Thursday, October 26, 2023

Musical Interlude: Bruce Springsteen, "My Home Town"

Bruce Springsteen, "My Home Town"
"Now Main St. white washed windows, in vacant stores,
Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more.
They're closing down the textile mill cross the railroad tracks,
Foreman says these jobs are goin' boys,
And they ain't comin' back, to your hometown..."

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Cradled in cosmic dust and glowing hydrogen, stellar nurseries in Orion the Hunter lie at the edge of a giant molecular cloud some 1,500 light-years away. Spanning nearly 25 degrees, this breath-taking vista stretches across the well-known constellation from head to toe (top to bottom). The Great Orion Nebula, the closest large star forming region, is right of center. To its left are the Horsehead Nebula, M78, and Orion's belt stars. Red giant Betelgeuse is at the hunter's shoulder, bright blue Rigel at his foot, and the glowing Lambda Orionis (Meissa) nebula at the far left, near Orion's head. 
Of course, the Orion Nebula and bright stars are easy to see with the unaided eye, but dust clouds and emission from the extensive interstellar gas in this nebula-rich complex, are too faint and much harder to record. In this mosaic of broadband telescopic images, additional image data acquired with a narrow hydrogen alpha filter was used to bring out the pervasive tendrils of energized atomic hydrogen gas and the arc of the giant Barnard's Loop.”

The Poet: David Whyte, ”Sweet Darkness”

”Sweet Darkness”

“When your eyes are tired the world is tired also.
When your vision has gone no part of the world can find you.
Time to go into the dark where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.
There you can be sure you are not beyond love.
The dark will be your womb tonight.
The night will give you a horizon
further than you can see.
You must learn one thing:
the world was made to be free in.
Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness
to learn anything or anyone that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.”

- David Whyte,
“House of Belonging”

"Problems?"

Problems? "Dig you way out," they said...

"Reality Avoidance"

"Reality Avoidance"
by Morris Berman

"It's quite amazing how the news is endlessly about filler, which is what I call it. Very little of this has anything to do with reality, which the Mainstream Media and the American people avoid like the plague. What then is real?

1. The empire is in decline; every day, life here gets a little bit worse; all our institutions are corrupt to varying degrees; and there is no turning this situation around.

2. A crucial factor in this decline and irreversibility is the low level of intelligence of the American people. Americans are not only dumb; they are positively antagonistic toward the life of the mind.

3. Relations of power and money determine practically everything. The 3 wealthiest Americans own as much as the bottom 50% of the population, and this tendency will get worse over time.

4. The value system of the country, and its citizens, is fundamentally wrong-headed. It amounts to little more than hustling, selfishness, narcissism, and a blatant disregard for anyone but oneself. There is a kind of cruelty, or violence, deep in the American soul; many foreign observers and writers have commented on this. Americans are bitter, depressed, and angry, and the country offers very little by way of community or empathy.

5. Along with this is the support of meaningless wars and imperial adventures on the part of most of the population. That we drone-murder unarmed civilians on a weekly basis is barely on the radar screen of the American mind. In essence, the nation has evolved into a genocidal war machine run by a plutocracy and cheered on by mindless millions.

Most Americans hide from these depressing, even horrific, realities by what passes for the news, but also by means of alcohol, opioids, TV, cellphones, suicide, prescription drugs, workaholism, and spectator sports, to name but a few. This stuffing of the Void is probably our primary activity. In a word, we are eating ourselves alive, and only a tiny fraction of the population recognizes this."

Must View! Judge Napolitano, "Scott Ritter: Joe Biden and WW III"

Full screen recommended.
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 10/26/23
"Scott Ritter: Joe Biden and WW III"
Comments here:
"Hezbollah has 200,000 missiles..."

"15 Biggest Retail Chains Disappearing Before Our Eyes"

Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 10/26/23
"15 Biggest Retail Chains Disappearing Before Our Eyes"

"While we might be shocked to see the news about the financial problems some of the country's biggest retailers are facing this year, many brands are silently disappearing from the U.S. retail industry without catching the attention of the media. They are closing a smaller number of locations at a time not to raise any red flags. However, these chains have actually been significantly reducing their store counts over the past year, leaving a massive hole in the market. Low-income communities are losing their local pharmacies, coffee shops, and grocery stores. At the same time, big cities are witnessing what experts call the "retail exodus," a new trend in which retailers leave highly populated areas where theft is becoming rampant. The scenario is changing very rapidly.

For example, CVS revealed it will close 900 stores by the end of 2024, the Daily Mail reported. About 300 CVS stores are being closed in 2023 as the retailer adjusts to post-pandemic demographics and quit areas where inventory losses due to shrink are going up. The drugstore chain said it is undergoing a new retail footprint strategy, and that it is trying to implement more tech in its operations. CVS has been open about the impact of shoplifting on its bottom line, estimating hundreds of millions in losses in the current fiscal year. The closings are sparking debates about 'pharmacy deserts' as more retailers leave low-income communities. Millions of households may lose their local drugstore, but the retail giant said the profit losses due to theft give it "no choice".

Similarly, Over 400 Starbucks stores have been shuttered in the U.S., according to The U.S. Sun. The good news is that the company opened new locations too, in a smaller more cost-efficient format. Still, the closings have left millions of customers across many cities without their local coffee shop. In fact, on October 22, the coffeehouse chain closed 7 stores in San Francisco, and it signaled that it may leave the area altogether if the city's theft problem continues to escalate. The reasons behind the large number of closings are many. On top of rising shoplifting, the company has been accused of union busting after deciding to shutter 150 stores where unionized workers demanded better pay and working conditions and went on strike during the spring. Moreover, Starbucks also eliminated underperforming stores from its system and closed older locations where it would be too expensive to do renovations.

