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Pre-Stressed Steel: Part One
Pre-stressing raises both the quality and the resistance to tension and compression characteristics of the steel; the technique actually manages to create a state of co-action in which the tensions and deformations are opposed to those induced by the loads which will subsequently act upon the structure. It also raises the resistance to tension of reinforced concrete which is, in fact, negligible.
Although seemingly recent, pre-stressed steel is a material whose origins date back a long way. The adoption of the technique of pre-stressing is attributed to Paxton, who in 1851 utilized this technique for the realization of the Crystal Palace, unaware of the great discovery he had made.
Koenen was the first to propose pre-stressing steel bars. He suggested doing this in 1907, before applying concrete, in order to avoid the formation of cracks and thus stumbled across the innovation of reinforced concrete (R.C.). Unfortunately however, his attempts failed because at that time the phenomena of fluage and shrinkage were unknown. In fact, the real "father" of pre-stressing is Eugène Freyssinet, who in 1928 defined pre-stressing as a technique which consists in subjecting a material, in his case reinforced concrete, to loads which produce stresses opposed to those in operation, through the use of cables which have first been laid in the stressed mass.
The reasons which gave rise to this material may be found in the mechanical characteristics of concrete which, in fact, shows great ability to absorb forces of compression but a low resistance to tension which is allowed to be absorbed by the metallic reinforcement. The latter, however, under the effect of tension tends to lengthen and, on account of the phenomenon of bonding, pulls the concrete along with it.
Consequently, if the stresses of tension are high, the concrete will crack. The cracks do not destabilize the structure but could lead to possible further deformation and expose the reinforcement to the danger of oxidization which in turn produces a reduction of its own resistance. It can be deducted that R.C. can tolerate loads up until the cracking limit.
Unlike R.C., steel is a material which has high resistance both to tension and to compression. As a consequence, by making a comparison between pre-stressed steel and reinforced concrete, we can immediately note that in the first place, this technique further raises both the quality and the resistance to tension and compression characteristics of the steel; the technique actually manages to create a state of co-action in which the tensions and deformations are opposed to those induced by the loads which will subsequently act upon the structure. In the second place it raises the resistance to tension of reinforced concrete which is, in fact, negligible.
Forms of Pre-stressing Steel
The development of pre-stressed concrete was influenced by the invention of high strength steel. It is an alloy of iron, carbon, manganese and optional materials. In addition to pre-stressing steel, conventional non-pre-stressed reinforcement is used for flexural capacity (optional), shear capacity, temperature and shrinkage requirements.
Wires. A pre-stressing wire is a single unit made of steel. The nominal diameters of the wires are 2.5, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 7.0 and 8.0 mm. The different types of wires are as follows:
1) Plain wire: No indentations on the surface.
2) Indented wire: There are circular or elliptical indentations on the surface.
Strands. A few wires are spun together in a helical form to form a pre-stressing strand. The different types of strands are as follows:
1) Two-wire strand: Two wires are spun together to form the strand.
2) Three-wire strand: Three wires are spun together to form the strand.
3) Seven-wire strand: In this type of strand, six wires are spun around a central wire. The central wire is larger than the other wires.
Tendons. A group of strands or wires are placed together to form a pre-stressing tendon. The tendons are used in post-tensioned members. The following figure shows the cross section of a typical tendon. The strands are placed in a duct which may be filled with grout after the post-tensioning operation is completed (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Cross-Section of a typical tendon
Cables. A group of tendons form a pre-stressing cable. The cables are used in bridges.
Bars. A tendon can be made up of a single steel bar. The diameter of a bar is much larger than that of a wire. Bars are available in the following sizes: 10, 12, 16, 20, 22, 25, 28 and 32 mm.
Figure 2 shows the different forms of pre-stressing steel.
Figure 2: Forms of reinforcing and pre-stressing steel
Types of Pre-stressing Steel
The steel is treated to achieve the desired properties. The following are the treatment processes:
Cold working (cold drawing) is being done by rolling the bars through a series of dyes. It re-aligns the crystals and increases the strength.
Stress relieving is being done by heating the strand to about 350°C and cooling slowly. This reduces the plastic deformation of the steel after the onset of yielding.
Strain tempering for low relaxation is being done by heating the strand to about 350°C while it is under tension. This also improves the stress-strain behavior of the steel by reducing the plastic deformation after the onset of yielding. In addition, the relaxation is reduced.
Properties of Pre-stressing Steel
The steel in pre-stressed applications has to be of good quality. It requires the following attributes:
1) High strength
2) Adequate ductility
3) Bendability, which is required at the harping points and near the anchorage
4) High bond, required for pre-tensioned members
5) Low relaxation to reduce losses
6) Minimum corrosion.
The tensile strength of pre-stressing steel is given in terms of the characteristic tensile strength (fpk). The characteristic strength is defined as the ultimate tensile strength of the coupon specimens below which not more than 5% of the test results are expected to fall.
Figure 3(a): Test set-up
Figure 3(b): Testing of tensile strength of pre-stressing strand
The minimum tensile strengths for different types of wires as specified by the standard codes are given.
Table 1: Cold Drawn Stress-Relieved Wires (IS: 1785 Part 1). The proof stress should not be less than 85% of the specified tensile strength.
Table2: As-Drawn wire (IS: 1785 Part 2). The proof stress should not be less than 75% of the specified tensile strength.
Table 3: Indented wire (IS: 6003). The proof stress should not be less than 85% of the specified tensile strength.
The minimum tensile strength of high tensile steel bars according to IS:2090 is 980 N/mm2. The proof stress should not be less than 80% of the specified tensile strength.
The stiffness of pre-stressing steel is given by the initial modulus of elasticity. The modulus of elasticity depends on the form of pre-stressing steel (wires or strands or bars). IS:1343 - 1980 provides the following guidelines which can be used in absence of test data.
Table 4: Modulus of elasticity (IS: 1343 - 1980)
Date Published: Aug-2008
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Pre-Stressed Steel: Part Two
Finding stress-strain diagrams in the Total Materia database
The Total Materia Extended Range includes a unique collection of stress-strain curves and diagrams for calculations in the plastic range for thousands of metal alloys, heat treatments and working temperatures. Both true and engineering stress curves are given for various strain rates where applicable.
Finding a stress-strain graph in the database is simple and takes only seconds.
Enter the material of interest into the quick search field. You can optionally narrow your search by specifying the country/standard of choice in the designated field and click Search.
After selecting the material of interest to you, click on the Stress-Strain diagrams link to view data for the selected material. The number of available stress-strain diagrams is displayed in brackets next to the link.
Because Total Materia stress-strain curves are neutral across standard specifications, you can review stress-strain diagrams by clicking the appropriate link for any of the subgroups.
Besides the stress-strain curves at different temperatures, stress and strain data are given in a tabular format which is convenient for copying to, for example, a CAE software.
It is also possible to view stress-strain curves and data for other working temperatures.
To do this, simply insert a new temperature into the 'Enter temperature' field within the defined range.
After clicking the Calculate button, a new curve is plotted and values in the table now correspond to the temperature you have defined. See example below for 250°C.
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We decided that PRINCE2® diagrams could do with a freshen up so we've created an easy to read, standardised set of diagrams covering the 7 PRINCE2 processes to help learn PRINCE2.
Starting with the PRINCE2 Process Model and then breaking it down into each of the 7 processes.
If you've ever searched Google for 'PRINCE2 diagrams' you will know that it's not a pretty sight, and a lot of those diagrams are either too plain or impossible to decipher.
Our set of diagrams makes the PRINCE2 processes easier to understand by complimenting your PRINCE2 pre-course work and manual when preparing for your PRINCE2 Practitioner Exam.
PRINCE2 describes the steps of project management in seven processes. Any PRINCE2 project will need to address each of the processes but the extent of the application of a process should be decided on a project by project basis.


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Heartland Region Poised for Industrial Resurgence as Firms Consider Returning From Abroad
by Heartland Forward 02/03/2021
Today, Heartland Forward published new research, "Reshoring America: Can the Heartland Lead the Way?," which finds the U.S. poised for an industrial comeback led by the Heartland and fueled by reshoring, the return of manufacturing centers to the U.S. from abroad. The report notes growing bipartisan support for policies that bring foreign businesses home, as the Biden administration works to promote domestic manufacturing and Congress has grappled with the country's dependence upon Chinese-made personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic. Moreover, 70 percent of firms say they will likely reshore in the coming years, according to a 2020 survey. For the U.S. to reclaim its manufacturing prowess, the authors call on policymakers to embrace a holistic reshoring strategy.
"Firms are starting to recognize the growing costs and dwindling benefits of offshoring," said Ross DeVol, president and CEO of Heartland Forward. "The U.S.—and especially the Heartland—is still a great place to do business."
"Decades after the U.S. lost its position as the world leader in manufacturing, the country could make a comeback, if lawmakers from both parties work together to shift the focus of our trade and industrial policies toward reshoring," said Joel Kotkin, senior fellow of Heartland Forward and principal author of the report.
While PPE shortages in the early stages of the pandemic brought attention to the dire need to bring medical manufacturing capacity home, the report stresses that reshoring is a long-term priority. The authors survey the economic evidence and find that firms increasingly need secure supply chains, easier access to key markets and a more talented, educated workforce. Heartland states offer these advantages and more, consistently ranking among the most business friendly in the nation. Six of the top 11 engineering schools are based in the Heartland, and the region offers ready access to raw materials, lower costs of doing business and shorter supply chains.
"Over the past decade, we've seen the rate of job creation due to reshoring accelerate dramatically," said David Shideler, chief economist at Heartland Forward and a co-author of the report. "Still, there must be a bipartisan effort to sustain this progress, and it must go beyond narrow measures like tariffs or bans. Investments in physical infrastructure and education, loans, grants and tax incentives for investors would all go a long way toward promoting reshoring"
Heartland Forward notes that, before the onset of the pandemic, the annual rate of job creation due to reshoring accelerated from 6,000 in 2010, to over 400,000 in 2019. The full report, including more on this trend, can be found here (pdf opens in new tab or window).
About Heartland Forward:
Heartland Forward's mission is to improve economic performance in the center of the United States by advocating for fact-based solutions to foster job creation, knowledge-based and inclusive growth and improved health outcomes. We conduct independent, data-driven research to facilitate action-oriented discussion and impactful policy recommendations.
The Emergence of the Global Heartland
Energy, Tourism and Entrepreneurship Drive Success for Top-Performing Small Cities
Heartland of Opportunity Report
The Labor Crisis and the Future of the Heartland

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Örjan has had a long career with top management positions in industry. His background as an engineer in electrotech and later industrial IT, coupled with his long career in ABB, has positioned him as a senior advisor on energy, business models and strategy. Örjan is active in Blue Institute's foresight activities and leads several projects concerned with the digitization of production.


Home > TRAVEL > TOKYO > SHIBUYA > SHOPPING > New Best Shopping Spot in Shibuya: Don Quijote Discount Store Gets a Makeover!
For those not yet familiar with the Don Quijote store, you're in for a treat! Don Quijote, nicknamed "Donki" by locals, is a huge discount store like no other. Found all over Japan, Donki sells pretty much anything and everything you could ever want or need from electronics and household items to fancy dress and cosmetics and is a popular destination for locals and tourists alike.
While there are several multi-storey Don Quijote stores around Tokyo, the good news is that a new store has just opened in central Shibuya this May 2017. Just a short walk from Shibuya Station, there's no reason not to get yourself along to check out this unmissable discount store to stock up on Japanese goods whether for yourself or as souvenirs!
Japan had the pleasure of being introduced to Don Quijote when the first store was opened in Tokyo in 1980. Originally going by the less catchy name of Just Co., the store later changed its name to Don Quijote, a title taken from fictional Spanish character Don Quixote. Today, Donki is a store loved by many and has such a strong brand that they even created their own theme song, Miracle Shopping, a painfully catchy song that's likely to be stuck in your head days later.
What Can You Buy at Don Quijote?
Don Quijote stores tend to cover several storeys with each floor dedicated to a different range of products. Maybe your headphones have broken or you need some batteries? You've just moved house and need bedding or light fittings? You have a last-minute fancy dress party and have nothing to wear? Don Quijote has all the bits and bobs that you could be looking for, both large and small. The best part – as well as practical items, you're sure to be tempted into buying some of the most unpractical things on your way around the store.
On top of electronics and clothing, Don Quijote also has a groceries section, the size of which varies depending on the store. Here you can find canned goods, a large range of reasonably priced liquor and all sorts of typical Japanese ingredients.
As a discount store, prices at Donki are already relatively low. However, for an even further discount, visitors to Japan can receive items without the 8% tax rate. If you wish to receive your items tax-free and are planning on staying in Japan for less than six months, your products will be specially packaged so you're not able to open them until you arrive home.
Shibuya was already home to what most of us would consider a rather large Don Quijote store. However, with the number of people passing through Shibuya on a daily basis, the chain decided it was time to upgrade their Shibuya branch to a MEGA Donki offering a newer, bigger, better store which opened its doors to the public on May 12, 2017.
Just a stone's throw from the old store, Shibuya's new MEGA Donki is less than a five-minute walk from Shibuya Station and the famous Shibuya Crossing. Now that it's open, the Shibuya branch plans to never close its doors to the public as it will be open 24 hours with no holidays throughout the year. So, if you ever find yourself in Shibuya at night or early in the morning, just head over to Don Quijote and the many floors are bound to keep you occupied.
While shopping in Shibuya is a must, a lot of the stores are similar to those you can find back home which is what makes Don Quijote a must-visit. If you're looking for souvenirs, why not visit Shibuya's new MEGA Don Quijote store? Some of the weird and wonderful goods that Japan is known for can be found here including unusual flavours of Kitkats, coloured contact lenses, an incredible array of fancy dress outfits and an eclectic selection of phone cases. Just look for the familiar Don Quijote mascot and bright yellow writing. I can assure you that once you've visited Don Quijote once, it will be hard to imagine a world without it.


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Tag Archives: Ukraine War
Our So-Called Foreign Policy: Two German Tank Decision Mysteries
Posted by Alan Tonelson in Our So-Called Foreign Policy
Germany, Iron Cross, Leopard, Nazi Germany, Our So-Called Foreign Policy, Panzer, Prussia, tanks, Ukraine, Ukraine War, World War II
Germany has finally decided to send advanced battle tanks to Ukraine (and to allow other countries whose militaries use the weapon to do te same). So ends a period of reluctance that was widely (and in my view, correctly) attributed in large measure to Berlin's reluctance to suggest that historic German hyper-militarism is on the way back. Even so, I find two related aspects of Germany's decision puzzling, to say the least.
At the outset, though, let me be perfectly clear: I've long advocated major German (and, for that matter) Japanese rearmanent. Believe me, I understand why the Germans (and Japanese) have long resisted such measures, and why Washington has tacitly supported the resulting defense free-riding.
After all, even nearly eight decades after these countries ignited World War II and committed such unspeakable atrocities before and during the conflict, who would support risking a repeat lightly? (At the same time, permitting Germany and Japan to remain military pygmies meant that American leaders would remain the national security and geopolitical kingpins of Western Europe and East Asia long after both countries had regained the economic power that ordinarily would have led to much more influence along these lines and likely greater diplomatic independence from Washington. Why? Because…well…countries with dramatically different historical experiences and geographic locations naturally often view the world differently.)
But because economic strength inevitably produces the ability and therefore the will to assert uniquely national interests, I always believed that this U.S. approach was simply delaying not only the inevitable, but the kind of orderly transition to the point at which these countries (in tandem with their neighbors, in the case of Germany but not so much Japan) would handle their own defense – and greatly reduce the nuclear war risk America was running because of its deterrence and coupling strategy.
And in a purely military sense, I always worried about the prospect of the United States plunging into a major war in Europe or Asia without allies it could count on one hundred percent – either because they stayed so weak or because they didn't endorse American policy fully.
Nor did I ever see any significant evidence that America's determination to conduct these countries' national securiy strategies for them (which I called "smothering") generated any benefits for the U.S. economy. If anything, prioritizing alliance relationships typically convinced Washington to allow such allies to continue the protectionist policies that harmed domestic U.S. industry and its workers. (See this 1991 article for a wide-ranging discussion of both alliance-related security and economic issues.)
So again, I strongly support both the German, Japanese, and other allies' stated intentions to get serious about their own security. But I have two related questions about Germany.
First, if Germany is so worried about even perception that it's reverting back to its terrible old ways, why since the end of has it chosen the Iron Cross as the symbol of its military? Granted, it's not the same Iron Cross the Nazis used. But it's really close. Moreover, this version was used by the 19th century Prussians, who were pioneers in developing modern militaries and whose leaders in those days had no compunctions about throwing its weight around first to unify Germany and then ensure that it could rival and even surpass the rest of Europe in terms of continental and global clout. (Not that these neighbors were angels themselves.)
And yet, in 1956, when the German army was reconstituted, West Germany's president designated as its official emblem. Like no other choices were available then, or have been since? (For a brief history of Iron Cross, see here.)
