In the video discussion yesterday between Judge Nap and Doug Macgregor, at the very end of the video, the Judge quickly asked Macgregor about China—because of the Yellen trip there. The Judge wanted to know what Macgregor thought of the US placing troops on the islands that used to be called Quemoy and Matsu. Macgregor shook his head at the stupidity of it all and simply confirmed what he has repeatedly said. The US has no strategic interest in what’s going on in China’s neighborhood.
So “the threat of China’s industrial overcapacity” is a buzzword that actually means that China is simply too competitive, and by asking it to address this, what Yellen is truly asking of China is akin to a fellow sprinter asking Usain Bolt to run a less fast because he can’t keep up.
Now I’m not saying there isn’t some merit in this ask. At the end of the day, it’s understandable that when you see a competitor continuously gaining in strength, you grow quite anxious as to your own future and that of your people. But it needs to be framed the right way: framing it as if China was doing something malign with deliberate “overcapacity” is just a very unfair characterization. China played the game right: as Tim Cook explained, it first and foremost invested in its people, in their education. They also invested big time in innovation and they didn’t shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to energy prices the way Europe did, among many other policies.
A Princeton study in 2014 concluded that the US was no longer a democracy but an oligarchy serving only elite interests. The study got a lot of attention even in the liberal media at that time. Of course the liberal media are all captured now so no-one talks about it anymore, which is disappointing because the situation has gotten worse over the last 10 years and many other western countries are probably also oligarchies now. Most certainly don't seem very responsive to the interests of their people. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/princeton-experts-say-us-no-longer-democracy
Wow, the US is at war with Russia by the hands of Ukrainians, while China is at war with the US by the hands of Russians. Looks like the Chinese have f*cked the US)
"... but at the cost of no American/European lives - you can't get better value than that!" - as Cameron recently reprised the Lindsey Graham line of 'thinking'. Not a source he was willing to cite, which shows some degree of native cunning if no actual intelligence.
There is a well recognized concept in economics called 'external costs'. These are the costs that are not borne by the person or entity that causes them. But they are 'costs' just the same and somebody bears them. For Lindsey Graham or David Cameron (or Mitt Romney or Mitch McConnell) to suggest that the Ukraine war is 'cost-free' because US or British boys are not (yet) laying down their lives on the battle field is ignorant and fatuous thinking of the highest order. It is insanity. The total costs (including 'external costs') of this war are already and will be extraordinary and will (as they already do) threaten global peace and, in fact, the survival of modern civilization as we know it.
Gee whiz, did you ever just sit back and contemplate what our lives as Americans would have been like if the US just one time minded our own store? What if America had our sphere of influence in the western hemisphere, and the great powers of Europe, Africa and Asia had theirs? Wow, what a novel concept. I'm sure neocon globalist heads will explode, since their psychotic "rules based (dis)order" is incompatible with what will soon be reality. May financialization end up in the cesspool, rather than the ash heap, of history, where it belongs.
History demonstrates that the ultimate goal of these rapacious oligarchs is in service to their own desires. Taxes are only for the little people. Those who run the government are only concerned with the benefits that serve them. This is why liberal ideas appeal, they can enshroud themselves in mouthing how they serve the little guy while they break his back and steal his money. Why else has the war on poverty produced no positive results. Why education no longer produces educated people. Truly educated people would be rejecting what they are pushing upon us. That is why conservatives are the enemy. We tend to be more informed because we are not indoctrinated to believe the crap they are selling. So, they smear us as conspiracy theorists, racists, antisemites, etc., etc.
I really relate to the idea of the Neocons being limited by confining their thinking to their in group.
This is also a problem elsewhere, for example I see it as the major factor in mathematics education (my field) here in NZ. The voice of the tertiary world rules the roost and common sense and the outside world at large have no input. Hence the program is essentially university-lite and consequently very poor preparation for life in the world outside classrooms.
Sorry to be on my hobby-horse, but I believe hearing only those whose thinking is along limited lines is a very common situation.
