Col. Douglas Macgregor Straight Calls, 5/20/23
"Odessa and Kharkiv Fall Under Russian Control and Authority"
"Ukraine news today and in-depth discussion of
current geopolitical events in the United States of America."
Video and comments here:
o
o
o
So, we rise from the rubble...
Saturday, May 20, 2023
"We've Seen This Before"
Dan, I Allegedly 5/20/23
"We've Seen This Before"
"Don’t you have a feeling of déjà vu? We’re in very familiar territory right now. It’s just a matter of time until everyone realizes this is going to be an epic crash."
Video and comments here:
O
"Prices At Kroger Are Out Of Control! This Is Crazy! What's Coming?"
Adventures With Danno, 5/20/23
"Prices At Kroger Are Out Of Control!
This Is Crazy! What's Coming?"
"In today's vlog, we are at Kroger and are noticing some very strange price increases on groceries! It's getting rough out here as most grocery stores keep raising their prices due to inflation."
Video and comments here:
Friday, May 19, 2023
Read Online: Kahlil Gibran, “The Garden of the Prophet”
“The Garden of the Prophet”
by Kahlil Gibran
“Oftentimes we call Life bitter names, but only when we ourselves are bitter and dark. And we deem her empty and unprofitable, but only when the soul goes wandering in desolate places, and the heart is drunken with over-mindfulness of self.
Life is deep and high and distant; and though only your vast vision can reach even her feet, yet she is near; and though only the breath of your breath reaches her heart, the shadow of your shadow crosses her face, and the echo of your faintest cry becomes a spring and an autumn in her breast.
And Life is veiled and hidden, even as your greater self is hidden and veiled. Yet when Life speaks, all the winds become words; and when she speaks again, the smiles upon your lips and the tears in your eyes turn also into words. When she sings, the deaf hear and are held; and when she comes walking, the sightless behold her and are amazed and follow her in wonder and astonishment.”
Read “The Garden of The Prophet” online here:
"Believe Them..."
"When people tell you who they are, Maya Angelou famously advised, believe them. Just as important, however, when people try to tell you who you are, don’t believe them. You are the only custodian of your own integrity, and the assumptions made by those that misunderstand who you are and what you stand for reveal a great deal about them and absolutely nothing about you."
- Maria Popova
"Friends Asking You For Money; Households Are Critically Fragile"
.jpg)
Jeremiah Babe, 5/19/23
"Friends Asking You For Money;
Households Are Critically Fragile"
Video and comments here:
o
"15 Grocery Retailers Reporting Multiple Store Closings Right Now"
"15 Grocery Retailers Reporting
Multiple Store Closings Right Now"
By Epic Economist
"Americans are having some frustrating shopping experiences at grocery stores for quite a while now. With prices still reaching new record-highs, shoppers have started cutting on meat and produce, and swapping pricier purchases for frozen or canned products, according to a May survey from the Food Industry Association. The slower consumption is leading some struggling chains to cut costs wherever they can, and that oftentimes means closing underperforming locations. Trying to stay afloat, several grocers have been forced to make massive strategic shifts as they cope with difficulties like inflation, labor shortages, shipping delays, and security concerns, at a time sales and profits are going down. News of major companies like Walmart, Amazon Fresh, and more closing multiple stores permanently has been circulating on the internet over the last few months. While we already reported some of these closures in our previous videos, today, we decided to compile all the latest announcements of store shutdowns made by some of the biggest food retailers in America.
For instance, if the Albertsons-Kroger merger gets approved, by the end of the year, at least 300 Albertsons stores may be gone for good. That’s because the chain must sell locations in areas where the grocery chains overlap to try to fend off antitrust challenges to Kroger’s $25B acquisition of the supermarket chain. Earlier this year, a class-action lawsuit filed by a group of 25 US consumers argued that the merger would result in a grocery behemoth with a 36% share of the US market at a time when inflation is still gripping food prices. “If Kroger’s proposed acquisition of Albertsons is consummated, the companies’ combined power will be used to increase prices for groceries, decrease the quality of food, eliminate jobs, close stores, and offer less choice for consumers due to the overlap in geographic areas,” the lawsuit states.
Regardless of the outcome, Albertsons is now closing 26 locations along the western, northwestern, and southwestern regions of the U.S. to save costs, according to Boise Weekly. Twelve stores are located across Southern California, including Long Beach, Canyon Country, Chula Vista, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, Huntington Beach, Monrovia, Moorpark, Ontario, San Diego, Valencia, and Whittier, and eleven stores across Washington, Oregon, and Nevada, and as well as stores in western Idaho will be shut down because of underperforming sales, said spokespersons for their respective divisions, according to Orange County Register.
For many communities, the absence of their local grocery stores is going to be critical. The “Food Access Research Atlas” constructed by the USDA defines low access to healthy food related to being far from large grocery stores or supermarkets. In the last few months, grocery store shutdowns in multiple regions have turned them into food deserts. This term describes regions with a lack of supermarkets to supply local residents with fresh food and produce.
Needless to say, this greatly affects the community's food security. From fruits and veggies to milk, sugar, and more, a household with elderly or children is always in need of fresh groceries. That's why this situation is so concerning for millions of U.S. families who won't be able to purchase the supplies they need to get by every week and will be forced to travel to other cities to have access to food. This situation must be addressed swiftly, otherwise, more and more food deserts will continue to emerge all across the country."
Video and comments here:
“A Corrupt Tree Bringeth Forth Evil Fruit”
“A Corrupt Tree Bringeth Forth Evil Fruit”
By Brian Maher
“Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit,” says Matthew - “but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.”
"Today we are in transit. We lift our siege of Jekyll Island, Georgia… and take to the aerial ways. Our destination is the Maryland city of Annapolis, by way of the Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Yet before we take wing, we lower our ax upon the root of America’s corrupt money tree… and expose its evil fruit - the fiat dollar.
If you are a regular Daily Reckoning reader you are likely aware of the corruption. Yet as we have argued before: A man must occasionally recall himself to obvious truths. That is because the nose upon his face is obvious. It is so obvious he scarcely notices the nasal protuberance. It would serve him well to remember at times. We believe this is one such time.
The Dual Life of a Dollar: Is there a $20 bill nesting within your wallet? Please haul it up… This $20 bill represents an asset to you its holder. It is a meager asset in these inflationary days - yet it is an asset. It represents a legal claim upon all goods and services available within these United States. Yet this $20 bill of yours lives a coy existence, a dual existence. One aspect is seen. The other is unseen. That is because your $20 asset is at once a $20 liability.
You are aware of the asset, of the purchasing power you command. It is musculature in monetary form. But are you aware of its liability? You likely are not aware of its liability. Consider: All money in present circulation - all bills, coins, all checking and savings deposits, A through Z - was borrowed into existence. That is, all money in existence represents a debt… taken sometime… somewhere… by someone. That debt may not be your debt. Yet it is another man’s debt. This is the inner secret of the schizophrenic $20 bill you presently ponder.
Poor Andrew Jackson: Imagine poor Andy Jackson raging in his bleak Tennessee grave. Imagine how he spins and spins and spins. For this is the man who shuttered the Second Bank of the United States in 1836 - and retired the national debt for the first and only occasion in history.
Yet Old Hickory and his hawkish visage front the debt-fabricated $20 bill. That is, the poor fellow has been dragooned posthumously into the very banking system he proceeded against with such fantastic heat. It is almost as if the monetary authorities mock his memory - purposefully and intentionally. It is almost as if he has been paraded as a trophy of war, a helpless and lifeless captive. “As if” does not constitute proof of an actual doing. We harbor our suspicions nonetheless. But let it go.
Let us now ponder the staggering realities of today’s debt-based money…
$96 Trillion Into Thin Air: Recall, all money under today’s monetary “system” constitutes an expression of debt. The asset merely represents the positive face of the liability, the reverse face. We must therefore conclude, as we have concluded before: If all dollar-based debt were retired - all $96 trillion, public and private - each dollar would vanish into the nonexistence whence it came. It goes flushing into the void. Can you imagine it? Attempt the try.
Now lift your jaw from the floor. Now rediscover your footing. Now recover your wits. Here we do not speculate. We read directly from the book…
The Fed’s Open Confession: Mr. Marriner Eccles bossed the Federal Reserve in May 1941. At that time he sat down in front of the House Committee on Banking and Currency. A bewildered congressman - Patman, by name - asked this Eccles how the Federal Reserve had acquired the funds to purchase $2 billion of Treasury bonds in 1933. Our minions have fished up this exchange from the Congressional Record:
ECCLES: We created it.
PATMAN: Out of what?
ECCLES: Out of the right to issue credit money.
PATMAN: And there is nothing behind it, is there, except our government’s credit?
ECCLES: That is what our money system is. If there were no debts in our money system, there wouldn’t be any money.
“The Tragic Absurdity of Our Hopeless Situation Is Almost Incredible” Did Mr. Eccles botch the facts? He did not. Here is the credit manager of the Federal Reserve’s Atlanta outpost, Mr. Robert Hemphill: "If all the bank loans were paid, no one could have a bank deposit, and there would not be a dollar of coin or currency in circulation. This is a staggering thought. We are completely dependent on the commercial banks. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash or credit. If the banks create ample synthetic money we are prosperous; if not we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp of the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless situation is almost incredible - but there it is."
There it is indeed.
“All Money Would Disappear” Mr. G. Edward Griffin is the author of "The Creature From Jekyll Island." As we have noted these past two days: That creature is of course the Federal Reserve. And we have visited the site of its conception - its bastard conception. Here Griffin gets in back of Messieurs Eccles and Hemphill:
"It is difficult for Americans to come to grips with the fact that their total money supply is backed by nothing but debt, and it is even more mind-boggling to visualize that if everyone paid back all that was borrowed, there would be no money left in existence. That’s right, there would be not one penny in circulation - all coins and all paper currency would be returned to bank vaults - and there would be not one dollar in anyone’s checking account. In short, all money would disappear…
Every dollar that exists today, either in the form of currency, checkbook money or even credit card money - in other words, our entire money supply - exists only because it was borrowed by someone; perhaps not you, but someone. Let us now strike at the root of today’s corrupt money tree…
Don’t Forget About the Interest: A bank loans a man $10,000. He must repay the $10,000 at a future date - with a bit of interest into the bargain. Assume the $10,000 comes tethered to a 5% rate of interest. Assume further the bankman thunders at his door five years hence, calling in his loan. The debtor must hand the fellow $12,762.74 That is, the principal plus the $2,762.74 in accumulated interest. Where will this sap secure the $2,762.74 to service the interest? The larger question: Must the Federal Reserve issue increasing quantities of money to service all outstanding debt - $96 trillion in the case of the United States? Mr. Griffin:
One of the most perplexing questions associated with this process is “Where does the money come from to pay the interest?” If you borrow $10,000 from a bank at 9%, you owe $10,900. But the bank only manufactures $10,000 for the loan. It would seem, therefore, that there is no way that you - and all others with similar loans - can possibly pay off your indebtedness.
The amount of money put into circulation just isn’t enough to cover the total debt, including interest. This has led some to the conclusion that it is necessary for you to borrow the $900 for the interest, and that, in turn, leads to still more interest. The assumption is that the more we borrow, the more we have to borrow, and that debt based on fiat money is a never-ending spiral leading inexorably to more and more debt.
This is a partial truth. It is true that there is not enough money created to include the interest, but it is a fallacy that the only way to pay it back is to borrow still more. A partial truth? What is the entire truth, sir?
The Exchange Value of Labor: “The assumption fails to take into account the exchange value of labor.” Please elaborate: Let us assume that you pay back your $10,000 loan at the rate of approximately $900 per month and that about $80 of that represents interest. You realize you are hard-pressed to make your payments so you decide to take on a part-time job…
The decision then is made to have the bank’s floors waxed once a week. You respond to the ad in the paper and are hired at $80 per month to do the job. The result is that you earn the money to pay the interest on your loan, and - this is the point - the money you receive is the same money which you previously had paid. As long as you perform labor for the bank each month, the same dollars go into the bank as interest, then out the revolving door as your wages and then back into the bank as loan repayment. Just so. You serve the interest by serving your master.
Yet what if you decline to wax the bank’s floors? What if you fail to serve your master? It is not necessary that you work directly for the bank. No matter where you earn the money, its origin was a bank and its ultimate destination is a bank. The loop through which it travels can be large or small, but the fact remains all interest is paid eventually by human effort.
