Russian Assets

Unfortunately, guys like Ron Johnson and Rand Paul and Mike Lee are effectively Russian assets because they're all owned and operated (IMO) by global plutocrats like Charlie Koch (and Vladimir Putin, BTW) who are getting together and dividing up the world among themselves.

This shit fits with my bit about Project Plutocracy.

Ron Johnson Says 'Putin Will Not Lose the War,' Votes Against Ukraine Aid

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson has elaborated on his decision to go against a measure to allow the House of Representatives to vote for further aid to Ukraine, saying that Russia's leader Vladimir Putin "will not lose the war."

On Monday night, a bipartisan coalition of senators approved motions to push forward a package of further aid to countries including Ukraine and Israel. Senators voted in a majority to end dilatory debate on the $95 billion package, setting up a final vote for early Tuesday morning to send it to the House. Johnson, a Republican, was among a large group of GOP senators who voted against it.

Speaking on conservative news network Real America's Voice, Johnson said that, while Putin was "a war criminal", some of the things the Russian president said in his interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, that aired last week, were right.

"Our policy should be focused on how do we bring Vladimir Putin to the table," Johnson said.

"We're cutting off our nose to spite our face with some of these sanctions," he added, saying that it was making American dollars less important as Russia starts to trade in other currencies.

Johnson said: "A lot of the points that Vladimir Putin made are accurate. They're obvious, and so many of our people here in Washington D.C. are just ignoring that, making people believe like Ukraine can win. Putin won't lose. Putin will not lose. He's not going to lose."

Johnson added that people needed to accept this reality to deal with the war and bring it to a close.

Newsweek contacted representatives for Johnson by email for comment.

The package politicians are deliberating would allocate $60 billion in aid to Ukraine's military operation, $14 billion to Israel and US military operations in the region and more than $8 billion to US partners in the Indo-Pacific region, including Taiwan. It also allocates nearly $10 billion for humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza.

Republicans have long argued that any additional aid to Ukraine should be tied to additional border security funding, amid soaring encounters on the southern border.

In a statement, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson criticized the deal, and said it lacked border security provisions. "House Republicans were crystal clear from the very beginning of discussions that any so-called national security supplemental legislation must recognize that national security begins at our own border," he said.

He added: "America deserves better than the Senate's status quo."

On Monday, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said the weekend votes demonstrated "beyond doubt that there's strong support" for advancing the foreign aid package.

Schumer said: "These are the enormously high stakes of the supplemental package: our security, our values, our democracy. It is a down payment for the survival of western democracy and the survival of American values."

He added: "The entire world is going to remember what the Senate does in the next few days. Nothing—nothing—would make Putin happier right now than to see Congress waver in its support for Ukraine; nothing would help him more on the battlefield."

During his interview with Carlson, which represented the first time the Russian leader was interviewed by Western media since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin suggested that Russia was open to peace talks with Ukraine, but claimed that the United States was getting in the way.

Today's Parody

Come See About Me

As we "age out", there could be problems that won't lend themselves easily to solutions.

Not that there are any problems in a large diverse society that are easy to tackle, but when you're in a struggle against a strong authoritarian trend, it's likely there will be plenty of muddled thinking - even more than "usual".

On the immigration issue, we have a bunch of "conservatives" who are spouting off about workforce needs and not wanting immigrants "stealing our jobs!!!" And they know we'd be hard up without immigrants to step in and do the jobs we need doing, but they don't like all those brown people, so their idea is to crack down on all this feminism stuff and put women back in the home, making babies and raising workers.

In a May 2022 House Judiciary Committee hearing, MAGA Mike Johnson suggested that abortion deprives the national economy of potential “able-bodied workers” during a discussion of the Supreme Court’s anticipated overturning of Roe v. Wade.

But there's a bigger problem coming down the road if we give in to these idiots and close off immigration completely - which is actually what some of them want to do.

Circling back now - as we age, we're bound to see a labor squeeze that's going to get tighter, because more people are retiring, and fewer people are able to step in and take over.

So who's going to be changing your sheets, and cooking your meals, and wrangling your meds, and doing all the things you need done, but can't manage on your own cuz you're too fuckin' old? Up until recently, we've had plenty of immigrants looking to ply their trades, or learn one, or otherwise handle a job that requires particular skills.

Who's going to be here to look after you when you can't handle it anymore?

This piece from Brookings Institution looks more globally, and they don't address the problems posed by the migrating herds that are already on the move and making for trouble.

The age of the longevity economy

Because demographic shifts are incremental, gradual, and long-term, most people do not look carefully at new data until the change is so significant that they are forced to pay attention. Last year marked three demographic milestones: The global population topped 8 billion; India overtook China as the most populous country in the world; and China saw its first population decrease in decades. Yet, the milestone with perhaps the most significant social and economic implications passed with relatively little fanfare: The number of older adults—those aged 50 and over—surpassed the number of children under the age of 15 for the first time (Figure 1). Broadly speaking, the 8 billion global population is now comprised of 2 billion children, 2 billion older adults, and 4 billion youth and other adults.

Despite significant changes in demographic trends, the global population continues to rise, with an estimated increase of 75 million people in the next year alone. An important trend implied by the data in Figure 1 is that population growth today is driven by the falling mortality of adults and not by high fertility. In fact, the number of children in the world has peaked and will remain constant at its current level for a couple of decades. What is instead driving population growth is that people are living longer, extending their lives well beyond age 50. So, if we look at the change in age distribution between now and 2040—when the world will have added 1 billion more people—we will see no change in the number of children, but an additional 800 million people in the 50+ age group (Figure 2).

Where will the growth in the 50+ population come from?

The 800-million-person expansion in the 50+ age group is heavily concentrated in developing countries in Asia. The increase is particularly noticeable in the consumer class, defined as those spending more than $12 per day in 2017 purchasing power parity (PPP). Membership in this consumer class indicates an ability to afford not just basic necessities, but additional goods and services as well. While the overall population is projected to rise by 1 billion by 2040, the consumer class is expected to expand by 2 billion. Figure 3 shows that 700 million of these people will live in 10 low- and middle-income countries, mostly in Asia. The United States is the only high-income country with a significant rise in older adults. If the countries of the European Union were combined, their increase in the number of older adults would be roughly equivalent to that of the U.S.

The country-level breakdown reveals that even though India is the world’s most populous country with a still-growing population, China will have a significantly larger increase in its 50+ consumer class population.

Furthermore, China’s shifting demographics are happening at a comparatively early stage in its economic development. By 2040, China’s older adult population will resemble Japan’s today — its median age will reach 48, compared to 50 in Japan this year. But the average expenditure of a Chinese consumer in 2040 will be only two-thirds as much as a Japanese consumer spends today—hence the observation that China is one of many countries growing old before it grows rich.

Chronicling the power of the Longevity Economy

The Longevity Economy refers to the economic contributions of people aged 50 years and older. According to AARP’s Global Longevity Economy Outlook report, In 2020 the 50-plus population contributed $45 trillion to global GDP, or 34% of the total. That equates to about three times the combined revenue of the world’s 100 highest-earning companies in 2020. World Data Lab projects that the spending growth of this group will be around 5.5% over the next decade. In 2024, older adults account for 42% of total spending worldwide, and as they grow in numbers and in wealth, their relative contribution will continue to steadily rise.

Within this group of older adults, those aged 65 and over will be the biggest spenders. In the large developing countries where the growth is concentrated, the new cohort of seniors will have accumulated higher savings than their predecessors, so per-capita spending will also increase. The combination of these two forces will result in aggregate growth of older adult spending of 6 to 6.5% per year for the next decade, making the 65+ age group the fastest-growing age cohort.

In aging societies, like China, the power of the Longevity Economy is particularly striking. Over the next decade, Chinese seniors are expected to experience twice the spending growth compared to other consumers, driven equally by an increase in the number of older adults and higher spending per citizen in this population segment.

Understanding trendlines before they become headlines

While demographic shifts tend to take place over decades, the past year has borne witness to major milestones that have garnered significant attention with enormous downstream societal and economic implications. Essentially, trendlines have now become headlines. Advancing our understanding of these demographic realities and their consequences in the decades to come will be increasingly important as the world is getting older at a faster pace than ever before.

Today's Beau

MAGA dolts are nearly done with the "believe absurdities" part of their training, and are eager to move into the "commit atrocities" phase.

Overheard

The Niners could still win

if Mike Pence does the right thing

Today's Pix

click

☟

Denver Univ - 1960s

I'm Not Racist But...

... I think the Dems are the racists because they blame white people who're just trying to keep the brown people from ruining this country.

In The Eyes Of The World

... if you're American, you're Mississippi.

The good news:

It's fairly probable that "Trump, but with brains" isn't a real thing.

The bad news:

That may be the point - because they really are looking for a guy with Trump's charisma (but with less debilitating emotional baggage), and just enough intellectual horsepower not to give the game away while also not getting any funny ideas about how he's actually in charge of anything.

Today's Today

It just occurred to me that 'today' is an anagram of 'toady'. I wonder what brought that to mind.

Anyway, three years ago today, Lindsey Graham showed his true colors.

 Happy Anniversary, Senator! 

Overheard

A study published last year in the Review Of Economic Studies concludes that investments can actually pay dividends down the road.

Huh. Now whooda thunk it?

Is the Social Safety Net a Long-Term Investment? Large-Scale Evidence From the Food Stamps Program 

, , , 

The Review of Economic Studies, rdad063, https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdad063

Published: 08 June 2023

Abstract

We use novel, large-scale data on 17.5 million Americans to study how a policy-driven increase in economic resources affects children's long-term outcomes. Using the 2000 Census and 2001–13 American Community Survey linked to the Social Security Administration's NUMIDENT, we leverage the county-level rollout of the Food Stamps program between 1961 and 1975. We find that children with access to greater economic resources before age five have better outcomes as adults. The treatment-on-the-treated effects show a 6% of a standard deviation improvement in human capital, 3% of a standard deviation increase in economic self-sufficiency, 8% of a standard deviation increase in the quality of neighbourhood of residence, a 1.2-year increase in life expectancy, and a 0.5 percentage-point decrease in likelihood of being incarcerated. These estimates suggest that Food Stamps’ transfer of resources to families is a highly cost-effective investment in young children, yielding a marginal value of public funds of approximately sixty-two.