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The Demoralization is just Beginning

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Re: The Demoralization is just Beginning

#731

Post by cyanydeez »

KaiserPro wrote: post #349

Going back to a gold standard will limit the money supply. This means that there will be less capital for building $thing. A gold standard means that when the economy gets overheated it pops, then contracts and you get deflation. This makes crashes last longer and harder. It requires greater fiscal discipline to overcome. The problem with the USA "empire" is that for a trading empire to work you need a plan, and stic…

yeah, it's really bizarre people think economics at this scale works with gold.

People really think humanity operates on some kind of fixed physical properties, when everything we rely on in modern society is not real. Borders are not real, the value we place on a human life is not real, the stocks and bonds arn't real.

They're all relative relationships with historical and future promises, reliant upon the trust we place in the means of proof and veracity, all of which are entirely human figments.

Nerds trying to fix problems that nerds seem to have created a wind on will go nowhere.

This not a problem of fixed economies of precious metals. This is entirely about what form of governance can tackle climate change, and the zeit geist has determined fascism everywhere, zombie apocolypse where huamnity needs to be as brutal as possible will win.

Europe is now the "heros" of the zombie apcolypses interacting with the "evil" humans who want to brutalize everyone into either submission or death.

Re: The Demoralization is just Beginning

#732

Post by cyanydeez »

h2zizzle wrote: post #628
pif wrote: post #388

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That takes planning, money vision and time. And a dictatorship. Democracy does not fit very well with long term plans, unless you either make huge efforts to ensure everyone gets their fair share (see Scandinavia) or you have a good plan for people being rich with not too much effort (see Switzerland and other tax havens). Concerning the USA, the divide between the extra rich and the general poor is nowadays too la…

And even then. Little reported: Switzerland's largest private bank was forced by the government to take over its rival's assets. Why "forced"? Something something Archegos. The truth is that we don't know what UBS saw and didn't like in Credit Suisse's files, and we won't know for a long time, as the report for the investigation into what actually happened during the acquisition has been sealed for 50 years. Suffice…

it's not hard to guess: https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2024-11-12/...

Just boring right wing poltics paid for by russian rubles.

Re: The Demoralization is just Beginning

#733

Post by throwawayq3423 »

tokioyoyo wrote: post #721
coolThingsFirst wrote: post #607

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just money. There's another aspect which the US has that edges out the competition. The fact that everyone is treated as an American in the place without racism/xenophobia. This is a huge benefit over impenetrable countries like Denmark/Netherlands.

Half of your country actively rallies on the idea of sending back Chinese, Indians, Mexicans and etc. I think you just live in a bubble or educated circles where that’s bot tolerated, but that’s not the experience of every single immigrant.

Immigration remains overwhelmingly popular in the US, much higher than other places in Europe and Asia.

https://eig.org/hsi-voter-survey/

Re: The Demoralization is just Beginning

#734

Post by bitsage »

lqet wrote: post #382
foven wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More to the point, when you write an article like this foretelling the doom of the american economy, why would you think you are able to brain drain any country? What stops the countries you are trying to drain from offering better incentives to stay?

Also consider that the US is now threatening direct (even neighboring) allies with military intervention (Canada, Denmark). It is very hard to drain brain which considers the US an enemy country. Meanwhile, China is playing the long game and is building infrastructure projects all over the world, including the EU [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelje%C5%A1ac_Bridge

The US brain drained plenty of people from Nazi Germany and then the Eastern Bloc. The greater the disparity, the greater the motivation to move.

Re: The Demoralization is just Beginning

#735

Post by elliotto »

gizmo wrote: post #580
energy123 wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only reason the Chinese solar industry exists is because of so called "brain drain" from China to Australia and Germany. The reality is far less zero sum. These Chinese scientists learned about and contributed to solar research overseas, and some of them went back to China and made China wealthier.

Do you actually believe Chinese researchers are incapable of figuring out photovoltaics by themselves? China has first-rate universities and thousands of PhDs in every field imaginable. They can make solar cells without our help. Having access to western research only sped up the inevitable. China has a solar industry today simply because the Chinese government decided that energy production was a top priority. They…

The OP was talking about Shi Zhengrong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shi_Zhengrong who came to Australia (my country) in the 90s, learned a bunch about photovoltaics, was unable to make a business here due to our failed government policies, then returned to China and made a pv megabusiness.

The truth of the matter is that most cutting edge research is spearheaded by the west. The problem is that the west can't build or prioritise anything useful with it.

Re: The Demoralization is just Beginning

#736

Post by spwa4 »

jmyeet wrote: post #546
spwa4 wrote: post #480

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> China invests in creating infrastructure in countries to help make them future customers for Chinese products ... Really? Because the vast majority of "Belt and Road" destinations connect China to raw resources. I'm sure that's just a coincidence. China is making it pretty damn clear that they do not intend to pay for those resources, or at least not in money, especially now that the "Belt and Road" initiative has…

China offers significantly better terms than the IMF and it comes with far less onerous conditions, most notably the IMF imposes "economic reforms" that tend to be absolutely devastating in the same way that economic austerity measures in the developed world have been devastating to working people and nothing more than a vampiric drain on the economy to the benefit of the wealthiest. The IMF (and World Bank) is econo…

I read this article. Is this serious? This is Russian pseudo-communist propaganda meant to attack globalization. It is well written, remarkable even, but totally unreasonable:

1) Chossudovsky criticizes subsidized grain imports for undermining local markets, but in contexts of hyper-inflation or economic collapse (e.g., Somalia’s public sector wages dropping to $3/month), external food aid was the only means for households to survive. Criticism that it destroyed the market is dishonest. Markets ALSO don't survive if the customers die off. Obviously.

2) While imposed austerity measures that worsened inequality and local economies, the alternative—total state insolvency—would have been far worse. A teacher wage of $3 is still far superior to a collapsed state offering a wage of $0, and probably forcing locals to wage war on each other. PLUS the state needs to get back to surviving on it's own, without external help, or it would just delay total collapse instead of fixing it.

I was curious about this article. So well written, but it's a totally unfair attack piece, it's lunacy ... and here is the wikipedia page on the author:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Chossudovsky

"Michel Chossudovsky (born 1946) is a Canadian economist and author. He is professor emeritus of economics at the University of Ottawa[1][2] and the president and director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), which runs the website globalresearch.ca, founded in 2001, which publishes falsehoods and conspiracy theories.[3][4][5] Chossudovsky has promoted conspiracy theories about 9/11."

"In 2017, the Centre for Research on Globalization was accused by information warfare specialists at NATO’s Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence (STRATCOM) of playing a key role in the spread of pro-Russian propaganda.[12] A report by the U.S. State Department in August 2020 accused the website of being a proxy for a Russian disinformation campaign."

Re: The Demoralization is just Beginning

#737

Post by alan-crowe »

KaiserPro wrote: post #349

Going back to a gold standard will limit the money supply. This means that there will be less capital for building $thing. A gold standard means that when the economy gets overheated it pops, then contracts and you get deflation. This makes crashes last longer and harder. It requires greater fiscal discipline to overcome. The problem with the USA "empire" is that for a trading empire to work you need a plan, and stic…

One wants the money supply to expand to match a growing economy. One way is to permit fractional reserve banking. Bank deposits can grow beyond the amount of gold, both increasing the money supply and creating the possibility of a bank going bankrupt. An alternative is fiat money: the King prints a limited amount of extra money to match the money supply to the growing economy and avoid deflation.

This is nice for the King because he benefits from the seigniorage. (But also potentially fatal, as he gives in to temptation to print too much and then some more, leading to hyper-inflation and the guillotine.)

Fiat money can be combined with fractional reserve banking. Now the monetary authorities can create extra money to overcome banking crises. Notice that society has a trade-off to make. Perhaps high reserves, so that the banks do not create much money, in which case the King/President will have to print extra fiat currency. Perhaps low reserves, and a small base of fiat currency. Now the banks create most of the money in circulation and get to charge interest on it, as an kind of on going seigniorage.

Which is best for the country? One off seigniorage accruing to the national treasury (due to printing), or the recurring seigniorage of interest paid to the banks on the money created by the fractional reserve system? There is something to be said for fractional reserve banking, as a kind of automatic stabilizer. If the economy contracts, there is a credit squeeze and the money supply contracts. Pick the reserve ratios and minimum lending rates correctly and it contracts the correct amount for price stability. And this works in reverse, expanding the money supply as the economy recovers, avoiding needless restrictions on growth due to deflation.

