An Electric Bus

 

An lithium-battery powered bus in Hamden, Connecticut that will need repair.

Putin's Inflation

According to economist Frank Shostak:

"Contrary to the popular definition, inflation is not about general rises in prices but about increases in the money supply. General increase in prices as a rule develops because of the increase in money supply. The harm that most people attribute to rises in prices is in fact due to increases in money supply. Hence, policies that are aimed at countering inflation without identifying what is it all about only make things much worse."

Vladimir Putin doesn't have anything to do with an increase in the US money supply.

 

US Government Financing EV Battery Factories

Proud capitalist USA is loaning $2.5 billion to a General Motors/ LG Energy Solution joint venture, Ultium Cells, that will produce batteries needed to propel the next generations of GM EVs. Details of the plan are sketchy but the financing will enable the construction of plants in Lansing, MI, Lordstown, OH and Spring Hill, TN. 

The socialist maneuver is a  "loan that will come from the department's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, which provides loans to support U.S. manufacturing of light-duty vehicles, parts and other materials that improve fuel economy."

Thus the state not only finances the construction of aircraft carriers, ICBMs, nuclear subs and the daily expenses of the Ukraine military defense, it also subsidizes the development of vehicles that are so far unproven in general use. It's a constant complaint from the US business community and government that foreign countries illegally subsidize the manufacture of some products but apparently electric sedans aren't an example.

Maybe the funds will come from the billions that illegal immigrants kiss good-bye in the social security deductions withheld from their paychecks that they'll never be able to collect.

(Facebook, Reporter.taiwan photo) 

Tesla after an accident in Taiwan

Antiquities Returned To The Italian People

A self-congratulatory press release by troubled Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg describes his office's  successful effort to return historical antiques to the "Italian people". 

 

Bragg's small army of investigators, compensated by the taxpayers, has repatriated 142 items supposedly valued at $14 million dollars. As usual, there are many questions about this entire process.

Accepting the fact that US law enforcement has assumed the role of global policeman for any and all crimes anywhere, is it really the role of Bragg's crew to pursue people involved with historical artifacts when problems with more immediate and violent crime seem to be an increasing plague in the Big Apple? Do the recipients of the heirlooms, doubtlessly agencies of the Italian government, reimburse the Manhattan DA's office for the expense of the investigations and recoveries?

How are the actual values of these items calculated, since there isn't any real open market for them? The pots and frescoes are now curiosities having no practical use and a value predicated on their age rather than any artistic merit, which is purely subjective.

Furthermore, what is the criterion for collective ownership of ancient art or anything else? How do we know that the looters of these items, and their families, haven't lived for many generations in close proximity to them? Does an Italian from Genoa have the same claim on a fresco excavated from Herculaneum as a Neapolitan? Do Italians anywhere in the world also have a claim on these antiquities, which have since become scattered over the earth or is any person with a historical connection with Italy still an Italian?

If the provenance of an antiquity, its history of ownership, becomes disconnected, it apparently reverts back to, in this case, an Italian state that didn't exist until1861. 

Finally, how much time must elapse before a potsherd or mosaic is considered to have historical importance that attracts the Manhattan DA's interest? If someone discovers a Basquiat painting hanging in a Norwegian restaurant without a bill of sale is it likely to be confiscated and returned to New York City?

  

Olive Oil, 1982  Jean-Michel Basquiat, Wikipedia Commons

More Post-Menopausal Matriarchy

 

indianexpress.com

Tuesday, July 19, 2022 US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will be giving a speech in Seoul, South Korea meant to encourage Asian and Pacific allies to adopt a skeptical attitude toward business with "China". The address has been given to the media prior to its personal delivery by the former official of the US Federal Reserve and head of the US Council of Economic Advisers:

____________________________________

 US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will call on Tuesday for deeper trade ties among allies to fortify their supply chains, combat inflation and thwart China’s “unfair trade practices” and efforts to dominate key raw materials and technologies markets.

 “We cannot allow countries like China to use their market position in key raw materials, technologies or products to disrupt our economy and exercise unwanted geopolitical leverage,” Yellen will say, according to excerpts released by the Treasury Department.

______________________________________

 

The soon-to-be 76 year-old lady has a 51 year background in academia that apparently doesn't contain much study of the principles of Adam Smith.

While China is a country with a one-party political system and elements of a command economy, Chinese trade isn't between the country as a whole and other nations. All trade is ultimately between individuals and cannot take place unless both sides of the bargain agree. The "unwanted geopolitical leverage" of which Yellen complains means that one participant is unhappy with the terms of a bargain. If a consumer is upset that a filet of Ahi tuna is more expensive than he can afford, what are his viable options? Perhaps one might be to intimidate the fleet of the fishery folk with the possibility of sinking its vessels. Or he might grill swordfish steaks rather than tuna at his next soiree. 

Janet Yellen has been eligible for Social Security benefits for fourteen years. While she may have been the sharpest knife in the drawer when she accepted a teaching position at Harvard in 1971 the forces of human biology have been at work in the many years since. She's a little old lady with limited experience in the world at large. It's ridiculous that she not only has an important role in the day-to-day life of Americans but also others in the world who are unaware of her existence. 

China: MI5 and FBI heads warn of ‘immense’ threat

FBI Director Christopher Wray and British MI-5 boss Ken McCallum gave an unusual joint presentation to a group composed of business executives and academic leaders at Thames House in London, according to the BBC. The focus of the talk was the threat presented by the Chinese to the West, mostly in economic terms.

Unlike in the Cold War era, when the Free World was forced to spend billions to prevent the godless Soviets from spreading their ideology everywhere, Wray and McCallum, and the organizations they represent, are engaged in a battle with the Chinese over technology that's supposed to be worth billions rather than socialist theory.

Leaving aside the fact that MI-5 represents an increasingly irrelevant entity that simply happens to be an ally of the US and that the credibility of the FBI through the questionable legality of its domestic activities has suffered, are these two bureaucracies even competent enough to handle this task? 

Of course, they do have help. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said days ago:  We have an interest in ensuring that international behaviour and differences are not resolved by power and size only, they are resolved by reference to international norms and laws. 

She made this statement during a visit to Singapore that included meetings with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. But aren't international norms and laws pretty much dictated by entities of power and size? The new Partners in the Blue Pacific is an example.

Indeed, China does have a size advantage over every other country on the planet, at least in terms of population. Power is another thing. Chinese ability to project power in a meaningful, international context isn't a threat for most of the rest of the world. Its potential and real economic muscle is another thing. No longer a communist country, if it ever was one, China is now a command state capitalist  venture operated by a single party that seems to be successful by many measures. This is why various Western nations feel threatened.

Actually, the Western nations don't feel threatened, figures in their governments and business communities do. Attempts by the UK and the US to keep China in the foyer of economic development will harm their own populations and the Chinese more than the Chinese government, who, just like the UK and US nomenclatura are transitory figures in the scheme of history.