Free Republic

You would think that in times of emergency, political leaders would put their ideology aside and accept help from whomever offered it. But that doesn’t appear to be the case regarding Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York. His state has become the coronavirus epicenter in the United States and he, like other elected leaders in New York, has been pleading for medical supplies — especially ‘PPE’ (personal protective equipment) and ventilators for the critically ill. Well, one company idled by Cuomo’s coronavirus executive order to shut down because it isn’t considered “essential” has offered to make these items for...

While China’s factory activity hit an all-time low in February, numbers released yesterday showed the country’s manufacturing sector started growing again in March... China may be getting back to work, but the rest of the world is reading this in PJs. As major economies from the U.S. to India go into hibernation to slow the coronavirus pandemic, there’s very little interest in widgets made from Chinese assembly lines. “The biggest problem facing China’s economy in the second quarter is the slumping foreign demand,” economist Nie Wen told Reuters. Orders for new Chinese exports, including steel, are being canceled as the...

Rosemary Gibson is senior advisor at the Hastings Center and a national authority on health care reform. In 2014, she won the highest honor from the American Medical Writers Association. She is an editor for JAMA Internal Medicine. She has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Speaking to journalist Sharyl Attkisson in an April 23, 2018, interview,  Gibson warned: "What happens if we have a Fukushima type event or the trade routes are blocked in the South China Sea? Or if there's a global pandemic? And the United States and virtually every other country...

Widespread disruption brought on by the coronavirus outbreak has hammered global supply chains and spurred Chinese companies to declare “force majeure” — a provision that exempts them from contractual obligations. But experts warn there’s a high chance such a move may not work. A force majeure event occurs when unforeseeable circumstances, such as natural catastrophes, prevent one party from fulfilling its contractual duties, absolving them from penalties. Since late January, the Chinese government has implemented city-wide lockdowns and large-scale quarantines that effectively curbed the movements of millions in China as the country seeks to contain the COVID-19 virus. Those restrictions...

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., on Thursday blasted China's monopoly on key pharmaceutical ingredients as the United States continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic. In a video posted to her Twitter account, Blackburn called China's threats to plunge the U.S. into a "mighty sea of coronavirus" by withholding access to critical medication a national security and public health issue. "Relying on foreign countries like China for instance, for our pharmaceutical supply chain can lead us to critical shortages," she said.

White House Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro confirmed Wednesday the administration is working on an executive order to eliminate the government’s reliance on foreign-made medical supplies. The “Buy American” order comes on the heels of concerns expressed by senators during their Tuesday meeting with President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill. [snip] The order would prevent federal agencies from purchasing medical supplies, including face masks, gloves and ventilators, from China. [snip] China has prevented the export of surgical face masks, severely limiting supplies in the U.S. and countries around the world. “China has managed to dominate all aspects...

BEIJING, March 2 (Reuters) - China's factories were dealt a devastating blow in February as the coronavirus epidemic triggered the sharpest contraction in activity on record, a private survey showed on Monday, with the health crisis paralysing large parts of the economy. The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) tumbled to 40.3 last month, the lowest level since the survey began in 2004, and down sharply from the 51.1 reading in January as well as the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction.

It is the little things that tell me the long term outlook for the Republican Party and the country is doubtful. My fellow Republicans are stupid, really stupid. I am listening to last night's Trump rally and I am disgusted. When Trump talks about trade and bringing back manufacturing THE REPUBLICANS IN ATTENDANCE REMAIN SILENT. Shame on Republicans. Shame.

When you pick up your prescription at the pharmacy, it isn’t labelled “made in China,” but odds are that’s where many of your medications come from. President Trump is calling on US industries to manufacture here at home, instead of outsourcing to China. Drug companies — which now rely on China for active ingredients that go into antibiotics, heart medicines and other drugs we need to stay alive — should be the first to respond to Trump’s plea. That reliance is a threat to national security. And the squalid conditions in many Chinese drug factories pose a health risk to...

The root of the problem is that ruling Chinese communists refuse to permit the free flow of information. In an epidemic, that's deadly, that's precisely what extends the duration of an epidemic, information being the one thing that needs to be shared freely, to prevent panic, to ensure the distribution of medical supplies, to obtain effective cures, to isolate transmission areas. Foreign Affairs explains the details of this very well. So the more the Chicoms act like Chicoms, the worse the epidemic gets and the worse the effects. To look at the comments section of the YouTube video about, it's...

