by Eric Zuesse, The Duran:
I have encountered this so many times so that I’ll give today’s example in order to display how blatant it is:
I prefer generally not to read at X and other sites where posts tend to be user-hostile for skeptical readers (like I) who are constantly checking to find the original source for an allegation, but I just happened upon an X from Arnaud Bertrand, on August 18th, headlined from the World Bank “Military expenditure (% of GDP) – China,” and it showed China at a remarkably stable and low percentage of around 1.7% since 2010, during which time the U.S. empire have enormously increased their joint efforts to get Taiwan to declare independence from China so that the U.S. will have an excuse (though a false one) to invade and take control over China (like it has over EU/NATO countries, Japan, banana republics, etc. — the entire existing U.S. empire). As Bertrand’s post at X said, “So there’s a LOT of dishonesty in this discourse and even more so when these folks tell you how certain they are about China’s intent behind that ‘buildup’: it’s essentially guessing why there’s a ‘buildup’ that’s their own constructed narrative, that’s what passes for serious analysis these days.” And it showed that World Bank picture, but I needed to authenticate what that picture showed, to look at its source, and so I Googled its headline “Military expenditure (% of GDP) – China” hoping and expecting there’d be a find from the World Bank, but instead got: “Your search did not match any documents.”
Imagine the following: You’ve managed to scrape together a few dollars to run to the grocery store and buy a few staples with the dwindling purchasing power of your US dollars. You park your car, and, of course, lock it, and run into the store to do some shopping. While you’re shopping and noticing that the price of an egg is now $3.30 and pondering how you might be able to hard boil it and make it last for maybe three days(thank you Build Back Better and Bidenomics), there is a muffled “whump!” that momentarily gently shakes the store. You along with a few customers look up, glance at each other, and shrug your shoulders, and continue shopping. Butter? $13.67. Bread? $3.12…. The cart has 17 items in it, and the total is $341.03. With your rewards card, you managed to save 24 cents, losing a considerable “reward” because you insist on paying cash.
Former President and current Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump recently renewed his criticisms of the Federal Reserve. He suggested that, if he returns to the White House next year, he will push Congress to pass legislation giving the president at least a say in the Fed’s decisions regarding interest rates.
Does anyone have a good answer to this?