We’re going to “chunk” two stories and then add some comments about bipolar behavior, so here’s the first data segment:
Socialism is an easy thing to defeat. All you need to do is let it run its course. Just like you would with the flu or any other disease.
But, socialism thrives on opposition. And I expect Russia’s Soviet Era experiment would have ended sooner if we‘d sent in more VHS tapes so people behind the once Iron curtain could see in the background of American entertainment that Plain ‘ol Folks in the USA who were poor were living better than the rich among socialist/communists. (I credit VHS not Star Wars (the project), mainly…)
In fact, were it not for Adolph Hitler going-off on Europe, such that the US had to “play nice-nice” with Russia during WW II, Stalin’s disastrous collectivization might has done in in communism. But, no. Russia had an external enemy and that kept Stalin in power, just as it kept Castro and – in the present example – the socialistas clown posse in Venezuela in power.
Unfortunately, the neocons are hard at it. They do have one thing partly right: There is trouble ahead in the world because, as we frequently remind, 7.8 billion people are going to clean out the agar dish all the way out to the edges.
As this happens, we get into an historical period that will precede the Great Die-Off. It could be a 100-year war over natural resources.
For now, the US is exporting energy, but there’s enough resource in the ground in places like Venezuela, Africa, off the coast of Lebanon where the Leviathan oil and gas field is huge and Syria can make claims…and sure, there’s the Dnieper-Donets reserve in Ukraine. Seeing a pattern, yet?
By the way, oil is a much bigger factor in the Syria conflict that the lefterly corporates selling-out America media report, Generally, since “…oil sales for 2010 were projected to generate $3.2 billion for the Syrian government and accounted for 25.1% of the state’s revenue…” the connections aren’t clear to most.
Spoils of war? You tell me. But, definitely a HUGE dimension to the 100-year Manufacturer’s Resource Wars that the US media is keeping you in the dark about. As I bemoaned earlier, why aren’t we seeing this kind of “reality” on prime time instead of the Oscars, or at least in addition to ’em?
So we sullenly meander back to point: The US is backing the right-wing candidate for president in Venezuela, while the socialists claim they won. But, it’s axiomatic in sham governments, that whoever counts the ballots (and that was the who? socialists!) determines the outcome.
Vlad Putin, meanwhile, has been playing the longer chess game. Having a partial win in Syria with the US beginning a draw-down, we seem to remember a few weeks back how the Ruskies sent a long-range bomber to V-land to plant a hint in the Pentagon’s planning offices. What was a “hint” is now overt topday as: “Russia warns U.S. against military intervention in Venezuela.”
Here’s why Venezuela really matters: Its at the top of a table on Wikipedia (the rest of it is here) but this is what is driving headlines today:
Our first point is simple-enough: If you ever don’t understand how leaders could be so stupid, all you need to do is consider the playing field.
For now, the US is making decisions that both the political left (dependably unable to grasp details) and the right (inept at social flows) will get wrong. It’s really a complicated equation of a sociopolitical type.
Before you get too wrapped around the axles of partisanship, however, let me remind you that the US is slowly engineering its way into portable compact fusion power and if the people in that program at Lockheed-Martin do get “over unity” with their fusion rigs, well, that would relegate oil to something of a back seat. Sure, useful for lubrication, but the project is getting close and it’s a potential game-changer.
(If you block popups try here.)
Now, just between you and me? I suspect that the LMC Compact Fusion project has maybe made more progress than is commonly understood. If the Pentagon, for example, didn’t need to fight over oil reserves anymore, and if the project was on track to an anticipated breakthrough, then Trump allowing a drawdown in Syria might make more sense.
But, this is a high-risk gambit…we can’t abandon the oil presence until the compact fusion is working and is repeatable at a reasonable price..
So much for data point #1. Next?
SoU Silly
For a brief time, anti-Trump people may seem to have taken something of a political lead. After all, they got an offer from Trump to provide a path to citizenship for DACA’s/ And now, they will argue that Trump has failed again.
There’s some support for this, as Trump disapproval ratings are rising.
There is another way to read events, however. Namely that Trump is simply paying out enough rope for the democrats to (politically-speaking) hang themselves.
Trump knows something most of the never-held-a-job types on Capitol Hill probably never learned. In Management Science,we call it “three strikes.”
This theory would offer that Trump folded on DACA (strike one) and now he has folded on the State of the Union (strike two!).
There may not be a strike three. He might just go to the Declaration of a National Emergency in lieu of waiting for strike three.
Meantime, we aren’t expecting much out of the dueling bills in Washington that come up for media showboating today. We have better things to do. Think of this as the second data set.
Now about Bipolar America…
I suggested on the Peoplenomics.com side of the house, that itg’s really time for someone to start a new organization to really shut down the entire economy if those who should lead are not able to keep the lights on for all.
