Lots More on China's Moves to Create a Dollar Alternative

Joe Weisenthal (0:00)

We never ever have had guests bring in treats for us, and now this is two days in a row.

Zongyuan Zoe Liu (0:04)

No kidding!

Joe Weisenthal (0:05)

Yeah, this is incredible. This never happens. This is now two days in a row of guests bringing in sweets for us.

Which makes us very popular in our row, because then we'll share them with all of our colleagues. Thank you so much. I can't wait. Definitely having one of these.

Zongyuan Zoe Liu (0:22)

Does this bring you guys back to Hong Kong, you know what I mean?

Tracy Alloway (0:24)

Yes, yes. I remember every year, I actually kind of miss it, like all the Zodiac theme things every year. Like you would walk around the streets and there'd be all the pastries and things, but also the little gold statues in like the shape of a dog or a bear, not a bear, a pig or like a dragon and stuff. I miss that.

We don't get that so much. Joe, do you know what your Zodiac animal is in China?

Joe Weisenthal (0:51)

I used to know. Monkey.

Tracy Alloway (0:53)

Monkey?

Zongyuan Zoe Liu (0:54)

Thank you. Monkey and Tracy?

Tracy Alloway (0:58)

I'm a boar. I'm very lucky.

Joe Weisenthal (1:02)

What are you?

Zongyuan Zoe Liu (1:02)

I'm a rabbit. So this last year was my year.

Joe Weisenthal (1:06)

Oh, wow.

Tracy Alloway (1:06)

Did you have a good year?

Zongyuan Zoe Liu (1:07)

I think so.

Tracy Alloway (1:13)

I just popped up out of nowhere, but I'm here too. Carmen, what Chinese Zodiac animal are you?

Zongyuan Zoe Liu (1:17)

The horse.

Tracy Alloway (1:18)

Oh, the horse is a good one too.

Joe Weisenthal (1:23)

I did a deadlift. One, two, three.

Tracy Alloway (1:29)

Barges.

Joe Weisenthal (1:30)

This is an after school special, except.

Tracy Alloway (1:32)

I've decided I'm going to base my entire personality going forward on campaigning for a strategic pork reserve in the US.

Joe Weisenthal (1:37)

Where's the best squid ink pasta?

Tracy Alloway (1:39)

These are the important questions. Is it robots taking over the world?

Joe Weisenthal (1:42)

No, I think that in a couple years, the AI will do a really good job of making the Odd Lots podcast.

And people will think, I don't really need to listen to Joe and Tracy anymore. We do have…

Tracy Alloway (1:54)

Cha-ching.

Joe Weisenthal (1:58)

Welcome to Lots More, where we catch up with friends about what's going on right now.

Tracy Alloway (2:02)

Because even when Odd Lots is over, there's always Lots More.

Joe Weisenthal (2:06)

And we really do have… The perfect guest.

I'm always sort of skeptical of like, when people talk about the end of the dollar, it sort of seems like crank stuff to me.

Tracy Alloway (2:17)

We have had this conversation so many times. And yes, a lot of the people who like having conversations about the end of dollar dominance, they are crank adjacent, many of them. Many of them are firmly in crank territory. But I do think it is true if you look at what's happening in certain parts of the financial system, like there are attempts being made, even if they're not officially called, we are trying to move away from the dollar, they are called things like, well, we want a more resilient financial system, or we want one where we are not as tied or as reliant on what's happening to the dollar. Exposed, exactly right. So the efforts are there, they are underway.

Does it mean that things are going to change in the next year? Absolutely not. I don't think so. But I don't think they can be disregarded in total.

Joe Weisenthal (3:09)

Well, in the studio with us, we have someone who is definitely not a crank or crank adjacent. Former guest, Zoe Liu, you have a great piece. China wants to ditch the dollar in Noama magazine.

And, you know, this is, of course, we've done episodes on China, the dollar, whether they want to de-dollarize, et cetera. I actually find it kind of compelling. Maybe there's something going on here.

Zongyuan Zoe Liu (3:33)

Well, first of all, I do not get to choose the title.

Tracy Alloway (3:39)

Spoken like a true journalist.

Joe Weisenthal (3:41)

All journalists have had this, although I've generally been pretty involved in title management.

Tracy Alloway (3:46)

It's much less of a thing than it used to be. If you were working on a newspaper for many, many years, it was the sub editors who would choose the headline. I'm sorry, Zoe, we've totally interrupted you and hijacked the conversation.