All praise is due to Allah the Lord of all the worlds, Allah ta'ala has blessed us tremendously by guiding us to Islam. Allah ta'ala has blessed us tremendously by giving us a situation conducive to good health. All the things we need are available for our good health. All of the things we need are available for our treatment when we fall ill. All of the things we need are available to provide us with shelter, to provide us with clothing, to ward off the harm of the elements from ourselves. These are all from the blessings of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala upon us. And we can acknowledge those blessings by simtih saying alhamdulillah. As we mentioned recently if we if we can acknowledge Allah for the individual blessings but we can praise Allah because He is the giver of all blessings. And when we acknowledge the individual blessing our acknowledgement in the form of shukr is confined to that blessing. But when we acknowledge Allah as the giver of all blessings then our acknowledgement which is moved from shukr to hamd, from thankfulness to praise is acknowledging Allah for every blessing He's ever given from the beginning of time to the time we find ourselves in to the end of time. Alhamdulillah. Brothers and sisters is very important for us as Muslims to understand our religion. Our Prophet ﷺ he mentioned at the beginning of a longer hadith related by Muawiya ﷺ. Man yuridil lahubihi khairan yufakkihu fiddin. Qala ﷺ. Man yuridil lahubihi khairan yufakkihu fiddin. The one that Allah desires good for He gives him or her a sound understanding of the religion. The fiqh here is fahm. This is before fiqh developed into a technical term in the divine legislative system. Here it means linguistically understanding the one Allah desires good for. He gives him or her a sound understanding of the religion and one of the ways some of us not all perhaps not many certainly not most but some of us misunderstand the religion by thinking that Islam doesn't want us to aspire for greatness. Islam doesn't want us to aspire for great wealth. Islam doesn't want us to aspire for great knowledge just the far d'ayn yet fi ni'adah. This is my basic obligations. That's all I want. I was in Damascus and one of the students who had recently came who went to visit one of the great sheikhs there and he asked me to translate and he said tell the sheikh I came here and I don't want to become a big scholar. I just want to learn my far d'ayn and the basics of my religion and the sheikh he said tell him why don't you want to be a great scholar when Allah says in make us leaders for the righteous why don't you want to be a leader for the righteous but he said you should want this not for the aggrandizement of yourself but for the service to the people how can we serve if we don't have money how can we serve if we don't have knowledge how can we serve if we don't have education how can we serve if we don't have worldly experience in this or that area so we should aspire for greatness brothers and sisters Allah ta'ala mentions in the Quran we made from them leaders who guided nations in this case they guided the bani israel so they were great leaders and their names we know in history the names of the prophets and leaders who led the bani israel and the general meaning is applicable for every nation every community so we want great people and we want people who aspire for greatness but we need to understand that greatness it cannot come from us if we aspire to push ourselves up the maximum extent will be eight or nine feet some of us are six feet tall we can reach two feet over ourselves over our heads so we can push ourselves up eight or nine feet that's it if we rely on ourselves but if we seek greatness through Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala if we seek greatness relying on Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala if we seek greatness seeking the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then there's no limit to how great we can be there's no limit to how great we can be because Allah ta'ala has unlimited strength unlimited power unlimited resources unlimited boundaries if we try to confine his power there are no expanses no physical non-limitations so there's no end to our potential if that potential is manifested through Allah and our early our our great sages those people who examined the teachings and sources of the religion they understood that the great scholar and sage ibn al paella saskandari rahimahullah may Allah have mercy on him he says in his aphor, aphorism his hikam so bury your existence in the earth of obscurity and that part which subsequently grows up that is not from the part of the seed that has not been buried its fruit will never be proper or complete so what does this mean it is explaining to us a process that everyone who's seeking nearness to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala should understand and that is the beginning of greatness is not to consciously seek it through oneself and hence if in wujudak, burry your existence in the earth of obscurity bury your ego in the earth of obscurity and that ego is like a seed once you've done that then Allah takes over he didn't say that which grows up from that part which has not been buried its fruit will never be proper this aphorism reflects a hadith of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam we mentioned it one part one to focus on we mentioned it in its entirety charity will never decrease your your money and Allah increases no servant who has the power to pardon to forgive to overlook the thoughts of others except by giving that person more honor and no one humbles themselves for the sake of Allah except that Allah elevates them this is the part we want to focus on so when he says itfen there's a message in this some people might say that's surrender they look at this aphorism see there you have it those Sufis they're trying to get the Muslims surrender no initiative that's why they don't they don't haven't had the Protestant work ethic so they could succeed in the material world like us he's not saying that edfin edfin wujudak bury yourself it requires action you have to get the shovel you have to dig the hole you have to climb down into the hole it's not going to happen with no work it's going to take action tawada takes action tawada is the consciously claim a station lower than one one could rightfully claim you could rightfully claim the station of a scholar you've studied you've received certificates from your teachers and from your schools and universities but you say no i'm just a tall of this much more i have to learn and that's true and so you humble yourself it takes a conscious effort and conscious action so burying oneself in the earth of obscurity edfin wujudak burry yourself in the earth one has to take the shovel one has to dig the hole one has to make the prayers on time one has to try to fast outside of Ramadan occasionally one has to try to control one's tongue control one's eyes control one's ears that's what it means to bury oneself to take the action is necessary and one has to shy away from uh being known in front of the people not hasten to get in front of the people understand that if a law puts you there it's one thing don't put yourself there and these are two different things so the the objective is not being known or being obscure that's not the objective the objective is not to seek it out because when one is seeking it out they're seeking it out from that part of the seed that's not buried so what comes up from that is not going to yield its proper fruits but if a long time it puts one in front one goes with whatever Allah decrease for one kum haythu akamak Allah be where Allah has placed you if Allah places you up front be in front and give that its full rights if Allah places you in the back be in the back sweep the masjid give it its full right people come in this is the cleanest masjid i've ever been in mashallah subhan Allah give whatever Allah wherever he places you give it its full right and then you will see amazing fruits amazing results be a great janitor if you're any man be a great e-man if you're a housewife be a great housewife if you're a teacher be a great teacher if you're a student be a great student whatever Allah has placed you in do it better than anyone else for the sake of Allah and to make yourself a true servant of Allah ta'ala and a true servant of the people do it in the most excellent way that's what it's talking about it's not talking about seeking out obscurity then obscurity becomes that shahwa khafiyah that imli ta'ala talks about earlier in his compilation he says there's a shahwa khafiyah those people who have worldiest attainment by the grace of Allah halal income lawful income millions of dollars came from a halal source we ask for forgiveness and we repent to him and we seek refuge with Allah from the evil of our souls and from the bad deeds of our deeds who is guided by Allah will not be guided by him and who is guided by him will not be guided by him and I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone does not have a partner and I bear witness that Allah makes him a servant of Allah alhamdulillahi rabbil alamin our praise is due to Allah the Lord of all the worlds Allah ta'ala has blessed us tremendously by guiding us to Islam Allah ta'ala has blessed us tremendously by giving us a situation conducive to good health all the things we need are available for our ma baadu fa enna astak al hadith kitabullah mohammad an abduhu wa rasulu ya ayyuhal ladzina amin taqu allaha haqqatu qatih haqqatu qatihi wa laa wa laa tabootunna illa wa antu muslimun ya ayyuhannas taqu rabbakum balladhi khalaqakum min nafsaw wa ahida wa khalaqa minha zawjaha wa bathna minhum a rijalan kathira wa nisaa wa khaira al hadih hadih mohammadin sallallahu alayhi wa sallam wa sharra al umorah mohdathatuha fa kulla mohdathatin bid'a wa kulla bid'a tin balala wa kulla balala tin finnaar alhamdulillahi alhamdulillahi hadana layhada wa maanoona deha instead of saying alhamdulillahi boy i can do some work now all you people hating on the Muslims you're in trouble because i'm taking my billions i'm opening up a muslim satellite station i'm taking my billions i'm building youth centers and everywhere There's some Muslims so the kids will have a place to hang out with each other.  