The cheapest goods imported at the cheapest price, when all factors are considered, may not be cheap at all. Distinct news reports covered herein are deliberately blended because by doing so it paints a picture that the distinct reports alone do not offer. Top current and prior U.S.-China trade representatives are cited herein.  There remarks are framed at the same time as left-leaning NBC News said: “U.S. senior officials caught off-guard by Biden’s calling Xi a ‘dictator’” and that government “Officials privately insisted that Biden’s comments didn’t represent a new administrative talking point.” NBC cited an unnamed administration official saying: “It should come as no surprise that the president speaks candidly about China and the differences that we have — we are certainly not alone in that,” one senior administration official said Wednesday. Also, on 6.21.2023 right-leaning Breitbart said: “Biden Calls Xi ‘Dictator’ at Fundraiser After Years of Bragging About Their Relationship.” Part II of this report and analysis will include remarks from United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai along with statements by former Trump-era trade representative Robert “Bob” Lighthizer, J.D. In Part III, the significance of both of those topics for manufactured housing specifically and the U.S.A. more generally are considered. Part IV is the Daily Business News on MHProNews manufactured housing connected stocks updates, headline snapshots, and the bumpy macro market overview.

Biden-era United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai is defending the nation’s tariffs on billions of dollars in Chinese-made products, suggesting Washington, DC, break its “addiction” to free trade. Globalization, Tai declared, is “unsustainable” for the U.S. economy. “We are looking at the tariffs in a very strategic way, and our concern is not just American national security, but also to figure out how we can break our addiction to the lowest cost, chasing of efficiency to redesign our economic policies.” [MHProNews emphasis added, see below for full context, added details including the implications for U.S. and more manufactured housing specific related concerns.

 

Part I – Biden Calls Xi a Dictator at Fundraiser

Per Breitbart.

Far-left American President Joe Biden reportedly referred to genocidal communist dictator Xi Jinping of China as a “dictator” during a fundraiser on Tuesday, a far cry from Biden’s regular boasting of having traveled alongside Xi more “than any other world leader.”

Biden made the remark as addressing the embarrassing situation involving a Chinese surveillance vessel, later identified as a balloon, that traversed the continental United States in January, reportedly collecting information from critical American military sites before Biden gave the military an order to shoot it down in the Atlantic Ocean.

At the event on Tuesday, Biden claimed the balloon was carrying “two box cars full of spy equipment,” reportedly failing to address why he did not order the vessel shot down sooner if that was the case.

Biden’s comment follows the return of Secretary of State Antony Blinken from Beijing, where he met with Xi and several other senior leaders. Blinken had described the balloon incident as “closed” in an interview on Monday.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry reportedly condemned Biden’s remarks at the fundraiser as “absurd and irresponsible,” though that response did not appear in Wednesday’s transcript of the Foreign Ministry’s regular press conference.”

The Biden administration’s first encounter with Chinese diplomats in Alaska was an utter debacle. https://t.co/fyAGH0Neuj

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) March 22, 2021

 

NBC said: “During a campaign fundraiser in California on Tuesday night, Biden said Xi “got very upset” when the U.S. military shot down a Chinese spy balloon that he didn’t know was flying across the U.S. “That was the great embarrassment for dictators, when they didn’t know what happened,” Biden added. He then continued to say Xi didn’t know the balloon had been over the continental U.S. after it was blown off course near Alaska.

China responded angrily that Biden’s comments were “extremely absurd” and “irresponsible.””

Per NBC, there was no audio or video recordings of the private event. Also per that source was the following.

The official predicted China is “probably more angry about Biden saying Xi is not all-powerful and didn’t know what was going on with the balloon.”

Evident that the remarks by Biden were not planned, officials offered various takes on the remarks.

A third senior U.S. official played down Biden’s remark, saying he was making a comment about dictators generally, not calling the Chinese leader one specifically. But another official said it was clear the president was calling Xi a dictator.”

“Don’t worry about China. I mean, worry about China but don’t worry about China,” Biden reportedly said, eliciting laughter.

Breitbart went on to say the following.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning as condemning the remarks on Wednesday during her daily briefing.

“It is a blatant political provocation. China expresses strong dissatisfaction and opposition,” Mao reportedly asserted, adding that Biden’s words “go totally against facts and seriously violate diplomatic protocol, and severely infringe on China’s political dignity.”

The Chinese government publishes a daily transcript of Foreign Ministry briefings; Wednesday’s did not include anything about Biden calling Xi a “dictator.”

Breitbart also noted the following.

Xi Jinping has held the titles of chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, “president” of China, commander in chief of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and over ten others since taking the helm of the country in 2012. None of his positions are elected and, following his reforms to Communist Party protocol, Xi is positioned to rule China for life.

