Full screen recommended.
Michael Bordenaro, 4/11/26
"The Gig Economy is on the Brink of Collapse"
Comments here:
So, we rise from the rubble...
StatCounter
Saturday, April 11, 2026
"Major Warnings - Everything Is Collapsing At Once"
Full screen recommended.
Snyder Reports, 4/11/26
"Major Warnings -
Everything Is Collapsing At Once"
Comments here:
Dan, I Allegedly, "No One Is Coming to Save You!"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 4/11/26
"No One Is Coming to Save You!"
"Most people are waiting - for help, for a bailout, for someone to step in and fix their life. But the truth is simple and brutal: no one is coming to rescue you. In this powerful episode of i Allegedly, Dan breaks down the reality that financial freedom, better health, stronger relationships, and real happiness all come down to personal responsibility. Through real-life stories of loss, hardship, custody battles, and financial struggles, this video forces you to take an honest look at your own life - and where you need to step up. This isn’t about fear - it’s about empowerment. Whether you’re dealing with debt, poor health, broken relationships, or feeling stuck, the message is clear: you can change your life starting today. Cut the excuses, take control of your finances, prioritize your health, and surround yourself with better people. No government program, no bailout, no shortcut will fix what only discipline and action can. Watch this if you’re ready to take ownership and build a better future."
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Friday, April 10, 2026
"Consumers Running To Pawn Shops For Gas Money"
Jeremiah Babe, 4/10/26
"Consumers Running To Pawn Shops For Gas Money"
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Musical Interlude: Paul Mauriat, "Love is Blue" (1968)
Full screen recommended.
Paul Mauriat, "Love is Blue" (1968)
"A Look to the Heavens"
"Dwarf galaxies NGC 147 (left) and NGC 185 stand side by side in this sharp telescopic portrait. The two are not-often-imaged satellites of M31, the great spiral Andromeda Galaxy, some 2.5 million light-years away. Their separation on the sky, less than one degree across a pretty field of view, translates to only about 35 thousand light-years at Andromeda's distance, but Andromeda itself is found well outside this frame.
Brighter and more famous satellite galaxies of Andromeda, M32 and M110, are seen closer to the great spiral. NGC 147 and NGC 185 have been identified as binary galaxies, forming a gravitationally stable binary system. But recently discovered faint dwarf galaxy Cassiopeia II also seems to be part of their system, forming a gravitationally bound group within Andromeda's intriguing population of small satellite galaxies."
Khalil Gibran, "Youth and Age"
"Youth and Age"
by Khalil Gibran
"In my youth the heart of dawn was in my heart, and the songs of April were in my ears. But my soul was sad unto death, and I knew not why. Even unto this day I know not why I was sad. But now, though I am with eventide, my heart is still veiling dawn, And though I am with autumn, my ears still echo the songs of spring. But my sadness has turned into awe, and I stand in the presence of life and life’s daily miracles.
The difference between my youth which was my spring, and these forty years, and they are my autumn, is the very difference that exists between flower and fruit. A flower is forever swayed with the wind and knows not why and wherefore. But the fruit overladen with the honey of summer, knows that it is one of life’s home-comings, as a poet when his song is sung knows sweet content, though life has been bitter upon his lips.
In my youth I longed for the unknown, and for the unknown I am still longing. But in the days of my youth longing embraced necessity that knows naught of patience. Today I long not less, but my longing is friendly with patience, and even waiting. And I know that all this desire that moves within me is one of those laws that turns universes around one another in quiet ecstasy, in swift passion which your eyes deem stillness, and your mind a mystery.
And in my youth I loved beauty and abhorred ugliness, for beauty was to me a world separated from all other worlds. But now that the gracious years have lifted the veil of picking-and-choosing from over my eyes, I know that all I have deemed ugly in what I see and hear, is but a blinder upon my eyes, and wool in my ears; and that our senses, like our neighbors, hate what they do not understand.
And in my youth I loved the fragrance of flowers and their color. Now I know that their thorns are their innocent protection, and if it were not for that innocence they would disappear forevermore.
And in my youth, of all seasons I hated winter, for I said in my aloneness, “Winter is a thief who robs the earth of her sun-woven garment, and suffers her to stand naked in the wind.” But now I know that in winter there is re-birth and renewal, and that the wind tears the old raiment to cloak her with a new raiment woven by the spring.
And in my youth I would gaze upon the sun of the day and the stars of the night, saying in my secret, “How small am I, and how small a circle my dream makes.” But today when I stand before the sun or the stars I cry, “The sun is close to me, and the stars are upon me;” for all the distances of my youth have turned into the nearness of age; and the great aloneness which knows not what is far and what is near, nor what is small nor great, has turned into a vision that weighs not nor does it measure.
In my youth I was but the slave of the high tide and the ebb tide of the sea, and the prisoner of half moons and full moons. Today I stand at this shore and I rise not nor do I go down. Even my roots once every twenty-eight days would seek the heart of the earth. And on the twenty-ninth day they would rise toward the throne of the sky. And on that very day the rivers in my veins would stop for a moment, and then would run again to the sea.
Yes, in my youth I was a thing, sad and yielding, and all the seasons played with me and laughed in their hearts. And life took a fancy to me and kissed my young lips, and slapped my cheeks. Today I play with the seasons. And I steal a kiss from life’s lips ere she kisses my lips. And I even hold her hands playfully that she may not strike my cheek.
In my youth I was sad indeed, and all things seemed dark and distant. Today, all is radiant and near, and for this I would live my youth and the pain of my youth, again and yet again."
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Frank Sinatra, "It Was A Very Good Year"
Free Download: Jack London, "The Iron Heel"
The greatest little whore house, well, anywhere...
"I know nothing that I may say can influence you. You have no souls to be influenced. You are spineless, flaccid things. You pompously call yourselves Republicans and Democrats. You are lick-spittlers and panderers, the creatures of the Plutocracy."
