Rot The Crop: The Devastating Consequences of America’s Broken Immigration Strategy
In the sun-scorched fields of California’s Central Valley, the fruits and vegetables that feed America depend on one thing above all else: labor. Not machines, not tech, not subsidies—but the hands of human beings, many of them immigrants. And yet, U.S. immigration policy—particularly under the Trump administration—has taken a cruelly ironic turn that can only be described as a "Rot The Crop" strategy.
This isn't just a metaphor. When anti-immigrant rhetoric turns into policy—raids, visa cuts, and bureaucratic bottlenecks—it isn’t just families that are disrupted. It’s the entire agricultural backbone of California, and by extension, much of the nation's food supply. Crops are left unpicked, fields lie fallow, and farmers lose millions. Meanwhile, grocery prices climb, and consumers grumble, rarely understanding that the chaos is self-inflicted.
Central Valley: Ground Zero for Labor Shortage
California’s Central Valley is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, responsible for a quarter of the nation's food. It is also ground zero for the labor crisis. Despite industry cries for help, immigration enforcement policies have stripped farms of their seasonal labor force. Farmers have tried to hire domestically, offering better wages and even signing bonuses—but year after year, the same reality returns: Americans won’t do the work.
And it's not just a matter of effort. These are jobs that require skill, endurance, and speed. Harvesting perishable crops is a race against time and temperature. A shortfall in workers doesn't mean a slower harvest—it means no harvest. Entire fields can rot within days.
The Myth of the Job-Stealing Immigrant
For generations, fear-based narratives have scapegoated each new wave of immigrants—from the Irish and Italians to Latinos and Asians. But these myths consistently ignore economic evidence. Immigrants don’t "steal" jobs—they fill them. They start businesses, they pay taxes, and they contribute to the very social fabric that keeps America moving.
Yet time and again, nativist politics trumps economic rationality. We build walls while our crops wither. We turn away willing workers while unemployment is at historic lows. We wage war on our own supply chain, and then act shocked when inflation bites.
The Failure of Political Courage
The real blame doesn’t fall solely on any one president. The root of the dysfunction lies in Congress, which has failed for decades to pass meaningful immigration reform. Politicians on both sides of the aisle have used immigration as a political football—talking tough, stalling progress, and prioritizing fear over fact.
What America needs is a common-sense immigration policy that:
Provides a clear, legal pathway for seasonal and agricultural workers.
Protects immigrant families from arbitrary enforcement.
Ensures fair wages and rights for all workers, foreign and domestic.
Recognizes the contributions of immigrants not just in the fields, but in every corner of the economy.
It’s Time to Till a New Policy
The irony of "Rot The Crop" is that it harms everyone—from farmer to grocer to consumer. It is a policy of self-sabotage. And at its core, it’s driven by a deep misunderstanding of the very people who make America work.
Immigration reform isn’t charity—it’s economic necessity. It's about aligning our laws with our values and our needs. Until Congress finds the courage to act, we’ll continue to see fruit on the vine, families in fear, and an economy operating far below its potential.
America has always been a nation of immigrants. It’s time our laws stopped pretending otherwise.
1/ Welcome to California’s Central Valley—America’s agricultural powerhouse. But there's a crisis unfolding here that touches every dinner table in the country. ๐ฅ๐๐ฝ It’s called the “Rot The Crop” immigration strategy. And it’s devastating.
๐งต๐
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) June 10, 2025
The $50 Trillion Unlock: Why GovTech, Not the BRI, Will Transform the Global South
In recent years, the world has watched China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) reshape infrastructure development across continents. Roads, railways, ports, and pipelines have sprung up across Asia, Africa, and Latin America—symbols of Beijing’s growing global influence. In response, the US and EU have tried to offer counter-narratives and limited investments. But none of these efforts, impressive as they may seem, have come close to truly meeting the infrastructure needs of the Global South.
That’s because they’re all still playing an old game.
The real revolution won’t be in who builds the most roads or who lends the most money—it will be in who unleashes the latent wealth already buried in the soil of the Global South. The key? GovTech-powered land digitization. The act of precisely mapping, recording, and registering land ownership for every plot of land in every village, town, and city. Not just on paper, but on secure digital platforms tied to national ID systems and satellite imagery.
Why This Changes Everything
The vast majority of land in the developing world today—rural and urban alike—is informally held. Families live on it. Farmers farm it. But they can’t leverage it. Without legal recognition or digitized proof of ownership, land can’t serve as collateral for loans. That locks out hundreds of millions from credit markets and entrepreneurship. It traps the economy in an informal loop of low productivity and high poverty.
Now imagine this:
Every parcel of land is satellite-mapped.
Ownership is clearly established through digital title deeds.
Disputes are resolved via mobile courts or blockchain-backed records.
This digitized land becomes bankable collateral.
Suddenly, we’re not talking about aid or debt diplomacy—we’re talking about unlocking $50 trillion in dead capital, as Hernando de Soto famously argued. That’s money that local people could borrow from local banks to build homes, start businesses, or invest in community infrastructure. It’s money that doesn’t need to come from Beijing, Washington, Brussels, or the IMF. It’s already there.
A GovTech Revolution in the Making
This is what GovTech—government technology—makes possible.
GovTech is more than digitizing services or putting tax forms online. It is about re-engineering the very operating system of a country. Think:
Satellite-based land mapping.
Mobile-first property registries.
Blockchain land ledgers.
Integration with digital ID systems like India’s Aadhaar.
Interoperable databases between banks, courts, and land records.
This isn’t hypothetical. India has begun this journey. Rwanda has made progress. Estonia is already operating like a fully digitized state. But these are early experiments. The massive rollout—across Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and small island nations—is still ahead.
Why the BRI and the West Can’t Compete
The BRI builds things for governments. GovTech builds capabilities within governments. The former creates dependence. The latter builds sovereignty.
Western infrastructure programs, when they do exist, tend to focus on financing mega-projects, which often take years to execute and don’t always address the foundational needs of rural populations.
By contrast, land digitization is scalable, inclusive, and locally empowering. You don’t need to borrow billions from a superpower to do it. You just need satellites, software, and political will. You can map a country in months, not decades.
The Multiplier Effect
Once land is digitized, its value is activated:
Credit expansion: Farmers and micro-entrepreneurs gain access to capital.
Tax efficiency: Governments can collect more accurate property taxes to fund local projects.
Corruption reduction: Transparent ownership records end elite land grabs.
Urban development: Slums can be upgraded with real titles and services.
Foreign investment: Investors trust a land market that’s digitally verifiable.
This is the most inclusive form of economic stimulus the world has never tried.
The Call to Action
If you want to help the Global South rise, don’t build another port. Build digital infrastructure for governance. Build systems that turn land into leverage. Build GovTech.
With the right vision and partnerships, a coalition of tech firms, philanthropists, and forward-thinking governments could roll out a global LandTech initiative in the next five years. The returns would dwarf the BRI. They would permanently alter the economic trajectory of billions.
Infrastructure starts beneath your feet. It’s time we recognized that the most valuable resource in the Global South isn’t foreign capital. It’s local land, waiting to be unlocked.
Let’s do it—with satellites, software, and sovereignty.
The $50 Trillion Unlock: Why GovTech, Not the BRI, Will Transform the Global South ๐งต
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) June 2, 2025
Fentanyl, Firearms, and Foreign Policy: Unraveling a Complex Crisis
The United States is grappling with two overlapping epidemics: the synthetic opioid crisis, dominated by fentanyl, and the enduring scourge of gun violence. Both are devastating, deadly, and politically explosive. But when you zoom out, these aren’t just isolated American problems—they’re deeply embedded in global supply chains, cross-border politics, and international perceptions of American influence and vulnerability.
This blog post dives into the fentanyl crisis, draws comparisons to gun violence, traces supply chains, examines the role of China and Mexico, and confronts the haunting question: Are these problems too big to solve without US-China cooperation? We’ll also explore the argument that American guns are Mexico’s fentanyl—and whether either nation is truly ready for the level of collaboration required to turn the tide.
I. How Bad Is the Fentanyl Crisis?
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid up to 50 times more powerful than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports over 70,000 fentanyl-related overdose deaths in 2023 alone, making it the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 49. To put that in perspective:
In 2023, total gun-related deaths (including homicide, suicide, and accidental shootings) were around 48,000, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Fentanyl deaths have overtaken car crashes, gun violence, and even COVID-19 (as of 2023) as the leading accidental killer in the U.S.
It is not an exaggeration to say fentanyl is America’s deadliest drug crisis ever—far eclipsing the crack epidemic of the 1980s or the heroin wave of the 1970s.
II. Global Scope: Is Fentanyl Only an American Crisis?
While America is the epicenter, fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are emerging threats in Canada, Australia, and parts of Europe. However, the crisis has not reached the same level in other countries for key reasons:
Different prescribing practices and healthcare systems have meant less over-prescription of opioids elsewhere.
Tighter border controls and more centralized drug enforcement (such as in Japan and Singapore) have delayed or suppressed synthetic opioid inflows.
Stronger social safety nets in some nations may reduce demand for escape through drugs.
