#Overseas Direct Investment

[tandtrealty]

India offers attractive investment opportunities to NRIs. Real Estate Sector, Portfolio Investments, Debt and Debt Securities, Deposits with Banks are the major investment opportunities that are available to NRIs. NRI investment options in India are briefly explained here under

[fatehbaz]

Hey everyone, France says it doesn’t like “imperialism” in the Indo-Pacific.

French president: “There is in the Indo-Pacific and particularly in Oceania new imperialism appearing, and a power logic that is threatening the sovereignty of several states - the smallest, often the most fragile.”

Some stuff.

“Thanks to its overseas territories, France has an exclusive economic zone of nearly 11.7 million square kilometers, 93 percent of which is in the Indo-Pacific”:

"French military presence” in the Indo-Pacific:

Areas of Pacific and Indian oceans actively patrolled/monitored by French forces:

Tahiti and much of Polynesia?

French military presence in Africa:

Nations obligated to use the notorious CFA franc, subject to imposed debt conditions and French-directed investment and lending:

From July 2023, “President Macron reaffirms French ownership of New Caledonia” (one of the largest islands in the South Pacific, where in recent years Indigenous Kanak people have advocated for independence from France):

Overseas departments of France in the Indian Ocean (places still officially/formally administered by -- “part of” -- France):

Look at some of the recent dates of “independence” for these French colonies:

“From 1966 to 1996, France carried out 193 nuclear tests in the South Pacific”: 

“France’s exclusive economic zones”:

“French military presence in the Indo-Pacific”:

[strawberrystepmom]

Fukuzawa x F!Reader. CW: implied age gap (reader is in her late 20's and he is his canonical age), alcohol mention and consumption, takes place from his bedside while he's ill during the Cannibal arc. weird situationship vibes, switches between past and present tense.

WC: 2.9k | divider by cafekitsune

“What are you doing here?”

Yukichi’s voice is little more than a whisper when he speaks, the dryness of his throat marking his usual baritone with a rasp that causes you to arch a brow.

“Visiting, standing vigil, whatever makes it seem more heroic.” Making a show of licking the tip of your finger and using it to flip to the next page of the book sitting in your lap, you glance up from the page and tilt your head to the side.“Why are you so surprised to see me?”

“You shouldn’t be here. I’ll have Ranpo escort you out.” 

The continued dry rasp of his voice makes you spring into action, snapping the book in your lap closed and reaching for the small carafe of water by his bedside. Pouring a glass, you slide it in his direction and look away when he moves to pick it up. The suggestion that Ranpo be the one to escort you out makes you chuckle to yourself considering he is the one who let you in to begin with, holding out his hand for the promised sweets your sister mailed from overseas. Sweeter and stickier than anything he can find here, probably melting in the palm of his hand.

Finally, you sigh and lean back in the chair as much as the cramped object will allow.

“If you want me to leave, you can just say so. I can show myself out. No escort necessary.” 

You want to hear him deny you in his own words for once, anticipating the rejection that has yet to come, a breath caught in your throat. Instead you listen to the gulp of room temperature water travel down his throat, eyes fixed to the closed cover of the book in your lap. 

It has been more than six months since your employment with the Armed Detective Agency ended and you’ve managed to wheedle your way into two personal visits with its President in that time. Two times you attempted, yet again, to show him you are invested in him as Yukichi Fukuzawa, the man and not merely as a former boss.

----------------------

The first was over dinner; a simple message sent with intention.

You: I made too much and always forget about my leftovers. Have you eaten yet?

What is he if not an old moth to a hopeful little flame? 

Logic warned him to decline but his just shaky enough to be from low blood sugar mid-evening hands betrayed his judgment. What could it hurt to humor you a little bit? He has never been outright oblivious to your feelings although will always believe them to be misguided. 

YF: You are too generous with your time and groceries. I can be there in twenty minutes.

You showed him your humble abode for the first time and fed him bites from your plate insisting you were almost too full to move. Your cat climbed into his lap and he dared to daydream for a breath it were the needy creature’s owner instead, steel blue eyes tracing your every move while nimble fingers stroked between the cats’ ears. The soft melody of your record collection set the soundtrack and you swayed gently, nursing a glass of wine between two of your fingers.

“Thank you for coming tonight.”

Whatever trance the gentle purr of your cat had him in severed the moment he heard your voice. He watched your form gently sway to the music, soft and melodic from the decade before he was even born making it far older than you.

“Can’t let good food go to waste.”

Glancing over your shoulder, you smiled at him with narrowed eyes. He has imagined you performing this exact motion often, every day even, looking over your shoulder while swaying gently to your favorite music. If he weren’t so concerned about appropriateness, he’d rise to his feet and join you, wrap his arm around your waist and sway with his chin on your shoulder.

“You think I’m a good cook?”

From your couch, he glanced over his shoulder at you and sighed softly. If he were to speak the words he wants to say, they’d almost certainly tip this over the edge he has spent so much time desperately trying to avoid, so he picks the easiest ones available:

“Yeah, you are.”

The way you smiled at him weighed on his mind for the rest of his fitful night, that grin lighting up nightmares and daydreams alike.

----------------------

“Why are you here?”

Fukuzawa rarely makes a second request for an answer, even from you, and the breath caught in your throat becomes a sharp exhale the moment he speaks. He glances in your direction and sees the anxious twitch in your fingers, how you desperately wish to fiddle with your appearance or jewelry to seem undisturbed and confident. Fukuzawa is an intelligent man by nature and he carefully watches to expose all of a person’s subtleties, even yours. So much of your behavior is a veneer to make yourself appear non threatening.

Truth be told, he’s astounded it works as well as it does although even the greatest minds have fallen prey to beautiful women with sharp wit and pretty smiles. Not that you are a predator to him in the slightest.

“Because I care about you,” you start, snapping your mouth shut to avoid saying more. Instead of fiddling with your clothing or earrings, you jiggle your foot and the book in your lap bounces with each movement. You are too vulnerable for your own good, tender hearted to the core. “I wanted to see how you’re doing for myself instead of getting the sanitized version of the story from Kunikida and the dishonest one from Dazai.”

Fukuzawa attempts to push his glass back onto the table and you reach to pluck it from his hands, fingers touching while you do. It reminds him of the second occasion he enjoyed your company before tonight, skin buzzing with the ghost of your touch instead of the dull throbbing pain of his illness. A soft gasp escapes him and he settles back against the pillow under his head, silver hair sweeping his shoulders.

“That’s fair,” he admits, fiddling with the blanket that is loosely wrapped over his body. 

You giggle despite feeling entirely out of your element, insecure and young despite your nearly three decades, dabbling in adoration for a man you have no business being interested in to begin with. 

“If you’d like to be alone, I can leave.”

He makes you feel as though you’re nude in front of him while he’s fully clothed, baring every crease and dimple of yourself, supine and ripe for his consumption. It’s what you want, after all. A single glance that leaves you stripped to the bones.

It’s why you cannot leave him alone.

----------------------

The second time you were fortunate enough to be graced with Fukuzawa’s presence as a friend was a tad less honest on your end. 

“Hello?”

Fukuzawa knew who was on the other end before he even picked his phone up to answer the incoming call, a stirring feeling in his gut he should have perhaps taken as a warning letting him know what was coming next.

“What are you doing tonight?”

He exhaled loudly through his nose in response to your question, the closest you have ever come to drawing a real laugh from the man. He has always played off his enjoyment with tight smiles and acknowledging nods, hiding his upturned lips behind the ceramic of a choko.

“I’ll take it that means you’re free?” 

The sound of a pen being tossed down onto the desk below it clanged through the speaker of your phone. You sighed the sound away, listening for further stirring on the other end. Seconds passing have conditioned you to expect a rejection when it comes to him, a gentle let down the way only he has managed to seem less like a “no thank you” and more of a “you’re so kind to ask” in the effusively polite way he has perfected.

