Gregory Mannarino, 9/7/22:
"Morgan Stanley Warns Of Potential Stock Market Free-Fall"
So, we rise from the rubble...
Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Bill Bonner, "Here Comes the Snow"
"Here Comes the Snow"
Stolen weapons, squandered billions
and the looming winter catastrophe...
by Bill Bonner
Poitou, France - "Since we’re ‘checking in’ on various disasters this week, let’s turn to Russia. ABCNews: "Russia has choked off the supplies of cheap natural gas that the continent depended on for years to run factories, generate electricity and heat homes. That has pushed European governments into a desperate scramble for new supplies and for ways to blunt the impact as economic growth slows and household utility bills rise. The crisis deepened when Russia's state-owned exporter Gazprom said the main pipeline carrying gas to Germany would stay closed, blaming an oil leak and claiming the problems could not be fixed because of sanctions barring many dealings with Russia."
It's been 7 months since the first wad was shot in the Russo-Ukrainian war. And the news from the front still comes almost directly from the Ukrainian press releases. Here’s International Business Times, with ‘news’ that could have been written 6 months ago:
• Russian soldiers are losing morale after realizing they may not win the war, says a Ukrainian official.
• Russians are also reportedly struggling with resupplying troops with missiles.
• Ukrainian authorities say soldiers with Russia's 127th Regiment refused to participate in the war.
• Morale is steadily decreasing among Russian soldiers as Ukraine continues to pound occupied regions in the south in its counteroffensive operations, a Ukrainian official said Monday.
Maybe the reporter should have asked a Russian official? But they never do. The reporting is entirely one-sided, always flattering the Ukrainian cause. And what the Ukrainians failed to mention is that their latest counteroffensive is almost certain to fail… and that the Russians are winning the war.
“Imaginary Wealth”: Here at Bonner Private Research, we have no dog in that fight. But we try to connect the dots. And almost everything is connected. Arch villain, Vladimir Putin gave us a hint: “The economy of imaginary wealth is being replaced by the economy of real and hard assets.” Replaced? We doubt it. But repriced? Almost certainly.
Ukraine’s serious generals counseled against the Kherson campaign. They saw it as a trap. Russian planes control the air. It would be very hard for Ukrainian forces to sustain a drive into Russian-held territory against attack from Russia’s air-force and long-range artillery.
But word on the street is that the Zelensky government needed to show its European and American enablers that it was still capable of delivering victory. So, the attack went forward. “Never interrupt when the enemy is making a mistake,” Napoleon had said. The Russians appear to be letting the enemy advance… so it can be cut off, and destroyed at their leisure.
Of course, we get our news from the media – just like everyone else. But we’ve learned that if you really want to know what is going on, you have to look a little deeper. Like panning for gold, you have to swirl the news around, separating out the implausible gravel… and hoping to spot a few nuggets. We only bother because the war bears heavily on the price of energy… which leans on other prices… and ultimately plays a major role in what is likely to be the biggest, most costly mistake ever made by an educated elite… which we will come to later.
Elite Propaganda: Reviewing the record of the last 7 months, the first thing that washes out is the western media’s creation myth: ‘The war is solely the result of Moscow’s brutal invasion; the Ukraine is as innocent as Heidi.’
Not for nothing are the southwestern steppes, bordering Russia, known as ‘The Ukraine;’ it means “border area” in Russian. Its present borders are of recent vintage, dictated by 3 Soviet Union leaders – Lenin, Stalin and Khruschev. And its most easterly provinces are inhabited in the majority by Russian speakers who apparently would prefer to be a part of the Russian Federation rather than a government dominated by Ukrainians. The Kiev government, after an ethnic and political cleansing led by the US in 2014, has been trying to bring them to heel ever since.
Once ‘The Ukraine’ feds were firmly in thrall to NATO and US, they built up the largest army in Europe, with 500,000 soldiers, more than France and England put together. This was a direct challenge to Russia’s version of the Monroe Doctrine and made Mr. Putin very uncomfortable. A huge, hostile army, armed with NATO missiles, grew like a cancer on his southern flank. He must have felt that it was time to get out the knife.
