China is the original riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. A country striving for modernity but feudal in its treatment of its citizens, Beijing’s economic identity is a combination of Communist orthodoxy and crony capitalism. As you might expect, the two don’t work well together.
On the outside of the riddle, China is booming, the people are subservient and happy, and the government is looking to the future with confidence. This is the picture the Chinese Communists paint for the world to see. The reality is much different.
China is being crushed by debt, has become dependent on high levels of debt, and has created a bubble in several sectors, like housing and household goods.
One noted Chinese economist said in 2019, “Basically, China’s economy is all built on speculation and everything is over-leveraged.” He was proved right when the massive overbuilding of housing caused the market to collapse in 2021.
Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy has revealed that the company has not seen significant changes in average selling prices or consumer spending habits based on Donald Trump’s tariff policy. His statements at Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting serves as another nail in the coffin for warnings of economic doom spouted by hysterical Trump haters.
TechSpot reports that in a recent Q&A session at Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting, CEO Andy Jassy addressed growing concerns over how the Trump administration’s tariffs on Chinese imports could affect the e-commerce giant’s business. Jassy stated that, in contrast to warnings from retailers like Walmart and Target about imminent price hikes, Amazon has neither experienced notable increases in average selling prices nor observed any decline in consumer demand.
“We have not seen any attenuation of demand at this point,” Jassy reported to shareholders. “We also haven’t yet seen any meaningful average selling price increases.
Democrats and Republicans united in the U.S. Senate for the first time in who knows how long to pass Donald Trump’s no tax on tips plan on Tuesday.
The bill would allow those who earn tips at work to claim a 100% deduction on their tips, Breitbart News reported.
The legislation also includes a renewal and expansion of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, and adds no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, and no tax on overtime workers.
The bill was passed in the Senate on unanimous consent — meaning they called for a straight up vote with no debate of alterations to give the bill expedited passage.
Pro-CCP sites like “Bastille Post Global” are producing a narrative around the recent U.S.-China tariff deal that suggests world leaders should reconsider moving too fast to concede to Trump’s demands on tariffs given China’s “success” in bringing Trump’s initial tariffs to heel with counter-tariffs of their own.
Anonymous analyst “Deep Throat” writes: “The initial breakthrough in US–China trade negotiations has set a precedent, with China’s unwavering stance in the face of Trump’s so-called ‘reciprocal tariffs’ policy serving as a model for other countries in their own tariff talks with the US. China had refused to yield throughout the process and maintained a ‘not backing down’ posture.”
Watch for China’s continued pressure to create a world coalition response to Trump’s tariff actions. It remains to be seen if China’s spin on this deal will look like anything more than bluster. China initially claimed it would not negotiate at all with Trump and would not lower any of its pre-Trump tariff levels, yet ended up doing both in this same deal its trying to spin as a defeat for Trump.
The tables can be turned on China, as other nations might look at what the U.S. has done to bring China to heel, at least in part, and choose to do the same. If Trump were wise, he would be pushing for an anti-China-tariff response from the many nations currently being hammered by Xi’s policies.
The Anti-British PM of Britian, Kier Starmer, announced a new “trade deal” with the EU that essentially reintegrates Britain back into the EU orbit. The new deal sees Britian surrender, once again, its sovereignty to the EU bureaucracy. This is in open defiance of the democratically passed referendum called Brexit, the British Exit from the European Union.
They claim negotiations went “down to the wire” with a breakthrough less than 12 hours from the deadline. A symbolic central plank of the new deal is the surrendering of British fishing waters to EU boats, a key motivation for many British voters to vote yes to Brexit. The move is seen by the waning British population as another overt act of treason against Britain by its own self-hating PM.
UK and EU agree Brexit reset trade deal | Politics News– news.sky.com Source Link Excerpt:
The UK and EU have agreed a new post-Brexit reset trade deal after months of negotiations.
A UK government source said: “All in all, a good deal for all.”
The talks were the first since Boris Johnson agreed the initial Brexit deal in January 2020, when the UK left the EU.
Negotiations went “down to the wire”, with a breakthrough at about 10.30pm on Sunday ahead of a Monday 10am deadline, as UK fishing rights were, yet again, a major sticking point.
Sky News understands the EU wanted permanent access to UK waters for fishing, but they have agreed a deal which includes access for 12 years.
There will be no change to the current access for UK fishing communities, with no reduction in British quotas or increase in the amount the EU is allowed to catch.
Fishing rights were a major part of the Brexit “leave” campaign, although fishing only accounts for 0.4% of GDP.
