Biden's America: China is the Enemy

[Fat Cat]

I didn't hit a paywall on the WaPo article. Maybe only some regions are allowed to view it?

My apologies, I think it was a privacy setting on my browser.

[Fat Cat]

Inside DOJ's nationwide effort to take on China: Federal prosecutors say the pandemic hasn't hindered their efforts to crack down on Chinese espionage.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/0 ... age-169653

[Alfred_E._Neuman]

I was wondering, if we hadn't screwed the pooch and funneled hundreds of billions of $ to the usual suspects in this latest round of corporate welfare, would it have been much better in the long run to simply give a UBI until this blows through and then use the remaining money to build manufacturing/textile, energy, and technology/information/transportation infrastructure here when we can get back at it? Not only would that create jobs building it out but also lay the foundations for those generational jobs. Those jobs that a family used to be able to rely on the dad to spend a career at honest work and not feel bad about his son following right along.
Just a pipe dream.

[Fat Cat]

I think it's fair to say that the economy is so vast, with so many factors at play, that no one really knows what its optimal management would look like.

[Alfred_E._Neuman]

For sure. I just know the tariff route isn't the way to go. I think positive reinforcement is going to be a much better path forward than some form of aggressive economic warfare. I'm hoping that positive reinforcement comes from consumers demanding companies divest from China and invest here (the west in general).

[Fat Cat]

I have no objection to tariffs. Self interested, profit driven multinational corporations will only change their patter of behavior when they are forced to. Otherwise, they will simply subvert the democratic process by purchasing influence through unlimited political action contributions and lobbying. Tariffs are something the executive can force on them because it's the right thing to do.

[nafod]

I was wondering, if we hadn't screwed the pooch and funneled hundreds of billions of $ to the usual suspects in this latest round of corporate welfare, would it have been much better in the long run to simply give a UBI until this blows through and then use the remaining money to build manufacturing/textile, energy, and technology/information/transportation infrastructure here when we can get back at it?

The companies need to keep their lights on so there will be some place to go back to work at, it would take years to replace them, and the people need to be able to make rent and eat. Everybody needs help at the moment.

We basically put the country in a coma on a ventilator, same as any other COVID19 patient. Crazy.

[Alfred_E._Neuman]

I'm worried that small businesses won't make it. I've been reading that something like 20% won't be able to stay in business if we're shuttered more than about 8 weeks. Zero interest loans don't mean shit, just more debt when the doors open again.
I think it would have been much better to simply declare a rent-and-business-loan holiday for small businesses, give the people a UBI for 2 months, and then slowly bring it back on line as the virus subsides. Instead we shoveled cash at the largest corporations who are already sitting on record levels of cash. As usual, our Federal government is much more concerned with the banks and multinationals than they are the citizens and small business owners. All we're going to see out of this is a further concentration of market share to the few mega companies that are functioning right now.

[Alfred_E._Neuman]

https://www.redstate.com/nick-arama/202 ... the-world/

China didn't have to engineer the thing to "weaponize" it and be set to take advantage of the situation. Fuck them bitches.

[Turdacious]

I'm worried that small businesses won't make it. I've been reading that something like 20% won't be able to stay in business if we're shuttered more than about 8 weeks. Zero interest loans don't mean shit, just more debt when the doors open again.
I think it would have been much better to simply declare a rent-and-business-loan holiday for small businesses, give the people a UBI for 2 months, and then slowly bring it back on line as the virus subsides.

The whole commercial rent thing is where it could really get interesting. I read that Staples and Cheesecake Factory are refusing to pay their April rent; I assume that other businesses will do the same. What will that mean if landlords start defaulting on their mortgages and what will the impact on teh banks that made the loans be if there are large scale defaults?

[Alfred_E._Neuman]

I'm worried that small businesses won't make it. I've been reading that something like 20% won't be able to stay in business if we're shuttered more than about 8 weeks. Zero interest loans don't mean shit, just more debt when the doors open again.
I think it would have been much better to simply declare a rent-and-business-loan holiday for small businesses, give the people a UBI for 2 months, and then slowly bring it back on line as the virus subsides.

The whole commercial rent thing is where it could really get interesting. I read that Staples and Cheesecake Factory are refusing to pay their April rent; I assume that other businesses will do the same. What will that mean if landlords start defaulting on their mortgages and what will the impact on teh banks that made the loans be if there are large scale defaults?

