Norwegain:
That’s called weather. Not the same as climate.

Posted by: Michael Weddington | Jan 26 2021 17:20 utc | 3

Snow here in New Mexico as well – we had our usual January warm up that encouraged two clumps of crocus, but I am happy to see the snow,(it will keep them warm); more in the mountains as well. Robert Frost has poems about how a late winter keeps fruit trees from blooming early – I’ll see if I can find one. Last year ours bloomed too soon and got caught by a late freeze.
Stay dormant, trees!

Posted by: juliania | Jan 26 2021 17:38 utc | 5

15 F degrees above normal outside temp here.
So exceptional that I am presently sitting on the screened porch.
Nice

Posted by: librul | Jan 26 2021 17:43 utc | 7

Vaccine manufacturer Merck has abandoned development of two coronavirus vaccines, saying that after extensive research it was concluded that the shots offered less protection than just contracting the virus itself and developing antibodies.
The company announced that the shots V590 and V591 were ‘well tolerated’ by test patients, however they generated an ‘inferior’ immune system response in comparison with natural infection.

Merck Scraps COVID Vaccines; Says It’s More Effective To Get The Virus And Recover

Posted by: Down South | Jan 26 2021 17:58 utc | 9

New Pepe:
Xi reads the Multilateral Riot Act at Davos

Posted by: Bemildred | Jan 26 2021 18:13 utc | 11

Hopefully this will be repaired soon. Freezing temps and water pipes are a bad combination.

Posted by: alaric | Jan 26 2021 18:18 utc | 13

While the shiny happy Biden Administration sends politically correct virtue signals to all the right folk, and while we prepare for the circle-jerk ‘trial’ of Donald J. Trump for inciting a selfie-revolution of nationalist culture warriors, while the ‘promise’ of $2,000 checks drift into the memory hole, tens of millions of healthy victims of a bungled pandemic sit in the dark and cold with a feast of micro-wave popcorn and a can of red bull.

Posted by: gottlieb | Jan 26 2021 18:33 utc | 15

Looks like continuity will be the rule with Blinken now confirmed as Sec of State if Finian Cunningham’s assessment is correct:
“Blinken has said that America’s foreign policy must be conducted with ‘humility and confidence’, which may sound refreshingly modest. But it’s not. Underlying this ‘quiet American’ is the same old arrogance about U.S. imperial might-is-right and Washington’s presumed privilege of appointing itself as the ‘world’s policeman’.
“If Blinken’s record is anything to go on, his future role as America’s top diplomat is foreboding.
“Previously, he was a senior member in the Obama administrations serving as national security advisor to both the president and Joe Biden who was then vice-president. Blinken rose to become deputy Secretary of State in the final years of the second Obama administration. In those roles he was a key player in a series of foreign interventions which turned out to be utterly disastrous.”
The once upon a time manufactured aura of Virtue projected by the Outlaw US Empire that was swallowed by so many naïve nations has vanished with nothing other than its stark ugliness as a replacement. Refusal to see that reality is what Xi just referred to again as “arrogance” which puts Blinken into the same ideological camp as Pompeo. As Global Times notes, if the Outlaw US Empire’s attitude’s not going to change, than why should China’s as Pompeo’s constant lying is replaced by Psaki’s:
“When White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki responded to a question Monday about US-China relations, she said that ‘China is growing more authoritarian at home and more assertive abroad,’ adding that China ‘is engaged in conduct that hurts American workers, blunts [US] technological edge, and threatens [US] alliances and [US] influence in international organizations.’ She also noted that Washington is ‘starting from an approach of patience as it relates to [its] relationship with China.'”
The editor’s response to such inanity:
“Psaki’s statement shows that the Biden administration’s view and characterization of China is virtually identical to those of the Trump administration. Psaki stressed that ‘We’re in a serious competition with China. Strategic competition with China is a defining feature of the 21st century,’ reflecting that the Biden administration only cares about a “new approach” to holding China accountable.”
And Psaki’s words are the same as Blinken’s, which were the same as Pompeo’s and Trump’s. In other words, the hole digging by the Outlaw US Empire in its relations with the rest of the world will continue, which will cause further deterioration of its domestic Great Depression 2.0. Yesterday I posted a comment that highlighted Putin’s expounding on the further enhancement of the educational component of Russia’s Social Contract that is impossible for Navalny’s backers to match. On the previous thread, a good comparison was made between the Yeltsin years and the ongoing drowning of the Outlaw US Empire. The Reset that’s in the works isn’t the one envisioned by Global Neoliberals like Klaus Schwab of the WEF/Davos crew. It’s what Xi spoke of yesterday that I commented upon and Escobar reported on today. The Winds of Change are blowing again, but there’s a gaping hole in the USA’s wind sock so it can’t see in which direction it’s blowing.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 26 2021 18:47 utc | 17

Posted by: james | Jan 26 2021 18:42 utc | 16
Nothing like contemplating a fire place. Many trees left around Nanaimo or are you on the west coast of V. Island?
Putin will take part in Davos this year, Jan. 27th.
Borrell, EU foreign minister goes to Moscow Feb.5th.
Busy schedule.

Posted by: Paco | Jan 26 2021 18:54 utc | 19

Paco @19–
Thanks for the link you provided yesterday and the FYI on Putin. IMO, he’ll second Xi’s call for determined multilateral international action on the pandemic and equitable distribution of vaccines and further push the Eurasian Bloc’s version of the global reset which Xi announced yesterday.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 26 2021 19:05 utc | 21

B, get a cornish heater going for your small flat.
Pennies my friend. And you will stay warm this evening.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jan 26 2021 19:16 utc | 23

Bemildred @11–
Here’s what I posted to Escobar’s FB yesterday after my MoA comment here:
“Xi read Davos the Multilateral Riot Act as the box highlighting his speech indicates. Read the excerpt then click the link to read what a leader of the Eurasian Bloc has to say to those who fancy themselves world leaders,
“In the notably sharp-toned speech, the Chinese president did not name any specific country, but the extensive references of unilateral and populist trend were clearly aimed at policies orchestrated by the US government over the past several years, which have not only plunged the US into disarray but also disrupted global cooperation to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges, Chinese analysts noted.”
“The new global grouping Eurasian Bloc’s vision is quite different from that of the Davos crew, against which the Davos crew has little leverage.”
I’m very curious to see what Putin adds. Today he was out at a ceremony celebrating the opening of new infrastructure that further ties Russia together, clearly demonstrating that not even Russian Winters can hold back Russia’s development.
Oh, and in a very short note yesterday it was mentioned that Russia and China are in talks about the joint construction and operation of a moon base. What a Sea Change from 50 years ago.

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 26 2021 19:33 utc | 25

There is not much doubt that the IK’s Tory government has been pursuing a policy of Herd Immunity + Denials.
First this letter, which The Guardian refused to print from author and back from the brink of Covid death Michael Rosen:
“Jonathan Freedland’s comment ‘Lies about Covid, insisting that it was a hoax cooked up by the deep state, led millions of people to drop their guard and get infected’ (‘Trump may be gone but his big lie will linger’ Guardian, Jan 15) misses the point. If we look closely at what was being said in official circles in March 2020, we can see quite clearly there was a plan to create ‘herd immunity’ without vaccination.
“Robert Peston had his usual inside story on March 12 in ‘The Spectator’ with a headline “Herd immunity’ will be vital to stopping Coronavirus’ and wrote of this desirable outcome without mentioning the inevitable huge loss of life involved nor the high chance of it being unachievable.
“A day later, 3 government scientists sang the same tune: Graham Medley told BBC Newsnight, ‘We’re going to have to generate herd immunity…the only way of developing that in the absence of a vaccine is for the majority of the population to become infected…’
“Sir Patrick Vallance said that morning on the Today programme, ‘Our aim is to try and reduce the peak, broaden the peak, not suppress it completely; also because the vast majority of people get a mild illness, to build up some kind of herd immunity.’ Same day, John Edmunds said, ‘The only way to stop this epidemic is indeed to achieve herd immunity’.
These people were talking of engineering mass death. It’s not as if science is unaware of the Black Death, Myxomatosis, or Dutch Elm Disease. At the time, Boris Johnson was appearing on TV telling us that he was shaking hands with Covid patients.
“The extraordinary fact is that this idea of ‘herd immunity’ without vaccination is lousy biology. No one knew then how long or short nor how strong or weak the body’s immune response would be to this virus. No one knew how often it would mutate nor how different the mutations would be from the original virus. These scientists were gambling with ‘known unknowns’ some of which would result in no ‘herd immunity’.
“What’s more, the limited ‘herd immunity’ without vaccination that occurs naturally usually involves the evolutionary process of ‘breeding out’ (through death, before they reproduce) of those individuals who are susceptible to the virus and the ‘breeding in’ of those who are resistant, assuming the resistance is inheritable. This takes generations to effect – if ever. The problem for this scenario is that the section of the population most affected by the virus is above ‘breeding’ age! This negates the process by which evolution favours resistant individuals.
“It seems to me horrific that top scientists were able to put forward their proposals to enact mass killing without being challenged, either on ethical or biological grounds. If you want to find out why or how this government has been lax, chaotic, incompetent and cruel in its approach to Covid-19, it starts here. The consequence is that there have been tens of thousands of deaths, and there are tens of thousands of us with long term or lifetime debilitating consequences.
“They must never be let off the hook.”
Then there is this piece at Counterpunch by Chris Floyd:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/01/24/mad-dog-time/

Posted by: bevin | Jan 26 2021 19:46 utc | 27

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 26 2021 19:33 utc | 25
Thanks for the links.
Yes, Putin should provide some good cross-illumination of Xi’s speech. I think they will push hard now, reset the “rules of engagement” now in the transition. All very polite of course.
Finnian C. made some sharp comments too. This is really looking very incompetent, the team Biden has put together. I kind of wonder who in behind these choices. It reeks of the desire to “set the record straight” and “teach people a lesson” which doesn’t sound very, uh, “thoughtful”.
And Bevin’s piece by Lawrence is very sharp. They all sound disgusted.
Interesting piece on the state of air defense from Asia Times, notice they don’t even mention Russia:
US tactical missile defenses remain a mess
Aside from not mentioning Russia, it seems pretty accurate.

Posted by: Bemildred | Jan 26 2021 19:55 utc | 29

Take care. Get warm. Family first.

Posted by: Dogon Priest | Jan 26 2021 20:06 utc | 31

Posted by: Passer by | Jan 26 2021 19:53 utc | 28
According to Figure 4 of the IMF report, the US lost the least from the Covid crisis as compared to its pre-Covid trajectory. It lost even less than China.
The biggest losses from the Covid crisis are for non-western countries ex-China.
Now, how is this possible? Well, this is what you get when you can print 5 trillion dollars at will.
Overall impact of Covid crisis: it slows down multipolarity in GDP terms, contrary to previous estimates.

Posted by: Passer by | Jan 26 2021 20:11 utc | 33

Posted by: karlof1 | Jan 26 2021 19:05 utc | 21
I’m halfway watching Xi’s address in Davos, not as comfortable as listening straight without translation but it’s too late to learn Chinese, even though I’ve realized that it is learnable, trying to familiarize myself with Chinese geographical names now I’m able to identify some characters, and it makes a lot of sense, but that’s for the young generation to learn and dream about the new silk road, just like back in the sixties everybody dreamed about going west, as Lead Zeppelin sang: “Going to California”.
It seems the last arms control treaty is going to be extended, which is a first good step for the Biden Administration, what matter are deeds, and for the time being talk is going to be the usual tough guy stuff like that Lieberman article, but better pay attention to actions and not words.
Putin’s address will be tomorrow 14:00 Moscow time, I’ll try to watch it live.

Posted by: Paco | Jan 26 2021 20:15 utc | 35

Thx! juliania, who doesn’t appreciate Robert Frost.
@Posted by: juliania | Jan 26 2021 17:50 utc | 8
I found the following once upon a time somewhere on the internet.
Think I may have altered it a smidge, but it was worth saving
and now I can post it here! I know not where it originated.
—-
John Kennedy’s inauguration was curious indeed.
Kennedy had invited renowned and well-aged poet Robert Frost
to read a poem during the inauguration.
It was actually Jackie Kennedy’s idea, the Vassar educated wife of JFK, to have Robert Frost be
the bearer of a cultural votive candle.
The dreams, fantasy, glamour and downright cowshit that surrounded the Kennedy Camelot mystique
inspired our nation to be positive about it’s bright future.
Also standing at the podium was the powerful, calculating, Texan politician Lyndon Baines Johnson.
If knighted in the Camelot myth he would have been dubbed “LBJ The Crass”.
So there they stood, on one side the shining Kennedys, LBJ The Crass
and Robert Frost, who held the role in Camelot as court Poet.
Inauguration Day was preceded by snowfall, thus Washington was all aglow with sunlight glaring off the white coating.
Inspired for the Kennedys Frost had penned a new poem especially for the occasion.
But Frost dared anger the gods. Instead of keeping his place as Erudite Poet
Frost assumed to himself the role of Royal Oracle.
As Robert Frost began to read his aged eyes were struck blind by the sun glaring off the fresh snow.
The poem he had written was supposed to conclude in this
proud way:
“It makes the prophet in us all presage
The glory of a next Augustan age
Of a power leading from its strength and pride,
Of young ambition eager to be tried,
Firm in our free beliefs without dismay,
In any game the nations want to play.
A golden age of poetry and power
Of which this noonday’s the beginning hour.”
The gods knew of Robert Frost’s poem and blinding him with white
light forced him to recite from memory a DIFFERENT poem,
thus granting him his wish of prophecy.
Yes, Frost could not continue. Instead he recited from heart
his older well known poem entitled “A Gift Outright”.
Two sets of ears were at the podium with the poet-oracle. One, the dwellers of Camelot, and the other, waiting for more power,
the cowpunchers of Texas.
The gods granted the poet his moment as prophet and the poem, instead of telling of a country entering “A golden age of poetry and power”, concluded this way:
“But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
Such as she was, such as she would become.”

Posted by: librul | Jan 26 2021 20:30 utc | 37

“Self-appointed, sub-Platonic sages…” Nice one, Pepe!
Posted by: juliania | Jan 26 2021 20:15 utc | 34
Yes, I liked that too. And the Robert Frost. I must say I envy you your Latin and Greek, and enjoy your contributions.

Posted by: Bemildred | Jan 26 2021 20:40 utc | 39

William Gruff @Jan26 19:30 #24
Part of the reason the establishment ushered Trump into the race in 2016, apart from thinking that would guarantee Clinton a win …
Firstly, “the establishment” is very broad. I think those who “select” the President is a much narrower group of power people and the interests they represent. If there’s one thing that they have in common, it is this: their outlook is EMPIRE-FIRST, and the interests they represent benefit from the Empire.
The Presidency is the lynchpin of the Empire.
There’s evidence that Hillary was meant to lose to Trump:

1. as sheepdog, Bernie all but guaranteed that Hillary would win the Democratic nomination;
2. Hillary, a seasoned campaigner made egregious “mistakes” that angered key voter groups – mistakes that no seasoned campaigner in a ‘must win’ campaign would do: she snubbed blacks (she was very cold to BLM); alienated progressives (bringing Debra Wasserman-Schultz into her campaign); and declared that non-progressive whites were “deplorables.”
   In the closing weeks of the campaign, she also refused to campaign in the THREE STATES that SHE KNEW would decide the election.
3. After Russia stood up to USA in Syria and Ukraine, Kissinger wrote a WSJ Op-Ed (August 2014) that all but called for MAGA! He argued for a return to America’s global leadership/dominance. 10 months later Trump entered the race as the ONLY MAGA! candidate.

=
… was the intention to socially/culturally marginalize the “Deplorables” and crush their morale when their “champion” was brutally humiliated …
But Trump was hardly a “champion” of the Tea Party Republicans in 2015-16. He was just a billionaire poser that was paying lip service to them. Many weren’t sure they could trust him but he was sure as hell better than Hillary. The popular right’s embrace of Trump mostly came after the election as propaganda from Qanon and others spun every action of Trump’s as heroically fighting the good fight.
=
The only difference in their plans is that Trump actually was president …
And therein lies the rub! If Trump WAS a “champion” of the right he would’ve mauled the establishment via prosecutions (that never came) and true ‘America First’ actions. Instead, we see Biden just picking up where Trump left off.
!!

Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jan 26 2021 20:51 utc | 41

karlof1 | Jan 26 2021 18:47 utc | 17
I think, realistically, the US is in competition with China. And right now, they are in a much better position then we are. They have an immense work force that is still willing to work for pretty much the proverbial bowl of rice. China has invested in infrastructure and has long range plans whereas in the US everything depends on quarterly results. That in itself makes long range planning impossible because any CEO with two consecutive quarterly losses is fired.
so, what Psaki is saying is correct. The question is, what to do about it? More of the same seems like a fools errand so that is likely the path but something will be done. As Churchill once said, you can count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have exhausted every other option.
What in your opinion would be the proper approach? I ask that seriously.

Posted by: dan of steele | Jan 26 2021 21:00 utc | 43

They got each other’s number. A phone call is a good start for an exciting relation.
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/64936

Posted by: Paco | Jan 26 2021 21:10 utc | 45

vetinLA @ 32 Call me an optimist, but I don’t think appearing to work for the betterment of the working classes is going to cut it any longer. We’ll see it right as they start wasting time pretending to impeach Trump. How on earth is that working for the betterment of the working classes?

Posted by: juliania | Jan 26 2021 21:22 utc | 47

@ Paco | Jan 26 2021 18:54 utc | 19.. sorry paco ! i stepped out right after i made that comment… yes – plenty of trees and firewood in nanaimo area..we back up onto forest and it is forest all the way from mount benson straight west to the ocean – i think that is about 100 kilometers west – south west… we get the air off the ocean with a wind from the west too.. i used to live on the south west side of the island over looking the juan de fuca straight.. that was 20 years ago.. the east side of the island is much more developed and people from the rest of canada continue to flock here given the temperate climate.. where are you located??

Posted by: james | Jan 26 2021 21:26 utc | 49

Patrick Lawrence’s piece was cringeworthy and demoralizing, especially because it feels so accurate.

Posted by: vinnieoh | Jan 26 2021 21:28 utc | 51

@ Posted by: dan of steele | Jan 26 2021 21:00 utc | 44
I think the USA should admit defeat and graciously capitulate to China. Then proceed to do a shock therapy, socialist version.

Posted by: vk | Jan 26 2021 21:30 utc | 53

Norwegian #51
I hope it was irony…
You can bet on it. That was truly the most idiotic invention I have seen in a long time. Hence the decorated hand comment.
It came up on my screen after watching the cornish heater vid and I took one look at the image and thought ‘this looks truly stupid’. So I watched it up to that mark laughing my head off all the way :))

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 26 2021 21:34 utc | 55

Thanks librul @ 37 for that re-telling! I watched that inauguration live, and that’s an accurate story. From my memory the poem Frost finally recited, “The Gift Outright” begins “The land was ours before we were the land’s…”
It’s really poetic and ironic that happened to Frost. I went to a reading of poetry at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, the only time I was there during college days, and after he had read a number of his poems, he stayed behind to sign copies of his books. But he required that persons receiving those signatures had to recite at least one line of any one of his poems from memory. Sadly I was one poor freshman who didn’t have with me a copy of his work – and this was not a book selling/signing event in any case; it was a poetry reading. Those were the days.

Posted by: juliania | Jan 26 2021 21:35 utc | 57

I guess this is a must read
Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of the United States of America Joseph Biden.
Telephone conversation with US President Joseph Biden
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/64936

Posted by: Norwegian | Jan 26 2021 21:49 utc | 59

@Posted by: Norwegian | Jan 26 2021 21:49 utc | 60
Good. Let us pray that there is additional *hopeful* future news coming
our way from Fraudulent Prez Biden and that it does not stop at *hope*
like Worst President Ever Obama
but is for real.

Posted by: librul | Jan 26 2021 22:00 utc | 61

Posted by: james | Jan 26 2021 21:26 utc | 50
I drove that road, ferry in Horse Shoe Bay, Nanaimo, Cathedral Grove, Ucluelet. Now southeast Spain.

Posted by: Paco | Jan 26 2021 22:03 utc | 63

The resident bunny starts with the assumption that the establishment is infallible and weaves its narrative around that. Everything the bunny posts is tortuously twisted to assert that the outcomes of the establishment’s actions are what it intended to achieve all along. I’m surprised that the bunny hasn’t summoned the specter of Henry “Froggy Bottom” Kissinger again to bolster its claim despite the old ghoul having been booted from the Pentagon by Trump.
Oh wait, the bunny did. Pathetic.
“But Trump was hardly a “champion” of the…”
Precisely, which is why the effort to crush the “Deplorables” indirectly by attacking Trump is doomed to fail. The social engineering theory is that you build a hero for your target to relate to and emotionally invest themselves in and then you destroy that hero and drown it in shame in order to shame your targets through their empathy with that hero. This is a common approach that has been used repeatedly by “woke” mass media producers over the last several years. Think the former protagonist of the film series “Star Wars”, Luke Skywalker, in recent editions of that series for a perfect example.
“If Trump WAS a “champion” of the right…”
Irrelevant. Nobody here said he was. The establishment believed he was seen that way by the “Deplorables”. They were wrong. As they frequently are nowadays.

Posted by: William Gruff | Jan 26 2021 22:06 utc | 65

I see I’m too late to wow the Barflies with a Bernie / mittens witticism…

Posted by: Paul Damascene | Jan 26 2021 22:21 utc | 67

Posted by: juliania | Jan 26 2021 22:01 utc | 63
‘groups, rings, and lattices’.
Yes, those are the Russian texts I have some acquaintance with (in translation). Currently this one:
https://archive.org/details/recursion-sequences
There is more math stuff than you can shake a stick at free on the internet.
I have first year Greek texts, but they sit there. I have a bunch of old math books saved from my youth, and those are what I use to test myself. It gives me a chance to revisit things I didn’t have time for back then. That’s really the problem with the Greek too, not enough time, not enough energy. What I have, I apply where it’s most congenial, I suppose.

