Is an economic crash imminent?

On By Nicholas AlexanderIn EconomicsLeave a comment

There are predictions of a recession, a belief that countries should be concerned about their irredeemable net values, the soaring unreality of printing currency so that your appearance can be stretched just a little bit thinner.

The trouble with inflation is the reduction of value. The benefit of inflation is that there is enough to go around when there is growth. Growth without inflation is hard, inflation without growth is what happens when nothing happens, a bit like you dipping into your credit card every time there is a financial idea.

The race condition between value and productivity should be consistent and the pressure that keeps these values entwined are not just basic needs, but intertwined complex interdependencies that multiply into many new dilemmas.

The only real political fuel there can be is hope. Behind every drive of the knife is a hope to create a set of conditions that determine the future history of a country. Democracy requires reality, or it may result in a kleptomaniacal desire for power.

Corrupt Politician

On By Nicholas AlexanderIn New articles, President TrumpLeave a comment

A corrupt politician is one that takes personal profit from power rather than doing everything possible to benefit the population.

A corrupt politician is one who acts against the tide of democracy, and for that reason, they are often identified and weeded out before they can achieve worse crimes than the ones already inflicted and now a part of history.

A corrupt political strategy is to setup the economy so that growth is based on belief while doing everything possible to syphon off cash from the growth and eventual contraction.

Capitalism is not the cause of corruption but as it is a magnifying instrument of wealth, its very reason for success magnifies the level of public concern and as the masses become aware that a leader is doing things that are no longer in the public interest they are disenfranchised.

It only takes one or two unfair political disappointments to discourage active participation by a percentage of voters. And a greater number of voters would be put-off voting by a lifetime experience of leaders who are all corrupt.

The UK and the USA are both led by men who do not have a majority of the citizens within their respective borders behind them who are both damaging the very fabric of their constitutions.

Brexit at any cost is the negotiation stance Boris Johnson presented but he is posing for the cameras to get Theresa May’s deal with a reworded Irish backstop through parliament as the only path to stop a “no-deal”. The level of panic of vulnerable politicians. The majority of the country may be against Brexit, but it seems that they have been driven to apathy in the effort to quell the revolution and maintain the status quo. A relationship with Europe seems only possible if the Lib Dems take government.

In America, the promise to “drain the swamp” does not mean what many had decided it meant: his supportive base has been slow to realise that Trump would extract the wealth that growth creates and from the role of president give it to the already far too wealthy, whilst enacting policy that makes America vulnerable, Americans poorer, attracting attention for himself.

And withdrawing troups because Turkey was willing to move in and slaughter the Kurds, or deport them as refugees.

There must be pockets where corruption does not exist. At this moment it does seem to be a feature of modern politics.

Russian Asset

On By Nicholas AlexanderIn China, Iran, New articles, President Trump, Trump, usa, WarLeave a comment

Trump is a Russian asset.

It is not even a question of if President Trump is an asset to Putin and the larger concerts of the emerging Russian Empire, it is self-evident. Look no further than his policies. And the growing mountains of evidence: his statement to the Russian Ambassador that he effectively endorsed and normalised interference in elections: an act of war.

Russia is not really concerned with the EU, of course they want to isolate it from America. Russia is more concerned with four of its neighbours: China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Iran.

Trump’s actions have heightened tensions in the gulf which put pressure on energy prices: good for Russia. Trump’s trade war with China provides an opportunity for Russia as well as slow down the most dangerous rival for regional power.

Trump practices the art of disinformation. Instead of denying he sought to influence Ukraine for political ends, he attacks the whistleblower, threatening a firing squad by implication in a filmed “private” event. He is a master of media manipulation: his crimes keep him on the public’s tongue. He is so outrageous he gets away with the obvious shortcomings of blatant lying, of naked manipulation of the economy to suit the ultra-rich and hold the rest of us in stagnation: and half of us cry out for more pain. That half is wearing away, his ride of populism, his denial of the climate crisis, his rampant sexism and racism are buried under louder crimes: somehow he has survived because he is a master of disinformation. A skill that no doubt Vladimir Putin is also very skilled at, being the head of the KGB.

What else do we need to know? Trump is a Russian asset.

The Climate Prophet

On By Nicholas AlexanderIn Climate Change, Dangers, Environment, extinction, PoliticsLeave a comment

Greta Thunberg had dedicated her life for the past year to telling the world that how they are talking about climate, what they are doing about the ongoing climate catastrophe.

Her voice means something. She speaks a plain language that even politicians can hear. The public needs to hear it as well.

Greta Thunberg has gained the attention of the world in quite a short period making her one of the most extraordinary campaigners on the world stage. She has had more impact than years of awareness campaigns.

Her address to the EU MEPs is emotional and has extraordinary impact.

George Monbiot and Greta Thunberg have made a video that provides the solution to the climate crisis. And the world looks on as half of the Amazon Rain Forest is in flames. That itself could overtip the balance a few years earlier than has been predicted.

Culprit Politics

On By Nicholas AlexanderIn Politics, WarLeave a comment

Who attacked Saudi Arabia?

Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Russia, or the USA? ISIL Terrorists? Or a power struggle within Saudi Arabia?

In this world of complex political motivations, a case could be made for many actors. The need for absolute irrefutable proof is the risk of a massive war being launched without reason. And what is the real long term solution to this?

Oversupply of oil depressed prices until this attack when prices rose considerably, and the outlook becomes uncertain.

Who is the culprit?

Saudi Arabia is at war with Yemen, a violent and unbalanced war, so the Houthi rebels have the motivation to undermine Saudi oil income. And they have drones https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-aramco-houthis/yemen-houthi-drones-missiles-defy-years-of-saudi-air-strikes-idUSKBN1W22F4. It was an act of war and there is a war in progress.

Iran and Saudi are “enemies” in that they are both the breeding grounds for extremists on opposite sides of ancient conflicts. Both are major oil exporters but Iran suffers from years of sanctions that Saudi Arabia does not. And yet both have a terrible record on human rights, gender dignity, and freedom. Both have committed crimes against the USA and Israel, and yet Iran is the one that is seen as “the enemy”. Iran may seem like a feasible enemy, with motivation, but they have more to lose if it was proven beyond any doubt to have been an act of war. The consequences could cost Iran more than it benefits. It does not appear logical as a planned act of war, but it is possible.

Syria with Russia backing could have launched drones against Saudi Oil. It would raise the price of oil on world markets and counter the US shale oil price depression. It seems unlikely, but there does appear to be motivation.

A power struggle within Saudi? Doubtful that it would be the opening salvo of a revolution: a faction could hardly benefit from a self-inflicted wound.

The USA? Doubtful, except in the minds of the most extreme conspiracy theorists.

Terrorists acting out of Iraq? Unlikely, there is no human cost, it is an economic attack. And a claim of responsibility never occurred.

We think the Houthi rebels in Yemen who claimed responsibility are the most logical culprit. And a rush to blame Iran is obviously going to move the clock closer to midnight.

Another time…

On By Nicholas AlexanderIn George Bush, GW Bush, New articles, political narrativeLeave a comment

It feels strange to have nostalgia for the times of GW Bush, but Trump has make President GW Bush into a soft of folksy hero, and a re-evaluation of his time in the White House and his own sense of self-effacing humour contrasts sharply with the humourless, narcissistic approach we have become used to.

Take a look his Present Bush and his imitator Steve Bridges: we hoped thing would improve for the “shiny America”, and a joke about telling the Premier of China to “tear down this wall” contrast so well against the theft of 3.5 billion dollars from the US Miltary budget to build a wall that solves no problems.

The New Fascism

On By Nicholas AlexanderIn PoliticsLeave a comment

There is no defense for mass murder. The NZ PM stressed that the shooter should never be named, but forgotten about in jail, for good. It is significant that the El Paso mass-murdering fascist appears to have not known the name of his personal inspiration but to single out the NZ mass murderer and not the Norwegian or many American ones is an indication of his own lack of imagination. He probably does not read anything but hate literature.

There is no defense. There is however a dark shadow cast on the greed and stupidity of our political “leaders” who callously manipulate for personal gain, and shut out swathes of society from any possibility of reward.

The desertification of social spending on health, education and housing, the crime of austerity and the division in our society caused directly by David Cameron, Theresa May and now Boris Johnson: all minority elected leaders in a corrupt old-school-tie political system supporting the real elitism of privileges and protected wealth while bombing the poorest countries as a sort of firework display: these are the real terrorists. America minority elected Donald Trump who has openly stimulated White “Supremacy” and is the true inspiration of the El Paso atrocity.

The unnamable idiots banged up for mass murder are stupid: there is no such thing as a “white person” or racial purity: the very idea of it is ridiculous and pathetic.

It is not Liberalism that is the enemy of Equality. It is this New Fascism that is manufacturing terrorists, and look at them all leading the most Western of countries into chaos.

The American Constitution

On By Nicholas AlexanderIn America, Election, Politics, US political lifeLeave a comment

It always seems to me that those American Colonialists were war criminals and then slavers who justified their horrific acts with a sanctified constitution that is worshipped slightly ahead of God. Those words scribbled by old men who won a war became a document that sets laws to justify automatic weapons being used on schoolchildren and the poisoning the very earth we place our feet upon; its hallowed wisdom that has resulted in a destructive and distorted idea of “humanity” that thinks it deserves to be “great again”. It is merely a step in the evolution of humankind, from its brutal infancy to a weaponised adolescence. The West has justified its own indolence by saying it is “more free”. In fact it merely paints the bars of the prison that keeps us from thinking.