Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Free Download: Charles Mackay, "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds"

"Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds"

"Every age has its peculiar folly: Some scheme, project, or fantasy into which it plunges, spurred on by the love of gain, the necessity of excitement, or the force of imitation. Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one."
- Charles Mackay

"'Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" is an early study of crowd psychology by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay, first published in 1841. The book chronicles its subjects in three parts: "National Delusions", "Peculiar Follies", and "Philosophical Delusions". MacKay was an accomplished teller of stories, though he wrote in a journalistic and somewhat sensational style.

The subjects of Mackay's debunking include alchemy, crusades, duels, economic bubbles, fortune-telling, haunted houses, the Drummer of Tedworth, the influence of politics and religion on the shapes of beards and hair, magnetizers (influence of imagination in curing disease), murder through poisoning, prophecies, popular admiration of great thieves, popular follies of great cities, and relics. Present-day writers on economics, such as Michael Lewis and Andrew Tobias, laud the three chapters on economic bubbles. Scientist and astronomer Carl Sagan mentioned the book in his own discussion about pseudoscience, popular delusions, and hoaxes.

In later editions, Mackay added a footnote referencing the Railway Mania of the 1840s as another "popular delusion" which was at least as important as the South Sea Bubble. Mathematician Andrew Odlyzko has pointed out, in a published lecture, that Mackay himself played a role in this economic bubble; as leader writer in the Glasgow Argus, Mackay wrote on 2 October 1845: "There is no reason whatever to fear a crash."
"Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds",
by Charles Mackay, may be downloaded freely here:

"The Heart of Humanity"

"The Heart of Humanity"
by Madisyn Taylor, The DailyOM

"Sitting with our sadness takes the courage to believe that we can bear the pain and we will come out the other side. The last thing most of us want to hear or think about when we are dealing with profound feelings of sadness is that deep learning can be found in this place. In the midst of our pain, we often feel picked on by life, or overwhelmed by the enormity of some loss, or simply too exhausted to try and examine the situation. We may feel far too disappointed and angry to look for anything resembling a bright side to our suffering. Still, somewhere in our hearts, we know that we will eventually emerge from the depths into the light of greater awareness. Remembering this truth, no matter how elusive it seems, can help.

The other thing we often would rather not hear when we are dealing with intense sadness is that the only way out of it is through it. Sitting with our sadness takes the courage to believe that we can bear the pain and the faith that we will come out the other side. With courage, we can allow ourselves to cycle through the grieving process with full inner permission to experience it. This is a powerful teaching that sadness has to offer us - the ability to surrender and the acceptance of change go hand in hand.

Another teaching of sadness is compassion for others who are in pain, because it is only in feeling our own pain that we can really understand and allow for someone else’s. Sadness is something we all go through, and we all learn from it and are deepened by its presence in our lives. While our own individual experiences of sadness carry with them unique lessons, the implications of what we learn are universal. The wisdom we gain from going through the process of feeling loss, heartbreak, or deep disappointment gives us access to the heart of humanity."

"What's He To Do Then?"

"You've seed how things goes in the world o' men. You've knowed men to be low-down and mean. You've seed ol' Death at his tricks... Ever' man wants life to be a fine thing, and a easy. 'Tis fine, boy, powerful fine, but 'tain't easy. Life knocks a man down and he gits up and it knocks him down agin. I've been uneasy all my life... I've wanted life to be easy for you. Easier'n 'twas for me. A man's heart aches, seein' his young uns face the world. Knowin' they got to get their guts tore out, the way his was tore. I wanted to spare you, long as I could. I wanted you to frolic with your yearlin'. I knowed the lonesomeness he eased for you. But ever' man's lonesome. What's he to do then? What's he to do when he gits knocked down? Why, take it for his share and go on.”
- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

"When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard,' 
I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'" 
- Sydney J. Harris

"Too Often..."

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, 
a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, 
all of which have the potential to turn a life around."
- Leo Buscaglia

Economic Market Snapshot PM 1/26/21"

"Economic Market Snapshot PM 1/26/21"
"Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will
do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone."
- John Maynard Keynes
"Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...
Only the consequences are real - to you!
Your guide:
Gregory Mannarino, PM 1/26/21:
"It's A FReaKsHOw: 
Bank Of America WARNS 'Take Profits!'"
"The more I see of the monied classes, 
the better I understand the guillotine."
- George Bernard Shaw
MarketWatch Market Summary, Live Updates

CNN Market Data:

CNN Fear And Greed Index:
A comprehensive, essential daily read.
Daily Updates, Jan 26th to 27th
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."
Daily Job Cuts

Commentary, highly recommended:
And now, the End Game...
Oh yeah...

The Daily "Near You?"

Osmond, Nebraska, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Freedom..."

"Freedom is not empowerment. Empowerment is what the Serbs have in Bosnia. Anybody can grab a gun and be empowered. It's not entitlement. An entitlement is what people on welfare get, and how free are they? It's not an endlessly expanding list of rights - the "right" to education, the "right" to food and housing. That's not freedom, that's dependency. Those aren't rights, those are the rations of slavery - hay and a barn for human cattle. There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." 
 - P.J. O'Rourke

"Sic Transit Gloria Trumpi"

"Sic Transit Gloria Trumpi"
by Bill Bonner

"He that did ride so high
Doth lie so low..."
– As William Shakespeare should have put it.

WEST RIVER, MARYLAND – "Poor Donald J. Trump. Is he dead? Or alive? Has anyone heard from him? Has anyone checked on him? Heroes and rascals often get a grim reward. The Moabite leader, King Eglon, was murdered on his throne in about 1200 B.C. Julius Caesar, hero of the Gallic wars, was stabbed to death in the Senate in 44 B.C. Marshall Ney, hero of the Napoleonic Wars, was shot by a firing squad. Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy – the list of those assassinated is long. And now… Donald J. Trump feels the knife…

Torn Apart: We saw Donald Trump do a lot of very dumb things, but we never saw him in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. And yet, now, he’s being branded a “white supremacist.” Here’s the Huffington Post: "How Biden Is Erasing Trump’s White Supremacist Legacy". And how about this from MSN: "On his way out the door, Trump couldn’t resist one last bit of jaw-dropping racism."

We read both articles. We found no evidence of racism or white supremacy. But the victors write the history books. And The Donald lost. And now… like a stag run to ground, he’ll be torn apart by the media hounds and stabbed in the back by his former friends and allies.

Oh Donald, what will you do? Will you just fade away like an old soldier? Will you shuffle off stage… leaving your millions of fans behind, like Elvis taking his eternal toilet break? Or will you take up arms against a sea of troubles… and start a new political party? Continue spreading discord and resentment? You know the media still needs you. You are the Big Man… the Clown… the Freak it depends on to keep up its ratings. Will you find a way to exploit it… to stay in the limelight until the light itself finally goes out? Maybe…

De-Platformed: But in the meantime, they’ve banned you from Twitter… de-platformed you… cancelled you… disappeared you! And here’s Newsweek, telling us that they never want to see you again: "Nearly 60% of Americans Want Donald Trump Barred From Holding Public Office Again: Poll". "A majority of Americans support preventing former President Donald Trump from holding federal office again, according to polling data released Monday by Monmouth University."

Ingrates! And after all Donald J. Trump did for you… Even die-hard MAGA fans are ratting out Trump in order to save their own skins. Here’s CNBC: "A Texas man charged with invading the Capitol and threatening Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Monday that he was effectively following then-President Donald Trump's orders when he joined a mob that stormed Congress on Jan. 6. He said he would be willing to testify to Congress or a trial about the riot."

Clueless Ignoramus: What a fabulous gift to the anti-Trumpers! Those lunk-headed Trumpistas. What numbskulls! There, in an image seen by millions around the world, was a guy wearing horns… his face painted up… his expression blank, like a man fresh from a lobotomy… his outfit as preposterous as the whole “insurrection.” There was the MAGA man in all his glory – a clueless ignoramus.

Now, the credentialized, malbec-drinking, New Yorker Magazine-reading elites finally had their smoking gun… proof that The Donald’s supporters really were deplorable… and that they were right to look down on them… Backward and stupid – undisciplined… untutored… there they were for all the world to see. Silly people.

They thought the First Amendment gave them the right to assemble and air their grievances – even during the COVID-19 crisis. They thought the Second Amendment gave them the right to carry firearms. They clearly had not kept up with the times. They still worshipped Mary, as the “mother” of Jesus… when everyone in the elite knew she should be referred to as the “parent” of Jesus, whoever s/he was…

And they still referred to Mexicans as “Latinos.” We all know, now, that that’s “patriarchal”… the “o” being a masculine suffix. They’re “Latinx” now, with the “x” as free from sex as a plastic Barbie.

