"McConnell Dooms $2,000 Stimulus Check After Refusing To Split Trump's Three Demands"

"McConnell Dooms $2,000 Stimulus Check 

After Refusing To Split Trump's Three Demands"

by Tyler Durden

WEDNESDAY, DEC 30, 2020 - 15:46: "In a move that all but doomed Congressional approval for $2,000 stimulus checks (up from $600), top Senate republican Mitch McConnell said he would not separate the plan for $2K checks, from President Donald Trump’s other demands: section 230 repeal and an election fraud commission. "The Senate is not going to split apart the three issues that President Trump linked together just because Democrats are afraid to address two of them. The Senate is not going to be bullied into rushing out more borrowed money into the hands of Democrats rich friends who don't need the help," McConnell said from the Senate floor.

Over the weekend, the Democratic-controlled House approved a stand-alone bill to boost the checks to $2,000 from $600, as 44 Republicans prodded by Trump joined nearly all Democrats in backing the measure. But the Republican-controlled Senate has said it will not pass the checks without attaching other Trump priorities that Democrats consider toxic, and would sink any legislation.

The latest twist in this bizarre saga of Helicopter Money and government handouts came just as the Treasury Department started to send out the payments of up to $600 on Tuesday night. If Congress can overcome the thorny political dynamics to increase the deposits to $2,000, the government would later add on to the cash it already distributed.

On Tuesday, McConnell introduced the bill that would boost the payments to $2,000 but also repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides legal liability protections for internet platforms, and create a commission on voter fraud, something which Trump has pushed for as he continues to challenge the outcome of the November election.

McConnell's gambit came shortly after he blocked Democrats’ efforts to quickly pass the $2,000 checks as has tried to balance a desire not to immediately add to the price tag of the $900 billion rescue package, while appeasing a GOP president who has fixated on sending more direct payments to struggling Americans, and jeopardizing Republican chances in the Georgia Senate runoff where the topic of $600 vs $2,000 checks has become especially sensitive.

Democrats - who were for the $2,000 check but against repeal of Section 230 and the election fraud commission - threw up all over McConnell's bill as expected. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer, said Tuesday that tying other proposals to the direct cash measure “would be a blatant attempt to deprive Americans of a $2,000 survival check.” On Wednesday, Schumer said that the House-passed bill to increase stimulus checks was the only option at this point. Making other changes/additions “is way to kill the bill. Make no mistake about it."

Nancy Pelosi also urged the Senate to approve the stand-alone bill before the new Congress starts at noon ET on Sunday, but this effort was promptly stymied by McConnell. "I do hope that in the days ahead - we only have a few days left in the session - that they will see the light and understand the suffering that is going on in this country," the California Democrat said of Republicans.

On the other end of the political divide, Pennsylvania Republican Senator Pat Toomey said he will move to block a potential vote on the $2,000 payments. Delays could blow up any effort to pass legislation during the current session. “It doesn’t make sense to have these universal payments. Any relief should be targeted,” he told CNBC on Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, adding to the absurdity of the situation, the Senate also has not yet voted to override Trump’s veto of the annual National Defense Authorization Act, something which the House did on Monday. And while McConnell called lawmakers back this week to do so, and the chamber plans to take procedural steps Wednesday to move toward a vote, it may not override the veto until as late as Saturday.

As reported previously, socialist senator Bernie Sanders, blocked swift consideration of the defense measure Tuesday as he called for a vote on the stand-alone bill to increase the direct payments to $2,000. Later in the day, he told CNN that “I think we have the votes to pass” larger checks if McConnell brings the measure to a vote.

As also reported yesterday, at least four Republican senators - Josh Hawley of Missouri, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue of Georgia - have voiced support for the bigger stimulus check (Loeffler and Perdue are campaigning in Jan. 5 runoff elections that will determine which party controls the Senate for the next two years, while Hawley and Rubio are considered potential GOP candidates for president in 2024).

Trump continues to push Congress to approve $2,000 checks after he threatened to veto the relief bill because it included too little direct cash to Americans. And even though he relented and signed the stimulus bill on Sunday, on Wednesday, Trump again tweeted, ”$2000 ASAP!”

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

Hat tip to Doug Casey, Jim Quinn

Business as usual...

Any questions?

