Okay, I'm explaining my opinion. Whatever. I'm trying to root my opinion in the material reality of Europe's dependency on the US (energy, finance, military) because I think that actually neatly explains why Europe constantly bends over backwards for Trump. Again, it's not just fossil fuels. It's NATO, it's global trade in dollars, etc etc. Dependency is multifaceted.
I can't help but notice you didn't explain your opinion on why Europe obeys the US's demands. Do you have an explanation?
A sudden 20% drop would be catastrophic. Europe could possibly thread the needle but things would be hard for a while, at least causing a multiple year recession.
I'm just explaining to you the material reasons for why Europe bends the knee to the US. What's your explanation? They're just dummies?
The US would just wait for the EU to collapse, because even a single winter without US imports would destroy them. The UK couldn't ramp up production that quickly, they've been declining as producers for a long time. There'd be at least a few years when people can't heat their homes or run factories because they're cut off from the US and Russia at the same time.
Trump also seems fully willing to destroy the US just to teach his enemies a lesson lol
Besides, just drilling for more fossil fuels is going to kill us all. Electrification is the only serious solution.
Europe is essentially a collection of neocolonies of the US empire. As Europe's colonies gained independence and as NATO constantly increased demands for US military hardware and as fossil fuels became dominated by trade in dollars and as the Eurozone robbed them of currency sovereignty, they became stuck in a state of dependency on the US and USD. The amount of leverage Trump has to punish Europe is actually massive, tariffs are the tip of the iceberg.
How does a winter without imported US gas sound? You can't get it from Russia anymore, after all.
The only hope I see for Europe is if they pivot to Asia, especially China. The only alternative is to get off of imported US natural gas and oil traded in dollars by switching to Chinese solar and electric vehicles, embrace electrification. The Netherlands backing down on stealing that Chinese chip factory gives me some hope that Europe isn't going to alienate itself from China too.
None. Everyone will have an AI interpreter implanted at birth that can translate gestures and grunting into language as we desperately try to communicate like our ancestors did.
None will be able to read, write, or speak. ChatGPT will do it for you.
You're literally doing reactionary individualism. Everyone is a neoliberal subject floating in a sea of individuals, there's no social obligations to anyone around you and you can do anything you feel like. Everyone is sovereign!
Except, what happens when everyone blasts their phone speakers all at the same time?
The only way using speakers in public works is by relying on everyone else to follow the social norms and not blast their own speakers, competing for the limited soundspace we share in public. If everyone was blasting all the time our public spaces would be a nightmare, people like me who can get overstimulated would basically be forced out of public life - and no, ear plugs don't fix it.
You do have an obligation to your community and the people around you. Noise pollution is antisocial.
He's not entirely wrong. Democrats didn't care about the Epstein files before Trump's reelection and they don't have anything else to talk about because most of the party hates the DSA's ideas. They don't care about the victims and they'd have been happy to bury this, they're doing this because there's no other choice. It's their best political move.
Don't get me wrong, Trump is obviously in the files and this is a great political move!
Their job is to serve their donors. That's why a few Democrats threw themselves on a landmine to collaborate with Republicans to end the shutdown, despite voters showing them clear and obvious support on election day. They had literally zero electoral reason to cave, they did it because the rot runs the party.
The rot can either be cut out, so overthrowing the party leadership, or the party can be left behind to rot in the dustbin of history. If we do not address the rot everything will get worse forever until the country collapses.
Supply and demand. As long as there is demand for Russian rubles, and there are as long as Asia trades with them, then inflation will be kept in check. Inflation is caused when supply outpaces demand.
Okay, I'm explaining my opinion. Whatever. I'm trying to root my opinion in the material reality of Europe's dependency on the US (energy, finance, military) because I think that actually neatly explains why Europe constantly bends over backwards for Trump. Again, it's not just fossil fuels. It's NATO, it's global trade in dollars, etc etc. Dependency is multifaceted.
I can't help but notice you didn't explain your opinion on why Europe obeys the US's demands. Do you have an explanation?