In the News II

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) Collapses

High inflation (government overspending) necessitated  a sharp increase in interest rates. This hits the bond market negatively. Unfortunately for SVB their Risk Assessment group was asleep at the wheel. Joe Biden can often as many reassurances as he wants but  there is no substitute for poor management. Expect the taxpayer to eventually pay the price.

China brokers agreement with Iran and Saudi Arabia.

The US is left watching as the parade passes. Does the nation eve have a foreign policy under the current Administration? Where is Anthony Blinken? Score one for BRICS.

Top Gun Maverick robbed of more Oscars.

Frankly I couldn't care less about the Academy Awards but the fact that 2022's most popular movie was reduced to a single Oscar (for sound) illustrates how out of touch the Academy is with the rest of the country.

Is wealth inequality getting worse in the west?

Yes. Wealth inequality in an environment that protects competition is vital to the economy. However a tipping point is reached if competitiveness decreases and the system moves to a type of oligopoly. This often occurs when excessive regulation and crony corruption stymies barriers towards entry into a field.

In much of the West today we are unfortunately either at this point or heading in that direction. Too much power exists with national governments and their corporate allies. This is made worse by the free hand given to central bankers. Fiat currency has had the net effect of wiping out a great deal of real savings and income. The high inflation that we see today is a function of policies that have radically increased the money supply at a time when production rates were deliberately pulled back (Covid, nonsense regulation etc).

What we have is a top heavy Ponzi system that serves the state elite and their hangers on - who can access the artificial money easier - while effectively increasing good prices for the rest of the public. In a sense this is a sinister way of taxing the middle class while pretending not to.

Bottom line….Never underestimate the power of the state to botch things up.

Is De Santis better than Trump?

 Yes he is. DeSantis gives you all of Trump’s strong policy points but none of Trump’s negative character flaws. He is more eloquent than Trump, far less divisive, resonates better with genuine conservatives, is not riddled with scandals and will likely bring in the independent /centrist vote that the GOP needs to win in Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania. He is also a man of action who will focus on what matters instead of defaulting to the Trumpist playbook of name-calling, social media feuds, salesman promises and never ending hyperbole.

Trump has had his time in the sun and it would be best for the nation if he steps aside instead of acting as a spoiler nationally. His continued presence and stifling cult of personality will in all likelihood guarantee a Democratic party victory in 2024. In addition the longer Trump remains on the scene the more he will act as bonfire fuel for extremists on both sides. America deserves better and in DeSantis they have such a candidate.

Snappy Answers to History Questions V

Why did France lose to England in the Hundred Years War? What were some turning points that led to the French defeat?

Actually France won the Hundred Year War (1337–1453). Yes I know they lost many of the well known battles (Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt) but the war was a marathon not a sprint. England (who certainly enjoyed the lion’s share of early success) was left in turmoil after the death of Henry V in 1422. A French revival was initiated by Joan of Arc at the siege of Orleans in 1429. The Burgundians, a key ally of the English, would eventually desert and this strengthened the French position. Later French victories took place at Rouen, Formigny and Castillon with the Gallic cannons being instrumental such a change of fortune.

At the end of the war England was reduced to one possession in France, Calais, that they would eventually cede to the French in 1558. This was far less territory than that enjoyed by the Plantagenet dynasty of earlier times.

Did Napoleon expect to conquer Britain?

If Napoleon's fleet had succeeded at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) then I believe that he may have seen conquest of Britain as a possibility. It certainly would have consolidated his hegemony in Europe by ensuring dominance of Bonapartist ideology (a mixture of French Revolution humanism, nationalism and a strong central state) over English Liberalism. However the loss at Trafalgar effectively negated his aspirations in a way that was not too different to the damage done to Operation Sea Lion by Germany’s defeat at the Battle of Britain (1940).

Napoleon saw Britain as a gigantic thorn a thorn that could be extracted later by weakening Britain through his Continental System of blockades and economic warfare. What he underestimated though was the ability of his so-called ‘allies’ to enforce such a strategy as well as the zeal that the British demonstrated (thanks to the Royal Navy and its colonial Empire) in thwarting such ambition.

Did President Nixon ever meet with Leonid Brezhnev?

Yes they met at the Washington Summit in June 1973. The Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War was signed representing the peak of Détente. In the Soviet Union the press referred to Détente as a relaxing of tension. The Washington Summit followed on the heels of the Geneva Summit (1955) and SALT I (1972). Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Alexei Kosygin (Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union) were key players in the Washington Summit as well.