According to the Associated Press (AP), Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on Wednesday that she warned Chinese leaders that U.S. businesses might stop investing in their country without prompt action to address complaints about worsening conditions due to raids on firms, unexplained fines and unpredictable official behavior. Raimondo’s comments reportedly added pressure on Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government, which is trying to revive investor interest and reverse an economic slump. AP’s Joe McDonald said: “Business groups say confidence among foreign companies is at an all-time low. Official figures show foreign investment plunged in the latest quarter.” Raimondo told reporters: “My point was U.S. business needs to see some action taken to address these issues. Otherwise, they will deem it as just too risky and, as I said, uninvestable.” Raimondo’s comments occurred at a Boeing Co. joint venture in Shanghai’s eastern district of Pudong. This is occurring amid reports by sources to MHProNews that certain manufactured housing factories have per high-level informed sources already begun the process of decoupling from China.

Per AP, Beijing broke off dialogue with Washington over military, climate, and other issues in August 2020 in retaliation for a visit to Taiwan by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D).

With that backdrop, the Daily Signal provided the following report to MHProNews, which highlighted the concerns raised in the AP report cited above. That Part I report will be followed in Part II of this article with more details on how these issues may impact MHVille and the nation more broadly. Part III is our Daily Business News on MHProNews markets and stocks snapshot and left-right headline news.

Part I

ECONOMY NEWS

The World’s Second-Largest Economy Is Struggling

Samantha Aschieris / @samantharenck / August 29, 2023

China‘s economy, the world’s second largest after America’s, is struggling months after the communist regime ended its stringent zero-COVID policy.

“China’s economic success was largely down to its size and the speed of its abundant inexpensive labor to produce,” Andrew Hale, senior policy analyst in trade policy at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal in an email. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s multimedia news organization.)

“This rapid growth was also built on massive debt and a growing labor market,” Hale said of China’s economy.

Hale listed factors that he said “have festered and contributed to rapid Chinese economic decline,” including “a shrinking labor force” and “massive youth unemployment.”

Hale also noted that

the U.S. and other countries have restricted the transfer of technology (China has so far lost the chip war with the U.S. and sanctions have had an effect), the property market bubble has truly burst, … and the [Chinese Communist Party] has prioritized a return to hardline socialist ideology and global saber-rattling/military expansion over economic growth.

Peter St Onge, research fellow in Heritage’s Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, weighed in on why Americans should care about China’s economy.

“For the average American, the main impact is even cheaper exports (Chinese taking losses to move product) and possible contagion to the U.S. financial sector, which could put stress on U.S. banks,” St Onge told The Daily Signal in an email.

“A lot of U.S. big business is also exposed, though that’s not regular Americans’ problem beyond the impact on share prices of those China-exposed businesses,” St Onge added.

EJ Antoni, research fellow in regional economics at The Heritage Foundation, had his own take on why Americans should care about China’s struggling economy.

“China’s communist government has been preceding the Biden administration in its drastic interventions in the national economy, fueled by unprecedented levels of government spending,” Antoni told The Daily Signal in an email.

“Americans should be concerned about the outcomes in China because they are a forewarning to America,” Antoni said, specifying the Chinese Communist Party:

If we continue down this unsustainable path of ever-growing government spending, we will find ourselves in precisely the same mess the CCP has created in its own country.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is meeting with U.S. business leaders and senior Chinese officials this week in China. The trip follows earlier ones by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, climate czar John Kerry, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Raimondo’s visit to China, which concludes Wednesday, “is, sadly, another distraction from the fact that President Joe Biden seems beholden to the [Chinese Communist Party],” Antoni said.

“Whether it’s refusing to investigate the origins of COVID, allowing for the theft of American intellectual property, or surrendering the manufacturing sector, Mr. Biden seems intent on putting the interests of the CCP before his own constituents,” Antoni said.

As for the long-term implications for both the U.S. and global economy should China’s economy continue to decline, Antoni said that “China’s decline matter less to the average American than our own economy does because our destiny is in our own hands.”

