Thank you. Let me just start by saying our friend Steve Bannon had a program over the weekend, and as advertised, I think a number of follow-ups that will take place in the course of this week, about a company called Sequoia Capital. And I’d like to get your sort of calibration on how big a deal Sequoia Capital is in the venture capital space for the United States and the world.

Bill, I wanted to thank you for having been on and to visit with you a little bit about some of the really important takeaways from that conversation with him about this cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency within the Department of Homeland Security, what it’s up to and what should be a grave concern to all of us.

We’re back and we’re visiting with Bill Walton, as we have the privilege of doing each week, the host of the Bill Walton Show. You can find it, among other places, at the CPAC channel. He had, last night, on that program a fascinating interview with Ben Weingarten. Bill, I wanted to give you a chance to talk a little bit about Claudia Rosett as well. I don’t think you knew her, but you’ve had a chance to take stock of what she was all about and I’d love to get your appreciation of her work as well.

But Bill, just on this question of the inadvisability of our putting more money in China. We’ve discussed this before and I just want to confirm that it’s still your view that if in fact we wind up in a shooting war with the Chinese communists, that it is even more unlikely than otherwise that investors with large amounts plunk down in China. And you mentioned that these are companies that work for the Chinese Communist Party. Of course they all do, but there are some that we’re seeing people invest in that are sanctioned. You’re not allowed to buy their products in this country because of human rights abuses or because they work for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army or both. And yet you can continue to invest in them. Those investments I think are all gone, are they not, in the event of a shooting war?

Drawing on your experience in Wall Street running Allied Capital, a $6 billion venture up there for a time, I wanted to draw you out, as we often do on some developments that seem to be further eroding the advisability of China investments for Americans, whether they’re pension funds or mutual funds or index funds, or any other investment vehicle for that matter, despite the continuing determination of your former colleagues on Wall Street to make such investments. Walk us through some of the developments, Bill, that are making China, as you’ve said here, increasingly uninvestible for foreigners.

Bill, one of the outfits that has been shamelessly and relentlessly promoting that image of the girl with the parasol, the beautiful damsel, has been the US Chamber of Commerce. When it comes to China, they could see no evil. They were relentlessly flacking for their members, to be fair, who were under that illusion that you mentioned. Even you may have been the subject to a decade ago. Till now, as best I can tell, the Chamber has never deviated from that pro-engagement line, but there’s been a development that I wanted to make sure our listeners and audience were aware of. Tell us about it.

This is the book. It’s called The Indictment, and I think you undersold it, Frank. I mean, this is about a 180-page book, including footnotes, appendices, charts, that sort of thing. My favorite kind of book. It’s short. But most importantly, if you want a one volume reference about why we need to focus on China, what’s at stake with China, what to do about it, this is it. I mean, Frank mentioned there are 9 basic areas where he focuses on… I guess we have together different points, what the Chinese Communist Party is all about, elite capture in America, their impact on our economy, what they’ve been doing work to undermine our energy security, and on and on. The information warfare, concern about the silicon chips and that sort of thing.

Bill, excuse me. Ray Dalio, who has gone from creating an investment firm in his bedroom decades ago to becoming a billionaire, I gather several times over perhaps. But China played a prominent role in that transformation, did it not? And what is he saying about it now?

A lot to talk about. I thought I might start with a financial sector issue, and that is the meltdown of yet another regional bank, this one, First Republic. Jamie Dimon’s JP Morgan has stepped into the breach we’re told, and it will only cost taxpayers $13 billion or thereabouts. Give us a sense of what is going on here, Bill, and whether what’s really afoot is much bigger than just these three banks that have now failed, and First Republic the most recent among them.

We’re back. Bill Walton is in the house, I’m pleased to say, virtually. We’re always delighted to catch up with him, but especially at a moment when there is still further evidence that the Chinese Communist Party and its friends are making headway in laying siege to the reserve status, reserve currency status that is of the US dollar.