Tuesday, May 3, 2022

"Scanty Eyes on the Fed"

"Scanty Eyes on the Fed"
by Addison Wiggin

“It was the biggest inflation and the most sustained 
inflation that the United States had ever had.”

- Paul Volcker, on the Great Inflation of 1965-1982

"The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is meeting tomorrow in Washington. Within 18 hours, we could see a rate hike of 50 basis points… the highest in 22 years… and see if Chairman Powell can schmooze the markets long enough to settle them down. The unsuspecting public – that’s “us” to them! – is getting slammed by inflation, aghast at plummeting stock prices, and holding their breath to see if the Powell Fed is going to stick to their plan and get even more “aggressive” than their puny little hike in March.

How many folks are channeling Paul Volcker these days? For years, Volcker and his successors tried to tame the beast. I met him once in his office many years ago… he had a caricature of himself in the hallway outside his door. Somebody had drawn the large man as a viking slaying the dragon “Inflation.”

Now, we’re at it again… but for all our hand wringing and long interviews it seems like today’s Fed lacks Volcker’s temerity.

A Wiggin Sessions alum, Graham Summers, said “inflation is here and here to stay” back in April 2021. We’ve already seen a volatile “head-and-shoulders” market over the last week. Stocks are plummeting. Our Jim Rickards is bracing for an 80% drop in the Dow.

So… where do we put our money right now, if not in the markets? James Altucher said on The Wiggin Sessions a couple weeks ago: if you’re looking to make a defensive, reactionary play: “gold is a ‘flight to safety’ for older generations, while younger generations prefer crypto.”
Matt Piepenberg echoes this sentiment in this week’s Wiggin Session: “I look at gold as insurance for currencies that are diluted and burning to the ground.” Hopefully the Fed navigates this soft landing without any turbulence… In the meantime, let’s prepare for the worst and expect a crash.

Follow your bliss..."
"P.S. In other news: Watch angry people throw tomatoes at the newly re-elected French President Emmanuel Macron, here. Looks like it’s going to be another tough term for the Free French. Too bad, really, those tomatoes would make a nice ratatouille.

Oh, also this from Bloomberg: Citigroup's London trading desk was behind a flash crash that sent European shares tumbling on Monday. A trader made a mistake “inputting a transaction,” Citigroup said late last night, after a knee-jerk selloff in Swedish stocks in five minutes wreaked havoc, wiping out 300 billion euros… that’s $315 billion dollars."

Gerald Celente, "Miss Information: I'm In Charge"

Full screen recommended.
Strong Language Alert!
Gerald Celente, "The Trends Journal"
"Miss Information: I'm In Charge"
"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What’s Next in these increasingly turbulent times."

"Leaving California This Morning; Markets Unstoppable Until They Are Not; The Bubble Will Burst"

Jeremiah Babe, 5/3/22:
"Leaving California This Morning; Markets Unstoppable
 Until They Are Not; The Bubble Will Burst"
Related:

Gregory Mannarino, "Must Watch: You Are Being Gamed, Conned, And Manipulated!"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 5/3/22:
"Must Watch: You Are Being Gamed, Conned, And Manipulated!"

Musical Interlude: Gnomusy (David Caballero), "Footprints On The Sea"

Gnomusy (David Caballero), "Footprints On The Sea"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"What created Devils Tower? The origin of this extraordinary rock monolith in Wyoming, USA is still debated, with a leading hypothesis holding that it is a hardened lava plume that never reached the surface to become a volcano. In this theory, the lighter rock that once surrounded the dense volcanic neck has now eroded away, leaving the dramatic tower. 
Click image for larger size.
Known by Native Americans by names including Bear's Lodge and Great Gray Horn, the dense rock includes the longest hexagonal columns known, some over 180-meters tall. High above, the central band of the Milky Way galaxy arches across the sky. Many notable sky objects are visible, including dark strands of the Pipe Nebula and the reddish Lagoon Nebula to the tower's right. Green grass and trees line the foreground, while clouds appear near the horizon to the tower's left. Unlike many other international landmarks, mountaineers are permitted to climb Devils Tower."

Chet Raymo, "The Ring of Truth"

"The Ring of Truth"
by Chet Raymo

"In Salley Vickers' novel, "Where Three Roads Meet," the shade of Tiresias, the blind seer of the Oedipus myth, visits Sigmund Freud in London during the psychoanalyst's final terrible illness. In a series of conversations, Tiresias retells the story of Oedipus- he who was fated to kill his father and sleep with his mother- a story at the heart of Freud's own theory of the human psyche. At one point in the conversations, as Tiresias and Freud discuss the extent to which our lives are fated, the question of immortality arises. Freud says of Oedipus that "he made his story into an immortal one, so far as any story is." And Tiresias replies, "But, Dr. Freud, stories are all we humans have to make us immortal."

Oedipus lives on, whether he lived or not in actuality. Sophocles lives in our consciousness as vigorously as ever he did in life. They live because their stories touch something resonant and unchanging in human nature. Vickers suggests that what makes the Oedipal story immortal is not any necessary tendency of humans to act out the Oedipal myth, a la Freud, but rather Oedipus's rage to know the truth- or become conscious of a truth he has known all along and suppressed - even though the truth will be his undoing.