Under Xi, China has significantly increased the violent repression of political dissidents, people of faith generally, and ethnic minorities that the Han supremacist Communist Party frowns upon. In occupied East Turkistan, Xi has spearheaded a genocide to “break the lineages” of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic ethnic minorities since at least 2017. Xi’s regime has built over 1,000 concentration camps housing as many as 3 million people to erase the indigenous cultures of the region and has engaged in an ongoing campaign to erase Uyghur historical sites such as   mosques and cemeteries.

During a CNN town hall in 2021, Biden justified the genocide as a result of “different norms in each country.”

“If you know anything about Chinese history, it has always been the time China has been victimized by the outer world is when they haven’t been unified at home. It’s vastly overstated, but the center of principle of Xi Jinping is that there must be a united, tightly controlled China,” Biden claimed. “And he uses his rationale for the things he does based on that.”

“I point out to him no American president can be sustained as a president if he doesn’t reflect the values of the United States,” he continued at the time. “So, the idea that I’m not going to speak out against what he’s doing in Hong Kong, what he’s doing with the Uyghurs in Western Mountains of China, and Taiwan, trying to end the one-China policy by making it forceful. I said, and he gets it, culturally there are different norms in each country, and their leaders are expected to follow.”

Biden’s reference to Xi as a “dictator” deviated significantly from his usual tone regarding Xi. Biden has repeatedly alleged to have traveled 17,000 miles with Xi while the two both served as vice presidents, a dubious claim that received three out of four possible “Pinocchios” from the [left-leaning] Washington Post in 2021.” The balance of the story on Breitbart is linked here.

 

 

Part II – U.S.-China Trade – How Stable is it? What High Ranking Current and Prior Trade Officials Said

While they are reported as two different stories, on the same day the outlets above reported on the dustup over Biden’s use of the term “dictator” and applied it to Communist China’s Xi, Breitbart reported that United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai made remarks that were not as well covered as the ‘Xi is a dictator’ remarks.  But recent statements by current and prior trade representatives familiar with U.S.-China trade issues may be as significant for those professionals who have to deal with manufactured housing or other supply chains in China. Remarks in brackets below are added by MHProNews to clarify the meaning of a statement and are not in NPR’s transcript.

Numbers of manufactured housing producers have reportedly been buying components from China for years.  More recently, post-COVID19 ‘pandemic’ outbreak, there have been rumblings that some are already in the process of moving those supply chains to more friendly nations.

Reuters failed to mention some of the points reported below which Breitbart covered. Among them, right-leaning Breitbart linked to left-leaning NPR which has the following quotes that begin with Trump-era remarks on trade that surprising to some have stayed in place so far during the Biden administration.

• DONALD TRUMP: For many years, China has been taking out hundreds of billions of dollars a year and rebuilding China. It’s time that we rebuild our country.
• TRUMP: The theft of American jobs and wealth has come to an end.
• NPR Host ASMA KHALID:  Two and a half years into the Biden presidency, those taxes [i.e.: tariffs on Chinese goods coming to the U.S.] are still here. To understand why that is, I talked to policymakers, economists and even went out to a factory floor in Minnesota.
• KHALID: … Katherine Tai is the Biden administration’s top trade official.
• KATHERINE TAI: I think it is important to distinguish between the reason why the tariffs were imposed [by Trump] from how the tariffs were imposed. It was done in a pretty provocative way with a lot of confrontational chest thumping, which I think drew some concerns both internationally and domestically, and I’m putting it diplomatically.
• TAI: The tariffs were ultimately imposed to redress that economic harm and to create a rebalancing in the economic relationship. So now if we fast forward to today, I think that the focus really should be on whether or not we still have this challenge with China. I think it’s fairly obvious that the answer is yes.
• TAI: We are looking at the tariffs in a very strategic way, and our concern is not just American national security, but also to figure out how we can break our addiction to the lowest cost, chasing of efficiency to redesign our economic policies.
• TAI: What we do share is a diagnosis that the U.S.-China trade relationship is out of balance, but I think that there are a lot of significant distinctions between our approaches.

NPR’s Khalid then played a clip of “Bob Lighthizer. He was Trump’s top trade official.”

