Vast new cities are being built across China at a rate of ten a year, but they remain almost completely uninhabited ghost towns. Racing to stay ahead of the world economy, is the superpower about to implode?
“There are around 64 million empty apartments in China,” claims analyst Gillem Tulloch. It’s all part of the Chinese government’s efforts to keep its economy booming and there are plenty of people who would love to move in, but the properties are priced out of the market. It’s after 2pm and in the new city of Dongguan shop owner Tian Yu Gao is yet to serve a single customer. “It’s a bit boring,” he sighs. His open shop is a rare sight in the Great Mall: once heralded by the New York Times as proof of China’s astonishing consumer culture, today it is an eerie vista of emptiness. “It can’t stay this way,” insists Tulloch, “when the bubble bursts, it will impoverish vast numbers of people”.
One of the comments summed it up pretty nicely: Do you girls realize that no where in the Bible does it say sex before marriage is a sin? However, mocking God is a sin (Galatians 6:7). And are your outfits made of polyester? Cause that’s a sin (Leviticus 19:19). And they don’t seem very modest and the main girl had gold rings on, another sin (1 Timothy 2:9). So don’t make up rules and say they’re in the Bible while you ignore the rules that are there.
Understand what Hillary Clinton really means… :)
How to analysze a State Department briefing
Unfortunately I will need to make some remarks about the peoples movement in Egypt
We continue to use our secret intelligence closely,
We are depply scared about our empire in the region
And slightly embarrassed that we fund the Egyption security forces to repress their own people,
And we call on the 30 year dictatorship in Egypt to do everything in its power to protect our interests
At the same time we encourage to portrayal of protestors as more violent than the Egyption army
As we repeatedly say, we promote human rights for the priviled, when it is politically beneficial to us
Including freedom of expression, except in our own country if you engage in any dissident groups
We urge the Egyption mafia to use covert CIA tactics similar to those used in COINTEL program
And promote the similiar steps used during the Honduran 2009 coup to cut off communications
The protests underscore the fact that Egypt is the second largest recipient of US Aid $, after Israel
And the Egyptian regime that we support with $1.3 billion in military aid (tear gar, guns, tanks, training)
That maybe with enough violence we will make these people go away
As Obama has said yesterday, reform, but not an inspiring revolution, is critical in Egypt
Egypt has long been an important puppet of the United States on a range of financial issues
As a partner we won’t know what to do if the political climate in the region changes
The Egyption government needs to push through more neoliberal World Bank and IMF politicies
To implement a whitewashed attempt to appear to be concerned with the problems of the masses
We continue to spy on the Egyptiptian people as we do inside our borders and around the world,
The imperative is to hold onto our stable economic interests to profit at the expense of the people
And encourage the participation of US companies to profit abroad
We want to partner with the Egyptian oligarchy and who ever we name as their future government
To impose on them our need for domination to secure oil interests for our overcomnsumption
That respects our strategy of imperialism to maintain our over 1,180 military bases worldwide
When I was recently in the region staying in 5 star hotels far removed from the poverty of the people
I met with submissive groups and I explained to them as well…
We overthrew Saddam Hussein when it was convenient & simply we’re not ready to dispose of Mubarak
We want you to believe most of the people in the Middle East are all terrorists, especially so you fear Muslims
[Who] are seeking freedom from the poverty which we push their governments in using foreign “aid”
and to have a little or no role in the decisions that will shape their lives
As I said in Doha, leaders we install need to prevent this type of revolution from happening
And to help ensure the rich can live extravagantly at the expenses of our collective resources
They need to ignore this revolution so people in the USA don’t get the same ideas.
Having your place broken into and your computer stolen can be a nightmare. Getting revenge on the fucker who has your machine can be a dream come true. I had the opportunity to experience both of these when my machine was stolen in Boston and then showed up in Las Vegas 2 years later. Come share some laughs at a lamer’s expense, participate in the pwnage, and learn some resulting insights into the implications of certain security decisions.
The talk starts a bit slow, but it gets better by the minute.
Also seen on Gizmondo, slides for the talk are available here.
Thinking about visiting Kuwait? Better leave your camera at home then – apparently the government just banned DSLRs from being used in public, unless it’s for journalistic purposes. Compact cameras and cellphone with cameras built-in are still ok though.
Why? At least according the local newspaper, the country has so little exposure to art, people tend to get afraid when seeing “big black cameras”.
And there I was, thinking people getting scared of “big black guns” are stupid. :-/
If you have about 45 minutes to spare and want a nice, short summary of one of the many reasons we’re pretty much fucked, go and watch “Overdose: The Next Financial Crisis” on Journeyman Pictures YouTube channel.
In times of crisis people seek strong leaders and simple solutions. But what if their solutions are identical to the mistakes that caused the very crisis? This is the story of the greatest economic crisis of our age, the one that awaits us.
