This thread is for any business matter that may be affecting politics... (or vice versa) I've always been fascinated about the relationship between the two. Often enough the topics stand on their own... But more often, these days with a dynamic international matrixed environment...they blur Affecting each other. We can discuss the consequences of some maneuvers here. Dive into dealings and how they affect us. Enjoy
To kick off.... China Has Rare Earths Plan Ready to Go If Trade War Deepens Rare Earths have been an interest of mine for awhile...including from investment potential. Problem is China has a virtual monopoly on them. Rare earths are those elements and materials that are often used in our tech hardware. VERY valuable. Yet, because of the environmental impact, many nations don't leverage the mining and processing it fully. Including the US. Hard to get regulation...hard to get a successful business going and keep going. So what do we do here?? Stocks often are penny stocks. Despite the potential. China doesn't give a flying fuck about the environ...so they fully leverage it and have become the dominate force with it...bringing in oodles of cash. Even to the point of buying up and controlling tons of area in Africa to gain access and material there. Where do we go from here?? Should we invest? Should we build on it?? so China doesn't have a strangle-hold on valuable tech components...
Good idea for a thread. I very much share your concern about rare earths. China's disregard for environmental concerns, and the health/safety of rare earth miners, is appalling.
True, that's their leverage. So why can't the US or other industrial nation's mine it in a safe regulated fashion?? (it's not like we don't mine...) Or...are there alternative methods or elements to use? Something to appropriately mine and stop the monopoly and profit without over-doing it.
The World Needs Shock Therapy Hmm...I don't know. I don't get the sense of danger and panic that I saw before the last big recession. Now, some idea may be good to implement anyway. But I doubt you're going to get our cowardly politicians to enact any big play Especially in the US and with the current batch of "old-school" mindsets. (nothing new under the sun with this group...)
Spies fear a consulting firm helped hobble U.S. intelligence There are companies like McKinsey everywhere And they've been around forever, Quiet, subtle...but influential and they specialize in taking on the "gray" projects or "dark" environments Slowly finding themselves involved with questionable or controversial items. Titan, Blackwater, etc... As they say, follow the money And the stink Now you know where our tax dollars go... Cause it's not to us. It's not a conspiracy...but it is too all the same. The powers behind the thrones
Pentagon Delays Award of $10 Billion Cloud Computing Contract This is one of the reasons this thread was started...to demonstrate and discuss the deeper mixture of business & politics. Here we see just the tip of the iceberg dealings between players in government...and some of the biggest tech companies. The stake is worth Billions. And they're throwing every tactic they can think of to manipulate the situation. I've seen this crap for years in my time as a contractor. Spying, bribes, under-handed stiff, aliases on the net trying to influence influencers and stock-holders, etc and so on... Now it looks like the prez, Mr. T is throwing shade on the deal to hurt one of his political competitors. (AND news critic...owning a major paper) Chaos on all levels Makes long-time soap-operas look like pre-school playground drama. My question is...will the most qualified win? Period. But it ain't that easy.
There's always politics in business, and especially so in government procurement. Almost impossible to be avoided, and the degree of politics is directly tied with the size and profile of the project in question. As for the Pentagon cloud computing contract, there's a ton of layers to the story (going far beyond just some Indian IT entrepreneur with ties to Amazon), and of course it is incredibly contested. $10 billion is peanuts, as the buy-in on such a project goes far beyond just the cash. Just imagine merely the migration and networking effort (and the level of granularity involved) to set all of the DoD and its agencies up on a single cloud provider, and you can roughly grasp the lasting implications of being selected the sole vendor. On the general thread topic, I really dislike the activist mentality of Silicon Valley tech companies as they leverage their current dominant market positions to flex on political issues. Unless it's a neutral topic such as environmental requirements, any political flexing seems to me to be a risky long-term strategy and opening a giant opportunity for other, unscrupulous players (especially from other regions of the world) to enter the game and start dominating.
Trump's latest tariff may finally send J.C. Penney into its grave Are we winning yet?? Seriously, this is going to affect so many retailers and other businesses. Get ready for the cascading wave...
An unintended consequence of hemp legalization: Hundreds of derailed marijuana cases — NBC News Here’s government legalizing a business Affecting government’s business in legal It’s so interconnected at times Back & forth Pull and tug Frankly, I don’t mind at all We have bigger fish to fry
Forty-six attorneys general have joined a New York-led antitrust investigation into Facebook If they succeed, it may change things Actually they should be doing this for many businesses The saturation and indulgence in personal data usage is excessive and ubiquitous They need to rein it in. FB is just the tip of the iceberg
Oil Prices, Stocks Plunge After Saudi Arabia Stuns World With Massive Discounts Ok, first Putin makes his play and pulls out of the international oil consortium Stunning the Saudis and his nation’s other oil/gas allies Plunging the price per barrel and leaving them scrambling Under his pretense blaming the US and their fracking (IMHO, to undermine his “allies” during virus crisis and further unstablize the Middle East to take on more from Syria) And now this, while the Saudis are going thru a coup crushing...again distracted. Sounds like Putin’s typical MO these days, chaos. All to weaken opposition and as a decoy to his own moves. But the Saudi move further pushes down the oil profit margins, leaving only the refinery shell game (no pun intended) to prop up income. This is going to have cascading consequences beyond the current crisis and market volatility. Politics is going to get REALLY messy Especially as everyone scrambles to lock up their money and resources. (corruption included) I’m crossing my fingers and toes no ones decides to pull the “trigger”. (Like WWI)
Oil's Collapse Is a Geopolitical Reset In Disguise Now this is fascinating and significant. Putin screwed the royal pooch on himself, with his ill-timed pullout play. This triggered and effective avalanche...this will impact many countries including his own which significantly relies on oil. Countries with more diversified economies will compensate better (including the US) It's almost like the fire of global virus crisis, reached an oil tank and exploded. BOOM!!! Can Putin pull an Erkle, imitation...and say, "Did I do that??" His Dr.Evil shtick is getting old. I wonder where the balls land??? The thing is...it's not JUST oil here...but there's the real impact of the virus, which IS still going and continuing further AND the cascading economic crisis it triggered. The wheel is still spinning on this...where it stops, nobody knows.
Companies: Help, we need bailouts or we'll go under. The Fed: here, have huge sums of money so you can keep paying your workforce. Companies: Thanks, suckers *to 1 million workers*': you're fired. *to shareholders: enjoy your dividends Yep Your tax dollars at work Feeding the corruption of big biz Certainly, not helping those damaged by the crisis And heck, I’m a capitalist... But I don’t think they need a bail out and NOT help employees Certainly not with the money we pay in and have to pay back It’s like another article I was reading, how the pentagon redirected money for PPE...to pay government contracts...arms, planes, etc... Again, I don’t mind biz and profits But not impacting those who need masks, etc And not to fill budget gaps There needs to be transparency And accountability I have a feeling, if we have a new administration Many will be going to jail And we better get our money back What’s it ...6, 7, 8 Trillion dollars so far??? And the people barely got anything...not for 6 months of financial disaster. Make a proper profit But there needs to be balance and integrity However, the current government isn’t about that. The swamp becomes a polluted ocean
