So not about adoptions....

So not about adoptions....

Marc Ross Daily
August 6, 2018
Curation and commentary from Marc A. Ross

Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia

Marc Ross Daily  = Business News at the Intersection of Global Politics + Policy + Profits

Subscribe here: https://goo.gl/bSQKwA

TOP FIVE

✔️ Saudi Arabia said it has expelled Canada’s ambassador

✔️ Drone attack failed to President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela

✔️ China deploys huge police force to prevent fraud protest

✔️ Trump admitted, on the record, that he misled the American people

✔️ Boston-area startups are on pace to overtake NYC venture totals

ROSS RANT

Can you do it 3x times a day?

I am moving towards checking email 3x a day, but working as a comms/public affairs/ thought leadership operative I find this to be a challenge as my job requires to be on and able to respond to news developments and press requests in hyper-timely fashion.

But clearly email is a hot mess, and old technology and a total time suck — new thinking and new application of this tool are needed.

Any ideas, please share via email.

GEOECONOMICS

KSA v CAN: Saudi Arabia said it has expelled Canada’s ambassador in the kingdom and recalled its own envoy from Ottowa after Canada expressed concern over recent arrests of civil-society and women’s rights activists in the kingdom.

Drone assassination plot: Venezuelan authorities said they arrested six suspects tied to an alleged plan to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro. The drone attack that failed to kill Maduro of unfolded on live TV and in front of many witnesses.

Russia diplomacy: Steven Seagal was appointed by the Russian Foreign Ministry as a special representative to improve relations with the US.

Quake: An earthquake in Indonesia killed more than 90 people.

Nikkei: India becomes battlefield for Chinese smartphone makers

China depletes its ammunition belt with latest tariff threat: Nikkei reports, China has threatened new tariffs on $60 billion in American products amid signs of Xi running out of options as pressure on him to act mounts in a particularly sensitive political season. The inclusion of American liquefied natural gas in the top tier for an additional 25% of duties shows just how badly relations have deteriorated since Trump's visit to Beijing last November.

China deploys huge police force to prevent fraud protest: AFP reports, hundreds of police patrolled the streets of Beijing's financial district Monday as Chinese authorities clamped down on a planned protest against losses sustained in risky peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms. Enraged over financial losses, petitioners told AFP they had come from every corner of China -- from the southernmost province of Guangdong to the far-west region of Xinjiang -- in hopes that by gathering en masse, the government would recognise their grievances and take action.

China meets Trump’s tariff hardball with pledge to endure: Bloomberg reports, China is prepared for a “protracted war” and doesn’t fear sacrificing short-term economic interests, according to an editorial in the nationalist Global Times on Sunday evening. “Considering the unreasonable U.S. demands, a trade war is an act that aims to crush China’s economic sovereignty, trying to force China to be a US economic vassal.”

OTD: In 1806 the Holy Roman Empire was formally dissolved.

No-deal risk: Prime Minister Theresa May’s ministers are ratcheting up warnings of Britain crashing out of the European Union without a deal. And they’re blaming Brussels, which Trade Secretary Liam Fox says is putting ideology over the “economic well-being of the people of Europe.”

AMERICAN POLITICS

NYT: Dirt on Clinton was focus of ’16 meeting, Trump admits

Trump said that a June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower between campaign aides and a Kremlin-connected lawyer was designed to “get information on an opponent.”

Oh really?!?

Trump admitted, on the record, that he misled the American people about the infamous Russia meeting in Trump Tower.

Trump says 2016 Russian meeting was related to Clinton: FT reports, President’s tweets clash with initial explanations over why his son had met with lawyer.

Executive time: Trump is on a working vacation in Bedminster, NJ, through August 13.

Colbert King: Follow the Russian money, and tighten your seatbelt https://wapo.st/2MmjXhD

Poll: Democratic congressional aides surveyed by CQ Roll Call last month said the party should replace Nancy Pelosi as leader whether Democrats win a House majority in November or not.

OH-12: Tomorrow's special House election in Ohio is huge - at least for political junkies as a tool to sort out what might happen this fall.

Republican Troy Balderson will face off against Democrat Danny O'Connor for a solidly red House seat. 

The RNC has opened two offices in the district, launched a $500,000-plus get-out-the-vote effort, and dispatched one of its top officials, Bob Paduchik, who ran Trump's 2016 Ohio campaign. 

Columbus Dispatch: Balderson won't address Kasich claim he did not invite Trump to central Ohio

GOP grumbles as Donald Trump reshapes midterm campaigns: AP reports, President Donald Trump’s strategy of becoming aggressively involved in the midterm elections is prompting concern among some Republicans who worry he’s complicating the political calculus for GOP candidates trying to outrun his popularity. Those Republicans worry their statewide candidates may rise or fall based on Trump’s standing, muddling their path to maintain control of Congress.

Bankruptcy booms for older Americans: The rate of people 65 and older filing for bankruptcy is three times what it was in 1991. The shrinking of the social safety net includes longer waits for full Social Security benefits, the replacement of employer-provided pensions with 401(k) savings plans and more out-of-pocket spending on health care.

Chicago Tribune: In less than 7 hours, 40 shot, 4 fatally as violence rips Chicago

Privacy legislation: US tech companies are hoping to get ahead of the public and legal fallout by working with policymakers to help shape potential new federal privacy legislation. 

NYT: Steel giants tied to Trump block tariff relief for other firms

Nucor and United States Steel, both with deep ties to Trump administration officials, have used veto power over other companies, forcing them to buy their products instead of steel from abroad.

Team Trump picking the winners and losers of the economy.

Tax cuts working for big business: America’s biggest companies are reporting some of the strongest earnings growth since the recession, boosted by lowered tax rates and a robust US economy that is fueling demand.

ENTERPRISE

Indra Nooyi: PepsiCo’s longtime leader will step aside as chief executive. Nooyi serves on the board of directors of the US-China Business Council and is easily one of the world's best CEOs.

Meet PepsiCo’s next CEO: Ramon Laguarta: He is a native of Barcelona who speaks English, Spanish, French, German, Greek and Catalan. He has an MBA from Spain’s ESADE business school and worked at Chupa Chups SA, a candy company based in Spain, before joining PepsiCo in 1996.

Didi Chuxing Technology Co. will invest $1 billion in its auto-services business - vehicle leasing, refueling and car-maintenance programs - as it seeks to expand beyond ride-hailing in the world’s biggest automotive market.

Disneyflix: What some in Hollywood are calling the streaming service that Disney plans to introduce next year. 

Samsung will introduce a new Galaxy Note phone.

Roots is opening locations in Georgetown and Pentagon City Mall next week.

Strayer Inc. officially completed its $1.9 billion merger with Minneapolis-based online education giant Capella Education Co. 

TRENDS

The $300 million plan to farm salmon in the middle of the ocean: Bloomberg reports, the semi-submersible Ocean Farm 1 off the coast of Norway can hold 1.5 million fish.

Boston-area startups are on pace to overtake NYC venture totals: TechCrunch reports, after years of trailing New York City in total annual venture investment, Massachusetts is taking the lead in 2018. Venture investment in the Boston metro area hit $5.2 billion so far this year, on track to be the highest annual total in years. The Massachusetts numbers year-to-date are about 15 percent higher than the New York City total. 

China produces 50% of the world’s cannabis: Most of its crop is non-psychotropic hemp, used for fabrics, medicine, and recreation.

9 astronauts: Nine NASA astronauts — five of whom flew on the space shuttle — have been announced as the crew of new commercial spacecrafts built by Boeing and SpaceX. Beginning next year, these crafts will head toward the International Space Station in the first manned missions from the U.S. since the shuttle program ended seven years ago.

Omega-3 supplements: A $15 billion industry that is growing at an annual rate of 7 percent. However, an analysis of 79 studies with an aggregate 100,000 participants found omega-3 consumption has little or no effect on promoting heart health. 

CULTURE

AP: French master chef Joel Robuchon dies at 73

Robuchon reached a total of 32 Michelin stars in 2016 — a record— and still held 31 stars this year, including five three-star restaurants.

