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On our current trajectory, the report warns, "planetary and human systems [are] reaching a 'point of no return' by mid-century, in which the prospect of a largely uninhabitable Earth leads to the breakdown of nations and the international order."
The only way to avoid the risks of this scenario is what the report describes as "akin in scale to the World War II emergency mobilization"—but this time focused on rapidly building out a zero-emissions industrial system to set in train the restoration of a safe climate.
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2050 is When Analysts Suspect Widespread Global Strife Will Begin
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
First study the enemy. Seek weakness.
-- Romulan Commander, "Balance of Terror", stardate 1709.2
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday June 15 2019, @12:57AM (34 children)
Oh please! The "debt" is a lie! It''s all Hollywood accounting. They just say that shit to renege on social security and sell austerity.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 15 2019, @01:07AM
The US federal budget is now legally all lies: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/secret-government-spending-779959/ [rollingstone.com]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 15 2019, @01:16AM
https://constitution.solari.com/fasab-statement-56-understanding-new-government-financial-accounting-loopholes/ [solari.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by khallow on Saturday June 15 2019, @06:00AM (31 children)
Austerity happens when you don't have to sell it - no spendthrift will ever buy austerity ever. Your foreign creditors have gained enough power over you to just force it down your throat without your choice in the matter. One way to prevent that is to not be in debt at Greece levels of debt.
As to reneging on Social Security, it's not just a good idea, it's going to happen. The questions rather are to what degree, and how much of the US will be left when the Social Security beast finally gets gelded? Will it be a modest amount like 25-30% drop in benefits, which apparently is enough to stabilize US Social Security for several decades? Will it be a near complete default on the obligations of Social Security (along with much of the rest of the US's activities and obligations)?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Saturday June 15 2019, @07:29AM (23 children)
You're just saying silly shit in your banal appeal to authority. We've heard it all before. It was nonsense then, and it still is. Really, who's buying your shtick?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 15 2019, @08:37AM (1 child)
You sound just like someone I'm denial about buying into a Ponzi scheme, hint: the winners are those who get out first.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 16 2019, @01:35AM
Thanks Boomers!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday June 15 2019, @01:59PM (20 children)
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday June 15 2019, @07:10PM (19 children)
These phrases have meaning.
That depends on who you are talking to.
You know the meaning of the phrase, but are again trying to deflect. You take everything the authorities say at face value and run with it simply because they are the authorities. It is the direct opposite of the ad hominem. In more common parlance: You're just brown nosing the boss. I'll assume your paycheck and desire for preferential treatment depends on your compliance and "cooperation". You sound like a regular zombie mouthpiece for them. The only unknown is whether you actually believe the stuff you post, or just hoping to be the last one to be eaten.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 15 2019, @08:14PM
You too: https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=32120&page=1&cid=856054#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday June 18 2019, @11:18AM (17 children)
Sure, the biggest fantasy out there is the bookkeeping. But it's not Hollywood-style accounting where profitable films are recast, books-wise, as money holes, but Enron-style accounting where vast liabilities have been outright ignored or hidden.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday June 18 2019, @11:11PM (16 children)
I've thought about this and there just isn't a US authority that would admit to any intent to default on Social Security.
Do you know how dumb it would be to make such a public admission, even if it were true? Obviously you didn't give it much thought, except to find unwarranted criticism.
And social security is an earned benefit, not an "entitlement", though we are entitled to collect after paying into the system.
And you are only projecting your own disdain towards it with your bullshit about cuts being necessary. Looks like the bankers are the authorities you snuggle up with.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday June 19 2019, @12:44PM (15 children)
Do you know either? Of course, you do just like I do. Let's stop asking stupid rhetorical questions.
Sigh, in other words, it's another entitlement. Stop wasting time with the word mincing.
Do you actually disagree with me? I find it remarkable how little you've actually said in this thread. My take on the US budget mess is that Social Security and similar entitlements should be outright ended with a great big "fuck you" to the many recipients who voted for con men for the past 80 years. I think ending Social Security, Medicare, and at least halving the US military budget (with similar level cuts in most other government agencies) would be enough to get the US government budget into a space where we can control it via the 200 million steering wheels voting booth. Else it's just going to continue to get worse. There's way too many places for the roaches to hide, and there's way too much entitlement bribe going to the voters.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday June 19 2019, @02:53PM (14 children)
People who paid into are entitled
Nope, it has to keep running. The problems are all due to corruption by the people you admire and appeal to the most. So that great big "fuck you" shall be directed in your direction for your total lack of respect.
