Uber’s Simple Math Mistake Will Cost It Tens Of Millions Of Dollars
Hilke Mcnally
The battles that are taking place across borders are going to be [occurring] increasingly in cyberspace. Ransomware and other cyber threats have become a big challenge to many companies, costing them millions of dollars. We all know that pushing buttons and firing missiles is a path to destruction, but there are just as damaging initiatives through cyber attacks impacting nation states and having costly impacts.
Found a nice spreadsheet via Google that shows 2009 USA debt and who we owe and who holds what. Just Google 'US T Bonds owned by Foreign Countries'.
Re:
We, the US consumers created the debt...I think not.
But I can tell you that 10 years ago when all that crap from China started to appear EVERYWHERE...it was dirt cheap. My friends and family were so excited! "Look at this great blouse I bought at Macy's for only $15!" Yes, well, chances are the blouse has since self-destructed and now that same blouse will run around $90...and still self-destruct. So, yes, some people bought into it: hook, line and sinker. The same people, no doubt, who are buying into universal health care. Wait to see what happens to the cost of a visit to your local PCP in 10 years. If you can even find a primary care doctor and if she is accepting new patients.
There are two viable alternatives to the current national economic crisis: raise taxes or curb government spending. Neither will be a comfortable or pleasant solution.
Especially in light of the Baby Boomer generation dying off. They have been the historic 'work horse' with a work ethic and drive that keeps the economy well-oiled. Those gears will soon begin to rust and grind to a halt. Many Boomers have already chosen to become expatriates. Their exodus in early 2000 was recorded as the highest in the history of our nation. In 2001, when Bush realized there was an economic blood-letting going on right under his nose, he enacted many barriers (all under the guise of Homeland Security initiatives) to prohibit expatriation and made leaving the country difficult, if not impossible, especially for citizens of retirement age.
I was at a cocktail party about 8 years ago and these wealthy business owners were salivating at the thought of relocating their companies to China. $$$ I asked if they understood the Asian culture...that replication and reproduction of the original is actually coveted more than the original...whatever the original might be. I mentioned that in no time at all, China will figure out how to make all of this crap by themselves, without us. It is indeed happening...so we will not only owe China trillions of dollars, but these greedy US corporations will have no where to go and make more crap after China kicks them out.
I leave you all with two thoughts...
Be careful what you wish for...and buy American ( if you can still find anything that is made in America).
The USA can no longer use the GNP index because we have none. A new index GDP was created to have it appear as if the USA is still financially viable. We're not. We (the Federal government) has been borrowing money from other nations for many years. Just Google 'USA borrows money from China' and see what results appear. Seriously, this is not rocket science folks. We OWE LOTS OF MONEY to lots of foreign interests. Have you read anything about Kahbul? I used to envision it as this bombed out desert town in the mountains...poverty stricken...destroyed. hahaha...it is booming with 5 star hotels and high-end shopping malls ( think Mall at Short Hills or King of Prussia).Mansions(Poppy palaces) line the streets. It is a hub for the drug industry. Poppies to opium. We (the US military) are there to ensure the drug culture flourishes and makes lots of $$$ to help pay back our international debt. Again...don't believe me?...just Google and see for yourselves. The Taliban had entirely wiped out the poppy crops prior to 2001. After 9/11 we arrived looking for Osama...remember him? Well, the poppies were re-seeded and crops have produced bumper yields ever since. Do you really think the US military is unable to stop poppy crop production? C'mon. We are there to keep those pretty poppies blooming up a storm. Just like we are in Iraq to keep the oil ( that prior to 2001 was contracted to Japan and France and Russia and other countries by Saddam (remember him?))...but someone (?) didn't like that arrangement, so we are there to make sure the oil is secured for that "someone". Needless to say the other countries who had paid millions of dollars in contract negotiations to Saddam were pretty upset. They were the countries that refused to join in the initial war effort, like France. Remember Freedom Fries? The uber-rich have had their hands down in the dirt of the workings of the world for a very long time. Rockefellers, Rothschilds...the list goes on and on, reflect on the Bilderberg Group...the uber-rich have the most to lose, and they expect to win, no matter what it takes to win. There is no mystery. These global antics depict how the business of financial investments work. We ( leaders, feds, pick a name) have sold our country. It belongs to the nations and private investors to whom we owe trillions of dollars. You can disbelieve or laugh, but it is the truth.
How do Johnson and Kwak define 'conspiracy'? Okay, perhaps conspiracy is a bit harsh. Perhaps 'coup d'état' is a more accurate term?
The USA has no GNP. Our government is bankrupt. The 13 bankers are not calling the shots, Obama is not calling the shots, the Congress is not calling the shots, and the citizens are most certainly not calling the shots.
I suggest foreign interests have been and will be calling the shots in this country for a very long time to come.
We owe trillions of dollars to multiple foreign entities. They want to get paid. It is really quite simple.
We go where we are told to go and do what we are told to do. The Federal Reserve is a non-federal corporation over seen by international financiers( think World Bank,Committee on the International Financial System, and others, who the public probably knows nothing about) all of whom want to make a ton of money. They will never have enough money. Never.
So we are in Iraq and Afghanistan and we are there because we were told to go and our presence affords some type of 'pay-back'.
I admire the Mayor of Binghamton, NY. A lone voice of dissent is better than no voice.
It is a cute theory of Kwaks and Johnson, that the banks just kind of got out of hand because of expectations on Wall Street and all of a sudden became mega-sizedand could not be regulated because of imminent financial disaster, but really, this monopolizing has been choreographed for several decades (many years before derivative investments). Until we pay our debts ( which will not be be for a very, very, long time)expect continued loss of control and no local oversight. Our money is no longer 'ours' to control.
These gentlemen are entirely two-faced. They are Keynesians as much as the monetarists - a breed which includes most of Wall St - but they wish to get rid of the free market aspect it is joined to. The monetarist mistake is in presuming the market will regulate itself in in an environment of unregulated credit. They should rather get rid of Keynes and keep the free market ideology. It was Keynes who rang the death knell for the gold standard and resurrected the free-wheeling mercantilism that it had supplanted. Keynesians are not only opposed to sound money, they are FOR government control of credit, which is precisely the position being taken by the administration. They say that they are all for regulation, but what they want to regulate is not the cause of the problem, i.e., the credit, but the use of it. This makes as much sense as saying we want to rein in debt, but not until after we "stimulate" the economy. This has been the position of those desiring a central banking system since Hamilton. However, it isn't the derivatives, collusion like Goldman Sachs's, the revolving door, etc., that is the problem, it is the fact that banks are allowed to create money virtually at will. The Constitution says only the Federal govt is allowed "To coin Money, regulate the value thereof,..." Only the Congress may "borrow money on the credit of the United States" creating of "bills of credit," not the states, nor may the latter use anything other than gold or silver as legal tender. But we use only such bills of credit as money today. The power to create money in this way ensures the development of a "Ponzi" or more properly, a pyramid scheme, which when it gets out of hand deflates and collapses. Indeed financial institutions should be allowed to fail, but they would rarely, if ever, be able to get into that position were it not for a banking system that allows lending of money it doesn't have in the first place. The other issue that impacts on this situation is that the trade imbalances we have with so much of the developing world. These must have a a deflationary effect, but that effect is rendered potentially catastrophic only because we create credit, private and public, to take advantage of the cheaper costs there.
People view markets as a place to make money. That simple line is why most people don\u2019t. When you say \u201Cmake,\u201D you are considering the reward side only. Investing comes down to longevity. Period. Consider a pilot who during a successful career will conduct thousands of flights. One lethal mistake and he takes his life, all those on board, and his reputation with him. The Roman Empire which lasted over 1,000 years is known mostly for not existing anymore. My opening paragraph is essentially a metaphor for how focusing on the productivity side, the reward side, is dangerous when pursuing longevity. Everything eventually succumbs to one error, making past errors look like what they truly are; speed bumps. All the other errors become meaningless, all the victories, meaningless. Tail risk is not risk; it is extinction, unless you are a banker.
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