Easternization and Economist Irrelevancy

(Updated 2016-07-04)

An eastern driven paradigm is emerging dominant to supplant western control of all things economic, but I don’t want to call this a mere paradigm shift—that would be giving too much credit to the western way of life that only knows how to get high on credit, in the process destroying its credibility and its ability to evaluate itself and others. The title, rather, hopefully connotes the emergence of something substantive (a paradigm) filling a multi-hundred year vacuum of cross-dressed imperialism. The artificially floating island that has been loosely anchored is now encountering severe waves on vibrational planes in which its narrow ideology overlooked or lacked the capacity to factor in: it’s a 2-dimensional object about to learn for the first time that it exists in a 3-dimensional world. The ensuing “Economist Irrelevancy” that I chose for the title over the original and unjustly impartial place holder “Economic Relativism” will see the conclusions drawn from this vacuous field of thought now appropriately overlooked and disregarded.
I mention the impropriety of utilizing the concept economic relativism, which I mean here as something akin to cultural relativism, because the notion that neither the eastern mixed economies could say anything valid about our western economics and vice versa is not the case at all. The eastern economies won’t need to say anything, their proof of success will be that they endure, and the western economies and their economist ideologues won’t be able to say anything because they’ll be drowning in their own blood from their tongues they self-severed. To put it another way, the East not only has something valid, it’s very validity is in the process going to invalidate the peculiar western mode of monetizing and destroying every natural resource we define as such—water, timber, herds, grains, humans, metals, the fossil fuels to move them… The western lack of a paradigm has done such a poor job in our interactions with the rest of the world that it is surprising there is still an element in the world with enough energy and courage to blaze a slightly less destructive path, and this is taking in to account the smoggy horrors of eastern industrial cities, the topless mountaintops, and the autocratic ruling elites who occasion massacres on their own people. With such horrors from the eastern theatre being accounted for and its still being a hope for the world is testament to how low the West has dug itself: endangered is always preferable to extinct.

Economist irrelevancy—like the return to a multi-generation household—is going to be a creeping reality that will see growing percentages of the public sphere paying less and less attention to the unveiled charlatans. There has been little to no science behind the mainstay economist “scientific” theories, and there is only poor insight warranted from historical analysis as supplement, so it should be no surprise that the enterprise is failing on its own accord, sped along now by more sensible (eastern) approaches to society. I say society, and not economics, because the very notion of economics as an individuated and separate domain (a western notion) from the domains of culture, governance, and biology, is itself a predestination for ruination. It is true that there have been brilliant and important insights offered by economists from time to time, but these concepts or methodologies they have arrived at almost always travel abroad in to other academic territories, and are strengthened the further away they get from the isolated economics sub-field, and the more interdisciplinary their content and applicability becomes. It’s worth being fair and should be mentioned, also, that our well-known economists do have a handicap, namely that they are partisans that must toe the party line rather than bear integrity, and they are generally sycophants hoping for promotion with fool knowledge they offer nothing tangible—save delusions and convenient propaganda—to the larger society. We can choose to weep for these unfortunates put in a difficult spot with an education that is premised on serving an ideological system that is constantly in need of first aid, or we can arrive at tears from a life-enhancing hysterical laughter.

The above three paragraphs are reason enough that anyone reading reports from the western press that say China specifically is in trouble because of such and such an economic indicator, or say some new statistic signals a downturn, has the right to be highly skeptical (or outright dismissive). It’s absurd that a failing western economy would produce economists that could know how to analyze whether or not it was a good thing for an ascending economy like China to orchestrate a synergy of nations to begin adopting precious metals backed currencies. This mixed economy (for lack of a better term) is way out of their league, and China might be viewing itself as an exporter nation in much more significant ways than mere tacky consumer goods. They may be viewing their emerging position to be producing finished goods for themselves (as opposed to the European colonial model of colonies as markets) with a refocus of their major export to no longer be consumer goods, but to be a currency, itself a finished good, that took the raw materials of gold and legitimacy, and fused them together to sell to a world hungry for security from western destabilization. It is foreseeable that China at some point will give particular industries a break in some cases, as they have to be aware of the externalities of severe pollution; this is something that would never happen in a western corporate capitalist model where externalities are never factored in proactively, only reactively when they directly affect the principle business efforts; China has the advantage of potentially caring for their own people despite a contrast with profit motives.

Unemployment, a positive indicator in a smarter paradigm.

