There’s something to be said about the nihilism, or maybe just thoughtlessness, of liberal political economy in the modern day

From here:

So we want to revive manufacturing, but the right kind—advanced manufacturing?

The notion that we should be assembling iPhones in the United States, which Trump wants, is insane. Nobody wants to do that work. It’s horrible, tedious work. It pays very, very little. And if we actually did it here, it would make the iPhones 20% more expensive or more. Apple may very well decide to pay a 25% tariff rather than make the phones here. If Foxconn started doing iPhone assembly here, people would not be lining up for that job.

But at the same time, we do need new people coming into manufacturing.

But not that manufacturing. Not tedious, mind-numbing, eyestrain-inducing assembly.

We need them to do high-tech work. Manufacturing is a skilled activity. We need to build airplanes better. That takes a ton of expertise. Assembling iPhones does not.

Like, the only way this makes sense is if technology does not advance and low-cost labor is eternal. And yeah, they’re liberals, so of course they subconsciously hold the belief that there will always be billions of people of poor people, but they also publish projections about how there will be billions of fewer people in a couple centuries and how poverty will finally be alleviated in just a couple more centuries.

Phones are necessary! It’s an economic skill issue if “the greatest country in the world” cannot develop an advanced manufacturing process for them that is cheaper than hiring cheap labor abroad. It just goes to show how undeveloped the entire world is, I guess. There’s a lot of talk about how as China moves up the value chain, they’ve begun to rely on cheaper countries for some manufacturing processes. Yeah, that’s unfortunately true in some cases, but in other cases, capital investment has actually kept up domestically and advanced, higher-wage manufacturing in China is able to compete against basic, low-wage manufacturing abroad. That’s what should be done, but it necessitates lower profit margins, national industrial policy, taking education seriously, and a society organized around the radical idea of making the future a better place to live in. So, incompatible with capitalism and America.

And American capitalists complain about “stagnation”. Give me a break…

Yeah, I’m ontologically evil (flirting with mind-body dualism)

Great, science can’t even catch a break in Europe

Gender is fake the way exchange value is fake

This is awesome omg

Incredible Western journalism here quoting Boers crying about reverse racism without even mocking commentary.

Between European sanctions against Russia, the inefficiency of Western military procurement, and the peninsula-wide move to significantly increase spending on the unproductive military sector, this subcontinent’s real economy is never growing again under capitalist rule.

It wouldn’t have even mattered! Article 9 was slapped onto Japan, but the actual regulation of a defeated genocidal state’s military is whatever the occupying force determines. And so it was immediately de facto repealed when the Americans remembered to be anti-communist, and the American-approved Japanese government continues to come up with justifications to weaken remaining limits. Genocidal states can only be rectified by applying the doctrine of state suicide put forth by Radical Republicans following the American Civil War to international socialist historically-contingent conditions (and since WW2 was an alliance between the socialist bloc and one imperialist bloc, these conditions were not met). In other words, Germany and Japan ought to have been nationally dissolved and incorporated into the international proletarian culture of the Soviet Union over the course of a few decades. Alas!

Why would someone who emigrated to the U.S. from a poor country champion ideas that keep poor countries poor?

…

Mr. Mamdani’s ideas on economics and international relations mirror the failed policies of socialist-era [sic] India

So true bestie. I suggest Democrats champion ideas that turn poor countries rich, such as socialist revolution, decades of communist-party rule, five-year plans, a dominant state industry sector, and becoming the largest producer of steel and concrete in order to build hundreds of millions of homes.

What an excellent piece of rhetoric from the high school republicans club! Why did WSJ publish it though?

Or alternatively, maybe this vindicates the pasta/noodle distinction. Spaghetti is a noodle. Tortellini and ravioli are dumplings. But all of them are pasta…

If natural disasters are going to occur and intensify from human activity you’re (American state) responsible for and you’re not going to do anything to mitigate them, it’s better to just not acknowledge it whatsoever I guess?

The military almost put its foot down when the executive branch told them to kick out all the trans soldiers. I wonder if they will actually do it this time?

Military bans permanent shaving waivers, which are predominantly used by people with pseudofolliculitis barbae, which predominantly affects black men, and the article discusses the possibility of laser hair removal, which also infamously is not as effective on dark skin! Wow!

So why even place it in the media? Why not just do what they do in Lebanon and strike without warning and announce the results later?

If the goal is to destroy cultural heritage sites then it makes sense to prime Americans to expect it and be okay with it before you do it.

Aufheben moment

finally I can use my tens of thousands of dollars of estrogen as collateral

If you don’t want high wages then you need low cost of living. There is no one who understands the economy less than a small-business owner.

Yeah for sure

I mean, there are people telling New York Jews to move to Israel, “the only safe place for Jews in the world,” quite literally days after it got its ass handed to it by Iranian missiles. Sure, in some cases it’s complete derangement, but also:

Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.

Vinylon

omg juche fiber mentioned