Second, why would a long-neutered Germany call any of its tanks a "Leopard"? How could such nomenclature fail to evoke the Nazi era in particular? After all, Hitler's most famous tanks were the Panther (Panzer) and a late variation (the Tiger). Of course, weapons names should convey might and ferocity. But the world isn't exactly shrt of other animal predators. And animal predator names aren't the only words that can do the job.
Obviously, I'm not expecting any revival of worrisome German revanchism. But I still view these two military branding decisions as head-scratchers, and because even the weirdest choices rarely come completely out of the blue, I'll continue to find them mystifying until I see a sensible explanation.
(What's Left of) Our Economy: Why the U.S. Inflation Outlook Just Got Even Cloudier
CCP Virus, China, consumer price index, consumers, core CPI, coronavirus, cost of living, COVID 19, CPI, energy prices, Federal Reserve, food prices, inflation, Jerome Powell, prices, recession, stagflation, stimulus, supply chains, Ukraine War, Wuhan virus, {What's Left of) Our Economy
If the big U.S. stock indices didn't react enthusiastically to yesterday's official American inflation figures (which were insensitively released the very day I had a minor medical procedure), that's because they were too mixed to signal that consumer prices were finally being brought under control.
Lately, good news on inflation-fighting has been seen as good news for stock investors because it indicates that the Federal Reserve may at least pause its campaign to hike interest rates in order to slow economic growth significantly– and even trigger a recession. That's because a weaker economy means consumers will have less money to spend and that businesses therefore will find it much harder to keep raising prices, and even to maintain prices at currently lofty levels. And all else equal, companies' profits would take a hit.
So already softening inflation could convince the central bank that its efforts to date have been good enough, and that its goal of restoring price stability can be achieved without encouraging further belt tightening – and more downward pressure on business bottom lines.
Of course, stock investors aren't always right about economic data. But their take on yesterday's figures for the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which cover December. seems on target.
The data definitely contained encouraging news. Principally, on a monthly basis, the overall ("headline") CPI number showed that prices actually fell in December – by 0.08 percent. That's not much, but this result marks the first such drop since July's 0.02 percent, and the biggest sequential decline since the 0.92 percent plunge recorded in April, 2020, when the economy was literally cratering during the CCP Virus' devastating first wave. Further, this latest decrease followed a very modest 0.10 percent monthly increase in November.
So maybe inflation is showing some genuine signs of faltering momentum? Maybe. But maybe not. For example, that CPI sequential slip in July was followed by three straight monthly increases that ended with a heated 0.44 percent in October.
Moreover, core CPI accelerated month-to-month in December. That's the inflation gauge that strips out food and energy prices because they're supposedly volatile for reasons having little or nothing to do with the economy's underlying inflation prone-ness.
December's sequential core CPI rise was 0.30 percent – one of the more sluggish figures of the calendar year, but a rate faster than a November number of 0.27 percent that was revised up from 0.20 percent. Therefore, these last two results could signal more inflation momentum, not less.
In addition, as always, the annual headline and core CPI numbers need to be viewed in light of the baseline effect – the extent to which statistical results reflect abnormally low or high numbers for the previous comparable period that may simply stem from a catch-up trend that's restoring a long-term norm.
Many of the multi-decade strong year-to-year headline and core inflation rates of 2021 came after the unusually weak yearly results that stemmed from the short but devastating downturn caused by that first CCP Virus wave. Consequently, I was among those (including the Fed) believing that such price rises were "transitory," and that they would fade away as that particular baseline effect disappeared.
But as I've posted (e.g., last month), that fade has been underway for months, and annual inflation remains powerful and indeed way above the Fed's two percent target. The main explanations as I see it? The still enormous spending power enjoyed by consumers due to all the pandemic relief and economic stimulus approved in recent years, and other continued and even new major government outlays that have put more money into their pockets (as listed toward the end of this column).
(A big hiring rebound since the economy's pandemic-induced nadir and rock-bottom recent headline unemployment rates have helped, too. But as I'll explain in an upcoming post, the effects are getting more credit than they deserve.)
And when you look at the baselines for the new headline and core CPI annual increases, it should become clear that after having caught up from the CCP Virus-induced slump, businesses still believe they have plenty of pricing power left, which suggests at the least that inflation will stay high.
Again, here the inflation story is better for the annual headline figure than for the core figure. In December, the former fell from November's 7.12 percent to 6.42 percent – the best such number since the 6.24 percent of October, 2021, and the sixth straight weakening. The baseline 2020-2021 headline inflation rate for December was higher than that for November (6.83 percent versus 7.10 percent), and had sped up for four consecutive months. But that November-December 2020-2021 increase was more modest than the latest November-December 2021-2022 decrease, which indicates some progress here.
At the same time, don't forget that the 6.24 percent annual headline CPI inflation of October, 2020-2021 had a 2019-2020 baseline of just 1.18 percent. Hence my argument that businesses today remain confident about their pricing power even though they've made up for their pandemic year weakness in spades.
In December, annual core inflation came down from 5.96 percent to 5.69 percent. That was the most sluggish pace since December, 2020-2021's 5.48 percent, but just the third straight weakening. But the increase in the baseline number from November to December, 2021 was from 4.59 percent to that 5.48 percent – bigger than the latest November-December decrease. In other words, this trend for core CPI is now running opposite it encouraging counterpart for headline CPI.
Finally, as far as baseline arguments go, that 5.48 percent December, 2021 annual core CPI increase followed a baseline figure the previous year of a mere 1.28 percent. Since the new annual December rate of 5.69 percent comes on top of a rate more than four times higher, that's another sign of continued business pricing confidence.
But the inflation forecast is still dominated by the question of how much economic growth will sink, and how the Fed in particular will react. And the future looks more confusing than ever.
The evidence for considerably feebler expansion, and even an impending recession, is being widely cited. Indeed, as this Forbes poster has reported, "The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Survey of Professional Forecasters indicates the highest probability of a recession over the next 12 months in the survey's 55-year history."
If they're right, inflation may keep cooling modestly for a time but still remain worrisomely warm. And the Fed may react either by keeping interest rates lofty for longer than expected – as Chair Jerome Powell has already said – or even raise them faster.
Nonetheless, although the recession that did take place during the first and second quarters of last year convinced numerous observers that worse was yet to come, the third quarter saw a nice bounceback and the fourth quarter could be even better. So if a downturn is coming, it will mean that economic activity will need to shrink very abruptly. Hardly impossible, but hardly a sure thing.
And if some form of economic nosedive does occur, it could prompt the Fed to hold off or even reverse course to some extent, even if price increases remain non-trivial. A major worsening of the economy may also lead Congress and the Biden administration to join the fray and approve still more stimulus to cushion the blow.
Complicating matters all the while – the kind of monetary stimulus added or taken away by the central bank takes months to ripple through the economy, as the Fed keeps emphasizing. Some of the kinds of fiscal stimulus, like the pandemic-era checks, work faster, but others, like the infrastructure bill and the huge new subsidies for domestic semiconductor manufacturing will take much longer.
Additionally, some of the big drivers of the recent inflation are even less controllable by Washington and more unpredictable than the immense U.S. economy – like the Ukraine War's impact on the prices of energy and other commodities, including foodstuffs, and the wild recent swings of a range of Chinese government policies that keep roiling global and domestic supply chains.
My own outlook? It's for a pretty shallow, short recession followed by a comparably moderate recovery and all accompanied by price levels with which most Americans will keep struggling. Back in the 1970s, it was called "stagflation," I'm old enough to remember that's an outcome that no one should welcome, and it will mean that the country remains as far from achieving robust, non-inflationary growth as ever.
Our So-Called Foreign Policy: A Wall Street Kingpin Lays a Grand Strategy Egg
America First, China, climate change, ESG, fossil fuels, globalism, globalization, Immigration, industrial policy, Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase, Our So-Called Foreign Policy, productivity, supply chains, The Wall Street Journal, Ukraine War, Wall Street, woke capitalism
In several senses, it's not entirely surprising that The Wall Street Journal recently allowed Jamie Dimon to share his thoughts on the domestic and especially global grand strategies the United States should pursue in the post-Ukraine War world.
After all, Dimon heads JPMorgan Chase, the nation's biggest and most important bank. As a result, he clearly needs to know a lot about the U.S. economy. And as Wall Street's biggest poohbah, he surely must know a lot about the state of the world overall – in particular since he's had extensive contacts with the heads of state, senior officials, and business leaders of many countries.
What is somewhat surprising, then, is how little of Dimon's analysis and advice is new or even interesting, and how much of it could well put America ever further behind the eight-ball.
Dimon's article wasn't completely devoid of merit. Since he's dabbled in some (symbolic) woke-ism himself, it was good to see him seemingly take a shot at what's become mainstream liberal as well as radical lefty dogma by urging the education of "all Americans about the sacrifice of those who came before us for democracy at home and abroad."
Given the strong support by the Biden administration and by some finance bigwigs for influential for encouraging and even requiring lenders to take climate change risks into account when extending credit, it was encouraging to read his pragmatic position that "Secure and reliable oil and gas production is compatible with reducing CO2 over the long run, and is far better than burning more coal."
Dimon showed that, unlike many on Wall Street, he supports some forms of industrial policy to make sure that "we don't rely on potential adversaries for critical goods and services."
And he endorsed the larger point that the neoliberal globalization-based triumphalism that undergirded the policies of globalist pre-Trump Presidents needs to be buried for good:
"America and the West can no longer maintain a false sense of security based on the illusion that dictatorships and oppressive nations won't use their economic and military powers to advance their aims—particularly against what they perceive as weak, incompetent and disorganized Western democracies. In a troubled world, we are reminded that national security is and always will be paramount, even if it seems to recede in tranquil times."
But on most of the biggest issues and just about all specifics, Dimon either punted or retreated into the same globalist territory that proved as profitable for Big Finance as it was too often dangerously naive for the nation as a whole.
For example, he wants Washington to "fix the immigration policies that are tearing us apart, dramatically reducing illegal immigration and dramatically increasing legal immigration." Completely ignored is the depressing impact the latter would have on wages that have already been falling recently in inflation-adjusted terms, and on desperately needed productivity growth – as a bigger supply of cheap labor is bound to kill many incentives for businesses to improve their efficiency by innovating technology-wise or devising better management approaches.
And on China, Dimon's clearly determined to talk his company's book, insisting that "We should acknowledge that we have common interests in combating nuclear proliferation, climate change and terrorism." and blithely predicting that "Tough but thoughtful negotiations over strategic, military and economic concerns—including unfair competition—should yield a better situation for all."
But most important, Dimon fully endorses the foundations of the very globalist strategy that for decades perversely ignored the distinctive and paramount advantages the United States brings to world affairs and has thereby created many of the dangers and vulnerabilities with which the nation has been struggling.
The way Dimon seems to see it, there's no reason to pay any attention to the extraordinary degree of security the America enjoys merely by virtue of its geographic isolation and powerful military; or to its extraordinary degree of economic self-sufficiency thanks to its immense and diverse natural resource base, its technological prowess, and its dynamic free market-dominated economic system. And evidently, it's just as pointless to concentrate foreign and economic policy on the nation's equally formidable potential to build on these advantages.
Instead, like other globalists, Dimon flatly rejects the idea that "America can stand alone," or should seek to maximize its ability to do so. Instead, it should keep defining nothing less than "global peace and order" as "a vital American interest" – the standard globalist recipe for yoking the country's fate to an agenda of more open-ended military interventions, more hastily approved and usually wasteful foreign aid, and more nation-building in areas lacking any ingredients of nation-hood.
Asa result, it would anchor America's safety and prosperity on efforts to shape foreign conditions (over which is has relatively little control), rather than on efforts to shape domestic conditions (over which is has much more control). (For a much fuller description of this America First strategy and its differences with globalism, see this 2018 article.)
In fact, and revealingly, Dimon's piece was titled "The West Needs America's Leadership." If only he and other globalists would start thinking seriously about what America really needs.
(Full disclosure: I own several JPMorgan bond and preferred stock issues.)
Our So-Called Foreign Policy: A Republican Strategy Guru Who Ain't
19 Monday Dec 2022
China, Marc A. Thiessen, Mike Gallagher, national security, neoconservatives, North Atlantic treaty Organization, Our So-Called Foreign Policy, priorities, Republicans, Russia, semiconductors, strategy, Taiwan, Ukraine, Ukraine War
Neoconservative pundit Marc A. Thiessen has just written that neconservative Congressman Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin is the type of Republican who he thinks should "guide the Republican Party into the next era and shape conservative public policy, from national security to health to education to the economy."
I'm far from convinced, especially on the national security front that's the focus of this column, since Gallagher's expressed views seem like a formula for exactly the kind of global over-extension that's backfired so disastrously on America in the past (Google "Vietnam" or "Middle East.")
This Wisconsin Republican's main problem is one that's dogged not only neocons and their constant exhortations for the United States to play or resume playing globocop indefinitely, but many other American leaders, including those on the Left – who favor similarly open-ended U.S. involvement in all manner of foreign crises and problems but either on the cheap, or with all manner of aesthetically and morally pleasing substitutes for military power, or coercion of any kind.
It's a failure or an refusal to base American strategy and security and prosperity on the only basis practical even for a superpower – as an effort to (a) secure or defend goals that will promote U.S. interests on net in specific, concrete ways – like protecting countries or regions with important locations, or that possess needed resources; and (b) propose feasible approaches to generate the wherewithal needed to achieve those goals.
Put simply, a successful U.S. foreign policy needs to set priorities of some kind, and in an interview with Thiessen, Gallagher explicitly rejected these premises, at least when it comes to two current headline overseas challenges.
According to Gallagher,
"[T]his idea that, 'Well, we can be tough on China, but we have to strike some grand bargain with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin in Europe because our resources are limited.' I just think that reflects a naive view of the way the world is working right now."
He did explain that
"for those of us who want to continue to support the Ukrainians and deliver a massive loss to the Russians … we have to do a better job of tying the threat posed by Russia to the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party. And it's really teasing out the fact that for at least a decade, if not longer, these countries, who at times have interests that diverged and at times were outright hostile, at least in the present day, have locked arms to wage a new Cold War against the West…."
As for "the ultimate aim of China in particular"? That's "to destroy the capitalist system led by the United States and make way for the ultimate triumph of world socialism with, you know, Chinese characteristics."
I have no quarrel with Gallagher's assumption of deep and dangerous Chinese hostility to the United States. And he has, in my view correctly and cogently, identifed several branches of China's strategy that seek to weaken America from within, like propaganda spreading (which – I assume – he understands requires strong, overwhelmingly domestic policy responses).
But the other stuff – if you think about it logically, it simply doesn't matter. That is, whether or not the Chinese and Russians are in cahoots, and however sweepin their aims, because different countries' and regions' importance to the United States varies dramatically (since they're all so different in their characteristics), it's inevitable that some of the targets of this "new [joint] Cold War" that they're supposedly waging will significantly affect America's fortunes, and some won't.
And what Gallagher doesn't come to terms with is
>(a) all the evidence cited by opponents of current U.S. Ukraine policy (like me), that Ukraine's fate is irrelevant to America for reasons ranging from its tragic location right next to Russia and its lack of any assets needed by America to the continued refusal of the United States and its allies to admit it into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (which implicitly acknowledges Ukraine's marginality); and
>(b) all the evidence that Taiwan is of vital importance – because of its matchless ability to manufacture the advanced semiconductors that are keys to ongoing U.S. security and prosperity, and therefore to America's ability to keep fending off Chinese ambitions to control the island and this knowhow.
In Gallagher's defense, he's a strong proponent of the much bigger defense budgets that the United States would need to field the forces and weapons needed to resist both Russia's Ukraine aims and China's Taiwan aims.
But that higher spending will take many years to shore up American battlefield capabilities further, and Gallagher himself believes that the United States can't defend Taiwan now, and doesn't foresee success for another five years.
Worse, in the meantime, it's being reported, including by a bipartisan Congressional commission, that "[t]he diversion of existing stocks of weapons and munitions to Ukraine and pandemic-related supply chain issues has exacerbated a sizeable backlog in the delivery of weapons already approved for sale to Taiwan, undermining the island's readiness."
So current American priorities could well be exactly backwards, and even if not, contrary to Gallagher's blithe prior assertion, American resources are now in fact severely limited.
To top if all off, Gallagher also told Thiessen that by 2025 (if the Chinese haven't already invaded), the President then should declare that "defending Taiwan [is] our most urgent national security priority…." But what about Ukraine? By then it'll be No Big Deal? Or it's safe to assume that conflict will be over? Nothing from Gallagher on that. But he did add that "by the way, I don't think [keeping Taiwan secure] would cost that much money."
Thiessen introduced Gallagher as someone who "has a bachelor's degree from Princeton, a master's degree in security studies from Georgetown University, a second master's in strategic intelligence from the National Intelligence University and a PhD in international relations from Georgetown — all of which mean he's deeply overqualified for any national security position."
To me, what he's really done is unwittingly reveal some of the institutions you want to avoid like the plague if you hope to develop a U.S. foreign policy strategy worthy of the name.
Glad I Didn't Say That! A New Low Point for Biden Energy Policy
Posted by Alan Tonelson in Glad I Didn't Say That!
Amos Hochstein, Biden administration, clean energy, climate change, energy, fossil fuels, Glad I Didn't Say That!, green energy, natural gas, oil, Russia, sanctions, shale, Ukraine, Ukraine War
"The White House's chief energy adviser has described as 'un-American' the refusal of US shale investors to ramp up drilling, even as Moscow's invasion of Ukraine causes havoc on global oil and gas markets." – — — —
Financial Times, December 11, 2022
"The longer-term solution, [he said] was not to invest in more natural gas supply but to cut consumption of fossil fuels themselves…."
(Source: "Biden adviser calls Wall Street opposition to shale drilling 'un-American'," by Derek Brower, Financial Times, December 11, 2022, Biden adviser calls Wall Street opposition to shale drilling 'un-American' | Financial Times (ft.com))
Following Up: Podcast On-Line of NYC Radio Interview on Inflation, the Midterms, and Ukraine
Posted by Alan Tonelson in Following Up
Biden, election 2022, Following Up, Frank Morano, inflation, midterms 2022, nuclear war, Ukraine, Ukraine War, WABC AM
I'm pleased to announce that the podcast is on-line of my inteview last night on Frank Morano's popular "The Other Side of Midnight" program on New York City's WABC-AM. The segment focused on the (inflationary) state of the U.S. economy, its likely impact on next week's midterm elections, and why President Biden urgently needs to change a Ukraine policy that's needlessly exposing the United States to the threat of nuclear war. Here's the link.
And of course keep on checking in with RealityChek for news of upcoming media appearances and other developments.
Our So-Called Foreign Policy: Is Biden Learning the Limits of Multilateralism?
22 Saturday Oct 2022
Afghanistan, alliances, allies, America First, ASML, Biden, Biden administration, Blob, China, Chips Act, Europe, export controls, Japan, multilateralism, NATO, North Atlantic treaty Organization, oil, oil price, OPEC, Our So-Called Foreign Policy, Saudi Arabia, semiconductors, South Korea, Taiwan, Ukraine War
Remember the buzz worldwide and among the bipartisan globalist U.S. foreign policy Blob that Donald Trump's defeat in the 2020 presidential election heralded the start of a new golden age of America's relations with its longstanding security allies?
Remember how President Biden himself pushed this line with his claim that "America is back" and that Washington would end the supposed Trump practice of denigrating and even rupturing these relationships, and resume its post-World War II strategy of capitalizing on these countries' strengths and fundamental agreement with vital American interests to advance mutually beneficial goals?
Fast forward to the present, and it's stunning how thoroughly these American globalist hopes – and the assumptions behind them – have been dashed.
The latest example has been Saudi Arabia's rejection of Mr. Biden's request to delay an increase in oil prices announced by Riyadh and other members of the OPEC-Plus petroleum producers cartel. It's true that few Americans currently view the Saudis as ideal allies. Continuing human rights abuses and especially evidence that its leaders ordered the assassination of a dissident Saudi-American journalist – and coming on top of revelations of Saudi support for the September 11 terrorists and Islamic extremism more broadly – will do that. Indeed, candidate Biden had even promised to make Saudi Arabia as a "pariah."
But follow-through? Forget it – largely for fear of antagonizing the Saudis precisely because of their huge oil production and reserves, and because the President evidently still viewed them as a key to countering Iran's hegemonic ambitions in the energy-rich region.
As for Saudi Arabia, it and much closer allies (including in Europe) were far from enthralled with how Mr. Biden pulled U.S. forces out of Afghanistan – which they charge took them by surprise and seemed pretty America First-y.
Under President Biden, the United States appears to have performed better in mustering allied support for helping Ukraine beat back Russia's invasion. But look beneath the surface, and the European contribution has been unimpressive at best, especially considering that Ukraine is located much closer to the European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) than is the United States.
In particular, according to Germany's Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which has been tracking these developments since the war began, to date,
"The U.S. is now committing nearly twice as much as all EU countries and institutions combined. This is a meagre showing for the bigger European countries, especially since many of their pledges are arriving in Ukraine with long delays. The low volume of new commitments in the summer now appears to be continuing systematically."
In fact, European foot-dragging has reached the point at which even Mr. Biden's Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, has just told them (in diplospeak of course) to get on the stick.
Apparently, America's allies in Asia as well as Europe have hesitated to get behind another key initiative as well: Slowing China's growing technological progress in order to limit its potential militar power.
In a September 16 speech, White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed that the United States had officially doubled down on this objective:
"On export controls, we have to revisit the longstanding premise of maintaining "relative" advantages over competitors in certain key technologies. We previously maintained a "sliding scale" approach that said we need to stay only a couple of generations ahead.
"That is not the strategic environment we are in today.
"Given the foundational nature of certain technologies, such as advanced logic and memory chips, we must maintain as large of a lead as possible."
And on October 7, the United States followed up by announcing the stiffest controls to date on doing business with Chinese tech entities – controls that will apply not only to U.S.-owned companies, but to other countries' companies that use U.S.-owned firms technology in high tech products they sell and high tech services they provide to China.
Including these foreign-owned businesses in the U.S. sanctions regime – as well as in parallel efforts to rebuild American domestic capacity and marginalize China's role in these sectors – is unavoidable for the time being, since the domestic economy long ago lost its monopoly and in some cases even its presence in the numerous products vital to semiconductor manufacturing in particular.
But as the Financial Times reported last month, a year after Washington drew up plans to create a "Chip 4" initiative to work with Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea to achieve these goals, "the four countries have yet to finalise plans even for a preliminary meeting."
The prime foot-dragger has been South Korea, which fears Chinese retaliation that could jeopardize its massive and lucrative trade with the People's Republic. But the same article makes clear that Japan harbors similar concerns.
Also unenthusiastic about the U.S. campaign is the Dutch manufacturer of semiconductor production equipment ASM Lithography (ASML). ASML's cooperation is crucial to America's anti-China ambitions because it's the sole global supplier of machines essential for making the world's most advanced microchips.
So far it's been playing along. But similar complants about possibly losing business opportunities in China – which may account for nearly half of the world's output of electronics products along with much of its production of less advanced semiconductors – have already persuaded the Biden administration to give some South Korean and Taiwanese microchip manufacturers a one-year exemption from the new export curbs. Could ASML try to win similar leniency?
In fairness, the Biden administration hasn't wound up placing all its foreign policy bets on alliances and securing multilateral cooperation. Indeed, its new National Security Strategy re-states the importance of rebuilding American economic strength as a foundation of foreign policy success; the legislation it successfully sponsored to bolster the United States' semiconductor and other high tech capabilities put considerable money behind that approach; and to its credit, it announced the new China tech curbs even after it couldn't initially secure adequate allied cooperation – assuming, correctly, that an act of U.S. leadership could bring start bringing them in line.
Hopefully, a combination of these rifts with allies and its recognition of the importance of maintaining and augmenting national power mean that President Biden at least is learning a crucial lesson: that supporting multilateralism and alliances can't be ends of a sensible U.S. foreign policy in and of themselves. They can only be means to ends. And although they can obviously be valuable in many instances, the best ultimate guarantor of the nation's security, independence, and prosperity are its own devices.
Our So-Called Foreign Policy: U.S. Ukraine Policy Dangerously Flunks the Logic Test
alliances, deterrence, Nancy Pelosi, NATO, North Atlantic treaty Organization, nuclear weapons, Our So-Called Foreign Policy, Russia, Ukraine, Ukraine War, vital interests, Vladimir Putin
There must be some kind of psychic connection between my good buddy Ace (so nicknamed because he's actually flown in U.S. Air Force fighters), and Nancy Pelosi.
Just the other day, he made what I thought was the genuine genius point that the most important question surrounding U.S. policy toward Ukraine is one that's never, ever, been asked: If Ukraine has indeed become a vital interest of the United States (a category into which, as I've repeatedly stated, e.g. here, it was never placed even during the depths of the Cold War), why wasn't it admitted into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) long ago? Even stranger, why the continuing NATO cold feet of so many U.S. leaders who are so fond of claiming the vital importance of ensuring Ukraine's success?
And hot on the heels of Ace's questions, the House Speaker on Friday declined to endorse Ukraine's request not just for inclusion in the decades-old Atlantic alliance, but for "accelerated accession" that would speed up a process that's normally pretty complicated in normal times.
Yes, that's the same Speaker Pelosi who had previously sounded pretty adamant about the need to stand with Ukraine "until the fight is done" because its fight for freedom "is a fight for everyone."
But as pointed out in the same news report that quoted Pelosi's more temperate later remarks, even though these are anything but normal times in Europe, there's no shortage of reasonable-sounding reasons for continuing caution. Specifically:
"The West fears that Ukraine's immediate entry into NATO — which requires the unanimous approval of all 30 member-nations — would put the U.S. and Russia at war due to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine as well as its forced annexations announced Friday."
