Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 3/8/25
"When Society Collapses..."
Comments here:
So, we rise from the rubble...
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Saturday, March 8, 2025
"A Look to the Heavens"
"How did galaxies form in the early universe? To help find out, astronomers surveyed a patch of dark night sky with the Very Large Telescope array in Chile to find and count galaxies that formed when our universe was very young. Analysis of the distribution of some distant galaxies (redshifts near 2.5) found an enormous conglomeration of galaxies that spanned 300 million light years and contained about 5,000 times the mass of our Milky Way Galaxy. Dubbed Hyperion, it is currently the largest and most massive proto-supercluster yet discovered in the early universe.
A proto-supercluster is a group of young galaxies that is gravitationally collapsing to create a supercluster, which itself a group of several galaxy clusters, which itself is a group of hundreds of galaxies, which itself is a group of billions of stars. In the featured visualization, massive galaxies are depicted in white, while regions containing a large amount of smaller galaxies are shaded blue. Identifying and understanding such large groups of early galaxies contributes to humanity's understanding of the composition and evolution of the universe as a whole."
"I'm Sure..."
"I'm sure the universe is full of intelligent life.
It's just been too intelligent to come here."
"Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the
Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying."
- Arthur C. Clarke
Chet Raymo, “Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright…”
“Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright…”
by Chet Raymo
“Divinity is not playful. The universe was not made in jest but in solemn incomprehensible earnest. By a power that is unfathomably secret, and holy, and fleet.” You may recall these words from Annie Dillard’s “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.” There is nothing intrinsically cheerful about the world, she says. To live is to die; it’s all part of the bargain. Stars destroy themselves to make the atoms of our bodies. Every creature lives to eat and be eaten. And into this incomprehensible, unfathomable, apparently stochastic melee stumbles… You and I.
With qualities that we have - so far - seen nowhere else. Hope. Humor. A sense of justice. A sense of beauty. Gratitude. But also: Anger. Hurt. Despair. Strangers in a strange land.
Galaxies by the billions turn like St. Catherine Wheels, throwing off sparks of exploding stars. Atoms eddy and flow, blowing hot and cold, groping and promiscuous. A wind of neutrinos gusts through our bodies, Energy billows and swells. A myriad of microorganisms nibble at our flesh.
We have a sense that something purposeful is going on, something that involves us. Something secret, holy and fleet. But we haven’t a clue what it is. We make up stories. Stories in which we are the point of it all. We tell the stories over and over. To our children. To ourselves. And the stories fill up the space of our ignorance.
Until they don’t. And then the great yawning spaces open again. And time clangs down on our heads like a pummeling rain, like the collapsing ceiling of the sky. Dazed, stunned, we stagger like giddy topers towards our own swift dissolution. Inexplicably praising. Admiring. Wondering. Giving thanks.”
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“The Tyger”
“Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?
And what shoulder, and what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? and what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”
- William Blake
“Some Things You Need To Know”
“Some Things You Need To Know”
by Marc Chernoff
“I know you’re reading this. And I want you to know I’m writing this for you. Others will be confused. They will think I’m writing this for them. But I’m not. This one’s for you.
I want you to know that life is not easy. Every day is an unpredictable challenge. Some days it can be difficult to simply get out of bed in the morning. To face reality and put on that smile. But I want you to know, your smile has kept me going on more days than I can count. Never forget that, even through the toughest times, you are incredible. You really are. So smile more often. You have so many reasons to. Time and again, my reason is you.
You won’t always be perfect. Neither will I. Because nobody is perfect, and nobody deserves to be perfect. Nobody has it easy, everybody has issues. You will never know exactly what I’m going through. And I will never know exactly what you’re going through. We are all fighting our own unique war. But we are fighting through it simultaneously, together.
Whenever somebody discredits you, and tells you that you can’t do something, keep in mind that they are speaking from within the boundaries of their own limitations. Ignore them. Don’t give in. In this crazy world that’s trying to make you like everyone else, find the courage to keep being your awesome self. And when they laugh at you for being different, laugh back at them for being the same.
Remember, our courage doesn’t always roar aloud. Sometimes it’s the quiet voice at the end of the day whispering, “I will try again tomorrow.” So stand strong. Things turn out best for people who make the best out of the way things turn out. And I am committed to making the best of it along with you.”
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The Alan Parsons Project, "Prime Time"
"It Is Only When..."
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"Happily men don't realize how stupid they are, or half the world would commit suicide. Knowledge is a will-of-the-wisp, fluttering ever out of the traveller's reach; and a weary journey must be endured before it is even seen. It is only when a man knows a good deal that he discovers how unfathomable is his ignorance. The man who knows nothing is satisfied that there is nothing to know, consequently that he knows everything; and you may more easily persuade him that the moon is made of green cheese than that he is not omniscient."
- W. Somerset Maugham
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“It takes considerable knowledge just to
realize the extent of your own ignorance.”
- Thomas Sowell
"Ah, You Miserable Creatures!"
"Ah, You Miserable Creatures!"
"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great!
You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything!
Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough."
- Frederic Bastiat
How much more evidence do you need to
realize we as a society have lost our collective minds?
"Dead Romans Agree: Don’t Let The Small Stuff Bother You"
"Dead Romans Agree:
Don’t Let The Small Stuff Bother You"
by John Wilder
"I woke up this morning just irritated. No particular reason. In all fairness, it was entirely an internal feeling, and I imagine most people never noticed. I was nice and polite to nearly everyone I interacted with. And why not? None of them were my ex-wife. I wasn’t irritated with them, I was just irritated. There were no issues. I wasn’t in pain. No one around me was in particular trouble. Thankfully I’m not an electrician – people might dislike me not being positive at work.
As I thought about it, what was irritating me? I couldn’t quite put a finger on it. There was no rational reason at all. During a conversation lat night, though, I had a reason to quote Marcus Aurelius: “If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”
Sure, Marcus Aurelius’ kid was an utter tool, but when you become Caesar at 18, well, it might tend to go to your head – think of Commodus as Miley Cyrus, 180 A.D. Back to Marcus, though. Marcus genuinely did his best for the Roman Empire. As near as I can tell, Marcus was a pretty good leader. And that little quote above wasn’t written for you and me. It was written for Marcus, by Marcus. He was reminding himself that the external things in the world had only the power he gave them. He was giving himself a pep talk.
Marcus Aurelius was right. In the conversation I was having lat night, the person was very upset (most of you don’t know the person, though specific readers in California and Indiana do – hi guys!). The reason she was upset? Nothing rational at all. So I quoted a dead Roman emperor. Did it help? I don’t know. I’m beginning to see a pattern where crying people don’t stop crying when I quote dead Roman emperors. I’m beginning to see why the kids call The Mrs. when they want actual human sympathy.
My irritation (I think) came from the same place. Nowhere. I felt fine (except for my right knee which is much better now) and the day generally went fairly well. I realized that the advice I gave was meant just as much for me as for the person I was talking to. I was just being irritated because I let myself be irritated.
Once I was done and realized I didn’t have to be irritated? My irritation disappeared. I know that the way I feel is (generally) my choice. I can choose how I feel: salty, Wednesday, or even drunk. The only reason that I’m not happy every morning is if I choose not to be happy on some particular morning.
Are there actual reasons why I might have different feelings? Sure. If I had mental problems (other than an unseemly affection for awful jokes and a desire to consciously be able to make my fingernails grow absurdly fast) that might be a reason to have a feeling other than what I choose.
Don’t know. I do know that there are people with actual mental problems. There’s proof: some people actually voted for Biden. But, going back to Marcus, that’s not external. Being sick or goofy enough to vote for Biden isn’t external.
Physical pain also is an internal source that can destroy moods. I once (for a few months) had sciatica. I was irritable enough every morning to chew nails and spit bullets. Then I discovered that I could work out for a few hours on an elliptical trainer to make the pain go away. A week later? I was fine. My irritation vanished along with my sciatica, never (hopefully) to return. That was nearly 15 years ago. Sure, I’ve felt pain since then, but most of it was the good pain from a hard workout. Heck, most days the worst thing that happened was the crisp morning breeze running through my back hair.
My mood depends on me. My attitude depends on me. Does that mean that I can’t see the actual situation we’re in? Of course not. I see a nation tearing itself apart. It’s worse: it’s not just a nation, Western Civilization seems to be happily thrashing about as it marches down a path to extinction.
Is that good? Of course not. Does it mean that I should walk around every day being sad? Of course not. I am doing, I assure you, everything I can think of to stave off that darkness. I mean, those memes won’t make themselves. And I am doing it cheerfully. I laugh every day. I smile because I know that most of the things that I worry about can have no power over me unless I give them that power.
Make your choices, and understand that while you might wake up irritated – it’s your choice if you wish to stay in that mood for a minute or an hour. Me? I like being happy, so I choose that, even in moments where it might not be appropriate. I might even need to stop high-fiving people at funerals.
So, I got started late typing this after a day I chose to just be irritated. And, I’m going to choose to end now. With a smile on my face. Go and have a great day. Most of the time, having a great day is just a choice. Choose wisely."
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"The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable,
or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same. "
- Carlos Castaneda
"Russian Typical Family Owned Supermarket Open 24/7"
Full screen recommended.
Travelling with Russell, 3/8/25
"Russian Typical Family Owned
Supermarket Open 24/7"
"What does it look like inside a Russian typical supermarket? Join me on a tour of Athena Supermarket, a family-owned supermarket in Moscow, Russia. What is it like to shop in a typical Russian supermarket? What items are for sale?"
Comments here:
Dan, I Allegedly, "This Is WorseThan You’re Being Told"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 3/8/25
"This Is WorseThan You’re Being Told"
"The shocking truth about stagflation in 2025 is here, and it’s hitting hard! In this video, we break down what’s happening in the economy right now—stagflation, inflation, unemployment, auto loan delinquencies, and the skyrocketing cost of living. I share insights into how people are struggling to make ends meet, from layoffs to rising rents, and discuss why refinancing might be a lifeline for some. Plus, we dive into the latest trends in real estate, the food industry, and even the shady scams happening at places like Walmart. With precious metals predicted to soar, could gold and silver be your best bet for financial security? I also touch on some viewer tips to save money, like cooking daily and cutting unnecessary expenses. If you're looking to protect your wallet and plan for the future, this video is for you!"
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o
Full screen recommended.
Market Gains, 3/8/25
"52,000 Workers Have Been Fired From Amazon"
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"How Poor Russians Survive Under Total Sanctions!"
Full screen recommended.
Window to Moscow, 3/8/25
"How Poor Russians Survive Under Total Sanctions!"
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Friday, March 7, 2025
"The Extermination Of 150 Million Chickens Is A Sin; Economy Can Only Get Worse"
Jeremiah Babe, 3/7/25
"The Extermination Of 150 Million Chickens Is A Sin;
Economy Can Only Get Worse"
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Musical Interlude: Little River Band, "Cool Change"; John Denver "Calypso"
Full screen recommended.
Little River Band, "Cool Change"
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John Denver "Calypso"
"A Look to the Heavens"
"Two stars within our own Milky Way galaxy anchor the foreground of this cosmic snapshot. Beyond them lie the galaxies of the Hydra Cluster. In fact, while the spiky foreground stars are hundreds of light-years distant, the Hydra Cluster galaxies are over 100 million light-years away.
Three large galaxies near the cluster center, two yellow ellipticals (NGC 3311, NGC 3309) and one prominent blue spiral (NGC 3312), are the dominant galaxies, each about 150,000 light-years in diameter. An intriguing overlapping galaxy pair cataloged as NGC 3314 is just above and left of NGC 3312. Also known as Abell 1060, the Hydra galaxy cluster is one of three large galaxy clusters within 200 million light-years of the Milky Way. In the nearby universe, galaxies are gravitationally bound into clusters which themselves are loosely bound into superclusters that in turn are seen to align over even larger scales. At a distance of 100 million light-years this picture would be about 1.3 million light-years across. "
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Related, highest recommendation:
"How Many Galaxies Are In The Universe?"
"The deepest image ever taken, the Hubble Extreme Deep Field, revealed ~5,500 galaxies over an area that took up just 1/32,000,000th of the sky. But today, scientists estimate that there are more than ten times as many galaxies out there than Hubble, even at its limits, is capable of seeing. All told, there are some ~2 trillion galaxies within the observable Universe. Here's how we know."
View this complete, extraordinarily fascinating, article here:
Canadian Prepper, "Trump Redeploys 35,000 Troops To Eastern Europe? Poland Getting Nukes! Iran War Coming!"
