Personal Finance Topics / Macroeconomic Trends and Risks
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I listen to Peter Zeihan on Geopolitical subjects.
He does short videos:
https://zeihan.com/newsletter/The latest:
https://zeihan.com/all-that-bitchin-wont-keep-chin...He believes China as an inflential economic force is time limited due to a demographic issue.
The Chinese are dying out. They already have more people aged 54 and over than 54 and under, and within ten years they will not have enough people under age 60 to run an economy. So it doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter what your producer export or import.
You need to assume that that trade relationship is going to go to zero. Doesn’t matter if you’re exporting soy or beef or semiconductors or ethane or anything. Zero zero is where this is going. It doesn’t matter what you import from China, whether it’s transformers or wire or process chemicals or fertilizer or anything. It doesn’t matter. It’s going to zero.
The only wiggle room here is the time frame. Either the Chinese die out over the next ten years and it goes to zero, or the Trump administration puts into place and owners tariffs. And by November 1st, or maybe even before it goes to zero, either way it is going to zero. So everyone needs to plan for that happening.So much for their lock on rare earth materials. Processed rare earth materials are a strategic priority. Rare earth material processing is a dirty, polluting activity. We have left it to China in the past. Perhaps it is time for our nation to take control of our destiny & strategic need for such a product.
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Who is volunteering to have a RE processing plant in their neighborhood?
Or
Who are the oligarchs going to volunteer to have a RE processing plant in their neighborhood?
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"Who are the oligarchs going to volunteer to have a RE processing plant in their neighborhood?"
Processing gold ore is a dirty, polluting activity. I know it has been done in Nevada using cyanide. At that time Bechtel engineers were running the processing plant & leach ponds.
https://farmonaut.com/mining/environmental-impact-...We need RE. And RE generates profits. It will be done.
Shareholder Value!
No. of Recommendations: 2
Who are the oligarchs going to volunteer to have a RE processing plant in their neighborhood?
Put them in National Parks or Wilderness areas. All Federal land, so the states have no say in the matter. Besides, destroying the land to make money is a "traditional American family value".
/sarcasm
Steve
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Wilderness areas
The *definition* of a red state.
All of TX qualifies. Much of it is already desert.
WV also.
Careful with FL. Don't want the plants to be full of sea water. Easier to get clean water from uncontaminated sea water.
Carolinas could be good locations, as well as GA, AL, MS, LA, AR, MO, KS(?), NE, and a few more red states that might not be of much use except as MAGA reservations.
Oh, they said they LOVED WALLS.
No. of Recommendations: 1
All of TX qualifies. Much of it is already desert.
WV also.For reasons of economy, it would be best to locate the processing plants nearest the deposits;
Map of rare earth deposits in the US. Apparently, the richest deposits are those in southern California, Wyoming, and Montana.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19753-us-re...Map of federally owned areas.
https://civicinsighter.com/p/national-parks-forest...Recall, during the 2008 "peak oil crisis", #43 proposed building refineries on military bases, so they would be beyond the reach of state and local regulators.
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 1
Put them in National Parks or Wilderness areas. All Federal land, so the states have no say in the matter.
That was the theory behind nuclear waste repository on Yucca Mountain. Didn’t work out, somehow.
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That was the theory behind nuclear waste repository on Yucca Mountain. Didn’t work out, somehow.
iirc, the facility was essentially completed, so the contractors made their profit off it. "Mission accomplished". Just like defense contractors that milk the "development" phase of a weapons system contract, but then the program is cancelled with little, or nothing, actually built for deployment. Remember the Clinch River fast breeder reactor project? The pump seal company I worked for was involved in it. According to the Google net sifter, $1.7B has been spent ($5.63B in 2025 dollars according to the BLS calculator) What did we get for all that money? Nothing.
What the contractors had been paid for, up to 1983, according to the net sifter:
What was completed: By 1983, design work was over 90% complete and major components worth hundreds of millions of dollars were finished or on order. Site preparation was also essentially completed
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 0
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/major-us-steelmaker...A major U.S. steelmaker is looking to help kickstart domestic production of rare earth minerals amid China's move to block access amid its trade dispute with the Trump administration.
Cleveland-Cliffs, a steelmaker headquartered in Ohio, announced the rare earths plan on the company's quarterly earnings call on Monday.Show them potential profits. And they will come.
Shareholder Value!
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Show them potential profits. And they will come.
Shareholder Value!
Show them profit protection from tariffs.
Steve