At basis, before the layers of confused thought are piled on top of it, unemployment signals a surplus that must exist, enough of a surplus so that there can be people that aren’t working that are still able to be fed and kept alive entirely without a physical need to contribute within the monetized economic sphere; either that alone, or in combination with a situation where the monetized economic sphere is overly narrow and neglects being the measurement of real value, is what is really happening when looking at a society from a bird’s-eye view. Surplus in these situations can then translate either in to several individuals having no jobs or a greater number having easier jobs that might be loosely thought of as “underemployment”. Higher unemployment is thus a compliment to the interaction that a society is having with the natural world, that there is enough abundance for the human peoples dwelling there produced by less than the effort of all the individuals combined. Job creation, on the other hand, is a sign that the economy is slipping in production, so that additional help is needed whereas it previously was not. The hiring of more hands means at base that the hands you already had are getting weaker (or the load of work is getting heavier and more daunting).Yet the highly distorted western ideological framework has these two concepts—not analogous but akin to “Orwellian speak”—completely reversed! Such an individual focused mindset stemming perhaps from consumer capitalism (¿rather than producer capitalism?) feels it is a great value to have everyone of age be working, regardless that such a large number of the jobs are actually counter-productive and cause a further wasting-away of the commons. People being miserable at their jobs is not factored in at all, though it may be the most important intrinsic indicator of how sick a society, let alone an economy, really is. An economy that grows at the expense of the society in which it is embedded, given enough time will be no economy (or society) at all.

Recent reports lambasting China’s economy from the unemployment angle are therefore bunk, if they are not to be utilized as a supplement to some other point that goes beyond just a narrow statistical dipstick. Again we must speculate, but perhaps the growing unemployment in China is already or going to be translated in to a 30 hour work week, or an increased level of leisure time for vacationing and cultivating cosmopolitan sensibilities in a people that are poised to take over the global economy with a powerful currency that will facilitate their travel. Perhaps China has a powerful enough spine now that they can go-alone the introduction of a gold-backed currency, shut down the factories and stop exporting for two full years because they aren’t dependent on those profits, and buy 100% of their goods from foreign makers because of their highly valued non-fiat currency. This unlikely but mathematically possible scenario could also greatly benefit their usurpation of the global reserve currency status because they will be seeding their money all over the globe, driven by meeting the wants and needs of 1.3 billion people. If that’s not conquering I don’t know what is, yet western economists would call it an economy in shambles: 100% unemployment, no industrial output… yet doing the best ever and breathing clean air! What a clear view of our inversion predicament that would be! China could be unbelievably powerful because of the global historical fascination with gold as a store of value, yet I’m sure they still feel the need to tread lightly with extremely dangerous military powers still lurking, ones that have proven they will use nuclear weapons to further their aims; such potent adversaries on the game board of the global economy are sure to give pause to China if not cause them full impotency.

Focusing in on the coming trend of Chinese vacationing out in the world with a powerful currency in their wallet, I think many tourist destinations will start (or already have) to easternize in their favor ahead of their arrival. Places will compete to be eastern and as it happens, more nature friendly: the McDonalds in the Bahamas will be gutted and replaced with perhaps a Chinese water garden and some other traditional nuances that I have no clue of, because they’ll no longer be fishing for dollars that had the silver lining wear off, but for big catch RMBs that beneath the plain scales have flesh made of gold.

Anyways, times are changing and so are the parameters by which we can hope to evaluate that change. Such an odious place that could genocide an entire continent’s people (the Native Americans) and not admit it to itself is not a very self-honest or thoughtful place, so I doubt much of intellectual value could emerge that allows an honest look at foreign societies let alone at down-spiraling internal dynamics.

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Excerpt: Easternizing Europe

Brexit. Ahead of the UK’s June vote on whether or not they should leave the EU, they are already precipitated towards being rescued from the east. The UK’s dismal energy prospects along with their import dependency leave them ripe for some version of Chinese-led commercial colonization. The June vote will merely be a brake or an accelerator to this inevitable pathway. I would not be surprised if another country leaves the EU just ahead or following Britain’s vote, to really set the tone for a cascade of dismemberment.

Germany. A country that has just as many reasons to be in the line to leave the EU as the UK is Germany. For their part I think they’d want to get out while they still have some stamina to prevent being in a similarly full colonizable situation. However, as with most analytic endeavors of humans, it would be wrong to think of a modern nation as a unified individual with full sovereignty—nations are merely indicator points or mile markers.

