Odds and Ends — 14 April 2025

18 days ago

Note to self: When thinning out a raspberry patch, it’s probably best to be wearing something with long sleeves instead of a T-shirt.

Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, AI, and Debt:

Mantra token price collapses by over 90% in 24 hours

Bitcoin Price Flat as Ray Dalio Warns 'Something Worse Than a Recession' Looming

Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

Is Covid Rewriting the Rules of Aging? Brain Decline Alarms Doctors

Politics:

Trump Has Found His Class Enemy

The president unleashes a Marxist theory of power—but against knowledge workers, not billionaires.

https://twitter.com/CalltoActivism/status/1911438553403244764

Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa wins re-election

———— Smoot-Hawley 2.0 ————

Trump Signals New Tariffs on Chips

…Trump signaled on Sunday that he would pursue new tariffs on the powerful computer chips inside smartphones and other technologies, just two days after his administration excluded a variety of electronics from the steep import taxes recently applied on goods arriving from China.

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1911508600230740076

China Halts Critical Exports as Trade War Intensifies

China has suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets, threatening to choke off supplies of components central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world.
Shipments of the magnets, essential for assembling everything from cars and drones to robots and missiles, have been halted at many Chinese ports while the Chinese government drafts a new regulatory system. Once in place, the new system could permanently prevent supplies from reaching certain companies, including American military contractors.

U.S. Allies Sit Out Trump’s Trade War With China

America needs its allies and partners for what is shaping up as a protracted contest for geopolitical primacy now that President Trump has unleashed a trade war against China. They are in no rush to take sides.
The problem is, many European and Asian partners aren’t sure to what extent they are still allied with Washington.

China is well positioned to weather Trump’s trade war

Five years of export controls have helped it get very good at making things without American technology

https://twitter.com/JustinWolfers/status/1911069957325996306

A senior executive who objected was marched out of his office and put on leave, while earlier warnings about the agency’s deaths database were ignored.

https://twitter.com/TheOnion/status/1911449341627162885

———— Signalgate ————

https://twitter.com/RachelBitecofer/status/1911489422929150162

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

How the G.O.P. Fell in Love With Putin’s Russia

Zelensky accuses Vance of “somehow justifying Putin's actions”

Map Shows How Trump, Putin and Xi Could Carve Up the Globe

———— Mors Imperii ————

https://twitter.com/GenoVeno73/status/1911196882744844512

European Diplomats Issued Burner Phones for U.S. Visits

The European Commission is issuing burner phones and basic laptops to some US-bound staff to avoid the risk of espionage, a measure traditionally reserved for trips to China.

https://twitter.com/preparedwombat/status/1911577111464227266

Flight from the Dollar Could Wreck America’s Finances

In 1990s Japan the worst days of a market crisis brought about a ‘triple yasu’ loss: a fall in stockmarkets, a rise in bond yields and a declining currency. It is now America that must stomach this noxious combination. Although President Donald Trump’s tariff pause provided a brief respite, the triple yasu has made an unwelcome return…
In Japan the triple yasu was associated with national decline. Yet a flight from all American assets represents a far greater loss. That is because the dollar and Treasury bonds are the world’s havens, and the global financial system has been built on the assumption that they are safe.