Posted by: Bemildred | Jan 26 2021 22:34 utc | 69

bemildred @ 70, yours is by far the best approach! What I see Putin doing for young people in his country (thanks to karlof1 for those links) is giving them the very best support towards pursuing their own educational paths, making excellent use of their desire to learn. What has sadly happened in the US (though not with respect to my own grandchildren I hasten to add) has been to diminish education and dumb it down by discounting all avenues of exploration other than ones to make the children of the rich richer and lure young folk into believing they can get there as well. That’s such a limited existence or pipe dream, no wonder children get depressed, give up on school. That’s a healthy reaction to the state of education in the US today,most of it anyway.
Covid gives us a chance to value our kids over the rat race. They’ll learn; keep them safe!

Posted by: juliania | Jan 26 2021 22:48 utc | 71

Did someone say “recursion”?
http://www.pxleyes.com/blog/2010/06/recursion-the-art-and-ideas-behind-m-c-eschers-drawings/
One can get blissfully lost in the drawings of M C Escher.
Here is one such drawing that (if you are a fan) is hinted at in a Dr Who
episode.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castrovalva_(M._C._Escher)
“While waiting for the Doctor and Adric to return, Tegan and Nyssa discover the TARDIS data bank and try to find its index file. The frustrated Tegan eventually points out that if they had an index file they could look up the index file in the index file under “index file”.

Posted by: librul | Jan 26 2021 23:23 utc | 73

karlof1 @ 73:
In reforming the US financial industry, you would need to separate savings and trading banks from investment banks. The 1932 Glass-Steagall legislation and the act based on it did service in that respect up until the late 1990s when it was repealed by the Clinton government. In some countries (Japan being a notable example), the postal service performs savings bank functions.
The system of taxation to be based on land taxation over income taxation.
Stock market transactions to be subject to a transaction fee charged to sellers that is a percentage of the profit they make on selling stocks. For that matter, stock exchanges should be public utilities subject to regulation.
Investopedia: Who Owns The Stock Exchanges?

… Tokyo Stock Exchange
The third-largest stock exchange in the world is also the largest to not be publicly-traded. Though the Tokyo Stock Exchange is organized as a joint stock corporation, those shares are closely held by member firms like banks and brokerages. By contrast, the smaller Osaka Stock Exchange is publicly-traded, which perhaps befits long-held Japanese stereotypes about Osaka being more entrepreneurial and less hidebound than Tokyo …
…Shanghai Stock Exchange
This is the largest stock exchange in the world still owned and controlled by a government. [My emphasis – Jen.] The Shanghai exchange is operated as a non-profit entity by the China Securities Regulatory Commission and is arguably one of the most restrictive of the major exchanges in terms of listing and trading criteria …
…The Bottom Line
Running an exchange is a great business; it is effectively a monopoly. Those who own exchanges can require companies to pay listing fees, traders to pay for market access and investors to pay transaction fees. It is not altogether surprising, then, that there is so much activity in this space. In addition to the aforementioned major mergers, the Singapore Exchange is trying to acquire the Australian Stock Exchange, while Brazil’s BM&F Bovespa (once state-owned and now publicly-traded) is looking to expand through acquisition as well.
While these transactions are interesting to a point, they do not generally help the individual investor. Unfortunately, trading stocks listed on foreign exchanges is still difficult (and expensive) for U.S. investors and none of these mergers will change that. Of course, it is up to the brokerages to offer these services and for investors to demand them. (Find out how the third-largest stock exchange in North America came to be. Check out History Of The Toronto Stock Exchange.)
In the meantime, it looks like there is an unmistakable trend in the market of stock markets towards greater global integration and fewer small independent operators…

Needless to say Beijing must be in no hurry not to relinquish control and regulation of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Posted by: Jen | Jan 26 2021 23:47 utc | 75

@ 64 paco… thanks… i have never been to spain.. i almost went last year – my wife did with our friends from toronto.. i had to stay for work..
@ juliania, lol… i am an argumentative and even antagonistic type in person… i try to keep up appearances at moa! but i do feel blessed to be where i am and do take advantage of it too! i wouldn’t mind spending more time in the 4 corners area where i think you are… i am interested in the hopi and zuni cultures and that was why i went to that area about 9 years ago… we can’t do everything.. the whole area seemed magical in its own way..

Posted by: james | Jan 26 2021 23:51 utc | 77

migueljose – thanks for that link on the previous thread on lulu and brazil… i finally got round to reading it.. it is a short article, but the 25 minute video, i surmise they talk about it all in more detail… i don’t have the time at present to watch it.. maybe someone else here is interested, so i am sharing your link again..
Lula speaks of U.S. power behind Bolsonaro in new documentary

Posted by: james | Jan 26 2021 23:56 utc | 79

@Posted by: librul | Jan 26 2021 23:54 utc | 79
first go
needs work

Posted by: librul | Jan 27 2021 0:02 utc | 81

The USAi general that needs to be recalled is CENTCOM chief Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr.
The grayzone writer, Gareth Porter explains:

A four-star general who previously served as director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, McKenzie is regarded as the most politically astute commander ever to lead Middle East Command, according to journalist Mark Perry. He has also shown himself to be exceptionally brazen in scheming to defend his interests.
Almost immediately after taking command at CENTCOM in March 2019, McKenzie launched his campaign of political manipulation. By requesting additional forces to contain a supposedly urgent Iranian threat, McKenzie triggered the dispatch of an aircraft carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East. A month later, he told reporters he believed the deployments were “having a very good stabilizing effect,” and that he was in the process of negotiating on a larger, long-term U.S. military presence.
As a result of his maneuvering, McKenzie succeeded in acquiring 10,000 to 15,000 more military personnel, bringing the total in his CENTCOM realm to more than 90,000. The rapid increase in assets under his command was revealed in a Senate hearing in March 2020.

I am reminded of the excellent Rolling Stone report on General Stanley McCrystal.

Now, flipping through printout cards of his speech in Paris, McChrystal wonders aloud what Biden question he might get today, and how he should respond. “I never know what’s going to pop out until I’m up there, that’s the problem,” he says. Then, unable to help themselves, he and his staff imagine the general dismissing the vice president with a good one-liner.
“Are you asking about Vice President Biden?” McChrystal says with a laugh. “Who’s that?”
“Biden?” suggests a top adviser. “Did you say: Bite Me?”
From the start, McChrystal was determined to place his personal stamp on Afghanistan, to use it as a laboratory for a controversial military strategy known as counterinsurgency. COIN, as the theory is known, is the new gospel of the Pentagon brass, a doctrine that attempts to square the military’s preference for high-tech violence with the demands of fighting protracted wars in failed states. COIN calls for sending huge numbers of ground troops to not only destroy the enemy, but to live among the civilian population and slowly rebuild, or build from scratch, another nation’s government – a process that even its staunchest advocates admit requires years, if not decades, to achieve. The theory essentially rebrands the military, expanding its authority (and its funding) to encompass the diplomatic and political sides of warfare: Think the Green Berets as an armed Peace Corps. In 2006, after Gen. David Petraeus beta-tested the theory during his “surge” in Iraq, it quickly gained a hardcore following of think-tankers, journalists, military officers and civilian officials. Nicknamed “COINdinistas” for their cultish zeal, this influential cadre believed the doctrine would be the perfect solution for Afghanistan. All they needed was a general with enough charisma and political savvy to implement it.

The journalist Michael Hastings was later killed when his car committed a high speed crash and burned. McCrystal was later defrocked by O’bummer. Here is another Rolling Stone related report dated 15 November 2020 by Tessa Stuart.
Grayzone reporter Gareth Porter should avoid any high tech vehicle that is so easy to hack.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 27 2021 0:10 utc | 83

@Posted by: Santelli | Jan 27 2021 0:04 utc | 83
Is that the Royal “we”
or just conceit?

Posted by: librul | Jan 27 2021 0:17 utc | 85

Jen #76

In reforming the US financial industry, you would need to separate savings and trading banks from investment banks. The 1932 Glass-Steagall legislation and the act based on it did service in that respect up until the late 1990s when it was repealed by the Clinton government. In some countries (Japan being a notable example), the postal service performs savings bank functions.

My proposition is that cash is the ownership of the common wealth – that the state creates and manages it. Others use it for a transaction tax on each use. Keep it simple and non negotiable.
Glaring inequities can be remediated with a close monitored reimbursement system that is transparent and under continuous audit.
Every account transfer for whatever reason is taxed . If you withdraw cash you pay tax similar to an ATM fee. etc.
Complicated concession systems are avoided as they immediately invite scammers to skate around the rigmarole. Yes there will be minor unfairness issues but that sure beats the major unfairness issues we have in place now. Illegal money laundering requires multiple moves across accounts and diverse banks to obfuscate the nature of the transactors etc. That would generate further taxation on those tricks and perhaps reveal the trail.
Yes there will be double tax. But if transaction tax is set at a low rate to not screw the low income people then it will get their support as they will see that the higher cash users will be paying more for the privilege. Sliding scales can be configured in such systems but avoidance is made incredibly difficult.
As psychohistorian often says : its the global private finance banks that we must seize control of.

Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jan 27 2021 0:32 utc | 87

bevin @ #26
thanks for that link to the Patrick Lawrence article at Consortium – I personally don’t have the stomach to watch the four hour hearing of Blinken’s 🙂 so the summery is useful, and quite confirms what others have written about him and the ‘new’ Old Joe administration

Posted by: michaelj72 | Jan 27 2021 0:55 utc | 89

thank you for your reply karlof1, those are many things I too find to be worthy. I do not however believe that our society is capable of assuming responsibility for those fine principles.
the Thucydides quote we use all the time about fairness only possible between two (or more) of equal power means to me that we all suffer what we must while the powerful do what they will. How would common people like me ever be able to command respect from people who have vast amounts of money (= power) and the strong desire to hold on to that power? I don’t believe we have the brains, desire, or the stamina needed to carry out a revolution….and even if so, people normally rally behind a leader. We are not like bees where everyone simply does their task without questioning, or as far as I know, complaining.
as for the suggestions to admit defeat and graciously capitulate, you must know that there are very few people who have ever done that kind of thing. Francis of Assisi comes to mind but we would only be trading one master for another.
what I have come to realize over the years is that I can see so many things that are wrong or unjust. what I am unable to do is to come up with a working solution to those things. that is where the greedies have the upper hand, they can focus like a laser beam on what they can take or accumulate so that they can continue to take or accumulate. If the lives of their fellow humans are improved because of these actions, it is only because it is profitable to the greedheads.
I wholeheartedly agree with getting control of money out of the hands of the very rich and powerful. this is a huge injustice where people can acquire vast amounts of wealth without creating anything of value.
thanks again for taking the time to lay out your thoughts.

Posted by: dan of steele | Jan 27 2021 1:47 utc | 91

Karlof1
while I was trying to come up with a response to your reply you posted additional thoughts.
yes, I meant competition on many levels. there are finite resources on this planet and most, if not all of us prefer to have some say on who gets what. For me it is preferable to share something I have rather than ask someone else for it. And this is why I assume there will continue to be competition. Win win sounds nice but again, most of our actions are for selfish reasons. It has to be like that, why would anyone expect another being to care and feed for them? we do this for our children because they are born helpless but even there we only do so to assure the species survives.
my very brief exposure to Chinese tourists leads me to believe that they are very much like us in the US in that they too like to have material things…and not just the minimum required. They too like big fancy cars, boats, vacations in exotic places. How does one acquire immense wealth in win-win trades? just doesn’t seem possible to me.

Posted by: dan of steele | Jan 27 2021 2:07 utc | 93

89 Declared;”‘liberal interventionism’ has always been the hallmark of the US Liberal Class and its foreign policy Establishment, especially since at least Wilson’s jumping into WWI.”
Bull puckey. There is no “liberal” class. The U$A, from the very beginning has been a Oligarchy, rule by the wealthy. The electoral college ensures it. The struggle has been, and will always be, a class war.
They(the wealthy) use race, religion, political parties, and a myriad of other issues to keep the workers at each others throats.
They own 99% of all MSM, and use that megaphone to keep the workers divided, cause’ it works. Until people realise those few facts, nothing can change.
These days, there are no liberals or conservatives, you’re either pro-democracy, or you’re anti-democracy.
POTUS’s are selected not elected.

Posted by: vetinLA | Jan 27 2021 2:30 utc | 95

bevin # 27 + uncle tungsten #47
Some practical advice on how to survive to hold them accountable.
When you or someone you know falls ill at home with an acute infection, do you know the best practices of care re fever, fluids and food? Most of us may think we do, but do we really — as professional medics are still giving us wrong anti-scientific advice .
Here’s a link to a paper on best practices:
Three key aspects of patient care – fever, fluid, and food–can be harmonized to overcome COVID-19 infection
Also, here’s a video interview of Dr. Cann by Dr. John Campbell UK on the subject
here

Posted by: suzan | Jan 27 2021 3:02 utc | 97

Yet another stupid thing Putin did, telling Biden that normalization of Russian-US relations would benefit everyone
https://www.rt.com/russia/513700-putin-biden-first-call-normalization/
Biden and USA will interpret that as yet another sign of weakness on Putin’s part. Instead of standing his ground and telling Biden it’s time USA respects Syrua’s sovereignty, time for USA to give proof Russia meddled into USA elections and did all those other evil things USA is accusing them of, Putin yet again tries to play nice with ruthless bandits and killers.
Putin really should be removed. he is old and makes Russia appear weak and defenseless.

Posted by: Hoyeru | Jan 27 2021 3:22 utc | 99