• LIGHTHIZER: They haven’t put any new tariffs on. They have done nothing but follow our policy, yet they criticized the way we arrived at the policy.
• KHALID: Still, it’s not clear anyone but Trump would have dared to take the first step. [MHProNews note: an interesting observation from a source that is generally viewed as ‘anti-Trump’].
• LIGHTHIZER: It’s kind of hard to put yourself back in the way we were in 2017. Everyone in town – right? – in Washington was against us.
• KHALID: Lighthizer had been a skeptic of mainstream U.S. trade policy for years. He was fed up with the idea that China was getting billions of dollars a year from Americans while stealing U.S. technology. Something, he said, had to change. It was a message that resonated with a company in North Carolina.
• GREG PRAY: My name is Greg Pray. I’m the president and CEO of Columbia Forest Products. We make hardwood, plywood and veneer that ends up in cabinets and kitchens.
• KHALID: Back in 2017, the Commerce Department found that China was dumping plywood into the U.S., selling it at unfairly low prices.
• PRAY: The U.S. manufacturers can compete if we’re competing fairly, but we cannot compete if it’s an unfair playing field.
• KHALID: He says Trump’s tariffs showed the U.S. government had their back.
• PRAY: There was no criticism in our industry. In fact, there were cheers.
• KHALID: And there were other tariffs on plywood, too. Pray says Chinese companies did change their behavior after all of this, but not necessarily for the better.
• PRAY: They immediately tried to circumvent it by moving their products, even some of their manufacturing, to other countries, such as Vietnam and Indonesia.
• KHALID: Across the economy, imports on tariffed Chinese goods have gone down. But that doesn’t mean American manufacturers are getting all the benefits. Imports from Vietnam have more than doubled since the tariffs went into effect. Dan Digre says he’s also turned to Vietnam.
• DIGRE: Vietnam is developing a loudspeaker industry. It’s developing parts suppliers, but it’s very new. You know, these supply chains just don’t move on a dime, right?
• KHALID: He’s also shifted to Indonesia for some other components, but he’s still relying on China a lot. …
• KHALID: But in every game, there are winners and losers. And the thing about these tariffs is that the rules are blurred because the game is not entirely about the economy. It’s also about keeping China in check.

NPR’s Khalid introduced “Chad Bown. He’s with the Peterson Institute for International Economics.”

• CHAD BOWN: Five or six years ago, the conversation was about costs and about whether the Chinese system was playing by the rules.
• BOWN: The conversation has shifted entirely. It’s not about that anymore. It’s all about national security – the heightened tensions that we’re seeing, you know, over Taiwan, military engagement, balloons floating over the United States, things of that nature that we’re really having to grapple with today.
• KHALID: The Biden administration is currently reviewing the tariffs to determine their approach to them. That process is expected to wrap up this year. I asked Biden’s top trade official, Katherine Tai, what’s going on with this review.
• TAI: I would say that one key question that’s really important for us to consider is what has China done in these last few years that would merit our changing this tariff structure?
• KHALID: There’s been a chorus of Republican and Democratic lawmakers who say China’s behavior has not changed. And this all comes against the backdrop of the 2024 presidential election. So Dan Digre – he’s not optimistic about change.
• DIGRE: It’s all about what should I say, what should I do to get me [i.e.: Biden] reelected?
• KHALID: And you think removing some of these tariffs is not politically popular.
• DIGRE: You know, I hate to say this, but it would just get portrayed as being weak on China.
• KHALID: And in a presidential election, there’s often little political room for nuance. That’s even more the case on these tariffs because they were Donald Trump’s signature policy, and he’s the current Republican front-runner.

With that backdrop from NPR, Breitbart – which quoted a few of those items above – added the following insights.

Lighthizer recently published a memo for American Compass, the nationalist-populist policy think tank, where he called for the U.S. to decouple from China, but Biden has said his administration is not interested in such a move.

“America needs to begin the process of strategically decoupling our two economies, so that trade and investment are occurring only when balanced and in our interest,” Lighthizer writes. “Anyone still arguing for economic integration or partnership after all these years of evidence is unworthy of support and certainly no conservative.”

In particular, American Compass details a trade agenda for a future Republican administration which includes imposing a global tariff on all foreign imports to eliminate the nation’s booming trade deficit, barring U.S. firms from holding Chinese assets and vice versa, and rescinding U.S. normal trade relations with China.

“We transfer $300 billion of assets to China every year,” Lighthizer writes. “We are building their economy and their military. No country in human history has done this for an adversary.”

The Lighthizer’s memo on American Compass linked to a download entitled “REBUILDING AMERICAN CAPITALISM.” From that document, found at this link here and as a download on MHProNews linked here, is this telling pull quote.

“Whereas 40 weeks of the typical male worker’s income in 1985 could provide the middle-class essentials for a family of four, by 2022 he needed 62 weeks of income—a problem, there being only 52 weeks in a year.” That is not only a recipe for more household debt but is also a point of instability that can manifest itself in a variety of undesirable ways.

From the official USTR website are these remarks from Tai’s recent remarks to National Press Club.

• “And of course, fragile supply chains and an unsustainable version of globalization demanding reform and improvements.
• Because resilient supply chains are vital for greater national and economic security.
  By this, we mean production that can more easily and quickly adapt to and recover from crises and disruptions.  It means having more options that run through different regions.
  But getting there requires a fundamental shift.  A shift in the way we incentivize decisions about what, where, and how we produce goods and supply services.
  That shift, in trade as in antitrust, moves away from a narrow focus on benefits for consumers.  Our trade policy places workers at its center to reflect the reality that the consumer who enjoys the low prices of imported goods is also a worker who must withstand the downward pressures that come from competing with workers in other parts of the world toiling under exploitative conditions.
• “[T]he United States faces new challenges to its economic standing in the world, including unfair competitive pressures from foreign monopolies and firms that are state-owned or state-sponsored, or whose market power is directly supported by foreign governments.  We must act now to reverse these dangerous trends, which constrain the growth and dynamism of our economy, impair the creation of high-quality jobs, and threaten America’s economic standing in the world.”

