"The EU sucks partly because Europe is not a country and the EU does not have clearly articulated geopolitical interests, and partly because some of its most influential member states have forgotten the very real geopolitical interests that they do have."
This is the monkeysphere effect. These people hang out with upper-level politicians and "elites" all day, so they think they are working for the upper-level politicians and the elites, not for their actual home countries.
I think it all just comes down to the fact that populist movements are seen as threat to the political class of Europe because they are concerned primarily with a proper historical understanding of what the nation is and what the state is for, which is the preservation of the nation and the defense of its people and heritage.
Europe's elites hate that, because their political project is explicitly post-national. They want to destroy the nation as such and replace it with supra national institutions governed by a global elite.
As far as the trade deal...well to the EU...er...the left, there's no problem that can't be solved by another person's money.
Trumps just giving them an object lesson on the receiving end.
I agree with most of what you say here, but there's no way anyone could have predicted that they would consent to being bent over like this so easily. This is the worst deal since the Paris Peace Accords in 1919.
Sure there is. Many of us predicted this (although to be honest not quite to this extent). What choice did they have?
We also need to remember how they understand the world and what their priorities are. As long as they can continue to silence their internal political opposition, what do they care about the growth rate of their economy or the prosperity of their citizens? They've never cared about those things, quite the opposite, in fact.
It's time the populace of Europe "refresh" their leadership as they have shown to do in the past.
Men are willing die for their countries. Who will die for the EU? Stand up, Men of Europe. Put the EU girlbosses in their place. Show them who's the real boss. Take your countries back. President Trump just showed you the way.
US importers will be paying a 15% tariff on goods sourced from the EU. This is because so many goods in the EU are heavily subsidised. The farm deal that was struck outside this took 3 years to sort out and started before Trump showed up because its real complex.
I am not so sure of that. Subsidies and all Germany is deindustrialising, so it makes no real difference, the Germans are suffering as it is and now it is going to be even worse!
They are concerned for their countrymen . . . their wives, sons and daughters, their brothers and sisters, their parents, their friends and neighbors. These bonds extend to their comrades-in-arms. This is what motivates men to risk their lives not for a cause, but for their homeland.
Like the Bible, they attack what is power-filled. They hate those of us who know it's power and hope we never unite. It's painful to watch, agree. Godspeed.
Well, Trump was certainly right about the wind turbines...As Billy Bob Thornton's famous rant on Landman laid out, they chew up more energy than they will ever produce....
The proliferation of EVs, from electric skateboards to automobiles, can be seen as the unintended result of the unreasonable regulation of CO2 (actually a non-pollutant). Human ingenuity always finds ways to adapt.
Westerners have the “wanna wannas,” like when my kid was little. They also want solutions they can throw other peoples’ (that’s taxpayers) money at with tidy cute solutions at the end of it. Like a Christmas box under the tree with a big red bow. Put those two together. They’ll fight tooth and nail to protect that cosy vision.
They also work to pump water, which is a form of energy storage. In my youth I recall seeing a (real) windmill next to nearly every farm house in the American midwest, their steel blades spinning in the wind, pumping water from the well into storage tanks and cattle troughs.
I’m on the Jersey Shore. Someone had the bright idea to install windmills up and down the coast. It’s been so sad seeing so many beached whales on so many beaches.
However, Texas has the most windpower installed in the world after Germany and China, I think. 35 GW several years ago and something like 25% of the grid. It was a major cause of the blackouts a few winters ago. West Texas is not the most scenic part of the planet........
I remember T Boone Pickens pushing wind and natural gas ca. 2007-8, but I just looked it up. He abandoned the wind side of the plan, but it seems to have grown exponentially without his involvement.
After T. Boone Pickens tried (and failed) to corner the silver market in the 80s I recall his quote: "A billion dollars just ain't what it used to be."
The Met Office has not been free to tell the truth since 1997. As a former senior government ‘suit’ involved in the restructuring of research in the UK I explain why…
...It was made very clear that policy suits were to fund research that should support the government’s position and only the government’s position. Scientific research ‘proper’ was no longer permitted....
A Bit Of My Story
As a postgraduate fast stream entrant to the UK scientific civil service back in 1985 I worked my way to the position of Principal Scientific Officer (PSO) within 6 years. For those not familiar with what a PSO was and did, in a nutshell, we were the backbone of research across the UK. We developed scientific staff to the level of senior government scientist, we were responsible for national research budgets, we awarded contracts to universities and institutions, we were voices in the SERC that was, we acted as peers for peer-reviewed publications, we gave interviews to the press/TV as departmental spokespersons, we headed-up a portfolio of research and we led teams/sections.
