From the Daily Caller News Foundation 

By Wallace White

China’s wealthiest citizens are resorting to dubiously legal methods to get their money out of the country as economic turmoil and a failing property market loom over the nation, according to the Wall Street Journal Wednesday.

The richest in the country are using various methods to circumvent the $50,000 foreign exchange limit, such as buying cryptocurrency, paintings or overpaying for imports among other methods, according to the WSJ. From the last half of 2023 to June this year, over $250 billion in assets has left the country, according to a WSJ analysis of Census and Economic Information Center data.

“Five or 10 years ago if you were a Chinese person you could put your money in real estate and have a way of growing your wealth,” Martin Rasmussen, senior strategist at research firm Exante Data told the WSJ. “That is not by any means attractive anymore.”

A similar outflow occurred in 2015 and 2016, with Chinese citizens purchasing over $200 billion in foreign assets, according to the WSJ in 2016.

China’s economic growth is projected to slow down by 4.5% in 2025, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in May. The “ongoing housing market correction” is a large part of the economic downturn, as an estimated $18 trillion in value was wiped from the sector since 2021, according to the WSJ.

Top Chinese developer Evergrande was ordered to be liquidated in January by a Hong Kong court after it failed to restructure in the face of more than $300 billion in liabilities. Before the company’s collapse, China was already projected to hemorrhage at least $65 billion to foreign investments, with the Evergrande collapse accelerating the capital movement.

Beijing is publicly making examples of people it catches using illicit methods to transfer capital overseas, such as one group featured on state TV network CCTV that reportedly helped move $112 million worth of Chinese Yuan, according to the WSJ. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange also publishes records of people punished for violating its controls publicly.

Punishments usually include fines around half of the amount illegally transferred, or sometimes criminal charges, according to the WSJ.

Even for China’s ultra-rich with overseas connections, it’s getting harder to evade the government’s crackdown on capital leaving the nation, private bankers told the WSJ. The flight signals a lack of confidence in the economy as Chinese lawmakers feel the pressure to stabilize the currency and manage an aging population.

One method involves buying paintings to be sold in Hong Kong at an auction, but keeping the profit from the sale in U.S. currency on an offshore account based in the city, where the mainland’s capital controls don’t apply, according to the WSJ.

Newer methods to transport currency utilize cryptocurrency, which is bought by a third-party facilitator, stored on hard drives then converted to dollars overseas, according to the WSJ. While China banned crypto trading in 2021, crypto wallets are still allowed.

From LifeSiteNews

By Stephen Kokx

Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris has not yet committed to be a guest on the popular podcaster’s show.

With less than two weeks until Election Day, Donald Trump is set to make his much-anticipated debut on commentator Joe Rogan’s podcast.

Reports of Trump’s appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” have grown in recent days after rumors began circulating that Kamala Harris would be a guest on the program. As of yet, the Harris team has not confirmed if she is planning to sit down with Rogan, whose shows routinely last for over two hours.

Trump will record an episode in person at Rogan’s Austin-based studio on Friday. Rogan commands a listenership north of 14 million, most of whom are men. It is not known when the show will be released, but it will have to be published before Tuesday, November 5, when voters go to the polls.

In the past, Rogan has had on Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, Russell Brand, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., all of whom now support Trump for president. As recently as 2022, Rogan said, “I’m not a Trump supporter in any way, shape or form.” At the same time, he praised Trump after he survived his first assassination attempt and has admitted life under him was better than it is under Joe Biden.

Rogan’s edgy commentary and willingness to delve into “conspiracy theories” while challenging mainstream media talking points about COVID-19, U.S. foreign policy, and other topics have made him one of the most-listened-to podcasters in the world. His massive $250 million deal with Spotify has essentially made him noncancelable.

Earlier this year, musician Kid Rock told Rogan that he would go back in time to meet Jesus Christ. Rogan, who is an agnostic and skeptical that Our Lord ever existed, responded, “What if Jesus wasn’t there? … You think there’s a real Jesus?” To which Rock replied, “Definitely.”

While speaking with NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers in February, Rogan, who was raised Catholic but now partakes in drug-induced meditation and “spiritual” exercises, said the world is in “need of Jesus” and that “as time rolls on, people are going to understand the need to have some sort of divine structure to things.”

It is difficult to know which topics Rogan will bring up with Trump. One would expect him ask about Operation Warp Speed, as Rogan interviewed alternative medical doctors and took ivermectin when he contracted the coronavirus. He may also ask Trump about how he plans to “make America healthy again” with RFK Jr., who Rogan previously said he is a “fan” of. Trump’s assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania would also likely also be a topic of conversation.