While I'm on the line I'd like to say a really big thank you Mark for your work. You and your links are a daily must, especially in NZ where MSM is mundane, superficial and largely one-directional. Cheers mate (as we say here)
Thanks. I think self-reinforcing group think is pretty typical of ideological forms of thinking as well--not coincidentally--in virtually any bureaucratic setting. Speaking from experience.
And who, pray tell, drove Russia to seek closer cooperation with China? The same goes with Blinken recently doubling down on Ukraine joining Nato! When it was exactly that issue that caused the war!!! As my dad would have said, “numbskulls!”
Americans will spend $400 million on a baseball system. The Chinese will spend $400 million to underwrite a factory or an industry. The Chinese system is so unfair! They have unfair advantages! (And Go Brewers! Miller Park is awesome!)
"our supposed “free market” system is now and only could be a libertarian fantasy—doomed to turn into a predatory financialized oligarchy"
I think "libertarian fantasy" misses the cynical design behind "free markets" - the concept was invented by the British as they transitioned from the industrial to the financialized economy.
The very purpose of the "free market system" has become, much like the "rules based system," to enrich Western politicians and establish and maintain corporate monopolies and supply chains. There is no longer any large scale capitalism without the "crony" attached.
Hey and g'day D1, A bit concerning to me is a hint from Mark that sounded like there's no such thing as a capitalist Economic free market system. I read his posting twice, still unclear to me if he meant 'now', which is true. Crony capitalism reigns with roots, (well aside from human nature), beginning with the Raw, 'er I mean New Deal flowing thru The Great LBJ Society into a (sadly) 3-d leg in Obamacare. Socialism, of course. Fascism perhaps is what's be foisted on us, actually. Of course, not Nazi-supremacy (which many confuse as Fascism) but the Social Pact between Tyrannical Gov't and Business, such as paying for censure and censoring - such as Twitter/fakebook/google etc.. Simplicius as well seems to endorse the CCP communist economic program as 'superior'. I'll go with better than the 2020's economical cr@p we're living through - but communism just the same and just as dangerous/damning. Alas, when the USA of today is as bad as it is, well, somehow socialism and communism seem to look better. What a sad, sad state of being. Best at you good sir! (WrH)
I think Bloomberg is reporting now that an Iranian strike against Israel is imminent. Huge swath of restricted airspace has been announced to accommodate missile launches.
Half-listening to the news this morning on my way to work, some Israeli talking head was complaining that Iran's closing its airspace was a psychological attack on Israel, creating added anxiety among the populace, as to be expected from a "terrorist state." These people are unreal.
Good summary. Just finished reading this article 10 minutes before you posted this from Gordon Chang. He's not heavy on the Russia/China relationship analysis or the Middle East/Ukraine debacle but does provide what feels like somewhat of an insider perspective. He's not so sure Zhou is hell bent on tariffs. https://www.newsweek.com/yellen-china-failure-was-only-option-opinion-1888860
I recall many of the "Free Market" types ripping Trump for tariffs on China. Hyppocrisy here? In my mind there is no longer a free market as that model is no longer valid when speaking of the West and our Oligarch Fascist system..
Of course, Chang hates the CCP and his views must be taken with a few grains of salt.
Notwithstanding, tariffs would raise price of Chinese goods to US consumers already struggling with inflation and increased prices for 'everything'. When US war policy is already likely to raise gas/energy prices. In an election year. Biden is stupid, but not that stupid.
Plus, the Chinese own him.
Yellen is bluffing as far as taking any meaningful action is concerned. She holds no cards.
This is not to say China does not engage in 'predatory' trade practices and that our terms of trade do not bear examination. But its hardly a one way street.
Smoke and mirrors for the MSM propaganda machine to rev up and spew misinformation designed to make the regime look tough on China.. Yellen's not stupid, but she's also pretty ignorant to think anyone is going to buy her B.S.
Some interesting commentary about it here:
https://twitter.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1776486765463048674
He says:
So “the threat of China’s industrial overcapacity” is a buzzword that actually means that China is simply too competitive, and by asking it to address this, what Yellen is truly asking of China is akin to a fellow sprinter asking Usain Bolt to run a less fast because he can’t keep up.
