Russia supposedly has sold off a massive portion of the US debt it had been holding.
https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/30/investing/russia-us-debt-treasury/ So. That leaves me uneasy. As in very. The Kremlin cyber-spooks have been diddling with the US elections and we get a president who's basically incompetent and unqualified for the job in the extreme as a result, and who has alienated almost every ally we had, to one degree or another, and who has managed to throw the world into a flaming trade war. So the cyber-spooks also appear to have been playing with the UK elections and we now have the UK on the verge of imploding. That leaves poor Merkel as the leader of the "free" world, the poor thing. As if she's not got enough on her plate. Trump's managed to "factionate" beyond recognition the general population of the US of A, and Congress is dysfunctional to the extreme - to the point of impotence. The country couldn't be united in the face of an adversary on a freaking bet, at this point. The congress will just dick around arging with each other interminably what they should do in response to a provocation. And the general public will be so glued to Facebook, "reality" tv, and their mobile phones as to not even notice it's going on. So, if NATO also goes impotent, and if I was an expansionist sort of leader, there'd be nothing to stop me expanding. But is there more money to be made NOT expanding, but just causing general global crises here and there? Hmmmm.
Which is it going to be, a land grab or an economic grab, I wonder. I doubt there'd be much more response than a lot of diplomats swearing loudly if he picked off a couple of small Eastern-European countries (or portions thereof). I swear, Putin must just laugh himself silly watching the foreign news at night.
And his minions are selling US bonds and buying gold. They're smart - they see it coming. Or are they setting it up in the first place?
And then there's China, building islands and military bases on the islands, out there in the South Pacific, and getting territorial. Oh, surely we're not going to see a remake of THAT novel? The one saving thing there is that the US public buys so freaking much from China that it'd be insane for China to start ...uh.. some stuff as it'd just nuke their economy to lose the market.
But then Trump starts his freaking, flaming Trade War. Oh dear.
And then there's Brexit. Still. For Freaking Ever. So now they're printing up leaflets to send out to explain to people what sort of supplies they should consider stocking up on, just in case. Although in the next breath they're saying "oh, that's just scare-mongering." Uh huh.
Remain calm. All is well. ("May I have ten thousand marbles, please?" And the Marching Band gets directed down the blind alley until they all march into the wall at the end...love that movie, but that's digressing.)
WIth the massive drought and the lack of animal feed as a result, it's a good thing the UK is still in the EU this winter, as they're going to need to import animal feed like mad. Assuming the EU has it to spare. Hopefully they'll import enough of it to make it through until the grass/grain (etc.) is ready next Spring. No, it'll have to be enough to last after Brexit starts, because the ports are all going to be parking lots due to backups at the borders on 30 March. And they're going to have to pay through the nose for animal feed after that point, which means animal produce is going to get expensive. Or something like that. And if next summer is as bad as this one, rain/heat-wise? Well, that won't be fun.
And they've got pharmacutical companies giving interviews on the TV where the interviewee is looking just short of a frightened rabbit when asked about supplies and timelines. Ehhhh? Oh my.
But don't worry, because the NHS is ordering extra. (Who's gonna pay for all this, by the way?)
We can't go back to the States - they've collectively gone apesh#t nuts over there.
We still don't know how Brexit is going to go, or our options for "settled" status. The Daughter found a great job to apply for, but while it's only a contract period of about six months it pays well. So she can't apply for it because we don't have a firm grasp on what that would do to her status. Her EU family card gives her full access to the labor market. But she's supposed to be my dependent, and if earning a decent wage I would think that when the settlement application time came around, there'd be trouble. We cannot get any guidance on any of that at all, because nobody who's supposd to know that I've contacted seems to freaking know. So, rather than being able to be a fully productive, tax-paying member of society, the Daughter has to piddle away her time until she's "settled" in just over three years. With the hope I don't drop dead sooner.
Plastic. OOOhhh, plastic is bad. Clogging up the oceans. They're doing that mantra like mad on the BBC, etc. But really, there are no freaking other choices in the stores! So give us the option to use returnable glass bottles (which I'd prefer anyway) and I'll buy the freaking returnable glass bottles. But stop with the guilt trip over too much plastic if there are not alternatives available on the market! Same with car exhaust. We don't need a car here because there's a good public transportation system. We watch the US news/pick up US radio and they're still on about greenhouse gases, etc. SO, where are the alternatives? Where is the development of good, solid, reliable public transporation? No, no, wait. That sort of thing doesn't sell commercial time to pay for the broadcasts and make the network shareholders a profit. Or sell cars.
I'm tired of yellow press, in all it's forms. I am to the point that I would make an excellent hermit. As long as I can still have access to the internet. But wait, they've torpedo'd net neutrality, haven't they?
At least, in the meantime, I don't use plastic straws. They're bad.
Maybe a bowl of cornflakes would help. No, wait, is that corn GMO?
It never ends.
