Sorry to hear of the passing of William Friedkin. THE EXORCIST is great, but for me the real classic was SORCERER.

Democracy is always superior to authoritarianism, long term. Regulated capitalism is always superior to state owned and directed business.

Imagine being the person who has to read through that drek.

More than a fifth of Chinese age 16 to 24 are out of work.

Spain and other southern EU countries have experienced this, and even higher unemployment rates in the past, but with China’s rather large population, we’re about 30 million young people in a country with few safety nets.

China’s economy barely grew in the second quarter from the first and youth unemployment hit a record high in June, providing evidence of a fading recovery.

So what is Xi going to do when these 30 million hit the streets to demonstrate? Draft them and attack Taiwan?

It’s a demographic. I’m sure there are Chinese students in there but a lot less than you think. The.secondary school system is selective in China. Point is that China has negative impacts from economic downturn which is affecting its population.

the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The sluggish pace of growth in 2023 is piling pressure on Beijing to reignite an expansion that is in danger of fizzling out as consumers refrain from spending and exports slump. A drawn-out real estate crunch and shaky local-government finances are compounding the gloom. More than a fifth of Chinese age 16 to 24 are out of work.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-economy-barely-grows-as-recovery-fades-5652a92a?mod=hp_lead_pos1

Basically an aging population makes it hard for a country to find replacement workers for its economy, which results in stagnation. Takes more than a couple of bad years, though.

Japan has this very problem right now,

Like the leaked draft of Dobbs was fictitious?

The leaked Dobbs paper turned out to be true. It wasn’t facetious, it was a working document.