Thursday, February 4, 2021

"Economic Market Snapshot AM 2/4/21"

"Economic Market Snapshot AM 2/4/21"
"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:
"The Economic Meltdown Is Accelerating"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/4/21
"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.
Feb 1st to Feb 5th, Updated Daily 
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

Wednesday, February 3, 2021

Musical Interlude: Pink Floyd, "The Dark Side of the Moon" (Full Album HQ)

Pink Floyd, 
"The Dark Side of the Moon" (Full Album)
1973, incredibly...that can't be possible. It is...

"A Look to the Heavens"

“What's happening behind those houses? Pictured here are not auroras but nearby light pillars, a nearby phenomenon that can appear as a distant one. 
In most places on Earth, a lucky viewer can see a Sun-pillar, a column of light appearing to extend up from the Sun caused by flat fluttering ice-crystals reflecting sunlight from the upper atmosphere. Usually these ice crystals evaporate before reaching the ground. During freezing temperatures, however, flat fluttering ice crystals may form near the ground in a form of light snow, sometimes known as a crystal fog. These ice crystals may then reflect ground lights in columns not unlike a Sun-pillar. The featured image was taken in Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks in central Alaska.”

Chet Raymo, "In the Cave"

"In the Cave"
by Chet Raymo

"I have mentioned here before the ospreys that patrol our beach - or "fish hawks," as they call them here - generally in the afternoon at about the time I take my long walk to the palm point. Magnificent birds with broad wings that glide seemingly effortlessly on the wind. And here's the thing: As often as not I am startled by a bird's shadow before I see the bird itself. That wide-winged shadow, sweeping across the white sand, sometimes across me. That flicker of chill as the osprey blocks the sun.

And generally when it happens I think of Plato's allegory of the cave. Prisoners in a cave are constrained to look only at a blank wall. Somewhere behind them there is a fire, and people come and go in front of the fire, casting shadows on the wall. The shadows are the only reality the prisoners know. They have no idea of the flesh-and-blood people behind them or the blazing fire. The prisoners know only what presents itself to their senses.

Forget for the moment Plato's point, which has to do with the duty of the philosopher to enlighten the benighted. There is a humbling moral to the story for all of us: We can only know what our senses - directly or indirectly - can perceive.

Who, a century ago, could have imagined the universe of the galaxies, or the marvelous dance of the DNA in every cell of our bodies? By cleverly extending our senses - limited as they are - with technological enhancements a whole new universe has opened up to us. Who can imagine what we might know a century from now? Plato's "real" world is like a shadow compared to the universe we inhabit today. Our own universe may be a shadow of a reality vastly more wonderful than anything we have so far dreamed.

Never mind. We live in the world we have. Even the osprey's shadow is magnificent in its own way. I am privileged to lift my eyes and see the feathered bird. And I have an intuition that there is more - much more - yet to see.”

"Let It Roll Off Our Back: Dodging and Deflecting"

"Let It Roll Off Our Back: Dodging and Deflecting"
by Madisyn Taylor, The DailyOM

"When we are criticized or attacked it is important to not take it into our heart space. One of the most difficult challenges in life is learning not to take things to heart and hold on to it. Especially when we’re younger, or if we’re very sensitive, we take so much of what comes our way to heart. This can be overwhelming and unproductive if it throws us off balance on a regular basis. When we are feeling criticized or attacked from all directions, it becomes very difficult for us to recover ourselves so that we can continue to speak and act our truth. This is when we would do well to remember the old saying about letting certain things roll off us, like water off a duck’s back.

Most of the time, the attacks and criticisms of others have much more to do with them and how they are feeling than with us. If we get caught up in trying to adjust ourselves to other people’s negative energy, we lose touch with our core. In fact, in a positive light, these slings and arrows offer us the opportunity to strengthen our core sense of self, and to learn to dodge and deflect other people’s misdirected negativity. The more we do this, the more we are able to discern what belongs to us and what belongs to other people. With practice, we become masters of our energetic integrity, refusing to serve as targets for the disowned anger and frustration of the people around us.

Eventually, we will be able to hear the feedback that others have to offer, taking in anything that might actually be constructive, and releasing that which has nothing to do with us. First, though, we tend ourselves compassionately by recognizing when we can’t take something in from the outside without hurting ourselves. This is when we make like a duck, shaking it off and letting it roll off our back as we continue our way in the world."

"In the End...

"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

"The Exact Same Thing That Is Happening To GameStop Is Eventually Going To Happen To The Stock Market"

"The Exact Same Thing That Is Happening To 
GameStop Is Eventually Going To Happen To The Stock Market"
by Epic Economist

"GameStop stocks have been continuously crashing over the past few days, making those who are still holding on the their shares lose millions of dollars. The WallStreetBets-fueled short squeeze isn't over just yet, but it is entering a tortuous phase after trading restrictions were imposed in some stocks and the movement inevitably started to lose traction, as retail investors could only buy a limited amount of stock shares in the platform Robinhood. The ban has shown that the platform was never concerned about small investors as it claimed to be, since it not only sold their information to big corporations as it made sure to contend with the elite's agenda. It's no news that the stock markets are rigged, and eventually, the exact same thing that is happening to GameStop will happen to the market as a whole. That's what we're going to analyze in this video

A few days ago, GameStop stocks soared to over $300 a share, and several investors that were in the middle of the market frenzy thought they have suddenly become rich. But the thing about the stock market is that you only really make money on the way out. During the last two trading sessions, GameStop was sent down, with shares of the volatile retail-trader favorite sinking 60% and closing at $90 per share on Tuesday.

Many have seen the value of their stock holdings experience a steep decline. Amongst them, Keith Gill disclosed he suffered a loss north of $13 million on Tuesday alone from his GameStop bet, but he has no plans of selling it. He was one of the main heads behind the epic short squeeze in GameStop. Gill unveiled he has been holding 50,000 shares of GameStop as well as 500 call options. As the short squeeze in GameStop started to lose strength this week, a large chunk of Gill’s massive gains has disappeared. And while he is still refusing to sell and GameStop stocks are on a free fall, more losses are likely to occur over the next few days. 

After some major backlash, Robinhood decided to roll back the trading ban but decided to keep a limit on the amount of shares traders can buy in some stocks. Now, the platform is allowing clients to buy up to 100 shares of GameStop, up from the previous limitation of 20. The platform reported that the restrictions had to be put into place after an increase in capital requirements from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation in the face of the WallStreetBets investing frenzy. The wild trading has sparked varying reactions amongst high-profile investors and other public figures. Yesterday, billionaire Mark Cuban said he didn’t expect the Reddit army to go away even after the GameStop story is over, and he blamed brokerages and regulators for not being more transparent about the potential for trading restrictions.

In a recent statement, Senator Josh Hawley has exposed the fact that Robinhood "wasn’t really about its users. Its bread was buttered by selling the data on users’ trades to the big players - the elite guys, like Citadel - to give them inside tips on where retail investors were sending their money," he wrote. The economic collapse writer Michael Snyder outlined in a recent article: “The talking heads on television are preaching to us about the dangers of “the GameStop bubble”, but the truth is that our entire stock market has become one gigantic bubble".

Indeed, the stock market has been hanging by a thread for a long time now. Doomsday predictions for an 80% correction were becoming regular amongst experts way before the WallStreetBets short squeeze had started. This is just one of the numerous bubbles inside the market, and just as GME stock seems to be returning to its fair value, price to earnings ratios always return to their historical averages. Although no one can predict the exact time a crash will occur, it was set to happen regardless of the latest events. So sooner rather than later the stock bubble will pop and it will end badly for everyone, but we cannot say they didn't have it coming. As Zero Hedge likes to remind its readers, “on a long enough timeline the survival rate for everyone drops to zero”.

The Daily "Near You?"

Burke, Virginia, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

The Poet: Langston Hughes, "Dreams"

"Dreams"

"Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow."

- Langston Hughes

'Life, eh?"

"We said together, wistfully, 'Life, eh?' It says everything without having to say anything: that we all experience moments of joyful or painful reflection, sometimes alone, sometimes sharing laughs and tears with others; that we all know and appreciate that however wonderful and precious life is, it can equally be a terribly confusing and mysterious beast. 'Life, eh?"
- Miranda Hart

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 2/3/21"

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 2/3/21"
 Feb 3, 2021 2:20 PM ET: 
The coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 104,165,100 
people, according to official counts, including 26,533,428 Americans.
Globally at least 2,260,100 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/
Feb. 3, 2021 8:29 AM ET
Where I Live:
- CP

"How It Really Is"

"Comparing the 1930s and Today"

"Comparing the 1930s and Today"
by Doug Casey

"You've heard the axiom "History repeats itself." It does, but never in exactly the same way. To apply the lessons of the past, we must understand the differences of the present. During the American Revolution, the British came prepared to fight a successful war - but against a European army. Their formations, which gave them devastating firepower, and their red coats, which emphasized their numbers, proved the exact opposite of the tactics needed to fight a guerrilla war.

Before World War I, generals still saw the cavalry as the flower of their armies. Of course, the horse soldiers proved worse than useless in the trenches.

Before World War II, in anticipation of a German attack, the French built the "impenetrable" Maginot Line. History repeated itself and the attack came, but not in the way they expected. Their preparations were useless because the Germans didn't attempt to penetrate it; they simply went around it, and France was defeated.

The generals don't prepare for the last war out of perversity or stupidity, but rather because past experience is all they have to go by. Most of them simply don't know how to interpret that experience. They are correct in preparing for another war but wrong in relying upon what worked in the last one.

Investors, unfortunately, seem to make the same mistakes in marshaling their resources as do the generals. If the last 30 years have been prosperous, they base their actions on more prosperity. Talk of a depression isn't real to them because things are, in fact, so different from the 1930s. To most people, a depression means '30s-style conditions, and since they don't see that, they can't imagine a depression. That's because they know what the last depression was like, but they don't know what one is. It's hard to visualize something you don't understand.

Some of them who are a bit more clever might see an end to prosperity and the start of a depression but - al­though they're going to be a lot better off than most - they're probably looking for this depression to be like the last one. Although nobody can predict with absolute certainty what this depression will be like, you can be fairly well-assured it won't be an instant replay of the last one. But just because things will be different doesn't mean you have to be taken by surprise. To define the likely differences between this depres­sion and the last one, it's helpful to compare the situa­tion today to that in the early 1930s. The results aren't very reassuring.

Corporate Bankruptcy 1930s: Banks, insurance companies, and big corporations went under on a major scale. Institutions suffered the consequences of past mistakes, and there was no financial safety net to catch them as they fell. Mistakes were liquidated and only the prepared and efficient survived.

Today: The world’s financial institutions are in even worse shape than the last time, but now business ethics have changed and everyone expects the government to "step in." Laws are already in place that not only allow but require government inter­vention in many instances. This time, mistakes will be compounded, and the strong, productive, and ef­ficient will be forced to subsidize the weak, unproductive, and inefficient. It's ironic that businesses were bankrupted in the last depression because the prices of their products fell too low; this time, it'll be because they went too high.

Unemployment 1930s: If a man lost his job, he had to find another one as quickly as possible simply to keep from going hungry. A lot of other men in the same position competed desperately for what work was available, and an employer could hire those same men for much lower wages and expect them to work harder than what was the case before the depression. As a result, the men could get jobs and the employer could stay in business.

Today: The average man first has months of unemployment insurance; after that, he can go on welfare if he can't find "suitable work." Instead of taking whatever work is available, especially if it means that a white collar worker has to get his hands dirty, many will go on welfare. This will decrease the production of new wealth and delay the recovery. The worker no longer has to worry about some entrepreneur exploiting (i.e., employing) him at what he considers an unfair wage because the minimum wage laws, among others, precludes that possibility today. As a result, men stay unemployed and employers will go out of business.