Experience shows that reserve ratios are too low, leading to economic instability. Why do we ignore this experience? Follow the money, low reserve ratios are profitable for bankers. We could have have a much more stable economic system with a two part strategy of 25% reserves and the monetary contraction implied by raising reserve rate being countered by printing the right amount of money.

Re: The Demoralization is just Beginning

#738

Post by gizmo »

elliotto wrote: post #735
gizmo wrote: post #580

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you actually believe Chinese researchers are incapable of figuring out photovoltaics by themselves? China has first-rate universities and thousands of PhDs in every field imaginable. They can make solar cells without our help. Having access to western research only sped up the inevitable. China has a solar industry today simply because the Chinese government decided that energy production was a top priority. They…

The OP was talking about Shi Zhengrong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shi_Zhengrong who came to Australia (my country) in the 90s, learned a bunch about photovoltaics, was unable to make a business here due to our failed government policies, then returned to China and made a pv megabusiness. The truth of the matter is that most cutting edge research is spearheaded by the west. The problem is that the west can't build…

China produces more scientific papers than the US or EU. China produces 30% of papers published in the world's top journals. China also produces more top tier scientific papers (1% most cited) than the US.

A decade ago the west was clearly ahead of China in fundamental research. Not anymore.

Re: The Demoralization is just Beginning

#739

Post by unethical_ban »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #135
unethical_ban wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What cruise line? I want to do a true transatlantic crossing, not some Caribbean jaunt.

Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 is all that’s left of the oceanliners (As Janet from the Good Place might say, “not a cruise ship!” ;) she’s built to handle the North Atlantic weather. If you’re lucky enough to be able to fuck off for 42 days you might also be interested in ocean crossings by sail, here’s the offering ive considered, the Europa: https://www.barkeuropa.com/en/our-voyages

That sailing ship looks freaking awesome. I just wonder how I'd leave the Azores after those trips end. Heh.

Thanks for the information!

And I might have time to fuck off, I'm burnt out of my job and thinking of quitting in summer time.

Re: The Demoralization is just Beginning

#740

Post by unclebucknasty »

t-3 wrote: post #710
unclebucknasty wrote: post #474

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The U.S. hasn't been perfect, but I'll take it over the alternatives. And, I'd say protecting democracy for "white countries only" is a simplification. If you're talking about Europe, then we have to consider that the U.S. has also pretty famously fought against European nations and that our subsequent "protection" there was to serve as a bulwark to maintain a world order that benefited the U.S. and democracy. And, y…

Coups in Haiti, supporting gangsters and strongmen, overthrowing democratically elected presidents multiple times - supporting Democracy! Pushing fake candidates in Venezuela - supporting Democracy! Ousting left-leaning governments in Australia - supporting Democracy! Overthrowing the democratically elected government of Iran, returning it to authoritarian monarchy - supporting Democracy! Overthrowing the democratica…

You are judging the U.S. in the context of an otherwise utopian world that doesn't exist.

Yes, it gets messy. And, yes, United Fruit Company et. al. happened. We've absolutely had government capture and promotion of special interests. But, even these aren't always so neatly separable from U.S. interests, which are not always so neatly inseparable from promotion of democracy. For instance, a weak economy would make it nearly impossible to have influence in the world.

There's a simplified world view that ignores the good, measures each discrete misstep on its own (or interprets every difficult choice as a misstep), then tallies a final score. But this is not realistic in a world where lesser evils are frequently the viable option. America does not operate in vacuum and you have to look at the entire arc.

You'll not see me defending every egregious thing this country has done or endorsing the instances when it has truly veered from its creed. But, to measure us by only that metric and declare the country evil or completely non-democratic is to exonerate other bad actors on the planet.

Worse, adopting such a simplistic point of view makes it impossible to recognize when we've entered a truly treacherous phase, wherein an authoritarian regime comes to power and eschews democracy entirely. Everyone would just throw their hands up and declare "we were never democratic anyway, so it doesn't matter". And, by the time they're shown the difference between our imperfect democracy and frank authoritarianism, it's too late.

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