China Syndrome and Saving the Mail

 #Jeet Heer, "China Syndrome," The Nation, 1.25 - 2.1, 2021. - "The myth of China as Frankenstein is designed to assuage the American conscience: We want only to improve the world -- and created a monster by accident." "Eager to enrich big business, successive American presidents turned a blind eye to China's exploitative labor practices, minimal environmental protections, and lack of democracy."

"Donald Trump rode to electoral victory in 2016 in no small part by harnessing anti-trade emotions and promising to get tough with China." "As Biden unveils his foreign policy team, it's clear that [Tony] Blinken [Secretary of State] represents the new generation of China hawks in the Democratic Party."  'These two powers are jockeying for influence,' Stephen Wortheim, of the Quincy Institute, tells me, 'and China has gotten significantly stronger in its own region in military terms, and that's why there was such a fuss about China's claims in the South China Sea.' Wortheim adds: 'For many political leaders in Washington, it's OK for the United States to have a sphere of influence that is global. It's not OK for China to have a sphere of influence that is regional.' "

"Far from being the Frankenstein monster of Nixon's imagination, or be the world dictator feared by the hawks, China is an ordinary great power." "Just as the original Cold War ushered in McCarthyism and Cointelpro, it's not hard to imagine a New Cold War, fueling its own instances of horrific xenophobia -- some of which we've already seen in the scapegoating of Asian Americans during the pandemic."

"Cooperation and competition define the two poles of the Democratic debates over China." "The Brookings Institution's Thomas Weight is a leading proponent of the idea that cooperation and competition can be combined. Best described as a moderate hawk, he argues that selective economic decoupling would allow China and the United States to more cautiously engage the other." "Rather than concentrate industries in one country, there is a sound rationale for distributing production more evenly around the world so that supply chains bottlenecks don't form. But in selective areas like human rights, environmental protections, and labor rights, progressives should take advantage of the fact that they'll have willing partners in the White House. The most important role that progressives can play is to continue offering a realistic view of China, in contrast to the myths that dominate the national security establishment."

#Jake Bittle, "Saving the Mail," The Nation,  1.25 - 2.1, 2021. - Louis DeJoy has no fixed term            limits, "only the board of governors has the power to replace him. All of its current members were appointed by Trump, which allowed the board to  ram through DeJoy's nomination last spring."

"The first and most important task is the repeal of the pre-funding mandate, a 2006 law that requires the USPS to fund retiree health benefits up to five decades in advance." "Other bills could allow the Postal Service to raise revenues through measures like offering low-interest bank accounts to the general public."

ADDENDUMS:

*Former military general Lloyd Austin was confirmed as Secretary of Defense by a 93 to 2 vote in the U.S. Senate. Senators Mike Lee (UTAH) and Josh Hawley (MO.) voted no.

*Black earnings in low-income households are predicted to fall by 35% compared with 2018, reversing gains since the last economic recovery.

*A YouGov poll published on January 17, showed that 54% said the biggest threat to the U.S. comes from "other people in America." Seven in ten respondents said U.S. democracy today is "threatened," while only 29% say it's "secure." 51% believe political violence will increase.