USA Inc. is the world’s biggest Ponzi scheme
And it’s about to go bust. The service on the US public debt is $1 trillion annually.
The below article is based on forecasts by American authors, notably Martin Armstrong, who believes a US default is coming within 2 years at the most.
If this happens, it will be game over for US wars because we will no longer be able to borrow to pay for them. I suspect it would be the beginning of the end of US hegemony and the unipolar world order.
https://tsargrad.tv/articles/ssha-lopnut-cherez-god-bolshaja-vojna-neizbezhna_1003260
Translation with my notes in bold and in [brackets]
VLADIMIR KHOMYAKOV
THE USA WILL BURST IN A YEAR: A BIG WAR IS INEVITABLE
Well, it seems we’re getting what we expected. The decades-old debt bubble, the basis of American prosperity, will burst, if not this year, then next. Martin Armstrong, an authoritative analyst of financial and geopolitical cycles, stated this in an interview with the USAWatchdog portal. Will this turn out to be the collapse of the “hegemon” or another attempt by it to solve its problems at the expense of others?
Martin Armstrong is not alone in his gloomy forecasts regarding the impending American default. Former World Bank chief David Malpass said:
All signs point to a financial disaster in 2025; when the debt limit is introduced, spending increases and tax rates rise.
Elon Musk called on the US government to urgently solve the problem of the huge national debt, and “otherwise the dollar will be worth nothing.”
But the head of the US Ministry of Finance, Janet Yellen, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, reassured the nation that the United States is able to continue to maintain financial stability, increasing the level of public debt in relation to GDP.
It is unclear who to believe. But one thing is clear: there is no smoke without fire.
Where does all this come from?
How is it that what seems to be the richest country in the world is actually in debt up to its eyeballs? [the Russian literal rendition would be the idiom “in debt as in silk”] But the fact is that the United States spends much more to support this welfare than it earns. And therefore the government constantly borrows money, issuing and selling government bonds, on which it pays interest - naturally, at the expense of new borrowings.
Sidebar:
Why do they say “In debt, like silk”?
The phraseology “in debt as in silk” is used in relation to a person deeply mired in financial debts. Using this phrase, the debtor is usually spoken about jokingly, ironically or dismissively.
This [Russian] phrase came to us from ancient times, when nobles borrowed money and mortgaged their estates only in order to dress up in clothes made of silk, velvet and other expensive materials.
The technology, as we see, is painfully familiar to us: from the notorious MMM and other pyramids from the 1990s.
https://www.rt.com/business/422408-mavrodi-founder-mmm-pyramid-dies/
Sergei Mavrodi claimed that in 1994 he was driven by the desire to “intervene in the plunder of the country” during privatization.
US public debt for the period of 1977-2022
The first 2 entries, under presidents Carter and Reagan, are in billions, ie, 629 and 909 bl. The rest are in trillions. Trump increased the debt by $10 trillion. So far, Biden has done the same, but only in his first 2 years – ie, at twice the rate.
SCREEN: FOTO.IMGHUB.RU
In order to somehow keep this process within limits, the United States introduced a national debt ceiling in 1917 under the pretext of supporting the issue of government bonds to finance its troops participating in the First World War.
But you can’t stop living beautifully, and since then the national debt ceiling has been raised hundreds of times and reached an astronomical amount - almost $34 trillion. Moreover, over the last year alone it has grown by $2.5 trillion, and compared to 2021 - by $6 trillion.
As you can see, supporting Ukraine is a very expensive pleasure. The growth of public debt is occurring exponentially, and there is no reason to believe that it will be different in the future. In total, compared to 2009, the amount of US national debt has increased threefold. And as a result, just paying interest on the national debt costs the American budget $1 trillion annually, becoming the largest item in their budget expenditures.
If tomorrow there is a default
What will happen if tomorrow morning the US government defaults, that is, stops paying interest on its government bonds?
Firstly, this will cause a sharp drop in confidence in the United States in the world, which has already suffered a fair crack after the Americans misappropriated (read “stole”) Russian money.
Secondly, without receiving interest payments on the bonds, creditors around the world will begin to sell them as long as these pieces of paper are worth anything.
The creditworthiness of the United States and the dollar exchange rate will naturally fall sharply, as will the purchasing power of the population and economic activity in the country as a whole. The result is a recession, cuts in spending on social programs (the public services sector will collapse by 40%). And destabilization. We’re lucky if there’s not a civil war.
It is clear that global market participants will begin to look for more reliable currencies. Yuan, euro, yen, pound will win. As for the ruble, it will strengthen. But for our [Russian] economy there’s no reason to think this will be great:
the value of shares will fall (it is also calculated in dollars);
interest rates will rise, loans will become more expensive;
Raw materials, oil, gas, and metals will become cheaper, the export of which has until now been the main source of Russia's budget, and its revenues will also fall.
Well, since a lot of things in the global financial system depend on the US economy, borrowers [did the author perhaps means “lenders”?] who have not received the expected payments may raise interest rates. And everything will be the same:
increase in loan costs;
decline in exports and economic activity;
slowdown in global economic growth.
This objective process cannot be stopped, only slowed down at best. But does Russia need this?
We understand that the US national debt has already exceeded its GDP and soon one interest payment could amount to 12-15% of the US budget, which is fraught with problems. They have usually solved this by issuing new, unbacked dollars and selling their bonds. Our task is to convince as many in the “non-Western” world as possible of the unreliability of these pieces of paper and call for getting rid of them and switching to payments in national currencies, says Vice-Rector of RANEPA, Doctor of Economic Sciences Nikita Maslennikov.
This is exactly what Russia has been doing in recent years.
Delaying the inevitable
There is also such a thing as “technical default”. This is when the borrower (the US government) refuses to provide for its obligations, violating the agreement with the lenders. Although technically it can, in principle, pay, at the moment for some reason it does not want to do this. And there will be a reason - this is a big war, which, as we know, will write off everything and allow us to say with a straight face: well, you understand, we can’t pay now... Martin Armstrong also thinks the same:
“That's why they need war. They think starting a war is an excuse to default on the debt. They simply won't pay China.” [recall that Russia sold off all its US bonds]
It was precisely in order to have a plausible excuse for a technical default that the West, according to Armstrong, needed a war in Ukraine with the prospect of its expansion throughout Europe.
What's new here? Let us remember: the United States has already solved its economic problems twice through two world wars, from which it emerged as the main beneficiary. So why not try the proven technology a third time?
Armstrong only confirmed what we are trying to explain to the rest of the world: that the United States is the main source of all current conflicts in the world. However, these conflicts today are at such a stage, and the situation in the world has changed so much that the Americans are unlikely to be able to solve their economic problems with war. And they have nothing more to offer the world, says Andrey Koshkin.
[This suggests game over for the Empire]
Conclusion
It is clear that the inevitable can only be delayed, but not canceled altogether. Thus, a distraught consumer, taking on new debts in order to pay off old ones and at the same time not reducing the level of consumption, internally understands that sooner or later the end will come, but he still cannot stop.
According to one Chinese study, the vast majority of wars on the planet over the past century were caused by the United States. So war as a reason for a technical default is quite American. The ability to justify non-payments as “force majeure” or to pay off debts differentially: we pay off these countries, but not others. But even in this case, this will only delay the inevitable end of the current position of the “hegemon”. This is what we wish for it with all our hearts, says Nikita Maslennikov.
What did Nietzsche write? “Push the falling one”? So let them not be offended.
**
https://usawatchdog.com/nightmare-fall-of-united-states-martin-armstrong/
Here is the apocalyptic article cited by Tsargrad author Vladimir Khomyakov appearing reproduced in translation above. I am always cautious when journalists criticize Biden, because this could mean they think Trump will save us, which is BULL.
But I did a little research on author Martin Armstrong and he does not seem to be a rabid MAGA nut. Anyway, go ahead and read the above-linked article from USAwatchdog and see what you think.
I love the artwork in the Russian article.
**
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/24/harvard-student-commencement-speaker
Harvard student speaker denounces university over Gaza protest response
Shruthi Kumar gives unscripted condemnation of university after 13 students barred from graduation over involvement in protests
Gloria Oladipo
Fri 24 May 2024 22.27 BST
Share
A graduating Harvard University student went off script and upbraided Harvard over the university’s treatment of students protesting against what they say is a genocide being carried out by Israel in Gaza.
“As I stand here today, I must take a moment to recognize my peers – the 13 undergraduates in the class of 2024 that will not graduate today,” said student Shruthi Kumar, who was chosen to deliver the English commencement remarks for the undergraduate class.
Kumar’s thoughts were widely supported by other Harvard students. More than 1,000 students walked out of the ceremony as part of a staged protest, many waving Palestinian flags or banners calling for an end to genocide.
The unscripted remarks came as 13 pro-Palestine students were barred from graduating for their involvement in campus protests, the Harvard Crimson reported, even after a majority of the university’s faculty of arts and sciences voted for the students to have their degrees conferred.
The Harvard Corporation, the university’s governing body, voted on Wednesday to halt the students’ graduation.
Kumar’s original speech was previously on The Power of Not Knowing, encouraging students to embrace uncertainty as they transition on from school, according to the Harvard Gazette.
But at Thursday’s morning ceremony, Kumar delivered off-script remarks that largely focused on Harvard’s punishment of protesting students and overall censorship.
“I am deeply disappointed by the intolerance for freedom of speech and the right to civil disobedience on campus,” she said. “The students had spoken. The faculty had spoken.”
Kumar added: “Harvard, do you hear us?” She received widespread applause and a standing ovation.
The headlining commencement speaker also addressed Harvard’s treatment of pro-Palestine student activists.
Maria Ressa, a Noble peace prize laureate and journalist, warned Harvard not to silence student protesters. “Harvard, you are being tested,” Ressa said.
“The campus protests are testing everyone in America. Protests give voice; they shouldn’t be silenced.”
The remarks from Kumar and Ressa underline the tensions at Harvard and other universities after the crackdowns on pro-Palestine student protesters.
A pro-Palestine student demonstration at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor was broken up by police. Police also cracked down on a demonstration at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. At least six student protesters were arrested there.
**
Harley Schlanger
https://laroucheorganization.com/article/2024/05/24/why-anglo-americans-are-choosing-war
**
Michael Hudson and Dr. Richard Wolff, top economics experts
**
Like war? You’ll love Trump’s possible pick for VP!
Tom Cotton has distinguished himself as one of the worst Iran hawks in Congress over the years. He led the opposition to the nuclear deal, and went so far as to organize a letter to Ayatollah Khamenei telling the Iranian leader that there was no point in negotiating with the U.S. Cotton has been a vocal advocate for sabotaging the deal ever since, and he has supported every aggressive anti-Iranian move by the Trump administration over the last two and a half years. Earlier today, he did it again with a call for attacking Iran in response to their alleged responsibility for the recent tanker attacks:
…
https://thegrayzone.com/2017/12/17/neocon-senator-tom-cotton-trump-cia/
Strangelovian Senator Tom Cotton effusively advocates world war without end.
By Max Blumenthal
This article was originally published at AlterNet.
In a recent profile of Tom Cotton, the Wall Street Journal’s Jason Willick characterized the 40-year-old junior Republican senator from Arkansas as “hawkish and realistic” and described his worldview as “tinged with idealism.” Yet it was unclear what the unabashedly Strangelovian Cotton did to earn such a charitable description, as he rattled off a series of opinions that amounted to a call for world war without end.
Cotton told Willick he favored arming Japan and South Korea with nuclear weapons to counter North Korea, an unprecedented escalation that would bring the region a stride closer to armageddon. China, according to Cotton, is a “rival in every regard” that must be isolated economically and confronted militarily with aggressive freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea. (The senator ignored a recent Rand assessment that found the US could easily find itself outmatched in a duel with the Chinese military.) From eastern Europe to Asia to the Middle East, Cotton urged regime change operations to replace governments that resisted Pax Americana with “countries that share our principles.” On Iran, Cotton would accept nothing short of war, imagining a cakewalk that would only require “several days” of bombing, as he has previously said.
Cotton’s remarks are especially disturbing in light of rumors of his potential nomination as CIA director. Reports surfaced this November of a coming reshuffle that would move Mike Pompeo, a longtime stooge of the Koch Brothers and evangelical Muslim basher, from CIA to Secretary of State, dislodging the insufficiently loyal Rex Tillerson, who Trump has trashed as “weak on everything.” While the Cotton appointment may not happen in the immediate future, he still appears to be next in line to take the helm at Langley in the Trump administration. If the move ever takes place, one of the key hubs of the national security state would fall into the hands of a militant neoconservative whose worldview was formed through prolonged cultivation in a right-wing hothouse.
**
Oblast map:
Here’s your daily air strike for May 25, 2024
Translation with my notes in bold and in [brackets]
https://ria.ru/20240525/spetsoperatsiya-1948310606.html
25.05.2024
Russian troops hit a temporary deployment point for foreign mercenaries
Ministry of Defense: The Russian Armed Forces hit a temporary deployment point for foreign mercenaries of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) 9K57 Hurricane of the RF Armed Forces - RIA Novosti, 05.25.2024
© RIA Novosti / Stanislav Krasilnikov
Multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) 9K57 "Hurricane" of the Russian Armed Forces. Archive photo
Read ria.ru in
MOSCOW, May 25 - RIA Novosti. During a special operation, the Russian military hit a temporary deployment point for foreign mercenaries in Kyiv, accumulations of manpower and military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 113 districts; Over the past 24 hours, air defense systems shot down 25 Ukrainian drones, 3 HARM anti-radar missiles and a Hammer bomb, the press service of the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on Saturday.
...
“Air defense systems shot down 25 unmanned aerial vehicles, a Hammer guided aerial bomb made in France, as well as three HARM anti-radar missiles made in the United States,” the statement said.
**
Translation with my notes in bold and in [brackets]
https://smotrim.ru/article/3968243
MAY 25, 2024
In Kharkov, a strike was carried out on a shopping center in which the Ukrainian Armed Forces stored weapons
The Epicenter shopping center in Kharkov was hit by a missile attack from the Russian Armed Forces on Saturday.
Russian intelligence has identified an ammunition depot and command center that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have set up in a shopping center, a TASS source in the security forces told TASS. The "human shield" tactic is the calling card of the Ukrainian military.
Having received relevant information from intelligence, the military attacked the Epicenter. Judging by the videos published online, ammunition detonated in the building. The “epicenter” is engulfed in a strong fire, with a huge plume of black smoke hanging over the area.
It is noted that operational-tactical aviation, UAVs, missile forces and artillery of groupings of troops of the Russian Armed Forces within 24 hours hit the temporary deployment point of foreign mercenaries, accumulations of enemy manpower and military equipment in 113 areas.
**
Translation with my notes in bold and in [brackets]
May 25, 2024, 10:00
Attack aircraft destroyed militant positions and supported infantry actions in the area of responsibility of the Center group of troops.
May 25, 2024
Attack aircraft destroyed militant positions and supported infantry actions in the area of responsibility of the Center group of troops. [no mention here of where this took place]
The strike was carried out by the crews of Su-25 aircraft. They flew at an extremely low altitude, and before launch they raised their noses to increase the firing range. As a result, enemy strongholds were destroyed.
And in the sky over the Kherson oblast, a Russian FPV drone shot down a Baba Yaga drone in an air battle. The operator noticed the enemy copter and quickly assessed the situation. It entered a convenient trajectory and rammed the device from above.
**
Translation with my notes in bold and in [brackets]
https://rg.ru/2024/05/25/rakety-iskander-porazili-aerodrom-vsu-v-chernigove.html
25.05.2024
Iskander missiles hit the Ukrainian Armed Forces airfield in Chernigov
Alexey Komolov
The Russian military attacked the airfield of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "Pevtsy" on the outskirts of Chernigov, reports the Telegram channel "Reports and Analytics of the SVO".
It is noted that the enemy’s air defense did not work. After “two clear strikes” of Iskander-M [hypersonic] missiles, a fire started, several aircraft of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were damaged, the publication says.
The airfield was used for army aviation.
Ukrainian media wrote about the explosion in Chernigov, and an air raid alert was declared in the region.