Two bumbling nations.

"News that a Chinese coast guard ship fired water canon on a smaller Philippine counterpart in a disputed area of the South China Sea should be worrying enough," but videos show, "Most of the Chinese ships involved are marked 'China Coast Guard', but among the flotilla are also at least two blue-hulled vessels that resemble fishing boats." CNN. Experts believe that "those boats belong to a Beijing-controlled maritime militia that experts say is hundreds of vessels strong - and officially deniable - force that China uses to push its territorial claims both in the South China Sea and beyond." "The economic woes that China is currently facing, prompted fears that Beijing in turn could become more aggressive, and compensate by escalating the risk of a war with the US over Taiwan, Voice of America (VOA) reported." TOI. "Also, China's economic slowdown...is further expected to worsen if other nations follow the US lead in restricting investments in China." China may gamble that US help to Ukraine has left it short of weapons. "President Biden sat down for a recent interview in which he said the United States is low on 155 mm artillery ammunition rounds, sparking outrage and questions of competency from conservatives on social media." New York Post. What else is it low on? The US is certainly not low on debt. For the first time, the US Government debt reached $32.6 trillion or 122.8% of its nominal GDP in June 2023. CEIC. "Credit card balances rose by $45 billion to $1.03 trillion in the second quarter", the New York Federal Reserve Bank said. Reuters. "Household debt ticked up 0.1% to $17.06 trillion" but "credit card delinquencies are at an 11-year high, as measured using a four-quarter average, the data showed." Meanwhile, "Fitch downgraded the United States to AA+ from AAA, citing fiscal deterioration over the next three years and repeated down-the-wire debt ceiling negotiations that threaten the government's ability to pay its bills." Reuters. Biden seems to be borrowing the 'revdi culture' from India, possibly to increase his vote tally in next year's re-election bid. "In total, the Biden- Harris administration has approved more than $116.6 billion in student loan forgiveness for more than 3.4 million borrowers." US Department of Education. Just as PM Modi announced cash transfers of Rs 6000 per year to small and marginal farmers at an annual cost of Rs 750 billion just before the 2019 general election, Outlook, which he won handsomely. Farmers here, students there, revdi culture as default option. "Lean times faced by many US and European companies last longer than expected as they try to sell off their bulging inventories in an economic climate where demand is stalling." Reuters. "The fight against the steep price rises unleashed by the pandemic and war in Ukraine has been long and painful, with central banks hiking interest rates at a scorching pace to cool inflation." CNN. But, "Oil and food prices have jumped in recent weeks, and wages are growing strongly in some of the world's biggest economies." With the US election on 5 November 2024, it may be the best time for China to attack Taiwan. Will the US accept the challenge? Can it?