“Tell me what I’m going to be getting myself into before I answer, please.”

You were not being asked to explain yourself, you were being told to do so. A small smile danced across your lips while smearing on berry colored lipstick in your bathroom mirror, your phone pressed against your blush dusted cheek.

“So there is this sake tasting…” A sigh from Fukuzawa interrupted your words and you sighed back, pouting at your reflection in the mirror. “Can you at least let me finish?”

He cleared his throat, leaving you to picture him sitting in his office at the Agency with a bemused smirk on his face. You’ve never seen him smile but your mind is quick to expel the effort it takes to pretend that you have. Does he have dimples? Lines that mirror those beneath his eyes that carve valleys around his mouth? You’ve always hoped you’d find out.

“Thank you.” 

He hummed a response to your polite words, shifting in his own seat.

“I booked it expecting a friend would join me but something has come up and they can’t. I could go alone but I also just so happen to know a man who is very fond of sake and knows more about it than I do who would be the perfect company.”

Another hum was all he graced you with. You wrinkled your nose at your reflection and mouthed a swear word, certain your flimsy story was about to be dead on arrival. It wasn’t your best story and you knew going into this it was risky to lie to begin with but what else could you say? 

“Oh Fukuzawa, I’ve been dying to drink alongside you in hopes it loosens your tongue enough to reveal your deep mutual love for me.”

No. You would have rather died than admit these words aloud where he could hear them. He has always had access to far too much of you and has granted you far too little to him. 

“And this friend? Who are they?”

A giggle bubbled out of you while you closed your lipstick tube, tossing it on the counter in front of you haphazardly. Should you choose your words carefully to prolong the mystery of this friend, the same one you claim you’re drinking with when you’re really drinking alone and calling your former boss and current flame?

“They’re nobody important,” you settled on. He knew immediately you were lying, your true good hearted nature giving you away yet again. You’d never call your friends unimportant, no matter how frustrated you may have been over being stood up which seems to happen with this mysterious friend often.

“Hm. Interesting.”

You knew you’d been caught. The tone of his voice was more of a guilty verdict than any you could find in a courtroom. The warmth rushing to the front of your face, something you’d almost consider shameful if you had any shame left, convinced you to suspend any further untruths and you instead opted to rush into the next part of your offer full speed ahead.

“It starts at eight. If you aren’t busy, that is. Just say so if you are, I’m a big girl who can handle rejection.”

Yukichi smiled from his office. It dimmed as quickly as it spread across his face, drawn to life by the assertion you can handle rejection. Only someone who has ever been rejected can handle rejection. You are rarely denied what you want. Is he really going to be another hashmark keeping track of how many you’ve won over?

“Are you going to keep me out all night?”

This won him a laugh from you, a sound that warmed his bones and made his mind race at the same time. 

“Depends, do you wanna be out all night? This is just a tasting but I have a bottle and you know where I live…”

Singing the last word of your sentence, you devolved into a fit of giggles over your own sillness and if he wasn’t actively debating on how appropriate his association with you is, he probably would have laughed along. 

“No. That’s not necessary, I’m sure the tasting will give me all the excitement I can handle.”

The tasting only made him yearn for you more strongly, fingers brushed against one another while passing ceramic cups to lips. Discussions of clean flavor, light and neat, bright and warm, lent to the warm landscape spent at the side of a woman he cannot seem to shake no matter what happens to him.

----------------------

“I don’t want you to leave.”

The breath caught in your throat leaves you as a sharp exhale, finally. 

The truth always finds its way to light, the lamp on the bedside table casting a glow over the side of Yukichi’s face. He’s more frail than you have ever dreamed of seeing him, complexion nearly translucent in its currently pale hue. Your thumb twitches, itching to rub the skin around his eyes that is etched with fine lines, to reassure him you will not be leaving his side until you’re certain he’s alright. Instead, you tuck it inside your fist to keep the urge to yourself.

“Good because I honestly don’t want to.”

You fiddle with your bag that is draped over the back of the chair, reaching for the newspaper you swiped off of the desk of the Agency after making your deal with Ranpo earlier in the day. You’d show up after everyone else went home or was otherwise occupied and he’d let you in to avoid the gawking that would come with everyone knowing that you are visiting for pleasure and not for business. 

“I brought the paper if you want me to read it to you,” you offer and Fukuzawa hums, the faintest sight of a smile on his lips. The corners twitch so minutely you believe you imagined the movement but look down all the same, warm faced, grateful that your mind was correct in assessing him. Dimples and little lines are visible on each of the corners of his mouth. 

“Anything interesting happening?”

Flipping the pages open, your eyes widen and you search for something interesting, muttering to yourself. Traffic conditions, weather, reports of minor crime throughout Yokohama. None of these things will improve his condition or keep him from worrying so you flip the page again, shaking your head when the stories come up empty for one you’d like to read.

“Don’t they put the horoscopes in the paper anymore?”

He chuckles and you can tell it hurts him, his chest heaving from the effort. The paper is quickly discarded, fluttering to the floor beside your chair. You lean forward and place your elbows on the side of his bed, daring to get close enough you can look over him from inches instead of feet. 

“Are you okay?”

Fukuzawa stiffens and you have to further fight the urge to dote on him. Your fingers itch push his moonlight colored waves off of his face and your palm practically throbs, wishing to be pressed to his likely clammy skin. It’s in your nature to cluck at the things you care about like a worried hen.

“I have to believe that I will be.”

Nodding your agreement and punctuating it with another sigh, you lean forward and rest your chin on his bedside. The intrusion surprises him but it isn’t completely unwelcome, those eyes you love to feel upon you glancing downward and focusing on the tip of your nose, gradually climbing upward until your gazes meet. 

“I’ll believe double, just for good measure.” Smiling, you press your cheek to the scratchy fabric of the blanket wrapped around his legs and half of his torso. “I’ll bring you a nicer blanket tomorrow.”

Raising a brow, he keeps his gaze fixed on you.

“Tomorrow?”

Scoffing, you nod. The question isn’t a jab although it may feel like one and you have to reason with yourself that he is merely giving you a hard time. 

“Tomorrow, if you’ll have me.”

Shaking his head, he idly reaches in your direction and brushes his thumb over your cheek before placing his hand back at his side. Again, a movement so quick and discreet you believe it imaginary, yet the sensation burns across your skin. Fighting the urge to bury your face into the bed like a schoolgirl with a crush, you choose instead to face him head on and let your gaze soften.

“Next time just ask me if you can come, no need to get Ranpo involved.” You shrug and laugh. “Was it that obvious?”

Yukichi nods and permits his eyes to drift from you to the door. It was obvious from the moment he realized you were in the room who graciously allowed for you to be there, the man on the other side of the door loudly munching whatever you bribed him with.

“You aren’t as great of a liar as you think you are.”

Laughing, you shrug.

"Caught me. At least I'm a good cook and decent company instead."

Fighting the urge to reach out and touch you again, he keeps his hands at his sides and ponders the correct way to respond. His time on earth could be fleeting from this moment forward, his minutes numbered by a threat his entire team is working to figure out. He could leave his cards on the table. Tell you he feels the same and he hasn't had this much fun since he was a far younger man getting into far more trouble.

Instead, he settles back into the pillow beneath him and shifts his face to look at you. He'll save these matters of the heart until after there is no more looming danger.

"Thank you for coming."

You sit up and away from the bed, leaning back into the chair you're sitting on. He doesn't want to discuss feelings or the two of you any further and you respect that, dropping your arm over the side of the chair and fish for the newspaper you brought with you, plucking it by one of the folds and pulling it into your lap.

