Sachs says "[blowing up pagers] shows how our supply chains absolutely are becoming suborned by Western intelligence agencies; Israel does it, the United States does it. We point our finger at China, but we're the ones doing these abuses."
The other day in the WSJ there was an op-ed by Michael Gallagher, the "head of defense for Palantir Technologies", calling for all hands on deck to rebuild the "free-world technology stack", over and against our totalitarian rivals like China, who apparently tricked us into sending our manufacturing overseas and handing over a lot of our IP.
It's a day late and a fiat dollar short, but we've learned our lesson after the Hezbollah pagers blew up.
Gallagher says "America and our allies have the tools to build a shared software-defined manufacturing ecosystem backed by a free-world technology stack. This is the cornerstone of a safer and more prosperous U.S.-led coalition, one that geopolitical swing states will want to join. If we fail, China’s totalitarian technology stack will flourish, ushering in a more fractured and hostile world."
Thankfully, the only liberal democracy in the Middle East with robust LGBTQ protections and carefully monitored elections and secure national borders, is anxious to help the rest of the free world rebuild our technology stack. They recently began sending guys from their Unit 8200 to Silicon Valley to help us develop our cybersecurity; all the best venture capitalists are tapping into this elite human capital. Hopefully, they will also help finance the rebuilding of our stack after somebody blew it up.
My first reaction is "It took an Ivy League study to figure this out?" It must have been government funded - just kidding.
They were JUST A LITTLE BIT SLOW (as in Bob Uecker's "Just a little bit outside" comment in the movie "Major League"). It so happens I was living in Princeton around that time and a couple of years prior to that the CEO of the company I was working for held an employees' meeting. He noted that the company was starting a PAC and urged us to contribute to it because "you can't get 10 minutes of these peoples' (politicans') time for less than a couple hundred thousand Dollars. And the company needs their attention to succeed in its goals.
That actually sounds a lot more like Fascism than Oligarchy. I think Oligarchy can refer to the people in the social class that was/is running things but Fascism/Corporatism now is the real truth about how our government is being run. Take a particular look at the Defense industry but don't limit it to that. And this isn't new - it has been the case since perhaps the latter part of the 19th Century and has only become worse and worse since then.
Thanks very much, Cassander, for your great synopsis of Vlahos' theory/paradigm! It does make sense. As does your interpretation of Trump's role in this and your wishes regarding what he would emphasize in his campaign. I couldn't agree with you more and I do have faith in your reasoning in all the things you post at MIH (well earned IMO).
I know I should view these videos and read these papers before shooting off my mouth. Just wish I had more time. But thanks to Mark for all the work he does (and to you in this case), and to people like FreeFrench, I at least have the chance to become better informed as a basis for my opinions. I do appreciate this very much. Thanks again.
So The Economy Now Depends On Stocks Which Depend On Front-Running The Fed... And This Is Fine?
TUESDAY, SEP 24, 2024 - 01:40 PM
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
So the entire economy depends on the stock market going up as punters front-run the Fed--and this is not only fine, it's optimal, the best arrangement the world has ever seen. On which ethereal plane is this considered sane, much less optimal?
That the real-world economy--a neofeudal confection featuring a parasitic, predatory Nobility vacuuming up virtually all the gains of the Everything Bubble while the bottom 80% stumble along in debt-serfdom, resigned to serving the top 10% who own 90% of the assets bubbling higher--is teetering on the precipice, clinging to the wealth effect of soaring assets, courtesy of the Federal Reserve, for its lifeline is, well, insane.
Speaking of gaslighting--how many people do you know who call this arrangement by its real name, neofeudalism? No one? How many people are trembling with excitement because every time the Fed cut rates at or near the all-time highs in the stock market, stocks were higher the next year--20 times out of 20? Hundreds? Thousands? A great multitude to be sure.
And this outstanding track record of the Fed stimulating the wealth effect is generating ecstatic euphoria in exactly which cohorts? The bottom 50% who own a single-noise 2.6% of the nation's financial assets? Households paying half their net income in rent? No, the euphoria is limited to the cohort which stands to boost its already gargantuan gains from Fed stimulus--the top 10%.
"That the real-world economy--a neofeudal confection featuring a parasitic, predatory Nobility vacuuming up virtually all the gains of the Everything Bubble while the bottom 80% stumble along..."
Very well put. I am smart enough to understand the truth when I read it (I think). I am not smart enough to predict when all of this financialization and speculation and Hunger Games rapaciousness in the absence of a sound economy is going to implode.
My guesses are that the implosion will come for sure when the general populace (the "80%) can no longer afford to purchase what is needed for the preservation of life - that may happen sooner than any of us think. But given the nature of our consumer economy, the implosion will likely start cascading at the point in time when all "non-essential" goods become unaffordable for the 80%.
God bless you and keep you, Ron. In this world the battle between good and evil never ends. Don't give up the fight. You are on the side of justice, the right side, and you have the only true source of power behind you. Proverbs 15:3: "The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good."
My only question is “Was the captain (pilot/driver) of the Big Horn navy oiler which ran aground a DEI hire black woman like Kenji Brown Jackson?” 🤪
Sachs says "[blowing up pagers] shows how our supply chains absolutely are becoming suborned by Western intelligence agencies; Israel does it, the United States does it. We point our finger at China, but we're the ones doing these abuses."
The other day in the WSJ there was an op-ed by Michael Gallagher, the "head of defense for Palantir Technologies", calling for all hands on deck to rebuild the "free-world technology stack", over and against our totalitarian rivals like China, who apparently tricked us into sending our manufacturing overseas and handing over a lot of our IP.
It's a day late and a fiat dollar short, but we've learned our lesson after the Hezbollah pagers blew up.
Gallagher says "America and our allies have the tools to build a shared software-defined manufacturing ecosystem backed by a free-world technology stack. This is the cornerstone of a safer and more prosperous U.S.-led coalition, one that geopolitical swing states will want to join. If we fail, China’s totalitarian technology stack will flourish, ushering in a more fractured and hostile world."
Thankfully, the only liberal democracy in the Middle East with robust LGBTQ protections and carefully monitored elections and secure national borders, is anxious to help the rest of the free world rebuild our technology stack. They recently began sending guys from their Unit 8200 to Silicon Valley to help us develop our cybersecurity; all the best venture capitalists are tapping into this elite human capital. Hopefully, they will also help finance the rebuilding of our stack after somebody blew it up.
deinde ludens vomitus
My first reaction is "It took an Ivy League study to figure this out?" It must have been government funded - just kidding.
They were JUST A LITTLE BIT SLOW (as in Bob Uecker's "Just a little bit outside" comment in the movie "Major League"). It so happens I was living in Princeton around that time and a couple of years prior to that the CEO of the company I was working for held an employees' meeting. He noted that the company was starting a PAC and urged us to contribute to it because "you can't get 10 minutes of these peoples' (politicans') time for less than a couple hundred thousand Dollars. And the company needs their attention to succeed in its goals.
That actually sounds a lot more like Fascism than Oligarchy. I think Oligarchy can refer to the people in the social class that was/is running things but Fascism/Corporatism now is the real truth about how our government is being run. Take a particular look at the Defense industry but don't limit it to that. And this isn't new - it has been the case since perhaps the latter part of the 19th Century and has only become worse and worse since then.
Thanks very much, Cassander, for your great synopsis of Vlahos' theory/paradigm! It does make sense. As does your interpretation of Trump's role in this and your wishes regarding what he would emphasize in his campaign. I couldn't agree with you more and I do have faith in your reasoning in all the things you post at MIH (well earned IMO).
I know I should view these videos and read these papers before shooting off my mouth. Just wish I had more time. But thanks to Mark for all the work he does (and to you in this case), and to people like FreeFrench, I at least have the chance to become better informed as a basis for my opinions. I do appreciate this very much. Thanks again.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/so-economy-now-depends-stocks-which-depend-front-running-fed-and-fine
So The Economy Now Depends On Stocks Which Depend On Front-Running The Fed... And This Is Fine?
TUESDAY, SEP 24, 2024 - 01:40 PM
Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
So the entire economy depends on the stock market going up as punters front-run the Fed--and this is not only fine, it's optimal, the best arrangement the world has ever seen. On which ethereal plane is this considered sane, much less optimal?
That the real-world economy--a neofeudal confection featuring a parasitic, predatory Nobility vacuuming up virtually all the gains of the Everything Bubble while the bottom 80% stumble along in debt-serfdom, resigned to serving the top 10% who own 90% of the assets bubbling higher--is teetering on the precipice, clinging to the wealth effect of soaring assets, courtesy of the Federal Reserve, for its lifeline is, well, insane.
Speaking of gaslighting--how many people do you know who call this arrangement by its real name, neofeudalism? No one? How many people are trembling with excitement because every time the Fed cut rates at or near the all-time highs in the stock market, stocks were higher the next year--20 times out of 20? Hundreds? Thousands? A great multitude to be sure.
And this outstanding track record of the Fed stimulating the wealth effect is generating ecstatic euphoria in exactly which cohorts? The bottom 50% who own a single-noise 2.6% of the nation's financial assets? Households paying half their net income in rent? No, the euphoria is limited to the cohort which stands to boost its already gargantuan gains from Fed stimulus--the top 10%.
...
"That the real-world economy--a neofeudal confection featuring a parasitic, predatory Nobility vacuuming up virtually all the gains of the Everything Bubble while the bottom 80% stumble along..."
Very well put. I am smart enough to understand the truth when I read it (I think). I am not smart enough to predict when all of this financialization and speculation and Hunger Games rapaciousness in the absence of a sound economy is going to implode.
My guesses are that the implosion will come for sure when the general populace (the "80%) can no longer afford to purchase what is needed for the preservation of life - that may happen sooner than any of us think. But given the nature of our consumer economy, the implosion will likely start cascading at the point in time when all "non-essential" goods become unaffordable for the 80%.
God bless you and keep you, Ron. In this world the battle between good and evil never ends. Don't give up the fight. You are on the side of justice, the right side, and you have the only true source of power behind you. Proverbs 15:3: "The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good."