Which side are we on?

"US President Joe Biden...equated his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping with 'dictators' as he addressed the Democratic Party donors reception in the presence of journalists." ET. "The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two box cars full of spy equipment is he didn't know it was there. I'm serious. That was the great embarrassment for dictators, when they didn't know what happened," Biden said. Said the man who is given cheat sheets and told what to do. President Biden found himself in another embarrassing situation as he was caught using cheat sheets during a press conference with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol." HT. "In the past, he has been ridiculed for using prepared answers during press briefings and even holding detailed instructions on how to enter a room and greet participants." "US consumer spending - the economy's main engine - has lost steam for most of this year, portending weaker growth ahead while also helping to cool inflation." ET. "Euro-area core inflation accelerated in June to an annual gain of 5.4% from 5.3% in the prior month as the cost of services picked up markedly." "China's consumer driven economy is showing more signs of losing momentum as spending slows on everything from holiday travel to cars and homes, adding to expectations for more stimulus to support the economy." "Beijing's typical playbook of using large-scale stimulus to boost demand has led to massive oversupply in property and industry, and surging debt levels among local governments." ET. "Netting out the base effect, growth for 2023 will look closer to 3% - less than half the pre-pandemic average." "Expectations of another rate hike by the Federal Reserve to tame stubbornly high inflation helped push a closely watched part of the US Treasury yield curve to its deepest inversion since 1981.., once again putting a spotlight on what many investors consider a time-honored recession signal." BT. "A key dilemma the People's Bank of China faces is that its main lever of juicing growth - rate cuts - can also put downward pressure on the yuan, which has fallen by 5% against the dollar this year." BI. In fact, rate cuts "have widened the gap with US rates as the Federal Reserve continues to tighten with more hikes on the way, making dollar assets more attractive to investors." As if all this confusion is not enough, "China's commerce ministry stated that, starting from August 1, it would exercise control over the exports of eight gallium products and six germanium products, citing the need to safeguard national security and interests." ET. "The metals are used in high-speed computer chips and in the defence and renewable energy sectors. Germanium is key to fibre optic cables and also used in high-speed computer chips and plastics as well as infrared radiation." Reuters. China seems to know only aggressive expansionist foreign policy. So, in May "Total Mexican exports rose 5.8% from a year ago, reaching $52.9 billion" and "The country posted a trade deficit of $74 million, significantly less than April's $1.5 billion." ET. Also, India's stock market index the Sensex has risen to a record 65,666 this morning. BSE. Who will win in this high-stakes game between the US and China? We don't know. But, a weaker China is great for us. No choice but to support the US.