"The Biggest Temper Tantrum In U.S. History Has Begun"

Full screen recommended.

"The Biggest Temper Tantrum In U.S. History Has Begun"

by Michael Snyder

"There have been many times in the history of this country when we have seen tremendous outbursts of anger, but most of those faded fairly quickly. For example, the rioting that we witnessed in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd was horrifying, but it only lasted for a matter of weeks. This time around, we are facing a national temper tantrum that won’t be measured in weeks or months. Unless the Supreme Court reverses course on abortion, and I don’t expect that will happen any time soon, the temper tantrum that we are witnessing now is not likely to have an ending point. Millions of hellish ghouls have been stirred up into a state of immense rage, and the entire nation is going to pay the price.

The violence that happened over the weekend is just the beginning. From this point forward, no pro-life organization in America will be safe. Very early on Saturday morning, police discovered that a pro-life center in a very conservative area of Virginia had been attacked…"Vandals targeted a pro-life center in Lynchburg, Virginia, with threatening graffiti and broken windows following the U.S. Supreme Court voting to overturn Roe. V. Wade on Friday.

“If abortion ain’t safe, you ain’t safe,” red graffiti states on an entrance area of the Blue Ridge Pregnancy Center, photos posted by local police show. Lynchburg Police responded to the pregnancy center at about 10:40 a.m. on Saturday. Officers found “​​that the building had been spray painted with graffiti, and multiple windows had been broken out. Security camera footage shows four masked individuals committing the acts.”

Unfortunately, as we have seen in recent weeks, these sorts of attacks are often not limited to just broken windows and graffiti. In Colorado, we just witnessed another incident in which radicals actually tried to burn a pro-life organization to the ground…"A fire which occurred at a Christian pregnancy clinic in Colorado is being treated as arson after chilling messages were spray painted onto the walls and ground outside. ‘If abortions aren’t safe, neither are you,’ read one. ‘Bans off our bodies’ said another by the entrance at the Life Choices clinic in Longmont, northeast of Boulder. The fire broke out in the middle of the night at 3:17am on Saturday morning. Authorities believe the fire was set deliberately."

State legislatures will also be targets in the days ahead. On Friday night, a group of crazed protesters actually tried to break into the Arizona Senate building while bills were actually being voted on…"Law enforcement officers in Phoenix, Arizona used tear gas to break up a sizable group of protesters outside the state’s Senate building following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark abortion ruling Roe v. Wade. “Protesters threatened to break the AZ Senate entryway glass,” Republican Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers tweeted, as members were in the middle of voting on a series of bills. The situation escalated into a “hostage” situation as lawmakers were instructed not to exit the building, Republican Arizona State Senator Kelly Townsend said."

And then they came back again on Saturday night…"On Saturday night, hundreds of anti-lifers attempted another insurrection upon the Arizona Capitol for the second night in a row. Moments before the violence began, one rioter told our correspondent that “people are about to start sh*t,” and another said, “That’s what I’ve been waiting for.” Others were overheard saying that they wanted a police conflict.

At about 11:30 pm MST, the leftist radicals began breaching the Capitol fences in preparation to storm the Capitol. They were chanting, “No justice, no peace!” After multiple warnings from State DPS officers, a fleet of police cars turned their sirens on, and the rioters immediately scattered. “Get on the ground!” yelled the officers before arresting or detaining everybody still on the property." CNN and MSNBC have given endless coverage to the events of January 6th, 2021. So why do they seem so hesitant to cover what is happening in Arizona?

In New York City, protesters vandalized the headquarters of Fox News, and some were even suggesting that it should be burned down…"In New York, at least 25 people were arrested on Friday after around 17,000 descended on Washington Square Park before marching through the streets to Grand Central Station, Times Square, and Bryant Park. They also stopped outside News Corp headquarters – home to Fox News and the The New York Post – and yelled ‘Burn it down! Burn it down! F*** Tucker Carlson!’ Vandals also sprayed ‘F*** Fox’ on the side of the building. Fox News isn’t even that conservative. But these days anyone that is considered to be associated with the pro-life movement in any way will be a potential target.

In Los Angeles, a group of very angry liberals decided to shut down the 110 Freeway, and one of them actually attacked a police officer with “a homemade flamethrower”…"Pro-abortion protesters shut down the 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angles. El American field journalist Anthony Cabassa captured the moment a vehicle drove through the blockade, and a man slams the car with a pole.

Pro-abortion activists clashed with LAPD officers. Fireworks were launched at police officers, and a man attempted to burn cops with a homemade flamethrower, Post Millennial editor Andy Ngo reported. The officer that was attacked with the flamethrower had to go to the hospital to be treated for his injuries."

Up in Portland, there were violent protests on both Friday night and Saturday night. Quite a few buildings had their windows smashed, and that included a Starbucks Coffee outlet. Don’t they understand that Starbucks is super liberal? Sadly, when these radicals get riled up they don’t seem to discriminate when it comes to destroying things.

Of course some of the largest protests have been in Washington. At one point, one particularly angry group of protesters was openly suggesting that the Supreme Court should be burned down…"Antifa-linked pro-abortion group Jane’s Revenge vowed to undertake a “night of rage” after the Supreme Court’s ruling on allowing states to make the final call about abortion. Black bloc protesters wielding umbrellas marched through the streets of Washington, D.C. The group chanted slogans such as, “If abortion ain’t safe, neither are you,” “If we don’t get it, burn it down,” “Every city, every town, burn the precinct to the ground,” and “F*** the church, f*** the state, we won’t let them decide our fate.” The protesters burned American flags."

