Folks wonder why trumpypants is doing what he is doing with DOGE, cutbacks, tarrifs, panama, canada, mexico greenland, china. It doesn't seem to make sense to some people. Well here it is without any political bias.....
This is really about the last western empire retreating while the new Empire in the East rises. China is rising and will soon take over as the world's new empire. Unlike the past where empires were created by military force, empires today are created through financial force.
The US is basically bankrupt. They are adding $1 trillion of debt every 100 days and have been doing this regardless of whether it's the democrats or the republicans. It's unsustainable and it's naive to think the worlds reserve currency can remain that way with such an increasing debt load.
The main reason for the huge debt load is because it simply just costs too much money to be an empire for any length of time. Look throughout history and virtually every empire collapsed due to the cost of maintaining that empire.
So, for the past several years the US has been slowly disengaging from its role as the world leader and ceding that ground to China (who will then quickly have to cede that title to India after India modernizes). This year, trumpypants has decided to accelerate the decline of the US empire by attempting to lower the cost of running its empire.
To lower the cost he's cut things like foreign aid which Americans have used for decades as a not so secret tool for foreign policy gains....promising a 3rd world country cash in order to have access to its mineral rights or votes at the UN worked wonders to help build US companies fortunes. The US is signaling now that it is completely pulling back from empire mode and is now letting China fill that void with it's various Belt and Road schemes and other more recent foreign aid plans.
China though is already experiencing the high cost of running a modern empire and will soon have to pull back also as India will shortly replace China since it has a larger population willing to work for fewer labour costs than Chinese workers.
In short, what we are witnessing is the US desperately trying to hang on to the last few years it has left of being able to dictate the world's financial terms. Trumpypants is threatening countries with tariffs in one last ditch attempt to gain as many concessions as he can before the US declines to the point it can't get those concessions anymore.
This is also why the US is considering control in Gaza. Not to ensure a place for Israel (although that's viewed as a side benefit for sure) but as a way to have direct control over Iran to ensure that Saudi Arabia can control the middle east. Having Saudi Arabia control the middle east is important because they are friendly to the western countries and the western countries need a conduit to India when India becomes the world's new Empire. If Iran controls the middle east, then Iran controls access to India and shuts the western world out of that land and shipping route and Iran is friendly to Russia and China. So if India is friendly with China and Russia instead, the US and Europe decline even faster.
It's a tangled web but if you can see above the fray and move beyond democrats vs republicans, you'll see how these policies and actions are being done by political parties. The issues that American voters think they are voting for/against are just distractions to keep Americans attention away from the reality happening before their eyes. Keep focussed on the border, dei, pride rights, drones in the sky....all of it is really irrelevant but it does serve as convenient distraction to keep you from discussing the real issues.
Cheers.
@uzless saidOh boy another "what it's really about" hot take.
Folks wonder why trumpypants is doing what he is doing with DOGE, cutbacks, tarrifs, panama, canada, mexico greenland, china. It doesn't seem to make sense to some people. Well here it is without any political bias.....
This is really about the last western empire retreating while the new Empire in the East rises. China is rising and will soon take over as the world's ne ...[text shortened]... but it does serve as convenient distraction to keep you from discussing the real issues.
Cheers.
@wildgrass saidIt's the stuff conspiracy theories are made of.
Oh boy another "what it's really about" hot take.
Just ask Metal Brain.
@Suzianne saidConspiracy? wow.
It's the stuff conspiracy theories are made of.
Just ask Metal Brain.
Ok, for you lefties here's two must reads:
The Myth of American Idealism: How US Foreign Policy Endangers the World’ by Noam Chomsky & Nathan J Robinson
Confessions of an Economic Hitman - John Perkins
For you Righties out there:
Anything for Foreign Affairs Magazine or the Economist
@uzless saidAs long as some concrete bunker hawk doesn't convince him that War is America's best option.
Folks wonder why trumpypants is doing what he is doing with DOGE, cutbacks, tarrifs, panama, canada, mexico greenland, china. It doesn't seem to make sense to some people. Well here it is without any political bias.....
This is really about the last western empire retreating while the new Empire in the East rises. China is rising and will soon take over as the world's ne ...[text shortened]... ed to accelerate the decline of the US empire by attempting to lower the cost of running its empire.
The Christian Nationalists are absolutely stoked that he is setting the scene for the rebuilding of the 3rd Temple in Jerusalem.
I don't know that people credit how deep and widely held this futurist view of end times prophecy runs through Trumps support base. But it does, and those that support Trump to the hilt see him being successful due to God's leading as part of a new vision of American exceptionalism.
@kmax87 saidI put it down to boredom. 😆
As long as some concrete bunker hawk doesn't convince him that War is America's best option.
The Christian Nationalists are absolutely stoked that he is setting the scene for the rebuilding of the 3rd Temple in Jerusalem.
I don't know that people credit how deep and widely held this futurist view of end times prophecy runs through Trumps support base. But it does, and thos ...[text shortened]... lt see him being successful due to God's leading as part of a new vision of American exceptionalism.
Seriously. Most of the world's problems are solved, and that's boring.
We used to play "War in Europe" and "World At War" - those are done. We used to play "Colonial Conquest" - over with. Even India can feed itself. We had a global pandemic - oooooh, scary! - and developed a vaccine within a year.
Everyone has a pocket computer with access to the ENTIRE world's knowledge, ability to stream any movie or broadcast anytime, anywhere, take photos, communicate instantly with anyone else on video, write books, create art.
Yes, there is climate change but that is going to take a literal age to do anything to us. We have confidence that technology will rescue us.
We have the game of "Building Robots with Robot Minds To Take Over" - but that's for nerds. So we need another game. How about "God Is Coming"? That should be fun...for awhile. 😆
@uzless saidDon't have time to read the whole manifesto, but I do want to comment on this line:
Folks wonder why trumpypants is doing what he is doing with DOGE, cutbacks, tarrifs, panama, canada, mexico greenland, china. It doesn't seem to make sense to some people. Well here it is without any political bias.....
This is really about the last western empire retreating while the new Empire in the East rises. China is rising and will soon take over as the world's ne ...[text shortened]... but it does serve as convenient distraction to keep you from discussing the real issues.
Cheers.
===The main reason for the huge debt load is because it simply just costs too much money to be an empire for any length of time. Look throughout history and virtually every empire collapsed due to the cost of maintaining that empire.===
This is objectively incorrect. Our "empiring" costs pennies on the dollar and probably brings more benefit than it costs.
We have large deficits (though much less than the trillion every hundred days you reference) for two basic reasons:
1. Taxes are too low. We could raise the highest marginal tax bracket by 5-10 points without getting near the apex of the Laffer curve and we could start treating inheritances as income (which, duh, it is). Plus we would raise the corporate tax rate from 21% (though not to 35% like it used to be - that was too high).
2. We refuse to engage in common sense entitlement reform. The social security draw ages were set in 1933 when most people never made 70. Extending the social security draw age groups by at least 2 or 3 years would save a mint. And there are a million other little cuts that should be made.
We could balance our budget without touching foreign or military spending.
@sh76 saidAgree. My mother and father drew SS for years - a piddling amount compared to their yearly income from dividends and pension. They didn't need it, but they drew it because are you kidding? Free money... 😆
Don't have time to read the whole manifesto, but I do want to comment on this line:
===The main reason for the huge debt load is because it simply just costs too much money to be an empire for any length of time. Look throughout history and virtually every empire collapsed due to the cost of maintaining that empire.===
This is objectively incorrect. Our "empiring" costs pe ...[text shortened]... s that should be made.
We could balance our budget without touching foreign or military spending.
But we have to reform healthcare as well. Medicare For All is the simplest way to do that - simply slash medical costs by 66% overnight. Europe pays about that much and has excellent healthcare, and we will too. 😆
And defense can take a 30% reduction without even breathing hard.
That would do it.
NB. But studying USAID for gay Peruvian comic books will NOT do it. 😆
@spruce112358 saidI am on 100% SS, and am trying desperately to find employment but at my age it seems impossible. So waiting for the SS shoe to drop where my 3k a month goes to 0.5K a month thereby ensuring we will be out in the street.
Agree. My mother and father drew SS for years - a piddling amount compared to their yearly income from dividends and pension. They didn't need it, but they drew it because are you kidding? Free money... 😆
But we have to reform healthcare as well. Medicare For All is the simplest way to do that - simply slash medical costs by 66% overnight. Europe pays about that much ...[text shortened]... hard.
That would do it.
NB. But studying USAID for gay Peruvian comic books will NOT do it. 😆
I lost out to the tune of a quarter million in my 401 K account when it went bust.
So now I have literally nothing but SS and the 'secure' part is up for grabs.
@spruce112358 saidMedicare for all might cut costs over-all, but it wouldn't cut government spending. It would increase government spending on healthcare. Whether it's a good idea is another issue, but it's not a way to cut government spending.
Agree. My mother and father drew SS for years - a piddling amount compared to their yearly income from dividends and pension. They didn't need it, but they drew it because are you kidding? Free money... 😆
But we have to reform healthcare as well. Medicare For All is the simplest way to do that - simply slash medical costs by 66% overnight. Europe pays about that much ...[text shortened]... hard.
That would do it.
NB. But studying USAID for gay Peruvian comic books will NOT do it. 😆
@sonhouse saidYour 401K account went bust?
I am on 100% SS, and am trying desperately to find employment but at my age it seems impossible. So waiting for the SS shoe to drop where my 3k a month goes to 0.5K a month thereby ensuring we will be out in the street.
I lost out to the tune of a quarter million in my 401 K account when it went bust.
So now I have literally nothing but SS and the 'secure' part is up for grabs.
Yikes. Sorry to hear that, but how does that happen? The stock market has basically done nothing but go up, up, up for the past 15 years. How does a 401k go bust in that environment?
You didn't listen to Obama and invest it all in Solyndra, did you?
@sh76 saidATT I had a 401K that my company, Varian set up in such a way as anyone under a certain age, which was 59 to be exact, anyone under that age had no control over where our money was managed, so I could not buy say Microsoft or Amazon or whatever else was a strong buy.
Your 401K account went bust?
Yikes. Sorry to hear that, but how does that happen? The stock market has basically done nothing but go up, up, up for the past 15 years. How does a 401k go bust in that environment?
You didn't listen to Obama and invest it all in Solyndra, did you?
EVERY slot, like eight of them were ALL banks and it was growing pretty well till the collapse in I think it was 1998. Within a month my quarter mil went down to 3000 bucks. So goodbye paying off my house which fuuked me up for DECADES. I just sold my place for 112K which was less than half what it should have been, and I bought a mobile home for the equity of about 50K.
Not a penny left for anything else so we are in financial difficulties as we speak.
The post that was quoted here has been removedOr impeach Trump AND Vance and get a real person in there who will actually NOT foist illegal EO's on us like the one Trump puked out, children born here are NOT citizens if even ONE of the parents were born elsewhere, flying right into the 14th amendment of the constitution, so for Trump the constitution is just a list of suggestions.