 

Part III – Additional Information with More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary

On domestic and international affairs, there have been significant errors made by members of both major political parties. For an example on trade and international policy, in hindsight, it was folly for the U.S. under President Richard Nixon (R) to ‘open the door’ for trade with Communist China, the U.S., and over time, other Western nations. Those pro-China and other ‘free trade’ policies have been allowed to continue under both Democratic and Republican administrations, up until the time that President Donald J. Trump began to tariff China, as was noted by NPR above.

In the remarks above, it is noteworthy that Biden era United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai expressed positions quite in line with those put in place by President Trump.

There have been members of both major parties that have at various times opposed trade with China, but the ‘pro-free trade’ special interests have been allowed to hold sway in Washington, D.C. politics for decades pre-Trump. The previous policies were shortsighted.  The harms caused by these policies could be tallied literally in the trillions of dollars and the loss of millions of jobs and lower wages for American employees over the years.

 

MHProNews has editorially noted several times something quite similar to the remarks by Trump era trade point-man, Robert “Bob” Lighthizer.

“America needs to begin the process of strategically decoupling our two economies, so that trade and investment are occurring only when balanced and in our interest,” Lighthizer writes. “Anyone still arguing for economic integration or partnership after all these years of evidence is unworthy of support and certainly no conservative.”

“We transfer $300 billion of assets to China every year,” Lighthizer wrote. “We are building their economy and their military. No country in human history has done this for an adversary.”  The simplified version of the Trump-era policies were American people, American products first.

While protecting American jobs and production has been fiercely opposed by some Establishment Republicans and Democrats, who are by definition in the pockets of “the Establishment” special interests, there is a wisdom to the America first policies. First, most nations naturally seek their own interests first, which is a point that Trump understood and expressed. It was unnatural to have globalist minded big businesses and their political cronies undermining the overall interests of the U.S. and the vast majority of its people.

Consider how ultra-billionaire William “Bill” Gates III, who has long and deep financial and philanthro-feudalist ties with Warren Buffett, was recently greeted by China’s “dictator” Xi Jinping. Gates was welcomed like a head of state might be welcomed. That speaks volumes.

Bill Gates meets Xi Jinping as US-China tensions simmer https://t.co/cwRU03HvJC

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) June 16, 2023

Bill Gates meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping https://t.co/O3s9ZPuBvb

— NewsNation (@NewsNation) June 16, 2023

 

Exclusive: Xi Jinping tells Bill Gates he welcomes U.S. AI tech in China https://t.co/Lvd8NDiAUd pic.twitter.com/s0X9lkHFnw

— Reuters (@Reuters) June 16, 2023

 

When a corporate leader or uber billionaire has a level of clout on par with that of a larger Western government that should be a warning sign for people regardless of their political bias.

Recall when Trump was in office, Kevin Clayton appeared on left-leaning CNBC arguing against the tariffs which thus far even the anti-Trump Biden Administration has kept in place. Does anyone seriously doubt that Clayton was taking a position in line with that of Warren Buffett?

 

Tariffs “…Will Effect Demand,” says Kevin Clayton, Answers CNBC’s Monopoly Question – Video – plus Manufactured Housing Market Updates

 

While Clayton may have had a technically, but marginally, correct point, it overlooked the bigger picture.

As American Compass pointed out: “Whereas 40 weeks of the typical male worker’s income in 1985 could provide the middle-class essentials for a family of four, by 2022 he [the typical male employee] needed 62 weeks of income—a problem, there being only 52 weeks in a year.” Free trade has demonstrably helped the financial elites who hold to a ‘globalist’ mentality while demonstrably harming the interests of smaller businesses and hundreds of millions of everyday Americans. Who says? Besides American Compass, Carol Roth, the Job Creators Network, and others in the small business corner. In essence, China is another aspect of the Buffett ‘moat,’ which other often left-leaning elites have adopted.

 

 

Recall Buffett’s and his Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger’s seemingly glowing references to China in 2021 in an in-depth interview with CNBC.

 

 

 

As CNBC’s Quick framed it: “Charlie, you said communist China is doing all the things that we should be doing right now…”

In a discussion involving how China dealt with billionaire Jack Ma, Munger expressed that the Chinese Communists effectively said: “To hell with you [i.e.: Ma].” He [Ma] basically gave a speech when he said to a, to a one-party state [i.e.: Communist China], “Well, you guys are a buncha jerks, don’t know what you’re doing. And I know what I’m doing, and I’m gonna do it better.” And he [Ma] was gonna wade into banking and no rules and just do whatever he pleased.”

