EP 157: Trump starts new Media platform, the day Facebook continues his ban, MEA scare at G7 & more!

Sree Iyer: Namaskar. Today is the 6th of May 2021. Welcome to Episode 157 of Daily Global Insights with Sri and Sree. Trump launches a new communication platform after Twitter Facebook bans, what a sense of timing sir he has really really waited till the day that the oversight Committee of Facebook, which appears to be at this point, according to me, a rubber stamp, what is your thoughts, sir?

Sridhar Chityala:  My thoughts are that In fact, all the left-wing loonies, I call them or the pseudo-intellectual Liberals they have this wonderfully aligned thought process back by actions that follow your predictable pattern. So the date was set around this Wednesday that it could be done and in the meanwhile, President Trump was preparing in the background from the desk of Donald J. Trump. If you all remember that there was an act which said you know from Donald J Trump in the campaign. So he seems to have, you know, picked up the adage as a marketing tagline and I think it’s a wonderful side that he has launched his timing is, as is always is spot on.

Sree Iyer: Now, Facebook has decided that it will hold the Trump ban, but we’ll reassess the decision over the coming months. This is by the oversight committee which said that we will continue. What has been decided by Facebook? Sir, I have critically commented about this oversight committee several months ago when they formed it, it’s full of left-leaning people.

I didn’t even see a token right-wing person. So I don’t know if you’ve had to chance to look at the roster, sir?

Sridhar Chityala:  I think it’s better to stay away from the roster but look at the overarching agenda, a Facebook, Twitter and off late google has you know what I call as very emphatically, joined the platform, how do you kind of infer? All you need to do in the United States, I can’t comment on the rest of the world. From the United States, all the IPs delivers curated content, which is whenever you do your search. You have six commons, compatriots from the left-wing propping up, BBC, NPR, New York Times, you don’t see Washington Times or Fox News. You may even see, CNBC and NBC. But all the content that is projected comes from these websites, there are ways by which you can manoeuvre. So the oversight board of Facebook is no exception to this rule. It is littered with people who firmly believe that their agenda is the agenda because righteousness is their goal, all the stuff that is going on in the United States, very cleverly and very smartly is matched. But only what they believe to be righteous is projected. So, therefore, I don’t want to nit-pick the names on the board, but the overarching message is very clear. They are part of the same breed so you cannot get anything differentiated. I think Yahoo finance, it was to most appropriately said they are duck, the question and kick the can down the road, which effectively means that, hey, you know, we’ll reassess, what are you going to reassess? They haven’t answered. What is it that you’re going to reassess and who in your belief, or the, or this, fact-finding committee, which makes these decisions that a person has violated the rules or not violated the rules? So the whole thing is me bogus.

Sree Iyer:  The Chinese Communist Party linked firms may have received more than 400 million covid link PPP link funds last year. Sir, I have something to add first I would solicit your thoughts, Sir.

Sridhar Chityala:  125 firms have been investigated. They found many of these firms who have received this aid seem to be linked in some way or the other to CCP. I have mentioned this time and time again in this program. This going back to the jobs act up Obama, which turned out to be a disaster. Whenever the government or the big government is involved in making these decisions and dispersing the money all you can expect is a very suboptimal outcome. So, this is no exception to the rule.

Sree Iyer: Biden America family would cost 2.5 trillion dollars at least 700 billion dollars more than originally planned, Sir.

Sridhar Chityala: Sir, you have to make a comment on the previous point. You said you would make a comment but you wanted me to make the comment first.

Sree Iyer: Yes. Yes, on that. I was trying to apply it for my wife’s business, because, you know, we still can’t hold our classes. She runs a classical Indian dance studio. We are renting the studio in the hope that normalcy will resume it’s now 18, 19, 20 months into this Covid crisis. We still have not heard anything about when we can start by admitting children. And when we try to apply for this, the window was very short and there was a lot of back and forth between the advisor and me, and I managed to finally did everything like, you know, dot the I’s and cross the t’s and give the form, and then lo and behold, half an hour later, I come to know that the SBO window funding just closed and I could not make it. So it feels like, you know, I mean, there are people who are, you know, right eligible candidates but one way or other these things slips through the track.  I felt a little sad just felt that you know, a lot of time was spent, but it came to nothing. And moving on, America’s infrastructure and climate plan keep people at home. I’m trying to understand what you’re trying to say here. People should not be at home, so we should be going out. We never have sun falling on our bodies.

Sridhar Chityala: Right, let me first respond to this, we had the America rescue plan. We have American jobs plan. Now, we had America Family Plan. The family plans slowly started from one trillion dollars in child credits then, he says expanded to 1.8 trillion dollars in expanding the Family Care and child care and paid leave to care providers and mothers that have been recalculated. And the number is now 2.5 trillion, it’s not 1.8 billion nor it’s 1 billion. So it has overshot by 700 billion for the sake of brevity to, you know, we may be given a brief message the same Budget on payback is 1.3 trillion dollars short on the revenues in terms of making up. So what’s the net effect? The net effect is just one of these acts is looking down the barrel in terms of its ability and ability to meet the Obligations, but on the contrary to see further that debt expanding. So that’s what I mean.

Sree Iyer: India China standoff continues, one year on, negotiations have stalled with no progress. Sir, China, you know sitting on a LAC, this is now going on with no end in sight and India keeps going back to negotiations, one wonders, what the purpose of it? I have had many experts come on PGurus channel to explain this and they say that they keep talking is good because when you keep talking, we can fortify our positions, but they don’t mention, or they don’t admit to the fact that the other side also is fortifying its positions. Your thoughts, sir.

Sridhar Chityala: My thoughts. Sorry, sir. I didn’t answer the previous question, which is effectively America infrastructure climate plan keeps people at home. Now, many states are reporting that nobody wants to come and work because there’s no incentive to work. The money is arriving at home without any work. What used to be only restricted to restaurant workers, now has spread right everywhere. So, there is a question about these unemployment numbers. So you are going to have money coming through the climate plan. You have money coming through the infrastructure plan. All this is contributing to people lazy and staying home. And listening to your story, you want to work and you are not being supported, especially in your family business.

Now, coming to the specific questions that you have raised, what’s my view? My view is very simple engaged to disengage, engaged to engage whether you choose to disengage or not. That’s my view, which namely keeps talking to the Chinese. They keep fortifying the positions. India keeps fortifying its position. So keep talking and I think keep talking is good. Chinese love to talk. Now, yesterday reported, they also are recruiting some of the Tibetan Nationals to counter Indo-Tibetan. And this is just like, you know negotiating with China on everything that is going on around the world. So India is playing a smart game which is to say and the Chinese are playing, Chinese are no exception to this rule, they playing a smart game. The question is not, is going to be who blinks first? The question is going to be who has the wherewithal to fight under all circumstances. Clearly, you know, maybe I am biased or prejudiced, the Indian army and the Indian the generals or the think tank, which is leading this effort, it seems to be very different. They are ready hunky-dory to take on these guys and whatever tactics you take it up, we will use the same tactics, no problems. So, India seems to be fully equipped to talk, to act, and if required to fight.

Sree Iyer: The Reserve Bank of India, Indian Central Bank outlined, $6.8 billion for covid-19 relief measures. Sir, your thoughts. What would the RBI do? It’s not going to be able to put money in people’s pockets, is it?

Sridhar Chityala: It’s the extension of credit to very specific sectors, most notably the Health Services sector, I think they’re going to expand credit. So in other words, if you are setting up a mini oxygen plant, if you need credit, they may give. If you recall, I think India has got some programs, I don’t know whether it is still relevant, they called is directed lending or they call themselves priority sector which is lent at very attractive rates, with moratoriums on payouts and so on. So I think, for some of these sectors adjacent segments which warrants support, they are extending credit to the extent of $6.8 billion. So it’s a laudable scheme. RBI grants permission rather than issue loans to some of these people.

Sree Iyer: In good news for India, Dell, Foxconn Wistron, and Lava are among 19 firms that applied for the Indian PLI scheme to manufacture laptops, tablets and PCs. Sridharji, you have mentioned the goodness of the PLI scheme. Now, it is beginning to bear fruit, Sir.

Sridhar Chityala: It is. it is prevalent in the mobile sector. It is prevalent in the Solar sector, it has come into the MSME sector, it has come in the LEDs, ACs and refrigeration. It has come into the agriculture sector in which we show the capital flowing in. And then it is now coming into the variety of electronic segments including semiconductor and you can see at least 19 of these companies are coming in and leveraging the scheme.

So the objective of pointing this out and why we are trying to be different, is constantly mainstream media in most parts of the world, be it in the United States, be it in India, be it in Europe, they constantly keep advocating only bad news. Everything is bad. But no, people have moved on, people are going to work. Everybody is not looking at the newspapers to see how many people are sick and how many people are dead. People have to work. The Indian government at least has not taken the eyes off the ball, maybe in some segments, it has not performed to the expectations, most notably in the covid-19 wave 2 management. But clearly, at least on the security side as well as on the economic side, in terms of the development and the growth of various sectors and segments of the economy, it seems to be moving on the right track.

Sree Iyer: Britain is going to project power with a Major carrier deployment in the South China Sea. The HMS Queen Elizabeth sets off on its mission. So we had France flexing its muscles, we had Japan doing it, I think India also did a few, and now you have the United Kingdom did it.

