Greenpa

 
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  • in reply to: Debt Rattle May 27 2016 #28403
    Greenpa
    Participant

    “Someone ratted on the account? That would be just in style. We’ve had that shit to an extent you would not believe since we started”

    On the contrary, Ilargi- as you know I have long contended that TAE has been especially targeted by high level professional “disruptors”. I haven’t always been right about individuals (perversity abounds) – but over all I hold to my interpretation of the evidence.

    And- you must take this as a compliment. Truly. It means some upper level vermin thinks you are EFFECTIVE – and a real threat. Who could ask for anything more?

    in reply to: Debt Rattle May 25 2016 #28348
    Greenpa
    Participant

    “The minister does not understand that this insect is a frequent and natural visitor…”

    The minister, I guarantee, is being paid off by whoever is profiting from the logging. Find the payoff; which will be well hidden, and expose it immediately.

    RE: “The brain is not a computer” – wow. I am unreservedly impressed by this guy; excellent science (very rare).

    in reply to: Debt Rattle May 23 2016 #28318
    Greenpa
    Participant

    The real problem with the “basic stipend”, instead of welfare, is one I never see addressed. Not “how much is good, enough, or right” – none of that matters.

    What matters is that the human vultures we consistently pretend don’t exist – will immediately find ways to steal the stipend money; exactly as they do now. Guaranteed. No question.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle May 18 2016 #28264
    Greenpa
    Participant

    I recommend to all here this BBC feature:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-aad46fca-734a-45f9-8721-61404cc12a39

    Unusually well done in all aspects, and entirely relevant to the world of economics. Using the Ganges river as a metaphor, beyond its pure reality; it illustrates how humanity is currently totally powerless to effect “good” change. We just can’t do it. We can see the problem before us clearly, see our own deep interest in change- and still have no effect on the problem.

    Past time, really, to abandon any thinking that any “policy” changes will be of any benefit. This world does not work that way.

    in reply to: Why We Are So Bad at Solving Problems #28180
    Greenpa
    Participant

    lol

    Just call me Kermie. It isn’t easy, being…

    in reply to: Why We Are So Bad at Solving Problems #28178
    Greenpa
    Participant

    🙂 sorry about the double; my computer balked at the post, so I hit the button again- didn’t worry about it because in the past your blog program has caught those and prevented doubles; with the nice message “It looks like you already said that.”

    – which is why they called it “saltation”, dontchaknow.

    And- I would have to bet you are familiar with the aphorism, extant in multiple cultures but most distilled by Lao-tse; “The man who speaks, does not know. The man who knows, does not speak.” Something I have confirmed in many, many scientific meetings/seminars. The guy on the podium is pushing his stuff; the guy asking pushy questions is impressed with his own views. Sitting in the back row, are two emeritus professors, not saying anything out loud, but whispering to each other. Approach cautiously, speak politely, ask their opinion; and what you will get is “Well…… I don’t know…..” Those two emeritus guys do know more than anyone else in the room- and if you continue cultivating, they will share what they don’t know and don’t understand with you – leaving you vastly more educated than the guys making all the noise even know is possible. And the emeritus guys are polite- too polite to speak up and embarrass the speaker, pointing out “Why, yes, Leibitsch published exactly those observations in 1867…”

    I agree that the vast majority of “evolution news” published today is crap. I’ve moaned about it in detail with a couple of my emeritus friends; they are more burned out about it than I am – “I’ve given up trying to correct this junk, the editors don’t care any more.” The conversations worth listening to- are almost entirely in whispers. True.

    Another ancient bit of human behavior – Lao-tse knew it around 500 BCE; and it was old then.

    in reply to: Why We Are So Bad at Solving Problems #28176
    Greenpa
    Participant

    I think I remember this from past; and no surprise, we are on almost exactly the same page. Which is why I’ve lived off-grid for 40ish years, with an energy footprint around 1/50th of standard. Didn’t start doing it to prove anything; just my choice of how to live.