And then, the cannons opened up and the western press closed ranks to protect the Ukraine. Zelensky is an actor. (Among his most notable performances, he once pretended to play the piano with his penis.) He is far more media-savvy than Putin. And the western media – little more than the propaganda arm of the elite – went to work misinforming the public. Every report told us how the Russians were losing the war.
It was all so familiar. As in Afghanistan, Vietnam, and even WWI, reports to the public – and to the US president – were always the same. “We,” whoever we were, were winning… and more money and weapons would bring a final and complete victory. In almost every case, the updates were lies. And whatever help America provided to the Ukraine was mostly stolen or wasted. The Grayzone: “The weapons are stolen, the humanitarian aid is stolen, and we have no idea where the billions sent to this country have gone,” a Ukrainian complained."
As in all of America’s post-WWII military adventures, the deeper the US went, the more disastrous the results. And already, the war on the steppes is looking more and more like a Sicilian feud, with caskets needed for all the participants.
While the military and financial aid mostly went into corrupt pockets, the sanctions proved either ineffective… or they backfired. The Economist: "The trouble is that the knockout blow has not materialized. Russia’s GDP will shrink by 6% in 2022, reckons the IMF, much less than the 15% drop many expected in March, or the slump in Venezuela. Energy sales will generate a current-account surplus of $265bn this year, the world’s second-largest after China. After a crunch, Russia’s financial system has stabilized and the country is finding new suppliers for some imports, including China."
Weaponized Money: More and more countries are realizing that if they want to be safe from US mischief, they need to get out from under the dollar-based international money system. They are looking for alternatives, and finding them. Almayadeen.net: "Russia moves from SWIFT to more secure mechanisms: Official." "The unreasonable blocking of all Russian customers by the largest international card payment systems has increased the priority of expanding the geography of using Mir cards. We are actively working on it," he said. "Negotiations with Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, India, China, Cuba, Myanmar, Nigeria, Thailand, and other countries are at different stages," the top Russian diplomat said. He recalled that the Russian payment system is now available in Abkhazia, Armenia, Belarus, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, South Korea, and South Ossetia."
Where does this lead? The Financial Times takes a guess: "Since the 15th century, the last five global empires have issued the world’s reserve currency - the one most often used by other countries - for 94 years on average. The dollar has held reserve status for more than 100 years, so its reign is already older than most.
South-east Asia’s largest economies are increasingly settling payments to one another directly, avoiding the dollar. Malaysia and Singapore are among the countries making similar arrangements with China, which is also extending offers of renminbi support to nations in financial distress. Central banks from Asia to the Middle East are setting up bilateral currency swap lines, also with the intention of reducing dependence on the dollar…So don’t be fooled by the strong dollar. The post-dollar world is coming."
A post-dollar world? Where does that leave the country whose wealth is based on issuing more and more dollars? ’ Darned if we know. But we’ll try to figure it out before tomorrow."
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Related:
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Greg Hunter, "The Anti-Dollar is Coming – Charles Nenner"
"The Anti-Dollar is Coming – Charles Nenner"
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
"Renowned geopolitical and financial cycle expert Charles Nenner says his analysis shows there is big trouble coming for the U.S. dollar. The dollar’s reserve currency status is on its way to being a thing of the past. Nenner explains, “The dollar is still up. We have a target on the dollar of 113 (on the USDX). It’s now around 110, but it’s not going to be surviving as the major currency. People don’t trust what is going on in the United States. We have seen this happen to other countries. We saw this happen to the British. They are going to go to another major currency. The BRIC countries and China are preparing to have an anti-dollar. I have told you for years that the dollar is not going to crash, but now it is time. In a year or so, they will really be getting into trouble with the dollar. If the dollar goes down, of course, the inflation goes even higher.
So, actually, there is no way out anymore. Every Federal Reserve President has said let’s keep it going. The dollar is going to collapse, but not in my lifetime, and now there is almost nothing left to do anymore. If you forgive the student loans, you will have a big problem. First of all, it’s impossible. They pretend nothing will come out of it, but it will destroy the economy. When they get out of college, students make 4 or 5 times what other people earn, and it is being paid by the simple people. You are going to have more social unrest than you have ever seen.”
Nenner says a big crash is inevitable. Nenner says, “Soon the pensions are going to be in trouble. The buying power is going to be in trouble. This is simply a situation that has been created for many years. There is simply no way out. We have to crash. We have to get a depression. The whole economy will have to start all over again.”
Nenner predicted in May that a “Third of the global population will be killed in next war cycle.” The only good news is that it has been pushed back a little and will not start at the beginning of 2023. Nenner says, “We are going to continue on this pace for war, and it is going to explode in the second half of 2023.”
Nenner says you have seen the lows in interest rates, and the long-term trend is up. Nenner has been out of the bond market for close to a year. Nenner has never been more bullish on gold and silver. He says because of the massive money printing, there will be massive inflation. Nenner says, “This happened to the Dutch economy. It happened to the British Empire. That’s how it goes. At the end they always print money, and they don’t deserve it. It’s hard to say, but this usually ends in a war. You have to buy gold and silver. Gold will be up strong up until 2027, but you have to have a strong stomach to take the ups and downs.” There is much more in the 42 min. interview.
Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes
One-on-One with renowned cycle analyst and financial expert Charles Nenner:
"Massive Price Increases At Dollar General! This Is Crazy!"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures with Danno, 9/7/22:
"Massive Price Increases At Dollar General! This Is Crazy!"
"In today's vlog we are at Dollar General, 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:
Canadian Prepper, "Walmart is Warning People to Stock Up Before SHTF!"
Canadian Prepper, 9/7/22:
"Walmart is Warning People to Stock Up Before SHTF!"
Comments here:
Tuesday, September 6, 2022
Gerald Celente, "Prepare For The New World Disorder"
Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 9/6/22:
"Prepare For The New World Disorder"
"Russia Has Weaponized Gas In Response To Their Weaponization Of Currencies"
Full screen recommended.
"Russia Has Weaponized Gas In Response
To Their Weaponization Of Currencies"
by Epic Economist
"Putin is done playing around. By now it is no secret that Russia is weaponizing gas supplies in retaliation for the West’s weaponization of currencies. The Kremlin is doing everything in its power to add pressure on western nations and make Europeans finally throw in the towel – and they have two main strategies to achieve this. First, they’re maintaining uncertainty over the delivery of energy supplies. The truth is that Russia doesn’t have to cut flows entirely to cause damage – the prospect of going through the winter without Russian gas is enough to spark chaos in many countries. Secondly and much more worryingly, it seems that Russian officials are busy stoking social turbulence in places where soaring natural gas prices are forcing households into energy poverty. And many indicators suggest that they are succeeding.
On Friday, Gazprom announced the delivery of gas supplies through Nord Stream 1 would be halted due to a technical fault, mentioning difficulties repairing German-made turbines in Canada. But that turned out to be a smokescreen. The EU was forced to roll back some of the sanctions against Russia to allow the turbines to be repaired. Government heads assured that there was nothing that could prevent Gazprom from supplying the continent with gas other than Russia’s weaponization of its energy exports.
But none of this should come as a surprise: Russian officials have made it perfectly clear that they hope the worsening energy crisis plaguing Europe, the UK, and the US would undermine the West’s support for Ukraine. “Obviously life is getting worse for people, businessmen, and companies in Europe,” Peskov said. “Of course, ordinary people in these countries will have more and more questions for their leaders.”
Unsurprisingly, with neither side willing to step down, moments after Russia’s official statement EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, twitted that "Putin is using energy as a weapon by cutting supply and manipulating our energy markets", which of course is being done in response to the west's weaponization of currencies and capital flows. In other words, all western nations will continue to suffer. The global energy crisis is likely to reach catastrophic proportions, and higher energy prices will continue to fuel inflation and add more fuel to the cost of living crisis.
Several industry leaders have warned of devastating economic consequences should Russian gas be cut completely. At this point, all indicators are flashing red for the US, the UK, and Europe, where large swathes of the population are falling into energy poverty. Warnings about a global economic downturn this winter are growing louder. But still, governments are still running three steps behind — mostly because they spend too much time second-guessing Russia’s next moves. Instead, they should be paying closer attention to what Moscow is pushing for: social turbulence.
