Reading Bill’s note while having my morning coffee.
The “forever” war is here and won’t end anytime soon. It will ultimately bankrupt the U.S. just as Reagan’s push for the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) drove the USSR into bankruptcy and collapse. Except that the U.S. will not remain a single cohesive country after the fall.
Time for another cup of coffee while I can still afford one.
In an economic collapse, Red will protect themselves from Blue. That means dissolution of the interstate compacts. Civil War, maybe. Secession and reorganization, likely. It happens with all civilizations/empires.
Not that complicated article 28 convention of stayes.It's been floated before and I always thought it was ridiculous and would never have him.I think we're closer than ever. And I think we can handcuff the federal government despite the blue red disparity.
The USA has not been a "single, cohesive country" since 1960, when the country and culture were still 90% white, Christian, and non-statist. No one wants to admit it, but we have been a polyglot, increasingly non-Christian and statist since the 60s. The premise was that anybody coming in here would buy into the existing order, but that didn't happen. The country is now a mere agglomeration of various ethnicities, and the mantra is "diversity is our strength", which is complete poppycock. Diversity is our undoing, and it is being borne out in hundreds of ways everyday. Best always. PM
Don't disagree but the "whites" were the main driver for where we are today. Look at just about every presidential candidate the Democrats have put up, not to mention the Pelosi's, Schumer's, Schiff's, Sanders', etc., of today and other collectivist low life's. People are individuals and you see a lot of very intelligent Latinos and Blacks that are conservative. True, they are in the minority but so are conservative whites. The problem is that the Progressives hijacked our education system many decades ago and are turning out a majority of leftists. Ayn Rand warned us of this as far back as the '60s. Apparently, not enough people listened or at least those that could do something about it.
The democrats created the black communist by promoting fatherless children and paying for them from birth till death. As we have seen with the results, the experiment has been a total disaster for America, but a total success for the democratic cult. 1960-15% blacks born out of wedlock. 2023-72% blacks born out of wedlock. As LBJ said while signing the Civil Rights Act, “ The N—-r will be voting for us for the next 200years”. 95% vote democrat 🤔 the party of slavery.
SL: Where in the world do you get this garbage?? You are getting worse not better. Try reading something factual not science fiction. I think you have lost it!
SE, We turned off the flame under the Melting Pot in the 60s. First, we elevated blacks to a special class, and then we started importing cheap labor across the Rio Grande, first on the sly and then openly. What we are experiencing is the unfortunate but logical outcome of these decisions/actions. We sold our collective birthright for figurative bowl of stew. We supposedly knew better. Guess what? Best always. PM
As Plato and Archimedes have written in agreement, "Poop from a melting pot dinner is solid,regular, healthy, perhaps impressive. A salad turd floats around undigested as a complete mess." Credit to Ancient Wisdom podcast... you should al subscribe! I do.
Yes, especially Obama. See: Ilhan Omar and Company. Totally incompatible with traditional America. We lost Michigan and Minnesota figuratively overnight. Best always. PM
About an hour ago I parked my vehicle and walked into my favorite restaurant ... There was a young couple driving past It an old rusty car. Clearly immagrants from the south. Illegal. Probably illegal. This area is nice. Not awesome. They're awestruck. I hope there are many more of them than some of the bad element. We need to control it. Fresh young blood is good though.... Not going soft .. build the wall. Reward the best.
Bill: while I agree with most of this article, I have to comment on your description of Israel. IF Israel attacks an Arab country, it has always been in retaliation to an attack OR the verbosity of being attacked. You just say Israel attacking Arab countries indiscriminately; that is not correct. AP
Except there is no America about which to be "pro". "America" used to mean something, but it is now whatever all of its various "diverse" constituencies want or declare it to be. This is the new reality. Bill's constant theme is preservation of capital, not preservation of country. Regardless of his posture or outlook, he is a citizen of the world (spreading out risk, diversifying opportunity) in an effort to bring about what he sees as the most important thing: preservation of his wealth, but he is only pro-American to the extent that America enables attainment of his goal. Best always. PM
Um, no. Being completely blind to Reality is typical from the leftardes among us (looking at you, sir.)
Try to apply some Critical Thinking to what Bill writes. It's not hard to see his biases and prejudices, he makes no attempt to hide them - and that's a good thing. We know what we are getting with Mr. Bonner - at least most of us do. If YOUR biases and prejudices overshadow what Bill is actually saying, it stands to reason that you would make a comment like you did...