China has stepped up economic support measures in recent weeks to prop up a domestic economy straining under the coronavirus outbreak. Most businesses and business activities have shut down since the Chinese New Year in late January. Some business activities will resume beginning Feb. 10 but the ongoing coronavirus outbreak is expected to have a debilitating impact on the world’s second-biggest economy in early 2020.

So-called “deaths of despair” in rural areas — from drug overdoses and suicide — have become so common that they have even affected our national life expectancy figures. Life expectancy in the United States has fallen for three years in a row. That is a reversal not seen since 1918 (during a pandemic) or in any other wealthy nation in modern times, as Nobel-prize winning economist Angus Deaton has pointed out. What should be done? Small town woes in many areas can be traced to the erosion of manufacturing jobs. A typical example is Lordstown, Ohio (population 3,300) which revolved around a...

Due to severe demand amid the coronavirus outbreak in China, the world is now facing a “severe disruption” of medical masks and other protective equipment, according to the World Health Organization. The current supply chain of medical masks, respirators, and other related equipment is facing a four-to-six-month backlog, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday. “The world is facing a chronic shortage of personal protective equipment,” he remarked before adding that the demand for masks is about 200 times higher, tantamount to a “severe disruption” of the market. The health official...

General Motors, the auto maker that sells millions of cars and trucks each year, has a new production target: zero. CEO Mary Barra hasn’t lost her mind. Instead, GM’s goal is a future with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion, the company said at an investor event following the release of its fourth-quarter earnings. It’s a bold vision to say the least. Zero EmissionsNo greenhouse gases coming from a tail pipe, of course, is all about vehicle electrification. GM, it seems, is leaving the traditional motor behind. “We believe climate change is real, it’s a global concern and the...

LYNNWOOD, Wash. (Reuters) - Boeing Co suppliers are shedding jobs and capacity to cope with a halt in 737 MAX output, but while that staves off chaos, aerospace executives worry the industry might be unable to ramp factories quickly enough when the plane wins approval to fly again. Boeing, struggling to restore public confidence and recover from the biggest crisis since its founding in 1916, has halted production of the once fast-selling 737 MAX, which was grounded in March following two deadly crashes. As a result, industrial heavyweights like fuselage maker Spirit Aerosystems have already laid off workers. Now a...

Economists and analysts still caution that the full economic fallout depends on how well China can ultimately contain the outbreak and on whether the return to work—especially for migrant laborers, who make up a substantial part of China’s manufacturing workforce—can be managed smoothly. But most expect Chinese growth in the first quarter of the year to slide sharply, before rebounding later in the year to finish not much worse than the 6 percent increase in GDP China posted last year. Within China, the outbreak and the government’s response—essentially firewalling off nearly 100 million people in central Hubei province, where the...

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has temporarily shelved a proposed rule change that would further restrict American sales to Huawei, the Chinese telecom giant, after some officials in the Defense Department and other agencies argued that the measure, which was intended to protect national security, could actually undermine it, according to people familiar with the matter. The rule change, which multiple government agencies were reviewing, would close a loophole that allowed technology companies like Intel and Micron to continue shipping chips, software and other products to Huawei despite a ban that prevented the Chinese company from buying some American products....

Weeks after switching on the machines of a new production line near Bangkok, veteran manufacturer Larry Sloven has a quip for the stream of companies leaving China: “Elvis has left the building.” After three decades of building up manufacturing bases in China, Sloven helped Capstone International Hong Kong, of which he is managing director, wind one down. Costs were rising before the trade war, but a 25 per cent tariff on the lighting products the company exports back to the United States helped accelerate a shift that was set in motion 18 months ago – moving its production base to...

U.S. manufacturing output rebounded more than expected in November, as the end of an almost six-week strike at General Motors plants boosted auto production. The Federal Reserve said on Tuesday that manufacturing production rose 1.1% last month after a downwardly revised 0.7% fall in October. Industrial output also rose 1.1% in November after a downwardly revised drop of 0.9% in October. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, overall industrial production and manufacturing output in November rose 0.5% and 0.3% respectively. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast overall manufacturing output would rise 0.7% and industrial output would increase 0.8% in November. Production...

The numbers: IHS Markit said its U.S. flash manufacturing sector purchasing managers index rose to 52.2 in November from 51.3 in October.