Start with a quote from Matt Stoller (2011)
Change needs to happen—and it will happen, either through good leadership or through collapse.
The US has choices, most other countries dont.
With all the chaos and rioting there are no specific goals to make the US equitable, specially for the lower rungs of society. My thoughts of specific goals.
What should be done immediately
a) Give aid to direct individuals
This includes free testing and health care
b) Debt Jubilee, i.e. forgiveness of debt.
Rent, Mortgage forgiveness based on income/job.
NOT a deferral with a huge amount coming due in the future
Electoral Process
The President, Congress and Senators need to be more answerable to the public. The way the current system works, public votes and President, Congress and elected officials do the bidding of their paymasters, the big money Multinationals and Military Industrialist. This change is imperative for a proper functioning democracy.
So
a) No lobbyists, period. Caught lobbying or accepting lobby, at least a few years in Jail.
Lobbying is legalized bribery and corruption.
b) Campaign Finance: I would prefer only a govt funding, equal to all contestants.
Or only donations by individuals with cap on amount.
c) Two term limit for Senators
Finance Specific*
a) Let
Too Big to Fail companies/banks go bust if they are not profitable ,
instead of propping them
up with more and more trillion dollar handouts.
b) Stop derivatives being used for speculation/betting.
Can be used as hedge against asset on the books.
If the asset is sold, the derivative needs to be unwound.
c) Share buybacks be made illegal.
I dont think USD 6 Trillion injection into financial markets will solve the Covid19 pandemic or the chaos in the US.
To put the 6 Trillion into perspective. US GDP is USD 19 Trillion. Public debt is USD 18 trillion Interest public debt USD 479 billion/0.5 Trillion (10% of Budget)
*Some suggestions by VijayVan
Manufacturing
Its not about cutting costs per se. Think the Henry Ford saying, workers should be able to buy what is produced. For that the US must first throw out Free Trade and embrace
protectionist. Start Manufacturing and give Price protection to what is
manufactured. Same for Oil, the US is self sufficient.
But all of this means ditching the Petro dollar, and the global monetary power that comes with it. So very unlikely those changes will be by choice.
Society:
A push for polices that re vitalize small towns with self reliant economies. Not just a suburban enclave dependent on commuters working in a nearby big city. Coupled with small or medium manufacturing. i.e. Supply chain is mainly within the US.
Maybe even a partial break up of Big Ag and land distribution (100 acres or so) specifically for Agriculture. I think subsidies for small scale farmers is fine. Much better that trillion dollar bail outs for Big Ags.
Wars
The US will have to make some serious decisions about being the global policeman, and conducting wars. (I doubt will happen without change in Campaign Finance/Electoral Process). The US Might has turned to "might happen". Trillions on war, has not made the US safe. Never ending Wars and nary a benefit except debt and death.
This does not mean disbanding the military. Any country needs to defend itself against invasions. The choice is wars of aggression in distant lands or developing the economy.
US Spending on wars Iraq War: +1 Trillion Afghan War: 1 Trillion Military: 500 billion/year
Friday, June 12, 2020
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
March 2020 Facebook Comment
Note: This was written in March long before the George Floyd chaos.
The next 6-9 months will be a test of resiliency of societies. It is going to test the social and economic cohesiveness of societies to depression level economic downturns.
Countries have different gods. In the US and UK now it is "Personal Freedom" and the stockmarket.
In the US they pumping billions into the financial world, including the stock market expecting the progression of the virus to be stopped. The "Personal Freedom" god makes people go to spring breaks at the beach (US) and huge concerts (UK).
Sri Lanka has just come out of 30 year civil war, with two insurgencies one within the majority community (71 and 87-89) and the other between a minority community and majority community (1977-2009). The initial underlying causes were economic disparity with metastasized into class and ethnic insurgencies.
In comparison to Sri Lanka the US is a deeply fractured society. The fractures are readily visible to those willing to travel out of their suburban comfort zone. Baltimore, Flint, Camden, the Mid West. To a great extent protests have been contained by drug addiction (9.4% of the population).
The less than socialist aspects of the US are also of concern. Say for example what happens when people cant pay their mortgage because of job losses. Will the govt programs be deferrals, i.e. it all becomes due in a bang or will it be forgiven thru some grant. In contrast Sri Lanka is a) 80% rural and b) almost impossible to evict from a house with mortgage or even rented.
The US does not nurture their own, specially those on the wrong side of the tracks. The US specializes in importing, those nurtured else where and with proven abilities and/or economic resources. The new immigrants, most successful are resented by the locals. Will these resentments boil over in to social disorder as resources and jobs disappear.
Other cracks are becoming visible. The volume of rhetoric and blame is being turned up against China, even by the US President. Will that turn into violence against East and South East Asians. Similar incidents were seen post 9-11, with even Indians being considered Arabs. However the US was more economically stable with the Clinton boom times not yet being over. When people loose their jobs, their health and future is in jeopardy then they go crazy as one might say.
What should be done immediately
a) Give direct aid to individuals
This includes free testing and health care
b) Debt Jubilee, i.e. forgiveness of debt.
Rent, Mortgage forgiveness based on income/job.
NOT a deferral with a huge amount coming due in the future
US and Finance specific
Stop derivatives being used for speculation/betting.
Can be used as hedge against asset on the books.
If the asset is sold, the derivative needs to be unwound.
Let companies go bust if they are not profitable , instead of propping them up with more and more loans. Let bad companies go bust. No company is too big to fail
3. Share buybacks be made illegal.
In the long run
More Autarky and less reliance on global supply chains.
This brings manufacturing and jobs locally
==
The next 6-9 months will be a test of resiliency of societies. It is going to test the social and economic cohesiveness of societies to depression level economic downturns.
Countries have different gods. In the US and UK now it is "Personal Freedom" and the stockmarket.
In the US they pumping billions into the financial world, including the stock market expecting the progression of the virus to be stopped. The "Personal Freedom" god makes people go to spring breaks at the beach (US) and huge concerts (UK).
Sri Lanka has just come out of 30 year civil war, with two insurgencies one within the majority community (71 and 87-89) and the other between a minority community and majority community (1977-2009). The initial underlying causes were economic disparity with metastasized into class and ethnic insurgencies.
In comparison to Sri Lanka the US is a deeply fractured society. The fractures are readily visible to those willing to travel out of their suburban comfort zone. Baltimore, Flint, Camden, the Mid West. To a great extent protests have been contained by drug addiction (9.4% of the population).
The less than socialist aspects of the US are also of concern. Say for example what happens when people cant pay their mortgage because of job losses. Will the govt programs be deferrals, i.e. it all becomes due in a bang or will it be forgiven thru some grant. In contrast Sri Lanka is a) 80% rural and b) almost impossible to evict from a house with mortgage or even rented.
The US does not nurture their own, specially those on the wrong side of the tracks. The US specializes in importing, those nurtured else where and with proven abilities and/or economic resources. The new immigrants, most successful are resented by the locals. Will these resentments boil over in to social disorder as resources and jobs disappear.
Other cracks are becoming visible. The volume of rhetoric and blame is being turned up against China, even by the US President. Will that turn into violence against East and South East Asians. Similar incidents were seen post 9-11, with even Indians being considered Arabs. However the US was more economically stable with the Clinton boom times not yet being over. When people loose their jobs, their health and future is in jeopardy then they go crazy as one might say.
What should be done immediately
a) Give direct aid to individuals
This includes free testing and health care
b) Debt Jubilee, i.e. forgiveness of debt.
Rent, Mortgage forgiveness based on income/job.
NOT a deferral with a huge amount coming due in the future
US and Finance specific
Stop derivatives being used for speculation/betting.
Can be used as hedge against asset on the books.
If the asset is sold, the derivative needs to be unwound.
Let companies go bust if they are not profitable , instead of propping them up with more and more loans. Let bad companies go bust. No company is too big to fail
3. Share buybacks be made illegal.
In the long run
More Autarky and less reliance on global supply chains.
This brings manufacturing and jobs locally
==
Saturday, May 23, 2020
Covid-19 Fault Lines and Consequences
Is this the Big One as they say for Economic, Finance and Society.
Since 1998 was working in Wall Street. A lot of my work involved Risk in billion dollar portfolios. Most people, look at the upside, but because of my work started looking at the downside and its effects. By 2003 or so there was some focus on what is called fat tail risk, a higher than normal probability of the downside. By about 2005 or the chatter was about a collapse of the housing market, i.e. Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS). Then 2008 Financial collapse happened. However, the underlying economic structural issues were not fixed. The Too Big to Fail Bankers (TBTF) and oligarchs were bailed out and the average joe hung out to dry. Those who predicted the 2008 Financial crash, once again warned of a knock on on Finance/Economy would make the dominoes fall and much bigger financial crash. The Covid-19 Pandemic is a sledge hammer.
