One of the most relevant lines in this great article, is the one that states. Globalisation is at its beginning. I couldn't agree more with that sentence. Only a blinkered Western uneducated opinion, would say globalisation is finished. Correctly pointed out, is the fact a Western biased form of globalisation is finished. When will these people realise the West combined is just a segment of the World's population. When will they realise the financial power is shifting in a huge way eastward. China & Indias population combined is nearly half the World's population. America needs to realise & keep telling itself. It really has no way of competing with China. On the size of the Chinese population alone. When we start taking into account levels of education & qualified professionals. China is on another planet to America. America has relied on its perceived military might to keep it ahead of the rest. The conflict in Ukraine has finally put this "might" to bed. It hasn't taken Trump long to realise all of this Hollywood BS version of American military power, does not hold water up against a peer military. Let's face facts America has a poor record military wise. The facts are America has relied on propaganda & picking its targets, to prove its "might". Even that hasn't worked out very well for them.
I’d add accidents of history. The India-British Empire comparison was very helpful. A different way of living life is taking over, and it can’t be stopped.
I keep hearing that it’s project 2025, but I see the WEF’s hand everywhere. That would be Musk/Theil. Either way they appear to be destroying the American economy just like they did the European economy, Fascism is now in control
Over the last several months of Hudson/Wolff/Nima chats, those points and more have been aired and discussed. In my “Mismanaging Imperial Decline,” I linked to Wolff’s solo chat with Nima that was essentially the same as what was aired with Hedges, but after 3500 views only 33 clicked the link to that video chat, and that’s where the problem lies—too few are informing themselves when the info is readily available. And that’s frustrating, but we messengers can’t allow ourselves the luxury of frustration and must keep trying.
I kept finding myself shaking my head as I read this. Trump and allies can't take off those colonialist and imperialist glasses, can they? It's always a zero sum game for them, and they're the ones who will lose the most because of it. Thanks for posting, Karl.
Various reasons prompted me to think of the tune “American Pie” by Don McLean in 1971-2 when I read your comment because I’m looking for some happy news. Now it’s taken over my head. Oh well. Happy Easter to you since it’s really Ishtar at the root of it all.
The West will have to be "dragged kicking and screaming" into a new global financial/economic structure and security architecture. Just as we've seen with Russia's response to the Ukraine-NATO aggression, China and the BRICS will be forced to DEFEAT the hegemon in the trade war, avoiding/circumventing the West's financial traps (such as shipping insurance sourced from London subject to sanctions) and working cooperatively with all of their trading partners to enable a "win-win" and to cover trade routes with surveillance & intelligence gathering and military protection. China must regulate its growth to a much greater extent to prevent industrial "bubbles" and unfair competition based on state subsidies and environmental degradation due to unrestrained energy consumption.
The hegemon is defeating itself, while China is already working on the issues you note. Russia’s been insuring its own fleet and China as well—new business opportunities. As for the new structures, two Blocs will exist for awhile until the smaller Western one dissolves, which is a paradigm I‘ve been writing about for almost five years now.
"The West will have to be "dragged kicking and screaming" into a new global financial/economic structure and security architecture."
I appreciate that you're just using a turn of phrase, not speaking literally, but I think the direction things are going is different. I don't believe the West will agree to be part of the global financial/economic/security architecture. Even if it's the smart thing to do. The West simply has too much financial, political and security capital invested in their way of doing things. (Not to mention hubris and exceptionalism.)
It seems likely at present that two concurrent systems will emerge. There will be the Collective West with whatever it can salvage from the impending debacle, and a new system centred around a much more democratic and egalitarian way of dealing with global economics and security. The latter system will have its foundation built on China just as the other system is built on the US, but without the imperialism that goes with it.
Yes, logically, the most likely scenario is that the center of financial/business universe will be China in a decade (or sooner), but the West is brainless enough to blast China into oblivion before it admits defeat.
There is an interesting “conspiracy theory,” by John Cullen about Covid-19 vaccine, and working in academic medicine, as wild as this theory sounds, I think there might be something to it. For a long time, I thought it was Trump’s ignorance to mix up the Spanish influenza year - but now, I think maybe Trump was correct on the dates. Basically, Cullen’s theory: Obama released the US lab made 1917 avian Spanish Flu strain (H7N9) in China to ruin China’s food supply/chains, but the things got out of hand. Maybe that’s why Trump can’t shut up about his “role” and “you’re welcome, Joe” about fiasco of Covid-19 vaccine, which wasn’t for Covid-19 at all.
