Part II: ANOTHER BIG reason why the U.S. Empire is nearing the end of that road

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C47uM-Ieyc&list=WL&index=73

Pay particular attention to the woman who is a former diplomat for the African Union.  She pulls no punches.

Like the South and Central American situation in the post immediately before this one, the African dissatisfaction with the U.S. Government's hubris goes way back.  It's not only the fault of Biden and Obama.  It goes back to at least just shy of JFK's Administration, and for all I know, further back than that.

Whether they mean to or not, our politicians seem to project a "holier-than-thou" image  all around the world.  Exceptions to that general observation certainly exist, but they are few.  I've watched it ever since 1956 (that date is not a typo).  Countries put up with it for many decades, but it appears that's over.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

A BIG reason why the U.S. Empire is nearing the end of that road

 A brilliant analysis---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsVSC54VfqI&list=WL&index=86

p.s.  Reminder:  I love the Land in which I live (the USA), but that doesn't mean I have to support the neoliberal incompetents (or their puppets) in Power here.  They continue to ruin my country, and it doesn't matter much at all whether Repubs or Dems are in the Oval Office or in control of Congress.  99% (+/-) of them promulgate a foreign policy which is arrogant, hostile, and generally harmful to the world.  They all should be voted out of office ASAP.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The desperate attempt by the Fed Reserve to save the hegemonic, declining USA Empire

Below  is my response (edited) to an email I received.

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Thanks for the piece on FedNow (which does NOT use blockchain technology).  The Fed is trying to save the world reserve currency status of the Dollar (USD), something which is being threatened on multiple fronts.  My take on FedNow is as follows.

1. Sounds too good to be true (for central bank interactions).    Actually, it's a horrible concept when it gets down to the Main Street consumer level.  If I understand it correctly, you may as well add the Fed to your bank account as a co-account-holder.  [Why would anyone do anything similar to that!?  Mind boggling:]

2.  Even with FedNow, the USD is still FIAT currency, backed by a Gov't which essentially is bankrupt.  [Never imagined I'd see the day when our national debt was more than $31.5 trillion.  Our GDP is about $21 trillion, which means the Debt never will be repaid in full.  We can't afford it, especially because it gets larger every minute.  Plus, the interest payment alone is $1.3 billion per day.  That's where most of your personal income taxes go.]  Including the national Gov't debt, the corporate debt, and household debt, our total debt is about $70 trillion.  Tragic, and dangerous.

3. FedNow still allows the USA Gov't to lay siege via sanctions to any country it disagrees with , something with which much of the world is fed up.  Arguably, sanctions are an act of war.

4.  For most countries (other than the G-7), it's doubtful that the USD with FedNow would be preferable to a commodity-backed digital currency.  BRICS will have that (or something similar) sooner than later.

5. This whole thing appears mostly to be an attack on cryptos (including upcoming central bank cryptos in other countries), so if it wants to remain competitive, the crypto industry needs to clean up all its stupid problems involving exchanges, access, and fees.    When it comes to currency, people want something which is easy and accessible.  Crypto never should have called itself a "currency", because it's not.  It's a commodity (and so-defined by the U.S. Gov't), and that's why it's so convoluted and SLOW, and not easy to use.  It's somewhat like trying to buy your groceries with a bar of gold (or a bushel of grain), or even a gram of gold.  That isn't easy unless the normal legal currency has collapsed.

Such has been my main problem with crypto.  Too many people think it's a currency rather than what it is:  a commodity for investment (or barter).  At this time, the only Legal Tender (currency) in the USA is the US Dollar*****.  Everything else pretending to be currency is a commodity used in bartering, or strictly as an investment which later will be exchanged for Legal Tender.  To me, the crypto industry is bordering on (or committing) fraud when it claims to be a "currency".  Definitions matter.  

*****Such was proven years ago when our Gov't cracked down hard on the "Ron Paul Silver Dollar", which was being offered by a group of private individuals as an alternative currency.  https://www.thestreet.com/opinion/raid-on-ron-paul-dollar-maker-10390631
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The Problem and the Solution

The Problem---

While Leaders spend billions on war machines (never mind killing people and polluting the ecosphere with the wastes of proxy wars and war games), natural ecosystems, economies, and societies continue to unravel.

1.  FIVE banks now more or less have failed, not two.  [Due primarily to massive unrealized losses in the Bond Market.]

2.  Debt Bubbles continue to grow around the world.  [Total Debt now is more than 3 times the world's GDP.]

3.  The food crisis continues.  Literally millions of people are starving, many of them children.

4.  The U.N. has issued a final warning:  eco-crises (especially climate change) are not being addressed at the proper scale to prevent catastrophe.

5.  Extreme drought, extreme flooding in other areas, extreme storms, soil loss, deforestation, extreme temps, etc. all continue.  Meanwhile, new permits are issued for more fossil fuel extraction.

6.  Mass shootings are up, suicides are up, and the pandemic is still killing a few thousand people per week in the USA, which is more than in any other country in the world.

