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Mike richards's avatar

‘Rules-based order’ thinking extending from geopolitics inwards to one’s own economy and financial system is due payback. The message? Return to Virtue, and dump ‘Values’.

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Cosmo T Kat's avatar

‘Rules-based order’

Massive hubris from those who would be gods...............

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Stephen McIntyre's avatar

You know the most fascinating thing to look at is most of our national debt has been taken on in the last 25 years. Every president since George Bush has pushed the needle further and further with the federal reserve and printing money and increasing our debt to the point, we are paying over $1 trillion in interest yearly.

No surprise that Trump is pushing the Fed to lower interest rates so that we can lower our borrowing cost. That is if we can find somebody to buy our debt.

I have said this before and I continue to believe it. The federal reserve is going to become the market of last resort just as the bank of Japan is for them.

The federal reserve will change their rules and they will buy not only treasury debt of all types. They will buy agency debt and to top it all off. They will end up buying corporate debt along with stocks the market. That will be the last ditch effort to stop a default from happening. Make no mistake. That is the direction. We are probably going in when that will happen is anybody’s guess.

It’s quite evident that the House of Representatives have abdicated their responsibility for producing a budget for all of us to look at. When exactly was the last time the house produced a budget have they done one within the last 10 years the last 15 years when?

We cannot keep putting together and passing these absurd, reconciliation bills that have no limits on them on spending. I have no doubt in my mind that Donald Trump will end up adding another $8 trillion or so to the national debt. Think about it in the last 12 years by 2028 we could possibly have added $24 trillion to the debt and nobody in Congress has taken any kind of responsibility for it or the lead to do something about it..

We are doing ourselves in . These absurd foreign policy notions that we’re going to take out Iran and then Russia and loot their countries for everything they’ve got as far as natural resources go is a fantasy pipe dream.

As soon as Russia crosses the Dnieper river it’s over with for Ukraine. Now I don’t think Russia wants to take on ruling all of nuke Ukraine. They will take the Russian provinces and the Crimea, but they will insist that the rest of Ukraine be neutral with NATO whatsoever. In fact, I read that a number of the eastern countries rethink NATO also.

NATO is a dead institution that needs to be disbanded. Let the Europeans figure it out on their own. Trump is gonna find that Poland and a number of the other eastern block. Countries are not going to get involved in a war with Russia and defend the Ukraine.

If Israel, which I believe it will, breaks the cease-fire. I think it’s over for them because then Iran will have the excuse to finish them off. Since they know where they’re nuclear facilities are and stock files they will be targeted first so that Israel can’t use them.

I wonder what the reaction is going to be if Israel Falls. If that were to happen, I think Hamas, Hezbollah and Egypt are going to move right in and finish the job.

Israel, as an independent state will no longer exist. I think what might replace it is going to be a homogenous type state where everyone is going to have a seat at the table and that will be the end of the Anglo Zionist dream that has disrupted the Middle East for the last 130 years.

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Mark Wauck's avatar

And now the scheme is to require issuers of stablecoin (please don't ask) to back it up by buying debt and this is supposed to get us out of this fix. Sounds like a scam to me.

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Mark Wauck's avatar

But there's no thought of fiscal responsibility, because that would mean the end of empire.

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Annie Johnson's avatar

87 AND LEGALLY BLIND..THUS CAPS

AT THIS LATE STAGE OF LIFE I HAVE MORE TIME THAN MOST AND I READ AND I READ AND (COPY AND VOICE ACTIVATION)

I CANOT REMEMBER WHEN I FIRST READ ABOUT THE BELT AND ROAD(2013) AND THE BRICS (2010). IT WAS WORTH MY WATCH AS THE BRICS WOULD WOULD GROW SIGNIFIGANTLY AFTER THE SANCTIONS WERE PUT ON RUSSIA BY BIS (USA). YOU ALL KNOW THAT STORY. BUT HERE IS THE BEGINNING OF THIS STORY?

.h

ALEX KRAINER WILL REMIND US ABOUT MACKINDER.

Who rules Eastern Europe commands the Heartland

Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island

Who rules the World Island commands the world.

The region of Western Asia and Eastern Europe can’t seem to catch a break and if war escalations aren’t brewing in one place, they’re brewing in another. As war in Ukraine is drawing to its inevitable close, Western empire seems determined to destabilize other regions and get more military conflicts going, almost as though Halford Mackinder’s concepts are still cemented in the imperial cabal’s mindset.

.https://trendcompass.substack.com/p/the-empire-opens-new-war-fronts-in?utm_source=publication-search

FOR YOU MARK…ANYTHING TO REPORT ON THE FEUD BETWEEN RUSSIA AND AZERBAIJAN>

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dissonant1's avatar

The new corporate motto at Jaguar: "Imagine there's no Jaguar... it's easy if you try."

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Joe's avatar

A point Will Shryver and others miss

.

.--------- Effectively it cost Iran Nothing to fire many of the Missiles -------

yes """" overwhelming majority were older Iranian missile stock """"

It is much more interesting than that.

I recall I may have mentioned before

Not only were they " Older " they were " In Need of Replacement "

--------- Effectively it cost Iran Nothing to fire many of the Missiles -------

Simply put many of the Old Missiles ones they had in storage and waiting to be used for years

rely on solid fuel (often referred to as "hard fuel" )

Solid-fuel missiles have a limited shelf life due to the chemical stability of the propellant, which can degrade over time. Solid propellants, typically made of composite materials like ammonium perchlorate and a binder, can break down over 10-20 years due to environmental factors (humidity, temperature) and chemical aging.

