"Don’t Ask Why People Are Poor, Ask Why They’re Wealthy"

"Don’t Ask Why People Are Poor,

Ask Why They’re Wealthy"

By John Wilder

"I find it sort of hilarious that economists spend a lot of time fretting about what causes poverty. I love economics, but often think that they create pocket universes to study that have no real connection to the here and now. I think that’s called sniffing their own...uh...emissions. But sometimes it’s not just economists who ask the wrong question. As bad as they are, the worst offenders are politicians. Let’s start with the dumbest question that has been asked in my lifetime (at least in the United States): “What causes poverty?” That’s letting Whoopi Goldberg loose in a chocolate factory stupid. It doesn’t help the chocolate and leaves Whoopi sticky and needing an insulin shot.

But why is that a stupid question? Because poverty is the dominant condition of humanity everywhere since we didn’t have two rocks to fight over. People throughout history have been devastatingly, living in mud hut, sleeping in straw beds filled with more bedbugs than straw. Mary and Joseph had to walk uphill, both ways, to get to the manger.

Only in rare times, and only for a small percentage of the population of the world have some humans felt prosperity. Fewer still have felt prosperity for most of their lives. Fewer still experienced enough wealth in their society for them to think that wealth was normal, and poverty was the exception. We call them Pampered Coastal Elite Leftists.

Why? Because every farmer in the Midwest, every rancher in the High Plains, and every shrimper in the Gulf (among many, many others) knows how close they are to failure, and how close poverty is, especially if a free-range Whoopi Goldberg is free to eat and trample their crops.

Ma Wilder was impacted by the Depression (she was a lot older than my biological Mom, I was adopted) to the point that, living up on Wilder Mountain she’d save aluminum foil and old pickle jars and have enough food for six months because, “You just never know when you’ll need it.” It was kinda cute until she made us re-use Q-Tips®.

The Wolf is always at the door. So, the question to ask isn’t “what makes people poor”. We can see that as all the systems around us break down like they are now when morons are at the helm. We should ask the important question: “What makes us wealthy?”

That’s a much better question to ask, since LBJ’s War on Poverty has just subsidized being poor and created a permanent underclass of voters for Leftists to farm, dependent on the Left for a constant stream of handouts. If you were late to Leftist language class, that’s their word for “compassion”.

So, what makes us wealthy? I can only go from history in those places where the world has deviated from the “nasty, brutish, and short” version of life to that “shining city on the hill”. What matters? The first thing that comes to mind is Liberty, tempered with Virtue.

Liberty is important, but Virtue tempers Liberty and creates a boundary, otherwise Opium and Fentanyl Den™ would be the new Waffle House®. Or is that the existing Waffle House© after 2am?

What Liberty does is provides options, for millions of people to make individual decisions on how to better serve fellow citizens. Virtue means that they shouldn’t destroy their fellow citizens in the process, since that’s generally bad for business. I guess that cigarette companies have found that it’s okay if you kill them slowly after decades.

Not only that, it’s regulation. Who loves regulation? Big companies. Regulations make it hard for small companies to start, make it hard for them to compete, but increases their profit margin. I mean, I would have loved to compete with Pfizer® with my “Super Saline Covid Injection” that didn’t cause myocarditis, but they would probably want to make sure mine was entirely WD-40® free. Which would still likely have been better for people than the mRNA Vaxx. But who is counting? Not the CDC®.

What else? Intelligence. If you ask ChatGPT® about the correlation between intelligence and national prosperity it blows a fuse. Bing™ chimes right in: “There is a correlation between IQ and economic prosperity. A one point increase in IQ is associate with a 4% increase in welfare for the average country. High IQ is associated with high per-capita GDP and fast economic growth, as well as more equal income distribution.”

Ouch! That’ a truth bomb that most folks don’t want to hear. IQ is not really something that anyone can change for the better. Sure, I can drink a few shots of Jim Beam® and take mine down, but what I’ve got, is what I’ve got, from birth.

But smart people in an economy can keep a more stable economy, and can better grow a complex economy than a group of people who don’t know what vowels are. Sure, I’d like to think that groups of dumb people could get together and solve the nuclear fusion problem, but I’ve met dumb people – they can’t figure out how to split a restaurant tab without a knife fight then a follow-up sacrifice of a live chicken to Gorto the Destructor god.

Or I could have just said, “Imagine Haiti” and everyone would know what I meant. Again, I’m not blaming Haitians for making Haiti, well, Haiti, but if you want to cry, go look over the difference in income between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. I’ll save you the time – the Dominican Republic has nine times the per capita income, despite being on the same exact island. The data I found (on the ‘net, mind you) has the Dominican Republic has an average IQ of 80. Haiti has an average IQ of 67. Haiti has an average intellectual capacity (if this data is correct) at the level where Social Security would consider them disabled (on average).

Having great resources? That doesn’t appear to help. It’s the System. It’s the People. If Hong Kong and Singapore can create wealth out of zero resources in a location that almost anyone in the United States would consider so crowded they’d have to make an appointment to change their mind, it’s not space, it’s not stuff.

We can change our laws to allow more Liberty and increase Virtue and reverse the trends away from the nonsense of the last fifty years that encourage large corporate growth at the expense of the People. But if we change out our People? Who are we? Will we see the continuation of turning our cities into Haiti on the half shell?

Studies of the genetics of dead Romans (LINK) showed that “intelligence increased from the Neolithic Era (Z= -0.77) to the Iron Age (Z= 0.86), declines after the Republic Period and during the Imperial Period (Z= -0.27).” Why did Rome fall? Many reasons. It lost Liberty, it lost Virtue, and it replaced Romans with people who weren’t Romans. Wonder if we’ll learn this time around?"