He started a revolution with his "Atelier" — workshop in French — model: small, intimate restaurants where diners sat at a counter surrounding the kitchen. It didn't take reservations and it didn't have tables.

SPORT

Fore: Georgia Hall, a 22-year-old Englishwoman, won the Women’s British Open, her first major golf title.

LAT: Cheer, cheer for the Banana Slugs? Earwigs? Prune Packers? California teams go nuts on sports nicknameshttps://lat.ms/2MnQd3L

Track and field: The European Athletics Championships begin at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.

Manchester United have opened talks with Bayern Munich over the potential signing of Jérôme Boateng.

Manchester City beat Chelsea 2-0 to win the Community Shield in an ominous performance for the rest of the Premier League.

ATP top 10:

1. Rafael Nadal (ESP)
2. Roger Federer (SUI)
3. Alexander Zverev (GER)
4. Juan Martin del Potro (ARG)
5. Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 4610
6. Kevin Anderson (RSA) 4355
7. Marin Cilic (CRO)
8. Dominic Thiem (AUT)
9. John Isner (USA)
10. Novak Djokovic (SRB)

Sure China is a competitor but it's also a marketplace

Much of the press coverage on the current state of US-China commercial relations is focused on competition, and not enough on the market for American goods and services.

China as a competitor has been dominating press headlines for years. Candidates seeking high office in the United States have been informing voters that China is a competitor and the only solution is tough action. Political columnists use China to score easy points and advance one-sided protectionist remedies.

Years of one-sided opinion is having a negative impact on US-China commercial relations and is fostering a tit-for-tat retaliatory tariff environment.

In the United States, negative views of China have increased by 26 percentage points between 2006 and 2016. And American negativity towards China has been higher than Chinese negativity toward the United States in every year since 2014.

A January 2017 Pew Research survey of Americans found that 65 percent of respondents said China is either an adversary (22 percent) or a serious problem (43 percent), while only about a third (31 percent) said China is not an issue.

And in a separate Spring 2016 survey by Pew Research, a majority (55 percent) of Americans held an unfavorable opinion of what more and more Americans see as their largest Asian rival.

This hostile environment is the public affairs reality that American business is facing right now.

Many now see China, one of America's most significant and most promising markets, as a loser for US business. Unfortunately, this belief is fertile ground for politicians supporting protectionist policies and trade halting tariffs. Actions that if successfully passed would force Beijing to respond with retaliatory trade tactics including increased limits stifling full access to the growing Chinese consumer marketplace for American goods and services.

It is time for those that care about a productive and engaged US-China commercial relationship to take these polls seriously and engage Americans in Main Street coffee shops and at picnic tables for backyard BBQs.

For far too long American business has overly relied on a model dependent on high-level government relationships and support from the White House and corresponding federal agencies to manage the US-China relationship.

This model to manage the US-China relationship is exhausted and broken.

US companies exported $135 billion in goods to China in 2017, and it is still the third-largest US goods export market behind Canada and Mexico, our neighbors and NAFTA partners.

Thirty states experienced at least triple-digit goods export growth to China since 2006, and four states saw growth of more than 500 percent over the same period: Alabama, Montana, North Dakota, and South Carolina. Every US state had triple-digit services export growth to China since 2006, 16 states had export growth of more than 400 percent.

At a grassroots level, it is critical to remind Americans US goods and services exported to China come from a wide range of industries. Goods such as transportation equipment, agriculture products, computers and electronics, and chemicals. These exports also sustain logistics jobs in America’s ports and warehouses throughout the country.  Also, US services exports come from the travel, education, and transportation sectors as well as professional business and financial services.

Leaders of American business needs to play a decisive role in reversing this trend and ensuring American goods and services reach the ever-expanding Chinese marketplace. Sitting on the sidelines will be too detrimental for America's economic security. 

- Marc A. Ross

Marc A. Ross is the founder of Caracal Global and specializes in global communications, thought leader management, and event production at the intersection of international politics, policy, and profits. Working with senior executives from multinational corporations, trade associations, and disruptive startups, Marc helps business leaders navigate globalization, disruption, and politics.
 

$1,000,000,000,000

$1,000,000,000,000

Marc Ross Daily
August 3, 2018
Curation and commentary from Marc A. Ross

Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia

Marc Ross Daily  = Business News at the Intersection of Global Politics + Policy + Profits

Subscribe here: https://goo.gl/bSQKwA

TOP FIVE

✔️ Russian spy found working at US embassy in Moscow

✔️ China seeks new insights on US trade strategy

✔️ Wilbur Ross brushes off harm of Trump tariffs

✔️ Apple's market cap passes $1 trillion

✔️ Woods v Mickelson match set

ROSS RANT

My podcast diary for July 2018:

09 Akimbo: Juggling

09 Recode: Adam Grant

10 Recode: Nat Geo + Insta

12 Moment: Penn Jillette

13 Akimbo: Origin Stories

13 TWIST: 833 - Whitney Sales

17 TWIST: 836 - News Roundup

17 Intercom: Elad Gil

18 Akimbo: This Stinks

19 Altucher: Robert Greene

19 VC20: Elad Gil

23 Giant Thinkers: Blair Enns

25 Moment: Seth Godin

25 Akimbo: The Mesh

26 Altucher: Seth Godin

28 Agency Advantage: Blair Enns

28RevThinking : Blair Enns

31 Schmidt List: Blair Enns

GEOECONOMICS

LAT: As political crisis deepens in Zimbabwe, Mnangagwa named winner in presidential election

245 arrests: A Colombian drug cartel has put out a bounty of 200 million pesos (about $70K USD) on drug-sniffing police dog Sombra. The 6-year-old German shepherd has helped police detect over 2,000 kilos of cocaine hidden in suitcases, boats, and shipments of food, and officers credit her with more than 245 drug-related arrests at Colombian airports.

‘I’m totally freaked out’: Brazilians bid farewell to paradise amid strife: WSJ reports, with gun violence surging, along with pessimism about the country’s political and economic future, the number of Brazilians who are emigrating is soaring.

US, Mexico pursue NAFTA auto deal as Canada sits on sidelines: WSJ reports, senior US and Mexican officials sought to hammer out new rules for the auto trade at the center of negotiations to overhaul Nafta, while Canadian officials sat out the latest talks amid tension between Ottawa and Washington.

Guardian: Suspected Russian spy found working at US embassy in Moscow

"The Russian national had been hired by the US Secret Service and is understood to have had access to the agency’s intranet and email systems, which gave her a potential window into highly confidential material including the schedules of the president and vice-president."

Estonia has become the first country in the world to offer free public transport to all residents.

Theresa May to tell Emmanuel Macron that Chequers plan is 'mutually beneficial': Telegraph reports, PM May will try to convince Emmanuel Macron on Friday that her Chequers plan for Brexit will be “mutually beneficial” to Britain and France as she received official notice that their meeting is “not a negotiation”. The Prime Minister has cut short her Italian holiday to visit Mr Macron at his island retreat, the Fort de Brégançon, as she steps up attempts to engage directly with EU leaders, sidestepping Brussels’ chief negotiator Michel Barnier.

Theresa May consigned to Fort Brégançon fortress hated by French leaders: The Times reports, when the British came in sight of Fort Brégançon in 1793, they were attacked by French revolutionary forces. Theresa May will be hoping for a warmer welcome today when she arrives to see President Macron in the imposing but somewhat cramped residence where he plans to spend the next two weeks. Etiquette will probably require Mrs May to compliment the French president on his Mediterranean retreat. In practice, however, the state-owned fort has never been much loved by those who stay there.

China’s indebted conglomerates pile into anti-poverty push: FT reports, villagers say parts of Xi’s project are flawed, as companies seek favour with Beijing.

WSJ: Xi’s right-hand man is message-bearer in China-US trade dispute

Wang Qishan serves behind the scenes as a troubleshooter and a loyal lieutenant who has ties to influential Americans.

China seeks new insights on US trade strategy as it plans next moves: SCMP reports, advisers say Beijing is redoubling efforts to understand the Trump administration’s thinking as it explores potential to restart trade negotiations.

China has no idea how to play Trump: In the past, Beijing has reacted to economic challenges by opening its credit spigot and letting the money flow, and that’s what it has started doing this time too even though the mess from the last crisis is yet to be cleared. SCMP - Fraser Howie

China's top diplomat: He encouraged the Trump administration to "calm down" amid escalating tariff threats, saying increased rhetoric will not lead to results. Wang Yi said at a forum in Singapore that a US campaign to ratchet up pressure on Beijing will not "have any effect," Reuters reported. 

China ready: The Middle Kingdom said it was ready to retaliate against the latest threat by the US to raise tariffs on its goods. The Trump administration said this week that it’s considering increasing the proposed tariff on $200 billion in Chinese imports to 25 percent from 10 percent.

Trump zeroes in on China after EU trade truce: FT reports, US president moves to resolve other disputes but ups ante in battle with Beijing.

ZTE loaded up with powerful Washington lobbyists to convince lawmakers to abandon penalties that would have decimated the Chinese telecom company, according to The New York Times.

#Duh

FT: US tech faces big risks from Trump’s China trade war

AMERICAN POLITICS

Bloomberg: A record number of Democratic challengers are outraising GOP opponents

CAFE standards change: The Trump administration said this morning it wants to freeze fuel efficiency standards for vehicles made from 2022 to 2025 at current levels and revoke a Clean Air Act waiver that allows California to set its own GHG specifications.

USA Today: Chinese tariffs muck up market for US pig parts and hog farmers

Wilbur Ross brushes off harm of Trump tariffs: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Thursday defended the Trump administration's latest threat to ramp up tariffs on China, saying it would not lead to disaster for the U.S. economy. "It's not something that's going to be cataclysmic," he said in an interview with Fox Business Network.

Poll: Fewer than 1 in 3 Americans think NAFTA is beneficial

Poll: 71% of business owners want more China tariffs

Trump donor agreed to pay Cohen $10 million for nuclear project push: WSJ reports, a major donor to President Trump agreed to pay $10 million to the president’s then-personal attorney if he successfully helped obtain funding for a nuclear-power project, including a $5 billion loan from the US government, according to people familiar with the matter. 

US intelligence officials warn of ‘pervasive’ Russian efforts to disrupt 2018 elections: WSJ reports, senior intelligence officials described Russian efforts to interfere in the 2018 midterm elections as deep, real and ongoing, showcasing their efforts to combat a threat President Trump has repeatedly dismissed. 

NYT: Russian threat to elections ‘is real,’ Trump officials say

FT: US spy chiefs warn of ‘pervasive’ Russian meddling

Russia is "a keyboard click away" from mounting a more serious attack on the upcoming US midterm elections than it did during the 2016 campaign, according to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.

@nytpolitics: Blackburn and Bredesen advance in Tennessee Senate race

ENTERPRISE

Hyatt Hotels, which has a global portfolio of more than 700 hotels, announced a new loyalty alliance with London-based Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) — a collection of more than 500 independent luxury hotels from around the world.

Apple's market cap passes $1 trillion with a new all-time high share price of $208.38 - first public American company to reach the milestone.

$1,000,000,000,000

Sonos debuts on the Nasdaq at $16 per share after pricing at $15.

CBS stays mum on Moonves investigation during earnings call.

Netflix is a product and technology company: Netflix's product expertise is at the heart of everything it does, including why and how it makes its original content. This culture is easily overlooked, but doing so can be fatal. Netflix is as much a tech and product company as Facebook, Google or Amazon. http://bit.ly/2Ko8uMv

Facebook searching for its next CMO.

Kara Swisher: The expensive education of Mark Zuckerberg and Silicon Valley https://nyti.ms/2KlQyCe

"They have weaponized social media. They have weaponized the First Amendment. They have weaponized civic discourse. And they have weaponized, most of all, politics."

Staffers around the country working for State AGs are circulating this commentary plotting their legal arguments.

The producers at 60 Minutes have this tapped to the planning board.

This easily could be a multi-100 billion dollar changing commentary piece that will radically change social media and Facebook's fortune.

Google is working on a search app tailored, and censored, for China. The project has sparked a furious internal staff debate.