Canadian Prepper, 3/7/25
"Trump Redeploys 35,000 Troops To Eastern Europe?
Poland Getting Nukes! Iran War Coming!"
Comments here:
Chet Raymo, “Strange”
“Strange”
by Chet Raymo
“In a review in the “New York Times” Book Review, Daniel Handler wrote: “And strange? Well, let’s get this straight: All great books are strange. Every lasting work of literature since the very weird “Beowulf” has been strange, not only because it grapples with the strangeness around us, but also because the effect of originality is startling, making even the oldest books feel like brand new stories.”
Strange: Out-of-the-ordinary, unusual, curious. “The strangeness around us,” says Handler. There is a paradox here. What could be less strange than the world around us? It is the same world that was here yesterday, and the day before that. More to the point: It is a world ruled by law. Inviolable causal bonds. That’s what makes science possible.
And yet, and yet. I walk wary. Strangeness lurks on ever side. Strangeness leaps out of every pebble in the path, every wildflower, every spider web flung between weedy stalks. In the midst of the utterly ordinary the extraordinary abounds. Nothing is so commonplace as to be common. The strangeness of the world, as in literature, has its source in the head, in the convoluted interaction of mind with world. Strange, that we should be here, strangers in a strange land, pilgrims on our own yellow brick roads where nothing is ordinary because everything is perceived through the filter of a unique consciousness.
And strange? Well, let’s get this straight. I hope never to lose the capacity to see the strangeness in the familiar, the curious in the everyday, the exception in the unexceptional.
“I do not expect a miracle,
or an accident,
to set the sight on fire...”
wrote Silvia Plath. Just being here is enough. Just being here is surpassing strange.”
- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/
"If You Alone..."
“Each must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, and which course is patriotic and which isn’t. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide against your convictions is to be an unqualified and inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may. If you alone of all the nation shall decide one way, and that way be the right way according to your convictions of the right, you have done your duty by yourself and by your country – hold up your head! You have nothing to be ashamed of.”
- Mark Twain
"As Far As We Can Discern..."
"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human
existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being."
- Carl Jung
"The Corporate Cocoon"
"The Corporate Cocoon"
by Paul Rosenberg
"In my town, the corporate throngs travel almost in unison every morning and every night, making their way from the manicured suburbs to the shiny central city and then back again. They’re not particularly bad people, you understand. In fact, many of them are pleasant and smart. But they’re being slowly digested into the body of a larger host: the 21st Century Mega-Corp Network.
They wake up each morning in their quiet bedrooms, go through the usual preliminaries, and climb into their modern cars. They turn on the backseat video to anesthetize their kids, drive on inoffensive streets to well-guarded schools, drop the kids off, and head to their quaint train stations. At those stations, their semi-elite status is confirmed by all the other mega-corp employees who live precisely the same way.
As scheduled, the train shows up, and they take their seats. Here, a bit of individuality shows up: One will get predigested “safe facts” from his or her newspaper. Another, his or her gossip from People magazine. The more up to date will watch a show on a brand-new smartphone. Perhaps one or two will plug in to a shiny new iGadget, submerge any thoughts in songs provided by the entertainment corps, and recline, semi-comatose, till they arrive at the city center.
Then they emerge from the trains into a brilliant, cavernous station with wall-to-wall advertising: Buy the newer, faster phone! Take a vacation to a pristine beach, with happy, beautiful people frolicking in their swimsuits! Give your spouse a new car for Christmas! Most importantly, these ads will feature people just like them: Happy, successful corporate employees.
They walk down the streets to their glistening offices past a sea of corporate logos: places to eat and drink, to buy clothes, coffee, and cell phones; and past seemingly eternal government buildings. All is institutional, all is certified, all is polished… all is hollow, all is homogenized.
The same goes for their mega-corp jobs and their mega-corp colleagues. Their world is a second verse of the 1950s: a little bit louder and a little bit worse. The institution is back. It ruled in the ‘50s; it was dethroned in the ‘60s and ‘70s; it idled going into the ‘80s, and then began its return. Now it’s back at the top of the heap and rules from cradle to grave. We all know the script:
Do well in school (an institution).
Rebel with music from the entertainment corps (institutions).
Wear the new shoes/jeans/etc. with the best corporate logos (quasi-institutions).
Get a university degree (from an institution).
