"The China Question"

"The China Question"

by The Zman

"A popular topic among Sinophiles since the installation of Joe Biden as president is the possibility of war with China over the status of Taiwan. The Chinese have been obsessed with Taiwan since Mao. With the American empire in sharp decline and the Biden regime unpopular at home and abroad, now could be the perfect time for the Chinese to make their move. As John Derbyshire is fond of pointing out, “Taiwan is like two feet from China … We are eight thousand miles away.”

While there is little doubt that China could retake Taiwan whenever it likes, the cost would be extremely high. For starters, Taiwan and the US have been preparing for such a move for generations. Some of the most sophisticated early warning systems on earth are installed in Taiwan specifically keep an eye on China. There is the very strong possibility that Taiwan has underground missile systems capable of reaching targets on the mainland in the event of an attack by China.

Whether or not the US would actually go to war to defend Taiwan is debatable, but that is the official position. Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Australia are also technically committed to the defense of Taiwan. An all-out assault on Taiwan could very well result in attacks on Chinese infrastructure along the coast. It would most certainly result in massive economic retaliation. The Chinese regime would be forced to explain to her people why they are suddenly poor again.

Of course, the Chinese could counter with attacks on Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Australia. Her navy is the largest in the world now, even if it lacks the forward capability of the American empire. It could deliver attacks on her neighbors, including Hawaii. In an all-out war, she could attack the west coast of the United States with submarine based missiles. The point is, China is not Iraq, some pipsqueak the US military can kick around without consequences.

That reality, however, is why such a full-blown confrontation is unlikely. Despite what many believe, China is hooked on the dollar like the rest of the world. She cannot afford war with the US at this time. The reason the Chinese flooded the American election system with cash in 2020 is the Trump administration was causing real problems for the Chinese with their trade policies. No one can be sure if the Covid plague China unleashed was an accident, but you cannot rule it out.

The point being is that an economic war with the American empire would be catastrophic for the Chinese economy. The usual suspects love crowing about the Chinese economy, but her per capita GDP is $10,839. That is down there with Costa Rica and Bulgaria. China has a lot of poor people. The rich people she has are obligated to make sure those poor are provided with the basics. The iron rice bowl is a real thing, and the Chinese regime takes it very seriously.

There is also the fact that China is smart. She can take the long view with Taiwan as she knows in a generation the American empire will be gone. Given the physical condition of the ruling class and the mental condition of the probable successors, the American empire will be out of Asia in a decade. Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Australia all know this and have been planning accordingly. China can just bide her time and Taiwan will come to her, hat in hand.

There is also the possibility this happens much quicker. It is clear to the world that Joe Biden is non compos mentis. Whoever is calling the shots is not bothering to consult the White House. This is why there is a crisis in the Ukraine. Someone from the semi-permanent ruling class encouraged Kiev to declare her intention to retake the Crimea, which has resulted in a stand-off with the Russians, who have no intention of allowing Ukraine to make any moves on the Crimea.

Then there is the dispute over Nord Stream 2, the new natural gas pipeline being built to supply western Europe. Shadowy financial interests in the American empire have been trying to stop this project for a long time. Biden administration figures have been dispatched to Europe to deliver a message from those shadowy financial interests that the Washington regime will pull out all the stops to prevent this project. This is further undermining the credibility of the Biden regime.

From the Chinese perspective, she has no reason to make any moves on Taiwan, as the puppet government in Washington is unlikely to stagger on much longer. Despite the claims by regime media, the world fully grasps the reality of the situation. The American regime is in deep crisis. The American empire is the sick man of the world right now and everyone is just waiting for the inevitable. History shows that the end comes much sooner than the patient ever expects.

The point of all this is that China has no reason to force a confrontation with the American empire over Taiwan. Through bribery, maneuvering and the general incompetence of the American ruling elite, China can quietly dictate policy to the regime in Washington. If she is patient, this reality will become clear to her neighbors in the region, and they will peacefully detach from the American empire and align with the Chinese empire. There is no need to fight the inevitable."

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

- http://thezman.com/wordpress/

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Related:

 APR 07, 2021 - 4:20 PM: "Taiwan Warns It Will 'Fight To Very Last Day' If China Attacks As US Warship Transits Strait"

"Total US National Debt Visualized: Pre and Post-Covid"

Full screen!

StringDancer,

 "Total US National Debt Visualized: Pre and Post-Covid"

April 2021 now over $28 trillion...

