Blinken understands US protesters’ passion, but questions their silence on Hamas.
Asked about the unfolding pro-Palestine protest movement at US universities, Blinken said he very much understands the students’ frustration & respects their right to demonstrate as a hallmark of our democracy.
"It is notable that there is silence about Hamas”.
@DrALJONES well that's gross. I think Hamas is pretty awful and what they did in October was disgusting. But Israel's government is acting like every single person in Gaza is a Hamas militant which obviously isn't true. Why is the administration being so blind to Israel indiscriminately killing innocent people using our money and weapons, and do they really not understand why people are pissed about it? It's not antisemitic to want Israel to stop killing Palestinian children.
And then there's the fact that no fed taxes are used to fund anything. Ever.
As below: The "govt creates new money... when it undertakes expenditure, rather than spending being financed by taxation from, or debt issuance to, the private sector". The US system is similar to UK.
@DrALJONES well yes, tax revenue is used to pay back money borrowed (gov bonds) and interest, all new expenditure comes from the magic money tree that doesn't exist according to the tories, unless it is to create money for their pockets, see PPE et al.
Nah, fed taxes are never spent on anything. They're collected & destroyed (electronically) so as to claw back some of the newly issued money so as to manage inflation.
State taxes are different, of course, as states are not currency issuers.
@DrALJONES@Thebratdragon The US system seems a lot more convoluted than the UK one.
I got the impression the Federal Government always ends up paying interest on the money the federal reserve creates for them, but there's a lot of misinformation about the Fed.
It was certainly set up with the intention that the origional "investors" would profit from all government money creation, but I'm not sure that still holds with electronic payments?
@DrALJONES@Thebratdragon
Yes the idea of a National Debt is a political fiction, but the narrative around that fiction varies depending on the country. I understand the reality, but I'm of the impression in the UK that BS is maintained by convention, and policy changes at the Treasury & BoE could dispense with it. Whereas in the US there are Laws in place requiring the Treasury Dept & Fed to act like it's true, and significant legislation would need to be passed in order to change that.
@DrALJONES@Thebratdragon
Most of my information comes from history books and a documentary which stated the Fed was set up by a legal instrument that meant it was required to give profits from money creation to its initial investors.
I don't know how much has changed over the years but I know that unlike the BoE which is now publicly owned, the Fed is partially owned by its member banks https://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/section5.HTML and pays them dividends.
The thing is Hamas are not the good guys either… fundamentalists with their own agenda. The Palestinians will suffer again with them. The only solution is a free Palestinian state. Also free from extremists.
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