Kubernetes/cloud vendor load balancers versus bare-metal ingresses. What's the difference?

Alfonso Llanes, studied at Florida International University

Answered just now

Kubernetes developed by Google is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling and management of containerized applications. Even though it was designed by Google it is now maintained by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation.

“This provides an externally-accessible IP address that sends traffic to the correct port on your cluster nodes provided your cluster runs in a supported environment and is configured with the correct cloud load balancer provider package.

The following controllers have cloud provider dependencies:

• Node Controller: For checking the cloud provider to determine if a node has been deleted in the cloud after it stops responding
• Route Controller: For setting up routes in the underlying cloud infrastructure
• Service Controller: For creating, updating and deleting cloud provider load balancers
• Volume Controller: For creating, attaching, and mounting volumes, and interacting with the cloud provider to orchestrate volumes.”

Bare metal ingresses and Kubernets are best defined as private and public nets.

Cloud Computing and the difference between Private vs. Public Cloud

JOHN WHITE

Private Cloud

A private cloud hosting solution, also known as an internal or enterprise cloud, resides on company’s intranet or hosted data center where all of your data is protected behind a firewall. This can be a great option for companies who already have expensive data centers because they can use their current infrastructure. However, the main drawback people see with a private cloud is that all management, maintenance and updating of data centers is the responsibility of the company. Over time, it’s expected that your servers will need to be replaced, which can get very expensive. On the other hand, private clouds offer an increased level of security and they share very few, if any, resources with other organizations.

Public Cloud

The main differentiator between public and private clouds is that you aren’t responsible for any of the management of a public cloud hosting solution. Your data is stored in the provider’s data center and the provider is responsible for the management and maintenance of the data center. This type of cloud environment is appealing to many companies because it reduces lead times in testing and deploying new products. However, the drawback is that many companies feel security could be lacking with a public cloud. Even though you don’t control the security of a public cloud, all of your data remains separate from others and security breaches of public clouds are rare.

What are the key facts about international trade?

According to the CIA World Fact book the definition is: “International trade is the exchange of goods and services between countries. Total trade equals exports plus imports. In 2016, world trade was $30.98 trillion. That's $15.64 trillion in exports plus $15.34 trillion in imports. One-quarter of trade was in electrical machinery, computers, nuclear reactor parts and scientific instruments. Automotive contributed 9 percent. Commodities like oil, iron and diamonds added 19 percent. Global trade declined 4 percent from $32.27 trillion in trade in 2015. It had grown just 2 percent in 2015, and 3.4 percent in 2014. That's much slower than the average annual 10 percent growth rate between 1961 and 2013.”

Key concepts in economics of international trade are specialization, comparative advantage and more recently absolute advantage which occurs when a country/company is more efficient in the production of every good. However, even under this scenario, two countries with absolute advantage in efficiency might have differences in relative costs for producing the same goods, therefore, relative comparative advantage applies.

Two forms of specialization are widely recognized at the micro and macro levels.

Micro-specialization refers to a career or labor specialization. This occurs where an individual member of an organization or economy has a unique set of talents, abilities, skills and interests that makes uniquely personally able to perform a set of tasks.

Macro-economic specialization happens when an economy can specialize in producing most efficiently a given resource, good or service. If a country can produce corn at a lower cost than wheat, it can choose to specialize and dedicate all of its resources to the production of corn, then using the proceeds from trading corn to purchase wheat.

Specialization can also occur within a country's borders, as is the case of France and its wine regions. Grapes grown in particular areas of the country such as Burgundy can produce wines of better quality than others areas growing the same grapes. In this case it is recognized as regional specialization within a country.

When comparative advantage is contrasted with absolute advantage it means that a country, region or individual can perform better than anybody else the same task. The extraction industries such as oil or mining can represent absolute advantage in the ability to extract more efficiently using less resources and obtaining better quality than somebody else. Saudi-- Light Crude Oil--has absolute advantage as it can produce oil that has a low viscosity, low specific gravity at a lower opportunity cost, with a volume of around one-fourth of proven, conventional world oil reserves.

As globalization expands many more things become trade able from regions of the world that in the past were prohibitively expensive by transportation cost which prevented their entry to international markets. Modernization of the transportation fleets and improvements in ports of entry/departure, packaging, storage and general handling of goods has made remarkable progress to advance international trade with the effect of reducing abject poverty around the world as small farmers and artisan can sell their goods all over the world.

The modernization of transportation not only includes vehicles in a given fleet but methods as well, for instance containerization of the merchant marine, bigger, faster and cheaper operation of air fleets where for instance, cut flowers from South America or Africa can reach U.S. or Europe markets within a day.

The world trade organization (WTO) and successor of the general agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT) has been mostly responsible for the globalization of trade. Its broad principles are multi-lateral, non-discriminatory trade practices as it holds periodic negotiation rounds for trade liberalization. Also, it is the forum for filing complaints on member countries against one another in trade violations such as “dumping”, non-compliance of agreements or obligations as well as hold hearings and issue judgments against violators.

Regional Agreements include:

EU, NAFTA, Mercosur, ASEAN, COMESA.

Smaller agreements include:

• Free trade “area is a grouping of countries within which tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers between the members are generally abolished but with no common trade policy toward non-members.”
• Customs union “is a group of countries that have agreed to charge the same import duties as each other and usually to allow free trade between them.”

U.S. International Trade Administration Data

U.S. exports were $2.2 trillion in 2016 and imports were $2.7 trillion rendering a deficit of 500 billion. Most of that deficit was on capital goods, and consumer goods. Domestic shale oil production has reduced imports of oil and petroleum products. Even though Americans benefit from imports, these imports are subtracted from GDP. However, deficits only mean that the U.S. exported more dollars in its status of reserve currency than it imported flipping the argument of trade deficits on its head.

Can Trump cause a trade war with China?

The short answer is no, unless industry and the financial markets commit to a pact of economic suicide with Trump.

In “The Art of War,” Sun Tzu states that "Every battle is won or lost before it's ever fought". Détente was used during the cold war for easing strained relations, especially, in using the threat of a pre-empty attack. Today, a battle space has many dimensions which now include cyberspace. The defensive plan may not survive first contact with an adversary, but the general staff will quickly formulates a new plan and adapt making the evolving plan a part of the plan as the pieces move before the actual battle begins. In this scenario, it would be foolish to predict the outcome of a battle where the enemy is fully committed to fight back in any way they can and with whatever resources they muster together. China today is not an underdog to be bullied.

A report last week states that China’s government is contemplating reducing its purchases of U.S. treasury bonds and briefly rattled financial markets. Against the tensions between the two countries, it was widely understood as a warning that aggressive American action on trade might jeopardize the willingness of China to subsidize the drunken spending of the U.S. government.

China is now, and has been for a decade, the largest foreign buyer of U.S. treasury debt, with Japan being a close second. The Chinese central bank has halted new purchases and sold old holdings, each time the Trump administration rattles noise about China, which triggers concerns in U.S. economic circles that a new and dangerous era for U.S.-China relations is about to begin.

Expectations of an eventual conflict, hot or cold, are widespread, from defense policy analyst to Harvard professor Graham Allison who explains that a “Thucydides trap” "What made war inevitable was the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta." Edward Wong in a recent essay wrote: China’s “Communist Party embraces hard power and coercion, and this could well be what replaces the fading liberal hegemony of the United States on the global stage. It will not lead to a grand vision of world order. Instead, before us looms a void.”

Moreover, as the Trump administration threatens to withdraw aid from countries ranging from the NATO alliance to Pakistan, China has begun a $1 trillion effort to underwrite the void. As Washington turns away from trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Beijing has been quietly filling the space with regional partners, such as Vietnam, that might prefer the United States as their primary economic partner but are left with China as a result of the American retreat.

