Domino Theory

Taiwan gets more U.S. attention, but not necessarily the right kind. Elon Musk goes deeper into China. Will he have to sell Tesla to keep SpaceX and Twitter? China’s reopening is overhyped as the economy exhibits major stress. Bud Lite goes woke and broke. 

Ron DeSantis has the unconventional idea that our foreign policy should actually have priorities. Chinese CCP boss Xi Jinping goes to Russia amid weakness at home. Taiwanese Vice President William Lai takes a step closer to winning election, but how will he treat business and Beijing?  

Why can’t Britain embrace greatness and why is Ukraine getting weapons Taiwan bought from the USA? What demographic decline tells us about China and Japan and what the opposite tells us about Indonesia and the Philippines. Should advanced countries make having kids free?

Taiwan and Japan reopen to most travel, but will business pick up? Does Taiwan prioritize children sufficiently, and do Taiwanese think Americans will really help them in a war? Is Hong Kong going to phony up financial analysis in the name of national security? Christian is just back from Kaohsiung, Tainan, and Taipei.

Chinese protesters take to the streets in Beijing, Shanghai, and other cities. Is this just a flash over COVID restrictions or a harbinger of something deeper? What should the USA and the rest of the free world do? Taiwanese voters send a message to the DPP, the Vatican still romances Beijing, and Jimmy Lai goes on trial again in Hong Kong.

Xi and Trudeau have words in public at G-20 in Bali. Trump is in the race—does China want him there? Labor in Australia disappoints. Are arms for Taiwan are going to Ukraine instead?

Taiwan and the rest of Asia react to the prospect of divided government in the USA. Why Taiwan must ask permission before asking permission to buy arms. Problems with AIT, the de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan. Vietnam's leader goes to China and the Philippines thinks again about China.

Taiwan and Japan reopen to most travel, but will business pick up? Does Taiwan prioritize children sufficiently, and do Taiwanese think Americans will really help them in a war? Is Hong Kong going to phony up financial analysis in the name of national security? Christian is just back from Kaohsiung, Tainan, and Taipei.

Singapore displaces Hong Kong as the East’s key financial capital. New York still ranked at the top globally but will its politicians ruin that? China wants to have its cake and eat it too. Are Republicans surging as Latinos ditch Dems?

India declines to play along with the Biden administration's joke of an economic framework for Asia and some flee expensive Singapore to work from Bali, but probably not for “naked experience” hotels. Is there a role for special ops in Taiwan and the broader fight looming in the Pacific?

Why China's real estate crisis is a YUGE problem, the US-China accounting agreement flops, Taiwan relies too much on fleeting semiconductor hoopla, and Singapore welcomes you if you're rich.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan; why did Beijing think it could stop the trip? Manufacturing dips in China at the housing industry crisis deepens. Hong Kong goes from bad to worse for business.

Joe Biden tells House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not to go to Taiwan. Will she comply and why the wimpy tone from Biden? Also, China’s real estate crisis deepens and Beijings is cutting is dollar reserves. Will Japan increase its defense budget?

China has an ugly reaction to the assassination of Shinzo Abe, banks start to pull back in Northeast Asia amid slump but Southeast Asia may be a different story. Will Taiwan suffer from semiconductors becoming boring again? Myanmar is back in play.

The bear market continues; is there a refuge? Mark has a plan to fix CNBC with Family Guy. Woke companies alienate anti-abortion employees. Aussies give 70 percent support to nuclear subs. White progressives don’t want armed minorities. China might attack something other than Taiwan first.

Stagflation hits markets, CNN can't recover, WaPo eats it own, Japanese yen collapse, China in a fix, Liz Cheney faces a reckoning from Wyoming voters.

Taiwan never disappoints those expecting disappointment. China hits an inflection point where it probably won’t ever catch the USA. Is beyond-gay Nordstrom selling its overpriced attire to art students? why American companies are out of style in Dubai, and whether Nelson Peltz will de-wokify flagging Unilever.

Why anyone listens to Kurt Campbell and company, what prompted Joe Biden to vow to defend Taiwan, will Bongbong Marcos be an improvement over Duterte in the Philippines, whether Japan will also go to war, the zombie TPP, and what China is up to in the Solomon Islands.

Disney isn’t just, woke, it’s also a horribly run company. Why Elon Musk doesn’t have a PR department. Also, Biden finally announced a trip to Asia, but will it be a nothing burger? Why is the U.S. Trade Representative wasting everyone’s time in East Asia with a woke excuse for a trade framework?

Twitter is an awful company, but Elon Musk may have much bigger plans than what people expect. Is the collapse of the Japanese yen a glitch or a signal of much bigger problems for Japan? Is the USA or China closer to recession, and does anyone in the U.S. government really know what Xi Jinping is facing?

Elon Musk scares the woke censors at Twitter. What ships' captains trading arms for fuel tells us about using ammo for currency if society collapses. Why one shouldn't “buy on the dip” and how to weather stagflation and a bear market. Banking in Singapore and whether the Philippines will hug the panda under new leadership.

Only a handful of Disney employees actually walked out of work to protest the company’s lack of additional activism against Florida. Are the least productive employees the most politically active at work? Why Disney has no talent and what to look for economically as the Ukraine war progresses.

Mark and Christian explore the source of wokism in companies, especially the human resources, public relations, and marketing departments. Does management really have to listen to them? Do Twitter mobs matter? Should you keep employees who want to bring their activism to work? They also discuss Disney’s wimpy CEO being instructed by his workers to take on Florida’s elected governor and legislature...

Mark and Christian discuss energy opportunities and possible work-arounds that Russia is likely to use to circumvent sanctions. Which regions benefit and how is China likely to act as the crisis progresses? Biden sends a plane load of squishes to Taiwan to reassure the government. Gold is better than crypto.

Mark and Christian question Eileen Gu’s unpatriotic mantra, "When I’m in the U.S., I’m American, but when I’m in China, I’m Chinese,” as well as an article by Ashley Wong in the New York Times cheering the freestyle skiing gold medalist and suggesting those who disagree are racist. Also discussed is why many Asian-Americans have associated with Democrats despite cultural differences and whether th...