Category Archives: Trade

Economic Security is National Security, and the Foundation of Economic and National Security is Energy Policy, Biden is a Threat to National Security, by Sundance

Biden’s destroying everything all at once. From Sundance at theconservativetreehouse.com:

Economic security is the foundation of national security.  When the government takes action that destabilizes our economy, every element of national security is put at risk.  We are experiencing that right now as we suffer through Joe Biden’s intentionally flawed energy policy that is destroying the U.S. economy and everyone within it.

“It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones.”

~ Niccolo Machiavelli

Never has that Machiavelli quote been more apropos than when considering the MAGA movement and the rise of Donald Trump.

Thankfully, we are now in an era when the largest coalition of American voters have awakened to the reality that, to quote the former president: “Economic Security is National Security.”

As we live through the economic mess of a Biden administration hell bent on eroding the middle class of the United States, there are numerous pundits contemplating 2024 Republican presidential candidates other than Donald Trump; consider this group the lukewarm defenders Machiavelli noted.

At the same time the leftist coalition, writ large, are apoplectic about the base of the Republican Party now belonging to Donald Trump.  This group consists of those affluent Wall Street agents and politicians set on retaining the profits derived from decades of institutional objectives.

Continue reading→

Are You Prepared for the Coming Food Catastrophe? By Dr. Joseph Mercola

The factors behind the coming catastrophe are man-made. From Dr. Joseph Mercola at theburningplatform.com:

food catastrophe

Story at-a-glance

  • Across the world, experts and analysts are now warning of skyrocketing food prices and catastrophic food shortages. In mid-May 2022, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said the world is facing years of famine
  • Blame for this global food shortage is, officially, being laid at the feet of “climate change,” the COVID pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but other factors are also contributing to bring our food system to the breaking point
  • Crop failures and low yields have caused several countries to reduce or halt food exports, and fertilizer, fuel and energy shortages further worsen this already strained food supply
  • President Biden’s decision to transition the United States away from energy independency by shutting down the Keystone pipeline, canceling offshore oil leases and freezing new leases and permits for federal oil and gas drilling doesn’t help the situation in the U.S. It also doesn’t help that the U.S. and U.K. continue paying farmers to not farm or to grow less

Continue reading→

Build Back Better? With What Resources? By Chris MacIntosh

Where will the build back better crowd get the resources to build back better? From Chris MacIntosh at internationalman.com:

 

Here’s the current budget deficit.

The blue is good and the orange is bad. You can see a lot of orange, and after 2008 things have been decidedly “orange.”

Since there is no actual cash in the piggy bank the US government has to borrow it. Meanwhile, debt spirals higher. Total US debt now tops $90 trillion with unfunded liabilities clocking in at $169 trillion.

Folks tend to forget that a government doesn’t produce anything. It merely sucks up resources from the productive and redistributes those resources. The most “productive” governments manage to do this with the least amount of friction or capital stripped from the system, while allocating the resources the most efficiently. And since governments are awful at both of these things, the most “productive” governments are those who do the least, instead leaving it to the private sector to cater to the wants and needs of society.

Continue reading→

The Coming Global Fracture as Economic Orders Clash, by Michael Hudson

It’s a battle between state-directed economic philosophies. From Michael Hudson at unz.com:

“Taken from an interview with the newly founded German magazine “ViER” which will be published in August 2022.” ViER (FOUR), stands for the media as fourth power in checks and balances).

(1.) Prof. Hudson, your new book “The Destiny of Civilization” is out now. This lecture series on finance capitalism and the New Cold War presents an overview of your unique geo-political perspective.

You talk about an ongoing ideological and material conflict between financialized and de-industrialized countries like United States against the mixed-economies of China and Russia. What is this conflict about and why is the world right now at a unique “point of fracture” as your book states?

Today’s global fracture is dividing the world between two different economic philosophies: In the US/NATO West, finance capitalism is de-industrializing economies and has shifted manufacturing to Eurasian leadership, above all China, India and other Asian countries in conjunction with Russia providing basic raw materials and arms.

