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Suman Suhag's avatar

To global leaders, central banks, and economic strategists:

The rise in oil prices above $100 per barrel triggered by conflict and supply disruption.

is once again driving global inflation and increasing living costs.

This is being treated as a familiar economic cycle.

It is not.

The Contrarian Insight

Inflation today is not purely a function of monetary policy or demand.

It is increasingly driven by energy system volatility.

Oil is not just a commodity.

It is a base-layer input into:

transportation

manufacturing

agriculture

logistics

When its price rises, inflation is not contained.

It propagates.

The Systemic Failure

The global economy remains deeply dependent on:

centralized oil flows

critical transit routes like the Strait of Hormuz

synchronized global pricing mechanisms

This creates a condition where:

localized disruption becomes global inflation

Monetary policy then reacts. but cannot address the underlying cause.

The Shift in Thinking

Global leaders must move from:

Inflation control → Energy system redesign

Reactive rate adjustments → Structural dependency reduction

Short-term stabilization → Long-term decoupling

The issue is no longer just price stability.

It is input stability.

The Uncomfortable Truth

As long as core economic activity depends on volatile energy sources,

inflation will remain structurally unstable regardless of monetary policy.

A Realistic Path Forward

Reducing systemic inflation risk requires:

diversifying energy systems across regions

reducing reliance on single chokepoints

strengthening local and regional production resilience

aligning economic frameworks with energy transition realities

This is not about eliminating oil immediately.

It is about reducing its power to destabilize everything else.

Peter MacMonagle's avatar

Beam him up and take him away.

beb's avatar

I would have more confidence in Vance if he did believe in aliens than I do with this demon stuff. Next thing you'll know if that he believe magic is real and he got his degree from Hogwarts.

Hank Napkin's avatar

"These are the very self-same aliens -- in the very self-same spacecraft -- that delivered their Worm Brethren into the brain of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And this is why Robert F. Kennedy Jr. -- uniquely able to communicate with these Space Worms -- will now add Commander of Space Force to his list of duties. And so, I say to you America, Rest in peace!"

RB Fallstrom's avatar

Lady Eyes is a doofus

Jeff Ralston's avatar

Back in the 70s, it seemed like everyone and their dogs (but not cats, oddly) in Washington state but me was seeing UFOs. My skepticism was too hard to crack even in my teens.

Zyxomma's avatar

Ta, Gary. I think I was around three years old when my late mother and I saw a UFO while we sat in a park in Jersey City. A friend (now also dead, fuck cancer!) saw it from Brooklyn. Apparently the fall of 1957 was one of the peak UFO sighting times.

Javey Dunce should stick to fucking couches. His theology stinks as much as his boss's diaper.

Biff52 Lost Canadian's avatar

I lived adjacent to Area 51 for about 15 years. I dismissed most of the strange things I saw in the night sky as just the Air Force playing around, but one time in broad daylight I saw "something" that resembled the cigar tube-shaped UFOs of common lore. I didn't mention it, but my partner, a mile away, came on the radio and asked if I'd seen it. I said yes and I don't want to talk about it. Not on our state-owned comms devices, I didn't!

jltympanum's avatar

So I am driving around Area 51 when I go past the Flying Saucer Cafe. I see a saucer come flying out the front door. This is surprising, so I pull into the parking lot and go inside. I ask the waitress, "What was THAT?" She says, "We have a terrific cook, but sometimes he loses his temper and starts throwing the crockery."

David Maceira's avatar

At this point I would consider being abducted by aliens a rescue mission.

Morningstar Muffin's avatar

It was the aliens that keep fucking the couches, not J.D..

Daniel O'Riordan's avatar

Community Note:

Benny Johnson is under the age of 42, making him eligible to enlist and fight in the War With Iran that he supports. He hasn't enlisted as of this date.

John Thorstensen's avatar

I'm an astronomer, retired after a long career of teaching and research. When I was 14 or so I was completely persuaded that flying saucers were real -- I'd read a bunch of books on the subject, written (I now realize) by sensationalists and cranks, who claimed all sorts of stuff that evidently wasn't true.

I no longer think they're real, but I don't think they're *entirely* impossible -- more in the category of stuff that is (a) wildly implausible a priori, and (b) supported only by really sketchy evidence. I don't think "the Government" knows all about this any more than anyone else does.

I could go on, but want to plug, once again, Firesign Theatre's marvelous album, "Everything You Know is Wrong", which is basically perfect. It follows the adventures of a guy who lives in a nudist trailer park in the Mojave, named Dr. "Happy" Harry Cox, who puts out records full of revelations about the aliens who have been living among us. It's basically a send-up of conspiracy theories and wacko ideas, but it morphs into much more.

They craft scenes beautifully with sound effects, mike effects, and incidental music, like old-time radio, and it has some of the funniest lines ever. Nothing before or since has been anything like this. It's available in its entirety on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKZtt2yEwfs (side A)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thVDjdSR7SA (side B)

Zyxomma's avatar

Ta, John. I didn't know it was on YT.

John Thorstensen's avatar

Dog's flew spaceships! The Aztecs invented the vacation!

Mike_Cramer's avatar

“Vance then riffed for a minute on how he doesn’t like to go right to “aliens” when he hears about something that seems to be an unnatural phenomenon, because he’s a Christian and it could be Christian-related unnatural phenomenon, not little green men-related. Because that would be crazy, we guess?”

They can’t deny that UFOs exist because that would mean applying the same science and skepticism that us filthy atheists use to counter their religion’s supernatural claims. However, life developing on other planets throws a fatal monkey wrench in their theology, especially the more insistent Creationists. The Bible said Gawd created life on Earth, not Mars or Alpha Centauri. Since Gawd is the only being capable of creation, it MUST be demons posing as aliens to deceive people away from JEEZ-us and salvation.

Jude's avatar

Still, it occurs to me that “Gawd” might have some hesitation about sharing intel about other planets with the guy that couldn’t deliver the Ten Commandments stone tablets without breaking them.

jltympanum's avatar

In an age when everyone carries a high-quality camera in his pocket, how come the only pictures we have of these so-called alien craft are fuzzy little blobs?

Jude's avatar

Easy. They are all shapeshifters but their resting state is fuzzy little blobs.

Michael's avatar

Same is true for Bigfoot. It's a legit question.

BB jinglebells's avatar

How easy is to make fun of something you didn't see but everyone else did. Not the 500 hundred but 1,000,000 who did in this age.

Daniel O'Riordan's avatar

I take it you're one of those people who doesn't understand exactly how big space is?

BB jinglebells's avatar

If their were not UFO's there wouldn't be be government programs buried 40 ft. deep under the pentagon. Everyone is oblivious except the ones who saw the damn things.