规模，也有官员晋升的因素）；
• 但银行的扩张动机受三方面限制：倒闭风险（政府的隐性担保）；存款不足导致放贷资源不够（作用也不大，央行被动超发，大银行网点优势）；政策限制（为反通胀，政府也采用各种手段遏制扩张冲动）；

Donald Boudreaux and Mark Perry: The Myth of A Stagnant Middle Class

• All the gains of the growth have gone to the very top — wrong!
• average hourly real wage remained unchanged from at least 1964;
• Problem 1: CPI overestimate inflation and underestimate the quality of product and service — healthcare;
• Problem 2: fringe benefits, such as health, pension, leave and rest, amount to 31% of total compensation;
• Problem 3: average wages held down by women and less-skilled workers;
• some other measures of middle-class living standards: life expectancy (5 years more); falling spending on “basics” (food, automobile, clothing); ability to consume (routine air travel, electronic products), close to that of the rich;

Chris Bray: What a ‘Militia’ Meant in Revolutionary America

• “Today, we are presented with a false choice in which either the government bans assault weapons or an unfettered individual right makes it possible for a monster to spray bullets into schoolhouses. The forgotten middle ways of our nation’s earlier days, that world of mutuality, excluded more people than it included, and its shortcomings are well known. But it also had real strengths, and the benefits of a strong civil society are lost to us when we expect government to address and solve our every problem.”

Highlights from the EO print Edition.604, Jan 21, 2013

• housing price greater concern than inflation in 2013;
• Change overseas investment model, net loss of $26.8 million in 2011;
• PE & VC investing in pollution-related companies: atmospheric monitoring, fixes for pollution, produce technology that reduces emissions;
• Luxury brands shifted to 2nd and 3rd tier cities, market in first-tier is becoming full;
• Oil giants lobby to raise crude oil windfall tax threshold, because of rising costs of mining crude oil; if successful, save more than 50 billion yuan in taxes.

• 进球的是曼朱季奇和托马斯穆勒，他们分别是板凳席上的最大牌——戈麦斯和罗本的对位球员，事实上，本场拜仁队内状态最好的也是他们。队内竞争最激烈的却恰恰发生在强者之间，这或许也是海帅比较不爱换人的背后因素之一；
• 克罗斯更多更积极的回撤、拿球、组织，削弱了小猪的组织作用，马丁内斯的传控型踢法与拦截专业出身的古斯塔沃相比，进一步缩小了小猪的拿球空间；拜仁中场中路的硬度在面对力量型球队时会经受另一番考验。
• 本场阿拉巴这一侧的防守始终是一个隐患，这名小将发展下去也许就只是个翻版的马塞洛，A科尔和埃弗拉之流，不敢奢望了。

李大卫：软实力不是软的实力

• 刘小东《在和田》，百子湾美术馆，“现场绘画”方式；
• 文学电子刊《渐近线》，汉英双语《天南》，人民文学《路光》；
• 软实力与硬实力成正比的反例：江户时代日本，浮世绘视为废纸，作为出货欧洲的包装材料，却影响了一代梵高、莫奈之流；其“失去的二十年”，漫画却被全球接收；19世纪末的美国；

李锦记：专注的刺猬

• 已经默默传承了125年；
• “思利及人”；
• 产品多元化方面谨慎，不上市，由家族成员牢牢控制；
• 吉姆柯林斯《从优秀到卓越》：狐狸知道很多事，但是刺猬知道一件大事，狐狸同时追求很多目标，但刺猬只专注一点。然而，刺猬并不愚蠢；它们拥有穿透性的洞察力，能够看透复杂事物并且识别隐藏的模式。刺猬注重本质，而忽略其他。

张晋蜀：《联想：变黑莓为红莓？》

• CFO黄伟明：“我们在评估所有的机会，包括RIM和很多其他公司”；
• 智能手机的开山鼻祖，安全可靠，但忽略消费者市场；
• CFIUS不会批准；

总统宣誓完成，精选仍将继续

• Organizing for Actions：有效利用支持者为各议题游说；解释总统的政策以及民主党在一些主要议题上的态度；
• 寻找超越奥巴马个人宣传的策略；