- Jack London
o
Freely download "The Iron Heel", by Jack London, here:
Read online The Project Gutenberg eBook
of "The Iron Heel", by Jack London, here:
"Making Your Best Guess"
"Making Your Best Guess"
by Arthur Silber
"We are not gods, and we are not omniscient. We cannot foretell the future with certainty. Most often, cultural and political changes are terribly complex. It can be notoriously difficult to predict exactly where a trend will take us, and we can be mistaken. We do the best we can: if we wish to address certain issues seriously, we study history, and we read everything that might shed light on our concerns. We consult what the best thinkers of our time and of earlier times have said and written. We challenge everyone's assumptions, including most especially our own. That last is often very difficult. If we care enough, we do our best to disprove our own case. In that way, we find out how strong our case is, and where its weaknesses may lie.
Barring extraordinary circumstances, we cannot be certain that a particular development represents a critical turning point at the time it occurs. If we dare to say, "This is the moment the battle was lost," only future events will prove whether we were correct. We do the best we can, based on our understanding of how similar events have unfolded in the past, and in light of our understanding of the underlying principles in play. We can be wrong. "
"Warning: Grocery Stores Are Deceiving You And It’s Disgusting"
Full screen recommended.
Snyder Reports, 4/10/26
"Warning: Grocery Stores Are
Deceiving You And It’s Disgusting"
Comments here:
"Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 4/10/26"
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 4/10/26
"INTEL Roundtable w/Larry Johnson &
Special Guest for Ray - Scott Ritter"
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Glenn Diesen, 4/10/26
"John Mearsheimer:
World Changed Forever as Iran Defeated the U.S."
"Prof. John Mearsheimer argues that Iran's victory over the U.S. will transform the international system. The U.S. alliance system is in decline, NATO is done, and Project Ukraine will also be impacted. John J. Mearsheimer is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, where he has taught since 1982."
Comments here:
The Poet: Charles Bukowski, "Darkness Falls"
"Darkness Falls"
"Darkness falls upon Humanity
and faces become terrible things
that wanted more than there was.
All our days are marked with
unexpected affronts -
some disastrous, others less so,
but the process is
wearing and continuous.
Attrition rules.
Most give way,
leaving empty spaces
where people should be.
And now,
as we ready to self-destruct,
there is very little left to kill,
which makes the tragedy
less and more,
much, much more. "
- Charles Bukowski
“The More Laws, the Less Justice”
“The More Laws, the Less Justice”
by Brian Maher
"This past weekend we entered a local park hard upon the Chesapeake Bay. At water’s edge stood several head of fishermen. Each extended a line to pluck aquatic beings from the “immense protein factory” - as H.L. Mencken labeled the fruitful Chesapeake Bay. All was peace.
Of a sudden a vehicle of the Maryland Natural Resources Police came pulling up. From it emerged an officer of the same authority. He was armed as any other policeman is armed - with a sheathed firearm. Why does an officer of the Maryland Natural Resources Police require a firearm? The answer is somewhat dark to us. Yet let it pass.
Your Papers, Please: The officer descended upon each of the assembled fishermen, one by one. He was in search of papers. That is, he was in search of fishing licenses. That is, he was in search of permission slips from the state of Maryland. A man may not fish the Chesapeake Bay without one.
By some miracle of God they each possessed the required documentation. Some had to abandon their rods and withdraw to their vehicles to secure it. Yet each had it. To be certain: This was not a hostile affair. The officer appeared to be a pleasant, even affable fellow. He gabbled with each potential felon. “Hey, how’s it going? Beautiful day for fishing. Any luck?” So on and so on. Et cetera, et cetera.
You Can Keep Your Dinner: The interrogated men responded with equal affability. They did not appear the least irritated, flustered or annoyed. Both officer and fisherman exchanged multiple laughs and guffaws. At one point the officer took a fisherman in tow and both men withdrew to the police vehicle. From it the officer retrieved a ruler. He stretched a captured fish out upon it. The fish evidently met specification. It was no youth of child-rearing age. The man could keep his dinner - and escape a fine.
Eventually this officer of the Maryland Natural Resources Police abandoned the scene… and drove off… we imagine to the next fishing spot… in quest of some felonious hellcat fishing without official grant.
The entire incident passed without incident. The lines remained in the water and the fish came out of the water - with no additional interruptions. No one was clubbed, no one was jugged. In fact, the officer extended the fishermen high respect. They in turn extended him high respect. If all police encounters were so peaceful policemen would not bear billy clubs and firearms.
One Question: Yet we emerged from the incident with a question: Why should a man require the state of Maryland’s permission to lower a fishing line into the water? Your editor has not fished since he was perhaps 12 years of age. He did not require documentation. He was never approached by an armed policeman demanding to see it. He was merely exercising his rights as a somewhat lunatic and murderous 12-year-old fish hunter.
We understand the authorities may wish to regulate the commercial fishing fleets. We do not abhor or detest conservation - and commercial fishermen may at times yield to temptation. Their vision at times may fail them. The juvenile eight-inch fish they cannot legally haul aboard appears 16 inches to them. Many would work the dockside scale to a favoring calibration… downward… if they could pull off the caper.
But a solitary fisherman casting an individual rod? Who may - if fortune favors him that particular day - pull up two or three unfortunate fish? It is of a different character. We do not believe this man requires permission… at least in the absence of very rigid and demonstrable justification. To our knowledge flounder lack all presence upon the endangered species list.
Land of the Free: Each of the fishermen from the abovesaid incident was Hispanic. Their English was accented. In some cases, very heavily. Did they require fishing permits in their countries of origin? We do not know. Perhaps none require them. Perhaps some require them. Perhaps all require them.
Yet it makes no nevermind. These men are presently camped within the United States - the land of the free - at least in verse and in theory. Should they not fish in freedom… without documented permission from the state of Maryland… or any other united state?
More Laws, Less Justice: “The more laws, the less justice,” said the old Roman Cicero. We are convinced beyond all convincing that this ancient was correct.
The United States Code of Federal Regulations ran to 16 pages in its 1936 debut. Today the thing runs to some 70,000 pages - each singly spaced and finely printed. That is, today’s law list is 4,375 times thicker than 1936’s law list. Has American justice expanded with it? Is the 2026 United States 4,375 times more just than the United States of 1936?
To ask the question is essentially to answer the question. A decent man can scarcely put in one single day without fracturing half a dozen laws. On dark days the same man may fracture a full dozen.
When Laws Justify Injustice: A man can “miss the forest for the trees,” as the popular expression runs. Well, a nation can miss the forest of justice… for the trees of laws. Vast injustice can - and in fact often does - parade as justice because it assumes the color of law. A government goon (bureaucrat) can cite this regulation or that regulation as the warrant for actual injustice.
You request examples? An Oregonian was jugged 30 days for collecting rainwater on his property. That is because the state of Oregon operates under the theory that it owns the rain that falls on it. Thus an Oregonian requires a government permit to collect and hold rain. It is the law. Yet is it just?
Law Run Amok: An Arizona man was fined for holding religious meetings in his residence. Officials cited fire safety. The man subsequently came into compliance. Officials proceeded to inform him that he required exit signs above the doors and safety ramps outside of them. Their fines ran to $12,000. It is the law. Yet is it just?
In Vermont it is illegal to deny God’s existence. You may or may not be a fool to deny God’s existence. Yet are you a criminal to deny God’s existence?
Meantime, you violate federal law if you sell wine with a label harboring the word “Zombie.”
Don’t You Dare Call It Ham Turkey! There exists a meat product known as turkey ham. Within the United States it is illegal to peddle turkey ham with a label of “ham turkey.” Nor can the words “ham” and “turkey” appear in differing fonts. They must be identical. If you do not comply you have acted contrary to the laws of the United States. And you will face the attending punishment. Here we cite but some examples. Others multiply and multiply. Yet these are the laws that “govern” us.
What It Means to Be Governed: And as we are fond to observe: To be governed, noted 19th-century philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon: "Is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded… registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished… drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed… repressed, fined, vilified, harassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored."
The more laws, the less justice. That weekend… however minor in appearance… we witnessed its reality…"
"Welcome to the Theater of the Absurd"
"Welcome to the Theater of the Absurd"
by Charles Hugh Smith
"The real world no longer matters, what matters is the performance on stage. Welcome to the Theater of the Absurd. In the present era, all the world is a stage and everything is a performance on that stage: welcome to the Theater of the Absurd, a Hollywood set fabricated of cardboard and plaster made to look like gold leaf and marble columns, where the contraptions and ropes that do the magic are hidden behind purple velvet drapery. Every detail has been designed to create the illusion of permanence and power to rivet our attention and distract us from noticing that behind this faux fabrication, the world is on fire.
Since the entire point of the theatrics is to cloak the decay of the status quo from serving shared interests to a craven scramble of self-enrichment, no expense is spared in the theatrics, for as the gulf between the reality of who's getting richer and who's losing ground and what the performers claim--this is the best of all possible worlds because of technology and Progress--widens, it becomes necessary to pour more resources into the performances, lest the losers catch on that the performance is the con that keeps the self-serving status quo from being revealed as an extractive, exploitive arrangement favoring the few.
As the audience is no longer entranced by mere performance, the theatrics must be ramped up to absurd heights. Leaders shout continually through the megaphone of social media, every pronouncement is exaggerated to self-parody, jokers prance around as Wall Street jugglers perform tricks, and faux trials run continuously in the background, exiling star performers as part of the enthralling theatrics.
The audience soon habituates to the exaggerations, and so the absurdity is notched higher. Every outrage is played out on stage, and soon the audience is no longer outraged by anything, for every aspect of the performance is now accepted as "normal." In this jaded state, the audience becomes restive and starts booing the performers.
The Theater of the Absurd resorts to throwing money into the audience, creating frenzies as all those losing ground stampede to collect the coins as their last best change of getting rich enough to avoid the fires burning behind the stage.
While the money is being thrown into the increasingly agitated mob, audience members are invited onto the stage to perform their own theatrics. This taste of fame is electrifying, and soon the stage is a seething mass of onlookers seeking their moment in the spotlight, leaders claiming divine inspiration, and a crush of jugglers, clowns, and jokers pressing forward and being pushed off stage in the melee.
Since the performance is now the key to the survival of the status quo arrangement, nobody's paying attention to the fires burning behind the stage set. The real world no longer matters, what matters is the performance on stage. Welcome to the Theater of the Absurd, where the performance is more real than the world burning behind the flimsy simulations and facsimiles of permanence and power."
"Social Media is the Opposite of Social Life"
"Social Media is the Opposite of Social Life"
by David Cain
"I remember a surreal moment about twenty years ago, which felt like the beginning of something bad, and it was. I was at a bowling alley with some friends, and a few people in our group were talking about Facebook. I knew what it was but had no interest in it. Then one of them turned to me and said, “There’s lots of pictures of you on Facebook!” This kind of stunned me and I didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t joined this website but somehow I was one of its features. A year later all of us were using it. It was exciting at first, because it seemed to give us more access to the people in our lives. We could post photos, make plans, and stay connected to a wider circle of people.
I should note for younger readers that the term “people” at that time only referred to real, physical beings: persons with bodies that walked and drove around and did things. Having friends largely meant physically traveling to the same apartment, bowling alley, restaurant, or movie theater, positioning our bodies amongst each other in this physical space, and interacting using our faces and voices and hearts. The part of your life that consisted of this type of physical activity was called social life.
Social media was meant to facilitate this thing called social life. Facebook’s original purpose was to keep you in touch with people who would otherwise fall out of your social circle, namely people you went to school with. It didn’t really do that. It mostly became a thing to do on your computer by yourself. Within a few years, social media came to be seen as a sort of processed-food version of social life: convenient, low-quality sustenance that should not make up most of your diet. It still seemed like food though, just crappy food.
I’ve been complaining about social media forever by this point, and so has everyone else. But a recent effort to actively rebuild my social life has revealed something about how these two things relate. Social media isn’t a cheap and inadequate facsimile of social life; it’s its exact opposite. It isn’t worse than social life at fostering personal connection, it undoes personal connection and reverses our social skills.
This is because social media doesn’t really allow you to interact with people. People are living beings with beating hearts and live emotions. Social life has always been about engaging in the immediate physical presence of such beings. Social media avoids exactly that part, while allowing you to exchange information and symbols of approval.
In a real social interaction, you’re entangled with the other person, physically and emotionally, in real time. Eyes are looking, faces are expressing, and emotions are humming, one hundred percent of the time. It’s nothing like browsing content or sending off messages — it’s much more akin to riding a horse. Moment-to-moment care is required. It can take you to all kinds of new places, but it has its hazards. You have to stay alert, watch your footing, and keep your heart open to this other living thing you’re entangled with. Doing it badly can lead to a nasty upset or even physical danger.
Online, you don’t interact with living beings. You interact with filtered bits of data issued by unseen, presumably living beings – messages, pictures, links, memes. Each party communicates like a paranoid medieval king, who sends out heralds to convey his latest position, then raises the drawbridge again.
Real interaction isn’t information exchange. It involves performing a host of specific, right-brained skills, all at once – how to get someone’s attention in a way agreeable to them, how to explore their preferred topic, how to take offense gracefully, where to put your eyes and your body, how to know when to unpack and when to summarize, and a lot more.
It all must be done live, with an audience. The human being is built for this sort of thing, but it still has to be learned by doing. The voice, face, body, and heart can work together the way a competent driver’s hands, feet, and eyes operate the steering wheel, gas pedal, turn signal, and mirror as though they’re one. When it’s really clicking, it’s a beautiful thing.
And none of it resembles in any way what you do when you thumb through an app. Social media is just a kind of solitary data processing game. You can exchange information while staying safe from the delicate challenges of real interaction. You can issue your opinions without the heat of real eyes looking at you. You can feel heard, and engage with “the world,” without ever having to account for the immediate presence of another person’s heart.
I think that’s why social media remains somewhat irresistible to many of us. The human being has powerful cravings for certain social rewards – approval, status, reassurance - but would like to have them without the hazards of real social life. Mucking up a real interaction is painful, and if your skills are poor, improving them is a major trial. Social media walls off all that trouble, while allowing some of the low-level rewards to come through, in the form of likes, stars, hearts, and other fake internet points. You can enjoy these scraps of approval while the wall shields you from the heat and danger of real-time entanglement with another human being.
These platforms now offer filters to make sure only the agreeable bits of other people come through. If someone gets annoying, you can mute them. You can filter out messages containing particular words. The algorithm will learn your intolerances, and show you only the parts of others that require less of your empathy and understanding. It’s no wonder that many people pride themselves on having zero tolerance for differences of political opinion - that degree of intolerance is actually possible now. I’m sure some people have figured out how to use this technology to aid social life. But I think most of us have ended up using it unwittingly to the exact opposite effect, as protection against social life.
I guess what I’ve discovered, or re-discovered, is that social life was always a matter of physical action. It’s about getting your body into proximity with other bodies, of physically entering the voice- and heart-radius of other people. It involves things like dressing in front of a mirror, finding parking, entering buildings, shaking hands. It’s sitting across from people in living rooms, restaurants, and church basements. This sounds so obvious typing it out, but somehow I forgot for about twenty years."
“Alas, regardless of their doom, the little victims play!
No sense have they of ills to come, nor care beyond today.”
- Thomas Gray,
“Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College”
"People Are Not Ready For What Happens When the Food Runs Out"
Full screen recommended.
American Finance, 4/10/26
"People Are Not Ready For What
Happens When the Food Runs Out"
"A global hunger crisis is accelerating and it’s closer to home than most people think. With over 318 million people facing severe food insecurity, rising fuel and fertilizer costs, supply chain breakdowns, and policy changes are creating a perfect storm that could impact food availability in the U.S. This video breaks down how global famine risks, economic pressures, and fragile supply systems could soon hit your grocery store and what it means for your future."
Comments here:
"Americans Are Struggling"
Full screen recommended.
Snyder Reports, 4/10/26
"Americans Are Struggling…
Inflation Surge Sparks New Fears"
Comments here:
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Full screen recommended.
Market Meltdown and Boring Historian, 4/10/26
"Why Millions of US Households Will
Completely Drain Their Savings This Summer"
"What this video explains is a growing financial pressure building beneath the surface of the American economy, where multiple forces are converging at the same time to create a situation that could significantly strain millions of households during the summer of 2026. It breaks down how record-high credit card debt, rising living costs, and declining savings are forming a mathematical squeeze rather than a speculative prediction. The data shows that Americans are carrying over $1.28 trillion in credit card debt while dealing with prices that are roughly 26% higher than just a few years ago. At the same time, fuel prices have surged sharply, everyday essentials are becoming more expensive due to tariffs, and consumer confidence has dropped to historically low levels. Together, these factors are reducing purchasing power while increasing financial obligations, leaving households with less flexibility than ever before.
The video further explains a four-stage cycle that has appeared repeatedly in past economic stress periods: first comes a savings cushion, then gradual depletion, followed by reliance on debt, and finally a breaking point where spending can no longer be sustained. According to the analysis, the U.S. is currently in the third stage, where debt is being used to maintain living standards after savings have already been exhausted. With interest rates on credit cards exceeding 20%, even maintaining existing debt is becoming more expensive each month. At the same time, additional pressures such as higher gasoline costs during peak summer driving season and rising grocery prices are expected to hit households simultaneously, accelerating the strain.
Historical comparisons to events like the 2008 financial crisis and the inflationary shocks of the 1970s are used to show how similar conditions in the past led to sharp declines in consumer spending once households reached their financial limits. The key takeaway is that when essential expenses rise faster than income and borrowing capacity is maxed out, consumer spending - which drives a large portion of the economy - can suddenly contract. This creates a ripple effect, impacting businesses, employment, and overall economic stability.