It's getting increasingly harder to manage a retail business in America. Businesses aren't being able to keep up with the constant changes in consumer behavior. They are also failing to accurately predict demand and financially hurting due to tighter credit conditions amid a slower spending environment. It's safe to say that we will hear about bankruptcies and shutdowns far more frequently in the months ahead. Many CEOs are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst as the threat of recession becomes bigger, and so should you."
Comments here:

The Daily "Near You?"

McCracken, Kentucky, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Dan, I Allegedly, "No One Wants An EV Car"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly 10/26/23
"No One Wants An EV Car"
"We are now hearing from auto companies that are telling the world that they are not ready for full EV car production yet. It’s just a matter of time until more companies follow this."
Comments here:

"Joyride to Catastrophe"

"Joyride to Catastrophe"
The bond rout deepens, the empire recedes 
and your fellow readers weigh in on what comes after the US Dollar...
by Bill Bonner and Joel Bowman

"Geopolitical tensions are highly elevated and 
pose important risks to global economic activity."
~ Jerome Powell, last week

Youghal, Ireland - "We have no reason to abandon our hypothesis. The financial world shifted in the summer of 2020. Thenceforth, the last shall be first...

We’ve seen how the bond market has been turned upside down, with the world’s safest credit – the US Treasury 10-year bond – losing 40% of its real value. What we haven’t seen is a massive selloff in the stock market. Instead, equity values are being chipped away by inflation. And while bonds should bounce…inflation might take a break…and stocks might go up…the Primary Trend will probably be with us for many years – bond yields up, stocks down, with inflation going up and down, but not going away.

The Spiral Effect: This new Primary Trend will require large-scale adjustments, including erasing trillions of dollars’ worth of ‘investments’ that can never pay off. That is just the way of the world…nothing to worry about, provided you’re on the right side of the adjustments…and the authorities don’t make the situation worse. But that is exactly what they are doing. Rather than cut back on spending and borrowing – Congress continues its joyride to catastrophe. 

Business Insider: "Treasury bond supply could soon hit record levels as unsustainable deficits and high rates create spiral effect, Bank of America says "Higher interest rates will likely have a meaningful impact on deficit spending and result in larger UST issuance, creating a spiral effect. Rates will have to materialize more than 100bps below forwards for costs to not rise materially as a share of GDP," the analysts wrote. "A daunting supply picture becomes even more challenging given the backdrop of higher financing costs."

With the $1.7 trillion deficit of fiscal year 2023 topping expectations, BofA adjusted its outlook for future years: between 2024 and 2026, deficits will steadily climb from $1.8 trillion to $2 trillion. Meanwhile, net interest payments will account for an increasing share of GDP, climbing to a record 3.5% in 2026. Which brings us to our theme. It’s the ‘more to the story’ we’ve been hinting at. Several intriguing and dangerous trends are afoot; other ‘primary trends.’

Bombs Bursting in (their) Air: Already, the US firepower industry is doing all it can to keep the killing going in the Ukraine and Israel. Last year, Putin and Zelensky were reportedly ready to reach a negotiated settlement. The US and Britain insisted that the war continue. And last week, Brazil proposed a ceasefire in Gaza. Most of the UN was in favor. But the US vetoed it. And here comes Joe Biden with a request for $105 billion more of firepower.

The mistake is so obvious, it must be no mistake at all. In WWI, by 1916, England, France and Germany were already worn out from two years of war. Left alone, they would have had no alternative but to work out a peace settlement. Enter the US with an almost inexhaustible supply of new money, soldiers and delusions…and the war continued for another two years – with perhaps 10 million more deaths, leading to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and the rise of Nazism in Germany.

Today, without US support, the guns would probably soon stop blazing in the Ukraine and in Israel, too. But the situation is also fundamentally different. The US was the young, rising power of the 20th century. Now, by our reckoning, it is a declining one. A man of a certain age fears losing his masculinity. He colors his hair. He takes the ‘blue pills.’ He ditches his old wife and takes up with a chorus girl. Trying to deny the inevitable, he risks making a fool of himself…and a disaster of his life.

Geriatric Caesar" A great empire has its night sweats and daylight dreads as well. Its aristocrats and political heavies fear being upstaged, outgunned, and overshadowed by an upstart competitor. It sends out its warships…it offers its bribes and payoffs…it builds up its garrisons – like the poor Roman limitanei shivering on the banks of the Danube or poor Charles Gordon starving in Khartoum while waiting for his neck to be cut.

The inevitable loss of US power is a kind of Primary Trend of its own. Insecurity increases…as the costs for fake security increase (more and more of the expense pays for yesterday’s security… military pensions, legacy weapons systems maintenance, veterans’ benefits, interest on ‘defense’-inspired debt, etc.)

But the real risks to the US are neither in China, Israel or the Ukraine. They’re right at home, the usual, predictable ones – financial and political. The US is spending more than it can afford. If it continues, it invites more inflation, bankruptcy and weakness.

And with the decline in US power comes a decline in US leadership. Those with the ‘power of the purse’ can barely elect a speaker…and when they do, they choose one of the biggest dopes in the House. How can they tackle difficult trade-offs…or confront the powers-that-be behind the lurid and distracting headlines?

Joe Biden claimed, ‘American leadership is what holds the world together.’ If that were true, the world should buckle up. Fortunately, Biden’s palaver is just the blah-blah of the geriatric Caesar of a degenerate empire.

Only a small group of Republicans has shown any interest in cutting back on spending. And even they are deeply conflicted by their desire to maintain the empire at all costs. Fund the Ukraine…fund Israel…fund a new war against China! The result is: no serious cost cutting is ever considered…and no serious effort is made to ‘balance the budget.’ In fact, there is no budget to balance…just a series of ‘omnibus spending bills’…stumbling…improvising on the way to catastrophe.

The financial disaster is so clear…so obvious…and becoming so imminent…that only a fool could miss it. Yet, somehow…in one of the great mysteries of modern democracy, ‘the people’ have elected about 450 of them. More to come…"
o
Joel’s Note: "We asked; you answered. A few days ago, we wondered aloud what might replace the almighty greenback, should the day come when the preferred plaything of America’s elite reaches its intrinsic value. This was no exercise in self-pity, mind you… all government-issued currencies eventually return to the dust and ash whence they came.

Down here in Argentina, for example, the peso is evaporating in real time. Restaurants in our neighborhood have even stopped printing prices on their menus, having tired of the effort (and cost) of constantly updating them. And while the ruling sanguivores drain every last drop of lifeblood out of the economy while they still can, talk among the challenging opposition is of imminent dollarization…

Professor Steve Hanke of Johns Hopkins University, who measures annual inflation down here on the Pampas at a blistering 221%, says “dollarization is the only cure for the economic destruction caused by Peronist policies.” And Professor Hanke would know, having helped design and implement dollarization policies in both Montenegro (1999) and Ecuador (2001).

Of course, Argentina doesn’t enjoy the “exorbitant privilege” of being able to print the world’s reserve currency… only the end of the world’s full retard fiat. What would happen, we wondered, if an Argentine-like currency catastrophe were to descend on the American Empire? In the case of total greenback collapse, in other words, what might replace the US dollar? With just over 1,750 votes cast in 24 hours, the results were as follows:

• Four percent of you foresaw your new Chinese overlords imposing a yuan reserve currency on the once-proud United States...
• Six percent of you thought a new paper dollar was the most likely replacement for a withered greenback...
• Thirty percent of your fellow readers reckoned a gold-backed dollar would serve as a likely substitute for the fallen greenback…
• And finally, at fifty-one percent, a majority of you see a digital dollar, or Central Bank Digital Currency, in your future…

That left (for those of you counting along in your heads… you know who you are!) roughly one in ten who went with “other”… including sardines, canned beef and "precious metals" (copper jacketed lead). Gotta love the BPR readership! Thanks to all those who voted and/or wrote in. Look out for some more of these little “group research projects” in future notes. And don’t forget to invite some mates along for the fun, below. Cheers!"

"How It Really Is"

 

"Adventures With Danno, AM 10/26/23"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, AM 10/26/23
"Shopping With Purpose At Kroger!"
"In today's vlog, we are at Kroger and are shopping with purpose as we seek out different holiday food options and other food items that are worth stocking up on. We take you shopping with us to try and help all of us save money on groceries!"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
The Atlantis Report, AM 10/26/23
"Amazon And Walmart Will Flip Retail Upside Down In 2024"
"The countdown to 2024 is no ordinary countdown, it's a ticking time bomb that threatens to shake the core of the retail world as we know it. Amazon and Walmart, the giants of shopping, are about to turn the selling world upside down in a big and potentially alarming way. They're using the latest technology and data to try and take over the market, and this will have some negative consequences for the way we all shop. It's a bit of a retail revolution, and it is not good news for everyone."
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"It Would, Indeed..."

 

"‘I Cry Quietly’: A Soldier Describes the Toll of Russia’s War"

Full screen recommended.
"‘I Cry Quietly’: 
A Soldier Describes the Toll of Russia’s War"
"For Valentyn, a Ukrainian soldier in the Donetsk region, the war’s death toll is more than a statistic. He is tasked with moving wounded troops - and dead bodies - away from the front lines, often under Russian fire."

"Under Russian Fire, 
A Ukrainian Soldier Evacuates the Wounded"
By Yousur Al-Hlou and Masha Froliak

Near Kremmina, Ukraine - "The sound of artillery launching and landing along the front line punctures the stillness of the forest just a few miles away, where combat medics are waiting to receive the wounded. On the horizon, a military vehicle moves along a dusty road and screeches to a halt when it reaches the trees. A soldier named Valentyn parks it there for natural camouflage from Russian drones scouting for Ukrainian military positions.

A group of soldiers, visibly shaken, quickly unloads three bodies that have just been recovered from the front line, placing each one into a plastic body bag and zipping it closed. Their position was shelled and then attacked by a drone, they say. “They’re shooting at you from all sides. You turn, you run, they hit you, and it’s impossible to get away,” said Maksym, who survived the attack. “This is a big tragedy for us.” “One more body is left behind with the Russian soldiers,” he added.

While much of the world’s attention was fixated on the bloody urban battle taking place in Bakhmut, Russia’s campaign in eastern Ukraine was also raging in forests and fields about 50 miles north of the city, near Kreminna. Here, soldiers take positions in trenches surrounded by tall, slim trees, crouching to avoid the direct line of sight of their Russian enemies. “People say it’s harsh in Bakhmut,” said Valentyn, who joined the army seven months ago. “But it’s harsh here, too.”