China’s foreign currency reserves now stand at more than $3 trillion. In contrast, the U.S. has foreign exchange reserves that hover at around $120 billion. Trump’s tariffs would automatically trigger penalties against the U.S. in the World Trade Organization (WTO), and might even lead to serious disruption of WTO’s years of negotiating or total collapse, which would inevitably lead to higher world tariffs against U.S. exports. Even if it doesn’t take place immediately the sense of turmoil to come would be enough to trigger dire uncertainty for American business and employment. China, on the other hand with a centralized party government system has a better probability of surviving the hard blow of global trade disruptions.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross made clear that the White House intends to scale up its fight over intellectual property theft. If the U.S. continues to escalate its trade actions against China, experts say retaliation is likely to occur most probably where the U.S. is weakest-- its foreign debt and agriculture.

High tariff carry the potential of painful risks to U.S. agriculture mainly in states where it is the biggest industry of the Midwest, like Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Indiana and Missouri which are in the heartland of Trump supporters.

Why isn’t San Marino in the WTO?

https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/acc_e/cbt_course_e/c1s1p1_e.htm

Alfonso Llanes, Master Degree in International Development

Answered just now

The World Trade Organization (WTO is by definition the arm of a global international organization that deals with the rules of trade between nations. At its center are the WTO agreements, negotiated by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their corresponding legislative bodies.

San Marino is listed as a member of the Eurozone:

Agreement name:

EU - San Marino

Coverage:

Goods

Type:

Customs Union

Status:

In Force

Notification under:

GATT Art. XXIV

Date of signature:

16-Dec-1991

Date of notification:

24-Feb-2010

Date of entry into force:

01-Apr-2002

End of implementation period:

2002

Remarks:

Official Journal of the European Union, L 084, 28 March 2002.

Current signatories:

Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Latvia; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Malta; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovak Republic; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; United Kingdom; San Marino

Original signatories:

Austria; Belgium; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Ireland; Italy; Luxembourg; Netherlands; Portugal; Spain; Sweden; United Kingdom; San Marino

RTA Composition:

Bilateral; One Party is an RTA

Region:

Europe

As San Marino moves to perfect and consolidate its trade relationship with the European Union, the country should complement that process by joining the World Trade Organization (WTO). Especially now that nearly every country in the world has either joined the WTO or is actively seeking to join. Sa Marino has much to gain by joining if one considers the US tariffs from San Marino imports has an average of 6.3% which is far in excess of the averages imposed on imports from the European Union.

Micro-states: a Definition

Several micro-states such as Luxembourg, Monaco, Liberia, Bahrain has successfully carved out niches for themselves despite the capacity constraints to remedy the issues for joining WTO.

• Limited ability to participate effectively in WTO, and in dispute settlement proceedings hamper implementation of their obligations under WTO agreements
• Severe limitations of human and financial resources
• Small administrations and lack of experience and training in handling trade issues
• Constraints on account of tariff reduction and resultant difficulties with macroeconomic management
• Remoteness makes it costly to send staff to Geneva or other centers.
• Severe capacity constraints in capitals with regard to formulating and administering trade policy.
• Difficulties in WTO accession negotiations - both in terms of financial costs and liberalization commitments. Further, heavy dependence on trade taxes and on trade preferences adds to the difficulty
• The costs of adopting the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) standards under TRIPS in terms of financial transfers to developed countries through royalties and license fees are high; and advantages from IPRs is severely limited due to lack of resources and the critical mass.

To date, only 13 member States of the United Nations have not applied to accede to the WTO. They are, in alphabetical order:

1. Eritrea (LDC) 8. Palau

2. Kiribati (LDC) 9. San Marino

3. North Korea (LDC) 10. Somalia (LDC)

4. Marshall Islands 11. Timor-Leste (LDC)

5. Micronesia 12. Turkmenistán

6. Mónaco 13. Tuvalu (LDC

7. Nauru

What will the world do if the USA defaults on it's debt of 20 trillion dollars?

Despite Trump's tough talk, trade gap hits 9-year high

According to the International Trade administration “the United States has been running consistent trade deficits since 1976 due to high imports of oil and consumer products. In 2017, the biggest trade deficits were recorded with China, Mexico, Japan, Germany, Vietnam, Ireland and Italy and the biggest trade surpluses with Hong Kong, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Belgium, Australia, Singapore and Brazil. Mexico is the United States' 2nd largest export market and the 3rd largest supplier of imports.”

One school of economics supports the notion that if “the United States runs a large trade deficit, foreign sellers simultaneously accumulate large amounts of U.S. dollars. These dollars cannot be spent inside their own countries, so they need to be invested somewhere. Much of this trade deficit-driven accumulation of dollars is used to purchase American stocks and bonds, pieces of American companies, and other U.S. assets.” China and Japan are a good example of the notion.

The impending reality for instability arises when foreign investors in U.S. assets begin to worry that a permanent trade deficit is going to make the U.S. dollar less valuable relative to other reserve currencies. If this issue prompts a group of foreign investors to sell their U.S. assets at the same time, then the value of the U.S. dollar could fall substantially in a short period of time triggering a potential panic in financial markets.

the Federal Reserve is independent of the Treasury Department, and is not required to purchase federal securities whenever there is a deficit. If the Fed does not do so, deficits may be completely bond-financed. On the other hand, the record indicates that deficits are not completely financed by printing money alone as it appears that the Fed monetizes fractions of the deficits.

The historical record of fiscal policy indicates that from “1790 to the introduction of the federal income tax in 1913, government spending was just 2.3% of GDP. During the century after 1913, government spending as a share of GDP increased to 16.7%. It reached 20% in the years after World War II. And by 2011, federal spending was 24% of GDP.” The only meaningful solution for a fiscal deficit is to spend less and set tax rates to generate sufficient revenue over the business cycle to fund government spending. Moreover, the tax rate should be permanent to lessen uncertainty and allow individuals and businesses to plan for the future. A lees unsavory solution would be to run the US economy as an empire and charge the “colonies” assessments to compensate fiscal deficits generated by being the “protector” of the global status quo.

Lance Roberts, a portfolio manager recently wrote: “Currently, the market is pushing towards 4-standard deviations (99.9 percentile) above the 52-week mean…this is ‘rarefied air’ for the market historically.” Roberts notes that this statistical aberration hasn’t occurred since 1981. The market is at levels that are, to put it bluntly, statistically stupid and he adds: “Previously, large deviations from a long-term mean have coincided with mild to severe market corrections and crashes. Given the current extreme deviation, one can only assume a negative outcome in the future.”

Central bankers agree that a reserve currency status isn't without its downsides and the Federal Reserve must constantly adjust its balance between current domestic economic politics and the realities of global financial markets. The financial crisis of 2008 was exacerbated by budget deficits and large debt to GDP ratios.

Monetary policy used by the Feds includes “quantitative easing” which really means printing more money into the economy to keep money supply abundant and interest rate low. The method is however a temporary solution until growth and capital gains return to the overall economy otherwise inflation can set in as the value of the dollar shrinks. Economic politics can nevertheless upset sound monetary policy such as the recent tax cut of a trillion dollars Trump just sign into law.

Trump, the "stable genius" ordered the acceleration of the money printing press to pay for his tax cuts. “The United States reported a government debt equivalent to 106.10 percent of Gross Domestic Product in 2016. Historically, US Government Debt to GDP in the United States has averaged 61.14 percent from 1940 until 2016, reaching an all-time high of 118.90 percent in 1946—at the end of WWII-- and a record low of 31.70 percent in 1981.” This issue alone could encourage foreign savers in Dollar to look for a more stable reserve currency like the Euro with a current ratio that according to Eurostat, the European Union decreased from 84.9 per cent of GDP in 2015 to 83.5 per cent last year.

Does the IMF want every country to have a flat trade balance?

In economics when a country imports more than it exports, it has a "trade deficit." As a result, trade deficits can cause foreign exchange reserve shortages. Without foreign exchange reserves, businesses and governments can't meet financial obligations they owe other countries. A balance of payment problem hurts both the country with the trade deficit and the other countries it trades with.

The dollar, as reserve currency, can develop increase in demand if the Federal Reserve doesn’t increase the supply driving the price of dollars in the exchanges to go up. In this case U.S. goods are now more expensive compared to foreign goods, which reduces demand for U.S. exports.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the currency most commonly held as a foreign exchange reserve is the U.S. dollar. It comprises nearly 62% of allocated reserves as of late 2012. Other currencies held in reserve are the euro, Japanese yen, Swiss franc and pound sterling. The dollar still is the most widely held reserve currency, but the euro is narrowing the gap as it has grown demand from less than an 18% share of allocated reserves, at the time it was introduced in 1999, to 24% at the end of 2011.

Reserve currency status isn't without its drawbacks. The Federal Reserve must constantly play a balancing act between current domestic economic politics and the realities of international financial markets. Budget deficits and large debt to GDP ratios have to be carefully managed. The United States reported a government debt equivalent to 106.10 percent of Gross Domestic Product in 2016. Historically, US Government Debt to GDP ratio in the United States has averaged 61.14 percent from 1940 until 2016, reaching an all-time high of 118.90 percent in 1946—at the end of WWII-- and a record low of 31.70 percent in 1981.

Monetary policy used by the Feds includes “quantitative easing” which really means printing more money to keep the supply high and interest rates low. The method is however a temporary solution until growth and capital gains return to the overall economy otherwise inflation can set in as the value of the dollar shrinks. Economic politics can nevertheless upset sound monetary policy such as the case of recent tax cut mounting to a trillion dollars Trump just sign into law. But a high debt to GDP ratio indicates that the US economy is printing an excessive amount of dollars into the world economy. This action has the effect of reducing the value of a county’s foreign reserves denominated in dollars as it will reduced the balance of trade sheet in its purchasing power by increasing debt obligations. The combination of low borrowing costs stemming from issuing a reserve currency may encourage free spending by both the public and private sectors which can easily result in asset bubbles bloating government debt. Tax cuts in the U.S., for example, led Chinese leaders to fear a weak dollar since that would erode the country's value of dollar-denominated debt which might prompt a Chinese dumping of dollars in favor of other reserve currency. In the recent past the U.S. was able to spend freely because the excess Chinese savings had to be invested somewhere, and that somewhere was in dollar back US government bonds.

One important thing the IMF does is to help member countries cope with foreign exchange shortages caused by balance of payments problems. Many a case, providing rescue packages so that a country can avoid a default on its balance of payments. This policy however is linked to the political climate in the debtor country in order to avoid putting funds in a waste basket.

The International Monetary Fund, founded in 1944, is a voluntary financial institution with an initial membership of 184 countries. Its charter is to stand-in among these countries with cooperative monetary policies to stabilize the exchange of one national currency for another thereby, encouraging international trade. The IMF offers a tool in which each member state can collaborate with one another to promote its domestic economic prosperity and that of the membership. The IMF maintains a wide-ranging database of statistics of economies of the world as a whole, which publicly shares. It also acts as a consulting partner at the request of a member state and extends technical assistance in financial, fiscal, and economic matters. It can assist a country on implementing reform financial policies and funds are made available until the reforms take effect. It follows that this assistance is to shorten the duration and lessen the degree of disequilibrium in the international balance of payments of its members.

Moreover, encourage cooperation by IMF members in eliminating restrictions on the exchange of currencies and the timely payment for goods and services. This has been a major factor in bringing about the economic miracle of the second half of the century. Success by IMF members in meeting the challenges of integrating developing countries into the world economy in the 1960′s and 1970′s. Additionally, resolving the debt crisis of the 1980′s, encouraging reform of the former Communist economies, responding to the crises of the 1990′s, and expanding the benefits of globalization. Taken as a whole, international cooperation has demonstrated that it is indispensable for prosperity in today’s economy.

The IMF encourages its members to be open and transparent about their economic policies, balance sheets and stock market trading. The view is that the better informed a member country is about economic conditions in other countries, the more efficiently they can achieve international trade and investments. As trade and economic activity increases, so does employment in both the exporting and importing country which should lead to higher standards of living and a reduction of global poverty.

The IMF also urges its member to have transparent politics, economic stability, honest government, and the rule of law. In a widely anticipated report ahead of the Davos meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers, “the IMF outlined two taxes that the group should consider and warned that international harmonization would be critical to prevent regulatory arbitrage.” This is a practice where firms capitalize on loopholes of regulatory systems in order to circumvent unfavorable regulation. Opportunities for arbitrage may be accomplished by a variety of tactics, “including restructuring transactions, financial engineering and geographic relocation.”

What will happen if a country stops engaging in international trade?

“The Great Trade Collapse” was a consequence of the 2008 financial crisis and it happened while the world GDP dropped by 1%, but world trade dropped by 10%.This global trade collapse is not a common occurrence as it happened over almost all the countries in the world. The reasons given by the analysts is the sudden drop in almost a synchronized demand, supply, credit constraint and disruption in global chain values.

In order to place the importance of international trade on its proper perspective it is necessary to analyze its background and forming theories.

1. Mercantilism

According to http://www.encyclopedia.com, Thomas Mun (1571–1641), English writer on economics, was the third son of a substantial London family and is often referred to as the last of the early mercantilists. His grandfather was an officer of the mint and acquired a coat of arms, his uncle was also an officer of the mint, and his stepfather was a director of the newly formed East India Company. Nothing is known of his education, but it is presumed, since there were close links between the Indian and the Mediterranean trades, that he served his apprenticeship in the latter. In fact, he says in one of his books that he lived for some time in Italy. He became a prominent and rich member of the East India Company 16302. Absolute Advantage

2. TheWealth of Nations

According to www.britannica.com , Adam Smith 1723—1790 was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Social philosopher and political economist is known primarily for a single work—An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), the first comprehensive system of political economy—Smith is more properly regarded as a social philosopher whose economic writings constitute only the capstone to an overarching view of political and social evolution. A country has an absolute advantage in the production of a product when it is more efficient than any other country in producing it If two countries specialize in production of different products (in which each has an absolute advantage) and trade with each other, both countries will have more of both products available to them for consumption

3. Comparative Advantage

According to www.britannica.com, David Ricardo, 1772—1823 was born in London, England, English economist who gave systematized, classical form to the rising science of economics in the 19th century. His laissez-faire doctrines were typified in his Iron Law of Wages, which stated that all attempts to improve the real income of workers were futile and that wages perforce remained near the subsistence level. David Ricardo pronounced that “ even if one country has an absolute advantage in producing two products over another country, trading with that other country will still yield more output for both countries than if the more efficient producer did everything for themselves.”

4. Factor endowments: The Heckscher-Ohlin Theory

According to this theory, “countries with plentiful natural resources will generally have a comparative advantage in products using those resources. Comparative advantage arises from differences in national factor endowments, such as land, labor, or capital, as opposed to Ricardo’s theory which stresses productivity.”

In 1953 Wassily Leontief advanced his Leontief Paradox. It theorized that since the U.S. has abundant capital compared to other nations, the country would export capital-intensive goods and import labor-intensive goods but data shows that this not the case. Therefore, Ricardo’s theory seemed to be more predictive. However, factor endowments--and controlling technological differences does yield a predictive model.

5. The Product Life-Cycle Theory

In the 1960′s, Raymond Vernon attempted to explain global trade patterns. When a new product is introduced in a country, as demand grows, demand also appears in other developed nations which give rise to exports. But as other developed nations begin to produce the same product the initial country has the incentive to set up production in those countries where cost of production is lower making this original country that introduced the product an importer of this product. The flaw with the theory is that not all products originate in the same country as several new products are introduced simultaneously to international trade.

6. New Trade Theory

In the 1970′s the success of economies of scale, increased trade and the variety of goods available to consumers while decreasing the average cost of those goods. This notion is that international trade benefits all nations even they do not differ in resource endowments or technology. Nobel Prize recipient Paul Krugman was the first to notice this trend and develop a new international trade theory based on economies of scale where giant corporations outsource some production to countries with lower cost endowments.

New trade theory is not at odds with Comparative Advantage, since it identifies first mover advantage as an important source of comparative advantage. The debate today is now centered on whether a government should provide subsidies to the endowments of production that can help grow domestic industries in such way that companies can gain first mover advantage.

After considering all the different factors which make international economics and trade work, it becomes obvious that should an individual country decide to jump ship from international trade world this country’s domestic economy will soon withered on the vine.