Usa Thread

[Coss]

14 hours ago, panadolsandwich said:

I think I've got to the bottom of the Barr story - it goes something like this:

Trump: Bill I want you get Roger Stone off the hook - we go back a long way.

Barr: Okay will do, but I want you to understand I'm going to have criticize you a little bit.  Cast some shade on the whole thing.  It provides us both cover if it ever comes back to bite us on the ass. 

Trump: Goddamn it, you're a genius Bill.  Most people would never suspect such a cunning plan!

Barr: President Trump you do understand I'm going to have to say something a little bit bad about you - but it's really in your best interest.

Trump: All understood, this was a genius idea I came up with wasn't it Bill?

Barr: Oh very much genius sir, this idea of yours is absolutely brilliant.

Later. . .

Trump on the phone to Barr: You fucking ungrateful shithead what the hell did you say about me? [Trump feverishly twittering - being the President I can interfere with any criminal case I goddamn like].  Hangs up the phone. 

Barr:  Fucking hell!  I wonder how many years in prison I'm looking at. . .

In a nutshell.

 

9 hours ago, panadolsandwich said:

I think it's mostly harmless, some weird kind of fetish or something.  But ask yourself, would you let your own daughter be fondled sniffed and kissed like that?  If he visited my daughter's school I would make sure she stayed at home.  In fact I wouldn't let Biden within a country mile of my daughter.  And I wouldn't be shy explaining it to her. 

There used to be no shame or problem, with adult men interacting with children, but these days the 'waiting to be outraged brigade' get offended by anything.

I reckon the sniffing is unusual for a politician, but when people present me with their newborn babies to hold and admire, I always sniff them, nothing like  the smell of a new born, entirely natural.

But then, if I smiled at a kid, I'd get locked up, I once got the death stares from a bunch of women, at a supermarket, when my 5 yr old girl got startled and I put my arm around her. So perhaps we should allow for the possibility that he is harmless...

[Coss]

One for Cav:

 

"...yes tell me again how Andrew McCabe and a bunch of lifelong Republicans in the FBI colluded with Ukraine and Hillary to frame Russia while losing her own election so that Trump would win so that then the deep state could take him down because fuck yes that all makes perfect sense..."

[Steve]

Didn't' Barr say he was not going to be bullied? Or maybe he isn't bullied but just corrupt anyway? Maybe Trump didn't have to tell him to do this? EVERY single act Barr has done proves he is not independent and secondly, he embraces the corruption. 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/14/politics/william-barr-michael-flynn/index.html

Barr privately ordered re-examination of Michael Flynn's case, US officials say

 

[Steve]

Stone is guilty. No one can debate that with a straight face. Flynn is guilty. No one can dispute that. The word is that the DOJ workers know first hand the department is rotten at the top and they are being run by a crook and a crooked president. What the end result will be is anyone's guess. 

We are a Banana Republic. 

[panadolsandwich]

6 hours ago, chocolat steve said:

The sky is falling...the sky is falling...haha...yeah, I have been sounding the alarm and it may not seem like it.This video will probably be ignored like Cav's video and that's fine. However, there are a few things that will make the next crash a depression. 1. The 2008 crash was a housing bubble. This economy has a half dozen bubbles over a trillion dollars in a country with a 5 trillion dollar budget. Each bubble is 20 percent of the economy. 2. Interest rates are at their lowest. Cutting interest rates is the biggest weapon the federal reserve has to reduce the severity of a crash. We pretty much cut the interest rate in half after 2008 and what that did was it made loans for cars, homes, credit cards cheaper and gave people and incentive to spend. That tool is gone now. I predict we will have zero percent rates or a shade over zero maybe a quarter of a percent and it won't do any good to anyone but the super rich who can borrow money basically for free and buy up cheap assets. The average consumer will be fucked. 3. Trump has placed cronies on the various agencies that oversee the economy. Not just the Fed, but the SEC, and other regulatory agencies The video talks about it a little. Trump has placed people who will let the banks do whatever they want. The credit reporting agencies can do what ever they want. Basically, he has made the bubble bigger. 4. We have no plan. China to their credit know they will face a massive recession or depression and are doing things behind the scene. They are buying gold at unprecedented rate. So is Putin. America has no plan. We are not preparing for how we are going to deal with it. The only plan America has is how its going to quell civil unrest via the Patriot's Act, FEMA, National Guard, FISA warrants and probably suspending habeas corpus laws. That'5. s if things get bad enough and I think it will. I can easily see far right militia groups ramping up domestic terrorism exponentially to the point it will be normalized. They will start with public symbols and individuals. Federal or state buildings and offices, maybe a politician, Wall Street exec, etc. But as far we will do, if it happens under Trump's watch we will bail out the big boys again and that will spark fringe left wing people and some fringe right wing but the far right will be split over Trump. If it happens under a Democratic president if he or she wins this year the banks will not be bailed out. Massive welfare to the massive and the value of your dollar will go down. That loaf of bread will cost 3 dollars, that dozen eggs will be 4 or 5 dollars. That gallon of milk 4 or 5 dollars. A lighter version of post WW1 Germany. 

The solution? Well, its coming anyway. 12 years of so called economic expansion is never seen before in our history. I would argue its not expansion but a weak recovery for a variety of reasons, blame to Obama (he shouldn't have bailed out the banks, but the people who had bad mortgages instead) but also a lot of blame on the GOP for not approving anything that would work so that Obama would fail. Such as the infrastructure bill which was a no brainer. McConnell famously bragging he told Obama he would not work with him on anything was possibly the most traitorous act by a Senator since McCarthy. 

What we need but will never happen is a managed downturn. Instead of waiting for market forces to implode the economy where you have very little power to fight it, we manage a downturn ourselves. It's inevitable. A crash that is, so lets make the bubble smaller. It's like a person with massive credit card bills, car loans, mortgage, student loans, and can barely make the minimum payment and then losing his job and it all implodes but rather anticipates that and starts now in cutting back spending, working with the banks on his loans. Consolidating some perhaps where he will have a lower monthly payment but instead of a 7 year pay off its now 10 or 12 years. He may have to negotiate returning the house to the bank and move into a smaller place or work out a deal with relatives back at his parents, or whatever. He may give up his car, voluntary repossession but take Uber or get a used car that is much older but will be free and clear. When he loses his job, the unemployment cSheck may actually cover his reduced bills. 

America should do the same. Cutting military spending is a no brainer. Specifically overseas bases. Huge financial drain. I do not in any way shape or form want a cut to the VA areas that help vets. Plan infrastructure projects in anticipation of a crash. FDR did this as well. Actually regulate the banks. Stop them from making the bubble bigger. Get into their books and start reducing the toxic assets now. The federal reserve start buying gold. Not increasing the national debt is a no brainer as well. Push for the G8 and G20 meetings to be mainly about reducing the exposure of a global recession/depression and what areas countries can work together to that end. Plan any bailouts now by working with economists on a 'what if' scenario. My preference is how to bail out the consumer. 

 

Thanks Steve for the video, I will watch, but I just want to make a few comments that came to mind reading your insightful post. 

Most savvy people on Wall Street know about the impending cash, they are furiously making hay while the sun is shining and buying up foreign real estate in places like Canada and New Zealand as an escape plan. 

The feds won't bother with reducing interest rates, they don't really have much scope to do it.  Quantitative Easing or printing money will be their go to solution.  That means any cash in your bank will reduce in value fast.   Remember when they were doing that after 2008 when there was all that talk about 'green shoots' in the economy?  Just a load of bullshit.

The Chinese have been busily hoovering up all the gold it can buy for at least a decade now.  There has been a currency war ongoing for quite a while now - it's mostly not talked about - you have to go to the kind of journals that bankers read to really learn about it.  I've often speculated China will create a new currency backed by gold.  Most likely when the next global economic crisis hits.  It would instantly become the most sought after currency in the world displacing the US hegemony.  Commodities like oil and hog futures would now be priced in renminbi.  If you don't have any reserves of renminbi, well you're shit out of luck. 

The oligarchs backing Trump aren't particularly worried.  Their only concern is that they don't want to invoke a revolution by taking it too quickly.  No, they're slowly boiling the frog. 

They openly want shanty towns in America.  It's written in their own literature produced by their so-called 'think tanks'.  Yes it will start off with Americans downsizing, as you say perhaps moving into more affordable property in a less affluent area.  That even sounds reasonable doesn't it (everyone has to tighten their belt in an economic crisis you might think to yourself)?  Remember boil the frog slowly.  Dismantling public services, imposing a system where you pay for everything, you name it - want to take your kids to the public park, expect to pay an entry fee.  Basically anything you need to live will be intercepted by a tax.  An economic crisis will be a brilliant catalyst for this project.

And as an oligarch, being cashed up you get to buy everything at fire-sale prices. You can really go to town and consolidate your wealth. 

[Steve]

I'm not so sure the big boys have an exit strategy per se. Many are in a lot of cash. Warren Buffet has more cash than he has ever had. He knows something is up. I'm thinking back to 2008. Why were they caught unawares then? The uber rich know they will never go broke. Bezos' net worth goes down 25 or 30 percent he's still rich as hell. Same with Zuckerberg. The corporate CEOs and senior staff whose compensation packages are tied to the price of the stock will lose a lot of it but will still be super rich. If you inflated the stock price where you are worth 150 million over the last several years when the true value is 50 million and that 150 million goes down 30 or 40 percent or even half, are you broke? 

Its the ones making 6 figures, with an expensive home and stock options low 7 figures that will feel it the most. 

I do take what you are saying and agree with it in principle. If you and I, well beyond the access to the money and power of the elite know, they know it. I think they are tied in lock step with the government and expect to be protected. 

I wouldn't be shocked if the government shuts down the stock market as it crashes past 50 or 60 percent value. They meet up behind scenes and 'voila!' they have an artificial floor of the market and you can't short the market and may only get partial value for any sales or an IOU of some sort. 

You are 100 percent right on the Chinese and a global currency. They will eventually win this war. The U.S. dollar will eventually be out as the world reserve currency. 

[Steve]

There are some things that are unique to America. However, the major countries are interlocked globally and some things they all share: low birthrate, de-industrialization...and yes, right now low unemployment. It's global the major countries share. It's not something Trump uniquely did for America, no matter who took over in 2016 it was dropping. It's a virtual uninterrupted line down from Obama's term. 

http://www.businessfondue.com/2018/11/15/unemployment-rate-fell-to-a-record-low-in-many-countries/

Unemployment rate fell to a record low in many countries. What does it mean?

 

 

[Steve]

I heard Bernie talk about the economy being great. What that tells me is that these guys running for office have zero idea what its like for the average American worker. None. And I can understand it. If you are a US Senator you live in a different world. You aren't in the supermarket comparing prices and trying to figure out how much is this or that. 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/11/32-percent-of-workers-run-out-of-cash-before-payday.html

Nearly 1 in 3 American workers run out of money before payday—even those earning over $100,000

[cavanami]

32 minutes ago, chocolat steve said:

I heard Bernie talk about the economy being great. What that tells me is that these guys running for office have zero idea what its like for the average American worker. None. And I can understand it. If you are a US Senator you live in a different world. You aren't in the supermarket comparing prices and trying to figure out how much is this or that. 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/11/32-percent-of-workers-run-out-of-cash-before-payday.html

Nearly 1 in 3 American workers run out of money before payday—even those earning over $100,000

a BS headline designed to trigger a false response!

No way 1/3, total BS!!!

If you buy in to this, you are a complete idiot!!!

[Steve]

CNBC, that fake news channel. I think Putin funds them as well as Iran. LOL.