Trump will capitulate on the trade war

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

56 minutes ago, Rasmus Jorgensen said:

Sorry if I am missing something, but in the context of this thread @Enthalpic said he drives a yaris that gets insanely good mileage. If everybody did that the world would consume a lot less oil... Just sayin'

I am guessing that many people require a more substantial vehicle than a Yaris in their daily lives, a van to haul kids to soccer or carpool, a pick-up truck to haul tools, a vehicle capable of hauling loads over high passes in mountainous areas, etc....

Again we are back to people preaching their green lifestyle without considering the real world.

I wouldn’t be caught dead in a Yaris!😂 

[Rob Plant + 2,756]

 

 

7 minutes ago, Douglas Buckland said:

I am guessing that many people require a more substantial vehicle than a Yaris in their daily lives, a van to haul kids to soccer or carpool, a pick-up truck to haul tools, a vehicle capable of hauling loads over high passes in mountainous areas, etc....

Exactly Douglas which is why I said "we cant all just give up oil derivatives overnight as the practical alternatives just aren't there."

The greens preaching BS though is doing my head in too!

I drive a 2 litre BMW hybrid, not because I want to save the planet or because I want to be a pretentious prick about climate change, no its because the tax incentives are massively in my favour if I do.

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Douglas Buckland said:

Again we are back to people preaching their green lifestyle without considering the real world.

Or without being green even.

 

[Rob Plant + 2,756]

1 hour ago, Douglas Buckland said:

Again we are back to people preaching their green lifestyle without considering the real world.

Agree totally, if you practice a green lifestyle no need to preach about it

If you don't definitely don't tell others what they should be doing ie Prince Harry and Meghan!

[Rob Plant + 2,756]

For me pollution is the major concern not Co2 levels

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Rob Plant said:

if you practice a green lifestyle no need to preach about it

If you don't definitely don't tell others what they should be doing

And yet there are thousands of people round the world doing exactly this. Telling entire nations what more they must do, while ignoring entire continents. And people on here are guilty of this, as well as Ext Reb children. It's just boring.

''I care about animals and ecosystems .... but I eat flesh every day''

''Oil is bad ... but I use it all day everyday and have my own car and phone and laptop''

''The planet is utterly doomed ... so I decided to bring children into it''

Do you (not you Rob) actually believe this shite you preach or not?? There are literally hundreds of things you could do if you care but when I suggested even sharing a car it was considered not practical or common sense. ''I drive a Yaris'' - oh well case closed. You're my hero. 

Ride a bike? Refuse to use plastic? Don't get on a plane? Buy only local food? Save electric? Save water? Stop eating meat? Stop eating dairy? Refillable bottles? Use less paper? Print less? Compost things? Shall I go on? I'm gonna guess the majority of you do 1 or 2 of these things? 

There is a thread about eating meat being bad for the planet, I don't remember the tree huggers being very vocal here? It seems ''how dare you tell me what to eat or whether to have children'' (which of course is your decision) is an outrageous suggestion, but it is fine for these people to tell others how they should live and what more they must do. And while doing so, entire continents are destroying the planet, and they say nothing at all about it ??!! 

When you can see a horizon in China, get back to me. When we feed the world's people with crops, instead of using the land for animals to then eat them, get back to me. When you become amish, get back to me. In fact, when you do everything I listed above and the other hundreds of things you could be doing, get back to me. Until then don't bother.

I think it's pathetic. So yes, I will stick with the word ''hypocrite''. 

Edited October 31, 2019 by Guest

[Rob Plant + 2,756]

2 minutes ago, DayTrader said:

And yet there are thousands of people round the world doing exactly this. Telling entire nations what more they must do, while ignoring entire continents. And people on here are guilty of this, as well as Ext Reb children. It's just boring.

''I care about animals and ecosystems .... but I eat flesh every day''

''Oil is bad ... but I use it all day everyday and have my own car''

''The planet is utterly doomed ... so I decided to bring children into it''

Do you (not you Rob) actually believe this shite you preach or not?? There are literally hundreds of things you could do if you care but when I suggested even sharing a car it was considered not practical or common sense. ''I drive a Yaris'' - oh well case closed. You're my hero. 