    One other comment: “Stephen Jay Gould described evolution: through punctuated equilibrium.” Eh. My opinion – Gould was a little too impressed with his astonishing insight. Which wasn’t new; it was previously called evolution by “saltation”, i.e. “jumping”; well discussed for decades- if you were an academic evolutionist. Yep, bottlenecks are important; but in fact evolution happens in ONLY ONE WAY (that’s a joke) – specifically; it always happens – in every possible way conceivable; every time. Provable.

    in reply to: Why We Are So Bad at Solving Problems #28175
    Greenpa
    Participant

    I think I remember this from past; and no surprise, we are on almost exactly the same page. Which is why I’ve lived off-grid for 40ish years, with an energy footprint around 1/50th of standard. Didn’t start doing it to prove anything; just my choice of how to live.

    One other comment: “Stephen Jay Gould described evolution: through punctuated equilibrium.” Eh. My opinion – Gould was a little too impressed with his astonishing insight. Which wasn’t new; it was previously called evolution by “saltation”, i.e. “jumping”; well discussed for decades- if you were an academic evolutionist. Yep, bottlenecks are important; but in fact evolution happens in ONLY ONE WAY (that’s a joke) – specifically; it always happens – in every possible way conceivable; every time. Provable.

    in reply to: An Unintentional Sabbatical #28097
    Greenpa
    Participant

    Yuck. Really sorry to hear. I have long and life altering parallels; but won’t unload here. Just two things- loss of sleep is far more important than most health workers yet realize; I’ve had at least 3 times in my life when disturbed sleep turned out to the be chief cause of a pile of health symptoms. Find a way to sleep.

    And – getting a regular neurologist’s opinion is a good idea. But. I live close to the Mayo Clinic- and 3 years ago, at immense expense, I baffled a senior physician who is probably one of the top 5 neurologists in the world (you should see the awards on his office wall). Excellent physician- took me 100% seriously, tested everything (3 full days in the Mayo test dungeons) – and at the end “we still have no idea what’s going on”. He did then prescribe a medication with an off-label effect to treat the major symptom; which worked for 2 years, anyway.

    So try the mainstream; try all the weird stuff; and when this one doesn’t work, try the next one, fairly quickly. Oh, and, many weird afflictions have on-line support groups these days- I recommend them.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle May 4 2016 #27990
    Greenpa
    Participant

    “Sharp slowdown” – gave me a nice case of the dry grins.

    Why yes, when you jump out of an 80 story building; and hit the sidewalk; you experience a sharp slowdown.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle April 24 2016 #27839
    Greenpa
    Participant

    Rapier: “If it seems this has to come to an end soon I ask why?”

    Indeed, why. I would add a hard fact to this projection; the track record of TPTB, or The Owners, or the 0.1%, whichever – is that they have successfully kept “impossible” economic situations going before, when collapse seemed utterly inescapable.

    I think it would be profitable to investigate how they accomplish this. Unequivocally, they have, and likely can again. And likewise to examine those cases where collapse was not avoided. Much to learn there, but it is certainly not in any textbooks on history or economics.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle April 22 2016 #27802
    Greenpa
    Participant

    “Oh boy, are we getting tough or what?!”

    LOL. Or, more accurately CS. Chortling softly. It is, exactly, Theater; and yes, Farce, not Tragedy. Might as well get our giggles; no other value will be forthcoming.

    I’m still waiting to hear, in all this “new morality” they claim is percolating through Wall Street, a suggestion that in cases of executives running their corporation into bankruptcy, all the assets of corporate officers and executives will, of course, be seized and used to pay creditors. Only fair, dontcha think? Their responsibility – their consequences.

    Not holding my breath, though.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle April 4 2016 #27606
    Greenpa
    Participant

    The Triv – “The Owners own us, now.” They do. Free range slavery; highly developed.

    I may be late in coming to the realization; but as I dig through history, as far back as I can- which includes archaeology and folk myth – it seems to me that may well have always been the case. At times the Owners were those in charge of the current state religion- they owned and managed the entire population. Kings, etc, quickly got into cahoots with the religious Owners, and they worked together. Then corporations became the major tool. But law and justice have always been managed for the Owners primary benefit.

