Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Musical Interlude: Deuter, "Endless Horizon"

Full screen recommended. 
Deuter, "Endless Horizon"
"I cannot paint
What then I was. The sounding cataract
Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colors and their forms, were then to me
An appetite; a feeling and a love,
That had no need of a remoter charm,
By thought supplied, not any interest
Unborrowed from the eye.

That time is past,
And all its aching joys are now no more,
And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this
Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur: other gifts
Have followed; for such loss, I would believe,
Abundant recompense. 

For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes
The still, sad music of humanity,
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power
To chasten and subdue." 

- William Wordsworth,
"Lines Written A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Where do the dark streams of dust in the Orion Nebula originate? This part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, M43, is the often imaged but rarely mentioned neighbor of the more famous M42. M42, seen in part to the upper right, includes many bright stars from the Trapezium star cluster. 
M43 is itself a star forming region that displays intricately-laced streams of dark dust - although it is really composed mostly of glowing hydrogen gas. The entire Orion field is located about 1600 light years away. Opaque to visible light, the picturesque dark dust is created in the outer atmosphere of massive cool stars and expelled by strong outer winds of protons and electrons."

Albert Camus, "Life Changing Quotes"

Full screen recommended.
Albert Camus, "Life Changing Quotes"
Voice-over by Chris Lines
"Powerful quotations from the great French philosopher Albert Camus. A good quote can offer a lifetime of experience in a simple sentence or statement. They are lessons forged through the overcoming of obstacles and set backs that are passed on to others like a baton in a relay race. They say, "here's what I learned, now use it and go even further."

"Quotes for Hard Times"

Full screen recommended.
RedFrost Motivation, "Quotes for Hard Times"
Performed by Peter Revel Walsh
"A fully narrated quote collection aimed at getting you through difficult times in life. This video features wisdom from the likes of Joseph Campbell, Albert Camus and Martha Graham. A good quote can offer a lifetime of experience in a simple sentence or statement. They are lessons forged through the overcoming of obstacles and set backs that are passed on to others like a baton in a relay race. They say, "here's what I learned, now use it and go even further."

The Poet: Wendell Berry, “Leavings”

 
“Leavings”

“In time a man disappears
from his lifelong fields, from
the streams he has walked beside,
from the woods where he sat and waited.
Thinking of this, he seems to
miss himself in those places
as if always he has been there.
But first he must disappear,
and this he foresees with hope,
with thanks. Let others come.”

- Wendell Berry
“Perhaps as he was lying awake then, his life may have passed before him – his early hopeful struggles, his manly successes and prosperity, his downfall in his declining years, and his present helpless condition – no chance of revenge against Fortune, which had had the better of him -neither name nor money to bequeath – a spent-out, bootless life of defeat and disappointment, and the end here! Which, I wonder, brother reader, is the better lot, to die prosperous and famous, or poor and disappointed? To have, and to be forced to yield; or to sink out of life, having played and lost the game? That must be a strange feeling, when a day of our life comes and we say, “Tomorrow, success or failure won’t matter much, and the sun will rise, and all the myriads of mankind go to their work or their pleasure as usual, but I shall be out of the turmoil.”
- William Makepeace Thackeray, “Vanity Fair”

Gregory Mannarino, "Citigroup Warns Of Massive Stock Market Sell-Off...Mar-A-Lago Raid Is A Distraction"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 8/9/22:
"Citigroup Warns Of Massive Stock Market Sell-Off... 
Mar-A-Lago Raid Is A Distraction"
Comments here:
Related:

Must Watch! "Col. Douglas Macgregor - Will Biden Stumble into a New World War?"

Full screen recommended.
Judge Napolitano, Judging Freedom,
"Col. Douglas Macgregor - 
Will Biden Stumble into a New World War?"
Comments here:

"There Was A Time When We Once Could Laugh At Ourselves. Those Days Are Gone"

"There Was A Time When We Once Could Laugh 
At Ourselves. Those Days Are Gone"
by Martin Armstrong

"To my total shock, I know a family that fled Poland to flee from Russia and went to Canada. They then fled Canada because of all the insanity of Trudeau and refused to return. Since their visa for America is expiring, they said to me that they may now go to Russia. I was completely stunned. They said Western culture is pushing them to return from pronouns to canceling anyone who has ever said anything, even 25 years ago, and the total craziness in politics. What they once fled from is still far better than what is taking place here.

Every person I know here in America who fled from Russia when the USSR collapsed says the same thing. What they fled from is now here. Putin has come out and warned that wokeness is what destroyed Russia. His popularity in Russia is double that of Biden because he has turned Russia back to traditional values. Using the wrong pronoun is now offensive. I remember going to the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and seeing Don Rickels live in the ’70s. There was not a single race or ethnic group he did not make a joke about. There was a time when we once could laugh at ourselves. Those days are gone.

There is a cycle to everything. The culture shift in Russia is actually hopeful that we too will shed these restrictions of wokeness, and I will not be offended if you say, “Hey, you!” Civilization is when everyone comes together for mutual benefit. Wokeness is all about division. When you ask an American what are you, they will typically respond half-German and half-Irish or whatever their mix. That illustrates that America was the melting pot where everyone merged into one, whereas you do not see that in Europe except on rare occasions. This is what is being torn apart by wokeness, and we will see oppression and civil unrest that could lead even to civil war because of it.

When I was growing up there was just straight, gay, and bi-sexual. Today, I am told there are 70 distinctions. I have absolutely no idea anymore but it no longer makes one look upon everyone as equal. You suddenly have to stay to yourself and be afraid to address someone for being accused of racism or sexism or whatever new term they manufacture. We once were all Americans. I hired Robert Howe who was probably the first black analyst because he was qualified. Today, you get inquires from the state demanding to know how many minorities and women you have on your staff. We have every race and gender on our staff, as well as religion. Perhaps I am old fashion, but I never hire people because of quotas.

It’s not a question of patriotism, and it is not wrong for that family to suddenly say they are moving back to Russia all because of the political propaganda. The traditional values that once kept American culture as the beacon of light in a dark world have been overthrown. The public forum, where the people once discussed differences and enacted their laws as well as elected their representatives, has been enclosed by fences at times to protect it from the people, and the chamber that shined for the world as an example of freedom has been reduced to one of hatred and has been exploited by foreign agendas seeing a Great Reset. The public and private institutions that were founded for eternity lie naked and broken by partisan politics indistinguishable from the ruins of ancient Greece. Those stupendous relics of the past are all that has survived the injuries of time and the folly of men.

Today is a sad statement of our times. Our leaders not only preach war, but they also seek to divide our nation by turning brother against brother until our civilization exists no more. The Democrats have exploited every distinction to separate and divide us while seeking 5 years imprisonment for those who only entered the capitol and took a selfie all to paint their opposition with hatred.

The possession of wealth today only stimulates the hatred of others and any traditional rigid virtue of centuries now offends and warrants censure. The irregularities of voting are swept aside and those who seek to investigate are targeted as conspiracy theorists. Anyone who objects is always insured the aversion of those in power who search for any excuse to imprison them until death for their part.

Suspicion has merely become the equivalent of proof and any trial is mere pretense to condemnation. They seek the execution of Donald Trump and paint 50% of the people are worthless scum unworthy of a seat in their hallow hall of dictatorial wokeness power. Once they have tasted supreme power, they have become incapable of pity or remorse no less respect for human rights of liberty, and justice for all. Those words have become just propaganda as their meaning has crumbled to dust on the foundation that was once the bedrock of the American dream. Our highest standard of living has been pushed aside as racist or some other terminology crafted with an endless redefinition of the English language.

As I have been stating at conferences, Schwab will fail in his quest to seize control of the world with his unoriginal theories. The very cornerstone of civilization of bringing people together because it is mutually beneficial to all has been broken. The temple of freedom and dignity has fallen. These power-hungry people are separating and dividing us as they turn even families against one another. They vary from the above but can see no differently than Karl Marx who thought he could redesign society. The rise and fall of political states, Schwab believes, can be prevented if the people surrender everything that makes life worthwhile. Schwab and his co-conspiractor at the World Economic Forum seek to turn our corporations into fascist limbs of the state all preaching Schwab’s stakeholder economics and suppressing human rights for at the heart of all of this, there is no divine right because there is nothing divine about them. The future is only theirs to shape – no one else’s.

The world so many rebuilt post-WWII is collapsing - deliberately. It must always appear darkest before a storm and the new light of day that will arrive. We cannot save the institutions of today. We must plan for what comes after this house-cleaning we must go through. Academics such as Klaus Schwab have always presented the greatest threat to societies. Just as Putin said Lenin was just a Bolshevik and not a statesman, someone in the future will remember Klaus Schwab with the same dismissive comments. Posterity will remember his name as it remembers Marx, Hitler, and Stalin. Napoleon sought to conquer Europe, but he had no designs to change human nature."

The Daily "Near You?"

Lincoln, Nebraska, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Fools And Knaves..."

"In the mass of mankind, I fear, there is too great a majority of 
fools and knaves; who, singly from their number, must to a certain
degree be respected, though they are by no means respectable.”
- Philip Stanhope
"There are more fools than knaves in the world,
 else the knaves would not have enough to live upon."
- Samuel Butler

"Bonhoeffer‘s Theory of Stupidity"

Full screen recommended.
"Bonhoeffer‘s Theory of Stupidity"
"Dietrich Bonhoeffer argued that stupid people are more dangerous than evil ones. This is because while we can protest against or fight evil people, against stupid ones we are defenseless - reasons fall on deaf ears. Bonhoeffer's famous text, which we slightly edited for this video, serves any free society as a warning of what can happen when certain people gain too much power."
Related:

"Where Your Gaze Lingers..."

“Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn’t something that has nothing to do with you, this storm is you. Something inside you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn’t get in, and walk through it, step by step. There’s no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up the sky like pulverized bones.

You have to look! That’s another one of the rules. Closing your eyes isn’t going to change anything. Nothing’s going to disappear just because you can’t see what going on. In fact, things will be even worse the next time you open your eyes. That’s the kind of world we live in. Keep your eyes wide open. Only a coward closes his eyes. Closing your eyes and plugging up your ears won’t make time stand still.”
- Haruki Murakami

“Closing your eyes won’t make the awfulness go away. It may be that nothing will. But dwelling on it, dreading the evil, playing out the misery in your head – doesn’t this feed the monster? You can’t close your eyes to life, but you can choose where your gaze lingers.”
- Richelle E. Goodrich

"China Just Made A Move That Could Literally Provoke A Major War With The United States"

"China Just Made A Move That Could Literally 
Provoke A Major War With The United States"
by Michael Snyder

"If the Chinese don’t end their blockade of Taiwan, the Biden administration will be under immense pressure to respond. So let us hope that cooler heads prevail in China and that a decision is soon made to end the pointless “military exercises” that the Chinese are currently conducting. When the live-fire drills were first announced, we were told that they would last for only four days. That was supposed to be it. On Monday, they were supposed to go home. But that didn’t happen. Instead, on Monday the Chinese announced that the military exercises in the waters off Taiwan would be extended, and no new end date was given…

"China said Monday it was extending threatening military exercises surrounding Taiwan that have disrupted shipping and air traffic and substantially raised concerns about the potential for conflict in a region crucial to global trade. The exercises would include anti-submarine drills, apparently targeting U.S. support for Taiwan in the event of a potential Chinese invasion, according to social media posts from the eastern leadership of China’s ruling Communist Party’s military arm, the People’s Liberation Army."

This move by China crosses a very important line. The Chinese have essentially established a “maritime and aerial blockade” around Taiwan, but it was only supposed to last from Thursday to Sunday…"The Chinese military designated six closure areas, one of which is merely 12 miles from Taiwan’s southern shipping hub of Kaohsiung. Beijing also warned commercial airliners to avoid wide swaths of airspace around Taiwan, in what amounts to a no-fly zone over major flight routes. Even though China portrays this as a step short of total encirclement, Taiwan’s defense ministry describes it as “a maritime and aerial blockade.”

A four day blockade wouldn’t have been that big of a deal. But a full blown “maritime and aerial blockade” that lasts for weeks or even months is clearly an act of war. Taiwan relies on food and essential supplies from the outside world. If commerce is severely restricted or cut off completely, life on the island will radically change. And the pressure on the Biden administration to “do something” will become enormous.

Of course it is still possible that the Chinese could decide to go home at some point this week. And let us hope that actually happens. But right now both sides continue to escalate matters. For example, in response to the Chinese “drills”, the Taiwanese have decided to conduct live-fire exercises of their own…"Meanwhile, Taiwan’s official Central News Agency reported that Taiwan’s army will conduct live-fire artillery drills in southern Pingtung county on Tuesday and Thursday, in response to the Chinese exercises. The drills will include snipers, combat vehicles, armored vehicles as well as attack helicopters, said the report, which cited an anonymous source."

That certainly won’t ease tensions. And members of the U.S. Senate are publicly calling for more economic and military aid for Taiwan…"In an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) backed the House speaker’s travel to Taiwan and tied the two foreign policy issues together - warning that China is watching how the U.S. continues to respond to Russia’s attack on Ukraine as the war nears its sixth month. Graham directed his message directly at China and pushed for the passage of the bipartisan Taiwan Policy Act, which is aimed at bolstering Taiwan economically and militarily."