Sounds crazy. But really? Nothing surprises me anymore…
Let's see what happens with the Ukraine war. It appears the US is backing down because it doesn't have the power to fight, and the UK and EU don't either (in spite of their bluster). I predict the same will happen with the US vis-a-vis China. Hopefully the Neocons will have learned the hard way so as not t
“China must regulate its growth to a much greater extent to prevent industrial "bubbles" and unfair competition based on state subsidies and environmental degradation due to unrestrained energy consumption.“
This is exactly the finger pointing of the globalist elites and you’re a sly one to insert this accusation. Which “industrial ‘bubbles’” would that be? And “unfair competition based on state subsidies” certainly applies to the MIC and Google. Have all nations signed on to your metrics or are you in the process of rolling out a uniform plan of development for the entire world which will be adopted by the UN?
As for “environmental degradation”, what are you specifically referring to? Do provide names and places. China is rapidly rectifying the costs of its early coal-reliant industrialization in a concrete way through alternative energy adoption (wind, solar, hydro, nuclear).
No, I'm not intending to repeat "globalist talking points" nor to be hyper critical, since I have great appreciation for China's accomplishments. Everyone knows China's tremendous growth is out of balance with the ROW which causes both internal problems and trade imbalances. Their housing bubble is legendary and not only in China, but even in Los Angeles where their unfinished skyscrapers sit vacant as eyesores that have attracted taggers: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/graffiti-artists-tag-27-floors-of-an-empty-skyscraper-development-in-los-angeles-180983749/. And there's no question they've been "dumping" excessive amounts of products onto numerous markets in order to gain dominance.
Agree re Western tech and MIC subsidies, and those are areas that need to be regulated in the US. The WTO is still the best available arbitrating body and China urges working through this.
If you aren't aware of the environmental degradation, you might start reading the voluminous evidence all over the planet, especially in third world countries that cannot afford to adapt or mitigate the disasters like sea level rise in Bangladesh: https://earth.org/sea-level-rise-in-bangladesh/. Here's a good place to start: https://skepticalscience.com/. I do appreciate China's dedication to renewable energy production, but their consumption of hydrocarbon sources continues to grow (coal is not the only offender). One must consider the negation of efficiency gains (also in the West) due to Jeavons Paradox: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10668-024-05766-0.
Of course one can only marvel at the increase in the standard of living for most people in China – a laudable achievement. Even so, I've read that some young Chinese are questioning the headlong rush toward tech development, materialistic pursuits and the emulation of Western culture. I consider that to be a positive sign. The pressure upon multitudes to conform to a rigorous work ethic in order to constantly build and bring new products to market may not be particularly satisfying in the long run, nor will the accumulation of 'more stuff' necessarily bring a better standard of living to consumers of those products (sometimes yes, sometimes no).
Housing is not classified as an “industry” by analysts — its sector is “real estate”. Regarding the real estate market, you should update yourself beginning with Kevin Walmsley’s substack.
You make the typical mistake of failing to look at capitated rates of energy consumption. China is the world’s manufacturing floor (you might want to read about how manufacturing works) so energy usage is embedded in its goods produced, including in exports. Even so, the per capita consumption is less than half the US which is counter intuitive considering the US is a service and farm economy.
As the US continues to rely on fossil fuels for transportation (to set aside the use of an edible food, corn, for ethanol) you seem unaware of the vast amount of energy that is demanded by the technology of the future — particularly AI and Bitcoin mining. The comparison between western and Chinese AI (Chat GPT vs DeepSeek) has resulted in manu predictions that China will be the few major economies to meet its commitments under the Paris Accords. Some even predict that its aggregate energy usage will plateau somewhere around 2030.
Please refrain from ad hominems/personal attacks: "you're the sly one to insert this accusation, you make the typical mistake, you should update yourself, you this, you that." This is not a competition. Please just make your points rather than making it personal.
You take everything as personal because that’s what uninformed or insincere people do. You never made a single response to any of what I said. Good bye.
I'm simply wondering how many feet America has left to shoot at? It's beginning to look like a centipede with a directional problem and not enough walking sticks for balance.
To add to the Chinese "confusion" the US is now supposed to be looking at controlling ALL the pipelines for gas, into Europe, using Russia's own (seized) billions to "pay" for them. To blackmail....errr force the EU to play "nice", in a similar fashion to how they want the Chinese to.
***
One takeaway from the quotes above is that Miren, who is credited with being the "expert" of the Tariff threat, is on the panel. So the US is not yet out of it's blind stumble into an uncertain future.
You are asking if America can exist without an enemy? Maybe with a strong enema.....
Yarop, Europe on the other hand has turned itself into its own enemy, just think twas a place where people used to want to live,
Then again, no one is really able to live at all here in America, slavery rules the day, but without even some cardboard to rest upon....the dark winter of America howls thru the homeless nation seeking more faster demise of all we hold dear.
The intentional destruction of one's own handiwork and efforts as a member of Womanity able to use one's craft art to subsist is the sad tale of empirical industrialization....
Listen to what passes for music now, but who can stand to?
Very dastardly of the British to destroy Indian manufacturing. So even that supposed champion of free trade is a mercantilist at heart. Why are British elites so shameless, preaching to others what they don’t practice at home.
Long ago I opined our government was doing the same things we rebelled against and with just a few modifications the Declaration of Independence could be cited again to perform the same duty. Yet, the real battle came after the Treaty of Paris in 1783 to formulate a non-tyrannical government. But I see your essay doesn’t deal with much of that period. IMO, you mean well, but your historical understanding is too shallow. Job offshoring began well before Clinton became Governor of Arkansas. We could actually say it began as soon as WW2 ended, as US jobs were sacrificed so Western Europe and Japan could rebuild. The bane of financialized capitalism that screws 90% of Americans originated in England in the 1800s and was exported to America in the 1890s and became entrenched by the 1920s and soon caused its first major crisis here that became the Great Depression. There’s a great deal more to this story, enough to write books about it as many have done.
Recently, a commentator here at the Gym posted an excellent note that I incorporated into an article. Here is a portion of what RalfB wrote:
“All manufacturing in the West is just coasting now; producing minor variations of products that were designed by previous generation's designers, on legacy production lines that have been running for decades. That is why they were so utterly unable to accelerate ammunition production. The old production lines, at Rheinmetall and elsewhere, are still limping along, but establishing new ones is not feasible---no one knows how to build them, or get them running properly. Other industries are in the same bind, churning out the same-old widgets---as financialists disdainfully refer to industrial products---using trivially upgraded legacy designs and production lines. The only real innovation comes from abroad, mostly in the form of faster chip designs.
“That is why Trump's ambition of reviving American industry with nothing but financial leverage is a pipe dream. There is no know-how anymore, no cadre of industrial workers, and the culture of skilled labor that made the West has been canceled and erased. By my estimate it would take one generation to start churning out crude, failure-prone lemons, and yet another generation to bring industry to world standards. Not the kind of timeframe Mr. Deal-artist is used to be working in.
“A case in point is the ongoing attempt to transplant chip manufacturing from Taiwan to the US. The factories have largely been built, at exorbitant expense, and only because Taiwanese engineers were on hand to supervise the construction. But there are no engineers and no tech-aware managers in the US to run these factories, so Taiwanese cadres were transplanted---essentially by making them an offer they couldn't refuse---to manage these factories. But the production is still no-go, because in all the third of a billion of Americans, there is not enough skilled workers capable of working in these production lines, despite the promise of exorbitant pay. Now they are at the stage of importing slaves---er, I meant coerced-volunteer production line workers---also from Taiwan, to work in these "American" chip factories. Money is being poured in by the bucketful, but I will wager a guess: once they get the production running, the chips coming out will be so substandard, that nobody will be buying them. For years.”
Trump’s tariffs are no panacea and are likely to be devastating to America if they ever get implemented. Where’s the reindustrialization plan that will take many years to implement? How will that plan get financed? Those are two ultra critical policy things that must be already made, but all we hear is MAGA. Now, the Ds are no better as I’ve written continually. I provide information on what Russia, China and other nations are doing to improve themselves—things that we ought to be doing but aren’t and haven’t for 50+ years.