Take student loans to do so (from an institution).
Take a job at a big firm with great benefits (interacting institutions).
Get a home loan (from an institution).
Build a 401(k) (more institutions).
Believe in democracy (a multilayered institution).
Be a good citizen and vote (same as above).
Send your children to daycare, then school (institutions).
Buy brand-named goods (from other mega-corp institutions).
Watch the best in entertainment (corporate institutions).
Conduct your relationships on Facebook (a vampire institution).
Trust in Social Security and Medicare (unsustainable institutions).
Residence in the corporate cocoon is not evil per se, but it substitutes for actual living. Corporate life takes place vicariously: in advertisements, in movies, and in politics. Even its children are prevented from interaction with the real world - rushed from one institution to another, then safely back home: numbered, evaluated, and surveilled the whole time. The streets, offices, and boardrooms of the mega-corp world are rich and shiny, but they are swept clean of real life. They are places where souls go to whither and die - albeit slowly and with continuous validation."
o
Full screen recommended.
Steve Cutts, "Happiness"
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"12 Shocking New All-Time Economic Records That Are Being Reported In 2025"
"12 Shocking New All-Time Economic Records
That Are Being Reported In 2025"
by Michael Snyder
"The U.S. economy was steamrolling in the wrong direction for four years under Joe Biden, and now we have an extraordinary mess on our hands. Nobody can deny that our economic numbers are absolutely horrible right now. GDP growth is expected to be negative during the first quarter, inflation is rising again, home sales are at extremely depressed levels, retail sales are down, stores and restaurants are closing at a staggering pace, debt levels are out of control, and mass layoffs are happening all over the nation…
"President Donald Trump’s efforts to pare down the federal government workforce left a mark on the labor market in February, with announced job cuts at their highest level in nearly five years, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported Thursday.
The firm reported that U.S. employers announced 172,017 layoffs for the month, up 245% from January and the highest monthly count since July 2020 during the heightened uncertainty from the Covid pandemic. In addition, it marked the highest total for the month of February since 2009 during the global financial crisis."
Please read those two paragraphs again. Layoffs announcements haven’t been this high during the month of February since 2009. Wow. And the total for the first two months of this year is also the highest that we have seen since 2009…"January’s planned reductions brought the total through the first two months of the year to 221,812, also the highest for the period since 2009 and up 33% from the same time in 2024."
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, we have a major crisis on our hands, and the economic numbers that we are getting clearly reflect this. The following are 12 shocking new all-time economic records that are being reported in 2025…
#1 Our trade deficit with the rest of the world has surged to an all-time record high…The US trade deficit widened to a record in January as companies scrambled to secure goods from overseas before President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on America’s largest trading partners. The gap in goods and services trade widened 34% from the prior month to $131.4 billion, Commerce Department data showed Thursday. The deficit was larger than all but one estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
#2 The percentage of Americans that are “raiding their retirement savings” has never been higher…More Americans are raiding their retirement savings to cover emergency expenses, taking early withdrawals from their 401(k)s. A record 4.8 percent of account holders took hardship withdrawals last year, up from 3.6 percent in 2023, according to Vanguard Group, which examined data from nearly 5 million people with 401(k)-type accounts.
#3 This year, the price of a dozen eggs in the United States has soared to the highest level ever…In January, the average price of a dozen eggs hit a record high of $4.95, up from $2.52 a year prior.
#4 The delinquency rate for subprime auto loans that are at least 60 days delinquent just hit a level we have never seen before…60+ day auto loan delinquencies in the subprime cohort (less credit-worthy borrowers) hit 6.56% in December 2024—the highest ever recorded. That’s up from 6.01% in November 2024 and 6.27% in 2023.
#5 In January, pending home sales dropped to an all-time record low…Contracts to buy previously owned homes fell to a record low in January as prospective buyers were constrained by higher mortgage rates and house prices. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) said on Thursday that its Pending Home Sales Index, which is based on signed contracts, declined by 4.6% last month to 70.6, an all-time low. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast contracts, which become sales after a month or two, falling by 1.3% in January. Pending home sales were down 5.2% from a year ago.