Molson Coors is the latest big brewer to officially enter Canada’s budding legal cannabis industry. Molson Coors has partnered with Canadian-based The Hydropothecary Corporation to make booze-free, cannabis-infused beverages as soon as recreational weed is legalized in Canada this October.

Baby food on the blockchain: Nestlé is joining the effort to track food with the technology.

Snapchat is introducing speech recognition filters: Users will be able to trigger lenses and music with their voice.

Voice will be huge - plan accordingly.

Fiat Chrysler has to turn Jeep around to compete in China: WSJ reports, new Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley once promised that China would be its global engine of growth. But the company’s first-half performance there was one of the weakest for any international automaker.

Burberry is changing its logo for first time in two decades

TRENDS

Why Starbucks’s plastic straw ban might not help the environment: Getting rid of straws is a step toward ending plastic waste–but if it just involves replacing them with hard-to-recycle plastic lids, it may not do much good at all.

Poll: 67% of US adults support companies' phaseout of plastic straws

Check yourself: Around 73% of millennial US bank customers say they're open to trying financial products from a tech company they already use.

Media consumption: The latest numbers from Nielsen show that on average American adults spend 11.1 hours every day consuming media, up 19 minutes over the previous quarter. 

-- 92 percent of adults listen to radio in an average week

-- 88 percent watch television

-- 79 percent mess around on a smartphone

-- 60 percent on a computer

-- 15 percent on a game console

What is psychographics? Understanding the 'dark arts’ of marketing that brought down Cambridge Analytica: Although it came to light with the Cambridge Analytica scandal and 2016 US presidential election, psychographic marketing may be even more effective in commercial rather than political advertising. And it's already more prevalent than you might think. http://bit.ly/2MiCSJS

Bloomberg: Internal combustion engines may have 40 more years in the tank

I saw longer - two generations

CULTURE

"Ozark" season 2 drops August 31.

The stakes are high for 'Crazy Rich Asians' -- and that's the point: Hollywood Reporter writes, the new film's creators turned down a "gigantic payday" at Netflix to ensure the first Asian-American-focused studio movie in 25 years would be seen in theaters and, if all goes well, reshape the Hollywood landscape: "The biggest stage with the biggest stakes -- that's what we asked for."

Fields Medal: Like the Nobel Prize for math but awarded only once every four years, and only to mathematicians age 40 and younger — new winner announced: Peter Scholze, Caucher Birkar, Alessio Figalli and Akshay Venkatesh.

What does ‘off the record’ really mean?https://nyti.ms/2Kmxfcb

A primer on the kinds of conversations journalists have with sources.

How chyrons took on a life of their own: In the age of Trump, cable news banners have become a medium for presidential fact-checking. 

HBD: Tony Bennett, singer, I Left My Heart in San Francisco (1962), 92

Deadline: Fox, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon win hot package on multi-million dollar theft of McDonald’s Monopoly Game

PODCAST

The invention of online travel and how it changed the future of travel forever: Skift Executive Editor Dennis Schaal — accompanied by recorded interviews with some of the earliest players in online travel — discusses his Definitive Oral History of Online Travel. The conversation includes back-room drama, untold tales, victory laps, and clips from players including Expedia founder Rich Barton, Priceline founder Jay Walker, former Expedia, Inc. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, and TripAdvisor CEO and co-founder Stephen Kaufer. http://bit.ly/2MdDu3I

SOTD

Afghan Whigs - Brother Woodrow, Closing Prayerhttps://goo.gl/saHB8t  

SPORT

OTD: In 1936 the American athlete Jesse Owens won the first of his four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics.

$20 an hour: Parents are hiring Fortnite coaches to help their kids get better at the popular video game — with some shelling out up to $20 an hour for a coach.
 
HBD: Tom Brady, American football quarterback, 41

Golf: Woods v Mickelson match set for Thanksgiving in Las Vegas

Preseason Amway Coaches Poll:

1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. Georgia
5. Oklahoma
6. Washington
7. Wisconsin
8. Miami (Fla.)
9. Penn State
10. Auburn
14. Michigan