Doom, As Predicted

you can only imagine the capitalist parasites drooling over the chance to again, raise prices because of shortages.

the private sector is so deep into debt, that assets you think are safe, will now look shaky, and its only going to get worse. cash has always been king, now it will be the king of kings.

Marx said the quickest way to get rid of capitalism is to free trade. free trade will collapse capitalism, he encouraged it, he was right.

the fed can raise rates all they want, it will just make matters worse. because there is no excess demand, only the inevitable results of bill clintons inflation from free trade, his endless wars, and his gutting of everything that restrained capitalists from forming monopolies.

in the 1990’s i said bunker fuel will be wasted in huge amounts, shipping stuff back and forth to save a penny here, a half cent there.

the system clinton stuck us with, should be considered criminally insane.

and if carney is stupid enough to join the E.U., canada will sink even farther into the sewer it did when it joined nafta and the W.T.O..

the E.U. by design, is austerity and war.
——–
Joseph Elliott Trudeau was known for his opposition to free trade agreements, particularly during his time as Prime Minister, where he emphasized protecting Canadian industries and jobs. His stance was part of a broader approach to maintain national sovereignty over economic policies.
policyoptions.irpp.org canadians.org

Joseph Elliott Trudeau’s Stance on Free Trade
Opposition to Free Trade Agreements

Joseph Elliott Trudeau was recognized for his strong opposition to free trade agreements during his tenure as Prime Minister. His approach was rooted in a desire to protect Canadian industries and jobs, reflecting a commitment to national sovereignty over economic policies.

Protection of Canadian Industries: Trudeau believed that free trade could undermine local businesses and lead to job losses.

National Sovereignty: He emphasized the importance of maintaining control over Canada’s economic policies, arguing that free trade agreements could compromise this sovereignty.

Focus on Domestic Economy: Trudeau’s policies aimed to bolster the domestic economy rather than rely on international trade, which he viewed as potentially harmful to Canadian interests.

Trudeau’s legacy in this area continues to influence discussions on trade policies in Canada today.
canadians.org policyoptions.irpp.org
———–
Marx believed that capitalism would collapse due to its internal contradictions, particularly the exploitation of labor and economic crises. He argued that the working class would eventually rise against capitalist structures, leading to a revolutionary change.
communist.red

Marx’s View on Capitalism’s Collapse
Internal Contradictions

Marx believed that capitalism is inherently unstable due to its internal contradictions. Key factors include:

Exploitation of Labor: Workers are paid less than the value they produce, leading to increasing inequality.
Economic Crises: Capitalism is prone to cycles of boom and bust, which create instability.

Role of the Working Class

Marx argued that the working class, or proletariat, would eventually recognize their exploitation and rise against the capitalist system. This revolutionary change is seen as a necessary step toward a more equitable society.

Free Trade and Capitalism

While free trade can promote economic growth, Marx viewed it as a mechanism that could exacerbate the contradictions of capitalism. Increased competition can lead to:

Wage Suppression: Workers may face downward pressure on wages as companies seek to cut costs.
Concentration of Capital: Wealth becomes concentrated in the hands of a few, increasing social tensions.

Marx’s perspective suggests that the quickest way to collapse capitalism is through the intensification of its internal contradictions, driven by the exploitation of labor and economic crises. The working class’s eventual uprising is seen as the catalyst for revolutionary change.
communist.red Wikipedia

How does free trade impact labor exploitation in capitalist economies?

Free trade can increase labor exploitation in capitalist economies by driving down wages and worsening working conditions as companies seek to cut costs and remain competitive in global markets. Critics argue that it often leads to job losses in higher-wage countries and the suppression of labor rights in lower-wage countries where regulations are weaker.
ilpc.org.uk

Even the Chinese had better be running their transition on fast forward if they want to get out of this without too much pain. Not so much the solar/wind/battery side, they have plenty of coal they can keep using in the short term, but the EV/E-truck/E-tractor/Electric industrial heat front. Although on diesel, at least they have the advantage that if Russia still has any to spare for export at all, presumably they’re first in line.

@spud Uh, who the fuck is “Joseph” Elliott Trudeau? That stuff come from AI or something?

> “there was no proper rationing which made sure that diesel and fertilizer and so on got to those parts of the economy which needed it most”

A huge amount of much needed fuel and food has instead gone toward feeding the thuggery of the US military machine:

– Moving US military ships, including aircraft carrier groups, to the Caribbean to threaten and further blockade and immiserate countries like Venezuela and Cuba
– High seas piracy against ships used by those poor, long-suffering countries for their essential trade needs.
– The US military murdering who knows how many random fishermen in waters off Venezuela, just blowing them out the water and leaving them to drown.
– A massive military operation of thuggery, murdering 80 people (including an 80 year-old woman) for the night-time abduction of Venezuela’s democratically-elected civilian leader and his wife, to disappear them and seize control of Venezuela’s oil and other resources.

– Moving aircraft carrier groups and other military ships toward the Persian Gulf to try to threaten, intimidate, and extort Iran.
– Continued high seas piracy, sinking an unarmed Iranian ship off the waters of Sri Lanka and leaving the sailors to drown, destruction/seizure of ships.
– An even more massive military operation on the other side of the world, Operation Epic Fu-ckup, the unprovoked full-scale US-Israel attack on Iran.
– Moving air defense equipment from South Korea to try to replace the ones destroyed in Iran’s response to that unprovoked attack.
– More aircraft carrier movements to flee the Persian Gulf area, to retreat all the way to Europe for repairs, then to replace one worn out aircraft carrier by another, etc.
– Abandoning destroyed US military bases, moving US troops into hotels, retreating from the destroyed US military bases to ones further back in Jordan/Israel

The US is also responsible for the massive fuel use by the militaries of its proxy client-state regimes:

– Israel’s ongoing 3-year genocide in Gaza, its numerous, repeated attacks on Lebanon/Syria/Iraq/Yemen/Iran
– Saudi Arabia’s previous and renewed attacks and blockades against Yemen
– The 12-year proxy war using Ukraine as cannon fodder to “weaken” Russia since 2014
– The long-range strikes against refineries and other energy production facilities deep inside Russia

Operation Epic Fu-ckup, the immediate cause of this current fiasco, is just the latest in a string of US actions contributing to this shortage (including blowing up the Nordstream gas pipelines that Germany/Europe greatly depended on for their industries/homes/economies, sanctioning/destabilizing oil producers like Venezuela, Libya, Syria, Iran, Russia.)

Unfortunately, US foreign policy only follows the Tonya Harding way. Try to knee-cap and cripple your rivals – so what if you ruin your own prospects and life in the process. It wasn’t necessary for Harding to take that route – she could have had a fine life otherwise – and it isn’t necessary for the US to take this route. But they had/have a pathological compulsion to be #1, whatever it takes. What is it that the American leadership love to threaten, “all options are on the table”? What’s the fevered chant of American crowds, “USA! we’re #1!”?

“Unfortunately, US foreign policy only follows the Tonya Harding way. Try to knee-cap and cripple your rivals – so what if you ruin your own prospects and life in the process.”

This is why the United States keeps winning. Fair play is for chumps. Winners play dirty.

The sociopaths who run things are unimpressed by our cleverness, our word games, our cute memes, our tightly reasoned arguments and close readings of texts, unmoved by facts, logic, evidence or morality, as long as they have force on their side, as long as the cops and army will shoot when ordered to do so.

It’s like trying to reason with a virus or a schoolyard bully. Truly, this never grows old:

“A WOLF, meeting with a lamb astray from the fold, resolved not to lay violent hands on him, but to find some plea, which should justify to the lamb himself, his right to eat him.

He then addressed him: Sirrah, last year you grossly insulted me.

Indeed, bleated the lamb in a mournful tone of voice: I was not then born.

Then said the wolf: You feed in my pasture.

No, good sir, replied the lamb: I have not yet tasted grass.

Again said the wolf: You drink of my well.

