Prudence observed, recently, that 2022 would be “the” year. It would be the year that is the fulcrum of history, thought Prudence Leadbetter, and every passing hour appears to confirm that prognosis. Not only is it a mid-term election year in the United States, but war has broken out in Europe, Canada briefly descended into fascism over Covid vaccine mandates, and China could finally decide it’s a good time to smash Taiwan. Why should Putin have all the fun?
Americans are going to have their first opportunity to balance the scales after having allowed a most questionable election to install the worst administration in a long lifetime. There are many questions as to what the consequences of current events may ultimately be, and people have a right to ponder the hundreds of possibilities. Let’s consider a few.
How long and how large will the Russo-Ukraine war be? In one view, the best result is a quick victory for Russia and Vladimir Putin. That will stop the fighting and provide some satisfaction for the Russians, probably stopping their adventurism. On the other hand, the Ukrainians are not interested in being part of Russia, again, and are fighting ferociously for their land, families, homes and neighbors. Europe and the U. S. are belatedly providing ammunition, supplies and armaments to Ukraine to whatever degree they can be transhipped to a nation at war for its life. Without a doubt, the take-over of Ukraine is not proceeding, for Putin, as he intended. This has made him less rational; he has placed his nuclear forces on “high alert.”
Had the first desired scenario worked out: rapid collapse of the Ukranian government and surrender of Ukranian forces in a few days, perhaps with Zelenskyy fleeing in fear, then Russia could clamp down on Ukraine, start making nice with its NATO neighbors and the world would adjust, amidst grumbling and sputtering, to a new reality. Putin would be left stronger inside Russia and on the world stage.
However, the second, more dangerous scenario may be playing out. That is that Russian brutality must increase to the point of war crimes, if not already there, and even if successful in crushing Ukranian resistance, Russia is left a pariah nation and Putin, if he retains power in Moscow, will lose face and influence and any semblance of trust around the world. Russia will be sanctioned by loss of trade, particularly in oil and gas, weakening it nationally, and possibly reducing cooperation with bordering republics. NATO will be strengthened. Amidst this messier turn of events, Putin might do something really stupid… something that draws the United States into direct conflict. God forbid.
Another question; Will Democrats attempt even more blatant election fraud to hang onto power in the 2022 midterms? Despite the inability to prosecute any of the most questionable results, an inability built into the distributed nature of Presidential elections, there are many questions, including Constitutional ones, that no court, including the Supreme Court was interested in hearing, about the conduct of elections in 2020. Nor did any state want to reverse its certification of electors when that would place them on the ”outs” with a new administration controlling the flows of dollars to state budgets. It can all be “blamed” on the fear of Covid-19, but the extra-legal changes to voting practices in 2020, were THANKS to Covid-19, not fear of it.
That 2020 experience should be instructive to Americans: the Democrat Party is willing to subvert both standards and laws to retain its hold on power. The desperation they felt in the face of a most-likely re-election of Donald Trump and his exposure of the deep state bad actors who participated in the attempted destruction of the Trump presidency, was enough to encourage that party to attack election laws in many states, permitting vote-by-mail and unlimited absentee voting, vote harvesting and numerous other weakenings of voter identification. There is evidence of international electronic connection to voting machines that were, ostensibly, not legally internet connected, and within that illegal action, evidence that foreign actors created blocks of votes that were “dumped” into the electronic records of key states when it became obvious that Trump’s majority would be larger than they had planned to overcome. They got away with it and Biden’s electors were certified.
What, then, are Democrats prepared to attempt in November of 2022?
Next question: Will China seize on Biden’s weakness to attack Taiwan in 2022? Despite its obvious use of Covid-19 to weaken other nations, China is not yet the pariah it should be, internationally. Many countries are beholden to China for “development” loans they have “paid off” with grants of industrial, raw-material, or military access to their resources, land or coastlines. Many western leaders are becoming richer through Chinese-led corruption, the greatest of which is the Biden crime family, followed closely by Nancy Pelosi’s husband and Mitch McConnell’s wife. Hundreds of millions of Chinese dollars enter the U. S. political arena through universities, non-governmental organizations, various non-profits and relatively direct political contributions through straw donors. Politically, America is compromised. It is a Chinese strategy that is well-known and well-ignored by our “elites” and the political class.
Does China believe the time is right to move on Taiwan? We’ll find out, probably around Labor Day. They, and Democrats, will perceive that crisis as politically positive for Democrats. God forbid.
Will there be a banking or currency crisis in 2022? The question hinges not only upon the long-term desire of Russia, China and Saudi Arabia and others to unseat the U. S. dollar as the universal and reserve currency, but also on the oil and gas global trade – something in which President Biden has severely weakened the U. S. position and influence. It’s almost as though he intended to damage the U. S. economy in as many ways as possible. Be that as it may, trade dollars, or “petro-dollars,” in practice, became the standard for international conversion for most trade. This status has also made it possible to create dollars (of DEBT) whenever the U. S. felt like it, which, since the Great Society began, followed by Nixon’s closing of the gold conversion “window,” in 1973, is virtually every budget year. The government used to borrow in times of war or depression, only – during actual crises, in other words. However, since the federalization of welfare, there has been a “crisis” nearly every year.
The U. S. has “borrowed” something over $30 TRILLION dollars, since then, without ever attempting to pay it back. In return we have seen fit to act as the world’s policeman and foreign-aid piggy-bank. With the fall of the Soviet Union and general maintenance of stability in global trade and relative peace, sort-of, for the U. S., the rest of the world went along with America’s debt creation and erosion of dollar-value, and our de-facto empire, but the system has grown tiresome and the U. S. has grown less reliable. Plus, in our soft-hearted / soft-headed immorality, we have gained many enemies that we refuse to recognize or even describe, many of whom are unmoved by stable trade. Indeed, some have brought America to virtual surrender regardless of the hundreds of billions of military dollars and thousands of lives we have “invested.”