叶翔：高通胀小概率

• 日本“流动性陷阱”：过去14年货币发行量7倍，物价却下降5% — 货币发行量是通胀的必要而非充分条件；
• 供不应求 — 需求拉动型通胀；供求大体平衡 — 成本推动型；我国目前为后者，最重要动力为劳动力价格上涨；
• 撇开上述因素，流通渠道的有限性与消费较快增长的矛盾，商品供大于求，商品销售服务却供不应求 — PPI连续十个月下跌（生产过程中采购品的物价状况），却迟迟不能传导到终端消费；

Markham Nolan: How to separate fact and fiction online

• Managing Director of Storyful.com
• “The job of the journalist [during Hurricane Sandy] was filtering. … Instead of going and finding the information and bringing it back to the reader, you were holding back the stuff that was potentially damaging.”
• Twitter, Youtube, real-time database for journalists;
• “Algorithms are rules; they’re binary. [But] truth is never binary. Truth is a value.”
• “Truth is emotional, it’s fluid, and above all, it’s human. No matter how quick we get with computers, no matter how much information we have, you’ll never be able to remove the human from the truth-seeking exercise.”

Ryan Smith: The Reality That Awaits Women in Combat

• former marine infantryman in Iraq;
• introducing women: more or less effective?
• hygiene, watch the opposite sex in awkward position, humiliating enough to relieve yourself in front of your male comrades;
• societal norm is reality and is important to the maintenance of society; unit cohesion could be harmed by violation of societal norms.

Jet Bush and Clint Bolick: Solving the Immigration Puzzle

• their book “Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution”
• fixing border security is shortsighted, intertwined with other aspect: current immigration system is fair and workable?
• not only law enforcement, but law itself: patched over since 1952;
• evolved border-security problem: Mexicans leaving (U.S. bad economy), now threat is drug cartels, human smuggling;
• “chain migration” — family preference, does not promote nation’s economic interests;
• roughly 250 applicants for one visa each year, absence of meaningful avenue of access increase pressure for illegal immigration;
• need all types workers, especially high-skilled; other countries are luring away students, workers, and entrepreneurs;
• immigration replenish American spirit.

Bjorn Lomborg: Climate-Change Misdirection

• book “The Skeptical Environmentalist”
• scary examples in Obama’s inaugural address is wrong: droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, have been declining, despite global warming;
• exaggerating the threat concentrates the resources in wrong areas.
• hurricane: better building codes, ending subsidiaries for hurricane insurance to discourage building in vulnerable areas;
• high cost of climate policies, $250 billion annually, but reduce temperature only by immeasurable one-tenth Fahrenheit by the end of this century;
• existing green energy is inefficient, should stop subsidizing it and pour money to discover more efficient, future solar panels;

Nicholas Eberstadt: Yes, Mr. President, We Are a Nation of Takers

• author of “A Nation of Takers: America’s Entitlement Epidemic”.
• government transfer increase twice as personal income; welfare spending account for nearly two-thirds of federal spending; this leap is not due to the aging of population;
• moral hazard embedded in the explosion of social-welfare program: become transfer programs, not insurance program (meant to pay for themselves);
• dramatically increase in reliance of Social Security’s disability programs: “musculoskeletal problems” and mental disorders are among the most;

How Apple Bit Holders, Too

• Complex (always favors seller) restructured products, like “naked” put options but not obliged to be pre-approved by specialist in brokerage firm, sold to retail investors;
• 8.03% annual rate, eight times what the average short-term bonds offer at the time; no such thing with high yield and low risk;

Colin Stokes: How movies teach manhood

• Bechdal test: there are at least two women; they talk to each other; about something other than a man;
• few passes the test, out of top 100 movies in 2011, only 11 passes.
• one out of five women in U.S. has been sexually harassed.

