Oct 182019
 
 October 18, 2019  Posted by at 9:10 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


Salvador Dali The three pines 1919

 

McConnell: Senate Impeachment Trial ‘As Soon As Thanksgiving’ (ZH)
Trump Florida Golf Course To Host G7 Summit (BBC)
Turkey To Suspend Syria Offensive, Mike Pence Announces (BBC)
Washington is Wrong Once Again – Kurds Join Assad to Defend Syria (Ron Paul)
Media And Pundits Misread The ‘Everyone Wins’ Plan For Syria (MoA)
UK Agrees To Best Of Worst Possible Brexit Deals (MW)
EU Leaves Door Open To Brexit Extension, In Blow To Boris Johnson (G.)
UK MPs Win Bid To Vote On 2nd Brexit Referendum In Saturday Showdown (Ind.)
How Slashing Pentagon Budget Could Pay for Medicare for All (Conley)
Going Dutch? Low Interest Rates Rattle ‘World’s Best’ Pension System (R.)

 

 

And you thought you had seen absurd theater so far… Biden and Comey and Strzok testifying. Hillary?! Wasserman-Schultz?

“..you’d have basically Thanksgiving to Christmas — which would be wonderful because there’s no deadline in the world like the next break to motivate senators..”

McConnell: Senate Impeachment Trial ‘As Soon As Thanksgiving’ (ZH)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told Republican Senators on Wednesday to prepare for an impeachment trial of President Trump as soon as Thanksgiving, according to the Boston Globe. The announcement comes as House Democrats roll the dice on a second-hand claim from a CIA ‘whistleblower’ that President Trump pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate former VP Joe Biden – who the whistleblower worked for – and Biden’s son Hunter [..] .. while Trump will almost certainly be impeached by the Democrat-controlled House, the GOP-controlled Senate will be able to pick apart the entire affair.

“In their closed-door weekly luncheon, McConnell gave a presentation about the impeachment process and fielded questions alongside his staff and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who was a manager for the 1998 impeachment of President Bill Clinton. “Impeachment is the first step to remove a president, with the House voting on formal charges and the Senate holding a trial in which it either convicts or acquits him. -Boston Globe “There’s sort of a planned expectation that it would be sometime around Thanksgiving, so you’d have basically Thanksgiving to Christmas — which would be wonderful because there’s no deadline in the world like the next break to motivate senators,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) following the meeting.


McConnell has previously said that if the House impeaches Trump, Senate rules would force him to begin a trial – one which could force the Bidens to testify. “Not only could Mr. Biden be forced to be in D.C. at a critical moment in the presidential campaign, but so could many of his chief rivals — the half-dozen senators also vying for Democrats’ presidential nomination, impeachment experts said. For that matter, if the House chooses to impeach Mr. Trump on charges stemming from the special counsel’s Russia investigation, aides said it could open the door to witnesses such as fired FBI Agent Peter Strzok or even major figures from the Obama administration. Mr. Trump could even be present for the entire spectacle. Experts said the Senate would have a hard time refusing him if he demanded to confront the witnesses against him.” -Washington Times

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Uber trolling.

Trump Florida Golf Course To Host G7 Summit (BBC)

One of President Donald Trump’s golf resorts in Florida will host the G7 summit next June, the White House says. White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney denied President Trump would profit from the event. The aide said “Donald Trump’s brand is probably strong enough as it is”, so he did not need a branding boost. Mr Trump has previously said he is not involved with the daily operations of the Trump Organization and that his sons run the business. Mr Mulvaney told reporters on Thursday that an advance team of scouts had started with a list of possible locations for the summit in about a dozen states. The team, he said, went to visit the venues in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Florida, North Carolina, Michigan, Tennessee and Utah.

“And it became apparent at the end of that process that Doral was by far and away, far and away, the best physical facility for this meeting. “In fact I was talking to one of the advance teams when they came back and I said, ‘What was it like?’ And they said, ‘You’re not going to believe this but it’s almost like they built this facility to host this type of event.'” The chief of staff said the event would be made available “at cost” and that using the Doral would save millions of dollars and was cheaper than the other potential sites. Earlier this year the US president floated the idea of his Doral property hosting the G7. But Mr Mulvaney denied on Thursday that his boss was profiting from the presidency, pointing out that he donates his salary to charity.


“It’s the most recognisable name in the English language [Trump] and probably around the world right now, so no, that has nothing to do with that,” he said. Mr Mulvaney said he had initially been sceptical about the idea and “aware of the political sort of criticism that we’d come under for doing it at Doral”. He added: “I get the criticisms, so does he. Basically, he’d be criticised regardless of what he’d chose to do, but no there’s no issue here on him profiting from this any way, shape or form.”

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120 hours. Followed by a ceasefire.

Turkey To Suspend Syria Offensive, Mike Pence Announces (BBC)

Turkey has agreed to a ceasefire in northern Syria to let Kurdish-led forces withdraw, US Vice-President Mike Pence has announced. All military operations will be paused for five days, and the US will help facilitate an “orderly withdrawal” of Kurdish-led troops from what Turkey has termed a “safe zone” on the border. Turkey launched its assault last week. It aimed to repel a Kurdish militia that it views as a terrorist group, and resettle Syrian refugees in the area. Critics fear this could lead to ethnic cleansing of the local Kurdish population.


The cross-border offensive came after US President Donald Trump pulled US forces out of the border region. His decision prompted a raft of criticism at home and abroad, with some accusing him of giving Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “green light” for the operation. Mr Trump tweeted about the ceasefire before Mr Pence announced it, writing that “millions of lives will be saved!” Mr Pence thanked Donald Trump’s “strong leadership” during the announcement. “He wanted a ceasefire. He wanted to stop the violence,” the vice-president said.

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It’s obvious where Ron Paul stands, he always has: The best way to help the Kurds and everyone else in the region is to just come home.

Washington is Wrong Once Again – Kurds Join Assad to Defend Syria (Ron Paul)

When President Trump Tweeted last week that “it is time for us to get out of these ridiculous endless wars,” adding that the US would be withdrawing from Syria, Washington went into a panic. Suddenly Republicans, Democrats, the media, the think tanks, and the war industry all discovered and quickly became experts on “the Kurds,” who we were told were an “ally” being sent to their slaughter by an ignorant President Trump. But it was all just another bipartisan ploy to keep the “forever war” gravy train rolling through the Beltway. Interventionists will do anything to prevent US troops from ever coming home, and their favorite tactic is promoting “mission creep.”

As President Trump Tweeted, we were told in 2014 by President Obama that the US military would go into Syria for just 30 days to save the Yazidi minority that they claimed were threatened. Then that mission crept into “we must fight ISIS” and so the US military continued to illegally occupy and bomb Syria for five more years. Even though it was the Syrian army with its Russian and Iranian allies that did the bulk of the fighting against al-Qaeda and ISIS in Syria, President Trump took credit and called for the troops to come home. But when the military comes home, the military-industrial-Congressional-media complex loses its cash cow, so a new rationale had to be invented.


The latest “mission creep” was that we had to stay in Syria to save our “allies” the Kurds. All of a sudden our military presence in Syria was not about fighting terrorism but rather about putting US troops between our NATO ally Turkey and our proxy fighting force, the Kurds. Do they really want us to believe that it is “pro-American” for our troops to fight and die refereeing a long-standing dispute between the Turks and Kurds?

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Moon of Alabama is the first I’ve seen mention that the YPG “will be disbanded and integrated into the Syrian army.”

As I wrote a few days ago in Trump Talks To Putin. But How?, this whole thing has been planned and co-ordinated, much more than western media report.

Media And Pundits Misread The ‘Everyone Wins’ Plan For Syria (MoA)

The U.S. media get yesterday’s talks between U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan all wrong. Those talks were just a show to soothe the criticism against President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northeast Syria. The fake negotiations did not change the larger win-win-win-win plan or the facts on the ground. The Syrian Arab Army is replacing the Kurdish PKK/YPG troops at the border with Turkey. The armed PKK/YPG forces, which had deceivingly renamed themselves (vid) “Syrian Democratic Forces” to win U.S. support, will be disbanded and integrated into the Syrian army. Those moves are sufficient to give Turkey the security guarantees it needs. They will prevent any further Turkish invasion.

[..] The U.S. can not “allow Turkey to annex a portion of Syria”. The U.S. does not own Syria. It is completely bollocks to think that it has the power to allow Turkey to annex parts of it. Turkey will not “gain territory”. There will be no Turkish “security corridor”. The Kurdish civilians in Kobani, Ras al Ain and Qamishli areas will not go anywhere. The Turks will not touch those Kurdish majority areas because they are, or soon will be, under control of the Syrian government and its army. [..] The Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu confirmed that Turkey agrees with the Syrian government moves: “Russia “promised that the PKK or YPG will not be on the other side of the border,” Cavusoglu said in an interview with the BBC. “If Russia, accompanied by the Syrian army, removes YPG elements from the region, we will not oppose this.”


These moves have been planned all along. The Turkish invasion in northeast Syria was designed to give Trump a reason to withdraw U.S. troops. It was designed to push the Kurdish forces to finally submit to the Syrian government. Behind the scene Russia had already organized the replacement of the Kurdish forces with Syrian government troops. It has coordinated the Syrian army moves with the U.S. military. Turkey had agreed that Syrian government control would be sufficient to alleviate its concern about a Kurdish guerilla and a Kurdish proto-state at its border. Any further Turkish invasion of Syria is thereby unnecessary. The plan has everyone winning. Turkey will be free of a Kurdish threat. Syria regains its territory. The U.S. can leave without further trouble. Russia and Iran gain standing. The Kurds get taken care of.

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“Boris Johnson has signed a deal he said he didn’t need, creating a border he didn’t want, under the authority of a Court he didn’t accept, to be submitted to a Parliament he doesn’t control. ”

UK Agrees To Best Of Worst Possible Brexit Deals (MW)

Boris Johnson has signed a deal he said he didn’t need, creating a border he didn’t want, under the authority of a Court he didn’t accept, to be submitted to a Parliament he doesn’t control. The one “great” thing about the agreement with the European Union that the U.K. prime minister hailed Thursday is that it reduces – if slightly – the possibility of a hard Brexit, and the associated foreseeable economic crisis. But beyond the forex market’s obvious relief at the possible end of three years of uncertainty — the pound jumped almost 1% on the news, before reversing — this is still a deal that will hurt the British economy. On a scale of 1 to 10 — from no-pain, remain in the EU to maximum damage, no-deal Brexit — the agreement concluded just a few hours before an EU leaders summit in Brussels registers as an 8 or 9.


Its economic impact will be worse than the deal negotiated by Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May and rejected three times by the U.K. Parliament earlier this year. That is true both in the short term and in the long term. In the short term, it leaves the U.K. outside the customs union where it would have stayed under the infamous “backstop” negotiated by the previous government. But more uncertainty is also hanging over the near term economic future. The dearth of investment in the last three years has been the main drag on the U.K. economy, which explains why the country’s GDP is now 1-to-3% lower than it would have been if voters had opted for remain in 2016.

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People are pressed to vote for a deal they don’t want. Is that really such a good idea?

EU Leaves Door Open To Brexit Extension, In Blow To Boris Johnson (G.)

EU leaders have left open the option of extending Brexit beyond 31 October if the new deal is voted down by the Commons, in a blow to Boris Johnson’s strategy. The prime minister had been seeking to pitch Saturday’s vote in the Commons as a choice between deal or no deal after coming to an agreement with the EU. Johnson was helped by comments from Jean-Claude Juncker casting doubt on the possibility of a further Brexit delay, but the heads of state and government did not follow the European commission president’s lead. A summit communique issued after two hours of discussion tasked the commission and European parliament with taking “the necessary steps to ensure that the agreement can enter into force on November 1”.


