"2021: As China's Golden Ox Rises The US Bald Eagle Will Crash"

"2021: As China's Golden Ox Rises The US Bald Eagle Will Crash"

by Egon von Greyerz

"The Chinese understand the long game and they have infinite patience. They have always known that they never needed to attack the US, financially or militarily. Because China has invariably understood that the US would self-destruct.

Click image for larger size.

Click image for larger size.

Politics And Princes Don't Mix: The Duchess of Sussex who has dragged her poor husband, Prince Harry, into the US election has declared that this will be the most important election in history. She will most probably be right but for the wrong reason. Meghan Markle believes a Biden victory is the only way that the US can be saved, primarily because she can’t stand Trump (which is reciprocal). It probably doesn’t matter who wins the election when is comes to stopping the crash of the US economy and currency. But what is guaranteed is that Biden’s policies will bankrupt America much faster than Trump’s. The profligate democrats will forgive trillions of debt, increase spending and reduce taxes for the masses.

The Chinese have waited patiently for this moment. They forecast the collapse of the “capitalist monetary system with the dollar as its prop” already half a century ago and how right they have been.

The Days Of The Dollar Are Counted: A 98% fall in real terms – against gold – and a 78% fall against the Swiss franc tells the world that the days of the dollar are counted. So will we see the US bald eagle crash to the ground and a phoenix in the form of a new world currency emerge like in the 1988 Economist article?

Well, the dollar crash is guaranteed and a Biden victory will accelerate the move. But there is unlikely to be a new world currency in the near term. As the dollar falls and with it the US economy, China will gradually emerge as the next dominant economy and super power. But this will take time. Before that we will have chaos in the global financial system, economic collapse in many countries, political upheaval, riots, and wars.

Biden – A Catalyst For Accelerated US Decline: So is a Biden victory going to cause all this? No not solely. But just as the coronavirus sped up that fall of the US and world economy, Biden will be the catalyst for an accelerated decline of the US. Both events would have happened anyway but probably not as dramatically as with these two powerful catalysts – CV and Biden.

The coming US election will have bitter consequences for the US and the world whoever wins. It is likely to be aggressively fought not just before November 4th but more so after the result is declared. There will be a plethora of forums where the election result will be disputed and fought like in the courts, the media, the streets, in families and in politics of course.

Churchill – We Shall Fight On The Beaches: The fighting everywhere reminds me of Winston Churchill’s speech in parliament in June 1940 after the evacuation of Dunkirk: “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills…”

Churchill’s speech was obviously to unify and prepare the nation for the major war effort ahead. But the consequence of the US election will be extremely divisive and damaging for the US whoever wins. So 2021 is not just likely to be the start of a severe and long lasting economic downturn or collapse for the US but also an extended period of extreme political and social disharmony and discontent.

Reminiscing Over Better Times: I have just entered my 52nd year of working life. But I can clearly remember life before that as a young boy in Sweden, back in the 1950s. This was a time when the family was the kernel of society and there was total respect for law and order. Mothers were at home and looked after the children. The wages of the father were sufficient to provide for the family. Very few people had debt and obviously there were no credit cards. Most things were paid for in cash. The police was unarmed and there was total respect for their authority. 

Sweden then was a very homogenous society with few immigrants. There was very little crime and virtually no violent crime. I remember visiting churches in the countryside and the doors were open and church silver would stand on shelves totally unprotected. Young children could move around freely without parental protection. Very few people went on holiday abroad or had cars or televisions. The economy was strong, based on real money with little debt. The quality of life was far superior to today. I am not talking about material things but people were much happier with less stress and strong respect for your fellow humans. There was integrity with strong moral and ethical values.

The End Of An Era: I do realize that all of this could sound like a mature man nostalgically reminiscing and embellishing the past. There might be some truth in that criticism but I am quite convinced that the era we are now in is the end of a cycle when it comes to quality of life, values, crime, honesty, integrity. The current debt based economy with fake money and values is clearly creating a very unhappy society and many discontented people.

This is why the current cycle needs to soon come to an end. The world needs a proper forest fire which destroys the debt and all the bubble assets financed by printed money and worthless debt. The coming fall of the global debt edifice will be a relief for the world but it will obviously involve a long period of suffering. But only after this fall can the world start a new cycle with green shoots based on a sound monetary and financial system which is based on real values, both moral and material.

Half A Century Of Dramatic Changes In The World: Coming back to my half a century of working life, there have also been some dramatic changes in the world. The table below shows what has happened to debt, dollar, GDP & stocks during my 51 years’ involvement with financial markets, between 1969 and 2020. US federal debt is up 75x and GDP is only up 20x. There is no clearer evidence that the US economy is running on empty and that more and more debt is required to produce an increase in GDP in nominal terms.

Debt Default Coming: US debt to GDP has now reached 135% against 35% in 1969 and growing. These debt levels are unsustainable for future growth. With falling tax revenues and rising expenditure, there is zero chance that this debt will ever be reduced. And when interest rates go up, the US will not even be able to service the debt. So a debt default is very likely in the next few years.

Whilst US GDP is up 20x since 1969, China’s GDP is up 175x. There can be little doubt that China will be the next global economic superpower. Only a revolution in China would stop that.

Gold is up 53x since 1969 and the Dow 34x. If dividends after tax are included and reinvested, the rise of the Dow and gold would be fairly equal. I started the article with China’s view, in 1971, on the future of the dollar and the US economy. The debt explosion and slow GDP growth are clear evidence of how right China was. But the dollar’s 98% fall against gold and 79% against the Swiss franc confirms China’s 1971 prediction:

“…the seriousness of the US economic crisis and the decay and decline of the entire capitalist system."

“…mark the collapse of capitalist monetary system with the US dollar as its prop. Nixon’s new economic policy cannot extricate the US from financial and economic crisis.”

So there we have it. The wise Chinese saw half a century ago what would happen to the US, the dollar and the capitalist system and they knew already then that they would be the main beneficiaries. But destruction of currencies and fall of empires is not new in history. Von Mises stated this phenomenon very eloquently:

2021 The Chinese Year Of The Golden Ox:  2021 will be the Chinese year of the Metal or Golden Ox. It will also be the 50th anniversary of Nixon’s fatal decision to end the gold backing of the dollar.

As the golden ox rises in China, the US bald eagle will crash to the ground as a symbol of the crashing dollar and US economy. 2021 is likely to be an ominous year in the global economy. We may not see the “final and total catastrophe of the currency system” completed already then but we are likely to see the start of the final dollar collapse and a major surge in gold and silver. Anyone holding depreciating dollars and other currencies will soon regret not holding real money in the form of physical gold and silver."

- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

"Market Fantasy Updates 9/30/20"

"Market Fantasy Updates 9/30/20" 

Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...

Only the consequences are real - to you!

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"The more I see of the monied classes, 

the better I understand the guillotine."

- George Bernard Shaw

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"The Only Thing Systematic Is The Destruction Of America"

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Gregory Mannarino,

AM 9/30/20 UPDATE: "U.S. GDP Craters! Important Updates- 

Beyond The Epic Freak Show"

 - https://traderschoice.net/

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Updated live.

- https://www.marketwatch.com/tools/marketsummary

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- https://www.zerohedge.com/

SEP 30, 2020 9:54 AM: "The Fed's Bazooka Is Broken – Will Direct Lending Be Next?"

SEP 30, 2020 8:46 AM: "Final Q2 GDP Revision Shows US Economy Shrank -31.4%"

09/29/2020 - 20:25: "NYC Hammered By 40% Bankruptcy Surge, Braces For Next Wave"

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- https://wallstreetonparade.com/

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Daily Update (September 29th to 30th)

- http://www.shadowstats.com/

“More to Come…”

“More to Come…”

By Jeff Thomas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- http://www.swpcayman.com/

"So We All Ran Around..."

“So we all ran around in mad, mindless, meaningless circles, as if we were in a cotton-candy eating contest where the grand prize was getting kicked in the face. We were oblivious to everything around us that no truly sane person would ever tolerate. And we needed someone else to tell us to stop it.”

- Edward M. Wolfe

"Covid-19 Pandemic Update 9/30/20"

 

"A Native American health crisis: The Indian Health Service, which provides health care to more than two million members of America’s tribal communities, has long struggled with underfunding and mismanagement. The coronavirus has magnified the problems. Hospitals struggled to find protective gear, and they quickly ran out of beds and ventilators. Deaths surged.

In other virus developments:

• The Times asked three teams of epidemiologists to calculate how much of the U.S. population is still susceptible to the virus. They estimated that 85 to 90 percent is not yet immune.

• The virus is surging in Quebec, leading the province to reintroduce tough shutdown measures, including closing restaurants and forbidding household visits.

• A new report confirms that cats and dogs can be infected by the coronavirus, though there is still no evidence that pets transmit it to humans."

SEP 30, 2020 12:03 AM ET:

 Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Global Outbreak 
The coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 33,650,200 
people, according to official counts, including 7,219,821 Americans.

      SEP 30, 2020 12:03 AM ET: 
Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count

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- https://www.zerohedge.com/

SEP 30, 2020 8:32 AM: "New Research Hints At Lower 'Herd Immunity' Threshold; EU Approves Rapid COVID-19 Test: Live Updates"

SEP 30, 2020 3:30 AM: "Denmark Nears Pre-COVID Normality: No Masks Or Distancing In Schools, Just Common Sense"

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Updated 9/30/20, 4:23 AM ET

Click image for larger size.

- https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Greg Hunter, "We Are in a Very Dangerous Period - Stock Market Not Going to End Very Well"

Meanwhile, in the totally-detached-from-reality stock market fantasy land...

"We Are in a Very Dangerous Period - 

Stock Market Not Going to End Very Well"

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Renowned geopolitical and financial cycle expert Charles Nenner called this market just 2% from the top in January. What does he think now? He likes gold and says he “made more money in gold than in stocks” in the past few months. Nenner says, “We are playing the long term gold market. We went out at $2,100 (per ounce), and the price target was $1,850 (on the downside). We hit $1,850 a couple of days ago, so we bought back in. We get in and out for a couple of hundred points, and it’s worthwhile. So, the gold cycle is up for much longer. $2,500 is the first target, and it could be we get higher targets. I do not believe in the stock market, most of the markets we do nicely in are the gold market, silver market, crude oil market, bond market and the dollar. It’s all very simple and normal, and the stock market is not going to end very well.”

Nenner is long the stock market now until close to the end of November. Nenner says the rising market may be signaling a coming Trump win in November. Nenner is not sure, but what he is very sure about is the stock market is way overvalued just like it was earlier this year. Nenner explains, “As you know, the stock market is still very much overvalued. One of the reasons is the ‘Buffett Indicator,’ and that is the value of the stock market compared to the value of the entire GDP, and it’s extreme. I think it’s more extreme than the 2000 bubble. If you want to buy low and sell high, you have to have indicators of what is low and what is high, and, for me, this is high. This is based on the fundamentals, but on the cycles, we can try to test the highs one more time. This is not going to end well because everybody will try to get into the market, and then the whole thing is over.”

- https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One

 with renowned cycle analyst and financial expert Charles Nenner. 

MUST WATCH! “US Economy On Life Support; Economic Victims Surge; Homeless Nightmare; Greatest Depression”

Jeremiah Babe,

“US Economy On Life Support; Economic Victims Surge; 

Homeless Nightmare; Greatest Depression”

Please view at full screen mode.

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60 million jobs lost... never coming back. So no income.

How can they pay the bills?

40 million pending evictions. Assume 2 people per household - 

80 million homeless? Where can/will they go?

100,000 plus small businesses bankrupted and closed.

Food supply chains destroyed. Massive food shortages coming.

20,000 trucking companies closed forever. To deliver what, to who, how?

There is no "recovery."

and there will never be a return to "normal."

Tell me, Good Citizen, how "That could never happen here!"

It has, and, God help us, the worst is yet to come.

Then tell me, how it could never happen to YOU...

- CP

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BTW, you may want to consider this fact about the dreaded Covid-19 virus...

"Survival Rate Greater Than 99.995%"

"America Is Now Officially In Inflation: The Fed Has Major Problem As Prices Rise To Dangerous Levels"

"America Is Now Officially In Inflation: 

The Fed Has Major Problem As Prices Rise To Dangerous Levels"

by Epic Economist

"The unusual policies issued by the Fed are causing a two-fold inflation problem in the real economy. We bet many of you on the other side of the screen could already notice how prices are surging in some goods, and you haven't seen it wrong. The sanitary outbreak reshaped our necessities, changing it according to our new reality. 

Some things that we used to frequently buy are not so much of a part of our new routines as they used to, being replaced by other products that are better adapted to the moment we are living. For instance, previously, many people used to drive to work. Today, however, considering they are still employed and working from home, they don't feel like they need to spend so much on gas. But maybe - if they got time on their hands, they wanted to buy a new bike to teach their kids how to ride and were caught in surprise when they saw a serious spike in prices.

