Full screen recommended.
Snyder Reports, 11/18/25
"Americans Safety Net Just Collapsed,
Panic Setting In"
Comments here:
So, we rise from the rubble...
StatCounter
Tuesday, November 18, 2025
"Gold Set To Skyrocket, Dollar Collapses, Crypto Crushed; Home Depot Sees Big Trouble"
Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, 11/18/25
"Gold Set To Skyrocket, Dollar Collapses,
Crypto Crushed; Home Depot Sees Big Trouble"
Comments here:
Gerald Celente, "As Forecast: Dot-Com Bust 2.0, The Worst Is Yet To Come"
Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 11/18/25
"As Forecast: Dot-Com Bust 2.0,
The Worst Is Yet To Come"
"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What’s Next in these increasingly turbulent times."
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Musical Interlude: Medwyn Goodall, “Eyes of Heaven”
Full screen recommended.
Medwyn Goodall, “Eyes of Heaven”
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Separated by about 14 degrees (28 Full Moons) in planet Earth's sky, spiral galaxies M31 at left, and M33 are both large members of the Local Group, along with our own Milky Way galaxy. This narrow- and wide-angle, multi-camera composite finds details of spiral structure in both, while the massive neighboring galaxies seem to be balanced in starry fields either side of bright Mirach, beta star in the constellation Andromeda. Mirach is just 200 light-years from the Sun. But M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, is really 2.5 million light-years distant and M33, the Triangulum Galaxy, is also about 3 million light years away.
Click image for larger size.
Although they look far apart, M31 and M33 are engaged in a gravitational struggle. In fact, radio astronomers have found indications of a bridge of neutral hydrogen gas that could connect the two, evidence of a closer encounter in the past. Based on measurements, gravitational simulations currently predict that the Milky Way, M31, and M33 will all undergo mutual close encounters and potentially mergers, billions of years in the future.”
- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150926.html
o
"Everything passes away- suffering, pain, blood, hunger, pestilence. The sword will pass away too, but the stars will still remain when the shadows of our presence and our deeds have vanished from the earth. There is no man who does not know that. Why, then, will we not turn our eyes towards the stars? Why?"
- Mikhail Bulgakov, "The White Guard"
The Poet: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "What If?"
"What If?"
"What if you slept?
And what if,
In your sleep
You dreamed?
And what if,
In your dream,
You went to heaven
And there plucked
A strange and
Beautiful flower?
And what if,
When you awoke,
You had the flower
In your hand?
... Ah, what then?"
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
"What if you slept?
And what if,
In your sleep
You dreamed?
And what if,
In your dream,
You went to heaven
And there plucked
A strange and
Beautiful flower?
And what if,
When you awoke,
You had the flower
In your hand?
... Ah, what then?"
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
"Splendid!"
"Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States.
Ask any Indian."
- Robert Orben
Ask any Indian."
- Robert Orben
"Be That Guy"
- Kenneth Ead
"Be That Guy"
by Scott Faith
"We’re frequently told “don’t be that guy,” often with good reason. Drunk and stupid at a party? Don’t be that guy. Park in a spot someone else shoveled out of the snow? Don’t be that guy. Chow thief at Ranger School? Definitely don’t be that guy. But sometimes situations arise where you DO need to be that guy.
Sometimes going along with the crowd is the absolute wrong thing to do. It takes guts to swim against the current, and sometimes it might cost you more than you intended. I was reminded of this when I saw a picture of a 1930s-era Nazi rally contained in a Buzzfeed article I read recently. All of the men and women of the crowd were enthusiastically giving the Nazi salute… except for “that guy.” One lone man stood, arms folded, with a look of contempt on his face. He alone was willing to buck the system and not acquiesce to something he knew was deeply flawed.
Unfortunately, as happens in many similar cases, the lone dissenter paid the price. Already on the outs with the Nazi Party for committing the cardinal sin of daring to love a Jewish woman, August Landmesser was later jailed and eventually sent to a military penal battalion, and was reportedly killed in action. Landmesser joined the Nazi Party in 1931 in hopes of gaining employment and was a member until 1935, when he was expelled for marrying a Jewish woman named Irma Eckler. Landmesser had two daughters with Eckler and it cost him jail time for Rassenschande (dishonoring the race). Landmesser is believed to have served prison time from 1938–1941, after which he was discharged to serve in the military. Landmesser, however, quickly went missing and was presumed dead. His wife, Irma, suffered a similar fate. She was jailed by the Gestapo and died during the war. The children of Irma and Landmesser were separated.
While many of us won’t face death for our beliefs, there are often negative consequences for doing or saying the right thing. We might face social ostracization, the loss of friends or even a job. We might get attacked physically, verbally, or virtually. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t stand up for what’s right. You can read the original Buzzfeed article for yourself here. Sometimes all it takes is a spark to ignite a revolution. Do you have what it takes to “be that guy?”
Chet Raymo, "Know Thyself"
"Know Thyself"
by Chet Raymo
"The ancient Greek aphorism, attributed to Socrates and others. Good advice, I'm sure. If only we knew what it means. Is it the same as the "examination of conscience" we were asked to perform as young Catholics? "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned." Well, yes, it is good to ask ourselves if we have lived up to our highest moral aspirations. But surely "Know thyself" means more than that.
Does it mean to be aware of our self-awareness? That is to say, not to act impulsively, but reflectively. Thoreau's "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."
Or perhaps it means to apply the method of scientia to the problem of consciousness, treat the mind like a fish that can be dissected at the lab bench, watch the brain flickering on the display of a scanning machine as the subject is stimulated with love, sex, fear, music, pain. Neuroscience. Daniel Dennet's book audaciously titled "Consciousness Explained." There is a line from a poem by Jane Hirshfield, in which she questions herself: "A knife cannot cut itself open/ yet you ask me both to be you and to know you."
Is it hopeless then? Is there an essential absurdity in a thing knowing itself? Does knowing necessarily imply a knower more complex than the thing known? Is it possible that we might fully understand, say, the neurology of the sea slug Aplysia, that favorite subject of experimental neurobiologists with only 20,000 central nerve cells, big nerve cells, ten times bigger than human neurons, but not the workings of the human brain, with its 100 billion nerve cells, each one connected to thousands of others?
Hirshfield's poem is titled "Instant Glimpsable Only For An Instant." Perhaps that is the best we can do. To know ourselves in those fleeting moments of recognition than come now and then, often unbidden, sometimes as the result of a chance encounter with beauty or with ugliness, sometimes bidden out of the silence and solitude of meditation - a flash upon one's inward eye that is, perhaps, all the ancients were asking for when they asked us to "know ourselves."
Or perhaps it means to apply the method of scientia to the problem of consciousness, treat the mind like a fish that can be dissected at the lab bench, watch the brain flickering on the display of a scanning machine as the subject is stimulated with love, sex, fear, music, pain. Neuroscience. Daniel Dennet's book audaciously titled "Consciousness Explained." There is a line from a poem by Jane Hirshfield, in which she questions herself: "A knife cannot cut itself open/ yet you ask me both to be you and to know you."
Is it hopeless then? Is there an essential absurdity in a thing knowing itself? Does knowing necessarily imply a knower more complex than the thing known? Is it possible that we might fully understand, say, the neurology of the sea slug Aplysia, that favorite subject of experimental neurobiologists with only 20,000 central nerve cells, big nerve cells, ten times bigger than human neurons, but not the workings of the human brain, with its 100 billion nerve cells, each one connected to thousands of others?
Hirshfield's poem is titled "Instant Glimpsable Only For An Instant." Perhaps that is the best we can do. To know ourselves in those fleeting moments of recognition than come now and then, often unbidden, sometimes as the result of a chance encounter with beauty or with ugliness, sometimes bidden out of the silence and solitude of meditation - a flash upon one's inward eye that is, perhaps, all the ancients were asking for when they asked us to "know ourselves."
- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/
o
"Instant Glimpsable Only For An Instant"
"Moment. Moment. Moment.
- equal inside you, moment,
the velocitous mountains and cities rising and falling,
songs of children, iridescence even of beetles.
It is not you the locust can strip of all leaf.
Untouchable green at the center,
the wolf too lopes past you and through you as he eats.
Insult to mourn you, you who mourn no one, unable.
Without transformation,
yours the role of the chorus, to whom nothing happens.
The living step forward: choosing to enter, to lose.
I, who am made of you only,
speak these words against your unmasterable instruction -
A knife cannot cut itself open,
yet you ask me both to be you and to know you."
~ Jane Hirshfield
"The Middle Class Is Being Completely Destroyed By The Cost Of Living Crisis"
Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 11/18/25
"The Middle Class Is Being Completely
Destroyed By The Cost Of Living Crisis"
"The economy isn't just struggling, it's actively crushing regular working people. And I think we all feel it, even if we don't always talk about it. In this video, we're looking at what's really happening to average Americans right now. People are working multiple jobs and still can't afford groceries. Small businesses that survived for years are shutting down because their customers simply ran out of money. And the middle class? It's disappearing in real time while the wealthy keep getting richer. This isn't about politics or pointing fingers at one party. This is about regular people sharing their real experiences and those experiences paint a terrifying picture of where we're headed. We'll hear from folks struggling with basic necessities, business owners watching their dreams collapse, and people who are finally waking up to how rigged this system really is against them."
Comments here:
"In Human Society..."
"When a bull is being lead to the slaughter, it still hopes to break loose and trample its butchers. Other bulls have not been able to pass on the knowledge that this never happens and that from the slaughterhouse there is no way back to the herd. But in human society there is a continuous exchange of experience. I have never heard of a man who broke away and fled while being led to his execution. It is even thought to be a special form of courage if a man about to be executed refuses to be blindfolded and dies with his eyes open. But I would rather have the bull with his blind rage, the stubborn beast who doesn't weigh his chances of survival with the prudent dull-wittedness of man, and doesn't know the despicable feeling of despair."
- Nadezhda Mandelstam
"A Reasonable End"
by The ZMan
"Did cavemen feel guilt? Shame? It may sound like a stupid and pointless question, but it is a place to start when trying to understand the current crisis. While we cannot know if primitive man felt things like shame, we can guess. In fact, that is the point of the Genesis story of Adam and Eve. Shame and guilt were not natural to men until introduced by devilish forces. At least that is what the authors of the Adam and Eve story surmised when trying to answer those questions.
To feel guilt one must have a guilty mind when committing some act, which means you knew the act was wrong when you did it. You can also feel guilt for having unknowingly broken a rule but learning after the fact that you broke the rule and should have known you were breaking the rule. Shame works the same way. It is impossible to feel guilt for having broken a rule if you never know about the rule or you reject the legitimacy of the rule or the authority that made the rule.
Our cavemen therefore could only feel guilt or shame if in their group there existed a set of normative rules from a recognized authority. Given the simplicity of their life and the demands of it, they probably had few rules on individual conduct. Those that did exist were most likely related to the preservation of the group. Males had to be good hunters and not avoid pulling their weight in the hunt. Members had to sacrifice themselves for the good of the group. That was about it for their morality.
To answer the question at the start, the sense of guilt and shame was probably as primitive as the moral code that existed within the group. Given that early bands of humans were surely based on blood, as in they were extended families, not propositional collections of strangers, things like guilt and shame arose from the biological loyal that lies at the heart of man. We abide by the rules of our kind because they are our family, and we have a natural loyalty to them.
This works fine in small groups, but once small groups started to band together to defend hunting grounds and defensible shelters, something more was needed to extend that natural sense of loyalty to the whole group. The trading of women, which we know was a part of early man’s existence, was one solution. This binds the groups by blood and therefore tapped into biological loyalty. The human sciences tell us that the formation of larger human groups was biological.
This works with a federation of kin groups, but once human settlements reached a large enough size, this was no longer practical, so something else arrived. The solution to the limits of blood was religion, specifically gods. Distantly related people may not feel a great loyalty to one another, but those protected by the same god can feel loyalty to one another in service to that god. Guilt and shame over breaking god’s rules works just as well as guilt and shame over harming the family.
A crude way of summarizing this is we went from, “We are the sons of Grog and this is how the sons of Grog live” to “We are the people who live by this portion of the river, and this is how we live.” The next logical step was, “We are the followers of sky god, and this is how we live.” This allows for the group to expand, as new members merely must accept sky god and be accepted by sky god. It harnesses guilt and shame in the service of a group whose size extends beyond blood.
While the mental state of early man is a bit of a guess for us, we do know that humans organized around their gods. This was the state of the ancient world, about which we know a great deal. While what led to this stage of human development is a bit of guesswork, we know that mankind arrived at this point. By the time there are fully formed gods, there are fully formed moral codes attached to them that define large groups of people with a sense of identity.
That does not solve the puzzle of this age. We know that folk religions eventually gave way to universal religions. About ninety percent of humans belong to a universal religion, which means their religion is open to everyone. You do not have to be born into Hinduism to be a Hindu. Only a tiny portion of humanity sticks with folk religions like Judaism which have a biological component. Everyone else is open to people outside the blood, as long as they accept the moral claims of the faith.
Of course, universalist religion did not end human conflict. In fact, they probably made it worse as the base assumption of universalist religion is that there is only one way to live because there is only one moral authority. Once you accept that your god is the only god, it means the other gods are false. Worse yet, those gods are an afront to your god and they must be eliminated. The way to do that is to conquer the people who are offering up the false god as a challenge to the true god.
The modern West has complicated this further by removing God entirely from the Christian moral framework and replacing him with a mirror called reason. It is reason that tells us that there must be one way of organizing society. It is reason that tells us there must be one moral code. Therefore, it is reason that tells us that alternative ways of organizing society must be false. The same is true for alternative morality, which like a false god, is an afront to reason.
If you think about it, this iteration of the Great Awakening has been little more than the believers of one god attacking those who either reject their god or worship another God, like the God of the Bible. Not only do they hate your lack of guilt over violating their codes, but they also feel guilty for not imposing those codes on you. The followers of the god of reason ended up at witch burning as the solution to heresy. They seek salvation through the spilling of blood.
The crisis in the West is a crisis of reason. We have reasoned ourselves to a dead end where shame and guilt are tied to the assertion that there must be only one moral authority, and it emits only one moral code. Those who must have the warm embrace of faith now target their sense of guilt and shame toward their own kind, for the sin of not embracing what they believe is the only moral code. The rest are left to defend themselves and civilization from the true believers.
The question at the heart of the crisis is can the fury of these zealots be reoriented toward a folk religion or even a passive universalism? If the answer is no, then how can society defend against them? Another way of stating it is, can the cancer be put into remission or must it be removed? It is a terrible question that no one wants to face, but the West must face it. The god of reason is either reformed or removed along with her followers as that is the only reasonable thing to do."
"Live Dangerously And You Live Right"
"Live Dangerously And You Live Right"
by Paul Rosenberg
"The title of this post, live dangerously and you live right, comes from the great author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and he was ever so correct. The life of meek obedience is a sin against the self. It is a surrender of mind and passion. It’s a half life at best.
But unquestioning compliance is the easy way. It’s what the system is designed to extract from you. It’s what school trains you for, it’s what corporations expect of you, and it’s what government demands. In the end, compliance is extorted from you by manipulation and violence. Everyone does it, so you’d better do it, and if you don’t, you’ll get in a lot of trouble. We’ve all experienced this, but we often fail to call it by its true name.
And yet Goethe is correct. If you want to live as an energized, expansive, open, and honest being, you have no choice but to live dangerously… because the system has made real living dangerous. Only what services the machine is “safe.” And it wasn’t just Goethe who thought this. I want you to see the thoughts of other men and women on this subject:
"The meaning of life is that it is to be lived, and it is not to be
traded and conceptualized and squeezed into a pattern of systems."
– Bruce Lee
"Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered –
either by themselves or by others."
– Mark Twain
"The tragedy of life is what dies in the
hearts and souls of people while they live."
– Albert Einstein
"Life shrinks or expands according to one’s courage."
– Anais Nin
"Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through.
Where people fail is that they wish to elect a [condition] and remain in it.
This is a kind of death."
– Anais Nin
"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break your bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be." – Patanjali (2nd century BC)
The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle. – Albert Einstein, "Mein Weltbild"
"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all."
– Oscar Wilde
"All theory is against the freedom of the will, all experience for it."
– Samuel Johnson
"Conscience is deceived by the social."
– Simone Weil, "The Great Beast"
"The secret is that only that which can destroy itself is truly alive."
– Carl Jung, "Psychology and Alchemy"
Obedience Is Boring: To obey is to turn away from your own thoughts and decisions. To obey is to live someone else’s life. To whatever extent we obey, we cease being. But once you turn a deaf ear to the taskmaster, you turn on. Your life enlarges, expands, and becomes a force in the universe. Five years later you’ll look back and be amazed at the scales that fell from your eyes.
Fear is a brain hack. Fear is the great enemy. To live by your own being is to open yourself to expansion, to deep satisfaction, and to love. Please reread the quotes above. Turn and face the fear. Tell it to go to hell. Start living your way. Make your own mistakes. Repair them. Live and love."
"Trapping Wild Pigs"
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"Trapping Wild Pigs"
by Jeff Thomas
"Most of us would like to assume that we’re smarter than pigs, but are we? Let’s have a look. Pigs are pretty intelligent mammals, and forest-dwelling wild pigs are known to be especially wily. However, there’s a traditional method for trapping them. First, find a small clearing in the forest and put some corn on the ground. After you leave, the pigs will find it. They’ll also return the next day to see if there’s more.
Replace the corn every day. Once they’ve become dependent on the free food, erect a section of fence down one side of the clearing. When they get used to the fence, they’ll begin to eat the corn again. Then you erect another side of the fence.Continue until you have all four sides of the fence up, with a gate in the final side. Then, when the pigs enter the pen to feed, you close the gate.
At first, the pigs will run around, trying to escape. But if you toss in more corn, they’ll eventually calm down and go back to eating. You can then smile at the herd of pigs you’ve caught and say to yourself that this is why humans are smarter than pigs. But unfortunately, that’s not always so. In fact, the description above is the essence of trapping humans into collectivism.
Collectivism begins when a government starts offering free stuff to the population. At first, it’s something simple like free education or food stamps for the poor. But soon, political leaders talk increasingly of "entitlements" – a wonderful concept that by its very name suggests that this is something that’s owed to you, and if other politicians don’t support the idea, then they’re denying you your rights.
Once the idea of free stuff has become the norm and, more importantly, when the populace has come to depend upon it as a significant part of their "diet," more free stuff is offered. It matters little whether the new entitlements are welfare, healthcare, free college, or a guaranteed basic wage. What’s important is that the herd come to rely on the entitlements. Then, it’s time to erect the fence.
Naturally, in order to expand the volume of free stuff, greater taxation will be required. And of course, some rights will have to be sacrificed. And just like the pigs, all that’s really necessary to get humans to comply is to make the increase in fencing gradual. People focus more on the corn than the fence. Once they’re substantially dependent, it’s time to shut the gate.
What this looks like in collectivism is that new restrictions come into play that restrict freedoms. You may be told that you cannot expatriate without paying a large penalty. You may be told that your bank deposit may be confiscated in an emergency situation. You may even be told that the government has the right to deny you the freedom to congregate, or even to go to work, for whatever trumped-up reason.
And of course, that’s the point at which the pigs run around, hoping to escape the new restrictions. But more entitlements are offered, and in the end, the entitlements are accepted as being more valuable than the freedom of self-determination.
Even at this point, most people will remain compliant. But there’s a final stage: The corn ration is "temporarily" cut due to fiscal problems. Then it’s cut again… and again. The freedoms are gone for good and the entitlements are then slowly removed. This is how it’s possible to begin with a very prosperous country, such as Argentina, Venezuela or the US, and convert it into an impoverished collectivist state. It’s a gradual process and the pattern plays out the same way time and again. It succeeds because human nature remains the same. Collectivism eventually degrades into uniform poverty for 95% of the population, with a small elite who live like kings.
After World War II, the Western world was flying high. There was tremendous prosperity and opportunity for everyone. The system was not totally free market, but enough so that anyone who wished to work hard and take responsibility for himself had the opportunity to prosper. But very early – in the 1960s – The Great Society became the byword for government-provided largesse for all those who were in need – free stuff for those who were disadvantaged in one way or another.
Most Americans, who were then flush with prosperity, were only too happy to share with those who were less fortunate. Unfortunately, they got suckered into the idea that, rather than give voluntarily on an individual basis, they’d entrust their government to become the distributor of largesse, and to pay for it through taxation. Big mistake. From that point on, all that was necessary was to keep redefining who was disadvantaged and to then provide more free stuff.
Few people were aware that the first sections of fence were being erected. But today, it may be easier to understand that the fence has been completed and the gate is closing. It may still be possible to make a hasty exit, but we shall find very few people dashing for the gate. After all, to expatriate to another country would mean leaving all that free stuff – all that security.
At this point, the idea of foraging in the forest looks doubtful. Those who have forgotten how to rely on themselves will understandably fear making an exit. They’ll not only have to change their dependency habits; they’ll have to think for themselves in future. But make no mistake about it – what we’re witnessing today in what was formerly the Free World is a transition into collectivism. It will be a combination of corporatism and socialism, with the remnants of capitalism. The overall will be collectivism.
The gate is closing, and as stated above, some members of the herd will cause a fuss as they watch the gate closing. There will be some confusion and civil unrest, but in the end, the great majority will settle down once again to their corn. Only a few will have both the insight and temerity necessary to make a dash for the gate as it’s now closing.
This was true in Argentina when the government was still generous with the largesse, and it was true in Venezuela when the entitlements were at their peak. It is now true of the US as the final transition into collectivism begins. Rather than make the dash for the gate, the great majority will instead look down at their feed and say, "This is still the best country in the world," and continue eating the corn."
"The Chief Obstacle..."
"The chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race."
- Don Marquis
"In the mass of mankind, I fear, there is too great a majority of fools
and knaves, who, singly from their number, must to a certain degree
be respected, though they are by no means respectable."
- Philip Stanhope
"Trumps Affordability Plan: $2 Gas, $2,000 Stimulus Checks & More"
Full screen recommended.
Snyder Reports, 11/18/25
"Trumps Affordability Plan:
$2 Gas, $2,000 Stimulus Checks & More"
Comments here:
Dan, I Allegedly, "Banks Are Cancelling Credit Cards Right Now!"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 11/18/25
"Banks Are Cancelling Credit Cards Right Now!"
"Banks are cancelling credit cards and lowering credit limits right now, and it’s happening faster than many of us realize. In this video, I’m sharing real examples, personal experiences, and the steps you need to take to stay ahead of these sudden changes. From credit card companies demanding frequent usage to banks slashing limits without warning, I break down how these situations are impacting everyday life and what you can do to protect yourself. Watch to learn how these financial shifts might affect you, especially with the mounting economic challenges many are facing today."
Comments here:
"Americans Are So Poor That Now Even Eating At McDonald’s Is Considered To Be “Prohibitively Expensive” For Many People"
"Americans Are So Poor That Now Even Eating At McDonald’s
Is Considered To Be “Prohibitively Expensive” For Many People"
by Michael Snyder
"Do you want to see a very clear sign that our standard of living has gone way down? When I was growing up, middle class and low-income Americans flocked to fast food restaurants such as McDonald’s and Wendy’s. But now we are being told that high prices have “driven away lower-income customers” from McDonald’s, and Wendy’s is being forced to close hundreds of locations. Most of us just can’t afford it anymore. U.S. consumers are being squeezed financially to a degree that we have never seen before, and as a result most of them have very little discretionary income to spend.
I clearly remember a time when it was very common for parents to stop at McDonald’s on the way home and pick up Happy Meals for their children because they were so inexpensive. Needless to say, that wasn’t a very healthy choice, but at least the food was dirt cheap. But now it is being reported that “Happy Meals at McDonald’s are prohibitively expensive for some people, because there’s been so much inflation”…
"McDonald’s executives say the higher costs of restaurant essentials, such as beef and salaries, have pushed food prices up and driven away lower-income customers who are already being squeezed by the rising cost of groceries, clothes, rent and child care. With prices for everything rising, consumer companies concerned about the pressures on low-income Americans include food, automotive and airline businesses, among others, said analyst Adam Josephson. “The list goes on and on,” he said. “Happy Meals at McDonald’s are prohibitively expensive for some people, because there’s been so much inflation,” Josephson said."
This makes me so sad. If you are old enough, you still remember when fast food chains couldn’t open up new locations fast enough because there was so much demand. But now the cost of living crisis is forcing Wendy’s to permanently close down hundreds of locations…"Fast food giant Wendy’s plans to close hundreds of its U.S. stores next year as part of a broader effort to revive its domestic business, which has been under pressure from slowing sales. Interim CEO Ken Cook said during the company’s earnings call on Friday that a “mid-single-digit percentage” of its 6,011 U.S. restaurants are expected to close next year. A mid-single-digit percentage is about 4% to 6%, which means the least number of closures would be 241 stores."
America was once a nation that was absolutely teeming with inexpensive beef. And that was a wonderful thing. But now the size of the U.S. cattle herd has fallen to the lowest level in 75 years, and even the L.A. Times is admitting that beef prices “have skyrocketed”…"Beef prices have skyrocketed, with inventory of the U.S. cattle herd at the lowest in 75 years due to the toll of drought and parasites. And exports of beef bound to the U.S. are down because of Trump’s trade war and tariffs. As a result, the prices of ground beef sold in supermarkets is up 13% in September, year over year."
Do you remember all those times that I wrote how the size of the U.S. cattle herd was shrinking? At first, it didn’t seem like a big deal to many people. But it sure is a big deal now. Sadly, this is just the beginning.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is warning that the price of beef could cross the 10 dollar per pound threshold in 2026…"Speaking to Fox News Sunday, Bessent addressed reports that beef prices could hit $10 per pound next year, saying it was an issue “inherited” by the administration due to long-standing factors. “There’s also, because of the mass immigration, a disease that we’d been rid of in North America made its way up through South America as these migrants brought some of their cattle with them,” Bessent said. He added: “So part of the problem is we’ve had to shut the border to Mexican beef because of this disease called the screwworm.” Beef is now considered to be a “luxury meat”, and that isn’t going to change any time soon.
In 2026 and beyond, expect to see a lot more “food products” that contain insect protein in our grocery stores. Our standard of living is going down. Those that cannot see that are blind. There is a reason why 42 million Americans are on food stamps. Unfortunately for many of them, new restrictions will “kick millions out of the nation’s largest anti-hunger program in the next few months”…"Millions of Americans greeted the end of the government shutdown - and the resumption of food stamp benefits - with relief. But others are learning they could soon lose federal food aid permanently.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins directed USDA staff during the record-setting 43-day shutdown to continue ushering states toward compliance with Republicans’ signature tax and spending law, which is projected to kick millions out of the nation’s largest anti-hunger program in the next few months."
And apparently those that still qualify will soon be forced to reapply for benefits…"Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Monday the Trump administration will require all participants in the nation’s largest food assistance program to reapply for benefits in an effort to prevent fraud. Recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which supports more than 40 million Americans, will need to demonstrate that their households still meet eligibility requirements to continue receiving benefits. Rollins said SNAP, meant to be a lifeline for low-income households, was among the first priorities she targeted for review, citing concerns about eligibility and oversight."
This is going to make a lot of people very, very angry. The rising cost of health insurance is also making a lot of people very, very angry. One woman that recently lost her workplace coverage was horrified to learn that they cheapest plan that her family qualified for was $2,500 a month…"This American does not qualify for any subsidized health insurance It’s her, her husband and 3 kids. A family of 5. The cheapest plan she can get on marketplace is $2,500 per month
This is absolutely unsustainable. Families literally can’t afford to have children in America Our system is so broken. There is a reason why so many Americans absolutely detest it. As just about everything becomes more expensive, more Americans than ever feel like they are drowning financially.
And delinquencies are rising at a pace that we haven’t seen since the Great Recession…"As borrowing costs rise and savings thin out, more Americans are falling behind on their bills. Serious delinquencies - people who are at least 90 days late - have now surpassed 3 percent, a threshold not seen since before the last financial crisis. Student loan borrowers are under even greater strain: more than 14 percent became severely overdue in the most recent quarter, marking the worst level in the Fed’s data history."
Working harder and making more money is not necessarily the answer either. USA Today recently published an article that discussed the fact that large numbers of Americans that are making more than six figures a year are now in “survival mode”…"A six-figure salary doesn’t mean what it once did. That’s the takeaway from a new Harris poll, which suggests a six-figure income in 2025 equates to survival, but not necessarily to success. One in three six-figure earners described themselves in the poll as financially distressed. Two in three said six-figure pay is not a sign of wealth."
This is not going to end well. For years I have been documenting the destruction of the middle class, and now the evisceration of America’s middle class has gone into overdrive. I don’t understand why more people can’t see what they are doing to us. Yes, the wealthy are getting wealthier, but the vast majority of the rest of us are getting the raw end of the deal. If you are deeply struggling in this very difficult economic environment, please know that you aren’t alone. There are millions upon millions of Americans that are scrambling to find a way to survive, and what we have been through so far is just the tip of the iceberg."
Monday, November 17, 2025
"Alert! Russian Doomsday Radio Attacked, WTF?!"
Full screen recommended.
Prepper News, 11/17/25
"Alert! Russian Doomsday Radio Attacked, WTF?!"
Comments here:
"The Blow That Ended America 112 Years Ago"
"The Blow That Ended America 112 Years Ago"
by Paul Rosenberg
“There is a lot of ruin in a nation,” wrote Adam Smith, and what he meant was that it takes a long time for nations to fall, even when they’re dead on their feet. And he was certainly right. America took its fatal blow in 1913, one hundred twelve years ago; it just hasn’t hit the ground yet. This is a slow process, but it’s actually fast compared to the Romans. It took them several centuries to collapse.
The confusing thing about our current situation is that America – and by that I mean the noble America that so many of us grew up believing in – has long been poisoned. Its liver, kidneys, and spleen have stopped functioning. but it still stands on its feet and presents itself as immortal. And I’m not without sympathy for those who want to believe. They find themselves in a world where politics is almighty, and where their comfort, prosperity, and perhaps their survival all hang in a delicate balance. They don’t want to upset anything, and questioning the bosses is a good way to get hurt.
But just because someone wants to believe doesn’t make it so. We are not children and we are not powerless. We producers should never be intimidated by those who live at our expense. So let’s start looking at the facts.
1913: The Horrible Year: For all the problems America had prior to 1913 (including the unnecessary and horrifying Civil War), nothing spelled the death of the nation like the horrors of 1913. Here are the key dates:
February 3rd: The 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose income taxes on individuals. An amendment to a tariff act in 1894 had attempted to do this, but since it was clearly unconstitutional, the Supreme Court struck it down. As a result – and mostly under the banner of bleeding the rich – the 16th amendment was promoted and passed.
As a result, the Revenue Act of 1913 was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson in October. Income taxes began in 1914, with the government swearing (as in, “only a crazy person would say otherwise!”) that the rate would never, ever go higher than one or two percent. And, by the way, the amendment was introduced by Senator Aldrich of Rhode Island, to whom we’ll come again shortly.
April 8th: The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, taking the powers of the states and transferring them to Washington, by mandating the popular election of senators. Previously, senators were appointed by state legislatures, which, by design, restrained the power of the national government. This change gave political parties immediate and massive power, nearly all of which was consolidated in the city of Washington.
The amendment was ratified in the name of making the national government a force for good, under the direct control of the people. It was true that state governments were often corrupt, but the implied idea that Washington was pristine… which was and remains a fantasy. A structure featuring small, separate pockets of corruption is far less dangerous than one featuring a single, large seat of corruption, to which oceans of money are gathered. As Thomas Jefferson wrote: "It is not by the consolidation or concentration of powers, but by their distribution that good government is effected."
December 23rd: Woodrow Wilson signs the Federal Reserve Act, which had passed Congress just the previous day. This system – called the Aldrich Plan, and promoted by Senator Nelson Aldrich of Rhode Island – gave a monopoly on the creation of dollars to a consortium of large banks. The Act was passed, by the way, in the name of financial stability.
And Senator Aldrich? Wikipedia says this about him: "He… dominated all tariff and monetary policies in the first decade of the 20th century… Aldrich helped to create an extensive system of tariffs that protected American factories and farms from foreign competition, while driving the price of consumer goods artificially high… Aldrich became wealthy with insider investments in streets, railroads, sugar, rubber and banking… His daughter, Abby, married John D. Rockefeller, Jr., the only son of John D. Rockefeller."
The Combination: Here is why I say that these three changes of 1913 killed America: They robbed every producer in America of their money and handed it to politicians. Until 1913, ordinary people kept their money. Carpenters, grocers, and repair men were able to make business loans and to retire on stock dividends. Once the income tax came in, however, politicians were empowered to skim off more and more of their money, which is precisely what happened. While the modern skim is multi-faceted, the average producer is now stripped of half his or her earnings every year, leaving politicians to spend it.
They consolidated all power in Washington DC. This is precisely what James Madison wished to avoid when writing the US Constitution. (Again, note the Jefferson quote above.) By depriving the states of their remaining power, the City of Washington had no opposition. Since then, the Washington government has taken over practically everything on the continent and is choking it to death… a lot like the city and empire of Rome before it.
They created a money empire that took over almost everything. When you start talking about central banking, and how it provides politicians with free money, people generally turn away from it, because it’s just too much to take. And so I’ll stop here.
There’s more to say but my point is made. America, as we grew up thinking of it, is over. The old ideas live on in some of us, but they no longer live in the political arena. What remains to be seen is what Americans will do next."
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"Understanding the Federal Reserve"
"Understanding the Federal Reserve"
by Jeff Thomas
"Looking at the above title, the reader may conclude that he has begun to read an article that he might better save until he has a holiday weekend in which to read it. And there can be no doubt that volumes could be written describing the Fed and its inner-workings. For readers who do seek a comprehensive description of the Fed, I can recommend no source more highly than "The Creature from Jekyll Island" by G. Edward Griffin.
However, the purpose of this article is to describe as simply as possible what the function of the Fed is. As Mr. Griffin himself points out, the central function of the Fed is remarkably simple. Whilst the Fed is cloaked in mystery, its central purpose is not complex. However, even when boiled down to the simplest of descriptions, it is still confusing.
Why should this be? The answer is that it is intended to be confusing. The Fed was created, over one hundred years ago, in secrecy, and slipped into being under questionable circumstances. If its function were to be clear to the public, it would rightly be regarded as no more than what it is - the scam of the century.
The principle purpose of the Federal Reserve is to create debt and, at the same time, to monetize that debt. As simplistic as this statement is, it would not be surprising for any capitalistic businessperson, when reading it, to reply, "Say, what?" This would be understandable, as the statement does not resemble conventional monetary or business thinking. Here is as brief a description of how the Fed's function is implemented as I can put into words:
• The government issues bonds which are for sale to the public. Some may not be bought by the public. Then the Fed steps in.
• The Fed purchases all the government bonds that have not been purchased by the public. It pays the government with a check (not with precious metals, or even paper currency notes). This check in not backed by anything.
• The Fed then categorizes the government bonds as "reserves." (Remember, there are no actual dollars held in reserve, only bonds. Are you confused yet? If so, you're in good company.)
And that's it. Essentially, the government sells the Fed bonds and, in return, receives payment that is backed by nothing. The benefit to the Government is that it has an opportunity to gain unlimited funding, allowing it to take on unlimited expenses. The benefit to the Fed is that it may loan unlimited sums of money, backed by nothing, at interest, to banking institutions. Of course, if you were to conduct an activity of this sort, you would be imprisoned as a scam artist and rightly so.
In considering the above description, it is easy to see why the financiers who came up with the concept of the Federal Reserve chose to cloud its purpose. It is also easy to see why they chose to call the institution the "Federal Reserve," even though it is neither a federal agency, nor is it a reserve. Their goal was to imply a level of credibility that was undeserved.
What's in it for the Fed: But, why on earth would anyone create such a charade? Well, from the point of view of the financiers who created it, it is a banker's dream. Imagine, beginning with no money of any kind, writing a check backed by nothing and receiving bonds that may be regarded as reserves. Add to this the ability to lend out fiat currency to banks at interest. In a very short time, you would not only potentially control the financial industry, you would also control decisions made by the government, as it could not function to extreme excess without you.
What's in it for the Government: Governments, historically, rely on taxation to provide them with money to operate. They do their damnedest to increase taxation over time, but, no matter how much tax they burden their people with, it is never enough to fulfil the desires of any government. They invariably want more money to spend. The creation of debt and the monetization of that debt allows them to spend unlimited amounts of money. The fly in the ointment is that the increase in money is inflation, and, since the creation of the Fed in 1913, the dollar has lost over 97% of its purchasing power.
If the creation of fiat currency is gradual, the system can generally sustain the increase. However, the more dramatic the increase, the more likely the system will collapse under its own weight. The US government, along with many other governments in the world, have, increasingly, made ever-greater promises for entitlements and benefits to voters, and the money to pay for these entitlements and benefits must come from somewhere. For a time, the government may borrow against the future (for example, using Social Security receipts for other purposes), but sooner or later, the odiferous effluvia hits the fan. That time is very soon, and, unfortunately, the people of the US (and other affected countries) are the fan.
What's in it for the Citizenry: Before we get too cynical here (or have we already?), as long as the process of monetization is gradual and controlled, there are benefits for some of the public. After all, the entitlements and benefits that have been received by the populations of many countries could never have been paid for through taxation alone. There are quite a few people out there who could never have received their flat-screen TV, had it not been for government largesse.
There are, therefore, some very real benefits, and it must be said that many of them can even be long-term. In fact, a large number of people were born since 1913 and died of old age, who have escaped the economic calamity that looms in the very near future. However, the benefits that they may have received really represent a "redistribution of wealth."
If we were speaking instead of free-market capitalism, we would have to state that, over the long haul, the effect of the Fed has been to provide extreme wealth and power to a few clever fellows and some goodies for those who did not work for them, but also, ultimately, to degrade the free-market system to the point of near-collapse.
What remains to be seen is, if there is a collapse in the American monetary system, whether those who are behind the Fed can manage its continuance. If they can maintain the present confusion as to its real purpose, they just may succeed."
by G. Edward Griffin, here:
Musical Interlude: The Traveling Wilburys, "End Of The Line"
Full screen recommended.
The Traveling Wilburys, "End Of The Line"
"A Look to the Heavens"
“While drifting through the cosmos, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud became sculpted by stellar winds and radiation to assume a recognizable shape. Fittingly named the Horsehead Nebula, it is embedded in the vast and complex Orion Nebula (M42). A potentially rewarding but difficult object to view personally with a small telescope, the below gorgeously detailed image was taken in infrared light by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope.
The dark molecular cloud, roughly 1,500 light years distant, is cataloged as Barnard 33 and is seen above primarily because it is backlit by the nearby massive star Sigma Orionis. The Horsehead Nebula will slowly shift its apparent shape over the next few million years and will eventually be destroyed by the high energy starlight.”
- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130422.html
Chet Raymo, "Away Above The Chimney Pots "
"Away Above The Chimney Pots "
by Chet Raymo
"So Oz finally became home; the imagined world became the actual world, as it does for us all, because the truth is that once we have left our childhood places and started out to make up our lives, armed only with what we have and are, we understand that the real secret of the ruby slippers is not that "there's no place like home", but rather that there is no longer any such place as home: except, of course, for the home we make, or the homes that are made for us, in Oz: which is anywhere, and everywhere, except the place from which we began.
In the last paragraph of his delightful meditation on the film "The Wizard of Oz", Salman Rushdie, himself an immigrant to another land, takes gentle issue with the concluding cliche: "There's no place like home." If the net result of Dorothy's technicolor adventure is to end up where she began, in gray old Kansas, then what was the point? asks Rushdie.
Poor Dorothy, waking up in bed with Auntie Em and the others clustered around her, born again, so to speak, into the same old life. "It wasn't a dream, it was a place," she cries, piteously. "A real, truly live place! Doesn't anyone believe me?" She must begin her rebellion all over again.
Visitors here will have observed that I have reached a stage in life where I am prone to look back on the journey, reflect somewhat nostalgically upon the place I came from, and try to ascertain where it is I have ended up. It is clear that the destination was in part determined by where I began, as is true, I suppose, for all of us. We are armed, after all, only with "what we have and who we are." But it is clear too that having experienced the technicolor universe of the galaxies and the DNA, there is no going back to the dusty, gray dogmas of my youth.
The Emerald City may indeed be over the rainbow, but it is still in the here and now. The Wizard's powers may not be supernatural, but his translucently turreted city sure beats Kansas. Science was my Yellow Brick Road. I'm still a "Kansas" boy, so to speak, but with no desire to be born again. For better or worse, home is here, now, in a universe of a grandeur of which I had no idea at the beginning, at a place along a Yellow Brick Road that reaches tantalizingly into the future, with no foreseeable terminus in an ultimate Oz. "
"I Asked For, I Was Given..."
"I Asked For, I Was Given..."
“In my youth I respected the world and life,
I needed nothing but peace of heart;
And yet I changed despite myself and believed in Iktomi's lies.
He seemed to know all the truth, he promised to make me happy.
He made me ask Wakan Tanka for wealth, that I might have power;
I was given poverty, that I might find my inner strength.
I asked for fame, so others would know me;
I was given obscurity, that I might know myself.
I asked for a person to love that I might never be alone;
I was given a life of a hermit, that I might learn to accept myself.
I asked for power, that I might achieve;
I was given weakness, that I might learn to obey.
I asked for health, that I might lead a long life;
I was given infirmity, that I might appreciate each minute.
I asked Mother Earth for strength, that I might have my way;
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need for Her.
I asked to live happily, that I might enjoy life;
I was given life, that I might live happily.
I received nothing I asked for, yet all my wishes came true.
Despite myself and Iktomi, my dreams were fulfilled,
I am richly blessed more than I ever hoped,
I thank you, Wakan Tanka, for what you've given me.”
- Billy Mills, Oglala Lakota (1938-)
○
"In Lakota mythology, Iktomi is a spider-trickster spirit, and a culture hero for the Lakota people. Alternate names for Iktomi include Ikto, Ictinike, Inktomi, Unktome, and Unktomi. These names are due to the differences in tribal languages, as this spider deity was known throughout many of North America's tribes. Iktomi can be compared to the African trickster figure Anansi, and to some extent, the transculturated Yoruba Ellegua, also depicted as a trickster disguised in red. Due to his nature as a Trickster as well as patronage of communication, Iktomi is also comparable to the Greco-Roman Hermes/Mercurius (Mercury)."
"In Native American mythology, Wakan Tanka (great mystery) is the supreme being and creator of the Lakota Sioux. Sometimes called Great Spirit, he is similar to the supreme beings found in the myths of many other North American peoples. According to Lakota myth, before creation Wakan Tanka existed in a great emptiness called Han (darkness). Feeling lonely, he decided to create companions for himself. First, Great Spirit focused his energy into a powerful force to form Inyan (rock), the first god. Next, he used Inyan to create Maka (earth) and then mated with that god to produce Skan (sky). Skan brought forth Wi (the sun) from Inyan, Maka, and himself. These four gods were separate and powerful, but they were all part of Wakan Tanka.
The first four gods produced four companions - Moon, Wind, Falling Star, and Thunderbird - to help with the process of creation. In turn, these companions created various gods and spirits, including Whirlwind, Four Winds, Buffalo, Two-Legged Creatures (humans and bears), Sicun (thought), Nagi (spirit of death), Niya (breath of life), and Nagila (shadow). All of these beings were aspects of Wakan Tanka. Together, they created and oversee everything that exists."
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