#overseas property investment

[livingthedreamproperties]

[tandtrealty]

India offers attractive investment opportunities to NRIs. Real Estate Sector, Portfolio Investments, Debt and Debt Securities, Deposits with Banks are the major investment opportunities that are available to NRIs. NRI investment options in India are briefly explained here under

[mikasasrippedtoenail]

The average woman spends -

• $28 on makeup

• $34 on haircuts

• $15 on hair products

• $11 on hair removal

• $23 on moisturizing skincare

•$17 on anti-aging products

• $ 5 on eyebrow threading

• $85 on teeth whitening

■The cost of common cosmetic surgeries:

• Breast augmentation: $6,450

• Liposuction: $6,000

• Nose reshaping: $5,046

• Eyelid surgery: $4,525

• Tummy tuck: $5,798

● The yearly cost of getting a botox : $1200 ● The yearly cost of getting lip fillers : $800

□Yearly cost without Botox/fillers/surgery: $2616

□ Yearly cost with Botox/fillers/surgery $4891

In a study by Advanced Dermatology, it was revealed that the average woman spends $285 more than men on grooming services. While men spend more on gym membership, supplements and haircuts, women spend on skincare, hair products and colour.

If you compound the aboves costs, women spend - $156,960 and $450,420 respectively on unnecessary beauty procedures in their lifetime. Some women might even spend millions of dollars in their lifetime on their appearance. This extra expenditure feeds pockets of (male) CEOs of beauty companies who thrive off of women's insecurities. The more women fall into these traps, the more unrealistic the beauty standards will become.

● Meadian House cost - $227,000

● Average car cost - $48,000

● Average Overseas Vacation cost - $3250

● Cost of a nice hobby in a lifetime - $72,000

●Cost of a book collection(150 books) - $1800

Making women waste money on useless items allows men to hoard capital. Moreover, there is a huge gender gap in trading. Men are much more likely to invest extra income into the stock market than women, however, when women do invest they tend to perform much better when it comes to trading owing to their diligence and loss assessment.Female ownership of monetary property and real estate is paramount to their liberation. Society has created an ecosystem that dissuades women from possessing capital. What's worse is that when crisis hits, it's women that have to give up their savings for their need of money is disregarded as they rely on their husbands for financial support. Women amassing wealth and knowledge is the key for their freedom.

[tgmsunmontue]

You need to learn how to fall 3/10

Hangster (and IceMav) - Bradley is too tall to be a naval aviator and instead becomes a sky diver, specialising in spin recovery. He is a civilian contractor to the Airforce and Navy to teach pilots how to survive parachute spins from ejections. A more in-depth version of this post.

PROLOGUE 2003-2006

2007-2010 – The middle years

                He ends up with another part-time job, fortunately using his human performance part of his degree and working as a personal trainer, mostly early mornings. Jumping out of planes is expensive. He moves out of the house him and Mav usually live in, but months later ends up moving in with Ice when he’s diagnosed with cancer. They don’t sugar coat things, not now that he’s an adult. He has to listen to them talk about wills and property and investments and assets; wants to stick his head in the sand and just chant la-la-la until it all goes away. He doesn’t want to consider his life without them both in it. Hard enough to think he’s already lost his actual parents, he can’t lose them too.

                He sits through it though, signs forms he reads carefully because both Ice and Mav frown and look disappointed the first time he signed without even looking. They get similar forms for him, given his current career and he’s pretty sure Mav has to excuse himself to go and throw up when he says he doesn’t want to be kept on life support indefinitely if he has a bad fall. Ice just nods and accepts his decision with quiet equanimity and he wonders if it’s because he is facing his own mortality. He starts a YouTube channel, figures out how to take effective video and then edit it properly. Loads them up without commentary; originally it’s for those he’s taken up for tandem jumps, but then it’s for other instructors around the country, and then a couple of them move overseas. His channel has a small but dedicated following.

                One of the silver linings of Ice’s cancer diagnosis is the fact he seems to no longer give any fucks about what people might say about his relationship with Mav. Don’t ask, don’t tell is still in effect but it’s also definitely very firmly in the don’t tell realm as far as Bradley can figure out. Everyone who they interact with seems to simply know that they’re together, and have been for as long as everyone remembers. Definitely for as long as he remembers. No one wants to tell and he guesses that Ice is high enough up that there’s probably blind-eyes all over the place.

                Then Ice insists on Mav moving in, which he promptly leaves the house for, not wanting to hang around for listening to the argument or hearing the makeup sex that will surely follow. So they put the house on the market, then he’s given the money and told he can finally buy the plane he wants which he delays a little and carefully shops around, listening to the advice of his old instructors and also Ice and Mav. All his gifts for years are centered around either skydiving or filming and editing software. It doesn’t escape his notice that Mav’s gifts tend towards the safer indoor aspects, while Ice tends toward the safety needs. They’re both supportive in their own ways.

                Living together, all of them, properly for the first time, results in the sudden influx of photos that pop up, every flat surface has frames with photos and Ice starts taking more photos. All of their lives are visually documented on the walls and bookshelves, although Bradley notes the front room Ice uses as a study and work room remains very formal and devoid of any personal touches. Other than formal portraits, like his graduation photo. Regardless of what room he’s in he feels like he is at home.

…             …             …

                His nightmare becomes a reality, although not in full. The call he got was from Bradley, starting off with I’m alive but I’m on the way to the hospital. He’d then passed the phone over to someone else. Apparently he’d taken a bad landing after being forced to use his second backup shute. He’d been too close to the ground so had hit it hard. His hands are shaking as he walks down the hospital corridor, the only thing that has him not vomiting is the fact that Bradley is the one who called him. That Bradley was alive; maybe not alive and well, but alive enough to call him.

                “Bad fall,” Mav mutters. “Like he’s tripped over the front step and grazed his hands…”

                He pushes the door open to Bradley’s room. He’s pale, face covered in bandages, one arm in a cast and both legs in braces, but not as he’d imagined a broken spine and him being in something like full-traction it’s a little bit of a relief.

                “He’s damned lucky.”

                “Doesn’t look lucky.”

                “He had his legs tucked up, hit the ground and rolled. Like it was as natural as breathing. He dislocated his shoulder but continued with the momentum… most people I know would have hit the ground feet-first despite years of training and the shock would have caused spiral fractures. They’ve braced his ankles as a matter of precaution because the x-rays showed no damage, which is a miracle but also isn’t surprising considering he walked into the hospital. We don’t usually say that you can be a natural at skydiving, but this kid is definitely a natural.”

                Mav sighs.

                Of course he is.

…             …             …

                “If the cancer didn’t get me, then I’m sure jumping out of a plane isn’t going to kill me either.”

                “Fighting words. It’s a good thing I’m taller than you. When we come into land you’re going to lift your legs.”

                He listens as Bradley takes him through everything, despite the fact that he knows it all, having listened to it so often he’s pretty sure he could repeat it back, learning it alongside Bradley and quizzing him on it. He can follow Bradley’s instructions, he’s in the Navy. When he’s strapped to Bradley, waved the all-clear he feels a little frisson of abject terror but it’s too late, he’s falling toward to the ground and then his fear fades away and he lets out a whoop of joy, hears Bradley’s amused laughter before it’s whipped away by the rushing air. They hit the ground and it’s gentler than he thought it would be.

                “Woo! What a rush!”

                “Yeah? You like it?”

                “It reminds me of my first launch off a carrier. Damn. Yeah. I get it now. Love you kid,” he says, knocking his own helmet against Bradley’s, the words aren’t ones he says often, but feels the need to say them more often now. Doesn’t want Bradley to ever doubt how he feels. Mav either for that matter…

                “Love you too.”