But a senior EU official said that the leaders would follow events on Saturday, and reflect on the next steps if they were in a “different situation”. A second diplomatic source said they had chosen not to interfere in a “sensitive domestic debate … but they leave the door open to the possibility of an extension, to be discussed at a later stage – if required”. Johnson is facing an uphill battle to build a majority after the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist party rejected the revised deal, describing it as driving “a coach and horses through the professed sanctity of the Belfast agreement”. Juncker had tried to help sell the deal by pouring doubt on a further Brexit extension in the event of it being rejected.

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So even if the deal is accepted, it may still not be?

UK MPs Win Bid To Vote On 2nd Brexit Referendum In Saturday Showdown (Ind.)

MPs have won a key parliamentary vote paving the way for a Commons bid to secure a second referendum on Saturday. Ex-Tory backbencher Sir Oliver Letwin led a successful attempt to allow backbench MPs to amend Boris Johnson’s Brexit plans, in a knife-edge vote that passed by 287 votes to 275. MPs also approved a rare Saturday sitting to scrutinise Mr Johnson’s new plan – but the government’s proposal for a short debate on a motion to either “approve the deal or approve a no-deal Brexit” were derailed by the backbench victory. The move now clears the way for pro-EU MPs to force a vote on a second referendum, by tacking on an amendment calling for another public vote on the prime minister’s Brexit blueprint.


Sir Oliver said the plan would allow MPs to move any amendment to the government’s proposal and for them to be voted upon, if selected by Speaker John Bercow. He suggested that it could close a loophole in the so-called Benn Act – which requires the PM to seek a Brexit delay if he does not have a deal by 19 October. The law only compels the PM to seek an extension if MPs fail to pass a motion. Sir Oliver told MPs: “That will enable those of us, like me, who wish to support and carry through and eventually see the ratification of this deal, not to put us in the position of allowing the government off the Benn Act hook on Saturday, but only at a time when the bill has been taken through both Houses of Parliament and legislated on.”

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A discussion you won’t be able to escape. It might be good to get the terminology straight. I think Tucker Carlson called Medicare for All pure socialism, but that would mean Canada, the UK, most of Europe and Asian countries like Thailand all pure socialist countries. Hard to maintain.

How Slashing Pentagon Budget Could Pay for Medicare for All (Conley)

The Institute for Policy Studies on Thursday shared the results of extensive research into how the $750 billion U.S. military budget could be significantly slashed, freeing up annual funding to cover the cost of Medicare for All—calling into question the notion that the program needs to create any tax burden whatsoever for working families. Lindsay Koshgarian, director of the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), took aim in a New York Timesop-ed at a “chorus of scolds” from both sides of the aisle who say that raising middle class taxes is the only way to pay for Medicare for All. The pervasive claim was a primary focus of Tuesday night’s debate, while Medicare for All proponents Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) attempted to focus on the dire need for a universal healthcare program.

At the Democratic presidential primary debate on CNN Tuesday night, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was criticized by some opponents for saying that “costs will go down for hardworking, middle-class families” under Medicare for All, without using the word “taxes.” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), on the other hand, clearly stated that taxes may go up for some middle class families but pointed out that the increase would be more than offset by the fact that they’ll no longer have to pay monthly premiums, deductibles, and other medical costs. “All these ambitious policies of course will come with a hefty price tag,” wrote Koshgarian. “Proposals to fund Medicare for All have focused on raising taxes. But what if we could imagine another way entirely?”


“Over 18 years, the United States has spent $4.9 trillion on wars, with only more intractable violence in the Middle East and beyond to show for it,” she added. “That’s nearly the $300 billion per year over the current system that is estimated to cover Medicare for All (though estimates vary).” “While we can’t un-spend that $4.9 trillion,” Koshgarian continued, “imagine if we could make different choices for the next 20 years.”

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The state of denial. Pensions funds have all moved into risk assets, so if stocks start falling, it’s over and out. Moreover, there will be far more elderly people soon vs the young, which will reduce contributions enormously while increasing payouts. At least try some realism. Zero interest rates klill pensions. Period.

Going Dutch? Low Interest Rates Rattle ‘World’s Best’ Pension System (R.)

The planned reductions, due to take effect from January 2020, have shaken a country renowned for having one of the world’s strongest pension systems, and are an early warning to others about the impact of record low interest rates. [..] The European Central Bank’s (ECB) stimulus policies, which have helped drive interest rates into negative territory, are blamed in part for the impending cuts in the Netherlands and have triggered a fierce debate over how the funding of pensions should be calculated. ECB President Mario Draghi said last month that the central bank was “very concerned” about the side effects of negative rates, but maintained they were required for economic growth.

At the heart of the Dutch debate is a technical question over how to calculate the cost of future pension payouts while the ECB helps keep rates low. Actuaries make assumptions about how long pensioners will live, count up the future payments that have been promised to them and then use an assumed interest rate to “discount” how much must be put away to pay them. The lower this interest rate, “rekenrente” in Dutch, the more conservative the accounting, and the more it costs to meet future liabilities. The rekenrente is derived from government bond yields — which have turned negative across Europe as interest rates steadily fell this summer.


Each 1% fall in interest rates has led to roughly a 12% fall in the coverage ratio between assets and liabilities in pension pots, the Dutch central bank says. As a January deadline approaches, cuts appear inevitable. That has led several funds and some experts to argue that the rekenrente, which is around 0.3%, should be raised instead. Many blame ECB policy and see its effects as temporary. Increasing the rekenrente to 2% or 3% would restore the funds to full solvency. Corien Wortmann-Kool, the chairwoman of the 456 billion euro ABP civil servants fund, told Reuters she opposes pension cuts as “unnecessary” for now.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

 

Home Forums Debt Rattle October 18 2019

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  • #50669

    Salvador Dali The three pines 1919   • McConnell: Senate Impeachment Trial ‘As Soon As Thanksgiving’ (ZH) • Trump Florida Golf Course To Host G7
    [See the full post at: Debt Rattle October 18 2019]

    #50670
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    A discussion you won’t be able to escape. It might be good to get the terminology straight. I think Tucker Carlson called Medicare for All pure socialism, but that would mean Canada, the UK, most of Europe and Asian countries like Thailand all pure socialist countries. Hard to maintain.

    Unless you’re not spending outrageous amounts on weapons; Thailand is not!
    So far so good…

    #50671
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “McConnell: Senate Impeachment Trial ‘As Soon as Thanksgiving’ (ZH)”

    So as I said, they want and are forcing the DNC to impeachment. The DNC is also now looking for the audio of the Zelinsky call, suggesting, as I said, the White House/Intel planted a fake call transcript on the WH server that the CIA could illegally tap and screw themselves. Beyond hope, they think it’s somehow possible they were right, weren’t punk’d, and that other bad, impeachable call really happened.

    “Not only could Mr. Biden be forced to be in D.C.”

    So the Democrats would be the ones throwing their own election against Biden. Wild. But they already have, or meant to. They tried hard to swap Biden for Harris, but Harris is so violent and unbearable she faded. Then less happily from Biden to Warren. However, Wall St and all business has said they will stop all contributions for Warren or Sanders: business boycott blackout. That’s not winning. #ComeBack

    However, for the national conscience (should one still exist) they need this whole thing hashed out in a public Senate trial in the legal record, on national TV. Even that wouldn’t be enough, but you have to try.

    “Trump Florida Golf Course To Host G7 Summit (BBC)”

    Ugh. However, then he gets to control the unlimited wire-tapping and his what, 16th assassination attempt? Almost certainly another one soon if I’m reading the signals right.

    “Turkey to Suspend Syria Offensive, Mike Pence Announces (BBC)”

    Cheeto literally said, “We’ve been trying to get this done, but they (who?) needed some ‘tough love’, and now the peace is settled.” Ding! Couldn’t get the Kurds to sign on to Assad and lose their Kurdish state for another generation. But Turkey will happily annihilate them. “He wanted a ceasefire. He wanted to stop the violence,” It’s not a mystery here, it’s incredibly obvious; they’re just lying about it and reporting the opposite with every breath.

    “we were told were an “ally” being sent to their slaughter”

    But Turkey is NOT an ally? Or our ally Iraq when we told them to attack the Kurds? But when they do it was good, but when Turkey does it’s bad? Or does our reality rest on the opposite of whatever orange man tweets minute to minute? Here’s one way to settle that: go home.

    “the US military would go into Syria for just 30 days to save the Yazidi”

    The who? How long? We were going to ToraBora for the Taliban until OBL was killed, what? 20 years ago? Gosh, it’s almost like they LIKE war and don’t want us to leave or something. It is possible…they’re…lying?

    “the YPG “will be disbanded and integrated into the Syrian army.”

    Ding! Exactly as said. P.S. those forces are legally an international terrorist organization. Longstanding. That we armed. Against international law. Against our own NATO ally. And we’re mad that Turkey is going against legal international Islamic terrorism. Spare me. They don’t disappear but putting them in the non-terrorist side and under the Syrian Army might, I dunno, keep them all from getting killed or killing an equal number of innocent Turks? No! Stop! We don’t want peace! Peace is #Logos!

    “Boris Johnson has signed a deal he said he didn’t need, creating a border he didn’t want, under the authority of a Court he didn’t accept, to be submitted to a Parliament he doesn’t control.”

    It’s interesting, but there’s a lot still going in. Since this is essentially May’s deal, won’t they reject it again? Then BoJo will have done every, single, thing, and No Deal will be that much more necessary. Europe could also sabotage approval. Etc. I’m sure it’s well gamed out with all the branch options.

    “US Imposes Tariffs on EU Goods, Targeting Airbus, Wine and Whisky (AFP)”

    What this really does is stop Globalism and reinforce Nationalism and independence. Doesn’t matter if the $$ are net neutral, offset, nations will still be thinking to stay in their regions where it’s safe and predictable. Even if it cost money, it would probably make more than it cost in jobs and autonomy back home.

    Why don’t we play environmental, since that’s all anyone cares about? Not shipping goods worldwide 5, 6 times before the end user is green carbon savings. Grow, make, and sell local. But apparently that’s the worst thing int eh world. If goods don’t move 5, 6 times, bankers and globalists don’t make their cut 5, 6 times and be able to extort nations and play them off each other. And then where would we be? With no war and lower costs? Unthinkable.

    “Medicare for All pure socialism, but that would mean Canada, the UK, most of Europe and Asian countries like Thailand all pure socialist countries.”

    The terminology certainly needs a lot of work. No one is careful in their definitions, even or especially the parties themselves. Military certainly can pay for a lot, which is Bernie’s longstanding and workable plan despite criticism that he doesn’t know or post economics, and that with him it would be all new taxes. It wouldn’t. However, medical in the U.S. is easily 5-8x what it should be, and the plan with socializing – you know, the thing that’s bankrupting NIH, Finland, Sweden, etc – is a way for the PROFIT interests to avoid a reduction in PROFITS. Cut the price to 20% of now, as Oklahoma Surgery and Lasik proves is possible, and you can pay for it WITHOUT Medicare, and cut the Pentagon too. No one can even SAY this, so I guess we know who all Trump’s, Bernie’s, Warren’s, Biden’s, CNN’s masters really are.

    “Going Dutch? Low Interest Rates Rattle ‘World’s Best’ Pension System (R.)”

    At the end, they always, always, ALWAYS screw the pensioners. Look at Greece. 100% guarantee, it’s one of those very few things that doesn’t even seem to have historical exceptions. And why they don’t burn it down, I don’t know, but the old are not as emotional as the young.

    #50672
    zerosum
    Participant

    On top of continuing to using cheap imports by exploiting other countries’ labor and natural resources ….

    Trump has found other ways of balancing his financial budget and paying for the lavish lifestyle of the USA citizens.
    Trump has also started to turn the military into a mercenary cash cow.
    Trump will be getting Billions of dollars from tariffs and from the renting of the military.