For the past month, Valentyn has been stationed at this evacuation point, traveling back and forth to the front line almost daily to rescue wounded soldiers and recover the dead. His job requires him to drive directly toward Russian forces, and he has come under fire at times. “There is nothing good about it,” Valentyn said. “What is this war for?”

Ukrainian and Russian military officials have been reluctant to release data on casualties within their ranks, though the U.S. government and military experts estimate that both sides have suffered significant losses in the tens or hundreds of thousands.

For Valentyn, the work of responding to the casualties has been both grim and relentless. “There is blood everywhere,” he said, while cleaning it from his vehicle. “It has a smell. Especially fresh blood.” Bright red liquid trickled through his fingers as he rinsed out a bloodied cloth. He drained the cloth and used it again to wipe off the back seat. “It’s difficult to see young boys die,” Valentyn said. “Sometimes I cry quietly.”

In calmer moments when there is no one to evacuate, Valentyn travels deep into the forest to transport soldiers to and from the contact line, where Ukrainian and Russian soldiers are sometimes positioned just hundreds of meters apart. He said at least one group of soldiers couldn’t make it to their position because Russian troops had already taken it over.

“Every day is scary here,” said Viktor, a soldier who returned with Valentyn. “I feel constant anxiety, for our country and our lives.” His stoic face reflected the fear and horror known only to those who had witnessed the fight in the forest. “Those who haven’t been there will never understand.”

"World War III Update, 10/26/23"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 10/26/23
"Alastair Crooke: The Dangers of Military Escalation in the Middle East"
"Judge Nap: Do you think that President Biden is under pressure from the globalists and neocons around him to take this as an opportunity, once and for all, to destroy the regime and its nuclear capability in Tehran?
Alastair Crooke: I think so, yes. I think there's pressure. I'm not saying he's succumbed to it. I'm not saying it will prevail, but you have to look at it from the other end of the telescope too. In the region, people look at this huge build-up and they see, is America preparing for World War III?"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Firstpost, AM 10/26/23
"Amid a Delayed Ground Invasion in Gaza,
 What's Israel's Gameplan? Vantage with Palki Sharma"
"It's day 20 of the Israel-Hamas war.The global support for Israel has seemingly shifted over the last few days. This comes as Israel is delaying its ground-invasion of Gaza. While the U.S. supports Israel's defense against Hamas, Turkiye has taken a u-turn. Turkish President Erdogen has called Hamas a "liberation group". Amidst a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, what will be Israel's next move? Palki Sharma brings you the complete story on Vantage."
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o
Full screen recommended.
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 10/25/23
"Col. Douglas Macgregor: 
How Ill-equipped Is The US For Two Wars?"
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o
Full screen recommended.
Hindustan Times, 10/26/23
"'Don't Provoke': Putin's Wake-up Call 
To West Amid Israel-Hamas War"
"Russian President Vladimir Putin has slammed the West and warned that the Israel-Hamas war could spread beyond the Middle East. He said that there were unnamed forces that wanted to fan the war fire. He urged the world to stop the bloodshed and not to provoke any parties involved in the war."
Comments here:

Gregory Mannarino, "AM/PM 10/26/23"

Gregory Mannarino, 10/26/23
"The Financial System Is Collapsing, 
And The US Economy Is Now 100% War Dependent"
Comments here:
o
Gregory Mannarino, PM 10/26/23
"It's Over! US Trade Deficit Skyrockets,
 Expanding $2.8 Billion Per Day!"
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Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Canadian Prepper, "Alert! Insane Military Build Up; Explosion By Nuclear Plant; Russia And Israel Nuke Warning!"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 10/25/23
"Alert! Insane Military Build Up; 
Explosion By Nuclear Plant; Russia And Israel Nuke Warning!"
Comments here:

Jeremiah Babe, "We Are Sleepwalking Our Way Into A Global Crisis"

Jeremiah Babe, 10/25/23
"We Are Sleepwalking Our Way Into A Global Crisis - 
The Real Threat Is Massive Deficit Spending And Debt"
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: 2002, “Where The Stars And Moon Play”

Full screen recommended.
2002, “Where The Stars And Moon Play”
“Pamela and Randy Copus are the duo known as 2002. Randy Copus plays piano, electric cello, guitar, bass and keyboards. Pamela Copus plays flutes, harp, keyboards and a wind instrument called a WX5. Both musicians also provide all of the vocals on their albums, recording their voices many, many times and layering them to create a "virtual choir" with a celestial, angelic quality.”

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Some spiral galaxies are seen nearly sideways. Most bright stars in spiral galaxies swirl around the center in a disk, and seen from the side, this disk can appear quite thin. Some spiral galaxies appear even thinner than NGC 3717, which is actually seen tilted just a bit. Spiral galaxies form disks because the original gas collided with itself and cooled as it fell inward. Planets may orbit in disks for similar reasons.
The featured image by the Hubble Space Telescope shows a light-colored central bulge composed of older stars beyond filaments of orbiting dark brown dust. NGC 3717 spans about 100,000 light years and lies about 60 million light years away toward the constellation of the Water Snake (Hydra)."

"We Haven’t Seen A Subprime Borrower Meltdown Of This Magnitude Since The Last Financial Crisis"

"We Haven’t Seen A Subprime Borrower Meltdown
 Of This Magnitude Since The Last Financial Crisis"
By Michael Snyder

"It is happening again. All over America, borrowers are getting behind on their payments. In particular, subprime borrowers are having a very difficult time paying the bills. Does that ring a bell? That should, because the last time we witnessed anything like this was during the last financial crisis. When things start to go bad, those at the bottom of the economic food chain feel it first, and that is why the numbers that have been coming out lately are so alarming.

For example, the percentage of subprime borrowers that are at least 60 days behind on their auto loans reached 6.11 percent last month. That figure is the highest ever recorded…"The percent of subprime auto borrowers at least 60 days past due on their loans rose to 6.11% in September, the highest in data going back to 1994, according to Fitch Ratings. “The subprime borrower is getting squeezed,” said Margaret Rowe, senior director with Fitch." Let this sink in for a moment. We never saw a number this high during the Great Recession. And we never saw a number this high during the COVID pandemic. So this is really bad.

Credit card delinquency rates at small banks have also hit an all-time record high…"Credit Card Delinquency rates at small banks have reached 7.51%, the highest level ever recorded Once again, we never saw a number this high during the Great Recession. And we never saw a number this high during the COVID pandemic. Needless to say, it isn’t the wealthy that are getting behind on their credit card payments. Instead, it is ordinary Americans that are deeply struggling to pay the bills in this harsh economic environment.

Alarmingly, early-stage mortgage delinquencies are also spiking…"Meanwhile, early-stage delinquencies (30 and 60 days past due) continued to increase. In September, 48,800 (+5.1%) additional borrowers were 30-days late on their mortgage payments, while 8,700 (+3%) were 60-days late on their mortgage payments. These rates have been going up for the past four months and six months, respectively."

And foreclosures have started to jump at a pace that is absolutely breathtaking…"Home foreclosures are on the rise as Americans continue to grapple with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. That is according to a new report published by real estate data provider ATTOM, which found that foreclosure filings – which includes default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions – surged 28% in the third quarter to 124,539. Foreclosures are up 34% from the same time one year ago.

Just like we witnessed in 2008 and 2009, millions upon millions of Americans have gotten way too overextended.Even though everyone knew that the cost of living was rising much faster than paychecks were, a lot of people out there just kept spending like they always had been. They thought that things would eventually work out okay in the long run, but instead they just kept getting deeper and deeper into debt. Now a day of reckoning has arrived, and there are many that simply cannot keep up with all of their payments. And many are falling out of the middle class altogether.

In all my years of writing, I have never seen poverty increase in the U.S. as fast as it is rising right now. Recently, we learned that the percentage of Californians living in poverty jumped from 11 percent in 2021 to 16.4 percent last year…"Poverty has increased dramatically in California and the nation, a surge that new studies attribute to the expiration of pandemic-era federal relief programs such as the expanded Child Tax Credit. The spike has been particularly steep among Black and Latino Californians and children across all ethnicities. Researchers found 16.4% of Californians were living in poverty last year, up from 11% in 2021. The rate of child poverty more than doubled last year.

What will the final number for 2023 be? Will it be above 20 percent? The economy is moving in the wrong direction very rapidly now, and the war in the Middle East hasn’t even fully erupted yet. So what in the world will conditions look like once that happens? Our economic prosperity is completely and utterly dependent on cheap energy. Without it, everything will change. Once the flow of Middle Eastern oil stops due to the war, the price of oil is going to go completely nuts. And once that happens, a nightmare scenario could quickly unfold.

In a recent article, Tuomas Malinen detailed what he thinks might happen

1. The conflict escalates into a regional war with the U.S. becoming directly involved.
2. OPEC responds with an oil embargo.
3. Iran closes the strait of Hormuz.
4. The price of oil reaches $300/barrel.
5. Europe succumbs into a full-blown energy crisis due to LNG shortage.
6. Massive spike in energy prices reinvigorates inflation with central banks responding accordingly.
7. Financial markets and the global banking sector collapse.
8. Debt crisis engulfs the U.S. forcing the Federal Reserve to enact yet another financial market bailout.
9. Petrodollar trade collapses.
10. Hyperinflation emerges.

I don’t think that he is too far off the mark. We were already facing a major crisis even without the war in the Middle East. As I discussed the other day, U.S. banks are closing hundreds of branches and are laying off thousands of workers. And the truth is that the banks are the beating heart of our entire financial system.

We are so close to a full-blown economic meltdown. The only thing that could really save us now is if peace broke out in the Middle East. Unfortunately, this is not going to be a time of peace. This is going to be a time of war. So that means that extremely harsh economic conditions are ahead of us, and most Americans are completely and utterly unprepared for such a reality."

"We Are All In The Gutter..."

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."
- Oscar Wilde

The Daily "Near You?"

Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Thanks for stopping by!

"Target Is Collapsing Faster Than You Think As Mass Store Closings Begin"

Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 10/25/23
"Target Is Collapsing Faster Than You 
Think As Mass Store Closings Begin"

"According to new reports, many Americans are about to lose their local Target stores. Every month, more Target store closings are being announced as the company faces one of its biggest crises since it was founded six decades ago. The retail chain is in a very poor financial shape, with sales on pace to be the worst they have ever been, one expert said. Revenue growth is also going down while its stock plunged to the lowest level since 2020. And even though the chain is blaming retail theft as the reason why even more stores are going to be shuttered this week, Bloomberg exposed that there’s a somberer reason behind the closures. Target’s business is crumbling down, and the latest data will show you precisely what’s going on.