That said, Canada is seeing a sharp rise in fentanyl deaths, especially in British Columbia, and the UK has reported increasing fentanyl-laced heroin overdoses.
III. The Fentanyl Supply Chain: A Transnational Hydra
The supply chain of fentanyl is fragmented, decentralized, and global. Here's a simplified breakdown:
Precursor Chemicals:
Mostly sourced from China and India. These chemicals—some of which have legitimate industrial uses—are difficult to regulate.
Synthesis:
Often done in Mexico, where cartels like the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) operate clandestine labs.
Smuggling into the U.S.:
Smuggled across the southern border, often in small but potent amounts—just two milligrams of fentanyl can be fatal.
Domestic Distribution:
Spread through online black markets, street dealers, and increasingly through counterfeit prescription pills made to look like Xanax, Percocet, or Adderall.
IV. Is This Chemical Warfare? A Geopolitical Flashpoint
Some have called the fentanyl crisis a form of “chemical warfare” against the United States, pointing fingers at China—either explicitly or through tacit state complicity.
What’s the Basis of the Claim?
China was historically the primary source of finished fentanyl shipped directly to the U.S. via mail and dark web networks until 2019.
After U.S. pressure, China cracked down on fentanyl exports but loopholes remain, especially around precursor chemicals, which are harder to track and regulate.
Critics argue that China’s enforcement is lackluster or selective, possibly using fentanyl as a form of asymmetric retaliation in the broader U.S.-China rivalry.
What’s the Counterpoint?
Chinese officials deny any intent to harm and claim they’ve made good-faith efforts to curtail illegal exports.
They often highlight U.S. demand as the core issue—arguing that without it, the supply chain would wither.
Beijing has also pushed back against naming specific companies or cities involved, saying it lacks the legal basis for preemptive enforcement without international cooperation.
Verdict:
The "chemical warfare" label is alarmist if taken literally, but there is truth in the geopolitical negligence. Chinese actors are part of the supply chain, and lack of enforcement could be seen as passive complicity. But to call it state-sponsored war would be an overstatement—though one increasingly used in U.S. political discourse.
V. What Role Do Mexican Cartels and American Guns Play?
The Cartel Side:
Mexican cartels have pivoted from cocaine and marijuana to fentanyl because of high profits, low risk, and compact logistics.
Labs can operate with modest setups, producing enough fentanyl to supply entire U.S. cities.
The Gun Loop:
The Mexican government points the finger back: “You send us guns, we send you drugs.”
Roughly 70% of guns recovered at Mexican crime scenes are traced back to the U.S.
These firearms fuel cartel wars, killings of journalists and civilians, and undermine the Mexican state’s law-and-order efforts.
American gun stores and loopholes (e.g., gun shows, straw purchases) enable this flow.
It’s a vicious cycle: U.S. demand and lax gun laws fuel both the fentanyl epidemic at home and the violence in Mexico.
VI. Comparative International Perspective on Gun Policy
In countries like China and Japan, gun ownership is virtually non-existent outside of law enforcement:
Japan averages less than 10 gun deaths per year in a population of 125 million.
China has strict penalties for illegal gun possession and a cultural absence of civilian gun ownership.
How are U.S. gun laws perceived?
In much of Asia and Europe, American gun culture is viewed as incomprehensible, dangerous, and tragic.
The frequency of mass shootings, school shootings, and accidental deaths is seen as a failure of governance.
International observers often ask: “If America can’t solve this, what can it solve?”
VII. Is the Fentanyl Crisis an Origin Problem or a Demand Problem?
The truth is: it’s both.
Origin-side enforcement matters, but it’s not a silver bullet.
Without tackling American demand, the market will find new sources—just as heroin replaced oxycontin, and fentanyl is now replacing heroin.
Addiction is fueled by social despair, economic hopelessness, trauma, and mental illness.
This is not just a law enforcement issue. It’s a public health, mental health, and economic dignity issue.
VIII. Is There a Country That Has Handled It Well?
There is no perfect model, but some best practices stand out:
Portugal:
Decriminalized all drugs in 2001 and invested in treatment, not punishment. Results include lower overdose rates and fewer drug-related deaths.
Switzerland:
Offers medically supervised heroin programs, effectively removing street-level drug crime and greatly reducing overdose deaths.
Canada:
Experimenting with safe supply and supervised injection sites in cities like Vancouver.
These models show that harm reduction, treatment access, and social reintegration work better than mass incarceration or border crackdowns alone.
IX. Can This Be Solved Without U.S.-China Cooperation?
No. Not entirely.
Chemical supply chains run through Chinese manufacturers.
Global financial regulation, including cryptocurrency monitoring, requires joint enforcement.
