#Economic indicators India

[nikkiadderley88]

Learn what GDP means, how it's calculated, and why it's a crucial economic indicator for India's economic health and policy-making.

[reasonsforhope]

Note: I super don't like the framing of this headline. "Here's why it matters" idk it's almost like there's an entire country's worth of people who get to keep their democracy! Clearly! But there are few good articles on this in English, so we're going with this one anyway.

--

2024 is the biggest global election year in history and the future of democracy is on every ballot. But amid an international backsliding in democratic norms, including in countries with a longer history of democracy like India, Senegal’s election last week was a major win for democracy. It’s also an indication that a new political class is coming of age in Africa, exemplified by Senegal’s new 44-year-old president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

The West African nation managed to pull off a free and fair election on March 24 despite significant obstacles, including efforts by former President Macky Sall to delay the elections and imprison or disqualify opposition candidates. Add those challenges to the fact that many neighboring countries in West Africa — most prominently Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, but other nations across the region too — have been repeatedly undermined by military coups since 2020.

Sall had been in power since 2012, serving two terms. He declined to seek a third term following years of speculation that he would do so despite a constitutional two-term limit. But he attempted to extend his term, announcing in February that elections (originally to be held that month) would be pushed off until the end of the year in defiance of the electoral schedule.

Sall’s allies in the National Assembly approved the measure, but only after security forces removed opposition politicians, who vociferously protested the delay. Senegalese society came out in droves to protest Sall’s attempted self-coup, and the Constitutional Council ruled in late February that Sall’s attempt to stay in power could not stand.

That itself was a win for democracy. Still, opposition candidates, including Faye, though legally able to run, remained imprisoned until just days before the election — while others were barred from running at all. The future of Senegal’s democracy seemed uncertain at best.

Cut to Tuesday [April 2, 2024], when Sall stepped down and handed power to Faye, a former tax examiner who won on a campaign of combating corruption, as well as greater sovereignty and economic opportunity for the Senegalese. And it was young voters who carried Faye to victory...

“This election showed the resilience of the democracy in Senegal that resisted the shock of an unexpected postponement,” Adele Ravidà, Senegal country director at the lnternational Foundation for Electoral Systems, told Vox via email. “... after a couple of years of unprecedented episodes of violence [the Senegalese people] turned the page smoothly, allowing a peaceful transfer of power.”

And though Faye’s aims won’t be easy to achieve, his win can tell us not only about how Senegal managed to establish its young democracy, but also about the positive trend of democratic entrenchment and international cooperation in African nations, and the power of young Africans...

Senegal and Democracy in Africa

Since it gained independence from France in 1960, Senegal has never had a coup — military or civilian. Increasingly strong and competitive democracy has been the norm for Senegal, and the country’s civil society went out in great force over the past three years of Sall’s term to enforce those norms.

“I think that it is really the victory of the democratic institutions — the government, but also civil society organization,” Sany said. “They were mobilized, from the unions, teacher unions, workers, NGOs. The civil society in Senegal is one of the most experienced, well-organized democratic institutions on the continent.” Senegalese civil society also pushed back against former President Abdoulaye Wade’s attempt to cling to power back in 2012, and the Senegalese people voted him out...

Faye will still have his work cut out for him accomplishing the goals he campaigned on, including economic prosperity, transparency, food security, increased sovereignty, and the strengthening of democratic institutions. This will be important, especially for Senegal’s young people, who are at the forefront of another major trend.

Young Africans will play an increasingly key role in the coming decades, both on the continent and on the global stage; Africa’s youth population (people aged 15 to 24) will make up approximately 35 percent of the world’s youth population by 2050, and Africa’s population is expected to grow from 1.5 billion to 2.5 billion during that time. In Senegal, people aged 10 to 24 make up 32 percent of the population, according to the UN.

“These young people have connected to the rest of the world,” Sany said. “They see what’s happening. They are interested. They are smart. They are more educated.” And they have high expectations not only for their economic future but also for their civil rights and autonomy.

The reality of government is always different from the promise of campaigning, but Faye’s election is part of a promising trend of democratic entrenchment in Africa, exemplified by successful transitions of power in Nigeria, Liberia, and Sierra Leone over the past year. To be sure, those elections were not without challenges, but on the whole, they provide an important counterweight to democratic backsliding.

Senegalese people, especially the younger generation, have high expectations for what democracy can and should deliver for them. It’s up to Faye and his government to follow."

-via Vox, April 4, 2024

[determinate-negation]

“This raises the question: if industrial production is necessary to meet decent-living standards today, then perhaps capitalism—notwithstanding its negative impact on social indicators over the past five hundred years—is necessary to develop the industrial capacity to meet these higher-order goals. This has been the dominant assumption in development economics for the past half century. But it does not withstand empirical scrutiny. For the majority of the world, capitalism has historically constrained, rather than enabled, technological development—and this dynamic remains a major problem today.

It has long been recognized by liberals and Marxists alike that the rise of capitalism in the core economies was associated with rapid industrial expansion, on a scale with no precedent under feudalism or other precapitalist class structures. What is less widely understood is that this very same system produced the opposite effect in the periphery and semi-periphery. Indeed, the forced integration of peripheral regions into the capitalist world-system during the period circa 1492 to 1914 was characterized by widespread deindustrialization and agrarianization, with countries compelled to specialize in agricultural and other primary commodities, often under “pre-modern” and ostensibly “feudal” conditions.

