Chinatown hawker centre. Hawker Centres are a national heritage, selling a wide variety of food at very reasonable prices. They are spread across the whole island and is part of the Singapore way of life.
12/12/2025
ASEAN wants the Americans as policemen? Talk to the Latin Americans first
What is the real manufacturing crisis of America?
Trump's America first is all about bringing manufacturing back to America, to make America a manufacturing power again. For a country of 340 million people, it was insane to throw manufacturing out of the window when manufacturing is the biggest creator of jobs. Caveat, with robots, this may not be completely true anymore. America has the space, the people and everything to be a manufacturing powerhouse. Maybe they need to refocus on what they should be manufacturing, to leave out the low value manufacturing for the Global South. Hijacking TSMC from Taiwan maybe a right step, if the Americans can compete with lower cost of manufacturing and have the skilled manpower to do so.
Trump is out in arms to force its allies to cough out billions and trillions to invest in America. And the poor hapless allies have no choice. The Arab states were robbed of a few trillion dollars, Japan $550 billion, South Korea another $350 billion, a few tens of billions from Taiwan and looks like Singapore is the next target if what the new Ambassador's words are an indication. Trump is not about productivity, about making money from real effort of the Americans, it is about robbery and extortion, collection protection money from its allies.
What this D grade President is doing is another big farce. He did not know what is the real manufacturing problem of America. America is failing very badly in manufacturing skilled manpower to support its industries and to run the country. The fact that they have to hire so many India CEOs says that America cannot produce the CEOs they need. The Americans are hopeless or useless as CEOs. Even the Director of FBI is an Indian. This job is not highly technical that needs disciplined hard science or engineering talents. So are the CEO jobs. Well, America can only manufacture a lot of hillbillies and rednecks that like to play with guns. America can only produce the rough and tough manual labour, semi skilled jobs like those in the ICE automobile industry or in the old steel mills, no need much thinking and talent in these jobs.
The semicon, computer and AI industries are now run by foreign engineers, not blue blooded American hillbillies or rednecks. Just give these guys the beers, whisky and fentanyl. Even the aircraft industries, the space industries, are run by an army of foreigners and crashing. America can only produce talkers, the debaters in courts to win an argument, to sit in Congressional hearings to run down their opponents with their prepared speech and documents on the victims that did not know what is going to hit them. And the clowns in Washington. Yes, America is very good in producing clowns to run the country. America is never short of clowns in political leadership.
The Americans are falling behind in producing engineers for the industry. They have a few very brilliant engineers at the very top but no supporting cast. They are also not producing the thinking leaders to lead their country. So, any clown will do as long as he is able to make the hillbillies and rednecks to believe he is the best for America. D graders, jokers, criminals, liars, conmen, pretenders, just talk and look smart will be good enough to run America and make America great again. And the simplest recipe is war, coercion, sanction and extortion.
If America cannot manufacture real talents for America, they can force all the high tech industries back but they will just fail. TSMC will fail, NASA failed, Boeing failed, shipbuilding failed, the weapon industry is failing, falling further behind. The last fighter aircraft, hyped as the best is the F35 that is going obsolete. The aircraft carrier Gerald Ford is still struggling with its electronic catapult launching system, no six generation fighters, no EVs, no high speed trains, no more space station, no serviceable rockets to the space station, and still bragging about going to the moon.
With all the clowns and fake talents in charge, and without real talents, America is doomed. There is no future for America. The American Dream is the past, has moved to China and other parts of the world.
China is sending Western manufacturing back to the stone age
The USA and the West can erect all kinds of hurdles for Chinese products entering their market, but how big is the USA and Europe in terms of population compared to the Global South. China and India alone have bigger markets than the combined population of the Anglo-Saxon White countries combined. Africa in total has a population of about 1.4 billion.
Now people are realizing who made those branded bags and how much profit high-end chains are making. It is all going to end. It is for the betterment of the world of make-believe morphing into reality.
If the West cannot make things cheaper for the poorer countries, why blame China? Isn't globalization a means to extract economies of scale and comparative advantages? It was touted to be the best when the West could outsource and compete, but not so when they fail to match. Why did Apple site its manufacturing base in China if not for its cheaper wages, supply chains and higher skilled workers, thereby turning out iPhones that enabled Apple to reap all the monstrous profits. Does the USA blame Steve Jobs or Apple?
Anonymous
FIFA is a joke or making Trump a joke?
FIFA is turning into a joke.
By the way, China is not even interested in holding another Olympics on its soil, and the Olympic Committee is wondering why. China basically knows it is a waste of money trying to showcase the country to the world again, when the 2008 Olympics already did that successfully. Now, foreign travelers of many countries are being given visa free travel to China and making videos of their journey in China, showcasing all the developments and progress. That has destroyed all the decades of misinformation and disinformation by the Western media about China.
By the way, India on the other hand, is trying very hard to bid for a chance to hold the Olympics but had been denied, due to its infrastructure and environmental issues. Hard to imagine holding events needing clean rivers, LOL. But for the Olympic Committee, when there are no fish, prawns also can do.
Scott Bessant - Fire sale for US Treasuries, all US$3 trillion available
USA Treasuries are no more the safest investment for global investors and countries are beginning to realize that. Central Banks of most countries are buying gold. Nothing more secure than keeping gold but must not keep them at Fort Knox out of stupidity. Keeping them at home is the safest in order not to be seized by the Anglo-Saxon Whites like what happened to Russian assets. Now, many countries like Germany and Spain are asking the USA to return their gold.
Who is Scott Bessant directing his message of demand directed at? Not China of course, as J. D. Vance already denigrate Chinese peasants buying USA debt as another rip-off, by lending money to the USA people to buy more Chinese goods. J. D. Vance got what he wished for.
China must never ever again help a desperate snake in economic trouble. China rendered help to the USA to tide over during the 2008 financial crisis and got nothing more than being bitten. What followed was all the sanctions, trade war and tariff war. A good deed does not deserve another in this case and certainly not to the same snake.
Anonymous