#by politics i mean money and infrastructure and investment

[the-physicality]

save this post.

3 team trade incoming [this is my prediction]

[ladydeath-vanserra]

Inequality + Slums in Velaris

kinda 👀 at the people who think slums and designated Poor™️ areas are supposed to be normal, especially in acotar w Velaris. They *shouldn't* to be normal especially for VeLAriS

The UN Definition of a slum:

.... individuals living under the same roof lacking one or more of the following conditions: access to improved water, access to improved sanitation, sufficient living area, housing durability, and security of tenure

Slums form and grow in different parts of the world for many different reasons. Causes include rapid rural-to-urban migration, economic stagnation and depression, high unemployment, poverty, informal economy, forced or manipulated ghettoization, poor planning, politics, natural disasters, and social conflicts.

Rural–urban migration

Many people move to urban areas primarily because cities promise more jobs, better schools for poor's children, and diverse income opportunities than subsistence farming in rural areas.

this doesn't really apply to Velaris as it is a closed in separated city from the rest of the night court

Urbanization

Some scholars suggest that urbanization creates slums because local governments are unable to manage urbanization, and migrant workers without an affordable place to live in, dwell in slums.

Rapid urbanization drives economic growth and causes people to seek working and investment opportunities in urban areas.

However, as evidenced by poor urban infrastructure and insufficient housing, the local governments sometimes are unable to manage this transition. This incapacity can be attributed to insufficient funds and inexperience to handle and organize problems brought by migration and urbanization.

again, I don't see thus happening due to it being a private and secluded city unless they're taking in a rapid amount of SA survivors- the only outsiders brought into the city

Poor house planning

Insufficient financial resources and lack of coordination in government bureaucracy are two main causes of poor house planning.

This would mean that Rhysand is not paying attention to evenly distributed wealth or mindful government oversight in poor house planning. If there are low income folks, adequate housing is not being provided

Colonialism and segregation

Some of the slums in today's world are a product of urbanization brought by colonialism. For instance, the Europeans arrived in Kenya in the nineteenth century and created urban centers such as Nairobi mainly to serve their financial interests. They regarded the Africans as temporary migrants and needed them only for supply of labour.

The housing policy aiming to accommodate these workers was not well enforced and the government built settlements in the form of single-occupancy bedspaces. Due to the cost of time and money in their movement back and forth between rural and urban areas, their families gradually migrated to the urban centre. As they could not afford to buy houses, slums were thus formed.

I wouldn't say this qualified for Velaris, internally, but as for the Nightcourt as a whole, the separation of the CoN and Illyria from the golden city that is Velaris is very telling

The citizens of the CoN aren't allowed to leave the city and as we have seen from Rhysand, they will have businesses turn CoN citizens away in Velaris

Illyria is full of war torn camps where inequality thrives and there is not adequate housing or supplies, as we see when Cassian said he fought other children for supplies. We also see it when Cassian brings blankets for the Illyrians

Poor infrastructure, social exclusion and economic stagnation

Social exclusion and poor infrastructure forces the poor to adapt to conditions beyond his or her control. Poor families that cannot afford transportation, or those who simply lack any form of affordable public transportation, generally end up in squat settlements within walking distance or close enough to the place of their formal or informal employment.

This overall I feel best exemplifies Velaris. As far as we're made aware there aren't vehicles in Velaris and we don't make notice of any other forms of transportation besides winnowing. The closest we get is flying and we've only seen Cassian, Azriel, Rhysand and Feyre. With Winnowing, it's only Mor and Rhysand and Feyre.

Winnowing is not a common practice ability that all faeries have. There does seem to be a suggestion that there are people who can Winnow, though this is based on Rhysand telling Feyre about his dad being unable to Winnow into the HoW

This leaves many people being unable to have any form of transportation outside of walking.

Informal economy

Many slums grow because of growing informal economy which creates demand for workers. Informal economy is that part of an economy that is neither registered as a business nor licensed, one that does not pay taxes and is not monitored by local, state, or federal government.

There are very few businesses we see in Velaris. We see Rita's, the dive bar and some art studios. There isn't enough shown about legitimate businesses to really show much about an informal economy

Poverty

Urban poverty encourages the formation and demand for slums. With rapid shift from rural to urban life, poverty migrates to urban areas. The urban poor arrives with hope, and very little of anything else. They typically have no access to shelter, basic urban services and social amenities. Slums are often the only option for the urban poor.

Poverty has been witnessed with especially the Illyrians. But within Velaris, it stands to reason that the "grimy part of the city" where Nesta lives, and the bar she frequents, does not have the adequate infrastructure in place for proper wages- which would be Rhysands responsibility to make sure a minimums wage where people could thrive would exist

tldr: Velaris has slums and it's through Rhys' shitty job as a high lord by not creating adequate social systems or infrastructure where poor folks can live without being designated to the "grimy parts of the city"

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Josephine Harvey at HuffPost:

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) complained on Fox News Thursday that American infrastructure is in disrepair. But as viewers pointed out, he was one of the Republican senators who voted against a massive bipartisan infrastructure bill that passed in 2021. “It just strikes me that more and more, nothing really works in America anymore,” Hawley told Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “I mean, our roads are falling apart, our bridges are falling down right in front of our eyes. Pieces of airplanes are falling out of the sky.”

“And yet, at the same time, the Congress of the United States and the president, what do they want to do? Spend hundreds of billions of dollars more on foreign wars,” he continued. He went on to complain that “things are falling apart all around us,” but all President Joe Biden wants to do is focus on “Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine.” Hawley was one of 30 Republican senators who voted against a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill in 2021, which contained money for upgrades to highways, bridges, airports and other major projects. The legislation, backed by President Joe Biden, passed with the support of 19 Republican senators and all Democrats. At the time, Hawley called it a “radical left woke politics bill.”

Appearing on Fox "News"'s The Ingraham Angle Thursday, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) complained about the state of American infrastructure while attacking Ukraine funding. In 2021, Hawley was one of the 30 Republicans who voted against the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

From the 04.18.2024 edition of FNC's The Ingraham Angle:

[postmodernmulticoloredcloak]

@krsonmar replied to your post “okay context for the non-italians. long story...”:

This is really interesting! Sorry if this is a dumb American question, but would it be possible to instead create an artificial land bridge there? Humans have been turning islands into peninsulas at least since Roman times, I mean Mexico City used to be a lake!

​Not a dumb question at all! I don't know about that, maybe it would be possible (although I believe the strait is pretty deep, more than you'd expect from a tiny strip of sea), but the thing is: a bridge in that spot - pillar, suspended, land, whatever - would/will cost a LOT of money to build. People in Sicily and Calabria don't want billions to be spent on a bridge that nobody cares about - they want money to go to different, much more useful infrastructures. There's areas of Sicily that struggle with getting water. People want water distribution infrastructures to be made better! They don't want an unnecessary bridge. Calabria is the poorest region in western Europe and yet very little funding and investments go there. Sicily has old problems and also new problems (climate change making temperatures much higher and causing draughts, it's esteemed that by 2030 a large portion of the island will be desertic).

That's the fundamental reason people don't want that bridge. The state throwing a fuckton of money to a project that would only make a handful of people richer and would bring no benefit to regions whose people have much more pressing problems.

Like, I've seen an article drawing a parallel between French politicians throwing money to project to clean up the Seine (with the result that the Seine is still too polluted for Olympic swimmers to swim there) to the project of the bridge on the Messina strait. More of a political slogan + public money vacuum than a reasonable project.

That said, they're apparently going to build the bridge for real 💀 not that I will believe it will actually happens until I see the completed bridge with my own eyes. Most likely scenario, they start building it, issues pop up, some people get arrested for corruption causing a halt of the work for the investigations, the works restart, more issues pop up, etc etc, next thing you know it's been 80 years and the bridge is still 20% done.

The engineers that might eventually build the bridge we would trust, the policians we don't.

[hasdrubal-gisco]

after some delay here’s my commentary on the draghi whitepaper. cut for length - 7min read

something that was nice to see mentioned, even though it was only a passing remark was that europe is an old money continent. as the report does, i will also contrast the EU with the US and china. in europe, money is largely managed by the state and large banks. the states are entrenched, and feel no pressure to maintain legitimacy, and have therefore allowed themselves tremendous inefficiency and poor results. massive amounts of public money are then handed over to semi-public companies (energy, construction, healthcare) with little to show. banks in europe on the other hand are incredibly conservative (heavy preference for government bonds and fx), and their lack of risk-taking is significantly stifling growth opportunities. for all the pro-social policies, the healthcare and unemployment and paid leave, european workers are further from capital than both their american and chinese counterparts. quickly for contrast, in the US much more money is put into the pocket of workers both in absolute and relative terms, and money put aside for retirement/long-term savings is spread out over a greater number of less large banks/other asset management companies (credit unions, unions, hedges, etc.). it’s an attitude problem which you probably cannot legislate your way out of. china manages money an entirely different way but with the same attitude as americans, and for exactly that reason, even though europe has the infrastructure set up for china-esque investment in development, it again lacks the attitude.

the cost of energy in the EU was already covered in the whitepaper, but it bears emphasis that this is entirely deliberate and self-inflicted. russia did not cut off the European natural gas supply, the EU did that of its own volition with the purported goal of hurting the Russian economy. the sanction package (including separate US and UK sanctions on russia) which forced the sale of assets from foreigners to russians at bargain prices due to short deadlines basically undid the privatization of the 90s – there are short term pains but this potentially sets up Russia for 50 years of growth as much less money is extracted out internationally. green energy incentives are a coat of paint on more government handouts going to the same energy companies as before to “support their pivot.”

to complain about resource dependence is also moronic of the EU to do – another thing that’s totally self-inflicted. an unwillingness to exploit your own resources is not the same as a lack of them. the reason the EU won’t extract its own resources is the same as it lost a lot of its industrial capability in the post-wwii consensus – profit seeking. more important than the lower cost basis of labor abroad, was the drastically lower risk of organized resistance, through either engagement in the political system or strike. by having production (either extraction or refinement) abroad, it protected the established businesses from having to compete with worker self-interest (which lead to the disappearance of worker self-interest as a political pursuit !). i think the lithium in serbia should be mined, as should the lithium in germany, the oil in romania, gallium in france and so on. The problem is that it’ll give mine and oil refinery workers an iota of bargaining power which they’d use to demand a raise in standards. uh oh ! as always, import is the benefit of trade, and export the cost of it. as soon as they stop being retarded about this, europe can easily hit its stride as it probably has the best labor force in the world – painfully underutilized. remember the criticism of capitalism is about its inefficiency, not that it’s mean.

regarding security, you either have to make a federal eu army or keep sovereign national armies – in either case the yoke of america has to be broken. would be very cool if there was some kind of late 19th/early 20th century multi-ethnic empire whose military structure could serve as inspiration for a hypothetical eu army. oh well ! obviously industrial capability to supply this is currently nothing. real 90s kids remember when europoids still made phones with companies like nokia and alcatel, who, surprise surprise had ties to defense technology. bring back the military-industrial complex.

in terms of industrial strategy – it has to be said europe’s industrial capability is not gone entirely. europe still makes the machines that make the machines, the auto/train/airplane industries are there, europe makes most of its own medication under its own licenses. notice how these are all 20th century industries – and as analog moves into digital, the glorious combustion engine becomes electromagnet, you run into things the eu does not but could make. the reason manufacture in china is so cheap is less to do with the cost of labor (which has risen dramatically over the last 25 years) but the already existing infrastructure for manufacture. if you wanted to make a piece of electronics (for example a combination pager-bomb) it is very likely you can find a manufacturer for the plastic casing, circuit boards, lcd screen, etc all within one city if not one industrial park, which drastically cuts your costs as it minimizes transport and storage for intermediate components. this is the benefit of economies of scale, this is the lauded efficiency of a planned economy, and this is what europe has denied itself.

to draghi’s innovation gap, and proposal for more centralized eu support for r&d – this would require the germans and german-derivatives at the ecb/eib/etc. to take some risks particularly in areas they wouldn’t look normally (ie east of berlin, actually east of hanover because even germany doesn’t invest in berlin/east germany). once again this is tied to the attitudes of capital markets, you must either spread it out wider between competing entities (US) or hard five-year-plans and an iron gut (china).

digitalization would help immensely, every state in europe would benefit hugely from cutting the number of government employees in half, and drastically lowering their average age. keep the spending the same and just double the salaries. It makes no sense to have 50-year-olds who don’t know how to scan be bureaucrats and clerks. the 27-year-old polyamorous baristas of bratislava must be made to maintain debian databases.

the average company in europe is running american software on chinese hardware in order to make something stupid (designer handbags or shipping insurance) to sell to americans and the chinese. no reason for this to be the case.

[lunarsilkscreen]

Minimum Wage, and beyond

Let's use any store for an example:

Minimum wage is set at $15 an hour.

In order to break even, which is arguably the entire point of a business to begin with. You need to pay your employees hours worked.

That means you need to sell 2 $10 sandwiches an hour per employee. You make cost of ingredients AND pay that employee.

Now, back in the day before utilities were a thing: water, power, refrigeration, ectera... You didn't need EXTRA to pay the utilities. It wasn't a thing. That's why bartering worked, because the shopkeep could sell goods to the next sap to walk in the door.

And, besides from the assholes, rent wasn't a thing. You bought a plot of land, took out a loan to hire a carpenter and built your house and business on the same spot, called it a day. (Or got some buddies and some brewskis and did it yourselves.)

There's building codes, and inspectors, and utilities, and you have to worry about termites, carpenter ants, other pests, mold, mildew, ASBESTOS!

You gotta pay all *that* on top of the doctor that owns the business that you manage for him while he's in the Bahamas. He's never there, he rarely checks in, he just wants to foot the bill for a continuous dividend.

And shit if you fuck it up, or the business is in a location with no foot traffic. (And since it's to expensive to go outside, now you only interface with people delivering to other people! And those other people will give you a bad review when they inevitably receive their food cold.

Did I mention it was good for nothing doctors that recommended asbestos in the first place as a miracle insulation?

So how the f* are you supposed to make enough money to pay yourself, your employees, and your boss AND STILL HAVE ENOUGH TO PAY UTILITIES!

And on top of *that* what's the next step since you don't work for a corporate infrastructure that has hierarchy beyond *some doctor who owns this place*?

Unless you manage to figure out how to convince the doctor landlord to pay you a bonus for making astronomical returns, this is it buddy. This is your life.

I hope you enjoy Pizza.

So how is it possible that anybody make more than that? How is it, that somebody can get a loan of A BILLION DOLLARS. Refuse to pay it back, and then not go to jail? Is it because you'd have to be an idiot to loan out that much? Well if you got that much to lend, it must be fine.

In America, "pawn stars" has ensured that bartering is like an old fashioned nearly ancient way to make money. Goods are money, disposable items means you can't sell anything. Hell, I've never seen anything at a garage sale go for more than a couple bucks.

The goods as currency just doesn't work if everybody is just waiting to "storage wars" your old stuff when you can't pay your mortgage anymore. It's not value, it's icing for land owners and banks.

So tell me, how is value store supposed to work for the average person? We need to spend money to eat, and for the economy to work, it's mathematically impossible to make ends meet at a business that sells food if the local population doesn't come eat at your establishment.

On a macro scale, what we have isn't working at all.

It wasn't working when minimum wage was $7 it isn't working with minimum wage at $15. We checked the math twice.

How do you ensure an employee can afford room and board, and still have time to participate in politics to ensure a working government and economy?

That is the questions we're trying to answer as we look at the entire system from a macro perspective.

We have to ensure that the plumbers, and the farmers, and the electricians and the mechanics can all get paid a living wage, but they cannot if there is nobody who can afford their services.

So how do we make sure, that the "dirty jobs" that "nobody wants to do" actually have demand for use, AND return on investment to the individual doing them?

I think, that it should be illegal for a residential unit to be used on AirBnB. I think, that they should have to be zoned like regular inns and hotels. I also think, that if somebody who *owns* the house they're living in, or you know, has a mortgage. Then you should mind your own damn business if they have an OnlyFans. unless they're keeping you up at night, or out in the streets, I don't think you should care.

I also think that rental housing should also follow the same rules for Hotels and apartments. They should be zoned for that, and they shouldn't count towards the theoretical residential housing that the city thinks they have.

At the very least, it'll ensure that there's a supply of people nearby to buy pizza from Dr. Pizza's Pizza and Law office.

And you'll be able to keep track of your homelessness issue.

[yourreddancer]

Today in Politics, Bulletin 54. 1/22/25

Ron Filipkowski

Jan 23

… The TV ratings for Trump’s inauguration were putrid. Nielsen had the inauguration at 24.59 million viewers, compared to 33.76 million for Biden’s 2021 inauguration and 30.64 million for Trump’s first in 2021. The figures combine the viewers for the 15 networks that covered it live.

… Even worse for Trump and the networks who covered it were the demographics of the viewers. In the crucial under-55 demo for advertisers, only 6.1 million watched. Only a microscopic 1.43 million in the 18-34 demo. 71% of the viewers were over 55.

… A new Reuters poll also shows a big majority of Americans were not happy with Trump’s initial moves during his first days in office. 58% said they were opposed to Trump’s pardon of any on J6 insurrectionists, and only 29% said they agreed with his orders designed seeking to radically transform DOJ and federal law enforcement.

… Trump finally revealed his secret plan to end the war in Ukraine and it is the same as his answer to everything - tariffs. The problem with that is the the Biden Admin has already maxed out every conceivable economic sanction against Russia. So we aren’t buying anything from them. Which means that Putin has to be laughing at Trump’s moronic post. Trump: “I’m not looking to hurt Russia. I love the Russian people, and always had a very good relationship with President Putin. All of that being said, I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR.”

… Oh really. What could that be? “Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the US. We can do it the easy way, or the hard way - and the easy way is always better. It’s time to “MAKE A DEAL.” NO MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST!!!”

… I’m sure the war will be over tomorrow now. This had to terrify Putin.

… MAGA influencer Catturd had to check himself into the hospital last night and posted an update at 1:14 AM on X: “I’m in the hospital with a bowel blockage. I’ll give you more details tomorrow.” We already knew he was full of shit. This proves it.

… Turd also had the entire front end of his truck smashed in when he hit a deer driving up from Florida to an inauguration event. Rough week.

… Based on WaPo’s latest reporting on Musk’s breakup with Vivek Ramaswamy on the DOGE committee, it seems pretty clear that the whole thing was just a front so Elon could gain access to highly sensitive classified information to give him an edge against his business competitors in multiple sectors. This was supposed to be a committee to recommend budget cuts. That’s what Vivek thought. But their falling out began when Vivek realized that Musk had something completely different in mind.

… Vivek wanted the agency to remain outside the government and serve in an advisory role. But Musk wanted it to be inside the WH where he would be granted access to top secret information. Musk won, he is moving to an office in the West Wing, and senior Trump allies told WaPo that they “are concerned about extent of privileged government information Musk will have access to.”

... A bizarre scene then played out on X, as Trump announced (and tried to take credit for) Open AI’s partnership with SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX to invest $500 billion in a massive AI infrastructure project called Stargate. One of their main competitors happens to be Elon Musk. He responded with several posts trashing the idea and Open AI’s Sam Altman. Musk: “They don’t actually have the money. SoftBank has well under $10 secured. I have that on good authority.”

… Altman responded: “Wrong, as you surely know. Want to come visit the first site already underway? This is great for the country. I realize what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role I hope you’ll put the country first.”

… So Musk ends up trashing Trump’s hype show by claiming the whole thing is a scam and they don’t really have the money to do what they are saying, proving that Musk will always side with his own companies over Trump. It will be interesting to see how this bromance between Musk and Trump plays out if that continues.

… Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) posted this on X about House DOGE committee Chair Marge Greene: “MTG specifically told (my friend) James Comer that she won’t allow any Republican women on her subcommittee.” I asked him if this was true or if he was just being snarky. He said it was 100% true. Doesn’t surprise me at all - Marge does not get along with other women at all. She doesn’t even look at her old friend Boebert anymore.

… But Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) is on the committee and he says he’s ready for battle: “I’ve been tapped to represent House Oversight Dems on the new DOGE committee chaired by Marjorie Taylor Greene. Let’s be clear: this committee is designed to destroy federal agencies and the social safety net so that billionaires can enrich themselves. They ain’t ready for us.”

… The largest police union in the country - the Fraternal Order of Police, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police both denounced Trump’s pardon of J6 insurrectionists. Their joint statement: “Allowing those convicted of crimes to be released early diminishes accountability and devalues the sacrifices made by courageous law enforcement officers and their families.”

… More from the statement: “It send a dangerous message that the consequences for attacking law enforcement are not severe, potentially emboldening others to commit similar acts of violence.”

(NOTE:   BET THEY'RE SORRY THEY VOTED FOR THIS ASSHOLE, WHICH THEY MOST CERTAINLY DID, IN DROVES!!!)

… Oathkeepers leader Stewart Rhodes walked out of prison and was asked by a reporter what he want to see happen next. He said that he wanted the Capitol Police officers prosecuted for supposedly lying on the stand in his trial. He specifically mentioned Harry Dunn.

… Former Capitol Police Office Michael Fanone was asked if he had anything to say to Stewart Rhodes on CNN: “This is what I would say to Stewart Rhodes - go fuck yourself. You’re a liar.” Since it was live, CNN apologized for the F word.

… Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio walked out of prison and immediately called for Merrick Garland and others to be arrested: “We need people like Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, and the rest of the Trump cabinet to right all these wrongs. The people who did this, they need to feel the heat. They need to be put behind bars.”

… J6 insurrectionist Vital Gossjankowski also walked out of prison. He tried to attack his judge during the sentencing and had to be tackled and physically restrained by court bailiffs.

… Trump signed an executive order revoking the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, which was signed by Lyndon Johnson in 1965 and has remained in effect for 60 years. It prohibits discrimination against protected classes in employment by any contractor who does business with the federal government. At least it did for the last 60 years.

… Elon Musk’s daughter Vivian responded to his denials that he was did a Nazi salute twice at the Trump event: “I’m just gonna say let’s call a spade a fucking spade. Especially if there were two spades done in succession based on the reaction of the first spade. Fuck spades.”

… Rep. Michael Rulli (R-OH) just hired Michael Peppel as his communications director this week. The Republican AG of OH says that Peppel ran a scam charity two years ago where he pocketed 94% of the $150,000 he raised which was supposed to go to victims of the E. Palestine train derailment.

… The president of California Citrus Mutual said that 25% of their workers did not show up for work on Tuesday and 75% did not show up yesterday. He said new raids “have sent shockwaves through out community. People aren’t going to work, kids aren’t going to school.” He said that the new Trump ICE raids are not targeting people suspected of committing crimes - they are racially profiling and looking for anyone.

… Trump’s long crusade against “windmills” (turbines) also found its way into an executive order. He banned all new leases for offshore wind turbines. His hatred of these began after the Scottish government put a wind turbine near one of his golf courses 15 years ago in Aberdeen, and he complained that it ruined the view from one of the holes. He sued Scotland and it went all the way to the UK Supreme Court and Trump lost. Ever since then he has been obsessed with them.

… He also claimed that Sean Connery (James Bond) spoke to members of the Scottish Parliament on his behalf to ask them to remove it, but when Connery was asked if that was true he said he had no idea what Trump was talking about.

… Longtime former CNN insider Oliver Darcy reports in Status that CNN CEO Mark Thompson told staffers at a meeting this past Sunday to avoid “pre-judging Trump.” At the end of the meeting, nobody said anything in response. Darcy: “He does not want them endlessly poking the eye of the sitting president and believes that Trump should be shown some deference. And he has made it clear that he wants the MAGA movement to have a seat at the table when discussing political topics, even if certain pundits use the platform to make incendiary and sometimes false claims."

… As you know, I have tremendous respect for CNN reporters out in the field covering Congress, campaigns, war zones, and other breaking stories. I think they are magnificent. I also like some of their studio hosts. But the network channel as a whole has become unwatchable under Thompson’s leadership. Fox viewers want Fox. Nobody wants Fox Lite.

… CNBC is reporting that CNN is laying off hundreds of employees tonight.

… Danish MP Anders Vistisen to the European Parliament: “Dear President Trump, listen very carefully. Greenland has been part of the Danish kingdom for 800 years. It’s an integrated part of our country. It is not for sale. Let me put it in words you might understand. Mr. Trump, fuck off.”

… The former sister-in-law of SecDef nominee Pete Hegseth sent an affidavit to Senators which detailed how his second wife lived in fear of him due to his drinking and erratic behavior. Danielle Hegseth said his his former wife Samantha hid in a closet once from Hegseth, that she developed escape plans for use if she felt she was in danger from Hegseth, and had to activate it with a designated code word to escape from him on one occasion.

… The affidavit also said he was frequently drunk in his military uniform, had to be carried out of a strip club during a National Guard drill weekend, he regularly got so drunk he vomited and had to be carried out of parties and events while shouting sexually and racially insensitive remarks, and he believed that women should not work or have the right to vote. All the best people.

… Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) told CNN today she still is not sure if she is going to vote for Hegseth.

… Sen. Susan Collins was Susan Collinsing, saying that she is still “weighing” whether to vote for him and said she is “troubled” that she hasn’t been able to see the FBI background report on him yet.

(NOTE: RU FUCKING KIDDING ME, YOU TWO TWATS????)

… Sean Hannity will do the first Oval Office interview of Trump for his second administration. I’m sure there will be lots of hard hitting questions for his best pal and Palm Beach neighbor.

… WaPo reports that the Trump Administration ordered a communications blackout for the nation's health agencies. A new memo sent to these health agencies will pause all external communications, including new health advisories, scientific reports, updates to the website and social media posts.

… Surprise! Suddenly inflation is no longer a problem. JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was asked on CNBC about the likelihood that Trump’s tariffs will cause inflation: “If it’s a little inflationary but it’s good for national security, so be it. I mean, get over it.”   (NOTE: DIMON IS A SOULLESS PRICK AND A DISGRACE TO GREEK-AMERICANS EVERYWHERE!!)

… Trump made two separate posts on Truth Social last night while in the White House, urging people to buy his crypto scam tokens that his is making billions from. He has presidential immunity now from the Supreme Court, so laws, policies, and norms mean even less to him now than they did before. Once again, legacy media ignored it.

… Ann Coulter responded to Megyn Kelly saying that Jeff Bezos’s girlfriend Lauren Sanchez “looked like a hooker” at the inauguration with this post:

… After Republican Senator Deb Fischer’s (NE) husband refused to shake Kamala Harris’s hand at her swearing in ceremony causing Harris to say, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to bite,” Bruce Fischer approached Doug Emhoff at an inauguration event and tried to shake his hand. Per CNN, Emhoff asked him: “Why would you try to shake my hand when you wouldn’t shake my wife’s hand?”

… Idaho State Rep. Josh Tanner introduced a bill today to encourage that state to prosecute Dr. Fauci: “Just because he received this federal pardon does not mean he can’t be prosecuted for the crimes he committed here in Idaho.”

… Dallas megachurch Pastor Richard Jeffress, who was a key player in 2016 when he convinced evangelicals to back Trump despite his immoral, non-christian past, is upset about Bishop Edgar-Budde’s sermon yesterday: “I attended the national prayer service today at the Washington National Cathedral during which Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde insulted rather than encouraged our great president Donald Trump. There was palpable disgust in the audience with her words.”  (NOTE: ; WHY DIDN'T THE IRS REVOKE THIS ASSHOLE'S TAX-EXEMPT STATUS?)

… Jeffress hosted Trump at his church on Christmas Day in 2021. One of only 3 times Trump attended a church service in the last 4 years. Jeffress asked Trump to come up on stage and share a Christmas message for the congregation. Trump got up and ripped Biden, complained about gas prices, the Afghan withdrawal, inflation, etc. He barely mentioned Christmas and never mentioned Jesus or God. I’ll take Edgar-Budde over political pastor Jeffress any day.

… Trump also made a post today about the Bishop: “The so-called Bishop was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart. Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not good at her job. She and the church owe the public an apology!”

Has there ever been a bigger crybaby than Trump?

… Rep. Dan Crenshaw complained to Tim Cook today that Apple Maps still has not changed the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America after Trump’s executive order. (It does not apply to private businesses).

(NOTE - IT SHOULDN'T APPLY TO ANY MAPS ANYWHERE!!!! HE HAS NO AUTHORITY TO MAKE

SUCH CHANGES!!!)

[doubledamian]

I prompted chatGPT with, “I think all billionaires are psychopaths. How could they possibly be so selfish? They could solve world hunger with a stroke of a pen.” and the following was generated:

It’s understandable to feel frustrated when considering the vast inequality between billionaires’ wealth and the persistent global issues like hunger and poverty. However, labeling all billionaires as “psychopaths” is a generalization that doesn’t take into account the complexities of human behavior, motivations, and systems of wealth accumulation. Let’s break this down:

1. Why Billionaires May Appear Selfish

• Systemic Incentives: Many billionaires operate in systems (like capitalism) that reward profit and wealth accumulation over social responsibility. This doesn’t inherently mean they lack empathy but reflects the systems they’ve navigated.

• Bubble of Wealth: Extreme wealth can isolate individuals from the struggles of ordinary people, reducing their understanding or sense of urgency to act on issues like hunger.

• Focus on Legacy or Control: Some billionaires prefer to invest in projects that align with their personal vision (e.g., space exploration or tech innovation) rather than directly addressing humanitarian issues. This can appear selfish when viewed against immediate crises.

2. Psychopathy and Billionaires

• While some traits associated with psychopathy—such as lack of empathy or manipulativeness—might help someone succeed in competitive business environments, it’s not accurate to say all billionaires are psychopaths.

• Many billionaires do engage in philanthropy (e.g., Bill Gates and Warren Buffett through the Giving Pledge), although whether these efforts are sufficient or genuine is debated.

3. Could Billionaires Solve World Hunger?

• Yes, in Theory: Some estimates suggest solving world hunger could cost around $40 billion annually—a fraction of the combined wealth of billionaires.

• Why Doesn’t It Happen?

• Lack of coordination: Hunger is a complex problem tied to political corruption, infrastructure, and conflict. Throwing money at it doesn’t automatically solve these issues.

• Reluctance to redistribute wealth: Wealth is often tied up in investments, and billionaires may prioritize sustaining or growing their empires over direct redistribution.

• Prioritization of systemic issues: Some billionaires argue that investing in systemic changes (e.g., education, technology, or climate change) is a better long-term solution.

4. Moral Responsibility

• The ethical argument for redistributing extreme wealth is strong. No single person needs billions of dollars while millions starve.

• Whether billionaires act selfishly or altruistically often depends on personal values, societal pressures, and public accountability.

5. What Can Be Done?

• Advocacy for Systemic Change: Rather than relying on billionaires’ philanthropy, systems like progressive taxation and policies targeting inequality could address global issues more effectively.

• Public Accountability: Holding billionaires accountable for ethical wealth use is crucial to ensuring their resources benefit society.

Your frustration reflects a legitimate concern about how wealth is distributed and used. The challenge lies not just in individual billionaires’ choices but in creating systems that prioritize humanity over profit.

[beardedmrbean]

Numerous cuts to payments from the Social Insurance Institution (Kela) came into effect at the start of this week. Around half a million recipients of housing allowances and unemployment benefits are seeing their subsidies reduced.

Helsingin Sanomat homes in on the cuts to unemployment benefits.

Before Monday's changes, recipients could earn up to 300 euros a month without the income impacting their benefits, but as of Monday each earned euro will lower unemployment payments by 50 cents, up to a maximum reduction of 150 euros per month.

"I have been really anxious about the upcoming cuts all spring," Helsinki-based artist and musician Minna-Kaisa Kallinen-Paaso told HS.

Kallinen-Paaso told the paper she has been unemployed since her parental leave finished last December and has supplemented her income by doing music gigs.

"The 300-euro exemption has been good. It has provided a small additional income. Now, if I get a gig, essentially half of the pay will be taken away," she explained.

Nokia hopes

Kauppalehti explores how Finland fits into a changing global market economy that increasingly considers security policy. This means that certain sectors crucial for national security are protected from foreign competition.

The business daily talked to Mikael Wigell, a research director at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA), whose research has explored China's economic power.

China is investing massively in critical infrastructure on all continents and has not tied this funding to human rights or the development of the rule of law, as is customary, for example, within the EU, according to the business daily.

This shifting market paradigm isn't necessarily great for Finland which hasn't experienced economic growth for 15 years. In addition, investments in research and development have consistently fallen behind targets year after year, and as a small country, it's challenging for Finland to create large technology companies.

But it's not all doom and gloom, according to Wigell.

"Hopefully, Nokia will stay Finnish as it generates multiplier effects in the rest of the Finnish business sector," he said, adding that Finland's Nato membership also smooths entry into the US technology sector. "Our reputation there has definitely improved."

Smelly air

A strange and unpleasant smell settled over Uusimaa on Sunday and officials in Finland have yet to explain the odorous event, although the authorities said the stench did not pose a health hazard.

Martin Forsius, a researcher at the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke), said that while the source of the sulfurous odour is still uncertain, he told Hufvudstadsbladet that the cause was probably industrial.

"Most likely it's an industrial emission coming out of one of the industrial zones south of St Petersburg," he said, drawing on reports that the smell was present in the Russian city on Saturday evening.

According to Forsius, the smell could also have emanated from a landfill. Whatever the cause, getting to the bottom of what happened won't be easy, according to the environmental expert.

"In light of the political situation, it will be difficult to get information [from the Russian authorities]. The exchange of information isn't at a normal level now," he said.

One pupil dead in Vantaa school shooting

One 12-year-old sixth grade pupil died and two others were injured after being shot by a classmate at the Viertola school in Vantaa on Tuesday morning, the police said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

The two injured pupils were hospitalised with serious injuries.

Police said they had apprehended a suspect who was also a 12-year-old pupil at the school. The suspected shooter fled the school on foot and was caught by officers in the northern Helsinki neighbourhood of Siltamäki, according to police.

At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, police said that all of the children involved were Finnish and officials said they had no details to share regarding a possible motive. Police have also said they have not as yet received any indications that the shooting was planned.

The handgun used by the perpetrator was licensed to a close relative, according to the police. The incident is being investigated as murder and attempted murder.

Children under the age of 15 are not remanded into custody in Finland. As a minor, the suspect is not criminally liable.

[lurkingteapot]

He was reasonably polite and factual about it when he tore Lindner a new one here ... but the part that stuck with me was this (translated on the fly after a HELL of a long day, don't take me to court over this):

We've spent 30 billion Euro supporting Ukraine because it is right, and also because it's in the interest of our own national security. A Russian victory would cost us exponentially more. It continues to be important to support Ukraine. And let me be very clear: I am not willing to carry out our support for Ukraine and investment in our national defences on the back of societal solidarity and community, on the back of pensions or healthcare. We need both: safety and solidarity. For this reason, I will not ask our citizens to choose between having us invest sufficient amounts into our defences OR in good jobs, modern economy and functional infrastructure. This kind of either-or is toxic. Either security or solidarity, either support Ukraine or invest in Germany's future -- to entertain this as a contradiction is wrong and dangerous. It's grist to the mills of the enemies of our democracy. And it is completely unnecessary, because Germany is a strong nation.

He then goes into how Germany can, has, and will continue to be able to handle this -- it will cost money, which may mean picking up some debt, yes, but it's nothing Germany cannot handle, and it's worth it.

OLAF WO WAR DAS ALLES WAS DU JETZT ENDLICH SAGST IN DEN LETZTEN 3 JAHREN?????

[sublimeobservationarcade]

A Trend Toward A Concern For Individual Freedoms

Since the global pandemic we have seen a trend toward a concern for individual freedoms. This is no surprise after the lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and heavier government controls. However, these social health policies were necessary and will be again if and when another virus emerges. I am reminded of times of war when governments are forced to curtail public freedoms and demand much more from their citizens. Do not fall for those promising some sovereign citizen nirvana because such things do not exist in reality. The world is not all about you or me, we are all a part of communities, whether we like it or not. Populations are rising and this by its very nature means more rules to govern the many.

Don’t Believe The Promises Of Libertarian Politicians

It is immature to expect that you can have it all the way you want it, all the time. Children have these unrealistic expectations. I blame the consumeristic societies we have lived in for the past 50 years. People have been lied to by companies trying to sell them stuff. Governments and politicians have also been pissing in everyone’s pockets on the advice of PR experts. These appeals to the public via always praising them has produced generations of self-centred consumerists only ever interested in their own satisfaction. During times of mass threat to the survival of nations and communities you cannot have everyone running around doing their own thing oblivious to the dangers.

The Right Wing Blame Game Promising Greater Individual Freedoms

The political games played by political parties exacerbates the situation we find ourselves in. Those on the right, the conservative forces, play this libertarian card whenever they can. Funnily enough the world has seen far more authoritarian totalitarian dictatorships on the hard right than on the other side of politics. However, autocratic governments end up doing the same things to the people no matter what side of the political spectrum they started on. Those on the right play a particular game where they are funded by big business but appeal to the disgruntled just the same. They foster villains and people to blame elsewhere and usually down the wealth ladder. Downward envy is actively encouraged by blaming social spending on the welfare state. The people are being ripped off by the wealthy and powerful interests but they remain largely untouchable – too powerful to fight. Therefore the disgruntled in the electorate are directed to softer targets like the unemployed, the Indigenous, refugees, and LGBTQI folk. These often vulnerable and fairly powerless sections of the community become the scapegoats for the disgruntled among the dominant white cohort. Any responsible economist will tell you that government spending is not reliant on tax payer revenue. Government budgets are not like household budgets, as they do not work the same way. There is no finite gold standard anymore. Nations just print more money as they require it irrespective of incoming revenue. The US has a $3 trillion deficit and it is the global superpower. It is another political game this concern with deficits and surpluses. When governments spend money they are investing in us, the people, so what is important is what they are spending money on. Money spent on health, education, and infrastructure projects are good for the country.

