Should the US be a Dictatorship?

[Moriarte]

highlighting this, and adding to r16 too; this kind of stuff is incredibly scary. sovereign funds are administrative blackouts where taxes vanish into a hole in exchange for island mansions and trafficking.

norway's fund is the only reasonably practical and moral fund i'm aware of, but norway is a unicorn. them all conservatives keep saying they can't reproduce scandinavian policies they don't like because of culture and/or size. here's their opportunity to drop that argument or, more likely, be hypocritical now that they have a king to bankroll.

Fund is a speculative mechanism for maximising shareholder value. Many of those funds are pension funds investing in highly profitable foreign enterprises (Microsoft, Nvidia...). Sounds to me like a far better mechanism than an old fashioned non-investing pension fund. The latter just tanks with inflation, slightly offset with low-paying bonds and commodities. While the former, long term, has potential to appreciate a lot higher in value, generating return to those who profit from the fund. More money for social programs - courtesy of best value-generating enterprises on the planet.

To the point of morality: All of those funds (including Arabic and Chinese) have most of their resources invested into top 10 American companies. They all hold exactly the same thing on balance, with slight variations. (Google shares, but not Apple, for example). Unless investing in America is immoral, I don't immediately see where morality comes in. You mentioned mansions and trafficking? There's probably some of that, depending on the region.

The overarching point is that the cat is out of the bag. USA now Has to make its government a profitable enterprise in order to compete with China, Arabs and Norway who managed to make government structure efficient. And when USA does become profitable, Sovereign Wealth fund is a logical continuation. Even if it happens, it's a pretty far out possibility.

 

[Angst]

Fund is a speculative mechanism for maximising shareholder value. Many of those funds are pension funds investing in highly profitable foreign enterprises (Microsoft, Nvidia...). Sounds to me like a far better mechanism than an old fashioned non-investing pension fund. The latter just tanks with inflation, slightly offset with low-paying bonds and commodities. While the former, long term, has potential to appreciate a lot higher in value, generating return to those who profit from the fund. More money for social programs - courtesy of best value-generating enterprises on the planet.

To the point of morality: All of those funds (including Arabic and Chinese) have most of their resources invested into top 10 American companies. They all hold exactly the same thing on balance, with slight variations. (Google shares, but not Apple, for example). Unless investing in America is immoral, I don't immediately see where morality comes in. You mentioned mansions and trafficking? There's probably some of that, depending on the region.

The overarching point is that the cat is out of the bag. USA now Has to make its government a profitable enterprise in order to compete with China, Arabs and Norway who managed to make government structure efficient. And when USA does become profitable, Sovereign Wealth fund is a logical continuation. Even if it happens, it's a pretty far out possibility.

you know what, fair enough. i'm just aware of crap like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Investment_Fund
which is literally just nepo stuff, and a lot of it afaik just goes to superfluous luxury stuff, which is why i did the quip about the mansions etc
and i do not trust trump and elon with it.

but maybe that's wrong too. been ages since i read up on this, may mistake it for something, so i won't push it.

 

[Birdjaguar]

SWFs are places where the likes of Kushner and Musk siphon off billions in fees.

 

[Crezth]

Fund is a speculative mechanism for maximising shareholder value. Many of those funds are pension funds investing in highly profitable foreign enterprises (Microsoft, Nvidia...). Sounds to me like a far better mechanism than an old fashioned non-investing pension fund. The latter just tanks with inflation, slightly offset with low-paying bonds and commodities. While the former, long term, has potential to appreciate a lot higher in value, generating return to those who profit from the fund. More money for social programs - courtesy of best value-generating enterprises on the planet.

NVIDIA? Woof, I'd maybe get out of that if I were you. Word on the street is we don't need that much silicon to do all this fancy magic Sam Altman is always snorting coke about.

The overarching point is that the cat is out of the bag. USA now Has to make its government a profitable enterprise in order to compete with China, Arabs and Norway who managed to make government structure efficient. And when USA does become profitable, Sovereign Wealth fund is a logical continuation. Even if it happens, it's a pretty far out possibility.

