The paramedics and firefighters arrived at the site, where two SCDF search dogs assisted them in conducting a search of the area affected by the collapse, which measured about 20 meters by 10 meters. According to SCDF,” The firefighters and rescuers cut through storage racks and cut through piles ofContinue Reading
A distinct group of people known as Kalpwasis can be found among the large crowds at the Kumbh Mela, the largest religious meeting in Prayagraj city in northern India.
They are generally old travelers who spend a month on the banks of the holy Ganges river performing the ritual of Kalpwas. They think this will bring them closer to God and to forgiveness.
Over a million Kalpwasis are alleged to have been camping out in houses spread across the fairgrounds since the start of the Kumbh Mela on January 13 in the dark.
Two of them revealed to the BBC what their typical morning looks like.
Video by Ankit Srinivas, Antriksha Pathania and Anahita Sachdev
SEOUL: An Air , Busan , plane caught fire at Gimhae International Airport in , Busan , in South Korea on Tuesday ( Jan 28 ), and all 169 passengers and seven crew members evacuated without casualties, Yonhap news agency reported, citing authorities. One man with a slight wound was taken to hospital, fireContinue Reading
Gustavo Petro, the president of Colombia, initially believed he would adjust strained relationships with his returning US rival by immediately rejecting two recently agreed military flights for the repatriation of his government’s illegal immigrants, but he was finally taught an unforgettable lesson.
Trump , reacted with fury , by threatening 25 % taxes that would twice in a year’s time and sanctions high-level officers on national security reasons among other disciplinary measures, which immediately prompted Petro , to surrender.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt then , confirmed , her country’s triumph in its short dispute with Colombia, soon after which Petro , rage-tweeted a complex rant , about imperialism and racism as a parting shot against Trump that was frequently met with scorn online, particularly from Americans.
Trump’s handling of this brief-lived scandal was significant because he demonstrated how serious he is about using tariffs and sanctions to coerce Ibero-American nations into accepting the return of their repatriated citizens.
He won the 2016 election in part because of his campaign pledge to stop illegal immigration along the southern border, but after an estimated 8 million illegals flooded into the country during Biden’s term, he then promised to expulse as many as possible if voters returned him to power like they did in the end.
However, it’ll be challenging to return all of them, which is why his administration wants to coerce them into voluntarily resigning by making the most difficult conditions for those who remain.
In order to intimidate some of them into returning home on their own terms, ergo the importance of making sure these flights aren’t rejected by sending them back to their homelands on military flights, including what just happened to some illegal immigrants from Brazil.
In parallel with this, the Trump Administration is , exploring an agreement , to deport asylum seekers to El Salvador, which is now globally known for its zero-tolerance of gang members.
On the topic, US-sanctioned Venezuela , halted , repatriation flights last February after , briefly allowing , their resumption in October 2023, so suspected Venezuelan gang members might be sent straight from the US to Salvadoran prisons if a deal is reached.
People who remain in the US illegally will always have to look over their shoulders and be afraid of being deported back to their homelands or sent to El Salvador, depending on who they are, with an unprecedented ramping up of ICE raids across the country.
Trump’s harsh response to Petro’s rejection of those two previously agreed military flights is due to the fact that the Trump administration recognizes illegal immigration as a threat to national security.
If he didn’t inspire others to follow him, the majority of Ibero-American nations would, as one might expect, defy the US on this front as well, ruining his ambitious repatriation plans. Trump, therefore, had to remind Colombia and every other country in the hemisphere that they’re the US ‘ junior partner.
Failure to comply with its reasonable demands for repatriated citizens who illegally immigrated to the US will result in severe tariff and sanctions that will threaten their economies and severely inconvenience their political elite.
In what Trump called the nascent” Golden Age of America,” disrespecting Trump and the US personally as Petro did is completely unacceptable, and those who do so will be forced to pay the price, both politically and personally.
Regarding the assertion that every nation is supposed to be equal and must adhere to the same rules, the Biden administration falsely claimed that the so-called “rules-based order” was never what it was.
