Economy
Trump heaps another 5% tariff on Chinese goods in latest tit-for-tat escalation (Sparky1)
At the same time, Trump announced an increase in planned tariffs on the remaining $300 billion worth of Chinese goods to 15% from 10%. The United States will begin imposing those tariffs on some products starting Sept. 1, but tariffs on about half of those goods have been delayed until Dec. 15.
The Latest: Trump defends ordering companies to leave China (Sparky1)
The tariffs would take place in two steps, just as the U.S. said it would do earlier this month in imposing 10% tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods.
The rising tensions between the world’s two biggest economies unnerved investors already on edge Friday.
China pledges to fight trade war ‘to the end’ and hits back at Donald Trump’s ‘barbaric’ tariffs (Sparky1)
It said China’s own tariffs on US$75 billion worth of American products, announced late on Friday, were a response to America’s unilateral escalation of the trade conflict, adding that China was determined to fight back “until the end”.
The No. 1 sign your money will survive a recession, according to a financial planner (Thomas R.)
Here’s Anastasio: “Knowing that their investment accounts could basically go untouched and it doesn’t matter if it drops 50% and then at some point it eventually rebounds, if they have the wherewithal — not the willpower, because most of us have a hard time resisting looking at the accounts — but if they have the ability to ignore the noise and ignore the fluctuations because they’re not in a position where they have to sell out of the market because they need the cash, that’s the situation someone wants to be in.”
Reports say stolen Hy-Vee account information being sold (Thomas R.)
Hy-Vee acknowledge earlier this month that it detected unauthorized activity on some of its payment processing systems linked to card payments at Hy-Vee restaurants, fuel pumps and drive-thru coffee shops. The company doesn’t believe the breach extended to payments systems used inside its grocery stores, drugstores and convenience stores.
U.S. tariffs on China borne by Americans, unlikely to resolve trade imbalances: IMF experts (Sparky1)
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Twitter on Aug. 1 that the United States will impose an additional 10 percent tariff on some 300 billion U.S. dollars worth of Chinese imports, effective from Sept. 1.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement on Aug. 13 that some of those tariffs will be delayed to Dec. 15.
World Bank bans Chinese companies again for financial crimes (Sparky1)
In 2018, China Harbour Engineering was publicly accused of offering a bribe to a government official in connection with a highway construction project in Bangladesh. The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese officials had agreed to help bail out Malaysia’s state development fund 1 Malaysia Berhad (1MDB) by inflating cost of infrastructure projects in the Southeast Asian country.
U.S. Steel to idle Indiana plant, 150 jobs at risk (Thomas R.)
The East Chicago facility currently employs 297 workers. A U.S. Steel spokeswoman said the company expects to offer half of the employees positions at the two Northwest Indiana plants.
“Decisions around employee impacts have not been finalized,” Meghan Cox, the company’s spokeswoman, told Reuters. “Our goal is to place as many East Chicago Tin employees as possible at other nearby U. S. Steel facilities.”
Feds search for site to house 500 immigrant children in Central Florida (Sparky1)
“Care will be provided 24 hours a day/seven days a week by 500 staff,” the listing reads. “The shelter will require child bedrooms/sleeping areas, child bathrooms, classrooms, indoor recreation/multipurpose areas, medical, dining/food service, administrative and support space. Approximately 2 acres of exterior space shall be provided for outdoor recreation areas.”
CBP refuses to publicly reveal how many migrants are sick with contagious diseases (Sparky1)
This stands in stark contrast to how other entities handle disease statistics. State and county health departments across the United States track ongoing case counts for dozens of infectious diseases and make that information available online. Similarly, the United Nations posts disease statistics about refugees online.
Here’s exactly what it cost to buy my 3-bedroom, 2-bath house near Daytona Beach, Florida (Thomas R.)
With our home, the down payment and closing costs weren’t the only expenses that we needed to worry about. In our case, the roof on our home was so old that we couldn’t get homeowner’s insurance unless we agreed to replace the roof within 30 days of completing the sale.
The first policy—price tags—is a necessary prerequisite for competition and efficiency. Under our current system, it’s nearly impossible for people with health insurance to find out in advance what anything covered by their insurance will end up costing. Patients have no way to comparison shop for procedures covered by insurance, and providers are under little pressure to lower costs.
Here’s how much more money you’d have if you delayed retirement until 70, according to Stanford researchers (Thomas R.)
The researchers calculated what the couple’s retirement income would look like under five different scenarios: retiring completely at 62, working part-time until 66 (their Social Security full retirement age), working full-time until 66, working part-time until age 70 and working full-time until age 70.