"A Trillion Here, A Trillion There"

"A Trillion Here, A Trillion There"

by Clifford Thies

"The late Everett Dirksen, a long-serving Minority Leader of the Republicans in the U.S. Senate, is famously quoted as saying a billion here, a billion there, and soon we’re talking real money. That was back in 1969. At the time, a billion dollars was about one-tenth of 1 percent of GDP. What about today?

During 2020, the federal government provided a total of $3.2 trillion of Covid relief, starting with a mere $8.3 billion, then adding $104 billion, then adding $2.2 trillion, and finishing off the year with another $900 billion. We’re now three months into 2021, and the federal government has provided yet another $1.9 trillion in Covid relief; and, the Biden administration has just asked for $2 trillion for infrastructure. To put these amounts into perspective: A trillion dollars is today about 4 percent of GDP.

Back in 1969, Ol’ Everett was being funny when he referred to a billion dollars. Back then, a billion dollars was already real money. In 1969, the newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise, cost $451 million, not even $1 billion. The cost of the Apollo 11 mission to put the first man on the moon wast $335 million, not even $1 billion. Only two companies made more than $1 billion in profits (General Motors $1.7 and Exxon Mobil $1.3). A billion dollars, representing one-tenth of 1 percent of GDP, was a fantastic amount of money. Ol’ Everett’s statement that a billion here and a billion there and soon we’re talking real money was a wild understatement.

And, now, we’ve gone from thinking of spending money at a clip of one-tenth of 1 percent of GDP to thinking of spending money at a clip of 4 percent of GDP, as though 4 percent of GDP isn’t already real money.

Back in 1969, the newest aircraft carrier cost about half of one of Dirksen’s billions. What about today? How does the cost of the newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, compare to a trillion dollars? The Gerald Ford cost $13 billion. That’s about a hundredth of a trillion dollars.

Back in 1969, the premier space mission of the year cost about a third of one of Dirksen’s billions. The cost of this year’s Mars mission, at $3 billion, is about one three-hundredth of a trillion dollars.

Back in 1969, two companies made more than a billion dollars. Today, no company makes anywhere near a trillion dollars. Apple, the most profitable, makes $60 billion.

I don’t know if Ol’ Everett knew this, but his expression “a billion here, a billion there” was a crazy twist on a yet even older expression, as in the following poem concerning John D. Rockefeller:

"Old Rox, the great philanthropist, gives wealth till people wonder.

And all he gives is never missed, he has such heaps of plunder.

A million here, a million there should buy him bliss eternal

If all the facts are printed fair in each and every journal."

– George Matthew Adams, 1912

The small-minded author of this poem thought to denigrate the generosity of Rockefeller, as though lowering the price of kerosene from 26 to 8 cents a gallon wasn’t already a great benefaction to mankind, on top of which Rockefeller gave away much of the fortune he accumulated by serving his customers so well. But there are big differences between giving away millions of your own money, as compared to adding several billions to the deficit in the 1960s, and adding several trillions to the deficit in 2021.

The first thing is an act of charity. A voluntary increase in the purchasing power of others, at the cost of reducing one’s own purchasing power. The second is either the promotion of the general welfare or redistribution of the wealth. It is legitimately the stuff of politics. The borderline between promoting the general welfare and mere redistribution is often murky. And, the third is simply impossible and will cause rampant inflation.

Among the useful functions of money is that it forces people to make choices. To take stuff out of the economy (as in buying), most people have to put stuff in (as in working). This forces people to evaluate the value of what they want against the value of what they have to give. To a limited extent, saving and borrowing, insurance, charity, and taxation and redistribution relax the balancing of taking and giving at the individual level. But, in the end, the total of what comes out of the economy is limited by the total of what is produced, no matter that you can borrow or print up unlimited amounts of money. Borrowing and printing up trillions and trillions of dollars isn’t real. It’s a special form of deceit we economists call inflation."

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

- https://www.aier.org/

"Economic Market Snapshot AM 4/7/21"

"Economic Market Snapshot AM 4/7/21"

○

"Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will

do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone."

- John Maynard Keynes

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"Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...

Only the consequences are real - to you!

Your guide:

Gregory Mannarino, AM 4/7/21:

"MELTDOWN: The Economic FREE-FALL Worsens"

- https://traderschoice.net/

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"The more I see of the monied classes, 

the better I understand the guillotine."

