You get what you pay for.

I have a Hilfiger coat I'm pretty sure is fake. Cost about 7 bucks and the materials are probably a significant portion of that. Fake wool, heavy denim, fake leather. There wasn't much profit in making it or selling it. Is it fourth shift? That is, was it made in a Hilfiger factory after hours? I'd need to see a 'real' one to know, and how will I know? Is it from a shadow factory? Has some Chinese industrialist built or repurposed capacity to churn these out? Once again, don't ask me. Why bother to read this document? Why am I writing it? Think I've said before, I do this so you don't have to. And I find it interesting. Greed is not good. Human behavior needs to consciously overcome it though. Culture may help. What was going through the mind of the lady who sold it to me? She has a one room shop one street over from a very nice mall, all merchandise there is what it claims to be, I'm sure, and one street over from my apartment. 32 floors, four buildings, we're the greatest population density in the neighborhood but it's all quite occupied. No single floor dwellings as far as the eye can see. But a few of the commercial establishments are. Hers is. Why? Enough of my ignorance, how about something I do know a little about?

I like watches.

OK, I was playin witcha. My obsession with horology has taught me a little about economics too. Not unrelated to the Chinese experience. Intimately related occasionally. The Shanghai fake market has eclipsed all other IP oddities I've experienced. We could talk about Shkreli. We could talk about the thousands who die without medicine, the millions more that will die when the TPP is passed. I might go on about the hateful gibberish of Friedmanism. But I think I'll just go earn some money.