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[Kulindahr]

 

[rareboy]

I don't expect a permanent disassembly. We were never a confederation in the sense that the Soviet Union was, even if the United States was originally plural

We have only existed as a great power as a nation. For the last two centuries, we have been American, not states. I expect we will remain so, particularly due to military might. But I believe we are in for a reset, meaning assassinations, martial law, uprisings, domestic terrorism, absence on the world state for any meaningful protection of allies, and a collapse of the dollar as the dominant force in international trade.

This IS the transition from the American Century to the next one. China will continue to ascend. Europe MAY now that she is given an opening in the power vacuum. Russia will also decline due to the awakened Europe. South America will continue to be a non-player.

And yes, I have hopes the military is stable enough to retake control in the long run, but it doesn't mean we are not about to go through gut-wrenching years of turmoil.

I think I have noted several times in different threads where the strength of the states may be the salvation of the US, as long as they also don't descend to the levels of corruption and venality of the current federal government.

As federalism as a unifying concept declines in the US, there are still states (Blue) that represent the real economic power and clout. California alone remains one of the world's largest economies...but it is also just as easy to see them devolving into what would essentially be cut throat warlord states...and byn warlord, I mean economic warlord powers.

Musk failed at trying this gambit in Wisconsin with an SC race, but there are all the highly corruptible, dirt poor states there for the taking through graft and bribery.

But the question remains. So many of these smaller failed states around the world can control and mobilize their armed forces to suppress everyone in the federation. rrrZZZia is the only nation I can see that is capable of doing it still and even then, bear in mind the relative size of its population and the incredibly uneducated and indoctrinated regional populations literrally governed by appartchiks and warlords who simply do not exist as a class in the US.

I don't think that the US military would be cohesive or capable of managing and controlling revolution to prop up a dictator.

But at the same time, I never though I would see Americans and American institutions roll over and play dead like they have over the last 100 days.

 

[KaraBulut]

I don't believe it is a credible way to describe market movement.

Agree. Economists have an interesting way of looking at the world. It sometimes fails in translation, though.

 

[rareboy]

^ I remember the 'Quants'. The ones who won a prize for a theory that melted down the world economy by 2008.

And I have this weird feeling that TrumpCo's entire tariff strategy to shift Americans away from income tax to consumer tax to fund the federal government, using a specious pretext of making other countries pay...and thinking that industrialists will respond by moving all their production back into the rust of the US to be served by a basically illiterate and underpaid slave labour class has been concocted by 'economists' like Musk and Thiel and Bezos.

I would give anything to see the look on Adam Smith's face as he gets his brain around this.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Musk failed at trying this gambit in Wisconsin with an SC race, but there are all the highly corruptible, dirt poor states there for the taking through graft and bribery.

Every time I see maps on the news for things like Measles outbreaks, and I see Georgia lit up, but Alabama dark, I know good and well it is because repressive state governments have prohibited the reporting of key metrics to avoid having to answer for being backassed throwbacks.

BUT, that said, it should be noted that the richest states, including California, Florida, Texas, New York, and others, have no lack of corruption and bribery scandals, the NYC mayor's being a bright star in the heavens of filth in high places.

 

[rareboy]

 

[rareboy]

 

[rareboy]

 

[rareboy]

 

[Kulindahr]

and thinking that industrialists will respond by moving all their production back into the rust of the US

The best thing would be to take the tariffs off Mexico and Canada; wages in SE Asia are rising fast enough that Mexico especially is a good option -- and it's always a bonus to be nice to neighbors.

Of course Trump doesn't grasp what a "neighbor" is; I doubt he's ever interacted with anyone except on a corporate level, so he doesn't see Mexico or Canada as people, just as objects for him to manipulate.

 

[Kulindahr]

California

Should be broken into at least five states; making it six would allow three red and three blue.

 

[Kulindahr]

An elder from the church across the street said the stock market tumble is just temporary. I almost asked what his definition of "temporary" is -- after all the Great Depression was "temporary".

 

[cityboy-stl]

 

[rareboy]

When Church elders are defending economic policy...it is fucking time to tax the churches.

These sanctimonious know nothings who would sacrifice the security of others and just brush off any actions by a convicted felon and rapist who scoffs at the faith of Xians is a testimony to why religious organizations don't merit existence beyond a secular reach.

Life is fucking temporary and religions have been running that scam for millenia.

What we are witnessing is the triumph of pure evil in the form of unslakeable greed and avarice being defended by people more obsessed with where you put your dick.

 

[Kulindahr]

When Church elders are defending economic policy...it is fucking time to tax the churches.

He used to run a ranch -- I think it's just ignorance.

 

[rareboy]

He used to run a ranch -- I think it's just ignorance.

Sorry. Tired of excuses for head up their ass Americans who are enabling this monster.

He is the symptom of a much more pervasive disease of the soul and intellect in the US that we have experienced in the last decade in our travels and other interactions with his kin.

 

[KaraBulut]

 

[KaraBulut]

 

[pigface]

View attachment Elect-a-clown-expect-a-circus-_64.mp4

 

[NotHardUp1]

I do like the Swiss. My kinda Carnival: