The John Batchelor Show

Wednesday 18 March 2020

Air Date: 
March 18, 2020

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Gordon Chang, Daily Beast, and David Livingston, The Space Show
 
Hour One
Wednesday 18 March 2020  / Hour 1, Block A:  Arthur Waldron, University of Pennsylvania; in re: Stability of the PRC and what comes afterward between US and PRC?  Failure of the Communist Party, and disintegration. Origins of the virus; requirement of stability in China for the commerce to continue.   Xi early said he was personally in charge of solving the virus matter.  The US is the meal ticket for China; how does it benefit China to damage the US?  In China, is the younger generation ready for a major change in the Communist party?  The artists and academics are miles ahead of the party.  Xi does not want to have a successor being groomed, and ensured that that would not happen. Ergo, there’s no clear succession path and he infighting will probably be intense. Chinese classics: the question of the root of succession: since ancient times, when the emperor is first proclaimed, he must immediately name a successor.   The Chinese air force flew very close to Taiwan the other day: threatening the sovereign territory of Taiwan.
Wednesday 18 March 2020  / Hour 1, Block B: Steve Yates, DCI International; in re:  Virus and the success of Taiwan in stemming the rate. The effect of the epidemic on the stability of Chinese communism.  The Chinese air force flew very close to Taiwan the other day: threatening the sovereign territory of Taiwan.
Wednesday 18 March 2020  / Hour 1, Block C:  Jonathan Boss, graduate student research assistant at University of Michigan; PTM Enterprises; in re:  Port volume in LA is down 22.9%; head of ports says it’ll recover  in the fall, perhaps as late as November.  Empty containers sitting on dock around the world. China is out of containers so will send three megaships to pick up containers.  Head of a large Latin-American bank said businesses have maxxed out their credit lines to survive; small businesses don’t have access as needed. At 3.75% you can borrow up to $2 mil IF you have great credit and are guaranteed to survive in the future.  The feds need to step in. Insurance should be obliged to cover pandemics. Typically, they exclude bacteria, mold; need the feds to demand the guarantee; will probably go through the courts—which will take how long?  I spoke with someone at Treasury; they’re entertaining the concept . . .  Everyone knows that only insurance companies are adepts at disaster relief.  The SBA is gonna create a massive pile of paper. No way to handle five million small business applications tomorrow.  Sounds like what Pres Trump spoke of:  a public-private partnership.  Mexico looks like 1994 when it needed to be bailed out. Is this the perfect storm?  Mexican dollar reserves are sinking because oil revenues are; Pemex.  Mexico is slow to respond to the virus.   The USMCA helps a bit; the real problem is how we trade with the nation across the ocean: Free trade; fair trade—and ethical trade is now critical.
US in the crisscrossing from China supply chain. Taiwan and the coronavirus epidemic, including https://time.com/5805629/coronavirus-taiwan/ . How to help America's small businesses survive the coronavirus epidemic.   https://twitter.com/GordonGChang/status/1240256344667623425
Wednesday 18 March 2020  / Hour 1, Block D:  Michael Yon, from Thailand; in re:  The virus in Southeast Asia and HK.  When last we spoke with Michael,  a week ago, Thailand was not much concerned with the Wuhan virus.   Yesterday, there were 212 cases here; it’s starting to go vertical. Bangkok closed bars, schools, cockfights; probably will happen here. A Thai student I know has just raced back to Thailand to avoid being locked out later, is starting her 14-day quarantine right now.  A slow response to a virus can mean that control is lost. If it goes to Stage Three (tertiary transmissions), they will lock down the whole country. Many of my Thai friends haven't even started to take it seriously, although some have. Rice prices have increased; SE Asia n nations trying to stock up on food.
     In Hong Kong, beginnings of the second wave of infections—also in Taiwan and Singapore. Currently, there’s nothing celebratory in Hong Kong, where they’re quite stressed out. Protests? Some, but mostly cyberdemos. Protests not at all over, but no one wants a million people on the street right now.  Mainland armed police are much on Hong Kong streets, not in their normal uniforms.  The Carrie Lam govt is not providing responsible information; Hong Kongers are angry; she’s a Xi puppet.   The first dog to die was in HK; my family dog here in Chiang Mai is doing very well.  Freedom in short supply in the countries concerned with the invisible virus.
 
Hour Two
Wednesday 18 March 2020  / Hour 2, Block A:  Charles Burton, senior Fellow at the Centre for Advancing Canada's Interests Abroad at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, in re:  The coronavirus epidemic in Canada.  Dow Jones struggles with inadequate information.  We can out-produce, out-smart, out-_    and out-__   any enemy. Here, we have an invisible enemy.   Trump administration against not just the economic but the medical threat.    Washington and Ottawa are restricting cross-border travels.  Trade will not be affected; the restrictions are on nonessential travel (tourism, small purchases).   US citizens arriving from other c9untries will not have to go through a quarantine?  We have about 400,000 crossings a day.  The prime minister’s wife tested positive for the virus; both are self-isolating now. She’s still feverish; PM goes to his door daily and speaks at a small distance to the press. Daily, Chrystia Freeland coordinates discussions. “Non-essential govt services” that are closed includes liquor stores, which has much irritated Prince Edward Island and the Maritimes. . . . Perception that China’s economy is collapsing, and feeling that China simply cannot be brought in to the international community.
Wednesday 18 March 2020  / Hour 2, Block B:  Alan Tonelson, independent economic policy analyst who blogs at RealityChek and tweets at @AlanTonelson, in re:   The difference is that US public policy is moving toward being sure that fewer products come from China, esp pharmaceuticals, the building blocks therefor, and medical supplied.  There’s such a  variety of [things] imported that could compromise US security; we could se warheads from many corners of this planet falling on US cities – nuclear radiation and immense physical destruction Are we prepared?  The US offshoring lobby have just sent Pres Trump asking him to lift tariffs on China so it can get through this crisis!  GM, Ford, Chrysler, all have shut down temporarily. These gigantic facilities are not able to be started up again quickly; this tells me that they think the crisis will endure for the foreseeable future.
Health security is national security.   https://alantonelson.wordpress.com/2020/03/17/whats-left-of-our-economy-a-winning-trade-war-message-from-the-last-pre-china-virus-manufacturing-figures/
Wednesday 18 March 2020  / Hour 2, Block C:  Claudia Rosett, Independent Women’s Forum & PJ Media, in re: The courageous Italian people, where the air force painted the Italian colors in the sky.  The opera singer standing on his balcony in Florence singing an aria (Turandot, as the prince waits, sleepless, to see if he’ll die in the morning; he sings, “We will win, we will win.”) to the people; his tiny son ran up on the balcony and stole the show.  Pres Trump tweeted, “Americans love Italy.”  In the free world, opera singers sing on their balcony; in the unfree world, people stand on their balcony and jeer at the tyrant’s lies, notably in China.  We saw videos smuggled out of people begging from their balcony for help—“My family is dying inside; can anyone help??”   In the free world, people playing ping pong from balcony to balcony.  China has turned this into a contest; calls America racist, calls Pres Trump racist. The most racist entity on the planet is the Chinese Communist Party, which gives Chinese people no freedom.
     The Britons: they carry on.  The CCP arrested doctors and bullied them when they were warning about the virus; China lied and denied it till it had no choice but to admit.   In Hong Kong, when the virus finally clears away, Hong Kong still has the CCP to fight.  Beijing has kicked out journalists from all of the Mainland. 
Wednesday 18 March 2020  / Hour 2, Block D: John Cochrane, Hoover Senior Fellow; in re: Economics around the Wuhan virus
 
Hour Three
Wednesday 18 March 2020  / Hour 3, Block A: Salena Zito, The Middle of Somewhere column; in re:  Jimmy Yinzer (Jimmy Cohen) owns three blocks in a three-block area: Yinzer’s (yinzer sorta kinda = y’all). Stores filled with sports memorabilia.  The day before St Patrick’s Day, stuff out on tables at half-off. He has enough cash left to pay salaries for maybe a month.  He began forty years ago selling things outside department store. He also has eateries. Cafe Raven, and ____.
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Notes on Pittsbourgeois language      The accent is a thing to behold. Words like “iron” aren’t pronounced “eye-urn” but instead like “arn.” The word “washed” is usually pronounced “worshd.” The word “steel” is pronounced like the word "still," and sometimes Pittsburgh actually sounds like "Pixburgh." The accent is too difficult to teach in one article, but here is a list of Pittsburghese words to use, broken down by when you should be comfortable saying them.  https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/pittsburghese-dictionary-how-to-...
Wednesday 18 March 2020  / Hour 3, Block B:  Salena Zito, The Middle of Somewhere column; in re:
Wednesday 18 March 2020  / Hour 3, Block C:  Richard Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, and Hoover; in re: 
Wednesday 18 March 2020  / Hour 3, Block D:  Richard Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, and Hoover; in re: 
 Hour Four
Wednesday 18 March 2020  / Hour 4, Block A:  Andrew C McCarthy, NRO &  Ball of Collusion, and Thaddeus McCotter, American Greatness; in re:  History of bogus indictments concerning Russiagate
Wednesday 18 March 2020  / Hour 4, Block B:  Andrew C McCarthy, NRO  Ball of Collusion, and Thaddeus McCotter, American Greatness;  in re: History of bogus indictments concerning Russiagate
Wednesday 18 March 2020  / Hour 4, Block C:  John Yoo, Hoover, in re:
Wednesday 18 March 2020  / Hour 4, Block D:  Hotel Mars, episode n.    David Livingston, TheSpaceShow; and Jeff Foust, Senior writer, @SpaceNews_Inc.; in re: Delay/postponement of Explore Mars; delay and potential risks to other Mars missions scheduled for launch this year because of matters beyond their control.