Ok. The Domain Commander still confirms small to medium bads, though the “news” intel suggest something much worse.
In the future, I will ask the DM about this issue and matter, and I will publish.
Todays…
Biden LAUNCHES massive war games against China and re-election campaign for 2024
China, Russia circle wagons in Asia-Pacific
“Working meeting” between President Vladimir Putin (R), visiting Chinese State Councilor & Defence Minister Gen. Li Shangfu (L) and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, Moscow, April 16, 2023
The official visit by Chinese State Councilor and Defence Minister General Li Shangfu to Russia on April 16-19 prima facie underscored the two countries’ emergent need to deepen their military trust and close coordination against the backdrop of worsening geopolitical tensions and the imperative to maintain the global strategic balance.
The visit carries forward the pivotal decisions taken at the intensive one-on-one talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow through March 20-21. In a break with protocol, Gen. Li’s 4-day visit was front-loaded with a “working meeting” with Putin — to quote Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. (here and here)
Li is no stranger to Moscow, having previously held charge of Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission who was sanctioned by the US in 2018 for purchasing Russian weapons, including Su-35 combat aircraft and S-400 surface-to-air missile systems.
Song Zhongping, prominent Chinese military expert and TV commentator, forecast that Li’s trip would signal the high level of bilateral military ties with Russia, and lead to “more mutually beneficial exchanges in many fields, including defence technologies and military exercises.”
Last Wednesday, US Commerce Department announced the imposition of export controls on a dozen Chinese companies for “supporting Russia’s military and defence industries.” The Global Times hit back defiantly that “as China is an independent major power, so is Russia. It’s our right to decide with whom we will carry out normal economic and trade cooperation. We cannot accept the US’ finger-pointing or even economic coercion.”
Putin said at the meeting with Li on Easter Sunday that military cooperation plays an important role in Russia-China relations. Chinese analysts said Li’s visit is also a signal jointly sent by China and Russia that their military cooperation will not be impacted by the US pressure.
Putin had disclosed in October 2019 that Russia was helping China to create an early missile warning system that would drastically enhance the defensive capacity of China. Chinese observers noted that Russia was more experienced in developing and operating such a system, which is capable of identifying and sending warnings immediately after intercontinental ballistic missiles are launched.
Such cooperation demonstrates a high level of trust and requires a possible integration of Russian and Chinese systems. The system integration will be mutually beneficial; stations located in the North and West of Russia could provide China with warning data and, in turn, China could provide Russia with data collected at their Eastern and Southern stations. That is to say, the two countries could create their own global missile defence network.
These systems are among the most sophisticated and sensitive areas of defence technology. The US and Russia are the only countries which have been able to develop, build and maintain such systems. Certainly, close coordination and cooperation between Russia and China, two nuclear-armed powers, will profoundly contribute to world peace in the present circumstances by containing and deterring US hegemony.
It cannot be a coincidence that Moscow ordered a sudden check of the forces of its Pacific Fleet on April 14-18, which overlapped Li’s visit. The inspection took place against the background of the aggravation of the situation around Taiwan.
Indeed, in early April, it became known that the American aircraft carrier USS Nimitz approached Taiwan; on April 11, the US began a 17-day military exercise in the Philippines involving over 12000 troops; on April 17, news appeared about the dispatch of 200 American military advisers to Taiwan.
The US Global Thunder 23 strategic exercises at Minot Air Base in North Dakota, (which is the US Air Force Global Strikes Command) began last week where a training was conducted to load cruise missiles with nuclear warhead on bombers. The images showed B-52H Stratofortress strategic bombers being equipped by the flight technical personnel of the base with AGM-86B cruise missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads on the underwing pylons!
Again, exercises of US aviation and fleet forces have been increasingly noticed in the immediate vicinity of Russian borders or in regions where Russia has geopolitical interests. On April 5, B-52 Stratofortress circled over the Korean Peninsula allegedly “in response to nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.” At the same time, South Korea, the US and Japan conducted trilateral naval exercises in the waters of the Sea of Japan with the participation of aircraft carrier USS Nimitz.
Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev recently drew attention to Japan’s growing capability to conduct offensive operations, which, he said, constituted “a gross violation of one of the most important outcomes of the Second World War.” Japan plans to purchase around 500 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the US, which can directly threaten most of the territory of the Russian Far East. The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is working on developing Type 12 land-based anti-ship missiles “in order to protect the remote islands of Japan.”
Japan is also developing hypersonic weapons designed to conduct combat operations “on remote islands,” which Russians see as options for Japan’s possible seizure of the Southern Kuriles. In 2023, Japan will have a military budget exceeding $51 billion (on par with Russia’s), which is slated to increase to $73 billion.
Actually, during the latest surprise inspection, the ships and submarines of Russia’s Pacific Fleet made the transition from their bases to the Japanese, Okhotsk and Bering Seas. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said, “in practice, it is necessary to work out ways to prevent the deployment of enemy forces to the operationally important area of the Pacific Ocean – the southern part of the Sea of Okhotsk and to repel its landing on the Southern Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island.”
‘Loudly on the quiet…
Surveying the regional alignments, Yuri Lyamin, Russian military expert and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, a leading think tank of the military-industrial complex, told Izvestia newspaper:
“Considering that we have not settled the territorial issue, Japan lays claim to our South Kuriles. In this regard, checks are very necessary. It is necessary to increase the readiness of our forces in the Far East…
“In the context of the current situation, we need to further strengthen defence cooperation with China. In fact, an axis is being formed against Russia, North Korea and China: the USA, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and then it goes to Australia. Great Britain is also actively trying to participate… All this must be taken into account and cooperation should be established with China and North Korea, which are, one might say, our natural allies.”
In highly significant remarks at a Kremlin meeting with Shoigu on April 17 — while Li was in Moscow — Putin noted that the current priorities of Russia’s armed forces are “primarily focusing on the Ukrainian track… (but) the Pacific theatre of operations remains relevant” and it must be borne in mind that “the forces of the (Pacific) fleet in its individual components can certainly be used in conflicts in any direction.”
The next day, Shoigu told Gen. Li, “In the spirit of unbreakable friendship between the nations, peoples, and the armed forces of China and Russia, I look forward to the closest and most successful cooperation with you…” The Russian MOD readout said :
“Sergei Shoigu stressed that Russia and China could stabilise the global situation and lessen the potential for conflict by coordinating their actions on the global stage. ‘It is important that our countries share the same view on the ongoing transformation of the global geopolitical landscape… The meeting we have today will, in my opinion, help to further solidify the Russia-China strategic partnership in the defence sphere and enable an open discussion of regional and global security issues.”
Beijing and Moscow visualise that the US, having failed to “erase” Russia, is turning attention to the Asia-Pacific theatre. Suffice to say, Li’s visit shows that the reality of Russia–China defence cooperation is complicated. Russia–China military-technical cooperation has always been rather secretive, and the level of secrecy has increased as both countries engage in more direct confrontation with the US.
The political meaning of Putin’s 2019 statement on jointly developing a ballistic missile early warning system extended far beyond its technical and military significance. It demonstrated to the world that Russia and China were on the brink of a formal military alliance, which could be triggered if US pressure went too far.
In October 2020, Putin suggested the possibility of a military alliance with China. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ reaction was positive, although Beijing refrained from using the word “alliance”.
A working and effective military alliance can be formed quickly if the need arises but their respective foreign policy strategies rendered such a move unlikely. However, real and imminent danger of military conflict with the US can trigger a paradigm shift.
Star Trek – Stop the Attack!
McDonald’s CEO Says Consumers Starting To ‘Push Back’ Against Higher Burger Prices
You know the economic storm clouds are gathering whenever McDonald’s becomes unaffordable for the working poor tier of the consumer base.
CNBC reports McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said consumers are beginning to push back (in some regional markets) against higher prices and ordering fewer menu items.