The numbers speak for themselves: In the U.S., 1 in 6 households are at risk of facing utility shutoffs because they can’t keep up with rising energy bills. In Germany, where natural gas prices climbed over 700%, average household bills could rise by between 500 to 1,000 euros this winter — and this could be a conservative estimate. In France, the government is urging consumers to ration energy. For millions of lower-income families in the West, expensive energy prices would force an impossible choice between buying food or fuel. The fact remains that if the West fails to find a comprehensive solution for its population facing financial stress, the impact on our social fabric will be absolutely disastrous."
"In A Nation Ruled By Swine..."
"In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upwardly mobile - and the rest of us are f****d until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely. We owe that to ourselves and our crippled self-image as something better than a nation of panicked sheep. "
- Hunter S. Thompson, "The Great Shark Hunt"
Musical Interlude: Deuter, "Black Velvet Flirt"
Full screen recommended.
Deuter, "Black Velvet Flirt"
Be kind to yourself, relax, enjoy this...
Vangelis, "Albedo 0.39"
Full screen recommended.
Vangelis, "Albedo 0.39"
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"The Pale Blue Dot"
"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there- on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
- Carl Sagan
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"The civilization now in jeopardy is all humanity. As the ancient myth makers knew, we are children equally of the earth and sky. In our tenure on this planet, we have accumulated dangerous, evolutionary baggage propensities for aggression and ritual, submission to leaders, hostility to outsiders, all of which puts our survival in some doubt. We have also acquired compassion for others, love for our children, a desire to learn from history and experience, and a great, soaring passionate intelligence, the clear tools for our continued survival and prosperity.
Which aspects of our nature will prevail is uncertain, particularly when our visions and prospects are bound to one small part of the small planet earth. But up and in the cosmos, an inescapable perspective awaits. National boundaries are not evidenced when we view the earth from space. Fanatic ethnic or religious or national identifications are a little difficult to support when we see our planet as a fragile, blue crescent fading to become an inconspicuous point of light against the bastion and citadel of the stars.
There are not yet obvious signs of extraterrestrial intelligence, and this makes us wonder whether civilizations like ours rush inevitably into self-destruction. I dream about it... and sometimes they are bad dreams."
- Carl Sagan
"A Look to the Heavens"
"Peculiar spiral galaxy Arp 78 is found within the boundaries of the head strong constellation Aries, some 100 million light-years beyond the stars and nebulae of our Milky Way galaxy. Also known as NGC 772, the island universe is over 100,000 light-years across and sports a single prominent outer spiral arm in this detailed cosmic portrait.
Its brightest companion galaxy, compact NGC 770, is toward the upper right of the larger spiral. NGC 770's fuzzy, elliptical appearance contrasts nicely with a spiky foreground Milky Way star in matching yellowish hues. Tracking along sweeping dust lanes and lined with young blue star clusters, Arp 78's large spiral arm is likely due to gravitational tidal interactions. Faint streams of material seem to connect Arp 78 with its nearby companion galaxies."
Chet Raymo, “Strange”
“Strange”
by Chet Raymo
“In a review in the “New York Times” Book Review, Daniel Handler wrote: “And strange? Well, let’s get this straight: All great books are strange. Every lasting work of literature since the very weird “Beowulf” has been strange, not only because it grapples with the strangeness around us, but also because the effect of originality is startling, making even the oldest books feel like brand new stories.”
Strange: Out-of-the-ordinary, unusual, curious. “The strangeness around us,” says Handler. There is a paradox here. What could be less strange than the world around us? It is the same world that was here yesterday, and the day before that. More to the point: It is a world ruled by law. Inviolable causal bonds. That’s what makes science possible.
And yet, and yet. I walk wary. Strangeness lurks on ever side. Strangeness leaps out of every pebble in the path, every wildflower, every spider web flung between weedy stalks. In the midst of the utterly ordinary the extraordinary abounds. Nothing is so commonplace as to be common. The strangeness of the world, as in literature, has its source in the head, in the convoluted interaction of mind with world. Strange, that we should be here, strangers in a strange land, pilgrims on our own yellow brick roads where nothing is ordinary because everything is perceived through the filter of a unique consciousness.
And strange? Well, let’s get this straight. I hope never to lose the capacity to see the strangeness in the familiar, the curious in the everyday, the exception in the unexceptional.
“I do not expect a miracle,
or an accident,
to set the sight on fire...”
wrote Silvia Plath. Just being here is enough. Just being here is surpassing strange.”
- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/
"Sometimes..."
“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
The Poet: Joy Harjo, "Remember "
"Remember "
"Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the stars stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is. I met her
in a bar once in Iowa City.
Remember the suns birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother's, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe. I heard her singing Kiowa war
dance songs at the corner of Fourth and Central once.
Remember that you are all people and that all people are you.
Remember that you are this universe and that this universe is you.
Remember that all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember that language comes from this.
Remember the dance that language is, that life is.
Remember. "
- Joy Harjo
"Thought..."
"Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth, more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man."
- Bertrand Russell
"Five percent of the people think;
ten percent of the people think they think;
and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think."
- Thomas A. Edison.
Gonzalo Lira, "The Macro Picture: Ukraine; Sanctions"
Gonzalo Lira, 9/6/22:
"The Macro Picture: Ukraine; Sanctions"
My Twitter, where I post regularly:
Brutal truth... a must view.
"A List Of 33 Things We Know About The Coming Food Shortages"
"A List Of 33 Things We Know
About The Coming Food Shortages"
by Michael Snyder
"Things are far worse than you are being told. Over the past few months, I have been carefully documenting facts that show that global food production is going to be way down in 2022. Unfortunately, most people out there don’t seem to understand that the food that isn’t being grown in 2022 won’t be on our store shelves in 2023. We are potentially facing an absolutely unprecedented worldwide food crisis next year, but the vast majority of the population doesn’t seem very alarmed about this. So I would encourage you to help me get this warning out by sharing this list with as many people as you possibly can. As you will see below, we now have so many data points that it is impossible to deny what is coming. The following is a list of 33 things we know about the coming food shortages…
#1 The hard red winter wheat crop in the United States this year “was the smallest since 1963”. But in 1963, there were only 182 million people living in this nation. Today, our population has grown to 329 million.
#2 It is being projected that the rice harvest in California will be “half what it would be in a normal year”.
#3 The U.S. tomato harvest will come in at just 10.5 million tons in 2022. That is over a million tons lower than a normal year.
#4 This will be the worst U.S. corn harvest in at least a decade.
#5 Year-to-date shipments of carrots in the United States are down 45 percent.
#6 Year-to-date shipments of sweet corn in the United States are down 20 percent.
#7 Year-to-date shipments of sweet potatoes in the United States are down 13 percent.
#8 Year-to-date shipments of celery in the United States are down 11 percent.
#9 Total peach production in the U.S. is down 15 percent from last year.
#10 Almost three-fourths of all U.S. farmers say that this year’s drought is hurting their harvests.
#11 Thanks to the endless drought, the total number of cattle in Oregon is down 41 percent.
#12 Thanks to the endless drought, the total number of cattle in New Mexico is down 43 percent.
#13 Thanks to the endless drought, the total number of cattle in Texas is down 50 percent.
#14 One beef producer in Oklahoma is now predicting that ground beef “could eventually top $50 per pound”.
#15 At least 40 percent of the United States has been suffering from drought conditions for 101 consecutive weeks.
#16 Overall, this is the worst multi-year megadrought in the United States in 1,200 years.
#17 Europe is currently experiencing the worst drought that it has seen in 500 years. In some parts of central Europe, river levels have fallen so low that “hunger stones” are being revealed for the first time in centuries.
#18 Corn production for the entire EU could be down by as much as one-fifth in 2022.
#19 We are being warned that there will be crop losses in France of up to 35 percent.
#20 It is being projected that crop losses in some areas of the UK could be as high as 50 percent.
#21 It is being reported that there will be crop losses “of up to 50 percent” in some parts of Germany.
#22 Some farmers in Italy have already lost “up to 80% of their harvest”.
#23 Agricultural production in Somalia will be down about 80 percent this year.
#24 In eastern Africa, the endless drought has already resulted in the deaths of at least seven million animals.
