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November 21, 2024
Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2024-278
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Saving the Planet: a draft manifesto
Back in the 1950s when I was still yet to be a teenager, I would disobediently keep my bedroom light on to read into the night: one night I hadn’t noticed that a small window was still open. Within a minute the room was infested with moths and other insects. Later, in the 1960s, I would be driving between London and South Wales, a four to five hour journey before the motorways, the front of my car on arrival would be plastered with dead insects. I would take a walk up into the hay field the next morning to lie back in the grass and watch and listen to the skylarks. None of these things could happen today. Where have they all gone? Exterminated by agricultural poisons – insecticides – as forecast by Rachel Carson in Silent Spring, in 1962. Skylarks, you see, fed on a diet of insects.
And not just animal life: more than one in three species of trees is at risk of extinction worldwide, according to a recent report published in an update of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species, among them the Gingko, perhaps the earliest remaining tree species, which has survived virtually unchanged and unthreatened for 200 million years, until, that is, it met our generation. The biggest remaining plantation is of some 8,000 trees in the north of Guangdong province, China, in the small town of Nanxiong, where they line both sides of the main street, an amazing sight when they fruit and the leaves turn golden yellow in October. This mass culling of nature has been described as the Sixth Extinction, and is distinct from the previous five in being entirely engineered by the human race.
I have called this posting a draft, because I want to throw it open for comments and suggestions for inclusion in the final version. I already have included recent ideas and reports from three others, and ultimately the final document, a manifesto, will be open to supporters to append their names.
Continue here:
https://waltking.substack.com/p/saving-the-planet-a-draft-manifesto
Also on Unz, going up in a few days.
Posted by: Walt | Nov 21 2024 11:40 utc | 1
Can anyone recommend an alternative to ZH for free financial stories? The nonsense at ZH exceeded my threshold. I checked WallStreetOnParade and was disappointed by their “across the aisle” nonsense.
Posted by: I forgot | Nov 21 2024 12:09 utc | 2
A 78 per cent tax on fossil fuel companies in Australia is not required to fund a Just Transition away from carbon.
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=62191
Explains why the left always trap themselves in the mainstream media controlled framing and narratives.
Once trapped struggle to get free and always move the Overton window rightwards.
Trumps new treasury pick is behind the Penn Wharton budget model.
Here:
https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2024/8/26/trump-campaign-policy-proposals-2024
They know full well the budget deficit = the non government sector surplus. That the budget deficit is always good for someone in some part of the non government sectors.
Their targeted tax cuts shows who they hand picked to benefit and in which sector. While increasing the deficit.
Will they save it or spend it ?
Is a question they never ask themselves. However tax is a geometric progression, not a simple sum. Think of a stone skipping across a pond with taxation as the ripple. A smooth stone is low taxation and a rough stone is high taxation. The force you throw the stone is government spending. All that changes is the number of hops (transactions) before all the force gets absorbed in taxation.
For any given tax rate you will get back 100% of government spending as tax – eventually. What delays it is the amount of people who choose to save some of their income rather than spend.
All the studies show In reality pretty much whatever the tax rate, about 90% of government spending is taxed back out of existence, and about 10% ends up as additional private sector savings.
That saving ends up in the banking system, which ends up as deposits at the central bank (that’s what ‘bank reserves’ are) Since they are effectively forced deposits there is no need to pay any interest at all on them.
https://new-wayland.com/blog/why-banks-pay-interest-on-deposits/
You cannot force anyone to sell a Treasury Bill in exchange for new cash;
In the same way you cannot force a private bank to accept a loan from the Fed;
In the same way private banks cannot force their customers to accept loans.
Supplying money is like supplying haircuts: you can’t do it unless a corresponding demand exists.
Trumps team has no idea if they will save it or spend their tax cuts they receive or even pay down some debt they owe.
Posted by: Sun Of Alabama | Nov 21 2024 12:09 utc | 3
Great work Walt. In my own little neighborhood in just a few years there are no practically no birds, where formerly there were easily a dozen species. (I can give more details if wanted). There are no honey bees, although in 2018 there were enough such that I actually saw a swarm moving a new queen. Causes: idiotic use of herbicides to make the roads look “pretty.” Destruction of habitat. And one must include geo engineering. Chem trails. Containing aluminum which is toxic and which alters soil PH. IMHO any manifesto must include reference to geo engineering, which puts one up against not only general ignorance and laziness of most people, the mega agricultural groups and their owners at such bastions of dastardly as Blackrock, but also against competing governments who literally will destroy the world to beat the other guy.
One might consider a call to good ole Uncle Warren Buffett, whose plastic bottles are the largest single component of the Texas sized island of trash floating around in the Pacific… Buffy has hinted about leaving his billions to “charity.” Maybe he
could start by picking up his trash. It’s amazing to me that John Kerry and the other great worthies at the WEF etc don’t ever mention picking up the trash. Too plebeian perhaps.
I hope and believe that people are starting to wake up a bit after the floods in Appallachia and Spain… cheers Carry on!
Posted by: Formerly Miss Lacy | Nov 21 2024 12:15 utc | 4
It is stocks v’s flows
The rich are wealthy and have power. Therefore if you hit them with an extra charge they just put their prices up and gouge harder. And that gouging succeeds because the ‘spend’ is often just a monetary transfer (for example putting up the minimum wage) and that simply validates the price rises via the income channel.
To really ‘tax the rich’ you have to take actual physical skills and real resources out of their control permanently. Essentially it’s a stock problem, not a flow problem.
Posted by: Sun Of Alabama | Nov 21 2024 12:16 utc | 5
They actually used the Penn Wharton budget model to compare Harris proposals v’s Trumps policies.
This was the results the Penn Wharton budget model produced.
Here:
https://stephaniekelton.substack.com/p/flipping-the-script
Posted by: Sun Of Alabama | Nov 21 2024 12:26 utc | 6
To whom it may concern: Please stop saying “Jews” when you’re referring instead to a group of leaders that many Jews object to. You’re already familiar with them names of prominent anti-war activists and don’t need me to repeat them. Further, to the extent many regular Jews or Israelis trust the stories from Team Bibi over those from Team Gaza, remember that they’re as brainwashed by Team Bibi as any of the so-called Christians that form the majority of armed forces that go around the world killing people (including “their own”) for money.
All groups have their criminal elite. Italian mafiosos, Jewish mafiosos, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, etc. Thought experiment: Remove any one team from a bloodsport league. Won’t the bloodsport continue? The bloodsport isn’t the fault of one team. If we want a better future for all, we should argue for changes to the sport. Hate the sport or the tiny number of league owners, not a team or its fans.
Also, the “Bolsheviks were Jews who killed millions of Christians” meme is a smear that mixes actual anti-Jewish sentiment with anti-communist sentiment in order to form a more potent meme — created by the plutocrat class. I, for one, credit the USSR revolutionaries for dethroning a king and improving the lives of Soviet citizens for decades until the capitalists succeeded in destroying them. Capitalist reporters and historians can’t be trusted to report casualty counts in the economies and wars of today or yesteryear, let alone admit to capitalists’ culpability in staging all the hostilities they blame communists for.
Now, this doesn’t mean I oppose discussion about the subject. But, there are so many good people that we shouldn’t offend. I think it’s appropriate to use language that avoids overgeneralizing. I sometimes imagine a Jewish publicly-antiwar figure reading MoA comments and seeing themselves smeared. They probably have an extra thick skin, to have the courage to oppose war publicly and sometimes bear the extra burden of being called a “traitor!” by the Team Bibi press. Still, the thought embarrasses me. I feel ashamed not to say something.
Posted by: I forgot | Nov 21 2024 12:57 utc | 7
Concerning Thierry Meyssans summary of Andrew Jacksons background in order to explain what is meant by a Jacksonian, like Trump.
“Donald Trump, an Andrew Jackson 2.0?”
by Thierry Meyssan november 19 2024
..
I understand that Meyssan may prefer to practise a little diplomacy when dealing with the US but it could be that he believes he has understood the role Jackson played.
..
To me however it doesnt seem Jacksonians have understood what it really was about.
..
On the surface Jacksons actions appear to make sense.
However the alternative that represented the previous ambitions of Alexander Hamilton had aimed to make the US more competitive expanding its industrial capacity.
..
In the process they needed to organise a win-win arrangement with the foreign bankers.
..
The expression Win-win was perhaps not used, but it was the way in which a young developing nation needs to act to counter the risk of foreign bankers otherwise undermining the young nations efforts.
..
When anglosaxon Jacksonians defend their cause they dont explain this at all.
..
All they argue about is the role of bankers as if it couldnt be mutually advantageous.
..
The result was that as Jackson made some minor signs of battling the british (executing two spies) he saved the british elite from what they really feared: Losing the control of the bankers.
..
This failure to show any insight about this context repeats itself as soon as there is potential for win-win between the anglosaxon-related finance and the anglosaxon rivals.
..
I am not sure anglosaxon grassroots dont get it but so far I see no sign of anybody among them getting beyond the protocols of Sion although they may not refer to it.
..
That is they believe in the mysterious power of the jews and dont think it could be that what is going on is precisely what the anglosaxon elites desire. Always!
..
Had the Jacksonians and other americans understood their own history better they would have refused to be Britains buddy fighting world wars designed by Britain
..
And refused to undermine Germany and Russia.
The ignorance of americans has been detrimental for the world.
Posted by: petergrfstrm | Nov 21 2024 13:17 utc | 8
Greatest news and play in decades, fed loses agency and us government loses manouver margin
Not checkmate because china would rather unload gently but zugzwang
Only this could make my estimate review of 3 million AFI casualties look like small talk
https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1859446480198828360
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 21 2024 13:22 utc | 9
Posted by: Walt | Nov 21 2024 11:40 utc | 1
When I moved to Maine 21 years ago, I was entranced on summer nights by hundreds of lightning bugs glowing outside my sun room windows.
Almost completely gone now. I’m lucky to spot a half dozen, if that. Often none.
Posted by: Mary | Nov 21 2024 14:06 utc | 10
Posted by: Walt | Nov 21 2024 11:40 utc | 1
I remember how flies would buzz in the house in the summertime of my childhood years (80s-90s). No more flies now. I’ve hardly seen any for at least a decade. Thanks, glyphosate. Also barely any bees or butterflies either. And this in the formerly clean European north, where the farmland apparently is now some of the most polluted in Europe, instead. Plus the incessant spraying of chemicals in the sky right after joining Nato.
Posted by: Jack M | Nov 21 2024 14:07 utc | 11
Considering John Fetterman and Dean Phillips for Administrative Appointments https://shorturl.at/tZaz4
Posted by: Dogon Priest | Nov 21 2024 14:20 utc | 12
Italian mafiosos, Jewish mafiosos, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, etc.
Posted by: I forgot | Nov 21 2024 12:57 utc | 8
How many Italians love and worship the mafiosos and support them? How many percent of Italians approve of the genocide the mafiosos are unleashing on helpless people? How many Italians will band together, over and over, throughout centuries and millennia, no matter where they are in the world, to form closed societies with the express purpose of taking control over other nations and corrupting them from the inside, to their own ends (including doing everything they can to whitewash the mafiosos and suppress any discussion related to them)? How many Italians believe that regardless of whether god and religion exists, they are the masters of this world, the superior group, who should own everything and enslave others? How many Italians believe that it is their right and even obligation to lie to every non-Italian and to cheat them and warp their preception of reality? How many percent of Italians do that?
How many Spanish do that?
How many Chinese do that?
Japanese?
How did the jews get their reputation? Perhaps from things like being famous for having a saw specially for sawing open the people they caught alive in their conquests, already two millennia ago? Perhaps that’s what they’re hated for. How does that even differ from what they’re doing in Palestine now?
Now tell us how the weather is in Tel Aviv and then fuck off.
Your concern is fake. Jews doing good work, like Gilad Atzmon or Ron Unz, aren’t hated, threatened or discriminated against by anyone in this world… except other jews.
Posted by: Jack M | Nov 21 2024 14:20 utc | 13
“Since the beginning of the SMO, one Ukrainian authority claims, the population within the radioactive Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has grown by 135,000 people. Theoretically, no one should live there for obvious reasons, but the Ukrainian government provides a cash benefit to those who do. With the increased population, this resulted in a burden of 15 billion hryvnias annually—an amount that was cut in the 2025 budget by stipulating that only those who lived there from 1986 to 1993 could receive payments.”
Susan Singer
She runs an excellent newsletter but here she is incorrect here. The wildlife in Chernobyl have thrived since the radiation incident . (many Ukes a trying to evade conscription are going to the Chenobyl region as their are no authorities:
Using a combination of helicopter surveys to count animals from the air and ground-based surveys to count animal tracks during winter months, “TG Deryabina and colleagues demonstrated that the numbers of large mammals, such as elk and roe deer, have increased consistently since the late 1980s, and that the numbers of elk, roe deer, red deer and wild boar in the Belarussian part of the zone are comparable with those recorded in other nature reserves in Belarus. The team also noted that there were approximately seven times more wolves in the zone than in other similar areas of Belarus.
It is clear from the images presented above and the study of Deryabina et al that Chernobyl is not a barren wasteland, but as scientists we face the challenge of finding ways of communicating the reality of the Chernobyl environment to the general public. Films and popular computer games continue to reinforce the impression that Chernobyl is a radioactive wasteland.
We want people to see the reality for themselves. For that reason, we have developed cutting-edge virtual reality and immersive projection chamber experiences (see Exploring Chernobyl, (1)
All the prez men…..updated
Mike Pompeo: China ‘wants world dominance and is a bigger threat than Russia…
Sky News
https://news.sky.com › story › mike-pompeo-china-wan…
3 Feb 2023 — Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told Sky News he believes China’s President Xi is a bigger threat to the world than Vladimir .
Pompeo: Chinese threat may be worse than Cold War …
politico.eu
https://www.politico.eu › article › us-secretary-of-state-…
12 Aug 2020 — During Prague visit, US secretary of state urges Czechs to stand up to Beijing like they did to Soviets.
Pompeo Says Trump Team ‘Not Finished Yet’ With China …
Bloomberg.com
https://www.bloomberg.com › news › articles › pompeo-…
10 Nov 2020 — Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said the U.S. is “not finished yet” when it comes to getting tough on China, with just over two months
Mike Pompeo declares China’s treatment of Uighurs ‘ a genocide…
The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com › world › jan › mike-po…
19 Jan 2021 — The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has declared that China is committing “ongoing” genocide against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province.
Pompeo tells Southeast Asia to stand up to China, shun its …
Reuters
https://www.reuters.com › article › world › pompeo-tell…
pompeo china from http://www.reuters.com
10 Sept 2020 — Speaking remotely to foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the
Republican presidential hopeful Pence says China close to becoming ‘evil empire’
By Tim Reid and Gram Slattery
The Diplomat :: Asia
https://thediplomat.com › 2024/04 › does-a-new-book-o…
26 Apr 2024 — A new book by James Fanell and Bradley Thayer, with a foreword by Steve Bannon, could foreshadow how Trump administration “super hawks” …
The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com › us-news › feb › steve-bannon…
1 Feb 2017 — Only months ago Donald Trump’s chief strategist predicted military involvement in east Asia and the Middle East in Breitbart radio shows
Politico
https://www.politico.com › steve-bannon-china-1238039
26 Mar 2019 — Steve Bannon have revived a cold war-era advocacy organization to take aim at China, which it called “an aggressive totalitarian foe.”
US ex-VP Mike Pence slams Biden for being weak on China
The Straits Times
https://www.straitstimes.com › world › united-states › c…
15 Jul 2021 — He said the Chinese government posed the greatest threat to American prosperity, security and values. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Pence’s China Speech Seen as Portent of ‘New Cold War’
The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com › World › Asia Pacific
5 Oct 2018 — China could respond to Vice President Mike Pence’s tough speech by spending more on its military or withdrawing support for sanctions
Posted by: denk | Nov 21 2024 15:01 utc | 15
Meanwhile, China has replaced the U.S. as the dominant trading partner in much of Latin America, Monroe Doctrine country.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 21 2024 15:21 utc | 16
@ Newbie | Nov 21 2024 13:22 utc | 10
fascinating.. thanks for sharing that..
Posted by: james | Nov 21 2024 15:49 utc | 17
Among the great revealers of reality, along with M. Hudson, S. Ritter, J. Mearscheimer, A. Mercouris, A. Martianov, R. McGovern and many others, we are missing precisely one expert on the planet.
Of the nine planetary boundaries identified by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, we have surpassed six.
This have the greatest perspective; As fracking is a speculative operation due to its low energy yield, as it is a substitute for petroleum not suitable for producing diesel or kerosene, as there are only a couple of years left before its exploitation is not profitable, as in a few more years Saudi Arabia will only produce for self-consumption, we have passed the peak of oil, but also of many other things such as copper, uranium… Capitalism, communism etc are obsolete because they are productivist, infinite growth is impossible, it is the time of degrowth, that explains some agendas such as the European one, but poorly developed and worse carried out…
There is a modest Spanish physicist and mathematician who has been working on this for some time named Antonio Turiel
He works at the Institute of Marine Sciences of the CSIC (Higher Council for Scientific Research) of Spain.
Here is an interview in Spanish but you can translate the subtitles or the transcription (starts at minute 10):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bjMOjKlZKA
Posted by: Miguel Garcia | Nov 21 2024 15:49 utc | 18
Meanwhile,,…
Starmer confronted Xi on human rights at G20.
The Japan Times
https://www.japantimes.co.jp › news › world › politics
Posted by: denk | Nov 21 2024 15:49 utc | 19
to Sun of Alabama Your link brings me back to MOA every time I try it. Do you prefer that I not read your work? Please advise. Thanks. Not welcome is fine. Not knowing is vexxing.
Posted by: Formerly Miss Lacy | Nov 21 2024 15:59 utc | 20
“..we have passed the peak of oil,”
Posted by: Miguel Garcia | Nov 21 2024 15:49 utc | 19
Nonsense.
Oil is abiotic and is created continually deep in the earth (1)
1.https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/215/1/012103/pdf
Regarding neoconism, M K Bhadrakumar says “Trump is handpicking loyalists to ensuring that Trojan horses won’t infiltrate his stable — likes of Nikki Haley or Mike Pompeo. This means total rejection of so-called globalists, who repose faith in Pax Americana.”. . .here
Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 21 2024 16:31 utc | 22
Meanwhile,,…
Starmer confronted Xi on human rights at G20.
The Japan Times
https://www.japantimes.co.jp › news › world › politics
Posted by: denk | Nov 21 2024 15:49 utc | 20
It is like having a whiney little dog, chewing on your ankle, but he can’t quite get his teeth through the cloth of your pants.
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 21 2024 16:37 utc | 23
@ Walt | Nov 21 2024 11:40 utc | 1, etc.
My information is that the world’s insect population has been cut in half and the birds by one third.
Invasive species circulated around the world by human activity also wreak their havoc. In the US, almost all the ash trees are dying because of the emerald ash borer, and now in our area all of the beech trees are also dying from various diseases.
