Why China’s Economy Is on Borrowed Time

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maxresdefault (93)On Friday China announced its economy had expanded at a 6.7 percent rate in the first quarter of 2016. While this is the slowest growth since the depths of the great recession, it conveniently remains within the government’s official target of 6.5-7.0 percent. Unlike all developed countries, there will be no revisions to this figure in the coming months or quarters.

There were two factors that kept Beijing’s growth within its target range: Easy money and the property market. The level of “total social financing,” or borrowing, rose 16 percent in March from a year ago.

This was fueled by the bond issuance by local governments as part of its bailout program and investment in ‘fixed asset investment’ which is largely composed of infrastructure and factories.

With total debt approaching 300 percent of GDP and massive overcapacity in many industries such as coal, cement, chemicals and refining, this development only exacerbates China’s serious structural problems.

The property market witnessed a strong recovery in China’s largest cities, causing property investment to rise at its fastest pace in a year. Outside the largest four cities, however, where 95 percent of home sales occurred, the housing sector remains sluggish. With an estimated 70 million inventory of unsold homes, China’s housing construction rebound does nothing to begin resolving this problem.

If this pattern sounds eerily familiar, it should. Debt issuance, investment in factories and the property market have been consistently the engines for growth since the economic crisis and beyond. China’s economic plan to move toward a more market-oriented policy, such as improving property rights, financial sector liberalization and Hukou reform (giving the massive migrant work force basic rights in urban areas) have been slow in development or nonexistent.

How long can this trend last? As the well-known economist Herb Stein once said, “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.” (For more from the author of “Why China’s Economy Is on Borrowed Time” please click HERE)

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Muslim Extremist Says He Murdered Shopkeeper for ‘Disgracing Muhammad’ by Wishing Christians Happy Easter

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14789402561_ea534a8dc8_bA Muslim man who killed a Muslim shop owner after the latter posted a message on Facebook professing love for Christians and and wishing them a happy Easter has defended his actions, saying the victim “disgraced” the prophet Muhammad.

As earlier reported by The Gospel Herald, 40-year-old Asad Shah, an Ahmadi Muslim, was stabbed to death outside of his store in Glasgow, Scotland just days before Easter.

Shortly before his murder, Shah, who was known as a devout, Pakistani-born Muslim, had posted a message on Facebook reading, “Good Friday and a very Happy Easter, especially to my beloved Christian nation. Let’s follow the real footstep of beloved holy Jesus Christ … and get the real success in both worlds.”

Tanveer Ahmed, a 32-year-old taxi driver from Bradford, West Yorkshire, was arrested and charged with the murder. One eyewitness told a British news outlet that the victim’s head was stomped on during the attack while the Daily Mail reported that he was stabbed in the head with a kitchen knife . . .

According to The Daily Record, after appearing at a second court hearing, Ahmed instructed his lawyer to read a public statement outside the court declaring that he killed Asad in order to protect the honor of Islam after Shah “disrespected” the prophet Muhammad. (Read more from “Muslim Extremist Says He Murdered Shopkeeper for ‘Disgracing Muhammad’ by Wishing Christians Happy Easter” HERE)

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Limbaugh Reveals ‘Dirty Trick’ Played on Cruz Televised NYC Speech [+video]

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hqdefaultConservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh believes someone played a dirty trick on Sen. Ted Cruz during his address to New York City GOP members Thursday night, as it was being broadcast live on Fox News.

Cruz, along with Republican rivals Donald Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, addressed the gala banquet at an upscale hotel that Trump had renovated years ago.

Limbaugh reported while Trump and Kasich addressed the crowd, no perceptible room noise could be heard. When Cruz began his speak, the same was true.

But in a split second, part way through Cruz’s address suddenly it changed.

Limbaugh said it was so noticeable, it caught his attention while he had the speech on in the background, and he believes he surmised exactly what happened.

