Nov 192019
 
 November 19, 2019  Posted by at 7:09 pm Finance, Primers Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,


Paul Gauguin Road in Tahiti 1891

 

I’m getting pissed off about multiple things right now, too many to make them all separate essays. Let’s give it a combined shot:

In Holland, the talk of the town is nitrogen emissions. I’d never seen it raised as that kind of problem, but there you go. The government last week decided to lower the max speed limit on highways to 100km (66miles) , from 120-130. Their reasoning was that this would allow the building industry to build more -by now hugely overpriced- homes and apartments.

Oh, but agriculture (aka cattle) is responsible for 46% of nitrogen emissions. So they have a plan to alter cattle feed (I am still serious here). I understand that neighbors Germany and Belgium have had nitrogen policies in place for years, so their cars can keep on pedaling to the metal because they don’t have a problem. Huh?

 

Also in Holland, big discussions about cuts to pensions. Which of course leads to big protests, which in turn makes the government make sure that cuts this year will be minimal. Okay, but how about next year? No comment. Holland is supposed to have one of the best pension systems on the planet, but they don’t get to escape the BIG erosion either.

Aging population, fewer contributors, lower wages, it’s happening everywhere. Our pension systems are Ponzi schemes. Every single penny you give a pensioner today is taken away from one tomorrow. The entire system is broke, we just don’t want to face that simple fact.

15 years ago, pensions systems were required by law to hold only AAA-denominated assets. Look at that today. They all have 7-8% in their prospectus, and bonds pay 1%, if that. Unless you gamble. So they have all moved into equities, which look fine because central banks prop them up, but the model itself has changed like Jekyll becames Hyde.

 

Then, Sweden decided to drop the 2010 rape charges against Assange 9 years later. In reality, there never WERE any rape charges. But still, prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson re-opened the “investigation” in May 2019. Just so Julian could be dragged from the Ecuador embassy in London on a seemingly legit charge. Eva-Marie Persson should be in Belmarsh prison, not Julian. But she represents the law, and he does not. He has exposed its dim-witted lackeys. My comment earlier today at the Automatic Earth:

“Sweden has dropped its rape inquiry into Julian Assange. Good f%@$#ing Lord, what year is it? The f%@$#ing job is f%@$#ing done, isn’t, you f%@$#ers? How can you be a Swede and not protest this? What kind of people live in that country? No, I know, the same kind as live in the UK and US. Ignorant f%@$#s.”

Oh, and now they’re arresting Epstein’s prison guards? Come on guys, you got to recognize a joke as a joke.

 

Then a CNN piece about John Solomon, who was thrown out of the Hill recently though he was their best reporter. Now, he was already fired from the Hill despite being their ace reporter, but that’s not enough for CNN, they want the owner too. So for CNN, it’s a direct link from Trump to Giuliani to Solomon to Hill owner Jimmy Finkelstein:

Jimmy Finkelstein, The Owner Of The Hill, Has Flown Under The Radar

James “Jimmy” Finkelstein, the owner of The Hill newspaper, is not a widely known media executive, but he is one of the era’s most consequential. Finkelstein resides at the nexus of President Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and John Solomon, the now-former executive at The Hill and current Fox News contributor who pushed conspiracy theories about Ukraine into the public conversation. While Solomon has received significant media attention for his work at The Hill, Finkelstein has stayed out of the headlines, despite having himself played a crucial role in the saga.

One, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, said of one of Solomon’s stories, “I think all the key elements were false.” Pressed further on the matter by Rep. Lee Zeldin, a New York Republican, Vindman said, “I haven’t looked at the article in quite some time, but you know, his grammar might have been right.” [..] After CNN Business reached out to a representative for The Hill for comment, The Hill Editor-In-Chief Bob Cusack announced in a Monday morning email to staffers that Solomon’s work was under review.

“As you are aware, John Solomon left The Hill earlier in the fall, but in light of recent congressional testimony and related events, we wanted to apprise you of the steps we are taking regarding John Solomon’s opinion columns which were referenced in the impeachment inquiry,” Cusack wrote. “Because of our dedication to accurate non-partisan reporting and standards, we are reviewing, updating, annotating with any denials of witnesses, and when appropriate, correcting any opinion pieces referenced during the ongoing congressional inquiry,” Cusack added.

Now, I have followed, and quoted, Solomon for quite some time, and I think he’s thorough, well documented, and in short what a journalist should be (nothing to do with opinion). Calling him conspirational is really quite a jump. But this is CNN. They do conspiracy like no-one else. And apparently they got what they wanted, because the Hill now is this:

Trump’s Ukraine Scandal Rooted In Fear Of Biden

Why is President Trump so nervous about the 2020 race? He has a record amount of campaign cash. Russian bots are still working for him. And he still has the backing of more than 80 percent of his party. So, how do I know he’s so nervous? As Trump loves to say: Read the transcript. At the heart of the phone call that has led to impeachment hearings is Trump going out on a shaky limb to ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a “favor.” That “favor” included a request for Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and Biden’s son, Hunter. The only reason for Trump to risk asking a foreign leader for help getting political dirt on an opponent is that he feared that rival’s power.

Me personally, I’ll stick with John Solomon for now. I haven’t caught him on a lie, and not on propaganda. Which is much better than I can say about just about every other outlet out there. Yeah, Hannity is a very loose cannon, Tucker Carlson not that much, but it’s the CNN people, and Rachel Maddow, that are far worse when it comes to propaganda.

And Adam Schiff too, who gets to conduct his fake trial in which he doesn’t have to say a single true word because he’s not under oath and the “witnesses” can be 2nd-3rd-4th hearsay ones. Anyone can say anything as long as it is negative for Trump. You know, that guy the American people elected as their president 3 years ago. Let’s move this into a courtroom -like the Senate- and do away with the absurd theater.

 

 

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Home Forums Assange, Nitrogen, Pensions, Solomon

Viewing 19 posts - 1 through 19 (of 19 total)
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  • #51439

    Paul Gauguin Road in Tahiti 1891   I’m getting pissed off about multiple things right now, too many to make them all separate essays. Let’s give
    [See the full post at: Assange, Nitrogen, Pensions, Solomon]

    #51440
    zerosum
    Participant

    You did a good summary.
    One more extra point that need to be looked at.
    The witnesses are all been lawyered up and all include a non contestable phrase ” …. inappropriate for a foreign gov be asked …. “to investigate political opponent”
    Removing that section would mean that all the witness are giving unsubstantiated opinions
    I still think that Biden had better accountant and better lawyers than the justice dept.

    The people who moved the money know what happened.
    Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management
    The Finnegan Markey Moye Schatz Group
    James MoyeTerry F MarkeyEugene SchatzDaniel FinneganTommy McLaughlinShannon Boyle

    #51441
    Maxwell Quest
    Participant

    Living in #OppositeLand, where everything is the inverse of what it should be, is giving me a headache. Are they spraying something in the air, putting it into the water supply? Why does the insanity seem to be spiraling out of control? Just when you think it has reached the pinnacle and can go no further, they double-down.

    I think I’ll relax and watch some Oprah… Nope! “We now interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for this important impeachment hearing testimony.” Fuuuuuuuudge! Where’s the Tylenol?

    #51442
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    I looked up Vindman this morning and perused his wiki and a few other mentions. Colin Powell redux. He’s been licking military arse for 20 years after getting a bit of glow-time in his youth in a PBS documentary on immigration.

    I’ve got underwear older, smarter, and cleaner than this creep.

    And that bolded text you cited:

    “The only reason for Trump to risk asking a foreign leader for help getting political dirt on an opponent is that he feared that rival’s power.”

    It’s Dead On Arrival to anyone who considers that there are many reasons why a president would ask for an investigation into a crooked senator working the dangerously antagonistic ground under Russia’s belly.

    There are also many kinds of power that a rival might challenge, including a sitting president’s ability to breathe should a bullet enter his body.

    Everybody Knows

    #51445
    oxymoron
    Participant

    It seems to me that the frustration we mostly feel on this site and in this comments room is that we have the enlightened masters above us (Bhudda, Jesus and the Saints etc) and a whole world of liars and cheats and malevolent bullies below us. Bullies who have made it impossible for any, among the dull and dreamy bottom 99% who would like to know or be informed of the truth get even a glimpse of truth and justice. They are all indebted to the banks and spend most of the waking life on the grind. They are all too tired and broke.
    I fell like I’m a part of a middle group – the limbo club. Not saintly but not able to look away either. It is a piece of shit situation. I think those funny vids from bosco yesterday were mildly interrupting but christ I needed them.

    #51446
    oxymoron
    Participant

    Nicole, years ago wrote this analogy of when the money and energy start to decline, the periphery gets the life sucked out of it at the expense of the core. The heart steals the blood to keep the brain and the heart alive while the limbs perish.
    I just didn’t imagine the heart would have no love and the brain would go insane. The impeachment thingy is the perfect symbol of this.
    But we are at that point and so very close to mass debtors prisons – oh sorry that’s right they are here now and they are called the suburbs, where you get carpet and netflix to help you sleep so you can go back to planet raping jobs each morning and get that old trophic pyramid sucking life out of population feed lot centres (called cities on fake news stations) through a tube to the Cayman Islands.
    You know I grew up with a single mum with 2 siblings in government housing so I always hated the rich. But now that I am financially independent I hate them even more.

    #51447
    boscohorowitz
    Participant

    “mass debtors prisons – oh sorry that’s right they are here now and they are called the suburbs, where you get carpet and netflix to help you sleep so you can go back to planet raping jobs each morning and get that old trophic pyramid sucking life out of population feed lot centres (called cities on fake news stations) through a tube to the Cayman Islands.”

    Wow. That’s a powerful analogy. After owning (paying mortgage, that is) our home for 20 years, wife and I live in some so-so apartment complex.

    I call the apartments prison cells, but never thought of it so vividly as oxy has here.

    Oh well. How we treat the lesser beings is ho we will treat each other. Anyone here ever worked in a slaughterhouse? Or feedlot? Isaac B. Singer, I think it was, said that every day is Treblinka for the animals we’ve decided to exploit.Karma is a bitch. For the remaining feral animals, it’s an ongoing eviction from former habitat.

    God’s Covenant With Noah from Genesis 9 in the Bible:

    “1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. 4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.”

    Amazingly, most Xtians read this as God giving humanity a charter to ‘have dominion’ over the environment. I can only read it as something closer to a curse. Not a punishment, just God saying, ‘O goodness gracious. You people are so fucked. You are going to eat this planet — and then yourselves — alive.’

    #51448
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Living in a toxic society is critically dangerous to those who see that reality. It’s dangerous to their physical health as well as their mental health. The combination kills the host.
    Getting rid of the T.V. (I did in 1994) is a good first step. Realizing one can no longer change the psycopathic society in which one lives is a good second step.
    Very carefully choosing which media to listen/watch, but never trusting any of it 100%, is a postive third step.
    For some, a drastic fourth step (my choice), is to physically relocate to a non-western culture. I say non-western because so much of the west is infected with an Orwellian version of living…
    I think for some that is an attractive way of living (Orwellian) because they don’t have to make decisions which relieves them of responsibility for their lives…

    #51449
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Paul Gauguin Road in Tahiti 1891

    What a great painting, just beautiful.
    The colors are extraordinary…

    Nice rant Ilargi. Too bad there’s no chance for change…
    I think we’ve arrived at an “every-man-for-themselves moment.

    #51450
    zerosum
    Participant

    I don’t know if the following is of any interest: how to get 1B$ from China

    I don’t know if the following is of any interest: how to get 1B$ from China
    https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2019-08-14%20CEG%20to%20Treasury%20(AVIC%20CFIUS).pdf
    From Charles E. Grassley Chairman, Committee on Finance to The Honorable Steven Mnuchin Secretary Department of Treasury August 14, 2019
    For example, one of the companies involved in the Henniges transaction was a billion dollar private investment fund called Bohai Harvest RST (BHR). BHR was formed in November of 2013 by a merger between the Chinese-government linked firm, Bohai Capital, and a company named Rosemont Seneca Partners. Rosemont Seneca was reportedly formed in 2009 by Hunter Biden, the son of then-Vice President Joe Biden, Chris Heinz, the stepson of former Secretary of State John Kerry, and others.

    #51451
    zerosum
    Participant

    The link doesn’t work

    #51452
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    The link doesn’t work

    It worked for me zero…
    Just wait for a minute and it opens up.

    #51453
    TonyPrep
    Participant

    As I understand it, a couple of witnesses today actually heard the July phone call so it’s not really 2nd, 3rd, 4th hearsay, is it?

    #51454
    TonyPrep
    Participant

    As I understand it, a couple of witnesses today actually heard the July phone call so it’s not really 2nd, 3rd, 4th hearsay, is it?

    By the way, “the American people” didn’t elect Trump, the Electoral College did. Trump got 3 million less votes than Clinton. So please don’t repeat the GOP lies about the election. I’m not commenting on whether Clinton would have been any better (that is questionable) or saying that, with a different system, Trump would not have won but he certainly was not elected by the American people.

    #51456
    Economart
    Participant

    There are simple answers to all these problems if one zhould look in the right place.

    The proof below confirms that there is no difference to the aggregate of assets, property, and incomes that comprise That Which Funds Gov’t, TWFG, whether government taxes or borrows. I substitute Disposable Income for TWFG, but it makes no difference. 

    *****

    Let us say that government shall fund public expenditures in 2 scenarios: Taxation and Borrowing with effects wrought upon the aggregate Disposable Income (Y) of a community. Two time periods, T1 and T2, are required to illustrate, firstly, initial taxing and borrowing and, secondly, subsequent repayment of borrowed funds. Govt. expenditure has a value of G in T1 and nil in T2. Only resident citizens may lend to the government.

    Scenario 1 – Taxation

    T1: Disposable income is Y1 – G.

    T2: Disposable income = Y2.

    Scenario 2 – Borrowing

    T1: Disposable income is Y1 – G = Y1 – loaned Savings (S) = Y1 – S

    T2: Disposable income is Y2 – public debt + loaned savings, both with interest (R) added = Y2 – S(1 + R) + S(1 + R) = Y2 – 0 = Y2

    The Govt under Borrowing is handed a capital charge. It must ensure that benefits to TWFG exceed costs, i.e. that the created and accruing assets of TWFG are enlarged by an amount greater than incurred and accruing liabilities. 

    By abolishing all Taxation, such an outcome is easily achieved. There are 2 great costs in Taxation, govt. squander and deterrence, which disappear with full public and perperual Borrowing. 

    Let us say there is an economy of 100 units – 40 units seized by government through Taxation and 60 units left to the population. With Taxation abolished and government forced to borrow directly from the public, the costs of Taxation, squander and deterrence, disappear.

    With deterrence erased, let us say the economy grows to 130 units. With squander erased the government share declines to 20 units.

    So which economy should one prefer?

    One of 100 units in size that leaves 60 units to its people? Or an economy of 130 units that leaves 130 –  20 or 110 units to the same?

    Not a difficult choice is it?

    The public or TWFG is enriched by full Public Borrowing as is the public credit.

    It’s no longer a question of debt or no debt, but rather a question of assets and liabilities, just as it is for any firm, bank or person. As long as the former exceed the latter, none is worried about the security of their funds, and there is no need for Taxation. 

    #51457
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Not a difficult choice is it?

    No… I mean yes… I mean, huh?

    #51465
    Dr. D
    Participant

    Ah, Tahiti, that’s the place, eh?

    #51476
    seychelles
    Participant

    Come on guys, you got to recognize a joke as a joke.

    More a sick neo-occultist laugh in your face.

    Generally great post and comment thread today!

    #51479
    Economart
    Participant

    If a joke, then explain the joke. Show us why we should all be laughing.

    I have a joke. Govt contributes nothing to its expenditures, and the deficit is counted as only the borrowed portion. Hilarious?

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