According to a former chief economist at the World Bank, China's economy could grow by a huge 8 percent each year for the next decade as it continues to have a competitive edge in new technologies alongside its massive robust domestic market. During a speech at the Lenovo Tech World 2020 earlier today, Justin Lin said he believes that with the research and development cycle of new technologies being much shorter now, added to first class integrated supply chains, China’s economy will withstand external impacts of the global pandemic and keep on expanding rapidly. Lin stated that China could contribute a massive 30 percent to the global economic growth over the coming years as it develops new technologies in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and fifth-generation mobile networks.
Also, in what could lead to the highest voter turnout in percentage terms in more than a century, over 70 million Americans have already cast their ballots in the U.S. presidential election, more than half the total turnout of the last election according to a running tally from the U.S. Elections Project. The massive upturn in postal votes not only shows signs of the strong interest in the ultimate result, but also of people’s desire to reduce their risk to the ongoing virus. The high level of early voting has led to the University of Florida professor, Michael McDonald, who administers the U.S. Elections Project, to predict a record U.S. voter turnout of approximately 150 million, representing 65% of those eligible to vote, the highest rate for 112 years.
However, for those who want to hand-deliver their mail ballots for fear they will not arrive in time will have trouble in some counties. In Texas the all-Republican Texas Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the state can restrict its counties to just one drop box, which is ok if you live in Loving County, with its population of 169, you are unlikely to queue. If you live in Harris County, where Houston is located, your ability to use just the one drop box might be more limited. It has a population of 4 million people.