China’s fear is something to fear

[Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a hypersonic glider of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - China’s taking this [zero-Covid thing a little too far](. - Maybe [Meta wants to be bland](. - Money managers [aren’t kidding about ESG](. - Americans [can’t stop buying pools and washers](. Fear Factor: China Edition In the right amounts, fear is healthy. It helps us avoid bad things like car crashes, dog bites and awkward conversations. But too much fear is unhealthy. It leads to bad things like tragic misunderstandings, missed opportunities and paralysis. I am petrified of doing real work, for example, so I keep writing a newsletter. China’s fear of Covid-19 has helped it keep the disease mostly in check. That seems pretty healthy. But its measures have also been unusually harsh, and [they’re still happening almost two years into the pandemic](, notes Nancy Qian. Whole cities are still going in and out of lockdown like it’s Spring 2020. This isn’t good for an already shaky economy. But Beijing’s political clout depends partly on keeping a Covid clean sheet. The country also lacks the health infrastructure to handle any surge in new cases a fuller reopening might bring. Covid anxiety is also cutting China off from a world souring on it after years of growing tension. Draconian travel restrictions make it [harder for the Chinese diaspora to visit home](, writes Shuli Ren. This means millions of potential goodwill ambassadors won’t be able to share information between China and the rest of the world. That’s how misunderstandings grow.  If “Romeo and Juliet” taught us anything, it’s that misunderstandings can be deadly — apocalyptically so in China’s case. The country freaked everybody out when it tested hypersonic nuke-carrying gliders that can evade American defenses. But [this escalation was also borne of fear](, writes Andreas Kluth: In the inverted logic of nuclear weapons, defenses are really kind of offensive, so China’s offensive weapons are just a form of defense. It’s like how there’s [no fighting]( in the War Room. In any event, now we have a new nuclear arms race to add to our many worries.  China’s opening to the global economy was one of the most significant events of the past 40 years. Any step it takes toward closing is just as monumental. Saucy. Whatsa Meta You? Twenty-four hours after that other significant global event, Facebook changing its name to Meta, the [memes]( and [jokes]( are still staggering from the wreckage. Much of the mockery has focused on the generic blandness of “Meta,” but Ben Schott suggests [the pablum is a feature, not a bug](. Like a sea creature hiding from a predator, disguising yourself as an amorphous blob could be a useful defense mechanism for making people forget how you’ve poisoned political discourse and public health. A big question for Faceb — er, Meta — is whether its vigorous embrace of the metaverse will truly pay off. Even if Mark Zuckerberg’s “Ready Player One” nightmare becomes a reality, Tae Kim writes it’s not entirely clear [consumers will want it to be dominated]( by a company with a track record like Facebook’s, no matter what its name is. Bonus Big-Tech-in-Trouble Reading: Amazon and Apple face [slowing growth and supply-chain problems](, but at least their stock prices are super-expensive. — Tae Kim ESG Is No Joke Given how fast banks keep [shoveling]( money into fossil-fuel companies, it’s easy to dismiss any investor’s claim to care about ESG as so much greenwashing. But a new anonymous survey of money managers suggests they [actually do value making the world]( a better place, writes John Authers. In fact, many of these people now consider caring for the planet part of their job description. It’s enough to make me consider no longer running this newsletter on coal. Further Planet-Saving Reading: Our pandemic failures taught us [five lessons about fighting climate change](. — Clara Ferreira Marques Telltale Charts American consumers are still [spending gazillions of dollars on big-ticket items](, writes Brooke Sutherland. This is keeping supply chains tied up, but it also means stagflation isn’t a thing.  Further Reading The Democrats’ [latest tax plan is too convoluted](, the result of a messy process. — Bloomberg’s editorial board This sausage-making is an [example of democracy at its finest](. — Jonathan Bernstein The G-20 has [four urgent problems]( to address this weekend. — Mohamed El-Erian Companies can [take care of supply bottlenecks]( on their own, without rate hikes. — Conor Sen The authorities are on to [pump-and-dump schemes on social media](. — Michelle Leder Apollo is becoming [a bit like Berkshire Hathaway](, though more complicated. — Paul Davies [Stablecoins won’t all be stable](, but that’s how it should be. — Tyler Cowen ICYMI The FDA [cleared the Pfizer vaccine]( for kids ages 5 to 11. Meta might [release a smartwatch](. The Hamptons are [trying to climate-proof themselves](. Kickers Endangered condors are now [making babies without males](. (h/t Scott Kominers) Five hundred 3-D maps of [Mayan and Olmec ruins reveal striking similarities](. Scientists [re-create an old “primordial soup” experiment]( and find something new. Scientists understand a little more about [why dogs tilt their heads]( when listening. Notes:  Please send primordial soup and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like Bloomberg Opinion Today? [Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more](. You’ll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. 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