It was always about upholding the US’s declining unipolar hegemony in the emerging Multipolar World Order by strengthening the post-Old Cold War international hierarchy that dominated where it is now. To coax countries into meeting goals with varying success, a carrot-and-stick strategy pairs explicit double standards with.
Like most Ibero-American nations, those that are dependent on the US market and/or military equipment are more reliant on it, while those who are more autarkic and strategically independent are more receptive.
Trump is more direct than the Obama and Biden administrations, trying to hide this reality with lofty rhetoric and occasionally blinding its partners in ways like those Ibero-American nations that have previously refused to accept their repatriated citizens.
He doesn’t feel guilty about disclosing their junior status in the US because, per Machiavelli, he prefers his country to be feared over loved.
Additionally, Trump is preparing for , negotiations with Putin , over Ukraine as well as with Xi over trade and likely also Taiwan, so he’d appear weak in their eyes if he let middling leader like Petro publicly defy and even insult him without consequence. He became more aggressive with Colombia because of these demands.
The example that Trump just made out of Petro will, therefore, reverberate across the world. The” Golden Age of America,” as he affectionately describes it, is the US’s most extreme form of hyper-realism in foreign affairs, which explicitly declares its goals and aggressively pursues them without considering the opinions of other countries.
Thus, it might be better for Russia and China to , compromise with the US , instead of challenge it if they won’t replicate this policy, or if they lack the same power or will to use it.
This , article , was first published on Andrew Korybko’s Substack and is republished with kind permission. Become an Andrew Korybko Newsletter subscriber , here.
BBC News
Getty ImagesWhen ChatGpt stormed the world of artificial intelligence ( AI), an obvious problem followed: did it spell trouble for China, America’s biggest tech enemy?
Two decades on, a fresh AI type from China has flipped that question: does the US quit Chinese development?
For a while, Beijing seemed to struggle with its response to ChatGPT, which is not attainable in China.
Customers who were unresponsive made fun of Baidu’s search engine giant Ernie the robot. Therefore, there were versions from tech companies Tencent and ByteDance, both of which were criticized as being less than good.
Washington wanted to keep things that way and was convinced in its position. So the Biden administration imposed more limits on the trade of cutting-edge technology and products to China.
That’s why DeepSeek’s establish has astonished Silicon Valley and the universe. The business claims that its innovative design is much less expensive than the US$ billion spent on AI.
How did a little-known business, whose leader is being hailed as an” AI hero” on Chinese social media, pull this off?
It was undoubtedly a blow when the US prohibited the country’s top chip manufacturers from selling cutting-edge technology to China.
These cards are necessary for creating potent AI models capable of performing a variety of individual tasks, from simple queries to complex math problems.
DeepSeek’s leader Liang Wenfeng described the device ban as their “main problem” in conversations with native media.
Much before the restrictions, DeepSeek acquired a” large stock” of Nvidia A100 cards- estimates range from 10, 000 to 50, 000- according to the MIT Technology Review.
Leading AI types in the West employ an approximated 16, 000 professional cards. But DeepSeek says it trained its Artificial type using 2, 000 like cards, and hundreds of lower-grade chips- which is what makes its goods cheaper.
Elon Musk, a US tech tycoon, and other figures have disputed this assertion, claiming that the company never show how many advanced chips it actually used given the limitations.
But authorities say Washington’s restrictions brought both challenges and opportunities to the Chinese AI market.
According to Marina Zhang, an associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney, it has “forced Taiwanese firms like DeepSeek to develop” so they can do more with less.
CCTV” While these limitations pose problems, they have also spurred creativity and endurance, coordinating with China’s broader plan goals of achieving technical independence”.
From the batteries that power electric cars and solar panels to AI, the second-largest economy in the world has invested a lot in great technology.
Turning China into a technical power has long been President Xi Jinping’s passion, so Washington’s regulations were also a problem that Beijing took on.
The transfer of DeepSeek’s new design on 20 January, when Donald Trump was sworn in as US senator, was intentional, according to Gregory C Allen, an AI specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
According to Mr. Allen, former chairman of approach and plan at the US Department of Defense Joint Artificial Intelligence Center,” the timing and the way it’s being messaged is precisely what the Taiwanese government wants everybody to believe,” he said.” The timing and the way it’s being messaged is precisely what the Chinese government wants everyone to believe.
In recent years, the Chinese government has encouraged collaboration between universities and industry by providing scholarships and research grants.
According to Ms. Zhang, the National Engineering Laboratory for Deep Learning and other state-backed initiatives have assisted in the training of thousands of AI specialists.
Additionally, China had plenty of talented engineers to hire.
Take DeepSeek’s team for instance- Chinese media says it comprises fewer than 140 people, most of whom are what the internet has proudly declared as “home-grown talent” from elite Chinese universities.
Western observers disregarded the “new generation of entrepreneurs who prioritize foundational research and long-term technological advancement over quick profits,” according to Ms Zhang.
Even the youngest managers are frequently under the age of 35, thanks to China’s top universities’ rapidly expanding AI talent pool.
” Having grown up during China’s rapid technological ascent, they are deeply motivated by a drive for self-reliance in innovation”, she adds.
Getty ImagesDeepseek’s founder Liang Wenfeng is an example of this- the 40-year-old studied AI at the prestigious Zhejiang University. People with whom he is known claim in an article on the tech outlet 36Kr that he is “more like a geek than a boss.”
And Chinese media describe him as a “technical idealist”- he insists on keeping DeepSeek as an open-source platform. In fact, experts also think that young start-ups have gained more from a thriving open-source culture and faster growth as a result.
Unlike bigger Chinese tech firms, DeepSeek prioritised research, which has allowed for more experimenting, according to experts and people who worked at the company.
In an interview with 36Kr, Mr. Liang said,” The Top 50 talents in this field might not be in China, but we can build people like that here.”
However, experts are unsure of how far DeepSeek can advance. According to Ms. Zhang, “new US restrictions may limit access to American user data, potentially affecting how Chinese models like DeepSeek can expand internationally.”
And others say the US still has a huge advantage, such as, in Mr Allen’s words,” their enormous quantity of computing resources”- and it’s also unclear how DeepSeek will continue using advanced chips to keep improving the model.
Given that the majority of Chinese people had never heard of it up until this weekend, DeepSeek is enjoying its moment in the sun for the time being.
Mr. Liang’s sudden fame has caused him to gain notoriety on China’s social media platforms, where he is being hailed as one of the” three AI heroes” from the southern Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong.
The other two are Zhilin Yang, a leading expert at Tsinghua University, and Kaiming He, who teaches at MIT in the US.
DeepSeek has delighted the Chinese internet ahead of Lunar New Year, the country’s biggest holiday. Good news for a struggling economy and a tech sector that is anticipating additional tariffs and the potential sale of TikTok’s US business.
A popular Weibo comment reads,” DeepSeek shows us that only the real deal will stand the test of time.”
” This is the best new year gift. Wish our motherland prosperous and strong”, another reads.
A “blend of shock and excitement, particularly within the open-source community”, is how Wei Sun, principal AI analyst at Counterpoint Research, described the reaction in China.
Getty ImagesFiona Zhou, a tech worker in the southern city of Shenzhen, says her social media feed “was suddenly flooded with DeepSeek-related posts yesterday”.
” People call it’ the glory of made-in-China’, and say it shocked Silicon Valley, so I downloaded it to see how good it is”.
She asked it for “four pillars of]her ] destiny”, or ba-zi- like a personalised horoscope that is based on the date and time of birth.
But to her disappointment, Deepseek was wrong. While she was given a thorough explanation about its” thinking process”, it was not the “four pillars” from her real ba-zi.
She claims she will continue to try it because it will likely be more useful for such tasks.
As it evaluates the leisure complex costs for the government, the Council of State gathers comments.
PUBLISHED: 28 Jan 2025 at 19: 03
The Council of State, the government’s lawful advisory system, has yet to finalise what percentage of an entertainment complex could be used to create a game, in a newly proposed costs.
