Poor Vicky

I'm very expensive.

Yeah, a couple shots and he’ll take a hep c grenade.

my people have deep resources

You didn’t have to tell us that

but I am good wif words.
not so good wif numbahs.

Wuz countin on ya word

word

If I was Frankie, i would eliminate the competition.

I am the Walmart of lemonade...

or I could just call Drafter to reason with them.

You called..?? 😕

.... v@ginas too.... you know... to accommodate the tripod.

What? What? Not the Del's of Lemonade?

I always had a sneaking suspicion that the Chinese were Republican

I thought that too when Vic mentioned the global market inroads China is making.

China started targeting Africa back in the 50's and '60's if not earlier. When European countries were finding colonies more trouble than they were worth. I seem to remember an article in Time or Newsweek back in maybe the 80's that told a pretty convincing story of how were ignoring Africa, China was stepping in and we were oblivious because most here wouldn't give ****hole countries a second thought.

We can't fix a pothole, yet the Chinese are building infrastructure from Germany to Beijing and from Suez to Singapore via all of east Africa and the sub-continent.

I hope you are right.

Chinese labor and Chinese environmental regs have barely registered on my consciousness. I probably should GAF, but just can't right now.

My issues with China have been more about how they want to play the global economy game, but won't do it without cheating.

Willfully disregarding intellectual property rights is fn huge
Currency manipulation may be a right....but they use it to unfair advantage that should be countered
Subsidizing industries is something everyone does to some extent. But the Chinese have applied Bezos-ness to their efforts; subsidize so much that they can sell at a loss long enough to gain total dominance of market share -- that isn't about protecting domestic anything..its about attempt to gain global domination of a market --- at the expense of others...not because they are better, but because they cheat

I'm still ambivalent about recent tariffs - maybe because I don't see them as big economic swing things -- just blunt tools of Trump's 'deal-making'. I don't believe there will be significant long-term tariffs -- just short term ones to try to elicit concessions -- whether he gets real concessions or just surface scratching ones....either way, tariffs will be eased with claims of greatest victory in history of the universe...and the taxes....I mean tariffs...will be rolled back

China has the luxury of control and long term thinking. We have less control and our strategy changes on 4-8 year cycles. We are easy to wait out and they are more than willing. In an economic war of attrition they have the upper hand. I'm just hoping our raw power and brute strength comes through. It's a good match but the tale of the tape may favor them.

I don't know if the tariffs are a good or bad thing at this point. But why lie about how they work if they are good.

Is there still a government number you can call to report communist sympathisers?

You can call those kooks that were at the Socialist convention the other day....but they will make you use your inside voice