I wrote "reasonable-sounding, "however, very deliberately. Because if you give the matter even a little serious thought (as Ace has), it becomes clear that such rationales make no sense at all.
In the first place, even though Ukraine remains outside NATO, the Western aid that's helped Kyiv's forces resist Russia so effectively has created a powder keg situation in Ukraine's neighborhood (by stationing large numbers of U.S. troops right next door) that could all too easily ignite war between the two aforementioned nuclear superpowers anyway.
It's true that the decision of the United States and Ukraine's other allies to combine these deployments with hemming and hawing on NATO membership has so far produced a favorable outcome: Moscow's been frustrated without nuclear weapons being used, much less a world-wide conflagration resulting.
At the same time, this needle-threading act could fail at any minute – which surely explains President Biden's oft-stated declarations from the get-go that U.S. troops will not be sent into combat in Ukraine. He's obviously determined minimize that dreadful possibility.
But all this prudence becomes completely inexplicable – at least if you value coherent thought – upon remembering what the word "vital" means in this instance. It's describing an objective so important (Ukraine's survival in its current form) that failure to achieve it would (at least at some point down the line) end America's very existence, either as a physical entity or as an independent country. Even those who aren't literalists presumably fear that failure to protect a vital interest will leave the United States only the most nightmarish shell of its present self.
To their credit, U.S. leaders who spearheaded the creation of the nation's major alliances and supported their maintenance have put the country's money where its mouth is. They have not only promised to use nuclear weapons against nuclear-armed adversaries to protect alliance members whose security is seen as vital. As I've often explained (e.g., here), they've deployed U.S. forces in "tripwire" configurations aimed at practically forcing Washington to push the fatal buttons and risk America's nuclear destruction if non-nuclear defenses crumble.
Those policies have aimed above all to deter aggression, and despite the apocalyptic dangers they've raised, have been eminently sensible because a thoroughly respectable case ca be made, based on specific, concrete considerations, for the paramount importance of these allies.
For example, it is wholly plausible that the subjugation by hostile powers of places like Germany and Japan and Taiwan could produce intolerable consequences for the United States. In particular, each of those countries possesses technological and industrial prowess and assets that a country like China or Russia could harness to exercise control over the main dimensions of American life.
The point is not whether you or I personally agree or not. Rather, it's that such fears are anything but crazy.
By contrast, there's nothing specific and concrete that Ukraine boasts that I can think of – or, more revealingly, that any of its supposed champions have brought up – that Russia could use to achieve anything like the above results.
And this observation leads directly to the second logically loony flaw in America's Ukraine policy – the one identified by Ace: If in the minds of U.S. leaders Ukraine actually was so all-fired important to begin with, or became so at some point before the Russian invasion (which the President has just declared must be resisted "unwaveringly"), why wasn't it admitted to NATO right then and there, complete with the nuclear defense guarantee?
Not that any such move would have guaranteed that Russia would have kept hands off. But given that dictator Vladimir Putin hasn't yet attacked any NATO members in Ukraine's immediate vicinity or anywhere else, and that Mr. Biden's vow throughout the entire crisis that the alliance will defend "every inch" of its members' territory, surely is one reason why, wouldn't admitting Ukraine before Moscow moved been a no-brainer?
Instead, the United States and the West have danced around this question for more than thirty years – and counting – practically from the moment Ukraine declared its independence from the collapsing Soviet Union in August, 1991. What's been the problem during this entire period?
I mean, the place is supposed to be vital! In other such instances, that's why the United States has even contemplated using nuclear weapons at all. And yet so far, Mr. Biden's clear bottom line, even during the invasion's early days, when his own administration assumed Zelensky's government to be doomed, has been that U.S. forces will stay out as long as the combat stays inside Ukraine. In other words, he's wavered. And almost inevitably, this position has sent Putin the message that Washington and the West ultimately don't view that country as worth accepting the risk of national suicide.
So thanks to Ace, it must by now be evident that the United States has long believed that it could secure a vital interest with half measures (never a good habit to fall into) or that America should expose itself to an existential threat on behalf of an interest that's short of vital.
And the folks who believe in either position are supposed to be the post-Trump adults in the room? And will be in charge of Ukraine strategy and the rest of American foreign policy for at least two more years?
Making News: Back on National Radio Tonight Talking Ukraine Fallout, Inflation, and China
28 Wednesday Sep 2022
Posted by Alan Tonelson in Making News
cost of living, energy prices, food prices, inflation, Lehman moment, Making News, nuclear war, stagflation, Ukraine, Ukraine War
I'm pleased to announce that I'm scheduled to return tonight on the nationally syndicated "Market Wrap with Moe Ansari." Our scheduled subjects: the possibility I discussed recently that the U.S.' strong support of Ukraine could trigger the kinds of global calamities it seeks to prevent, whether America's torrid inflation has peaked, and what's ahead for China's increasingly troubled economy.
"Market Wrap" airs weeknights between 8 and 9 PM EST, these segments usually begin midway through the show, and you can listen live on-line here.
As usual, if you can't tune in, I'll post a link to the podcast of the inteview as soon as it's available.
And keep on checking in with RealityChek for news of upcoming media appearances and other developments.
(What's Left of) Our Economy: More Evidence of Biden-Flation's Toll
American Rescue Plan, Biden administration, Covid relief, energy prices, Federal Reserve, food prices, hunger, inflation, monetary policy, progressives, recession, supply chain, Ukraine War, {What's Left of) Our Economy
Left-of-center critics of the Federal Reserve's inflation-fighting efforts keep insisting that risking recession to tame prices would unnecessarily harm the most vulnerable Americans and their struggling working class counterparts. Instead, many have claimed that living costs can be cut sufficiently by forcing greedy corporations to charge less through windfall profits taxes, price controls, and the like.
And they've bridled in particular at charges that the Biden administration's American Rescue Plan (ARP) greatly worsened the problem by handing trillions of dollars of CCP Virus relief – and therefore purchasing power – to U.S. consumers well after economic growth had already rebounded strongly and unemployment had already nosedived.
Any development that can engulf the gargantuan American economy, like historically high inflation, almost by definition has many different causes. But anyone doubting the economic overheating role of the ARP should check out the graph below, which is found in this Reuters piece from over the weekend.
The article adds to the evidence that still-towering inflation rates are devastating low-income Americans by super-charging the prices of that most basic of basics: food. But the graph makes clear as can be how the ARP contributed to the problem.
As it shows, prices of food (the darker line) began taking off just about the time that the ARP's strings-free child tax credit payments started to be sent out (July 15, 2021, to be precise) – and not just to the needy, but to considerably better off households as well. Not so coincidentally, the share of American families with children reporting to U.S. Census Bureau surveys being "sometimes or often" short of food (the lighter line) started taking off soon after. And also noteworthy – these food price rises began many months before Russia's February, 2022 invasion of Ukraine began playing its own major food inflation role.
As the article also emphasizes, between 2020 and 2022, "as pandemic restrictions eased, so did the appetite for congress and some states to fund hunger prevention efforts." But continuing federal purchases for "pantries, schools and indigenous reservations" were needed in the first place largely because food – not to mention other necessities – kept becoming so much more expensive.
The lesson here isn't that no pandemic assistance should have been provided at all. After all, genuine suffering was widespread in its early phases and no one knew how long they would last. And the Fed's left-of-center critics are correct that ongoing CCP Virus-related and Ukraine War-related energy supply disruptions have greatly boosted prices recently, too.
But as noted here previously, the supply- and demand-side roots of inflation are very closely related (because businesses can be relied on to continue raising prices as long as they can find enough buyers, and to cut them when customers start balking). Moreover, although in economists' lingo, some prices are "inelastic" (because they're for goods and services that are essential enough to prevent purchasing cutbacks even after major price increases), when they rise high enough, they can still foster lower prices for other purchases that are deemed less important.
Therefore anything, like big government checks, that fills consumer pockets will strongly tend to spur inflation sooner or later. So when help does need to be provided, it should be much more precisely focused on relieving genuine privation than pandemic relief was.
Even more important: The inflationary effects of supporting household consumption can be offset – and are best offset – by policies to support more production. When the Fed's left-of-center critics start addressing defects in that supply side of the economy, rather than trafficking in gimmicks sure to exacerbate them, their complaints about excessive central bank monetary medicine will deserve a much bigger audience. In the process, they'll be able to deliver lasting assistance to those whose plight they rightly emphasize.


I work in the film industry as a loader and I'm looking to build a dedicated data transfer computer for work. Having a f ton of ports would be ideal. 3-4 usb c, 2-3 usb 3. Small compact form would be preferred. My long shot dream would be to build it out in a pelican case but I doubt that would be possible. Budget is $2000.


