Thursday, July 7, 2022

"Sticker Shock At Kroger! Prices Are Getting Ridiculous!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures with Danno, 7/7/22:
"Sticker Shock At Kroger! Prices Are Getting Ridiculous!"
"In today's vlog we are at Kroger, and are noticing massive price increases! We are in complete sticker shock as we are seeing skyrocketing prices, and a lot of empty shelves! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"
Comments here:

Wednesday, July 6, 2022

"Get Ready For A Stock Market Crash That Will Make You Panic As Massive Sell-Off Accelerates"

Full screen recommended.
"Get Ready For A Stock Market Crash That Will
 Make You Panic As Massive Sell-Off Accelerates"
by Epic Economist

"The stock market crash we’ve been warned about has already begun and now we’re officially in a bear market. Trillions of dollars have been wiped out at this point, and investors are still on edge with the highest interest rate hikes in 28 years, soaring inflation, ongoing tensions throughout Europe, and a historically tight housing market all weighting on the outlook of financial markets as we enter the second half of 2022. Everyone seems to be reasonably concerned. The unanimous feeling right now is that this meltdown is set to get a whole lot worse in the coming months, and in today’s video, we compiled the insights of some of the brightest minds on Wall Street – and they’re telling us to prepare for an impending disaster!

Any time a bear market is announced, investors think this is as bad as it’s going to get, and many assume the worst is probably over. That might have been the case in some of the previous downturns, but not this time, experts say. With the selloff coming in waves, and growing uncertainty about the future of the economy spreading across all sectors of the market, many investors are struggling to predict where stock prices are headed next. Consequently, that translates to a volatile market situation that will last for a while with more Fed meetings scheduled this year, meaning that despite any eventual rebounds, more losses are coming.

Regardless of how much volatility the market has faced so far this year, we should brace for even more drastic shifts as consumer spending starts to change, and the overall set of factors is completely unique when compared to anything that’s come before.

Even though the S&P 500 already plunged over 21% in the first six months of the year, marking its worst first half since 1970, Goldman estimated the index could hit 3,600 as the recession begins – a view also shared by the Scion Asset Management founder Michael J. Burry, who recently noted that the S&P 500 rebounded too quickly and disproportionately from the health-crisis-induced crash in 2020, compared to other market crashes. As such, the expert predicts a drop of more than 50% for the next few months.

By now, even the most notable optimists on Wall Street are starting to sound like “doom and gloomers”. In fact, one of the most well-known bullish personalities on the market, the founder and CEO of Ark Innovation, Cathie Wood is worried about the economic recession we’re entering right now. “We think we are in a recession. We think a big problem out there is inventories. the increase of which I’ve never seen this large in my career. I’ve been around for 45 years. We were wrong on one thing and that was inflation being as sustained as it has been,” Wood said.

By now, estimates suggest that roughly 20 trillion dollars have already been wiped out from the market so far this year. And as the sell-off accelerates, we will continue to get more bad news with each passing day. Now that there’s nothing supporting the speculative bubble that led stock valuations to skyrocket over the past couple of years, and an economic downturn is picking up speed, there is no hope that things will turn around any time soon.

It’s safe to say that the reckless optimists on Wall Street didn’t see this coming in advance. Things have changed very abruptly. In this case, many investors that didn’t get out in time are now feeling an extraordinary amount of pain. But a lot more pain is coming for Wall Street and the economy as a whole. Now it’s time to get ready for the bumpy ride ahead."

Adrian Lester, "Hamlet", "To be or not to be..."

Full screen recommended.
Adrian Lester, "Hamlet", "To be or not to be..."
"Adrian Lester speaks "Hamlet’s" soliloquy from act III, scene 1, in which the prince reflects on mortality and considers taking his own life. To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, we asked leading actors to perform key speeches from his plays."

"Ex Obscurum"

Full screen recommended.
"Ex Obscurum"
by Spadecaller

"From emotional turmoil, hatred, and addiction the miracle of recovery begins in this Spadecaller Video entitled "Ex Obscurum" ("From Darkness"). Featuring original poetry narrated by the author and visual artist, Matthew Schwartz. Composer Samuel Barber's powerful musical score, adapted for the movie "Platoon", (Adagio for Strings, Op. 11) sets the background for this spiritual exodus "From Darkness."

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

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

"A Look to the Heavens"

"What strange world is this? Earth. In the foreground of the featured image are the Pinnacles, unusual rock spires in Nambung National Park in Western Australia. Made of ancient sea shells (limestone), how these human-sized picturesque spires formed remains unknown. In the background, just past the end of the central Pinnacle, is a bright crescent Moon. The eerie glow around the Moon is mostly zodiacal light, sunlight reflected by dust grains orbiting between the planets in the Solar System.
Arching across the top is the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. Many famous stars and nebulas are also visible in the background night sky. The featured 29-panel panorama was taken and composed in 2015 September after detailed planning that involved the Moon, the rock spires, and their corresponding shadows. Even so, the strong zodiacal light was a pleasant surprise."

"Today Is The Day..."

"We are fast moving into something, we are fast flung into something like asteroids cast into space by the death of a planet, we the people of earth are cast into space like burning asteroids and if we wish not to disintegrate into nothingness we must begin to now hold onto only the things that matter while letting go of all that doesn't. For when all of our dust and ice deteriorates into the cosmos we will be left only with ourselves and nothing else. So if you want to be there in the end, today is the day to start holding onto your children, holding onto your loved ones; onto those who share your soul. Harbor and anchor into your heart justice, truth, courage, bravery, belief, a firm vision, a steadfast and sound mind. Be the person of meaningful and valuable thoughts. Don't look to the left, don't look to the right; we simply don't have the time. Never be afraid of fear."
- C. JoyBell C.

"Slightly Up From Slavery"

"Slightly Up From Slavery"
by Doug Casey

"To eliminate misunderstanding as to what taxes are, it is helpful to define the word "theft." One good definition is "the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods of another." The definition does not go on to say, "unless you're the government." There is no difference, in principle, between the State taking property and a street gang doing so, except that the State's theft is "legal" and its agents are immune from prosecution. Many people do not accept that analogy, because the government is widely viewed as being of, for, and by the people, even though it's also acknowledged as acting badly from time to time.

Suppose a mugger demanded your wallet, perhaps because he needed money to buy a new car and threatened you with violence if you weren't forthcoming. Everyone would call that a criminal act. Suppose, however, the mugger said he wanted the money to buy himself food. Would it still be theft? Suppose now that he said he wanted your wallet to feed another hungry person, not himself. Would it still be theft?

Now let's suppose that this mugger convinces most of his friends that it's okay for him to relieve you of your wallet. Would it still be theft? What if he convinces a majority of citizens? Principles stand on their own. Even if a criminal act is committed for a good purpose, or with the complicity of bystanders, (even if those people call themselves the government), it is still an act of criminal aggression.

It is important to establish an ethical viewpoint on the matter, even if it doesn't change your reaction to the mugger's (or the State's) demands. Just as it's usually unwise to resist a mugger, it's usually unwise to resist the government, which has a lot of force on its side. That's not to say it's easy to swim against the tide. Every year at tax time promoters of big government haul out an assortment of nostrums to sedate the lambs as they are shorn. One of the worst is "Taxes are the price we pay for civilization," a statement of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. It is a splendid example of how, if a lie is big enough and is repeated often enough, it can come to be accepted.

Actually, the truth is almost exactly the opposite. As Mark Skousen, economist and author, has pointed out: "Taxation is the price we pay for failing to build a civilized society. The higher the tax level, the greater the failure. A centrally planned totalitarian state is a complete failure of civilization, while a totally voluntary society is its ultimate success."

Taxes are destroyers of civilization and society. They impoverish the average man. They support welfare programs that anchor the lower classes at the bottom of society. They underwrite a gigantic bureaucracy that serves only to raise costs and quash incentive. They pay for public works programs (once called "pork barrel projects," but now rechristened "infrastructure investment") that are usually ten times more costly than their privately financed counterparts, whether needed or not. They maintain programs that cause huge distortions in the economy (such as deposit insurance for banks). And they foster a climate of fear and dishonesty. The list of evils goes on. But the simple truth is that anything needed or wanted by society would be provided by profit-seeking entrepreneurs, if only the tax collector would retire.

Protesting against taxes because they're a costly or inefficient way of providing services, however, is in good measure futile. It's like saying that the mugger shouldn't rob you because there might be a better way for him to get what he wants.

How serious is the tax problem in the long run? I believe it will become less, not more serious, despite the government's increasingly high tax rates and draconian enforcement measures. The major long-term trend of society is toward decentralization and smaller-scale organizations. The US government will prove no more able to deal with a rapidly evolving economy than was the Soviet government. More and more Americans will see the government as meaningless and irrelevant, as serving no useful purpose."

