Running 'Cause I Can't Fly 2

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

"Global Debt Bubble Of $2.3 Quadrillion"

Full screen recommended.

The Good Ship "World Economy" meets the perfect

storm of the $2.3 QUADRILLION derivatives wave.

"Global Debt Bubble Of $2.3 Quadrillion"

by Egon Von Greyerz

"As I have outlined in many articles, these towers mentioned above have been instrumental in creating a global debt bubble of $300 trillion plus derivatives and unfunded liabilities of around $2 quadrillion, most of which will turn into debt in the next decade or less. So even if the world can avoid a major nuclear war, it is likely to suffer massive repercussions from the financial calamity coming next. As Gandhi said: “There is sufficiency in the world for Man's need but not for his greed.”

To create $2.3 quadrillion of global liabilities has nothing to do with man’s need but only with the greed of a few at the expense of mankind. When the nuclear financial bubble bursts we will see an implosion of asset prices in real terms by 75-90% as I have outlined in many articles like here.

In my article “In The End The $ Goes To Zero And The Us Defaults” , I also explain that “there is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion” as von Mises stated.

So even if the world survives the threat of a nuclear war, a collapse of the financial system is absolutely inevitable. The greed and the adoration of the golden calf that some parts of the world have practiced in the last 50 years, will not go unpunished. This major transformation coming will be like a financial nuclear event. After a difficult transition, the world will not only come out of it with a much sounder foundation but also based on much better human values than currently."

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

Full screen recommended.

"US Debt of $30 Trillion Visualized in Stacks of Physical Cash"

For conceptualizing the amount of debt being discussed. This was 2 years ago when the debt was only $30 trillion. Now it's $34,350 trillion, and about to explode higher. Try to imagine $2.5 QUADRILLION of derivatives, an impossibility really, inconceivable. As the glorious Mogambo Guru said, "We're so freakin' doomed!" Oh, we are...

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Derivatives Time Bomb -

Is YOUR Bank On This List?"

by Hal Turner

For years there has been much talk about how "Derivatives" are a gigantic problem, and if Derivatives Markets collapse, it is the end of the financial world as we know it. We looked at Bank exposure to "Derivatives" and below is a list that will likely frighten you. US Banks are on the hook for two Quadrillion dollars, in "Derivatives." Is **YOUR** bank on this list? If it is, ask yourself "If they LOST all this money, would MY money still be safe in this bank?" Act accordingly.

Below is the list of United States banks and how much exposure they have to "Derivatives." Two quadrillion dollars is the total notional value of derivative contracts off-balance sheet. Need collateral. It’s notional. Not sustainable. Triffins dilemma. Dollar shortage. More collateral. But from where?

Of course, net notional value is completely different than directional risk. Just seeing these numbers does NOT indicate how much the bank itself is on-the-hook for. Moreover, there is still value in the underlying commodities for many of these derivatives. People that think these are all bilaterally netted (Hedged) and those people are partially correct. But that bilateral netting will lead to the complete collapse of equities markets.

The numbers are utterly staggering and logic dictates the banks with the highest exposure, have the most to lose. Being that derivatives are interest rate sensitive, for most of these banks, it’s a doomsday scenario.

The majority of people don’t understand monetary inflation let alone derivatives. So think of it like this: Derivatives are IOU’s backed by other IOU’s. Hustling fast money by selling chickens before they hatch, 5 generations in advance, hoping all the eggs hatch because the money was already spent on fees for a loan to pay interest on credit card debt.

Below is a graphic known as Exeter's Pyramid. It shows financial risk from the safest, GOLD; to the least safe: Derivatives.

Banks Ranked by Derivatives: The following is a ranking of all banks in the United States in terms of "Derivatives". This comparison is based on data reported on 2022-06-30.

View complete, shocking, list here:

- https://halturnerradioshow.com/

○

● "Parasitic Derivatives: $1.5 – 2.4 Quadrillion Dollars,

Too Big to Understand”“

"US Debt Clock"

So, if it's truly hopeless, and it is, then why bother?

If you were facing a firing squad, and we all are...

wouldn't you at least want to know why?

And who stood you against the wall? I would...

“Societal Collapse”

“Societal Collapse”

by Hardscrabble Farmer

“Anyone interested in understanding the mechanics of human history must first and foremost understand the cycles of Nature and the nature of living things. There exists a balance in every closed system; creation and dissolution, growth and decay, life and death. There is no escape from this dynamic, no means by which one can exist without the other. Sometimes societies ascend, but eventually, over time, they collapse.

For a very long time America has benefited from exploiting the reserves of other nations – their labor, their resources, and their environments in a form of cultural strip mining. It has given the appearance of a sustainable system that required no effort to store surpluses or to build reserves for the future. There has been a perpetual live for the moment feel to our experience that was based on such illusory systems as credit and fiat.

These things are not real. They are manifest realities, things that exist only because a critical mass of people agree to believe in them rather than what is reflected by actuality. When such time occurs that a large enough number of people abandon their participation in that system, reality rushes in to the void left behind.

A large part of what we are seeing – as described to us by experts or media – is occult in nature, hidden not by design or subterfuge, but due to the ignorance or stupidity of the mass of men. They no longer recognize that a large part of what is taking place on the streets of cities like Portland and Minneapolis is simply a mating ritual for a generation that was so atomized and dissolute that they had no opportunity to make real life connections with the opposite sex except through electronic devices. Living beings cannot - despite the assurances of the Musks and Weils - exist by proxy.

