News & views …
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June 10, 2021
Open Thread 2021-044
Comments
Ever Given rests calmly in the red sea.
https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/EVER-GIVEN-IMO-9811000-MMSI-353136000
Are barflies still shure it was an accident and not a cyber attack?
Posted by: Jörgen Hassler | Jun 10 2021 15:04 utc | 1
Ruling by Distraction
“Focus is about saying ‘no,’”
– Steve Jobs
What are the key topics that individuals need to FOCUS on? Most rarely discuss the topic of MONEY (its creation, allocation, dilution), Monetary Imperialism, Resource control, suzerainties, oath of allegiance, sovereignty construct, socioeconomic system, values,… Many politicians talk about VALUES, when probed further, they can’t define those values.
What key dimensions are consistently ignored by the media in their coverage? Why?
The idea is to create enough distraction that all eyes remain on that. The ulterior motive of the news cycle is there to be so much “NONSENSE news” nothing sticks long enough to make an impact. In a “rule by distraction”, the survival of the administration depends on people not being able to process the complete information. By creating multiple simultaneous distractions, the administration overloads the attention of its citizens. They also create alternative explanations that “truth” becomes debatable. Add political polarization and consistent bashing of the “other” side and you have a loyalist following locked up to disregard anything that questions their teams. The objective is to use the media to create a PARADIGM of two+ narratives for every major issue, to keep the people arguing with each other.
An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic. A democracy relies on checks and balances in the system.
“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”
– Mark Twain
Posted by: Max | Jun 10 2021 15:09 utc | 2
Craig”>https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2021/06/official-lady-dorrian-rules-courts-should-apply-different-standards-to-bloggers-and-mainstream-media/”>Craig Murray identifies judicially-enforced, establishment-friendly double-standard.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 10 2021 15:20 utc | 3
Craig Murray identifies judicially-enforced, establishment-friendly double-standard.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Jun 10 2021 15:22 utc | 4
I called it:
Think twice before changing the tax rules to soak billionaires, by Megan McArdle, WaPo
By some definitions of fairness, that’s a defensible position. But given a choice between letting billionaires spend fortunes reaching for the stars, or destroying those fortunes so that the rest of us don’t have to look at them, then personally, I’ll take the rockets.
Correct me if I’m mistaken, but, last time a checked, there are dozens of millions of people literally starving in the USA. There are also dozens of millions on top of that who work but can’t “live” (ends meet). There are also a hundred or so million more on top of that who can’t pay some crucial bill that sustains his/her class status (rent, healthcare insurance, mortgage etc. etc.).
Those people would do much more than “not look at them”: they would feast and get out of their despair, they would drench their thirst and fill their bellies. You can argue this would be unfair or generate a greater evil, but you can’t argue those people would make good use of this newly distributed wealth.
And the space industry was entirely State-funded. This is true even in the USA. SpaceX was practically born yesterday. Billionaires had zero influence over American space technology.
But yes, I called it in the “Space Oddities” post: Americans fear taxing or punishing their billionaires not because they love them (some of them, most from the alt-right, really do love them, but they’re a sect so far), but because they fear what would come if it happened. In other words, Americans think billionaires are a necessary evil of freedom.
However, morality isn’t the problem: there’s a structural issue that arises from extreme centralization of capital. If morality was the only problem with the USA, it would be in a very good shape. In reality, it is very down the list.
–//–
Speaking of morality not being the problem with the USA:
Consumer prices jumped 5 percent in May from year earlier, faster than expected
If you can’t tax the rich, the only option left is to print money (you can’t tax the working class more because it is already taxed to the max, so it doesn’t have more to give to the State). Logic by exclusion.
The only people who expected inflation to be lower were the wackos from MMT and Biden’s ideologues. This inflation rate is not surprising at all to anyone with at least two braincells.
–//–
‘Empire 2.0 fantasy’: Boris Johnson pens G7 article on post-Covid world, draws flak for ‘hypocrisy’ and ‘undermining democracy’
Some doctors say that, when we get old, we kind of turn back to being children.
I guess the logic also applies to ex-empires.
The Chinese position on the issue:
New ‘Atlantic Charter’ misreads trend of time, risks destabilizing Europe: expert
–//–
(repost) Professor Wolff agrees with me:
Wealthiest Americans aren’t paying tax because they run the system – Professor Wolff to Boom Bust
Like I said: if you want to understand contemporary American History, read not what’s written in its Laws, but what’s not written (loopholes).
You understand the loopholes, you understand American contemporary History. That’s the key.
–//–
After economic decline, comes intellectual decline (imbecilization):
Medical journal publishes study attacking ‘whiteness’ as a ‘malignant, parasitic-like condition’
This is peer-reviewed, by the way.
So, do you people still want to believe in the fairy tales of Wuhan Lab theory, Ivermectin and HCQ?
–//–
China studies booster shots of COVID-19 vaccine as it administers 820m doses nationwide
Meanwhile, American vaccination has grown to a halt, much below Biden’s goal of 70% by Independence Day (July 4th).
–//–
People accuse me of being a CPC mouthpiece because I often link here articles from the Chinese government and/or CPC official and extraofficial media.
There’s a reason I do. Here’s an illustrative example of why:
Major Issues Concerning China’s Strategies for Mid-to-Long-Term Economic and Social Development
The CPC isn’t afraid of telling what it wants to do and its strategic goal publicly and openly. It’s not like the capitalist governments, who hide their true intentions. That’s why I read and frequently share CPC/Chinese Government official and extraofficial media (and why I know which are official and which are extraofficial media; nobody in the West admits the open secret that the NYT and WaPo are the extraofficial newspapers of the USG).
Back to Space happenings, China readies for launch to its new space station rather quickly when compared to the pace of other nation’s space programs. China also announced its development of a heavy lift rocket capable of placing 50 tons into lunar orbit in preparation for its lunar base project. China is proving its adeptness at space exploration, which probably keeps Sinophobes awake at night.
This is starting to look embarrassing.
At RAF Mildenhall Biden had to be told by Dr Jill to concentrate, on a broadcast mike, as well as he telling the assembled, mainly USAF officers and men, company that he “sometimes forgot he was President” and called the RAF “the RFA”.
As he heads in to the meetings of the next few days (G-7, NATO, Russia) Dr Jill will only be there to help in at the mainly evening social events but I note that Blinken has been enlisted to help tho’.
Goodness knows what the other leaders will think or how they will treat him but probably with care and keeping their mouths shut, but then its head to head with Putin in Geneva. That must be very high risk whichever way you look at it.
Posted by: JohninMK | Jun 10 2021 15:57 utc | 7
michael hudson quote from may 25th..
“The Federal Reserve’s job is to make sure that the economy is run for the banking system and for the bond holders, rather than having the banking system and bond markets run for the economy. So we’re living in an upside down economy where everything is being run in order to sustain the bond holders and the banks. And the problem with this is that the mortgage debts, the student loan debts, the personal debts, the car loan debts, they’re growing at an exponentially high rate, while the economy is not growing at a high rate. All of the economy’s growth since 2008 has been only for the top five percent of the population. For 95 percent of the population since 2008, the GDP has actually shrunk. And so you’re having a very sharp polarization right now. So I think if you’re talking about the debt issue, the question is, do you want to sustain this polarization between creditors at the top and the indebted 95 percent or do you want to restore the kind of equality that people think usually is the hallmark of democracy, at least of economic democracy? And the choice by the government is we’re going to sustain the polarization. No matter what, the creditors won’t lose a penny. The debtors will lose.”
Posted by: james | Jun 10 2021 16:01 utc | 8
vk | Jun 10 2021 15:28 utc | 5 “American vaccination has grown to a halt,”
Then the Federal Government makes vaccination voluntary for their employees and others further reducing the chance of hitting 70%. Joined up Government?
https://www.saferfederalworkforce.gov/faq/vaccinations/
Posted by: JohninMK | Jun 10 2021 16:04 utc | 9
i thought this was a pretty good article.. george packer… the atlantic..
HOW AMERICA FRACTURED INTO FOUR PARTS
Posted by: james | Jun 10 2021 16:07 utc | 10
@karlof1 | Jun 10 2021 15:51 utc | 6
It is very exciting to follow what the Chinese are doing in space. I really hope to see a manned flight in orbit around the Moon soon, and then landing some time after. I have been waiting for almost 50 years…
Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 10 2021 16:37 utc | 11
A few days ago the WHO began to peddle the conspiracy theory that vaccination of 80% of the world’s population would lead to the eradication of the coronavirus pandemic, so it’s time to ask:
Who Trusts the WHO?
Below is a link to a review and critique (thanks to Uncle Tungsten for the introduction to Zero Anthropology) of a recent film TrustWHO (recently recommended by Dr Pierre Kory of the FLCCC):
“Over the past twenty years or so, what has been the record of the World Health Organization when it comes to major public health crises? Has the WHO itself invented at least some of those crises? Was there in fact a H1N1 “pandemic”? What counts as a “pandemic,” according to the WHO? What are the relationships between the WHO and scientists, large pharmaceutical transnational corporations, powerful member states, and private donors? Is the WHO a reliable “partner” in meeting the demands of serious public health crises? Has the WHO amplified the threats in some cases, while downplaying proven harm in others? What can we learn from this history that can shed light on the WHO’s role during the current COVID-19 “pandemic”? Who trusts the WHO?”
The World Health Organisation: A Problem of Trust Zero Anthropology
WHO under Fire
Indian Bar Association sues WHO over Ivermectin The Desert Review
Ivermectin, Successfully used in India, Confirmed as COVID Treatment by Bombay High Court
Listen carefully to what Dipali Ojha says in the video … you may hear the opening salvo of the defence of the sovereign individual’s right to health against (For-Profit) Corporate Stalinism
The Virus and the Parasite
Posted by: Hemiola | Jun 10 2021 16:57 utc | 12
The narcissistic fall of France
Is the country really on the brink of civil war?
https://unherd.com/2021/06/the-narcissistic-fall-of-france/
Posted by: Mao | Jun 10 2021 16:59 utc | 13
… and for those recalcitrant Stalinists who continue to assert ideological commitment over evidence; and the superior efficacy of vaccines to early treatment there is this:
Study shows hydroxychloroquine and zinc treatments increased coronavirus survival rate by almost three times Washington Examiner
The Virus and the Parasite
Posted by: Hemiola | Jun 10 2021 17:03 utc | 14
Regarding VK’s post @5, about liberals defending billionaires … I have found this common in the Democrat party, the so-called ‘socialists’ being against the wealth tax despite the fact that there were several billionaires who PAID NO TAXES.
As a former Republican, I favor the wealth tax for the following reasons.
1. A wealth tax of 1% is more efficient at raising revenue than an across the board tax increase of 10% and it is less harmful to economic growth because you are taking ‘dead money’ not taxing income being used to drive wealth creation.
BTW a wealth tax must never exceed 1% on assets above $1B because compound interest (rule 72) makes rates above that confiscatory. Most wealth is in the form of stock, it’s not right to take Amazon away from Bezos.
2. It IS easy to calculate, if you only count stocks, bonds, bank accounts, precious metals and real estate. If Bezos tries to avoid it selling Amazon and buying artwork, straw, and mink farms, more power to him.
I saw a liberal on CNN explaining why a wealth tax was bad and it was clear to me that she did not understand it ‘there are years where you can by like Donald Trump and have have losses you can carry forward to avoid it’ (no, that is revenue, not wealth)
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Jun 10 2021 17:29 utc | 15
James wrote
everything is being run in order to sustain the bond holders and the banks. And the problem with this is that the mortgage debts, the student loan debts, the personal debts, the car loan debts, they’re growing at an exponentially high rate, while the economy is not growing at a high rate.
__________________________________________________
In the US debt of all kinds has indeed grown much faster than the economy (GDP) but NOT loans made by banks. Debt owed to banks has remained fairly constant in proportion to GDP for the last 60 years as this graph shows:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.png?g=EDBL
Posted by: jinn | Jun 10 2021 17:40 utc | 16
re ·º3 Mao and the fall of France. An interesting chapter that I had never been aware of is the way in which France ¨fell¨ at the beginning of WWII. An excelent chronicle of how it happened can be found in Manuel Chavez Nogales´ reporting, collected in La Agonia de Francia. The right and the lefft betwen them basically paralized the country, a situation many countries find themselves in today. Who is to fall to this time???
Posted by: c | Jun 10 2021 18:04 utc | 17
Joe Manchin Sucks, the Senate is Absurd, by Paul Street
Oh, you do believe one single senator blocked the entire thing. How cute.
It’s blatant by now that this is a kabuki theater. Manchin is clearly acting here as Biden’s bad cop. This is all staged. Biden isn’t failing to pass whatever he claims he wants to pass because of Manchin, that’s for sure. We’re talking about a nation that has already murdered many of its Presidents, a single senator from West Virginia is not a problem.
The American Left should stop being naive (or pretending to be naive). If you want to go full Social-Fascist (I know you do…), then say it in the open, stop treating the rest of the world like idiots.
–//–
@ Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Jun 10 2021 17:29 utc | 15
BTW a wealth tax must never exceed 1% on assets above $1B because compound interest (rule 72) makes rates above that confiscatory. Most wealth is in the form of stock, it’s not right to take Amazon away from Bezos.
That makes zero scientific sense. Taxes are not compound (they’re a single portion of the overall declared base). There is no natural interest rate; interest rates are by definition artificial – you can do whatever you want with them (if you’re the central bank). Taxes are also not entirely artificial: they’re the synthesis of social convention and, more importantly, class struggle; there will never be a case where the USG will tax billionaires to oblivion.
@13 mao – i saw the man slapping macron.. that was interesting.. is the yellow vest movement over, or ongoing?
@ 16 jinn.. interesting graph.. thanks… do you draw any conclusions off this?
Posted by: james | Jun 10 2021 18:14 utc | 19
@13 Mao – Thank you so much for that link! Michel Houellebecq is my favorite writer. Wow. Moon of Alabama is the best!
Posted by: lex talionis | Jun 10 2021 18:19 utc | 20
Sample updates not covered by the MSM due to the Putin -Blinkin’ eerrr Bidin’ meetin’.
1) Lebanon will officially be out of gasoline in 6 days.
Why? Because there’s not enough USD in the central bank to secure the payments.
Iran offered to sell us gas to be paid with local currency Lebanese Lira..the gvt(which MSM portrays as hijacked by Hezbollah) refused the offer……….
2) Iranian oil tankers set to arrive in Syria on Friday. They will also await payment before unloadin’.
3) Two Iranian warships are now in the Atlantic on their way to Venezuela as well, but the US considers this and the small boats on deck as a life-threatenin’ “provocation”. Scaredy-pants as we used to say in primary school.
Just sayin’.
Posted by: Stonebird | Jun 10 2021 18:45 utc | 21
“Debt owed to banks has remained fairly constant in proportion to GDP for the last 60 years as this graph shows:”
Could that be explained by the MBS of 2008 fame.
Seems to me the banks made the loans but then packaged them up , wrapped a high rating on them and the flogged them off on pension funds and other investors.
Posted by: arby | Jun 10 2021 19:32 utc | 22
arby | Jun 10 2021 19:32 utc | 22
“Seems to me the banks made the loans but then packaged them up , wrapped a high rating on them and the flogged them off on pension funds and other investors.”
At least that is what they tried to do, but they made a blunder. “Ratings/value” are not decided by the “seller”, the Banks themselves, but by the buyer.
The subprime debacle happened because high value collateral loans were mixed with unsecured and doubtful ones. The investors took the lowest common denominator as the “value”. The more secure loans were effectively devalued.
****
I don’t know how that impacts your question about GDP and debts.
Posted by: Stonebird | Jun 10 2021 19:52 utc | 23
vk @5: ” The CPC isn’t afraid of telling what it wants to do and its strategic goal publicly and openly.”
There is a concrete reason for that as well. The CPC has almost a hundred million members. How could that many people spread across a large country possibly keep their deliberations and debates secret? Now figure the CPC has at least twice or thrice that many “fellow travelers” who need to be kept in the loop and polled for their input. It should become easy to see that secrecy and deception would only serve to destroy the CPC itself.
Posted by: William Gruff | Jun 10 2021 20:20 utc | 24
Stonebird,
That’s not how I saw that sub prime debacle.
The rating agencies were the ones who put the ratings on those mortgage backed securities not the investors.
I did not ask a question about GDP and debts.
I was just pointing out the possibility that the reason that debt owed to banks has remained fairly stable because they offed the debts almost as fast as they created them.
Posted by: arby | Jun 10 2021 20:37 utc | 25
Stonebird, I don’t know where you got that from
The scandal was that the Federally mandated rating agencies (S&P and Moodys) were corrupted.
In the agencies’ models you could take low grade (BBB) investments and, utilising the portfolio effect, could manufacture something like 90% top grade (AAA) and 10% low grade (BBB).
Institutional investors need a AAA grade BY LAW before they can buy.
So they changed he colour on the packaging, and the LAW became “quaint” and people who know better piled in.
Posted by: John Cleary | Jun 10 2021 21:08 utc | 26
@ arby (#25)
You might want to take a look at the shadow banking sector. Lots of debt generation has happened in the shadow banking as it works around the regulations of the banking sector. Debt is being created at an exponential rate.
Posted by: Max | Jun 10 2021 21:09 utc | 27
Thomas Friedman squarking on his perch attracts criticism.
See Johnathan Cook in New Left Review and while you are there take a scan of the treats on the home page. There is a mighty good look at German politics in the year ahead and many other treats.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 10 2021 21:16 utc | 28
Norwegian @11–
If you read my recent links to TASS about the Russian program and the mention that the ISS is falling apart and is being seen as beyond salvageable, then you’re aware that both Russia and China will construct and operate their own national space stations with China’s becoming operational very soon as the article informs. Russia has a new heavy lift rocket and China’s is under development. The Outlaw US Empire has essentially abandoned any manned effort by NASA, and the ESA’s program really doesn’t exist. When we examine the effort China and Russia are putting toward fusion power development and link it to their moon plans, it becomes rather clear what their goal is. And if I can figure it out, then someone within the Outlaw US Empire’s establishment can also, and maybe that’s why all the hysteria without ever admitting the actual reason. I don’t know if you read Ehret’s latest, but he does a credible job of explaining the reasons behind the abandonment of nuclear and fusion power research by the EU and Outlaw US Empire. One of the Russian articles I read shows the Empire can’t even enrich enough of its own uranium to provide fuel for its existing reactors; so, it’s no wonder it doesn’t want Iran to do what it can do no longer.
Imagine the change in the balance in Geopolitical power if China/Russia master fusion and can provide the fuel while the NATO-Bloc cannot do either. And that possibility of course generates even more thorny questions.
Syria news.
The Russian army destroyed the leaders of the most powerful group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, the former Syrian wing of Al-Qaeda, with a precise strike.
On June 10, in the area of the settlement of Jebel al-Zawiya in Idlib, an accurate strike killed the official representative of the HTS, Abu Khalid Shami, the head of the media wing of the HTS, Abu Musab Homsi, and two other militants. The strike was inflicted while the car was moving. The information necessary for the elimination of high-ranking terrorists was obtained using the latest technical means of reconnaissance, which are being tested in Syria.
Source (photos, video).
arby said:
“Seems to me the banks made the loans but then packaged them up , wrapped a high rating on them and the flogged them off on pension funds and other investors.”
_______________________________________________________-
What about the trillions of dollars in loans made by private mortgage companies like CountryWide, NewCentury, AmeriQuest and 100’s of others? Just because they all disappeared after house prices collapsed doesn’t mean they did not exist.
Demand for B C D rated securities that were backed by residential mortgages to borrowers with bad credit was enormous. Loans to borrowers with bad credit histories were extremely profitable investments yielding high returns as long as house prices were going up. Sure in some cases these junk grade investments were bundled with A-rated so that institutional investors could get in on some of the action but that was not the driving force behind the bubble. The driving force came from investors who knew they were targeting borrowers with bad credit. This was an untapped market that was capturing the appreciation in rapidly rising house prices while at the same time causing that rise in prices by marketing to huge number of borrowers that the conventional lenders would never fund.
https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-DW279_RMBS_G_20140728130506.jpg
Posted by: jinn | Jun 10 2021 21:31 utc | 31
vk @ 5
I can’t imagine any elected US federal official even being able to read Xi’s speech, much less write it.
however, the imperatives of consumerism, development, urbanization, etc., etc. all come before “harmony with nature”, in Xi’s speech, don’t they? so the game is up, over, finished, right there. increased efficiency will be translated into increased consumption. that’s the plan. nothing changing there, so adios planet.
the alternative is to translate efficiency into leisure time, free time, more time, not more junk. such an effort would require building a just society, with fair distribution of *existing* resources. not smoking the crack pipe that social ills will be resolved by increased consumption, nuclear energy (vomit) and more space travel.
but it might be great to see what China could do with its awesome innovativeness, if it weren’t caught in the dialectic of US militarism and global capitalism looking for someone to blame for problems it created. Actively planning WW3, upgrading nukes, etc., etc., “modernizing” the greatest ecological nightmare ever. China and nobody else ain’t gonna be doing shit if the US people don’t stop the war criminals comprising the totality of the USG.
Posted by: rjb1.5 | Jun 10 2021 22:22 utc | 32
Peru: 100% of votes in and counted– Pedro Castillo won, barely. Fujimori has already tried some counter-moves: pressuring the military to take over; they publicly refused; petitioned the election board to annul 500,000 votes in Castillo’s home region, still waiting on their answer. The smarties and richies are in shock and look unable to find a pretext for pushing Castillo out so far… they are in disarray and have been unable to mobilize. I’m guessing they didn’t plan on this. U.S. will be kicked out of their military bases. Expect strong ties with Bolivia’s MAS government. Also, I’m anticipating some strident hit pieces in the Guardian, NPR, NYT etc.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Pedro-Castillo-Leads-Peruvian-Election-With-100-Votes-In-20210610-0021.html
Posted by: migueljose | Jun 10 2021 23:45 utc | 33
Bravo Peru!! Now, another serious note. Open Lands agreement with the Outlaw US Empire terminated:
“Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed an order on the termination of the ‘open lands’ memorandum of understanding between Russia and the US, which allowed Russian and US diplomats to travel across different regions of each other’s countries without seeking permission, simply through providing notification. The document was published on Thursday on the official legal information portal….
“On April 16, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, commenting on US sanctions against Russia, that Moscow would denounce the memorandum of understanding on ‘open lands’ as a response measure. The minister reminded that in accordance with the document, certain categories of diplomats, from counselors and all the way down, are supposed to notify the authorities of the host country each time they plan a trip beyond the 25-mile zone around the general consulate’s host city. According to Lavrov, the Americans ‘completely ignored’ this requirement. ‘Possibly, we will treat the diplomats’ requests for trips beyond the defined zone of residence on an individual basis,’ he said.”
Obama’s responsible for this move, although Trump could’ve reversed the damage done by Obama.
Sometimes we need some JOY.
Watch a parrot sing ‘Stairway to HEAVEN.’
https://www.kerrang.com/the-news/watch-a-parrot-sing-stairway-to-heaven/
Appropriate to the G7 meeting in Cornwall. A little bird told me so. ‘curse not the king, no not in my thought, …for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shallop tell the matter.’
Eccles. x, 20
https://academic.oup.com/jts/article-abstract/os-L/2/177/1671582?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Posted by: Paul | Jun 11 2021 0:31 utc | 35
Caitlin’s take on the Peruvian elaction–
”
Pedro Castillo, the candidate of the far-left Perú Libre party, appeared to eke out the narrowest of victories — a margin of less than 1 percent — over right-wing Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of Peru’s last strongman https://t.co/wUFBGBVyTk
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 10, 2021
Uh-oh, looks like Peru is going to need some help with its Freedom and Democracy. Anyone know any powerful governments who might be interested in helping Peru get some Freedom and Democracy?”
❖
Posted by: arby | Jun 11 2021 0:34 utc | 36
Sorry, typo @34
should read,’.. which hath wings shall tell the matter.’
Posted by: paul | Jun 11 2021 0:36 utc | 37
You don’t need to be Einstein…
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210604-the-final-downfall-of-israel-was-predicted-by-einstein/
Posted by: Paul | Jun 11 2021 1:26 utc | 38
@ 5 vk, @9 joininmk
So, vk would have you vaccinated so that the total % would compete with China. Oh, but did you hear that the CDC – yes, that cdc – has ordered an emergency session to discuss the rare heart inflammation side effects of mRNA vaccines from pfizer and moderna?
Rare?! RARE?!!!!!!!! For those of you wondering if some of us here are paid shills, you might not believe me when I say that my very own next door neighbor, RIGHT NEXT DOOR, went to the ER within two weeks of the mRNA vaccine to have bypass surgery for inflammed arteries. The CDC is acknowledging the VAERS stat of 800 or so cases. Hahahahahahahahaha. As a neighbor then, I guess I hit the fucking lottery to be next door to one of the 800.
But Vaxxxxx up, dumbass! China is!
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jun 11 2021 4:17 utc | 39
@karlof1 | Jun 10 2021 21:16 utc | 29
Thank you for responding and providing further insight. My enthusiasm around the Chinese space achievements is the same as my enthusiasm around the US space achievements 50 years ago: Scientific space exploration. This is something that contributes to humanity.
Your points are focused on geopolitics, which in a way is myopic in comparison to the above, but I agree this aspect is hugely interesting and important to us all by itself.
If you read my recent links to TASS about the Russian program and the mention that the ISS is falling apart and is being seen as beyond salvageable, then you’re aware that both Russia and China will construct and operate their own national space stations with China’s becoming operational very soon as the article informs.
Yes indeed, this is clear.
Russia has a new heavy lift rocket and China’s is under development. The Outlaw US Empire has essentially abandoned any manned effort by NASA, and the ESA’s program really doesn’t exist. When we examine the effort China and Russia are putting toward fusion power development and link it to their moon plans, it becomes rather clear what their goal is. And if I can figure it out, then someone within the Outlaw US Empire’s establishment can also, and maybe that’s why all the hysteria without ever admitting the actual reason.
This aspect wasn’t clear to me, but that’s a game changer if true! Thanks for pointing that out, I will keep an eye on that.
I don’t know if you read Ehret’s latest, but he does a credible job of explaining the reasons behind the abandonment of nuclear and fusion power research by the EU and Outlaw US Empire. One of the Russian articles I read shows the Empire can’t even enrich enough of its own uranium to provide fuel for its existing reactors; so, it’s no wonder it doesn’t want Iran to do what it can do no longer.
Hmmm… your link didn’t work, but I am guessing you mean this article. I will read it now.
Imagine the change in the balance in Geopolitical power if China/Russia master fusion and can provide the fuel while the NATO-Bloc cannot do either. And that possibility of course generates even more thorny questions.
Wow, that would be a completely new paradigm. I will have to look at world events with this aspect in mind. Many thanks!
Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 11 2021 4:35 utc | 40
A white New York City psychoanalyst is under fire after publishing a report decrying his skin color as a “malignant, parasitic like condition” without a “permanent cure.”
Dr. Donald Moss — a published author who teaches at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute — published “On Having Whiteness” last month in the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association.
“Whiteness is a condition one first acquires and then one has — a malignant, parasitic-like condition to which ‘white’ people have a particular susceptibility,” an abstract of the article on Sage Journals says.
“The condition is foundational, generating characteristic ways of being in one’s body, in one’s mind, and in one’s world.