In Eastern Europe, for instance, the number of people living in cities declined by almost one-third during the seventeenth century, as the region became an agrarian serf-economy exporting cheap grain and timber to Western Europe. At the same time, Spanish and Portuguese colonizers were transforming the American continents into suppliers of precious metals and agricultural goods, with urban manufacturing suppressed by the state. When the capitalist world-system expanded into Africa in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, imports of British cloth and steel destroyed Indigenous textile production and iron smelting, while Africans were instead made to specialize in palm oil, peanuts, and other cheap cash crops produced with enslaved labor. India—once the great manufacturing hub of the world—suffered a similar fate after colonization by Britain in 1757. By 1840, British colonizers boasted that they had “succeeded in converting India from a manufacturing country into a country exporting raw produce.” Much the same story unfolded in China after it was forced to open its domestic economy to capitalist trade during the British invasion of 1839–42. According to historians, the influx of European textiles, soap, and other manufactured goods “destroyed rural handicraft industries in the villages, causing unemployment and hardship for the Chinese peasantry.”

The great deindustrialization of the periphery was achieved in part through policy interventions by the core states, such as through the imposition of colonial prohibitions on manufacturing and through “unequal treaties,” which were intended to destroy industrial competition from Southern producers, establish captive markets for Western industrial output, and position Southern economies as providers of cheap labor and resources. But these dynamics were also reinforced by structural features of profit-oriented markets. Capitalists only employ new technologies to the extent that it is profitable for them to do so. This can present an obstacle to economic development if there is little demand for domestic industrial production (due to low incomes, foreign competition, etc.), or if the costs of innovation are high.

Capitalists in the Global North overcame these problems because the state intervened extensively in the economy by setting high tariffs, providing public subsidies, assuming the costs of research and development, and ensuring adequate consumer demand through government spending. But in the Global South, where state support for industry was foreclosed by centuries of formal and informal colonialism, it has been more profitable for capitalists to export cheap agricultural goods than to invest in high-technology manufacturing. The profitability of new technologies also depends on the cost of labor. In the North, where wages are comparatively high, capitalists have historically found it profitable to employ labor-saving technologies. But in the peripheral economies, where wages have been heavily compressed, it has often been cheaper to use labor-intensive production techniques than to pay for expensive machinery.

Of course, the global division of labor has changed since the late nineteenth century. Many of the leading industries of that time, including textiles, steel, and assembly line processes, have now been outsourced to low-wage peripheral economies like India and China, while the core states have moved to innovation activities, high-technology aerospace and biotech engineering, information technology, and capital-intensive agriculture. Yet still the basic problem remains. Under neoliberal globalization (structural adjustment programs and WTO rules), governments in the periphery are generally precluded from using tariffs, subsidies, and other forms of industrial policy to achieve meaningful development and economic sovereignty, while labor market deregulation and global labor arbitrage have kept wages extremely low. In this context, the drive to maximize profit leads Southern capitalists and foreign investors to pour resources into relatively low-technology export sectors, at the expense of more modern lines of industry.

Moreover, for those parts of the periphery that occupy the lowest rungs in global commodity chains, production continues to be organized along so-called pre-modern lines, even under the new division of labor. In the Congo, for instance, workers are sent into dangerous mineshafts without any modern safety equipment, tunneling deep into the ground with nothing but shovels, often coerced at gunpoint by U.S.-backed militias, so that Microsoft and Apple can secure cheap coltan for their electronics devices. Pre-modern production processes predicated on the “technology” of labor coercion are also found in the cocoa plantations of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, where enslaved children labor in brutal conditions for corporations like Cadbury, or Colombia’s banana export sector, where a hyper-exploited peasantry is kept in line by a regime of rural terror and extrajudicial killings overseen by private death squads.

Uneven global development, including the endurance of ostensibly “feudal” relations of production, is not inevitable. It is an effect of capitalist dynamics. Capitalists in the periphery find it more profitable to employ cheap labor subject to conditions of slavery or other forms of coercion than they do to invest in modern industry.”

Capitalism, Global Poverty, and the Case for Democratic Socialism by Jason Hickle and Dylan Sullivan

[demial4]

Someone's Thoughtful Take on Cosmo Canyon

from Here

"Note Ive never played the OG. I know of the OG so I can’t really make a comparison aside from what others have said and what I’ve seen in love playthroughs and commentaries.

Personally, I like the remake’s take. 

Let’s look at the game’s themes. Ff7 at the core isn’t about magic swords and defeating Sauron, it’s about economic ideas, imperialism, corporatism, selfishness, and honesty. 

 In canon, Shinra has waged war on the world. And has more or less won. Shinra dictates what people should buy and believe, it is capitalist in the worst sense. Shinra has separated people from the environment through building cities and creating a society based on material wealth and fame (recall how cloud and tifa’s village was excluded from shinra’s economy and only knew of the world via shinra’s propaganda). 

So what would people in reality most likely be? They’d be tourists and certainly the areas affected by Shinra realize they need to survive…by being tourist sites. 

In the OG Wutai did do that which is why yuffie rebelled. The remake seems to indicate that happened to wutai as in canon. 

There are questions of how countries/people affected by imperialism adapt, and becoming a part of the free market by advertising “happiness, freedom etc” could be one of them.

In the real world, we do have “spiritual retreats” and “gurus (looking at you Beatles and that guru from India)” for wealthy, bored folks. So the game is taking this fakeness, this desire to get quick answers without really becoming a true rebel, and showing it in the game.

Yuffie, being one who comes from a semi-nation that has been brutalized and humiliated by Shinra, is skeptical of the cosmo canyon. And why shouldn’t she be? Her nation has suffered many deaths, and the loss of their tradition slowly, yet these guys are sitting around “meditating” only to go home the next day to their peaceful lives? They can go home safely but everyday her people lose more and more of themselves. Plus she isn’t sure they are correct about the afterlife-I mean they don’t have good evidence so why should she believe them? She has lost people and she has never seen them again. It’s a very mature take on the world for a young teen like yuffie.

When tifa ends up trying to tell people about what she actually experienced in the life force, no one from the cosmo canyon aside from Guggenheimer (who initially dismisses her) tries to delve more into what she is talking about. 