Before 2018, the US was the world's #1 soybeans producer. Then came Trump Tariffs Part 1. Then China said well we don't want American soybeans anymore, and now Brazil is #1. Pretty interesting stuff!

 

[Moriarte]

NVIDIA? Woof, I'd maybe get out of that if I were you. Word on the street is we don't need that much silicon to do all this fancy magic Sam Altman is always snorting coke about.

Good advice! I did just that in March last year, for similar reasons. Trillions of greenbacks went into silicon industry in just 12 months. And the best we could do since then is C3PO level of intellect. Most importantly, hardly any return on investment for those big buyers of Nvidia hardware (Microsoft, Google, Amazon). But that's me! Large sovereign funds don't have the luxury of running for the woods whenever they see their capital is in danger. They actually have to hold on to their huge stakes and sing along about the wonders of AI revolution.

Before 2018, the US was the world's #1 soybeans producer. Then came Trump Tariffs Part 1. Then China said well we don't want American soybeans anymore, and now Brazil is #1. Pretty interesting stuff!

That sounds accurate to me. Is the point that Trump is going to screw up? I mean, sure... USA lost the $14 bn-large soybean market, yet attracted unfathomable amounts of investment into local industry compared to China. That is, again, trillions in capital gained, billions lost on soybeans. The suppression/alienation/tariffs, the core strategy to achieve USA goals, have been rather effective. Whether this strategy will remain as strong in the future, I think, is the topic worth exploring.

 

[Crezth]

Is that really true? There's been something of a boom in the U.S. south last few years, but that's because the south has never really realized an industrial capacity before. The rest is, perhaps, real estate boondoggles and associates, as well as "Big Tech," which doesn't really produce anything. Of course they don't really need to produce anything except consent if they run an economy based on pillaging the world. The Germans taught us that.

That's where I start to think about the ever-increasing production horizons for new US navy tonnage. In a fraction of the time, you see ASEAN churning out submarines and the Chinese pushing towards a 430:270 advantage against the US Navy. Of course people will say "Nukes!" and you can't underestimate intelligence. But precisely because nukes are dangerous, they're the last thing you want to use.

Frankly, the US ally with the best possibility to match China for that is Japan.

 

[Moriarte]

Well, gone are the times, when USA held and produced most of its value in real estate, commodities or industrial. Today, the defining mass of capital passing through is in cloud services. Let's see: Apple makes phones in Asia, Microsoft offers operating system and remote access of storage (datacenter), Google has search and storage, Amazon has flea market and storage, Nvidia is licensing chip architecture (without producing much of it), and then there's Meta, with social network and VR. The aforementioned put together, although a hot air, as you noted, is valued at $15 trillion and puts on the shelve $500 billion per year in after tax earnings. To put things into perspective: Manufacturing earns $700 billion, real estate earns $27 billion p/a currently and energy sector earns $72 billion. Sectors of economy, which were economy-defining, for centuries, quickly shrink towards being supplementary systems to a rapidly growing engine, which is datacenter, or cloud.

After a while it becomes clear that in order to outproduce China, USA doesn't need more 0's and 1's. It needs the new Industrial Revolution. Enabled by cheap energy, competitive labour, abundance of raw materials. China currently commands a third of planetary manufacturing output. And it's closing the gap in terms of military might and access to technology. So yeah, these developments are next on the list for beloved dictator, once he's through with the usaid thing, levying tariffs and chasing away everyone else who made his life miserable all these years.

 

[Voidwalkin]

Is that really true?

Neither here nor there, but the new avatar is a harsh break from tradition

 

[Senethro]

Neither here nor there, but the new avatar is a harsh break from tradition

It really isn't.