The poet Muriel Rukesyser got it exactly right when she said: "The universe is made of stories, not atoms." Even atoms are stories we tell about the world, having first paid close attention to how the world works. The plays of Sophocles and the other Greek dramatists live on not because their authors were immortal, but because nature endures and their stories tell us something that rings true about enduring nature. And, like Oedipus, we have a rage to know, even if knowledge will unseat some of our more comfortable illusions.

"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

"Nine Meals from Anarchy"

"Nine Meals from Anarchy"
by Jeff Thomas

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

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

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

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

If there were a month where significant inflation took place (say, 3%; now at least 15%- CP), all profits would be lost for the month for both suppliers and retailers, but goods could still be replaced and sold for a higher price next month. But, if there were three or more consecutive months of inflation, the industry would be unable to bridge the gap, even if better conditions were expected to develop in future months. A failure to pay in full for several months would mean smaller orders by those who could not pay. That would mean fewer goods on the shelves. The longer the inflationary trend continued, the more quickly prices would rise to hopefully offset the inflation. And ever-fewer items on the shelves.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Along the way, truckers would begin to refuse to enter troubled neighborhoods, and the military might well be brought in to force deliveries to take place.

So, what would it take for the above to occur? Well, historically, it has always begun with excessive debt. We know that the debt level is now the highest it has ever been in world history. In addition, the stock and bond markets are in bubbles of historic proportions. They will most certainly pop.

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

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

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

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

"Food Bank Demand Soars (Again) As Inflation Crushes Working-Poor "

"Food Bank Demand Soars (Again)
As Inflation Crushes Working-Poor "
by Tyler Durden

"The highest inflation prints in four decades have forced some Americans to flood food banks and pantries (again). WSJ reports that Forgotten Harvest in Detroit has experienced a dramatic increase in demand. Since December, demand at the food bank has increased from 25% to 45%. In March alone, when energy and food prices soared, demand jumped 30% over the prior month. Christopher Ivey, a spokesman for the Detroit food bank, said, "the need is growing quickly, as gas prices are continuing to rise." "As you know, there are shortages in the grocery store and the costs of the commodity goods are going up and up and up, Ivey said, adding this is putting pressure on the food bank."

The hunger crisis is countrywide. With a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, Feeding America published new data that found demand for its food assistance in February increased in nearly every food bank (85%). That was a 20% increase versus January's numbers.

Allison Korn, the director of the Food Law & Policy Clinic at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the virus pandemic sparked food insecurity, and today's inflation environment has made things worse. "You will continue to see folks come into food banks who are seniors, who are undocumented individuals, and persons who suffer from disabilities ... But you're also seeing folks who are just kind of trying to cobble together jobs who may suffer from chronic and persistent unemployment," Korn said.

Working-poor households have been battered by inflation at a four-decade high. The price of food in March was 10% versus the same month last year. Inflation has outpaced wage growth, sending real wages negative. Also, the personal savings rate has collapsed to its lowest level since December 2014, an ominous sign the consumer is stressed.

Higher food bank demand has put pressure on this organization's supply chains because of increased food costs, rising freight costs, and food availability. "We have had to work harder to secure the food needed to support the community," Tim Fetsch, the St. Louis Area Foodbank chief operating officer, told WSJ. Fetsch warned that today's inflationary environment and supply chain disruptions had reduced the amount of food donated.

Feeding America's CEO Katie Fitzgerald said food banks in the organization's network had increased food purchases by 60%. She outlined costs have increased by 40%. "What's important to understand is that lower-income households are unraveling as consumer prices are at historically high levels. It's a sign that some households are at breaking points amid threats of stagflation. "

"Massive Shortages in 90 Days - Why Everyone Should Care About Diesel Fuel Prices"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 5/3/22:
"Massive Shortages in 90 Days - 
Why Everyone Should Care About Diesel Fuel Prices"
"Globally we are going to see massive shortages within 90 days. I have had people from around the globe reach out to me. This includes farmers and business people from every walk of life. Diesel fuel is shooting up in price around the globe and it’s only going to get more expensive. There will be food shortages globally very soon."

Bill Bonner, "Down the Drain"

"Down the Drain"
Never have so many lost so much money so fast.
by Bill Bonner

Dublin, Ireland - "Last week, we got news that the US economy is now in reverse. It is no longer growing; it is shrinking, backing up. Less income, fewer sales, less profits, smaller salaries – the whole shebang. Never, in our entire lifetimes, have so many lost so much so fast. MarketWatch has the shocking report: "The most concerning thing about Thursday’s report on U.S. gross domestic product for the first quarter wasn’t that the first line of the first table showed that real GDP fell at a 1.4% annual rate. It was the little-noticed news on line 34 showing that real disposable incomes fell for a fourth straight quarter. Over the last four quarters, the purchasing power of after-tax household incomes plunged by $2.2 trillion (in 2021 dollars). That’s a 10.9% decline, by far the largest in the records dating back to 1947."

Wait a minute. It’s worse than that. Real disposable personal income (as opposed to household incomes) for March was actually 20% below that of March 2021. No mystery. No magic. It’s just that old symmetry we’ve been talking about.