You are extrapolating an awful lot from my ten words in defense of Bill with which to make an array of phony aspersions about my political proclivities all of which are far from "leftardes."
As for Bill, none of us would be reading his missives if he were a wacky anti-American. He's as pro-American as they come. His best comments are those that find fault with the political class running our country into the ground
Well, I must have misunderstood. Bill Bonner is, at best, ambivalent when it comes to America. Agreed he is not anti-American, but he doesn't strike me as a big proponent either. And that is Rational. There isn't much over the last 15-20 years to be proud about IMO...
You may have jumped to a conclusion, but rightly so. Who in the ever-loving effing h*ll thinks most of the crap Bill writes is pro-American. Once in a while, Bill may write something positive, but very rarely. Rarely offers a solution, rarely (never, actually) writes about some of the good people and politicians that are trying to save America. Only points out the negatives. You have to be clueless or wearing rose-colored glasses to describe Bill as pro-America.
Seems a far more appropriate economic objective for the US would be drastically less debt, drastically less government and a stable economy where families were making healthy progress. Not to be the biggest stupid economy based on constant foolish wars and big tech censorship and big pharma lies pervading our health system and far less intervention from politics.
America could thrive again. All we need to do is push the federal government back inside the boundaries of the Constitution, eliminate 90% of the regulations on the books and stop the warring around the globe all of which would have the impact of dramatically reducing federal spending. I realize that it will take crisis and collapse before that is likely to happen. The good news may be that we seem to be headed in that direction without any chance of stopping and chaos always begets opportunity.
Wishful thinking my friend. China’s money and growth has been spent on its world expansion, spending trillions relocating its people and taking over towns, cities and states across the globe. You realize they already control our American government, entertainment, medicine, education and sports. The only thing they don’t control yet are we the people and our guns. Yet. Their BLM movement and anti-white agenda is now supporting our islamic community and the ignorant youth that blindly follow. Don’t you find it strange that our Muslim community has increased 1000% since 9/11, while the Chinese invasion in America has doubled that. No Liberty, you won’t see that on the news. But anyway, still have time to prepare for the upcoming election, and the war in our States that follows. It’s always been about divide and conquer, and they won. So sit back, count your gold nuggets, and enjoy these last days of America 🇺🇸
Sure, and I can be young again. All I have to do is find a way to go back in time. All we have to do is put the genie back in the bottle? Despite its attractiveness, none of what you propose is possible for the simple fact that we do not have the numbers. Half the country is currently, actively supporting and voting for the things we know are destructive. Best always. PM
Key passage from Bill's column: "The US economy is not exactly ‘free.’ And China is not exactly ‘communist.’ Central financial planning is a fact of life in both countries."... And this, of course, is why China is "catching up" and potentially pulling ahead of us. If you're a Democrat, you seemingly think all the intelligent people are in government and that government therefore has all the answers. But, in fact, our system is being sabotaged by regulations, taxes, and, in general, anti-business and anti-achievement attitudes. Allowing each citizen to reach his/her potential by removing roadblocks to achievement will unleash the innovative power of the American economy. And if China stays on Xi's current path of tightening government controls, we will be far ahead in ten years if we get back to a free-market approach based on individual rights. Will that happen? We'll see in November if we are taking a step forward or backward.
Isn't it interesting that the same corrupt politicians who thought it was a good idea to facilitate outsourcing our manufacturing base to China now tell us China is our enemy. Why should any American care whether China succeeds or fails? We have enough problems here in the US to worry about.
China will likely not surpass the US economy because it has a demographic problem where their one child policy is causing their population to decline rapidly due to low birth rate. Their population like in Japan is rapidly aging with less younger people to support them. The USA has a low birth rate like most western countries but we attract a lot of immigrants. CHina also has a huge real estate bubble to deal with.
It is not just that the Chinese population is declining (it is), they also need to deal with the reality that their population is aging. An aging population requires a variety of care-givers, which are precisely the people who were not born. There's a time bomb ticking there, and it will be difficult to deal with.
Satchel Paige said "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were". Does anyone know if the old people in China are in as bad condition as the seniors here? Maybe the old here, victims of Big Pharma, junk food, and lack of physical activity, are a much bigger drag on society?
The USA is indeed letting people into the country with an abysmal lack of vetting. Some are gangbangers, some are truly looking for a better life after having been born and raised in poverty.
The gangbangers are no help. But many of the immigrants coming in will do manual labor that no one else seems to want to do, including senior care.
So you may ask if the immigrants coming in now are helping us. And I will not pretend all of them are. But some are, and ironically, China does not that this same benefit.
We can complain about immigrants getting free stuff. But when all is said and done, their arrival here is not a total economic drain.
Maybe because most citizens of China became addicted to Opium, thanks to the good Brits. Similar to America becoming a drugged out society thanks to the good Dems!
SL: Gee, I think China would appreciate knowing how addicted to Opium their people are. I didn’t know they had that kind of money to afford the drug. Please don’t blame the Dems for U.S. drugged out society. It has been going on even while Rep. were in charge.
CD: Yes I know most of the history of Opium and China’s problems with it. But they have come a long way since the 1800’s. I’m talking about their current status. Clem, that was a great article; thanks for recommending it. I just watched a show on TV last night about the airline companies and how they are dealing with all the drugs that are coming in from foreign countries; a lot coming or trying to come into the USA.
I really do like todays discussion. A lot of good answers. If all these answers were to be combined a major problem would be solved. But alas We are talking about human beings. Not My hopes.
I continue to maintain that the strategic posture of greatest significance, by any measure, is this:
The US government is attempting to destroy its nation and the Chinese government is not
If you want to debate which country is likely to be number one or number two or numbers ten and twenty five or any other set of numbers, this is the critical distinction that must enter your thought process.
I'm afraid its more simple than that. The US government is trying to stay in power, so is the Chinese government. Tuis they are driven and focused on achieving exactly the same aim.
Yes I agree with that point. The Chinese are brutal against citizens who they view as a threat and the CCP will do anything to stay in power. The US is following suit and may catch up with China eventually in how it controls the population. But the Chinese aren’t trying to dismantle their country, destroy its economy, its legacy or its successful industries. The Chinese do not have a 2,000 mile long open border where every manner of criminal and enemy of the people(and even the state!) can enter without a trace. They are not using “Climate” as a pretext to dismantle their energy industry in a futile and sel-destructive attempt to replace carbon energy with renewable energy. They are not sending billions in foreign aid to other countries without getting something tangible in return(right or wrong on the merits). They are not trying to destroy Chinese families by making Chinese children confused about their gender and offering them genital mutilatiing surgery for free. I could go on. In terms of reducing a national power to its knees and eliminating its ability to wage war or even defend itself, my money goes on the plan being waged in the US.
Just some guys opinion piece. Yes, Netanyahu is not an angel by any means and war is not clean and harmless to civilians but this was started by iran backed terrorists. Israel has no choice but to wipe them out now.
Here's the problem. Nuttyyyahoo funded Hamas in order to keep the Palestinians divided. Do you really believe that Mossad didn't know the Oct. 7th attack was coming? Perhaps they let the attack happen so they had their excuse to clear out Gaza.
Israel's problem is they will not win a land war. Yes - they have air superiority but when they do a land invasion they are going to lose. And, without a land victory it is just revenge and will continue to escalate.
Israel has won prior land wars. Proof? They now control the West Bank and the Golan Heights, neither or which were part of the 1948 allotment. And, Israel is much better off for the annexations. Israel did also at one time control Gaza, but they thought they could offload that responsibility/cost, and look what happened. They have to root out Hamas completely, before they can actively control that province again, and I don't know if they can accomplish that in today's political environment.
To your point: Israel cannot successfully occupy Lebanon, and certainly not Iran. They must rely on being able to make things so uncomfortable that the politics of the region changes from within the countries themselves, which remains to be seen. They can, however, buy time, and if you see/believe yourself on the brink, buying time is a win. Best always. PM
We don't disagree; I acknowledged your point. Maybe our disagreement is on the word "win". To me "win" means you obtain your objective at the cost of the opponent. In that sense, you are correct; I don't believe they can conquer Lebanon, and especially not Iran, but they sure as heckfire can disincentivize them (until the next time). Best always. PM
"“The big question the US should ask is this,” says Mr. Mahbubani, “what happens if all its measures to stop China do not work…?”
Then, it will be time to smell the coffee."
So all that military spending by the USA will be wasted? I doubt that. And if push comes to shove between the US and China I doubt either military will be smelling coffee!
