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"“Congress should NOT increase the debt ceiling under any circumstances, even if that means the U.S. defaults on its debt.”"
So, 50% of the voters in Dumbfuckistan think that the Gov't should default on "debt" that's owed to them, even though the Gov't has been working for decades to put that money into their hands.
The world needs a depression to wake the fuck up. Unfortunately this will put us closer to a nuclear war scenario which means game over for humanity most likely.
Hard decisions... Fermi paradox at play (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox)
Not intelligent enough to survive may be the theme at play here.
"...the Gov't should default on "debt" that's owed to them.."
Why can't the people see that? It's a near repeat of that wonderfully meatheaded placard that read "Keep Your Government Hands Off My Medicare". It's a pretty pass indeed when the citizens of the most advanced country in history do not understand that Medicare is a state run service and that defaulting on "debts" owed them is not a good idea.
Forget the politicians, if the people crave a depression so much, let's give it to them! Depression 2.0, Bigger, Better and Uncut. How about giving them the decades long Director's Cut while we're at it?
Send the planet back a century or more. There would be some advantages. We can start wearing spats again and private mercenary police thugs can beat senseless and kill those dirty working class oafs who have the temerity to raise their heads. How absolutely splendid!
This whole national debt narrative is why I despise virtually all of the professional political classes in America, whether they be liberal, conservative, socialist or libertarian.
I know Trump is hated by most here, but it's going to take someone on the right like him to tell the masses that a sovereign currency insurer as powerful as the United States is in no way comparable to a household. It can run deficits till the cows come home. In other words the gospel of "deficits generally don't matter" must be delivered cogently from a prominent right winger because the left simply isn't trusted on the issue for whatever reason, valid or invalid. I'm not holding my breath on that coming to pass either.
Trump says that there is too much debt, national debt out of control, etc. and governmint runnin out of money.... There is no one near close to power in the West that will acknowledge this falsehood, left or right, regardless of them being aware or not. Trump is not better than any others, and anyway he is not really electable right now (his anti-immigrant narrative has come too early, it would work after a new recession/depression, it's way clown Carlson is getting ahead).
I'm pretty sure many of them understand and will agree on private, but on public it will be used politically to gridlock the system completely. Trump is no Caesar, not even close, he is just a poser having fun. But there will be a time when a Caesar will get to power and finish up the current system for the good and for the bad. You will know a real strong man when one gets a chance to get into power, not the current corporate clown-bots. If I were American I would be planning to get the fuck out of there in a few years (not that there are many places to run to tbh, Europe is looking even bleaker).
The only place were true "strong-man/woman" are close to emerge right now is in Europe because it's ahead of the game for several reason, but even over here is too early yet, first the left EU democractic-super-state dreams by the likes of Varofaukis have to be completely demolished and we need a new round in the crisis for that.
FD: I'm not very hopeful about the immediate future as you can see, hope I'm wrong and there is an actual blow-back from the left in Europe. North Americans have decided that the future will be fascism already as the embrace of corporatism is complete, and people has yet to come to terms with this but they will (the socialist alternative was dumped completely and now the elites and managerial class is completely neoliberal in economic terms, so fascist).
Trump is no Caesar, not even close, he is just a poser having fun. But there will be a time when a Caesar will get to power and finish up the current system for the good and for the bad. You will know a real strong man when one gets a chance to get into power, not the current corporate clown-bots. If I were American I would be planning to get the fuck out of there in a few years (not that there are many places to run to tbh, Europe is looking even bleaker).
This is especially foreboding with the US facing a Thucydides trap that may not be avoidable based on American exceptionalism and the declared policy of maintaining US global hegemony. In fact, it is almost guaranteed.
I know many very bright people (mostly liberals as they are who I rub elbows with) who fall hook line and sinker for the we're going broke as a country mantra. I do my best to explain what nonsense that view is and most of the time get laughed at.
Debt fanaticism is simply a very easy idea to demagogue. The false narrative that the government operates like a household seems so so true to even the smartest among us. The received pseudo wisdom is so embedded in the American psyche that I see virtually zero chance of that dynamic ever going away.
ALL of this stuff is chiefly POLITICAL — including what come out of academia and especially the economics profession.
Politics is about power and those holding power determine what happens. This is a very high stakes game, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Tom I see politics and technocracy having to work hand & glove...
Right now the technocracy is staffed by the wrong people while the politics is fine and dandy...
We need to get better people in the technical positions and then the politicians can argue about real issues instead of false ones like the "debt ceiling", etc...
You have unqualified people like Laffer, Galbraith, Mankiw, Baker, Krugman, Picketty, etc.. being viewed as qualified technocrats by the politicians so we end up watching the politicians arguing about nonsense...
I don't know about Thucydides trap. But Great Britain and Germany were preeminent based on their education policies and early exploitation of coal resources. Likewise the USA rose to power on their (first mover) early exploitation of convenient oil resources.
When limited access to diminishing fossil fuel reserves normalises power imbalances. Power will reside with the countries (alliances) who have the and mostest and bestest educated populations.
The USA is full steam in reverse on educatin' the proletariat..... So good luck.
Thucydides trap? I don't think so. It is beneficial for two adversaries to spar with one another. I'm not sure I see a conflict building with China as much as a qualified adversary. The US sends his ships to China Island's this week. Last week China ran warships into US territorial waters on the Aleutians. These sort of exercises are how each learn about how the other operates and tests one another. Warriors play games but rarely fight without a political reason. Neither the US nor China want to fight or have any real serious disagreements, they just want to spar. Both are nuclear powers so neither will directly attack the other. China knows it is offending neighbors when it creates new islands on disputed territory. It is designed to show China's prowess. This is all typical warrior games. The risk is that a ship or plane crashes in exercises but.. the leaders would pick up their phones and have chat then.
The Wolfowitz Doctrine belies that. Also the ascendency of the war hawks in the Obama administration with the replacement of Chuck Hagel with Ash Carter.
Neither US nor Chinese foreign policy is homogenous. There are competing factions. The deep state - war hawks are ascendent in the US. Xi is trying to contain his own war hawk faction, chiefly the PLA. Both are driven by the military-industrial-governmental complex.
Complicating this is that US tends to over-generalization and views the ROW as either thinking like Americans or American wanna-bes. This is really naïve, as Putin has been trying to explain.
One important issue is understanding red lines. The US assumptions about this regarding Russia were shown to be wrong. Now the US is probing China.
One thing that is very sensitive is Asia is "face." Humiliating a rival is asking for trouble. The US is in the process of humiliating China, and it is not going to end well. As China has said clearly, there will be consequences.
US pundits and press are celebrating victory in showing toughness, since China didn't do anything about the intrusion into its claimed territory. They don't get it that China is playing a long game. The way the long game works is they set you up over time and then spring the trap when it is unexpected.
Russia and China know that they have to finish off the US or the US will finish them off. This is the basic dynamic geopolitically right now.
Until recently, Vietnam and Phillipines have been more aggressive than China in the Spratleys.
Although the Spratleys are geographically closer to Vietnam and Phillipines than China. China has very clearly and consistently laid claim to the islands for over a hundred years.
Quite possible the USA are blocking any real resolution as Vietnam and Phillipines might kow tow to China if a face saving deal was offered. That would be a win-win for all but guess who .... Uncle Sam.
20 comments:
"“Congress should NOT increase the debt ceiling under any circumstances, even if that means the U.S. defaults on its debt.”"
So, 50% of the voters in Dumbfuckistan think that the Gov't should default on "debt" that's owed to them, even though the Gov't has been working for decades to put that money into their hands.
I see...
50% want termite control. I say give them what they want.
The world needs a depression to wake the fuck up. Unfortunately this will put us closer to a nuclear war scenario which means game over for humanity most likely.
Hard decisions... Fermi paradox at play (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox)
Not intelligent enough to survive may be the theme at play here.
http://mainlymacro.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/is-sterling-overvalued.html
"...the Gov't should default on "debt" that's owed to them.."
Why can't the people see that? It's a near repeat of that wonderfully meatheaded placard that read "Keep Your Government Hands Off My Medicare". It's a pretty pass indeed when the citizens of the most advanced country in history do not understand that Medicare is a state run service and that defaulting on "debts" owed them is not a good idea.
Forget the politicians, if the people crave a depression so much, let's give it to them! Depression 2.0, Bigger, Better and Uncut. How about giving them the decades long Director's Cut while we're at it?
Send the planet back a century or more. There would be some advantages. We can start wearing spats again and private mercenary police thugs can beat senseless and kill those dirty working class oafs who have the temerity to raise their heads. How absolutely splendid!
This whole national debt narrative is why I despise virtually all of the professional political classes in America, whether they be liberal, conservative, socialist or libertarian.
I know Trump is hated by most here, but it's going to take someone on the right like him to tell the masses that a sovereign currency insurer as powerful as the United States is in no way comparable to a household. It can run deficits till the cows come home. In other words the gospel of "deficits generally don't matter" must be delivered cogently from a prominent right winger because the left simply isn't trusted on the issue for whatever reason, valid or invalid. I'm not holding my breath on that coming to pass either.
We're doomed.
Trump says that there is too much debt, national debt out of control, etc. and governmint runnin out of money.... There is no one near close to power in the West that will acknowledge this falsehood, left or right, regardless of them being aware or not. Trump is not better than any others, and anyway he is not really electable right now (his anti-immigrant narrative has come too early, it would work after a new recession/depression, it's way clown Carlson is getting ahead).
I'm pretty sure many of them understand and will agree on private, but on public it will be used politically to gridlock the system completely. Trump is no Caesar, not even close, he is just a poser having fun. But there will be a time when a Caesar will get to power and finish up the current system for the good and for the bad. You will know a real strong man when one gets a chance to get into power, not the current corporate clown-bots. If I were American I would be planning to get the fuck out of there in a few years (not that there are many places to run to tbh, Europe is looking even bleaker).
The only place were true "strong-man/woman" are close to emerge right now is in Europe because it's ahead of the game for several reason, but even over here is too early yet, first the left EU democractic-super-state dreams by the likes of Varofaukis have to be completely demolished and we need a new round in the crisis for that.
FD: I'm not very hopeful about the immediate future as you can see, hope I'm wrong and there is an actual blow-back from the left in Europe. North Americans have decided that the future will be fascism already as the embrace of corporatism is complete, and people has yet to come to terms with this but they will (the socialist alternative was dumped completely and now the elites and managerial class is completely neoliberal in economic terms, so fascist).
Pretty obviously, at least half the voting population of the US is stupid beyond words, and about 20-25% percent insane.
This recalls the traditional conservative argument that most people are unqualified to vote and should not be allowed to do so.
Fed announcement later today.... if they raise then things will start to get better in general... tho inequality will probably increase a bit...
"You know, Paul, Reagan proved that deficits don't matter. We won the mid-term elections, this is our due."
Remarks on Paul O'Neill (January 9, 2004)
Trump is no Caesar, not even close, he is just a poser having fun. But there will be a time when a Caesar will get to power and finish up the current system for the good and for the bad. You will know a real strong man when one gets a chance to get into power, not the current corporate clown-bots. If I were American I would be planning to get the fuck out of there in a few years (not that there are many places to run to tbh, Europe is looking even bleaker).
This is especially foreboding with the US facing a Thucydides trap that may not be avoidable based on American exceptionalism and the declared policy of maintaining US global hegemony. In fact, it is almost guaranteed.
I think he meant politically Tom...
But the Peterson people have changed that a lot imo...
btw those idiots are out at the debate site in CO running forums this week before the debate..
O'Neill: Accountant ie FAAAAAARRRR way from a systems thinker....
Tom,
I know many very bright people (mostly liberals as they are who I rub elbows with) who fall hook line and sinker for the we're going broke as a country mantra. I do my best to explain what nonsense that view is and most of the time get laughed at.
Debt fanaticism is simply a very easy idea to demagogue. The false narrative that the government operates like a household seems so so true to even the smartest among us. The received pseudo wisdom is so embedded in the American psyche that I see virtually zero chance of that dynamic ever going away.
We're screwed.
I think he meant politically Tom...
ALL of this stuff is chiefly POLITICAL — including what come out of academia and especially the economics profession.
Politics is about power and those holding power determine what happens. This is a very high stakes game, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Tom I see politics and technocracy having to work hand & glove...
Right now the technocracy is staffed by the wrong people while the politics is fine and dandy...
We need to get better people in the technical positions and then the politicians can argue about real issues instead of false ones like the "debt ceiling", etc...
You have unqualified people like Laffer, Galbraith, Mankiw, Baker, Krugman, Picketty, etc.. being viewed as qualified technocrats by the politicians so we end up watching the politicians arguing about nonsense...
I don't know about Thucydides trap. But Great Britain and Germany were preeminent based on their education policies and early exploitation of coal resources. Likewise the USA rose to power on their (first mover) early exploitation of convenient oil resources.
When limited access to diminishing fossil fuel reserves normalises power imbalances. Power will reside with the countries (alliances) who have the and mostest and bestest educated populations.
The USA is full steam in reverse on educatin' the proletariat..... So good luck.
Thucydides trap? I don't think so. It is beneficial for two adversaries to spar with one another. I'm not sure I see a conflict building with China as much as a qualified adversary. The US sends his ships to China Island's this week. Last week China ran warships into US territorial waters on the Aleutians. These sort of exercises are how each learn about how the other operates and tests one another. Warriors play games but rarely fight without a political reason. Neither the US nor China want to fight or have any real serious disagreements, they just want to spar. Both are nuclear powers so neither will directly attack the other. China knows it is offending neighbors when it creates new islands on disputed territory. It is designed to show China's prowess. This is all typical warrior games. The risk is that a ship or plane crashes in exercises but.. the leaders would pick up their phones and have chat then.
The Wolfowitz Doctrine belies that. Also the ascendency of the war hawks in the Obama administration with the replacement of Chuck Hagel with Ash Carter.
The Main Problem with America’s Abundant South China Sea Hawks
Neither US nor Chinese foreign policy is homogenous. There are competing factions. The deep state - war hawks are ascendent in the US. Xi is trying to contain his own war hawk faction, chiefly the PLA. Both are driven by the military-industrial-governmental complex.
Complicating this is that US tends to over-generalization and views the ROW as either thinking like Americans or American wanna-bes. This is really naïve, as Putin has been trying to explain.
One important issue is understanding red lines. The US assumptions about this regarding Russia were shown to be wrong. Now the US is probing China.
One thing that is very sensitive is Asia is "face." Humiliating a rival is asking for trouble. The US is in the process of humiliating China, and it is not going to end well. As China has said clearly, there will be consequences.
US pundits and press are celebrating victory in showing toughness, since China didn't do anything about the intrusion into its claimed territory. They don't get it that China is playing a long game. The way the long game works is they set you up over time and then spring the trap when it is unexpected.
Russia and China know that they have to finish off the US or the US will finish them off. This is the basic dynamic geopolitically right now.
Until recently, Vietnam and Phillipines have been more aggressive than China in the Spratleys.
Although the Spratleys are geographically closer to Vietnam and Phillipines than China. China has very clearly and consistently laid claim to the islands for over a hundred years.
Quite possible the USA are blocking any real resolution as Vietnam and Phillipines might kow tow to China if a face saving deal was offered. That would be a win-win for all but guess who .... Uncle Sam.
"The risk is that a ship or plane crashes"
Ryan that already happened on Hainan a few years back....
Chinese zombies wanted 30 million DOLLARS in reparations...
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