“So I studied it, I looked at it, and in 30 seconds I figured out what happened. They had cut Ted Cruz’s microphone at the podium and they had replaced it with what sounded like microphones at five or six tables where you heard nothing but the table noise,” the radioman said. He even went back and pin-pointed exactly the place in the speech when it happened. (Read more from “Limbaugh Reveals ‘Dirty Trick’ Played on Cruz Televised NYC Speech” HERE)

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Failed Obama ‘Reset’ Has Encouraged Russian Aggression

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6Yzp2IFSgB3zTsa73qLnFRHuNABPFkpsPeople seem a bit surprised—even perplexed—by the breathless news reports and video of Russian warplanes “buzzing” an American warship operating in international waters in the Baltic Sea this week.

The reality is that they shouldn’t be.

That, of course, isn’t to say that we shouldn’t be deeply troubled for the safety of our sailors on the USS Donald Cook at the hands of some “hot dog” Russian pilots involved in reckless and provocative actions that could have had dire and or unintended consequences.

But, that said, there’s a method to Moscow’s madness.

First, there’s the matter of geography. The Baltic Sea has long been a Russian security priority. For instance, the Baltic waters lap up against the Russian coast at the iconic city of St. Petersburg (once Leningrad), where a successful invading force could drive into the heart of Russia, including reaching Moscow.

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union controlled the southern Baltic Sea coastline from Russia through the Baltic States (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia), across Poland and into East Germany. In Moscow’s eyes at that time, the Baltic Sea should be a Soviet “lake.”

Today, rather than lined with Soviet Republics and loyal members of the Warsaw Pact, that same coastline is instead populated with NATO states with rough relations with the Russians. That’s not at all comforting to Kremlin & Co.

The only section of the southern Baltic Coast that isn’t part of NATO is Kaliningrad, a Russia-controlled outpost between Poland and Lithuania that Russia sees as not only isolated and vulnerable, but strategic to Russian security.

Indeed, after the less-than-stellar response to the Crimea crisis, there’s been a constant concern among some that Moscow might try to carve out a Russian-controlled access route to Kaliningrad through NATO member Lithuania

Of course, taking on NATO is different than taking on Ukraine.

Second, the Russian show of force in the Baltic is meant to send a signal of strength in response to perceptions of American weakness, resulting largely from the White House’s failed “reset” policy toward the Kremlin, going back to 2009.

In fact, concerns about Russian aggression in the Baltics and Eastern Europe along NATO’s eastern flank have caused the Pentagon to rotate a Brigade Combat Team (BCT) back to Europe under the European Reassurance Initiative.

This effort involves several thousand U.S. soldiers, a couple hundred tanks, armored vehicles and artillery pieces that will join 60,000-plus of America’s bravest already in Europe. U.S. pre-positioned weapons stockpiles will also be improved.

The returning American BCT will be forward-deployed along NATO’s eastern flank to frontline states including Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.

It’s a good move, but is it enough?

Not surprisingly, Russia isn’t happy about the U.S.-NATO moves and has promised an “asymmetric response,” which may include this week’s dangerous fly-bys of the Russian Su-24 Fencers against the USS Donald Cook in the Baltic.

More Moscow mischief may be in the offing.

Sure, Russia could get more feisty, but considering the failure of the White House’s “reset” policy toward the Kremlin so far, it’s probably time for a serious change toward Russia—one that comes from a position of strength. (For more from the author of “Failed Obama ‘Reset’ Has Encouraged Russian Aggression” please click HERE)

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Huma Abedin CONFIRMS Her Muslim Brotherhood MOM Proud of Her During Podcast

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1024px-Hillary_Clinton_and_Huma_AbedinIn an embarrassingly sycophantic interview, Hillary Clinton’s closest adviser Huma Abedin again shored up her bonafides as a covert Muslim Brotherhood agent when she flippantly revealed how proud her mother is of her. The revealing moment came right out of the gate as the obscure, valley girl-sounding co-hosts gushed to Huma over landing the interview. Huma responded by saying she thought her mother was the only person who considered her “a big deal”.