Whatever, you spread lies, you're just being an ass, trying to provoke people, which is not really a problem unless they start taking you seriously and believing your banker friends' fiction about "budgets". Sacrifice must start at the top. That's where you make the first cuts, with the most extreme prejudice. Free up all the money trapped inside the useless currency/financial markets (so many trillions!), and you will find more than enough for social security, medicare for all, food stamps, adequate shelter, etc, etc, etc... and still have plenty left over for national, even planetary, defense.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday June 20 2019, @04:06AM (13 children)
Social Security is a pyramid scheme as is Medicare and many other entitlements - early participants get more and eventually the program slides below break even. It's not worthy of my respect. And the people who have ignored these glaring flaws for many decades? What respect are they due for their foolishness?
Truth is an absolute defense against such accusations. Just because you choose to ignore these serious problems, doesn't make them lies.
So how do the mechanics of a modern country's economy operate? Maybe somebody has feelings and somehow those feelings become reality?
I guess you'll figure that out eventually.
What money? Weren't you just bullshitting me about "budgets"? Either there's something concrete to the budgets thing, or it's imaginary and there isn't anything useful "trapped" in that.
Because we'll grow fat and happy on credit default swaps.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday June 20 2019, @05:44AM (12 children)
Because we'll grow fat and happy on credit default swaps.
That only comes from the corruption in the financial markets. It has nothing to do with government services, aside from its role in propping up the financial industry.
Truth is an absolute defense against such accusations.
Absolutely. What does that have to do with you?
What respect are they due for their foolishness?
I guess I shouldn't expect you to respect things you just don't understand. So you lie about them instead.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday June 20 2019, @11:43AM (11 children)
In a non-corrupt financial market, CD swaps wouldn't be empty calories?
For example, rebutting the claim that one "earns" US Social Security by noting the "earners" not only get more out of Social Security than their descendants ever will (along with the many othe problems of Social Security such as surpluses getting dumped into the US federal government's general fund and being squandered), an advantageous situation for the elder generations, but voted to create that situation. It's a straightforward theft of resources and opportunities from future generations, and part of a long term pattern (such as zoning to protect residential real estate values and creating a medical system with ballooning costs).
Sounds to me like I understand those things just fine. Respect isn't earned just because one is understood.
I find it interesting how you earlier this year presented a pretense of caring for democracy. But suddenly take that back when it comes to your piece of the sugar. Corruption of democratic systems doesn't magically occur. The voters have to be bought off too. Things like Social Security and Medicare do that just fine for the US system.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday June 20 2019, @03:53PM (10 children)
You speak from the crooked financier's point of view. Your austerity is bullshit. It represents the real theft. But seeing as that it is your 'piece of sugar', we can see why you would defend it so vigorously.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday June 21 2019, @04:45AM (9 children)
That leads to the second observation, which is that the fraction of revenue coming in relative to the money spent on beneficiaries has steadily declined to the point where the program has reached break even and is positioned to decline into permanent deficit territory. That's typical of a pyramid scheme. Early participants do well at the expense of later ones. And as in this case, the later participants usually end up losing money on the affair.
It also means that the nature of the program has changed from something that has added revenue to the federal government to something that takes away. For the moment, the deficits are small enough that it can hide in the bond mechanism. But when it gets too big for that, then it's going to be a straightforward trade off between Social Security, and paying for the needs of the US. I imagine that will be settled in a very incompetent and destructive matter, probably involving an unhealthy amount of inflation.
Fourth, these problems and the fundamental nature of Social Security were known from the very beginning of Social Security, yet little has been done to fix them - by any party including the voters. The claim that one has "earned" Social Security benefits is bogus. Sorry, you got conned by people long dead, I'm not interested in honoring contracts made in bad faith by them and by you.
Fifth, Social Security makes a great deal of sense from the crooked financier's point of view. Promises are much cheaper than honoring them. The people who made all those bogus promises to sell Social Security in the first place are long dead.
Sixth, you made the claim that the rich are going to fund your desires ("social security, medicare for all, food stamps, adequate shelter, etc, etc, etc..."). That is an admission that you can't fund it without them (and I might you probably wouldn't be able to fund it even with their wealth, trillions of dollars of vaporous financier wealth is pretty worthless) and a strong indication you don't deserve those desires.
Sorry, I only give respect when it is earned. It's clear you haven't thought about the problems with programs like Social Security or worse, know of the problems and are willing to sacrifice the future of the US (or your society) for your own swag. I can't say how corrupt you are relative to a crooked financier, but it's not looking good.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday June 21 2019, @05:00AM (8 children)
Well, I merely need to be right.
:-) Yeah, but you aren't...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday June 21 2019, @12:38PM (7 children)
What exactly is your claim here? Why should the rest of us care that you made it?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday June 21 2019, @05:35PM (6 children)
Perhaps we should go through my arguments and find out where this lack of rightness allegedly occurs?
You can if that's what floats your boat. You have no argument worth further discussion. You are simply wrong, overwhelmed by personal bias. "Argument" is a waste under such conditions. But hey, by all means, go nuts...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday June 22 2019, @01:08AM (5 children)
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday June 22 2019, @03:19AM (4 children)
Maybe somebody else can argue with biased propaganda, I can't.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday June 22 2019, @11:40AM (3 children)
I think it's telling here that you can say all this is propaganda and lies, but you can't or won't say how it is. I see this way too often on the internet. People who can tell me I'm wrong, but are unwilling or unable to try to explain why I'm wrong. Don't be part of that problem.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday June 22 2019, @04:50PM (2 children)
unwilling or unable to try to explain why I'm wrong.
Pearls to the swine, wasted effort... It has been explained and proven many times, but for you, it's water off a duck's back. You should be grateful that you get any attention at all :-)
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday June 23 2019, @03:37AM (1 child)
I've heard that before. That mean ole khallow disagreed with me once, so it's wasted effort to even try to present a coherent argument ever.
I have found that saying things doesn't make them so. Not to mention that I don't know what "it" is anymore.
But why shouldn't it be? There's a lot of opinions out there. Can't agree with all of them.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Sunday June 23 2019, @03:44AM
:-) I admire your stamina...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 15 2019, @12:03PM (6 children)
How much of the US debt is social security obligations?
I can tell you now they will be the last thing defaulted on, for two reasons.
1. Default on the payouts and there is no way to keep collecting the inputs. They may not be enough to cover the payouts, but it is still a massive revenue stream.
2. Because if they do default, politicians and bankers will be strung up from the trees. If you think the backlash that elected Trump was bad, if they default on SS it will be a shooting war.
This is also the real reason they are panicking about low inflation. They are counting on inflation to erode the debts.
- - - - - - - -
And the more they keep complaining about the debt, the more likely people are to demand a full accounting of who is owed what. I expect at that point, there will be nationalisation of the Fed, and targeted erasure of international debts.
Or the government might mint a few thousand coins with a face value of ten billion dollars each, and pay off the debts. After all, despite giving the right to print money to the 'international banker cartel' they did retain the power to mint coins.
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Saturday June 15 2019, @02:05PM
Inflation is theft from the middle and lower classes. And admittedly, deflation is worse.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday June 15 2019, @02:07PM (3 children)
Further, you can't kill politicians to get back to prosperity. Once it's gone, with most of the responsible politicians long dead in the grave, it's just pointless thrashing and blaming.
So what? Same goes for those people pulling on Social Security benefits. They had a long time to fix this.
Remember inflation is default by a different name.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 16 2019, @01:41AM (2 children)
Normal inflation is the slow mitigation of debt by devaluing the amount owed, without actually decreasing the numerical amount. It mostly hits the middle class, who are the only ones with a significant portion of their wealth in cash, and the poor because wages always lag prices.
If Trump decides to mint a few coins and use them to pay the debt, it will hit the 'banker cartel' who are currently owed those trillions of US debt. The screaming would be epic.
In any case, the obvious answer to US debt is to nationalize the Federal Reserve Bank. There is no reason why the US should give all the money it prints to the international consortium of bankers who currently own the bank. At the very least they should revoke the Fed's right to print money, and return it to Treasury where it belongs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 16 2019, @01:59AM
+1
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday June 17 2019, @03:13AM
And all those poor and middle class people who were dependent on dollars. At least the 'banker cartel' can move their assets out of dollar valued stuff.
For what reason? You're already proposing hyperinflation of the dollar because you have this mistaken impression that a 'banker cartel' will get hurt worse than most US citizens.
Because that would make it easier for you to attack that 'banker cartel' via printing money? Sounds like a good reason not to "return" said "right" to the US Treasury.
(Score: 2) by toddestan on Sunday June 16 2019, @01:09AM
The problem with inflation though is if inflation goes up, so does the interest rates, and if interest rates go up, the cost of servicing the debt goes up too. Look at how much servicing the debt costs today, and imagine what would happen if interest rates doubled. It would be a disaster. And historically, even if rates doubled, they wouldn't be that high (see: late 1970's - early 1980's).
There are certainly those that want inflation to go up to inflate the debt away. But the forces that want the interest rates kept low are winning at the moment.