Reorganizing Russia
USA media are seizing on the sudden announcement of a change in Russia's governing structure. They're making it sound like Medvedev is resigning in protest.

This clip clarifies what's happening:



Putin's SOTU address focused heavily on demographics. He wants to work on building Russia's future generations, strengthening culture and families. He wants Russians to produce lots of competent and civilized kids.

The reorganizing puts Medvedev in charge of foreign affairs and defense, so Putin can concentrate on internal matters. (I suspect the placement is a form of on-the-job training for Medvedev so he can be a more competent successor, but this isn't stated or implied in the available info.)

Putin is absolutely unique in the modern world, and perhaps unique in all of history. No other leader cares so deeply and comprehensively and intelligently and EFFECTIVELY about the total welfare of the nation he rules.

Labels: Гром победы

  ¶ 8:30 AM

  Constant Russia
As mentioned in previous item, I don't know enough to guess the validity of Martin Sieff's BIG hypothesis that Saudi is about to collapse.

One part of the article raises two questions that fall within my department.

In a time without speed of light communications, telegraph wires, radio or Internet, the fall of the British Empire in America still rocked the entire world. It was celebrated and welcomed from the Emir of Kuwait to the Tsarina Catherine in St. Petersburg.

First question:

Successful revolutions are always backed by foreign governments. Not all foreign-backed revolutions succeed, but revolutions without assistance always fail.

Our NYC-based revolution was strongly backed by Louis in France, and we then rewarded him in typical NYC style by sponsoring the revolution that killed Louis. But what about Catherine? At that time Russia owned and occupied Alaska plus part of BC, and made a dubious claim to the entire West Coast. Russia certainly had interests on this continent. Did Catherine fund the revolution, hoping for a weaker power here?

Morris, as always, answers the question: [p269 of the PDF]

France, it is well known, went into the war for the sole object of severing America from England, and she came out of it with no other gain, than the independence of the United States. In all the secret overtures for a separate treaty, that were made to Count Vergennes, (and they were several) by emissaries from the British Court during the war, he invariably insisted on the recognition of American independence as a preliminary step. When Russia and Austria proposed to mediate between England and France, Count Vergennes accepted the offer, but imposed as a condition, that commissioners should be admitted from the United States, and take part as the representatives of an independent power in the negotiations for peace. He maintained the same ground when Spain came forward as a mediator.

Then as now, Russia was a mediator, not an aggressor.

= = = = =

Second question:

The mention of telegraph wires raises a different question, also in my department. Electric telegraphs began around 1830, but visual semaphore systems were widespread in Europe and Russia around the time of the Revolution. In those countries, news traveled much faster than horseback but somewhat slower than electricity. Why didn't USA copy the idea? For 50 years those systems were well known and highly functional, but we didn't use them. We made do with horses and runners until Morse and others persuaded the government to try the electric system.


= = = = =

And this in turn raises a subquestion. Why were semaphores slower than electric telegraphs? The obvious answer is because electricity... but that isn't the real answer.

Two reasons, one of which could have been solved with existing technology.

(1) The moving parts of semaphores were big and heavy, requiring considerable strength and time to overcome inertia. The keyboards of the first electric telegraphs acted easily and instantly, with negligible mass and momentum. This could have been solved with the compressed-air technology of pipe organs. The English six-panel system would be best because its action was binary. Each key would valve air into its own combination of pistons, each flipping one panel. When the key was released, the spring-loaded panels would snap back to default.

(2) More subtle but unsolvable. The first telegraphs were NOT significantly faster than semaphores. The Chappe system, with a dense network of stations and highly skilled operators, was able to send a message from Calais to Paris in three minutes under ideal circumstances, and one hour in typical usage. Early telegraphs shared the limitation of frequent human intervention. Batteries at each station had to overcome the resistance and reactance of long wires. The message might travel about 5 miles to the first receiver, where the operator would have to copy the complete message and then resend it. This is identical to semaphores except for the inertia and momentum. Telegraphs became instantaneous after the invention of the relay, which automatically transferred the information to a new circuit with its own batteries. Relays act instantly, so a well-formed and well-maintained line could send a message through unlimited distances instantly. There was no conceivable way to develop a relay for visual systems. It would be possible right now using video cameras and OCR technology, but it wouldn't have been possible even 20 years ago.

