(Excerpted from Chapter 14: Chinese Hard Seat Class: The Grateful Unrich…)
When they think they know the answers, people are difficult to guide. When they know they don’t know, people can find their own way - Tao Te Ching
Shanghai to Guilin, China
In all of my travels I have never experienced anything as excruciating as this. The aisles are impassable, packed tight with anxious-looking Chinese peasants. The horde collectively grabs onto the overhead luggage rack then, realizing that the car is so crowded they need not hang on to anything, they let go in unison, swaying into one another like puppets as the train winds its way across badly scarred landscape west of Shanghai. This is “hard-seat class”. Read the rest of this entry »


Last week Argentina levied a $6 million fine on HSBC Bank Argentina SA for money laundering. This comes on the heels of last week’s announcement that HSBC would pay a record $1.92 billion fine to US authorities for laundering money for Mexican drug cartels. The latter decision left many wondering exactly what kind of crime a banker has to commit before he goes to jail.


