Recall This?

I will remind you what I wrote in March this year once the whole thing with COVID-19 unfolded. 

As I stated earlier, I will still reserve my opinion on the origin of this Covid-19 situation but, if your read my comments, I was in no way distraught over the fact that Trump defunded WHO. Even RT gave the tribune to such an opinion. ....So, we may face ahead even larger adjustments which will change statistics of Covid-19 and social outlook dramatically. I don't think China necessarily lied, I think Chinese were simply trying to feed info as it was unfolding  and WHO did "cry wolf" before. Swine flu, remember? So, take it anywhere you want but do not forget which US political party is tightly connected to supranational structures under UN auspices and represents radically globalist.... Oops, I misspoke, never mind, never mind, wink, wink.   

Now, I can be more specific. Before being more specific I need to remind you couple things: 

1. You all well know that I am no Sinophile--I am on record, constantly, that Russian-Chinese "alliance" is a situational one, and that it is predicated on political and economic stability of China. Russia is a thing in itself and is civilization on her own. But modern Russia IS NOT an Asiatic country.

2. China is a great civilization with rich culture and an extremely complex ethnic and cultural composition. It also has a mind-boggling variety of dialects, which precludes any person without highly focused effort to study China, to be called a Sinologist. I am no Sinologist, not even close and I fully understand this. I, as well as many others in my line of writing, thus are forced to rely on the opinions of real Sinologists. 

I have couple of sources I use for insights into China's economic and political reality, one of those sources being Nikolai Vavilov (no relation to other Vavilov, a geneticist of Stalin-times fame) who has an excellent grasp of Chinese political and economic elites. Here is  one of his books on China (The Uncrowned Kings of China) in Russian, New one came out recently and Nikolai has a serious claim on knowledge on China, not only he lived and worked in China for many years, including work for Chinese Xinhua news-agency. He is fluent in many Chinese dialects, so when he speaks, I listen. And now important stuff. 

1. China DOES NOT offer world the alternative to globalism. China IS a globalist power and for many people who for years have been misled by China's massive scale economic plans, the recent G-20 address by Xi should come as an unpleasant surprise. Here are some points, we start with this:  

Xi expressed his opinion on the priority of the fight against the novel coronavirus. The G20 should respect the World Health Organization (WHO) and create a global mechanism coping with pandemics. Xi also suggested a specific measure that the G20 can take to bring the pandemic to a stop, which is an international recognition mechanism of the "health code." The code should be based on the global standard of QR code technology and the result of the COVID-19 nucleic acid test. He wished more countries can join the effort of creating a standardized "express passage" for people to travel between nations.

This is, for now, merely a suggestion but the nature of this suggestion is that the world should follow China's already in place and in active use code system which does this (In Russian):

a) Each Chinese city has its own "platform" on Alipay or WeChat, where everyone is obliged to register with their own "code";

b) The system tracks everyone by their QR-code and assigns the color in which "green" means that you can go pretty much anywhere, and then limitations are imposed if the code is "orange", let alone "red" which forbids any movements. 

Well, my friends, if this de facto electronic concentration camp (or ghetto) hasn't been implemented yet in your neighborhood, let's open Comrade Xi's remarks on the BRICS summit five days ago and here is what he said:

Around the world, COVID-19 is posing a grave threat to people’s life and well-being. The global public health system is facing a severe test. Human society is going through the most serious pandemic in the past century. International trade and investment have shrunk considerably. The flow of goods and personnel has been impeded. Factors for uncertainty and instability are numerous. The world economy is witnessing the worst recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Unilateralism, protectionism and acts of bullying are becoming rampant, and the deficit in governance, trust, development and peace is widening instead of narrowing. Despite all this, we remain convinced that the theme of our times, peace and development, has not changed, and that the trend toward multipolarity and economic globalization cannot be turned around. We must keep people’s welfare close to heart and pursue the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind. Through concrete actions, we will contribute our share to making the world a better place for everyone.

Wait a minute! No, no, no, no--this is NOT how it works--it is precisely economic globalization and the orthodoxy of a Free Trade which are in the foundation of the global economic crisis, for which grossly inflated threat of COVID-19, serves as a good excuse. Including a strange correlation between Chinese so called Komsomol (Hu Yaobang's Trotskist and globalist heirs) leaders getting to power with American Democratic Party Presidents being elected. Correlation doesn't mean causality, do not misinterpret me, but what is not open for misinterpretation is the fact that:

1. China needs globalism because...

2. Chinese economy, for all its gigantic size, is not doing that well

3. US Democrats are truly neo-left globalist cabal who also seem to "influence" Comrade Xi at BRICS Summit. Like this, as he himself states:

Fifth, we need to pursue green and low-carbon development, and strive for harmony between man and nature.

How not well, you may ask, is China's economy? Simple: China STILL is dependent on these two markets:

1. The United States--a lot of statistics is being faked to show China "reducing" this dependency. Reality, however, is grim for China and the US--the level of mutual dependency remains very high.

2. Japan. And then South Korea.

Remove them and China's economy collapses. But then, of course, there is this:

In this report, we show how China’s production of coal-intensive products is accelerating. In October, steel production rose 13% year-on-year, aluminium  rose 11%, cement rose 10%, and electricity production rose 7%. China’s GDP data confirms that the industrial sector provided a higher proportion of its economic growth this summer than at any time since at least 2016. Consequently, China has produced almost 60% of the world’s steel, aluminium and cement so far this year. In addition, steel and aluminium exports have collapsed, meaning China itself is using more of these products. Meanwhile, China’s coal-fired electricity generation is unchanged from last year, because of high electricity demand outpacing clean electricity investment. Coal generation in the rest of the world, by comparison, is expected to fall by about 12% this year, meaning China’s share of global coal generation will rise to 53%.

Pay attention to highlighted and remember, 65% of China's electricity generation is based on coal, which increasingly becomes scarce and increasingly expensive to extract with many mines in China already going as deep as 1,000 meters (1 kilometer). And we all know what that means, right? Just to give you some idea on generation--in the United States coal amounts to 22.8% of generating sources, In Russia--it amounts to around 16%, so you get my drift, right? Well, this also is not the whole story, costs for China will continue to grow and the shift from coal to gas, nuclear and other sources is a daunting task for the export economy the size of China's and which is dramatically vulnerable to fluctuations on markets. Let's remember what was the foundation of Trump's economic platform which he was running on--right, decoupling from China. Recall also an abrupt limitation to education of Chinese students and researchers in the United States. Nasty, aggressive? Undeniably so, typical arrogance BUT...give Trump, for all his bluster and being full of shit, a credit, he found Chinese cojones and grabbed them. And now the main part:

1. China's attempt to focus on domestic consumption to support her economy has failed (in Russian);

2. "Second circulation" policy is now in place, another attempt at internal market. Enter Nikolai Vavilov (sadly in Russian only). 

Right, 12 years China was effectively printing money, they went, right, right, right, into the real estate. Guess, China was becoming the US 2.0 by producing debt. Guess what this second attempt will be? Right, inflation and debt and "export", again. But now even more, while many praise recent RCEP signed by China and East Asian nations, many forget that this same RCEP, which originally was a Japanese idea, reduces 90% of tariffs not only for China-made consumer goods, but for such things, among many, as Japanese cars and parts for them, same goes for Korean automakers. Bye, bye Chinese auto-industry. Now that you know these peculiar facts, ask yourself a question if at least some influential parts of Chinese elites were not interested in removing radically anti-Chinese Trump and getting a democrat in the office? There is another funny fact, the origin and spread of COVID-19 somehow was limited to the cities and provinces which are managed by those very same representatives of China's Komsomol who made fortunes at the American market. Coincidences, coincidences. How can you remove Trump? Right. 

But in general, especially after Xi's remarks at BRICS' summit it remains patently clear that the only way China can remain more or less (primarily less) healthy, for now at least, economically is to continue to export until the whole thing collapses, because globalism and Free Trade are collapsing. Yet, Xi praises these moribund practices as if nothing what is happening in the world today is related to the subjects he praised. I will omit here the sheer anti-scientific idiocy of CO2 emissions. Of course, Chinese didn't congratulate uncle Joe with becoming a President-elect (and he is still not), in fact, the statement of Chinese Foreign Ministry (a level below official protocol) was down-right humiliating to Biden, who insulted Xi and China not for once. But behind globalist totalitarian mafia of the Democratic Party we all can see the silhouettes of the Clintons and the Obamas and their vast network of political operatives who want to turn the United States, the remnants of the flawed Republic, into the playground of the most destructive, amoral, anti-human and criminal forces which will stop at nothing, including high treason to get to power. Remember this? 

"I certainly do think that the Chinese government and central bank are making a smart decision by continuing to invest in Treasury bonds," she said during an interview Sunday with the popular talk show "One on One." "It's a safe investment. The United States has a well-deserved financial reputation." To boost the economy, the U.S has to incur more debt, she said, shortly before departing for Washington. "It would not be in China's interest if we were unable to get our economy moving," Clinton said. "So by continuing to support American Treasury instruments, the Chinese are recognizing our interconnection. We are truly going to rise or fall together. We are in the same boat and, thankfully, we are rowing in the same direction.

I do. It is a good idea to refresh sometimes a decade old statements, they contain so much in them. Recall who was China's President then? Right, and read what Hu Jintao's one of the main foreign policy "accomplishments" was during his term.

He improved ties with Japan, but effectively downgraded relations with Putin’s Russia, which repeatedly disappointed Beijing in terms of arms sales and energy deals. 

This phrase opens a whole new can of worms which allows to understand why Russians are really nonchalant about CREP and why all this blatter about Russia being junior partner in Russian-Chinese duo is just that--pure BS. There are many things we don't see, as it is supposed to be in the real life, but there is a reason why I constantly point out to a simple fact of China still preferring Russia to lead in geopolitical arena. So, do I say that COVID-19 is a global operation of influence? No, what I say it that there is a viable motive. And again, correlation does not mean causality but only sober and factual assessment of real strength of participants in the game can give good insight into intentions of everyone. 

What Matters. Again.

James Kunstler yesterday summarized, artfully as ever , the essence of the American economy nowadays: 

Real capital is grounded in the production of real things of real value, of course, and when it’s detached from all that, it’s no longer real capital. Money represents capital, and when the capital isn’t real, the money represents…nothing! And ceases to be real money. Just now, America is producing almost nothing except money, money in quantities that stupefy the imagination — trillions here, there, and everywhere. The trouble is that money is vanishing as fast as it’s being created. That’s because it’s based on promises to be paid back into existence that will never be kept, on top of prior promises to pay back money that were broken or are in the process of breaking. The net result is that money is actually disappearing faster than it can be created, even in vast quantities.

Many of us (yes, me included) wrote about it for years and years, yet, through the new crop of "market analysts", the idea that money is the only thing that matter was being carved into the minds of majority, while covering up for the real state of what I call them--tangibles. Let me demonstrate. This is US industrial (that means tangibles) output within last 12 months:

Now take a look at the 10-year span:

These graphs based on US official data should be kept constantly visible for people who continue to press the idea that Covid-19 is the reason for this all. Obviously, it is not. As I repeat ad nauseam since the start of this pandemic--virus is merely a trigger, one of. The shit was going down the drain for a long time and, as the recent increase in anti-Chinese rhetoric based on a totally false (what's new, really?) accusations on Covid-19 origins demonstrates, things are not that good for the United States. 

Obviously, US "elite" knows how to manipulate the currency and conduct currency wars--it is expected from them. Most of them never saw modern industrial plant and never ran any kind of productive business which would have been based on those tangibles--main capital, as in buildings, machinery, cadres (yes, people), manufacturing plans and training, trucks, ships, what have you. From the get go those people were "educated" in banks' operations, debit, credit, fees, "valuations", stocks, margin calls and other mambo-jumbo in the foundation of fake American GDP. As new update of old Soviet/Russian anecdote about cowboys goes today:

Two cowboys, Bill and John, ride their horses in prairie. While riding there, Bill sees a pile of horse shit and because he has 100 dollars it occurs to him--why wouldn't I dare John to eat this pile of horse shit for a hundred dollars. So, he dares John to do just that. John thinks: hm, of course, eating horse shit is really humiliating and disgusting but 100 bucks, damn, too serious of a money to pass on such an opportunity. So, he agrees and eats this pile of shit and Bill gives him his 100 bucks. They continue to ride side-by-side after that. While riding both think. 

Bill: well, it is all cool that John ate a pile of horse shit but, man, 100 bucks is too great sum of a money to pay even for such an atrocious challenge. I wish I never dared Bill and kept my 100.

John: well, it is really cool to have 100 bucks, but, man, I ate a pile of horse shit for that and now Bill will taunt and humiliate me for this. I wish I never agreed to accept his challenge.

While thinking like that they pass another pile of horse shit and John dares Bill to eat this pile of shit for 100 bucks. Bill agrees and does just that, John gives him 100 bucks. After that both cowboys continue to ride side-by-side in full silence. After few minutes of riding in silence John breaks it: "Hey, Bill, you know what? Don't you think that we both just ate a load of horse shit for free?" 

Bill replies: "But we just created $200 worth of GDP and created two new jobs." 

So, while the United States is getting ready to squeeze China for whatever it can--I think T-bills "targeted" default and putting "pressure" on Chinese owning businesses in the US is a natural choice (I could be mistaken, of course), evidently some rags in the US are beginning to experience a hangover from giving up tangibles: now they are lamenting the "mistake" of outsourcing. No shit, morons. And the problem here is not just classic issue of export of capital well described more than 100 years ago by many classic Marxists. Not just that, in Marxism basis (foundation) of the productive forces (and productive capital) defines the superstructure of morality and culture. This applies fully for a number of the Americans' generations we can identify by the letter or title: X, Z, Millenials, what have you most of which were brought up by the imagery of the office universe in which real life was and is happening non-stop. In fact, once you take a broader look on who is dramatically over-represented in modern art, two categories stand out--financiers and artsy types. One after another, stock brokers, bankers, art galleries owners, programmers, fashion designers and "free thinkers" dominate every single facet of cultural life in the West, with the actual labor and the images of the complex machinery and industrial technologies being absent from socio-cultural "space" in the United States. 

This teeny-weeny detail about modern "culture" aversion to any productive labor, since George Lopez spoiled brat niece Veronica's hysterical reaction to an offer to work at airplane parts plant, speaks volumes. Let's face it, we have an enormous number of people around who would faint at the very sight of your average run-of-the-mill CNC machine or paint booth in some large machine and production shop, as well as from the necessity to learn about safety on the production floor. It is so not cool, it is so not iPhone and orange mocha frappucino, it is so not progressive and sophisticated that life, as in real life, by definition cannot be happening there. But, as the story goes--it is precisely there where REAL life actually happens and where REAL value, as in crucial tangibles, on which civilization exists, are produced. Well, the United States in the last 20+ years was reducing these productive forces to a small fraction of what they used to be and, in doing so, also cleared the space for planting the most destructive and dangerous cultural practices, which now are in the symbiotic relation and mutual influence of those proverbial Marxist basis (foundation) and superstructure. They go hand in hand today with opioid catastrophe, rampant drugs use, overall degeneration of cognitive faculties of whole generations and, as the result, increasing number of almost insurmountable  hurdles towards the ONLY thing which may save this country--economic self-sufficiency. 

Economic self-sufficiency which is also a foundation of REAL national security starts from industry. No industry--no American nation. Simple as that. Modern generation of American "elites" has no idea, or, possibly, doesn't even care about what happens when the attempts to re-industrialize fail precisely because no one knows how to do it for real, not by doing what they got used to do--"printing" money which only accelerates a decline, towards eventual disintegration. So, here it is--no real recovery without real industries, which translate into real employment, this means reorienting production for the internal market and.... here we pause, because this seemingly simple scenario requires a long and substantive debate because this is where the issue of trade comes in and 99.99% of the American "elite" are a free trade neo-liberal fundamentalists who have neither knowledge nor skills to avert what is already not just on the horizon but knocking on the door. If you think otherwise, just take a look at the graphs above, especially a 10 year one. Things just got worse, not better since 2010. I am sure vast number of events coordinators, DJs and shopping assistants will have to rethink seriously their career choices if they even want any shot at any vacancy in a dramatically shrinking America's basis, before collapsing superstructure buries them.