Post: #76

I'm surprised to read some of the commentary here expressing dismay over America losing influence to China. I have no opinion on this canal venture and if anything I think it's a waste of resources on China's part, but fuck, if it does somehow end up weakening "America" then I'm all for it. "America" as an agent is really the toxic media, corporatist, and government elites, and I consider those fuckers to be the greatest threat Western civilization has ever faced. They are a far bigger menace to our way of life than China can ever be. They have already wrought great damage to our society these past 60 odd years and they represent a veritable existential threat.

When we say some Chinese machinations will weaken "America" or even the "West," what we really are saying is that the leftist scum in D.C., NYC, London, etc will lose some of their ability to push their sick agenda onto the rest of the world. I want gay and feminist propaganda, multiculturalism and mass immigration to die a rapid fiery death, and there is no better way to accomplish that than by weakening their main (shit, only!) sponsors, the western elites. Hell, weaken them enough, and maybe this cancer will even go into remission in the homeland itself. The alternative is for "America" to continue spreading "our" poisonous culture until every part of the world is infected with it. Where will you flee to then? What will be the point of being location independent if every location is a mirror image of Washington, DC?

TLDR: don't worry about Chinese canals and trade associations etc and their hypothetical impacts on America. Worry about the people who have very un-hypothetically ruined her to the point where getting the fuck out of here is the height of ambition for most RVF'ers.

Post: #77

delete

Post: #78

(03-22-2015 12:00 AM)Fast Eddie Wrote:  I'm surprised to read some of the commentary here expressing dismay over America losing influence to China. I have no opinion on this canal venture and if anything I think it's a waste of resources on China's part, but fuck, if it does somehow end up weakening "America" then I'm all for it. "America" as an agent is really the toxic media, corporatist, and government elites, and I consider those fuckers to be the greatest threat Western civilization has ever faced. They are a far bigger menace to our way of life than China can ever be. They have already wrought great damage to our society these past 60 odd years and they represent a veritable existential threat.

When we say some Chinese machinations will weaken "America" or even the "West," what we really are saying is that the leftist scum in D.C., NYC, London, etc will lose some of their ability to push their sick agenda onto the rest of the world. I want gay and feminist propaganda, multiculturalism and mass immigration to die a rapid fiery death, and there is no better way to accomplish that than by weakening their main (shit, only!) sponsors, the western elites. Hell, weaken them enough, and maybe this cancer will even go into remission in the homeland itself. The alternative is for "America" to continue spreading "our" poisonous culture until every part of the world is infected with it. Where will you flee to then? What will be the point of being location independent if every location is a mirror image of Washington, DC?

TLDR: don't worry about Chinese canals and trade associations etc and their hypothetical impacts on America. Worry about the people who have very un-hypothetically ruined her to the point where getting the fuck out of here is the height of ambition for most RVF'ers.

You know, I really don't get this anti-America sky is falling hysteria that some people on RVF espouse.
After spending the majority of my 20s living abroad, I have now been a good 5 years living mostly in the USA.
It's been pretty great in terms of work, economic opportunity, personal safety, environment/air, and public efficiency (documents, bills, banks, taxes, etc can all be taken care of with a minimal amount of hassle).
The only time I even think about feminism or fatties or SJWs or any of that stuff is when I visit RVF and hear people complain.
In my normal, day to day life in the real world, none of that exists, or at least I don't notice it.
I work, I travel, I exercise, I fuck, I sleep, I eat, I buy shit, I sell shit, I live my life, and honestly I can't think of a single moment where I've noticed some grand conspiracy ruining the society around me.
What I do notice though, is that the annoying shit like crime/corruption/incompetence that gets in the way of a lot of day to day life is significantly less in the USA than in Latin America and Spain.

Post: #79

Overall, this canal is not a serious deal alone, but China is making other moves that indicate that this is part of a more long term trend.

Nicaragua Canal




AIIB




SCO




BRICS Bank




Chinese Island Building

Post: #80

Apparently the $50B cost of this project is roughly twice that of the Three Gorges Damn, assuming they don't run over budget. Mind boggling to thjnk abkut just the scope of this project.

