The Mid Weekly Watch
Protecting the Dying Petrodollar?
It has been fifty years since Nixon took the USD off the gold standard. He had to because we printed so much money to pay for the Vietnam war, we didn't have the gold to cover the currency which had been issued. Oil prices soared in '73 when the US supported Israel in the Arab-Israeli war, and the Saudi's led a US oil embargo. However, in '75 Kissinger cut a deal with the Saudis to only sell their oil in USD. Additionally, Saudi and OPEC oil profits would be recycled back into the U.S. by buying U.S. assets (Treasuries, Stocks, Real Estate etc.) and U.S. weaponry. And so the petrodollar was created... and anyone who challenges this system faces the wrath of the US.
In 2000, Saddam Hussein, then-president of Iraq, announced that Iraq was moving to sell its oil in euros instead of dollars. Following 9/11, the United States invaded Iraq, deposed Saddam Hussein, and converted Iraqi oil sales back to the U.S. dollar.
This exact pattern was repeated with Muammar Gaddafi when he attempted to create a unified African currency backed by Libyan gold reserves to to sell African oil. Shortly after his announcement, rebels armed by the US government and allies overthrew the dictator and his regime. After his death, the idea that African oil would be sold on something other than the dollar quickly died out.
Other regimes that have called for abandoning the petrodollar include Iran and Venezuela. The US has called for regime change in both these countries....
Saudi Arabia has also warned it would start selling as much as $750 billion in Treasuries and other assets if Congress passes a bill allowing the kingdom to be held liable in U.S. courts for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
https://mises.org/wire/huge-debt-got-us-hooked-petrodollars-and-saudi-ar...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjK0nRSUNgU (6 min)
... as long as the US continues to maintain its dominance of the global financial and economic system, thanks to the dollar, its supremacy as a world superpower is hardly questioned. To maintain this influence on the currency markets and the special-drawing rights (SDR) basket, the pricing of oil in US dollars is crucial. This explains, at least partially, the impossibility of scaling down the relationship between Washington and Riyadh. Nobody should delude themselves into believing that this is the only reason why Saudi-US relations are important. Washington is swimming in the money showered by Saudi lobbies, and it is doubtful that those on the receiving end of such largesse will want to make the party stop.
https://theantimedia.com/us-saudi-petrodollar/
Max and Stacy discuss the comment made by Roy Sebag of GoldMoney.com that the start of the oil price war by Saudi Arabia marks the end of the petrodollar system. From 3/20 when there was a oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia. (15 min)
There are many consequences to creating endless currency. One is accelerating inequality.
The red line is the share of income of the 1%. The blue line is the bottom 90%
Another is a declining trade balance
But the worst result is our inane endless wars to maintain the ponzi we've created.
America’s second largest net export is arms sales, which is currently on average around $30bn to $60bn a year. When your largest exports are weaponry, your business model is creating conflict and war to increase the demand for that weaponry.
However, the end of the petrodollar is in sight.
I think there are three primary signs that the dollar's global dominance is coming to an end.
1. All the US sanctions have forced countries such as Russia and China to trade in their own currency.
2. With the transition to electric vehicles, petroleum becomes less important
3. It appears the IMF has a digital currency and is now issuing loans as Special Drawing Rights.
The Petrodollar system of Gulf and other OPEC countries buying Western assets with massive oil profits effectively ended in 2014 with the halving of the oil price. Saudi Arabia and most of the other major oil exporting countries are now running massive government deficits. Instead of buying massive amounts of U.S. Dollars they are now selling them.
The U.S. is no longer dependent on Gulf oil supplies as it was in 1975. It is now largely self sufficient in oil and gas, with the massive 4 millions of barrels a day increase in shale oil production since circa 2010.
In the world economy in general there is now a massive oil glut and a massive over supply of oil at $60 a barrel. Short of WW3 breaking out, oil prices are likely to remain roughly in the $40 to $50 a barrel range for many years to come.
The Gulf and other OPEC countries cannot suddenly stop selling oil at $50 a barrel (or less) to try and drive up the price as their economies would collapse and there would be revolution on the streets.
As we have already recently seen, even minor OPEC production cuts result in compensatory increases in non OPEC production (largely from increased U.S. shale production).
https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/the-petrodollar-system-and-the-petro...
