President Biden's first term in office

[Gromovnik]

The US is not "occupying" Afghanistan.

WRONG! SAD!

[Exarch]

WRONG! SAD!

tbh, he's not wrong; the US aren't occupying A-Stan because they're too busy fleeing from the Taliban like that mission from C&C: Generals.


@topic
Biden or no Biden, the US economy is ed

With the economy reopening, the Treasury deployed its cash balance at the most opportune time, unless of course inflation numbers continue to increase (which based on all the data, anecdotal evidence, and liquidity in the repo market seems like a strong possibility). Unfortunately for the Fed, the Treasury will have to begin re-issuing debt again. Will it lean towards short-term debt hoping the Fed keeps interest rates low, or long-term debt hoping the Fed will expand QE?
But Fed may be constrained either way because it has its own problem. Powell must be praying that inflation readings come in low AND job numbers disappoint. If both don’t occur, then tough questions will be asked to justify more stimulus. Yellen and Powell may be best buds, but simple coordination will not be enough. They will need magic and luck to keep the course steady heading into 2H 2021 and 2022.

https://schiffgold.com/exploring-fin...tative-easing/

[conon394]

https://schiffgold.com/exploring-fin...tative-easing/

Sorry Exarch never believe anyone telling you to invest in gold. You are long term at best in a good stretch equal to bonds but not often and the stock market kicks golds nutsall the time (and real estate if you have broad portfolio). Gold Bugs never die but they do have hysterical forecasts all the time. Really Your better bet is good farm property, guns lawyers and water rights if you want to entertain the downside fantasy most gold investors live in.

"Note: By definition, inflation is an expansion of the money supply. In this article, inflation will be used interchangeably with rising prices (usually as a result of money supply expansion)"
BS

Inflation is a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money.Which can be caused by money supply expansion but also by a lot of other things on the supply side as well. Nobody defines an expansion of the money supply alone as inflation

In any case no evidence the US economy has a problem except dealing supply chain issues, and worker issues coming out of the pandemic. Likely we really will not a good ideal until schools open come after summer and. They more less look like they will be ion site which free up lots of labor otherwise trapped at home.

[irontaino]

Bizarre that anyone would still be simping for Bush II's kleptocratic adventurism. Its old old ground and events have proved it was a massive mistake. The primary mission was to smash the Islamist threat (a spectacular failure as Saudi sponsored groups have continued to plague the world) and the secondary mission was to eliminate the Taliban which has failed spectacularly. H Clinton is rightly castigated for her abysmal response to the Arab Spring insurgencies, but Bush's dumbarse invasions were many times worse.

Biden is a plodder at best, no doubt he went along with all the other nitwits who voted for the illegal Oil Wars in the first place. Whoever has the controls in the present administration has grasped the nettle as Nixon very sensibly did and bugged out of a stupid stupid war.

Both sides in US politics naturally (inevitably) will be spinning hard to throw mud on their opponents. Anyone advocating staying seems startlingly ignorant of military and historical matters. The last settled polity of any consequence in Kabul established by invaders was Babur's emirate, and he departed for India within two decades because an entire subcontinent awash with wealthy foes was preferable to a pacified Afghanistan.

To remain simply wastes US resources on a project with no chance of success. Russia and China would be delighted if some idiot or traitor had their way and forced the US to commit more money and lives to this ongoing embarrassment.

The wretched stupidity of being mired in Afghanistan has hurt the US and its loyal allies. We have a very brave soldier (Roberts-Thompson VC, earned in Afghanistan) who has been accused of war crimes. At least one of his colleagues (and accusers) has committed suicide and its become a media war as the accused vet is also a media commentator: he is suing for libel. IIRC it looks bad for him as there's video evidence of some executions of prisoners in the field) but our system is more like the UK libel law so he may score a win.

The armed services do have a green wall as well, but that has broken down somewhat because of the horrific nature of events. The wider picture is there was a number of soldiers who started murdering dozens of Afghans including the disabled and children, apprently as a culture of brutalisation and initiation: essentially its our Abu Ghraib. Several elite units were corrupted, one of the three SAS units had to be disbanded, and elements of the RAR are implicated too.

