China

Obama: Gut Social Security Now, Don’t Wait Till The Election

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Obama: Gut Social Security Now, Don’t Wait Till The Election

Incredible that a Democrat would propose that our Social Security system should be gutted starting immediately to get an up-tick in GDP just before the election. But President Obama’s proposal to cut payroll taxes in half will do just that.

Remember him? Went after Social Security too.

Red-Hot Inflation Blows across the Pacific

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Red-Hot Inflation Blows across the Pacific

Chinese inflation numbers just came out, and they’re sizzling. But those are the official numbers, and even officials admit that actual inflation is much higher still. Labor costs are spiraling out of control. And it’s all blowing our way. Exactly what we need.

Unholy Alliance

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Unholy Alliance

The President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness has descended on Palo Alto to meet with the usual suspects in Silicon Valley. Their topic, hilariously: How the public and private sectors can team up to create jobs. Hilariously because California—Silicone Valley in particular—has been on the forefront of transferring jobs to China and other countries.

Remember him? Creating jobs in China….

Why the decline in German beer consumption?

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Why the decline in German beer consumption?

So people ask me that after reading the post below. All sorts of researchers are studying this phenomenon, and they’re coming up with a laundry list of reasons, which I may or may not buy, but here is a thought from memory lane.

PROST! Germany lost the beer war, And China won.

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on PROST! Germany lost the beer war, And China won.

Germany, country of the Reinheitsgebot (Beer Purity Law), and cradle of beer as we know it, where, at the age of fifteen, I regularly drank a few Helle too many at any pub I wanted to, well, that very country not only has failed to export its beer, but now, Germans have stopped drinking it themselves, apparently.

Our Chinese Bay Bridge

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Our Chinese Bay Bridge

The high-speed train fiasco in China makes us worry about our San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge whose gigantic one-tower landmark suspension segment was fabricated, you guessed it, in China. In return for some paltry savings, if any, California gave up enormous economic opportunities.