All things Russia and Ukraine...

You know better than that. Afghanistan is apples and oranges. Russia has military complexes, industrial complexes, infrastructure…All of which would be dust inside two weeks with the US and NATO countries barely raising a sweat.
Plenty of land was bought, don’t make me teach you your own history…And Mexico is hardly the US or NATO…
Your comparisons are loose to say the least….

NEXT!

 

I know that sort of bluster doesn't win wars and as Churchill once said, wars are not won by evacuations.

The U.S. Army's own Web site is more objective:

"One of the remarkable achievements Ulysses S. Grant is known for even today, are his extraordinary accounts of his life published 1885 after his death, The Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, in two volumes. They are an amazing literary accomplishment but even more so, his candor, honesty and simplicity are breathtaking at times. As a young lieutenant, he formed an opinion about the Mexico-U.S. War 1846-48 that remained with him until his death and echoes down the hall as generations have come and gone.

"For myself," Grant wrote later about the United States war against Mexico, "I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation."

Grant in Mexico:

And yes, wildly undervalued payments were made to keep up appearances.

 

Can’t speak for NATO, but Australia has had quite a lot to do with the US military…Bluster is not a word they use…They study killing to the inth degree, and are the most ‘willing’ military I’ve seen in my 50+ years.(Something Churchill discovered himself in time)

 

And if you DID fight them, it would cost the U.S. MANY times what its currently spending...Lives and dollars.
Ukraine is doing the West a HUGE favour by taking them on themselves...The least we can do is support them in ANY way they need.
Many numpties in the western countries don't understand why we are all spending money on this fight...in a way, its a good sign they don't understand war or international politics. Their forefathers fought and died so they don't have to understand it - Just get along with their lives...Which im sure the Ukrainians (and the vast majority of Russians) just want to do also.

 

American neocons are more than happy to fight to the last Ukrainian to attain their goal of ruining Russia. Besides, the nature of the fractional banking system requires the prepetual creation of fresh money ("money" is used very loosely here and we're really talking about currency) to sustain itself and freshly created cash (actually it's all digital) has to go somewhere and it does. Most of it stays here with the defense industry, some to local grifting & the rest to Ukraine (where a lot is skimmed off the top by politicians too). We saw the same thing happen with the KouMinTang during WW II. Snyway, those closest to the spigot get the most benefit and the rest of us (peasants) get inflation. Look up the cantillon effect.

We are broke and incure an additional trillion in debt every 100 days. The implication is that we're going to have our weimar moment and it won't be fun. It would have happened anyway but our spending should have gone to repair our infrastructure to makke us competitive on the global market.

Regarding hyper-inflation, we've only had that twice in our (meaning American) history. Good book to read is Adam Ferguson's When Money Dies. Another good read (or free U-toob) is David Rogers Webb's The Great Taking. There's a free pdf too if you find his website.

I want peace on earf and goodwill to ALL mankind. Everyone root'n for war whether in U-crane or Izzy-land better be ready fo the consequences of our reckless spending in support of these wars.

 

Nice post...
Australia posted a surplus last report (22 Billion) - We also have our inflation rate down to 2.8 - This has come with PLENTY of pain...We are still in a cost of living crisis, which has impacted even me.
My understanding is the US is doing well with inflation having it down to 2.4, im sure with plenty of pain also. Debt is bad but it is also relative...Im not going to pretend to understand the finer points.

"American neocons are more than happy to fight to the last Ukrainian to attain their goal of ruining Russia" - Makes sense to me, as ive said in previous posts, its a once in a lifetime opportunity for the West to "punish" the rogue states. Ukraine will do whats good for Ukraine, we can only try and take advantage of that. They are fighting for themselves, but also for all the other free states which will be next...

 

Then theres Russia, interest rates 21%...!!
Putin admits Russia has hit rock bottom (msn.com)

 

CBS News price tracker shows how much food, gas, utility and housing costs are rising

 

Tell me about it…The really shitty part is at least half the rise is price gouging.

 

Every day I have 4 eggs and toast for breakfast. I gladly pay more to fight against tyranny and for Democracy. Others are more egocentric than I but I am who my WW!! Ranger dad raised me to be. Rangers Lead the Way!!!!

 

Remember, in its most basic form inflation is an increase in the money supply (actually currency) without a corresponding increase in goods/services. I like von Mises school of economics. Everytime Congress spends beyond the budget, they are increasing the currency supply and creating inflation. That the dollar was concurrently the world's reserve currency meant that Americans were somewhat isolated from its effect; but no longer. For every new dollar created (even if only digtially), there is a corresponding decrease in the purchasing power of the pre-existing dollar. I mentioned the Cantillon Effect where those closest to the money spigot benefit. They can buy assets before the impact of the new dollars is felt. Those of us further down on the food chain get all the inflation. When the dollar is dethroned from its position as the world's reserve currency, those dollars come home. However, hyper-inflation happens when two things are concurrent. Brrrrrrrrrr! which we have and when the public loses faith in the currency and disposes (spends) of it as fast as it's aquired. The first started in 2008 with TARP/Quantative Easing and the second is just starting (Costco sells as much as $200 billion of gold a month). Link to the souce Lame Stream Media article: Costco selling as much as $200 million in gold bars monthly, Wells Fargo estimates We stand on the precipe and no one shows up for Treasury Auctions anymore (unless the Fed pays a shadow buyer to buy it and create the illusion that the dollar is still in demand).

Turning to the issue of breakfast eggs, I pay $4 dollars a dozen for eggs and have been for yearrs now. It's from a mennonite chicken ranch and the yolks are darker yellow than the store bought stuff. It's also on the honor system where there's a cashbox that you deposit your payment in.

I also mentioned historically about the previous American experience with hyperinflation. For those who haven't figured it out, the first was with the Continental Dollar (remember the saying, "Not worth a continental?") and hence the mandate in the Constitution that gold and silver were to be the money of the state (thanks LBJ for overspending and Nixon for renouncing Bretton Woods by closing the gold window). The second was the Confederate dollar that originally was supposed to be 1:1 with the Union (meaning Federal government) dollar. Confederate sharpshooter Berry Benson mentioned that he paid $150 for breakfast and a poor one at that. This was either in 1864 or '65. Fiat currency generally lasts between forty and fifthty years and we're well past 50 (if you consider '71 the year Nixon decoupled the dollar to gold and '73 if you consider the creation of the petro-dollar with Saudi Arabia) and it's only its status as the world's reserve currency that keeps it afloat. The US has been messing with it and helped to spawn the BRICS coaltion.

I blame Woody Wilson who put us on the path of destruction.

Wooley12 - my cousin-in-law's father was in the Fourth Ranger Battalions. They climbed Point-du-hoc to reinforce the Second Rangers. I wish I had spent time with him but I wasn't into research then (I only read for fun). He's been in the cold ground for a while. I yet to read about their battle in Hurtgenwald wherer they had to capture a hill.

 

I don’t believe in making welfare payments to foreigners and international corporations. If the United States were a democracy, there would be a public vote for all military interventions, other than defending our own skies and soil.

President John F. Kennedy demoted the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Lyman Lemnitzer, when he proposed Operation Northwoods. That was designed as a false flag terror operation to be carried out against American citizens. Yes, fascist nutters at the Pentagon wanted to attack our own people and blame it on someone else, in attempt to create support for a war against Cuba. This did not end well for Kennedy after he pulled the plug on Northwoods, so there is your so-called democracy in full bloom.

Operation Northwoods - Wikipedia

As an aside, British citizens are controlled by unelected leaders. They can vote for ministers at the local level, but there is no public vote for the head of government (prime minister) or head of state (monarch). They have no legal right to free speech, e.g the First Amendment in the United States. Maybe you could tell me which part of that is democracy.

Consider the fate of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in Australia. He was dismissed, replaced and humiliated by the governor-general, who worked for the U.K. monarch. Sorry folks, but that ain’t democracy by any stretch.

 

Interesting opinion @Ritter. I studied Micro and Maro for 4 years. Got a B on my oral final in the Macro so I went into sales (HAHA) First American made then Chinese made goods. In the 50+ years since, I've learned that the joke I heard in Eco 101 is true. "What do economists do? They spend 50% of their time predicting what the economy will do in the future and the other 50% explaining why their past predictions were off." We will see what the future brings. There are a lot of flippers and bumpers in the economic pin ball machine. I do know first hand that tariffs are bad for consumers. Full Stop.

Point du Hoc. is famous but the 4th wasn't there. Some elements of the 5th (?) went off course and came up the side to back up the 2nd. My studies are deeper of the Rangers in Italy. I do know a little DDay tidbit. The night before D Day the Maj in charge of leading Rangers assault and climb said it was a suicide mission and got drunk. Then rowdy. Then relieved.

 

“Well may we say God save the Queen…because nothing will save the Governor General!” Whitlam on the steps of Parliament. This episode marked the END of the last vestiges of power Britain had over Australia. Did us a favour in many ways. Australia is truly free from outside influence, and that includes the United States. We don’t make politics a “Cult of personality” or a popularity contest…we vote for a party and policies. (might sound weird to an American) The party votes for a leader, and that leader can be changed overnight, and has been in the past. Making Trump like people easy to remove.
What IS NOT democratic is not making voting compulsory, so you DON’T hear from all Americans. Boggles my mind as an Australian.
The Westminster system is still the best democratic model yet devised, and Australia has no intention of changing it. The US political system is VERY broken, which should scare and piss off most Americans.

 

I'll ask my cousin which Ranger battalion he was in.

Before the income tax, tariffs (and custom fees) used to be the main source of revenue for the Federal Government. Tariffs aren't paid by the exporter who ships the goods overseaas but by the consumer, so I concur with you. If the malevolent orange entity (#45 and probably #47) wanted to get America on its feet, he must encourage re-industrialization and exportation of goods for export. The nightly news used to report the trade deficit but modernly I don't think anyone mentions it (in all fairness I don't follow MSM news). BTW, I studied monetary history and have two shelves of books on the subject matter. I figured out that the effort is to reduce society to a neo-feudalistic time. Own nut'n and be happy!

I know a German who was 5 years old in 1945. Too young for Jungvolk but he does remember the weimar marks that were used as wallpaper. He was lucky in that his apartment building was never hit. Bombs either went into the river or the next street over.

Have you read David Rogers Webb's The Great Taking? It's free (pdf or video).