Much More Than A Trade War

6/9/2019 Much More Than A Trade War | Zero Hedge
Much More Than A Trade War
by Tyler Durden
Sun, 06/09/2019 - 15:30
Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

In these weeks we have read a lot about the so-called trade war. However, this is better described as
a negotiation between the largest consumer and the largest supplier with important political and even
moral ramifications. This is also a dispute between two economic models.
Nobody wins in a trade war, and tariffs are always a bad idea, but let’s not forget that they are just a
weapon.
Why right now?

For many years China has been allowed to maintain a mercantilist dictatorship and protectionist model
under the excuse that its high growth made it attractive.
Shortly before the US launched its set of tariffs, the Chinese government accelerated two dangerous
policies that we cannot ignore: intensifying capital controls , limiting the outflow of dollars from the
country, and increasing the list of banned companies and sites, two measures that proved that the Chinese
government was unlikely to open its economy, rather the opposite. These measures intensified in the last
year and a half. Two other factors show China’s decision to halt the opening of its system. The “Made In
China 2025 Plan” and the removal of the two-term limit on the presidency, effectively allowing Xi Jinping to
remain in power for life.
Between 2004 and 2018, the United States filed 41 complaints against China at the World Trade
Organization, focused on 27 different areas. The vast majority of these WTO resolutions are not enforced
(” Paper Compliance: How China Implements WTO Decisions.” The previous strategy of looking the other
way and expecting the Chinese economy to open up little by little met the reality of
increased interventionism.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-09/much-more-trade-war 1/17
The experiment
A senior official of the US Administration explained to me several months ago that there were two opposing
opinions in the White House. The first claimed that starting a trade war would sink the US dollar, make US
bond yields soar and throw the economy into a recession. The second estimated that the risk to the US
economy was small and manageable. These were proven right with the US 10-year bond at 2.13%, its
demand (bid-to-cover) comfortably doubling supply despite the end of the Federal Reserve purchases, and
the dollar (DXY Index) at a conveniently strong level, adding very solid employment level, wages, and
economic growth. The US dollar strengthened its position as the world reserve currency at 88% share of
transactions while the yuan was only 4%, according to the BIS.
Meanwhile, the proponents of a “gold-backed” yuan faced the reality of a Chinese central bank that injected
and increased the money supply in a more aggressive way than the US Federal Reserve. China is not
following sound money policies. The PBOC is copying the same policies of the Fed and BOJ by the book. It is
not even remotely close to a gold standard, as gold reserves are less than 0.25% of M2 money supply.
The gold-backed-yuan mirage faded with two consecutive devaluations, a currency that is used in less
than 4% of global transactions and an extremely aggressive monetary policy.
“Firing blanks”
Many have mentioned that China could sell its US treasury holdings or threaten with its rare earth supply,
essential for the manufacture of technological equipment.
China is not the largest holder of US bonds in the world, not even close. It’s the US. In fact, China has
already reduced part of its holdings in US bonds and yields fell.
No, China could not weaponize its US debt holdings because it would run out of reserves and sink the
economy and the yuan with it (read this excellent analysis ). China’s FX reserves have fallen by 21% from
the highs and the vast majority of them cannot be used.
The only solution for China would be to eliminate its capital control and let the yuan float, but then it could
face a huge devaluation that would lead the country to a spiral of bankruptcies which may, in turn, lead to
more yuan printing, a yuan that is not used worldwide and with diminishing demand. Recession or financial
crisis.
What about rare earths?

In a magnificent article called ” The False Monopoly “, the authors debunk the myth of the alleged US
dependence on China, but there is an additional factor. None of the Chinese miners in this sector generate
returns above the cost of capital. Either they are loss-making or losing relative to working capital costs. We
know this because they already tried both blanks in the past and they did not work.
The confidence of the hawks in the United States administration was strengthened by the evidence that “the
Chinese currency is not even wanted by the Chinese” given the evidence of capital outflows and a huge
percentage of loans backed by copper and other commodities. China’s dependence on the US dollar
turned out to be double: via FX reserves and via commodities. Their vast reserves are much smaller and less
accessible than many thought.
The technological battle

There is a fourth factor added to the high trade surplus, capital controls, and lack of legal security and
property rights. The technology battle.
70% of the software used in China is pirated from the US. The negative impact for the North American
economy, only in the area of intellectual property, is $600 billion (“China: Effect of Intellectual Property
Infringement and Indigenous Innovation Policies on the US Economy “) a larger figure than the trade surplus
that China has with the US.
It is not just a battle for control of technology, but security. The American technological giants are private
companies and most of their leaders are critical of the White House Administration. The technological
giants in China are either government-owned, semi-state owned or concessions to members of the
communist party.
The wrongly-called trade war is much more than tariffs. There are many additional forms of
protectionism, and capital controls, restrictions on currency, lack of separation of powers and respect for
intellectual property are also forms of protectionism.
The United States has discovered the Achilles heel of China. The same one Japan had in the 80s when it
seemed that it was going to invade the world. Its dependence on the US dollar to maintain its large
domestic imbalances, a very fragile house of cards of excess capacity, real estate bubble and unproductive
spending.
Does the United States have anything to lose? A lot, but much less than China. According to Oxford
Economics, the impact on US GDP of a total and prolonged trade war would be between 50% and 70% higher
in China than in the US, and we have to add the domino effect of bankruptcies in China Global fund
flows move to the US and out of emerging economies.
The strength of the United States is to have a safer, open economy where currency remains a global
reserve, not because of military power, but because the rest of the currencies fall into the trap of carrying
out the same monetary imbalances as the US but without its free market, openness and real demand for
currency.
China’s Achilles heel has been to try to be a reserve currency whilst maintaining capital controls and
increasing state intervention, playing to be the US without its dynamism, openness and free market. Its
only card was a debt-fueled high-growth economy. Chinese officials knew it was impossible, but thought
that being the “engine of world growth” would allow them to get away with it. They have met with a
customer, the United States, which is the only one that supports its huge trade surplus ( China has a trade
deficit with most of its other partners), and that does not depend so much on exports. The US exports less
than 12% of its GDP.
The United States knows that this war has important negative internal economic consequences. Tariffs are
not a solution, only a weapon, because if China does not begin to open its real economy, the problem will
be greater in the long term.
China and its citizens would greatly benefit from eliminating barriers. Moreover, if it does and truly
becomes a reserve currency by merit, it will be excellent for the US because the perverse incentive of the
central banks will be counterbalanced. But China seems to prefer to fall into the same monetary, legal and
commercial errors rather than reduce control. And that is a big problem, as tariffs serve as a justification
to perpetuate dictatorial mercantilism, not to reduce it.
Protectionism is not solved with more protectionism, but when the opponent does not seek trade as a tool
of mutual progress, but as a Trojan horse to take control, we find ourselves with much more than a trade
war. A fight between two models of society.
The United States and China will find a form of agreement, but it cannot come from closing our eyes to the
totalitarian risks of the Chinese system. Both China and the US know that this battle is not to see who
wins, but who loses less, and who drops the weapons first.
9083  83 
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ElBarto 17 minutes ago  

It’s amazing that so few people look at trade with China from a national security viewpoint.
Hundreds of billions of dollars is a lot of money to give to a country that you don’t trust. Slightly
higher consumer prices seems like a small price to pay for safety.
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bshirley1968 12 minutes ago  

"......give to a country.............for safety".
Lmao......on both points.

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frankthecrank 4 minutes ago  

of course you would. You cream in your jeans at the thought of China driving one of their
shitty cars over the top of America. We know who you are.
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debunker1 19 minutes ago  

I'm going to tell you how it will all work out:
Lots of jobs and commerce will return to the US
The Chinese will sink into a really bad recession or even depression that will last 20 years, they will
slaughter their people and and all the infrastructure they've build recently will quickly crumble.

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Yep--they aren't as smart as the Japanese by a long shot and look what Reagan did to them.
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athenae 20 minutes ago  

You know what bothers me is that Martin Armstrong never wavers from saying that the Chinese
economy is on the rise and will be the dominant market by 2035. He never says anything else,
never changes his mind; based on cycles in the world economy that mostly ( I think) follows capital
inflows.
So I get really excited when I hear from some blogger that is not going to happen, but the guy is
like this one man orchestra of inevitability. What I want to know is what happens to us if we
*aren't* the dominant economy; what happens to all the pension holders we're going to have; what
ensues when the capital flies. Then I would know what to do til then, , because it seems the only
people who will survive the next 20 years are the rich, in any country. The *super* rich*; not even
the self made millionaires.
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The narrative you speak of was propaganda to convince Americas of their "inevitable
decline". And we said "**** you" when we elected Trump the same way we did Reagan.
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john.b 25 minutes ago  
Ex-CIA director Pompeo: 'We lie, we cheat, we steal'
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Duc888 23 minutes ago  

https://spectator.org/who-ran-crossfire-hurricane/
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overmedicatedundersexed 28 minutes ago  

Tariffs worked pretty well up until 1913..some would rather we not notice..crime and corruption
;wrapped up in the bow of world peace..for the children...eyes wide shut swallow this **** up like
ice cream..
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worked well in the '80s as well.
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debunker1 17 minutes ago  

Yet another ZH'er with the mind of a child.
Trump only uses the threat of tariffs to get his way.
See how it's working with the souther border problem.
With regards to our farmers that are growing food for the enemy....switch to hemp.
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frankthecrank 1 minute ago  

and yet another ZH'r crying over China's imminent demise.
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Mike Rotsch 33 minutes ago  

It's ******* hysterical to watch western commies supporting China's "slave factory wages". They're
quite possibly the dumbest humans to have ever walked the planet.
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frankthecrank 28 seconds ago  

They envision that loveliness for America too.
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frankthecrank 41 minutes ago 

I watch Fox News Sunday and today all of the usual suspects were blaming Trump for everything
under the sun--including committing crimes and needing to be put in jail. It bears repeating that
they said the same things about Reagan and his trade wars--which benefited Americans
immensely.
Trump will win unless the Dems can get rid of him. China is a paper tiger and always has been.
They are a totalitarian communist state and as such are a sworn enemy of the US and its historic
peoples. They must be taken down and that is not hyperbole--they never should have been
allowed to trade with the civilized world in the first place without first shutting down the Kims in
Norkland and dismantling their communist state. Russia would have been more in order in 1992
than China. ******* Clintons.
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Proud-Christian-White-American-Man 7 minutes ago  

Frank the Crank: Glad I was spared Fox News Sunday TDS by listening to the Word in church
this morning. President Reagan did help save Harley Davidson. Their current traitorous
management was only too glad to sell out the US. Overall, I would describe Reagan's Trade
war as a skirmish compared to Trump's Trade War as High Intensity All Out Trade War.
Trump will win because only a man anointed by the Lord Jesus to be president could
withstand the constant onslaught of the demon rats and globalist traitors embedded in the
deep state. Notice you are getting downvotes..keep firing over the targets!
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sgt_doom 51 minutes ago  

America's Wall of Shame:
(Those companies and organizations which have contributed to and/or financed the creation of the
Chinese Communist Party's ultra-Orwellian system for command and control: Social Credit
System.)
Microsoft, Cisco, Apple, Yahoo, Narus
Rockefeller Foundation, MIT, Princeton University, University of Texas System, Northwestern

University, Oregon State Treasury, et al.
Recommended Reading:
The People's Republic of the Disappeared --- by Michael Caster
Bullets and Opium --- by Liao Yiwu
The People's Republic of Amnesia --- by Louisa Lim

Recommended Viewing:
In the Name of Confucius --- DVD (Jia Kongzi, Zhi Ming)
Free China - Free China --- DVD (Zi You Zhongguo)
The Sun Behind the Clouds [Tibet's Struggle for Freedom] --- DVD
Further sources and reading:
https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-quietly-pulls-its-database-of-100-000-faces-u-1835296212
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/meghara/the-police-state-of-the-future-is-already-here
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/us-money-funding-facial-recognition-
sensetime-megvii
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/business/china-xinjiang-uighur-dna-thermo-fisher.html?
emc=edit_th_190222&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=878883400222
http://news.mit.edu/2018/csail-launches-five-year-collaboration-with-iflytek-0615
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/03/19/962492-orwell-china-socialcredit-surveillance/
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/19/06/07/212204/for-two-hours-european-mobile-traffic-was-
rerouted-through-china
https://skyreporter.com/
https://theintercept.com/2019/06/07/china-bans-the-intercept-and-other-news-sites-in-
censorship-black-friday/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/tiananmen-square-massacre-death-toll-secret-
cable-british-ambassador-1989-alan-donald-a8126461.html

https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/04/china-blocks-cnns-website-and-reuters-stories-about-
tiananmen-square/?renderMode=ie11
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-42465516
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/05/01/china-how-mass-surveillance-works-xinjiang
https://youtu.be/aE1kA0Jy0Xg
https://news.slashdot.org/story/19/05/30/189254/millions-of-dollars-from-us-university-
endowments-foundations-and-retirement-plans-have-helped-fund-two-billion-dollar-chinese-
facial-recognition-startups
Tiananmen Square referenced:
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB16/docs/doc12.pdf
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB16/
https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/UK_cable_on_Tiananmen_Square_Massacre

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blueseas 52 minutes ago  

Is it so hard to understand that the chinks KNOW that the yuan is trash and that's why both the CB
and the public are stacking gold. They're preparing for what comes next. According to Jim Willie,
that will be an Asian gold trade note as proposed by the PM of Malaysia.
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monty42 51 minutes ago  

Which would mean war if the D.C. regime's past behavior is any indication.
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that's fine. It's been coming since 1950.
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Winston Churchill 39 minutes ago  
Almost certain at this point,my only surprise is that it hasn't started yet,
but judging by USN actions with that Russian Udaloy,that decision has been made.
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Watch the video? No. Clearly russian ********. Likely a vodka soaked captain or at least
Lt. Commander not paying any attention. That said, russia has no navy that isn't
presently targeted for instant annihilation. They have so submarine fleet to speak and
cannot track our subs. Stealth comes in all shapes and sizes these days.
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quesnay 52 minutes ago  

"China and its citizens would greatly benefit from eliminating barriers."
It's too bad they never did this, but now it no longer matters. The US has decided that China can't
be allowed to become a technological power any more than it is now. It's fine if all they do is make
T-shirts, and low-tech crap, but anything more advanced then a digital alarm clock can not be
allowed.
China would do best to forget about the US and hope that it can make due with it's domestic
market. With 1.3 billion people this seems like it should be possible.
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Can't ignore the US because they've got to get dollars somehow.......for now.
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quesnay 49 minutes ago  

They only need to worry about US dollars if they are focused on exports (and therefore
controlling the value of their currency)
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bshirley1968 38 minutes ago (Edited)  

They need dollars to buy US goods and services. They also need them to buy oil from
Saudis. They have dollar based loans that require payment in dollars.
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Winston Churchill 23 minutes ago  

Not for much longer.
Aramco is already selling in yuan,they're not even hiding it,its right
on their balance sheet as yuan receivables. Have been since early last
November.Started out as 300,000bpd, its now 600,000 bpd.

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"The United States has discovered the Achilles heel of China. The same one Japan had in the
80s when it seemed that it was going to invade the world. Its dependence on the US dollar to
maintain its large domestic imbalances, a very fragile house of cards of excess capacity, real estate
bubble and unproductive spending."
Oh, yeah. .......we just "figured" that one out. It's not like we haven't used that scheme
on.......well, EVERYONE. Even our own citizens are slaves to a debt dollar system. It is all we got
left......well that and the A-bomb. But at the same time, it is our biggest weakness because if we
can't get the world to expand dollar debt, 5 hen we will have to do it ourselves. Hence the, "China
is not the largest holder of US bonds in the world, not even close. It’s the US. In fact, China has
already reduced part of its holdings in US bonds and yields fell."
We are the largest holder of our own debt.....and can print up what we need to buy what is
necessary to drive yields down. But at some point it will be like playing monopoly with
yourself......a zero sum game. Anytime you weaponize something (the dollar), countermeasures
will be invented to neutralize that weapon........only a matter of time.
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"we"?
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He–Mene Mox Mox 21 minutes ago  

"We are the largest holder of our own debt.....and can print up what we need to buy what is
necessary to drive yields down". That assumption is only as good as long as our dollar
remains in demand. If OPEC, or any other country, decides to trade in other currencies other
than the dollar, the demand for the dollar goes down, and so does its value. At that point,
printing more worthless money doesn't help you get out of debt, if the demand turns to
satisfying that debt for something more tangible, like property, gold, natural resources, etc.,.
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it remains in demand as long as OPEC will take no other currency for oil. Which will go on
as long as the US remains the master of the seven seas.
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schroedingersrat 53 minutes ago  

Yeah like the US is any less totalitarian than China.
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Indeed. Anyone pushing that narrative is part of the totalitarian regime or is dumb as a bag
of hammers. Either way, they lose all credibility in my opinion.
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Scipio Africanuz 58 minutes ago  

Propaganda is also a tool of warfare, but in war, resilience wins, cheers...
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Moriarity 58 minutes ago  

**** Communism.
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Not surprising some commie mutant down-voted that.
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5 6

Mike Rotsch: The commie mutants are out in full force downvoting today.
That's what you do when your ideas are intellectually bankrupt and inherently evil.
Downvote the truth. That's all the commies got.
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Yeah. We should've just nuked them all back in the '50s.
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Mustafa Kemal 49 minutes ago  

"**** Communism"
**** Finance Capitalism

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Lots of commies here. Soooo intelligent.
They go from bitching about "slave wages" at the factory, to being actual slaves under
collective farming programs, lol.
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smacker 41 minutes ago  

China went from communism to fascism in 20 years. It wasn't a big step. Do try to keep up
;-) 🙄
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Mike Rotsch 39 minutes ago (Edited)  

They still seem to use the hammer and sickle though. . . the conniving sneeky bastards.
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He–Mene Mox Mox 1 hour ago (Edited)  

The author has never been to China to know anything about it, much less write about it, and he
knows even less about the trade relationships of the two countries.
F i H "Chi h
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-09/much-more-trade-war
d d fi i ih fi h " WRONG!!!! I 11/17
For instance, He says: "China has a trade deficit with most of its other partners"....WRONG!!!! It
is the U.S. who has the deficits with other countries, not China! China has a manufacturing
economy, not a consumer economy, so the trade balance is in its favor, as manufacturing
economies are in demand and have very little deficit.
And the author also reveals his biases about China by saying: "China’s Achilles heel has been
to try to be a reserve currency whilst maintaining capital controls and increasing state
intervention...." What do you think the U.S. Federal Reserve does, if it is not the very same thing?
Weren't they the ones who sets interest rates, control the rates of inflation, dictating the supply of
money, and doing economic bailouts to the banks in 2008 and 2009 with our money?
Secondly, he is just regurgitating the same old propaganda already put out about China, and really
doesn't provide anything new. Why can't ZH find better writers to publish than this?
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Marman 50 minutes ago (Edited)  

You are correct. China usually runs surpluses. But not with everyone.
In 2018, China posted a trade surplus of USD 351.76 billion, the lowest since 2013,
as exports increased 9.9 percent, its strongest performance in seven years, while
imports were up 15.8 percent. The biggest trade surpluses were recorded with Hong
Kong, the US, the Netherlands, India, the UK, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia.
China recorded trade deficits with Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, Germany, Brazil
and South Africa.
https://tradingeconomics.com/china/balance-of-trade
Author is wrong here.
"China’s Achilles heel has been to try to be a reserve currency whilst maintaining

capital controls and increasing state intervention...."
This is impossible. One cannot institute strong capital controls and have a reserve currency
at the same time. China knows this and has never tried to become the reserve currency.
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HAL9000rev1 1 hour ago  

“Nobody wins in a trade war, and tariffs are always a bad idea,”
Wrong and wrong...strawman argument premise
it is a tool short of a shooting war

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Duc888 45 minutes ago  

Tariffs work, they're a big motherfuking bat to beat some pussbag slobs over the head
with.
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HAL9000rev1: Correct. And people don't die in a trade war.
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depends on how many chinese junks (freighters) go to the bottom. As our subs are now
also stealth (cannot be detected with sonar), no one will ever know for sure.....
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RealRussianBot99 1 hour ago  
Go 龙!
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Gen. Ripper's Ghost 1 hour ago  

The only participants in this "war" are coolies and their commie jailers.
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francis scott falseflag 1 hour ago  
this battle is not to see who wins, but who loses less, and who drops the weapons
first...
But isn't it the case that the more you have, the more you have to lose?
And if weapons drop everybody loses?
I rest my case, Einstein

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Duc888 1 hour ago  

Tariffs work. See what Messico did yesterday?
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wait till Muricans have to pay Trumps Tariff Tax
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monty42 1 hour ago (Edited)  

yeah, they said they'd work on "migration" into their country, and try to do something about
those staged caravans..but what they didn't do is say they'd stop their citizens from invading
the US like they have been doing for decades, and they didn't say they'd secure their side of
the border between the US and Mexico. So, how is the border more secure exactly? Oh, and
they didn't say they'd pay for a wall.
These same games go on, round and round, between both parties, with people twisting
everything, including nothing burgers and actual defeats into some kind of bizarre "winning"
********, to avoid legitimate criticism of their idol in the White House. Trumpets and
Obamabots are peas in a pod in more ways than they realize, but watch out, you'll get an eye
jab if o alk bet een them ith all the fingers pointing
jab if you walk between them, with all the fingers pointing.
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DingleBarryObummer 58 minutes ago  

Winning, like alcohol, is addictive. Sometimes you find yourself all out of booze, so you
find yourself taking swigs of Aqua Velva. Lots of Aqua Velva heads around here.
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HAL9000rev1 57 minutes ago  

...and if it doesn't work out flip on the tariff switch and crush them economically until
they understand we want a Sovereign border.
this us not complicated stuff.

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monty42 56 minutes ago  

Yeah yeah yeah, hope and change is what that amounts to. Sometimes the blind
sycophants look more like clingers who just can't stop hanging on the arm, no matter
how many times you treat them like ****.
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monty42: Hopey and Changey Obama drained our economy on behalf of his
globalist overlords with China as the attack dog. Supporting a nationalist president
is not equivalent to Stockholm syndrome. False equivalency.
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DingleBarryObummer 56 minutes ago (Edited)  

Well... time is of the essence here. One must weight the odds of and benefits/losses
of waiting to see if it will "work out." What are the odds? 25%? I have no idea. Not
great though, not great. I wouldn't hang my hat on it.
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HAL9000rev1: True. Not complicated at all. Sovereign nations have borders and
protect them with tariffs and or troops.
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yerfej 1 hour ago  

It should be obvious by now that the Chinese have the same respect of their citizens as the US. All
of this nonsense happened because previous US regimes decided to make the elites rich at the
expense of the middle class.
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Rrrrriiiiiggghhhht. ......"previous US regimed".......because the current one is soooooo
different, rrrriiiiiggghhhht......
You are such a fan boy......and just can't help ypurself.
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2 2
DavidFL 1 hour ago  

Useless story
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2 1

do I have to read it?
no new ground?
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Marman 1 hour ago (Edited)  

Same old script:
China bad. China steals. China need to shape up or else.
USA good. USA too soft on China. USA will be great again when China surrenders to US slavery.
Think that about sums up these articles.

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11 2

Truth sucks for you commies, huh?
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Proud-Christian-White-American-Man 1 hour ago  

Wow! First article I've read on Zero Hedge who really gets it. This is not just a trade war between
US and China. It's a battle of economic systems. It's a battle between the globalists and
nationalists. It's a battle between good and evil.
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2 4
Duc888 1 hour ago (Edited)  

He's 80% there.... he
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllmmmmmmmmmmmooooooosssstttttttttttttttttttt gets it.
He's just gotta get away from the FRN being the global reserve. That's ****'s done and
over with. No point in cryin' about it.
Then he needs to acknowledge the FACT that the corrupt **** bag US /globalists
politicians took the corporations lobbying $$$$$$$$ for the last thirty years, gave China
Most Favored Nation Trading Status...and proceeded to eviscerate / sell out the US middle
class.
Trumps "trade war" is his RESPONSE to this shitbaggery of the last 30 years.
Once he stews on this **** for a few hours, he might write a pretty decent article. As it is
Once he stews on this for a few hours, he might write a pretty decent article. As it is
now it's better than most but not really up to speed.
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5
It's a battle between good and evil.
it's been a battle between good and evil since the eighth day, Maimonides
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medium giraffe 56 minutes ago  

It's a battle between rich assholes who just want you to pay your taxes and stfu.
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5 1
Duc888 48 minutes ago (Edited)  

I agree. The "investor" class. And by that i do not mean all investors, just the non
productive LEECHES at the top playing games with fake "financial instruments"
They are non producers. They are lampreys. Same as on the bottom. I have absolutely
no problem with rich people. I am blessed to hang with many self made millionaires who
are all about designing / manufacturing unique products sold all over the world. They
produce wealth and a product, not by skimming.
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medium giraffe 35 minutes ago  

Lampreys is right.
We're so balls deep in debt la la land now that having a conversation about wealth
creation via production feels a lot like making balloon animals while wearing a clown
suit.
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Duc888 32 minutes ago (Edited)  

But.... it actually works. There will ALWAYS be a market for well engineered
quality products. ALWAYS.
Don't chase that race to the bottom. That is what was sold to the Us
Consooooooooooooooooooooooooooomer (**** I hate that name, I am not a
consumer) for the last thirty year. They bought the ****, they own it. **** em, let
'em choke on the icrapple and other swarf.
Ha.
I am not balls deep in debt. My total life debt so far is $800. USA incorporated...
THEY have debt. That is not my debt.

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1
monty42 1 hour ago  

Two despotic regimes, neither has the moral high ground. The best they can get is to not be the
one that starts it, and the US regime has a long history of false flags to take care of that minor
detail.
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Deep Snorkeler 1 hour ago  

Much More Than a Trade War
1. it signals the implosion of America's tinsel, derivative-based economy

2. the high dive of the middle class into serfdom
3. the permanent collapse of the real estate circus
4. the end of family farms
5. the attack of robot droids on jobs
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9 1
Marman 1 hour ago (Edited)  

Yes.
Politicians here in the US are desperate for me to believe it is all China's fault. Not the lying,
stealing politicians and MBAs that have stolen my future but China.
I am not buying it.
Even if China has stolen America's wealth, who let them? Who helped and got rich? That's
right, US politicians and MBAs.
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6 1
rickv404 1 hour ago  
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6/9/2019 Much More Than A Trade War | Zero Hedge

Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

Why right now?

What about rare earths?

The technological battle

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All Comments 84 Viewing Options

ElBarto 17 minutes ago  

bshirley1968 12 minutes ago  

Lmao......on both points.

frankthecrank 4 minutes ago  

debunker1 19 minutes ago  

Lots of jobs and commerce will return to the US

frankthecrank 3 minutes ago  

athenae 20 minutes ago  

Duc888 23 minutes ago  

overmedicatedundersexed 28 minutes ago  

frankthecrank 21 minutes ago  

debunker1 17 minutes ago  

Trump only uses the threat of tariffs to get his way.

See how it's working with the souther border problem.

frankthecrank 1 minute ago  

Mike Rotsch 33 minutes ago  

frankthecrank 28 seconds ago  

frankthecrank 41 minutes ago 

Proud-Christian-White-American-Man 7 minutes ago  

sgt_doom 51 minutes ago  

Microsoft, Cisco, Apple, Yahoo, Narus

Rockefeller Foundation, MIT, Princeton University, University of Texas System, Northwestern

The People's Republic of the Disappeared --- by Michael Caster

Bullets and Opium --- by Liao Yiwu

The People's Republic of Amnesia --- by Louisa Lim

In the Name of Confucius --- DVD (Jia Kongzi, Zhi Ming)

Free China - Free China --- DVD (Zi You Zhongguo)

Further sources and reading:

Tiananmen Square referenced:

blueseas 52 minutes ago  

monty42 51 minutes ago  

frankthecrank 40 minutes ago  

frankthecrank 22 minutes ago  

quesnay 52 minutes ago  

bshirley1968 51 minutes ago  

quesnay 49 minutes ago  

bshirley1968 38 minutes ago (Edited)  

Winston Churchill 23 minutes ago  

Aramco is already selling in yuan,they're not even hiding it,its right

November.Started out as 300,000bpd, its now 600,000 bpd.

bshirley1968 52 minutes ago  

frankthecrank 39 minutes ago  

He–Mene Mox Mox 21 minutes ago  

frankthecrank 19 minutes ago  

schroedingersrat 53 minutes ago  

bshirley1968 48 minutes ago  

Scipio Africanuz 58 minutes ago  

Moriarity 58 minutes ago  

Mike Rotsch 54 minutes ago  

Proud-Christian-White-American-Man 45 minutes ago  

Mike Rotsch 44 minutes ago  

Mustafa Kemal 49 minutes ago  

**** Finance Capitalism

Mike Rotsch 44 minutes ago  

smacker 41 minutes ago  