So, no Mexican standoff. Sorry, that was irresistible.
Case in point, the largest container ships could for a while only be built in Korea because it possessed the talent to weld 70 mm steel. Bevel the edges at a 45 degree angle and fill with a loop of steel wire creating a continuous string weld. Submarines require a similar level of talent for welding structural components, e.g. the pressure hull welds for the alloys HY-80 and HY-100.
Here in the scenic Norfolk VA area we have one shipyard capable of building aircraft carriers. The other one's all deal with considerably smaller military and civilian ships.
It takes a while to capitalize, build and train the staff for a new yard prior to procuring a contract for building cargo ships that DJT will subsidize. At the rate this goes, that will be after he leaves office.
Commentator RalfB made the excellent observation that those with the needed skills are long gone and it would take generations to retrain the cadres required.
What gave Trump away were his threats to countries diversifying out of the USD. Trump's logic is to have the cake and eat it as he wants dominance across the board from services to manufactures.
And then there's Jim Ricards with his bottle of wine about what looks to me like a garrison state, the US and vassals. We won't be competitive but that cost is like an insurance policy.
There's total resistance to accepting anything except "western" globalism. So I expect that the economic "discipline" in the west will be shattered in the attempt to transmute neoliberalism into some new clothing; the courtiers will argue amongst themselves while the world moves on.
Thanks. I don’t expect there will ever be a delivery, but the servile duopoly of power will continue paying (the insurance policy) regardless of evidence that the US won’t honour agreements. The existing state structure is one of great power dependency, so when it eventually goes away then there may be a chance of a properly sovereign set of national interests.
I got a hoot from that article because someone commented that the tariffs were well thought out. The article didn’t even mention the huge problems USN has with getting its subs built on time and on budget—IIRC, the next one is almost 3 years behind and 2+ billion over budget. Trump wants to increase US shipbuilding so he tariffs the inputs to that project!!
It's too real for me I'm afraid. Magical thinking? I've listened to the most convoluted theories of how things will work out. With the supply chains he'll try to organise a proxy to divert supply of materials but the Chinese and Russians will surely be anticipating that. I expect the resources sector in Qld to be pushed into full on exploitation of rare earths, the Greens will be pushed aside as there's been a plan to bring these kinds of resources under US control as elucidated at John Menadue's Pearls and Irritations some eighteen months ago. Ditto Uranium, no problem. What will be hilarious to watch is the tussle between the Crown and US if Trump goes ahead with a Canadian / Greenland "acquisition". It goes back to "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse". I'm trying to think about which "Yes Minister"/"Yes PM" episode works best for this situation.
The Chinese chose to dominate mining, processing, and supply of critical materials such as rare earths, heavy metals, Silicon based wafers, aluminum and steel, to the point they can stop NATO re-armament, as they are doing currently.
This specifically means that China can single handedly prevent WWIII.
One of the most relevant lines in this great article, is the one that states. Globalisation is at its beginning. I couldn't agree more with that sentence. Only a blinkered Western uneducated opinion, would say globalisation is finished. Correctly pointed out, is the fact a Western biased form of globalisation is finished. When will these people realise the West combined is just a segment of the World's population. When will they realise the financial power is shifting in a huge way eastward. China & Indias population combined is nearly half the World's population. America needs to realise & keep telling itself. It really has no way of competing with China. On the size of the Chinese population alone. When we start taking into account levels of education & qualified professionals. China is on another planet to America. America has relied on its perceived military might to keep it ahead of the rest. The conflict in Ukraine has finally put this "might" to bed. It hasn't taken Trump long to realise all of this Hollywood BS version of American military power, does not hold water up against a peer military. Let's face facts America has a poor record military wise. The facts are America has relied on propaganda & picking its targets, to prove its "might". Even that hasn't worked out very well for them.
I’d add accidents of history. The India-British Empire comparison was very helpful. A different way of living life is taking over, and it can’t be stopped.
Very informative. Ta.
Like that ref to: "a mindset rooted in imperial nostalgia."
I keep hearing that it’s project 2025, but I see the WEF’s hand everywhere. That would be Musk/Theil. Either way they appear to be destroying the American economy just like they did the European economy, Fascism is now in control
It appears to be a hybrid.
I suggest you read (it's transcribed) or watch Richard Wolff's video on Consortium News: "Economics of a Dying Empire"
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/04/19/the-chris-hedges-report-economics-of-a-dying-empire/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=e3b8ad32-cbe0-4525-a151-b08eae5aa91c
Over the last several months of Hudson/Wolff/Nima chats, those points and more have been aired and discussed. In my “Mismanaging Imperial Decline,” I linked to Wolff’s solo chat with Nima that was essentially the same as what was aired with Hedges, but after 3500 views only 33 clicked the link to that video chat, and that’s where the problem lies—too few are informing themselves when the info is readily available. And that’s frustrating, but we messengers can’t allow ourselves the luxury of frustration and must keep trying.
Don't be despondent Karl, when I went to that program yesterday not via your link by the way, there had been 75,000 views. Someone is taking note.
I kept finding myself shaking my head as I read this. Trump and allies can't take off those colonialist and imperialist glasses, can they? It's always a zero sum game for them, and they're the ones who will lose the most because of it. Thanks for posting, Karl.
Various reasons prompted me to think of the tune “American Pie” by Don McLean in 1971-2 when I read your comment because I’m looking for some happy news. Now it’s taken over my head. Oh well. Happy Easter to you since it’s really Ishtar at the root of it all.
Happy Ishtar, and Easter, to you too, Karl.
By the way, I mentioned your site in my last post, which was about sites I recommend for geopolitical issues.
I noticed that you also said something about being a culinary aficionado. Anything vegan in your repertoire?
I can think of worse ear worms than "American Pie".
I can do vegan but rarely do. I make a good bean dip and hummus. Thanks for your promos!!
A pleasure! I think the world would be a much better place if more people read your posts.
Gosh! Now I’ve gotta up the bar! Thanks Diana!
I'd say you already have a pretty high bar. I can't keep up, but read your posts when I can.
The West will have to be "dragged kicking and screaming" into a new global financial/economic structure and security architecture. Just as we've seen with Russia's response to the Ukraine-NATO aggression, China and the BRICS will be forced to DEFEAT the hegemon in the trade war, avoiding/circumventing the West's financial traps (such as shipping insurance sourced from London subject to sanctions) and working cooperatively with all of their trading partners to enable a "win-win" and to cover trade routes with surveillance & intelligence gathering and military protection. China must regulate its growth to a much greater extent to prevent industrial "bubbles" and unfair competition based on state subsidies and environmental degradation due to unrestrained energy consumption.
The hegemon is defeating itself, while China is already working on the issues you note. Russia’s been insuring its own fleet and China as well—new business opportunities. As for the new structures, two Blocs will exist for awhile until the smaller Western one dissolves, which is a paradigm I‘ve been writing about for almost five years now.
It's the threat of "secondary sanctions" AKA blackmail that are most worrisome to cause polarization, isolation and conflict.
"The West will have to be "dragged kicking and screaming" into a new global financial/economic structure and security architecture."
I appreciate that you're just using a turn of phrase, not speaking literally, but I think the direction things are going is different. I don't believe the West will agree to be part of the global financial/economic/security architecture. Even if it's the smart thing to do. The West simply has too much financial, political and security capital invested in their way of doing things. (Not to mention hubris and exceptionalism.)
It seems likely at present that two concurrent systems will emerge. There will be the Collective West with whatever it can salvage from the impending debacle, and a new system centred around a much more democratic and egalitarian way of dealing with global economics and security. The latter system will have its foundation built on China just as the other system is built on the US, but without the imperialism that goes with it.
Yes, the Twin Bloc Paradigm.
Yes, logically, the most likely scenario is that the center of financial/business universe will be China in a decade (or sooner), but the West is brainless enough to blast China into oblivion before it admits defeat.
There is an interesting “conspiracy theory,” by John Cullen about Covid-19 vaccine, and working in academic medicine, as wild as this theory sounds, I think there might be something to it. For a long time, I thought it was Trump’s ignorance to mix up the Spanish influenza year - but now, I think maybe Trump was correct on the dates. Basically, Cullen’s theory: Obama released the US lab made 1917 avian Spanish Flu strain (H7N9) in China to ruin China’s food supply/chains, but the things got out of hand. Maybe that’s why Trump can’t shut up about his “role” and “you’re welcome, Joe” about fiasco of Covid-19 vaccine, which wasn’t for Covid-19 at all.
Sounds crazy. But really? Nothing surprises me anymore…
https://x.com/I_Am_JohnCullen/status/1745038406546341892
"The West will have to be "dragged kicking and screaming" into a new global financial/economic structure and security architecture."
Nope won't happen, the so-called elite of Amerika would rather see total failure than say they were wrong. Sad for us on Main Street.
Thanks KS
Let's see what happens with the Ukraine war. It appears the US is backing down because it doesn't have the power to fight, and the UK and EU don't either (in spite of their bluster). I predict the same will happen with the US vis-a-vis China. Hopefully the Neocons will have learned the hard way so as not t
“China must regulate its growth to a much greater extent to prevent industrial "bubbles" and unfair competition based on state subsidies and environmental degradation due to unrestrained energy consumption.“
This is exactly the finger pointing of the globalist elites and you’re a sly one to insert this accusation. Which “industrial ‘bubbles’” would that be? And “unfair competition based on state subsidies” certainly applies to the MIC and Google. Have all nations signed on to your metrics or are you in the process of rolling out a uniform plan of development for the entire world which will be adopted by the UN?
As for “environmental degradation”, what are you specifically referring to? Do provide names and places. China is rapidly rectifying the costs of its early coal-reliant industrialization in a concrete way through alternative energy adoption (wind, solar, hydro, nuclear).
No, I'm not intending to repeat "globalist talking points" nor to be hyper critical, since I have great appreciation for China's accomplishments. Everyone knows China's tremendous growth is out of balance with the ROW which causes both internal problems and trade imbalances. Their housing bubble is legendary and not only in China, but even in Los Angeles where their unfinished skyscrapers sit vacant as eyesores that have attracted taggers: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/graffiti-artists-tag-27-floors-of-an-empty-skyscraper-development-in-los-angeles-180983749/. And there's no question they've been "dumping" excessive amounts of products onto numerous markets in order to gain dominance.
Agree re Western tech and MIC subsidies, and those are areas that need to be regulated in the US. The WTO is still the best available arbitrating body and China urges working through this.
If you aren't aware of the environmental degradation, you might start reading the voluminous evidence all over the planet, especially in third world countries that cannot afford to adapt or mitigate the disasters like sea level rise in Bangladesh: https://earth.org/sea-level-rise-in-bangladesh/. Here's a good place to start: https://skepticalscience.com/. I do appreciate China's dedication to renewable energy production, but their consumption of hydrocarbon sources continues to grow (coal is not the only offender). One must consider the negation of efficiency gains (also in the West) due to Jeavons Paradox: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10668-024-05766-0.
Of course one can only marvel at the increase in the standard of living for most people in China – a laudable achievement. Even so, I've read that some young Chinese are questioning the headlong rush toward tech development, materialistic pursuits and the emulation of Western culture. I consider that to be a positive sign. The pressure upon multitudes to conform to a rigorous work ethic in order to constantly build and bring new products to market may not be particularly satisfying in the long run, nor will the accumulation of 'more stuff' necessarily bring a better standard of living to consumers of those products (sometimes yes, sometimes no).
Housing is not classified as an “industry” by analysts — its sector is “real estate”. Regarding the real estate market, you should update yourself beginning with Kevin Walmsley’s substack.
You make the typical mistake of failing to look at capitated rates of energy consumption. China is the world’s manufacturing floor (you might want to read about how manufacturing works) so energy usage is embedded in its goods produced, including in exports. Even so, the per capita consumption is less than half the US which is counter intuitive considering the US is a service and farm economy.
As the US continues to rely on fossil fuels for transportation (to set aside the use of an edible food, corn, for ethanol) you seem unaware of the vast amount of energy that is demanded by the technology of the future — particularly AI and Bitcoin mining. The comparison between western and Chinese AI (Chat GPT vs DeepSeek) has resulted in manu predictions that China will be the few major economies to meet its commitments under the Paris Accords. Some even predict that its aggregate energy usage will plateau somewhere around 2030.
Please refrain from ad hominems/personal attacks: "you're the sly one to insert this accusation, you make the typical mistake, you should update yourself, you this, you that." This is not a competition. Please just make your points rather than making it personal.