According to Pakorn Nilprapunt, the council’s secretary-general, the government has spoken with government representatives on four times in recent months, but there hasn’t been a consensus on the costs.
Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat reported on Monday that his government had requested that the bill be revised so that each of the proposed entertainment compounds could allocate about 10 % of their respective places for casinos.
” We have not yet reached ( an agreement on ) that level yet”, Mr Pakorn said.
According to Mr. Pakorn, the Ministry of Interior has not provided any fresh ideas regarding the bill’s preparing.
However, Pichai Chunhavajira, the council’s finance minister, reported on Tuesday that the correction of the leisure complex law had made some progress.
He declined to comment on the casino’s situation.
Thaksin Shinawatra, the de facto leader of the Pheu Thai Party and the prime minister’s father, is pushing the entertainment complex act very difficult. He has mentioned that creating a Las Vegas in Thailand would help to reshape the country’s business.
However, a recent poll of opinion revealed that 59 % of people were vehemently opposed to both gambling and entertainment structures. Another 70 % either disagreed relatively or disagreed firmly with legalising online gaming, another Thaksin initiative.
Varawut Silpa-archa, the chancellor of social development and human security, claimed last week that his organization had received feedback from the Council of State.
He said the game issue is a double-edged weapon. An leisure complex can raise wages for local occupants and the old, but it could also lead to human trafficking, according to Mr. Varawut.
The opposition’s Palang Pracharath Party, led by former assistant leading Prawit Wongsuwon, announced it would vote against the bill due to concerns about gambling addiction and family debt.
With the release of highly effective AI models that can compete with cutting-edge products from US companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, Chinese artificial intelligence ( AI ) company DeepSeek has shocked the tech industry.
With a fraction of the money and computing power of its competitors, DeepSeek, which was founded in 2023, has been able to achieve its goals.
DeepSeek’s “reasoning” R1 unit, released last week, provoked enthusiasm among academics, shock among shareholders, and reactions from AI heavyweights. A model that you work with both images and text was released on January 28th.
But what has DeepSeek done, and how did it do it?
In December, DeepSeek released its V3 type. This is a very effective” normal” large language model that works at a similar amount to OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Anthropic’s Claude 3.5.
These types can perform tasks like writing essays, writing system script, and correcting errors when they are prone to make up their own facts. On some testing of problem-solving and scientific argument, they score better than the average man.
V3 was trained at a noted value of about US$ 5.58 million. This is dramatically cheaper than GPT-4, for example, which cost more than$ 100 million to develop.
DeepSeek even claims to have trained V3 using around 2, 000 professional computer chips, especially H800 GPUs made by Nvidia. This is again little fewer than other businesses, which may have used up to 16, 000 of the more prominent H100 cards.
On January 20, DeepSeek released another unit, called R1. This is a so-called “reasoning” unit, which tries to work through difficult problems step by step. These models appear to be better at a number of tasks that call for context and have numerous linked components, including reading comprehension and strategic planning.
The R1 concept was modified to make room for V3 using a method known as reinforcement learning. R1 appears to work at a similar amount to OpenAI’s o1, released next year.
DeepSeek also used the same technique to make “reasoning” types of little open-source designs that can work on household servers.
This announcement has caused a significant increase in interest in DeepSeek, increasing the popularity of its V3-powered robot app, and causing a significant price drop in tech stocks as investors reevaluate the Artificial industry. At the time of writing, chipmaker Nvidia has lost around$ 600 billion in value.
DeepSeek’s advances have been in achieving greater performance: getting good results with fewer tools. In specific, DeepSeek’s engineers have pioneered two methods that may be adopted by AI researchers more widely.
The first involves a scientific concept known as” sparsity.” Although V3 has around 671 billion guidelines, only a small portion of these variables is used for any given type, AI models have a lot of them.
But, identifying which criteria will be needed isn’t simple. DeepSeek used a new approach to do this, and subsequently trained solely those guidelines. As a result, its types needed much less education than a standard method.