The Chinese are going to interpret this as a threat. It has become quite obvious that many prominent members of Congress consider Taiwan to be analogous to Ukraine, and that is definitely not going to help matters. On top of everything else, it has been announced that U.S. forces will actually be participating in war games very close to India’s disputed border with China later this year…"The US will participate in war games with the Indian military in an area of India that is less than 62 miles away from the country’s disputed border with China, known as the Line of Actual Control (LAN). The drills will be held from October 18-31 and will be the eighteenth iteration of annual exercises between the two militaries known as Yudh Abhyas, which is Hindi for “war practice.” They will be held in the Auli area of the Indian state of Uttarakhand in the Himalayas mountain range."

For years, I have been relentlessly warning that a war with China was coming, but my hope is that cooler heads will prevail and that this current crisis can be resolved peacefully. Because a shooting war with China would instantly change all of our lives for the worse. If we go to war with China, shipments of the thousands upon thousands of products that we currently receive from China would immediately cease. And if the Pacific Ocean becomes a war zone, trade with other Asian powers such as Japan and South Korea would be paralyzed as well.

In addition, Taiwan produces more of our microchips than everyone else in the world combined…"In particular, Taiwan’s position in the world of semiconductor manufacturing is a bit like Saudi Arabia’s status in OPEC. TSMC has a 53% market share of the global foundry market (factories contracted to make chips designed in other countries). Other Taiwan-based manufacturers claim a further 10% of the market.

As a result, the Biden administration’s 100-Day Supply Chain Review Report says, “The United States is heavily dependent on a single company – TSMC – for producing its leading-edge chips.” The fact that only TSMC and Samsung (South Korea) can make the most advanced semiconductors (five nanometres in size) “puts at risk the ability to supply current and future [US] national security and critical infrastructure needs”.

If China invades Taiwan, the global flow of microchips would permanently be reduced to a trickle. I don’t think that I even have the words to describe what that would do to the global economy. The stakes are incredibly high, and our leaders should be doing all that they can to avoid a needless war with the Chinese. Unfortunately, our leaders are not exactly what you would call “competent” at this point, and we could soon find ourselves involved in pointless conflicts with the Russians and the Chinese at the same time."

"How It Really Is"

"Shopping Trip To Meijer! More Price Increases, And Some Empty Shelves!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures with Danno, 8/9/22:
"Shopping Trip To Meijer! 
More Price Increases, And Some Empty Shelves!"
"In today's vlog we are at Meijer, and are noticing massive price increases on most products! 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:

Gregory Mannarino, "Beyond The Markets: Be Ready For A Great Fall"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 8/9/22:
"Beyond The Markets: Be Ready For A Great Fall"
Comments here:

"Economic Market Snapshot 8/9/22"

Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...
Only the consequences are real - to you!
"Economic Market Snapshot 8/9/22"
Market Data Center, Live Updates:
Latest Market Analysis, Updated 8/9/22
A comprehensive, essential daily read.
August 8th to 10th 
Financial Stress Index
"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: creditequity valuationfunding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United Statesother advanced economies, and emerging markets."
Job cuts and much more.
Commentary, highly recommended:
"The more I see of the monied classes,
the better I understand the guillotine."
- George Bernard Shaw
Oh yeah... beyond words. Any I know anyway...
And now... The End Game...

"The US Economy is Splitting in Two - The Extreme Have and Have Nots"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 8/9/22:
"The US Economy is Splitting in Two - 
The Extreme Have and Have Nots"
"The very wealthy are doing just fine. The middle class and poor are getting destroyed before our eyes. The inflation reduction act will tax people to oblivion. Hedge fund and the wealthy will benefit from this."
Comments here:

Bill Bonner, 'A Lollapalooza of Boondoggles"

'A Lollapalooza of Boondoggles"
Another $430 billion to combat the weather...
 plus $80 billion more to help tax you.
by Bill Bonner

Ouzilly, France - "What will it say, in the Wikipedia of 3,000 AD? What will be the Judgment of History? We shudder to think…Will it say about its geriatric politicians… that they were actively trying to stir up conflict with their neighbors, trading partners and rivals? What will it make of its greatest economists and leading financial brains… pretending that people can be made richer by falsifying interest rates… lending money below the level of consumer price inflation… and “printing money” to cover budget deficits? And what about the character of its citizens… who let themselves get ripped off… lied to… and held in contempt by their own elected leaders? We can only guess…

Making America Broke Again: But first, we note that another lollapalooza of boondoggles is about to smash into the US economy. NBCNews: "Senate passes sweeping climate, health and tax package, putting Democrats on cusp of historic win."

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats narrowly passed a sweeping climate and economic package on Sunday, putting President Joe Biden and his party on the cusp of a big legislative victory just three months before the crucial November midterm elections. After a marathon overnight Senate session, the 51-50 vote was strictly along party lines, with all Republicans voting no and all Democrats voting yes. After Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote, Democrats stood and applauded."

