Wednesday, October 12, 2022

"World War III: Do We Really Want To Do This?"

"A wise man once said you can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it. What he meant is nothing comes without a price. So before you go into battle, you better decide how much you're willing to lose. Too often, going after what feels good means letting go of what you know is right, and letting someone in means abandoning the walls you've spent a lifetime building. Of course, the toughest sacrifices are the ones we don't see coming, when we don't have time to come up with a strategy to pick a side or to measure the potential loss. When that happens, when the battle chooses us and not the other way around, that's when the sacrifice can turn out to be more than we can bear."
- Dr. Meredith Grey, "Grey's Anatomy"
Full screen recommended.
Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, "How Russia Might Win WW3"
"What we are seeing is a fiction... the bigger conflict is coming."
Comments here:
Full screen recommended.
"How the Russia-Ukraine War Could Turn into a Nuclear Nightmare"
"Since the beginning of Russia's invasion Ukraine, nuclear weapons have loomed in the background. The rhetoric sharply increased after Ukraine's successful counterattacks. Although we are still many steps away from serious nuclear problems, the groundwork for concerns has been laid. This video explains what tactical nuclear weapons do, how Russia might try to deploy them, and what might deter Putin from taking such steps."
Comments here:
Full screen recommended.
"The US Can’t Defend Against Hypersonic Missiles"
"Hypersonic missiles are proliferating. In the last several years, Russia added its Tsirkon missile and China added 2 or possibly 3 such system types to their inventories. This video explores those hypersonic missile threats in existence today as well as US defenses against those." 
Comments here:
Full screen recommended.
Sub Brief, "Russia's Status-6"
"Russia's strange love of nuclear weapons takes a dark turn. The Status-6 Poseidon nuclear torpedo is designed to render entire coastal regions uninhabitable for 100's of years. This new threat is unlike anything we've seen since the Cold War."
Comments here:
Do we really want to do this?

"How It Really Is"

What maniac? I wonder... no I don't, and neither should you!

Greg Hunter, "Inflation 75 Year High, Unemployment 24%"

"Inflation 75 Year High, Unemployment 24%"
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Economist and founder of ShadowStats.com, John Williams says the government’s “phony numbers” don’t show the public how bad things really are with the economy. Williams prides himself in giving you the actual economic numbers without “accounting gimmicks” that make things look better than they actually are. For example, the latest official government number on inflation shows 8.3%. It’s officially a 40-year high. It gets worse when you strip away all the “accounting gimmicks,” and you see the real number that is burdening real people in the real world. John Williams explains, “My inflation number shows a 17.3% peak in June, and right now it is 16.5%. That is at a 75-year high. I think you will find people are having a more difficult time than they were having 40 years ago.”

On the unemployment front, the government is touting a 3.5% unemployment rate. What are the real numbers when you count all unemployed people no matter how long they have been looking for work? Williams says, “The unemployment numbers are frightening. I think we are seeing what I consider a phony number of 3.5%. After a year, the ‘discouraged worker’ disappears as an issue. The unemployment number is really 24.4% the way it used to be counted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).”

Williams is not expecting things to get better anytime soon. Williams contends, “I think the economy is going to get a lot worse. If you listen to what (Fed Head) Jay Powell said at his last press conference, he said he’s looking to create a recession. That’s effectively what he was saying, and they are doing it. I think you have higher inflation ahead. I would try to get my cash into assets that adjust for inflation such as gold and silver. You also need to get something that has a long shelf life. The problem here is going to be in the next year. You are going to see the economy getting worse and inflation getting worse. I don’t see the Fed cutting back on the money supply, and they are already telling you they are going to keep raising the interest rate. Good buys are things that will spike with inflation. Stock up on canned food. I think you are going to see a few more percentage points on the government numbers coming up. That can, and I think will, happen as things deteriorate here.” There is much more in the 42-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One with John Williams, 
as he explains how bad the economy really is.

Gregory Mannarino, “Surprise! Inflation Continues To Rise Faster Than ‘Expected’”

Gregory Mannarino, AM 10/12/22:
“Surprise! Inflation Continues To Rise Faster Than ‘Expected’”
Comments here:

"Strange Prices At Meijer! Some Empty Shelves, And Crazy Prices!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures with Danno, 10/12/22:
"Strange Prices At Meijer! 
Some Empty Shelves, And Crazy Prices!"
"In today's vlog we are at Meijer, and are noticing strange 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:

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

"What If..."

"What if when you die they ask, "How was Heaven?"
~ Author Unknown

A truly terrifying thought...

"Alas..."

“Alas, regardless of their doom, the little victims play!
No sense have they of ills to come, nor care beyond today.”
- Thomas Gray,
“Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College”

Gerald Celente, "The Battle Is Spiritual, War Or Peace, Good Or Evil;. Which Side Do You Chooses?"

Full screen recommended.
Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 10/11/22:
"The Battle Is Spiritual, War Or Peace, Good Or Evil;
 Which Side Do You Chooses?"
"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What’s Next in these increasingly turbulent times."
Comments here:

"Brace For Stock Market Crash Because Things Are About To Get Really Crazy"

Full screen recommended.
"Brace For Stock Market Crash Because
 Things Are About To Get Really Crazy"
by Epic Economist

"This is not a drill. An October stock market crash can break out at any moment, experts alert. 2022 has already been a very painful year for investors, with all three major indexes falling into a bear market, stock market volatility remaining at its bumpiest level on record, and over $46 trillion in financial wealth being wiped out from global markets since January. But things could get a whole lot worse as we enter the most dangerous weeks of the year – and previous October crashes offer an eye-opening warning.

Last week, Morgan Stanley offered a detailed breakdown of the impending economic dangers that are likely to result in further market losses in the weeks ahead. “This is one of the toughest macro forecasting environments most companies have ever encountered. It seems companies are reaching the point where they can’t take it anymore,” the bank noted. Morgan Stanley strategist Michael Wilson highlights that the “key question in the minds of many investors has once again shifted to when the Federal Reserve is turning — not if,” adding that the economy has entered a “danger zone” in which the Fed policies have become restrictive and the growth outlook is compromised.

Wilson says “it’s only a matter of time” before a “quick and furious” market event takes place. Even if September inflation levels do improve, Fed officials have repeatedly said they plan to continue with their policy of elevated rate hikes and have publicly said they’re worried that markets refuse to listen to their messaging. The central bank’s goal of 2% inflation means that an over 6% decline is still needed, which consequently implies that stocks still have a lot of room to fall.

Morgan Stanley predicts that the S&P will end the year in a bear market low of between 3,000 and 3,400 points — suggesting that the index, which is already down 21.5% this year, with face another 20% crash. But still, these estimates seem a little too conservative when considering how unhinged stocks really are right now.

Many market veterans are even more downbeat about future performance. For instance, John Hussman, who correctly called the dot-com bubble, is warning that stocks will end the current bear market 50 to 70% lower from current levels, “as investor positioning remains inconsistent with fundamentals and valuations linger at historically extreme levels,” he noted. "The way that bubbles unfold into preposterous losses – 89%, 82%, 50%, 55%, and I expect this time between 50-70% – is through multiple periods of decline and even free-fall, punctuated by fast, furious 'clearing rallies' that offer hope all the way down," Hussman said. "By the time investors experience the second or third free-fall, the psychology of investors is not 'this is the bottom' – but rather, 'there is no bottom.'”

That thinking, however, is set to cause a lot of shock in the coming weeks. If history is a guide, the next few weeks could throw the market into disarray.Research releas ed by the analyst Clive Hale, head of Clive Hale Consulting, points out that the cumulative impact of escalating geopolitical conflicts, China’s economic slowdown, energy supply shortages, rising interest rates, lower consumer spending, a decline in property prices, and many other problems are setting the stage for the worst October shock seen since 1987 and 1929.

In other words, there’s nothing that supports the idea that better days are coming for stocks. The carnage is starting to spread everywhere and the market continues to break. It’s safe to say that this isn’t going to end well, and we have already gotten to a point where this should be obvious to everyone."

"You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, It's About To Get Really Bad; Credit Card Debt Will Crush You; Restaurants Will Not Survive"

Jeremiah Babe, 10/11/22:
"Credit Card Debt Will Crush You; 
Restaurants Will Not Survive; Economic Downturn Accelerates"
Comments here:
"When people pile up debts they will find difficult and perhaps even impossible to repay, they are saying several things at once. They are obviously saying that they want more than they can immediately afford. They are saying, less obviously, that their present wants are so important that, to satisfy them, it is worth some future difficulty. But in making that bargain they are implying that when the future difficulty arrives, they'll figure it out. They don't always do that."
- Michael Lewis, "Boomerang"

Musical Interlude: Yanni, “The Storm”

Full screen recommended.
Yanni, “The Storm”

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365 is truly a majestic island universe some 200,000 light-years across. Located a mere 60 million light-years away toward the chemical constellation Fornax, NGC 1365 is a dominant member of the well-studied Fornax galaxy cluster.
This impressively sharp color image shows intense star forming regions at the ends of the bar and along the spiral arms, and details of dust lanes cutting across the galaxy's bright core. At the core lies a supermassive black hole. Astronomers think NGC 1365's prominent bar plays a crucial role in the galaxy's evolution, drawing gas and dust into a star-forming maelstrom and ultimately feeding material into the central black hole.”

The Poet: W.H. Auden, "September 1, 1939"

"September 1, 1939"

"Defenseless
under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out
wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame."

- W.H. Auden
On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland,
starting World War II.

"Do Not Live For Others..."

"Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the 'transcendent' and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don't be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you."
- Christopher Hitchens

"When That Day Comes..."

"If you had one last breath - what would you say? If you had one hour to use your limbs before you would lose the use of them forever - would you sit there on the couch? If you knew that you wouldn't see tomorrow who would you make amends with? If you knew you had only an hour left on this earth - what would be so pressing that you just had to do it, say it, or see it? Well there is something that I can guarantee - that one day you will have one day, one hour and one breath left. Just make sure that before that day that you have said, done and experienced everything that you dream of doing now. Do it now - that is what today is for. So pick up the phone and call an old friend that you have fallen out of touch with. Get out and run a mile and use your body and sweat. Seek out someone in your life to say you're sorry to. Seek someone In your life that you need to thank. Seek someone in your life that you need to express your feelings of love to. Then when that day comes you will be ok with it all."
- John A. Passaro

"If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make,
who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?"
~ Stephen Levine

“Get busy living or get busy dying.”
- Stephen King, "Shawshank Redemption"

Bill Bonner, “How Does It All End?”

“How Does It All End?”
by Bill Bonner

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."
 - Soren Kierkegaard

“‘How does this all end?’ It’s a regular subject for guesswork here at the Diary. Of course, to see what’s coming, you have to look back on what’s come before.

Fantastic vision: In 1900, a survey was done. ‘What do you see coming?’ asked the pollsters. All of those people questioned forecast better times ahead. Machines were just making their debut, but already people saw their potential.

You can see some of that optimism on display today in the Paris Metro. In the Montparnasse station is an illustration from the late 1800s of what the artist imagined for the next century. It is a fantastic vision- of flying vehicles…elevated sidewalks…incredible mechanical devices, all elaborated from the Machine Age technology as it was understood at the time. There is no sign of hydraulics, jet engines, or electrical devices, for example, just gears and pulleys…and flying machines that flapped their wings like a bird.

But when asked what lay ahead, the most remarkable opinion, at least from our point of view, was that the government would decline in size and power. Almost everyone thought so. We wouldn’t need so much government, they said. People will all be rich. Wealthy people may engage in fraud and finagling. But they don’t wait in dark alleys to bop people over the head and steal their wallets. They don’t need government pensions or government health care either. Nor do they attack their neighbors.

The great illusion: In 1909, British politician Norman Angell published a bestselling book, "The Great Illusion," in which he explained why. Wealth is no longer based on land, Angell argued. Instead, it depended on factories, finance, and delicate relationships between suppliers, manufacturers, and consumers. And as this capitalism made people better off, he said, they wouldn’t want to do anything to interfere with it. It would only make them poorer.

One of his most important readers was Viscount Esher of Britain’s Committee of Imperial Defence. Set up in 1904, its task was to research and coordinate military strategy for the empire. Esher told listeners that ‘new economic factors clearly prove the inanity of aggressive wars.’ One of the most important components of the wealth of the late 19th century was international commerce. Capitalism flourishes in times of peace, sound money, respect for property rights and free trade. It was clear that everyone benefitted. Who would want to upset that apple cart?

‘War must soon be a thing of the past,’ Escher concluded. He was wrong. In August 1914, the cart fell over anyway. The Great War began five years after Angell’s book hit the bestseller lists. On the first day of the Battle of the Somme- 106 years ago- there were more than 70,000 casualties.

By the time Americans arrived in 1917, the average soldier at the front lines had a life expectancy of only 21 days. And by the time of Armistice Day- on the 11th day of the 11th month at 11:00am of 1918- the war had killed 17 million people, wounded another 20 million and knocked off the major ruling families of continental Europe- the Hohenzollerns, the Hapsburgs, and the Romanoffs (the Bourbons and Bonapartes were already gone from France).

The age of ‘isms’: After the Great War came a 30-year spell of trouble. In keeping with the metaphor of the Machine Age, the disintegration of pre-war institutions broke the tie rods that connected civilized economies to their governments. Reparations imposed on the Weimar Republic after the war sparked hyperinflation in Germany. The US, meanwhile, enjoyed a ‘Roaring 20s’, as Europeans paid their debts- in gold- to US lenders.

But that joyride came to an end in 1929. Then the feds flooded the carburetor, in their disastrously maladroit efforts to get the motor started again- including the Smoot-Hawley Act, which restricted cross-border trade. The ‘isms’- fascism, communism, syndicalism, socialism, anarchism- issued forth, like carbon monoxide. They offered solutions!

Finally, the brittle rubber of communism (aided by modern democratic capitalism) met the mean streets of fascism in another six-year bout of government-led violence: the Second World War. By the end of this period, the West decided enough was enough. Europe settled down with bourgeois governments of various social-democrat forms. The US went back to business, with order books filled and its factories still intact.

The end of history? The ‘isms’ held firm in the Soviet Union and moved to the Orient- with further wear and tear on the machinery of warfare in Korea…and later Vietnam. Finally, in 1979, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping announced that, although the ruling Communist Party would stay in control, the country would abandon its Marxist-Leninist-Maoist creed. China joined the world economy with its own version of state-guided capitalism. Then, 10 years later, the Soviet Union gave up even more completely…rejecting both the Communist Party and communism itself.

This was the event hailed in a silly essay by American political scientist Francis Fukuyama, ‘The End of History?’ Finally, the long battle was won. It was, wrote Fukuyama, the ‘endpoint of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.’"

Graphic: Salvador Dali, “The Persistence of Memory”

The Poet: T. S. Eliot, "Four Quartets,"

“Little Gidding”, Excerpt

"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring 
Will be to arrive where we started 
And know the place for the first time. 
When the last of earth left to discover 
Is that which was the beginning; 
At the source of the longest river 
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree.

Not known, because not looked for 
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always - 
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flames are in-folded 
Into the crowned knot of fire 
And the fire and the rose are one.”

- T.S. Eliot

The "Little Gidding" is the last of T. S. Eliot's "Four Quartets," 
which you may freely download here:

"Message From the Future: Your Acceptance of Evil Has Condemned Us All"

"Message From the Future: 
Your Acceptance of Evil Has Condemned Us All"
by Chris Floyd

"Sometime in December 2016, a strange transmission began bleeding through, ghost-like, on various computers around the world. It would suddenly appear for a few flickering moments while people watched movies or shopped on-line or looked at social media, then it would fade away. It purported to be “a message from the future” and showed an aged man who claimed he was a “chrono-quantum technician” whose work had been banned by the authorities “to prevent me from doing exactly what I am doing now, at long last - sending a warning to our ancestors.” The message was brief, but it was usually badly garbled by visual and aural static; it took weeks to compile, through crowd-sourcing, the full text. For what it’s worth, the message - minus the brief intro - is presented below.

“You are taking a path into darkness. It began years ago, with your acceptance of crimes and inhuman practices on a vast scale. In the late 20th century, your leaders once confessed on national television that they had killed 500,000 innocent children with death-dealing sanctions - then declared this atrocious massacre was “worth it.” Yet there was no outcry, no outrage, no uprising, not even a peep of protest. Indeed, the leader who carried out this massive slaughter of innocent children ended his reign at new heights of popularity and forever after was considered a beloved elder statesman. Your next leader lied brazenly to start a war that killed a million innocent people and led directly to decades of murderous instability in numerous countries. He too ended his days in wealth and comfort and public regard. Your next leader refused to prosecute the crimes of aggression and torture openly committed by his predecessor; instead, he continued his practices, enshrining many of the heinous practices into settled law, waging undeclared war in more than half a dozen countries and personally signing off on extrajudicial murders every week of his reign. 

By this time, the moral degradation of the people was so complete - they had countenanced, cheered or ignored so many crimes and so much corruption on so many levels - that they easily fell prey to a voracious, half-crazed demagogue and the forces of fascism, feudalism and lawless rule that he brought into power. This was the nominal end of your democracy, but it was already deeply rotted from within - rotted by your years of turning a blind eye to monstrous crimes committed in your name by both factions in your power structure.

Because of your shameful acquiescence, your shallow understanding of the forces that ruled you and used you and manipulated you, your bedazzlement by public image, your astonishing credulity at the transparent lies and hollow, sinister pieties you were fed, we, your descendants, have lived in squalor, rancor, violence and despair all our lives, for generations. There is no hope for us unless you abandon your slavish ignorance, your adherence to partisan fantasies about the factions of the power structure that rules you and rise up to overthrow it. Instead bring fearless clarity to bear on the reality of what you have accepted. The murder of 500,000 children. The millions murdered in the wars you started and the wars bred by your wars. Assassination. Torture. Dehumanization and demonization of your fellow human beings, both at home and abroad.

It is your acceptance of these things that has brought you to the final turning point represented by a berserk demagogue’s rise to power. Now there is nothing left for you to do but resist: resist with all your might, with every means at your disposal - but always, always, with the full knowledge of how you came to this place, and your own connivance and collusion in this descent. Keep this in mind as you fight, so that it doesn’t happen again. You are not exceptional, you are not plucked out by God for special favor: you are human beings like all the rest, and like so many human beings in so many societies down through the ages, you have failed to look your own evil in the eye, you have failed to confront and condemn acts that make you shudder with horror when you hear of them committed by  other nations.

Own this knowledge - this terrible, tragic knowledge - and let it guide as you fight the putrescence that past crimes have now brought gushing forth, and as you build something better in the aftermath. Otherwise, you are lost, and we are lost, the world itself is lost.”

"Don't Wonder..."

"Don't wonder why people go crazy. Wonder why they don't.
In the face of what we can lose in a day, in an instant,
wonder what the hell it is that makes us hold it together."
- "Grey's Anatomy"

The Daily "Near You?"

Covesville, Virginia, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Russian Steel Archangels Of General ‘Armageddon’"

Full screen recommended.
Odo Puiu Events, 10/11/22:
"Russian Steel Archangels Of General ‘Armageddon’"
"Russia moving all her military equipments to front line in Ukraine newly annexed Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, including Georgia. Is war between Russia, West and NATO imminent?"
Comments here:
The gloves come off...
Full screen recommended.
"How the Secret Russian Tsunami Bomb Poseidon Works"

"Even The Banksters Are Being Forced To Admit That The U.S. Economy Is Really Starting To Come Apart At The Seams"

"Even The Banksters Are Being Forced To Admit That
 The U.S. Economy Is Really Starting To Come Apart At The Seams"
by Michael Snyder

"It’s wake up time. For months, there has been a tremendous amount of denial out there. So many of the “experts” assumed that the Federal Reserve and other central banks had everything under control and that things would “return to normal” before too long. But that hasn’t happened. Instead, the wheels seem to be coming off the bus and nobody seems to know what to do. The Fed appears to be determined to keep raising interest rates in a desperate attempt to fight inflation, and this has forced other central banks all over the globe to raise rates as well in order to keep their currencies from absolutely tanking. But all of these interest rate hikes are taking us into a major global economic downturn, and central bankers in Europe are literally screaming at the Fed to end the madness. But the Fed is not going to end the madness, and so things are going to get really bad.

In fact, Bank of America is now projecting that the U.S. economy will lose 175,000 jobs a month during the first quarter of 2023…"As pressure from the Fed’s war on inflation builds, nonfarm payrolls will begin shrinking early next year, translating to a loss of about 175,000 jobs a month during the first quarter, the bank said. Charts published by Bank of America suggest job losses will continue through much of 2023. “The premise is a harder landing rather than a softer one,” Michael Gapen, head of US economics at Bank of America, told CNN in a phone interview Monday."

In my opinion, if our job losses are that small during the first three months of next year I think that will be a huge win. Another bankster, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, is also deeply concerned about the future of the U.S. economy… “But you can’t talk about the economy without talking about stuff in the future – and this is serious stuff,” Dimon said, citing inflation, quantitative easing, and Russia’s war with Ukraine. “These are very, very serious things which I think are likely to push the U.S. and the world – I mean, Europe is already in recession, and they’re likely to put the U.S. in some kind of recession six to nine months from now,” he said."

Actually, the U.S. economy is in a recession right now. But I agree that things will soon get a whole lot worse. At this point, even the most optimistic woman on Wall Street is warning of disaster. Ark Investment Management’s Cathie Wood says that what the Fed is doing has the potential to create a “deflationary bust” in this country…"Could it be that the unprecedented 13-fold increase in interest rates during the last six months – likely 16-fold come November 2 –has shocked not just the US but the world and raised the risks of a deflationary bust?"

The Fed giveth and the Fed taketh away. Cathie should understand that very well by now. She looked like a genius on the way up, but the ride down is going to be very painful for her and for everyone else that was swimming in piles of cash during the boom years.

Under normal conditions, I am sure that the Fed would love to ride to Wall Street’s rescue. But that isn’t going to happen because Fed officials are scared to death of the inflation monster that they played a major role in creating. All over America, consumers and businesses are being absolutely devastated by rapidly rising prices.

Inflation causing higher prices at the local bakery, explaining all of the price changes for his ingredients. 
- Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) October 9, 2022

Until inflation is under control, the Fed is going to continue to raise rates. And that might take quite a while. So for now, stocks and bonds are just going to keep going lower and lower. On Monday, the Nasdaq actually hit the lowest level in two years…"Stocks closed lower on Monday with the Nasdaq Composite index falling to the lowest level in two years as tech shares continue to be the hardest hit in this bear market because of spiking interest rates.

The Nasdaq Composite closed 1.04% lower at 10,542.10, hitting its lowest close since July 2020, weighed down by a slump in semiconductor stocks such as Nvidia and AMD. The S&P 500 also fell 0.75% to 3,612.39, dragged down by semi stocks and dips in major tech names like Microsoft, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 93.91 points, or 0.32%, to close at 29,202.88."

The amount of financial wealth that has already been wiped out is truly frightening, but much worse could be on the horizon. If stocks and bonds continue to plunge, eventually we will see forced selling by pensions and other large investors, and at that point we truly will be in the midst of a very bitter nightmare

"Indeed, pensions don’t even need to have a near-death experience like in the UK: if the value of underlying assets drops enough, the forced selling will begin sooner or later. And once the capitulation really kicks in – as even formerly bullish Goldman strategists warn – followed closely by mass layoffs, only then will we find just how determined Powell is to pull a Volcker 2.0 and blow up the US economy and markets before he is fired by the president as his parting gift for unleashing the worst recession since the global financial crisis."

I couldn’t have said it any better myself. But at least we are still in better shape than Europe. A U.S. Army Special Forces veteran named Michael Yon recently told SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily what he believes conditions in Europe will soon be like…"Yon said some people “talk about energy as if everything’s interchangeable, as if solar panels and windmills and nuclear plants can replace natural gas, which [they] simply cannot.” He noted that of the 26 major plants in Europe that produce nitrogen-based fertilizers, all are either closed down or on the verge of closing.

"This will lead to famine. It’s just mathematics at this point,” he said. The loss of the Nord Stream pipeline already has driven people in Germany and other European nations to cut down trees to heat their homes. “People are going to literally freeze to death in Germany,” Yon said. “They’re going to freeze, and then they’re going to starve.”

Personally, I believe that the winter that begins in 2023 will be much worse than this upcoming winter for Europe. At least the Europeans had the luxury of storing up Russian natural gas ahead of time for this winter. Next winter, they will not have that opportunity. And that is when things will get really insane.

But what everyone should be able to agree on is the fact that we are heading into a truly historic crisis. We will soon see things happen that once would have been unimaginable for most people. I would very much much encourage you to do what you can to get prepared in advance, because the road ahead of us is going to be incredibly challenging."

"Black Friday is Dead"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 10/11/22:
"Black Friday is Dead"
"Black Friday is dead. Retail as we know it will never be the same. It never fails that this time of the year people want to shop for the holidays and look for great deals. The only problem is the stores are not going to participate. They’re so desperate for sales that they’re already marking down merchandise. Get ready for the economic crash of retail."
Comments here:
Aww, look at all the fun we're gonna miss...
And if they do this over a TV, what happens when there's no food?

"Jim Rickards Warns About The Coming Dollar Collapse And How To Prepare For It!"

Full screen recommended.
The Atlantis Report, 10/11/22:
"Jim Rickards Warns About The Coming 
Dollar Collapse And How To Prepare For It!"
Comments here:

"How It Really Is"

 

Oh, as they say, "You ain't seen nuthin' yet." But you will...

Gregory Mannarino, "JP Morgan Warns Of 'Dollar Crisis.' Debt Market 'Fragility' Worsening"

Gregory Mannarino, 10/11/22:
"JP Morgan Warns Of 'Dollar Crisis.' 
Debt Market 'Fragility' Worsening"
Comments here:

"'Back To The Old Days': Europeans Panic Buy Firewood And Stoves"

"'Back To The Old Days': 
Europeans Panic Buy Firewood And Stoves"
by Tyler Durden

"As natural gas and electricity prices soar, many European households turn to firewood, a move to offset higher energy costs as the heating season begins. Rising demand for firewood is sending much of Europe back to the 'medieval' days of using stoves and fireplaces to heat homes.

The sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline system underneath the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany sparked even more energy uncertainty among Germans as many brace for what could be the coldest and possibly even the darkest winter in a generation due to rising risks of power blackouts.

On Friday, European Union leaders failed to agree on a price cap for NatGas as the energy crisis might worsen this winter as freezing weather could quickly draw down supplies from storage facilities and catapult prices even higher. About 70% of Europeans use NatGas to heat their homes, and according to Bloomberg, some 40 million people are now burning wood to heat their homes. New demand for a heat source that's been around for ages has doubled the price of wood pellets per ton to 600 euros in France.

Bloomberg pointed out Europeans are "panic buying the world's most basic fuel." Demand is so high that Hungary banned exports of wood pellets, and Romania capped firewood prices through spring. "It's back to the old days when people wouldn't have the whole house heated," said Nic Snell, managing director at British wholesale firewood retailer Certainly Wood. He added firewood is in high demand.

The boom for firewood has also meant stove demand is high. Gabriel Kakelugnar AB, a manufacturer of high-end tiled stoves, said orders had surged more than fourfold, and customers have to wait until March for delivery.

Firewood has become a scarce commodity this heating season, forcing some households to burn anything they can find: "We are worried that people will just burn what they can get their hands on," Roger Sedin, head of the air quality unit at the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, said." In fact, this is true, Polish households have started to burn trash and coal as firewood supplies dwindle.

The UK has finally come around to informing its citizens about power blackout risks. The country's grid operator warned about the "significant risk" of NatGas shortage that could trigger three-hour power cuts this winter.

Well before the heating season, we detailed in length about soaring demand for firewood. We noted in August that "Google Searches For "Firewood" In Germany Have Exploded" and even in July cited Deutsche Bank senior economist Eric Heymann who indicated a "substitution for gas" would be firewood.

Europeans have to ask if soaring electricity bills and a cost-of-living crisis are worth supporting NATO's proxy war in Ukraine via sanctions against Russia. People in Prague are already tired of Western sanctions that have devastated their economy and financial well-being."
Related:
"CIA Fingerprints on Nord Stream &
 Crimea Bridge Attacks"
"Bob Moriarty discusses how current events in Ukraine are following the law of unintended consequences. There is one still operational string of Nord Stream remaining and it must have been the U.S. with the full knowledge of European allies who carried out the attack to separate Germany and Russia once and for all. The botched pipeline and bridge attacks have CIA fingerprints all over them. Sanctions will DESTROY Europe, which will go into hyperinflation and suffer food shortages."

"Massive Price Increases In The Grocery Stores! Making Pot Roast For Dinner!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures with Danno, 10/11/22:
"Massive Price Increases In The Grocery Stores!
 Making Pot Roast For Dinner!"
"In today's vlog we are at Kroger, and are noticing massive price increases! We are here to check out skyrocketing prices, and a lot of empty shelves! We also buy all the products we need to make a huge pot roast from Kroger which ended up being very expensive! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"
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"The Life Of Man..."

"The life of Man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach, and where none may tarry long. One by one, as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent Death. Very brief is the time in which we can help them, in which their happiness or misery is decided. Be it ours to shed sunshine on their path, to lighten their sorrows by the balm of sympathy, to give them the pure joy of a never-tiring affection, to strengthen failing courage, to instill faith in times of despair."
- Bertrand Russell

Monday, October 10, 2022

Canadian Prepper, "Madness! Europe Preps 62,000 Bunkers, 'Only The Start'"

Canadian Prepper, 10/10/22:
"Madness! Europe Preps 62,000 
Bunkers, 'Only The Start'"
"European country builds 62000 bunkers, a new country enters conflict, hellfire rains down from skies and Russian leadership claims it's only the beginning."
Comments here:

"20 Signs That Target Is Being Destroyed Much Faster Than Walmart"

Full screen recommended.
"20 Signs That Target Is Being Destroyed 
Much Faster Than Walmart"
by Epic Economist

"If things are going from bad to worse for the world's biggest retailer Walmart, conditions are going from ugly to catastrophic for smaller retail rival Target. Its recent 90% profit collapse has shocked investors and reminded industry giants that even the nation's most iconic department stores are still at risk of going bust at any moment. While Walmart generates about half of its sales from food, the figure for Target is about 20%, which means that as consumers tighten their belts in face of soaring energy and housing costs, ditching discretionary purchases, such as clothing, home furnishings, and electronics because they have to spend more on food, fuel and other things they need, 

Target is significantly more vulnerable to suffering massive earnings losses. On top of that, its outdated business model and supply chain problems suggest that the company is still struggling to adapt to changing consumer trends and falling behind in the already-stressed retail environment. If it fails to keep up with its larger competitors, the retailer may get absolutely crushed during the ongoing economic downturn. And we'll probably see its collapse happening way before Walmart's empire goes down.

It has become evident to everyone that the big-box retailer’s supply chain was a hot mess. Target over-ordered big, bulky home goods such as TVs, kitchen appliances, and patio furniture, which are typically more costly to ship because take up a lot of space inside shipping containers - and their size also makes them extra costly to store in warehouses. The company had to pay a premium to import those bulky products, but it soon noticed that its customers didn’t want to buy them. And its expenses continued to pile up. Given that there wasn’t enough room in its existing warehouses to store all of its unwanted goods, the retailer had to rent new warehouse space - at ultra-high prices in the tightest warehouse market ever - to store its excess inventory. 

Adding to the pain, Target was forced to slash the price of all of these low-selling products to entice shoppers to buy them and free up storage space, losing a whole lot more money in the process. That was the right strategy, but it exacted a heavy toll on earnings. To make things worse, the company reported that its price cuts did little good: It actually ended the quarter with 1.5% more inventory than it had three months earlier and 36% more than it had a year ago.

Current economic conditions are posing unprecedented challenges for the country's retailers. All across the board, pessimism seems to be the new predominant feeling. A consumer recession is no longer a threat, but a reality many of them are already facing. Not even the largest, the most popular, or the ones that had great performances in the past decade are immune to the imbalances that are occurring right now. With just a few months of slower sales, they can reverse the gains they recorded throughout years and years of hard work. 

Unfortunately, it's clear that the carnage has only just begun. And many more iconic brands are at risk of going under overnight. We're entering exceedingly difficult times, and the extinction of many of our businesses will continue to accelerate as the next economic recession rolls on. That's what we're going to expose in today's list. Here are 20 Facts That Prove Target Is Collapsing Much Harder Than Walmart."

"You Will Lose Your Job And Go Hungry; You Are On Borrowed Time; Implosion Of The US Consumer"



Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, 10/10/22:
"You Will Lose Your Job And Go Hungry; 
You Are On Borrowed Time; Implosion Of The US Consumer"
Comments here: