RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/06/04/woke_capitalists_sell_out_us_to_china_behind_a_mask_of_virtue.html

Imagine thinking that the appropriate response to the Chinese coronavirus is to wed ourselves still closer to Communist China. For most, such a notion would defy all logic. Yet if woke capital gets its way, this is the future we can expect, with attendant consequences like the ones we are currently suffering—and far worse.

As the Chinese coronavirus crisis unfolded, Americans grew overwhelmingly outraged at the People’s Republic of China (PRC) for its primary culpability in the spread of a disease inflicting incalculable damage on the country. Main Street began to reckon with the reality that ever-closer economic relations with China had left us dependent on it for the most basic of necessities, and Main Street seemed to wish to extricate itself from the toxic relationship. But Wall Street was not interested in such a divorce. Rather, it sought to deepen relations further.

Paradigmatic were the words of Larry Fink, chief executive officer of the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock. Fink, writing in a March 29, 2020, letter to shareholders, stated:

I continue to firmly believe China will be one of the biggest opportunities for BlackRock over the long term, both for asset managers and investors…. We continue to invest in our presence in China and our local investment expertise, so we can help clients navigate this large and growing opportunity as they seek to increase exposure to China’s onshore assets. We are also focused on building our presence as a manager for Chinese clients…. [A]s the Chinese market opens to foreign asset managers, our global reach and whole-portfolio approach will help us become the leading foreign asset manager in China.

That is, BlackRock remained all-in on Beijing.

The positioning of this portion of Fink’s letter was quite telling. He had opened by recognizing that the implications of the coronavirus were far-reaching. Yet somehow, they did not extend to the Middle Kingdom.

https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/2020/06/the-red-elephant-in-the-room/

While COVID-19 has wrought havoc across the world, one of the things we can be thankful for is that it has exposed the true character of the dangerous red elephant in the room: the Chinese communist regime.

Before we go any further, let’s clarify that by “China”, I am referring to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), not the Chinese people. There is a clear difference, and this is critical.

At the time I am writing this, there are 785,712 cases of COVID-19 worldwide. Countless Chinese citizens who have spoken out about China’s negligence in dealing with the virus have been imprisoned, and some probably killed. Stephen Lee Myers from the New York Times writes: “The central health authorities first learned about the outbreak not from the reporting system but after unknown whistle-blowers leaked two internal documents online.”

While it is clear that Wuhan is home to a CCP-owned virology lab, it’s not clear whether this is where the virus originated, and whether it was indeed manufactured as a biological weapon. Regardless, China is exploiting the current state of international instability and insecurity to expand and advance its objectives and power. This ought to be no surprise, since China’s international ambitions are simply an extension of its domestic policy—authoritarian control.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/venezuela-economic-mismanagement-oil-rich-nation-without-fuel/

Years of economic mismanagement and corruption have combined with a poorly designed and inefficient system to create an unprecedented crisis.

 T here are just a handful of countries as blessed as Venezuela. It has the largest oil reserves of any country on Earth. It has abundant reserves of natural gas, coal, timber, and gold. And as if this weren’t enough, it also has miles of fertile land and an ideal geographical location to export all of its blessings. Yet, there is a popular joke around here that says: “Why was God so generous to us? He gave us everything, even perfect weather, and beautiful beaches. Well, because he also gave us our politicians and a society that has not been capable of taking care of its nation.”

Personally, I have always found this “joke” dangerously misleading, because it implies that Venezuela is a rich country in the first place. Countries are not rich because of their natural resources. Developed nations are rich because they have dynamic economies, with innovative private sectors, an impressive stock of human capital, and institutions that incentivize people to become responsible and productive citizens — plus governments willing to complement the market by providing infrastructure, collective security, a well-functioning educational system, and other public goods that are essential for economic development. In Venezuela, unfortunately, we have neither markets nor a well-designed and efficient public sector. This, rather than the gross mismanagement of our natural resources, is the reason we are undeveloped.

One need not look far for the proof. This year, Venezuela officially became the first resource-rich nation without fuel, in a crisis that has paralyzed the country like never before. Currently, fuel can only be procured on the black market, at a staggering price of nine dollars a gallon. This would be a worrisome situation for any country. But Venezuela’s minimum wage is less than five dollars a month, meaning virtually no Venezuelans can afford fuel. It’s the latest indignity in a years-long political crisis that has seen the country grow accustomed to daily power blackouts, an unreliable water supply, and chronic shortages of food and medicine.