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Very good read (again). Funny you mentioned about the lack of income / taxes for the EU. I just read a good piece by Tom Luongo how the EU is trying to get around that by issuing bonds (SURE bonds during Covid, and now possibly a 100b euro bond for weapons). But for that they’ll need to demonstrate that they have an income source, so they may find a way to introduce taxes …

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Thanks. I meant to listen to an interview with Luongo before finishing this. I was wondering the same thing, how do you issue bonds without an income stream to repay them?

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They will try to introduce taxes somehow. Their ultimate wet dream.

OTOH, the SURE bonds ended up being a total failure.

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Great essay, it crystallised a lot of what I've been thinking. Do you hail from the North (Northern Ireland, Ulster, the 6 counties ect) yourself? That's a pretty obscure reference to the travelers.

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Thanks! I have several half-siblings who grew up in Andersonstown and so I visit Belfast often. One of my favourite pastimes is comparing the Loyalist--Nationalist conflict in NI to White--Black tensions in the US, where I grew up. I tend to annoy my family in Belfast by looking at things from a strange point of view. I once attended a nephew's Holy Communion and they told me about the travelers, which fascinated me to no end.

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Sidebar about the “traveler”. My favorite distillery in KY (Buffalo Trace) just introduced a whisky called “Traveler”. Not bad, but their bourbon is better. Especially the Eagle Rare.

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Mar 1
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Thanks! I was a little worried about whether people would get this one.

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