Absolutely zero thought was given to these inevitable situations when the bill was passed. Hastily pushed through to grab money for donors. That's it.

At some point, you want a functioning set of warm bodies in charge that can make some tough decisions. I'd like to have a government where in a crisis it's like Jules calling Marsellus Wallace and being told "Don't worry, I'm on the motherfucker". And you actually believe it.

[Fat Cat]

Progress! Yesterday China reclassified dogs as pet instead of livestock!

https://dailycaller.com/2020/04/09/chin ... ronavirus/

[Fat Cat]

That's not encouraging...

China may have conducted banned nuclear test blasts, US says

China may have secretly set off low-level underground nuclear test explosions despite claiming to observe an international pact banning such blasts, the US State Department said in a report on Wednesday that could fuel US-Chinese tensions.

The finding, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, may worsen ties already strained by US charges that the global Covid-19 pandemic resulted from Beijing’s mishandling of a 2019 outbreak of the coronavirus in the city of Wuhan

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united- ... est-blasts

[motherjuggs&speed]

That's an admission of guilt. They know we're on to them and want to remind us that they have nukes.

[Turdacious]

Finally found hand sanitizer in my area. 10 oz for $10. Imported from China.

[Fat Cat]

Since the 1990s, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has focused on the development of asymmetric capabilities that target U.S. vulnerabilities. At present, the PLA’s approach is starting to evolve toward a strategy centered upon technological and defense innovation. The PLA is pursuing innovations in “strategic frontier” (战略前沿) technologies with disruptive military applications, including directed energy, hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence, and quantum technologies. The PLA intends to achieve “leapfrog development” (跨越发展), seeking to surpass the U.S. military within critical technological domains in which the U.S. does not possess, and may not be able to achieve, a decisive advantage.

https://thestrategybridge.org/the-bridg ... apfrogging

[nafod]

We need to stop buying their shit, which is mostly made from raw products from outside their country. They've got a lot of short hairs to grab.

[Fat Cat]

^^^completely agree

[Alfred_E._Neuman]

Yep. The issue is getting a critical mass of people to buy into the idea that paying more for a quality item made in the west is an investment both in the actual quality of the product, but it's also an investment in security. We could bring the Chinese to heel without firing a single shot if a plurality of people en masse told companies to make it here or fuck off.

Hell, we could do a metric shit ton of damage to the Chinese by simply bringing textile and electronics back.

[Fat Cat]

Personally, I am fine with using tariffs as a way to make Chinese products more expensive to the American consumer. I know that that comes out of the pocket of Americans, but only until they make the shift to selecting other products, and sometimes you need to make a strategic choice that involves short term adjustments. We are at that point with China.

[DrDonkeyLove...]

Personally, I am fine with using tariffs as a way to make Chinese products more expensive to the American consumer. I know that that comes out of the pocket of Americans, but only until they make the shift to selecting other products, and sometimes you need to make a strategic choice that involves short term adjustments. We are at that point with China.

And, it's not like there's a lack of Asian countries concerned about Chinese hegemony that are unwilling to fill a goodly portion of any gaps.

[Fat Cat]

Exactly. I'm happy to enrich China's unfortunate neighbors at the CCP's expense. Consider the fact that literally every country bordering China suffers as a consequence and loathes the Han: Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Burma, Laos, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Tibet, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgizstan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Mongolia. The only reason these countries do business with China is because we have given them no alternative.

[motherjuggs&speed]

China is taking over more of global ship ownership:

"Western ship owners have increasingly turned to Chinese leasing houses for capital in recent years, selling ships, taking the cash, and leasing the ships back with either a repurchase option or obligation. The coronavirus crisis will provide an important stress test for Chinese leasing as well.

Chinese lessors could wind up owning a very large number of ships if lessees decline to exercise repurchase options. “That may look bad, but maybe that was part of the goal,” Karatzas speculated. “Maybe they wanted to control a large percentage of the world fleet.” ".

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/how-c ... n-shipping

[Herv100]

I remembered this thread when Wuflu first hit. Notice which side the mainstream media, the big tech and social media companies, and many governors and politicians have taken.

[DrDonkeyLove...]

I remembered this thread when Wuflu first hit. Notice which side the mainstream media, the big tech and social media companies, and many governors and politicians have taken.

The lucrative globalist side.