The US has extremely high basic cost of living level making us non competitive in many areas. For example health care costs in US vs China. Also, US spends much more on military than China. The average US citizen only knows about rising costs and extreme levels of income inequality.
***
A book by a friend, since deceased, published in 2012 was a wake up call on political economy. The book can be downloaded from amazon.com for 99 cents. This book could be used for a class because now books can cost over $200 in some fields. Search amazon.com using the title and his name: Worse Than You Think Quincy
"Worse Than You Think: The Real Economy Hidden Beneath Washington's Rigged Statistics, and Where to Go from Here Kindle Edition
by Keith Quincy (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
"In the 1990s, the economy performed so poorly it had become an embarrassment. To hide the truth from the public, Washington rigged the formulas for calculating unemployment, inflation, and GDP growth, turning a sow’s ear into a silk purse. Worse Than You Think reveals the true numbers by recalculating the data, using the formulas before they were rigged.
What the recalculation reveals is this. By 2008, the typical wage had shrunk to one-third of what it was in 1973. This is why it now takes two bread winners and a maxed out credit card to make it in today’s economy. This has not been easy to do. For one thing, unemployment has been painfully high. In the Clinton years, it averaged 12 percent. It was 13 percent under Bush. And under Obama, so far, it has been 22 percent. Inflation has also been much higher than reported. It averaged 7.5 percent in the Clinton years, nearly 10 percent when Bush was at the helm, and 9 percent under Obama (an amazing feat during a depression). On top of this, the economy has performed miserably. It grew only 4 percent during Clinton’s two terms, shrank 10 percent under Bush, and continues to shrink under Obama, at a rate of -3.23 percent per year.
Washington committed other crimes besides rigging economic statistics. It stole $4.2 trillion from the Social Security and Medicare trust funds to hide the true size of the deficit. It cut taxes for the rich and corporations and dramatically increased taxes for working Americans. Reagan set the pace, increasing workers’ taxes nine times during his two terms. The largest increase was in the withholding tax (Social Security and Medicare taxes). Between 1980 and 2008, the withholding tax rate nearly doubled. Add this to the income tax and American workers now pay higher taxes than their counterparts in Canada, Europe, or Japan.
Worse Than You Think not only explains why our economy has failed, it reveals why our leaders deliberately allowed this to occur. Every president since Truman believed it was the price we had to pay to win the Cold War and, today, to maintain our sprawling military empire.
A final twist to the story is that Wall Street advisers were able to convince Clinton, Bush, and later Obama, that we can continue our military empire indefinitely even while broke. We can, they explained, finance the project by relying on foreign loans from nations that need unfettered access to our market to sell their exports to American consumers. So long as we remain a free trade country, they will give us loans. The price we pay for this strategy is an unrelenting fall in American wages, which hurts workers but benefits American corporations. For Wall Street, a side benefit is that banks will be kept busy processing the flood of foreign money, which increases the income of bankers and Wall Street CEOs.
Worse Than You Think also points the way out of this mess. First, wages will rise if we return to the 1944 tax code. We used this code for thirty years, the period of our nation’s greatest prosperity. Wages doubled even after adjusting for inflation. The economy grew nearly 4 percent, year after year. Second, our economy will grow again if we abandon the policy of free trade. We are the only industrial nation that practices free trade. Every one of our competitors is protectionist. They use tariffs (often disguised as VAT taxes) to shelter their manufacturing from foreign competition. They manipulate their currency to make their products artificially cheap. They subsidize their industries and even nationalize them when they fail. They violate patent rights, ban certain imports, and tightly control investment, making sure the money stays at home. They learned these tricks from us. We were once the most protectionist nation in the world. It is why our wages were once the highest and why we became the most powerful economy on earth. We did it once. We can do it again."
Great piece. The world is getting so complicated you do well to keep the structure coherent. Its tantalising to see where things will head. The US looks like its collapsing like 1950s Britain. Trump has been warned though. Beware of Israelis bearing gifts! Golden pagers in particular. Intriguing to see Turkey so entrenched in Syria. Ottoman Empire Mark 2? I wonder if it will lead to a direct collision between Turkey and Israel? Nato going to war against Israel. That would be a dilemma for the US. I dont know if you agree with your statistics but apparently the Russians have been slowing down against the Ukrainians. The speculation is that there are discussions ongoing with the US. My reading of the Russians is that when they slowed against the Germans they were planning something big. I hope your mother has a great 98th birthday. My mother asked me a question during the week: what kind of world have we become when we care more about whether a football director has kissed a female football player without her consent than tens of thousands of people being killed in Palestine and Ukraine. She's correct. Apparently, Britain under Starmer, France and Germany etc dont mind the Israelis murdering Palestinians and destroying their cities but suggesting they should leave is beyond the Pale? I dont agree with Trump but think its more naivety than anything.