- George Bernard Shaw

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MarketWatch Market Summary, Live Updates

- https://www.marketwatch.com/tools/marketsummary

CNN Market Data:

- https://money.cnn.com/data/markets/

CNN Fear And Greed Index:

- https://money.cnn.com/data/fear-and-greed/

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A comprehensive, essential daily read.

- http://www.shadowstats.com/

April 7th to 9th, Updated Daily 

○

Financial Stress Index

"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: credit, equity valuation, funding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United States, other advanced economies, and emerging markets."

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Daily Job Cuts

- https://www.dailyjobcuts.com/

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- https://www.zerohedge.com/

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- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

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- https://wallstreetonparade.com/

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- https://www.whatreallyhappened.com/

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- https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

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Commentary, highly recommended:

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

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And now, the End Game...

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Oh yeah...

"All Right Then..."

"What am I in the eyes of most people - a nonentity, an eccentric, or an unpleasant person - somebody who has no position in society and will never have; in short, the lowest of the low. All right, then - even if that were absolutely true, then I should one day like to show by my work what such an eccentric, such a nobody, has in his heart."

"I put my heart and soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process." 

 "I don't know anything with certainty, but seeing the stars makes me dream."

- Vincent van Gogh

"How It Really Is"

 

Decide for yourself...

• - https://coyoteprimeblog2.blogspot.com/

• "246 "Fully Vaccinated" Michigan Residents Catch COVID-19, 3 Die"

• "Dr. Fauci Can't Explain Why Texas COVID Cases 

Keep Dropping Despite Reopening"

Greg Hunter, "Anti-Vax & Anti-Tax – 2 Huge Trends of 2021 – Gerald Celente"

"Anti-Vax & Anti-Tax – 2 Huge Trends of 2021 – Gerald Celente"

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Gerald Celente, a renowned trends researcher and publisher of “The Trends Journal,” is back to talk about two of the biggest trends taking shape for 2021. One revolves around Covid-19 (CV-19) and the experimental so-called vaccine, otherwise known as the “jab.” The other is a rebounding economy destined to crash. First, the CV-19 jab, as Celente explains, “There are going to be new political movements: anti-tax, anti-vax, anti-immigration and anti-establishment. We are going to see a big anti-vax movement. To make the point on how they are going to be selling this, they are selling it now that there is going to be a new strain of CV-19, and you better prepare for it. It’s going to happen every year, and you are going to have to get vaccinated. So, we are going to start seeing a big anti-vax movement.”

The economy in blue states is performing much worse that in Red states, and that is fueling big government to raise big taxes. Celente says, “The streets out here in New York are dead. They are dead. Now, they are raising the taxes. The first thing they did was tolls. The next thing they are going to do is a gas tax, soda tax, sales tax, property tax and school tax. Business is dead. New York City is dead. Brooklyn is dead. Park Slope is a slope alright, a downhill slope. The office occupancy rate in New York City is still at 14%. All the businesses that depend on commuters are gone, and this isn’t coming back.”

All the economic news is not bad. Celente is forecasting, “This is the other important thing. There is going to be an economic rebound. It’s going to happen because all of the cheap money they are pumping into the system. We are going to start seeing inflation really skyrocket. They are going to have to raise interest rates. We had a cover on The Trends Journal, and it showed two big needles. One injection is the vaccine, the other is the money junkies injecting money into the system. They are drug dealers and money junkies. The money junkies need cheap money from the Federal Reserve to keep gambling. They are going to have to raise interest rates. When the equity markets crash, people will be forced to wake up to know how bad it is. It’s artificially propped up, and when the markets crash, the reality will be felt. The reality is already being felt by the hundreds of millions of people around the world whose lives and livelihoods have been destroyed. When the markets crash, we are going to be living in hell on earth. We are heading into the Greatest Depression, and you better prepare now. The other biggest trend is there is going to be a ‘vax war.’ There is no question about it.”

- https://usawatchdog.com/

"Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One 

with Gerald Celente, publisher of The Trends Journal."

- https://rumble.com/

A must watch! Gerald is in fine form here...

Musical Interlude: Yanni, "To The One Who Knows"

Yanni, "To The One Who Knows"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"A gorgeous spiral galaxy some 100 million light-years distant, NGC 1309 lies on the banks of the constellation of the River (Eridanus). NGC 1309 spans about 30,000 light-years, making it about one third the size of our larger Milky Way galaxy. Bluish clusters of young stars and dust lanes are seen to trace out NGC 1309's spiral arms as they wind around an older yellowish star population at its core. 