Mike Baker, D.A. Davidson Senior Research Analyst, forecasted that Target’s financial health is likely to deteriorate even further in Q4. “It's hard to know if the worst was last quarter or this quarter or what exactly is going to be. But we think we're close to the worst,” he said during an interview with Yahoo Finance.

In Q3, the outlook became even gloomier, with consumer traffic trends significantly worsening. Target’s most recent financial report showed that guest visits declined by 5% year-over-year. That big slump was the main factor behind a surprising 5% drop in comparable-store sales during the quarter. Although performance has been going from bad to worse for quite some time now, the company’s executives have continued to overstate Target’s profit potential in the past few months, filling investors with hopes, only to crash them down after new data is online.

Now, its total revenue of over $24.5 billion came lower than analysts’ forecasts by over $400 million. Worse, Target’s profitability lagged other retailers. Its forward enterprise value to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization ratio stood at minus 10.39% while Walmart has 3.75% and Costco has 8.53%.

One more time, the corporation cited retail shrink as one of the main drivers of the losses. But when Bloomberg and Fox News investigators looked at law enforcement dispatch data from stores around Portland, the numbers told a very different story. According to official data from several locations around Portland, all of the stores that are being closed this week have lower property delinquency rates than other stores in the area. That means the retail giant is not eliminating the locations based on real theft risk as it said it was.

On Tuesday, the discounter announced it is closing three stores in the Bay Area for the same alleged reason. At the same time, lots of customers were surprised to find out that the oldest Target store in Manhattan would go out of business this week. With data disproving the company's claim that incidents of shoplifting or robberies were the cause of the shutdowns, the expert suggests that organized retail theft has become a convenient cover for internal problems such as bloated inventories, heavy discounting, and employee theft.

Recent problems were only added on top of the company’s messy pile of failures. These headwinds have made Target one of the cheapest retail stocks in the U.S. In November, the company will report the rest of its Q3 results, and investors will certainly be watching that announcement closely for signs of further weaknesses. At some point, executives will not be able to continue to mask the retailer’s performance, and the dozens of store closings a week might escalate to hundreds when shareholders realize Target will never be the way it was before this downturn started."
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'Life Is Never Fair..."

"Life is never fair,
and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not."
- Oscar Wilde

Greg Hunter, "2 Billion Will Die in New War Cycle"

"2 Billion Will Die in New War Cycle"
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Renowned geopolitical and financial cycle expert Charles Nenner has been warning a once every 120-year war cycle is coming, and with hostilities in the Middle East, it is clearly here. This cycle is for big wars such as WWI and WWII. These two wars were part of one big war cycle according to Nenner, and history is now repeating. Keep in mind, this war cycle comes with many countries in possession of nuclear arsenals. Nenner explains, “If you do cycles on war games and war cycles, you can calculate how many people are going to die in such a war. We discussed this in the past, and it now looks ugly. We are talking about a lot of people. There are so many things bad going on in the world, so I would like to not to tell you the number.”

Nenner has said this war cycle will top all other war cycles in body counts. Nenner predicts, “This war cycle is going to be worse than World War II. So, the question is what do we do and where do we go? A lot of my clients are not interested in ‘how do I make money,’ but where should we go. So, I am studying where are the best places to go. This is what I am trying to find out, and I have been very busy with this.”

Back to the death toll that Nenner knows is coming. So, I ask again, how many people will die in the current war cycle? Nenner blurts out, “It could be a quarter of the population of the world.” That’s roughly 2 billion people that could be killed in the current war cycle. Nenner goes on to say, “This may not be in the next war because this is going to continue for many years. It could be in the war after this. What I see now is the Chinese going to the Middle East and the United States helping Israel because if they don’t do that, nobody would trust the United States anymore. I guess the Chinese are going to watch how tough the United States is going to be because, otherwise, they take over Tiawan just like that. They may still do it because everybody is busy with Ukraine and Israel. . . . The U.S. is going to have to prove themselves, otherwise, they will be laughed off the world.”

Nenner also sees a war cycle coming to America through the Southern U.S. border. America will be attacked like never before in this war cycle. Nenner says, “There will be terror attacks in the U.S. and maybe much more because I don’t know how many of them are in there already. They are catching Iranians on a terror list. How did Iranians get to Mexico?”

Nenner thinks the dollar is stable–for now. Interest rates are going to continue to climb but will take a short downward path in the near term. Inflation is going to be going back up soon. Nenner is not a long-term buyer of stocks, and he still thinks the Dow’s downside is 5,000 and global war could take it there in a hurry. The greatest depression in history is still a few years away, but Nenner is 100% sure it is coming. Nenner’s cycles say it will most likely happen in the 2027-2028 time period. Nenner does like gold and silver and thinks gold will be well over $2,500 per ounce within a year and a half. Nenner’s best financial advice is “buy the 2-year Treasury,” and lock in a 5% return with zero risk. There is much more in the 44-minute interview."

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One with 
renowned cycle analyst and financial expert Charles Nenner.

"Mundus Vult Decipi, Ergo Decipiatur"

"Mundus Vult Decipi, Ergo Decipiatur"
"Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur," a Latin phrase, means "The world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived." The saying is ascribed to Petronius, a Roman satirist from the first century, CE. "The pontifex maximus Scævola thought it expedient that the people should be deceived in religion; and the learned Varro said plainly, that "There are many truths, which it is useless for the vulgar to know; and many falsities which it is fit the people should not suppose are falsities." Hence comes the adage "Mundus vult decipi, decipiatur ergo."

