> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://larrysalibra.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Larry's Weekly Newsletter - October 4, 2026 - URL: https://larrysalibra.com/newsletter/larrys-weekly-newsletter-october-4-2026/ - Published: 2026-10-04T15:59:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-04T16:53:39.000Z - Author: Larry Salibra - Tags: newsletter, weekly Dear friends, I became a year older this past week and my son a month older. It's been about a month since he started sleeping through the night and that's made a world of difference in our quality of life. The first three months were challenging for us...mostly in terms of managing feeding while getting enough rest. I can't really be sure how much of that was attributable to our inexperience as parents and taking care of babies and how much was just because human babies really could use 3 more months in the womb. Please find my posts from the past week below. Yours, Larry [Home is where your friends arePeople often ask me why I stay in Hong Kong. There are many reasons of course...some of which are the headline reasons that everyone likes Hong Kong: the low, simple tax system, the safety, the convenience, the nature, the opportunities, the food, etc. Over my two decades, I’ve![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/74/e474b4cb-cbee-4c30-844d-ae523b708967/content/images/icon/favicon-69ead97d-91fd-4b14-8218-1e793565b4e5.png)Larry SalibraLarry Salibra![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/74/e474b4cb-cbee-4c30-844d-ae523b708967/content/images/thumbnail/IMG_5305-1-a84b3b78-2065-421f-bc28-cd392aa18a19.jpg)](https://larrysalibra.com/home-is-where-your-friends-are/) [Camaraderie is the secret to success: a swimming lesson for lifeI was chatting with a high school swim team friend this evening about swimming and reminiscing about our experience swimming competitively as children. Before high school, in late elementary school, actually, I started swimming competitively on a private club team. Our club was one of the top, if not the![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/74/e474b4cb-cbee-4c30-844d-ae523b708967/content/images/icon/favicon-075fd4a6-f59a-4791-8285-f3a0daf92af1.png)Larry SalibraLarry Salibra![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/74/e474b4cb-cbee-4c30-844d-ae523b708967/content/images/thumbnail/IMG_1595-1-9cb58047-80c3-43d3-9e01-15809de42528.jpg)](https://larrysalibra.com/camaraderie-is-the-secret-to-success-a-swimming-lesson-for-life/) [Only suckers pay the menu priceRewards and discounts are everywhere. Credit rewards are well-known in the West and especially the USA where 3-5% cash back on certain spending is not unheard of. Here in Hong Kong where credit cards are less generous, 1.5% cash back is generally the highest unlimited option. If![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/74/e474b4cb-cbee-4c30-844d-ae523b708967/content/images/icon/favicon-cbae6798-55fa-4ca4-a1bd-09faaa48da5b.png)Larry SalibraLarry Salibra![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/74/e474b4cb-cbee-4c30-844d-ae523b708967/content/images/thumbnail/-------------------------c0d5a6d9-eb36-4804-99ac-f0807013fdb8.png)](https://larrysalibra.com/only-suckers-pay-the-menu-price/) [Happy 77th birthday China!Today is the 77th birthday of the People’s Republic of China. I’ve been celebrating the birthday of my adopted home for almost 2 decades. It’s been absolutely mindblowing to watch the progress of the nation over that time period. Every year is bigger and better than the![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/74/e474b4cb-cbee-4c30-844d-ae523b708967/content/images/icon/favicon-213da36f-ac31-4d04-b7d4-954541189826.png)Larry SalibraLarry Salibra![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/74/e474b4cb-cbee-4c30-844d-ae523b708967/content/images/thumbnail/IMG_7028-2-a8b6d229-544c-40ea-8cd1-59cb5848646a.jpg)](https://larrysalibra.com/happy-77th-birthday-china/) [The occupation of Iraq is over. How long will it last?I couldn’t help but notice that US troops finally left Iraq 23 years after they invaded it (and that was the second time in my lifetime!). While it is good that they are finally leaving, when occupying powers meddle in a foreign country and then leave, this often results![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/74/e474b4cb-cbee-4c30-844d-ae523b708967/content/images/icon/favicon-59123313-9ada-4633-9f5b-96cf29de1ef5.png)Larry SalibraLarry Salibra![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/74/e474b4cb-cbee-4c30-844d-ae523b708967/content/images/thumbnail/larry-4-ffb3f74e-f681-4d7e-90e2-88ea76af637b.jpg)](https://larrysalibra.com/the-occupation-of-iraq-is-over-how-long-will-it-last/) [Children and phonesIn an editorial advocating for government action on children’s use of social media (which I think is not needed), SCMP writes: Over half of children aged six to 10 own smartphones, according to parent-led group Look Up Hong Kong. I’m very early in my journey as a![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/74/e474b4cb-cbee-4c30-844d-ae523b708967/content/images/icon/favicon-6f550036-cea9-484e-877b-d12239f3f53a.png)Larry SalibraLarry Salibra![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/74/e474b4cb-cbee-4c30-844d-ae523b708967/content/images/thumbnail/larry-4-7ed5d9c3-3fb8-4984-ac83-e3d991316b69.jpg)](https://larrysalibra.com/children-and-phones/) [Raising rates causes inflationIn a recent interview, macro analyst Luke Gromen brought up his “most heretical” view which is that in current US financial environment raising interest rates is inflationary just like cutting interest rates traditional is thought of as inflationary. This is because of the size of the US debt ($40 trillion)![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/74/e474b4cb-cbee-4c30-844d-ae523b708967/content/images/icon/favicon-dfac665f-07ec-43d9-ba61-6fa0f837753c.png)Larry SalibraLarry Salibra![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e4/74/e474b4cb-cbee-4c30-844d-ae523b708967/content/images/thumbnail/larry-4-d7d2eb37-32e7-4c30-8322-f41f8f032ad3.jpg)](https://larrysalibra.com/raising-rates-causes-inflation/)