Not just another pretty face-on spiral galaxy, observations of NGC 1309's recent supernova and Cepheid variable stars contribute to the calibration of the expansion of the Universe. Still, after you get over this beautiful galaxy's grand design, check out the array of more distant background galaxies also recorded in this sharp, reprocessed, Hubble Space Telescope view.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130116.html

"Forever And Forever And Forever..."

"For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out."

- James Baldwin

"Stock Market Booming; Real Economy Crashing; Business Owners Destroyed; Americans Financially Decimated"

Full screen!

Jeremiah Babe,

"Stock Market Booming; Real Economy Crashing;

 Business Owners Destroyed; Americans Financially Decimated"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 4/6/21: "Alert! Expect The Dollar To Crater, Here's Why"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 4/6/21:

"Alert! Expect The Dollar To Crater, Here's Why"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Gerald Celente, “Trends Journal, ‘Urgent Message: Call To Action’”

Gerald Celente,

“Trends Journal, ‘Urgent Message: Call To Action’”

"For What Should We Fight Russia or China?"

"For What Should We Fight Russia or China?"

by Pat Buchanan

"Last Monday, in a single six-hour period, NATO launched 10 air intercepts to shadow six separate groups of Russian bombers and fighters over the Arctic, North Atlantic, North Sea, Black Sea and Baltic Sea. Last week also brought reports that Moscow is increasing its troop presence in Crimea and along its borders with Ukraine.

Joe Biden responded. In his first conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Biden assured him of our “unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression in the Donbass and Crimea.” Though Ukraine is not a member of NATO, and we have no treaty obligation to fight in its defense, this comes close to a war guarantee. Biden seems to be saying that if it comes to a shooting war between Moscow and Kiev, we will be there on the side of Kiev. Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov answered that if the U.S. sends troops to Ukraine, Russia will respond.

Again, is Biden saying that in the event of a military clash between Ukrainians and Russians in Crimea, Donetsk or Luhansk, the U.S. will intervene militarily on the side of Ukraine? Such a pledge could put us at war with a nuclear-armed Russia in a region where we have never had vital interests, and without the approval of the only institution authorized to declare war - Congress.

Meanwhile, off Whitsun Reef in the South China Sea, which Beijing occupies but Manila claims, China has amassed 220 maritime militia ships. This huge Chinese flotilla arrived after Secretary of State Anthony Blinken put Beijing on notice that any attack on Philippine planes or ships challenging Beijing’s claim to rocks and reefs of the South China Sea that are in Manila’s exclusive economic zone will be backed by the U.S.

Our 70-year-old mutual security treaty with Manila covers these islets and reefs, said Blinken, though some are already occupied and fortified by China. Apparently, if Manila uses force to assert its claims and expel the Chinese, then we will fight beside our Philippine allies. This amounts to a war guarantee of the kind that forced the British to declare war on Germany in 1939 over the invasion of Poland.

Two weeks ago, 20 Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone in the largest incursion yet by Beijing over the waters between Taiwan and Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands. As national security correspondent Bill Gertz writes in today’s Washington Times: “China is stepping up provocative activities targeting regional American allies in Asia … with an escalating number of military flights around Taiwan and the massing of more than 200 fishing ships near a disputed Philippines reef.

The most serious provocation took place March 29. An exercise by the People’s Liberation Army air force that included 10 warplanes flew into Taiwan’s air defense zone is what analysts say appeared to be a simulated attack on the island. It came just three days after an earlier mass warplane incursion.”

China also raised tensions with Japan, announcing last week that Tokyo must drop all claims to the disputed Senkaku Islands, an uninhabited island chain that Japan has administered for decades but that Beijing recently claimed as its territory. While China appears clear about its aims and claims to virtually all of the islands in the South China Sea and East China Sea as well as Taiwan - it is less clear about its intentions as to when to validate those claims.

As for the U.S., does the present foggy ambiguity as to what we may or may not do as China goes about asserting its claims serve our vital interests in avoiding war with the greatest power on the largest continent on earth? If red lines are to be laid down, they ought to be laid down by the one constitutional body with the authority to authorize or declare war - Congress. And questions need to be answered to avoid the kinds of miscalculations that led to horrific world wars in the 20th century.

Are the reefs and rocks the Philippines claim in the South China Sea, claims contradicted by China, covered by the U.S. mutual security treaty of 1951? Are we honor-bound to fight China on behalf of the Philippines, if Manila attempts to reclaim islets China occupies? What is our obligation if China moves to take the Senkakus? Would the United States join Japan in military action to hold or retrieve them? What, exactly, is our commitment to Taiwan if China attempts to blockade, invade or seize Taiwan’s offshore islands?

