Formerly T-Bear
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Oxymoron at # 104169
John Pilger wrote a revealing book of Oz; “The Secret Country, The Hidden Australia” ISBN 0-394-57462-1 (Knopf) (and has lived in London ever since). Also, Robert Hughes’ “The Fatal Shore, The Epic of Australia’s Founding” ISBN 0-394-50668-5 (Knopf) narrates the ‘founding’ of the British presence on the continent (supposedly empty at that). It is not hard to conclude today’s Oz is an aggregation of lies. I have offended some readers by stating that the finest Australians descended from people not worth a rope and are ruled by the spawn of their warders; still standing by my words having spent a month traversing the continent and working with a number of sound transplants in the U.S. The books are old but their content is still sterling.All the best in contending with inbred authoritarians (numbering about 1 in 20) and whinging limeys (ubiquitous). I have experienced the Oz government and am still at boycott things Australian, do not will not support 3rd Reich British National Socialists.
It is probably a sign of the indoctrination passed off as MBA Econ 101 that forms the slander regarding everything John Maynard Keynes that the commentariat seem driven to use. JMK was the great master of economic theory of his era. There were only about six such masters in western economic history; this generation seems hell bent on demeaning, destroying in its entirety what was produced by the master in response to HIS era AS HE LIVED IT, and in doing so destroys a significant part of economic history and the doorway of understanding our own economic era and any possibility of rectifying what is amiss. If you do not actually know your history, you will never know where you have been, where you are now and how you got there or ever have the capacity to plot your future course. Keep to your YT, twits, FB’s and conspiracy theories and as the saying concludes: ‘… or open your mouth and remove all doubt’. If Michael Hudson and Steve Keen ,with their superior abilities, can only orbit MBA Econ 101, your capacity could hardly produce a ballistic trajectory in economics, you have not had an original economic thought of your own and parrot drivel you have been fed. For the most part conversing economics with you is rarely worth the candle. (/rant)
@ John Day at # 104071
My bad, the eyesight missed that. Fully agree Keynesians, particularly of the North American sort mostly missed understanding what Keynes had written. Some troubling stories on how Keynes’ teachings arrived to Harvard to be compounded by later economic advocates who had not understood him themselves but taught their opinions of what Keynesianism was. An economic cluster f**k, beginning to end. N. America never experienced (academically) anything Keynes. I would recommend finding Keynes’ reports and letters regarding the establishment of his ‘World Bank’ and ‘International Monetary Fund’ as it was proposed and not the form emerging from Breton Woods. It would be an eye opener. Probably the source for Churchill’s “Americans get things right, after they’ve tried everything else”
Keynes’ first book reports on currency flows as related to production in India – “Indian Currency and Finance” (1913)when he worked India Office inWhitehall, predating Hudson nearly half a century with similar observations as you report.
Thanks for the interesting conversation.@ Oroboros
Though numerous figures have been given at numerous times, it is speculation and guesswork what may be (or not be) in storage and where that storage is. I have no idea and decline to speculate least it feed some conspiracy theory; it’s the best I can answer.
During the Great Depression, J.M. Keynes noted the U.S. buying most of the world’s production over some period and the Treasury had an estimated 8-9,000 tons at that time IIRC. How much more went in and when is anyone’s guess given the ‘sanctuary’ given throughout the war years and after.John Day at # 104046
I’d be sort of careful of assigning ‘one trick pony’ on John M. Keynes. His collected life opus has thirty volumes (including index); I’ve read 28 of the 29 others, (his book on probability will likely not be attempted at this point). I do not have quite the same esteem for Dr.Michael Hudson although he has drawn up some heterodox conclusions, many of which I agree and some that I don’t but like Dr. Steve Keen, another of high calibre scholarship, both have not broken the gravity of BMA Econ 101 and are still in orbit of that ersatz economic theorem.
I was stationed inEurope when Lindon Johnson pushed ‘Buy American’ and save our gold. Richard Nixon later cut the Gordian’s knot tying gold to currency, avoiding foreign exchange deficit to drain gold reserves. By this time the dollar had become firmly established as the international currency used in valuation, trade and contract, nothing else filled the economic need, or at that point could. No inventory has ever been taken of the U.S. gold reserve; what is there is pure speculation but it has for many years been insufficient to back the U.S. dollar volume at its historic prescribed level. To return to gold as currency or basis of currency restores barter as economic exchange and 3,000 years of economic experience will be back at square one. Your choice, that.Fattigmann at # 104041
gold and precious metals are wonderful natural checks on unsustainable human growth.
How? Please give historical examples of your argument.The idea is that, as new territories are opened up and explored, new sources of precious metals are found.
Just where might these ‘new territories’ be?This idea underlies the gold rush mentality of the 19th century.
The gold rush of the 19th Century was unique in history and can not be repeated.Of course, the modern mind does not accept limits even on a finite planet.
The ‘modern mind’ IS a limit on a finite planet.A much more stable (and smaller), more beautiful, natural order would be in place without unbacked paper money.
Go ahead and destroy ‘unbacked paper money’ and find out what will happen. How will you heat your house, even have that house, put food on the table in that house, find clothes in the closet in that house, or have any of the communication devices that adorn your house to entertain and pass the time. And forget having any vehicle to transport your better parts to where ever you wish to go. You have no ability to accomplish any part of your life without ‘unbacked paper money’. Open your eyes!John Day at # 104034,
Following WW II the dollar gained reserve currency due to its exchangeability with gold, basically a bartering currency that could be used instead of gold. As with all things, the kids got into the cookie jar and that no longer has cookies. The problem with gold is the very limited amount available that cannot underwrite the world’s economic growth without having its value becoming quite fluid to meet those needs and loosing its store of value properties or becoming too valuable for normal commerce. There is a reason John Maynard Keynes called it a barbaric relic; he would know. There is also a reason that gold is taken from the ground to be put back into the ground for safekeeping; having it loose in general exchange has a significant loss factor. There are few good answers and no correct answers to the problem.All out economic war has been declared upon Russia by the axis of evil. Nothing will effect the Ruble internally within Russia greatly regardless of its foreign exchange fortunes other that what Russia obtains through foreign exchange, autarky can assuage those costs. Russia has given notice it will respond, maybe not tit for tat but asymmetrically as they see fit, when they see fit. The Eurasia Economic Association have contingency arrangements to avoid dollar reserve currency use that will be put into use and may cause the deterioration of the dollar as universal exchange medium. However great care must be taken in doing so as the dollar has become the universal measure of exchange value and may be the only use it retains; the cost of replacing that function will be enormous but doesn’t require dollars as a medium of exchange, only the principle of dollars and that does not need any U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve products, printed or digital.
Bet this will bolster imonies:
Cryptocurrency platform blocks 25,000 Russian accounts
Coinbase says it shared addresses of the blocked “Russian” accounts with the US governmenthttps://www.rt.com/russia/551449-cryptocurrency-platform-blocks-russians/
Somewhat interesting report from Sputnik:
Study Suggests Possible Genetic Disposition to Severe COVID-19 Cases
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists suggested the SARS-CoV-2 virus might be so deadly because it provokes an immune system overreaction called a “cytokine storm.” However, they now believe a number of factors could cause severe infections, including autoantibodies present in the blood due to autoimmune disorders.
willem at # 103629
Reading at either RT.com or Sputnik the other day, was informed that Russian and Ukrainian military were jointly guarding the Chernobyl plant. One way to invade I suppose.Long time ago had an encounter with a nuclear engineer working construction of a new plant. The take-away statement was:
“Making a nuclear reactor fool proof was easy; making that reactor PhD proof was the hard part”. Is that so?chooch at # 103430
I see this more and more. When I pull up articles online for stories I have read 10+ years ago they seem lite on content/context per my memory.
Amen to that. Have personally not trusted any media from M-TV to Youtube and that alphabet company. FB and twits are for USA-Today readers, sugary full of empty intelligence calories, leading to memory loss on a grand scale. Without memory, the result is loss of personhood, what Alzheimers dementia does. A candy-store of distractions, deceptions and diversions to entertain unwary minds looking for cheap entertainments to pass the time. Maybe I’d be somewhat ‘old fashioned’ but I’d rather a hardcopy book to keep and form a small library that provides access to review. YMMV
chris_gee at # 103408
It certainly does look truncated now I looked. There may be an additional page not included in the link. At that time TNYr would continue a longer report in the subsequent magazine if an index can be found, looking for the author’s name or article title. I just recalled that Crimea was appended to Ukraine for facility providing water and power access, etc. and the USSR retained their Black Sea fleet facilities and the military forces need to protect them. When the Maidan coup threatened to disavow that contract, that was when the referendum was called and the vote to return to the Russian Federation was made and accepted, after the legal Ukrainian administration supporting that contract was violently overthrown. It is useful to see what historical investigative reporting was like prior to the slow motion corporate coup de état of the U.S. Republic no one noticed while it happened.Sorry, senior moment, the links given in # 103371:
https://libanswers.nypl.org/loaderTicket?fid=2477389&type=0&key=46b9a81d1cbfabdf60fc2a016e7528e4
and:
https://libanswers.nypl.org/loaderTicket?fid=2477390&type=0&key=72d45826d4ae3e8baac800345b88f7edAm rereading now.
Some time ago, when The New Yorker (YNYr) was a high class legitimate news source, they ran a report on Ukraine and how and why Crimea was appended to Ukraine by Khrushchev. Like most TNY investigative journalism of that long ago era, the report is lengthy and of great depth but informative to the highest degree. The New York Public Library (NYPL) found it in their digital archives, saying:
The lengthy “Report from Ukraine” by Robert Cullen published in the January 27, 1992 issue of the New Yorker (pp 37 – 57) mentions that Khrushchev transferred Crimea from Russia to Ukraine in 1954.
There are two links to the report at NYPL but may be behind a ‘library card wall’. I recalled this 3 decades later and can vouch its memorability for any who wish to take the effort to read. Once upon a time these were the first drafts of recognisable history. TNYr has profoundly fallen from their standards of those days. Not likely to be found on any twitter, facebook, YT or even that alphabet company.
Viva Russia!
This was on RT.com:
YouTube has blocked the channels of RT and Sputnik for all European users, the platform, owned by Google parent company Alphabet Inc., announced on Tuesday. The block came with immediate effect, the statement said, citing the “ongoing war in Ukraine.”
RT International is among the most popular news services on YouTube and currently has 4.66 million subscribers. Its content remains available on alternative platforms like Odysee and Rumble.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced it will restrict European users from accessing RT and Sputnik on its platforms after receiving “requests from a number of governments.”
US-based tech platforms previously banned the Russian news organizations from monetizing their content. RT and Sputnik broadcasts were banned by some EU nations, with a bloc-wide ban currently in the pipeline.
Russia launched a military operation against Ukraine last Thursday, claiming it was necessary to demilitarize the country and put a stop to threats posed by NATO’s creeping expansion into Ukraine.
Western nations retaliated with massive economic sanctions and other restrictions. The goal, according to French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, is to “wage a total economic and financial war” against Moscow and to “cause the collapse of the Russian economy.”
Figures an alphabet company was behind ‘Information Deprivation’; You Are Not Allowed. The question now is: Will adults ever regain control of governance?
RT news (streaming) is gone, inaccessible in the country. Looks like Von den Leyen (however it’s spelled, f-en spellcheck) got a case of Turdeauism. She and the rest of the leadership sheeple need go to the political abattoir including that senile, stunted at 7 year three months of mouldering maturity and bully occupying the WH. Not one should ever see public office as long as they live, and their spawn as well. Incumbency must be stopped at the voting booth before it further metastasises; no political entity or candidate exempt.
Shells or missis were falling on Rostov as people were fleeing Donbass BEFORE the events Thursday.
Unlike U.S. war crimes against all and sundry wedding parties, the policing action targets only military targets away fro civilian congested areas.
Commerce has been destroyed, autarky will result reducing if not eliminating future commerce.
Trust will not recover for generations if at all.
Diplomacy, a completely lost art in the west, may never recover.
The cesspool of lies and lawyers will not self correct, nor relinquish power until a greater force prevails.
Failure to accomplish any of the above opens the door to a dark age like the world has never experienced that would be just short of a nuclear WWIII.
Your choice.
(/rant)Susmarie108 at # 103001
I imagine it depends on what adjective one attaches to the noun opinion on how one would treat an opinion.There are considered opinions involving reason, professional opinions having base on education, judicial opinions, political opinions, off the cuff opinions, reaction based opinions, ignorant opinions, a fool’s opinion and even ‘just’ an opinion; each will have some valuation attached so giving my answer would only be an opinion and that would be it. Maybe this will assist your search.Agree, good art can titillate the imagination, take one to unexperienced worlds, unexpected places and other times; much like a good book. (smiley© thing)
V. Arnold at # 102863 (yesterday) and # 102643 on 23/02/2022
Pablo Picasso Le pigeon aux petits pois (Pigeon with Peas) – stolen May 20 2010 1911
I can’t help but to wonder if Picassos’ art is meant to intimidate the viewer….
…thereby mitigating serious critiques of his works…
Sorry (not really) but I’m just not impressed…
Next!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!and:
Lame…an incredibly shallow dive, IMO…
Almost everything you see can be described in a plane which is the ides about ‘Cubism’, the artist using these planes to compose an image on another plane surface of the drawing or painting. How the artist fills the space and uses line, colour, texture, light/dark, positive and negative space within the frame is what art is – a visual message to those who are open to seeing it. Liking or not liking have their parallels in understanding or not understanding that message.
Art appreciation is unlike engineering where there are right or wrong answers, rather better answers or not so good answers and all the shades of grey that happen between black and white; the exercise of using such qualities to suggest an image within the frame like in today’s offering – an analytical abstraction suggesting an object, movement and if carefully perceived, even sound. These things are always somewhere in successful art, it is up to the viewer to appreciate or not, there are no correct or incorrect answers to be had. Keep on looking, a universe of art awaits your valuable opinion of it.
World’s first trillionairs will be the law partners in those firms making first few class action suits, their secretaries the first billionair of that class. May even see the first lawyer in heaven as well. Who knows?
R.I.M.
Maybe lay down the parameters: 1) germane to subject(s) of your postings. 2) informative. 3) comprehensive no ‘flow of consciousness/sequential postings’. 4) for general readership – not for personal or private communication. 5) blather, inanity, profanity, ad hominem free. There may be other bugbears that can be added. Violators will be asked to create their own forum (and see how they fare in their comments) as they will be blocked at your site with further transgression.Thanks for the chance to give voice to my opinion in conversation, not speaking at but talking with, an art sadly disappearing from current discourse, now given to eye caca provided all to easily by the social medias, fb, twits, YT, etc., all displacing the capacity to effectively communicate. YMMV
@ V.Arnold
Not me, I’m not the one seeing these things for the first time, you are. It just happens the Arnolfini portrait is a moment in time and place, the “Shamrock Tea” is a journey through time, space and perspective from a master storyteller. One augments the other but that is only my conclusion from my interpretation from my unique experience with these artists. It applies to no other and may limit another’s appreciation if given authority. Would prefer not going there if possible; leave that to those who know all about everything.V. Arnold above
I thought you might be interested in the Arnolfini picture, that it generated another work of art in an unrelated form – literature. The author made a journey through the painting and the artefacts contained contriving their story, or history, or importance to the portraiture. I merely pointed out a few of the objects I had recalled (having read the work some quarter century ago). It intent was to try to get the observer to use their eyes to see for themselves what was before them. I failed. The woman’s dress showed little or no unambiguous sign of the body underneath, only face and hands gave medical indication of the woman’s estate, the bulging dress provided only an assumption of estate that may or may not have been indicative. Boscohorowitz kindly provided the image of the mirror enlarged, removing the eye’s exercise in seeing it as part of the painting but did give the detail it contained unambiguously. The book created a kaleidoscope of those details, treated in differing styles or manners, taken together weave a word tapestry that equals the pictorial version. The book is one of the treasures in my library that I thought to share with your interest in art.R.I.M. at # 102208
More likely dab of Royal Jelly, sip of Holy water, drop or two of anointing oil and some communion wafers (that might be confused with your list). Nobody will know for sure, tis between Herself and Royal Surgeon.
Something to be remembered, the Japanese bombing of Darwin 80 years ago and its echos today:
https://www.rt.com/news/549907-japan-bombing-darwin-anniversary/
V. Arnold at # 102034
If you can find a copy, Ciaran Carson wrote a Granta masterpiece “Shamrock Tea” with this van Eyck – The Arnolfini Portrait as its centre piece, taking note of objects in the room and constructing “a galaxy of esoteric and entertaining knowledge of saints days, herbal cures, animal symbolism, miracles and transformations” (quoted from front cover). It seems much of Dutch art entails inference to other meanings, stories, archaic knowledge held by the objects presented in a painting. Much is lost to the modern observer, unaware of the original significance and multi-level presentation. Did you notice the woman is in a state of pregnancy shown by the hands and face? Or what was reflected in the mirror?V. Arnold at # 101339
Would observe that old time condition of ‘first impression’ still works its magic. Few of the ‘commentariat’ here at TAE have ever improved their starting marks, quite a few have succeeded in lowering theirs, almost as hard as raising them but like plumbers can tell you, gravity has its ways. For most having neutral starting marks, they will be looked at, most likely given a full reading and then forgotten. Those having either a low or negative starting mark usually end in the world of flyover, not worth the candle. One, a Dr. D (uh), began there and after all these years is still flyover world material although once they did a fair reproduction of the essay form and I did give favourable comment, but was likely not noticed. My input here is of little note anyroad. Thank you for voicing your observations, of the art and now of the quality of presentation in the commentariat. Not often will an image through a clear mirror be given that we might see our selves as others see us. Again Thanks.
At the waste of space and time a.k.a. Sumac Carol # 101008,
How much time did you waste on that raging screed you just posted? Of late your commentary shows that you have the same failure of judgment as the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Oh you are erudite as can be and can weave your point of view into a cloak that conceals the deceptions you feed yourself as to the morality and sanctity of your self. Morality is an absolute and is the foundation stone of all dictatorships known. It was this tribe, following the deceits of R. M. Nixon’s ‘Law and Order’ that opened the doors of destruction o the historical U.S. constitutional government – the repugnant ‘Moral Majority’. I trust you are still proud of that fifth column political escapade.
Also in the indictment charges against your tribe is the destruction of labour as a political force and as an economic force that at one time stood athwart managerial paths to power. No more, the juncture and fusion of business and governmental powers now is complete, thanks to your ‘morality’ and self deception. You are about to reap the moral winds you’ve sown; enjoy the whorl-winds of your plantings. Needless to say I find the recent facet of your character repugnant so shall second the advise about the door and your derrière. In future your commentary here will join deflationista’s and bozohorrorwitz in flyover worlds. Careful of the door behind yourself.
Watching Trudeau address parliament, one is reminded of a four year old having a tantrum. The P.M. of Canada needs to grow up and when he does maybe then he can become the Queen of Canada.
Must be something in their feed. Notice when certain jejune characters are told ‘No’ they hyperventilate, believing insurrection or rebellion is facing their very person and position. Nancy Pelosi introduced this phenomenon to the public discourse and now is followed by the man-child P.M of Canada. Good god! would you ever trust the judgment of a person who had done to their face what Nancy had done to hers?
The next national election in Australia will be a national IQ test. Returning any currently holding public office will determine (inverse proportion) the Australian’s IQ. Curious what that will be (but subjects will be subjects).
Same for Canada in their next national election. Returning the PM will start the count at zero and proceed downwards from there, counterbalanced by whatever current MP gets themselves replaced for allowing the current state of affairs. How will the subjects vote?
V. Arnold at # 99855
I’m not sure about irony in:you have to behave as though you believe and trust everyone
Seems more pathology of lying to oneself; Shakespeare’s famous ‘spin’:
This above all: to thine own self be true
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Hamlet act 1, sc. 3, 1. 78Don’t become another Quisling by appearing to support those engaged in the behaviour; oppose, withdraw consent from those institutions offending, resist visibly. Best definition I have encountered for “Politics” is the art, skill science of persuading, convincing, influencing another. One does not find coercion or deceit in that definition but instead under fraud. To thine own self be true.
@ 98900 Correction:
EU diplomats NOT now withdrawing from Ukraine, but
Israel is evacuating ALL Jewish from Ukraine.
This morning (from RT)
EU diplomats leaving Ukraine.
UK diplomats leaving Ukraine.
US diplomatic dependents leaving Ukraine.
Wassup? Diplomatic consequences? Dumb politics?
Is it either popcorn or bomb shelters?
Are there refunds on the tickets to this showdown?
So many questions unanswered.V. Arnold at # 98797
Since your first inquiry was rhetorical ….The only other question is; when will the rest wake up to this ongoing insanity?
Never is my guess…..Awareness might occur when: Mathematics becomes a lingua franca in daily life; logic is understood; intelligence is appreciated and socially valued. ‘Never’ is a good approximation. As long as letters after one’s name suffice as ersatz accomplishment rather than the beginning of education, little drive to improve will happen. Just the way the cookie crumbled, the crumbs are rapidly being consumed by “Lord of the Flies” savages. YMMV