You take everything as personal because that’s what uninformed or insincere people do. You never made a single response to any of what I said. Good bye.
I'm simply wondering how many feet America has left to shoot at? It's beginning to look like a centipede with a directional problem and not enough walking sticks for balance.
To add to the Chinese "confusion" the US is now supposed to be looking at controlling ALL the pipelines for gas, into Europe, using Russia's own (seized) billions to "pay" for them. To blackmail....errr force the EU to play "nice", in a similar fashion to how they want the Chinese to.
***
One takeaway from the quotes above is that Miren, who is credited with being the "expert" of the Tariff threat, is on the panel. So the US is not yet out of it's blind stumble into an uncertain future.
As I commented earlier about Team Trump—jellyfish with moneybelts.
You are asking if America can exist without an enemy? Maybe with a strong enema.....
Yarop, Europe on the other hand has turned itself into its own enemy, just think twas a place where people used to want to live,
Then again, no one is really able to live at all here in America, slavery rules the day, but without even some cardboard to rest upon....the dark winter of America howls thru the homeless nation seeking more faster demise of all we hold dear.
The intentional destruction of one's own handiwork and efforts as a member of Womanity able to use one's craft art to subsist is the sad tale of empirical industrialization....
Listen to what passes for music now, but who can stand to?
I heard some old Southern rock live at the club we ate at last night here in Knoxville., Some songs I hadn’t heard in 50 years. Excellent!
Yay Southern rock; BOA. LS, BF, MTB, MH, CDB … All of ‘em! Excellent piece BTW
Very dastardly of the British to destroy Indian manufacturing. So even that supposed champion of free trade is a mercantilist at heart. Why are British elites so shameless, preaching to others what they don’t practice at home.
This is in honor of the American Revolutionary War.
https://torrancestephensphd.substack.com/p/the-american-revolutionary-war
Long ago I opined our government was doing the same things we rebelled against and with just a few modifications the Declaration of Independence could be cited again to perform the same duty. Yet, the real battle came after the Treaty of Paris in 1783 to formulate a non-tyrannical government. But I see your essay doesn’t deal with much of that period. IMO, you mean well, but your historical understanding is too shallow. Job offshoring began well before Clinton became Governor of Arkansas. We could actually say it began as soon as WW2 ended, as US jobs were sacrificed so Western Europe and Japan could rebuild. The bane of financialized capitalism that screws 90% of Americans originated in England in the 1800s and was exported to America in the 1890s and became entrenched by the 1920s and soon caused its first major crisis here that became the Great Depression. There’s a great deal more to this story, enough to write books about it as many have done.
Recently, a commentator here at the Gym posted an excellent note that I incorporated into an article. Here is a portion of what RalfB wrote:
“All manufacturing in the West is just coasting now; producing minor variations of products that were designed by previous generation's designers, on legacy production lines that have been running for decades. That is why they were so utterly unable to accelerate ammunition production. The old production lines, at Rheinmetall and elsewhere, are still limping along, but establishing new ones is not feasible---no one knows how to build them, or get them running properly. Other industries are in the same bind, churning out the same-old widgets---as financialists disdainfully refer to industrial products---using trivially upgraded legacy designs and production lines. The only real innovation comes from abroad, mostly in the form of faster chip designs.
“That is why Trump's ambition of reviving American industry with nothing but financial leverage is a pipe dream. There is no know-how anymore, no cadre of industrial workers, and the culture of skilled labor that made the West has been canceled and erased. By my estimate it would take one generation to start churning out crude, failure-prone lemons, and yet another generation to bring industry to world standards. Not the kind of timeframe Mr. Deal-artist is used to be working in.
“A case in point is the ongoing attempt to transplant chip manufacturing from Taiwan to the US. The factories have largely been built, at exorbitant expense, and only because Taiwanese engineers were on hand to supervise the construction. But there are no engineers and no tech-aware managers in the US to run these factories, so Taiwanese cadres were transplanted---essentially by making them an offer they couldn't refuse---to manage these factories. But the production is still no-go, because in all the third of a billion of Americans, there is not enough skilled workers capable of working in these production lines, despite the promise of exorbitant pay. Now they are at the stage of importing slaves---er, I meant coerced-volunteer production line workers---also from Taiwan, to work in these "American" chip factories. Money is being poured in by the bucketful, but I will wager a guess: once they get the production running, the chips coming out will be so substandard, that nobody will be buying them. For years.”