…             …             …

                “You were both up there, together.”

                He should have known it would give Mav another nightmare and he curls himself around him, makes gentle shushing noises under his breath, glad now that he doesn’t have to try and do this over the phone.

                “Do you trust him?”

                “Of course I do!”

                “Then know that skydiving, especially tandem skydiving is safer than driving to and from the hangar. Car accidents are far more common and hurt far more people than skydiving does. You’ve seen him with his gear. Hell, we check it. He’s damned good at what he does. He’s meant to be up in the air just as much as you are…”

                Mav lets out a little hiccupping breath and Tom knows he’s got something that’ll definitely take his mind of everything else.

                “You know, there’s something else I want to check off on my bucket list…” Tom says, and he’s not going to move, but his otherwise grand plans aren’t getting a look in right now. This feels right.

                “What?”

                “Pete Mitchell, will you marry me?”

…             …             …

                Ice and Mav leave plans on the table one night. An extension to the house, with a shared internal door but his own front door; effectively making two houses. A large bedroom, another room for an office with a desk, extension to the garage so he can store his gear, enough room to roll out his chutes and carry out checks. It’s very clearly an invitation to never move out, but also to live independently and he finds the sticky notes they use to communicate when they’re too busy to actually stop and talk. Simply draws a heart and writes love it in the center.

                He doesn’t bother looking at moving out of home again.

2011-2015 - The later years (NEXT PART)

[rottenbrainstuff]

Haha! Canada is implementing much stricter immigration policies, which people generally support because 1) racism but also 2) it’s being claimed it will fix our housing crisis. It won’t, at all, but we cannot address the issues with landlords, airbnbs, overseas property investment, and worst of all, the fact that boomers are dependant on the value of their homes constantly increasing for their retirement security and this bubble is of absolute crisis proportions in Canada, worse than the US, no, we can’t address these issues, because people won’t like the solutions. Instead we will blame immigrants for it and placate the voters by saying we’ll restrict the number of immigrants entering. But I digress…..

My mom told me, in shock, that her neighbours are now being deported. They are a nice family originally from the Ukraine, they have been living here for several years now, and had a new baby about two years ago, and their recent application for… I don’t know, work visa, PR, whatever it was, was declined and they now have three months to leave the country. That’s it.

She’s in absolute shock, like, the immigration policy was supposed to target the people who aren’t contributing (read: brown people) and she never thought the leopards would eat HER neighbour’s faces, cause they’re obviously the GOOD (white) kind of immigrant.

Dunno what even to tell you.

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

Kamala Harris: "We are going to raise taxes on big corporations and the rich. We want to make sure people pay their fair share".

I'm sick of that phrase. "Pay your fair share". Do you even understand that phase? Our tax rates in the US scale up. The more you make, the more your pay. And people will sometimes go, "oh well rich people actually avoid paying taxes so we should tax them more". Ok so sounds like your problem isn't with the rich. Sounds like you're issue is with tax law. Which is important because those rich people, most of them, didn't get rich by dumb luck. They did so by being smart with their money, investing, and posting attention to trends. If people can pay X amount to a charity to avoid taxes, that payment itself should be considered a tax. Because it's money they can't keep.

But I hear a lot of leftists and communists say shit like, "we should tax the rich at 99% because they can live off the 1% of their earnings". To which I say, go fuck yourself. Fair is a flat tax across the board. Not based on a percentage. Your issue with that is jealousy. Because conceptually, when leftists demand others "pay their fair share" what they mean is, "give me your money, or if I can't have it no one can". That's the long and short of leftist rhetoric.

And it's derived from a sense of entitlement. The are people that make more money than me, and I don't like that. Therefore they should have to have what they do make, taken from them by the government to use on useless shit. Like sending it overseas. Or funding research on maximum pain in monkeys and dogs.

Yup. This is what YOUR MONEY funded. And for years mind you. So every time you advocate to confiscate MORE MONEY from people no matter who they are, I want you to remember, some of it? It's being used to torture puppies.

And, incidentally, I hate most of you that parrot this phrase anyways. Because fair again would be a flat tax. Paying more because you make more? Is a punishment. That's like if I managed to save to and buy a PS4, X Box 1, and a Nintendo Switch, but because a person down the road only has a PS2, they come in and take all of my systems away, and give me back a used PS3. THAT is the system you're demanding. You are not entitled to my labor. You are not entitled to my property, my money, or anything of mine. Make your own easy forward and stop demanding handouts. Because fun fact about those handouts? Those handouts are being used to line the pockets of people like Nancy Pelosi and others, before you see a DIME of it. And even then she sees hundreds of thousands before you ever even do see a dime.

[gravalicious]

“What I said is that a plantation with 3,000 slaves implied an industrial organization that makes Adam Smith’s pin factory look miniscule in terms of the division of labour. It was mind blowing, when I was taken in Jamaica, somewhere not too far from Antigua Bay, to the Good Hope Plantation, which had 3,000 slaves. I mean, how do you organize something like that? You are going to have people who will be rebellious, run away to the hills, and the organization and the accounting, and all the different aspects of that operation . . . We are talking about the late 18th century, and what you had in Britain at the time was largely artisanal industry, nothing was organized on a big scale. Possibly on a physical scale, such as the sheep pasture, but not in terms of labour. What I said, which my colleague Lloyd Best did not like to hear, did not agree with, is that I thought that the production of sugar on slave plantations was in every sense a capitalist operation, organized with European capital, with the exception of the labour regime, which was not wage labour but slave labour. But the labour power embodied in these human machines was valued, the amount of work that could be extracted from them, according to their size and age and health, was estimated, and so on. So it seems to me to be obvious that this preceded the more scientific management of production in English agriculture. Marxist definitions tend to define capitalism as private ownership of property and wage labour. But if you look at capitalism in terms of the production of something for the sheer purpose of selling it at a profit, then the plantations have major attributes of tropical agrarian-style capitalism. They also constituted the first major investment of capital in an overseas location for this purpose.”

Kari Polanyi Levitt

Andrew M. Fischer - On the Origins and Legacies of Really Existing Capitalism: In Conversation with Kari Polanyi Levitt (2018) [Development and Change, 50(2): 542–572]

[eaglesnick]

THE BIG CON: VOTE REFORM, VOTE BIG BUSINESS

A vote for Nigel Farage’s Reform Party is essentially a vote for big business and the super-rich.

Reform promises to lift 7 million people from paying tax at the lower end of the pay scale to  “save every worker almost £1500 per year.” Although I am sure this saving for low earners would be very welcome, it is the rich who benefit most from Reform’s income tax proposals.

 At the moment people earning over £50,000 pay a 40% tax rate on earnings above this figure. The Reform Party promise to raise the threshold to £70,000, a saving of £3,588 a year for the 15% richest people in the country.

Reform and the far-right favour business over individual workers.  It is therefore no surprise that Corporations are to receive the biggest tax breaks. Corporation tax will be reduced from 25% to 20% for the first 5 years, and then down to 15% after that.

For year ending 2022/23 corporation tax brought in £79.9billion. Under Reform, corporations would be in receipt of tax breaks worth £47.94billion. In November 2022, State of Tax Justice reported that

…”the world was losing over $483 billion a year in tax to multinational corporations and wealthy individuals using tax havens to underpay tax. That’s equivalent to losing a nurse’s yearly salary to a tax haven every second.” 

The only reason Reform would want to legitimise corporate tax avoidance is because Reform is essentially a political party for the already wealthy. They might throw a few crumbs to the ordinary worker but the real rewards are to go to the rich and powerful.

Many large corporations are foreign owned so  tax breaks for big business are just as likely to go to overseas shareholders as they are to UK owners. Does the British taxpayer really want to be subsidising foreign share ownership by cutting tax revenues?

Richard Tice, leader of Reform until replaced by Nigel Farage a few days ago, is a multi-millionaire who made his money in property development.  Both he and Farage have their own TV shows on GB News, which is bankrolled by the hedge-fund billionaire Paul Marshal and the Dubai based investment company Legartum, founded by New Zealand billionaire Christopher Chandler who made his fortune in Russian gas.

Reform's links to the super-rich goes further. Multi-millionaire Jeremy Hosking has given £2.578,000 to Reform coffers. Is it coincidence he is funding a party that campaigns to scrap UK emission targets when he is “the director of a company with tens of millions of pounds invested in oil and gas” ? (Open Democracy: 22/03/22). I think not.

Another major donor to Reform is the ex-Bullingdon Club member George Farmer. (Other members include David Cameron and George Osborne the architects of Tory Austerity and the liar Boris Johnson who brought us Party Gate). An “ardent supporter of Donald Trump”, Farmer was CEO of the far-right platform Parler, and is married to Candice Owens, a woman who “promotes far-right ideologies”, In 2023 he joined the board of GB News.

The biggest single donor to Reform according to Electoral Commission records is Chris Harborne, handing over £10 million to Brexit/Reform. Harborne owes his fortune to the sale of aviation fuel and technology investments. He gained notoriety when his name appeared multiple times in the Panama Papers. These documents revealed:

 “…off-shore holdings of world political leaders, links to global scandals, and details of  hidden financial dealings of fraudsters, drug traffickers, billionaires, celebrities, sports stars and more”. (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists: 03/03/2016)

These wealthy backers of Reform are not spending millions of pounds in order to benefit ordinary workingmen and women. They see these millions as an investment, an investment on which they expect a return for their money.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Mike Luckovich

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

May 8, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAY 09, 2024

Today, in Racine, Wisconsin, President Joe Biden announced that Microsoft is investing $3.3 billion dollars to build a new data center that will help operate one of the most powerful artificial intelligence systems in the world. It is expected to create 2,300 union construction jobs and employ 2,000 permanent workers. 

Microsoft has also partnered with Gateway Technical College to train and certify 200 students a year to fill new jobs in data and information technology. In addition, Microsoft is working with nearby high schools to train students for future jobs. 

Speaking at Gateway Technical College’s Racine campus, Biden contrasted today’s investment with that made by Trump about the same site in 2018. In that year, Trump went to Wisconsin for the “groundbreaking” of a high-tech campus he claimed would be the “eighth wonder of the world.” 

Under Republican governor Scott Walker, Wisconsin legislators approved a $3 billion subsidy and tax incentive package—ten times larger than any similar previous package in the state—to lure the Taiwan-based Foxconn electronics company. Once built, a new $10 billion campus that would focus on building large liquid-crystal display screens would bring 13,000 jobs to the area, they promised. 

Foxconn built a number of buildings, but the larger plan never materialized, even after taxpayers had been locked into contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars for upgrading roads, sewer system, electricity, and so on. When voters elected Democrat Tony Evers as governor in 2022, he dropped the tax incentives from $3 billion to $80 million, which depended on the hiring of only 1,454 workers, reflecting the corporation’s current plans. Foxconn dropped its capital investment from $10 billion to $672.8 million.  

In November 2023, Microsoft announced it was buying some of the Foxconn properties in Wisconsin.

Today, Biden noted that rather than bringing jobs to Racine, Trump’s policies meant the city lost 1,000 manufacturing jobs during his term. Wisconsin as a whole lost 83,500. “Racine was once a manufacturing boomtown,” Biden recalled, “all the way through the 1960s, powering companies—invented and manufacturing Windex…portable vacuum cleaners, and so much more, and powered by middle-class jobs.

“And then came trickle-down economics [which] cut taxes for the very wealthy and biggest corporations…. We shipped American jobs overseas because labor was cheaper. We slashed public investment in education and innovation. And the result: We hollowed out the middle class. My predecessor and his administration doubled down on that failed trickle-down economics, along with the [trail] of broken promises.” 

“But that’s not on my watch,” Biden said. “We’re determined to turn it around.” He noted that thanks to the Democrats’ policies, in the past three years, Racine has added nearly 4,000 jobs—hitting a record low unemployment rate—and Wisconsin as a whole has gained 178,000 new jobs. 

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act have fueled “a historic boom in rebuilding our roads and bridges, developing and deploying clean energy, [and] revitalizing American manufacturing,” he said. That investment has attracted $866 billion in private-sector investment across the country, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs “building new semiconductor factories, electric vehicles and battery factories…here in America.” 

The Biden administration has been scrupulous about making sure that money from the funds appropriated to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure and manufacturing base has gone to Republican-dominated districts; indeed, Republican-dominated states have gotten the bulk of those investments. “President Biden promised to be the president of all Americans—whether you voted for him or not. And that’s what this agenda is delivering,” White House deputy chief of staff Natalie Quillian told Matt Egan of CNN in February. 

But there is, perhaps, a deeper national strategy behind that investment. Political philosophers studying the rise of authoritarianism note that strongmen rise by appealing to a population that has been dispossessed economically or otherwise. By bringing jobs back to those regions that have lost them over the past several decades and promising “the great comeback story all across…the entire country,” as he did today, Biden is striking at that sense of alienation.

“When folks see a new factory being built here in Wisconsin, people going to work making a really good wage in their hometowns, I hope they feel the pride that I feel,” Biden said. “Pride in their hometowns making a comeback. Pride in knowing we can get big things done in America still.” 

That approach might be gaining traction. Last Friday, when Trump warned the audience of Fox 2 Detroit television that President’s Biden’s policies would cost jobs in Michigan, local host Roop Raj provided a “reality check,” noting that Michigan gained 24,000 jobs between January 2021, when Biden took office, and May 2023.

At Gateway Technical College, Biden thanked Wisconsin governor Tony Evers and Racine mayor Cory Mason, both Democrats, as well as Microsoft president Brad Smith and AFL-CIO president Liz Schuler.

The picture of Wisconsin state officials working with business and labor leaders, at a public college established in 1911, was an image straight from the Progressive Era, when the state was the birthplace of the so-called Wisconsin Idea. In the earliest years of the twentieth century, when the country reeled under industrial monopolies and labor strikes, Wisconsin governor Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette and his colleagues advanced the idea that professors, lawmakers, and officials should work together to provide technical expertise to enable the state to mediate a fair relationship between workers and employers. 

In his introduction to the 1912 book explaining the Wisconsin Idea, former president Theodore Roosevelt, a Republican, explained that the Wisconsin Idea turned the ideas of reformers into a workable plan, then set out to put those ideas into practice. Roosevelt approvingly quoted economist Simon Patten, who maintained that the world had adequate resources to feed, clothe, and educate everyone, if only people cared to achieve that end. Quoting Patten, Roosevelt wrote: “The real idealist is a pragmatist and an economist. He demands measurable results and reaches them by means made available by economic efficiency. Only in this way is social progress possible.”

Reformers must be able to envision a better future, Roosevelt wrote, but they must also find a way to turn those ideals into reality. That involved careful study and hard work to develop the machinery to achieve their ends. 

Roosevelt compared people engaged in progressive reform to “that greatest of all democratic reformers, Abraham Lincoln.” Like Lincoln, he wrote, reformers “will be assailed on the one side by the reactionary, and on the other by that type of bubble reformer who is only anxious to go to extremes, and who always gets angry when he is asked what practical results he can show.” “[T]he true reformer,” Roosevelt wrote, “must study hard and work patiently.” 

“It is no easy matter actually to insure, instead of merely talking about, a measurable equality of opportunity for all men,” Roosevelt wrote. “It is no easy matter to make this Republic genuinely an industrial as well as a political democracy. It is no easy matter to secure justice for those who in the past have not received it, and at the same time to see that no injustice is meted out to others in the process. It is no easy matter to keep the balance level and make it evident that we have set our faces like flint against seeing this government turned into either government by a plutocracy, or government by a mob. It is no easy matter to give the public their proper control over corporations and big business, and yet to prevent abuse of that control.”

“All through the Union we need to learn the Wisconsin lesson,” Roosevelt wrote in 1912.

“We’re the United States of America,” President Biden said today, “And there’s nothing beyond our capacity when we work together.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[unpluggedfinancial]

Bitcoin and the Path to Freedom: Breaking the Chains of Traditional Finance

Imagine a world where you truly control your money—where no one can tell you how to use it, take it away, or devalue it. Financial freedom is about having power over your wealth, unchained from the invisible grip of middlemen, gatekeepers, and inflation. Today, millions of people live under the weight of financial systems that take more than they give, leaving individuals with little autonomy. But there is another way—a way built on transparency, freedom, and a vision for a better future: Bitcoin.

Bitcoin isn’t just an investment; it’s a movement, a revolution, and for many, the key to true financial independence. In this post, we’ll explore why Bitcoin represents a path to freedom and how anyone can start this journey.

The Shackles of Traditional Finance: Breaking Free from Limitations

The financial system most of us know is riddled with constraints. High fees, limited access, and a complete lack of individual sovereignty make up the foundation of traditional finance. Let’s start with the basics: want to send money overseas to your family? Get ready for expensive fees, delays, and limitations on how much you can send. If you don’t fit the criteria for the right bank account, you may not even have access to financial tools you need. Add in predatory interest rates and the constant erosion of value by inflation, and it’s clear that the current system keeps many in a financial cage.

This centralized power also dictates monetary policy—policies that often end up benefiting a select few, while everyday people struggle to make ends meet. These restrictions, limits, and power imbalances are the shackles of traditional finance.

Inflation: The Silent Thief Stealing Your Wealth

Inflation is a silent thief, quietly eroding the value of your hard-earned money. The problem isn’t just a slight rise in prices; it’s the loss of your purchasing power because central banks continuously print more money, often out of thin air. The dollars you saved in your bank account ten years ago don’t have the same buying power today. This relentless loss in value means that simply saving isn’t enough anymore—you need to invest just to stay afloat.

This is where Bitcoin makes a fundamental difference. Unlike fiat currencies, Bitcoin has a fixed supply of 21 million coins—it can never be inflated away. Bitcoin’s scarcity is a built-in hedge against inflation, a protective shield against the constant debasement of traditional currencies. In countries facing hyperinflation, Bitcoin isn’t just a store of value—it’s a lifeline.

Bitcoin as a Solution: Empowering Financial Freedom

So, what makes Bitcoin the answer? Bitcoin is decentralized—meaning it isn’t controlled by any government or bank. It’s permissionless—no one can tell you how you can or can’t use it, and you don’t need anyone’s approval to send, receive, or hold it. Bitcoin transactions are borderless, accessible to anyone with an internet connection. It empowers individuals who have been excluded from financial systems, offering them a chance to participate in a global economy.

In a world where censorship is increasing, Bitcoin’s censorship resistance means that no one can freeze your funds or stop your transactions. You are your own bank—you hold your keys, and therefore, you hold your freedom.

Not Timing the Market, But Thriving Through Time in the Market

One of the biggest misconceptions about Bitcoin is that it’s a tool for getting rich quick. But those who have benefitted most from Bitcoin aren’t those who try to time the peaks and dips—they’re the ones who understand Bitcoin as a long-term, revolutionary technology. Bitcoin is about patient, gradual growth. Holding Bitcoin for the long haul allows you to benefit from its unique properties—scarcity, increasing adoption, and its potential as a store of value.

This long-term approach is crucial because Bitcoin’s journey has been, and will continue to be, volatile. But, historically, those who have focused on time in the market rather than timing the market have come out ahead. Even small, regular investments, or "stacking sats," can lead to significant wealth accumulation over time—especially compared to traditional savings, which are gradually eaten away by inflation.

The Power of Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) Into Bitcoin

One of the best ways to invest in Bitcoin is through Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA). This strategy means investing a fixed amount of money at regular intervals—regardless of Bitcoin’s current price. DCA allows you to lower the risk that comes from Bitcoin’s price volatility by averaging out your purchase price over time.

DCA is perfect for beginners or anyone who doesn’t want the stress of trying to predict market movements. It’s about consistency and building a habit of disciplined investing. My coworker, for instance, decided to start buying $25 worth of Bitcoin each week. It’s a simple commitment, but over time, those consistent contributions will add up to something substantial. Bitcoin rewards patience, and DCA helps you stay in the game without the emotional rollercoaster of trying to "buy low, sell high."

Critical Thinking and Bitcoin: Unlocking New Perspectives

Learning about Bitcoin isn’t just about understanding a new form of money—it’s about sharpening your critical thinking skills. Bitcoin touches on so many different areas: economics, technology, history, and even psychology. To truly understand Bitcoin, you have to question the status quo, think deeply about what money really is, and challenge the narratives pushed by traditional financial institutions.

For me, Bitcoin has been a gateway to learning about the history of money, the impacts of inflation, and the nature of decentralized systems. It forces you to examine why things work the way they do and consider how they could work differently. This process of questioning, learning, and connecting different fields of knowledge has made me a more critical thinker overall. Even if someone doesn’t fully embrace Bitcoin, just going through the journey of learning about it will make them better equipped to navigate the complex world of finance and beyond.

Practical Paths to Freedom: Real-World Bitcoin Impact

Bitcoin is already making a difference in the lives of people around the world. For individuals in countries experiencing hyperinflation or unstable financial systems, Bitcoin offers a stable alternative—a way to preserve their wealth. For others, it’s about avoiding costly remittance fees that have long been a burden on families sending money across borders.

In my own journey, I’ve seen how Bitcoin has opened doors I never knew existed—how it’s helped sharpen my understanding of money, and how it’s made me more optimistic about the future. Even my coworker, who’s new to this, is beginning to see how taking that small step can make a huge difference over time.

The Broader Vision: Imagining a Bitcoin-Driven Future

What does a world based on Bitcoin look like? Imagine a future where financial autonomy is the norm. Where people don’t have to rely on centralized authorities who can print money, freeze funds, or set arbitrary limits. Imagine a world where saving is rewarded, not punished by inflation. A world where people can transact freely, create businesses without borders, and pass on a legacy of financial independence to their children.

Bitcoin offers that vision—a path toward a world that encourages individual sovereignty, decentralization, and economic freedom. It’s not just a new financial system; it’s the start of a new way of thinking about money, wealth, and freedom.

Conclusion

The traditional financial system has made many of us feel powerless—subject to policies and decisions that favor the few at the top. Bitcoin is different. It puts power back in the hands of the people. It’s a tool that allows you to take control, hedge against inflation, and become an active participant in shaping a new world of financial freedom.

If you’ve ever felt like the current system isn’t working for you, maybe it’s time to explore something different. Bitcoin is more than an investment—it’s a movement toward true freedom. Start small, stay consistent, and take that first step on the path to financial sovereignty today.

Take Action Towards Financial Independence

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[hareofhrair]

Good Bones

The first thing you must understand is that God is a body.

You creep within him like microbes. Like mitochondria. Life within life, growing inward in a fractal pattern, you mirror the body that contains you. And like the dense little nucleus coils of information you are, you build cell walls to contain yourselves. Your houses stand, gods in their own right, and shelter the organisms that move through them and give them life. Life within life, bodies within bodies. Which makes God a kind of house. And if he loves us, he loves us in the way you love your gut bacteria. Does God eat probiotic yogurt? I think you must hope that he does, this infinite titan we inhabit. I think you must hope that he takes very good care of himself. And if we hope, we self-aware nuclei, we houses, we gods teeming with universes of infinitesimal life, does the life within us hope? Does God? Does a house?

Margaret considered herself a healer of houses. There were many who did what she did, buying cheap, neglected properties, fixing them up and selling them on. But she was no cheap house flipper, slapping on a new coat of beige paint and calling it a day. She was a physician, taking battered and ailing homes and making them whole again. Restoring original features, replacing cheap materials with sturdy, long lasting hardwood and brick, teasing out the true character in even the most cookie-cutter suburban stucco box. It wasn’t easy money, oftentimes they barely broke even, but it was her first and truest passion.

Then came the house on Oak street. 

It was supposed to be an investment, a step forward for them. Between the picturesque location and the impressive square footage, it might bring enough profit to finally build that family home they’d dreamed about.  As much satisfaction as Margaret found in turning flop houses into homes, she could not pretend she wouldn't prefer to work on something with a little more substance. Something with good bones. And the house on Oak street had those in spades.

It was a towering brick colonial, symmetrical and severe, with neat rows of multi-paned windows dressed in tidy little dark blue shutters and a great tree for which the street had been named standing sentinel in the yard, green and gold in the fullness of summer. Even with as long as it had sat empty and abandoned, the quality of the original craftsmanship stood firm against the years. Its steep dark roof, set like a furrowed brow above the tall windows, showed no signs of sagging. Her inspections had revealed no major sources of structural damage. And yet, she thought, as she stood before it, the dust filmed windows looking back at her like cataract milky eyes, there was an unmistakable something to it. An age. A patience. Somewhere in the lines of its facade she saw, or convinced herself she saw, determination. It was a proud house, and though it had fallen on hard times, it would rise again. And Margaret would be the one to help it rise.

The house had been built in the 1700's, and had for many years been a family home. Generations lived and died in its halls, and it sheltered them well. Then some misfortune had struck the family, Margaret wasn't privy to the details. She couldn't know how the air had soured almost overnight. How the petty family dramas those walls had witnessed previously paled in comparison to the fury and despair that came to inhabit them. What happens to a body whose cells hate and fear one another? Who lash out and wound each other? Who rage and weep?

And then the family was gone, and ownership of the home fell to relatives overseas for some years. And then to the bank for some years more. And eventually into the hands of Margaret, who arrived cheerful and smiling with paint and spackle, ready to heal it. She stepped inside, and the door closed soundly behind her.

Margaret did much of the work herself. It saved on expenses, ensured the work was of the quality she expected, and she enjoyed it, laborious as it often was. Some things required a trusted second set of hands or a call to an outside contractor, but she was proud that most of the work had been done personally. She was often alone, just her and the house, as she stripped old wallpaper and tore out moldy wood and cut away mildewed carpet. 

Remodeling is an interesting word. To shape again. We use it to describe gutting a house and refitting it with new features. And also to describe the way bones change their shape after injury. Though the wound is gone, evidence of its presence remains.

Margaret sometimes spoke to the houses she worked on. She was just talking out loud to herself really, but pretending the house could hear her made the work less lonely.

"There you go," she'd say as she braced a rotting beam and prepared to cut it out and replace it. "That must feel better." And sometimes she fancied she could feel the houses responding. She imagined their gratitude and their relief. For some reason, when she tried to imagine the house on Oak street feeling grateful or relieved, the thought was less than convincing.

She found she didn't like staying there after sun set, though she did so more and more often lately. She found nightmares troubled her more often than she was used to. Nightmares in which she stood in the house on Oak street while acid boiled up from the floorboards and teeth pushed through the crown molding and the rug grew soft and wet as a tongue and hurled her down a hallway as black and deep as a throat.

Many of the symptoms we attribute to haunted houses are in truth symptoms of an ailing body. Un-level floors caused by sinking foundations create feelings of vertigo and unease. Poorly sealed windows and gaps in the baseboards lead to drafts, causing cold spots and doors that open or slam shut on their own. Aging faulty plumbing announces itself by strange knocking in the night. Gas leaks and unshielded electrical wiring manifest visions, shadows lurking in the corners of our eyes, not threatening but desperately warning- Something is wrong. Hauntings are an immune response.

Margret knew this, and when she felt cold spots in the house on Oak street, she held out her hand for her level and measuring tape, only to find the cold spot had moved in the moment it had taken her to grab them. She measured dutifully anyway, took careful notes.

"Probably the windows," she told the house. "Frames are warped."

It would be tragic to remove the original windows, and she hoped she could find a way to preserve them, but it might be better in the end to replace them entirely with more energy efficient models, if this was to be a functioning, lived in home and not a historical preservation piece.

That night she dreamed she was running through the house, running from something. Every time she tried to shut a door between her and what pursued her, the door grew flimsier. At first it simply would not lock or close, and then it was not a good solid oak door at all but thin hollow-cored MDF. Then it was a half-screen porch door. Then all screen. Then an absurd half door. And then she would give up and flee to the next room, the next door to hide behind. All the while the unknown thing pursuing her grew closer.

The Ship of Theseus is an ancient thought experiment, in which a ship, over many years of regular maintenance, is slowly replaced one piece at a time, until no single piece original to the ship remains. What is a ship but a house at sea? How much of a house must you replace before it ceases to be what it was, and becomes something new? How many organs can you transplant, how many limbs can you sever and stitch back into place, before the body that laid down under your knife is no longer the body that rises after it?

During the time the house lay in legal limbo, it did still have inhabitants. No house is ever really without them. In the absence of the family, there were rodents. And insects. And vagrants. And angry, destructive children. Margaret found evidence of fires, and crude words in spray paint across the living room walls. To her dismay, even months after beginning this project, she was still finding such evidence. It was a large house, with doors that stuck and whose keys had been lost for decades. It wasn't really surprising to discover rooms she had not even touched yet. She did tend to get very caught up in her work and miss things. She cleaned these rooms too, patting the wall in reassurance.

"Don't worry," she told the house. "We'll get it all fixed up."

That night, she dreamed she was laying on the hallway floor, and the floor rippled beneath her, moving her slowly forwards, headfirst down the hall. Rats and roaches paced beside her like a funeral procession. Her foot snagged on an exposed carpet nail, and she watched it unravel like a knit sweater, her flesh uncoiling, spilling slowly out behind her like spaghetti. It climbed up her body, her calf, her thigh. She felt the wet bag of her torso split and her contents gush and flop out behind her. Still the house dragged her onwards.

Theseus was a hero, who founded Athens and rescued children on a ship that would one day become a paradox. Once, he walked into a maze carrying a skein of thread, which unspooled behind him to mark his way back. At the heart of this maze was a monster. 