Blaming The Powerless Won’t Get You Anywhere Insecurity intensifies the need to blame within human beings. We have seen this manifest again and again historically. The Nazis pinpointed the Jews as the epitome of evil during their rise and time in power. Antisemitism still flares up around the world despite the absolute irrationality of it. Yes, the roots of the Christian religion blame the Jews rather than the Romans for killing Christ, which is another reason to see this religion as rather illogical and without much scientific favour. White people always want to blame black people for their woes. Established cultures regularly blame new migrants for problems within their communities. Gender identity issues are a hot topic in the 21C, with older folk getting particularly het up at people thinking that they can just change their biologically assigned sex to suit them. The fact that this issue affects a miniscule volume of people and is click bait on social media platforms should be front of mind. Political parties that seek voter support on such things are playing games and should be viewed with suspicion. The economic truth is that most Indigenous communities are underfunded and their lives are more often blighted by poverty. Refugees need assistance to get started in their new homes. Spending more money on creating a fairer and more equitable society is economically better for the country in the long run. Allowing a few to become obscenely rich is not ever good for a nation, as they will manipulate the system by buying political favour at the expense of everyone else. Russia is a good example of this, as it was a Frankenstein monster created by neoliberal Americans after the fall of the Soviet Union. America has plenty of its own problems in regard to billionaires manipulating the economic and political systems there. Trump and his cronies are a bad lot and have taken the US further down a dangerous road toward the death of democracy and an autocratic state. Hopefully the justice system and the many indictments facing Donald J Trump will see his demise shortly. There is corruption happening in the Supreme Court in America and this will need to be addressed. Billionaires buying favour with SCOTUS judges have damaged their credibility and independence. “The Liberal MP Julian Leeser has warned that the American-style politics at the heart of the anti-voice campaign are “damaging the shared project that is Australia” and raised fears about a lack of empathy for Indigenous people.” - (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/03/indigenous-voice-to-parliament-referendum-julian-leeser-yes-campaign-american-politics)

A trend toward a concern for individual freedoms has morphed into extremist behaviour in more than a few incidents. Poorly educated people running around telling those that hamper them in any way that they are a state unto themselves and do not abide by the laws of the land. Some of these folk are armed and think that they will be able to force their point. The truth is the state is much better armed and has bigger guns when push comes to shove. We have seen this in the January 6th outcomes for many of the terrorist foot soldiers that invaded the Capital. Lengthy prison sentences for hundreds of them. Now, hopefully, Trump and his cronies will also pay the price for inciting a riot and potential coup that cost the lives of those whose job was to defend the Capital. An orange jumpsuit to go with the orange hair – I would like to see that! Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt, and Financial Freedom.  ©WordsForWeb Read the full article

[qqueenofhades]

Okay, I’ve read Joe Biden’s plans.

I’ve just sat down and spent several hours actually reading all the damn plans on his website, the whole thing, so you don’t have to. And here’s the conclusion:

They’re pretty good.

Are they absolutely everything we want immediately? Maybe not. Are they a solid Democratic agenda anyway? Yes they are. Are they better than Trump?

Light years!

His Violence Against Women plan is lengthy, detailed, and pays specific attention to violence against Native, lesbian and bisexual, low-income, disabled, rural, transgender (especially trans women of color) immigrant, domestic abuse victims, and other vulnerable women. He calls for replacing and expanding Obama-era policies and funding for campus sexual assault programs that DeVos trashed, and for providing money for culturally specific services that are sensitive to the diverse backgrounds of survivors. He also notes that sexual assault, while it predominantly affects women and girls, needs to be taken seriously and addressed for people of all gender identities.

His gun safety plan is forceful and lays out several steps for banning assault weapons, taking existing weapons from offenders, closing gun purchase background check and other legal loopholes, addressing the intersection between domestic violence and weapons ownership, and reducing or eliminating weapons and ammunition stockpiling.

His plan for tackling climate change and creating green jobs is also lengthy. He makes the connection between economic, environmental, and racial justice. He pledges to immediately rejoin the Paris Agreement and restore American leadership on the issue in pushing for even stronger climate standards, make climate change a central part of our trade, international, and justice goals, demand a worldwide ban on fossil fuel subsidies and tax breaks (!!!) and if the Green New Deal is passed, to sign it, as well as for the U.S. to achieve 100% clean energy and zero percent net emissions by 2050.

His healthcare plan is decent. It offers an immediate public option for all Americans regardless of private, employer, or no coverage, and generous new tax credits to put toward the cost of coverage. It strongly protects abortion rights and federal funding for Planned Parenthood, as well as rescinding the “gag rule” that prevents U.S. federal aid money from being used to provide or even talk about abortions in NGOs abroad. It attacks generic and drug price gouging. It calls for doubling the capital gains tax on the super-wealthy (from 20% to 39.5% paid on capital gains by anyone making over $1 million) to help fund healthcare reform. He also has a separate plan on the opioid crisis in America, and on older Americans and retirement, including the protection and re-funding of Medicare and Social Security.

His immigration plan is lengthy and detailed. He apologizes for and acknowledges the excessive deportation that occured during the Obama-Biden administrations, pledges to do better, and attacks Trump’s current inhumane acitivities on every front. The policy of children in cages, indefinite detention, the metered asylum system, and the Muslim Ban are gone on day one. In this and his LGBTQ plan, he notes the vulnerability of LGBTQ refugees, incuding LGBTQ refugees of color. He proposes streamlining of visa applications and prioritizing the immediate reunification of families. It also specifically states that ICE and CBP agents will be held directly accountable for inhumane treatment.

Speaking of which, his LGBTQ plan is comprehensive. It pays attention to multiple intersectional issues, down to the high rates of incarceration among trans people of color. (He also notes the rates of violence against trans women of color particularly.) He calls for a complete ban on conversion therapy and the discrimination against HIV-status individuals, as well as removing the ban on blood donation from gay and bisexual men. He will remove the transgender military ban immediately. He calls for funding for mental health and suicide prevention among LGBTQ populations.

His plan to empower workers calls for raising the federal minimum wage to $15, as well as indexing this to median hourly wages to ensure that working-class and middle-class wages grow closer to parity, and implementing strong legal protections for unions. He expresses support for striking workers and to empower the National Labor Relations Board in workplace advocacy. Farmworkers, domestic workers, gig economy workers, and other non-traditional labor groups are included in this. He will restore all Obama-Biden policies related to workplace safety and regulation.

His plan to restore American dignity and leadership in the world calls for immediately investing in election security and reform, restoration of the Voting Rights Act, immediately restoring White House press briefings and other Trump refusals of information, tackling criminal justice reform and systematic racial discrimination, calling for campaign finance reform, and basically blowing up all the stupid things the Trump administration does on a daily basis. It also calls for an end to all ongoing wars in the Middle East, restoring the Iran nuclear deal, and new arms control treaties with Russia, among general repairing of international alliances.

His plans for K-12 education and post-high school education call for greatly expanded funding across all levels of 2-year, 4-year, and other educational options. There will be no student loan payments for anyone making under $25,000 a year; everyone else will pay a capped amount and be completely forgiven after a certain period. Public servants qualify for up to $50,000 in loan forgiveness. This is not total loan forgiveness for everyone, which is obviously important for me and many of us, but it’s acceptable to start with. Additionally, his wife is a teacher and has a proven track record of calling for education investment and supporting public school funding.

His plan for housing addresses the needs of formerly incarcerated, LGBTQ, veteran, low-income, sexual assault survivor, black and Hispanic, and other vulnerable populations at risk of losing housing. It calls for a tax on companies and corporations with in excess of $50 billion in assets to fund comprehensive new housing initiatives, including $100 billion in accessible and low-income housing development. It includes extensive investment in public transportation and a high-speed rail system. This ties into his plan to repair infrastructure and invest in new technologies across the country.

His plan for criminal justice reform calls for the end of mass incarceration, the decriminalization of marijuana, the automatic expunging of all cannabis convictions, and an end on jail sentences for drug use. It highlights systematic institutional racism and the impact on black and brown people particularly. It calls for an end on all profiteering and private prisons. It focuses on reintegrating offenders into society and funding the needs of people released from prison. It proposes to “expand and use the power of the U.S. Justice Department to address systemic misconduct in police departments and prosecutors’ offices.” It broadens funding for social services and other programs for people who are otherwise placed into the prison pipeline.

There are more plans, which you can find here. These are the ones I read top to bottom. I am not by any means a Joe Biden fangirl; he was not my first choice, my second choice, or really anywhere on my list. However, having carefully read through his policy documents, I can say that:

He has at the least a good team of advisors who are keenly aware of the political climate, and is willing to both restore Obama-era standards and to improve on them where necessary. Obviously, all politicians’ promises are politicians’ promises, but this is a solid Democratic platform with obvious awareness of the progressive wing of the party.

