State of the Union, Mental Health First Aid, China's Spy Balloon: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on President Biden ' s State of the Union address, the benefits of mental health first aid training, insights on China ’ s spy balloon, and more. (Source: The RAND Blog)
Source: The RAND Blog - February 10, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: RAND Corporation Source Type: blogs

2022 U.S.-China Trade Data Shows No Signs of Widespread Decoupling
Clark Packard and Alfredo Carrillo ObregonEarlier this week, the Census Bureau released its official 2022 trade data. As our Cato colleague Scott Lincicomenoted, the overall data continues to undercut the popular narrative pushed by politicians and pundits about the demise of globalization. On a  more granular level, the data are revealing for U.S.-China trade watchers.First, for all of the talk about “strategic decoupling,” trade ties remain strong between the United States and China. Over the last five years, policymakers in Washington and Beijing have erected large trade barriers between the two countries: tariffs ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 9, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Clark Packard, Alfredo Carrillo Obregon Source Type: blogs

U.S. Cannot Count on South Korea's Yoon to Line Up Against China
South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol wants South Korea to become a global pivotal state that plays a valuable role in the international community. Turning this into reality will inevitably mean striking a balance between the United States and China. (Source: The RAND Blog)
Source: The RAND Blog - February 9, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: Derek Grossman Source Type: blogs

State of the Union 2023: Insights from RAND
In his second State of the Union address, President Joe Biden covered a wide range of issues facing the United States at home and abroad, including police violence, gun policy, Russia ' s war in Ukraine, and U.S. competition with China. (Source: The RAND Blog)
Source: The RAND Blog - February 8, 2023 Category: Health Management Authors: RAND Corporation Source Type: blogs

Schmalloon 2
 Okay, so it ' s something bigger and more complicated than a weather balloon. But,according to an (of course) unnamed Pentagon official:  But so far, officials have determined that the potential damage of falling debris outweighs the risk of the balloon itself, which they said does not have the ability to bring in more intelligence than spy satellites in low Earth orbit, which China already uses.“Why not shoot it down? We have to do the risk-reward here,” a senior defense official said on Thursday. “So the first question is, does it pose a threat, a physical kinetic threat, to individuals in the United S...
Source: Stayin' Alive - February 4, 2023 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs

Balloon Schmalloon
Mark Sumner is absolutely 100% right about this. The " Chinese spy balloon " that ' s got everyone ' s knickers in a twist from CNN to Kevin McCarthy to -- wait for it - Anthony Blinken is just a weather balloon that was accidentally underinflated so it didn ' t get to a high enough altitude to pop the way it was supposed to.Fact: It is impossible to know where a weather balloon is going over a distance of 100 miles, let alone halfway around the world. Fact: There is absolutely no intelligence gathering capability that a balloon could have that the Chinese don ' t already have from their spy satellites. Yes, they have...
Source: Stayin' Alive - February 3, 2023 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs

Comments to USTR Show the Real ‐​World Harms of the Trump‐​Biden China Tariffs
Clark Packard and Alfredo Carrillo ObregonIn recent weeks, about 1,500 comments were filed with the United States Trade Representative (USTR) concerning the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration —and maintained by the Biden administration—on imports from China as a result of the recent trade war. The majority of the comments paint a bleak picture: the tariffs have—contrary to unsupported assertions you may have read elsewhere—caused very real pain for domestic firms, their workers, and the U.S. economy. These facts, coupled with the fact that the tariffs have not forced Beijing to change its troublesome econo...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 2, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Clark Packard, Alfredo Carrillo Obregon Source Type: blogs

Is China Mellowing?
John MuellerIs China mellowing? If so, Secretary of State Antony Blinken ’s upcoming visit there could lead to important changes in U.S.-China relations.When necessary, China ’s president Xi Jinping seems able to abandon even policies with which he has been closely identified. In 2016, he grandly proclaimed his Belt and Road Initiative to be“a project of the century,” but when loans to a rash of unworthy creditor nations went sour, the program was slashed from $75 billion per year to $4 billion in 2019. And in December he abruptly (perhaps much too abruptly) abandoned his cherished zero ‐​Covid policy afte...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 2, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: John Mueller Source Type: blogs