"I think I need a break," Margaret told the house, dropping her wallpaper scraping tool and leaning her head against the wall, back aching. "No offense, but you're a lot of work."

She looked towards the window, reminding herself she still needed to call about having those replaced, and saw the oak tree outside, its branches bare against a gray, overcast sky, studded with small green buds. She had been so sure she'd be done with this before Christmas. 

She stood, and stretched, and opened a door, which stuck and shuddered as she pulled on it. Inside was another wall full of graffiti, and the smell of mildew rolled out like a flag unfurling. Margret groaned and took the scraping tool as it was offered to her.

Your bodies depend on microbial life you gather from the world around you. Some of your mitochondria are not grown within you, but moved into you while you were in utero, inherited from your mother. You contain these refugees from another body, another god, the first house to hold you. When life on this planet was single celled, a bacteria with the ability to release energy from oxygen found its way inside another cell. Eaten, or burrowed in on its own, it carved out a place for itself inside. The cell sheltered the bacteria, and the bacteria fed the cell. And from that union rose all eukaryotic life on earth. How do you feed God? How do you feed your houses?

It's a mistake to think of the maze and the monster as two separate things. The monster lives in the maze as your cells live within you, a holobiont. A lichen. What then does that make Theseus? And you must recognize of course that the monster was never the threat. The monster is not why he needed the thread.

Margret dreamed. She dreamed of walking out into a crisp fall morning. She dreamed of setting fires. She dreamed of scraping her skin away like old wallpaper. 

Margret felt a cold spot. She reached for her level and her tape measure and her notes. She fumbled, dropping the notebook, and muttered a curse at herself and reached back as it was handed to her. She was getting clumsy. She was going to suggest a long vacation once this house was done. Somewhere warm, where she could lay outside in the grass and see the sky. She felt like she'd been staring at these walls forever. She'd promised Julia-

The name rang like a bell in her thoughts and she dropped the notebook again to grab at the wall for support. Julia. Julia. The name reverberated with such urgency, her heart leapt with every repetition. Why was she here alone? She never worked on the houses alone, Julia worried about her too much. She didn't talk to the houses, why would she? When there was supposed to be someone else there to talk to? Where was Julia?

Who had handed her the notebook?

Margaret stood very still, and listened to the shifting of the house, and the breathing of the person standing behind her.

There is another story, not about Theseus. About Orpheus, and his lover Eurydice, who was dead. He went down into the underworld, into a dark maze, to find her. He did not bring thread. The God of the Dead told Orpheus that Eurydice would follow him out of the underworld, but he must never look back at her until they were both in the world of the living. All the long way home, Orpheus walked, and something walked behind him, breathing in the dark. 

How many days, how many weeks, had they wandered through this house together? How many rooms had they replaced together before the ship changed? When had she last left the maze, and why had she come back?

She came back for Julia.

She walked. She did not run, she did not scream. She walked through the house, back through the endless rooms, each one so lovingly remodeled. She tried to remember the way out of the maze. She wondered if the footsteps behind her were Eurydice, or the Minotaur.

The maze cannot expel the monster. The ship cannot shed its boards. The cell cannot eject the organelle that feeds it. Why would it want to? Why would God evict you?

Why would you leave the house? Why would you leave me?

The procession of rooms is never ending. Margaret turned to the window, tried to keep her hands from shaking as she clawed at the sash. Outside, the oak tree was covered in snow. The window refused to move, stuck. The frame is warped. She meant to call about having them replaced. She looked out at the oak tree, and in the reflection of the glass, the person behind her shifted.

What you must understand is that God is a body. That a house is a body. That a body is a house for other life, and that makes the house God. And what you have to understand is that illness and injury change the body from the inside out, and once the boards of the ship have been replaced you cannot just put them back in again.

It is not. The same. Ship.

It is not. The same. House.

And what you really, really have to understand is that life on this planet began when one life swallowed another, and kept that life living inside it. Life within life. Bodies within bodies. Do you understand?

In the end, Margaret was right.

The house did have good bones.

[jaysficarchive]

A Swing at Love

Chapter 3

Sakana hummed while washing her costume from today's performance. So far they'd been doing well without her father, having just finished their New York stop and concluding the entire world tour. While saddened by the news, she was also happy to be reunited with her father soon.

As she stood up to hang the laundry, the sounds of closing car doors filled her ears. She turned to see a man dressed in expensive suits walking towards her. He was also looking around at the various performers and props used in their shows.

"Can I help you?" Sakana asked.

"Hello. How are you, Miss Mizuiro?" the man asked with a greeting bow. He was an older man-- likely around her parents's age-- with a pair of aviator sunglasses over his eyes. He pulled them down to reveal his dark eyes.

Anger ignited Sakana's blood when she recognized him.

"What are you doing here, Fujimura?" Sakana clipped her costume to the clothesline before turning back to the men.

Fujimura gave her a pleasantly false smile. "I couldn't help but notice your circus was in town."

Sakana was immediately on the defensive. Ever since they'd gone back on the road, greedy businessmen have been flocking to them like vultures. It's just as her father had said-- the corporations descending on them now that he was sick. Hiroaki Fujimura was one of them, and just as frustratingly persistent as the others. Today he seemed extra chipper, which only made her more suspicious.

"I'm sure you're aware me and my associates have been looking to expand overseas, and given your circus is also based in Japan, I think it'd be a good opportunity for both of us."

"Thank you, Mr. Fujimura, but we're not interested." Sakana's sneered at him.

Fujimura chuckled. "You're mistaken, Miss Mizuiro. You see, as one of the early investors in Big Top Serendipity, I put a considerable amount into it, which now makes me a stakeholder."

Sakana's eyes widened.

"I'm here to take my equity stake. Your father left a very profitable and renowned circus behind because of his sickness, so I see fit to take care of you all and change some things about this establishment."

"And tell me, how would you do that?" Sakana was becoming impatient with the man.

Obliging her request, Fujimura pulled a list from his pocket. Apparently he'd been observing them for quite a while.

"First by relocating out of Japan and to Las Vegas. Second, you all will need a serious cast change. Some of these people are as old as me."

As Fujimura rambled on about all the changes he'd make to Serendipity, effectively destroying their way of life, her blood boiled with molten hot anger. Her father's words definitely rang true.

Finally, Sakana snapped.

"We're not selling our circus and that's final! Now get the hell off our property!"

"You don't have a choice, ma'am. Because of my early investment, I have some ownership in Serendipity. Unless you somehow have enough money to buy it from me, I suggest you prepare to be on the Vegas strip."

Vegas strip?! Just what was this man think they were?! "We won't allow this! Just because you gave my parents money doesn't you get to lord over everyone!"

Fujimura scoffed.

"Again. You, or your family, don't have a choice. They've spent too long resisting and letting my money go to waste on some traveling cirus."

Fighting back tears in her eyes, Sakana glared strongly at Fujimura. Hearing him insult everything that made Serendipity unique made her fury burn brighter. All the hard work-- blood, sweat, and tears-- her parents put into their home, gone to waste.

She wished her mother and siblings were here so she could sic them on Fujimura. She wished her father were beside her to lay down the law.

"What's going on here?" Selene walked up to Sakana and Fujimura, sporting a concerned look on her face.

Now with the Mizuiro matriarch there, Fujimura introduced himself and his plan. Like her daughter, Selene became furious.

"How dare you?! You will never own our circus and we won't be going to Vegas! If you think you can just come in and try to lord over us all, you have another thing coming!"

All Sakana could do was angrily glare at Fujimura, wishing horrible things upon him in her mind. Who did he think he was? Coming in thinking himself as a king and them as subservient subjects.

Even after the tongue lashing Selene gave him, Fujimura stood there eerily calm. Seeing his face so emotionless unnerved Sakana to no end. Part of her wondered if he was waiting for Selene to turn her back so he could strike.

Finally after a lengthy silence, he spoke again.

"I intend to collect, Mrs. Mizuiro, whether you like it or not."

He got back in his car and drove off.

Selene's fists were balled so tightly she was about to pop a blood vessel.

"Is he gone, Mama?" Mizumi asked. Her sudden voice startled both Selene and Sakana.

"Yes, Mizumi. He's gone."

"I don't like that he threatened you." Hisakata said. He wished he was big enough to protect his mother and his sisters, but would have to settle with using his words for now.

Night came but Sakana still burned with anger. How dare Fujimura come here and declare he has the right to Serendipity?! That snake! And then the threat he gave Selene? Just what was he planning?

Her anger turned to sadness when she thought about everyone else. The clowns, acrobats, and artists had been like family to her since she was born. To think that Fujimura would be getting rid of them, destroying years of meaningful relationships, could become a reality.

I need to do something... Sakana got up and quietly made her way to the kitchen. Maybe a drink and small snack would clear her head. Pouring a glass of lemonade with a ham sandwich on the side, Sakana sat at the table. Her mind pondered with possible solutions to combat Fujimura, but they all turned up as dead ends.

Sighing, her hand reached for the newspaper and looked through the pages. As she mindlessly flipped, something caught her eye.

Don't be shy! Become a mail order bride!

Wealthy, lonely men seek on demand wives from foreign countries

Checking to see if anyone was around her, Sakana tore the ad out the newspaper. She may have found a way to save her family.

The next morning was rough when Fujimura came back. Serendipity's cast was in the middle of packing for Japan when he showed up. But he wasn't alone-- some of his business partners tagged along with him. As Selene chewed them out, the younger Mizuiro children wondered where their older sister was.

"Has anyone seen Sakana?" Ryujin asked.

Mizumi and Hisakata shook their heads, though they were worried. The last thing they needed was her running off.

"You sure you wanna do this?"

Sakana nodded. While it may seem like she'd run out of options, that was so far from the truth. If she was going to fight someone like Fujimura, she needed to level the playing field. She needed the resources and money he had, and this was the only way to get it without risking her family into debt.

"Alright then." The man running the mail order bride agency took her name down. "Where'd you like to go?"

"Japan."

The agency owner hummed. "You're in luck, lady. I got a bunch heading to Japan this afternoon by seaplane."

A small smile crossed Sakana's face. "What time is it leaving?"

"12 sharp. Be there or get left."

Sakana nodded and left to get ready. Fujimura may have thought he had her cornered with yesterday's revelations, but she refused to give up.

Saizo brushed his hair as he prepared for the day. With much on his agenda today, it was utmost important he look his best. Especially since he was expecting company.

If ibu's words are true, then maybe I'll find the woman I truly desire, he buttoned his shirt. Now fully dressed, he headed downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. His bride was expected to arrive this afternoon, so he had to be prepared.

Sakana looked out the window at the vast sea below her. Dozens of other mail order brides were on board with her, all headed to Japan. When she returned to the circus to get her things, she told her family that she had to go but that her plan would be explained once they got back to Japan.

"We'll be landing in a short while, ladies."

Sakana clutched the handle of her suitcase. Was this risky? Yes. But it was worth it to save her family from someone's greed. Hopefully they'd find it in their hearts to forgive her. She couldn't imagine how worried they must've been when she wasn't at Serendipity this morning.

When the plane landed, Sakana joined the other mail order brides as they got off. While they were excited, she just mindlessly strode into the airport. Being home should've been joyful. It meant she'd see her father again.

Father...oh lord I know he's gonna- Sakana's thought was cut when she bumped into someone. They were sturdy, strong.

"My apologies."

Sakana looked up to see the most beautiful pair of eyes she'd ever seen. One was a deep dark brown while the other was as blue as the ocean.

"I-it's my fault. I should've been paying attention." Sakana rubbed her arm. She hasn't been back for a minute and she's already running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

"You wouldn't happen to be with the mail order brides, would you?"

Her heart stopped. "W-what makes you think that?"

"Because," the man rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm actually here to pick up one. The agency told me her name was...Sakana? Is that you?"

Sakana nodded. Now she was beginning to regret her decision. However, she reminded herself that she'd rather be in an unhappy, loveless marriage than let Fujimura take Serenpidity. "I'm her. You are?"

"Kaijura. Kaijura Saizo."

@julieemarine

[beardedmrbean]

French farming unions are taking aim at the European Union’s free-trade agreements, which they say open the door to unfair competition from products arriving from overseas. At a time when the EU is urging farmers to adopt more sustainable – and sometimes more costly – agricultural practices, unions say these trade deals are making it hard for them to stay solvent.

French farmers say that one of their biggest fears is that Chilean apples, Brazilian grains and Canadian beef will flood the European market, thereby undermining their livelihoods. France’s farmers continued to demonstrate on the country’s motorways on Wednesday, protesting against rising costs, over-regulation and free-trade agreements –partnerships between the EU and exporting nations that the farming unions say leads to unfair competition. 

The EU has signed several free-trade agreements in recent years, all with the objective of facilitating the movement of goods and services. But farmers say the deals bring with them insurmountable challenges.

"These agreements aim to reduce customs duties, with maximum quotas for certain agricultural products and non-tariff barriers," said Elvire Fabry, senior researcher at the Jacques Delors Institute, a French think-tank dedicated to European affairs. "They also have an increasingly broad regulatory scope to promote European standards for investment, protection of intellectual property, geographical indications and sustainable development standards."

South American trade deal in the crosshairs

Some non-EU countries – such as Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland – maintain comprehensive free-trade agreements with the EU because they are part of the European Economic Area. This allows them to benefit from the free movement of goods, services, capital and people.

Other nations farther afield have signed more variable agreements with the EU, including Canada, Japan, Mexico, Vietnam and Ukraine. The EU also recently signed an accord with Kenya and a deal with New Zealand that will come into force this year; negotiations are also under way with India and Australia.    

However, a draft agreement between the EU and the South American trade bloc Mercosur is creating the most concern. Under discussion since the 1990s, this trade partnership between Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay would create the world's largest free-trade area, a market encompassing 780 million people. 

French farmers are particularly concerned about the deal’s possible effect on agriculture. The most recent version of the text introduces quotas for Mercosur countries to export 99,000 tonnes of beef, 100,000 tonnes of poultry and 180,000 tonnes of sugar per year, with little or no customs duties imposed. In exchange, duties would also be lowered on exports from the EU on many “protected designation of origin” (PDO) products. 

At a time when the EU is urging farmers to adopt more sustainable agricultural practices, French unions say these agreements would open the door to massive imports – at more competitive prices – of products that do not meet the same environmental standards as those originating in Europe. French farmers are calling out what they say is unfair competition from farmers in South America who can grow GMO crops and use growth-promoting antibiotics on livestock, which is banned in the EU. 

Trade unions from various sectors went into action after the European Commission informed them on January 24 that negotiations with Mercosur could be concluded "before the end of this mandate", i.e., before the European Parliament elections in June.      

The FNSEA, France’s biggest farming union, immediately called for a "clear rejection of free-trade agreements" while the pro-environmental farming group Confédération Paysanne (Farmers' Confederation) called for an "immediate end to negotiations" on this type of agreement.   

