Monday, March 23, 2026

Grudging Admiration

 If you were trying to stop a car from running you down, throwing a gallon of a boiling hot sticky substance would probably be laughed at.  I do not know of one single human that would keep coming if you hit them with a gallon of boiling hot sticky liquid but, I also do not know of a single car that would be slowed down or stopped by it.


If you find yourself in a fight, regardless of whether you are an instigator or a reluctant participant or something in between, you need to use tactics, tools and methodologies that will harm the opponent in front of you.  No matter how effective a given tactic was against a different opponent, it is not guaranteed to have the same effect on anything else.  If you want to win the fight, you have to understand your opponent well enough to know what specifically hurts them.


This is not a revelation from a military genius.  Hell, it ain't even original.  Sun Tzu and other tacticians throughout history have harped on the necessity of knowing your enemy.  It is a core, if not THE core, teaching of any serious military academy.  The only thing that might be more important is knowing yourself.


Right now might be a bit of a dangerous time to be rich.  I'm sure you're fine if you're upper-middle class.  Even if you have 5-20 million dollars you need not worry.  But if you are truly investor class, now would be a good time to be careful and pay close attention to the world.


As near as I can figure, Iran wants to win the fight they are in.  They apparently decided very early on that they were not technically in a fight with the USA.  Instead, they decided they were in a fight with the obese orange felon himself, Donald John Trump with the quiet acquiescence of the rest of the world.  So, they studied him.  They looked at what sort of person he is and then chose a plan of action that would be effective against him, even if it appears unfair to a bunch others, even if it doesn't look like any plan they have used against different opponents.


Iran is isolating Felon47.  They looked and saw how he constantly struggles to be seen as a peer of the uber-wealthy.  They analyzed his words and actions to understand that money is the most important thing to him. (I mean, if it weren't for Ivanka and golf, it would be the only thing important to him but, I digress.)  After getting to know their enemy, they have chosen a course of action that is as brilliant as it is brutal as it is brutally effective.  They are seriously fucking with the global economy.


If you are investor class, you are almost guaranteed to have an investment position that includes energy, specifically petroleum.  Iran has taken steps to slow or halt the production of petroleum products in several of their neighbor nations.  Oil is globally priced and traded.  A reduction in the volume most any given nation produces can affect the entirety of the market.  It will inflate the costs of anything that involves the use of petroleum products in the manufacturing process or the transportation of the product.  That inflation means the middle-class folk that invest their "extra" money will have less of it to invest.  That will result in less profits for the investor class.  The production facilities are typically built with investment funds.  A lot of them will need significant repair.  That will result in either a lower dividend payout or even additional investment to pay for the repairs.  The investor class will probably not be patient.  They will demand a cessation if they believe they are likely to lose more income.


I don't mean to imply that as a poor person I will not be hurt by this crap.  I and all of my similarly economically challenged brethren will absolutely be hurt by inflation.  But we are just collateral damage.  The target is those who are in Trump's Rolodex or that have him in theirs.  The goal is to have those whose approval he so desperately seeks to pressure him in to stopping doing stupid shit.


I will admit that despite the pain I am likely in for, I do have a grudging admiration for just how well it appears they understand him.  They knew he would pay no attention to facts or history or even our various intel agencies.  They knew that he wants MBS to think favorably of him.  They knew about the shady investments various "oiligarchs" (see what I did there?) around the Middle-East have made in various Trump properties.  They looked at all of that and then punched him right in the money.  I doubt they considered the effect the war would have on his relationship with MTG and the rest of MAGAts.  That is likely just icing on the cake.  The stock market is in a negative trend.  Without drastic action, recession is a near guarantee and it will probably be a global recession.  No one will be confused about why it is happening.  His hubris and incompetence will be remembered even after all of his assault victims are gone.  


I do not enjoy war or inflation but, you have to appreciate a well fought fight.

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