George Gammon claims the "Dollar Will Lose Reserve Currency SOON! (Here's When/Why)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW3URYWYNsU (32 min)
Increasing trade with between Russia and China
With Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister meeting his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi this week, there has been much talk of ‘increased cooperation’ and joint efforts at pushing back against perceived United States global trade bullying.
While global media has highighted the China-Russia cooperation angle, and a mutual desire to restrict the use of the US dollar in bilateral trade, nothing has yet surfaced about the future of the China-Eurasian Economic Union Free Trade Agreement
https://www.silkroadbriefing.com/news/2021/03/26/a-us200-billion-china-r...
A couple of years ago they ditched the USD when trading with one another
“Russia and China intend to develop the practice of settlements in national currencies,” Putin told journalists at the news conference following the talks. He added that the states have signed intergovernmental agreements on expanding the use of the yuan and the ruble in bilateral financial operations.
https://www.rt.com/business/461147-russia-china-nuclear-reactors/
Russia and China sign deals worth US$20 billion as Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin’s growing friendship bears fruit. Agreements to boost cooperation in spheres such as energy and technology highlight closer partnership in face of tensions with US
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3013483/russia-and-chi...
“On nearly every front, Russia and China have been coming closer,” Artyom Lukin, a scholar of China-Russia relations at the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, told RFE/RL. “We are seeing the long-term trend of China’s rising economic importance for Russia.”
https://www.rferl.org/a/china-russia-deepen-their-ties-amid-pandemic-con...
New data from the Bank of Russia shows that in the first quarter of 2020, the dollar’s share of trade between Russia and China fell below 50 percent for the first time on record, a notable change given that the dollar comprised more than 90 percent of trade in 2014. While the dollar still accounts for 46 percent of the deals between them, the euro has risen and become the currency of choice and, to a lesser extent, the ruble and renminbi, China’s currency.
https://www.rferl.org/a/china-russia-deepen-their-ties-amid-pandemic-con...
The irony of it all is that US policies have forced these countries to work together.
As Trump was leaving office he imposed another round of sanctions.
The United States has imposed a new set of sanctions on China, Cuba, Russia, Venezuela, and Iran to prevent their access to U.S. technology.
"We cannot allow the foreign military and intelligence organizations of our adversaries in China, Cuba, Russia, Venezuela, and Iran (...) to benefit from U.S. technology," U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement Thursday.
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/US-Places-Sanctions-on-China-Cuba-Ir...
Biden has continued and added to Trump's sanctions.
The Biden administration on Thursday rolled out a sweeping set of sanctions on Russia over its election interference, hacking campaigns and other malign activity.
https://news.yahoo.com/look-biden-administration-sanctions-against-16265...
U.S.-China sanctions battle escalating under Biden with focus on Xinjiang abuses
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/mar/28/us-china-sanctions-batt...
Sanction your allies in order to blackmail them in to buy higher priced US gas isn't too wise.
Biden’s Plan to Link Arms With Europe Against Russia and China Isn’t So Simple
The new president’s vow to restore the trans-Atlantic alliance is welcome, but Europeans want a more balanced relationship, with more dialogue and less diktat.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/us/politics/biden-europe-russia-china...
Europe is charting its own course on Russia and China in ways that do not necessarily align with Mr. Biden’s goals, posing a challenge as the new American president sets out to rebuild a post-Trump alliance with the Continent.
The idea that the US should sanction Germany and EU companies for creating a pipeline speaks volumes doesn't it?
In March, the Biden administration announced it was considering sanctions on companies involved in the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline—even mulling a special diplomatic envoy to navigate the tangled geopolitics it has generated. Now, the White House is facing mounting pressure from Congress to follow through with a full diplomatic push.
Nord Stream 2—which is slated for completion this year—will double the existing flow of natural gas from northern Russia to Greifswald, Germany. Advocates of the pipeline herald it as a step toward European energy stability while critics pan it as a scheme by politicians in the pocket of energy conglomerates. Others, like U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, condemn Nord Stream 2 as a “Russian geopolitical project intended to divide Europe and weaken European energy security.”
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/05/06/nord-stream-biden-united-states-ger...
Portrayed by certain EU and US lawmakers as a means of endangering European security, in reality Nord Stream 2 helps meet Europe’s increasing demand for natural gas. It is an expansion of the original Nord Stream (or Nord Stream 1), which connects Russia and Germany via twin pipelines under the Baltic Sea, transporting upwards of 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Germany per year since it came online in 2011. In 2020 alone, the pipeline transported 59.2 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas to European consumers. Nord Stream 2, which is almost complete by now, would double the capacity of the entire pipeline system.
The German government of Angela Merkel endorses the project, and two German companies – Wintershall and Uniper – are both major investors in it. This position, based on geographic and economic calculations, ought to be respected fully by other EU members and by the US, as the reasoned stance of a government with the largest economy in Europe, supporting a Russian-German business deal that has brought in over 1,000 companies from 25 countries for its implementation.
...
Instead, Washington has badgered Germans for the deal, which it sees as hostile to American interests, simply because these pipelines involve Russia cooperating with European countries in a way that the US itself is not poised to do. US officials have been pressing for Europe to import more liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US, calling it “freedom gas” even though EU countries have already freely chosen to source roughly 39% of their gas from Russia, with only 6% coming from the US.
https://www.conservativebeaver.com/2021/04/30/reckless-posturing-by-the-...
China is in the cross hairs too...
China, the world's biggest oil importer, wants to use its own currency to price the world's most-traded commodity and has already launched the first crude futures contracts priced in Chinese yuan on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange since March last year. How soon will the petro-yuan replace the petrodollar and break the dollar's hegemony?
(4 min)
Views of the U.S. and its leadership are in sharp decline around the world — particularly among America's closest allies.
- According to a 2017 Pew survey, 39% of respondents across 38 countries consider U.S. influence and power a major threat to their countries, compared to 31% for both Russia and China. That’s up from 25% in 2013, when the survey was conducted previously.
- Approval of U.S. global leadership fell to 30% worldwide, per a January Gallup poll. That’s narrowly behind China (31%) and ahead of Russia (27%). It’s also the lowest score in the 10 years the survey has been conducted, and down from 48% in Barack Obama’s last year.
- America’s favorability around the world has fallen sharply, particularly among key allies like Mexico, Canada and Germany. And that was before Trump's trade war and Iran deal withdrawal.
- Meanwhile, some NATO allies like Germany apparently see the threat to the west as larger than the one to the east. 35% of Germans view the U.S. as a major threat, compared to 33% for Russia. Meanwhile, as relations with Trump have soured, Chancellor Angela Merkel has sought common cause with both Russia and China.
https://www.axios.com/the-biggest-global-threats-us-russia-china-c3230b2...
Despite US aggression against China and Russia for having the audacity to trade in their own currencies, it is a moot fight. Perhaps we'll awaken. Why? Because Ding Dong the petrodollar is dead and the great reset is in motion...
Exactly 18 months after Mark Carney officially announced the end of the Petrodollar, and its replacement by an IMF World Reserve Currency, the IMF announces that they will create $650 billion worth of Special Drawing Rights. It’s an astounding event. The IMF ceases lending in Dollars, and starts using its own currency to bail out Nations. Ninety of which have asked for ‘assistance’, their finances savaged by the Lockdown. $650 billion may not sound that much, but surely this is only the beginning. Soon the IMF will be throwing around trillions worth of SDR like the Fed now is doing with USD.
...
Conclusion
This is it. What we’ve been discussing for two decades or more in the Alternative Media is now coming to pass. The Petrodollar is officially over, and the IMF is creating their own World Reserve Currency, the Special Drawing Rights.
They are no longer lending in Dollars, but in their own money.
Washington no longer dominates the IMF, the IMF is now the morphing into the official World Central Bank. Officially owned by all the Nations, but in reality owning all of them.
Worth the full read
https://realcurrencies.wordpress.com/2021/04/05/the-petrodollar-is-dead-...
Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen answer questions from lawmakers about the monetary and fiscal response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The transition to electric vehicles is already under way.
...major auto businesses, such as General Motors, Volvo, and Jaguar, have announced their commitment to “phase out” gas-powered cars, according to USAToday.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/electric-vehicles-poised-kill-gasoline-10...
There are many reasons for the transition and signs that it is coming...
There are more and more charging stations, longer range, better and cheaper batteries, many manufacturers, tighter pollution regulations, less maintenance, and cheaper operating costs.
https://braydeng.medium.com/7-reasons-electric-vehicles-will-crush-gas-c...
There are issues with electric cars too, but that a topic for another essay.
Our economic problem really exceeds the nature of the petrodollar. Here, yet again, it is the entire economic system....designed by the rich for the rich.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mftHhL7nW2A]
So the petrodollar days are limited. The US is doing its best to hang on to the dollars dominance with wars and sanctions. I think that will be a failed policy.
