Those Stubborn Facts: U.S. National Security Outsourced to China

Tags

China, Those Stubborn Facts, national security, procurement, Defense Department, Pentagon, defense, supply chain

Number of Chinese entities in the U.S. Defense Department’s supply base, 2019: 655

Increase since 2012: “More than fivefold.”

 

(Source: “Pentagon Pushes Defense Companies to Limit Use of Chinese Supplies,” by Doug Cameron, The Wall Street Journal, September 18, 2022, Pentagon Pushes Defense Companies to Limit Use of Chinese Supplies – WSJ )

Those Stubborn Facts: The Biggest Bubble of Them All?

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bubbles, China, housing, property, real estate, Those Stubborn Facts

Number of people who could be housed in currently empty apartments in China: 90 million

Area of purchased but unbuilt properties in China: 500-600 million square meters:

Number of Manhattans this figure adds up to: 10

Estimated cost of finishing these projects: $300 billion

 

(Source: “Real estate will defeat Beijing, again,” by Pete Sweeney, Breaking Views, Reuters, July 21, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/real-estate-will-defeat-beijing-again-2022-07-21/) 

 

Those Stubborn Facts: U.S. Inflation Has Wiped Out Stimulus Gains – & Then Some

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cost of living, inflation, stimulus, Those Stubborn Facts, wages Covid relief

Combined total of individuals’ COVID stimulus checks passed during the Trump and Biden administrations: $3,200

Total wage loss from inflation for the average worker between June, 2021 and June, 2022: $3,400

 

(“Inflation Has Now Devoured All Biden’s Covid ‘Rescue ‘ Checks,” unsigned editorial, Issues & Insights, July 18, 2022, Inflation Has Now Devoured All Biden’s COVID ‘Rescue’ Checks – Issues & Insights (issuesinsights.com))

Those Stubborn Facts: Yes, Biden Really Has Opened the Border

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Biden administration, Biden border crisis, border security, illegal immigration, immigrants, Immigration, migrants, Open Borders, Those Stubborn Facts

“We preliminarily estimate that illegal immigrants accounted for two-thirds of the growth in the foreign-born population since January 2021 — 1.35 million.”

– Center for Immigration Studies, June 1, 2022

 

Average monthly growth in U.S. foreign-born population during first Obama administration term: 59,000

Average monthly growth in U.S. foreign-born population during second Obama administration term: 76,000

Average monthly growth in U.S. foreign-born population during Trump pre-CCP Virus years: 42,000

Average monthly growth in U.S. foreign-born population sofar during Biden administration: 132,000

 

(“Foreign-Born Population Hit Record 47 Million in April 2022,” by Steven A. Camarota and Karen Ziegler, Center for Immigration Studies, June 1, 2022, https://cis.org/Report/ForeignBorn-Population-Hit-Record-47-Million-April-2022%29)

Those Stubborn Facts: The News Media’s Priorities

Tags

Amber Heard, celebrities, election 2016, Hillary Clinton, Johnny Depp, journalism, media bias, Michael Sussmann, misinformation, news, priorities, Those Stubborn Facts, Trump-Russia

Number of Google News search results today for “Michael Sussmann trial” (regarding misinformation and the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign): 16,300

 

Number of Google News search results today for “Johnny Depp trial”: 1.92 million

Those Stubborn Facts: China Celebrates Earth Day

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China, climate change, coal, Earth Day, energy, fossil fuels, Those Stubborn Facts

Coal production capacity China says it will add this year:   300 million tons

Increase from China’s new coal production capacity last year: 36.36%

China share of global coal production & consumption: c. 50 percent

 

(Source: “With coal surge, China puts energy security and growth before climate,” by Christian Shepherd, The Washington Post, April 22, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/22/china-coal-climate-change-xi-energy/)

Those Stubborn Facts: Funny Definitions of Environmentally and Socially Responsible Investing

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China, Enviromental Social and Governance risks, ESG, Europe, European Union, finance, investing, sustainability, Those Stubborn Facts

Amount of China assets held by Europe-based investment funds

legally required “to avoid environmental, social and governance

[ESG]risks”: c.$130 billion

Amount of China assets held by Europe-based investment funds

“that have screened for ESG-related hazards”: $160 billion

 

(Source: “China Stirs Unease for ESG Managers Blindsided by Russia’s War,” by Natasha White and Saijel Kishan,” Bloomberg.com, March 27, 2022, China Stirs Unease for ESG Managers Blindsided by Russia’s War – Bloomberg)

Those Stubborn Facts: Intelligence Failures

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accountability, collusion, Deep State, disinformation, Donald Trump, election 2020, Hunter Biden, Hunter Biden emails, Hunter Biden laptop, intelligence community, misinformation, Never Trumper, The New York Post, Those Stubborn Facts, Trump-Russia

# of former U.S. intelligence/security officials who before Election

2020 insinuated that the Hunter Biden laptop emails reported by the

NY Posts stemmed from a “Russian information campaign” despite

lacking “evidence of Russian involvement”: 51

 

# of such officials who didn’t respond to request for apology: 39

# of such officials who declined to comment to this request: 4

# of such officials who stood by the charge: 5

# of such officials who couldn’t be reached: 2

# of such officials who apologized for the charge: 0

 

(Sources: “Public Statement on the Hunter Biden Emails,” October 19, 2020, https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000175-4393-d7aa-af77-579f9b330000 & “Spies who lie: 51 ‘intelligence’ experts refuse to apologize for discrediting true Hunter Biden story,” by Post Editorial Board, The New York Post, March 18, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/03/18/intelligence-experts-refuse-to-apologize-for-smearing-hunter-biden-story/)

Those Stubborn Facts: A World Awash in Debt

Tags

bubble, China, debt, economy, Those Stubborn Facts, United States

Number of countries (including the U.S. and China) whose total debt

was more than three times greater than the size of their economies,

mid-1990s: None

 

Number of countries (including the U.S. and China) whose total debt

is more than three times greater than the size of their economies,

now: 25

 

(Source: “Ten economic trends that could define 2022,” by Ruchir Sharma, Financial Times, January 3, 2022, https://www.ft.com/content/432d78ee-6163-402e-8950-d961b4b1312b)

Those Stubborn Facts: Europe’s Still Wide Open to Chinese Investment

Tags

China, EU, European Union, FDI, foreign direct investment, national security, Those Stubborn Facts

Number of European Union countries with systems for screening

foreign direct investment to protect national security & other key

interests: 18 of 27

 

Number of proposed investments examined: 265

 

Number of proposed investments blocked: 8

 

Share of examined investments that came from China: 8 percent

 

(Source: “Europe’s antitrust policy shouldn’t ignore China,” by Carisa Nietsche, Tech Crunch, December 28, 2021, Europe’s antitrust policy shouldn’t ignore China  | TechCrunch)