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https://www.truthdig.com/articles/goodbye-to-the-dollar/
The inept and corrupt presidency of Donald Trump has unwittingly triggered the fatal blow to the American empire—the abandonment of the dollar as the world’s principal reserve currency. Nations around the globe, especially in Europe, have lost confidence in the United States to act rationally, much less lead, in issues of international finance, trade, diplomacy and war. These nations are quietly dismantling the seven-decade-old alliance with the United States and building alternative systems of bilateral trade. This reconfiguring of the world’s financial system will be fatal to the American empire, as the historian Alfred McCoy and the economist Michael Hudson have long pointed out. It will trigger an economic death spiral, including high inflation, which will necessitate a massive military contraction overseas and plunge the United States into a prolonged depression. Trump, rather than make America great again, has turned out, unwittingly, to be the empire’s most aggressive gravedigger.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday February 05 2019, @06:21AM (19 children)
Yes, really. Most of them aren't murderers, rapists, thieves, or even all that hateful, left to their own devices. But I also think most Americans are dumber than dogshit, and refuse to be otherwise. Unfortunately, we're past the point where the world can support that level of stupid, and I sadly foresee the nation collapsing under its own corruption and idiocy sooner rather than later.
I've been having premonitions of my own death for a while. They say I won't live to 35, and they've only been getting stronger over time. The worst case scenarios, though, are worlds in which the living will envy the dead. I don't fear death (dying is another story; hoping it's fast and as painless as possible...), and even remember having suicidal tendencies at the ripe old age of 8, so it may be a relief when it happens. But we've fallen off a cliff, and can't grab anything to save ourselves now.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @06:31AM (2 children)
Sounds like a doom porn addiction to me, don't confuse it with reality...
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday February 05 2019, @06:38AM (1 child)
She can't hear you. But maybe you can hear me. 2018, tremendous year for our Manufacturing. 218,000 new jobs, the most in 21 years -- because of me. Rejected Sub!!! cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/2018-saw-largest-increase-manufacturing-jobs-21-years [cnsnews.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by Pslytely Psycho on Tuesday February 05 2019, @01:14PM
The real test will be how much of that is retained year over year.
At least you used a right wing news site that shows their sources and is transparent in their bias.
They do fail to account for the increase in population and I believe they were not using the seasonally adjusted numbers. (I only glanced over the source material, it is quite extensive)
That does not mean they aren't good numbers. They are. I fear they may just be a blip from stimulating an economy at a point when stimulus was not needed.
The huge increase to the deficit for the tax cuts will not be made up for with such paltry numbers however.
Like always, trickle down is never enough to make up for the tax reductions, didn't work for Reagan (although he covered it pretty well by adding new taxes to make up for it) and it didn't work for Bush as it contributed to the crash of the strong economy he inherited from Clinton.
Obama did manage to pull it out of freefall and begin a recovery, but failed to bring it fully home. He always struck me as Republican light...
Time will tell with the current administration. The next two years will tell us if this is the right track. But it is starting to look a lot like 1974....
Will Rogers summed up politics pretty well, it seems to still hold true:
Democrats never agree on anything, that's why they're Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they would be Republicans.
The 1928 Republican Convention opened with a prayer. If the Lord can see His way clear to bless the Republican Party the way it's been carrying on, then the rest of us ought to get it without even asking.
About all I can say for the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation.
Will Rogers
Shit ain't changed much.....
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Tuesday February 05 2019, @06:45AM (3 children)
Com'on now, Azuma, see that (grin)?
No contradiction with them being mostly decent people, indeed.
And "dumber than dogshit" is not specific to Americans only (so stop playing the "American exceptionalism" card here... large grin)
Get to 35 (and beyond), with patience, one day at a time, and this too shall pass. One way or another.
Giving up is the easiest option, not necessarily the interesting one. Speaking for myself, when it happens, I hope I can say: "Well, it was interesting. I wish I could have another go"
You are not others, their falls are not necessarily yours (as neither necessarily are their successes).
If you can give up your falls and successes, even better (yoga of action - what was its name again?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @08:56PM (1 child)
I forget who said it, but there's a quote to the effect of, "Anybody can die for what they believe in. The real display of courage is living and suffering for what you believe in."
