In Orwell’s Europe, spending is liberty, surveillance is trust, and punishment is care.

Sanctions were supposed to erase Huawei. Instead, they erased the script.

Post–Donald Copperfield 1.0 trade war: Huawei sells better phones than Apple for less, leads in tech, launches the Avita 12 with ADS 3.3.2 that drives itself better than an F1 driver—and does it without Nvidia chips.

Turns out sanctions don’t kill innovation, they just make it angry. 🍿🚗💨

https://x.com/XueJia24682/status/2000528171641557439

After the longest U.S. government shutdown on record, the BLS is finally emptying the data closet: November payrolls rose a modest 64k after October’s revised faceplant of –105k, while unemployment politely climbed to 4.6%. October’s collapse was “explained” by 162k federal workers vanishing from payrolls after deferred resignations—proof that jobs can be lost by spreadsheet. November’s rebound came from healthcare, social assistance, and construction, while transportation, leisure, and hospitality quietly exited stage left. In short: the labour market isn’t broken, just heavily edited.

The rise in unemployment from September to November came with a silver lining: more people re-entered the workforce, pushing participation higher—especially among prime-age workers. Less comforting, however, is that long-term unemployment is back near post-2021 highs, involuntary part-time work just logged its biggest jump since the pandemic. Job openings ticked up, hiring slowed, layoffs rose, and corporate pink slips from Verizon and Amazon did wonders for consumer confidence (in the wrong direction). With unemployment now well above its two-year average, the economy’s “boom” is starting to look suspiciously like the opening act of a bust.

In conclusion, after the shutdown smoke cleared, the jobs report reads like creative accounting—modest gains, rising unemployment, more part-timers and layoffs—making today’s “boom” look suspiciously like tomorrow’s bust in rehearsal.

Adding to the growing pile of warning lights for the U.S. consumer, October retail sales barely moved—unless you count scrolling for discounts as growth. Spending held up in eight of thirteen categories, helped by department stores and online shopping, but motor vehicle sales skidded 1.6% as EV subsidies expired and gas got cheaper (bad for receipts, good for drivers). Wealthier households are still carrying the shopping bags, while lower-income consumers browse cautiously, calculator in hand. Even restaurants felt the pinch, with sales slipping 0.4%. Translation: the holidays may start with deals, but economists expect consumer momentum to fade as the year ends.

Since these retail figures ignore inflation, a “gain” might just be shoppers paying more rather than buying more. Plus, goods account for only a third of household spending. Adjusted for the so-called ‘CP-Lie,’ sales actually fell 0.1% month-over-month—a subtle but ominous hint that the U.S. economy’s current boom is edging toward an inevitable bust.

In a nutshell, October retail sales barely budged, with higher prices masking weaker demand, signaling that the U.S. consumer’s holiday cheer may be the calm before an inevitable economic bust.

Despite all the hype about an AI-fueled business boom, U.S. activity in December barely crawled along at a six-month low while input costs soared to a three-year high—proving once again that innovation doesn’t pay the bills. The S&P Global composite index nudged down to 53 (expansion, but just barely), even as the prices-paid gauge shot up to 64.1. Firms grumbled about tariffs and rising costs spreading from manufacturing to services, sending selling prices higher and hiring confidence lower. Orders slowed, service-sector growth stalled, and employment barely budged—all while output keeps ticking up for 35 months, like a treadmill no one asked for.

In a nutshell, U.S. business growth limps along as input costs soar, hiring stalls, and companies wonder how innovation can pay for rising prices—proof that the AI boom comes with a side of sticker shock.

As Europe marches toward its debt trap, the ECB’s Davos-approved answer is—of course—more centralization, with Lagarde calling it an “existential crisis” while quietly admitting the centralized model is finished: 28 nations were never meant to be one economy, and no amount of QE can fix growth destroyed by overregulation, taxation, and policies that deliberately built the very barriers now blamed for Europe’s decline.

https://www.euronews.com/business/2025/12/10/europes-existential-crisis-ecbs-lagarde-calls-for-urgent-reforms

Capital has been fleeing Europe for years—not because of rates, but because confidence is gone. When governments keep changing the rules and treating capital like a criminal, long-term investment vanishes.

Europe has borrowed to preserve lifestyles instead of productivity, the textbook road to decline. When debt grows faster than output, systems break. Lagarde’s “existential crisis” is simply the bill coming due.

And no, this won’t be fixed by another round of Brussels “reforms.” The euro was flawed from birth, and the warnings have been flashing since day one: nations will soon rediscover that sovereignty beats centralized control.

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Mercedes’ 2026 CLA 220 hybrid is a triumph of globalization: a proud German badge powered by a Geely-co-developed 1.5L engine built in China, lightly sprinkled with a 48-volt hybrid and officially “finished” in Germany for paperwork purposes. It’s efficient, AI-enhanced, softly electrified, and fast enough to feel modern—proof that Western automotive dominance hasn’t ended, it’s just been outsourced, rebranded, and wrapped in ambient lighting. The beginning of the end, or simply the end with better UX?

https://carnewschina.com/2025/12/16/mercedes-benz-2026-cla-220-hybrid-features-a-geely-1-5t-engine-with-208-horsepower/

While Donald Copperfield waves his magic wand and proposes a 50-year mortgage to “solve” affordability—because nothing says You Will Own and Be Happy like debt until retirement and beyond—Russia is drafting legislation to simply pay off mortgages for families with four children.

One model inflates prices, delays adulthood, and does nothing for demographics; the other targets population decline head-on.

https://news-pravda.com/world/2025/12/17/1939722.html

With Christmas a week away, the U.S. Treasury unwrapped a festive $13 billion 20-year bond—priced at a not-so-joyful 4.798% yield, a full 10 bps richer than November’s 4.71%. It barely squeezed through the when-issued level at 4.799%, marking the sixth “stop-through” in seven tries—proof that even in a jubilee year, Santa still demands a higher yield before climbing down the chimney.

And despite the Grinch-like yield, demand showed up: bid-to-cover jumped from 2.41 to 2.67, foreigners feasted on 65.2% (their biggest bite since July), directs nibbled a bit less, and dealers were once again left holding the leftovers—because nothing says “strong auction” like Wall Street stuck with the turkey.

Overall, it was a “solid” auction—proof that plenty of investors still believe the Wall Street fairy tale that government IOUs are risk-free, even as they quietly morph into the riskiest asset to hold heading into inevitable ‘Trump Stagflation’ and the oncoming Year of the Fire Horse.

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