text:
This article was published on April 8, 2010
First LTE phone call in the Middle East goes to Zain in Bahrain
Fawzi Rahal
Based in Dubai, Fawzi Rahal is the Editor of The Next Web Middle East and Regional Communications Director at G2. Follow him via Twitter. Yo (show all) Based in Dubai, Fawzi Rahal is the Editor of The Next Web Middle East and Regional Communications Director at G2. Follow him via Twitter. You can reach Fawzi at [email protected].
Zain Bahrain today showcased the region's first LTE call, setting new standards by achieving a download data speed of 70 Mbps.
LTE stands for Long Term Evolution. It's the 4G of mobile communications that the world is anxiously awaiting.
If you're interested in the technical specs, this was achieved using ready-to-deploy LTE commercial equipment, the trial involved Nokia Siemens Networks' Flexi base stations, installed in separate buildings, as well as its NetAct network management solution.
Achieving a minimum latency of 15 milliseconds – the smallest in any public LTE call ever– the live call was used to test applications such as multi-video streaming (streaming of multiple videos simultaneously), high-resolution video conferencing, voice over LTE, and LTE terminal mobility within an office environment. The call also set a new record by achieving the region's highest ever data download speeds of 70 Mbps.
70 Mbps on a mobile device! Impressive. Let's see how fast this would be once everyone is sharing the bandwidth!
If it ever gets implemented soon, Bahrain will be the envy of all the Middle East. Until then, Jordan is the place to be with its food delivery lookup service!
Via Nokia Siemens Networks
Published April 8, 2010 - 9:30 am UTC


Contact sports athletes are commonly exposed to concussions. In 1928, Harrison Martland, a New Jersey pathologist and medical examiner, described a series of symptoms in boxers, which he termed "punch drunk," that appeared to result from the repeated blows to the head experienced in the sport (Martland HS: Punch-drunk. JAMA 1928). "Nearly one half of the fighters who have stayed in the game long enough," were described to exhibit cognitive, behavioral, or motor abnormalities that were well known to lay persons within the boxing community and referred to as "punch-drunk syndrome." In 1937, the more formal term dementia pugilistica was introduced (Millspaugh 1937), emphasizing the severity of cognitive dysfunction in boxers. Boxers present with various symptoms indicative of damage to the pyramidal and extrapyramidal systems which manifest most often as disturbed gait and coordination, slurred speech, and tremors, as well as cerebral dysfunction causing cognitive impairments and neurobehavioral disturbances including suicide (Omalu et al. 2010a). By 1973, dementia pugilistica was replaced by the term chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neuropathologically distinct disorder due to repetitive head trauma not only in boxers (McCrory et al. 2007) but also in other contact sports (Corsellis et al. 1973).
Microscopically, CTE is characterized by a unique pattern of extensive tau-immunoreactive NFTs primarily distributed in the frontal and temporal cortex (see Figure 2). In advanced cases, tau-immunoreactive inclusions in the limbic and paralimbic regions, diencephalon, brainstem, and subcortical white matter have also been reported (Stern et al. 2011). The specific soluble and insoluble tau isoforms that are found in the NFTs in CTE are indistinguishable from NFTs in AD (Schmidt et al. 2001) and the ratio of tau isoforms with four versus three microtubule binding repeats is approximately 1 in both diseases (McKee et al. 2009). In the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex, the NFT distribution is comparable to that observed in AD, with numerous NFTs in the CA1 field, subiculum and layer II and V of the entorhinal cortex (Hof et al. 1992). However, β-amyloid deposition is an inconstant feature in CTE, in contrast to the extensive β-amyloid plaques that characterize nearly all cases of AD. Approximately 50% of CTE patients lack significant β-amyloid plaque accumulation (McKee et al. 2009). In addition, when β-amyloid deposits do occur they are less dense than in AD (McKee et al. 2009). Moreover, the tau immunoreactive abnormalities in CTE tend to cluster at the depths of sulci, around small blood vessels, and in superficial cortical layers (Gavett et al. 2011; McKee et al. 2009). Thus, neuropathologically, the pattern of the neurofibrillary abnormalities is distinct from AD especially when considering the predominance of tau pathology over β-amyloid accumulation in affected regions of the brain.


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RUN/Hme.WEBBR 2019
Doomsday Shaman 2019
Cursor Guillotine (Digital Render) 2018
Thats the way the money goes 2018
Cyclops Down 2017
Out of Office 2015
Stocks in Freefall 2015
Pumpjack 2014
In The Balance 2014
Vulcan Point 2014
Escalator RPT 2014
GPOY 2013
Joe Etchell
Cursor Guillotine Part 1-3
Clicker, mouse, pointer, tracker, the unassuming little arrow you see on your screen is the vehicle in which we journey through the digital realm. It responds to our every command, at our mercy, fulfilling the tasks that it is given. Its streamlined angular shape smoothly glides across the tabs and interfaces fluidly transitioning between the surfaces. The control bar icons stand to attention as it passes by, enlarging themselves to tempt the user to click, inviting them in. As we press the button on our mousepad it flicks between the programmes, the fans begin to whir as the software boots up and our screen is a flurry of activity. The programme windows extrude and contort all over the screen as the, the cursor remains the constant within the madness, panoptic, an onlooker in the process. As we switch between programmes, be that a game or a Word document, the cursor shape-shifts to suit our needs, transmuting into an I-beam, crosshair or the dreaded spinning pizza of death. It is constantly communicating back to us, it lets us know through its form the action that can be undertaken, like a soldier reporting in, waiting for orders, waiting for our next move. By extension it acts as our digital hand, grabbing and dragging, clicking, pulling and pushing information across the display. Its use is monitored, every movement, every destination, every IP address we visit, like our fingerprints, the cursor leaves a mark through cookies and data an invisible trail that can be held accountable, transcending the boundary into the physical.
In Edinburgh, at the intersection where The Royal Mile meets George IV Bridge there exists an ornate brass plaque, I used to walk past this daily on the way to my bar job, never taking much notice, as a resident of Edinburgh you don't often stop to take in the tourist attractions and titbits that are found in so many places around the city. I would always see it out of the corner of my eye but was always in a rush, on the phone, avoiding the sea of tourists that would inevitably ask me where the castle was or I was too busy listening to some tripe on my Ipod. For some reason, on one dreary day in 2014 when the royal mile was relatively quiet, running early for work I stopped and finally read the plaque.
It reads: 'The site of the gallows is marked by three brass plates set at the edge of the pavement in front of this notice. George Bryce, the Ratho Murderer, was executed here on the 21st of June 1864, the last public execution in Edinburgh'
By all accounts Bryce was simple man with a rather unexciting life, like with most murders, his was one of lust and anger, the victim would be Jane Seton was a friend of Bryce's lover Isabelle. Being a son of an innkeeper it became apparent to the two women that Bryce had a difficult relationship with alcohol, Jane would discourage the girl from pursuing the relationship on account of his aggression and drunkenness, finally Isabelle took heed and broke it off with Bryce. On receiving the information that Jane had caused the break, he broke into the nursery she was working in late at night and attacked her, during the fracas she broke free and escaped, running up the road with Bryce close in pursuit. Eventually he caught up with her, at one of the nearby cottages just down the lane, he proceeded to pin her against the door then slitting her throat with a razor.
Though his crime was barbaric, by todays standards it is not entirely shocking, what is shocking however is the way in which he died. News spread fast throughout the city as Bryce was put on trial, he pled guilty and because of numerous eyewitness accounts and the wealth of evidence he was sentenced to hang. Though death was still a punishment for 200 crimes in Scotland at this time, for it to be public was getting less frequent. Because of the rarity of the spectacle and the exposure the case had gained, thousands of people turned up to see Bryce hang.
It is usual practice in a hanging, that a trapdoor would open within the platform, the person would then fall through with the noose tied to the scaffold above them. This method would break the persons neck causing a relatively quick death, what was also the case at this time was that the bottom of the platform would be shrouded in black cloth to inhibit the view of the audience. For whatever reason, on this day, the executioner Thomas Askern of York, had got this simple practice completely wrong and the execution turned out to be a disaster.
With the crowds waiting with bated breath, Bryce finally took the last drop, however, Askern had forgotten to give the rope enough slack, leaving only two feet of rope for Bryce to hang from, more horrifically instead of dropping out of site, he would hang in full view of the crowd, his neck did not break, instead, he hung there slowly dying through asphyxiation for up to 40 minutes.
Upon seeing this, the crowd quickly turned and a riot ensued, their exasperation and anger soon turned on the authorities and the executioner, pelting them with stones and chasing them away from the scene. The councilors narrowly escaped from the mob with their lives in tact but their reputation tarnished. Considering the crowds reaction and in light of the mistakes that they had made, the council decided that there was no place for public execution in an enlightened modern Scottish society. It would seem the public had finally lost their appetite for such blatant and visible barbarity.
Wikileaks has supposedly exposed a many secrets since its formation in 2006; government documents, press scandals, war crime evidence, detainment and torture footage, fraudulent activity are but to name a few. The information that they post is always viewed with scepticism, not only because it often if aimed directly at demolishing and discrediting the very top of the traditional top down capital system but also because they choose to keep their informants and whistle blowers anonymous, shrouding their sources and investigative journalism in mystery.
In 2010 at the hight of the US's war on terror, Wikileaks revealed whats known as the Collateral Murder Footage of a 2007 Bagdad airstrike in which Iraqi journalists and civilians were killed by the US air force. The footage gained worldwide notoriety for its graphic content that was now available freely online, but moreover it sparked a fierce debate between US authorities, Wikileaks and Press outlets about the accountability of these killings, was it a war crime? Was the government to blame and did they know that they were journalists? Or, was it just a conspiracy theory? Did the insurgents really pose a legitimate threat?
The events of the video are as follows, after statements from Wikileaks about the content of the video, images of the victims as well as some statements from eyewitnesses and officials the video then switches to a grainy black and white camera feed. The viewpoint is taken from the gunners perspective, a cross-hair is visible in the centre of the frame, with other details around the perimeter, the rangefinder, date and statistical information. The footage also contains the audio recording of the conversation between the gunner, pilot and the command operative on the ground. As the recording progresses, it is uncertain of the nature of their reconnaissance, whether there is any threat at all or it is just a routine check.
The helicopter crew identify a group of men walking through a town square, over a short discussion – about 20-30 seconds long- they suspect that 6/20 of the 'targets' have AK47's and initially they believe one of the journalists is carrying an RPG (this turns out to be a camera). As the helicopter circles overhead, the cameraman in the group appears to take cover, it is at this point the gunner then asks for permission to engage believing that he is about to fire the RPG. The ground controller quickly gives clearance and the group are shrouded in a hail of bullets. The dust takes a minute to settle and visibility is regained after which the corpses can clearly be seen. Most are identified as KIA but there is one survivor, the cameraman and journalist Saaed Chmagh who is appearing to be crawling away along the pavement. As he struggles along of his, dragging himself along with his arms, the gunner can be heard over the intercom, 'Come on buddy, all you gotta do is pick up a weapon'.


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Home articles GUNNER NIEL WIID APPOINTED AS NATIONAL CHAIRMAN
GUNNER NIEL WIID APPOINTED AS NATIONAL CHAIRMAN
At the Gunners' Association of South Africa Board of Trustees AGM held on the 1st of December 2018, the Chairman Gnr Dominic Hoole stepped down as National Chairman after 6 years at the helm.
Gnr Niel Wiid was elected as the new National Chairman.
Niel Served from 1974 to 1975 as a National Serviceman and was part of the first intake to 14 Field Regiment 2, Medium battery, based in Potchefstroom. After National Service he was posted to 7 Medium Regt based in Benoni from 1976 to 1989 where he served as BPO of 72 Battery and treasurer of the officer's club.
During this time there were 9 call ups for border duty which included 2 major operations. A further 2 call ups for internal duties ended 15 years of service.
Niel also served as Deputy Chairman National and branch Chairman of Johannesburg for over 5 years.


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HPS Home Power Solutions launches production of the picea hydrogen power storage system at Zollner Elektronik
Berlin and Altenmarkt, 9 December 2020
Zero emissions thanks to hydrogen: Bavarian minister of economic affairs, Hubert Aiwanger, and Franz Löffler, president of the district council of Oberpfalz and district administrator of Cham, paid a visit to the Zollner Elektronik AG plant in Altenmarkt near Cham to inspect the picea hydrogen-based energy storage system developed by Berlin-based HPS Home Power Solutions. Zollner already started the production a couple of weeks ago and uses one of these systems to support the power supply of its plant with a constant, year-round supply of electricity from solar energy.
Economics minister Aiwanger said:
"To drive the energy transition, we need storage systems for storing surplus renewable energy. By using this for hydrogen production by electrolysis, a flexible energy carrier can be obtained. Thus, as shown here, a fuel cell powered by hydrogen can generate electricity again. Now it is time to use the Bavarian technological advantage to help this innovation make a rapid breakthrough on the market."
picea is the world's first system for single- and two-family houses that combines electricity storage, a central heating support and ventilation in a single, compact product. It optimizes the use of photovoltaics to supply homes with clean photovoltaic electricity via hydrogen storage – 365 days a year. In comparison to the German grid electricity, the system is able to save about three tonnes of carbon per house per year. Following picea's successful development and market launch, HPS is now ramping up for large-scale distribution. Zollner Elektronik AG, with many years of experience and expertise, is ready to provide the necessary production capacity.
"The start of production is an important milestone in HPS's expansion program. In the interest of sustainability and short transport routes, we were also keen to manufacture in Germany. Zollner Elektronik AG is a large-scale manufacturer with areputation for the highest quality. This makes the company an ideal partner in scaling up production of picea"
says Zeyad Abul-Ella, Managing Director of HPS Home Power Solutions.
"This partnership with Zollner supports our business model by securing the manufacturing capacity that we need to achieve market success with picea without having to concentrate on the difficult, costly and time-consuming process of gearing up for production. HPS can therefore continue to focus on extending its market and technology leadership."
picea is based on the functional principle of either using the energy generated by a photovoltaic system on sunny days immediately or converting it into green hydrogen and storing it. The green hydrogen is produced with HPS's integrated electrolyzer using only water and solar power from its own roof – completely carbon-free. The solar energy that is stored during summer, can be retrieved later during the winter when there is much less sunshine. When needed, the picea fuel cell converts the energy stored in the hydrogen back into electrical energy and heat. picea's efficient energy management system can satisfy the complete electrical energy requirements of a single-family home 365 days a year – even in the winter. Not only that, but the waste heat generated is recovered and used to heat the home, thus reducing heating costs.
To ensure that the customers' high quality expectations are met, the picea systems undergo extensive functional testing before leaving Zollner Elektronik AG.
"We have optimized the infrastructure and test systems at our Altenmarkt plant specifically for hydrogen. This has helped us become a technology leader in the EMS industry"
says Johann Weber, CEO of Zollner Elektronik AG.
"Optimizing the cost of industrializing picea was a high priority for us, as we were keen to ensure that this environmentally friendly storage system would offer an economically competitive alternative to conventional energy supply systems."
In this way, homeowners can achieve independence in terms of energy supply. picea can also play a role in energy policy. The storage unit, which has a capacity of over 1 MWh per system, can also store energy from the grid and later release it. A large number of networked picea systems can create a network of decentralized storage capacities and virtual power plants capable of securing power grids in the future. Whenever the grid experiences an overcapacity of wind or solar energy, which currently forces an expensive shut-off, picea systems all over Germany can take this energy in and release it again later when there is a shortfall of renewable energies due to a lack of sun and wind – the so called Dunkelflaute. picea systems can thus help make renewable energies base-load capable and accelerate the shift to renewable energies. This will reduce the need of grid expansion and thus the cost of moving to a renewable energy supply.
Picture attached (left to right): Franz Löffler (president of the district council of Oberpfalz and district administrator of Cham), Hubert Aiwanger (Bavarian minister of economic affairs), Martin Eisenhart (SVP Business Development of Zollner Elektronik AG), Zeyad Abul-Ella (Managing Director of HPS Home Power Solutions AG) (Copyright Zollner Elektronik AG, high resolution photo on request)
About Zollner Elektronik AG:
The family-owned company headquartered in the Bavarian town of Zandt was founded in 1965. Zollner Elektronik AG specializes in complex mechatronic systems, offering a range of electronics manufacturing services (EMS) that cover the complete product lifecycle including development, consulting, production, supply chain management and after-sales service. Zollner serves customers from nine different industries, among them leading global companies as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. Zollner Elektronik AG has enjoyed strong organic growth and today is one of the world's top 15 EMS service providers. The company currently employs more than 11,500 people at 20 international sites.
About HPS Home Power Solutions AG (HPS):
HPS develops and produces integrated systems for the storage and use of solar energy for single and two-family houses. HPS stands for reliability, independence and sustainability in decentralized energy supply. picea, the first system developed by HPS, combines energy storage, heating support and residential ventilation in one compact product. HPS is based in Berlin. For more information, please visit: www.homepowersolutions.de/en
Phone: +49 30 235914-704
Contact Zollner Elektronik:
Bernhard Kirst
Tel.: +49 9944 201-8669


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