"Breadlines Stretch Across America: This Economic Collapse Is Much Worse Than You Are Being Told"

by Epic Economist, 

"Breadlines Stretch Across America: 

This Economic Collapse Is Much Worse Than You Are Being Told"

"The economic collapse of 2020 has undeniably widened the wealth gap. Now, our country is essentially divided between those who patiently wait for some food in breadlines - after losing their ability to provide for themselves and, oftentimes, the roof over their heads - and those who sit comfortably at their own homes waiting for the meltdown to be over while discovering the joy of baking bread. Breadlines vs. Bread makers, that's the ominous picture of an increasingly unequal America. That's what we're going to expose in this video. 

Yesterday, Bloomberg released a piece on the faces of the collapse in the United States. The report describes that since the downturn has started, millions of lives have been affected - but in extremely different ways. 

On one side, we have low-wage and middle-class workers that became reliant on food assistance programs and unemployment benefits to secure a minimum level of dignity for themselves. On the other side, we have a small affluent mass who has been largely benefiting from rising home prices, new work-at-home arrangements, and the pleasures of baking bread. 

The article tells the stories behind the faces that have become a truthful representation of the struggles that emerged through the course of the year. For millions of jobless Americans unemployment checks already hit the 39-week limit and expired. 

The population and our economy are now experiencing a world of low-expectations. The overall economy is leaving the year nearly 5% smaller than it would have been if the crisis hasn't happened. Only 57% of the population is still employed at this point, which is the lowest level since May 1983, if we don't count the worse months of this year. 

On the flip side of the coin, financial markets have registered considerable gains in the aggregate net worth of wealthy Americans since migration patterns towards suburban areas have increased the value of their properties and made them even wealthier. 

Meanwhile, as the well-off set of the population has embraced new ways of working and their own household wealth has substantially grown, for millions the worst is yet to come. In a few days, a patchwork of unemployment benefits, eviction moratoriums, rental assistance, and mortgage forbearance programs that assisted many to make ends meet is scheduled to lapse.

According to the latest projections, 10 million households are at risk of eviction. According to the U.S. Census Bureau data, approximately one in six people have fallen behind in rent payments. Over 4 million have revealed to believe they will be forced out of their homes over the next couple of months. Even employed workers have been experiencing mounting financial troubles. 

The data shows that employment income has dropped this year for almost half of those living in households earning less than $100,000 a year. Compared to those who earn over $200,000 a year, the figure is less than one-third. More concerningly, roughly 40% of those earning less than $50,000 a year have disclosed they expect their income to decline in the coming month. 

The labor market has been battered by so many rounds of restrictions, and every month that passes it regains fewer jobs than the month before. The November jobs report showed that only 245,000 jobs were added, a disappointing figure compared to the 432,000 jobs economists were expecting. The unemployment rate has fallen a mere 0.2%, sparking concerns amongst experts.

As long as we keep failing to keep the health crisis under control and strict measures continue to be applied to business operations, there will be gradually less jobs to go around next year. That is to say, there isn't a change of perspective in sight for the millions still unemployed and dealing with food and housing insecurity.

The collapse has laid bare just how unequal our system is. As euphoria on Wall Street sends stock prices to astronomical heights, Main Street remains in crisis, with roughly 8 million Americans joining the ranks of the poor since June. The numbers are even letting some billionaires worried that the enormous inequality may lead to mass conflicts in months ahead. And when even the establishment is showing to afraid that things could suddenly get out of hand is because much more turbulence is about to emerge."

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Land of Forever"

2002, "Land of Forever"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"What's that below those strange clouds? Presidents. If you look closely, you may recognize the heads of four former US Presidents carved into famous Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, USA. More obvious in the featured image are the unusual mammatus clouds that passed briefly overhead. Both were captured together by a surprised tourist with a quick camera in early September. 

Click image for larger size.

Unlike normal flat-bottomed clouds which form when moist and calm air plateaus rise and cool, bumpy mammatus clouds form as icy and turbulent air pockets sink and heat up. Such turbulent air is frequently accompanied by a thunderstorm. Each mammatus lobe spans about one kilometer. The greater mountain is known to native Lakota Sioux as Six Grandfathers, deities responsible for the directions north, south, east, west, up, and down."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201207.html

Gregory Mannarino, "BE WARNED: The US Dollar Free-Fall Is A Prelude To A Debt Market MELTDOWN"

Gregory Mannarino, 

PM 12/30/20: "BE WARNED: 

The US Dollar Free-Fall Is A Prelude To A Debt Market MELTDOWN"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"It May Be..."

“The 11 Nations Of The United States”

Click image for larger size.

“The 11 Nations Of The United States”

by Andy Kiersz and Marguerite Ward 

“The map above shows how the US really has 11 separate ‘nations’ with entirely different cultures. Author and journalist Colin Woodard identified 11 distinct cultures that have historically divided the US. His book “American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures in North America” breaks down those cultures and the regions they each dominate. From the utopian “Yankeedom” to the conservative “Greater Appalachia” and liberal “Left Coast,” looking at these cultures sheds an interesting light on America’s political and cultural divides. In response to the coronavirus pandemic, some governors are acting among these factions – like California, Oregon, and Washington, of all which have parts comprising of “The Left Coast” group.”

Please view this complete and fascinating article here:

- https://www.businessinsider.com/

"The Top-10%'s Bubble Is About To Burst"

"The Top-10%'s Bubble Is About To Burst"

by Charles Hugh Smith

"When the top 10%'s bubble pops in 2021, the loss of illusions/delusions of security and wealth will be shattering to all those who believed artifice and illusory "wealth" were real. A great many people are living in bubbles that are about to pop. The largest bubble is the one inhabited by people who complacently believe in time travel, i.e. that the world of 2019 is about to replace the nightmare of 2020 and we can all go back to our carefree debt-funded consumption frenzy and illusions of ever-greater wealth forever and ever.

The greater one's sense of security, the more durable the bubble. Those in America's top 10% who have reaped virtually all the gains in income and wealth of the past 20 years live in a bubble that they view as unbreakable: no matter what problems arise, their personal income and wealth is secured by the government, central bank, etc.

Put another way, the top 10% are confident their position atop the wealth-power pyramid is secure no matter what happens. Any dip in stocks, bonds, real estate, bat guano futures, etc. that causes their personal wealth to decline (horrors!) will be instantly bought because the Federal Reserve will print another couple trillion dollars and funnel it into risk assets, as it has done for the past 20 years.

Any spot of bother in the gravy trains that fund the top 10% - local and state government, universities, Big Tech, Big Pharma, Department of Defense, Wall Street, hedge funds, venture capital, etc. - will be doused with trillions of dollars borrowed or printed into existence by the Treasury or Fed. No matter what spot of bother arises, the solution - more trillions - is just a few keystrokes away.

The top 10% are supremely confident in the godlike powers of these agencies and solutions: the idea that these "solutions" become insoluble problems does not compute, just as a decline in asset valuations that doesn't rebound within three weeks thanks to Fed intervention is firmly outside the realm of possibility.

The top 10% are also supremely confident in the rightness of their position atop the heap. That their position atop the heap is largely the result of a web of privilege and a long run of extraordinarily good fortune does not enter their bubble at all; in their bubble, their wealth, status, prestige and income are all the result of hard work and merit.

While this is certainly true for some, it is not true for all, and even those who scraped their way to the top the hard way do not recognize that their success over the past 20 years (and arguably the past 50 years) has been largely the result of a financialized rising tide raising all boats. In a Bull Market in virtually everything (except commodities), everyone is a hard-working genius who got it all via merit.

On top of this myopic belief that their success is all the result of their own endeavors rather than a tide of financialization, the top 10% are equally blind to the toxic consequences of the wealth/income inequality that has so richly benefited the few at the expense of the many. The idea that the bottom 90% might rebel against the financial/political system that has favored the already-wealthy for a generation is outside the top 10%'s realm of possibility.

But tides do not run in one direction forever, and a revolt against the unprecedented inequality that heavily favors the top 10% is not "impossible," it's a certainty. The top 10% are accustomed to being admired and respected for their accomplishments, expertise, wise investing and professional acumen. They are accustomed to viewing themselves as the essential technocrat class that keeps the U.S. system functioning.

The problem with this self-congratulatory perspective is the U.S. system is now in thrall to process rather than results. The technocrat class has been trained to follow needlessly complex procedures and compliance processes as the path to professional advancement while avoiding accountability for the increasingly dismal results of America's bloated, sclerotic, insider-dominated systems.

All this needless complexity will be jettisoned once printing/borrowing trillions become the problem rather than the solution. The bottom 90% will demand not just a fairer distribution of income and wealth, they will also demand a system that actually functions for the greater social good rather than for insiders, parasites, leeches and technocrat processors who declare victory not from results but from their success in following approved processes/narratives.

Once costs must be cut and results take precedence over process, much of the technocrat class will find itself replaced by automated software. Those that remain will be valued for getting results by whatever means are available, up to and including ignoring all compliance procedures and bureaucratic box-ticking.

The top 10% - the rentier-technocrat class - will find the bottom 90% can no longer pay their rent, insurance, etc. - all the "services" that employ and enrich the top 10%. In other words, the losses as unproductive complexity unravels will finally fall on the top 10%, many of whom have been protected from exposure to market forces and risk.

Lastly, the top 10%'s ownership of assets will be crushed by asset deflation as insolvency can no longer be papered over by liquidity. Assets that are the foundation of top 10% wealth (that the bottom 90% own very little of) will go bidless as phantom wealth dissipates into the thin air from whence it came.

The top 10% reckon they're untouchable, safe and protected in their asset lifeboats, and the sinking of the 90% won't affect them. The top 10%'s bubble is about to burst. Not only will their lifeboats prove unstable, every level of government will come after whatever is left as taxes will soar on virtually every form of income and wealth.

Unlike the bottom 60%, who have few illusions about the rampant unfairness and predation of real-world America, the top 10%'s bubble is 90% illusion seasoned with 10% absolute delusion. The comfortable are about to experience some of the discomfort that is everyday life for the bottom 60%, and an increasing percentage of the next 30% who still aspire to fantasies of middle-class security will find social mobility is an escalator down.

We cannot print wealth, or borrow it into existence. All we can print/borrow is artifice, phantom representations of illusory "wealth" that will vanish into thin air, in a reverse of how the "money" was created - out of thin air.

When the top 10%'s bubble pops in 2021, the loss of illusions/delusions of security and wealth will be shattering to all those who believed artifice and illusory "wealth" were real. What's real is the tide of financialization and globalization reversed over a year ago. The tide is now running out, but few loading their "wealth" into lifeboats have noticed...yet."

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

Sand Springs, Oklahoma, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Economic Market Snapshot AM 12/30/20"

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

Only the consequences are real - to you!

○

Gregory Mannarino, AM 12/30/20:

"Alert! The US Dollar DEATH Is Accelerating"

-  https://traderschoice.net/

○

"The more I see of the monied classes, 

the better I understand the guillotine."

- George Bernard Shaw

○

"Economic Market Snapshot AM 12/30/20"

○

○

MarketWatch Market Summary, Live Updates

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

CNN Market Data:

- https://money.cnn.com/data/markets/

CNN Fear And Greed Index:

- https://money.cnn.com/data/fear-and-greed/

○

A comprehensive, essential daily read.

- http://www.shadowstats.com/

Daily Updates, Dec 29th to 31st

○

Daily Job Cuts

- https://www.dailyjobcuts.com/

○

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

○

- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

○

- https://wallstreetonparade.com/

○

- https://www.whatreallyhappened.com/

○

- https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

○
Commentary, highly recommended:

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

○

And now, the End Game...

"Everyone Knows..."

"Everyone knows that plagues have a way of recurring throughout history, yet somehow we find it hard to believe in the ones that crash down on us out of the sky. There have always been plagues and wars, yet they always take us by surprise. When war breaks out people say it's stupid and won't last long. Stupidity has a knack of getting in the way, which we would see if not wrapped up in ourselves. In this our townsfolk were like everybody else - they did not believe in plagues."

- Albert Camus, "The Plague"

“'Super COVID' Is Spreading In The United States – Should We Be Scared?"

“'Super COVID' Is Spreading In The United States – 

Should We Be Scared?"

by Michael Snyder

"This pandemic just entered an alarming new phase. The new mutant strain of the virus commonly known as “Super COVID” has been creating a tremendous amount of panic in the UK, and cases have also been confirmed in Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan, Singapore, India, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. But until Tuesday there were no known cases in the United States, and many were urging for travel restrictions to be instituted in order to keep it from gaining a foothold here. Unfortunately, it appears that it is now too late for that, because a case of “Super COVID” has now been identified in Colorado:

"Colorado has announced it has detected the first US case of the super-COVID strain that was first found in the UK. Governor Jared Polis revealed the worrying news in a tweet, writing: ‘Today we discovered Colorado’s first case of the COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7, the same variant discovered in the UK. The health and safety of Coloradans is our top priority and we will monitor this case, as well as all COVID-19 indicators, very closely.’

If this individual had traveled out of the country recently, it would have been easy to assume that he caught it while abroad, but we are being told that he “has no travel history”: "The patient is a man in his 20s who is recovering in isolationin Elbert County, outside Denver. He has no travel history and no close contacts. Public health officials were conducting an investigation."

So that means that he caught “Super COVID” from someone else here in the United States. And that means that we have probably already lost any chance of containing it. But that doesn’t mean that we should be scared of this new mutant strain.

Scientists in the UK insist that this strain is “70 percent more infectious”, and that might explain why the case numbers in the UK are exploding right now. However, on the CDC website we are being told that “there is no evidence that this variant causes more severe illness or increased risk of death”. So that is good news.

Moving forward, health authorities will be watching carefully to see if “Super COVID” ends up becoming the dominant strain here in the United States. Unfortunately, that appears to be precisely what is taking place in the UK: "It was first spotted in September in southeastern England. The new variant accounted for a quarter of cases in London by November. By the week of Dec. 9, it was responsible for 60% of cases in the city. London and large areas of southern England are under lockdown measures, and dozens of nations have banned travel from the U.K."

Many are concerned that the new vaccines may not work against this new mutant strain. At this point, scientists continue to say that they “believe” that the vaccines will work against it, and tests are being conducted. But so far there have been no big public announcements indicating that any of the tests have been successful.

You can take that any way that you want. Perhaps more time is still needed, but even if preliminary results were promising I think that we would have heard something by now. And if the existing vaccines do not work against “Super COVID”, that means that authorities will have to go all the way back to square one.

Of course there are a lot of questions about how effective these vaccines will actually be against the current dominant strain. This week, we learned that a doctor in New York was diagnosed with COVID four days after being vaccinated: "A New York doctor was diagnosed with the coronavirus four days after he received the first dose of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, Ynet reported. The case occurred at Montefiore Hospital in New York.

On the west coast, a nurse in San Diego was diagnosed with COVID eight days after getting a vaccine: "A San Diego, California ER nurse has tested positive for COVID-19, just eight days after receiving his first dose of the Pfizer COVID vaccine. After taking the vaccine on December 18th, nurse Matthew W. felt fine. Six days later he came down with the chills, muscle aches and fatigue after working a shift in a COVID-19 unit. Two days later and still under the weather, Matthew took a COVID-19 test that came back positive."

Needless to say, neither of them had gotten a second shot yet, and we are being told that a second shot is required in order to have “full protection”. But most of the major side effects happened after the second shot during the trials. So that is a huge concern. And a lot of people are having major side effects after getting the first shot. Here is just one example:

Dr. Hossein Sadrzadeh, of Boston Medical Center, received the vaccine on Thursday, and at first believed he was experiencing anxiety related to the shot, he told NBC 10 Boston. When his tongue started tingling and then turned numb, he realized his was dealing with a reaction. “My blood pressure was really down, so this is the time that I knew that this was anaphylactic shock,” he told the news outlet. “My heart rate is up, I’m sweating so my blood pressure is really down. I’ve had this before so I had my EpiPen and I administered myself.”

There has been so many reports of adverse reactions in the news, and a video testimony from a nurse in Tennessee is spreading like wildfire on social media right now. Ironically, these people may be going through all of this for nothing if “Super COVID” becomes the dominant strain and the new vaccines end up being totally ineffective against it.

As I have warned so many times, we have entered an era of global pestilences, and I believe that what we have experienced so far is just the beginning. Yes, we should take “Super COVID” seriously, but don’t be afraid of it. Even the World Health Organization is saying that this is “not necessarily the big one”.

There have been absolutely massive killer pandemics all throughout human history, and there will be more in our future. So if COVID is throwing our society into a state of complete and utter chaos, what will things look like when a truly deadly pandemic finally arrives?"

- http://endoftheamericandream.com/

- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 12/30/20"

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 12/30/20"

○

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

○

DEC 30, 2020 AT 9:25 AM: "Tokyo Health-Care System Risks COVID-Induced Collapse; Germany Sees Record Deaths: Live Updates"

DECEMBER 30, 2020 AT 6:55 AM: "Swiss Patient Dies Shortly After Receiving Pfizer COVID Vaccine"

○

 Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Global Outbreak 

 Dec. 30, 2020 8:03 PM ET: 

The coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 82,068,100 

people, according to official counts, including 19,566,140 Americans.

At least 1,791,900 have died.

  Dec. 30, 2020 8:03 PM ET: 

Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count

- www.nytimes.com

○

"The COVID Tracking Project"
Every day, our volunteers compile the latest numbers on tests, cases, 
hospitalizations, and patient outcomes from every US state and territory.
- https://covidtracking.com/
○

- https://www.cdc.gov/library/covid19/112420_covidupdate.html

"How It Really Is"

Must Watch! “Stimulus Payments Are A Disgrace; Americans Using Credit Cards To Pay Rent; Eviction Nightmare”

Jeremiah Babe,

“Stimulus Payments Are A Disgrace; 

Americans Using Credit Cards To Pay Rent; Eviction Nightmare”

Must watch!

"The country is collapsing right in front of your very face."

"Be Ready For Housing Market Crash And Mass Evictions In America!"

"Be Ready For Housing Market Crash 

And Mass Evictions In America!"

by Epic Economist

"As soon as the health crisis struck in America, things turned upside down in the housing market. As renters lost their jobs and, consequently, their ability to pay rent, landlords started to fall behind in mortgage payments and default their loans. Then, to pay off their debt, several property owners filed eviction orders in an attempt to find paying tenants, leading rent prices to plunge to a level last seen in 2010. Conversely, ever since people started to massively relocate away from big cities, housing prices soared amid a shortage in the U.S. affordable suburban housing supply. 

Experts have been warning that the financial damages the real state market has suffered due to months of mass delinquency in rental payments, in addition to the expiration of the CDC's moratorium and the coming eviction tsunami could potentially to trigger a catastrophic economic collapse that is likely to impair the sector's growth for years. Additionally, as natural disasters have become more frequent than ever, a market correction is looming, which means, soon enough we'll be witnessing a housing market crash. That's what we discuss in this video.

The increase in vacancies has put several landlords on the edge of a financial cliff. As a result, they started to do desperate concessions to find new renters. But despite those, a considerable amount of tenants across the U.S. remains delinquent and will stay that way as long as the economy hurts with lockdowns and they can't find opportunities to reinsert themselves into the job market. 

That's why analysts are expecting a tsunami of evictions to start as soon as the CDC's order expires. But while low-income renters housing security is on the line, on the other hand, affluent Americans started to move away from urban areas by the millions, and house sales became a sensation during the spring. The phenomenon dubbed by analysts as the Great Relocation was used as a symbol of big cities' struggles amid the ravaging economic meltdown. In turn, the migratory movement led housing demand to soar just as high as prices. 

Moreover, the health crisis was an unexpected natural disaster to hit the real state market, but according to John Macomber, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, our failure to acknowledge and confront climate change and several other natural disasters can also add to the list of reasons why experts forecast a collapse in housing prices and an ensuing financial crisis. In an interview with Harvard Business Review, the professor outlined that ignoring the threats associated with climate change may lead the market to a correction. That is to say, to another real state crash. 

Macomber disclosed that the damages caused by climate change have accelerated faster than many people anticipated. All across the nation, there were 16 weather/climate disaster events this year, and losses exceed at least $1 billion each, with some having registered much larger figures. As the price of these properties drop due to increased risks of damages, homebuyers become more vulnerable to do tricky investments, since it enables them to make or maintain housing investments that are exposed to more danger than they realize. That's a classic market distortion.

In other words, even though in the short-run many can benefit from propping up housing prices, the exposure to material damages consequent of natural disasters, and the eventual tightening of government budgets - after so many trillion-dollar cash spills to boost the economy - will make buyer’s investments collapse. 

In areas that face such risk, housing prices will inevitably plummet. Typically, for homeowners, the equity in their property is their biggest asset. So when that asset drops in value, or case the buyers go negative - when they owe more on their house than its risk-adjusted value - they get in big financial trouble. Additionally, it's important to keep in mind that most American municipalities get the bulk of their revenue from property taxes, which are tied to the value of homes and commercial real estate. So if home values decline, property tax receipts decline accordingly in a city's expenses, and so does its ability to service its municipal bonds. 

In simple terms, it means that the ratings of the bonds risk being downgraded, which would lead cities to cut their budgets and create other stresses on government services. That's why a real state crash would be impactful in all of our lives. It wouldn't just affect markets, but people's main financial assets, retirement portfolios tied to tax-bonds, and municipal and governmental budgets. And on top of the financial and economic fallout, it would ultimately touch everyone’s pocketbook. Meaning it would exacerbate the economic deterioration millions are already experiencing and the recession could be extended for much longer than we ever considered."

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Second Stimulus Checks Sent Out Tonight, Latest Updates"

DEC 29, 2020 Update 18:40 ET: "In a series of tweets tonight, Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin confirmed that the US Treasury has delivered a payments file to The Fed for "Americans' Economic Impact Payments."

• These payments may begin to arrive in some accounts by direct deposit as early as tonight and will continue into next week.


• Paper checks will begin to be mailed tomorrow.


Eligible individuals will receive an Economic Impact Payment of up to $600 for individuals or $1200 for married couples and up to $600 for each qualifying child. Generally, if you have adjusted gross income for 2019 up to $75,000 for individuals and up to $150,000 for married couples filing joint returns and surviving spouses, you will receive the full amount.

In a later statement, Treasury confirmed that: “Treasury and the IRS are working with unprecedented speed to issue a second round of Economic Impact Payments to eligible Americans and their families,” said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “These payments are an integral part of our commitment to providing vital additional economic relief to the American people during this unprecedented time.

Payments will be distributed automatically, with no action required for eligible individuals. If additional legislation is enacted to provide for an increased amount, Economic Impact Payments that have been issued will be topped up as quickly as possible."

Additionally, later this week you can check the status of your payment here.

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

○

DECEMBER 29, 2020 AT 2:34 PM: 

"McConnell Counter Offer! $2,000 Stimulus Checks & Biden"

DECEMBER 29, 2020 AT 10:34 AM: 

"Trump Warns Senate GOP To Pass $2,000 Payments 

Unless They Have 'Death Wish'"

Musical Interlude: Yanni, "Standing in Motion”; "World Dance"

Yanni, Live At The Acropolis, “Standing in Motion”

Full screen a must!

○

Yanni, "World Dance"

Full screen a must!

"A Look to the Heavens"

“While drifting through the cosmos, a magnificent interstellar dust cloud became sculpted by stellar winds and radiation to assume a recognizable shape. Fittingly named the Horsehead Nebula, it is embedded in the vast and complex Orion Nebula (M42). A potentially rewarding but difficult object to view personally with a small telescope, the above gorgeously detailed image was recently taken in infrared light by the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope in honor of the 23rd anniversary of Hubble's launch.

The dark molecular cloud, roughly 1,500 light years distant, is cataloged as Barnard 33 and is seen above primarily because it is backlit by the nearby massive star Sigma Orionis. The Horsehead Nebula will slowly shift its apparent shape over the next few million years and will eventually be destroyed by the high energy starlight.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130422.html

Chet Raymo, “The Sadist Next Door”

“The Sadist Next Door”

by Chet Raymo

“The TLS (“Times Literary Supplement”) had an absorbing review of American Historian Joel Harrington's book on the manuscript diary of a 16th-century German executioner, Franz Schmidt of Nuremberg. Remarkably, Schmidt kept a full record of the criminals he executed, the crimes they perpetrated, and the gruesome ways they met their fate. It is a tale that would chill most 21st-century readers.

Hangings, beheadings, burnings at the stake, and breakings with the wheel. In the latter custom, a heavy cartwheel is dropped onto the person to be executed, who is tied down spreadeagled on the execution platform, starting with the feet and working the way up to the head. There are also less final punishments: floggings, finger-choppings, ear-choppings, brandings, and an ingenious catalog of tortures.

For Herr Schmidt, it was all in a day's work. He might as well have been a butcher, baker, or candlestick maker. He had a family to support, and he was good at his job. His neighboring townspeople attended the executions. It was good public entertainment.

Of course, there is nothing unique to the 16th century or Germany about any of this. Hideous tortures and executions have been part of human history from the beginning. Think of the Roman gladiatorial entertainments with their cheering crowds. Or the public stonings, beheadings and amputations still common in certain parts of the world today. It seems that only in the post-Enlightenment West do we look with disapprobation on Herr Schmidt's trade, ostensibly at least. We have the grisly torture chambers of the Gestapo and NKVD to remind us that Enlightenment values are fragile.

All of which raises the question: Is taking pleasure in the infliction of pain on others nature or nurture? Are we born with a good angel on one shoulder and a bad angel on the other? How do we explain the huge popularity of slasher movies and shoot-'em-up video games? Is there something of Herr Schmidt in all of us?”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

"We Never See The World..."

“You know, we never see the world exactly as it is. We see it as we hope it will be or we fear it might be. And we spend our lives going through a sort of modified stages of grief about that realization. And we deny it, and then we argue with it, and we despair over it. But eventually - and this is my belief - that we come to see it, not as despairing, but as vitalizing. We never see the world exactly as it is because we are how the world is.”

- Maria Popova

“6 Steps to Release Your Fear and Feel Peaceful”

“6 Steps to Release Your Fear and Feel Peaceful”

by Nicolas Perrin

“We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn.”
 ~ Mary Catherine Bateson

“It was a balmy spring morning and I started my day as per usual, but I soon realized that my mind was entertaining fearful thoughts about my financial insecurity. With many new ventures within the seedling stage, my income flow was erratic and unpredictable, while my financial responsibilities were consistent and guaranteed. At the time I ignored these thoughts as “petty,” like a parent dismissing a crying child after a mild fall on the pavement.

What I didn’t realize was that my mind wanted to entertain these fear-based thoughts like a Hollywood blockbuster, and as you may know, what you focus on expands. Before I knew it, my body was in a state of complete anxiety and fear. I literally felt my cognitive and creative centers shutting down. I felt completely powerless, a hostage to my own mind. My body felt paralyzed, and I felt disconnected from my talents and gifts. I felt separate, isolated, and vulnerable. I became a victim of the fear. In this moment I realized the powerful impact thoughts can have on how we feel, mentally and physically. Here is what unfolded through me, and the lessons I treasured from this experience.

Fear is a closed energy, referred to as inverted faith. Fear exists when we do not trust our connection to the infinite part of who we are and buy into a story about what’s unfolding in our life. The emotions we feel are created from the thoughts that we choose to focus on, consciously or unconsciously. The emotions act as markers to let us know if we are focusing on expansive, empowering thoughts or fearful, limiting thoughts.

If I were to relate this in a story, it may be like a pilot believing he no longer had any guidance or support from the airport control tower in a large storm, and no instruments on board to detect if he was on a collision course with another airplane. If the control tower represents the infinite part of who we are, which always knows what’s best for us, it can be understandable why the pilot with no other guidance except for his own eye sight would be fearful of the situation at hand. An alarm on the plane beeping at the pilot would represent the emotions. The alarm’s purpose is to get the attention of the pilot so he can focus and realize he is off the path. Once our emotions start to take a grip of our physical body, what can we do to move from a state of limitation and fear into an open, tranquil, peaceful state?

1. Come back to the present moment. The first step is to bring your awareness to the present moment. To do this, take three deep breaths through your nose and exhale through your mouth. After the air has filled your lungs and you’ve felt your stomach rise, exhale through your mouth by forcing the air through your teeth, as if you were hissing out loud. This detoxifies your body from the heavy emotions you’re experiencing and brings you back into the present moment. When I do this, I place my awareness into my feet so I am in a feeling space within my body, rather than being in my mind, entertaining the stories that swirl around with vigor, like a dangerous hurricane. Imagine that all your emotions are in a large sludge bucket. This breathing technique will empty the bucket out so you are empty and free.

2. Put things in perspective. Now that you are present, acknowledge the experience and ask yourself this question: “What is the worst case scenario that can happen to me?” Once we can accept this and realize we will be okay if that happens, we are free from the fear. When I realized I’d blown things out of proportion with my fears, I was able to detach from the story and put things into perspective. I like to imagine that in every moment I have two wolves I can feed (per the Native American myth): the fear wolf or the love wolf. The one that gets stronger and wins is the one I feed.

3. Become an observer of your thoughts.  What has served me well in moments like this is to say, “I’m not these thoughts. I’m not these emotions. I’m not this body. I’m an infinite being having a human experience.” In saying this, we immediately detach from the story and allow ourselves the choice of suffering or to become the observer. Imagine that your life is represented in a book, and the story you are living out comes from the words on the page. We can change the words of the story at any point in time.

4. Change your experience. The fourth step is to place your awareness and your right hand on the heart center, which is located near the sternum. Close your eyes, take three deep breaths, and make the following command: “I am now connected to the infinite part of who I am, which already knows how to be whole and complete. I take full responsibility and accountability for this creation, I recognize how it has served me, and I am now ready to let it go. I command that the fear energy be transmuted into unconditional love now. Thank you. It is now done.” This process is incredibly empowering. We allow ourselves the opportunity to experience being our own inner master and a co-creator of our reality.

5. Prevent your mind from sabotaging you. Visualize a stone being thrown into a pond. Observe the ripples it creates when it enters the water. This is to simply distract your mind and allow the process to unfold without doubt or self-sabotage. It is only our mind that can interfere with our own healing.

6. Be grateful. Express gratitude and appreciation for the integration and healing you have received.

The key to happiness is awareness. When we become aware that our mind is wandering, we can gently bring it back to the present moment. It’s only in the present moment that we are empowered and can consciously choose the thoughts we engage with. The thoughts we focus on will determine where our energy flows, and thus what is created in our life. Each thought has a vibration, which is reflected by the feeling we experience in our body. To be able to move from a fear-based experience to an open, peaceful experience we must first take full responsibility and accountability that on some level we created the experience, and nobody else is to blame. The choice is truly ours. Do we choose to experience a fearful, limited life or do we choose a happy joyful life?"

- http://tinybuddha.com/

"I Am An Invisible Man..."

"I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass.  When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination - indeed, everything and anything except me."

- Ralph Ellison, "Prologue to Invisible Man"

○