Bill Bonner, "A Misguided Economic Experiment"

"A Misguided Economic Experiment"

Up until the mid-‘70s, the wealth of the rich and poor rose... together.

At more or less the same rate. Then, they began to diverge...

little by little at first... and then by a lot.

by Bill Bonner

Dublin, Ireland - "Our wonder for this week is how an economy... said to be the finest the world has ever seen...with capital in abundance... talent and skills drawn from all over the planet... more Ph.Ds and engineers than ever in history...and guided by the geniuses at the Fed and in the Capitol...could be such a dud. Unlike the US economy up until 1975... and unlike the Chinese economy 1979-2024... it has not improved the lot of the typical citizen.

This is not to say that the median person is not better off. Today, for better or worse, we have electronic gizmos that we didn’t have in the 1970s. We can spend our whole lives hunched over our laptops... perhaps sitting in coffee shops or a basement office... playing games... and talking to undressed women with Russian accents. Is that progress, or what? We have TikTok, Facebook, X... AI... cryptos... Trump sneakers... We even have cars that will create their own traffic accidents. No human intervention required.

In 1914, Henry Ford doubled wages in his auto factory - to $5 a day. A job at Ford was a ticket to middle-class prosperity. Detroit became the most prosperous city in the country. But workers in our new industries today, including those of our biggest employers, often live in shocking poverty. At least, that was the conclusion of a study done of Amazon’s warehouse staff:

“In this report, we present findings on economic insecurity among Amazon’s frontline warehouse workforce, drawing on a national survey of 1,484 workers across 451 facilities in 42 states. Key findings include:

“53% OF WORKERS EXPERIENCED ONE OR MORE FORMS OF FOOD INSECURITY in the previous three months.

“48% OF WORKERS EXPERIENCED ONE OR MORE FORMS OF HOUSING INSECURITY in the previous three months.

“MORE THAN HALF (56%) HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO PAY ALL THEIR BILLS without a remaining balance in the previous three months.

“ONE-THIRD OF WORKERS (33%) HAVE USED ONE OR MORE PUBLICLY FUNDED ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS in the previous three months, including 23% who have used the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).”

Let’s see... at $5 a day, a Ford assembly-line worker was able to buy a $20 US gold coin every four days. (We use gold as a reliable measure of inflation.) Today, a warehouse worker at Amazon makes $17 per hour... times 8 hours, equals $136 per day. With the price of a one-ounce gold coin now around $2,300, this means it takes more than 16 days - or four times as long - for today’s worker to buy the same coin. What gives? What’s wrong with America’s economy?

Today, we will not let the cat out of the bag, completely... but we will open up the bag and take a peek inside. We saw yesterday that the Soviet Union took raw materials, and following the logical precision and dumbass theories of its planners, worked them up into finished goods of such inferior quality that they were actually worth less, on the world market, than the resources that went into making them.

Death by Government: That is why, when the Soviet Union went to Misguided Economic Experiment heaven, its entrepreneurs and oligarchs went back to producing raw materials. The Hitlerian economy of Germany 1933-1945 was a similar success. It put people to work. It made the trains run on time. It made the smokestacks from Bavaria to Prussia belch smoke. But what it produced - guns, tanks, chemicals and bombs - did not make people better off. It made them worse off.

In each case, you’ll notice the causal relationship. The government imposed its will on the economy... turning it away from producing the things people wanted... to producing the things insiders wanted.

And the US? It began its Misguided Economic Experiment in 1971. Thenceforth, it continued to be a powerhouse of output. But the output shifted... subtly... almost unnoticed... from the goods and services that made people wealthier and better off... to an ersatz form of wealth itself. Wall Street got rich (after 1982). Detroit got poor. The shift was a spectacular success - for some. Unfortunately, it was a dismal failure for most.

Up until the mid-‘70s, the wealth of the rich and poor rose... together. At more or less the same rate. Then, they began to diverge... little by little at first... and then by a lot. From our friend David Stockman: "Since 1989... the net worth of the top 0.1% has soared from $1.8 trillion to just under $20 trillion. That’s a gain of $138 million per household. 

By contrast, the aggregate net worth of the bottom 50% or 66 million households has risen from $0.7 trillion to $3.6 trillion. That’s a gain of just $44,000 per household. [Mostly from an increase in house prices.]

Accordingly, the top 0.1% gained 3,100X more net worth each than the bottom half of America’s households."

So we see, the US economy was not a total flop for everyone. But something went very wrong. Tune in tomorrow as we look at our hypothesis: another Misguided Economic Experiment gone wrong."

- https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/

"The more I see of the monied classes,

the better I understand the guillotine."

- George Bernard Shaw

"The Gap Between The Rich And The Poor Is Larger Than Ever, And Frustration Is Growing To Very Dangerous Levels"

"The Gap Between The Rich And The Poor Is Larger Than Ever,

 And Frustration Is Growing To Very Dangerous Levels"

by Michael Snyder

"Have you ever felt like you can never seem to get ahead no matter how hard you try? If so, you are definitely not alone. The gap between the ultra-wealthy and the rest of us has never been greater, and more wealth is being transferred to the top of the pyramid with each passing day. Unfortunately, our economy has evolved into a highly centralized system that is designed to drain wealth from those that do not own wealth-producing assets and transfer it to those that do own wealth-producing assets. Sadly, even most of our homes and most of our vehicles have been turned into wealth-producing assets by the elite. Every month when you make your mortgage payment and your vehicle payment, you are making the wealthy even wealthier. The entire system is designed to get you deep into debt and keep you paying on that debt until you die.

As we have seen in recent years, those that manage the system will do whatever it takes to protect the wealth of the elite. The Federal Reserve pumped trillions of dollars into the system to prop up the value of financial assets, and it worked. Right now, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is hovering around 40,000 and those that own stocks are living the high life. But who owns most of the stocks? According to Federal Reserve data, the wealthiest 10 percent of all Americans own a record high 93 percent of all the stocks…The wealthiest Americans have never owned so much of the stock market, with the top 10% now holding a record 93% of US equities, according to Federal Reserve data. On the flip side, the poorest 50 percent of all Americans own just 1 percent of all the stocks…

Still, stock ownership is skewed toward the top: by comparison, the bottom 50% of Americans owned just 1% of all stocks and mutual fund shares in the third quarter, central bank data shows. Of course stocks are just one form of wealth. But when you add in all other forms of wealth, the bottom 50 percent of the U.S. population still only owns just 2.6 percent of all the wealth. Tens of millions of Americans have lost faith in the system and are becoming increasingly restless, and our politicians have been trying to keep them pacified with handouts.

At this point, a whopping 42 million Americans receive food stamp benefits each month, and much of that money is spent on junk food…"An alarming study has spotlighted how 42 million food stamp recipients spend their welfare handouts on ultra-processed junk food. Coca-Cola, Sprite and other soft drinks are the most commonly-bought items via the $135 billion-a-year Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a new study says. Candy, potato chips, frozen pizza, ice cream, cookies, and other ultra-processed food dominates the top 20 items, says a report from the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC)."

A lot of those that are receiving government assistance are actually employed. But the cost of living has become so oppressive that even people working for some of the biggest companies in America can’t afford the basics…"Five years after Amazon.com Inc. raised wages to $15 an hour, half of warehouse workers surveyed by researchers say they struggle to afford enough food or a place to live.

The national study, published Wednesday by the University of Illinois Chicago’s Center for Urban Economic Development, asked US employees about their economic wellbeing, including whether they’d skipped meals, went hungry, or were worried about being able to make rent or mortgage payments.

Fifty-three percent of respondents reported that they’d experienced one or more forms of food insecurity in the prior three months, and 48% experienced one or more forms of housing insecurity. Workers who said they took unpaid time off after getting hurt on the job were more likely to report trouble paying their bills, the researchers found."

Today, approximately 40 percent of the entire U.S. population is either living in poverty or is considered to be among the ranks of “the working poor”. In order to maintain the same standard of living as it did in January 2021, it now costs the average American family $12,000 more per year. If your income has not increased by $12,000 a year since January 2021, you are falling behind.

And now that economic conditions are starting to deteriorate at a frightening pace, Americans are becoming increasingly pessimistic about where the economy is heading next…"After a spurt of optimism, Americans are feeling a little more glum about the economy - again. Consumer sentiment, a gauge of Americans’ economic perceptions, is at a six-month low, according to a closely watched index by the University of Michigan. The measure notched its biggest drop since 2021, reflecting the persistent tug of inflation on household budgets and fueling fears that rising prices, unemployment and interest rates could all worsen in the coming months.

That pessimism is altering consumers’ spending habits. McDonald’s, Home Depot, Under Armour and Starbucks all recently reported disappointing earnings, as people cut back on fast food, kitchen renovations, sneakers and afternoon lattes."

Frustration with the economy is going to be a major theme during the next few years here in the United States. Of course the entire world is grappling with a system that is leaving way too many people behind. According to Oxfam, most of the global population has gotten poorer since the turn of the decade…"Oxfam’s new report, Inequality Inc., explores the disparity between the uber-wealthy and the rest of society. Since 2020, five billion people have become poorer, while the world’s five richest men have more than doubled their fortunes - at a rate of $14 million per hour."

Just like in the United States, the gap between the wealthy and the poor globally has reached a level we have never seen before.

Since 2020, Oxfam says that billionaires have gotten “$3.3 trillion richer”…"Hundreds of millions of people are struggling to keep up with the cost of living; meanwhile, billionaires are $3.3 trillion richer than they were in 2020. This is not a coincidence. When we analyzed the world’s largest corporations, we found that a billionaire is running or the principal shareholder of 7 out of 10 of them."

Such a system is not sustainable. If most of the global population is steadily getting poorer and a tiny sliver of the global population is becoming fabulously wealthy, it is only a matter of time before the entire system comes crashing down. Hundreds of millions of people are becoming deeply angry and deeply frustrated, and civil unrest will erupt in major cities all over the planet during the period of great chaos that we are entering.

Today, the world is dominated by ultra-powerful governments, ultra-powerful banks and ultra-powerful corporations. The little guy is being absolutely crushed, but it won’t be too long before the deeply corrupt system that the ultra-wealthy have created suddenly implodes right in front of their eyes."

- https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

Jeremiah Babe, "Brace For Impact, The World Is On The Brink Of Chaos"

Jeremiah Babe, 5/20/24

"Brace For Impact, 

The World Is On The Brink Of Chaos"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Deuter, "Sea and Silence"

Deuter, "Sea and Silence"

Musical Interlude: Two Steps From Hell, "Downstream"

"We all know that something is eternal. And it ain't houses and it ain't names, and it ain't earth, and it ain't even the stars... everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings. All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that for five thousand years and yet you'd be surprised how people are always losing hold of it. There's something way down deep that's eternal about every human being."

- Thornton Wilder

○

Despite it all, despite ourselves, we struggle, facing life's hardships,

Learning, growing, hurting but never giving up.

Reaching, climbing higher, to be better, forever,

trying to remember Who you are...

Two Steps From Hell, "Downstream"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"In silhouette against a crowded star field along the tail of the arachnalogical constellation Scorpius, this dusty cosmic cloud evokes for some the image of an ominous dark tower.

In fact, clumps of dust and molecular gas collapsing to form stars may well lurk within the dark nebula, a structure that spans almost 40 light-years across this gorgeous telescopic portrait. Known as a cometary globule, the swept-back cloud, is shaped by intense ultraviolet radiation from the OB association of very hot stars in NGC 6231, off the upper edge of the scene. That energetic ultraviolet light also powers the globule's bordering reddish glow of hydrogen gas. Hot stars embedded in the dust can be seen as bluish reflection nebulae. This dark tower, NGC 6231, and associated nebulae are about 5,000 light-years away."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210715.html

The Poet: Dylan Thomas, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"

"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"

"Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

- Dylan Thomas

"Any Moment..."

Noli Timere...

Seals and Crofts, 

"We May Never Pass This Way Again"

"There Are Meaningful Warnings..."

“There are meaningful warnings which history gives a threatened or perishing society. Such are, for instance, the decadence of art, or a lack of great statesmen. There are open and evident warnings, too. The center of your democracy and of your culture is left without electric power for a few hours only, and all of a sudden crowds of American citizens start looting and creating havoc. The smooth surface film must be very thin, then, the social system quite unstable and unhealthy. But the fight for our planet, physical and spiritual, a fight of cosmic proportions, is not a vague matter of the future; it has already started. The forces of Evil have begun their offensive; you can feel their pressure, and yet your screens and publications are full of prescribed smiles and raised glasses. What is the joy about?”

- Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Free Download: Alexander Solzhenitsyn, “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”

“One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”

by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

“One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” is, as the title suggests, a simple story of one day in the life of Ivan Shukov Denisovich, a prisoner in a Soviet concentration camp. Shukov, a simple Russian peasant fighting for Stalin in WWII, is imprisoned for treason – a crime he did not commit – and has spent the last 8 years in concentration camps. Shukov’s day begins at 5.00 a.m. with the clang of the reveille – he is, along with the other prisoners, marched out into the bitter cold, stripped and searched for forbidden objects, and then sent to work until sundown, without rest, without a full stomach. In this slim 143 page-novella, we follow Shukov’s grueling routine and see how he struggles to maintain his dignity in small, subtle ways. On this day, he has scored some small triumphs for himself – he has swiped an extra bowl of mush at supper, found a piece of metal that can be used as a knife to mend things, replenished his precious tobacco supplies and also has had a share of a small piece of sausage before lights out. Thus, at the end of the day (and the novel), he thinks to himself that it has been “A day without a dark cloud. Almost a happy day.” He must survive only another 3653 days more.”

- http://www.book-review-circle.com/

Freely download “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, 

by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, here:

- http://www.kkoworld.com/kitablar/

The Daily "Near You?"

Kents Hill, Maine, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"A Single Lesson..."

"Your thoughts, opinions, beliefs, and worldviews are based on years and years of experience, reading, and rational, objective analysis. Right? Wrong. Your thoughts, opinions, beliefs, and worldviews are based on years and years of paying attention to information that confirmed what you already believed while ignoring information that challenged your preconceived notions. If there’s a single lesson that life teaches us, it’s that wishing doesn’t make it so."

– Lev Grossman

"An Empire Self-Destructs"

"An Empire Self-Destructs"

by Jeff Thomas

"Empires are built through the creation or acquisition of wealth. The Roman Empire came about through the productivity of its people and its subsequent acquisition of wealth from those that it invaded. The Spanish Empire began with productivity and expanded through the use of its large armada of ships, looting the New World of its gold. The British Empire began through localized productivity and grew through its creation of colonies worldwide—colonies that it exploited, bringing the wealth back to England to make it the wealthiest country in the world.

In the Victorian Age, we Brits were proud to say, "There will always be an England," and "The sun never sets on the British Empire." So, where did we go wrong? Why are we no longer the world’s foremost empire? Why have we lost not only the majority of our colonies, but also the majority of our wealth?

Well, first, let’s take a peek back at the other aforementioned empires and see how they fared. Rome was arguably the greatest empire the world has ever seen. Industrious Romans organized large armies that went to other parts of the world, subjugating them and seizing the wealth that they had built up over generations. And as long as there were further conquerable lands just over the next hill, this approach was very effective. However, once Rome faced diminishing returns on new lands to conquer, it became evident that those lands it had conquered had to be maintained and defended, even though there was little further wealth that could be confiscated.

The conquered lands needed costly militaries and bureaucracies in place to keep them subjugated but were no longer paying for themselves. The "colonies" were running at a loss. Meanwhile, Rome itself had become very spoiled. Its politicians kept promising more in the way of "bread and circuses" to the voters, in order to maintain their political office. So, the coffers were being drained by both the colonies and at home. Finally, in a bid to keep from losing their power, Roman leaders entered into highly expensive wars. This was the final economic crippler and the empire self-destructed.

Spain was a highly productive nation that attacked its neighbours successfully and built up its wealth, then became far wealthier when it sailed west, raiding the Americas of the silver and gold that they had spent hundreds of years accumulating. The sudden addition of this wealth allowed the Spanish kings to be lavish to the people and, as in Rome, the Spanish became very spoiled indeed. But once the gold and silver that was coming out of the New World was down to a trickle, the funding for maintaining the empire began to dry up. Worse, old enemies from Europe were knocking at the door, hoping to even old scores. In a bid to retain the empire, the king entered into extensive warfare in Europe, rapidly draining the royal purse and, like Rome, the Spanish Empire self-destructed.

In the Victorian era, the British Empire was unmatched in the world. It entered the industrial revolution and was highly productive. In addition, it was pulling wealth from its colonies in the form of mining, farming and industry. But, like other countries in Europe, it dove into World War I quickly and, since warfare always diminishes productivity at home whilst it demands major expense abroad, the British Empire was knocked down to one knee by the end of the war.

Then, in 1939, the game was afoot again and Britain was drawn into a second world war. By the end of the war, it could still be said that there would always be an England, but its wealth had been drained off and, one by one, its colonies jumped ship. The days of empire were gone.

Into the breach stepped the US. At the beginning of World War I, the US took no part in the fighting, but, as it had experienced its own industrial revolution, it supplied goods, food, and armaments to Britain and her allies. Because the pound and other European currencies could not be trusted not to inflate, payment was made in gold and silver. So the US was expanding its productivity into a guaranteed market, selling at top dollar, using the profits to create larger, more efficient factories, and getting paid in gold.

Then, in 1939, it all happened again. Although the US eventually joined both wars, they did so much later than Britain and her allies. At the end of World War II, the US had a lively young workforce, as they had lost fewer men to the war. They also had modern factories, which had been paid for by other nations, that could now be used to produce peacetime goods for themselves and the rest of the world more efficiently than anyone else.

And (and this is a very big "and") by 1945 they owned or controlled three quarters of the world’s gold, as they’d drained it away from the warring nations in the early days of the war. This allowed the US to invite the post-war leaders to Bretton Woods to explain that, as the holders of the world’s wealth, they’d dictate what the world’s default currency would be: the dollar.

But this was all threatened by the fact that, when the now-poorer nations of the world sold their goods to the US, they, too, beginning with the French, wished to be paid in gold. And so, in the subsequent years, the gold in Fort Knox was beginning to travel back to the east, from whence it had come in previous years. In 1971, this flow was shut off, as the US, still the foremost empire, had the power to simply remove all intrinsic value from the dollar and turn it into a fiat currency. Payment in gold ended.

Fast-forward to the post-millennium era and we see that America, like the previous empires, ended its acquisition of gold after World War II, yet its people became spoiled by political leaders who promised ever-increasing bread and circuses. The productivity that led to its initial strength was dying off, and it was spending more than it was bringing in. Finally, it sought to maintain its hegemony through warfare, thereby creating a dramatic drain to its wealth.

Like other empires before it, the US is now on the verge of relinquishing the crown of empire. If there’s any difference this time around, it’s that its collapse will very likely be far more spectacular than that of previous empires. However, just as in previous collapses, those who least understand that the collapse is around the corner are those who are closest to its centre. Clearly, the majority of Americans are worried about their future yet cannot conceive of their country as a second-rate power. And those who hold the reins of that power tend to be the most deluded, delving ever-deeper into debt at an ever-faster rate, whilst expanding welfare and warfare without any concept of how it might all be paid for. It’s understandable, therefore, that those of us who are on the outside looking in find it easier to observe objectively from afar and see the coming self-destruction of yet another empire.

As stated in the first line of this essay, "empires are built through the creation or acquisition of wealth." They tend to end through the gradual elimination of the free-market system, the metamorphosis to a welfare state, and, finally, through the destruction of wealth through costly warfare.

Does this indicate the "end of the world"? Not at all. The world did not end with the fall of Rome, Spain, England, or any one of the many other empires. The productive people simply moved to a different geographical location—one that encourages free-market opportunity. The wealth moved with them, then grew, as the free market allowed productive people to make it grow. Freedom and opportunity still exist and indeed flourish. All that’s changing is the locations where they are to be found."

- https://internationalman.com/

Dan, I Allegedly, "No One Has Our Best Interest At Heart"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 5/20/24

"No One Has Our Best Interest At Heart"

"We just heard from the Fed president Rafael Bostick. He said inflation is going away. We all know it’s not. Plus, Wells Fargo was just implicated in a Ponzi scheme where they allowed a business to set up 31 bank accounts and pay people using their accounts."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

Canadian Prepper, "Emergency WW3 Alert! Iranian President Is Dead! Russia, China and Iran On Highest Alert!"

Canadian Prepper, 5/20/24

"Emergency WW3 Update: Iranian President Is Dead! 

Russia, China and Iran On Highest Alert!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

"President Ebrahim Raisi Declared Dead: 

What's Next For Iran's Leadership"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Times Of India, 5/20/24

"Israel Assassinated Raisi? Stunning Theories 

Surround Crash Of Iran President's Chopper"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Adventures With Danno, "New Products At Sam's Club, You Won't Believe What I Found!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, 5/20/24

"New Products At Sam's Club, 

You Won't Believe What I Found!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Bill Bonner, "GDP Stinks"

"GDP Stinks"

What is happening in the US? GDP figures tell us the economy is working well.

 Unemployment is near record lows. And the stock market is at record highs.

by Bill Bonner

"There was a young man from the city,

Who saw what he thought was a kitty

He bent down to pet it

And boy did he get it,

They buried his clothes without pity."

Dublin, Ireland - "How come ‘the West,’ with a 30-to-1 advantage over Russians... can’t win the war? And how come the richest, most dynamic, most virtuous and most honorable economy the world has ever seen - yes, we are talking about our own USA - still can’t keep current with its bills? How come it passes them along - $35 trillion worth, so far - to its children and grandchildren?

And how come the economy - the greatest ever, or so everyone says - can produce ‘full employment’... and still not give workers a raise in half a century? How come it is more expensive for them today... in terms of their own working hours... to buy a house or a car today than it was 50 years ago? In short, the US economy may have a white stripe running down its back.

Houses and cars are the bedrock ‘assets’ of America’s middle class. Most people get them by exchanging their time (wages) for them. Logically, as it takes more and more time to buy them, people have less time left over. They are poorer in what matters most – time. Of course, houses and cars are supposed to be higher quality than they were in the 1970s. Some economists believe that these ‘hedonic’ improvements justify the higher prices. But if they are better, it is because of technological advances. An auto, for example, has more electronic components than it used to. It is said to be safer, faster and more economical. Why are things more expensive?

Of course, the factories became more advanced too. Competition always drives producers to make things better…and cheaper. Parts became better made and more easily assembled. Many functions that used to require manual labor are now done robotically. So, the technology that made autos better should have made them cheaper, too, not more expensive.

Likewise, we are told that houses are bigger and better than ever. They are more expensive, supposedly, because they are worth more. But just the opposite may be true. New houses are often made of flimsy composite materials that are easy to work with, but lack the beauty and solidity of genuine heartwood of oak or pine. Besides, even houses built in 1970 or before are still expensive - and often more expensive than those of more recent vintage.

So how come the average person has to work twice as long just for a roof over his head and a set of wheels? Is it because ‘the system’ has been corrupted? It now delivers public policies that serve specific groups of people - normally, those with a good lobbying team in Washington and a lot of money to spread around the Capitol - at the expense of the public.

In past episodes of this journal, we’ve seen that sometimes GDP has little to do with real wealth. The clearest illustrations for this were provided by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. In the latter, ordinary working people got poorer - by design. The economy was organized and controlled by the elite. Industries were told what to produce and how much they could charge for it.

The Soviet system produced a lot of products, but few that people actually wanted. And yet, as recently as the 1980s, there were still economists in ‘the West’ who were impressed by the numbers alone.

Paul Samuelson, for example, ‘wrote the book’ on economics that was widely used as a textbook throughout the US. His "Economics: An Introductory Analysis" told students that the Soviet Union had achieved ‘rapid growth’ and industrialization thanks to its central planning. He wasn’t completely wrong. The GDP numbers showed the Soviet Union bursting with ‘growth.’ But counting the number of Lutherans in the Gestapo…or the bars of soap in a POW camp probably didn’t tell you much. .

In the Soviet Union the soap left such a sickly smell everybody stank of it. But since the central planners disdained competition and consumer choice, everyone had to use it. Visitors reported that in a matter of days after the Berlin Wall fell, the smell disappeared.

The GDP numbers misled economists. You can’t eat fighter planes. The Nazi economy was, like the US, a ‘capitalist’ economy with pervasive government influence. And what the Nazis guided the economy toward was war. At first, the numbers looked good. Orders for tanks and planes and uniforms kept factories busy. GDP went up.

Foreign observers reported that “Hitler made the trains run on time;” they said they had never seen so much energy. At one point, unemployment dipped deep below zero (if that were possible). With so many men in uniform, Germany ran out of workers. So, the Nazi central planners brought in slave labor from the conquered countries.

Again, the GDP numbers told a tall tale. People couldn’t eat Messerschmitt fighter planes. And with so much labor and capital invested in the firepower industry, there was little left for things that really mattered. Food, for example. At one point, the government’s own health officials warned that German women were not getting enough to eat and may be unable to bear children. The economy ran hot; people got poorer.

So, what is happening in the US? GDP figures tell us the economy is working well. Unemployment is near record lows. And the stock market is at record highs. But there is something stinky about it. What is really going on? If an economy doesn’t make ordinary people better off... what is the point of it? More to come..."

- https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/

Oh, it's all just so fugazy and totally FUBAR. 

Yeah, it all stinks, but you just keep dropping that soap like they like...

Jim Kunstler, "Fugazy Land"

"Fugazy Land"

by Jim Kunstler

“The crisis of meaning only becomes a problem when society becomes resigned to it, accepts a condition of meaninglessness, and seeks to dispossess humanity from the insights and truths it learned through the ages.” - Frank Furedi

"Really, you must agree: just about anything can happen now, and probably will, and possibly all at the same time - war, sickness, a disordered economy, chaos in money and finance, savages pouring across the open borders, assassination, mayhem in the streets, systems failure, mental illness everywhere you look. You have a sinister, blob-infested government acting like a desperate, cornered animal, fronted by a venal phantasm trailing a personal history of crime. What could go wrong? All of it.

The doings in Judge Merchan’s Manhattan present the rectified essence of America’s authority problem. You will stipulate that judges are authorities in a pretty pure sense of the word. Their role is to determine what is right and what is wrong, or, at least guide the proceedings that would result in such a fair determination. And, of course, the officers of this court, the District Attorney and his prosecutors, are also entrusted with bringing comprehensible cases that follow the facts fairly, and the laws pertaining to those facts.

This maliciously misguided prosecution has only accomplished one thing so far: to demonstrate to the American public that the authority of our law has been contorted to become a sick joke. That is a ruinous lesson for the country. The free-for-all of our national life has required reliable adjudication of all the quarrels and inequities that arose out of it. For a long time, the rule of law was America’s great draw. If that goes out the window, all you’re left with is the free-for-all which pretty soon devolves into Thomas Hobbes’s nightmare existence in the state of nature where life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

The current Trump trial in Manhattan will likely resolve this week, one way or another, though there is no way that the candidate will land in jail, even if he is convicted and sentenced to go there. That will only be another quandary for the foundering rule of law, and a dreadful challenge. Altogether this trial has alerted even the deranged news channels that the nation is still capable of feeling grossly insulted by its own rulers, and insults will be answered.

Tribulation may be the only answer that will avail to correct America’s tragic capture by blobs foreign and domestic. And you must understand that our nation’s bad choices have brought these tribulations upon ourselves. Fugazy finance is finally hitting the wall it has been seeking. Wealth based on pretense eventually runs out of hallucinatory mojo. Zooming gold and silver prices signal that the US dollar is in distress. The eagle is flying upside down.

A system based on credit is one thing, when credit can plausibly be paid back. But that system is gone. Finally, you must learn what truth or consequences really means, and the truth is that our debts are unpayable and everybody knows it. The consequences await. Any way you slice that - bond market blow-up, raging inflation, bank failures, stocks cratering, a “great taking” of collateral (your property) - the effect is the same: a crashing standard of living. That will get everybody’s attention in a way that Pride Month marches won’t. If “Joe Biden” thinks he will put over a central bank digital currency to cover for all this failure, he and the blob he rode in on will be in for a rude surprise.

Fugazy war isn’t working either. When did Ukraine become a problem for Western Civ? When Victoria Nuland & Company in the US State Department decided to make it a problem in 2014. Before that, going back into the mists of history, Ukraine was not a problem. It was a rather poor frontier province of Russia, and for a while was badly mistreated by Stalin, but it was not a problem outside of Ukraine and, frankly, it was none of our business. And in a matter of months, as Russia rolls up on the Zelensky regime, it will cease to be a problem for anyone.

The notion that the USA and NATO can reverse this now is insane. The nations of Western Civ won’t draft troops to battle on the ground there. There’s no will to fight in Ukraine among the young people of Europe and America. And we have no more guns or ammo to give. The war will end in humiliation for all concerned in the West, especially the “Joe Biden” regime, which has been recklessly flirting with nuclear aggression - as if this would accomplish anything but turning Western Civ into an ashtray.

Fugazy pandemic sponsored by a Globalist pharmaceutical cabal has shot its wad. It has already accomplished a great deal in the way of bringing death and injury to millions. Dim as the people have become in their fog of TikTok mind-f*ckery, they have started to notice the dead and dying around them. And the people who stupidly or maliciously caused it to happen - Deborah Birx, Robert Redfield, all the treasonous news-readers like Chris Cuomo and Andy Cooper - have commenced their modified-limited-hangouts to try to escape culpability. They won’t, of course. There’s a fair chance that they will hang, and many others with them. But don’t expect the public to line up in the parking lots for more shots. And in the event of another bioweapon outbreak, the doctors may even remember their Hippocratic oaths and actually treat people with existing anti-virals. But do expect the public to get extremely pissed-off, if it happens again.

What has the blob (or blobs foreign and domestic) got left after those biggies? They can gin-up their Antifa mobs again. This time, though, they might be met by a million Kyle Rittenhouses. They can stuff every ballot box in land, and surely will try with all their might and all their wiles. But I wouldn’t want to be a blobist the week after a fugazy election. They can signal their beloved “newcomers” to blow up bridges and power stations and shoot up a stadium or a mall here and there, but it won’t save their blobish necks. A lot of bad things are likely to happen over the year ahead, but it looks like America will finally refuse to become Fugazy Land."

- https://kunstler.com/

o

“Fugazy” is an American slang term that means something is fake, phony, or broken beyond repair. For example, you might describe an update that quits halfway through installation as “fugazy” your iPhone. “Fugazy” can also be used as a verb to mean “mess up”. 

- https://www.wsj.com/

Of course, fugazy normally results in FUBAR...

"FUBAR is an acronym that originated in the military, which stands for a situation that is so damaged or out of control that it is "f*cked up beyond all recognition," or alternatively, "f*cked up beyond all repair." - https://www.menshealth.com/

"Economic Market Snapshot 5/20/24"

"Economic Market Snapshot 5/20/24"

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Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...

Only the consequences are real - to you!

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"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it. 

You and I are not in the Big Club."

- George Carlin

o

Market Data Center, Live Updates:

- https://www.marketwatch.com/market-data 

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- https://www.asktraders.com/analysis/

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Comprehensive, essential truth.

- http://www.shadowstats.com/

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Financial Stress Index

"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: credit, equity valuation, funding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United States, other advanced economies, and emerging markets."

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- https://www.dailyjobcuts.com/

Job cuts and much more.

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- https://www.zerohedge.com/

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- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

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- https://wallstreetonparade.com/

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- https://www.whatreallyhappened.com/

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- https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

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Commentary, highly recommended:

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

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"The more I see of the monied classes,

the better I understand the guillotine."

- George Bernard Shaw

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Oh yeah... beyond words. Any I know anyway...

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And now... The End Game...

o

"Evil Personified..."

Scott Ritter said, "Israel is Evil personified. Israel is Evil embodied." I've commented that they're psychopathically degenerate blood thirsty genocidal monsters. Look at the slaughter in Gaza, blocking food to starving people, unimaginable murder of innocent civilians, including 15,000 CHILDREN, and you tell me. Watch these videos, see and hear from their own mouths what they are... then tell me...

o

Full screen recommended.

"Israeli TV: Palestinians Must Suffer 'Agonizing' Deaths, 

Because They Went To The Beach"

This is a case study in genocidal mania.

 o

Full screen recommended.
"'Annihilate Everyone':
Israeli TV Promotes Genocidal Song"
And the children sing...

o

Full screen recommended.

"One of Israel's Sickest Lies Torn Apart"

How could anyone possibly support this horror? 

This is who and what they are and always were!
Hang your heads in eternal shame and disgrace, America...

Jeremiah Babe, "Debt Collectors Are Coming For Your Home; Beware Of Zombie Mortgages"

Jeremiah Babe, 5/19/24

"Debt Collectors Are Coming For Your Home; 

Beware Of Zombie Mortgages"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"15 Facts That Prove Average Americans Are Being Pulverized By This Economy"

Full screen recommended.

Epic Economist, 5/19/24

"15 Facts That Prove Average Americans 

Are Being Pulverized By This Economy"

"Average Americans are feeling more anxious about money than ever before. After enduring one financial disruption after another, it's hard to feel positive when you don’t know what's around the corner. Experts called it "financial shock fatigue," – a phenomenon that helps to explain why so many people are worried about their financial security right now. U.S. workers have seen their purchasing power sharply decline in recent years while the cost of everything has ballooned. Many of them are barely staying afloat at the end of each month.

Unfortunately, deteriorating economic conditions will only aggravate people's problems in the months ahead. Several statistics are proof that average Americans are being pulverized by this economy, and today, we brought you the most important data you need to know about this matter. Without further ado, let's check out this list!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Moody Blues, "Land of Make-Believe"

Full screen recommended.

Moody Blues, "Land of Make-Believe"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"These two mighty galaxies are pulling each other apart. Known as the "Mice" because they have such long tails, each spiral galaxy has likely already passed through the other. The long tails are created by the relative difference between gravitational pulls on the near and far parts of each galaxy. Because the distances are so large, the cosmic interaction takes place in slow motion - over hundreds of millions of years. 

NGC 4676 lies about 300 million light-years away toward the constellation of Bernice's Hair (Coma Berenices) and are likely members of the Coma Cluster of Galaxies. The featured picture was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys in 2002. These galactic mice will probably collide again and again over the next billion years so that, instead of continuing to pull each other apart, they coalesce to form a single galaxy."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211004.html