5x10 trailer tinyhome future

 https://www.tnttt.com/threads/tiny-barns-on-wheels.1043366/

https://www.tnttt.com/threads/5x10-hybrid-foamie-build-on-harbor-freight-trailer.2198503/ 

 

Ordered the vacuum bag adapter for the 3.5 gallon Bauer handheld shop vac!! No more piercing shriek scream from bearings!!

I really like the Bauer handheld vac - I had the earlier "Hercules" version but can't remember why it stopped working. The Hercules did not have a hose attachment but with the hose attachment you can reach into back spots to vac - using the wand suction attachment.  

 

 As I searched for the impeller blade on the Bauer 3.5 gallon vac DC motor - handheld - I was pondering what it looked like...I could find no image (see above image from manual) as apparently no one has taken their Bauer 3.5 gallon vac apart to oil the bearings? I took it apart and put it back together and it works - but I forgot to really study HOW it works!! hahaha. I didn't realize that the vanes have to face the motor - very fascinating. And that they turn 30,000 rpm!! Wow. 

 The required voltage depends entirely on the motor's K_{v} rating (its velocity constant, measured in RPM per volt). For example, a motor with a 2,000 Kv rating requires 15 V to reach 30,000 RPM under no-load conditions,

So that fits the 20 volt battery...Anyway I did find this new attachment that someone designed - to insert a vacuum bag into the Bauer! Very exciting - because I just bought a new filter and those things are over $20 but they are impossible to clean. A vacuum bag meanwhile is cheap and easy to dispose of. Wow - I really like this handheld vacuum except that the wand attachment scuffs up the floor (you have to be very careful with that black plastic as it smears off onto the linoleum). 

 To stop your vacuum wand attachment from scuffing your linoleum, use a dedicated hard floor brush...

BAUER Micro-Cleaning Accessory Kit for Wet/Dry Vacuums, 9-Piece

 AI tells me that it was critical I got the impeller blade installed with the vanes facing upward. To be honest - I don't remember seeing any vanes but I know the side facing downward is smooth, so I can only assume there are vanes on the motor facing side - the vacuum indeed is back to its normal LOUD self (not an insanely loud screaming sound). I did oil the bearings after watching a youtube vid on how to oil vacuum motor bearings for a handheld shop vac...

 that only allowed for a 1.5 gal bag.

That's good enough for me....  

 

The Cupped Side: The concave (scooped) side of the vanes must face upwards toward the motor to generate vacuum airflow. The flat or convex side should face the bottom of the vacuum.

Direction of Rotation: The blades are designed to scoop air when spinning in one specific direction. Installing them upside down will push air in the wrong direction or fail to catch the air entirely. [1]

Shaft Alignment & Keys: Ensure the main shaft key and any connecting bushing keys are properly seated. Do not force the impeller onto the motor shaft; tighten all bushing bolts evenly to avoid warping or misalignment

 https://www.etsy.com/listing/1840918431/harbor-freight-bauer-20v-cordless-3-12

There's a vid on how to install it. Curt Jun 4, 2026

This adapter for my Bauer cordless vacuum really fit well, not too tight and not too loose! I also didn't have any trouble installing the vacuum bag. They really did a good job making it! I hesitated to spend this much on an adapter, a bag, and shipping. But in the long run this will save me a lot of time! I found myself cleaning the filter every time I used the vacuum, even for a short time. Most of the dust would be on the filter and very little in the tank. Seller also did a great job shipping, it shipped right away and arrived quickly! 

 here's the manual for the vac

 Reaching 30,000 RPM typically requires Brushless DC (BLDC) motors

 yeah the review said it's a brushless motor...

 When the Motor sound becomes higher in pitch, the Tank is full and the float is closing off the motor intake.

No - what happened is that I used it to suck up water and the water dried out the motor bearings and the sound became a SCREAMING high pitch...

 A 30,000 RPM vacuum motor screaming at a high pitch is a classic symptom of failing, seized, or unlubricated bearings. At these extreme speeds, a dry or dusty bearing will emit a piercing shriek. Continuing to run the motor will rapidly cause the bearing to melt, fuse, or self-destruct....

 So no more screaming of the motor bearings!!

 I also fixed/replaced the oven heat element and the dripping faucet...

So I've been pretty handy around the house in the past couple weeks.

 

 

300,000 years ago is the origin of modern human anatomy as small side branch with archaic humans: Nick Longrich

 

 Features - anatomy - vary within "archaic" human subspecies

Nick Longrich....

 fossils of modern humans do not match the molecular dna clock of modern human anatomy...

Modern humans  were not very numerous at first as an "extended genetic bottle neck"..

 The Archaics dominated until fairly recently....and Neanderthals dominated Archaics...

 

 Archaic Homo Sapiens still existed in Morocco till 20,000 years ago - using Tang spear points for hunting....and Archaic homo sapiens proven to exist in Nigeria until 11,000 years ago.... and maybe even up until 450 BCE as hunter-gather tribes...

 

 The behavior is in the brain - and juvenile hominins of other humans are found even in juvenile apes also - domesticated dogs have similar anatomy.

Survival of the Friendliest...  

Was Gospel of John based on the Didache, as the earliest form of Christianity? Vicar Alan Garrow

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRHNvX6DrXQ

 Alan Garrow is Vicar of St Peter's Harrogate and a member of the Sheffield Centre for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies (SCIBS). Church of England (Anglican): In the UK, the Vicar (found on Wikipedia or defined by Merriam-Webster) is the priest in charge of a specific local parish who receives a stipend (salary)

Paul, James, Matthew and Luke all appear to have known lost sources that they treated as highly authoritative. For example, Paul quotes an unknown Scripture in 1 Cor 2.9, references a mysterious written authority in 1 Cor 4.6, and appeals to an enigmatic 'Word of the Lord' in 1 Thess 4.15. James, on the other hand, directs the reader to an authoritative 'implanted word', that is also a 'mirror', and a 'law of liberty'. And, of course, scholars have long suspected that both Luke and Matthew made use of a highly authoritative written source that included, for example, Jesus' sayings on retaliation and love of enemies. This paper proposes that, in each case, the text these authors had in view was the earliest form of the Didache – a text also recognisable as the full text of the Apostolic Decree (cf. Acts 15)

https://www.alangarrow.com/conference-papers.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRHNvX6DrXQ

Drumpf the child rapist literally created a Green Iranian swamp in D.C. - will he have to "drain" it now?

 The "reflecting pool" is now being called "fetid" - that's also what a swamp is - pretty hilarious. Mother Nature algae is in control on Earth. 

Just bought a Rebuilt Title Subaru that did NOT have the airbags deployed - a legal loophole in state law

 

 The above left image is what happened to this vehicle last December 2025 - in a huge snow storm. I saw the accident damage image and I did not think the airbag was deployed. We had looked at another Subaru that cost $4000 more but was a recent year model - and the dealer claimed that only bumper damage had occurred. I was able to trace down the accident report and it was a five car collision and the air bag was deployed! I called back the dealer and he insisted the air bag had never been worked on or repaired. By the law in my state the dealer is not required to state whether the airbag had been deployed or not!! The local news has covered how people try to trade in their used cars only to find out they've been driving without airbags...

 You cannot permanently clear an airbag warning code or light without fixing the underlying issue. Subaru's Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) performs a continuous diagnostic check every time the car starts. If missing or broken airbags are detected, the system will immediately trigger the warning light on your...Subaru

 So I do not think it is possible for the dealer to hide this and the side-swipe damage was not that bad so I don't think the air bag got activated - as per the image above in the manual stating the air bag would NOT be activated.

 

 that was the side-swipe damage and that matches the image in the manual stating the airbags would NOT be deployed. 

The accident report for the other subaru side that the bumper rear end damage caused the vehicle to then hit the car in front of it and the air bag WAS deployed - but the dealer tried to cover it up. I was able to track down the car accident in the news and the accident report as per state records...stating the airbag WAS deployed - so after the dealer asked if I had "seen the Carfax report" - I knew he was covering it up. This is a rampant scam in our state as the local news has covered...