#25 In China, they are facing the worst drought that they have ever experienced in recorded history.
#26 India normally accounts for 40 percent of the global rice trade, but we are being warned that production in that country will be way down in 2022 due to “considerable rainfall deficits in key rice producing states”.
#27 A third of the entire nation of Pakistan was under water after recent floods absolutely devastated that nation, and agricultural areas were hit particularly hard. As a result, the vast majority of the crops in the country have been “washed away”…It has also been estimated that roughly 65 per cent of the country’s food basket - particularly crops like rice, cotton, wheat and onion - have been washed away. Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, in an interview to CGTN earlier this week, offered an even starker outlook by saying that “about 80 to 90 per cent” of the country’s crops have been damaged by the floods.
#28 The prices of some fertilizers have tripled since 2021, while the prices of some other fertilizers have actually quadrupled.
#29 One payment company is reporting that the number of Americans using their app to take out short-term loans for groceries has risen by 95 percent.
#30 Demand at U.S. food banks is now even worse than it was during the height of the COVID pandemic.
#31 The World Health Organization is telling us that millions of people in Africa are now potentially facing a very real possibility of starving to death.
#32 According to the World Food Program, 828 million people around the world go to bed hungry each night. Needless to say, that number will soon be much higher.
#33 UN Secretary General António Guterres has publicly stated that he believes that it is likely that there will be “multiple famines” in 2023.
As global food supplies get tighter and tighter, so will the risk of civil unrest. In fact, this has already been happening…"The risk of civil unrest has surged this year in more than half of the world’s countries, signaling a coming period of heightened global instability fueled by inflation, war, and shortages of essentials, a new analysis says. According to Verisk Maplecroft, a UK-based risk consulting and intelligence firm, 101 of the 198 countries tracked on its Civil Unrest Index saw an increase in their risk of civil unrest between the second and third quarters of this year."
In recent weeks, we have seen absolutely massive protests in cities all over the planet. But conditions aren’t even that bad yet. So what will things be like in 2023 when it finally becomes exceedingly clear that there simply will not be enough food for everyone? Wealthy countries will have the resources to buy up much of what is available on the market, and that means that many poor countries will deeply suffer.
If everything that you have read in this article sounds familiar, that is because we have been warned for years that such conditions were coming. In 2023, there will be famines and civil unrest all over the globe. This is not a drill. An extremely serious global food crisis has already begun, and I would encourage you to get prepared for what is ahead while you still can."
"Summer is Over - Trouble is Coming"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly, 9/6/22:
"Summer is Over - Trouble is Coming"
"Experts say UK inflation will hit 22% and that natural gas will go up to 38% in the next couple of weeks. People are asked to go back to the office this week and it’s a huge problem. People don’t want to do this."
Comments here:
"I Am Forced To Leave California; People Jumping Off Buildings As Wall St. Crisis Begins"
Jeremiah Babe, 9/6/22:
"I Am Forced To Leave California;
People Jumping Off Buildings As Wall St. Crisis Begins"
Comments here:
Gregory Mannarino, "Look For Continued Instability In The Debt Market. If It Gets Worse - Look Out!"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 9/6/22:
"Look For Continued Instability In The Debt Market.
If It Gets Worse - Look Out!"
Comments here:
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Yeah...
Bill Bonner, "Two to Tango"
"Two to Tango"
What happens when income and expenses
fall out of step? Lessons from Argentina...
by Bill Bonner
Poitou, France - "It’s a new week. So, let’s turn to the New World. Yes, it’s time to check in on one of the world’s daffiest, most mismanaged and most entertaining economies – Argentina. Today, we’ll visit the land of the pampas, the tango… Piazzolla and Gardel… gauchos… llamas… pickpockets… and slums…the vast country at the foot of South America, where 45 million people live, a third of them in and around the capital city, Buenos Aires.
We’ve been visiting Argentina for 25 years… invested in property there 15 years ago…and typically spend two or three months a year there, mostly trying to keep the locals from stealing our property. During that quarter of a century, the Argentine currency – the peso – has gone from 1 to 1 with the dollar… to 3 to 1… when we bought our property… to 150 to 1 now. (At the parallel ‘blue’ rate – which is to say, the ‘unofficial’ or black market – the rate is almost twice that; 270 – 1.)
In 1910, Argentina was the 7th richest country in the world. Now, its GDP per person puts it at #65, below Kazakhstan, Turkey and Guyana. Whee! But not everyone is enjoying the ride. Associated Press is on the story:
"BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A man tried to kill Argentina's politically powerful Vice President Cristina Fernández outside her home, but the handgun misfired, the country's president said. The man was quickly overpowered by her security officers in the incident Thursday night, officials said. President Alberto Fernández, who is not related to the vice president, a former president herself, said the pistol did not discharge when the man tried to fire it." A close call!
Broken Promises: Many think the attempted murder was really a stunt to bring attention and sympathy to Ms. Fernandez. You might wonder, for example, why a fellow who really intended to kill the VP of a country wouldn’t make sure he had a working pistol in his hand. But what sadness it would have brought if the man had actually killed her. And what joy too!
Ms. Fernandez is one of the most corrupt figures in Argentine history… which offers some pretty heavy competition. She is a ‘Peronist,’ a follower of Juan Peron, who was no slouch at corruption either. He was also a master politician, a skill he learned by observing Benito Mussolini in the 1930s. Immediately after winning the Casa Rosada (the Rose House, Argentina’s answer to the White House) Peron headed down the wrong track, developing a ‘Five Year Plan” that put the government in charge of the economy and doomed the nation to slow growth and fast politics. Since then, it has been a long slide into on-again, off-again recession, poverty and inflation. By the early 1990s, consumer prices in Argentina were rising at a rate over 20,000%.
Inflation was brought under control by Carlos Menem, when he pegged the Argentine peso to the dollar. But it didn’t last. Menem broke the peg in 2002. Since then, inflation has increased amid episodic and bizarre financial crises.
A friend of ours, for example, a lawyer in New York, was once hired by the Argentine government to try to get back an Argentine navy ship in 2012. It had been tracked as it crossed the Atlantic then, by court order, was seized when it went into port in Ghana. It was the first time in history that a naval vessel was captured by a hedge fund.
Only Possible Outcome: Today, the inflation rate is supposed to be around 70%, with more than a third of the country living in poverty. And the inflation rate is rising. Argentines keep their money in dollar deposits – if they can. But now, the government is getting desperate. The ‘treasury secretary’ gave up trying to match income with outgo; he resigned suddenly in July. The ‘treasury secretary’ gave up trying to match income with outgo; he resigned suddenly in July. But what he was doing was idiotic. Mises.Org explains:
"After the pandemic was over, instead of returning toward a path of fiscal balance and debt reduction, Guzmán accelerated the path toward high deficits, which can only be sustained by money printing… As a result, public spending currently is increasing more rapidly than revenue, and it is uncertain whether the country will meet the deficit target that was agreed with the IMF only last year in order to avoid defaulting on its debt.
[…]
But if government policies on public spending stay the same, they will drive Argentina’s economy toward hyperinflation, which is the only possible outcome for a country with perpetually high deficits and no access to debt markets."
The Argentines have seen this show before. Bloomberg: "Argentines Withdraw $1 Billion From Bank Accounts During Turmoil." "Savers started pulling out their dollars from bank accounts at a fast pace when former Economy Minister Martin Guzman resigned on July 2, plunging the government deeper into crisis. Argentina’s third economy minister since then, Sergio Massa, enjoyed a brief market rally upon arrival before deposits declined again. Deposits offer an almost real-time pulse of Argentines’ economic expectations. In late 2001 during one of the country’s worst crisis, the government banned large ATM withdrawals, helping to fuel social chaos."
Hereditary Kleptocracy: But this weekend, crowds gathered outside Christina Fernandez de Kirchner’s apartment. They claimed they were there to “defend democracy.” Why they wanted to defend the system that has ruined the country was not explained. Besides, Argentina functions more like a hereditary kleptocracy. Like ‘Isabelita’ Peron before her, Ms. Fernandez was elected to take the place of her dead husband.
“Why do you stay there,” people ask? Maybe we’ll have a better answer some day. But for now, we can only say that we like the food, the wine, the challenge, the people and the learning experience. Yes, we’ve had some financial losses, but at least we’ve learned to ride a horse, and yell at cattle in Spanish. “Aiiihuuurrup! Vamonos!”
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Joel’s Note: “Is the problem cultural, we often ask ourselves, or systemic? Perhaps it’s both?” Yesterday morning your weekend editor attended a private conference in the Hotel Club Francés, down in the Recoleta neighborhood. Seated around the table were perhaps thirty men and women, all with the kinds of surnames you see on street signs and bronze plaques around the city. The speaker, himself a dapper, silver-haired gentleman in his 70s, was ruminating on his nation’s sordid political history.
“I’ve heard it said that you could drop the population of Switzerland into Paraguay and, within a few short years, the Swiss will have turned the place into a safe and prosperous place to live. I don’t know that could be said of our sorry nation.” A collective grimace rumbled around the table. “We have the natural resources,” he continued, “Oil, water, fertile plains for our cattle, our agriculture. What’s lacking is character. I wonder, even if we had a better system in place, with fairer rules and less corruption, we wouldn’t find some way to spoil it after all.”
Following a morning spent debating politics and economics, the group gathered for lunch in the grand old building’s atrium. There was lamb from Patagonia… wine from Mendoza… espresso and little cakes filled with dulce de leche for desert. Porteños are an amiable bunch. They welcome foreigners with open arms, even if they are confused by those of us who choose, voluntarily, to live in their midst.
“So you could have stayed in Australia, where everything… works?” inquired one attendee. “And your wife was born in Norway? And you’ve family in Texas?” echoed another. “And you’re okay, mentally speaking? Not crazy or anything?” joked a third, shaking her head just the same.
Fair questions. Why would anyone choose to live in a basket case economy like Argentina, with 90% projected inflation by year’s end and a seventy-year history of rolling political disaster?
We addressed some of these points in Part I of an essay we published a few weeks back. (See here: "Journey to the End of the Earth".) This Sunday, in Part II, we’ll take a look at some of the more practical aspects of life here in the Paris of the South… like access to private healthcare, cost of living, education options, safety/crime, lifestyle, etc. Stay tuned…"
"Stocking Up At Meijer! Prep The Pantry! Stock Up Now! Prices Are Rising!"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures with Danno, 9/6/22:
"Stocking Up At Meijer! Prep The Pantry!
Stock Up Now! Prices Are Rising!"
"In today's vlog we are at Meijer, and are stocking up on preps for our pantry! Prices on groceries continue to go up, and we are sharing some of the deals we are finding at the grocery stores! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"
Comments here:
"5 Psychological Experiments That Explain The Modern World" (Excerpt)
"5 Psychological Experiments
That Explain The Modern World"
by Kit Knightly
Excerpt: "The world is a confusing place. People do things that don’t make any sense, think things that aren’t supported by facts, endure things they do not need to endure, and viciously attack those who try to bring these things to their attention. If you’ve ever wondered why, you’ve come to the right place.
Any casual reader of the alternate media landscape will eventually come up with a reference to Stanley Milgram, or Philip Zimbardo, the “Asch Experiment” or maybe all three. “Cognitive Dissonance”, “Diffusion of Responsibility”, and “learned helplessness” are phrases that regularly do the rounds, but where do they come from and what they mean? Well, here are the important psycho-social experiments that teach us about the way people think, but more than that they actually explain how our modern world works, and just how we got into this mess."
View this outstanding complete article, with videos, here:
"Economic Market Snapshot 9/6/22"
"Economic Market Snapshot 9/6/22"
Market Data Center, Live Updates:
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Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...
Only the consequences are real - to you!
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Latest Market Analysis, Updated 9/6/22
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A comprehensive, essential daily read.
September 5th to 7th
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Financial Stress Index
"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: credit, equity valuation, funding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United States, other advanced economies, and emerging markets."
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Job cuts and much more.
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Commentary, highly recommended:
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"The more I see of the monied classes,
the better I understand the guillotine."
- George Bernard Shaw
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Oh yeah... beyond words. Any I know anyway...
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And now... The End Game...
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