They must eat, sleep, perform some activity during their waking hours, seek companionship, etc. These drives can be sublimated or suppressed either by societal controls or chemical dependencies, but they cannot be removed from our core drive. This is what happens when humans are thwarted from fulfilling their animal destinies – the drives of their particular species. If you eliminate the family, you do not stop fornication. If you eradicate healthy foods and a connection to its production, you do not eliminate hunger. Thus the dramatic rise in obesity and the ubiquity of pornography.

Everything exists in context, there is no way to eliminate the void left behind in a fatherless home without a corresponding flow of the feminine. A mind that has no reason will seek to replace it with an equal measure of emotion.

The Western Cultural experience that gained prominence and near global hegemony over the past several centuries is in terminal decline, accelerated by the opportunistic interference of competing cultural spheres, but predominantly by its own senescence. We are, in short, spent. What we are seeing is not a political or ideological struggle – again, manifest realities – but the natural process of a cultural expiration. The West is dying and with it all of the ideals and symbols that were attached to its rise.

Just as an elderly family member in their last days makes a point to give away their possessions, America is passing its treasures on; freedom of speech, the iconic symbols of Manifest Destiny like the statues of its heroes, even its own birthright to the rising of a new cultural expression, one that is less concerned with things like honor, nobility, truth and justice. None of those things exist in Nature, but rather are created and used like iron tools to achieve an end. Now that its energy is spent they serve no purpose, especially to the multitudes of others who share a far more dynamic and exuberant expression of collective identity.

This is a natural event, no different from a forest fire, but one which applies to the human species specifically. This is how we clear the ground for whatever is to replace us and we will serve as its fertilizer.”

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

"A Wise Man Once Said..."

“A wise man once said you can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it. What he meant is nothing comes without a price. So before you go into battle, you better decide how much you’re willing to lose. Too often, going after what feels good means letting go of what you know is right, and letting someone in means abandoning the walls you’ve spent a lifetime building. Of course, the toughest sacrifices are the ones we don’t see coming, when we don’t have time to come up with a strategy to pick a side or to measure the potential loss. When that happens, when the battle chooses us and not the other way around, that’s when the sacrifice can turn out to be more than we can bear.”

- “Dr. Meredith Grey”, “Grey’s Anatomy"

"How It Really Is"

"The Future..."

Canadian Prepper, "Russia Moving Nuclear Weapons, NATO Entering Ukraine"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 2/28/24

"Russia Moving Nuclear Weapons,

NATO Entering Ukraine"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "AM/PM 2/28/24"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/28/24

"Prepare Yourself! Be Ready!

Things Are Going From Very Bad To Much Worse Rapidly"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gregory Mannarino, PM 2/28/24

"Your Path To Serfdom! You Are Being

Forced Into Accepting Neo-Feudalism"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

John Wilder, "Kardashians And The Cult Of Growth"

"Kardashians And The Cult Of Growth"

by John Wilder

“The economy grew at an annualized rate of 4.9% in the third quarter of 2023.” And my response: so what? There is a Cult of Growth in the world. In the United States, at least, that growth was literally in the DNA of the young country – there was lots of space and it was only filled with some pesky Indians who didn’t have a lot of resistance to smallpox or lead, some buffalo, no zoning, and lots of empty land to build Blockbuster Video® stores.

So, off my ancestors went. The idea was simple – fill the country from sea to sea with farms and businesses, eventually mines and mills and railroads and factories and highways. No one really planned it, and there weren’t economists reporting on unemployment figures to Rutherford B. Hayes.

The growth that the United States experienced was amazing, and it was real. People built those farms and businesses and mines and railroads and factories and highways. That sort of growth allowed the creation of amazing wealth and prosperity because it was enduring and built upon itself. In those decades of growth, the United States experienced not diminishing returns but increasing returns as the steel mills fed the oil boom which fed the creation of the automotive industry and interstates.

Add in a few thousand nuclear weapons, and this growth of actual productivity and wealth production allowed the country to achieve tremendous national prosperity during a time of relative safety. Some would maintain that this prosperity peaked in 1973, but when you look at the relative availability of exceedingly cheap “stuff” – it was probably later than that. Perhaps a good case could be made for the 1980s when Blockbuster Videos™ roamed the land like a great majestic beast, spewing properly rewound videotapes and Raisinets® to all. Regardless of when that exact date is, it is likely past.

What was once achievable on a single income now requires (in many cases) two incomes. People of the past always thought that new labor-saving devices would accrue benefits to the worker, and we’d see a two- or three-day work week. Instead, we see people working more hours for less (relative) pay.

Why is that? I mean, the economy grew, right? Yes, it did. But the way the economy grew, fueled by illegal aliens contributed to lower wages. The argument could be made that that the economic activity, the growth from these added workers helped everyone. Well, no. Illegals are certainly a net negative when everything is accounted for – welfare, roads, schools, medical care, voting GloboLeft, and Kardashian body hair.

And the “growth” that we saw in many cases was the productive bit of the economy being hollowed out and shipped off overseas. Why? Because regulation increased in the United States (it never goes down) and it was easier to start and run a factory in Malasia than it is in Maine. And if iMegaCorp® can ship the factory over and increase corporate profits by 2%, they’ll do it.

Why? They’re owned by the people who make bad growth. What’s bad growth? Well, the financial sector. It should be set up not as a casino or a place where the businesses make money selling money. Growth is not always good. And it’s not always desirable. Let’s take an example: if I decided I wanted to gain a pound of weight next week, the healthy way to do it would be to put on a pound of muscle through exercise. But the easy way to put on a pound would be to pound some beers and milk shakes.

The United States could do the same – we could increase the size of the economy by producing more and better cars or computers or flat panel displays, or bulldozers. Or, we could increase the size of the economy by ChaseCitiFargo™ charging extra fees on overdrafts and GoldmanBlackRock© buying a company, loading it up with debt that it can’t pay, and then selling it piecemeal for a 15% profit. One of these makes a more productive society. The other is the equivalent of two people selling a house back and forth for 10% more each time and talking about all the wealth that they created.

So, not all growth is good, and not all increased profit is increased wealth. One economy can make stuff, the other just makes magical made-up profits. I’ve made the argument for some time that China’s economy is fine. It is. They know how to make stuff, so they are fundamentally more stable than the United States because the growth in China wasn’t in financial shenanigans, it was in productive stuff.

Does China have all sorts of debt? Yes, yes they do. Have they produced a lot of suspect crap in the past, especially for internal consumption? Yes, yes they have, and probably still do. Doesn’t matter. Their economy isn’t based on “growth” that occurs only on paper, and only due to paper even though people smoke in China to get fresh air. They don’t worship the Cult of Growth. Do I want to live there? Nope. Again, there’s good news – this system can’t last, so it won’t. The ride, however may be bumpy . . . as we get to rebuild it – on healthy growth this time."

- https://wilderwealthywise.com/

"They Want You To Starve And Be Poor, People Can't Survive On Mickey Mouse Jobs; Bank Closures Soar"

Jeremiah Babe, 2/27/24

"They Want You To Starve And Be Poor, People Can't

Survive On Mickey Mouse Jobs; Bank Closures Soar"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Greg Hunter, "Entering a Global Great Depression"

"Entering a Global Great Depression"

by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Economic analyst and financial writer David Morgan has gone against the majority in the past with predictions that seemed unbelievable at the time. One prediction last year is the Fed not cutting interest rates in 2023. The Fed didn’t, and Morgan is still predicting there will be no Fed interest rate cut anytime soon. Now, with a record high stock market, Morgan is predicting “We are entering into a global depression the likes of which the world has never seen.” The warning signs are many as Morgan explains, “When we enter a depression, people cannot keep up with inflation. So, they work even harder or more hours to try to make ends meet.”

Another sign, says Morgan, is all the bankrupt businesses that thrive on disposable income such as “Gold’s Gym, Neman Marcus, Hertz, JC Penny, GNC, Pier One, Belk’s founded in 1888, Revlon, David’s Bridal and Bed, Bath and Beyond. That is just a few, and that is the real economy. What you see on that list of bankrupt stores primarily is disposable income. That is a sure sign of a depression. This is a clear, concise and accurate picture of the truth. You don’t have to tell this to the girl with three jobs. She knows what is going on.”

Other signs of a coming depression include “stress over money, and this is the number one thing people are stressing about today,” according to Morgan. In the age of money printing and unpayable debt, there is going to be an end, and the end, according to Morgan, has never been closer than today. Morgan points out, “Money is usually the root cause of stress. I have dedicated my work to inform everybody of what is coming and tell everybody what the difference is between money and a currency and what happens at the end of these great inflations. There is ‘nothing new under the sun.’ We have all been there and done that, but a great depression has never been global before. This is why the system is hinged on the viability of the US dollar, what supercedes it and what moves next.”

Morgan says other signs include, “increasing war, trade barriers, such as sanctions, transportation /supply chain problems such as sinking ships in the Red Sea, and a much lower standard of living.” So, these are signs of a global great depression? Morgan says, “Correct. If you survive the destruction of the old system, then you have the New World Order, which is pushing one world government, one global currency and, in time, one world religion. That’s the direction it is going, but there is a lot of push-back. I would not say we are losing, but I would not say we are winning either. I want to win, and I want freedom for everyone.”

Morgan says the dollar will hold together for now and predicts, “It will be the most trusted asset (behind gold and silver) until it blows up. The dollar will remain quite strong, but you will know we are getting near the end when gold will be increasing as the dollar is increasing. The dollar’s value looks strong, but gold is going to be going up at the same time.”

In closing, Morgan says, “I am sure the entire world is getting ready to dive into a global great depression, and that is the way I see it. The globalists are telling you ‘you will own nothing and you will be happy.’ They are warning you and letting you know the direction they plan on going.” There is much more in the 46-minute interview.

- https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One on One with David Morgan, founder of “The Morgan Report,” and producer of the upcoming documentary film called “Silver Sunrise”:

- https://rumble.com/

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Musical Interlude: 2002, "The End Is a Beginning"

Full screen recommended.

2002, "The End Is a Beginning"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"What's happening at the center of the Trifid Nebula? Three prominent dust lanes that give the Trifid its name all come together. Mountains of opaque dust appear near the bottom, while other dark filaments of dust are visible threaded throughout the nebula. A single massive star visible near the center causes much of the Trifid's glow. The Trifid, cataloged as M20, is only about 300,000 years old, making it among the youngest emission nebulas known.

The star forming nebula lies about 9,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Archer (Sagittarius). The region pictured here spans about 10 light years. The featured image is a composite with luminance taken from an image by the 8.2-m ground-based Subaru Telescope, detail provided by the 2.4-m orbiting Hubble Space Telescope, color data provided by Martin Pugh and image assembly and processing provided by Robert Gendler."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

"Oh Yeah..."

"When life hands you a lemon, say

"Oh yeah, I like lemons. What else you got?"

- Henry Rollins

Free Download: Henry Miller, "Tropic Of Cancer"

“The monstrous thing is not that men have created roses out of this dung heap, but that, for some reason or other, they should want roses. For some reason or other man looks for the miracle, and to accomplish it he will wade through blood. He will debauch himself with ideas, he will reduce himself to a shadow if for only one second of his life he can close his eyes to the hideousness of reality. Everything is endured – disgrace, humiliation, poverty, war, crime, ennui – in the belief that overnight something will occur, a miracle, which will render life tolerable. And all the while a meter is running inside and there is no hand that can reach in there and shut it off.

All the while someone is eating the bread of life and drinking the wine, some dirty fat cockroach of a priest who hides away in the cellar guzzling it, while up above in the light of the street a phantom host touches the lips and the blood is pale as water. And out of the endless torment and misery no miracle comes forth, no microscopic vestige of relief. Only ideas, pale, attenuated ideas which have to be fattened by slaughter; ideas which come forth like bile, like the guts of a pig when the carcass is ripped open.

Somehow the realization that nothing was to be hoped for had a salutary effect upon me. For weeks and months, for years, in fact, all my life I had been looking forward to something happening, some intrinsic event that would alter my life, and now suddenly, inspired by the absolute hopelessness of everything, I felt relieved, felt as though a great burden had been lifted from my shoulders. At dawn I parted company with the young Hindu, after touching him for a few francs, enough for a room. Walking toward Montparnasse I decided to let myself drift with the tide, to make not the least resistance to fate, no matter in what form it presented itself.

Nothing that had happened to me thus far had been sufficient to destroy me; nothing had been destroyed except my illusions. I myself was intact. The world was intact. Tomorrow there might be a revolution, a plague, an earthquake; tomorrow there might not be left a single soul to whom one could turn for sympathy, for aid, for faith. It seemed to me that the great calamity had already manifested itself, that I could be no more truly alone than at this very moment. I made up my mind that I would hold on to nothing, that I would expect nothing, that henceforth I would live as an animal, a beast of prey, a rover, a plunderer. Even if war were declared, and it were my lot to go, I would grab the bayonet and plunge it, plunge it up to the hilt. And if rape were the order of the day then rape I would, and with a vengeance.

At this very moment, in the quiet dawn of a new day, was not the earth giddy with crime and distress? Had one single element of man’s nature been altered, vitally, fundamentally altered, by the incessant march of history? By what he calls the better part of his nature, man has been betrayed, that is all. At the extreme limits of his spiritual being man finds himself again naked as a savage. When he finds God, as it were, he has been picked clean: he is a skeleton. One must burrow into life again in order to put on flesh. The word must become flesh; the soul thirsts.

On whatever crumb my eye fastens, I will pounce and devour. If to live is the paramount thing, then I will live, even if I must become a cannibal. Heretofore I have been trying to save my precious hide, trying to preserve the few pieces of meat that hid my bones. I am done with that. I have reached the limits of endurance. My back is to the wall; I can retreat no further. As far as history goes I am dead. If there is something beyond I shall have to bounce back. I have found God, but he is insufficient. I am only spiritually dead. Physically I am alive. Morally I am free. The world which I have departed is a menagerie. The dawn is breaking on a new world, a jungle world in which the lean spirits roam with sharp claws. If I am a hyena I am a lean and hungry one: I go forth to fatten myself.”

- Henry Miller, "Tropic of Cancer"

Freely download "Tropic of Cancer", by Henry Miller, here:

- https://www.pdfdrive.com

"I Pity You, Too..."

“Said a philosopher to a street sweeper, “I pity you. Yours is a hard and dirty task.” And the street sweeper said, “Thank you, sir. But tell me, what is your task?” And the philosopher answered saying, “I study man’s mind, his deeds and his desires.” Then the street sweeper went on with his sweeping and said with a smile, “I pity you, too.”

- Kahlil Gibran

The Daily "Near You?"

Ellijay, Georgia, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Gregory Mannarino, "Leading Indicators Slide Deeper Into The Red, Economic Meltdown Accelerating Again!

Gregory Mannarino, PM 2/27/24

"Leading Indicators Slide Deeper Into The Red,

Economic Meltdown Accelerating Again!

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"The Dawn Of Chaos! Inventory Soars 195%! The Great Car Market Collapse Of 2024 Begins"

Full screen recommended.

Epic Economist, 2/27/24

"The Dawn Of Chaos! Inventory Soars 195%!

The Great Car Market Collapse Of 2024 Begins"

The global car market is teetering on the brink of a precipitous crash in 2024, a situation brewing since 2020. However, the sound of a car market crash has not just started, but it has reached the US horizon. But, it's not just the U.S. The whole world is feeling the effects of this car craze! Ever since 2020, dealerships everywhere have been flooded with cars.

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Dan, I Allegedly, "Foreclosures Are On Fire"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly 2/27/24

"Foreclosures Are On Fire"

"Wow, what a day. I went with Doug, the foreclosure expert and posted a bunch of houses throughout Southern California. No one can tell me that foreclosures are not busy right now. This was an insane day and you have to see this video. It speaks for itself."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Really Is"

"This Is What The Early Stages Of A Severe Recession Look Like"

"This Is What The Early Stages

Of A Severe Recession Look Like"

by Michael Snyder

"It is definitely starting to look a lot like 2008 and 2009 again. Those years were such a painful time for our country, and in many ways we still haven’t fully recovered from the damage that was inflicted upon us during that era. Unfortunately, so many of the exact same things that we experienced back then are starting to happen in our time. For example, the Great Recession brought us the greatest foreclosure crisis in the history of our nation, and now foreclosures are really starting to spike here in 2024. In fact, the number of new foreclosure filings in the U.S. just jumped 10 percent in a single month… "Home foreclosures are on the up across the US as Americans continue to battle against soaring interest rates and rising costs. Last month, 37,679 properties had a foreclosure filing, according to fresh figures from real estate data provider ATTOM – up 10 percent from the month prior."

According to the pundits, that wasn’t supposed to happen. But it did. Interestingly, Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware actually experienced the fastest increase in foreclosure filings last month. Nevada was second, and that was due to the large number of foreclosure filings in Las Vegas…"Nevada’s position in the ranking is largely due to foreclosure filings in Las Vegas, where many people lost their jobs when tourism crashed during pandemic lockdowns. According to ATTOM, Las Vegas had a foreclosure filing on one in every 1,923 housing units in January."

This is a really troubling sign. When the economy is booming, Las Vegas is booming even more. But when hard times arrive, times are even harder in Las Vegas. So let’s watch and see if this trend continues.

Meanwhile, it is also being reported that the number of completed foreclosures in the U.S. was up 13 percent compared to the previous month. In Michigan, the number of completed foreclosures actually shot up by “a huge 200 percent”…"Michigan saw the fastest rise in completed foreclosures – up a huge 200 percent. This was largely down to high rates of foreclosure filings in Detroit." I remember writing articles about how some homes in Detroit were literally selling for one dollar when things were at their worst.

Has another housing crash begun? We are certainly ripe for one. Thanks to painfully high interest rates, buying a home has become out of reach for most of the population. Unless interest rates go down dramatically, home prices have got to fall, and that is going to cause all sorts of problems.

Of course a horrifying commercial real estate crisis is already here. Prices have crashed all over the nation, and now many office buildings that were once worth millions of dollars are simply being torn down. In fact, in Los Angeles there is a plan to tear down a very large office building in order to build just 30 EV charging stations…"This is absolutely crazy… An owner of an office building in LA is seeking approval to tear down the building and construct 30 EV charging stations.

I don’t know what’s crazier…this headline or seeing office properties drop 80-90% in just a few years. The commercial real estate recession (primarily office) has gone from scary to a meltdown in many cities across the US and it seems as though the damage is permanent

If we really are heading into a major economic slowdown, we would also expect retailers to be shutting down stores all over America, and that is precisely what we are witnessing right now.

Incredibly, even Walmart reduced the number of stores that it operates by 102 last year... "Walmart last year closed 23 stores across the US, eight of which were in Illinois, it emerged this week. Overall, its total number of stores fell by 102, from 4,717 in January 2023 to 4,615 a year later. That’s because in addition to the 23 closures, Walmart sold a combined 79 Moosejaw and Bonobos locations after selling the two retailers." If even Walmart sees a need to batten down the hatches, that is a really bad sign.

On top of everything else, large employers continue to conduct mass layoffs from coast to coast. Last week, many were saddened to hear that Vice Media Group is laying off hundreds of workers as it continues to spiral toward oblivion…"Vice Media Group plans to lay off hundreds of employees and stop publishing on its flagship news website, the company’s chief executive said in a memo to employees Thursday — a stunning setback for a digital media pioneer that ascended to cultural prominence more than a decade ago. “It is no longer cost-effective for us to distribute our digital content the way we have done previously,” Vice CEO Bruce Dixon said in the memo, which was seen by NBC News. Vice Media did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment on Thursday’s news." Everyone knew that Vice was in dire straits, and so those layoffs are not exactly a shock.

But why has Google suddenly decided to give the axe to thousands of workers?…"Google has initiated significant layoffs across its various teams, including the Voice Assistant, hardware, engineering and ad sales teams, marking a continuation of the tech industry’s trend towards reducing workforce expenses. The layoffs have affected hundreds of employees within the Voice Assistant unit; hardware teams responsible for Pixel, Nest and Fitbit products; and a considerable portion of the augmented reality (AR) team. This move is part of Google’s broader effort to streamline operations and align resources with its most significant product priorities. According to The Verge, the total number is in the thousands. This comes at a time when Google parent, Alphabet Inc., reported record profits in late January. The company reported $20.4 billion in net income in Q4."

Google is one of the most successful companies in the entire world, and they are swimming in cash. If they feel the need to ruthlessly cut workers, what kind of sign is that for the rest of the economy? Sadly, the truth is that it has become quite apparent that big trouble is ahead. 2024 is going to be such an important turning point for the economy, and it is also going to be such an important turning point for the nation as a whole. The state of the economy will certainly be a central issue during the upcoming election season, but there are no easy answers for the problems that we are now facing."

- https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

Adventures With Danno, "Great Savings At Meijer!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, AM 2/27/24

"Great Savings At Meijer!"

"In today's vlog, we are at Meijer and are taking advantage of all the grocery sales they are having this week. As grocery prices continue to rise around the world, we all need to get these deals when we see them. Get your notepad ready as these are items everyone should be buying right now!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "The US Dollar Is In For A Great Fall, And It's No Accident"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/27/24

"The US Dollar Is In For A Great Fall, And It's No Accident"

- https://traderschoice.net/about-trade

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Related:

"Record Global Debt: A Ticking

Time Bomb For The World Economy"

By Daniel Lacalle

Excerpt: "The relentless increase in global debt is an enormous problem for the economy. Public deficits are neither reserves for the private sector nor a tool for growth. Bloated public debt is a burden on the economy, making productivity stall, raising taxes, and crowding out financing for the private sector. With each passing year, the global debt figure climbs higher, the burdens grow heavier, and the risks loom larger. The world’s financial markets ignored the record-breaking increase in global debt levels to a staggering $313 trillion in 2023, which marked yet another worrying milestone.

The relentless increase in global debt is an enormous problem for the economy. Public deficits are neither reserves for the private sector nor a tool for growth. Bloated public debt is a burden on the economy, making productivity stall, raising taxes, and crowding out financing for the private sector. With each passing year, the global debt figure climbs higher, the burdens grow heavier, and the risks loom larger. The world’s financial markets ignored the record-breaking increase in global debt levels to a staggering $313 trillion in 2023, which marked yet another worrying milestone.

Some analysts say that this whole mess can be solved by raising taxes, but reality shows that there is no revenue measure that will fill an annual financial hole of $2 trillion with additional yearly receipts. This, of course, comes with an optimistic scenario of no recession or economic impact from a higher tax burden. Deficits are always a spending problem.

Citizens are led to believe that lower growth, declining real wages, and persistent inflation are external factors that have nothing to do with governments, but this is incorrect. Deficit spending is printing money, and it erodes the purchasing power of the currency while destroying the opportunities for the private sector to invest. The entire burden of higher taxes and inflation falls on the middle class and small businesses. (That means YOU, Pilgrim...)"

Full article here:

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

"You Cannot Kill Me Here..."

Two Steps From Hell, "Downstream"

“You cannot kill me here. Bring your soldiers, your death, your disease, your collapsed economy because it doesn’t matter, I have nothing left to lose and you cannot kill me here. Bring the tears of orphans and the wails of a mother’s loss, bring your God damn air force and Jesus on a cross, bring your hate and bitterness and long working hours, bring your empty wallets and love long since gone but you cannot kill me here. Bring your sneers, your snide remarks and friendships never felt, your letters never sent, your kisses never kissed, cigarettes smoked to the bone and cancer killing fears but you cannot kill me here. For I may fall and I may fail but I will stand again each time and you will find no satisfaction. Because you cannot kill me here.”

- Iain S. Thomas

Monday, February 26, 2024

"Alert! NATO Sending Troops To Ukraine! Israel Calls Up 300,000! Russia Bans Exports! Sea Cables Cut!"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 2/26/24

"Alert! NATO Sending Troops To Ukraine!

Israel Calls Up 300,000! Russia Bans Exports! Sea Cables Cut!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

These psychopaths just insist on getting us all killed.

God help us, God help us all...

Jeremiah Babe, "The Economic Collapse Is Here And Can't Be Stopped, The Debt Is Unsustainable"

Jeremiah Babe, 2/26/24

"The Economic Collapse Is Here And Can't

Be Stopped, The Debt Is Unsustainable"

- https://www.youtube.com/

Adventures With Danno, "These Items Are Disappearing From Stores & People Are Outraged!"

Adventures With Danno, PM 2/26/24

"These Items Are Disappearing From

Stores & People Are Outraged!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Liquid Mind, "Laguna Indigo"

Full screen recommended.

Liquid Mind, "Laguna Indigo"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“The Pelican Nebula is changing. The entire nebula, officially designated IC 5070, is divided from the larger North America Nebula by a molecular cloud filled with dark dust. The Pelican, however, is particularly interesting because it is an unusually active mix of star formation and evolving gas clouds.

The featured picture was processed to bring out two main colors, red and blue, with the red dominated by light emitted by interstellar hydrogen. Ultraviolet light emitted by young energetic stars is slowly transforming cold gas in the nebula to hot gas, with the advancing boundary between the two, known as an ionization front, visible in bright red across the image center. Particularly dense tentacles of cold gas remain. Millions of years from now this nebula might no longer be known as the Pelican, as the balance and placement of stars and gas will surely leave something that appears completely different.”

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

○

"In a universe devoid of life, any life at all would be immensely meaningful. We ARE that meaning. "And what we see, "says the poet Mary Oliver, "is the world that cannot cherish us, but which we cherish." As though life itself is the great, universal, unrequited love of all time. But there is even more to this. Deep mystery. We are the universe aware of itself. We let the miracle get lost in distractions. On a planet so rich with living companions, much of humanity sentences itself to solitary confinement. Late at night, I used to lie in my boat listening to radio calls from ships to families ashore. There was only one conversation, and it boils down to, "I love you and I miss you: come home safe." Connections make us individuals. Ironic, isn't it? The more connected, the more unique our life becomes."

- Carl Safina

"A Long March Through The Night..."

"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

"US $1.6 TRILLION Deficit Signaling Fiscal CRISIS, $34T National Debt Collapse"

Full screen recommended.

The Atlantis Report, 2/26/24

"US $1.6 TRILLION Deficit Signaling Fiscal CRISIS,

$34T National Debt Collapse"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Bill Bonner, "The Military/Industrial/Spook/Media Complex"

"The Military/Industrial/Spook/Media Complex"

The industry behind the empire's forever wars

and the profiteers making a fortune...

by Bill Bonner

"Is it really necessary to attack Kursk, and indeed in the east this year at all? Do you think anyone even knows where Kursk is? The entire world doesn't care if we capture Kursk or not. What is the reason that is forcing us to attack this year on Kursk, or even more, on the Eastern Front?"

~ General Heinz Guderian

Youghal, Ireland - "Military leaders are often blockheads. Civilian leaders are too. And when they get together what follows is rarely welcome. The military-industrial complex calls the shots; they are often fatal.

The US approaches what promises to be the most widely anticipated and most easily avoided crisis of its history. It owes $34 trillion. Soon – given current forecasts – the debt will grow to $40 trillion…and then to $50 trillion. No nation has ever survived such a huge debt load – not without bankruptcy, depression, serious inflation, revolution or war…sometimes all of them. What follows, we believe, is why the US will be no exception.

Consensual Rules: Heinz Guderian was no fool. It was he who invented the Blitzkrieg…the use of tanks without infantry support to disrupt the enemies’ communications and create panic among their troops.

He was born in what is now known as Chelmno, Poland. But it was Prussian territory when he came into the world. And the Prussians had conquered it centuries before. Tough. Clever. They were the backbone of the Wehrmacht officer class. They were also the ones who had the most to lose in Hitler’s war against the Soviets. Their homeland was in the East, where it was most vulnerable to the Soviet Union.