7.  Confidence in both political Leaders and Banks is at a very low level.

8.  Almost HALF the workers in the USA are either in poverty (12%) or on the brink of it (30%).  Not quite, but almost everyone else is living paycheck-to-paycheck.  Meanwhile, politicians claim our economy is "strong".  Right...for the 20% or so in the upper tier.

9.  The serial liar, Trump, is campaigning again in his normal style - whining.  Talk about "Old News", he's it.

10.  "Oil Man" Biden is showing his true colors with the Arctic Willow Project and Gulf leases.

11.  Despots around the world, who sense a peaceful grass-roots uprising, are cracking down even more on populations.

12.  Neoliberal propaganda still abides.

So my question is:  when will people start demanding a different path???

[It's a rhetorical question.]

The Solution---

 https://steadystate.org/discover/definition-of-steady-state-economy/  [Pay particular attention to the blue Menu on the right side of the page.]

More later.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The dethroning of the U.S. Dollar as the world's reserve currency has started

 It will be a slow process, but it's underway.

https://twitter.com/ScottHa85992272/status/1641626377483952129?s=20

For one thing, China now has currency exchange agreements with 41 nations.  I thought it was about 20.  Ooops.

Some analysts believe it never will happen; others are convinced it's a certainty.  Time will tell.  I think there's no way it can be avoided.  Plan accordingly.

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Not only my opinion.  Take Care

This medical info is GOLD for your health

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DzSw8Ynhpo

Important points:

1.  This doctor is a Podiatrist, and cites long-term scientific studies to back his claims.  In the clip above, notice why it is we've never heard of these findings.

2.  Note carefully the benefits of magnesium (Mg) to the heart, pain relief (including migraine headaches & chronic pain), sugar levels, sleep, neuropathy and nerve function, blood pressure, bones, and much more.  [Mg is the 4th most abundant chemical element in the human body.  It affects about 300 biochemical functions/reactions in us.]

3.  Note the types of Mg you should NOT take, and why.

4.  Note why 60% (or more) of us are grossly Mg deficient.

5.  Watch every minute of this clip.

6.  Whether you decide to take Mg glycinate or Mg citrate most likely will depend on the average condition of your stool (poop/scat).  Glycinate will not loosen it, but citrate will.

Chances are, we don't get enough Mg from our food and water.  That may partially explain why maladies are so rampant in developed countries.  In "conquering" Nature and instituting factory farming, we've decreased our nutrition and threatened our health.  [Never mind how we've polluted the ecosphere and mistreated animals with those activities.]

I was already taking Mg glycinate (for cervical spondylosis) when I just now stumbled upon this video.  It's a great find.

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Not only my opinion.  BE WELL

Here's why Biden is in a pissing contest with Putin & Xi Jinping

 Preface

This is not being presented as "fact"; I can't "prove" it to be true.  Being steeped in the scientific method of inquiry, I offer it as another untested hypothesis of mine.  Nevertheless, it makes sense.

1.  Having studied Joe Biden's 50-year voting record, it's obvious to me he's either a neoliberal, or a puppet (wittingly or unwittingly) of neoliberalism.  [He was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972, about a year prior to the first practical implementation of neoliberal economics via Pinochet in Chile.]

2.  Neoliberalism is failing all around the world, but still remains as the dominant political philosophy and economic system in most  democratic countries.  WHY is detailed elsewhere on this blog.  Without going into those details, here are two bare-bones, broadly stated reasons:  unrelenting propaganda; and challenges to the system are viewed as sacrilegious.

3.  The "American Empire" is in decline; it's on its last legs.  We replaced the old British Empire, and for some time now, we've been heading down somewhat the same path they took.  We'll still be around, just not King of the World (so to speak).  Again, WHY is detailed elsewhere; many articles and books have the details.  And again, in broad strokes, the reasons are political, economic (see number 2 above), social, ecological, cultural, and ethical.  It's an old cliche, but we really are disintegrating in a manner highly similar to the ancient Roman Empire.

4.  As Naomi Klein pointed out in The Shock Doctrine, when neoliberalism's failures start becoming apparent to Main Street, the Establishment looks for and promotes distracting shocks which engender misplaced PATRIOTISM.  Beating the War drums is a good shock.  Going to War is even better.  Promulgating false narratives about "enemies" also works.  It all causes Main Street to temporarily forget about inflation, economic insecurity, outrageous health care costs, the fact that our economy is booming for only the top 20% of income earners, the fact that the Middle Class still is shrinking, environmental pollution is rampant, eco-crises are not being dealt with sufficiently, and more.  Plus, it's all good for weapons-of-war manufacturers, who happen to donate big bucks to political election campaigns.

All the above explains why Biden is beating the War drums.  He's not the only one in DC doing it.  [A reminder:  I'm not a Republican or a Democrat.  Also, Biden seems to be a fairly good/nice guy, and he's orders of magnitude preferable to Trump.  Nevertheless, he appears to be either ecologically and economically illiterate, or deceitful, just like most Establishment politicians.]  My best guess is:  the overwhelming majority of people in both the USA and the world would like the beating of those drums to stop.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well