“One of the greatest disservices you can do a man is to lend him money that he can’t pay back.” – Jesse Holman Jones

“Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel.” – Mitch Albom

This article tries to quantify and emphasize the weight of China in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, their link with electricity generation and economic growth, and the country’s energy strategy

“This post aims at briefly analyzing the January fall of the Chinese stock markets as well as the depreciation of Renminbi and their consequences for the Chinese authorities and the country’s economic direction in general.”

“Society speaks and all men listen, mountains speak and wise men listen.” – John Muir

“The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.” – Joan Robinson

RMB internationalization is a relatively new project initiated by the head of the Chinese Central Bank Mr Zhou Xiaochuan back in 2009. The inclusion of RMB has recently been granted to be part of the IMF currency basket. The goals of this article are firstly to analyze the factors leading to the process of “currency internationalization” and secondly to evaluate where the RMB internationalization currently stands

“Moral argument tries to appeal to a capacity for impartial motivation which is supposed to be present in all of us. Unfortunately it may be deeply buried, and in some cases it may not be present at all. In any case it has to compete with powerful selfish motives, and other personal motives that may not be so selfish, in its bid for control of our behavior. The difficulty of justifying morality is not that there is only one human motive, but that there are so many.” – Thomas Nagel

“Let China sleep. For when China wakes, it will shake the world.” – Napoleon Bonaparte (unsourced)

“Arrogance is a killer, and wearing ambition on one’s sleeve can have the same effect. There is a fine line between arrogance and self-confidence. Legitimate self-confidence is a winner. The true test of self-confidence is the courage to be open—to welcome change and new ideas regardless of their source. Self-confident people aren’t afraid to have their views challenged. They relish the intellectual combat that enriches ideas.” Jack Welch

“If the Communist Party can’t take sufficient political reform in five or ten years, it could miss the chance entirely. As scholars, we always say it’s better to have reform than revolution, but in Chinese history this cycle repeats itself. Mao said we have to get rid of the cycle, but right now we’re still in it. This is very worrying.” – Lifan Zhang, 2015

“We have men of science, too few men of God. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. The world has achieved brilliance without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner.” – Omar Bradley

In 1999, Andrew Lawrence conceptualized the skyscraper index, showing a link between the completion period of the world tallest skyscrapers and the beginning of major economic crisis. We will here look at a potential case study: China

“If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.” – Sun Tzu

“The concept of a system is not a simple or unique one. There are many different kinds of systems, and different systems may be organized and operated in different ways. As individuals we all belong to some social system, we participate in an economic system, we are the product of several educational systems, and we are members of one or more family systems. In a similar fashion, the equipment of which physical systems are made may be members of many other systems, such as electrical, mechanical, sensing, actuating, energy, materials, and/or information systems. One of the challenges to the person who engineers a system is to find the many alternative ways in which the function, the operation, and/or the equipment of concern and interest may be considered, understood, and made to perform most effectively.” – Harold CHesnut

“When we see a great man desiring power instead of his real goal we soon recognize that he is sick, or more precisely that his attitude to his work is sick. He overreaches himself, the work denies itself to him, the incarnation of the spirit no longer takes place, and to avoid the threat of senselessness he snatches after empty power. This sickness casts the genius on to the same level as those hysterical figures who, being by nature without power, slave for power, in order that they may enjoy the illusion that they are inwardly powerful, and who in this striving for power cannot let a pause intervene, since a pause would bring with it the possibility of self-reflection and self-reflection would bring collapse.” – Martin Buber

“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.” – Reinhold Niebuhr

“How Asia Works” is a book written by Joe Studwell describing the economic history of Asia and highlighting the differences between the various economic policies that led to either development success or failure.

“The greatest of empires, is the empire over one’s self.” – Syrus, Maxims.

In the past few years, Australia has undoubtedly benefited from the “Chinese miracle” by exporting its metals to China, growing at an astonishing rate of double or near double digit growth. As China rebalances, Australia may find itself with massive oversupplies -and no clients.