These countries are a basic extension of industrial capitalism evolving into socialism, that is, into a mixed economy with strong government infrastructure investment to provide education, health care, transportation and other basic needs by treating them as public utilities with subsidized or free services for these needs.

In the neoliberal US/NATO West, by contrast, this basic infrastructure is privatized as a rent-extracting natural monopoly.

Continue reading→

Baby Formula Airlift: Government “Fixing” A Problem Of Its Own Making, by Tyler Durden

Look closely an most any problem where someone says that markets or capitalism has failed, and you usually find that in one or more ways, it is a government or governments that have failed. From Tyler Durden at zerohedge.com:

As Robert LeFevre said, “Government is a disease masquerading as its own cure.” The American people are witnessing a grand illustration of that truth in the form of the US Air Force airlift of baby formula from Europe to the United States. The airlift is part of the Biden administration’s response to a nationwide baby formula shortage that has desperate parents searching all over for the product and even venturing to create it themselves.

As the government credits itself for racing to the rescue, most people don’t realize the baby formula crisis is largely a creation of the government itself.  

Yesterday, the White House launched a publicity blitz wrapped around a slickly-produced video showing a USAF C-17 in Germany being loaded with pallets of formula.

While the video’s pretty sharp, we have to wonder which public relations whiz came up with the official name of the airlift. “Operation Fly Formula” sounds like the title of a gruesome new Jeff Goldblum flick.

Continue reading→

By Banning Russian Oil, Europe Forgot How It Won the Cold War, by Bas Spliet

There have been times since World War II when Europe has refused to be America’s stooge. Unfortunately, now is not one of them. From Bas Spliet at libertarianinstitute.org:

The European Union is close to reaching an agreement on banning the import of Russian oil. Some Eastern-European member states, particularly Hungary, are trying to obtain exemptions or delays on the implementation of the ban. All in all, however, it seems likely that many if not all EU members will soon agree to ban Russian crude oil completely within the next six months, while refined oil would be phased out by the end of 2022.

The ban is only the latest EU disciplinary economic measure which the bloc has levelled against Russia. On February 24, the starting day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyden announced “massive” sanctions beyond those already implemented after the Russian seizure of Crimea in 2014. If the EU were to reach an agreement on the latest addition, these sanctions will come to target the Russian petroleum industry next to technological transfers, Russian banks, and Russian assets.

The expansion of the EU sanctions follow on the heels of Germany’s surprise move to freeze the approval process of Nord Stream 2 on February 22. This announcement, made even before the invasion had started, further jeopardized the operationalization of the natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, construction on which was already finished in the summer of 2021.

Continue reading→

The Swiss Connection: How Russia Is Weathering Tough Sanctions, by Alex Kimani

How is Russia weathering those tough sanctions? Just fine, thank you. From Alex Kimani at oilprice.com (hardly a Russia propaganda outfit):

  • Continued oil and gas exports as well as a propped-up ruble, have allowed Moscow to weather Western sanctions.
  • JPM has backtracked on its earlier forecasts of a 35% contraction in Russian GDP in the second quarter.
  • The lion’s share of Russian raw materials is traded via Switzerland and its nearly 1,000 commodity firms.

A couple of weeks ago, Putin went on record calling the war in Ukraine a “tragedy” and claiming that economic sanctions imposed on his country had “failed.”  Turns out he wasn’t exactly bluffing.

Three months into the most severe and coordinated sanctions by Western governments, Russia’s economy is proving to be a hard nut to crack. Continued oil and gas exports as well as a propped-up ruble, have allowed Moscow to weather the West’s sanctions much better than expected.

In a note to clients dated last week and made public on Monday, JPMorgan Chase says business sentiment surveys from the country “are signaling a not very deep recession in Russia, and therefore imply upside risks to our growth forecasts. The data at hand therefore do not point to an abrupt plunge in activity, at least for now”.