Ride a bike? Refuse to use plastic? Don't get on a plane? Buy only local food? Save electric? Save water? Stop eating meat? Stop eating dairy? Refillable bottles? Use less paper? Print less? Compost things? Shall I go on? I'm gonna guess the majority of you do 1 or 2 of these things? 

There is a thread about eating meat being bad for the planet, I don't remember the tree huggers being very vocal here? It seems ''how dare you tell me what to eat or whether to have children'' (which of course is your decision) is an outrageous suggestion, but it is fine for these people to tell others how they should live and what more they must do. And while doing so, entire continents are destroying the planet, and they say nothing at all about it ??!! 

When you can see a horizon in China, get back to me. When we feed the world's people with crops, instead of using the land for animals to then eat them, get back to me. When you become amish, get back to me. In fact, when you do everything I listed above and the other hundreds of things you could be doing, get back to me. Until then don't bother.

I think it's pathetic. So yes, I will stick with the word ''hypocrite''. 

DT I agree with most of your sentiment and yes certain nations could do more and certain individuals should not preach when they get on planes for their holidays, drive 4x4's/SUV's, etc etc. and then drive to a bloody demo about climate change.

There is a lot of hypocrisy, agreed, but not everyone is.

I'm sure you're waaay "greener" than me, I guess I'm more Douglas's generation (50) so still a bit old school, but I don't spout off to others on how they should live their lives like Greta and her chums, that's the hypocrisy.

 

[Guest]

59 minutes ago, Rob Plant said:

but I don't spout off to others on how they should live their lives like Greta and her chums, that's the hypocrisy.

I'm not saying you do, but it's the preaching and hypocrisy I can't stand, by people who think they are green because they talk about it more??

There are many people who actually believe this and do all they can to be green. I have a lot of respect for that. Not for nonsense.  

Well done. You drive to a protest, eat meat for lunch, then post about it on your oil based phone that you charge everyday, and was made by minerals mined by children. You're true heroes, really making a difference. I think it's utterly pathetic.

Trump bad. China and India fine. You can't see a horizon, everyone in a mask or coughing their guts up, but we must do more in the west.

But hey, I drive a Yaris. Jeez. Whoopee - doo. It's still driving. You get a few more miles out of your pollution. Brilliant. 

4 hours ago, Douglas Buckland said:

Again we are back to people preaching their green lifestyle without considering the real world.

Or their own lives. 

Edited October 31, 2019 by Guest

[WaytoPeace + 62]

We will get nowhere as a nation if only acknowledge what we believe our side has done right, and what the other side has done wrong.  Although I did not vote for the president, I do give him credit for resisting the pressure to escalate military involvement including in the Middle East and on the Korean peninsula.  There were concerns that he would be pushed into bombing nuclear installations in Iran and North Korea, and sending forces to help topple Assad risking direct confrontation with Russia and Iran.  That did not happen.  He also compromised on domestic spending and entitlements, preserving almost all of the “safety net” needed by seniors and those who for whatever reason have not benefited from the improvement in the economy.  

On the other hand, the president has taken us a number of steps backward from realistically addressing the challenges the world faces from climate change.  He has put into effect tax cuts which mainly benefit corporations and the wealthy, on the misguided notion that their ability to spend more would trickle down to everyone in the economy.  The problem was never a lack of money but rather limited demand.  Consequently, that money has largely gone into expensive mergers, executive pay, the stock market and other savings.  Rather than the promise of more than 3% growth, we are left with under 2% growth and trillion dollar annual deficits.  He has failed to adequately recognize and to address the causes of the flow of immigrants to our southern border which include the effects of climate change, unemployment and violence south of the border and especially in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.  Instead, he has focused almost entirely on the effect of that flow, causing additional suffering and abuse.  He has also debased the office of the presidency by repeatedly lying, often gratuitously about things that are not important, which undermines respect for the office, the confidence of our allies, and the hope of people for moral leadership around the world.  

So, a mixed bag, but things could have been worse.

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

5 hours ago, Rob Plant said:

You say "I damage the planet way less than any of you" how do you know that? Big statement that cannot be substantiated for anyone on this site.

