Collection: Charlie Munger - #125 'The Secret Behind China's Success'
[Transcript]
ANDY SERWER 00:00
Are you concerned about this rise of somewhat nationalistic leadership around the world, like in Turkey, in Brazil, in China, and the United States arguably?
CHARLIE MUNGER 00:16
Well, take Brazil. Who in the hell would like Brazil? It's a great climate and a great country, but they're screwing it up fairly well.
ANDY SERWER 00:26
You mean the new leader, or just what's happened previously.
CHARLIE MUNGER 00:29
What's happened generally.
ANDY SERWER 00:30
Yeah. OK. So does that require a strong man to take over though?
CHARLIE MUNGER 00:36
Well, I don't think I've got deep knowledge on exactly what works well in the internal politics of every other country. Who would have guessed that the Chinese communists would improve their big country as much as they have in the last 30 years?
ANDY SERWER 00:54
That surprise you?
CHARLIE MUNGER 00:55
Well, they didn't the first 20 years. They had the Cultural Revolution. It was crazy. And now they have one of the greatest success records in the history of mankind. I don't know about you, but I did not predict it.
ANDY SERWER 01:09
I didn't. So what is the secret to China's success then?
CHARLIE MUNGER 01:14
They copied Singapore.
ANDY SERWER 01:18
Which is –
CHARLIE MUNGER 01:19
Remember? The Communist leader said I don't care if the cat is black or white. I care whether it catches mice. And they copied a very wonderful, famous Chinese man in Singapore. And lo and behold, they found the right – they found the right Chinese leadership outside of China, which amuses me. Now, he was Chinese.
But look at the way it worked. In the whole history of the world, no nation that big has ever advanced that fast. And they did it by having a bunch of poor people save half their income. They did not use the wealth of the rich world to get ahead. They used the savings of poor people. I am a huge admirer of what the Chinese have accomplished. And I give – if you ask me who is the one man who did the most for China, it was Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. They copied him.
ANDY SERWER 02:17
Are you still sanguine about the future for China right now? There's a lot of concerns about slowing growth and leverage in the system.
CHARLIE MUNGER 02:24
I'm quite optimistic. They've been succeeding for a long time. Sure, they have ups and downs, and they make mistakes as well as good decisions. But if the average amount the Chinese are getting ahead, they're not moving backward.
ANDY SERWER 02:40
What do you think the economic relationship between China and the United States looks like, say, two years from now?
CHARLIE MUNGER 02:46
Well, if both sides have any sense, they will be better and better friends and adjust all differences. It is stark raving madness on either side not to make a friend of the other really powerful nation on Earth.
(Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/influencers-transcript-charlie-munger-105001910.html)