Standardizing precursor tracking, labeling, and real-time customs data will require real diplomatic coordination—not just press releases.
Just as climate change and AI safety require global cooperation, fentanyl control is a systems-level problem.
X. What Now? A Path Forward
Demand Reduction:
Massive investment in mental health, social services, housing, and job programs.
Supply Chain Intelligence:
Real-time tracking of chemical precursors, and coordinated enforcement with China, India, and Mexico.
Gun Control and Export Laws:
Tighten domestic gun laws and enforce international traceability for arms exports.
Bilateral Agreements:
Launch a U.S.-China-Mexico opioid diplomacy track, akin to climate talks.
Harm Reduction in the U.S.:
Expand safe injection sites, naloxone distribution, and access to medication-assisted treatment.
Final Thought: A Mirror and a Window
Fentanyl and guns may seem like separate crises. But they reflect a deeper American dilemma: how do we confront the consequences of our own consumption, culture, and capitalism, while holding other nations accountable for their contributions?
These are mirror problems. They reflect who we are.
And they are window problems. They show us who we could become—if we dare to change course.
What do you think? Can fentanyl and firearms be tackled with policy? Or is it cultural? Global? Psychological? Leave your thoughts below.
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How the House of Trump Was Built “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America” ......... “a narcissistic drama seeker who covered a fragile ego with a bullying impulse.” ........ Trump relished fights with Republicans more than with Democrats, Haberman explains, because he prefers battles over “interpersonal dynamics such as loyalty and respect” over ideology or policy, of which he cares little and knows less. ......... the political establishment dealt with Trump the only way it knew how — with lots and lots of paper. ....... From Trump’s perspective, the Mueller investigation constituted the “ultimate showdown” against his deep-state enemies, Baker and Glasser write, meaning “the Democrats, the F.B.I., the intelligence agencies, the news media, the State Department, the Pentagon, the career civil service, the establishment writ large, fellow Republicans who had never fully accepted him. In other words, Washington.” ......... Not even the Constitution fazes Trump, whose recent call for the document’s “termination” is the ultimate battle against paper. ......... “These folks don’t get it that when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me,” he declared. “It strengthens me.” Trump always tries to turn paper fights into personality fights and then rallies people to defend him. For Trump, personality beats paper, and the support of his people beats everything. ......... “The psychological state of the world’s most powerful man was a source of never-ending speculation, commentary and concern in a way that simply had no parallel in American history” ........ the son of a Trump Organization executive who recalls the first time the future president fired off a tweet on his own, without staff help. “He later compared the moment to the scene in the movie ‘Jurassic Park,’ ” Haberman writes, “when dinosaurs realize they can open doors themselves.” Apparently the secret to writing a Trump best seller is to compare him to an angry, carnivorous beast that terrifies little kids. ......... Even an assault on the Capitol is acceptable if the opponents arrayed against them are not just wrong but wicked. .......... Marjorie Taylor Greene, the QAnon-friendly Republican House member from Georgia who has minimized the Capitol riot as “Witch Hunt 2.0,” is one of Draper’s main examples. First Greene blamed the violence of Jan. 6 on antifa infiltrators, and later she excused it because the Declaration of Independence encouraged the people to overthrow tyrants. She has taken her statements even further of late, telling a Republican gathering in New York that if she and Steve Bannon had organized the attack on the Capitol, it would have succeeded, and it would have been armed. She later dismissed the remark as a “sarcastic joke,” but Draper emphasizes how even “her most outlandish rhetoric has become G.O.P. talking points.” ......... the “emotional kinetics” that would compel so many people to gather in Washington on a single day and commit violence upon the seat of American democracy. ......... He changed America by revealing it.
What’s the Key to Understanding Donald J. Trump? Start With Queens. “Confidence Man,” Maggie Haberman’s biography of the former president, argues that it’s essential to grasp New York’s steamy, histrionic folkways. . Trump has called her “a crooked H[illary] flunky” and “an unprofessional hack” while giving her endless interviews, including three for this book. ....... Haberman’s thesis is that you can’t really understand Donald Trump unless you’re familiar with the steamy, histrionic folkways of New York’s political and construction tribes. She devotes nearly half her book to his life before the presidency. “The dynamics that defined New York City in the 1980s stayed with Trump for decades,” Haberman writes. “He often seemed frozen in time there.” ........ Trump’s use of phrases like “the Blacks” and “the gays” brings back memories of my grandmother denigrating “the Irish” who lived next door. ........ “I can invite anyone for dinner,” Trump said after his inauguration in 2017. But he remained an outer-borough brat, intimidated by elites. As president, he threw tantrums when he thought people were lecturing or talking down to him. In an infamous meeting with the Joint Chiefs at the Pentagon, “Trump knew that he was being told something he did not fully comprehend,” Haberman writes, “and instead of acknowledging that, he shouted down the teachers.” .......... Sharpton expressed admiration for Trump’s manner: “If Trump had been born Black, he would have been [the boxing promoter] Don King. … Because both of them — everything was transactional.” .......... He traversed the commercial arc of the past 40 years — moving from (failed) business mogul to celebrity to “brand,” just as American free enterprise moved from the production of steel, to casino games on Wall Street, to celebrity “influencers” on reality TV. .........
He wasn’t a very good businessman, but he played one on “The Apprentice,” which was how most Americans met him.
.......... An Iowa man explained his reason for supporting Trump: “I watched him run his business.” ......... Trump found his true calling when he started selling his name to foreigners who wanted to put it on buildings. He peddled products like Trump wine and Trump Steaks, and scams like Trump University, to a gullible public seeking gilt by association. .......... numerous occasions when Trump lacked the stomach to sack staffers face to face ............ Trump resorted to an old New York modus, backstabbing and rumor-mongering and humiliation, to get Kelly to resign. ......... Trump “enjoyed the chaos of [his staff] fighting with one another” ......... He learned how to stay one step ahead of the sheriff. This was, and remains, his greatest skill. ........ Trump accepted a $20 million Super PAC contribution from the billionaire Sheldon Adelson to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. ......... Trump understood that the best defense was, at times, to be offensive. ........... He knew he could stiff his lawyers and the small businesspeople who were his subcontractors. “Do you know how much publicity these people get for having me as a client?” ......... he deployed words with a litigator’s precision ....... He has created a brutish new standard for American politics, and put a terrible dent in our democracy. .......... We will be very lucky, indeed, if he doesn’t prove our downfall.
Americans Are Realizing Tesla Isn’t the Only Electric Car many of the best electric wheels on the market today are not made by Musk........ The new competition makes Musk’s recent role as the town crier for the red-pilled online right especially puzzling and, for his car company, perilous. ........ perceptions of Tesla have been falling steadily since May, shortly after Musk began his bid for Twitter; between October and November, the period when Musk took ownership of Twitter, sentiment among Democrats toward Tesla plummeted, while favorability among Republicans rose slightly. ....... Tesla’s sales and profits remain strong, its production capacity keeps ramping up, and it’s likely to benefit greatly from clean-vehicle tax credits passed in the Inflation Reduction Act that President Biden signed in August. But its success could get sidelined by Musk’s tweets. ........ “I don’t care if you’re selling pizza or popcorn or whatever you sell — getting into politics with customers never wins” ........... With such great alternatives that carry none of Musk’s political baggage, why does he keep acting as if customers had no choice — as if he were the only game in town? ......... At its towering peak, last fall, Musk’s car company hit a stock market valuation of more than a trillion dollars, greater than the combined value of the five largest automakers in the world. Tesla looked unstoppable. .......... Then, inexplicably, Musk turned to Twitter and pushed Tesla off a cliff. This year, as he sold tens of billions of dollars of Tesla shares to finance the Twitter deal and seemed to stake his reputation on taming the squabbles roiling one of the most divisive places online, Tesla’s shares plummeted by more than 60 percent. Its slump is deeper than that of most of its rivals and far more than that of the S&P 500, which is down about 19 percent for the year. ....... Unlike just about every other carmaker, Tesla spends almost nothing on advertising. Musk is and has long been the company’s sole marketer and chief evangelist, the main force driving the world’s desire to buy Teslas. And so any alteration in his cultural standing will affect the company’s standing, too. His time running Twitter has been “a massive brand destruction for Musk and for Tesla” .........
As Remote Workers Flock to Mexico City, Airbnb and Housing Prices Soar American and Europeans are using Airbnb to find long-term rentals in Mexico’s capital, pushing housing costs higher and, critics say, forcing out local residents. .......... The flow of foreigners has yet to slow down, causing housing costs to rise, displacing residents and upending the fabric of neighborhoods. ........ Some units soon appeared on Airbnb — at rates more than four times the monthly rent — and new neighbors, mostly speaking English, now fill the hallways. ......... the kind of comfort a salary paid in dollars or euros can afford. ......... landlords taking advantage of record demand for long-term stays on platforms like Airbnb ....... threatening to make large swaths of the city, where the average monthly salary is $220, unaffordable to many locals. ........ remote workers are leading to the “forced displacement of families.” ......... English speakers pour out of cafes and, on Sundays, cantinas are packed with young people in sports jerseys, the televisions switched from soccer to American football. ........ The tour includes preparing tamales from handpicked ingredients and floating along the neighborhood’s famous network of ancient canals. .
