Trump apparently stopped a new war that had broken out between India and Pakistan, both of which have nuclear weapons. What we get from China. And staying in vs. going out. Also, the new pope is an American (more on that tomorrow).
A New War Is Breaking Out and Both Sides Have Nuclear Weapons
Add to the Ukraine/Russia war and the Israel/Hamas war a new armed conflict between India and Pakistan.
UPDATE: President Trump and his administration brokered a cease-fire. After four days of intense fighting and a few charges of violations, Reuters reports Fragile ceasefire holds between India, Pakistan as Trump offers more help.
Last month Islamic militants massacred 26 Indian, mostly Hindu tourists in the disputed territory of Kashmir, which India governs but Pakistan claims. India claimed the Islamic Pakistani government was behind the attacks, which Pakistan denies.
But in retaliation, last Wednesday India launched an air and missile attack against Pakistan. At least 31 people were killed.
Pakistan called the attacks an act of war. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that his country would retaliate. “Pakistan has every right to give a robust response to this act of war imposed by India, and a strong response is indeed being given.”
Artillery fire was exchanged along the border. Pakistan killed 50 Indian soldiers in a border clash.
India is the world’s most populous nation, and Pakistan is #5. Both have nuclear weapons.
Comments American South Asian specialist Michael Kugelman, as reported by CBS:
“These are two strong militaries that, even with nuclear weapons as a deterrent, are not afraid to deploy sizeable levels of conventional military force against each other,” Kugelman said. “The escalation risks are real. And they could well increase, and quickly.”
I think we can say that despite the web of treaties and alliances that can pull nations into conflicts that do not immediately concern them, in this case the United States has no reason to get involved.
And yet, war affects even non-participants, and nuclear fallout knows no borders.
P.S.: I wrote this post before President Trump’s successful intervention. The situation is still dangerous, but Trump wants to be the “peace president” and this is a good role for him. Using carrots and not just sticks, Trump has offered both India and Pakistan trade deals as an award for stopping their war. A good role for tariffs, giving him leverage over other countries!
What We Get from China
I came across some eye-opening and potentially useful information from an article by Megan Cerullo of CBS entitled These Chinese-made products could soon be hard to find in the U.S.
It shows what percentage of certain consumer goods we import from China. The 145% tariffs will more than double their price, or, for the cheapest products, prevent them from being imported at all.
UPDATE: In yet another coup for President Trump, the U.S. and China have paused their punitive tariffs against each other for 90 days. They are reportedly close to an agreement that would slash tariffs permanently: Tariffs on goods coming in to the U.S. from China would drop from 145% to 30%. China’s tariffs on U.S. goods would drop from 125% to only 10%.
You can use this information to: (1) get indignant about how much we import, building up your support for President Trump’s tariffs; (2) buy-up the products you need before inventories run out and the 145% tariffs fully kick in; (3) plan your workarounds; (4) think, hey, I’m going to start an American company to make some of this stuff and really cash in!
This is just a partial list, drawn from the information given in Cerullo’s article. Notice that some of the numbers are for percentage of total imports, meaning that we also import that category of products from other countries as well, though they too will be impacted by tariffs.
Toys, games and sports equipment: 73% of our imports in this category come from China, amounting to some $30 billion.
Footwear: 36% of all of our shoes come from China, $9.8 billion worth.
Cutlery and metal tools: No percentages in this category were given, but the article says that dinner utensils could become scarce. We import $3.1 billion worth.
Glassware: Nearly 30% of our imports of glass come from China.
Furniture and bedding: 28% of our imports in that category come from China, $18.5 billion worth.
Apparel: No percentage was given, but we import $17.3 billion worth of clothes from China.
In addition to these consumer products, American businesses import equipment and raw materials from China:
$124 billion in electric machinery;
$82 billion in nuclear reactors, boilers and other machinery;
$12 billion in iron and steel goods;
$19.3 billion in plastics.
Cerullo’s article didn’t even get into consumer electronics, so I dug out information on that:
Mobile phones: China makes 75.7% of our imported phones, $45.6 billion worth.
Laptop computers: China makes 92% of our imported computers, $48 billion.
You know what? We don’t really need most of those things. We need clothes and shoes, so we’ll need to find another source, preferably home-grown, for those. The price of industrial equipment, electronic devices, component parts, and raw materials will go up and we’ll probably have to pay that, at least for awhile until alternative sources can be developed. But no one is going to pay twice-and-a-half as much for toys and glassware. We’ll have to learn to do without some of these things, and that should be good for us.
P.S.: Again, I wrote this before Trump’s deal with China. All of these things may only become 30% more expensive!
Staying In vs. Going Out
Do you remember going out with your friends? Trying out a new restaurant, hanging out at a bar, maybe going to a movie or a concert together? That’s not happening these days much, is it? Today, most of your socializing likely consists of inviting people over to your place or going to theirs.
That’s the research finding hailed at StudyFinds as Staying In — The New Social Revolution Sweeping America? Steve Fink reports:
When asked to choose, nearly three-quarters of Americans (72%) would rather stay home with friends than go out, while only 28% still prefer venturing out for social activities. This dramatic shift in social behavior has happened quickly, with half of respondents saying their preference changed in just the past few years.
The reasons?
What’s behind this homebody revolution? Cost savings play a big role, with 53% of survey participants citing money as a key factor. But it’s not just about pinching pennies.
People also appreciate being able to hear conversations better (47%), avoiding crowded places (47%), controlling their environment (42%), and skipping formal attire (24%). The comfort factor ranks highest, with 65% saying home simply feels better for socializing.
What are the fun activities the new socialites are doing at home?
The study suggests home gatherings foster more genuine interaction. Nearly three-quarters of respondents (74%) feel they have more meaningful conversations during nights in compared to outings.
What are people discussing during these home gatherings? Family updates and personal life details lead the conversation topics (69%), followed by gossip (44%) and news or politics (35%). The sweet spot for these home get-togethers? About three hours and 24 minutes – long enough for meaningful exchange but not so long that it becomes tiresome.
Birthday celebrations top the list of preferred at-home events (49%), with dinner parties coming in second (44%). Movie nights (37%), game nights (35%), and TV watch parties (29%) round out the top five choices for home entertaining.
Now what can you deduce about the respondents from these answers? They can hear better? They like to talk about family updates? They like birthday parties? Movie nights? Game nights?
Yes, the poll was a survey of adults. These are largely family and extended family activities. And when adults socialize with each other, they have each other over.
Young people like to go out because they want to get out from under their parents. Besides, they typically don’t have a place of their own, or if they are young adults out on their own, they likely live in a tiny apartment that can’t hold many guests. Of course they go out instead of staying in.
When they do move into a house–perhaps after they get married and the need for courtship socializing is over–why would they want to leave it? Streaming video makes movie theaters all but obsolete. You can be your own chef in your own kitchen. And you can relax at home and be yourself, as opposed to putting on a performance to impress the cool people at a nightclub.
This is hardly a “new social revolution sweeping America.” It’s a sign of maturity. And for the half of the adults who say they have just discovered the pleasures of staying home as opposed to going out in the last few years, it’s a healthy sign that they have matured, as opposed to trying to still be young.
Don’t get me wrong. This is about socializing at home. Not just staying home by yourself, though that too has its pleasures. But interacting with other people in each other’s homes builds the personal ties that we really do need.
Our church organizes dinners, in which three families get together, one of them hosting and the others bringing a little something. Then you do it again with two other families, and again with two more. Those have been immensely enjoyable and good for us, especially since we are relatively new to the congregation.
And our daughter is a socialite, always throwing dinner parties for her friends and people she’d like to get to know better, and she often invites us to tag along. That too has been both pleasant and beneficial.
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