Wednesday, November 1, 2023

"Confessions of a Sworn Sinner"

"Confessions of a Sworn Sinner"
From weapons of mass distraction to the sturm 
and drang of US politics and plenty more besides...
by Bill Bonner and Joel Bowman

Dublin, Ireland - "We are recounting the story of the 21st century, as told by a sinner. Yes, according to many Dear Readers, we have erred and strayed like a lost lamb. We failed to see how the internet and dot.com companies would make us all rich. And then, we wouldn’t stand up and cheer when the Bush administration announced its invasion of Iraq.

If you don’t get fully on-board with the latest popular delirium, you risk getting labeled a ‘denier’…a traitor…or an anti-Semite. In 2002, for example, everybody knew Saddam Hussein was a son-of-a-bitch. And he had ‘weapons of mass destruction;’ everybody said so. But he didn’t. And it wasn’t the first time the American public was misled by its own government and its propaganda press.

At the beginning of WWI, Americans were told that the Huns were spearing Belgian babies with their bayonets, raping nuns en masse (so to speak), and cutting off hands by the thousands. Naturally, the public was quickly riled up against all things German. But when a commission was sent to look into these charges, it could find no one missing a hand and no credible reports of rape or infanticide.

Always in Doubt: Likewise, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, outrage in the US reached a fever pitch as a young girl reported that she had seen Iraqi soldiers take premature babies out of incubators and throw them on the floor to die. It later turned out that it wasn’t true. The Kuwait government had hired US consultant firm Hill & Knowlton to spin the story for the benefit of the US media. The propaganda press went to work with it, providing a reason to bring the US into the war; again, mission accomplished.

Last month we were told that terrorists had beheaded Israeli babies. Joe Biden confirmed it. The Times of Israel: "Netanyahu’s office releases horrifying images of infants murdered by Hamas. The PMO said the photos released were some of what was shown earlier Thursday to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, adding that they are “difficult-to-see images of babies murdered and burned by the monsters of Hamas. Hamas are not human. Hamas is ISIS.”

What actually happened? Reuters said the photos showed no beheaded babies. Forensic experts noted that when you blow things up, you also blow off heads as well as arms and legs. Snopes.com concludes a report on the subject: "In part, many questions about the violence remain unanswered because journalists have limited access to many parts of Israel and Palestine due to safety threats and military brigades.

Among the few who have gotten access, however, was Oren Ziv, a reporter with the left-leaning Israeli news organization +972 Magazine. He shared on X a different account of what he heard from soldiers. Of the reports about decapitated infants, he said, "we didn't see any evidence of this, and the army spokesperson or commanders also didn't mention any such incidents." What to think? What to believe?

Sacred Elephants: In the Trump years, many Dear Readers were bent out of shape by our failure to see how great the president was. They thought he was making America great again; he had said so himself. But whatever the obiter dicta of a windy prima donna, Trump’s policies were opposite to those we needed. America had problems. But they weren’t problems that could be solved by more firepower and more debt.

And then came Joe Biden. For all the sturm and drang of US politics, the remarkable thing was how little policies actually changed. Every branch of government continued more or less as was before, unmolested by the new regime. Military spending went up – no matter who was in power. And deficits (despite a pause after the Covid Panic receded) increased.

In 2022, the US finally goaded Russia into a war with the Ukraine…and then blocked a negotiated peace between the two of them. This year, it turned its attention to the Eastern Mediterranean, where it ‘stands with Israel’, and resists calls for a ceasefire. In the view of the US mainstream press – and many of our Dear Readers – the US was merely fulfilling its role as leader of the free world. But the dots were not lining up for us. It looked more like the degenerate empire taking another big step towards a disgraceful end – inflation and war, besmirched by war crimes.

By this time, the US had been on the downslope for nearly a quarter of a century. People had learned their parts. Members of the House no longer pretended to balance the budget. They didn’t bother with budgets at all. They simply lurched from one debt ceiling…and one stopgap spending bill…to the next. Senators, meanwhile, no longer debated the pros and cons of our overseas garrisons, but ceded their responsibilities to an all-powerful executive elite. The Biden Administration – aided and abetted by lobbyists, donors, and the media – made the decisions.

Hootin’ and Howlin’: Generals returned from their failures - in Iraq or Afghanistan - and were treated as military sages. Come each artillery barrage, they went before the cameras to explain why more firepower, more spending…and more meddling...were in the national interest. Then, they collected their checks from Raytheon or General Dynamics…and awaited the next flare up.

The role of the masses was merely to stand up, hoot and howl in approval. Everyone played his role as best he could. Even the cynics and naysayers have their parts to play. Marcus Tullius Cicero in ancient Rome, opposed the Empire, with its far-flung wars abroad and concentrated power in the emperor at home. There was another sinner; he made enemies of the rich and powerful by insisting on sticking with traditional republican values. For his pains, he was exiled and later executed – and beheaded! Someone should read the script. It doesn’t have a happy ending."

Joel’s Note: "Speaking of unhappy endings, billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller has warned that the federal government’s reckless spending may lead to some tough decisions i the coming years, including potentially making deep cuts to Social Security. “We are spending like drunken sailors,” Druckenmiller told CNBC’s Squawk Box. “Don’t forget pre-Covid ... the federal government was 20% of GDP in spending. Now it’s 25% of GDP. ... My father told me ‘if you’re in a hole, stop digging Stan.’”

Druckenmiller suggested entitlement payments, which make up about half of the federal budget, might find themselves on the chopping block after years of profligacy by those in Washington DC. “I want to go after entitlements. It’s where the money is,” he said. “This generation has got to take a cut ... right now current seniors, you’re going to get 100 cents on the dollar. Future seniors looking at five or 10 cents on the dollar, is it not unreasonable for us to go to 85 or 90 cents on the dollar?”

Druckenmiller was on the rampage earlier this week, too, making the case against Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for not rolling over more debt at lower rates when she had the chance. Said Druckenmiller: “I literally think if you go back to Alexander Hamilton, it is the biggest blunder in the history of the Treasury...I have no idea why she hasn’t been called on this. She has no right to still be in that job.”

