A Lifting Fog
Tippets by Taps #159: Jack Ma, eCNY, COVID personality changes and more. Enjoy!
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It has been seven weeks since the last issue of Tippets. In the almost three and a half year history of this newsletter a gap this long between issues is atypical (ironically the last one was at the end of last year…) An unplanned pause, this break in the action was due to a gross miscalculation on my part. I failed to fully internalize how challenging (read: devastating) going from one child to two would really be in the first few months (the situation certainly not helped in the least by a global pandemic!) when it came to routines, energy, and general mental bandwidth.
What I assumed would be a short-lived haze of sleep deprivation and adjustment — after all, we’ve done this before, we’re old pros right? — turned into a fog that lasted so long I felt like a Northuldran trapped in the Enchanted Forest, unsure if I’d ever see the sun. Yes, that is a Frozen 2 reference, and yes, I know all the words to Lost in the Woods. Thank my Frozen-obsessed 2.5-year-old.
Lucky for me time passes, the body adapts, babies settle into a routine as they grow, and a new normal can be reached. As the weight of COVID also begins to ease, days get longer, and temperatures start to rise, I am excited to get back to ‘normal’. I look forward to your feedback as I continue to experiment with form, content, and frequency here.
Other Tippets from Around the Web
The vanishing billionaire: how Jack Ma fell foul of Xi Jinping
In November I wrote about the Ant that Poked the Dragon. Jack Ma poking the Chinese government resulting in a halting of what was going to be the largest IPO of all time. I wrote:
…while we might never know the full story, one thing is for certain: there is more to the tale of the Ant and the Dragon than meets the eye.
Since then the drama continues to unfold, each subsequent scene keeping me so far on the edge of my seat I’m about to fall over. Alibaba has been fined $2.8bn for violating anti-monopoly laws. Ant Group has agreed to undergo a massive overhaul, agreeing to transform into a financial holding company and subject to the same scrutiny as traditional banks. Jack Ma has been seen publicly only once. Oh, and did I mention that Ant (under influence of the Chinese government) is looking for ways Jack can divest his stake in the company and cede control?
Officials from the central bank, People’s Bank of China (PBOC), and financial regulator China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) held talks between January and March with Ma and Ant separately, where the possibility of the tycoon’s exit from the company was discussed…The company hoped Ma's stake, which is worth billions of dollars, could be sold to existing investors in Ant or its e-commerce affiliate Alibaba Group Holding Ltd without involving any external entity, one of the sources with company ties said…But the second source also with company connections said that during discussions with regulators, Ma was told that he would not be allowed to sell his stake to any entity or individual close to him, and would instead have to exit completely. Another option would be to transfer his stake to a Chinese investor affiliated with the state, the source said.
His cult-like following helped him build unrivalled influence for a businessman in China, but he became too powerful in a country that only allows a single centre of power. Now supreme leader Xi is threatening to crush him, in a contest that captures the contradiction at the heart of modern China — the Communist party’s wary embrace of the capitalists who power the country’s economic growth.
The tightening grip of China’s Communist Party and the rise and current downfall of the country’s most flamboyant billionaire founder is well documented in this Financial Times article. Worth a read, for the implications are broad, the consequences far-reaching.
China Creates its Own Digital Currency, a First for Major Economy
Speaking of far-reaching consequences, the Chinese government's announcement of a digital yuan is certain to have lasting ramifications.
China’s version of a digital currency is controlled by its central bank, which will issue the new electronic money. It is expected to give China’s government vast new tools to monitor both its economy and its people. By design, the digital yuan will negate one of bitcoin’s major draws: anonymity for the user.
It’s a move that further centralizes the CCP’s power (the government can directly see what money is being spent where by whom). But more interesting than keeping tabs on citizens, “Beijing is also positioning the digital yuan for international use and designing it to be untethered to the global financial system, where the U.S. dollar has been king since World War II.”
The US Dollar has long been the world’s favored reserve currency, with over 90% of global trade settled in dollars. This provides America with global leverage including the ability to levy sanctions against other countries or individuals (if you can’t utilize the USD, you’re kind of stuck). China’s history of currency manipulation and how hard it is to exchange RMB for other currencies make it unattractive as a global reserve currency. However, the second-largest economy in the world backing a digital currency that is not tied to and settled by the global financial system like US dollars could prove attractive to some, particularly those looking to avoid sanctions, trying to cozy up to China, or authoritarian governments who’d also like to keep a closer eye on the ongoings of their citizens. Will it break the “US dollar hegemony” overnight? No. Is it sure to work? Absolutely not. Is it worth keeping an eye on? Most definitely.
How Covid Can Change Your Personality
This op-ed by David Brooks resonated with me. During COVID a major focus has the big things that we are unable to do. Socialize. Work from an office. Travel. Brooks’ piece articulates the smaller side effects of these restrictions — the “accumulation of absences” — and their impact on our day to day life. I’ve pulled in the parts that struck me the most below, but I encourage you to read the piece in its entirety.
I’d say the most underappreciated effect has been the accumulation of absences — the joys we missed rather than the blows we received…We say we feel a sense of purpose and mission when we are serving a cause larger than ourselves. But I’ve learned this year how much having a feeling of purpose depends on the small acts of hospitality we give and receive each day, sometimes with people we don’t know all that well…It’s hosting a dinner party and noticing that somebody’s glass is nearly empty. It’s having a stranger on a plane confide something in you and you being a momentary presence in her life. I used to have my meetings at the same coffee shop in D.C. and all around me I’d overhear conversations between friends offering each other counsel and care…Those little acts, giving fruit to each other, turn out to be tremendously fortifying. Feeling like you have a sense of purpose, it turns out, is not just about the big commitments, but also the small gift exchanges you have with your middle-ring friends.
behind the scenes of a 5000 word draft
I’ve recently come across Anne Helen Petersen’s work. She is athree time author and former Buzzfeed culture writer. Now the author of the Culture Study newsletter on Substack and contributor to various publications, she’s got a great flair for reporting and storytelling. This piece goes into the ‘how’ behind a series on the costs of childcare (very much worth reading). I’m a sucker for a good ‘behind-the-scenes’, ‘in the sausage factory’ piece and this does not disappoint.
I thought I kinda knew what I was talking about, and I was pretty wrong. But that’s the great thing about reporting over time: you start with a question, and then follow the answers.
Quote I’m thinking about: "We are in the habit of imagining our lives to be linear, a long march from birth to death in which we mass our powers, only to surrender them again, all the while slowly losing our youthful beauty. This is a brutal untruth. Life meanders like a path through the woods. We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again." - Katherine May
If you have feedback on anything mentioned above or have interesting links/papers/books that you think would be worth sharing in future issues of Tippets, please reach out! Click here, reply to this email, or DM me on Twitter at @taps.