Fewer nations trust us as allies than did 50, 30 or even 10 years ago, possibly than did even 4 years ago. Precious few will defend our economy when China and others decide to pull the plug on the dollar. What will that mean? To start, look at the labels on things you buy.
Many of our vegetables and fruits come from other countries, for example. If the international standing of the U. S. dollar evaporates, what will we use to buy that produce? If South and Central American nations, New Zealand, Southeast Asian nations start to require Chinese renminbi for trade, where will we get some to trade with? Buy them with our own dollars? Why would China want them? Sell some gold to China? Sell some, ahhh… what, to China? Land???
The U. S. has been acting like an international social-service agency for decades. This has fitted with the leftist view because it weakens the dominance of the U. S. A. We have agreed, repeatedly, to buy products to help smaller, poorer nations. We have agreed to offshore manufacturing to, mainly, China, but also to several other nations, including in Europe. We’re such nice, friendly folks. Now, we haven’t sent fast-food “manufacturing” to other countries, so maybe we could trade hamburgers for our fruits and vegetables. Eh, probably not. French Fries, maybe. In our dense “wisdom,” we have already sold off a lot of farmland and food processing to China. That sounds smart.
Much of America’s power is wrapped up in our position in the global banking system. Most nations store their gold in New York, for example, with international transactions performed on handcarts between vaults a few yards apart. Most currency exchange rates are based on the U. S. dollar, secondarily on the British pound sterling, a remnant of the British empire’s dominance prior to World War One. This works because every nation relies on dollars for international trade, a remnant of American dominance after World War Two. The final remnant of dollar-dominance harkens back to the final closing of the gold window in 1973. America had been willing to sell gold to multiple other nations at the then-current exchange rates with the dollar (“redeeming dollars” held by other nations), but we were running out of physical gold. Enter the “petro-dollar.”
The U. S. made a deal with the House of Saud that Saudi Arabia would sell oil contracts with other countries denominated in dollars. Other OPEC nations had to go along. Several ramifications manifested. One was/is that most nations needed to have dollars in order to buy oil, the most widely traded commodity. Because of a high trust level in the honesty of U. S. institutions – including banks, like the Federal Reserve – countries held dollars as part of their reserves. This “soaked up” a lot of dollars and helped/helps maintain the international value of the dollar.
The U. S., however, effectively flaunts the benefit of having other nations hold and trade in dollars, by creating debt for its own domestic purposes. This ramification exposes the fraudulent nature of American governance over the past 50 years or so, and now amounts to more than $30 TRILLION, with no end in sight. This one process threatens U. S. sovereignty and fiscal stability more than any other. Another ramification is the frenetic speculation in currency exchange rates. By trading in currency “futures,” countries “forced” to hold petro-dollars are able to hedge against dollar fluctuations, but the net effect is to weaken the dollar to keep commodity prices low (oil, natural gas, wheat, corn, rice, soybeans, pork, beef, steel, chicken, etc.). It also makes American manufactured products relatively expensive, helping to encourage manufacturers to off-shore production to lower-cost countries, hurting American labor and other economic segments, and driving up the need for Americans to buy products from overseas. So long as other nations need to have dollars to obtain energy and other commodities, they will accept dollars in payment for their manufactured goods. What if that stopped? Can you imagine astronomical price increases? Rates like 100% per year or more?
Life would change.
Financial gurus have been predicting an economic “reset” for years, and the unseating of the U. S. dollar is its basis. Yet, politically, we continue to borrow and spend as though the rest of the world will put up with American mendacity forever. What the Hell is a debt ceiling, anyway?
Very soon, Russia will complete its Ukraine travesty, simultaneously emasculating Europe and NATO, and China will then finalize its move on Taiwan. What “sanctions” do the Biden administration expect to use to counter that move? Whether sanctions or real military resistance, China always has the leverage over American debt, and will happily move to unseat the dollar, completing its own elevation to dominance in the world. At that point the U. S. will be unable to AFFORD to defend itself, an unforgivable circumstance. Would we turn over the keys to the country in a Rose Garden ceremony? Do you think we’d go nuclear? Do you think our progress on transgender equity in our military services enhances our deterrence?
Americans have elected, re-elected and re-elected, sometimes 15 times or more, the same scoundrels who have become wealthy in office while plunging the country into unheard-of debt. That debt is on us, everyone, not on those we’ve elected, because they have done that deed in our name. And we have rewarded them for it. Can we possibly turn our eyes away from the truth and expect life to go on with borrowed funds forever? Do we think it’s too complicated for us poor rubes to figure out? One day those debts (loans) will be “called” when that move can do the most damage to us. Of all the weaponry, research and advantage we have allowed our enemies to steal, the greatest threat is the one we created for ourselves, and that just to keep certain liars in power. Shame on us. Maybe this will abruptly change in 2022 when Republicans take over from the Democrats. If you have evidence of such being likely, please share it widely.
Amidst the wholesale weakening of the United States nation since Trump left office, we are suddenly facing the one alliance we have long hoped would never manifest: China and Russia, and in combination with China’s long-term economic attacks (including organized theft of technology and advanced research), now a combined, hot, military threat. Most Americans, automatically sympathetic towards the suffering Ukranians, are mostly blind toward the imminent threat of Chinese military action. This is upon us while the Biden administration has halted the momentum toward strengthening the U. S. military. God forbid that our country face its second existential threat while the fools in this administration are in charge. Our national independence and sovereignty could be lost in a week, if it comes to that.
