American Politics

[MarquisdeSade1]

Dude, you just blew off the entire Chinese credit issue outside of agreeing with me. You then list all the problems the USA had and blow off all the issues China has. American banks were forced to write down real estate in 2008 and 2009. China HAS NOT DONE THAT WRITE DOWN. You have missed China printed like crazy with Covid and has done so in this recent trade war as well.

That assumes 0% return on your savings rate, which it is not, and that makes your analysis meaningless.

And what about underlying assets and asset appreciation? That is nowhere to be found either. There is no discussion on rule of law and property protection either. What good are savings when the government can take them whenever they want?

These two paragraphs completely blow your argument out of the water, https://www.hinrichfoundation.com/re...umption-slump/.

Half-truths aka bullshit lies, CCP / WEF propaganda.

https://www.heritage.org/asia/report...earth-minerals

https://pac.org/impact/china-financial-paper-tiger

Japan, the CCP, Asia are all quintessential paper tigers.

[EihTooms]

Hey, guess what? It turns out many if not most top medical institutions and practitioners don't recommend the current prostate cancer test screening for men over age 70:

Men Older Than 70 Years Continue to Be Overscreened for Prostate Cancer.
April 17, 2023

https://www.renalandurologynews.com/...ostate-cancer/

Men aged 70 years or older continue to be overscreened for prostate cancer despite US Preventive Services Task Force recommendations against routine PSA screening for men in this age group, according to investigators.

PSA screening in older men who are unlikely to benefit from prostate cancer treatment exposes these men to anxiety, invasive biopsies, and possible overtreatment, they noted.

When is it time to stop being checked for prostate cancer?
March 12,2014

https://www.health.harvard.edu/mens-...rostate-cancer

Routine PSA testing to check for prostate cancer is no longer recommended for most men. But despite what the experts suggest, many men continue to opt for annual PSA tests. This includes a surprisingly large number of men in their 70's. In a recent study in the journal Cancer, more than half of a group of men 75 and older had PSA tests and biopsies.

Shhh. Nobody tell the MAGA numbskulls over there on Fux News about this information that I have heard and understood for years and years without even doing serious research on the subject!

[EihTooms]

Anybody who does not agree with your delusion you think has flunked. You think Trump is evil and want him dead. If anyone says anything positive about him, you come unglued.

Oh yeah, you do not have to wait for Walmart profit margins, inflation numbers, or trade deficit numbers, you have it all figured out.

Trump just played you and you are so pathetic you cannot admit it. Every time Trump plays the "I am a crazy motherfucker" card, you Democratic douches fall for it. Trump is so crazy he is putting 145% tariffs on China! He is going to wreck the economy! The market tanks, and what do I say? He has a plan, and I know what it is. When you negotiate, you want the other side to think you are nuts, and most people bought it that he was nuts.

So Trump acts rationally and takes the tariffs down to 30% and the market rallies. If he started at 30%, people would have freaked out, and the market would have tanked. When he started at 145% and came down to 30%, people were grateful and the market rallied.

And what do you do? Continue to think you are right and lie about Herbert Hoover numbers. You are the one who was conned by Trump, again, and you have no choice but to lie about it.

What is hilarious to me is that Trump keeps running the same play, and it works over and over again, and the reason it works is you Democratic douches refuse to admit that Trump is rational. One of the calling cards to being in the Democratic cult is saying Trump is Hitler, a socialist, not rich. You douches compete over who can insult him best, and he keeps using that to kick your asses.

The only way you can win is if you admit Trump is rational and counter him with logic or an alternative plan, and you all refuse to do that. Kamala tried the I am not Trump strategy. I am not the bigot, racist, sexist, socialist, Nazi that he is, and she fell on her face. And do you admit failure and change course? No, you think the reason you lost was a Muslim conspiracy.

The dumbest line of all was that blacks cannot be racist. The name given for that stupidity now making the rounds is black fatigue. I will go one better. Everyone is sick of the name calling that I call Democratic douche fatigue. Can't you douches come up with anything outside of griping about Trump?

As usual, your links to support your contention that I was wrong or lying and you were right are compelling and inarguable except, oh wait, you HAVE NO links to support your contention and I posted several to support my contention and could have posted hundreds more! Lololol.

So your lord and savior Trump only pretends to be a know nothing, do nothing, deadbeat numbskull as a clever tactic to achieve his brilliant ultimate goal of producing The Worst Economic Results Since Herbert Hoover, does he?

Well, my my my, you have certainly shown me how clever he was to trick someone like me and those bi-partisan Presidential Historians who justifiably ranked him The Worst President in History. Lolol. Man, is my face red. LOL.

Right up until this past week I have seen Joe Biden walk, talk, answer questions without notes where it was crystal clear he understood every syllable and nuance of the question in its explicit and implicit intent to which he delivered lucid, accurate, well-informed and wise responses.

People with significant or even moderately notable cognitive impairment can't do that.

Donald Trump can't do that. Or if he can I have never witnessed it.

Right up until the past six months I have seen and heard Joe Biden look to the left, look to the right, read a rolling text of a speech he obviously had as much of a hand in crafting and editing to reflect his position on complex Presidential level issues as any president in history and do it near flawlessly, obviously understanding every nuance and detail of every point, every amusing aside, every important aspect of it.

People with significant or notably moderate cognitive impairment can't do that.

Donald Trump can't do that.

People with significant cognitive impairment would look at one of those teleprompter screens and not know what it is or why it is there. They might ask what are those ants crawling all over that window.

Or they might drift off the task at hand within a minute and start weaving incoherence about being eaten by sharks, electrocuted by boat batteries or having dinner with an imaginary cannibal.

But they can not do what Joe Biden has so obviously been doing right up to this very minute, all while turning The Worst Economic Results Since The Great Repub Depression that was handed to him into The Envy of the World Economy with historically strong economic conditions that "pretend" numbskull Donald Trump is currently turning into shit before he kills it.

Getting dates wrong in the Hur interview that lasted several hours? So far I have only heard Biden mistakenly say "November 2017" instead of November 2016 election, a mistake regarding elections and taking office I have heard 45 year old network news anchors make. Many people flip the year of an actual election with the year a president actually took office. It is commonplace to hear pundits talk about something so-called president Ronald Reagan did "in 1980" when Ronald Reagan was not the so-called president until 1981.

And BTW if he is so bewildered about dates, how did he get the month right? In fact, if he has dementia, how did he even know he was being asked about a month and year?

Forgetting the year of his son's death? As commonplace a thing not to remember as anything most people would prefer to forget in the first place.

Donald Trump has never gotten a number right about anything. He will start out claiming 300 of something happened and by the end of the week will be claiming it is 10 Million. Oh, I forgot. He only does that to cleverly misdirect everyone from his inevitable achievement in producing crap results, right?

LOL. I just heard a 40-something year old news anchor on a major cable news network reporting and commenting on Biden's diagnosis of prostate cancer and mixed up Trump's name with Biden's. Her guest corrected her and she giggled and passed it off as being tired. LOL. Not half as tired as a Democratic President gets every time he has to recover some utter shit storm of economic disaster the outgoing Repub has handed him to fix! Which Joe Biden has been a top contributor to doing TWICE after just the two previous Repub Administrations.

[MarquisdeSade1]

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/...ate-presidency

4 Very very long years of Weekend at Bidens.

He and Scumbag Bubba will go down in history as thee absolute worst presidents ever, by lightyears.

[MarquisdeSade1]

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2...oval-soars-55/

[MarquisdeSade1]

Ah yes, classic Democrat logic. Trump wants to fund part of the deficit reduction with tariffs. I wish it were hundreds of billions. So Trump tells Walmart to not charge more when the tariffs kick in. What he means is do not use the tariffs as an excuse to massively raise prices and blame him.

Meanwhile, we have Spidy going on about billionaire greed. Last I check the biggest holder of Walmart stock was the Walton family made up of several billionaires. So Trump tells Walmart to not screw over consumers and enrich the Walton billionaires, and you are condemning it? We all know that no matter what Trump says or does you are going to condemn it. It is all Dem good, Republican bad.

This is just a pure lie.

Yeah, well, we just heard this news, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/whi...r-announcement.

President Donald Trump remains confident in White House doctors despite the possibility that they missed a prostate cancer diagnosis for former President Joe Biden while he was in office, the White House says. Speculation has exploded in the days since Biden announced he has stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer this weekend, a diagnosis that typically takes years to develop.

Let me clue you in on something, Tooms. There is no fucking way the White House doctors missed this diagnosis. They covered it up along with Biden's mental decline.

As for your comparing yourself mentally to Biden, I agree that it is possible that you are just as demented as he is..

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2025...rm-volatility/

All he cares about is what is good for CCP suppliers and he loves anything that is bad for the US and Americans.

Our Lord and Savior could single handedly come up with the cure for all cancers today and he would ***** about it.

[Elvis 2008]

You just flunked Trumpese Con Man Language Translation.

Anybody who does not agree with your delusion you think has flunked. You think Trump is evil and want him dead. If anyone says anything positive about him, you come unglued.

When Trump decides to go Full Blown Socialist and tell WalMart how much profit they can make, the word "eat" is merely the substitute word for "pay" when his Con Man instincts tell him he cannot use the word "pay" after he has put so much time and energy into telling MAGA suckers like you that nobody in America will "pay" his Trump Tariff Taxes on American Consumers, that China will "pay" us 100's of Billions and lying that they will be paid by China or little green men from Mars. So he says "eat the Trump Tariffs" to an American company when he knows American companies and American Consumers are the ones who will "pay" the Trump Tariffs.

Oh yeah, you do not have to wait for Walmart profit margins, inflation numbers, or trade deficit numbers, you have it all figured out.

If you don't understand that or if Trump doesn't understand his own Con and you accept that he is just selectively blitheringly confused about it, then BOTH of you are more cognitively impaired than Joe Biden has ever been in his entire life right up to this very day.

Trump just played you and you are so pathetic you cannot admit it. Every time Trump plays the "I am a crazy motherfucker" card, you Democratic douches fall for it. Trump is so crazy he is putting 145% tariffs on China! He is going to wreck the economy! The market tanks, and what do I say? He has a plan, and I know what it is. When you negotiate, you want the other side to think you are nuts, and most people bought it that he was nuts.

So Trump acts rationally and takes the tariffs down to 30% and the market rallies. If he started at 30%, people would have freaked out, and the market would have tanked. When he started at 145% and came down to 30%, people were grateful and the market rallied.

And what do you do? Continue to think you are right and lie about Herbert Hoover numbers. You are the one who was conned by Trump, again, and you have no choice but to lie about it.

What is hilarious to me is that Trump keeps running the same play, and it works over and over again, and the reason it works is you Democratic douches refuse to admit that Trump is rational. One of the calling cards to being in the Democratic cult is saying Trump is Hitler, a socialist, not rich. You douches compete over who can insult him best, and he keeps using that to kick your asses.

The only way you can win is if you admit Trump is rational and counter him with logic or an alternative plan, and you all refuse to do that. Kamala tried the I am not Trump strategy. I am not the bigot, racist, sexist, socialist, Nazi that he is, and she fell on her face. And do you admit failure and change course? No, you think the reason you lost was a Muslim conspiracy.

The dumbest line of all was that blacks cannot be racist. The name given for that stupidity now making the rounds is black fatigue. I will go one better. Everyone is sick of the name calling that I call Democratic douche fatigue. Can't you douches come up with anything outside of griping about Trump?

[EihTooms]

Trump's thousands upon thousands of lies, cons and bullshit finally reached the breaking point in the Real World of Real Business with Real Money:

Why Walmart decided to say it would raise prices and risk Trump's fury.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/20/walm...ndroidappshare

Walmarts announcement on Thursday that it will hike some prices due to tariffs came at a risk and led to a critical social media post by President Donald Trump.

The big-box retailers thinner margins, price-sensitive customers and desire to influence policymakers decisions may have factored into its decision to speak out, according to retail analysts.

More companies have been speaking out about U.S. tariffs since April 9, according to Gravity Research, a Washington, D.C.-based firm that helps corporations navigate reputational risk.

[EihTooms]

Ah yes, classic Democrat logic. Trump wants to fund part of the deficit reduction with tariffs. I wish it were hundreds of billions. So Trump tells Walmart to not charge more when the tariffs kick in. What he means is do not use the tariffs as an excuse to massively raise prices and blame him.

Meanwhile, we have Spidy going on about billionaire greed. Last I check the biggest holder of Walmart stock was the Walton family made up of several billionaires. So Trump tells Walmart to not screw over consumers and enrich the Walton billionaires, and you are condemning it? We all know that no matter what Trump says or does you are going to condemn it. It is all Dem good, Republican bad.

This is just a pure lie.

Yeah, well, we just heard this news, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/whi...r-announcement.

President Donald Trump remains confident in White House doctors despite the possibility that they missed a prostate cancer diagnosis for former President Joe Biden while he was in office, the White House says. Speculation has exploded in the days since Biden announced he has stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer this weekend, a diagnosis that typically takes years to develop.

Let me clue you in on something, Tooms. There is no fucking way the White House doctors missed this diagnosis. They covered it up along with Biden's mental decline.

As for your comparing yourself mentally to Biden, I agree that it is possible that you are just as demented as he is.

The issue with Biden is not forgetting one fact about his son. It is that he could not recall the dates on anything. We all know that all you Democrats care about is power. Hell, you do not care that the person calling the shots in a Biden presidency was not Biden himself. You would violate the rule of law and vote for the corpse of Biden if you could over any Republican. That he is dead or brain dead does not matter to you. All you care about is that your government checks keep flowing.

And deep down, we all know that you Democratic douches wanted Trump assassinated and dead. You do that when you call him the Fuhrer and Republicans Nazis.

For those of who care about Democracy, the question to us is who was really running things with Biden so out to lunch? The first thing that happens when a will is contested is you look at if the person signing the will was mentally competent. That often is a question of relying on the testimony of medical professionals, and their credibility has just taken a huge hit.

I agree with not prosecuting Biden. You cannot get past the burden of reasonable doubt with a guy that demented. However, if he cannot stand trial due to mental incompetence, why the hell are his pardons legal? In fact, legally speaking, everything Biden has done now could comes under scrutiny.

Not only was there this mental decline with Biden, he was walking around with Stage 4 cancer, and you Democratic douches are so stupid you keep going on about how sharp he was and making excuses for him. That is why I keep calling you Democratic douches. You do not have one objective cell in your bodies.

Meanwhile, you cannot help yourself demonizing Trump, yet there is no doubt in anyone's mind that he is the one calling the shots is there? Maybe some day you will get the importance of that.

You just flunked Trumpese Con Man Language Translation.

When Trump decides to go Full Blown Socialist and tell WalMart how much profit they can make, the word "eat" is merely the substitute word for "pay" when his Con Man instincts tell him he cannot use the word "pay" after he has put so much time and energy into telling MAGA suckers like you that nobody in America will "pay" his Trump Tariff Taxes on American Consumers, that China will "pay" us 100's of Billions and lying that they will be paid by China or little green men from Mars.

So he says "eat the Trump Tariffs" to an American company when he knows American companies and American Consumers are the ones who will "pay" the Trump Tariffs.

If you don't understand that or if Trump doesn't understand his own Con and you accept that he is just selectively blitheringly confused about it, then BOTH of you are more cognitively impaired than Joe Biden has ever been in his entire life right up to this very day.

"Ahem".

Stop lying:

Growth of US economy under Trump was worst since Hoover.
Aug. 3, 2021

https://www.yahoo.com/news/growth-us...214116363.html

Trump Leaving Office With 3M Less Jobs Than When He Entered, Worst Record Since Depression.
Jan. 19, 2021

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-leavi...ession-1562737

Trump to leave office with the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover.
Jan. 11, 2021

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump...030044152.html

BONUS LINKS:

The envy of the world.
The American economy has left other rich countries in the dust. Expect that to continue, argue Simon Rabinovitch and Henry Curr.
Oct. 19, 2024

https://www.economist.com/special-report/2024-10-19

The Next President Inherits a Remarkable Economy.
The high quality of recent economic growth should put a wind at the back of the White Houses next occupant.
Oct. 31, 2024

https://www.wsj.com/economy/the-next...onomy-7be2d059

[Elvis 2008]

Oh lookie here! Trump is now recommending that Walmart "eat" all those 100's of Billions of dollars China is GIVING America with his Trump Tariffs Taxes on the American Consumer.

Ah yes, classic Democrat logic. Trump wants to fund part of the deficit reduction with tariffs. I wish it were hundreds of billions. So Trump tells Walmart to not charge more when the tariffs kick in. What he means is do not use the tariffs as an excuse to massively raise prices and blame him.

Meanwhile, we have Spidy going on about billionaire greed. Last I check the biggest holder of Walmart stock was the Walton family made up of several billionaires. So Trump tells Walmart to not screw over consumers and enrich the Walton billionaires, and you are condemning it? We all know that no matter what Trump says or does you are going to condemn it. It is all Dem good, Republican bad.

Now, seriously, how hilarious is it that The Worst Economic Results Since Herbert Hoover

This is just a pure lie.

President Joe Biden not immediately remembering the year one of his sons died is triggering nation-wide pearl clutching?

Less that 10 years after the fact I could not have told you which year my mother or father died. As important as events like that are in our lives I doubt many of us mark the exact year in our memory banks in order to recall and commemorate each of them year after year. We move on. And a president typically commemorates a thousand mortal events every year anyway.

Yeah, well, we just heard this news, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/whi...r-announcement.

President Donald Trump remains confident in White House doctors despite the possibility that they missed a prostate cancer diagnosis for former President Joe Biden while he was in office, the White House says. Speculation has exploded in the days since Biden announced he has stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer this weekend, a diagnosis that typically takes years to develop.

Let me clue you in on something, Tooms. There is no fucking way the White House doctors missed this diagnosis. They covered it up along with Biden's mental decline.

As for your comparing yourself mentally to Biden, I agree that it is possible that you are just as demented as he is.

The issue with Biden is not forgetting one fact about his son. It is that he could not recall the dates on anything. We all know that all you Democrats care about is power. Hell, you do not care that the person calling the shots in a Biden presidency was not Biden himself. You would violate the rule of law and vote for the corpse of Biden if you could over any Republican. That he is dead or brain dead does not matter to you. All you care about is that your government checks keep flowing.

And deep down, we all know that you Democratic douches wanted Trump assassinated and dead. You do that when you call him the Fuhrer and Republicans Nazis.

For those of who care about Democracy, the question to us is who was really running things with Biden so out to lunch? The first thing that happens when a will is contested is you look at if the person signing the will was mentally competent. That often is a question of relying on the testimony of medical professionals, and their credibility has just taken a huge hit.

I agree with not prosecuting Biden. You cannot get past the burden of reasonable doubt with a guy that demented. However, if he cannot stand trial due to mental incompetence, why the hell are his pardons legal? In fact, legally speaking, everything Biden has done now could comes under scrutiny.

Not only was there this mental decline with Biden, he was walking around with Stage 4 cancer, and you Democratic douches are so stupid you keep going on about how sharp he was and making excuses for him. That is why I keep calling you Democratic douches. You do not have one objective cell in your bodies.

Meanwhile, you cannot help yourself demonizing Trump, yet there is no doubt in anyone's mind that he is the one calling the shots is there? Maybe some day you will get the importance of that.

[Elvis 2008]

Yes, I admit that the Chinese credit system is opaque but seriously Elvis to make the claim that the American is in a better position than China on debt is laughable. Have you completely forgotten the financial crisis of 2008? America is still reeling from that and as I explained to you earlier this, the money printing here (QE), during COVID and your multiple wars constitute a substantial portion of the national debt (or at least when QT occurs).

Dude, you just blew off the entire Chinese credit issue outside of agreeing with me. You then list all the problems the USA had and blow off all the issues China has. American banks were forced to write down real estate in 2008 and 2009. China HAS NOT DONE THAT WRITE DOWN. You have missed China printed like crazy with Covid and has done so in this recent trade war as well.

But you can't increase your savings unless you reduce your consumption or increase your production.

That assumes 0% return on your savings rate, which it is not, and that makes your analysis meaningless.

So your solution is straightforward. You either increase your savings, or reduce your investment (latter not ideal).

And what about underlying assets and asset appreciation? That is nowhere to be found either. There is no discussion on rule of law and property protection either. What good are savings when the government can take them whenever they want?

These two paragraphs completely blow your argument out of the water, https://www.hinrichfoundation.com/re...umption-slump/.

In the case of China "property income" for the household sector in 2019 and 2020 was around 4. 5% of GDP, and closer to 3% of GDP on a net basis. In contrast, in the US, this number was about 15% of GDP. This reflects the higher returns on US financial and real assets. It is worth considering here the penchant China's middle class has for sitting on vacant apartments and the amount of household net worth tied up in such vacant property; the low dividend payout ratios for listed Chinese companies; and, perhaps most importantly, the low bank interest rates paid to depositors and the lack of alternative avenues for revenue generation.

In other words, China's high savings suffer from financial repression: capital controls force them to maintain their savings onshore and a state-owned financial intermediation industry pays them a poor return on their savings. This in turn reduces household income and therefore curtails their ability to spend. The Chinese saver has therefore been made by policy to finance huge government-driven investments, which are earning increasingly low returns.

Trump's batshit idea is that somehow you're going to get all these companies producing your Iphones and laptops and consumer goods to somehow onshore and increase capacity when you have neither the manpower or skills or capacity or resources and even if you did it would result in a much higher cost or a much lower wage.

Trump was just accelerating a trend of moving some production away from China to the USA that was happening post-Covid. Your analysis is entirely cost driven and does not account for the reliability of a supply chain. That is why the supply chain is and was moving out of China even before Trump, and it never was all going to the USA.

You are seriously underestimating China.

When you explain to me to property rights, the credit system, the real debt China has, the real estate market, how China restricts trading in foreign currencies, and the demographic decline, get back to me. There is nothing new you are bringing to the table. I heard the same shit about Japan in the early 80's and 90's and have heard the gold bug shit about America's decline for decades as well. Japan was a way more formidable competitor than China ever was, and you have not explained why the projections about Japan taking over the world were wrong. Your opinion does not matter to me because it is not based on facts but a bunch of half-truths. All you do is list all the problems the USA has and ignore all the ones China has.

[SubCmdr]

As someone who lives the lifestyle discussed on this board, embracing Donald trump, project 2025, and Christian nationalists is certainly not in your best interest. A bill was just introduced to outlaw all pornography Nationwide. Christian nationalists are not your friend dude. Just waiting for the bill to make it a criminal act for Americans to engage in paid sex overseas. Look what both sides have done did the hobby in the United States. You can say what you want about gay and trans people, but they tend to be far more libertine September than work feminists or Christian Nationals. And I think the Christian nationalists have much more pull when it comes to legislation.

Who can we thank for this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_Act

If you are going to fly a woman to the USA, make sure you check out the Mann Act.It is best that you do not use your credit card for a purchase. Use a gift card without your name on it and try to make it seem like the woman is flying to the USA for a reason other than to see you if she is asked. I had a woman flown in from Mexico who dressed provocatively and customs gave her a horribly hard time. When I finally met her, she was balling her eyes out, and she had been to the USA before. There has been a huge emphasis on so called "trafficking" and LE has used the Mann Act in some pretty fucked up ways in the past.

[HotDog666]

[Deleted by Admin]

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[HotDog666]

Yeah, I have been listening to this since I heard people hawking gold. I think you are confusing money printing with credit. When the USA government gives people a dollar, it is as a loan via treasury bills and notes. If the USA prints up too many dollars, people demand a higher interest rate, and the government has to pay. It is not a free lunch as the gold bugs promote.

And the creation of money is not just at the hands of the government. Anyone who gives someone else credit is creating money. The worse the risk, the higher the rate is. In short, money creation is limited by the faith of the lender. If the lender does not have faith he will be paid back, money creation dries up.

When I went to a shareholder meeting of a Venezuelan telephone company, I heard Venezuelan after Venezuelan talk about fucking over Verizon which owned 25% of the company by breaking their own laws. Verizon (which was GTE) literally laid down all the phone lines in that country. When I heard that, I knew that Venezuela, which at the time had the largest proven oil reserves in the world, was done for a generation. Until Venezuelans respect lenders, they will be poor.

When I went to American banks to get a mortgage to buy land in Latin America, they would not lend me the money. They would do a personal loan but not a mortgage. Yet real estate prices in Latin countries went through the roof. I was in Paraguay and a decent house was $300,000. I was like who in Paraguay has that kind of cash? That is a price to income ratio of 50! What was happening is European banks particularly French ones were doing the lending and unlike American banks, they have not taken their haircuts. A lot of the reason the USA gets flak is our honesty with the numbers (well, before Biden anyway).

Right now, Greece, remember them, has lower interest rates than the USA. Now do you think that is because they are a better credit risk or they are hiding their debt? A free market is based on honesty, and the Greeks have never been honest.

When I went to Latin countries and asked why they were so poor, the reason I was given was corruption. That implies it is government and not the fault of the people though. What I saw by going to Venezuela is Hugo Chavez and his stealing was a symptom and not the cause of the issue. The problem was and is the Venezuelan citizens absolutely disdain for the rights of lenders and so no one wants to extend them credit. The corruption part is the government not sticking up for lenders.

So when you talk about the "free market" and China, what are you talking about? What is the credit system in China? Is it open? Is there transparency? Would you loan money to China and if so, how would you assess the risk and the interest rate you should be paid? And with what would you want to be paid back your interest?

One of Warren Buffett's sayings is "Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked". What that means is if the French banks keep on their books that the homes in their Paraguayan real estate portfolio are valued at $300,000 apiece, everything is fine. Only when they are forced to liquidate the asset or the government demands a realistic valuation is when the tide goes out.

And banks are not like other businesses. If they lever up 10:1, then a 10% reduction in asset prices renders them insolvent. So for all your disdain for the American system and how flawed it is, be honest. You have no clue how the Chinese credit system operates. And you know how I know? Because if you did, there is no way in hell you would be pushing China over the USA.

Yes, I admit that the Chinese credit system is opaque but seriously Elvis to make the claim that the American is in a better position than China on debt is laughable. Have you completely forgotten the financial crisis of 2008? America is still reeling from that and as I explained to you earlier this, the money printing here (QE), during COVID and your multiple wars constitute a substantial portion of the national debt (or at least when QT occurs). There are no free lunches.

We can debate who's debt is a bigger issue. Let's resort to some facts. https://www.fidelityinternational.co...r-e1feea-en5/. So it is in a bad place, as I already acknowledged. Meanwhile, the US national debt alone is 125% of GDP. Add on household debt and that's another 60%+ of GDP https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicato...of-nominal-gdp#text=United%20 States%20 Household%20 Debt%3 A%20%25%20 of%20 GDP,-1999%20%2 D%202024%20%7 C%20 Quarterly&text=United%20 States%20 household%20 debt%20 accounted, Mar%201999%20 to%20 Dec%202024.

And then there's corporate debt etc.

Here's the thing. China is a net saver. They have a huge amount of savings offsetting the debt. In fact they save way too much. https://www.ft.com/content/cc40794b-...a-4b10b12b6ff5.

They comprised around 28% of the entire world's savings last year. Please look back to my conversation with Tiny to see the relevance of this, and let me summarise it simply. The difference between a country's production and its consumption is its savings. The difference between the country's savings rates and its investments is its current account (and this is not synonymous with its trade balance as many people mistakenly believe). So these 4 concepts underpin the American issue: Production, consumption, savings, investment. The savings. Investment deficit needs to be financed and that is through a current account deficit. That's it. So your solution is straightforward. You either increase your savings, or reduce your investment (latter not ideal). But you can't increase your savings unless you reduce your consumption or increase your production. Trump's batshit idea is that somehow you're going to get all these companies producing your Iphones and laptops and consumer goods to somehow onshore and increase capacity when you have neither the manpower or skills or capacity or resources and even if you did it would result in a much higher cost or a much lower wage. As for you're going to "automate it"- right LOL, the Chinese don't know about automation already right? They make the west look so 20th century.

So production cannot increase massively, meaning your consumption has to go down. I don't know why you would argue with me here as it seems to be what you're endorsing with regards to the public sector. I however think you're a little too fixated on sweating the small stuff and not enough on the big picture which as I said is healthcare and defence. Maybe being Israel's lapdog is not in your interest?

Anyway, the bottom line remains- you are seriously underestimating China. I have explained before their psyche- they will not let them be humiliated again. They will play the long game, and it may not be 5 years but 10 before they get military supremacy over America where it matters. America cannot afford to continue to outspend them. And even if it does, they'll make a better product. Be it a plane or a train- at half the cost, as they showed the world recently in destroying the French Rafael's with their J-10's. The best days of America are behind it.

[MarquisdeSade1]

Yes, both of them were right about everything. LOL.

Lololololololololololol.