Man, following the avoid the Big Loss™️ advice here has worked like a champ! Look at all these idiots who’ve been “buying the dip” and riding the index funds to another record high. Glad I followed the advice here and avoided THAT foolishness. I mean, who wants to be putting up with 25%+ gains when you could be raking in 5%.
Unless BRICS is willing to do without 30% of the world's economy which we directly represent, and the almost 50% of it that we control, then BRICS is never going to be as successful as they pretend. It's a work-around, not a solution, and not a reserve currency. Best always. PM
Thanks, Paul, for your thoughts. Of course other groups similar to BPR are making it sound like USA will be a third world country when the dollar is made worthless by BRICS (I thought the USA Govt made the USD worthless all by itself!)
Israel is attacking Islamic countries? Damn right they are and a good thing too. How else can they continue to exist? They aren’t just fighting for their land but their lives. I would like to know what happened in Bill’s life to create his Jew-hating outlook.
Reading Bill’s note while having my morning coffee.
The “forever” war is here and won’t end anytime soon. It will ultimately bankrupt the U.S. just as Reagan’s push for the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) drove the USSR into bankruptcy and collapse. Except that the U.S. will not remain a single cohesive country after the fall.
Time for another cup of coffee while I can still afford one.
Are you saying the USA will dissolve into separate states like blue and red?
In an economic collapse, Red will protect themselves from Blue. That means dissolution of the interstate compacts. Civil War, maybe. Secession and reorganization, likely. It happens with all civilizations/empires.
Not that complicated article 28 convention of stayes.It's been floated before and I always thought it was ridiculous and would never have him.I think we're closer than ever. And I think we can handcuff the federal government despite the blue red disparity.
The Articles of Confederation don't look so bad now, do they? Best always. PM
"A Republic; if you can keep it." -- Ben Franklin Hey, Ben! Guess what? PM
Maybe he's not saying it, but it's happening anyway. Best always. PM
For this ol' man - expand a bit on "U.S. will not remain a single cohesive country" pls.
The USA has not been a "single, cohesive country" since 1960, when the country and culture were still 90% white, Christian, and non-statist. No one wants to admit it, but we have been a polyglot, increasingly non-Christian and statist since the 60s. The premise was that anybody coming in here would buy into the existing order, but that didn't happen. The country is now a mere agglomeration of various ethnicities, and the mantra is "diversity is our strength", which is complete poppycock. Diversity is our undoing, and it is being borne out in hundreds of ways everyday. Best always. PM
Don't disagree but the "whites" were the main driver for where we are today. Look at just about every presidential candidate the Democrats have put up, not to mention the Pelosi's, Schumer's, Schiff's, Sanders', etc., of today and other collectivist low life's. People are individuals and you see a lot of very intelligent Latinos and Blacks that are conservative. True, they are in the minority but so are conservative whites. The problem is that the Progressives hijacked our education system many decades ago and are turning out a majority of leftists. Ayn Rand warned us of this as far back as the '60s. Apparently, not enough people listened or at least those that could do something about it.
The democrats created the black communist by promoting fatherless children and paying for them from birth till death. As we have seen with the results, the experiment has been a total disaster for America, but a total success for the democratic cult. 1960-15% blacks born out of wedlock. 2023-72% blacks born out of wedlock. As LBJ said while signing the Civil Rights Act, “ The N—-r will be voting for us for the next 200years”. 95% vote democrat 🤔 the party of slavery.
SL: Where in the world do you get this garbage?? You are getting worse not better. Try reading something factual not science fiction. I think you have lost it!
Yes. A lot of stupid people of all races can be bought by the politicians.
We were unprepared for the paradigm shift, and then didn't know how to respond when it came. Best always. PM
It has been said that the "Plan" was to turn us from a Melting Pot into a Salad.
Mission Accomplished...
SE, We turned off the flame under the Melting Pot in the 60s. First, we elevated blacks to a special class, and then we started importing cheap labor across the Rio Grande, first on the sly and then openly. What we are experiencing is the unfortunate but logical outcome of these decisions/actions. We sold our collective birthright for figurative bowl of stew. We supposedly knew better. Guess what? Best always. PM
As Plato and Archimedes have written in agreement, "Poop from a melting pot dinner is solid,regular, healthy, perhaps impressive. A salad turd floats around undigested as a complete mess." Credit to Ancient Wisdom podcast... you should al subscribe! I do.
Explains why Clinton, Obama, and Biden brought in so many Somali's, Haitians, etc.
Yes, especially Obama. See: Ilhan Omar and Company. Totally incompatible with traditional America. We lost Michigan and Minnesota figuratively overnight. Best always. PM
About an hour ago I parked my vehicle and walked into my favorite restaurant ... There was a young couple driving past It an old rusty car. Clearly immagrants from the south. Illegal. Probably illegal. This area is nice. Not awesome. They're awestruck. I hope there are many more of them than some of the bad element. We need to control it. Fresh young blood is good though.... Not going soft .. build the wall. Reward the best.
Bill: while I agree with most of this article, I have to comment on your description of Israel. IF Israel attacks an Arab country, it has always been in retaliation to an attack OR the verbosity of being attacked. You just say Israel attacking Arab countries indiscriminately; that is not correct. AP
Bill does seem to be a bit pro-muslim terrorist and anti-Israel.
I don't read him as anything other than pro-America.
Except there is no America about which to be "pro". "America" used to mean something, but it is now whatever all of its various "diverse" constituencies want or declare it to be. This is the new reality. Bill's constant theme is preservation of capital, not preservation of country. Regardless of his posture or outlook, he is a citizen of the world (spreading out risk, diversifying opportunity) in an effort to bring about what he sees as the most important thing: preservation of his wealth, but he is only pro-American to the extent that America enables attainment of his goal. Best always. PM
Um, no. Being completely blind to Reality is typical from the leftardes among us (looking at you, sir.)
Try to apply some Critical Thinking to what Bill writes. It's not hard to see his biases and prejudices, he makes no attempt to hide them - and that's a good thing. We know what we are getting with Mr. Bonner - at least most of us do. If YOUR biases and prejudices overshadow what Bill is actually saying, it stands to reason that you would make a comment like you did...
Good grief.
You are extrapolating an awful lot from my ten words in defense of Bill with which to make an array of phony aspersions about my political proclivities all of which are far from "leftardes."
As for Bill, none of us would be reading his missives if he were a wacky anti-American. He's as pro-American as they come. His best comments are those that find fault with the political class running our country into the ground
Well, I must have misunderstood. Bill Bonner is, at best, ambivalent when it comes to America. Agreed he is not anti-American, but he doesn't strike me as a big proponent either. And that is Rational. There isn't much over the last 15-20 years to be proud about IMO...
You may have jumped to a conclusion, but rightly so. Who in the ever-loving effing h*ll thinks most of the crap Bill writes is pro-American. Once in a while, Bill may write something positive, but very rarely. Rarely offers a solution, rarely (never, actually) writes about some of the good people and politicians that are trying to save America. Only points out the negatives. You have to be clueless or wearing rose-colored glasses to describe Bill as pro-America.
Are you commenting on a different post? This article is primarily about China. There is no mention of Israel.
Seems a far more appropriate economic objective for the US would be drastically less debt, drastically less government and a stable economy where families were making healthy progress. Not to be the biggest stupid economy based on constant foolish wars and big tech censorship and big pharma lies pervading our health system and far less intervention from politics.
Too late my friend. America’s goose is cooked, and the democrats are the chefs, so you know we are all burnt 🥵
Bill your notes always get me thinking.
America could thrive again. All we need to do is push the federal government back inside the boundaries of the Constitution, eliminate 90% of the regulations on the books and stop the warring around the globe all of which would have the impact of dramatically reducing federal spending. I realize that it will take crisis and collapse before that is likely to happen. The good news may be that we seem to be headed in that direction without any chance of stopping and chaos always begets opportunity.