Modern Serfdom: What - then - are we to conclude from the foregoing? The significance of that fact is even more startling than the assumption that not enough money is created to pay back the interest. It is that the total of this human effort ultimately is for the benefit of those who create fiat money. It is a form of modern serfdom in which the great mass of society works as indentured servants to a ruling class of financial nobility.
This conclusion appalls us. Yet we hazard Mr. Griffin draws a reasonable sketch. And so we hazard this question: Shall we strike the chains of bondage from our wrists? That is, should we all repay each dollar we owe - all $96 trillion? Should we call in all money from circulation?
The question is theoretical, of course. As we have maintained before: We can no more afford to break the chains of debt than we can afford to break our necks. We are locked in. These chains will snap only when they can no longer endure the relentless weight pressing upon them. Not because we choose to snap them. That is, the chain-snapping will be imposed upon us. On that bright and glorious day, however distant, we shall finally be free… Free… without one penny to our name…"
Musical Interlude: Matt Simons, "After The Landslide"
Full screen recommended.
Matt Simons, "After The Landslide"
Oh, we're in the landslide alright...
Musical Interlude: Liquid Mind "Awakening (Cosmic Sea)"
Full screen recommended.
Liquid Mind "Awakening (Cosmic Sea)"
Be kind to yourself, savor this beautiful video...
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Point your telescope toward the high flying constellation Pegasus and you can find this expanse of Milky Way stars and distant galaxies. Centered on NGC 7814, the pretty field of view would almost be covered by a full moon. NGC 7814 is sometimes called the Little Sombrero for its resemblance to the brighter more famous M104, the Sombrero Galaxy.
Click image for larger size.
Both Sombrero and Little Sombrero are spiral galaxies seen edge-on, and both have extensive central bulges cut by a thinner disk with dust lanes in silhouette. In fact, NGC 7814 is some 40 million light-years away and an estimated 60,000 light-years across. That actually makes the Little Sombrero about the same physical size as its better known namesake, appearing to be smaller and fainter only because it is farther away. A very faint dwarf galaxy, potentially a satellite of NGC 7814, is revealed in the deep exposure just below the Little Sombrero.”
- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131025.html
"Mark Strand on Dreams: A Lyrical Love Letter to Where We Go When We Go to Sleep"
"Mark Strand on Dreams:
A Lyrical Love Letter to Where We Go When We Go to Sleep"
“Something nameless hums us into sleep…
We feel dreamed by someone else, a sleeping counterpart…”
by Maria Popova
"The mystery of dreams has always bewitched humanity, tickling art and science in equal measure. Freud was besotted with it when he laid the foundation for the study of the subject, as was his eccentric niece Tom when she illustrated that gem of a vintage children’s book about dreams. Dostoyevsky found the meaning of life in a dream, and so did Margaret Mead. Leonard Bernstein sought the solution to his sexual identity confusion and the key to the creative process in his dreams.
However detached from the reality of life dreams may seem, they affect our every waking moment and even help us regulate our negative moods. And yet, try as we might to control our dreams, we still know so very little about where we go when we slip into that nocturnal wonderland. For all the advances science has made, it still seems best left to the poets - and the best of poets only.
In one of the many masterpieces in his "Collected Poems" (public library), Pulitzer-winning poet and MacArthur “genius” Mark Strand (April 11, 1934–November 29, 2014) explores the delicate and disorienting world of dreams with unparalleled elegance. The poem is a supreme testament to Strand’s belief that it is the artist’s task to bear witness to the universe, within and without."
"Dreams"
"Trying to recall the plot
And characters we dreamed,
What life was like
Before the morning came,
We are seldom satisfied,
And even then
There is no way of knowing
If what we know is true.
Something nameless
Hums us into sleep,
Withdraws, and leaves us in
A place that seems
Always vaguely familiar.
Perhaps it is because
We take the props
And fixtures of our days
With us into the dark,
Assuring ourselves
We are still alive. And yet
Nothing here is certain;
Landscapes merge
With one another, houses
Are never where they should be,
Doors and windows
Sometimes open out
To other doors and windows,
Even the person
Who seems most like ourselves
Cannot be counted on,
For there have been
Too many times when he,
Like everything else, has done
The unexpected.
And as the night wears on,
The dim allegory of ourselves
Unfolds, and we
Feel dreamed by someone else,
A sleeping counterpart,
Who gathers in
The darkness of his person
Shades of the real world.
Nothing is clear;
We are not ever sure
If the life we live there
Belongs to us.
Each night it is the same;
Just when we’re on the verge
Of catching on,
A sense of our remoteness
Closes in, and the world
So lately seen
Gradually fades from sight.
We wake to find the sleeper
Is ourselves
And the dreamt-of is someone who did
Something we can’t quite put
Our finger on,
But which involved a life
We are always, we feel,
About to discover."
Complement the immeasurably rewarding "Collected Poems" with Strand on the heartbeat of creative work and his lyrical love letter to clouds.”
Chet Raymo, "Asperges Me, Domine "
"Asperges Me, Domine "
by Chet Raymo
"Our earliest mammalian ancestors were presumably nocturnal - to escape the predations of dinosaurs - but for most of human history we have been afraid of the dark, huddling in caves around stuttering fires, curled together in darkness like mice in a burrow. Night belonged to animals with big, dark-adapted eyes and sharp teeth, to footpads and graverobbers, to werewolves and vampires. Ironically, it was with the coming of electric illumination that it became reasonably safe to go out and about at night, even as the illumination erased the best reason to do so.
William Blake called day Earth's "blue mundane shell... a hard coating of matter that separates us from Eternity." At night we peer into infinity, awash in a myriad of stars. We creep to the door of the cave and look up into the Milky Way and catch a glimpse of divinity - everlasting, all-embracing, utterly unknowable. Night - that cone of shadow, that wizard's cap of spells and omens - is the chink in Earth's shell through which we court Ultimate Mystery the way Pyramus courted Thisbe.
Which is why, I suppose, that whenever I think of "the porch" of people who visit here, I imagine Carolina rockers on a southern summer verandah, far from city lights, Vega, Deneb and Altair swimming in the Milky Way, fireflies flickering on the lawn. At some point the conversation ceases and we simply sit, rock, and listen to the sounds of the night- the whippoorwill, the bullfrog, the cricket and the owl - and let starlight fall upon our heads like a sprinkling of holy water."
"Asperges Me, Domine"
"Wash me, Lord. Sprinkle me with hyssop and I shall be clean."
- The Catholic Mass
"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
"Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 5/19/23"
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 5/19/23
"F-16s to Ukraine/ More Aid to Ukraine?/
Zelenskyy at G7 - Tony Shaffer"
Video and comments here:
o
"Communism for the Rich"
"Communism for the Rich"
by Charles Hugh Smith
"My critics sometimes accuse me of being a communist, of all things. I must say, the irony of being accused of being a communist by many of these people is incredibly rich. That’s because the policies I advocate in my writings are far, far more “free market” than any of theirs. I find my critics hide behind the slogan of free market capitalism, while practicing something entirely different - crony capitalism.
What does it mean to be a crony capitalist? It means you don’t rely upon the free and competitive market to earn your profits. You depend instead upon government support in one form or another. Big Pharma and Big Defense are probably the most prominent examples of crony capitalism most people are familiar with. And just look at their profits over the past couple of years. How would they make out on the free and fair market without working hand-in-glove with government?
Meanwhile, the policies I advocate depend upon free people making free decisions. Mankind’s history shows that this is the way to a better tomorrow.
My Critics Doth Protest Too Much: But when I point out that "free market capitalism" in America is neither a real market nor real capitalism, those who equate any criticism of "capitalism" as proof of communist leanings are triggered. The irony is that I've spent 17 years tirelessly critiquing centralized wealth and power - the acme of communism - as the source of our moral, social and economic decay.
Another irony is that communism is absolutely thriving in America in broad daylight: The monopolies, quasi-monopolies and cartels that dominate the American economy and governance are Communism for the Rich.
The core goals and functions of communism and monopolies/cartels are identical: Snuff out unfettered markets (competition, transparent price information for all participants, etc.) and take control of all market functions…Restricting supply and controlling all regulation with the sole goals of further concentrating centralized power and maximizing steady profits (i.e. maximum greed) to benefit those who own/control the concentrated wealth and power. And of course both pump out an endless spew of propaganda about the wonderfulness of the system that benefits the few at the expense of the many.
A Private-Public Politburo: This centralized power to benefit the few at the expense of the many characterizes both communism and monopolies/cartels. There is no difference between the two other than the structures of control that eliminate competitors, regulate supply and keep prices high enough to further enrich the already-rich.
Those operating monopolies and cartels in America are in effect a private-public Politburo, a concentration of wealth that buys whatever political power is needed to increase profits and protect the monopoly from threats. What's unfettered in America is Communism for the Rich and the normalization of corruption that results from the auctioning of political power to protect monopolies and cartels. "Markets" and "capitalism" only exist on the fringes of the economy.
But the myth that America is the home of "unfettered capitalism" is extremely useful cover for the actual system, which is Communism for the Rich. And you can’t really talk about Communism for the Rich without addressing the key role central banks like the Fed play. They help make it possible, but they’d like you to think it’s “just the normal way things work.”
The Central Bank Cult: The ideal cult convinces its followers that it isn't a cult, it's simply the natural order of things. In current terms, this normalizes insane behaviors and beliefs. Sacrificing youth to appease the gods isn't a cult; it's simply the natural order of things. If we don't sacrifice youth, bad things will happen, so we have to follow the natural order of things.
Despite the lofty claims made by our rational mind, we want to hear and obey the voices of the gods. This nonrational desire is the root of cults and episodes of mass hysteria, i.e., the madness of crowds.
Humanity is in the grip of the secular cult of central banking. The cult's seers and prophets periodically emerge with arcane signs and readings, offering divinations to guide the followers. The motivation to believe the cult is the natural order of things is powerful: greed. Those who heed the oracles of the cult enrich themselves, unbelievers impoverish themselves.
Rationalists outside the cult discern the structure of the cult and its core beliefs. The cult creates credit and "money" out of thin air and distributes it to the few extremely wealthy to further expand their wealth. These few do not improve productivity or the well-being of the many; they use the cult's gifts to exploit the cult's rigged casino of speculation to maximize their private gains.
The Cult’s Core Beliefs: In other words, the cult benefits the few at the expense of the many - Communism for the Rich - while proclaiming it benefits everyone. This is of course insane. The cult's core beliefs are:
1) enriching the already-rich magically trickles down benefits to the masses, and
2) this vast enrichment of the already-wealthy is cost-free. The economy prospers with no downside or consequences other than the glorious expansion of wealth at the top and the trickle-down of sweet goodness to the masses.
This is of course insane. The costs are borne by the masses and by the socioeconomic system, which is now in thrall to a cult that has made the economy dependent on an ever-expanding credit bubble that feeds an ever-expanding asset bubble, which then enables a further expansion of credit, which then fuels ever-higher assets prices. And so on, forever, because the cult and its ever-expanding bubble are the natural order of things. If we don't sacrifice the many to benefit the few, the sun will stop rising and the Earth will be cast into endless shadow.
This is of course insane, but greed is a powerful motivation to be an ardent believer in the central banking cult. Expanding credit based on the expanding collateral of asset bubbles, each feeding the other, is held up not as insane but as a financial perpetual-motion machine, overseen and managed by the seers and prophets of the central bank cult.
Followers heeding the cult's oracles become rich, nonbelievers and skeptics become impoverished. Alas, cults and bubbles both come to an inglorious end. What seemed self-evidently true for the ages is revealed as a brief moment of self-serving delusion, supported by the immense powers of greed and the madness of crowds.
Do you hear the voices of the gods? Yes, yes, oh yes."
o
Very strong language alert!
"It's a Big Club and you ain't in it. You and I are not in the Big Club." "It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it."
- George Carlin
"How It Really Is"
.jpeg)
Oh no we haven't, not even close.
This is just beginning, and you ain't seen nuthin' yet, but you will...
"California Dreamin’"
"California Dreamin’"
Reparations, America's hard-working families and
the politicians stoking division and distrust between us all...
by Bill Bonner and Joel Bowman
Youghal, Ireland - Larry Elder’s smile sparkled with mischief. The black talk-show host was being interviewed. ‘What did he think of reparations?’ was the question. Elder laughed. “Kamala Harris is half black. Her father says his ancestor – a white man – owned slaves. So what are they going to do? Is she going to pay reparations? Or get a check? “And how about Colin Kaepernick? He was raised by a white family. Are his parents, the people who raised him, supposed to send him a check?”