In this connection, a recent study has shown that prices are considerably increasing for the stuff we really want to buy, while those that have been left out of the picture are facing a decline in prices, thereby, showing that inflation has already started to show significant impacts on the real economy. That is why today we are going to analyze the implications of this effect so that we can understand how it was formed and what we can expect inflation-wise over the next developments of the economic collapse. So, stay with us, and please, give this video a thumbs up, share it with your friends, and subscribe to our channel to keep updated on the most diverse economic topics that are building the historical moment we are all living. WSJ's James Mackintosh published an article over the weekend titled "Inflation Is Already Here—For the Stuff You Actually Want to Buy", which sharply evaluated the situation. 

Mackintosh described that "if it feels like the price of everything you buy has been soaring, that’s because it has—even as central bankers everywhere worry about the danger of deflation." The author then highlights to the "massive gap" between the everyday experience and the annual inflation rate of 1.3%, observing that "the price of the stuff we’re buying is rising much faster, while the stuff we’re no longer buying has been falling, but still counts for the figures."

Evidently, this adds up perfectly, because, in essence, the higher the demand for a given good or service, the higher price will escalate and vice versa. The data transcribe that in this "post-health-crisis era", where people are now working from home, the annual inflation for some products is now considerably overshooting the Fed's targets.

Even so, many economists are confident that the prevalent price forces over the next 1-2 years will be mostly deflationary, if the face of the massive layoffs that considerably crushed wages. "In the short term the demand shock prevails, so we will have subdued prices for the next 12 to 18 months,” says Luigi Speranza, chief global economist at BNP Paribas. 

That is to say, the lingering effects from the health crisis could be translated into less need for travel and tourism workers for years to come, while those who have been unemployed will lose skills. Also, the deflationary side-effects of the forthcoming macro transformations can create a surge of delinquencies and defaults across commercial properties, possibly leading to a widespread deflationary debt-destruction, as many workers will be forced to leave to find new roles.

In conclusion, if Congress doesn't manage to find an agreement about a fifth fiscal stimulus, the price rises are likely to continue to grow at a fast pace, worrying investors and triggering warning signs for the economy. Particularly if the second wave of viral cases is followed by a third, boosting lay-offs and a recession once again, ultimately also affecting prices. So, the prospects from now on seem to include soaring prices for things Americans needs and declining prices for things they don't. For the major institutions, this isn't enough to raise their attention, but for us - the average Americans on Main Street - it means more financial pain ahead."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com

Gregory Mannarino, "Market Updates And More! Tonight, THE BIGGEST FREAK SHOW ON EARTH"

Gregory Mannarino,

"Market Updates And More! Tonight,

 THE BIGGEST FREAK SHOW ON EARTH"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Musical Interlude: Gnomusy, "Dolmen Ridge"

Gnomusy, "Dolmen Ridge"

"A Look to the Heavens"

 "Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud by chance has assumed this recognizable shape. Fittingly named the Horsehead Nebula, it is some 1,500 light-years distant, embedded in the vast Orion cloud complex. 

Click image for larger size.

About five light-years "tall", the dark cloud is cataloged as Barnard 33 and is visible only because its obscuring dust is silhouetted against the glowing red emission nebula IC 434. Stars are forming within the dark cloud. Contrasting blue reflection nebula NGC 2023, surrounding a hot, young star, is at the lower left. The gorgeous featured image combines both narrowband and broadband images."

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150513.html

Chet Raymo, “Hanging On”

“Hanging On”

by Chet Raymo

“I change the desktop image on my laptop every now and then, generally when I come across a new image I like. In the last year or so you’ll remember that I wrote about Caravaggio’s “The Rest on the Flight Into Egypt” and Vermeer’s “The Milkmaid.” Live with an image for a while and it’s inevitable that you learn something from it. Here is the painting I’ve had as my desktop in recent weeks, Winslow Homer’s “Snap the Whip”, 1872, one of America’s sentimental favorites.

A simpler, more innocent time. Boys at recess, barefoot in the grass. Hand-me-down clothes. Autumn wildflowers, trees turning to red and gold. A fumbling Ulysses S. Grant is in the White House, the country is at peace after a horrendous civil war, and the Panic of 1873 and subsequent depression is still in the offing. Anyway, all of that political and economic stuff is a bit of a pother and far away. The sun is high in the sky, there’s an apple in the pocket, and only the oldest boy is thinking yet about the eternal mystery that is girls.

Yes, a lovely sentimental anecdote to the busy rancor of our own time, the incessant noise of the television, the attack ads, the news of war. How blissful to be twelve years old again, fit and healthy with the grass between your toes. Never mind that these boys had a life expectancy at birth of about 40 years, and that many of them had probably already lost a sibling or parent; when the sun’s out, and it’s recess, and you’ve got eight pals to play with…

But that’s not why I like the painting. I love the way the arc of the whip reflects the curve of the hill. The vanishing point of the red schoolhouse and three white shirts – everything converges on the two adults in the distance, the grown-up world that inevitably awaits.

Between the three boys who anchor the whip and the six who resist the centrifugal force that breaks the chain is the schoolhouse, the open door and window bracketing the anchor’s grip. Maybe it’s because I was a teacher all my life, but I like to think that the “message” of the painting has to do with education, with what goes on when the boys and girls are called back inside by the teacher’s bell – the glue that holds a civil society together when the whiplash of events threatens to tear us apart. Not indoctrination. Rather, reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic, the basic skills that enable an individual to explore the world creatively. History, geography and  science, with their lessons of diversity, tolerance and respect for empirical fact. The ameliorating influence of poetry and art. And one of these boys, maybe the oldest in the center, will become a teacher himself, maintaining an unbroken chain of accumulated knowledge that anchors us to the past and propels us together into a mutually supportive and secure future.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

The Poet: Robinson Jeffers, “Be Angry at the Sun”

“Be Angry at the Sun”

“That public men publish falsehoods

Is nothing new. That America must accept

Like the historical republics corruption and empire

Has been known for years.

Be angry at the sun for setting

If these things anger you.
Watch the wheel slope and turn,

They are all bound on the wheel, these people,

Those warriors,

This republic, Europe, Asia.

Observe them gesticulating,

Observe them going down. The gang serves lies,

the passionate Man plays his part;
the cold passion for truth hunts in no pack.

You are not Catullus, you know,

To lampoon these crude sketches of Caesar.
You are far from Dante’s feet,
 but even farther from his dirty

Political hatreds.

Let boys want pleasure, and men

Struggle for power, and women perhaps for fame,

And the servile to serve a Leader and dupes

to be duped.
Yours is not theirs.”

- Robinson Jeffers, 1941

"We Don''t Have A Clue..."

“We don’t have a clue what’s really going down, we just kid ourselves that we’re in control of our lives while a paper’s thickness away things that would drive us mad if we thought about them for too long play with us, and move us around from room to room, and put us away at night when they’re tired, or bored.”

- Neil Gaiman

"Trump’s Tottering Towers"

"Trump’s Tottering Towers"

By Bill Bonner

SAN MARTIN, ARGENTINA – "The big news at the weekend was that the president has not paid much in federal income taxes for years. In 2016 and 2017, for example, the billionaire paid only $750. Mr. Trump has portrayed himself to the public as a very rich and successful man. Yet, to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), he has painted a different portrait… more like a Francis Bacon than Hans Holbein the Younger. That is, he cast himself as a loser… someone whose losses overpower his gains, and who thus, generally, owes no federal taxes. But let’s come back to that…

Bad Mule: It’s spring here in the Southern Hemisphere. The grass is green. The sky is blue. And it’s time to plant the garden. It was to that end that Gustavo put his shoulder to the plow on Saturday… and began an adventure.

Plowing with a mule.

We have tractors. But the garden is enclosed within adobe walls. Only a mule could get in to do the work. “Mules are better than horses,” Gustavo explained. “They’re strong. Reliable. But they’re temperamental. You have to work with them. You can get a horse that has been trained by a professional. But you have to train a mule yourself. You have to get to know it. Take your time. Mules don’t like to be rushed.

If you buy a mule… the seller will tell you it’s been trained and it’s very tame. But nobody sells a good mule. They’re not like cars. You can’t upgrade to a better mule. And you can’t downsize to a smaller mule. If someone sells you a trained mule, you know there must be something wrong with it. And you don’t find out what it is until you try to work with it.

One time, my grandfather bought a mule that had been trained up in the mountains… a long way away… maybe 20 hours on horseback. Well, he got the mule home and the next day, it ran away… It went all the way back to where it came from. Took a couple days. He got it back. But it was never a good mule. Some things you just have to do yourself.”

(The mule in question had come from a tiny, remote settlement – a speck of green oasis in a desolate landscape – on the other side of the most rugged mountains in the country. In the last century, it was a watering stop for drovers taking their animals to the city. Now, it may be abandoned… or turned into a hippie colony. No one knows for sure. Or even how to get there… We are planning an expedition… to be continued.)

Two Camps: In the meantime, we return to the grim story of the president’s tax returns. The news coverage broke immediately into two opposing camps. On one side, the president’s supporters considered it “fake news”… Or else, they thought it flattered Mr. Trump – it is quite an achievement for a man as rich as he claims to be not to pay much in taxes. “Bravo!” they said.

In the other camp, the news was taken as fact and thought to show not only what an unpatriotic sleazebag POTUS is, but also, how shaky his business empire is. Nancy Pelosi even imagined that a man in the White House with so much personal debt posed a “national security threat.” As to the latter claim, the House Speaker is surely exaggerating. The president’s $400 million in personally guaranteed debt may pose a threat to himself, but not to the nation.

King of Debt: And we only bring it up to make a familiar point. In the 1990s, Mr. Trump famously remarked that he was one of the poorest men on the planet. Many had zero, but he had less than zero; he was $100 million in the hole! That is probably where he would have stayed, were it not for the Federal Reserve.

It was in this period that the Fed began pushing down Mr. Trump’s cost of borrowing… and pushing up the value of his investments. The federal funds rate was nearly 10% at the beginning of 1989. Three years later, it was under 3%. This huge cut in the cost of financing allowed The Donald to climb out of his burrow. That’s why he called himself the “King of Debt” and a “low interest” kinda guy. He’s seen what artificially low interest rates can do.

Bigger Score: But those whom the gods would destroy are first made crazy. Real estate speculators are probably all a little nutty to begin with. No sooner have they made a big score than they are borrowing even more money… in search of an even bigger score. And with the intoxicating nectar of cheap credit flowing from every New York bank, Trump was unable to resist.

The president’s father made the family fortune in the nitty gritty, unglamorous world of middle-income housing in Queens. Donald crossed over to Manhattan and sought prestige.

 To hear The New York Times tell it, he ended up with a lot of unprofitable property. He lost $162 million on the Trump National Doral golf resort in Miami alone. His hotel in Washington, only open since 2016, has recorded losses through 2018 of $55.5 million. These losses made such a dent in his finances that he has not paid any federal income taxes at all in 10 out of the last 15 years.

Hooked: But giving people cheap credit is a bit like inviting a friend to share your heroin. He becomes part of your fantasy world… and may have a hard time escaping it. Donald Trump was hooked many years ago. And so was much of the U.S. economy. Almost everybody became dependent on fake money and a federal funds rate below Consumer Price Index inflation.

So it was in January. Now, in late September, it has become more difficult – for the president and the nation. Stuff happens. And when the coronavirus happened, the Donald’s empire – hotels, casinos, resorts – was hit hard. Some 17 of Trump’s golf resorts closed their doors. Hotel occupancy rates in New York fell from 93% last August to only 38% this year. Gamblers have moved online. Golfers are back on the links, but not crowding around the bars.

Deep Hole: How deep is Donald’s hole this time? We don’t know. It’s none of our business. But Mr. Trump is resourceful… and lucky. He may climb out again. America’s hole, on the other hand, goes $80 trillion down… all the way to Hell."

- www.rogueeconomics.com

The Daily "Near You?"

Erskineville, New South Wales, Australia. Thanks for stopping by!

"A Long March..."

 

"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

"Survival Rate Greater Than 99.995%"

September 29, 2020: "OMG, just LOOK at that crazy “second wave” of death and destruction going on in Florida right now! With a survival rate greater than 99.995% if you do catch it for those under 70."

Click image for larger size.

Source: - www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/

- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

"Continuing the Trend: 2020 to End in Chaos"

Click image for larger size.

"Continuing the Trend: 2020 to End in Chaos"

by Nathan McDonald

"It should come as no surprise to anyone that 2020 has been a year of sheer chaos, madness, and worldwide change the likes of which we have not seen in most people's living memory -that is unless you have been living under a rock. For those of you who were hoping this trend would change as the year progressed and headed towards closure, you are sadly going to be mistaken. The ending to this year of epic nonsense is only going to get worse. Much worse.

Possibly the Most Contested U.S. Elections of All Time: As the November 3rd presidential election rapidly approaches, people have finally begun to realize what I have stated since the end of last year, that this year's election will be dominated by violence and uncertainty, ending with literal blood in the streets. Both the far right and the radical left will ensure that this will be how 2020 ends, regardless of who takes home the "perceived" victory after the dust finally settles.

The Democrats and the Republicans have begun uttering their talking points, with President Trump recently dominating the headlines with his statements about the probability of mail-in ballot voter fraud. Mail-in voting has many concerned on the political right, as it has the possibility of being heavily abused.

Knowing this fact and how his base feels, President Trump alarmed many this week when he refused to acknowledge that there would be a "peaceful transfer of power" if he loses the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden. As recently reported: When asked directly whether he would commit to a "peaceful transition of power," Trump responded, "We're going to have to see what happens." He went on to suggest that authorities "get rid of the ballots," an apparent reference to the huge uptick in votes cast by mail amid the coronavirus pandemic, adding that, if they did, "there won't be a transfer [of power], frankly. There will be a continuation."

Meanwhile, the Democrats have also stated that they are going to dispute the election results if Joe Biden loses, already putting into motion various game plans that will tie up the final results for weeks, if not months, possibly leading to a hung election.

Regardless of who is declared victorious or who is the one contesting the results, the fact remains that the United States will be in an extreme state of anarchy and limbo for many months to come. This is going to result in an ungodly number of riots, protests, violence, and destruction inside the world's largest economic and military power.

As the election results begin to trickle in on November 3rd, I believe a true feeling of dread will set in with the masses. It is then that you will see one side or the other in the streets, protesting and causing destruction on a near daily basis, with the Mainstream Media doing what they do best: exasperating the problems and pitting both sides against each other.

In Conclusion: The writing is on the wall and, sadly, I believe there is no turning back at this point. The divide between the far right and left within the United States has grown so vast that I believe we will have to hit a true boiling point before things ever return to normal again - if they even can. The damage will be great and the risk to the system will be vast in times of great unrest and upheaval.

Until next time, stay safe."

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

"The Only Thing Systematic Is The Destruction Of America" (Excerpt)

"The Only Thing Systematic Is The Destruction Of America"

Part 1(Excerpt)

by James Quinn

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something,

 when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!” 

– Upton Sinclair

"Upton Sinclair was describing willful ignorance based upon who butters your bread. The rampant corruption of our society, as power has been consolidated into fewer and fewer hands, has resulted in our political, financial, cultural and economic systems being captured by a billionaire class who use their wealth to dictate the path we are forced to follow – or lose everything.

The sociopath class include the Silicon Valley social media titans, the billionaires running the six mainstream media companies, the rogue billionaires like Soros and Bloomberg who fund chaos and foment insurrection, the Deep State surveillance agency operatives like Clapper, Brennan, Comey and Mueller doing the bidding of the oligarchy, Wall Street criminals like Dimon, Paulson, and Blankfein doing god’s work, and last but certainly not least – Powell, Yellen, Bernanke and slimy Kashkari priming the pump for the never ending systematic pillaging of the nation’s wealth.

When you witness what passes for legislators at the Federal, State and Local levels, you must weep for our future. These pathetic excuses for leaders display none of the qualities a citizenry would want in those they have elected to manage our governmental affairs. They are bought off hacks, lacking any intellectual honesty, and selling their votes to the highest bidder. They lie, misinform, steal, and do the bidding of the monied interests who selected them because they are pliable dupes without an ounce of courage or forethought about the long-term best interests of the people they are supposed to be representing.

We are far from the republic Franklin and his fellow patriots gave us, and as Franklin foreshadowed, we were unable to keep it. As the fledgling republic devolved into a mob democracy, with the Federal government grabbing more power during the Civil War, the banking cabal seizing control of the nation’s finances in 1913 with the creation from Jekyll Island, the growth of the welfare state with FDR and LBJ doing the most damage, the metastasis of the military industrial complex, the elimination of privacy after the Patriot Act surveillance state execution, and now the final countdown to Armageddon as the state, media conglomerates, Wall Street criminals, mega-corporations, and billionaire oligarchs use this purposefully over-hyped flu pandemic to consolidate their power, wealth and control over a dumbed down, iGadget addicted, fearful, easily manipulated, compliant populace."

Please view this highly recommended and complete article here:

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

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"The Only Thing Systematic Is The Destruction Of America"

Part 2

"How It Really Is"