Tifa is talking to people who can’t or won’t understand what she is warning about because they haven’t had the life experiences she has and I suspect the genuine desire to help the world change. 

Later on, in golden saucer, Tifa confesses to cloud that she feels so helpless when she sees how no one in the golden saucer is reacting to the new war on wutai."

from Here

[coochiequeens]

After stories like this break I always hope it will lead to those supporting surrogacy to agree that there needs to needs to be more regulations.

IVF Centers in Delhi NCR: CBI Uncovers Child Trafficking and Fake Doctors in Fertility Clinics

CBI investigation reveals alarming illegal activities in Delhi NCR fertility clinics, including child trafficking, illegal surrogacy, and employment of unqualified practitioners. The probe exposes violations of the Surrogacy Regulation Act 2021 and links to organized crime. This shocking revelation raises urgent questions about regulation and patient safety in the fertility industry, prompting calls for immediate reform and stricter oversight.

Posted byby Ajay Gupta Political journalistAugust 3, 2024

NEW DELHI, August 3, 2024 – A recent investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has unveiled a disturbing network of illegal activities within In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) centers across Delhi NCR, sending shockwaves through the fertility industry and raising urgent questions about regulation and oversight.

IVF Centers in Delhi NCR Key Findings

Numerous IVF centers Delhi NCR implicated in child trafficking schemes

Surrogate mothers exploited in violation of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021

Organized syndicates linked to organ trade and forced begging identified

Fake medical credentials and forged adoption documents discovered

The Investigation Unfolds IVF centers Delhi NCR

The CBI’s probe, which began as an inquiry into a single child trafficking incident, quickly ballooned into a comprehensive examination of the fertility industry in the National Capital Region. Investigators uncovered a complex web of illegal activities, with some IVF centers serving as hubs for various criminal enterprises.

“What we’ve found is deeply troubling,” said CBI spokesperson Rajesh Kumar. “These centers, which should be helping families, have instead become conduits for exploitation and trafficking.”

A Pattern of Abuse Illegal IVF centers

The investigation revealed multiple schemes operating under the guise of legitimate fertility services:

Baby Trafficking: Newborns purchased from surrogate mothers were sold to childless couples or, more alarmingly, to criminal networks.

Illegal Surrogacy: Despite the ban on commercial surrogacy, many centers continued to offer paid surrogacy services, exploiting economically vulnerable women.

Document Forgery: Staff at several clinics were found creating false adoption papers and medical records.

Unqualified Practitioners: Some centers employed individuals with fake medical degrees, putting patients at severe risk.

Legal Framework and Violations

The Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, explicitly prohibits commercial surrogacy in India, allowing only altruistic arrangements. However, the CBI’s findings indicate widespread disregard for these regulations.

“The law is clear,” explained Dr. Shalini Mishra, a legal expert in reproductive rights.

“Surrogacy can only be altruistic, with no financial compensation beyond medical expenses. What we’re seeing here is a blatant violation of both the letter and spirit of the law.”

The Greater Noida Gang

In April 2022, authorities arrested a gang operating out of an IVF center in Greater Noida. The group, which included two female employees of the clinic, lured prospective parents with promises of baby boys, a practice strictly forbidden under Indian law.

The Fake Doctor Incident

September 2022 saw the arrest of an IVF clinic owner following the death of a woman during a procedure. Subsequent investigation revealed the owner’s medical degree was fraudulent.

The Egg Donor Mastermind

A 2021 case involved the rescue of a two-year-old child from a trafficking ring. The operation’s leader was discovered to be an egg donor with connections to multiple hospitals in the region.

Implications IVF Centers in Delhi NCR

The scale of illegal activities uncovered by the CBI raises serious concerns about the oversight of fertility clinics in India.

Dr. Amit Banerjee, a reproductive health specialist, warns of far-reaching consequences:

“This isn’t just about illegal adoptions or surrogacy. We’re talking about potential links to organ trafficking, forced labor, and other forms of exploitation. The ramifications for public health and safety are enormous.”

As the investigation continues, calls for reform are growing louder. Experts suggest several key steps:

Enhanced Monitoring: Implement more frequent and rigorous inspections of IVF centers.

Stricter Licensing: Tighten requirements for operating fertility clinics.

Patient Education: Launch public awareness campaigns about legal surrogacy and adoption processes.

Inter-Agency Cooperation: Improve coordination between health authorities, law enforcement, and child welfare organizations.

The CBI’s investigation into illegal IVF centers in Delhi NCR has exposed a dark underbelly of the fertility industry, highlighting urgent needs for reform and vigilance. As authorities work to dismantle these criminal networks, the challenge remains to ensure that legitimate fertility services can operate safely and ethically, providing hope to families while protecting the vulnerable from exploitation.

For the latest updates on this developing story, visit the CBI’s official website or follow our continuing coverage.

[probablyasocialecologist]

Where poverty has declined, it was not capitalism but rather progressive social movements and public policies, arising in the mid-20th century, that freed people from deprivation. While more research is needed to confirm this point, it is worth noting that these findings are consistent with previous studies. Amartya Sen (1981) finds that between 1960 and 1977, the countries that made the strongest achievements in life expectancy and literacy were those that invested in public provisioning. Countries governed by communist parties (Cuba, Vietnam, China, etc.) performed exceptionally well, as did countries with state-led industrial policies (South Korea, Taiwan, etc.). Similarly, Cereseto and Waitzkin (1986) find that in 1980, socialist planned economies performed better on life expectancy, mean years of schooling, and other social indicators than their capitalist counterparts at a similar level of economic development. Navarro (1993) reached similar conclusions: when it comes to life expectancy and mortality, Cuba performed considerably better than the capitalist states of Latin America, and China performs better than India. Navarro also found that, amongst the developed capitalist countries, the social democracies with generous welfare states (i.e., Scandinavia) have superior health outcomes to neo-liberal states like the US. Poverty alleviation and gains in human health have historically been linked to socialist political movements and public action, not to capitalism.