Its a sorry end to a sickening blunder, and sadly typical of US politics that's its being spun by shameless simps for present politic benefit.

The US ending it's forever wars shouldn't be an issue. There are much better things to be spending money on than (poorly) playing world police or (poorly) trying to nation build. But hey, without U.S. troops to act as hired muscle, how are corporations supposed to loot resources from other countries?

[Lord Thesaurian]

Anyone advocating staying seems startlingly ignorant of military and historical matters. The last settled polity of any consequence in Kabul established by invaders was Babur's emirate, and he departed for India within two decades because an entire subcontinent awash with wealthy foes was preferable to a pacified Afghanistan.

To remain simply wastes US resources on a project with no chance of success. Russia and China would be delighted if some idiot or traitor had their way and forced the US to commit more money and lives to this ongoing embarrassment.

Its a sorry end to a sickening blunder, and sadly typical of US politics that's its being spun by shameless simps for present politic benefit.

This kind of lazy sophistry highlights the level of politics justifying withdrawal. To suggest the US is “occupying” Afghanistan or otherwise attempting to establish some colonial dynasty there is, as I said, a misrepresentation of the NATO mission prior to surrender, or really, any period of recent US involvement in the region. It’s easier to knock down strawmen with emotional appeals to isolationism than it is to acknowledge the facts that make surrender and retreat under the present conditions a lose-lose.

It’s all the more insulting to see the issue spun into a political narrative about ending un-winnable forever wars, given fact US troops remain indefinitely committed to similar counterterrorism operations throughout the Middle East. All the surrender in Afghanistan will have accomplished is to strengthen AQ and ISIL while making counterterrorism efforts in the region more difficult, and accomplishing little to nothing in net cost savings or force rebalancing. The withdrawal itself already took the sole carrier out of the SCS at a time when the PLA is routinely practicing for an invasion of Taiwan.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, voiced concern about the carrier force on Monday as he criticized the Navy’s recent budget request for shipbuilding.
“We don’t have time to waste. The redeployment of the Reagan from the Indo-Pacific to CENTCOM is the most recent example of how we don’t have sufficient carriers & we are asking the @USNavy to do too much with too little. @POTUS‘s paltry shipbuilding budget will only make it worse,” Inhofe wrote on Twitter.

https://news.usni.org/2021/06/21/rea...to-middle-east

The People’s Liberation Army has conducted island landing drills apparently targeting Taiwan, amid heightened tensions across the strait.

Video footage released by the PLA Navy on Monday shows marines from the Eastern Theatre Command in a recent landing exercise involving a Type 071 amphibious transport dock, the Yimengshan, along with landing craft and armoured vehicles. It was not clear where or when the drill was conducted.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/mili...landing-drills

[Cyclops]

The US ending it's forever wars shouldn't be an issue. There are much better things to be spending money on than (poorly) playing world police or (poorly) trying to nation build. But hey, without U.S. troops to act as hired muscle, how are corporations supposed to loot resources from other countries?

Cheney and Rumsfeld looted the US too, through Halliburton contracts etc. They outshone the Clintons for sheer corruption and greed.

Its a shame, as more than one US president in the 20th century acted as an honest broker. The establishment of the LoN and UN were genuine gestures of goodwill, and even the blunder in Korea was well intentioned.

[Exarch]

Sorry Exarch never believe anyone telling you to invest in gold. You are long term at best in a good stretch equal to bonds but not often and the stock market kicks golds nutsall the time (and real estate if you have broad portfolio). Gold Bugs never die but they do have hysterical forecasts all the time. Really Your better bet is good farm property, guns lawyers and water rights if you want to entertain the downside fantasy most gold investors live in.
.

I noticed you didn't really address Mr Schiff's arguments, in fact evidence keeps mounting of the deepening stagflation of the US economy and yet you toe the Establishment Democrat line of denial. Very well then, we shall see how long this 'temporary' state of affairs will last.

In other news, Biden has surrendered the impregnable US fortress at Bagram:

The U.S. military departed Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan today after a nearly 20-year presence that began on Oct. 7, 2001 a month after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
They handed the airfield over to the Afghan National Security and Defense Force who will now run the airfield

https://newsus.cgtn.com/news/2021-07...w9a/index.html

This was a prime base to be used by the Pentagon to spy on Russia and China and now it's being abandoned lest the Taliban kill all white Americans inside the base. Needless to say, this is disastrous to Bzezinski's Heartland strategy and Grand Strategy of the Pentagon. Natsec officials must be hopping mad.

[conon394]

I noticed you didn't really address Mr Schiff's arguments, in fact evidence keeps mounting of the deepening stagflation of the US economy and yet you toe the Establishment Democrat line of denial. Very well then, we shall see how long this 'temporary' state of affairs will last.

I posted the raw data I see no stagflation.

In other news, Biden has surrendered the impregnable US fortress at Bagram:

Umm am I supposed to care? A waste of money in a corrupt country?

This was a prime base to be used by the Pentagon to spy on Russia and China and now it's being abandoned lest the Taliban kill all white Americans inside the base. Needless to say, this is disastrous to Bzezinski's Heartland strategy and Grand Strategy of the Pentagon. Natsec officials must be hopping mad.

Doubt it. It was piece of the occupation of A stan implement by an administration how many elections ago? And a diffrent party. Unsustainable unless you cut deals with the corrupt government on the ground and Pakistan. Best closed. Doubt anyone will miss it.

[Exarch]

I posted the raw data I see no stagflation.

denial is not just a river in Egypt

Umm am I supposed to care? A waste of money in a corrupt country?



Doubt it. It was piece of the occupation of A stan implement by an administration how many elections ago? And a diffrent party. Unsustainable unless you cut deals with the corrupt government on the ground and Pakistan. Best closed. Doubt anyone will miss it.

If it makes you feel better; US presence in A-stan was also a cheap way for the US Elites via the CIA to get their stash of heroin and opium; judging by Hunter Biden, this exit from A-stan must come as a mortal blow indeed.

And in fact, even as far back as the Obama era, there were hopefully plans to use Bagram for the anti ballistic missile shield supposedly against Iran but evidently against Russia and China. Getting kicked out of A-stan sets back US Heartland strategy by at least a generation, esp. since Pakistan refuses to host US bases.

Biden is presiding over the actual decline of the US military akin to the retreat of the Romans from Britannia.

[conon394]

denial is not just a river in Egypt

The data does not support stagflation.

If it makes you feel better; US presence in A-stan was also a cheap way for the US Elites via the CIA to get their stash of heroin and opium; judging by Hunter Biden, this exit from A-stan must come as a mortal blow indeed.

I doubt the market price change you have to be there to buy.

And in fact, even as far back as the Obama era, there were hopefully plans to use Bagram for the anti ballistic missile shield supposedly against Iran but evidently against Russia and China. Getting kicked out of A-stan sets back US Heartland strategy by at least a generation, esp. since Pakistan refuses to host US bases.

Plans cited whom?

Biden is presiding over the actual decline of the US military akin to the retreat of the Romans from Britannia.

Poor anthology for it to work the USA would have declare Afghanistan a US territory and formally planed to forever.

[Exarch]

The data does not support stagflation.

Reality indicates stagflation and biden and his team know it which is why they're so desperate for a meeting with President Xi.

Your ruling class Elite, nouriel roubini even admitted as much:

Conditions are ripe for repeat of 1970s stagflation and 2008 debt crisis

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/business...global-economy

Effectively, you're in denial.

I accept your surrender and admission that you were wrong.

I mean have a read of Roubini's last paragraph:

As matters stand, this slow-motion train wreck looks unavoidable. The Fed’s recent pivot from an ultra-dovish to a mostly dovish stance changes nothing. The Fed has been in a debt trap at least since December 2018, when a stock- and credit-market crash forced it to reverse its policy tightening a full year before Covid-19 struck. With inflation rising and stagflationary shocks looming, it is now even more ensnared.
So, too, are the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England. The stagflation of the 1970s will soon meet the debt crises of the post-2008 period. The question is not if but when.

The only country that is tightening credit is China; looks like biden and blinken are experiencing what australian trade ministers are experiencing with Beijing not answering their calls

I doubt the market price change you have to be there to buy.

Funny thing about US Elites is that they prefer to get the pure stuff brought in by the cargo load to go with their Hieros Gamos pizza gate parties
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/10/b...ure/index.html

Biden losing Afghanistan means the US Elites are going to be pissed about not getting their dope fix. In fact, 20 years and trillions of dollars wasted because biden, obama and his ruling class cronies tried and failed to go Brzezinski in central asia.

[conon394]

Effectively, you're in denial.

I accept your surrender and admission that you were wrong.

I mean have a read of Roubini's last paragraph:

Or maybe he can go have some Turkish bath time Larry Summers and they can regret their their neoconservative economic view slowed the last recovery and maybe one of them can get a reach around.

[Exarch]

Denial aint just a river in Egypt.

Anyway, the Taliban have mercifully agreed not to sack Kabul...provided the infidels leave as agreed.
https://www.rt.com/news/528376-talib...es-withdrawal/

I do think it was remarkable that the US military gave up Bagram without a fight; can it be possible that the US military was afraid of being defeated in battle and losing Bagram as spoils to the taliban? And the best part is the US left in such a hurry, they left some major equipment behind.

Effectively, Biden just Lost Afghanistan the same way Eisenhower Lost China and Nixon Lost Vietnam.

Oh but Biden is forcing the US Embassy staff to stay in Kabul and become sacrificial lambs, which means we're gonna see a repeat of Saigon '75, with such dastardly heroism from American personnel:

[conon394]

Effectively, Biden just Lost Afghanistan the same way Eisenhower Lost China and Nixon Lost Vietnam.

Neither lost either since they were never theirs.

Bagram without a fight

For what. If not fighting a forever war in A-stan Bagram is pointless.

Oh but Biden is forcing the US Embassy staff to stay in Kabul

Kind of their job you know.

[Exarch]

Neither lost either sine they were never theirs.



For what. If not fighting a forever war in A-stan Bagram is pointless.

Sounds like military defeat to me, or what americans called "a strategic advance to the rear" when they were getting owned by the Chinese in Korea.
Or call it retreat.
One way or the other, American forces are going to be forced to leave central asia or be made to leave central asia in boxes.

I'll hand it to biden though; the political animal in him was enough to outfox the natsec types who want forever wars.

[conon394]

Sounds like military defeat to me, or what americans called "a strategic advance to the rear" when they were getting owned by the Chinese in Korea.
Or call it retreat.
One way or the other, American forces are going to be forced to leave central asia or be made to leave central asia in boxes.

I'll hand it to biden though; the political animal in him was enough to outfox the natsec types who want forever wars.

I now will provide a none anyalitical responce.

But again China was not USA's to loose.

I would assume if China was owning the US fighting a war in Korea right on its boarder (with a greater population and short supply lines) there would not now be two states on the peninsula. Also of course evening using official Chinese casualty figures looks bad on the 'owning' front.

[Gromovnik]

You lost the war in Afghanistan. No matter what the propaganda says.

[conon394]

You lost the war in Afghanistan. No matter what the propaganda says.

I would not argue that but of course that was because chose to make the un winnable.

[irontaino]

You lost the war in Afghanistan. No matter what the propaganda says.

Classic case of winning the battles, but losing the war

[conon394]

Classic case of winning the battles, but losing the war

What was the war's objective again? GBjr erratic swerve of swift vengeance (Us the old warlords as well) to nation build while simultaneously drawing down the occupation footprint to fight a disastrous war of choice in Iraq... well the conclusion was more or less a forgone one. For go or ill once Trump flipped the republican line on staying there was no real domestic party or group that wanted to stay. And as Vietnam showed loosing a small very expensive 'colonial' war does not bring down the pillars of heaven.

Honestly the only thing I will judge Bidon is if he does a good job getting locals out who helped the US.