Hopes Flushed: When the Covid hit, the feds panicked. Donald Trump declared an emergency (there was none)… and started handing out money (there was none of that available either.) And then, Joe Biden and his team continued the madness with another $1.9 trillion in unnecessary spending of non-existent money.

This tsunami of free money washed over a hunkered-down economy. Unable to spend the money, ‘savings rates’ rose like the plastic ball in a toilet tank. From an average of 6% the rate floated up to 34%. But then, of course, the Covid receded, the masks came off, businesses opened up and Americans flushed all that extra money into the economy. Prices rose, as you’d expect. The gimmies and stimmies soon petered out. And savings rates went right back down to 6%. GDP growth – which, in the last quarter of 2021, had been hoisted to 6.9% on the feds’ $3 trillion budget deficit petarde – collapsed down to the aforementioned MINUS 1.4%.

It was fun while it lasted. But now it’s over. And it causes us to wonder… what if? What if these things had not happened? What if the 21st century had never come… and things merely continued, more or less as they had in the 20th century? What if the feds hadn’t squandered $20 trillion (plus or minus) on wars and bailouts since 1999? What if they hadn’t shut down the economy in 2020… and spent money out the wazoo to make up for it? And what if the internet had never been invented?

Sliding Poors: Access to the world wide web was supposed to bring unparalleled riches. After all, it was “information” that separated the rich from the poor. The rich know how to make money. The poor do not. And finally, thanks to Microsoft and Google… that vital information was available to everyone. Even the most humble peasant in the dustiest, most windblown burg in the the most dogsh*t country on earth could fire up his laptop computer and discover how to do Mergers and Acquisitions!

This knowledge was destined to blow out all the speed limits on the great highway of commerce and innovation, or so they said. And yet, since the Clinton years of the 1990s, GDP growth has dropped steadily… from nearly 4% down to this last quarter’s dismal reading of NEGATIVE 1.4%.

So, what if the internet hadn’t come along? What if the growth rates of the 20th century had continued? Pew Research reports: “Most of the increase in household income was achieved in the period from 1970 to 2000. In these three decades, the median income increased by 41%, to $70,800, at an annual average rate of 1.2%. From 2000 to 2018, the growth in household income slowed to an annual average rate of only 0.3%. If there had been no such slowdown and incomes had continued to increase in this century at the same rate as from 1970 to 2000, the current median U.S. household income would be about $87,000, considerably higher than its actual level of $74,600.”

There you have it. Or at least part of it. The ‘more to the story’ is that the feds gummed up the banking system with all their deadhead rules. And they fiddled interest rates into negative territory and brought forth an additional $50 trillion – household, business, and federal – worth of debt so far this century.

Meanwhile, the internet provided an around-the-clock circus, distracting the public from the real economy… and offering a cheap, hollow substitute for real knowledge. In 2001, the masses became experts on the geopolitics of the Middle East. In 2008, they mastered Keynesian economic theory. Then, in 2020, it was virology that absorbed billions of hours that might otherwise have been put to productive uses. And now, they know all they need to know about the Russo-Ukrainian war… and Kim Kardashian! Without the internet, in other words, we might all be richer… happier… safer… and smarter…but we wouldn’t have TikTok or NFTs, would we?"
Related:

The Daily "Near You?"

Campton, New Hampshire, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Checking Prices And Food Shortages At Meijer! Grab It Before It's Gone!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures with Danno, 5/3/22:
"Checking Prices And Food Shortages At Meijer! 
Grab It Before It's Gone!"
"In today's vlog we are at Meijer checking out food shortages, and price increases! We are here to check out skyrocketing prices, and empty shelves! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"

Gregory Mannarino, "Alert! Expect to Be Distracted, Propagandized and Lied To"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 5/3/22:
"Alert! Expect to Be Distracted, Propagandized and Lied To"
Market Data Center, live updates:

"Why are Most People Cowards? Obedience and the Rise of Authoritarianism"

Full screen recommended.
Academy of Ideas,
"Why are Most People Cowards? 
Obedience and the Rise of Authoritarianism"
Hat tip to The Burning Platform:
“Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' Vanity asks the question, 'Is it popular?' But, conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right”
- Martin Luther King Jr.

"What Sort of Western People Fly a Ukrainian Flag?"

"What Sort of Western People Fly a Ukrainian Flag?"
by Batiushka

"I can make a ten-mile trip in any direction from here and see three or four Ukrainian flags flying, or drooping, according to the wind, in people’s gardens. In that time I may pass by a thousand houses. The percentage of Ukrainian flag-flyers is then very small, certainly much less than 1%. But why do they do it at all? It surely cannot be to boost the trade of Chinese flagmakers. What sort of people are involved in this display of stupidity? Flying the blue and yellow flag of nineteenth-century Lower Austria because of its associations with contemporary Nazi terrorists in south-western Russia? Would these flag-flyers also fly the swastika then? Because that is what they are in fact doing. Who are these philistines who want to cancel culture and support Nazism?