"How It Really Is"

 

Bill Bonner, "Return-Free Risk"

"Return-Free Risk"
Bond market meltdown, housing begins to wobble,
 and what's that smell coming from the attic?
by Bill Bonner

Youghal, Ireland - "The force of a correction is equal and opposite to the delusion that preceded it. Given that the jackassery of the last 23 years was unprecedented in US history, so we can imagine that the correction will be also unparalleled.

Already, we have seen more losses in the bond market than ever before. As described yesterday, bonds have been going down in value since July 2020, with losses for the 10-year US Treasury bond of about 26% so far. That reflects losses from inflation (in the sense that the threat of inflation reduced bond prices)…but to get actual purchasing power losses for bond owners, you have to take off another 16% (that’s how much consumer prices have gone up since 2020) – for a total real wealth loss over 40%. (The math is a little tricky, because the inflation adjustment applies to the residual, current value, not to the face value of the bonds).

Bonds are meant to be safe-ish sources of income. They’re not meant to be gambles or speculations. The US 10-year Treasury, for example, is supposed to be money-in-the-bank. It is considered ‘risk free.’ Banks were required to hold treasuries as financial ballast. Retirees relied on them for their old age. Insurance companies use Treasury bonds to make sure they can meet their obligations. This loss of real value in Treasury debt shakes the entire financial edifice…from the humblest credit card balance to $33.5 trillion in loans to the federal government itself.

Unbalanced Sheets: So far, the losses are still on balance sheets…mostly unrecognized, sometimes hidden. Like the corpse of an aged relation whom no one bothered to visit, the horror of it has yet to be discovered. And the presumption remains, that if you hold to maturity, you won’t lose a dime. This is like saying: if you postpone your visit long enough, it won’t really matter…you’ll have forgotten all about Uncle Harry anyway.

But you can’t ignore bonds losses. The feds are running $2 trillion budget deficits. One way or another, those deficits need to be covered, currently, not in the far-distant future. Either higher interest rates bring forth more savings (and buyers of Treasury debt)…or more money-printing brings forth higher interest rates (as inflation expectations drive them up).

Either way, money is on the move. Trillions of dollars’ worth of it. Some assets disappear entirely as debtors cannot repay. But much wealth simply changes hands. The federal government, for example, must spend a lot more to cover its deficits. But it’s not all bad news, from the feds’ point of view. Inflation reduces the real value of federal debt.

Costs Skyrocket: Savers earn much more money. But borrowers struggle to keep up with higher financing costs. All up and down the great edifice of American capitalism cracks appear as adjustments need to be made. Zombies go out of businesses. Stock prices go down. Banks go bankrupt. Builders stop building.

Just look at what is happening in the housing market. The average mortgage rate in 2020 was under 3%. Now, it’s 8%. Who can afford that? Not many people. Housing sales are now down to levels not seen since the Mortgage Finance Crisis of 2008.

While interest costs have skyrocketed and affordability has sunk, house prices have actually gone up! The average house buyer can no longer afford to buy the average house. So, the average builder stays home. Housing starts are down 25% in the last two years…back to where they were when John Kennedy was elected – when the US had 150 million fewer people.

The lay of the financial land has fundamentally changed. Oceans have appeared on what was recently dry land. Rivers have dried up. Great chasms have opened on the prairies and orchids bloom at the North Pole. When you need to refinance loans, creditors want more interest. The US government itself is now paying five times as much interest on today’s debits as it did in 2020.

Dirty Harry: When you send your children to college – tuition goes up with inflation. If you were planning to pay for it with the yield on bonds you bought in 2020, you will need six or seven times as many of them to pay for the same year of college expenses.

Bread, gas, rent…all go up. Ten years ago, you could have bought the median house with about $52,000 in household income. Today, you need more than twice as much. And the median household income is only $75,000 – about $40,000 short. None of this is surprising. Or unsettling. It’s just what happens – normally – in a correction. And since the things in need of correction were abnormally large and malefic, so will the correction be abnormally severe and uncomfortable.

But there’s always more to the story…much more…which we’ll get to tomorrow. In the meantime, Dear Readers are advised to check on Uncle Harry."

Dan, I Allegedly, "We All Want The Same Thing"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly AM 10/25/23
"We All Want The Same Thing"
"Welcome back to IAllegedly! In today's video, we delve deep into the worldwide economic fears that are shaking up our everyday lives. From rising car insurance rates in California to the shocking losses of Norway's Sovereign wealth fund, the economy is a concern for us all. But together, we can navigate these uncertain times and find ways to make our money work for us."
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Adventures With Danno, "Strange Prices At Target!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, AM 10/25/23
"Strange Prices At Target!"
"In today's vlog, we are at Target and are noticing some strange prices on many different grocery options. We check out some of their good and gather brand products and compare price and quality. With grocery prices going up everywhere, we are looking at all options we have these days."
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Gregory Mannarino, "Be Ready For A Human Culling On An Epic Scale"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 10/25/23
"Be Ready For A Human Culling On An Epic Scale
What You Are Not Allowed To Know"
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o
Gregory Mannarino, PM 10/25/23
"Debt Market Danger Zone, 
Things Could Get Real Ugly Very Fast"
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"World War III Update 10/25/23"

