Once someone begins to digest the reality of several nations overseas, it could dawn on some MHVille pros how important it is to make the United States of America (USA) into a safe haven, an oasis for living a life where the rule of law, authentic liberty, and sound investments can peacefully thrive. That is just part of the thesis for this evidence-based article with analysis. Headlines, a flashback, and news briefs will paint the picture. More detail minded readers can go to the cited sources to learn more. In Part II, the proverbial wheat will be separated from the chaff.
In no particular order of importance are the following snapshots and sources shared in Part I. Keep in mind that while these are not manufactured housing specific, it is broad fact patterns that are being considered in Part I. Part II will include supportive evidence to what follows, more general items useful for the thesis, along with more manufactured housing industry, imported flat-packed prefabs, and manufactured home supply chain and other arguably related insights.
All reports shown are from 2024 unless otherwise noted. Near the end of Part II, the various threads will be pulled together and applied to MHVille specifically and America more broadly.
Part I – Reports Involving Foreign Nations
All reports shown are from 2024 unless otherwise noted.
1) Left-leaning Associated Press (AP)
Small, well-built Chinese EV called the Seagull poses a big threat to the US auto industry
LIVONIA, Mich. (AP) — A tiny, low-priced electric car called the Seagull has American automakers and politicians trembling.
The car, launched last year by Chinese automaker BYD, sells for around $12,000 in China, but drives well and is put together with craftsmanship that rivals U.S.-made electric vehicles that cost three times as much. A shorter-range version costs under $10,000.
Tariffs on imported Chinese vehicles probably will keep the Seagull away from America’s shores for now, and it likely would sell for more than 12 grand if imported. …”
More linked here.
2) From right-leaning Newsmax (12.24.2024)
Chinese BYD Workers in ‘Slave-Like’ Conditions in Brazil
Brazilian officials found 163 Chinese nationals working in “slavery-like conditions” at a construction site for a factory owned by Chinese electric vehicle producer BYD in Brazil’s Bahia state, the local labor prosecutor’s office said during a news conference Monday.
According to the authorities, the workers were hired in China by another firm and brought to Brazil irregularly. They were laboring for long hours, in excess of what is allowed by Brazilian law, sometimes for seven days a week straight, while being kept in what authorities described as degrading conditions in their accommodations, among other labor violations.
BYD did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The labor authorities did not disclose the names of the firms involved in hiring the workers.
In Brazil, “slavery-like conditions” include forced labor, but also covers debt bondage, degrading work conditions, long hours that pose a risk to workers’ health and any work that violates human dignity. …”
More linked here.
3) From right-leaning ZeroHedge which cited Jayant Bhandari via American Renaissance.
India: It’s Worse Than You Think
Most Westerners know nothing about India beyond vague ideas about Hinduism, yoga, gurus, and maybe a dash of Bollywood. To such people, this article will be a rude awakening…
I grew up in Bhopal in central India. Since as early as I can remember, I worked in my father’s printing press. I studied engineering in the nearby city in Indore and went to Manchester Business School in Britain to do an MBA. I returned to India to set up a subsidiary of a British company, which was a huge success. When I lived in Delhi, I wrote for the mainstream Indian media. I traveled widely in India and around the world.
I had first returned to India with the idea of improving it, but after 11 years, I realized that India was a sinking ship, with worsening and increasingly shameless corruption, degraded people, and a society that was falling apart. I had never met an honest bureaucrat or politician. I applied to emigrate to Canada and my application was approved in a record three weeks.
I now advise East Asian and Western corporations on investing in India. Most of what I tell them sounds to them exaggerated, unrealistic, and unbelievable. After much dance, drama, and a great deal of lost money, they begin to believe what I tell them. However, this learning is never institutionalized because of a refusal to understand India. This is a form of political correctness, a poison eating away the innards of Western values.
When I was a child growing up in India, I learned that “might makes right.” Power was often abused, with those in control acting as if they had a God-given right to exploit and dominate others. The display of authority could be so extreme that questioning it or expecting those in power to do their duty might lead to retribution. Those in authority seemed to believe that their positions were not for serving others but for personal gain.
People who showed respect appeared to have meekly accepted a lower, subservient position. Kind people had to hide their compassion, for being nice was seen as a weakness.
In India, I have rarely seen someone in authority take the initiative to solve a problem he was responsible for. When I was at university, an underaged boy who worked in the kitchen was raped and sodomized by the janitors. I reported the matter, but not only did no one in authority do what was right — something well within their power — the authorities and fellow students threatened me with severe consequences if I pursued the matter further. Devoid of empathy, they also made fun of the boy and me.
Yes, there is an element of sadism here. There is some degree of pleasure that Indians take in the pain suffered by others. The attitude of the authorities was like that of the high-placed Delhi bureaucrat who told me that his Black Label whiskey tastes so much better because he knows that most Indians can’t afford to drink it.
This confuses Westerners. If they had power, even if they were corrupt, in a situation where there was nothing to gain or lose — no bribes to receive since both parties were poor, and no risk of offending someone well-connected — they would do the right thing and book the alleged rapist. These Indians would do nothing, not even lift a finger, unless there was a reward: money or sex. Their apathy was bottomless.
Doing your job may be seen as effeminate by those above you. If you can shirk your responsibilities, you’re considered macho. In that culture, there is rarely any pride or honor in doing what is right. If you call a plumber for repairs, he will see it as beneath him to leave without creating a mess. He may deliberately do a shoddy job, even if doing it well wouldn’t take more time. A complex web of arrogance, egotism, servility, casteism, tribalism, and magical thinking drives this behavior. He shows his contempt for you and gets the better of you by leaving a mess. His customer, as the other side of the same coin, might well look down on and exploit someone who did his job well.
If you do a bad job, does that mean you do not get called back? That doesn’t matter to people who have no standards to begin with and who do not think ahead. There is little positive feedback to those who want to do better, be fair, or make better products.
Fairness, justice, trust, empathy, and impartiality are alien to many Indians. They have a hard time telling the difference between right and wrong. They are indifferent even when no cost is associated with being fair. Moreover, if they could do good without any personal cost, they would still prefer not to, because that can be seen as a sign of weakness.
Indians are indoctrinated to be submissive. The indoctrination is so profound that Indians address those even slightly above them in authority as “sir.” They tend to be servile, sycophantic, and ingratiating. This should not be mistaken for respect, because respect is foreign to Indians. When they call you “sir,” it reflects their view of you only as the stronger figure in the interaction, consistent with their view that might makes right. They will demean you the moment you are in a weaker position.
You are either higher or lower — therefore, you are either abuser or abused. Equality is impossible. A visitor learns very quickly that saying “please” and “thank you” is seen as a sign of weakness and is reserved for those who wish to demean themselves.
Indians cannot maintain the institutions established by the British. These institutions have been hollowed out and corrupted, becoming predatory. The constitution and laws hold little value. The only forces driving these institutions are bribes and connections. Whether you approach the highest political leaders or the pettiest bureaucrats, they openly and unashamedly demand bribes.
Street smarts are highly valued, and criminals who evade justice are celebrated. A relative of mine, brimming with pride, once told me that he would never pay rent for the house he had rented. He had bribed the local authorities to make it impossible for his landlord to throw him out.
When someone in a society without trust is cheated, he rarely seeks justice against the cheater. Instead, he cheats others. Men abuse women, women abuse children, and children abuse animals. Animals attack whatever they can. Higher-caste Indians abuse those in lower castes, while lower-caste people fight with other lower-caste people to determine who is superior. It is a perpetual cycle of mistrust and arbitrariness.
People in the West talk about a system of four or five castes that was formalized by the British. This confuses the issue, for this gives an exaggerated sense of structure. In reality, there are 1.4 billion castes in India. All interactions are about sizing you up. You end up either oppressing others or being oppressed. The so-called lower caste people are more caste conscious than the higher caste people.
Most caste problems in India are described in the news in passive tense. So-and-so was oppressed and abused. Yes, the sufferer is a lower caste person but the oppressor is often of a similarly low caste. When a lower caste person rises in power, he loves showing it off to those from higher castes. What better way to show off power than by abusing others and getting away with it or — if you are a plumber — by leaving a mess? Different people show off power according to what they can get away with.
Many people lie openly. Everyone knows everyone lies, but everyone lies anyway. Many Indians convince themselves of their lies so that they can no longer differentiate between fact and fiction. Even if you don’t have to or want to, you have to exaggerate and lie, for you know your listener will calibrate to what you say. Conversations are often driven by personal material gain. Every transaction is a zero-sum game — or perhaps a negative-sum game, for sadism may be a part of the equation.
You may think you will be safe if you work with family members, but they may turn out to be your biggest enemies, for even they will betray you. Honor is not a part of the social code. Indians are atomized people and do not know loyalty. Indians across the board hide gold in their own houses and do not tell even family members about it.
I have never (I am using the word advisedly) had a contract honored in India. When you bribe, you must do so skillfully. If you have an opposing side in a legal fight, the judge and the police will take bribes from both sides. Your lawyer will collude with the opposing side and with the judge right in front of you to maximize bribes. This might sound unbelievable, but that does not change reality.
The words for most virtues come from Persian, Turkish, or English, not native Indian languages. But just because the words came into the language does not mean Indians accept those virtues; they were perverted and became a façade for the old ways. …”
More linked here.
4) MHProNews flashback report (uploaded on August 31, 2023). Recall that a Biden-Harris (D) era official, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, said that China was becoming “uninvestable.”
5) Many think Vietnam is a better option for production supply chains than China. But think again. Both are communist countries. Both have little regard for human life or human rights. Recall the segment from left-leaning CBS News in the MHProNews report linked below. If only the strong and connected can ‘get their rights,’ how reliable can it be if the you know what hits the fan?
6) Per right-leaning ZeroHedge which cited Visual Capitalist and HSBC, others as shown.
China’s GDP Growth Is Now Lagging The Rest Of Asia
China’s economy is facing a series of significant challenges, including a property crisis and high youth unemployment.
After decades of rapid growth, the country is now expected to experience less economic growth than other Asian nations.
This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, illustrates the projected growth of per-capita GDP for selected Asian nations between 2023 and 2026, based on data compiled by HSBC as of November 2024.
More at the link here.
7) For this article, when you read, hear, or view reports on former and future President Donald J. Trump talking about the Panama Canal and wonder why, consider the following.
Per right-leaning ZeroHedge which cited the Epoch Times.
China Behind Super Highway That Targets US With Mass Migration, Economic Warfare
Authored by Darlene McCormick Sanchez via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
DARIÉN GAP, Panama—The grind of heavy machinery breaks the silence of the Darién jungle, where the Pan-American Highway ends at Yaviza, Panama.
Construction workers have cleared towering trees to make way for a steel and concrete bridge mighty enough to withstand flooding from the Chucunaque River.
An onsite worker for the construction company Cusa told The Epoch Times that the construction project will cut four miles into the Darién jungle at a cost of $42 million and includes a second bridge crossing the Tuira River.
That would leave some 55 miles to finish the Pan-American Highway, also known as Highway 1, through the mountainous rainforest to connect it to Turbo, Colombia.
If it’s ever completed, the Pan-American Highway will stretch about 18,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina, opening up a land corridor the length of the Americas.
It has gone unfinished for decades because of American and Panamanian concerns over the environment, crime, and disease—and more recently, mass migration. The dangerous, rugged terrain acts as a natural barrier to travel from South to Central America.
The bridge and road expansion will end near the town of Bocas de Cupé in the Darién Gap. However, bridging the rivers has been considered one of the major obstacles blocking the completion of the highway.
The new project has worried some who fear that completing the road into the Darién Gap will be a win for China and a loss for the United States.
Michael Yon, a former war correspondent, has been covering mass migration through Panama for several years and has used social media to bring attention to the bridge’s construction and its implications.
China would benefit through an alternate trade route around the Panama Canal, which is essential to global trade. But for the United States, it could open the floodgates to migrants from South America, he told The Epoch Times.
U.S. leaders have grown increasingly wary of the military implications of Chinese infrastructure projects being built in America’s backyard as part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), particularly around the Panama Canal.
In 2018, Panama signed on to China’s ambitious BRI project, dubbed a modern Silk Road, after publicly recognizing Taiwan as part of China, much to the surprise and concern of the United States. …”
More at the link here.
Pakistan’s missile program is ’emerging threat’, top US official says
Part II – Additional Information with More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary
Before pivoting into the insights and implications of the above, two more reports, the first on a domestic U.S. topic and a flashback to another that are arguably useful in the context of foreign trade.
1) From the right-leaning ZeroHedge which cited an article in American Greatness that was authored by a colonel in the U.S. military.
The U.S. military’s growing DEI policies are creating a climate where fear of unfounded accusations erodes leadership and threatens combat readiness – leaving the nation’s future at risk…
As Pete Hegseth’s nomination for Secretary of Defense moves forward, the matter of “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) doctrines and practices in America’s military is a hot-button issue of significant importance. Our media is awash with stories of “woke” generals and admirals, critiques of women in combat, awful tales of command selection board manipulations based on race or gender, and a generalized sense of uneasiness in the senior ranks of the Pentagon over perceived massive changes to take place once Trump and Hegseth are in charge. However, this current DEI attention focuses almost exclusively on what is happening inside the five walls of the Pentagon and tends to ignore DEI’s most pernicious effect: the way it is obliterating command authority in tactical units in the field and warships at sea.
First, let me tell you how I figured out what is going on. On X (formerly known as Twitter), I have an active account of about 130,000 followers. I know that number is much smaller than that of many other X influencers, but it’s enough to give me some reach. My account focuses primarily on politics and culture, with a heavy emphasis on matters related to the U.S. military. That’s because I’m a retired Army colonel, and my views on military matters seem to resonate with veterans and active duty alike. It is that community of military followers that has fully revealed to me the DEI cancer that is eating away at U.S. military leadership at all levels.
A few days ago, I read an article from Military.com that truly shocked me. That article stated that in today’s Army, roughly half of the officers who are eligible for battalion command are refusing to even be considered for such command. The article’s author, quoting official Army sources, stated that this was a function of officers being unwilling to take on the extraordinary time demands of being a battalion commander and out of a desire for a more sedate form of service for themselves and their families. The article suggests that a career as a staff officer with retirement at 20 years is more palatable than the constant and powerful peacetime and wartime demands of commanding a battalion of many hundreds or thousands of soldiers, even if that decision prohibits ever reaching high rank.
I was shocked. As I posted on X:
“What is going on here? In the Army I grew up in, it was the almost uniform goal of the entire officer corps to become a battalion commander one day. It was the brass ring. It was the validation of all of your training and efforts, and it was the most rewarding job in your career. The only reason to hold tedious staff positions was so you could aspire to one day command a battalion. So now in 2024, officers are happy to wile away the years making PowerPoint slides and making sure the coffee is fresh, and they lack the desire to lead troops? Dear God. The rot in the culture is far worse than I imagined.”
(As background, in all of the military services, not just the Army, command at the O-5 level is the ultimate leadership experience. In the Army and Marine Corps, it means commanding a battalion as a lieutenant colonel. In the Air Force, it means commanding a squadron as a lieutenant colonel. In the Navy, it means commanding a combat warship at the similar O-5 rank of commander. It truly is the greatest reward for those who wish to lead and command, and it is usually the last time in a successful military career that you are down in the dirt (or the bilge) with the troops that you lead. It’s a special time, once coveted by the best leaders.)
I retired from active duty in 2007, so I was looking at this issue from my old-timer perspective. But that’s when X, as the “new news media,” did its job—suddenly my X comments and private messages were flooded with active duty and recently retired officers explaining to me that this phenomenon was not due to a desire to not be overworked (as suggested by the Army itself and the Pentagon-friendly author at Military.com) but was instead due to fear of DEI. DEI has made O-5-level command a risky proposition where a male or a white officer lives in fear of an unfounded DEI complaint that would destroy not only his or her military career but the officer’s reputation as well. The risk of such destruction is outweighing the desire to lead. This is a tragic result.
So let’s say you are a straight, white male Army battalion commander who has a subordinate who happens to be a racial or ethnic minority, or a female, or LGBTQ+. Let’s also say that the subordinate is a poor performer to whom you give a poor efficiency report or is someone engaged in illegal activity that you prosecute under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Let’s say that such a poor performer or criminal then goes to the Inspector General (IG) and claims what you have done is motivated solely by racial, ethnic, or gender animus, or homophobia. (Or worse, a female soldier falsely claims you sexually assaulted her.) Back in the day, all such a commander needed to do was show the facts surrounding the issue to the IG, and the IG would go away, satisfied. But not today. Today, such claims tend to result in a presumption of guilt against the commander, which must be conclusively disproven.
As if that is not bad enough, there is a related concept here: so-called “counterproductive leadership.” Basically, counterproductive leadership is the idea that a leader’s actions are so toxic that he or she is not qualified to command. Crazily, “counterproductive leadership” (or “toxic leadership”) can be evidenced merely by such abstract concepts as subordinates refusing to look a leader in the eye or leaders holding poor performers to account for their poor performance. I’m fairly certain that iconic military leaders like George S. Patton and William “Bull” Halsey, Jr. would be considered purveyors of “counterproductive leadership” in today’s military environment, and mythical characters like Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Highway would likely be in the stockade.
“Counterproductive leadership” then gets linked to something else: “loss of confidence” by a commander’s chain of command. This is the idea that a commander’s superiors relieved him or her from command for unspecified reasons—including “counterproductive leadership.” In the past ten years, an unprecedented number of senior leaders (O-5 and above) have been relieved from command for this very “loss of confidence” reason. (Do a simple Google search and you’ll see what I mean.)
So let me please break down for you how this is all connected. Despite the fact that many commanders are, in fact, relieved for legitimately horrific reasons, many others are relieved according to the following, specious chain of events:
- A unit commander disciplines a minority, female, or LGBTQ+ subordinate who legitimately committed some form of wrongdoing or was a poor performer.
- The subordinate then files a race/ethnicity/gender/religion/sexuality discrimination complaint against the unit commander with the IG, claiming the discipline was unwarranted and was actually motivated by racial/ethnic/gender/religious/LGBTQ+ animus.
- The unit commander is presumed guilty until proven innocent.
- The IG then determines the unit commander is innocent.
- Despite the IG’s determination, the unit commander’s higher chain of command determines that “counterproductive leadership” was the cause of the unfounded and disproven IG complaint—a complaint that presumably would never have occurred had the unit commander displayed “productive leadership.”
- “Counterproductive leadership” causes the unit commander’s chain of command to determine it has “lost confidence” in the unit commander.
- The unit commander is then relieved from command duties by his or her higher chain of command due to such loss of confidence.
- Stars and Stripes and Military.com then publicly report the ex-commander’s relief for cause.
More at the link here.
2) Longterm and detail-minded readers of MHProNews will recall the reports linked below.
3) As MHProNews has reported, there has been clear evidence of corruption from members of both major parties. This is a good place to remind new and old readers alike that the management of MHProNews are political independents that seek to present facts, evidence, and something as close to the truth on a given topic as is reasonably possible. It isn’t that MHProNews’ believes that Trump is a saint. It is rather that MHProNews believes that given the alternatives, Trump was far and away the better candidate in 2016, 2020, and 2024. Trump didn’t mind taking on the Bush wing of the Republican Party. President George W. Bush (R) and his running mate Vice President Richard “Dick” Cheney (R) were arguably involved in serious corruption that benefited the U.S. military-industrial-spy complex. Not to defend them, there has been corruption in the Clinton Administration (D) before Bush, and in the Obama-Biden-Harris (D) years that in the view of some made Bush seem better. It was revealing when Kamala Harris embraced the endorsement of former VP Dick Cheney and his daughter and former Congressional Representative Liz Cheney (WY-R). According to left-leaning CNN: “Cheney’s loss may be the second worst for a House incumbent in 60 years.” The Trump wing of the GOP supported a primary challenge to Liz and she went down in a flaming defeat. “As of Wednesday afternoon, she trailed Hageman by 37.4 points, which is just worse than California Rep. Marty Martinez’s loss by 37.2 points to fellow Democrat Hilda Solis in a 2000 blanket primary,” per left-leaning CNN Wed August 17, 2022.
Trump had the guts to say that the decisions of the Bush-Cheney era cost the U.S. trillions of dollars and thousands of lives lost, with tens of thousands of wounded in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in that part of the world.
Trump also had the guts to say that if he didn’t win the 2024 election that the U.S. auto industry was finished. Much of the leftist and anti-Trump wings of right-leaning media twisted Trump’s words about there would be an (economic) bloodbath for Detroit (U.S. automakers) if Kamala Harris (D) would win. Why? Go back to Part I, number 1. If Trump and his vision of protecting and growing U.S. markets and protecting the U.S. against China and others by tariffs had failed and Harris had won, the Chinese can produce a car for less than the U.S. can. Part I and 2 informs and/or reminds us that China is exporting to Brazil slavery style methods in another country in what used to be America’s back yard, Latin America. Many never learned, or have forgotten, the Monroe Doctrine. Per left-leaning Wikipedia it said of the Monroe Doctrine that: “It holds that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign powers is a potentially hostile act against the United States.”
Britannica said of the Monroe Doctrine the following.
Monroe Doctrine, (December 2, 1823), cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy enunciated by Pres. James Monroe in his annual message to Congress. Declaring that the Old World and New World had different systems and must remain distinct spheres, Monroe made four basic points: (1) the United States would not interfere in the internal affairs of or the wars between European powers; (2) the United States recognized and would not interfere with existing colonies and dependencies in the Western Hemisphere; (3) the Western Hemisphere was closed to future colonization; and (4) any attempt by a European power to oppress or control any nation in the Western Hemisphere would be viewed as a hostile act against the United States
When Cuba became a satellite or client state of the old Soviet Union (a.k.a.: USSR), that was in the view of some a breach of the Monroe Doctrine. Be that as it may, for much of the 1800s, the Monroe Doctrine held. Woodrow Wilson (D) arguably breached the doctrine when he involved the United States in World War I. The Wilson era is arguably one of the darkest turns in U.S. history, as it led the nation away from several of the principles that had held the United States of America, including the pivot from tariffs towards the income tax and involvement in overseas adventures.
4) China has been shipping relatively modest numbers of ‘flat packed’ prefabs to the U.S. for some years. If anyone involved in manufactured housing production or retail thinks that it makes sense to support the importing of prefabs from China or other nations, look more closely at the fact pattern outlined in this article and the ones linked from it.
5) The U.S. dodged a major bullet (proverbial and literal) when Trump survived assassination attempt in Butler PA last summer and a second potential assassin just weeks later at his own golf course.
6) When Steve Madden announced they were pivoting away from production in China, that was reported by MHProNews because it is significant to our industry on several levels.
By the way, note that China is reportedly now lagging the U.S. states of Texas and Florida in GDP growth.
It can pay to invest in the U.S.A, particularly in ‘red states.’ It is worth mentioning that Texas and Florida are both no personal income tax states.
7) After Christmas, we plan a special report on Champion Homes, a prominent MHI member that was known for some years as Skyline-Champion (SKY) until a 2024 name change.
8) But in this period of shopping, parties, and celebrations of various kinds, there is routinely time to reflect. Readership often rises on holidays, because the celebration period has not yet started, or has already wrapped up. There has been, is and will be some level of corruption in America. Human nature hasn’t changed when the U.S. border is reached, as a steady stream of reports on illegal immigrants allowed into the U.S. that rape, rob, or murder U.S. citizens sadly often reflects.
BREAKING: One teenage migrant is dead, and another is hospitalized following a stabbing incident last evening in Lower Manhattan.
Police are looking for three men in their 20’s with “dark complexions.” pic.twitter.com/lbtc3IICVt
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) December 6, 2024
9) We ought to be open-eyed about just how corrupt several aspects of our society have become, particularly during these last 4 years. But the truth is that some aspects were never rooted out during Trump 1.0. God willing, Trump 2.0 will be better at overcoming “the resistance” that Trump 1.0 faced.
10) But we also have to consider why the rule of law is so important for every aspect and corner of American life.
11) With that in mind, one should ask. Why did the U.S., and for a time, parts of Europe and Latin America, Australia, etc. become reasonably civilized and peaceful? It can be summed up in one word. Christianity. When Christian principles permeate a society, the rule of law takes root. Without that leavening effect of Christian beliefs, the kind of social ills described in India, China, or other parts of the world (see Part I) flourishes.
Through much of human history, war and conflicts of various types were the norm, not the exception.
America’s founding fathers were routinely inspired by their belief in God. They were well aware of the Enlightenment, and some embraced parts of the Enlightenment. But America may not have become the beacon of hope and freedom that it has been for hundreds of years without the inspiration of faith, and routinely that was Christian faith.
12) Christian faith itself is an outgrowth from Judaism, which is widely thought to be the oldest known religion on planet Earth.
13) The rise of the communist, socialist, fascist, and Nazi states in the 20th century and into the 21st century presents a unique wrinkle to this threat against people globally, but also here in the U.S. Lifelong Democrat turned independent and Trump supporter, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. correctly called out this nexus of corporate, media, big tech, and governmental power.
14) Anyone who thinks that this pattern doesn’t matter to manufactured housing isn’t paying close enough attention to past or current events. One may disagree with then House Majority Whip James “Jim” Clyburn’s politics, but they should pay close attention to this powerful remark he made. Clyburn’s apt ‘quotable quote’ on the reasons to study history. Keep in mind that oligarch Warren Buffett is a student of history and a big reader too. These are reasons, above and below, to apply the ancient wisdom of separating the wheat from the chaff.
15) Let’s pull these various threads and insights together, and weave in a bit more information in that process.
- a) In Argentina and Italy, among other nations, there are populist movements that are pushing back against leftist and big government threats.
- b) While it may not happen in the next four years, the Daily Torch’s Bill Wilson recently made the case for U.S. withdrawal from NATO. Trump may use that threat in order to gain leverage in his desire to obtain Greenland. Trump understands the strategic value of Greenland for its mineral rich resources as well as its geographic significance.
- c) American capital, alongside that of other ‘Western’ nations has helped build the Communist Chinese economy which has supplanted the U.S. in much of the world. That move has undermined American industry, legal U.S. immigrant and citizen employees, and essentially fueled in several cases both sides of conflicts such as the one involving Isreal, Gaza, the Houthis and Hezbollah, among other radicals backed by Iran. Or the Biden-Harris (D) era policies fueled (pun intended) the rise in Russia’s oil revenues while giving direct support to Ukraine, so again, both sides of that conflict were essentially sustained by not just poor, but arguably corrupt leadership. Much of the world is an unstable place, and the U.S. could become so due to the influx of people from countries around the world that include large numbers that mean to do the U.S. harm.
d) Much of these are moral decisions. And rooted behind those moral decisions are a healthy understanding of what inspired good business, good (and limited) government, and the kind of ethical behavior that made the America dream possible.
e) Note: MHProNews has previously said bestselling author and historian Hanne Herland was born in South Africa, based on an erroneous source. Per left-leaning Wikipedia: “Herland was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her parents moved to Africa in the 1960s to work for UNESCO. Her middle name Nabintu is most common in DR Congo. She spent her childhood in the Congo, Kenya and Rwanda.” MHProNews regrets that prior error about Herland’s birthplace. Today, she lives in Norway but is routinely commenting on European, global and U.S. topics as the above linked items reflect.
f) Manufactured housing is demonstrably underperforming during an affordable housing crisis despite favorable laws that were enacted by widely bipartisan efforts and signed into law by both a Democrat and Republican presidents. Joe Biden (D), when he was the senator from Delaware, was a cosponsor for the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000 (a.k.a.: MHIA 2000, MHIA, 2000 Reform Act, 2000 Reform Law). Yet, the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) routinely failed to mention that and failed to press the Biden-Harris (D) regime to enforce good existing laws. Instead, MHI would periodically pay lip service to the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008 with its Duty to Serve (DTS) manufactured housing provision. The result of posturing rather than performing has been a steady consolidation of the manufactured home industry in the 21st century while the manufactured housing industry plummeted to lows not seen since the early days of the mobile home industry’s developments. When someone follows the money trail more than the mere words, the picture comes into sharper focus. Both left-leaning AI powered Gemini and left-leaning AI powered Copilot have confirmed numerous findings of the research by MHProNews on these issues.
g) MHI and its corporate insiders that pull the strings of that trade group can attempt to duck accountability. They can stand on their constitutional right to remain silent. But that doesn’t negate the demonstrable realities that many of those MHI corporate leaders have been and are making decisions that are arguably harmful to the longer-term interests of independent industry companies. Ironically, oversized MHI influence Kevin Clayton – speaking on behalf of MHI – helped document that harm in the 21st century.
h) Underperformance benefits the often-self-proclaimed business model of consolidation-focused certain brands that are MHI members. They are evidence for what MHI member Frank Rolfe said. Namely, that there is no desire to solve the affordable housing crisis, at least, not at this time.
i) A mountain of lies, half-truths, smears and cover ups have occurred during the past four years, and they existed before then too. The “Leave it to Beaver” or “I Love Lucy” versions of America may never have been completely true, but they are reminders of an era when a man could support a larger family on one income. That must not be forgotten. That was prior to the President Lydon Banes Johnson (D) Great Society. In the 1950s, faith had a demonstrably stronger influence over American behavior. As that faith component of U.S. life steadily eroded (it still very much exists, but has diminished), an array of problems moved in.
j) The notion of human rights are foundational to Judeo-Christian beliefs. Those beliefs forged the stages of development of what became the American Dream. Home ownership has long been a part of that dream. But it must be recognized that dozens of nations around the world have higher rates of home ownership that the U.S. does. That is a red flag.
k) There is no other resource in MHVille, other than MHProNews, MHLivingNews, and now our broader series of mainstream articles that periodically include manufactured housing on the Patch, that have taken the time or effort to inform readers of all backgrounds of these demonstrable realities. Tomorrow, on Christmas day, a Christmas themed article will be shared. On Thursday, the planned report will be on prominent MHI member Champion Homes. Watch for those items, because it all matters if the Trump-proclaimed “Golden Age” of America is to become a reality. Americans First and America First are part of the theme. And instead of mocking religion and violating people’s beliefs, as often occurred during the Biden-Harris (D) regime, Trump pledges once again to respect people’s religious liberty, which is also Constitutionally protected.
THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA IS UPON US! pic.twitter.com/ncI5kyWYzw
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) December 23, 2024
Wishing you and yours a very merry, holly jolly Christmas! So grateful for this group!!! 🥰🥰🥰🎄 pic.twitter.com/7FoHkdrsT3
— Lara Trump (@LaraLeaTrump) December 23, 2024
WE ARE SAYING MERRY CHRISTMAS!🤣🎅🎄 pic.twitter.com/iC0uyxFWTk
— Trump MP3 (@TrumpMP3) December 16, 2024
l) With whatever respect is due to MHI and its leaders, that beats all to heck their cheesy duplex style manufactured home which was made possible by MHARR’s advocacy.
m) The industry’s pros would be wise to bring back supply chains from overseas. Because, as the headline and Part I outlined, the situation overseas may be worse than many realize. During Covid19, supply chains from China were often disrupted with delays from certain components coming from China.
16) Facts matter. Reality matters. Inspiration grounded in reality is useful. MHProNews plans to bring a fascinating wrap up to a hectic 2024 as we look ahead to 2025. On this Christmas eve, Merry Christmas to all and happy Hanukkah to our Jewish friends.
Again, our thanks to free email subscribers and all readers like you, as well as our tipsters/sources, sponsors and God for making and keeping us the runaway number one source for authentic “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
Related References:
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