acrylic, canvas 50*60 cm “Magic of the Sunset”. 2024
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@sideshow-cellophane-blog
acrylic, canvas 50*60 cm “Magic of the Sunset”. 2024
Yep, I made a frutiger aero soft soap alien… 💧🐠🤍🫧🧼
@hellsite-hall-of-fame @worldheritagepostorganization
is this the ORIGINAL?!???
oh holy shit i didn’t even know where this meme came from
OH MY ACTUAL GOD THE ORIGINAL
ORIGINALS ON THE ROLL
He likes the blue ones better. The yellow ones are his second favorite. He does not stop eating crayons after this.
chris taub pathetic moments
Labour Offshoring and American Decline
The Following blog post is adapted from a paper I wrote for university discussing changes to the international division of labour and how those changes have shifted global power dynamics. The paper provides some explanation for the degradation of the US empire as it relates to labour offshoring.
Following World War Two (WWII), the international division of labour changed substantially as part of a process often referred to as globalisation. These changes to our global economic relations have had vast consequences for various categories of stakeholders. Those stakeholders include nation states, business, workers and consumers. Globalisation has ultimately facilitated America’s decline; Offshoring production has brought about increases to supply chain instability, wealth inequality and unmanageable debt.
While globalisation has been notoriously difficult to define, the concept is largely concerned with the liberalisation of cross-border trade, finance and production (Altay, 2024; Panitch, 1993). This effort is principally driven by profit motivated multi-national corporations and enabled by the various Bretton Woods institutions (BWIs) (Brooks, 2005). The BWIs include the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the United Nations (UN).
The liberal world order
Political theorists often refer to this arrangement as the liberal world order. The liberal world order developed post WWII, largely under the dictate of the United States; their raison d'etre being the implementation of a capitalist market-based system of international trade (Ikenberry, 2009). America emerged from WWII as the dominant economic power, having used the war to transform the internal economy after years of turmoil and volatility (Ikenberry, 2009). America’s political hegemony chiefly arose from the development of a robust domestic industrial base, that is, localised production (Stubbs & Underhill, 2006).
While the US ostensibly maintained its position as the predominant military and economic power, the WTO was able to facilitate trade throughout the global supply chain with relative ease (Council on Foreign Relations, 2023; Handley, Limao, Ludema & Yu, 2024). This has meant American capital, and the West more generally, has been able to, for a short time, enjoy the benefits of industrial production in a financialised economy at the expense of the Global South (Brett, 1985).
The Global South’s WTO compliance has been substantively contingent on the Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) imposed by the WB and the IMF (WTO, 1996; Dohnal, 1994). SAPs coerce the adoption of market deregulation and privatisation through the terms attached to development loans (Dohnal, 1994). These terms often require austerity policies, widening wealth inequality at a nation state and citizen level (Dohnal, 1994). The purpose of this arrangement was to secure low-cost materials and labour early in the value chain for the pursuit of short-term profits (Kaplinsky, 2000).
A new alternative
SAPs are ultimately unsustainable and thus unattractive, though participating nations had little alternative until recently. China now offers far more attractive development financing, particularly through the Belt and Road Initiative (Tudoroiu, 2023). Just as the US found itself in a dominant economic position arising from strong domestic industry, China has too. This shift in power has produced extreme trade policy tensions, fragmenting and concentrating complex supply chains (Handley, Limao, Ludema & Yu, 2024). As volatility builds throughout the supply chain, particularly for the West, price increases will only worsen the already widening wealth gap (Waldenström, 2024).
The US trade deficit is substantial, reaching a record high of USD$130.7 bn (approx. AUD$207.5 bn) in January of 2025 (Trading Economics, 2025). The largest deficit lies with China and in a bizarre attempt to reconcile this gap the Trump administration has implemented a regime of blanket tariffs (Trading Economics, 2025; Partington, 2025). These considerable trade deficits are illustrative of larger issues with the US economy arising from the offshoring of industrial production specifically around the administration of debt from the US bond market to commercial lending and household credit (Partington, 2025; Kelly, 2024).
US dollar decline
Not only does there appear to be a substantial sell off in the US bond market in response to Trump’s tariffs, but there has also been a broader push to move away from the US dollar (USD) more generally (Partington, 2025; Pistilli, 2025). US trade deficits with major manufacturers disincentivise those outside America to maintain USD reserves and by extension US debt (treasury bonds) as they will simply have little use for them; the US does not produce high-quality cost competitive goods in sufficient enough numbers to warrant foreign institutions storing USD in significant amounts (Pistilli, 2025).
American domestic instability
Moving US production offshore has also severely impact commercial lending in the US. As demand for US debt declines, interest rates rise right along with delinquencies, particularly in commercial real estate having never recovered post pandemic (Peterson, 2024). US firms have simply been hiring less employees, thus do not require the commercial space (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2024).
As employment opportunities have dissolved in the US, so to has the ability for most American consumers to borrow and repay their debts (Lui, 2025). As disposable income dwindles so will demand for superfluous good and services. As it currently stands there does not appear to be any avenue to reprieve for the US as dominance rapidly declines. Globalisation, as driven by American dominance has poetically led to its own downfall. The most violent empire in human history has been hoisted by its own petard.
References
Liu, R. (2025). ‘It’s a constant weight’: Americans struggle with record credit card debt. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/feb/11/us-credit-card-debt#:~:text=Money%20owed%20on%20revolving%20debt,income%20have%20no%20bank%20account.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (2024). Chart Book: Tracking the Recovery From the Pandemic Recession. https://www.cbpp.org/research/economy/tracking-the-recovery-from-the-pandemic-recession#:~:text=Total%20nonfarm%20employment%20fell%20by,a%20decade%20of%20job%20growth.
Peterson, D.M. (2024). U.S. Commercial Real Estate Is Headed Toward a Crisis. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2024/07/u-s-commercial-real-estate-is-headed-toward-a-crisis
Pistilli, M. (2025). What is De-Dollarisation and is it Good or Bad? Investing News Network: Nasdaq. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/what-de-dollarization-and-it-good-or-bad#:~:text=De%2Ddollarization%20is%20an%20ongoing,driving%20forces%20behind%20this%20trend.
Kelly, J. (2024). The Globalization And Offshoring of U.S. Jobs Have Hit Americans Hard. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2024/10/15/the-globalization-and-offshoring-of-us-jobs-have-hit-americans-hard/
Partington, R. (2025). ‘The damage is done’: Trump’s tariffs put the dollar’s safe haven status in jeopardy. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/11/the-damage-is-done-trumps-tariffs-put-the-dollars-global-reserve-status-at-risk
Trading Economics. (2025). United States Balance of Trade. https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/balance-of-trade
Waldenström, D. (2024). A new history of wealth inequality in the West. Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/new-history-wealth-inequality-west
Tudoroiu, T. (2023). The Geopolitics of China's Belt and Road Initiative (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032616001
Brett, E.A. (1985). The World Economy since the War: The Politics of Uneven Development. Palgrave HE UK.
Dohnal, J. (1994). Structural Adjustment Programs: A Violation of Rights. Australian Journal of Human Rights. https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUJlHRights/1994/5.pdf
International Monetary Fund. (1999). The IMF’s Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF): Is It Working? https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/esaf/exr/
World Trade Organisation. (1996). The WTO and the International Monetary Fund. https://www.wto.org/English/Thewto_E/coher_e/wto_imf_e.htm#:~:text=The%20WTO%20and%20the%20International,in%20global%20economic%20policy%2Dmaking.
Handley, K., Limao, N., Ludema, R.D. & Yu, Z. (2024). The value of WTO commitments along the global supply chain. Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/value-wto-commitments-along-global-supply-chain
Council on Foreign Relations. (2023). How Did the United States Become a Global Power? https://education.cfr.org/learn/reading/how-did-united-states-become-global-power
Kinra, A., Kotzab, H., Hsuan, J., & Skjøtt-Larsen, T. (2015). Managing the global supply chain. Samfundslitteratur.
Panitch, L. (1994). Globalisation and the State. The Socialist Register.
Stubbs, R. & Underhill, G.R.D. (2006) Political Economy and the Changing Global Order. Oxford University Press.
Ozawa, T. (2018). The Liberal World Order and the Job-Offshoring Backlash—In Structuralist Perspective. Global Economy Journal, 18(3), N.PAG. https://doi.org/10.1515/gej-2018-0026
ALTAY, S. (2024). The Rise and Decline of the Liberal World Order and the Multilateral Trade System: A Critical-Constructivist Synthesis to International Regime Analysis. Uluslararası İlişkiler / International Relations, 21(82), 97–115. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27309677
Ikenberry, G. J. (2009). Liberal Internationalism 3.0: America and the Dilemmas of Liberal World Order. Perspectives on Politics, 7(1), 71–87. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40407217
Ikenberry, G. J. (1993). A Retrospective on the Bretton Woods System: Lessons for International Monetary Reform. University of Chicago Press.
Kaplinsky, R. (2000). Globalisation and unequalisation: What can be learned from value chain analysis? The Journal of Development Studies, 37(2), 117-146. https://doi.org/10.1080/713600071
Kirby, P. (2006). Vulnerability and violence: The impact of globalisation. Pluto Press.
Brooks, S. G. (2005). Producing security: Multinational corporations, globalization, and the changing calculus of conflict. Princeton University Press.
Ghizoni, S. K. (2013). Creation of the Bretton Woods System. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Source: Labour Offshoring and American Decline
The reflection in the water
- Celin Valentina
I think that we should take both states down with one hit
I am losing my shit right now
@chennnington this is correct Martial Arts right?
Yes, the guy in the background is very good and correct. As you can see, his opponent falls down every single time, which means he died. That’s what you want to achieve in real actual martial arts. Dude in the foreground is hopeless unfortunately. His bloodline will not survive 😬
the king has abruptly fired 60% of his wizard staff, so he’s about to be abruptly surprised at who floated 100% of his formerly floating sky castle
I heard they're planning to maintain their levitation rites with autonomous constructs from now on, saying wizards are going to be totally obsolete within the season... so, ah, I'd invest in falling island insurance.
Preserving not-prev-but-someone-elses funny tags in this chain as well because I love both these additions actually,
Completely understandable. I would too, Taub
cant stop thinking about this video
For context this was in response to someone saying their cybertruck was heavy duty
oh no no NO no no I am sorry my dear @thebirdtm you are NOT underselling one of the most seminal pieces of television of my entire childhood like that on MY watch.
"How is claiming they drowned a Hilux possibly underselling it" GREAT question.
To start with a little disclaimer, Top Gear's Hilux did not start off, as in the video above, in pristine condition. It started off with nigh-on 300k kms (for you yankees, that's about 8.4 million Boeing 737 wingspans) and a condition to match.
And it's only once careless driving around town yielded zilch in given shits...
(look, I found a local newspaper picturing it being driven around!)
...that they decided to drown it. Now, the underselling part: if you told me that they drowned a pickup the first place my mind would go to would be "driving it through a river a bit too deep for it, perhaps as deep as its height, until it stalls and then tugging it back out. You will concede that's rather different from tying it down on the seashore with the second highest tide in the world...
...and leaving it there until it engulfs the whole truck...
...only for the ropes to snap...
...and for the truck to be lost to the tides for FIVE HOURS.
(and for those wondering, yes, just as promised, well within an hour and the mandatory limits of basic tools and no spare parts, up the mechanic made the thing fire and away the presenter drove it - I must imagine doing a number on his clothes in the process.)
Oh also I would have mentioned the caravan.
Or at least the wrecking ball.
But hey, at least the fire was mentioned.
Still, I feel it's criminal to leave out how they celebrated it surviving all it did: by parking it at the top of a 23 story building for all to see! :)
Wait NO-
Well, that was uncalled for. Given what it survived, it deserved to rest in a museum instead of being unceremoniously cleared out with the other chunks of public housing that buried it.
Or at least, given that buried it wasn't...
...to be tumbled down from the rubble utop which it sat...
...and be fueled up.
"be fueled up", pfft, what for?, I hear you say. And you are right.
Look at that thing, you say.
Let's be serious now, however pretty of a story it would be that's not a truck that will do anything remotely in the ballpark of firing up, let alone running.
And again, you are right.
The battery was disconnected.
Sorted that, tho
"You can't be serious." Oh darling I sure can! "Well the presenters can't then" no no, I assure you, it lived. Go see it for yourself! It's at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieau, England!
I grew up watching Top Gear and it shaped me in many ways. My adoration of old Toyota Hiluxes is one of them.
The Toyota Hilux is absolutely the small god of endurance and defiance (and possibly masochism).
yes I'm reposting about a small god truck are you kidding me
How life feels when you love literally all the House characters (and 80% of them suffer terrible fates):
ARIEL NEEDS LEGS
I was gonna make Emmy draw this but she said no so I drew it myself.
I’ve never drawn a comic before!
edit: WATCH IN MOTION COMIC FORM
You probably don't get video requests, but do you have any modrlin clips from Matthew on MyFriendsfeet - I don't know his full name, but maybe this sounds familiar?- They're usually very short videos about him on tumblr.
Hi anon
Is this the Matthew you mean? I don’t post full clips but this snippet is cute! I prefer my lees to laugh more but his squirming and begging is delicious, clearly it’s agony for him! 😈
do you think two pennies is still enough for the ferryman or has inflation driven up the fare
if he makes me use an app I am simply not crossing the river Styx.