In context, Munger and Buffett favored cracking down on those they demeaned as financial “swingers.” In effect, the gist of the discussion was Munger and Buffett doubling down on what was said earlier by Buffett. “Politicians in this country [the U.S.A.] want more power. The rich want more power.” That power clearly includes the ability to ‘crack down’ on those whose business interests ‘swing’ a different way than Berkshire’s leaders apparently desire. Restated, it is modern fascism.  The joining of corporate and state power. That’s the ideal that Buffett, Munger, apparently Gates and others seek as the ultimate ‘moat’ against competitors.

Buffett’s own son Peter essentially accused his father and people like Gates of engaging in philanthro-feudalism or philanthro-capitalism. Peter referred to the Charitable-Industrial Complex, an allusion to the President Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhour (R) term of the Military Industrial Complex.

 

As Warren Buffett is being lauded by many in media for his so-called philanthropy, when the facts and outcomes are closely examined, the concerns raised by Peter and other critics appear to hold true. The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), an ironically leftist group, has given a deep dive critique of the questionable ‘giving’ practices of often leftist billionaires like Buffett, Gates, George Soros, Mark Zuckerberg and others. While IPS’ proposed solutions may not be solutions at all, the thrust of their evidence and concerns have evidence- and commonsense-backed merit.

 

IPS GILDED GIVING 2022-‘Wealth Inequality Distorts Philanthropy Imperils Democracy’ Reports Finger Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, More Philanthro-Feudalism Linked Billionaires; plus MHVille REITs, Stocks Update

 

The critics of how donations are done aren’t just on the left, they come from the political right too. In a briefing by Trump-era advisor Dr. Sebastian Gorka of some 375 AMAC delegates and leaders yesterday that this writer for MHProNews was invited to attend, Gorka pointed out that an awakening is underway in the U.S. While it is uneven, more Americans across the political spectrum are beginning to realize the true nature of the political system in America. By coincidence or perhaps because his analysis is in some ways similar to that of MHProNews’, Gorka hit points previously made in the second report linked below.

 

 

The Timing For a Change Away from Trade with China Could be Good and Smart…

“About 83% of Americans view China negatively,” said left-leaning Axios on 4.12.2023.

The Communists have taken note, as the semi-official South China Morning Post said on 3.3.2021: “US public turns against China in worst poll savaging…” noting that “Gallup survey shows favourable views of the rival power at an all-time low of 20 per cent, with only Iran and North Korea more unpopular.”

Left-leaning Time said on 4.13.2023 that: “Americans are increasingly seeing China as an “enemy” of the U.S. rather than a competitor, according to a new survey by the Pew Research.”

What does this mean for manufactured home producers that are doing business with China? It is an opportunity to remove those supply chains from China (or Vietnam, which in several respects is essentially a Chinese Communist client state) and tout it as being pro-American. There have been obvious hassles with Chinese supply chains. When conservative as well as left-leaning sources alike are seeing China as ‘an enemy’ that’s an opportunity to make a move that could gain wider public support.

The COVID19 outbreak-era supply chain disruptions could be tame compared to what would occur if war broke out between China, Taiwan, or other possible Pacific rim nations. As NPR noted above, Chinese influence goes beyond their nation, including Vietnam. Due to their Belt and Road initiative, Chinese investments are flowing to other nations. Among them is Indonesia, per 2023 reports by sources like Nikkei and Carnegie.

Democratic presidential nomination hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (D) is from the political left. RFK Jr. apparently buys into notions like climate change and some other left-leaning positions. That said, he has taken a strong stance against what he says is evidence of corrupt practices between corporate, financial elites, and big government.  It won’t be a surprise if Kennedy goes after Biden on his purported ties for such corruption involving himself, his son, and people in Communist China, Ukraine, and Russia, among other countries. While much of the left-leaning, pro-Biden segments of the news media and some left-leaning big tech platforms are censoring or slamming RFK Jr and his stances, mega-podcaster Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, and Twitter are among those sources that give him platforms and attention that are eating away at Biden’s Democratic base.

I call upon President Biden to issue two apologies. First, to the American people for misleading them into supporting an ugly proxy war on false pretenses. Second and more importantly, to the Ukrainian people for maneuvering them into this war and ruining their country, all for…

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) June 20, 2023

Peter, if you claim what RFKjr is saying is “misinformation” I am offering you $100,000.00 to the charity of your choice if you’re willing to debate him on my show with no time limit. https://t.co/m0HxYek0GX

— Joe Rogan (@joerogan) June 17, 2023

Thanks @TuckerCarlson. Grateful.https://t.co/Jgwn85tWYB

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) June 23, 2023

 

Agree or not with Kennedy, Biden, or those pundits who are giving oxygen to RFK Jr., they are examples of how the political winds in America are shifting.

 

‘Spirit of Rebellion’ RF Kennedy Jr ‘My Candidacy for Democratic Nominee for President Aims to End Corrupt Merger of State-Corporate Power Threatening New Feudalism in USA;’ plus MHMarkets Updates

When the 45th President Donald J. Trump appeared in court in Miami earlier this week, there wasn’t a massive crowd. But as a non-Trump fan and political observer noted, that should not be misunderstood as a waning of his support. Trump leads in virtually all polls by double digits over his closest contender. That pundit pointed to a Trump supporter who purportedly told him that they (Trump supporters) were not going to get sucked into another January 6 style trap.  They are taking a lower profile, giving the FBI – or other law enforcement – no excuses to come after them.  Here is how anti-Trump and left-leaning Rolling Stone framed that development.

Extreme Trump supporters are spreading the word to remain non-violent at the protests of his indictment in Miami because they believe the demonstrations are a trap, set by the feds, to snare MAGAdonians in Jan. 6-style legal trouble. https://t.co/CIOXElMMIK

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) June 13, 2023

 

These points could be summed up like this. Trumpism on trade and other policies is not dead. It may be morphing but is alive and well. On the left, regardless if Biden gets the Democratic nomination (it is unlikely to be RFK Jr. because Democrats have a super delegate system that allows them to un-democratically tilt the scales in whatever direction the party’s leaders desire) for 2024, or if the nod goes instead to Michelle Obama, Gov. Gavin Newsome (CA-D), or another candidate that the donor class wants for that party’s top spot, there are risks for the string-pulling elites. Hits by Kennedy Jr. may be part of a fracturing of the traditional Democratic voting base. Time will tell.

In the meantime, with the threat of disruptions from China and the Pacific Rim looming, the timing for shifting to domestic or North American sources may be good.  The flip side is that the risk is growing for keeping supply chains from China, Vietnam, or other nations influenced by Communist Chinese investments are growing.

It may also be true that an ‘awakening’ to the types of issues MHProNews has been reporting to industry readers for years is spreading. Savvy managers, investors, C-suite professionals and others ought to be sensitive to such developments as they obviously impact business.

As troubling as Biden-era inflation, pressures on housing, free speech, and other issues may be, it could be part of that awakening of Americans that could sweep in upcoming races anti-Establishment politicians. The Republicans of today are often quite different than those in the Bush era, for example.  The Democrats of today are often far more leftist than say Bill Clinton was during his term in office. But as polling by Gallup suggests that the nation is moving in a more conservative direction.

Poll shows more Americans are identifying as conservativehttps://t.co/VhuepfFnZL

— RSBN 🇺🇸 (@RSBNetwork) June 12, 2023

 

Even Joe Biden has borrowed from Trump-era ‘America first’ rhetoric, and even though he may be paltering, the message that such policies make sense could resonate with more voters and shoppers.

Summary and Conclusion

This article began with PINO Biden calling Xi a dictator and the surprising to some reality that tariffs and trade policies with respect to Communist China may not revert to pre-Trump stances.  Trump’s influence on the big issues being debated in the U.S. is apparent. Whatever happens in the developing 2024 primaries process, shifts in consumer and voter trends, along with bubbling woes between the U.S. and China could make this a good time for those who have not yet moved their supply chains away from China and Vietnam to consider doing so. It often pays to think longer term. Short term thinking may be necessary at times, but when short term thinking is the only type of ‘planning’ that occurs for a business or professional then vulnerabilities are likely to grow. To that point, consider the quotable quote that arguably makes that point from a survivor of the Clayton-conflicts in MHVille, one that along with his partner, have managed to navigate the rocky and turbulent currents and waters that MHVille pros are regrettably forced to navigate. For more big picture items, see the related reports.

Notice: the graphic below can be expanded to a larger size.

See the instructions below the graphic below or click the image and follow the prompts.

 

Part IV. Daily Business News on MHProNews Markets and Headline News Segment

 