1. ‘Ukrainians’: Let us suppose that one or two flag-flyers are actually of Ukrainian origin. Their Galician (west Ukrainian) grandparents came here in 1945 as Polish citizens. As one of the last such grandfathers who died 20 years ago in great old age said to me on his death-bed: ‘But I never killed any Jews’. I believed him, but noted that he did not say that he had never killed any Poles or Russians. In the UK the authorities did actually bother to check the stories of some pro-Nazi Galicians and some were refused entrance.

However, the refused were not too bothered, since they knew they could get into Canada and the USA without any vetting at all. The North Americans would take any Galician SS nasties, as long as they were anti-Communist and hated Russians, no problem….After all the US space program was built by V1 and V2 Nazi nasties, and only a generation after Auschwitz and Belsen they took Americans to the moon. The grandchildren of such 1945 Ukrainian immigrants generally have little idea of what the Ukraine actually is and cannot speak the language. Flag flying for them is just part of family nostalgia, tokenism. We should not take it too seriously.

2. The Naïve: Let us be generous. The naïve are always with us. Those who rescue cats from trees and take in stray dogs, feed the birds in their gardens and give money to Afghan refugees/terrorists may also fly this flag. After all, ‘it is all in a good cause’. Let us not pay too much attention to such people. They ‘mean well’.

3. The Zombies: Now, sadly, we come to the vast majority of the flag-flyers. These are the ones who have a TV instead of a brain. These are the ones whose grandparents believed that German soldiers bayoneted Belgian babies in 1914, or whose parents believed that in 1945 the British genocided Dresden and that the Americans nuked Japan in order to shorten the war (in fact both crimes were committed to frighten Stalin), or who believed in 1990 that Iraqi troops threw babies out of incubators when they freed the British-separated Iraqi province of Kuwait and that Serbs massacred Muslims in Yugoslavia in the 1990s. These are the ones who read British ‘newspapers’ (= lie-sheets) and over the last two years actually believed the propaganda about covid, closed themselves away wearing a mask and refused to go outside for a year because ‘it’ was ‘in the air’.

They listened to and read and believed all the government social control lies. In order to avoid an extremely small possibility of death, these are the ones who made their lives into living deaths by locking themselves up in their homemade prisons. These are the same brainless conformists, who actually think that Western countries are democratic! Oh yes, Western elections do give you a choice. You can vote for a moron or for a cretin, both of whom are puppets of the same oligarchs who similarly made their money from arms, oil, pharmaceutics, food, media, computing or whatever. Demo-no-cracy indeed. As long as these flag-flyers have bread (supermarkets) and circuses (TV shows and sport), they will do anything you want, even fly the made-up flag of a made-up country, of which they know nothing.

Let us be generous and give the benefit of the doubt to all these nostalgic, naïve and the stupid. Sadly, however, there are yet others, the tiny minority, whose motivations are far, far more sinister because they are flying that flag consciously, not to support another country, but because that flag is the emblem of something really very evil, in which they are participating and so staining themselves. We call them the Devil’s pawns.

4. The Devil’s Pawns: There are the ones who consciously know what they are doing. They actually believe in the superiority of the West over the Rest, that the West is ‘best’, ‘unique’ and ‘exceptional’. These are the Niall Fergusons and the Douglas Murrays (‘The War on the West’). They believe in Western imperialism and that NATO must support the terrorist regime in Kiev, just as, before it, NATO’s Washington masters have supported any number of drug-running tinpot gangsters and dictators in Latin America and Asia. Apparently, the West's best brigade have never heard the story of Gandhi, who visited London in the 1930s and, when asked by a journalist what he thought of Western civilization, is said to have answered: ‘I think it is a very good idea’. These are the sinister people who are in power and their useful idiot supporting ideologues, who realize that if the West loses the Ukraine, this will be the turning-point and the collapse of their ethnocentric, ‘I love Me’ nightmare world. They are the Anglo-Zionists.

As for us, we do not believe in One World ‘Government’ (i.e. One World Dictatorship), in planetary hegemony and homogeneity, in one size fits all, as decided by a self-appointed top-down global elite of super-Capitalist mega-rich. We have other values, far older and far newer than theirs, because our values are timeless, representing Continuity and even approaching Eternity. We believe in spiritual identity – personal, familial and national identity, because we believe that all the really important things are higher than money. We believe in civilizational values, in cultural traditions and historical memory, we believe in humanity (remember that?), in truth, in national sovereignty, social justice and prosperity for all. Yes, all those values are higher than Capital, Mammon, the filthy lucre, on which they base their whole way of life. And that is why we will not fly the made-up flag of a made-up country, which exists only as an excuse for the self-justification of money-lusting global tyrants."

"How It Really Is"


"The Only Answer..."

"Maybe it's ALWAYS the end of the world. Maybe you're alive for a while, and then you realize you're going to die, and that's such an insane thing to comprehend, you look around for answers and the only answer is that the world must die with you."
- Jess Walter

"I Can See It All Very Clearly..."

"There are a multitude of fuses affixed to dozens of powder-kegs and little kids with matches are on the loose. I don’t know which of the fuses will be lit and which powder-keg will blow, but someone is bound to do something stupid, and then all hell will break loose. It could happen at any time. One military miscue. One assassination. One violent act that stirs the world. And the dominoes will topple, setting off fireworks not seen on this planet since 1939 – 1945. I can see it all very clearly."
- Jim Quinn
Full screen recommended.
"Whatever can be done to create World War III is in full motion. Then the British Defense Secretary said that he would not be “surprised” if Putin used the May 9 celebrations in Russia, which mark the day the Soviet Union defeated Nazi Germany, to “mobilize the Russian people en masse” against the West. It is just unimaginable how these leaders are doing EVERYTHING they can possibly do to create World War III. In all honesty, if the shoe was on the other foot, you would launch a first strike and take out all the capital cities in a matter of minutes. There is no way to EVER return to normal!

Strategically, the people behind Putin would love to see him nuke Kyiv at this point as a warning to the West – is this what you really want? Putin is far more cautious than the people behind him, just as we have reckless people writing the scripts for Biden. It is one thing to study how society functions, it is another when these people want to play God. I would not live near any of the capitals nor in Geneva. These people will fail. They do not understand what they are unleashing.

Never since World War II have we ever seen such reckless people in power. Today, all we have is total insanity. This is DELIBERATE – it cannot possibly be because of stupidity."
- Martin Armstrong,

Monday, May 2, 2022

"USA/NATO Gearing Up for Counterattack Against Russian Forces in July or August"

"USA/NATO Gearing Up for Counterattack Against 
Russian Forces in July or August"
by Mike Adams

"Based on facts that have now been made public, it is clear that the USA and NATO are gearing up for a massive military counterattack against Russian forces in Ukraine. Based on the idea that it takes a few months to build up logistics, hardware and personnel, the likely timeline for this counterattack appears to be around the July/August time frame.

Keep in mind that the overarching context of all this is the plan to cancel the 2022 mid-terms by placing America into a world war before November, accompanied by a domestic police state/martial law response.

Russia has vastly superior ICBM systems such as the new SARMAT-2 missile with up to 15 MIRVs and hypersonic glide vehicle capability (HGV). This means Russia has the ability to launch a single ICBM that can achieve nuclear strikes on 15 U.S. cities all at once, with little to no risk of interdiction by US defensive forces.

Russia also has another secret weapon being held in reserve that could be played as a key leverage point to prevent nuclear retaliation from western nations: Poseidon, the underwater submarine drones with 100+ megaton warheads."
View video here:
Related:
Click image for larger size.
"Russia’s New ‘Poseidon’ Super-Weapon: What You Need To Know"
OMG, OMG... if this happens we're all dead...

"Housing Market Is Done; The Wizard Saves The Market Today; Americans Are Broke"

Jeremiah Babe, 5/2/22:
"Housing Market Is Done; The Wizard Saves 
The Market Today; Americans Are Broke"

Must Watch! "Hell is Coming... Prepare Now"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, "Hell is Coming... Prepare Now"
"Germany just issued a warning to its population to prepare for a major conflict; Russia nods at Poseidon 100 megaton nuke; farmers struggle and less food will be grown."

"We’re All Ukrainians Now", Part II

"We’re All Ukrainians Now", Part II
by Brian Maher

"In response to last Thursday’s reckoning - "We’re All Ukrainians Now" - reader J.B. wrote us a very sharp note: "Like usually, you are politically confused. You don't know which way you can criticize Biden, the Democrats, the media and the right wing's imagined enemies except you have no alternatives to offer; you would like to see America ruled by some authoritarian regime who would abolish the Constitution, the institutions and the media and return to the ’50s. Your analyses that you think are a normal discourse are always off and sound a little crazy…

Your editor delights to learn that he is merely “a little crazy.” Even he suspects - at times - that a deeper psychological affliction besets him. And he concedes it at once - without let, without hindrance, without reservation - he is “politically confused.” He often encounters difficulty discerning Democrat from Republican, Republican from Democrat, the policy of one from the policy of the other. Witness, for example, their conjoining on Ukraine. The majority on each side is hot for anti-Russian action. There is very little light between them.

What Bipartisanship Really Means: When both sides squeeze together in bipartisan union… your editor begins to perspire at the forehead. He is largely with author Thomas Woods: "There are only two (major) parties today: The Stupid Party and The Evil Party. Once in a while the two parties get together to do something that is both stupid and evil, and that's called Bipartisanship."

How do Stupid Party and Evil Party interests align in Ukraine? We hazard the administration is eager to deflect public focus from inflation, the flagging economy and its pandemic totalitarianism. Do not forget: This is an election year. The Republican half of the bipartisan bloc is enticed by the sweet plums of American exceptionalism and American greatness. They get to yell about freedom and the shining city on the hill. And so you have your bipartisanship… stupid and evil though it may be.

Let us now continue with J.B.’s bill of complaint against us…

Abolishing the Constitution? Do we yearn - as J.B. claims - to be “ruled by some authoritarian regime who would abolish the Constitution, the institutions and the media and return to the ’50s”? With the highest respect to J.B.: The Daily Reckoning is heart and soul for free men, free markets, free minds and free expression. We wash no brains, bind no hands and tape no mouths. Moreover, we are fiercely against those who would. That is, this publication is against any “authoritarian regime who would abolish the Constitution, the institutions and the media.”

Yet J.B. is correct when he claims your editor offers no “alternatives.” Your editor is not out to convert minds, hearts or souls. He is no preacher. He is no missionary. He is no tub-thumper. He is instead an anatomist, and in certain instances an autopsist. He approaches the business with the serene detachment of a man who takes the world as he finds it - not as he would rather it. He merely tacks his humble note to the community bulletin board. Passersby can pause, give it a look, take it aboard… or they can simply turn away and push on… as they please. It is all one to him. Yet J.B. is not through with us…

Angry White Men: "The Republican [Party] is overtaken by angry white men like you who can't stand the evolution of America and miss the ’50s when they felt [like] the masters of everyone who is not a male, white and Christian. It has become a cult. It follows QAnon cult and crazy-town conspiracies. Get over it! America is a diverse, multicultural, multi-ethnic country. The only thing that unites us is the Constitution and the rule of law that you are trying to abolish."

Just so. Yet where is our anger? And your editor did not infest this planet Earth during the 1950s. He cannot therefore miss them, anymore than a blind man can miss the colors he has never seen. And precisely what are “QAnon cult and crazy-town conspiracies”? Where have we peddled them? Citations, please - chapter, verse, line, letter. And how precisely do we aspire to abolish ”the “rule of law”? Once again, we request specific evidence. We are confident - supremely - that none is available. We will happily take correction if mistaken.

Incidentally, J.B. mentions the Constitution. Yet we would ask J.B. which Constitution he holds dear - the Old Testament Constitution - or the New Testament Constitution? The two may share an identical exterior. Yet two different spirits animate them. One is stern, one is soft.

How Can You Defend Putin? Lastly, J.B. thunders that: "Tyranny anywhere is tyranny everywhere. We have to stand against tyranny that Putin is trying to impose on Europe and the rest of the world. Biden is doing the right thing; praise him as an American for a change! Give credit where credit is due. Putin is not a friend of freedom, he is a thug, a tyrant and a war criminal. You can't as an American defend him or apologize for him directly or indirectly."

Your editor would inform J.B. that he pounds no politician’s tom-toms. Nor does he shout any politician’s “praise.” A very limited number of exceptions exist. So rare are they that we need not list them. Your editor believes the bulking majority of politicians are rascals… and the sitting president offers no exception. If J.B. seeks rah-rahs and cheers, he will not find them here. He has come to the incorrect address.

A Strange Defense of Putin: Mr. Putin naturally sorts into the rascal’s camp. We certainly do not “defend him or apologize for him directly or indirectly,” as J.B. intimates. With the pleasure of repeating ourself: "Mr. Putin is of course the high villain in this morality tale - and justly so. His hands are red with the blood of many, many thousands. He can never rinse it away. And we would remind the Russian autocrat: As all men, he will one day stand before St. Peter. His deeds will judge him, regardless of his earthly station. We do not expect Peter to stamp the fellow’s passport."

We would consign this man to damnation everlasting… and yet we defend him? It is a very strange defense. We merely counsel prudence in dealing with a potential foe who roosts upon a vast stockpile of atomic toys - and who has hinted at playing with them.

Separating Rhetoric From Reality: Our Patrick Henry claims that tyranny anywhere is tyranny everywhere. It is lovely rhetoric, we concede. Yet is it true? Is tyranny in Turkmenistan tyranny in Tennessee? Is tyranny in Tonga tyranny in Texas? We would argue neither is true.

We have no doubt that J.B. means the best in the world. He is on the side of the angels and saints. Yet if J.B. is out to scotch tyranny anywhere and everywhere he finds it… he will be extremely busy on multiple fronts… for an extremely long time. He will also be bankrupted - putting down tyranny is costly business - as the United States has discovered these past several years. And as its war hawks circle over Ukraine…We fear it is a lesson the United States may soon learn anew…"

"15 Signs That Global Financial Markets Smell Blood In The Water"

Full screen recommended.
"15 Signs That Global Financial Markets Smell Blood In The Water"
by Epic Economist

"Global financial markets are facing a devastating downturn that has already led big corporations to report losses of billions of dollars. As signs of weakness spread, speculators have nowhere to hide anymore. All major indexes are plummeting, and several high-flying stocks are dropping by as much as 90% from their peaks. In the US, Europe, China, and Russia, investors are getting increasingly spooked by the prospect of a severe slowdown in economic activity amid extremely stretched market valuations. Pessimism is everywhere and fear is rapidly spreading. Bubbles have started popping, and top Wall Street players can see that a stock market crash is on the horizon.

Things could get much uglier on financial markets when the US economy tips into recession. Thanks to 8.5% inflation, real hourly earnings in the US have actually shrunk by 2.7% in March, compromising Americans’ purchasing power. In 2020, consumers used their stimulus checks to pay down credit-card debt, but since 2021, they’ve been borrowing money at a breathtaking pace, and rising interest rates are leading us to another credit crunch. According to market strategist David P. Goldman, this also means that when the US goes into recession, the tech complex could face something like the devastation that ensued after the 2000 recession, when the NASDAQ 100 lost more than 80% of its value between March of 2000 and September 2002.

