From Bad To Worse. . .

(From Bad To Worse. . ._)

Who is having a worse week ? Chinese Premier Xi Kinping ? Or President Joe Biden ? The Chinese leader, expanding on what had been discussed yesterday, is dealing with anti-covid dis-content among the population. The China Virus has now turned on those who "developed" it and the Chinese Communist Party is insisting on the same draconian closures that were not effective in this country. Xi is handicapped by Chinese history and could name a few emperors, if not whole dynasties, How many thousands of peasants were sacrificed in building the Great Wall ? The Tomb of the First Emperor ? The Grand Canal ?


While the Peoples' Republic has centralized authority, the "patience of the peasant class is not limitless. As there are 1.5 billion of them and only a few dozen Communist Party members, well, do the math. If there is no face-saving path for Premier Xi, then his reactions to continued dissent will prove more extreme.


Things are hardly better for President Biden. When he is not granting Chevron a license to drill for more oil, in Venezuela, he is also on the cusp of that railroad strike. One was under the impression that that scenario had been all but averted but freight rail unions are not cooperating. Now, if the Chinese situation continues to not be resolved itself, and rail traffic goes off line, and just in tine for Christmas ?


When Xi Jinping assumed what amounted to absolute power a couple of weeks ago, he could scarcely have seen that his greatest opposition would be coming from the streets of Shanghai and so on. As for President Biden, unless there is a last-minute deal to avert a strike, and adding that to the supply chain problems, he follows the Chinese Premier to having the situation escalate.


The lingering effects of the pandemic, while the effects of the virus are dissipating, there is still the reaction to it. The problems of both Xi and Biden can be derived from the China virus and until there is a more coherent approach, like ending the lockdowns, things are not likely to improve. But something needs to be figured in a hurry. Wall Street took a bath today because they take this China unrest seriously. At least as serious as Xi Jinping.

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