There has never been merit in the contrived superstitious beliefs generated by the self-crowning predictors of the stock market who would have you believe that the direction of the market is determined by which team wins the ball game or by the length of women’s skirts or by any such idiocy.
Whereas it is foolish to try predicting a market that is
moved by literally millions of decisions made by tens of thousands of participants,
there can be merit—however small it may be—in the
analysis of a country’s economy and the prediction as to how it will likely
perform in the short run. But where the analysis becomes as frivolous as that
of the idiotic predictors, is when someone comes up with a saying that goes
like this: “No two countries that both have a McDonald’s have ever fought a war
against each other”.
Of course, you want to know where this idea came from.
Well, it seems to be a combination of two ideas. There is one meaningless idea
that says the so-called democracies do not fight each other, which is like
saying two rapists do not rape each other, and neglecting to add that they only
rape the vulnerable young and those who cannot defend themselves. As to the
other idea, it is the one that says when nations become wealthy, they eat more
meat, thus invite McDonald’s to open a franchise on their territory.
It takes a high level plagiarist to steal two ideas and combine
them into a concoction that sounds sassy but means nothing when you come down
to it. Who would that be? It is the one who went to India, was told about the
Earth being flat, returned to America and made it his own whereupon he received
praises and awards he does not deserve. He is the one and only Thomas Friedman.
And so, it is that same Friedman who came up with an idea that Clifford D. May
was delighted to show was proven false.
To make his point, Clifford May wrote an article under
the title: “Fall of the Golden Arches theory:” and the subtitle: “Enriching
tyrants doesn’t prevent wars after all.” It was published on March 15, 2022 in
The Washington Times.
To start the discussion, Clifford May informed the
readers that MacDonald’s was closing its restaurants in Russia. He went on to
tell about Thomas Friedman’s theory about there being no fights between those
who eat at MacDonald’s, pointing out that both Russia and Ukraine have the
franchise on their territory, yet here they are, at war with each other.
Being the warmonger that he is, and believing that human
nature is fundamentally evil, it was natural for Clifford May to urge the
people of his clan to arm themselves and go on the offensive to kill others
before being killed by them. Always the opportunist that never lets a tragedy
come and go without exploiting it to the hilt, he did just that with respect to
the Ukraine War. However, being the fanatic Jew that he is, he quickly segued
to where all fanatic Jews go. If you want to know where that is, remember that
in the way “all roads lead to Rome,” all discussions lead to Iran as far as
Jews are concerned, at least for now.
Clifford May began this part of the discussion by
reminding the readers that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini said something to the
effect that the Islamic Revolution was not about the price of watermelons. What
is inferred from this, is that the Iranian leader was more concerned about
spreading the message of the Revolution than what it may or may not achieve
economically for the country and its people.
Clifford May added that having missed this message, former
President Barack Obama, and then current President Joe Biden, proceeded to deal
with the Iranians as if they could be turned away from the revolutionary zeal
that’s causing them to fight against America and its allies. What Clifford May
means to convey, is that the theory which predicted that enriching the autocrats
will mellow them and make them easy to deal with, has failed.
Regardless of the merit in that observation, what is
truly amazing is that Clifford May who spent years writing columns and going on
television to urge America tightening the economic screws on Iran to force it
to come crawling on its hands and knees begging for mercy — should now say something to this effect: You
know what, dear readers, screw everything I have been telling you about maxing
even more Trump’s maximum sanctions on Iran. What I find more convenient to say
at this time is that the Iranians are nothing like the Material Girl. They will
not be bought with money or made to panic by the lack of it. Financial
considerations are immaterial to them.
Having said this much about Iran, Clifford May went on to
generalize his new and improved theory by attributing that same characterization
to China, Russia and Venezuela. But then on second thoughts, he went back to
his old stance, and urged America and the West to get tough economically on all
those countries so as to force them to change their behavior.
But being a fanatic Jew and a warmonger, Clifford May
could not pass up the opportunity to advise the following:
“The US and its allies need to upgrade
their military capabilities. ‘Peace through strength’ requires convincing
adversaries they’d be fools to provoke us. But achieving deterrence — as
opposed to talking about it — is neither easy nor cheap”.