spidermike007

Why you can certainly make an argument that Krugman and Yellen have a different point of view, but you can't make an argument that Trump, Navarro and Bessent have the slightest idea of what they're doing. They are sabateurs, completely lost in the woods.

Multiple drug toxicity has been the cause of countless millions of deaths over the years, and in my opinion it's a form of suicide. You just have to know that if you mix enough junk together it could just be shut down time for the bodies systems.

I definitely understand the hostility toward a Republican senator, as they're basically do nothing empty suits who are simply kissing butr at this point, but there is a limit, and anytime you make a threat against someone holding a federal position all bets are off, especially these days with the current justice dept.

Trump is not a believer in science, so his support will always be with the well-being of corporations, regardless of the environmental destruction involved. He just doesn't care, he doesn't have the vision or the wisdom to see the benefit of any sort of environmental policies. And it's likely he's never been to a national park in his sorry lifetime. It's just another thing that makes him an incredibly dangerous man and a terrible leader. Scientists have found climate change is not just increasing the severity of extreme weather, it is interrupting the natural patterns, causing wild swings between dry and wet extremes. California has seen this "weather whiplash" in recent years where atmospheric river storms cause destructive floods one year and extreme drought causing water shortages the next. Trump says what a lot of people say and think. I am not responsible, I have not contributed to these problems, if they exist at all, and nothing that I do could possibly have an effect on some place as large as the earth or it's vast oceans. So stop picking on me and stop asking me to take responsibility, because I won't. Plastic is not harmful and I won't make any attempt to cut down on my use of it. Gas vehicles are not harmful and therefore I will make no attempt to drive one that consumes less gas, or to use a bicycle, or even a motorbike. I like gas guzzlers, so again I ask please leave me alone. There's no question that many major cities on the coast, at sea level will suffer from storm surges and rising tides over the next decade or two, around the world. We all know what's causing it, but many are not willing to admit it. On a certain level it feels like we are behaving as if we have seven or eight alternative planets to move to, when we foul this one sufficiently to lower the quality of life for all mankind.

Nobel laureate Paul Krugman joined other economists Thursday in delivering some harsh words for President Donald Trump’s shifting tariff policies and those who think he’s doing a good job. “Anyone sounding the all-clear on tariffs, or Trump economic policy in general, should be kept away from sharp objects and banned from operating heavy machinery,” Krugman, one of the country’s top economists, wrote in a Substack post titled “Trump Is Stupid, Erratic and Weak.” Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also had harsh words for Trump’s tariff policy Thursday. “This is the worst self-inflicted wound that I have ever seen in an administration impose on a well-functioning economy,” she told CNN.

Thanks. And it was fun flick. Bizarre and way out there. Alot of good Aussie and foreign movies, thankfully.

Well that's a really good point and that could really be good news. If Hollywood does not have to pander to Chinese audiences and dumb down their films for that audience perhaps films will improve. No question Hollywood's been putting out a lot of garbage in the last couple of decades and the best films that are coming out are independents like Anora, the Peanut Butter Falcon, Drive, Spotlight, Mud and many others. Just say no to the Marvel, Transformers, and Fast and the Furious type garbage.

Nope. I drink very little here. But, my life is fulfilling and every day I wake up here is a good day. No reason to numb myself. And I don't really like bars either.

Just how vulnerable is the US to China? I am certainly no fan of the CCP, but Trump has dug an incredibly deep hole and it's going to be fairly hard for him to dig himself out of this one. In 2000, the United States was the top trading partner for over 80 percent of countries. As of today, this figure has shrunk to 30 percent, while China has now become the top trading partner for more than 120 countries. China is South America’s top trading partner, and it is Africa’s largest trading partner in terms of total volume, dwarfing U.S.-Africa trade by a factor of four, according to the United States Institute of Peace. Within this context, China has significantly invested in the Maritime Silk Road (MSR) to increase trade route options and bypass choke points, posing a significant challenge for U.S. trade. In 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping unveiled the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an ambitious political-economic infrastructure initiative to link East Asia and Europe through land, sea and air under China’s leadership and with the backing of its resources. The twenty-first-century MSR is responsible for the BRI maritime routes that connect China to Europe and the Arctic Ocean via the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. President Xi has repeatedly emphasized that economic powers must be maritime and shipping powers. As China now positions itself as the world’s top exporter, top shipbuilder, and largest trading nation, with around 95 percent of its international trade carried out through sea-lanes, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will soon dominate global maritime trade. The Indo-Pacific is a major hub of global commerce and will continue to be the main target for China’s maritime control. The 10 busiest container ports in the world are located along the shores of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The Indian Ocean hosts 80 percent of China’s imported oil and 95 percent of China’s trade with the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. China also has a strong presence in port construction in the developing world: it operates or has ownership of 91 active port projects across the globe where military use is a possibility, providing it with a foothold in every continent except Antarctica. These projects are part of the MSR network, which, according to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) State Council Information Office, has reached 117 ports across 43 countries, mostly in the Global South. China’s position of control and influence over the majority of port infrastructure globally poses a significant economic and military security threat to the United States. Simply put, China could use its power to interfere with operations that rely on port access—including military and economic operations—and are vital to U.S. interests. China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) also dominate in financing, design, construction, and management of overseas port infrastructure. Between 2010 and 2019, Chinese companies invested roughly $11 billion into overseas ports. China’s two main SOEs involved in port infrastructure are COSCO Shipping Ports, the world’s largest shipping company and port terminal operator, operating and managing 371 berths globally, and China Merchants Ports, the sixth-largest port terminal operator globally. Additionally, the China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC) is the biggest port design and construction enterprise in the world. It shapes more than 70 percent of the national standards for the water transportation industry and designed 7 of the top 10 ports. State support to Chinese shipping companies in their endeavors totaled an estimated $132 billion between 2010 and 2018. China is also exporting container cranes from Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company Limited (ZPMC). ZPMC dominates the global market for container cranes with a staggering 70 percent market share. For example, ZPMC manufactures 80 percent of the cranes used in U.S. ports; this includes 10 strategic seaports. These cranes come equipped with sensors that can track container details, which raises concerns about Chinese access to information about shipped goods, including U.S. military equipment. U.S. ports have a fair, mediocre, or poor rating: 35 percent are fair, 19 percent are mediocre, and 37 percent are poor. At the same time, U.S. ports have been increasingly vulnerable to climate. In 2022, Hurricane Ian forced temporary closures of seven major U.S. ports. Droughts in the Panama Canal disrupted vessels serving U.S. East Coast ports. Besides, many U.S. ports have infrastructure limitations that do not allow them to receive larger vessels, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. In terms of overseas ports, the United States severely lags China, as the United States does not manage or own any commercial ports outside its territories. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), however, is beginning to invest ports. A bit late in the game? Never before has the humble ocean shipping container been this important to American business. If you can’t get one, you can’t move your international cargo — and supply has never been tighter. The cost of global trade is now contingent on how many containers exist, where they are and where they aren’t. How many containers exist is controlled by China. Virtually every ocean shipping container in the world is built there. Just three Chinese companies account for the majority of production, with Chinese factories now building more than 96% of the world’s dry cargo containers and 100% of the world’s refrigerated containers, according to U.K. consultancy Drewry. Carl Bentzel of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) said earlier this month, “I am concerned that this equipment is controlled by a state-owned enterprise and that we’re completely reliant, and I have questions about whether or not there’s been market manipulation of what is potentially a monopoly.” https://www.csis.org/analysis/responding-chinas-growing-influence-ports-global-south

