"20 Must-Have Items for the Coming Chaos"

Full screen recommended.

"20 Must-Have Items for the Coming Chaos"

by Epic Economist

"Let's be honest: we are living in extremely dark times and every day it goes by, more threatening events rise on the horizon. The United States already went through the first stage of the economic collapse last year, after the health crisis turned our lives upside down. And believe it or not, things will never be the same. Even though during some short periods of time the situation may seem relatively stable, don't be mistaken by thinking everything will be just fine because these moments are essentially the calm before the storm. One thing that we learned the hard way during the last 12 months was that our supply chains are incredibly vulnerable to disruptions, and by now, we all can surely tell that those vulnerabilities considerably increase the likelihood of shortages and skyrocketing prices. To make matters worse, our in-home production has slowed down and never returned to previous levels.

Today, we consume more supplies that come from overseas than supplies entirely produced in our country, and the fact that our geopolitical tensions with other global superpowers are getting more intense, doesn't help us at all. Oh, and let's not forget about cyberattacks. After the first one has shut down the largest gasoline pipeline of the country and sparked severe gasoline shortages, hackers realized that entering our key systems isn't that difficult and they have been attacking several other companies in recent days. This means that our internal systems are exposed and also vulnerable to suddenly face major interruptions, and those interruptions will undoubtedly trigger chaos all over the nation. That's why, now more than ever, we should get ready for the coming chaos and the next stages of the economic collapse. What we've experienced so far is nothing like what we're going to experience in the near future, but if you're prepared in advance you might be able to stay safe and survive during the end of the world as we know it.

Realistically speaking, when we consider all the factors at play, we should brace for some painful years of hyperinflation and extensive shortages, so getting ready for the next stages of the economic collapse is the most responsible thing you can do in order to protect yourself and your family from the coming chaos. The first thing you need to ensure your survival during an emergency is a well-stocked pantry. Food is an absolute necessity and you don't want to wait until things start to become turbulent to start stockpiling it. At the end of the day, adding staple foods to your pantry is the best investment you can make for an economic collapse. We can already see how inflation is pushing prices to sky-highs. But when hyperinflation is here, it's going to be a very different story, so be prepared. Make sure you take the word of experienced preppers into consideration, such as those with Urban Survival Website, Ask A Prepper, American Preppers Network, Offgrid Survival, and many others. And keep tuned to our channel, because if things start to rapidly spiral out of control, you'll be the first ones to know. For that reason, today, we selected 20 must-have items for you to stockpile before widespread panic takes over. So let's check this list!"

- https://www.epiceconomist.com​

Musical Interlude: Kevin Kern, “Above The Clouds”

Full screen recommended.

Kevin Kern, “Above The Clouds”

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Why does this galaxy have such a long tail? In this stunning vista, based on image data from the Hubble Legacy Archive, distant galaxies form a dramatic backdrop for disrupted spiral galaxy Arp 188, the Tadpole Galaxy. The cosmic tadpole is a mere 420 million light-years distant toward the northern constellation of the Dragon (Draco). Its eye-catching tail is about 280 thousand light-years long and features massive, bright blue star clusters. 

One story goes that a more compact intruder galaxy crossed in front of Arp 188 - from right to left in this view - and was slung around behind the Tadpole by their gravitational attraction. During the close encounter, tidal forces drew out the spiral galaxy's stars, gas, and dust forming the spectacular tail. The intruder galaxy itself, estimated to lie about 300 thousand light-years behind the Tadpole, can be seen through foreground spiral arms at the upper right. Following its terrestrial namesake, the Tadpole Galaxy will likely lose its tail as it grows older, the tail's star clusters forming smaller satellites of the large spiral galaxy."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210621.html

"Knowing..."

“Knowing can be a curse on a person’s life. I’d traded in a pack of lies for a pack of truth, and I didn’t know which one was heavier. Which one took the most strength to carry around? It was a ridiculous question, though, because once you know the truth, you can’t ever go back and pick up your suitcase of lies. Heavier or not, the truth is yours now.”

- Sue Monk Kidd

The Poet: Mary Oliver, “Some Questions You Might Ask”

“Some Questions You Might Ask”

“Is the soul solid, like iron?

Or is it tender and breakable, like

the wings of a moth in the beak of the owl?

Who has it, and who doesn’t?

I keep looking around me.

The face of the moose is as sad

as the face of Jesus.

The swan opens her white wings slowly.

In the fall, the black bear carries leaves into the darkness.

One question leads to another.

Does it have a shape? Like an iceberg?

Like the eye of a hummingbird?

Does it have one lung, like the snake and the scallop?