Dylan Sullivan and Jason Hickel, Capitalism and extreme poverty: A global analysis of real wages, human height, and mortality since the long 16th century

[theculturedmarxist]

The contradictions of China-bashing in the United States begin with how often it is flat-out untrue.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the “Chinese spy” balloon that President Joe Biden shot down with immense patriotic fanfare in February did not in fact transmit pictures or anything else to China.

White House economists have been trying to excuse persistent US inflation saying it is a global problem and inflation is worse elsewhere in the world. China’s inflation rate is 0.7% year on year.

Financial media outlets stress how China’s GDP growth rate is lower than it used to be. China now estimates that its 2023 GDP growth will be 5-5.5%. Estimates for the US GDP growth rate in 2023, meanwhile, vacillate around 1-2%.

China-bashing has intensified into denial and self-delusion – it is akin to pretending that the United States did not lose wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and more.

The BRICS coalition (China and its allies) now has a significantly larger global economic footprint (higher total GDP) than the Group of Seven (the United States and its allies).

China is outgrowing the rest of the world in research and development expenditures.

The American empire (like its foundation, American capitalism) is not the dominating global force it once was right after World War II. The empire and the economy have shrunk in size, power and influence considerably since then. And they continue to do so.

Putting that genie back into the bottle is a battle against history that the United States is not likely to win.

The Russia delusion

Denial and self-delusion about the changing world economy have led to major strategic mistakes. US leaders predicted before and shortly after February 2022, when the Ukraine war began, for example, that Russia���s economy would crash from the effects of the “greatest of all sanctions,” led by the United States. Some US leaders still believe that the crash will take place (publicly, if not privately) despite there being no such indication.

Such predictions badly miscalculated the economic strength and potential of Russia’s allies in the BRICS. Led by China and India, the BRICS nations responded to Russia’s need for buyers of its oil and gas.

The United States made its European allies cut off purchasing Russian oil and gas as part of the sanctions war against the Kremlin over Ukraine. However, US pressure tactics used on China, India, and many other nations (inside and outside BRICS) likewise to stop buying Russian exports failed. They not only purchased oil and gas from Russia but then also re-exported some of it to European nations.

World power configurations had followed the changes in the world economy at the expense of the US position.

The military delusion

War games with allies, threats from US officials, and US warships off China’s coast may delude some to imagine that these moves intimidate China. The reality is that the military disparity between China and the United States is smaller now than it has ever been in modern China’s history.

China’s military alliances are the strongest they have ever been. Intimidation that did not work from the time of the Korean War and since then will certainly not be effective now.

Former president Donald Trump’s tariff and trade wars were meang, US officials said, to persuade China to change its “authoritarian” economic system. If so, that aim was not achieved. The United States simply lacks the power to force the matter.

American polls suggest that media outlets have been successful in a) portraying China’s advances economically and technologically as a threat, and b) using that threat to lobby against regulations of US high-tech industries.

The tech delusion

Of course, business opposition to government regulation predates China’s emergence. However, encouraging hostility toward China provides convenient additional cover for all sorts of business interests.

China’s technological challenge flows from and depends on a massive educational effort based on training far more STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students than the United States does. Yet US business does not support paying taxes to fund education equivalently.

The reporting by the media on this issue rarely covers that obvious contradiction and politicians mostly avoid it as dangerous to their electoral prospects.

Scapegoating China joins with scapegoating immigrants, BIPOCs (black and Indigenous people of color), and many of the other usual targets.

The broader decline of the US empire and capitalist economic system confronts the nation with the stark question: Whose standard of living will bear the burden of the impact of this decline? The answer to that question has been crystal clear: The US government will pursue austerity policies (cut vital public services) and will allow price inflation and then rising interest rates that reduce living standards and jobs.

Coming on top of 2020’s combined economic crash and Covid-19 pandemic, the middle- and-lower-income majority have so far borne most of the cost of the United States’ decline. That has been the pattern followed by declining empires throughout human history: Those who control wealth and power are best positioned to offload the costs of decline on to the general population.

The real sufferings of that population cause vulnerability to the political agendas of demagogues. They offer scapegoats to offset popular upset, bitterness and anger.

Leading capitalists and the politicians they own welcome or tolerate scapegoating as a distraction from those leaders’ responsibilities for mass suffering. Demagogic leaders scapegoat old and new targets: immigrants, BIPOCs, women, socialists, liberals, minorities of various kinds, and foreign threats.

The scapegoating usually does little more than hurt its intended victims. Its failure to solve any real problem keeps that problem alive and available for demagogues to exploit at a later stage (at least until scapegoating’s victims resist enough to end it).

The contradictions of scapegoating include the dangerous risk that it overflows its original purposes and causes capitalism more problems than it relieves.

If anti-immigrant agitation actually slows or stops immigration (as has happened recently in the United States), domestic labor shortages may appear or worsen, which may drive up wages, and thereby hurt profits.

If racism similarly leads to disruptive civil disturbances (as has happened recently in France), profits may be depressed.

If China-bashing leads the United States and Beijing to move further against US businesses investing in and trading with China, that could prove very costly to the US economy. That this may happen now is a dangerous consequence of China-bashing.

Working together (briefly)

Because they believed it would be in the US interest, then-president Richard Nixon resumed diplomatic and other relations with Beijing during his 1972 trip to the country. Chinese chairman Mao Zedong, premier Zhou Enlai, and Nixon started a period of economic growth, trade, investment and prosperity for both China and the United States.

The success of that period prompted China to seek to continue it. That same success prompted the United States in recent years to change its attitude and policies. More accurately, that success prompted US political leaders like Trump and Biden to now perceive China as the enemy whose economic development represents a threat. They demonize the Beijing leadership accordingly.

The majority of US mega-corporations disagree. They profited mightily from their access to the Chinese labor force and the rapidly growing Chinese market since the 1980s. That was a large part of what they meant when they celebrated “neoliberal globalization.” A significant part of the US business community, however, wants continued access to China.

The fight inside the United States now pits major parts of the US business community against Biden and his equally “neoconservative” foreign-policy advisers. The outcome of that fight depends on domestic economic conditions, the presidential election campaign, and the political fallout of the Ukraine war as well the ongoing twists and turns of the China-US relations.

The outcome also depends on how the masses of Chinese and US people understand and intervene in relations between these two countries. Will they see through the contradictions of China-bashing to prevent war, seek mutual accommodation, and thereby rebuild a new version of the joint prosperity that existed before Trump and Biden?

This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute, which provided it to Asia Times.

[zvaigzdelasas]

[BBC is UK State Media]

Taiwan is looking to make new friends - not just to trade with, but for support in powerful international bodies, in particular the European Union. Proof of one new friendship is easily visible in Taipei's supermarkets, which now sell something that is quite uncommon in Asia: Lithuanian-made India Pale Ale. Imports of the brew, along with Lithuanian rum and chocolate, have soared in Taiwan in the last few years, and Taipei has even announced a $10m investment in Lithuania in the most prized Taiwanese product - chips. Why young people in Taiwan are learning to fight Why Lithuania? Perhaps the most fertile ground for making new friends is in the young democracies of Eastern Europe, places that once fell under the control of Moscow, but are now part of Nato and the EU. During his speech to the national day crowds, the head of Taiwan's parliament warned of authoritarian regimes "rolling back freedom, from Ukraine to Hong Kong, Myanmar to Afghanistan".[...]

In 2021 Lithuania allowed Taipei to set up an office in Vilnius using the name "Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania". Beijing was apoplectic and sent Lithuania's ambassador to Beijing home. Further intimidation has followed. But the government in Vilnius has refused to back down. It has gone further, describing its relations with Taipei as a "strategic priority". "Lithuania is seeking to enhance practical co-operation with Taiwan, a like-minded democracy, and an important economic and technological partner in the region," it says. While the IPA on Taiwanese supermarket shelves may seem like a small thing, it is an indication of where Taiwan wants to go.

15 Oct 23

[rjzimmerman]

Notes: The electricity generation trajectories for wind and solar PV indicate potential generation, including current curtailment rates. However, they do not project future wind and solar PV curtailment, which may be significant in some countries by 2028.

Excerpt from this story from EcoWatch:

With solar leading the way, renewables are on track to generate nearly 50 percent of global electricity this decade. But green energy is still predicted to fall short of the United Nations target of tripling capacity, according to Renewables 2024: Analysis and forecast to 2030, a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

More than 5,500 gigawatts (GW) of global renewable capacity is set to be added between now and 2030, which is nearly three times the growth from 2017 to 2023, the report said.

“Renewables are moving faster than national governments can set targets for,” said Fatih Birol, IEA’s executive director, as Reuters reported. “This is mainly driven not just by efforts to lower emissions or boost energy security: it’s increasingly because renewables today offer the cheapest option to add new power plants in almost all countries around the world.”

Based on today’s governmental policy settings and current market trends, of the world’s renewable capacity installed between 2024 and 2030, almost 60 percent will come from China, a press release from IEA said.

That would mean nearly half the total global renewable power capacity would be in China by 2030, up from a third in 2010.

“Due to supportive policies and favourable economics, the world’s renewable power capacity is expected to surge over the rest of this decade, with global additions on course to roughly equal the current power capacity of China, the European Union, India and the United States combined,” the press release said.

This decade, solar PV is projected to account for 80 percent of worldwide renewable capacity growth. This is due to the construction of large solar plants and an increase in installations of rooftop solar by households and companies.

The expansion of wind is forecast to double between now and the end of the decade, compared with the period 2017 to 2023.

In nearly every country in the world, solar PV and wind are the least expensive options for adding new electricity generation.

Because of these trends, almost 70 countries that together make up 80 percent of renewable capacity around the world are set to meet or exceed their current renewable goals for 2030.

“The growth is not fully in line with the goal set by nearly 200 governments at the COP28 climate change conference in December 2023 to triple the world’s renewable capacity this decade – the report forecasts global capacity will reach 2.7 times its 2022 level by 2030,” the press release said. ��But IEA analysis indicates that fully meeting the tripling target is entirely possible if governments take near-term opportunities for action.”

[metamatar]

everytime i make a post trying to centre countries outside of the imperial core perspective someone always nitpicks my choice of terminology. i usually pick which term to use based on who i'm trying to speak to bc im intentional like that.

"waah third world is bad and outdated! it comes from the cold war! bandung only included a small set of countries!" like yeah the non aligned movement was limited but the term now represents more than that history to people conversant in imperialism. it is an ideological signifier! it is being explicitly used in that sense. when you make the kind of criticism i quoted you're telling me you lack familiarity with the theoretical frameworks in question.

the global south is an ngoism that has partly increased in popularity to distance itself from radical leftist ideological commitments implied by third world. it is a term popularly used to direct aid centred policymaking to address global poverty. i use this to talk to social democrats who don't have a coherent idea of what imperialism is.

developing world ofc indicates a framework that does not have an imagination for non capitalist modes of production. i use it to usually talk to neoliberals and libertarians.

i dont use the term periphery bc that term is the opposite of trying to centre the periphery to me. this is partly an aesthetic preference. but also bc it is a term that reifies a particular feature of economic relationships that is incomplete and obscures the ways that inter periphery relationships work (say india bangladesh)

