The hapless Zhou regime appears to have painted itself into a corner with an entire palette of policies. Today at Zerohedge a cleverly written article serves as a thought provoking followup to our discussion yesterday—Monetary Policy To The Fore. Recall that the suggestion raised by my friend George was: Are Russia and China taking advantage of the monetary policy hole the US finds itself in. That suggestion followed on some impressionistic documentation of in the intractability of our current economic situation—damned if we do, damned if we don’t, and the Fed having to make a choice.
30 years ago the feckless neocon morons destroyed the golden opportunity that existed to cultivate a friendly relationship with Russia. Russia and India allied with the US would have kept China very much contained. And, critically important . . . not sending any strategic industries to China.
It needn't have even been 'friendly'--just constructive and mutually beneficial, based on a common interest: preventing China from dominating half the world and reining in jihadism.
Funny nobody thinks of the obvious solution. America could become a powerhouse again, getting back to work and releasing built-up and bottled down productivity. Start with the petroleum and natural gas industries...Oh, I forgot, those are no-nos. Greta would be so annoyed, and it is so Trumpian! Better keep the masks on and vax every six months. Make up for lost wages by printing money. Let us just hope Powell can keep the stock market on an upward spiral, as that is the only source for our current wealth.
KD on the 24th, explaining why despite the regime's twisting and turning, Russia is on track to win:
If you think any sort of armed conflict with Russia is a good idea you're out of your mind. If you think projecting weakness toward them while at the same time doing anything that threatens their only 12-month deep-water port is going to turn out well you're crazy enough that you deserve the collapse of civil society or even nuclear attack you're risking.
The Zhou regime is a laughingstock overseas--take that to the bank.
At best we end up with austerity. At worst we end up with austerity and China crushes us while we are down. Let’s just hope Soros is dead before that happens.
Too many in the policy-making arena are convinced we can inflate our way out of the debt crises. They let inflation get away before considering that congress is still spending more than it brings in. The problem becomes that inflation without actually paying down the debt only makes it worse. I am personally unaware of inflating one’s way out of debt ever working absent austerity.
It would have been wise to respond with slow interest rate increases from last summer - letting the market respond with a correction - and coupled with cuts to the federal budget. They would have had to end all Covid restrictions as well so people were at least trying to work and not leaving jobs to avoid a faux vaccine, often to a disease they were already immune, with a terrible side effect profile.
Instead they did everything wrong - again - from the feds to congress.
Pain will come - the only question is how much and how long. Eventually every entity that continually engages in spending more than they bring in will reach their credit maximum.
On another note I’m hoping this concept of Goldbacks takes off. Less volatile than crypto, uses the world’s oldest money, and value is set beyond the control of either congress or the feds.
Our feckless Congress, and the Fed have over the course of 50 years, morphed our economy into one that is almost fully dependent on borrowing and spending to sustain itself.
I would have questioned the rationale for that comment a few years ago as I favored a theory centered on passing the hot potatoe and hoping not to be the one to get caught…… the last 2 years has shown me that far too many in our society are willing to believe that……. Even after pointing out that people always claim it’s different this time and it never actually is
Interesting that Germany would want to destroy the U.S. since it was our benevolence and financial largess that forgave their WWII sins quickly and went about aiding their recovery effort. We make this mistake often.
It was said that the USA won the last cold war without firing a shot so; could one say Russia along with China is about to win the new cold war the very same way, this time watching the USA collapse? Germany always looks out for themselves and the Oligarch's orchestrating our domestic and foreign policy are more to blame than our so-called foreign allies, IMHO.
30 years ago the feckless neocon morons destroyed the golden opportunity that existed to cultivate a friendly relationship with Russia. Russia and India allied with the US would have kept China very much contained. And, critically important . . . not sending any strategic industries to China.
It needn't have even been 'friendly'--just constructive and mutually beneficial, based on a common interest: preventing China from dominating half the world and reining in jihadism.
Agreed, a mutually beneficial relationship would have been ideal, still could happen, but only if "the swamp" is drained.
At this point, , given the tyranny of the Sock Puppet and the gang, I'm rooting for the Russians. At least Putin comes by his oligarchy honestly.
Funny nobody thinks of the obvious solution. America could become a powerhouse again, getting back to work and releasing built-up and bottled down productivity. Start with the petroleum and natural gas industries...Oh, I forgot, those are no-nos. Greta would be so annoyed, and it is so Trumpian! Better keep the masks on and vax every six months. Make up for lost wages by printing money. Let us just hope Powell can keep the stock market on an upward spiral, as that is the only source for our current wealth.
KD on the 24th, explaining why despite the regime's twisting and turning, Russia is on track to win:
If you think any sort of armed conflict with Russia is a good idea you're out of your mind. If you think projecting weakness toward them while at the same time doing anything that threatens their only 12-month deep-water port is going to turn out well you're crazy enough that you deserve the collapse of civil society or even nuclear attack you're risking.
The Zhou regime is a laughingstock overseas--take that to the bank.
At best we end up with austerity. At worst we end up with austerity and China crushes us while we are down. Let’s just hope Soros is dead before that happens.
Too many in the policy-making arena are convinced we can inflate our way out of the debt crises. They let inflation get away before considering that congress is still spending more than it brings in. The problem becomes that inflation without actually paying down the debt only makes it worse. I am personally unaware of inflating one’s way out of debt ever working absent austerity.
It would have been wise to respond with slow interest rate increases from last summer - letting the market respond with a correction - and coupled with cuts to the federal budget. They would have had to end all Covid restrictions as well so people were at least trying to work and not leaving jobs to avoid a faux vaccine, often to a disease they were already immune, with a terrible side effect profile.
Instead they did everything wrong - again - from the feds to congress.
Pain will come - the only question is how much and how long. Eventually every entity that continually engages in spending more than they bring in will reach their credit maximum.
On another note I’m hoping this concept of Goldbacks takes off. Less volatile than crypto, uses the world’s oldest money, and value is set beyond the control of either congress or the feds.
Our feckless Congress, and the Fed have over the course of 50 years, morphed our economy into one that is almost fully dependent on borrowing and spending to sustain itself.
The Fed has no good options now.
That's the reality.
New Monetary Theory = this time is different
I would have questioned the rationale for that comment a few years ago as I favored a theory centered on passing the hot potatoe and hoping not to be the one to get caught…… the last 2 years has shown me that far too many in our society are willing to believe that……. Even after pointing out that people always claim it’s different this time and it never actually is
Interesting that Germany would want to destroy the U.S. since it was our benevolence and financial largess that forgave their WWII sins quickly and went about aiding their recovery effort. We make this mistake often.
It was said that the USA won the last cold war without firing a shot so; could one say Russia along with China is about to win the new cold war the very same way, this time watching the USA collapse? Germany always looks out for themselves and the Oligarch's orchestrating our domestic and foreign policy are more to blame than our so-called foreign allies, IMHO.
Based on the behavior and ideologies running rampant in Germany today they have called 1930 to borrow it’s ideology…….
Borrowed or just resurfacing like it is among American Progressives?
Good point, probably the latter