"Now where were we? Oh yeah, horoscopes."

Whatever you're saying fades into background noise while he shuts his eyes tightly. He has to make it through this, you're waiting for him on the other end of it.

[probablyasocialecologist]

While enslaved people were mostly overseas, in colonies, out of sight, slavery funded British wealth and institutions from the Bank of England to the Royal Mail. The extent to which modern Britain was shaped by the profits of the transatlantic slave economy was made even clearer with the launch in 2013 of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership project at University College London. It digitised the records of tens of thousands of people who claimed compensation from the government when colonial slavery was abolished in 1833, making it far easier to see how the wealth created by slavery spread throughout Britain after abolition. “Slave-ownership,” the researchers concluded, “permeated the British elites of the early 19th century and helped form the elites of the 20th century.” (Among others, it showed that David Cameron’s ancestors, and the founders of the Greene King pub chain, had enslaved people.)

But as Bell-Romero would write in his report on Caius, “the legacies of enslavement encompassed far more than the ownership of plantations and investments in the slave trade”. Scholars undertaking this kind of archival research typically look at the myriad ways in which individuals linked to an institution might have profited from slavery – ranging from direct involvement in the trade of enslaved people or the goods they produced, to one-step-removed financial interests such as holding shares in slave-trading entities such as the South Sea or East India Companies.

Bronwen Everill, an expert in the history of slavery and a fellow at Caius, points out “how widespread and mundane all of this was”. Mapping these connections, she says, simply “makes it much harder to hold the belief that Britain suddenly rose to power through its innate qualities; actually, this great wealth is linked to a very specific moment of wealth creation through the dramatic exploitation of African labour.”

This academic interest in forensically quantifying British institutions’ involvement in slavery has been steadily growing for several decades. But in recent years, this has been accompanied by calls for Britain to re-evaluate its imperial history, starting with the Rhodes Must Fall campaign in 2015. The Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 turbo-charged the debate, and in response, more institutions in the UK commissioned research on their historic links to slavery – including the Bank of England, Lloyd’s, the National Trust, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Guardian.

But as public interest in exploring and quantifying Britain’s historic links to slavery exploded in 2020, so too did a conservative backlash against “wokery”. Critics argue that the whole enterprise of examining historic links to slavery is an exercise in denigrating Britain and seeking out evidence for a foregone conclusion. Debate quickly ceases to be about the research itself – and becomes a proxy for questions of national pride. “What seems to make people really angry is the suggestion of change [in response to this sort of research], or the removal of specific things – statues, names – which is taken as a suggestion that people today should be guilty,” said Natalie Zacek, an academic at the University of Manchester who is writing a book on English universities and slavery. “I’ve never quite gotten to the bottom of that – no one is saying you, today, are a terrible person because you’re white. We’re simply saying there is another story here.”

[georgefairbrother]

Harry H Corbett, Diana Dors, and Wilfrid Brambell in the second feature film adaptation of Steptoe and Son; Steptoe and Son Ride Again, released in July 1973.

It was directed by Australian-born Peter Sykes (1939-2006) whose other comedy for Nat Cohen-EMI was Frankie Howerd's House in Nightmare Park.

The second Steptoe feature copped a bit of a pasting from the critics, the principal objections being that some of the subtleties of the father-son relationship were lost and the humour was unnecessarily cruder.

It also didn't live up to the box-office success of its predecessor; writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson speculated that the title was ambiguous and potentially confusing, and may have given the impression to audiences that it was a rerelease of the first Steptoe and Son feature from the previous year.

In 1973, Britain's film industry was described as 'in crisis, due to a combination of declining audiences, a weak dollar and lack of overseas investment. Anglo-EMI was the biggest studio operating in the country and was dubbed 'Britain's one man film industry'.'

[terrence-silver]

I honestly see Terry loving to spend time with his beloved in the bathtub with lots of bubbles and champagne 🍾 🥂

---

I can downright see Margaret and his staff knowing Mr. Silver is having one of 'those days'. One of those days meaning a day he will predominantly spend soaking in his jacuzzi (or sauna) with a cup of tea or some champagne. They know him well enough to be able to predict his habits and moods and very professionally adapt to them. Hey, it might just be very precisely scheduled down activity instead of something spontaneous so it is no surprise or unprecedented, overlooked accident. He's a man of business, so everything's possible. They know and understand Mr. Silver will be naked for the better part of the morning, afternoon or whenever he so chooses (maybe even pulling an all-day dedicated to being in the water), and that he absolutely won't be alone in that endeavor either; beloved will be in there with him and they just work around the circumstances like nothing's going on, the staff (or to be more accurate, Milos) is there diligently preparing a two of everything; matching robes, matching towels, matching champagne glasses, matching slippers. I feel these people are legitimately very blasé and used to his nudity and that they ain't shocked by too much of anything, which is no surprise, considering they're working for Terry Silver and goodness knows what things they've witnessed in his employment so far. By extension, they aren't shocked by beloved's nudity either, in the cases beloved's joining him. In fact, it might be a mundane thing for them.

Margaret brings her business to the side of the tub.

Conducting it with Terry while he soaks.

He absolutely makes million dollar deals from that tub, takes important oversea calls, handles emergencies as they pop up, deals with paperwork in a stride, directs Margaret on what meetings she should cancel and which she should forward to later and doing so while beloved's right beside him, lounging neck-high bubbles, making small talk and joking around, perfectly mixing absolutely shameless decadent hedonism with genuinely being dedicated to work at all hours like he has an infinite resource of energy to him, coming off as both lazy and legitimately invested. Might just sip his hand between beloved's thighs in the middle of a phone call conducted in the bath and do the business of the company while also doing the business of his own sexual urges, groping beloved, touching them, fondling them, massaging them and caressing them underneath the bubbles to get a rise or reaction out of them or flat out place beloved on his lap and grind on them while he shouts orders at his Dynatox agents stationed in Colombia to hurry up and dump that load, nearly cackling into his own chin at the deliberate perverted (somewhat childish) innuendo he just made and that the person on the other end of the line won't understand right before hanging up, causing Margaret or whoever's present to roll her eyes at him, chastising him like an older aunt figure would, because Jesus Christ, this man and his blatant perversions.

-"Mr. Silver!"- She clicks her tongue.

-"C'mon, Margaret!"- He might whine as beloved playfully smacks his chest, covering their eyes, flustered because it is just too much and they can't get away, considering his arms are tangled around them under the layer of steaming hot water, preventing them from getting up and leaving. There's no leaving. They're his bath toy. He does business better with his squeaking rubber duck bath toy around, don't you know, he might explain, teasing and taunting.

He's unhinged when he's happy and happy when he's unhinged.

He doesn't need privacy whatsoever to have a day spent in the tub with beloved.

When he does order for some privacy, though, sparks fly.

They won't be leaving that tub all day and everyone in the mansion knows why.

And probably hears why.

Maybe even sees why because he doesn't make a tremendous secret out of it.

[bro-atz]

IRRESISTIBLE CHAPTER EIGHT: A FUCKING NIGHTMARE

pair: cmo!san/employee!oc word count: 2.3k chapter rating: pg-13 — sfw! genre: romance, drama

table of contents ♤ previous chapter ♤ next chapter

A week after Director Cha ripped their proposals a new one, Gyuri and Wooyoung finished the new set of proposals. The two had spent countless late nights at the office, so after a week of working way too hard, Gyuri was completely sleep deprived. She was grateful that the team had an extra day to glance at the proposals before another nerve wracking meeting with Director Cha.

However, due to the fact that she was working so damn hard, Gyuri didn’t eat lunch with her friends from the other departments for the entirety of that week. When she joined Minkyung and Iseul, they seemed to be so relieved.

“Relax, guys. It’s not like I died or something,” Gyuri laughed.

“Listen, we were starting to get worried about you. We know how you get when you’re in the zone,” Iseul said.

“Please tell me you ate lunches,” Minkyung spoke as though she was a concerned mother and Gyuri was her child.

“Yeah, I did. Mr. Jung got us meals because of how much we had to work on this.”

“Good. We need you to not fall over and croak,” Iseul said with a nod of approval.

“Oh, but Iseul, good luck for when these MVs go up. The client plans to promote heavily overseas. International internet traffic.”

“God fucking damnit!”

Iseul slammed her fork down and held her head in her hands as if it was going to roll off if she didn’t hold it in place. Gyuri couldn’t help but laugh at the sight mainly because that’s exactly how she felt during the rework.

After Iseul calmed down, there was a new sort of commotion in the cafeteria. The three girls looked in the direction of the chatter to see C5 walking towards them. They all stood up and bowed as their seniors walked by. Gyuri, while bowing, made slight eye contact with San. She felt her face heat up slightly, causing her to quickly avert her eyes. Moments after C5 passed them, the girls took their seats once more, Gyuri feeling Minkyung’s and Iseul’s eyes locked on her.

“Gyu, what the fuck was that?” Iseul opened the conversation.

“Huh?”

“You and Mr. Choi. What’s going on there?” Minkyung chimed in.

“Nothing?” Gyuri asked rather than stated.

“That definitely was not nothing. You both were totally blushing,” Iseul pointed out.

“No, that’s not… There’s nothing, I swear.”

Gyuri was beginning to panic. She knew that she blushed because she recollected most recent time the two had slept together, but she didn’t even realize that San was blushing as well. She needed to keep the fact that she and San had hooked up completely quiet, otherwise shit would definitely hit the fan.

“Tell us the truth, Gyu,” Minkyung said almost threateningly.

“…We got into a huge fight about the proposals,” Gyuri lied her ass off.

“God, Gyu! Not again! You gotta stop arguing with the guy,” Iseul lectured.

Without a second doubt, the two girls bought her explanation. Gyuri felt a wave of relief wash over her as her friends returned to their lunches, letting the girl enjoy her food in peace. The girls were silent for a rare, brief moment before Minkyung hit them with a new conversation.

“Oh, I heard a juicy bit of gossip the other day,” she started.

“You and your gossip,” Iseul said sardonically as she rolled her eyes. “Spill.”

“I heard Hana sabotaged Jinah.”

“Woah, what? What’d she do?” Gyuri asked, immediately invested in the gossip.

“Well, Jinah works for the IT department right, and the company server had that meltdown—”

“Fuck that day! We were all so fucking livid, I swear to God,” Iseul interrupted.

“So they did some sort of internal review because the server crashed due to someone’s ID in the department, and apparently it came from Jinah’s ID.”

“Wait, what the fuck?”

“Yeah, while you all were trying to bring the servers back up, I heard Mr. Kang inspected Jinah’s computer.”

“Oh, I think I saw when he did that… He walked out of his office with the sternest expression I’ve ever seen him have. Like, he was super angry and slammed his hand on the desk. Not going to lie, it was kind of hot…” Gyuri verbalized all of her thoughts, earning exhausted looks from both Minkyung and Iseul mainly thanks to the last bit about Yeosang.

“Well,” Minkyung continued the conversation along. “I don’t know the nitty, gritty details, but all I know is that it was definitely Jinah’s fault that the servers went down.”

“Ugh, at least we got them back up before the end of the day. I’ve literally never been so stressed out in my entire life. I hated it.”

“Okay, but I don’t get how Hana fits into this,” Gyuri suddenly realized.

“Oh, get this. Someone saw Hana fiddling around with Jinah’s computer that morning before the IT department got in.”

“No way…” Iseul covered her mouth in pure shock.

“So does that mean she’s going to get in trouble?” Gyuri asked.

“No idea. Whoever spotted Hana that morning isn’t coming forward, so Mr. Kim isn’t taking the rumor all that seriously. I heard that the reason Hana did it, if she did do it, is because she was insanely jealous of Jinah.”

“Why would she be jealous? They’re not even in the same department,” Iseul voiced her confusion.

“Because Mr. Choi gave Jinah that slight attention for her hair cut.”

Gyuri’s blood ran cold. She broke into a cold sweat. She could barely focus on anything that the other two girls were saying.

“Hana’s apparently crazy obsessed with Mr. Choi. Apparently, she was originally hired for the IT department, but she got transferred to marketing because she wanted to be close to Mr. Choi,” Minkyung explained. “These are all rumors, though, so I would take all of this with a grain of salt— or maybe a huge chunk of salt.”

Blood rushed to Gyuri’s ears. Outside, she was frozen, but internally, everything was chaotic and fiery. She balled her hands into fists and stared at the food in front of her. She felt like she was riding a bad high, and all she could do was remain perfectly still so that she wouldn’t throw up. She was so frozen in place that she didn’t even notice that C5 was approaching their table and that her friends had stood up to bow to their superiors. It was only when Iseul kicked her shin that Gyuri snapped out of her trance and stood up to bow. This time, she made teary eye contact with Seonghwa, who looked at her with a mildly confused expression. C5 ended up fully exiting the cafeteria before the girls took their seats again. Iseul and Minkyung sat in their chairs calmly while Gyuri collapsed into her chair.

“Gyu, you good?” Iseul asked.

“Huh?”

“You almost didn’t bow, and your face is really pale. Even Mr. Choi looked concerned,” Minkyung said with a small frown.

“You must be imagining thing, Kyung,” Gyuri laughed awkwardly and brushed off the concern. She focused on her food again and continued, “I’m fine. I’m just thinking about the proposal.”

Once again, the girls did not question her. Gyuri remained silent and ate her food slowly as Minkyung and Iseul were in another world talking about God knows what. She saw her phone screen light up and picked up her phone to see that Seonghwa texted her. He was concerned. She responded, telling him that she would explain everything later.

Gyuri remained out of it when she was returning to her department. She got out of the elevator absentmindedly, only to see that everyone running around the office and freaking out, Wooyoung delegating orders to everyone.

“What’s going on?” Gyuri asked the closest person to her, which just so happened to be the one person she was most frightened of at that moment: Hana.

“Director Cha is coming in about half an hour,” Hana responded.

“Fuck!”

Quickly, Gyuri went to her desk and brushed up on everything in the proposal along with the budgeting plans and any other materials that she would need for the meeting with the creative director. She felt underprepared as hell, and she prayed that it wouldn’t come across that way, but unfortunately for her, that’s exactly what happened.

“What is this?” Director Cha threw the papers on the conference room table. “Is this really the best you could come up with?”

“What would you like to see in it, sir?” Wooyoung asked.

“The group is called LEGENDS, for crying out loud. What is this flowery, boy next door bullshit concept?”

“With all due respect, sir,” San spoke up. “This is what’s popular on the market these days. These kinds of music videos get a lot more attention.”

“We don’t care about public reception like that. The boys’ music will speak for itself. We need concept that match their image. Also, I thought I said we didn’t want to focus on any sort of CGI? So why is this proposal chock full of it? Redo it.”

“Yes, sir,” Gyuri, San, and Wooyoung all said with their heads bowed.

On his way out of the room, Director Cha turned to San and said, “If the next one isn’t what we’re looking for, then we’ll take our business elsewhere. Okay?”

San bowed his head in acknowledgement. He and Wooyoung escorted Director Cha out of the building, leaving Gyuri to stumble back to her desk and collapse. Her energy was completely depleted between worrying about the Bluebird Ent proposal and fearing Hana. She laid her head on her desk and closed her eyes, exhaustion about to take over her body when someone sharply rapped on her desk near her face.

“Hwang, come with me,” San ordered sharply— he sounded livid.