- https://wilderwealthywise.com/

Bill Bonner, "Degenerate, Decline and Distort"

"Degenerate, Decline and Distort"

The twisted transformation of the entire US economy.

by Bill Bonner

Poitou, France - "Today, we look at distortions. The US economy is transitioning… It is affirming its true nature…or distorting it. So, let’s not mis-identify it! From a 40-year period of falling interest rates and rising asset prices…it is moving towards a long trend of higher real rates and lower real asset prices. Most likely, the movements will be distorted by inflation. That is, the dollar is likely to decline in value making the actual price trends hard to decipher.

Meanwhile, the great Empire rolls over…degenerates, declines…the genders get reassigned…the pronouns get scrambled…reparations get passed out, or not…the deficits get bigger…the military/industrial/spook/university/pharmaceutical/medical/press complex gets richer…the middle class gets poorer…the new digital money replaces the dollar…the Federal government goes broke…and everything is distorted by fraudulent money and the fake media.

But wait. It’s not that simple!

Familiar Faces: Yesterday, Guy came over to dig a trench for an electric line for a new apartment. Guy is short, muscular, tanned….in his 60s. We’ve known him for at least a quarter of a century. But we’ve never seen him without a small cigar in his mouth, and a slightly rakish look. “Bonjour Monsieur Bonner,” he greets us rather formally. But when he sees Elizabeth, his arms stretch out. He embraces her and addresses her with the informal “tu” …which is shockingly familiar. “You are looking as ‘mignone’ as ever,” he continues, giving her a big hug. “You might need to get your eyes checked,” Elizabeth was quick with a comeback.

There is always a bit of flirtiness in the French countryside. Perhaps it comes from the lack of other distractions. Without it, men feel less manly…and women are disappointed. As for today’s non-binary farmhands…we don’t know how they roll.

We’re here in France, where we’ve spent summers for the last 28 years. According to the news, southern Europe is roasting. But here in central France, we wear sweaters…it is rainy and chilly. Do reports on the summer weather patterns give us an accurate view? Or do they distort it?

We live in a house that was once the center of a large farm. The house is big…if a bit ramshackle. And there are many outbuildings which once served as barns, workshops, storage areas, living quarters, stables, poultry houses, a bakery – everything that a farm community needed in the 19th century. Once there were many families living here. Now, there is only ours. And our family too has been greatly reduced. The children have grown up. They have their own careers and children of their own. And our aged relatives – who lived with us – have passed away.

A Confusing Mix of Signals: Often, Elizabeth and your editor are here alone, dwarfed by history, the house itself and its surroundings. But in the summer, we encourage the whole family to come for a vacation. And so they come – children…grandchildren…nieces…nephews… …friends, friends of friends, and sometimes a few people of uncertain provenance.

Suddenly, the place comes alive again…as it was when our own children were little. And then we discover – we don’t have enough space for them all! So, your editor has set to work, turning a loft in one of the empty outbuildings into an apartment. (More about that anon.) And that too brings back the old days with all the noise and commotion of renovating an old house. Guy with his digger…an electrician with his drill…hammers hammering…plumbers a-plumbing…and six geese a-laying. What a delight!

But enough idle chit-chat. Returning to the US economy…We are looking at distortions – a confusing mix of signals. Some tell us that the old economy, 1982-2022, is still doing its thing. Others tell us that things have changed. And some don’t know what they are trying to say.

A Teary Ending: Let’s begin by looking at those that signal trouble ahead. Charlie Bilello: "The Leading Economic Index declined in June for the 15th month in a row, the longest down streak since 2007-08. The Conference Board is still forecasting a recession from Q3 2023 to Q1 2024 driven by “elevated prices, tighter monetary policy, harder-to-get credit, and reduced government spending.”

US Industrial Production is already seeing a slowdown, with growth turning negative on a YoY basis for the first time since February 2021. Additionally, US Retail Sales have increased less than 1% over the last year and after adjusting for inflation have declined on a YoY basis for 8 consecutive months.

Yahoo Finance reports that…"John Hussman is doubling down on his dire outlook for US stocks…" "Stretched equity valuations suggest that the S&P 500 index would be required to plunge by as much as 64% for the market to return to more balanced conditions, according to the asset-bubble expert who successfully predicted the stock routs of 2000 and 2008.

"The present combination of historically rich valuations, unfavorable internals, and extreme overextension places our market return/risk estimates – near term, intermediate, full-cycle, and even 10-12 year, at the most negative extremes we define," Hussman, president of the Hussman Investment Trust, wrote in a note. "Yes, this is a bubble in my view. Yes, I believe it will end in tears."

On the other hand, yesterday brought another (barely) positive day of trading. If there is trouble ahead, the stock market doesn’t see it. But then, it never does. It is always at the very peak of the day that the evening begins. Overall, the stock market indexes are now within whiskers of setting new highs – in nominal terms. We add that “in nominal terms” because already, the price structure has changed a lot over the last couple of years, distorting real values.

Let us say Americans pay about 10% more for consumer goods and services than they did in 2021, when the Dow boomed over 36,000. In order to stay even with inflation, the Dow would have to go to nearly 40,000. That’s what inflation does to everything; it distorts the truth. It lies. It prevaricates. Investors think they are making money; but they are just keeping up with rising prices.

Unmolested Spiders: Our guess is that, whatever else is happening, the distortions will become more complex in the years ahead. The much-anticipated recession hasn’t happened yet. But keep your shirts on – please! Most likely, the economy will begin to walk backwards later this year. And most likely, the recession will be deeper…and longer…than people expect. This will prompt the Fed to begin cutting rates rather than raising them. And that is where the real distortions and confusions begin. Prices will go up. But real values will fall. It will be hard to know if you’re getting richer or poorer…coming or going.

Probably the most confusing market right now is the US housing market. While other prices are coming down, housing prices are still near an all-time high. But the number of houses for sale has plummeted. People are “locked in” to low interest mortgages. They can’t sell; they can’t move…or they will have to face much bigger down payments and much higher mortgage payments. This has left the pool of houses available for sale nearly 30% smaller than in 2019. More amazing, there are approximately 50 million more people in the US than there were in January 2000. But there are 37% fewer existing houses for sale today than there were then.

Think of the poor real estate agents! Nothing to sell. No one to sell it to. Spiders build their webs in real estate office doorways, confident that they will be unmolested. Banks close their accounts for lack of activity. The volume of sales declined again last year, the 22nd year in a row of falling sales. Relative to the population, never have so few houses been available to buyers. But don’t worry. You can’t afford one anyway. Considering today’s 7% mortgage rates, never have they been so expensive."

- https://bonnerprivateresearch.substack.com/

"Welcome To The Jungle, Another Bank Goes Down; Home Prices Drop; Credit Crisis About To Accelerate"

Jeremiah Babe, 7/25/23

"Welcome To The Jungle, Another Bank Goes Down; 

Home Prices Drop; Credit Crisis About To Accelerate"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Colonel Douglas Macgregor, "Straight Calls 7/25/23"

Colonel Douglas Macgregor, Straight Calls 7/25/23

"Massive Russian Offensive On The Lyman Slovyansk Axis"

"Analysis of breaking news and in-depth discussion of current geopolitical events in the United States of America and the world."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Colonel Douglas Macgregor, 7/25/23

"The Counter-Offensive That Went Nowhere"

Only 10 brigades remain in battle-ready state.

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

"Massive Polish Military Column Heading to Belarus Border"

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"It would indeed be a tragedy if the history of the human race 

proved to be nothing more than the story of an ape

 playing with a box of matches on a petrol dump."

- David Ormsby-Gore"

"People Are Freaking Out As Basic Food Items Became 300% More Expensive This Year"

Full screen recommended.

"People Are Freaking Out As Basic Food Items

 Became 300% More Expensive This Year"

By Epic Economist

"It’s no secret that money doesn’t go as far in grocery stores as it once did. The soaring cost of food staples remains a pain point for millions of American families in 2023. In June, grocery prices rose again, keeping the cost of living at historic highs and squeezing the buying power of U.S. workers for yet another month. After dealing with over two years of persistent price increases, shoppers are having to pay up to 300% more on everyday essentials, according to a new report that compares 2020 prices to the ones we’re seeing at supermarkets today. If you’re being forced to change your eating habits and worried about weekly price fluctuations at stores, you are not alone. A Swiftly survey reveals that the overwhelming majority of households in the United States are facing growing hardships and even going into debt to afford their grocery bills. With a recession unfolding and companies announcing mass job cuts, many people out there will, unfortunately, find themselves in extreme situations, and food insecurity and hunger may not be such distant possibilities for those who are already struggling right now.

Restaurants and consumers alike are reporting insane price hikes in 2023. A new report by NJ Advanced Media compared the costs of some everyday essentials between 2020 and 2023, and their finds are truly shocking. According to the analysis, nearly every consumer and restaurant owner surveyed has mentioned one key food staple that skyrocketed in price: Chicken. In 2020, a 40-pound bag of chicken cost $27. Now, it is selling for $108. That’s a 300% price hike in the span of just 30 months, the analysts highlighted.

With a potato shortage hitting most U.S. markets since December 2021, one popular item both at restaurants and at home is also facing staggering levels of inflation this year. Frozen french fries are second on the list of products with the highest price increases in recent years, going up a whopping 156%. A 30-pound box of French fries that cost just $16 in January 2021, now sells for $41, researchers revealed.

Rounding up the top three, avocados jumped in price by 122% since 2021. Soybean oil prices rose by 110% since 2020, the report showed. Many people are simply cutting some products off their grocery shopping lists because they have become far too expensive.

At this point, food inflation is making many people change their diets and worry about the quality of the food they are getting. A survey conducted by retail industry technology platform Swiftly found that 70% of shoppers are currently struggling to afford groceries, and that’s having a major impact on the way they eat. This is very alarming considering that about half of Americans wouldn’t be able to pay for groceries and monthly bills if they happened to lose their jobs during the ongoing recession, GOBanking Rates reported.

The truth is that many cash-strapped households may be just a job loss away from experiencing a similar situation, especially considering just how out of touch with reality food prices have become. In the world’s wealthiest nation, no one should be suffering from hunger, but it is already among us and it may get even worse as the U.S. economy enters another crisis."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gerald Celente, "Blimpitis: We're #1"

Very strong language alert!

Gerald Celente, Trends Journal 7/25/23

"Blimpitis: We're #1"

"In today's episode Gerald Celente describes the new virus plaguing the world, blimpitis. Also, the latest updates in the Middle East, Ukraine and the economic outlook."

- https://trendsresearch.com/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gerald's in fine form as always, lol

Musical Interlude: Neil H, “Candlelight Dreams”

Neil H, “Candlelight Dreams”

"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 maybe 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

Chet Raymo, “On Being Good”

“On Being Good”

by Chet Raymo

“Several years ago, I attended a seminar on the foundations of ethical systems. The participants quoted Plato, Jesus, Heidegger, and a host of other authorities; they trotted out every philosophical and theological reason why we can or should be good. Of course, prominent among the arguments was that old canard: Without the promise of eternal salvation or the threat of damnation, we would all be scoundrels.

No one mentioned that we are first of all biological creatures with an evolutionary history, and that altruism, aggression, fidelity, promiscuity, nurturing and violence might be part of our animal natures.

I looked around the auditorium and saw folks of every religious and philosophical persuasion, and of many cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and I thought, "Gee, I'd trust any one of these folks not to take my wallet in a dark alley." Sure, humans are capable of great evil, but most of us are pretty good most of the time, and I suspect that it has more to do with where we have been as a biological species than with where we hope to be going in some airy-fairy afterlife.

We are animals who have evolved the capacity to cherish our fellow humans and to resist for the common good our innate tendencies to aggression and selfishness, not because we have been plucked out of our animal selves by some sky hook from above, but because we have been nudged into reflective consciousness by evolution. When it comes to living in a civilized way on a crowded planet, I choose to put my faith in the long leash of the genes rather than fear of hellfire or the chance to walk on streets of gold.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

"It Is Our Fate..."

"Well, it is our fate to live in a time of crisis. To live in a time when all forms and values are being challenged. In other and more easy times, it was not, perhaps, necessary for the individual to confront himself with a clear question: What is it that you really believe? What is it that you really cherish? What is it for which you might, actually, in a showdown, be willing to die? I say, with all the reticence which such large, pathetic words evoke, that one cannot exist today as a person – one cannot exist in full consciousness – without having to have a showdown with one’s self, without having to define what it is that one lives by, without being clear in one’s mind what matters and what does not matter.”

- Dorothy Thompson

"Nine Meals from Anarchy"

"Nine Meals from Anarchy"

by Jeff Thomas

"In 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy.” Since then, his observation has been echoed by people as disparate as Robert Heinlein and Leon Trotsky. The key here is that, unlike all other commodities, food is the one essential that cannot be postponed. If there were a shortage of, say, shoes, we could make do for months or even years. A shortage of gasoline would be worse, but we could survive it, through mass transport or even walking, if necessary.

But food is different. If there were an interruption in the supply of food, fear would set in immediately. And, if the resumption of the food supply were uncertain, the fear would become pronounced. After only nine missed meals, it’s not unlikely that we’d panic and be prepared to commit a crime to acquire food. If we were to see our neighbor with a loaf of bread, and we owned a gun, we might well say, “I’m sorry, you’re a good neighbor and we’ve been friends for years, but my children haven’t eaten today – I have to have that bread – even if I have to shoot you.”

There’s no need to speculate on this concern yet. There’s nothing so alarming on the evening news yet to suggest that such a problem might be on the horizon. So, let’s have a closer look at the actual food distribution industry, compare it to the present direction of the economy, and see whether there might be reason for concern.

The food industry typically operates on very small margins – often below 2%. Traditionally, wholesalers and retailers have relied on a two-week turnaround of supply and anywhere up to a 30-day payment plan. But an increasing tightening of the economic system for the last eight years has resulted in a turnaround time of just three days for both supply and payment for many in the industry. This a system that’s still fully operative, but with no further wiggle room, should it take a significant further hit.

If there were a month where significant inflation took place (The Feds lie say 9.1%; really now at least 17%), all profits would be lost for the month for both suppliers and retailers, but goods could still be replaced and sold for a higher price next month. But, if there were three or more consecutive months of inflation, the industry would be unable to bridge the gap, even if better conditions were expected to develop in future months. A failure to pay in full for several months would mean smaller orders by those who could not pay. That would mean fewer goods on the shelves. The longer the inflationary trend continued, the more quickly prices would rise to hopefully offset the inflation. And ever-fewer items on the shelves.

From Germany in 1922, to Argentina in 2000, and to Venezuela in 2016, this has been the pattern whenever inflation has become systemic, rather than sporadic. Each month, some stores close, beginning with those that are the most poorly capitalized.

In good economic times, this would mean more business for those stores that were still solvent, but in an inflationary situation, they would be in no position to take on more unprofitable business. The result is that the volume of food on offer at retailers would decrease at a pace with the severity of the inflation.

However, the demand for food would not decrease by a single loaf of bread. Store closings would be felt most immediately in inner cities, when one closing would send customers to the next neighborhood seeking food. The real danger would come when that store also closes and both neighborhoods descended on a third store in yet another neighborhood. That’s when one loaf of bread for every three potential purchasers would become worth killing over. Virtually no one would long tolerate seeing his children go without food because others had “invaded” his local supermarket.

In addition to retailers, the entire industry would be impacted and, as retailers disappeared, so would suppliers, and so on, up the food chain. This would not occur in an orderly fashion, or in one specific area. The problem would be a national one. Closures would be all over the map, seemingly at random, affecting all areas. Food riots would take place, first in the inner cities then spread to other communities. Buyers, fearful of shortages, would clean out the shelves.

Importantly, it’s the very unpredictability of food delivery that increases fear, creating panic and violence. And, again, none of the above is speculation; it’s a historical pattern – a reaction based upon human nature whenever systemic inflation occurs.

Then… unfortunately… the cavalry arrives. At that point, it would be very likely that the central government would step in and issue controls to the food industry that served political needs rather than business needs, greatly exacerbating the problem. Suppliers would be ordered to deliver to those neighborhoods where the riots are the worst, even if those retailers are unable to pay. This would increase the number of closings of suppliers.

Along the way, truckers would begin to refuse to enter troubled neighborhoods, and the military might well be brought in to force deliveries to take place. (If truckers could afford $5.75 a gallon diesel fuel.)

So, what would it take for the above to occur? Well, historically, it has always begun with excessive debt. We know that the debt level is now the highest it has ever been in world history. (US debt as of October 2022: $31.12 trillion; World debt as of Feb. 2022: $303 trillion.) In addition, the stock and bond markets are in bubbles of historic proportions. They will most certainly pop.

With a crash in the markets, deflation always follows as people try to unload assets to cover for their losses. The Federal Reserve (and other central banks) has stated that it will unquestionably print as much money as it takes to counter deflation. Unfortunately, inflation has a far greater effect on the price of commodities than assets. Therefore, the prices of commodities will rise dramatically, further squeezing the purchasing power of the consumer, thereby decreasing the likelihood that he will buy assets, even if they’re bargain priced. Therefore, asset holders will drop their prices repeatedly as they become more desperate. The Fed then prints more to counter the deeper deflation and we enter a period when deflation and inflation are increasing concurrently.

Historically, when this point has been reached, no government has ever done the right thing. They have, instead, done the very opposite – keep printing. A by-product of this conundrum is reflected in the photo above. Food still exists, but retailers shut down because they cannot pay for goods. Suppliers shut down because they’re not receiving payments from retailers. Producers cut production because sales are plummeting.

In every country that has passed through such a period, the government has eventually gotten out of the way and the free market has prevailed, re-energizing the industry and creating a return to normal. The question is not whether civilization will come to an end. (It will not.) The question is the liveability of a society that is experiencing a food crisis, as even the best of people are likely to panic and become a potential threat to anyone who is known to store a case of soup in his cellar.

Fear of starvation is fundamentally different from other fears of shortages. Even good people panic. In such times, it’s advantageous to be living in a rural setting, as far from the centre of panic as possible. It’s also advantageous to store food in advance that will last for several months, if necessary. However, even these measures are no guarantee, as, today, modern highways and efficient cars make it easy for anyone to travel quickly to where the goods are. The ideal is to be prepared to sit out the crisis in a country that will be less likely to be impacted by dramatic inflation – where the likelihood of a food crisis is low and basic safety is more assured."

- https://internationalman.com/

○

We'll find out, very soon... God help us.

"This Is Why So Many People Are Suddenly 'Panic Buying' Rice All Over The United States"

"This Is Why So Many People Are Suddenly 

'Panic Buying' Rice All Over The United States"

By Michael Snyder

"Rice is one of the most important staple foods for more than 3 billion people around the world, and the nation of India accounts for approximately 40 percent of all global rice exports. So if India decides to start placing restrictions on rice exports, that is a really big deal. Unfortunately, that is precisely what just happened on July 20th. Less than a week ago, India “banned the export of non-basmati white rice”, and that has created a tremendous wave of panic all over the planet…

"The Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry on July 20 banned the export of non-basmati white rice, with immediate effect, to stabilize the volatile retail prices in the country. Rice production has taken a hit owing to vagaries of weather such as heavy monsoon rains in rice-producing States in the north and deficit rainfall in other parts of the country." Non-basmati rice is by far the most common rice used in Asian and Mexican cuisine.

Normally, an enormous amount of non-basmati rice is exported from India to the United States, but very unusual weather patterns have been devastating crops in key rice-producing areas of India…"But heavy rain in the north of India over the last few weeks has damaged newly-planted crops in Punjab and Haryana states. Paddy fields have been submerged for over a week, destroying seedlings, and forcing farmers to wait before they can replant the rice seeds. In other major rice-growing states, farmers have prepared paddy nurseries but have been unable to transplant the seedlings due to inadequate rainfall."

So authorities decided to ban the export of non-basmati rice, and news spread quickly among Indian-Americans here in the United States…"India’s decision to impose a ban on the export of non-basmati white rice has triggered panic buying among NRIs (non-residential Indians) in the US. India accounts for more than 40 percent of world rice exports, and a cut in shipments could inflate food prices in the US."

This is how fast it can happen. Just days after the export ban was announced, social media was filled with videos of panic buying from coast to coast…"Videos and reports shared on social media over the weekend show Indian-Americans standing in long lines or panic-buying rice in Texas, Michigan, New Jersey Alabama, Ohio, Illinois and California."

When people get desperate, they can do crazy things. In fact, there was one report of some very desperate consumers “wrestling for a bag of rice in Dallas, Texas”…"There is a mad rush for rice in the United States after India banned exports. Several Indians were seen wrestling for a bag of rice in Dallas, Texas. Long queues to stock up on rice at supermarkets were also witnessed."

Some of the videos that are currently circulating are just nuts. I didn’t think that we would see anything of this nature in the United States this summer. But here we are.

Some retailers responded to this frenzy by dramatically hiking prices on bags of rice. In one particular case, the price of a bag of rice approximately tripled…"The Business Line reported that several grocery stores across America had increased the price of rice bags, seeing the frenzy. The report quoted an NRI as saying that a bag of 9 kg of rice, which used to cost $15-16 (Rs 1,222-1309) earlier, was now being sold at $46.99 (Rs 3,846)."

Other retailers responded by placing limits on the amount of rice that each customer could purchase…"Other stores unable to keep up with the demand for rice were implementing rationing schemes or deploying innovative methods to stop the panic buying of rice. For instance, the owner of a store stocking Indian products in Mason town in Ohio enforced rationing by asking customers to restrict their purchase to one 20-pound bag (9.07 kg) of ordinary white rice per head, costing $24 (Rs 1,964)."

