3 things to think about today (July 26th)
1) New US crime statistics may amount to a growing political problem for the Biden administration, as the Republicans charge that their dramatic rise is linked to the Democrat’s ‘Defund the Police’ drive. In New York City, shootings have risen a worrying 70 percent, in Los Angeles murders are up a stratospheric 200 percent, and in Minneapolis homicides have more than doubled. The common denominator is that the respective City Halls of these three Democratic-controlled cities are taking steps to defund the police.
2) More bad news for the Biden administration over the costs of its expansive Democratic ‘wish list’ bill. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has estimated that the real cost of Biden’s marquee proposal is $5.5 trillion, or $2 trillion more than the advertised $3.5 trillion. The bill, which is still being ironed out as to how it will be paid for, calls for universal pre-kindergarten education, tuition-free community colleges, and a new family paid leave programme. The Committee said that the difference in the total is due to fairly standard accounting gimmicks. Worryingly, Senate Majority Leader Schumer and Speaker of the House Pelosi are on record stating they will not pass a separate, bipartisan infrastructure bill (costing $1.2 trillion) unless the ‘wish list bill’ is passed first.
3) French President Emmanuel Macron seems to be pivoting away from European neutralism over the Sino-American Cold War, moving decisively into the anti-Beijing camp. On a visit to the Pacific region, Macron pledged to establish closer ties with Japan, while forging a strategic partnership with both India and Australia, all pro-American allies. Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga expressed joint concern over Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong’s democracy movement and continued oppression of the ethnic Uighurs in China’s western Xinjiang province. Practically, the French president said Paris would help South Pacific nations to launch a joint coastguard network to counter Beijing’s predatory maritime behaviour.