Dejected, Gyuri followed San into his office where Wooyoung was already seated. She took the seat next to Wooyoung as San sat at his desk. The air in the office was thick and grim. Gyuri was about ready to fall over and die on the spot.

“Hwang, you’re in charge of the Bluebird Ent proposals now,” San got straight to the point.

“What?” San’s declaration snapped Gyuri right out of it.

“I’m assigning Wooyoung to the Mambo account. They’re long-term clients, so I want him to work with them. You’ll still receive support from us, but the proposals are all yours.”

“Are you scapegoating me right now?!” Gyuri shot up out of her chair.

“Hwang, calm down. If Director Cha rejects this last round, then it’s done. You won’t lose your job. I just need Wooyoung on this project instead,” San explained calmly.

“The Mambo account should be settled before you present to Director Cha again, so I can help after,” Wooyoung added.

With a heavy sigh, Gyuri nodded. She remained standing, hoping that San would get the hint and dismiss her. She stood for another two minutes before San excused both her and Wooyoung. She sat at her desk and let out another long, loud sigh before preparing herself. She knew for a fact she was going to have a long night in the office, and she wanted to make herself comfortable before that.

When Gyuri started cracking down on the new proposals, she was wearing her glasses and had completely removed her makeup. Her hair was up in an extremely messy bun, and she had her headphones in— she wasn’t listening to anything; she just didn’t want anyone to talk to her. She sat at her desk and clicked and typed away, unaware of the fact that her coworkers were leaving one by one and of the time. She didn’t even notice when Wooyoung tried to ask her questions or said goodbye. She was just doing her best to get the work done as more ideas popped into her head. Finally, what snapped her back to reality was someone leaning over her shoulder.

“You’re really pouring your heart into this concept, huh?”

Gyuri turned quickly to see San. She felt her face start to turn pink because of how close his face was to hers. She did her best to ignore him literally breathing down her neck while cursing him out and calling him annoying in her head. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?” Gyuri responded.

“Glad to see it, is all.”

Although San seemed to have concluded with a definitive statement, she still felt him over her shoulder, but this time, she felt his eyes locked on her. She couldn’t help but wonder what his problem was. She just wanted him to leave her alone so she could finish squeezing every idea out of herself and go home.

“What happened to your face?” San asked skeptically.

Self consciously, Gyuri touched her face realizing that she wasn’t wearing makeup. She didn’t care about how he perceived her face, but she hated that he asked it like that.

“I removed my makeup.”

“Isn’t it really hard to do that with just water?”

“I keep makeup wipes in my desk in case I stay at the office late. I don’t like the oily feeling late at night,” she said, hoping her thorough explanation would satisfy his Royal Highness.

“And the glasses?”

“My contacts get dry late at night,” Gyuri’s patience was wearing thin. She wondered when this asshole would stop asking her questions.

“Huh. Well, don’t stay at work too late. I need you to be alive to finish and present the Bluebird Ent proposals.”

“Yes, sir.”

San exhaled heavily as he finally left her side. She heard his footsteps start to retreat, only for the clicking of his heels to stop.

“…Why bother wearing any makeup?” Gyuri barely picked up his words. “…Bare face… Cuter…”

Gyuri turned around, wondering what the last bit he uttered was. She wanted to ask him to repeat himself louder, but he was long gone when she turned to face him. With a light shrug, Gyuri turned back to her screen. She heard footsteps once again. She looked around, but she was the only one left in the office. She prayed to herself that she wasn’t hallucinating just because it had been a long time since she slept properly.

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[darkmaga-retard]

By Clark Barnes EarlKing56.family.blog

August 12, 2024

China’s economy is plunging into an unprecedented and dire phase, sounding deafening alarms that the Chinese government hopes to muffle, but they are growing too loud to ignore. This looming collapse is an ominous warning to America and the entire world as we are witnessing this unsettling unraveling in real-time. So, what do we need to know about this? China isn’t exactly transparent, most recently halting economic data releases to keep the world in the dark, which is just not a good sign. What they are hiding is that their state-controlled economy is unravelling due to debt, misguided investments, and eroding credibility. The question is, how bad could it get and what impact could it have on you? And most importantly, what can you do to prepare? Let’s talk about it.

3 REASONS CHINA COULD SHOCK THE WORLD

1) UNINFORMED POPULATION

The course and direction of a country are often determined by its citizens, and China’s citizenry is becoming increasingly upset and agitated, or are they? Some things we know, and some things we don’t.  We know the suppression of information and censorship might keep them from blaming their problems on the Chinese government, and the government is keeping information from them. The Chinese Communist Party had a botched COVID response–Draconian lockdown of apartment complexes and factories; workers forced to work instead of going home, then suddenly all measures were lifted as if they never occurred.

China has ceased reporting economic data that could reveal its true economic health. For instance, they stopped publishing youth unemployment figures, citing a need to review their methodology. The most recent available data showed a record-high youth unemployment rate of 21.3% in June for those aged 16 to 24. It’s possible that it’s even higher now, possibly exceeding 25%, but we lack current information. In addition, China has limited access for foreign users to corporate registries and academic journals. They have also clamped down on due diligence firms, which are vital sources of information for overseas businesses interested in China. It’s evident that the Chinese government is actively suppressing information and engaged in extensive damage control.

The Chinese people don’t really understand how teetering their economy truly is because the government doesn’t want that to be known. Even today, if the ruling Chinese Communist Party doesn’t like data or it reflects negatively on them, they simply don’t report it. The world has to wonder what’s really going on in the people’s minds, what they actually know and don’t know, and whether their frustration level will ever be more potent than the government’s ability to hold them down.

[racefortheironthrone]

Did the Ottoman Empire ever express any interest in the New World?

Not particularly, for two main reasons:

Accessing the New World would involve very disadvantageous naval wars with the Spanish Empire, who would use their incredible defensive position at the Straits of Gibraltar to interdict Ottoman vessels in the name of God and Glory.

They didn't really need the New World. The main reason why the Portuguese and Spanish had begun their overseas expansion was to bypass the Ottomans and their middle-men position athwart the Silk Road and between the Europeans and access to the Indes. Through investing in their Indian Ocean fleet and working out trade deals with the Mughal Empire, the Ottomans had direct access to the largest and richest textile markets and the Spice Islands of Indonesia.

Why go to the effort and expense of an Atlantic voyage when they had all the riches of the world practically on their doorstep?

[snikt111]

okay okay okay. i gotta talk about this.

ive been a big fan of bfu and watcher for years, and i thoroughly enjoy their work! i think their choice to move off youtube makes sense, and i totally get why they would want to invest in other ways of making money to get out of the restrictions youtube has.

however, i think the way they’re doing it isn’t particularly smart. directing more people to their patreon or moving patreon like memberships to their own website (watchertv.com) while having exclusive content there makes way more sense, imo. having teirs for content makes it slightly more accessible, including having a free tier (on youtube, since they’d be much easier to find like that) that will get new viewers hooked. lowering the production value on youtube and free videos would make sense for that kind of thing, too.

also holy shit the way people are treating steven (and ryan sometimes as well) is despicable. its very clearly fueled by racism, and thats wholly unacceptable. obv you can hate this decision however much you want, but don’t take it out on ONE member of the company. ryan and shane had to agree to this as well.

all that being said- i do think the way they went about this was bad and slightly out of touch. hyping it up like this was some cool announcement that wasn’t paywalling ALL of your free content just… isn’t the way to do it. don’t get me started on “affordable for anyone and everyone.” 6 dollars a month stacks up, 60 dollars a year stacks up. that is not affordable to most people in america, and it’s going to be even worse for people overseas and internationally. also… yeah, funding huge travel videos and $1k meals is something that i get a lot of people aren’t particularly happy about.

i want to reiterate rq: i UNDERSTAND why they want to branch off from youtube. that makes sense, youtube is suffocating. i think all artists in every form deserve to get actually paid for their work, as well. i just don’t think this was executed well at all

[st-just]

The view of Amazon from China is worth considering everywhere. Amazon lets Chinese manufacturers and merchants sell directlyto customers overseas and provides an infrastructure for Prime shipping, which is rare and enormously valuable. It also has unilateral power to change its policies or fees and to revoke access to these markets in an instant — as it has for thousands of Chinese sellers in recent years, with minimal process, because of alleged review fraud. It’s a lot of power for one firm to have. E-commerce analyst Juozas Kaziukėnas, founder of Marketplace Pulse, has highlighted growing concerns in the country about Amazon’s dominance and trajectory, including an editorial in the People’s Daily critical of the company’s e-commerce “chokehold.” Amazon’s position in the United States isn’t as different as it first looks. The company’s decades of aggressive investment and execution have resulted in the creation of a service without credible direct competitors: a commerce platform with more than 150 million subscribers, backed by a singular logistics empire that employs hundreds of thousands of people, with more market share than its next 14 competitors combined.[...]Amazon doesn’t have a “chokehold,” but it’s in a good position to squeeze.

-John Herman, The Junkification of Amazon

[antidrumpfs]

Opinion-Joe Biden: We must keep marching toward Dr. King’s dream

From the Joe Biden Washington Post opinion piece August 27, 2023

Sixty years ago, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and hundreds of thousands of fellow Americans marched on Washington for jobs and freedom. In describing his dream for us all, Dr. King spoke of redeeming the “promissory note to which every American was to fall heir” derived from the very idea of America — we are all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. While we’ve never fully lived up to that promise as a nation, we have never fully walked away from it, either. Each day of the Biden-Harris administration, we continue the march forward.

That includes a fundamental break with trickle-down economics that promised prosperity but failed America, especially Black Americans, over the past several decades. Trickle-down economics holds that taxes should be cut for the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations, that public investments in priorities such as education, infrastructure and health care should be shrunk, and good jobs shipped overseas. It has exacerbated inequality and systemic barriers that make it harder for Black Americans to start a business, own a home, send their children to school and retire with dignity.

Vice President Harris and I came into office determined to change the economic direction of the country and grow the economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down. Our plan — Bidenomics — is working. Because of the major laws and executive orders I’ve signed — from the American Rescue Plan, the bipartisan infrastructure law, the Chips and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, my executive orders on racial equity and more — we’re advancing equity in everything we do making unprecedented investments in all of America, including for Black Americans.

Black unemployment fell to a historic low this spring and remains near that level.More Black small businesses are starting up than we’ve seen in over 25 years. More Black families have health insurance. We cut Black child poverty in half in my first year in office. We aredelivering clean water and high-speed internet to homes across America. We’re taking on Big Pharma to reduce prescription drug costs, such as making the cost of insulin for seniors $35 a month. We’re taking the most significant action on climate ever, which is reducing pollution and creating jobs for Black Americans in the clean energy future.

This administration will continue to prioritize increasing access to government contracting and lending. We awarded a record $69.9 billion in federal contracts to small, disadvantaged businesses in fiscal 2022. We’re taking on housing discrimination and increasing Black homeownership. To date, we’ve invested more than $7 billion in historically Black colleges and universities to prepare students for high-growth industries. We’ve approved more than $116 billion in student loan debt cancellation for 3.4 million Americans so that borrowers receive the relief they deserve. And a new student debt repayment plan is helping Black students and families cut in half their total lifetime payments per dollar borrowed. We’re doing all of this by making sure the biggest corporations begin to pay their fair share, keeping my commitment that Americans earning less than $400,000 a year not pay a single penny more in federal taxes.

And to help guide these policies, I made it a priority to appoint Black leaders to my Cabinet, my staff, in the judiciary and to key positions in agencies such as the Federal Reserve to ensure policymakers represent the experiences of all Americans in the economy.

But we know government can’t do it alone. Private-sector leaders have rightly acted to ensure their companies are more reflective of America, often in response to their employees, their customers and their own consciences. Right now, the same guardians of trickle-down economics who attack our administration’s economic policies are also attacking the private sector and the views of the American people. A recent poll from the nonpartisan Black Economic Alliance Foundation shows overwhelming bipartisan support for promoting diversity as central to a company being more innovative and more profitable, and central to fulfilling the promise of our country for all Americans. Despite the attacks, we all must keep pushing to create a workforce that reflects America.

For generations, Black Americans haven’t always been fully included in our democracy or our economy, but by pure courage and heart, they have never given up pursuing the American Dream. We saw in Jacksonville, Fla., yet another community wounded by an act of gun violence, reportedly fueled by hate-filled animus. We must refuse to live in a country where Black families going to the store or Black students going to school live in fear of being gunned down because of the color of their skin. On this day of remembrance, let us keep showing that racial equity isn’t just an aspiration. Let us reject the cramped view that America is a zero-sum game that holds that for one to succeed, another must fail. Let us remember America is big enough for everyone to do well and reach their God-given potential.

That’s how we redeem the promissory note of our nation.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[The Daily Don]

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

April 27, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

APR 28, 2023

Catie Edmondson and Carl Hulse in the New York Times yesterday noted that House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) cannot bring his conference together behind a budget plan. He wanted to pass a bill demanding major concessions from President Biden before the Republicans would agree to raise the debt ceiling, both to prove that he could get his colleagues behind a bill and to put pressure on the Biden administration to restore the old Republican idea that the only way to make the economy work is to slash taxes, business regulation, and government spending.

McCarthy was pleased to have passed his measure with not a single vote to spare, but it appears he got the vote because everyone knew it was dead on arrival at the Senate. According to Edmonson and Hulse, McCarthy got the bill through only by begging his colleagues to ignore the provisions of the measure because it would never become law. He urged them to focus on the symbolic victory of showing Biden they could unite behind cuts.

But today at the Brookings Institution, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan outlined a very different vision of the global economy and American economic leadership. First of all, just the fact this happened is significant: Sullivan is a national security advisor, and he was talking about economics. He outlined how Biden’s “core commitment,” “his daily direction” is “to integrate domestic policy and foreign policy.”

Sullivan argued for a new economic approach to the challenges of the twenty-first century. The Biden administration is trying to establish “a fairer, more durable global economic order, for the benefit of ourselves and for people everywhere.”

The U.S. faces economic challenges, he noted, many of which have been created by the economic ideology that has shaped U.S. policy for the past 40 years. The idea that markets would spread capital to where it was most needed to create an efficient and effective economy has been proven wrong, Sullivan said. The U.S. cut taxes and slashed business regulations, privatized public projects, and pushed free trade on principle with the understanding that all growth was good growth and that if we lost infrastructure and manufacturing, we could make up those losses in finance, for example.

As countries lowered their economic barriers and became more closely integrated with each other, they would also become more open and peaceful.

But that’s not how it played out. Privileging finance over fundamental economic growth was a mistake. The U.S. lost supply chains and entire industries as jobs moved overseas, while countries like China discarded markets in favor of artificially subsidizing their economies. Rather than ushering in world peace, the market-based system saw an aggressive China and Russia both expanding their international power. At the same time, climate change accelerated without countries making much effort to address it. And, most of all, the unequal growth of the older system has undermined democracy.

Biden has attempted to counter the weaknesses of the previous economic system by focusing on building capacity to produce and innovate, resilience to withstand natural disasters and geopolitical shocks, and inclusiveness to rebuild the American middle class and greater opportunity for working people around the world.

After two years, the results have been “remarkable.”