Col. Douglas Macgregor, Straight Calls 10/25/23
"Russia Will Not Let The US Destroy Iran"
"Analysis of breaking news and in-depth discussion of current 
geopolitical events in the United States of America and the world."
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o
Hindustan Times, AM 10/25/23
"USA's 3 Threats In 1 Day To Iran After Russia Minister's Trip,
 Warning Over Israel-Hamas War"
"Amid rising tension in the Middle East due to the Israel-Hamas war, the United States of America has raised its pitch against Iran. Accusing Tehran of orchestrating over a dozen attacks on American troops in Iraq and Syria in just a week, the US said that it was ready to retaliate "decisively" to protect its personnel and interests. This comes just days after Russia's foreign minister Sergey Lavrov visited Iran and warned USA that its military build-up in the Middle East risks escalating the conflict."
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Canadian Prepper, "Alert: USA Surrounds Iran; Underground IRGC Nuclear Forces On High Alert; Black Sea About To Erupt!"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 10/24/23
"Alert: USA Surrounds Iran; Underground IRGC 
Nuclear Forces On High Alert; Black Sea About To Erupt!"
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Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Jeremiah Babe, "This Is A Very Dangerous Time, There Is Nowhere To Run"

Jeremiah Babe, 10/24/23
"This Is A Very Dangerous Time,
 There Is Nowhere To Run"
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Gerald Celente, "Occupy Peace Or Die In War: What Side Are You On?"

Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, Trends Journal, 10/24/23
"Occupy Peace Or Die In War:
 What Side Are You On?"
"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What’s Next in these increasingly turbulent times."
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Musical Interlude: Neil H, "Spellbound"

Neil H, "Spellbound"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“What's happening behind those houses? Pictured here are not auroras but nearby light pillars, a nearby phenomenon that can appear as a distant one.
In most places on Earth, a lucky viewer can see a Sun-pillar, a column of light appearing to extend up from the Sun caused by flat fluttering ice-crystals reflecting sunlight from the upper atmosphere. Usually these ice crystals evaporate before reaching the ground. During freezing temperatures, however, flat fluttering ice crystals may form near the ground in a form of light snow, sometimes known as a crystal fog. These ice crystals may then reflect ground lights in columns not unlike a Sun-pillar. The featured image was taken in Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks in central Alaska.”

Chet Raymo, “The Spark of Life”

“The Spark of Life”
by Chet Raymo

"In a previous post I quoted Teilhard de Chardin referring to the discovery of electromagnetic waves as a "prodigious biological event." A biological event? What could he mean? The universe was awash with electromagnetic waves long before life appeared on Earth, or anywhere else in the universe. The cosmic microwave background radiation- the residue of the big bang- is electromagnetic. Starlight is an electromagnetic wave. You can "discover" electromagnetic waves by opening your eyes.

Of course, what Teilhard referred to was the conscious control of electromagnetic radiation by sentient biological creatures. Electromagnetic waves were predicted theoretically by the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell in 1864, as he played with equations describing electric and magnetic fields. Then, twenty-two years later, electromagnetic waves were experimentally demonstrated by Heinrich Hertz, who in effect made the first radio broadcast and reception. At Hertz's transmitter a spark jumped back and forth between two metal spheres 50 million times a second. Across the room a similar spark was instantly produced at the receiver. Invisible electrical energy had passed through space at the speed of light.

A spark dancing between two spheres - an unpretentious beginning for the age of radio, television, mobile phones and wireless internet. That first transmitter and receiver had a basement-workshop simplicity about them. Hertz demonstrated the nature of electromagnetic waves with constructions of wood, brass and sealing wax.

Wood, brass, sealing wax and conscious intelligence. Here on Earth- perhaps throughout the universe- stardust gave rise to living slime. The slime complexified, became conscious. Invented mathematics, experimental science. Caused sparks to jump between metal spheres. Sent the signature of biological activity across a room. Across a planet. Across the universe. Prodigious!”

Free Download: Olaf Stapledon, "Sirius: A Fantasy of Love and Discord"

"But what a universe, anyhow! No use blaming human-beings for what they were. Everything was made so that it had to torture something else. Sirius himself was no exception, of course. Made that way! Nothing was responsible for being by nature predatory on other things, dog on rabbit and Argentine beef, man on nearly everything, bugs and microbes on man, and of course man himself on man. (Nothing but man was really cruel, vindictive, except perhaps the loathly cat). Everything desperately struggling to keep its nose above water for a few breaths before its strength inevitably failed and down it went, pressed under by something else. And beyond, those brainless, handless idiotic stars, lazing away so importantly for nothing. 

Here and there some speck of a planet dominated by some half-awake intelligence like humanity. And here and there on such planets, one or two poor little spirits waking up and wondering what in the hell everything was for, what it was all about, what they could make of themselves; and glimpsing in a muddled way what their potentiality was, and feebly trying to express it, but always failing, always missing fire, and very often feeling themselves breaking up as he himself was doing. Just now and then they might feel the real thing, in some creative work, or in sweet community with another little spirit, or with others. Just now and then they seemed somehow to create or to be gathered up into something lovelier than their individual selves, something which demanded their selves sacrifice and yet have their selves new life. But how precariously, torturingly; and only just for a flicker of time! Their whole life-time would only be a flicker in the whole of titanic time. Even when all the worlds have frozen or exploded, and all the suns gone dead and cold therewill still be time. Oh God, what for?"
 - Olaf Stapledon, "Sirius: A Fantasy of Love and Discord"
Freely download "Sirius: A Fantasy of Love and Discord",
by Olaf Stapledon, here: