George Soros: "I want to be a thinker"

Soros admits he is "an expert in the study of bubbles". Although he is known as the "arson of the Asian financial crisis" and a "bad kid in the global financial world", he insisted, in an interview with Gehui, host of Phoenix TV's celebrity face-to-face, that "in fact it was a mistake made by the Governments of Malaysia and Thailand." They accuse people like me of being speculators, but they keep money at the wrong value. Just as his friend Ma Yun said, "He is a misunderstood person," he insists, "we all operate according to our conscience and according to the rules of the game." He said his dream was to become a thinker, not an investor. "It's more important for me to leave my thoughts for the world than to leave my wealth." June 8, George Soros, the international famous investor and founder of the Quantum Fund, appeared at the West Lake. The trip was at the invitation of Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group, "I and he are good friends for many years." In the afternoon of the "Jiangnan forum" before the start, MA also deliberately arranged for him to nap for a while. According to Jiangnan staff, this is because the 79-Year-old Soros is too tired and some allergies.　　To this end, in the protagonist Soros debut before, MA had to personally warm up for more than 10 minutes. "Why would I ask Soros to come to Hangzhou?" Most of the time, he is a misunderstood person. "In Ma Yun's eyes," I think his way of thinking quite original, very attractive to me. Sometimes it is one thing to judge a person from the outside, and what kind of person he is is another. Only when you communicate with him will you feel what kind of person he is. I think he is a lovely old man, a social philanthropist and a public good. "Soros has been notorious for repeatedly penetrating the loopholes in the global financial system," he said.　　The Economist called him "the man who beat the Bank of England," and former Malaysian prime Minister Mahathir said he was the "arson of the Asian financial crisis", and the Wall Street Journal called him a "bad kid in the world of finance". On the afternoon of June 10, Soros received an exclusive interview with Gehui, host of Phoenix Satellite TV, in Beijing. In the interview, he responded to various doubts. "The fact is that the Malaysian and Thai governments have made the mistake of accusing people like me of being speculators, but they are keeping money at the wrong value." "He admits he's a" specialist in the study of bubbles, "but insists that" we all operate on the basis of our conscience and the rules of the game. " He said his dream was to become a thinker, not an investor. "It's more important for me to leave my thoughts for the world than to leave my wealth." "X= Gehui s= George Soros This is not the title I want to use. X: Tell me about your new book, Soros takes you out of the financial crisis (note: The Newparadigm for Financial T Crash of 2008 and What Itmeans ").　　I heard some interesting things, no one told you the Chinese name of the book?　　S: indeed.　　X: Do you know now?　　S: I heard, but I didn't choose the name.　　X: Do you think its Chinese name embodies what you want to express? S: No.　　But publishers want to use that name.　　X: What do you really want to say?　　S: The most important thing for me is the philosophy that is to be elaborated in the book, which is something outside the financial markets that is used to understand the situation of all mankind.　　X: Not just through this economic crisis? S: You know, there is a great deal of difference between the nature and the way society works. Because, in nature, nothing happens without the will of man. Therefore, in order to understand these facts, we have a set of independent criteria through which we can judge the correctness and wrongs of our thought and behavior.　　If our words are consistent with the facts of nature, we are right, if they do not match, then we are wrong. But in social affairs, many things are often influenced by the ideas of the participants. Therefore, there is no independent standard, you can manipulate reality. But in nature you cannot control the growth of flowers or the warming of the Earth. It was a huge discovery for me.　　[Page] People should reconsider how the market works X: On the one hand, you give people a theory about the market and people should follow it; On the other hand, you tell people that the market is changing, especially when people's ideas and ideas affect them, which means your theory doesn't work. S: No. On the contrary, my theory is that we cannot set rules to control the market, that is to predict the market (changes and trends). Fundamentally, markets are unpredictable.　　If you boil water, you know it will turn into vapor at 100 degrees Celsius.　　X: But the market is not running this way. S: Right, that's not how the market works.　　The financial crisis we have had proved this: people should reconsider how the market works. X: This is really interesting. I find that when people ask you questions, or listen to your lectures, they always want to get a practical solution from you: How to get rid of the financial crisis? How to make a lot of money?　　But what you tell people is always ...　　S: There is no practical solution. X: Yes.　　How do you feel when people keep asking you repetitive questions, such as how to get out of the financial crisis and how to make a lot of money? S: I said, if you recognize the relationship between reality and people's ideas, you go ahead and you can be better prepared.　　Therefore, I am better prepared than most people because I understand that the market is unpredictable. In fact, markets can clear bubbles. Those bubbles come from the market itself, and the removal of these bubbles is the essence of the market. Once this is realized, first people canto be better prepared; second, policymakers need to stop bubbles rising and expanding. The problem now is that people are refusing to take responsibility for failing to stop asset bubbles. Of course, some people will say that if the market itself does not know, how can we, as policy regulators, know? Indeed, we do not know. But one can see that markets can clear bubbles; one can see that the impact of the bubble is very bad because it afflicts people and people lose their jobs and collide.　　So the government must try to stop the bubble from getting bigger. Even if you know you can't understand the market changes, you can take some action and the market will give you feedback. From these feedbacks, can you tell whether you have done enough or overdo it? Then you can make adjustments.　　Although you may make mistakes, in fact you control the bubble. X: Now you tell the Chinese that China is recovering from the crisis and that it is progressing quickly, and this time, do you underestimate the impact of the bubble?　　Because you think China is recovering. S: No underestimate, (recovery) it is possible. Because I realized that my judgment was unreliable, I was constantly re-examining whether I was right or wrong. I have some insights, but I know this is not the final answer, I have to reassess, if the reality does not confirm my predictions, I will re-examine. Sometimes I have to revoke my judgment.　　