[marxism-leninism-utenaism]

that article is extremely funny but this bit specifically is bullshit

OpenAI’s shift towards profitability, combined with Sam Altman’s recent public statements indicates a number of things. Although Altman might not prioritize profits, OpenAI does. While OpenAI is routinely pumping more money to make their GPT LLMs more powerful and more clever, Sam Altman has made several public statements that basically say that AI, if unregulated by the government will prove to be disastrous. In fact, Altman, has been very vocal about the need for guidelines on how AI is developed. There have been numerous instances where Altman has predicted that AI, in its current form will take away millions of jobs. Some tech experts would even go as far as to say that Altman is having a Frankenstein moment–one, where he is somewhat regretful of the monster that he has created, although it seems that would be a farfetched reading of the situation. Despite this, OpenAI has been on the lookout for new and better ways to monetise its GPT-4 LLMs. However, it hasn’t achieved profitability. Its losses reached $540 million since the development of ChatGPT. Microsoft’s $10 billion investment, along with that of some other venture capital firms has kept OpenAI afloat and going for now. However, as Analytics India Magazine reports, OpenAI’s projection of reaching $200 million in annual revenue in 2023 and aiming for $1 billion in 2024 seems ambitious, given its mounting losses.

altman is agitating for regulation of the black-box algorithm industry because he wants to shut the door behind him. he and his company would like to impose increase compliance and regulatory costs on their competitors, and to be the people who can speak with the expert's voice when the regulations that govern them are drafted.

this isnt some moral play its an economic one. even in this segment forbes sets out the exact economic incentives driving this activity but completely fail to connect the dots on why they are acting like this.

[mariacallous]

The use of a covert “shadow fleet” by Moscow to transport oil in defiance of western sanctions will be a primary focus during discussions between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London this week. The talks are set to take place ahead of US President Joe Biden’s meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Washington.

According to The Guardian, Russia has been using older, uninsured tankers to move oil and liquefied natural gas outside the framework of western sanctions. These vessels operate without western insurance and have been involved in risky ship-to-ship oil transfers near international waters, including off the eastern coast of Sweden. This activity is part of an effort to bypass a $60-a-barrel price cap imposed by the West on Russian oil exports, a measure designed to limit Moscow’s revenues without causing a spike in global oil prices.

Despite the sanctions, a recent study by the Kyiv School of Economics revealed that Russia’s oil revenues reached $17.1 billion in July due to rising oil prices and insufficient enforcement of the price cap. The report also highlighted that while 307 tankers transported Russian crude from January 2023 to June 2024, only a small fraction of these ships have been sanctioned by the US, EU, or UK.

Efforts to disrupt this shadow fleet have been slow. In July, Starmer led an international call at the European Political Community summit in Blenheim to increase pressure on countries allowing these tankers to operate under their flags. However, the number of tankers evading sanctions has not significantly decreased.

The US and UK are expected to discuss further strategies to strengthen enforcement and pressure flag states, ports, and maritime industries to limit the fleet’s activities. One recent success saw Eswatini, a landlocked African state, dismantle its ship registry used for flagging tankers linked to this shadow fleet, following action from the International Maritime Organization.

Earlier reports indicated that Russia’s efforts to use the shadow fleet to bypass sanctions have led to a rise in illegal oil shipments. Studies showed that a significant portion of these tankers are registered in countries such as Panama, Liberia, and the Marshall Islands, with key destinations being India, China, and Turkey, reflecting a shift from traditional EU markets.

[foxnangelseo]

Investment Options in India: Diversify Your Portfolio in 2024

Diversification is a fundamental principle of investing, essential for managing risk and optimizing returns. In 2024, as investors navigate an ever-changing economic landscape, diversifying their portfolios becomes even more critical. India, with its vibrant economy, diverse markets, and growth potential, offers a plethora of investment options for both domestic and international investors. In this comprehensive guide, we explore various investment avenues in India in 2024, from traditional options like stocks and real estate to emerging opportunities in startups and alternative assets.

1. Equities: Investing in the Stock Market

Investing in equities remains one of the most popular ways to participate in India's economic growth story. The Indian stock market, represented by indices such as the Nifty 50 and Sensex, offers ample opportunities for investors to capitalize on the country's booming sectors and emerging companies.

- Blue-Chip Stocks: Invest in established companies with a proven track record of performance and stability.

- Mid and Small-Cap Stocks: Explore growth opportunities by investing in mid and small-cap companies with high growth potential.

- Sectoral Funds: Diversify your portfolio by investing in sector-specific mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) targeting industries such as technology, healthcare, and finance.

2. Mutual Funds: Professional Fund Management

Mutual funds provide an excellent avenue for investors to access a diversified portfolio managed by professional fund managers. In India, mutual funds offer a range of options catering to different risk profiles and investment objectives.

- Equity Funds: Invest in a diversified portfolio of stocks, including large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap companies.

- Debt Funds: Generate stable returns by investing in fixed-income securities such as government bonds, corporate bonds, and treasury bills.

- Hybrid Funds: Combine the benefits of equity and debt investments to achieve a balanced risk-return profile.

- Index Funds and ETFs: Track benchmark indices like the Nifty 50 and Sensex at a lower cost compared to actively managed funds.

3. Real Estate: Tangible Assets for Long-Term Growth

Real estate continues to be a popular investment option in India, offering the dual benefits of capital appreciation and rental income. While traditional residential and commercial properties remain attractive, investors can also explore alternative avenues such as real estate investment trusts (REITs) and real estate crowdfunding platforms.

- Residential Properties: Invest in apartments, villas, or plots of land in prime locations with high demand and potential for appreciation.

- Commercial Properties: Generate rental income by investing in office spaces, retail outlets, warehouses, and industrial properties.

- REITs: Gain exposure to a diversified portfolio of income-generating real estate assets without the hassle of direct ownership.

- Real Estate Crowdfunding: Participate in real estate projects through online platforms, pooling funds with other investors to access lucrative opportunities.