    Always, I think now. Since Sumer was one mud hut and a tent. This seems a somewhat novel realization, to me; based on my “education”, which most emphatically does NOT teach this. But in fact it is easy to find exactly that statement in collections of ancient wisdom – and in ancient literature, songs, and comedy. They tell us this repeatedly – and it is taken as a joke. The poets knew it was not a joke; but they also knew that well trained free-range slaves will not believe it. Part of our training: “We are a proud, free, people!”

    This gets to be a really long conversation… 🙂

    in reply to: Debt Rattle April 4 2016 #27604
    Greenpa
    Participant

    I neglected to point out (because it hadn’t occurred to me) something that is totally obvious- in my world view. The impact on the 0.01% here is an evolutionary process; pure biology. Those who are smart and agile enough to have already moved/re-camouflaged their assets: are the survivors, who will live to leave offspring; which will inherit their resources and techniques. Those who are staring into the headlights- will not survive. No morality involved anywhere here, of course.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle April 4 2016 #27603
    Greenpa
    Participant

    The Press, as always, misses one of the very largest consequences of the Panama Papers leak.

    The “1 Percent” (I prefer the 0.01%, a very different group) – have, already this morning, taken powerful steps to insure that a leak of this nature cannot occur again. Using all tools in their possession, their financial criminal behavior is now behind walls 1,000% higher; and gone; moved to other “locations” – moved 100 times, probably. Since yesterday. Most of the financial entities named – no longer exist. Since yesterday.

    The Papers are very important. Very educational. But more educational to the criminals, who are entirely free to act, than to the cops, who are utterly entangled in laws- written to entangle them.

    Will the leak change anything? I doubt it, beyond the necessary sacrifice of a few expendable individuals. Don’t expect to see jails filling up with CEOs and lawyers; it’s not going to happen.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle March 15 2016 #27344
    Greenpa
    Participant

    ” JPMorgan, Goldman Discuss Buying Deutsche Bank Derivatives (BBG)”

    Just wow. Every time you think you couldn’t boggle more- they pull us back in.

    I have a suggestion. Nicole I know has the math to do this; and Ilargi certainly the comprehension and appreciation-

    In the eternal race to create the next “financial index” – there is one glaringly missing, and needed. We have the “Fear And Greed” index from CNN; which at least goes up and down; and the old VIX, long corrupted and now stalled permanently in ” ‘Sall Fine, Dude” territory…

    What we NEED is a new “Fiscal Hallucination Index” – some measure of the complete financial sector disconnect from all reality; now growing so fast. TAEFHI? Should go far.

    Come on guys. You can do it. 🙂

    in reply to: Debt Rattle March 9 2016 #27275
    Greenpa
    Participant

    One of the problems with “understanding” China is that the place is so vast, diverse, and opaque that 100% of statements about it are true- somewhere, some of the time.

    They have the longest written continuous history of any culture, however, and there are patterns China scholars, internal and external, have identified. Relevant right here is – corruption. China has attempted literally hundreds of times, sincerely, to limit, even eradicate corruption- and they have never succeeded; and they know it. It now has the force of religion; corruption will grow until the government becomes entirely powerless, at which point the people always rebel and burn the country to the ground- killing all the elites they can get their hands on.

    They call it the Dynastic Cycle, and their belief in it makes it a self-fulfiling prophecy. Part of what is going on in their new excursion into capitalism is the belief “Look, there’s no way to really stop people from manipulating the process to steal money- we’d better just grab all we can now too, if we (family/clan) want to survive the next collapse.” They’ve been playing the game of “Steal from the Poor, Give to the Rich” for as many millennia as we can see. And for 1,000 years before Han Wudi, at least, keeping foreigners guessing about what is really going on has been an integral part of it. They know how.

    Not any different from London, Brussels, or New York, actually.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle February 27 2016 #27120
    Greenpa
    Participant

    jal – 🙂

    raleigh – it IS funny, which is another mystery about our species. The great philosopher (and I mean exactly that) Mel Brooks pointed out this quirk of ours: “Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.” Like most of his work; distilled cosmic truth, and horrifying. And most of us humans laugh when we read those words; I still do.

    I spent some time trying to find out what injuries resulted, with limited success. I did track down a Youtube post with sound and a slo-mo version. It’s in Switzerland, and one commenter says injuries were limited to a person with 2 broken ribs, and another with a broken “lumbar”; which he doesn’t seem to realize means a broken back. Several of the men on the right fell very badly indeed, on their heads or neck; I have to think damage was much worse than that. youtube.com/watch?v=Yq-b4lo_-ok

    in reply to: Debt Rattle February 27 2016 #27104
    Greenpa
    Participant

    “Something tells me we can always get stupider.” Totally true, and something we will forget instantly each time we relearn it. A viral image at the moment is the most illustrative I’ve found:

    You’re too old for this shit…

    There is a long list of reasonable thoughts any one of which should have prevented this- but none did. Everyone here knew the consequences of failure would be very high. The “buzz” is “aren’t seniors funny in how stupid they are” – but something just this stupid, and more, is done by young folks every 5 minutes. It’s inherent in our species. All people are easily led by non-rational processes; and there are lots of people who know how to do it. And do it.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle February 26 2016 #27078
    Greenpa
    Participant

    “EU will fall apart in 10 days” – I love it! A solid prediction. Predictions – that come true- are what it’s all about; witness gravity waves. That’s actual proof. He knew what he was talking about. One of the most amusing aspects of the Financial Sector is – nobody ever keeps track of whose predictions come true, and whose don’t. How rude that would be. And how useful. Here’s a great one to start tracking.

    Re: The Owners are specifically directing their media to generate more volatility; the quote here from the Wall Street Journal couldn’t BE any more transparent:

    “The crushing start to the year for markets has taken a respite. But…” Crushing? MIght other adjectives have been used? My translation: “Things have been as bad as possible; but it’s a little better today, but it probably will be horrible again soon…” The more volatility – the more profits for those in on the fix.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle February 24 2016 #27042
    Greenpa
    Participant

    400 dead? What an obscene understatement; and no mention of the10,000 missing “migrant” children; almost certainly now in slavery.

    On the Perpetual Tepid War Economics front: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-exotic-new-weapons-the-pentagon-wants-to-deter-russia-and-china/2016/02/23/b2621602-da7a-11e5-925f-1d10062cc82d_story.html

    A billion here, a billion there- is peanuts, of course; but the difference these are “real” dollars paid to real job holders- most likely inside the USA, until we outsource our weapons production to the lowest bidder-

    Great economics; consumes petroleum, consumes steel, etc.; and constantly creates more demand for itself.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle February 20 2016 #26967
    Greenpa
    Participant

    Aha! Here is The Answer!

    So. Looks like economic collapse out there, yes? Banks, commodities, consumers in the toilet. Biggest problems, according to the world, China and the US have the farthest to fall.

    Do the Owners have a traditional economic engine for these kinds of situations? They do. And China, and the US, have launched a really tasteful new variation, already: “Endless Tepid War.”

    https://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/02/20/china-accuses-us-of-militarizing-south-china-sea.html

    Well, no blood so far. Wanna guess how much money/resources can be poured into perpetual saber-rattling and weapons inflation up and down the entire western Pacific? Quite a lot. Someplace for all that Chinese steel to go; improved demand for fracked petroleum… why, it’s win-win-win all over the place.

    Sure, some idiot sailor/soldier will someday actually hurt somebody; but it will be minor compared to all the benefits; and the top brass all around already have the contingency plans, and the press releases for that situation – written, filed and agreed to.

    Sheer genius. And what a great outlet for the patriot werewolves – on all sides.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle February 15 2016 #26832
    Greenpa
    Participant

    LOL!! Thanks so much, Ilargi – yes, gorgeous.

    I find I can introduce the Marx Brothers to young folk (under 30) with “They were Monty Python, before there was Monty Python.” I’m fascinated they know Python, but they usually do; with quotes.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle February 15 2016 #26825
    Greenpa
    Participant

    Right now is a splendid time to observe the “mood steering” practiced by the Owners. It’s very particularly interesting because there is steering going on providing pushes in both directions; mindless optimism, and mindless pessimism.

    This article by Reuters is a wonderful example:
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-markets-idUSKCN0VO00Y

    The headline: “Global shares climb as firmer Chinese yuan eases deflation fears”
    First sentence: “World stocks rose sharply on Monday as China’s central bank fixed the yuan at a much stronger rate and oil cemented recent gains, easing fears of global deflation.” And we all know Reuters speaks only pure unbiased data-driven truth.

    Pushing up, yes? And the next sentence, to be sure you realize how expert they are, points out that this great news is actually contrary to all data. But you and I know things are actually totally rosy. Nudge nudge wink wink.

    My translation of this article – they are authoritatively calling an up mood; while simultaneously feeding fear; hoping to make the market even more volatile. And if you’re expecting volatility, you can make money in both directions of course. You can expect to see headlines tomorrow that read “Market maintains rally for second day!” (I’ve actually seen that exact headline.)

    Much of the later article is written in very skillful doublespeak; which if put into symbolic logic would sum up to zero – but which will leave Hopeful with a lot of hope. Supplied by an expert.

    The present Trump phenomenon is a fabulous illustration of how easy it is to lead those who desperately want to be led. Reason makes no difference to them; and they eagerly proclaim that; they are above logic. The same crowd control methods are at work in the “investors” world.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle February 13 2016 #26765
    Greenpa
    Participant

    “What strikes me is the complete absence of signs of panic.”

    Striking yes; surprising no; educational, very.

    The 0.1% guide (not “control”) the financial mood. They own the world press, and they own the academic economists- literally. They can, and do, sometimes direct major pundits to perform major mood steering. Helping them out is the fact that the people not in on the fix WANT to be encouraged and cheered- desperately.

    Those at the helm are perfectly aware they cannot prevent the eventual panic. They are quite prepared for it- and will profit enormously by it. They wind up owning the world infrastructure. I take the stock market behavior in the past year as good evidence that they are still in good control of the market mood – they allow a “scary” drop – and then via hedge funds and banks cause a quick recovery – which turns out in a couple months not to be a total recovery. Just enough recovery so that the naive and frightened will continue to hope their market investments might turn out well – so they stay in, and continue to pay for the short positions so dear to the big speculators. You have to keep the suckers in the game as long as you can; so they can be bled. It’s going very well.

    There are, I think, readable sheep entrails at the moment which predict a good scary partial panic is just around the corner. But the entrails I read predict that the 0.1% will still have the clout to arrest the panic before full bottom – and perform at least one more bleeding of the hopeful. Eventually, mom and pop do figure out that they don’t belong in the market, and they’ll get out. But as we know from past panics; they have to take a horrific beating before they will wake up – with the short sellers laughing all the way.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle February 13 2016 #26764
    Greenpa
    Participant

    “What to say?”

    Actually this is an excellent and precise metaphor for the bottleneck our own species is starting to enter. An alteration in the environment we are not prepared for, and cannot cope with. A few survive. So far.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle February 8 2016 #26634
    Greenpa
    Participant

    ” But changing behavior — as opposed, say, to imposing higher capital requirements — is a complex task.”

    It really isn’t complex, and it is no mystery. Histories of government and civil law enforcement are totally clear and well known – and exactly the same as rules for training dogs. Bad behavior must have immediate consequences for the actual perpetrator; and the consequences have to be effective. Grabbing a banker and chopping his head off, for example, has been done often in the past; and is reasonably effective in directing banker behavior. Personally, I’m entirely in favor; but I’d be willing to settle for mere lifetime imprisonment and seizure of all assets.

    The quote in the sentence about “it’s complex” – is genuine propaganda specifically promoted to prevent consequences from reaching the actual perpetrators. “Wait, this is more complicated than you realize…” – is bullshit, and designed only to prevent criminals being caught. The author then – must be either a paid tool – or a dupe.

    It’s not complicated at all.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle February 1 2016 #26515
    Greenpa
    Participant

    “The EU Must …”

    To me, this usage is now code for “I know nobody is going to take any action.”

    in reply to: Debt Rattle January 23 2016 #26346
    Greenpa
    Participant

    A bit of information of possible value in comprehending international power/money processes- Japan pays the US – for the costs of maintaining US military presences in Japan; every year. The latest release from NKH:

    “Japan and the United States have signed an agreement on financing of the cost of maintaining US military bases in Japan. The accord stipulates that Japanese spending will remain at almost the current level over the next 5 years.

    “It was signed by Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo on Friday. The existing agreement on the matter, traditionally known as “sympathy budget” in Japan, expires at the end of March.

    “The new agreement sets Japan’s annual host-nation support at 189.3 billion yen, or about 1.6 billion dollars. That’s almost unchanged from the 189.9 billion yen for the current fiscal year ending in March.

    “Kishida said the importance of the US military presence is growing due to the increasingly severe security environment, including North Korea’s latest nuclear test. He said the new agreement is designed to help create a stronger bilateral alliance while taking Japan’s tight budget into account.

    “Kennedy said the alliance has never been stronger in all its dimensions, and the signing of the pact is further evidence of that.”

    The url: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/english/news/20160122_26.html

    keep in mind NHK urls stop working quickly- usually.

    A trivial amount of money- except I guarantee this is money extracted from the citizens; now with the highest percentage on welfare in Japanese history- not imaginary money from easing of the .1%’s banks. This was food, housing, education money.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle January 21 2016 #26307
    Greenpa
    Participant

    Rapier – I saw that NYT article and had to take a look- such fascinating circumlocutions. Astrology professors explaining why their predictions didn’t work out.

    The paywall – don’t tell anyone I told you but- any click on any article that originates from a Google search – is allowed behind the paywall. Just Google the article title: “how-to-make-sense-of-plummeting-global-markets” – by copying it out of the blocked URL – when it shows up in Google search; click on their link. Voila. (but shhh, it’s a secret)

    in reply to: Debt Rattle January 19 2016 #26292
    Greenpa
    Participant

    “Abe is a madman” – oh, if only. No, he is an utterly cold-blooded mother-country-raper; and highly skilled cut-throat politician. He knows exactly what he is doing, and has Japan’s political system dancing entirely to his tune, which is blatantly “steal from the poor, and give to the rich”. I don’t see his power ending in the foreseeable future; he has illustrated repeatedly that simple, consistent public relations lies will trump any attempt at revealing statistics based in reality. “We create reality” – is truer for him than for the Bush folk; Japan’s monolithic society makes it just a bit easier to keep the lies effective.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle January 19 2016 #26291
    Greenpa
    Participant

    “if doomsday scenarios of $20 or even $10 oil play out” –

    Is there any way to calculate the “actual value” of a barrel of oil? Tricky, for sure; but does anyone try?

    It smells to me like the current race to the bottom in oil prices has no visible bottom- all the market forces are forcing it lower- all the producers are desperate for ANY cash flow now, and are already selling below their cost of production in many if not most cases.

    Somewhere down there; doesn’t there have to be a price where production collapses to the point where buyers, who need to power their lawn mowers, will actually go out and look for oil to buy- where is that price? $10 doesn’t look at all unlikely, today.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle January 18 2016 #26230
    Greenpa
    Participant

    Now that the “volatility index” has become a fully manipulated number, reflecting only what the 0.1% want you to think; the number that seems to be maybe-perhaps-possibly yet uncorrupted is this: https://money.cnn.com/data/fear-and-greed/

    At 10, just now- “extreme fear” – trend is steady – more fear tomorrow. Maybe this is actually a “Panic!” button? “Trigger full panic crash here.” ?

    in reply to: Debt Rattle January 14 2016 #26158
    Greenpa
    Participant

    Aha. At the bottom of the Guardian article; this: “This article was corrected on 13 January 2016 to say that glyphosate is sold and promoted by Monsanto for use with its GM crops. It was not developed by the firm for such use.”

    Better. But the article still has the flawed statement in place.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle January 14 2016 #26157
    Greenpa
    Participant

    Monsanto’s role in Indian farmer suicides- it is alleged that many suicides have been triggered by failures of Monsanto GM cotton. This is “boll worm” resistant, with genes from Bacillus thuringiensis; known as “bt”.

    GM cotton must have irrigation, and now that boll worms are resistant to the bt toxin, must be sprayed with insecticides; and seed cannot be saved, but must be bought each year, at prices about 4x that for natural cotton seed.

    When it works, the crop looks wonderful. When it fails, the farmer cannot pay all the debts.

    Monsanto says no, you don’t understand, it’s not our fault. Loudly. Monsanto is immensely powerful and spends millions on “defense”- speaking out against them is not recommended.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle January 14 2016 #26156
    Greenpa
    Participant

    “Glyphosate was developed by Monsanto for use with its GM crops.”

    That statement is so flatly totally wrong as to make me seriously question everything else this writer says. Also the ability of Guardian editors to catch errors. That one is really glaring to anyone vaguely working in “agriculture”; glyphosate is decades older than even the potential for GM crops to exist.

    The inverse is actually true; Monsanto GM crops were specifically developed for use with glyphosate.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle Boxing Day 2015 #25829
    Greenpa
    Participant

    “And Steve’s Modern Debt Jubilee is still the most sensible thing out there.”

    “Steve’s”, eh? 🙂

    Very long timers here may (perhaps) recall I suggested exactly that; here, multiple years ago. Didn’t get much traction- but was Steve reading TAE then? As I said at the time- sensible; historic (Biblical) precedent; and would actually solve some problems. Also; not going to happen in any future foreseeable then. Slightly more likely now- when so many alternatives have moved into the “never, and useless anyway” category.

    Regarding historicity – do we have any surviving non-Biblical records to indicate the prescribed Jubilee years were actually a broad practice, with some force of law? Any ancient Semitic history scholars out there?

    in reply to: Plunging Commodities Interfere With The New World Order #25506
    Greenpa
    Participant

    Yes, yes; but keep your eye on the magician’s OTHER hand; the one not obviously doing anything.

    All above true; but also true- are the slight smiles on the faces of the Über Owners; who have been planning, all along, to now acquire these bankrupt mines, companies, banks, countries, and serfs- for hundredths of pennies on the dollar. The mines/wells/countries – will all re-open; with entirely new owners, lower volumes, but very fat profits. In time. As planned.

    See the lovely magician’s assistant there? Yes, we do.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle December 6 2015 #25463
    Greenpa
    Participant

    “Since he is performing admirably as per script, there is not chance of him being poisoned.”

    Interesting. I will put that into the hopper. I will have to confess I may have been taken in by the “noise” generated- but you are correct that no actual change has taken place, of course. But… he has such a nice face! And he’s, like, a Jesuit; the first; and some of them have traditionally actually had functioning brains! 🙂 ah, well.

    My personal guess as to a poisoner would not be from outside, but from inside the Vatican; where the “noise” has been persistent that Vatican internal power structure is more worried than they have been for the past 20 popes or so. Could it just be noise? Oh yes.

    in reply to: Debt Rattle December 6 2015 #25444
    Greenpa
    Participant

    So what I want to know, today, is how does the Pope maintain his personal security in regard to possible poison?

    Not one question in my mind that he understands exquisitely well that he is a tremendous target for assassination. He knows. Regardless of all else, he is certainly pissing off established powers. Bullets and bombs are certainly a threat, but poison, either food or environmental, is possibly more traditional for popes, and the technology here is greatly advanced from a few centuries ago.

    Exactly what actions does he take? Who performs this security function?

    No, I don’t expect any answer from anywhere. But it is something I actually want to know.

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