My reading highlights for the week of May 12

First of all, happy mother’s day.

By John Stossel, RodeMay 8, 2024.

Extract:

In 2020, then-President Trump said he was succeeding: “We have drained the Washington swamp!”

But it’s not true.

“He created the government taller,” says economist Ed Stringham in my new video. ‘That’s going in the wrong direction. When I looked through a list of agencies, every single one I could see, there were more employees after his presidency than before.”

Trump added nearly 2 million jobs to the federal workforce.

The most staggering number here is the number of 2 million jobs. I haven’t fact checked it. Is it true?

by John V. Walsh, antiwar.com, May 9, 2024.

Extract:

At the end of his recent trip to China, on April 26, while still in Beijing, Sec. van Staat, Antonius [sic] Blinken, made an extremely belligerent impression rack to the press. Blinken’s words marked a new phase in the story to prepare the American and European public for more conflict with China. As Caitlin Johnstone has reminded us, “Before they drop the bombs, they drop the story.” So what is the story that Blinken dropped?

In his statement, Blinken tells us that the US has “serious concerns” about “components” from China “driving” Russia’s war with Ukraine. He goes on to say that China is the largest supplier “of dual-use items that Moscow is using to boost its industrial base, a defense industrial base….” It is widely accepted that the US is losing its proxy war in Ukraine. Blinken is now telling us that the US-installed Ukrainian regime is losing because China is helping Russia. Blaming China is nothing new in the West’s discourse, but here it is being used in a new way, as an excuse for yet another embarrassing US defeat.

Blinken mentions “machine tools, microelectronics, nitrocellulose” as key components that China supplies to Russia. But “dual-use items” is an ill-defined and malleable category. Possibly any commodity could be subsumed under the term. For example, if Russia imports Chinese machine tools to make cars, it can easily be argued that these are being used to build tanks. Or if Russia imports nitrocellulose To make fingernail polish, the chemical can be said to be used for gunpowder or explosives. So when the US demands that China stop “indirect” support for the Russian war effort, they are ultimately demanding that China stop all trade with Russia.

Blinken provides no evidence that such “dual use” items are responsible for the abuse suffered by his Ukrainian allies. And China has no obligation to curtail its trade with Russia. Like India and other truly sovereign countries that continue to trade with Russia, China is not bound by the edicts of the United States.

by Colin Grabow, Cato at FreedomMay 7, 2024,

Washington responded by responding resubmit the contract And change his law So out-of-state shipyards could compete to build the ships. That’s what it meant, though delays in the acquisition process, assembly frustration among ferry users, and the ongoing problems exchange of barbs about the new drive system.

But this controversy misses the bigger picture. Washington’s main obstacle to cost-effectively purchasing new ferries is not rooted in technology, but in protectionism. You only have to look across the international border from Washington to see why.

At the end of 2019, just two months after Washington announced Canadian ferry company BC Ferries has announced its plan to purchase new hybrid electric ferries ordered four ships with the same technology from a European shipbuilder. All four were delivered before the end of 2021. With a capacity of approximately one-third that of the ships sought by WSF (450 passengers and crew and 47 vehicles versus 1,500 passengers and 144 vehicles), the ferries cost approximately $38 million each—less than a sixth of the estimated price of the new WSF ferries.

I don’t have my usual 4 highlights this week. Last Saturday I caught a bad cold on the way back from Dallas and have been sick or lacking energy for most of the week. But I’m back!