The reason Huma’s thought of as a “big deal” by her mother is indeed a big deal. For starters, Huma’s mother Saleha Mahmoud Abedin was identified in 2011 as one of 63 leaders inside the Muslim Sisterhood. Hatred of the Jews is necessarily a prerequisite for attaining such a position. In fact, one of Saleha’s colleagues as a Sisterhood leader is none other than Naglaa Mahmoud, the wife and then “first lady” of Egypt’s short-lived Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Mursi. In 2010, Mursi openly stated that Muslims should nurse their children and grandchildren on hatred of the Jews . . .

Here is the big deal. Huma is married to a Jewish man named Anthony Weiner, who was a U.S. Congressman at the time. As such, he is considered an ape or a pig by the Muslim Brotherhood. This would have not only precluded Huma from marrying him but it should have completely disgraced her and her family; it did not. Instead, she was elevated to a place of honor. There is only one reason for such an elevation; she is a spy.

It is doctrinal within the Muslim Brotherhood that hatred of the Jews is a requirement; it’s a tenet of the faith. While it’s ok for a Muslim man to marry a Jewish woman – for the purpose of conversion and bearing Muslim children – it’s beyond sacrilege for a Muslim woman to marry a Jewish man.

Yet, Huma is still held in high regard by her mother. Why? According to the Muslim Brotherhood’s interpretation of Sharia law, Huma is guilty of among the most egregious of sins, not worthy of honorary status. Such a marriage is said to bring dishonor to the entire family in fundamentalist Islam. Yet, Saleha continues to hold a position of high prestige at a University in Saudi Arabia. In fact, in 2015, Huma traveled there to be present as her mother was “honored” by the University for her service. (Read more from “Huma Abedin CONFIRMS Her Muslim Brotherhood MOM Proud of Her During Podcast” HERE)

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Exposed: GOP Leaders Considering Massive Rule Change That Could Fundamentally Alter Convention

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images (90)By Alex Isenstadt and Shane Goldmacher. The Republican National Committee is expected to debate a proposal next week that would dramatically shift the balance of power at this summer’s convention — and impose a new rulebook for selecting the party’s nominee.

The proposal, which will top the agenda during a meeting of the Rules panel at the RNC’s annual spring meeting in Hollywood Beach, Fla., would fundamentally alter how the convention is conducted, further empowering the delegates to determine the course of the proceedings.

It amounts to not just a changing of the rules but of the rulebook itself, with far-reaching implications, potentially impacting whether party insiders will be able to draft a so-called “white knight” — someone currently not running who would play the role of savior at a deadlocked convention.

The proposal is the brainchild of Solomon Yue, an RNC officer and Rules Committee member from Oregon. It would replace the system used at Republican national conventions for decades, which mimic those used by the U.S. House of Representatives, with Robert’s Rules of Order, a design that’s often used to oversee civic and organizational meetings. (Read more from “Exposed: GOP Leaders Considering Massive Rule Change That Could Fundamentally Alter Convention” HERE)

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GOP Delegate: Primary Votes ‘Absolutely Irrelevant’

By Robert Fowler. Curly Haugland, a Republican National Committeeman for North Dakota, has asserted that once the GOP convention convenes in July, primary votes will be a secondary concern. This viewpoint could prove the undoing of current GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.

On April 14, Haugland sat down with NPR to discuss the upcoming Republican National Convention and how party delegates will factor into selecting a nominee.

The committeeman has an interesting perspective on the convention process, stating that even delegates who are pledged to the candidate that their constituency voted for technically do not have to follow the will of the voters.

In Haugland’s view, the rules actually make primary votes “absolutely irrelevant.”