No, he says no I want to go to Mauritania to study Islam And on the surface is laudable subhanallah zahid he wants to renounce the world that is so nice He wants to study. He wants to go in the desert and not be tempted by all the fitna of modern society That's so nice, but it's a hidden Shafiyah Sheh and Shafiyah it's a hidden lust Because he really wants the people to say He's so pious the brother had millions of dollars and he left it all and he went into the desert To live with the nomads and to study in the middle of the Sahara desert that brother so pious And his shower his hidden lust was fulfilled No We go wherever Allah puts a visit if Allah puts us in the middle of Mauritania We go out there and we'd be the best student out there We don't complain about the malaria Best student out there Mashallah and if Allah puts us in a situation to make a billion dollars We're the best businessman. We got the nicest suits. They are halal We got the john j or john g or whatever non silk silk tie is halal We give it as full right So he also says later on Man arad al khafaq or al khumul fahuwa abdul khafaq Wa man arad al zuhur fahuwa abdul zuhur Wa man istawa al halani induhu fahuwa abdulla The one who's chasing after obscurity is a slave of obscurity is a servant of obscurity And the one who's chasing after fame and to be in front of the people is a slave of fame And the one whom that's two states are equal with him or her That is the servant of Allah Be where Allah has placed you Be where Allah has placed you and give that it's full right and that's where greatness comes from Because i'm not doing it for myself I'm trying to do it for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and i'm trying to serve the people That's where greatness comes from brothers and sisters each and every one challenge ourselves myself included Through how deep can I reach inside of myself? To pull out some greatness How much can I sacrifice for greatness? Muhammad Ali is great Most influential athlete of the 20th century But why is ali great? He's not great because of his boxing skills He's great because the world knows he was willing to give up his boxing career To give up the heavyweight belt to give up the fame the fortune the blinking lights To give up his place in history as the greatest fighter ever it's debatable If Ali didn't go to to get his title strip had to take almost four years off From fighting at the prime of his career and then had to fight his way back in the shape It would be no debate. Who's the greatest fighter ever Muhammad Ali? No, it's debatable. He had losses ken norton spinks Larry holmes it's debatable But there's no debate As the who was the most influential athlete Muhammad Ali hands down. Why is he famous? Why has he known because he was willing to give up much To defend his beliefs He was willing to stand up and say i'm a muslim at a time It was far more difficult than now. We have people now who won't say i'm a muslim To the application religion they got a crisis. I really want this job Got a crisis Like if I put moo maybe they'll think that's a new religion.  You can take my title. You can throw me in jail.  That's why muhammad ali is great That's why people all over the world Put his picture in the house and on the back of their buses on the back of their cars on the windshield of their cars We have to ask ourselves brothers and sisters as we stand before the challenges of our times What are we willing to sacrifice force land? What are we willing to give up force land? What stand are we willing to take force land? That's a question each and one of every one of us have to ask ourselves On an individual basis and only each and every one of us can provide the answer But if enough of us If enough of us are willing to say i'm not backing down.   My name is muhammad abdullahi Well, that's stretching it. Let's get another example. My name is muhammad abdul majeed And i'm not giving up anything because I don't need to give up anything. I haven't hurt anyone I haven't broken any laws. I've contributed to the well-being of my community the uplift of my community the safety of my neighbors The dignity of my people Why should I apologize? Why should I be on the defensive? Why should I feel like i'm some kind of a criminal? If someone tells you the sun is in shining and the sun is indeed shining If they say it's not shining until the cows come home that doesn't change the reality before your eyes The sun is there. It's in the sky. It's clear. It's 12 noon.  I never laid a hand on my wife For good reason. She has three black belts I never laid a hand on my wife I never harmed anybody I never thought about putting a bomb in anything. So why am I walking around here like i'm guilty of something Brothers and sisters we have to Stand up in the name of Allah Relying on Allah Drawing our strength from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and show people through our character That same video Tears brought to my seeing those young girls marching by these hate-filled terrorists. Yes, they were terrorizing them With their hijabs on and their heads up high and marching on to do what they had to do And that's an example for us We have to forge on and do what we have to do but we have to do it for the sake of Allah not for the sake of ourselves They say like I mean the emory shape you have nothing to do with this. It's not about us It's about others It's not about me. It's about others And these are the values that islam is trying to keep alive in this world When the whole world is saying me me me me me we follow a prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam who says My community my community my community That's how we have to see things I serve a community. I'm part of a community And that's what my life. It's not about me. It's about them and ultimately it's about my relationship with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and my self-worth Comes from those sources My self-worth comes from me knowing that I make a valuable contribution to my community And my self-worth comes from my relationship with Allah ta'ala knowing I submit to Allah I get out of the bed in the morning when people are sleeping to pray to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala That's where my self-worth comes from. It doesn't come from what some people I don't even know and they don't even know me say about me I feel worthless and down because people talking about me. Do you know them? Do they know you? No Then why are you concerned about what they say? How's your relationship with Allah? Kefa halukah How's your state With Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala How's your state with your brothers and sisters? Your Muslim brothers and sisters. How's your state with your non-Muslim neighbors? And possibly relatives Those are the sources of your self-worth If something's wrong with that you should be ashamed of yourself And start fixing it. But if that's right, then you're right And if you're right, you can begin building an aspiring for greatness Brothers and sisters, let us be a great community This world is crying out for greatness. There's mediocrity afoot in every realm Every realm You said we're not going and and in the social realm. There's social mediocrity. There's political mediocrity political mediocrity No, we're going to be a great community. We're going to be great individuals As we said, not that we're all going to be president or in congress or something Our greatness can be in our relationship with our spouse. I'm going to be a great husband I'm going to be a great wife. I'm going to be a great parent. I'm going to be a great child I'm going to be a great student. I'm going to be a great janitor Whatever I do, I'm going to do it in the best of ways If we can do that, if we can commit ourselves to that, we will be a great community And when the annals of history are recorded Long after we're dead and gone The impact that we have on our community, our nation and our world Will be noted and it will be noted well I say this and I ask forgiveness of Allah for you and for the path of the believers O people, I ask forgiveness of Allah I ask forgiveness I ask forgiveness of Allah I ask forgiveness of Allah I ask forgiveness of Allah He's so pious. The brother had millions of dollars and he left it all And he went into the desert to live with the nomads and to study in the middle of the Sahara desert That brother's so pious And his shower, his hidden lust was fulfilled No We go wherever Allah puts us If Allah puts us in the middle of Mauritania, we go out there and we'd be the best student out there We don't complain about the malaria The one who's chasing after obscurity is a slave of obscurity Is a servant of obscurity and the one who's chasing after fame And to be in front of the people is a slave of fame and the one whom that's two states are equal with him or her That is the servant of Allah Best student out there Mashallah and if Allah puts us in a situation to make a billion dollars We're the best business man. We got the nicest suits. They are halal We got the john j or john g or whatever non silk silk tie is halal We give it as full right So he also says later on And then I'll rada khatat I will with my billions. No, he says no, I want to go to Mauritania to study Islam And on the surface is laudable subhanallah zahid. He wants to renounce the world. That is so nice He wants to study He wants to go in the desert and not be tempted by all the fitna of modern society. That's so nice But it's a hidden Shafiyah Uh, a shah wa khafiyah. It's a hidden lust Because he really wants the people to say and instead of saying Alhamdulillah boy, I could do some work now Are you people hating on the Muslims? You're in trouble Because I'm taking my billions.  I'm building youth centers in everywhere. There's some muslims So the kids will have a place to hang out with each other. I'm taking my billions I'm going to pay for zaytuna college with my billions. They don't have to scrounge anymore because I'm here