John F. Kennedy in the second debate with Richard Nixon in 1960 wrote off Quemoy and Matsu in the Taiwan Strait as indefensible and not worth war with Mao’s China.

With its warnings and threats, China is forcing America to address questions we have been avoiding for about as long as we can. China is saying that it is not bluffing: These islands are ours! Time to show our cards."

- https://buchanan.org/

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

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Related:

TUESDAY, APR 06, 2021 - 09:45 PM: "Beijing Accelerating Timeline For Possible Invasion Of Taiwan, Expert Warns"

TUE APR 6, AT 12:30 PM: US Sails Carrier Into South China Sea As Philippines Enraged Over China 'Territory Grab'"

TUE APR 6, AT 11:59 AM: "Ukraine's Zelensky: "NATO Membership Is The Only Way To End War In Donbass" "Urges NATO to quickly expand Black Sea presence as a "powerful deterrent to Russia"

TUE APR 6, AT 10:20 AM: "Russia's Army Begins Massive 'Combat Readiness' Inspection As Ukraine Tensions Soar" "Readiness drills being received as a 'message' & warning to US-NATO forces."

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Related:

"Why Is the Biden Administration Pushing Ukraine to Attack Russia?"

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What could possibly go wrong?

"Deep Healing 528Hz Ancient Frequency Energy Sound Healing Session"

Full screen highly recommended.

Spirit Tribe Awakening, 

"Deep Healing 528Hz Ancient Frequency Energy Sound Healing Session" 

"Peaceful, empowering and soothing music and nature to nurture your mind,

 body, and soul. Supporting and empowering you on your life journey."

Please be kind to yourself, take a break, and savor this beautiful work.

Headphones recommended but nor necessary.

Free Download: Jiddu Krishnamurti, “The Book of Life”

"You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it.

That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies,

that is why you must sing and dance,

and write poems and suffer and understand, for all that is life."

- Jiddu Krishnamurti

Freely download “The Book of Life”, by Jiddu Krishnamurti, here:

- https://selfdefinition.org/

Musical Interlude: Deuter, "Black Velvet Flirt"

Full screen!

Deuter, "Black Velvet Flirt"

The Daily "Near You?"

Yerevan, Armenia. Thanks for stopping by!

"Sometimes..."

 

"Just Because..."

"Just because some of us can read and write and do a little math,

that doesn’t mean we deserve to conquer the Universe."

- Kurt Vonnegut

Gregory Mannarino, AM 4/6/21: "Important Updates: Stocks, Crypto, Gold, Silver, Crude, Debt"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 4/6/21:

"Important Updates: Stocks, Crypto, Gold, Silver, Crude, Debt"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"Who’s to Blame for America’s Decline?"

"Who’s to Blame for America’s Decline?"

by Bill Bonner

YOUGHAL, IRELAND – "Our view, for the benefit of new readers, is that the U.S. went badly off the rails around 20 years ago. Since then, by almost every measure, it has been slipping and sliding downward. In everything, from life expectancies to income to GDP growth to freedom… to marriage rates and church attendance… America has lost ground.

Here’s the latest from Wolf Street: "The global share of US-dollar-denominated exchange reserves dropped to 59.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the IMF’s COFER data released [at the end of March]. This matched the 25-year low of 1995. These foreign exchange reserves are Treasury securities, US corporate bonds, US mortgage-backed securities, US Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities, etc. held by foreign central banks. Since 2014, the dollar’s share has dropped by 7 full percentage points, from 66% to 59%, on average 1 percentage point per year. At this rate, the dollar’s share would fall below 50% over the next decade."

On the global stage, in other words, the role of the U.S. is in decline.

Politically Correct Approach: But “declinism” has been, well, on the decline in academic circles. It suggests a moral failing… as if things might have turned out much differently had not people done stupid things. “Risism,” on the other hand, is perfectly acceptable. Nothing negative or prejudicial about it. Even the “fall” of Rome is now viewed not so much as a “fall” but a “transition.”

Yes, after the decline came the collapse. And then, the Barbarians took over and perhaps a million people died… The Vandals, the Goths, the Sueves, and the Alans enslaved many more… burned down cities… destroyed libraries (they couldn’t read or write, so what good were the ancient manuscripts?)…and Europe fell into a “dark age” for at least three centuries.

But that is a very “judgmental” view. Even the word “civilization” is no longer considered intellectually respectable. All cultures are equal. All languages are equal. All people are equal. None, according to this politically correct approach, are more “civilized” than others.

Different View: Here at the Diary, we take another view. In the eyes of God (and sometimes, the courts) all men may be created equal. But we humans look at every single one of them differently. Equality is neither a fact… nor a useful goal. After all, if we were all equal, we would be bored to death. No jokes, no lovers, no jackasses, no geniuses.

But don’t worry… Equality is just what we don’t have and don’t want. We are always comparing… contrasting… sizing up and looking down… One is more handsome… One is smarter… One chose the wrong spouse… One has no sense of color coordination!

There are roughly 250,000 adjectives in the English language… and every one is a way of making distinctions. Not even identical twins are the same. Humans are never equal, one to another. (Otherwise, why would some be judged and others do the judging? Why would some lead and others follow? Why would some govern… and others allow themselves to be governed?) All human life is unequal… and governed by moral rules, based on unequal conduct.

You make decisions. Decisions have consequences. You leave a nail sticking up on the job site. Inevitably, someone will step on it. And there are always cycles – cycles of learning and forgetting… cycles of building up and tearing down… of civilizing and uncivilizing.

Most of the time, most people go about their business… doing their win-win deals… exchanging goods and services as best they can. And then, along come the jackasses… just when you need them, to rob, murder, and legislate… and thus complete the full cycle – the rise and fall, the ups and downs, the booms and busts. The cycles are inevitable. But it’s still a “moral” world, in the sense that somebody left the damn nail sticking up!

Who’s to Blame? Who’s to blame for America’s decline? American economist Milton Friedman forged one of the nails. That is, he was instrumental in creating the new money system put in place in 1971. People were already limping in the late 1970s – U.S. inflation was already in the double digits. But then, Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker rescued the money system in 1980. Then, quietly – and to the delight of millions – the new money did its damage, undermining the nation’s economy and its political institutions for the next 40 years.

Today, thanks to all the feds’ fake money, U.S. GDP growth rates are barely half of those from the 1970s and 1980s… and the nails are getting tossed out like confetti. Last month, Congress passed a $1.9 trillion “relief” program… and is now considering $2.3 trillion more. And last month, U.S. debt passed the $28 trillion mark, an increase of $4.7 trillion in the last 13 months.

But back in the 1990s, the momentum of growth and progress was so strong that the nation continued on an upward trend, until finally reaching the apogee of its imperial glory in 1999. Then, measured in gold, U.S. stocks hit their highest levels ever. They began a decline in 2000, and have never recovered.

Bad Emperors: Alas, then came a succession of bad emperors. George W. Bush launched the War on Terror – $7 trillion down the drain. Barack Obama bailed out Wall Street after the crisis of 2008-2009, and added nearly $10 trillion to the national debt over his eight-year term. The third in this parade of clowns was Donald J. Trump, who went on the biggest spending spree in U.S. history… with another $8 trillion added to federal debt in just four years. Government spending, as a portion of GDP, rose to over 40% during his term in office.

Worst of a Bad Lot: But The Donald’s contribution went far beyond the numbers. He also remade the Republican Party in his own image. No longer a party of ideas or principles… it is now just another group of hacks and grifters with a nativist/corporatist bent. This is especially important because now, we have the fourth – and perhaps, worst – of an awful lot, in the White House. And, with no effective conservative opposition, there is no one to stop the federales’ boondoggles or America’s eventual collapse.

Watch where you step."

- www.rogueeconomics.com

"How It Really Is"

 

"War with China? What Fun!"

"War with China? What Fun!"

by Fred Reed

"There is no limit to misjudgement. If the psychic curiosities in the Federal bunker start a war with China, or push Beijing into starting one, it will be blamed on a proximate cause, such as a collision of warships after which some lieutenant who joined on waivers lost it and opened fire. After all, historians have to write about something. The causes will actually be deeper and more complex.

To begin, people are cerebrally arranged to form groups - “packs” is a better word - and fight with other groups. This is dimwitted, but so are people. The urge manifests itself in wars, political parties, football, teenage gangs, and contract bridge. It is not rational. In football, armored mercenary felons having no relation to the cities they represent, battle other felons from another city, most of whose citizens would not let their daughters within a parsec of said felons - all this while the fans scream in adrenal murderousness. It is just what we do. At the national level, it is called “patriotism.”

