China manipulates its currency, specifically the exchange rate between US dollars and the Chinese yuan/renminbi. They do it purposely and the whole world knows it though it appears the freaking global media does not understand it even minimally.
Allow me to explain it. Continue reading
One of the unique concepts of the Asian mind is the idea of “face.” It is a stew with reputation, honor, social standing, wealth, power, dignity, moral character, and integrity being the main ingredients.
One may give face, lose face, or save face and the Chinese have been focused on face for more than 5,000 years. The rest of the world is not so fixated on face.
Because, dear reader, we are dealing with the Chinese in regard to tariffs and non-tariff barriers to trade and face is a big deal with the Chinese.
The Chinese and the Americans — now having put the issue in the middle of the table and feeling the first impacts of the tariffs — desperately want to arrive at some compromise.
1. The Americans — meaning President Trump — are more than willing to enter into discussions and already have. The Trump admin is looking for a deal to address tariffs and Chinese practices such as access to Chinese courts to address civil business litigation, the safety of intellectual property owned by Americna companies, access to Chinese markets for American goods, and other specific, substantive Chinese bad trade practices.
2. The Chinese — desperate to maintain face and not to look powerless in the eyes of the world but dealing with a dicey economy themselves — want to export their many goods to the United States, the most powerful and robust economy in the world.
We are now seeing the impact of tariffs in American ports with a meaningful reduction in traffic. Continue reading
Foreign investors provide a critical imprimatur of approval when they invest their money in China. Here is what the picture looks like over the past few decades.
This graph shows the magnitude of foreign capital investment in China expressed as a percentage of China GDP.
In discussions around the issue of the US – China economic relationship much has been said about the threat of the Chinese dumping their extensive portfolio of US Treasuries (bonds, bills, notes). Is it a real threat?
You decide.
OK, dear reader, here are the nascent facts:
Tariffs — a tax or customs duty imposed by a country at its border on goods imported from another country — are wildly misunderstood and have come into the lexicon since their use by the Trump admin and during this presidential election campaign.
They are not wildly understood, sort of like calculus, differential equations, and how doorbells work. Let us reason together, dear reader.
Tariffs have been traditionally used (and taught in business schools) in the following situations:
1. Tariffs are used to protect strategic industries — industries with national security implications — such as high tech, steel, or aviation.
2. Tariffs are used to protect fledgling, startup businesses during their period of incubation and infancy, again, often technology related.
3. Tariffs are used to punish bad actors such as China for its theft of technology, its use of slave/prison/child labor to manufacture goods, and to offset low environmental standards.
Pretty straightforward stuff, no? But, there’s more. Continue reading
I lost power during Helene the Hurricane — lots of wind and rain in Savannah, lots of trees down and windblown tree debris. No power meant no Internet. Adding insult to injury, I had no phone though I could slip into another part of Savannah and get some 5-bar G+. I am now repowered and re-connected.
As I write this post, I am listening to Kris Kristofferson. Rest in peace, Ranger.
China is, of course, a rotten bunch of Communists (you cannot overstate what cruel fuckers these guys are). They grow cotton — 90% of China’s cotton — in Xijiang province:
Chinese workers picking ripe cotton by hand. Lots of hands and mouths to feed in China.
1. China is the largest producer of cotton (2023 numbers) in the world (24%, 27.34 million pounds) followed by: Continue reading
I usually disagree with all of Joe Biden’s economic policies which is the reason I am caught so off guard by one that I approve of: tariffs on a range of Chinese goods.
Chinese – US trade has grown substantially since the 2001 inclusion of China in the World Trade Organization, a strategic blunder in my view as it has primarily benefited China at the expense of the US.
In that admission, the Chinese agreed to market access to China for foreign manufacturers, protections for intellectual property, and transparency around trade laws and regulations. None of this materialized.
BTW, the US has only had “normalized” relations with the People’s Republic of China, the Red Chinese, the Communists, since 1979. Continue reading
The United States Army is the smallest it has been since 1940, the year before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and sunk the majority of the American fleet in an act of perfidy that launched the US and the world into a global war that killed millions and changed the course of civilization.
[Frame of reference: US 1940 population 132,000,000; currently 340,000,000.]
The American fleet was considered the most potent American military arm and the only one that could project force over the horizon into the Pacific, so the Japs plotted to take it out and did.
Weakness attracts aggression.
USS West Virginia and USS Tennessee burning after Jap attack on Battleship Row at 7:48 AM, 7 Dec 1941
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