World War Three?

[seanD]

See my previous post. Default comes before bankruptcy and often triggers it. And the situation with Sovereign debt and personal debt is very different as you note.

Sure, in theory, a person who is underwater with say their mortgage can always get a credit card if their credit is good enough and pay off their mortgage debt, which is analogous to the Fed printing it's own money and paying off its creditors. But there's only so long a person can do that. Their debt will just get worse and they'll get more and more underwater until they're forced to default.

[Alien]

You're referring to the legal act of declaring bankruptcy. The word itself, however, has a broader application such that people who do not have enough assets to cover their debts are literally if not legally bankrupt.

I'd be interested to see a dictionary definition that supports that. There are expressions like "morally bankrupt" which give a general sense of some who lacks something. but you were talking about the country, were you not?

[Alien]

Sure, in theory, a person who is underwater with say their mortgage can always get a credit card if their credit is good enough and pay off their mortgage debt, which is analogous to the Fed printing it's own money and paying off its creditors. But there's only so long a person can do that. Their debt will just get worse and they'll get more and more underwater until they're forced to default.

Not necessarily. The value of their house could increase. They could pay enough installments that they are no longer "underwater". They could do a deal with the bank to pay a lower amount. In the case of a country, the debt could be effectively reduced by inflation. None of these things lead automatically to default. My problem though is with the use of the word "bankrupt" which the USA is emphatically not, at this time.

[seanD]

Not necessarily. The value of their house could increase. They could pay enough installments that they are no longer "underwater". They could do a deal with the bank to pay a lower amount. In the case of a country, the debt could be effectively reduced by inflation. None of these things lead automatically to default. My problem though is with the use of the word "bankrupt" which the USA is emphatically not, at this time.

Technically US is not bankrupt because we haven't yet defaulted. But as I said, all the signs of bankruptcy are there. In the meantime, we're seeing the consequences of why they don't default (inflation), and when things get much worse, we'll see what eventually happens to countries (even ours) that try and hold off inevitable default longer than they should.

[Mountain Man]

It seems the people telling us that Russia is losing the war can't tell the difference between actual war footage, and a video game. And this coming from a retired four star general with actual combat experience!

Conservatives BUST retired 4-star U.S. general and MSNBC analyst claiming video game footage is real-life Ukrainian combat – twitchy.com

[rogue06]

It seems the people telling us that Russia is losing the war can't tell the difference between actual war footage, and a video game. And this coming from a retired four star general with actual combat experience!

Conservatives BUST retired 4-star U.S. general and MSNBC analyst claiming video game footage is real-life Ukrainian combat – twitchy.com

Sounds like it is a very good thing that he's retired.

[Mountain Man]

The Ukraine government has set up a new crowdfunding site so that people can send graft donations directly to the politicians. In the future, you might even be able to buy t-shirts with Zelinsky's face printed on it. The left is already pushing him as a modern day Churchill. Is he trying to be a modern day Che Guevara, too?

In February the White House said strategic victory in Ukraine would be dependent on who can win the cultural war of social likeability {link}. In March the White House and State Dept recruited a battalion of TikTok influencers so they could dance and sing about Ukraine and Russia for their audiences in social media {link}. In April USAID announced they would coordinate entertainment resources to keep the public interested in Ukraine and Bono was recruited to sing in Kyiv {link}.

Following along with the coordinated scheduling, Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats took turns rotating through Kyiv with Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans. Boris Johnson from the U.K and Justin from Canada also took their entourages into Kyiv to hold media events and photo ops with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

All of the U.S. propaganda efforts originate from within the strategy teams at the U.S. State Dept. It is the Dept of State who coordinates with U.S. intelligence, Hollywood and big tech social media to frame the overall narrative. Big Tech and social media assist by blocking any platform content that does not fit the narrative created by the State Dept.

In totality, the scale of the effort is one big propaganda operation intended to influence public opinion while congress infuses over $60 billion directly into the military and indirectly into the propaganda effort of the State Dept. However, despite all of that the global crowd can become bored with the constant Ukraine bombardment effort.

To avoid losing global priority the Zelenskyy government has set up a website to take donations, selling Ukraine swag and t-shirts, and help keep the pop culture effort supported.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com...ld-interested/

[Mountain Man]

Former President George W. Bush:

"Russian elections are rigged. Political opponents are imprisoned or otherwise eliminated from participating in the electoral process. The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean of Ukraine. [laughs] Iraq, too."

Watch the 'Greatest Freudian Slip in History' When GWB Discusses Russia's Invasion of Ukraine (townhall.com)

[seanD]

Former President George W. Bush:

"Russian elections are rigged. Political opponents are imprisoned or otherwise eliminated from participating in the electoral process. The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean of Ukraine. [laughs] Iraq, too."

Watch the 'Greatest Freudian Slip in History' When GWB Discusses Russia's Invasion of Ukraine (townhall.com)

Wow, at first I thought he must have been joking, being that Bush often had dark humor. Then I listened to it and it seems it really was a slip. That was profound.

Glenn Greewald had the best response:

This captures the absurdity and deceit of our current discourse so completely and fully that it's hard to believe it actually happened. It's so rare for perfection this pure to materialize. The universe is speaking loudly here. Appreciate what it just provided.

[EvoUK]

How times change. I was on here when the Shrub got elected the second time, and clearly remember it being treated with much elation by the usual suspects. Is he not in anyone's good books any more?

If it's an Iraq thing, Blair in the UK is basically a pariah- he pops up regularly, but since Iraq his reputation is basically forever ruined. I don't get the same feelings about Shrub from the US- at least I didn't pre-Trump. Was he a never Trumper, or whatever you call republicans with meagre amounts of integrity (relative to republicans, obviously)

[Teallaura]

In an environment of high inflation, food shortages, and when the public's main concern is economic, giving out 40 billion (on top of the other 20 or so billion) to a foreign country is not a good look. But, hey, whatever adds fuel to the "red wave" in November.

If Ukraine actually falls (seems unlikely now because of the support) the tab will be much, much, MUCH higher. I don't think you get the full picture - destabilizing Eastern Europe will set off a refugee crisis that will destabliize Western Europe. Getting that mess straightened out will be a necessity for OUR security and a very, very costly one. $40 billion is a steal.

And it's coming out of stuff we mostly need to replace anyway. Plus we're displacing Russia as the arms supplier to Eastern Europe - seriously, we make out like bandits on this one long term as long as Ukraine doesn't actually fall.

[rogue06]

How times change. I was on here when the Shrub got elected the second time, and clearly remember it being treated with much elation by the usual suspects. Is he not in anyone's good books any more?

Likely more of a reaction to who didn't win as is all too often the case.

[Teallaura]

How times change. I was on here when the Shrub got elected the second time, and clearly remember it being treated with much elation by the usual suspects. Is he not in anyone's good books any more?

If it's an Iraq thing, Blair in the UK is basically a pariah- he pops up regularly, but since Iraq his reputation is basically forever ruined. I don't get the same feelings about Shrub from the US- at least I didn't pre-Trump. Was he a never Trumper, or whatever you call republicans with meagre amounts of integrity (relative to republicans, obviously)

Each case on its own merit.

But yeah, Bush Jr, is now a neocon and Iraq 2 was a mistake. Now, I think Bush was always a neo-con - it was just cool back then. I still think Iraq 1 was a mistake and Iraq 2 was the result, but not itself a mistake.

But minds change over 20 years. It's not necessarily inconsistent.

Does need explaining, I'll grant.

[NorrinRadd]

How times change. I was on here when the Shrub got elected the second time, and clearly remember it being treated with much elation by the usual suspects. Is he not in anyone's good books any more?

If it's an Iraq thing, Blair in the UK is basically a pariah- he pops up regularly, but since Iraq his reputation is basically forever ruined. I don't get the same feelings about Shrub from the US- at least I didn't pre-Trump. Was he a never Trumper, or whatever you call republicans with meagre amounts of integrity (relative to republicans, obviously)

With the benefit of hindsight wrt the Patriot Act, the dubious basis for Iraq-2, the "We're not going to do nation building... um... except for spending a crap-load of money failing at it in Afghanistan," all capped by his retarded voting for Hil-dog in 2016, he has far and away been revealed as the Turd of which Rove is the Blossom.

[seanD]

If Ukraine actually falls (seems unlikely now because of the support) the tab will be much, much, MUCH higher. I don't think you get the full picture - destabilizing Eastern Europe will set off a refugee crisis that will destabliize Western Europe. Getting that mess straightened out will be a necessity for OUR security and a very, very costly one. $40 billion is a steal.

And it's coming out of stuff we mostly need to replace anyway. Plus we're displacing Russia as the arms supplier to Eastern Europe - seriously, we make out like bandits on this one long term as long as Ukraine doesn't actually fall.

I can't wait to post the reports here of corrupt Ukrainian officials running off with millions (billions) in US cash as they flee the country in the war aftermath. I'm going to save this post just for that day.

Ukraine is going to fall anyway; this is inevitable. Moreover, the EU already has a refugee crisis. They had one as a result of us destabilizing the mid-east, particularly Libya and Syria, and now they have one with Russia's destabilization. Spending or not spending billions is not going to change or help that issue. In fact, one could argue that we're actually making it worse by prolonging the war, which will likely just prolong the suffering and make the refugee crisis even worse. The self-inflicted EU sanctions are going to do far more damage to the EU in the long run than the refugee crisis will do.

With all that said, the economic crisis we have here is far worse than anything going on in Ukraine as far as how it directly affects us.