Naked Capitalism has the article John Helmer: Content Analysis of Secretary Blinken at Geneva Reveals Psychopathological Incapacity to Negotiate with Russia.

Tested in two hot wars, and during the Cold War, the RAND method for gauging the intention of the adversary predicts this about Blinken – he wants war with Russia; he has no mind for any alternative.

The “RAND method” is a rather shallow analysis, but the article does manage to say some things that need to be said. It is patently obvious that Blinken has an obsession with Russia that he cannot overcome. It might even turn out that the Biden administration is worse than the Trump administration. When will the Republicans impeach Biden for being too “soft” on Russia?

Stephanie Kelton has posted the article How (Not) to Fight Inflation

I realize this is tantamount to heresy within the economics profession, where faith in the efficacy of monetary policy runs deep. I simply don’t agree with the sentiment below, and the reasons why have been spelled out by MMT economists like myself in dozens if not hundreds of published papers.

Stephanie Kelton knows why Paul Krugman is so far off the mark, but she chooses not to make the simple explanation. Since I studied economics around the same time Krugman began his studies. even I know why he is off the mark. I am surprised that a so-called expert like Krugman could be so ignorant of his field of specialty. As Keynes explained, and Kelton fails to make the direct connection – When there is no consumer demand, all the monetary stimulus is not going to cause corporations to invest in making more of what they already cannot sell. When there are supply shortages caused by external factors that are out of the control of monetary policy, taking away the “monetary stimulus” is not going to fix the supply problem. Also corporations who have monopolies in their markets find it cheaper and more profitable to raise prices than it is to increase supply.

vidIQ has the post How to Monetize Your YouTube Channel – A Beginner’s Guide. I have been hearing from podcasts about monetizing their YouTube channel. I finally got curious enough to look a little into what they were talking about. I have been posting on this blog about monetizing internet content. What YouTube does gives a hint that the technology to implement my idea already exists. I just don’t understand why almost nobody has thought of using the technology in the way I have suggested.

Use the following link to look on this blog for all the posts I have made about “monetizing internet content”

I do this politics blog for my own pleasure and as a hobby. I have never tried to monetize its content. I don’t foresee a time when I will want to monetize it. However, I do recognize that some people use blogs and podcasts to earn a living. I feel that if this is the way some people have to support their work, that I understand the need. I want to help them because I benefit from their work, and I want to see them continue to do it.

YouTube has the podcast Will You See This Video? SUPPRESSED:Jordan Chariton on YouTube Canceling Progressive Reporting & TYT.

Briahna Joy Gray and Jordan Chariton of independent investigative media outlet Status Coup strategize about how to expand left media’s influence, and why The Young Turks no longer serves the role as a broad, unifying left umbrella under which diverse left voices can thrive. What has motivated the political shift at TYT, and can the left achieve a unified media umbrella without taking big money from billionaires?

Jordan Charlton comes close to describing the system I have been touting for years on my blog. There could be a subscription service that would provide access to hundreds of podcasts. The content providers would get paid micropayments from the subscription service for each view by a person who pays for the service. This way, the subscribers pay smaller fees to the content providers, but there would be many more subscribers paying this smaller fee. I would be willing to pay for such a service as opposed to trying to pay $5/month to each of hundreds of content providers I might be interested in for any give month.

Here is the link to search this blog for previous posts I have made about monetizing internet content.

Market Watch has the article ‘Good luck! We’ll all need it’: U.S. market approaches end of ‘superbubble,’ says Jeremy Grantham.

“We are in what I think of as the vampire phase of the bull market, where you throw everything you have at it,” Grantham wrote. “You stab it with COVID, you shoot it with the end of QE and the promise of higher rates, and you poison it with unexpected inflation – which has always killed P/E ratios before, but quite uniquely, not this time yet – and still the creature flies.”

That is “until, just as you’re beginning to think the thing is completely immortal, it finally, and perhaps a little anticlimactically, keels over and dies,” said Grantham. “The sooner the better for everyone.”

I have been waiting for this since 2009. Which just proves that you cannot time the market. I disagree that the inflation was unexpected. I knew the MMT community was unwise to focus on the fact that there wasn’t the inflation that people expected. I urged them to explain why there wasn’t inflation, and what could change that would bring the inflation on. There were plenty of explanations to be had through the economic lens of MMT. MMT proponents were silly to ignore the obvious.

Dr. Vinay Prasad has published this important post – We need to talk about the vaccines. Beside the discussion by Dr. Vinay Prasad about specific items of controversy, he makes a point about censorship that is also very important.

Perhaps the most serious objection to censorship is that the censors themselves are not fit for the task. Censors are unaccountable. They may be biased, misinformed or undereducated. They may lack perspective. In short, they are as fallible as the people they are trying censor. This is especially true in science, where, as history shows us, consensus views can turn out to be false, while controversial or heretical ideas can be vindicated.

Finally, in the modern world, where the censor is so often a giant technology company, there is tremendous potential for abuse. The same tools used to suppress scientific “misinformation” may someday be used to solidify political power and stifle dissent.

Legitimizing censorship may be the most hazardous outcome of this pandemic.

Naked Capitalism has the article Rorschach Test: Revealing Western Press Reactions to Xi Jinping Speech at Davos.

Here is a quote from the transcript of Xi Jinping’s remarks.

Thanks to considerable economic growth, the Chinese people are living much better lives. Nonetheless, we are soberly aware that to meet people’s aspiration for an even better life, we still have much hard work to do in the long run. China has made it clear that we strive for more visible and substantive progress in the well-rounded development of individuals and the common prosperity of the entire population. We are working hard on all fronts to deliver this goal. The common prosperity we desire is not egalitarianism. To use an analogy, we will first make the pie bigger, and then divide it properly through reasonable institutional arrangements. As a rising tide lifts all boats, everyone will get a fair share from development, and development gains will benefit all our people in a more substantial and equitable way.

Can you imagine remarks like this from Joe Biden, let alone from Joe Manchin or Krysten Sinema?

The Zero Hour with RJ Eskow has the interview David Sirota: Meltdown and Don’t Look Up

How many people are ready to face the facts? I think I get a lot of negative feedback because I am trying to make people face facts that they would rather not acknowledge.

RT has the article Kremlin reveals how it will respond to NATO deployments to Ukraine.

Russia believes it would be “madness” to start a war over Ukraine, but doesn’t rule out taking “counter-actions” to NATO deployments if security negotiations fail and its concerns are left unaddressed, the Kremlin has told CNN.

Previous USA news reports have been putting forward the USA “Intelligence” propaganda that Russia will mount an invasion in January of 2022. Let’s see whose reporting on this will turn out to be more accurate. I wouldn’t bet on the USA “Intelligence” Agency’s propaganda.

The Grayzone has the transcript and the video of US war lobby fuels conflict in Russia, Ukraine, and Syria: ex-Pentagon advisor.

Col. Doug Macgregor, an ex-Pentagon advisor, on how the US war lobby fuels conflict from Ukraine to Syria. Washington, DC, he says, is “occupied territory. It’s occupied by corporations, by lobbies.”

This is not exactly the interview I expected, but it is very believable in my estimation.