Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[froot loops]

I'll put that on the itinerary

[hack]

A friend of mine was born and raised in Kelowna. If you give him $10, he'll show you an authentic merman saddle of Ogopogo.

Seems like you've got a limerick available there if you find the right words.

I did a big loop years ago from Calgary to Vancouver, down through Seattle, across Washington and Idaho, into Montana, and back up. Incredibly memorable scenery. One of the best drives I've ever done.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Seems like you've got a limerick available there if you find the right words.

I did a big loop years ago from Calgary to Vancouver, down through Seattle, across Washington and Idaho, into Montana, and back up. Incredibly memorable scenery. One of the best drives I've ever done.

That sounds like a pretty fantastic drive. Only been to Seattle and that western part of Montana, but not on the same trip.

[Dr. Strangelove]

AA- Team Socialism is gaining ground because Team Capitalism chose this guy to be their messenger:

[Dr. Strangelove]

AA- To be more serious, Trump has potentially changed the Republican Party for a generation by realigning some folks. A great deal is made of the fact that he flipped voters in the Rust Belt who had voted Democrat for decades but felt abandoned, either because the Dems became more "corporate" or because their swing to the left culturally. But those voters he flipped...they aren't in favor of Koch Brothers style, end entitlements & limited government. They want socialist programs but they think they're currently aimed at the wrong people. I had to chuckle last week when Trump kicked off his campaign...during his speech he denounced socialism, and two sentences later praised Medicare and Social Security and promised he would always protect them. And this is obviously the same crowd that cheers with every new tariff.

I don't know if I have a coherent thought here but Trump favors more government control over the economy than any Republican President since Nixon.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Although the trade deficit with China has shrunk since Trump instituted his tariffs, the deficits with the EU, Japan, and Mexico have grown over the same period. While the deficit with China alone has shrunk, the total GLOBAL deficit has increased by nearly 10% in a year.

D-BeF7WXUAUQo4f.jpg

China cannot match our tariffs dollar for dollar. They export much more than we do to them. But a tool in their arsenal that doesn't get mentioned much in Trumpworld is mentioned in this piece: China has been lowering tariffs applied to almost all countries at the same time they are raising them on us. In other words, countries like France, Canada, Brazil, Japan, etc. are stepping in to replace America.

Why are they doing this? How can they betray us so? Well, part of the problem may be that Trump chose to take on every country on the planet at the same time rather than just deal with China's unfair policies and get buy-in from Canada, the EU, Japan, etc.

**********************************

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/06/24/its-time-to-give-up-on-the-failed-trade-war-strategy-with-china/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

[Dr. Strangelove]

The Dallas Fed manufacturing index posted its worst economic numbers since the summer of 2016. Note that since early 2018, when the trade wars began, the manufacturing index has taken a dive.

D98rPxTWkAAWTjD.jpg

D98rPZKXUAAnGpT.jpg

https://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2019/06/25/real-time-economics-are-u-s-factories-in-trouble/?mod=e2twe

[Cody_Russell]

Turns out Beto was all hype. Bye bye, campaign.

[iam416]

Pocahontas wants to go full socialized medicine. Good to know.

[Cody_Russell]

[Jeff Buchanan]

A couple of encouraging articles at the link below regarding US-China trade talks.

For DSL, interesting analysis. There are a ton of takes on the net effects, globally and nationally by country, of the China-US trade war. I don't think there is any question that an on-going trade war between the US and China will harm the global economy and, breaking news, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

The WTO? To resolve trade issues pertaining to China that the Trump administration has raised? Sure, maybe we can go to the UN to resolve the on-going dispute between the US and Iran too. LOL.

Neither of these organizations have done shit when it comes to settling the big issues of the world. What both do is issue mealy-mouthed statements of condemnation of both sides in any dispute. Fact ..... the world is not a global village. Take a liberal, Obama-esque path to fair trade and shared defense of the liberal, democratic order and you have the US taking it up the ass in specific ways that don't need to be reiterated here.

It appears from the two articles in the link below that the US has agreed to not impose the threatened $300bn in additional tarrif's on China as the "price" to get China to resume trade negotiations. This is important language that appears to have China demanding X and the US giving in and providing it. Why? Because China, for centuries has portrayed itself, first as a closed civilization, later becoming somewhat open but being dominated by foreigners. Dynastic China was seen as weak and compliant. Imperial Japan running roughshod over China in the late 30s was a demonstration of that. The response to that came in two distinctly separate political waves - Mao's communism and Chiang Kai-shek's nationalism. Mao got the upper hand and Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan.

Aside from the pure communist character of Mao's China, there was also a strong nationalist bent to it that emphasized the end of the humiliation of China by foreign powers. So, that continues and the fear of being humiliated, in this case by the US, is part of the mosaic of Chinese politics. Xi has to appear as strong in order for him to avoid a loss of stature and hence power, among the communist Politburo and political elite. Given Trump's character, this is a hard row to hoe for US trade reps. If this is an indication that Trump has relaxed a bit with his typical win-you lose approach at any given negotiating table, it is positive sign.

But, holy shit, the world is about to come to an end with the collapse of the US economy, the loss of American stature in the world, all at the hands of the Chinese due to the Trump administration's non-nonsensical policies.

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3016255/trade-war-us-and-china-agree-tentative-truce-g20-summit

Oh, and BTW, all quiet on the ME front this morning as the D candidate debates and the suffering of the children on the southern boarder take center stage. But, on careful reading there are observers out there that think the Iranian leadership is panicking as the reality of failing, inefficient oil fields chokes off the revenue stream the Mullah's depend on to provide free stuff attendant to their goal of Islamic socialism.

[Dr. Strangelove]

[Dr. Strangelove]

[crashcourse]

took a job in tuscon Arizona for a 25% pop in pay

time for another chapter--too many twisters, blizzards, rain and wind in the sunflower state

but getting rid 35 years worth of shit and a 4000 sf house is turning into a pain in the ass

[Ghengis Jon]

In related news, the nano-country of Nauru contacted the US department of commerce to request that Trump assess tariffs against them for anti-competitive pricing of cowrie seashells they export to the US. When asked why they ratted themselves out, the Secretary for Economic Development of Nauru (he is also the postmaster and owner of the only bodega in Nauru), responded that he did not want his country to be left out of the nations that Trump has already levied tariffs on. "This is our chance to be in the top 100 nations of the world" . Cowrie diplomacy anyone?