The Livin’ is Easy

Chancellor Angela Merkel, focusing on benefiting both the left and right side of German society believes to have Holidays for support of thinking, relaxing, and catching up with oneself. The numbers show it, for Germanys’ average age tops most countries. Merkalism, or rather the detachment of political anchors, Merkel confidently works in attempt to benefit what is best for Germany as a whole, rather than pleasing a certain party. Critics say rather than a reformation from Merkel, an administrator for Germany is what’s needed. From 12 years of being Chancellor, Merkel has been on the path of moving forward with Germany’s economy, as well as not progressing to make changes for the better. In recent years, studies show that Germany is not what is used to be, or what is perceived to be. By its’ tax system being unprogressive, issues under debt, and having the ability to open a new business in Germany being at an all time low in recent years.

In current elections, Merkel was questioned on being too pleasing to each party, rather than to state her own ground. A major issue in Germany in recent years, was the influx of refugees as part of the opening of boarders through Merkel. A the time, was widely accepted and even applauded, now is causing issues for Germany. An ageing country, like Germany, needs immigrants to upkeep their economy. The question now, is if Germany wasn’t as prepared as they thought for the influx of immigrants. As the amount of immigrants rose, Merkel’s popularity tumbled. In fixing the situation, Merkel and Erdogan (president of Turkey) agreed to work together to control the immigrant situation. Upon getting in control of the influx of immigrants, Angela worked closely with countries having similar issues as Germany. For example, Germany got China to assist the US to reaffirm the importance of Climate action. In a research survey of world leaders, Merkel was nominated the only one who was voted most confident in leading. Though Merkel has lead through a refugee crisis, Trumps initiation, and a federal electioin campaign in the past year, Merkel has managed to assist Germany in it’s future. Though she has left no successor as of yet, Merkel does not want to leave politics “half dead”. For the moment being, Merkel will keep her individual connections, her method of leading Germany, and of course, enjoy a “Merkel Summer” of easy living.

Messaging the shooter

The different between Presidents Trump and Kim Jon Ung has reached fever pitch creating tension in the world about a possible nuclear war. Recent statements by President Trump at the United Nations assembly addressing North Korea’s president as ‘Rocket Man’ and proposing a pre-emptive strike has only inflamed the tension based on the fact that the North Korea’s regime is ostensibly impulsive and could really miscalculate on impulse and initiate a war with immense reaction. President Trump should, therefore, tone down on his threats but nonetheless ensure that it is clear to the regime of the repercussions for their actions. He should be more dissuasive than aggressive.  He should show his explicit and unwavering alliance with his allies such as Japan and South Korea by reading from the same script as them. He should also continue pressuring China to exert itself on North Korea as a long-time ally and trade partner so as to avert any conflict if it can be avoided. Continued pressure may also result in internal strife in the country that would lead to an overthrow of the defiant and ruthless regime.  It is significant for Trump for be patient and recognize that North Korea’s cannot survive for long in isolation without giving-in. Therefore, war should be last resort and only if North Korea attacks first.

The tendency by President Trump to stoke racial and ethnic divisions in the United States is epitomized by the attempts to scrap Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) by appealing to Congress to change the legislation since he has no executive power to negate precedence on his predecessor presidents. This exacerbated by his policy of building a wall between the US and Mexico and the total ban on immigration from Muslim countries displays his aggressive approach towards immigrants. When the program expires in March 2018, the country will be faced by a quagmire of deportation of approximately 800, 000 immigrants against the repercussions of the morality of taking such actions. With primaries happening about the same time the program expires, most Congressmen will attempt to appeal to a wider voter base by promising an extension to the DACA hence, even more, complicating the dilemma on the next course of action for the politic power. Therefore, the need to end this precipitous cycle that has faced every regime including President Obama’s, the dissolution that would imbue the actions of deportation of Americans and its ultimate in viability with regards to incurred expenses, President Trump should consider enacting DACA into law but nonetheless remain stringent on subsequent immigration laws.

A bomb for a bomb

 

The major idea of the article revolves around the issue of nuclear weapons testing conducted by North Korea and the expectations South Korea has for the United States providing their armed support and protection. Ri Chun Hee is a former North Korea TV announcer who retired years ago and came back for a recent vitally important announcement about the successful testing of the new bomb by the North Koreans.