Ouchie! According to the Congressional Budget Office, annual government spending will be $10 trillion by 2033. (It was $6.3 trillion last year). That’s $3 trillion dollar deficits… with interest payments alone weighing in at around 7% of GDP… or 144% of all discretionary spending. As our own macro-analyst, Dan Denning puts it…“We'll be spending all our money on our maxed out credit card, and borrowing the rest for wars, social security, and medicare. But who are we going to borrow from? China?”

Now, if only some past empire had exhausted itself through military misadventure abroad… and reckless spending at home… from which we might be able to learn a thing or two. Anyone? Anyone? (Bueller…? Bueller…?)"

"Dollar Tree Grocery Items That Are Great To Stock Up On!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 11/1/23
"Dollar Tree Grocery Items 
That Are Great To Stock Up On!"
Comments here:

Gregory Mannarino,, "Prepare For A Credit Freeze, The System Is Coming Apart Faster!"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 11/1/23
"Prepare For A Credit Freeze, 
The System Is Coming Apart Faster!"
Comments here:

Dan, I Allegedly, "This Will Be a November to Remember"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly 11/1/23
"This Will Be a November to Remember"
"So much is happening during the month of November 2023. The real estate industry is about to change forever. We are seeing the fact that the FED is losing control of inflation and business will forever be changed."
Comments here:

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Jeremiah Babe, "People Are One Paycheck Away From Disaster"

Jeremiah Babe, 10/31/23
"People Are One Paycheck Away From Disaster; 
Banks In Trouble Get Out; FED Will Crash It All"
Comments here:

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years away, toward the constellation Leo. Relatively bright in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is easily visible in small telescopes but often overlooked by amateur imagers in favor of other Leo spiral galaxies, like M66 and M65. It's hard to overlook in this colorful cosmic portrait, though. Spanning some 50,000 light-years the galaxy sports characteristic patchy, irregular spiral arms laced with dust, pink star forming regions, and clusters of young, blue stars.
Remarkably, this deep image also finds NGC 3521 embedded in gigantic bubble-like shells. The shells are likely tidal debris, streams of stars torn from satellite galaxies that have undergone mergers with NGC 3521 in the distant past."

"Promise Me..."

 

“More to Come…”

“More to Come…”
By Jeff Thomas

“Years ago, when visiting the US, I’d often watch late night television. Just prior to each interval, in order to ensure that viewers would sit through the adverts, the show would run a panel that said, “More to Come.” This, of course, was effective, as the viewer would be anticipating that the best part of the program would come in a later segment and would be more likely to continue watching.

Today, we’re looking at the reverse of that situation. The program we’re watching is The Decline and Fall of the American Empire and those who recognize the decline are viewing with ever-increasing trepidation, the developments that are unfolding there. Even those of us who are not American and don’t live there are glued to our screens, as we’re aware that were viewing the early stages of a collapse that promises to be the greatest social, political and economic event that we’re likely to see in our lifetimes.

Following World War Two, the US was in a boom beyond anything the world had ever seen. The Americans came to the war late, after having built up their manufacturing capacity for war dramatically, at the expense of the Allied powers in Europe. And they did this, essentially for free. It was paid for with the gold from the vaults of the European allies. After the war, Europe was trashed and it would take decades for them to get on their feet again. Meanwhile, the US had been going flat out in production, had first-rate modern factories and, most important, held the majority of the world’s gold.

The 1944 Bretton Woods Agreement ensured that the US dollar would become the world’s default currency and, later, become the petrodollar, ensuring American hegemony over much of the rest of the world. There can be no doubt that, in the first decades after the war, the US had an amazing run and was, arguably, one of the best places to live in the world.

But, unfortunately, as so often happens, American political and industry leaders became full of themselves and couldn’t resist going out on limb to gain even more for themselves. In so doing, they turned the US from the world’s foremost creditor nation into the world’s foremost debtor nation. Worse, when they reached this unprecedented point, they opted to just keep going.

Worse still, it would appear that today’s leaders are aware that the mother of all bubbles that they’ve created is going to pop sometime in the near future, as they’re preparing themselves for the mother of all pushbacks from the populace when the crashes come.

The FBI, CIA, NSA, and a host of other authorities have either been created or expanded, allowing the creation of the world’s foremost police state. And, beginning in 2001 with the Patriot Act, have created a host of laws to assign authority to any of those bodies to exert ever-increasing control over the population. Capital controls, migration controls, higher taxes, confiscation of deposits in banks and quite a bit more have been passed in legislation, including the ability to declare the US in its entirely to be a “battle zone,” through which habeas corpus and the court system can be suspended nationally.

Yipes. (Or, blimey, depending on where you’re from.) At this point, any American who’s paying attention could be forgiven if he’s genuinely frightened at where his government is going with all this.

And so, we come back to the title of this essay – “More to Come.” A regular flow of proposed laws is now coming down the pipeline that would have been considered the stuff of a bad movie a few decades ago, but is now only too real and threatening to the freedoms of the average citizen. Instead of “more to come” meaning that the best is still on the way, the opposite would appear to be the case, and the worst is here, now.

But, how can this be, we ask ourselves. Surely those in power – the politicians, the industrialists, the central bankers, etc., must have seen this coming and, if that’s so, surely they’d have done something to stop it. Well, historically, that’s never been the case. Those in the greatest positions of power have never suddenly reversed an empire when it was about to self-destruct. What they tend to do instead is to guard against becoming casualties of the disaster they’ve created.

So, is that what’s happening this time around? In a word, yes.

The Bernie Madoffs of the world go to jail. However, those who commit the same fraudulent acts from within the system never go to jail. For example, if the heads of a bank commit massive fraud, the bank pays an enormous fine. The fine is then paid by the stockholders. And should the fine be large enough to crash the bank, the bankers can appeal to the government to bail them out, as they’re “too big to fail.” Thus, the taxpayers pick up the bill.

At this point, what we’re witnessing is an era in which laws are regularly being passed to ensure that the creators of the bubble will get a “Get Out of Jail Free” card and others will sustain the losses.

This is the very essence of what happens in an endgame run. Just as a hitman who places a bomb in a building makes his exit before the bomb can go off, the creators of bubbles safeguard themselves before the economic bomb can go off. They have no intention of being around to live with the resultant devastation that they’ve put into play.

Pete Townshend wrote prophetically, “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” in 1971, in which he hopes that the latest gang of leaders will be better than the last. In the final line of the song, he grimly announces, “Meet the new boss – same as the old boss.”

And, in fact, this is the usual outcome. Perhaps the reason why empires collapse much in the same way, time and again, and their citizens consistently fail to see it coming, is that empires general last a long time before collapsing. The Venetian Republic lasted 200 years. The Spanish Empire lasted just over 120 years. Holland lasted 130 years, Russia – 200, the UK, just under 120. And it’s been much the same for the others. In every case, they last longer than a single lifetime, so it’s rare that any individual sees more than one empire collapse in his own lifetime and doesn’t understand that empires don’t end with a whimper. They end with a crescendo, not unlike the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

We are witnessing the collapse of the world’s foremost empire. This is not mere conjecture. The US has all the symptoms that we’re now coming close to the final stages. And, if history plays out yet again, as it has repeatedly, we can expect that, in the lead-up to the collapse, the controls by governments will become increasingly draconian. As we consider, “more to come,” we should be braced for the likelihood that the worst controls are yet to be revealed.”

"Beware of a False Flag To Kick-Start World War 3"

"Beware of a False Flag To Kick-Start World War 3"
by Nick Giambruno

"A false flag is an incident designed to deceive people into thinking someone else actually carried it out. It’s like the scene in the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High. There’s a character who plays on the high school football team and has a fancy sports car. Later, his little brother’s friend accidentally trashes this car. Terrified at how the big brother could respond, they devise a clever plan to shift the blame on someone else. They make it look like the rival football team vandalized the car, decorating it in the rival team’s colors and slogans. The plan works. The big brother is tricked into thinking that a rival football team trashed his car instead of the little brother.

This is the essence of a false flag. Governments and intelligence services use the same tactic to nefarious effect. Take the Mukden Incident in 1931. The Japanese fabricated an attack to justify the invasion of Manchuria. In 1939, before invading Poland, Nazi Germany staged an attack. They made the Poles look like the attackers.

There was the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964. That’s when North Vietnam supposedly fired torpedoes at a US warship. The torpedoes missed, and there was no damage. But that made no difference…President Lyndon Johnson interrupted national television later that evening. In a fiery speech, he rallied the American people against this attack on the US military. It was the official start of the Vietnam War… one of the biggest disasters in US history. And it all started with the "attack" in the Gulf of Tonkin. Except the torpedo attack never happened. It was a false pretext for entering the Vietnam War.

Fast forward to 2014, to the sniper attacks in Kiev, Ukraine. It catalyzed the overthrow of the pro-Russian government. But it’s believed to be a false flag attack. Then there was the 2017 chemical weapons attack in Syria. Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh claims it was a false flag attack intended to get the US directly involved in the Syrian war.

So why am I telling you about this now? There are two reasons. First, so you understand this devious tactic and are not fooled by it. False flag attacks are often the pretexts to launch big wars. Second, because the situation today in the Middle East is ripe for a false flag incident to cause a war with Iran, that could escalate and ignite a global war.

USS Liberty Redux? It was the deadliest attack on an American ship since World War 2…It was a clear, sunny day on June 8, 1967 - during the Six-Day War - and the USS Liberty was 13 miles off the northern coast of the Sinai Peninsula in international waters. Israeli aircraft made several low-altitude fly-overs of the ship, which was flying a large US flag from the bridge and was clearly marked "USS Liberty." There was no mistaking it for anything but a US ship.

Then, at around 2 PM, the Israelis attacked with fighter jets, which dropped bombs and napalm and then strafed the Liberty’s deck. The initial attack disabled the ship’s communication system, making it impossible to broadcast a distress signal. After the fighter jets left, Israeli torpedo boats launched their torpedoes at the Liberty, with one delivering a direct and devastating hit.

Around the same time, several Israeli helicopters loaded with soldiers in full combat gear hovered over the Liberty. The Israelis then machine-gunned the lifeboats which had been launched to try to save the wounded.

The attack was fast and furious. Many believe the intent was to sink the ship and leave no survivors. That is exactly what would have happened had it not been for the heroic efforts of one sailor, who risked machine gun fire to repair the Liberty’s antenna so they could send a distress signal out.

The Israelis intercepted the distress signal and called off the attack. In the end, the attack killed 34 US sailors and wounded a further 174 - about 67% of the entire crew. Israel claimed it was a case of mistaken identity, and they mistook the USS Liberty for an Egyptian vessel.

The US government more or less accepted Israel’s explanation, swept the incident under the rug, and threatened survivors with court martial if they ever spoke about it. However, as detailed in the authoritative book, "The Attack on the Liberty," many sailors who survived the USS Liberty attack find the official explanation implausible and ridiculous. They believe it was a deliberate attack intended to sink the ship and kill the entire crew.

Presuming the survivors are correct, nobody knows Israel’s true motivation in attacking the USS Liberty. Some believe it was a failed false flag attack. The idea was to sink the ship, leaving no survivors, and then pin the blame on Egypt to force the US to enter the Six-Day War on Israel’s side.

The reason I am bringing up the story of the USS Liberty is that an eerily similar situation is unfolding right now. Following Hamas’ recent attack out of the Gaza Strip, the Middle East is on the brink of the largest regional war in decades. The US has sent an armada of ships to the Eastern Mediterranean, not far from where the USS Liberty incident occurred 56 years ago. The situation is ripe for a false flag incident that forces the US into the war, which will undoubtedly bring in Iran and its allies. However, it could expand beyond the Middle East because Russia and China stand behind Iran and its allies. In short, the Middle East is on the precipice of a large regional war that could escalate to a global war.

World War 3 is a possibility. All that is needed to kick it all off is a catalyzing event, just like how other big wars started. A false flag attack on a US ship in the Eastern Mediterranean would do the trick. Unfortunately, most people have no idea how close we are to a catastrophe of historical proportions, let alone how to prepare... The coming crisis could be much worse, much longer, and very different than what we’ve seen since World War 2. Countless millions throughout history were wiped out as big powers collided."

The Daily "Near You?"

Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. Thanks for stopping by!

"15 Shortages That Will Hit Grocery Retailers Next Month"

Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 10/31/23
"15 Shortages That Will Hit Grocery Retailers Next Month"

"Are you ready for the shortages that are about to hit grocery stores in November and beyond? The production of many beloved snacks, meats, nuts, fruits, and other key staples has suffered immense challenges over the past twelve months, and retailers are scrambling to source popular items and find new suppliers as seasonal demand starts picking up. For example, the food industry is rebounding from the outbreak of avian influenza that pushed egg prices up by more than 40% and caused major chicken shortages that hit U.S. restaurants and supermarkets. In recent years, millions of eggs were destroyed in an effort to control the contagion, but millions of chickens that were supposed to grow to enter the market in 2023 are simply not there. Even though some farmers and ranchers say the worst is seemingly over, that doesn’t mean things came back to normal. Food processors are focusing on the production of more profitable chicken products due to the limited supply, leaving low-margin products behind. Consequently, popular snacks like chicken nuggets and chicken fingers haven’t been produced at the same scale as prior years, and shoppers are already reporting stockouts. It might take years before a recovery occurs, which will force everyone, from food makers to the end consumer, to continue to adapt.

Similarly, tofu has become widely popular among Americans now that a shift to plant-based foods has begun. Given its versatility, and nutritional value, many vegetarians and vegans can’t live without it, though carnivores can enjoy the protein too. But experts say the global soybean shortage is about to hit tofu production really hard. The Crop Production report issued by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service forecasts a 10% decline in tofu production during the current fiscal year compared to last year’s numbers. Even worse, production declined to 4.10 billion bushels in the third quarter, compared to 15.1 billion bushels in the same period in 2018. Crop yields are getting smaller year after year all around the world, in several countries, shortages of soybean-based products are already being reported. For example, in Canada, tofu shortages are happening in many cities, with Quebec stores almost entirely sold out of the item. It’s only a matter of time before this hits American grocers as well, which will likely force those on a plant-based diet to find substitutes.

Without a doubt, American consumers are being left with fewer options to choose from. This year, we've witnessed a period of relative calm on supply chains compared to a few years ago, but that doesn't mean that problems have been fixed, or that reserves were finally restored. In fact, grocers are now running out of several foods, and consumers are coping with price hikes and limited options at stores, a trend that will only intensify as we move closer to the holiday celebrations. Nowadays, changing consumption behavior is no longer a matter of want but of need. Some substitutions will be imposed on us, while others may only be temporary. In any case, this is far from ideal, and the fact that our domestic agricultural and livestock production is falling across the board is a major sign of trouble for all of us. Our food systems are extremely vulnerable at this moment, and many more products could disappear from shelves in the coming months.

If you haven't restocked your pantry yet, this might be your last chance before retail inventories shrink even further over the next couple of months. To help you prepare for the chaos ahead, we prepared a list of essential items that are going to become impossible to find this winter, so make sure you watch this video until the end to discover which shortages will impact you the most."
Comments here:

"World War III Update, 10/31/23"

Canadian Prepper, 10/31/23
"Alert! New Country Enters War; Dimona Plutonium Plant; 
USA Threatens Iran; Egypt Mobilizing"
"Conflict is spreading at breakneck speed. 
The Apocalypse is a given at this point."
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
CBS News, 10/31/23
"Israeli Airstrike Hits Gaza Refugee Camp"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Hindustan Times, 10/31/23
"Hezbollah Attacks Israel In North After Houthis Strikes South;
 Iran-Backed Militias Refuse To Budge"
Iran-backed militias continue to attack Israel amid the Gaza ground offensive. Hezbollah has launched missiles at Israeli defence posts in the north. The IDF said missiles were fired at two key positions on the northern border. The IDF stated that their troops are responding with artillery shelling at the sources of missile fire. The attacks followed Israel's strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon."
Comments here: 
o
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 10/31/23
"Scott Ritter, Dangers to the US of Israeli Invasions"
Comments here:
o
Gregory Mannarino, PM 10/31/23
"Declaration Of War: 
The Destruction Of American And The World"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Redacted, 10/30/23
"Scott Ritter, "Israel Is Committing 
SUICIDE If They Do This In Egypt"
"Newly leaked documents show Israel's plan for pushing 2.3 million Palestinians out of Gaza and into Egypt. Former U.N. Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter says this would be a war crime and Egypt won't stand for it. Further Ritter says this would be suicide for Israel if it continues down this path."
Comments here:

"The End of 'Luxurious Languor'”

"The End of 'Luxurious Languor'”
by Brian Maher

“'Luxurious languor'…We hazard the epoch of luxurious languor - 18th-century philosopher David Hume’s delicious expression - is closing. It acquired its existence through the post-2008 imposition of artificially reduced interest rates. Rates at or near zero reigned for an entire decade and longer. Credit was essentially… costless.

The United States economy got accustomed to it - even dependent on it. Projects that would prove juiceless at higher rates of interest may yield juice at zero rates of interest. And so they were undertaken at zero rates of interest. This unnatural epoch fattened a particular group of the languorously luxuriant…

Nothing Changes but the Date: In 1752 the abovesaid Hume authored an essay, “Of Public Credit” by title. From which: "In this unnatural state of society, the only persons, who possess any revenue beyond the immediate effects of their industry, are the stock-holders, who draw almost all the rent of the land and houses, besides the produce of all the customs and excises.

These are men, who have no connexions with the state, who can enjoy their revenue in any part of the globe in which they chuse to reside, who will naturally bury themselves in the capital or in great cities, and who will sink into the lethargy of a stupid and pampered luxury… Adieu to all ideas of nobility, gentry and family."

Switch 1752 for 2012 or 2022. Are they not the same? Yet the reign of zero rates is ended. The reign of luxurious languor will likely end with it. Not today perhaps. Perhaps not even tomorrow or the tomorrow after that. Yet end it will.

This week yields on the bellwether 10-year Treasury note scaled 5%. They have since receded some… as the daily and tides recede routinely from their heights. Yet in the natural cycle the tide reacquires its height. As with nature, so with markets. We believe yields will once again attain the 5% tidal mark. They will likely exceed it. And the sand structures erected in low tide - under luxurious languor - will go washing away under high tide. We shall label this phase “non-luxurious rigor.”

