Consumer Products and Farms Hands.

REACTION to a widely-shared meme: “If you think shits expensive now, wait till we deport all the farm hands and start tariffs on all imports.”  

I DON'T think "deporting" undocumented farmhands and factory workers or increasing tariffs on imported goods would "fix" the U.S. economy or at least bring it back to 1975, the last year America had a trade surplus. Meanwhile, illegal workers have been a constant in U.S. industry since way back when. 

       A major issue: American companies had been moving overseas, especially to China, right after the U.S./China trade pact of 2000 between Bill Clinton and Jiang Zemin. Right now, there are 8,619 companies in China; but just across the border in Mexico, 18,000 companies have U.S. investments. 

       Chinese manufacturing overtook the U.S. productivity in 2010, as companies moved East and elsewhere from 2001 to 2010. The U.S. experiences the worst manufacturing crisis since the Great Depression. 

       Meanwhile, the Biden administration invested over $12 billion to entice TSMC/Taiwan and Samsung/SK to build microchips factories in Texas. Those projects are halted. Why? Shortage of skilled workers. Etc etcetera.

THE platform that Donald Trump is running on, I believe, is anchored on bringing some manufacturing back to the U.S. via trade deals that are strategically "diplomatic" over competitively "combative" (as what President Biden employs). 

       Looking back. Mr Trump started (his POTUS term) disparaging China, which escalated into a trade war. It didn't work. For starters, the Chinese have the pertinent raw materials and largest labor force, inexpensive and ready to roll obediently. So Trump ended his China policy with a trade pact, which he hoped to follow through in case he won a second term in 2020. 

       Meanwhile, how many times Mr Biden sent State secretary Antony Blinken and Treasury chief Janet Yellen and (the last) a crack economic team to Beijing? All failed to break the Chinese, primarily to convince them to relax the global EV market.

 

       Why did the missions keep on failing? While Joe "negotiates,” he disses the CCP at home or when he sits with the EU. Of course, Joe tried to goad China to a war in the South China Sea by way of Taiwan. Didn't work. 

       Also, the Biden/Kamala playbook of continuously tossing military aid to two (ongoing) wars messes up China's BRI investments in MENA and Eastern Europe. Yet who would most likely convince Russia and Iran to sit and talk on the table (and Saudi Arabia not to join the conflagration)? China.

       Beijing is Iran's top oil buyer and Tehran really has to focus on economics right now due to the obvious. It doesn't need a war. 

Note as well that the BRICS trade bloc has what the West needs. Raw materials or pertinent minerals. 

       Also, ponder how China and India kept Russia's oil and natural gas selling regardless of Biden's call to boycott Moscow. 

Israel didn't even heed Joe's call to send arms to Ukraine. Obviously Bibi isn't Joe's buddy. Etc etcetera. 

       The global order has changed. Trump has handled it better because he knew how to play chess with America's most powerful rivals. The slogan “Make America Great Again” makes sense because of the fact that America's global power has weakened in recent years. 

       “Build Back Better” from what and by how? A hawkish foreign policy? It may have worked before. Military brinkmanship? Not anymore. These are not colonization years anymore.

AMERICA can probably bring some of manufacturing back home but not the way it was. Repeat: 1975, the last year of U.S. trade surplus. This is a long discussion. 

       Major reasons are not solely confined on how Washington carries out its trade policies, home based and overseas. The world outside of America isn't dumb. Or China, India and Russia (Soviet Union then or the Rus, historically) and the Middle East were already active civilizations long before the United States was born etcetera. We always forget that fact. 

       Points that matter: China joined WTO in 2001 (after the game changing trade pact with the U.S. in 2000); Russia joined in 2012 (note its huge-ass energy exports). The Middle East has learned Western styled capitalism big time via its massive oil and natural gas production or global leverage. Its people have also woken up; check Arab Spring of 2011. 

       The Asian Tigers (South Korea, Taiwan et al) have thrived to join China, India (had the highest economic growth post covid at 7+ percent) and Japan in their trade march. 

       The rest of the world essentially does business with China or is funded by Beijing's 5 state-owned banks, the world's largest. China also gathered 14 Asia Pacific economies into the world's largest trade bloc, the RCEP, just 2 weeks after Biden won as POTUS in 2020. 