What has been won? NBC explains: "The 755-page bill includes $430 billion to combat climate change and extend health care coverage, paid for with savings on prescription drugs and taxes on corporations. It puts hundreds of billions of dollars toward deficit reduction." (We presume Nancy Pelosi’s husband papered up well in advance!)

The legislation is cynical and scammy, both in purpose and application. Will it result in better weather? It seems very unlikely. Will it reduce deficits? Almost certainly not. Will it lower inflation? Not a chance. As is common for boondoggles of this sort, the spending is front-loaded – so the insiders get their money right away. As for the deficit and inflation reduction, they are barely loaded on the truck at all… and will never actually be delivered.

Congressional Free Passes: And the real-world results? It depends on the assumptions you make about the future. Here’s how the Tax Foundation scored it: "Last-week’s Democrat-sponsored Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), successor to the House-passed Build Back Better Act of late 2021, has been touted by President Biden to, among other things, help reduce the country’s crippling inflation. Using the Tax Foundation’s General Equilibrium Model, we estimate that the Inflation Reduction Act would reduce long-run economic output by about 0.1 percent and eliminate about 30,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the United States. It would also reduce average after-tax incomes for taxpayers across every income quintile over the long run." By reducing long-run economic growth, this bill may actually worsen inflation by constraining the productive capacity of the economy.

But ‘climate change’ is a free pass into the public’s bank accounts. It is promoted by the press as much as the ‘War on Terror’ or ‘the attempted coup d’etat of January 6th’ or the ‘brutal Russian invasion of the peace-loving Ukraine.’ Practically every weather report blames ‘climate change’ – for excess heat… floods… drought… cold – everything. Logically, since the earth is a closed system, for every horror caused by ‘climate change’ there should be a delight elsewhere—rain in a dry area… warmth where it is normally cold… sunshine where clouds generally dominate. But no one mentions it.

Instead, for the first time in history, politicians are able to say that they are not only complaining about the weather; now they are doing something about it. Another great crusade, in other words. Free the Holy Land. Drang nach Osten. Whip Inflation Now! And not coincidentally, make the elite richer and more powerful.

Wikipedia 3,000: But what will they think of it later? Not just a few years later… but 1,000 years… into the future. Will they see it in the same light? Will they get the names right? Who will be the heroes then? Herewith, a guess: “In the year 2022, which is to say, during the lifetime of the great economic philosopher Bill Bonner, America’s decline was no longer a subject of speculation; it was undeniable. Aggressive meddling – brought forth from a mixture of conceit and incompetence – had brought the country to the threshold of ruin. Its citizens shot each other in US cities, while its army attempted to maintain the empire’s dominant position in the rest of the world. Most of its people got poorer, with wages rising at only half the rate of consumer prices, while it transferred billions of dollars to the richest families in the country.

America’s economy – once the world’s most dynamic – had been fettered by boondoggles and weakened by the central bank management. And its attempts to rule the entire world… by murdering foreign leaders, sanctions, and active warfare… had driven its rivals together to oppose it. The next chapter was foreseeable by all but the American leadership itself.” Tune in tomorrow for more from the Wikipedia of the Year 3,000."
Joel’s Note: "Nestled in the euphemistically-named Inflation Reduction Act is a not-so trivial $80 billion earmark for the Internal Revenue Service. If this seems like a lot of money… it’s because it is. The figure is more than 6 times the total annual budget of the… ahem… “service” (currently $12.6 billion). So not only does the Inflation Reduction Act actually raise taxes on every class of American worker, it also enables the IRS to engage what The Wall Street Journal described as “beast mode,” by deploying “$45.6 billion to audit the middle class.” That’s enforcement, folks.

The problem, you see, has never been Congressmen (of both parties) wantonly frittering away your tax dollars… or shoveling money into their crony’s pockets… or front-running stocks on companies subject to their own regulatory pens… or smashing through each and every “debt ceiling” ever conceived… or using fear and propaganda to destroy the global economy (so they, and only they, can ride to the “rescue”… again, with your money)…

The problem is small businesses and middle class Americans and their stubborn refusal to simply get with the program. Don’t worry, though… according to “the service” itself, between March and June of this year, the IRS purchased $700,000 worth of ammo, a number that will undoubtedly skyrocket given their freshly fattened purse… so ordinary, working folks will soon have even more incentive to cheer their well-funded, well-armed overlords. Hooray!"
Related:

"War: It's All Falling Apart..."

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 8/8/22:
"War: It's All Falling Apart..."
Comments here:
Related:

Monday, August 8, 2022

"Warning, This May Trigger You; You Are Being Made Poor; California Is Out Of Control"

Jeremiah Babe, 8/8/22:
"Warning, This May Trigger You; You Are Being Made Poor; 
California Is Out Of Control"
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: Simon & Garfunkel, "American Tune"

Full screen recommended.
Simon & Garfunkel, "American Tune" 
(from The Concert in Central Park)

"A Look to the Heavens"

Stars are sometimes born in the midst of chaos. About 3 million years ago in the nearby galaxy M33, a large cloud of gas spawned dense internal knots which gravitationally collapsed to form stars. NGC 604 was so large, however, it could form enough stars to make a globular cluster.
Many young stars from this cloud are visible in the above image from the Hubble Space Telescope, along with what is left of the initial gas cloud. Some stars were so massive they have already evolved and exploded in a supernova. The brightest stars that are left emit light so energetic that they create one of the largest clouds of ionized hydrogen gas known, comparable to the Tarantula Nebula in our Milky Way's close neighbor, the Large Magellanic Cloud.”

"I'm Quite Aware..."

Oh, I'm quite aware of what a horror this all is, and yes, it's overwhelming, but that's our reality and I have no choice than to present you with the best available version of truth possible, there being no absolute Truth. What you do with it is of course your choice; do your own research and draw your own informed conclusions, and make what changes you feel best to survive what's here now and what's coming. It's really all any of us can do... I, too, don't want to just believe, I want to know. If I'm facing a firing squad, and we all are, I at least want to understand how and why. How about you?
- CP
"There are two ways to be fooled. 
One is to believe what isn't true;
the other is to refuse to believe what is true." 
- Soren Kierkegaard

"The Housing Slowdown Could Become a Global Meltdown"

Full screen recommended.
"The Housing Slowdown Could Become a Global Meltdown"
by Epic Economist

"All around the world, hundreds of millions of prospective home buyers that have been unable to purchase a home because of stratospheric price increases seen over the past couple of years are now getting thrilled about the ongoing housing market correction. But experts are warning that they should be careful about what they wish for: bubbly housing prices, soaring mortgage rates, the imbalance between supply and demand, and affordability problems are a toxic combination that has the potential to turn a global housing slowdown into a global economic meltdown of devastating proportions.

Over the past couple of years, central banks from around the world have artificially suppressed interest rates in response to the health crisis, in an attempt to prevent a global economic collapse. But now industry specialists are arguing that policymakers have only managed to delay that downturn, and as conditions start to shift in the markets, with central bankers now hiking rates at a more aggressive pace, a major economic disaster that will shake the entire globe is looming.

The situation has been particularly dire in U.S. markets, where home prices have climbed over 20% in the past year alone, and the vast majority of local markets remain extremely overvalued at this point. According to Ian Shepherdson, a chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, this means that property values are about to see a double-digit price crash because of slower demand caused by rising mortgage rates.

Unfortunately, even with sellers slashing prices at the fastest pace since 2008, potential home buyers will continue to suffer from affordability issues. That’s because mortgage rates are expected to keep reaching new highs compromising first-time buyers’ ability to purchase a home. According to a recent New York Federal Reserve housing survey, 30-year mortgage rates are expected to rise to 6.7% before the end of the year and reach 8.2% in 2023.

Needless to say, that’s a very concerning outlook. To make things worse, the U.S. is not alone. Similar imbalances are occurring in several markets all over the world at a time the global economy has started to falter. In the last 24 months, central bankers from all around the globe have enabled the formation of a massive real estate bubble, and now they’re having to cope with the consequences of the bubble going bust. In China, a sweeping real estate crash has already begun. Chinese banks are under orders to bail out property developers so they can complete unfinished projects. Mortgage boycotts are on the rise because people are getting increasingly frustrated about paying home loans for properties they are unable to occupy.

The toxic combination for the housing market is rising interest rates, collapsing growth, and higher unemployment. Of those, only the last is missing, but if the economic conditions turn out to be as grim as policymakers expect, then it is only a matter of time before mass lay-offs start happening again. A recent forecast published by the International Monetary Fund noted that all three main growth engines – the US, China, and the eurozone – were stalling, the fund said: “risks were heavily skewed to the downside”.

We’ve been here before, and we’ve seen things getting really ugly really fast. The stakes have never been higher. The ongoing real estate market crash is pushing us closer and closer to a global economic meltdown – and it’s safe to say that’s only a matter of time before things spiral out of control."

Gregory Mannarino,, "Insanity! You Cannot Spend Your Way To Lower Inflation Nor Borrow Your Way To Prosperity!"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 8/8/22:
"Insanity! You Cannot Spend Your Way To Lower 
Inflation Nor Borrow Your Way To Prosperity!"
Comments here:

"American Household Debt Surpasses $16 Trillion"

"American Household Debt Surpasses $16 Trillion"
by Martin Armstrong

"American household has reached a new high, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Total household debt has surpassed $16 trillion for the first time in American history. Americans have taken on $2 trillion in additional debt since the pandemic. Aggregate household debt balances rose by $312 billion in Q2 2022 alone, marking a 2% increase from Q1.

Mortgages were the largest contributing factor to the post-pandemic uptick after rising by $207 billion to $11.39 trillion. Americans have been relying more on credit to make purchases amid inflation, and credit card balances have spiked by $46 billion last quarter. Non-housing balances saw the largest uptick since 2016 after increasing by $103 billion. Auto loans saw a $33 billion rise as the cost of autos remained at a high.

Delinquency on debt “increased modestly” in all categories. Around 95,000 people faced bankruptcy in Q2 2022, which is still near historic lows. Of the $758 billion in new mortgage debt accumulated in the last quarter, 65% is held by people with credit scores over 760. Outstanding student loan debt reached $1.59 trillion last quarter, 5% of which was delinquent.

People may be able to pay off their debt now, but as inflation and interest rates rise, that will become increasingly difficult. While mortgage debt is no cause for concern, the over-reliance on credit purchases will not help Americans lower debt. Inflation must come down for the people to maintain their quality of life."

"The Fed’s Set to Pour Gasoline on a Fire"

"The Fed’s Set to Pour Gasoline on a Fire"
by Jim Rickards

"Forget the happy talk from the White House and the mainstream media; the U.S. is already in a recession. They can try to redefine a recession all they want, but it doesn’t matter. If you’re a regular reader of mine, you knew this was coming because I’ve been forecasting it for months, but now it’s confirmed. The U.S. Commerce Department reported that first-quarter 2022 GDP declined 1.6%, and second-quarter GDP declined 0.9%. That fits the standard definition of a recession as two consecutive quarters of declining GDP.

Believe it or not, there is no official government agency that declares a recession. That task is undertaken by a private group called the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Don’t put any weight on the “national bureau” part of the name; it’s a private body consisting of nine academic economists who meet in Cambridge, Massachusetts, near the Harvard and MIT campuses.

And don’t hold your breath waiting for an NBER determination. Most recessions last only two or perhaps three quarters. In many cases, the NBER waits so long to declare a recession that it’s over before the start date is even declared. With the NBER members being weighted to Democratic priorities and a midterm election looming, I don’t expect the NBER to declare the recession started last January until perhaps next January, or in all events after the election. That’s just how they roll.

“Who You Gonna Believe, Me or Your Own Eyes?” These formalities and delays are what have enabled Biden administration officials like Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to say, “We’re not in a recession.” They’re relying on the fact that no recession has been declared even unofficially by NBER. Meanwhile evidence for a recession is all around us. It’s like the old Marx Brothers line “Who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?”

On this issue, don’t listen to Yellen, believe your own eyes. They’ll try to tell you that the economy added a stellar 528,000 jobs last month, but you can’t trust that number. It’s mainly the result of “seasonal adjustments” that artificially inflate actual job creation. It’s a statistical creation that doesn't reflect reality. Besides, 303,000 were part-time jobs, which many regularly employed Americans are taking just to keep up with inflation. It’s true that nominal wages were up 5.8%. But after 9.1% inflation, real wages were down 3.3%. That doesn’t sound like a thriving economy to me.

The Worst Possible Policy: Meanwhile, Democrats have been trying to figure out a policy response to the (non)recession in advance of November’s midterm elections. Not surprisingly, they actually managed to come up with the worst possible policy. The bill that Senate Democrats passed over the weekend (with the help of Vice President Kamala Harris, who broke the 50-50 stalemate) is a warmed-over version of Build Back Better. Remember that loser?

Starting in early 2021 the Build Back Better bill went from $4 trillion to $2 trillion to now something less than $1 trillion, but it still has the Green New Scam elements along with price controls and new handouts. Democrats decided they needed to “pay for” their giveaways so naturally they’re going to increase taxes (unsurprisingly, the bill authorizes the hiring of 87,000 IRS agents). Not only that, but they’re going to tax corporate stock buybacks.

Raising taxes in a recession is a good way to turn a recession into a depression. Maybe that’s why they’re calling the bill “The Inflation Reduction Act.” Tipping the economy into recession is a surefire recipe to stamp out inflation. Meanwhile, penalizing stock buybacks is a good way to sink the stock market. It looks like this harmful legislation may soon do both.

Tight Money on Steroids: In the meantime, the stock market has generally rallied since the Fed’s recent rate hike on July 27. That’s because Wall Street thinks that the worst of the rate hikes are over and that the Fed will begin easing by early next year. But will it?

The Fed is on an aggressive campaign of interest rate hikes and further monetary tightening through quantitative tightening, QT. The Fed raised interest rates 0.25% in March, 0.50% in May and 0.75% in June and July. That sequence brought rates from 0.0% to 2.25% in less than five months. That’s the fastest tempo of rate hikes since the early 1980s. The June rate hike was the first 0.75% increase since 1994. The approximately $1 trillion per year reduction in the base money supply (that’s what QT is) is estimated to have the same effect as another 1.0% rate hike. Put together, what we are witnessing is tight money on steroids.

Wall Street Thinks EZ Money Is Coming Back: Wall Street analysts recently concluded that the Fed would soon reduce rate hikes and even begin to cut interest rates early next year. This U-turn by the Fed has been referred to as the “pivot” and is one of the reasons the stock market has been rallying in the aftermath of the most recent rate hike on July 27.

The pivot theory began with the fact that both the Treasury yield curve and the Eurodollar futures curve are inverted. I don’t want to get too technical here, but an inversion means that the curves show rate cuts in the future; such curves are normally upward sloping, meaning longer-term rates are higher than shorter-term rates. The Treasury yield curve goes downward sloping at about the 2-year note. The Eurodollar futures show inversion in overnight rates beginning as early as next March. Jay Powell lent fuel to the pivot fire at his press conference on July 27. While eschewing rate forecasts before September, he said he thought rates could be about where the “dots” (Fed forecasts) put them by year-end. The dots were showing 3.50% on Dec. 31. That means another 1.25% in rate hikes.

There are three remaining Fed meetings this year - Sept. 21, Nov. 2 and Dec. 14. You don’t have to be a math genius to see that Powell was inferring rate hikes of 0.50% in September, 0.50% in November and 0.25% in December. Those are continuing hikes, but the hikes are lower than this past June and July. A simple extension of that trend points to a “pause” early next year followed by rate cuts.

Don’t Expect a “Pivot”: But there’s a serious roadblock in the way of the pivot. The “hot” July jobs numbers I mentioned earlier have since come out. They will give the Fed further justification to continue with aggressive tightening. The Fed figures that if the economy is still adding plenty of jobs even after its recent moves, it can continue to aggressively tighten in order to clamp down on inflation. It gives the Fed hope that it can engineer a “soft landing,” where it can dial down inflation without causing a recession.

This moves my forecast on the September rate hike back to 0.75% level. The Fed (wrongly) thinks it has a green light to keep moving aggressively. And just because Wall Street wants a rate cut early next year doesn’t mean they’ll get one. The Fed is more concerned about inflation than the stock market right now. The reality is that the recession is already here despite the Fed’s opinion, planned rate hikes will make it worse and the Fed will continue to tighten until the recession grows far worse."
"Inflation 'Reduction' Bill To Unleash Tax Terrorism
Upon The American People" (Excerpt)
by Mike Adams

"Excerpt: "Accelerating the total destruction of America - exactly as planned - Democrats gleefully passed the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” that even Bernie Sanders says won’t reduce inflation. Because inflation is the product of an expanded money supply - see Inflation.news to stay informed - this massive government spending bill will only increase inflation while handing out hundreds of billions of dollars to the green energy sector, IRS agents and wealthy corporations.

One of the most alarming aspects of the bill is the $80 billion that’s earmarked to hire 87,000 new IRS agents, unleashing “tax terrorism” against the American working class while the wealthy elite continue to pay almost nothing in taxes. Although these 87,000 new IRS agents will likely spend a few years just opening the backlog of mail currently piling up in IRS offices across the country, at some point they will turn their attention to America’s working class, weaponizing the IRS to target conservatives, small business owners, Trump supporters, Christian churches and pro-2A non-profits. (Note, too, that the math on this comes out to nearly $1 million per IRS worker…)

Under Democrat control, of course, every institution of Big Government becomes a weapon to be wielded against their political opposition. The IRS was already weaponized under Obama (remember Lois Lerner?), and now under the Obiden regime, the IRS is going to be transformed into a domestic terrorism organization much like the FBI, a criminal cartel that plots and carries out terrorism attacks in America in order to heighten its own importance while placing the blame on “extremism” (which the FBI defines as anyone who believes in America)."
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