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A society’s well being is directly calibrated to its adherence to the brain standard.
The world is moving towards multipolarity. One axis, the West, is led by the U.S., the other—Eurasia and the global south—by Russia and China. Ukraine currently serves as a cauldron of the military conflict between the two axes. Taiwan may become a second such cauldron.
Through sanctions, the West has made economic and financial warfare a part of the conflict. The longest arrow in the U.S.’s quiver is the dollar’s reserve currency status. Western economies are based on credit. Central banks serve as the focal point of fiat debt issuance and monetization, interest rate manipulation, and currency debasement. Russia, China, and their cohorts are exploring alternatives to the dollar’s role and the West’s fiat currency, debt, and financialization, discussing arrangements based on gold and commodities, and economic activity centered on agriculture, mining, petroleum, manufacturing, and trade.
It’s a common sense conclusion that these are a more durable economic foundation than fiat debt, whose value is wholly dependent on the ever-shifting whims of politicians and monetary functionaries. Several commentators have hailed the shift away from the West’s fiat currencies and credit to that which is tangible and real. Currently, however, Russia and China’s currencies and credit are just as fiat as the West’s.
Oil was as tangible and real in 1600 as it is now. Why was it regarded as a useless nuisance back then and now it trades at around $76 (or about 1/24th of an ounce of real money, or gold) per barrel? What made oil valuable, the linchpin of the global economy, for which countries have been invaded and wars fought? Somebody figured out how to unlock and control oil’s energy and use it to generate light and power, and to distill it to derive chemicals now used in everything from fertilizers and plastics to pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
Direct barter is the means of exchange in primitive economies. Money is the intermediary agent that allows a producer to indirectly trade his or her production for someone else’s, to the benefit of both parties. Gold’s suitability as money has been recognized for millennia. Credit allows those who consume less than they produce to invest their surplus in economic activity that generates returns higher than the interest charged.
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There is no mystery what the best and brightest seek: freedom to think, express, and produce; protection of property and contract rights; security from crime and war. The conundrum is how few times those conditions have even come close to being fulfilled. They stand out like isolated lighthouses, beacons shining through history’s all-too-frequent darkness and tempest tossed seas. There are no such beacons today; the world shuns the brain standard.
It is the human mind and productive activity that imparts value to oil, gold, and credit. The mind is the fountainhead of human progress and wealth. The world has always run on the brain standard. A society’s well being is directly calibrated to its adherence to that standard. Its requirements are not conceptually complicated, but throughout history its sporadic implementation has proven problematic.
Continue readingPosted in Business, Civil Liberties, Collapse, Currencies, Debt, Economics, Economy, Government, History, Liberty, Morality, Science, Society, Technology, Trade, Uncategorized, War
Tagged Rebuilding, The Brain Standard
The new Cold War is here and its centerpiece this time may the standoff between the West and China. From the RFE/RL staff at oilprice.com:
Top foreign policy officials from the United States and China spent most of the last weekend at the Munich Security Conference stressing that their governments were not seeking a new Cold War, but amid tense rhetoric and accusations, a chill across much of the world is already being felt.Finding Perspective: The Munich gathering is Europe’s premier foreign policy conference and has long been a mainstay for leading officials from the West and elsewhere to hobnob and take the pulse of the current world order.
This year’s diagnosis was far from optimistic. While the West showed that it is perhaps more united now than in recent years and that support for Ukraine is entrenched — a message reinforced by U.S. President Joe Biden’s unannounced visit to Kyiv — it’s hard to shake the sense that the West remains more out of step than ever with the rest of the world and that the damage done by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine can’t be undone.
Posted in Energy, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Governments, Military, Trade, Uncategorized, War
Tagged Biden administration, China, New Cold War
Nobody has any problem with obscene military budgets, but there’s a strong sentiment that smaller businesses should also get on the gravy train. From Caitlin Johnstone at caitlinjohnstone.com:
Well it’s another big day for Democrats doing Democraty things.
At a Friday event commemorating the 20th anniversary of the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) hosted by the George W Bush Institute, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke glowingly of the president who instituted the program in 2003 at the same time he was preparing to launch an invasion which would inflict unfathomable horrors upon our world which continue to unfold to this day.
“I’ll just say this honestly, that the Bush family, it’s because of their humanity, their faith, their generosity of spirit, their compassion,” said Pelosi. “Once again, it’s an honor to be associated with President Bush in this.”
Pelosi then pointed to the former president, who was also joined by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and oligarch Bill Gates, with video appearances by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Bono of U2 fame.
Pelosi: “The Bush family it’s because of their humanity, their faith, their generosity of spirit, their compassion. Once again, it’s an honor to be associated with President George W. Bush in this.” pic.twitter.com/NrIqLxc8Ck
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 24, 2023
Also on Friday we witnessed what Glenn Greenwald described as the “most Elizabeth Warren tweet ever,” in which the Massachusetts senator took a bold stand against Big War Profiteering to advocate on behalf of the little guy (by which I mean Small War Profiteering).
Posted in Business, Government, Military, Politics, Propaganda, Uncategorized, War
Tagged Elizabeth Warren, George W. Bush, Nancy Pelosi
From The Babylon Bee
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In preparation for his long-awaited visit to survey the damage left in the wake of the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment disaster, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s team is briefing him on the catastrophe by using a wooden toy train set.
“Chugga chugga chugga — TOOT TOOT! Uh oh! Choo choo go boom!'” said Pete excitedly as aides brought out a toy recreation of the derailment. “Wooo Woooooooo! I’m a conductor!”
“We figured this would be the best way to help him understand,” said top Buttigieg aide Michael Fitzpatrick. “Dealing with complex problems with a lot of moving parts and sensitive elements isn’t exactly Secretary Buttigieg’s strong suit. These little wooden toys from Ikea really come in handy.”
Buttigieg is finally commenting on the train derailment that has resulted in a release and controlled burn of toxic chemicals and is planning to visit the region soon. Aides quickly found the Secretary’s basic knowledge of the incident — and the state of Ohio in general — to be severely lacking. “He initially thought we were referring to Palestine, like in the Middle East,” said Patrick Fitzmichael, another close Buttigieg advisor. “We had to grab a globe and show him where Ohio is. After that, using the little toy train set seemed like a good idea.”
Sources who were present at the closed-door briefing described the scene as “fun” and “playful,” but also “disturbing” and “unbefitting of national leadership.”
At publishing time, the Buttigieg team was scrambling to find an adult-sized train conductor’s hat, which the Secretary had demanded if he was going to visit the derailment site.
https://babylonbee.com/news/aides-brief-buttigieg-on-ohio-disaster-using-wooden-toy-train-set
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Both companies now specialize in turning out woke, green products and ideologies. From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:
Try to imagine the famous chase scenes in Bullitt or the French Connection running silent. Burt Reynolds quietly backing up the black and gold “Bandit” Trans-Am out of the semi, without the sound of the 6.6 liter Pontiac V8 accompanying. Not hearing the tire-chirping first-to-second gear change after he picks up Sally Field, either.
Well, if you can’t, don’t worry. You’ll soon be seeing it.
If you’re watching it.
GM – which is no longer an American car company but rather a “global company focused on advancing an all-electric future that is inclusive and accessible to all” – has partnered with another purveyor of Wokeness, Netflix, to “give electric vehicles (EVs) the stage they deserve, reflecting society’s increasing excitement about an all-electric future.”
Italics added.
Posted in Business, Entertainment, Environment, Government, Movies, Uncategorized
Tagged EVs, Green movies, Netflix
From The Babylon Bee;
In 2014, the US funded a coup d’état in Ukraine, ejecting the democratically elected president and installing an American puppet. The new regime then set about attacking the republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, which were predominantly Russian. Russia did not intervene, even though the US was messing in Russia’s “back yard.” It did, however, draw some “red lines,” warning the Ukrainian government in Kiev that if it tried to take Crimea, join NATO, or become a nuclear state, Russia would invade.
In February 2022, Ukrainian puppet-President Zelensky announced at the Munich Security Conference that Ukraine would go nuclear. That was the trigger that caused Russia to invade Ukraine, days later. The US declared outrage and sought to involve NATO in retaliation. The American media was filled with angry reports of the “unprovoked invasion,” stating that Russia’s goal was to seize all of Europe.
Since that time, the US media have maintained a constant barrage of propaganda regarding the war. The theme is always the same: The Russians are a murderous army, killing civilians and bombing hospitals and schools. But they are also incompetent, poorly led, their troops riddled with deserters, losing battle after battle, and experiencing far more casualties than the Ukrainians.
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From The Babylon Bee:
BRANSON, MO — A young local student was forced to defend his integrity after his science project — a homemade weather balloon designed to collect atmospheric data — was destroyed by a Sidewinder missile fired from a strafing F-22 fighter jet.
“It wasn’t my fault, I swear!” said Jared Gingles when questioned about his story. “I built the balloon, I tested it to make sure it worked, and when I was doing the final steps of the assignment, my homework was blown out of the sky by military aircraft.”
Though Jared had never been a problem student, his teacher found his outlandish excuse difficult to believe. “I’ve been a schoolteacher for over 30 years,” said Carla Riley. “I’ve heard just about every excuse there is, but this one about the United States Air Force shooting down a sixth-grade science project really takes the cake.”
Despite skepticism from the school’s faculty, Jared was adamant that he was telling the truth. “Why would I possibly make up something like that?!” he asked incredulously. “If I was going to make up an excuse for not doing my homework, I would at least make it sound more believable than that!”
At publishing time, Jared had been granted another chance to complete his homework project, though the new assignment — doing a report on a fully functioning food processing plant — was proving somewhat difficult.
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From The Babylon Bee:
NEW YORK, NY — With the results of a recent poll indicating 74% of Americans no longer trust the mainstream media, analysts were greatly troubled by the fact that an alarming 26% of people still trust what the media tells them.
“It really is frightening,” said Micah Schmidt, lead research analyst for Gallup. “It beggars belief that one out of four Americans still trust the journalists who have done nothing but tear the country apart with a steady diet of lies and hatred. We are either far dumber – or far crazier – than anyone could have imagined.”
To push the envelope even further, Schmidt said the team also polled a sample of the American public on a variety of other topics. “In addition to 26% of people in this country still believing the media, we subsequently found out that a similar number — 24% — believe that the Easter Bunny is not only real but that he is a lead advisor to President Biden. We also found that 28% of Americans still believe weapons of mass destruction will be found in Iraq, some two decades after the war. Most frighteningly, a whopping 72% of American women find Adam Driver attractive, which chills me to the bone.”
These findings have led Schmidt and other analysts to call for greater urgency in starting World War III with Russia. “If these numbers are any indication,” Schmidt said, “it’s best to just end the world as we know it.”
At publishing time, Schmidt was conducting one last poll to find out how many Americans actually think The Hangover is funny.
https://babylonbee.com/news/disturbing-poll-reveals-26-of-americans-still-trust-the-media
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STRAIGHT LINE LOGIC 