Liberation(n.)
"act of setting free from restraint or confinement," early 15c., liberacion, from Old French libération and directly from Latin liberationem (nominative liberatio) "a setting or becoming free," noun of action from past-participle stem of liberare "to set free," from liber "free"
One phrase that stuck out was a quote:
“A controlled disintegration in the world economy is a legitimate objective for the Eighties.”
Worth a read.
What was interesting, is the friend I got it from is an American, and when I mentioned I didn't know anything much about Nixon at all, he admitted that he didn't know anything about this either. What I do know is Nixon resigned and was pardoned, so was never found guilty of the Watergate crimes. Trump got elected even though he was found guilty of crimes. An interesting and strange juxtaposition.
But going on the quote above, there definitely are many parables in what Nixon did and what is happening now, and make no mistake, the Us government cares zero about any pain it causes its citizens, and even less for the pain it causes anyone outside of the US. But while it is likely not to be a very controlled demolition of the economy, this is just another phase of the evolution of the economy as we know it.
At least the people in crypto tend to know that the legacy economy is highly imbalanced and very fragile due to its centralisation, and also know that in order for things to get better, it has to be changed. Trump is definitely not the solution, but perhaps this administration is the catalyst that tears the economy down enough for people to rise up. While this might seem like a reflection of what Nixon did in the past, the key difference between then and now is the ability for masses pf people around the world to coordinate and collaborate at a scale that is far larger than any single nation.
Greed for power and control will be the downfall of centralisation.
The make the wealthy wealthier again campaign isn't operating out of reach this time, it isn't operating in a vacuum where the people have no power, and the people are becoming not just restless, but openly hostile to the point that the definition of terrorism in the US is being rewritten.
Liberation!!
The tariffs are in. 50% reciprocal.
Trump mentioned something in his speech while holding up a chart made by primary school students about Cambodia, who has a 97% tariff level (and whatever else they were calculating to reach that number on) on American goods. Sounds pretty bad, right? Trump said how Cambodia has got rich off of America because of these tariffs.
For those keeping count, Cambodia is a third-world country and one of the poorest on earth.
However, I did a little search and found:
U.S. goods imports from Cambodia totaled $12.7 billion in 2024, up 9.3 percent ($1.1 billion) from 2023. The U.S. goods trade deficit with Cambodia was $12.3 billion in 2024, a 9.4 percent increase ($1.1 billion) over 2023.
What this means is the "protection" that Cambodia has to become wealth off of the US, only affects 400 million in trade into the country. Which lets face it, is probably machines to help set up child-labour textile compounds. So while 400 million is bought by Cambodia, the deficit is 12.3 billion. So, Americans are now going to pay 18 billion for Cambodian goods instead. Buy local? Nup. As there is no way that Americans can make any of that stuff cheaper than Cambodia.
The new minimum wage for garment workers in Cambodia is set at 204 USD per month, despite trade unions' demand for a much bigger increase. The new minimum wage is a huge disappointment for the 700,000 workers in the Cambodian garment and footwear sector, who are increasingly struggling to make ends meet.
For those doing the calculations, those 700,000 workers are earning a minimum wage of 2,400 dollars a year, or about 1.7 billion. So, it would be fantastic if all of those jobs moved to the US instead, where those 700,000 would be earning a minimum of about 30,000 a year, for a total of 21 billion. And of course, that is the lowest wages, so it would be far higher and that difference will be passed onto the consumer. An increase in price on "Cambodian textiles" of around 1200% for American consumers. By the way, the average salary in the US is $66,000, so who do you think is working in the textile industry for 30?
I think ICE might have a target for people to deport so those half than average salary jobs can go to Americans instead.
Of course, this is one cherry picked country out of the list, but Australia also got a mention because Australia doesn't buy American beef. The US is the world's largest beef producer, and Australians do eat a lot of meat. However, Australia has 0.33% of the global population, but produces 4% of the world's beef. How much meat are they expecting Australians to eat?
Throw another shrimp couple of cows on the barbie!
My brother is going to have to get a few as pets.
Everyone feeling liberated?
Implosion.
And yes, some are going to get richer, and some numbers are going to look insanely good - but the thing is, those people are not us. They are the people who are already insanely wealthy. The average person is going to be a net loser, because prices are going to increase faster than salaries can, because even if the jobs return to the US, the production just can't compete on prices of a whole range of externally sourced products. And that means, prices go up and people can't afford to buy - which means....
Recession.
While wealth plays in the derivatives, it is all driven by consumer spending. And when people can't buy, the economy contracts. But, because greed for power and control is the focus of those with power and control now, they will keep punishing the consumer economy in order to maximise their own money grab. They are like Augustus Gloop drinking from the chocolate river, and they will drink and drink until they burst or, they fall in and get sucked up the pipe. But as I said above. Maybe this is the catalyst where people say...
Fuck these pricks.
Bitcoin was born on the "fuck these pricks" of the global financial crisis of 2008, and maybe the next step is to "fuck these pricks" in government by using the protocols developed since then that allow us to bypass these fuckers completely, and make all their machinations,
Worthless.
Don't fight the power.
Take the power.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
