Waiting For A Catastrophe; FBI
Earlier today in China Defending Itself Against Dollar Drop I quoted economist Philip Pilkington extensively. I concluded my own intro this way:
It’s almost as if China’s economic and monetary managers have been more farsighted than ours. This is the big challenge facing Trump, even though it got next to no mention during the campaign—at least not in the mainstream. Trump’s floated idea of sanctioning countries that diversify from the dollar is obviously nonsensical. The long and the short is that the US never really could afford a global empire, and now the monetary chickens (excessive debt) are coming home to roost. Exporting inflation hid the reality from Americans, but that’s going to end. Cutting and running from the war on Russia—hopefully under cover of some sort of deal—is a very good idea in this context. Continuing our Middle East war is a very bad idea.
I just checked Pilkington again, and I’ll paste his tweet in—because every picture tells a story. Pilkington’s conclusion is basically in line with what I wrote: “America needs a geopolitical reset yesterday.” So what are we waiting for? Why are we still mired in insane wars against Russia, or for supremacy in the Middle East? We don’t have the military ability to prevail—even if defeating and looting Russia were somehow a viable strategy for Keeping America Great. Apparently we as a nation are stuck on autopilot and won’t shift off that until catastrophe strikes.
The optimal US strategy currently is to wind down the empire and reactivate the Monroe Doctrine. But it is starting to look like it may be too late even for that. America needs a geopolitical reset yesterday.
Quote
Mohamed A. El-Erian @elerianm
From the WSJ article, “How China Capitalized on U.S. Indifference in Latin America.” @wsj #economy #markets
America’s focus on military supremacy is a battle that we’re losing, but the war is economic. We can back out of the battle, but not the war. We need to start getting involved in battles that we can win, but to do that we need a reset.
One extra note. Trump is said to be considering Mike Rogers for Director FBI. Rogers quit the FBI, resigning out of the Chicago office in 1994, where I was at the time. He then went into politics and has done very well for himself. I think this would be a very bad choice. I see nothing in Rogers’ career that would suggest he is anything but a swamp critter. Consider:
Rogers was chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Rogers sits on the Atlantic Council's Board of Directors.[25] He is also the David M. Abshire Chair at the Center for the Study of the Presidency & Congress,[26] an Intelligence Project Senior Fellow at Harvard University's Belfer Center,[27] a member of George Mason University's National Security Institute Board of Advisors,[28] and the chair of the board of trustees for the Mitre Corporation.[29]
I’m sure there will be people to tell me I don’t understand Trump’s style of multi-dimensional chess, that he’s keeping his enemies close to him, etc., etc. I think this woud be a very bad choice.
Rand appends a video of Rogers ripping Trump during the campaign.
Rand Paul @RandPaul
Donald Trump just endorsed the worst Deep State candidate this cycle.
@MikeRogersForMI is a never Trumper, and a card carrying member of the spy state that seeks to destroy Trump.
***You have to ask yourself who gives Trump this awful advice?
Who’s next, John Bolton?***
https://original.antiwar.com/david_stockman/2024/11/14/trumps-hegseth-caper-and-the-delusion-of-peace-through-strength/
Trump’s Hegseth Caper and the Delusion of ‘Peace Through Strength’
here is the Donald’s rationale for selecting a guy to run the $1 trillion/2.9 million employee Pentagon who has never managed anything bigger than a household of three successive wives and the accumulation of seven kids:
“Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength’ policy… Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country… With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.
What unmitigated breast-beating rubbish!
For crying out loud, the last thing America needs is another Warrior for the Troops. Instead, what it really needs is a Fearless Slayer of the sacred cows and obese pigs of the military/industrial complex who gorge themselves at the Pentagon’s trough.
...
... America’s existentially threatening runaway public debt.
That figure was $1 trillion when Ronald Reagan took office; $19 trillion by the time the Donald stumbled into the White House; stands at $36 trillion today; will top $60 trillion by the end of the next decade based on current built-in spending and borrowing; would exceed $70 trillion by the same point (2034) under the sweeping tax cuts and spending increases already proposed by the Donald; and will hit $150 trillion by mid-century under the CBO’s latest Rosy Scenario outlook.
Yet the Donald chooses to appoint to the single most crucial fiscal job in the entire Federal government a flag-waving champion of military glory.