James Alexander Michie | Vancouver Sun: Douglas Todd: Author of Crazy Rich Asians knows what's fuelling Vancouver

“Eddie was a member of the Chinese Athletic Association, the Hong Kong Golf Club, the China Club, the Hong Kong Club, the Cricket Club, the Dynasty Club, the American Club, the Jockey Club, the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club and too many private dining clubs to recount. Like most upper-crust Hong Kongers, Eddie also possessed what was perhaps the ultimate membership card — Canadian permanent resident cards for his entire family.”
— Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians

The author of the best-selling debut novel, Crazy Rich Asians, which is coming out as a movie in August, knows Metro Vancouver well.

Kevin Kwan, whose trio of books satirize Asia’s most privileged people, not only knows Metro because the city is a major magnet for ethnic Chinese capital and people. He also understands the city because his parents were among the first trans-national migrants to buy one of its luxury properties.

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http://jamesalexandermichie.com/james-alexander-michie-vancouver-sun-douglas-todd-author-crazy-rich-asians-knows-whats-fuelling-vancouver/

James Alexander Michie | CNN: Donald Trump is pretty sure he's nailing this whole 'President' thing

(CNN) - On Wednesday night, speaking to a packed house in North Dakota, President Donald Trump seemed to suggest that this whole being President thing wasn't so tough.

"The Heritage Foundation came out with a report, and this was as of two months ago, we've already implemented 64% of our top agenda items," Trump told the cheering crowd. "And that's at a much faster pace than even Ronald Reagan. That's pretty good, right?"

That bravado was apparent, too, in Trump's barrage of early morning tweets on Thursday. Breaking with his past refusal to impugn special counsel Robert Mueller personally, Trump tweeted, "When is Bob Mueller going to list his Conflicts of Interest? Why has it taken so long? Will they be listed at the top of his $22,000,000 Report...And what about the 13 Angry Democrats, will they list their conflicts with Crooked H? How many people will be sent to jail and persecuted on old and/or totally unrelated charges (there was no collusion and there was no obstruction of the no collusion)...And what is going on in the FBI & DOJ with Crooked Hillary, the DNC and all of the lies? A disgraceful situation!"

The reason for all that confidence? Donald Trump is, to borrow a favorite Trump word, winning -- at least as he sees it.

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http://jamesalexandermichie.com/james-alexander-michie-cnn-donald-trump-pretty-sure-hes-nailing-whole-president-thing/

James Alexander Michie | CBC News: As yield curves threaten to invert, market watchers sit up and pay attention

When the yield curve inverts, it's usually a sign the U.S. is headed for recession

A red figurine sits atop a trader's desk at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange last year. As short-term interest rates rise and long-term ones stay low, many economists are starting to worry about inverted yield curves and their knack for predicting recessions. (Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg)

It may not have escalated to the level of water cooler talk, but an obscure and obtuse-sounding economic indicator is a hot topic of conversation among the investment community of late.

The yield curve on government debt — the gap between how much long-term bonds pay out versus short-term ones — is at its lowest level in more than a decade, and opinion is somewhat divided on how bad a sign it is for the economy.

Under normal circumstances, the yield on long-term bonds should be much higher than the yield on short-term ones to properly reward investors for the risk of waiting longer to get paid, particularly since inflation can eat away at value over time.

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http://jamesalexandermichie.com/james-alexander-michie-cbc-news-yield-curves-threaten-invert-market-watchers-sit-pay-attention/

James Alexander Michie | THE STAR: Trudeau to Facebook: Fix your fake news problem or face stricter regulations

OTTAWA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has warned social networking giant Facebook it needs to fix its “fake news” problems or face stronger regulation from Ottawa.

Trudeau told Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg in November he was concerned the company wasn’t doing enough to stop the spread of misleading information on their platform, a source with direct knowledge of the conversation told the Star.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau chats with Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook chief operating officer during a bilateral meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 20, 2016. The pair met again in November 2017 and Trudeau warned the Facebook COO that the company could face stronger regulation in Canada. (ANDREW VAUGHAN / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Facebook has been under intense international scrutiny for allowing so-called “fake news” — false and often outlandish information presented as legitimate journalism — to propagate on its network.

Sometimes the “articles” are simply hoaxes, designed to profit from Facebook users’ clicks.

But as seen during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the tactic can also mislead or manipulate citizens to further political ends – whether by partisan actors domestically, or hostile nations internationally. Facebook has also faced criticism about a lack of transparency around who is buying ads on its platform.

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http://jamesalexandermichie.com/james-alexander-michie-star-trudeau-facebook-fix-fake-news-problem-face-stricter-regulations/

James Alexander Michie | CBC News: Canadians head into fight that may be 'unwinnable' in Mali

'No clear good guys,' even among those welcoming foreign troops

Canadian soldiers move towards a Chinook transport helicopter in a training exercise. Before their deployment to Mali, they practised the rapid removal of injured troops. (David Common/CBC)

Canada's military has already learned the lesson that your supposed friends may actually be working against you. That those professing a willingness for peace have never put down their guns and that they are connected to narco-trafficking and need the chaos to continue so they can profit from it.

It happened in Afghanistan and it's happening now in Canada's newest mission: Mali.

"One of the biggest problems isn't that we have really tough rivals but that we have really bad allies," says Aisha Ahmad, a terrorism researcher at the University of Toronto who regularly travels to Mali. "Those groups are implicated in cocaine trafficking and illicit business and have become financially incentivized to maintain the status quo."

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http://jamesalexandermichie.com/james-alexander-michie-cbc-news-canadians-mali/

James Alexander Michie | Bloomberg: Crypto Collapse Spreads With Hundreds of Coins Plunging in Value

How Much Is Bitcoin Really Worth?

The meltdown in Bitcoin is weighing on more than the biggest cryptocurrency.

Over 80 percent of 1,586 digital coins Finder.com tracks in a weekly survey decreased in price in the past seven days. The tokens fell 19 percent on average, Finder.com found in the week ended June 25.

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http://jamesalexandermichie.com/james-alexander-michie-bloomberg-cryptocurrencies/

James Alexander Michie | CBC News: China has unused weapons in escalating trade war: Don Pittis

China plays a careful strategic game in the face of conflicting U.S. statements on trade

China has opened the door to new lending to help small and large companies survive the adjustment to U.S. tariffs. (Reuters)

With only days to go before China and the United States trigger punishing tariff penalties on one another's exports, it seems impossible to imagine either country backing down.

As both sides talk tough, once again global markets, including in Shanghai, New York and Toronto, declined sharply.

On Sunday, China had announced its latest weapon in its economic battle with the U.S., namely 700 billion yuan ($142 billion Cdn) in new stimulus for domestic industries.

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http://jamesalexandermichie.com/james-alexander-michie-cbc-news-china-don-pittis/