These MAGA creatures – fresh from the hollows of Kentucky and the plains of South Dakota – just didn’t know any better. They think a child born a boy ought to use the boys’ bathroom in school… But if he chose to use the girls’ bathroom, they wouldn’t make a federal case of it.

No Special Treatment: And, yes, these people are mostly white… but they don’t expect any special treatment for being in “communities of non-color”… They still think success in America ought to go to the people who work hard… and get lucky, on their own merits… not because they get special privileges and handouts from Congress. And as for the “communities of color,” they’re smart enough to stay out of them after dark.

And oh yes, they’re sick and tired of those same Latinx folks sneaking across the border to take the low-paying jobs…while engineers, doctors, and scientists come from India and China to take the good ones!

These MAGA people – sad! – came to suspect that the elites weren’t on their side… that they were being disrespected… drowned in the Swamp… that what the elites wanted was not to save the country, but to destroy it…and that they used their expertise not to serve “we, the people,” but to serve themselves.

All Over: But now, those nitwits who rushed the Capitol… one by one, they’re being hunted down. Soon, they will be sent to Guantanamo, where they will be forced to listen to awful Latinx music day and night… Their hero can’t pardon them now. He’s gone off stage… maybe permanently. The revolutionis kaput. The orange hair and makeup… Melania… the early-morning tweets – it’s all in the past.

The Deep State… the Establishment… the elites… the swampcritters – they won. It’s over. Or, is it? Stay tuned."

"Everything Is Broken"

"Everything Is Broken"
by Charles Hugh Smith

"Mr. Bob Dylan was once again prescient: Everything Is Broken. You may think I’m referring to the political system or Big Tech or the Corporate Media, and certainly all those are very broken indeed, but I’m actually referring to everyday life systems that once worked fairly well. I could mention bridges that take decades to build that sport cost-overruns in the billions and the general decline in the quality of goods and services, but let’s just stick to critical digital systems for now.

One shared trait of these broken service systems is that they’re all digital and all online. Wasn’t everything supposed to become faster, better, easier and cheaper when it was digitized and put at our fingertips via websites and mobile phone apps? The opposite is often the case: the digital systems are broken and nobody on either end–staff or customer–can figure out why or how to fix what’s broken.

You’d think the government would make special efforts to make it easy to pay one’s estimated taxes online. You’d be wrong. Like many others who’ve been filing tax returns and paying taxes for 50+ years, I decided to withdraw a few bucks from my 401K “retirement” account (in quotes because who can retire on their 401K?).

The plan manager recommended I pay the estimated taxes due via the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS), which is presented as the “easy way to pay your taxes.” Wow, the cat’s meow – I completed the online form with great anticipation. As a security measure, the EFTPS snail-mails a code to the physical address that’s on record with the IRS.

Alas, the EFTPS rejected my application – something didn’t align with the information on record at the IRS. My wife’s application went through without a hitch, and so after an hour on hold and a long conversation with an EFTPS staffer – who I sincerely believe was doing his best to assist me – I re-applied, attributing the failure to some detail such as typing “Street” instead of “St”. I carefully entered the name, address, etc. on my 2019 tax return and submitted the application again.

This second application was also rejected for the same reason: a discrepancy between the IRS records and what I entered on the form. Since i’d entered the data exactly as shown on my 2019 return, what was the problem?

After another long wait on hold and another fruitless conversation with an IRS staffer who did her best but could shed no light on the problem, and I took her recommendation and decided to pay the estimated tax on the regular IRS website: Direct Pay.

OK, this should be easy, right? Wrong again. Part of the process is you have to select a tax year, not for payment but for alignment with the IRS records. I kept trying 2019 to no avail. The IRS website kept rejecting my name, address and Social Security number no matter how carefully I entered the data. After numerous rejections and another painfully long wait on hold and useless conversation with a helpful staffer, I tried selecting a tax year before 2019 to match the IRS records. 2018–failure. 2017–failure. 2016–bingo, we have a winner! The IRS ignored the address I’d used in 2017, 2018 and 2019, but kept the PO box address I’d used in 2016. How is a taxpayer supposed to know which tax year is the “correct one”? Was there nothing the staffers could see or do to rectify the guessing game?

Evidently, none of the IRS or EFTPS staff could access this data or suggest trying a previous tax year. I’d like to think I am the only one who’s experienced these kinds of needless travails with the IRS interfaces, but alas, I’ve heard from friends who were trying to sort out their elderly Mom’s tax refund, etc., that after excruciatingly long waits on hold, they got zip, zero, nada in the way of resolution.

It’s not the staff, it’s the digital systems that are broken. I can easily imagine the frustrations of the staffers trying to fix taxpayers’ problems with a kludgy system.

Next up: healthcare. Over the past few decades, as a self-employed worker I’ve paid tens of thousands of dollars in healthcare premiums to my healthcare provider because I’m my own employer, and I don’t qualify for government subsidies (Medicaid).

The task: switch my coverage from one state to another state. The wait time rivaled that of the IRS, and when I finally spoke with a human, the process took almost an hour–much of it related to compliance with regulations designed to make regulators and Corporate America look like they care (they don’t). “Do you acknowledge that if you drop dead during this phone call that you were treated fairly before you expired?” etc.

I set up my online account without issue, and a few days later received emails prompting me to “view and pay my bill.” Nice, except when I logged in, “no documents found.” I had to wait for my credit card statement to see if the autopay setup worked. I could have tried calling, but I’d expended my patience for long waits and near-zero odds of resolution.

Meanwhile, my wife had made the mistake of contacting the provider for information on their plans, and they assumed they had a “live one,” i.e. a potential customer–so they aggressively robo-called her phone every day even after she spoke with a human and explained that she was already a customer so there would be no sale and commission.

So if you’re looking for aggressive marketing, Corporate America has got you covered. If you want service–hello, developing-world, minus the work-around of a bribe.

It’s worth glancing at your Social Security statement/account every once in a while, because your earnings for 2019 might be listed as zero. OK, so the Social Security Administration (SSA) somehow failed to pick up my 2019 earnings from the IRS. A quick phone call should remedy the problem, right? Wrong. The wait time was short but the call stretched on for an hour as the staffer attempted one thing after another.

How difficult is it to strip out the taxpayers’ name, Social Security number and the earnings they paid Social Security taxes on and send that data to the SSA? Most years it works, this year it didn’t. There is apparently no digital fix, as I was eventually instructed to send paper copies of our 2019 tax returns to the local SSA office.

You might attribute these flubs to government services or quasi-government services, but that overlooks one important point: private-sector Big Tech appears to work because its task is simple: privatize customer data and sell adverts. Try getting Big Tech to resolve real-world problems, and you’ll find it’s extremely difficult to get a human to help, and the odds of the human fixing your issue are near-zero. Big Tech’s expertise is in acknowledging there is a problem and then ignoring it until you give up.

I’d say more about Big Tech but since they’ve privatized totalitarianism, I fear being digitally disappeared if I dare criticize Big Tech. A couple years of being shadow-banned were enough to give me a taste of Big Tech’s privatized totalitarianism, thank you very much. That alone tells you our entire system is broken.

Say it again, Bobby: Everything Is Broken. Just don’t say it too loud unless you have lobbyists and lawyers in excess."
Bob Dylan, "Everything Is Broken"

"How It Really Is"

Well of course!
 We need more workers to fill all the available jobs, right?

"A Terrifying New Bill In Congress Would Eliminate The Possibility Of Turning America Around In 2024, 2028 Or Ever Again"

"A Terrifying New Bill In Congress Would Eliminate 
The Possibility Of Turning America Around In 2024, 2028 Or Ever Again"
by Michael Snyder

"Have you heard about H.R. 1? If not, I would urge you to read the text of the bill immediately. It is called the “For The People Act”, and you can find it right here. The text of this bill specifically states that Congress has the “ultimate supervisory power over federal elections”, but of course anyone that is familiar with what the U.S. Constitution actually says knows that this is not true. The states are supposed to have final authority over their own election laws, and H.R. 1 is a blatant attempt to usurp that authority. Unfortunately, in the aftermath of the riot at the U.S. Capitol there are very few politicians in Washington that still have a willingness to stand up for election integrity. H.R. 1 is almost certainly going to get through the House of Representatives, and it has a really good chance of getting through the Senate as well.

If this legislation is approved, it will fundamentally change the nature of our federal elections forever. And not in a good way. I do not think that Tucker Carlson was exaggerating by very much at all when he warned that “Democrats will control the federal government for decades” if H.R. 1 becomes law: Democrats will control the federal government for decades or more if a sweeping new proposal touted as comprehensive government reform becomes law, Tucker Carlson said on Monday. Carlson warned of the many dangers of “H.R. 1.,” the “For The People Act,” a nearly 800-page bill sponsored by Maryland Democrat John Sarbanes of Baltimore. In essence, this bill would make elections all over the country just like elections in California."

If that statement sounds terrifying to you, that is because it is terrifying. Democrats introduced the same bill last year, but it died in the Republican-controlled Senate. But now Democrats control the Senate, and they just need a handful of Senate Republicans to go along with them so that they can overcome any potential filibuster. The following comes from Zero Hedge:

"In the House, Democrats have revived sweeping election reform legislation that died in the Senate during the previous session, perhaps hoping they can browbeat enough Republicans into going along with them. If that happens, the “Grand Old Party” of Abraham Lincoln might as well disband, because Republicans would never have any hope of regaining a congressional majority or controlling the White House under the rules that HR 1 would put in place.

Although the Constitution explicitly places state legislatures in charge of managing federal elections, HR 1 seeks to use the power of the purse to bludgeon the states into conforming to a centralized system pioneered in California and other deep-blue states. Congress can’t technically compel the states to change their voting laws, but seasoned politicians know that the states have become dependent on federal money to run their elections, and can’t afford to pick up the tab themselves.

Inevitably, there would probably be a few red states that would attempt to defy this new law, but the threat of reduced federal funding would force most red states to submit to the new mandates. So exactly why are many Republicans so deeply alarmed by this bill? Well, the good people over at Pundit Press have put together a list of some of the things that this new law would do:

1) Internet-only registration with electronic signature submission.
2) Banning the requirement to provide a full SSN for voter registration.
3) Nationwide ‘Motor Voter’ registration.
4) 16 year olds required to be registered to vote.
5) Nationwide same-day registration.
6) Grants ($25M) for using minors in election activities.
7) More children voters.
8) Prohibiting attempts to clean voter rolls of non-residents.
9) Murderers and rapists can vote.
10) Mandatory early voting.
11) THE BIG ONE – NATIONWIDE VOTE BY MAIL, BAN ON BALLOT PROTECTION MEASURES, LEGALIZED LIMITLESS BALLOT HARVESTING.

If you are a Republican and you live in a state that already allows “ballot harvesting”, than you probably already know how devastatingly effective it is. When ballot harvesting is legalized without any limitations, it becomes exceedingly difficult for Republicans to win except for in the most conservative areas. During one of his recent shows, Tucker Carlson explained why: “Under H.R. 1, [people] could freely go house to house and apartment to apartment collecting unknown thousands of ballots and then dump them all in a ballot dropbox. No one would have any idea if those ballots had been tampered with at any point along the way or would there be any way to prove it if they had been tampered with,” he continued."

Not only that, but H.R. 1 would also reportedly allow people “to print out their ballots at home”: "For example, HR 1 would allow ballot harvesting on steroids. Voters would - for the first time - have the ability to print out their ballots at home, creating a gaping security hole that could easily be exploited by either domestic or foreign interests. The legislation also allows third parties to collect ballots from an unlimited number of absentee voters and submit them through ballot drop boxes, dramatically increasing the risk that vulnerable Americans could be bullied, bribed, or blackmailed for their votes without the protection of election workers."

Can you imagine what would happen if we actually allowed tens of millions of people all over the country to print out their own ballots? It would be utter madness, and we would never have a legitimate election ever again.

Of course everything in this nearly 800 page bill is designed to help Democrats, and their plan all along has been to set the stage for one party rule for the foreseeable future. And that is what this “trial” in the Senate is all about too. They want to destroy Donald Trump and the movement that he started so that nobody like him can ever come along again. Sadly, it doesn’t even look like it will be a fair trial. The Democrat that will be presiding over the trial is also one of the jurors, and we already know how he is going to vote.

The key for the Democrats will be to find 17 Republicans in the Senate that also want to convict Trump so that they can get to the magic number of 67. I believe that if 67 votes can be confirmed, Mitch McConnell and other prominent Republicans will pull the trigger and will vote to keep Trump from ever running for office again. But if they can’t find 67 votes to convict, I believe that Mitch McConnell and his close allies will back off.

There will be high drama in D.C. in the coming days, and the outcome of this trial in the Senate has enormous implications for our future. Of course even if Trump is acquitted and he decides to run again in 2024, he definitely will not win if H.R. 1 becomes law. This bill has the potential to change everything, and so I would encourage all of you to get information about this insidious legislation out to everyone that you know."
An alarming absolute Must View!
Tucker Carlson warns about HR 1.

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 1/26/21"

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 1/26/21"
 Jan. 26, 2021 7:52 AM ET: 
The coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 99,787,200 
people, according to official counts, including 25,333,201 Americans.
Globally at least 2,141,700 have died.

"The COVID Tracking Project"
Every day, our volunteers compile the latest numbers on tests, cases, 
hospitalizations, and patient outcomes from every US state and territory.
https://covidtracking.com/
January 26, 2021 8:17 AM ET
Where I Live:
- CP

Fourth Turning Detonation” (Excerpt)

“Fourth Turning Detonation” (Excerpt)
by Jim Quinn

“Americans today fear that linearism (alias the American Dream) has run its course. Many would welcome some enlightenment about history’s patterns and rhythms, but today’s intellectual elites offer little that’s useful. Caught between the entropy of the chaoticists and the hubris of the linearists, the American people have lost their moorings.” – Strauss & Howe, "The Fourth Turning"

“The ancients believed that each cyclical extreme, mirroring the hopes and fears of the other, helps generate the other. The night longs for the day, the day for night. In war, people yearn for relief from strife, leading to peace. In peace, people yearn to champion what they love, leading to war.” – Strauss & Howe, "The Fourth Turning"

"When I started thinking about my annual beginning of the year article in early January, I tried to formulate a catchy title. Knowing we have entered the thirteenth year of this Fourth Turning, with the intensity of the crisis reaching an unparalleled level since November 4, I decided upon Fourth Turning Detonation. I immediately thought that might be too dire and figured I would change it later. After the first few weeks of the new year, I now think it might be grossly inadequate to describe what is coming in 2021.

It is easy to get distracted by the daily gyrations, ceaseless media propaganda, political theater, false narratives, and delusional beliefs of both the left and right, as this military empire built on debt and deceit spirals towards its fiery cataclysmic climax. Opposing forces have gathered themselves into position focusing on defeating their domestic enemies, with the left seeming to have strategic advantage but led by hubristic dullards, while numerous foreign adversaries circle like hungry vultures ready to pounce on the dying beast of an empire."
Please view this excellent, complete article here:

Monday, January 25, 2021

"Be Ready For A Terrible Societal And Economic Collapse!"

"Be Ready For A Terrible Societal And Economic Collapse!"
by Epic Economist

"It's been over a decade economists have been warning that the unconstrained monetary frenzy would end up triggering a societal collapse. But the mainstream media has disregarded those predictions and even mocked experts' alerts treating them as conspiracy theories. However, the reckoning day never fails to arrive, and now the same forecasts that used to be ignored are being shared by hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio, who argued that the Federal Reserve's policies are dangerously widening the inequality gap, which could result in intense civil conflicts, aggressive disputes, and more divides in the American society, putting the entire republic and our economic and financial systems at risk of irreversibly falling apart. That's what we expose in this video.

In his Twitter account, billionaire and Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio affirmed to believe that we are on the brink of a terrible civil conflict, where we are at an inflection point between entering a type of hell of fighting or pulling back to work together for peace and prosperity that addresses the big wealth, values, and opportunity gaps we’re now seeing.

In several interviews, the financial strategist has signaled we are headed to a much more chaotic reality if political, economic, and social divisions aren't promptly addressed. “I cannot overstate the importance of class struggles relative to individual struggles. We, especially those in the United States, which is a “melting pot,” tend to think more of individual struggles and not give adequate attention to class struggles. I didn’t fully realize its importance until I did my extensive study of history,” he said. Dalio revealed he studied the last 500 years of history and cycles, and in an interview for CNN's Poppy Harlow, he maintained that "large wealth gaps with large values gaps at the same time that there's a lot of debt and there's an economic downturn produces conflict and vulnerability."

He warned that in a situation where people don't have enough opportunities, governments are not only failing to tap all the potential that exists, which is uneconomic, but threatening the existence of the system. "I think that's coming to home very clearly with the downturn in the economy with this virus," he outlined. In an interview with Khan Academy founder Sal Khan last year, Dalio stated that the American dream "does not exist" right now, and that could lead to the collapse of capitalism. He stressed that income inequality is a "national emergency."

Dalio's gloomy assessment comes as a reflection of the enormous challenges the U.S. is facing now that we're several months in a virus-induced economic crisis, and the unprecedented response to it has largely expanded income inequality and government debt. Additionally, the billionaire is also worried about deep political divides, as we just witnessed the wildest election and several disputes between supporters of both parties.

Even though the billionaire considers unemployment and the lack of productivity as the main threats that could cause more civil disorder, he also called out political polarization as a driving force, saying that the recent migration of white-collar executives from major cities, including San Francisco and New York, was a form of social dispute.

Dalio likened this exodus to a civil strife of sorts. "We're seeing a form of civil [conflict]: people are leaving to go from one place to another, partially for taxes, but also partially for other reasons," he described. "The worst alternative is that one side or another says, 'This isn't my country anymore. This isn't my population'." Dalio added that "when the cause that people are behind is more important than the means of resolving their disagreements, that's a threatening situation". Moreover, in an essay published on LinkedIn, cautioning about the growing disorder in multiple countries, Dalio revealed that “people and politicians are now at each other’s throats to a degree greater than at any time in [his] 71 years,” and underscored that “how the U.S. handles its disorder will have profound implications for Americans, others around the world, and most economies and markets.”

Low employment and productivity, fewer opportunities, income divides, and under-investment in education all combined will cause irreversible damages to our country's future. But not only that. The growing dissatisfaction that has been expanding across the nation and taken into the streets will likely continue in a much more aggressive note. According to Dalio, if the policies that have been enabling this meltdown to happen aren't fixed soon enough, we'll be headed to a terrible societal collapse that could abruptly reshape the U.S. economic and financial systems, while chaos takes over and disrupts the lives of millions of Americans."

"America in the Post-Freedom Era"

"America in the Post-Freedom Era"
by Jeff Thomas

"In June of 2015, Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president of the US. At that time, his candidacy was looked upon as a joke, and indeed, well into the campaign in 2016, both Democrat and Republican politicians treated a win by Mister Trump as a ridiculous impossibility. Yet, at that time, I predicted that he’d win, as I believed that he would become an ideal tool for the Ruling Elite in their pursuit of far greater objectives than a mere presidency.

It was clear at the time that Mister Trump was a textbook narcissist who would seek maximum attention for himself whilst in office and would want all events to center on himself on a daily basis. Conservatives would be encouraged by his bluster, whilst liberals would burst a blood vessel over his incessant posturing.

The reason for my belief was history. In 1928, Herbert Hoover, a millionaire businessman who had never previously held elected office was elected as the US president. He was set up by the ruling elite as a patsy – the guy who would take the fall for causing the crash that would occur in 1929.

It worked. Those who were responsible for creating the unmanageable debt prior to the 1929 crash could not only pass the blame to their sucker-president; they would also be left with an electorate that was so angry over the crash and resultant economic crisis that, in 1932, the elite were able to usher in an all-encompassing Democratic win.

The Democrats took both houses of Congress and the presidency in that election. Franklin Roosevelt, a banker and Wall Street insider, was presented as the friend of the little man. He promised to turn his back on his wealth, his business partners and family and institute a host of policies that would assist those in need... collectivist policies that would, in fact, help to enslave those whom he claimed to be assisting.

The electorate loved Mister Roosevelt, as they saw him as their personal savior. The Ruling Elite understood that Mister Roosevelt was creating a regime of increased government control through which they, the Elite, would more greatly dominate the populace. The anger over Mister Hoover and his capitalist principles was so great amongst the electorate that Mister Roosevelt effectively became president for life. And Democrats held both houses of government for twenty years. Only the post-war prosperity broke their hold in 1952.

In 2016, my belief was that we would see a repeat of this history. Mister Trump would be the buffoon who, by virtue of his own ego, would be in place when the crisis began in 2020. At that time, COVID was nowhere on the horizon, but it has since then served as a perfect cover for the economic crisis that is presently under way.

When I first wrote on this prediction, just after the 2016 election, there could be no way to know for certain to what degree the Great Depression playbook would be repeated, but we now know that opposition to the Trump presidency, whether justified or not, has succeeded in polarising Americans to a greater degree than any election since 1860.

America is now at war with itself and the stage has been set for a lurch into collectivism, courtesy of the latest version of a Roosevelt presidency. So, what does that mean?

Well, if the prognostication is correct – if those who rule the US from behind the scenes do intend to pick up where the Roosevelt presidency left off, and usher in collectivism – we shall soon get a look at how the ruling elite intend to roll out the plan. President Joe Biden has already made several references to his role as being temporary, stating that if he disagrees with his vice president, he actually plans to step aside and even that he may "develop some disease and have to resign."

It would not be surprising if the intent from the beginning was that Mister Biden was a shill who would pass the ball to a hard-hitting replacement – one who could not otherwise have been sold to the American people. Kamala Harris dropped out of the presidential race in December of 2019, as she was only able to attract 2.8% of the Democratic vote. And as Democrats represent about half the electorate, that translates into about 1.4% of support from the American people.

Yet, supported or not, we may very well soon see a Harris regency presidency. As her reputation has been that of an aggressive far-leftist, her leadership promises to take the US far more quickly in a collectivist direction than Mister Biden might have.

But isn’t there a flaw in this presumption? If the ruling elite, who run the show behind the scenes, are made up of bankers, Big Pharma, the military-industrial complex and Wall Street, aren’t they the country’s foremost capitalists? Wouldn’t they be opposed to a collectivist regime?

The answer is no. And to understand this, we can again look at history. In 1917, Wall Street funded Leon Trotsky in his move to defeat the Mensheviks in Russia and install Bolshevik rule. That funding made possible the Lenin/Trotsky regime. In the 1930s Wall Street funded another form of collectivism – fascism – in Germany. The near-penniless Nazis received all the capital they needed to create a military intended to take over all of Europe.

What we can take away from history is that for those who are at the top level of rule – above the more visual but ultimately disposable politicians – the central objective is control. Create a powerful government from which all things flow. Debase the populace so that they have neither the economic power nor the ambition to think for themselves and take control of their own lives. Subjugate the masses as completely as possible. Thereafter, the acquisition of wealth is a no-brainer. Those who possess totalitarian rule control the economy and all wealth that may be derived from it.

Regardless of whether collectivism is called socialism, communism, fascism or any other new "ism" that may in future be concocted, it’s the key to domination. Once a people depend entirely upon their government for all that they receive, they quickly learn to submit to whatever is demanded of them, no matter how extreme. And so, in 2021, the groundwork has been laid for a major transformation of the US and, indeed, quite a few other countries that have followed a similar path.

We shall see a number of measures passed under the new rule that provide the populace with such "benefits" as debt forgiveness, universal basic income, greater privileges for minorities, etc. However, these benefits will carry a price tag. There will be Immunity Passports, direct debit taxation, criminalized self-expression, a militarized police state and a host of other losses to freedom.

The greatest of these may well be heralded in through a constitutional review, which will be touted as seeking to answer the "inequities and shortcomings" of the 1787 Constitution but may end in a wholesale loss of "inalienable" rights. However this plays out, it’s likely that 2021 will later be looked back upon by historians as the beginning of the Post-Freedom Era."

Musical Interlude: 2002, “Land of Forever”

2002, “Land of Forever”

"A Look to the Heavens"

“The constellation of Orion holds much more than three stars in a row. A deep exposure shows everything from dark nebula to star clusters, all embedded in an extended patch of gaseous wisps in the greater Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The brightest three stars on the far left are indeed the famous three stars that make up the belt of Orion. Just below Alnitak, the lowest of the three belt stars, is the Flame Nebula, glowing with excited hydrogen gas and immersed in filaments of dark brown dust.
Below the frame center and just to the right of Alnitak lies the Horsehead Nebula, a dark indentation of dense dust that has perhaps the most recognized nebular shapes on the sky. On the upper right lies M42, the Orion Nebula, an energetic caldron of tumultuous gas, visible to the unaided eye, that is giving birth to a new open cluster of stars. Immediately to the left of M42 is a prominent bluish reflection nebula sometimes called the Running Man that houses many bright blue stars. The above image, a digitally stitched composite taken over several nights, covers an area with objects that are roughly 1,500 light years away and spans about 75 light years.”

"The Heart Has Its Reasons..."

"Passion doesn't count the cost. Pascal said that the heart has its reasons that reason takes no account of. If he meant what I think, he meant that when passion seizes the heart it invents reasons that seem not only plausible but conclusive to prove that the world is well lost for love. It convinces you that honor is well sacrificed and that shame is a cheap price to pay. Passion is destructive. It destroyed Antony and Cleopatra, Tristan and Isolde, Parnell and Kitty O'Shea. And if it doesn't destroy it dies. It may be then that one is faced with the desolation of knowing that one has wasted the years of one's life, that one's brought disgrace upon oneself, endured the frightful pang of jealousy, swallowed every bitter mortification, that one's expended all one's tenderness, poured out all the riches of one's soul on a poor drab, a fool, a peg on which one hung one's dreams, who wasn't worth a stick of chewing gum."
- W. Somerset Maugham

"Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; 
it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable." 
- Sydney J. Harris