Deng says, “You take the pepper, wrap it in a delicious piece of fish, and, before he knows it, the cat has bitten the pepper.” Mao says, “No, that’s trickery. We want the cat to know he’s biting the pepper.” Zhou and Deng say, “We give up. How do you make a cat bite a hot pepper?” “It’s easy,” Mao says. “Stick the pepper up the cat’s ass. He’ll be glad to bite it.” †††† Replaced in 1998 with the lavish Chek Lap Kok Airport, which is located way out at the end of Lantau Island. This deprives travelers of the experience of arriving in the middle of downtown. It also relieves travelers of the experience of what was known as “The X-Lax Landing.” ‡‡‡‡ Caused by the usual sort of thing—a credit bubble in over-heated “developing” economies. Interesting because of how quick and severe the crisis was. (Indonesia’s GDP declined by 83.4 percent between July 1997 and July 1998.) But even more interesting because of how quick and effective the recovery was. Some praise is due to the IMF, which proffered advice not often heard from economists: “Let failing businesses fail.” §§§§ It should be noted that Martin Lee was—and is—one of the most respected lawyers in Hong Kong. Last year, when Mr. Lee was eighty-two, the Chinese Communists arrested him. He has since been convicted of “illegal assembly” and faces up to five years in jail. ¶¶¶¶ Dick Gephardt, boring former House Majority Leader ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and would do so again, with even less success and greater tediousness, in 2004.
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online