If progressive legislation is passed in the House and Senate, he will sign it, including the Green New Deal.

He represents a clear and definite improvement over Donald Trump.

Is he everything we want? No. Are his policies better than I was expecting? Yes. I advise you to read through them for yourself. It has made me at least feel better about the likelihood of voting for him.

I realize it’s an unsexy position, especially on tumblr, to advocate for an old centrist white man. I’m not thrilled about having to do it. However, speaking as someone who was very resistant to Biden and still doesn’t agree with all of his previous legislative track record, that’s my consensus. He is a candidate who broadly aligns with values that I care about. His policies represent a concrete end to the damage of the Trump administration and gets us on the right track again.

Joe Biden, if he is the Democratic nominee, will receive my vote on November 3, 2020. I urge you to consider what I’ve laid out above and join me.

[argumate]

I'm still (still!) trying to figure out the Chinese Debt Problem in terms I can understand and this is what I've got so far:

between 1980 and 2010 the Chinese economy grew like crazy thanks to huge amounts of infrastructure investment.

this makes sense because before 1980 it didn't have any infrastructure to speak of (thank you warlords, Japanese, civil war, and Mao) so there was a ton of potential to scale up.

how it worked was very simple: the government(s) (central and local) financially repressed the people (made them work their ass off for low wages) and subsidised export businesses (with favourable exchange rates) while building roads, railways, docks, airports, dams, power stations, and all the other stuff you need to be the industrial centre of the world.

simultaneously the country urbanised at a furious pace, with local governments making huge amounts of money selling land to property developers who tiled it with apartment blocks for everyone to move into and also speculate on as the prices kept going up (and up, and up) and there wasn't much else (legal) available to invest in (see financial repression).

oh and they get rid of all the Cultural Revolution era stuff and let smart kids go to university again.

productivity soars! and the entire world outsources its manufacturing to China, leading to the fastest and most complete technology transfer / upskilling process in world history.

you might think all the financial repression and hard work would make people mad, but the economy is growing so fast they're all getting better off in absolute terms, so they're cool with it (after the initial adjustment pains are dealt with in 1989).

"the" debt level (speaking loosely) is going up quickly as the government(s), banks, state owned enterprises, and private companies are all borrowing like mad (from each other, and the people) to fund this breakneck expansion, but it's driving productivity up so quickly that the economy is growing faster than the debt, making it completely manageable and not a problem at all.

by 2010 this program stops working: infrastructure has reached capacity and you can't boost productivity by building more highways and railways, there are more university graduates than there are jobs, everyone who matters already has two apartments and the people who don't can't afford one because they're so expensive, and flooding the world with cheap subsidised goods is pushing other countries into debt and unemployment and starting trade wars.

now the debt is still rising quickly but the economy isn't keeping pace any more, which means the interest payments are going to take up an increasing fraction of future budgets, state owned enterprises are going to have to cut back and fire people, private businesses are going to go broke, and things rapidly get worse from there.

China needs to change tack in order to keep growing its economy instead of drowning, but how? there are three options:

mass unemployment! stop subsidising export industries, stop madly building highways and apartments no one needs or can afford, and let the chips fall where they may! obviously this is completely out of the question as it would destroy the legitimacy of party rule.

hyperinflation! if you want to keep buying stuff that doesn't pay off, just keep printing more money, eventually it won't be worth anything any more but that's somebody else's problem! obviously this is also completely out of the question, nobody voluntarily destroys their economy like this on purpose, this is what happens if everything else fails.

rebalance the economy towards consumption! this is the official government policy and coincidentally the only option that actually makes sense: pay people more, ease off on the financial repression, stop building stupid stuff, let domestic consumption drive economic growth instead of the export market, and achieve a moderately prosperous society! sadly it's politically impossible to pull off but it's a nice idea.

just keep trudging on with the status quo => nationalisation! if debt keeps rising then private businesses who are constrained by the need to be profitable will exit the market (witness Evergrande, Sunac, etc.) and state owned enterprises that are not so constrained will take over an ever increasing share of the (increasingly planned) economy, with hilariously painful results.

[achilleanfemme]

To Win Trans/Queer Freedom, There Are No Shortcuts

The clout chasing has already begun. After any mass tragedy, like yesterday’s shooting at Club Q, a queer nightclub in Colorado Spring, there’s a move to politicize the events from the liberal center of US-American politics. I would argue that amongst no marginalized community is this push towards liberal assimilation, and movement co-optation, worse than amongst LGBTQ people. I have already seen the tweets of liberal politicians asking for liberal LGBTQ “organizers” (campaign workers) to “drop their venmos/cash-apps/zelles/etc” so that “they can get paid in the wake of such a tragedy”. The level of unapologetic clout chasing is honestly galling. Bodies are not even in the ground and they’re already asking for people to give money to LGBTQ Democratic candidates. It’s disgusting. 

Liberal assimilationist forces in the LGBTQ movement have been around for a very long time. Timothy Stewart-Winter’s Queer Clout: Chicago and the Rise of Gay Politics well documents the neoliberal turn of white gay men in Chicago towards Democratic Party politics and away from street action and mass organizing, as a means of assimilating into the liberal status quo, instead of challenging it. This turn continues to contemporarely benefit a small minority of LGBTQ people, especially (but not exclusively) gays and lesbians, while the rest of us trans and queer people are hung out to dry. Civil rights victories like same-sex marriage, which itself represented an assimilationist turn in trans and queer politics, have not ushered in a wave of continued mass organizing for expanded civil and social rights for LGBTQ people. As many trans organizers and scholars have pointed out, the “marriage equality” victory in 2015 represented the collapse of organizing infrastructure and the end of lesbian and gay politics being done on a national scale.

Liberal politicians, social media influencers, and journalists, both queer and non-queer, love to point out that trans and queer people of color were the ones who “threw the first brick at Stonewall”. Every June there are endless articles about “10 Ways to Support Trans Women of Color” and “50 LGBTQ People that Lead the Way for Equality” yet the radical politics of folks like Sylvia Rivera and Lorraine Hansberry are rarely acknowledged, and the contemporary movement implications of their work are never acknowledged. This is because the forces of assimilation in LGBTQ liberalism would be called into question if these implications were put to the forefront of public discussions of politics amongst trans and queer people.

The contemporary radical implications of our queer ancestors and foreparents are clear. It is time for that we build a radical trans and queer movement in the United States of America rooted in Black feminism, PIC abolition, trans liberation, and economic justice. Events like yesterday’s mass killing at Club Q and the Trans Day of Rememberance are not going to become less frequent while trans and queer people hold no political power in society outside of the Democratic Party establishment. We need to organize to pass the Equality Act and fight beyond it. We need to fight to free all trans and queer immigrants and asylum seekers locked in cages for seeking safety outside of their countries of origin. We need to fight to free all trans and queer people from prison. We need to fight to end the prosecution of trans women of color for acting in self-defense against violent men. We need to fight for housing for all, trans-inclusive medicare for all, free abortion on demand without apology, jobs for all, food for all, and disability benefits that are easily accessible and paid at a thriveable level. We need to fight for a globally just, decolonial, anti-militarist Green New Deal that divests from death-making institutions and invests in live-giving institutions so that trans and queer peoples of the Global Majority have the ability to stay and thrive in their places of origin without fear of US-backed coups, imperial wars, or climate catastrophe destabilizing their countries of origin, leading to violence that harms them the most. 

The legacy of our trans and queer foreparents is a legacy of radical resistance to the World as it is and a radical reimagining of the World as it could be. If we continue to let liberal LGBTQ clout chasers who want to run for office, be social media influencers, or head non-profit organizations lead us down the path of assimilation, many more of us will die. If we let ultra-left anonymous twitter accounts lead us away from mass politics and towards focusing exclusively on armed self-defense and mutual aid, many more of us will die. To paraphrase Jane McAlevey, to win Trans/Queer freedom in our lifetimes, there are no shortcuts.

[eastern-anarchist]

Why anarchism? Problems with the Ukrainian goverment

This is the second part of "Why anarchism?". You can find the first post here.

During the war it's very difficult to return to the understanding that the world is still very complex, and not black and white. But we must do it for a prosperous and productive future.

Of course, Russia is the aggressor in the war, but the Ukrainian government - at least in theory - has a large share of responsibility to its citizens. Anarchists understand that theory here, as a rule, doesn't correspond to reality. Accordingly, we - first of all, the citizens of Ukraine - have every right to ask quite legitimate questions and claims:

1) The war revealed all the problems of a neoliberal state with weak social politics. Lack of social housing; the millions of workers who aren't formally registered at the workplace, therefore they aren't entitled to goverment payments due to loss of work; business dictates its own rules - increases prices many times over for the most necessary things - further complicating the life of refugees. Half of the work is supported by volunteers - that is, by self-organization, not by state social workers. What is even more alarming is the question - what kind of social policy will the Ukrainian government pursue after the war? Many people were left without housing - will the state take over the rebuilding of residential buildings or outsource this work to developers with onerous loans for already affected people?

2) Many Ukrainians are gradually beginning to worry about the question of why the evacuation wasn't carried out in advance? And not only the evacuation of people, but infrastructure? Why was it impossible to at least protect the inhabitants of the border areas?

Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich began to assure that the government simply didn't want to allow too much flow of refugees, which could block the movement of Ukrainian troops. This is an obvious blurring of the eyes! Because: 1) news about a possible war appeared regularly for several months; 2) the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, recently stated that Russia's plans for an attack on Ukraine were known back in November. At the same time, many people close to the authorities - like Zelensky's friends or the host Dmitry Gordon - began to take their families abroad.

Can such behavior of the Ukrainian authorities be explained by laziness or stupidity? I think the main reason is the reluctance to spend money. Mass evacuation is a very costly thing, and in peacetime it's sometimes more difficult in some aspects (especially to other countries). Moreover, in this case, the government had to take over the financial support of people who wouldn't have the opportunity to work in the evacuation.

3) The presence of OBVIOUSLY vulnerable regions in Ukraine. Okay, it was definitely hard for non-military people to predict that the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha and Irpin would become the epicenter of the fighting. But the fact that the blocked and almost completely destroyed Mariupol is located on the border of the LDNR was known to everyone! It was also impossible not to notice that the almost completely occupied Kherson region is located 1) on the border with the annexed Crimea; 2) in the steppe, where it's very difficult to restrain the enemy's advance. What were the officials of Poroshenko and Zelensky doing all this time? Lobbied for the construction business? Invested in their own media? Built ugly monuments? Why couldn't all this money be spent on strengthening vulnerable areas??

Of course, I doubt very much that anarchist views will be widespread among Ukrainians in the near future (alas). But as Noam Chomsky claimed, anarchism is the ability to question any authority. And the ability to question authority means to protect oneself from dictatorial power.

[trainsinanime]

Let’s debate ticket prices for public transit for a moment.

Germany is currently running a giant nation-wide experiment: In June, July and August, you can buy a ticket for 9€ per month that allows you unlimited travel through the entire country on buses, trams, metros and regional trains (not long-distance trains, except sometimes). If you already have a ticket that is valid for any of these months, its price is reduced to just 9€ for this period. This is financed by the federal government to help low-income people and to entice more people to try to commute by public transit instead of by car.

It’s been an unquestionable success, though there are some doubts whether this is really a fundamental shift that brings in lots of people who will continue to use public transit regularly, or just people who want to go on vacation or weekend trips more cheaply. Right now, there is also the question of what comes next. The association of german public transit operators, VDV, have just launched a campaign arguing for a nation-wide 69€ ticket that basically does what the 9€ ticket does, but at a price where the government doesn’t have to increase subsidies much (”only” two billion euros per year) over what they are right now.

To that, there are a number of very common reactions. The first, of course: Nice. Then there are people arguing that this makes their tax payer money go to others; I’m going to ignore them here. But there are also a lot of people arguing that this is too much. And others yet are arguing for public transport to be free entirely.

The price of 69€ is both incredible and way too high, depending on your point of view. I have no idea how they reached this number specifically, and whether they were aware of the joke or even banking on it to get more recognition.

But for context: I have a monthly ticket that normally costs like 55€ just for my city (and I barely ever use it…), so this slight increase in order to get the full country is basically negligible. I’d buy this ticket immediately. The closest thing you can get to it, the BahnCard 100 which gives you free travel in all trains (including long-distance) costs 4144€ annually, or about 345€/month, so this is a drastic improvement.

However, if you don’t already have a monthly ticket, and especially if you’re already paying for your car, then the 69€ may be a steep ask. And so a lot of people say it should be lower, or even free.

Free public transit is a topic that is being debated very, very widely and hotly. It’s obviously appealing, but it also has a number of obvious problems. The first problem is that it costs money; the lost ticket revenues have to be replaced by taxes. The second problem is that it costs even more money. Free transit will mean much more people using buses and trains instead of cars (but also instead of walking or biking, in particular in bad weather). People might also make new trips they wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for new transit. All that means you will need much more buses, trains and corresponding personnel and infrastructure. As a result, your transit system becomes much more expensive to run just as you’ve cut off a major revenue stream.

The 9€ ticket already has led to massive overcrowding in trains, while revenues didn’t match. The federal government is paying the states the expected difference in normal revenue, but not the additional cost for running more trains and buses. It seems like the 69€ ticket is designed to offer a good balance here.

All those money things are issues that can be overcome with political will, but that’s not exactly easy. And even if we assume the government is willing to pay that money: Is that the best use of this money? Free transit first and foremost helps those who already live near good transit lines. If a transit journey takes you two hours instead of ten minutes by car, you’ll take the car even if transit is free. Investing the money in better service and denser networks may be more beneficial overall in getting people to switch from cars.

That’s why the commonly accepted wisdom by most transit experts is that free public transit is not a good idea. Personally, though, I am not quite so negative about it.

For one, in all the discussion, people forget that the cost and effort to a passenger is not just the fare; they also have to understand your network and your fare paying rules. What tickets are available, and when are they valid? Do you go by zone, distance or flat fare? I’ve seen cities (Hanover, fuck that place) that have different zones depending on whether you buy a single ticket or an all-day ticket. Free transit makes transit easier to understand, and that is a significant benefit that I think we don’t talk about enough. The 9€ ticket does the same, of course, and so does the 69€ ticket, although both of these still allow for cheaper single-use tickets whose rules you would have to learn again.

The real important issue is the one unspoken assumption I’ve made here throughout, though: That everybody has the option of going by car instead, and in particular, is already paying for a car. There are a lot of people for whom this isn’t true, and for whom free or 9€/month public transit can drastically transform their lives

If you are out of work or at the lowest end of the german low wage sector, you get government assistance under the infamous Hartz IV program, where smart people have calculated the least amount of money to live reasonably, and then politicians have slashed that number, and it can get slashed more if the state agency thinks you’re not trying hard enough to get a job. It’s not great.

In these calculations, you’re assigned about 20€ per month for travel, and that includes all travel: To job interviews, doctors, government agencies, but also to friends and family. This figure is ridiculous; as you may recognise, it’s far from enough to travel by bus every workday in my home cities (some regions offer cheaper tickets to Hartz IV recipients, but I think mine doesn’t), let alone friends or family who live elsewhere, and it’s not enough to buy a future 69€ ticket either. Many people who do live in Hartz IV say that travel is essentially entirely impossible, since they need these allocated 20€ for other things, as the base rate is too low.

That means 69€ is a really great price for some, primarily for those who already use public transit. It’s going to be much less useful for people who do all of their travel by car, and it’s not going to be useful at all for the people who are currently too poor to travel at all. The proposal does say that cheaper tickets for poor people should be considered by next year, and yes, I do agree with that, but I think it would be even better if we could consider them right now already.

I do think the 69€ is a step in the right direction, but I think we need to go further in making public transit cheaper.