As for the rest of the EU, if it survives the upcoming tumults that shift power formally from West to East, it will be in name only. If it doesn’t fall apart entirely as far as the obfuscating narrative the media tells, it will be rebranded for all those who depend on their normalizing propaganda.

(more on Easternization in an upcoming post)

3 Predictions plus a four-cast: European Vandalism, Treasury Piratism, Cersei’s Death, and Eastern Goldbacked Elasticity

Ahead of the equinox I wanted to float some far fetched futurecasts, laden with bombast. The first two are predictions for western/eastern civilization, while the last one is a prediction for Westeros/Essos of Game of Thrones (spoilers if you haven’t seen through season 5). These three can be thought of as an appendage to my 2016 predictions. [edit: on 2016-05-02, I am adding a fourth prediction regarding the reintroduction of the gold standard by Eastern nations]

1) There is a high probability that next winter European temperatures will be far below average (they are due in the context of this new deregulated climatic cycle, if not next winter than the following), and whatever the normal human systems existing to remedy such cold contingencies, efforts are sure to fall grievously short of meeting the needs of the increased population. Population is, of course, the number one factor leading European events towards a 2017 winter culmination that will be reminiscent of 406AD in the Roman Empire. The cultural conflicts already existing will be greatly exacerbated when the long night(s) come, and don’t expect either side to simply acquiesce to the needs of the others. History shows that people do not typically just lay down and die (though they do lay down and stop living, evidenced by contemporary consumerist trends). Expect all the foresight that was mocked as ad absurdum speculation to be made viscerally real, a new and twisted self-directed jingoism becoming governmental policy. If the Arab populations moving in (or being intentionally herded) to Europe are as vulgar and criminally apt as they are purported to be—a great prison unloading—there is no telling what the series of reaction-reaction-reaction-reaction will spiral in to. Certainly every ideologue—and Europe has been home to plenty—will try to spin the situation to their own benefit, and to “the other’s” detriment; a demagogue such as Trump would really be in his element when all this shit goes down (but clogs the swelling toilet on its way). My own spin to it has to be ironic: karma is the boomerang you eventually forgot you threw. Imperialism eventually cycles back.

2) While the Donald is on the mind, the next prediction may involve Trump as a spokesperson, but it could be any collection of oligarchs and minions that generally adhere to the Oceania-neocon agenda. There is no specific time frame on this—the timing will depend entirely on the elite/governmental perception of a critical point in which to unveil yet another stopgap measure to constipate a full blown financial collapse. I feel the need to build the context before unveiling the details of this prediction:

The recent trend of investors hunkering in to treasury bonds, specifically United States treasuries, is going to be fully exploited by the always-Machiavellian banker/governmental elites that have access to the financial policy levers. All this foreign wealth still flowing (and even accelerating during market cascades) in to the endemically-corrupt-treaty-breaking nation of the United States really shows a great deal of denial and/or ignorance-driven trust of people/countries towards the bereft banker cartel. It’s true that many countries have not been so reckless as to buy in to American debt, but they will still feel the pinch nonetheless. The economic will become political in its highest expressions, for this is 2016 and the eight year cycle of the changing of the guard in America is to have widespread entwinings.

Before election, after election, after inauguration… at some point, a political person and/or party, being heralded as the ultimate patriots, will unleash a formal policy that disallows the investors of the world from redeeming their treasuries. To my knowledge such an act is unprecedented, and it could only realistically be done by a government that presides over the global reserve currency and holds the “kingbreaker” cards in its military as well. Expect presages and all sorts of domestic propaganda—before, during and after—to corroborate with this move, even a lame educational outreach to reassure the financially literate people of the legitimacy of the government to act in such a way to secure national interests. Of the propaganda efforts, the leader will address the American people with something akin to this:

“The American nation is exceptional because of our greatness. It is because of that greatness that we have long been a target by others: I’m not just referring to our known enemies, but by all who harbor jealousy and have a penchant towards being leeches. The rest of the world has been riding our good times up, but now they are bailing out on us, trying to take us for all we are worth. In stockmarket terms, they are all trying to short us. We are not a nation that allows ourselves to be sold down the river. They have confused our kindness with weakness. It is they who are acting weak, and we cannot allow such weak peoples to one second use our juggernaut economy for their own purposes, and the next try and throw it away. We cannot allow that… and it is not just for our country’s own good, but for theirs. Though the world may not realize it, as they attempt to rob us, they need us a lot more than we need them. We allow their goods to be sold in our country. Where would the world be without American ingenuity? We gift the world our cutting edge technologies at a fair price, enabling many countries to effectively emerge from poverty. We build highways both literal and figurative, networks that allow trade to effortlessly move throughout the globalized world. Until this act, we have always allowed and encouraged the free flow of money between individuals and nations. But for myself, as your president, I will not let our ship be threatened by the boats trying to sink us. This is my highest charge, and on my watch I will not allow the rapid redeeming of treasury bonds by countries trying to cash in on our first class economy. It is wrong, and it has to be stopped.”