The thread is open to whatever is on your mind. Have a good one!
Comments
Inflation, deflation and the loss of purchasing value
Basing a country's monetary existence on speculation
and armament does not bode well for the US economy.
Eventually, other nations are going to figure out peace is
cheaper than war. Little trade value in mothballed jet fighters,
aircraft carriers and outmoded tanks.
Perhaps we can become a war museum and charge
admission to observe the objects in killing machine parks?
Thanks for the OT Lookout.
Enjoy your musical holiday!
That reminds me of Joni's line
took all the trees and put 'em in a tree museum
and charged all the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em
I hope we'll mothball and recycle all our armaments, but I'm not holding my breath.
Have a good one!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Uh, not likely
Good Morning Lookout and QMS
I am not sure what economy remains if we stop producing weapons we do not need and will never use.
It would take a brave and decent manufacturer, Raytheon? Boeing? to convert from warplanes to high speed railroad cars. From tanks to cars that run on electricity, ie trolley cars. If the wheels come off---Poof! goes the rubber tire industry and demand for oil plummets.
Very unlikely---but we can speculate.
NYCVG
I think you're right
but it would be better if we would transition. The ever evil profit motive keeps TPTB tightly in control promoting ever more war.
Seems we just can't learn.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
You need a buyer of HSR cars
It's always guns or butter. Only the Federal government can come up with the dollars to fund a (total-loss) defense industry. Similarly only government can build the infrastructure for HSR, and the demand for the train cars. Government has to make the choice, and so far ours has always made the wrong choices. As a result, the developing world is running away to modernization, while we count our aircraft carriers and fighter jets. Ironically, the defense industry will wind up destroying the US as the dominant power.
Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.
No doubt,
The Wizard.
NYCVG
Or Greg Lake
from Karn Evil 9, 1st Impression, Part II:
Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends
We're so glad you could attend,
Come inside, come inside
There behind a glass stands a real blade of grass
Be careful as you pass, move along, move along
"The show that never ends", indeed...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Guaranteed to blow your head apart
great tune!
Bless you, UFS--
I used to use that song and those lyrics for precisely the purpose you just put them to.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
The Garison State - an article and a theory, poorly
summarized as this amazingly honest wiki link - only 2 short paragraphs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garrison_State#:~:text=The%20Garrison%....
Build war material, blow some of it up in use, but mostly declare it obsolete and scrap it and build yet more in such fashion that the MIC becomes the principle employer and the employees then buy consumer goods produced by secondary employers. Couple with a consumer spending paradigm of an ever expanding definition of what constitutes "necessities" and a cultural need to replace and upgrade one's wardrobe and vehicle every few years and one's furniture and appliances every 10 or so.
It did more or less come to pass and then morphed into an actual warfare state where we were actually using this stuff, especially expendable supplies, with an ever expanding definition of what those are in actual combat.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Then there's the other extreme
Where the US depleted nuclear material shells kill today tomorrow and for millennia.
https://ratical.org/radiation/DU/KYagasakiOnDU.pdf
We truly are shameful.
Have a good one!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Precise cogent statement
Thank you for that.
NYCVG
Biggest "expendable supply" is own own young men and women.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Great recap LO!
The view from a distance becomes much clearer. The incremental changes are always presented with narratives that mask the true, long term, objectives. It’s easy to miss where our ship of state is actually headed, thanks to these carefully shaped and dishonest messages every step along the way.
“What the herd hates most is the one who thinks differently; it is not so much the opinion itself, but the audacity of wanting to think for themselves, something that they do not know how to do.”
-Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
MSM is a joke
Their job is to obfuscate and confuse rather than illuminate. One reason I'm grateful to our c99 community is the info you all provide. Better than other news outlets IMO.
Well, have a good day.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Eye-Opening statistics from NYC
Lookout. It is info you want????
My effort to combat corporate bullshit with Facts:
In NYC here are the percentages of Registered Voters who voted in the NYC Primary Mayoral Elections:
2005---19% Bloomberg wins (D)
2009---12% Bloomberg wins (D)
2013---22% de Blasio wins (D)
Very few New York Voters vote in the Primary Elections. I am predicting a massive change this year. ooops. predictions are not facts. back to my original narrative.
Here are the implications for Polling for the primary Elections---
Polls are only indicative of anything if you poll Likely voters and in New York, the campaign teams have access to every Registered Voters record. You are a Likely Voter only if you have also participated in Primary Elections.