From this point forward, authorities are going to have to guard the Supreme Court building 24 hours a day. And the same thing goes for the Supreme Court justices and their families. Earlier today, I was horrified to learn that angry radicals are openly discussing what can be done to hunt them down…"One of the top posts in a socialist subreddit featured the addresses of Supreme Court justices that voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. The Reddit users in the anti-capitalist group discussed hunting down Supreme Court justices at their churches and possibly sending them mail bombs.

The alarming threats were made in r/WorkersStrikeBack – a self-described “leftist, anti-capitalist, socialist subreddit that is dedicated to support worker strikes, protests and unions all over the world, address the obvious problems related to an average worker’s workplace, offer advice to a fellow worker struggling with their workplace problems and mock or satirize any kind of anti-worker sentiment.”

This isn’t going to go away. These people are absolutely furious, and they are going to be relentless. Those that regularly follow my work know that I have been warning for years that great civil unrest would be coming to America. Now it is here. So stay safe out there and watch your back, because things are going to start getting really crazy."

- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

"A Little Late..."

 

"Mr. Market Goes to Washington"

"Mr. Market Goes to Washington"

Step aside dunderheaded politicians... there's a new sheriff in town!

by Bill Bonner

Youghal, Ireland - "Bloomberg has the latest: "Metals Haven’t Crashed This Hard Since the Great Recession." Industrial metals are on track for the worst quarter since the 2008 financial crisis as prices are pummeled by recession worries. Copper, the great economic bellwether, has ricocheted into a bear market from a record four months ago, while tin just tumbled 21% in its worst week since a 1980s crisis froze London trading for four years."

Mr. Market is doing what he always does. When things are too expensive, he marks them down. When they are too cheap, he bids them up. If there is a shortage, he increases prices to bring forth more production. If there is a surplus, prices crash and producers cut back. Mr. Market always does the right thing at the right time. If there is a boom, he throws on cold water. If there is a bust, he brings a bottle of Jameson and a loaded pistol. He deflates bubbles… but breathes air into flattened industries.

Blowing Bubbles: The crypto bubble, for example, has now lost $2 trillion of gassy value. Cryptophiles are hoping they’ve seen the end of the deflation. Bitcoin is holding above $20,000 – for now. They’re waiting for some oxygen. But are cryptos part of an industry worth saving… or just a faddish speculation? We’ll wait and see.

After hitting record highs, shipping rates are coming down, too. People aren’t buying as much stuff; so there’s less need to restock the shelves. And the price of oil is also falling.

Higher mortgage rates have hit the housing industry. Sales of existing houses are down. And there’s less hammering going on in the construction business. Markets Insider has the story:

Lumber prices fell Thursday, marking the first decline in more than a week, as mortgage rates rose to the highest level since November 2008. Prices ticked down 2.3% to $598.50 per thousand board feet, after rallying for six consecutive sessions to edge back above $600. Earlier this month lumber tanked toward a nine-month low as gloomy housing indicators continued to pile up.

Yes, Mr. Market is at work… settling up… putting out-of-whack things back into whack. But count on the dunderheads in Congress to misunderstand everything. Elizabeth Warren came forward on Wednesday. Addressing herself to Jerome Powell. HuffPost reports: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell that he should be careful not to “tip the economy into a recession” with interest rate hikes.

Warren told Powell, “Inflation is like an illness, and the medicine needs to be tailored to the specific problem, otherwise you could make things a lot worse.” Warren asked what was worse than high inflation and low unemployment and then gave Powell an answer: High inflation with a recession and millions without jobs. “I hope you consider that before you drive this economy off a cliff,” she said."

Another Dopey Moron: Poor Mr. Powell cringed. In front of him was a moron… lecturing him about inflation. Didn’t she know? Mr. Market is in charge now. It is he who is driving towards the cliff. But a cliff is not the end of the world; it’s just a correction. Yes, of course he could see it coming. What did she think he was, an idiot? And what was this ‘inflation is an illness’ claptrap? Does she think there is some pill the Fed can prescribe… and then after a few days of bedrest, the economy will be good as new? What a dope!

Mr. Powell knows that he only has two choices. He can let Mr. Market go about his business – correcting the Fed’s error… straightening out the markets… and bringing things back to some semblance of ‘normal.’ But in that case, he will have to stand up to know-in-alls like Ms. Warren. Will he have the guts to do it? It won’t be easy. As the economy sinks, she’ll turn up the volume, looking for even bigger headlines. She’ll claim that he, Jerome Powell, pushed the economy over a cliff. And then, what will he do?

That’s his second choice: he can intervene, stop the correction and go back to printing money. The result will be a total disaster… not just for the economy, but for the nation and everybody in it – hyperinflation, war, revolution, hunger, cold, poverty… the whole shebang. But it will take years to develop. And in the meantime, he’ll get Madame Warren off his back… and be treated like a hero. He’ll prove that he, too, (following in the footsteps of that insufferable twerp, Ben Bernanke) has the ‘courage to act.’ These thoughts must have raced through the Fed chairman’s mind… along with the ‘b-word’… as he faced his antagonist on the Senate Finance committee.

But it’s way too soon for option #2. So, what could he say? The way forward, he told the Senate committee, will be “very challenging.”

- bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com

"In The Time Of Your Life"

"In the time of your life, live - so that in good time there shall be no ugliness or death for yourself or for any life your life touches. Seek goodness everywhere, and when it is found, bring it out of its hiding-place and let it be free and unashamed. Place in matter and in flesh the least of the values, for these are things that hold death and must pass away. Discover in all things that which shines and is beyond corruption. Encourage virtue in whatever heart it may have been driven into secrecy and sorrow by the shame and terror of the world. Ignore the obvious, for it is unworthy of the clear eye and the kindly heart. Be the inferior of no man, nor of any man be the superior. Remember that every man is a variation of yourself. No man's guilt is not yours, nor is any man's innocence a thing apart. Despise evil and ungodliness, but not men of ungodliness or evil. These, understand. Have no shame in being kindly and gentle, but if the time comes in the time of your life to kill, kill and have no regret. In the time of your life, live - so that in that wondrous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it."

- William Saroyan

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Graphic is astronomical clock in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

Jim Kunstler, "The Time of Our Time"

"The Time of Our Time"

by Jim Kunstler

"Let’s face it: most people will not read Justice Alito’s carefully crafted arguments about what the constitution says or doesn’t say about abortion, or the meaning of “ordered liberty” through our history. We do not live in history. We live in the time of our time. And, until just recently, this has been a time that discarded former modes of conduct between men, women, and children as inconvenient to the presumably greater project of self-actualization.

To be-all-that-you-can-be is a stirring notion, and it seemed to work nicely within the colossal techno-industrial armature of the past century, with all its inducements to thrive personally, at least for the comfortable elites who pulled the levers of that system - though not so much for those below caught in the gears, who produced children despite all the novel means for avoiding it. For the fortunate, motherhood became just another “no” box to check off, while fatherhood merged into the odious mists of obsolete patriarchy. History is made up of things that seem like good ideas at the time. The hard part now is moving out of a familiar time into the undiscovered country of a new time.

The support system for all that is going, going, gone and in the ensuing flux all that rousing self-actualization starts to look more like Thomas Hobbes’s war of all against all, a savage and pre-human state of nature. As this occurs, all human beings have to fall back on are modes of conduct that include a moral and ethical dimension, which is to say, what is right and what is wrong, not just what is allowed at a given moment.

Which is also to say: maybe the time of smashing boundaries is over. As that scaffold of techno-industrial comfort and safety disintegrates, and all the dazzling promises of becoming transhuman dissolve - sorry, Klaus Schwab - we will likely have to settle for being human again, and in the best way, not the worst way. That includes a certain reverence for our nature and for each other. That suggests not killing children.

These days, this place on the planet that used to be a nation groans under a tribulation of bad ideas, bad choices, bad conduct, bad management, and bad faith. We have not been so ripe for regime change since 1776. A ruling Party of Chaos is doing absolutely everything to disorder our lives and there really is no generous interpretation for its motives. Everything it touches breaks, wilts, withers, splinters, rots, poisons, and infects the body politic, driving it deeper into derangement. It doesn’t even pretend to make sense because that would require making distinctions between what is true and what’s not true. We follow-the-science into pure evil.

What awaits is the abandoned scaffold of the family and the community as opposed to the brute hierarchies of mere lonely, forsaken persons under the leviathan state and the behemoth corporation, which have produced mainly new kinds of cruelties, such as: the deadly “vaccine” mandates, the no-knock FBI visitations, the surveillance cameras, the robotic phone trees with their interminable holds, the obtuse insults of the HR departments, the drag queens twerking in your childrens’ faces, and much more. You might not know it from the news - what is the news now, anyway, except mercenary shuck-and-jive - but these giant governments and corporations are thrashing in their death throes. Get out of their way if you possibly can. Form the bonds you can with people and cherish them. For many, they will be all you’ll have for a while.

You can’t overstate the havoc that we’ll have to live with in the months ahead, short of blowing up the whole joint, one can hope. And it will happen just as a gigantic set of pretenses to a New Order of things rolls out to thumping failure. Forget about central bank digital currencies. Don’t believe that the very people who have severed the relationship between actual capital and money can just magically conjure a new order of money that they propose to control and you don’t. Meanwhile, the old-school money they created too much of is headed for biggest gaping black hole imaginable because that’s what happens when money based on debt is not paid back. So, for a while, there will be too much money and then there will be not enough, and then nobody will have money.

All that happens as the supply of every kind of stuff in the world stops moving from Point A to Point B, including replacement parts for every sort of machine, distribution of petroleum and its products, and food. And at the same time, it finally becomes too obvious to ignore the fact that many millions are dying or becoming disabled from the effects of the mRNA vaccines foisted on the public, especially in the USA and Europe.

Out of all that suffering will eventually come a new respect for human life and reconstructed relations between men and women, with all the abstruse ambiguities, pretensions, and nebulosities about sex put aside for some future age of decadence. It won’t require further agonizing reappraisals by any high courts to figure it out. Children are the consequence of sex. Children are required to carry on the human project."

- https://kunstler.com/

"The Economy Is In Critical Condition - Time to Notify the Family"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly 6/27/22:

"The Economy Is In Critical Condition - 

Time to Notify the Family"

How It Really Is"

"Officers At Uvalde Had Rifles, Ballistic Shield 

But Still Waited An Hour To Enter Classroom"

Officers armed with rifles and a ballistic shield entered

 Robb Elementary School nine minutes after gunman Salvador Ramos.

And the whole time they could hear continuing shots

 of 19 babies and 2 adults being killed, and did nothing...

Gregory Mannarino, "Russia Defaults On It's Debt? What You Need To Know"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 6/27/22:

"Russia Defaults On It's Debt? What You Need To Know"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"Economic Market Snapshot 6/27/22"

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

Only the consequences are real - to you!

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"Economic Market Snapshot 6/27/22"

Updated as available.

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Latest Market Analysis, Updated 6/21/22

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

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A comprehensive, essential daily read.

June 24th to June 27th

- 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...

“Parasitic Derivatives: $1.5 – 2.4 Quadrillion Dollars, Too Big to Understand"

“Parasitic Derivatives: $1.5 – 2.4 Quadrillion Dollars,

 Too Big to Understand”

By David Hague

“I recently returned from two weeks of ‘high level’ meetings with a group of Bankers [this is code for two weeks of subsidized debauchery with bankers] in Rome. As I sat at my desk, I was hoping to motivate myself to pursue a more chaste and pure existence. Unfortunately the Polar Vortex experienced by North America drained me of my good intentions. The bone chilling cold once again had me reaching for my trusty bottle of Jack Daniels for warmth and inspiration. My time in Rome had not been completely ‘wasted’, so to speak. I had secured a contract from the European Central Bank [ECB] to research the topic of Derivatives. I was to present my findings at the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos later that month.

One Quadrillion Dollars: Too Big to Understand: Dear Reader, please resist your natural instinct to click away from this commentary at the mere mention of the word ‘Derivatives’. I am acutely aware of the boredom and befuddlement that this word instills in you. At this point I would simply remind you that the derivatives market is estimated to exceed one quadrillion dollars. [This incredibly large number is actually an accurate estimate of the size of the derivatives marketplace]. (In addition, unfunded liabilities, like medical care and pensions, are at least $300 trillion globally. If we add gross derivatives of $1.5 quadrillion, which are likely to turn into real debt as counterparties fail, the total debt and liabilities are above $2 quadrillion. Source - CP) Despite the fact the derivatives market eclipses the market capitalization of the NYSE by an exponential factor, it is not discussed, reported or tracked because it is simply too complicated and opaque. Warren Buffet’s, comment about ‘weapons of mass financial destruction’ seem to be the beginning and end of any discussion on the topic.

Derivatives are a parasitic financial instrument: For those of you who are unschooled on the topic of derivatives, allow me to explain. Derivatives are abstract financial instruments, which, like parasites, can attach themselves to all manner of stocks, bonds, mortgages, commodity, debt obligations, currency exchange, interest rate fluctuations… in short, anything. Derivatives exist in the ‘twilight zone’ of the banking industry. Like black holes, their presence and massive influence are acknowledged yet the true influence on the global economy of this quadrillion dollar ‘event horizon’ is only theoretical. The near catastrophic disasters at Barings, JP Morgan and AIG are small examples of their destructive powers. However I will offer you Investorpedia’s more clinical definition. “A security whose price is dependent upon or derived from one or more underlying assets. The derivative itself is merely a contract between two or more parties.”

You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, {Kenny Rogers}: One might think of derivatives as a random game of online poker: you don’t know who your opponents are [your counterparty], you do not know if you will be paid [counterparty risk], you do not know if the game is legitimate, [lack of regulation], and your opponents are probably able to see what cards you are holding, [market domination by large banks]. As well, you are making bets that in many instances neither you nor your opponents fully grasp [complexity of the market]. With each wager you are potentially risking not only your current assets, but your future assets as well. [Leverage]. In some cases you do not know how much you are betting. Imagine as well, that you play this game every day with trillions of dollars that you do not have. This is the global derivatives market.

It is all Greek to me: Alternately, as derivatives are often created as a form of insurance, think of them as an insurance policy in which you:

• Do not know the name, address or any contact information relating to your insurer.

• Do not know if your insurer has the resources to pay a claim.

• Do not understand the insurance contract as it is written in Greek.

• Must rely on a shadowy third party [ISDA] to decide what constitutes a claim. [Credit event]

• Do not know whether your insurer is itself vulnerable to the particular risk you have contracted with it to insure.

His moral lassitude allowed him to excel: Dear Reader, I digress, let me return to my narrative. The aforementioned lucrative contract was secured by two key factors. The first factor was my friendship with Gustavo Laframboise-Pierre, the European Central Bank’s [ECB] Global Director of Statistical Creation. My relationship with such an esteemed member of the ECB traced its roots back to Gustavo’s days as a bookie for Wall Street’s elite. I referred so much business to him we became very good friends. His station in life took a remarkable turn when a senior member of the ECB, while in New York on a ‘fact finding mission’ [this is code for visiting his favorite escort] made an outrageously large and incorrect wager on the outcome of the 2010 World Cup. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, the term ‘derivative’ is commonly used in sports betting!) The only way the debt could be settled was for the banker to offer Gustavo a highly paid sinecure at the ECB. Gustavo became the Global Director of Statistical Creation with the responsibility of making up statistics to support whatever fantastical and deranged policies Central Banks around the world were initiating. Remarkably Gustavo’s aptitude for numbers, coupled with his moral lassitude allowed him to excel at his job. It was Gustavo who invented the term ‘Quantitative Easing’ as a benign euphemism for runaway money printing.

Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise’: The second factor that secured the contract for me was a chance remark I made as Gustavo and I enjoyed a ‘working lunch’, with several senior executives who represented many of the world’s largest banks. The working lunch was held at Rome’s exclusive Blue Moon Gentleman’s Club. As the featured dancer left the stage I happened to mention to the assorted luminaries that I had read an article on the subject of derivatives. The bankers looked at me with something akin to awe and reverence. Gustavo whispered to me that the topic of derivatives had been discussed in a recent conference call by the world’s bankers. The conclusion reached at that time was that derivatives were too boring and too complicated for bankers to grasp. Despite JP Morgan’s very public, expensive and monumentally stupid 5 billon dollar derivatives trading loss bankers still choose to remain cocooned in a ‘Cloak of Ignorance’ as it relates to derivatives. Thomas Gray’s lament that ‘where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise’ could easily be the mission statement of the global banking industry.

I had read a complete article, I was a ‘de facto expert’: Dear reader, I am not being rude and offensive in my remarks about JP Morgan. Surely you would agree with me that any large bank that loses $5 billion in derivatives trading is ignorant of the properties and risks of derivatives? The fact that I had actually read a complete article on the subject made me a de facto expert on the topic. Gustavo, in an act of kindness, seized the opportunity on my behalf and pressed his colleagues to retain me to research the topic and make a presentation at the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos. Thus I found myself preparing to dazzle the world’s financial elite with my insights into the risks and opportunities presented by the global derivatives market. In a rush to complete the deal before the next dancer took the stage it was agreed that I would receive the standard banker’s honorarium of $5,000/hour up to a maximum of ‘whatever it takes’.

At $5,000/hr., you would surely not expect me to be brief: I sat at my desk, sipping ‘Gentleman Jack‘ while I looked out at the bleak weather that made Brooklyn so depressing in the winter. My TV was tuned to CNBC, as I waited for Wall Street to open. I put my crack pipe in its case. Dear reader like many of you [especially those of you who work in the banking industry], I have learned all too well, the dangers of mixing crack cocaine with whiskey on an empty stomach. [Have we not all indulged, to our regret, that particular venial sin at least once?] I collected my thoughts and began to write my lengthy tome on the derivatives market. Dear reader at $5,000/hr., you would surely not expect me to be brief.

Lions and Tigers and Bears [and derivatives] Oh My!: I do not want to frighten you. However I will share with you some facts about derivatives that will have you reacting as nervously as Dorothy did in the Wizard of OZ when confronted with the thought of Lions and Tigers and Bears. ‘Derivatives, Oh My’, will I suspect be the words that escape your lips.

• Size of the derivatives market: 1.5 – 2.4 QUADRILLION dollars

• Size of Global Stock and bond markets: 175 trillion dollars

• Who regulates the Derivatives market? LOL, Regulation is a ‘work in progress’ dominated by the big banks.

How dangerous are derivatives? They almost destroyed the world’s largest insurance company, AIG, as well as the global economy. Seriously, you don’t remember? Just Google the words AIG and collapse. Alternately you might call Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan and ask him if Derivatives are dangerous. Have recent regulatory changes made the world economy less likely to implode from a derivative fuelled explosion? Actually as one might expect, thanks to regulatory enhancements that had to run the gauntlet of bank lobbyists prior to their approval, the world’s economy is in more danger than ever from a derivatives inspired meltdown.

‘Duck Dynasty’ and ‘Real Housewives’ to the rescue: How much attention does the Main Street pay to the world’s largest and riskiest casino? [AKA: the Derivatives market]. If one were to Google the word derivatives, one will get 34 million ‘hits’. Alternately, if one does a similar search for the words stocks bonds and markets one will get 400 million ‘hits’. The 34 million ‘hits’ generated by a Google search of the word derivatives compares unfavorably with the 37 million ‘hits’ generated by a search of the term ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’, the 209 million ‘hits’ generated by a search of the term ‘Duck Dynasty’ or the 713 million ‘hits’ generated by searching the word ‘Sex’. One must conclude that only when derivatives are discussed by one of the ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ posing nude in bed with one of the cast members of ‘Duck Dynasty’ will derivatives receive the attention they deserve.

Reality bites: Derivatives can only be discussed as ‘Fake News’: Where can one find insights and coverage of the Derivatives Market in the mainstream media? Is Fox News or CNN my best choice? Sadly Dear reader your best choice would have been The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Despite the calamitous risk and obvious importance of this topic only Mr. Stewart and his team dared to share information with the general public. Given the outlandish and frightening risks derivatives constitute to the Global Economy, perhaps Mr. Stewart was correct that it can only be discussed in the ‘Fake News’ format.

Derivatives: better suited for Ripley’s Believe it or not than the Wall Street Journal: How bizarre is the derivatives market? How is the concept of money for nothing propagated by the derivatives market? What is the difference between a chump and a champion in the derivatives market? I will leave it to Shah Gilani in his excellent post in “Wall Street: Insights and Indictments“ to explain. Suffice to say that one is able to buy insurance in the derivatives market. One can then cause the insured event to occur by collaborating with a third party. All that remains is to collect the insurance proceeds. [To be clear the proceeds are usually in the tens of millions of dollars.] The derivatives market makes the Ponzi-like money printing of the Central banks look like ‘Amateur Hour’.

Who needs ‘Crack’? Dear reader, usually I needed a little help from my friend Mr. Crack to feel as paranoid and euphoric as I did at this moment. Paranoid, because it was clear to me that the derivatives market was truly a weapon of mass financial destruction. Euphoric because I knew that my research would make my ‘Derivatives’ presentation at the World Economic Forum a groundbreaking ‘tour de force’ that would vault me to the forefront of ‘talking heads’ that pass for experts on mainstream media. Fame, fortune, a book deal and perhaps that elusive Nobel Prize would surely follow. My twenty minutes of painstaking research, had made me one of the world’s foremost experts on this complex subject. [BTW Dear Reader by reaching this point in my commentary, you surely now know more about derivatives than most bankers and traders on Wall Street. You should be quite pleased.]

David, you are an imbecile: I decided to reach out to my pal Gustavo and share some of my findings. I knew that it was 3:30 in the afternoon in Paris so I would be able to catch Gustavo just as he arrived for another day of work. “Gustavo”, I intoned, breathless with excitement. “I have uncovered some startling, controversial, and frightening information about derivatives. The luminaries and leading lights who attend my presentation in Davos will be utterly gobsmacked by my revelations. The media will undoubtedly ensure that my findings go viral. The topic of derivatives will no longer exist only in the dark shadows of the banking industry. The danger that derivatives pose to the global economy will permeate the consciousness of Main Street.” Gustavo sighed, “David, I do not know if you are stupid or naïve. Every September when you bet $1,000 that the perennially atrocious Toronto Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup, I assumed you were simply ingenuous. Your comments today have convinced me that you are an imbecile. Let me assure you that those will not be the findings that you present at the World Economic Forum. Rather you will inform the world that derivatives are a financial instrument that is being used by brilliant and prudent financial professionals to mitigate risk and make the world a safer place.”

The ‘Truth Will Out’: “Gustavo”, I groaned, “that would be a lie. I cannot in good conscience, sacrifice my integrity, my honor, my core beliefs and my good name simply to placate Wall Street and the Central Banks. I have a responsibility to my readers on Main Street to inform them, to warn them, to prepare them for the likely financial chaos that derivatives will cause”. “Gustavo”, I said with iron willed determination, “the Truth Will Out”. “David”, Gustavo snarled, “If you change the tenor of your presentation and indicate that derivatives are the most benign form of financial instrument, somewhat akin to Treasury bills, we will double your fee”.

Move along nothing to see here: Dear Reader, in summary let me say that derivatives are the most benign form of financial instrument, somewhat akin to treasury bills. Gustavo’s immutable logic and persuasive argument was instrumental in helping me reach the correct conclusion regarding the risks to the Global economy posed by derivatives. So Dear Reader, move along, there is nothing to see here.”

- http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article43990.html

"This Is What's Going To Happen In Next 15 Days: Taking $30 Trillion Out of the $85 Trillion Global Economy"

Full screen recommended.

Chamath Palihapitiya, 6/26/22:

"This Is What's Going To Happen In Next 15 Days:

Taking $30 Trillion Out of the $85 Trillion Global Economy"

"The global economy is heated up specifically after the free money injected by the governments during the pandemic outbreak. That free money has popped up the prices of commodities, assets and everything traded in the economy. The Russia-Uterine War has made the situation worse. Consequently, the over-heated global economy is on the verge of a recession. US reported the 40 years highest inflation. And to counter the surging inflation Fed has announced a 75-basis point interest rate hikes. Now the international institutions are ringing the alarms of economic slowdown. IMF also cut down the global growth outlook again. 

On these concerns and fears Chamath Palihapitiya appeared in All-In-Podcast with David Sachs. Chamath is of the view that this is the beginning of what we were warning before, and after the Fed’s rates hikes if anybody thinks that the economic situation would be normal in days or weeks or even in next 6 months, that is not true. He thinks that bubbly asset prices would calm down to their actual level in next 18 to 36 months. Chamath has also criticized the modern monetary theory where some of the economists think that the they would keep the economy smooth by printing and injecting the money into the economy. And they haven’t seen the result of money printing during the pandemic outbreak then they are ignoring the reality intentionally. David Sachs agreed with Chamath’s point of view that the worst is not going to end soon rather it will take years to get it normalized. David pointed out the housing prices which have surpassed the historic highs and are making the economic situation worse."

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"Wealth Destruction Of 90% Is Next" (Excerpt)

by Egon Von Greyerz

Excerpt: "The Dow to fall 90% in real terms: Very few people realize the enormous wealth transfer that will take place in the next 5 years. Most will lose 75-90% of their wealth and some 100%. In 1929 the Dow peaked at 400 and then collapsed to 40 in 1932. This 90% fall occurred at a point when economic conditions in the US and globally were a lot more benign then they are today. Since 1981 the Dow has gone up 22x. With the world experiencing a historical asset and credit bubble of unprecedented proportions, an implosion of debt could easily see the Dow down 90% like in 1929-32 or probably even 95% to get back to the 850 level where this bull market started. This would mean a fall of 95% in real terms. 

I say real terms because it is not unlikely that we will see the biggest money printing experiment in history with central banks worldwide printing trillions or even quadrillions of dollars in a futile attempt to save the financial system and the world economy. This massive money printing could lead to the Dow reaching much higher levels in nominal or hyperinflationary terms."

Please view complete article here:

- https://www.linkedin.com/

"The Coming Famine We Predicted Two Years Ago Is Here: How Bad Will the Food Shortage Get?" (Excerpt)

"The Coming Famine We Predicted Two Years Ago Is Here: 

How Bad Will the Food Shortage Get?"

by Dr. Joseph Mercola

Excerpt: "May 2020, I, along with other experts, predicted that food disruptions and even famine could follow the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, that prediction appears to be coming true, as food shortages and sky-high prices will become a long-term thing by this fall. Don't panic, just prepare.

Story At-A-Glance:

• It’s becoming increasingly clear that severe food shortages are going to be inevitable, more or less worldwide, and whatever food is available will continue to go up in price.

• The cost of agricultural inputs such as diesel and fertilizers is skyrocketing due to shortages - caused by a combination of intentional and coincidental events - and those costs will be reflected in consumer food prices come fall and next year

• Mysterious fires, alleged bird flu outbreaks and other inexplicable events are killing off livestock and destroying crucial infrastructure. Since the end of April 2021, at least 96 farms, food processing plants and food distribution centers across the U.S. have been damaged or destroyed

• The global food price index had risen 58.5% above the 2014-2016 average as of April 2022, due to a convergence of post-pandemic global demand, extreme weather, tightening food stocks, high energy prices, supply chain bottlenecks, export restrictions, taxes and the Russia-Ukraine conflict

• Combined, all of these factors set us up for guaranteed food shortages, food inflation and, potentially, famine in some places, so now is the time to prepare."

Please view complete article here:

- https://articles.mercola.com/

"Massive Price Increases Everywhere! Time To Get Creative!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures with Danno, 6/27/22:

"Massive Price Increases Everywhere! Time To Get Creative!"

"In today's vlog we are noticing massive price increases all over the country! We are here to discuss skyrocketing prices, and a lot of empty shelves! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba14SWChDM8

"Bank Runs In China! Millions Rush To Get Their Money Out Of The System As Cash Shortage Begins"

Full screen recommended.

"Bank Runs In China! Millions Rush To Get Their 

Money Out Of The System As Cash Shortage Begins"

by Epic Economist

"China’s banking sector is in a total and complete mess right now. Millions of Chinese citizens are desperately rushing to get their money out of the system as fears of a bank collapse continue to rise. New reports are warning that bank runs are sparking unprecedented chaos all across the country, given that many savers just discovered that they are at risk of losing everything. The country’s growing economic and financial instability is threatening to trigger a ripple effect all across the planet, making global financial markets edge closer to a massive meltdown. That ultimately means that not only the Chinese could be financially wiped out overnight - the whole world is actually moving towards another historic downturn, and as bubbles burst and markets crash, we're all in danger at this point.

Since the start of 2022, a series of Chinese banks have suspended cash withdrawals without giving any explanation to their customers, raising fears that a much bigger financial problem could be looming as the nation’s real estate sector crashes and the rate of loan delinquencies continues to soar. There is no official data reporting the total amount of funds that bank depositors are unable to withdraw yet, but experts estimate that hundreds of billions of yuan are being withheld. The latest numbers showed that in April alone, over 400,000 banking customers across China were unable to access their savings.

Of course, in a nation of over 1.4 billion people, that’s a drop in the ocean of the Chinese vast banking system. However, experts say that what is exposed could only be the tip of the iceberg. Since late last week, bank runs have started to accelerate all over China. While millions of Chinese people remain unable to access their bank deposits since January, many others are rushing to get their money out of the system as soon as possible, but most of them are having difficulties when trying to withdraw cash from their bank accounts.

Local reports expose that “some banks will only serve a limited number of customers per day, some banks limit each client’s withdrawal to no more than 1,000 yuan and others closed their branches. Even the ATM machines are empty”. According to Hao, a resident in Longgang district in Shenzhen, freezing accounts is a method banks use to stop people from withdrawing cash.

China's gigantic real estate sector, which accounts for as much as 30% of its GDP, is facing a devastating crash ever since the country’s biggest property developer, Evergrande, became insolvent. Right now, global financial markets are on edge as the world’s largest economies face the burst of housing bubbles while stock markets crash. The meltdown of the Chinese banking sector can cause a domino effect of systemic failures and a credit crunch, increasing the possibility of a global financial crisis in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Even though many Americans may think that what’s going on in China will never occur in the U.S. since China’s main banks are state-owned, according to the financial expert and best-selling author, Robert Kiyosaki, that possibility is not so far removed. Millions of American families are at risk of seeing their savings disappearing overnight due to their accounts’ high exposure to asset bubbles and soaring inflation, he alerted. In other words, as social and economic disorder continues to spread across the planet, soon, we could be the ones seeing our savings suddenly vanishing from the system."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRqYoCa7GJY

“US On Collision Course With A Severe Depression; Credit Card Debt Will Cost You; Renters At Risk”

Jeremiah Babe, 6/26/22:

“US On Collision Course With A Severe Depression; 

Credit Card Debt Will Cost You; Renters At Risk”

Musical Interlude: Era, “Infinity Ocean”

Full screen recommended.

Era, “Infinity Ocean”

"A Look to the Heavens"

“In one of the brightest parts of Milky Way lies a nebula where some of the oddest things occur. NGC 3372, known as the Great Nebula in Carina, is home to massive stars and changing nebulas. The Keyhole Nebula (NGC 3324), the bright structure just above the image center, houses several of these massive stars and has itself changed its appearance.

The entire Carina Nebula spans over 300 light years and lies about 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Carina. Eta Carinae, the most energetic star in the nebula, was one of the brightest stars in the sky in the 1830s, but then faded dramatically. Eta Carinae is the brightest star near the image center, just left of the Keyhole Nebula. While Eta Carinae itself may be on the verge of a supernova explosion, X-ray images indicate that much of the Great Carina Nebula has been a veritable supernova factory.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

"The Last Time Always Happens Now"

"The Last Time Always Happens Now"

by David Cain

"William Irvine, an author and philosophy professor I’m a big fan of, often tries to point people towards a little-discussed fact of human life: "You always know when you’re doing something for the first time, and you almost never know when you’re doing something for the last time."

There was, or will be, a last time for everything you do, from climbing a tree to changing a diaper, and living with a practiced awareness of that fact can make even the most routine day feel like it’s bursting with blessings. Of all the lasting takeaways from my periodic dives into Stoicism, this is the one that has enhanced my life the most. I’ve touched on it before in my Stoicism experiment log and in a Patreon post, and I intend to write about it many more times in the future (but who can say?)

To explain why someone might want to start thinking seriously about last times, Bill Irvine asks us to imagine a rare but relatable event: going to your favorite restaurant one last time, knowing it’s about to close up for good.

Predictably, dining on this last-ever night makes for a much richer experience than almost all the other times you’ve eaten at that restaurant, but it’s not because the food, decor, or service is any different than usual. It’s better because you know it’s the last time, so you’re apt to savor everything you can about it, right down to the worn menus and tacky napkin rings. You’re unlikely to let any mistakes or imperfections bother you, and in fact you might find them endearing.

It becomes clearer than ever, in other words, how great it was while it lasted, and how little the petty stuff mattered. On that last dinner, you can set aside minor issues with ease, and appreciate even the most mundane details. Anything else would seem foolish, because you’re here now, and this is it. It might even occur to you that there’s no reason you couldn’t have enjoyed it this much every time you dined here – except that all the other times, you knew there would be more times, so you didn’t have to be so intentional about appreciating it.

That’s an exceptionally rare situation though. Almost always, we do things for the last time without knowing it’s the last time. There was a last time – on an actual calendar date – when you drew a picture with crayons purely for your own pleasure. A last time you excitedly popped a Blockbuster rental into your VCR. A last time you played fetch with a certain dog. Whenever the last time happened, it was “now” at the time.

You’ve certainly heard the heart-wrenching insight that there’s always a last time a parent picks up their child. By a certain age the child is too big, which means there’s always an ordinary day when the parent picks up and puts down their child as they have a thousand times before, with no awareness that it was the last time they would do it.

Ultimately there will be as many last times as there were first times. There will be last time you do laundry. A last time you eat pie. A last time you visit a favorite neighborhood, city, or country. For every single friend you’ve ever had, there will be a last time you talk, or maybe there already has been.

For ninety-nine percent of these last times, you will have no idea that that’s what it is. It will seem like another of the many middle times, with a lot more to come. If you knew it was the last-ever time you spoke to a certain person or did a certain activity, you’d probably make a point of appreciating it, like a planned last visit to Salvatore’s Pizzeria. You wouldn’t spend it thinking about something else, or let minor annoyances spoil it.

Many last times are still a long way in the future, of course. The trouble is you don’t know which ones. The solution, Irvine suggests, is to frequently imagine that this is the last time, even when it’s probably not. A few times a day, whatever you’re doing, you assume you’re doing that thing for the last time. There will be a last time you sip coffee, like you’re doing now. What if this sip was it? There will be a last time you walk into the office and say hi to Sally. If this was it, you might be a little more genuine, a little more present.

The point isn’t to make life into a series of desperate goodbyes. You can go ahead and do the thing more or less normally. You might find, though, that when you frame it as a potential last time, you pay more attention to it, and you appreciate it for what it is in a way you normally don’t. It turns out that ordinary days are full of experiences you expect will keep happening forever, and of course none of them will.

It doesn’t matter if the activity is something you particularly love doing. Walking into a 7-11 or weeding the garden is just as worthy of last-time practice as hugging a loved one. Even stapling the corner of some pages together can generate a sense of appreciation, if you saw it as your final act of stapling in a life that’s contained a surprising amount of stapling.

Irvine uses mowing the lawn as an example, a task he doesn’t love doing. If you imagine that this is the last time you’ll mow the lawn, rather than consider it a good riddance, you might realize that there will be a time when you’ve mown your last lawn, and that there were a lot of great things about living in your lawn-mowing, bungalow-maintaining heyday. A few seconds later, it dawns on you that you still are.

You can get very specific with the experiences you do this with. The last time you roll cookie dough between your palms. The last time you get rained on. The last time you sidestep down a crowded cinema aisle. The last time your jeans smell like campfire smoke. The last time your daughter says “swannich” instead of “sandwich.” Virtually everything is a worthy candidate for this reflection.

It always brings perspective to your life as it is now, and it never gets old. It’s an immensely rewarding exercise, but it not a laborious one. It takes only two or three seconds - allowing yourself “a flickering thought,” as Irvine put it - to notice what you’re doing right now, and consider the possibility that this is indeed the last escalator ride at Fairfield Mall, the last time you put on a Beatles record, the last time you encounter a squirrel, or the last time you parallel park in front of Aunt Rita’s building."

- https://www.raptitude.com/ 

"Streets of Philadelphia, June 26, 2022"

Full screen recommended.

SBC News Documentary,

"Streets of Philadelphia, June 26, 2022"

"Violent crime and drug abuse in Philadelphia as a whole is a major problem. The city’s violent crime rate is higher than the national average and other similarly sized metropolitan areas. Also alarming is Philadelphia’s drug overdose rate. The number of drug overdose deaths in the city increased by 50% from 2013 to 2015, with more than twice as many deaths from drug overdoses as deaths from homicides in 2015. A big part of Philadelphia’s problems stem from the crime rate and drug abuse in Kensington.

Because of the high number of drugs in Kensington, the neighborhood has a drug crime rate of 3.57, the third-highest rate by neighborhood in Philadelphia. Like a lot of the country, a big part of this issue is a result of the opioid epidemic. Opioid abuse has skyrocketed over the last two decades in the United States and Philadelphia is no exception. Along with having a high rate of drug overdose deaths, 80% percent of Philadelphia’s overdose deaths involved opioids and Kensington is a big contributor to this number. This Philly neighborhood is purportedly the largest open-air narcotics market for heroin on the East Coast with many neighboring residents flocking to the area for heroin and other opioids. With such a high number of drugs in Kensington, many state and local officials have zoned in on this area to try and tackle Philadelphia’s problem."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2oJY_R_pTc

The Daily "Near You?

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Thanks for stopping by!