Taxes
United States registered a sterling GDP growth of 4.1% in the second quarter, arguable its best since 2014. The number matched expectations from economists. Four years ago, Obama saw 4.9% rise in gross domestic product in the third quarter of 2014. Besides the good news, the U.S. Commerce Department revised its first-quarter reading up from 2% […]
... written on Jul 29 2018The credit should go to the Hindraf uprising in 2007. The ethnic-Indian started the ball-rolling to the eventual collapse of Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition government, after ruling for 61 years since independence in 1957. The ethnic-Chinese were dumbfounded by the sudden Indians rebellion. They suddenly realised the basic foundation of defeating the enemy – stays […]
... written on Jul 25 2018Earlier this month, the United States imposed tariffs on US$34 billion worth of Chinese imports. President Trump it was a punishment for Chinese theft of IP (intellectual property) and other unfair trade practices. Amusingly, Trump warned China not to retaliate. Immediately on the same day, China did exactly that – slapping taxes on the same […]
... written on Jul 21 2018European Union (EU) had a trade surplus of 120 billion Euros (US$139.6 billion) with the U.S. in 2017. The most exported product from the EU to the U.S. is cars. Hence, Trump doesn’t need to become a rocket scientist to know where to hit the Europe. When the U.S. president threatened to target European cars with […]
... written on Jul 05 2018Mahathir almost didn’t make it. The urbanites – regardless of ethnic-Chinese, ethnic-Malay or ethnic-Indian – understood ex-prime minister Najib Razak’s thievery in 1MDB scandal. There was little doubt that those educated urban people were anxious to vote Najib out. The rural people, especially the village Malay folks, however, didn’t understand one bit about 1MDB at […]
... written on Jun 27 2018Make America Great Again, or simply MAGA, was Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign slogan. It was a great success. Defying all odds, Trump emerged as the 45th President of the United States of America. About 15,000-km away, Najib Razak, whose obsession with American presidents is an open secret, wanted to copy the campaign. It […]
... written on Jun 21 2018Last Friday, President Trump declared that the U.S. would slap 25% tariffs on up to US$50 billion worth of Chinese goods. The justification was that the Chinese must be punished for its theft of IP (intellectual property) and other unfair trade practices. Trump warned that his government could impose additional tariffs if China retaliates with duties […]
... written on Jun 19 2018Mahathir has announced that the highly controversial and super expensive HSR (high-speed rail) project is being “postponed”, not “cancelled”. Whether that was a U-turn from a 93-year-old man or was a clever strategy remains to be seen. Assuming it is just a postponement, will Singapore insist of having the new Malaysian government pay for the […]
... written on Jun 14 2018President Donald Trump did not appear to be listening during some of the trade presentations in Quebec, Canada. Trade dominated the 2-day summit that began on Friday with leaders of Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Britain and Italy returning to the topic repeatedly – simply because “Trump the Menace” kept making troubles to the powerful nations. […]
... written on Jun 10 2018Donald Trump may sound super-tough as the U.S. positions itself for a trade war with China. However, if numbers are any indicator, the U.S. president appears to be fighting a losing battle against the Chinese. For the first 4 months of 2018, America continues to register huge trade deficit with its rival trading partner. […]
... written on Jun 07 2018
