Posts Made By: Rod Kaufman

Originally Posted by Alfredo Viegas

All the Wall Street economists had China post very convincing rebound in economic activity starting in Q2 last year and this upcoming year they are on average expecting China will grow above trend as it continues to recover.  Since China started on its economic expansion in the late 1990s the growth has been unbelievable and whether or not anyone wants to believe the “official GDP” the fact is that today coastal China and Beijing are very much first world in every aspect of the phrase.  I go to China frequently and have been going for the past 20 years and the transformation is outstanding.  More importantly the quality and capability of the Chinese workforce has also increased by many magnitudes. 

While i despised Trump and found him wholly lacking as President, I do believe the subtext of his China fears — namely that China will eclipse the USA in the next 10 years if we don’t do something.  However, I manifestly disagreed with his approach which was protectionist and trade restrictive.  In 1959 the USA was shocked with the USSR Sputnik launch, rather than bemoan and isolate ourselves we funded NASA and marshaled much of our private sector resources to catch up and eventually we not only landed on the Moon but we also invented the modern CPU.  I would prefer that the USA invest in the future and this means not just investment in technology but also even more importantly investment in our citizens and to improve education.  Last year China graduated 37% of its college graduates in STEM, I think the equivalent number in the USA was like 4%.  This is a huge deficit and as we consider the future GDP growth paths for China or the USA, we cannot divorce the fact that without a highly educated workforce the USA GDP will struggle to grow much above 2% following this bounce year...   Unfortunately, I think the knee jerk response from Washington will be to create more safety nets and move the USA even more toward France\Europe like socialism.   Well...  maybe that’s not too bad, Europe is a nice place to live, and the British have mostly gotten over losing their empire and being relegated to minor world power...

"Foreign companies are turning their backs on the United States, taking advantage of China's booming economy and superior management of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Direct investment in the US by foreign companies plummeted 49% to $134 billion last year, according to a report released Sunday by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. By contrast, foreign direct investment in China grew by 4% to $163 billion in 2020."
"2020 marked the first year in history that foreign direct investment in China overtook that of the US, according to the UN. China is now the world's largest recipient of foreign companies' investments.
Although Covid-19 was a large factor in foreign direct investment tumbling in the US -- and most places around the world -- the drop-off in foreign companies' American investments began well before the pandemic."
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/24/investing/us-china-foreign-direct-investment/index.html

"Former Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett broadly supports President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion rescue package as a way to keep the coronavirus-ravaged economy afloat."
"They've thrown a lot of stimulus at it," Hassett told CNN Business on Thursday, "but I think we need to be risk averse."
The former Trump administration official fears that without more aid from Washington, the worsening pandemic will cause the US economy to suffer a repeat of the first quarter of last year, when GDP shrank by 5%"

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/21/economy/stimulus-biden-trump-hassett/index.html
China, OTH, locked down hard and had a positive GDP...

Originally Posted by Steven Moore

State Rep. Justin Humphrey admits his legislation to establish a Bigfoot hunting season is primarily intended to draw tourists to southeast Oklahoma and not to bag the fabled creature. --  It is a good thing there is not a big mouth human season in CA.

I think he admitted it as an explanation for his foolishness...

"A state lawmaker in Oklahoma says he was inundated with angry calls after introducing a bill that would create a Bigfoot hunting season in an effort to boost tourism.
Republican state Rep. Justin Humphrey last week filed the bill, which would set annual season dates for hunting Bigfoot and set up a process to issue hunters a license to pursue the mythical creature.
“Tourism is one of the biggest attractions we have in my House district,” Humphrey said in introducing the measure. “Establishing an actual hunting season and issuing licenses for people who want to hunt Bigfoot will just draw more people to our already beautiful part of the state. It will be a great way for people to enjoy our area and to have some fun.”
Greg, Steven, Rich, ya all set to go?...
https://thehill.com/homenews/535709-gop-oklahoma-state-lawmaker-says-hes-been-flooded-with-angry-calls-over-bigfoot

"calling for Bigfoot hunting season"
And wonder you why we've got the problems that we do...
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/535424-oklahoma-state-lawmaker-files-bill-calling-for-bigfoot-hunting-season

Originally Posted by Darian Rachal

FWIW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGO1AJ3RS8k

And no sound at all from the right to lifers on 400,000+ covid deaths. Oh, I forgot, it's "fake news"...

Wear the n95 mask: https://www.cnn.com/videos/health/2021/01/23/n95-mask-covid-19-pandemic-gupta-lead-pkg-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/coronavirus/
PS: Biden's vaccine plan is at 1.5 million doses per day at the first day, up 500,000 from the original estimate and about 600,000 more than the Trump effort... 

First, Lauren Boebert of Colorado. She's the high school dropout who wonders why her gun sets off the metal detector when she tries to enter the house of representatives. Then, she wonders why the capitol police have a problem with her. Well, there's nothing like law and order...  Then there's her video: "The video makes much out of our nation’s capital being a place where “homicide rates and violent crimes are skyrocketing.” And then it shows her walking one of those super-dangerous alleys behind multimillion-dollar brownstones with Teslas and Maseratis in the garages and high-end sushi places and wine bars on the corners. There are parts of D.C. with real crime, no question. There's also no question that Boebert will be walking in — or caring about — any of them." https://www.westword.com/news/lauren-boebert-gun-washington-twitter-video-campaign-11876931
Second, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. As the Washington Post puts it, "Trump is gone but Marjorie Taylor Greene is keeping up the cult."  Green carries the Qanon quilt to congress. If she could, she'd probably marry Q. As an example of how far south of reality she actually is and of how much she advances conspiracy theories, "Parkland families call for Marjorie Taylor Greene's resignation after posts surface showing she agreed shooting was a false flag" Yup, it's that bad. https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/22/us/parkland-shooting-marjorie-taylor-greene/index.html
Third, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina. He's the youthful face of the GOP with a passion for travel. Of all the vacation spots on the planet, his preferred destination was the Eagle's Nest in Austria. The latter was the Third Reich's gift to Hitler. Once there, Madison called Hitler, "Der Fuhrer". Here he is, trying to explain his vote for throwing out the election after the insurrection took place: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/24/politics/madison-cawthorn-president-joe-biden-election/index.html
Fourth, with another Hitler hit, Illinois Rep. Mary Miller, has been forced to apologize by the GOP after doubling down on her claim that Hitler was right about indoctrinating the youth. Mary also claims to have the backing of the "conservative moms movement". https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rep-mary-miller-hitler-comments-defense_n_5ff7205ac5b665581f68dbb4
Fifth,  Alabama's Tommy Tuberville, the bozo who couldn't name the three branches of government. Not to mention several other major screw-ups: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/11/alabama-senator-tommy-tuberville-blockhead-interview-wwii-socialism-american-government.html
They certainly represent the "conservatives" on the forum, now don't they?....

"Chinese state media and government officials are encouraging COVID-19 conspiracy theories aimed at the U.S. as a team of scientists from the World Health Organization is in the country investigating the virus’ origins, according to The Associated Press (AP)."
"An unsubstantiated claim that the coronavirus may have emerged from a U.S. military lab in Maryland and not in Wuhan, China, is gaining traction in Chinese media as the country’s handling of the virus is becoming increasingly scrutinized."
"Chinese state media has also recently questioned the safety of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine following the death of 23 elderly people who had just received the jab. State media argued the vaccine was unsafe and accused media outlets in the west of ignoring the issue."
"The WHO last week said it sees no evidence the vaccine contributed to the deaths of those individuals and urged that the shot should still be used."
https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/longevity/535731-china-spreading-conspiracy-theory-that-covid-19-was

To the tune of 1.3 BILLION!
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/25/politics/dominion-lawsuit-giuliani/index.html