Ultimately, the video emphasizes that the issue is not a single factor but the combination of rising costs, high debt, low savings, and weakening consumer confidence all hitting at once. It highlights that the real risk lies in the timing and overlap of these pressures, which could lead to a noticeable slowdown in spending and broader economic consequences in the months ahead."
Comments here:
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Full screen recommended.
The Unfolded States, 4/10/26
"People Are Living Beyond Their Means And Going Broke"
"Millions of people are working full-time, paying their bills, and still ending up with nothing left at the end of the month. This video breaks down how that actually happens, step by step. From student loans and rising rent to unexpected expenses and shrinking savings, the financial pressure is building in ways most people don’t fully see. Using real-world examples and current data, we look at how the cost of living crisis is changing everyday life. Why income growth isn’t keeping up, how debt quietly compounds, and why more people are living paycheck to paycheck even when they’re doing everything right. This isn’t just about bad spending habits - it’s about how the system is shifting. If you’ve ever felt like your money doesn’t go as far as it used to, you’re not alone. The question is no longer just how people got here… but whether it’s getting harder to stay ahead."
Comments here:
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"We're so freakin' doomed!" - The Mogambo Guru
"Vance Warns Iranians Ahead Of Pakistan Talks: US "Has All The Cards" & "We Want The Nuclear Fuel" (Excerpt)
"Vance Warns Iranians Ahead Of Pakistan Talks:
US "Has All The Cards" & "We Want The Nuclear Fuel"
by Tyler Durden
Excerpt: Summary:
ͦ Vice President Vance (who's been tapped to lead talks) warns Iranians: Trump "has all the cards" and cannot have a nuclear weapon. Follows Pentagon/WH declaring "total victory". Iran says it has upper-hand.
ͦ US, Iran agree to meet for first direct talks in Islamabad. Situation fragile given that Iran is threatening to hit Israel again over IDF's massive Lebanon airstrikes. Tehran says 3 clauses already violated.
ͦ Iran meanwhile demands stiff fees for ships passing through Hormuz during the ceasefire, and says it holds the final authority on which vessels get to pass. Tehran leaders have asserted 'victory' for Iran, amid positive international reaction to the ceasefire.
ͦ The first two ships since the ceasefire was announced have crossed the Strait of Hormuz after Iran said it will demand that shipping companies pay tolls in cryptocurrency. Hours later, Fars announces a halt to ships' passage. This as IDF pummels Lebanon.
ͦ Saudi Arabia's vital East-West oil pipeline carrying crude from the Gulf to the Red Sea for export has been attacked at a pumping station, oil rises on the news. There's been sporadic attacks on other Gulf states too. Kuwait sees key energy, water sites hit."
Full article is here:
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Bill Bonner, "Red In Tooth And Claw"
"Red In Tooth And Claw"
Overall, an estimated 20 to 40 million people died in the Mongol conquests.
And Genghis, taking advantage of the young women who were captured,
has left more descendants than any other known human.
by Bill Bonner
“Raising the stakes so high beforehand, he [Trump] maximized the damage to
global perceptions of U.S. power...this is a clear strategic defeat for the U.S.”
- Jennifer Kavanagh, the former director of RAND’s Army Strategy program.
Baltimore, Maryland - "The costs are being tallied. The bills are coming in. The Telegraph led off with an important question: What has Trump’s Iran War achieved? Not much, was the answer. Stuff has been blown up. People were killed. So great was the destruction that you would hardly look at Iran today and call it a ‘winner.’ When the US and Israel set out to blow stuff up, they do a pretty good job of it.
But compared to what Trump threatened - the ‘end of a civilization’ - the country got off easy. The civilization in question has been around approximately 5,800 years longer than the US. And it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, any time soon. There are still 90 million people in the country. They still may have enriched uranium. And now they have tighter control of the Strait of Hormuz...and have discovered how to use it. Most important, they are still alive. This point must have weighed on them as they considered their options. Donald Trump had given them a choice. Either do as he said...or die.
This was not the first time Iran had heard such threats. Genghis Khan routinely made the offer to the Persian cities in his path. ‘Give us your gold, your food, and your daughters...or we will kill you,’ said the Great Man. But Genghis didn’t chicken out. If a town refused, it would be besieged...and eventually, almost everyone in it would be killed. Along with the dogs and cats.
Genghis killed as a strategy. He committed such gruesome and terrifying war crimes so that few cities would oppose him. The city of Nishapur, for example, resisted. But Genghis had the leading generals and best war technology of 1221. Catapults, flame throwers, germ warfare, artillery - he had it all. After a short struggle he took the city and slaughtered as many as 1.7 million people. Overall, an estimated 20 to 40 million people died in the Mongol conquests. And Genghis, taking advantage of the young women who were captured, has left more descendants than any other known human.
But so far, there is hardly a passing resemblance between Genghis Khan and Donald Trump. Whether it is reciprocal tariffs or wiping out whole civilizations, Trump’s threats - unlike those of the Great Khan - are mostly empty. And instead of erasing his chosen enemies, Trump may inadvertently give them a boost. French commentator Arnaud Bertrand believes Trump has just done Iran an immense favor:
‘JP Morgan calculated that, as per the new Hormuz toll arrangement (which Gulf states have confirmed is allowed in the ceasefire plan), Iran may get $70-$90 billion in additional annual revenue, representing a stunning 20% of its GDP, in extra revenue. Hilariously, Trump commented on Truth Social that the arrangement means “big money will be made” and “Iran can start the reconstruction process.” Damn right: they gained the single most valuable geographic rent on earth, by a huge margin. For comparison, the Suez Canal earns Egypt “only” $9-10B/year, and the Panama Canal about $5B.’