#6 It is being projected that the U.S. will run a record high agricultural trade deficit of 49 billion dollars in 2025…The U.S., known for being a global agriculture powerhouse, has never imported so much food. Inbound shipments of everything from avocados to coffee and sugar are expected to drive the country’s agriculture trade deficit to a record $49 billion this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its trade outlook report. At the same time, America’s most widely grown crops have been losing overseas markets over the past decades. It’s a stark turnaround for a nation that once used its abundant food supplies as a tool of statecraft, with the U.S. now facing a future of persistent agricultural trade deficits.
#7 Coresight Research is telling us that approximately 15,000 stores will be permanently closed in the United States in 2025. That would be a new all-time record by a wide margin.
#8 The price of gold has moved above $2900 an ounce for the first time ever.
#9 Credit card debt in the United States has crossed the 1.2 trillion dollar mark for the very first time…Americans’ total credit card balances now stand at a record-high $1.21 trillion, the report said.
#10 Total household debt in the United States has crossed the 18 trillion dollar mark for the very first time…Americans’ household debt - including credit cards, mortgages, auto loans and student loans - is at a new all-time high of $18.04 trillion, according to a report released Thursday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
#11 The U.S. national debt has surpassed the 36 trillion dollar mark for the first time ever.
#12 When you add up all forms of debt in our society, it comes to a grand total of more than 100 trillion dollars. This has never happened before in the entire history of our nation.
Earlier today, I was amused by a Newsweek article that stated that top economists are concerned that our economy “may be on a path toward recession or a downturn that could rival those of 2020 and 2008″…"Economists have expressed fears that the American economy may be on a path toward recession or a downturn that could rival those of 2020 and 2008.
These concerns have been heightened by falling retail sales and associated layoffs, the anticipated impacts of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on prices and domestic consumption, American stock indexes trailing their European counterparts in recent months, the Federal Reserve’s statements indicating that inflationary struggles are far from over, and data pointing to sharp declines in consumer confidence."
Come on man. Our economy is not “on a path toward recession”. The truth is that our economy is in a recession right now. Let’s be real. Everywhere around us, people are in extreme economic pain. Unfortunately, what we have experienced so far is just the beginning. So I would encourage you to brace yourself for what is coming next, because it isn’t going to be pleasant."
Dan, I Allegedly, "The Recession Diet - Why Everyone's Cutting Back"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 3/7/25
"The Recession Diet -
Why Everyone's Cutting Back"
"Are you feeling the pinch of the "Recession Diet"? In today’s video, we’re diving into why everyone’s cutting back and how it’s reshaping the economy. From households skipping name brands to businesses struggling with layoffs and closures, the signs of leaner times are everywhere. I break down how skyrocketing wages, changing consumer habits, and store strategies (like Target’s mini stores and Foot Locker’s downsizing) are shaking up the market. Plus, hear my take on the latest retail drama, layoffs in Veterans Affairs, and a wild story about a jewel heist gone hilariously wrong."
Comments here:
Bill Bonner,
"A Lot More Ruin"
by Bill Bonner
Baltimore, Maryland - "Of greatest interest to us among Donald Trump’s long list was his promise to balance the budget. “And in the near future, I want to do what has not been done in 24 years: balance the federal budget…We are going to balance it.” Many are the minor issues, imbecilities and annoyances of modern American government. But a $36 trillion debt is something else. If we don’t stop the smoke; we’ll see the flames later.
Mr. Trump can deport all the rapists and murderers he wants. He can seize the Panama Canal…or force us to speak English. But if he doesn’t get control of federal spending, and bring income in line with out-go, it will be wake-up time for the whole MAGA dream.
Which is not to say the world will come to an end. Nations flirt with bankruptcy for decades. They inflate. They issue junk bonds. They sell their gold, neglect their highways and auction off their national parks. The dollar has lost 85% of its value since 1971. So, there’s still 15% left. “There is a lot of ruin in a nation,” said Keynes. Today, we look to see how the ruin might be avoided.
A conventional politician, such as Joe Biden, wouldn’t have a chance. Working through the myriad parasites in Washington and Wall Street, every initiative to cut spending… reduce the federal payroll…or bring the US back to basics, would be endlessly and hopelessly blocked. Biden followed along on the course set by his predecessors (including Donald Trump himself) and the elites. That course leads to the two worst things that can happen to a mature empire - bankruptcy and war.
Big Man governments may or may not be better suited to avoiding them. So far, there is little sign of a major course correction. In the key policies - fiscal and military - Trump II looks little different from previous administrations. But it would be nice to be surprised. After all, the Big Man can do what the democrat can’t. He doesn’t need to consult members of congress (whom he knows to be in the pockets of various lobbies). He doesn’t worry about hurting feelings or retirement plans at the FTC, FBI or SEC. He doesn’t bother to follow the Constitution too closely either; some inner voice tells him what needs to be done. And he is a ‘get it done’ kind of guy. In a hurry. Decisive.
But there’s a problem at the heart of Big Man government. The US economy includes more than 330 million people. Each one of them has goals of his own…and wishes to use his time and money in pursuit of them. Any diversion - whether it is invading Mexico or getting deported to Mexico - takes time and resources away from him in order to implement the Big Man’s agenda. So, the more energetically the Big Man asserts himself, the less the masses get what they want.
But wait…what if reducing the feds’ interference and balancing the budget were key elements of the Big Man’s agenda? What if the Big Man sought to be big by making the federal government less big? The idea is dazzling…intriguing…and probably nonsense. But lets take a look.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has already done the math. As it stands today, the US debt is set to grow by $18 trillion over the next ten years. And that assumes that nothing bad happens - no crises, no bailouts, no recessions, no stimmies. The Congressional Budget Office, meanwhile, puts the estimate at $23.9 trillion. Neither of those numbers include the extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which are expected to add $4.6 trillion to the debt. Uh oh… there’s more. The Kansas City Star:
1: “And the next phase of our plan to deliver the greatest economy in history is for this Congress to pass tax cuts for everybody,” he said. The cost of the tax cuts already in his budget passed by Congress $4,600,000,000,000.
2: “No tax on tips,” he said. Cost: $107,000,000,000.
3: “No tax on overtime,” he said. Cost: $866,000,000,000.
4: “No tax on Social Security benefits for our great seniors,” he said. Cost: $1,500,000,000,000.
5: “I also want to make interest payments on car loans tax deductible,” he said. Cost: $173,000,000,000.
6: “We want to cut taxes on domestic production and all manufacturing,” He said. Cost: $250,000,000,000.
7: “We will provide 100% expensing,” he said. Cost: $100,000,000,000.
Wait a minute. These are tax cuts. How could they increase the amount squandered by the feds? Alas, Elon has spelled it out. “All federal spending is taxation,” said the Great One. And he’s right.
The direct cost of government is what it spends, not what it subjects to income taxes; it will get the money one way or another. These tax cuts - with no corresponding budget cuts - will increase the debt…eventually to be paid via inflation, default, tariffs or some other underhanded levy. The total cost of all these tax cuts (including the aforementioned 2017 cuts) comes to $7.6 trillion…and brings the total ten-year debt increase to around $30 trillion…with US debt going over $60 trillion sometime over the next ten years. At that level, the interest alone would be more than all the tax receipts from California to the Mississippi River. And that’s if ‘nothing bad happens.’ How likely is that?"
"Google Firing 39,000 Workers as Tech Workers Lose Everything"
Full screen recommended.
Market Gains, 3/7/25
"Google Firing 39,000 Workers as
Tech Workers Lose Everything"
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Judge Napolitano, "Live from Moscow - Judge and The INTEL Roundtable w/Johnson & McGovern"
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom 3/7/25
"Live from Moscow -
Judge and The INTEL Roundtable w/Johnson & McGovern"
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Jim Kunstler, "Dems and Blob Together"
"Dems and Blob Together"
by Jim Kunstler
"If the Jacobins of Paris, 1794, had not been bum-rushed to the “national razor,” perhaps they would have acted-out as clownishly in defeat as America’s Democratic Party does right now after their election debacle of 2024. Imagine Robespierre in Harlequin drag riding backwards on a goat over the Pont Neuf to do handsprings and a juggling act in the Parvis de Notre-Dame. Alas, foiled by the guillotine. . . .
Now imagine Rep. Al Green (9th Texas Dist) shaking his cane and hollering curses at the rostrum in Tuesday night’s joint session of Congress. Two days later, he carried on again in the well of Congress as Speaker Johnson read out his bill of censure and a motley mob of Mr. Green’s fellow Dems gathered ‘round to sing We Shall Overcome - the once stately Civil Rights movement reduced to abject farce. Such things are really happening.
The Dems’ game has been revealed. The revenue stream for their national wrecking operations is suddenly cut off and it’s game-over. Everybody can see how this worked now. You funnel vast amounts of US taxpayer dollars into Non-Governmental Organizations, NGOs, spin off more NGOs below them, and add extra layers of subsidiary NGOs, and all of them pay their staffs of Dem Party foot-soldiers for do-nothing jobs - leaving plenty of time for riots and real-estate investing - a splendid racket that worked for years to support the insane antics of the Woke-Jacobin revolution. (And you paid for it.)
The catch is: an org that gets government money is hardly non-governmental. Wouldn’t you think there’s some law against that? Thus, Exhibit A: in September 2022, Dem luminary John Podesta was put in-charge of a $369-billion fund out of “Joe Biden’s” so-called Inflation Reduction Act, tagged for climate change action. Conceptualize further: that’s three-hundred-sixty-nine-thousand-million dollars (!), a lot of millions, disbursed among tens of thousands of NGOs and their contractors. It boggles the mind that the government could even manage to cream-off such a fortune out our nation’s alleged aggregate productivity.
It was, in reality, money conjured out of thin air: debt. Before long, you are going to find out where it all went, and the picture will not be a pretty one: Into the NGO laundromat and straight out to Democratic Party members’ bank accounts, one of the greatest grifts in our history. Of course, your grandchildren are on the hook for all the debt behind it. Do you think our DC Federal District judges would serve better presiding over these matters than spending years hunting down J-6 “paraders”?
Without that bonanza of conjured money for laying trips on the rest of us, the Democratic Party has nothing, not a single credible idea, not any plausible leadership, really no reason to exist. It has been for years nothing more than a gigantic grift engine extracting the remaining wealth out of our republic. So, what you are seeing acted out on the DC streets and the well of Congress and on the angst-filled cable news networks is the kind of ghost-dance that attends the death of a great political machine. Buh-bye. . . .
The symbiote of that parasitical organism is the “blob” of war profiteers, pharma profiteers, seditionists, traitors, lunatic ideologues and assorted criminals lodged in the DC bureaucracy and Congress. For instance, former CIA Director John Brennan (appointed by Barack Obama), a veritable US Communist Party activist in his youth and all the above in age. After 2020, Mr. Brennan might have thought all he had to do was kick back in a comfortable retirement, make a little extra “walking-around money” doing hits on MSNBC, and enjoying the esteem of his former colleagues as a legendary blob poobah. Likewise, Mr. Podesta, former White House Chief of Staff, Chair of the Hillary Clinton 2016 election campaign, and many other distinguished perches. Likewise, Senator John Warner, RussiaGate promoter as Vice-Chairman of the Senate Intel Committee; and likewise, Senator Adam Schiff, chief engineer of Trump Impeachment No. 1; and likewise, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley, rumored to have enabled the J-6 riot by denying National Guard reinforcements for the Capitol Police; and likewise, former AG Merrick Garland, the Torquemada of lawfare, and likewise, FBI Director Christopher Wray for concealing the far-ranging criminality of his Bureau in a long list of hoaxes and ops against the public, and likewise, Gina Haspel, who ran the CIA through the high times or RussiaGate hoaxdom; and likewise, “Biden,” Blinken, and Sullivan in Ukraine and the fate of $300-billion-plus in purloined aid - all these people just a small sample of the depraved officials who operated with such gross impunity against the citizens of this land, soon to collide with the wheels of justice.
The Democratic Party is no longer in a position to defend them, and conversely the blob actors are in no position anymore to protect their allies in the Dem Party. It is a mutual aid society suddenly turned into a suicide pact. The real action hasn’t quite commenced yet as a new officialdom warily finds its place - Bondi, Patel, Kennedy, Gabbard, Ratcliffe, and Musk - to address a complex agenda of reform for that matrix of appalling agency corruption. We await a flood-tide of greatly disturbing revelation and concrete actionable allegation.
Between all that and the cascade of truth finally emerging about Covid-19 and its dastardly vaccine program, America’s elite managerial class - Dems and blob together - find themselves like Pharoah’s Army of old, trapped by an onrushing flood of destruction. All they have left is making faces and screeching like ghouls."
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