《当年日本何以不能征服中国？》

• “乳娘心态”：甲午被日本击败后才震动朝野，民族苏醒；
• 与以往朝代北方蛮夷入侵不同，同时也受世界大格局影响（德国纳粹的失败）；
• （沟口雄三）中日“公私观”差异：（中国）“公”含“平等”的意味，较正面，反之“私”是邪恶的，负面的；（中国）“公”很远，“天理”，（日本）“公”守住具体的符号如“天皇”或“国家”；
• 日本更像欧洲的封建制度，世袭制度和刻板的职业和等级意识；而中国自秦以后废除了封建制度，平民化的社会结构，“公”“私”界限不分；
• （周作人）日本地理位置好，对君感情深厚：对国土的感情相当单纯真挚，而中国民众心理飘忽，文化也很难视为纯粹（流质易变，兼容并包）；
• 健朴的日人跳入中国这张曲折有致、随意开合的文化之网即手足无措，难以从身体和心灵上控制中国。

沈志华：《转折还是选择》

• 1956年春光大地，“百家齐放”，1957年却阴霾天空，原因在于：中国对社会主义社会及其主要任务的认识；中苏同盟关系的估计；
• 阶级斗争后，开始着手解决执政党与人民群众的关系问题：“整风运动”，克服官僚主义，宗派主义；但矛头直指高层导致开展新一轮的“反右派”运动；
• 斯大林去世后，社会主义阵营内中国大有取代苏联之势；赫鲁晓夫（改善与西方关系，集中精力解决经济发展问题）的方针被摒弃，苏联专家的意见也退居其位；
• 1957年，令人失望的选择；真正的转折在80年代才到来。

金雁：《国家机器上的“癌变”——东欧的秘密警察是怎样形成的（上）》

• 经典作家（马克思、恩格斯）的语境里，革命成功后遵循宪政民主是顺理成章的；
• 1947年冷战爆发，捷克“布拉格政变”，匈牙利“辉煌三年”的结束，波兰“民主制度的终结”；
• 坚持理想和保住权力是一对矛盾：畸形的无限膨胀的专制机器延伸到社会每个角落，靠制造恐惧来维持其正统性，并通过宣传教化使人们放弃自己经自身判断而来的信仰；
• 暴力镇压，言论钳制，不断扩张的公权力挤压个人的私生活，把自己神圣化，把外部世界妖魔化，强调服从性和组织性。

刘瑜：《像一滴水一样》

• 2012年12月去看望高华；
• 延安整风：中国式思想改造的缘起；与它国不同，毛时代不需要秘密警察，人人之间的相互监视和自我监督就已足够；
• “配方”：资源的垄断式供给＋全面改写历史前提下的信息封闭与观念灌输＋在群体中孤立个体＋强力威胁；
• “程序”：封闭的学习文件→组织群体对个体进行批评与攻击→自我羞辱式的检查与“交心”→必要时的惩罚甚至暴力惩罚→纠偏阶段受害者的感激涕零；
• 领袖的每一次胜利，都是由围观者们的冷漠、嫉妒甚至贪婪推波助澜；
• （《一九八四》）历史是不断被改写的；思想改造的成功恰恰依赖于对党史的“重塑”；
• “据说高华的很多文字，是在深夜的厨房里，就着昏暗灯光写出来的。我想象那个画面，觉得异常动人，仿佛看见一个地质学家在翻山越岭，搜寻过去留下的遗迹，试图告诉我们这里曾经有一个湖泊，那里曾经有一个冰川。《一九八四》里，男主角温斯顿发现一个和自己一样怀疑伪造历史的“同类”时无比惊喜，他举杯对那个人说：“为了过去”。不知道高华老师是否读过这本书，如果读过，读到这里他也许会心有戚戚。是的，不是为了“美好的未来”，不是为了“欣欣向荣的今天”，他的努力仅仅是“为了过去”，为了一就是一、而不是零或者二、不多不少正好是一的过去。”

 

The great innovation debate: innovation is slowing and governments need to help it along

• biggest impediments is government: officialdom tends to write far more rules than are necessary for public good; the West’s intellectual-property system is a mess because it grants too many patents of dubious merit.
• productivity is most stagnant in public sector: unions;

