Well, it's Friday so time for our panel!
President Trump and congressional leaders failed again today to break a deadlock that has kept the government partially shut down for two weeks; McConnell is facing pressure from Republicans to stop avoiding a shutdown; China's economy continues to slow. What's the impact of these stories going forward? Trump held a press conference today and was dismissive of the federal workers impacted by this shutdown.
Also, Nancy Pelosi is elected speaker as Democrats take control of House. Democrats then moved to defy President Trump and passed bills that would open government agencies shuttered by an impasse over his insistence on funding for a border wall. What's going on with this newest wave of divided government in the US?
Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado, broke ranks to become the first member of his party to call for an end to the shutdown — with or without Mr. Trump's wall funding. Senator Susan Collins of Maine, one of the chamber's most moderate members, said Thursday that she would support separating homeland security funding from the other bipartisan appropriations bills already approved in committee to reopen much of the government.
Weakening domestic demand and the ongoing trade war with the US have dealt a double whammy to the Chinese economy. A lot of folks are talking about Apple but here are three other interesting data points. Starbucks Stock — China is the centrepiece of the coffee giant's expansion plans going forward. Last May, Starbucks said it planned to ramp up store openings to 600 annually, with a view to having 6,000 cafes in the country. But last month the company said same-store sales growth in China could be as low as 1% in the long term. This figure is well below the 3%-4% growth seen for the US and the rest of the world. Apple's cut in its sales forecast was blamed almost entirely on the economic slowdown in China, but the real picture is probably far more complex, with high prices, cultural differences, fierce competition and consumers keeping their phones for longer all causing problems.
GUESTS:
Tom Porter — African American Studies Department at Ohio University and former director of the King Center in Atlanta.
Colin Campbell — Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication, Culture and Media Studies at Howard University's School of Communication. He has been a TV news reporter for more than 20 years. As a senior Washington, DC correspondent since 2008, he has been a reporter-at-large covered two presidencies, Congress and State departments.
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