Many of us, like myself, were responsible for formulating government policy, assisting with the preparation of Acts of Parliament and subsequent Statutory Instruments, along with input on green and white papers. In conjunction with Assistant Secretaries we provided direct support for Departmental Ministers, Secretaries of State and Under-Secretaries of State. As a result of restructuring of the entire civil service during the early ‘90s PSOs and their executive counterparts (PEOs) became known as G7s (unified grade 7).
All this meant we got to hear what the public (including big name journalists) will never get to hear, with pretty much everything classified as confidential, and with some rather sensitive aspects classified all the way to secret and top secret. As a former ‘suit’ behind closed doors at the highest levels of government it would be tempting to write my memoirs in full but I’d like to spend my retirement at home rather than in an open prison!
With that background in mind I want to roll the clock back to 1988 when I became a Senior Scientific Officer (SSO) working under my PSO and got involved with the juicy stuff for the first time...........
True, my sons stays near a wind farm and often when we speak he says he is looking at it with the windmills standing with no wind blowing totally without moving at all, no electricity!
The EU bureaucrats are unelected, so I’m sure the lowest IQ ones were the ones doing the negotiating with theTrump administration. Let’s face it, the EU should have broken up when Greece joined. We all knew that Greece cooked their books and didn’t have the economic numbers to join when they did. After that, the Euro bloc was separated into the providers and the takers. Like any good socialist experiment, the takers soon overtook the providers and now the bloc is bankrupt, they can’t afford the takers.
I’m sure you are upset about this deal, as it will hurt Germany. But I have to chuckle with Trump trolling van der Leyen to her face about the windmills. He isn’t wrong, lol.
I have long been a proponent of Hanlon’s Razor, “Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.” Eugyppius has shown us how very true this seems to be, especially in the wake of the global covid debacle: our rulers and elites are really some of the dumbest people on the planet, indeed perhaps in history.
However, I have a very smart acquaintance who does not agree with that at all. And who works in the DC Beltway while living out in rural Maryland. This week he cogitated on the worldview of the strangely motivated Beltway people he meets, while remaining grounded in the reality most of the rest of us inhabit when he gets home every night, and I suspect some Eugyppius readers might appreciate his point of view:
“The people who run our government (not just the publicly visible elites like politicians, the people who actually run our government) are completely disconnected from the nation they govern, in both the cultural/moral dimension and in the practical/functional dimension. Their values, norms, mores, and worldview are completely at odds with typical Americans. Also, their conception of how the economy and society work is only loosely and indirectly connected to reality. The culture in our capital region is as different from the rest of America as another country. It is not hyperbole to say that Americans are being ruled by a foreign people who have very little in common with them, have values directly opposed to their own, and generally disdain them.
“Once you understand the values and objectives of the people running things, a lot of stuff that used to look incompetent or dysfunctional starts to make sense as deliberate and coherent. You can build a framework for predicting their actions with reasonable reliability. If you try to understand our government through any other framing, be it ‘two opposed political parties,’ ‘incompetent midwits,’ or ‘malevolent grifters,’ some of the things the government does will make sense but others will seem nonsensical. However, if you look at government through the framing of ‘foreign oppressors competing against each other for advancement within a system that rides on top of the rest of society while simultaneously cooperating with each other to insulate that system from the rest of society,’ then everything starts to make sense and you can make reasonably reliable predictions as to how the federal government will respond to various situations. They don’t care about our left/right political alignments, except as terrain to fight over. They aren’t incompetent and stupid, they are actually very capable at operating within the system they live and work in. They don’t have an objective of screwing the rest of us over: they don’t care about us one way or the other and any negative or positive impacts they have on us are coincidental to their pursuit of their own interests.”
So what does the Eugyppius readership think of that idea?
Yes, but "Uniparty" doesn't explain the "why" as well. If you look at the States as the territorial holdings of the Empire of DC, it explains the "why" rather astonishingly well.
Or, alternatively, I'm just enamored of a new theory. That happens too, sometimes. 🤣
"Their values, norms, mores, and worldview are completely at odds with typical Americans. Also, their conception of how the economy and society work is only loosely and indirectly connected to reality. The culture in our capital region is as different from the rest of America as another country."
For validation you need only become party to a lawsuit that will be decided by a DC jury.
"They don’t have an objective of screwing the rest of us over: they don’t care about us one way or the other and any negative or positive impacts they have on us are coincidental to their pursuit of their own interests.”
That sums up what I went through when, after getting a conditional job offer, when dealing with the State Department. The background check was not just long and challenging--it was insane, inscrutable, and ultimately designed to fail those outside the "system." I later got into an argument about it online with a State employee who responded to my arguments that their hiring process was unfair, biased, and even discriminatory with two words that have stuck with me: "Why bother?" It's not about hiring the best person or even just treating people with fairness, it is all about their own interests and laziness.
The bigger the bureaucracy, the more forms you fill out, the more hoops you need to jump through. The more people have employment, the more they want government to expand. It's all connected.
Ok so what are their interests? I also don't believe people in Washington "don't care" about left vs right. That's not what the federal employees say every time trump wins.
Something rarely mentioned. This simply levels the playing field.
The U.S. has long argued that the EU’s VAT acts as a de facto trade barrier, increasing the cost of U.S. goods in the EU market. Unlike tariffs, VAT is applied at the point of sale, not at the border, but it still raises the price of U.S. exports, reducing their competitiveness. For example, a U.S. product priced at $100 could face a 20% VAT, making it $120 in the EU, while an EU product faces no equivalent tax in the U.S.
I get this, and I don't even want to defend VAT, but all European products are subject to VAT too. in the US nobody is subjected to VAT. I don't know what is the alternative – giving US imports to Europe VAT exemption won't work, then we just effectively apply tariffs to our own production.
I see the US tariffs as effectively the missing Federal VAT in the US tax structure. It’s a consumption tax and at 15% on imports from Europe means that now US consumers will pay about a combined 21% Federal+State consumption tax on imports, effectively matching the impact of ~ 20% VAT on European consumption.
The difference is that the US Federal tariff is in some instances a voluntary tax — on US consumers who prefer, say, French champagne to the delicious alternative of sparkling Gruet from New Mexico.
VAT isn't the only thing suppressing European demand. The EU market is a high-tax zone in general, VAT is just one component. so, high EU taxes keep EU demand low, which cause trade surpluses – totally understood. and I want taxes to be lower! but, it seems a little exotic to me, to use tariffs to balance tax-induced demand differentials. I think Trump struck a good deal for US and that doesn't really require justification. he did it because he could and because we're ruled by weak and terrible people over here. also, not for nothing, the world's "largest single market" isn't as powerful, does not have as much leverage, as people like von der Leyen pretend.
any country dependent on other countries for energy is ultimately vulnerable. The engineered split of Russia from the EU (sanctions, destruction of Nordstream, etc) and the "green" movement are long term killers of European sovereignty
I must be a bit slow because I never understood that the EU/UK VAT or our GST worked as a protectionist arrangement.
Our GST has rebates throughout the chain for GST paid on materials and other costs to "protect" the real consumer from compounding tax on tax.
This rebate is, of course, not available to entities outside our tax system so acts as duties on imports.
The example that really grieves me, however, is when the waitress hands me the credit card machine with the choices of 18, 20, or 22% tip on a figure that already includes 12% between GST or PST or the bonus 10% alcohol levy.
How does it act as a duty on imports, if people outside your tax system don't pay GST at all? Everything sold domestically is subject to the same GST regime, including imports.
Look at the price structure at the wholesaler's level.
If I buy a Canadian product for C$100 with 5% GST included my cost is $100 but when I sell that for $120 I get the 5% back and the customer pays $126 so my profit is $24.76.
Unlike the tipping example this mitigates the compounding tax on tax feature.
If I source an American equivalent for C$100 landed and sell it for C$120 the customer pays C$126 and I don't get the 5% GST rebate. My profit is then only C$20.
The fascinating thing is that the EU elites apparently didn't seem to realize they were being taken to the cleaners. Of course, how would they figure it out from their ivory towers.
I was in my early 20's 50 years ago, went to school in France for a year so I got to observe things there from my rather young point of view. Leaders sure seemed more competent then, but maybe I was just naive. People could keep secrets then better than now.
I look back on the eighties and remember seeing Reagan, Thatcher, Kohl and Mulroney at G-7 summits, and I had nearly complete confidence in their judgement and good intentions.
I grew up in apartheid South Africa and I totally ate it all up and only now do I see how ridiculous it was and how ALL South Africans, black and white are now paying for it.
Best thing to do, just like with wind turbines, stop them. Stop the EU, dismantle the monster. Stop paying countries subsidies you cannot afford. Fire Ursula, she is good for nothing (or maybe if all these kids are hers, she is good at it). Fire all the Europarliamentarians. Count how much you saved. Fire all the politicians that only sit there and do nothing. You will have a handful left if that. Count again. Now the country is without debt and can lower taxes for its citizens, who can now afford to warm and cool their houses, can go grocery shopping, and do not have to cope with wind turbines and solar pannels, neither of which are worth having.
The European countries better start reclaiming their sovereignty sooner rather than later. The swarthy, invading hordes spell doom to the shrinking White homelands…
I swear to God I ain't kinky but Daddy sure spanked 'em good and from here it was a joy to see it. I hope the Greens choked on their outrage. For your guys' sake, at least. What a guy. Saving the world all by his spray-tanned self.
It's good I have my little projects proving I'm accomplishing important work throughout the day as I wait for eugy's posts to hit my inbox. Otherwise I'd just be watching my inbox.
You ever read "1066 and All That" and "It All Started with Columbus?" It takes very very smart guys to do skewering like that and we've been waiting so long for a fresh new voice in that glorious tradition. Of course eugyppius is primarily a serious researcher and analyst so he gets quadruple points for seasoning everything as he does.
I do remember reading both of those long ago. I was a big fan of Richard Armour at the time. Currently on my huge Pile To Read, I have "An Utterly Impartial History of Britain" which I am assured is of similar quality.
"All the while von der Leyen had to sit there, absolutely frozen except for a curiously accelerated rate of blinking, as she learned in real time that weakness and submission do not in fact invite conciliation."
I understand she supposedly learned this lesson in respect to wolves some years ago.
Did she not recognize the nature of the author of "The Art of The Deal?"
Sorry dude. As an American and old BMW enthusiast, I think the deal is a bit harsh. That said, your leaders are worthless, weak and pathetic. This is small in comparison to Islamic migration and your retarded energy policy.
"The EU sucks partly because Europe is not a country and the EU does not have clearly articulated geopolitical interests, and partly because some of its most influential member states have forgotten the very real geopolitical interests that they do have."
This is the monkeysphere effect. These people hang out with upper-level politicians and "elites" all day, so they think they are working for the upper-level politicians and the elites, not for their actual home countries.
Nailed it.
I think it all just comes down to the fact that populist movements are seen as threat to the political class of Europe because they are concerned primarily with a proper historical understanding of what the nation is and what the state is for, which is the preservation of the nation and the defense of its people and heritage.
Europe's elites hate that, because their political project is explicitly post-national. They want to destroy the nation as such and replace it with supra national institutions governed by a global elite.
As far as the trade deal...well to the EU...er...the left, there's no problem that can't be solved by another person's money.
Trumps just giving them an object lesson on the receiving end.
Was there seriously any doubt?
Would this have been the outcome with LaPenne in office, and AfD, and several others? I think they would have fought for their people.
I agree with most of what you say here, but there's no way anyone could have predicted that they would consent to being bent over like this so easily. This is the worst deal since the Paris Peace Accords in 1919.
Sure there is. Many of us predicted this (although to be honest not quite to this extent). What choice did they have?
We also need to remember how they understand the world and what their priorities are. As long as they can continue to silence their internal political opposition, what do they care about the growth rate of their economy or the prosperity of their citizens? They've never cared about those things, quite the opposite, in fact.
It's time the populace of Europe "refresh" their leadership as they have shown to do in the past.
Men are willing die for their countries. Who will die for the EU? Stand up, Men of Europe. Put the EU girlbosses in their place. Show them who's the real boss. Take your countries back. President Trump just showed you the way.
No they are not willing to die for their countries. Mostly it was done always by coercion...
US importers will be paying a 15% tariff on goods sourced from the EU. This is because so many goods in the EU are heavily subsidised. The farm deal that was struck outside this took 3 years to sort out and started before Trump showed up because its real complex.
I am not so sure of that. Subsidies and all Germany is deindustrialising, so it makes no real difference, the Germans are suffering as it is and now it is going to be even worse!
Populist movements:
1. are threat to the current political class - correct
2. they are concerned about nation and people - absolutely wrong
They are concerned for their countrymen . . . their wives, sons and daughters, their brothers and sisters, their parents, their friends and neighbors. These bonds extend to their comrades-in-arms. This is what motivates men to risk their lives not for a cause, but for their homeland.
In an alternate universe, the EU would adopt a copy of the U.S. Constitution to unite its various states. Including the Bill of Rights.
But rewritten to a third-grade level.
As, in retrospect, ours should have been.
I think third grade level is still a bit optimistic, considering it's going to be interpreted by the politician and lawyer classes
Sure would be better than seeing them attack it.
Like the Bible, they attack what is power-filled. They hate those of us who know it's power and hope we never unite. It's painful to watch, agree. Godspeed.
Yes, it would need a scribe. And no one would accept which translation is the correct one.
That's why we have a Supreme Court.
The US constitution leaves far more power with the people and with the States than does the EU arrangement.
💯
Well, Trump was certainly right about the wind turbines...As Billy Bob Thornton's famous rant on Landman laid out, they chew up more energy than they will ever produce....
I'll admit, that I bought into Windpower in th 90's.
My bad.
Then I started researching in the new millennium...
Arguably, one of the stupidest ideas ever.
Lifespan of 20 years. (Call it 40 if you like). Then what?
How do you de-commision?
80M blades that are non-recyclable.
Diesel power to start them.
Icing problems.
I could go on...
Point is; solar & wind only truly work, or make sense on an individual basis.
Did I mention transmission losses, or battery facilities?
My apologies.
Lots of people fell for it
Basically you wanted to believe
Not hard to be fooled in the 90s
Let’s talk about the intelligence of those still being fooled today.
This is all about the immersive nature of the narrative.
If you don’t go looking for it you can’t know anything
And then both sides of the battery issue, environmental damage from manufacture and then the disposal issue.
Batteries are a nonstarter until they invent the magic batteries.
1/10th cost
10x power density
Magic.
Until then, costly toxic mess
The proliferation of EVs, from electric skateboards to automobiles, can be seen as the unintended result of the unreasonable regulation of CO2 (actually a non-pollutant). Human ingenuity always finds ways to adapt.
I see proliferation of toxic waste and fire hazard.
No issues with E-bikes or scooters and cars other than that, the real issue is this nonsensical "grid scale batteries" to back up the grid generation.
Utter nonsense.
This worries me the most
You need to check out Substack el gato malo and the “midwits” article he just published this week.
Love that substack
Westerners have the “wanna wannas,” like when my kid was little. They also want solutions they can throw other peoples’ (that’s taxpayers) money at with tidy cute solutions at the end of it. Like a Christmas box under the tree with a big red bow. Put those two together. They’ll fight tooth and nail to protect that cosy vision.
They also work to pump water, which is a form of energy storage. In my youth I recall seeing a (real) windmill next to nearly every farm house in the American midwest, their steel blades spinning in the wind, pumping water from the well into storage tanks and cattle troughs.
Liberals hate that show.
They do not like truth. Messed up, the whole bunch of them
That series was really good.
Is really good - there’s a second season due soon
I hope it is worth watching and not so much weird drama with his dumb wife.
That scene in Landman is epic!
You just gonna stand there and wait for a mountain lion next? LOL.
I’m on the Jersey Shore. Someone had the bright idea to install windmills up and down the coast. It’s been so sad seeing so many beached whales on so many beaches.
Energy Return On Energy Invested
However, Texas has the most windpower installed in the world after Germany and China, I think. 35 GW several years ago and something like 25% of the grid. It was a major cause of the blackouts a few winters ago. West Texas is not the most scenic part of the planet........
I remember T Boone Pickens pushing wind and natural gas ca. 2007-8, but I just looked it up. He abandoned the wind side of the plan, but it seems to have grown exponentially without his involvement.
After T. Boone Pickens tried (and failed) to corner the silver market in the 80s I recall his quote: "A billion dollars just ain't what it used to be."
Great quote but that would have been fellow Texan, Nelson Bunker Hunt. It was the Hunt Bros that tried to corner the silver market.
Methinks the writers of 'Landman' have been upskilling on some Doomberg! Quite a few energy lectures in that series I've noticed.
This note from Dr John Dee explains it. Wind and solar is designed to fail. The elites want nuclear power.
Cheque book science.
https://substack.com/@jdee/note/c-58425367
The Met Office has not been free to tell the truth since 1997. As a former senior government ‘suit’ involved in the restructuring of research in the UK I explain why…
...It was made very clear that policy suits were to fund research that should support the government’s position and only the government’s position. Scientific research ‘proper’ was no longer permitted....