3 Ways to Earn Extra Income in Retirement (Thomas R.)
Selling these types of courses can also be a fun and creative way to share your passions. Whether you want to teach people how to be a good leader or manager, the basics of graphic design, or how to train their dog, the possibilities are endless. Even if you aren’t earning a six-figure salary from your courses, they can still be an exciting retirement hobby you can do from the comfort of your couch while also earning some extra cash.
World needs to end risky reliance on U.S. dollar: BoE’s Carney (Sparky1)
Carney – who was considered a candidate to be the next head of the International Monetary Fund but failed to secure backing from Europe’s governments – said the problems in financial system were encouraging protectionist and populist policies.
Earlier on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he was ordering U.S. companies to look at ways to close their operations in China, the latest escalation of mounting trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.
Will China Overtake the U.S. in Artificial Intelligence Research? (Sparky1)
The country’s pursuit of AI domination is more than a symbolic race with the United States, say scientists. AI technologies promise advances in health care, transport and communications, and the nations that make fundamental breakthroughs in the field are likely to shape its future directions and reap the most benefits.
French police fire tear gas at anti-G7 protesters near summit (Sparky1)
Biarritz is a popular tourist destination that would normally be basking in its annual summer boom, but with US President Donald Trump and other world leaders flying in for three days of talks, the resort was in lockdown.
“Heads of state: act now, Amazonia is burning!” read one banner as the huge crowd rallied under cloudless blue skies in Hendaye, the slogan referring to the wildfires ravaging the world’s largest rainforest.
Why the U.S. Disaster Agency Is Not Ready for Catastrophes (Sparky1)
FEMA’s preoccupation with undersized disasters comes as climate change is intensifying hurricanes, floods, thunderstorms and wildfires, and as development is expanding in peril-prone areas. Many of the events that now trigger FEMA aid are becoming routine, raising concerns within the agency that it will be unable to respond to the growing number of large catastrophes if it continues to waste its resources on small ones.
Why protests are becoming increasingly faceless (Sparky1)
Activists, designers and artists around the world are inventing creative ways to avoid detection. As state surveillance becomes more advanced — and widely used — wearable technology has been proposed as a way to thwart monitoring systems.
The world’s most-surveilled cities (Sparky1)
Comparitech researchers collated a number of data resources and reports, including government reports, police websites, and news articles, to get some idea of the number of CCTV cameras in use in 120 major cities across the globe. We focused primarily on public CCTV—cameras used by government entities such as law enforcement.
A trail of ‘bloody gold’ leads to Venezuela’s government (Sparky1)
To extract the precious metal, these men must turn rocks into dust, from sunrise to sunset, under the brutal rule of a state-sponsored network of violent gangs and corrupt military, say several witnesses and a senior military source with knowledge of the security situation in the Orinoco Mining Arc.
Scoop: Trump suggested nuking hurricanes to stop them from hitting U.S. (Sparky1)
Trump also raised the idea in another conversation with a senior administration official. A 2017 NSC memo describes that second conversation, in which Trump asked whether the administration should bomb hurricanes to stop them from hitting the homeland. A source briefed on the NSC memo said it does not contain the word “nuclear”; it just says the president talked about bombing hurricanes.
Farmers Need a Bill of Rights (Don R.)
Kudos to Senator Warren for endorsing the Farmers Bill of Rights, and to Senator Sanders for seriously mentioning the farm crisis. As to the other candidates, when will you get on board and come up with some serious farm policy discussion, some real solutions to the ongoing devastation of rural America?
Brazil dispatches troops, military aircraft to battle Amazon forest fires (Thomas R.)
An Associated Press journalist flying over the Porto Velho region Saturday morning reported hazy conditions and low visibility. On Friday, the reporter saw many already deforested areas that were burned, apparently by people clearing farmland, as well as a large column of smoke billowing from one fire.
Plan allows drilling, grazing near national monument in Utah (Sparky1)
Steve Bloch, legal director at the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance conservation group, said it’s unforgivable to cut the monument in half and downgrade the excluded lands to what he calls “garden variety public lands.”
“Grand Staircase-Escalante is one of the nation’s public land crown jewels and from the outset the Trump administration was hell-bent on destroying this place,” Bloch said.
Russian officials blame cesium exposure on ‘Fukushima crabs’ (Sparky1)
Riga-based investigative outlet Meduza reported Thursday that an employee at an Arkhangelsk hospital was told the exposure likely occurred during a holiday in Thailand. “You just ate Fukushima crabs there,” the employee described officials as saying to the doctor, according to Meduza.
Gold & Silver
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