No Shortage of Options for Reforming the Jones Act
ConclusionThese proposals are just a sampling of the many possible reforms that could be undertaken to reduce the Jones Act ’s burden and make it better reflect 21st-century maritime realities. There is plentiful room for creative thinking and one can readily imagine even more possibilities, such as Jones Act exemptions linked to certain environmental goals (for example, exempting the offshore wind industry or the tran sportation of machinery and equipment designed to assist Puerto Rico’stransition to renewable energy) or reciprocal market access by U.S. trading partners (who have longindicatedtheirdesire for Jones Act...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 2, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Colin Grabow Source Type: blogs

The Macro View – Health, Economics, and Politics and the Big Picture. What I Am Watching Here And Abroad.
February 02, 2023 Edition ----- As we settle properly into 2023 it seems little has changed in the US other than the sadly familiar repeat of police killing of innocents every once in a while and ridiculous level of gun violence for which there seems to be no solution. Plans are now in place to send heavy armour to Ukraine but will it arrive in time? China seems to be on the mend after COVID. (Source: Australian Health Information Technology)
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - February 2, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Dr David G More MB PhD Source Type: blogs

Vaccine Development, the China Dilemma and International Regulatory Challenges
Peter K. Yu (Texas A&M University), Vaccine Development, the China Dilemma and International Regulatory Challenges, 55 N.Y.U. J. Int ' l L.& Pol. (Forthcoming): Since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020, countries, intergovernmental bodies, nongovernmental... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - February 2, 2023 Category: Medical Law Authors: Katharine Van Tassel Source Type: blogs

China ’s Medical Chaos Comes Down to Its Confusing Medical Education Patterns
Dan Shan (Columbia University), China ’s Medical Chaos Comes Down to Its Confusing Medical Education Patterns (2022): Compared to other countries, China ' s medical education has the most confusing pattern in the world. Unlike the consistent training patterns in most Western countries... (Source: HealthLawProf Blog)
Source: HealthLawProf Blog - January 26, 2023 Category: Medical Law Authors: Katharine Van Tassel Source Type: blogs

Cryptocurrency Miners Vote with Their Feet
Nicholas Anthony andGabriella Beaumont-SmithTo say the last few months have been tumultuous for the cryptocurrency industry may be an understatement. But it ’s interesting to consider how the cryptocurrency mining industry has proven resilient—at least in the face of legal and regulatory pressure. For instance, in June 2021, the Chinese government banned cryptocurrency mining,citing concerns over its effects on the environment. In response, entire companies simply closed up shop and moved to the United States and several other countries. Since then, the United States has attractedbillions of dollars in foreign direct i...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 25, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Nicholas Anthony, Gabriella Beaumont-Smith Source Type: blogs

Don't know much about history
I believe I ' ve mentioned now and again that I ' ve been reading a lot of history lately. It ' s just something I ' ve gotten into now that I ' m taking a semi-sabbatical. I wouldn ' t say I ' ve encountered major surprises -- I was conversant with the broad outlines of American and European history. I have certainly learned a lot of specifics and gotten a deeper understanding of the larger stories and patterns over the past few months.Sadly, most Americans know very little history. Even asserting some basic, indisputable facts can provoke howls of outrage -- for instance, the United States was founded as a white supremac...
Source: Stayin' Alive - January 20, 2023 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs

Decline in Union Density No Cause for Worry
Daniel GriswoldUnion organizers have been winning a few battles to organize workers in coffee shops and distribution warehouses, but they continue to lose the war over the relative importance of unions in the private-sector labor market.This week the U.S.Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the share of private sector workers who belong to unions, the so-called “union density,” fell to another post-war low of 6.0 percent in 2022. The number of workers in private-sector unions actually grew last year, but not enough to keep up with the overall growth in private-sector employment.The decline in union membership isn ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 20, 2023 Category: American Health Authors: Daniel Griswold Source Type: blogs