Reading

Scott Ritter — G7 vs BRICS — Off to the Races

http://mikenormaneconomics.blogspot.com/2023/03/scott-ritter-g7-vs-brics-off-to…
Created
Thu, 23/03/2023 - 05:42

After rooting through the IMF’s World Economic Outlook Data Base, [Richard] Dias [of Acorn Macro Consulting] conducted a comparative analysis of the percentage of global GDP adjusted for PPP between the G7 and BRICS, and made a surprising discovery: BRICS had surpassed the G7.

This was not a projection, but rather a statement of accomplished fact: BRICS was responsible for 31.5 percent of the PPP-adjusted global GDP, while the G7 provided 30.7 percent. Making matters worse for the G7, the trends projected showed that the gap between the two economic blocs would only widen going forward….

PPP versus GDP analysis. Same with China, which is ahead of the US based on PPP although not GDP. 

In Moscow, Xi and Putin bury Pax Americana — Pepe Escobar

http://mikenormaneconomics.blogspot.com/2023/03/in-moscow-xi-and-putin-bury-pax…
Created
Thu, 23/03/2023 - 05:21
In Moscow this week, the Chinese and Russian leaders revealed their joint commitment to redesign the global order, an undertaking that has 'not been seen in 100 years.'
Can this traspire without WWIII, already being waged through hybrid warfare, without going kinetic. If t goes hot, can nulear winter be avoided? These are the questions on the table now that the gauntlet has been thrown down.

The Cradle
In Moscow, Xi and Putin bury Pax Americana
Pepe Escobar

Josh Wilson’s welcome concern: AUKUS will cost the earth

https://johnmenadue.com/josh-wilsons-welcome-concern-aukus-will-cost-the-earth/
Created
Thu, 23/03/2023 - 04:58
Comment by Hon. Melissa Parke on AUKUS 22 March 2023. I welcome the speech given by Josh Wilson MP, my successor in the federal seat of Fremantle, in the Australian parliament on 20 March in which he raised concerns regarding the AUKUS agreement. I also welcome the contributions from former Prime Minister Paul Keating last Continue reading »

Guardian Essential Poll: AUKUS support collapses, 3-in-4 oppose

https://johnmenadue.com/guardian-essential-poll-aukus-support-collapses-3-in-4-…
Created
Thu, 23/03/2023 - 04:57
Reflecting the diminishing public support for the AUKUS deal, a new Guardian Essential Poll has found that only one quarter of Australians support paying the $368bn price tag to acquire nuclear submarines.  For decades Australians were gung ho about going to war – almost any war. Today – despite the best efforts of the Nine Continue reading »

Critical Decade: is the government concerned about the future?

https://johnmenadue.com/critical-decade-is-the-government-concerned-about-the-f…
Created
Thu, 23/03/2023 - 04:56
We all want a better future for our children, and our grandchildren. The Government however seems unconcerned whether there is going to be a future at all. The late Professor Will Steffen was a preeminent climate scientist and one of the expert members of the Australian Climate Commission, which recommended the Gillard Labor government introduce Continue reading »

The myth of Australian sovereignty

https://johnmenadue.com/the-myth-of-australian-sovereignty/
Created
Thu, 23/03/2023 - 04:55
As AUKUS propagandising gathers pace, the Australian public is being softened up to believe that whatever else the arrangement entails (and that still mostly remains a mystery), there will be no compromising of Australia’s sovereignty – none whatsoever. History teaches us that such reassurances can be dangerously hollow. Since its inception in the Treaty of Continue reading »

The shipping lie

https://johnmenadue.com/the-shipping-lie/
Created
Thu, 23/03/2023 - 04:54
Defence Minister Richard Marles has now told us why we need nuclear submarines – not to defend Taiwan or attack China, but to defend our merchant shipping. Sounds credible until one does the maths. There are 26,000 ship port calls involving over 3,000 different ships at 70 Australian ports each year to exchange 580 million Continue reading »

Next NSW government must do much more on water and climate

https://johnmenadue.com/next-government-must-do-much-more-on-water-and-climate/
Created
Thu, 23/03/2023 - 04:53
Yesterday, 22 March 2023, the planet observed World Water Day, which highlights the sustainable management of precious water resources and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people across the globe who are living without access to clean and safe water. But here in New South Wales, water’s big day coincides with yet another mass fish Continue reading »

Does the ABC regard Palestinians as humans, equal to Ukrainians?

