the epoch times – Page 8

Will Modern Monetary Theory Blow Up the Dollar?

December 18, 2019

Anti-riot police block the entrance to the Magistrates court in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on Aug. 19, 2019. Nearly two years after President Emmerson Mnangagwa took power, the country faces rising inflation, increased poverty, and a severe water shortage. (Tafadzwa Ufumeli/Getty Images)

Will Modern Monetary Theory Blow Up the Dollar?

The idea of an ‘infinite’ money supply from federal printing presses is gaining ground among the radical left in Washington, D.C.

Commentary

“As long as the government can print money, we’ll never be broke.”

That’s the idea behind modern monetary theory (MMT) in a nutshell. Naturally, many of the nuts in Washington are starting to get behind this unhinged notion. That includes members of Congress such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

An Economic Absurdity

Sure, a cluster of economists in and around Wall Street and Washington, D.C. are pushing this very dangerous set of policies that are dressed up in academic terminology such as “neo-Keynesianism” so that they sound almost sane. But MMT is as far from economic sanity as one can get. But let’s face it, Wall Street loves any idea that puts money into the market.

In essence, the main idea behind MMT is that any government spending can be paid for but with printed money. An in depth look into history—or even a brief one—shows that the absurd idea of printing unlimited amounts of money leads a nation into hyperinflation and economic ruin.

No Good Examples

A recent example would be Zimbabwe. Unjust land seizures leading to food shortages, price controls, and corruption led to massive deficit spending fueled by printing press money. A inflation rate of 98 percent every day destroyed the economy and the government’s credibility in running it.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Is Powell Playing Fed Games?

October 13, 2019

U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell speaks during a discussion at the Economic Club in Washington on Jan. 10, 2019. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Is Powell Playing Fed Games?

The Federal Reserve will be adding assets to its balance sheet again, but Powell insists it’s not “quantitative easing”

The Federal Reserve will be adding assets to its balance sheet again, but Powell insists it’s not “quantitative easing”James GorrieWRITEROctober 10, 2019 Updated: October 10, 2019Share

Apparently, the “repo market” purchases by the Federal Reserve we discussed earlier this week —which don’t count as quantitative easing (QE)—were just the beginning of the new, non-quantitative easing but money printing period.

Fed “repos,” you may recall, are now necessary to boost weak overnight liquidity reserves of the big banks and don’t permanently expand the Fed’s balance sheet, unless they go on forever, in which case they would be QE. Now they are more of a short-term bail-out.

It’s Time for “Non-Quantitative Easing”

But in his Tuesday speech, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell explained that for the first time in five years, the “time is now upon us” for the Fed to resume buying U.S Treasury bills and bonds. That means that come November, the American economy will officially enter into another period of quantitative easing, you know, the Fed buying assets to expand its balance sheet.

Or not.

Typically, when the Federal Reserve buys Treasury assets, it’s because of weakness, either in the economy or in the financial system. A weakness that needs to be papered over by money printing, expanding the Fed’s balance sheet and bank reserves. Or the Fed buys other assets that nobody wants to buy at a decent price, like the purchases of mortgage backed securities (MBS) it conducted after the financial crisis.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

‘There Is No Climate Emergency’: Scientists Call for Reasoned Debate

October 2, 2019

An iceberg behind houses and buildings outside the village of Innarsuit, an island settlement in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. (Magnus Kristensen/AFP/Getty Images)

‘There Is No Climate Emergency’: Scientists Call for Reasoned Debate

The message was clear: “There is no climate emergency.”

With those five simple words, a global network of scientists and professionals attempted to inject reasonableness and decorum into what should be a robust discussion about a complex scientific and public policy issue, but has instead degenerated into an ever more intense mud-slinging contest over the years.

People on one side of the argument dismiss their opponents as wild-eyed socialists attempting to leverage public fear and ignorance to further their political agenda. On the opposite side, people dismiss those who disagree with their supposedly settled scientific conclusions as nothing more than knowing shills or ignorant dupes of evil energy interests.

In between those extremes that are so popular with armies of public relations professionals, who shape the messages of public interest groups and professional politicians to maximum effect, are a not-so-quiet silent majority of scientists and professionals who take a more measured, reasoned view of the science when considering the supposed climate emergency some say we’re facing.

A group of 500-some scientists and professionals signed on to the “European Climate Declaration” that was released last week. This simple, short, and understandable statement proposed how analysis of any public policy issue involving complex science should be approached from a reasoned, fact-based perspective.

Statements such as “97 percent of climatologists agree that anthropogenic climate change is occurring” isn’t a statement of fact, it’s an opinion twice removed. It’s an opinion that involves evaluation of the legitimacy of how the results of the poll in question were sorted to dismiss some answers and allow others, and it’s an opinion in terms of how representative the sample size is with respect to all climate professionals.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Old Farmer’s Almanac Predicts ‘Snow-verload’ Winter Across Much of US

September 10, 2019

Tom Skaar of Cheyenne laughs while walking his dogs on House Avenue during a blizzard in Cheyenne, Wyo, on March 13, 2019. (Jacob Byk/The Wyoming Tribune Eagle via AP)US NEWS

Old Farmer’s Almanac Predicts ‘Snow-verload’ Winter Across Much of US

The Old Farmer’s Almanac is forecasting that portions of the United States will see a “snow-verload” during what has been described as a snowy winter.

For instance, it is predicting a “wet and wild” 2019-20 winter in the northeastern U.S.

But overall, it is calling for “shivers, snowflakes … and strong storms” with the “snow-verload” impacting northern states in the Midwest and West.

“In the U.S., this winter will be remembered for strong storms bringing a steady roofbeat of heavy rain and sleet, not to mention piles of snow. The 2020 Old Farmer’s Almanac is calling for frequent snow events—from flurries to no fewer than seven big snowstorms from coast to coast, including two in April for the Intermountain region west of the Rockies,” it wrote on its website.

Mountains are blanketed with snow as traffic makes its way slowly through Cajon Pass on the I-15 near Hwy 138 in Phelan, Calif., on Feb. 21, 2019. (Watchara Phomicinda/The Orange County Register via AP)

Meanwhile, the middle of the country and New England will have “more wet than white” conditions. “Meanwhile, much of the Deep South will be saturated by soakers. As winter rages, the tip of the nice-berg will be Florida, the Gulf Coast, and Texas, which will bask in pleasant weather,” the Almanac said.

Temperatures will also plunge “from the Heartland westward to the Pacific and in the Desert Southwest, Pacific Southwest, and Hawaii,” it added. Above-normal temperatures are forecast elsewhere.

The cold in those areas will last until Valentine’s Day, or Feb. 14, 2020.

Winter Weather Wisconsin — Bikers crossing Park Street at the intersection of University Ave during a late afternoon snowstorm in Madison, Wis., on Jan. 18, 2019. (Steve Apps/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Boycott Begins: Chinese Company Orders Employees To “Stop Using American Products, Eating At KFC”

May 22, 2019

The Boycott Begins: Chinese Company Orders Employees To “Stop Using American Products, Eating At KFC”

In a harbinger of what’s to come as the US-China trade war gets worse by the day, a Chinese company has told all of its employees to boycott American products and halt international travels to the U.S., reported The Epoch Times.

Jinggang Motor Vehicle Inspection Station notified all employees last Thursday, May 16 that the use of iPhones, driving in American automobiles, eating at American fast food restaurants, using American household products, and even traveling to the U.S. was forbidden by a new company policy; any employee who violated the new rules would be fired. Here are some excerpts from the notice:

“Employees are prohibited from purchasing or using iPhones; instead, they are recommended to use Chinese domestic brands of cell phones, such as Huawei.
“Employees are not allowed to purchase vehicles made by China-U.S. joint venture automakers. They are recommended to purchase 100 percent Chinese-made vehicles.
“Employees are forbidden to eat at McDonald’s or Kentucky Fried Chicken. They are not allowed to purchase P&G [Proctor and Gamble, a U.S. maker of household products], Amway [U.S. maker of health and beauty products], or any other American brands. Employees must not go to the United States as a tourist.”

The company’s memo was emailed to employees several days after state-run newspaper Global Times published an editorial piece that called on the Chinese public to “fight a people’s war” against the U.S.

As a result of a prolonged trade war with the U.S., the company said: “To help our country win this war, company authorities have decided that all employees must immediately stop purchasing and using American products.”

The Times said the notice went viral on Chinese social media platforms: “Computers should be banned as well, because it is a U.S. invention,” one Chinese internet user said. Another said: “Stop using the Windows operating system, everyone.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

China’s Big Brother Social Control Goes to Australia

May 8, 2019

A woman looking at social networking apps Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Whatsapp, Twitter, Messenger, and Linkedin on a smartphone in Kuala Lumpur in a file photo. (MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP/Getty Images)

China’s Big Brother Social Control Goes to Australia

Australia is preparing to debut its version of the Chinese regime’s high-tech system for monitoring and controlling its citizens. The launch, to take place in the northern city of Darwin, will include systems to monitor people’s activity via their cell phones.

The new system is based on monitoring programs in Shenzhen, China, where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is testing its Social Credit System. Officials on the Darwin council traveled to Shenzhen, according to NT News, to “have a chance to see exactly how their Smart Technology works prior to being fully rolled out.”

In Darwin, they’ve already constructed “poles, fitted with speakers, cameras and Wi-Fi,” according to NT News, to monitor people, their movements around the city, the websites they visit, and what apps they use. The monitoring will be done mainly by artificial intelligence, but will alert authorities based on set triggers.

Just as in China, the surveillance system is being branded as a “smart city” program, and while Australian officials claim its operations are benign, they’ve announced it functions to monitor cell phone activity and “virtual fences” that will trigger alerts if people cross them.

“We’ll be getting sent an alarm saying, ‘There’s a person in this area that you’ve put a virtual fence around.’ … Boom, an alert goes out to whatever authority, whether it’s us or police to say ‘look at camera five,’” said Josh Sattler, the Darwin council’s general manager for innovation, growth, and development services, according to NT News.

The nature of the “virtual fences” and what type of activity will sound an alarm still isn’t being made clear.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How Media Narratives Became More Important Than Facts

May 4, 2019

A cameraman in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Oct. 19, 2016. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

How Media Narratives Became More Important Than Facts

Commentary

The day that I told CBS News I wished to leave my job as investigative correspondent ahead of my contract, I didn’t give a reason. I didn’t see the point because the problem wasn’t fixable.

Nor was it isolated to CBS News.

My own take is that—as our industry has changed in ways that have become undeniable to most—I was a bit of the canary in the coal mine. By that, I mean I believe I was among the first to really pay attention to the increasingly effective operations to shape and censor news—the movements to establish narratives rather than follow facts—and to see the growing influence of smear operations, political interests, and corporate interests on the news.

It’s not that I’m smarter than my peers, and I’m surely far less smart than many, but my particular brand of off-narrative reporting happened to draw the intense attention of the smear operators and propagandists, so I began to study it.

A case in point: the smear that was promulgated when I left CBS. It was often incorrectly reported that I told CBS management I was quitting due to liberal media bias. That false story turned out to be convenient for both political sides, and largely survives today. It simply wasn’t rooted in fact. And I don’t recall reporters even asking me whether it was true. Once a few articles reported that it was, others simply copied the claim and adopted it as if established fact, eventually without attribution. Now there would be no point in trying to clarify it. After all, Wikipedia says it’s true. No going back from that.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

China’s Big Brother Social Control Goes to Australia

April 29, 2019

(Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images)

China’s Big Brother Social Control Goes to Australia

Australia is preparing to launch its own version of the Chinese regime’s high-tech system for monitoring and controlling its citizens. The launch will be in Darwin, and will include systems to monitor people and their activity on their cell phones.

The new system is based on monitoring programs in Shenzhen, China, where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is testing its Social Credit System. Officials on the Darwin council traveled to Shenzhen, according to NT News to “have a chance to see exactly how their Smart Technology works prior to being fully rolled out.”

In Darwin, they’ve already constructed “poles, fitted with speakers, cameras and Wi-Fi,” according to NT News, which will monitor people, their movements around the city, the websites they visit, and what apps they use. The monitoring will be done mainly by artificial intelligence, but will alert authorities on set triggers.

Just like in China, the surveillance system is being branded as a “smart city” program, and while Australian officials claim it’s operations are benign, they’ve announced it functions to monitor cell phone activity and “virtual fences” that will trigger alerts if people cross them.

“We’ll be getting sent an alarm saying ‘there’s a person in this area that you’ve put a virtual fence around’ … boom an alert goes out to whatever authority, whether it’s us or police to say ‘look at camera five’,” said Josh Sattler—the Darwin council’s general manager for innovation, growth, and development services—according to NT News.

The nature of the “virtual fences” and what type of activity will sound an alarm is still not being made clear.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Surveillance Capitalism: Monetizing the Smartphone User

October 15, 2018

Smartphones and tablets give you access to information wherever you are. Whenever you use a device connected to the internet you are leaving a digital footprint of personal data that tech companies are likely harvesting and selling. (rawpixel/pixababy)

Surveillance Capitalism: Monetizing the Smartphone User

Commentary

This article is part of a series on corporate surveillance highlighting civil liberty, privacy, cyber security, safety, and tech-product user exploitation threats associated with connected products that are supported by the Android (Google) OS, Apple iOS, and Microsoft Windows OS.

Today, people, businesses, government officials, and law makers are unaware of the business model that supports their favorite technology such as smartphones and connected products that are supported by the Android, Apple, and Microsoft Windows operating systems.

The connected-product business model comprises surveillance and data mining business practices rooted in “surveillance capitalism.” These are terms that the public is unaware of because all parties concerned are not transparent about their business practices.

Addictive, Intrusive, and Exploitative

Companies that have adopted a surveillance capitalism business model are in the business to exploit their paying customers or product users for financial gain at the expense of the user’s civil liberties, privacy, cybersecurity, and safety, whether the product user is an adult or a child.

Don’t take my word for this claim: Former Alphabet Inc. executive chairman Eric Schmidt, Facebook co-founder Sean Parker, and former Google designer Tristan Harris admit that Google and Facebook develop addictive, intrusive, and even potentially harmful technology in order to exploit the product user for financial gain.

“I actually think most people don’t want Google to answer their questions. … They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next,” Schmidt toldThe Wall Street Journal in 2010.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Whose Trade War Is It Anyway?

July 31, 2018

Whose Trade War Is It Anyway?

Everybody complains about Trump, but he wasn’t the one who started it

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks to President Donald Trump in front of other world leaders in Charlevoix, Canada, at the G-7 summit on June 9, 2018. The mainstream media and world leaders are blaming Trump for starting a trade war, where in reality all politicians are fighting to protect their special interest groups. (Jesco Denzel /Bundesregierung via Getty Images)

War is aggression, often with the use of physical violence to conquer land, people, and power. Trade wars, though not quite as bad, also are aggressive in nature. Where two or more private parties want to transact freely, aggressive governments step in the way and prevent trade from happening with the threat of force.

In 2018, most of the mainstream media and the establishment powers blame President Donald Trump and his administration for starting a trade war, which—like real wars—can only produce losers on both sides. “How Much Damage Will Trump’s Trade War Do?” read a headline in The Atlantic, and countless other articles and official statements say similar things.

So the mainstream media and some politicians are pretending that trade was 100 percent free before Trump started to threaten the “free traders” of China, the European Union (EU), Mexico, and Canada with tariffs. The media paints Washington as the aggressor in this trade war. Trump shot first.

However, truth be told, this trade war did not start this year and certainly the United States isn’t the biggest aggressor. In real war terms, the Americans are now starting to shoot back after being under siege for decades and the whole world is complaining about this act of self-defense.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Trouble With Taxes

October 7, 2017

The Trouble With Taxes

Can we imagine a world without?

The U.S. Department of the Treasury building in Washington. The federal budget makes up 21.5 percent of GDP. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“There is no more persistent and influential faith in the world today than the faith in government spending,” wrote economist Henry Hazlitt in 1946. If that was the case then, what about today? Nearly every problem in the world calls for the government to solve it. In return for these services, the government needs money—a lot of money.

The federal government of the United States alone is on track to spend $3.65 trillion in the fiscal year of 2017, or 21.5 percent of gross domestic product.

Now, the Trump administration has been in the news for proposing a reform of the tax system, including some significant cuts. However, rather than bicker over the costs and effectiveness of that particular proposal, let’s take a step back and look at the big picture on taxes. We may even consider asking the question of whether we need taxation at all.

Taxes artificially increase the risk-reward profile for any operation, regardless of profits.

In 2017, we are immersed in taxes like a fish in water. We are so used to it, we could not even imagine a life without it. But the federal income tax only started in 1913, with a relatively modest 1 percent for the lowest bracket and 7 percent for the highest bracket. Since then, it has been fluctuating, reaching a peak of 92 percent on the highest bracket in the 1950s—which nobody could afford to pay nor actually did pay—and currently stands at 39.6 percent for incomes of more than $411,000.

No Taxes

There are many arguments in favor of abolishing personal and corporate income taxes altogether.

The first is that taxes prevent private economic activity, the core provider of employment and the products we need to sustain our lives.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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