Commentary The long-ago-discredited “mixed economy” practice of “industrial policy” is when the state, in its infallible wisdom, decides which capitalist ventures are going to be successful, and pours prodigious amounts of the taxpayers’ hard-earned cash into them, the most infamous example being Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). The late economist Charles Schultze, who held top jobs in the Kennedy, Johnson and Carter administrations, understood the foolishness of industrial policy and illustrated the absurdity of a government bureaucracy picking private-sector winners and losers in a Brookings Institution paper. Mr. Schultze pointed out how MITI “tried very hard—and, as is evident, to no avail—to keep Honda out of the automobile business.” (It was thought back in the 1960s that consolidating Japanese auto production into several giant companies was wise.)...Read more https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/china-charging-americans-paying-5527117
China’s communist regime is training and equipping foreign militaries to strengthen its position and undermine U.S. influence, according to a new congressional report. The regime is also engaged in selling arms to internationally sanctioned nations, including state-sponsor of terrorism Iran, according to the 2023 annual report of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), released on Nov. 14. China’s efforts are part of a broader strategy to replace the United States and “lead the global security order,” according to the report. “China’s leadership coordinates a range of military activities with foreign security forces, including bilateral and multilateral meetings, functional exchanges, port calls, exercises, and arms sales,” the report says.... 
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission releases its annual report at 10:30 a.m. ET on Nov. 14. Topics this year include China’s increasingly global legal reach; China’s United Front and Propaganda Work Department; China’s next generation workforce; China’s fiscal, financial, and debt problems; China’s relations with foreign militaries; weapons, technology, and export controls; Europe-China relations and transatlantic cooperation; and a review of Taiwan, Hong Kong, economics, trade, security, politics, and foreign affairs developments in 2023. ...
Commentary For the past month, the number and severity of risks to the bond and stock markets has risen, with some pundits wondering just how the market can trade so confidently higher when there are so many large-scale events unfolding that threaten to pose a systemic risk to the United States and global financial markets. Let’s start with an easy one—a “sleeper” that caught everyone off guard. At last week’s 30-year Treasury auction, in which a mere $26 billion in debt was being bid for, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest lender by assets, said its financial services experienced a ransomware attack that reportedly disrupted their trading of Treasurys. That attack prevented the ICBC from settling trades and rendered the bank unable to clear commitments that forced the bank to send the settlement details to its counter parties by a messenger carrying a thumb drive—a heroic effort to limit the damage....