https://johnmenadue.com/does-the-abc-regard-palestinians-as-humans-equal-to-ukr…
Created
Thu, 23/03/2023 - 04:50
An open letter to the ABC, 22 March 2023. In a series of aggressions, Israel has been occupying Palestine from the river to the sea for over 74 years, by ethnically cleansing two-thirds of its people through over seventy massacres, killing and executing Palestinians daily (at least 89 Palestinians, including 16 children and a woman, Continue reading »

James Comer: Dan Burton Redux

https://digbysblog.net/2023/03/22/james-comer-dan-burton-redux/
Created
Thu, 23/03/2023 - 04:30
We’ve been here before There are so many lawsuits and criminal investigations involving Donald Trump in the news right now that it’s hard to keep up. The indictment he announced was coming on Tuesday didn’t materialize but by all accounts, it is imminent, possibly even today. If that happens Trump won’t be immediately handcuffed and extradited to New York on Con Air. Prosecutors will arrange for him to appear for an arraignment which, according to the New York Times will disappoint Trump as he is looking forward to the spectacle so that he can “show strength.” I don’t buy that but I can certainly see that he might look forward to bilking his loyal following for another chunk of their social security checks by playing the martyr. Lucky for him, his defenders have circled the wagons and are preparing to fight fire with fire. At the moment they are concentrating their efforts on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

I Don’t Eat Gluten or Dairy Anymore Except for When I Do

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-dont-eat-gluten-or-dairy-anymore-except-f…
Created
Thu, 23/03/2023 - 04:00

I’ve completely cut out gluten and dairy at this point except for when I eat them, which is often. They weren’t even that hard to eliminate, and I’d say the trick is still eating them daily. I’ve become way more mindful of what I’m putting into my body now, which is tons of gluten and dairy, all the time.

It’s something I’ve been trying for a while because I might have an intolerance, but honestly, since I started, I don’t feel any better at all, and I think it’s because I still eat gluten and dairy constantly. I guess I would say it’s been difficult at times not to indulge when the food is already in my mouth and sliding down my throat. Still, I understand the importance of treating my body like a temple, because we only get one body for this lifetime, and mine is full to the tits with cheese and bread.

They don’t care

https://digbysblog.net/2023/03/22/they-dont-care-3/
Created
Thu, 23/03/2023 - 03:30
The two-day poll, concluded on Tuesday, found 54% of respondents – including 80% of the former president’s fellow Republicans and 32% of Democrats – said politics was driving the criminal case being weighed by a Manhattan grand jury. Seventy percent of respondents, and half of Republicans, said it was believable that Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign paid the adult film actress Stormy Daniels for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter. Some 62% of respondents, including a third of Republicans, said it was also believable that Trump falsified business records and committed fraud. So a large number of Republicans obviously don’t care that he paid the hush money, and committed fraud. The rest are delusional. No surprise there.

How the Current Refusal to Deal Harshly with Failing Banks and Their Executives Will Create an Even Bigger Crisis — Yves Smith

http://mikenormaneconomics.blogspot.com/2023/03/how-current-refusal-to-deal-har…
Created
Thu, 23/03/2023 - 03:14
Your humble blogger has been saying that the new bank rescue scheme, which is a covert backstop of nearly all uninsured deposits, is a disastrous extension of government support to institutions that are welfare queens save for executive and manager pay levels. And the Fed may make banks’ “Heads I win, tails you lose” bet even bigger by announcing that all deposits will be guaranteed.

We’ve argued since the crisis that banking is the most heavily government subsidized industry, far outstripping the military-surveillance complex in the support it gets from the great unwashed public. Yet every time banks predictably drive themselves off the cliff, they get even more goodies, with virtually nada in the way of new restrictions or punishment of miscreants. The US is keen to perp walk Donald Trump, but not bank executives.

Narrow Banking: A Bad Solution To A Non-Existent Problem — Brian Romanchuk

http://mikenormaneconomics.blogspot.com/2023/03/narrow-banking-bad-solution-to-…
Created
Thu, 23/03/2023 - 02:16
Narrow banking is a concept for a bank that holds 100% reserves against deposits. It attracts people who are deeply concerned about the symbolic content of “money” on both the left (e.g. Positive Money) and the free market right (the Chicago Plan). Devotees of narrow banking are happy to talk your ear off about how their plans work, so I leave finding out more as an exercise as a reader. I just want to focus on the core principle: they want banks to not take risks lending deposits, so that “money” remains “money”: a numeric entry that corresponds in a 1:1 fashion to a claim on a “monetary asset,” like a gold coin or claims on specific gold coins, and not a messy credit relation....
Bond Economics
Narrow Banking: A Bad Solution To A Non-Existent Problem
Brian Romanchuk