There is also the alarming spread of human-built structures, through urban sprawl and growth. In 1900, all human-built structures and objects equalled 3% of the total biomass. By 2020, it was 120%. That is, the mass of human developments had grown 40 times in 120 years. Now it is expected to double every 20 years.
The biomass of wild animals is just 4% of the total animal biomass, while 96% are human bodies and livestock. There are 300,000 wolves still, thanks to the northern boreal forests, but 900,000,000 domestic dogs of the same species, 3,000 dogs for every wolf.
Meanwhile, sci-fi imagines planets like Trantor and Coruscant completely covered by mile-high high-rise buildings, as if that could ever happen.
Were it sustainable, an argument could perhaps be made in its favor, despite the destruction of nature, and maybe some nature could be saved, like in national parks. But it is not sustainable at all; it is all very apocalyptic, even though, being old, I do not expect to see the end of it, because that will take an unknown amount of time, considerable if it goes down slowly, the least if obliteration through a total nuclear exchange occurs, as is possible.
Posted by: Cabe | Nov 21 2024 16:40 utc | 24
Defense News: “The Pentagon is battling the clock to fix serious, unreported F-35 problems . . .WASHINGTON — Over the past several years, U.S. Defense Department leaders have gone from citing technical problems as their biggest concern for the F-35 program to bemoaning the expense of buying and sustaining the aircraft. But the reality may be worse. . .here
Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 21 2024 16:48 utc | 25
Jake Sullivan:
In September, President Biden announced a surge in security assistance and additional actions to help Ukraine as it continues to resist Russia’s aggression. And today, the United States is imposing significant new sanctions on over 50 financial institutions to further degrade Russia’s ability to use the international financial system to fund and prosecute its brutal war against the people of Ukraine. These targets include Gazprombank, Russia’s largest remaining bank not sanctioned by the United States, as well as 50 other persons and entities operating in the Russian financial sector. . .here
Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 21 2024 16:54 utc | 26
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 21 2024 16:37 utc | 24
———————-
Starmer
Hey Xi
I know we screw you over Huawei, HSR2, Hinkley ,but let bygone be bygone and start anew, ..after you kowtow to me first.
Xi
How about you apologise for the OPium war, Yuan Ming Yuan destruction, 70 years of covert/overt wars since WW2, including the 1965 genocide of Chinese Indonesians ?
[hint]
The Dutch had apologised for their atrocities during their Indonesia rule.
Posted by: denk | Nov 21 2024 17:06 utc | 27
fascinating.. thanks for sharing that..
Posted by: james | Nov 21 2024 15:49 utc | 18
I think it’s amazing as a chess move, everybody trying to de-fang the USD, kaddafi was offered a bayonet enema for just threatening the CFA…
… and somebody in an office, working over serious diplomatic and commercial work between china and KSA, comes up with a geopolitical earthquake with a cheap and almost invisible move.
As I mentioned before USD still has long decades to go, but with this play all the arbitrage, exploitation amd pressure from setting up interest rates and deciding/aproving/blocking savings and investments is gone the day the next move is made.
I didn’t even go to the ukraine thread yet and plenty of very important stuff to discuss, but nothing close IMHO.
————————–
Oil is abiotic and is created continually deep in the earth (1)
Posted by: canuck | Nov 21 2024 16:09 utc | 22
Even if true in geological eras, might present short term lows, would have to study if there is enough about replenishment rates (I think the article you linked doesn’t mention anything, care to share another on rate?)
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 21 2024 17:11 utc | 28
Now, this doesn’t mean I oppose discussion about the subject. But, there are so many good people that we shouldn’t offend. I think it’s appropriate to use language that avoids overgeneralizing. I sometimes imagine a Jewish publicly-antiwar figure reading MoA comments and seeing themselves smeared. They probably have an extra thick skin, to have the courage to oppose war publicly and sometimes bear the extra burden of being called a “traitor!” by the Team Bibi press. Still, the thought embarrasses me. I feel ashamed not to say something.
Posted by: I forgot | Nov 21 2024 12:57 utc | 8
Always a good thing to remember. I prefer the term Zionists. But, it should be kept in mind among the Jewish people the world over there is in fact overwhelming support for the genocide. I think about these things in terms of the Germans in WW2. Can you imagine someone going about warning against speaking critically of the Germans in that context?
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Nov 21 2024 17:16 utc | 29
All the prez men
Trump 2.0
NATO should allocate at least 3% of GDP for ‘defense’
Marco Rubio in a nutshell
Lets hit the chicom with tariff, sanction, Tibet, HK, Xinjiang…
Mike Waltz
Lets draw down from euro and ME and focus on China, the no 1 threat
John Ratcliff
covid a Chinese bioweapon
China is our no 1 threat
RFK
covid is a Jew/Chinese bioweapon targetting whites and blacks
Pete Hegseth
“China is Building An Army to Defeat America”
Carlson/Trump
Why’r the chicom allowed to fuck around in our backyard ?
Carlson/Trump
China should pay for the wuflu
Fucker Carlson/Trump
We’r fighting the wrong guys [Russians]
All whites should gang up on the chinaman, just like good ole days
—————————–
Conclusion….
Whats US election ?
Every 4/8 years they swap one bunch of rabid sinophobes/MIC shill with another bunch of rabid sinophobes./MIC shill
Posted by: denk | Nov 21 2024 17:20 utc | 30
The Dutch had apologised for their atrocities during their Indonesia rule.
Posted by: denk | Nov 21 2024 17:06 utc | 28
Better than nothing, but I doubt they are sincere.
Now if King Chuck III were to apologize for all they have done, that would be interesting, or if Uncle Sugar got religion. The rule is “never apologize, never explain”. If they come off that, they are being squeezed hard.
Of course, the same could be said of the Netherlands.
It is clear that the interesting times are getting more interesting, with Russia’s little demo, and the ICC arrest warrant, and the stalemated Gaza genocide while conquering West Asia effort.
It is a privilege to be here to see it happening.
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 21 2024 17:24 utc | 31
Another data point in the China part of our civilization war is in a ZH posting
AI-Fueled iPhone Sales Drop During World’s Biggest Shopping Holiday In China
quote
The country’s two-week Singles’ Day sales period this year yielded “a double-digit, year-on-year decline in iPhone sales”, as Apple “faced pressure from an abnormally high number” of new flagship smartphone models that domestic competitors launched just before and during the annual shopping extravaganza, according to a report published on Wednesday by Counterpoint Research.
…
Chinese smartphone brands, such as Vivo, Huawei, Xiaomi, Honor, and Oppo, are quickly taking market share away from Apple. Counterpoint’s report last month showed that Apple held the sixth spot with about 13.5% market share.
Apple’s much-awaited AI-led upgrade supercycle in the world’s largest handset market has been delayed primarily because Beijing still has to approve its AI services.
Meanwhile, competitor Huawei plans to launch the “most powerful” Mate Smartphone this month.
…
Trade war fears with incoming President-elect Donald Trump have likely increased patriotic fervor in China to ditch Tim Cook’s products for domestic ones.
Given that China is developing its own OS and chip design and given the jackboot of Western tech, China consumers will not be the last to ditch Western tech.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 21 2024 17:24 utc | 32
Meanwhile, this morning I am setting to work with an assortment of window frames (all glass) to construct a makeshift kale house down one side of my front alley. There’s already some Russian red and white growing in mostly gravel brought down by my boys years back when the roof was telling us it needed to go.
This kale is hardy but easier to cook than giant kale, and I now have sufficient worm castings from various large tubs to get the strip wintering in. I also have saved all my older ‘wallsowater’ to insulate sides and back even as they have lost their original purpose over the years. The site is on the east wall of my garage, a raised garden of sorts. I’m keeping an eye out for the sun to finally hit it – won’t be there long this time of year, so I will be off out there a few minutes from now.
Posted by: juliania | Nov 21 2024 17:28 utc | 33
@ denk | Nov 21 2024 17:20 utc | 31
The only China war Trump talks about is a trade war, meanwhile he promises to ending wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Trump has been anti-NATO and formerly tried to get US troops out of Syria and Korea, but was stifled. He did come up with a plan to get out of Afghanistan. Trump is close to China when both emphasize national strength not global hegemony and war.
Conclusion: Quoting nobodies doesn’t change those truths.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 21 2024 17:38 utc | 34
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 21 2024 17:24 utc | 32
——————–
FUKUS killed 30M since 911,
Criminals holding court.
China’s human rights record criticised at UN as it faces rare …
The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com › world › jan › china-hu…
24 Jan 2024 — UK, US and others use universal periodic review to speak out over Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong.
Posted by: denk | Nov 21 2024 17:45 utc | 35
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Nov 21 2024 17:16 utc | 30
You have never heard me use those terms, but I am tempted to quote the “better apologize than ask for permission”, particularly when apologies are due, at best, less than one time out of five.
https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2024/05/30/israeli-views-of-the-israel-hamas-war/
—————-
@ denk | Nov 21 2024 17:20 utc | 31
The only China war Trump talks about is a trade war,…
Trump is close to China when both emphasize national strength not global hegemony and war.
Conclusion: Quoting nobodies doesn’t change those truths.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 21 2024 17:38 utc | 34
And as I mentioned earlier he better tread gently, the china-KSA bonds are a stronger warning than a salvo of ballistic missiles.
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 21 2024 17:59 utc | 36
Posted by: denk | Nov 21 2024 17:45 utc | 35
China should speak out about the Navaho, the Hopi, the Sioux, and the Cherokee, to name a few who still survive. As near as I can see, the Uighers(sp?) are being treated much better.
I believe “Biden” did apologize for something recently, but my memory is not what it used to be. The war on the Apaches perhaps it was.
Or you can just refer back to my post #24.
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 21 2024 17:59 utc | 37
I made my regular trip to a restaurant which has the Canadian newspapers and I was regaled with a story of “Iranian assassins” searching Canadian streets to kill a “human rights campaigner” (actually a Zionist who uses the language of human rights and anti-semitism to hide his hatred of everything Arab, Persian, Russian and Chinese). I searched for the sourcing and ah ha! The classic BS story based on “unnamed sources”. Adding to the recent “Iranian assassins after Trump”, “North Koreans being used in Ukraine by Russia”, “China cut a comms cable under the Baltic”, and “Chinese infiltration of [insert random organization name]” stories. I was thus motivated to write an article about the ruling classes usage of the “Strategy of Tension” designed to have the populace love their overlords and forget their own immiseration. For your perusal:
The Oligarch Ruling Class “Strategy Of Tension”: Terrorizing Us Into Acceptance
Posted by: Roger Boyd | Nov 21 2024 18:03 utc | 38
Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 21 2024 17:38 utc | 34
—————————
Trump’s confidante, Carlson, Waltz, Hegseth all advocate getting outta UKraine ..in order to concentrate on fixing China.
Trump says he wanna end the Ukraine war.
Even if he does that, perhaps he wanna pivot to China !
Posted by: denk | Nov 21 2024 18:03 utc | 39
Hopefully Trump can be greatest western politician since Robin Cook. British (Scottish) foreign secretary who resigned in runup to Iraq war. Created a deal with Iran and denouced Israeli expansion too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Cook
Posted by: south | Nov 21 2024 18:26 utc | 40
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has withdrawn his name for consideration for attorney general amid growing controversy over sexual misconduct allegations.
Posted by: ld | Nov 21 2024 18:39 utc | 41
China should speak out about the Navaho, the Hopi, the Sioux, and the Cherokee, to name a few who still survive. As near as I can see, the Uighers(sp?) are being treated much better.
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 21 2024 17:59 utc | 37
——————–
Exactly !
All Xi needs to do is give these unpeople [those with no voice] a platform …that’d teach FUKUSA to STFU
[all vid < 2min]
Native Americans
https://www.rt.com/usa/native-american-immigration-man-500/
Aborigines
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lDcSw399QU
Maori
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImrkI58C_rg
Posted by: denk | Nov 21 2024 18:44 utc | 42
ZH has this to say about Gaetz withdrawing from AG consideration
It’s unclear what’s next for Gaetz, as he resigned from Congress after Trump picked him for consideration. Rubio’s Senate seat?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 21 2024 18:56 utc | 43
@ Bemildred | Nov 21 2024 17:59 utc | 37
yes, ditto! that would require some self reflection which appears in very short supply in the usa! instead just a whack of hubris!
Posted by: james | Nov 21 2024 19:00 utc | 44
The only China war Trump talks about is a trade war, meanwhile he promises to ending wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Trump has been anti-NATO and formerly tried to get US troops out of Syria and Korea, but was stifled. He did come up with a plan to get out of Afghanistan. Trump is close to China when both emphasize national strength not global hegemony and war.
Conclusion: Quoting nobodies doesn’t change those truths.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 21 2024 17:38 utc | 34
Trump says a lot of things, I’ll wait for what he actually does after he’s sworn to the office. What he has done so far, after becoming president elect, was shaking hands with Biden and agreeing with him on the approval of NATO use of long range missile strikes on Russia. I don’t expect him to offer an acceptable peace deal to Russia, quite the opposite. Still, two months is a long time.
“Trump will try to restore peace worldwide, but with an emphasis on American power, Trump campaign press secretary Caroline Levitt said in response to a request from TASS correspondent to comment on Putin’s address.”
Posted by: 5thcolumn | Nov 21 2024 19:04 utc | 45
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 21 2024 13:22 utc | 10
That is excellent news. And a brilliant manoeuvre: dollar dependency ex US dependency. And how many BRICS – and other – countries need dollars? Fuck the FED.
Posted by: horseguards | Nov 21 2024 19:08 utc | 46
Posted by: canuck | Nov 21 2024 16:09 utc | 22 Aside from it not being at all certain abiotic oil is even a thing, it is completely unexplained how it can rapidly replenish deposits at accessible depths, a topic probably avoided since it isn’t happening.
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Nov 21 2024 17:16 utc | 30 The America Firsters of that day claimed with equal honesty to be traditional isolationists, even Charles Lindbergh. There were in fact a handful of voices speaking out to remind others that German Communists were in fact anti-fascist.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 21 2024 17:38 utc | 34 It is not true that advocating more EU “defense” spending is anti-NATO. And Trump condemned Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, showing he was against losing, not against the war. The rest is excuses for Trump.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Nov 21 2024 19:11 utc | 47
Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 21 2024 17:38 utc | 34
—————————
Trump promise to end the war in ME
Sounds like a recipe for WW3 !
Roger
Hegseth is even more of a moronic lunatic than I thought, he actually supports the building of a Jewish temple on the site of the Al Aqsa mosque, the very thing that would trigger a was to the death in the Middle East.
Thats all folks !
Posted by: denk | Nov 21 2024 19:19 utc | 48
Apologies in advance for the length of this post, but I think the idea promoted here is interesting. (From two commentators at: https://smoothiex12.blogspot.com/2024/11/is-larry-correct.html#disqus_thread )
“@Harry Palmer to @RnaudBertrand
The story around China issuing USD-denominated sovereign bonds in Saudi Arabia is generating an enormous amount of buzz in China, and could potentially be immensely important.
I strongly suspect it’s a message to the upcoming Trump administration.
Let me explain what seems to be going on.
On the face of it, it’s not a major story: China issued $2 billion in USD-denominated sovereign bonds in Saudi Arabia, which means that investors lent USD to the Chinese government that they promised to pay back. That’s what a bond is. So far, relatively boring.
The first somewhat interesting aspect of it is that the bonds were oversubscribed by almost 20x (meaning $40+ billion in demand for $2 billion worth of bonds), which is far more demand than usual for USD sovereign bonds. Typically US Treasury auctions see oversubscription rate between 2x to 3x so there obviously seems to be very strong market appeal for China’s dollar-denominated debt.
The second interesting aspect is that the interest rate on the bonds was remarkably close to US Treasury rates (just 1-3 basis points higher, i.e. 0.01-0.03%), which means that China is now able to borrow money – in US dollars (!) – at virtually the same rate as the US government itself. That’s the case for no other country in the world. As a benchmark, countries with the highest credit ratings (AAA) typically pay at least 10-20 basis points over US Treasuries in the rare instances when they issue USD bonds.
The third interesting aspect is the venue itself for this bond sale: Saudi Arabia. This is unusual since sovereign bonds are typically issued in major financial centers, not in Riyadh. The choice of Saudi Arabia and the fact that the Saudis agreed to this is particularly significant given its historical role in the global dollar system, the so-called ‘petrodollar’ system which I don’t need to explain… By issuing dollar bonds in Saudi Arabia that compete directly with US Treasuries, and getting essentially the same interest rate, China is demonstrating it can operate as an alternative manager of dollar liquidity right in the heart of the petrodollar system. For Saudi Arabia, which holds hundreds of billions in dollar reserves, this creates a new option for investing their dollars: they can invest it with the Chinese government instead of the US government.
Ok, that’s all interesting but still not the main reason why Chinese social media is abuzz. The reason why is because they postulate that this is trial round by China to demonstrate to the US that they can effectively use their own currency against them, with potentially dramatic consequences.
How?
First of all, think it through, imagine if China scales this up and instead of issuing $2 billion worth of bonds, they start issuing 10s or 100s of billions worth of it.
What this means for the US is that China would effectively be competing with the US Treasury in the global dollar market. Instead of countries like Saudi Arabia automatically recycling their dollars into US Treasury bonds, they could put them into Chinese dollar bonds that pay the same rate.
This would create a parallel dollar system where China, not the US, controls part of the flow of dollars. The US would still print the dollars, but China would increasingly manage where they go. Imagine that…
Another critical aspect is that every dollar that goes into Chinese bonds instead of US Treasuries is one less dollar helping to finance US government spending. At a time when the US is running massive deficits and needs to constantly sell Treasury bonds to fund itself, having China emerge as a competing dollar bond issuer that can match Treasury rates could pose immense financing problems for the US government. It could effectively end the US’s so-called “exorbitant privilege”.
But wait, you might ask yourself, what’s the point of China having so many dollars? Don’t they transfer the problem to themselves: they too need to find a place to invest all these dollars, don’t they?
You’d be right, the last thing China needs is more US dollars: in 2023 it ran a US dollar trade surplus of $823.2 billion, and for 2024, it’s expected to be $940 billion. China is already absolutely awash with dollars.
But that’s where the beauty of the Belt & Road Initiative comes in. Out of the 193 countries in the world, 152 of these countries are part of the BRI. And a very common characteristic many of these countries have is: they owe debt in USD, to the US government or other Western lenders.
This is where China’s strategy could become truly clever. China could use its US dollars to help Belt & Road countries pay off their dollar debts to Western lenders. But here’s the key: in exchange for helping these countries clear their dollar debts, China could arrange to be repaid in yuan, or in strategic resources, or through other bilateral arrangements.
This would create a triple win for China: they get rid of their excess dollars, they help their partner countries escape dollar dependency, and they deepen these countries’ economic integration with China instead of the US.
For BRI countries, this is attractive because they can escape the trap of dollar-denominated debt (and the threat of US financial sanctions) and get likely better conditions with China, which will help their development.
In effect this would China placing itself as an intermediary at the heart of the dollar system, where the dollars still eventually make their way back to the US – just through a path that builds Chinese rather than American influence and progressively undermines the US’s ability to finance itself (with all the consequences this has on inflation, etc.).
At this stage you probably tell yourself “come on, there’s no way China can do that, the US government surely has tools at its disposal to prevent this stuff”. And the answer, surprisingly, is that there is actually little the U.S. can do that doesn’t undermine them in some shape or form.
The most obvious response would be to threaten sanctions against countries – like Saudi Arabia – or institutions that buy Chinese dollar bonds. But this would further demonstrate that dollar assets aren’t actually safe from US political interference, further encouraging countries to diversify, compounding the problem. The dollar’s strength partly comes from network effects – everyone uses it because everyone else uses it – but as we’ve seen with Russia sanctions create a coordinating moment for countries to move away together, weakening these network effects.
Another option would be for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates to make US Treasuries more attractive. But this would be self-defeating: it would increase the US government’s own borrowing costs at a time when they’re already struggling with massive deficits, potentially triggering a recession. And China, getting similar rates as the US, could simply match any rate increase.
The US could also go for the “nuclear option” of restricting China’s ability to clear dollar transactions but this would effectively immediately fragment the global financial system, undermining the dollar’s role as the global reserve currency – exactly what the US wants to avoid. And with China being the most important trading partner of the immense majority of the world’s countries, nothing is less sure that the U.S. would win at this game…
In short this seems to be like some sort of Tai Chi ‘four ounces moving a thousand pounds’ (四兩撥千斤) move by China, using minimal force to redirect the dollar’s strength in a way that benefits China.
Like I wrote at the beginning however, at this stage this is most likely just a message by China to the upcoming Trump administration: “we can do this so maybe think very carefully about all the nasty things you have in mind for us…” The beauty of this move is how strategically elegant it is: it costs China almost nothing to demonstrate, but forces Washington to contemplate some very uncomfortable possibilities.
@andnoheadsturned to @ Harry Palmer
Arnaud is a great commentator but better to get Kathleen Tyson’s explanation. She was a banker & also authored Multicurrency Mercantilism: The New International Monetary Order.
“Some important clarifications on the China Ministry of Finance sovereign $2 billion in bonds:
– The bonds issued in Riyadh,
– The bonds are listed on NASDAQ Dubai (which I helped build back in 2005) and Hong Kong Stock Exchange,
– Secondary market trading is inside comparable UST yields, indicating strong market demand,
– Fitch gave the bonds an A+ rating earlier this month,
– Linklaters advised on the issue to comply with US Regulations 144A and Reg S.
China’s MoF has issued dollar bonds offshore in the past, but did so in Hong Kong from 2017 to 2021. Issuing in Riyadh for trading in Dubai shows deeper integration of West Asian and Chinese capital markets.
The image is from the linked article, speculating that the China USD $2 Bn bond financed in Saudi last week (less than 2 basis point premium, 20X oversubscribed) could signal a new world order in which Global South can get USD and any needed liquidity in USD from China, ignoring IMF, World Bank, New York Fed, Eurobonds, and dominant incumbent banks.
The author’s understanding of USD and the UST market and plumbing is imperfect, but the point is still powerful.
Chairman Xi can offer the world a ‘new Marshall Plan’ that finances global development and growth while winding down USD debts, averting a crisis and instability.
China wound down its massive property bubble and debts to a manageable level without crisis.
And because these Saudi-issued USD bonds are custodied in Saudi, they are beyond US sanctions reach.”
Accompanying image from this article explains it:
How China Could Re-Dollarize The World
https://indi.ca/how-china-starts-printing-usd/ https://x.com/Kathleen_Tyson_/status/1859247327057150395/photo/1
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Nov 21 2024 19:27 utc | 49
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 21 2024 13:22 utc | 10
That is excellent news. And a brilliant manoeuvre: dollar dependency ex US dependency. And how many BRICS – and other – countries need dollars? Fuck the FED.
Posted by: horseguards | Nov 21 2024 19:08 utc | 46
Yes, some real 5-D chess. I have long thought all those dollars China has been accumulating would be “weaponized” at the right time, and what better way than helping the 3rd world with a hand up.
If only we had had the wits to do that ourselves 50-60 years ago, when we really did “bestride the world like a colossus” and all that.
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 21 2024 19:28 utc | 50
ZH has this to say about Gaetz withdrawing from AG consideration
…
Posted by: psychohistorian | Nov 21 2024 18:56 utc | 43
How predictable.
Posted by: Turk 152 | Nov 21 2024 19:29 utc | 51
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 21 2024 13:22 utc | 10
Sorry. I see you got there before me. Should have read the thread through!
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Nov 21 2024 19:30 utc | 52
sorry did not include the link to full article
https://www.jvpaction.org/jvp-action-condemns-house-passage-of-bill-to-give-more-authoritarian-power-to-trump/
Posted by: ld | Nov 21 2024 19:38 utc | 53
Posted by: Miguel Garcia | Nov 21 2024 15:49 utc | 19
Too right. Some more info on this can be found at:
https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Nov 21 2024 19:41 utc | 54
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Nov 21 2024 19:27 utc | 49
Wishful thinking: all countries reluctantly holding US debt (to meet dollar obligations/exposure) could decide, maybe politically, “Fuck the US, sell the bonds and re-invest in China-dollar denominated bonds. We can take a few bp’s hit.”
Posted by: horseguards | Nov 21 2024 19:46 utc | 55
. . . the art of the deal
Asia Times
Assumptions Trump will actually make good on 60% tariff threat look past the wily tycoon’s love for striking a grand bargain
As Donald Trump once again assumes the role of disruptor, China’s leader Xi Jinping is casting himself as the keeper of world trade, globalization and economic cooperation.
In Peru on Friday (November 15), where national leaders were gathering for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum summit, Xi stressed that “dividing an interdependent world is going back in history” at a moment when the globe has “entered a new period of turbulence and change” causing “severe challenges.”
Notably, Xi didn’t point the finger directly at Trump. In his bilateral chat with outgoing US President Joe Biden a day later, Xi said “China is ready to work with the new US administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation and manage differences for the benefit of the two peoples.”
And that’s, frankly, exactly what one might expect of the leader of a giant, unbalanced economy staring down the barrel of 60% tariffs to take down the geopolitical temperature.
But what if Trump surprises and turns out to be a receptive and open counterpart to Xi, with the 60% tariff threat mere posturing to set the stage for a giant new bilateral trade deal? . .here
. . .and avoid a grand monetary inflation.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 21 2024 19:49 utc | 56
Posted by: canuck | Nov 21 2024 16:09 utc | 22
Nonsense.
Oil is created deep in the earth, ok, but it is produced by pressure and heat from a base material of compressed organic material, in the same way as coal and peat. This material was previously vegetation of some kind growing on the surface. This is an eventually renewable resource but it takes literally millions of years to renew, and only if sufficient carbon rich forests are available. We are using it up at many times the replacement rate.
If you think otherwise, then the little green men you are talking to are telling you porkies. But don’t expect me (or anyone else with a functioning brain) to engage with you further on this subject. You obviously have sources which are literally ‘out of this world’
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Nov 21 2024 19:49 utc | 57
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 21 2024 19:28 utc | 50
We don’t produce the likes of Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter in his jodhpurs, anymore.
Posted by: horseguards | Nov 21 2024 19:50 utc | 58
Posted by: horseguards | Nov 21 2024 19:46 utc | 55
So you say. I don’t have the requisite economic knowledge to decide one way or the other. I just put it up for discussion. But your dismissal seems somewhat short and perfunctory. I would like more detailed refutation.
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Nov 21 2024 19:53 utc | 59
I will try one more time
Now Trump can get rid of the ‘Jew Haters” unimpeded
“Washington, DC (November 21, 2024) — Moments ago, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 9495, the so-called “Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act.” This is a far-Right bill that would grant the incoming Trump administration unprecedented and unchecked power to revoke the tax exempt status of any nonprofit organization — including social justice groups, media organizations, universities, and civil liberties organizations — based on a unilateral accusation of wrongdoing and without due process. Jewish Voice for Peace Action fought against this legislation and calls on the Senate to join the majority of their House colleagues in opposing Trump’s agenda and working to stop this authoritarian bill from moving forward.
“This bill is a five-alarm fire for anyone who seeks to protect free speech, civil society and democracy. This bill is part of a broader MAGA assault on the fundamental right to public protest that begins with attacks on Palestinian rights groups and is aimed at outlawing all social justice movements fighting for progressive change. It is shameful that the House of Representatives passed a bill that is straight out of the well-worn authoritarian playbook. The Senate must ensure that this bill to dismantle fundamental freedoms does not move forward or become law.” — Beth Miller, Political Director, Jewish Voice for Peace Action”
full article
https://www.jvpaction.org/jvp-action-condemns-house-passage-of-bill-to-give-more-authoritarian-power-to-trump/
Posted by: ld | Nov 21 2024 19:56 utc | 60
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Nov 21 2024 19:53 utc | 59
Before you misinterpret and dismiss my post, may I suggest you study the function of a colon? In simple terms, it means what follows is (logically, possibly) thus.
Posted by: horseguards | Nov 21 2024 19:57 utc | 61
Posted by: horseguards | Nov 21 2024 19:57 utc | 61
And then, before you get on your high horse, to say something is ‘logically impossible’ is meaningless. You must demonstrate why this is so, in clear English. If you can. If your reply is just more evasion, then we’ll all feel free to ignore you as an unthinking irrelevance – i.e. a windbag. (From your initial evasive and needlessly abusive response, I suspect that this is the case, and I suspect your reply, if any will not disappoint me).
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Nov 21 2024 20:05 utc | 62
Posted by: horseguards | Nov 21 2024 19:57 utc | 61
To say something is ‘logically impossible’ is not good enough. You must demonstrate in plain language, why this is so.
However, your ill-mannered response leads me to thing that you are just wind bagging and have no argument. You can of course prove me wrong by providing such argument
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Nov 21 2024 20:19 utc | 63
Sorry about the duplicate comment folks – the first did not appear after refreshing the page
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Nov 21 2024 20:20 utc | 64
With Gaetz tucking his tail in, I believe the 2nd Trump administration is already finished. It will go down in utter chaos just like the 1st one, which was pretty much done for the moment they took out General Flynn. Whose fault this is I don’t know, and it may even be that some good will come out of this chaos for someone. It’s a real shame.
Posted by: Scotch Bingeington | Nov 21 2024 20:21 utc | 65
A question, if I may, to the US-based barflies; why does your presidential electoral process have such a long gap between the result becoming known and actual enactment?
$DEITY knows there are flaws in our British electoral system, but we are used to images of the ejected Prime Minister moving out on the morning after an election, complete with removal vans, followed by images of the new incumbent moving in, often within 24 hours of the result being confirmed.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 21 2024 20:37 utc | 66
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Nov 21 2024 19:27 utc | 49
China can’t issue US treasuries – Period.
They can SWAP them for $’s and that’s it. Here’s how it works.
China net exports to US gets $’s in return.So what can they do with those $’s they now how hold ?
1. Keep them as a deposit in a bank / reserve balance.
2. Swap them for a US Treasury.
3. Exchange them into another currency. Which affects the floating FX rate.
4. Spend then On anything sold in $’s. What they are allowed to buy in $’s.
That is it. That is all they can do with the $’s they earn from net exporting to the US. That’s all anybody can do with money held in a central bank.
Now using your example above. The only way they can get rid of the US treasuries they hold is buy swapping them back into $’s. They now sit as a reserve balance. Which leaves them the 4 options available to them again.
Nothing leaves the FED. As they are held in accounts at the FED. Reserve accounts and Treasury accounts.
Even option 3 – Exchange the $’s into another currency the $’s do not leave the FED.
Why ? – Because it is a closed system.
With floating exchange rates you need a buyer and a seller so if China wants to do this
$’s ———— > Yaun.
Then you need other people wanting to do this
$’s <----------- Yaun.
So the $'s don't go anywhere all that changes is the name that now holds them.
The person or people who now owns those $'s. Now have the very same 4 options China had.
So they don't know what they are talking about. Don't understand the balance sheets.
Posted by: Sun Of Alabama | Nov 21 2024 20:43 utc | 67
Posted by: Sun Of Alabama | Nov 21 2024 20:43 utc | 67
OK That seems logical enough.. I’ll look at it all again.’
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Nov 21 2024 20:46 utc | 68
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Nov 21 2024 19:27 utc | 49
These will help James.
Trade and external finance mysteries – Part 1
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=39282
Trade and finance mysteries – Part 2
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=39303
Running an export surplus is a good way of pushing unemployment and poverty outside the borders of your nation onto other nations, as long as they are running on the same defunct monetary theory. ( how the gold standard worked )
However when those net import nations start accommodating the excess saving, eliminating the unearned income and enjoying a higher standard of living at foreigners expense then we will see a rapid shift away from ‘export-led’ policies towards a more balanced approach.
HERE:
https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=39420
Posted by: Sun Of Alabama | Nov 21 2024 20:50 utc | 69
“They {China] can SWAP them }US Treasuries} for $’s and that’s it. Here’s how it works.”
Son of Idiots
You have no idea about finance.
The Chinese holdings of US debt, around $700 billion-down from 2 $trillion, can use those US Treasuries as collateral to purchase anything in the world with the sole exception of Sun of Alabama’s Grey Matter which does not exist..
Yes, if they sell it they have to sell it for dollars as THAT”S WHAT Treasuries are !!! for fucks sake.
And, genius, if the US dollar is so supreme why do they off the biggest interest rate in the industrialized world?
Jeez!!
Daily Kos
Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration for attorney general on Thursday, saying his nomination—besieged by allegations that he had sex with minors at drug-fueled sex parties and then bragged about those encounters to fellow lawmakers on the House floor—was “becoming a distraction” for Donald Trump.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 21 2024 20:58 utc | 71
Posted by: canuck | Nov 21 2024 20:54 utc | 70
Thank you once again for proving my point and stating that I am indeed correct.
All China can do with US treasuries is swap them back to $’s. They can NEVER issue them.
WHICH ARE HELD AT THE FED !!!!!!!!
WHICH IS A CLOSED SYSTEM !!!!!!!!!!
You Canuck are making the same school boy error that Steve Keen made in a live debate several years ago.This live debate
Here:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TRtzLTl4j1A&pp=ygUcU3RldmUga2VlbiBhbmQgd2FycmVuIG1vc2xlcg%3D%3D
Watch and learn. Steve Keen admitted he got it wrong several months later.
🙂
So there is hope for you yet Canuck.
Posted by: Sun Of Alabama | Nov 21 2024 21:04 utc | 72
“All groups have their criminal elite. Italian mafiosos, Jewish mafiosos, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, etc.”
==============
Except for Jew, those are nationalities that have their own mafiosi, or gang leaders—not religions.
Jews, as members of a religion that some of them don’t practice bult some still still adhere to, have been able to insert themselves into all corner of US life where they appeared to be just regular secular citizens like anyone else but then morph into Zionist fanatics when “needed” or “prodded.”
Posted by: Jane | Nov 21 2024 21:05 utc | 73
A question, if I may, to the US-based barflies; why does your presidential electoral process have such a long gap between the result becoming known and actual enactment?
—
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 21 2024 20:37 utc | 66
I believe the original reason was that it took time back in the 18th century for the “electors” from the states to congregate in the Capitol in order to count the electoral votes.
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 21 2024 21:10 utc | 74
Canuck:
“The Chinese holdings of US debt, around $700 billion-down from 2 $trillion, can use those US Treasuries as collateral to purchase anything in the world with the sole exception of Sun of Alabama’s Grey Matter which does not exist..”
No they can’t they only have 4 options. The 4 options I explained above.
Or BRICS would have been a piece of cake to fix. You did read the BRICS report and the Kazan Declaration Canuck ?
That explains in very great detail the problems ALL countries have because of the 4 options they are faced with.
Example :
To purchase anything in the world and let’s say in India using US treasuries to do it.
1. They have to swap their US treasuries they hold at the FED back into $’s.
2. Then swap those $’s for rupees if it is sold in rupees.
3. Then buy goods and services in India.
OR
Leave the treasuries at the FED and just do this
Here:
https://new-wayland.com/blog/anatomy-of-an-fx-transaction/
No collateral whatsoever needed.
Posted by: Sun Of Alabama | Nov 21 2024 21:23 utc | 75
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Nov 21 2024 20:46 utc |
No probs James you are very welcome. I try to use my 20 odd years of experience anyway I can to help.
It sounded a wonderful idea but unfortunately it doesn’t work like they say.
Everybody is faced with those 4 options. Why the BRICS solutions take time.
Those links I provided will help.
Posted by: Sun Of Alabama | Nov 21 2024 21:31 utc | 76
Is there such a a thing as a congressman without a kink? Is it like a sober politician? If that is what they have on Gaetz….
Posted by: oldhippie | Nov 21 2024 22:05 utc | 77
James,
Many people used to say that China should just sell all of their treasuries and destroy the US.
There’s no selling. All they can do is swap them back to $’s and then instead of China’s $ savings sitting at the FED as a bunch of treasuries. They would sit at the FED as a reserve balance instead.
Anyway, for those interested how everything works in the real world it is in this book with diagrams costs $ 1.50
It is excellent and accurate and mirrors the balance sheets.
https://www.amazon.com/DIAGRAMS-DOLLARS-Modern-Money-Illustrated-ebook/dp/B00HUF6POI/
In my view It would be the best $1.50 ever spent. Very easy to understand rather than using words and financial buzz speak. You would know more than anybody you see on TV talking about it. Spot the mainstream media bullshit from a mile away.
Posted by: Sun Of Alabama | Nov 21 2024 22:28 utc | 78
Posted by: canuck | Nov 21 2024 16:09 utc | 22 Aside from it not being at all certain abiotic oil is even a thing, it is completely unexplained how it can rapidly replenish deposits at accessible depths, a topic probably avoided since it isn’t happening.
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Nov 21 2024 17:16 utc | 30 The America Firsters of that day claimed with equal honesty to be traditional isolationists, even Charles Lindbergh. There were in fact a handful of voices speaking out to remind others that German Communists were in fact anti-fascist.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 21 2024 17:38 utc | 34 It is not true that advocating more EU “defense” spending is anti-NATO. And Trump condemned Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, showing he was against losing, not against the war. The rest is excuses for Trump.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Nov 21 2024 19:11 utc | 47
Hold up there, STJ. I never posted anything about Lindbergh. Presenting like that is looking like a fed/troll move.
I used to merely ignore you. Now I’m watching you. Don’t fuck around. 👁️
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Nov 21 2024 22:51 utc | 79
Edward Abbey: What’s the difference between a whore and a congressman? A congressman makes more money.
Posted by: Don Bacon | Nov 21 2024 22:53 utc | 80
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 21 2024 21:10 utc | 74
Ah, yes, of course, the distance would be significant, living in a small island off the north-west coast of Eurasia I hadn’t considered that. Thank you for the explanation.
I do wonder though, in these days of modern communications, whether there should be some kind of moratorium on policy initiatives by a defeated incumbent, to prevent them from causing mischief for the successful candidate.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 21 2024 23:12 utc | 81
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 21 2024 17:59 utc | 36
I know you’ve never said that, I just wanted to comment. You’re right though this blanket denunciation of “Jews” is totally counter productive.
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Nov 21 2024 23:21 utc | 82
I do wonder though, in these days of modern communications, whether there should be some kind of moratorium on policy initiatives by a defeated incumbent, to prevent them from causing mischief for the successful candidate.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Nov 21 2024 23:12 utc | 81
Well. Don’t get me started, I’ll never shut up. The outlawry of the political/business class here has always been something to behold.
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 21 2024 23:25 utc | 83
Jeremy Rhymings-Lang, 21st Nov 2024 2037 GMT (quondam #66) (about the wide time gap between election and assumption of USA president cf. GB.)
Not analogous electoral situations.
UK HoS non-executive Crown. HoG is executive PM.
Analogous Germany HoS non-executive president, HoG executive chancellor (~p.m.)
Many countries follow this model. Non-executive/ceremonial HoS, executive HoG. Australia, Canada, Italy, Spain, Sweden, etc.
Countries with this bsystem do not replace their HoS at general elections but through other processes (republics), or never (monarchies).
Cf. France. Executive HoS Pres, executive HoG PM
Some follow this model. Both replaced through elections, not necessarily synchronous.
USA HoS=HoG Pres. “Both” replaced at general election.
Some follow this model, South Africa, for instance.
Posted by: petra | Nov 22 2024 0:03 utc | 84
Re HoS/HoG: The point being, replacing “both” the HoS and the HoG at one and the same time needs a staged and cautious period of handover or adjustment, whereas in more sensible systems (separation of HoG and HoS (whether executive or non-executive), HoS apparatus provides continuity/stability (hence in both republics and monarchies, the special measures undertaken by non-executive HoS associated with changes of government).
Posted by: petra | Nov 22 2024 0:11 utc | 85
Ahenobarbus@2321
Damn straight. Blanket denunciation of Jews is stoopidity on steroids. That’s just what the $uperJews/Talmudists schemers and plotters want. Then they can lug out their musty “Antisemitic” shtick. That term stinks to highest heavens as according to that Johns Hopkins DNA study more than 20 years ago, the genome of the Palestinian people is 85% derived from the ancient Hebrews.
Making the wicket even more wicked is the fact that the vast majority of the Ashkenazim probably have no Semitic ancestry whatsoforever. Mass deception is their indentation into the dim minds of the herd…as per Bernays and Goebbels; lies perpetually perpetrated are highly efficacious in adumbrating the mentality of the misled masses.
Babylonian Talmudism is totally eschewed by Neturei Karta and other True Torah Jews. They full well understand that it’s all a bunch of rabbinical hocum.
Posted by: aristodemos | Nov 22 2024 0:19 utc | 86
Posted by: Formerly Miss Lacy | Nov 21 2024 12:15 utc
Thank you, FML, for highlighting the chemtrails. How I wish more people would actually look at the sky now and then, as opposed to just glancing at it. Too unsophisticated, I guess.
Posted by: G-Man Joy | Nov 22 2024 0:30 utc | 87
James O’Donnell@1949
The entire concept and principle of abiotic oil was a Russian development back in Soviet times. Their drilling rigs had struck oil at depths which were beyond the development of organic life forms…in other words in hard-rock rather than in limestone, sandstone and other incremental manifestations.
Having not kept up with either theory or practice of that development; I would simply suggest that you invest some research time in order to arrive at a more comprehensive realization than is all too often the dogmatic insistence of scientists who do not maintain an open mind. Genuine science is only rarely a settled forever phenomenon.
Posted by: aristodemos | Nov 22 2024 0:34 utc | 88
Posted by: Jack M | Nov 21 2024 14:07 utc
“Incessant” is about right, Jack; at least in West Texas, USA
Posted by: G-Man Joy | Nov 22 2024 0:36 utc | 89
America is facing an irreconcilable contradiction: maintain the dollar hegemony or re-industrialize America. You can’t have both at the same time. The “contradiction” is a dialectical materialist contradiction.
By raising the rates, the Fed encourages capital to exit from other countries and go into the US. This devalues other countries’ currencies relative to the USD, making non-USD assets cheap. Then, when the Fed lowers the interest rate, US investors are suddenly flush with cheap cash that they can use to use to snap up cheap non-USD assets. The US has been harvesting the rest of the world this way for many decades. The downside is that US investors have no incentive to invest in capital-intensive manufacturing at home with decades-long investment horizons and low rates of return – they’re capitalists after all.
Trump is on the record for explicitly threatening countries that dedollarize (September 5, 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=admZFcEK3Vw ). You can’t punt this by saying it’s something his advisors said. The words came from the man himself.
But Trump cannot hold on to the dollar hegemony if he is sincere about re-industrializing America. And if he relinquishes the dollar hegemony, he would be responsible for the corresponding precipitous decline in American living standards.
https://hiia.hu/en/reindustrialization-in-the-age-of-fragmentation/
Here we see that average daily income bears no relationship to manufacturing as a percent of GDP. This suggests that having a low wage economy is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for having a large manufacturing component in a country’s economy. There does appear, however, to be a consistent relationship in both the Western economies and in the BRICS between running a current account surplus and having a higher average daily income. This is a very interesting finding as one economic model might suggest that having a low wage economy might allow a country to be more competitive and run a current account surplus. But, in fact, the opposite is the case. It seems likely that the causality here is the reverse: having a globally competitive economy that can run a trade surplus gives rise to higher living standards.
It is worth highlighting the situation of the United States in this regard as it seems somewhat of an outlier. In the top left of the chart is the United States, which we have highlighted by marking it as a triangle rather than a circle. As we can see, the United States runs a substantial current account deficit – close to 3% of GDP. Yet the United States also has one of the highest average incomes in our whole sample. What this tells us is that the United States may have too high an average income relative to its international competitiveness. This is likely an effect of the US dollar being the global reserve currency, and this suggests that if the dollar were ever to lose its reserve currency status, the United States may see a substantial contracting in its living standards.
While not a Marxist, I think Errico Malatesta did a great job explaining “irreconcilable contradiction” from an economic perspective, full text at https://www.marxists.org/archive/malatesta/1900/the-irreconcilable-contradiction.html
That poor prefect must find himself in a similar position as Almighty God, to whom one person asks for rain and another for good weather. And he is not even omnipotent!
But in vain do we worry about the position of prefects, who know quite well how to dig themselves out of this puzzle… by making promises to everybody and keeping none of them.
In a populace with zero class consciousness and in a system where the most popular (and not the most popular and competent) person leads the country, how do you sell the idea that a few decades of extreme pain from the loss of dollar hegemony is good for the health of America in the long run?
You don’t.
You lie. You promise that you will fix everything when you get elected. Then when you don’t, you start blaming the shadowy deep state for sabotaging your perfect plans. That is in essence who Trump is.
Let me talk of another irreconcilable contradiction. Chinese analysts pretty much unanimously do not see an improvement in US-China relationship under a Trump presidency. The analysts will often express sentiments along the lines of 中美之间的矛盾是不可调和的矛盾, meaning that in the grand scheme of things, the contradiction between China and America is an irreconcilable contradiction.
China does not intend to challenge America for primacy, but neither does China wish to submit to America.
The situation is like the contradiction between slave owners and slaves. The slave owners want to continue owning slaves. The slaves do not want to be slave owners (I know Trump supporters love to misleadingly frame US-China conflict as a fight for who gets to be top dog, but it isn’t). The slaves just want to be emancipated. Slave owners can’t solve it by asking the slaves, “If we give you a little more ration, would you agree to stop trying to escape from slavery?” The system has to be abolished. Class conflict is inevitable.
The only question that remains is if the slave owners, the US, will peacefully let the slaves go, or if the slave owners will fight tooth and nail to hold on to them.
Posted by: All Under Heaven | Nov 22 2024 1:02 utc | 90
Posted by: aristodemos | Nov 22 2024 0:34 utc | 88
The Andes results so far would support, but don’t have, nor have seen the magnitude of geological ages for charbohydrates to rise and create a feasible deposit (reposition period issue)
————–
No harm done, and you posted the full text, i just assessed and linked
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 22 2024 1:02 utc | 91
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 21 2024 13:22 utc | 10
Sorry. I see you got there before me. Should have read the thread through!
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Nov 21 2024 19:30 utc | 52
No harm done, and you posted the full text, i just assessed and linked
was for you , pasted badly on the previous post
Posted by: Newbie | Nov 22 2024 1:03 utc | 92
America’s foreign policy is its domestic policy. Kamala Harris explained it clearly: it’s either genocide in Gaza or your grocery prices are gonna go up! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vUlpuy7Zuw
A lot of Trump supporters think that they can just retreat back to Fortress America and everything will be a-okay again. It doesn’t work that way. That standard of living that you’re accustomed to is a direct result of America’s brutal exploitation of the Global South. If Israel doesn’t win, if Ukraine doesn’t win, then fewer nations will feel compelled to take crappy deals that further American interests at the expense of their own nations due to ever present threat of American military might. American citizens will have to deal with drastically lowered living standards. Again, as Kamala put it succinctly for the average American voters to comprehend: it’s either genocide in Gaza or your grocery prices are gonna go up!
America can simply re-industrialize! Yes, it can, provided that the dollar hegemony is ended, but even then, the process won’t be what Trump supporters fantasize it will be. To put it in terms that Americans can understand, re-industrializing America is like asking slave owners themselves to start cultivating the cotton fields instead of relying on slaves to do the job. It can be done, theoretically, but the average American aren’t ready to endure that kind of backbreaking work. The average American also won’t have cotton farming knowledge (and unlike cotton farming, the tech gap in modern manufacturing and supply chain management is immense). Maybe some Trump supporters entertain the delusion that they will be the managerial class in the group of ex-slave owners, and that other ex-slave owners will be laboring under them without any complaints (essentially recreating the slave system).
And that brings me to my next point.
By exporting manufacturing jobs out of America, class conflict has also been exported out of America. That’s what Trump supporters consistently overlook, as they are devoid of class consciousness.
Global South workers were forced to tolerate America’s exploitation because that was the only avenue available to them for developing their countries without getting sanctioned or couped. Illegal immigrants in America were forced to tolerate shitty work conditions because they lacked legal status and therefore legal protection. If the jobs done by illegal immigrants and Global South workers are now taken over by full American citizens, then the Americans will demand better conditions, and you can’t simply threaten them with deportation. Union strikes etc that were commonplace when America was still a manufacturing power will make a fierce comeback. How will the capitalist ruling class deal with workers demanding better conditions? Replace them with robots? What will you do with all the newly unemployed workers who have no means to sustain themselves? Suppress their revolt as they starve to death? Remember what I said earlier about Trump supporters dreaming about recreating slavery? I bet some of them will start missing non-tariffed goods and those immigrant farmhands that have been kicked out of America (I doubt deportation will happen en masse because Trump benefits from an exploitable underclass).
America’s fascist nature will become increasingly naked for all to see.
Without any immigrants to blame their woes on, who else will the politicians direct the voters’ attention to? Certainly not the capitalists, as Trump is one of them. So, America will have to once again fashion an internal or external boogieman, just like fascists of yore. Hitler targeted communists, Slavs, and Jews, then turned to the East for Lebensraum. Will America look North and South and see lands, resources, and factories ripe for the taking, as per Manifest Destiny? I’m not idly speculating. Here’s what the average “erudite” Trump supporter is already proposing:
https://x.com/Peter_Nimitz/status/1857404860108329394
Canadian government successfully delegitimized itself, so sectarian & ethnic factions are asserting themselves – several of which are pro-China. USA needs to step in, free Quebec, annex worthwhile areas, & turn remnants into protectorates: partial annexations & establishment of protectorates aren’t in current range of discourse, so would have to be done in stages, beginning with freeing Quebec, which would divide the 3 eastern provinces from the 6 western.
There is another path for America: socialism. American workers can come to the realization that the root cause of their misery is their capitalist overlords, not some vague shadowy deep state whose definition is ever changing. American workers can choose to recognize that despite being beneficiaries of American imperialism, American workers’ long-term interests are best served by seizing the means of production from their capitalist overlords. Ensure that production henceforth shall be for the sake of meeting people’s needs, not for profit. Cease all kinetic and economic warfare that cause unrest and chaos, and drive immigrants to the shores of America. Develop the economies of other countries so that they too can reach America’s living standards, not necessarily out of a sense of guilt or a desire for reparations for the hundreds of years of exploitation, but because it is the best way to guarantee a safe and prosperous America. Why would they come over to “take” your stuff, if they’re already living a decent life at home?
Realistically, I don’t see America headed towards socialism, if online comments from MoA and Twitter/X are a good barometer of how the average American perceives the world and their place in the world. Trump supporters constantly hurling invectives at imaginary communists and socialists (if only America actually had a single socialist anywhere near the halls of power) speaks to the level of political education in America. Then there are those Fortress America/Fortress Europe/Fortress Atlantic types who are deathly afraid of “sins of the father” and “land back”. To them, investing the resources of the Empire in keeping others down is better than investing the resources to build them up and in the process undo all the years of exploitation.
The choice, as always, is socialism or barbarism, and Americans have consistently chosen barbarism.
Posted by: All Under Heaven | Nov 22 2024 1:20 utc | 93
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 21 2024 17:59 utc | 37
Posted by: denk | Nov 21 2024 18:44 utc | 42
China, by merely existing, is already benefiting indigenous groups living under the thumb of capitalist oppression. Or, as the Trump supporters see it, China is a global security threat by merely existing.
https://archive.is/hhBlg
Financial Times – Canadian indigenous groups seek deals with China despite security fears
Canada’s indigenous communities are seeking deals with China that could give Beijing access to the country’s natural resources, despite warnings from Canadian security services over doing business with Xi Jinping’s government.
This week the Canada China Business Council indigenous trade mission is in Beijing to discuss potential energy and other business deals in a trip that could put Canada’s national “reconciliation” with its First Nation communities at odds with its national security priorities.
Karen Ogen, the trade mission’s co-chair and chief executive of the First Nations Liquefied Natural Gas Alliance, said her goal on the trip, which starts on Wednesday, was to sell LNG for the benefit of the Wet’suwet’en communities in Canada’s western province of British Columbia.
“We’ve been oppressed and repressed by our own government,” she said. “I know the history with China is not good but we have an understanding of what we need and what they need.”
Deteriorating relations between Ottawa and Beijing meant this year’s CCBC meeting would likely be “sombre”, said former Canadian ambassador to China Guy Saint-Jacques.
First Nations leaders should have “very limited expectations” from the trip. “I don’t expect big business coming out of it,” he said.
But Ogen, of the First Nations LNG Alliance, said she would put the controversy surrounding the trip to Beijing aside. “I . . . look at the global energy sector, China’s need for our gas, and how I can make the best deal for my people,” she said.
Posted by: All Under Heaven | Nov 22 2024 1:30 utc | 94
Commentary about AI from an author that I like, Delicious Tacos.
Your AI girlfriend will be free. Or if she has a body it’ll be sold to you at cost. Your AI girlfriend will be a loss leader.
Your AI girlfriend will be free to play with microtransactions. Your AI girlfriend will have a brain that takes up 15 nuclear power plants studying your biometrics to minimize your reason. Maximize your lust and desperation. Your AI girlfriend will be a 20,000 IQ hooker making you a whale for her pimp.
Your AI girlfriend will not be a one time purchase. She’ll be a Chinese finger trap designed to upsell you constantly. Your AI girlfriend will not be like buying a car. She’ll be like buying a car salesman.
And she might make you happy. If it makes money.
She might keep you alive. Until your organs are worth more than your paycheck.
Your AI doctor won’t cure you. Your AI doctor will find ways to put you on drugs for life. Switch them up when they fall out of patent. Like your dentist doesn’t want to fix your teeth. Before they dremel your gums they send in a sales professional shilling financing for laser cleaning. Your dentist was bought by private equity. His life now an MBA formula, upsell into recurring revenue. He took a payout for a black on camel Porsche 911 but half won’t vest unless he doubles EBITDA.
Your AI doctor has to make his owners rich or he’ll be killed.
AI will make art. It will advance science. It may make people less lonely as a side effect. But that’s not what it’s for. It exists to make money. A galaxy brained player piano for a hymn to Satan.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 22 2024 1:51 utc | 95
Posted by: All Under Heaven | Nov 22 2024 1:30 utc | 94
You make good points.
To get hegemony, they needed an industrial economy and an educated industrial working class. Then, when they had hegemony, they decided they didn’t need either of those any more. Tsk tsk.
But is was a contradictory situation, as you point out, that industrial working class, had they kept it, would have eventually taken power.
It started in the 70s, as some others point out, but once the USSR collapsed, they lost their minds.
Posted by: Bemildred | Nov 22 2024 1:56 utc | 96
“I think about these things in terms of the Germans in WW2. Can you imagine someone going about warning against speaking critically of the Germans in that context?” Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Nov 21 2024 17:16 utc | The original America Firsters—which included Lindbergh—were the “context.” America First is official Trumper terminology, as in “America First Agenda” and “America First Policy Institute.” (The latter gave Linda McMahon a salary while waiting to take over the Department of Education.)
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Nov 21 2024 22:51 utc | 79 is therefore thoroughly, typically dishonest. Don’t like people pointing out what company you keep, shut up or clean up.
Posted by: steven t johnson | Nov 22 2024 2:10 utc | 97
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Nov 22 2024 1:51 utc | 95
AI has always been led at the forefront by games.
And one of the best made was made 10 years ago to play free-civ, an open source, multiplayer “Civilization 2” clone.
It will likely have a lot of money traps, but that is an assumption the world 20 years from now will resemble anything like today.
Right now, it seems, getting people to listen to you is worth more than money. There is quite a transhumanist theory about this right now.
And I have been a part of, as well as observer of transhumanism for over two decades. I do not consider it good or evil, I consider it technology and inevitable.
As far as sex dolls etc go, I dont know. Porn is mostly free. The amount of people who use it dwarfs the amount of money spent on it, and as always with sexuality, it has surprising effects, to say the least, for one example: 95% of men who spend money on Only Fans, are… ….married!
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 22 2024 2:14 utc | 98
everything I post in OT threads gets removed. I see it is posted, then check 10 minutes later and it is gone. This is anything, including my dog dying, a psychosomatic phenomenon I was experiencing called globus, and now the impact of AI in the future.
of course, this one will probably stay…
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 22 2024 2:31 utc | 99
now post 98 is showing.
. this is so weird, though it was 96 when I first checked…
Posted by: UWDude | Nov 22 2024 2:32 utc | 100