What happens when the USA realizes it is done for! Poorer than any country it has looked down on like China or Canada! When is has lost any advantages it had? Which must be getting close now? Cant come too soon for me! I don’t wish the American people any harm but they do still accept the guy who is causing all of this change! The complete collapse of the world as we know it! Transformation of the entire system feels imminent! The mother is dying and their ignorance of climate change isn’t helping! The Monks Peace March has reinspired the hippie generation! Give peace a chance is now reechoing across the NA continent! Protest songs are reemerging! Listen to the music!
Collapse is too strong, yet correction is too timid. Change guaranteed. Maybe we can see the fall of the oligarchs in our short time left here (I'm a geezer too). If not the oligarchs, I fear we'll just learn to live being poor (not so bad).
You are right to be optimistic. After all we are the species that received from Natures wellspring, intellect. One assumes the addition of intellect where life has emerged is a Universal sign of resilience. That the addition of intellect is meant to make the future potential of this root, stronger not weaker.
And yet all this change speaks to a greater urgency. That we are transforming in real time through the next enlightenment. I would rue that we could be cause for stillbirth in the Milky Way.
I did not vote for the bum, but as an American, I feel responsible for whatever we do. What we need now is tough love. Let us feel the consequences of ignorant voting, and don’t drag it out. The sooner we feel the consequences, the sooner we will do something about it.
I'm actually looking forward the new economic world order where middle powers trade around the US. "Let's Work Together ", "Give Peace A Chance". "Revolution". The sooner the better.
China is the adult in this room, they are and have aways played the long game. While we are stomping our feet and growing about how great we are they are looking to the future and doing what they always do. Measured, calibrated responses with stability and speculation minimized. We really need to look at the long game and stop the hemorrhaging of American assets and goodwill or there is indeed a terrible reckoning coming. Im afraid.
China’s approach often looks “adult” because it’s quiet and strategic... not because it’s kinder or smarter in some moral sense, but because it’s patient. They think in decades. The West thinks in election cycles.
That said… I wouldn’t confuse “calm” with “safe.”
China’s long game is about their advantage. Same as any major power.
The part I agree with 100% is this...
When a country starts burning trust and goodwill... allies, institutions, credibility... it’s like selling the roof to pay this month’s rent.
You can do it… but winter’s coming.
But here’s the good news... a “reckoning” doesn’t have to mean collapse.
It can mean a course correction.
The long game for us looks like...
rebuild domestic manufacturing where it matters
diversify trade so one tantrum doesn’t freeze the whole system
protect critical infrastructure and supply chains
stop treating diplomacy like a boxing match
And on a personal level? If you’re feeling afraid, the antidote isn’t doom-scrolling.
It’s focusing on what’s real and what’s controllable.
I'm not sure about "old myths finally loosing their grip", rather than surfacing without any obfuscation. The problem is that the few at the bottom are wedded to the few at the top hence the disproportionate power wielded by the minority and while I agree that the majority of people are decent, the oligarchs don't fit that particular group and have zero incentive to change. Even if public pressure makes them "course correct" they still control the wealth and thereby the "power".
It will take a lot of Mamdanis to course correct in a healthy sustainable way and we can but have faith that the political arena will shift in that direction
The value of place is emerging. Imagine if you will a visitor appears on our island. From beyond, through the sea of stars.
They will not bring fear. The will only know trust. They will have no interest in our money. They may have interest in air 🤷♂️, water, perhaps even gold or oil (what’s left of it). They may want fruits, nuts and vegetables 🙂, but our money, No.
They would bring much to trade of course, intelligence.
Are we at all prepared for such eventuality. Not if we treat Natures machine so poorly. Clearly, we are driving this living vessel incorrectly.