All of that spells more trouble for stocks, especially at a time of extreme overvaluation. The Buffet Indicator is at an all-time high, showing that the U.S. market capitalization was at 211% of GDP in January. In a recent conference, Berkshire Hathaway lambasted Wall Street for encouraging speculative behavior in the stock market, effectively turning it into a “gambling parlor.” “Wall Street makes money, one way or another, catching the crumbs that fall off the table of capitalism,” Buffett said. “They don’t make money unless people do things, and they get a piece of them. They make a lot more money when people are gambling than when they are investing.” Buffett sustained that most large American companies leading the rally have “become poker chips” for market speculation.

There is way too much risk, way too much debt, and way too much leverage in the global financial marketplace. The entire system seems to be racing toward another major crisis. Only this time, big governments around the world won't be able to come to the rescue. That is why what is happening right now is so worrying. The global financial markets are like a house of cards built on a foundation of sand, and investors are more vulnerable today than they have been at any other time in history. When a major domino falls, it is likely to spark a massive chain reaction, and once confidence disappears, the game can change very quickly. For that reason, today, we compiled some key signs that the carnage in financial markets is about to get worse."

"Vladimir Putin Issued This Chilling Ultimatum That Could Mean Nuclear War"

"Vladimir Putin Issued This Chilling 
Ultimatum That Could Mean Nuclear War"
by RenewedRight

"War is a place where young people who don't know each other and don't hate each other kill each other, by the decision of old people who know each other and hate each other, but don't kill each other!" 
- Erich Hartmann

"The war in Ukraine is now in its third month. There does not seem to be any end in sight. And Vladimir Putin issued this chilling ultimatum that could mean nuclear war. Putin once again threatened Western nations with nuclear annihilation if they intervened in the war in Ukraine. “If someone intends to interfere in what is going on from the outside they must know that constitutes an unacceptable strategic threat to Russia,” Putin told Russian lawmakers.

Putin warned that if NATO countries escalated the war in Ukraine with shipments of deadly weapons or assisted in strikes on Russian territory, then he was prepared to launch a nuclear attack with hypersonic missiles. “They must know that our response to counterstrikes will be lightning fast. Fast,” Putin added.

Putin then put the West on notice that Russia will use its super weapons if it feels threatened or cornered into defeat. “We have all the weapons we need for this. No one else can brag about these weapons, and we won’t brag about them,” Putin stated. “But we will use them,” Putin concluded. Putin’s remarks came just days after Russia completed a successful test of its Satan-2 missile, which can carry up to 15 nuclear warheads and obliterate an area the size of France.

Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova ramped up threats of a nuclear attack on Great Britain after British defense officials announced they would ramp up shipments of arms into Ukraine. “Do we understand correctly that for the sake of disrupting the logistics of military supplies, Russia can strike military targets on the territory of those Nato countries that supply arms to the Kyiv regime?” Zakharova asked. “After all, this directly leads to deaths and bloodshed on Ukrainian territory. As far as I understand, Britain is one of those countries,” Zakharova stated.

These remarks underscore the danger of Joe Biden’s reckless policy of trying to use Ukraine to fight a proxy war with Russia. Once bullets and bombs start flying, all bets are off and anything can happen. Joe Biden and other globalist leaders think they can use this conflict to destroy the Russian military or even cripple the Putin regime. Those are dangerous ends that go far beyond the initial stated goal of keeping Ukraine a free and sovereign country."
“If someone intends to interfere in what is going on from the outside they must know that constitutes an unacceptable strategic threat to Russia,” Putin told Russian lawmakers. Of course, we would never do that... right?

We're just begging for it, aren't we? And we'll get it, too...

Musical Interlude: The Who, "Overture" from "Tommy"

The Who, "Overture" from "Tommy"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"The South Celestial Pole is easy to spot in star trail images of the southern sky. The extension of Earth's axis of rotation to the south, it's at the center of all the southern star trail arcs. In this starry panorama streching about 60 degrees across deep southern skies the South Celestial Pole is somewhere near the middle though, flanked by bright galaxies and southern celestial gems. Across the top of the frame are the stars and nebulae along the plane of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Gamma Crucis, a yellowish giant star heads the Southern Cross near top center, with the dark expanse of the Coalsack nebula tucked under the cross arm on the left. Eta Carinae and the reddish glow of the Great Carina Nebula shine along the galactic plane near the right edge.
At the bottom are the Large and Small Magellanic clouds, external galaxies in their own right and satellites of the mighty Milky Way. A line from Gamma Crucis through the blue star at the bottom of the southern cross, Alpha Crucis, points toward the South Celestial Pole, but where exactly is it? Just look for south pole star Sigma Octantis. Analog to Polaris the north pole star, Sigma Octantis is little over one degree from the the South Celestial pole."

Gregory Mannarino, "Plunge Protection Team Saves The Market! Epic Turn Around; The 10yr Hits 3%! Economy Done"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 5/2/22:
"Plunge Protection Team Saves The Market! 
Epic Turn Around; The 10yr Hits 3%! Economy Done"

"The Coming of Corporate Collectivism"

"The Coming of Corporate Collectivism"
by Jeff Thomas

"Benito Mussolini stated that "Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power." Quite so. Interestingly, many, and perhaps most people today, lack an understanding as to the system under which they are ruled.

