Most modern weapon systems require rare earths to manufacture, including expendables like missiles and drones. Rare earths are less mined than they are refined, and China controls over 90% of the refining capability. Rare earths are generally found in small amounts in other ores. For example, Gallium in Aluminum. To get Gallium, you have to refine mountains of aluminum. Gallium comes from Bauxite as part of the refining process.
Fifty grams of Gallium per metric ton of refined aluminum.
China produces 98% of it.
Now Canada used to produce a lot of Gallium, as a side benefit of processing a lot of aluminum. But Canadian aluminum wasn’t as cheap as Chinese Aluminum. And this is the problem, if you want to scale you need long term contracts not just for Gallium but the Aluminum. (Do you trust any contract underwritten by the US government? If so, many bridges are available for sale to you.)
Every rare earth has similar issues.
Now cast your mind back to pre-war Asia. Japan is kicking ass, especially against the Chinese. They’ve conquered Taiwan, Korea and South Manchuria. All of this requires lots of oil, and they buy that oil from America, primarily, which was the Saudi Arabia of the day. FDR (who hated the Japanese and was a Sinophile) cut off oil exports to Japan.
Japan had only so much in the way of oil reserves. It decided to use them to go to war, grabbing as much territory as possible, while they still existed. Some of their conquests: Burma, the Dutch East Indies, and Borneo, had oil.
The situation today isn’t identical. There’s no non-China rare earth production to seize. Everyone else is pretty much happy to sell to America, they just don’t have enough to matter.
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But what does matter is that if China’s rare earth ban continues, America loses the ability to make large volumes of advanced weapons. Every time I look into estimates of how long it will take to get rare earths production up and running the West, the optimistic numbers are at about ten years, with a median around twenty. China itself took about twenty years, in the 80s and 90s.
China is getting stronger over time. Everyone with sense admits that. Even before the rare-earth ban it was clear that the West is growing weaker. In ten years, let alone twenty, no one will be able to pretend America can win a war against China.
So the rare earths ban means that if the US wants war against China, it has to be soon. Within a year, I’d say.
Note that this isn’t just about China. The West supplies Ukraine and Israel, for example, with weapons which have tons (literally) of rare earths in them. The ability to keep doing this is being taken away.
Heck, forget arming proxies, the West won’t be able to produce enough missiles and drones and radar and so on for its own military needs, meaning its ability to project power and keep other nations cowed and in line will go way down.
(At this point many of you are thinking “and this is bad, how?”)
So this is fairly existential for America. Its ability to bully everyone is about to be reduced significantly for ten to twenty years, by which time all its enemies will be well supplied by the Chinese and Russians with weapons more advanced than American ones.
Use it or lose it. I suspect this may be part of the reasoning (by the few parts of American government capable of reasoning) around attacking Venezuela, for example.
But the reason that America officials are freaking out about the rare earth ban is it really does matter. That America and the West let themselves get into the position is insane, people (including me) were pointing out this vulnerability twenty years ago. But if there’s one thing the West can’t do any more it’s definitely think beyond three months or “but China’s rare earths are cheaper, so we can’t do anything!!!!!”
Assuming a war can be avoided, the best outcome here (but bad for most citizens of the West because there are a lot of civilian rare earth applications) is for China to just leave the restrictions on permanently.
Oh, and as a ray of sunshine. If the US can’t supply Israel with weapons and if Russia and China won’t, well… More on that later.
China’s finally flexing its muscles. It spent the last eight years, ever since Trump’s absolutely crazed and stupid Huawei sanctions, making sure it has all the trump cards and no significant vulnerabilities.
And it had done so. Goodbye (not) Pax Americana.
spud
“but there is no right thing that the United States can do. It’s in a trap.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=pQkwnczhObQ&t=5s
Restructuring of the Global Economy – Michael Hudson, Alexander Mercouris & Glenn Diesen
” the United States decided it didn’t want to compete. And this goes back to the Clinton administration in the 1990s. The Clinton administration’s objective, and that of the Democratic Party, was basically a class war against labor. How do we lower the wages of labor so that we can increase the profitability? Well, the way America had of lowering the wages of labor was, let’s hire Asian labor, especially Chinese labor. Let’s let Chinese into a trade relationship with us into the WTO. And then instead of having to bid up the price of labor in our industrial centers, Detroit and the South and the Midwest, we’ll hire products made by Chinese labor that will keep down wages here. And America can be in a post-industrial economy.”
“So in a way, what’s happened today is exactly what America wanted. And all of a sudden, they’ve woken up to the fact and said, how can America run the world and be number one if it doesn’t have a manufacturing power, if it’s dependent on other countries for its manufacturing and now for its technology, and if all of this is financed by running into debt that the economy runs up for the military spending abroad to prevent other countries from competing with the United States, when actually it’s the United States that has decided we want you to compete because your production and competition with us is what’s winning the class war against labor. Your competition is what’s holding down the price of labor. So they haven’t really thought, what does a post-industrial economy mean? Well, it turns out to be a financialized economy. ”
—-
Japan had its eyes on mongolia and siberia, Zuchav handed them their heads in a basket, forcing Japan to look southwards.
https://en.interaffairs.ru/article/khalkhin-gol-80-years-to-historic-battle/
Khalkhin Gol: 80 years to historic battle
“In August 1939, the Soviet troops, led by the then unknown Commander Georgy Zhukov, inflicted a crushing defeat on forces of the Kwantung Army of Japan in the Mongolian steppes during the Battle of the Khalkhin Gol River, thereby changing the direction of Japanese expansionism towards Pearl Harbor and the Asian colonies in Europe. The Battles of Khalkhin Gol, which began two years before the fascist invasion of the USSR, is rightly seen as one of the forerunners of the Soviet military successes in Europe during World War II. Having suffered a serious setback, militaristic Japan lost all hope of capturing Siberia and the Far East over a short-term perspective and focused on the Asia-Pacific theater of operations.”
Bill H.
America learned a lesson from Vietnam. It was, of course, the wrong lesson. America learned that we need a way to fight wars and destroy other nations without American soldiers getting killed. Thus all the expensive weapons and the need for rare earths. Rifles and bullets don’t need rare earths, but the men (okay, and women) carrying and using them get killed.
The better lesson would have been the one that John Quincy Adams already knew, that, “America goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy.”
KT Chong
Why the US wants — or needs — to invade Venezuela:
U.S. Oil History & Peak Oil:
• The U.S. was a major oil producer and exporter until the 1970s, when it reached its first “peak oil.”
• Between the 1970s and 2000s, domestic production declined, and the U.S. became a net oil importer, making it vulnerable to global supply shocks (e.g., the 1973 oil embargo).
Fracking Boom:
• Starting in the 2000s, fracking and horizontal drilling unlocked vast shale oil reserves previously inaccessible.
• This turned the U.S. back into the world’s largest oil producer and net exporter, restoring energy independence.
End of the Fracking Era:
• Shale wells deplete rapidly, and most of the economically accessible reserves have already been exploited.
• U.S. fracking production is plateauing or declining—meaning a new “peak oil” moment is approaching for the U.S.
Venezuela’s Strategic Role:
• Venezuela holds the largest proven oil reserves in the world. Heavy crude, while harder to refine, represents a massive potential energy supply.
• With domestic fracking no longer sufficient to guarantee long-term energy security, the U.S. sees Venezuela as a critical strategic asset.
In short, the chain of logic is: first peak oil → dependence on imports → fracking boom → fracking decline → looming energy vulnerability → strategic urgency → Venezuela as a target.
someofparts
A data point about pre-WWII Japan is that when their army went on its rampage of conquest in Asia, it was entirely against the wishes of the civilian government. They went rogue. Until the army got around to killing them, the civilian leadership was in the awkward position of having to pretend they knew what their own army was doing when, in fact, they were finding out from news reports at the same time the rest of the world was getting the news.
from Stillwell and the American Experience in China by Barbara Tuchman
bruce wilder
In a strangely dream-like way, Trump (as a political phenomenon, not a person per se) is a return to reality, a “saying the quiet part out loud” and dealing with it.
so, yes to what spud linked to: Michael Hudson et alia. the only war is class war.
there is no window of opportunity to win an American war against China. we in America are just waiting for the class war to end in unconditional surrender to AI and financialization, so the genocide can come home.
someofparts
So, looking at what spud just posted, we could say that the Russians beat the Germans and the Japanese in WWII. Thank goodness the mighty American army will be able to beat them in Ukraine.
Special thanks for the excerpt from Hudson saying out loud that Clinton waged a class war. I am so tired of the self-righteous ignorance of the NYT-worshipping haute bourgeoisie who think Hillary was our savior.
Nat Wilson Turner
I’ve always felt great sympathy for my parents (GI and Silent generation) and grandparents (Lost Generation) who survived the Great Depression and WW2 but at least in 1939 no one had the goddamn bomb, not to mention drones and AI and all that bullshit. Lord help us all.
WatchesForFun
The west won’t be able to develop or produce work-arounds like ferrites either because China dominates in that area as well. Checkmate.
Failed Scholar
Gallium is a good example to use to illustrate your point Ian: the latest AESA-type air defence, fighter and missile radars are all based on Gallium Nitride tech:
https://aviationweek.com/defense/sensors-electronic-warfare/fighter-radars-poised-gallium-nitride-breakthrough (<—from 2021)
https://www.militaryaerospace.com/sensors/article/14303847/lockheed-martin-air-defense-radar-gallium-nitride-gan
https://www.rtx.com/news/news-center/2025/09/23/rtx-unveils-new-apg-82vx-radar-enhanced-with-gallium-nitride
Ooops!
You can even find GaN in consumer products like small USB chargers and such, they are able to do really high power safely and efficiently in tiny spaces: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallium_nitride It's absolutely hilarious that bloodthirsty Western misleadership are this stoooppid.
elkern
Hmmm, maybe this explains the US/NATO attacks on Russia?
Japan grabbed Indonesia and Borneo for the Oil; US/NATO wants to grab Russia to control Siberian resources?
OTOH, as Ian says, the problem is not raw resources, it’s the processing. There is plenty of Bauxite, etc in Canada, Australia, etc to supply the West with Rare Earth elements, but it would take a decade or so to (re-?)build the infrastructure to process it. Worse, it would take a lot of money, and our Lizillionard Overlords would rather spend that on [more] yachts and bimbos…
someofparts
speaking of unconditional surrender to AI, check out the latest horrific news on the medical front –
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/10/ai-is-coming-for-your-doctor.html
I especially like the part about how all those doctors our stupid misleaders thought they were going to bring in from overseas won’t even come here anymore, not even to medical school, because no amount of money can entice them into working in the hellish US healthcare system
Maybe sooner than we think Trump’s big beautiful walls will be used to keep us inside instead of keeping everyone else outside.
Ahmed Fares
re: what a war with China would look like
[quote]
In the early days of a war with China, many of the forces located at these forward bases would not even be in the fight. Older, non-stealthy fighter jets, such as F-15s and F-16s, would not play an offensive role, because they could not survive against China’s advanced fighters and surface-to-air missile systems. The same is true of the Navy’s F-18s. The limited numbers of stealthy, fifth-generation fighter jets that could be brought to bear, such as F-22s and F-35s, can fly only several hundred miles on a single tank of fuel, so they would depend heavily on aerial refueling tankers to be able to reach their targets. But because those tankers are neither stealthy nor equipped with any self-defense capabilities, they would be shot down in large numbers. With those aircraft lost—which the Air Force never assumed could happen when they were developed—there would be no backups to keep America’s short-range fighter jets in the fight.
A similar dynamic would play out with America’s sea bases. Once the war started, US aircraft carriers in the region would immediately turn east and sail away from China, intent on getting more than a thousand miles away from the opponent’s long-range anti-ship missiles. But from that far away, none of the aircraft on the flight deck would be capable of reaching their targets without aerial refueling, so the Navy would find itself on the horns of the same dilemma the Air Force faced: its stealthy fighter jets would be pushed so far back that they could only get to their targets with the help of non-stealthy, defenseless refueling aircraft that would be shot down in large numbers.
All the while, Chinese satellites and radars would be hunting for those aircraft carriers as well as additional carriers meant to provide reinforcement that would begin their long journey across the Pacific Ocean from wherever they were in the continental United States. If found, those ships would face large salvos of Chinese missiles, especially the DF-21 and DF-26 anti-ship ballistic missiles, better known in US defense circles as “carrier killers.” The carriers and their escort ships might shoot down some of the missiles, but there would be so many that some could get through and knock the carriers out of the fight by cratering their flight decks, damaging their control towers, or destroying their aircraft before they even got airborne. It is also possible that a hit could be fatal, sending five thousand Americans and a $13 billion ship to the bottom of the ocean—all at the cost to China of around $10 million per missile.
source: The Kill Chain – Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare by Christian Brose (Former Staff Director Of The Armed Service Committee And Senior Policy Advisor To Senator John McCain)
Purple Library Guy
This Clinton-era class war is what I mean when I say the American ruling class became decadent. Class war to increase the amount of money in their individual pockets in the short term became more important to them than any national project to increase or maintain the power of the American empire and, through that, their overall power as a national ruling class in the slightly longer term. They are now reaping what they sowed.
Mind you, there had always been plenty of plutocrats who thought that way. But there were periods in the US where those particular plutocrats weren’t hegemonic, and the New Deal era was one. There’s a key moment where the decadent plutocrats crystallized their ideas and started systematically pushing to (re)gain control, which would be the infamous 1971 Powell memo.
(I couldn’t remember the name; I was kind of surprised that when I tried searching “1971 class war memo” it came up immediately)
This always seems to happen. There always seems to come a time in the growth of an empire when everyone starts to think it’s so powerful it will go on forever and it doesn’t matter if what they do weakens it in some way, because either it’s too strong for their little sabotage to matter, or if it does matter it won’t be until far in the future. So they stop worrying about whether what they do strengthens the empire, and just worry about how to suck some of its blood. Lucky for everyone else or they might just keep getting more powerful.
cc
If the US/West have lost or will soon lose the ability to make large volumes of advanced weapons, then it doesn’t make much sense for other countries to be buying those from them now. Ex. Canada should cancel the remaining F-35’s that the US probably won’t have the ability to deliver in the future – any they can still make would be prioritized for themselves. And are European advanced weapons production going to be any more viable? Why would China export rare earths to European vassals of the US that have shown no signs of any sovereign independence?
Perhaps Canada should limit our military spending to developing a defensive nuclear deterrence, and stop our belligerent military interventions into other peoples’ countries so far away from us (ex. Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, Latvia, China-Taiwan, …)
Tc
Thanks for the link, someofparts.
I had no idea doctors were “firing” patients. I have allegedly good insurance but cant find a primary care doc at all (I do have a dermatologist i see annualy to remove pre-cancers and occasionally cancer.
I do remember 15 years ago i had to get a physical to get a surgeon referral and got a hard sell on statins. My father had been on them and they kept moving the goal posts lower. By the time his cholesterol was under 100 his blood was so thin it was staining his sheets and towels.. I blew it off not imagining I was blacklisting myself.
That also explains the phenomenon of “interview” first appointments I noticed about 10 years ago. Wait 5 months for an appointment, take half a day off work, and just hope they will accept you as a patient and you can have a real physical 4 months later.
The last six yesrs Ive paid thousands a year for BCBS plus a $50 copay just for a n annual skin cancer screening
someofparts
between a rock and a hard place –
rock – love my pretty home town. have a small but cherished circle of lifelong friends I would be loathe to leave
hard place – but if I stay in this evil country I may die years before I should from lack of health care
KT Chong
Ahmed Fares: “Older, non-stealthy fighter jets, such as F-15s and F-16s, would not play an offensive role, because they could not survive against China’s advanced fighters and surface-to-air missile systems. The same is true of the Navy’s F-18s. The limited numbers of stealthy, fifth-generation fighter jets that could be brought to bear, such as F-22s and F-35s, can fly only several hundred miles on a single tank of fuel, so they would depend heavily on aerial refueling tankers to be able to reach their targets.”
In 2022, China launched the Ludi Tance No. 1 (LT-1) dual-satellite radar system.
Just last week, China revealed that the LT-1 is capable of detecting and tracking stealth jets like F-22 Raptor and B-21 Raider from orbit through clouds and in all weather conditions, which was previously thought to be impossible:
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3329199/chinas-new-space-borne-radar-tech-can-track-stealth-moving-targets-day-and-night-study
https://interestingengineering.com/military/chinas-space-radar-may-track-f-22s
https://www.eurasiantimes.com/china-touts-revolutionary-space-borne-radar/
So China has had that orbital stealth detection and tracking technology for a few years, but we did not find out until China low-key announced it last week.
mago
Revolving and interconnected themes of late all point to corrupt disastrous and incompetent policy from the (mis)ruling class and their clueless minions.
It’s why this site is important.
someofparts
the real point of the ICE raids –
https://www.youtube.com/live/zdWrHb8b-c0
No matter how bad you think it is, the true story is always worse.
Mark Level
A gentle correction to elkern– As to what explains “US/NATO attacks on Russia,” it’s a general mindset that goes back decades. They are “different”, their history was evil (putting the oligarchs in their place, beating the 3rd Reich) and the State Department has been NeoCon loonies all the way down at least since the Clintons. They have lots of resources as the world’s largest country of course, and relatively few people. See Mad Maddy Albright in the 90s, “What’s the point of having this superb military that you’re always talking about if we can’t use it?” to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, etc. Or Chickenhawk Lindsey Graham slavering over stealing “$17 Trillion in resources” the way he would slobber over a young, attractive rent boy.
The world is a nail, US, Japan Australia, 5 Eyes a combined hammer. “Beat it! Just beat it!”
Ahmed Fares makes an excellent point. China is a loooong way away and huge, slow-moving aircraft carriers would be easy targets. Will the professionals at the DoD allow a fuckup on this scale? I can’t say, it’s not impossible, would be stupid but something like 98% of what they do is stupid, so could well happen.
As to Tc’s point viz US health care. There is no “care”, hasn’t been since before Obamacare. They are just multi-level marketers, this is the true American “greatness” that US loves.
Around 2022 I started having tinnitus, near constant. I’d worked in maritime and construction in my late teens and early 20s, slept under or across from noisy engine rooms in the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi and Ohio rivers. My audiologist was excellent, found exactly the high range that I was losing hearing in, and explained how that makes the brain “compensate” (wrongly) for missing sound with its own static/noise broadcasts. Evolution ain’t perfect.
Then I discovered her only role was to sell me some expensive hearing aid which I don’t actually need. My hearing is still more than adequate. I did research online, cut off caffeine for 72 hours and it went away, near-totally. Stuck with that for a couple years.
I’m back to caffeine recently (long move across country) but it’s infrequent and not bad. Bruce Anderson of the AVA, in his early 90s, observed US Health “care” is nonexistent, should be avoided except in emergencies. At this point I fully concur. The body heals itself if your nutrition and sleep are good and stress levels aren’t too high. (I feel bad for those still working, how do you not have anxiety if you’re in the rat race?)
My “bad” hearing is only on the high-tone edge, frankly I don’t even notice it when listening to radio streams, if anything I hear better than in 2022 now and have to turn the volume level down on a lot of music. It’s nearly Halloween, time to remind people that avoiding vampires is generally good hygiene.
Mark Pontin
You’re not asking the next question, Ian.
[1] Sure: not only is any US attempt to rebuild its missile arsenal, depleted in Ukraine and Israel, and maintain its air force and the rest of its global bully posture potentiallydead, but so is its Hail Mary project around AI.
Role of Rare Earths in GPU and AI Datacenter Tech: Key Uses in AI/GPU/Datacenter Tech
Gadolinium (Gd) — Magnetic refrigeration and shielding in datacenter cooling
Lanthanum (La) — Optical lenses and catalysts in chip manufacturing
Cerium (Ce) — Polishing wafers and glass for chip fabrication
Neodymium (Nd — High-strength magnets in cooling fans, actuators, and HDDs
Dysprosium (Dy) — Heat-resistant magnets for server cooling and robotics
Terbium (Tb) — Enhances magnet performance in high-temp environments
Yttrium (Y) — Phosphors in LED displays and lasers used in chip lithography
Europium (Eu) — Red phosphors in display tech
[2] In which case, what happens to the AI bubble and the US economy?
Granted, two other big reasons exist for why the US datacenter buildout projected for 2030 won’t happen on the scale set out. (Real-world energy, and financial). Still, till those factors obviously come into play, the AI bubble can possibly proceed: ‘markets can be irrational longer than you can remain solvent,’ ‘while the music is playing, you have to dance,’ etcetera.
If and when Beijing clamps down on REE for chips and datacenters, though, *anyone* in the market will *know* the end is coming in the next few months, maybe two weeks from now, maybe tomorrow. In short, they’re all in the role of Jeremy Irons’s character in the bankers’ favorite movie, MARGIN CALL, when he makes the call: “This is it. This is it.”
What’s he say next? “There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat.”
[3] Be first. That’s what everyone has to be thinking then: that it’s time to liquidate at least some of their positions. So when that triggers a crash, what’s that look like?
Because it isn’t just that the likes of Oracle (and forex. estwhile world’s richest man Larry Ellison) is leveraged by a factor of 8.5, if I understand correctly, but that as of Q2 2025, approximately 34 percent of total U.S. household wealth is held in corporate equities and mutual fund shares (including direct stock ownership, equity in mutual funds, and such financial assets). Overall, that translates into $60 trillion of US household wealth.
And so on. In short, the Chinese can crash the West’s economies anytime they choose. And while that will have consequences for the Chinese, they may decide those consequences are worth risking as compared to letting current US/Western anti-China efforts proceed.
Jefferson Hamilton
Do people really click random videos? Say what you have to say.
Ian Welsh
Mark P,
yeah, I’m aware of that. Though popping the AI bubble would probably be a favor.
RenoDino
And let’s give a tip of the hat to China’s latest big leap forward, the Sodium Ion battery. This tech breakthrough will crush lithium battery use in most applications because it is superior in every category and costs two thirds less.
It’s in production now. It will take the West at least five years to compete.
tagio
“But if there’s one thing the West can’t do any more it’s definitely think beyond three months or “but China’s rare earths are cheaper, so we can’t do anything!!!!!”
LOL! Neoliberalism destroys itself. The “market” decides everything! The “market” fixes everything! Such obvious fortune cookie-style “wisdom” deployed to justify greed, inequality and the status quo. When your primary value is money, it will eventually destroy all other values.
Mark Pontin
@ tagio —
Or as someone or other said a while back, ‘the capitalists will sell us the rope to hang them.’
Not that it’ll necessarily lead to a kinder, gentler capitalism in the West. Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train. We’re quite likely to get fascism and a replay of the general plot line of Karl Polanyi’s The Great Transformation.
John k
Mark p & Ian
I agree the sooner the ai bubble pops the better, because later is bigger. But Nc guesses it would already be major bad.
Btw, available data shows margin debt is behaving like it did just 2x before.
KT Chong
It took this long for China to hit back with shutting down direct and indirect rare-earth exports to the U.S. because China had a critical vulnerability: helium. Helium is a crucial component in engineering, industrial, and scientific processes, and until just a few years ago, China relied heavily on imports from the U.S. for high-purity helium — reportedly around 95% of its supply. China worried that if it cut off rare earths to the U.S., America could retaliate by restricting helium exports, which would have crippled China’s advanced manufacturing, scientific research, and high-tech sectors.
Ever since Trump’s first term and the onset of the trade war, China has been quietly reducing its helium dependency on the U.S. It has ramped up domestic production, including breakthroughs in ultra-high-purity helium, and diversified imports away from the U.S., most notably toward Russia.
By 2025, the U.S. now supplies less than 5% of China’s helium. China has built up domestic production and now imports a significant portion — around 40% — from Russia. This shift gives China much more leverage against the U.S. in the current trade war. But it also creates a mutual dependence with Russia, carrying major geopolitical implications: China now has a vested interest in keeping Russia stable, including ensuring it does not lose the war in Ukraine. A disruption in Russian helium could threaten China’s strategic position in the trade war, since a Russian collapse would destabilize a key supply line.
In other words, China has eliminated its critical vulnerability to the U.S., strengthened its strategic position, but also created a new dependency on Russia that will factor heavily into its geopolitical calculations. In effect, the U.S. can blame no one but itself: by forcing China to move away from importing the majority of its helium from the U.S., it pushed Beijing toward Russia, creating a dependency that now ties China’s strategic interests to Russian stability and the outcome of the Ukraine War.
spud
more from Keen on free trade and MMT, which i support some parts of MMT, but not the absurdity of free trade.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnmxGDZj1_w
Steve Keen criticizes MMT on the US China trade deficit
spud
MMT has its place in certain area’s of a sovereign country that issues its own currency, but not in trade. trade is a liability in most cases, not a asset, and must be viewed as debt.
free trade is economic suicide.
Steve Keen criticizes MMT on the US China trade deficit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnmxGDZj1_w
Jorge
One aspect of US deindustrialization that everyone ignores is pollution. We got tired of being polluted.
The obesity epidemic is probably caused by pollution, and it is probably concentrated in the water supply. Go up into the US western mountains, and count the fat people. It’s slow going. There’s something about mountains, possibly that water supplies are discontinuous, or possibly low-oxygen metabolism.
cc
After reading KT Chong’s interesting post re helium:
Two months ago, Ukraine “drone attacks launched by the Main Intelligence Directorate” struck at one of Russia’s key helium production plants.
https://english.news.cn/20250812/d986119688b1475ab5405479c3991262/c.html
“The facility accounts for less than 14% of the nation’s output of the gas, making it the smallest of three such plants in Russia”, though other headlines suggest it might be Russia’s only rocket-grade production plant.
https://www.energyconnects.com/news/gas-lng/2025/august/russian-helium-site-still-intact-after-drone-attack-images-show/
Just three days ago, Ukraine again launched drone attacks at that helium plant:
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/drones-target-key-russian-gas-site-in-orenburg-1760853550.html
Iran is “estimated to possess about a third of the globe’s noble gas”, so perhaps that’s part of future helium supply diversification for China.
https://geoexpro.com/iran-to-finally-start-producing-helium/