Large-scale investment in semiconductor and clean energy production has jumped 20-fold since 2019, with private money following government seed money to mean about $3.5 trillion in public and private investment will flow into the economy in the next decade. Building domestic capacity will bring supply chains home and create jobs.

But this vision is not about isolating the United States from other countries. Indeed, much of the speech reinforced U.S. support for the positions of the European Union.

Instead, the U.S. is encouraging our allies—including developing nations—to build similarly to increase our united economic strengths and to enable the world to address climate change together, a field that offers huge potential for economic growth. The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework with 13 Indo-Pacific nations is designed to create international economic cooperation in that region, and the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity, which includes Barbados, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay, is designed to do the same here in the Americas. The U.S.-E.U. Trade and Technology Council and our trilateral coordination with Japan and Korea are part of the same economic program.

With this economic approach, the U.S. does not seek to cut ties to China, but rather aims to cut the risks associated with supply chains based in China by investing in our own capacities, and to push for a level playing field for our workers and companies. The U.S. has “a very substantial trade and investment relationship” with China that set a new record last year, and the U.S. is looking not to create conflict but to “manage competition responsibly” and “work together on global challenges like climate, like macroeconomic stability, health security, and food security.” “But,” he said, “China has to be willing to play its part.”

In today’s world, Sullivan said, trade policy is not just about the tariff deals that business leaders have criticized the administration for neglecting. It is about a larger economic strategy both at home and abroad to build economies that offer rising standards of living for working people.

The administration is now focusing on labor rights, climate change, and banking security in this larger picture. Through organizations like the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment the administration hopes to mobilize hundreds of billions of dollars in financing in the next seven years to build infrastructure in low- and middle-income countries and to relieve debt there.

“The world needs an international economic system that works for our wage-earners, works for our industries, works for our climate, works for our national security, and works for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries,” Sullivan said. That means replacing the idea of free markets alone with “targeted and necessary investments in places that private markets are ill-suited to address on their own.” Rather than simply adjusting tariff rates, it means international cooperation.

And, Sullivan said, “it means returning to the core belief we first championed 80 years ago: that America should be at the heart of a vibrant, international financial system that enables partners around the world to reduce poverty and enhance shared prosperity. And that a functioning social safety net for the world’s most vulnerable countries is essential to our own core interests.”

This strategy, he said, “is the surest path to restoring the middle class, to producing a just and effective clean-energy transition, to securing critical supply chains, and, through all of this, to repairing faith in democracy itself.” He called for bipartisan support for this approach to the global economy.

Sullivan noted that the phrase “a rising tide lifts all boats” came from President John F. Kennedy, not from later supply-side ideologues who used it to defend their tax cuts and business deregulation. “President Kennedy wasn’t saying what’s good for the wealthy is good for the working class,” Sullivan said, “He was saying we’re all in this together.”

Sullivan quoted Kennedy further: “If one section of the country is standing still, then sooner or later a dropping tide drops all the boats. That’s true for our country. That’s true for our world. [And] economically, over time, we’re going to rise—or fall—together.”

“And that goes for the strength of our democracies as well as for the strength of our economies.”

Foreign policy journalist Laura Rozen noted that David Wessel of Brookings asked Sullivan for a quick summary of this new economic vision. Sullivan answered: “We’re at a moment now where we need to build capacity to build the goods & invent the technologies of [the] future & we’re going to make the investments to do that—us, +everyone who wants to be in on [the] deal. & then we’re going to build the resilience we need…so that no natural disaster or geopolitical shock can stop us from getting things we need when we need them….”

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[korrasera]

svb & capitalist psychology

This single tweet is a good example of the psychology of capitalism, in which you can see a blind spot that capitalist true believers always seem to have.

They are always seeking to protect the capital, not the people and not our collective society. How does Bill Ackman's tweet demonstrate that? I'm glad you asked.

He thinks that this isn't a bailout because the company and the executives will take losses. This positions the depositors as innocents caught up in the failure of the bank. As though the depositors were just common folk who had their savings account there, surely you don't hold Joe Average responsible when the bank they're using fails, right?

The depositors are not Joe Average, they are companies with assets measuring in the hundreds of thousands of dollars at a minimum. Many had millions in assets in SVB and Circle had $3.3 billion banked:

The depositors are capitalists, meaning that they are investing capital in order to create profit. And while capitalists may describe it as a healthy competition, in reality capitalism is effectively a card game in which everyone is cheating.

When capitalists want to experiment with new strategies to make Even More Money Than Ever Before, they're gambling on an extremely large scale. It's a simple kind of bet, too.

On one side, their risk. Their idea might fail and they might lose everything. This is why you see capitalists learn how to save their money in overseas banks or report income in different countries, all to lower the amount of taxes they have to pay. This reduces how much risk they face.

On the other side, their profit potential. Their idea might hit it big and they might get even more goddamn wealthy. In other words, they profit. And just like you see them dodging taxes to mitigate risk, capitalists work to do everything they can to make that potential payout as high as possible. Things like charging customers additional fees, exploiting low cost labor markets (up to and very much including slavery), and literally killing, stealing, and lying whenever they need to.

The depositors were part of the same card game, just like the investors and the executives. Their money being invested in the bank was in turn being invested in other capitalist ventures. The interest rate the bank was repaying these companies was their cut of the profit from that process, just as surely as any direct sale of goods or services.

Like, I don't know if people really clearly understand how interconnected our world is, how our financial systems create a complex web of relationships. The capitalist mechanism functionally *is* capitalism, a web of profit generating mechanisms that specifically require and demand the exploitation of people.

The depositors are not innocents, they are accessories before the fact.

What protects Joe Average is that the FDIC ensures every savings account in the US for up to $250,000, so Joe Average won't lose his life savings, which would ruin a lot of working class and middle class people in the US.

The companies that are exposed and that want to be helped by the government are asking us, the collective us, to reimburse them when their company couldn't compete successfully and went under. And we don't even get anything out of it, it's not like this gives us a cut of the profits that they could make in the future, they just want the money for free because losing what they have sucked.

Since I'm long-winded and not great at making a point, here's the really simple version:

Capitalists see companies, capital, the entire structure of the system itself like they see their neighbor. Like a person. To them, they see a company as an individual who should be protected, and not as a part of the machine that grinds everyone down. They cannot see it systemically, they see it from an individualist perspective. At least, I think the vast majority of them do.

[personalcareexpo]

Visa-free! 🎉Entry policy relaxed!🎉 Visa waiver added!🤝 Relax visa requirements for foreigners!😆

🐼Relaxing visa conditions for foreigners， More convenient for overseas visitors✈️ To visit exhibitions in China for business cooperation💼🥂 ! ! !

In 2023, the transit policy and visa process will be optimized, international flights will resume and increase at a faster pace, and multiple entry favorable policies will further facilitate international business exchanges. China's door to the world will open wider and wider!🐼💖🤗

01✨

Shanghai port issued a new visa-free transit reminder📣 The National Immigration Bureau issued a new visa-free transit policy in November, 23📣

At present, the 72/144-hour visa-free transit policy is implemented at 31 ports in 23 cities in 18 provinces for people from 54 countries. Namely Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Monaco, Russia, United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania, Belarus, Norway, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and other countries, totaling 54 countries with valid international travel documents and confirmed dates and seats within a limited time. Persons from 54 countries who transit from China to a third country (region), with valid international travel documents, and connecting passenger tickets with fixed dates and seats within a limited time, may apply for transit visa exemption to the port entry inspection authorities of the cities that implement the transit visa exemption policy, and the exit border inspection authorities will handle the temporary entry formalities for them. The duration of visa-free stay starts from 00:00 on the next day of entry.

❤️[Please see the table at the bottom for details of Shanghai ports]👇👇

02✨

📢New news on visa-free policy released in November 📢China’s new visa-free policy promotes high-level opening-up

On November 24, 2023, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that China has decided to try to expand the scope of unilateral visa-free countries and implement a unilateral visa-free policy for ordinary passport holders from six countries: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia. From December 1, 2023 to November 30, 2024, ordinary passport holders from the above countries who come to China for business, tourism, visiting relatives and friends, and transit for no more than 15 days can enter China without a visa.

03✨

New news on convenient foreign personnel coming to China released in January📣 The National Immigration Administration has officially implemented five measures to facilitate foreign nationals to come to China📣

Another good news has come recently. Starting from January 11, the National Immigration Administration has officially implemented five measures to facilitate foreigners coming to China, which mainly include:

Relax the conditions for foreigners coming to China to apply for port visas. For foreigners who urgently need to come to China to engage in non-diplomatic and official activities such as business cooperation, visits and exchanges, investment and entrepreneurship, visiting relatives, and handling private affairs, and who do not have time to apply for a visa abroad, they can apply for a port visa entry to the port visa authority with relevant proof materials such as invitation letters.

For foreigners, 24-hour direct transit passengers at nine international airports including Shanghai Pudong, Beijing Capital, Beijing Daxing, Hangzhou Xiaoshan, Xiamen Gaoqi, Guangzhou Baiyun, Shenzhen Bao'an, Chengdu Tianfu, and Xi'an Xianyang are exempted from border inspection procedures.

Foreigners in China can apply for visa extension, replacement and reissue at their nearest location.

Foreigners in China who need to enter and exit multiple times can apply for a re-entry visa.

Simplify the application materials for visa documents for foreigners in China.

04✨

📢Starting from February 9, China and Singapore will exempt each other from visas

On January 25, representatives from the government of the People's Republic of China and the government of the Republic of Singapore signed the 'Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of Singapore on Mutual Visa Exemption for Ordinary Passport Holders' in Beijing. The agreement will officially enter into force on February 9, 2024 (Lunar New Year’s Eve). By then, people from both sides holding ordinary passports can enter the other country without a visa to engage in tourism, family visits, business and other private affairs, and their stay shall not exceed 30 days. If you enter the other country to engage in activities that require prior approval, such as work or news reporting, or plan to stay in the other country for more than 30 days, you must obtain the corresponding visa before entering the other country.

As of January 25, China has concluded mutual visa exemption agreements covering different passport types with 157 countries, and has reached agreements or arrangements with 44 countries to simplify visa procedures. Comprehensive mutual visa exemption has been achieved with 22 countries including Singapore, Maldives and Kazakhstan. In addition, more than 60 countries and regions offer visa-free or visa-on-arrival convenience to Chinese citizens. The convenience for Chinese citizens to leave the country has been greatly improved, and the 'gold content' of Chinese passports will become increasingly valuable. (Source: CCTV News)

05✨

Starting from March 1, China and Thailand will exempt each other from visas📣

On January 28, the government of the People's Republic of China and the Royal Government of Thailand held a signing ceremony in Bangkok for an agreement on mutual visa exemption for ordinary passport holders. The agreement will take effect from March 1, 2024.

After the news was released, data from a travel platform showed that the search popularity of Thailand-related keywords on the platform increased by more than 7 times compared with the previous day. Among them, air tickets and hotels increased by more than 6 times compared with the previous day. (Source: CCTV News)

In addition, recently, China has stated that it will grant unilateral visa-free treatment to Sweden and Ireland. This is the second time that China has granted visa-free treatment to European countries after France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy.

#visa #China #chinesevisa #visafree #entrypolicy #visawaiver #businessinchina #transitpolicy #internationalflights #internationalbusinessexchanges #business #Shanghaiport #transitvisaexemption #tourism #visitrelatives #visitfriends

[satanandsoul]

I wanted an astrology chart reading for jisoo solo. thank you so much

Hey there! Thank you for your reply. And sorry for the late reply. 🙇🏻‍♀️

♈︎ Blackpink Jisoo Solo Debut Event Chart Analysis ♈︎

Disclaimer: All these are for entertainment purposes only. DO take my words with a grain of salt.

From my online research, I learnt that Jisoo's solo will be released at 12am EST. So I did the conversation and found that it will be 1pm in Korean time.

Jisoo's solo debut event chart has its Cancer Ascendant at 29 degree. Judging from the Cancer Ascendant, Jisoo's solo song will be highly emotive. I will not be surprised if her song will be a love song. Or it can be a ballad. There is no way that Jisoo's solo song will be anything like Lisa's solo song in which she basically talks about how great it is to be her. In addition, the 29 degree is the degree of fame. That means that Jisoo's solo has a great chance of being a success. Leo Moon in the 1st house conjuncts Cancer Ascendant: A double confirmation that this song will be highly emotive. Leo Moon can be quite dramatic. So you can expect this song to be a melodramatic love song. Cancer Ascendant opposite Aquarius Pluto in the 7th house: This debut will attract a lot of attention from freedom-loving people (not just freedom-loving but obsessed with freedom).

Aries Sun conjuncts Aries Chiron in the 9th house: Honestly, this song will be about a wound that others have inflicted onto the protagonist of this song. Coupled with the fact that this can be a love song. It most likely will be about wounds that lover inflicts on us. These wounds can be caused by irresponsibility, carelessness, or impulsivity. If Jisoo continues to be a solo artist in the future, Sun in 9th house actually says she will have a lot of opportunities to travel overseas. Sun trines Moon: This will be an easy flow of the emotions. If Jisoo continues to be a solo artist, I can see that her songs will be reflective of her inner experience. Sun squares Cancer Mars in 12th house: Sun square Mars always points to hot-headedness. If Jisoo continues to be a solo artist, she may make some impulsive decision regarding her solo career. She may do it subconsciously though, as Mars falls into the 12th house. She can also make decisions that are mostly based on feelings rather than logics.

I will skip over Moon square Mercury as the orb is too large, 9 degrees. I will also skip over Moon trine Neptune as the orb is also too large, 7 degrees. Leo Moon in 1st house opposite Aquarius Pluto in 7th house: The emotional need to make oneself seen is in direct conflict with the obsession on collectivity. If Jisoo continues to be a solo artist, I can see her address the issues of fame. The theme of wanting to be seen on one hand and wanting to be a commoner on the other hand will continue to run through her work.

Aries Mercury conjuncts Aries Jupiter in 10th house: If this is the birth chart of a person and he or she has this aspect, I will say he or she definitely likes preaching lol.🤣🤣🤣 Jisoo may have a lot of lofty ideas that she wants to convey through her music. Jisoo may also want to use her profession as a channel to teach others about things she is passionate about. I will skip over Mercury square Pluto as the orb is too wide, 7 degrees.

Taurus Venus conjuncts Taurus Uranus in 10th house: Excellent position to show off Jisoo's otherworldly beauty. No matter what the concept of her projects will be, beauty will be a main theme. And this type of beauty is shocking in a captivating manner. In fact, showing off Jisoo's beauty can help her solo career.

Mars trines Pisces Saturn in 8th house: Saturn in 8th house can denote losses. Jisoo's boss may be restrictive in investing in Jisoo's solo career. The trine aspect here can mean that her boss is supportive of her actions, but at the same time is not really to invest too much money into her projects.

Aries Midheaven conjuncts Sun, Chiron, Jupiter, Mercury: Generally a great aspect. It shows that Jisoo is determined to make this solo project work. However, I am a little bit concerned about the Chiron conjunct Midheaven. A weakness of Jisoo will be displayed very publicly. When this conjunction takes place in Aries, I would say this weakness is related to temper, immaturity, impulsivity etc. Hopefully, I am wrong, because I honestly don't see Jisoo as an hot-tempered person.😳

I hope anon you are happy with my analysis. ☺️ And have a good day!!