Wishful thinking my friend. China’s money and growth has been spent on its world expansion, spending trillions relocating its people and taking over towns, cities and states across the globe. You realize they already control our American government, entertainment, medicine, education and sports. The only thing they don’t control yet are we the people and our guns. Yet. Their BLM movement and anti-white agenda is now supporting our islamic community and the ignorant youth that blindly follow. Don’t you find it strange that our Muslim community has increased 1000% since 9/11, while the Chinese invasion in America has doubled that. No Liberty, you won’t see that on the news. But anyway, still have time to prepare for the upcoming election, and the war in our States that follows. It’s always been about divide and conquer, and they won. So sit back, count your gold nuggets, and enjoy these last days of America 🇺🇸
Sure, and I can be young again. All I have to do is find a way to go back in time. All we have to do is put the genie back in the bottle? Despite its attractiveness, none of what you propose is possible for the simple fact that we do not have the numbers. Half the country is currently, actively supporting and voting for the things we know are destructive. Best always. PM
Not half the country Paul, just the democrats 🤔
Key passage from Bill's column: "The US economy is not exactly ‘free.’ And China is not exactly ‘communist.’ Central financial planning is a fact of life in both countries."... And this, of course, is why China is "catching up" and potentially pulling ahead of us. If you're a Democrat, you seemingly think all the intelligent people are in government and that government therefore has all the answers. But, in fact, our system is being sabotaged by regulations, taxes, and, in general, anti-business and anti-achievement attitudes. Allowing each citizen to reach his/her potential by removing roadblocks to achievement will unleash the innovative power of the American economy. And if China stays on Xi's current path of tightening government controls, we will be far ahead in ten years if we get back to a free-market approach based on individual rights. Will that happen? We'll see in November if we are taking a step forward or backward.
Isn't it interesting that the same corrupt politicians who thought it was a good idea to facilitate outsourcing our manufacturing base to China now tell us China is our enemy. Why should any American care whether China succeeds or fails? We have enough problems here in the US to worry about.
Hegelian Dialect
Good one Steve.
I am sticking with Saint Augustine myself.
Ends up in the same place. Just depends on which way you go: directly or the "scenic" route. Best always. PM
China will likely not surpass the US economy because it has a demographic problem where their one child policy is causing their population to decline rapidly due to low birth rate. Their population like in Japan is rapidly aging with less younger people to support them. The USA has a low birth rate like most western countries but we attract a lot of immigrants. CHina also has a huge real estate bubble to deal with.
It is not just that the Chinese population is declining (it is), they also need to deal with the reality that their population is aging. An aging population requires a variety of care-givers, which are precisely the people who were not born. There's a time bomb ticking there, and it will be difficult to deal with.
so USA lets in people from all over the world/ criminals, uneducated coming for free stuff
how does that help us? China can due with less people
China has a serious demographic problem: too many old people and far to few young people. It's a problem without a solution.
And how 'bout this: the CCP has more security personnel than the military has soldiers, none of whom have any combat experience
Satchel Paige said "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were". Does anyone know if the old people in China are in as bad condition as the seniors here? Maybe the old here, victims of Big Pharma, junk food, and lack of physical activity, are a much bigger drag on society?
At an unknown age, some days ya run with Sons of Ibuprofen outlaws, other days …meh.
Excellent and valid point, Mr. Atomico...
Thanks.
The USA is indeed letting people into the country with an abysmal lack of vetting. Some are gangbangers, some are truly looking for a better life after having been born and raised in poverty.
The gangbangers are no help. But many of the immigrants coming in will do manual labor that no one else seems to want to do, including senior care.
So you may ask if the immigrants coming in now are helping us. And I will not pretend all of them are. But some are, and ironically, China does not that this same benefit.
We can complain about immigrants getting free stuff. But when all is said and done, their arrival here is not a total economic drain.
We are birds of a feather in that regard.
China was the World’s No 1 economy before in the early 1900’s. But it fell apart. Why, I do not know?
Probably, political instability!
My bet is that it will happen again.
Maybe because most citizens of China became addicted to Opium, thanks to the good Brits. Similar to America becoming a drugged out society thanks to the good Dems!
SL: Gee, I think China would appreciate knowing how addicted to Opium their people are. I didn’t know they had that kind of money to afford the drug. Please don’t blame the Dems for U.S. drugged out society. It has been going on even while Rep. were in charge.
Oh dear Dot, have you ever heard of
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium_Wars
🤫 you can’t fix stupid…
SL: You think everyone is stupid, if they don’t agree with your politics.
CD: Yes I know most of the history of Opium and China’s problems with it. But they have come a long way since the 1800’s. I’m talking about their current status. Clem, that was a great article; thanks for recommending it. I just watched a show on TV last night about the airline companies and how they are dealing with all the drugs that are coming in from foreign countries; a lot coming or trying to come into the USA.
I really do like todays discussion. A lot of good answers. If all these answers were to be combined a major problem would be solved. But alas We are talking about human beings. Not My hopes.
I continue to maintain that the strategic posture of greatest significance, by any measure, is this:
The US government is attempting to destroy its nation and the Chinese government is not
If you want to debate which country is likely to be number one or number two or numbers ten and twenty five or any other set of numbers, this is the critical distinction that must enter your thought process.
I'm afraid its more simple than that. The US government is trying to stay in power, so is the Chinese government. Tuis they are driven and focused on achieving exactly the same aim.
Yes I agree with that point. The Chinese are brutal against citizens who they view as a threat and the CCP will do anything to stay in power. The US is following suit and may catch up with China eventually in how it controls the population. But the Chinese aren’t trying to dismantle their country, destroy its economy, its legacy or its successful industries. The Chinese do not have a 2,000 mile long open border where every manner of criminal and enemy of the people(and even the state!) can enter without a trace. They are not using “Climate” as a pretext to dismantle their energy industry in a futile and sel-destructive attempt to replace carbon energy with renewable energy. They are not sending billions in foreign aid to other countries without getting something tangible in return(right or wrong on the merits). They are not trying to destroy Chinese families by making Chinese children confused about their gender and offering them genital mutilatiing surgery for free. I could go on. In terms of reducing a national power to its knees and eliminating its ability to wage war or even defend itself, my money goes on the plan being waged in the US.
@Abe ... really ?!?! that's you story, and you're sticking with it !?!
See comments for additional indepth discussion .
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2024-10-08/bunker-busters-zionists-and-tsar-bomba-solution
Just some guys opinion piece. Yes, Netanyahu is not an angel by any means and war is not clean and harmless to civilians but this was started by iran backed terrorists. Israel has no choice but to wipe them out now.
Here's the problem. Nuttyyyahoo funded Hamas in order to keep the Palestinians divided. Do you really believe that Mossad didn't know the Oct. 7th attack was coming? Perhaps they let the attack happen so they had their excuse to clear out Gaza.
Israel's problem is they will not win a land war. Yes - they have air superiority but when they do a land invasion they are going to lose. And, without a land victory it is just revenge and will continue to escalate.
Israel has won prior land wars. Proof? They now control the West Bank and the Golan Heights, neither or which were part of the 1948 allotment. And, Israel is much better off for the annexations. Israel did also at one time control Gaza, but they thought they could offload that responsibility/cost, and look what happened. They have to root out Hamas completely, before they can actively control that province again, and I don't know if they can accomplish that in today's political environment.
To your point: Israel cannot successfully occupy Lebanon, and certainly not Iran. They must rely on being able to make things so uncomfortable that the politics of the region changes from within the countries themselves, which remains to be seen. They can, however, buy time, and if you see/believe yourself on the brink, buying time is a win. Best always. PM
Paul - time will tell. Let's agree to disagree!
We don't disagree; I acknowledged your point. Maybe our disagreement is on the word "win". To me "win" means you obtain your objective at the cost of the opponent. In that sense, you are correct; I don't believe they can conquer Lebanon, and especially not Iran, but they sure as heckfire can disincentivize them (until the next time). Best always. PM
C, I am with you. Propaganda, Propaganda, Propaganda. Seems somethings never change.
might as well throw in some burning platform at this point
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2024/10/09/self-rescue-yes-you-need-to-be-able-to-do-this/#more-350999
"“The big question the US should ask is this,” says Mr. Mahbubani, “what happens if all its measures to stop China do not work…?”
Then, it will be time to smell the coffee."
So all that military spending by the USA will be wasted? I doubt that. And if push comes to shove between the US and China I doubt either military will be smelling coffee!
Man, following the avoid the Big Loss™️ advice here has worked like a champ! Look at all these idiots who’ve been “buying the dip” and riding the index funds to another record high. Glad I followed the advice here and avoided THAT foolishness. I mean, who wants to be putting up with 25%+ gains when you could be raking in 5%.
Has Bonner explored what BRICS will do to our currency, and how that will affect our proxy wars? They meet again 10/22/24.
Unless BRICS is willing to do without 30% of the world's economy which we directly represent, and the almost 50% of it that we control, then BRICS is never going to be as successful as they pretend. It's a work-around, not a solution, and not a reserve currency. Best always. PM
Thanks, Paul, for your thoughts. Of course other groups similar to BPR are making it sound like USA will be a third world country when the dollar is made worthless by BRICS (I thought the USA Govt made the USD worthless all by itself!)
Sallie: That’s a good one! Right On.
Israel is attacking Islamic countries? Damn right they are and a good thing too. How else can they continue to exist? They aren’t just fighting for their land but their lives. I would like to know what happened in Bill’s life to create his Jew-hating outlook.