Axios AM

August 26, 2023
๐๏ธ Hello, summer Saturday! Smart Brevityโข count: 1,369 words ... 5 mins. Edited by TuAnh Dam.
1 big thing: China's slow-moving economic disaster
Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
China finally reopened its economy earlier this year after years of extreme COVID restrictions. So far, it's a giant fizzle โ with profound ramifications for the rest of the globe, Axios' Neil Irwin writes.
- Why it matters: China has been a reliable engine powering global growth for three decades, becoming the world's second-largest economy. That engine, for now, looks to have stalled out.
- That creates a new suite of problems for its trading partners and new geopolitical risks.
What's happening: Instead of the robust bounceback much of the world experienced with its pandemic reopening, the Chinese economy is muddling along with weak growth, falling prices, a popped real estate bubble, and mass unemployment among young adults.
- Cracks have been evident in the Chinese growth juggernaut for years, as its government exerted a heavier hand with businesses, constricting private-sector investment.
China's growth has been reliant on real estate investment โ built on a lending bubble โ rather than shifting toward broad consumer demand.
- Amid intensifying state control of Chinese business and geopolitical tension, American and European governments are restricting investment in China, limiting its ability to expand in high-growth sectors like semiconductors and aerospace.

Rather than grapple with the underlying problems, Chinese leadership has focused on hiding them.
- After recent reports showing unemployment among young adults reached 21.3% in June, the government suspended release of the data.
Hank Paulson, the former Treasury Secretary who deepened U.S.-China economic relations under President George W. Bush, writes in The Washington Post: "Under President Xi Jinping, China has doubled down on the role of the Communist Party as the means to oversee the economy."
- "This has taken a heavy toll on the entrepreneurial spirit of the Chinese people, which had been the driving force behind past decades of growth."
Between the lines: The usual government stimulus strategies โ loosening lending and pumping money into the economy โ may be less effective at boosting growth than they were in the past. Chinese consumers and businesses have become more inclined to hoard cash, argues economist Adam Posen.
What's next: Trade with China is a relatively small โ and falling โ share of the U.S. economy. But 120 countries worldwide count China as their largest trading partner. So Chinese economic dysfunction could ripple across the global economy and financial markets in unpredictable ways.
2. ๐ฅ Trump mug-shot strategy

These hats, with Trump's booking number from Thursday night, were already for sale yesterday in L.A.'s Los Feliz neighborhood, near Hollywood.
Trump's team is using the mug shot for campaign merchandise and fundraising appeals including his first tweet since leaving office, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.
- Trump aides said his own Truth Social platform will continue to be his focus โ but didn't rule out Trump returning to Elon Musk's platform, where millions more people are likely to see his posts.
The mug shot is on his campaign homepage (soliciting donations), and is being sold by the campaign on "NEVER SURRENDER!" T-shirts, koozies, bumper stickers ... and, of course, mugs.
- Share this story ... Go deeper: Tao of Trump's mug shot.
3. โ๏ธ All the president's men & women, 2023

These are this week's booking mugshots of former President Trump and his 18 co-defendants in Fulton County, Ga.
After 73 hours stretched over four days, all 19 defendants charged with trying to overthrow the 2020 election in Georgia have been booked and processed at the Fulton County Jail, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:
"Some arrived under cover of darkness. Others strode out and spoke to reporters. Only one touched down in Atlanta on a plane emblazoned with his own name and was granted a formidable police escort to the jail on Rice Street."
Several smiled for the camera.
4. ๐ 1,000 words

Vice President Harris honored the 2022 WNBA champions, the Las Vegas Aces, in the East Room yesterday โ and was presented a jersey by A'ja Wilson (left) and guard Chelsea Gray.
5. ๐บ Hawaiian 'ohana spirt endures

115 people perished โ with more unaccounted for โ and thousands of homes are gone after flames and smoke barreled from the hills and annihilated the historic town of Lahaina, Hawai'i.
- But even in places overwhelmed by despair and devastation, the family spirit known as 'ohana endures, AP's Bobby Caina Calvan, Jae C. Hong and Mike Householder report.
'Ohana is a sensibility, a way of thinking that means family, belonging, community and so much more โ solace in a time of calamity.
- It's a unifying principle in an increasingly fragmented world. And in recent weeks, amid misfortune, the word has taken on profound importance in a place appealing for help.

Online fundraisers, many set up by displaced families, have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, much of it from distant places. One relief fund passed $1.2 million, with 6,400 donors from around the globe.
- Archie Kalepa, a surfing legend and revered member of Maui's Hawaiian Native community, urged his 'ohana to honor core values: "Love your family, take care of the land ... and you'll rebuild your community."
6. "Nutrition labels" aim to boost AI trust

As adoption of generative AI grows, providers hope that greater visibility about how they do and don't use customers' data will increase those clients' trust in the technology, Axios chief tech correspondent Ina Fried reports.
- Why it matters: There's a mad scramble in the software world to add AI features. But worries about privacy and security are prompting some businesses to discourage employees from using the new features.
Twilio, which helps businesses automate communications with their customers, will place "nutrition labels" on the AI services it offers those businesses, clearly outlining how their data will be used.
- The labels report what AI models Twilio is using, whether those models are being trained on customer data, whether features are optional and whether there is a "human in the loop."
- A "privacy ladder" distinguishes between company data that is used only for customers' internal projects โ and data that is also being used to train models used by other customers, as well as whether personally identifiable information is included in the data.
Salesforce unveiled an acceptable use policy that governs what companies can and can't do with its generative AI technologies.
- Among the practices banned are using the technology to generate weapons, pornography or political campaigns.
- Salesforce prohibits using AI to offer individualized advice that would normally require a licensed professional, such as a lawyer or financial adviser.
- Salesforce customers must also disclose when people are interacting directly with a bot, and are forbidden from providing AI-generated content to users under the pretense that it is human-made.
๐ฎ What's next: Twilio and Salesforce both said they hope other firms will follow their lead.
- Share this story ... Get Axios AI+ every morning.
7. ๐ Charted: Paying for public v. private college


A higher share of students at four-year private universities are on financial aid than students in public schools, despite more public school students coming from low-income households, Axios' Kira Wang reports.
- An Axios analysis of IPEDS financial aid data found that the average share of students awarded financial aid in 2021 was 85.3% in four-year private schools, but only 69.4% for students in public schools.
What's happening: Factors include the higher sticker price of most private schools.
8. ๐ 1 fun thing: Axios Local's game-day champ

To mark the return of college football, Axios Local readers voted for their favorite game-day traditions.
- It came down to Colorado and Notre Dame in the final round โ a head-to-head battle between a buffalo and a leprechaun, Axios' Emma Way reports.
The winner: Ralphie, the University of Colorado Buffaloes mascot.
- It's impossible to stay quiet when she (yes!) rumbles along the sidelines, cheered on by Buffs fans in Folsom Field in Boulder, writes Esteban L. Hernandez of Axios Denver, a CU Boulder alum.
The runner-up โ pushed by the fan bases of Axios Indianapolis and Axios Chicago โ was the leprechaun of Notre Dame's Fighting Irish.


So many game-day icons to choose from:
- LSU's live mascot, Mike the Tiger ... Auburn's Eagle Flight ... Texas A&M Aggies' Midnight Yell ... The Ohio State University marching band dotting the "I" ... Wisconsin's "Jump Around" ... "sailgating" at University of Washington (hat tip: JMart).
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