Soup

Wow. What. The. Fuck. Total suspension of habeas corpus, even when that was one of the main reasons for the American revolution. Also one of the reasons we closed Guantanamo bay. It's like the senate just declared marshal law. It's the 60's all over again. Now's a good time to start rioting. Edit: I just realized we never closed guantanamo bay. Which means we still have a prision who's inmates are mostly innocent dudes turned in by their neighbors for $10,000.

When the US does well, doesn't every other country do well too? Asia to me seems very much dominated by Governments controlling commodities and prices of things like rice which has horrible effects on the stability of the world economy as we recently saw with the rice crisis... IF china continues to to claim control of things it shouldn't control like trade routes and the natural resources of other countries, that could obviously have adverse on affects on the global economy, the stability of the region, and so on. Obama said it's goal here is to make china "play by the rules." And i've gotta do some more research on what the hell the fed just did but to me it seems good for the European economy. A lot of the world economy runs on US treasury bonds, so allowing people of European banks to buy US treasury bonds through their own central banks seems like a good plan-- US treasury bonds are, after all, one of the safest, and most boring bonds you can buy.

That's an awesome first bike. Not fast enough to get you in trouble but sounds like the fastest thing out there. And a total collector's so if maintain it right it'll retain some/all of its value. I feel like someone needs to warn you though that maintenance on those things can be pretty expensive. There's a huge number of resources out there of how to take care of it, but I'd learn asap. Also if you need any help with it the guys over at SF Vintage Cycle are exactly who you want to talk to: http://www.yelp.com/biz/sf-vintage-cycle-san-francisco They do nothing but old triumphs. And I dont know what bike you have but I'm sure you can find some helpful books/videos here: http://www.lowbrowcustoms.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=6

holy shit. that's a hell of a first bike. take care of that thing dude.

Friends of mine used to have both of those bikes. They were great. I wish i could remember exactly why they were great but I just remember them being really fast practical bikes. And those hollowgrams were the lightest stiffest cranks on the market. If i could find either one of them today I'd buy em.

That caad10 and alu soloist hold special places in ma hart. Especially with the hollowgram cranks. The only bike cooler than the soloist is the Santa Cruz Roadster.

Word, well it's like 4 am here on the west coast too so it might be a while. Fist it's been a while. Did you leave the army? If you dont want to talk about it here PM me dood.

Uh i've been talking to fist and christo-f longer than you've even been on 12oz. Please stop talking.

That must be an Australian thing: When someone corrects you, it must mean they want to fight. Oh well, feel free to continue being angry and arguing about how I'm angry like to argue. Maybe pepper in some derailing posts about how I make derailing posts. And do it without a shred of irony—That part's my favorite. Well here's why I think that is, and what I think this is about: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=142582332 and -Asia has all of a sudden become a major economic player on par with Europe. -Europe's having some serious economic woes and will be digging itself out of a hole for an indefinite period of time -America needs to diversify its portfolio, or at least make Europe a smaller percentage of it by investing more elsewhere. Asia looks good but China's a huge piece of the pie. -If America plans on investing more into Asia it needs China to simmer the fuck down, slow its GDP, and chill on the arms race. So it's not really a big deal how many carriers we send over there, because like you said, it's all just a show so china and america can meet each other's terms before we go in. Also India and Indonesia have told US that they fear becoming collateral damage if America and China go to war. That would explain only 2000 troops.

Why the fuck are Christo-F, FiveFingerMiiscount, and KMART the only australians I can talk to on 12oz? With everyone else it's like I'm speaking a foreign language. I guess you have to have visited America to understand the Barack's Speech. You: Aren't they still leading the way in owning $900B odd dollars of US debt? Me: China's not that big of a player in US debt as everyone thinks. Graph.jpg You: This seems more up to date; Graph.jpg Me: And Protestor, do the math duder. The difference between the graphs we posted is 0.5%, which is just the difference between 2010 and 2011. You: I didn't do math, I just said mine was more current. Me: Cool. I just didn't like the graph in that one link because it left out the overwhelming amount of public debt owned domestically. THeres more public debt tied up in social security than owned by china. You: Correct. I thought we were talking about China and foreign debt, crossfire seems to be about as on topic as Ch.0. Now ME: It's like you're backing and filling for no fucking reason. You originally thought china's ownership of US debt was leading the way. I tried to show you it's less than 10% of total US public debt. I'm just trying to give you a sense of proportion because $1,300B doesn't mean much without understanding context. 10% of public debt's only going to do so much for shaping foreign policy. Now you're being a fucking noodle. I've been on topic this whole time. Australians....

Cool. I just didn't like the graph in that one link because it left out the overwhelming amount of public debt owned domestically. THeres more public debt tied up in social security than owned by china.

I can't really argue with that but if you have this huge increase of middle class chinese that demand IPR enforcement, obviously the standard of living is increasing in China too. Are they demanding labor and fair trade laws too? How long will it be until chinese consumers demand representation in the government and start affecting foreign policy? And Protestor, do the math duder. The difference between the graphs we posted is 0.5%, which is just the difference between 2010 and 2011. That Black Friday vid is too funny.

China's not that big of a player as everyone thinks. Also keep in mind that one of the safest, most boring investments any country can buy are US treasury bonds. The world economy runs on US public debt.

Germany's an obvious example of that but they were leading the innovation in cars, planes, trains, tanks, rockets, bombs, space ships.... beer.... fucking everything. What's china leading in? Knocking off soviet knockoffs of american shit? I just think that american companies who outsource to china would be far more effective at forcing change in china than the pentagon. If apple said "cut that shit out or we're going to india." China would change their ways. Oh and to answer my "what % of the GDP is china's government" I found the answer of 2.5%. How is that possible if everything is state owned?! Gotta do more to find out but damn that's tiny.

I dont really think Jack Fresco's that big of a deal. He's an industrial designer by trade who thinks pretty similarly to every somewhat famous architect of the 20th century. They all think they can change human psychology/behavior/society through the design/layout (we use the word "program") of buildings and urban planning. The last 150 years of Architectural history has been nothing but lawsuits against these idealistic retards. Utopia doesn't exist. The greatest thing any architect can do is think of how to use the buildings we already have.

Really? I can't find any numbers, but if that's the case Im curious how big the chinese government really is (% of Chinese GDP). I just read the other day that a product made in china costs americans way less than the chinese pay for the same thing. They say it's because the corrupt government officials charge freight trucks hundreds of dollars just to use one road, tariff local businesses, nickel and dime businesses at every corner. If corruption is as wide-spreading as it seems in china, yet the official stance in chinese government is "we're too lazy to tax" well.... how's that work? I remember Milton Friedman claiming Hong Kong in the 80's was the greatest example of free market capitalism anywhere... is that really true today? I'm under the impression tax and regulations are far more stringent over there than here.

In the age of the internet where people are as smart as google, it's incredible how wrong people can be sometimes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Economic_Stabilization_Act_of_2008 There was a bailout of wallstreet. Did the government make 40-something million dollars from it? Yes. Was it still a bailout? Of course. Did the US government force every bank in America to raise capital by issuing them a loan with 9% apr through the tarp program? Yes. Why? Because between the subprime mortgages, credit default swaps and leveraging on top of leveraging on top of leveraging there was about a sixty times more money being used than what was actually in circulation. If people wanted their money back, they all would've failed. In comparison the great depression was caused when there was a bank run with only three times the the amount of borrowing over the actual pool of money. The only way to reduce the risk here is to raise the amount of money every company actually has sitting has on their books.

Haha thanks for the response christo-f. You're like the Plato of foreign policy. I think he waxed poetically about bboy metaphors too. But here's the deal, the US either plans on using those 2000 marines or plans on them doing absolutely nothing, either plan we can't really afford right now. Cant we just send a bunch of Darwinians some outfits... er "uniforms" and have them dress up when China peeks in? And I know you know all the corporate espionage/complete and utter lack of copyright laws and theft at every level that's costing american companies upwards of a trillion dollars in lost revenue. We can put a number on that. It's not an exact figure, but a one and some zeros is a good start. I'd imagine China calling dibs on the trade route through the south china sea has some companies pissed off at what china's government is costing them. If so, why not do the same, pull out the abacuses, and throw out a number... just to help America prioritize what part of china we hate the most. And i mean pushback from chinese companies against the chinese government taxing and tariffing their own merchants at every corner. The chinese government is claiming that their red branded state capitalism prevented the "failed capitalist markets" from hurting their economy. I'm wondering how China's tax base feels about that and if they're crying for less government intervention.

I just dont think America has the money to go to war. The pentagon's about to take a 500b cut, followed by another 500b next year, and the pentagon isn't good with budget cuts. The question has to be asked, is this america's battle? And if it is, is this america's battle now? What about chinese businesses pushing back against the state? I was thinking china's economy was more reliant on US treasury bonds. Check this out. http://www.npr.org/2011/06/10/136930746/explore-chinas-global-reach

Who the fuck cares about any of them? They're all fucking horrible. I'd like to see one of the random schmoes on Chop cult go against any of them. Like this thing

Oh back on jackets for a sec. Bought this http://bontrager.com/model/09219 It's not perfect. I wish it had a back vent, and the chest pocket isn't totally waterproof, but it's pretty good.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/11/20/142562402/video-after-pepper-spraying-a-powerfully-silent-protest-at-uc-davis The second video is terrifying.

Hahahhaha

Those are some great photos. Definitely my favorites so far. Not sure what Chase had to do with any military invasion but I dig the lineup of our wondrous military history. They've got LA up there but not Hurricane Katrina which shot to kill anybody who tried to leave the flood area via the Danziger Bridge (thank god OWS is all white people or they'd all be dead). Oh and lets not forget the spanish american war: america's first attempt at liberation through invasion. I will say I wish OWS knew the difference between a bank and a brokerage.

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/16/142407107/binges-of-high-beta-rich-shake-up-u-s-economy