Post: #81

(03-22-2015 09:23 AM)Repo Wrote:  Apparently the $50B cost of this project is roughly twice that of the Three Gorges Damn, assuming they don't run over budget. Mind boggling to thjnk abkut just the scope of this project.

It's mind-boggling to think it takes $50B for China to permanently alter the world's geography, trade and politics, yet California can't even construct a small stretch of high-speed rail with the same amount of money.

Quote:The cost to build a high-speed rail line between San Francisco and Los Angeles by 2028 is predicted to drop slightly from the previous forecast to a grand total of about $67.6 billion, the California High-Speed Rail Authority said Friday.
https://www.google.hr/webhp?sourceid=chr...eed%20rail

Post: #82

Easy E and Luvianka, I get that China is doing all sorts of really interesting stuff right now, and that the US (and several other Western nations) very much seems to have dropped the ball, but I think it's a false dichotomy. Given that I'm unlikely to ever be a billionaire, I have no desire to ever live in China. Hell, especially if I were a billionaire I wouldn't want to live in China. Even significant numbers of Chinese billionaires don't want to live in China! That's hardly a ringing endorsement. You don't see Canadian or Swiss billionaires scrambling to get into China. Life for the average Chinese person is going to be awful in coming years due to pollution, overcrowded cities with dodgy infrastructure, etc.

I own a property that I rent out to tourists. Today, I was at the property. There are myriad problems with it, but one is that the walls constantly need repainting because they blister whenever it rains too much. Supposedly, they make cement here with sea sand, and there is a lot of salt in it, which constantly leeches out of the walls, hence the problem with the paint. Likewise, a farmer just down the road has recently built a huge metal fence around his farm (I think he's about to grow a lot of dragon fruit). Anyway, I looked at the fence, which is on a kind of plateau, several metres above road level. The metal fence is supported by concrete pillars set in large, loose stones. The concrete pillars are propped up with metal poles at the bottom of the plateau. There they are welded onto metal pins set into the edge of an irrigation ditch. Some of them are welded, at head height, onto rebar sticking out of concrete telephone poles. You know when kids are on a "science camp" and they give them a packet of drinking straws and a roll of tape and tell them they have ten minutes to see who can build the tallest tower that won't fall over? It looks like that. The whole country looks like that. The natural environment here is beautiful, but the man-made environment is nothing short of horrendous. You don't judge a country by its flashiest show piece attractions. You travel to where ordinary people live and see what it looks like.

This is the first city I live at in Taiwan:

Gorgeous, hey!

I find it oddly weird when people talk about Chinese being so smart. Book smart, yes, but they suck at life. They shoot themselves in the foot constantly. They have absolutely no concept of what "the good life" is about. They think it means gaudy handbags and enormous cars stuck in traffic, which brings me to another point. They are the most superficial and materialistic people on the planet, but in the most stupid ways. They'll work themselves into the ground so that they can status whore with a trinket.

I live in "the other China" and people here have embraced all the worst elements of American consumerism, including massive amounts of personal debt. The only reason the average Chinese peasant saves 50% of his income is because he doesn't own a credit card and there's no Gucci outlet in the average village. That was true of the average Taiwanese person twenty years ago, also. If/when I have my "fuck you money" (as Nassim Nicholas Taleb calls it), I very much doubt I will live in Taiwan then. The quality of life here is fucked. I can only imagine it's ten times worse in China.

Sure, Greeks, Spaniards, etc. are screwed. Likewise, Americans are screwed. Yet again, it's a false dichotomy to say you can have China or you can have America/Greece/Spain. How about none of the above? Also, in my opinion, small to medium-sized countries with decent population density and access to resources are going to be where it's at in the future unless you're happy to live in a gated community and/or breathe through a ventilator.

I would not be surprised at all if China falls into a middle income trap as Taiwan has for many of the same reasons.

Post: #83

(03-22-2015 10:11 AM)Feisbook Control Wrote:  Sure, Greeks, Spaniards, etc. are screwed. Likewise, Americans are screwed. Yet again, it's a false dichotomy to say you can have China or you can have America/Greece/Spain. How about none of the above? Also, in my opinion, small to medium-sized countries with decent population density and access to resources are going to be where it's at in the future unless you're happy to live in a gated community and/or breathe through a ventilator.

I would not be surprised at all if China falls into a middle income trap as Taiwan has for many of the same reasons.

The USA finds itself in much the same position today with respect to China that the UK found itself in during the early 1900s with respect to the USA: facing a large rising power that it has few options to counter.

Just like then, the USA has a few options it can choose. One of them is not, however, hoping and dreaming that China will implode or somehow decline. Hoping and dreaming is not a strategy.

In the end, it doesn't really matter who controls the planet since one group of plutocrats is essentially interchangeable with another group of plutocrats.

My main fear is that the USA will wait too long to counter or seek an accomodation with China, and then in a last ditch effort to maintain its status, will do something stupid like provoke a war with China in an effort to keep them from taking over.

That would effect me since who knows how far the lunatics that currently run the West are willing to go to stay in power.

Post: #84

History suggests that, when one power is rising and another is declining in economic influence and competition for markets, the one that is declining makes war on the one that is rising.

Post: #85

(03-22-2015 03:24 AM)YardDog Wrote:  As VVV pointed out this project will ruin lake Nicaragua, one of the 25 largest fresh water lakes in the world.

Locals are dirt poor in the area and will do the basic labor for peanuts per day.

That's what worries me.

Projects like these are often have tons of environmental and human rights issues.

Especially with the Chinese, I don't think they give a fuck about human rights. At least with Western corporations pressure can be applied and they have to keep up a face of "caring" about the locals.

Post: #86

Despite modern advances to healthcare and engineering they'd probably still have more deaths than the Panama Canal lol

(03-22-2015 12:47 PM)Easy E Wrote:  The USA finds itself in much the same position today with respect to China that the UK found itself in during the early 1900s with respect to the USA: facing a large rising power that it has few options to counter.

Just like then, the USA has a few options it can choose. One of them is not, however, hoping and dreaming that China will implode or somehow decline. Hoping and dreaming is not a strategy.

In the end, it doesn't really matter who controls the planet since one group of plutocrats is essentially interchangeable with another group of plutocrats.

My main fear is that the USA will wait too long to counter or seek an accomodation with China, and then in a last ditch effort to maintain its status, will do something stupid like provoke a war with China in an effort to keep them from taking over.

That would effect me since who knows how far the lunatics that currently run the West are willing to go to stay in power.

China has severe overbuilding problems WRT its real estate. Namely, they built billions of dollars worth of apartment complexes, malls, and other "people infrastructure" related buildings that are completely vacant.

Despite the fact that our own media lies and slanders the truth, our media is nothing compared to the China propaganda machine. Their looming issues are kept well from public eye.

Post: #87

(03-22-2015 03:04 PM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:  History suggests that, when one power is rising and another is declining in economic influence and competition for markets, the one that is declining makes war on the one that is rising.

History also suggests that the U.S. can't go more than a couple of years without starting to bomb some new country.

Though we have mostly kept it to countries that couldn't really fight back in terms of attacking the U.S.

I wonder if we're getting dumb enough to actually attack China. I hope not but I have low confidence in this.

Post: #88

(03-22-2015 09:03 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  

(03-22-2015 03:04 PM)Quintus Curtius Wrote:  History suggests that, when one power is rising and another is declining in economic influence and competition for markets, the one that is declining makes war on the one that is rising.

History also suggests that the U.S. can't go more than a couple of years without starting to bomb some new country.

Though we have mostly kept it to countries that couldn't really fight back in terms of attacking the U.S.

I wonder if we're getting dumb enough to actually attack China. I hope not but I have low confidence in this.

Both the US and China have the same enemy -The Banksters of the City.
We need a Four Powers Agreement (China-US-Russia-India) to avert nuclear war.

Post: #89

The Nicaraguans are not exceptionally thrilled according to the family of a friend of mine (they are Nicaraguan but it is still just their opinion).
The main concern is the disregard for the ecosystem. I think that is a valid concern in this situation.

Post: #90

(03-22-2015 12:47 PM)Easy E Wrote:  

(03-22-2015 10:11 AM)Feisbook Control Wrote:  Sure, Greeks, Spaniards, etc. are screwed. Likewise, Americans are screwed. Yet again, it's a false dichotomy to say you can have China or you can have America/Greece/Spain. How about none of the above? Also, in my opinion, small to medium-sized countries with decent population density and access to resources are going to be where it's at in the future unless you're happy to live in a gated community and/or breathe through a ventilator.

I would not be surprised at all if China falls into a middle income trap as Taiwan has for many of the same reasons.

The USA finds itself in much the same position today with respect to China that the UK found itself in during the early 1900s with respect to the USA: facing a large rising power that it has few options to counter.

Just like then, the USA has a few options it can choose. One of them is not, however, hoping and dreaming that China will implode or somehow decline. Hoping and dreaming is not a strategy.

In the end, it doesn't really matter who controls the planet since one group of plutocrats is essentially interchangeable with another group of plutocrats.

My main fear is that the USA will wait too long to counter or seek an accomodation with China, and then in a last ditch effort to maintain its status, will do something stupid like provoke a war with China in an effort to keep them from taking over.

That would effect me since who knows how far the lunatics that currently run the West are willing to go to stay in power.

I don't disagree that the USA is on the wrong course, but what is the right course? Firstly, I'd hope we'd agree that engaging in a race to the bottom isn't the right course. Competing with the Chinese model head on would be a Pyrrhic victory at best.

Beyond that, I don't know whether we would, or even should, agree on what I am about to write.

Basically, I think that countries that are large are ungovernable. Too many people, too many mutually exclusive objectives, too many disagreements. The other problem, I believe, is that the US just has both software problems and hardware problems. The software problems are legion, but the most obvious one is universal suffrage itself. You can't allow women and other stupid people to vote and think you're not going to end up with a disaster. Paradoxically, if you allow poor, stupid people to vote, you get oligarchs and all the rest of what plagues the US now. The US set about on a course of elevating everyone else at the expense of the middle class, and we're now finally beginning to see the results of that. Yet putting toothpaste back in the tube is infinitely more difficult than getting it out of the tube to begin with. All of this is exacerbated by having more than 300 million people spread out across a continent-sized nation. There's no way to get everyone on the same page with that.

The hardware problem contributes to the software problems and is the deeper problem. Basically, the smart people aren't having enough kids, but the poor, stupid people keep pumping them out. Changing incentive structures might make some headway into that, but without going full Darwinian, I just can't see it making enough difference. Other countries have tried and failed. As though having indigenous dummies weren't enough, the US is importing the dregs of the third world to further crush the national IQ. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Short of a military coup and a fascist eugenics programme, I can't see this problem being resolved, and so the US is going to become the northern Brazil. It's certainly not going to move in the direction of Switzerland (though that place is also far from perfect) without a very, very hard push in such a direction. No one is voluntarily going to agree to such a push, however.

I think the US is basically screwed at this point. The best thing that people could hope for would be for individual cities, states or regions to secede and directly address both the hardware and software problems at the local level. Yet no state is going to secede. Look what happened the last time. Besides which, those states that are more inclined to secede are either chock full to the brim with dummies already, or are close to the border and will soon be filled with more dummies anyway.

Post: #91

(03-21-2015 10:58 AM)Sherman Wrote:  The US still has a dominant Navy and controls all the major trade routes. I am glad that the Chinese are becoming successful and expanding their influence. Do men really want to give more power to a President Hillary Clinton or a President Elizabeth Warren? America is now a leftist country and China represents capitalist enterprise at its best.