Territoriality is part of the disorder. Human minds - the phrase may be an overstatement - seem intended for small wild groups for whom protection of hunting grounds might be important. When a Secretary of State embodies this instinct, he may, for example, confuse Asia with a patch of woods rife with deer. An instinct well suited to one situation is applied to another to which it isn’t.

But why do Americans regard China as an enemy? Partly because the vast military sector of the economy needs an enemy as a budgetary pretext. This is often said. It is also true. Since none of the anointed enemies - Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea - does anything to threaten Americans, a drumbeat of media about largely imaginary menaces is needed. And provided.

At a somewhat deeper level, it is again the pack instinct. Conservatives in particular tend to see the world in terms of tribes, countries, or faiths presumed hostile. Even though the public has almost no knowledge of China, or because of this, it can quite easily be persuaded that China is very dangerous. People can then easily begin clamoring for war and, politicians being politicians, they will not risk votes by pointing out the stupidity.

But let us go back to the collision of warships. Why would a diversity-admit junior officer open fire on China? Proximately, because he is frightened and panicky. A bit more remotely, because he has been told over and over and over that the Chinese are dangerous and aggressive and want to do terrible things, seldom specified. The military tells them this because you cannot prepare the troops for war by telling them that there is no reason for it.

Why would a President allow a war, knowing (if in a lucid moment) that it would produce absolute unshirted havoc in the economy even if it didn’t go nuclear? He wouldn’t. That is, he wouldn’t all at once choose Armageddon. But he couldn’t afford to seem soft on China, not with the midterms looming, so he couldn’t back off. If in the ensuing shootout the Navy got trounced, he most assuredly couldn’t drop the matter, and would have to double down. So, of course, would the Chinese for the same sorts of reasons. Off to the races.

Deeper in the forest of causation is that the pathologically aggressive, amoral, manipulative, and crafty tend to rise to power. We select as rulers those who are least fit to rule. In America this is often done a bit differently, with the unscrupulous and powerful choosing cardboard leaders whose strings they can pull. The effect is the same.

Why would war seem reasonable? Because Americans have never seen one, and believe their forces to be invincible. If you think that you can’t lose a fight, why avoid one? And because those in comfortable circumstances know that a war in Asia would be fought by the lower economic classes, about whom they care nothing and don’t much like. American elites do not fight. Note the list of draft dodgers during Vietnam: Bush II, Cheney, Bolton, Trump, Biden.

These men, knowing almost nothing of the military, war or, very likely, military history, are quickly hijacked mentally by the Pentagon. The firm handshake, the steely gaze, the clean shaven, confident, and patriotic warriors (if only via Powerpoint) are impressive to pols who…well, you know…haven’t done that. They project strength and realism, without necessarily having either. Listening to them, you can easily get a sense of being accepted into a special, manly club. They say that America has the most powerful, invincible, best trained, tra la, tra la, and if you haven’t been there it is easy to believe. The Chinese? A cakewalk. Iran? Coupla weeks.

Another reason for easily blundering into a war poorly understood is the very low quality of American government. Congress and the President are chosen by popularity contests, not according to competence. A congressman who worked his way up the political ladder in Wheeling or Baton Rouge knows state politics. He is unlikely to know anything about the first Island Chain or what a terminally guided ballistic missile is. A friend in a position to know estimates that ninety percent of the Senate do not know where Myanmar is. No one without a grasp of geography has more than a child’s understanding of military, economic, or strategic reality. But they vote on these things.

Sez I, we are well and truly screwed. But there is little we can do about it."

- https://www.unz.com/

"And Some Things..."

“But I couldn't respond. My culture had taught me all the wrong things well. So I lay completely still, and gave no reaction at all. But the soul has no culture. The soul has no nations. The soul has no color or accent or way of life. The soul is forever. The soul is one. And when the heart has its moment of truth and sorrow, the soul can't be stilled. I clenched my teeth against the stars. I closed my eyes. I surrendered to sleep. One of the reasons why we crave love, and seek it so desperately, is that love is the only cure for loneliness, and shame, and sorrow. But some feelings sink so deep into the heart that only loneliness can help you find them again. Some truths about yourself are so painful that only shame can help you live with them. And some things are just so sad that only your soul can do the crying for you.”

- Gregory David Roberts, "Shantaram"

"Vaccines Will Kill By Cytokine Storm"

 

Read this again, carefully... "months later". 

As always, research this yourself, gather the facts,

and draw your own informed conclusions.

○

"Cytokine Storms May Be Fueling Some COVID Deaths"

"The Cytokine Storm: Is This Why COVID Kills?"

○

Related:

• "CV-19 Vaccine Warning – CV-19 Cure – Must Watch Videos"

• "Basic Arithmetic For Leftist Losers"

• "Shot in the Dark: 

Medical Doctor Exposes Deadly Dangers of Covid-19 Vaccines"

• "The COVID Fraud Will Not Stay Hidden Forever"

• "Straight Talk On Covid"

• "Redefining Death"

○

Hat tip to Jim Quinn at The Burning Platform.

○

Without comment I present this article for your consideration,

and strongly urge you to view it:

4/3/21: - https://usawatchdog.com/

"Chinese Housing Bubble Is About To Burst As Household Debt Soars To 9.7 Trillion"

Full screen recommended.

"Chinese Housing Bubble Is About To Burst 

As Household Debt Soars To 9.7 Trillion"

by Epic Economist

"China's imminent housing crash is threatening to trigger a global financial catastrophe beyond any seen in modern history. While bond and stock markets across the United States and Europe are dangerously inflated due to central banks' extraordinary response to the health crisis and the enormous amounts of borrowing and spending over the past year, in the eyes of most financial analysts, Chinese markets remained suitable for investment as the country has managed to put the health crisis under control and reopen its economy. However, experts are alerting that Bank of China balance sheets and the latest measures introduced by the Chinese government indicate that the country's markets are anything but safe since a monumental domestic real estate bubble has been growing at the same pace as the $9.7 trillion household debt, and a bubble bust is likely to create a domino effect of failures all around the world, unleashing a financial disaster of epic proportions. That's what we're going to analyze in this video.

After the burst of the health crisis, Beijing authorities panicked and ended up releasing a staggering volume of $504 billion in credit to local governments with a mandate to invest to boost the economy. The housing sector was their primary investment of choice, as the new middle-income population was willing to borrow to finally get their own homes. But problems in the country's real estate sector have been concerning authorities way before the occurrence of the sanitary outbreak. In 2016, Chinese officials could already see that a dangerous speculative bubble in rising house prices was threatening the economy. They have tried, without success, to impose restrictive measures in order to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control. However, that only incited local governments and banks to resort to covert ‘off-balance sheet’ lending via so-called local government financing vehicles, where the local governments create an investment company that sells bonds to finance real estate or other local projects.

Regardless of the official measures, China's housing bubble continuously rose. February data show that home prices increased by 16.8 percent. "According to data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics, the total market value of China’s real estate is currently around $65 trillion. In 2019, China’s GDP was $14 trillion, making China's real estate far more inflated than US or EU values by a big margin. A 2018 study found Chinese home prices averaged 9.3 times annual incomes, outstripping inflated San Francisco’s 8.4 times," as reported by Engdahl.

In the second half of 2020, China’s Evergrande Group, one of the most valuable real estate companies in the world faced a ravaging cash crisis due to an enormous debt burden of approximately $121 billion and the slow down of economic activity. The Evergrande crisis scared the Chinese government, but, as result, authorities doubled down on local hidden real estate debts. Total local hidden debt is estimated to be at between $4.2 trillion to $6.1 trillion.

China’s domestic debt has been rising at an average annual rate of roughly 20 percent, which is significantly faster than its gross domestic product, meaning that in every possible scenario, the eastern superpower is in huge trouble. Official data revealed that outstanding household debt, which mainly includes real estate debt, was surpassing $9.7 trillion at the end of 2020. That already represents 62 percent of the Chinese gross domestic product.

As the strategist described "if troubles in this local bond market spill over into the national sovereign bond market, a huge market worth a staggering $18 trillion, that would drive bond rates far higher, triggering a wave of local defaults in less viable projects including real estate. It is certain that the state central bank would then pump liquidity to save its giant state banks. But given the scale of the debt, that could well force liquidation of China dollar assets abroad, including its estimated $1.04 trillion of US Treasury debt".

With the new $1.9 trillion stimulus package, the U.S. national debt has skyrocketed and the bond market has already started to feel the impacts of rising Treasury yields. That is to say, it would take very little from a China bond crisis to trigger a global financial meltdown. And the Chinese housing bubble burst could be the final coup to provoke a domino downfall. Only this time, as we previously discussed, considering the entire world economy has fallen into a debt spiral that is out of control, with the simultaneous collapse of both of the world's leading superpowers, no one will come to the rescue, and soon we might find ourselves in the middle of a tragic Great Depression of modern times."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com​