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Saturday, Apr 30, 2022 - 22:08 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

Cred Default


Centrist Elon
[N.B. Pretty accurate, IMHO]
(Source: twitter.com)


It's been entirely too long without a new entry, backlog of work notwithstanding, so here goes. Getting off with some good news, in a huge win for the progressive cause in the US of A, a self-made African-American billionaire has had his bid accepted for Twitter, and should be taking it private - and under new admin - barring pretty unlikely unforeseen circumstances (at least as implied by the stock price). The frugal tycoon has already made it clear that he hopes that even his worst critics remain on the platform, since that's the very definition and spirit of free speech. A clearing of spam bots may have already begun, with the absolute shitlord maintaining his fine form otherwise (cue odd screeching from former Titter HQ-turned-homeless shelter, and the opening event at the local premises scrapped). Considering the veritable T'Chadla's track record of Wakandan-tier oracular success in technology, one senses a bright future for social media ahead. Sadly, a retrograde France has turned down an opportunity for Madame la Présidente to prevent a sweep for liberalism, but there's always next time.

The governmental reaction to this has, alas, been to double down on the policing of speech, with America quite disappointingly announcing a Disinformation Governance Board (i.e. a barely-disguised Ministry of Truth), and corraling the usual suspects into a 50-something country "Declaration for the Future of the Internet", ostensibly targeting authoritarianism (our PM and associated leadership possibly sweating a bit here, since it's honestly not very clear as to on which side of the democracy versus autocracy line, we will be seen to sit). Well, Musk has stated his intention for T(w)itter to stay within the confines of law on allowable expression, so hopefully some happy medium can be achieved with the EU etc.

The unsaid problem, one figures, is that the mainstream legacy/social media has entered into something of a credibility default in the meantime. On economics first, for all the efforts to label inflation as a product of the war in Ukraine, this excuse is (correctly) not getting bought by consumers. The most-accommodative Fed ever has gone from "transitory" to "the pump is not working anymore" and scratching heads at (an understated) 8.5% CPI and twenty-buck burgers (as described last May), and is now like maybe we can squeeze in a 50 basis point hike and start tightening and perhaps force the markets to crash (after securing another term at the helm). In the meantime, the White House's annual economic report has managed to mention gender forty more times than inflation, so one hopes that they have their priorities straight here.


Sneak preview of the economy to come


All the furor over boosters and vaccination appears to have died down greatly, with the third jab takeup rate in America hovering about 30.5%, almost three months after a 28% rate was noted. The entire situation remains exceedingly odd, with Shanghai still in a right mess and lockdowns expanding through China, leaving local authorities facing the awkward problem of having to censor the national anthem (somewhat analogous to that with Old Glory stateside). By the way, Channel 8 has just released news about how the Pfizer mRNA vaccines may be causing autoimmune hepatitis (among other potential conditions), which Newsweek and the like are apparently claiming to be false. Which of them will be clamped down on by the Declaration for the Future of the Internet signatories, I wonder...

Deferring an analysis of the contested media landscape for the future, the latest Cold War II developments are perhaps best encapsulated by an (indirect?) exchange between the United Kingdom and China, on the nature of "the rules". This had Britain's Foreign Secretary calling to boost a flailing NATO, and warning that "countries must play by the rules" (ahem a certain Asian giant). To this, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson responded that these rules should be as set out by the U.N. charter (i.e. quite lax and useless), not any cliques/blocs (like NATO, cough), and please get out of our backyard. And actually, looking at how the Aussies are insisting that a Chinese naval base in the Solomon Islands would be an unacceptable red line, and how the US is not ruling out military action in that case (but isn't the Solomon Islands a sovereign entity free to choose their alignment without violence, like Ukraine/Cuba/etc.?), one can only conclude: it's good to be the ones interpreting the rules!

As it stands, the World Bank is suggesting that everybody should diversify their supply chains away from China (their rules), which has had China clarify that their relationship with Russia is going just fine and is a New Model for the world, thank you. Moreover, they have seemingly made their move to snag (some) control of "the rules" with a proposal for a Global Security Initiative, which sounds mighty like an alternative United Nations/NATO to me. Seeing as how Russia is also really going for the jugular with a gold-and-commodity-backed ruble - already with some takers, and maybe America's ultimate taboo from how their power is underpinned by the petrodollar - things may be getting very spicy indeed...


...and did they just rip off Command & Conquer?
(Source: cnc.fandom.com)




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Next: The Game That Is To Be


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