The other flaw is related to how V3 shops data in memory. DeepSeek has discovered a smart way to condense the relevant data to make it easier to store and get immediately.
People can download and change the concepts and methods used by DeepSeek under the complimentary MIT License.
Although this may be bad for some Artificial companies– whose profits may be hampered by the availability of readily available, effective models – it is also good for the broader Iot research community.
At present, a lot of AI exploration requires access to huge amounts of technology solutions. Scientists like myself who are based at universities ( or anywhere else besides big tech firms ) have had limited access to conducting tests and tests.
The condition can be changed by more effective designs and methods. For us, research and growth may now be much simpler.
For consumers, exposure to AI may also become cheaper. More AI designs may be run on people ‘ personal tools, such as devices or apps, rather than running “in the sky” for a membership fee.
More productivity may have a smaller impact for scientists who already have a lot of sources. Whether DeepSeek’s strategy will help to create models with better overall performance or just more effective designs remains to be seen.
Tongliang Liu is the chairman of the University of Sydney’s Sydney AI Centre and associate professor of machine learning.
This content was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original post.
Tokyo: Japanese emergency services fought for hours on Tuesday ( January 28 ) to save the truck driver who had crashed into a sinkhole close to Tokyo. Officials in Yashio City, Saitama, received calling around 9.50am saying that a path had caved in and a vehicle had fallen. Around sevenContinue Reading
In light of the recent statewide elections, an opposition MP claims criticism is inevitable.
PUBLISHED: 28 Jan 2025 at 18: 09
The second phase of the president’s 10, 000-baht flyer program, coming just weeks before statewide elections, will certainly be viewed as vote-buying by some people, People’s Party MP Pakornwut Udompipatskul said on Tuesday.
On Saturday, residents of 47 provinces will cast ballots for the presidents and members of the Provincial Administrative Organization ( PAO ). 3 million older people who are older than younger tend to vote more frequently than younger individuals did thanks to the state on Monday.
The schedule of the flyer to people over 60 was a concern, according to Mr. Pakornwut, who is also the main opposition whip.
He added,” We firmly believe that the general public understands that this government legislation was funded by citizens.”
He also emphasized the value of evaluating the effectiveness of the program to determine whether it results in the Pheu Thai Party’s stated goals of tangible financial improvement. More examination is needed after the show’s conclusion, he added.
In April, the second phase of the handbook is anticipated.
” It might not entirely been about vote-buying, though concerns are natural as it coincides with a big event, Songkran”, Mr Pakornwut.
However, the timing is definitely appropriate because, according to him, the intention is to encourage saving during the biggest getaway of the year, giving the economy a boost.
Nevertheless, Mr Pakornwut encouraged people to exercise their right to vote on Saturday.
” This election directly impacts your]local residents ] hometowns, with billions of baht in budgets at stake, as the next four years will shape the face of your province”, he said.
” We may continue to look out for any anomalies during the election, as we always do.”
The People’s Party has worked hard to expand its social network and win statewide elections. However, none of its prospects have been elected to top positions in previous PAO primaries.
However, Mr Pakornwut described the suggestions the community had been giving Women’s Party candidates as satisfying and encouraging.
He praised the group’s plan team’s tireless efforts to create a large motion.
” We are comfortable in our help base”, he said. ” While outcomes may vary across regions, we regard our companies, many of whom have strong voter foundations. Nevertheless, we believe we can go on”.
What this second says about the world’s two biggest markets is what makes the DeepSeek-driven property judgment most intriguing.
To supply with the clear, neither Donald Trump’s 2017-2021 trade conflict nor Joe Biden’s more precise limits these last four years halted Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s technology ambitions. Although there are a few speed bumps occasionally, Xi’s” Made in China 2025″ feast is undoubtedly its biggest public relations triumph.
The most positive headlines Xi’s market has had in a while came from the shockwaves that Foreign artificial intelligence company DeepSeek sent through international markets.
Its claim of a cost-effective AI type using less-advanced cards has America’s Nvidia and French huge ASML , reeling. Additionally, it removed the burden of Silicon Valley executives who were warming up to US President Trump. Immediately, US tech supremacy is in question as often before.