Guderian’s family lost its home when Poland regained control of the area after WWI. Then, in 1939, Guderian took command of the XIX Army corp, spearheaded a drive into Poland, and ‘liberated’ his childhood home.

Ever since the rise of civilized societies, a major problem has been how to keep people like Heinz Guderian under control. By definition (ours) civilized societies prefer to settle their affairs without violence. They rely on “consensual rules,’ not brute force. People agree on what laws and regulations they will follow. They drive on the right…or the left… Women are allowed to appear in public without a headscarf – or not. They vote for their leaders – or not. Etc.

Armies are meant to project violence…not civilization. They are the muscle of the State…expected to kill or be killed in order to promote the government’s agenda. But in the modern world, their tendencies towards murder and mayhem are supposed to be held in check by civilian command.

Unconditional Surrender: That’s what didn’t happen in Nazi Germany. Military and civilian power came together in the person of Adolf Hitler, who donned a field-gray uniform in September, 1939. So it was that General Heinz Guderian found himself subordinate to the former corporal, now Fuhrer.

In 1943, Hitler was insisting that his tanks attack the Soviets at Kursk. Guderian opposed the campaign. After months of preparation and hesitation there was little hope of success. The Soviets already had the Germans’ battle plans and had already prepared for them. The Soviets’ could merely let the Germans exhaust themselves against their defenses, and then, with more tanks and more men than the Wehrmacht could put into the field, they would counterattack. And that’s what happened.

By then, the Nazis were losing the war. The Allies were advancing through Sicily…and Italy was wobbling, preparing to hang Mussolini from a light post and welcome the invading US troops. The only real questions were when and how the end came.

Hitler was clearly an impediment to any decent solution…not only with his amateurish military commands; he also stood in the way of a negotiated settlement. In January of 1943, FDR announced that the allies would only accept an ‘unconditional surrender.” Still, had Germany gotten rid of the Fuhrer, brought its troops back to Germany and promised never again to go on the warpath, it might have been possible to avoid total surrender and occupation.

Emperors, kings, and parliaments always struggled to keep their fighting men in line. They were expensive to keep in the field. And dangerous to keep too close to home. A powerful general might lead a coup d’etat against the civil authorities. That’s why Caesar was not supposed to come to Rome at the head of his army; the troops were meant to stay on the other side of the Rubicon river. Caesar was popular with his troops. But even he had to face a mutiny, which he dealt with smoothly.

Unwarranted Influence: After William the Conqueror had taken control of most of England, he went back to Normandy, leaving his new kingdom with trusted subordinates. Alas, the army went wild – raping, pillaging, looting across much of the South of England. William returned to put them in order, but by then the English were so enraged that they rebelled…leading to further costly war.

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in 1527 was perhaps a less able commander; his troops went wild. It didn’t help that he neglected to pay them. They attacked Rome, looting, kidnapping, killing. Pope Clement VII escaped to the Castel Sant’Angelo. He survived by paying a ransom to the mutinous troops. But his Swiss Guard were annihilated.

What enables a civilian government to control its military? Money. Real money. Governments typically control the tax revenue…and use it to keep their fighting men on a short leash. But when the US switched to a ‘fake’ money – which it could create in seemingly boundless quantities – it also let loose the dogs of war. Pentagon budgets increased…even after 1991, when the Soviet Union disbanded. This left the military-industrial complex with billions in ‘excess’ funds, which they used to suborn Congress and corral the media, think tanks and universities.

Eisenhower was not merely spreading a ‘conspiracy theory’ when he warned that the firepower industry might soon exert an ’unwarranted influence’ on the civilian government; he was merely observing a trend. Powerful groups want more power. And unless they are constrained, they will get it.

Real money used to limit government spending – including the number one rat hole money goes down, the firepower industry. After 1971, Congress – richly lobbied by military suppliers – voted for one increase after another. Politicians tried to out-do each other by being ‘strong on defense.’ And today, it’s not the civilian leaders who hold their gunmen in check, it’s the military/industrial/spook/media complex that prevents the feds from heading off the coming catastrophe."

- https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/

Full screen recommended.

Al Stewart, "Roads To Moscow"

"Oh! Had I The Ability..."

"Oh! Had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced."

“I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued.”

- Frederick Douglass

"The Sandcastle"

"The Sandcastle"

by Jeff Thomas

"The decline from democracy to tyranny is both a natural and inevitable one. That’s not a pleasant thought to have to consider, but it’s a fact, nonetheless. In every case, a democracy will deteriorate as the result of the electorate accepting the loss of freedom in trade for largesse from their government. This process may be fascism, socialism, communism, or a basket of "isms," but tyranny is the inevitable endgame of democracy. Like the destruction of a sandcastle by the incoming tide, it requires time to transpire, but in time, the democracy, like the sandcastle, will be washed away in its entirety.

Why should this be so? Well, as I commented some years ago, the concept of government is that the people grant to a small group of individuals the ability to establish and maintain controls over them. The inherent flaw in such a concept is that any government will invariably and continually expand upon its controls, resulting in the ever-diminishing freedom of those who granted them the power.

Unfortunately, there will always be those who wish to rule, and there will always be a majority of voters who are complacent enough and naïve enough to allow their freedoms to be slowly removed. This adverb "slowly" is the key by which the removal of freedoms is achieved. The old adage of "boiling a frog" is that the frog will jump out of the pot if it’s filled with hot water, but if the water is lukewarm and the temperature is slowly raised, he’ll grow accustomed to the temperature change and will inadvertently allow himself to be boiled.

Let’s have a look at Thomas Jefferson’s assessment of this technique: "Even under the best forms of Government, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."

Mister Jefferson was a true visionary. He knew, even as he was penning the Declaration of Independence and portions of the Constitution, that his proclamations, even if they were accepted by his fellow founding fathers, would not last. He recommended repeated revolutions to counter the inevitable tendency by political leaders to continually vie for the removal of the freedoms from their constituents.

Around the same time that Mister Jefferson made the above comment, Alexander Tytler, a Scottish economist and historian, commented on the new American experiment in democracy. He’s credited as saying, "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."

So, was each of the above gentlemen throwing a dart at a board, or did they each have some kind of crystal ball? Well, actually, neither. Each was a keen student of history. Each knew that the pattern, by the end of the 18th century, had already repeated itself time and time again. In fact, as early as the fourth century BC, Plato had quoted Socrates as having stated to Adeimantus, "Tyranny naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery comes out of the most extreme form of liberty."

Today, much of what was called the "free world" only half a century ago has deteriorated into a combination of residual capitalism, which has been largely and increasingly buried by socialism and fascism. (It should be mentioned that the oft-misinterpreted definition of "fascism" is the joint rule by corporate and state - a condition that’s now manifestly in place in much of the former "free" world.)

Today, many people perceive fascism as a tyrannical condition that’s suddenly imposed by a dictator, but this is rarely the case. Fascism is in fact a logical step. Just as voters succumb over time to the promises of socialism, so a parallel decline occurs as fascism slowly replaces capitalism. Fascism may appear to be capitalism, but it’s the antithesis of a free market. As Vladimir Lenin rightly stated,

Fascism is capitalism in decline. Comrade Lenin understood the value of fascism for political leaders. Whilst he retained a close relationship with New York and London bankers, and a healthy capitalist market was tapped into for Soviet-era imports, he was aware that his power base depended largely on denying capitalism to his minions.

So, from the above quotations, we may see that there’s been a fairly erudite group of folks out there who have commented on this topic over the last 2,500 years. They agree that democracies, like sandcastles, never last. They generally begin promisingly, but, given enough time, any government will erode democracy as quickly as the political leaders can get away with it, and the progression always ends in tyranny.

We’re presently at a major historical juncture - a time in which much of the former free world is in the final stages of decay and approaching the tyranny stage. At this point, the process tends to speed up. We can observe this as we see an increase in the laws being passed to control the population - increased taxation, increased regulation, and increased promises of largesse from the government that they don’t have the funding to deliver.

When any government reaches this stage, it knows only too well that it will not deliver and that, when the lie is exposed, the populace will be hopping mad. Therefore, just before the endgame, any government can be expected to ramp up its police state. The demonstrations by governments that they’re doing so are now seen regularly - raids by SWAT teams in situations where just a small number of authorities could handle the situation just as well. Displays of armed forces in the street, including armored vehicles, in instances of disruption.

In London, Ferguson, Paris, Boston, etc., the authoritarian displays have become ever-more frequent. All that’s now necessary is a series of events (whether staged or real) to suggest domestic terrorism in several locations at roughly the same time. A state of national emergency may then be declared "for the safety of the people." It’s this justification that will assure the success of tyranny. Historically, the majority of people in any county, in any era, choose the illusion of safety over freedom. As John Adams was fond of saying, "Those who would trade freedom for safety will have neither."

From this point on, it would be wise for anyone who lives in the EU, US, UK, etc. to watch events closely. If a rash of "domestic terrorism" appears suddenly, it could well be the harbinger that the government has reached the tipping point - when tyranny under the guise of "protecting the safety of the people" is inaugurated. The most essential takeaway here is that, although some may object (even violently), the majority of the people will trade their freedom for the promise of safety."

- https://internationalman.com/

Greg Hunter, “'War Cycle' Will Continue To Build Into 2025"

“'War Cycle' Will Continue To Build Into 2025"

by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Renowned geopolitical and financial cycle expert Charles Nenner has been warning of a huge war and financial cycle, and it is clear both continue to build. The war cycle will continue to amplify until World War III breaks out. Meanwhile, unpayable debt will continue to explode until another Great Depression hits America again. Standing in the gap is gold, and the wait for a bull market is about over. Nenner explains, “The dollar’s buying power could possibly be cut in half. That’s the reason why we expect a super bull market in gold and silver when the cycle bottoms. You remember I came on and said coming, coming, but not yet? I say it was too early but, now, we are getting very close to a bull market. Gold could still have one more down move because the cycles are still down.”

On Bitcoin, Nenner says, “We had a high of $54,000, and we said if it hit $52,000, we would sell. I do not believe this story that Bitcoin will hit $100,000 based on my work. It has been proven that NASDAQ and Bitcoin go up and down together because it is based on nothing, and people are buying out of greed. Because we think we are at a top in the NASDAQ, then we don’t think the outlook for Bitcoin is too positive.” Nenner thinks the DOW is also topping, and he is telling clients to lighten up on the risk. Nenner sees a second Great Depression playing out again in 2026 or 2027.

Nenner thinks the “War Cycle” will continue to build in 2024, but all bets are off in 2025. Nenner says his wealthy clients see dark days ahead for the world and have actual bunkers to go along with a bunker mentality. Nenner think domestic terror and even war is coming to America in a big way. Nenner is still forecasting “2 billion will die in the next global war, and the only way we get a body count that high is with nuclear weapons.”

Nenner sees an election coming in 2024 and still thinks Trump can win. Nenner warns that problems in America are too big for any one person to actually fix. Nenner still thinks if you know winter is coming, you cannot stop it, but you can get a winter coat. Again, Nenner thinks “Trump is the winter coat.” There is much more in the 32-minute interview."

- https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One

with renowned cycle analyst and financial expert Charles Nenner.

- https://rumble.com/