       But China or BRICS (irrelevant of Russia's "you can't bully me the bully" girth which can be contained on the trade table than at war in the field) favors trade or trade over war or military to influence their geopolitical expansionism. 

       Anyhow, even if we stop buying "anything Chinese" or made abroad or imports, the APIs in our meds or drugs, silicon and lithium etc in our computers and cars come from China and BRICS or countries where they have massive economic clout. I mean these countries may "align" with the U.S. politically yet when it comes to economics? They partner with or buy Chinese stuff or minerals. 

       Note as well that the world's largest (inexpensive) labor force are in China and India or BRICS. Others are in Mexico and Indonesia and Sub Saharan Africa; they have lots of Chinese money. Major EU powers were even still buying Russian oil/gas as they tossed military aid to Ukraine. How whacked that is!   

       Yet America stays as the global #1 due to many reasons beyond economics and (geo)politics. But that'd be another lengthy discourse. I digress for now. LOL! 🏛🗽🏛

My Asheville Life. Hurricane Helene, and the changes in the community, prior.

Responses to posts in Friends’ page/s.

I FIRST got here in Asheville, alone, in the Fall of 1999 to "check the place out" as a quieter alternative to New York City, where I used to live. I first settled in a cabin in Weaverville. I was still flying to/from NYC (where I edited a community newspaper) until 2001 or when 9-11 happened. Then I moved. I brought with me my tiny newspaper, The Indie, as I organized public concerts and club gigs/events via the Traveling Bonfires. I met many people, of course. Locals and transplants, as well as in neighboring towns. 

       I also lived downtown and in West Asheville. As far as I can recall, I stopped publishing in 2015 and stopped producing shows around that time; in fact, I stopped going out like I did before and simply stayed home here in Candler, 7 miles to West Asheville. Why did I stop? It wasn't about a “business” that was losing because my newspaper or production outfit was not formed around profit. It was the gradual change in community vibe. The people. Things changed. 

       You see, I came from a country that is battered by hurricanes (typhoons) several times a year. So we rebuild from rubble and ruins each time, with less or no government help. But each time a disaster pummeled us, the community got stronger as a collective energy. Per Local Government Code, which I helped research and draft, business franchises have very minimal presence in communities; local products serve local people etcetera.     

       The Asheville issue to me is, in fact, a microcosm of the current national illness or cancer. The wide and widening divide per politics. My newspaper and productions were meant to gather people, unity in diversity, in fun convergences. That seems a quixotic imagining (sic) right now. The Covid paralysis only heightened the Left vs Right mess. Would Helene unite us? I hoped so. 

       But right after the devastation, the same "fights" ensued. I was told Asheville was bankrupt in the 1980s. But from there, the city got up via tactical alliances between and among locals and new residents coming from elsewhere. There was a fine mix of local businesses downtown and those that were owned by transplants in the first years of my Asheville life. I know them personally. I felt the change around the time I got back, in 2009, from a 2 year "break" in Los Angeles. Asheville felt so different. 

       I resumed my publication and shows till I stopped. I didn't want to unknowingly offer a venue for hate, the antithesis of my personal vision, coming from a country that was broken by a 20 year dictatorship and then kicked out via tactical alliances of people of diverse mindsets but against a common evil. BTW I was a radical Leftist. Repeat: Tactical alliances. Would people set aside politics and get together for common good? I hope and I pray. (Yes, I pray.) ☮️☮️☮️

Liz Cheney and dad Dick Cheney

Time: “‘Pro-Life’ Liz Cheney Explains Why Her Fellow Republicans Should Back Harris.” Why wouldn't Liz instead enlist as a Democrat? I am no Conservative or Liberal but it'd be less alienating if she decides for certain her party allegiance. No wonder she lost the Republican Primary in 2022 to Harriet Hageman. The margin of defeat was the 2nd worst for a House incumbent in the last 60 years. Yet when I think about her dad Dick, I definitely have more to say. 😏😒🤨

Or let me just share an Mother Jones article, Sept/Oct 2006 issue. “Sweet Subpoena” by James Ridgeway, on the Dick Cheney part. 

<>Grounds for impeachment? Congressional investigators digging into the aforementioned questions cannot ignore the possibility of impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney, who figures prominently in almost every one of the scandals engulfing the administration. It was Cheney who ran the government’s response to the 9/11 attacks without constitutional authority, at one point ordering shoot-downs of commercial planes and what would turn out to be a medevac helicopter; who led the secret meetings of administration officials and oilmen to set energy policy; who allowed Ahmed Chalabi to play the U.S. government like a violin; who very well may be the origin of the whisper campaign that culminated in the Plame leak; and, of course, it was Cheney’s former employer (and source of continuing deferred compensation paychecks) that benefited enormously from no-bid contracts in Iraq. 

       Judicial Watch, the conservative legal outfit in Washington, has unearthed an email dated March 5, 2003, sent by an Army Corps of Engineers official whose name had been blacked out, that said of a pending deal under which Halliburton would rebuild the Iraqi oil industry, “We anticipate no issue since the action has been coordinated w VP’s office.” There’s plenty more where that came from; whether any of Cheney’s actions constitute “high crimes and misdemeanors” is for Congress, and the nation, to debate. 🏛🗽🏛

Photo: The Intercept.

Disaster Days Stories. After the Agony, Holiday Community Joy.

Responses to posts in Friends’ page/s.

BACK home in the Philippines, typhoons (or hurricanes in Asia Pacific) happen several times a year so people live with the fact. But life has "gifts." After months of agony and funk, the Christmas holiday season enters. As early as September (when the last rains usually end) Christmas songs are heard(!) People start decorating, a colorful "parol" hangs in the window and doors, children go “karoling” house after house. This Filipino truth is more cultural than religious. 

       Meanwhile, by mid November, workers and employees are handed a "13th month pay" (law) or extra month's salary (excluding the non-compulsory bonus and office gifts). By law as well, most employees in businesses and government agencies take a paid 15-day vacation starting December 15 so they can spend time with family. Filipinos abroad usually visit home and family in December. Some work but that'd be OT or extra pay or moonlighting income. We all go back to work on January 3 or 4. 

       And then in March/April Lent happens. Solemnity and relative quiet. But Maytime harvest glee ensues and the revelry heightens in the fiesta season till the last week of August. On these happy days, food is offered free in the plaza, mostly farm produce and home-cooked food. Gift-giving is all over. When you enter a house or wandered into a private yard, you are invited for dinner. Warring Communists rebels and Muslim secessionists and government troops spontaneously declare a ceasefire. After the holidays, we prepare for the coming storm again. 

       I grew up not knowing what clinical depression or shrinks or anti depressant pills are. But sadness is real yet we have family and community and lots of free food and gifts during those fun months. 🌬💨💓

[Photo credits: HGS OSS. Washington Post.]

Disaster in America, Disaster in the Philippines.

Responses to posts in Friends’ page/s.

HAVING been into and survived many similar disasters elsewhere where the safety net is magnificently weak or haplessly bankrupt, FEMA’s response to post-Helene devastation in the mountain was disappointing. That’s because this is America. The most powerful nation on earth with surefire trillion$ budget allocations to several federal projects. But not for FEMA, which is a “mere” sub-agency of the Department of Homeland Security. 

       Which brings me to why I say Hurricane Helene is a disaster response (and preparedness) failure. Budget. FEMA has always been plagued by a budget deficit, or since Katrina 2005. Last year, over $4 billion as the military expenditures went over the annual budget to $916 billion. Why would FEMA's work be praised when the agency itself may have felt awkward with the accolade? They knew they could have done better if they had enough resources. 

       More than two weeks after the fact, they haven't even reached some badly-hit mountain spots to deliver aid. Regardless, weren’t aid workers “reinforced” by the National Guard? Reason given: “Threat from armed militia.” Don't soldiers deliver help in much more dangerous battle zones abroad? 

       I myself helped bring aid in mountain barrios, years ago, while a typhoon raged amidst the government's Communist counterinsurgency program. I rode in military choppers provided by the U.S. base in Clark. We just have to do our job. We were threatened, we were shot at--but the need to save mostly vulnerable children was utmost. 

       Again, this is America, not the Philippines. Who accomplished the government's job faster, instead? Local volunteers. The community. 🌬💨💓

[Photo credit: Associated Press.]

Disaster Days Stories. Curfew, essential emergency services, and Stuff.

Responses to posts in Friends’ page/s.