Iran is also reaping some surprising collateral benefits. Not only can it sell its crude; it sells at a premium. Oilprice.com: "March has turned into a month of hard power tests for Iran — and so far, it has been quietly exceeding expectations. By effectively blocking the Strait of Hormuz to all but its own cargoes (or the ones that have received their approval), Tehran has demonstrated that the trajectory of the conflict is far from being dictated by its counterparts. Faced with the risk of acute shortages in medium-sour crude, the US administration has been forced into a partial sanctions retreat, allowing Iranian barrels already at sea to re-enter the market. The result is a striking reversal - Iranian crude, once deeply discounted, is now trading at a $1/bbl premium to ICE Brent, while the pool of willing buyers is slowly but steadily widening."
Meanwhile, what about the US? Is it a ‘winner’ too? Maybe. All issues may now be settled by brute force, since no one trusts the US or the Israelis to bargain in good faith. This alone makes the US a kind of winner. In a world ‘red in tooth and claw,’ the US has an advantage. It has the longest teeth and the sharpest claws of any beast in the jungle. Alas, the law of the jungle tends not to work very well...not in the post-Genghis modern world. You can murder people with bombs...but what good does it do you?
And there’s always collateral damage. For the US, it’s just beginning to show up. So far this year, palm oil is up 20%. Gasoline is up 43%. Heating oil is up 68%. And so you see, Americans will pay the costs of war - including the ‘reparations’ collected as tolls - for both sides. And you can expect no relief from the Fed. The next ‘inflation’ report is likely to show the CPI over 3%. This leaves no room for the Fed to reduce rates. Is this a victory? You decide."
"This Is Going To Be A Complete And Utter Disaster For The Global Economy"
by Michael Snyder
"Iran is still holding traffic through the Strait of Hormuz hostage, and the entire world is going to suffer. Before the war, commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz flowed freely, and the global economy functioned normally. But even though there is a temporary ceasefire, Iran continues to maintain a stranglehold on the waterway, and they are insisting that this will continue to be the case when a permanent deal to end the war is reached. In other words, the Iranians are making it clear that this is how things are going to operate from now on, and they know that the U.S. and Europe are not eager to do what it would take militarily to reopen the Strait. Of course even if there is a military operation to reopen the Strait, it will take an extended period of time before it is safe for commercial traffic to pass through the waterway once again. Any way that you look at it, the truth is that this is going to be a complete and utter disaster for the global economy.
The Iranians were supposed to temporarily reopen the Strait of Hormuz as part of the ceasefire deal. But that has not happened. In fact, the CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company has ominously declared that “the Strait of Hormuz is not open”… The Strait of Hormuz has not opened to ship traffic after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, said the CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., or ADNOC, on Thursday. “This moment requires clarity,” said Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber in a social media post. “So let’s be clear: the Strait of Hormuz is not open. Access is being restricted, conditioned and controlled.”
Iran has made clear that ships must obtain its permission to pass through the strait, Al Jaber said. “That is not freedom of navigation. That is coercion,” the ADNOC chief said. Only a handful of ships are getting through right now. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Iranians are only going to allow about a dozen ships to pass through the Strait each day…
Iran told mediators it will limit the number of ships crossing the strait to around a dozen a day, and the Iranian Navy warned ships anchored near the strait that they would need Tehran’s permission to cross.
Before the war, about 10 times as many vessels were traveling through the Strait of Hormuz on a daily basis. The Iranians are telling us that any vessels that attempt to pass through without authorization “will be destroyed”…On Wednesday, Iran warned that oil tankers will be destroyed if they try to travel along the strait without permission, as it seeks to retain control over the passage during the ceasefire. A radio message was broadcast yesterday by the regime to all oil ships in the vital waterway, saying: ‘If any vessels try to transit without permission, [they] will be destroyed.’ This is going to starve the global economy of desperately needed oil, natural gas, petrochemicals and fertilizer, and Iran fully understands this.
Any ships that Iran authorizes to pass through the Strait must “sail through Iranian waters around Larak Island to avoid the risk of naval mines”… Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have told vessels to sail through Iranian waters around Larak Island to avoid the risk of naval mines in the usual lanes through the strait, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Thursday. Vessels are to enter the strait north of Larak Island and exit just south of it until further notice in coordination with the IRGC’s navy, Tasnim quoted the IRGC as saying. Iran has essentially admitted that they have mined the Strait of Hormuz. Even if the war ended immediately, it would take a long time to make sure that all the mines were gone.
The Iranians are forcing commercial ships to enter their own territorial waters so that they can charge a toll of up to 2 million dollars per vessel…Iran is charging tolls of up to $2 million per ship to pass through the strait, a maneuver dubbed the “Tehran Toll Booth” in shipping circles.
When asked about what Iran is doing, the White House said that it is “completely unacceptable”… White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the alleged closure of the strait, based on reports from Iranian state media, is “completely unacceptable.” And President Trump is pledging that once a permanent peace agreement is reached the Strait of Hormuz will be “OPEN & SAFE”…
There is just one huge problem. The Iranians are insisting on control of the Strait of Hormuz as part of any peace deal. So Trump is going to be faced with a decision. Either he will give the Iranians what they want, or he will start the war back up again.
But let’s be wildly optimistic for a moment. Let’s assume that the Iranians totally give in and allow commercial traffic to flow freely through the Strait of Hormuz. Even if that were to happen, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz would not return to normal levels for a very long time to come.
We know that this is true, because traffic through the Red Sea has still not returned to normal even though there has been a ceasefire with the Houthis for quite some time… Analysts told CNBC that the Houthis in Yemen disrupting the Red Sea last year provides a reference point to how quickly traffic could recover following a potential ceasefire. “In the Red Sea with the Houthis, the ceasefire agreement was last January and traffic has not returned,” Nikos Petrakakos, managing director at maritime investment manager Tufton, told CNBC in an interview. “As long as there’s a threat of an attack, that’s enough. You don’t actually need the attack.”
The bottom line is that the crisis in the Middle East is going to continue to massively disrupt the global economy for an extended period no matter what happens next. The last tankers that departed prior to the war are arriving at their destinations, and we are already starting to see rationing and shortages all over the globe. In fact, Madagascar just declared a nationwide energy emergency… Madagascar has declared a two‑week nationwide state of energy emergency amid severe fuel shortages caused by the US and Israel’s war in Iran. The presidency said the decision was taken following Tuesday’s cabinet meeting over fears the situation could lead to public disorder. The “severe fuel shortages” that they are now experiencing will not be alleviated any time soon.
In Myanmar, a “rationing system for private vehicles” has just been imposed…Amid fuel shortages, Myanmar’s military government has implemented a rationing system for private vehicles. Under the singular scheme, vehicles with even-numbered licence plates are only allowed to drive on even dates while those with odd-numbered plates can only drive on odd dates.
This is just the beginning. Supplies of oil and natural gas are starting to get really tight in Europe, and European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has warned that what the continent is facing is “probably beyond what we can imagine at the moment”…
For the European Union, the short-term consequences of Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz - steeply rising gasoline and diesel prices, and a severe jet fuel shortage putting foreign travel at risk - could be dwarfed by the long-term implications of a prolonged closure. An industrial crash, higher manufacturing prices passed on to consumers in the form of damaging inflation, fertilizer shortages and resulting spikes in food prices, and higher household utility bills all have the potential to upend European politics.
What is already being called “the biggest global energy crisis in history” could have still more drastic consequences, and the EU is particularly exposed, with most of its major economies significantly more dependent on fossil fuel imports than the UK. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde last month described the long-term effects for Europe as “probably beyond what we can imagine at the moment”.
Little wonder, then, that the EU has convened the dreaded European “working group”. EU Energy and Housing Commissioner Dan Jørgensen said on Friday that the bloc is exploring “all possibilities” to deal with a “long-lasting” shock, in which “energy prices will be higher for a very long time.” Jørgensen mentioned fuel rationing and releasing emergency oil reserves as potential steps to mitigate the crisis; fuel rationing has already been introduced in Slovenia, while fuel restrictions have been issued at four Italian airports.
And the International Monetary Fund is publicly admitting that there will be shortages of diesel and jet fuel “for some time”…The world will experience diesel and jet fuel shortages “for some time” because of the war in Iran, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The halting of normal flows through the Iran-controlled Strait of Hormuz – the vital oil and gas shipping route – “will for some time continue to have ripple effects”, said the organization’s managing director Kristalina Georgieva. She specifically mentioned shortages in refined oil products, diesel and jet fuel.
This is really happening. Even if Iran surrendered, which will never happen, fully opened the Strait of Hormuz immediately and started feverishly removing the mines, the world will still experience enormous supply disruptions throughout the remainder of 2026. Of course the truth is that Iran does not intend to give in on anything. The Iranians believe that they have won, and they are going to stick to the list of 10 demands that they have been relentlessly sharing with the world on social media.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration plans to stick to the list of 15 demands that it is making. There is no way that those two lists are compatible. So it appears that more fighting is probably inevitable, and that will just make economic conditions even worse."
"Alert! Massive Military Movements, NATO Sending Warships To Hormuz, Trump Loses Mind"
Canadian Prepper, 4/10/26
"Alert! Massive Military Movements,
NATO Sending Warships To Hormuz, Trump Loses Mind"
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"Iran Deploys 350 Hwasong-19 ICBMs - Israel AT Risk, U.S. Trembles"
Full screen recommended.
Prof. Jiang Xueqin, 4/10/26
"Iran Deploys 350 Hwasong-19 ICBMs -
Israel AT Risk, U.S. Trembles"
"This analysis examines a rapidly shifting strategic landscape as Iran deploys 350 Hwasong-19 intercontinental ballistic missiles, a system originally developed by North Korea and capable of delivering multiple warheads across continents. The implications are immediate and profound: Israel faces a compressed decision window, while the United States confronts escalating risks across multiple fronts. Professor Jiang Xueqin breaks down the military capabilities, geopolitical signaling, and strategic consequences behind this development. What unfolds next may not be gradual - but sudden, decisive, and potentially irreversible in reshaping the balance of power."
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Thursday, April 9, 2026
"Reclimbing The Escalator to World War III"
"Reclimbing The Escalator to World War III"
by Leo Hohmann
"This Iran war is quickly moving from an unwise, not well-planned military excursion into a catastrophic failure that can only end up in full-blown World War III, followed by the Great Digital Reset and Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The two-week ceasefire deal announced on April 7 already lies in shambles, having been exposed as never a serious attempt to end this war. It was a ruse meant to temporarily de-escalate and buy time to prepare for the next big battle.
Ultimately, if Trump is serious about bringing Iran to its knees and installing a new U.S.-backed puppet government, he will have to launch a ground invasion. He stupidly thought he could avoid that, and maybe he could have if he hadn’t started the war with two massive blunders related to dead school girls and the elimination of Iran’s top spiritual leader. But now he can’t. Not if he really wants to deliver to his globalist masters the total defeat of Iran’s Islamic regime. This is the quintessential case of, be careful what you wish for... I’m not saying it’s impossible to pull off, but it will cost far more American lives to dislodge the mullahs of Iran than any rational American would see as “worth it.”
Not only is America not mopping up Iran like would be expected of a global super power whose next closest rival is, according to President Trump, light years behind, but it’s starting to look like Iran has more up its sleeve, and in its arsenal. It is acting according to a very well thought out, pre-planned and rational strategy to take down a superpower, and perhaps the whole post-World War II world order with it.
Iran may have lost all of its (non-existent) air force, and most of its navy, but it still has a million-man army that hasn’t been touched. To think they will have mass mutiny and come over to America’s side is wishful thinking. They are waiting to take on whatever Trump can throw at them on the ground. Should Trump prove stupid enough to launch such an invasion, he will send tens of thousands of brave U.S. military men to their graves. And for what? Even if successful, Trump will have to answer for why he needed to expend thousands of American lives to reopen a shipping route, the Strait of Hormuz, that was already open before he started this war. Why did he need to expend those lives to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, when they could have had one at any point in the last 25 years if they really wanted it?
Iran not only has a million-man army, it also retains plenty of missiles and drones and has demonstrated the capability to replace at least some of the munitions that have already been fired. This is more than enough to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed whenever it determines that Washington is not abiding by the ceasefire framework, a deal which in Trump’s own words, was never a serious effort to end this war.
His latest comments, soaked and maranated in 100-proof chest-pumping Trumpian hubris, were posted to his Truth Social account around midnight April 9:
“All U.S. Ships, Aircraft, and Military Personnel, with additional Ammunition, Weaponry, and anything else that is appropriate and necessary for the lethal prosecution and destruction of an already substantially degraded Enemy, will remain in place in, and around, Iran, until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with.”
This “real agreement,” that he demands Iran comply with is unconditional surrender, so its regime can be replaced by a U.S./Israeli puppet. The prospect of having Israel and America as their new overlords might be the only option Iran’s people would despise more.
Trump added that, “If for any reason it is not (complied with), which is highly unlikely, then the ‘Shootin’ Starts,’ bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before. It was agreed, a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and, the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN AND SAFE. In the meantime our great Military is Loading Up and Resting, looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest. AMERICA IS BACK!”
So there you have it. In Trump’s eyes, the ceasefire agreed to earlier this week was nothing but a fake deal meant to buy some time for whatever Trump’s next move will be against Iran, to be followed by another unnamed conquest.
Not only is the U.S. military under Trump’s command flailing on the battlefield, it’s losing the narrative war, and that could end up being more catastrophic than the battlefield stalemate that Iran has proven capable of achieving, turning it from a route, as Trump described it, into a prolonged war of attrition that America isn’t prepared to wage.
As the Trump regime pauses to figure out its next move, Israel has unleashed holy hell on its northern neighbor, Lebanon, with indiscriminate scorched-earth bombing and uprooting of civilians, including many Christians. Netanyahu’s government says it wasn’t part of the fake U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal and will conduct business as it sees fit, taking advantage of an opportunity to turn southern Lebanon into the next Gaza.
The military war on the ground was not going particularly well, but the narrative war is going even worse. While Trump’s diehard sycophantic supporters may be willing to swallow whatever lie of the day he chooses to feed into their brains, the majority of Americans, and people across the world, are waking up. They see him for what he is. An absolute crazy and dangerous tyrant bent on world conquest. Again, these are not my words. They’re his.
Trump still thinks he can conquer Iran and then move on to his next pursuit, which could be anyone’s guess. Trump sees himself as a conqueror set out to conquer. And he will not stop until someone stops him. Is he an archtype of a future antichrist? Is he THE antichrist? I have no idea. But he’s certainly being used to bring about death and destruction on a mass scale.
All the April 7 fake ceasefire did was reset the escalatory ladder, guaranteeing that we ascend back up, likely in a matter of days if not weeks. Neither side is in a position for any good-faith negotiations and any semblance of such is fake, has always been fake, and will always be fake. This is a fight that will be settled on the battlefield in blood, not on paper in any diplomatic way. I have been warning for at least five years that World War III was coming. Few wanted to hear that message. Almost none took it seriously. Now it’s here. And despite however many times you tell yourself that this is not that. It is. The demonic forces behind human warfare have clearly been unleashed and we will witness death and destruction on a scale never before seen, very possibly worse than World War II.
It is clear now why Trump was selected to be the U.S. president at this point in history. He is probably the only politician in America who was insane enough to do the bidding of the global Luciferian death cult looking for a complete blank slate upon which to build an entire new world based on AI control, tokenization of all assets, and a form of tyranny that will make Orwell’s novel look like amateur hour. Write it down now. Before Trump leaves office, the world will be completely turned on its head, the population will be much smaller, all rogue nations will be brought to heel, and the survivors will be left mostly destitute and begging for some semblance of normal life to return. If global Luciferian power elites are successful in pulling this off, and right now I don’t see enough people willing to wake up and speak the truth necessary to stop them, we the people will be right where they want us. Desperate. Demoralized. Destitute. Crying out for help from anywhere it might look to be available.
And, yet, there is a number of Americans who still can’t see the trajectory we are on, and how Trump is being used to set us up for complete collapse - economically, politically, culturally, and even spiritually for those who do not have a rock-solid relationship with the God of gods and Lord of lords.
This war started off badly with the Feb. 28 strike on an Iranian elementary school, killing 175 school girls and their teachers. On that same day, the U.S./Israel murdered Iran’s top spiritual leader and his family, giving him martyr status among a people who appreciate martyrdom, who already saw themselves as victims, and now they’re all willing to die fighting us. It got worse from there. With no clear messaging as to what this war was really about, they cycled from one pronounced goal to the next: Stopping Iran’s nuclear program. Liberating the oppressed Iranian people. Reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial tanker traffic (which they seem to forget was open to free-flowing traffic before Trump launched the war). Even the stealing of Iran’s oil was proffered by Trump earlier this week as a possible side benefit. But the real reason was always regime change.
Trump chimes in daily with his patented emotionally charged and schizophrenic social-media posts. On Monday of this week, Trump said if it were up to him he would just “take the oil.” It was there for the taking and he wanted to take it. He would “take it,” he would “keep it,” and “make a lot of money.”
That’s just more rantings of a madman who is being manipulated by others, who himself has no understanding of anything outside of himself. This war was always about one global order being phased out and a new one being ushered in. All else is distraction. Iran is one of the outlier nations that is not beholden to the one-world economic system, which was OK under the current world order but not acceptable for the coming new world order based on an AI-powered beast system and one-world digital control grid.
So here we are, back at square one, with a war that will no doubt head right back up the escalatory ladder after less than 24 hours of euphoria based on the outlandish idea that maybe, just maybe, cooler heads had prevailed and this war might be winding down. Not that any of us with a clear-eyed perspective on the players involved in this global theatrical performance ever believed that was possible for a minute. That’s why, for years, I ended my articles with this: Pray for peace, prepare for war. Nothing has changed."
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