A Culture of War in America? — Frank Li

My only criticism is that Frank Li should have used MICIMATT (Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think-Tank complex) instead of MIC (h/t Ray McGovern for the longer acronym). The MIC has become a many-headed Hydra.

This not about national defense. It is quasi-religious war to spread the ideology of liberalism in a way that is eerily similar to the way that previous religious wars were tied to empire, in the course of which war is not only normalized but made virtuous and even obligatory.

econintesect.com
A Culture of War in America?
Frank Li | Chinese ex-pat, Founder and President of W.E.I. (West-East International), a Chicago-based import & export company, B.E. from Zhejiang University (China) in 1982, M.E. from the University of Tokyo in 1985, and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1988, all in Electrical Engineering

See also at econintersect

China Leads Expansion Again
Dan Steinbock, Difference Group

Bill Mitchell — IMF now claiming continued inequality risks opening a “social and political seismic crack”

I don’t have time today for a full review of the Fiscal Monitor publication.

But suffice to say, the tone coming out of the IMF has shifted significantly from when it was leading the charge in destroying nations and increasing income and wealth inequalities.

Don’t think for one minute, however, that the institution has abandoned mainstream macroeconomic thinking.

It hasn’t.

But it has opened a sort of schizoid image – talking about, on the one hand, a global innoculation program “paying for itself” (that is, still framing things in terms of making fiscal cuts), while, on the other hand, imploring governments to maintain fiscal support and target policies that “aim at giving everyone a fair shot at lifetime opportunities by reducing gaps in access to quality public services.”...

The failure is that of neoliberal capitalism to deliver distributed prosperity as it promises. It is just not credible that the conventional economic doctrine of "trickle down" and all receiving "just deserts" based on individual productivity, which the theory doesn't actual prove formally let alone in practice, has impoverished so many, reduced many in the "middle class" to the precariat, and rewarded monopolist on the order of former monarchs and despots. It doesn't fly, especially in light of the rise of China and its record of reducing poverty and eliminating absolute poverty through a mixed system.

Also

MMTed Update

Following the development of our edX MOOC = Modern Monetary Theory: Economics for the 21st Century – we are now working on the next MMTed project, which will be run within our own auspices....

Bill Mitchell – billy blog

IMF now claiming continued inequality risks opening a “social and political seismic crack”
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

KV - Nice Pics 5

 

Super Scary Abandoned Castle

Tower at Five Corners, Vladimir, Russia 

Taj Mahal at sunrise 

Sunrise, Dolomites, Italy 

San Francisco, City Hall

Canned Music

Coastline Sunset

Oat House by river

What shall I do today because of the quarantine?

Prices over last year

 

JPM stock +5% .... big deal....

Commodity prices over last year...
Lumber: +265%
WTI Crude: +210%
Gasoline: +182%
Brent Crude +163%
Heating Oil: +107%
Corn: +84%
Copper: +83%
Soybeans: +72%
Silver: +65%
Sugar: +59%
Cotton: +54%
Platinum: +52%
Natural Gas: +43%
Palladium: +32%
Wheat: +19%
Coffee: +13%
Gold: +3%

— Charlie Bilello (@charliebilello) April 20, 2021

Biden’s Anti-China Ambitions–A Reality Check — Dilip Hiro

Winning.

Tom Dispatch
Biden’s Anti-China Ambitions — A Reality Check
Dilip Hiro

NICOLE GLENNON - Ditch the tea, take Vitamin D: New diet advice for over 65s

 Ditch the tea at mealtimes? That won't be easy after a lifetime of enjoying a cuppa after a meal. I bought some nice Red Bush (Roibos) tea the other day, though, which is said not to affect mineral absorption. Anyway, I'm not 65 yet, although not long to go. 

This is to maintain muscle and bone density. 

Adults aged 65 and above have been advised to avoid consuming tea with meals, start taking a Vitamin D supplement and eat a more protein-dense diet to stimulate muscle growth.

Written by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland’s (FSAI) Scientific Committee at the request of the Department of Health, the updated national recommendations are designed to help “enhance older people’s nutritional well-being with the ultimate aim of improving health in later life.” 

Irish Examiner

NICOLE GLENNON - Ditch the tea, take Vitamin D: New diet advice for over 65s

Nuclear Option

Of course, these media outlets are "Russian-sponsored" according to the US government, so it's probably all "disinformation" as part of Russia "hybrid warfare," right?

Reading on, it's really about justifying the 1.5 trillion budget to upgrade the US nuclear capability.

Sputnik International (Russian state-sponsored media)
STRATCOM Casually Posts Context-Free Tweet About Nuclear War Being Seen as ‘Least Bad Option’

See also

This post is mostly about the nuclear threat coming from a shift in US policy away from MAD and parity to a first strike killer-shot and the Russian response.

Strategic Culture Foundation (allegedly Russian state-sponsored media)
Russia Increases Its Defense, While U.S. Backs Down From Provoking WWIII

Eric Zuesse

File under, Do You Know What Your Government Is Doing?

Related

Reminiscence of the Future
Even She Gets It.
Andrei Martyanov

See also

Responsible Statecraft
Rojansky smear hails the new McCarthyism in Washington

Anatol Lieven

Also

Sputnik International
China Orbiting 400 Satellites, Heading for 1,000 by 2030, US Space Command Chief Says

SouthFront War On Freedom Of Speech: Patreon Banned SouthFront Account

Did Patreon receive a visit or it is just being "patriotic." Whatever, it is chilling. Narrative control at any price.

This kind of thing is characteristic of wartime. Just sayin'.

SouthFront
War On Freedom Of Speech: Patreon Banned SouthFront Account

See also

Who "lost" Russia? 

Hint. It started with Clinton's bombing Serbia and breaking the verbal promise to Gorbachev that NATO would not move eastward toward Russia.  It's all been downhill since.

China is waiting with open arms.

The Vineyard of the Saker
The deafening sound of silence in the West
The Saker

See also

Sputnik International
Blinken: Climate Change Has Created Potential ‘New Theatre of Conflict’ Between US, Russia in Arctic

Brits Push Russia War

Navalny-Affiliated Russian NPOs Plotting Colour Revolution Orchestrated From Abroad, Prosecutors Say

Siege of Russia by US and its Allies Offers a Lesson for China

Merkel Defends Nord Stream 2, Says EU-Level Disagreements on Pipeline Result of ‘Political Struggle’

See also

SouthFront
U.S. Ambassador Leaves Russia To “Visit Family”

See also

Zero Hedge
Russia's Defense Chief Blames NATO's 'Destabilizing Actions' For 'Deterrent' Troop Build Up
Tyler Durden

See also

Elijah J. Magnier
Why is the US revealing details of Iran’s strike on Ayn al Assad a year later?

See also

RT
China’s President Xi calls for end to hegemony and demands ‘fair’ world order in veiled jab at the US

America can successfully defend Taiwan against China – but only in its dreams
Scott Ritter, former US Marine Corps intelligence officer, serving in the Soviet Union as an inspector implementing the INF Treaty, on General Schwarzkopf’s staff during the Gulf War, and from 1991-1998 as a UN weapons inspector

Bill Mitchell — The Brexit predictions of doom are proving to be wildly inaccurate

When the British Office of National Statistics published the January 2021 trade figures in March, the first after Brexit was finalised, they showed a 42 per cent decline in UK exports to the European Union. Exports fell by £5.6 billion and imports fell by 28.8 per cent or £6.6 billion. it was the worst monthly drop since records were first published on a monthly basis in 1997. The Remain crowd went berserk and the ‘I told you so’ chorus was raucous. I wonder where there voice has gone now the February 2021 trade figures show a 46 per cent rise in UK exports to the UK. Boats and trucks are carrying goods to the EU from Britain still. We shouldn’t take the monthly data too seriously, especially as it has been complicated by the transition arrangements and COVID. There will be costs from the change in border arrangements. But the predictions of doom are proving to be wildly inaccurate. I have my flame suit standing by.

Bill Mitchell – billy blog
The Brexit predictions of doom are proving to be wildly inaccurate
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

KV - Nice Pics 4

I have no details for some of these. 

There's some sort of filter used on the above. 

Nicholas Lake, Colorado 

An elf log cabin spotted after an afternoon down at the Crooked Billet, Wetherspoons. 

Symmetry 

Super Creepy, Abandoned Castle, in Celles, Belgium

Autumn Bench

Bullet vs M&Ms

Pskov Krom, Russia

Las Lajas, Sanctuary in Narino, Columbia

China Watch

ECNS
5G industry creates massive direct economic output

Xi stresses building world-class universities to serve nation in visit to Tsinghua

'Forced labor' label belongs to U.S.: Chinese FM spokesperson

China expects to deepen int'l cooperation in poverty reduction

China builds world's largest 5G network

China pledges targeted policies, necessary support for economic recovery

China in action to make COVID-19 vaccines global public good

Asian economy to grow 6.5 pct in 2021: report

China to become world's largest smart home device market in 2024: report

Important announcement by the Saker! — The Saker

Recent events have forced me to take some important decisions which I have to share with you know.

First, from now on, the Saker blog shall not post any texts or videos from the four organizations which the US Treasury has declared “disinformation outlets controlled by Russian intelligence services”. These are:
SouthFront
NewsFront
The Strategic Culture Foundation
InfoRus

I want to stress that in my opinion these organizations did nothing absolutely wrong and that accusation is as false as all the other accusations against Russia since 2013. I therefore apologize to all of them for having to take this decision.

The US government, however, feels otherwise and it is not my role to interfere in these issues. Please understand that I am a guest of the United States (a “legal alien” in their terminology) and this morally obliges me to act as a guest and obey all the current US laws, irrespective of my personal assessment of these laws.

Furthermore, from now on, I will post no articles or videos which will discuss internal US politics (US foreign policy is fine). Again, not only is it not my role as a foreign guest to interfere in internal US politics, and the Saker blog is mostly focused on international relations anyways.

Does anyone else feel a chill in the air? Sounds like the Saker got a visit.

The Vineyard of the Saker
Important announcement by the Saker!
The Saker

Lars P. Syll — Who’s afraid of MMT?

The title is a reference to James K. Galbraith's article of that title. Lars cites from it and comments on it.

Lars P. Syll’s Blog
Who’s afraid of MMT?

Lars P. Syll | Professor, Malmo University

Saqib Shah - The UK is considering starting a digital currency

 The UK isn't going to sit idly by while other countries launch digital currencies. Today, the Bank of England and HM Treasury announced that they will jointly explore "a new form" of virtual money for the public and private sector. A dedicated taskforce has been appointed to assess the risks and practicalities of introducing a digital currency. To help glean new use cases, officials will consult with stakeholders including banks, fintechs, payment infrastructure providers, and technology companies. For now, the UK is simply doing its research and has made no commitment to feasibly act.

Engadget 

Saqib Shah - The UK is considering starting a digital currency

Richmond Fed MMT Critique — Brian Romanchuk

I will not comment any further, since I have not yet read the literature that their assertions are based on. Given that the theory is a non-starter to anyone who is slightly numerate and familiar with observed developed country debt dynamics, I do not expect to read it any time soon...

Brian makes an important observation here when he notes: "Even a struggling first-year philosophy student could tell you that if you assume a point is true that your opponent claims is false, you would appear to 'win' the argument."

The problem with most critics of MMT made by conventional economists is that they are based on assuming the truth of neoclassical assumptions, which is the very point that MMT economists, and other heterodox economists claim is at issue. 

The case is point in this post is one that MMT economists have addressed. But the objectors to MMT make no mention of it and are apparently ignorant of it. In the professional world, ignorance is no excuse, in fact, it has reputational consequences. In fact, one of the chief and most serious critiques that MMT and other heterodox economist make regarding conventional economists in criticizing them is unprofessionalism.