No, exclaimed the lamb: I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother’s milk is both food and drink to me.

Upon which the wolf seized him and ate him up, saying: Well! I won’t remain supper-less, even though you refute every one of my imputations.

Moral: The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny, and it is useless for the innocent to try by reasoning to get justice, when the oppressor intends to be unjust.

@cc:

“Canada/Carney is trying to team up with other defenceless and confused lambs (EU, although that’s now really a frail, decrepit, old sheep in sharp decline,) when he should be teaming us up to up-and-coming Asian economies that are able to resist the voracious predator. For Canada’s sake, why not focus on trying to catch onto rising economies instead of a fast-sinking rusted (corrupt) anchor?”

Because Carney still wants to get the band back together. He doesn’t want to resist the predator, any more than a family dog wants to be independent – the dog just wants Master to kill the mailman.

Hell, if only Trump were to refocus American attention to The War On Russia, Carney and the various european catamites would rejoice would go full, MAGA, all is forgotten, all is forgiven!

For that matter, Russia, China and the various Asians don’t want to resist the predator, either, they just want less blatantly exploitative terms. Their elites want to be compradors with all the goodies that entails, not independant.

Great comments.
Yeah, my first thought reading this was, all those precious petro products are going to lubricate the voracious war machine, along with the usual thought that we’re ruled by psycho fools and what are we going to do about it but pay the price.

Speaking of paying the price, I’ve tried to lay in supplies like grains and beans before the hammer drops hard, but it ain’t easy living a hand to mouth kind of existence. And it’s obviously going to get worse . As Janis sang back in the day, when you ain’t got nothing you’ve got nothing to lose. Until you’ve lost it all, that is. Yeah, well, keep it up until you can’t anymore. Suerte a cada.

Here’s another log to throw on the doom fire.

Iran Sets New Hormuz Demand: Trump and Netanyahu Must Be Removed From Power, Senior Adviser Says
https://www.reddit.com/r/anticapitalism/comments/1wj243r/iran_sets_new_hormuz_demand_trump_and_netanyahu/

As I read into the article linked to in this offering, I read that the Iranian who said this seems to be an adviser and not strictly an in-the-loop decider.

I don’t know what effect this statement would have on/in Israel. But I think I know America well enough from having lived here since birth for 69 years to say that it will have a “reverse psychology” effect here. It will re-energise all the KlanMAGA Christianazian Republicanfederates to delay and deny the removal of Trump from power for as long as possible. ” NObody tells us what to do!” The subhuman Surrender Cuck Democrats will support retaining Trump and all Trumpists in power as long as possible to avoid being labelled ” soft on Iran” if they fail to render Christianazian levels of support to Trump and all the little Trumpies.

If the IranGov and its advisers understand America well, then this is exactly the outcome they seek with this “reverse-psychology” type of new demand. Which means they want to see America ride itself all the way into the Tarpits of Doom. I suspect the IranGov wants to preserve the Republican House and Senate majorities preserved in order to get America destroyed, which is why they would make a “reverse psychology” demand like this.

But it won’t work on me. I will vote blue no matter who ( for the most part) regardless.

Probably a good idea to maintain a friendly attitude whatever the weather.
Just a thought that popped up on the way to the land of nod and it seemed innocent enough to hit send and share.
Much appreciation to all.

This is not the sort of post whose comment section would be a normally appropriate place for a link to Black content creator’s content. But this particular podcast features, among other interview bits with truckers unhappy over the rising price of diesel, an interview bit of a trucker saying that word is moving within the trucker community of a possible impromptu mass-numbers-of-truckers strike against any more trucking. He says it could happen. He warns anyone watching his video to lay in 2-6 months of food supplies to withstand a 2-6 month absence of food in stores.
That particular segment runs from timepoint 16:52 till timepoint 18:25 or so. One can click the link, move the slider bar over to 16:52, and then start watching-listening.
And when that trucker-segment is done, one can click out of the video

That one little video-segment is completely appropriate to this post and thread.

Coffee Break | MAGA LIVID With Trump Over High Gas Prices. Truckers Preparing To Boycott!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rezx6Gf3IKc

Commenting a bit late here. I got an apartment on Wednesday, am renting from a very smart Aquarian woman who is Texan, not surprisingly a longtime international traveler, did the Peace Corps with her ex-husband many years ago. I couldn’t find anything in the massive urban center of Merida, in Valladolid I stayed at an expensive place, which allowed me to meet talented, smart people, one day at lunchtime I joined a large group of a dozen and a half people, locals and Mexican tourists, got asked about my travels. This led to the wife of the owner who’d wanted me to rent a B&B to me instead introducing me to my new friend and landlord, and my cat is no longer traumatized by moving between hotels. I had to leave the pricey place as I was getting ripped-off when exchanging $ for pesos, BUT my new landlady told me how to stop that the 2nd day I was here. Valladolid is a charming, 4 centuries old Colonial town, the people mellow and friendly. Nothing happens fast here, except for the occasional deluge of rain when the heat breaks. Okay, enough travelogue, now to the post’s subject.

I can’t say I am surprised, Larry Johnson has been warning about this for months, and Ian and others have covered it well. Didn’t know when it would eventually hit, but it seems the time is here, the Crisis is well started and will only accelerate. Stupid is as stupid does, you can’t fix stupid, and that statement goes beyond (without excluding) Trump, the ruling class is insane and genocidal. Great posts above, cc especially, yes, saw that Trump sent giant pile of bombs to the Izzys to spread extermination . . . I however think that this will result in exactly what Ian and others have predicted, Tel Aviv and Haifa and maybe Jerusalem will be hit, near extinction level strikes. IF that insane monster MBS doesn’t stop desperately wishcasting that he will crush Ansar Allah, when that war is being lost daily. Unless he changes course, he will destroy the entire Mideast with his “Abraham Accord” Supremacist pals. Oh, and I’m sure if he’s not couped soon. I know these thugs have massive “Security” Services, but still.

I guess ‘Muricans aren’t the only dummies who can watch their Ruling Class destroy the economy, loot and kill, twiddle their thumbs, “Oh, if only we could do something!?”

We have no Crisis here in Mexico, the big national holiday and the Grito (Cry of Independence contra Spain) were just festively celebrated, Ms. Sheinbaum leading, and dozens of countries reached out to Mexico with felicitaciones, per the “Soberania” English-language podcast I watched yesterday (they are sometimes featured on Drop Site News in USA). Pemex, Petroleos Mexicanos, cheap and readily accessible.

Soberania covered a little Narcito Rubio trip across Latin America, he is claiming that “Mexico can’t control large swathes of its territory” and thus goes on the unfinished list with Cuba, Greenland, etc. The claim a flat lie, though US sponsorship behind the scenes does strengthen local cartels and gets lots of people killed. (But not here where I am, one of the safest parts of the country.)

Ok, now pretending I am still trapped in US Hellscape, semi-predictive mode: Trump thinks he will bullshit and bribe thru the midterms to hold onto Control, I don’t see it but who knows? He keeps promising “The War will be over after the midterms, the price of gas will drop like a rock,” it’ll be pie in the sky if y’all don’t all die. It’s all sham, bullshit.

The smart money, commenters say Iran will escalate very strongly going into the US Midterms (if not provoked earlier) so as not to allow a massive, genocidal assault after, which Trump’s puppeteers in “Zion” are demanding. This seems credible to me.

In the classic film A Touch of Evil, set on the US-California Border, the Gypsy Fortuneteller played by Marlene Dietrich starts a Tarot spread for the obese villian, played by director Orson Wells, tells his future: “You’re heart-dead already.” This seems to me the shambling, violent, sleepwalking Giant that is USA, European Union, Carney’s Canada (good call by Finster above). Freud’s Thanatos theory gains support. Those who do only Murder, Theft and unending Evil destroy themselves and their populations in time. How else could it end?

I’m so glad I got out in time. Still dealing with issues, the crappy phone, got an Email from

Bloody hell, those bombs!