DeepSeek’s appearance also managed to confine Trump’s great AI instant below the fold. On January 21, Trump stood with OpenAI’s Sam Altman,  , SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son and Oracle’s Larry Ellison to consider an AI triumph for America. The US$ 5 billion Stargate AI infrastructure project seems to be outdated and a probable huge boondoggle at this point.
However, it’s the financial lessons that stand out the most. In China, Xi’s victory may give the country an even stronger incentive to make more strides toward fostering confidence in the country’s economy. This is a stark warning for Trump that tariffs won’t revive US digital technology in ways that equalize the China danger; only daring policy choices you accomplish that.
New data revealed that China’s stock activity surprisingly decreased in January, ending three months of expansion at the same time DeepSeek was sputtering global markets.
China’s standard purchasing managers ‘ score slid to 49.1. The non-manufacturing PMI test, which includes companies and design, slowed to 50.2 from 52.2 in December. Industrial profits, meanwhile, are now down for three consecutive years, dropping 3.3 % in 2024 alone.
According to Zichuan Huang, an economist for China at Capital Economics,” the disheartening PMI data highlights the challenge that policymakers face in sustaining a sustained treatment in growth.” China is struggling as Trump considers taxes and intensifying challenges, Huang said, despite hints that were made in late 2024 that trigger attempts were taking off.
Many pre-existing conditions at home are bringing in new risks from abroad. China’s home crisis resulted in the longest negative run since the 1997-98 Asian problems. Poor family demand and , near-record , children poverty are slamming confidence.
” To even have a chance to boost prices and confidence”, says Hui Shan, chief China scholar at Goldman Sachs, Beijing has install” a big stimulus from the state” to generate a real “turning stage”.
Zhiwei Zhang, president of Pinpoint Asset Management, notes that “part of the decline may be expected to weaker outside requirement, as the new import orders score dropped to its lowest level since March last time.”
If Trump fulfills his threats to impose 60 % tariffs on all domestic goods, things could start to get worse. Trump’s implementation of trade restrictions has been much slower than anticipated by international investors.
According to analysts at Singapore-based UOB Global Economics &, Markets Research,” a lot of what Trump pledged to do was carried out on day one with the absence of concrete tariff measures are a significant relief.” ” There is, after all, another four years of Trump to go”.
These dangers only make Xi’s team’s task more pressing to stabilize China’s financial system. Immediate priorities include repairing a weak property sector fueling deflation, building more vibrant capital markets, reducing youth unemployment, addressing runaway local government debt, curbing the dominance of state-owned enterprises and increasing transparency.
Team Xi also must create a vibrant network of social , safety , nets , to encourage consumption over saving. Last week, Xi’s government intensified efforts to support China’s volatile stock markets. That included encouraging mainland households to buy more shares and encouraging pensions and mutual funds to make more domestic stock investments.
According to Wu Qing, the head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission,” This means that at least several hundred billion yuan of long-term funds will be added to A-shares every year.”
Such steps are only necessary, though, because Team Xi has been too slow to address the economy’s pre-existing conditions. In financial circles, is it a hot button whether Beijing should use a yuan-sheen deflation strategy to boost growth?  ,
The pros are obvious. Exports, which were a major factor in China’s 5 % growth in 2024, would be further boosted by a weaker exchange rate. In December alone, overseas shipments jumped 10.7 % year on year.
However, the disadvantages prevent Team Xi from choosing the less effective yuan route. For one thing, it might make it more difficult for highly indebted property developers to pay off offshore bonds. That would increase , default , risks  , in Asia’s biggest economy. Seeing# ChinaEvergrande or# ChinaVanke , trending again is the last thing Xi’s Communist Party needs in 2025.
Another is that deleveraging efforts could be wasted due to the monetary easing required to lower the yuan. Beijing has made significant strides over the past few years in reducing China’s financial woes and raising the standard of its gross domestic product. As a result, Xi and Premier Li Qiang have been reluctant to let the People’s Bank of China ease more assertively, even as deflation deepens.
The yuan’s use in trade and finance might be Xi’s biggest reform accomplishment over the past dozen years. In 2016, China won a place for the yuan in the International Monetary Fund’s” special drawing rights” basket, joining the dollar, yen, euro and pound. Since then, the currency’s use in trade and finance has soared. Excessive easing now might damage trust in the yuan, slowing its progression to reserve-currency status.
It also might trigger a broader , Asian currency war , that’s in no one’s best interest. Tokyo might be all-in on a much weaker yen, entice South Korea into the fray.
Memories of 2015 are clearly entering into Beijing’s equation. A destabilizing capital flight that still lingers among party bigwigs was caused by China’s decision to devalue the yuan by nearly 3 % ten years ago. Over the next year, Xi’s team had to draw down Beijing’s foreign exchange reserves by , US$ 1 trillion , to restore calm.
However, Trump World should also take a wake-up call about its top economic policy initiatives this week. A massive trade war, like that one in Exhibit A, might have worked better in 1985, when a select few industrialized nations had more economic power.
This same stuck-in-1985 , problem , helps explain why Japan’s efforts since 2012 to increase competitiveness and rekindle innovation came up short. The enterprise, led by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, is largely about bringing back the trickle-down economics of the 1980s Ronald Reagan era.
Abe backed up his wager that monetary easing and currency depreciation would cause a rise in corporate profits and initiate a virtuous cycle. The intention was for boom stocks to spur CEOs on to fatten their paychecks, thereby boosting consumer spending and accelerating economic growth.
The plan for Japan was correct about the stock boom. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average reached its highest point last year thanks to aggressive Bank of Japan easing, a plunging yen, and some efforts to improve corporate governance.
Yet wages didn’t surge as hoped, ending the year on average or below the roughly 2.5 % inflation rate. Reaganomics is even less effective at raising living standards today than it was 40 years ago, according to all so-called Abenomics.
This is the way Trump 1.0 went, too. A$ 1.7 trillion tax cut, which primarily targeted the top 1 %, was the centerpiece of Trumponomics. More importantly, the maneuver made it more advantageous to reduce income inequality and put the national debt on track to reach the current$ 36 trillion level.
Now, Trump 2.0 is angling to make the$ 1 , trillion-plus tax cuts from his first term permanent while adding new ones to the books that will inevitably exacerbate Washington’s already serious debt woes.
The US net foreign investment position, or the difference between foreign assets owned by Americans and those owned abroad, is now nearly twice the size of the US gross domestic product. It’s negative$ 24 , trillion compared with negative$ 18 , trillion , when Biden entered office in 2021.
A big dilemma now faces Trump: widen Washington’s investment imbalances or reduce its addiction to imports and capital inflows. For now, Trump’s new economic team is more interested in protecting the status quo than disruption.
Washington’s budget would be reliant on the savings of both Japanese and Chinese households as well as the world’s developing countries as more tax cuts are proposed. Trump’s tariffs and trade restrictions would increase US inflation and reduce domestic consumption.
Many economists believe that Trump should concentrate more on boosting domestic economic stoke. Biden, for all his policy missteps, paved the way for the US to compete with China more organically.
Biden’s 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, for example, deployed$ 300 , billion  , to strengthen domestic research and development. Biden took other steps to incentivize innovation, raise America’s semiconductor capabilities, improve infrastructure and increase productivity.
It was only a start, though. Despite his deregulation comments, Trump has not yet come up with a strategy to replace Biden’s tech upgrade policies.
As Trump prioritizes old-school tariffs, lower Federal Reserve interest rates and a weaker dollar, Xi’s China is engaged in a multi-trillion-dollar effort to lead the future of electric vehicles, semiconductors, renewable energy, robotics, biotechnology, aviation, high-speed rail and, of course, AI.
This last priority is now paying, and this has never before been a positive outcome for China. And serving as a wake-up call for both Xi’s party and Trump 2.0 that it’s time to raise their games.
Follow William Pesek on X at @WilliamPesek