Specifically, the concept is a Bi-Partisan B.S. Boycott.
Set up a website. Invite people to send in “Divider” nominations that would be voted on by readers.
And then ask people to boycott those people, parties, institutions that are cleaving America into increasingly angry camps.
It’s the only useful way I can think of to get the country back into a single purpose-driven enterprise.
Rolling out compact fusion might do it. so would global war or an alien invasion (but wait, we have one of those!). But, seriously the BPBSB is workable and might bring results if the remaining half dozen of us with any common sense left, can just get it done…
Bipolar people have their highs and lows and lithium carbonate. What America needs right now is something from the old sailing ship days.
A keel to keep the country upright.
Otherwise, money buys elections: “Liberal ‘dark money’ groups outspent conservative ones in 2018 elections.”
And the House is going after Trump as Deutsche Bank queried by House panels on Trump ties/ Oh boy! Popcorn?
Markets? Also Nuts
Really poor data out from the National Association of Realtors Tuesday. Three year low and yes, that should be reflected this coming Tuesday when the next Case-Shiller S&P/CoreLogic Housing Data comes out.
We get the sense the market is being held up either by air, some capitol inflows from overseas, or the Plunge Protection Team. (We’d sure like to see someone sue Treasury for price-fixing, which is what intervention is markets amounts to, but I digress).
The market was up another 171 on the Dow yesterday, but on a percentage basis, the broader market was up more modestly. We antijcipate the tape-painting might continue indefinitely.
But reality is: A large chunk of government has been out of work. Home sales are falling. And the wars-to-come over resource are still ahead with no more “magic incentives” for companies to fund more stock buy-backs are on the horizon.
Despite it, the Dow futures were up 33. This all leads us (in a modest short position) to conclude that being SANE is not a popular pastime for investors.
Short Snorts
Line ’em up…
Another reality check in “Equipment Leasing and Finance Association’s Survey of Economic Activity: Monthly Leasing and Finance Index
December New Business Volume Down 1 Percent Year-over-year, Up 59 Percent Month-to-month, and Up 4 Percent at Year-end.”
This may bear on our favorite economic anagram later in the morning – leading economic indicators [LEI] <—go ahead, decode that, lol!
US Fed Make Not Hike because Reuters just reported…
Oh-oh…this may be what’s pressing on gold and silver (and oil) now…prospect of not so much inflation around…
Need even more reality? (Sure you can handle all this shit?): Americans’ Financial Satisfaction Drops for the First Time in 2 Years: AICPA Index.
And this little gem doesn’t bode well for US – China trade talks: Microsoft’s Bing is blocked in China. Which got me to wondering about UrbanSurvival…
Not sure what it means, but there you go.
Moron the Morrow…
George you don’t seem to get it,the two party system has become the one party system going clear back to JFK.Big money backs both parties and always have,a president who thinks he has the right to dictate to other countries,but fails to run his own,and yes I know what socialism is, its a twin sister to capitalism in the misery it creates,and of course this country has neither for our type of government is fascism where business and government occupy the same bed.
I’d say you’re confusing capitalism with mercantilism. Capitalism works in a relatively level playing field with relatively low barriers to entry. That’s why we have antitrust laws, though they are rarely used. Collusion between industrialists and bureaucrats/gov’t is mercantilism. That’s as morally repugnant as the gov’t owning the means of production. Both are versions of a command economy and both result in the same loss of individual freedoms. One is more obvious than the other, but only just. Both represent monopoly control.
Call as you will but the truth is seeing its not socialism than its either fascism or capitalism,now we can split the hair we can come up with many oh its not capitalism oh my no its capitalism with a new twist,my father always said there are three area;s white for the truth,black for the lies and of course the gray area or the liars area,and that where far to many people play,,,,
It’s not splitting hairs – it’s being precise, and that’s important. In true capitalism, you can join and compete. In mercantilism or totalitarianism, you can’t, unless you’re an insider.
I can go to a farm auction, buy anything and sell it when, where, how, how much, and if I choose. I can’t do that at an auto auction unless I’m an insider and have a dealer’s license.
That’s the difference between pure competition and rigged competition.
Today researchers are close to discovering something like a text message in our DNA which will explain our existance…from God or Aliens? Also, in research is a plan to warp space so you can bring two planets closer to each other. For example, if a planet is 100 light years away, space is warped to the point it is only 100 miles away, making space travel possible.
Some interesting reading and not outside the realm of possibility:
Annals of Earth
http://www.halexandria.org/dward178.htm
The index also has a whole bunch of other interesting articles.
(Caution, Dr Ward has a sense of humor similar to George).
Thanks for sharing Al… I have never read that version…
In interviews, Nathan Phillips can`t seem to answer a question with a straight answer. ie, in my Marine Corp service, I never stepped in South Vietnam. They asked him if he served in Vietnam, since he has previously stated he had, but Savanah had to pry out of him the no step answer.
He is a con man willing to use 15 year old kids in his scams. He should be arrested for child abuse.
He fixed refrigerators during his military service, but not in Viet Nam.
As far as I can see by the charts, the markets are still in a downtrend. The trend is your friend until it ends.
When the gov’t reopens, will this send the stock market crashing?
“This all leads us (in a modest short position) to conclude that being SANE is not a popular pastime for investors.”
When money comes from nowhere in unlimited amounts it’s simply a numbers game. No effort required other than button pushing by TPTB. Sooner or later the general public will come to realize this but probably not until an aggressor like, probably, China starts a strategic wave going in the markets that upsets the Petrodollar apple cart. This will be with the approval of the banksters who hold all the cards and are bound to no country. Purchasing power has always been an assumption based on nebulous values coming out of the barrel of a gun or bomb bay of a strategic bomber. Once you pull a physical commodity from the value equation of “money” all you have left is faith and fear.
George, while you are a brilliant market watcher (except for missing meltdown calls like 8x), and are spot on with many of your observations, your mistake is in thinking Right vs. Left. Instead of Totalitarianism arising from US – Them.
The result is the same (Totalitarianism), only the “pitch” is different. Their Us/Them pitch is different.
Europe and Germany of the 1930s (Right) was an example of Totalitarianism arising based on race. The “Them” there was an ethnic minority.
Venezuela (and the Soviet Union) are an example of Totalitarianism based on poor people vs. rich people. So there the “Them” was the numerically lesser rich people.
The “pitch” for the dictator to get control is really not that important. Totalitarianism for either is very, very similar. Most importantly, both types suck. Both are typically very corrupt and very incompetent. Both take away individual rights. Both rely heavily upon demonetization of a group (because you need a “Them”), propaganda, and defeating a free press.
The primary cause of the rise of these regimes is Bad Economic Times (thereby worsening The Wealth Gap).
This is why I write so often to explain to you that The Rich People here are killing their own Golden Goose by worsening our Wealth Gap. So, here in the US, we find that the Right is propelled and funded by this goofy trickle down fiction (which widens the wealth gap!). (The non-college educated white folks are not there for the trickle down, they are there for race, which our Right is quite happy to provide, and even flame.)
But this can easily and quickly turn to the flip side: There are less rich people than minorities, so a demagogue (aka populist) like Chavez has an even better Them Blaming pitch to fuel his rise. He’s built the better “pitch” mousetrap.
Bur remember. What fuels this rise are bad economic times and an expanding wealth gap.
When you understand this, then you will see that cheering leading for a “pitch,” as you obviously do constantly for Team Trump and the Right, is not helpful. So, your point about the agar dish running out and the endgame’s fight over scarce resources is SPOT ON.
But then why is the conclusion The Right team’s more deregulation answer so those resources can be depleted faster and other resources fouled to boot? Why do you suspend even common sense to back unfettered resource depletion when 97% of reputable scientists (not like those ones hired by the Right to tell you that cigarettes don’t hurt you) say it will collapse the system? Or sit mum when the Right exacerbates the wealth gap and adds another 10% on the national debt? Or makes the poor poorer by taking away kids’ lunches or medical care. Or leap exuberantly to bash the real free press (not the one that the Right traffics in)? Or constantly ridicule the Mueller investigation into the blatant banana republic corruption and potential treason?
You see, by spouting your team’s the party line, you simply promote the very things that will allow totalitarianism to get its foothold. And in the end when this breaks down democratic institutions, when we finally kill off the golden goose, there is no guarantee that the Totalitarianism that takes hold will be one of the Right. Best, Mike.
Mike,
You actually added some meat to your government debt rant today. This was well written and makes a lot of sense…especially the part about the “pitch”. In fairness, the “pitch” goes both ways. Libs have their pitch too. But the right’s pitch seems more grounded in fear, yuuge Lies and control…at least as it relates to Trump and his ego driven initiatives. Good post today.
Mike: What you missed is that in the USA the rich just buy off the poor by electing Pelosi & Schumer types to pay them off with gov’t benefits. The rich (Deep State) doesn’t care how much Chuck & Nancy spend as long as the poor keep quiet unless instructed to attack President Trump &`white kids. But it sounds like that is what you & Mark support. This results in more unproductive debt. PT is trying to add productive debt, which pays itself off like a responsible citizen. You need to take a course in Social Economics.
Mark and Mike, just missing Luke, John, and Matthew.
ECS,
You have it backwards…the poor and downtrodden are Trump supporters looking for the Great Orange Hope to bail them out with jobs that will never materialize or create jobs nobody wants…Make America Minimum Wage again.