Such is a taste of what tactics will be used to pirate the money that was invested in the dollar. Why wouldn’t “they” do it? The oligarchs know they can get away with it because of their kingbreaker position (that threatens China and Russia from gaining full hegemony). As for the morality of such a potential action, or if it is in any way reprehensible, I’d like to export a modified Bushism to the world: “fooled by us twice [or a hundred times], shame on you!”

A political cartoon condemning the action would picture the president and have the caption:

“Ha, ask for a debt jubilee? Let’s just give ourselves one!”

3) I glimpsed a possible pattern in the “GoT Season 6 Official Poster” that, if true, reveals Cersei to be dead by the time the season is over. Please consult the poster (below) to better understand the following written pattern. The pattern for the six characters represented in the Hall of Faces characters starts from the upper left, then moves “south–south-eastward” by a 1:2:2:1 rhythm and symmetry. In the upper left is Jon Snow, who by being brought back from the dead could be considered “twice-alive”; the two after that—Daenerys and Sansa—are both once alive, having been saved, narrowly escaping death; the two after that—Oberyn and Robb—are once dead, killed by complete surprise. The last face—Cersei’s—has to be twice dead, to complete the pattern. How can someone be twice dead? Suicide—the killing of that which was already dead. Her storyline heretofore would support her attempting a suicide. She has already been publicly shamed, she has lost her son and will find out she’s lost her daughter, and not to mention she was ready to kill her third child before he could be captured (Battle of the Blackwater). In the Hall of Faces poster, she is also looking down which I think goes to signify many things, including her downfall and suicide.

[May 2, 2016 edit-in:]

4) Jim Willie and Andrew Gause are two economically-minded thinkers (not sycophantic bullshitters) who expect to see precious metals skyrocket in value as people and nations around the world reject insolvent and corruptible fiat currencies along with their corresponding bonds and treasuries. The former (Willie) predicts a China-centered reintroduction of the gold standard, while the latter (Gause) thinks such a move on the part of China would be impractical because of the inelasticity that would hamper their global economic conquest. While their two thoughts on the matter may seem mutually exclusive, I predict China to maneuver a middle ground that will only be visible to one with a diachronic eye.

The ever patient eastern dragon—not to be confused with a Targaryen—is very well organized and able to act with great subtlety, orders of magnitude more minute than the blundering western nations. They will reintroduce a precious metals backed currency over time, either as a singular nation or conglomerated with other tight trade-partners. With gold set to rise many fold, they will choose a ripe time when gold’s new legitimacy is unquestioned and that they have also accumulated enough during the years of relative suppression. The new Shanghai Gold Exchange and fix, itself a viable entity to restore realistic physical gold trading, is also serving as a stratagem to display China’s trustworthyness to global investors seeking a safe harbor: it is a lead up to their offering a currency that will have everyone flocking to their gates. So far things look to be very much in align with Willie’s predictions…

When China does hit times of inelasticity, as Gause thinks they would were they to back their currency with gold, China will employ their option: release yet more gold to back their currency needs. Their initial backing will be large and substantial, but it will be in part a feign and a trial balloon. The key is that China will not back their currency with all their gold all at once; they will keep a large quantity (in the tens of thousands of tons) waiting in reserve. They will do it in stages as necessary, winning enthusiasm each step of the way, diluting/concentrating as needed, and thwarting all the major problems that western economists delineate a goldbacked currency would bring. Their employment of a creeping normalization with their currency has other precedents that run parallel, such as their taking on the role of being the largest industrial manufacturer in the world. There should be know doubt that these people know what they are doing.

By the time their capturing of the global reserve currency status (utilizing the gold standard method) is a few years in, not just media punditry but entire cultural systems will be normalized to Chinese economic prowess, and western economic schools of thought will largely be bankrupted, nobody left who can read English will be able to afford to spend their time reading the antiquated and off-based notions of a bygone peculiar age… they will be too busy working for their Chinese bosses! I am no economist, but I think possessing a plurality of the world’s gold will give China and its allies the flexibility to move their pieces forward on the game board of economic conquest.