I've just been reading about clashes between HTS and Hezbollah on the border with Lebanon. Yes - it's all getting so complicated. The statistics show a decline in Ukrainian casualties but not in equipment losses which have increased - not sure why. I don't know whether the weather is slowing things down but you could be right: something big could be in the offing. I hope it is naivety because that can be eradicated by good advice and education.
Thanks for your Update Rob, excellent as per usual.
Who knows what to think about Trump? He's all over the shop to such an extent that I don't think even he knows what he thinks as there are constant contradictions and back pedaling.
I think he is one of those motormouths that will say anything if they think it sounds right. There is little coherent strategy visible, just a grab bag of desires and prejudices. The important thing is to watch what is done rather than listen to what is being said. It is definitely not 5D chess, not even 3D checkers.
The only thing that is obvious is that he wants to destroy what he doesn't like by starving them of funds. Going to be quite a few babies thrown out with the bathwater.
I have done lots of reflecting on Trump's comments re Gaza and I forgot to comment on his claim that if the Gazan's go back it will simply happen all over again - as if he didn't have the power to stop it. I thought that was strange. This is the view of someone who knows nothing about the conflict and its history but has noticed that the Israelis and the Gazans are always fighting and suggests it can all be solved by simply taking the Gazans away. I keep thinking that there must be some method in his madness but I can't really find any. Your explanation is as good as any other being offered.
Yeah I don't think he's some sort of genius playing a deep well thought out strategy. He wants to defund a lot of the so-called "Deep State" but I think his approach could be summed up as throwing shit everywhere and seeing what sticks.
I could be wrong but time will tell. He definitely has enemies that he is intent on giving a very hard time. He's spiteful to boot.
Seems to be the American way, to be governed by malignant teenagers.
I was trying to find the name of the EU muppet that came out with the Leningrad blockade comment last week but it had practically disappeared off the internet.
Trump's zionist support is there for all to see now-with him meeting with the genocidal monster Netanyahu.
Strange how his 'common sense' approach to politics is different when it concerns the chosen ones.
Zelensky's clown comment about the only 45,000 UAF dead is another example of his derangement..
There must be several cities in Ukraine, each with over 45,000 war graves around them, not even counting provinces that show just how detached he as a politician is towards the people.
I saw a rumour online that stated that Ukraine had moved 120,000 bodies of dead soldiers outside of Ukraine. Not sure if there was anything in it though.
Perhaps there is something to that rumour. After all, Larry Finks, the CEO of Blackrock, was whinging about too many Ukie bodies' graves taking over too much of the US corporation-owned good black soil lands. Just when you thought that this proxy war could not be more obscene!
Yes I remember Blackrock complaining about Ukrainians being buried.
In their own country!
There was also a large fleet of corporate refrigerated trucks assembled in Ukraine last year I think but there were no big offensives so I wonder if they were there to export the bodies?
Their country has been sold out behind their backs and they are being culled, while lied to about the true death rates and survivability at zero.
Most people would be able to see that but not those that go on the kamikaze attacks ordered by the comedian and his controllers.
I am glad that those corporate monsters will get fobbed off by the Russians once a deal is worked out.
Trump is also sniffing around for a rare earth minerals deal for arms.
I always wondered whether some of Trump's statements and actions were a series of bluffs aimed with opposite intentions.
For example the US comments around occupying Greenland.
Are they to force a reaction in Europe and get them to spend more on defence?
Canadian retaliatory tariffs would kill what is left of Canada. 70% of CDN exports go to the USA. And cutting off oil and minerals? We would be bankrupt in months. As much as Trudeau and co hate icky oil it keeps Canada going. No more oil no more cash. We have “equalization” where rich provinces send $ to “poorer” provinces or super whiny bitchy ones like Quebec. Like 8 billion per year just to the French alone. Our debt is monstrous, our housing unaffordable, taxes levels insane and massive levels of immigration. We literally import homelessness, our government hates its own citizens that much.
Gaza. There are so many possible angles to this it is mind boggling. One, where will the resistance get the money to continue? Discussions are going on concerning that I'll bet. Israel does not have the construction workers for the build back. The Palistians will be needed. The other Arab (even the ones on opposite sides of the fence) nations will provide trhe money for material and payroll. The several thousand prisoners in Iraeli prisons will be released. Everyone will be too busy to fight. Idol hands are the devil's play ground. The City of London's divide and conquer group meets Trump Construction.
I surprised Trump didn't utilize old Kagan's knowledge of ancient Greece and argue that Alexander the Great destroyed Gaza in 332 BC; killed all the men and sold the women and children to slavery so this current bunch of Gazans are interlopers.
Ouch. Shes lucky she wasn't born in ancient Sparta. Sorry, i meant Donald. He wrote about Peloponnesian wars. He spawned Robert and Frederick. The neocons of Nuland and Institute of War studies infamy.
I'm in the middle of a book called Spartan Reflections by Paul Cartledge - very academic in style. I've read a few books about the Peloponnesian wars but don't remember Kagan. I'll check him out.
Rubio and USAID and NED - National Endowment for Democracy. From a pull down tab on the web this morning
"What is the NED in politics?
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a non-profit organization created in 1983 to strengthen democratic institutions around the world. Through its worldwide grants program, NED assists those abroad who are working to build democratic institutions and spread democratic values.
Those who are glad the USAID shut down are aware of USAID's role in government overthrows and even support of chemical weapons labs around the globe. Does anyone know which revenue stream supported the many biological weapons labs in Ukraine?
***
Rubio says that the humanitarian aspect of USAID should continue. Yes, they have done some good things. Here is a link to an interview yesterday of a former top executive of USAID who among other things led the USAID Sars-Corvid 2 response by distributing mRNA vaccines at a high price and extracting promises like not dealing with China in certain areas.
The larger issue with the mRNA vaccine is that it was produced in labs, and the USA for sure, and China, thus were behind the world wide "pandemic." That is not good for foreign policy to be a pandemic producer agent. Along with being involved in genocide in Gaza, USA's image as the savior of the world is tarnished, to say the least. There will be many somersaults by Rubio and Trump in the next few months.
Here is an interview published yesterday in the New Republic. Like most democrats, they are still in denial about "the pandemic."
"Transcript: Trump’s Angry USAID Rant Undercut by Surprise Rubio Video
An interview with a former USAID official about the Trump-Musk assault on the agency, why it will create big problems for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and how awful the global consequences will be."
"A former USAID director, John Gilligan, admitted that USAID was "infiltrated from top to bottom with CIA people." Gilligan explained that "the idea was to plant operatives in every kind of activity we had overseas; government, volunteer, religious, every kind." Given that USAID is widely believed and reported to be infiltrated by CIA personnel, and to function essentially as an arm of the CIA, it is ironic that USAID was established by President John F. Kennedy on November 3, 1961, through the signing of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. Kennedy aimed to create a more efficient way to counter Soviet influence abroad through foreign assistance, seeing the State Department as too bureaucratic to accomplish this task efficiently."
...
"US State Department uses USAID to Target “Dissidents” and Spread Disinformation
In 2008, the US State Department, through its "foreign assistance" agency USAID, set up a fake social network in Cuba. Supposedly concerned with public health and civics, its operatives actively targeted likely dissidents. The site came complete with hashtags, dummy advertisements and a database of users' "political tendencies".
In 2016, Wikileaks termed the Panama Papers leak a "Putin attack" and that it "was produced by OCCRP which targets Russia & former USSR and was funded by USAID & Soros"
***
"
USAID Subverted a Pakistani Vaccine Campaign to Locate Osama bin Laden
USAID was also involved in a hepatitis B vaccination campaign in Pakistan that was used to gather intelligence leading to the assassination of Osama bin Laden. An American woman (presumably a CIA operative) recruited a Pakistani doctor named Shakil Afridi, referred to as "Kate," who operated USAID's vaccination campaigns in the tribal region along the Afghan border. The goal of the campaign was to vaccinate children in areas near Abbottabad, where bin Laden was believed to be hiding, and to test the DNA on the used syringes to see if they were related to bin Laden, eventually leading to identification of his compound location. Blowback from this operation included suspicion about public health campaigns in Pakistan, leading to a spike in refusals of polio vaccinations and targeting of health workers.