This year is 30 years of resident owned in Vermont. And having people come on in. Good day. People coming in. So if you could all, all of you that are hovering outside of the tent, please come on in and grab a seat.  These are your resident directors that you want to vote for who give a lot of your time to help decisions that are made here at Northgate. I would like to have Almyr Salvage come up. He is our NRAC board president. And Almyr is going to call the meeting to order. He's going to ask for your votes to approve the minutes and reports. And he's going to give us some opening remarks. Almyr. Do you have to offer? Carol may need to remind me of the steps that you can take. Or do you want to call me to order? So motion. All right. I'll send a motion to approve the minutes for the meeting notes. All in favor? All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. When I first arrived, soon after I was invited to serve as the president of the board, it was an extraordinary experience. The folks that are committed to this neighborhood and growing this community and improving the daily business has been phenomenal. I have never witnessed this anywhere else. And the folks that I have met across the country and the world in D.C. for a lovely day, they want to take this model that we have in Northgate and apply it across the other places that are struggling, that are in need of such places as Northgate. So it's been a tremendous experience in changing people's lives for the better. Overall, it's been, how can I say this? It's provided me with potential to grow professionally and personally. So it's very meaningful to me where I am right now. All right, thank you. Happy to introduce our next speaker to give us a few words. Please welcome Mayor Neural Weinberger. A presentation to share on this really special day, remarkable milestone with you. You know, I, I know I spent 15 years, which I can't believe I've been in seven years now, but the 15 years before that, I was an affordable housing developer. And I worked on many projects all over Vermont and Northgate. And the way these projects get built generally, there is some money that's available from the government and people work really hard and agreements get put in place to ensure that for 20 or maybe 30 years, once these communities get built, they're going to serve the function that they're supposed to. They're going to be places that people of all backgrounds can afford to live in. But there's always this moment at the closing table where basically everyone has to acknowledge that we don't really know what's going to happen 20 or 30 years from now. And there's just sort of a hope that at the end of that period, it seems very distant at the construction day, that things are going to work out and these communities are going to remain diverse and inclusive communities. And it often doesn't work. It's sort of the example of what everyone hopes will happen, that there will be a way to, at the end of that 20 or 30 years for the residents to come together to find a way to keep investing in the community and keep it strong and healthy and keep it affordable. And it is really quite an accomplishment that you have been able to do this for 30 years now. I think the origins of this community where there weren't really great models, there's a lot of pioneering work that got done back 30 years ago to make this possible and I know some of the people involved in that at the time are here today and I'm sure you are all feeling great pride with what is where we are now in 2019. And I just want to congratulate you all, everyone who's been involved in this, on this accomplishment, wish you the best. It's great to drive in here, care today and look around and see investment going on. There's millions of dollars in investment to keep these homes in great shape and to keep this community looking as great as it does. And what you've done is a great example for Burlington at a time when we still have housing crisis. In some ways the pressures on housing in this community are greater than they've ever been and we are coming together as a community to ask ourselves, what do we do to remain this inclusive place that welcomes people from around the world that Burlington has long been and aspires to remain. And I think Northgate represents not just your great example to us, not just in that the community is able to direct and lead its own future. It's also a great example of the need and the importance of building homes. We would not be having this celebration today if the community had not supported this 50 years ago. I think in many parts of Burlington and even in Vermont, if we were trying to build Northgate today it would be very hard, maybe impossible to do that. We need to keep working together to ensure that new homes can continue to be built in this community and in Vermont. And we are having a summit in just a little more than a week now that is very focused on that. We're calling it the Burlington Housing Summit. It's going to be an all day event. There's workshops during the day from noon to five and then there's an evening town meeting. And I hope that everyone who cares about the future of Burlington that cares about Northgate State staying strong and there our ability to continue to generate new homes in this community will come and join us for that conversation in one way or another.  And this is a great day. I wish I could stay with you throughout the morning. I got to go to another community event, but I really appreciate the opportunity to come and say congratulations and good luck. It was representing Senator Leahy today who unfortunately could not be here. Pauline, please come back. It's going to take part in your celebration of 30 years of resident ownership. Senator Leahy wishes he could be here. He has enjoyed partnering with all of you over the past 30 years to help make this project a success and enjoyed working with the residents and the city of Burlington and all the housing nonprofits who helped 30 years ago to bring this property into residents ownership. He well remembers the worry in the community, the fear in the city of losing all these homes, losing the affordability, seeing them develop and privatize. And he heard the need from all of you to really invest in this property and keep it in the hands of residents because Vermont is not a place where we take the homes away from hundreds of residents. And so he went back to HUD 30 years ago and said, HUD, you invested in this property. You said the government thinks affordability is important. You built it 50 years ago. And you still have a commitment to this property. You need to invest in it again so that it can remain affordable. And so HUD was able to provide a grant to help bring this property into resident ownership 30 years ago. What this has done is it's provided a model that the rest of the country needs to hear the mayor speak about of how to create a community that's going to remain affordable. We see housing prices skyrocketing around the country, but here we see what a community can do when it's not paying too much for housing. What other services it can deliver to the children that live here, to the people that live here, what opportunities it can create, and the leaders it can create as well. So this model has shown not only how to preserve affordability, but also how to build community. And Senator Lay, he really just wanted to say thank you to all the residents here today for your partnership through the years. And I have a brief note that he asked me to read to all of you. Congratulations to all involved with the Northgate Resident Ownership Corporation. As you celebrate 30 years of resident owned and controlled affordable housing. I remember well the effort to gain resident controlled Northgate and especially recall the ambition and dedication of those involved. The residents proved to the community that they can reach their goals and successfully manage their housing. 30 years later Northgate is a national model for such efforts. My wife Michelle and I are proud of all of you and we wish you the best for continued success. Thank you Patrick. Our mayor Bernie Sanders was involved in Northgate's start. And evidently it goes, they want to make Northgate into these luxury condos and they want to event everyone who can't afford them.  So representing Senator Sanders today. I work for the center which I love, I'm very passionate about it and I'm so glad to be here as his representative. And we all wish he was here. And you know that if he was in the state of Vermont today he would be here and he's in California. So that's why he's not here today. But he sent a letter to you that I'm going to... Dear friends, congratulations to the community of Northgate on your 30th anniversary. I'm sorry that I cannot be there to celebrate this great accomplishment. In the 1980s when I was mayor of Burlington we faced the possibility of losing 336 affordable apartments at Northgate. This was not any housing development. This was the state's largest affordable housing development. Northgate was built many years before with a federally subsidized market which had been paid off and the owner could now sell it on the open market. Of course I was very familiar with Northgate and it did not surprise me that private condo developers were chomping at the bit to get their hands on this beautiful property. In many other cities that's exactly what would have happened. And to be honest, there were plenty of people right here in Burlington who would have been perfectly happy to see the property flip to hide any condos. What makes the Northgate story so compelling is that the residents made the case for preserving this affordable housing. The residents stood up and said, these are our homes and this is our neighborhood. I have long believed that real change happens when ordinary people organize and at the end of the day that is exactly what happened at Northgate. As mayor I was honored to support those efforts not just to preserve the housing for the residents who lived here but also to make sure it stayed affordable in perpetuity. We renovated the property, made the homes energy efficient and no one was displaced, no one. And because of the deal that was structured Northgate is more affordable now than it was 20 years ago. Today Northgate is a great neighborhood and the housing is at 100% resident home and control but many residents have lived here for 20 years or more. I just talked to two of them over there.  Enjoy your well-deserved celebration. Warmly, Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator. Being Dean from Congressman Welch's office thank you for coming to me. Thank you so much for the invitation. So on behalf of Congressman Welch I'd like to wish you all congratulations in these amazing 30 years and wish you success and well wishes for the next term. Thank you so much. Thank you for the Northern District of Burlington and I'd like to invite President Franklin up here to say a few words. Please welcome Franklin Homino. He's got new faces, so familiar faces so I wanted to come and establish a connection, a face-to-face connection to make sure you guys know how to find me. Carol has all my contact information. I'm on Facebook. Just Google my name. It's pretty easy to find these days but I just want to do that connection for everything that you guys need on the local city issues, sidewalks, roads, anything related to all the infrastructure projects we're taking on. Any updates on progress that you need? I'm happy to be your voice here. I'm looking to bring new energy. I'm at the bagel every morning. I was there this morning before council meeting. I'm at the bagel, I post the agenda. I'm here on Facebook or on porch form. So I'm looking to build on that and I look forward to working with you guys. The North Bank was built to freeze in the cabinets and allowed our electric bill to be as high as your rent. So 20 years after that, when the residents took over, we had to hire a new property management company and we were so blessed to find Maloney properties. I'm delighted to introduce, I don't think she needs any introduction, Kathy Lewis from Maloney Properties. This speech because I thought 30 years has been one of the joys of my career. So I'll try not to get too weepy here, but I am a bit sentimental. Selected through a process led by the residents of Northgate back in 1989 and I have been the person at Maloney Properties that's been your person for 30 years which I feel blessed to be there. What we did in 1989 was we joined this vast number of professionals, residents, leaders in this community, politicians, everyone. There was this amazing expansive team of people and we were part of that team once the closing happened. It was to really help that vast array of people to rebuild Northgate, physically, financially and socially. It was a transformation, truly a transformation. It became clear that one of my commitments to this community would be to ensure that resident control and resident decision making was in the forefront of everything we did. This resident directed approach has prevailed for 30 years. Give yourselves a round of applause. It's really something to celebrate that is so unique. Working in partnership with the various Northgate boards and committees over the years and there have been many. Together we implemented successful management systems, strategies and resident policies that helped to create and sustain the affordable, stable, diverse and unique communities that Northgate is today. So just a few highlights. One of our most proud accomplishments at Northgate has been our success in recruiting and hiring residents for jobs on site. This was a commitment we made to the Northgate residents board and GRRA back in 1989 and we took it to heart. We're very proud of our track record. During the past 30 years, over 35 residents have been hired and trained for positions on site. Many have moved on to jobs with increased responsibilities or started their own business. And two extraordinary successes are sitting right in front of us here. Our co-managers, Donna and Sarah, both of whom have worked at Maloney many, many years ago now while they were still living on site. Currently, of the 13 on-site management and maintenance positions, 10 are held by residents or former residents of Northgate is our focus on working positively with resident owners. We have found tremendous success at Northgate by establishing a true working partnership with NROC. Ours is a strong 30-year relationship built on trust, hard work and genuine respect for each other. While NROC and Maloney share the common purpose to be responsible stewards of this remarkable real estate asset and community, I think the values we hold are the foundation of the work that we do together. Those values include humanity. Together, we show kindness and empathy for all. Diversity. Together, we cultivate inclusiveness and create opportunity. Equity. Together, we remove barriers to ensure equal access. Quality. Together, we reach the highest standards of excellence. And finally, collaboration. We work together as a team for the collective good. Sorry. It's pretty awesome. Resident ownership and success at Northgate. You should all be so very proud. And on behalf of the entire Maloney team, on site and across New England, thank you for making us a part of this beautiful community. It is one of our community directors on the NROC Board of Directors, and Ryan is going to present our Youth Awards and the Anne-Marie Dennis Community Service Award, and I'm going to assist you. Please welcome Ryan. The amazing past of Northgate, I'll just confess that at age 23, I was recruited by a college friend who said, why don't you come to a meeting at Northgate and you can learn about what's going on. It was 1985, and we met at Anne-Marie Dennis's living room and Ellie Blaise was there, and Lynn Winter, and I think John Romeo actually was there. I can't remember every year, but it was really the beginning of my education. And I want to say, throughout that 33 years ago, so throughout the last 33 years, Northgate has been part of my learning and my entry into the affordable housing world, the community development world, and really what it's about is building and sustaining and nurturing healthy communities, healthy families, healthy neighborhoods, and it has been part of my life in a very meaningful way for all that time, so I'm just incredibly grateful for that. Now we're going to look ahead at our future and recognize the young people who will be the leaders of tomorrow to help us get a little bit older. I have a birthday in a couple weeks and I'm not as young as I was when I started, so... All right. So our first award recipient is Khalil James. Khalil? Khalil's like, I'm going to read a little bit about Khalil. The nominations for these awards come from the guidance staff and the principals at the local schools that are serving the Northgate community. So... This year's nominee for the Northgate's Successful Student Award, I think we call it youth leadership, but the successful student sounds great to me. From C.P. Smith Elementary School is Khalil James. Khalil is a very hard-working and dedicated student in Ms. Spinner's first grade class. Khalil is a polite young man who is popular among his peers and is always willing to help when there's a job to be done. He's always eager to help out when there's a job to be done. Khalil is also a very good sport on the playground who does very well as sports but is always willing, always brings a fair approach to the games he plays with his peers. And some, Khalil is a very nice young man who's deserving of having his good work and positive attitude recognized by Northgate. So, congratulations. I mean, though he's not here. They're busy. These are busy kids. Amani Kayam Damina. I think I got it. From Flynn. Amani is a dedicated student who takes his work seriously and is always willing to help his friends. He has recently been working on a project to design a smart toilet and smart fridge, which will be useful in Northgate, I think. Through this project and many others he shows great student leadership. Congratulations to Amani. It just makes you feel bad. It just makes you just a little smile just a little something to boost you up. For me that person is Jeremy. Jeremy is always, always has a smile on her face no matter the type of day she is having. Additionally, she always asks how my day is going or how my weekend was. Sometimes this gives me just the boots that I need. Jeremy genuinely cares. Not just about herself, but about others. She's just a kind person additionally, when Jeremy sees something going on or someone treated and shouldn't be treated, she lets an adult know what is happening so the adult may not be in the situation and support the students. Jeremy is very involved with her family taking care of her younger sister and helping out at church no matter what is going on. He takes care of others and always wants to do her best. The board is the Christian Kababu Memorial Board. As most people know Christian tragically died in the lake I think two years ago in 2017. In fact, my family and I have a younger son with a friend of his and it was devastating for everybody I know. Hopefully there will be some positive outcome as a result regarding school safety, I think there's some programs that I'm watching so that every kid coming out of Burlington Elementary School will know this one. That's actually one of the outcomes. Irwin Medlock Medlock, sorry, Medlock. Irwin is quiet, kind, soul, and a loyal friend to others. He's a hard worker and does great in school and we know he'll reach the star a great leader by example. Congratulations Irwin. You've been here for the face, the spokesperson as she had such tough grip that when Bernie said over my dead body I'm sure he was motivated by Anne Marie constantly telling him what would happen to families if Northgate was sold so I got to know Anne Marie she was a real role model for me personally and I just give me a lot of pleasure to give this award to Steve Gerebilla. Steve received three separate nominations, none of them came from Carol. I'll just say that he literally the van driver at Northgate but also goes to the store on a regular basis for homebound neighbors delivers meals to neighbors for events and the good food truck. Steve is just there for people when they need him the most and he doesn't expect any remission that's why he was probably embarrassed because he was standing up there thinking of what to do. We're actually at the point where we're just waiting for our lunch so there are appetizers over here to help you get through the crew, the caterers are cooking furiously out there and when it's ready we're having some roast turkey roast beef and all the fixed things so it will be placed on this and our wonderful DJ Ron is going to help us with some music and this is a dance space so if you feel someone coming to come up and dance away thank you all for coming and just enjoy the day.


Welcome to economics and beyond. I'm Rob Johnson, President of the Institute for New Economic Thinking. I'm here today with Jamil Anderlini, the Asian Editor of the Financial Times. Thanks for joining me today, Jamil. Thanks, Rob. We have upon us what I think you've accurately described as the new Cold War. US-China relations are, how would I say, quite strained. This has been a pathway we've been on for quite some time. How do you see, in your mind, why have they deteriorated? What's the state of play now? How is the pandemic that has visited upon us as we start June of 2020? What are the dangers of this deterioration? Where do we need to go to repair? Sure, thank you, Rob. I would say that if you look at relations between the US and China, they're really at their nadir. They're the worst that they've been since ties were normalized in 1979. I'd say they're probably worse than they've been since 1972 when Nixon and Kissinger made the very famous visit to Beijing. So really what we're talking about is the worst state of this relationship in, you know, 40 odd, maybe 50 odd years. So if you want to understand why relations have got so bad, you really, I think, have to look at the underlying fundamentals between the two countries. Now, of course, some of it is personality. Some of it is the personality of President Xi Jinping or General Secretary Xi Jinping, as he's referred to in Chinese. Some of it is to do with Donald Trump and, you know, the personalities of these leaders does make a difference and is important. But there's a fundamental underlying shift that has happened that I think explains a huge amount of the deterioration in the relationship. If you think about what engagement involved and why it was so successful between the US, particularly the US and China, but the rest of the world and developed world and China. Why has China been grown so fast? Why has this relationship become so enmeshed between the West and China? You know, China is more open now than it's probably been since the Tang Dynasty, if you think about it.  So why is this relationship worked? Well, first of all, China was in the mid-70s, late-70s, China was coming out of the disastrous Cultural Revolution, which followed on from the even more disastrous great leap forward. Its economy was basically not able to even feed its population. It was really in a disastrous state. And Deng Xiaoping in the late 70s, early 80s, he said, right, we're going to open up to the world. We're going to reform politically a bit. And he set the country towards what they call reform and opening up, which is the sort of great change in Chinese policy to sort of embrace the world. And what happened was the rest of the world looked at China and gradually it took several decades, but it really sped up in the 90s and the early 2000s. The rest of the world saw a limitless pool of labor. It saw a country with basically no environmental laws or restrictions. It saw a very, very communist who were able to do business. That was what they saw. And so you had this enormous shift of global manufacturing in particular from Western developed countries to China. I think in the early 2000s, mid 2000s, it cost 15 times more to produce in Mexico for the US market than it did to produce in China for the US market. And so the rest of the world decided to shift its manufacturing production, basically outsource almost everything that you could to China. And it also outsourced pollution. Look at how polluted the West was in the 80s, even in the 90s. And look how clean, relatively speaking, most of the Western countries are now. That's because they exported their pollution to China. And the Chinese people were the ones who basically suffered from that from an environmental perspective. Of course, the Chinese people became much, much richer because starting from a low base, they were able to find many more jobs. They had a huge demographic dividend, which really allowed this enormous rural labor force to move into urban areas and to work in factories. Now, the reason I'm explaining all of this is because most of those factors have gone into reverse. And so, yes, the personalities of Xi Jinping and Donald Trump are important. And yes, the kind of the people in the decision making chairs at various times of the last decade are important. But I would argue much more important are the structural shifts that have gone. The structural changes that were working to encourage engagement between the West and the East and between the developed economies in China.  China now has a shrinking labor force. China has now moved up the value chain and is producing much higher value goods. So instead of the West, particularly America being able to sort of make the high value things and design everything and then just get it made with cheap labor and polluting factories in China. Now, China has introduced much stricter labor laws or stricter labor laws. If you look at the minimum wage in China, it's gone up 20% every year for a decade and more. If you look at what China wants to produce, it's much, much higher value products. And China is now innovating. It's now doing what previously only Silicon Valley and Japan and Germany could do. So it's now coming up with things that are competing with what's produced in the West. So you have the benefits of engagement and the benefits of outsourcing diminishing all the time and you now have China as a real competitor. China's also, to be frank, used some quite predatory trade practices, some quite predatory mercantile policies which have allowed it to really beat some of its competitors who are playing on a more even playing field. Many, many, many industries in China are still restricted from foreign investment. Most of those industries are not restricted in Western countries, but there is a growing feeling in most other countries driven, frankly, by those same Western businesses that have benefited over the last few decades that there needs to be more reciprocity. And so I think just to point one more thing out that if you go back a decade, Beijing's biggest lobbying force in Western capitals in Washington DC and around the world. Their biggest lobbyists were multinational businesses who have enormously benefited by outsourcing to production to China and later benefited from the large Chinese market. However, over the last decade, one of the most interesting and important shifts that I've noticed and that I've observed has been the total change in the attitude of these multinational companies. No longer do these companies go to Washington and say, hey, just be nice to China, engagement is the way to do it. You know, don't meet the Dalai Lama, you know, don't criticize China for human rights issues, don't, you know, don't talk to Taiwan. All the things that Beijing sees as very important. These businesses used to lobby on behalf of Beijing for a whole host of things. Today, they're lobbying against Beijing on almost every issue.  But they feel like the Chinese competitors who in some cases have stolen their intellectual property are now coming into their own markets in their home countries and competing with them there. So you've seen a very, very real and very, very strong shift in the lobbying of Western businesses. And I think, frankly, that's one of the most important changes as well. Jamil, do you do you think that the financial policies that related to what you might call modernization of the Chinese market and global integration, which no longer look to be on the horizon. My sense was that Wall Street was a big advocate for friendly relations with China when they thought they would someday bring what Americans thought was a comparative advantage of providing financial services to a very large scale market. And I don't think it's it's been a pretty rough road for them to gain access and contribute in that regard. And I'm just curious how you how you thought that sector was adjusting at this time. Yeah, so I mean a classic example right so who were the big who were the big lobbyists on behalf of China. 1520 years ago it was Goldman Sachs it was JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley it was the big financial institutions who looked at this enormous very under developed financial products market in China and just were licking their chops they were you know and not just the Americans the Swiss banks and the British banks Australian banks thought they were going to come in and because of their much more sophisticated products they could provide and their, you know their value add and a very very primitive financial market they thought they were just going to make out like bandits. And what happened was they came in and they found out that even once the WTO conditions allow them to to operate in China that there was still all sorts of hidden regulations and hidden rules that they, you know weren't weren't really able to overcome and the I think the peak the absolute peak of foreign all final foreign financial institutions market share in China was about 5% 5% of the entire market was was as big as as big as foreign investors got foreign players got and they never got near that again. So, you know, they, they were massive lobbyists on behalf of China for many many many years, hoping that just around the corner, you know, Beijing would let them in. I remember going to see this, I won't name him but this for lawn Goldman Sachs executive who'd been very very senior and was sort of sent to Beijing and he sort of decided he was going to go live in Beijing and be close to them. And he said, you know, you've got to breathe the same air as your clients he was very very sort of stoic, and I just watched him get sort of sadder and sadder over the years that he lived in Beijing as it became clear and clear that they were never going to make headway. And now it's very interesting. If you look at as this trade war ramped up and then as the, as I say new Cold War got, you know, really started to get underway. China suddenly said, you know, Beijing the Communist Party suddenly said we're going to open up and allow you to own your own subsidiary something they've been lobbying for for decades. And suddenly, you know, the Goldman Sachs of the world, you know, the American banks suddenly got very excited, oh, we're going to be able to finally finally we're going to get in there and we're going to, you know, it's two decades or three decades late but we're going to get a little piece of the action. And it's still worth it because it's so big, even though China has a totally closed capital account, we're still going to, you know, we're going to make some money. Preparing all these banks are preparing to hire hundreds of bankers up in Beijing and then COVID-19 hit and then the real, you know, sort of Cold War is starting now I think and, you know, they must be feeling very, very dejected at their chances I would say of really ever breaking in to that market. Now, another point I would make is, if you look at who's powerful in Washington DC from a lobbying perspective today, I mean, no question before the financial crisis it was Wall Street, it was the Wall Street banks these were the people who could buy senators and congressmen and you know who really had the, by far the biggest influence in, in, you know, inside the Beltway and in Washington DC. But I would argue that today, it's the technology companies that are the richest and the probably the most influential when it comes to kind of lobbying