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The Daily Reckoning Weekend Edition Saturday, May 22, 2010 Beijing, China An impromptu interview atop the Great Wall of China, Urbanization and middle class demand in the Middle Kingdom, And all your reckonings from the past week, archived and ready to go... Joel Bowman, reporting from Beijing, China... We've a little something different for you this weekend, fellow reckoner. As you know, we've been here in the capital of the Middle Kingdom for the past week. Our Reckoner-in-Chief, Bill Bonner, is here too, along with Addison Wiggin and Mayer's Special Situations editor, Chris Mayer. We've toured the malls, the walls and the halls, met with a fantastic group of local experts and eaten some of the finest food man ever tasted. And we also asked a lot of questions. After a hectic week of meetings and dinner table discussions, we wound- down a little on Friday with a winding horseback ride out to the Great Wall. As far as walls go, they don't come any more impressive than the Chinese monument. It's simply spectacular. Since we were out there...and since the China economic story is, in many ways, a global one...and since we were there with a great group of investors...and since, well, since we hadn't written anything for the weekender yet, we decided to take a little footage of the occasion. The following clip is a bit of an impromptu Q&A between yours truly and Mr. Mayer. The sound quality might not be all it could be, and we're still a little out of breath after the hike up to the location, but hopefully you'll enjoy our special video edition from the Great Wall of China... Just on that gold point: Agora Financial currently has an exclusive offer with First Federal* to sell a limited quantity of MS69 tenth ounce Chinese Gold Pandas...as well as an exclusive grab on some perfectly graded MS70 coins. At the moment, the deal is exclusive to Agora Financial readers. But, as with all good things, that won't last. Click Here for More Info. *Please keep in mind that we do have a business relationship with First Federal Coin Corp. whereby we receive an advertising fee for coins sold. Before buying any coins, we recommend you check out our Beginners Guide To Coin Collecting report. You'll learn the differences of bullion vs. rare/collector coins, how to sell your coins, the importance of grading and much more. ALSO THIS WEEK in The Daily Reckoning... Three Mile Island for US Oil By David Galland Willie Shakespeare may have summed it up best when, borrowing the voice of King Richard III, he penned "A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!" History is replete with examples of how, but for the proverbial horse, kingdoms have been lost. My reference point is an accident that will almost certainly lead to tragic miscalculations and havoc down the road. And, I might add, an exceptional opportunity for the patient and attentive investor. Atlas Is Not Shrugging... He's Just Outsourcing By Addison Wiggin Beijing, China Late last year, David Farr shot off his mouth and made a lot of people mad. But the insights that spring from his candid comments could make a lot of other people rich. Including you. With the inspired help of my colleague, David Gonigam, here's the story... Mr. Farr is the CEO of Emerson Electric. The firm makes electrical equipment, mostly for industrial customers. That said, its best-known product is likely in your kitchen sink - the InSinkErator garbage disposal. Germans Ban Getting Naked By Dan Denning St. Kilda, Australia Austria is not Australia. Sorry about that. Late last week we reported that the Australian Mint sold more gold coins in the first two weeks of April than it had in all of the first quarter combined. That was a mistake. It was the Austrian Mint, which makes a lot more sense, given that nearly all of the sales were to Europeans who are in a mild state of panic about the stability of their currency and their banking sector. Beauty is Truth By Eric Fry Laguna Beach, California "Beauty is truth; truth beauty," the poet, John Keats famously mused in his "Ode on a Grecian Urn." Neither Greece nor Goldman Sachs can seem to get the hang of this concept. Grecian finances, for example, illustrate an opposing principal: deception is ugly. For more than a decade, the Greeks have engaged in a mass deception - that a revenue- starved nation could finance generous social programs. The idea was never viable, feasible or legitimate. But the Greeks wanted to believe it...and so did the rest of the European Union. They all wanted to believe that Greece's last six defaults were a fluke - that the new and improved Greece would behave nothing like the old, profligate one. A Successful Collapse By Bill Bonner Beijing, China We have ridiculed bailouts. We have railed against them. It did not seem fair to pay off bankers with the sweat of labor's brow. With privilege comes responsibility. It was the privilege of the banker to stay at the Four Seasons while lending someone else's money to the Greeks. His bet failed. Now, it is his responsibility to take his beating like a man. ------------------------------------------------------- The Weekly Endnote: We're stepping onto the plane back to Taipei in a couple of hours, fellow reckoner, so we'll have to leave it there for today. But boy oh boy, we've got a ton of stories from this past week to share with you. Catch you next week. Until then... Cheers, Joel Bowman Managing Editor The Daily Reckoning ------------------------------------------------------- Here at The Daily Reckoning, we value your questions and comments. If you would like to send us a few thoughts of your own, please address them to your managing editor at joel@dailyreckoning.com The Daily Reckoning - Special Reports: Gold: The Truth About Gold Fiat Currency: Using the Past to See into the Future "THE GREAT AMERICAN RECOVERY RP-OFF" Brace yourself for what's about to go down as the BIGGEST FINANCIAL SWINDLE in world history.