Trump’s cell-phone use is only sort of a laughing matter

[Bloomberg]( Today’s Agenda - Trump’s [cell-phone carelessness]( suggests far [bigger disasters]( ahead. - [Corporate debt]( and [housing]( are two possible sources of the next recession. - Tomorrow’s [Abe-Xi summit]( has global implications. - Don’t expect much help from [Twitter on abusive accounts](. - New York’s lawsuit against Exxon is the latest attempt to [squeeze Big Oil’s wallet](. Trump’s Cell-Phone Sloppiness If you don’t think about it too hard, it’s kind of hilarious how we spent the 2016 presidential election litigating one candidate’s carelessness with information security and put her opponent in the White House, only to learn he was possibly more careless. Specifically, President Donald Trump refuses to stop using his unsecured personal iPhone, according to the New York Times, even after being told his communications are regularly monitored by China and Russia. This is an [unconscionable breach of national security](, writes Bloomberg’s editorial board — even if, as the Times reports, Trump is blissfully uninformed about important state secrets. Bad presidencies are usually marked by some kind of big disaster — the collapse of the Union for James Buchanan, the Depression for Herbert Hoover — but are typically the culmination of a series of bad decisions by the president and his administration leading up to them. The Trump presidency hasn't yet produced a debacle of such dimension (though arguably it has produced several [small ones](). But Trump’s willingness to let China and Russia eavesdrop on him, just so he doesn’t lose his phone contacts, is the latest evidence he’s laying the [groundwork for an epic disaster](, writes Jonathan Bernstein. What Will Cause the Next Recession? Most economists [don’t see a U.S. recession coming]( until 2020, but just like the presidential election due that same year, it’s never too soon to start thinking about it. Unfortunately. The economy still seems strong-ish, but enough worries have cropped up lately (trade wars, rising interest rates, falling stock prices) that people are throwing the “r” word around more and more. Another source of worry is the growing mountain, and eroding quality, of corporate debt. Noah Smith warns it has [that whiff of subprime-mortgage disaster]( around it and could possibly be the source of our next recession. Nir Kaissar points out corporate balance sheets and [earnings are still pretty strong]( and that looking everywhere for the next “subprime” is an example of unhelpfully fighting the last battle. Read [their whole debate here](. But speaking of last battles, we have to talk about housing. Lately we’ve seen some [ugly home-sales numbers](, which is bad because the broader economy’s fate is tied to housing. Higher mortgage rates are the prime suspect here. But Justin Fox notes the [dramatic swoon in Northeast home sales]( and points out Trump’s idea of punishing blue states by slashing state and local tax deductions is adding to housing’s pain. The tax cuts that included the SALT hike may have given the economy a short-term boost. It may be the last hurrah. When Abe Meets Xi In a lot of ways, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is as much a leader of the free world these days as Germany’s Angela Merkel. That’s why [his summit tomorrow with China’s Xi Jinping]( is so important, writes Bloomberg’s editorial board. Abe can strengthen Japan’s ties with China at a time when both are at odds with Trump. He may also be better able than Trump to convince Xi to steer China toward being [a better global citizen](. More China Reading: - China needs to cut taxes for its corporations and consumers, but doesn’t have room in its budget. The likeliest solution: [Soak the rich](. – Shuli Ren - China’s asking its brokerages to buy stocks in a market rout, putting themselves at risk of [needing their own bailout](. – Nisha Gopalan Twitter Doesn’t Care About Fake People Twitter Inc. has a big problem with harassing and abusive accounts on its social-media network. Twitter also has another problem: It doesn't always seem to care very much about those accounts. Bloomberg Opinion’s own Tim Culpan experienced this firsthand recently when he discovered a couple of accounts were impersonating him. Twitter’s [response was basically: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯](. This is partly because Twitter has a third problem: It doesn’t have nearly as much money as, say, Facebook Inc. to hire people to hunt down abusive accounts. Exxon’s Climate Case Exxon Mobil Corp. and its Big Oil brethren spent decades lobbying against common-sense climate regulations such as a carbon tax. So regulators and activists have had to jerry-rig their own curbs on the industry’s behavior. One lever they keep using again and again has been to raise Big Oil’s costs. And that's the context in which we should read the New York attorney general’s new lawsuit against Exxon: This is another way to [make it more expensive for Big Oil to do business](, writes Liam Denning. Bonus Exxon Reading: The Exxon case [may not be a winner](. – Matt Levine Charty McChartFace Junk bonds have held their own in the market meltdown. But look more closely, and [you’ll see signs of trouble](, warns Brian Chappatta. Tesla delivered on its profit promise. But the stock is priced so that it needs to [make that a regular habit](, writes Liam Denning. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV’s dividend cut is the latest hint that maybe its massive purchase of SABMiller [wasn’t such a hot idea](, writes Andrea Felsted. Quick Hits We don’t keep enough [detailed data on gun violence](. – Bloomberg’s editorial board Trump’s new plan to fight high prescription drug prices [has some real teeth](. – Max Nisen Is Bill Gross's bond fund [even a bond fund]( anymore? – Brian Chappatta One answer to the low-unemployment/sluggish-wages conundrum: [weak job security](.  – Dan Moss Joe Nocera talks to one of the last of a dying breed: an [illegal sports bookie](. We now have a way to [end HIV and AIDS](. All we need is the will. – Faye Flam One way to get a Mideast peace deal: [Split up Jerusalem](. – Zev Chafets Banks need to watch out for a new threat from Iran – [cyber-enabled money-laundering](. – William Rich ICYMI Joe Biden and [Robert De Niro got bombs](, too. Saudi Arabia [changed its Jamal Khashoggi story]( again. Trump might send [more troops to the border](. Kickers An English translator isn’t good enough for Julian Assange; he needs one [fluent in Australian](. (h/t Tracy Walsh) The [French Spider-Man]( is at it again. (h/t Scott Duke Kominers) “Jesse Jackson ’88” campaign T-shirts are [booming in Asia](. How to [build a moon base](. Can you really [meditate with an app](? R.E.M., [in retrospect](. 35 incredible [photos of libraries](. Note:  Yesterday’s newsletter lacked a link to Noah Feldman’s piece on [Sandra Day O’Connor’s consensus-building](. Please send Jesse Jackson T-shirts, suggestions and kicker ideas to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net New subscribers can [sign up here](. [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]( [Twitter Share]( SEND TO A FRIEND [Share with a friend] You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. 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