So it helps me exercise critical thinking and critical thinking can prevent people from making big mistakes.　　I am a failed philosopher X. X: You are never afraid to admit that you made a mistake, I admire it. S: Yes, I'm glad I can admit I made a mistake, because I can correct the mistake later.　　Often, people are reluctant to admit that they are wrong. X: Yes.　　Especially when they are important people, their judgments will affect the market.　　S: That's why important people make big mistakes. X: You said you were a failed philosopher.　　Why? S: More than 20 years ago, 1987, I tried to explain the problem in a book I published.　　But people don't take it seriously.　　X: Few people pay attention to this problem. S: Yes. They say it's obvious. Actually, it's not a new thing. Or they say that we already know this and they are very dismissive of it.　　So I said I was a failed philosopher.　　X: You failed simply because you were not able to convey this message to people. S: Yes. Now, this is important to me. It's a guide to my investment. I made a lot of mistakes in my investment.　　I think the place where I might be superior to others is that I'm better at discovering my own mistakes, and that's how I save money for myself.　　Leaving thoughts is more important than leaving wealth. X: Obviously, your influence is much larger now, many people are willing to listen to your opinion, they start to think more deeply about your theory, now you will also call yourself a "failed philosopher"? S: I don'tsaid that.　　I think this theory is very important and needs to be taken seriously, so this is a big change.　　X: You should be very proud of your desire to be treated as a thinker, not an investor. S: Yes, it's the most important thing for me.　　In fact, it's more important than making money.　　X: So, for you, leaving thoughts for the world is more important than leaving wealth behind? S: Yes, indeed. I think, because I put forward these theories myself, now many other people are also concerned, there are many other things to be discovered, I am also eager to find them. Therefore, I am eager to develop these theories in depth.　　[Page] I became a foam research expert X: what inspired you? S: I don't know, but I've always been interested in this. I think a lot of people want to understand the world they live in, because it's natural and important to me.　　I am inclined to abstract thinking, so I have always had such ambition. I was greatly influenced by my father, and he had some very unusual experiences. I also have some very unusual experiences: born in poverty and grew up in a middle-class family. I was a Jew, and then the Germans came, and they gathered all the Jews, expelled them, and killed them.　　Fortunately, my father calculated from his own experience that sometimes normal rules cannot be applied, and if they still follow normal rules, they cannot survive. I learned this from my father, and I've summed it up in my own experience. When I got into the market, I was looking for something similar to what the Jews were going through, which was actually a bubble, so I became an expert on bubbles.　　And I watch bubbles swell, most of them won't swell, but sometimes they will, that's when they can make a lot of money. X: You've seized the opportunity for a revolutionary change, and even a lot of political power has been involved. So what do you think of the relationship between your financial investment and politics? Which is your ultimate goal? Are you making money for your investment and strengthening your political power?　　Or politics as a tool to make more money? S: No. I do want to influence politics because I care about people, but I don't pursue power. I pursue the truth, I am very concerned about the understanding of reality, this is the most important thing.　　I think it's important for the world to have people who care about the truth.　　X: Have you been opposing the Bush administration and strongly supporting Obama? S: Yes.　　I was happy and finally Obama was elected. X: Just now you say you seek truth, not power.　　Let's say, will you run for president? S: No. I believe in truth and not power, so I support President Obama, I hope he succeeds, but I also see some of his policies are incorrect.　　My aim is to approach the truth and use this conceptual framework to determine the seriousness of the misunderstanding. I'm not trouble maker X: I have some very curious ideas. For leaders in some countries, such as the countries of Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia,Their president thought you were going to be a pain in the neck because you made a lot of trouble for them. S: I'm sorry, it's former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir, who accuses me of manipulating money and so on. In fact, the Government of Malaysia and Thailand made the mistake of accusing people like me of being speculators, but they kept the currency at the wrong value. So I pointed this out and in the end, Mahathir also admitted that they understood.　　In fact, we all operate according to our conscience and according to the rules of the game.　　X: If you are the leader of a country, do you like people like Soros? S: I understand that it's easier to blame others than to blame yourself.　　So it's understandable that you'll catch a scapegoat.　　X: So how do you feel when you get blamed? S: I'm not happy, but I accept the fact that this may happen. And I can understand that a lot of people are against my thoughts because they don't want to hear the facts, they want to manipulate the facts. So I'm going to say something that's not right for them.　　Because as rulers, they want people to believe: they are right, I say no one can always be right, everyone should be prepared, they can make mistakes at any time. A happy day X: My last few questions are about how you understand a happy life. I would like to quote your friend, "in your real life, you have achieved what you expect, and everything goes forward according to your will."　　Is that so? S: When I was old, I realized most of what I wanted, but it wasn't the end of it, and there was a lot to learn about reality. I want to develop my philosophy, now this is my biggest ambition. Since absolute truth is not available, there is always more to be found; it is a never-ending pursuit, so there is no end, which makes me happy.　　But I don't expect to be remembered, that's the motivation that keeps me alive. X: Your friend also said, "If I'm confused about India or Pakistan, I'll go and talk to him, but if I have a problem with my marriage, I'm not going to go looking for him."　　"Is that so?" S: I don't think so.　　Because he didn't talk to me about it.　　X: But you know, that's the way the world looks at you, feels ambitious, powerful, strong, sometimes stubborn, and doesn't seem to enjoy life very much.　　S: My two marriages were separated for a long 5 years, and then I concluded: "A happy day" is not the previous understanding of my "Happy Days".　　X: So what is your understanding of "live a happy life"? S: In fact, I am very happy now, talking to you is very happy, explain my point of view, which makes me very happy.