Derek A. Kreifels writes about Sarah Bloom Raskin, Biden’s nominee for the Federal Reserve’s vice chair for supervision:
If she prevails, oil and gas companies risk being squeezed out of bank loans — a plight that may eventually befall any company that fails to meet her environmental standards. Not only is that a potential threat to the livelihood of many Americans; it’s a threat that should never emanate from the Fed. President Biden should withdraw her nomination immediately.
Read the whole thing here.
And also be sure to check out this longer piece from Jordan McGillis on the competition between China and Indonesia, and what role the U.S. can play:
While Beijing has put Northeast Asia on edge with its ongoing aerial-intimidation campaign around Taiwan, it has simultaneously encroached upon the waters of Indonesia, interfering with lawful energy exploration.
China’s violations of Indonesian sovereignty are far from “lovable” and may be self-defeating. Because Indonesia is the world’s fourth-largest country by population and is Southeast Asia’s largest economy, it figures to play a central, and perhaps decisive, role in the competition between China and the United States for regional influence. There is good reason that Evan Laksmana, senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, has referred to Indonesia as the “strategic fulcrum in the era of U.S.–China great power competition.” China will understand that perfectly well, meaning that the aggressive stance it is taking toward Indonesia is at once puzzling and informative.
While less publicized than China’s conflicts with the Philippines and Vietnam, the Sino-Indonesian quarrel has been brewing for more than five years. . . .
Full article here.