13 Comments

Regarding China, Trump made some interesting remarks. He said Xi *hasn't* definitely declined to come for the inauguration. He said the usual things about having a "great" relationship with Xi, but then said that Covid had just about ended that: "Covid [big sigh] didn't end the relationship, but it was a bridge too far for me."

Makes you wonder, what does Trump really know about Covid? He's been repeating nonsense about Russian casualties as well. Too trusting in his briefings?

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Didn't Trump decline briefings during the transition from the Biden WH so that he couldn't be accused of leaking classified info (a la Mike Flynn)?

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Dec 18Edited

Leave it to Jake the Snake to use, on the phone no less, with a dementia-ridden, irascible old foggie, the word “novel” when “new” would do. Just confirms the arrogance, detachment and malicious game-playing of this band of thieves…and of course Zhou is head thief.

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I'm puzzled. Why do you call Joe Biden 'Zhou?' Is that a reference to Zhou Enlai? I don't see the connection.

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As you can tell from the name you cite--Zhou Enlai--the name Zhou (one of the five most common Chinese names) is pronounced to English speaking ears exactly like 'Joe'. I substitute the Chinese homonym name as a sarcastic reference to the way Zhou and his family have enriched themselves doing illegal deals with China.

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OK i get it now. Thanks.

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The Sirius Report @thesiriusreport

Clown show on steroids:

China is collapsing, its economy is cratering, the yuan too and its financial system.

China 10 year bond yield 1.73%

US economy is buoyant, the dollar is too and its financial system has never been healthier.

US 10 year bond yield 4.4%.

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As a counterpoint to that optimistic assessment I will cite the following:

https://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2024/12/all-three-pillars-holding-up-economy.html

(All three pillars are cracking.)

Aside from that, high U.S. govt bond yields are not in themselves indicative of a healthy economy. In fact, rising longer maturity treasuries yields are indicative of an expectation of inflation (the higher yield is seen to be needed to have a "real" return over inflation). That expectation is well founded given our fiscal spending and borrowing problems.

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Very sobering indeed. Tx for the link to CHS. His writing is very clear and understandable for an economist - but he has a philosophical side too!

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That Sirius Report post was pure sarcasm. He offers the two standard Western narratives--China is collapsing, US econ is buoyant--and then destroys them with the bond yield data.

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Thanks, Mark! NOW I understand. (I can make that statement in response to and in appreciation of pretty much everything you post :).

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Good post Mark. Yes, Trump has been quite clear with Wall Street that unlike appointments to non economic positions, he will do business with them more their terms with Treasury, Commerce, etc. The big players moved off of Biden and then Harris because they want to be players worldwide, and understood that the Dems were making that more difficult.

Further, the Chinese, and others, want the US to play the role that they have the ability to affect and are good at: economics, as in settlements.

Further, the US/Brits and much of the West, are no longer real players in worldwide decisions, beyond the economy. So economics becomes a backdoor to stop the free fall in influence for the next generation or two while the West figures itself out again morally/governance.

The West lacks “elites” in the real sense of the term (being wealthy does not cut it), and this is obvious to those outside of the US.

One can view BRICS as an attempt at a new “system” and the US/West either gets with the worldwide movement to something new, or it gets into conflicts and left behind: globalism is dead and buried, so time to work on what comes next over the next 30 years. This means all new social and hard sciences, philosophy, and theology based on a different ground, e.g., Digital/AI/Robots requires a totally different mindset (see the Kissinger, Schmidt book that has just been released). The Chinese are open to a collaboration on this, or they will continue on their own.

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If they used the 25th amendment, who says they have to tell us that the president isn't really the president any more? Perhaps they did it years ago.

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