Only accusing the "big companies" for doing all sort of "unethical" things, is like only accusing mass murderers for the killings that they do. Every crime is a crime. Big or small. Small companies do similar shady practices and abuse people or destroy the environment.
But best is to look at the system that creates these entities instead of accusing companies or people.
As long as the underlying practice on this planet is to TRADE or else you are fucked, then this is what we are going to do and prioritize. Thus the evolution of companies and billionaires, waste, pollution, you name it.
The U.S. displaces China as Germany's biggest trading partner. Germany had been urging German companies to decouple from China.
"Combined exports and imports between Germany and the U.S. totaled 63 billion euros ($68 billion) between January and March of 2024, while trade with China came to just below 60 billion euros."
It is funny, in Spain if you want to legally trade your own services, say you make websites, then you have to become "autonomo" - like self-employed, and pay between 60 to 100 euros a month taxes even if you make no money as self-employed. hahaha. That after you will have to pay a lawyer some 60 more euros a month to deal with the shitload of papers and nonsense.
You know these "taxes" in theory seem like a decent idea: take a bit of money from each citizen, to then put that money into healthcare and other things that will be free for these "citizens".
In practice it is shitshow of corruption and making the rich richer. And a huge pain in the ass for everyone. I would not mind contributing 20% of my "income" to a tribe if I get free healthcare and other benefits, but only if it was made simple and you could see the effect of your contribution.
Spain seems like the capital of papers and nonsense. But the entire world is like that one way of another...
Such a wasted time on the most "unique" planet in the universe. Deal with papers, try to survive, be busy with nothing things... No thank you!
So yeah, in a trade based society is not enough to "trade", you have to do it in a particular way. And if you are poor you are entirely fucked to begin with anyway.
Finally Sasha got her residency approved here in Spain after 4-5 years of us trying, spending money, being stressed. After being rejected once because we did not have enough money as a family - imagine that! That was the actual reason.
But now that I had a "job" they made us wait 7 months from the moment we applied, and 2 complaints later from the lawyer about why they do not approve it, it finally got approved. And the reason was ONLY because I was a "trader" in this bullshit trade society.
How terrible that we treat people like tools. The value is in what and how much you can trade. Does not matter if you are a good human being. Smart? Doesn't matter. Calm and helpful? Nope. Scientifically minded? Nah.
I spent my life doing free things for others, never made a profit, but this has 0 value in this society.
Anyway, fuck you to those who support a world where we are divided into tribes and languages, and treating people like sole traders/marketers and not humans. We have global problems but so many still want to have their own "separate" tribe and care only about that. Fuck your flag, your language, your culture. Fuck nationalism. A primitive disease.
We are all humans with a 4 billion years long history, a mindblowing one. Single cells becoming what we are today. The way we are connected to each other, scientifically, dwarfs any bullshit man-made story about their own tribe. We have lego-brick-like structures we call the DNA that encode all of what we are. And all of what other creatures are, and how we are all connected.
We live on a giant sphere with a thin layer of atmosphere protecting us from the infinite universe out there.
So fuck you if you think your nationalism is so important, and your borders and stupid nonsensical laws.
I had to let this out because it is outrageous how primitive this society is.
The Cameroonian Ministry of Commerce announced yesterday a significant reduction in rice prices effective Friday. This price adjustment follows the arrival of a portion of the 190,000 metric tons of rice negotiated with India. The minister, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, detailed that the price for a 50 kg bag of Indian broken...
Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, ratified on April 10 the updated free trade agreement between Canada and Ukraine, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak said.
The European Council announced on April 8 that it had reached a provisional deal with European Parliament representatives to extend the suspension of import duties and quotas on Ukrainian exports to the EU until June 2025, but with new restrictions on agriculture products.
Did you know that here is currently a bipartisan bill in the US House of Representatives to punish South Africa for daring to accuse Israel of genocide?
In today's Financial Times, Naledi Pandor, the South African Minister of International Relations writes to defend her country.
A ‘zero-deforestation’ approach overseas
while logging continues in NSW
"The Committee had recommended the Government prevent UK businesses from trading in commodities linked to UN-defined deforestation in all cases, regardless of whether the deforestation was illegal or permitted by local laws. This ‘zero-deforestation’ approach would encourage consistency in trading such commodities across UK and European markets, increasing protections for areas at risk of deforestation."
"But in its response to the Committee’s report, The UK’s contribution to tackling global deforestation, the Government said it believed “the only way to achieve zero global deforestation in supply chains is to work in partnership with producer countries – and that working in partnership requires us to uphold and respect national laws.”
Poor harvests in extreme weather conditions have led to a tripling of cocoa prices – but farmers have seen no benefit. Around the world this holiday weekend, people will consume hundreds of millions of Easter eggs and bunnies, as part of an annual chocolate intake that can exceed 8kg (18lb) for every person in the UK, or 5kg...
EU ambassadors "agreed on a new compromise" regarding the extension of the trade agreement with Ukraine, ensuring a "balanced approach between support for Ukraine and protection of EU agricultural markets," the Belgian presidency of the EU Council announced on March 27.
You'll recall Kemi Badenoch was caught in a lie when she said free trade talks were containing with Canada when she had actually unilaterally paused them.... now having annoyed the Canadians the time has just about run our on the post-Brexit transition deal.
As before Badenoch is blaming the Canadians, but the bigger problem is that she doesn't seem to realise that she is arguing from a position of weakness not strength - the UK needs a deal a lot more than the Canadians!
Cameroon cuts rice prices following import deal with India (www.businessincameroon.com)
The Cameroonian Ministry of Commerce announced yesterday a significant reduction in rice prices effective Friday. This price adjustment follows the arrival of a portion of the 190,000 metric tons of rice negotiated with India. The minister, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana, detailed that the price for a 50 kg bag of Indian broken...
Ukrainian parliament ratifies updated Canada-Ukraine free trade deal (kyivindependent.com)
Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, ratified on April 10 the updated free trade agreement between Canada and Ukraine, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak said.
EU to impose restrictions on export of Ukrainian agriculture products, agrees to free trade extension (kyivindependent.com)
The European Council announced on April 8 that it had reached a provisional deal with European Parliament representatives to extend the suspension of import duties and quotas on Ukrainian exports to the EU until June 2025, but with new restrictions on agriculture products.
Extortionate Easter eggs and shrinking sweets: fears grow of a ‘chocolate meltdown’ (www.theguardian.com)
Poor harvests in extreme weather conditions have led to a tripling of cocoa prices – but farmers have seen no benefit. Around the world this holiday weekend, people will consume hundreds of millions of Easter eggs and bunnies, as part of an annual chocolate intake that can exceed 8kg (18lb) for every person in the UK, or 5kg...
EU ambassadors agree on 'new compromise' regarding extension of Ukraine trade deal (kyivindependent.com)
EU ambassadors "agreed on a new compromise" regarding the extension of the trade agreement with Ukraine, ensuring a "balanced approach between support for Ukraine and protection of EU agricultural markets," the Belgian presidency of the EU Council announced on March 27.
Stellar Price Prediction - 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 - 2030 (coinpedia.org)
Stellar Price: CoinPedia's XLM price illustrates the possible price projections for 2023 - 2025 and the years to come.