It's hard to correct a system that's been forced together and still reflects its original division in real time. The US north and coastal regions are polar opposites of the south, interior. The civil war has never stopped, it just changed it's mask and that's now off for everyone to see. There's absolutely no forcing people who believe in white supremacy to forgo that belief in favour of equality. Centuries later, it's obvious that a large part of the South won't give up it's racism, and to anyone familiar with pattern recognition, the tail is now truly wagging the dog.
It's one instance where a tension of opposites is serving nobody but the ego driven narcissistic elites who are addicted to power and money because the 2 go hand in hand. There's no permanent resolution through "course correction" unfortunately, because this course was chartered with the advent of racism and the erasure of ethnicity.
I’m wondering how long it would take them to divest from our debt. Trump has burned a lot of bridges, and there aren’t any ways to recover. It will not be America in charge, but America alone.
The only thing that will come to pass, will be the death of the Republican Party. The choice of a felon and pedophile as their candidate, says it all.
Definitely interesting trends that bear monitoring. Trump can’t expect countries not to respond to the chaos he is creating. Well, maybe he can but that’s a differ storyline.
It is instructive to consider who is buying and who is selling.
This is happening because we elected a "leader" who was born so rich he could screw up over and over again and never have to take responsibility.
Someone with both an ego and aging body so fragile that the current gov't system is focused on keeping him propped up while all his decisions are based on ignorance and spite instead of common sense.
A leader who was correct that racists would support him, but incorrect in believing racism is our core value.
The big thing the Trump regime doesn’t want us to see is that his tariffs and chaotic lack of real policy have caused the devaluation of the dollar. When the crash comes, it will be even bigger than Bush’s Great Recession, and it is likely to come soon. It’s pretty clear that spoiled lazy Trump bought that economics degree instead of earning it.
while America legislators and this grifting administration are selling themselves to the highest bidding friend or lobbyist, China has advanced their alternative power grid, and upgrading their services.
One of these days, they will sell their US Bonds and call out their investments on the US, the most debtor nation in the planet.
Why don’t legislators tell the American public that we can have a grand economic fallout if the European and Chinese nations decide to dump their US treasury holdings?
TARIFFS ARE TAXES. Everyone with a triple-digit I. Q. knows that consumers of commodities pay the tariffs, not the manufacturer or the government in the country of origin. Every business in every country in the world knows this. But Donald Trump and Fascist Republicans continue to lie about it.
Why?
Trump has already lost his Tariff war. China signed the world’s largest free-trade agreement with Japan and 14 other Asian nations. Canada and Mexico are organizing similar agreements with Europe and South America.
Trump lacks the economic education, the diplomatic experience, the personal discipline, the reputation for honesty, and—most importantly—the intellectual acuity to negotiate with Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, or Mark Carney of Canada, or Xi Jinping of China. In agreement with Ronald Reagan’s view of tariffs, these three leaders laugh at Trump’s “on again/off again” TACO Tariffs. They know Trump’s seventh bankruptcy will be the United States of America. Xi Jinping has positioned China to assume world leadership when Trump’s tariffs crash the American economy.
What happens when the USA realizes it is done for! Poorer than any country it has looked down on like China or Canada! When is has lost any advantages it had? Which must be getting close now? Cant come too soon for me! I don’t wish the American people any harm but they do still accept the guy who is causing all of this change! The complete collapse of the world as we know it! Transformation of the entire system feels imminent! The mother is dying and their ignorance of climate change isn’t helping! The Monks Peace March has reinspired the hippie generation! Give peace a chance is now reechoing across the NA continent! Protest songs are reemerging! Listen to the music!
I get the frustration, Pearl... a lot of this feels heavy lately.
But I’m not convinced we’re heading for “collapse.”
More like… correction.
Big difference.
The United States isn’t about to become some failed state overnight.
It’s still huge, still wealthy, still innovative.
But yeah... the idea that it can bully everyone forever?
That era’s fading.
Meanwhile countries like China and Canada are just quietly building, trading, adapting.
Less shouting. More doing.
