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China’s loans pushing world’s poorest countries to brink of collapse
- Thread starter Stevicus
- Start date
Look at us!
Agreeing about China....or one facet of it.
They also get credit for inventing go (wei chi).
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
People are hellbent on intentionally destroying the economy and want endless spending and subsequent debt.
China's loans pushing world’s poorest countries to brink of collapse
A dozen poor countries are facing economic instability and even collapse under the weight of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign loans, much of them from the world’s biggest and most unforgiving government lender, China.apnews.com
It's a long article, but rather informative. It details how many governments are close to default or collapse due to the increasing burden of foreign debt. Kenya, Mongolia, Zambia, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan are going through severe economic crises at present. I recall Sri Lanka had a major upheaval last year when protesters took over the Presidential Palace and swam in his swimming pool. But they're still in a serious mess.
For their part, the Chinese are saying that they're trying to help, though they're blaming the US and the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, Pakistan had to buy discounted oil from Putin just to keep the lights burning.
In Zambia, some people can't afford to buy food.
It's hard to know how much these countries owe because many of the loans are secret.
Does anyone foresee a time when the world will be debt-free?
Come to think of it, they've been talking about the possibility of a U.S. default. Is the world run by loan sharks?
What do you think?
Democrats here are demanding the 14th from Biden so they can continue recklessly destroying everything and anything in sight by their out of control spending without any limits and checks for themselves.
We've pointed out before, its less the Democrats than the Republicans who spend recklessly.
Spoken like a true...you know who.
Audie
Veteran Member
Inventing me.
That is very significant.
I'd say that you were grown rather than invented.
Perhaps they should've watered you more?
(Gotta make the height jokes where I find'm.)
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Partisans differ on spending for most programs but agree on veteran benefits
www.pewresearch.org
Not changed much since 2019
Today...
U.S. National Debt by President
Check out how the national debt has increased by year and president. Depending on how you measure it, the answers may differ.
Yet where can the federal government spend less that won't cause serious problems? What are republicans going after? The poorest citizens, yet again. And it is only a sliver of spending. It does more harm than it solves any debt problem. Meanwhile the rich get richer due to tax cuts.
Hyperbole on steroids. Republicans are only cutting spending on social programs, how does that resolve your "recklessly destroying everything and anything in sight by their out of control spending" if that's all they cut? This whole thing is theater, and just an excuse for conservatives to be cruel. How do you think these bogus tactics are going to affect the 2024 elections for republicans? More losses as more citizens are getting sick of it.
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
We will find out in a year what the electorate thinks about it all.
metis
aged ecumenical anthropologist
Let's see what happens when the investors panic and scream "What the hell are you thinking!!!".
I was shocked to hear that the stock market could lose half of it's value within days of a default. Do you realize the amount of retirement funds and trust funds that will be obliterated just because of using the debt ceiling as blackmail?
I saw an interview with a republican in the Freedom Caucus yesterday and this guy scares me. He did not seem to understand the damage this tactic is doing to Americans. And he did not rule out letting default happen, and he said if it does it will be Biden's fault. No, it's blackmail against Biden. You don't put a gun to someone's head and negotiate, and if they don't agree you pull the trigger and blame the victim. That's the Freedom Caucus at work here. When asked if he would consider raising taxes to pay off debt the guy shook his head and laughed. They don't have a negotiaion that has broad merits so are using blackmail. It's bad faith. We can't trust these people.
Well 2020 showed us. And 2022 showed us again. If red states weren't so heaavily gerrymandered republicans wouldn't have the majority in the House. The republicans don't seem to be getting the message and continue on with unpopular culture war policies. Conservative voters like the authoritiarian presidential candidates, but the majority of citizens don't.
The majority do not agree with these policies and republicans are not going to be able to win unless they gerrymander more, and cheat, like limiting voter access, or elect people that can throw out election results they don't like. Frankly I don't understand why republicans keep trying to apveal to the far right voters they already have and turning off the moderates and independents. It just illustrates how out of touch these people are, and good riddance. Missouri's Josh Hawley just released a book on masculinity and critics are being brutal on his shallow and idealistic beliefs. This is the guy who ran away during the Jan 6 riots, just hours after he raised a fist in solidarity to the rioters. He has an excellent challenger and Hawley might lose. His approval numbers are way down.
metis
aged ecumenical anthropologist
I 100% agree with you. It seems that we have all these MAGA Pubs in Congress that are generally well-heeled who seem to be more than content to bring the country down because they are more into themselves than the rest of the country. And yet so many in the "religious right" still blindly follow them.
I don't believe in Satan, but if there was one, I would have to conclude that he's taken over this element.
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Maybe if there wasn't rampant unchecked spending, this mess wouldn't be an issue right now.
If the debt ceiling is raised, you think lessons will be learned?
I'd wager they will crazily and recklessly spend even more than ever before without any modicum of remorse for doing so.
I thought the MAGAs were just playing a role for constituents, but deep down knew what is rght and what is wrong. After seeing the Freedom Caucus guy I'm not sure. This guy seems to really believe the "gun to Biden's head" apvroach, and if Biden doesn't do as he's told then America will default. He really did not see himself responsible in any way for the default even though they are chosing this course of action.
Oh you mean the spending that has gone on unchecked under republican presidents and House majorities? Have you noticed it's never a problem until there's a democrat president and republican House? And how they are going about it is insane. Republicans cut taxes and then want to cut spending, but there is only a small sliver of the pie that can actually be cut, and that is social services. Cutting these puts a lot of poor people at risk. And what happens when the poor are starved and stressed? More crime. And then there is more demand for communities to hire police, and how does that get paid for?
This is the problem with republican idealsim, they don't think ahead about consequences. No thoughts on consequences of climate change and fossil fuel burning, no consequences on immigration policies that hurt many farmers and construction companies, no consequences for the lack of gun regulation, no consequences for limiting health care access, no consequences for banning abortion access, etc.
If republicans want to negotiate the budget, then they can do it without threats of economic collapse, don't you think?
If the economy collapses because the republicans refuse to raise the debt limit will they learn a lesson? They sure as hell won't win the presidency.
Just more bluster as if the government is buying bigger screen TV's for all citizens. Our nation needs to function, and that requires spending, just as much as you have a budget in your life. If your job cut your paycheck by 20% abruptly and had to default on your mortgage or credit cards, would you blame yourself? We all live our lives with a budget, and having financial stability is crucial for us. The government is no different. If republicans really wanted to balance the budget they would have worked towards that end in 2017-2020. They didn't. Theuy cut taxes, and the debt went up.
Well, they have to find ways of reducing the spending, that's for sure. I think too much of it is rooted in lobbying, special interests, and corruption - as exemplified by all the pork barrel spending. I don't know if they still give out the "golden fleece" award, but if and when we ever start passing out prison sentences for such wanton waste of the taxpayer money, we can start dealing with the problem in earnest.
Golden Fleece Award - Wikipedia
They probably didn't need to pay for this. I'm sure there are plenty of guys out there willing to do it for free.
Other award winners included:
- Paul Ekman's research that led to the development of the controversial Facial Action Coding System.[25]
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) funded project by psychologist Harris Rubin for $121,000, on developing "some objective evidence concerning marijuana's effect on sexual arousal by exposing groups of male pot-smokers to pornographic films and measuring their responses by means of sensors attached to their penises".[26][27]
- National Science Foundation for spending $103,000 to compare aggressiveness in sun fish that drink tequila as opposed to gin.[28]
- National Institute for Mental Health for spending $97,000 to study, among other things, what went on in a Peruvian brothel; the researchers said they made repeated visits in the interests of accuracy.[1]
- Office of Education for spending $219,592 in a "curriculum package" to teach college students how to watch television.[4]
- United States Department of the Army for a $6,000 study on how to buy Worcestershire sauce in 1981.[4][29]
- United States Department of Commerce (Economic Development Administration) for spending $20,000 to build a 10-story replica of the Great Wall of China in Bedford, Indiana.[30] Begun in 1979, the money proved insufficient and the site is currently abandoned.[31]
- United States Department of Defense for a $3,000 study to determine if people in the military should carry umbrellas in the rain.[1]
- United States Department of Justice for conducting a study on why prisoners want to escape.[4][further explanation needed]
- United States Postal Service for spending over $4 million on an advertisement campaign to make Americans write more letters to one another.[32]
- Executive Office of the President of the United States, for spending $611,623 to restore a room in the Old Executive Office Building with gold trim.[33]
- Ronald Reagan's 1985 inaugural committee, for spending $15.5 million of taxpayer money on the planned Second inauguration of Ronald Reagan.[34] (Most of the events could not be held outdoors due to extreme cold.[35]) The outdoor events were cancelled in the interest of safety because the noon temperature was 7 °F (−14 °C) with −25 °F (−32 °C) wind chills making it the coldest inauguration on record. Frostbite can occur in as little as 30 minutes in these conditions.
I wonder what that Peruvian brothel research was all about. What were their findings?
And why would the Army not know how to buy Worcestershire sauce?
Reminds me of some of the student "jobs" they would give to athletes, like keeping alligators out of the gym.