Now I’m not saying there isn’t some merit in this ask. At the end of the day, it’s understandable that when you see a competitor continuously gaining in strength, you grow quite anxious as to your own future and that of your people. But it needs to be framed the right way: framing it as if China was doing something malign with deliberate “overcapacity” is just a very unfair characterization. China played the game right: as Tim Cook explained, it first and foremost invested in its people, in their education. They also invested big time in innovation and they didn’t shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to energy prices the way Europe did, among many other policies.
A Princeton study in 2014 concluded that the US was no longer a democracy but an oligarchy serving only elite interests. The study got a lot of attention even in the liberal media at that time. Of course the liberal media are all captured now so no-one talks about it anymore, which is disappointing because the situation has gotten worse over the last 10 years and many other western countries are probably also oligarchies now. Most certainly don't seem very responsive to the interests of their people. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/princeton-experts-say-us-no-longer-democracy
Note that the study came out toward the tail end of 8 years of a Dem regime. That has to be notable for an Ivy study.
Ух ты, США воюют с Россией руками украинцев, а в это время Китай воюет с США руками русских. Похоже китайцы поимели США)
From the Russian:
Wow, the US is at war with Russia by the hands of Ukrainians, while China is at war with the US by the hands of Russians. Looks like the Chinese have f*cked the US)
"... but at the cost of no American/European lives - you can't get better value than that!" - as Cameron recently reprised the Lindsey Graham line of 'thinking'. Not a source he was willing to cite, which shows some degree of native cunning if no actual intelligence.
There is a well recognized concept in economics called 'external costs'. These are the costs that are not borne by the person or entity that causes them. But they are 'costs' just the same and somebody bears them. For Lindsey Graham or David Cameron (or Mitt Romney or Mitch McConnell) to suggest that the Ukraine war is 'cost-free' because US or British boys are not (yet) laying down their lives on the battle field is ignorant and fatuous thinking of the highest order. It is insanity. The total costs (including 'external costs') of this war are already and will be extraordinary and will (as they already do) threaten global peace and, in fact, the survival of modern civilization as we know it.
These people are absolute idiots.
Worse.
Gee whiz, did you ever just sit back and contemplate what our lives as Americans would have been like if the US just one time minded our own store? What if America had our sphere of influence in the western hemisphere, and the great powers of Europe, Africa and Asia had theirs? Wow, what a novel concept. I'm sure neocon globalist heads will explode, since their psychotic "rules based (dis)order" is incompatible with what will soon be reality. May financialization end up in the cesspool, rather than the ash heap, of history, where it belongs.
History demonstrates that the ultimate goal of these rapacious oligarchs is in service to their own desires. Taxes are only for the little people. Those who run the government are only concerned with the benefits that serve them. This is why liberal ideas appeal, they can enshroud themselves in mouthing how they serve the little guy while they break his back and steal his money. Why else has the war on poverty produced no positive results. Why education no longer produces educated people. Truly educated people would be rejecting what they are pushing upon us. That is why conservatives are the enemy. We tend to be more informed because we are not indoctrinated to believe the crap they are selling. So, they smear us as conspiracy theorists, racists, antisemites, etc., etc.
I really relate to the idea of the Neocons being limited by confining their thinking to their in group.
This is also a problem elsewhere, for example I see it as the major factor in mathematics education (my field) here in NZ. The voice of the tertiary world rules the roost and common sense and the outside world at large have no input. Hence the program is essentially university-lite and consequently very poor preparation for life in the world outside classrooms.
Sorry to be on my hobby-horse, but I believe hearing only those whose thinking is along limited lines is a very common situation.
While I'm on the line I'd like to say a really big thank you Mark for your work. You and your links are a daily must, especially in NZ where MSM is mundane, superficial and largely one-directional. Cheers mate (as we say here)
Thanks. I think self-reinforcing group think is pretty typical of ideological forms of thinking as well--not coincidentally--in virtually any bureaucratic setting. Speaking from experience.
It appears that you and the two Alexes are correct and that the ground for the "blame China for Ukraine" narrative is already being prepared:
https://www.newsweek.com/china-russia-satellite-imagery-ukraine-war-conflict-1887770
Pretty lame in that no one had ever presented or thought of this angle until now.
When is Yellen going to Russia to complain about the overcapacity of artillery shells and reserve soldiers they are producing?
Now that _would_ be funny.
And who, pray tell, drove Russia to seek closer cooperation with China? The same goes with Blinken recently doubling down on Ukraine joining Nato! When it was exactly that issue that caused the war!!! As my dad would have said, “numbskulls!”
Exactly!
Americans will spend $400 million on a baseball system. The Chinese will spend $400 million to underwrite a factory or an industry. The Chinese system is so unfair! They have unfair advantages! (And Go Brewers! Miller Park is awesome!)
Hat-tip to David Goldman on this concept.
"our supposed “free market” system is now and only could be a libertarian fantasy—doomed to turn into a predatory financialized oligarchy"
I think "libertarian fantasy" misses the cynical design behind "free markets" - the concept was invented by the British as they transitioned from the industrial to the financialized economy.
Swag:
Biden Admin is looking for a scapegoat for losing project Ukraine, and China is perfect. Same for U.S. economic issues.
Biden Administration is not willing to make U.S. competitive, and instead focused on enriching their cronies and virtue signaling.
The very purpose of the "free market system" has become, much like the "rules based system," to enrich Western politicians and establish and maintain corporate monopolies and supply chains. There is no longer any large scale capitalism without the "crony" attached.
Hey and g'day D1, A bit concerning to me is a hint from Mark that sounded like there's no such thing as a capitalist Economic free market system. I read his posting twice, still unclear to me if he meant 'now', which is true. Crony capitalism reigns with roots, (well aside from human nature), beginning with the Raw, 'er I mean New Deal flowing thru The Great LBJ Society into a (sadly) 3-d leg in Obamacare. Socialism, of course. Fascism perhaps is what's be foisted on us, actually. Of course, not Nazi-supremacy (which many confuse as Fascism) but the Social Pact between Tyrannical Gov't and Business, such as paying for censure and censoring - such as Twitter/fakebook/google etc.. Simplicius as well seems to endorse the CCP communist economic program as 'superior'. I'll go with better than the 2020's economical cr@p we're living through - but communism just the same and just as dangerous/damning. Alas, when the USA of today is as bad as it is, well, somehow socialism and communism seem to look better. What a sad, sad state of being. Best at you good sir! (WrH)
Back at ya, Wayne! Thanks for your good comment.
I think Bloomberg is reporting now that an Iranian strike against Israel is imminent. Huge swath of restricted airspace has been announced to accommodate missile launches.
Half-listening to the news this morning on my way to work, some Israeli talking head was complaining that Iran's closing its airspace was a psychological attack on Israel, creating added anxiety among the populace, as to be expected from a "terrorist state." These people are unreal.
Geopolitics and wokeness combined. Great.
Good summary. Just finished reading this article 10 minutes before you posted this from Gordon Chang. He's not heavy on the Russia/China relationship analysis or the Middle East/Ukraine debacle but does provide what feels like somewhat of an insider perspective. He's not so sure Zhou is hell bent on tariffs. https://www.newsweek.com/yellen-china-failure-was-only-option-opinion-1888860
I recall many of the "Free Market" types ripping Trump for tariffs on China. Hyppocrisy here? In my mind there is no longer a free market as that model is no longer valid when speaking of the West and our Oligarch Fascist system..
Yeah, I think the tariff stuff was just a front for the real agenda: Russia.
Of course, Chang hates the CCP and his views must be taken with a few grains of salt.
Notwithstanding, tariffs would raise price of Chinese goods to US consumers already struggling with inflation and increased prices for 'everything'. When US war policy is already likely to raise gas/energy prices. In an election year. Biden is stupid, but not that stupid.
Plus, the Chinese own him.
Yellen is bluffing as far as taking any meaningful action is concerned. She holds no cards.
This is not to say China does not engage in 'predatory' trade practices and that our terms of trade do not bear examination. But its hardly a one way street.
Smoke and mirrors for the MSM propaganda machine to rev up and spew misinformation designed to make the regime look tough on China.. Yellen's not stupid, but she's also pretty ignorant to think anyone is going to buy her B.S.