JPM has also backtracked on its earlier forecasts of a 35% contraction in Russian GDP in the second quarter and 7% for all of 2022, now predicting that the recession will be far less severe.

Continue reading→

Can Europe Survive Without Russian Coal and Oil? Here’s What It Means for Skyrocketing Prices…, by Chris MacIntosh

Europe seems hell bent on cutting off energy imports from Russia. Which raises the question: what is Europe going to use for energy? From Chris MacIntosh at internationalman.com:

Russian Coal and Oil

Wait, you mean dirty stinky polluting coal? That coal?

Which brings me to….

EU TO BLOCK RUSSIAN COAL

So the EU, already in the middle of the worst energy crisis since the Arab oil crisis and likely worse, is now pushing to eliminate imports of Russian coal. Just so you understand the importance of Russian coal to Europe…

Some 70% of Europe’s thermal coal comes from Russia. Coal accounts for about 20% of continental Europe’s electricity production (as of 2019; perhaps it is 25% now).

Watching the news is enough to drive a man to drink or to put his drink through the telly.

But fear not, there is a silver lining.

Continue reading→

Europe´s mad ban on Russian oil, by Jorge Vilches

Has anyone in Europe really thought through what a ban on Russian oil would mean for Europe? From Jorge Vilches at thesaker.is:

Ursula von der Leyen

Cognitive scientists would concur in that the current performance of European leadership could be diagnosed as either myopic ignorance or — most probably — full intellectual blindness. In the case of so far happy-go-lucky Ursula von der Leyen there is no doubt it´d be the latter… but only if we first dismiss her warm on-the-record support for Bundeswehr colonial policies and military involvement… plus her praise of Third Reich famous general Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, Commander of the Führer Headquarters. But leaving that possible Nazi whiff aside, full ´intellectual blockage´ is the only kind way to dare explain a most strategic project as foolish and doomed to fail as banning Russian oil sales worldwide. Why so you may ask ? Ref #1 https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/06/20/vond-j20.html

asymmetrical retaliation

The short answer is massive — ´Russian´ massive – unmitigated “asymmetrical non-military retaliation” through surgical and divisive optional sales of natural gas – and other key commodities – just leaving EU sanctioned Russian oil for sale to and re-sale by third parties. And, oh yes, weaponization is not limited to any particular means as various European war schools should have internalized already. War means war and pretty much anything is fair game. But apparently, it´d be as if through the centuries, uppity European leaders – most especially German, French, Swedish, British and Poles — have not learned a single thing despite the über-high costs already paid for by their nations large-caliber warfare experiences most especially with Russia. By the way, the UK also has the additional ( unsolvable? ) burden of its current Brexit ballast… Ref # 2 https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/eu-proposes-ban-russian-oil-imports

 

Continue reading→

Financial war takes a nasty turn, by Alasdair Macleod

The real was is monetary and financial, and Russia and China are winning. From Alasdair Macleod at goldmoney.com:

The chasm between Eurasia and the Western defence groupings (NATO, Five-eyes, AUKUS etc.) is widening rapidly. While media commentary focuses on the visible side of the conflict in Ukraine, the economic and financial aspects are what really matter.

There is an increasing inevitability about it all. China has been riding the inflationist Western tiger for the last forty years and now that it sees the dollar’s debasement accelerating wonders how to get off. Russia perhaps is more advanced in its plans to do without dollars and other Western currencies, hastened by sanctions. Meanwhile, the West is increasingly vulnerable with no apparent alternative to the dollar’s hegemony.

By imposing sanctions on Russia, the West has effectively lined up its geopolitical opponents into a common cause against an American dollar-dominated faction. Russia happens to be the world’s largest exporters of energy, commodities, and raw materials. And China is the supplier of semi-manufactured and consumer goods to the world. The consequences of the West’s sanctions ignore this vital point.

Continue reading→