Probably thinks that because he's vegetarian, and perhaps doesn't own a car.

[Guest]

Chinese Bank On Verge Of Collapse After Sudden Bank Run

First it was Baoshang Bank , then it was Bank of Jinzhou, then, two months ago, China's Heng Feng Bank with 1.4 trillion yuan in assets, quietly failed and was just as quietly nationalized. Today, a fourth prominent Chinese bank was on the verge of collapse under the weight of its bad loans, only this time the failure was far less quiet, as depositors of the rural lender swarmed the bank's retail outlets, demanding their money in an angry demonstration of what Beijing is terrified of the most: a bank run.

Local business leaders, political cadres and banking executives rallied Thursday at the main branch of Henan Yichuan Rural Commercial Bank, just outside the central Chinese city of Luoyang, where they stood one by one before a microphone to pledge their backing for the bank, as smiling employees brandished wads of cash before television cameras to demonstrate just how much cash, literally, the bank had.

It was China's latest, and most desperate attempt yet to project stability and reassure the public that all is well after rumors spread that the bank’s chairman was in trouble and the bank was on the brink of insolvency. However, as the WSJ reports, it wasn’t enough for 31-year-old Li Xue, who showed up for the third day Thursday to withdraw thousands of yuan of her mother’s life savings after hearing from fellow villagers that Yichuan Bank - which is the largest lender in Yichuan county by the number of branches and capital, and it is also a member of PBOC’s deposit insurance system, according to the local government - was going under.

Customers form lines in front of Yichuan bank; photo: WSJ

Just like any self-respecting Ponzi scheme, the bank's branch managers tried to persuade her to keep her money with them until March, when her mother’s three-year deposits would mature, yielding more than 10,000 yuan in interest. And then, just like any Ponzi scheme, to sweeten the offer, the bank managers also offered her even higher-yielding products, plus supermarket gift cards, just to keep her money there..

"Our bank is state-backed, and your money is insured by deposit insurance," one female manager told her, but Ms. Li refused, her confidence in the state's lies crushed.

“We really can’t afford to lose the money,” she said.

The bank run at Yichuan Bank, located in China's landlocked province of Henan, makes it at least the fourth bank that authorities have rushed to rescue this year. It won't be the last.

As we have documented previously, in recent month China’s banking sector has been dogged by a sudden surge in liquidity concerns, particularly among smaller regional banks that had expanded aggressively in recent years, and were now suffering a surge in bad loans, threatening their viability.

In May, regulators bailed out Baoshang Bank, in the country’s first bank bailout since the 1990s. That move led to widespread concerns about the health of other small lenders and financial institutions, squeezing liquidity in China’s interbank market. It also led to similar failures - and rescues - of Bank of Jinzhou and Heng Feng Bank, both smallish regional banks, yet big enough to convince the local population that something was very rotten with China's financial system.

Prudently, Beijing has been careful not to announce any takeovers, although it has quietly brought in state-owned banks and asset management firms, as well as an arm of the nation’s sovereign-wealth fund, to inject fresh capital and stabilize wobbly banks, as it did most recently in the case of Heng Feng.

Try as Beijing might, however, the bailouts have not gone unnoticed, and culminated in what today has been a three-day bank run at Yichuan Bank.

Like with everything else in China, there is good and bad news.

The good news is that troubled banks accounted for just 4% of total assets in China’s banking system, according to a recent estimate by S&P Global that included poor quality rural institutions flagged by the Chinese central bank. An analysis by Barclays listed those banks that had delayed to disclose their 2018 annual reports: a clear indicator of imminent collapse. Three of the top four banks have already been nationalized or bailed out.

 

However, in this case size really does not matter, and the aggressive response from regulators to the developments at Yichuan Bank, a small lender with just 62.65 billion yuan ($8.9 billion) in assets, underscores the heightened concerns of contagion and social instability amid the loss of confidence in bank deposits, as the WSJ notes.

