My last update for today that we'll have
time for has to do with something bizarre
and unusual that the United States State
Department (Mike Pompeo's bailiwick)
just did. Kind of remarkable.
You know the State Department is
what in other countries is called the 
"Foreign Ministry." It deals with
the relationships (or it's supposed to) 
between the United States and the rest
of the world.
So imagine my amazement
when I read recently that the 
State Department sent a letter to
universities and colleges across the 
United States urging them, if they owned
in their stock portfolio (you know some
universities like Harvard, and Yale, and
Princeton and so forth have big portfolios
of stocks and bonds that they have
accumulated). Anyway, the State
Department suggested to all of them that
they get rid of Chinese companies
whose stock they own.
Turns out, they own quite a bit because a
balanced stock portfolio, as any stock
advisor these days will tell you, should 
include Chinese stock.
You know why?
Because it's the second most important
capitalist country in the world and 
growing three times faster than the
than the United States.
And not to be invested in China
is thought to be, as an investment 
strategy, somewhere
between stupid and evil (to stay with the
theme [from earlier in the episode]).
What's going on here?
The government is picking companies.
They're going to favor this company 
and not that one.
And if you think it stops at foreign policy,
don't be naive.
Next week they'll be sending letters 
"Don't support this company because
it's run by a Democrat.
Don't support this one because it's run by
a Southerner. Don't support-"
You get it?
It used to be the philosophy of capitalism
that the government has no point, 
no place
choosing winners and losers 
in the private sector.
It's supposed to be we, the consumer and
the producers who, in our competition,
determine who is doing a good job, who
isn't, who deserves to grow, who doesn't.
Mm-mm. None of that. We're now going
to have the government tell us what to do.
And by the way, lest any of you worry, 
this is not real anyway.
It's all for show.
Two recent studies prove it.
One study [asked] how much exodus of 
companies has happened from Hong
Kong because companies don't want to
be part of China [because] they
wanted to keep their independence.
Answer, none.
They're not leaving because they know 
the Chinese are going to support them
in Hong Kong. And the Chinese-American
chamber of commerce
in Beijing did a survey.
Nobody is leaving there either.
They understand this is Mr. Trump's
election strategy and little more.