***
"USAID Funded Pfizer mRNA COVID vaccines for International Distribution.
In researching USAID funding history relating to COVID, searching on the Federal USA Spending web portal revealed that USAID has awarded up to 6.9 Billion US Dollars to Pfizer for “COVID-19 VACCINES FOR INTERNATIONAL DONATION” as of July 20, 2021 (contract W58P0521C0002). Of those 6.9 B$, 2.8B$ are reported to have been spent."
Note: this part brings in Gates foundation and Clinton foundation
***
a comment to this post:
"Barbara Charis
Barbara’s Newsletter - Journey …
15h
Nobody would have known this information...and America would have slid deeper into the pit, if President Trump had not won this election. Any who bad mouth him, have to be insane. He is doing the best he can to clean up a very toxic mess; both major parties are responsible for..the selling out of America President Trump is not into party, he wants what is best for our country. He loves America. In 2016 I changed from an Independent to a Republican, so I could vote in the primaries for President Trump/. I asked for guidance...and was guided to vote for him. I was not disappointed. He did the best he could with all the vipers that he faced in Washington, D.C."
While the Trump Elephant in a China Shop Show is happening in the foreground, the really dramatic events are bing performed by others. Stand by for an enormous amount of Musk bashing.
The Guardian is already conflating US AID (the US Agency for International Development) with US Aid, pretending it is an aid agency. USAID does a tiny amount of aid, for photo op purposes, while it plants thousands of NGOs in nations with uncooperative governments. Georgia, with a population of about 4.5 million had 25,000 US-paid NGOs trying desperately to dislodge the Georgia Dream party. They took to the streets and even waved US flags at their protests.
The Ukrainian 'independent media' (LOL) screamed loudly when their USAID funding was taken away.
Now, every day, the funding of past nefarious doings by the US are being revealed. Musk has pulled in his own employees to facilitate the dismantling of this CIA front organisation. Stand by for a lot more revelations about USAID-funded, CIA destabilisation efforts.
I hope that Musk is well guarded. His opening gambit has been a stunner!
Tulsi Gabbard stood firm under Senate grilling, even revealing details of operation Timber Sycamore - the US funding, arming and training of ISIS teams in Syria. She then succeeded in attaining a position that will see further erosion of the pernicious CIA.
Musk and Gabbard will have to watch their backs.
Trump's salivating over real estate opportunities in Gaza has brought together some strange bedfellows, in condemnation: The UN, the EU, Russia, China, the Taliban, and all of the Gulf States. They might support the notion of a Two State Solution, but in their hearts they know that there is really only one solution: one state, Palestine. The rogue state of Israel needs to be dismantled, and the sooner the better for all of us.
Meanwhile in Oz 'anti-semitic hate speech' now draws a prison sentence, in spite of the fact that the vandalism and arson on Jewish property has been shown to have been carried out by apolitical, paid criminals, thought to have been payed by a foreign entity. Only one comes to mind - causing a distraction from the genocide they are perpetrating.
Ouch. Shes lucky she wasn't born in ancient Sparta. Sorry, i meant Donald. He wrote about Peloponnesian wars. He spawned Robert and Frederick. The neocons of Nuland and Institute of War studies infamy.
2012 seems like a long time ago.
Today there is a substack comparing China vs US
"Is the average Chinese already better off than the average American?
Not yet, but ... Roger Boyd Feb 07, 2025"
https://rogerboyd.substack.com/p/is-the-average-chinese-already-better
The US has extremely high basic cost of living level making us non competitive in many areas. For example health care costs in US vs China. Also, US spends much more on military than China. The average US citizen only knows about rising costs and extreme levels of income inequality.
***
A book by a friend, since deceased, published in 2012 was a wake up call on political economy. The book can be downloaded from amazon.com for 99 cents. This book could be used for a class because now books can cost over $200 in some fields. Search amazon.com using the title and his name: Worse Than You Think Quincy
"Worse Than You Think: The Real Economy Hidden Beneath Washington's Rigged Statistics, and Where to Go from Here Kindle Edition
by Keith Quincy (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
"In the 1990s, the economy performed so poorly it had become an embarrassment. To hide the truth from the public, Washington rigged the formulas for calculating unemployment, inflation, and GDP growth, turning a sow’s ear into a silk purse. Worse Than You Think reveals the true numbers by recalculating the data, using the formulas before they were rigged.
What the recalculation reveals is this. By 2008, the typical wage had shrunk to one-third of what it was in 1973. This is why it now takes two bread winners and a maxed out credit card to make it in today’s economy. This has not been easy to do. For one thing, unemployment has been painfully high. In the Clinton years, it averaged 12 percent. It was 13 percent under Bush. And under Obama, so far, it has been 22 percent. Inflation has also been much higher than reported. It averaged 7.5 percent in the Clinton years, nearly 10 percent when Bush was at the helm, and 9 percent under Obama (an amazing feat during a depression). On top of this, the economy has performed miserably. It grew only 4 percent during Clinton’s two terms, shrank 10 percent under Bush, and continues to shrink under Obama, at a rate of -3.23 percent per year.
Washington committed other crimes besides rigging economic statistics. It stole $4.2 trillion from the Social Security and Medicare trust funds to hide the true size of the deficit. It cut taxes for the rich and corporations and dramatically increased taxes for working Americans. Reagan set the pace, increasing workers’ taxes nine times during his two terms. The largest increase was in the withholding tax (Social Security and Medicare taxes). Between 1980 and 2008, the withholding tax rate nearly doubled. Add this to the income tax and American workers now pay higher taxes than their counterparts in Canada, Europe, or Japan.
Worse Than You Think not only explains why our economy has failed, it reveals why our leaders deliberately allowed this to occur. Every president since Truman believed it was the price we had to pay to win the Cold War and, today, to maintain our sprawling military empire.
A final twist to the story is that Wall Street advisers were able to convince Clinton, Bush, and later Obama, that we can continue our military empire indefinitely even while broke. We can, they explained, finance the project by relying on foreign loans from nations that need unfettered access to our market to sell their exports to American consumers. So long as we remain a free trade country, they will give us loans. The price we pay for this strategy is an unrelenting fall in American wages, which hurts workers but benefits American corporations. For Wall Street, a side benefit is that banks will be kept busy processing the flood of foreign money, which increases the income of bankers and Wall Street CEOs.
Worse Than You Think also points the way out of this mess. First, wages will rise if we return to the 1944 tax code. We used this code for thirty years, the period of our nation’s greatest prosperity. Wages doubled even after adjusting for inflation. The economy grew nearly 4 percent, year after year. Second, our economy will grow again if we abandon the policy of free trade. We are the only industrial nation that practices free trade. Every one of our competitors is protectionist. They use tariffs (often disguised as VAT taxes) to shelter their manufacturing from foreign competition. They manipulate their currency to make their products artificially cheap. They subsidize their industries and even nationalize them when they fail. They violate patent rights, ban certain imports, and tightly control investment, making sure the money stays at home. They learned these tricks from us. We were once the most protectionist nation in the world. It is why our wages were once the highest and why we became the most powerful economy on earth. We did it once. We can do it again."
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 19 ratings"
Great piece. The world is getting so complicated you do well to keep the structure coherent. Its tantalising to see where things will head. The US looks like its collapsing like 1950s Britain. Trump has been warned though. Beware of Israelis bearing gifts! Golden pagers in particular. Intriguing to see Turkey so entrenched in Syria. Ottoman Empire Mark 2? I wonder if it will lead to a direct collision between Turkey and Israel? Nato going to war against Israel. That would be a dilemma for the US. I dont know if you agree with your statistics but apparently the Russians have been slowing down against the Ukrainians. The speculation is that there are discussions ongoing with the US. My reading of the Russians is that when they slowed against the Germans they were planning something big. I hope your mother has a great 98th birthday. My mother asked me a question during the week: what kind of world have we become when we care more about whether a football director has kissed a female football player without her consent than tens of thousands of people being killed in Palestine and Ukraine. She's correct. Apparently, Britain under Starmer, France and Germany etc dont mind the Israelis murdering Palestinians and destroying their cities but suggesting they should leave is beyond the Pale? I dont agree with Trump but think its more naivety than anything.
I've just been reading about clashes between HTS and Hezbollah on the border with Lebanon. Yes - it's all getting so complicated. The statistics show a decline in Ukrainian casualties but not in equipment losses which have increased - not sure why. I don't know whether the weather is slowing things down but you could be right: something big could be in the offing. I hope it is naivety because that can be eradicated by good advice and education.
Thanks for your Update Rob, excellent as per usual.
Who knows what to think about Trump? He's all over the shop to such an extent that I don't think even he knows what he thinks as there are constant contradictions and back pedaling.
I think he is one of those motormouths that will say anything if they think it sounds right. There is little coherent strategy visible, just a grab bag of desires and prejudices. The important thing is to watch what is done rather than listen to what is being said. It is definitely not 5D chess, not even 3D checkers.
The only thing that is obvious is that he wants to destroy what he doesn't like by starving them of funds. Going to be quite a few babies thrown out with the bathwater.
I have done lots of reflecting on Trump's comments re Gaza and I forgot to comment on his claim that if the Gazan's go back it will simply happen all over again - as if he didn't have the power to stop it. I thought that was strange. This is the view of someone who knows nothing about the conflict and its history but has noticed that the Israelis and the Gazans are always fighting and suggests it can all be solved by simply taking the Gazans away. I keep thinking that there must be some method in his madness but I can't really find any. Your explanation is as good as any other being offered.
Yeah I don't think he's some sort of genius playing a deep well thought out strategy. He wants to defund a lot of the so-called "Deep State" but I think his approach could be summed up as throwing shit everywhere and seeing what sticks.
I could be wrong but time will tell. He definitely has enemies that he is intent on giving a very hard time. He's spiteful to boot.
Seems to be the American way, to be governed by malignant teenagers.
Thanks for the update Rob.
I was trying to find the name of the EU muppet that came out with the Leningrad blockade comment last week but it had practically disappeared off the internet.
Trump's zionist support is there for all to see now-with him meeting with the genocidal monster Netanyahu.
Strange how his 'common sense' approach to politics is different when it concerns the chosen ones.
Zelensky's clown comment about the only 45,000 UAF dead is another example of his derangement..
There must be several cities in Ukraine, each with over 45,000 war graves around them, not even counting provinces that show just how detached he as a politician is towards the people.
I saw a rumour online that stated that Ukraine had moved 120,000 bodies of dead soldiers outside of Ukraine. Not sure if there was anything in it though.
Perhaps there is something to that rumour. After all, Larry Finks, the CEO of Blackrock, was whinging about too many Ukie bodies' graves taking over too much of the US corporation-owned good black soil lands. Just when you thought that this proxy war could not be more obscene!
Yes I remember Blackrock complaining about Ukrainians being buried.
In their own country!
There was also a large fleet of corporate refrigerated trucks assembled in Ukraine last year I think but there were no big offensives so I wonder if they were there to export the bodies?
Their country has been sold out behind their backs and they are being culled, while lied to about the true death rates and survivability at zero.
Most people would be able to see that but not those that go on the kamikaze attacks ordered by the comedian and his controllers.
I am glad that those corporate monsters will get fobbed off by the Russians once a deal is worked out.
Trump is also sniffing around for a rare earth minerals deal for arms.
I always wondered whether some of Trump's statements and actions were a series of bluffs aimed with opposite intentions.
For example the US comments around occupying Greenland.
Are they to force a reaction in Europe and get them to spend more on defence?
Canadian retaliatory tariffs would kill what is left of Canada. 70% of CDN exports go to the USA. And cutting off oil and minerals? We would be bankrupt in months. As much as Trudeau and co hate icky oil it keeps Canada going. No more oil no more cash. We have “equalization” where rich provinces send $ to “poorer” provinces or super whiny bitchy ones like Quebec. Like 8 billion per year just to the French alone. Our debt is monstrous, our housing unaffordable, taxes levels insane and massive levels of immigration. We literally import homelessness, our government hates its own citizens that much.
Just as dismal here in Scotland
Solid work, as always, Rob.
Crazy how much is happening these days.
There are so many new areas I have to look at - which is taking up my time. I wish someone would gag Trump for a while.
Gaza. There are so many possible angles to this it is mind boggling. One, where will the resistance get the money to continue? Discussions are going on concerning that I'll bet. Israel does not have the construction workers for the build back. The Palistians will be needed. The other Arab (even the ones on opposite sides of the fence) nations will provide trhe money for material and payroll. The several thousand prisoners in Iraeli prisons will be released. Everyone will be too busy to fight. Idol hands are the devil's play ground. The City of London's divide and conquer group meets Trump Construction.
I surprised Trump didn't utilize old Kagan's knowledge of ancient Greece and argue that Alexander the Great destroyed Gaza in 332 BC; killed all the men and sold the women and children to slavery so this current bunch of Gazans are interlopers.
Elena Kagan?
Ouch. Shes lucky she wasn't born in ancient Sparta. Sorry, i meant Donald. He wrote about Peloponnesian wars. He spawned Robert and Frederick. The neocons of Nuland and Institute of War studies infamy.
I'm in the middle of a book called Spartan Reflections by Paul Cartledge - very academic in style. I've read a few books about the Peloponnesian wars but don't remember Kagan. I'll check him out.
Cheers George
Rubio and USAID and NED - National Endowment for Democracy. From a pull down tab on the web this morning
"What is the NED in politics?
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is a non-profit organization created in 1983 to strengthen democratic institutions around the world. Through its worldwide grants program, NED assists those abroad who are working to build democratic institutions and spread democratic values.
National Endowment for Democracy - State.gov
U.S. Department of State (.gov) https://2009-2017.state.gov › organization PDF"
Rubio has been active with NED
"Sen. Marco Rubio’s Message to NED’s 2017 Democracy Awardees
Published on June 8, 2017 by Communications"
****
Their website is blank. ned.org
***
Those who are glad the USAID shut down are aware of USAID's role in government overthrows and even support of chemical weapons labs around the globe. Does anyone know which revenue stream supported the many biological weapons labs in Ukraine?
***
Rubio says that the humanitarian aspect of USAID should continue. Yes, they have done some good things. Here is a link to an interview yesterday of a former top executive of USAID who among other things led the USAID Sars-Corvid 2 response by distributing mRNA vaccines at a high price and extracting promises like not dealing with China in certain areas.
The larger issue with the mRNA vaccine is that it was produced in labs, and the USA for sure, and China, thus were behind the world wide "pandemic." That is not good for foreign policy to be a pandemic producer agent. Along with being involved in genocide in Gaza, USA's image as the savior of the world is tarnished, to say the least. There will be many somersaults by Rubio and Trump in the next few months.
Here is an interview published yesterday in the New Republic. Like most democrats, they are still in denial about "the pandemic."
"Transcript: Trump’s Angry USAID Rant Undercut by Surprise Rubio Video
An interview with a former USAID official about the Trump-Musk assault on the agency, why it will create big problems for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and how awful the global consequences will be."
https://newrepublic.com/article/191270/transcript-trumps-angry-usaid-rant-undercut-surprise-rubio-video
Nothing surprising in the interview transcript. Just putting it in as a marker of a fast moving story.
The National Endowment for Democracy was involved in Ken Burns' series The Civil War - I think.
I don't know for sure, but it makes sense.
NED is all for violence. NED supports civil wars to change governments. Why not a civil war here in the US to keep funding the US military?
I just checked and it was the National Endowment for the Humanities, not Democracy. Brilliant documentary series on the US Civil War.
Rubio has surprised me since taking office. His focus’s on Central and South America, a neglected area of U.S. policy, is a nice change.
USAID was also used as a political slush fund that the Clintons got $84 million.
https://x.com/CubanOnlyTrump/status/1887315025808724317?
Lynne Cheney got her start in USAID.
Only 2% of relief got to Haiti.
6200 press were supported by USAID.
Politico got $37 million from USAID.
Censorship was being supported by USAID.
There are ties to USAID in the impeachment of Trump.
And there is more…
"Deep State Deconstruction: USAID
What is USAID and is it used to bypass HHS for international health "interventions"?
Robert W Malone MD, MS Feb 06, 2025"
https://www.malone.news/p/deep-state-deconstruction-usaid
"A former USAID director, John Gilligan, admitted that USAID was "infiltrated from top to bottom with CIA people." Gilligan explained that "the idea was to plant operatives in every kind of activity we had overseas; government, volunteer, religious, every kind." Given that USAID is widely believed and reported to be infiltrated by CIA personnel, and to function essentially as an arm of the CIA, it is ironic that USAID was established by President John F. Kennedy on November 3, 1961, through the signing of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. Kennedy aimed to create a more efficient way to counter Soviet influence abroad through foreign assistance, seeing the State Department as too bureaucratic to accomplish this task efficiently."
...
"US State Department uses USAID to Target “Dissidents” and Spread Disinformation
In 2008, the US State Department, through its "foreign assistance" agency USAID, set up a fake social network in Cuba. Supposedly concerned with public health and civics, its operatives actively targeted likely dissidents. The site came complete with hashtags, dummy advertisements and a database of users' "political tendencies".
In 2016, Wikileaks termed the Panama Papers leak a "Putin attack" and that it "was produced by OCCRP which targets Russia & former USSR and was funded by USAID & Soros"
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"
USAID Subverted a Pakistani Vaccine Campaign to Locate Osama bin Laden
USAID was also involved in a hepatitis B vaccination campaign in Pakistan that was used to gather intelligence leading to the assassination of Osama bin Laden. An American woman (presumably a CIA operative) recruited a Pakistani doctor named Shakil Afridi, referred to as "Kate," who operated USAID's vaccination campaigns in the tribal region along the Afghan border. The goal of the campaign was to vaccinate children in areas near Abbottabad, where bin Laden was believed to be hiding, and to test the DNA on the used syringes to see if they were related to bin Laden, eventually leading to identification of his compound location. Blowback from this operation included suspicion about public health campaigns in Pakistan, leading to a spike in refusals of polio vaccinations and targeting of health workers.
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"USAID Funded Pfizer mRNA COVID vaccines for International Distribution.
In researching USAID funding history relating to COVID, searching on the Federal USA Spending web portal revealed that USAID has awarded up to 6.9 Billion US Dollars to Pfizer for “COVID-19 VACCINES FOR INTERNATIONAL DONATION” as of July 20, 2021 (contract W58P0521C0002). Of those 6.9 B$, 2.8B$ are reported to have been spent."
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"USAID Funds Emerging Economy Depopulation Programs"
Note: this part brings in Gates foundation and Clinton foundation
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a comment to this post:
"Barbara Charis
Barbara’s Newsletter - Journey …
15h
Nobody would have known this information...and America would have slid deeper into the pit, if President Trump had not won this election. Any who bad mouth him, have to be insane. He is doing the best he can to clean up a very toxic mess; both major parties are responsible for..the selling out of America President Trump is not into party, he wants what is best for our country. He loves America. In 2016 I changed from an Independent to a Republican, so I could vote in the primaries for President Trump/. I asked for guidance...and was guided to vote for him. I was not disappointed. He did the best he could with all the vipers that he faced in Washington, D.C."
While the Trump Elephant in a China Shop Show is happening in the foreground, the really dramatic events are bing performed by others. Stand by for an enormous amount of Musk bashing.
The Guardian is already conflating US AID (the US Agency for International Development) with US Aid, pretending it is an aid agency. USAID does a tiny amount of aid, for photo op purposes, while it plants thousands of NGOs in nations with uncooperative governments. Georgia, with a population of about 4.5 million had 25,000 US-paid NGOs trying desperately to dislodge the Georgia Dream party. They took to the streets and even waved US flags at their protests.
The Ukrainian 'independent media' (LOL) screamed loudly when their USAID funding was taken away.
Now, every day, the funding of past nefarious doings by the US are being revealed. Musk has pulled in his own employees to facilitate the dismantling of this CIA front organisation. Stand by for a lot more revelations about USAID-funded, CIA destabilisation efforts.
I hope that Musk is well guarded. His opening gambit has been a stunner!
Tulsi Gabbard stood firm under Senate grilling, even revealing details of operation Timber Sycamore - the US funding, arming and training of ISIS teams in Syria. She then succeeded in attaining a position that will see further erosion of the pernicious CIA.
Musk and Gabbard will have to watch their backs.
Trump's salivating over real estate opportunities in Gaza has brought together some strange bedfellows, in condemnation: The UN, the EU, Russia, China, the Taliban, and all of the Gulf States. They might support the notion of a Two State Solution, but in their hearts they know that there is really only one solution: one state, Palestine. The rogue state of Israel needs to be dismantled, and the sooner the better for all of us.
Meanwhile in Oz 'anti-semitic hate speech' now draws a prison sentence, in spite of the fact that the vandalism and arson on Jewish property has been shown to have been carried out by apolitical, paid criminals, thought to have been payed by a foreign entity. Only one comes to mind - causing a distraction from the genocide they are perpetrating.
Thanks for that Joy - so much going on atm.
Ouch. Shes lucky she wasn't born in ancient Sparta. Sorry, i meant Donald. He wrote about Peloponnesian wars. He spawned Robert and Frederick. The neocons of Nuland and Institute of War studies infamy.