soalbundy

If a preacher accent causes you to vote for a candidate you shouldn't be allowed to vote, it's a poor reflection on the mind set of the American voter but we are accustomed to that.

No and I won't question your motives.

Wot?

Do tell us more.

Whatever turns you on

and those that are can't speak English correctly.

It's not about the political spectrum so much as about the man himself. I regard myself as slightly left of the middle but certainly don't agree with many liberal views, woke-ism being one of them. Trump is tainted by his past, he is a narcissist who isn't very intelligent, he is a proven liar, he is a criminal and appears to show the first stages of dementia, of all the people in the GOP he is probably the least appropriate candidate, indeed he has turned much of the GOP into sycophants who fear the maga mob.

Impatient for the cremation

It's certainly under more control than most western nations debt.

No, not over long periods but then nothing is certain, stocks can fall as can house prices or gold, when the $hit hits the fan you had better have a vegetable garden, chickens and a few pigs.

You can sell stocks, land and gold and what do you get, fiat money. You cant by food at the supermarket with gold. Fiat money / paper money is still needed for everyday use, even digital is just a representation of cash. At the moment cash isn't a good storage of wealth of course but a reset has to happen to make it so, society depends on trust in the money that is earned, on savings that don't disappear with inflation so I am certain that a reset is coming and it cant be just bank controlled digital currency because if that isn't backed by something (gold?) then its still just fiat.

Yes very impressive, I presume they still need lubricants. I know that Nazi Germany had a prototype heavy tank with electric motors on all the driving wheels but since there's no charging stations on a battle field they still needed a diesel engine for charging and possible complications with dirt ruining the motors meant it was turned down. No electric fighter planes I note. Australia is ideal because of the warm weather, once you get weather with snow and ice the range of electric motors is cut down a lot and the charging times go over the roof, sometimes they wont charge at all. New battery technology is needed.

They should have thrown a bucket of water over them, it works with dogs.

That isn't relevant, he tried to use them to buy things.

While I admire your sentiments, unfortunately it shouldn't take courage to express in writing their opinions, as these former advisors have done, in a functioning democracy. Surely he can't just act as a dictator, where are the famous checks and balances? I'm appalled that such a man can still garner so much support, it doesn't say much for the average American. In Europe such a man would be thrown out of his party and would never again have a political future.

Oil and gas still are and probably will still be for the next 20 years important energy providers apart from that it oil is used for lubricants, plastics, fertilizers, road surfaces, in paints and chemicals. Countrys that have oil also have gas. Green energy has made huge strides but it still isn't able to replace oil and gas and probably never will completely, I can't envisage heavy mining machinery or tanks and fighter aircraft running on batteries.

Well not in the immediate future but this could be dangerous in two ways, (1) The Thai Baht would change to a Brics 'unit' which being partially backed by gold as well as being backed by energy (oil) of some Brics members would not only be extremely stable but would rise in value against all Fiat currencies. (2) There would, sooner or later, be a military component like NATO, self protection against outside interference and aggression, so we would have two blocks, East and West, a mirror image of the cold war with the Soviets. Imagine living in a free democratic Poland as an expat in days before a Soviet take over only to find one day that you as a westerner now live in a potential enemies country with your pension having lost half its value and you either face expulsion or are viewed with suspicion. Thailand wouldn't need or want western tourists (they are broke anyway) all their tourists would come visa free from Brics countrys, as a sort of Brics EU.

Right in there with night time farts.

There seems to be a lack of intellectual discourse of late

That is an exaggeration, it isn't in anyone's interest, not even BRICS would want that although in 3 to 5 years BRICS will cause a massive wealth transfer from West to East but an impoverished West will cause cause huge problems for BRICS themselves. As BRICS nations will see an increase in living standards there will be a corresponding fall in standards in the West, especially in heavily indebted America but not to poverty levels. The West will fight back of course and Europe with its great experience in manipulation due to its colonial past may even mitigate the BRICS successes to some degree, America with its usual less sophisticated approach may even try war as a last resort but such methods are doomed to fail. Whatever, a great reset is coming, blessed are those without debt.

Yes,my German pension is bigger than that but we are already retired, it wont take too long before the next bulk of retirees comes along and the funds get depleted (America is a case in point, many states wont be in a position to pay the promised amount of pensions to their retiring government workers). My German daughter who is 38 already assumes that she wont get a pension. There is a limit to the burden (wage deductions) that one can put on an ever decreasing number of young workers compared to an ever increasing number of retirees.

Let's not be too arrogant, it's a start from a very low bench mark, funds have to be available to raise pensions and this can take decades. At least they have seen the writing on the wall and are making a start. The same problems are facing the West where the demographics are a harbinger of bad times ahead, raising the retirement age to 70 is no longer unrealistic, with small incremental steps, in the future, this would ensure that many will never receive a pension or if then only for a short time thus reducing burden on the retirement funds, basically, if you don't have kids then you don't get a pension worthy of the name.

I wasn't referring to medical science. When people retire they can expect another 15 years of life, their pensions are paid by the young working populace. All other aspects of society, infrastructure such as roads, electricity, hospitals, police, teachers, the food chain, new innovations in high tech etc are kept functioning by the young working population and there aren't enough of them, the demographics are skewed because world wide people can't afford to have children, we need more children not less otherwise there will be a breakdown in society which is why retirement ages are being raised in every country, in Japan more diapers for adults are produced than for babies.

The cobra didn't want to die so refrained from biting the monk

On top of all the bad news in the world we get this as well.