Why should I have it, and not the anteater

who loves her children?

Why should I have it, and not the camel?

Come to think of it, what about the maple trees?

What about the blue iris?

What about all the little stones, sitting alone in the moonlight?

What about roses, and lemons, and their shining leaves?’

What about the grass?”

- Mary Oliver

The Daily "Near You?"

Montgomery, Alabama, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Anyway..."

“Bad things don’t happen to people because they deserve for them to happen. It just doesn’t work that way. It’s just… life. And no matter who we are, we have to take the hand we’re dealt, crappy though it may be, and try our very best to move forward anyway, to love anyway, to have hope anyway… to have faith that there’s a purpose to the journey we’re on.”

- Mia Sheridan

"Economic Market Snapshot PM 7/2/21"

"Economic Market Snapshot PM 7/2/21"

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"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

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

Only the consequences are real - to you!

Your guide:

Gregory Mannarino, PM 7/2/21:

"Hyper-Inflating Debts And Deficits - 

The FED Will Do The Opposite Of What They Are Saying!"

- https://traderschoice.net/

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"The more I see of the monied classes,

the better I understand the guillotine."

- George Bernard Shaw

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MarketWatch Market Summary, Live Updates

- https://www.marketwatch.com/tools/marketsummary

CNN Market Data:

- https://money.cnn.com/data/markets/

CNN Fear And Greed Index:

- https://money.cnn.com/data/fear-and-greed/

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A comprehensive, essential daily read.

- http://www.shadowstats.com/

July 2nd to 6th, Updated Daily

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Financial Stress Index

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

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Daily Job Cuts

- https://www.dailyjobcuts.com/

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- https://www.zerohedge.com/

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- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

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- https://wallstreetonparade.com/

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- https://www.whatreallyhappened.com/

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- https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

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Commentary, highly recommended:

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

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And now, the End Game...

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Oh yeah...

"More Than 72 Million Americans Are Living Paycheck To Paycheck"

"More Than 72 Million Americans Are 

Living Paycheck To Paycheck"

by Tyler Durden

"Imagine you lost your job tomorrow. How long would you be able to sustain your current lifestyle? A week? A month? A year? As we await Friday's labor market update, Finder has just published the results of a recent survey attempting to gauge the financial stability of the average American in the post-pandemic era.

More than 2K adults to were interviewed to try and ascertain how long they could survive without income. It turns out that approximately 72.4MM employed Americans - 28.4% of the population - believe they wouldn't be able to last for more than a month without a payday.

Another 24% said they expected to be able to live comfortably between two months and six months. That means an estimated 133.6MM working Americans (52.3% of the population) can live off their savings for six months or less before going broke.

On the other end of the spectrum, roughly 8.7MM employed Americans (or 3.4% of the population) say they don't need to rely on a rainy day fund since they have employment insurance which will compensate them should they lose their job.

Amusingly, men appear to be less effective savers than women. Some 32.4MM women (26.7% of American women) say their savings would stretch at most a month, compared to 40MM men (29.9% of American men) who admit to the same. Of those people, 9.7MM women (8% of American women) say their savings wouldn’t even stretch a week, compared to 15.5MM men (11.6% of American men) who admit to the same.

A majority of employed Americans over the age of 18 say their savings would last six months at most. About 70.7MM men (52.8% of American men) and 62.8MM women (51.8% of American women) fear they'd be in dire straits within six months of losing their livelihood.

Unsurprisingly, younger people tend to have less of a savings buffer - but the gap between the generations isn't as wide as it probably should be. While increasing one's income is perhaps the best route to building a more robust nest egg, Finder offered some suggestions for people looking to maximize their savings.

1. Create a budget and stick to it: Look at your monthly income against all of your monthly expenses. Add to them expenses you pay once or twice a year to avoid a surprise when they creep up. After you know where your money is going, you can allot specific amounts to different categories and effectively track your spending.

2. Start an emergency fund: The goal is getting to a point where you’ve saved enough money to cover expenses for a month, and then six months and then ultimately a safer nine months. Consider setting up automatic deposits from your checking into savings for a set-it-and-forget-it nest egg.

3. Put money where it’s difficult to access: To reduce the temptation of tapping into your savings, consider tucking away your automatic deposits into an online bank account or somewhere other than your main bank. Look for an account without a debit card for insurance against easy indulging.

4. Pay off or consolidate your debts: Use any leftover cash from your budget to chip away at your debts. Many people claim success with the snowball, avalanche and other methods of paying down debt. Compare 0% APR balance transfer credit cards or debt consolidation loans to save on interest and simplify your bills.

5. Take up a side hustle: You may be able to turn extra time into extra money by:

• Driving for Uber or Lyft

• Putting your skills towards freelancing

• Selling your stuff online

• Doing odd jobs

• Renting out your apartment on AirBnb

• Participating in paid surveys

6. Invest in your future: If the company you work for offers a 401(k) or investment alternative, sign up for the opportunity to passively save for retirement - especially if there’s a company match. Start small with 4% and increase your contribution with future salary increases.

7. Shop around for stronger deals: Compare cheap car insurance rates to see if you’re paying too much in monthly premiums. See if you can keep your grocery budget under a set amount by sticking to buying what’s on sale. If you get creative, you may find you’re squirreling away enough extra cash to get ahead of the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle.

8. Teach your kids strong financial literacy: Start early by teaching your children healthy financial habits to set them up for success, helping them avoid the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle altogether. There are plenty of debit cards for kids designed to teach them finances, and some are even free."

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

"How it Really Is"

That'll be the day...

Greg Hunter, "Weekly News Wrap-Up 7/2/21"

"Weekly News Wrap-Up 7/2/21:

Delta Biden, VAERS Lie People Die, Spending $1 Trillion a Night"

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Vice President Biden’s Administration is using the so-called “Delta variant” of CV19 to get even more people to get jabbed with the experimental gene therapy that they are calling a vaccine. No talk of half of Americans already having natural immunity. This is according to Johns Hopkins MD Marty Makary. Why the push for more vaccines when 160 million or so Americans already have natural immunity? Why force or scare people to get an experimental vaccine when there are so many reports of death and injury from them? This is not about medicine folks!

I have always said the death and adverse reaction numbers to the CV19 vaccines have to be extremely inaccurately low. The CDC, NIH and Dr. Fauci have lied about everything. According to a report done by Harvard Health Care back in 2011, the reporting for Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) is notoriously low. The report says less than 1% of adverse vaccine reactions are reported. So, does this mean the 6,000 people that VAERS says died as a result of the CV19 vaccine is really more like 600,0000 deaths?? The numbers are way off, and this Harvard study backs that idea up.

This past week, the Fed spent nearly $1 trillion in one night in the reverse repo market. The Fed does not want rates to fall below zero, and on the other end, it is spending $120 billion a month (at least) not allowing rates to rise too much in the repo market. Got that? Just know something is very wrong at the Fed when they have to spend $1 trillion in a single night. There is no fix that is going to happen. They are just going to keep it going until it blows sky high. Cut back on risk is my best advice."

- https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he talks about these 

stories and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up 7/2/21.

- https://rumble.com/

Gregory Mannarino, AM 7/2/21: "Alert! Eyes On The Yield Curve As The FED Continues To Buy It All"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 7/2/21:

"Alert! Eyes On The Yield Curve As 

The FED Continues To Buy It All"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"Stumbling Toward Reality"

"Stumbling Toward Reality"

by Jim Kunstler

"Dr. Anthony Fauci, who answers to the title “The Science” in certain circles, said this week that there are going to be two Americas, the vaxed and the unvaxed. Earth to Fr. Fauci: we are already two Americas: the reality-onboard and the reality-optional.

One reality is that vaccines developed at “warp speed” appear to have gnarly side-effects that can outweigh the risk of the disease they’re engineered to protect against. Another reality is that the Delta variant of SARS-Covid-19 is more contagious, but also weaker, less likely to result in hospitalization among the unvaxed. Yet another reality is that the Delta variant also infects the fully-vaccinated. Oh, what to do?

Consider not allowing yourself to be jerked around by US health officials who have trouble keeping their story straight, for instance, Dr. Anthony Fauci (a.k.a. The Science) who, records show, apparently assisted the bio-warfare division of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at the Wuhan lab in the development of a world-beating, gain-of-function bat virus - which, halfway through year-two of its run, seems to be following the usual trajectory of viral epidemics by growing weaker before it disappears altogether. And then we’ll see what happens longer-term among the vaxed, who were subjected to flurries of toxic spike proteins.

It’s the opinion of some - though not myself - that the Covid-19 episode was unleashed upon the world to allow “the elite” to execute a “controlled demolition of the global economy” so as quash climate change (by reducing carbon emissions), and therefore ensure a brighter future for said elite, while cruelly throwing the rest of the world’s population overboard. Oh, I dunno…. Klaus Schwab and his minions of The Great Reset seem more like hapless control freaks than persons actually able to control anything, least of all the whole world. Dr. Fauci’s role looks like a species of generic egomania with a top hat of greed (considering his financial interests in vaccines). The reality is that the global economy, such as it’s a high-tech industrial economy, is shooting its own wad very nicely without a whole lot of assistance from alleged nefarious parties.

Meantime, the Fourth of July is upon us and the nation is not quite half-vaxed-up, and yet we are about to celebrate the meaning of Independence Day, which is freedom from getting jerked around by tyrants. The idea! And so, you see, the USA also seems to be divided between those who take liberty and its associated values to heart, and those who seek to coerce, dominate, censor, cancel, and punish those who show signs of wishing to enjoy liberty in the pursuit of happiness.

Since the mythic figure known as “Trump” appears to represent the group that favors liberty, it has been necessary for the latter group of Woke tyrants to find some way to punish him. And so, after much sedulous digging and rooting through every record vaulted in the earth’s mantle, the Manhattan district attorney’s office, conducting an investigation alongside the New York attorney general, has lodged a 15-count indictment against the Trump organization and its CFO, a Mr. Allen Weisselberg, for a conspiracy to commit criminal tax fraud, falsifying business records, and omitting to pay taxes on employees “indirect compensation” (i.e., fringe benefits) amounting to $1.7-million over 15 years.

Cue Dr. Evil… with pinky finger inserted in corner of mouth. One-point-seven million!!! Over 15 years… equals about $113,000 a year! The New York state tax upon which might be in the neighborhood of $10,000! (That is, on the fringe benefits of company cars, parking spaces, and college tuition for company employees.) Now, there is a powerful case for malfeasance! Do you know what $1.7-million will get you: I’ll tell you: the raised ranch house that my parents bought in the Long Island suburbs for about 20-K in 1954. (Note, rather severely updated since then.) Just sayin….

Notice that the complaint against the Trump Org was not brought by the state tax authorities. Why not? Perhaps because it is beneath the dignity of even calling it a Mickey Mouse case. Instead, this is the sum total of what Democratic Party Lawfare ferrets could dig up in five years, including two years and $33-million spent by Robert Mueller’s investigators, plus the extra exertions of the DOJ’s Southern District federal attorneys. Well, done, Lawfare warriors! It will be fun to watch the prosecution of this case, if it isn’t peremptorily laughed out court. It was especially rich to see the way The New York Times played the story in Friday’s morning edition - a giant banner headline, taken down, by the way, sometime after 9:00a.m. EDT, but we screen-capped it just prior:

Finally, in this trifecta of clanging unrealities, Democratic Party efforts to promote endless, widespread election fraud were dealt a knockdown blow Thursday in the US Supreme Court’s decision upholding a new Arizona election reform law that prohibits “ballot harvesting” and voting out of one’s own election district. The SCOTUS decision kind of moots the DOJ’s more recent hustle to undermine Georgia’s new election reform law, which includes similar prohibitions against ballot shenanigans. In short, states now can take reasonable steps to ensure fair elections - a hard concept to grasp, I’m sure, but there it is. Now let’s see how many states seek to unravel previous election shenanigans, for instance what went down on November 3 2020. Happy July Fourth everyone. Don’t hurt anyone… or yourselves!"

- https://kunstler.com/

Gerald Celente, "The Trends Journal": "Markets Hit All Time HIgh, Will Covid War 2.0 Kill It?"

Gerald Celente, "The Trends Journal" PM 7/1/21:

"Markets Hit All Time HIgh, Will Covid War 2.0 Kill It?"

"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."

- https://trendsresearch.com/

Musical Interlude: Ludovico Einaudi, “In A Time Lapse”

Full screen recommended.

Ludovico Einaudi, “In A Time Lapse”

“In A Time Lapse's” Track List:

02:25 - Walk

05:43 - Discovery At Night

09:51 - Two Trees

16:18 - Life

20:40 - Brothers

24:43 - Orbits

28:05 - Corale Solo

31:01 - Waterways

35:56 - Ronald's Dream

39:41 - Bever

45:33 - Newton´s Cradle

50:35 - Time Lapse

56:08 - Circles

58:19 - Experience

1:03:04 - Underwood

1:06:44 - Burning

"A Look to the Heavens"

“This wide, sharp telescopic view reveals galaxies scattered beyond the stars and faint dust nebulae of the Milky Way at the northern boundary of the high-flying constellation Pegasus. Prominent at the upper right is NGC 7331.

A mere 50 million light-years away, the large spiral is one of the brighter galaxies not included in Charles Messier's famous 18th century catalog. The disturbed looking group of galaxies at the lower left is well-known as Stephan's Quintet. About 300 million light-years distant, the quintet dramatically illustrates a multiple galaxy collision, its powerful, ongoing interactions posed for a brief cosmic snapshot. On the sky, the quintet and NGC 7331 are separated by about half a degree.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141023.html

"14 Astonishing Facts About The Blistering Heatwave That Is Absolutely Frying The Northwest Right Now"

Full screen recommended.

"14 Astonishing Facts About The Blistering Heatwave 

That Is Absolutely Frying The Northwest Right Now"

by Epic Economist

"There are so many absurdities happening right now that is getting hard to know which one is actually the worst. The United States is being plagued by so many crises and disasters that it almost feels like we have been cursed. And the extreme weather conditions we have been witnessing are just way far from "normal". For years, experts have been telling us that global weather patterns were starting to spiral out of control, but it seems like no one has listened to their warnings. However, nobody can deny right now that what we are experiencing is absolutely unprecedented. Most parts of the Northwest are being slammed by a “heat dome,” something just as crazy and scary as the catastrophes we see in apocalyptic movies.

Even though the U.S. went through other severe heatwaves, nothing compares to what is going on over the past few weeks. In the past, when the weather has gotten unexpectedly hot, one or two cities might have set new high temperature records during a given date, but this week we are seeing cities break their all-time records for hottest temperature ever recorded every day. At this point, all we can hope for is that this situation doesn't become the "new normal".

This phenomenon is reaching unimaginable proportions and we are just at the beginning of the summer. Over the past few years, we have been witnessing extraordinarily freezing temperatures during the winter, ravaging storms, floods, and also exceptionally high temperatures during the summer, catastrophic droughts, and water crises as well as multiple natural disasters all over the world. As opposed to what our leaders ingenuously believe, simply "changing our approach to the environment" won't solve crises like these. At this stage, those small "green initiatives" won't do much to contain nature's rage.

According to climate experts, the heatwave that is now completely baking the U.S. Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, Canada, has an intensity that was never recorded by modern humans. Data recently released suggest that "it is more rare than a once in a 1,000-year event," meaning that if you could be alive for 1,000 years and you happened to be at this particular spot, you'd probably only experience a heat dome like this once in your lifetime, if ever. The brutal heat is a result of a combination of an atmospheric blocking pattern in addition to a human-caused climate-changed planet, where standard temperatures are already much higher than nature intended. The current heatwave comes just after another historic one that happened less than two weeks ago in the U.S. Intermountain West, Desert Southwest, and California, which also set hundreds of new record highs.

We have been destroying entire ecosystems for decades, and now the whole planet is dramatically and irreversibly changing. These extreme weather conditions will persist throughout the rest of the season, and we will probably have new record-highs by then. Another worrying aspect of this crisis is how hot temperatures can affect people's mental health. Here, in the U.S. hot weather usually means a great level of social unrest and turbulence in our cities' streets, and since our society was already melting down all around us way before all of this happened, bizarre weather is definitely not going to help matters. In fact, those who are still believing that this situation is going to be miraculously turned around are just in a deep state of blissful denial. That’s why today, we brought you 14 truly astonishing facts about the blistering heatwave that is absolutely frying the Northwest over the past weeks."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com​

"In The Presence of Difficulty, Compassion"

"In The Presence of Difficulty, Compassion"

by Madisyn Taylor, The DailyOM

"True compassion recognizes that all the boundaries we perceive between ourselves and others are an illusion. Compassion is the ability to see the deep connectedness between ourselves and others. Moreover, true compassion recognizes that all the boundaries we perceive between ourselves and others are an illusion. When we first begin to practice compassion, this very deep level of understanding may elude us, but we can have faith that if we start where we are, we will eventually feel our way toward it. We move closer to it every time we see past our own self-concern to accommodate concern for others. And, as with any skill, our compassion grows most in the presence of difficulty.

We practice small acts of compassion every day, when our loved ones are short-tempered or another driver cuts us off in traffic. We extend our forgiveness by trying to understand their point of view; we know how it is to feel stressed out or irritable. The practice of compassion becomes more difficult when we find ourselves unable to understand the actions of the person who offends us. These are the situations that ask us to look more deeply into ourselves, into parts of our psyches that we may want to deny, parts that we have repressed because society has labeled them bad or wrong. For example, acts of violence are often well beyond anything we ourselves have perpetuated, so when we are on the receiving end of such acts, we are often at a loss. This is where the real potential for growth begins, because we are called to shine a light inside ourselves and take responsibility for what we have disowned. It is at this juncture that we have the opportunity to transform from within!

This can seem like a very tall order, but when life presents us with circumstances that require our compassion, no matter how difficult, we can trust that we are ready. We can call upon all the light we have cultivated so far, allowing it to lead the way into the darkest parts of our own hearts, connecting us to the hearts of others in the understanding that is true compassion."