    TRUMP KEEPS TELLING EVERYONE THAT HIS APPROACH IS RIGHT, AND NOBODY BELIEVES HIM.
    …. economic warfare ….

    https://sg.news.yahoo.com/us-imposes-tariffs-eu-goods-targeting-airbus-wine-043338013.html

    #50673
    zerosum
    Participant

    The USA military in Syria is so powerful and feared that only 26 soldiers ( it was rumored to be 50) were capable of holding back the Turkish army from moving into northern Syria.

    Duuuuuu!

    #50674
    anticlimactic
    Participant

    US : HEALTH & SOCIALISM

    It can be sometimes quite amusing reading articles written by Americans on ‘socialism’. You can almost feel their blood vessels bursting as they write!

    What they ignore is that the miiltary is a socialist organisation – it is paid for by the people for the defence of the people [in theory]

    In addition the CIA, NSA, FBI, etc are products of Socialism – paid for by the people for the security of the people [in theory]

    Similarly the police force is socialist – paid for by the people for the safety of the people [in theory]

    [It would be interesting to privatise the military – make it a charity whose budget is totally dependent on voluntary contributions from US citizens!]

    There are some things which are of national importance, for example basic education, which should be freely available to all.

    Finally health. The US system of healthcare is indefensible! At twice the cost in terms of GDP than other developed countries it is not even inclusive. The random bills are a key cause of bankruptcy, even when the patient has insurance. Drugs in the US can be ten times what they cost in Canada!

    As the baby boomers move to retirement it will be critical that the diminishing population of working age be fit enough to work. I would suggest that locking up a couple of million people of working age in prison will also become a threat to the US economy!

    It should be possible for the US to improve health provision while halving the costs for the country.

    I favour an NHS style system as found in the UK and [I believe] Canada.

    #50676
    zerosum
    Participant

    cognitive dissonance

    Every story about Syria need a salt shaker. Mine is empty.
    Where …. Who …. is telling the truth
    What is black ,,, what is white ….
    The peasant, in the dark, are watching the elites having a glorious party in the mansion.
    Here is a story being passed down to the rif-raf peasants.

    The US has backed 21 of the 28 ‘crazy’ militias leading Turkey’s brutal invasion of northern Syria

    Below is SETA’s list of Turkish “national army” militias, outlining the type of US support each one received over the years:
    https://setav.org/en/assets/uploads/2019/10/A54En.pdf

    #50677
    seychelles
    Participant

    Zero interest rates klill pensions. Period.

    Also other long-term “investments” such as long-term care insurance and life insurance.

    #50678

    We might be getting serious now.

    Trump Campaign To Sue CNN For “Substantial Payment” After Project Veritas Undercover Exposé

    The Trump administration plans to sue CNN over bias and “wrongful practices” following revalations contained in a recent Project Veritas undercover exposé.

    In a four-page letter to CNN, its CEO Jeff Zucker and Executive VP David Vigilante, Trump attorney Charles J. Harder provided several examples of bias against Trump, who seeks “a substantial payment of damages.”

    Listing several examples from the just-released Project Veritas videotapes of CNN insiders describing Zucker’s demand for “impeachment above all else,” Harder wrote that they “are merely the tip of the iceberg of the evidence my clients have accumulated over recent years.”

    He added, “Never in the history of this country has a President been the subject of such a sustained barrage of unfair, unfounded, unethical and unlawful attacks by so-called ‘mainstream’ news, as the current situation.”

    #50679
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    As for how exactly “the Russians” are grooming Gabbard, Clinton pointed to “a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far,” seemingly oblivious to the fact that the ‘Russian bots sowing discord’ theory is a thoroughly debunked smear.

    Not content to stop at Gabbard, Clinton also accused the Green Party’s Jill Stein of being in the Kremlin’s employ. “Yeah, she’s a Russian asset,” Clinton added. “I mean, totally.” The fact that a small number of voters Clinton believed herself entitled to opted for Stein in 2016 was proof enough for her. RT

    Clinton’s calumny is second to none; truly the queen of war mongers and corruption…
    How in the world will 2020 be a free AND democratic process?

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