Welfare 1930s: If hard times really put a man down and out, he had little recourse but to rely on his family, friends, or local social and church group. There was quite a bit of opprobrium attached to that, and it was only a last resort. The breadlines set up by various government bodies were largely cosmetic measures to soothe the more terror-prone among the voting populace. People made do because they had to, and that meant radically reducing their standards of living and taking any job available at any wage. There were very, very few people on welfare during the last depression.

Today: It's hard to say how those who are still working are going to support those who aren't in this depression. Even in the U.S., 50% of the country is already on some form of welfare. But food stamps, aid to fami­lies with dependent children, Social Security, and local programs are already collapsing in prosperous times. And when the tidal wave hits, they'll be totally overwhelmed. There aren't going to be any breadlines because people who would be standing in them are going to be shopping in local supermarkets just like people who earned their money. Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of it is that people in general have come to think that these programs can just magically make wealth appear, and they expect them to be there, while a whole class of people have grown up never learning to survive without them. It's ironic, yet predictable, that the programs that were supposed to help those who "need" them will serve to devastate those very people.

Regulations 1930s: Most economies have been fairly heavily regulated since the early 1900s, and those regulations caused distortions that added to the severity of the last depression. Rather than allow the economy to liquidate, in the case of the U.S., the Roosevelt regime added many, many more regulations - fixing prices, wages, and the manner of doing business in a static form. It was largely because of these regulations that the depression lingered on until the end of World War II, which "saved" the economy only through its massive reinflation of the currency. Had the government abolished most controls then in existence, instead of creating new ones, the depression would have been less severe and much shorter.

Today: The scores of new agencies set up since the last depression have created far more severe distortions in the ways people relate than those of 90 years ago; the potential adjustment needed is proportionately greater. Unless government restrictions and controls on wages, working conditions, energy consumption, safety, and such are removed, a dramatic economic turnaround during the Greater Depression will be impossible.

Taxes 1930s: The income tax was new to the U.S. in 1913, and by 1929, although it took a maximum 23.1% bite, that was only at the $1 million level. The average family’s income then was $2,335, and that put average families in the 1/10th of 1 percent bracket. And there was still no Social Security tax, no state income tax, no sales tax, and no estate tax. Furthermore, most people in the country didn't even pay the income tax because they earned less than the legal minimum or they didn't bother filing. The government, therefore, had immense untapped sources of revenue to draw upon to fund its schemes to "cure" the depression. Roosevelt was able to raise the average income tax from 1.35% to 16.56% during his tenure - an increase of 1,100%.

Today: Everyone now pays an income tax in addition to all the other taxes. In most Western countries, the total of direct and indirect taxes is over 50%. For that reason, it seems unlikely that direct taxes will go much higher. But inflation is constantly driving everyone into higher brackets and will have the same effect. A person has had to increase his or her income faster than inflation to compensate for taxes. Whatever taxes a man does pay will reduce his standard of living by just that much, and it's reasonable to expect tax evasion and the underground economy to boom in response. That will cushion the severity of the depression somewhat while it serves to help change the philosophical orientation of society.

Prices 1930s: Prices dropped radically because billions of dollars of inflationary currency were wiped out through the stock market crash, bond defaults, and bank failures. The government, however, somehow equated the high prices of the inflationary '20s with prosperity and attempted to prevent a fall in prices by such things as slaughtering livestock, dumping milk in the gutter, and enacting price supports. Since the collapse wiped out money faster than it could be created, the government felt the destruction of real wealth was a more effective way to raise prices. In other words, if you can't increase the supply of money, decrease the supply of goods.

Nonetheless, the 1930s depression was a deflationary collapse, a time when currency became worth more and prices dropped. This is probably the most confusing thing to most Americans since they assume - as a result of that experience - that "depression" means "deflation." It's also perhaps the biggest single difference between this depression and the last one.

Today: Prices could drop, as they did the last time, but the amount of power the government now has over the economy is far greater than what was the case 90 years ago. Instead of letting the economy cleanse itself by allowing the financial markets to collapse, governments will probably bail out insolvent banks, create mortgages wholesale to prop up real estate, and central banks will buy bonds to keep their prices from plummeting. All of these actions mean that the total money supply will grow enormously. Trillions will be created to avoid deflation. If you find men selling apples on street corners, it won't be for 5 cents apiece, but $5 apiece. But there won't be a lot of apple sellers because of welfare, nor will there be a lot of apples because of price controls.

Consumer prices will probably skyrocket as a result, and the country will have an inflationary depression. Unlike the 1930s, when people who held dollars were king, by the end of the Greater Depression, people with dollars will be wiped out.

The Society 1930s: The world was largely rural or small-town. Communications were slow, but people tended to trust the media. The government exercised considerable moral suasion, and people tended to support it. The business of the country was business, as Calvin Coolidge said, and men who created wealth were esteemed. All told, if you were going to have a depression, it was a rather stable environment for it; despite that, however, there were still plenty of riots, marches, and general disorder.

Today: The country is now urban and suburban, and although communications are rapid, there's little interpersonal contact. The media are suspect. The government is seen more as an adversary or an imperial ruler than an arbitrator accepted by a consensus of concerned citizens. Businessmen are viewed as unscrupulous predators who take advantage of anyone weak enough to be exploited. A major financial smashup in today's atmosphere could do a lot more than wipe out a few naives in the stock market and unemploy some workers, as occurred in the '30s; some sectors of society are now time bombs. It's hard to say, for instance, what third- and fourth-generation welfare recipients are going to do when the going gets really tough.

The Way People Work 1930s: Relatively slow transportation and communication localized economic conditions. The U.S. itself was somewhat insulated from the rest of the world, and parts of the U.S. were fairly self-contained. Workers were mostly involved in basic agriculture and industry, creating widgets and other tangible items. There wasn't a great deal of specialization, and that made it easier for someone to move laterally from one occupation into the next, without extensive retraining, since people were more able to produce the basics of life on their own. Most women never joined the workforce, and the wife in a marriage acted as a "backup" system should the husband lose his job.

Today: The whole world is interdependent, and a war in the Middle East or a revolution in Africa can have a direct and immediate effect on a barber in Chicago or Krakow. Since the whole economy is centrally controlled from Washington, a mistake there can be a national disaster. People generally aren’t in a position to roll with the punches as more than half the people in the country belong to what is known as the "service economy." That means, in most cases, they're better equipped to shuffle papers than make widgets. Even "necessary" services are often terminated when times get hard. Specialization is part of what an advanced industrial economy is all about, but if the economic order changes radically, it can prove a liability.

The Financial Markets 1930s: The last depression is identified with the collapse of the stock market, which lost over 90% of its value from 1929 to 1933. A secure bond was the best possible investment as interest rates dropped radically. Commodities plummeted, reducing millions of farmers to near subsistence levels. Since most real estate was owned outright and taxes were low, a drop in price didn't make a lot of difference unless you had to sell. Land prices plummeted, but since people bought it to use, not unload to a greater fool, they didn't usually have to sell.

Today: This time, stocks - and especially commodities - are likely to explode on the upside as people panic into them to get out of depreciating dollars in general and bonds in particular. Real estate will be - next to bonds - the most devastated single area of the economy because no one will lend money long term. And real estate is built on the mortgage market, which will vanish. Everybody who invests in this depression thinking that it will turn out like the last one will be very unhappy with the results. Being aware of the differences between the last depression and this one makes it a lot easier to position yourself to minimize losses and maximize profits.

So much for the differences. The crucial, obvious, and most important similarity, however, is that most people's standard of living will fall dramatically. The Greater Depression has started. Most people don't know it because they can neither confront the thought nor understand the differences between this one and the last.

As a climax approaches, many of the things that you've built your life around in the past are going to change and change radically. The ability to adjust to new conditions is the sign of a psychologically healthy person. Look for the opportunity side of the crisis. The Chinese symbol for "crisis" is a combination of two other symbols - one for danger and one for opportunity. The rush to inject an unprecedented amount of money into every corner of the economy is a last-ditch effort to keep the stock market casino going for as long as possible - no matter the consequences.