The highest government assistance states are Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, Montana…All red states that voted unanimously for Trump. The least dependent are New Jersey, Delaware, Illinois and Delaware…all blue states.
The rich corporation wanted Trump take advantage of his one time tax break and repatriation of money. Now that it’s all over…the bashing begins. And , PT isn’t trying to add productive debt. What does that even mean? Give me one example.
I have come up with the only fix for what is wrong in the United States. I have taken it from your mantra, “Everything is a business model”.
It’s time to kill two major companies very quickly.
Let’s kill Frontier, (because they are crooks and one Mainstream Media giant has to fall), and the other is Gillette. (Who decided to attack and bad mouth, their primary customer Men).
Until Americans are willing to do that, I suggest everyone start learning Mandarin or just repeat after me… “bah, bah.”
Agreed. We are powerful. We are killing JC Penney right now. Sears was an inside job, done to demoralize American culture. I can live without Gillette.
Gillette is an example of Corporate America’s complete distain for the washed citizens of America, even if they are your best customers.
JC Penny & Sears are an example of poor corporate management & deserve to go bankrupt.
The weak minded don’t survive in Corporate America. The only weak minded who survive in America are Polititcians.
George, “Compact Fusion” is compact only relative to a Tokamak.
The complexity and size of these things precludes building or using one as an individual. Anyone sufficiently motivated can build a car from scrap, but this device(starting at 100 MW) is just not scaled down sufficiently. The video and website images look suspiciously like Farnsworth Fusor tech, and that has never provided net positive power in its entire history. You can actually build one at home if motivated, but without a breakthrough, it’s pointless. There was insufficient detail and no physics to indicate that Lockheed Martin will produce anything useful in the next 10 years, if ever. I’d like to believe otherwise. Fusion has made these same promises since 1950.
Nuclear fusion seems to be like sex. Ions need sufficient hotness to overcome mutual repulsiveness. I suspect we’re as bad at handling fusion peacefully as we are at handling sex peacefully.
Big day for chip stocks. They are the Future of AI.
much more difficult to grab power (and profits) if you can’t claim to be protecting us from (crony ruled) “enemies”. browse some machiavelli some time. all the world’s a (deadly) punch and judy show stage.
it’s the finest royal repulidemostocracy funny money can buy!:lol:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=peerage+royal+presidents&t=h_&ia=web
old news but worth a skim if you haven’t:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=carol+rosin+disclosure+interview&t=h_&ia=videos
I picked up a couple of space coins from the U.S. Mint today.
The mint is offering Apollo 11 50th anniversary commemoratives.
The gold coins go for $50.09570522789807 a gram plus shipping.
The pucks, 5oz silver each, go for $44.99 an oz.
Might ,all of you that have commented on the economy,Trump, and various classes of people, regarding our economic systems considered that they ALL have been corrupted and controlled by a small number of people. Those of which DO NOT care about our values or principles or even our lives. We are just useful idiots to them. And you might look at the list of attendees in DAVOS to get an idea of the masters that rule the world, most are there if not in body then their minions are in place.
I think you know better than to underestimate the toxic fury that would accompany the establishment of a single party despotic system in the US at the Federal level. This country was founded in opposition to the original single party despotism- the monarchy. We seemed to forget about the dangers of getting too cozy with the monarchists when we let the five eyes in the back gate. Now talk about accomodating bloody Maoists and Stalinists is all the rage in the name of building a socialized industrial utopia. The leftists are only for the common Joe until they seize power, then the mass murder and economic looting commences. The street freaks who champion the leftists are usually the first to go to the camps.
Amercan voters have elected a slate of billionaires who dream of being THE king, and an opposing cadre of recycled single-party leftists, all of whom have brought class warfare back to the streets of this country.
My take on this accelerating partisan madness is this: look out for your neighbors, and ignore the bile of the beltway partisans. And most importantly, cut off the political contributions.
That’s adorable…You think there are two principal political parties…!!?
We already have a single, despotic, ruling party. The “political game” in play since the 1960s has been one of misdirection, to do whatever may be necessary to prevent the American People from discovering this fact. The Pols and the “Press” will continue to play this feverish game of 3-card Monte, until they’ve desensitized the typical American to “socialism” to the point a majority of us welcome and vote-in a “savior Chávez,” just like another formerly wealthy and thriving Nation of the Americas, which became one of the world’s worst sh!tholes, in a matter of about 10 years…
Pshaw! If you let socialism “run it’s course,” then everyone will be dead.
,,,,, question for mark
,,,,, how do we the globe
,,,,…reset and erase all debt instruments and start the next 24 hrs with only the incoming moneys. so we have a balanced money system with surpluses