Headlines from left-of-center CNN Business – from the evening of 6.22.2023

• AI’s surprising impact
• Nearly 60 million women’s jobs could be disrupted or automated by artificial intelligence
• LIVE UPDATES
• The latest market news as traders digest latest economic data and Fed Chair Powell’s testimony
• Boeing supplier shuts down plant after workers vote to strike
• Top TikTok exec and public face of company in US is stepping down
• Taylor Swift is an unlikely public transit icon
• Ford agrees to $9.2 billion US government loan
• Mortgage rates tick down for the third week in a row
• Vice Media, once worth billions, set to be acquired out of bankruptcy by its creditors for $225 million
• Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg say they’re ready for a cage fight
• Bud Light rolls out a new ad campaign to turn around slumping sales
• US home prices fall by largest amount annually since December 2011
• Bank of England hikes interest rates to 5%, stoking fears of a ‘mortgage bomb’
• First on CNN: Bill would give Biden new powers to prepare for the next pandemic
• Furby, the bug-eyed, gibberish-talking ’90s toy phenomenon, has been revived — again
• First on CNN: Senators press Google, Meta and Twitter on whether their layoffs could imperil 2024 election
• Turkey hikes interest rates to 15% as Erdogan reverses policy on fighting inflation
• Microsoft faces off against US government over Activision deal, with top execs set to testify
• Satisfying your sweet tooth is about to get more expensive
• Recession obsession, AI boom and wild markets: What Wall Street can expect for the rest of 2023
• Australia says Twitter is top platform for online hate, demands explanation
• Bed Bath & Beyond will live on — well, the brand, anyway
• Small stocks are cheap and finally joining the market rally
• FTC sues Amazon, alleging it tricked consumers into signing up for Prime

