2026 Issue 12

In yet another blow to investor confidence, the Chinese Communist Party summons back the co-founders of Manus AI from Singapore after they sold their start-up to Meta and imposed an exit ban on them.

Li Yuan in the New York Times reports on the grim prospects for the PRC’s reform generation who put so much faith in the Chinese Communist Party and Politico reports on fraud and corruption in a California public school district that gave diplomas to a for-profit boarding school in Qingdao, China in exchange for kick-backs and other gifts.

The Federal Reserve released a note on the negative global impacts of the PRC’s extreme industrial policies and its refusal to abide by trade rules and Brad Setser at the Council on Foreign Relations comments on the IMF’s unwillingness to properly ascribe blame to Beijing for the global trade imbalances.