power, you know, the giant technology companies. Hey, and guess what? Guess which companies are totally shut out of the Chinese market and always have been Google, Facebook, Amazon. So, so all the companies that are really the most powerful in many ways today and in the US that probably hold the, you know, the biggest weight when it comes to lobbying in DC. Those are exactly the companies that China has always kept out of, out of, you know, with the with the so great firewall of China. And so, again, that's adding to my point that the, the lobbying direction in DC is certainly for disengagement maybe even decoupling not for greater engagement today. I remember, right after the 2016 election, I was in Beijing with Mike Spence. And we met with some very high level Chinese officials. And one of them said to me, I can see with all the fake news and manipulation and discussions of Russia, that your society is now coming around to a view of the cybersecurity web based intrusion that we have been aware of for a long time. So he was sort of saying it to put it in a parable the Americans were treating Silicon Valley like a superhero, and all of a sudden became skeptical in a way that the Chinese had always been skeptical. And what I replied to him, it's interesting that you're skeptical, you know, hesitant because you would turn right around and set up your own systems. So it's not that you're averse to having the systems you're averse to having the system that is not controlled by, by Chinese people. And he nodded, yeah. But, but I think I would argue. Go ahead. Go ahead. No, please. I would argue, they're averse to having systems that are not controlled directly by the Communist Party, not by Chinese. If the Chinese people were to control the Internet. I think the Communist Party would be not long for, not long for the world, probably, and that's their view. It's very clear that, you know, the Internet is not safe to be put in the hands of ordinary people or ordinary businesses. It has to be absolutely controlled by the ruling party. I've actually had senior officials tell me that directly. They've said, you know, when I've asked them why they are all, you know, senior, senior Communist Party officials are all allowed VPNs, virtual private networks, which allow them official ones, which allow them to surf the global Internet freely, Google and, you know, all sorts of things, news sources and anything they want outside of the walls of the Great Firewall. And when I asked, you know, well, how come it's okay for you to see all this stuff but not the sort of average Chinese person to read anything they want on the Internet, they said, oh, you know, why would we trust the people with this? It's far too dangerous to trust the people with free flows of information. Direct quote from a senior party official to me. Wow. Wow. And I guess we're, I'm quite anxious in the realm of US-China relations is that I don't think unless the United States and China move to a more cooperative place that the challenge of climate can be truly addressed. Do you see both the need for collaboration and how we could and how we might get there in repairing this relationship because in some sense, necessity beckons us, at least in my view. Absolutely. I mean, if you go back to the Obama administration, I think the Obama administration started from a place of, you know, we can we can deal with anybody that was really the platform Obama was elected on. It's like, you know, there's no country that we shouldn't at least think about talking to and, you know, we're open and, you know, this is this is the new America. And I think it was pretty quickly that they worked out that there was it wasn't going to be so easy when it came to China. And I think they quite quickly narrowed the scope of their kind of ambition when it came to dealing with China. There's just so many fawny issues when it comes to US-China bilateral the bilateral relationship, and I think they decided to to narrow the scope. I mean, deal on various things when they could deal with on them. But one of one of the areas they focused on and I thought was a very smart idea at the time because it seemed not very politically sensitive and not really sort of very contentious was was climate change.   So, you know, you have China the big modern day polluter and you have the US the great traditional historical polluter. And as I pointed out earlier, a lot of that pollution in China is actually outsourced pollution from the rest of the world, you know, you don't want to make dirty things in your country so you send it off to be made in China. So, you know, but but without these two countries, you don't have a solution. I mean, it's just the scale is just so vast when you talk about Chinese emissions that without China being part of some sort of deal or some sort of arrangement. And the US, of course, as well, you're just not going to to deal with this as a as a global issue. And my, like you, my great fear is that, you know, we're just we're talking about a new Cold War where there's going to be only areas of confrontation and conflict and no areas whatsoever, really, of of real cooperation. And I think it's incredibly sad. I think it's incredibly dangerous, frankly, because I think not, you know, journalists are prone to a little hyperbole. Let's put it that way. But but I don't think it's hyperbole to say that the chances, frankly, of of outright armed conflict between the US and China are rising all the time, at least when it comes to proxy proxy countries proxy territories. And that's what I really worry about, frankly. I think climate change, you know, must be addressed by these two countries in particular, and bringing along the rest of the world, but neither of them is seems capable or willing to to show leadership in this area or frankly, in many other areas, and they seem both to be locked in a kind of cycle of of conflict, which is extremely concerning, I would say. I agree. I am reminded of my friend, Orville Schill, who with a co author wrote a book called Wealth and Power. So several years ago, but Orville gave a presentation at an event, when in essence he said, given the woundedness of the Middle Kingdom, China, because of essentially from the opium wars through the Japanese invasion at the time of the Second World War. The Chinese have a great yearning to regain the stature of their national identity at the time at what you might call the top of the world order. And the United States, which has been in that role since the changing of the guard around the time of Bretton Woods with the British, handing, handing the baton to them. The United States would like to have an integrated system led by America, in which you might call is a China that transforms itself to be a cohesive element of that system, but essentially emulating the organization of America. And Orville also brought up in that presentation that part of what was going to be difficult was not just the yearning to rise versus the kind of desire to hold on to the leadership in America, but that these two countries come from very different philosophical systems. Cartesian enlightenment in the US case and the kind of Dallas and Confucian traditions deal with many things, particularly uncertainty, very differently. And I'm curious because you live right in this intersection, working with the FT in Asia, but having been in Beijing and Hong Kong. Do you think the Orville's large perspective, how you say contributes to that understanding of where we are and the difficulties of moving forward. Well, absolutely. So I just point, I just like to say that Orville is one of my favorite human beings on earth and really one of the great, great sinologists. In my opinion, and I talked to him quite regularly and, you know, I'm always smarter, a little tiny bit smarter after listening to him. I would also point out that the focus on the environment and climate change for the Obama administration. There's a person who first explained to me what that policy was going to be and who I was intimately involved in it was Orville actually so. So he was intimately involved in that in that kind of in formulating that approach to China under the Obama administration. So he, yeah, I agree with him entirely that, you know, we're talking about absolutely different worldviews in some ways. However, the US and China are quite alike in that they both have this idea of that they are exceptional. The idea, you know, the Americans absolutely believe in the idea of American exceptionalism.  It's different from everywhere else. And they both also, I would argue, believe in this idea of manifest destiny. You know, the US was destined to be the sort of the world's leading superpower and China absolutely believes that today. And if you look at what Xi Jinping from the very first moment he took over as General Secretary of the Communist Party in late 2012. In that very first speech, and I was there actually in the great hall of the people standing a few meters away from him with the other some other foreign journalists and he, he stood there and he said you know I'm I'm here to bring about the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. And, you know, that is the China dream, he said, and you know that's that's manifest destiny that's the idea that here I am Xi Jinping I'm the one who's going to bring. You know, the great the great rejuvenation that the return to some, you know, Halcyon time when when China was the dominant nation in the world. It's very explicit I mean we're not talking about sort of you don't have to read tea leaves to to sort of understand what he's talking about and to understand the appeal to the Chinese people. And it's very interesting because he's revived in a way that was anathema to many generations of several generations of communist leaders. He's revived, you know, sort of old ideas of, you know, Confucianism, old ideas of kind of ancient Chinese wisdom that that were scorned, you know, we're actually purged by Mao Zedong and and even in later later generations of communist leaders didn't really want to talk about Confucianism and you know the Cultural Revolution for 10 years in China from 1966 to 1976 was about wiping out Chinese traditional ideas, religion, Chinese, you know, traditional concepts. So, you know, it's, it's, he's revived a lot of these things in the pursuit, probably, you know, you could argue of, of very strong nationalism, and, you know, American nationalism and Chinese nationalism don't leave much room for each other. And I think, you know, that's that's why another reason why we are headed into, I would argue, and a period of more conflict because in the American view of the world there isn't much room for a an ascendant China and in the Chinese current view of the world I don't think there's room for the US at least in China's neighborhood. So China's got a stated goal of pushing them America out of the Pacific is certainly the western part of the Pacific. It's very clear. I mean, it's in all the military doctrines. It's in all the, you know, many of the speeches that party leaders give. It's not a secret either. So, you know, we're talking about a status quo power and a power that wants to really shake up that status quo. And that's another reason we're headed for conflict, more conflict. One of the, I remember, I used to work in the United States Senate, and there was a gentleman named Michael Pillsbury, who wrote a book. I can't remember. I guess it's, it's relatively recent, but it, I had seen him speak and it was called the 100 year marathon, China's strategy to replace America as the global superpower in it resonated with many of these things we see coming to the surface now. Yeah, I mean, it's a, it's a, you know, you need a, you need a title that's going to sell books, right. So it's, it's kind of an alarmist title of a pretty well read. I mean, you know, Michael Pillsbury is on, you know, he has a certain view of of China and it's sort of, you know, it's a it's representative of a, of a certain position on the spectrum and in, in the sort of sinologist world, but I think he argues quite cogently and quite, you know, quite convincingly. And like you say, quite a few of the things that he's argued have certainly been born out by actions in recent years. You mentioned moments ago about being there at the time Xi Jinping came to power. And I remember having a meal with you and your family. A few years later, but not, it was, it was quite some time ago. And you turn me on to the, to a museum exhibit that was at a national museum in Beijing that was almost like a history of the national ascendance of China. And it was a very, very striking and very strong message. I was a bit surprised they let me go see it, but Oh, they want everyone to see it. Yeah. They want everyone to see it. Yeah. Yeah. I don't remember the name of that exhibit or whatever, but I remember you. Yeah, it was called the road to rejuvenation. And that's right. Yeah. Yeah, that was it. But it, yeah, I mean, that's a lot. It foreshadowed a lot of what you're talking about. Absolutely. I mean, the the fascinating for me as a sort of student of modern Chinese history. That exhibition is one of my all time favorites, but just because it's so interesting and because it's so telling it changes all the time as, you know, as the photographs were in the Soviet former Soviet Union would change when when an official would be purged and they'd be cut out of the photographs next time same under Mao Zedong as well under the Communist Party. So does that exhibition change on a regular basis as party officials are purged their photographs disappear from that exhibition and as, you know, one faction or another rises or falls. So do the the displays in those exhibitions are various things that are that are associated with those various factions. So for example, when the Minister of Railways was arrested and thrown in prison for ostensibly for corruption, the big display about the kind of the development of the high speed rail system suddenly shrank to a very, very small exhibition in that in that exhibition. So it's a fascinating if you want to know who's up or who's down you can go to that exhibition and if you have a if you've been regularly and you have a keen eye you'll be able to tell who's who's about to or has just been purged just by going through certainly the more modern parts of that exhibition. But yeah, it tells you a lot it was set up after Xi Jinping came to power that exhibition. Its name is the road to rejuvenation so obviously it's his centerpiece. It's in the National Museum it's a permanent exhibition it's right off Tiananmen Square in the center the heart of Beijing and yeah it gives you a very clear propaganda view of how the party tells history and the way that the Communist Party tells history like other Communist parties and authoritarian systems over the years is it's fluid right so history is a tool for to be used for modern political purposes. So you rewrite history on a regular basis in order to serve whatever your political goals are today. But one thing that doesn't usually change is that modern Chinese history always no matter what museum you go to no matter what the topic of the subject of the museum almost inevitably every museum exhibition begins with modern Chinese history begins in 1840 with the first opium war. There's a long screen usually about the evil British it's always the evil British and I try to explain this to my British colleagues and to you know people in the British government. And I say look you're hoping for a trade deal with China you're really hoping that one day you guys are going to get you know some great benefit from from you know cozying up to China and your Communist Party however you do you will never get any benefit you are always going to be the perfidious British who started the opium wars and dominated carved China up like a melon and it's very powerful this stuff it's taught to very young children from a very early age they are taught history by learning about the opium wars from 1840. And it's fascinating because that curriculum didn't wasn't brought into in China until 1990 91 and it's it's called it's explicitly called the patriotic education curriculum and it was brought in immediately after the Tiananmen Square massacre because the feeling was the student led. A protest showed that the average Chinese young person was not sufficiently patriotic enough and they needed to be they needed to be taught. How to be much more patriotic and so it's fascinating the the and how the curriculum has changed over over the years but that exhibition is a very powerful living example and I'd urge everyone who go to Beijing to go see it. By the way I do recall there was an app for a smartphone that you could almost see like the highlight reel I don't know if that still exists but at the time I went I downloaded an app and came home and showed my friends some of what I had seen and the power of the image. That was being created and disseminated but I'll I'll go research again whether whether that that window in for those of us that are in lockdown all around the world now would give people another way of experiencing that exhibit. Though it was much more vivid spending three four hours in there and all the twists and turns and what you might call the visual editorials and it was just fantastic and that's what that's a that's a belated thank you to you for for turning me on years ago that that that experience is always really resonated with me. When you are when you're looking at the US and China I remember you early in this conversation you talked a little bit about the personalities. But I think the structural issues that you brought up were extremely important and in my own sense of the United States we've talked about essentially all the companies that with no. Environmental restrictions with the huge pool of labor could engage in foreign direct investment and be profitable you had people imagining. Envisioning fantasizing about huge economies of scale you know coke and Pepsi selling to 1.2 billion people and you had a lot of people thinking. Including Silicon Valley and others that they were going to gain substantial market share that the American comparative advantage would allow them to play a very profitable and large scale role in China. But even before Donald Trump began his campaign places like the Council on Foreign Relations started making reports. I remember Kurt Campbell and another gentleman named Blackwell and others in 2014 were writing reports that could see that the convergence or the dreams of scale. Or the integrity of intellectual property rights were not going to we're not going to get to the place that they had imagined in their fantasies. And at the same time when I talked to Chinese officials they could say to me things like well if we were the size of Tonga. Then we'd send people to America get some value added in education come back. America's be the tugboat we would latch on and we would engage in development but it would cause them no difficulty. But they have a population five times the size of the American population or four and a half times the size. And so in some sense they were swamping the tugboat as the momentum continued. Things like the China 2025 report which said we're going to walk up the ladder of knowledge intensive industries and displace all these people we import from or allow for foreign direct investment. So I think there have been a lot of structural telltale signs of and the other two other things that Chinese said to me. The engine of growth in the world in the next phase is largely going to be China moving out of the middle income trap. And having rising living standards here that's where the world's aggregate demand will be centered. And I think they also said Americans do not practice what their economists preach. They talk about free trade can make everyone better off and no one worse off. But it implies a tremendous amount of adjustment assistance in the transformation given the size and influence of the Chinese economy. In which am I called changing the patterns of comparative advantage and the American government doesn't do that. It deregulates it cuts taxes for the rich. It lets people keep their money offshore. So tax evasion is now legal tax avoidance. Then they say they can't afford it. Their infrastructure and their school systems wither and top level Chinese leaders said to me there's nothing we can do about that. But we're being demonized. So I'm painting a portrait here of many facets of this breakdown. But I think it's deep and I think it's been there. How would I say even before the personalities of Xi Jinping and Donald Trump moved to the floor. Absolutely. And I would agree entirely that this is this has been coming for quite a long time. I would argue that it goes back to the aftermath of the global financial crisis because pre the global financial crisis. I think the you know in China they really looked at the U.S. as a model as a as a model that in many ways that China hoped to emulate and economically in particular. And after 2008 I think there was a feeling a recognition that you know America certainly wasn't perfect and that America you know Wall Street had blown up this global system that China certainly didn't want to you know to copy. And so I think yeah definitely goes back to back then and and frankly speaking I think there was a bit of a bit of hubris started to creep in. In China of feeling that actually you know maybe well founded perhaps but but a feeling that you know China didn't want to or didn't need to copy America that China actually maybe had a much better system. And that certainly is the the sort of mainstream of the rhetoric today at least domestically that it's not really what China tries to project outside its borders but certainly the message to the Chinese people is. And you can see it going into overdrive right at the moment with the protests that are happening in the U.S. and the rioting and looting happening across the U.S. The Chinese state media is wall to wall coverage of that and saying see that's that's the American system and look at how much better our system is. And so you know that that is I think you could date it easily back to 2008 but certainly I think that the personalities of Xi Jinping and then later Donald Trump Xi Jinping came into power in 2012 Donald Trump and obviously 2016 early 2017. I think those two personalities well to a certain extent they're both reactions to the changes that have happened the underlying structural changes and and their accelerants for for this kind of more confrontational approach to the bilateral relationship and I think it's you know the personalities do matter they're not they're not sort of irrelevant. And I would say both those personalities have accelerated the the more you know confrontational approach from each country. I'm I'm grinning as I'm listening to you because I'm remembering one of your predecessors in China Richard McGregor and his book The Party about the particularly at the outset of the book there's a passage or or a scene. Where American financiers come in and the Chinese leaders tell them essentially well you blew up Asia in the 90s and now you blown up yourself. You're certainly not the model we're going to emulate as we build this country and but I've thought Richard's book captured that 2008 and slightly beyond window very very skillfully.  