Headlines from right-of-center Newsmax 6.22.2023

• Whistleblowers: IRS, DOJ Hindered Hunter Biden Tax Probe
• President Joe Biden attends his granddaughter Maisy Biden’s commencement ceremony with first lady Jill Biden and his son Hunter Biden at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia last month. (AP)
• “Americans have been wondering why the Justice Department took five years to do what H&R Block could have done in five hours,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, who’s spearheading a Biden bribery probe, said after the whistleblower testimony’s release. “Now we know that Biden’s Justice Department has been actively engaged in a cover-up to protect the Bidens from facing justice.” [Full Story]
• Trump Federal Indictment
• Dershowitz: Transparency Essential in Hunter, Trump Probe
• Blackburn: Americans See ‘Two Tiers of Justice’
• DOJ Starts Turning Over Docs Evidence to Trump Team
• Poll: 62% Say Trump Indictment Politically Motivated
• Trump Classified Documents Case Gets Aug. 14 Trial Date
• Lawyer Bobb: Indictment Aims to Keep Trump Out of WH
• Kiley: Dems Keep Pushing Collusion Story
• Michael Harris: Uncomfortable With Sub | video
• Tucker’s Biographer: Fox Doesn’t Care It ‘Offended’ | video
• KT McFarland: Durham Omitted How DOJ Tries to ‘Bankrupt You’ | video
• FBI Whistleblower: Still Facing Retribution | video
• Cruz: Left Willing to Eliminate Girls, Women’s Sports | video
• Paul: Wuhan Lab Reports May Signal Broad Conspiracy | video
• Cornyn: My Bill Cuts Amount of Security Clearances | video
• More Newsmax TV
• Newsfront
• NY Times: Sen. Rick Scott Eyes GOP White House Bid
• Rick Scott, R-Fla., is considering jumping into the Republican presidential primary race, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing two unnamed sources… [Full Story]
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• Rick Scott: Running for Senate, Not President
• DeSantis Sues Biden WH Over University Accrediting System
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that the state has filed [Full Story]
• DeSantis: Kamala ‘Best Impeachment Insurance’
• Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., has led a vote to send talk of [Full Story] | video
• Reports Say Titanic Sub Pieces Found on Ocean Floor
• Debris found on the ocean floor on Thursday near the wreck of the [Full Story]
• Related
• Past Deep Sea Rescues Reveal Challenges
• Coast Guard Will Keep Searching Sea Floor for Clues on Titan’s Fate
• Titanic Tour Sub Had ‘Potential Flaws,’ Safety Concerns |Platinum Article
• IRS Whistleblowers: IRS, DOJ Hindered Hunter Biden Tax Probe
• Members of the House Ways and Means Committee released redacted [Full Story]
• China Building Presence in Cuba, Throughout Caribbean
• China’s interest in reopening the Soviet-era Lourdes spy facility in [Full Story] | Platinum Article
• Dallek’s Book “Birchers” Slanders Conservativism, GOP
• Matthew Dallek’s new book “Birchers: How the John Birch Society [Full Story]
• Ukraine Hits Bridge Linking Crimea to Mainland
• Ukrainian missiles struck one of the few bridges linking the Crimea [Full Story]
• Related
• Israeli Tech Can Protect Ukraine Against Iranian Drones: Official
• Ukraine: Russia Fired Kinzhal Missiles in Overnight Air Strike
• Ukraine Expects to Secure Almost $7B to Rebuild
• Ukraine: Russia Considering Attack on Nuclear Plant
• Kyiv’s Allies Vow to Make Russia Pay for Ukraine Invasion
• Ukraine Needs Over $6B Aid in Next 12 Months: Prime Minister
• Russia: No Need for More Volunteers in Ukraine Fighting
• UN: Russian Forces on Blacklist for Killing Kids, Attacking Schools in Ukraine
• RFK Jr.: Russia ‘Acting in Good Faith’ on Ukraine |video
• ‘Yellowstone’ Creator: Woke HBO Nixed Show as ‘So Middle America’
• Taylor Sheridan, the creative force behind the hit TV series [Full Story]
• Wall Street Ends Higher as Powell Testimony Wraps
• The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed higher on Thursday as U.S. Federal [Full Story]
• Adnan Syed to Court: Deny Victim’s Family’s Request
• Adnan Syed, whose protracted legal odyssey was chronicled in the hit [Full Story]
• Sex Club Boots Founder for Outing ‘Scumbag’ Hunter
• An elite sex club booted its founder for having outed Hunter Biden as [Full Story] | video
• Jordan: Durham Report Won’t Restrain Dems
• No matter what special counsel John Durham has found about the [Full Story]
• Durham Defends Report, Reputation During Testimony
• Durham Calls Russia Origins Probe Findings ‘Sobering’
• Jerry Nadler Slams Durham Report as ‘Flawed’
• Biggs to Newsmax: Dems Tried to Discredit Durham During Testimony |video
• Garrett O’Boyle to Newsmax: Durham Couldn’t Reveal ‘Full Picture’ |video
• GOP-Led House Censures Dem Schiff, Outspoken Trump Critic
• Cruz Bill Requires Senate Confirm CDC Boss
• Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has introduced legislation to accelerate the [Full Story]
• Father, Aunt Helped Indicted Rep. Santos Post Bail
• George Santos’s father and aunt were identified on Thursday as the [Full Story]
• TikTok COO Pappas Quits After 5 Years in the Role
• TikTok Chief Operating Officer V. Pappas is stepping down after five [Full Story]
• Senate Keeps Biden Rule on Braces for Firearms
• New rules that require owners to register stabilizing braces for [Full Story]
• House Republicans Push Off Biden Impeachment Move
• Eager to impeach President Joe Biden, conservative House Republicans [Full Story]
• China Warns US Over Biden Calling Xi ‘Dictator’
• China’s ambassador to Washington has protested remarks President Joe [Full Story]
• Related
• Yellen: ‘Critical’ to Maintain China Ties
• Biden: Calling Xi a Dictator Did Not Undermine China Relationship
• Dallas Police Tell Residents to Stop Calling 911
• The Dallas Police Department will require residents not to call 911 [Full Story]
• DeSantis Says He Can Overcome ‘Fractured’ Primary Vote
• DP Poll: No Labels Run Would Hand 2024 to Trump Over Biden
• A presidential campaign by third-party No Labels, which is attempting [Full Story]
• Trump Vows ‘Reciprocal’ Trade Deal: ‘Eye for an Eye’
• Fighting for years in his administration to seek “reciprocal trade” [Full Story] | video
• DeSantis Sues Biden Admin. Over Higher Ed. Accreditation
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday announced that he filed a [Full Story]
• Supreme Court Rules Against Man Who Got 27 Years in Gun Case
• The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a man whose conviction on gun [Full Story]
• The Guardian: Feds Were Alarmed About Bedminster Docs
• Federal prosecutors had former President Donald Trump’s Bedminster, [Full Story] | video
• Pedestrian Deaths at Highest Level in 41 Years
• More than 7,500 people were killed last year after being struck by [Full Story]
• Existing Home Sales Up but Prices Drop Most Since 2011
• U.S. existing home sales ticked higher in May to snap a two-month [Full Story]
• ProPublica Ignores Liberal Justices’ Indiscretions
• As Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito rejects ProPublica’s latest [Full Story]
• Trump PAC Slams Candidate Will Hurd as ‘RINO’
• Former President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again Political [Full Story]
• US Judge Strikes Fla. Ban on Medicaid Funded Transgender Treatment
• A federal judge on Wednesday struck down Florida rules championed by [Full Story]
• Finance
• US Population Older Than Ever
• The median age in the United States reached an all-time high last year at 38.9, according to the latest data from the Census Bureau. Previous data shows that the median age was 35 in 2000 and 30 in 1980…. [Full Story]
• Medicare Details Reimbursement for Alzheimer’s Drug
• 3M Reaches Tentative $10.3B Deal Over ‘Forever Chemicals’
• Russians Hack Data of 770,000 California Pensioners
• Fed’s Powell Says Rate Hikes to Come at a ‘Careful Pace’
• More Finance
• Health
• Electrical ‘Zap’ to Brain Limits Damage From Stroke
• Could an electrical zap to the brain limit the damage a stroke inflicts? Yes, claims a small new study that found this noninvasive procedure increased blood flow to the areas around the clot that caused the stroke, thus protecting them from further damage. “This treatment can… [Full Story]
• Medicare Details Reimbursement for Alzheimer’s Drug
• Beware: The Summer of Bugs Has Arrived
• FDA Warns Against Selling Fruit, Candy-Flavored Vapes
• US Population Older Than Ever