How much will taxpayers shoulder?

[Zenda]

Afterthought: I have no idea what that anecdote is supposed to suggest here. That the US punch China in the gut? That would contradict your argument. What else? I have no idea. Or are you just weaving yarns for our amusement?

I wasn't expecting you'd be needing an explanation to why I was reminded of that episode, but here you go...

The kid always expected to win, especially from me. So, when I surprised him with my lucky punch he was propably too startled to realize he still could have beaten me easily. Then, to save his face in front of the crowd, he accused me of unfair fighting. You see, he always thought it was fair to win because he was stronger as his victims, but loosing apparantly implied that I cheated somehow. Ironically, that might have helped me to get away with it. Maybe he decided quickly (and too fast) that accusing me of unfair fighting would be better as risking another hit.

Now, I could give more hints, but that would really spoil things ;)

For instance, this recent paper: http://www.stanford.edu/~mckinnon/papers/C...n_Aug-12-08.pdf

It's getting too late to read all of that, but on first glance it does seem to be 'on my side'. So I guess you are right, and asking McKinnon is not as useful as I hoped. What can I say? Thank you for giving me another usable reference? :wub: