Blog
I believe the most important thing Americans must do is to secure their economic well-being in an increasingly challenging, complex world. What I have written about all these years is the process of creating wealth, not for any one individual, but for the United States as a whole. Ever since I was a young correspondent witnessing the emergence of China after the country opened in 1979, I’ve believed we have to get more serious about creating wealth. I retain faith in the resiliency of the U.S. economy and the enterprise of American people. If Americans have the right strategies, we can once again create widespread wealth. Come with me on this journey.
The world hates people who say, “I told you so.” But…
April 15, 2025
China has suspended exporting certain rare earths that the United States relies on to make everything from autos to missiles, as per this front page article in the New York Times today. It quotes James Litinsky, chief executive of MP Materials, as saying that cutting off rare earth supplies to military contractors was of particular […]
America’s Digital Pearl Harbor–As published by the AsiaTimes.
April 2, 2025
The Asia Times just published this piece by Steve Soble and myself. Here’s the link and here’s a taste of the text: US and its allies are undergoing a digital Pearl Harbor attack by William J. Holstein and Stephen M. SobleApril 3, 2025 Image: Industrial Cyber The reports may seem fragmentary and anecdotal but they add up to a […]
Tom Friedman and the New York Times editorial page keep hallucinating about China
March 26, 2025
There they go again! The editorial pages of the august New York Times once again has sent columnist Tom Friedman to China for a FULL week and once again he comes up with the most incredulous piece arguing that Donald Trump and Xi Jinping should sit down together and come up with a master framework for […]
The Salt Typhoon Failure
March 20, 2025
The American government and private sector have essentially failed to respond to China’s Salt Typhoon penetration of U.S. telecommunications systems, including those of AT&T and Verizon. They used Cisco routers to get inside. One key problem is that the private sector does not want to spend billions of dollars on building systems that are truly […]
President Trump, ever hear of the Smoot-Hawley tariffs?
March 5, 2025
This is the kind of downward spiral you may be triggering.. Can you spell d-e-p-r-e-s-s-i-o-n? From Wikipedia: The Tariff Act of 1930 (codified at 19 U.S.C. ch. 4), commonly known as the Smoot–Hawley Tariff or Hawley–Smoot Tariff,[1] was a law that implemented protectionist trade policies in the United States. Sponsored by Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis C. Hawley, it was signed by President Herbert Hoover on June 17, 1930. […]