The dangers that society will face in the years ahead are regrettable, but there's no point in allowing anxiety, frustration, or apathy to overcome you. Face the future with courage, curiosity, and optimism rather than fear. You can be a winner, and if you plan carefully, you will be. The great period of change will give you a chance to regain control of your destiny, and that in itself is the single most important thing in life, as an individual and society as a whole."

"Extraordinary Popular Delusions"

"Extraordinary Popular Delusions"
By Bill Bonner

"Let us not, in the pride of our superior knowledge, turn with contempt from
 the follies of our predecessors. The study of the errors into which great 
minds have fallen in the pursuit of truth can never be uninstructive."
– 19th-century Scottish author Charles MacKay"

WEST RIVER, MARYLAND – "As you know, Dear Reader, we live in an Age of Miracles. Jesus could turn water into wine. But the Federal Reserve can go one better… It can turn worthless pieces of paper into – money! Trillions of dollars’ worth of money. Enough to “stimulate” the world’s biggest economy into a state of transcendental ecstasy. Or at least into a pleasurable, momentary delusion of normalcy.

Distraction: This is the big story of the 21st century… the fantasy of fake money and the subsequent real-world, real-time butt-kicking that Americans will get as a result. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. We are only in the fairly early stages, when the delusions are still more or less agreeable. Our biggest challenge here at the Diary is to avoid getting distracted and misled by them. Each incredible tale has its own trail of hooey leading to yet another incredible tale. Follow one… and then the other… and pretty soon, you are lost. But let’s see where we end up today.

Infinity Squeeze: Last week, the Reddit crew seemed to open a whole new chapter in financial history. Suddenly, using the internet, a flash mob of “little guy” investors was able to humble the big, rich hedge funds. The hedgies had sold some 140% of the GameStop shares outstanding. Some people wondered how that was possible. Others wondered why it was legal. Or how the young traders – led by Reddit users Roaring Kitty or DeepF**kingValue – could possibly execute an “infinity squeeze” against the pros.

Even the “infinity squeeze” itself is an object of wonder. In it, buyers drive up the price so high… leaving so little available float that the next buyer (say, a short seller who needs to cover his bet) must pay an infinitely higher price. We didn’t know how it would turn out in practice, but anyone could guess how it would go in theory. Once the shorts had all retreated, licking their wounded egos and counting their billions in losses, the longs would be masters of the field.

Back Down to Earth: But then what? They would be holding shares in a company, bought at an average basis cost far above what they are really worth – perhaps hundreds of times more than they are worth. These buyers had sworn to “never sell.” And perhaps, in the spirit of solidarity or insanity, they would stall before hitting the bid. But all is fair in love, war, and squeeze plays.

The smartest of them edged towards the exit last Thursday, selling a stock then worth more than $400. By yesterday, a crowd had rushed the open door, trampling many and bringing the price down to $90. In a few weeks, it ought to be back to where it began, around $15. By this time next year, it might be closer to zero.

For while the Fed can perform miracles of levitation on Wall Street, it leaves Main Street flat on the ground. And GameStop, a bricks-and-mortar retailer of video games now readily available online, seems likely to go out of business.

Hate the Rich: So what was that all about, we wonder? All the sturm and drang? All the huffing and puffing on the part of bystanders? Everybody seemed to get worked up about it. The shorts thought they were doing God’s work – helping Mr. Market find the appropriate price for GameStop shares. The longs all wore white, too, confident that they were on a crusade to stop the rich from taking over the world.