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday February 06 2019, @06:09AM
Yes, I keep this in mind almost daily, and it's one reason I still fight. After you see certain things, a little part of you deep down decides it'll be buggered if it just gives up on justice of some sort, even if it has to wrest it from the rest of humanity with bare hands and teeth. It's painful, but I can't check out yet, at least not while still employed and not homeless or seriously ill. But I'm also just about out of existential fuel, and it feels more like being dragged along than walking.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday February 07 2019, @07:29AM
Haruki-kun, if I may address you in the familiar, let me tell you that I have had premonitions of my death from when I was your age, but that was some couple of millennium ago. Yes, the feeling may come. But there is also the Code of the Samurai, reflected in the Hagakure: "Once I walk out from under the eaves, I am already dead." Now for some, this can seem morbid, but the Samurai thing is that if you already accept your mortality, anything is possible, INCLUDING, (all caps for a reason), fighting the good fight, which per recent journal, you are doing. So pay attention to all the good advice you are getting here. Maybe counselling, maybe not. But remember, SoylentNews needs you, desparately! And as long as you pursue your dharma without regard for your karma, (opps, almost going BhavagadGita here), your karma will take care of itself. You already know this. So don't make us worry about you.
(Score: 3, Touché) by coolgopher on Tuesday February 05 2019, @06:46AM (6 children)
Hrm, you're cynical enough to be a lot older than that! ;)
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday February 05 2019, @07:03AM (5 children)
My body is 33. I've...seen things. And experienced things, though thankfully not as bad as the things I've seen.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Tuesday February 05 2019, @08:06AM (2 children)
You're still managing to be human, so that's gotta count for something. Don't be too eager to check out, I doubt there are do-overs.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:17PM (1 child)
There are, just not of the particular life you checked out of, and that's precisely what I don't want. Suicides are almost always forced to reincarnate, as I understand it. So hopefully whatever this all means, if I stick it out I'm done and don't need to do the flesh thing any longer.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Wednesday February 06 2019, @12:54AM
I don't share your convictions in this area, but I do wish you a better/happier continued existence. May you find some joy in this limiting flesh.
(Score: 2) by Pslytely Psycho on Tuesday February 05 2019, @12:31PM
Yeah, Coolgopher is right, don't create a self-fulfilling prophecy. You're adding unnecessary stress and anxiety to your life by dwelling on this.
Maybe (I don't know you so this is pure guesswork) you need to expand your horizons more, get out, fill your time better? When I have too much unstructured time, my mind can wander into some very dark places.
Just a thought is all.
Best to you.
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Webweasel on Tuesday February 05 2019, @03:27PM
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion?
Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956
(Score: 2) by turgid on Tuesday February 05 2019, @08:38PM (2 children)
This might be a symptom of a mental illness developing. Get it checked out before it gets any worse. If it's caught early enough, some simple treatments (talking therapy) might fix it.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday February 06 2019, @05:47AM (1 child)
Oh, they've always been there. They wax and wane with future probabilities, if that makes sense. It's not, like, some disembodied spirit speaking to me or anything, it's the result of a brain constantly calculating survival odds and attempting to extrapolate into the future.
I'm not crazy; if anything, a little crazy might make it easier to endure the way the world is. Rather, I think Terry Pratchett's description of Sam Vimes as constantly "knurd," which is to say operating at a sort of negative-one drinks level of sobriety. fits better. If there's anything diagnosable gong on here it's probably a civilian form of PTSD.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by turgid on Wednesday February 06 2019, @08:58PM
Indeed. A natural response to an increasingly crazy environment.
Correct.
That's why they invented [alexeisayle.me] comedy. [stewartlee.co.uk]. And heavy metal [wikipedia.org].
There's a lot more of it about than you think.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mhajicek on Tuesday February 05 2019, @09:45PM (1 child)
"I say live long enough to repay those who cause strife." - Alice In Chains
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday February 06 2019, @06:06AM
Would heaven it were possible! My worst character trait is vengefulness, though impatience is (naturally) nipping at its heels. But if there's one thing I've learned, it's that there is no justice, not unless we make it, and that requires power which I simply do not and likely never will have.
I will have to content myself with knowing I'll end up waiting for some of these people at Hell's gate, ready to kick them square in the ass through it and slam it behind them.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...