The Scot Wizard of East Asia

Plus, the Saudi Arabia of Data. [Altucher Confidential] July 26, 2023 [WEBSITE]( | [UNSUBSCRIBE]( If data is the new oil, China is the “Saudi Arabia of data.” [Hero_Image] The Scot Wizard of East Asia Pentagon City “BOMBSHELL” Just Dropped There are two things I believe could change your life in the coming months. - A major financial war could be set to go nuclear just a few weeks from now - A [special strategy]( my team has developed that historically could have allowed investors to take home profits 50-100 higher from these Currency Wars than what most people get trading stocks But with these Currency Wars playing out as we speak, and my live recording set to come down at any moment. You may not have long to prepare. [So click here to see an urgent rebroadcast of my announcement.]( [Chris Campbell] CHRIS CAMPBELL Dear Reader, In 1945, Hong Kong found itself at the crossroads of change, slowly awakening from the shadow of World War II. The burgeoning country bore the scars of four years of Japanese occupation, a period marked by scarcity, fear, conflict, and destruction. Then John James Cowperthwaite arrived. And everything changed. It was not so much because of what Cowperthwaite did, but what he didn’t do that made the difference. Abolish the Office of Statistics Born in Scotland in 1915, Cowperthwaite ended up spending most of his life as the financial secretary in Hong Kong for the British government. More than anyone, he influenced not only the rise of Hong Kong, but also of Singapore and China. When asked what the most important thing poor countries should do, he said: “They should abolish the office of national statistics.” He meant it. From 1961 to 1971, Cowperthwaite refused all requests for official economic data in Hong Kong. As he explained to famed economist Milton Friedman: “once the data was published there would be pressure to use them for government intervention in the economy.” That, he predicted, would end up spoiling the milk. He called his economic philosophy “positive non-interventionism.” He believed that the market would generate wealth, and public funds should be spent on housing and education, provided that spending was within the bounds of revenues collected from a low tax scheme. From the end of WWII to the mid-1970s, the government required modest deficit spending only twice. Each and every other year the government ran a surplus. Upon his arrival, the average income per resident was 30% less than the average in Britain. By 2018, it was 40% greater than Britain’s. Cowperthwaite's influence remains. The income tax rate in Hong Kong is 15%. The tax code is three pages long. Compliance is 98%. Wouldn’t that be nice. The Singapore Miracle Lee Kuan Yew came to power in Singapore in the 1960s. He adapted the Cowperthwaite playbook with only slight deviations. Singapore was like a rocket. When Deng Xiaoping and others came to rule after Mao’s death in 1976, they decided to adopt some Cowperthwaitian elements. They’d seen the rise of Hong Kong and Singapore -- and the failure of communism -- and feared getting left behind. Over dinner in 1978, Lee Kuan Yew told Deng: “We, Singapore Chinese, were the descendants of illiterate, landless peasants from Guangdong and Fujian in South China, whereas the scholars, Mandarins, and literati had stayed and left their progeny in China. There was nothing that Singapore had done which China could not do and do better.” Deng decided to “appropriate capitalism for the good of socialism,” as the National People’s Congress put it in their legislation. To test it out, the reformers chose a village on the mainland -- the village of Shenzhen -- to rezone into a “special economic zone.” That was in 1980, when the population was a mere 30,000. Today, it’s over 13 million. Shenzhen's economy grew 40% per year. While the US eked out 3%. Tiny AI Stock Targeted For Buyout Deal? [A massive buyout alert has just been issued]( on a tiny AI company that could skyrocket in the coming months, weeks, even days. And according to James Altucher, a man who has made millions of dollars on these kinds of deals… This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for you to make a fortune. He’s revealing all of the details in the video below (including a leaked memo from Google). [Click here to learn more]( You can watch it by [clicking here](. The Need For Innovation Kai-Fu Lee is an artificial intelligence expert, venture capitalist and he’s probably the reason we have Siri and Alexa. Lee ran Apple’s speech recognition back in the 90s. Then went on to work with Google and Microsoft. [James did a podcast interview with Kai-Fu Lee. Worth a listen [here]( Lee predicts China will take the lead in AI research and data will become a natural resource in the future. If data is the new oil, China will become the “Saudi Arabia of data.” Lee's prediction hinges on the fact that China isn’t hampered by concerns over privacy, has centralizing tendencies, and a monopolistic "Everything App" called WeChat. That, in turn, will offer the country the most amount of data. Not everyone, like Michael Gibson, co-founder of venture capital firm 1517, is sold on this idea. How useful will the data be if the pretense of its collection is for control? Gibson argues it defeats the point, hampering big "I" Innovation. As he writes in Paper Belt on Fire: “The only advantage China has in drawing inferences from data is in using its computers for social control. And in my book, that is no advantage.” But, Gibson says, China does have another, more interesting, advantage: "perfecting the ability to build experimental cities. With its program for special economic zones, it has prolonged the existence of a frontier.” In Search of a New Frontier There’s always a need for a new frontier. In the 20th century, filmmakers left New York for Hollywood because land was cheap, there were no labor unions, and they could dodge Thomas Edison’s incessant patent trolling. Now, however, the frontiers in the West are shrinking or non-existent. While the West languishes in stagnation… China recently announced it will build a new special economic zone three times the size of New York City. Cowperthwaite lives on in Asia. Perhaps us Westerners will learn of his name, and before it's too late. More tomorrow. Until next time, [Chris Campbell] Chris Campbell For Altucher Confidential New “WiFi Crypto” Token is Going NUTS! Only a handful of crypto investors know about this… But there’s a tiny, affordable device… That’s paid investors real crypto – every day, with zero work… Just for having a working WiFi connection! It sounds crazy, but it’s true… And [this 3:28 video]( explains everything. [Click here to view it NOW](. [Paradigm]( ☰ ⊗ [ARCHIVE]( [ABOUT]( [Contact Us]( © 2023 Paradigm Press, LLC. 808 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21202. By submitting your email address, you consent to Paradigm Press, LLC. delivering daily email issues and advertisements. To end your Altucher Confidential e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from Altucher Confidential, feel free to [click here.]( Please note: the mailbox associated with this email address is not monitored, so do not reply to this message. We welcome comments or suggestions at feedback@altucherconfidential.com. This address is for feedback only. For questions about your account or to speak with customer service, [contact us here]( or call (844)-731-0984. Although our employees may answer your general customer service questions, they are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular investment situation. 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