MY THOUGHTS About News and Stuff.

Previously posted on my Facebook Page.

New York Times: “Drug Shortages Near an All-Time High, Leading to Rationing.” And adds: “A worrisome scarcity of cancer drugs has heightened concerns about the troubled generic drug industry. Congress and the White House are seeking ways to address widespread supply problems.” Before the finished product drug, there is Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient or API. Top API exporter is China, then India. 

       Technically, India is the #1 API exporter but most of what it ships abroad are imports from China, almost 70 percent of global share annually. India exports most of its pharma API to Bangladesh, Turkey and Brazil. Take note: Petroleum products that India sells overseas came from Russian oil, especially since the start of Ukraine War. India, China, Russia, and Brazil (with South Africa) are BRICS partners, the counterweight to G7. 🩺💊🩻

Time: “The U.S. Tech Industry Needs China.” Let’s zoom in on Taiwan’s Foxconn, the world's largest technology manufacturer. The company has 12 factories in China, more than in any other country, the largest factory is located in Shenzhen. Foxconn's biggest customers are U.S. big tech, #1 is Apple. Talk about semi conductors? Top mineral ingredient is silicon. China is the world's largest silicon producer. The second largest producer: Russia.

       Other top American technology companies that deals business with Foxconn: Amazon, Cisco, Dell, Google, Fisker, Hewlett-Packard, InFocus, Intel, Microsoft, Motorola, Vizio etcetera. 🇺🇸💾🇨🇳

Smithsonian: “Climate Activists Turn Water in Rome’s Trevi Fountain Black.” And adds: “The action was a protest against public subsidies for fossil fuels and called attention to the deadly floods occurring in northern Italy.” Juvenile tantrum, child’s fit. Smearing classic art, vandalizing statues, tagging cars etcetera. Theatrics. Won’t achieve public support. BTW, the Trevi Fountain is an 18th-century fountain that served as the terminal point that supplied water to ancient Rome. 😒👎😾

New York Times: “China and Russia, Targets at G7 Summit, Draw Closer to Fend Off West.” And adds: “Beijing and Moscow are holding visits as alarm grows in China that Western countries backing Ukraine are turning their attention to Asia.” G7 or the West’s stance on Ukraine, adding fire over pursuing peace, is so frustrating. I don’t get it that Japan is a member. G7 in Hiroshima? What irony! Japan’s Constitution renounces war since 1947. And this? ☮️☮️☮️

New York Times: “U.S.-Made Technology Is Flowing to Russian Airlines, Despite Sanctions.” And adds: “Russian customs data shows that millions of dollars of aircraft parts made by Boeing, Airbus and others were sent to Russia last year.” Fact is, despite extensive sanctions on Moscow, plenty of Russian goods continue to enter the U.S. legally, worth more than $1 billion a month. Tops: Wood imports + groats, weightlifting shoes, crypto-mining gear, even pillows etcetera. 

       A year ago, President Biden imposed trade restrictions on Russian commodities such as vodka, diamonds and gasoline in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. However, hundreds of other types of unsanctioned goods, including those found on the ship bound for Baltimore from St. Petersburg, Russia continue to flow into U.S. ports. Meanwhile, petroleum products made out of Russian oil are continually manufactured or processed in India, which then enter the U.S. India exported petroleum products worth $86.21 billion during the first 11 months of the current financial year ending March 2023, which accounts for more than 21 per cent of India's total commodity exports. And, of course, EU is still buying fuel from Russia. 🇺🇸🚢🇷🇺

New York Times: “World Health Organization Warns Against Using Artificial Sweeteners.” And adds: “Continued consumption doesn’t reduce weight and could increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and mortality in adults.” Don’t we know this already? Trans fats, sodium nitrite, MSG, food coloring, aspartame etc etcetera. I do swallow some. Mark Twain: “Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.” 

       Nearly 4,000 food additives showed that 64 percent of these foods/drinks had had no research showing they were safe for people to eat or drink. Yet these are in stores in town, not banned. We’d rather spend energy on “banned books” debate over “banned foods” advocacy. 🥯🩺🥯

New York Times: “America’s Semiconductor Boom Faces a Challenge: Not Enough Workers.” And adds: “Strengthened by billions of federal dollars, semiconductor companies plan to create thousands of jobs. But officials say there might not be enough people to fill them.” Reason why fortifying the wall and improving border patrols are a political cum economic issue? Some 10,000 migrants cross the southern border on a daily basis. Like, they simply stride in? Need for cheap labor?  💾🖱💾

New York Times: “What We Lose When We Push Our Kids to ‘Achieve’.” And adds: “The sense of happiness that comes from absorption in a thing we are truly drawn to can be discovered but not taught.” Problem: The words “push” and “achieve” have taken a new slant or significance in these times of correctness overreach or ideological purity. Parents employ tactics and strategies to motivate kids to pursue a road to success. Then, that’s it. These days, it is a discourse complexity. 👧👶🧒

New York Times: “One Secret to a Latin American Party’s Dominance: Buying Votes.” News claims, “...On Election Day, the Colorado Party rounds up Indigenous people and pays them for their votes.” New president Santiago Peña is an economist and nationalist conservative. When a Rightist wins, that person is demonized. I believe, majority of people vote via the gut, not by way of how academia frames ideological extremes. Fact: Paraguay’s unemployment rate is 7.11 percent.

       No brainer? Santiago Peña opposes the legalization of abortion and same-sex marriage. In the campaign, he promised to create 500,000 jobs and ruled out raising taxes. Bottomline, the issue is economics. Meanwhile, inflation is continuing to recede while the Central Bank of Paraguay maintains a moderately tight monetary policy stance. The medium-term economic outlook remains favorable, but there are risks from a worsening global outlook and extreme weather events.The real Paraguayan issue: Almost 90 percent of the land belongs to just 5 percent of landowners. The rural-urban economic gap is the result of large-scale agriculture steadily monopolizing the market in Paraguay. By the way, the outgoing president of the country, Mario Abdo Benítez, is also a Conservative or member of the Colorado Party.  👈🇵🇾👉

New York Times: “Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has taken a tough line on migrants as he turns around the country’s economy.” Via Schengen Area, the E.U. abolished all types of border control in 1995. Until the migrant crisis ensued in 2015 as Europe wrestled with 2008 recession. Then came 2020-2021 Covid years, and the current fuel/energy backlash of the Ukraine War. Economy is shot. Yet a strict immigration policy is still stereotyped as Right-wing. 

       Greece currently hosts approximately 50,000 refugees, most of whom will remain in the country. Economic activity is expected to grow by a mere 2.4 percent in 2023. Unemployment: 10.90 percent. New refugees pose gargantuan economic problems yet looking back, E.U. was lenient with border entries. Until hardships ensued. 👈🇬🇷👉