Just how vulnerable is the US to China? I am certainly no fan of the CCP, but Trump has dug an incredibly deep hole and it's going to be fairly hard for him to dig himself out of this one. In 2000, the United States was the top trading partner for over 80 percent of countries. As of today, this figure has shrunk to 30 percent, while China has now become the top trading partner for more than 120 countries. China is South America’s top trading partner, and it is Africa’s largest trading partner in terms of total volume, dwarfing U.S.-Africa trade by a factor of four, according to the United States Institute of Peace. Within this context, China has significantly invested in the Maritime Silk Road (MSR) to increase trade route options and bypass choke points, posing a significant challenge for U.S. trade. In 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping unveiled the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an ambitious political-economic infrastructure initiative to link East Asia and Europe through land, sea and air under China’s leadership and with the backing of its resources. The twenty-first-century MSR is responsible for the BRI maritime routes that connect China to Europe and the Arctic Ocean via the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. President Xi has repeatedly emphasized that economic powers must be maritime and shipping powers. As China now positions itself as the world’s top exporter, top shipbuilder, and largest trading nation, with around 95 percent of its international trade carried out through sea-lanes, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will soon dominate global maritime trade. The Indo-Pacific is a major hub of global commerce and will continue to be the main target for China’s maritime control. The 10 busiest container ports in the world are located along the shores of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The Indian Ocean hosts 80 percent of China’s imported oil and 95 percent of China’s trade with the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. China also has a strong presence in port construction in the developing world: it operates or has ownership of 91 active port projects across the globe where military use is a possibility, providing it with a foothold in every continent except Antarctica. These projects are part of the MSR network, which, according to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) State Council Information Office, has reached 117 ports across 43 countries, mostly in the Global South. China’s position of control and influence over the majority of port infrastructure globally poses a significant economic and military security threat to the United States. Simply put, China could use its power to interfere with operations that rely on port access—including military and economic operations—and are vital to U.S. interests. China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) also dominate in financing, design, construction, and management of overseas port infrastructure. Between 2010 and 2019, Chinese companies invested roughly $11 billion into overseas ports. China’s two main SOEs involved in port infrastructure are COSCO Shipping Ports, the world’s largest shipping company and port terminal operator, operating and managing 371 berths globally, and China Merchants Ports, the sixth-largest port terminal operator globally. Additionally, the China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC) is the biggest port design and construction enterprise in the world. It shapes more than 70 percent of the national standards for the water transportation industry and designed 7 of the top 10 ports. State support to Chinese shipping companies in their endeavors totaled an estimated $132 billion between 2010 and 2018. China is also exporting container cranes from Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company Limited (ZPMC). ZPMC dominates the global market for container cranes with a staggering 70 percent market share. For example, ZPMC manufactures 80 percent of the cranes used in U.S. ports; this includes 10 strategic seaports. These cranes come equipped with sensors that can track container details, which raises concerns about Chinese access to information about shipped goods, including U.S. military equipment. U.S. ports have a fair, mediocre, or poor rating: 35 percent are fair, 19 percent are mediocre, and 37 percent are poor. At the same time, U.S. ports have been increasingly vulnerable to climate. In 2022, Hurricane Ian forced temporary closures of seven major U.S. ports. Droughts in the Panama Canal disrupted vessels serving U.S. East Coast ports. Besides, many U.S. ports have infrastructure limitations that do not allow them to receive larger vessels, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. In terms of overseas ports, the United States severely lags China, as the United States does not manage or own any commercial ports outside its territories. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), however, is beginning to invest ports. A bit late in the game? Never before has the humble ocean shipping container been this important to American business. If you can’t get one, you can’t move your international cargo — and supply has never been tighter. The cost of global trade is now contingent on how many containers exist, where they are and where they aren’t. How many containers exist is controlled by China. Virtually every ocean shipping container in the world is built there. Just three Chinese companies account for the majority of production, with Chinese factories now building more than 96% of the world’s dry cargo containers and 100% of the world’s refrigerated containers, according to U.K. consultancy Drewry. Carl Bentzel of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) said earlier this month, “I am concerned that this equipment is controlled by a state-owned enterprise and that we’re completely reliant, and I have questions about whether or not there’s been market manipulation of what is potentially a monopoly.” https://www.csis.org/analysis/responding-chinas-growing-influence-ports-global-south

No. It is just an expression of cluelessness and utter stupidity. The effect of the tariffs will be felt across the U.S. economy. Wendong Zhang, an assistant professor of applied economics and policy at Cornell University, said 73 percent of smartphones, 78 percent of laptops, 87 percent of video game consoles and 77 percent of toys in the United States come from China. But each line of thinking shares an obvious problem: How does one accomplish any of these goals with blanket tariffs that threaten to radically reduce trade with the United States? How do you revitalize American manufacturing if manufacturers can’t reasonably import the materials they need to build factories and produce goods? Where is capital supposed to come from? How do you reset the nation’s relationship with its trading partners if those partners are forced to treat you as a bad force that can’t be trusted? And how are you supposed to revitalize working-class communities if your trade policies will probably destroy as many blue-collar jobs as they might, theoretically, create? There is a hypothetical president with a hypothetically similar agenda who could answer these questions. This actual president cannot. He did not reason himself into his preoccupation with tariffs and can neither reason nor speak coherently about them. There is no grand plan or strategic vision, no matter what his advisers claim — only the impulsive actions of a mad king, untethered from any responsibility to the nation or its people. For as much as the president’s apologists would like us to believe otherwise, Trump’s tariffs are not a policy as we traditionally understand it. What they are is an instantiation of his psyche: a concrete expression of his zero-sum worldview. Of course, a trade deficit is not a loss any more than it is a loss when you, as a consumer, spend your hard-earned cash at a restaurant or a movie theater or a grocery store. When American businesses buy raw materials from foreign countries to make their own products — when they buy finished products and sell them on their shelves — they aren’t incurring a loss. They are exchanging currency for something of value, which they will go on to use or sell for a profit. As a statement of economic policy, Trump’s pronouncement makes no sense. But as an expression of his zero-sum instinct, of his desire to dominate, it is perfectly coherent. You could even say that this need to dominate — this overwhelming drive to show mastery — is constitutive of Trump’s self. There must be a loser, or else there is no Trump. Trump is a winner, and he’ll show it by making all of us the losers.

I predict the American knucklehead will cave in, he's a terrible negotiator, we've all seen that, and Xi by far has the winning hand in this game. From the NY Times editorial page. It really captures the stupidity of Trump and his goons. Think of what Trump; his chief knucklehead, Howard Lutnick (the commerce secretary); his assistant chief knucklehead, Scott Bessent (the Treasury secretary); and his deputy assistant chief knucklehead, Peter Navarro (the top trade adviser), have told us repeatedly for the past weeks: Trump won’t back off on these tariffs because — take your choice — he needs them to keep fentanyl from killing our kids, he needs them to raise revenue to pay for future tax cuts, and he needs them to pressure the world to buy more stuff from us. And he couldn’t care less what his rich pals on Wall Street say about their stock market losses. After creating havoc in the markets standing on these steadfast “principles” — undoubtedly prompting many Americans to sell low out of fear — Trump reversed much of it on Wednesday, announcing a 90-day pause on certain tariffs to most countries, excluding China. Message to the world — and to the Chinese: “I couldn’t take the heat.” If it were a book it would be called “The Art of the Squeal.” But when you have a country as big as China — 1.4 billion people — with the talent, infrastructure and savings it has, the only way to negotiate is with leverage on our side of the table. And the best way to get leverage would have been for Trump to enlist our allies in the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Brazil, Vietnam, Canada, Mexico, India, Australia and Indonesia into a united front. Make it a negotiation of the whole world versus China. But instead of making it the whole industrial world against China, Trump made it America against the whole industrial world and China. Now, Beijing knows that Trump not only blinked, but he so alienated our allies, so demonstrated that his word cannot be trusted for a second, that many of them may never align with us against China in the same way. They may, instead, see China as a better, more stable long-term partner than us. What a pathetic, shameful performance. Happy Liberation Day. Clearly the best president ever, folks. No U.S. leader has ever lost so much for no reason while regaining some of it and accomplishing nothing with such efficiency. The Art of the deal!

There's no need to do research to try to figure out what a woman is, we all know what a woman is. Just scan it ask any woman who has her head on straight, she's a biological female who has the capacity to reproduce, and hopefully she has some feminine energy. More like a Thai woman.

Yes we all know that criticism of Trump and his policies and criticism of Israel do not reflect American values. Be obedient.

I think it would be quite foolhardy for any of us to think that Thai officials are reading our comments, taking them to heart, and applying them to policy. We are just simply brainstorming here, venting and expressing our opinions, nothing more. So, why let that bother you? A bit irritated today?

Though this might be a reasonable requirement for normal tourists, it is inconvenient and it should not be required for those with long-term visas, at all.

I think there's no question that he has fascist tendencies, and that he wants to be a dictator, who's completely untethered to any sort of restrictions, laws, rules, or limitations. Allow him that power and the tears will flow, and the bitterness will grow.

If you'll notice from my previous post I absolutely despise Xi, however I also despise Trump. The imbecile has to understand that US companies have spent fortunes in infrastructure in China and there should be a measured approach, not a spastic retard type approach.

China's been very smart about this and they've been weaning their dependence on the US down over the years. Total Chinese exports to the US are down to just 14.7% and they're growing exports significantly with Southeast Asia and other nations. The exact opposite is true of the US there are tens of thousands of American companies that manufacture in China and they've spent trillions of dollars on infrastructure to do so it will take them years to shift that infrastructure. In addition the Chinese hold a lot of US bonds which they could use to cripple the US economy, if Trump continues being as obnoxious and arrogant as he's been. If he keeps it up massive punishment is coming his way and it's going to be very bitter.

This is totally fake news and they are ignoring the biggest issue. In all the years I have been here, I have never seen anyone pulled over for speeding or recklessness. Get the useless highway patrol to actually patrol the highway. In other countries there's something very bizarre known as a deterrent, and when people know that they're going to get in trouble for behaving improperly they tend to be more likely to behave themselves. Here when you have a group that calls itself law enforcement and utterly refuses to uphold traffic laws, you have a population that knows it can get away with absolutely anything on the road, and it results in an awful lot of mayhem, deaths and bad behavior. There is a very simple solution to this, get the police to actually do their jobs.

The US, of course. Xi outclasses Trump by 60 IQ points. And he knows how to negotiate, something Trump is terrible at. China is in a far stronger position. The US has tens of thousands of companies that have spent trillions of dollars on infrastructure to manufacture in China. They simply cannot afford to levy these tariffs long term, it would cripple the US economy. Trump is a dunce.

My guess is that he got so much pressure from Wall Street, billionaires and other people who are losing a fortune that he was forced to put a pause on all this. The upside is that hopefully it will give the lowly US a chance to negotiate deals with many nations and avoid this extreme level of economic sabotage that Trump's been engaged in.

Pure silliness. I remember once I referred to someone as being gay. They were very offended. I am not gay. I am non-binary. OK. How would I know that, and how can you be offended, due to me not knowing that? How is that my issue, on any level? I told him, her, who knows, to grow some thicker skin. I am a very open minded person. I have alot of gay friends, and they are all comfortable being called gay. Given that the number of genders differs across times, places, and cultures, it is clear that the gender categories are the result of the whimsy and will of the gender pluralists, who mean to foist their innovations on the majority at the latter’s expense. The transgender movement later turned gender into a matter of individual whimsy, treating gender choice like an ice-cream flavor preference. The female-male sex binary has since been buffeted by a tidal wave of proliferating gender identities and pronouns. As new gender identities debuted, the ratio of genders to sexes continued to rise. The judgment of the progressive herd, meanwhile, is always right, because the herd’s values are obvious, transparent, “natural,” and clearly “on the right side of history”—or as French structuralist Marxist Louis Althusser wrote, they are ideological.

Though I do expect the baht to dip, trade tensions are just a small part of the equation. The economy here is in tatters, and it is still suffering from 10 years of the Prayuth Decimation. The debt is higher than it's ever been, the banks are being very stingy with loans at this point because the default rates are so high, the new car market has stalled, property sales are very slow, and exports are dropping, so the problems are numerous. As if those problems weren't enough, though the tourist arrival numbers are high, the quality of tourists continues to drop, and the amount that the average tourist is spending continues to drop, so the total revenue being brought in from tourism is significantly less than it was pre-covid. I could go on. A message to the young PM. You might as well stop with the lies because nobody believes you anymore.

OK, attempted murder, at least?