A $9 burger meal might not be within everyone’s budget.
Kempczinski said that consumers’ resistance to higher prices has come from going “off script” from the models it uses to determine pricing.
“When we execute where we know we have pricing power, we do quite well, but what we do find as we try to take pricing in the areas that are maybe a little bit more sensitive, the consumer pushes back on it,” he said.
Additionally, Kempczinski said customers are less likely to add extras to their orders, and items per transaction have fallen by the low single-digits.
Kempczinski’s comments come as the consumer confidence index slipped in April as macroeconomic headwinds mount. Consumers have been battered by 24 months of negative real wage growth as inflation crushes households.
About 70% of Americans admitted in a recent CNBC survey feeling financially stressed by inflation and lack of savings. Many consumers have maxed out their credit cards, while some are beginning to miss payments. There’s also a rise in home foreclosures, which points to a rapid deterioration of the consumer base. Remember that an increasing number of folks can’t afford their $1,000 monthly auto payment.
The first report of consumers trading down items at McDonald’s was nearly one year ago (read: “State Of The US Consumer: McDonald’s Customers Trading Down, Buy Value Items As Combos Increasingly Unaffordable”), and that’s a period when consumers were still flush with stimmy checks and other government handouts. Now it’s gone, and some consumers are already trading down from fast food restaurants to “Dollar Tree Dinners.”
Dems & GOP & News Media ALL WANT WAR With China!
Cattle shoes
These shoes were found in the Museum of Northeast Nevada in Nevada, designed and used by a cattle thief to hide his footprints during the theft of cows in the twenties of the last century…!
Be READY for THIS – The United States WILL be ATTACKED!
Shaker Pickles
Ingredients
- 20 small to medium cucumbers, sliced
- 10 onions, sliced and slivered
- 3 1/2 cups sugar
- 3 cup white vinegar
- 1/3 cup salt
- 1 teaspoon alum
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 tablespoon pickling spice (optional)
Instructions
- Do not heat vinegar and spices.
- Mix all ingredients and pour over onions and cucumbers in jars.
- Place jars in refrigerator.
- Shake jars once a day for 6 days. Pickles are ready to eat on the 7th day.
Pickles will keep in the refrigerator for 3 months.
German Foreign Minister A Baerbock is well known to be anti-China. Very radical. Why did China invite her to China after Macron has left China?
Because many radically anti-China people never visited China before. They know nothing about the real China. They hear about China from the US-led media only.
However, US politicians+media are radically anti-China. Why? China is rising which, in US words, threatens USA #1 status on world stage (mentality of gossiper/loser).
In a democratic election where politicians depend on votes, they all become actors by using tough words to stir audience’s emotion of hatred & fear of China.
Baerbock was never to China before. While in China, she was shown a joint China-Germany factory. Let her see with her own eyes that Germany has trade surplus with China. Why throw away $$$ ie economy for an empty ideology eg democracy?
Politicians’ anti-China on mouth = anti-Germany in economy = anti-Germans’ livelihood/tummy.
I always said: there should be laws to make (populous) politicians responsible for destroying their economy based on an ideology. Blindly support a foreign slogan should be considered as treason. Force politicians to analyze the pros & cons before they open their mouth.
Diplomat Wang Yi also met Baerbock. Wang reminded Baerbock that CHINA SUPPORTED REUNIFICATION OF EAST-WEST GERMANY. Germany should also support China-Taiwan reunification.
Behind the scene, Baerhock is reasonable. But in front of press, Baerbock returned to her acting career & full of tough talk against China. … 2 faces of Baerbock.
On 2023/4/15 Foreign Minister Qin Gang & Baerbock have a joint press meeting.
Baerbock: Germany recognizes ONE CHINA principle but is concerned of Taiwan stability.
Qin: you just said ONE CHINA. ONE = Taiwan is part of China = Taiwan is China’s internal affairs = nobody should interfere.
Qin: Why Taiwan has problem? Separatists. Since Germany is concerned of Taiwan stability, then dont support Taiwan independence.
(I add) No country tolerate secession. What about your country?
If Pelosi did not go to Taiwan in Aug 2022 or McCarthy did not meet Tsai in April 2023, there would not be Chinese military drills near Taiwan. Who is the culprit?
Baerbock then talked about human rights in Xinjiang.
Qin: German ambassador in China is free to go to Xinjiang. Did your ambassador tell you any problem?
(I add) German Volkswagen has a factory in Xinjiang. The CEO attested he did not see any forced labor or genocide.
Baerbock said human rights is universal. It is in UN charter.
Qin: (UN says) each country can go by their own situation, history & culture. It is people there who know if they are happy or not. Not outsiders. (I add) Traveling may make you happy. To a hungry person, a hamburger is enough to make him happy. Why dictate others’ happiness?
Learn anything? Populous politicians throw in moral high grounds but talk empty. They cannot refute when you show them logic. Dont dream they have ability to analyze the damage to German economy if they blindly follow USA to decouple China. They can only act to fool voters.
BRICS rising as neocons destroy the west
Single Dad Illustrates What It’s Like To Raise A Child, And It’ll Melt Your Heart
Forgive me for the cliché, but children do grow up so fast. And parents usually document their precious moments by taking pictures or shooting video, but one single dad from Taiwan has his own method of making sure he remembers what it’s like raising his boy.
To capture the joys and difficulties of parenting he faces every day, Lan Shengjie (aka BLUE) is illustrating them. “I have been working as a freelance artist since 1999,” BLUE told Bored Panda. “I started this series after right after my child was born in 2014.” Recently, Sharp Point Press has even published it.
“When you have a kid, a lot of things happen unexpectedly. However, as I started drawing the surprising moments we shared, I didn’t think they would get such a huge positive response.”
BLUE said he’s usually rushing through the illustrations since he’s always taking care of his boy. “I hope that my child can grow up in a safe and healthy environment,” he added. “I worry about him becoming a hooligan or anything else that can go wrong along the way. That’s why I always try to accompany him as he’s growing up and help him when I can.”
More: Lan Shengjie, Facebook h/t: boredpanda
God listens
She hurried to the pharmacy to get medication, got back to her car and found that she had locked her keys inside.
The woman found an old rusty coat hanger left on the ground.
She looked at it and said, “I don’t know how to use this.”
She bowed her head and asked God to send her some Help.
Within 5 minutes a beat up old motorcycle pulled up,
driven by a bearded man who was wearing an old biker skull rag.
He got off of his cycle and asked, if she needs help?
She said: “Yes, my daughter is sick.
I’ve locked my keys in the car.
I must get home.
Please, can you use this hanger to unlock my car?
He said, Sure.
“He walked over to the car, and in less than a minute the car was open.
She hugged the man and through tears said, “Thank You God, for sending me such a very nice man.”
The Biker heard her little prayer and replied, “Lady, I am not a nice man.
I just got out of prison yesterday; I was in prison for car theft.”
The woman hugged the man again, sobbing, “Oh, thank you, God!
You even sent me a Professional!”
Douglas Macgregor: “The US is STARTING WW3 RIGHT NOW, PEOPLE HAVE NO IDEA!” in Exclusive Interview
https://youtu.be/LbgORFlmPOU
Shaker Strawberry Summer Pudding
Ingredients
- 1/2 loaf white bread, sliced
- 1 quart ripe strawberries
- 3/4 to 1 cup sugar (depending on the sweetness of the berries)
Instructions
- Line a 9-inch square pan with aluminum foil or wax paper.
- Remove the crust from the bread.
- Mash and sweeten strawberries.
- Place the bread slices slices on the bottom of the prepared pan.
- Spoon strawberries over the bread and alternate berries and bread until pan is filled. Cover with wax paper slightly smaller than the pan. Chill at least 8 hours or overnight.
- To serve, invert on a platter. Top with whipped cream. Scatter fresh berries on top and around edge.
Why are the US government and media portraying China as the bad guy?
In 2011, when the subprime crisis gradually dissipated, President Obama said during his visit to Australia: “If 1.3 billion Chinese people live the same life as us, it would be a disaster for the world, and we will not let this happen.” In the same year November, the US proposed the “Asia-Pacific Rebalance” strategy, which began to accelerate the withdrawal of troops from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and planned to transfer a group of navy warships to the Asia-Pacific region before 2020, deploying 60% of US warships in the Pacific. In October 2015, the US tried to isolate China economically by persuading 12 countries to sign the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership). On May 9, 2016, the commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Harry Harris, sent the William Lawrence guided missile destroyer into China’s territorial waters, and even publicly boasted that the US military was “prepared to go to war with China tonight.“
In 2018, a trade war broke out in the US and China, and imposed large-scale tariffs on China goods. In 2020, when the new crown pneumonia epidemic spread around the world, the US accused China under the unfavorable situation of epidemic prevention, stigmatized the new crown virus as “Chinese virus”, claimed to claim compensation from China, and successively issued “cold war speech”, intending to set off camp confrontation.
A lot of people don’t understand why the “intimate relationship” of “saving America is saving China” between them has turned into the current situation of never-ending hostility. Some people think it’s because of President’s different policies, believing that the conflict between China and the US can be solved by changing presidents. Some say that the US only cares about GDP, and when a country’s GGP reaches 60% of the US, it will be targeted. The former Soviet Union and Japan were like this, and today’s China is still the same. But in reality, the most fundamental reason still goes back to the economic model.
If we were to describe the basic model of China’s previous way of making money, it would be relying on its industrial system and labor advantages to provide affordable goods and exporting them worldwide to earn foreign exchange. On the other hand, there are generally two types of profit models in the US:
1. Seize the technological high ground and use patent rights to scrape the profits from the whole world. Every time China sells a product, the bulk of the profits go to the US, such as in the Apple products manufactured by China’s Foxconn.
2. Directly plunder the assets of other countries using the US dollar’s financial hegemony. The first point is easy to understand, it is the famous “smiling curve theory”. The most valuable areas are concentrated at both ends of the value chain: R&D and the market. Without R&D capabilities, one can only act as an agent or subcontractor, earning only a small amount of money. Without market capabilities, no matter how good the product, when the product life cycle is over, it can only be treated as waste. Before, China could only rely on the advantage of cheap labor to process and assemble products, and because China was previously very poor and the domestic market did not have strong consumer power, it was a typical example of having neither R&D nor market capabilities. On the other hand, the US is an international R&D center and the world’s largest consumer market.
The situation has gradually changed. With the continuous development of the economy in China, it has realized that this approach is not sustainable. The living standards of 1.4 billion people need to be improved, and relying solely on processing fees is no longer enough to sustain it. In order to support their families and create a better life for their loved ones, they must explore other sources of income. At first, China could improve production capacity by updating equipment to increase production efficiency. Before, they could produce 10,000 units a day, but now they can produce 20,000 units, which doubled their income. However, after a while, the production capacity could not make a breakthrough, and they were only able to produce 20,000 units a day for an extended period of time. In addition, the market is gradually becoming saturated, making it difficult to increase income by producing more products. On the other hand, the demand gap is gradually shrinking, making it more challenging to earn money than before.
These factors combined finally forced China to make a choice:
- A. Maintain current income status and live a decent life.
- B. Open up other sources of income.
Obviously, China chose option B, and began to increase investment in technology research and development.
As a result, China achieved breakthroughs in both research and market capabilities, and was no longer just working for the US.
Previously, there was only one boss, but now China also wanted to be a boss. The US suddenly couldn’t accept it, because there are only so many workers, and if there is one more boss, the US will lose out on some profits.
China said we could work together, so that everyone’s income could be increased, but the US refused.
