tharmas

Aren't the AI Datacenters for the Digital Control Grid, so govt contracts?

Well their choice is as a USA/EU Vassal state or Russian one.

I'd say neither is an attractive choice.

If AI was utilized to eliminate the "shitty" jobs I'd be more enthusiastic about it. AI Robots that clean toilets so humans don't have to? Yes, please. (Yes, I get it that at present its probably still cheaper to employ a human wage slave to do this job -> the economic argument).

But at present AI seems to be just eliminating the junior programmer positions. That is, the apprentices. Once the more experienced engineers retire and die off who will replace them? AI? Who will have the knowledge and expertise to know what is crap software is and what isn't?

I would argue that it is rent-seeking and asset accumulation that is a big problem. If the wealthy elite invested in production rather than consuming assets that would improve things. I don't share his politics but someone like Elon Musk at least invests in production whereas Blackrock is heavily into asset accumulation.

However, part of the problem of why the wealthy elite don't invest in production is because of the Petro-dollar. When the USA moved to the Petro-dollar that is when the economy started to go K-shaped. The British Empire had the same problem. The Chinese absolutely do NOT want to become the World's reserve currency as they know the same fate will befall them. Perhaps the USA should have listened to Keynes with his Bancor currency after all.

Thanks. You're comment made me laugh.

Yes, THIS!!!!!!

Israel IS the USA in the Middle-East.

However, in a post-oil world will it still be a thing? For now, there's still the Petro-dollar.

It depends on what you use for sunscreen. A lot of sunscreens have aluminum in them and there are many that have it but it is not listed as an ingredient. Zinc oxide sunscreen is a much safer sunscreen.

You have a point, but remember tRump gets to pass himself off as the "good" guy. Also, there is absolutely no way that Israel gets to act autonomously. They are a vassal state beholden to the USA. The USA calls the shots when it comes to Israel. The same with Ukraine. Ukraine does not attack deep inside Russia without the blessing of the USA. Israel and Ukraine are US proxies doing the dirty work for the USA.

People voted this down without any response. Oh wow, what has happened to hacker news?

In the case of Cuba I imagine it's simply just political control, vassalage, control of the hemisphere. In the case of Venezuela it is Energy Dominance. The USA wants to control Global Energy supplies: oil and [natural] gas. It's all about China. By controlling the world's energy supplies the USA hopes to curtail the rise of China as a peer competitor and prevent other nations from achieving that status as well. Oil is price in $US. Iran was selling their oil in Yuan. That's a big no no from the point of view of maintaining US Hegemony.

On the contrary, the goal is energy dominance and it seems to be working. To be clear, I do not support how this is being achieved. In its endeavor the US has made a lot of people furious against it.

This! And they had to invest the money IN Taiwan.

(Secretary of War and former Fox News weekend anchor Pete Hegseth was on the news just this evening saying that the USA has been in control of the Strait the whole time, so I think the USA is arguing against your (correct) characterisation of the situation.)

Essentially, the USA has indeed been the one keeping the straight closed. They wanted oil going to China stopped. That was the reason the Navy was there.

There's a theory that BB is the bad cop, USA the good cop. USA lets BB do the dirty work and gets the blame. Every time there's a pending "deal" with Iran, BB skuttles it by attacking Lebanon or Gaza etc. What BB does is with USA's blessing. USA doesn't want a deal with Iran. USA wants control of the oil and Iran regime toppled.

It's ultimately about controlling the world's oil supplies to put the squeeze on China.

Its not about nukes. Its about controlling the oil supply to squeeze China. China controls rare earths so they can put the squeeze on the USA. To counter that USA wants to control the world's oil supply.

Nordstream (Russia), Venezuela, Iran.

Agreed, which is one reason (there are others) why restaurants are disappearing.

Excellent post!

It's structural. A big problem is the Banks. They would rather lend for asset accumulation (rent seeking) than for production. In Canada, mortgage lending is literally zero risk as the banks are covered via CHMC against any defaults. Ultimately its the tax payer who is on the hook. Hence the massive housing-based economy.

And none of the politicians ever fix the structure because many of them are property owners.

Agreed. Its not just the size of the pie but how it is sliced up.

Canada is on the same footing as Mississippi regarding GDP per capita. But if you look at the economic standard of living of the poorest income earners in Canada verses their equivalent in Mississippi, the Canadian has a better standard of living.

In the USA, the size of the pie is quite big and the wealthy get a much bigger slice of that pie than most other Western countries.

You forgot neoliberalism, Bank lending to fund asset accumulation by the wealthy with no lending for asset production.

Absolutely hard Agree here. Thank you.

Some businesses use that as cover to increase prices even when their costs may not have actually been affected by the price of energy. Never waste an opportunity to put the big squeeze on.

Steadily rising prices will be the norm from now on. What will be interesting to see is how fast the corporate elite figure they can boil the frogs without them noticing too much.

$50.00 hotdog is coming.

I stand with the Pope, also.

Sadly, the politicians are all bought off by the powerful and rich elite. And the ones who aren't are soon hounded out.

What does the "The West" stand for? They (the Elites and the politicians) said human rights etc. But Gaza proved that a lie. Gaza happened in "broad daylight" and the Western leaders did nothing at best, and at worst demonized those who spoke out, as supporters of terrorists.

Precisely.

That's what Canadian oil is for. The USA gets it at a discount price.

He's trying to control the oil that goes to China. First, take Maduro then close the Straight of Hormuz (to prevent oil going to China). The rest is just collateral damage as far as he's concerned.

This is all about keeping China down, and preserving American Hegemony. That's his definition of "making America great again". He doesn't care that you're paying more for food, gasoline, etc. and that the rest of the third world will soon be starving.

Gulf States get a swap line (can't let Wall St crash), but you get no bail out because the elites don't care that you are hurting. They care about the Gulf States hurting because that ultimately means Wall St will crash which would hurt the Billionaire elites.

So to sum up, the reason is maintain America's Hegemony and protect the Billionaire class.

Half time break for Coronation Street in the UK saw a power surge due to people putting the kettle on.

And number 3:

To ensure that Germany and Russia never team up to be a world super power that would rival the USA.

That's the main reason they are there.

Thank you. Too many people genuinely believe it is a simple supply and demand problem. Housing is a much more complicated "commodity" than people want to concede.

A house next door to me sat vacant for 4 years here in Vancouver. The owner couldn't sell at the asking price. The owner never lived in the house himself ever. He couldn't lower the price because then he would be losing money (selling it for less than what he bought it for).

Over that 4 year period, immigration to Canada dropped dramatically.

It just recently sold for slightly lower than the asking price (but slightly more than what the owner had bought it for 4 years prior). It was sold to a new immigrant to Canada. At least the new owner is actually living in it.

Why would developers want to build so much supply that the price drops?