 

 There's an insane amount of warning signals on the Subaru that need to be decoded...

The "forward emergency brake off" signal threw me for awhile.

As did the "blind spot indicator monitoring" signal! Wow.  

 Also the "passenger air bag deployment off" signal really threw me. 

 Wow they don't even have that symbol up there - it shows up above at the top over the windshield. I found it explained in the manual - if there is no weight on the passenger seat than the "activation" of the airbag is turned off so it will not be deployed. Very strange.

 Yes, replacing or altering the airbag Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) control module can erase, alter, or hide evidence of a previous airbag deployment from electronic scanning tools

 So technically the dealer would hide the airbag deployment by replacing the module

as that vid shows how to do. 

So that's why I went with this "side swipe" accident since I didn't think the airbags were deployed.

No, auction facilities (like Copart or IAAI) and insurance companies do not remove deployed airbags for damage photos. The vehicle is photographed exactly as it arrived at the facility to document the exact condition of the accident and the damage. [1, 2]

If you are looking at auction photos and don't see the airbags, consider the following key details:

• Evidence of Deployment: Deployed airbags are usually highly visible and hang out of the steering wheel, dashboard, or side pillars. If the bags are completely missing, torn out, or missing their covers, it is a red flag that someone may have tampered with or removed them after the accident. [1, 2, 3, 4]
• Safety Hazards: Deployed airbags are essentially trash and cannot be reused. Some junkyards or rebuilders remove them simply to clean up the interior or salvage usable parts, leaving empty cavities. [1, 2]
• The Check: If you want to confirm if the bags were originally deployed before the car got to auction, look for the original accident photos,

 However, unscrupulous sellers, body shops, or vehicle flippers frequently alter or remove salvaged airbags and tamper with warning systems to conceal a deployment and boost the car's resale value

 airbags cut out secretly

 The curtain airbags from my Jetta were cut from my car and tucked under the headliner. This is a common tactic done by dealers at salvage auctions so buyers don't factor in the cost of expensive airbag replacements.

 the cut and tuck - by a dealer who sold the car at auction...

 Yes, you can physically trick a Subaru’s Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) sensors into bypassing blown airbags or missing occupant detectors using specific resistors or capacitors. Blown Airbags: Mechanics or owners will sometimes use an airbag emulator (typically a specific-ohm resistor) plugged into the harness to simulate the resistance of a functional airbag. This clears the dashboard warning light, but the actual airbag is disconnected

 Occupant Detection Systems (ODS): If a passenger seat sensor is broken or a non-OEM seat is swapped in, capacitors or resistors are often wired into the harness to trick the SRS module into thinking an adult is permanently seated

 OK so my passenger seat sensor STILL works - meaning that the module was probably not messed with !!

 Detection: Modern Subaru safety-system technicians routinely scan for and detect hidden resistors, bypassed wires, and tampered circuits during inspection

 how scammers hack airbag modules

 if a car that has visible airbag deployment is going to be worth far less, then why not spend a little time and money to make it look like the airbags never went off so it sells for more at auction.

Doctoring cars before they are auctioned is pretty common.

 Airbags aren't active if the car's ignition isn't turned on when it is hit. So if the car was parked... no airbags.

 the dealer said the car was stationary when side-swiped - so parked. Fascinating. 

 https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAMechanic/comments/1juuqz4/why_have_airbags_not_deployed_in_most_wrecked/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spraying Box frame chassis with Old Skool Asphalt aerosol (NO RUBBER IN IT) undercoat!!

 

asphalt spray...it's oil based so it displaces moisture, it's not too thick like rubber, it dries as a smooth so no where for the dirt and salt to lodge.....An asphaltic based undercoating that provides excellent abrasion resistance, sound deadening and corrosion protection for use on car chassis and wheel wells. 

KBS UnderCoat Features

• Asphalt based
• Sound Deadening
• Chip resistant
• Corrosion protection
• Easy to apply
• Excellent adhesion to metal
• Excellent adhesion to painted surfaces
• Dry To Touch In 1 Hour / Handle In 2 Hours
• Uniform appearance
• Spray, Brush, or Roll

....KBS UnderCoat produces a very tough, yet flexible film with excellent adhesion, and helps prevent road salt from eating away at your car's metal...No, the asphalt version does not contain rubber. KBS Coatings manufactures two distinct undercoating products: one formulated with asphalt/bitumen...the asphalt is more of a gritty texture...The asphalt coating will chip off in the off in the extreme cold....Prep the frame properly and then it’ll last....Asphalt undercoat should only be used on a brand new vehicle. Then there is nothing to trap, moisture or contaminants. Upon application underbelly in entirety should be decreased and washed/Rinsed. It'll be there for life if done properly....Asphalt-based Undercoating with self-healing properties...., for superior adhesion compared NOT an old-tech Rubberized formula.

 Most of our customers use the KBS 3-Step System and then the KBS UnderCoat over that to give it a nice textured look.

The KBS UnderCoat does provide a degree of rust protection, but for the longest lasting rust protection, please choose the KBS 3-Step System.

 Traditional Ziebart undercoating is an asphalt-based substance blended with rubberizing agents that dries into a thick, tar-like barrier.

 

Undercoat sprays have been dismissed as causing more problems than good - but those are the new "rubberized" undercoat sprays. The Old Skool Asphalt undercoat stays flexible yet seals and cures very strongly!! I know this because I have been spreading asphalt sealer on our 1/2 mile road!!

 Asphalt undercoating has the benefit of being less expensive. They protect anywhere up to 5 years and dry to a Firm to Hard coating.

Asphalt Based Undercoating does require a thicker film thickness meaning you will have to apply more product to the surface to be protected then if you use a Wax Based Undercoating. Additionally, Asphalt based products require more surface preparation because they can actually seal in rust and moisture allowing it to continue to grow. Finally, Asphalt based products continue to dry out over time causing cracks in the coating surface.

So, if you are looking for a more cost effective undercoating that can protect your vehicle for up to 5 years but may require a little more surface preparation… then Asphalt Based Undercoating is what you need.

 

Stays pliable in extreme temps to prevent cracking & maintain integrity.... KBS UnderCoat produces a very tough, yet flexible film with excellent adhesion, and helps prevent road salt from eating away at your car's metal and fiberglass. KBS UnderCoat offers excellent adhesion to metal or painted surfaces. KBS UnderCoat provides moisture resistance & corrosion resistance, all in a black finish.

  Remove any loose paint, rust, oil and grease.

I think I will use a twisted braided steel wire wheel on an angle grinder to really go to town on the frame rust - and remove the paint - to see how much rust is really there. I used a wire brush on a drill but that is not as powerful.... Better to be HONEST about how bad the frame is for rust.

acid-based conditioner designed to chemically etch bare metal substrates for improved adhesion while also converting light surface rust and providing protection. Excellent choice for after sandblasting, neutralizes flash rust and turns surface oxidation into iron phosphate. For best results, DTM Prep should be fully neutralized before primer application to ensure maximum adhesion. After fully dry, wipe with water, then dry again prior to coating. Ready for use,

I already had a big "repair kit" welded onto the frame and new rear trailing arm brackets welded on to the frame - and a metal "plate" welded over a frame hole....

I have been using phosphoric acid - which is the standard "rust prep" work - and I could do that again also. The problem with phosphoric acid is it also can "flash rust" - so ideally it turns BLACK as "iron phosphate." - I did just do a phosphoric acid treatment and at first it turned white - that is the phosphorus. Then almost all of it turned black! But even after the third spray there was some rust on top - a section on the top and I'm not sure if that was "flash rust" or if just didn't get enough phosphoric acid reaction. 

So the only way to find out is wait for it to dry and then use the wire wheel to remove the layer of iron phosphate. And then remove any rust and then spray the asphalt seal over that...

 Clean spray head immediately after use by turning can upside down and spraying until no more paint appears. If clogging occurs, remove spray head and clean with a fine wire. Replace carefully, pointing can and spray head away from you.

https://kbs-coatings.com/undercoat-directions

• 
  

• Black automotive asphalt-based undercoating spray
• Heat resistant up to 300°F
• Applies easily with an aerosol spray can
• Maximum rust & corrosion resistance
• Excellent sound dampening
• Abrasion resistant
• Water, salt & chemical resistant
• Dry to the touch in 10 min, to handle in 6 hours

Suggested Uses for Seymour’s Asphalt Undercoat Undercarriage Coating Spray

Protect your vehicle. We’ve made it easy! Our Automotive Asphalt Undercoat Spray is ideal for:

• Panel & fender undersides
• Hoods & decks
• Trunk interiors
• Section repairs
• Weld joints
• Rust holes
• All chassis parts

 

Can this be applied to rusty surfaces?

• Answer

  Yes, but it wouldn't stop rust creepage over time. Would recommend our rust converting primer first—it coverts surface (not flaking) rust. Would make for a more durable coating system. Yes, self-etching primer uses phosphoric acid. The acid chemically reacts with bare metal to create a microscopic "tooth" or etched profile. This provides a strong mechanical bond for topcoats, while also forming an anti-corrosive barrier

Remains permanently tacky.

Excellent protection against rust.

OEM appearance and texture. No odor when dry.

Bare metal should have an etching [phosphoric acid] primer applied first for optimal corrosion protection

Asphalt-Based

5 to 10 years

Commercial and heavy-duty vehicle services

CBS-Drumpf told to make Minneapolis protesters "look more violent"

 

Scott Pelley, who was fired last week from 60 Minutes after thirty-seven years as a CBS correspondent, spoke with Lulu Garcia-Navarro of the New York Times in an interview that appeared today. Pelley explained that CBS News director Bari Weiss, appointed after Trump loyalist David Ellison took over the network, asked for changes to a story about the anti-ICE and Border Patrol protests in Minneapolis over the winter.

Hours before airing, he explained, after the story had been approved, Weiss sent an email to Pelley’s boss asking them to make the protesters look more violent and to say that before an officer shot her, Renee Good was driving toward him.

But she wasn’t. Pelley continued: “On the video, you see the officer standing slightly off the front of the car. And you clearly see Ms. Good’s wheels turned completely as far as they will go, away from the officer. But he shoots her in the head, kills her, and says something about her that I can’t repeat in polite company.

“We have gone out of our way in our plan from the very beginning to show the protesters for the responsibility that they had. We had already scrubbed the video archives, looking for those scenes. Somehow that wasn’t enough for Ms. Weiss. The video showed that the officer wasn’t standing in front of the car and she wasn’t driving toward him, but that’s what the president said about that, and that’s the way she wanted it described.”

Pelley said: “There was a thumb on the scale for the president’s version of events that I felt was a level of political influence that I had never seen in 37 years at CBS News.”  https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-7-2026?publication_id=20533&post_id=201093094&isFreemail=true&token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo4NTEzMzczLCJwb3N0X2lkIjoyMDEwOTMwOTQsImlhdCI6MTc4MDg5MzE0NCwiZXhwIjoxNzgzNDg1MTQ0LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItMjA1MzMiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.-BLBVmxonT4zgJ9lfD4mdNmB_n1z_DteWxhgdyxKQXI&r=52gyl&triedRedirect=true

"Music is a Healing Frequency...find the place of pure bliss" - Haley Reinhart, Crack the Code song

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fePCofMif4

 

 

Peter Wadhams founded AMEG and then he was forced out of Cambridge - a Sam Carana Arctic-news connection?

 https://1250now.org/library/ -- this is a "splinter group" formed out of AMEG and Sam Carana is listed as a supporter of the group yet Maria Carmen Solana's name is missing from the long list of supporters.... 

 https://groups.google.com/g/geoengineering/c/dKTwWNrNp2c?pli=1

Interesting tidbit below from Ken Caldeira of Stanford:
"I have repeatedly asked John Nissen to remove my name ..."
Google Groups
https://groups.google.com › geoengineering
"Jun 6, 2013 — I have repeatedly asked John Nissen to remove my name from AMEG website and he has not complied with my requests.....John,

I see I am listed on the page:   http://ameg.me/index.php/about-ameg 

While you are literally correct in saying that my advice was sought and obtained, listing my name is giving people the impression that I approve of AMEG statements."
So much for the "working group" hahaha
Ken Caldeira

Carnegie Institution for Science 
Dept of Global Ecology
260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA
John replies!
"Your request is rather baffling, since you have been extremely supportive of me, and have produced papers showing how SRM geoengineering could be used for cooling the Arctic - which is the basis of the hope from AMEG that something can be done to save the sea ice. " Wow....
And a third reply:
"At AMEG meetings there has never been  - any time - suggestion that there is a preference to geoengineering." Veli Albert Kallio
Veli Albert Kallio  Vice President at Sea Research Society and heading our Environmental Affairs Department. 
Jim Lee responds: "AMEG not only has a preference for geoengineering, but appears to endorse methane hydrate fracking as an alternative to a clathrate gun doom scenario."....

https://independent.academia.edu/VeliAlbertKallio 

Interesting research! https://www.facebook.com/john.scheve.2025

We have now an Extinction Level Event in the world oceans as uppermost ocean warming has reached such high levels due to:

1) increasing uppermost ocean stratification and mixed layer thinning as greenhouse gas concentrations continue rising

2) the increasing Earth Energy Imbalance acceleration

3) increasing cloud reduction rates accelerating in response to sea surface warming accelerating

4) polar sea ice losses accelerating

5) ocean eddies of the worlds’ major boundary currents increasingly growing in size and speed at the sea surface which adds even more heat to the system (image).

We have started runaway warming. Not anywhere near “Venus level” runaway warming of course but we are now on a path to + 2 degrees C of warming above the 1880-1920 average baseline by about 2030, + 3 C by about 2040 and probably sooner, and roughly + 8 C or higher by about 2100. Anything over about + 3 C leads to massive numbers of human deaths and our eventual virtual extinction.

We must immediately throw everything we have at the problem, the greatest challenge in human history. We must not only massively and rapidly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. We must also forge and launch an all out immediate international effort to develop new methods and technologies and deploy them to massively and efficiently sequester greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Period the end or we are toast.

 Heat Index with humidity of 125 F in India!! 

 

 

 

Organic Spirulina Powder in five pound bulk - big savings: Chloroplast City!!!

 I just ordered five pounds of organic spirulina powder!! Why? Well I eat spirulina powder every night - it is excellent for eye health - and overall health. If I had bought the "normal" size of 4 ounce jars of spirulina organic powder it would cost $300 to get 5 pounds worth! Instead it cost $75 to buy five pounds worth as bulk (including shipping/tax cost)...

I saved my Now jars from my previous spirulina organic powder purchases so I can transfer to three jars the amount to use and store the rest. The stored spirulina will make the refrigerator more efficient in the summer as air loses cooling much faster than bulk mass.

 

 

 NOW was out of their "one pound" jar size of organic spirulina power but I have also saved their one pound size!! So I can transfer 20% of the five pounds to the one pound...

Wow how big will five pounds be? I just ordered three pounds of organic fair trade Equal-Exchange coffee and I transferred that into a second bag - so split it into two bags to store in the freezer.... and I have already used up a lot...

 I've been out of spirulina for two or three days and so I'm going through withdrawal. The chlorophyll is from nonlocal blue-green photosynthesis - the most efficient energy transfer on Earth!!

We could solve abrupt global warming if we promoted algae but instead the phytoplankton are being killed off....phytoplankton includes algae but some algae are not phytoplankton? Oh wait ALL algae are phytoplankton but some phytoplankton are not algae:

 Photosynthetic bacteria: Such as cyanobacteria (often referred to as blue-green algae), which are primitive but incredibly abundant... the primary group of phytoplankton that are not true algae are cyanobacteria

 Unlike true algae, which have membrane-bound nuclei (eukaryotes), cyanobacteria are primitive, single-celled organisms with no defined nucleus (prokaryotes).

 Cynaobacteria, which used to be considered prokaryotic algae, lacks both a nucleus and complex membrane-bound organelles, namely chloroplasts and mitochondria.

 wait - how do they do photosynthesis without chloroplasts?! OK AI is wrong again!! "Even though cyanobacteria are photosynthetic and aquatic, the only relation that the group has to algae is the chloroplast." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytoplankton

Actually phytoplankton is a catch-all of diversity.... so anyway...

 

 I think I get a huge box of spirulina now?

 

 Wow!! I wonder what's in the box? 1 pound bags? Or one HUGE bag of five pounds? hahahaha.

Good thing I saved my NOW Spirulina containers...  Yeah I'm sure that box has FIVE of the below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How the West Undevelops the World! Anthea Lawson

 https://substack.com/@anthealawson

How the west underdevelops the world

The consequences of aid cuts, especially sudden ones, are devastating for communities that are receiving help or medical care. The Lancet predicted that by 2030 the US’s aid cuts alone could result in 14 million deaths - a third of them children under five. Aid organisations and donor agencies are in turmoil trying to work out what to do.

Yet aid is not the whole story. As Global South scholars have shown, and activists have named for decades, the really big money moves in the other direction. The title of Walter Rodney’s 1972 work How Europe Underdeveloped Africa says it all. The poorest countries continue to lose much more to the rich world than they receive in aid, because the rules of the world economy are rigged in favour of richer countries.

The World Bank and IMF have been pushing a neoliberal agenda for decades. They have made loans conditional on spending cuts; privatisation and deregulation; and forcing markets open for foreign companies. Between 2016 and 2021 IMF loan conditions included public spending cuts of nearly $10 billion across just 15 countries, which could have paid for three million nurses, teachers and other frontline workers. This is debt used as an ideological lever.

Then there are the interest repayments on debt, which in 2024 amounted to $415 billion from low- and middle-income countries - next to $180 billion total global aid flows. Massive public pressure from Make Poverty History in 2005 led to G7 countries cancelling $77 billion of debt for 18 countries. But by 2023, after multiple price shocks, developing-country debts had quadrupled to $11.4 trillion, equivalent to 99% of their export earnings.

Currently 3.4 billion people – 40% of the world’s population – live in countries that spend more on interest payments (to rich-country banks) than on health or education, with women disproportionately affected. Governments have no space to cope with surging fuel prices caused by the US’s war on Iran or climate disruption, let alone to create better futures for their populations.

Unequal exchange and illicit financial flows

Another way of looking at South-to-North flows is what some political economists call ‘unequal exchange’. Because global power imbalances and border controls suppress the costs of resources and labour in the Global South, low-income countries have to sell more labour or natural resources to maintain a balance of trade.

By one estimate, high-income countries ‘appropriated’ commodities, labour and land worth more than $10 trillion in Northern prices from Global South countries in 2015 – enough to end extreme poverty 70 times over. Over the period 1990–2015, this appropriation outweighed total aid by a factor of 30 and provided a windfall for the Global North equivalent to more than a quarter of Northern GDP.

Then there’s tax avoidance, which harms rich countries too. Lower-income countries lose at least $46 billion a year in tax revenue to multinational corporations shifting their profits to tax havens, a process with spillover economic effects that multiply the loss by a factor of up to three. Other illicit financial flows include trade mis-invoicing by companies, outright tax evasion and corruption by elites – all of which deny tax revenue that could be spent on public services.

What these methods have in common is the use of tax havens – secrecy jurisdictions, as their opponents prefer to call them – which can hide company ownership. Many are connected to the UK, which oversees a ‘second empire‘ of secrecy jurisdictions to keep the money flowing towards London.