A mixed record

"In reality, the impact of these free-trade agreements varies from sector to sector," said Fabry. "Negotiations prior to agreements aim to calibrate the opening up of trade to limit the negative impact on the most exposed sectors. And, at the same time, these sectors can benefit from other agreements. In the end, it's a question of finding an overall balance."

This disparity is glaringly obvious in the agricultural sector. "The wine and spirits industry as well as the dairy industry stand to gain more than livestock farmers, for example," said Fabry. These sectors are the main beneficiaries of free-trade agreements, according to a 2023 report by the French National Assembly.

"The existence of trade agreements that allow customs duty differentials to be eliminated is an 'over-determining factor' in the competitiveness of French wines," wrote FranceAgriMer, a national establishment for agriculture and maritime products under the authority of the French ministry of agriculture in a 2021 report. The majority of free-trade agreements lower or abolish customs duties to allow the export of many PDO products, a category to which many wines belong.

However, the impact on meat is less clear-cut. While FranceAgriMer says the balance between imports and exports appears to be in the EU's favour for pork, poultry exports seem to be declining as a result of the agreements. Hence the fears over the planned treaty with New Zealand, which provides for 36,000 tonnes of mutton to be imported into the EU, equivalent to 45% of French production in 2022. France,however, still has a large surplus of grains except for soya. 

‘A bargaining chip’

Beyond the impact on agriculture, "this debate on free-trade agreements must take into account other issues", said Fabry. "We are in a situation where the EU is seeking to secure its supplies and in particular its supplies of strategic minerals. Brazil's lithium, cobalt, graphite and other resource reserves should not be overlooked."

The agreement with Chile should enable strategic minerals to be exported in exchange for agricultural products. Germany strongly supports the agreement with Mercosur, as it sees it as an outlet for its industrial sectors, according to Fabry.

"In virtually all free-trade agreements, agriculture is always used as a bargaining chip in exchange for selling cars or Airbus planes," Véronique Marchesseau, general-secretary of the Confédération Paysanne, told AFP.

Michèle Boudoin, president of the French National Sheep Federation, told AFP that the agreement with New Zealand will "destabilise the lamb market in France".  

"We know that Germany needs to export its cars, that France needs to sell its wheat, and we're told that we need an ally in the Pacific tocounter China and Russia. But if that is the case, then we need help to be able to produce top-of-the-line lamb, for example," she said.

Finally, "there is a question of influence", said Fabry. "These agreements also remain a way for the EU to promote its environmental standards to lead its partners along the path of ecological transition, even if this has to be negotiated," said Fabry. 

Marc Fesneau, the French minister of agriculture, made the same argument. "In most cases, the agreements have been beneficial, including to French agriculture," Fesneau wrote on X last week, adding: "They will be even more so if we ensure that our standards are respected."

Mercosur negotiations suspended? 

As the farmers’ promised “siege” of Paris and other major locations across France continues, the French government has been trying to reassure agricultural workers about Mercosur, even though President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva relaunched negotiations in December. "France is clearly opposed to the signing of the Mercosur treaty," Prime Minister Gabriel Attal acknowledged last week.

The Élysée Palace even said on Monday evening that EU negotiations with the South American bloc had been suspended because of France's opposition to the treaty. The conditions are "not ripe" for concluding the negotiations, said Eric Mamer, spokesman for the European Commission. "However, discussions are ongoing." 

Before being adopted, the agreement would have to be passed unanimously by the European Parliament, then ratified individually by the 27 EU member states.

[charmsponies]

Some Rambly Thoughts About Custom G1 Ponies…

Okay sorry in advance: Rereading some of these thoughts I am a little bit mean tonight. but i do not care lol I am ranting for fun.

I am A little annoyed at those types of people who criticize anyone who makes MLP G1 customs because they think its immoral to customize a vintage toy since they arent made anymore (….you could say the same thing about like, g4 since thats over now, but okay).

It is perfectly fine, and even good, to customize a vintage toy at times.

Most customizers are smart and will seek out “bait” (damaged) ponies to customize. If they’re already broken or damaged, customizing it is like giving it a new life, even if theyre not restoring it to be exactly how it is before. In fact: Sometimes it may be cheaper to customize a pony than restore it!

For example: The pony I made my extraterra custom of was Moondancer. She had cut hair and no cutiemark, her glitter for her cutiemark had completely faded away. Now, ive restored a moondancer before so I actually have everything i would need to have fixed her, but like. lets say i wasn’t a restorationist who had all the materials: I would have to pay for each of the hair colors I need (about 15 bucks when you factor in shipping) and then another 15-20 bucks to buy the rehairing tool and needles and then 5 bucks on quality glue and a few more bucks on zipties to retail her and then id have to buy glitter. I personally buy biodegradeable glitter but the kind i get is a little expensive especially since i have to get it shipped from overseas so im paying like 20 more bucks- Moondancer is one of the most common ponies and typically sells for around 15 bucks total o-o. Not that I don’t see value in restoring common ponies (I will restore at least 1 of every pony so that I can add her to my collection, no matter how damaged) but like. Most people don’t wanna throw all their money away to do that for a cheap common pony when they COULD put their money into those same supplies (hair, tools, paint, ect) and have fun making a cool new unique piece of artwork.

2. Even if the pony isn’t damaged: Is it your toy? Is that YOUR toy that the person customized? No? It was their Own Toy That They Paid For With Their Own Money? then shut the fuck up its not your business what they do with their toys 😭 Yeah it would hurt my heart if someones out there buying expensive rare ass ponies just to customize them when there are cheaper alternatives to certain poses (like if someone customized a night glider when they could have just used like, posey or someone for the pose) but its not my business because its not my toy and I accept that people can do whatever the fuck they want with their own property.

And anyways, most customizers DO care about vintage toys and will seek out the more common ponies with the poses they need, I don’t think anyone who is truly invested in the pony fandom uses ultra rare ponies for their customs UNLESS theyre already damaged, in which case I just see it as giving it new life. Also, customizers utilize projects like the HQG1C project or Basic Funs ponies, so you dont Have to use vintage toys to actually make a g1 custom anymore.

but I also dont think people should be shamed for using vintage bases. It can be convenient if you have bait ponies laying around. Especially since sometimes there Is No Good Alternative. like for example: I would love to make a custom of my pony design for Gregory Fnaf, but I would need a kinda rarer hard to get pose (the baby brother ponies with the molded hooves). I personally won’t make any customs unless i can find a damaged one, but if i COULD find a damaged vintage baby boy i would absolutely use it because whats the alternative when some poses are just flat out rare :(

Also to the people who just hate vintage customs in general: Sorry but youre boring. You dont like fun new designs in the g1 style? You want everything to be made with current toys? My autism makes me think about ponies 90% of the time, and for 99% of the time im thinking about ponies, i forget g4 and g5 even exist because im so focused on the older gens. Not everyone cares about the new stuff. You dont like the older gens or people using their creativity to make art relating to the older vintage gens? Youre boring as hell, sorry

Final thing I wanna say: this rant is inspired by many posts complaining about customs but the one that made me the most mad was someone complaining about G1 customs and then finishing their post with “and you could TELL that it was their first time making a custom like that :/ “

Fucking excuse you? Customs are an art form, plain and simple. And everyone has to start somewhere. do you think my first ever custom pony was any good? (for anyone curious its not one ive posted on this blog, it was a fakie) hell no I made many mistakes! But you shouldnt shame or insult people for their art, we all start somewhere and frankly you’re just mean.