A Bit Of My Story
As a postgraduate fast stream entrant to the UK scientific civil service back in 1985 I worked my way to the position of Principal Scientific Officer (PSO) within 6 years. For those not familiar with what a PSO was and did, in a nutshell, we were the backbone of research across the UK. We developed scientific staff to the level of senior government scientist, we were responsible for national research budgets, we awarded contracts to universities and institutions, we were voices in the SERC that was, we acted as peers for peer-reviewed publications, we gave interviews to the press/TV as departmental spokespersons, we headed-up a portfolio of research and we led teams/sections.
Many of us, like myself, were responsible for formulating government policy, assisting with the preparation of Acts of Parliament and subsequent Statutory Instruments, along with input on green and white papers. In conjunction with Assistant Secretaries we provided direct support for Departmental Ministers, Secretaries of State and Under-Secretaries of State. As a result of restructuring of the entire civil service during the early ‘90s PSOs and their executive counterparts (PEOs) became known as G7s (unified grade 7).
All this meant we got to hear what the public (including big name journalists) will never get to hear, with pretty much everything classified as confidential, and with some rather sensitive aspects classified all the way to secret and top secret. As a former ‘suit’ behind closed doors at the highest levels of government it would be tempting to write my memoirs in full but I’d like to spend my retirement at home rather than in an open prison!
With that background in mind I want to roll the clock back to 1988 when I became a Senior Scientific Officer (SSO) working under my PSO and got involved with the juicy stuff for the first time...........
True, my sons stays near a wind farm and often when we speak he says he is looking at it with the windmills standing with no wind blowing totally without moving at all, no electricity!
The EU bureaucrats are unelected, so I’m sure the lowest IQ ones were the ones doing the negotiating with theTrump administration. Let’s face it, the EU should have broken up when Greece joined. We all knew that Greece cooked their books and didn’t have the economic numbers to join when they did. After that, the Euro bloc was separated into the providers and the takers. Like any good socialist experiment, the takers soon overtook the providers and now the bloc is bankrupt, they can’t afford the takers.
I’m sure you are upset about this deal, as it will hurt Germany. But I have to chuckle with Trump trolling van der Leyen to her face about the windmills. He isn’t wrong, lol.
"Karen" going up against Trump... What could go wrong?
All the photos I've seen of Van Der Layen sitting there next to Trump showed her smiling and looking rather pleased with herself.
A "vigorous and therapeutic railing?"
her trying to save face
She wasn't smiling and looking pleased during his riff about Europe being stupid when it comes to energy. The truth hurts.
Watch the video
Where can it be found?
Saw it on public I think
Googled Trump Ursula trade and 10 YouTube links came up
https://x.com/Not_the_Bee/status/1950044252748058878
Baby Trump reenacting his windmill rant
I have long been a proponent of Hanlon’s Razor, “Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.” Eugyppius has shown us how very true this seems to be, especially in the wake of the global covid debacle: our rulers and elites are really some of the dumbest people on the planet, indeed perhaps in history.
However, I have a very smart acquaintance who does not agree with that at all. And who works in the DC Beltway while living out in rural Maryland. This week he cogitated on the worldview of the strangely motivated Beltway people he meets, while remaining grounded in the reality most of the rest of us inhabit when he gets home every night, and I suspect some Eugyppius readers might appreciate his point of view:
“The people who run our government (not just the publicly visible elites like politicians, the people who actually run our government) are completely disconnected from the nation they govern, in both the cultural/moral dimension and in the practical/functional dimension. Their values, norms, mores, and worldview are completely at odds with typical Americans. Also, their conception of how the economy and society work is only loosely and indirectly connected to reality. The culture in our capital region is as different from the rest of America as another country. It is not hyperbole to say that Americans are being ruled by a foreign people who have very little in common with them, have values directly opposed to their own, and generally disdain them.
“Once you understand the values and objectives of the people running things, a lot of stuff that used to look incompetent or dysfunctional starts to make sense as deliberate and coherent. You can build a framework for predicting their actions with reasonable reliability. If you try to understand our government through any other framing, be it ‘two opposed political parties,’ ‘incompetent midwits,’ or ‘malevolent grifters,’ some of the things the government does will make sense but others will seem nonsensical. However, if you look at government through the framing of ‘foreign oppressors competing against each other for advancement within a system that rides on top of the rest of society while simultaneously cooperating with each other to insulate that system from the rest of society,’ then everything starts to make sense and you can make reasonably reliable predictions as to how the federal government will respond to various situations. They don’t care about our left/right political alignments, except as terrain to fight over. They aren’t incompetent and stupid, they are actually very capable at operating within the system they live and work in. They don’t have an objective of screwing the rest of us over: they don’t care about us one way or the other and any negative or positive impacts they have on us are coincidental to their pursuit of their own interests.”
So what does the Eugyppius readership think of that idea?
Sounds like the Uniparty to me, only with more syllables.
Yes, but "Uniparty" doesn't explain the "why" as well. If you look at the States as the territorial holdings of the Empire of DC, it explains the "why" rather astonishingly well.
Or, alternatively, I'm just enamored of a new theory. That happens too, sometimes. 🤣
"Their values, norms, mores, and worldview are completely at odds with typical Americans. Also, their conception of how the economy and society work is only loosely and indirectly connected to reality. The culture in our capital region is as different from the rest of America as another country."
For validation you need only become party to a lawsuit that will be decided by a DC jury.
"They don’t have an objective of screwing the rest of us over: they don’t care about us one way or the other and any negative or positive impacts they have on us are coincidental to their pursuit of their own interests.”
That sums up what I went through when, after getting a conditional job offer, when dealing with the State Department. The background check was not just long and challenging--it was insane, inscrutable, and ultimately designed to fail those outside the "system." I later got into an argument about it online with a State employee who responded to my arguments that their hiring process was unfair, biased, and even discriminatory with two words that have stuck with me: "Why bother?" It's not about hiring the best person or even just treating people with fairness, it is all about their own interests and laziness.
The bigger the bureaucracy, the more forms you fill out, the more hoops you need to jump through. The more people have employment, the more they want government to expand. It's all connected.
Common sense.
Ok so what are their interests? I also don't believe people in Washington "don't care" about left vs right. That's not what the federal employees say every time trump wins.
Federal employees are cogs in the machine. It's the "foreign oppressors" who have interests that differ from our own.
That seems about right to me.
Something rarely mentioned. This simply levels the playing field.
The U.S. has long argued that the EU’s VAT acts as a de facto trade barrier, increasing the cost of U.S. goods in the EU market. Unlike tariffs, VAT is applied at the point of sale, not at the border, but it still raises the price of U.S. exports, reducing their competitiveness. For example, a U.S. product priced at $100 could face a 20% VAT, making it $120 in the EU, while an EU product faces no equivalent tax in the U.S.
I get this, and I don't even want to defend VAT, but all European products are subject to VAT too. in the US nobody is subjected to VAT. I don't know what is the alternative – giving US imports to Europe VAT exemption won't work, then we just effectively apply tariffs to our own production.
I see the US tariffs as effectively the missing Federal VAT in the US tax structure. It’s a consumption tax and at 15% on imports from Europe means that now US consumers will pay about a combined 21% Federal+State consumption tax on imports, effectively matching the impact of ~ 20% VAT on European consumption.
The difference is that the US Federal tariff is in some instances a voluntary tax — on US consumers who prefer, say, French champagne to the delicious alternative of sparkling Gruet from New Mexico.
VAT isn't the only thing suppressing European demand. The EU market is a high-tax zone in general, VAT is just one component. so, high EU taxes keep EU demand low, which cause trade surpluses – totally understood. and I want taxes to be lower! but, it seems a little exotic to me, to use tariffs to balance tax-induced demand differentials. I think Trump struck a good deal for US and that doesn't really require justification. he did it because he could and because we're ruled by weak and terrible people over here. also, not for nothing, the world's "largest single market" isn't as powerful, does not have as much leverage, as people like von der Leyen pretend.
any country dependent on other countries for energy is ultimately vulnerable. The engineered split of Russia from the EU (sanctions, destruction of Nordstream, etc) and the "green" movement are long term killers of European sovereignty
I must be a bit slow because I never understood that the EU/UK VAT or our GST worked as a protectionist arrangement.
Our GST has rebates throughout the chain for GST paid on materials and other costs to "protect" the real consumer from compounding tax on tax.
This rebate is, of course, not available to entities outside our tax system so acts as duties on imports.
The example that really grieves me, however, is when the waitress hands me the credit card machine with the choices of 18, 20, or 22% tip on a figure that already includes 12% between GST or PST or the bonus 10% alcohol levy.
How does it act as a duty on imports, if people outside your tax system don't pay GST at all? Everything sold domestically is subject to the same GST regime, including imports.
Look at the price structure at the wholesaler's level.
If I buy a Canadian product for C$100 with 5% GST included my cost is $100 but when I sell that for $120 I get the 5% back and the customer pays $126 so my profit is $24.76.
Unlike the tipping example this mitigates the compounding tax on tax feature.
If I source an American equivalent for C$100 landed and sell it for C$120 the customer pays C$126 and I don't get the 5% GST rebate. My profit is then only C$20.
Fortunately in SA we still have to choose the tip on our bill before the use of the card machine.
The EU product still faces whatever the sales tax is at point of sale, ja?
Totally correct. I believe the average is around 6%.
National average is around 8 percent. Many suffer under 10 percent or greater.
You have a delicious mean streak, directed always toward the deserving. Keep it coming.
yes, more please!
I can tell I'm not cut out for business because I would feel dirty taking someone to the cleaners like that, even if they are pathetic schmucks.
The fascinating thing is that the EU elites apparently didn't seem to realize they were being taken to the cleaners. Of course, how would they figure it out from their ivory towers.
Were countries actually run by competent adults 50 years ago, or did it just seem that way because I was barely an adult myself?
I was in my early 20's 50 years ago, went to school in France for a year so I got to observe things there from my rather young point of view. Leaders sure seemed more competent then, but maybe I was just naive. People could keep secrets then better than now.
Leaders then had been in World War II. They knew decisions had consequences and cost lives.
Looking back at them, I'm going to go with "no, but they were probably better than what we have now."
I look back on the eighties and remember seeing Reagan, Thatcher, Kohl and Mulroney at G-7 summits, and I had nearly complete confidence in their judgement and good intentions.
I grew up in apartheid South Africa and I totally ate it all up and only now do I see how ridiculous it was and how ALL South Africans, black and white are now paying for it.
exactly, this has the same feel as the rich person asking if a banana costs $5.
But it was OK for them to take us to the cleaners for years. While we paid for NATO? Turn about is fair play.
Best thing to do, just like with wind turbines, stop them. Stop the EU, dismantle the monster. Stop paying countries subsidies you cannot afford. Fire Ursula, she is good for nothing (or maybe if all these kids are hers, she is good at it). Fire all the Europarliamentarians. Count how much you saved. Fire all the politicians that only sit there and do nothing. You will have a handful left if that. Count again. Now the country is without debt and can lower taxes for its citizens, who can now afford to warm and cool their houses, can go grocery shopping, and do not have to cope with wind turbines and solar pannels, neither of which are worth having.
OMG we wish.
... in our dreams every freaking night!!
How do you stop a nightmare?
doh, wake up
"[O]r maybe if all these kids are hers."
What do you mean?
she got 7 kids but they might be adopted
The European countries better start reclaiming their sovereignty sooner rather than later. The swarthy, invading hordes spell doom to the shrinking White homelands…
EUxit?
I swear to God I ain't kinky but Daddy sure spanked 'em good and from here it was a joy to see it. I hope the Greens choked on their outrage. For your guys' sake, at least. What a guy. Saving the world all by his spray-tanned self.
I do look forward to how this will be received in the individual EU countries. I feel a certain amount of guilt enjoying the Eugy sarcasm so much.
It's good I have my little projects proving I'm accomplishing important work throughout the day as I wait for eugy's posts to hit my inbox. Otherwise I'd just be watching my inbox.
You ever read "1066 and All That" and "It All Started with Columbus?" It takes very very smart guys to do skewering like that and we've been waiting so long for a fresh new voice in that glorious tradition. Of course eugyppius is primarily a serious researcher and analyst so he gets quadruple points for seasoning everything as he does.
I do remember reading both of those long ago. I was a big fan of Richard Armour at the time. Currently on my huge Pile To Read, I have "An Utterly Impartial History of Britain" which I am assured is of similar quality.
Still missing Christopher Hitchens big-time.
"All the while von der Leyen had to sit there, absolutely frozen except for a curiously accelerated rate of blinking, as she learned in real time that weakness and submission do not in fact invite conciliation."
I understand she supposedly learned this lesson in respect to wolves some years ago.
Did she not recognize the nature of the author of "The Art of The Deal?"
Sorry dude. As an American and old BMW enthusiast, I think the deal is a bit harsh. That said, your leaders are worthless, weak and pathetic. This is small in comparison to Islamic migration and your retarded energy policy.
Not to worry . Trump did not take away knives from the migrants so the stabbings will continue. He is not heartless .
The EU got their asses handed to them ontop of a lifeline. FAFO !
I think Trump did it well.
Your interview shared on Kunstler was very very good. I enjoyed it.
EU is a stupid stupid idea. It is pretending to be US but with rulers and overseers. totally wretched