4. Startups and Venture Capital: Betting on Innovation and Entrepreneurship

India's startup ecosystem has witnessed exponential growth in recent years, fueled by a wave of innovation, entrepreneurial talent, and supportive government policies. Investing in startups and venture capital funds allows investors to participate in this dynamic ecosystem and potentially earn high returns.

- Angel Investing: Provide early-stage funding to promising startups in exchange for equity ownership, betting on their growth potential.

- Venture Capital Funds: Invest in professionally managed funds that provide capital to startups and emerging companies in exchange for equity stakes.

- Startup Accelerators and Incubators: Partner with organizations that support early-stage startups through mentorship, networking, and access to resources.

5. Alternative Assets: Diversification Beyond Traditional Investments

In addition to stocks, bonds, and real estate, investors can diversify their portfolios further by allocating capital to alternative assets. These assets offer unique risk-return profiles and can act as a hedge against market volatility.

- Gold and Precious Metals: Hedge against inflation and currency fluctuations by investing in physical gold, gold ETFs, or gold savings funds.

- Commodities: Gain exposure to commodities such as crude oil, natural gas, metals, and agricultural products through commodity futures and exchange-traded funds.

- Cryptocurrencies: Explore the emerging asset class of digital currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others, which offer the potential for high returns but come with higher volatility and risk.

Conclusion

Diversifying your investment portfolio is essential for mitigating risk, maximizing returns, and achieving long-term financial goals. In 2024, India offers a myriad of investment options across various asset classes, catering to the preferences and risk profiles of different investors.

Whether you prefer the stability of blue-chip stocks, the growth potential of startups, or the tangible assets of real estate, India provides ample opportunities to diversify your portfolio and capitalize on the country's economic growth story. By carefully assessing your investment objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon, you can construct a well-diversified portfolio that withstands market fluctuations and delivers sustainable returns in the years to come.

This post was originally published on: Foxnangel

[astralastrologer10]

Maximizing Stock Market Success: Utilizing Sidereal Astrology for Investment Insights

In the ever-evolving world of finance, where even the most seasoned traders struggle to predict market trends, sidereal astrology offers a unique and powerful lens to navigate the stock market. Unlike tropical astrology, sidereal astrology, rooted in Vedic traditions, focuses on the actual positions of planets, providing unparalleled accuracy in understanding cosmic influences on financial markets. For those seeking to harness this ancient wisdom, there’s one name that stands out: Astrologer Mohnish Suri, a beacon of expertise and reliability in Vedic astrology.

Why Sidereal Astrology is Revolutionizing Financial Predictions

Sidereal astrology, with its precise focus on planetary positions and their transits, delves deeper into understanding the subtle cosmic forces that influence market behaviors. By analyzing key planetary movements, this system offers insights into market volatility, investor psychology, and the ideal timing for investments.

Jupiter’s influence brings optimism and market growth when aligned with favorable signs.

Saturn’s transits often signal caution and periods of consolidation.

The retrogrades of Mercury can disrupt communication and decision-making, affecting financial transactions.

These cosmic indicators, when interpreted by a skilled astrologer, can provide actionable insights for traders and investors.

Meet Astrologer Mohnish Suri: The Master of Sidereal Astrology

Astrologer Mohnish Suri is not just an expert in Vedic astrology but a trusted guide for those navigating the complexities of life and finance. Born in India, and now based in North America, Astrologer Mohnish holds degree in advanced AI & Software Engineering, MBA from University of Liverpool, he combines ancient wisdom with modern understanding to deliver life-changing insights.

A devotee of Lord Ganesha and Lord Shiva, Astrologer Mohnish honed his craft under the guidance of Swami Shri Shri Mritunjaya Ji, mastering the Tantra Dus Mahavidya, a sacred science of tuning planetary vibrations to foster happiness and prosperity. With decades of experience and a commitment to transforming lives, Astrologer Mohnish’s astrology readings are known for their depth, accuracy, and ability to illuminate even the darkest paths.

Astrologer Mohnish has helped countless individuals achieve financial success by interpreting the intricate dance of planets and their impact on wealth-related aspects. His insights into wealth houses, such as the 2nd, 5th, 9th, and 11th, empower clients to make informed financial decisions, aligning their actions with cosmic energies.

How Sidereal Astrology Helps in Stock Market Predictions

The stock market is influenced by human emotions, mass psychology, and unpredictable events. Sidereal astrology bridges the gap between traditional analysis and the intangible forces that drive these elements.

By analyzing Nakshatras, or lunar mansions, and planetary alignments, Vedic astrology offers a roadmap for market trends:

Ashwini Nakshatra signals rapid shifts, suitable for short-term trading.

Bharani Nakshatra suggests steadiness, favoring long-term investments.

Astrologer Mohnish also examine planetary transits over wealth houses to determine the best times for trading or investing. For example, Saturn in Capricorn has historically been linked to economic slowdowns, while Jupiter in Sagittarius often signals prosperity.

Astrological Remedies to Strengthen Financial Success

Sidereal astrology goes beyond predictions, offering remedies to harmonize planetary influences and mitigate challenges. Wearing gemstones aligned with beneficial planets, chanting powerful mantras, and conducting rituals can amplify positive energies, creating a balanced approach to achieving financial goals.

Curiosity Meets Opportunity

For those new to sidereal astrology, the journey begins with curiosity. How do the movements of planets like Jupiter and Saturn shape market trends? What hidden energies influence our financial decisions? Sidereal astrology answers these questions with precision, offering a unique advantage to those who seek its wisdom.

Astrologer Mohnish Suri, with his profound knowledge and intuitive guidance, bridges the ancient science of Vedic astrology with the modern needs of investors. His ability to connect with clients and provide tailored insights has made him the go-to astrologer for individuals seeking clarity in life and finance.

Your Path to Financial Empowerment

Sidereal astrology, with its roots in ancient Vedic texts, offers a transformative approach to stock market predictions. By understanding the cosmic forces at play and aligning your actions with planetary cycles, you can unlock new levels of financial success.

Whether you are a seasoned trader or a novice investor, exploring sidereal astrology can provide you with an edge in understanding market dynamics. With Astrologer Mohnish Suri’s guidance, you can navigate the stock market with confidence and clarity, ensuring your financial decisions are aligned with the universe’s rhythm.

Take the first step today—embrace the power of sidereal astrology and uncover the secrets of the stock market. Your financial future awaits!

[wonindia]

What is CANSLIM method in Indian stock market?

The CANSLIM method is a popular stock selection strategy developed by William O'Neil, founder of Investor's Business Daily. This method is widely applied in global markets, including India, to identify high-growth stocks with strong potential for long-term gains. CANSLIM is an acronym that represents seven key criteria used to evaluate stocks. Here’s a breakdown of the method as it applies to the Indian stock market:

C - Current Earnings Growth:

Look for companies with a high quarterly earnings growth rate (usually above 25% year-over-year) as a sign of financial strength. In India, strong earnings growth can indicate resilience in a company amid fluctuating economic conditions.

A - Annual Earnings Growth:

Annual earnings should ideally grow by at least 25% over the last three to five years. This long-term growth indicates consistency and helps differentiate solid companies from those with temporary gains.

N - New Product, Service, or Management:

Companies launching innovative products or services, entering new markets, or led by effective management often outperform. In India, sectors like technology, finance, and consumer goods regularly see innovation, making them ideal for CANSLIM.

S - Supply and Demand:

Stocks with lower supply (fewer shares available) and high demand typically have higher potential for price increases. In India, high promoter stakes and low float can create such conditions, particularly in niche companies or emerging sectors.

L - Leader or Laggard:

Choose sector leaders over laggards, as they usually have strong financials, established market share, and brand recognition. Investors in the Indian market may favor blue-chip stocks or leaders within specific sectors.

I - Institutional Sponsorship:

Institutional investment in a company is often a positive sign, reflecting the confidence of large investors. In India, stocks with backing from mutual funds, insurance companies, or foreign institutional investors (FIIs) tend to be more stable.

M - Market Direction:

Invest when the overall market is trending upwards. In India, tracking major indices like the NIFTY 50 or SENSEX can indicate market health. The CANSLIM approach emphasizes that it's better to avoid investments during a bear market phase.

CANSLIM in Practice

The CANSLIM approach is more suited to growth stocks rather than value stocks. Investors in India using this strategy often focus on mid-cap and large-cap stocks with a high growth potential, such as those in sectors like IT, financials, and consumer goods, which have demonstrated strong earnings potential. It requires technical and fundamental analysis, making it ideal for investors willing to stay engaged with market trends.

[lepartidelamort]

Global Warmers Call for Reducing Population Through Women’s Rights and Education.

Oh so it's not economics that reduces the birthrate? lol.

These people never bothered to provide any evidence global warming was real. Nothing has changed in this goofy movement since Al Gore won an Academy Award and a Nobel Peace Prize for telling people New York City would be underwater by 2013.

Global warming is a complete hoax, and anyone who knows anything is aware of that. The hoax has been so thoroughly debunked that there is no reason to even talk about it at this point.

However, due to a stupid, vaginal, emotionalized campaign to tell people they are good people if they believe in this dumb hoax, many people apparently do believe in it, and they can just keep pushing it further and further. They’ve of course backed off of the “cities will be underwater” bullshit, because that was ruled too stupid. But now they say any change in weather is caused by this fake thing, and are recently arguing for an incoming “societal collapse.”

Their solutions are all related to social engineering. If they actually believed carbon dioxide was a threat, they could just build nuclear power plants to power Chinese EVs and be done with it. Of course, that would only take a decade or so, and then they wouldn’t have any reason to push for all of these social engineering agendas.

The Guardian:

Many of the Earth’s “vital signs” have hit record extremes, indicating that “the future of humanity hangs in the balance”, a group of the world’s most senior climate experts has said. More and more scientists are now looking into the possibility of societal collapse, said the report, which assessed 35 vital signs in 2023 and found that 25 were worse than ever recorded, including carbon dioxide levels and human population. This indicates a “critical and unpredictable new phase of the climate crisis”, they said. … Global heating is driving increasingly deadly extreme weather across the world, they said, including hurricanes in the US and 50C heatwaves in India, with billions of people now exposed to extreme heat. The scientists said their goal was “to provide clear, evidence-based insights that inspire informed and bold responses from citizens to researchers and world leaders – we just want to act truthfully and tell it like it is”. Decisive, fast action was imperative, they said, to limit human suffering, including slashing fossil fuel burning and methane emissions, cutting overconsumption and waste by the rich, and encouraging a switch towards plant-based foods. … The researchers said global heating was part of a wider crisis, which included pollution, the destruction of nature and rising economic inequality: “Climate change is a glaring symptom of a deeper systemic issue: ecological overshoot, [which] is an inherently unstable state that cannot persist indefinitely. As the risk of Earth’s climate system switching to a catastrophic state rises, more and more scientists have begun to research the possibility of societal collapse. Even in the absence of global collapse, climate change could cause many millions of additional deaths by 2050. We need bold, transformative change.” Among the policies the scientists recommend for rapid adoption are gradually reducing the human population through empowering education and rights for girls and women, protecting restoring, or rewilding ecosystems, and integrating climate change education into global curriculums to boost awareness and action.

You see? They will admit that women’s rights destroys the birthrate when they are arguing for purposefully destroying the birthrate.

However, when countries like South Korea or Hungary are trying to increase the birthrate, all of a sudden it’s an economic issue, and the government just needs to throw free money at stupid whores to get them to reproduce.

Let that sink in: these people admit that women’s rights destroys birthrates.

It’s not a theory. Everyone knows this.

Andrew Anglin