The Chinese never intended to make a deal, and now they are publicly admitting it. For months, I have been warning readers of The Economic Collapse Blog that a comprehensive trade deal with China will not happen before the 2020 presidential election, and the reason why this is the case is actually very simple. The Chinese have concluded that President Trump will never give them the kind of deal that they are looking for, and so their entire goal has been to run out the clock on the Trump administration so that they can finally get to a Democrat that will be much more “reasonable” to deal with. Of course if Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders wins the election, they won’t be very “reasonable” either, and so the best case scenario for the Chinese is for either Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton to emerge victorious in November 2020. In any event, the Chinese are now being very clear about the fact that they are never, ever going to agree to Trump’s core demands. The following comes from CNBC… (Read More...)
Wall Street
There Is An Increasing Amount Of Buzz That China Could Invoke The Rare Earth “Nuclear Option” In The Trade War
If China wants to cause a massive amount of pain for the U.S. economy in this trade war, they certainly have the firepower to do so. Today, China accounts for more than 80 percent of the world’s rare earth element production, and approximately 80 percent of the rare earth elements that are used by U.S. companies are imported from China. The U.S. does have one facility that mines rare earth elements in California, but everything that is mined there has to be shipped to China for processing. So at this point we do not have the ability to supply our own rare earth element needs, and that gives the Chinese a tremendous amount of leverage. (Read More...)
Trade Talks Are Dead, And So U.S. Consumers Should Brace For A Long, Bitter, Painful Trade War With China
There is not going to be a trade deal between the United States and China any time soon, and that is going to mean a tremendous amount of pain for the U.S. economy. For months, hope that the U.S. and China would soon reach a trade deal helped to elevate global financial markets, but now that hope has disappeared. In order for a trade deal to happen, the two sides have to talk, and at this point no negotiations are scheduled. And unless one side or the other decides that they are willing to move dramatically from their current positions, there really isn’t any reason to talk. In fact, the Chinese government is openly saying that it is in “no rush” to negotiate with the United States… (Read More...)
If The Chinese Were Upset Before, Now They Are Going To Be Absolutely Furious After Trump’s Latest Move
President Trump is doubling down on his tough approach with China, and apparently he has decided that now is the time to cripple their most important tech company. Huawei Technologies sells more telecommunications equipment than anyone else in the entire world, and it was anticipated that they would be one of the global leaders in the rollout of 5G networks all over the planet. The company ranks 72nd on the Fortune Global 500 list, and at this point they sell more phones than Apple does. Essentially, Huawei is China’s version of Apple, and the company is greatly loved by the communist government in China. So if President Trump really wanted to piss off China, taking a sledgehammer to Huawei would be a great way to do it, and that is precisely what he just did. (Read More...)
Homelessness In New York City Is The Worst That It Has Ever Been
The mainstream media continues to try to convince all of us that the U.S. economy is “booming”, but meanwhile the number of homeless people is setting all-time record highs in major cities all over the nation. The recent article that I published about how wealthy elitists on the west coast are freaking out as hordes of homeless people take over their neighborhoods received a tremendous amount of attention, but nobody has a worse problem with homelessness than New York City does. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, approximately 14 percent of all the homeless people in the entire country currently live in New York City… (Read More...)
2019: It Is Going To Be Much Worse Than You Think…
The beginning of a new year is supposed to be all about hope, right? And I would certainly like to tell you that 2019 is going to be America’s best year ever and that everybody is going to receive a double portion of blessing, prosperity and happiness, but that simply would not be true. Unfortunately, the truth is that the elements for a “perfect storm” are rapidly coming together and 2019 is going to be an exceedingly challenging year. Of course 2018 wasn’t exactly a wonderful year either. I really like how Dave Barry made this point in his most recent article… (Read More...)
Prepare Your Homes And Neighborhoods For The Violence That Is Going To Sweep America
The thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted on a daily basis is beginning to disappear, and a new era of chaos and anarchy is coming to our cities. I don’t know if you have noticed, but violence is increasing on the streets of America. Over Memorial Day weekend, 29 people were shot in Baltimore and 55 people were shot in Chicago. But of course the trend that I am talking about is much broader than that. According to the FBI, the number of police officers “feloniously killed” in the line of duty rose by an astounding 89 percent in 2014. We live at a time when Americans are becoming extremely angry and extremely frustrated, and this is only going to intensify as economic conditions worsen. But already we have seen some of this anger and frustration boil over into violence in Ferguson and in Baltimore. And you know what? The vast majority of Americans expect more of the same in the coming months. According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey that was recently released, 96 percent of all Americans believe that there will be more civil unrest in America this summer. What we have seen up until now is just the warm up act. The main event is still to come. (Read More...)
Why Is Wal-Mart Preparing For A Major Earthquake On The New Madrid Fault?
Buried in a Wall Street Journal article from about a week ago was a startling piece of information. According to a Wal-Mart executive, Wal-Mart “participated in an exercise to prepare for an earthquake on the New Madrid fault line” earlier this summer. And officials at the U.S. Geological Survey have just released a report which indicates that they believe that the New Madrid fault zone has the “potential for larger and more powerful quakes than previously thought“. So should we be concerned? Do they know something that we don’t? The USGS also says that the frequency of earthquakes in the central and eastern portions of the United States has quintupled over the past 30 years, and that significant earthquakes have started popping up in areas of the country that were once extremely quiet. Along with the new report, the USGS released the following map… (Read More...)