The bad news is that small banks are just the start of a wave that could eventually topple some of China's biggest SOEs. Yichuan Bank is emblematic of the thousands of banks and cooperatives in China’s countryside that in recent years had scaled up its ambitions. In 2009, the rural cooperative became a commercial lender, attracting deposits primarily from farmers and county locals, according to the bank. It then kept growing at a tremendous pace, raking up billions in bad loans, until one day - like all Ponzi schemes - the new money stopped trickling in and the bank's day of reckoning had arrived.

While Yichuan Bank has plenty of competition, including large state-owned banks in nearby Luoyang, an ancient capital of China known, Yichuan Bank accounted for 71% of deposits and 82% of loans in its county as of September 2018, according to China Chengxin International Rating Agency.

The problem, as hinted above, is that like most other small Chinese banks, Yichuan Bank suffered from a buildup of bad loans as the economy slowed in recent years, and struggled to retain deposits amid intensified competition from its peers.

That was the proverbial Minsky moment when every Ponzi scheme ends.

Then the warnings came: in July, analysts at China Chengxin flagged the bank for its lack of stable deposits and a rapid buildup of overdue and bad loans. Bad loans ballooned to 1 billion yuan at the end of 2018, a 10-fold increase in just three years, according to its financial statements. Overdue loans, meantime, grew to 28% of its total credit at the end of September 2018, the credit rating agency said.

That number, incidentally, is orders of magnitude higher than what the PBOC discloses as China's average bad loan percentage, which in the past decade has stubbornly, and erroneously, been stuck in the mid-1% range. The true number is far, far higher, but Beijing guards it with its life, as the alternative is a bank run on the world's largest bank system, which with $40 trillion in assets, is roughly double that of the US.

So far Beijing has been lucky, in that people tend to be notoriously bad with numbers. Ironically, what brought the bank down was news of trouble with Yichuan’s senior management that initially caught locals’ attention. Immediately thereafter, depositors started demanding their money back earlier this month; as speculation circulated on social media that the bank was on the verge of insolvency, the crowds at bank branches grew thicker, and so the bank run began.

By Wednesday, the problem - and its media coverage - was too big to avoid, and local authorities moved swiftly to stabilize the situation. In typical Chinese fashion, however, instead of fixing the underlying problem, they blamed the messenger and announced they had detained two women whom they accused of spreading false rumors; they also brought in the county’s deputy party secretary to take charge.

And since explaining to the people that China's entire financial system is one giant house of cards, the authorities needed a scapegoat. They got it when they announced an investigation into the bank’s former chairman, citing a violation of discipline, a charge commonly used in corruption cases.

Meanwhile, having received a few truckloads full of cash, county authorities tried to ease depositor panic saying they had tens of billions of yuan in funds available, which the bank had already begun tapping, according to the bank.

So far this approach has failed to restore confidence, and bank officers, overwhelmed with withdrawal requests, put stacks of cash on display behind bank windows. They dangled various inducements, "including boxes of tissue, plastic chairs, tea thermoses and loose leaf tea" according to the WSJ, to persuade customers to keep their deposits with Yichuan.

And why not: cheap bribes almost worked in Spain in 2012, when the then-insolvent Bankia handed out Spiderman towels in exchange for a €300 deposit.

Surprisingly, it did not work in China, as people continued to show up, adamant about withdrawing their funds; the bank run was accelerating, and nothing officials did could halt, or reverse it.

Zhang Yanting, a 51-year-old farmer, decided after several days of trying to pull his money out of the bank that he would keep his account open to collect the few dollars in grain subsidies he receives each year from the government. But Zhang still wanted most of his 13,000 yuan in deposits back.

After hours in line Thursday, the bank cashier handed him a wad of cash, which he happily stuffed into his bag. Zhang was unmoved by the promise of gifts, save for a bottle of water that he sipped from while waiting.

“I’ve been with the bank for 10 years and have never seen service this good,” he said.

Zhang Yanting, a 51-year-old farmer, walked away with a wad of cash from his savings account at Yichuan Bank

Zhang was a happy customer: he learned that when dealing with a collapsing Ponzi scheme, only those who pull their money first stand to recover anything. It's those who foolishly believed the government's propaganda that all is well, who will be far, far angrier when they realize that it's gone... it's all gone.