A telegraph system solely USING compressed air would have been possible in 300 BC. The Romans could have built long concrete pipelines, running along aqueducts and roads in the same way that telegraph wires ran along railroads. Air relays work the same as electric relays, and would have been feasible with Roman tech. This setup could have spanned continents with the same speed as electric telegraphs. There were a few attempts at compressed air telegraphy during the semaphore era, but they didn't get anywhere.

And let's take one more step, probably off the cliff.... An air-based telephone system would also be possible. A delicate leather sender diaphragm with a needle valve could modulate a very small flow, which could then modulate a larger flow. The larger flow could easily move a leather receiver diaphragm. Fluidic amplifiers were possible in 300 BC.

More broadly, why didn't any of these developments happen before electricity? You don't need special instruments to detect the movement and pressure of air. You can feel and smell and hear it directly, and you can make the wires and resistors and amplifiers from wood and leather. Surely someone must have tried these ideas during the 2100 years from 300 BC to 1800 AD??? Even the phonograph, a simple mechanism that could have been built in the Stone Age, didn't happen until Edison was fiddling with ways to record electrical telegraph signals.

Since I'm already off the alt-history cliff, one more step. If clay-disk phonographs had been developed in 3000 BC, would clay-tablet writing have been necessary? I think the answer is Yes, because writing didn't start with words. Writing began as bookkeeping and soon found ways to specify the items being bought or sold. You can't talk in columns.

Labels: Alternate universe, Morsenet of Things, Zero Problems, Гром победы

  ¶ 1:15 AM

  Here's your ad, ARRL!
If ARRL wants an ad to show the joy of ham radio, this will do.



The cosmonauts were doing a ham radio day. She got in and made a QSO. Language not needed, just watch her face as she simultaneously talks in 'radio mode' and logs the QSO in Braille.

Joy.

Sidenote: Most of Valeriya's youtube clips are musical. Her singing is excellent and intensely Russian.

Labels: infinite GOOD, Гром победы

  ¶ 1:19 PM

  The Empty Boast
Another ad from the same 1956 magazine as previous item about analog spreadsheets.



Most citizens had the idea that satellite development was top secret classified hush-hush. It wasn't. Companies were openly boasting about their contributions to the project, well before the actual launch.

The boasting turned out to be a bad bet when the Soviet system of state-controlled capital got there first. The Sputnik brand became the Kleenex of satellites.

We did achieve a victory in the image of The Earth Satellite. This picture remains the basic public icon for satellites. The real Sputnik, which looked more like a folded umbrella, never grabbed our imagination.

Labels: Natural law = Soviet law, Гром победы

  ¶ 3:03 PM

  V-day!
Polistra and friends celebrate V-day as usual!



The end of WW2 also marked the end of our 13-year lucid interval. Before and after FDR, this totally fucked country fully expressed its incalculable evil and indescribable lunacy.

Polistra and friends constantly try to recall the brief sane time, without any hope that anyone will learn anything. Sorosian lands have gone beyond all life and learning. We are zombies.

Labels: Natural law = Soviet law, Гром победы

  ¶ 12:34 AM

  Orlov sneaks in a beautiful fact
In his parodic "tribute" to Monster McCain, Orlov hits it out of all the parks. He lists ALL of Monster McCain's murderous achievements, some of which we have forgotten.

Along the way, Orlov sneaks in two non-McCain facts that are vastly more important than the rest.

The effect of the sanctions in simultaneously driving down both the ruble and the Russian stock market has allowed the Russian government to sell dollars high and to buy up Russian industrial stocks low, effectively re-nationalizing Russian industry at bargain-basement prices, shifting the share of its government ownership from around 16% to at least 65% while squeezing out Western financial interests. The profits that would have otherwise been pocketed by Western investors are now flooding into the Russian treasury, to be spent on health, education, housing, roads and bridges and so on. McCain, you socialist you!

The effect of "crushing" an exchange rate is well-known. I've always been puzzled by the assumption that a Strong Dollar or a Strong Ruble is good for a country. Truth is precisely the opposite. If you want a country that FUNCTIONS and MAKES THINGS, you want a WEAK exchange rate. Putin understands the TRUTH and uses the TRUTH to help his own country, which is the PRECISE JOB of a national leader.

Why do Sorosian leaders think they're punishing a country by pushing the exchange down? Maybe I should just be glad they're stupid.

The second fact is more important and SURPRISING, which makes it REAL NEWS. It hasn't been mentioned even by RT or SputnikNews. Putin similarly took advantage of a "crushed" stock market to resovietize major industries.

This is a GOOD thing. As I've noted before, the modern Goldman system of debts and bets EXTERMINATES THE PEOPLE to raise share value. When the government controls investment, it's possible to shape the economy and use profits for the benefit of WORKERS and ORDINARY PEOPLE. The USSR proved it, Russia is still proving it, and many non-Soviet countries like Malaysia are proving it.

= = = = =

Semi-relevant sidenote: Putin is ALL ABOUT self-sufficiency and breaking Graybill's Law at all levels. This YT channel has a selection of Russian news clips with good captioning. Like all other leaders, Putin is often seen in public dealing with ordinary people and students. Putin's response is UNLIKE all other leaders. When youngsters ask him questions, he always turns the question back in a way that reinforces the student's own skills and confidence. Even when the question is an invitation to boast of Putin's own achievements, Putin focuses on the student's achievements. His constant message to the nation and to the people is "You can do it. In fact you're already doing it whether you realize it or not. You don't need my help, and you don't need help from Western countries or corporations."

Labels: skill-estate, things worth doing, Гром победы

  ¶ 2:57 AM

  More Soviet surprises
RT mentions a new Russian law raising the age for Social Security. Here in wonderful USA STRONG we're raising the age from 65 to 70. Russia is raising the age FROM 60 for men and 55 for women TO 65 for men and TO 63 for women, gradually over the next 10 years.

Surprised me. Turns out that the 60m/55w age has been in place since 1930, longer than our system with its 65 limit. Our original Townsend Plan was meant to start at 60, but by the time it was written up it was "compromised".

Found an excellent brief account of pensions and similar services. Better than the 1968 Dept of Commerce document I've been using, which was a good source on banking and profits but not useful on these subjects.

This PDF is a brief 1959 article by Robert Myers in a trade journal for actuaries. Myers goes into heavy detail on stuff that actuaries find interesting, but also gives a clear and concise description of savings, insurance and medical care.

Myers felt the need to pre-defend his findings against our idiotic pre-conceptions about Communism, which haven't changed one fucking bit since 1959.

Most people in the United States and Canada do not realize that the Soviet Union has an effective social security system. Undoubtedly, this position is subconsciously based on the feeling that the small concern shown by the Soviet government for the rights of individuals extends to aged and disabled persons, who can no longer be productive. This would also seem to be in accordance with the Communist principle, "He who does not work, neither shall he eat."

Actually, the USSR has a very broad social security system that bears many resemblances to such programs in other countries. The Soviet Constitution provides for social insurance protection. Individuals on this side of the Iron Curtain, after learning of the existence of the Soviet social security system, might well expect the benefits to be flat amounts in accordance with the Communist principle, "From each according to his ability; to each according to his need." However, benefits under the Soviet system vary with earnings. Still another misconception that might arise is that the entire economic security of the Soviet citizen is provided by governmental programs. Although this is true to a very considerable extent, rather surprisingly it is by no means completely the case.

Savings accounts:

The Soviet Union has more than 50,000 savings banks. About 43 million people have accounts of an average size of 1,850 rubles. (about 185 dollars at that time, which means about $1600 in today's dollars!) Interest is paid at the rate of 2% for short-term deposits and 3% for deposits of 1 year or more. Since there are no personal checking accounts in the Soviet Union, it would seem that most of the savings in these institutions are for short-term purposes.

Life and accident insurance:

A single government-owned insurance company operates in most ways like insurance companies in other countries. This company sells not only life and accident insurance, but also casualty and fire insurance.

Policies are sold and serviced by an agency force of about 40,000. Each agent has an exclusive geographic territory and is remunerated by commissions that vary from 6% to 20% depending on the type of insurance. The earnings of the agents appear to be relatively good, since they are about 50% higher than the average wage in industry and commerce.

It appears that about 10 million persons are insured for life and accident, with the average life policy being about 5000 rubles. and the average "accident only" policy about 10,000 rubles. Considering the Soviet philosophy, the amount of individual insurance in force seems relatively large.

Medical care:

Almost complete medical care is available for all persons in the Soviet Union under a system of government-operated clinics and hospitals with salaried doctors. The only direct costs to individuals are partial charges for inexpensive medicines and similar items. There is a small amount of private practice of medicine by salaried doctors during their off-duty hours. This is used primarily by higher paid patients to avoid long waits at the clinics for minor ailments.

Here's a chart of the pension age system. Note the distinction between ordinary, hard, and dangerous work, and also note the special provision for mothers of large families. Women were expected to work, and child care was provided free.



Overall this illustrates yet again the distinction between the Natural Law system of employment versus the Yankee system. The Natural Law system, which Yankees call "slavery", provides lifetime security in exchange for a restricted range of income. The Yankee system, which Yankees call "rights", makes no provision at all for security. If you are a New Yorker you get vast rewards. If not, you have the "right" to die and nobody will give a fuck.


= = = = =

Footnote: While I was looking up other sources to be sure Myers was right, I repeatedly noticed that the old structures are still there. The state insurance company Gosstrakh is still running, and the pension system and medical system haven't changed much. In other words, Russia has preserved the GOOD PARTS of the Soviet system while releasing total state control. In my previous discussion, I saw that the Soviet system was in fact capitalist and profit-based. The most successful parts of modern Russia, like Rosneft and Rosatom, are still mostly state-owned and capitalist and profit-based.

CONCLUSION: State-owned and state-planned profit-based capitalism WORKS BETTER than our current share value system. Central planning vs "free" planning is no longer a variable. Our corporations are centrally planned by a few oligarchs (Bezos, Zuckerberg, Buffett, Bloomberg) so we can't claim "the invisible hand". There are only a few perfectly visible and perfectly bloody hands.

It shouldn't be surprising that central planning by government to serve the nation works better than central planning to serve a few psychotic alien lunatic monstrous genocidal demons.

Labels: defensible times, From rights to duties, Natural law = Soviet law, Гром победы

  ¶ 4:53 PM

  Happy V-day!
Polistra and friends decided to get flashy this year.



Previous V-day items: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017.

Labels: Zero Problems, Гром победы

  ¶ 1:16 AM

  Positive sign in Armenia /// EDIT: NO. THE EXACT OPPOSITE.
Armenia had plenty of Soroprotests leading up to an election, and it looked like a repeat of Ukraine's Soros revolution. In that case the protests led to a pure Soros (ie ACTUAL NAZI) government.

This time the revolution fizzled, and the newly elected leader from the opposition party has reaffirmed linkage with Russia. Good. One NON-VICTORY for the Soros side.



This might be a little premature, but it's been a long time since I've been able to add a green spot (moving away from Soros) to the map. (Armenia is the dot at the NE corner of Turkey.)

Sidenote for clarity: Though I like to describe it as God vs Satan, this map is more limited and specific. Countries that have rejected revolutions sponsored by Soros, or rejected Soros NGOs, get the green. Countries that welcome Soros revolutions or NGOs get the lavender. Some of the rejectors (eg England, Spain, Israel) are generally on Satan's side, but nevertheless they had the courage to kick out the Soros mob, so they deserve recognition.

= = = = =

CORRECTION June 11: I was wrong about the new leader. The voice of Satan officially cheers the new leader, so the map needs to be revised. Armenia is pure Satan after all.

Labels: Гром победы

  ¶ 11:37 PM

  Blast from the past
FDR, August 24, 1939. Message to King of Italy.


We in America, having welded a homogeneous nation out of many nationalities, often find it difficult to visualize the animosities which so often have created crises among nations of Europe which are smaller than ours in population and in territory, but we accept the fact that these nations have an absolute right to maintain their national independence if they so desire. If that be sound doctrine then it must apply to the weaker nations as well as to the stronger.

Acceptance of this means peace, because fear of aggression ends. The alternative, which means of necessity efforts by the strong to dominate the weak, will lead not only to war, but to long future years of oppression on the part of victors and to rebellion on the part of the vanquished. So history teaches us.


The facts are constant. Only the names have changed to slaughter the innocent.

This applies to modern external Hitlers like Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama/Trump. This applies to internal Hitlers like James Poulos. And it applies to all-consuming universe-obliterating Hitlers like Soros and Bezos.

Victors never reach the goal of total control. It works for a while, but sooner or later you're spending all of your riches and power fighting off the rebellious oppressed. There's always a Russia that refuses to be conquered, or a Deplorable who refuses to jump off the bridge.

Insatiables are insatiable. The bad part: Insatiables don't recognize limits to their own power and wealth. The good part: Insatiables ALSO don't see boundaries on their ability to steal labor from Deplorables and gold from the ground and debt from Goldman's digital printing presses. Reality clamps limits on the resource end LONG before the Insatiable can reach the limit of the power end. Tanh always defeats Exp.

Labels: #DeplorableLivesMatter, constants and constants, Гром победы

  ¶ 12:10 AM

  The rest of the picture
RT was showing a live video of British diplomats leaving their embassy after being expelled in response to Britain's warmongering.

Not very interesting... just some limousines driving out of the compound with police watching, then the gates closing.

I was confused at first. Is this the British embassy in Moscow, or the Russian embassy in London?



The rest of the picture cleared up the confusion. Blizzard. Horizontal snow. People shopping. Woman walking dog, petting dog.

This is Moscow, not London.

Labels: Leth, Zero Problems, Гром победы

  ¶ 2:10 AM

  Sanity wins again
Polistra and friends express ABSOLUTE SOLIDARITY with the non-Sorosian side of the world.



Russia's election today unsurprisingly shows that SANITY continues to gain ground on the SANE side of the world. Unlike leaders on this infinitely infantile and incalculably wicked side, Putin is eminently sane and competent and GROWN-UP. Under his rule Russia has EJECTED the Sorosians and continues to improve its INDEPENDENT economy and its OWN skills and industries.

The strongest opposition candidate is equally sane and especially interesting. Grudinin, though nominally running as a Communist, is actually a Fordist. He constantly expresses the importance of USEFUL WORK in preventing radicalization and suicide and criminality. Sounds familiar.

Labels: Make or break, skill-estate, Гром победы

  ¶ 2:33 PM

  A million wolves
US and UK and EU have been blaming Russia for EVERY EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE.

This killing of a double agent is the FIRST event that logically and experientially points to Russia as the culprit. It's also a relatively normal event, and the agent was Russian, so it's really none of Britain's business.

Double agents don't die of old age; they are always killed by one of the two countries they served and betrayed. KGB has a long history of knocking off double agents openly, while CIA has generally managed to quietly suicide them.

Given those facts, this event can probably be blamed on Russia, but now the blame is hard to believe.

If UK wanted to be believed when a REAL Russian crime came along, they shouldn't have been crying a million wolves.

LATER: AAAAAACK! IT WASN'T A KILLING! I GOT ROOKED BY THE FLAT ASSUMPTIONS AND INSINUATIONS. Skripal and his daughter were only made dizzy by some kind of chemical, which they may have taken voluntarily. They are "in hospital", not "in morgue". I SHOULD FUCKING KNOW BETTER! My only excuse is that I was especially busy with a courseware deadline when the event unfolded, and didn't take time to read carefully. Not a good excuse for a supposed "skeptic" and a firm and permanent "Russian bot"!

Labels: Гром победы

  ¶ 3:21 PM

  Of course we won't listen
Putin has laid down the law.

In the long run his dramatic gesture is unnecessary because USA STRONG is irrevocably collapsing on its own. We are perfectly self-sufficient in the realm of national suicide, even if we're totally dependent and helpless in all other realms.

BUT: Just as SDI helped to persuade Gorbachev that the game was over, Putin's new NUCLEAR-POWERED arsenal could help to persuade our monsters that the game is over.

The big point here is not just nuclear WEAPONS but nuclear POWER. Putin's new weapons are nuclear-powered, which means they can run pretty much forever without having to refuel or return to base.



Putin is telling USA STRONG that Russia has not surrendered to Sorosian loonies and lawyers. Russia has ALREADY REMOVED the Soros virus that nearly killed it in the '90s.

We are fatally ill with Sorositis. We are afraid of everything, ESPECIALLY the steps needed to cure Sorositis. We're afraid of MANUFACTURING, afraid of FACTS AND LOGIC, afraid of real value CAPITALISM, and afraid of CLEAN POWER from nuclear or hydro.

Russia is not afraid.

Will our monsters listen now? No. One of the symptoms of Sorositis is total blindness and deafness. We see nothing, hear nothing, make nothing. We are alone with the screeeeeeeechy Soros voices in our bizarre alien heads.

Labels: Гром победы

  ¶ 7:21 AM

  Kipling
Via RT:

Every day we add more sanctions against Russia for the crime of being our Official Witch. But when "global warming" chills NYC to the bone, and NYC needs more natural gas than it can get from the former American petroleum industry that NYC has been SMASHING AND SMASHING AND SMASHING FOR 40 YEARS, suddenly there are no sanctions. NYC has bought two tankers of natural gas from Russia, which is a CAPITALIST COUNTRY with a NON-SMASHED petroleum industry, always ready to sell products for a good price.

Kipling said it best.

For it's Commie this, and Commie that, and Commie wait outside!
But it's "Thank you Mister Putin" when the tanker's on the tide.

Time to show the colors. Update: It worked. Thanks.

Labels: #DeplorableLivesMatter, Гром победы

  ¶ 1:00 AM

  Gold to gold 2
Looked at a 1968 issue of PopTronics from American Radio History.

The issue contains an article that runs directly into previous item, where I proposed that Russia should do for the Olympics what it's already doing for economics. Reinvent, secede from EU/US/UK.

The 1968 article focuses on Soviet electronics.

First, this is a good example of another point I made recently...

Especially among techies, Cold War I was distinctly different from the current Cold War II. Tech types had strong reservations about going to war. Why? Biggest reason is obvious. Older tech types in the '50s had served in WW2 and knew what war was like. They didn't want another war. War experience didn't affect the younger tech types, including me. Why were 1967 techies so much less SWARMY than 1917 and 2017 techies? Best guess: Shortwave. Hams and SWLs had direct contact with foreigners, including Soviet Bloc foreigners. We knew that Russian techies didn't get to "vote", but we also knew that Russian techies got more respect and better treatment than our techies. We also knew that Russians were not ferocious war-seeking monsters, which made us wonder about the standard depiction by our mass media.

From the article: Russia doesn't need to reinvent the proper Olympic spirit. Russia was already there. Here's a Russian techie sport pursued with the same national pride and pro-am approach as the Olympic sports:



Radio fox-hunt. Geocaching before GPS. Note that the participants were not locked into gulags; they were rolling their own transmitters, wandering around fields, and transmitting without a license. American techies knew that this sort of thing was common, so we were immune to the Deepstate media portrayal.

Since I'm packing all of my recent themes into this item, let's add the rights to duties theme.

Instead of begging for the "right" to participate in IOC, Russia should be carrying on its own traditional DUTY of sports. The PURPOSE of sport is to prepare men for war. In a technical era, war requires a wide variety of skills. Direction-finding is a radio skill that played a major part in both WW1 and WW2. Turning it into a sport helps to select and develop a group of youngsters who are ready for DUTY when real war comes.

Labels: From rights to duties, Гром победы

  ¶ 5:16 PM

  Reversed value, sharpened up
I feel the need to reprint and clarify this item from a couple months ago. The main point got submerged in afterthoughts and updates. It needs to be sharpened.

= = = = =

Basic problem: When money creation happens automatically at the moment of making a LOAN, people who are attempting to run their lives and businesses by thrift, without borrowing, are completely ignored. We don't count as part of the economy.

The money supply EXPLICITLY EXCLUDES REAL VALUE.

REAL VALUE comes from REAL LABOR. Turning raw materials and components into a useful product, or cultivating crops and livestock, or arranging and advertising products for easier purchase.

Money creation at the point of lending doesn't even begin to recognize any of these activities.

A business that makes or sells things WITHOUT BORROWING FIRST is not recognized as creating value.

In the Western system, EVERY loan, whether it goes toward real production or gambling or stock manipulation, is recognized as creating value.

The current system treats DESTROYED VALUE as an increase, and completely ignores CREATED VALUE. Perfectly backwards.

Before 1975 the distinction didn't matter quite as much, because many loans went directly toward creating value. Building new factories, improving productivity, redecorating a store. Now that the vast majority of loans are strictly criminal, serving to MURDER real business and expand the already infinite fake "wealth" of the Tribe, the distinction matters.

The alternatives are Sharia and Soviet.

Sharia, when applied properly, should create money exactly when value increases. Unfortunately there is no proper Sharia in the current Muslim world. According to this article, modern sharia banks don't create money differently, but do try to prohibit loans that serve speculation. Might achieve the same goal, but doesn't solve the basic problem.

Unsurprisingly, the Soviet system AS ACTUALLY APPLIED got it right. From this clearly written article:

First, as explained below, [Gosbank] had no discretion over the quantity of money. Its money-creation activity like its credit activity was entirely passive, arising as a byproduct of the production plan.

[Explained below:] When farm delivered its milk output, it would obtain a document from the cheese factory verifying that the latter had received its milk input. The document was then turned over to Gosbank, which credited the farm's account according to the value of the milk delivered, and debited the cheese factory's account by the same value.

Likewise, after the cheese was produced and shipped to the State food store, the cheese factory obtained a document verifying its delivery of cheese. Again, the document was turned over to Gosbank, which this time credited the cheese factory's account and debited the store's account. Finally, when households purchased the cheese with cash, the State store deposited its cash receipts with Gosbank and was given a credit of equal value.

With this simple example, we can see how every transfer of physical output from one location to another, and every bit of value added in production, was mirrored by an associated financial transfer through Gosbank.

I don't know if Marx designed it this way, but this was the reality.


Continued and expanded here.

Labels: Natural law = Sharia law, the broken circle, Гром победы

  ¶ 2:26 PM

  Mention of intervention
BBC's website carries the first coverage of the 1918 War of Intervention that I've ever seen in UK/US media. Focusing on a prison camp run by British forces after they had already occupied Arkhangelsk. Pretty fair article overall, but it glides over one important point....

Within months, tens of thousands of soldiers from Britain, the United States, France, Canada, Australia and OTHER COUNTRIES were ordered to Russia in what became known as the Allied Intervention. Some went to the south and far east of Russia and 14,000 troops under British command were sent to Arkhangelsk, near the Arctic Circle. The men were told their mission was to protect military stores and stop Germany from establishing a submarine base.

But the foreign troops also took the side of the Whites in Russia's nascent Civil War. Some European politicians, such as Winston Churchill, worried about Communism spreading across Europe.

Soon after the Allies docked in Arkhangelsk on 2 August 1918, they began locking people up. "They didn't know who to trust or the difference between the Reds and Whites - so they decided to incarcerate anyone who seemed suspect," says Liudmila Novikova, a Moscow-based historian who has become an expert on the post-revolutionary period in the Russian north.

Those OTHER COUNTRIES included Axis troops from Czechoslovakia. In a later branch of the intervention, we were working WITH Kraut troops.

We weren't really interested in defeating Germany. We were ALWAYS interested in conquering Russia.

Labels: constants and constants, Гром победы

  ¶ 12:58 AM

  BBC Travel comes through again
I wonder how long the Travel department can last. They constantly violate Deepstate rules. Twice now they've featured Oklahoma and GOT IT RIGHT, without any of the obligatory mockery of Deplorables.

Today they feature a leftover Soviet cable tram in Gruziya. Obviously I can't verify this one by experience; but the attitude in the piece is equally unfashionable and heretical. Straight-up Orlov.

Labels: Гром победы

  ¶ 12:29 AM

  Happy 60, Sputnik!


Basically reprinting what I wrote on the 57th, which is even more valid now:


Polistra has saluted Sputnik before with an essay on the idiotic notion that Sputnik "woke up" our education system. In fact our response to Sputnik made our schools distinctly WORSE. Soviet schools were doing all the right things (learning by experiment and discussion) while ours were stuck in rote memorization. Before Sputnik we were at least memorizing useful facts; afterward we switched to memorizing pure shit with no conceivable connection to math.

A couple of newer comparisons are evident now.

(1) We constantly mocked Soviet education for teaching the theories of Lysenko. Turns out Lysenko was right, or at least closer to right than our pure-Darwin approach. Acquired characteristics CAN be inherited. Every new discovery in epigenetics reinforces Lysenko and diminishes the Darwin part of the genome.

(2) Our current cultural and educational setup BREEDS TERRORISTS. It's a factory farm for rioters and radicals, with FBI stings as the final packaging and marketing stage on the assembly line.

Who leads revolutions? Logical kids. Engineer types. People with a strict moral code. Our school culture slams those types down to the bottom of the status stack and keeps them there. Athletes and extroverts get all the status and honor. If the engineer types survive they may gain some monetary revenge, but their status never improves.

We are also mass-breeding the privates in the revolutionary army. By eliminating industrial jobs we've turned lower-intelligence males into useless vestiges unsuitable for marriage. (Polistra has hit this point often; Kunstler has a powerful recent piece on the subject.)

The Soviet system, for all its other problems and errors, didn't make this mistake. Everyone had a job and a position. Everyone was useful, and scientist/engineer types were highly valued. If they served the state well, they got special housing and special privileges.

Labels: #DeplorableLivesMatter, Experiential education, Гром победы

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