I didn't claim that there's no power gap between the U.S. and the EU and I didn't deny that the U.S. is the dominant partner in this relationship. I just wanted to push back against the notion that Europe is "America's bitch" who "will jump when they say 'jump'". The relationship, while clearly not perfectly balanced and equal, is far less onesided than you portray it.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Mar 25 2022 06:12am

In 2017, 2018, 2019, average annual home price appreciation was between 5-6% annually. In 2020 HPA was 11% and in 2021 it was 17%, in 2022 it's projected to be up another 10%. Covid actions absolutely exasperated the issue by significantly expanding the money supply and damaging supply lines.

Agreed, if anything it's the UK and Australia that are guilty of that

Have you seen any other news? Russia just leveled a city there. It is Grozny there in the south.

Even their missiles are missing too often.

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/exclusive-us-assesses-up-60-failure-rate-some-russian-missiles-officials-say-2022-03-24/

This post was edited by Saucisson6000 on Mar 25 2022 05:58am

The underlying reason for the surging prices on the housing market, which go back over 10 years, is the money printing by the central banks. All the central bank money has fueled asset price inflation, exacerbated by some socio-economic macro trends (rural flight, a shift from an industrial to a knowledge-based society, high levels of immigration which also tends to focus on cities).

Of course the "money printer go brrrr"-response to the pandemic has only made this problem worse. No idea by how much though.





I would be very cautious when it comes to polls like these. People tend to underestimate the sting of personal sacrifice while they aren't suffering from it yet.
Moreover, poll questions like this one, which put a moral cause against personal self-interest, are particularly prone to social desirability bias.

This poll reminds me of these polls about masks where some 60-80% of respondents said they'd continue wearing masks once mandates are lifted. We all know how that turned out...

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Regarding your last sentence: the Russian arms industry is largely autarkic. They have the factories and the natural resources to keep going. Likewise, the big military investments, namely buying tanks and jets, already lie in the past. On the economic side of things, Putin needs just two things to keep up the ongoing war: oil for his tanks (which they have in spades) and roubles to pay his soldiers (the central bank can just print them if necessary). Simply put, it would be foolish to expect an embargo on Russian oil and natural gas to hamper the Russian ability to continue this war in the short-term. It would take many months, if not years, until the loss of heavy material which cannot be replaced by Russia's arms industry or surging inflation due to too much money printing put an economic end to this war.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Mar 25 2022 06:14am

My own position is that its poor form to assign such a label to him. In times of war certain civil liberties will be, and are being, withheld. He is trying to maintain the independence of his country, the less roadblock, the better. He is the figurehead of his country right now and his goals are liberation not dictatorship, in my view.

This post was edited by ferdia on Mar 25 2022 06:06am

Somewhere in Japan in February 1942:

"Oh wow, FDR has imprisoned all Japanese living in America in camps. The yanks do indeed hate us. Hirohito and Hideki Tojo were right that the Americans are our enemy and plotting to destroy us. We were right to preempt them with our strike on Pearl Harbor."

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Mar 25 2022 06:08am

Ukiraine Pro-Russian parties are fine (not foreign funded nor corrupted) and want to spread Putin's freedom btw