Gouging consumers during a crisis such as this is just wrong, and so I like the second option much better. Of course it isn’t just the United States where panic buying is happening. Up in Canada, a grocery store in Toronto has also decided to limit each customer to just one bag of rice…"Rice is a staple for billions of people around the world but India has imposed a ban on the export of non-Basmati white rice products. A Toronto South Asian grocery store says it is already feeling the pinch, leading to a spike in panic buying.

“What happened in the last couple of days, it’s only a panic purchase,” Salam Hasan, general manager at Mississauga’s Iqbal Halal Foods, tells CityNews. “We used to have enough for three to four weeks. The stock was sold in just a couple of days.” Hasan says for the time being the popular South Asian grocery store has implemented a restriction, allowing each family to buy just one bag of rice."

Needless to say, this rice panic is taking place at a time when hunger is rapidly growing all over the world. According to the United Nations, 2.4 billion people already do not have enough food to eat. And 900 million of them are facing severe food insecurity. Now the deal that had allowed Ukraine to ship grain through the Black Sea has been terminated and India has decided to completely ban the export of non-basmati rice. Global hunger is going to get even worse during the weeks and months that are in front of us, and I am extremely concerned about where all of this is eventually heading.

But you aren’t hearing much about this from the mainstream media here in the United States, are you? Even though the presidential election is more than 15 months away, our major news networks are obsessively focused on it. That is extremely unfortunate, because historic changes are taking place all over the world right now, but most Americans don’t even realize that they are happening."

- https://citizenwatchreport.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

Union, Kentucky, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

The Poet: Robinson Jeffers, "We Are Those People"

"We Are Those People"

"I have abhorred the wars and despised the liars,

laughed at the frightened

And forecast victory; never one moment's doubt.

But now not far, over the backs of some crawling years, the next

Great war's column of dust and fire writhes

Up the sides of the sky: it becomes clear that we too may suffer

What others have, the brutal horror of defeat -

Or if not in the next, then in the next - therefore watch Germany

And read the future. We wish, of course, that our women

Would die like biting rats in the cellars,

our men like wolves on the mountain:

It will not be so. Our men will curse, cringe, obey;

Our women uncover themselves to the grinning victors

for bits of chocolate."

- Robinson Jeffers

"All The Available Data..."

“All of the available data show that the typical American citizen has about

as much interest in the life of the mind as does your average armadillo.”

- Morris Berman

Apologies to armadillos for the comparison...

"Burning Books In A Brave New 1984 World - The Age Of Censorship" (Excerpt)

"Burning Books In A Brave New 1984 World -

The Age Of Censorship"

By Jim Quinn

Excerpt: "In Part 1 of this article, I explored how Huxley, Orwell, and Bradbury foretold the use of technology by totalitarians to subjugate and control the masses. Now we move on to a currently hot topic – censorship.

“Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth.” - Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World"

Censorship: “There was always a minority afraid of something, and a great majority afraid of the dark, afraid of the future, afraid of the past, afraid of the present, afraid of themselves and shadows of themselves” - Ray Bradbury, "Fahrenheit 451"

“There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people run­ning about with lit matches.” – Ray Bradbury

The primary theme of "Fahrenheit 451" is censorship. In Bradbury’s dystopia, burning books was the principal method of censorship, directed by the government, but generally supported by the masses. A form of self-censorship developed, as the dullards, intellectually lazy, and willfully ignorant, preferred books to be burned so they felt that would put them on a level playing field with the critical thinkers and intellectually curious minded.

It always comes back to the government doing everything in their power to keep the masses apathetic, ill-informed, entertained, and distracted, to ensure their continued control over society. Bradbury believed the masses would go along with censorship because they already had television, radio, and fast cars, with vacuous programming, loud music, and unceasing advertising creating over-stimulation and distraction for the populace. They were too distracted to read a book, learn, think critically, or question the authorities.

In Part 1 of this article, I explored how Huxley, Orwell, and Bradbury foretold the use of technology by totalitarians to subjugate and control the masses. Now we move on to a currently hot topic – censorship.

“Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth.” - Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World"

Bradbury doesn’t have much faith in either government or the people they rule. His view of humanity in general was not positive in the early 1950s. Imagine what he would think of American society seventy years later. The hostility towards books in "Fahrenheit 451" for many was based on envy. The lazy, willfully ignorant masses didn’t want to feel intellectually inferior to those who wanted to read books, learn, inquire, think, and question the government narrative.

Seeing your neighbor’s books burned gave a warped sense of satisfaction to the intentionally ignorant. When your government wants to keep you ignorant to better control you and you choose ignorance because it’s easier to not think, you’ve achieved dystopian perfection. Thinking is hard. Watching a screen is easy.

The 1930’s and 1940’s saw the height of book burnings, with Goebbels and the Nazis burning books contrary to their ideology in the early 1930s, and then the counter book burnings of Nazi literature after 1945. It spread to the U.S., with the Karens of their day burning textbooks and literature they didn’t agree with. There will always be an authoritarian-minded segment of the population who seek power to decide what you should read or see. They do not believe freedom of speech as defined in the Constitution should be available to those they disagree with.

“I wasn’t worried about freedom, I was worried about people being turned into morons by TV…the moronic influence of popular culture through local TV news and the proliferation of giant screens and the bombardment of factoids.” – Ray Bradbury

Censorship is the cudgel they utilize to keep you from making up your own mind about ideas, historical events, opinions, and facts. If you don’t want the masses to know the truth, don’t let them see both sides of issues, keep them distracted by technology, and overload their brains with meaningless drivel. Bradbury’s dystopian fears have come to fruition, seventy years later. We are now a nation of low IQ sheep who “feel” smart because their overlords have lowered the bar so low, every dullard believes themselves to be smarter than Einstein, even though they can’t subtract 57 cents from $1.00 in their head. Generations have been indoctrinated to feel rather than think. They don’t even know what thinking means.

Full, most highly recommended article is here:

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

o

"The problem isn't even that Johnny can't think. The problem is that 

Johnny doesn't know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling." 

- Thomas Sowell.

"How It Really Is"

 

Bill Bonner, "RFK, Jr. Gets Stoned"

"RFK, Jr. Gets Stoned"

"Antisemite!" "Racist!" "Vaccine denier!"

 "Conspiracy theorist!" And other baseless, nonsensical claims...

by Bill Bonner

"Well, they'll stone ya when you're trying to be so good.

They'll stone ya just a-like they said they would.

They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to go home,

Then they'll stone ya when you're there all alone.

But I would not feel so all alone,

Everybody must get stoned..."

~ Bob Dylan

Poitou, France - "Robert F. Kennedy is undergoing a modern day lapidation…a stoning…by an angry mob. Another rock landed yesterday; Kennedy reports: "The New York Society for Ethical Culture @EthicalNYC just CANCELED my event with @RabbiShmuley scheduled for tomorrow night. They're evidently under tremendous pressure since they violated a binding contract and canceled without explanation…"

The Military/Industrial/Spook Complex: Some are angry because he has dared to challenge his own party. They think he may be playing into the hands of evil Republicans. Some are angry because he threatens the medical/pharmacy/insurance industry – by wondering if its vaccines are all they’re cracked up to be.

Some are mad at him because he menaces the military/industrial/spook complex, with its forever wars, body bags and trillion-dollar budgets. This just in from the Fabius Maximus website: "Summary: The Department of Defense uses obscure accounting to conceal its true cost from America’s citizens, assisted by the mainstream press. Long-time DoD expert Winslow Wheeler shows the real cost for our War Department. Like all debunking of our mad military industrial complex since President Eisenhower warned us in 1961, he has been ignored. The US National Security Budget for 2023/24 is …approximately $1.5 Trillion."

Fabius Maximus was a Roman consul and dictator who saved Rome from the Carthaginians. First after the battle of Lake Trasimene. Second, after the disastrous encounter at Cannae. He is called the ‘Cunctator’ – the delayer – because he realized that it was unwise to meet Hannibal in open battle. Better to harass him…to cut his supply lines…and to wait for him to run out of supplies and soldiers. Generations of military leaders have studied The Cunctator.

Meanwhile, some people despise Kennedy simply because ‘the system’ has made them rich and powerful, and they don’t appreciate his criticisms. He’s betrayed his class, (the liberal elite), they say. Even his own cousin, Jack Schlossberg, says he’s a disgrace to the Kennedy clan. The New York Post: "Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 2024 presidential run is a “vanity project” and an “embarrassment” that’s “trading in on Camelot, celebrity, conspiracy theories and conflict,” his cousin Jack Schlossberg decried Friday.

The 30-year-old son of Caroline Kennedy - and only grandson of her late father, President John F. Kennedy - went one step further and officially endorsed President Biden, who “shares his grandfather’s vision for America” and is “the greatest progressive president we’ve ever had.” Really?

Contra Empire: But the most dangerous characters in the mob are those with the black masks. They say nothing. They admit nothing. They claim they don’t exist. While the superficial ‘political’ reasons for wanting to discredit Kennedy are obvious, the deeper, megapolitical reasons are more important: RFK, Jr. is not just running against Joe Biden, nor only against the swamp…the military/industrial/spook/medical/university/media complex…and the entire elite Establishment of both political parties…and the Deep State. Kennedy is at odds with The Empire.

That’s where the fight really matters. It was a battle his uncle and his father took up more than half a century ago, a fight to keep a decent republic from turning into a rapacious empire. They lost. Now, the contest will determine how the empire declines – peacefully…or disgracefully.

America’s rendezvous with imperial greatness came with the end of WWII. After the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the US was cock of the walk. Then, for half a century, it was the world’s hegemon. But it peaked out in the late ‘90s and has since become the ‘late, degenerate empire’ that we see in the daily news.

Kennedy lived through this period, as most of us did. But he saw it taking place up close, and far too personally. His father and his uncle, both were murdered. He then watched as the empire grew and corroded. The Tafts, Cabot Lodges, Dirksens and the Kennedys were mostly driven out of politics. In their place came Biden, Hillary, AOC, Santos, Taylor-Greene. America’s military posture grew larger and larger while Congress turned into a convention of midgets.

A Threat to ‘The System’: Small wonder! It is not hard to see why good men and women stay away from politics. Who would want reporters checking out his high school yearbook…or what he wrote in a letter to the editor in 1985? Who would want political hacks calling up ex-wives…disgruntled former employees…or jealous rivals? Who would put his family through the kind of malign media attention that Donald Trump…and now Robert Kennedy…endure? What kind of power-mad, pathological egomaniac would want it for himself…let alone the people he cared about?

Joe Biden spent his whole life as a hack politician. For him, the move to the White House was merely the natural summa of a tawdry career. Likewise, Donald Trump always craved fame and fortune. He had no real plan, no principles and no program for the US; he had only a goal for himself – to dominate the headlines and prove that he really wasn’t the loser that everybody thought he was.

Kennedy? His is a more complex personality. But whatever it is that drives him has so far made him the victim of the most vicious and hysterically dishonest attack we’ve ever seen. The antagonists – politicians as well as the propaganda press – know perfectly well that Kennedy does not hate Jews. They know he is no more ‘racist’ than they are. They know too that he’s not intentionally spreading ‘misinformation’ about vaccines. He says the things he says because he believes them to be true. Right? Wrong? Who knows? But worth discussing.

But Kennedy represents a threat to ‘the system’…to the empire…to the Deep State, and all the malignant jackassery that comes with it. So, they try to bury him in a pile of rocks. Antisemite! Racist! Vaccine denier! Conspiracy theorist! Kennedy says he is being slammed much harder than even Donald Trump ever was. But Trump was never a real threat. Kennedy is. Today, no sparrow can tumble off a limb without setting off sensors in Langley, Virginia. And no politician can challenge the Empire without being struck by a granite rock."

Joel’s Note: "What you can hear and what you can’t. What you might like to read, versus what you’re “protected” from viewing. Disinformation, misinformation and so-called “malinformation”… all are curtailments on your right to hear, read and think whatsoever you wish… and to make up your mind for yourself on any given matter of importance.

The Founding Fathers, much maligned today, and after a similar fashion to RFK, Jr. (racists, misogynists, anything-a-phobes, etc.), were unequivocal in their determination regarding the paramount importance of freedom of speech… so much so, that they enumerated it as the very first, and most important, amendment in the Bill of Rights… the basic freedom upon which all others depend. For anyone in need of a quick refresher, it reads…

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

~ First Amendment to the Constitution fo the United States of America

Agreed with him or not, RFK, Jr.’s campaign represents adult Americans’ right to determine for themselves what they agrees with… and what they does not. It stands for the right not to have “The Message” dictated to you by some faceless, nameless, deep state cronies. To hear that which may be challenging, upsetting, even…gulp!… “offensive!”

As always, feel free to opine in the comments section below… What do you agree with? What to you shudder at? What would you like to see more or less of? What resonates with you, as an American voter, in the upcoming electoral campaign?"

- https://bonnerprivateresearch.substack.com/

o

Bob Dylan, "Everybody Must Get Stoned"

Dan, I Allegedly, "Where Is The Bottom?"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly 7/25/23

"Where Is The Bottom?"

"Experts have sounded the horn that commercial real estate is going to be a huge problem in the coming months. Buildings cannot be refinanced and some are even being given back to the banks. People are getting denied for loans all over the place."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Panic Buying On Rice In The US! Massive Price Increases!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, 7/25/23

"Panic Buying On Rice In The US!

 Massive Price Increases!"

"Panic buying on rice has begun in the United States due to the rice export ban in India.  This is a concern as we have already seen massive price increases on such products."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended'

CBCSaskatchewan, 7/25/23

"India's Ban On Non-basmati Rice Triggers

 Panic Buying At Saskatchewan Grocery Stores"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, 7/25/23

"Stocking Up At Meijer! Be Prepared! What's Coming?"

"In today's vlog, we are at Meijer and are noticing more price increases on groceries. We are stocking up on our preps on all the sales we find. Inflation is causing major problems at supermarkets, and we are doing what we can to be prepared!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Scott Ritter "NATO Cannot Fight Russia"

Scott Ritter, 7/24/23

"NATO Cannot Fight Russia"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Canadian Prepper, 7/24/23

"Panic Buying Explodes; Polish Battalion Sent To Border;

 37% Fatal Virus; Heat Record"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Ukraine Is Disintegrating, The Hospitals Are Full"

Redacted, 7/24/23

"Ukraine Is Disintegrating, The Hospitals Are Full"

"Redacted is back with a big update on military advancements in Ukraine as the western media runs out of lies to tell about the war. Col. Douglas MacGregor joins Redacted to discuss the latest breakthroughs in the war indicating that the "Europeans have had it" with this war. Events on the ground are beginning to overtake the carefully orchestrated charade in Kiev. So what now?'

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Wake Up, We Are Headed Straight To The Bottom"

Jeremiah Babe, 7/24/23

"Wake Up, We Are Headed Straight To The Bottom"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"My Thoughts On 'Sound Of Freedom' Movie! This Was Terrifying!"

Adventures With Danno, 7/24/23

"My Thoughts On 'Sound Of Freedom' Movie!

 This Was Terrifying!"

"We discuss my thoughts on the movie Sound Of Freedom and how it is absolutely terrifying. Although this movie can be unsettling at times, it is one that I feel we must all see, and understand the message it brings across."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: 2002, "We Are Always"

2002, "We Are Always"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“A star cluster around 2 million years young surrounded by natal clouds of dust and glowing gas, M16 is also known as The Eagle Nebula. This beautifully detailed image of the region adopts the colorful Hubble palette and includes cosmic sculptures made famous in Hubble Space Telescope close-ups of the starforming complex. Described as elephant trunks or Pillars of Creation, dense, dusty columns rising near the center are light-years in length but are gravitationally contracting to form stars.

Energetic radiation from the cluster stars erodes material near the tips, eventually exposing the embedded new stars. Extending from the ridge of bright emission left of center is another dusty starforming column known as the Fairy of Eagle Nebula. M16 lies about 7,000 light-years away, an easy target for binoculars or small telescopes in a nebula rich part of the sky toward the split constellation Serpens Cauda (the tail of the snake).”

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

"The Holstee Manifesto"

 

Full screen recommended.

"The Holstee Manifesto: Lifecycle Video"

"I Think..."

"I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be “happy.” I think

the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate.

It is, above all, to matter and to count, to stand for something,

to have made some difference that you lived at all.”

- Leo C. Rosten