The fun one will be rare earth though... That will skyrocket so many things.. or makes using them in the US virtually useless as the cost at that point will work it's way all the way through the supply chain that by the time it reaches a consumer product it will be cheaper to I port the finished product and take the tariff there.
A proper government run mastodon instance and bridges to blue sky seems a good option.
Mastodon on the government domain and a proper naming convention for blue sky accounts and an agreement they will limit the use of the naming convention to official accounts. Amsterdam-gov-nl paris-gov-fr eucdc-gov-eu or something.
Because if you buy a house, it's just you and the bank, so you need to cover the banks risk for you as an individual, meaning higher interest rates. Larger purchases, or a group of houses are covered by different loan types, flexible rates at for example international rated plus half a point.. and that is mich cheaper. The rate might fluctuate.. but if the government strongarms the fed to keep the loans practically free, companies borrow for free plus half a point. And that is a lot of difference.
Well, I wonder if the US defense contractors and Trumps team will play nice. Because Biden gave them a shit ton of extra billions. I wonder if the dynamic duo will try and play rough with the defense sector to save the 2 trillion of waste.
The US defense had a huge stockpile of equipment that was aging out or even needed decommissioning.
And a new generation of tech needed to be battlefield tested.
By doing this the US was able to:
funnel extra cash into the defense sector (the US version of welfare)
give the military the extra cash to buy new stuff
get rid of old and unwanted stock
save money on storage, maintenance and decommissioning of old stock.
Show their allies they are the arsenal of democracy and can be counted on.. while showing their adversaries they will go to bat for their allies.
Be on the right side of history.
What I mean to say is the US got a bargain on crippling one of their main geopolitical adversaries. It only cost them old military stuff they did not want anymore, while boasting about billions.. that never left the US and stimulates the US economy.
I honestly don't get how the Dems can do such awesome things in the last 4 years and are unable to tell people about it.
Also don't forget the lion's share of US money spent.. is old material given to Ukraine and the monetary value given to the US military which spends it on new stuff.. built in the US, employing American workers, who pay taxes.. feeding the machine, making american companies richer while cementing Ukraine as a future cliënt of materials and parts. And saving some money on storage and decommissioning.
The bulk of Europese money goes to Ukraine to keep their state going, paying for their soldiers/teachers/civil servants salaries etc.
Russia joining NATO was never going to happen. And it's weird to think it lead to the current state of affairs. If anything it held it back. Else the fox would have been in charge of guarding the hen house.
Sure, the US will at the same time see a lot of their international soft power evaporate. The US is showing what it means if they for decades keep riling up a country, rattling sabers only to not be home when it counts. Taiwan and whole of Asia Pacific is watching this.
Also the US will see their intelligence networks dry up, humint will become less reliable and less likely to reach them. Tulay gabbard as head of the national intelligence in the US means a lot of countries cannot share their intelligence with the US anymore.
That will surely help the US prevent their next international tragedy.
And if the US emboldens dictators around the world and make the whole less stable, what happens to the world economy and all these countries the US sells to.. they can't afford.. or shop elsewhere. Especially the EU fending for themselves will probably mean short term gains for the US in weapons sales, and then they stop. The EU will have been forced to do everything in house and the US will lose a massive customer base. And create a larger competitor at the same time.
The examples of this short sighted way of thinking are endless. But it is true the EU needs to do more in terms of re-armament. Because the US is an untrustworthy Partner.
Just like Putin proved to be when our leaders made him too important in our energy market.. he leveraged his power. Now trump will do the same.
I hope you people in the US will be OK, because if you think we will have it bad because if this, if only a part of what maga says they will actually happen, you'll be in for a heck of a ride.
Yeah as more information comes out.. I'm impressed by the mayor of Amsterdam. I never liked her when she was in national politics, but as a mayor she seems to really make an effort to get it right and also acknowledges publicly when she failed at that.
Currently the police have over 45 people they are actively looking for from the Netherlands and have a few outstanding requests to Israeli police too.
I kinda agree. But I see the government has a role in the zoning and deciding where and what. Like building bridges and roads, define, assign, possible finance and have commercial parties execute in a well regulated environment
Cost of housing seem to be the primary issue plaguing the world. Even in china the real estate market is fucked.. but they have too much in locations people are not.
It's almost as if a lot of societal rules (that are mostly needed) create an unfree Market causing shortages.. and governments refusing to acknowledge that they should be organising it and not leaving it to "the market" are the cause of the issue.
Organizing means organizing, not building all houses themselves.
The fun one will be rare earth though... That will skyrocket so many things.. or makes using them in the US virtually useless as the cost at that point will work it's way all the way through the supply chain that by the time it reaches a consumer product it will be cheaper to I port the finished product and take the tariff there.