Replacing solid fuel is complex, requiring disassembly of the missile, removal of old propellant, and casting new fuel. This process is costly, time-consuming, and requires specialized facilities and expertise,

Many of Iran's older missiles (e.g., Shahab-1, Shahab-2, ) -- Were in a USE IT or LOSE IT CONDITION - it did not make financial sense to replace the hard fuel

And they have obviously increased their technology and made much better missiles

and it also cleared out space for newer better missiles

------------- What Will misses - is important -

............................ it basically cost IRAN NOTHING $ 0.00

.....................................to fire those missiles ----------

.

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Mark Wauck's avatar

Yes! I saw an article somewhere explaining this dynamic. I wish I could recall the source but, from the time frame presented it was clear that a significant part of their stock was reaching the end of its "shelf life".

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Joe's avatar

So in short - Attrition

and another reason why Israel and the US were so desperate to halt

new reports came out that the US / Israel spent > $ 1 billion defending against Iranian missiles - many of which cost Iran $0.00 during the 12 days

"Israel and the United States intercepted the remainder with around 200 missile interceptors at an estimated cost of 5 billion shekels (nearly $1.5 billion), according to an analysis of IDF data and open-source information." Haaretz

we will never know what US Israel are spending in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Iran add in things like Jordan, Egypt (payoffs) Gaza and Palestine but it is probably similar percentages as Russia and US/Ukraine

It's like Ukraine Russia

Arestovich drops another bombshell: Russia is only committing 5% of its budget to war.

https://x.com/simpatico771/status/1941155410536521824

not mentioned by Arestovich --

2024, Russia's military expenditure was estimated at approximately 6.67% of its GDP, according to the World Bank data. *** This figure reflects Russia's overall military spending, which includes but is not limited to the conflict in Ukraine. ***

For Ukraine, the military expenditure in 2024 was reported at 37.3% of its GDP,

' reported ' probably much much greater - with all the ' loans ' and other funny business from the EU NATO US

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Mark Wauck's avatar

Remember that Russia has to be prepared for the eventuality of direct war with NATO. That's why they haven't gone "all in" in Ukraine to this point.

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dissonant1's avatar

"If we truly want to make America great again, as opposed to using the slogan as cover for more grift and graft, then we have to start by recognizing the moral sinkhole we're in. Institutions, the government and corporations have all lost our trust because they're all cesspools of self-serving corruption." Yes! It all needs a moral basis AND TRUST to work, from government, to industry and commerce, to finance, to social relations.

For example, John Adams: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." That can be expanded to all of our social systems and largely explains how we got where we are today. That's what I thought MAGA was all about. Now what was that I heard Trump saying about being one people under God and about dismantling the Deep State?

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Pat Wetzel's avatar

Does the economic notion of "reversion to mean" apply to the social equation?

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dissonant1's avatar

I think it is quite a bit more complex than that, unfortunately.

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Pat Wetzel's avatar

It is.

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Joe's avatar

One of the reasons why Putin is so strong

[The guy is so strong on so many levels, truly amazing]

anyway the Russian Orthodox Church but also that he not only permits

but supports all religions and leads the example personally

Sadly Biden and now Trump have destroyed the US in that manner

the hypocracy of the ' biblical right to commit genocide ' combined with

a historical degradation of the meaning of the church and religion in the US which appears intentional

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Ray-SoCa's avatar

Del Monte fruits I believe is a poster child of being bought and declaring bankruptcy. A big issue is super cheap money that enabled a huge amount of these buyouts. With cheap money ending, I expect less buyouts.

What would also help end a lot of financial engineering is ending stock buybacks. While I’m on a wishlist, simplify the tax code reducing it by 95%. And antitrust should be put on steroids.

I’m not sure on the economy, especially on a regional basis. How much did Trumps cut ending the ngo gravy and green gravy trains end unemployment? I don’t think tarrifs are having much of an impact, besides heightened uncertainty. There was so much lying of economic statistics under Biden, in the positive axis, I wonder if it’s in the opposite direction? And the threats of deportations may be impacting done areas of the economy with 10% of the population being worried (my guess about 40 million). Perhaps uncertainty in industries using illegals is having anomaly? Lower gas prices should be helping.

In California it’s just an incompetent government that is making the economy worse. Eating out has gotten so expensive in the la area I’ve heard lots of people are cutting back.

Lots of automation happening, some due to ai.

I bet a lot of companies that needed cheap money to survive, are having issues.

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dissonant1's avatar

"A big issue is super cheap money that enabled a huge amount of these buyouts." Yes! This has also been the issue with the larger breakdown of our financial system. Too much money, too easy to print more, too easy to borrow at too low cost, too easy to leverage at little or no risk. And a fiat currency that is not tethered to any hard assets.

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Marvin Gardens2's avatar

a civilization that abandons honor is doomed

re war - this is a *killer* performance by Edwin Starr!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrZkHKANrNw

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Margaret's avatar

Thanks for that, a real treat to see him again!

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Mark Wauck's avatar

Just in case there was ever a doubt about who owns Trump.

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