 

[Crezth]

Well, gone are the times, when USA held and produced most of its value in real estate, commodities or industrial. Today, the defining mass of capital passing through is in cloud services. Let's see: Apple makes phones in Asia, Microsoft offers operating system and remote access of storage (datacenter), Google has search and storage, Amazon has flea market and storage, Nvidia is licensing chip architecture (without producing much of it), and then there's Meta, with social network and VR. The aforementioned put together, although a hot air, as you noted, is valued at $15 trillion and puts on the shelve $500 billion per year in after tax earnings. To put things into perspective: Manufacturing earns $700 billion, real estate earns $27 billion p/a currently and energy sector earns $72 billion. Sectors of economy, which were economy-defining, for centuries, quickly shrink towards being supplementary systems to a rapidly growing engine, which is datacenter, or cloud.

It's hard to argue when you put it like that... It's something that seems a little like having some kinda ancient economy that is all debt tablets and magistrates, with crop yields somehow minimized in the big picture, because you can take crops for granted and tallying debt is a much more valuable skill. As far as I know this has happened, perhaps many many times in history, going back to Sumer. And every time it did happen, they had to hit the Reset button and start the whole thing up again going back to basics - or find some new houses to kick in (although you either run out of those, too, or find a bridge too far to make it worth the effort of crossing). It is as if a kind of organizational narcissism associated with the assumed privilege and superiority of the ruling classes manifested itself as a tumor on the "economy" in order to justify something that mainly just controls people, and sometimes does some last-minute deck chair rearranging for certain Titanic-like clients. I think the wheels only fall off when you can't get new clay tablets anymore, because the clay tablet industry finally collapsed.

What we're seeing here is maybe the industrial civilization equivalent; looking at just the money you can certainly make a case for American Autarky, because look at how much you can produce with almost no inputs. But if you're doing an inwards-focused thing, there's only so much demand you can actually exploit per year, and if you really want to improve outcomes you have to keep cutting costs. Well, the one place you can always cut is labor, because you can always force them to go along or starve. It seems the the strategy here is part of a "Fortress America" scheme. Turn North America into Factorio, shoot anyone who complains about wages, and live like a king while everything slowly rots away.

It would not be the first time it happened!

 

[r16]

them ceo-dictators think it will be forever . Just rob the world , as the AI is no doubt just around the corner with darl factories all along and they will have no need of shooting their workers as they won't have workers . They will kill other people's workers as a lark , with the drones and whatnot , trouble makers at home , too . Such an utopia , 1984 in our time ! Better in that it's not their money that will build it , too .

 

[Kaitzilla]

It was probably 100% on China but Elon took a 0 off.


I would guess Trump wants to bully Canada and Mexico into concessions like Columbia and then remove tariffs quickly?

China would maybe be long term?

Ugh.
Can Canada join the EU to stop this nonsense?

The Chinese tariff has now passed 100%

Loading…

www.cnn.com

I assume the billionaires will meet soon to see who gets an exemption on the import tax.

Musk for for Tesla and Tim Cook for Apple.

 

[EnglishEdward]

Sooner or later Donald Tump will find that he needs to get US legislative support for many of his measures.

With Republican House and Senate he can get it for his restructuring, but not necessarily for his endless escalation.

 

[Hygro]

Sooner or later Donald Tump will find that he needs to get US legislative support for many of his measures.

With Republican House and Senate he can get it for his restructuring, but not necessarily for his endless escalation.

Specifically for his endless escalation. That's what they like best.

 

[Angst]

Sooner or later Donald Tump will find that he needs to get US legislative support for many of his measures.

With Republican House and Senate he can get it for his restructuring, but not necessarily for his endless escalation.

i mean one can hope but they keep f clapping

 

[Valka D'Ur]

The idea of Canada joining the EU isn't as farfetched now as it was, even a few months ago. Some people protest that we're not part of the European continent, but guess what - neither are St Pierre et Miquelon, and they're still part of the EU (two French island territories south of Newfoundland). The fact that these islands are where they are is the reason Canada can say we have a maritime border with France, and Hans Island is why we share an actual land border with Denmark.

 

[Snowygerry]

I'm sure something can be worked out, should it be deemed desirable :

A 1992 document from the commission of the then-European Communities gives us a clue, however, highlighting the importance of geographical and cultural ties.

"The term 'European' has not been officially defined," it says. "It combines geographical, historical and cultural elements which all contribute to the European identity."

"The shared experience of proximity, ideas, values, and historical interaction cannot be condensed into a simple formula, and is subject to review each succeeding generation," the document continues.

Fact check: Can Canada join the EU?

Questions have been raised over whether Canada could hypothetically apply to join the European Union amid its crumbling relations with the US, but experts say its geographical and cultural distance to the continent poses a problem. #EuroVerify

www.euronews.com

 

[Verbose]

Well, gone are the times, when USA held and produced most of its value in real estate, commodities or industrial. Today, the defining mass of capital passing through is in cloud services. Let's see: Apple makes phones in Asia, Microsoft offers operating system and remote access of storage (datacenter), Google has search and storage, Amazon has flea market and storage, Nvidia is licensing chip architecture (without producing much of it), and then there's Meta, with social network and VR. The aforementioned put together, although a hot air, as you noted, is valued at $15 trillion and puts on the shelve $500 billion per year in after tax earnings. To put things into perspective: Manufacturing earns $700 billion, real estate earns $27 billion p/a currently and energy sector earns $72 billion. Sectors of economy, which were economy-defining, for centuries, quickly shrink towards being supplementary systems to a rapidly growing engine, which is datacenter, or cloud.

After a while it becomes clear that in order to outproduce China, USA doesn't need more 0's and 1's. It needs the new Industrial Revolution. Enabled by cheap energy, competitive labour, abundance of raw materials. China currently commands a third of planetary manufacturing output. And it's closing the gap in terms of military might and access to technology. So yeah, these developments are next on the list for beloved dictator, once he's through with the usaid thing, levying tariffs and chasing away everyone else who made his life miserable all these years.

And in the mind of hard-power, command economy, as in war-time economy – none of that US wealth is "real" of course.

Still, even if trimming away 15tn like that, it still leaves the US a 15tn economy.

I.e. even without the it-tech service boom of the last 20 years or so, the US is still a huge economy. The optics of having "lost" things is also based on the bonkers growth of this stuff – and how virtually none of it has benefitted the average US taxpayer, since the US chooses to shunt all new wealth generated to the small minority at the top, tech bros etc.

Now the US is getting Trump coup from above, and maybe it will do a number on this new digital service economy and the tech bros? But otherwise, just generally, the US doesn't need that. It could very much have use for that digital service economy and the wealth it produced – but what it needs is a revolution that leads to an actual redistribution of wealth inside US society.

And maybe that was in the cards? Let the rich get fat enough, and they might get eaten by the people in the end. But if they get slaughtered early, and with them the wealth they made off with, then there will be nothing much left in the US to redistribute – revolution from below averted for lack of incentive going forward...

 

[Verbose]

The idea of Canada joining the EU isn't as farfetched now as it was, even a few months ago. Some people protest that we're not part of the European continent, but guess what - neither are St Pierre et Miquelon, and they're still part of the EU (two French island territories south of Newfoundland). The fact that these islands are where they are is the reason Canada can say we have a maritime border with France, and Hans Island is why we share an actual land border with Denmark.

Already fair number of EU overseas bits and pieces. Canada? – might be a matter of scale...

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Don't see why Canada can't be part of the Union. It is an European country in everything sense but geography. Only difference is you have to get in a plane or a ship to go there. But same happens with UK, Ireland, Chipre or Malta. Same for Iceland that not joined but was close.

Also Australia was in Eurovision last year...

Apart of any economical benefits, it would definitely provoke Trump an aplopegy. Funny as he purposely gave arguments to the anti-EU crow in UK for placing 20% tariffs on EU imports but only 10% on UK's. If something the porcine emperor is transparent about is in his pathological hatred towards the EU. I wonder where it comes from? Inferiority complex maybe? Read somewheres he tried to build one of his tacky golf courses in some fantastic natural spot in Scotland and couldn't because EU environmental regulations.

Probably tried to buy off some high-ranking European official and discovered it wasn't as easy as in the United States. Spoiled rich idiots can't forgive this kind of things.