Egregoros

@cjd @bonifartius some of the savings is lost by less mileage. Ethonal contains 30 percent less energy than same volume of gasoline.

@EvolLove @vic @cjd
I hadn't thought of that, but it's likely true, particulary for a certain segment of the population.

@EvolLove @vic @cjd
Exactly this. It will become a game of wack a mole. people will find ways around stuff.
enforcement efforts will be about as effective as they were during prohibition, or have been on the "war on drugs."

@cjd Thats a good question.
I'm sure US companies are investing in Japan

@cjd
But there are certainly FDI's from US into SA also.

@cjd
I am not using TOTAL investment numbers, but the amount invested in 2025. For Japan it was 852 billion, for SA it was 16.3 billion.

@cjd Im not using 1980's numbers, mostly 2024 numbers.

@cjd As the owner of a small business, its true we don't see any FDI and have a huge tax burden.

Small business makes up a huge portion, but less than half of the US economy.

@cjd
And the TOP 5 countries with FDI ito the US are 1.Japan, UK , Canada, Netherlands and Germany

@cjd
It's true that GDP is a poor measure overall, it still has some value for comparison. Here is another; Total capital expenditures in the US Just for 3rd Quarter in 2025 were 8.6 Trillion. And over time, the Saudi FDI into the US is still a relatively small percentage of the total FDI into the US.

The US economy is huge and 22x the size of the Saudi Economy. No matter what comparisons one uses, it seems a stretch.

@cjd
The Saudi's agreed to a RECORD investment into the US this year of 1 Trillion dollars. This is 25x their usual rate and only amounts to 3% of GDP and .07% of the wealth in the US and less than 20% of all foreign investment.
It is hard to believe that this is holding up the US economy

@sun I think your friend is wrong. China has been getting most of it's oil from Venezuala and Iran. If that supply is inturrupted, it is more likely to delay any movement toward Taiwan.
And China plays the long game, they will wait for a president that they perceive as weak.

@cjd @Bernard completely bound in chains of their own making.

@cjd @Bernard

Well, he is deporting some and some have self deported, but the pace is somewhat pathetic. On the other hand there seems to be lots of opposition.

@cjd @Bernard
Or maybe blockade them until everyone is nearly starved to death and then offer them food in exchange for a friendly surrender.
Or send all our deportations there and tell them if and when they take it over, we'll be very nice to them.
the possibilities are endless.

@cjd I've done it several times over the last 17 years and worked with this company before, back where it actually employeed French people.
Negotations are my thing, the company I work for calls it "Phil Magic"
I completely enjoy it, the more it goes in circles the more I like it.

At the company I work for we are currently negotiating with a large company in France, to colaborate on a huge 3 year multi billion dollar project.
We interact with design engineers, software engineers, the director of supply chain planning and the senior project manager.
What is amazing about this, is that, while they are all in Paris, not one of them is French, they are all indians and muslims from North Africa.

@cjd I think some major suck ups were heavily involved in its development

Massie is an ass

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/amy-curtis/2026/02/18/massie-praise-me-n2671491

@cjd @DrFell I like it. Flipping mines. I'll produce the reality TV show. We'll be rich (We'll in my case richer).