In most academic fields it is considered highly embarrassing to display ignorance of papers relevant to one's thesis or argument. Apparently not in economics.

Bond Economics
Richmond Fed MMT Critique
Brian Romanchuk

See also

RealProgressives Podcast Discussing My Latest Book

Video Clip About North American Lumber Situation

Sputnik — Russian Man Taken 'Hostage' of Unwanted Fame After Becoming Pop Sensation in China

Perhaps the only person in the world to reject fame (and likely fortune)?

Sputnik International
Russian Man Taken 'Hostage' of Unwanted Fame After Becoming Pop Sensation in China

See also

Congratulations to these brave ladies.

The Real Miss Universe Contest: First Female Astronauts in Space From All Over the World

Rafa Euba - The hard life of the womaniser

 Becoming a Casanova isn't easy... or very appealing

By restricting his the way he relates to women to a mere sexual enterprise, a philanderer is condemning himself to a life of solitude.

Relating isn’t a competitive sport, or a circus skill.

A womaniser will need the kind of dedication and commitment also required in much worthier pursuits.

The lives of Casanova and Don Juan would be difficult to emulate and probably not very enjoyable.

Psychology Today 

Rafa Euba - The hard life of the womaniser

KV - Getting The Zest Back Into Life

 Zing and Zang

Helen Leask - Vitamin D for All Over 50s to Prevent Cancer Deaths?

It's behind a paywall, but this is all you need to know, although it doesn't say the amount they recommend. Or get some sun, but you don't need much, something like 10 to 20 minutes three times a week, stopping just as you start to go slightly pink. 

Vitamin D supplementation for older healthy adults has been much debated. Recent attention has been focused on its potential for reducing the risk for and severity of COVID-19, but there is an older argument, boosted by recent evidence, for taking vitamin D to reduce deaths from cancer.

The recent data come from three meta-analyses published in 2019 that show a consistent and significant 13% reduction in cancer mortality with vitamin D.

Medscape

Helen Leask - Vitamin D for All Over 50s to Prevent Cancer Deaths?

Six reasons to not worry about inflation — Chris Bedingfield

Analysis consistent with the MMT POV.

LiveWire
Six reasons to not worry about inflation
Chris Bedingfield, Quay Global Investors

Bill Mitchell — Dr Die Schwarze Null still not thinking beyond more austerity

Project-Syndicate recently published the latest Op Ed (April 16, 2021) from former German finance minister and current President of the German Bundestag, Wolfgang Schäuble – Are We Risking a Debt Pandemic?. He is the person who personified the so-called ‘die schwarze null’ (Black Zero) while finance Minister. His conduct as finance minister was an instrumental element in extending the GFC across the Eurozone. He is still influential in European politics and his latest Op Ed makes it clear that the austerity mindset is still alive and well despite the current relaxation of the Stability and Growth Pact rules during the pandemic. The problem is that if Europe reverts back to that mindset, the essential changes to the monetary union that are necessary to make it viable will never be discussed. It will be just more of the same. And that same is pretty ordinary for the common folk across the EMU....

Bill Mitchell – billy blog
Dr Die Schwarze Null still not thinking beyond more austerity

Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Tulsi Gabbard issues warning about potential war with Russia

 The last time there was hostilities in the Ukraine, Alex Krainer gave this warning.

There’s some background to my urge to write “Grand Deception”. As a young man I’ve lived through the breakout of war in the former Yugoslavia and I served in the Croatian army during the war. The remarkable thing about the escalation of that conflict was that only days before its full outbreak, most people believed that war would never happen. It seemed unthinkable. I certainly did not think it would happen.

US’ China policy at inflection point — M. K. Bhadrakumar

Suffice to say, the Franco-German-Chinese summit proclaimed loudly and unequivocally that Europe has an entirely different agenda toward China from what Biden and his team would be espousing. That is, plainly put, in external relations, Europe attaches primacy to its post-pandemic economic recovery where China’s cooperation is an imperative need.

In essence, the trilateral summit has exposed that the Biden administration’s Indo-Pacific concept aimed at containment of China is not gaining traction in the two major European capitals — Berlin and Paris. The fault lines underscore that the US’ containment strategy has reached a strategic inflection point.

When two close allies of Washington who are also the power houses within the European Union, start ploughing their own independent road to Beijing, it sends out a big message internationally that the US’ transatlantic leadership, which Biden administration vowed to secure as the anchor sheet of its China policy, is adrift in the middle of nowhere. Blinken’s shrill rhetoric is all that remains as policy after one hundred days of the Biden presidency.

The US is slipping into irrelevance as more countries shift attention to opportunities. Did the US get too high-handed in light of global economic realities and the consequent shift in power dynamics and relationships?

India Punchline
US’ China policy at inflection point
M. K. Bhadrakumar | retired diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service

People’s Bank of China Urges Gov’t ‘to Encourage Childbirth’ to Compete With US — Oleg Burunov

In February, the Chinese Public Security Ministry claimed in a report that the number of newborns in the country nosedived by at least 15% in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic and growing economic downturn.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has argued that the country should “fully liberalise and encourage childbirth” in order to increase its labour force, which in turn would help Beijing successfully compete with other countries, including the US and India, economically.

In a survey published earlier this week, the PBOC predicted that in the next three decades, China's population could decrease by about 32 million people, while the number of inhabitants in the US might grow by 50 million before the end of 2049, not least due to mass immigration.

Researchers also warned of shrinking a labour force in China over the next few decades, with the US expected to see an increase in this regard.

“[…] to narrow the gap with the United States in the past four decades, it [China] relied on cheap labour and huge numbers of people. […] What will we rely on in the next 30 years? This is worthy of our thoughts”, the researchers pointed out.

They suggested that in 2030, China's population may reach its peak at about 1.46 billion people, and that it will then plummet to 1.40 billion by 2050....

Sputnik International

People’s Bank of China Urges Gov’t ‘to Encourage Childbirth’ to Compete With US

Oleg Burunov

KV - Nice Pics 3

 I think I would like to get into photography as art. I don't think these have been photoshoped, apart from the colours being boosted. Photographers always used filters and effects, and with photo editing apps, the scope is much greater and more fun. 

I will be posting a number of nice pics over the next few days. I've accumulated hundreds of stunning photos. I think it makes a nice change from the politics. 

Cliff House, San Francisco, 1902

Natural Museum, London

Zaanse, Schans, Netherlands 

Snow Furniture 

Skies Over Australia 

I have no details for this picture

Beautiful Sunset at the Lincoln Memorial 

Dan Cohen - NED-Funded Uyghur Separatist Network and CAIR Director Rally Around Cold War Propaganda

 No one on the left believes the US Uyghur propaganda. When you see the people behind it, you can see why. 

On March 30, several figures from the U.S. government-funded Uyghur Separatist Network demonstrated outside the Chinese Embassy, calling on the U.S. Congress to pass a bill targeting China. But it wasn’t only Uyghur separatists on hand – prominent Muslim figures including Nihad Awad, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, joined the demonstration too. “Behind The Headlines” correspondent Dan Cohen spoke to participants and examined their claims.

Al-Masdar News — Iran’s Supreme Leader calls on military to raise its readiness after nuclear reactor incident

Add some more powder to the keg.

Al-Masdar News
Iran’s Supreme Leader calls on military to raise its readiness after nuclear reactor incident

AP — Navalny“s doctor: Putin critic “could die at any moment“

The West "concerned" about Navalny. (The headline is misleading. He is on a hunger strike of his own doing. He has been told by prison authorities that he will be force fed if he continues.)

Assange, who is being tortured and slowly dying? Not so much.

Crocodile tears shed by hypocrites.

AP
Navalny“s doctor: Putin critic “could die at any moment“

Associated Press — US West prepares for possible 1st water shortage declaration

Water is going to be the new gold. Blood will shed over it.

Associated Press
US West prepares for possible 1st water shortage declaration