Sridhar Chityala: And Germany did it. The EU as a whole plan to do something. So Britain has taken a very strong stand. It is called the reenactment of the old British Empire Legacy. It has had its footprint all over the world. Clearly, this particular Zone and region is of strategic interest especially the South China Sea. If you recall just recently, I mean a couple of days ago or even 1 day ago, we talked about Britain and India announcing a deal. But prior to that, Britain and Japan have announced a bilateral partnership, Britain and ASEAN have applied for a partnership. Britain is the number one, even China is below the RCEP or the CPTPP – Comprehensive Trade Partnership in the Pacific area. So they are sitting there ready to move in. So they’re saying we need to protect. They will be visiting 40 countries, the HMS Elizabeth could be with going around, 40 countries in its navigation. It may take a permanent position in the South China Sea to defend and protect the interest of the Open Seas and to keep the Pacific free and open for all types of activity.

Sree Iyer: In covid related news, a covid-19 scare at G7 after the Indian delegation test positive. Has the ministry of external Affairs pulled out of the meeting, sir?

Sridhar Chityala: No, he has not pulled out. He has quarantined himself. He’s attending the meetings. He has not left Britain. He has self-quarantined himself, still conducting the meetings. Though the media would like to project that he is not a part of the most important meeting in person. Many meetings are conducted. Today, we have learned through covid, you don’t need to be touching and seeing each other. You need to be engaged with each other and still conducts a meeting. So, he’s very much in Britain and attending the meetings, he is only self quarantined.

Sree Iyer: Moderna says, its covid booster-shot provides a promising immune response against variance. Now, this booster shot is different from the vaccine, how is it?

Sridhar Chityala: Yes it is different. Moderna was the first one that announced a booster, a third shot is needed. So they are working on the third shot. Moderna was also the one that said they’re going to try to integrate, this is very specific in the United States, the flu shots with the covid-19 vaccine, so it becomes one single shot. Now they’re saying, the results show that the immune system can respond and treat these new variants from various countries, most notably, the double mutant variant from India. I gather that the double mutant Indian variation is now in the United States and at least in a few of the states, people are beginning to see this variant. Obviously, the travellers who come from these countries, India- US is a big travel corridor, have brought this. So this Moderna vaccine is able to deal with it. Pfizer is also coming up with a booster vaccine, they believe that a third vaccine is essential, the efficacy could come down after six months. It is, at that point in time, between 6 to 12 months, you take the booster dose.

Sree Iyer: The United States supports the waiver of intellectual property protections on the covid-19 vaccine to help in the pandemic. In plain language, what it means is that if somebody has patents on some of these formulations, the patent-related revenues will be waived. Is that what it?

Sridhar Chityala: It will be granting the license to use it. It’s called the TRIPS, we covered this, Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights and so the Trips rights are being waived. I am delighted that the United States, in fact, Bernie Sanders, Miss Warren, and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez – AOC was surprising to say that the United States should support South Africa, India, Brazil, and other countries because treating people is far more important than holding on to this so-called IP. They have temporarily waived the rights so that people can people manufacture and the covid pandemic can be treated. So it’s good. Katherine Tai and PGurus have written a special article on this. Katherine Tai, the UN representative from the US has agreed that she would be supporting and holding discussions with United Nations and WHO for waving these rights.

Sree Iyer: Americans fear border surges could accelerate covid-19. Well, we have been saying this for a long time.

And more important news. In markets, Bitcoin is coming to a bank near you says, NYDIG. Wow, that means finally, the United States is blessing it.

Sridhar Chityala: Well, finally. It just means that wherever there is demand, wherever there is money, that’s where the bank branches have to go. So, Coinbase has got good attraction and then you have a Crack and PayPal and you have so many of these schemes. It’s time that Banks also enter. I gather that quite a few Banks, including small banks are trying to make an entry into this field. The fee is attractive, especially when the expansion of the currency or the market value is growing at a tremendous click. So you can effectively use your bank account to fund. They are also contemplating loyalty currency, rewards currency, in the United States. You can actually redeem your rewards currency and then buy a Crypto and then hold it. I think Fidelity Information Services is the one which is providing the platform is obviously got to have the store of value, like a custodian type of an account. The NYDIG, which is one of the, if I remember correctly, the Stone Rogers Group, which does the asset management for digital, probably are the bank behind it and they are partner with banks. And so, as you rightly said, walk into a branch and say, I have $50,000, I want to donate one crypto to my grandchild. And, when he grows up, who knows, his education stuff is ready. But it’s great news and you can now see, we will slowly begin to unravel this mystery of ‘is crypto real and is it going to be here?’ It seems to be going the right way based on all the data.

Sree Iyer: Yes indeed and markets finished high today and that’s all we have for you today. Thanks for watching and please do subscribe to our Channel. Sridharji, both of us will be back tomorrow. Same time. Same place, Namaskar.

Sridhar Chityala: Namaskar and have a wonderful day.