Time and Tide Claim All Ultimately: These structures remain largely intact. Yet the tides run to lagging cycles. And expiring debt - acquired at the low tide of zero rates - must be refinanced under higher tide. At this point sandy foundations begin to give way… and luxury is not nearly so langourous. It is perilous. It is non-luxurious rigor.

Mr. Dan Amoss is Jim Rickards’ senior market analyst. He is an authentic market crackerjack with a skull ear to ear and chin to crown with knowledge. From whom: "Corporate debt is about $40 trillion. The longer yields stay at 5% or higher, the more corporations will have to refinance at that rate. It’s going to have a depressing effect on the economy. There’s a huge difference between an economy that has a zero cost of capital, and one that has a 5% cost of capital. It changes everything."

It puts a period to the languorously luxurious epoch. That is what it does. The business reduces ultimately to fundamental mathematics - and its iron laws.

There’s a Limit: Take a 200-pound man. Place 100 pounds upon his back. If he is a somewhat stout and hearty fellow, this burden he can withstand. It is merely half his weight. Now place 200 pounds upon his back - his own bodyweight. He may quake some. He may perspire some. Yet if he is a man of normal construction, if his muscles have not atrophied under languorously luxuriant living, he can absorb the load. He can even stagger ahead some. Not much perhaps - yet some.

Now load an additional 50 pounds upon his back. You have exceeded his capacity. The additional 25% of his weight proves too much. He can retain the vertical, the burden will not buckle him or bring him heaping down. Yet he is unable to advance. He can merely stand where he is.

Now you understand the economy of the United States. Ample evidence indicates that an economy can withstand a 90% debt-to GDP ratio. Once that ratio exceeds 90% the economy proceeds to strain and stagger. The United States debt-to-GDP ratio runs presently to 125%, roughly. It is the normal 200-pound man with 250 pounds upon its back. It can stand, it is true. Yet it cannot walk. It is overloaded.

“More Is Not More”: Mr. Matthew Piepenburg is a money man at Matterhorn Asset Management. Here he cites the abovesaid Hume: "The folks at the big banks… who never bothered to study economics (or frankly basic history) forgot to tell voters and investors that beneath the last [14-plus] years of “luxury” and “recovery” lies a market secret (and economic virus) of which Hume warned in 1752…

Specifically, Hume said this of debt: “More is not more.” That is, more debt does not create long-term growth; in fact, it mathematically destroys it. To confirm this market secret, one only needs to look at the history of what happens when government debt exceeds 50% of its income, or GDP. Once that ratio hits 50% of GDP, this is bad. And when that ratio hits 90%, the economy loses one-third of its growth rate.
"
No exceptions exist, says this Piepenburg fellow. That is because the dilemma reduces to mathematical equation. It is science: "This is not just true some of the time. It’s true all of the time, because economics, when understood, is not an art; it’s a science. Debt, when overextended, always kills growth. As of today, U.S. government debt to GDP, at [124%], is well past the point of no return."

We fear he is correct. Again, the mathematics is the mathematics and the science is the science. We refer not to “the science” of Dr. Fauci - but to the demonstrable science - to the authentic science. And the science says a 124% debt-to-GDP ratio is economically lethal.

Nixon Started It: When did the United States begin to flout the mathematical laws? When did its debt addiction and ultimate descent into languorous luxury commence? In 1971 says Mr. Piepenburg: "[It all] went downhill when Nixon famously declared, “I guess we’re all Keynesians now,” meaning we all ignored the market secret and became enamored by (addicted to) debt."

Why? Because debt is fun. It buys a lot of shopping sprees and “luxurious languor,” from Wall Street to Main Street to Pennsylvania Avenue.  But Hume’s market secret reminds us that any nation that doesn’t produce and earn as much as it spends is heading mathematically for a real moment of “uh-oh.”

Let us then conclude with Mr. Hume himself: "Either the nation must destroy public credit, or public credit will destroy the nation. It is impossible that they can both subsist… The entire economic and financial apparatus is constructed upon public credit. The nation will not destroy it - not voluntarily that is. Thus option one goes emptying into the hellbox. Only one option remains. And that is option two…"

"How It Really Is"

 

"We're so freakin' doomed!" - The Mogambo Guru

"March 9, 2022... Will Live In Infamy"

"March 9, 2022... Will Live In Infamy"
By Jim Rickards

"Where were you on March 9, 2022, when President Biden signed the death warrant on American freedom? On that day, in a hushed ceremony at the White House without the approval of Congress, the states or the American people, Biden signed into law Executive Order 14067. Buried in his order are a few paragraphs, titled Section 4. The language in Section 4 makes Order 14067 the most treacherous act by a sitting president in the history of our republic. That’s because Section 4 sets the stage for legal government surveillance of all U.S. citizens, total control over your bank accounts and purchases and the ability to silence all dissenting voices for good.

In this new war on freedom, they aren’t coming for your guns. No, they’re thinking much bigger than that. They’re coming for your money. And it’s already started. These efforts are stepping up and taking on a nefarious tone that also involves surveillance and loss of our freedoms under the guise of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), or Biden Bucks as I call them.

If you had asked me about this two years ago, I would have said the U.S. is taking a rather studious approach to it. It was too important to not be involved in, but the U.S. did not seem to be in any hurry to actually implement it.

There were studies, and I would have said my estimate at the time would have been, “OK, China has it. Europe, maybe another year. The U.S. might be three or four years down the road because the dollar’s too important. They don’t want to race into it. They want to get it right. There are a lot of ways to mess it up.”

But that’s changed under Joe Biden. Biden has now fast-tracked this thing. We’ve moved pretty quickly from what I would call a research phase to an implementation phase. So I give it the name Biden Bucks, because Joe Biden will prove to have been responsible for actually implementing this at a very quick tempo in the United States.

NOT Cryptocurrencies: CBDCs are digital money, not cryptocurrencies. The differences between CBDCs and crypto are important. Cryptocurrencies are recorded on a blockchain, which is a particular type of ledger that shows every transaction ever made in each currency. Cryptos also claim to offer anonymity and decentralization, which are said to be virtues but are actually fatal flaws because the “anonymity” is a greater cover for crime and fraud. I worked with the U.S. Strategic Command to unravel crypto ownership when Isis was using digital tokens to finance its caliphate in 2015–2016. It’s not easy to pierce the veil, but it can be done.

By contrast, CBDCs do not use blockchain; they have a digital ledger accounting system, but it’s not a blockchain. They’re the opposite of decentralized; they are highly centralized under the control of a single issuer, usually a central bank. There’s no anonymity. The issuer knows every account holder and every transaction - that’s the whole idea.

CBDCs are promoted on the idea that transactions are faster, cheaper and more secure when all money is digital and controlled by a government. Compared with credit cards, debit cards, wire transfers, Venmo and PayPal, that may be true. Those systems have multiple intermediaries and layers of fees, so CBDCs may actually be able to streamline payments and make the payment system more efficient.

But while the government positions CBDCs as a benefit to consumers in performing transactions, including faster settlements, better security, ease of use and transaction costs that are lower than with cash, it’s also crucial to think through the implications of the technology and how it could negatively affect the economy and our individual rights.

The Death of Privacy: The first part of the hidden agenda is to eliminate cash. If you’re the government and you want the central bank digital currency to succeed, you have to eliminate cash because it’s your competition. Cash is anonymous. If you pay for something with cash, the purchase can’t be directly tied to you. That’s not true of Biden Bucks. The government knows exactly what you’re buying, to whom you’re making donations and (by extension) what you’re reading based on which books you buy, etc.

That means we’ve come very far down the road toward thought control, censorship and selective law enforcement against political enemies. It’s a government that looks like the state ruled by Big Brother in George Orwell’s "Nineteen Eighty-Four."

The government might want to freeze your account, they might want to seize your assets, they might want to put an expiration date on your money. Imagine you get paid and the government says, “OK, you got the money. Nice job, but that money is going to evaporate or disappear if you don’t spend it in the next six months.” How’s that for a stimulus program?

None of these things is possible if there’s cash around. But if you get rid of cash and force everyone into a digital system, then you can do these kinds of things. That means fiscal policy can actually be dictated by Biden Bucks. With total control of your money, the government can conduct fiscal policy at will.

What if the government wanted to stimulate the economy and increase the amount of consumer spending? They could simply send you a letter that states, for example, “You must spend $200 in the next 30 days or we will take $100 out of your account as a penalty.” As most citizens will not want to risk losing $100, they will spend the amount requested and create stimulus in the economy as the government had wanted.

This could also work in the opposite direction. Say the government wanted to cool down the economy and not have as much money in circulation. They could encourage savings by requesting a certain balance in your account be kept and not spent. If you went under that set balance, a penalty would be triggered.

Private Banks Are Pushing CBDCs: All that being said, the digital takeover of the financial system is not an all-or-nothing event, and it will happen in stages and not all at once. When the CBDCs are finally rolled out, it may be a bit of an anticlimax if private companies have already eliminated cash and invaded privacy on their own.

For example, the Italian bank Intesa SanPaolo has begun forcing customers to use an all-digital mobile phone service with no ability for customers to visit a branch or interact with a human bank official. This is exactly what the world of CBDCs will be like except that a private bank will be doing the dirty work and not waiting for a government mandate. The CBDC effort in Europe will inevitably involve the European Central Bank (ECB) since they are the issuer of the euro and will be in charge of the digital ledger of transactions.

Still, private banks are not waiting for the ECB and are laying the groundwork today for a world without cash or human bankers. All that’s left is a digital ledger and total surveillance of everything you do.

Again, the endgame for CBDCs would closely resemble George Orwell’s dystopian "Nineteen Eighty-Four." It would be a world of negative interest rates, forced tax collection, government confiscation, account freezes and constant surveillance. You might not be able to fight back easily in the world of Biden Bucks, but it can be done. There is one nondigital, nonhackable, nontraceable form of money you can still use. It’s called gold (and silver). I urge you to get your hands on some while you still can."

Bill Bonner, "Curses and Calumnies"

Thomas Cole, "The Course of Empire, Destruction"
"Curses and Calumnies"
Yes, there are patterns to life. Cycles. Stories with beginnings, climaxes, and 
endings. We all play our roles. Even​ the ‘greatest story ever told’ had its extras.
by Bill Bonner

Youghal, Ireland​​​ - "From a**hole to anti-semite, the 21st century explained in curses and calumnies. And those are just the ‘A’s​!​ Over the years, the name calling comes in waves. We try to connect the dots. We describe what we see. Some people don’t like it.

The dot.com fantasy began to evaporate in March, 2000. The internet was a great success, of course. But it did not lead to greater prosperity for most people. Today, the average person is said to spend seven hours a day looking at an electronic screen. Most of it, we believe, is time wasted.

Then came 9/11. It showed that the great empire – the US at the height of its glory – was remarkably vulnerable. A small group of (mostly) Saudis, on a limited budget, launched a spectacular attack on the heart of American capitalism. The US had no way to retaliate against the terrorists. Its blood was up…with nowhere to go. The attackers were dead. The US had no Gaza. So, it attacked Iraq, which had nothing to do with 9/11.

One of the most visible supporters of the Iraq invasion was ​New York Times​ columnist Tom Friedman. Ten years after the Iraq invasion, Charlie Rose on NPR asked Friedman, in effect, what was the point? Here is his reply: "What they [Islamic extremists] needed to see was American boys and girls going house to house- from Basra to Baghdad - and basically saying: 'Which part of this sentence don't you understand?: You don't think we care about our open society? You think this [terrorism] fantasy [you have] - we're just gonna let it grow?"

Well, suck. on. this. That, Charlie, was what this war was about. We coulda hit Saudi Arabia...​We coulda hit Pakistan. We hit Iraq because we could. In 2003, the empire was losing its mojo. Like a middle-aged man who has an affair, it had to show that it could still rattle windows and bury children in rubble. But it was expensive. The total cost of the ‘War on Terror’ was $8 trillion. Coincidentally, that was the amount that the Fed ‘printed’ since 1999. And thus was the next crisis set in motion.

Yes, there are patterns to life. Cycles. Stories with beginnings, climaxes, and endings. We all play our roles. Even​ the ‘greatest story ever told’ had its extras. What would Christianity be without the ​crucifixion​​ and the glorious resurrection? ​And for that you needed a mob. Pontius Pilate stood as judge over Jesus. “I find no guilt in this man,” he reported. But the mob wanted blood. “Crucify him, crucify him,” they demanded.

People always come to think what they need to think when they need to think it. They need to play their parts. They need to follow the script. By the early 2000s, the fever of war and inflation was upon the land. Under cover of a ‘national emergency’ all resistance gave way…and the dollars rolled off the printing press.

Following 9/11, the Fed cut 500 basis points off its key lending rate. Americans were urged to ‘spend, spend, spend’ to support the economy. The feds even funded a “cash for clunkers’ program to boost auto sales.

But what Americans bought most eagerly were houses. Some bought them to live in. Some bought them to ‘flip.’ And by 2007, the Fed’s ultra-low rates had created another bubble, this one in housing. Buyers paid too much; mortgages couldn’t be paid. That was an easy call: the real estate bubble was going to pop. Many people said confidently that ‘real estate never goes down,’ and dismissed us as cranks or wet-blankets. But some were angry. Here’s Dan:

I was working on 'The Housing Report' in 2005…. That turned into an alert we published that was titled (with understatement) "The Total Destruction of the US Housing Market." This was BEFORE the huge increase in adjustable rate mortgages, interest-only mortgages, and all the subprime fraud that followed. But even then we could see the writing on the wall.

I got a few calls to do radio interviews on it. Most hosts confused or disinterested. But I got ambushed on one interview. The host said I ought to be ashamed for alarming and panicking the public without any proof and that housing was a safe investment and it was disgraceful etc.  Soon, families were walking away from their overpriced houses, dropping the keys through the letter slot (and sometimes leaving the water running). Mortgage finance companies were going broke. Four million people lost their homes.

Then, after the failure of Lehman Bros…and a big drop in the stock market, the Fed went to work…proving once again that there is no calamity that it can’t make worse. Another great emergency! Too much credit had caused too much debt. So, what was the Fed’s response? More credit - ​ a zero rate policy that was the law of the land for the next twelve years.

The picture was becoming clearer and clearer. The US was acting like a banana republic in-the-making, a sh*thole country with too much debt and an incompetent, parasitic elite. But it was also a great empire, financing its far-flung operations on credit…which​ was bound to end in inflation.

By 2016 the whole War on Terror had flopped. Heartland citizens had now spent 36 years trying to keep their heads above water. More and more people saw the nation in decline. It was then that an out-of-left-field presidential candidate admitted that the nation was slipping and pledged to ‘make America great again.’ People wanted to believe that Mr. Trump would do it. He was the messiah they had been waiting for. But the picture we were looking at was very different from what many people wanted to see. The difference was jarring and upsetting. It led to the biggest wave of Dear Reader disaffection that we had ever seen. And they weren’t especially nice about it. “You old fossil…you don’t know what the f** you’re talking about,” they pointed out.

During Mr. Trump’s four years in office, federal debt grew faster than any time in history, with the biggest financial deficits ever…while GDP growth slowed to its lowest since the Great Depression. Yet Mr. Trump vetoed no spending bills. He demanded no balanced budget from Congress. He closed no foreign bases nor ended any of America’s woebegone military adventures. He pushed through a major tax cut, but made no budget cuts to offset the lost revenue. He presided over the Covid Panic lockdowns…and the Great Stimmie Giveaways…and urged the Fed to lower rates even further.

And his trade war was a flop, as everyone knew it would be. On Mr. Trump’s watch, the swamp grew deeper. The nation grew weaker. And the working millions – the people Mr. Trump had ​pledged​​ to help - went deeper in debt than ever before.

But wait…there’s more. The late, degenerate empire was now declining faster than ever.. Joe Biden picked up where Donald Trump left off. Inflation was on the rise. More stimmies. More giveaways. More sanctions. And two new wars! Stay tuned​..​."

Dan, I Allegedly, "We Are Drowning In Debt"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly AM 10/31/23
"We Are Drowning In Debt"
"Globally, the world is in massive debt. It’s just getting worse. 
Plus, we hear about another cyber attack from the one and only Ace Hardware."
Comments here:

Gregory Mannarino, "Alert! The U.S. Treasury Is Officially Bankrupt! Will Borrow One Trillion $ From The FED"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 10/31/23
"Alert! The U.S. Treasury Is Officially Bankrupt! 
Will Borrow One Trillion $ From The FED"
Comments here:

"Target Is Crashing To The Ground, More Stores Are Now Getting Wiped Out"

Full screen recommended.
The Atlantis Report, AM 10/31/30
"Target Is Crashing To The Ground, 
More Stores Are Now Getting Wiped Out"
"Target is experiencing a severe crisis that is threatening to wipe out its existence. Sadly, it doesn't seem like there’s so much that can be done to avert the situation. As this mega-retailer goes down in a heavy fall, several other stores are losing the battle against the prevailing stormy winds as well. The end is looming."
Comments here:

Adventures With Danno, "Frustrating Trip To Meijer! Grocery Prices Are Getting Worse!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, AM 10/31/23
"Frustrating Trip To Meijer! 
Grocery Prices Are Getting Worse!"
"In today's vlog, we are at Meijer and are noticing some very frustrating prices on groceries. Sales of regular priced items are even getting overwhelming. We have to buy the sales as we see them to even have a chance to save money on food these days!"
Comments here:

Canadian Prepper, "Civic Defense Alert- 'Be Ready By December 1st', Mobilization"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 10/30/23
"Civic Defense Alert- 
'Be Ready By December 1st', Mobilization"
Comments here:

Monday, October 30, 2023

Canadian Prepper, "A Wise Man's Warning About What's About To Happen"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 10/30/23
"A Wise Man's Warning About What's About To Happen"
Comments here:
o
Check out our first interview here 

Check out Joels website, and get the book "Strategic Relocation" 

"McDonald's Mac Prices Go Insane; It's Time For War, Stock Market Loves It; Stores Go On Lockdown"

Jeremiah Babe, 10/30/233
"McDonald's Mac Prices Go Insane; 
It's Time For War, Stock Market Loves It; Stores Go On Lockdown"
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: Michael Jackson, "Earth Song"

Full screen recommended.
Michael Jackson, "Earth Song"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Close to the Great Bear (Ursa Major) and surrounded by the stars of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici), this celestial wonder was discovered in 1781 by the metric French astronomer Pierre Mechain. Later, it was added to the catalog of his friend and colleague Charles Messier as M106. Modern deep telescopic views reveal it to be an island universe - a spiral galaxy around 30 thousand light-years across located only about 21 million light-years beyond the stars of the Milky Way. 
Along with a bright central core, this stunning galaxy portrait, a composite of image data from amateur and professional telescopes, highlights youthful blue star clusters and reddish stellar nurseries tracing the galaxy's spiral arms. It also shows off remarkable reddish jets of glowing hydrogen gas. In addition to small companion galaxy NGC 4248 at bottom right, background galaxies can be found scattered throughout the frame. M106, also known as NGC 4258, is a nearby example of the Seyfert class of active galaxies, seen across the spectrum from radio to X-rays. Active galaxies are powered by matter falling into a massive central black hole.”

"The Motive..."

"All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves."
- Blaise Pascal

Chet Raymo, “The Sea Grows Old In It”

“The Sea Grows Old In It”
by Chet Raymo

“The poet, like the electric [lightning] rod, must reach from a point nearer to the sky than all surrounding objects down to the earth, and down to the dark wet soil, or neither is of use. The poet must not only converse with pure thought, but he must demonstrate it almost to the senses. His words must be pictures, his verses must be spheres and cubes, to be seen, and smelled and handled.” 
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Ah, Mr. Emerson. This seems about as good a description of poetry as one is likely to find. I love the image. Not a hand reaching up to grasp the hand of Zeus, the hurler of bolts, but merely a pointed rod that reaches higher than any surrounding objects. A pen-point, scratching the firmament. Not a conductor reaching down to the earth, but deeper, into the wet inkpot of the soul.

Not lofty thoughts, airy philosophies, gnostic arcana. Rather, ideas that come wrapped in the stuff of the senses. Ideas that must be unwrapped the way you’d peel an orange, or pry open an oyster, or stir up from the bottom of a bowl of soup. The electric fire of the heavens captured and stored in the Leyden jar of physical self.

Take, for example, Marianne Moore’s “The Fish”, a poem that has been endlessly analyzed without ever giving up its secrets. Anyone who stands on that rocky shore with the poet, looking into the wave-washed chasm - the sea as fluid as breath, as hard as a chisel- takes away a lesson as profound as any one might learn in school, perhaps without being able to articulate exactly what the lesson is. The experience is simply there, to be seen, smelled, handled, in the weave and wave of animal bodies, in the intricate rhyme and syllabication of the poem. Truth- crow-blue, ink-bespattered, hatcheted, defiant.

I’d go further. I’d say that Emerson’s description of poetry can be equally applied to science, or to any human attempt to attract the spark of Zeus. One must lift one’s rod beyond the scratch and tumble of the everyday, while keeping its foot buried in the dark wet soil of lived experience.”
“The Fish”

“Wade through black jade.
Of the crow-blue mussel-shells, one keeps
adjusting the ash-heaps;
opening and shutting itself like an injured fan.
The barnacles which encrust the side of the wave,
cannot hide there for the submerged shafts of the sun,
split like spun glass,
move themselves with spotlight swiftness into the crevices -
in and out, illuminating
The turquoise sea of bodies.

The water drives a wedge of iron through the iron edge of the cliff;
whereupon the stars, pink rice-grains, ink-
bespattered jelly fish, crabs like green lilies,
and submarine toadstools, slide each on the other.

All external marks of abuse are present on this defiant edifice -
all the physical features of accident -
lack of cornice, dynamite grooves, burns, and hatchet strokes,
these things stand out on it;
the chasm-side is dead.
Repeated evidence has proved that it can live
on what can not revive its youth.
The sea grows old in it."

- Marianne Moore

The Daily "Near You?"

Rogers, Arkansas, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Col. Douglas Macgregor, "Bombshell Intel on Ukraine and Israel!"

Col. Douglas Macgregor, 10/30/23
"Bombshell Intel on Ukraine and Israel!"
Considerations regarding Israel's diplomatic
 capabilities amid heightened emotions in the region.

"With Stephen Gardner. Colonel Douglas Macgregor gives a news update on the Ukraine Russia war and the Isreal Palestine conflict with Stephen Gardner. Incidents in Russia involving Israeli travelers met by a group allegedly hostile to Jews, sparking worries about potential sleeper cells formed by displaced Arabs in various countries. This story ended up being a lie. Belarus President Lukashenko's call to cease fighting in Ukraine, raising questions about his stance regarding Putin's interests and whether it's a betrayal or wise observation. Speculation on Putin's health and its impact on the war in Ukraine, with conflicting reports on his well-being. Questions about U.S. intelligence support for Israel, concerns about funding multiple wars, and whether the Treasury Secretary's statement reflects confidence in financial support or is merely bluffing. The Israeli Defense Forces' decision for a slower ground attack on Hamas in Gaza, prompting discussions about the strategy's appropriateness.

Analysis of potential interventions by Turkey and Jordan in the Israel-Gaza conflict and Ukraine's challenges in maintaining alliances amid multiple fronts. Assessment of potential threats to Israel, including the perceived danger posed by the Turkish military. The recent altercation between a U.S. B-52 bomber and a Chinese fighter jet and the motivations behind such encounters, raising questions of intimidation and provocation between the two nations. Reports of Chinese warships in the Persian Gulf, prompting speculation about whether their presence is related to safeguarding interests or aimed at intimidating Israel."
Comments here:

Redacted, "Warning! Middle East Set To Explode As Gaza Invasion Unfolds"

Full screen recommended.
Redacted, 10/30/23
"Warning! Middle East Set To Explode 
As Gaza Invasion Unfolds; US Airstrikes"
"Israel says it's bombed Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the US is launching renewed airstrikes in Syria. And Turkey threatens to declare war on Israel. Are we heading for regional war? Or are we already there? Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter is here to talk about the latest developments."
Comments here:

How It Tragically Really Is For Far Too Many"