Jack be nimble: Jack Lew, a successor to Timothy Geithner

• Geithner, a central banker and a crisis manager; Jack, spent most of his career with budget issues, a budget technocrat;
• main task: currency relations with China, and collecting taxes;
• Jack is not an outsider, like from Wall St, to repair relations with business and with Republicans, but an insider and is more liberal (less warm relations with Congress);

Obama picks his soldiers: Chuck Hagel as defense secretary, John Brennan as director of the CIA

• Obama is looking for: experience, caution, and view that the world is messy and opportunities for wielding unilateral American power is limited;
• Mr Hagel, few friends in his own party, most “antagonistic” towards the state of Israel in history;
• long-standing preference for engaging with Iran, seen as tantamount to appeasement;
• slim down a “bloated” Pentagon offends those who think the defense budget should be sacrosanct;
• disliked by Republicans, a stern critic of the Iraq war;

The fraying knot: declining marriage rates and “marriage promotion”

• falling marriage rates , with them come rising out-of-wedlock birth rates;
• poverty is a cause, not a result of low marriage rates;
• government should help create more jobs, and to ensure access to family-planning services to keep unwed birth rates down; rather then to promote marriage as a route to economic success;

Slamming on the brakes: politics of traffic lights

• official response was prompt and surprisingly conciliatory; rare for Chinese officials especially the police to yield to public opinion;

Long overdue: ending “laojiao” system

• important questions remain about what might replace it;
• but others see encouraging signs in the decision;

Battling the censors: protests calling for press freedom

• Southern Weekend’s supporters has been unusually bold; some party leaders may worry that even a modicum of political liberalization could open the floodgates to demands for far-reaching change;
• public response: even as activists delivered their daring speeches, backed up by massive online support, most white-collar workers from nearby office buildings walked past paying little attention;

From guard shack to global giant: Lenovo become the world’s biggest computer company

• “protect” two huge profit centres — corporate PC sales and China market;
• vast distribution network in China, offers lessons for other emerging markets; put a PC shop within 50km of nearly every consumer, cultivate close relationships with its distributors;
• “attack” new markets: in India, one-way exclusivity for retail distributors; acquisitions in Germany, Japan, Brazil; buy back smartphone arm;
• tiny problem: the “attack” part is largely unprofitable;
• different from other Chinese firms: little or no official interference; English the official language; foreigners look like they belong;
• some way to go: reliance on one market, China; crumbling PC mountain but Mr Yang shows an unfashionable faith in PCs (85% of Lenovo’s revenues), “PC+” approach;

France v Google: Free, a French ISP, set ad blocks by default

• whether to pay the ISP directly for the connection to its subscribers;
• (for French finance ministry) how to force Google to pay more taxes;

Home truths:

•  

Stalled: Brazilian economy is on the verge of vigorous growth

• disappointing numbers: 0.2% instead of 0.4% second term growth, 0.6% instead of 1.2% expansion due to tax cut.
• payroll taxes cut in electricity tariffs does not work well: government’s high-handed approach and hostile attitude towards the private sector.
• financial services, hit by higher defaults, fewer loans, tighter profit margins.
• good news: household consumption still growing.

Life and death struggle: Chinese anti-corruption campaigns again

• keep strict controls on microblogs in cases of those “smear” on the country, while often yield to public taste for blood in cases of local corruptions.

Free exchange: model effect of climate change on economic activity

• restrictions on movement increase welfare costs. beneficial to northern section of the globe due to increase in agricultural growth and trades.
• Prof Kahn (UCLA): productivity of rich places often has little to do with unique geographical advantages.
• carbon taxes raise the relative income of innovative cities that rely more on ideas.
• worries about market failures: areas that lose values may become magnets for poor families, may set the stage for humanitarian disaster.

Survival of the biggest: digital giants become too powerful for consumers’ good

• winner-take-almost-all;
• get consumers hooked on their own platforms;
• habit of gobbling up promising firms before they become a threat.

Not what it used to be: declining value of American universities

• in 1962 one cent of every dollar spent went on higher education and now the figure has tripled, but additional value has not been created to match this extra spending;
• graduates earned no more in 2007 than they did in 1979;
• young graduates facing decline in earnings and a lot more debt.

The Obama doctrine: to avoid costly entanglement in his second term

• “come home and rebuild America”: fix failing schools, potholed roads, snail-like internet networks, or a broken immigrant system;
• present but not deeply involved;
• compared with the 1990s America looks far lonelier: EU cannot offer significant help, Russia intensely suspicious, and China is a distilled essence of self-interest.

The dust settles: hints of reform from China’s new leaders

• from “demographic dividend” to “reform dividend” to boost development;
• state-owned monopolies, the biggest one? Li did not say whether he agreed but did speak the need for reform of household-registration system and land management;
• talked for years, but progress has been sluggish. how many will support him?
• far less swiftly in foreign affairs, not sure who will replace Dai Bingguo.

Alone at the top: Putin initiated high-profile battles against corruption

• anti-corruption purge would make Putin weaker, not stronger;
• after held in power in a decade, the “typical syndrome of an ageing general secretary;”
• now less faith in counsel and more certainty in his own judgment, “think he understands the situation, but in fact it can be quite incomprehensible for him.”

Getting a grip: Gary Gorton’s new book on financial crisis

• systemic financial crises are the result of a broad loss of confidence in bank debt;
• should apply Livingston doctrine to Lehman Brothers in 2008, where the subsequent panics were so devastating;
• it might be true that the Dodd-Frank act does not deal adequately with the liquidity cause of crises, but his alternatives seem impractical.

Day one

• 乔伊斯的短篇小说集《都柏林人》以童年视角开端，就像将要讲述一个人一生的电影，在懵懂纯真的视角中拉开帘幕。The sisters或许应该改名为神父之死，神父詹姆斯福林因瘫痪而告别人世，但原因竟是由于打破了圣杯所以才抑郁而终。笔下的主人公“我”在惶恐和困惑中直面或许是人生中第一次发生在身边的死亡，有太多想不明白的问题，也有太多灰暗本不属于童年。
• 白先勇的《台北人》拉出上海名媛尹雪艳打头阵，大师果然出手不凡，精细而不失犀利的笔触下，聪明伶俐左右逢源的沙龙女主人活脱脱跃然纸上。虽然写的是一个人，但着眼更多的是那一个时代，一段风华，一段过往。新旧时局交界处，有些人更欢喜而有些人更哀愁，但他们都在那一片烟雾缭绕的大观园里熙熙攘攘。人事皆水流花落，但“永远的尹雪艳”不得不令人称赞称奇。

Day two

• 乔伊斯继续沿用童年视角+主题直至结尾才姗姗来迟的手法讲述他眼中旧社会的僵固黑暗与压抑，只不过这一次，“我”和主角有了更为直接和具体的交锋。本文中译名为《偶遇》，这事实上不过是另一种“偶然与必然”的反讽——主人公逃离了原本的噩梦，来到了一个亲切和蔼而自由的新世界，但最后发现这不过是天方夜谭，而以往憎恶的狰狞嘴脸却依然伴其左右。而与“我”同行的另一个小伙伴形成了与自身的强烈对比，说不定他就是“另一个我”呢。这个小故事采用典型的“出走（逃离）—寻找（自我发现）—幻灭”叙事方法，象征意味浓厚。
• 《一把青》读完，就像结尾处端上来的麻婆豆腐一样辛辣十足，却又如师娘那般让人哑口无声。辛辣的地方在于上下二篇发生在朱青身上的强烈对比，从衣着，言语，处事，以及对爱情和亡夫的态度，而这一切又恰恰让我们这些旁观者不知说何是好。师娘的角色就如同乔伊斯笔下的小男孩“我”，扮演着一个冷眼旁观但又不失温情的叙事者角色，和主角一样从头到尾亲历了所有时局的变迁和动荡，仿佛在讲述着作者的思考与困惑——是否会有更好的可能，但更多则是一种随遇而安的妥协与默默接受罢了。

Day three

• 小男孩再度踏上旅途，只不过动机换成了懵懂的爱情，因此文章的色调也清新温暖了许多。读到结尾处，心里会一直期待会有什么惊喜发生，但昏暗破旧毫无生气的Araby集市最终不但彻底打消了男孩的憧憬，还让其心生一丝对自己的厌恶。实际上，与上一篇结尾的“峰回路转”相比，《阿拉比》的特别之处在于这一结局来得是如此平缓而又自然，从出发前的不顺，路上的耽搁，直到最后在摊主面前的退缩，反射的正是小男孩曾经美满的梦想被现实一点一点被蚕食的过程。本文少对话，大量的客观描摹正是作者该用意的外在表现。
• 岁除夜，诉衷肠，醉酒而终。区别于《台北人》中已经出场的前几位女性角色，赖鸣升已然被新时代所抛弃，但却依然活在过去“荣耀与辉煌”的记忆里。这段过去，既是沙场上的折戟沉沙，也是壮年时的酒色时光，粗野直接暴力，自然与“新社会”的文明、规则与节制格格不入（这让人很容易想起《亮剑》中的李云龙）。时间的残酷不是使容颜苍老，而是它会挖空我们的内心而让灵魂无处安放。

Day four

• 窗边女孩伊芙琳，芳龄十九，正值花季，但却在爱尔兰全社会瘫痪的大背景下，过着平淡，沉闷，简单，而毫无生气的日子。结尾并不意外，也在情理之中。虽然全篇只围绕伊芙琳一个人，但读罢脑海中浮现的只是她的一幅侧影（第三人称视角的因素），甚至还微微地向里转去背对着我们。一方面这是由于伊芙琳本身脆弱，封闭，另一方面也是由于作者偏重刻画内心的现代主义表现手法，将外在景物，生活片段，和过去的记忆不显山不露水地穿插在人物的心理活动中。
• 至此，金大班应是白先勇笔下最丰满的人物了，或许这其中还蕴含着作者对其现状淡淡的祝福（而非批判）也说不定。因为与前几位主角在现实和新时代中步入“沉沦”相比，金大班的“金盆洗手”终究有种上岸的意味，是人生的崭新一页，也是真性情的回归（这与结尾处的最后慢舞相吻合）。其实文章并不在于强调金大班个人命运，而是从她世故和看破的视角中讲述了后辈其实也不过是自己的轮回而已，真的没有什么改变。

Day five

• 文章名叫做《赛车之后》，据说是讲述了主人公跟他一帮富贵公子哥儿之间的事情，闹哄哄的，也不知道到底要说啥。
• 有几点特别之处，一是触角终于伸向了更底层的民众，二是孩子形象的出现，三是直刺心肠的情节处理，没有太多温暖和美感可言（大个子王雄的情感世界好像有些畸形，圆头圆脑的丽儿娇惯蛮横，思维简单，舅母事实上也活在丧夫后毫无安全感的生活中，没有太多依靠和寄托）。金门海滩上老兵童真的笑脸让人印象深刻，是个无心的神来之笔，它似乎指向的是某种遥远但又纯净的东西——大宅院落中的老中少身上都缺少它。本文中既没有如赖鸣升那样好歹曾经风云的男性，也没有如尹雪艳金大班一般的女中豪强，大多数人或许就是如此吧，不是人人都是有那么多故事可以说的主角。

Day six

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• 延续着上一篇的场景设置——讲述的是另一户宅子里的悲与凉。不过从破屋和新水泥房的比例来看，更多的台北人还是活在“煲鸡汤”与麻将牌的热闹场面里。

Day seven

 

1. If you see something, say something

• Jefferey Immelt (former CEO of GE): “What we lack in the U.S. today is the confidence that is generated by solving on big, hard problem — together.”
• China, getting 90 percent of the potential benefits from its political system; Americans are getting only 50 percent.
• Narthan Gardels (editor of NPQ): like China U.S. should also tighten up in order to self correct. “Democracy is a consumer society driven by the ethos of immediate gratification is not self-correcting either without a dose of the kind of long-term meritocratic institutions that have served China so well.”

2. Ignoring our problems

• Kennan’s telegram: American people knew they had to be vigilant, creative and united, in order to avoid losing the competition with their great rival.
• Charles Vest (former president of MIT): “The United States cannot prosper based on low wages, geographic isolation, or military might. We can prosper only based on brainpower: properly prepared and properly applied brainpower.
• “no Hitler or Pearl Harbor to shock the nation into action, … no Berlin wall to symbolize the threat to America and the world, no Sputnik circling the Earth proclaiming with every cricket-like chirp of its orbiting signal that we are falling behind in a crucial arena of geopolitical competition.”

3. Ignoring our history

• “You win in the turns.”
• five pillars: public education, modernizing infrastructure, immigration, research and development, necessary regulation.
• David Kennedy (Stanford historian): “(regulations) were not about creating more state control and less private ownership. They were about creating the right synergy between the two.” (such as bankruptcy law) set the stage for more risk-taking, thus more incentive to innovate.
• big government?? – Suzanne Mettler (Cornell prof. of government) “the threat to democracy today is not the size of government but rather the hidden form that so much of its growth has taken” – people benefit from it but didn’t feel.
• Jefferey Immelt: “we worship false idols in terms of the power of the free market. The U.S. government has been the catalyst for change for generations.”

Unfortunately, the political debate in America has strayed absurdly from the virtues of our public-private formula. Liberals blame all of America’s problems on Wall Street and big business while advocating a more equal distribution of an ever shrinking economic pie. Conservatives assert that the key to our economic future is simple: close our eyes, click our heels three times, and say “tax cuts,” and the pie will miraculously grow.

4. Up in the air

• Apple – what has vexed Obama is that Apple and many of its high-tech peers are not nearly avid in creating American jobs – “It isn’t just that workers are cheaper abroad.”
• Americans work hard, but there are also structural advantages; merger of globalization and IT revolution makes us either better off or worse off?
• Flat world 1.0 & 2.0, not outsourcing anymore, just source everywhere.
• after recession it takes longer for the jobs to come back to prerecession levels – the nature of work changed radically from one recession to the next.
• “creative creators” “routine creators” “creative servers” “routine servers”

5. Help wanted

• America needs to keep high-skilled manufacturing at home.
• innovation is continuous nowadays not only take place in big-thinking R&D.
• “crowdsourcing” and distribute innovation instead of outsourcing to save money.
• hyper-connected world: innovation takes place from bottom-up instead of top-down.

6. Homework * 2 = the American dream

• The quality of education cannot exceed the quality of its teachers.
• Williams rewarded high-school teachers of its students.
• score difference is associated with parental involvement in the form of reading with their child, talking about what they have done during the day, instead of playing withe their children.

7. Average is over

For decades there has been a struggle between American economy’s desire to increase productivity and the desire to maintain blue-collar and white-collar jobs. We watched as more and more machines, better and better software, and cheaper and cheaper foreign workers replaced American manual laborers and service workers. As noted earlier, we compensated for this loss of blue-collar and white-collar jobs by inflating our housing and retail markets and by expanding local and state governments. But we cannot do that anymore. The only way we can compensate for all those jobs is by inventing new ones or taking old ones and teaching people to do them in new ways that add more value. But that requires more start-ups and better education and more investment in research and development to push out boundaries of science and technology. Today, the Chinese can generate growth just by educating their people enough to do their jobs now done in rich countries. For us to grow, we have to educate people to do jobs that don’t yet exist, which means we have to invent them and train people to do them and at the same time. That is harder, and it is why everyone needs to aspire to be a creative creator or creative server.

8. “This is our due”

• Reagan: first term deficits balllooned, but took back ore than 40 percent during the second term; Bush: put presidency in jeopardy to keep the deficit under control; Clinton: make deficit reduction one of his top priorities, eventually generate budget surplus in the end.
• Bush: tax cuts; easily to finance growing budget deficits by borrowing from other countries.

What Milton Friedman had failed to anticipate was that there would never be a global free market in currencies – that countries like Japan and China would manipulate their currencies to support their export growth models, and their export growth models turned out to support our consumption growth model.

• when funding slows or stops, three unhappy options: raise interest rates triggering economic downturn; printing money triggering inflation; spending cuts and tax increases.