Wednesday's economy stories

Trump’s trade war may miss China's plan to own the future
Trade and China experts fear that President Trump, seeking a marquee, high-dollar deal with Beijing to reduce a $375 billion trade imbalance, may achieve a political win but leave the U.S. at a critical, long-term economic disadvantage.
What they're saying: China's stated objective is to dominate the primary industries of future wealth and the jobs that come with them, including artificial intelligence, robotics, self-driving and electric cars, and advanced microchips. It is smoothing its path there using tech obtained through means including coercion of western companies, according to long-standing industry complaints.

Why radiologists may not be goners
Apart perhaps from cashier and truck driver, radiologist is said to be the most imperiled job on the planet in the new age of automation. But artificial intelligence researchers say the challenge they're addressing at the moment is to make it easier for radiologists to work faster and with less fear of a bad call.

"Roseanne" revival makes a ratings splash in ABC premiere
ABC's "Roseanne" revival scored big in its Tuesday night return to television. The Nielsen overnight ratings show the program led not only in total viewers (18.1 million) but also in the key demographic of adults 18-49 ("Roseanne" secured a 5.1 rating).
The big picture: The numbers make "Roseanne" both "the highest-rated regularly-scheduled scripted show of the last few seasons as well as "the highest-rated sitcom broadcast in over three years," according to the Hollywood Reporter. The closest competition came from NBC's "The Voice," which received a 1.6 rating in the key demographic and 8.8 million total viewers.
California marijuana sellers contend with online black market
"Craigslist for cannabis ... Online ads from unlicensed pot shops roil California market," AP's Michael Blood reports from L.A.
Why it matters: "The dispute over the online ads goes to basic economics for an emerging market sprung from what was mostly an illegal one: Lawful operators will struggle if they're competing with a robust black market that can undersell them."

Seth Rich's brother sues over DNC "conspiracy theory" reports
The brother of Seth Rich, the former DNC staffer who was murdered in 2016, is suing the Washington Times, Texas businessman Ed Butowsky, and internet activist Matt Couch — along with Couch's media company — for promoting conspiracy theories surrounding Rich's death, reports CNN. Aaron Rich is seeking damages for reputational harm and emotional distress after false reports claimed that his background as a defense contractor allowed him to help his brother obtain and transfer leaked DNC emails to WikiLeaks.
The backdrop: The filing comes on the heels of a separate lawsuit brought by Rich's parents against Fox News for claims of emotional distress surrounding a retracted 2017 story that exploited their son's murder "through lies, misrepresentations, and half-truths" with similar baseless claims that Rich's murder was connected to the DNC leak.

Trump approval rating up thanks to the economy, tax cuts
President Trump's approval rating jumped 7 points this month to 42%, due in part to the growing U.S. economy and tax cuts, according to the latest AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. 47% of respondents said they approved of how Trump was handling the economy and 46% approve of his handling of the new tax overhaul.
Yes, but: Republicans are approaching what is looking like a gloomy midterm season and Trump is still disliked by over half of American voters. 73% of voters said that they thought the new tax laws benefit the wealthy, and voters were split over whether they helped the middle class. However, in past midterm and presidential elections, the economy and jobs have always been the top issues for voters, according to Pew Research.
Here's some perspective on #DeleteFacebook
While Washington wrings its hands over Facebook's data-harvesting scandal and the continued palace intrigue of the Trump administration, most Americans tend to have their attention focused elsewhere:
Why it matters: Trends like #deletefacebook might appear transformational and gain traction amongst Elon Musk's tech circles, but they often fail to break through for most Americans. People are presented with more content than can possibly be consumed, often choosing relaxing, pleasing selections over the news of the moment — and who can blame them?

The new internet economy looks a lot like TV
Groups of internet websites are forming in clusters so that they can share resources and leverage their collective size to negotiate better deals with digital content distributors and offer better advertising solutions.
The latest: Bustle Digital Group announced yesterday that it is acquiring The Zoe Report from Rachel Zoe, Inc., a popular fashion and lifesytle brand for young women. Bustle CEO Bryan Goldberg says they are planning more acquisitions in the future.


TV boss warns: Some consolidation could kill good content
John Landgraf, the CEO of 21st Century Fox-owned cable network FX and FX Productions, which produces hits ranging from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia to The Americans, tells Axios he's worried that media consolidation with other industries (tech, telecom, etc.) could lead to less quality storytelling.
"If Fox and Disney don’t merge, I think existing TV brands have a pretty uncertain future... There's a possibility that in the aftermath of a merger between Disney and Fox that (the combined company) will be the only free-standing company started by a storyteller — Walt Disney— that's large enough to be at scale to compete. Every other company will be owned by a phone company or cable company or internet platform... There’s a special status that storytellers hold inside these creative companies. We have decades or sometimes upwards of 100 years of experience nurturing stories and I worry about the future of fictional storytelling, to be honest, in an environment where it’s farther down the scale of priorities. I’m not saying it’s a non-priority, it’s just not the number one priority to a company like Google or Facebook and I worry about that."