[minor grammar edit (see comments below) made on 2016-05-12]

Globalisation Chinese’sway: Housing Bubble or Future Hegemonic Infrastructure?

There was no place to comment on Charles Hugh Smith’s blog post that pointed out a major potential fault line in China’s economy, namely their scores of empty apartments… so I thought it best to write a response here:

These Chinese city flats and other housing constructions (maybe a suburban phenomena as well? I don’t know enough about China’s current urban developments—it’s doubtful even China does) are sitting brand new, completed, but as of yet unsold. The fear of the short-sighted analysts (I don’t necessarily number CHS as one of them, he’s just pointing the issue out) is that this bubble of bad investment will crash China’s economy as well as the global economy. I’m guessing their fears are at least in part because of the illiquidity being literally built in to China’s economy with such permanent and potentially wealth-sucking blackholes as uninhabited buildings.

Whether or not China intends it—but I think they do—these housing options will be where some of the new non-Chinese moneyed elite will be flocking to as China remains one of the few economies left standing; they will certainly be the strongest country (financially) left after the financial and energy markets wreak havoc, so long as things don’t go terribly wrong militarily. These notions of far reaching global shifts in power don’t generally enter into the minds of most western analysts, especially given the fact that their “macro” analyses were built of (soon to be) antiquated western worldviews that preclude such thought. I think that is why I am probably relatively alone in seeing what seems to be such a “metaphysical” problem (because economics these days are truly pejoratively, metaphysical) as really a grand physical opportunity. Just because liquidity can dry up and prove to be really valueless, doesn’t mean that illiquid goods won’t have a great deal of value. To have a surplus of housing is quite a good thing to be holding on to, as opposed to a load of worthless federal reserve notes.

Indeed, China will become a global host, opening up to be a more modest cosmopolitan country (in comparison to a whored out Manhattan) so long as the benefits are mostly to the mother country. China has to be anticipating its interception of the globalized world and it is certainly doing all in it’s power to not intercept a candle that will in short order be blown out. They will want to keep as many national thermal generators burning and how better to do that than housing some of their leaders to inspire them with residency in a still “functioning” (in terms of industrialized capitalism) economy. They know they will need to cheerlead and put forth great amounts of energy—much like the US did after WW2 with the Marshall plan—to keep their new satellite states orbiting around their dense sphere of interdependent dominance.

This will prove to be just one in several concurrent chess moves that will put Eurasia back in the seat of prominence.

Pole Reversal: Syria as Venue For The Sino-Russo Coming Out Party

As many media outlets either offer their own context or are lacking entirely in that respect, I thought I would offer my own humble understandings. I am no expert in the regional conflict in Syria nor in the Russian state apparatus and its subtleties, nor in all the intelligence shadow war bullshit that keeps everything as a smoke and mirrors game in that poor shelled-out area of the world. The same is true for me with regards to information bytes, where everything I know as far as specifics is provided to me via a tainted media-ted information system with it’s own exclusive interests. In the face of all these restrictive channels off which to base an educated judgment, I have adopted as a view-world (not to be mistaken with my peculiar world-view) the outlook of Jim Willie, faute de mieux. So, to the events of Russia openly bombing positions in Syria we turn:

I think what JW would say about tonight is that this is the coming out party for the Sino-Russo global power shift. Russia openly involving all public channels to let it be known that they are taking a stance in this conflict as a sovereign power, not beholden to US or EU oversight; they are posturing on the big stage where the hapless masses are their audience. In a moment of naivete I would maybe have said they were campaigning for public opinion, but I think the more cynical view is the correct one: they are conjuring the public opinion that will match the already existing geo-political realities. These realities are that China and Russia are already in the driver’s seat as much as there can be said to be a driver in this insanely apocalyptic ride where the entire Earth’s ecosystem down to small bacteria are no longer assured survival. Leaving that aside (which too often it is left aside!), much has been under way for a Eurasian trade zone to command global commerce long before tonight, with perhaps the most notable trend being the Russia and Chinese accumulation of gold in contrast to the west’s squandering of their gold supply.