IN emergency situations, including in wars, but mostly after devastation of a natural calamity, “makeshift” places that offer essential needs to people don't close at all. Especially “tent hospitals” and relief camps that feed people and attend to their basic needs and health conditions. In many cases (in my experience in other countries) workers, both from government agencies and NGO volunteer institutions, go door to door to check on people since ways to communicate (phones etc) and means to move around (cars etc) are out of the question.

 

       Individuals who offer to help enlist with "official" professional groups to facilitate a better organization of aid. Press or media people coordinate via a nerve center "camp" so dissemination of info is orchestrated. To keep order and calm, soldiers are deployed as they also render manual labor assistance (remove felled trees, hike to reach isolated spots etc). These, I saw during an ongoing disaster and then reinforced when the calamity subsided, as search and rescue doubled up. 

       Asheville: I see segments of such a primal community reflex employed in neighborhoods in WNC as they carried out help. Curfew is no brainer since they needed to rest, of course, then open again the next day. But government functionaries and NGO/non-profit operations don’t stop. Staff and volunteers work/ed per shifts. 

       When I say I am frustrated with the city (and federal) government, it is borne from the fact that I don't see a 24-hour, 24/7 effort to deliver dire community service, post-Helene. During the devastation? Figure it out. 

        "They didn't see it coming" or the emergency was unexpected are unacceptable excuses. Emergencies are unexpected, isn't it? That is why it is called an “emergency.” In the past, as a journalist and aid worker,I saw government staff coordinate with known rescue groups, notably the Red Cross. Nonstop, till situations normalize/d. Private business and individual volunteers help but they must not be faulted if they close or rest at a certain time. But, I repeat, government-run rescue/aid centers should not close at any time as well as NGOs or nonprofits that are recognized as aid groups. 🌬💨💓

IN my experience in other calamity-hit countries or towns, essential services were (are) active, 24/7: <>Door to door check to ensure people are served or attended to. Yes, including applications for personal government aid. Professional personnel are there to fix whatever. Of course, they come with relief goods and medical staff. All are served, including non-citizens and illegals. No need to show IDs or paperwork. 

       <>Specific spots (such as hospitals, bathrooms etc) are open, 24/7. Soldiers and law enforcers are around to help keep order. <>In these internet days, wifi is available in specific spots where electric power is restored or wifi can be had via other means, such as satellite internet (Starlink?) plugged to a generator or giant vehicles. These spots, albeit makeshift, are located in media nerve center headquarters or each spot has a media desk, where reports and data and info are orchestrated or organized. Yes, these areas are real even in ongoing wars. 

       <>I didn't see this in ravaged Asheville where I live. But private volunteers and neighbors a.k.a. The community filled the vacuum via sheer reflex and resilience. And yes, three weeks after the fact, we still don't have water. 🌬💨💓

[Photo credits: Western North Carolina. Adobe Stock.]

Disaster Days Stories. Disaster here and disaster at home.

Responses to posts in Friends’ page/s.

I SHARED my frustration with my housemate hours ago. My "confused torment." Coming from a country that is pummeled by typhoons (hurricanes in Asia) dozens of times a year, with years of rescue experience and exposure as a journalist, my pain is more mental/emotional but a different kind. Not really because I am devastated by Helene per se but because I couldn't relate. I feel people's agony but mine isn't what many feel; it is hell because my torment isn't connected. It cuts so deep because this pain has no ally right now. 

       I helped bury people in mass graves back home, saw kids die in evacuation centers, mostly unattended; an entire village buried in a pile of mud; cadavers floating. And so warring rebels and government troops declared a ceasefire themselves to help rescue and hand relief goods, rebuild shanties. Mostly those were dictatorship years. Yet when I read my FB page, people are arguing politics, people complain about a lying media, people accuse people of being karens and brats. Etcetera. Arguments that are peripheral or nonsense to me regardless of the election weeks ahead. 

       I wrote in one of my poems years ago that when I miss home, I miss the sorrow more than I miss the pleasures. In sorrow, that's when I saw people came out as one in tactical alliances; in pleasure, people mostly sever ties because pleasures come in so many versions. But sorrow as in hurricane ruins is one, singular swath of pain. And when 1 sorrow disrupts 30 pleasures, we get confused how to respond. So we point Left vs Right instead of simply helping a neighbor get up for a hot meal after the tempest. 🌬💨💓

[Photo: Spectrum News.]