Trump’s tariffs are no panacea and are likely to be devastating to America if they ever get implemented. Where’s the reindustrialization plan that will take many years to implement? How will that plan get financed? Those are two ultra critical policy things that must be already made, but all we hear is MAGA. Now, the Ds are no better as I’ve written continually. I provide information on what Russia, China and other nations are doing to improve themselves—things that we ought to be doing but aren’t and haven’t for 50+ years.
I don't think Sinophobia is the primary driver. I'd say profit and technocracry are the primary drivers. It looks like Shock Doctrine 101 to me.
Profit and technocracy are always factors.
So what’s different (the “delta”) is likely to be Sinophobia. I agree with Karl.
So, no Mexican standoff. Sorry, that was irresistible.
Case in point, the largest container ships could for a while only be built in Korea because it possessed the talent to weld 70 mm steel. Bevel the edges at a 45 degree angle and fill with a loop of steel wire creating a continuous string weld. Submarines require a similar level of talent for welding structural components, e.g. the pressure hull welds for the alloys HY-80 and HY-100.
Here in the scenic Norfolk VA area we have one shipyard capable of building aircraft carriers. The other one's all deal with considerably smaller military and civilian ships.
It takes a while to capitalize, build and train the staff for a new yard prior to procuring a contract for building cargo ships that DJT will subsidize. At the rate this goes, that will be after he leaves office.
Commentator RalfB made the excellent observation that those with the needed skills are long gone and it would take generations to retrain the cadres required.
Here is an add on. I think it is really good. Michael Hudson: https://scheerpost.com/2025/04/22/trumps-tariffs-hurt-the-us-much-more-than-china-economist-michael-hudson-explains/
Mark Sleboda trowels it on thick here with Dima and this is the last few minutes that gymnasts will appreciate: https://youtu.be/oRVbHuris_k?t=2586
The entire discussion is worthwhile.
That was real good!! I’ve never watched Sleboda before. Thanks for making that available!!
What gave Trump away were his threats to countries diversifying out of the USD. Trump's logic is to have the cake and eat it as he wants dominance across the board from services to manufactures.
And then there's Jim Ricards with his bottle of wine about what looks to me like a garrison state, the US and vassals. We won't be competitive but that cost is like an insurance policy.
There's total resistance to accepting anything except "western" globalism. So I expect that the economic "discipline" in the west will be shattered in the attempt to transmute neoliberalism into some new clothing; the courtiers will argue amongst themselves while the world moves on.
You’ll find this interesting, https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202504/1332485.shtml
Thanks. I don’t expect there will ever be a delivery, but the servile duopoly of power will continue paying (the insurance policy) regardless of evidence that the US won’t honour agreements. The existing state structure is one of great power dependency, so when it eventually goes away then there may be a chance of a properly sovereign set of national interests.
I got a hoot from that article because someone commented that the tariffs were well thought out. The article didn’t even mention the huge problems USN has with getting its subs built on time and on budget—IIRC, the next one is almost 3 years behind and 2+ billion over budget. Trump wants to increase US shipbuilding so he tariffs the inputs to that project!!
It's too real for me I'm afraid. Magical thinking? I've listened to the most convoluted theories of how things will work out. With the supply chains he'll try to organise a proxy to divert supply of materials but the Chinese and Russians will surely be anticipating that. I expect the resources sector in Qld to be pushed into full on exploitation of rare earths, the Greens will be pushed aside as there's been a plan to bring these kinds of resources under US control as elucidated at John Menadue's Pearls and Irritations some eighteen months ago. Ditto Uranium, no problem. What will be hilarious to watch is the tussle between the Crown and US if Trump goes ahead with a Canadian / Greenland "acquisition". It goes back to "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse". I'm trying to think about which "Yes Minister"/"Yes PM" episode works best for this situation.
The Chinese chose to dominate mining, processing, and supply of critical materials such as rare earths, heavy metals, Silicon based wafers, aluminum and steel, to the point they can stop NATO re-armament, as they are doing currently.
This specifically means that China can single handedly prevent WWIII.
INDY