As seen financial collapse was expected and predicted. Even the pandemic was not unexpected. These are not Black Swans, i.e. unexpected events.
To quote from 2011 article by Matt Stoller
And while this may not be hitting the elite segments of the economy right now, there will be no escape from a flu pandemic or significant food shortage. The re-engineering of our global supply chain needs to happen—and it will happen, either through good leadership or through collapse.
Nation State: Democracy, mature or not is not a panacea in this kind of crisis. The nation state with the population vested in sacrifices for their common good and destiny is the most well placed to ride out this crisis (eg Korea, Taiwan). Unhappily, globalization has eroded the common purpose of a nation state. At the upper end of society, the educated and high wealth are vested in the nation coming together. The fault lines are at the lower end of society. Semi-skilled and unskilled are pitted against immigrants. The poor are divided by racial lines. This part of society has no vested interest in a democracy or a nation state.
eg. Singapore Fault Lines: The unskilled immigrant low paid labor (1.1 million, 20% of the population) were out of sight, and out of mind. Singapore seemed to have stopped the spread as of March 23, 509 cases and 2 death. The numbers started then exploding, April 23 a single day, the new cases were 1,037. 55 Singaporeans and 982 low skilled immigrants.
Supply Lines: As the unskilled and semi-skilled, low wage workers start to fall sick, expect supply line disruption. That is food and essentials delivery from warehouse to the local grocery store or supermarket. Maybe an essential pin to fix your motor is no longer available. Workers in distant Banana Republics, working for multinationals like Dole are going to fall sick and no longer work.
City vs Rural: Cities are dependent on food supply lines, power and water to name the least. Resources are dependent on City/Local govt. Sense of community, is questionable. Rural communities on the other hand for the most part can be self sufficient assuming they have one critical resource, water available locally. Obviously, suburban are intermediate, once again the critical factor being locally available water.
Now to look at a few countries, and their strengths or vulnerabilities based on the above four factors.
NOTE: These are NOT PREDICTIONS. Factors and issues to think about,
Start with my Home country, Sri Lanka.
The perfect place to wait out the Pandemic
Since 2005 I have advised friend and family specially in the US not to rely on house value, 401K, but to go for gold and rural property with own water source.
It is still not too late for gold as a hedge. That is even with the price of USD 1,800/oz (May 23 2020). Not much can be done with house, unless you are able to get a home equity loan. The same with a 401K, take out a loan. Buy gold, maybe if nothing really happens, sell the gold and pay back loans. At worst, a small loss. If the economy collapses, declare bankruptcy and hang onto/sell the gold.
Tried to keep this short as possible. Once again much is what I have been reading since 2005. Most or all predicted the 2008 Financial Crisis. Post 2008 they have been warning of a much larger financial crisis, possibly caused by pandemics or break in global supply lines. To name most Nouriel Roubini, Raguram Ranjan, Satyajit Das, Matt Stoller, Matt Tabibi, The blogs, CalculatedRisk (pre 2008 with Tanta. From Tanta's posts learnt more about MBS than from text books), NakedCapitalism and ZeroHedge often highlighted these authors/finance analysts giving an alternate view of finance and economy. Much of their predictions are in play now.
To conclude, as I started.
Is this the Big One as they say for Economic, Finance and Society
Too many references. So just two.
The Big Cycles Over The Last 500 Years, Ray Dalio May 21, 2020
The Collapse of Complex Societies: Joseph Tainter 1988
Tainter lays out his theory of decline: as societies become more complex, the costs of meeting new challenges increase, until there comes a point where extra resources devoted to meeting new challenges produce diminishing and then negative returns. At this point, societies become less complex (they collapse into smaller societies). For Tainter, social problems are always (ultimately) a problem of recruiting enough energy to "fuel" the increasing social complexity which is necessary to solve ever-newer problems.
Sereno Barr-Kumarakulasinghe
May 2020, WilpattuHouse.com
.
Since 1998 was working in Wall Street. A lot of my work involved Risk in billion dollar portfolios. Most people, look at the upside, but because of my work started looking at the downside and its effects. By 2003 or so there was some focus on what is called fat tail risk, a higher than normal probability of the downside. By about 2005 or the chatter was about a collapse of the housing market, i.e. Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS). Then 2008 Financial collapse happened. However, the underlying economic structural issues were not fixed. The Too Big to Fail Bankers (TBTF) and oligarchs were bailed out and the average joe hung out to dry. Those who predicted the 2008 Financial crash, once again warned of a knock on on Finance/Economy would make the dominoes fall and much bigger financial crash. The Covid-19 Pandemic is a sledge hammer.
As seen financial collapse was expected and predicted. Even the pandemic was not unexpected. These are not Black Swans, i.e. unexpected events.
To quote from 2011 article by Matt Stoller
And while this may not be hitting the elite segments of the economy right now, there will be no escape from a flu pandemic or significant food shortage. The re-engineering of our global supply chain needs to happen—and it will happen, either through good leadership or through collapse.
Couple of Points/Factors to think About
The Virus War: Make no mistake, this is the real war on Terror. The enemy is invisible, insidious and within. Normally wars have some breathing space, bombs fall and then a few days of respite. This war is like water torture a continuous drip drip of sickness and death. Eventually fatigue sets in, and many become immune to the daily numbers of sickness and death. The Stalinist "A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic" becomes the reality, with the death of humanity.Nation State: Democracy, mature or not is not a panacea in this kind of crisis. The nation state with the population vested in sacrifices for their common good and destiny is the most well placed to ride out this crisis (eg Korea, Taiwan). Unhappily, globalization has eroded the common purpose of a nation state. At the upper end of society, the educated and high wealth are vested in the nation coming together. The fault lines are at the lower end of society. Semi-skilled and unskilled are pitted against immigrants. The poor are divided by racial lines. This part of society has no vested interest in a democracy or a nation state.
eg. Singapore Fault Lines: The unskilled immigrant low paid labor (1.1 million, 20% of the population) were out of sight, and out of mind. Singapore seemed to have stopped the spread as of March 23, 509 cases and 2 death. The numbers started then exploding, April 23 a single day, the new cases were 1,037. 55 Singaporeans and 982 low skilled immigrants.
Supply Lines: As the unskilled and semi-skilled, low wage workers start to fall sick, expect supply line disruption. That is food and essentials delivery from warehouse to the local grocery store or supermarket. Maybe an essential pin to fix your motor is no longer available. Workers in distant Banana Republics, working for multinationals like Dole are going to fall sick and no longer work.
City vs Rural: Cities are dependent on food supply lines, power and water to name the least. Resources are dependent on City/Local govt. Sense of community, is questionable. Rural communities on the other hand for the most part can be self sufficient assuming they have one critical resource, water available locally. Obviously, suburban are intermediate, once again the critical factor being locally available water.
Now to look at a few countries, and their strengths or vulnerabilities based on the above four factors.
NOTE: These are NOT PREDICTIONS. Factors and issues to think about,
Start with my Home country, Sri Lanka.
Positives:UK
80% Rural with most rural having locally available water. Even meat, i.e. hunting (against the law) is becoming quite common (supply lines). Older generation (over 60's) has been thru this in 70-77 i.e. Economy collapsed, and we had to be self reliant.
Middle
Nation State: A 30 year separatist war ended in 2009 with a nationalistic govt. After loosing elections in 2015, the nationalistic govt is back in power in Nov 2009. I think they will ensure Nation State, by jack boot if necessary.
Negative:
City dwellers, specially in the high rises (6 -10 floors I think) for former slum dwellers. Will there be power to supply water to the overhead tanks. Will this part of society fracture.
To me the biggest threat is nearby India. not as in the Govt sponsored invasion. What is to prevent a couple of hundreds of fishing boat making a concerted rush to Sri Lanka. This not without historical precedent, in the 50's to 70's there were many illegal immigrants from India.
PositivesNew Zealand
An economy and reserves, with right policies can mitigate the economic downsides
Suburban towns that border large estates. i.e sheep and other food sources.
Negatives
The cities with immigrants and non English citizens not buying into the nation state
The perfect place to wait out the Pandemic
PositivesHedging Your Risk
Far away from the rest of the world. Self sufficient in food. More sheep and cattle than people.
Negatives
The Maori (15% of population) + Pacific Islanders (5% ?). The Hakka is the cool dance of NZ/Maori and the All Blacks. But many forget that Maori are warlike, and the Hakka is a war dance.
If things go bad, are the Maori going to buy into a Nation state run by the Pakeah. (The cracks are there)
Since 2005 I have advised friend and family specially in the US not to rely on house value, 401K, but to go for gold and rural property with own water source.
It is still not too late for gold as a hedge. That is even with the price of USD 1,800/oz (May 23 2020). Not much can be done with house, unless you are able to get a home equity loan. The same with a 401K, take out a loan. Buy gold, maybe if nothing really happens, sell the gold and pay back loans. At worst, a small loss. If the economy collapses, declare bankruptcy and hang onto/sell the gold.
Tried to keep this short as possible. Once again much is what I have been reading since 2005. Most or all predicted the 2008 Financial Crisis. Post 2008 they have been warning of a much larger financial crisis, possibly caused by pandemics or break in global supply lines. To name most Nouriel Roubini, Raguram Ranjan, Satyajit Das, Matt Stoller, Matt Tabibi, The blogs, CalculatedRisk (pre 2008 with Tanta. From Tanta's posts learnt more about MBS than from text books), NakedCapitalism and ZeroHedge often highlighted these authors/finance analysts giving an alternate view of finance and economy. Much of their predictions are in play now.
To conclude, as I started.
Is this the Big One as they say for Economic, Finance and Society
Too many references. So just two.
The Big Cycles Over The Last 500 Years, Ray Dalio May 21, 2020
The Collapse of Complex Societies: Joseph Tainter 1988
Tainter lays out his theory of decline: as societies become more complex, the costs of meeting new challenges increase, until there comes a point where extra resources devoted to meeting new challenges produce diminishing and then negative returns. At this point, societies become less complex (they collapse into smaller societies). For Tainter, social problems are always (ultimately) a problem of recruiting enough energy to "fuel" the increasing social complexity which is necessary to solve ever-newer problems.
Sereno Barr-Kumarakulasinghe
May 2020, WilpattuHouse.com
.
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Billionare Chamath Palihapitiya CNBC Interview
The U.S. shouldn’t bail out billionaires and hedge funds during the coronavirus pandemic, Social Capital Billionare CEO Chamath Palihapitiya says. “Who cares? Let them get wiped out.
"Just be clear, like, who are we talking about, a hedge fund that serves a bunch of billionaire family offices?" Palihapitiya replies. "Who cares? Let them get wiped out, who cares! They don’t get to summer in the Hamptons? Who cares!”
"On Main Street today, people are getting wiped out, and right now rich CEOs are not, boards that had horrible governance are not, hedge funds are not — people are,"
Palihapitiya says. "Six million people just this week alone saying, 'Holy mackerel, I don't know how I'm going to make my own expenses for the next few weeks, days, months.'
Billionaire Sri Lankan socialist. You can take the Sri Lankan out of
Sri Lanka, but you cant take the socialist out of (most) a Sri Lankan.
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
US Stock market, plus Boeing
I thought it would be a War in the mid-east that would get the dominoes falling. Turned out a real black swan. However much many think that the US stock market was on solid foundation, false premise. The underlying instabilities that caused 2008 crash never went away.
Injection of trillions, low Fed Interest rates almost free (now zero rates, i.e free) helped the stock market soar and insiders to take their money of the table. Middle class Tax payers, Pension funds, the small retail stock buyers are left holding the bag.
I expected a probable drop to 20K and a somewhat probable to 15K. The collapse and drop even surprises me, and other skeptics. Now even 15K seems highly probable. Thats why I say read alternative media, like ZeroHedge, RT and Unz (aka Fake news) to see the other side of the spin.
Injection of trillions, low Fed Interest rates almost free (now zero rates, i.e free) helped the stock market soar and insiders to take their money of the table. Middle class Tax payers, Pension funds, the small retail stock buyers are left holding the bag.
I expected a probable drop to 20K and a somewhat probable to 15K. The collapse and drop even surprises me, and other skeptics. Now even 15K seems highly probable. Thats why I say read alternative media, like ZeroHedge, RT and Unz (aka Fake news) to see the other side of the spin.
Boeing:
When Boeing management said it was the fault of foreign pilots (in other words non white) spelt their own doom. I said Boeing should drop below 100, I did not expect this fast. Hedge fund operated Boeing, cutting corners to maximize profits. Stock buybacks, were the norm to push up stock price. Investment in safety measures, research and development, was not part of management decisions.
Maybe Trump will inject money into Boeing to get the stock price up. The insiders will sell. Retail idiots who believe Boeing is a great American Company will buy, not knowing Hedge Funds, Bezos and the like are not real Americans, i.e. those who care about the deplorables and others.
Now Trump, like the Boeing guys wants to deflect his responsibility, saying racist Chinese Virus. I think going to end much like the Boeing management.
Unhappily for the US, the alternatives in leadership are equally horrible. Biden another Trump probably worse, in the stages of Dementia and will be a puppet. If Sanders is able to get the nomination (anyone opposing Trump will win), he will be blocked by his own party the Democrats.
Update 1:
Matt Stoller, The Nation. From 2011 (!), still germane:
There’s a good amount of grumbling about the state of American infrastructure—collapsing bridges, high-speed rail, etc. But American infrastructure is not just about public goods, it’s about how the corporations that enforce, inform and organize economic activity are themselves organized. Are they doing productive research? Are they spreading knowledge and know-how to people who will use it responsibly? Are they creating prosperity or extracting wealth using raw power? And most importantly, are they contributing to the robustness of our society, such that we can survive and thrive in the normal course of emergencies?
Dow Jones (DJI)
When Boeing management said it was the fault of foreign pilots (in other words non white) spelt their own doom. I said Boeing should drop below 100, I did not expect this fast. Hedge fund operated Boeing, cutting corners to maximize profits. Stock buybacks, were the norm to push up stock price. Investment in safety measures, research and development, was not part of management decisions.
Maybe Trump will inject money into Boeing to get the stock price up. The insiders will sell. Retail idiots who believe Boeing is a great American Company will buy, not knowing Hedge Funds, Bezos and the like are not real Americans, i.e. those who care about the deplorables and others.
Now Trump, like the Boeing guys wants to deflect his responsibility, saying racist Chinese Virus. I think going to end much like the Boeing management.
Unhappily for the US, the alternatives in leadership are equally horrible. Biden another Trump probably worse, in the stages of Dementia and will be a puppet. If Sanders is able to get the nomination (anyone opposing Trump will win), he will be blocked by his own party the Democrats.
Update 1:
Matt Stoller, The Nation. From 2011 (!), still germane:
There’s a good amount of grumbling about the state of American infrastructure—collapsing bridges, high-speed rail, etc. But American infrastructure is not just about public goods, it’s about how the corporations that enforce, inform and organize economic activity are themselves organized. Are they doing productive research? Are they spreading knowledge and know-how to people who will use it responsibly? Are they creating prosperity or extracting wealth using raw power? And most importantly, are they contributing to the robustness of our society, such that we can survive and thrive in the normal course of emergencies?
The answer to all of these questions right now is “no.” And while
this may not be hitting the elite segments of the economy right now,
there will be no escape from a flu pandemic or significant food
shortage. The re-engineering of our global supply chain needs to
happen—and it will happen, either through good leadership or through
collapse.
Note, again, the date. Stoller: “This stuff was obvious, except to economists.”
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/how-america-could-collapse/
Note, again, the date. Stoller: “This stuff was obvious, except to economists.”
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/how-america-could-collapse/
Dow Jones (DJI)
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
US Presidential Elections 2020
Update: Changed/Updated my thoughts. (2020 Aug 25)
Initially I thought, the whole Covid thing would kill Trumps chances of reelection.Little did I know/read resilience of the support for Trump in spite of all the mistakes made in containing Covid. The selection of Kamala Harris as VP clinched my opinion change.
My reasons, based on reading MSM anR Alternate Media
- a) Resilience of the support for Trump in spite of Covid management mistakes
- b) The Biden/Kamala is not a good combination. Many African Americans, even the women are not going to vote for Kamala. Not even many African American women. I doubt they will turn up for the polls.
Why will the African American vote be skeptical of Kamala*
i) Willys Willy and Kamalas Rise
ii) Her tough on crime (read black) and use of prison inmates.
i) Willys Willy and Kamalas Rise
ii) Her tough on crime (read black) and use of prison inmates.
*Kamala Harris in no African American, i.e a descendant of slaves. Her parents were immigrant Grad students from entitled backgrounds. The real African Americans, i.e. descendants of slaves have got soured on the new FAKE African Americans like Obama, Colin Powell and the list goes on.
