Friday, March 31, 2023

"15 Signs A Massive Car Market Crash Is Already Upon Us"

Full screen recommended.
"15 Signs A Massive Car Market Crash Is Already Upon Us"
By Epic Economist

"A devastating car market crash is now in motion, and it will trigger brutal consequences for buyers, sellers, and dealers. The U.S. auto market entered 2023 in a massive bubble, with average new car prices hitting an absolute record high while used car prices were almost 42% higher compared to 2019 levels. But now several factors are contributing to a collapse in the value of cars. At the same time, auto loan debt levels are shooting up and even borrowers with good credit scores are becoming unable to afford car payments and having their vehicles repossessed. A famous industry executive said this could lead the country to the next great financial crisis, and considering the pace at which this downturn is unfolding, it looks like his warning is spot on.

In February 2023, the average cost of a new car climbed to $50,000 in the United States, up from just $38,948 in December 2019. That marked the highest price for a new car in history, according to data compiled by Edmunds. At the same time, a growing number of consumers are having to stretch their budgets to afford a new vehicle. The average monthly payment for a new car is up 26% since 2019 to $718 a month, and nearly one in six new car buyers is spending more than $1,000 a month on vehicles, also a record. Other costs associated with owning a car have also shot up, including insurance, gas, and repairs. "With new car prices as high as they are, it's getting more and more difficult for most Americans to stomach these payments," stresses Ivan Drury, Edmunds director of insights.

After the pandemic broke out, automakers expected car demand to collapse, which led them to reduce output, and microchip manufacturers followed suit. With a shortage of new cars hitting the market in 2020, consumers started to use their stimulus checks and took advantage of low-interest rates to purchase used cars instead, driving up prices four times faster than the growth seen in the inventory of new cars. “The perfect storm of supply and demand created a temporary and unsustainable spike in used car prices, says Motley Fool’s analyst Sean Williams. A huge bubble was formed, but a reckoning has just arrived.

The repercussions of the car market collapse can throw the entire country in disarray. We must consider that the U.S. car industry is a significant contributor to the country's economy, accounting for millions of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue. A crash in this market can result in a significant economic downturn, leading to widespread job losses, bankruptcies, and a sharp decline in consumer spending. It can also disrupt the supply chain for many other industries. Given that car manufacturers rely on a vast network of suppliers to produce their vehicles, when the crash finally occurs, it will trigger a domino effect on these suppliers, leading to mass disruption in many sectors. When Musk says this could turn into a financial nightmare, he isn't bluffing. We should all pay very close attention to the next developments of this crisis because it will ultimately impact all of us. That’s why in today’s video, we compiled several facts that prove that the U.S. auto market is in huge trouble."
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The Daily "Near You?"

Wichita Falls, Texas, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

'I Can't Convince Myself..."

“I can’t convince myself that it does much good to try to challenge the everyday political delusions and dementias of Americans at large. Their contained and confined mentalities by far prefer the petty and parochial prisons of the kind of sense they have been trained and rewarded for making out of their lives (and are punished for deviating from them). What it costs them ultimately to be such slaves and infants and ideological zombies is a thought too monstrous and rending and spiky for them even to want to glance at.”
- Kenneth Smith

“If you want to tell people the truth,
make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.”
- Oscar Wilde

"The Untamed Future"

Full screen recommended.
"The Untamed Future"
Versus the deciders' plan to restrict it...
By Bill Bonner

San Martin, Argentina - "When we left you yesterday, we were describing how the theories of Richard Lachmann suggested that there may be a way to avoid the coming catastrophe. Backtracking… The US has $50 trillion in ‘excess’ debt. It is a huge burden…making it almost impossible to return to a ‘normal,’ healthy economy. The Fed must increase rates to fight inflation. And higher rates threaten to bring the debt pile crashing down, like an avalanche after a heavy snowfall.

The Fed is trapped. It has to fight inflation (or appear to fight it). But it also has to save the banks. And it will soon have to save the biggest, most woebegone bank of all – itself. Bloomberg: "For the First Time, the Fed Is Losing Money." "Thanks to interest-rate risk exposure, the central bank will soon have negative equity capital.

Like all central banks, the Federal Reserve was designed to make money for the government from its monopoly on issuing currency. The Fed did generate profits, which it sent to the Treasury, every year from 1916 on - until last fall. In a development previously unheard of, the Federal Reserve has suffered operating losses of about $42 billion since September 2022."

“Good luck,” says colleague Dan Denning. Trying to save the banks while also fighting inflation “is like spinning plates on sticks…while jumping up and down on a trampoline…that’s bolted to a roller coaster.”

Restricting the Future: On the flip side of the excess debt is $50 trillion in excess, paper “wealth” – stocks, bonds, real estate – that was inflated by Fed’s ultra-low lending rates. If the debt went away – by default – so would the asset values it supports. The elites have power, status, and wealth – including almost all of the aforementioned $50 trillion; that’s what makes them the elite. And they’re not dumb. They know that tomorrow has a way of writing down today’s assets and scrambling today’s hierarchies (the last shall be first!). Their number 1 priority is always to prevent tomorrow from happening.

Is China gaining on us? Gotta stop it! Are banks going bust? Gotta bail them out! US GDP growth falling? Gotta stimulate it! Are the natives getting restless? Pass a law to keep them from getting any ideas!

Yes, the newly proposed RESTRICT ACT will allow the ruling class to decide what you can access on the internet. Have your doubts about the Covid vaccine? Skeptical about the ‘threat to democracy’ posed by the Jan. 6 demonstrators…or the need to continue the war in the Ukraine? Well….you can just keep it to yourself!

Single Mind Diversity: Every new technology (except for those that can be used to kill our enemies or control the masses) is a threat to the Establishment. Untamed politicians (Donald Trump!) are a danger to our democracy. Foreign nations that are not loyal allies (Russia! China! Iran!) are rogue countries that must be brought to heel. Everything is a threat. And every threat is an opportunity to spend the public’s money.

But the deciders are not all of one mind. There are, after all, Republicans as well as Democrats…White Supremacists as well as Woke Ideologues…and those who insist on saving the planet as well as those who would let Earth take care of herself.

Richard Lachmann argues that a fractured elite is less able to prevent change than a unified elite. Spain, for example, was once the richest country in Europe. But after its empire collapsed, the elite closed ranks so tightly that it was able to suppress any and all innovation. Then it became the most backward nation in the Old World.

In England, by contrast, the elite was divided. The King competed with the local aristocracy…and with the clergy…and with the landowners…as well as the upstart capitalists. Unable to lock arms to prevent it, the Industrial Revolution took hold and upended the old order.

At least, that is Lachmann’s telling of the story. We pass it along, not as Truth, but simply as another way of understanding a vastly more complex history. But what can we learn from this? Anything?

One way or another, the future is gonna happen. And Lachmann is probably right; if the political fractures are wide enough, they may let in enough air to allow a new status quo to develop. Today’s elites desperately want to prevent deflation, which would mark down their asset values quickly. They also aim to keep the empire going – with its billion-dollar payoffs to the ‘defense’-related industries…and the politicians who support them. Inflation is the answer to both of these priorities – the new money would pump up asset prices…and allow the boondoggles to continue. 

But what if left and right cannot agree? What if the next debt ceiling debate, for example, ends in a stalemate? What if there were a large enough alternative faction…of marginal ‘influencers’ and ‘conservatives’ …to gum up the works? What if Jerome Powell really serious about taming inflation….or De Santis really would stop the forever wars?

“Chainsaw Plan” Here in Argentina, would you believe it!, an unconventional politician and former rock ‘n’ roll singer, Javier Milei, is proposing to dismantle the entire predatory Establishment. In almost any other country…at almost any other time…he would be regarded as a quirky footnote in the political process. But here, after 70 years of heavy government fumbling in the economy…where there is widespread poverty, and where people have more trust in aluminum siding salesmen than in government…Milei has come into presidential contest like an avenging angel. He’s already third in the presidential polls…and rising.

His ‘Chainsaw Plan’ would eliminate the departments of Health, Education, Public Works and Social Development. His budgets would be balanced. His currency would be as solid as the US dollar (he proposes to use the dollar as Argentina’s currency…perhaps unaware that the greenback is probably going the way of the peso!)

We doubt America is ready for this kind of future. In politics, scoundrels always resort to war and inflation to keep themselves on top…and they get away with it for a long time. The Democrats are fully behind the whole ‘war and inflation’ program. And the Trumpified Republicans too. They gave up the Old Time religion – balanced budgets at home, non-intervention abroad – long ago. And then, in 2020, led by Mr. Trump, they went along with the biggest breach of fiscal discipline in the history of the US, with $6 trillion of stimmies, PPP loans, unemployment boosters and other giveaways.

Republicans may disagree with Democrats on many issues…but not on the important ones. They, too, want to protect the status quo. Like an alcoholic, America has to ‘hit bottom’ before she can bounce back. She has a long way to go. And for now, the deciders will stick with war and inflation. They’ll benefit…the rest of the country can go to Hell."

"There is No Good Way Out of This"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 3/31/23
"There is No Good Way Out of This"
"We are seeing that Southern California real estate is at its lowest level in 35 years. The man who called the Lehman Brothers debacle is at it again. He says there are 21 warning signs for the stock market and a crash is coming."
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Bill Bonner, "Seeking Alphas"

"Seeking Alphas"
A closer look at the driving forces of need
 vs want in the human kingdom...
by Bill Bonner

"Birds do it, bees do it,
Even educated fleas do it,
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love..."
~ Cole Porter

San Martin, Argentina - "Caution: the following may contain non-graphic sexual content. Just like everything else. Parental guidance advised, as always.

In the news yesterday was a smallish note, in which America’s Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, asserted that “peace [in the Ukraine] could be a cynical trap.” Really? Killing people is better than not killing them? To stop killing would be ‘cynical?’ Whence cometh such a strange idea; and how could you explain it to the widows? The answer came to us as we awoke this morning: Doing it! Like all of our ideas, this one was surely rehearsed by a thoughtful Greek more than 2,000 years ago. But we never met the Greek. We see no copyright. And so, it’s ours. Useful? You decide.

Need vs Want: Humans have two major impulses. Need and want. Everything else can be derived from them. We need to eat…or we will die. This is a purely practical matter. It leads us to practical actions…and material progress. We develop better hunting techniques (including cooperation)…and then we learn to plant tomatoes and cabbages…and finally, we’re able to harness fossil fuels to power our tractors, factories and homes.

Solving the need issue led to Pythagoras, pi, science, math and engineering. Adding 2 plus 2. Identifying plants. Figuring out how to string a bow or throw a boomerang…then to the agricultural revolution and the industrial revolution. Calculators, foot warmers, atom colliders, double-entry bookkeeping, coat racks and chainsaws – all are derived from our practical, needs-based thinking.

But there is a second impulse – desire. After we get enough food to survive, our main want (speaking socio-biologically, not necessarily from personal experience) is to reproduce. Were it not so, our species would have disappeared long ago. Desire is an entirely different thing from need. It is sex…and the world is full of it.Trojan Tik Tok

Fantasy, phallacy and fiction. The ‘big man’ in the tribe brings back a young deer. He shares it with his friends and relatives…and gets the best piece for himself. Mating is infinitely complex, nuanced and fanciful. It is pouty lips and an enhanced penis…a successful novel or a souped-up Chevy. It is full of lies and myths…deception and contraception…political slogans and great power competition…exaggerations on Facebook…breast augmentation and WWIII. It is hours in the gym and botox... ‘Gone With The Wind’ and the Madonna della Pieta.

We began thinking about this when we were reading the headlines. One urged us to beware of Tik Tok, because the Chinese might be using it to gather ‘intelligence.’ Another told us that the Chinese were ‘getting ahead of us’ because they were subsidizing their technology companies. Still another urged us to support a bigger Pentagon budget lest the ‘Chinese dominate the South China Sea.’

Probably the dumbest of this genre came from TIME, the once-half-intelligent popular magazine: "These 5 Facts Explain Why China Is Pulling Ahead of the West."

"1. It has the world’s most powerful leader." Really? Stalin was powerful. Hitler was powerful. Did they ‘pull ahead?’ Generally, the more powerful the leader, the weaker the nation.

"2. It reaps global benefits from a state-controlled economy." Huh? Since when is a ‘state-controlled economy’ a benefit? It is always a disaster.

"3. It keeps the population in line with state-created jobs…" This is absurd. People enter the workforce at 18 or later. Do the geniuses in Beijing know how many workers the country will need 20 years down the pike?

"4. …and by leveraging advances in technology." Leveraging? China’s entrepreneurs leverage. Its central planners misallocate, misconstrue and mislead…just like central planners everywhere.

"5. Others are following in its footsteps." How does that help China ‘pull ahead?’ China only pulls ahead by innovating and growing faster than the US. The number of nations trailing behind is completely irrelevant.

But, most puzzling is that TIME thinks we should care if China “pulls ahead.” Why? Win-Win vs Win-Lose.

Why do we care if China dominates the South China Sea? So what if it has a stronger economy…more people…more technology…or whatever? Logically – drawing on that part of the brain that concerns itself with ‘need’ – the stronger, richer, and more advanced China becomes…the better off we all are. Americans like Tik Tok; let China give us more of them.

But in the ‘want’ category is another way to look at it. Americans don’t only desire to live better…have more to eat…and to be richer. They also want to live better, have more to eat, and be richer than their neighbors. That is, they want to be Number Uno. The lead dog. The hegemon.

We want our team to win the Super Bowl. Whether our team wins or not is no reflection on us personally; we had nothing to do with it. But in the hall of mirrors of the ‘want’ mind, all we see is ourselves. There is no joy in Mudville if the home team loses. For then, we are all losers.

The ‘need’ part of the brain is rational, expansive and generous. It is the optimistic, win-win part that recognizes that more for anyone is more for everyone. But the ‘want’ part is jealous and fearful; in order to win, someone else must lose. Ergo, making someone else lose is the way to win. It makes perfect sense. The wealth of the world is unlimited. Tractors and chemicals have increased farm output by 5 times since 1910 and the ratio of farmer-to-consumer has dropped from 1 farmer for every 13 consumers to 1 to 159.

But the ‘desire ratio’ of girl-to-boy is still the same – about one to one. So, if you’re going to get the girl…or the boy…or the trans or undecided person…you’re gonna have competition. Supplies are limited. You can only ‘win’ by making someone else ‘lose.’ It’s always been that way…and always will be. Need is absolute. Desire is relative.

You can build as many skyscrapers as you want. But if the home team is going to win, it must defeat the visitors. What does this mean for US foreign policy…for the future of the dollar and your investments? Give us the weekend to think about it…and stay tuned."

"How It Really Is"

Greg Hunter, "Weekly News Wrap-Up 3/31/23"

"Weekly News Wrap-Up 3/31/23"
Trump Indicted, Died Suddenly Increasing, 
De-Dollarization & Inflation
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"President Donald J. Trump has been indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for 34 counts of fraud. Legal scholars are calling this “prosecutorial misconduct,” “sad” and “a legal disaster.” Many, including President Trump, the 2024 GOP front-runner for the White House, says it is nothing more than “political persecution.” Trump says it is really “election interference at the highest level” because Dems cannot beat him fair and square. Harvard legal expert Professor Alan Dershowitz says the case is really “foolish.”

The amount of people who “died suddenly” from the CV19 bioweapon/vax is increasing every month. The number of people who are permanently injured is also increasing at a rapid rate. Financial analyst Ed Dowd says the bioweapon/vax has caused $148 billion in economic damage and caused 26 million injuries in the U.S. in 2022 alone. Stunning supply chain problems are coming, according to Dowd, and there is really no way to stop it.

De-dollarization is coming to the world, and that means many countries are planning on using the U.S. dollar far less in trade. The President of Kenya, William Ruto, just told his citizens to ditch the dollar, and there was a “big change coming in a few weeks.” CNN, FOX and even Goldman Sachs are all warning about de-dollarization and the end of the dollar as the reserve currency. When this happens, many are predicting big inflation and even hyperinflation."

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he talks about these 
stories and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up for 3/31/23.

Jim Kunstler, "Did They Light Up a Cigarette Afterward?"

"Did They Light Up a Cigarette Afterward?"
by Jim Kunstler

“Reading all the 2016 warnings from the Normalcy Guardians and self-professed Democracy Protectors about how there’s literally nothing more corrupt or dangerous than craving the prosecution of your political opponent - especially for trivial crimes - is really quite something.” - Glenn Greenwald

"The New York Times enjoyed its long-delayed tantric Trumpgasm so much today that it rolled out the full-page banner headline format usually reserved for the commencement of world wars. (They took the banner down before seven o’clock this morning.) For many of the cat-ladies employed as “reporters” at the once-august paper, it was the first Trumpgasm they’ve ever experienced in a lifetime of emotional displacement, over-eating, and furious knitting of pink polyester hats for the crusade to root out patriarchal wickedness.

This fulfillment of a years-long psychodrama, starring the feared and loathed occult persona of a gold-coiffed “Daddy” figure who once presided in the political household, came at the hands of dragon-slayer Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, archetype of the many long-oppressed victims worked to death in the bilges of our slave ship of state - now turned righteous Woke deliverer of cosmic vengeance!

This, of course, is brought to you by the party of hoaxes, flimflams, and mandated death shots, so it’s amusing here on the sidelines to see The Times’s op-ed writers squirm with post-coital pleasure underneath the full-page Trumpgasmic headline. The lead editorial declares: “Even Donald Trump Should Be Held Accountable”- overlooking the utter absence of accountability that has been the norm in every recent insult to the nation’s dignity from wholesale and repeat election fraud, to six years of lawless depravity in the FBI, to overt support of Antifa and BLM street havoc, to the forced, deceitful administration of deadly “vaccines.”

“How a President’s Arrest Can Strengthen a Democracy,” honorary cat-lady Nicholas Kristoff opined, repeating the bad-faith trope that his legions of Wokery have an interest in political rectitude - when, in fact, they are solely preoccupied with coercing, censoring, cancelling, persecuting, punishing, and defenestrating anyone who objects to their grifts and hustles. “Only love and a leap of faith can break through distrust. That is why a credible form of patriotism is so important right now,” explained The Times’s official Superintendent of Platitudes, David Brooks, to soothe consciences grated by this loutish gambit to shove a political adversary off the game board in advance of an election. “Joe Biden may not be your cup of tea,” Mr. Brooks summed up his civics lesson, “but he’s restored sanity, effectiveness and decency to the White House.”

Oh, really? That will surely come as news to casual observers who are watching the “Joe Biden” wrecking crew in wonder and nausea as they dismantle every institution and undermine every norm in American life. A more credible form of patriotism would be, say, a general strike against this cabal of degenerates, serving to remind them that at least half of the public still cares about the Constitution, the rule of law, and actual decency (not a depraved simulacrum of it). Otherwise, why would “Joe Biden’s” DOJ lock-up scores of Jan 6 protesters in the DC Jail for years on misdemeanor charges without taking them to law? Why does the “Joe Biden” State Department persist in destroying Ukraine and pounding billions in taxpayer money into the place to accomplish it? Why has the “Joe Biden” regime adopted the drag queen as its mascot? What part of all that evinces “sanity, effectiveness and decency?”

It’s a little early to assess the knock-on effects of the Left’s ecstatic Trumpgasm. A common theme flying across the Web is that Alvin Bragg’s jerry-rigged case will only make a martyr of Mr. Trump, neatly illustrating and personifying the government’s apparent war against its own citizens - making it clear that they will stop at nothing and no one to enforce the corrupt bureaucracy’s will against the public - and that the net result will be to ensure Mr. Trump’s reelection in 2024.

This comes at a time when that government - the “Joe Biden” regime - presides over the collapse of what’s left of America’s economy, the crack-up of the banking system, and the shocking loss of our country’s influence in the geo-political arena. All of that is manifesting as increased general hardship across the US population: a whole lot of citizens going broke, going hungry, losing their property and chattels to bankruptcy, losing their children to Woke-induced psychopathology, and - the final insult - being subjected to a medical racketeering operation that ruins and murders them when they get sick.

The Party of Chaos looks pretty smugly secure for the moment. If Alvin Bragg’s flimsy case in New York falls apart, as many expect, they have grand juries lined up against Mr. Trump in other jurisdictions, waiting patiently to take their turns at the political assassination of this supposed “threat to our democracy.” Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared yesterday that Mr. Trump “has the right to prove his innocence.” She apparently forgot how our legal system works, which is that defendants are presumed innocent and it’s the government’s task to prove someone guilty.

As to qualifications to be president, the Constitution simply states: a presidential candidate must be a natural born citizen of the United States, a resident for 14 years, and 35 years of age or older. There is no language in Article II that might legally prevent someone convicted of a petty crime, fairly or otherwise, from running for the job."

"Massive Price Increases At Dollar General! What's Next?"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danny, 3/31/23
"Massive Price Increases At Dollar General! What's Next?"
"In today's vlog we are at Dollar General and are noticing massive price increases! We are here to check out skyrocketing prices, and the empty shelves situation! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"
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"Death Of The Dollar As America Enters A Catastrophic Depression, Game Over!"

Jeremiah Babe 3/30/23
"Death Of The Dollar As America Enters 
A Catastrophic Depression, Game Over!"
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Thursday, March 30, 2023

Musical Interlude: Moody Blues, "Land of Make-Believe"

Full screen recommended.
Moody Blues, "Land of Make-Believe"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"A gorgeous spiral galaxy some 100 million light-years distant, NGC 1309 lies on the banks of the constellation of the River (Eridanus). NGC 1309 spans about 30,000 light-years, making it about one third the size of our larger Milky Way galaxy. Bluish clusters of young stars and dust lanes are seen to trace out NGC 1309's spiral arms as they wind around an older yellowish star population at its core. 
Not just another pretty face-on spiral galaxy, observations of NGC 1309's recent supernova and Cepheid variable stars contribute to the calibration of the expansion of the Universe. Still, after you get over this beautiful galaxy's grand design, check out the array of more distant background galaxies also recorded in this sharp, reprocessed, Hubble Space Telescope view.”

The Poet: Mary Oliver, “The Journey”

“The Journey”

“One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice -
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do -
determined to save
the only life you could save.”

- Mary Oliver

“8 Things to Remember When Everything Goes Wrong”

“8 Things to Remember When Everything Goes Wrong”
by Marc Chernoff

“Today, I’m sitting in my hospital bed waiting to have both my breasts removed. But in a strange way I feel like the lucky one. Up until now I have had no health problems. I’m a 69-year-old woman in the last room at the end of the hall before the pediatric division of the hospital begins. Over the past few hours I have watched dozens of cancer patients being wheeled by in wheelchairs and rolling beds. None of these patients could be a day older than 17.”

That’s an entry from my grandmother’s journal, dated 9/16/1977. I photocopied it and pinned it to my bulletin board about a decade ago. It’s still there today, and it continues to remind me that there is always, always, always something to be thankful for. And that no matter how good or bad I have it, I must wake up each day thankful for my life, because someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs.

Truth be told, happiness is not the absence of problems, but the ability to deal with them. Imagine all the wondrous things your mind might embrace if it weren’t wrapped so tightly around your struggles. Always look at what you have, instead of what you have lost. Because it’s not what the world takes away from you that counts; it’s what you do with what you have left.

Here are a few reminders to help motivate you when you need it most:

1. Pain is part of growing. Sometimes life closes doors because it’s time to move forward. And that’s a good thing because we often won’t move unless circumstances force us to. When times are tough, remind yourself that no pain comes without a purpose. Move on from what hurt you, but never forget what it taught you. Just because you’re struggling doesn’t mean you’re failing. Every great success requires some type of worthy struggle to get there. Good things take time. Stay patient and stay positive. Everything is going to come together; maybe not immediately, but eventually.

Remember that there are two kinds of pain: pain that hurts and pain that changes you. When you roll with life, instead of resisting it, both kinds help you grow.

2. Everything in life is temporary. Every time it rains, it stops raining. Every time you get hurt, you heal. After darkness there is always light – you are reminded of this every morning, but still you often forget, and instead choose to believe that the night will last forever. It won’t. Nothing lasts forever.

So if things are good right now, enjoy it. It won’t last forever. If things are bad, don’t worry because it won’t last forever either. Just because life isn’t easy at the moment, doesn’t mean you can’t laugh. Just because something is bothering you, doesn’t mean you can’t smile. Every moment gives you a new beginning and a new ending. You get a second chance, every second. You just have to take it and make the best of it.  

3. Worrying and complaining changes nothing. Those who complain the most, accomplish the least. It’s always better to attempt to do something great and fail than to attempt to do nothing and succeed. It’s not over if you’ve lost; it’s over when you do nothing but complain about it. If you believe in something, keep trying. Don’t let the shadows of the past darken the doorstep of your future. Spending today complaining about yesterday won’t make tomorrow any brighter. Take action instead. Let what you’ve learned improve how you live. Make a change and never look back.

And regardless of what happens in the long run, remember that true happiness begins to arrive only when you stop complaining about your problems and you start being grateful for all the problems you don’t have.

4. Your scars are symbols of your strength. Don’t ever be ashamed of the scars life has left you with. A scar means the hurt is over and the wound is closed. It means you conquered the pain, learned a lesson, grew stronger, and moved forward.   scar is the tattoo of a triumph to be proud of. Don’t allow your scars to hold you hostage. Don’t allow them to make you live your life in fear. You can’t make the scars in your life disappear, but you can change the way you see them. You can start seeing your scars as a sign of strength and not pain.

Rumi once said, “The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” Nothing could be closer to the truth. Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most powerful characters in this great world are seared with scars. See your scars as a sign of “YES! I MADE IT! I survived and I have my scars to prove it! And now I have a chance to grow even stronger.”

5. Every little struggle is a step forward. In life, patience is not about waiting; it’s the ability to keep a good attitude while working hard on your dreams, knowing that the work is worth it. So if you’re going to try, put in the time and go all the way. Otherwise, there’s no point in starting. This could mean losing stability and comfort for a while, and maybe even your mind on occasion. It could mean not eating what, or sleeping where, you’re used to, for weeks on end. It could mean stretching your comfort zone so thin it gives you a nonstop case of the chills. It could mean sacrificing relationships and all that’s familiar. It could mean accepting ridicule from your peers. It could mean lots of time alone in solitude. Solitude, though, is the gift that makes great things possible. It gives you the space you need. Everything else is a test of your determination, of how much you really want it.

And if you want it, you’ll do it, despite failure and rejection and the odds. And every step will feel better than anything else you can imagine. You will realize that the struggle is not found on the path, it is the path. And it’s worth it. So if you’re going to try, go all the way. There’s no better feeling in the world… there’s no better feeling than knowing what it means to be ALIVE. 

6. Other people’s negativity is not your problem. Be positive when negativity surrounds you. Smile when others try to bring you down. It’s an easy way to maintain your enthusiasm and focus.  When other people treat you poorly, keep being you. Don’t ever let someone else’s bitterness change the person you are. You can’t take things too personally, even if it seems personal. Rarely do people do things because of you.  hey do things because of them.

Above all, don’t ever change just to impress someone who says you’re not good enough. Change because it makes you a better person and leads you to a brighter future. People are going to talk regardless of what you do or how well you do it. So worry about yourself before you worry about what others think. If you believe strongly in something, don’t be afraid to fight for it. Great strength comes from overcoming what others think is impossible.

All jokes aside, your life only comes around once. This is IT. So do what makes you happy and be with whoever makes you smile, often.

7. What’s meant to be will eventually, BE. True strength comes when you have so much to cry and complain about, but you prefer to smile and appreciate your life instead. There are blessings hidden in every struggle you face, but you have to be willing to open your heart and mind to see them. You can’t force things to happen. You can only drive yourself crazy trying. At some point you have to let go and let what’s meant to be, BE.

In the end, loving your life is about trusting your intuition, taking chances, losing and finding happiness, cherishing the memories, and learning through experience. It’s a long-term journey. You have to stop worrying, wondering, and doubting every step of the way. Laugh at the confusion, live consciously in the moment, and enjoy your life as it unfolds. You might not end up exactly where you intended to go, but you will eventually arrive precisely where you need to be.

8. The best thing you can do is to keep going. Don’t be afraid to get back up – to try again, to love again, to live again, and to dream again. Don’t let a hard lesson harden your heart. Life’s best lessons are often learned at the worst times and from the worst mistakes. There will be times when it seems like everything that could possibly go wrong is going wrong. And you might feel like you will be stuck in this rut forever, but you won’t. When you feel like quitting, remember that sometimes things have to go very wrong before they can be right. Sometimes you have to go through the worst, to arrive at your best.

Yes, life is tough, but you are tougher. Find the strength to laugh every day. Find the courage to feel different, yet beautiful. Find it in your heart to make others smile too. Don’t stress over things you can’t change. Live simply. Love generously. Speak truthfully. Work diligently. And even if you fall short, keep going. Keep growing. Awake every morning and do your best to follow this daily TO-DO list:

Think positively.
Eat healthy.
Exercise today.
Worry less.
Work hard.
Laugh often.
Sleep well.

Repeat…”

The Daily "Near You?"

Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"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

"How Easy It Seems..."

“A craven can be as brave as any man, when there is nothing to fear. And we all do our duty, when there is no cost to it. How easy it seems then, to walk the path of honor. Yet soon or late in every man’s life comes a day when it is not easy, a day when he must choose.”
- George R.R. Martin

Greg Hunter, "Lies, Nuttery & Craziness Everywhere in America – James Howard Kunstler"

"Lies, Nuttery & Craziness Everywhere in America – 
James Howard Kunstler"
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Renowned author and journalist James Howard Kunstler (JHK) has been complaining and pointing out that the American public is told one lie after another by the Lying Legacy Media (LLM), the government and the medical community. This kind of lying, according to JHK, is pure treason by all parties, from the 600 million CV19 bioweapon/vax injections, to the crumbling banking system, to the war in Ukraine. Let’s start with the genocide of the CV19vax. JHK says, “They are pretending that they didn’t cause any damage, and they are ignoring their own assembled statistics, and they don’t want to paint a realistic picture for the American public to see what the consequences were for their vaccination program. I don’t think they can suppress the reality of it that much longer. There are just too many people who know too many people who have been injured or killed by the vaccines. The basic problem is dishonesty puts you in a place of weakness, and the truth puts you in a position of strength. Eventually, if you are not being honest with yourself and the other people around you, you are going to be found out. They have to keep doubling and tripling down on narratives that are manifestly untrue, and pretty soon I think people are going to be super pissed off about how all this went down.”

With the banking crisis, JHK says the lie that everything is under control is going to be exposed too. JHK says, “When you are compelled to liquidate like Silicon Valley Bank, they are liquidating their assets below their supposed value and they become insolvent. I would imagine there is a great deal of damage waiting to express itself out there, and we haven’t seen much action in the derivatives racket so far, and that’s going to be a big deal when that happens because of the completely reckless contracts that are made. It’s really a bad bet, and the people taking the bet can’t pay off the bet, and the whole thing is really a disaster waiting to happen.”

JHK says the so-called reset is going to happen, but not the way Klause Schwab wants it to happen. All will go extremely local, and JHK says, “Social discourse will make it all much worse.”

The lies about Ukraine and the losing war started by NATO are summed up by JHK, “In retrospect, we could see why Donald Trump would want to have a phone call with Zelensky over the Biden family activities in Ukraine. The whole Ukraine portfolio is just a big bag of crap. Because of those activities, there is a war against the people, and that includes a war against Donald Trump. They are trying every way possible to shove him off the playing field. I think it is safe to say the U.S. government is not your friend.”

In closing, JHK says, “This is an extremely socially and politically perverse period of history. I grew up in the hippie period. It was quite based compared to the baseless nuttery and lunacy that this country is involved in now. The fact that there has to be any debate about drag queen story hour for children is amazing. That’s okay? Deliberately, demonstrable male imitation of a female. That’s supposed to be good for kids and not scare them? There is a uniform craziness across the culture, and people are being asked to swallow increasingly absurd propositions. That’s where we are now. We are being asked to swallow absurd ideas one after another.” There is much more in the 52-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One 
with author and journalist James Howard Kunstler.

"How It Really Is"

 

"200 Nukes Moving Now; USA Ends Pact; 2 Weeks To 'Dollar Crash'"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 3/30/23
"200 Nukes Moving Now; USA Ends Pact; 
2 Weeks To 'Dollar Crash'"
Comments here:
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Col. Douglas Macgregor Straight Calls, 3/30/23
"No More Defense Lines to Stop The Russians"
"Analysis of breaking news and in-depth discussion of current 
geopolitical events in the United States of America and the world."
Comments here:

"Banking Crackdown - Shock and Anger!"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 3/30/23
"Banking Crackdown - Shock and Anger!"
"The FDIC chairman got in front of Congress this week, and made a complete fool of himself. We are seeing so many problems with the banking system right now. What other bank is about to fail? People are furious!"
Comments here:

"Grocery Price Are Skyrocketing At Kroger! This Is Not Good!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danny, 3/30/23
"Grocery Price Are Skyrocketing At Kroger! 
This Is Not Good!"
"In today's vlog we are at Kroger, and are noticing massive price increases on groceries! This is not good as we are also seeing some empty shelves! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products, and also charging extremely high prices!"
Comments here:

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

"You're Not Ready For What's Coming! Don't Be Fooled, This Is Just Beginning"

Jeremiah Babe, 3/29/23
"You're Not Ready For What's Coming! 
Don't Be Fooled, This Is Just Beginning"
Comments here:

"Middle Class Families Can No Longer Afford Rent As Prices Hit Astronomical Levels"

Full screen recommended.
"Middle Class Families Can No Longer Afford
 Rent As Prices Hit Astronomical Levels"
By Epic Economist

"A decent, safe, and affordable home is something all Americans need to thrive. For decades, low-income families have struggled to have access to affordable rental homes, but now this is a huge problem for the middle class, too. Millions of middle-income earners can’t afford rent in major U.S. cities due to the steep rise in prices recorded since the pandemic. Without significant pay raises or government assistance, these middle-class households are being shut out from typical middle-class neighborhoods, and this is triggering a chain reaction that leads to systemic poverty and lingering inequality. In other words, housing costs are squeezing the life out of middle-class Americans.

The typical home now costs about $80,000 more than it did just two years ago, and the average rent in the U.S. is over $1,000 more expensive than in 2020. Rents are climbing an average of 3.5% annually, the study found, while middle-class renters’ incomes have declined 9% over the past decade. In most metropolitan areas across the country, the American middle class has been spending far more on housing than they can afford, researchers found. The study highlights that 21.2% of middle-class homeowners and 46.3% of middle-class renters in the United States are either moderately or severely burdened by housing costs — defined as spending more than 30% or more than 50% of their income on housing, respectively.

"Ultimately, we're in a rental affordability crisis," noted Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, a research associate with the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. Believe it or not, 15 years ago, more than two-thirds of people who rented an apartment or a single-family home in the U.S. earned less than $30,000 a year, the study shows.

Every year that passes by, it gets even harder for middle-class renters who cannot qualify for subsidized housing to find affordable apartments on the market. Renters need to earn $21.21 an hour to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment in the U.S., according to the National Low Income Housing Council, significantly more than the average national hourly wage of $16.38. This is why 51% of renters in the middle class are unable to afford a place to live in most U.S. cities.

The savings that used to be associated with the middle class have dried up in the past few years, as wage growth stagnated. Not only does this make it harder for people to stay in the middle class, but it makes coming up with high sums to rent or buy city apartments impossible. “If there aren’t enough cheaper options, it becomes a chain, with a middle-class person living in an apartment a lower-income person might have occupied, and so on,” Apartment List Senior Research Associate Sydney Bennet said. “If you miss that gap in the middle for housing, it has a chain reaction.”

And the aftermath of that is systemic poverty and an increasingly unequal America, where only those at the very top of the economic chain can own their homes and build equity through properties while the middle class is hollowed out. This isn’t only a housing and rental crisis, this is the reflection of the crumbling foundations of a broken society. And nothing that our leaders are doing is making things any better. The financial meltdown that we’re witnessing today is a reminder that more distress is coming for everyday Americans. And sadly, it looks like real estate will be the next domino to fall."
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Courting the Moon"

Full screen recommended. Beautiful!
2002, "Courting the Moon"
"This song is from our latest album, 'Hummingbird.' A Mayan legend says that the hummingbird is actually the sun in disguise, and he is trying to court a beautiful woman, who is the moon."

"A Look to the Heavens"

“What will become of these galaxies? Spiral galaxies NGC 5426 and NGC 5427 are passing dangerously close to each other, but each is likely to survive this collision. Typically when galaxies collide, a large galaxy eats a much smaller galaxy. In this case, however, the two galaxies are quite similar, each being a sprawling spiral with expansive arms and a compact core. As the galaxies advance over the next tens of millions of years, their component stars are unlikely to collide, although new stars will form in the bunching of gas caused by gravitational tides.
Close inspection of the above image taken by the 8-meter Gemini-South Telescope in Chile shows a bridge of material momentarily connecting the two giants. Known collectively as Arp 271, the interacting pair spans about 130,000 light years and lies about 90 million light-years away toward the constellation of Virgo. Recent predictions hold that our Milky Way Galaxy will undergo a similar collision with the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy in a few billion years.”

Chet Raymo, “At Home In An Infinite Universe”

“At Home In An Infinite Universe”
by Chet Raymo

“They are questions that bedeviled thinkers for thousands of years: Is the universe infinite or finite, eternal or of a finite age? It is certainly hard to imagine a universe that extends without limit in every direction, or a universe without a beginning or end. It is equally difficult to imagine a finite universe; what is beyond the edge? Or a beginning or end in time; how can something come from nothing? how can what is cease to be?

The problems are so intractable philosophically that their resolution has generally been left to the theologians, which from a philosophical (or scientific) perspective offers no solution at all. Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for proposing a philosophical resolution (an infinite universe) that offended theology.

An escape from befuddlement is provided by Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which - for example - can describe a finite universe without a boundary, as the “two-dimensional” surface of a sphere is finite and without an edge. Unfortunately, multi-dimensional curved space-time is so counterintuitive that it is difficult to get one’s head around it without mastery of the mathematics. Given a choice between the ancient myths of your local preacher and the obtuse mathematics of the physics professor, it’s not hard to guess what most folks will opt for.

I have reviewed a book by physics professor Chad Orzel called “How To Teach Relativity To Your Dog.” It’s a fun romp, and clever pedagogy, but I can’t imagine it making the best seller list, much less displacing “Heaven Is For Real.”

Meanwhile, I’m reading a meditation on infinity by physics professor Anthony Aguirre, in a collection of essays called “Future Science.” He discusses contemporary cosmological theories based on general relativity, and in particular the rehabilitation of the idea of an infinite and eternal universe, or, more precisely, that our universe might be just one of an infinity of infinite universes. He writes in conclusion: “What seems clear, however, is that infinity can no longer be safely ignored; beautifully constructed, empirically supported, self-consistent theories have brought infinity from idle curiosity to central player in contemporary cosmology. And if correct, the worldview these theories represent constitutes a perspective shift unlike any other: in comparison to the universe, we would be not just small but strictly zero. Well, I can’t imagine many folks racing to embrace that conclusion."

Oh, but wait. Aguirre adds one final sentence: “Yet here we are, contemplating – if not quite understanding – it all.”

"Few Really Ask..."

“Very few beings really seek knowledge in this world – few really ask. On the contrary, they try to wring from the unknown the answers they have already shaped in their own minds – justifications, confirmations, forms of consolation without which they can’t go on. To really ask is to open the door to a whirlwind. The answer may annihilate the question and the questioner.”
- Anne Rice, “The Vampire Lestat”