That’s usually how power actually shifts... slowly, not with fireworks.
And I’m with you on one thing... regular people aren’t the enemy.
Most Americans are just trying to pay bills and live their lives like the rest of us.
It’s leadership choices that cause the chaos, not the folks next door.
So I’m not rooting for collapse.
I’m rooting for sanity.
Less ego.
More cooperation.
Maybe a little more music and a little less yelling. 🙂
History tends to bend that way eventually.
Collapse is too strong, yet correction is too timid. Change guaranteed. Maybe we can see the fall of the oligarchs in our short time left here (I'm a geezer too). If not the oligarchs, I fear we'll just learn to live being poor (not so bad).
David… that’s such a geezer way to put it. 😄
Half realism, half “eh, we’ve seen worse.”
And honestly, you’re probably closest to the truth with one word...
Change.
Not collapse.
Not gentle correction.
Just… change.
Big, uncomfortable, furniture-moving change.
The United States and the rest of us aren’t falling off a cliff.
But the old “few guys at the top own everything and call all the shots” model?
That feels shakier than it used to.
Oligarchs always look permanent… right up until they aren’t.
History’s littered with “untouchable” elites who got very touchable once the ground shifted...
• new tech
• new trade routes
• new generations
• new rules
Power calcifies. Then it cracks.
Never dramatic like the movies.
Usually slow… then sudden.
And here’s the part I hang onto...
Even if we don’t see the whole arc, things rarely just slide into “everyone’s poor forever.”
Humans are too scrappy for that.
We adjust.
We downsize.
We rebuild.
We invent something weird and useful and start again.
Geezers like us have already lived through a few “end of the world” moments that… weren’t. 😄
So yeah... maybe we don’t get to watch the full fall of the oligarchs.
But I’d bet we’ll see the start of their grip loosening.
And honestly?
Learning to live simpler isn’t the worst fate either.
Peace of mind beats yachts.
Every time.
I like that: we're heading for correction, not collapse. Puts some constructive agency into the process for us. ❤️🇨🇦
I’m glad that landed, Cath.
“Collapse” makes people freeze.
“Correction” makes people think,
“Okay… what can we actually fix?”
Big difference.
History isn’t one long fall... it’s usually messy adjustments.
Overreach… correction.
Mistakes… correction.
Course drift… correction.
That’s how grown societies learn.
And the nice part?
Corrections mean we still have agency.
We’re not passengers... we’re steering.
Slowly maybe… imperfectly… but steering all the same.
I’ll take that over doom any day. ❤️
Fred,
You are right to be optimistic. After all we are the species that received from Natures wellspring, intellect. One assumes the addition of intellect where life has emerged is a Universal sign of resilience. That the addition of intellect is meant to make the future potential of this root, stronger not weaker.
And yet all this change speaks to a greater urgency. That we are transforming in real time through the next enlightenment. I would rue that we could be cause for stillbirth in the Milky Way.
🪬✌️
I like how you put that... “resilience.”
That’s the word I keep coming back to too.
If there’s one thing humans are weirdly good at, it’s surviving our own messes. 😄
We invent problems…
then we invent our way out of them.
Over and over.
That’s kind of our whole track record.
But I’m a little less cosmic about it.
I don’t think we’re headed for stillbirths in the Milky Way just yet.
Feels more… practical than that.
More like...
Bad systems get exposed - people adapt - new systems form.
Less “end of civilization.”
More “awkward renovation.”
Messy. Loud. Stressful.
But renovations usually mean the house is still standing.
And you’re right about urgency.
Complacency is what hurts us... not change.
Change is uncomfortable, but it’s usually a sign something’s trying to improve.
So I stay optimistic for a simple reason:
Humans aren’t great at perfection…
…but we’re stubborn as hell.
And stubborn plus intellect tends to find a way forward.
Even when we trip over our own boots.
I did not vote for the bum, but as an American, I feel responsible for whatever we do. What we need now is tough love. Let us feel the consequences of ignorant voting, and don’t drag it out. The sooner we feel the consequences, the sooner we will do something about it.
I respect that mindset Jacques.
Democracies only work when citizens are willing to own outcomes... good or bad.
Consequences are uncomfortable, but they’re also how systems correct themselves.
LOL
You realize you’ll be the first in front of the commie firing line, right?
You welcome China because of “cLiMate ChaNGe” yet they’re pumping out more CO2 and real pollution than the rest of the world combined.
Deluded.
You are delusional and out of date on the case of China! Move out of the COLD WAR ERA and pay attention to 2025.26.27. And the next 200 years or so!!
Easy, folks. 🙂
When the words switch to “commie firing line” and “delusional,” we’re not talking policy anymore... we’re just throwing rocks.
Reality’s usually a lot less dramatic than either extreme.
China isn’t a hero… and it isn’t the apocalypse either.
It’s a country acting in its own interest. Same as everyone else.
Yes... they still pollute a lot.
Yes... they’re also investing heavily in renewables and long-term planning.
Both things can be true at the same time.
And nobody’s “welcoming” anyone to run the world.
The point is diversification.
Less dependence on any one superpower... whether that’s United States or China or anybody else.
More balance. More options.
That’s not ideology.
That’s just smart risk management.
Cold War language doesn’t really help us understand a 2026 economy.
Calm thinking does.
I'm actually looking forward the new economic world order where middle powers trade around the US. "Let's Work Together ", "Give Peace A Chance". "Revolution". The sooner the better.
I’m with you on one part for sure Gary... more balance would be healthy.
For a long time the United States basically set the rules and everyone else adjusted.
That works… until it doesn’t.
Now you’re seeing more “middle powers”... like Canada, Japan, Germany, India... just quietly trading with each other and diversifying.
Less dependence.
More options.
That’s not revolution.
It’s just grown-up economics.
Nobody wants collapse or chaos.
We just want a world where one country can’t throw a tantrum and mess up everybody’s groceries and gas prices.
“Let’s work together” beats “my way or else” every time.
And honestly?
The biggest changes usually aren’t dramatic.
They’re boring.
Slow.
Practical.
More handshake than revolution poster.
Which is probably a good thing. 🙂
China is the adult in this room, they are and have aways played the long game. While we are stomping our feet and growing about how great we are they are looking to the future and doing what they always do. Measured, calibrated responses with stability and speculation minimized. We really need to look at the long game and stop the hemorrhaging of American assets and goodwill or there is indeed a terrible reckoning coming. Im afraid.
I get why you feel that way.
China’s approach often looks “adult” because it’s quiet and strategic... not because it’s kinder or smarter in some moral sense, but because it’s patient. They think in decades. The West thinks in election cycles.
That said… I wouldn’t confuse “calm” with “safe.”
China’s long game is about their advantage. Same as any major power.
The part I agree with 100% is this...
When a country starts burning trust and goodwill... allies, institutions, credibility... it’s like selling the roof to pay this month’s rent.
You can do it… but winter’s coming.
But here’s the good news... a “reckoning” doesn’t have to mean collapse.
It can mean a course correction.
The long game for us looks like...
rebuild domestic manufacturing where it matters
diversify trade so one tantrum doesn’t freeze the whole system
protect critical infrastructure and supply chains
stop treating diplomacy like a boxing match
And on a personal level? If you’re feeling afraid, the antidote isn’t doom-scrolling.
It’s focusing on what’s real and what’s controllable.
Steady beats scared.
Always.
I'm not sure about "old myths finally loosing their grip", rather than surfacing without any obfuscation. The problem is that the few at the bottom are wedded to the few at the top hence the disproportionate power wielded by the minority and while I agree that the majority of people are decent, the oligarchs don't fit that particular group and have zero incentive to change. Even if public pressure makes them "course correct" they still control the wealth and thereby the "power".
It will take a lot of Mamdanis to course correct in a healthy sustainable way and we can but have faith that the political arena will shift in that direction
That’s a fair pushback... and honestly, you might be right about the “surfacing” part.
A lot of this isn’t new behaviour.
It’s old stuff that used to hide behind nicer language.
Now it’s just… out in the open.
Less polite mask. More blunt force.
And yeah... wealth concentration is the real issue.
When a tiny group controls most of the money, they automatically control most of the leverage.
That’s not ideology.
That’s math.
But here’s where I still lean toward “grip loosening” rather than permanent lock-in...
History’s full of moments where oligarchs looked untouchable… until they weren’t.
Not because they volunteered.
Because...
• technology shifts
• trade shifts
• demographics shift
• public tolerance shifts
Power structures rot from the edges first.
Then suddenly they look solid right up until they crack.
Never graceful. Always messy.
But it happens.
And you’re right... it takes a lot of people willing to step into politics with integrity (your Mamdani point).
Change doesn’t come from saints at the top.
It comes from enough regular people saying “we’re done with this.”
Slow grind, not Hollywood revolution.
Which is frustrating… but also hopeful.
Because slow means sustainable.
I’d rather see boring, steady correction than dramatic collapse any day.
The value of place is emerging. Imagine if you will a visitor appears on our island. From beyond, through the sea of stars.
They will not bring fear. The will only know trust. They will have no interest in our money. They may have interest in air 🤷♂️, water, perhaps even gold or oil (what’s left of it). They may want fruits, nuts and vegetables 🙂, but our money, No.
They would bring much to trade of course, intelligence.
Are we at all prepared for such eventuality. Not if we treat Natures machine so poorly. Clearly, we are driving this living vessel incorrectly.
🌀♥️🪬
It's hard to correct a system that's been forced together and still reflects its original division in real time. The US north and coastal regions are polar opposites of the south, interior. The civil war has never stopped, it just changed it's mask and that's now off for everyone to see. There's absolutely no forcing people who believe in white supremacy to forgo that belief in favour of equality. Centuries later, it's obvious that a large part of the South won't give up it's racism, and to anyone familiar with pattern recognition, the tail is now truly wagging the dog.
It's one instance where a tension of opposites is serving nobody but the ego driven narcissistic elites who are addicted to power and money because the 2 go hand in hand. There's no permanent resolution through "course correction" unfortunately, because this course was chartered with the advent of racism and the erasure of ethnicity.
You’re right about one thing for sure... the divisions didn’t start yesterday.
They’ve been baked in a long time.
The United States has always felt like two or three different countries duct-taped together.
Different histories.
Different values.
Different ideas of what “freedom” even means.
So yeah… some of what we’re seeing now isn’t new.
It’s old cracks finally showing through the paint.
But where I’m a little less pessimistic is this...
Nothing stays frozen forever.
Not politics.
Not cultures.
Not mindsets.
History moves slow… then suddenly fast.
You don’t “force” people to change... you outgrow the worst ideas over time.
The loudest voices aren’t always the biggest group… they’re just the noisiest.
And honestly, most regular folks... north, south, anywhere... just want decent jobs, safe streets, and to be left alone.
It’s the power-hungry types at the top who keep stirring the pot.
So I don’t see permanent collapse.
More like messy evolution.
Painful? Yep.
Uneven? Definitely.
But not hopeless.
Societies course-correct all the time... just never neatly.
If anything, what we’re watching feels less like “end of the system”…
and more like “old myths finally losing their grip.”
And that usually looks ugly before it looks better.
Meanwhile Papa Putin says "Good Boy Krasnov, Good Boy!
China owns a lot if US debt.
I’m wondering how long it would take them to divest from our debt. Trump has burned a lot of bridges, and there aren’t any ways to recover. It will not be America in charge, but America alone.
The only thing that will come to pass, will be the death of the Republican Party. The choice of a felon and pedophile as their candidate, says it all.
True, but not the whole story. According to ChatGPT:
📌 Summary
Since January 1, 2025:
✔ Total foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury debt rose overall (into late 2025, with levels around $9.2–$9.4 trillion). 
✔ Net flows varied month to month, with both purchases and sales by foreign investors through 2025. 
✔ Major holders like Japan increased holdings, while others such as China reduced theirs. 
✔ Early 2026 reports indicate some foreign institutions may be tilting toward reduced exposure.
The bigger picture matters. Is clear to see who is currying favour with the Trump WH.
Good context Robert... and you’re absolutely right.
It’s never just one headline number.
Overall foreign holdings of United States Department of the Treasury debt did tick up through 2025.
But the mix is what matters.
Some countries added.
Some trimmed.
Flows bounced around month to month.
For example...
• Japan increased holdings
• China kept reducing exposure
• others quietly rebalanced
So it’s less “everyone’s dumping” and more “everyone’s hedging.”
And that tells you something.
When big players start diversifying instead of doubling down, it usually means...
“Yeah… we’re not betting the farm here.”
That’s not panic.
That’s caution.
Which honestly makes sense when policy out of United States feels like it changes with the morning coffee.
Markets hate drama.
They prefer boring.
So the bigger story isn’t who bought or sold one month…
It’s who’s slowly reducing dependence over time.
That’s the quiet shift.
Not headlines... positioning.
And yeah… some of that positioning definitely looks political.
Money follows stability.
It doesn’t follow chaos or loyalty points.
Definitely interesting trends that bear monitoring. Trump can’t expect countries not to respond to the chaos he is creating. Well, maybe he can but that’s a differ storyline.
It is instructive to consider who is buying and who is selling.
Keep up the good work.
I hope the US politicians learn that excessive money from lobbyists should never be the sole influence of government policies.
This is happening because we elected a "leader" who was born so rich he could screw up over and over again and never have to take responsibility.
Someone with both an ego and aging body so fragile that the current gov't system is focused on keeping him propped up while all his decisions are based on ignorance and spite instead of common sense.
A leader who was correct that racists would support him, but incorrect in believing racism is our core value.
The big thing the Trump regime doesn’t want us to see is that his tariffs and chaotic lack of real policy have caused the devaluation of the dollar. When the crash comes, it will be even bigger than Bush’s Great Recession, and it is likely to come soon. It’s pretty clear that spoiled lazy Trump bought that economics degree instead of earning it.
What Europe should do also!
Well played
Well, what did you expect.
while America legislators and this grifting administration are selling themselves to the highest bidding friend or lobbyist, China has advanced their alternative power grid, and upgrading their services.
One of these days, they will sell their US Bonds and call out their investments on the US, the most debtor nation in the planet.
Why don’t legislators tell the American public that we can have a grand economic fallout if the European and Chinese nations decide to dump their US treasury holdings?
TARIFFS ARE TAXES. Everyone with a triple-digit I. Q. knows that consumers of commodities pay the tariffs, not the manufacturer or the government in the country of origin. Every business in every country in the world knows this. But Donald Trump and Fascist Republicans continue to lie about it.
Why?
Trump has already lost his Tariff war. China signed the world’s largest free-trade agreement with Japan and 14 other Asian nations. Canada and Mexico are organizing similar agreements with Europe and South America.
Trump lacks the economic education, the diplomatic experience, the personal discipline, the reputation for honesty, and—most importantly—the intellectual acuity to negotiate with Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, or Mark Carney of Canada, or Xi Jinping of China. In agreement with Ronald Reagan’s view of tariffs, these three leaders laugh at Trump’s “on again/off again” TACO Tariffs. They know Trump’s seventh bankruptcy will be the United States of America. Xi Jinping has positioned China to assume world leadership when Trump’s tariffs crash the American economy.