To summarize, what happened today in Syria is just one of many pretexts to come that will be publicly legitimating the phasing out of the dollar’s dominance as the foreign reserve currency, to be replaced by some yet unknown BRICS backed modality for global commerce. Better re-orient (de-occident) your future orthographic projections:

The Kingmaker Generation: if there isn’t a Jesus soon, the masses will create one

These are some not fully developed ruminations on where I believe the United States is heading politically:

Will this leader be a fascist? I’m not quite sure that the intensive state-aspect of 20^th century European fascism will be accepted by the fascistic followers in the American context; there will certainly be a populist dynamic between the leader and his followers, but I can’t say that the leader will be able to augment state power without losing the support of the people. The American tradition of distrusting the government, the federal in particular, might be one of the redeeming factors as the stage is set for an American fascism. Is this tradition flow in the blood of the younger generations, though?

There is also to factor in the military’s reaction: I can’t say I know, or care to know, the minds of the generals who are so used to being involved in foreign affairs, what their reaction would be to such a populist, right wing tainted movement. I don’t know that they would “play ball,” and there might be a “month of 15 emperors”, a series of coups on top of one another greatly confusing things, where any masters of chaos will spin and speculate the situation to their advantage.

All these theatrics will be contingent upon the whims of the Chinese underwriters who will not be painting the picture of American life, but will be constructing the picture frame and choosing the colors that can be used and not used.

China’s town, or, All your base are belong to us

China, first in line to inherit the globalized world markets, wants to protect its kingdom for a smooth transition, and allowing the United States to completely fall apart and destroy the structure is not a viable option. The Chinese have been too clever and patient to allow a full meltdown of the United States to fall too deep and put out a gravity wave that whirlpools down other strategic partners. That’s not to say the United States won’t be allowed to fall down, but it will be in a controlled, systematic way that doesn’t threaten Chinese interests. Now that the strategy has been laid out, the question now focuses in on tactics. The Chinese asked themselves: what do you do with a rabid animal that is too dangerous to shoot?

You cage the beast…

… and confuse its muscles’ abilities to function in unified coordination through methods of tranquilization and hitting it from all different angles at unexpected intervals. The cage, however, is the capstone of the Chinese efforts and is being built in plain sight for all of us to see or not see, we just need an appropriately contextualized lens in front of our eyes. The Chinese are buying up controlling interests of major cities like New York in the form of property assets. The purchasing frenzy is not due to private Chinese individuals trying to escape China and invest in the United States; nay, it is part of the Chinese global economic policy to control and divest the remaining wealth from the United States. New York will be one of several major bases of operation for the Chinese to sift out important resources for its mega-population such as food, one of the most obvious. For energy purposes, I wouldn’t be surprised if they buy up a few bankrupted fracking operations (there are sure to be plenty to choose from soon) and start testing out experimental (and controversial) fracking methods, too destructive and environmentally unfriendly even for the thick-lunged inhabitants of the coal smog Shanghai sphere; remember, these are the people who blow up mountains to get at their coal. If there is to be an accurate global history text written in a few hundred years, it will not speak of North America as having a colonial period followed by a time of flourishing sovereign nation states; it will speak of the continent as an ongoing carving ground for power thirsty empires to keep fueled, much the same way as Africa has been treated since at least as far back as the Berlin conference of 1884. What is going from 13 states in 1776 to 50 states by the mid 1959 if not colonization?

The degree to which the USA didn’t effectively isolate itself is the degree to which China (along with some oligarchic Wall Street allies) will further isolate us. Control of the seas and the ports allows them the ability to truly block or deter residents to enter or leave the country, an option they may use in the future if they sense some threat to their overarching continental dominance. The colonists of the 18th century used to sneak in and out of the country to evade British patrols and blockades, but I think it would be an insult to them to assume we have afforded to us the same skills and grit to get more than a mile from the coast without being disoriented about where we were actually trying to escape to. Further, Chinese technology is sure to catch us if it needs to, and our primitive use of consumer technology is sure to be ineffective in the face of this—I hate to be hopeless but we don’t stand a chance if this scenario develops, at least as Chinese power is waxing. If they truly want us trapped, we will truly be trapped. Who knows how bad it could get? We might have to start producing papers when an armed guard requests them of us whilst entering New York through the Holland Tunnel. We do have our own arms, but they are sure to be factored in to a containment policy where we are “free to shoot” each other on purpose or by accident allowing our munitions to wane.

The role of imports/exports, and control over the internal political and economic life by a Wall Street oligarchic group that I sometimes mention, I will leave to an adjacent, upcoming post.