Due to the recent events, part of South Koreans expressed their willingness to host the US nuclear weapons again as a means of protection against North Korea. Liberty Korea party promoted this idea last August. Also, South Korea is not confident of its ally, the United States, at the time there is a need to receive urgent protection. This is caused by the recent statements of the US president Donald Trump. On the other hand, Korean sources state that bringing the US nuclear weapons back to Korean land would automatically mean the confirmation that the United States is ready to protect South Korea and the trust of the people to the US will go up significantly.

Starting 1970s, South Korea attempted gaining its own nuclear arsenal, yet the attempts failed. This still finds support among the population and some media expressed the opinion South Korea is capable of developing the nuclear weapons within 3 years if necessary. Still, it is extremely unlikely South Korea will ever develop its own weapons since this mean violation of the international treaties and pressure from the US. Therefore, it is more convenient for them to ask for assistance from the US. Sadly, putting the US nuclear weapons on the South Korean territory would mean creating an antagonism from China and Russia. Thus the US does not consider placing their nuclear weapons on the South Korean territory wise. In any case, South Korea leader assures his fellow-citizens they can rest fearlessly and be sure of their safety.

 

All the President’s men?

The article describes the important decisions that relate to the gathering of the Communist Party of China and their impact on the future of the country. Since the time the party was created in China, it is the nineteenth time its members come together for a joint decision-making process to take place. A total of 2300 delegates will decide on the new Central Committee and their choice will be crucial to the country’s future.

Xi Jinping seems to have the intentions to serve another term as the Communist Party’s secretary, although rumors go he would like to serve for an even longer term. It is believed Mr. Xi is capable of making crucial changes to the choice of the top 25 members of the Politburo. Approximately 80% of the Central Committee members will be replaced, together with some military chiefs and some close supporters of Mr. Xi. Yet there is a speculation he might leave some of the most dedicated members who should have retired instead. Based on the rumors, Mr. Xi is about to gain more loyal people in the Standing Committee.

It is possible the congress will update the party’s constitution in favor of Xi, making him more influential. Despite the status he would be awarded with, his level of influence would significantly increase and turn him into a more powerful ruler. Despite earlier predictions of him using the power to change the national economy, currently it is more likely he would be using it to keep up the existing state of things. Mr. Xi is going to bring in more stability and limit the number of possible changes. It looks like that he will be working more on continuing with another term of service as a secretary rather than implementing any significant changes. He is predicted with high chances of going for the third consecutive term.

Nowhere to hide

In the article “Nowhere to hide,” published by The Economist, facial recognition is one of the new inventions that is very crucial to the modern societies. It has the ability to recognize different faces according to the features of each person’s face. This new technology is used by many people and organizations. For instance, facial recognition is used by churches to track worshippers’ attendance, stores use it to spot past shoplifters, police use it to track criminals, and many other purposes. However, facial recognition has been a debating topic because besides all the benefits and uses that it brings, it also has some flaws and disadvantages. It violates people’s privacy. Nowadays, anyone can use their smart phone to take pictures, and with the help of face recognitions programs they can easily identify other people. For example, people’s identity can be found on social media such as Facebook which advertising companies can benefit from this by serving car ads to people who recently visit a car showroom. Furthermore, the face shows a lot of people’s personalities and their information. This has several advantages and disadvantages. Face recognition machines can analyze faces to provide automated diagnoses of rare genetic conditions, measure emotions that may help autistic people with their social life. On the other hand, it can also identify one’s sexuality which others could violate and use it for discriminating purposes. Employers could be biased when filtering job applications for their ethnicity, signs of intelligence and sexuality. Due to many misuses of this technology, legislation can help manage the balance of good and bad outcomes. European regulators have already set a regulation which requires people’s consents to use the technology. In America, Facebook is not allowed to sell ads to car showroom people. Also, laws against discrimination can be applied to employers who screen their applicants’ images. Some companies are afraid of this technology being misused so they try to stay away from it. Others firms and governments seem to be very acceptive about it because of the benefits that it brings.

China’s Economy: Created Destruction

China may have the largest number of people in its economy, but for the past 18 months there has been a tear over the past 18 months. Theirs shares are on average up by a third globally, comedies have rallied behind this growth. This sort of optimism has infected corporate China, who for the first time in about five years are spending more on a buildings, building equipment and resources for industrial growth. This however is nothing new and can be dated back to the demolishing of steel mills and coal mines in China. So normally the way a country is able to grow is due to the investments of its people and the market, investing in new facilities and not closing those that are being used. So, in China’s case what they have done is they took on extreme over capacity, which in turn have provided a boost for not only themselves and the global economy. The risks however, is that the way the country is going about the cuts, disguising old flaws and creating new ones.

The Chinese steel industry accounts for roughly half of the global production of steel, coal and aluminum, glass and cement. Chinas produces so much steel that the unused steel equals the total amount annual output of the next four biggest producers (Japan, India, America and Russia combined! The reason why China is is able too carry this out is because it has both Chinese firms and the states support. In the early 2016 China unveiled plans to cut its steel and coal capacity by at least 10% over five years, to reduce potential global by 5%. With this happening less production, pricers would rise, leading to higher profits and most importantly a healthier economy.

Most Chinese citizens where skeptical about this since in early 2000s official plans to cut capacity. Since the purposed cuts coal and steel prices have soared, as the profits in those industries. President Xi Jinping has the ability and the drive to impose capacity cuts, causing investors to shed their fear that deflation might be China’s next export; the Yuan has appreciated and there nominal growth is just shy of a five-year high. So, even though there is growth confidence may be misplaced. Investors are overlooking two shortcomings in Chinas approach. First is the national of top-down dilates about supply, which lack flexibility and therefore tend to generate volatile outcomes. This surge that has incurred has gone well beyond what was intended, raising concerns what high prices will lead once more to surplus capacity. Chinese officials have warned about the creation of the steel bubble, reasons for this steel. bubble is Chinese ports stocks of iron ore, fundamental material in the creation of steel is at a record high. The second problem is that enforced production cuts are not gneuine solution to overcapacity Chinese’s firms still do not pay sufficient heed to the market. In most cases the cuts are not as they seem to appear. In the coal industy for example officials last year a simply decree that mines should operate 276 days was unwound this year.

The reality of this is China has done little to tackle the underlying causes of overcapacity. Banks in China continue to use direct cheap capital for projects and companies. Even government policy of earn making bits of the economy for developing sets off mad rushes into them. China is doing what they can to fight the reins for the same affliction in new and more prospers fields such as robotics and  advanced manufacturing. China has done more to turn itself around and become a more stable industrial sector than many expected and providing to its own economy and the whole worlds.

Donald Trump ends DACA

In the article “A Dream Deferred,” published by The Economist in their September 9 issue, the publication describes how President Donald Trump ends an Obama-era program, and leaves undocumented immigrants brought illegally by their parents to the United States in the hands of the Congress. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a program created by Barack Obama in June 2012, and the program grants a two-year work and residency permits to undocumented immigrants younger than 31, who have no criminal record, who came to the U.S. before the age 16 among other requirements. Approximately 800,000 young undocumented immigrants benefit from this program.

Ending DACA was one of Trump’s promises during his presidential campaign, and on September 5^th he sent attorney-general Jeff Sessions to announce the end of it. Sessions, who is a fierce immigration skeptic said that “DACA denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing those same jobs to go to illegal aliens,” however, there is no evidence to sustain such allegation. On the contrary, a survey conducted by the University of California, San Diego, found that DACA recipients contribute to the economy by starting businesses, buying homes, and other productive economic activities. Also, the Migration Policy Institute found that undocumented immigrant’s recipients of this program are more likely to sustain white-collar jobs, in comparison to the manual labor performed by other undocumented workers.

From now on, the affair moves to the Congress, and numerous activist groups and business figures expressed their support to DACA recipients and asked President Trump to consider not to end this program. It is unclear what Congress can do to fix it, meanwhile other old and new initiatives have emerged on the Congress floor such as the DREAM Act, BRIDGE Act, and RAC (Recognizing America’s Children) Act, the last one, unlike DACA, offers a path to citizenship. Nevertheless, the likeliness of an agreement between Democrats and Republicans to pass any of these Acts is unknown.

 

 

“A Dream Deferred .” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, 9 Sept. 2017, http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21728667-president-leaves-fate-undocumented-immigrants-congress-donald-trump-ditches?zid=309&ah=80dcf288b8561b012f603b9fd9577f0e. Accessed 26 Sept. 2017.