China’s A Real And Growing Threat
I had a fun but brief appearance on Fox Business yesterday. Here’s the clip.
Here’s the notes I sent to the producers before the show answering their questions in bold so that Charles Payne, the anchor of the show, would have an idea of what I would be trying to say on air.
Topic details are below – please send over your notes/thoughts on the topics.
TOPIC: CHINA THREAT & THE MARKET – WHY ARE THE MARKETS REFLECTING THE THREAT?
I’m not convinced that the markets are reflecting this threat. Valuations were bubbled up and ridiculous 18 months ago at the top and since then valuations have gotten more reasonable but we are not seeing the kind of sell-off that would probably occur if the threat of China/US tensions get more serious.
TOPIC: WHY IS THERE A FALSE SENSE AMONG THE PUBLIC THAT CHINA ISN’T GOING TO ACT?
China’s capabilities in software, chips, AI, defense, etc are years behind the US and the only reason that China’s not decades behind the US is because China steals our intellectual property, our models, and anything else they can steal from us without outright nationalizing Tesla’s, Apple’s and other companies assets in China. I’ve long warned that China will probably one day nationalize/steal our country’s factories and other assets in China and I’m still worried that might happen in the next few years as tensions continue to rise between the two countries. The US can probably shut down China’s Internet, their communications systems, their satellites and cause lots of other pain for China if the US is ever cornered into going that route. The US is focused on cyber, space and next generation warfare and is pouring billions into these defense mechanisms right now.
- CHINA SAYS U.S. SHOULD CHANGE ATTITUDE OR RISK CONFLICT
TOPIC: THE THREAT POSED BY TIKTOK IN THE U.S.
I’ve never downloaded or let anyone in my family download Tik Tok because there is no doubt in my mind that China’s Communist government uses the data they acquire through that app to help them understand and manipulate people in the US and anywhere else who use that app. The algorithms that China uses to display content for kids in the US is full of silly dances, racial violence and propaganda and political-focued while the algo’s they use to display content for kids in China is full of math and science and beauty. Since China’s government…er, I mean a government-controlled company in China took over Tik Tok, they’ve been learning to manipulate US citizens with that seemingly addictive tool that the communist government there completely controls despite assurances that they don’t.
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As for the markets, people are still playing TVPoww and are going to try to guess what the Fed will be doing in six months based on whatever the next few “price index” reports show (CPI, PPI, API, BPI, ZPI etc) come in either “hotter” or “cooler” than expected in the next few days. I’m not trying to game either Feddie Powell’s mindless testimony (“we’ll let data guide our decisions”) or the next few (x)PI reports. Six months from now nobody will remember Feddie Powell’s comments or what these next few price index reports show.
See you all tomorrow for the chat at 10am ET.