In the US in particular, most people who vote Republican take pride in believing that the US is a capitalist state. Democrats, too, regard the US as a capitalist state, and take the view that that’s what’s wrong with America today. Increasingly, they seek a move in the socialist (or collectivist) direction to save them from the perceived evils of capitalism.

Interestingly, though, the evils to which they refer are the socio-economic inequalities that exist and the fact that those on the lower levels of society have decreasing opportunity to improve their lot in life. And, of course, since they believe they live under a capitalist system, they assume that capitalism must be the problem. But this is not the case.

It can be said that the first major introduction of corporatist collectivism occurred in 1913, with the introduction of the Revenue Act and the Federal Reserve Act. These were enacted under President Woodrow Wilson and were peddled to the American public as being anti-corporatist. The Revenue Act, which introduced income tax, was touted as creating a tax primarily for the rich, which would even out income disparities. The Federal Reserve was claimed to be a government agency that would ride herd over the greedy banking interests on Wall Street.

However, those few who actually read the bill learned that the Federal Reserve was neither federal nor a reserve. It was to be owned by the larger banks and would give them the power to control the currency of the US. By promising collectivist changes, the goals of corporatism were advanced.

And so it is today. Virtually all the ills of American society, as described by liberals, have been caused by the introduction of collectivist concepts, capitalized upon by the plutocracy of the US. The US is not a capitalist state. If we were to define it accurately, the economic system is corporatist and the social system is collectivist. It is, however, true that there exist the remnants of a free market, or capitalism.

Yet, to most – either liberal or conservative – this would seem impossible. We’ve been taught to regard Wall Street as a denizen for greedy capitalists. Surely, they would never support collectivism – the savior of the masses. Well, yes and no. Wall Street has dominated the American economy for over one hundred years. And in all of that time, they’ve sought a greater level of collectivism. They understand that collectivism (under any of its guises of socialism, fascism or communism) is a highly effective means by which to rule over others.

Collectivism does not raise up the masses, as Karl Marx suggested. Instead, it evens out the classes by lowering the great majority of people to an equal level of poverty. The premise is a simple one: Promise largesse from the government, with the stipulation that basic freedoms must be relinquished in order to receive the largesse. Then, once all have been subjugated under collectivism, the largesse is steadily diminished. Corporate leaders convince the people to give up their rights, but then fail to deliver on their end of the bargain: to bestow riches upon the now-subjugated populace.

And again, this is nothing new. In 1917, one Leon Trotsky was hosted in New York by the most prominent banking and industrial firms. He was provided with funding, along with a US passport, courtesy of President Wilson. A contingent then went with Mister Trotsky to Russia with the funds necessary to wrest control of the new Soviet Union – to replace the Mensheviks with the Lenin/Trotsky-led Bolsheviks. The bargain was that the Soviet Union would be collectivist and that the goods needed by Russians would be supplied from New York, in perpetuity, unseen by the public in either Russia or the US.

Within a decade, the same firms began funding an up-and-coming Adolf Hitler. They funded his rise to power in 1933 and spent the remainder of the decade taking control of much of German industry, in addition to installing American-owned plants in Germany. Prior to Hitler’s rise, Germany was flat broke and heavily in debt, but the massive monetary shot in the arm from Wall Street firms ensured that Germany would rise quickly and come to dominate Europe. Indeed, without US funding, the creation of the German war machine would have been impossible.

The term "Nazi" is an abbreviation for Nationalsozialistische – the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Like the Russian people, the German people had been sold the collectivist promise, believing that their lives would somehow be better if they agreed to give up their liberties and accept totalitarian rule. What they received was the totalitarian rule without the promised largesse.

The effort to create the same situation in the US has long been in the works. In the 1930s, great strides were made toward collectivism under the New Deal. However, post-war prosperity made Americans unwilling to give up liberties for largesse. But today, increased governmental regulation has diminished the free market, diminishing opportunities for the average American. This has created a condition in which roughly half of Americans now buy into the empty promise of collectivism.

America no longer has true "liberal" and "conservative" parties. They now have "liberal" and "liberal-light" parties. Regardless of who is president, the US is on course to go full-bore into dramatic social and legislative changes that will complete the transformation into Corporate Collectivism. All that’s needed is a trigger, as occurred in Germany in February of 1933. Just two weeks prior to the 1933 German national elections, Adolf Hitler hosted a secret fundraising meeting for German and American industrialists, which netted him millions in donations, upon which he could finance a totalitarian corporate collectivist government. He then surreptitiously created the Reichstag fire, blaming it on dissidents and political opponents, ensuring that he would be elected.

In his address at that fundraiser, he stated, "There are only two possibilities, either to crowd back the opponent on constitutional grounds, and for this purpose once more we have this [upcoming] election, or a struggle will be conducted with other weapons, which may demand greater sacrifices… I hope the German people thus recognize the greatness of this hour." Germany was about to receive a totalitarian corporate collectivist rule, either through election or through the creation of civil unrest.

Similarly, the US today is about to undergo dramatic change. The remaining question is whether that will take place through election or its historic alternative. Economically, politically, and socially, the United States seems to be headed down a path that’s not only inconsistent with the founding principles of the country, but accelerating quickly toward boundless decay. In the years ahead, there will likely be much less stability of any kind."
Owned...