"The Auto Industry is in Huge Trouble - The Worst Sales in Over 25 Years"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 7/6/22:
"The Auto Industry is in Huge Trouble - 
The Worst Sales in Over 25 Years"
Comments here:

"Lots Of Empty New Homes For Sale As Homebuyers Disappear; Economic Breaking Point; Cashless Society"

Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, 7/6/22:
"Lots Of Empty New Homes For Sale As Homebuyers Disappear;
 Economic Breaking Point; Cashless Society"
Comments here:
Related:

Gregory Mannarino, "ALERT! Watch For Another Uncontrolled Selloff In The Debt Market, And What Will Happen"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 7/6/22:
"ALERT! Watch For Another Uncontrolled Selloff
 In The Debt Market, And What Will Happen"
Comments here:

"Western Europe On Suicide Watch As Food, Energy Collapse Looks Even Worse" (Excerpt)

"Western Europe On Suicide Watch As Food,
 Energy Collapse Looks Even Worse"
by Mike Adams

Excerpt: "Western Europe is on suicide watch as virtue signaling nations tore down their fossil fuel infrastructure (and nuclear power plants) to appease the "greenies." Now, countries like Germany, France and the UK are facing an energy catastrophe as Russia steadily reduces natural gas outflows from pipelines like Nord Stream 1, which is also scheduled to be taken offline in just five days for "routine maintenance."

Many European nations are worried that Nord Stream won't be turned back on, believing Russia will find an excuse to keep the pipeline offline for an extended period of time. This would be catastrophic for nations like Germany, which depend heavily on Russian gas to generate electricity and power domestic industry. From our story today: "This step is a complete disaster for the European Union. It is basically signing a death warrant for all European economies."
See the full story here:

Get more details on all this and much more 
in today’s Situation Update podcast:

"5 Major Trends To Watch For During The Second Half Of 2022"

"5 Major Trends To Watch For During The Second Half Of 2022"
by Michael Snyder

"Can you believe that it is the second half of 2022 already? I don’t know about you, but to me it seems like time goes by faster with each passing year. Perhaps that is just because I am getting older. In any event, the first six months of 2022 are already in the tank. During those six months, the largest land war in Europe since World War II has erupted, inflation has spiraled out of control all over the world, we have plunged into the worst energy crisis since the 1970s, a horrifying bird flu pandemic has killed tens of millions of turkeys and chickens in the U.S. alone, the worst monkeypox outbreak in history has begun, the S&P 500 had the worst start to a year since 1970, and global leaders have been relentlessly warning us that we are heading into an “unprecedented” planetary food crisis. Unfortunately, I expect the second half of 2022 to be even worse.

Recently, I have been finding myself using the word “accelerate” a lot in my discussions with other people. Global events have certainly accelerated during the first half of this year, and I am convinced that they will accelerate even more during the second half. In particular, I believe that things will really start getting crazy once summer is over. Let me give you a few areas that I will be focusing on in the months ahead. The following are 5 trends to watch for during the second half of 2022…

#1 Economic Shaking: Obviously things have not gone well economically during the first half of this year. Inflation is raging all over the globe, and economic activity is slowing down everywhere that you look. Based on the latest reading from the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model, it appears that the U.S. economy has already plunged into a recession. I expect the U.S. economy to continue to deteriorate as we move toward the end of 2022, but I am actually far more concerned about economic conditions in Europe.

The war in Ukraine has hit European economies really hard, and now many of them are potentially facing very serious shortages of natural gas this winter. The EUR/USD is rapidly approaching parity, and this is something that I have been anticipating for years. Once the EUR/USD drops below parity, I think that the dominoes in Europe are going to start falling fairly rapidly.

Meanwhile, I expect inflation rates to remain elevated all over the planet, and this is going to continue to cause tremendous problems.

#2 Widespread Famines: The head of the UN has publicly warned us that we are moving into an “unprecedented global hunger crisis”, and people are already starting to drop dead from starvation in some parts of eastern Africa. Sadly, I believe that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Even before the war in Ukraine started, we were already headed into a major food crisis thanks to the soaring price of fertilizer and extremely bizarre global weather patterns. Now the war in Ukraine has reduced the flow of agricultural exports from one of the key breadbaskets in the world to just a trickle. At the same time, food production is going to come in well below expectations all over the planet due to a variety of factors that I have been documenting on my websites.

Food prices have already risen very aggressively, but the biggest problem will be the food that is not grown in the months ahead. There simply is not going to be enough food for everyone, and that is going to cause enormous societal stress all over the globe in late 2022 and beyond. (And if you think it won't happen here you're a total fool... - CP)

#3 More War: The conflict in Ukraine has become extremely bitter and extremely bloody. Unfortunately, it appears that it is not going to end any time soon. I would love to see a peaceful resolution to the war, because I think that is what would be best for everyone. But the president of Ukraine does not want to negotiate even though his government is losing more territory with each passing day.

So this horrible war will just keep going month after month, and the U.S. just keeps getting more deeply involved. Needless to say, at some point this proxy war between the U.S. and Russia could evolve into a shooting war between our two nations, and that is a scenario that we should be working very hard to avoid.

On the other side of the globe, I believe that China is planning on invading Taiwan while Joe Biden is still in office. They have seen how powerless he has been to stop the Russians, and I think that they are convinced that they have a window of opportunity to “reunify” with Taiwan by force.

But I actually think that another major war will start first. The IAEA is now telling us that Iran “possesses enough fissile material to construct a nuclear bomb”, and that is a threshold that Israel always said that they would never allow the Iranians to cross. Israel and Iran are already engaged in a “shadow war”, but I am entirely convinced that it will soon escalate into a full-blown regional conflict. It may begin in a way that you might not expect, but one way or another it is going to happen. Hopefully it will not erupt during the second half of this year, but the clock is definitely ticking.

#4 Pestilences: We already have COVID. In fact, they are now telling us that the worst version of the disease that we have seen so far is now circulating widely in the United States. We are also dealing with a nightmarish bird flu pandemic which has killed tens of millions of our chickens and our turkeys. On top of everything else, the number of monkeypox cases continues to rise at an exponential rate. But I believe that more outbreaks are on the way. We have entered an era when mad scientists all over the globe are monkeying around with the deadliest bugs that mankind has ever known. And as time moves along, I believe that bad actors will increasingly use diseases that have been cooked up in labs as weapons.

#5 Geophysical Shaking: Let’s just call this one a hunch. Unlike the first four areas that I have discussed, geophysical events have not made a lot of headlines lately. Yes, there have been unusual earthquakes in diverse places such as South Carolina, and the sun has been behaving strangely in recent days, but overall things have been relatively quiet. Unfortunately, I expect that to change. If you disagree with me, that is perfectly fine. Let’s just watch and see how things play out.

Two years ago I tried to give everyone a big picture overview of what was coming, and since that time so many of the things that I listed have either happened or have started to happen. We really have entered a “perfect storm”, and those that are still waiting for life to go back to “normal” are going to be bitterly disappointed. If you always thought that it would be wonderful to live during one of the most important times in human history, you are about to get your wish. What was once unthinkable will soon become reality, and nothing will ever be the same again."

The Daily "Near You?"

Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. Thanks for stopping by!

"Ah, You Miserable Creatures!"

"Ah, You Miserable Creatures!"
"Ah, you miserable creatures! You who think that you are so great! 
You who judge humanity to be so small! You who wish to reform everything! 
Why don't you reform yourselves? That task would be sufficient enough." 
- Frederic Bastiat
How much more evidence do you need to 
realize we as a society have lost our collective minds?

“Too Much Rain Will Kill Ya”

“Too Much Rain Will Kill Ya”
by Bruce Krasting

"My first week on Wall Street was in August of 1973. I was newbie to NYC. My office was on the south side of 100 Wall, on the second floor, looking out over Front Street. There was a tremendous thunderstorm one afternoon. I looked out the window as the street filled with water. The flood poured into a street gutter and overwhelmed it. With the gutter flooded, the rats were drowning. They came out of every hole. In twenty minutes, 500 came out of the one gutter I was watching. The rain stopped and the flooding abated. The rats on the street followed the receding water back into their holes. A memorable first impression of life in the financial district."
And now, as it all comes crashing down...

"The Duty..."

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you
damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty,
the duty to take the consequences."
- P. J. O'Rourke

Bill Bonner, "Praying for Deliverance"

"Praying for Deliverance"
Recession fears take hold as prices plunge and
 investors throw everything overboard...
by Bill Bonner

"Eternal Father strong to save,
Whose arms hath bound the restless wave.
Who bids the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep.
Oh hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea."
~ William Whiting

Baltimore, Maryland - "Yesterday morning investors were in trouble. The last 6 months were the worst in the stock market since 1970. As for the bond market, they were the worst since George Washington was president. Yesterday, stocks fell another 700 points (on the Dow) and spent the rest of the day recovering.

The seas have gotten restless. Almost everywhere you look, sailors cling to wreckage. One is buoyed by a busted up tech stock. Another grabs a cracked-up crypto and holds on for dear life. Still another is wondering what happened; didn’t Joe Biden say we have ‘the strongest economy in the world?’

Today, we bow our heads and pray for deliverance.

The high winds and monster waves were coming from three different directions yesterday. First: the stock market itself. A bear market takes on a life of its own. As investors’ boats sink, they need to jettison other things to stay afloat. The good, the bad, the ugly – all end up as flotsam and jetsam. A real bear market typically takes stock prices down about 35%. This one has only off-loaded 20% so far. Much further to go, in other words.

Fear Takes Hold: Second, the selloff is much more widespread than usual. North, South, in the air or on the sea… Mr. Market is taking almost everything down. Here’s a headline from the Financial Times: "Copper slides below $8,000 as recession fears take hold." And here’s Market Insider: "Oil prices plunge below $100 as the US dollar strengthens and recession worries pile up."

And third, the Jerome Powell Fed is not responding to SOS calls. Or at least, not yet. For the last 30+ years, investors could count on the Fed to send out lifeboats. There was the Greenspan Put…the Bernanke Put…the Yellen Put… But things have changed. Now Mr. Powell is Staying Put. He warns investors: "Now we are in this new world where it is quite different with higher inflation and many supply shocks and strong inflationary forces around the world.”

The Bank for International Settlements explained it further: “Central banks fully understand that the long-term benefits [of fighting inflation] far outweigh any short-term costs. And that credibility is too precious an asset to be put at risk.”

Yes, dear reader, central banks are leaving the poor sailors to weather the tempest as best they can. And it isn’t easy. Because the whole capital structure – stocks and bonds, credits and debits… NFTs and beer bottle collections – the whole shebang has been distorted and corrupted by the Fed’s fake money.

The US Treasury bond was a ‘safe harbor’ for investors for decades. But in recent years, the ‘risk-free rate of return’ from a T-Bond went down, down, down – until it came to rest about 600 basis points below the rate of consumer price inflation. In other words, all the ‘return’ was underwater. All that was left was risk. And then, the yield on the 10-year T-bond rose nearly 6 times in the last 24 months, leading to the biggest losses (over the last 6 months) in 224 years.

Just Getting Started: This bond market correction is far more important than the bear market in stocks. It undermines pensions, insurance, debt and federal finances too. And it means that the real estate market is next in line for losses. Mortgage rates are linked to Treasury yields. And when mortgage rates go up, property prices generally go in the opposite direction.

A few weeks ago, we estimated that the correction would take $50 trillion of (fake) wealth from the elite. Our fact-checkers challenged us. But the calculation was simple. Total household net worth used to average about 350% to 400% of GDP. Now, it’s over 600%... or about $50 trillion too much. But that estimate may be far too low. Jesse Feldman says the bear market may have already erased $20 to $30 trillion. And it’s just getting started.

From Dr. Doom… And here’s Nouriel Roubini spreading more cheer on MarketWatch: "oday’s higher inflation is a global phenomenon, most central banks are tightening at the same time, thereby increasing the probability of a synchronized global recession. This tightening is already having an effect: bubbles are deflating everywhere - including in public and private equity, real estate, housing, meme stocks, crypto, SPACs (special-purpose acquisition companies), bonds, and credit instruments. Real and financial wealth is falling, and debts and debt-servicing ratios are rising. After all, in typical plain-vanilla recessions…[stocks] tend to fall by about 35%. But, because the next recession will be both stagflationary and accompanied by a financial crisis, the crash in equity markets could be closer to 50%."

Things will get much worse before they get better. Let’s apply that 50% to the whole of household net worth, which is about $144 trillion. A 50% haircut – trimming the values of houses, stocks, private businesses, bonds – would represent more than $70 trillion in vanished wealth. Will that happen? Who knows. It could be worse. Tune in tomorrow; and in the meantime, keep those life vests buckled up."
"Eternal Father, The Naval Hymn in Crimson Tide"
"Praying for deliverance?"
For we mere mortals not in "The Big Club"...
Related:

"Massive Price Increases At Sam's Club! This Is Crazy!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures with Danno, 7/6/22:
"Massive Price Increases At Sam's Club! This Is Crazy!"
"In today's vlog we are at Sam's Club, and are noticing massive price increases! We are here to check out skyrocketing prices, and a lot of empty shelves! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"
Comments here:

Greg Hunter, "Great Reset Will Be the Great Reject"

"Great Reset Will Be the Great Reject"
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Economic analyst and financial writer David Morgan predicted in early March, “When you get gasoline going up to the $5, $6, $7 range and you’ve got food going up to the level it’s gone up to and continues to go up to, it’s going to be bad.” Morgan was right, and he says this destabilization of the middle-class is all part of the so-called “Great Reset” by the global elite. Morgan says this is not going to turn out like the globalists want. Morgan says, “This is not about money - it’s about control. They want absolute control.”

What can people do to make the “Great Reset” not work? Morgan says, “It’s the ‘Great Reject.’ You do not participate in the ‘Great Reset.’ You stay out of the system to the best of your ability, which means you use cash like Catherine Austin Fitts talks about. You can trade in silver and gold. Some states allow you to do that, and more are coming on all the time, putting into law the ability to transact in gold and silver in that state, to be able to use gold and silver again. Mitigate your food situation by growing some of your own. Get friendly with farmers. There are a lot of things you can do that are pretty simple. There's a lot of things you can do that put you in control. They want this but it’s not going to happen. What they want is the ‘New World Order,’ or globalism. What they are really going to get is the opposite. You are going to see a disintegration of that kind of power base and get more local. As the situation gets worse and worse, the smaller communities will get together and say what can we do to survive? So, they are basically going to get the opposite of what they want.”

Morgan talks about the deflationary nature of all these CV19 injections. He also talks about why silver and gold work best in deflationary environments. Morgan tells you the importance of having cash and predicts extreme inflation and deflation coming at the same time, which is the definition of stagflation last seen in the 1970’s. This time, Morgan says it will be far worse and predicts, “The next ‘Great Depression’ will make the last ‘Great Depression’ look like a small technical correction. The worse you inflate or destroy the value of a currency, the worse the repercussions are. Not only are Social Security and pension plans going to collapse, but it is the system at large. It is going to be pervasive; it will touch almost every person.”

In closing, Morgan says, “We are fighting evil people, but are we fighting more than evil people at the top? We are fighting principalities and powers of evil.” There is a lot more in the 41-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One on One
 with David Morgan, founder of “The Morgan Report.”

Gregory Mannarino, "Beyond A Meltdown - A New System Of Control Is Rapidly Unfolding"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 7/6/22:
"Beyond A Meltdown - 
A New System Of Control Is Rapidly Unfolding"
Comments here:

"How It Really Is"

 
Oh, if only...

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

"'TruckPocalypse' Begins in California This Week as 70,000 Truckers Forced Off the Roads"

"'TruckPocalypse' Begins in California This 
Week as 70,000 Truckers Forced Off the Roads"
by Mike Adams

"The California Truckers Association is warning that 70,000 independent truck owner-operators will be taken off the roads of California later this week as a draconian new law, "AB-5" kicks in. The new law goes into effect this week and is expected to cause widespread logjams, cost increases and delays to transportation across America.

America's logistics infrastructure is crumbling. And with diesel engine oil additives in short supply and expected to run out in about 7 weeks, a huge question looms over America: How will food, coal, spare parts and consumer goods get delivered anywhere?"
Situation Update, July 5, 2022. Please view video here:

Canadian Prepper, "Its Official: Russian Weapons Emergency!"

Canadian Prepper, 7/5/22:
"Its Official: Russian Weapons Emergency!"
"Its official, Russia is gearing its economy up for a 
bigger conflict and the biggest fight is right around the corner."
Comments here:

Gerald Celente, "The Big Lie: Russia Will Lose"

Full screen recommended.
Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, "Trends Journal" 7/5/22:
"The Big Lie: Russia Will Lose"
Comments here:

"Every Country is Trying to Tackle Inflation - It’s Not Working Anywhere"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 7/5/22:
"Every Country is Trying to Tackle Inflation - 
It’s Not Working Anywhere"
"It doesn’t matter where you live in the world. Inflation is affecting each and everyone of us. Every country is talking about it, but no one has control of it in anyway. It’s only going to get worse before it gets better."
Comments here:

"RV Sales Plunge, Inventory Piles Up As Buyers Disappear; Walking Another Empty Car Lot; Economy Dead"

Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, 7/5/22:
"RV Sales Plunge, Inventory Piles Up As Buyers Disappear; 
Walking Another Empty Car Lot; Economy Dead"
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: Vangelis, “Alpha”

Vangelis, “Alpha”

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Riding high in the constellation of Auriga, beautiful, blue vdB 31 is the 31st object in Sidney van den Bergh's 1966 catalog of reflection nebulae. It shares this well-composed celestial still life with dark, obscuring clouds recorded in Edward E. Barnard's 1919 catalog of dark markings in the sky. All are interstellar dust clouds, blocking the light from background stars in the case of Barnard's dark nebulae. For vdB 31, the dust preferentially reflects the bluish starlight from embedded, hot, variable star AB Aurigae.
Exploring the environs of AB Aurigae with the Hubble Space Telescope has revealed the several million year young star is itself surrounded by flattened dusty disk with evidence for the ongoing formation of a planetary system. AB Aurigae is about 470 light-years away. At that distance this cosmic canvas would span about four light-years.”

"How Are Things Going, Joe?'"

"You go up to a man, and you say, 'How are things going, Joe?' and he says, 'Oh fine, fine... couldn't be better.' And you look into his eyes, and you see things really couldn't be much worse. When you get right down to it, everybody's having a perfectly lousy time of it, and I mean everybody. And the hell of it is, nothing seems to help much."
- Kurt Vonnegut, "Mother Night"

"People are sad. People are broke. People are worried about money, people are worried that they're not enough and not amounting to anything and they don't feel good about themselves. People have rough times, and everybody's pretending it's not true, and we need to break that veneer."
- Eve Ensler

The Poet: Carl Sandburg, "Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind"

"Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind"

“The past is a bucket of ashes.”
1
"The woman named Tomorrow 
sits with a hairpin in her teeth 
and takes her time 
and does her hair the way she wants it 
and fastens at last the last braid and coil 
and puts the hairpin where it belongs 
and turns and drawls: Well, what of it? 
My grandmother, Yesterday, is gone. 
What of it? Let the dead be dead. 
2
The doors were cedar
and the panels strips of gold 
and the girls were golden girls 
and the panels read and the girls chanted: 
We are the greatest city, 
the greatest nation: 
nothing like us ever was. 

The doors are twisted on broken hinges. 
Sheets of rain swish through on the wind 
where the golden girls ran and the panels read: 
We are the greatest city, 
the greatest nation, 
nothing like us ever was. 
3
It has happened before. 
Strong men put up a city and got 
a nation together,
And paid singers to sing and women 
to warble: We are the greatest city, 
the greatest nation, 
nothing like us ever was. 

And while the singers sang
and the strong men listened 
and paid the singers well 
and felt good about it all, 
there were rats and lizards who listened 
…and the only listeners left now 
…are…the rats…and the lizards. 

And there are black crows 
crying, “Caw, caw,” 
bringing mud and sticks 
building a nest 
over the words carved 
on the doors where the panels were cedar 
and the strips on the panels were gold 
and the golden girls came singing: 
We are the greatest city, 
the greatest nation: 
nothing like us ever was. 

The only singers now are crows crying, “Caw, caw,” 
And the sheets of rain whine in the wind and doorways. 
And the only listeners now are…the rats…and the lizards. 
4
The feet of the rats 
scribble on the door sills; 
the hieroglyphs of the rat footprints 
chatter the pedigrees of the rats 
and babble of the blood 
and gabble of the breed 
of the grandfathers and the great-grandfathers 
of the rats. 

And the wind shifts 
and the dust on a door sill shifts 
and even the writing of the rat footprints 
tells us nothing, nothing at all 
about the greatest city, the greatest nation 
where the strong men listened 
and the women warbled: Nothing like us ever was."
- Carl Sandburg 

Bill Bonner, "History's Most Aggressive Crusade"

"History's Most Aggressive Crusade"
News from the frontlines of mankind's 
most ambitious, hubristic undertaking yet...
by Bill Bonner

Baltimore, Maryland -  "We left Ireland yesterday. The airport was packed. Where are they all going, we wondered. Old, young… fat, slim… we didn’t think Covid had left so many alive.

Airline traffic is returning to normal. Unfortunately, the airline industry is not ready to handle it. Lines were long, with makeshift barriers set up to guide the sheep. This too is a consequence of the Covid Lockdowns. An economy is not a machine. You can’t turn it off and then flick a switch to turn it on again. Pilots retire. New ones have to be hired and trained. And air traffic controllers, too. Ticket agents. Stewards. And baggage handlers. How could they be trained when the planes weren’t flying? Now airlines are short-handed… and passengers wait. Airlines also rely on long supply chains – fuel, caterers, cleaners, parts. How many went broke when the travel industry closed up?

The same is true for many other industries. They are living things. You can’t cut off their oxygen for months without causing some brain damage. And now, they have to learn how to walk again… and how to speak.

Unseen Trillions: The full costs of the Covid Panic have not been tallied. Never will be. All most of us felt was inconvenience. Our favorite restaurants were closed. And we had to wear masks. In our case, we got ‘locked down’ in Argentina, where we spent some of the happiest months of our lives. But when the final accounting is done the tab will be massive – trillions of dollars’ worth of lost output… millions of poor people who die prematurely because food and energy prices rose… and record levels of suicide, drug addiction, depression and violence as young people emerge like rats from a flooded basement.

Of course, a similar story could be told about almost all government programs. The benefits are few – and always directed towards a few privileged groups. The costs are spread out… nearly invisible, unpredictable, and incalculable.

In these pages we’ve been wondering about the collateral damage coming from the most aggressive crusade in history – the attempt to control the world’s weather by reducing carbon emissions. At this stage of human progress fossil fuel use and standards of living are nearly co-terminus. When one goes up, the other goes up too. Over 150 years, as nations used more oil, gas, and coal… they got richer. Still today rich people use a lot more energy than poor people. Most energy comes from stored up sunshine, in the form of gas, oil or coal. And when you reduce your use of it, standards of living go down too.

Could we use less fossil fuel and still live well? Maybe. Were prices for fossil fuel to rise… and those for ‘renewables’ to decline… people would adjust. But can a whole world economy – supporting 8 billion people – shift to alternative sources of power – on command? We saw what happened in the Covid lockdowns, when key industries were taken off-line temporarily. What happens when you shut them down permanently?

Oxygen Deprivation: In that regard, the climate controllers are getting some good news: thanks to their policies – lockdowns, sanctions, war, tariffs, money-printing, inflation, and central banks’ attempts to control it – the world’s industrial economies are showing signs of oxygen deprivation. Even in Switzerland. Bloomberg: "Swiss Inflation Hits 29-Year High on Ukraine War, Supply Chains." "Inflation in Switzerland accelerated to the fastest pace in nearly three decades, hitting 3.4% in June. The pace is up from 2.9% in May, and well above the Swiss National Bank’s 2% target. Based on the European Union-harmonized measure, it was at 3.2%, compared with 8.6% in the surrounding euro area."

All over the world, prices are on the rise. CNBC: "Inflation in Turkey rose close to 79% last month, the highest the country has seen in a quarter of a century." Friends in Argentina report that the inflation rate there is now over 70%... and the peso lost nearly a third of its value – in dollar terms – over the weekend.

And it’s no coincidence that, as governments are becoming more activist, the economies they attempt to ‘manage’ are becoming less efficient, less productive... giving individuals less of what they want when they want it. That goes for the basics, too... like food. Al Jazeera reports:

"Farmers in the Netherlands have blockaded supermarket distribution centres in continuing protests against new environmental rules on nitrogen emissions that are likely to put many of them out of business. Fishers on Monday blocked ports in a show of support for farmers. The blockade prevented ferries from sailing to almost all the Wadden Islands off the country’s northern coast and caused lengthy delays, shipping companies reported. The action had been announced in advance, with farmers calling for “the entire country to be paralyzed”.

Germany is facing paralysis too. Bloomberg: Top German industries could face collapse because of cuts in the supplies of Russian natural gas, the country’s top union official warned before crisis talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz starting Monday. “Because of the gas bottlenecks, entire industries are in danger of permanently collapsing: aluminum, glass, the chemical industry,” said Yasmin Fahimi, the head of the German Federation of Trade Unions (DGB), in an interview with the newspaper Bild am Sonntag. “Such a collapse would have massive consequences for the entire economy and jobs in Germany.”

But at least, under pressure, America’s leader is still his charming simpleton self: "Companies running gas stations," tweeted POTUS, should "bring down the price you are charging at the pump." The US Oil & Gas Association responded: "Please make sure the WH intern who posted this tweet registers for Econ 101 for the fall semester."

Put Up… or Shut Up! And so… the world’s energy engine slows down. The steel furnaces are cooling… Autos remain at home. Trucks are idle. Hallelujah… the planet will suffer less damage from C02.

Yes, people will suffer. But maybe “we” should accept a lower standard of living in exchange for freeing us from dependency on fossil fuel. Like the Covid Lockdowns, the program will probably be little more than an expensive inconvenience to most of us – healthy people in rich, healthy countries. As for poor people in poor countries, Madeleine Albright may have had the right idea. Asked about the estimated 500,000 children who died because of US sanctions on Iraq, she said it was “worth it.” And maybe, just this once, the feds will lead us, marching over the bodies of millions of starving people, to a promised land – greener, poorer… but more ‘sustainable,’ whatever that means.

Wait, you say ‘C02 doesn’t hurt the planet?’ You say ‘plants love it and crop yields are improved by it?’ You say ‘CO2 levels were once much higher… long before the Industrial Revolution?’ You say, ‘trying to control C02 output may do more harm than good?’ Well you can just shut up! That’s misinformation!"

The Daily "Near You?"

Blue River, Wisconsin, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Streets of Philadelphia, July 5, 2022"

Full screen recommended.
"Streets of Philadelphia, July 5, 2022"

"Violent crime and drug abuse in Philadelphia as a whole is a major problem. The city’s violent crime rate is higher than the national average and other similarly sized metropolitan areas. Also alarming is Philadelphia’s drug overdose rate. The number of drug overdose deaths in the city increased by 50% from 2013 to 2015, with more than twice as many deaths from drug overdoses as deaths from homicides in 2015. A big part of Philadelphia’s problems stem from the crime rate and drug abuse in Kensington.

Because of the high number of drugs in Kensington, the neighborhood has a drug crime rate of 3.57, the third-highest rate by neighborhood in Philadelphia. Like a lot of the country, a big part of this issue is a result of the opioid epidemic. Opioid abuse has skyrocketed over the last two decades in the United States and Philadelphia is no exception. Along with having a high rate of drug overdose deaths, 80% percent of Philadelphia’s overdose deaths involved opioids and Kensington is a big contributor to this number. This Philly neighborhood is purportedly the largest open-air narcotics market for heroin on the East Coast with many neighboring residents flocking to the area for heroin and other opioids. With such a high number of drugs in Kensington, many state and local officials have zoned in on this area to try and tackle Philadelphia’s problem."
Comments here:
Full screen recommended.
"Documentary by SBC News Covering Streets 
of Philadelphia, Kensington Ave."
Comments here:
Full screen recommended.
Bruce Springsteen, "Streets of Philadelphia"
Wipe that stupid, smugly contemptuous look off your face!
Coming soon to a neighborhood near you...