The only “takeaways” for us from the whole saga were that the Fed’s bubble must be getting ready to pop (the madness of the gaming crowd is reaching a fever pitch)… and that hatred towards “the rich” is running high – and growing. A recent news item told us that a wealthy white couple had rented a private plane in order to go into the wilds of Canada to get “the vaccine” that had been sent for the local people. The Guardian’s headline captured the hate-the-rich mood. ‘It disgusts me’: how a wealthy couple lied to get a vaccine meant for Indigenous people

It’s hard to know which part of the news item to wonder about first. The rich couple turned out to be young. They didn’t even need the vaccine. Why bother to fly across hundreds of miles of wilderness and pretend to be local motel staff in order to get it? And how did they get away with it? The town of Beaver Creek in Canada’s Yukon territory has a population of about 100. Everybody knows everybody else.

And isn’t the vaccine supposed to be in short supply? Isn’t it supposed to be the only thing standing between life and death for millions of people? Why send the precious elixir to the middle of nowhere and give it to people who’ve reportedly never had a single case of the disease? We have no answers. We only wonder.

And we wonder what the effect would be if the roles were reversed. Let’s try it out: Indigenous people lie in order to get vaccine intended for the wealthy Who would be disgusted then? At whom? We wonder.

White Hats: But wondering takes time. And energy. More important, it turns your attention away from the main drama. It is like a sidewalk clown who swallows a mouse so you won’t notice the bank robbery across the street. But more than a distraction, it is a formula… a universal template that you can use to shore up the levees on the magical river… and imagine that it always leads to ever-more miracles ahead.

The GameStop story pitted the “little guys” against the “big guys.” The little guys won… until they lost. Then, the media dropped the story.

The “rich” stole the vaccine from “indigenous people.” Now, they are threatened with jail time.

An “insurrection” in Washington was a battle between the pristine forces of democracy… and a mob of barbarians. The bad guys are being hunted down.

And even the COVID-19 Plague story followed the same Hollywood script. The bug killed millions… but The Science and Mankind (oops, we mean Personkind) triumphed by developing miracle vaccines. Surely now, anno domini 2021, the white hats at the Fed – with their “miracle” money at hand – will triumph again… and banish poverty/recession/financial crises from the face of the Earth. Or not. Stay tuned."

"What Keeps You Going..."

"What keeps you going isn't some fine destination but just the road you're on, and the fact that you know how to drive. You keep your eyes open, you see this damned-to-hell world you got born into, and you ask yourself, 'What life can I live that will let me breathe in and out and love somebody or something and not run off screaming into the woods?'"
- Barbara Kingsolver

"The Only Final Sin..."

"In a closed society where everybody’s guilty, the only crime 
is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity."
- Hunter S. Thompson

Tuesday, February 2, 2021

“Hedge Funds Will Eat You Alive; Silver Smashed; Stock Market Is A Video Game; Anxiety Soars”

Jeremiah Babe,
“Hedge Funds Will Eat You Alive; Silver Smashed; 
Stock Market Is A Video Game; Anxiety Soars”

"It's Official: The World's Biggest Silver Short Squeeze Has Begun!"

"It's Official: 
The World's Biggest Silver Short Squeeze Has Begun!"
by Epic Economist

"It's official: the world's biggest short squeeze has begun. As we previously reported, WallStreetBets members have been discussing on a Reddit forum and other places on social media about descending to the precious metal market. Yesterday, Silver stock prices hit an eight-year high as the online trading war against big banks and hedge funds found a new battleground. The conflict between short-sellers and the Reddit group has already seen GameStop’s share price skyrocket by 1,700% in the space of a month. But now, the small investor Reddit group’s trader frenzy is shifting its focus in order to team up and start to pump their money in silver shares to create a shortage of physical silver in the markets and send prices to unprecedented levels. The Reddit Rebellion against large institutional investors is attempting to destroy big banks they believe are artificially suppressing prices and manipulating the markets. And that's what we discuss in this video. 

Following a coordinated campaign to buy both silver exchange trading funds in the paper realm and precious metals in the physical, the Reddit-Raiders are putting their plan of triggering the world's biggest short squeeze into place, as online bullion dealers have seen such a huge demand for silver over the weekend that U.S. precious metals retailers were left with little to no physical inventory, while silver prices exploded higher following in the same footsteps of other "most-shorted" names. According to the last trading numbers, the precious metal is currently trading at around $30/ounce, an 11.5% surge which has been the biggest one-day increase since September 16, 2008 - the day Lehman filed for bankruptcy. If the price closes there, it is going to be the highest price since early 2013.

However, as Bloomberg accurately assesses, silver stocks are very different from stocks like GameStop. Starting with the fact that the extent of a short squeeze in silver is much more complex: data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission indicate that money managers have had a net-long position, futures, and options on the metal since mid-2019. More significantly, the market for silver is also much larger than those for smaller stocks like GameStop. While the bricks-and-mortar video game retailer had a market capitalization of about $1.4 billion in mid-January - before the Reddit movement prompt the company’s value to increase over 16-fold - according to LBMA data, London vaults hold 1.08 billion ounces of silver, whose worth is evaluated at approximately $32 billion at current prices. 

For the foreseeable future, it's very unlikely that a reversal of the surge occurs: short-term forward rates on the London silver market flatlined on Monday, which suggests that a strong demand for the metal will be seen over the coming weeks. Whether the price jump fuelled by the unprecedented demand is solely being sparked by the Reddit Rebellion or hedge funds might also be behind it, the truth is that silver shortages are already happening pretty much everywhere, and sellers of physical silver including Apmex - considered the "Walmart" of precious metals products in North America - have affirmed to be unable to process orders until Asian markets opened due to the record demand. Many of them have been taking extraordinary measures for the first time in their history by temporarily suspending silver sales while defending that it could take longer than usual to fill orders going forward. 

GoldSilver.com's President, Alex Daley, stressed that this rush on physical silver came at a time when the industry was already registering low supply. This shortage of physical silver is revealing a tear in the precious metals market unlike anything we have ever witnessed before. And although silver futures prices - which stand for paper silver - have remained stable during the day, physical silver prices remain at sky-highs. In other words, the elites can print all the paper silver it wants, but as there is no physical supply, this will likely end really badly for those trying to suppress the fact that this is indeed the most speculative market of all. Or as QTR Research has perfectly put into words: "no matter what happens with the Silver Squeeze, a lot of younger people are for the first time informing themselves that metals are the only true real money. That realization sticks for life, even when the squeezes end. This is a red pill moment for many, and it's beautiful."
"Insider Intel: "I work for a bank whose name I won’t disclose.
You fools. You have no idea what you’re doing."

Gerald Celente, “Trends Journal: Youth Revolution, Stop the Game!”

Gerald Celente, 
“Trends Journal: Youth Revolution, Stop the Game!”
"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over hype and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What’s Next in the increasingly turbulent times ahead."

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 2/2/21"

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 2/2/21"
 Feb 2, 2021 8:01 PM ET: 
The coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 103,821,800 
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Globally at least 2,249,900 have died.

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https://covidtracking.com/
Feb. 2, 2021 8:17 AM ET
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Gregory Mannarino, Post-Market 2/2/21: "Alert! Do Not Follow The Crowd! SLV Dives"

Gregory Mannarino, 
Post-Market 2/2/21: "Alert! Do Not Follow The Crowd! 
SLV Dives... Is The Stock Market Correction Over?"

Musical Interlude: Justin Hayward, "The Way of the World"

Justin Hayward, "The Way of the World"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Will the spider ever catch the fly? Not if both are large emission nebulas toward the constellation of the Charioteer (Auriga). The spider-shaped gas cloud on the left is actually an emission nebula labelled IC 417, while the smaller fly-shaped cloud on the right is dubbed NGC 1931 and is both an emission nebula and a reflection nebula. 
About 10,000 light-years distant, both nebulas harbor young, open star clusters. For scale, the more compact NGC 1931 (Fly) is about 10 light-years across.”

"A Strange Honey..."

"Bad things will happen and good things too. Your life will be full of surprises. Miracles happen only where there has been suffering. So taste your grief to the fullest. Don't try and press it down. Don't hide from it. Don't escape. It is life too. It is truth. But it will pass and time will put a strange honey in the bitterness. That's the way life goes."
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