August 4: China’s California outpost

In which, China is up to some shady business in the Golden State, and American credit ratings, Biden’s job approval, public trust in the military and the Supreme Court all hit new low.

China’s California outpost

There were two stories that were really unnerving to this native Californian.

Story 1: Federal investigators identified and closed down an illegally operating lab/ COVID-19 test manufacturing facility in Reedley, a city in the San Joaquin Valley. The twist was that this illegal operation was being run by a Chinese company.

Story 2: You’d think such a revelation as an illegal Chinese business operation would cool the California state government’s interest in further business dealings with Chinese entities. At least until this matter was cleared up. Nope. The California Governor’s Office went full steam ahead on signing an MOU with the Chinese province of Hainan to “fight climate change,” which as I pointed out last week, China appears to be not that interested in doing.

America is downgraded on more than just its credit score

It’s the dog days of summer and seems like most everything in America is feeling a little deflated (except inflation). Despite the near constant drumbeat from the Biden administration of how good the economy is doing, Fitch downgraded America’s credit rating from AAA to AA+ citing concerns over governance and economic stability.

Those concerns seem to be echoing throughout the country as a slate of polls indicated public distrust, and disfavor of multiple national institutions ranging from the military to the Supreme Court. 

The lack of public trust and approval extends to President Biden as well, with his poll numbers slipping towards 40% approval with a majority questioning the President’s ethics. No wonder, more Democrats are considering primarying the President.

If this were some kind of authoritarian government, the national leader would likely look to turn public attention away from his failings and onto a national threat or opposition figure. Luckily, we live in the “land of the free and the home of the brave”...