- http://www.dailyom.com/

"FED Kills Economy To Save Wall St; Hollywood Has Fallen; Businesses Decimated; Doom and Gloom Reality"

Full screen recommended.

Jeremiah Babe, PM 7/1/21:

"FED Kills Economy To Save Wall St; Hollywood Has Fallen; 

 Businesses Decimated; Doom and Gloom Reality"

The Daily "Near You?"

Oakes, N. Dakota, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Kahlil Gibran, "The Madman"

"The Madman"

"It was in the garden of a madhouse that I met a youth with a face pale and lovely and full of wonder. And I sat beside him upon the bench, and I said, “Why are you here?” And he looked at me in astonishment, and he said, “It is an unseemly question, yet I will answer you. My father would make of me a reproduction of himself; so also would my uncle. My mother would have me the image of her seafaring husband as the perfect example for me to follow. My brother thinks I should be like him, a fine athlete. And my teachers also, the doctor of philosophy, and the music-master, and the logician, they too were determined, and each would have me but a reflection of his own face in a mirror. Therefore I came to this place. I find it more sane here. At least, I can be myself.” Then of a sudden he turned to me and he said, “But tell me, were you also driven to this place by education and good counsel?”

And I answered, “No, I am a visitor.”And he answered, “Oh, you are one of those who live in the madhouse on the other side of the wall...” 

- Kahlil Gibran

The Poet: Langston Hughes, “Life is Fine”

“Life is Fine”

"I went down to the river,

I set down on the bank.

I tried to think but couldn't,

So I jumped in and sank.

I came up once and hollered!

I came up twice and cried!

If that water hadn't a-been so cold

I might've sunk and died.

But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!

I took the elevator

Sixteen floors above the ground.

I thought about my baby

And thought I would jump down.

I stood there and I hollered!

I stood there and I cried!

If it hadn't a-been so high

I might've jumped and died.

But it was High up there! It was high!

So since I'm still here livin',

I guess I will live on.

I could've died for love -

But for livin' I was born.

Though you may hear me holler,

And you may see me cry -

I'll be dogged, sweet baby,

If you gonna see me die.

Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!"

- Langston Hughes

"How It Really Is"

Must Watch! "All the Stimulus Programs Ending in July, with Jeremiah Babe"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, IAllegedly, PM 7/1/21:

"All the Stimulus Programs Ending in July, with Jeremiah Babe"

"Jeremiah Babe joins me to cover all the different stimulus programs that are ending in the month of July. You need to get ready for rent moratorium, forbearance, unemployment and getting prepared with savings and security."

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Related:

"The Systemic Risk No One Sees"

Gregory Mannarino, AM/PM 7/1/21

Gregory Mannarino, AM 7/1/21:

"ALERT! We Are In A Full Blown Inflationary Crisis; 

Crude Oil Now OVER $75 A Barrel"

- https://traderschoice.net/

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Gregory Mannarino, PM 7/1/21:

"Wall St. Now Betting The Fed.

 Will INCREASE Asset Purchases! Not Taper"

-https://traderschoice.net/

"Think of the Wavering Millions"

"Think of the Wavering Millions"

by Bill Bonner

"Raise your glass to the hard-working people,

Let’s drink to the uncounted heads.

Let’s think of the wavering millions

Who need leading, but get gamblers instead.

Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter,

Empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows.

And a parade of the gray-suited grafters

A choice of cancer or polio."

– "Salt of the Earth" by The Rolling Stones

YOUGHAL, IRELAND – "Today, we raise a glass to the hard-working people… robbed by the gamblers and conned by the gray-suited grifters…Yes, we drink to the uncounted heads… the people who till the earth and pay the bills.

Elite Role: As we’ve oft explored in these Diaries, all wealth comes from work. Sweat. Innovation. From people who save their money and accumulate their knowledge. From people who plant gardens, write songs, and clean the windows. Typically, the elite play a valuable role – designing bridges, settling disputes, teaching the young, and healing the sick.

Its priests point the way to Heaven or hell. Its judges and opinion leaders moderate the savage impulses of the mob… and guide the “lower depths” (mostly by example) in all matters aesthetic, moral, and practical.

Its politicians should restrain themselves, stealing no more than a few percentage points of the national treasure.

Its generals should stay in their barracks, unless called upon to defend the country.

And its central bankers should protect the value of its money… no more, no less.

Irresistible Temptation: But the elite, naturally, have power as well as responsibility. They have guns and laws to boss people around. And the temptation not just to protect money… but to print infinitely more of it… appears to be irresistible. Left unchecked, the power corrupts… turning them from a helpful service class to a group of self-serving parasites. That is what America’s fake money has wrought.

As we reported, the top 1% has seen its wealth increase by $25 trillion since 2009. There are 330 million people in America, so the top 1% numbers 3.3 million… Divide that into $25 trillion, and we see that the average one-percenter has gained about $7.5 million – which works out at about $1,845 per day. Not a lot of money for a one-percenter. Maybe he can do better over the next 12 years!

Wealth Inequality: But today, our attention is on the rest. The carpenters and used car salesmen, the streetwalkers and factory girls, the people who serve the hamburgers and fix the potholes. The total “wealth” gain since 2009 is about $70 trillion. If the top 1% got $25 trillion, the bottom 99% must have gotten $45 trillion. But of that, almost all was concentrated near the top. Those in the bottom 50% gained only about $13,250 apiece over the last 12 years – or about $3.23 per day!

That is the “inequality” you hear lamented so frequently in the press. And it’s no accident. In the last 15 months, for example, the Federal Reserve has “printed” up some $4 trillion. Stocks have hit record after record. Real estate, too, is now in record territory.

Hornswoggled: The gamblers have never seen the cotton so high. They can borrow money below the level of consumer price inflation, and use it to speculate on SPACs, NFTs, meme stocks, cryptos – you name it. Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller tells us what it is like: "...everyone wealthy that I know is making fortunes… this guy [Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell] is printing money like there’s no tomorrow… for the life of me, I can’t understand why the left is so excited about money-printing when all the data shows that the people who benefit from money-printing are rich people."

But the foot soldiers? The hairdressers? The proles and hoi polloi? They have only their time to sell… and, by retarding the growth of capital, the feds make each hour less valuable They are the masses… the people… the folks who supposedly control the government. But they’ve been hornswoggled. The inflation trick is too subtle. They don’t understand it. Besides, in each election, they are offered the same choice – between cancer and polio.

Bright Side: Still, here at the Diary, we always look on the bright side. We walk on the sunny side of the street and drink from the half of the glass that is full. Yes, there are advantages to being poor.

The poor man doesn’t have to look at ugly or depressing art; he can buy a print of a Norman Rockwell magazine cover. He doesn’t have to wander around in a giant, empty palace and hire a gardener named Joselito. He can live in a cozy rambler… warm himself in front of the fireplace in the winter… enjoy a cool beer on the porch in the summer… and cut the grass himself. And he doesn’t have to travel. The rich man flits from business conference to his vacation digs, exhausting himself while pretending to be important. The poor man gets to stay at home.

Nor is the poor man expected to cheerlead for whatever cause is popular. He need not fly a rainbow flag from his bedroom window; his neighbors would think he was a little “funny” if he did. Nor does he have to worry about his carbon footprint. He drives a gas-guzzling pickup… but only to get to work.

The poor man doesn’t have to read How to Be an Anti-Racist or know who Ibram X. Kendi is; he knows where he stands. Black or white, he’s proud of his own people… and sure that others are low-lifes. And he doesn’t have to waste his time learning the difference between a Chablis and a Chardonnay. Or fear picking up the wrong fork at a fancy dinner party. “Fork ‘em all,” he mutters…"

- www.rogueeconomics.com

Must Watch! "You Could Be Jobless And Homeless Tomorrow; Living Paycheck To Paycheck; Economic Endgame"

Full screen recommended.

Jeremiah Babe, PM 6/30/21:

"You Could Be Jobless And Homeless Tomorrow; 

Living Paycheck To Paycheck; Economic Endgame"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Few cosmic vistas excite the imagination like the Orion Nebula. Also known as M42, the nebula's glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular cloud only 1,500 light-years away. The Orion Nebula offers one of the best opportunities to study how stars are born partly because it is the nearest large star-forming region, but also because the nebula's energetic stars have blown away obscuring gas and dust clouds that would otherwise block our view - providing an intimate look at a range of ongoing stages of starbirth and evolution. 

The featured image of the Orion Nebula is among the sharpest ever, constructed using data from the Hubble Space Telescope. The entire Orion Nebula spans about 40 light years and is located in the same spiral arm of our Galaxy as the Sun."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210629.html

"Home Prices Just Did Something That They Have Never Done Before"

Full screen recommended.

"Home Prices Just Did Something That 

They Have Never Done Before"

by Epic Economist

"Everyone could see home prices were spiraling out of control, and now we are seeing some solid numbers that are just shocking. Home prices are rising at the fastest pace ever recorded, and millions of potential homebuyers are getting increasingly frustrated with how competitive the housing market has become. All across the country, average hard-working American families are being completely priced out of the market. Prior to the health crisis, the biggest price bubbles used to be in big cities and major urban centers along both coasts. But right now, buyers have been looking for the safety and comfort of rural and suburban areas, whose markets all over the nation are red hot. Bidding wars are happening so frequently that offering more than one million dollars over the asking price has become a common thing. Buyers are so desperate to purchase a home that in addition to cash bags they have been offering trips, cars, and even to buy another home for the seller. This crazy frenzy is sending home prices to dizzying heights, and the latest numbers can prove so.

On Tuesday, headlines all across America were reporting the latest reading of the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price data, which revealed that in the month of April, U.S. home prices jumped the most in over 30 years. Other financial experts with ZeroHedge affirmed these sharp price increases "make sense" thanks to "trillions in stimmy checks, near-record low mortgage rates, and an exodus away from cities". Experienced economists are telling us that this euphoric market is only expanding the growing divide between the haves and have-nots in housing, with sales activity dramatically rising on the higher end of the market but falling on the low end as increasingly more buyers are getting priced out.

They note that the Federal Reserve is responsible for keeping mortgage rates artificially low through its bond-buying program, and those suppressed rates helped to fuel the home buying boom over the past year. Even though they have ticked slightly higher in recent days, that wasn't enough to offset the huge price gains. “So much for the Fed’s all-inclusive monetary policy where lower income people now can’t afford housing,” wrote Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group.

Those who are being left out of the market have no other alternative rather than renting a place. However, rent prices have also been on a relentless rise in many areas around the country. The latest price increases are coming at a time U.S. renters collectively owe more than $30 billion in back rent. Some states, such as California, are trying to pay off unpaid rent accrued during the recession before mass evictions begin. At least 10 million workers who live paycheck-to-paycheck remain on the verge of losing their homes as soon as the CDC moratorium expires next month.

These days, companies are taking advantage of heated demand for products and dwindling supplies to stretch prices as much as they can. That goes from homes and vehicles to everyday items and food. At this point, every time Americans take a trip to the grocery store they end up paying more for the same products. But higher food prices aren't just affecting financially strapped families and the working poor. The truth is food price inflation is getting very painful for food banks just as well, which is making their mission of helping those in need much more expensive.

And if rampant inflation wasn't bad enough, U.S. consumers are also dealing with extensive shortages. For instance, now that the holiday weekend is just around the corner, several gas stations around the nation are already reporting widespread gasoline shortages. In the meantime, the 43 million Americans that are getting ready to hit the road for the July 4th holiday should brace for some of the highest gas prices in almost seven years, which are averaging $3.10 a gallon, a 42% increase compared to a year ago. The current shortages are being mainly caused by a lack of available truckers to deliver fuel, and according to CNN, this means that thousands of stations will not get any gas delivered at all. If we see the same we've seen after Colonial Pipeline was shut down for a week, this implies that we're headed to another wave of panic buying and chaos across the country's stations.

Although the mainstream media keeps trying to sugarcoat the devastating effects of high inflation, saying that these widespread shortages are a sign of a "booming" economy, the reality is much more bitter than many realize. We're effectively living a rerun of the Jimmy Carter era of the 1970s, and unfortunately, this is just the beginning of this crisis. Just like back then, Americans' financial pain was extended through years and years, and today, our economy's long-term outlook never looked so despairing."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com​

"MacArthur Park Is a Complete Wreck - Hollywood Homeless Breakdown"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, IAllegedly, PM 6/30/21:

"MacArthur Park Is a Complete Wreck - Hollywood Homeless Breakdown"

"Hollywood and MacArthur Park are two of the areas that are just getting worse by the week. Both of these areas are completely unsafe and sketchy to say the least."

Musical Interlude: Grateful Dead, "Touch of Grey"

"If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was

a thousand miles away, I'd still swim. And I'd despise the one who gave up." 

- Abraham Maslow

Grateful Dead, "Touch of Grey"

"We will get by, we will get by, we will get by,

we will survive..."

The Daily "Near You?"

Rockledge, Florida, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Therefore..."

“The bewildered herd is a problem. We've got to prevent their roar and trampling. We've got to distract them. They should be watching the Superbowl or sitcoms or violent movies. Every once in a while you call on them to chant meaningless slogans like "Support our troops!" You've got to keep them pretty scared, because unless they're properly scared and frightened of all kinds of devils that are going to destroy them from outside or inside or somewhere, they may start to think, which is very dangerous, because they're not competent to think. Therefore it's important to distract them and marginalize them.”

- Noam Chomsky

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed 

(and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it 

with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."

- H. L. Mencken