“No matter what the popular belief might be, there is no connection between primaries and the actual convention,” Haugland said. (Read more from “GOP Delegate: Primary Votes ‘Absolutely Irrelevant'” HERE)

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What Obama Has Done to the US Marines Is Beyond Belief

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NATO - International Security Assistance ForceFox News ran an exclusive report Thursday about the impact budget cuts over the past few years have had on the U.S. Marine Corp, forcing commanders and soldiers to do more with less.

Fox News reported that some soldiers are being asked to work 21 hours a day just to keep the aircraft operational. Because normal supply chains are limited, cannibalization of other plane parts has occurred. Marines have begun stripping old equipment from other aircraft in order to service new ones.

“Imagine taking a 1995 Cadillac and trying to make it a Ferrari,” Sgt. Argentry Uebelhoer said days before embarking on his third deployment. “You’re trying to make it faster, more efficient, but it’s still an old airframe.”

Replacement parts for some planes can take up to 18 months to obtain, the report said, because production of new models of the planes stopped 15 years ago.

The reduced number of highly trained mechanics whose job it is to fix the backlog of aircraft have become frustrated. Some are starting to look for jobs in the private sector.

Because of the aircraft shortage, there is less time for pilot training. The norm for aerial exercises 10 years ago was between 25-30 hours per month. Now the average flight time is just four hours per month. A pilot who asked to remain anonymous told Fox News that Chinese and Russian pilots fly more training hours each month. (Read more from “What Obama Has Done to the US Marines Is Beyond Belief” HERE)

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Louisiana Delegates Just Announced Something Ted Cruz Won’t Like

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12986993103_b16d084374_bUnbound delegates in Louisiana are fuming over media reports that they have decided to back Ted Cruz over Donald Trump in the presidential GOP primary, calling them untrue.

Trump edged out Cruz in the Louisiana primary that was held March 5, though the margin was close enough that each candidate ended up taking 18 delegates.

But earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets reported that the five state party leaders who will attend the Republican convention, and the five delegates who were formerly pledged to Marco Rubio, were planning to throw their support to Cruz.

That would give Cruz a resounding delegates victory in the state despite losing to Trump by 4 points.

Trump promptly declared that he’d sue the state party and seek to have the delegates disqualified over what he described as a rigged process designed to block him from the nomination. (Read more from “Louisiana Delegates Just Announced Something Ted Cruz Won’t Like” HERE)

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Lawfare: Left-Wing U.S. Attorneys General Wage Legal Blitzkrieg on Science, Freedom and Truth

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16362646138_ce42b966bc_b (1)So a bunch of left-wing US Attorneys General have held a meeting in New York — presided over by discredited professional climate-alarmist Al Gore — to discuss how best to use the legal system to wipe out climate scepticism once and for all. They did so under the shamelessly political slogan: “AGs for Clean Power.”

Now the Attorney General of the US Virgin Islands — some utter nonentity called Claude Earl Walker — has gone a step further by actually subpoenaing the Competitive Enterprise Institute to give up ten years’ worth of documents pertaining to its relationship with ExxonMobil.

Walker is trying to nail the oil giant using a criminal statute originally designed to convict drug dealers and mobsters.

The voluminous, harassing 14-page subpoena says Inquisitor Walker is investigating ExxonMobil for “misrepresenting its knowledge of the likelihood that its products and activities have contributed to and are continuing to contribute to climate change in order to defraud the Government … and consumers.” This supposedly violates the Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which is the Virgin Islands’ version of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, or RICO.

Well good luck with that, Claude Earl Walker, whoever you were — which will be nobody by the time the CEI’s lawyers are done with you. The prosecution case you are about to lend your name to is about as futile, fatuous and imbecilic as launching a class action against dentists for providing insufficient information to children about the Tooth Fairy; or against parents for failing to divulge the truth about Santa Claus. (Read more from “Lawfare: Left-Wing U.S. Attorneys General Wage Legal Blitzkrieg on Science, Freedom and Truth” HERE)

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SHOCK REPORT: Obama Grants 700K Green Cards to Islamic ‘Migrants’

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HAITIAN MIGRANT INTERDICTIONWith Islamic terrorism on the rise in the United States and Western Europe, it’s worth mentioning that the Obama administration issued around 680,000 green cards to foreigners from Muslim countries during a five-year period, according to data published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The stats, the latest made available by DHS, also show that the U.S. government admits more than double the number of immigrants from Muslim nations than from the European Union.

This disturbing information was circulated by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on Immigration, which assesses that if there’s no change in the current policy, the U.S. will likely grant another 680,000 migrants—possibly more—from Muslim-majority countries green cards in the next five years. According to the DHS figures cited by the panel, Uncle Sam issued approximately 680,000 green cards to immigrants from 49 Muslim nations from fiscal year 2009 through fiscal year 2013. Over the same period, the U.S. issued only 270,000 green cards to migrants from the European Union, according to a committee announcement that reminds us “a green card entitles recipients to access federal benefits, lifetime residency, work authorization, and a direct route to becoming a U.S. citizen.” Some of the recipients are admitted to the U.S. as refugees so they immediately qualify for federal welfare benefits like food stamps and Medicaid.

The DHS stats include a breakdown of the countries where the migrants came from. Pakistan and Iraq sent over the most with 83,000 apiece and Bangladesh had 75,000. Seventy-three thousand came from Iran, 45,000 from Egypt, 31,000 from Somalia, 24,000 from Uzbekistan, Turkey and Morocco had 22,000 each, Jordan and Albania 20,000 each and Lebanon and Yemen each had 16,000. Rounding out the five-digit club is Indonesia (15,000), Syria (14,000), Sudan (13,000), Afghanistan (11,000) and Sierra Leone (10,000). The rest, including Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Kosovo and Libya, only sent over a few thousand during the five-year period covered by the DHS data. By contrast, only 65,000 green cards were granted to migrants from the European Union country (United Kingdom) with the highest number during this period. The Senate committee reveals that DHS has not yet published statistics covering fiscal year 2014 and fiscal year 2015 so we’ll be on the lookout for that.

National security has never appeared to be a priority for the Obama administration, but this is downright alarming as the U.S. encounters burgeoning threats from radical Islamists. The president’s ongoing effort to befriend and protect Muslims in the U.S. hasn’t put a dent in these eminent threats. Over the years Judicial Watch has reported on a number of initiatives, including programs at key federal agencies, launched by the administration to reach out to or protect Muslims. DHS even met covertly with a group of extremist Arab, Muslim and Sikh organizations to discuss national security matters and the State Department sent a controversial, anti-America Imam (Feisal Abdul Rauf) to the Middle East to foster greater understanding and outreach among Muslim majority communities. The president also hired a special Homeland Security advisor (Mohamed Elibiary) who openly supports a radical Islamist theologian and renowned jihadist ideologue and a special Islam envoy that condemns U.S. prosecutions of terrorists as “politically motivated persecutions” and has close ties to radical extremist groups.

As if this weren’t bad enough, the administration caved into a terrorist front organization’s demands to purge FBI anti-terrorism material determined to be offensive to Muslims. The group, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), was founded in 1994 by three Middle Eastern extremists and JW obtained hundreds of pages of FBI documents with details of the outrageous deal. Read all about it in this special report. More recently, the administration followed the orders of Islamic activists in suspending an FBI internet program aimed at preventing the radicalization of youth because Muslim and Arab rights groups determined that it discriminates against Muslims and will lead to bullying. After the San Bernardino terrorist attacks the administration issued a warning regarding workplace discrimination “against individuals who are, or perceived to be, Muslim or Middle Eastern.” The directive orders American businesses to accommodate the religious needs of Muslims and assure they aren’t being harassed or intimidated. (For more from the author of “SHOCK REPORT: Obama Grants 700,000 Green Cards to Islamic ‘Migrants'” please click HERE)

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