Economic events have the most interesting way of exposing economic theories and orthodoxies and how seriously flawed they truly are these days. The fixed-exchange rate system and the Gold Standard imposed by Bretton Woods collapsed simply because they never fixed the supply of dollars, yet gold and other currencies were fixed to dollars. Only an idiot would assume you could fix currencies and gold to the dollar and expect that to be maintained while creating dollars with no limit.

John F. Kennedy in his debate with Richard Nixon during 1960, made it perfectly clear that Bretton Woods was in trouble indirectly and created the first gold panic postwar. He said the USA could stop the decline in the dollar at any moment – stop expanding military bases worldwide. For every dollar spent on creating an overseas bases and then hiring locals for staff and paying US soldiers to live there was the perfect way to export dollars with nothing in return. In trade, you received something back. Through trying to control the world, the military just squandered American wealth with nothing to show for it but their power games of national building that have never worked even once. Government’s have been engaged in national building for centuries. The Romans, Charlemagne, British, Napoleon, Hitler, Genghis Khan, Japan and others have sought to engage in national building by invasion. None of their empires have survived intact to this very day.

The comedy movie, the Mouse that Roared, was a take how the USA did not seek to occupy foreign governments, they sought to turn them into vassal states. In this manner, this movie rightly showed how a bankrupt small state could become economically sufficient by declaring war on the United States and losing.

Effectively, the USA did not lose to trade, it really lost due to the lost cause of nation building. The USA version was not to occupy other countries, for that would bring back the idea of imperialism. Instead, they poured dollars outward to subjugate other countries, turning them into vassal states. This was not “imperialism” in the classic sense – economic stupidity that cost far too much and undermined the economy in a similar manner to imperialism.

The Scottish government wants a second referendum on independence from the UK. The Parliament in Edinburgh will decide as soon as next week, as the Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon said. The referendum could take place between autumn 2018 and spring 2019. Of course, this would really be a brain-dead action if Scotland believes it should remain inside the EU. That would be trading one benevolent union to a totalitarian one.

Civil Unrest is rising around the world. In the USA, demonstrations have been organized to support Donald Trump in a counter-demonstration move against the Obama/Soros uprising. In Los Angeles, Trump supporters were confronted by opponents of Trump and the two groups ended in violence. The Obama/Soros supporters were partially traditionally masked.

The Trump supporters were trying to organize marches in about 40 US cities for Sunday. However, many cities were denying the Trump supporters the right to even assemble. In Philadelphia, the police stopped such an event they alleged for safety, as the news page Philly.com reported.

I wanted to see how RT would report the Russian protests. They reported that about 600 people were arrested and some 8,000 people protested. As the rally continued, RT reported that the “police used loudspeakers to call on the protesters to disperse.”

The protest was against corruption, and they accused Minister President Dmitry Medvedev of corruption, demanding his resignation. A few days ago, six officials had been arrested for embezzlement of public funds, which were actually intended for construction work on the estate of President Vladimir Putin. As the Russian investigative committee reported on Wednesday, at least 225 million rubles (around 3.6 million euros) were devoted to the construction of “public buildings”. 

According to Russian media reports, money was spent on building several buildings on Putin’s property in Novo-Ogarevo near Moscow. Kaminow and its partners were supposed to build a reception building, a hotel, and a garage there between 2012 and 2015, as the newspaper Kommersant reported. The contract amounted to a total of 5.7 billion rubles, of which 45 per cent went to Ateks without the works being completed.

Navalny had been arrested in Moscow by security forces and taken to a police station. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered around the bus to stop them from leaving. Navalny is mainly known for his blogs in Russia. A court sentenced him to a suspended sentence of five years in February for embezzlement. Navalny, on the other hand, wants to appeal. He plans to compete in the 2018 presidential election against Vladimir Putin. According to surveys, however, the liberal opposition has few chances. However, the anti-corruption protests are hoping for more popularity among the population.

“I am very glad that so many people from the east of the country go to Moscow,” said Navalny shortly before his arrest. He called for the protests after he had made allegations against Medvedev, after which he had accumulated a wealth far above his income. A spokesman for the Prime Minister called the allegations “propagandistic attacks”.

At a demonstration in Vladivostok on the Japanese Sea Reuters, reporters counted atleast 30 attacks. People unrolled a banner with the words “The Minister President must answer”. A 17-year-old student said that in many other countries, governments would have to step down after such accusations. According to eyewitnesses, there have also been arrests in Yekaterinburg in the Ural industrial region. Media also reported arrests in other cities, including St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk.