The Future Of The IRA

The Inflation Reduction Act. That's the Orwellian moniker of legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden on August 16th, 2022. It hasn't reduced inflation.

It's actual goal was authorizing $783 billion in federal money to combat climate change. Evidently there wasn't enough money for the congressional Whigs to finance the fake efforts of their cronies, off-shore wind turbines, solar panels, direct capture CO2 pipelines and sequestration, hydrogen research and carefully orchestrated propaganda. Funds were also needed to gain the support of academia and the media to create the anxious atmosphere necessary for public acceptance. 

 greencarreports.com

A large share of the general population, if they thought about the "problem" at all, felt that the issue was an example of Marxist thinking intruding on the US capitalist system. They were wrong. The climate crisis was a great  opportunity for both existing energy providers and an entreprenurial capitalist class looking for entry level openings with huge subsidies.

The election of 2024 may have changed that. The president-elect has made known his skepticism of the climate emergency and his plan to roll back provisions of the IRA. If successful this will create financial negatives that will compromise the survival of the new entrepreneurs and disappoint the existing energy structure. Since there have already been deals and commitments based on the IRA, all of which involve big money, there will be much conversation between business moguls, their congressional allies, the relevant bureaucrats and the involved researchers. Modifying legislation once enacted is even more difficult than initially creating it because dependencies have been created. 

 

anker.com

Ultimately, the situation is an example of the failure of the democratic process and government in general that ends when all the money isn't gone but redistributed among the oligarchs. 

 

 

SPD Chancellor Olav Scholz Sneaks Off To Kyiv

According to Al Jazeera:

 German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has pledged additional military support worth $680m to Ukraine in an unannounced visit to Kyiv after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought security guarantees from NATO against steady Russian advances.

The Russian invasion itself has been a response to the Ukrainian desire to be protected by NATO. Like all things German, the US has been and remains the author of this German policy.

At the same time, the Prosecutor's General Office of Ukraine says that 100,000 soldiers have deserted since the Russian invasion in February 2022. Some Ukraine military authorities claim the number may be as high as 200,000. Apparently, many of these deserters have made their way to Germany, where they intend to stay. It's estimated that as many as 60,000 Ukrainians are living in Berlin. The status of Ukrainian refugees differs from other asylum seekers in that they are permitted to work and receive benefits such as health care and language courses.

In Austria:  Since April 21, 2023, persons who have an "Ausweis für Vertriebene" are exempt from the Alien Employment Act. This means that you have free access to the Austrian labour market and can be employed by an Austrian employer in the same way as he/she would employ an Austrian or EU citizen. In particular, the employer does not have to apply for a work permit ("Beschäftigungsbewilligung") for you.

The US has announced $725 million in military aid for Ukraine drawn from Pentagon stockpiles.

 According to the US State Department:

"Uniting for Ukraine provides a parole pathway for Ukrainian citizens forced to flee their homes as a result of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.  Individuals granted parole through Uniting for Ukraine will be able to travel to and stay in the United States for up to two years.

Uniting for Ukraine (U4U) opened for registration on April 25, 2022, and is managed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). As of December 2023, over 170,000 Ukrainians have been granted parole through U4U for up to two years. We refer you to DHS and the Uniting for Ukraine website for more information on the requirements and benefits of this program."

 

Racism

 

thesun.com

Evidently, racism is such a big problem that it's intruded into the decor of professional athletic attire.  

In fact, it's such a problem that it's a major topic of conversation in the mastodon media at all times. But what is racism? In reality there is only one race of humans, the human race itself. Since there doesn't seem to be any evidence of living Neanderthals or Australopithecans we'll just have to assume that those races of primates aren't around and the only race of advanced primates are humans. Thus racism on the part of humans must be directed against themselves. So much for grammatical pedantry. 

Racism is actually used to describe the disdain of  one breeding population for another on the basis of cultural factors and perhaps history. Part of being a member of a given culture is accepting its tenets and beliefs and refusing to accept conflicting ones of other cultures. A group of people held in low esteem by those nearby will have difficulty in being accepted as equals, perhaps for an extended period of time, maybe centuries or ever. 

The cultural differences are most apparent in things like food, sanitary practices, male-female relationships, religion and many other things. 

The consumption of dogs in South Korea is being legally phased out because it doesn't comply with the idea of the proper treatment of man's best friend in the West. Pork is forbidden to Muslims and Jews. Hindus in India and elsewhere revere cows and protect rather than eat them.

Westerners are outraged by child brides, a child being anyone under 16, and polygyny, men with multiple wives. Utah was refused statehood until the Mormon church forbid the practice. Oddly, parts of the West are OK with multiple wives. The Emir of Qatar has three wives and 13 children but only his senior wife has accompanied him on his trip to the UK. No one seems to be too upset.

Evidence of "racism" consists of conjecture of cultural difference by appearance. An Anglo male with three wives won't be a  victim of "racism" if the strangers around him are unaware of his harem. If they are, he'll legally be a bigamist, a criminal, not a race problem.     

James Rickards Talks About "The American System"

Published in the on-line "Daily Reckoning" on Nov. 11, James Rickards, a well-known authority on money matters, speculates on the financial implications of the US election results for investors. He talks about Trump's fixation with tariffs as an example of the "American System" but doesn't mention that this system was the product of the Whig party led by Henry Clay until it was converted to the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln that has maintained Whig theories of economics and government until this day. 

The Whigs were a different and more complex group of gangsters than those leading other governments, who simply confiscate the wealth of the citizenry. Having no income tax available the Whigs used tariffs and land sales to finance their infrastructure projects. Of course the reality is that tariffs are a tax on the general population, not those supplying the imports. The infrastructure projects, canals, roads, railroads, battleships, ICBMs, etc., were built by cronies of the Whigs. It wasn't a free market and it isn't today. 

One would think that the goal of a free market democracy would be to lower the cost of everything, from peanuts to legal billings, from housing to medical care. Isn't that what "efficiency" is all about? When someone needs the shingles on his roof replaced he probably doesn't pick the most expensive bidder to do the job. 

Getting back to Trump's theories of trade and their effect on the economy, it should be understood that the policies he favors can work both ways. While the US is now described more as a "service provider" than a manufacturer, the services that the Yankees might seek to export are also vulnerable to trade restrictions. It would be easy for some small, developing country to kick McKinzie or some other consultant out the door.

One might wonder why the Philippines, a country with a long but tortured relationship with the US and a well-educated population, much of which is fluent in English, doesn't have a more prominent place in the US economic scheme compared to Taiwan, Japan or even Viet Nam. It's because the Philippine constitution requires majority domestic ownership of business and property. Imports are heavily regulated. This fact may have worked in their favor or not.