This is what happens when you elect a reality TV star to the highest office in the land. The guy watches TV all day. He gets his intelligence briefings from the television set.
If you want to understand the China-US trade war, just treat North Korea as a case study. Trump's Mexico stunt was a signal to the Chinese. Look, guys, I need a deal. I can't not have a deal. Give me the cosmetics. I need some headlines.
We are about to enter phase two of the art of the deal. Trump is going to send the most amazing negotiator in the world to the negotiation table. Already a Xi-Trump dinner has been scheduled.
The roller coaster ride will end up in much of the same old, same old. And Trump would like to thank the farmers in Iowa for putting him on TV.
We look for grand strategy. There is none. People accuse Trump of lying: "Four lies in one tweet!" Trump is not a liar, but a bullshitter. A bullshitter is such a habitual liar, he does not know, he does not care he is lying. If you know Trump, he is a joke. If you don't know him, he is a fascist. Hitler was a joke in 1920s Germany. He was considered a clown.
Trump won 2016 by spending very little money. As late as August he was way behind in the polls.
It is funny until it is not funny. Real lives are at stake.
A fascist intimidation of Mueller and Pelosi is on full public display. Ken Starr did pronounce Bill Clinton guilty and recommend impeachment to the Congress. Mueller's logic that he cannot pronounce guilt was not applied in his statement to the media. He could not prosecute, but he could pronounce guilt. But he was intimidated. He made it clear he has no desire to appear before Congress. He does not want to be at the receiving end of fascist harangues. A guy who was the top law enforcement officer of the country is running intimidated. That shows Trump is not funny. He is dangerous.
Pelosi's intimidation is on full public display. The moment Hillary lost the election in 2016 is when she fainted on TV. And she fainted a few days after Trump said in a debate with her about rape in the military: "Whichever genius came up with the idea of women serving in the military!"
That is extreme emotional intelligence but going in the dark direction. He swatted every Republican competitor in the race with a phrase or two. There was Little Marco. Bush was a shame to his family.
He did the same to the voters. You are angry? Let me tap into that.
That fountain of anger has stayed with him. Step back and look objectively. Is he not doing everything he can to push the US economy and the global economy into a Grand Depression? There is a cliff and he knows it. Once he manages to push the global economy into a Great Depression, it might take anyone a decade to turn things around. But the point is, if more people are going to be angrier, his support base is going to expand. That is what he is counting on. Yes, there is a strategy. Those who say Trump has no strategy are in denial.
Fascist intimidation is working. Pelosi has until October. After that, the presidential campaign sucks up all the oxygen in the room.
The country is in meltdown mode. Steve Bannon and Donald Trump both are looking for a "hard Brexit" for America. Britain wants a divorce with Europe. America wants a divorce with the world.
Are we moving towards a WTO minus the United States? Will that be as harmless as a Trans-Pacific Partnership minus the US? Experts tell us trading blocs are no solution. They were a feature of the Great Depression of the 1930s.
These are dangerous times. This trade war is not a China-US war. It affects every country. Every country needs to speak up.
CIA admits role in 1953 Iranian coup The CIA has publicly admitted for the first time that it was behind the notorious 1953 coup against Iran's democratically elected prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq, in documents that also show how the British government tried to block the release of information about its own involvement in his overthrow...... Britain, and in particular Sir Anthony Eden, the foreign secretary, regarded Mosaddeq as a serious threat to its strategic and economic interests after the Iranian leader nationalised the British Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, latterly known as BP. But the UK needed US support. The Eisenhower administration in Washington was easily persuaded....... Mosaddeq's overthrow, still given as a reason for the Iranian mistrust of British and American politicians, consolidated the Shah's rule for the next 26 years until the 1979 Islamic revolution. It was aimed at making sure the Iranian monarchy would safeguard the west's oil interests in the country....... One document describes Mosaddeq as one of the "most mercurial, maddening, adroit and provocative leaders with whom they [the US and Britain] had ever dealt". The document says Mosaddeq "found the British evil, not incomprehensible" and "he and millions of Iranians believed that for centuries Britain had manipulated their country for British ends". Another document refers to conducting a "war of nerves" against Mossadeq.....
Mosaddeq epitomised a unique "anti-colonial" figure who was also committed to democratic values and human rights
..... there was never really a fair compromise offered to Mosaddeq, what they wanted Mosaddeq to do is to give up oil nationalisation and if he'd given that of course then the national movement would have been meaningless....... The basic facts are widely known to every school child in Iran
The pain from the trade war has only just started. And so the two sides might feel like there is some wiggle room, that they can afford to wait a little. But in a year things might look different. If the two sides stay at only increased tariffs for a year or so, that is one thing. But if there is escalation and the US tries to kill Huawei and China clamps down on its rare earth minerals exports, we will move into the territory of unintended consequences.
High tech is not made for self-sufficiency. Only when countries and companies come together can privacy and security issues be tackled. And even then it is hard. But countries going solo is simply not an option. In the field of tech and innovation, the more cross-pollination the better.
Since the US has similar beef with Europe, among others, you could see some realignment.
There is a great chance that a protracted trade war will lead to major domestic political complications for Donald Trump. The impeachment train is independent of the trade war train. The impeachment might or might not happen, but the investigations surely will.
That is not to say China's capacity for pain is substantially greater. A full-fledged trade war could lead to mass unrests. But there are numerous steps to that stage. The markets will jitter and react to every step in between and that will roil the political spheres.
If both sides decide to stay on this side of sanity and do engage in a trade tussle but not a full-blown trade war, then that could lead to a new equilibrium, both between the two powers, and also the powers of the world.
American exceptionalism has never been the same as white supremacist thinking. Every country is unique. In that way, America is also exceptional.
The march towards a new equilibrium is not going to be pain-free, but it need not be too disruptive. The primary hope is that the two powers cut a deal and spare the global economy unnecessary hiccups. The secondary hope is that they don't go too far in their tussle and stay on this side of sanity.
The new front in Trump’s trade war could cost consumers at least $93 billion But the figures don’t take into account all the impact: That’s because in the critical auto industry, many parts crisscross borders multiple times....... “Production processes would have to be changed in substantial ways to reduce the impact of the tariffs, reducing productivity in a significant way,” said Carlos Capistran, Canada and Mexico economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “This could eventually lead many firms that currently produce in Mexico to relocate to the U.S., significantly impacting growth in Mexico.”..... vehicles are the top U.S. imports from Mexico, worth $93 billion last year. They are followed by electrical machinery ($64 billion), machinery ($63 billion), mineral fuels ($16 billion) and medical instruments ($15 billion) ..... “The big question at the end of the day though is can we really fight two trade wars at the same time?”
Trade war could trigger a ‘global financial crisis,’ says ex-China central bank chief The former central bank chief also attributed recent weakness in the yuan to the market’s reaction to trade tensions, while noting that Beijing would not devalue the currency in response. He said that fundamentals, such as economic growth and foreign exchange reserves, support a stable yuan...... “It can be said, that the U.S. this time has at the wrong time, fought a wrong war, and chosen a wrong opponent” ...... it might be America’s greatest mistake since World War II, or even the country’s founding, all out of unwillingness to accept China as a rising power........ the trade tensions could last 30 years or more, especially since he expects the U.S. will keep on with its investigations — even if a deal is reached in the near term. ...... “I’m confident that time, reason and truth are on our side,” he said. “Our Chinese people will most certainly win, peace will most certainly win.”
John Negroponte: Trump’s new tariff on Mexico is ‘bad politically and bad economically’ “I think it’s both bad politically and bad economically and I don’t think it’s really going to help solve the immigration problem, either, which is what Mr. Trump said he’s trying to attack” ...... U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican who represents Iowa, slammed the move. He called it a “misuse of presidential tariff authority.”
Shares of US automakers plunge because they have major production in Mexico The big three automakers each have billions of dollars at stake due both production and suppliers in Mexico.....Shares of General Motors, Fiat Chrysler and Ford dropped in trading Friday. ...... Fiat Chrysler dropped 4.9% while General Motors was down 4.5% and Ford skidded 3.1%...... tariffs on Mexico’s imports “threaten the jobs of tens of thousands of Americans here in the United States.” .... GM and Fiat Chrysler import 29% and 24%, respectively, of the total parts for its cars and trucks from Mexico. Ford has the second highest total imported vehicles from Mexico at 17% ...... the host of auto industry suppliers at risk to tariffs on Mexico, including Aptiv, Adient, Dana, Lear, Visteon, Goodyear Tire & Rubber and BorgWarner.
The US slipped to third place in a ranking of most competitive economies Singapore’s immigration laws, advanced technological infrastructure, availability of skilled labor and efficient ways to set up new businesses helped it advance to the top..... For the first time in nine years, Singapore surpassed the United States and Hong Kong to clinch the title of the world’s most competitive economy ...... With regard to the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, Bris said he “would call it a tantrum in the sense that it is hurting companies in the United States more than in any other country.”...... Indonesia, in particular, leapfrogged 11 places to become the 32nd most competitive economy in the world. Thailand also advanced five places to the 25th position.
Cramer: Trump no longer cares if his China policies hurt American businesses That tanked the shares of a group of chipmakers — Qualcomm, Skyworks Solutions, Broadcom, Micron, and Xilinx — as much as 7.3% ...... Walmart has warned that it will have to raise its prices if Trump goes through with his promises to slap another 25% tariff on $300 billion, on top of the existing $200 billion, worth of Chinese imports...... he’s more concerned about the strong American dollar’s negative impact on the chain’s international sales.
As U.S.-China tensions escalate, the trade war has morphed into a deeper, harder conflict the conflict with China has widened beyond the original trade-based issues..... Officials on both sides of the Pacific have begun to portray the U.S.-China relationship in nationalistic and emotion-charged terms that suggest a much deeper conflict. ...... Recently, for example, a private group of American economists and trade experts with long-standing experience in China traveled to Beijing, expecting their usual technical give-and-take with Chinese government officials........ Instead, a member of the Chinese Politburo harangued them for almost an hour, describing the U.S.-China relationship as a “clash of civilizations” and boasting that China’s government-controlled system was far superior to the “Mediterranean culture” of the West, with its internal divisions and aggressive foreign policy..... Nothing short of a deal struck directly by the two leaders is likely to avert new rounds of punches and counter-punches over economic and financial ties ...... whether either leader is interested in a stand-down is unclear....... China.. will probably “hunker down and try to get by until either the second term of the Trump administration or the incoming new administration.” ..... the domestic politics, for now, seem to favor conflict, not compromise. ...... The political risk for Trump from potential Democratic opponents in 2020 isn’t from hitting China too hard, but treading too softly or coming away with a weak deal...... the best one might hope for is a temporary truce, and even that will be hard to come by if Trump keeps piling on the pressure. ..... Already one in five U.S. firms operating in China say they face increased inspections and slower customs clearances ........ Beijing also could spur boycotts of popular American products such as Apple iPhones or curtail tourism to the United States, which would be particularly painful for states such as California. And American universities already are fretting about a potential drop-off in full-tuition-paying Chinese students...... Boeing, the single biggest American exporter to China .. Sales to China last year accounted for more than 20% of the company’s commercial aircraft revenue. ...... the next escalation could come in mid-August. That’s when the Commerce Department's 90-day reprieve for Huawei runs out and the Chinese start to find out how long and well Huawei can manage without key Android software updates from Google, as well as crucial chips and other hardware from American suppliers. ..... the possibility of a limited trade deal by fall ..... they’ll need to reset the tone a little bit and try to manage a de-escalation” of the trade war
Elizabeth Warren went on The View and explained her wealth tax and what it would pay for (free college, student debt forgiveness, universal childcare) so well that the crowd went wild. She really knows how to shut down the Republican “bUt HoW aRe YoU gOnNa PaY fOr It?” nonsense. pic.twitter.com/uStYarcpx3
This morning #ElizabethWarren explained her proposed Wealth Tax, saying it will wipe out student debt, invest in HBCUs and more. Who likes this idea? pic.twitter.com/xAiuqOnf05
— The Breakfast Club (@breakfastclubam) May 31, 2019
Here’s something I don’t say often: on this point, I AGREE with @AOC Indeed, I have long called for a LIFETIME BAN on former Members of Congress becoming lobbyists. The Swamp would hate it, but perhaps a chance for some bipartisan cooperation? https://t.co/jPW0xkH2Yy
There are temples and shrines everywhere – honouring Gods and deities – but none more important than Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the preserver and Shiva, the destroyer. It’s also the land of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata – echoes of which have reverberated across Southeast Asia. And on the Ganges plain, you can trace the life and death of the Buddha – a vital bond with Southeast Asia’s 150 million or so Buddhists........ India’s US$9.449 trillion economy (currently the third-largest in Purchasing Power Parity terms) and a 7.3 per cent GDP growth rate (the fastest among the G20 nations)..... with China becoming increasingly heavy-handed, Southeast Asia desperately needs India to play a larger role in our future – economics and business is just the beginning.
Africa, largely ignored in a U.S.-China trade war that could roil economies worldwide, is quietly piecing together the world’s largest free-trade zone https://t.co/dzAvvXEYqfpic.twitter.com/D5oCFcKsJK
Despite Modi's pro-US policy, the US has piled up pressure on India on multiple fronts—trade, oil and defense. Its trade war with China has obscured its actions against India, including GSP withdrawal. Its message? Don't count on US as a reliable partner! https://t.co/vQvX4T8O6W
I wrote two weeks ago about how the trade war threatens the economy in the heart of Trump Country, the American South, where lots of car manufacturing is done. https://t.co/OseEWIEkS6pic.twitter.com/aam47wEdHH
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