Yes, indeed. So I guess the other thing that relates to China and China US relations. That is how they say very much on the radar right now is the evolution of Hong Kong. And I know you live there and I told the story a couple times on this podcast about being in a car. In December last year when late November I believe it was when a bomb went off in the street in Hong Kong was a bit like a ghost town weekend I was there. The conference I was attending essentially officially canceled and then went to a closed venue and convene there, but it was not publicized and there was quite a bit of protest in the streets. But it seems tell me a little bit about what's happened more recently what's what's going on now in Hong Kong and what is it portend what what what can we learn from that. Yeah well if if Hong Kong is so if there's a new Cold War between the US and China which I believe there is. We're in the early stages of it. If if there is then Hong Kong until now has been West Berlin but Beijing is about to turn it into East Berlin is put it that way. This is really as one of my colleagues put it probably slightly more poetically you need to think about this as two giant weather systems colliding. So if one of the weather systems is authoritarian increasingly totalitarian Communist Party rule in the mainland in mainland China. And the other weather system is the the liberal Western Democratic ideology these two ideological weather systems are really smashing into each other over the you know right above Hong Kong and it's it's really causing a tempest down here on the ground. The the latest is that next week June 4 is the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre and we expect very large well large protests maybe not very large actually because for 30 years every year there's been. You know, tens if not hundreds of thousands of people have come to Victoria Park in one China and Hong Kong. They've gone there and they've they've held a candle that vigil it's the only place on Chinese soil inside the People's Republic of China where where it's it's been until now legal and totally allowed for people to remember this this event from 1989. Except that this Thursday. Beige is Hong Kong government the Hong Kong police have banned that vigil for the very first time and they're they claim that that's because of the danger of covert 19 but that seems like a very lame excuse. It's clear that the real reason is almost certainly that Beijing is intent on introducing a very strict draconian national security law imposing it on Hong Kong and that the police don't want to. And the Hong Kong government don't want to Beijing appointed Hong Kong government don't want to further antagonize the leadership up in Beijing with the possibility of of a very large very visible very well covered. Vigil on this very sensitive anniversary so this week is going to be, I think very important, but the underlying issue is that Beijing, I think, surprised the Hong Kong government and almost everybody in Hong Kong with this announcement. Very recently or just a week or so ago, week and a half ago, this announcement that they were going to circumvent bypass the local legislature they were going to effectively throw out the idea of one country to systems through which Hong Kong is supposed to be governed. And actually contravene the the basic law the the mini constitution here in Hong Kong by directly imposing a national security law on Hong Kong. So if we've talked to quite a few constitutional scholars and, and, you know, great legal minds and it's very hard to find someone who argues that this is even legal under Hong Kong and Chinese law under the under the Constitution here. But I think that's irrelevant in a sense because Beijing has just effectively decided it's going to do this. Anybody wanted this, even the most pro Beijing figures, although some many of them have come out to publicly support this. I mean until Beijing said this they were all opposed to this isn't as a possibility even. I think so in Beijing's calculation in the Communist Party's calculation they were very very worried about elections tightly controlled but somewhat democratic elections that was supposed to happen in September. If you go back to late last year when these district council elections which is the absolute lowest level of election when these happened. The pro democracy figures anti government figures, you know candidates won a sweeping landslide 85% of the seats or more were won by pro democracy anti government. So that really caught Beijing's by surprise they actually in the weeks leading up had been clearly messaging that they thought that pro government and anti demonstrator candidates were going to win a landslide so this was a sort of stinging rebuke and I think it's quite clear that Beijing felt that when these elections come around in September that they were for the legislative council which is the local legislature that they might even have lost the local legislature so which would have been much more embarrassing to try and null those results. So in Beijing's mind what they've done is they have introduced this now when the rest of the world is distracted by the virus and when the Hong Kong people haven't been protesting so much over the last few months because of the virus and by ramming through this legislation they hope that they will scare the protesters off the streets and everyone will be called into sort of silence and acceptance and hey guess what if people do still come out and protest against this as they have over the last week then they're pretty soon have a national security law which they can use to round everybody up. There are very deep concerns if you go back to 2003 when this when a much much milder version of this was proposed under the actually under the basic law the mini constitution. When a national security law was proposed in 2003 you had the biggest protest up to that point peaceful protest ever in the history of Hong Kong against it and the plan was swiftly abandoned and the Hong Kong government Hong Kong legislature has never been in a political position where they were able to even suggest reviving that national security legislation partly because it's getting quite technical but partly because the legislation itself is almost certain to contradict other parts of the mini constitution in Hong Kong which are supposed to guarantee freedom of speech freedom of religion freedom of assembly the free press. The way that national security is interpreted in China in mainland China is extremely broad so somebody who posts a poem or a satirical cartoon on the internet can go to prison for several years for subversion or incitement to subvert state power as it's referred to in Chinese law so. You know you can see the quite large ramifications for Hong Kong if well this law is almost certain to be pushed through in time for those elections in September and my great concern is I mean you you were talking about witnessing a bomb exploding here in Hong Kong I've been out many times out to the front line to witness as a reporter to see you know how how these protests are playing out and I've seen them get quite violent in some cases and my great fear is that in doing this Beijing, you know the has closed off in many ways the possibility of peaceful protests closed off the avenues for people to protest peacefully and and you know for for some of the more radical members of the protest movement you could see the attract well you could see them going unfortunately for Hong Kong and for everyone here moving in a much more violent direction and my prediction for nearly well for about eight nine months now has been that unfortunately I think we may end up in Hong Kong in a situation somewhat like Northern Ireland and that will be a disaster for the Hong Kong people for the world for you know for anyone who loves Hong Kong and loves China as as I do. Yes. Well thank you that's how you say that that's a daunting portrait it doesn't how'd I say I'm an old sailor. So when you talk about weather systems colliding. Most often that's where you see thunderstorms and lightning and it sounds like that's exactly what's approaching or upon us now in Hong Kong. But Jamil, I always really love talking with you and I learn a lot. I'm inspired to be more curious by your vitality. But, and I hope that we can come back on this podcast together from time to time as events unfold. But, I guess for at this moment, I just want to thank you for being here today and encourage everybody to follow your fine work with the Financial Times and, and they're good judgment making you their Asian editor. I want to applaud that too. Thanks for being with me today. And, like I said, let's meet again soon. It's always a pleasure Rob. Thanks. Thanks so much. Bye bye. And check out more from the Institute for New Economic Thinking at InetEconomics.org.


Notes and bonds, the 10-year note right now down 276, trading $127.11, the 30-year off a full point plus 246 at 153.19 and right now folks, you have the 10-year yielding 1.86 percent and King dollar, King dollar's caught a bit out here, it's up 466, trading at 95.724, the euro is at 113, the yen is at 114.61 and the British pound is at 135 to 1 US dollar. You get over and take a look at the spy, all the N-the-X, bottom line folks is that, yeah, you're down fast, furious, all the above, that being said, guess what? You're getting a rejection of lower price and you're going to have lighter volume. We have the NASDAQ right now down 1.9 percent, S&Ps 1.4, Dow 1.1 and you can take a look, we start with the, the S&Ps, the spy, you're coming in to 119 million, you get 71, you've already rejected 455.46, the low is 456 and so you haven't even hit the low, bottom line, is that saying, guess what? I suspect as we come into the close, you're going to see more for rejection. N-the-X 100 is the same type of setup, the difference in the N-the-X is it has been weaker and it's closer to the bottom of the last leg down, and the last leg down inside of the N-the-X was much lower than the S&P. So the last leg down took us to 369.21, you got the 371.11 today, same type of setup, you're going to reject lower price, you're going to have lighter volume, that's saying, guess what? We have a chopping market, yeah, you have a market that doesn't want lower price, but I expect once again you're going to get a bounce once again, pretty amazing. Gold, gold contract out here, rejected lower price today at 18.04, you get big volume out here man, we have 363,000 contracts, bottom line got to 18.04 right now, you're trading at 18.13, and silver, stronger than gold right now, silver, continue to catch a bit out here this morning, also big volume, they had 99,000 contracts, that broke top side, so the bottom line silver's on its way now up to this 25.15 level, it broke the consolidation, it's been trading since November 28th. Stay right there folks, show them right back.