Vivek Ramaswamy

It's been the unelected bureaucrats and the bureaucratic deep state underneath that's really been making the decisions. I've done business in a number of places. I've traveled to Japan. There's an interesting corporate analogy. Sometimes if you get outside of politics, people can—I find— listen and pay attention a little bit more because of politics.

It's been the unelected bureaucrats and the bureaucratic deep state underneath that's really been making the decisions. I've done business in a number of places. I've traveled to Japan. There's an interesting corporate analogy. Sometimes if you get outside of politics, people can—I find— listen and pay attention a little bit more because of politics.

It's been the unelected bureaucrats and the bureaucratic deep state underneath that's really been making the decisions. I've done business in a number of places. I've traveled to Japan. There's an interesting corporate analogy. Sometimes if you get outside of politics, people can—I find— listen and pay attention a little bit more because of politics.

It's so fraught right now that if you start talking to somebody who disagrees with you about the politics of it, you're just butting heads but not really making progress. So let's just make the same point but go outside of politics for a second. So I was traveling Japan. I was having a late night dinner with a CEO of a Japanese pharmaceutical company.

It's so fraught right now that if you start talking to somebody who disagrees with you about the politics of it, you're just butting heads but not really making progress. So let's just make the same point but go outside of politics for a second. So I was traveling Japan. I was having a late night dinner with a CEO of a Japanese pharmaceutical company.

It's so fraught right now that if you start talking to somebody who disagrees with you about the politics of it, you're just butting heads but not really making progress. So let's just make the same point but go outside of politics for a second. So I was traveling Japan. I was having a late night dinner with a CEO of a Japanese pharmaceutical company.

And, you know, it takes a while to really get him to open up, culturally speaking, Japan, you know, a couple nights of karaoke and, you know, whatnot, maybe late night restaurant, whatever it is. We built a good enough relationship where he was very candid with me. He said, I'm the CEO of the company.

And, you know, it takes a while to really get him to open up, culturally speaking, Japan, you know, a couple nights of karaoke and, you know, whatnot, maybe late night restaurant, whatever it is. We built a good enough relationship where he was very candid with me. He said, I'm the CEO of the company.

And, you know, it takes a while to really get him to open up, culturally speaking, Japan, you know, a couple nights of karaoke and, you know, whatnot, maybe late night restaurant, whatever it is. We built a good enough relationship where he was very candid with me. He said, I'm the CEO of the company.

I could go and find the head of a research unit and tell him, okay, this is a project we're no longer working on as a company. We don't want to spend money on it. We're going to spend money somewhere else. And he'll look me in the eye and he'll say, yes, sir. Yes, sir. I'll come back six months later and find that they're spending exactly the same amount of money on those exact same projects.

I could go and find the head of a research unit and tell him, okay, this is a project we're no longer working on as a company. We don't want to spend money on it. We're going to spend money somewhere else. And he'll look me in the eye and he'll say, yes, sir. Yes, sir. I'll come back six months later and find that they're spending exactly the same amount of money on those exact same projects.

I could go and find the head of a research unit and tell him, okay, this is a project we're no longer working on as a company. We don't want to spend money on it. We're going to spend money somewhere else. And he'll look me in the eye and he'll say, yes, sir. Yes, sir. I'll come back six months later and find that they're spending exactly the same amount of money on those exact same projects.

And I'll tell them, no, we agreed. I told you that you're not going to spend money on this project. And we have to stop now. Should have stopped six months ago. Get a slap on the wrist for it. He says, yes, sir. I'm sorry. Yes. No, no, of course. That's correct. Come back six months later, same person is spending the same money on the same project. And here's why.

And I'll tell them, no, we agreed. I told you that you're not going to spend money on this project. And we have to stop now. Should have stopped six months ago. Get a slap on the wrist for it. He says, yes, sir. I'm sorry. Yes. No, no, of course. That's correct. Come back six months later, same person is spending the same money on the same project. And here's why.

And I'll tell them, no, we agreed. I told you that you're not going to spend money on this project. And we have to stop now. Should have stopped six months ago. Get a slap on the wrist for it. He says, yes, sir. I'm sorry. Yes. No, no, of course. That's correct. Come back six months later, same person is spending the same money on the same project. And here's why.

Historically in Japan, and I should say in Japan, this is changing now. It's changing now. But historically, until very recently, and even to an extent now, it's near impossible to fire people. So if somebody works for you and you can't fire them, that means they don't actually work for you.

Historically in Japan, and I should say in Japan, this is changing now. It's changing now. But historically, until very recently, and even to an extent now, it's near impossible to fire people. So if somebody works for you and you can't fire them, that means they don't actually work for you.

Historically in Japan, and I should say in Japan, this is changing now. It's changing now. But historically, until very recently, and even to an extent now, it's near impossible to fire people. So if somebody works for you and you can't fire them, that means they don't actually work for you.

It means in some deeper perverse sense, you work for them because you're responsible for what they do without any authority to actually change it. So I think most people who have traveled in Japan and Japanese corporate culture through the 1990s and 2000s and 2010s and maybe even some vestiges in the 2020s wouldn't really dispute what I just told you.

It means in some deeper perverse sense, you work for them because you're responsible for what they do without any authority to actually change it. So I think most people who have traveled in Japan and Japanese corporate culture through the 1990s and 2000s and 2010s and maybe even some vestiges in the 2020s wouldn't really dispute what I just told you.