China’s Greatest Strength Is America’s Greatest Weakness January 20, 2020January 18, 2020 But first: Kenneth Starr? Really? The man who thought a president should be removed from office for lying about a consensual affair . . . not to win re-election or defying the will of Congress or playing into the hands of Vladimir Putin . . . not endangering the lives of allies under attack by Russia . . . but simply to spare himself and (his country) extreme embarrassment? If the bar is that low (and the Barr lower still), shouldn’t we be hiring him to make our case? With Starr with be Alan Dershowitz, who defended O.J. Simpson and — with Starr — admitted child molester Jeffrey Epstein. When you’re as guilty as those guys were, Alan Dershowitz is the man to call. And then there is Lindsey Graham. Can anyone sink lower than Lindsey Graham has? It is truly pathetic. And second: I bought PRKR at $1 two years ago, as described here, having been told that if it won its patent-infringement suits, the stock could easily jump to $10 — or fall to 20 cents if it lost. “This has all the hallmarks of failure,” I concluded — “but I couldn’t resist.” I hope you resisted, because last month, it was a dime. At which point I suggested it was a good lottery ticket and doubled down (which meant buying 10 times as many shares as I did at $1). With luck, you threw caution to the wind and — with money you could truly afford to lose — bought a few thousand shares. (When a stock’s a dime, it’s not hard to buy thousands of shares.) It closed Friday at 46 cents, so you’ve quadrupled your money. It seems that Qualcomm, one of the deep pockets PRKR has been suing, was denied its latest motion for summary judgment. Here’s the press release. With the company now valued around $38 million (fully diluted, there would be something like 83 million shares outstanding), and with many, many hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, it’s not hard to imagine a much higher price one day if the suits are won or settled. Nor is it hard to imagine a total loss. I liked the odds at $1.10. I liked the odds better at a dime. At 46 cents, I’m not buying more — I already have a ton. If you bought at a dime, maybe sell enough to recoup your bet and let the rest ride? And now: David Leonhardt assesses “What Americans Don’t Understand About China’s Power.” . . . Instead of building a coalition to manage its rise — including the Asian nations in China’s shadow — Trump is alienating allies. Instead of celebrating democracy as an alternative to Chinese authoritarianism, he is denigrating the rule of law at home and cozying up to dictators abroad. Trump, as Keyu Jin, a Chinese economist at the London School of Economics, says, is “a strategic gift” for China. . . . There’s much more to the article than that — well worth reading in full. If only Trump hadn’t pulled out of the TransPacific Partnership. A colossal unforced error.