Chinese officials are threatening a “strike back” Friday after President Trump signed the TAIPEI Act, which ensures stronger US support for Taiwan, and calls for US action against anyone who undermines Taiwanese prosperity.
Resolutions calling for more US support for Taiwan are common, and China’s response, criticizing it as “crude interference” in their internal affairs, is likewise common. Taiwan is not, after all, an independent country in practice, but a competing Chinese government.
These resolutions and responses are obligatory, but largely empty, as the US and China for the most part don’t actually do anything related to the issue. The nations’ respective coronavirus problems make it even less likely they’ll get confrontational right now.
In the long run, China wants Taiwan to return to being a province of China, and would clearly prefer to do this without damaging it in an invasion. The US is committing to help Taiwan maintain the status quo, though Taiwanese officially know any effort to try to assert independence would lead to a confrontation with China which they wouldn’t win.
Now that Americans are distracted with the virus, Washington is moving in all directions to start more wars abroad, apparently. A shooting war with China will be a disaster. Why Taiwan? Let the Chinese in both countries work out their own problems. Just another excuse to enrich the war profiteers, MIC and other businesses that make money off the misery of others. The American people are so manipulated through Washington propaganda in the MSM they are clueless of what the agendas are and who profits. Cui Bono? Follow the money.
Americans are distracted by OMG how am I going to pay the rent, mortgage, a possible hospitalization and still buy food.
COVID-19 profiteers are probably also the war profiteers, deciding to pillage the imperial core as the periphery is a little lean nowadays.
First, the virus to distract us from the impending financial collapse, now attack everyone all at once… Guess we should all just dig our own graves and crawl in. The USA is run by psychos and lunatics!
Huh? Viral panic caused financial collapse as the elites took their il derivatives bubble out of everyone’s hide.
Financial collapse is not impending, its kind of here. Some people made a ton of currency shorting the market and buying bargains, but wealth has been lost in the form of lost labour and small (and some big) business activity.
Instead of calling “Economic Battlestations”, COVID-19 panic mongers seized the messaging apparatus and shrieked “Cower and Retreat!”
Some people made a ton of money shorting the market and buying back the bargains . I did that but now my bargain decided the can’t afford to pay me any dividend . So what do you recommend I do ? burn my stock or use it for toilet paper . I don’t think I want the stock any more . Because it is as poor as the money in the bank .and it truly takes a ton of money to help you out . The only value either of them have is preventing me from getting food stamps .
Neither of them prevent you from getting food stamps. Food stamps are based on income, not assets. A guy in Michigan last year won more than $100 million in the lottery. He stopped getting food stamps … that month.
And when the stock goes back up? Not knowing the stock, and hardly being an expert, just well-read, its hard to say if your deal was a deal. Maybe I could guess, though. Stock news does sometimes make political news.
Its a bit of a crapshoot to know which companies survive the present deep political-economic crisis. However, even in more normal times, vigilance is critical.
For example, General Electric and Kraft-Heinz were once the most chipper of blue-chip stocks. So were GM and Ford Motors. Their craters made headlines, but they still pay dividends even post-crash, though its early to assume this will hold.
Assuming Knapp is correct, their dividends are hardly going to fail you the means test unless you are a far larger player than most retail investors.
GE has cutting edge electron-beam 3D printing tech. Theoretically that places them in an enviable position as a manufacturer, but also, an attractive takeover target (if not for their debt). Perhaps behind the scenes some activist investors are putting the squeeze on GE to sell out its last ace.
GE’s future is difficult to ascertain. A frozen economy does them and U.S. tech leadership no favours.
Kraft-Heinz is a similar story, owning some of the most trusted and potentially lucrative brands in grocery. However, unlike GE, they might make out OK, provided they can keep shipping to store shelves, taking advantage of hoarding panic.
However, if economic paralysis stops farmers’ spring planting, expect all value-added food companies to take a hit.
(This is where COVID-19 hybrid-hoaxing really starts to get infuriating; people could go hungry and more broke as food prices rocket).
However, Boeing stock seems to be flying about as well as a Max on MCAS. BA did recently end their dividend, and stop paying their fail CEOs. I’m thinking this is your bet.
Even without COVID-19, and despite being a defense darling, one should not expect BA to be worth much in the short to medium term. However, they have an OK chance of recovery in the long-term. If you’re paying interest to own BA, you’ll have to do your own math. I figure many were playing the volatility, lulled by the high dividend, then got left high and dry.
There’s no-darn-way any air regulator is going to sign their name to letting the Max fly again, let alone the quality-control problems with other aircraft. The F-15 Super Eagle is a wonderful fighter, but not G5 stealth. However, the workhorse AF legacy fleet is burning out from over-use. And the Boeing Starliner, is a falling star; almost literally.
If the 9/11 wars ended in particular, BA could benefit from a re-arming drive.
If China/Russia get together and enter a single-aisle contender (China’s struggling, presently solo C919) Boeing’s got trouble. However, the Russian-Chinese long-haul CR929 is competing with the Boeing 787 in development hell.
Crony capitalism vs. crony socialism is a more even match than versus crony communism, and, China/Eurasia is bigger, which matters in contests of attrition, and smarter for Russian input.
Knapp answered the food stamp question…
Notice that the US régime interferes in Syria, in China (Hong Kong and Taiwan)in the South China Sea (aircraft carrier) Venezuela ( as always) Cuba, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Nicaragua…. just in the last few weeks while other nations prepare for the COVID-19 arrival and try to cope. Instead, Trump increases the illegal sanctions on many and puts huge pretend-dollars to fix the problem. Airlines, corporations and the very rich get relief, the poor get a few cents if they wait long enough before they die.
If Trump’s economic recovery plans hinge on China following through on their Phase II purchasing commitments, this treaty was probably a bad idea.
However, the sinophobes in the West score big, with Chinese poised to kill Chinese and the U.S. civilian economy plundered by COVID-19 economic war traitors.