From the beginning Biden policies were created by ideologues who have no concept of balance or technology. Many were really Obama policy people as well. Without any understanding of consequences, his initial policies on energy were flatly insane, in total ignorance of the value of energy self-sufficiency. His actions destroyed the Keystone with applause from his fans. That oil is still arriving via more hazardous and expensive rail transport, just at a slower rate. The middle & mountain west refineries with investments for heavy crude were lost money as was all that material on the ground much like the fencing for the border. Wasted investments. He put the fossil guys on notice that they were not desired anymore so few will add any money for US investment. Exxon and others will plow their profits into better properties. More investment leaving.
His technology people said the barrier for EV adoption are charging stations, let's fund them. And more credits to buy the cars. Except only the rich can afford them and only the green city folk can use them. And I see on Twitter that they are happy for $10/g gas! And where are all those cars? More important how can we delivery the necessary power for them? The growth into EVs was happening at a rate that economics dictated and despite GM's assurances about their future fleet, it will take a bit longer. Wait until the EV buyers see how we plan to tax their road use.
So sure the Gulf folk are unhappy with Biden. You can't be nice to Iran until they change and the deal will only cement their leaders. The Sauds will buy a bunch of nukes from Pakistan along with a few missiles; their fellows may do the same and then where are we? Given what we are doing to Russia they may sell some good stuff to their Saud buddies.
A mess that didn't have to happen except for the power greed of a bunch of people.
Great clarity and eye-opening. Sadly, a tiny fraction of a percent of Americans will be able to read it and a small percent of them will take the time to read it and absorb it. Meanwhile, on this date, March 12, 2022, Jen Psaki is telling the world that Russia "hacked" the 2016 elections and most Americans, always ready to join a mob, seem to believe that Putin is comparable to Satan and America's current leadership is not.
I know a number of the key players in the drama as personal friends and/or clients. I've provided less information than I have available, not wanting to betray confidences. The importance of the the Iran issue cannot be overstated. Obama and Biden have cut themselves off from what should be our country's natural allies by playing nuclear games with Iran.
I observed about a dozen years ago that Progressives simply don't believe in the existence of complex systems. Imagining themselves omniscient and omnipotent, they have absolute certainty that the consequences of their actions will only be those they intend, because they are just and pure and goodhearted, and the only reasons to differ with their universal and only correct frame of reference for the world are ignorance, stupidity and malice.
Few people have any idea. The business of playing footsie with Iran has tarred the Obama-Biden-associated wing of the Democratic Party, which includes Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John Podesta and a slew of others. In Kuwait, G.H.W. Bush is revered, something the Progressives find inexplicable. He punished Saddam Hussein and pushed Iraqi forces out of Kuwait; Saudi Arabia has a love-hate relationship with the elder Bush, who protected the protectors of the Holy Sites of Mecca and Medina, while simultaneously sullying the country with the boots of infidels. Biden doesn't understand this, because G.H.W. Bush was a (spiit) Republican. Kissinger's work is similarly dismissed. And, Trump managed to conclude the Abraham Accords, something that Kamala Harris has failed to exploit, her vision being limited to Red-Blue in a kaleidescopic panoply of colors in reality.
The piece of the puzzle that I failed to mention is that all of the oil-rich monarchies have large numbers of expatriates to serve their need. It's a self-reinforcing cycle, because if you open a new business and import fifty workers from a single village in India, they create demand for goods and services. And most of the monarchies are under-populated.
A friend had imported a workforce from a single Indian village, and employed a higher-status village member to translate. My friend decided he would give everybody a chance to make more money, so he calculated the average per-hour production of pieces, and said he would pay them by the piece, with higher than average production receiving higher compensation. The translator started his address with, "You will no longer receive paychecks."
The workers, low-skilled touch labor, no money, speaking an obscure dialect understood by no one else in the country, began sabotaging equipment and product. The situation was not salvageable. I told him he had to get rid of the entire workforce, repatriate them to India, and ensure they understood why. A couple of them were marginally fluent in Hindi; they translated. My friend paid them their expected wages for the duration of the contract. Grudgingly.
The Al-Sabbahs in Kuwait had used mercenaries from Pakistan for an Army and an Air Force, and they all ran away when the Iraqis fired the first shot. I convinced the National Security Advisor in one monarchy , a good friend, to get rid of everyone who wasn't a native-born citizen in the entire military and security apparatus. There were some culturally-difficult issues, such as the Crown Prince would park his car on a runway, get out, and get on an aircraft. And, important people and women were not searched. We sorted out ways around that. Then I started on getting rid of expatriates in general. Military officers had tea boys, most Filipino but a few Pakistani. The tea boys were replaced with coffee pots. It turned out that most of the Pakistanis were spies; things didn't turn out so well fr them.
The problem in Saudi Arabia was huge. There was a group of Pakistani single men between 18 and 60, who vastly outnumbered the combined police, religious police and military. They began getting rid of non-Saudis. A few years later I returned to Saudi Arabia as a management consultant, and showed the President of a large company that he could operate with 450 fewer people.
"How many will be Saudis?"
"Three." He had me start going through the enormous enterprises.
From the beginning Biden policies were created by ideologues who have no concept of balance or technology. Many were really Obama policy people as well. Without any understanding of consequences, his initial policies on energy were flatly insane, in total ignorance of the value of energy self-sufficiency. His actions destroyed the Keystone with applause from his fans. That oil is still arriving via more hazardous and expensive rail transport, just at a slower rate. The middle & mountain west refineries with investments for heavy crude were lost money as was all that material on the ground much like the fencing for the border. Wasted investments. He put the fossil guys on notice that they were not desired anymore so few will add any money for US investment. Exxon and others will plow their profits into better properties. More investment leaving.
His technology people said the barrier for EV adoption are charging stations, let's fund them. And more credits to buy the cars. Except only the rich can afford them and only the green city folk can use them. And I see on Twitter that they are happy for $10/g gas! And where are all those cars? More important how can we delivery the necessary power for them? The growth into EVs was happening at a rate that economics dictated and despite GM's assurances about their future fleet, it will take a bit longer. Wait until the EV buyers see how we plan to tax their road use.
So sure the Gulf folk are unhappy with Biden. You can't be nice to Iran until they change and the deal will only cement their leaders. The Sauds will buy a bunch of nukes from Pakistan along with a few missiles; their fellows may do the same and then where are we? Given what we are doing to Russia they may sell some good stuff to their Saud buddies.
A mess that didn't have to happen except for the power greed of a bunch of people.
Sort of a definition of the consequences of believing there are no complex systems.
Great clarity and eye-opening. Sadly, a tiny fraction of a percent of Americans will be able to read it and a small percent of them will take the time to read it and absorb it. Meanwhile, on this date, March 12, 2022, Jen Psaki is telling the world that Russia "hacked" the 2016 elections and most Americans, always ready to join a mob, seem to believe that Putin is comparable to Satan and America's current leadership is not.
I know a number of the key players in the drama as personal friends and/or clients. I've provided less information than I have available, not wanting to betray confidences. The importance of the the Iran issue cannot be overstated. Obama and Biden have cut themselves off from what should be our country's natural allies by playing nuclear games with Iran.
I observed about a dozen years ago that Progressives simply don't believe in the existence of complex systems. Imagining themselves omniscient and omnipotent, they have absolute certainty that the consequences of their actions will only be those they intend, because they are just and pure and goodhearted, and the only reasons to differ with their universal and only correct frame of reference for the world are ignorance, stupidity and malice.
This explains a lot and I had no idea.
Few people have any idea. The business of playing footsie with Iran has tarred the Obama-Biden-associated wing of the Democratic Party, which includes Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John Podesta and a slew of others. In Kuwait, G.H.W. Bush is revered, something the Progressives find inexplicable. He punished Saddam Hussein and pushed Iraqi forces out of Kuwait; Saudi Arabia has a love-hate relationship with the elder Bush, who protected the protectors of the Holy Sites of Mecca and Medina, while simultaneously sullying the country with the boots of infidels. Biden doesn't understand this, because G.H.W. Bush was a (spiit) Republican. Kissinger's work is similarly dismissed. And, Trump managed to conclude the Abraham Accords, something that Kamala Harris has failed to exploit, her vision being limited to Red-Blue in a kaleidescopic panoply of colors in reality.
The piece of the puzzle that I failed to mention is that all of the oil-rich monarchies have large numbers of expatriates to serve their need. It's a self-reinforcing cycle, because if you open a new business and import fifty workers from a single village in India, they create demand for goods and services. And most of the monarchies are under-populated.
A friend had imported a workforce from a single Indian village, and employed a higher-status village member to translate. My friend decided he would give everybody a chance to make more money, so he calculated the average per-hour production of pieces, and said he would pay them by the piece, with higher than average production receiving higher compensation. The translator started his address with, "You will no longer receive paychecks."
The workers, low-skilled touch labor, no money, speaking an obscure dialect understood by no one else in the country, began sabotaging equipment and product. The situation was not salvageable. I told him he had to get rid of the entire workforce, repatriate them to India, and ensure they understood why. A couple of them were marginally fluent in Hindi; they translated. My friend paid them their expected wages for the duration of the contract. Grudgingly.
The Al-Sabbahs in Kuwait had used mercenaries from Pakistan for an Army and an Air Force, and they all ran away when the Iraqis fired the first shot. I convinced the National Security Advisor in one monarchy , a good friend, to get rid of everyone who wasn't a native-born citizen in the entire military and security apparatus. There were some culturally-difficult issues, such as the Crown Prince would park his car on a runway, get out, and get on an aircraft. And, important people and women were not searched. We sorted out ways around that. Then I started on getting rid of expatriates in general. Military officers had tea boys, most Filipino but a few Pakistani. The tea boys were replaced with coffee pots. It turned out that most of the Pakistanis were spies; things didn't turn out so well fr them.
The problem in Saudi Arabia was huge. There was a group of Pakistani single men between 18 and 60, who vastly outnumbered the combined police, religious police and military. They began getting rid of non-Saudis. A few years later I returned to Saudi Arabia as a management consultant, and showed the President of a large company that he could operate with 450 fewer people.
"How many will be Saudis?"
"Three." He had me start going through the enormous enterprises.