We thought of our granddaughter. Should she get a check to compensate for the hurt she never felt from alleged hurters who never hurt her? She is part black. But she is also part Philippina. Surely, she should get an even bigger check for the hurt inflicted by the US army when it put down the ‘Tagalog Insurgency’ (as many as 1 million died) in 1899. And how about some reparations from the English? They sold her Scottish great-grandfather into indentured slavery (in Maryland!) in the 18th century. And they murdered and starved her Irish great-grandparents in the 17th century.
Righting the wrongs of the distant past can get messy! Where do you stop? Should American Jews get reparations from Iraq for the Babylonian Captivity?
America’s Hard-Working Families: But every day we give thanks. What luck! To be alive today, when all the wrongs are behind us. Today, we no longer do bad things. We only do good things. And since we no longer do bad things ourselves, we can focus on correcting the bad things others do – TikTok, Putin, White Supremacists, people who drive autos with internal combustion engines, and even our remote ancestors.
Yesterday, we highlighted how Ms. Yellen is eager to do a good thing – to raise the debt ceiling. It is in anticipation of the 81st ‘debt deal,’ say commentators this morning, that stocks are rising. According to their own estimates, the feds will spend roughly $60 trillion over the next 10 years. But they will only receive $40 trillion in tax revenue. That leaves a gap of $2 trillion per year, or $20 trillion total. Raising the debt ceiling will allow them to borrow the money so they can continue to do more good things for “America’s hard-working families (AHWF).”
Once again AHWF are the beneficiaries of Washington’s bounty. Every program is designed to help them in some way. If we are bombing people overseas it is a good thing - to make AHWF safer. If we are handing out free money to poor people, either at home or abroad, it is to keep the ragged ones from making trouble for AHWF. And if we are loading $20 trillion more in federal debt on their backs, that must be a good thing too; maybe it will improve their posture.
But among the many good things that our politicians propose, the promise of ‘reparations’ stands out. It is alarming to the prospective payors – AHWF – and almost grotesquely cruel to the prospective payees.
Free for Some: To set the stage… it’s a ‘white thing.’ California’s lawmakers committed the ultimate race crime; they set up their black brethren to make fools of themselves. They invited them to squabble over money they didn’t have and never were going to get. They convened a “Reparations Task Force” of 9 solid citizens – 8 of them black, one Asian – to decide how much money black Californians should get. Then, the committee decided that they…yes, they!…should get a lot of it. This was a little like asking a group of squirrels if they would like more nuts. Any appearance of impartiality or objectivity was dismissed. They wanted more. And now they were being asked ‘how much?’
First, the Task Force gave its opinion. Straight Arrow News: "California reparations task force report estimates $1.2M per Black resident." "California reparations task force released an estimate of the damage caused by the state's history of slavery and white supremacy. Then, others rushed to the microphone to say ‘that’s not enough.’ Fox: "Activists demand higher payments from California reparations task force: '$200 million' per person."
"An activist identified as Reverend Tony Pierce: "You know that the numbers should be equivocal to what an acre was back then. We were given 40, OK? We were given 40 acres. You know what that number is. You keep trying to talk about now, yet you research back to slavery and you say nothing about slavery, nothing," said Pierce. "So, the equivocal number from the 1860s for 40 acres to today is $200 million for each and every African-American."
But it wasn’t just about money. The Daily Mail: "California reparations task force says black people should be given PRIORITY in renting and buying." "California's reparations task force has said that black people should be given priority in the renting and buying market - and demanded that a state agency should have the veto power over real estate decisions to 'lessen racial segregation.'"
Black Thing, White Thing: By this stage, word had gotten out. It was like a game show on TV. The contestants were meant to scream, jump up and down and generally make spectacles of themselves. But they were all going to be winners. Pretty soon, others wanted to get into the act. The Daily Mail stays on the story: "Striking Oakland teachers return to class in exchange for 'Black reparations task force,' salary raises." "An Oakland school district teachers’ union strike that left over 34,000 students without instruction for nearly two weeks finally ended after the district agreed to pay teachers more and start a Black reparations task force. Around 3,000 educators and staff from Oakland Unified School District returned to work Tuesday after striking a tentative deal with the district to raise teacher salaries, help homeless Black students and create the reparations task force."
$1.2 million…$200 million…priority in real estate …help for homeless Black students…the purpose of the reparations was to salve a hurt. What else would it take to make the pain go away? The Daily Mail…"'Squad' member calls for $14 TRILLION in federal reparations for descendants of slaves." "A number of House Democrats led by Rep. Cori Bush introduced a resolution Thursday to reignite a push for federal reparations that would amount to over half the U.S. GDP."
"The $14 trillion figure is in line with the findings of Duke University professor and economist William 'Sandy' Darity, who estimates the wealth gap is in excess of $300,000 per person and there are roughly 40 million black people whose ancestors were enslaved in the U.S. Asked about the funding source of such a program, Bush suggested the nation reduce its spending abroad and on defense."
Sure, why not? If ‘Sandy’ says so. Besides, he’s got a point. The ‘defense’ budget is largely a waste of money. And think of what fun it would be to hand out $300,000 checks to each person in West Baltimore. But wait. Here comes the ‘white thing’….the old rug pull.
Gavin Newsom Declines Support For Reparation Checks For Black Residents: California Governor, Gavin Newsom, has declined to support the reparation checks for Black residents recommended by his reparations task force. Newsom said that the reparations, which were a way to mend the country’s history of slavery and racism, “were more than just cash payments”… The show had gotten out of control. Even by Newsom’s standards, it had become too absurd. It was appalling to the spectators and degrading to those who were being played by the politicians. ‘Tis a pity. There’s so much more good left to be done."
o
Joel’s Note: Meanwhile, here in Europe, a continent that has had its share of racial struggles and tensions throughout the ages, it seems the only color that really matters today is the color of your money.
Your editor-at-large is in Florence, Italy at the moment as part of an extended “Junior Grand Tour” with dear wife and daughter. (We’re an “away-schooling” family… a bit like the “home-schoolers” you’ve heard about… only, without the home.) Looking around the streets and cafés, you wouldn’t know the world may be heading into a recession… that debt levels (federal, state, local… and individual) are at historic highs… or that those $300,000 checks Bill mentioned haven’t exactly cleared yet.
(Crowds around the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.
The line for tickets stretched around the block. Source: Joel)
Tourists are back, baby, “revenge traveling” after their respective governments locked them up and frightened the bejesus out of them for the better part of three years. Michelin star restaurants are packed. Lines to the main attractions – the Uffizi Gallery, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Accademia Gallery (where stands Michelangelo's David) stretch around the block. And the high end retailers along the Ponte Vecchio – where you can pick up an antique Patek Philippe timepiece for about what one of America’s hard-working families (AHWF) earns in a year – are crammed with eager buyers.
And while there are certainly many Americans (as evidenced by the prevalence of Birkenstocks and North Face gear)… and plenty of Australians (lots of grown men in shorts above the knees)… and no shortage of Germans, Englishmen and Irishmen (bars are full to overflowing)… the crowd is fairly represented by a veritable babelfish of international language…
Reuters has some numbers for us: "ROME, May 19 (Reuters) - The travel industry was worth 100 billion euros ($110.08 billion) or 6.2% of Italian output in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic brought the sector into its knees. Add the wider income generated by tourist-related business and the figure more than doubles to 13%.
In Greece, tourism accounts for no less than one-fifth of gross domestic product. The number of foreign tourists visiting Italy was up 70.5% in the first two months of the year compared to the same period in 2022, according to the national statistics agency. It added that if the trend continues, Italy could match or surpass pre-pandemic levels."
Annual inflation here on the continent is still around 6.9%. One gets the feeling people are spending money today not because they expect to earn a whole lot more tomorrow, but because it may be worth a whole lot less. We’ll see…
o
The Mamas & the Papas, "California Dreamin'"
"The Next Shoe To Drop"
Dan, I Allegedly 5/19/23
"The Next Shoe To Drop"
"We are seeing that insurance companies are in major trouble. People are having their insurance premiums go up two and three times. Now, we are hearing about insurance companies that will not pay out on claims."
Video and comments here:
"Shortage Update: Shopping At Target For Other Options!"
Adventures With Danno, 5/19/23
"Shortage Update:
Shopping At Target For Other Options!"
"In today's vlog, we are at Target to seek out other options for groceries, as we are noticing a significant amount of food shortages across the country and around the world!"
Video and comments here:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)