Note - copied and pasted rather than typed out

#capitulate

And this is a country with no fed where Xi can do what he likes   LOL

Edited October 31, 2019 by Guest

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

1 hour ago, DayTrader said:

 

But hey, I drive a Yaris. Jeez. Whoopee - doo. It's still driving. You get a few more miles out of your pollution. Brilliant. 

Or their own lives. 

Call me a hypocrite all you want - I know I've done more for the world than you ever will ever do by skipping a steak.

Go search for some pro-pollution drivel to copy and paste.

 

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

5 hours ago, Douglas Buckland said:

I wouldn’t be caught dead in a Yaris!😂 

Small dick, big truck, syndrome is real. Around here some even put balls on their trucks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck_nuts

Edited October 31, 2019 by Enthalpic

[Rasmus Jorgensen + 1,169]

@DayTrader

Was this a rant? Or just half a rant? Millenial wanting to learn here...

[Guest]

LOL.. It was a semi rant full of truthbombs.

People don't like those, so call it a rant as they have no argument for what they just read, so attack HOW it was said. 

Facts can be annoying. Oh and it ended with a mic drop. As always.

Edited November 1, 2019 by Guest

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

5 hours ago, Enthalpic said:

Small dick, big truck, syndrome is real. Around here some even put balls on their trucks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck_nuts

If I actually owned a truck, or even a car, this might be a good comeback, as I only have a motorcycle it kinda losses it’s sting.

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

23 minutes ago, Douglas Buckland said:

If I actually owned a truck, or even a car, this might be a good comeback, as I only have a motorcycle it kinda losses it’s sting.

I didn't say you suffered from SDBT syndrome.

Motorcycles are like smoking - dangerous but looks fucking cool.

I drive a Yaris and chew nicotine gum on occasion.

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

40 minutes ago, DayTrader said:

Facts can be annoying.

That's why trump uses alternative facts.

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

15 minutes ago, Enthalpic said:

I didn't say you suffered from SDBT syndrome.

Motorcycles are like smoking - dangerous but looks fucking cool.

I drive a Yaris and chew nicotine gum on occasion.

I ride a motorcycle and chew Copenhagen...

[Enthalpic + 1,496]

13 minutes ago, Douglas Buckland said:

I ride a motorcycle and chew Copenhagen...

So did my grandpa (RIP) but he didn't even spit... gross

I always opened up and played with his little snuff containers as a kid. Fond memories.

Edited November 1, 2019 by Enthalpic

[Douglas Buckland + 6,308]

It is VERY difficult, and disgusting, to attempt to spit while wearing a full face helmet...😂

[Rasmus Jorgensen + 1,169]

 

6 hours ago, DayTrader said:

LOL.. It was a semi rant full of truthbombs.

I am not sure I agree. The basis for your comments seems to "let he who is innocent throw the first stone". I am not sure that is applicable to our reality today. for the betterment of the planet / enviroment, societys health I would to see a lot of policy changes, such as tax incentives to buy local and healthy; tax incentives to live sligthly slower paced lives (I am reasonably confident this would be healthy for our younger generations). Now, I maybe walk 50% of the talk. walking the remaining 50 % would at least for me require some sort larger adoption. Does that make me a hypocrite by your standards? 

[Guest]

Tax incentives to live slower paced lives? Please tell me how that policy plays out.

No I'm saying no one is innocent, so maybe the Greta gang shouldn't be throwing stones, or atleast throw them at the relevant continents.

Then after throwing the stones they get in their seperate cars or go on planes or thousands of other things. That is a hypocrite yes. 

[Rasmus Jorgensen + 1,169]

1 minute ago, DayTrader said:

Tax incentives to live slower paced lives? Please tell me how that policy plays out.

 

I think the biggest problem facing the West is rampant consumerism. A small example could be that tax structure that makes it very favourable to holiday inside your own country. This would have the added benefit of preserving cultural identity. 

[Rasmus Jorgensen + 1,169]

7 minutes ago, DayTrader said:

No I'm saying no one is innocent, so maybe the Greta gang shouldn't be throwing stones, or atleast throw them at the relevant continents.

As long as you extend this logic to all aspects of the political specter I am happy. Imagine if politics factual - a utopia worth figthing for. It would be difficult for your hero Trump though.