So, in brief, If you want an accurate meaningful poll you contact ONLY Likely Voters. Plus,
You contact Likely Voters from every part of NYC.
Which brings me to the current moment in NYC. Broad based polls of Likely Voters always have Yang at the top.
Two Flawed polls chose Eric Adams. The first one was voters only in the 2 areas Adams has a hope of polling well, Brooklyn and Queens.
The second poll was larger and Citywide but polled Registered Voters, not Likely Voters. No wonder the Undecided was so high! These voters will probably not show up on June 12 for Early Voting and so may pick the first name offered to them on the phone or on the web.
More facts, not manufactured fiction, for our members who care about knowing the truth.
We have heard a lot about "the money game" as it relates to elections. I am here to tell you that while dollars matter, it is also the Origin of the dollar that counts.
One Rich person has donated Big to Yang and Adams. That is nice for TV ads but that guy will probably not bother to vote. (Rich candidate, Ray McQuire has never voted, as far as I can tell.)
The metric that counts is Individual donations from small NYC donors, $200 or less
The info I have is a few weeks old and I will post the new numbers when they are published, but put simply, Andrew Yang is Killing it. Yang's entry into this race was a few months ago. He had well over 10,000 small donations from NYC residents who will be there to vote for him. Stringer and Adams, who have been running from 2018 had fewer than that combined.
Yang's Campaign has leaked that the new numbers of small donors from NYC have already exceeded the numbers from any other Primary Campaign EVER and will be mind-blowing.
NYCVG
To Clear Up Confusion
NYCVG
Looks like Yang has a good chance...
I bet the corprodims are losing their minds. I hope so.
Thanks for the update!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Until he sells out or takes a dive like Bernie
I have zero hope for electoral solutions to our problems.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Operation Ajax
Petrol. Cheap energy. PU
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Mosaddegh
...
MENTRIX - 99 NAMES OF GOD (Asma-ul-Husna)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lia0ttJpHMQ width:500]
---
Happy Birthday Pete! Cheers
Put the Money Down - Pete Townshend Demo
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IJEHOYs5LU width:420]
Peace and Love
"please give generously"
It surprised me...
When Rexxon Tillerson released the CIA files detailing the overthrow of Iran's elected leader.
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1951-54Iran/pressrelease
This is less overwhelming
https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/20/64-years-later-cia-finally-releases...
I'm reading The Devil's Chessboard. It is absolutely damning to the CIA.
https://ia802809.us.archive.org/25/items/DavidTalbotTheDevilsChessboard2...
I'm convinced TPTB engineered Truman's replacement of Wallace as FDR's Veep in part to create the CIA, the mafia branch of our government.
Hope you're doing well and the dirt patch is providing entertainment and pleasure.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
It's a good read isn't it. Along with 'Finks' by Joel Whitney
the whole picture of what those ghouls have embroiled the US in our names is ghastly. And we see that this way of doing things has really worked for the US. Well, maybe a few who don't mind what side they are on or what they do.
Great essay and thread. Always so informative.
Thanks everybody.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.
Wow, that's one trippy video of Mentrix
thanks eyo!
I am re-reading
the novels of John Le Carre who died recently.
In his long life he was an agent of MI6, the British equivalent of our CIA. Each of his many novels has the villains as MI6, the CIA and the Mossad.
le Carre hated his own land so much that shortly before his death he renounced his British passport and became a citizen of Ireland.
Reading is my favorite pastime, so le Carre has been part of my life for decades. But you do not have to be a reader to enjoy his great work. So many of them have been made into movies or TV mini-series.
I highly recommend, for example, The Night Manager, The Russia House, The
Constant Gardener which are wonderful if you are interested in the politics or not.
The Night Manager uncovers the illegal guns and weapons networks that operate in Afghanistan under the complete protection of the USA and the UK. It stars Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman and it is a high budget delight. Probably available for streaming its 6 or so episodes.
Like in all le Carre work brought to film and TV, the ending has been softened a bit to get by USA's tender feelings.
John le Carre approved of the changes and I can guess this because he does a quick cameo in The Night Manager.
NYCVG
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy...
And Smiley's People are lots of fun...
Here they are if there's folks with an interest.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUnxodNndH8]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vYAyq5l2Bs&list=PLwix5PoqRIFOqIAlXTNGp4...
Complete BBC George Smiley radio series.
https://archive.org/details/BBCR4Smiley_201810
Thanks for the reminder!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
another le Carrre fan
Why am I not surprised.....
NYCVG
Back to my regular programming
!!!!!! The three candidates on the right hand side of this chart are the three claiming to be "Progressives."
Yang has never made that claim. But he voted for Bernie and Cynthia Nixon when he had the chance
NYCVG
Putting people in Rt LT boxes is a mistake
from my point of view. I think it is important to look at what people do rather than what they say. Obummer is a good example.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Absolutely!
but for those who like litmus tests, as Ross Barkan points out, this is a pretty good one.
and.....ummm Voting is an Action.
Obama surely never would have voted for Bernie or OMG!!! Cynthia Nixon.
NYCVG
Just the opposite...
He does/did everything in his power to assure those types (that want to help people rather than corporate interests) never ascend. So sad. I was taken in at first because of his rhetoric, but after his Nobel prize speech..."make war to have peace" I woke up and noticed he bailed out banks not people.
Take care!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Taken in? Me, too
Bewitched.
Recovery took quite a while but now I cannot even look at him without feeling revulsion.
NYCVG
I remember all-too-well when Nixon
ditched the gold standard. It caused great consternation with my hardcore-Objectivist parents, who were completely convinced that The End Was Nigh, and were just waiting for him to announce that 1970 was thereafter to be known as the Yardstick Year (Directive 10-289, from the fertile mind of good old A. Rand). If anything would have made them become preppers, that was it... They wouldn't have minded too much if we all got vaporized by an errant Sunshine Bomb, but by Gawd make the price of cigarettes go up and there'd be hell to pay.
My dear departed mother thought that Nathaniel Branden was the greatest thing ever, right up until ol' Ayn shoved him out the airlock (my mom was still wearing her dollar-sign necklace when we buried her). I first read Atlas Shrugged when I was 10, and eventually read everything Rand ever wrote.
Looking back from that perspective over 50 years later, I think that the following John Rogers quote is absolutely dead-nuts accurate, as well as being utterly hilarious:
“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."
Having said all that: I doubt that either of my parents would ever have imagined, even in their most depressed and alcohol-fogged worst days, what things actually look like now. As hard as it is to say it this way, I'm kind of glad that they've both been gone for long enough to not have seen it unfold.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Who could have predicted this current situation?
As a young hippie I thought we would create a planet of peace and love for people. Boy was I wrong!
On the other hand, joining the "back to the Land" movement is still a big part of my life. Like most everything, there's good and bad in our various philosophies and approaches.
My Mom is still alive, and she is stunned by our current world. But hell, so am I.
We'll just have to wander on through the fog and hope for the best!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Wow, that was terrible realization
We all felt that the anti Vietnam protest would bring about a significant change in direction for the US. We helped bring about the end of the war but that resulted in no change in direction. The US is addicted to war, and all forms of war, as a political tool in the world. I have always been especially disappointed that Europe did not exert more influence to stop the US wars. Instead, they just chimed in. Perhaps that was the genius of NATO. Or perhaps we learned about empire from their historical example.
Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.
The hardest realization was a long time in coming,
but it is best described as "No, our generation is NOT going to be the one that makes all the difference."
That hurt when it finally soaked through on me, and still hurts every day.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Addicted indeed.
The old version of the comic "addicted to war" is free to read online
http://www.addictedtowar.com/atw1a.html
Always nice to "see" you and read your insightful comments!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning Lookout. Thanks for the great essay and
the OT.
Though it will bring suffering to many/most people in the US, the dollar crash really cannot come too soon for the good of the entire world. Not only is it a major weapon in our endless wars against the citizens of numerous countries in the form of criminal sanctions against anybody unwilling to be indirectly ruled by the US elites, but it is a big part of the power behind the global environmental destruction that goes on every damn day in so many forms.
Also, just possibly, it might lead to a more peaceful world should it force us to cut back on our war machine.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
As you say...
It can't come soon enough! Hopefully without WWIII.
Heating up here...and dry. Having to water the garden.
All the best!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
How to grab the headlines by spouting generalities.
It grabbed the attention of the MSM yet was so vague that it was essentially meaningless.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/05/19/world/israel-palestine-gaza
But Israel has a right to defend itself...
By burning mosques and cheering "Death to Palestinians!" and dancing in the streets as it burns. As ByeDone often says, "Come on , man"
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0akEThtU8gk&t=55m29s]
Sure is a bad situation. True apartheid.
Have a good one!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
France has a lot of nerve. They deserve a stern lecture about it
https://www.axios.com/france-un-security-council-gaza-resolution-1052f7a...
That would be a good thing
Will it happen? We'll see.
Thanks for the update!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Really difficult to shake fingers at Israel when the US
supplies bombs, other war materials and millions USD per day to keep the war going. What is really in it for the US? I honestly don't know. Is it really about selling bombs and jets?
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.
All I can think of...
...is a toe hold in the ME oil fields, but now that we have our own gas it must be that Israel owns the US pols.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
So:
How might an individual American family best put this knowledge to use?
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
Invest in real things
Cars, home infrastructure, and on and on. I think we should all invest in things that improve our quality of life. At least that is my 2 cents.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Agreed
real things like silver translatable to trading value
trucks, land, equipment and such
useful things
means of preservation
In the sake of Palestine
this ..
[video:https://youtu.be/nOjHior0RfU]
Check out this album
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Kinda rhymes with Dylan tuning
with a bit of the traveling willberries mixed in
Thanks for the recommendation !
Thanks for the great essay Lookout
Having the world's default trading currency is a gigantic advantage. Someone made the point that there can only be one US in the world because of this. It's not a model for world development, just ours.
The nations wanted an international trading currency backed by gold. The US convinced the nations to use the dollar because it was backed by gold. But it was a rotten deal because that country couldn't maintain a balance of trade in the world, primarily because of all the wars we "needed" to fight, and we eventually removed the gold backing. Now international trade is backed by a fiat currency, backed in part by the need of nations to have dollars to trade. The world's nations have figured this out and when they pull the plug on the dollar it will devalue enormously, because people will not be buying dollars, but selling them. The result will be price inflation in the US resulting in a decreased standard of living and a contraction of US GDP. In other words, we will be worth what our real productivity in goods and services is, which is a fraction of China's.
Our negative attitude about a growing China is entirely wrong. We are dependent on China to maintain our standard of living. Most of our economy (70%) is in consumer goods. If it were not for China then the 90% of consumers in the US would be paying US manufacturing prices for their goods, which is more than twice the China price. The other side of this is that we don't actually pay China the true price of these goods. If we did, we would have a balanced trade with them. Instead, they get to keep dollars in various forms, including investment in the US. So a good part of the dollars we pay to buy goods made in China returns here to stimulate our economy and to pay our budget deficit. I think that this is about to stop, rather dramatically. China now has the largest consumer class in the world. Secondly they have a huge trade with Asia, same with Europe, Africa and South America. Do they need the US consumer market now? I don't think so, and they understand the negative side of trade with the US. It's hard to miss, as we keep throwing it in their face. I sense a huge sea-change with relations with China and Russia also.
Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.
Great job, LO.
Wanted you to know we defeated the raccoons who were ruining the bird feeders.
We grabbed 2 planters stands that are a foot high and set the feeders on them during the day. We bring in the feeders at night.
The birds sort of get agitated if we sleep in!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Petrodollar going
is pretty much a certainty given the irresponsibility of US leadership over the last few decades.
Going to be a pretty grim reality check for Americans, too many of whom will be all to ready to accept, no, embrace, no, *demand* to be saved by the (corporate-owned) government in exchange for which they will gladly give up what remains of personal or national sovereignty.
This does seem to be the key bit:
The empire and petrodollar are not sustainable and doomed, one way or the other. But the seductive, apparent salvation offered by the 'great reset' is, in reality, the road to dystopia and serfdom on the globalist plantation.
Compared to that future, far better to take the hit, retain/regain our freedom and build something ecologically and economically sound that allows for personal freedom and rewards initiative. Go in the direction of decentralizing decision-making and production.
Time was, "Better to die on your feet than live on your knees." was very much associated with the left. Kind of unfortunate that spirit seems to have been mostly lost there, or forgotten, if not outright rejected.
On a more positive note (sorry, CAN'T EMBED!) here is a very worthwhile interview:
Permaculture meets Conspiracy Theory - Corbett Report's James Corbett interviewed by permaculture vlogger Takota Coen (May 10, 2021)
Thanks for the Corbett link...
I'll look forward to checking it out!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
The death of the petrodollar will kill
the power of the international FRightwing craporate business mindset. One can always hope. Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
I think it will be difficult in the US
but perhaps the challenge is just what we need to become a thinking productive society. As you suggest, we can hope.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”