Therefore, we saw a series of actions, such as trade wars, high tariffs, restrictions on Huawei and other Chinese enterprises, all intended to decrease China’s profits as much as possible.
If the first point above made the US feel a little uncomfortable, then the second point below truly made it feel threatened. The second biggest way the US makes money: dollar hegemony. The US took over currency hegemony from the British Empire in 1944, but the “Bretton Woods system” from 1944 to 1971, a full 27 years, did not truly give it substantial financial power. Why? Gold.
The US once made a commitment to the world, which was to lock the currencies of various countries to the US dollar, and the US dollar to gold. How to lock it? Exchange 1 ounce of gold for every $35. With this commitment to the world with the US dollar, the US cannot act arbitrarily. Simply put, exchanging 1 ounce of gold for $35 means that the US cannot print US dollars indiscriminately. If you print an extra $35, you will have to reserve one more ounce of gold in your vault. The reason why the US had the confidence to make such a commitment to the world was that it held about 80% of the world’s gold reserves at that time. However, later on, the US foolishly became involved in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. These two wars consumed a lot of resources of the United States, especially the Vietnam War.
During the Vietnam War, nearly 800 billion US dollars were spent by the US on military expenses. As the cost of the war grew, the gold reserves were clearly insufficient to support previous commitments.
According to the commitment of the United States, every loss of 35 US dollars meant a loss of 1 ounce of gold.
In addition, some countries represented by France were exchanging their US dollar reserves for gold, which depleted US gold reserves.
Therefore, on August 15, 1971, President Nixon announced the closure of the gold window and the detachment of the US dollar from gold. This is the beginning of the disintegration of the “Bretton Woods system” and also an act of betrayal by the US towards the whole world.
When the US dollar was no longer backed by gold and became a mere green paper, the whole world faced a choice: if not the US dollar, then what? Therefore, the US exploited people’s inertia and helplessness and announced in 1973 that global oil had to be settled in US dollars. Since then, a financial empire has emerged in the human world.
Because when the dollar appears as a green piece of paper, America’s profit costs can be said to be extremely low. In order to accelerate the delivery of dollars to the world, which will take interest rate reduction measures.
When American capitalists keep their money in the bank without receiving any interest, they will withdraw the money for investment purposes. At this time, South America and Southeast Asia become their investment targets. Assuming there is a country A, a large amount of American capital flows in for investment, causing rapid economic growth in country A and a thriving economy. However, behind the prosperity, there are certainly some bubbles, which are the inevitable results of a market economy.
For example, suppose the stock price of a company is $100, but its actual value is only $50. Assuming that the exchange rate of country A’s currency is equivalent to the US dollar. At this point, the capitalists in America have room for operation. They first bought 50 billion currency A from a bank in country A, and then directly exchanged 50 billion currency A for 50 billion US dollars. Suddenly, country A’s currency became more abundant, and the US dollar decreased significantly. However, many corporate trades must still be settled in US dollars. In the panic, many companies will crazy to exchange A currency for US dollars. As the dollars become scarcer and currency A becomes more abundant on the market, more people are induced to use more currency A to exchange for US dollars. At this point, A currency will depreciate significantly. The government of A will certainly intervene and use a large amount of gold to buy currency A to stabilize the exchange rate.
However, the US raises interest rates. Imagine a capitalist from America investing in country A with an annual profit of 3%, but the interest rate of the Ameican bank is 5%. Which one will he choose? When a lot of US dollars is withdrawn, country A’s companies that originally had a large amount of US dollar investments will experience a broken capital chain. The government will no longer have gold to buy A currency and can only watch currency depreciate. When 1 US dollar = 10 currency A, the US capitalist only needs to use $5 billion to buy 50 billion currency A to return to the bank, Netting a large sum of money. Moreover, this is far from over. When country A’s exchange rate collapses, the US can buy a large number of country A’s assets and achieve practical economic control.
So why does the US suppress China? Because China not only wants to promote the use of RMB settlement worldwide, but also because Chinese economic system is different from traditional capitalist economies, making it impossible for B to use the same methods to control Chinese economy. In the eyes of Americans, China is not only a disruptor and an uncontrollable factor, but also a threat to its financial interests.
The dominance of the US dollar is certainly very strong, and the world has suffered from American hegemony for too long. Most countries probably have the same mindset as Japan, although they do not want to see a strong China, after being American dogs for decades, they also want to change their way of life.
America’s Social Contract Is Broken
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
The Social Contract is broken not just by wealth inequality per se but by the illegitimate process of wealth acquisition
I do not claim any expertise in social contract theory, but in broad brush we can delineate two implicit contracts: one between the citizenry and the state (government) and another between citizens.
We can distinguish between the two by considering a rural county fair. Most of the labor to stage the fair is volunteered by the citizenry for the good of their community and fellow citizens; they are not coerced to do so by the government, nor does the government levy taxes to pay its employees or contractors to stage the fair.
The social contract between citizens implicitly binds people to obeying traffic laws as a public good all benefit from, not because a police officer is on every street corner enforcing the letter of the law.
The social contract between the citizens and the state binds the government to maintaining civil liberties, equal enforcement of the rule of law, defending the nation, and in the 20th century, providing social welfare for the disadvantaged, disabled and low-income elderly.
Critiques of “trickle down economics” focus on income inequality as a key metric of the Social Contract: rising income inequality is de facto evidence that the Social Contract is broken.
I think this misses the key distinction in the Social Contract between citizens and the state, which is the legitimacy of the process of wealth creation and the fairness of the playing field and the referees, i.e. that no one is above the law.
Few people begrudge legitimately earned wealth, for example, the top athlete, the pop star, the tech innovator, the canny entrepreneur, the best-selling author, etc. The source of these individual’s wealth is transparent, and any citizen can decline to support this wealth creation by not paying money to see the athlete, not buying the author’s books, not shopping at the entrepreneur’s stores, etc.
The Social Contract is broken not just by wealth inequality per se but by the illegitimate process of wealth acquisition, i.e. the state has tipped the scales in favor of the few behind closed doors and routinely ignores or bypasses the intent of the law even as the state claims to be following the narrower letter of the law.
By this definition, the Social Contract in America has been completely smashed. One sector after another is dominated by cartel-state partnerships that are forged and enforced in obscure legislation written by lobbyists. Once the laws have been riddled with loopholes and the regulators have been corrupted, “no one is above the law” has lost all meaning.
Those who violate the intent of the law while managing to conjure an apparent compliance with the letter of the law are shysters, scammers and thieves who exploit the intricate loopholes of the system, all the while parading their compliance as evidence the system is fair and just. In this way, the judicial system becomes part of the illegitimate process of wealth accumulation.
In America, political and financial Elites are above the intent of the law. Is bribery of politicos illegal? Supposedly it is, but in practice it is entirely and openly legal.
This is the norm in banana republics, whose ledgers are loaded with thousands of codes and regulations that are routinely ignored by those in power. In the Banana Republic of America, financial crimes go uninvestigated, unindicted and unpunished: banks and their management are essentially immune to prosecution because the crimes are complex (tsk, tsk, it’s really too much trouble to investigate) and they’re “too big to prosecute.”
The rot has seeped from the financial-political Aristocracy to the lower reaches of the social order. The fury of those still working legitimate jobs and paying their taxes is grounded in a simple, obvious truth: America is now dominated by scammers, cheaters, grifters and those gaming the system, large and small, to increase their share of the swag.
The honest taxpayer is a chump, a mark who foolishly ponies up the swag that’s looted by the smart operators. Everyone knows that the vast majority of wealth accumulation in America flows not from transparent effort on a level playing field, but from persuading the Central State (the Federal government and the Federal Reserve) to enforce cartels and grant monopolistic favors such as tax shelters designed for a handful of firms and unlimited credit to private banks.
When scammers large and small live better than those creating value in the real economy, the Social Contract has ceased to exist. When the illegitimate process of wealth acquisition–a rigged playing field, a bought-off referee, and an Elite that’s above the law by every practical measure–dominates the economy and the political structure, the Social Contract has been shattered, regardless of how much welfare largesse is distributed to buy the complicity of state dependents.
Once the chumps and marks realize there is no way they can ever escape their exploited banana-republic status as neofeudal debt-serfs, the scammers, cheats and grifters large and small will be at risk of losing their perquisites. The fantasy in America is that legitimate wealth creation is still possible despite the visible dominance of a corrupt, venal, self-absorbed, parasitic, predatory Aristocracy. Once that fantasy dies, so will the marks’ support of the Aristocracy.
As Voltaire observed, “No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible”: every claim, every game of the system, every political favor purchased is “fair and legal,” of course. This is precisely how empires collapse.
In broad brush, we can trace the transition from feudalism to capitalism to the present financialized, globalized cartel-state neofeudalism and next, to a synthesis built on the opposite of neofeudalism, which is decentralization, transparency, accountability, legitimacy and the adaptive churn of competing ideas and proposals.
US Debt Default Could Spark Catastrophe, Mass Unemployment: Yellen
A US debt default could spark mass unemployment, payment failures, and catastrophe that would raise interest rates 'into perpetuity,' Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns A US debt default would be a disaster for the economy, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. She warned of potential mass unemployment, payment failures, and broad economic weakness if the US failed to pay its debts. She urged lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling and not wait "until the last minute" to do so.
Disappointing Affirmations by Dave Tarnowski: Tackling Mental Health Realistically
Dave Tarnowski, the creator of the Instagram account @DisappointingAffirmations, is tired of the endless stream of rainbows-and-butterflies, everything-is-going-to-be-okay mantras that flood our social media feeds. But don’t get it wrong – his account wasn’t created to bring people down. On the contrary, it aims to depict struggles with mental health in a raw and authentic way.
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WHO Cites “Huge Biological Risk” As Sudan Fighters Seize Lab Containing Deadly Pathogens
The World Health Organization (WHO) says there’s a “huge biological risk” after Sudanese rebels of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized the country’s National Public Health Laboratory in the capital Khartoum on Tuesday.
A US-brokered 72-hour truce deal appears to have already collapsed, given war correspondents widely reported hearing gunfire persist into the evening. The top-ranking WHO official in Sudan, Nima Saeed Abid, called the development “extremely dangerous because we have polio isolates in the lab, we have measles isolates in the lab, we have cholera isolates in the lab.”
CNN is reporting that the RSF is now in control of the lab, citing a a high-ranking medical source, who told the outlet: “There is a huge biological risk associated with the occupation of the central public health lab in Khartoum by one of the fighting parties.”
The WHO additionally confirmed that “trained laboratory technicians no longer have access to the laboratory.” This is a serious crisis given the persisting power outages across the capital area throughout the more than week of fighting, which has killed around 500 people and injured thousands more.
The WHO is warning that there’s a risk of spoilage and potential for leaks of deadly pathogens, given “it is not possible to properly manage the biological materials that are stored in the laboratory for medical purposes.”
In the most alarming part of the report, the CNN medical source said:
The medical source told CNN that “the danger lies in the outbreak of any armed confrontation in the laboratory because that will turn the laboratory into a germ bomb.”
“An urgent and rapid international intervention is required to restore electricity and secure the laboratory from any armed confrontation because we are facing a real biological danger,” the source added.
Sudan now stands once again on the brink of full-blown civil war after already having been in a state civil war on and off again for the better part of a half century.
One wonders what sensitive bio-labs with highly dangerous samples including deadly diseases are doing there in the first place…
Recently, the safety of biological labs has been a serious question also when it comes to the Ukraine conflict. Thus far, there have been no known disasters relatedly to germs or diseases amid the Russia-Ukraine war.
Star Trek – Missile Alert
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