18 July 2018
Question: According to MSN:Lifestyle…you may be under the spell of a narcissist if the person you love has what five personality traits,
Chinese signal readiness to boycott US goods during tariff war – Pg. 2
– The survey found that 54% of 2,000 respondents in 300 cities across China would “probably” or “definitely” stop buying US-branded goods “in the event of a trade war”. Only 13% said they would not (Prof Note: For whatever reason, and probably due to the US press, I had the impression the Chinese students had minimal national pride. Then, one day in class I asked about the disputed islands with Japan and the class said in unison, “OURS”! My knowledge comes mostly from the Chinese students in classrooms but they have deep pride for their nation and home. The U.S. needs to be careful about poking the Panda!)
– China has avoided calling for any boycott of US goods
– Japanese car exports also tumbled 32% in the 12 months after China launched a boycott over disputed islands in September 2012
China drives cashless revolution – Pg. 3
– The mobile payments revolution in China has happened with breathtaking speed and scale
– Almost half the world’s digital payments in 2017 were made in China, through apps such as Alipay and WeChat
– This transformation has been spearheaded by Millennials, who were the early adopters of mobile payments, but it has rapidly spread across generations. Millennials’ parents – the 40 – 60 age group – have adapted to the technology, especially in big cities, although they tend to use it for fewer purposes
– ….by blending social, ecommerce and payment functions into single apps, customers could manage their finances at the same time as managing their social lives (Prof Note: This really concerns me a bit. I track expenses to the penny and manually log each one. It helps keep me abreast of all the businesses and I have fought using back-office support for fear of loss of knowledge (not loss of control but knowledge). Be careful!)
– Familiarity with mobile payments had also made people more comfortable with other innovations such as peer-to-peer lending, investing in money market funds and consumer loans
– Savings rather than borrowings are how Chinese people typically pay for big purchases
– …Millennials have become surprisingly adept at handling their money, despite being stereotyped as the least financially savvy generation (Prof Note: My students absolutely understand $$$. My issue is they are saddled with too much education debt and there has been too little wage growth)
Powell warns trade tensions are threat to growth – Pg. 4
– Jay Powell warned that rising trade tensions could hit growth if they resulted in higher tariffs over the longer term, …
– The US job market has continued to strengthen and that “for now” the central bank believed it was best “to keep gradually raising” interest rates
– Growth had accelerated in the second quarter, boosted by “robust job gains, rising after-tax incomes and optimism among households”. An average of 215,000 net new jobs were created each month in the first half of the year
How we lost America to greed and envy – Pg. 9
– In the postwar world, US policy has four attractive features: it had appealing core values; it was loyal to allies who shared those values; it believed in open and competitive markets; and it underpinned those markets with institutionalized rules. This system was always incomplete and imperfect
– The striking feature of the US economy is that, despite its unique virtues, it has recently served the majority of its people so ill. The distribution of income is exceptionally unequal. Labour force participation rates of prime-aged adults are exceptionally low. Real median household disposable incomes are the same as they were two decades ago, while mean incomes are much higher. Uniquely, mortality rates of middle-aged white adults have risen since 2000 in the US
– …in 2016, there were just 5,000 murders in the EU, a rate of one per 100,000 people. There were 17,250 murders in the US, a rate five times greater
– (Prof Note: No matter the opinion of politics in the U.S., one can still enter a brokerage house with $300.00 and establish an account. Nothing limits this individual from turning the $300.00 into $300,000,000.00. Yes, knowledge but many of the pedigree universities place lectures online which can be accessed through public libraries. We are not perfect, but I still believe we offer great dreams that can become reality!)
Answer: (1) Hypersensitive; (2) Attention hungry; (3) Excessively Needy; (4) Energy Consuming; (5) Obsessed with social media