“Parasitic Whiteness renders its hosts’ appetites voracious, insatiable, and perverse,” states the paper, also published on the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed site.
https://nypost.com/2021/06/10/psychoanalyst-calls-whiteness-incurable-parasitic-like-condition/
Posted by: Mao | Jun 11 2021 5:28 utc | 41
Speech of President von der Leyen at the “Conference on strengthening the role of the EU in Global Health”, organised by the Portuguese Presidency
“[…] we also know: If only the people in Europe are vaccinated, this does not help much. Mutants from other countries and continents can destroy whatever progress we have made – at any time.”
Posted by: Mao | Jun 11 2021 6:15 utc | 42
John Cleary | Jun 10 2021 21:08 utc | 26
and Arby@25, Jinn at@30
I’ll buy it that the rating agencies were also in it for the money. (John’s point).
But as Jinn says, the financial greed was widespread. Had to be, to bring down the whole shenanigan like that.
(off today, so no follow up from me, sorry)
Posted by: Stonebird | Jun 11 2021 6:42 utc | 43
rjb1.5 @ 31
vk
anyone
“the alternative is to translate efficiency into leisure time, free time, more time, not more junk. such an effort would require building a just society, with fair distribution of *existing* resources. not smoking the crack pipe that social ills will be resolved by increased consumption, nuclear energy (vomit) and more space travel.”
Admirably, China has in the last year completed its programme of eradicating poverty within the country (much downplayed by Western regimes who would not even attempt such a course of action) BUT it now has, according to Global Times, a 50% obesity problem. Which it now recognises (at least) that it has to tackle.
Again admirably, China has contained the Coronavirus pandemic (much downplayed by Western regimes who would not even attempt such a course of action but instead profit from it). However, given that a failing immune system appears to be one of the consequences of modernity’s overproduction and overconsumption all in the name of unsustainable growth (obesity, pollution, environmental degradation, nutrition poverty, etc) and the major risk factor of COVID-19, is China now promoting the restitution of the immune system as well as eliminating obesity in its population (with all that implies for a restored ecosystem) in the wake of the pandemic …
or is China now following the conspiracy theory propagated by the neo-colonial, neo-liberal WHO of attempting to eradicate the pandemic simply through vaccination of 80% of the population? (see post 12 above)
Dr Pierre Kory (FLCCC), Dr Tess Lawrie (EBMC), Dipali Ohja (IBA), Shabnam Palesa Mohamed (SAHARI) Call for a New People’s World Health Organisation.
CATalyst | Ivermectin: Indian Bar Association Serve Legal Notice on WHO’s Chief Scientist
The Virus and the Parasite
Posted by: Hemiola | Jun 11 2021 6:44 utc | 44
The Atomic Cannon, at 280 mm, was the largest nuclear capable mobile artillery piece manufactured by the United States. On May 25, 1953, a 280 mm cannon fired an atomic projectile a distance of 7 miles at the Nevada Test Site. Twenty 280 mm cannons were manufactured. None were used in battle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTdy1Yp1h5A
Posted by: Mao | Jun 11 2021 7:12 utc | 45
ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, even nothing.
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax
Posted by: Mao | Jun 11 2021 7:29 utc | 46
Program To Take Racism Out Of Math Being Promoted By Oregon DOE
https://dailycaller.com/2021/02/12/oregon-department-education-racism-white-supremacy-mathematics/
Oregon’s Department of Education (ODE) is encouraging teachers to register for a training program that offers a toolkit to help educators “develop an anti-racist math practice.”
…
The toolkit offers teachers help in “deconstructing racism” in the classroom and “dismantling white supremacy in math classrooms by visibilizing the the toxic characteristics of white supremacy culture with respect to math.”
“White supremacy culture infiltrates math classrooms in everyday teacher action,” the toolkit states. “Coupled with the beliefs that underlie these actions, they perpetuate educational harm on Black, Latinx, and multilingual students, denying them full access to the world of mathematics.”
Some of the ways in which white supremacy shows up in classrooms, according to the toolkit, is when “the focus is on getting the ‘right’ answer.”
“Upholding the idea that there are always right and wrong answers perpetuate objectivity as well as fear of open conflict,” the toolkit states in reference to focusing on getting the “right” answer.
Instead, teachers should have students “come up with at least two answers that might solve this problem” and challenge standardized test questions by justifying why every other answer is incorrect.
The toolkit also links to a 2016 workbook titled “dismantling Racism” for reference. The workbook says that by definition, “only white people can be racist in our society, because only white people as a group have that power.”
While it’s unclear whether the workbook will be used in the training, some of the anecdotes in the workbook appear to be part of the foundation for the course’s material.
For example, the workbook talks about how perfectionism is a part of “white supremacy culture” and is damaging to people of color, which is similar to the toolkit’s focus on getting the “right” answer.
The workbook recommends people “develop a culture of appreciation, where the organization takes time to make sure that people’s work and efforts are appreciated; develop a learning organization, where it is expected that everyone will make mistakes and those mistakes offer opportunities for learning.”
Posted by: Mao | Jun 11 2021 7:31 utc | 47
Starting next week, Germans will be able to prove they have been fully vaccinated by simply showing an app on their smartphones.
Meanwhile in Greece they are preparing to pass a law that will make vaccination mandatory.
This is highly illegal given the fact that these vaccines are still in the experimental stages.
So Greeks will be forced to participate in medical experiments.
Many countries will follow.
Is anyone worried about this?
Posted by: DG | Jun 11 2021 8:20 utc | 48
@DG | Jun 11 2021 8:20 utc | 47
Yes. I am terrified by this. I don’t care whether it is by “smartphone” or “pass law” or whatever. It is equally terrible and illegal. Either way you force people to participate in medical experiments, it is against the Nuremberg Code.
There was a reason the Nazis were defeated in WWII.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 11 2021 8:54 utc | 49
DG @ 47
Is anyone worried about this
The cognitive disconnectedness of this era is unprecedented. And that’s saying something!
When the nation’s medical honchos and their attendant institutions become rooted in derangement, yes, when the nation’s top doctor is funding the development of ‘gain of function’ pathogens in foreign laboratories(and lying about it) behind a full political and media false front, when these authorities are ramping up the sacrifice of our children, the most innocent and vulnerable, you should be able to ascertain that the primrose path is strewn with psychopathy…
…but since ‘why’ seems to be the $64,000.00 question, spend your weekend perusing the entrails.
Posted by: john | Jun 11 2021 10:09 utc | 50
I just saw a moment ago on Al Jazeera shocking video footage of chained and shackled Palestinian prisoners being kicked and bashed by zionist occupation guards in one of their illegal prisons.
This oppression is what US $10 million per day aid buys.
Posted by: Paul | Jun 11 2021 10:37 utc | 51
Birds of a feather…..
Posted by Zakharova, the English football team saluting, and the Ukrainian football team shirts, flocking together.
https://t.me/MariaVladimirovnaZakharova/66
Posted by: Paco | Jun 11 2021 11:18 utc | 52
@Paco | Jun 11 2021 11:18 utc | 52
Zakharova is looking at things also from the NATO point of view
https://t.me/MariaVladimirovnaZakharova/11
Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 11 2021 11:48 utc | 53
@Norwegian
I’m terrified too. What I don’t understand is the complacency of most of the ppl who not only accept all this, but they demand that everyone should be vaccinated. There are ppl in the West who are worried about the human rights of the Uighurs, yet they accept what’s happening in their country without any protest.
@john
I agree with you. Thanks for the link …
Posted by: DG | Jun 11 2021 12:06 utc | 54
Mr. Paul | Jun 11 2021 10:37 utc | 51
The Judeo-Christians unrequited love affair has cost the United States plenty and will degrade and debase into the coming years and decades – just as it has already done so.
They are willing to accept those costs.
On the other hand, the thug-like Americans, with Mr. Trump being a prime example of them, who conceive of all humanity as living in a Mafia fantasy, are happy to harness that zeal in order to cement the so-called towering heights of the global economy. In that manner, they proceeded to invade and occupy Iraq and to further threaten Iran in a transparent effort to extend their already existing (latent) political control over the oil production of Southern Persian Gulf Arabs to Iraq and later to Iran.
The aim was to give the United States the ability to bankrupt other oil producers through price wars: Russia, Venezuela, Angola, Nigeria, Algeria etc.
Another aim was to take China, Japan, Korea, Europe hostage – denying them reliable energy sources; which, in case of China, has led her to take countermeasures such as increasing imports from the Russian Federation and Iran.
This was to complement their dominance of global trade transactions via USD, the weaponization of which we already have seen in cases of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, Syria, and Yemen.
It is difficult to ascertains who was manipulating whom; the Judeo-Christians manipulating the Thugs or the Thugs manipulating the Judeo-Christians. I tend to give prominence to the Judeo-Christians since the Thug-in-Chief admitted the failure of that strategy for control of oil years ago (later, during his presidency, he proceeded to put a price tag on it, 8 billion USD and counting) but the war against Islam and enemies of Israel has continued, regardless.
Posted by: fyi | Jun 11 2021 13:33 utc | 55
Mao (Jun 11 2021 7:31 utc | 47) quoting the Oregon Department of Education:
“White supremacy culture infiltrates math classrooms in everyday teacher action,” the toolkit states. “Coupled with the beliefs that underlie these actions, they perpetuate educational harm on Black, Latinx, and multilingual students, denying them full access to the world of mathematics.”
Strange, isn’t it, how Asian-Americans don’t exist in that little universe. Or maybe they’re now honorary whites. In any case, and in my experience, Asian-Americans, just like Asian Asians, don’t have a problem with the notion that 2 + 2 has exactly one correct answer, and that that answer is not contingent on race.
Looks like the USA’s only hope is its Asian communities, provided of course that they aren’t abused to the point that they leave.
Posted by: corvo | Jun 11 2021 13:59 utc | 56
To VK (and others) Why I would Limit a wealth tax to 1%
vk @18 – “That makes zero scientific sense. Taxes are not compound (they’re a single portion of the overall declared base).”
For any single year, yes, but if you keep taking a percent of a persons total every year it does compound. Let’s suppose you have $100B and take 10% each year, this in 6yrs you end up taking 50% of his wealth … 90 81 73 66 59 53
I referred to ‘rule 72’ which is an easy way to figure out how long it takes your money to double assuming it grows at rate X factoring in compound interest. If your money grew at 10%, it doubles in 7.2yrs, not 10yrs, 72 / 10.
Is 1% arbitrary? Yes. But it is an easy threshold to remember, it solves the issue of the uber-wealthy paying nothing, it raises more money than raising 10% on everybody’s income tax, and
it only threatens 50% of a muti-billionaire’s wealth over 35yrs.
I arbitrarily believe that is the threshold where billionaires will not get psychotic, hide their money, burn down the house, and worse, hire lobbyists to appear on FOX and CNN and tell us white is black and up is down.
Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Jun 11 2021 14:01 utc | 57
DG
Have you read Jim Kunstler’s take?
Struggle Session →
Posted by: john | Jun 11 2021 14:29 utc | 58
Over interpretation of Chinese yuan’s internationalization unnecessary: senior policy bank executive
Western financial wizards (“experts”) are quickly degenerating into what is essentially a class of clerics. They’re reading too much over trivial signs.
–//–
DPP blocking Taiwan residents’ access to mainland vaccines is anti-human: Global Times editorial
The capitalists called the Soviet camp “Iron Curtain”. What should the socialists (Chinese) call the capitalist iron curtain? I’m open to suggestions.
–//–
Mechanization rate in Xinjiang farms beyond imagination, as cotton pickers vie for work: field study report
Couldn’t be any different. The soul of socialism is the proletariat; it only makes sense for a socialist government to try to expand and strengthen it the most possible.
–//–
China can help US out of its inflation trap
Deal is simple: US keeps buying Chinese goods and China keeps buying US debt with the caveat Biden eases Trump’s tech sanctions
Nice try, smartass. Nice try.
The era where the American people consumes much beyond what they produce must end.
–//–
@ Posted by: Christian J. Chuba | Jun 11 2021 14:01 utc | 57
You’re calculating taxes wrong. Taxes are not interest, they’re a subtraction of what is called, in legal terminology, “patrimony” (I’m not talking about regressive forms of taxation such as VAT, we’re in tax over property territory here). The State demands all of its citizens to declare how much they have in property (in money terms) and collects a given percentage over this property. The calculation always happens over what is declared – there will never be such a scenario where it will compound (e.g. if the next year your wealth decreases, you will pay less tax).
The illusion taxes compound may arise from the fact that people who don’t pay their taxes in due time accumulate a “debt” with the State. Due taxes are calculated and negotiated as if they were debt held by the State, but they’re not. The only reason the State treats it as debt lies in the fact that, in capitalism, the State can only charge tax in money (it can never confiscate property directly), and fiat money is inflationary, so some kind of interest must be charged if only for monetary readjustment purposes. But even these “interests” are usually fixed by Law and are much lower than actual interest. Even then, there usually are many forms of favorable renegotiation of due taxes, and forgiveness of small amounts are fairly common.
A capitalist State never intends to confiscate property with taxation. If a significant amount of tax is due, the State can freeze your assets temporarily until negotiation and litigation are over, and even then it cannot take the property: it must auction the property and take the tax in money form. Even in cases of war – where a lot of right are constitutionally suppressed and extraordinary taxation is allowed – forced taxation is almost always realized in the form of war credits, i.e. the State promises to pay them back when it can (some legal experts don’t even consider war credits a true form of taxation).
Vk you live in a strange world. Have you ever paid taxes?
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jun 11 2021 15:53 utc | 60
@ Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jun 11 2021 15:53 utc | 60
You tell me. In what world does a 1% tax rate results in 50% confiscation of your total wealth in 35 years?
@35 Paul – Thank you so much for sharing that! I love zoomusicology. I’m a big fan of Hatebeak, Caninus and the Thai Elephant Orchestra. I have a radio show on a low power FM station in Venice CA – KTPC. I am definitely going to play some Tico.
Also, in case Debsisdead is reading this, thank you for sharing the Scottish band Unthanks. Their song Black Trade is on my current show. What beautiful music.
Much love to all the MoA crew. Big up to our host, b.
Posted by: lex talionis | Jun 11 2021 16:39 utc | 62
Yes. I am terrified by this. I don’t care whether it is by “smartphone” or “pass law” or whatever. It is equally terrible and illegal. Either way you force people to participate in medical experiments, it is against the Nuremberg Code.
There was a reason the Nazis were defeated in WWII.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 11 2021 8:54 utc | 49
Yes.
Yes. It’s called the USSR.
Posted by: Sarlat La Canède | Jun 11 2021 16:43 utc | 63
Sorry vk, bad comment by me. I was reacting to these statements:
[…] the State can only charge tax in money (it can never confiscate property directly) […]
and
“A capitalist State never intends to confiscate property with taxation.”
In my world both of these are 100% untrue in the countries I’m familiar with.
Maybe unusual places like Cuba and Monaco are different, I wouldn’t know about those, but they’re not exactly representative 🙂
Anyway sorry for shooting from the hip.
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jun 11 2021 18:59 utc | 64
Getting Desperate?
The voice of Global Britain – the BBC – joins the virtue signalling politically correct with the corporate corrupted to trash early treatment … quite a construction
The Brazilian Offering Fake COVID Drugs for Social Media Likes bbc.co.uk
So forget it!
The Virus and the Parasite
Posted by: Hemiola | Jun 11 2021 20:14 utc | 65
Another shocking savagery of the Nazi Ukrainian regime (aka “young European democracy”).
Against the background of the current ceasefire regime, a group of Ukrainian saboteurs attacked an observation post of the People’s Militia of the LPR and killed five LPR soldiers – four were shot point-blank in the head, the fifth was killed by a sniper’s shot, also in the head. Terrorism, no different from the actions of ISIS in Syria. The Head of the Republic in connection with the sabotage of the Armed Forces of Ukraine interrupted the visit to Russia and returns to the LPR.
Western (in particular European) leaders have proclaimed the goals of fighting terrorism in Syria. Well, now they raise and support the “European” ISIS right at their side. And they hardly understand the danger of what is happening.
@ john | Jun 11 2021 14:29 utc | 58
yes, I find Kunstler amusing. I just wonder what ever happened to Sidney Powell …
Posted by: DG | Jun 11 2021 21:35 utc | 67
vk@59
”(the State) must auction the property and take the tax in money form.”
When the IRS steals a house and auctions it off your analysis is of no comfort or interest to the homeowner/taxpayer. Add to that most tax auctions are the result of IRS errors.
I have known two taxpayers who went the auction route. One auction was stopped by a mob. Five thousand angry people in the street decided that case. The other there was a last minute judicial stay. Last minute meaning the auctioneers were on the site and so were bidders. An administrative law judge reviewed the case and noted hundreds of felonies committed by IRS in prosecution of the case. As well as a fundamentally absurd interpretation of the issues at hand. No IRS agent is ever prosecuted for committing crimes.
The State is based on violence. They take what they want, real property, personal property, your children. Your life. And they do not give a shit for Marxist analysis. In this case the Marxist is siding with the State and with Capital.
Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 11 2021 22:28 utc | 68
Posted by Fyi @ 55
Thanks for your thoughts, I both agree and disagree with some of your threads.
The tail wags the dog.
Successive US administrations since the weak and malleable Woodrow Wilson have prioritised Zionist objectives above US interests. Some pushed back, in descending order, JFK, Eisenhower and the hapless Carter.
The ‘war for oil’ crowd, coincidently, happen to be mostly PEP’s, progressive except for Palestine.
The big oil lobby in the US was against the Iraq war, they wanted Middle East stability, not Israeli regional hegemony. They feared ME war would be bad for business. Look at the towels of protest from the neocons when Trump nominated Rex Tillerson for his administration.
The Iraq war was a brilliant success because it achieved its objectives; a divided and broken Iraq, see ‘A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties.’
This catastrophe also sent the US broke.
Meanwhile, while the Anglo/Zionists were pouring their blood and treasure in the desert sands of Iraq, China was investing and building. Now the US is complaining it has lost financial and geopolitical hegemony, see Sir Halford Mackinder:
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-mackinders-heartland-theory-4068393
Militarily, to control the ‘world island’ heartland the US needs to control both the east, Europe [NATO] and the west, Japan South Korea, the Philippines and Australia, see Alfred W McCoy:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31944721-in-the-shadows-of-the-american-century
Posted by: Paul | Jun 11 2021 22:41 utc | 69
Sorry, in my haste not to be timed out again, I got that wrong it should be ‘in the west Nato, in the EAST,Japan S Korea, the Philippines and Australia.
By the way, does anyone know where this mythical ‘refresh button’ is on a MacBook Air?
Posted by: Paul | Jun 11 2021 22:59 utc | 70
@ Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 11 2021 22:28 utc | 68
Taxation is always the privilege that emanates from imperium (monopoly of violence). That’s not a secret.
Yes, the amount of tax may be so great that the debtor is forced to sell his assets. But the State can only take what is due, not the whole property, and it can only take it in money form, never in tangible things (i.e. land, property). That’s essential for capitalism, because it both ensures the property will circulate back to the free market and because it keep the State not-for-profit.
A capitalist State must never seek profit. That’s the only way to ensure it will stay the neutral arbiter of the free market. If it could own the means of production and profit for it, it would quickly use its imperium to do what you fear the most: confiscate the property of other capitalists to become the only capitalist in town.
But tax is never compound interest. The State always calculate the due taxes over a concrete base at the beginning of the fiscal year. You’ll never owe the State two Lamborghini over the fact you own only one Lamborghini. You’ll never pay tax over tax you’ve already paid, and tax owed doesn’t increase the base over which you pay due tax in the next fiscal year (that’s one of the sacred principles of capitalist Law, every nation follows this meta-rule of capitalism). In other words, tax is a direct subtraction of consolidated patrimony, not compound interest in the financial sense of the word (i.e. if you take a loan to the bank, you will end up paying more money back than you took). 1% tax rate will always be 1%, it doesn’t compound.
Evidently, workers have a different relationship with taxation than the capitalists. Workers don’t profit, they live through the process of simple exchange (exchange of equals). Taxation over the worker is a direct hit on the worker’s subsistence level. The case is completely different with the capitalist, who live through amplified exchange (i.e. the amount of money that gets out is greater than the amount of money that went in). Taxation for the capitalist is merely the expense of doing business in general (i.e. of keeping the general conditions of the free market). A concrete example of this is taxation over land: for the worker, his house is usually everything, while for the capitalist it’s just one house between many others he has.
But let’s not forget that the most punishing form of taxation is taxation over consumption: VAT and other varieties (including over services). Because of this kind of tax, the poorer workers pay more relatively to their income than both the middle class workers (yes, even accounting for the fact that he pays income tax and land tax) and, of course, the capitalists. That’s because the poorer the worker, the closer he is to the line of subsistence, the more he dedicates his income to immediate consumption. For example, in Brazil, people living on the minimum wage pay 59% of their entire earning in taxes (the most of all classes) even though they’re exempt of income tax.
Here it is:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30418-9/fulltext
We are public health scientists who have closely followed the emergence of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and are deeply concerned about its impact on global health and wellbeing. We have watched as the scientists, public health professionals, and medical professionals of China, in particular, have worked diligently and effectively to rapidly identify the pathogen behind this outbreak, put in place significant measures to reduce its impact, and share their results transparently with the global health community. This effort has been remarkable.
We sign this statement in solidarity with all scientists and health professionals in China who continue to save lives and protect global health during the challenge of the COVID-19 outbreak. We are all in this together, with our Chinese counterparts in the forefront, against this new viral threat.
The rapid, open, and transparent sharing of data on this outbreak is now being threatened by rumours and misinformation around its origins. We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin. Scientists from multiple countries have published and analysed genomes of the causative agent, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2),1
and they overwhelmingly conclude that this coronavirus originated in wildlife,2
, 3
, 4
, 5
, 6
, 7
, 8
, 9
, 10
as have so many other emerging pathogens.11
, 12
This is further supported by a letter from the presidents of the US National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine13
and by the scientific communities they represent. Conspiracy theories do nothing but create fear, rumours, and prejudice that jeopardise our global collaboration in the fight against this virus. We support the call from the Director-General of WHO to promote scientific evidence and unity over misinformation and conjecture.14
We want you, the science and health professionals of China, to know that we stand with you in your fight against this virus.
We invite others to join us in supporting the scientists, public health professionals, and medical professionals of Wuhan and across China. Stand with our colleagues on the frontline!
We speak in one voice. To add your support for this statement, sign our letter online. LM is editor of ProMED-mail. We declare no competing interests.
Emphasis added by me.
Did you know that you could say “conspiracy theories” in The Lancet (see above)? Doesn’t sound very professional, very white gloves, Queen’s Rules professional does it? In medicine The Lancet ranks second in influence behind The New England Journal of Medicine. In fact you can say Conspiracy Theories twice in one article. That is The Lancet term, per the above defining article, for even “suggesting” that Covid-19 does not have a natural origin.
What is another term. a nicer term, for conspiracy theory when scientists get together as a group to promote a self-serving agenda?
How about Criminal Fraud.
The following article chooses to use the word Hoax.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/an-orchestrated-hoax_3846921.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge
PS.
The ivory tower publication, The Lancet, forever carries a shit stain.
Posted by: librul | Jun 11 2021 23:13 utc | 72
Posted by: lex talionis | Jun 11 2021 16:39 utc | 62
Im glad you got a kick out of it. It cheered me up to.
Incidentally, some Australian Aboriginal people know of a family death by ‘a little bird told me so.’
Some NZ Maori have told me they know about some events by observation of certain birds.
Posted by: Paul | Jun 11 2021 23:21 utc | 73
Report on NBC’s Putin interview provides some details and says the network will air the full interview Monday evening. There’s nothing terribly surprising in the report to report.
The hydroxychloroquine study was done in February and March of 2020 when there were no designated treatments. The first confirmed case in New York was on March 1. It’s the same study warmed over repeatedly to push the same propaganda.
Posted by: Les | Jun 12 2021 0:52 utc | 75
Global food prices skyrocket:
Global food prices extended their rally to the highest in almost a decade, heightening concerns over bulging grocery bills as economies struggle to exit the Covid-19 crisis.
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/6/3/global-food-prices-surge-again-stoking-inflation-fears
03 June 2021, Rome – Global food prices rose in May at their fastest monthly rate in more than a decade, even as world cereal production is on course to reach a new record high, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported today.
http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1403339/icode/
Posted by: Paul | Jun 12 2021 1:11 utc | 76
Video:
A rare unfiltered look into the treatment of Palestinians inside Israeli Occupation prisons: this 2019 vid reveals the IOF storming Naqab prison, barbarically assaulting 55 prisoners for 10 mins straight & leaving them tied-up atop each other for many hours. 15 were hospitalised.
https://www.reddit.com/r/israelexposed/comments/nwzfgy/a_rare_unfiltered_look_into_the_treatment_of/
See the barbaric ‘chosen’ alien invaders in action, sickening.
Posted by: Paul | Jun 12 2021 1:39 utc | 77
New theme park dedicated to the worship of the Starman to be built on the ruins of Palestinian homes in Jerusalem:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/11/we-need-help-now-the-palestinians-facing-home-demolitions
More homage to the Starman, ‘he’d like to come and meet us but he thinks he’d blow our minds” :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI66hcu9fIs
Posted by: Paul | Jun 12 2021 2:04 utc | 78
John @ 50, hello again. Thank you for your link. I’ve just come from a very long discussion of three very serious and informed men, one being the author at your link. Another was definite on the subject of escape variants to the virus – a subject we both discussed on a previous open forum, or perhaps one b had focused on covid.
The link was provided in the course of a discussion at nakedcapitalism.com by a commenter there as the subject of adverse vaccine reactions in young men was being discussed. I will have to break it up as I am not successful when I attempt the HREF instructions above:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
-_NNTVJzqtY&list=PLjQ2gC-5yHEug8_VK8ve0oDSJLoIU4b93
I found all information disquieting but equally unassailable. Highly recommend it.
Posted by: juliania | Jun 12 2021 5:22 utc | 79
Later on in the interview, Holt pressed again on the topic: “Do you have any plans to visit the border?”
“At some point, you know, we are going to the border. We’ve been to the border. So this whole thing about the border. We’ve been to the border. We’ve been to the border,” Harris replied.
“You haven’t been to the border,” Holt pointed out.
“And I haven’t been to Europe,” Harris said with a laugh. “And I mean, I don’t understand the point that you’re making. I’m not discounting the importance of the border.”
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/lester-holt-challenges-kamala-harris-on-claim-weve-been-to-the-border-you-havent/
Caleb Howe @CalebHowe
HARRIS: “We’ve been to the border. So this whole thing about the border.”
Harris: “We’ve been to the border.”
Harris: “We’ve been to the border.”
HOLT: “You haven’t been to the border.”
Harris: “I… and I haven’t been to Europe.”
[VIDEO]
https://twitter.com/CalebHowe/status/1402257141570867217
Posted by: Mao | Jun 12 2021 5:34 utc | 80
By the way, does anyone know where this mythical ‘refresh button’ is on a MacBook Air?
Posted by: Paul | Jun 11 2021 22:59 utc | 70
~~~
Most normal browsers should have a visible round icon of an arrow pointing to its other end – clicking on it refreshes/reloads the page. Otherwise, try Cmd-R (‘command’ is the cloverleaf symbol) – the Windows equivalent would be Ctrl-R. Does this answer your question?
Posted by: Josep | Jun 12 2021 8:10 utc | 81
Mao | Jun 12 2021 5:34 utc | 80
seriously, why is that important to you? what would change with a photo op featuring some wall behind Harris?
Does that make more sense to you than to have a member of the administration go to the source of the immigration to see what might be done there to slow it down?
Posted by: dan of steele | Jun 12 2021 9:41 utc | 82
juliania @ 79
I found all information disquieting but equally unassailable
Indeed. One wonders why people are talking about anything else. For myself, I’ll be avoiding the jab until it becomes unavoidable(and perhaps even then), hoping against hope that this massive scandal somehow goes viral and they’re forced to shut down the entire program(and start prosecuting the villains).
Posted by: john | Jun 12 2021 9:52 utc | 83
Norwegian #49
There was a reason the Nazis were defeated in WWII.
Some Nazis were saved from defeat to go on to much greater things.
Nazi General Reinhard Gehlen, for example, who had headed the Russia Desk in the Oberkommando der Wermacht (OKW – Hitler’s Supreme Headquarters) and a consultant on the Final Solution, was secretly brought to the United States where he would deliver his vast storehouse of previously hidden files on the Soviet Union and then set up the Russia Desk for the soon-to-be-formed CIA. [6]
Gehlen would then be returned to postwar Germany where he was put in position as head of Germany’s new Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), the German Secret Intelligence Service. In essence, two Russia desks (at least) now functioned instead of just one; both with the same ultimate aim: destroy the Soviet Union and communism.
Hundreds if not thousands of old Nazis found new life working for the US, Britain, and Canada as the Cold War was cranked up and now the mass murderers were brought into policy making for the same Lords of the Manor who had supported Hitler to begin with. And, with the same old Nazis back in charge, every foul means was employed against the Soviets to prevent any challenge of global capital’s right to dictate the terms of enslavement.
From Robert S. Rodvik.
And who were those “Lords of the Manor”? From the same link…
Tarpley and Chaitkin add the following:
President Bush’s family had already played a central role in financing and arming Adolf Hitler for his takeover of Germany…By deciding that Prescott Bush and the other directors of the Union Banking Corp. were legally front men for the Nazis, the government avoided the more important historical issue: In what way were Hitler’s Nazis themselves hired, armed and instructed by the New York and London clique of which Prescott Bush was an executive manager? [2]
Among those supporting the rise to power of Adolf Hitler was industrialist Henry Ford, a noted Jew hater. Among his other crimes, Ford…”refused to build aircraft engines for England and instead built supplies of the 5-ton military trucks that were the backbone of German army transportation.” [3] The list of US industrialists linked to the Nazis is too long to recount here but can be accessed in Charles Higham’s excellent book, Trading With The Enemy: the Nazi-american plot 1933 – 1949. [4]
Clearly the west’s leading financiers were in Hitler’s camp, busy supplying funds for his military buildup and not till he betrayed them by attacking England did the Allies unite to defeat the Nazi forces. In this effort an unholy alliance was formed; that of the western powers and of the Soviet Union, the major force in defeating Hitler’s legions. Yet long before the war ended the Brits and Americans were plotting to redirect their energy against the Soviets, a déjà vu of the 1918 invasion that the west mounted against the Bolsheviks and certainly the most unknown major event of modern history. To this end the British and US rescued the most murderous Nazi war criminals being sought by investigators of the same governments and mingled them into British and US apparatus of terror.
Tenacious and obsessed killers still walk the halls of the banksters game. These are the drivers of the ‘geopolitical’ hit squad.
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 12 2021 10:42 utc | 84
Posted by: uncle tungsten | Jun 12 2021 10:42 utc | 84
Yes, and what is really interesting is none of those traitors paid any penalty at all. The two-tier legal system was already in place. Their childred are now among those designated President.
People forget (and are not reminded) that both WWI and WWII were at bottom fimaily dipsutes among the W. Yurpean oligarchs and aristocrats about who would get to rule the world. And they have not changed their goals or plans at all.
We need to get rid of those clowns, and fast.
Posted by: Bemildred | Jun 12 2021 11:12 utc | 85
@Posted by: librul | Jun 11 2021 23:13 utc | 72
By the way…
Though criminal virologists now stand exposed, logically it does necessarily mean that they
were directly responsible for the release of the Covid virus.
Crimes can take place that are separate and independent from the main crime.
For example, if some teenager gives a fake alibi to the police to cover for a friend
and that friend never committed the crime in the first place, well, that teenager has
committed a crime of giving false testimony to the police but this does not alter who
committed the original crime.
The Chinese aren’t necessarily the one’s that released the Covid virus.
Posted by: librul | Jun 12 2021 12:39 utc | 86
@Posted by: librul | Jun 12 2021 12:39 utc | 86
Heck, strike “does necessarily”
and replace with “does not necessarily”.
Posted by: librul | Jun 12 2021 12:42 utc | 87
“There was a reason the Nazis were defeated in WWII.”
– Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 11 2021 8:54 utc | 49
You may find this angle interesting.
I have memory of a board game. Don’t believe I ever played it, but the concept was interesting.
The setting was probably 1939, just before the outbreak of WWII. Each country is given a
quantity of resources. Resources are built up during peace time or war time through production and mining, through conquest or
through re-supply from an allied country. Resources are expended during warring, either from
expending them to attack or attrition from being counter-attacked or overrun and possibly conquered.
Germany had X-amount of resources accumulated in 1939 as did Japan, Russia, France, Italy, Great Britain, etc
and the big fat resource cow – the US of A.
Looking at the initial setup of the board it seemed an obvious strategy for Germany to just conquer one country at a time
and never ever ever bring into the game the big fat cow until everything else had been conquered.
The clock was ticking on Germany as soon as she began her first attack. She/He had a pile of resources that would only
go so far until depleted. Conquering territory did not immediately equate to resources gained, at least not fully gained.
It takes time to assimilate territory gained.
Per this game of resources, the history of WWII has Germany biting off too much all at once; too much, unless she could conquer it all lightning quick.
Posted by: librul | Jun 12 2021 13:24 utc | 88
Posted by: Josep | Jun 12 2021 8:10 utc | 81
Thank’s very much, I’ll ‘give it a go’, as they say in aAustralian.
Posted by: Paul | Jun 12 2021 14:02 utc | 89
Soviet collapse taught Russians the danger of being a messianic superpower. Biden makes it clear America hasn’t learnt the lesson
This is a blatant revision of History that is a typical example of why dating the events matter.
After the October Revolution, there was a short period (until December 1917) where the Bolsheviks thought it should be a bourgeois-democratic revolution, because Russia was a too backwards country to go straight to a proletarian-socialist revolution. This debate was old (as old as the schism between Mensheviks and Bolsheviks) and didn’t arise out of nowhere. This analysis quickly collapsed, as it became clear the workers and peasants were already, by their own hands, taking control over the land and the industries, with or without (mostly without) Bolshevik consent. The Bolsheviks were then compelled to simply declare Russia as socialist republic, which was the simplest and quickest solution to a very complex and entangled situation.
From January 1918 until October 1923, the Bolsheviks really had a doctrine of world revolution. The targeted country was really Germany, but they applied this doctrine to the entire Russian sphere of influence and, after the foundation of the Third International, even beyond it (e.g. UK, USA). This wasn’t born out of Messianic impulses, but of sheer and desperate necessity: Russia was an extremely agrarian, backwards country that had its few industries virtually destroyed to levels that were a fraction of the 1913’s. The only hope to please both sides (the workers and peasants of Russia and the backwardness of the nation) was to hope for a world revolution, i.e. Germany, so that the proletariat of the advanced capitalist nations could literally rescue the Russian proletariat from their dire situation. The situation in Russia was catastrophic: even the few industrial proletarians left were starving and sleeping on the streets or in train stations. It was a situation that would make the capitalist crises of the 20th Century look like a walk in the park. And the goal wasn’t even to make Russia the new center of the world: the goal was to make Russia the periphery again, the periphery of a world socialist brotherhood where socialist republics in the advanced capitalist nations would arise and lead. The Bolsheviks, even at the height of their internationalist impulses, always saw themselves as part of a team, not even the most important part.
This “international revolution” phase went through many ups and downs (failure of the German Revolution of 1918, defeat at Warsaw 1920, Kronstadt rebellion 1921), but finally collapsed with the fiasco of the second try of the German Revolution (October 1923). After October 1923, any hopes of a world revolution in the short term were dead, the consensus among the Bolsheviks being that capitalism recouped and recovered. A by-product of this was the consolidation of the Bolsheviks as the leaders of world communism – after all, it was them and only them who were capable of making a successful communist revolution. This process was already maturing since the very foundation of the Third International, but, after 1923, it was enshrined and became dogma: all the communist parties around the world that tried to do something after that tried to do so by copying and pasting what the Bolsheviks did. This process only intensified after Lenin’s death, as the communists lost their most able theoretician and leader.
The “final” stage of mutation of Bolshevik doctrine happened after Stalin’s consolidation of power and the enactment of the first Five-year Plan. After that, the concept of “Socialism in One Country” was enshrined, and the USSR entered into a defensive stance in global affairs of which it would never get out. The capitalists were finally able to break the Soviet shell in 1991, opening it open to capitalist exploitation. It is a myth the USSR was ever an empire: documents from the Soviet opened archives prove beyond reasonable doubt that, although socialist revolutions continued to happen around the world even after WWII, they happened thanks to true local support and legitimacy, and, in most cases, they received either none or very few Soviet material support. Even when material support was significant, it happened passively (i.e. the revolution happened and was victorious before the help came).
Post-Stalin General Secretaries adopted an internationalist rhetoric, but that was just ossified tradition, not real intent. After Stalin, the USSR behaved like a normal nation-state – albeit a very important and a socialist one. Greatest evidence of this was the serious attrition it had with Tito’s Yugoslavia right after WWII and the Sino-Soviet schism.
So, reality is: Putin never lived through the “imperialist stage” of the USSR (1918-1923), and prof. Robinson’s version of History is actually a chimera, that mixes the 1918-1923 period with the interregnum (1924-1926) period with the beginning of the Stalinist period (1928-1932). This misconception arises often in the West because Western historians – besides being rabid liberals – also have the bad habit of taking documental evidence from the Third International (which spans until the gates of WWII) too seriously, as if it was Bolshevik official policy. Third International was never Bolshevik doctrine and it never reached the importance it was intended to reach. What happened was the contrary: the Bolsheviks, by inertia, started to warp the Third International after Lenin’s death to fit Soviet national interests.
Speaking to radio station Govorit Moskva, Khasbulatov claimed Yeltsin’s entourage was full of Americans. In 1991, he was elected to his leadership post with Washington’s help, it has been alleged, and it is still not yet known to what extent the US remained the voice in his ear throughout his presidency.
“There must have been a hundred [CIA employees],” Khasbulatov said. “They determined everything.” He also added that, after winning the presidential election, Yeltsin would send security officials and heads of departments to the US so the Americans could “examine them” and “give conclusions.”
Khasbulatov’s statement comes after former Russian vice president Alexander Rutskoy told online outlet Lenta that 12 full-time employees of the CIA helped carry out the landmark Yeltsin-Gaidar market reforms, systematically dismantling the centrally planned economic system and leading the country into shock capitalism. Rutskoy also claimed that, on one significant occasion, he overheard Yeltsin speaking to a stranger with a foreign accent.
However, according to Khasbulatov, everyone knew about Rutskoy’s links to the US, and American officials even influenced the former president to replace a considerable number of his appointees.
“On the whole, Rutskoy is absolutely right – Yeltsin was advised by foreigners,” he continued. “There is no secret here, and a great number of people know about it. I don’t have any detective stories about eavesdropping, but, in general, it’s well known. Yeltsin used to confer very closely on all personnel matters with foreign representatives.”
thank you Juliana for the video.
anyone here from Danemark? was Christian Eriksen vaccinated lately?
(for the others, check the news to see why)
Posted by: Mina | Jun 12 2021 17:14 utc | 92
@john 83
“ One wonders why people are talking about anything else. ”
This is what puzzles me too. I find it quite terrifying. This is gaslighting in unprecedented scale.
Ppl are coerced to have experimental medicines and most of them think it’s ok. And they demand that other ppl have them too.
This is insanity.
Posted by: DG | Jun 12 2021 17:34 utc | 93
Good short video on rising house prices and the reason why–
And permanent capital is now robbing Americans of that dream.”
Posted by: arby | Jun 12 2021 17:50 utc | 94
Indeed, john and mina – one does wonder why anything else is being discussed. Especially when the ‘summit’ is a foregone conclusion. At this point we know Putin well and Biden is already proving himself a fizzle when it comes to standing up to the Borg. We probably need someone in charge who knows and can defeat the Borg as Putin was. So, the revelations (and I use that word advisably) which are being suppressed by whomever, as to efficacy and long term consequences are discussed at length in the video link I provided at 79. I’ll now provide the opening information that both participants in the discussion have taken one of the US vaccinations, so the question withheld till near the end is why, knowing what they know, did they so do?
I think their answers to that question give the entire relevancy of what they had to say poignantly and persuasively. The presentation involves john’s article link, but goes even further, stacking up all the problems with the vaccination program in the US in terms which a layman can understand.
As I proceeded through all the discussion presented, I found myself getting annoyed with the article writer; he’s constantly interrupting the quieter guest, gets given a ‘yellow card’ at one point by the host. Yet, he is being indulged by both, and the reason why is given as he answers the question above. I won’t spoil it for those who do undertake the video beginning to end. His answer is sobering.
In my view this is an excellent presentation.
Posted by: juliania | Jun 12 2021 17:57 utc | 95
Paul @ 89, I used to have a Macbook, and it does seem to me I could go to a space on my screen as I do now, use the touch pad and two fingers to bring up a small window in which various suggested moves were indicated, use the cursor to click onto ‘reload’.
Don’t do that until you have first saved the post you wish to make by highlighting it in blue and copying that, so you can re-enter it after the page has reloaded. I can’t remember how the macbook does that. I get instructions on my current laptop by using the three vertical ‘full stops’ (as we used to call them in primary school in NZ) that are upper right corner below the x. That gives me a sidepanel on which lower down are the two instructions, first ‘copy'(for what you’ve highlighted in blue) and then ‘paste’ – the latter being what you do once the page has refreshed without your original comment.
Posted by: juliania | Jun 12 2021 18:46 utc | 96
In regards to Prof. Paul Robinson, it is the professor who has Putin’s authoritative analysis backing him up. Unless you don’t accept the high value placed on Putin as a champion of humanity held by the very large majority of MoA. Aiming fire at the professor is very close to fighting a straw man. The true champion of the Soviet imperialist overreach thesis is Putin, not Robinson.
And as to the retroactive awfulness of Yeltsin’s reliance on foreigners? Putin guaranteed Yeltsin’s safe and comfortable retirement. He excused Yeltsin for such alleged crimes. Really, in the greater scheme of things, relying on foreigners when there were so many supporters of the USSR still around was merely prudence. The restoration of capitalism required the massive expropriation of public property and the most determined assault on the workers excessive privileges (as capitalist would think them, that is.) When the first order of business is to attack the larger part of the domestic population, the aid of foreigners is essential. It’s like King David hiring Philistine mercenaries as his personal army, as opposed to the tribal levies. When the public property has been expropriated and the people’s living standards lowered enough, then a kind of order, a human face to mask the reality, is called for. That was Putin, but the difference in tasks is not a difference in goals: The restoration of capitalism, defense of private property in the means of production against the people…but then the defense of private property against other states means reliance on unnecessary foreigners, now that there is a domestic capitalist class and a newly raised army of petty bourgeois servants and apes, foreigners are no longer wanted.
It is funny to see the remarks by Putin praising Trump. Biden calling Putin a “killer” was Biden imitating the Trump style that Putin liked! The idea that a multimillionaire is not part of the ruling class because he was wasn’t personally holding political office tells us two things, I think. First, that Putin has a very limited grasp of class power, and vastly over-estimates the social power of the state, elevating it above material social reality. Fundamentally he’s delusional, which is endemic in all bourgeois politicians, though. Second, much less important, that Putin is personally contemptible, vain enough to be petty about Biden and fool enough to look up to a Trump. The asshole probably identifies with Trump!
Posted by: steven t johnson | Jun 12 2021 19:19 utc | 97
no one would love them
if not for the nukes
the blackmail the sanctions
and CIA spooks
don’t dare to point out
their crimes or hypocricy
or they may decide
to send in the democracy
until the great fall
that ends the Cabal
we must put up a front
and bow to these cunts
Posted by: ld | Jun 12 2021 19:46 utc | 98
Masters Of the Universe
Rulers of the Earth
We decide who lives or dies
which laws and lies are birthed
How We Does It
We begins with children
and pledges to the flag
little hands held over hearts
salute the bloodstained rag
They sing the song with pride
completely unaware
that the bombs in that song
are not bursting in the air
Fairy tales of history
obscure the ugly truth
and paint us as the heroes
to indoctrinate the youth
Making patriots is easy
draw the kids into the foil
planting seeds that last forever
in that young and fertile soil.
Let Us Entertain You
Movie Stars, Influencers
trusted talking heads
the bullshit dispensers ….
how narratives are spread
Experts Panels Talk Shows
feign opposing hints and clues
dropping mental breadcrumbs
slyly molding viewers views
We dont don’t tell you what to think
we lead you to believe
you’ll defend your own conclusions
more than any ism you recieve
Posted by: ld | Jun 12 2021 19:48 utc | 99
Vk @ 71
You are favoring theory over practice so hard you simply exclude practice.
No, the debtor is not forced to sell assets. The IRS takes the house and sells it. Sure, if the house sells for twice the tax debt then the taxpayer gets refunded the balance. But first they seize the house. The taxpayer also gets to pay the cost of the auction. As IRS auctions are simply physically dangerous for the auctioneer the fees are very high. Price paid for the house will be far below market. For starters the neighbors will hate anyone who buys a house at tax auction and who wants to live like that. Only vultures bid. Vultures want it cheap. In lower priced markets it can happen the taxpayer becomes homeless and still owes tax. Even if a normal sale at normal price would have easily cleared the debt.
And again, most IRS auctions happen with no due process. They happen from errors. It is nothing but what you want to call imperium. Tax sales are almost purely done to little people. The point is not collecting a small sum, the object is terrorizing little taxpayers. It is raw terror. It is a violent act.
Shall we speak of civil forfeiture? Far more regressive than sales tax/VAT. Any constabulary anywhere can seize whatever if it was used in process of committing a crime. If they want the asset crime becomes a fungible notion.
Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 12 2021 20:18 utc | 100