John T. Reed’s news blog
Some disadvantages of gold go away if you keep it abroad.
Posted by John Reed on
The highest gold price per troy ounce adjusted for inflation was $2,450.18 in January, 1980. Second highest, August, 2011, $2,264.83. Today: $1,967. That means the fear of inflation is up there among the highest it has ever been. The average long-term (220 years) price of gold adjusted for inflation to 2011 dollars is $500 according to Forbes magazine. https://www.forbes.com/.../04/22/gold-bugs-swatted-again/... What is the future of gold? I cannot put dates on it. But here are a couple of facts: • Hyperinflation fear is what makes the price of gold rise above $500 in 2011 dollars. Gold pays no interest and it...
Globalization did not deter. But it has punished, which may deter XI.
Posted by John Reed on
Globalization was supposed to prevent wars like Ukraine. Massive amounts of international trade would make the nations too dependent on each other. Leaders would realize this and if they started to do unneighborly things like invade another country. Staff would point out all the trade and finance ramifications and the leaders would say, “Oh, I didn’t realize all those problems. I guess I can’t do what I wanted to do.” . The globalization benefit needs to be restated from “prevents” to “prevents or punishes.” . Dictators like XI and Putin think they can do to the world what they do...
Getting banned from Facebook for promoting violence
Posted by John Reed on
What is going on in Ukraine today is war. I and many others at this wall are veterans. War is not some TV abstraction to us. We are eager to see the Ukrainians prevail there. We were discussing the details of the best way to do that..No doubt if I quoted verbatim here words from a US Army Field manual on sniping or bayonet fighting, they would get me banned for violating “community standards.” Same if I quoted here verbal instruction we got when qualifying on the M-14 rifle or getting bayonet training at West Point..I hate to break it...
Strategic bombing did not work in London or Germany. Probably not in Ukraine either.
Posted by John Reed on
One of the surprising lessons learned in WW II was that strategic bombing of cities does not demoralize the civilians at ground zero. Neither the British nor the Germans became demoralized by getting the hell bombed out of them. The German war production at the end of the war was as high as it ever was during the war. I say the lesson was learned. Apparently not by Putin. He is now doing strategic bombing and strategic artillery and rocket shelling of Ukraine cities. He did this in Afghanistan and Chechnya and seems to think it accomplished something in Chechnya....
Russia’s belief that they are entitled to vassal buffer states.
Posted by John Reed on
For decades, I have been hearing that the existence of NATO really outrages the Russians. They are also really pissed that the nations on their border with western Europe are not vassal buffer states. They punished for a while with the Warsaw Pact. We never gave a rat’s rump about the Warsaw Pact. Russia is two miles away from us in the Bering Strait. Mexico borders on us and it is a bad place with cartels and a Marxist government and letting illegal immigrants cross our border. Russia borders Finland, an enemy. Now, also the now NATO Baltic states that used...