Initial Change in view here
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/kamala-harris-the-dems-and-sri-lanka/comment-page-1/?unapproved=2357187&moderation-hash=a64098635d4feaf243a934669388d65f#comment-2357187
Previous Post Predicting Trump Loosing
Not necessary to go out on a Limb, Trump will most likely loose the 2020 Elections.Why,
a) because I think the Covid19 is going to be bigger in the US than in China (even if half bad enough).
b) Trump has not had a plan to combat the virus and partly because of the US health care system, mainly private insured. The stock market collapse will be a consequence.
I predicted Trump winning and holding his own with women, black and latino for 2016. Held his own with women, got better than Romney, Black and Latino votes.
The replacement possibilities are pretty bad too
Biden: Another Trump, possibly more corrupt and with dementia. He will be just a puppet to do the Wall Street and MIC's instructions.
Bernie: May have some ideas (nice in my view; socialist in others). However, he will be ineffectual. Even the Democratic Party does not support him, so any reform will be dead on arrival.
See update in March 17th, Stock Market + Boeing
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/how-many-americans-have-been-tested-coronavirus/607597/
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/03/according-to-the-who-coronavirus-is-worse-than-the-spanish-flu-which-killed-tens-of-millions-of-people.html
Rock and Roll of Sri Lanka; Papare
Rock and Roll of Sri Lanka; Papare
I
would assume some here who watch Cricket have heard the Sri Lankan
music at the Cricket matches. The Rock and Roll of Sri Lanka; Papare a
mix of kavadi (old indigenous beats), African beats and the adoption of
trumpets with gusto.
Kavadi is age old music/tribal drums for dance that was a catharsis of the psyche of frustration and repression.
Do discos and drugs play a similar role in modern society. Holy water, Holy ash, Talking in tongues, Possessed by the Spirit all the same sides of a coin.
In Europe, Christianity almost able eradicate and replace the ancient Gods, Woden, Thor.
Unhappily, the agnostic philosophy of the Buddha never eradicated or replaced the ancient gods.
People need God/Gods, be it the rock and roll, or some theoretician like Marx or Adam Smith or variations of those.
Below is the Western Christian version of being possessed by the Spirit.
A quote from the Video above
The power of Gods sometimes moves them to dance before the Lord .. (They get drunk in the spirit).
Replace above with Kali
The power of Kali sometimes moves them to dance before the Goddess .. (They get drunk in the spirit (of Kali).
Many who do these “dances for gods/s” in style, i.e family, extended family are probably doing the rituals to atone for “sins”. Plus a big donation to the temple/priests.
In a mainstream Christian context, like donating a wing for a Church or University. Evangelical church context, like singing and dancing and making a big donation for the pastors Jet-stream plane.
Many think the world has become more rational. Maybe, I think that for a minute, even then I doubt it.
===
This is a secular Papare band
The ancient and the modern music meet at one of the oldest cricket matches in the world. The Royal–Thomian played since 1879.
Kavadi is age old music/tribal drums for dance that was a catharsis of the psyche of frustration and repression.
Do discos and drugs play a similar role in modern society. Holy water, Holy ash, Talking in tongues, Possessed by the Spirit all the same sides of a coin.
In Europe, Christianity almost able eradicate and replace the ancient Gods, Woden, Thor.
Unhappily, the agnostic philosophy of the Buddha never eradicated or replaced the ancient gods.
People need God/Gods, be it the rock and roll, or some theoretician like Marx or Adam Smith or variations of those.
Below is the Western Christian version of being possessed by the Spirit.
A quote from the Video above
The power of Gods sometimes moves them to dance before the Lord .. (They get drunk in the spirit).
Replace above with Kali
The power of Kali sometimes moves them to dance before the Goddess .. (They get drunk in the spirit (of Kali).
Many who do these “dances for gods/s” in style, i.e family, extended family are probably doing the rituals to atone for “sins”. Plus a big donation to the temple/priests.
In a mainstream Christian context, like donating a wing for a Church or University. Evangelical church context, like singing and dancing and making a big donation for the pastors Jet-stream plane.
Many think the world has become more rational. Maybe, I think that for a minute, even then I doubt it.
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This is a secular Papare band
The ancient and the modern music meet at one of the oldest cricket matches in the world. The Royal–Thomian played since 1879.
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