“Free-market policies are what ultimately allow wealth creation at home, regardless of what is done abroad,” the economist said. ##

 

Part II – Additional Information with More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary in Brief

MHProNews has been the leading source in the manufactured housing industry trade media for information on China and its impact on our industry, employees, investors, and nation.  The above should be viewed through the lens of reports like those linked below. As MHProNews noted above and previously, among the sources of insights for manufactured housing professionals is a high c-suite level insider who has told MHProNews that several manufactured housing factories have already started the process of moving their supply chains away from Communist China.  Katherine Tai, Biden-era USTR said a few weeks ago that “we still have this challenge with China,” and that “fragile supply chains” and “Globalization” are “unsustainable.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘Like No Place Else!’ in MHVille – Research-Reports-Analysis Reveal and Yield Understanding for News and Trends Keeping Manufactured Home Production at Historically Low Levels

 

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

 

Headlines from left-of-center CNN Business – from the evening of 8.30.2023
(Note: the headline capture for last night failed, so these are the pre-dawn headlines)

• UBS will cut 3,000 jobs in Switzerland as it absorbs Credit Suisse
• China is still suffering from declining factory output. Demand for services is also slowing
• $10 billion in savings
• A sign of Credit Suisse bank is seen behind a sign of Swiss banking UBS, in Zurich on March 18, 2023. – Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS, is in talks to buy all or part of Credit Suisse, according to a report by the Financial Times. Credit Suisse — Switzerland’s second-biggest bank — came under pressure this week as the failure of two US regional lenders rocked the sector
• UBS targets cost cuts as it absorbs Credit Suisse
• Gannett to take a break with artificial intelligence experiment after botched high school sports articles
• An employee works on the production line of solar panels at a photovoltaic enterprise on August 28, 2023 in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province of China.
• China is still suffering from declining factory output. Demand for services is also slowing
• SHANGHAI, CHINA – JULY 6, 2023 – Visitors look at Baidu’s “ERNIE Bot” artificial intelligence large model at the 2023 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China, July 6, 2023. On August 31, 2023, Baidu’s “ERNIE Bot” artificial intelligence large model took the lead in fully opening to the whole society.
• Baidu and SenseTime launch ChatGPT-style AI bots to the public
• Chinese homebuilder Country Garden warns it could default after posting $7 billion loss
• March 12, 2023, London, United Kingdom: Mark Thompson, former director general of the BBC arrives at BBC Broadcasting House to appear on ‚ÄôSunday Morning with Laura Kuenssberg‚Äô in London.
• CNN’s new chief faces a crucial test on several fronts that will define the network’s future
• United Airlines workers walk past covered kiosks at the Tampa International Airport Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, in Tampa, Fla. The airport closed to all travel early this morning. Residents along Florida’s gulf coast are making preparations for the effects of Hurricane Idalia.
• Hundreds of flights are canceled as Hurricane Idalia disrupts air travel
• An American Airlines plane prepares to land at the Miami International Airport on July 20, 2023 in Miami, Florida.
• American Airlines flight attendants vote to authorize a strike
• NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 30: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks during the New York Times DealBook Summit in the Appel Room at the Jazz At Lincoln Center on November 30, 2022 in New York City. The New York Times held its first in person DealBook Summit since the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic with speakers from the worlds of financial services, technology, consumer goods, private investment, venture capital, banking, media, public relations, policy, government, and academia.
• Amazon CEO tells employees to return to the office or their days may be numbered
• It’s not just crime: What’s really going on with San Francisco’s shrinking retail district
• Google launches watermarks for AI-generated images
• Apple expected to unveil new iPhone at ‘Wonderlust’ special event
• US pending home sales rose in July for the second month in a row
• The US economy grew more slowly in the second quarter than previously estimated
• Mark Thompson named CNN chief executive and chairman at critical juncture in news network’s history
• Warm words but little ‘real action’ as US commerce secretary ends China visit
• Rising labor costs are making AI stocks even more attractive
• Climate change has ravaged India’s rice stock. Now its export ban could deepen a global food crisis
• Head of powerful real estate trade group resigns amid sexual harassment allegations
• 3M agrees to pay $6 billion after US military said faulty earplugs led to hearing loss
• Key San Francisco Fed official who oversaw supervision of SVB will retire
• Hawaiian Electric says power lines started morning fire on August 8, but not afternoon Lahaina Fire
• US financial regulators green lit new rules aimed at reducing the cost of bank failures