"$834 Million Every Hour"

"$834 Million Every Hour"

by Brian Maher

"The eyes glaze, the jaw drops, the legs wobble… and the mind reels... The world’s central banks have printed $834 million each and every hour of each and every day... for the past 18 months… to keep the global economy up and going. That is correct. $834 million an hour - every hour, 18 months running. This we have on the high authority of Bank of America, relayed here by Bloomberg: "Imagine spending $834 million an hour for 18 months. That’s how much central banks have spent buying bonds since the pandemic hit, according to Bank of America strategists, who estimate the Fed alone has put in $4 trillion."

We cannot imagine spending $834 million an hour for 18 months. Nor can we imagine the Standard & Poor’s 500 doubling since its pandemic lows. But the facts are the facts. And the facts are extravagant. Not since the Second World War has the S&P doubled across so short a space - 354 trading days.

As Goes the Balance Sheet, so Goes the Stock Market: The stock market and the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet are mirrors. The movement in one replicates perfectly in the other. They may appear as two. But they are one. More money has poured into stock funds within the past several months than the previous 12 years combined.

If market cap ranges between 50% and 75% of GDP, the market is considered undervalued - in the general. Between 75% and 90% is considered fairly valued. Between 90% and 115%, overvalued. What is today’s market cap-to-GDP ratio? 205% - a record. That is, stocks are obscenely overvalued as history runs.

Only a $40 trillion economy would justify today’s gargantuan valuations. The United States does not run a $40 trillion economy. It runs perhaps a $21 trillion economy. Adds Bloomberg, by way of fantastic understatement: "It’s a statistic that speaks to the unprecedented wall of money that kept companies afloat during lockdowns and sparked the biggest stock market rally of a generation."

The Choo-Choo Keeps Rolling: The biggest stock market rally of a generation pushed on again today. The Dow Jones stretched 39 points ahead… to close trading at 35,405. The S&P gained 10 points today, the Nasdaq 22. Meantime, 10-year Treasury yields went running ahead to 1.34% - a handsome distance. Gold ran the wrong way, backward, losing $16.50 today. Bitcoin did laps and laps around the ancient metal, gaining $420.

The rah-rah men are yelling about the stock market’s lovely spree. Fresh vistas are in sight, they insist. They are advising you to push all caution out of the way… and go plunging in. Should you - go plunging in? The question is of course a leading question. It very nearly answers itself.

Practically Guaranteed to Lose Money: Stock market valuations are by certain measures the highest in history. That is, investors are paying more and more for each dollar of profit. The higher the valuations, the lower your chances in the stock market. Explains Mr. Lance Roberts of Real Investment Advice: "Starting valuations have much to do with future return expectations. What is often forgotten by investors, especially during robust bull markets, is the subsequent and inevitable bear market."

Alas, the Federal Reserve’s tricks and gimmicks prevented a healthful valuation resetting: "While the jump in earnings and profits surged from the pandemic lows, valuations were not allowed to revert, as would typically be the case during a recession. If valuations corrected during the pandemic-driven shutdown, as prices fell and earnings surged, a more sustainable case might exist. However, the earnings recovery got absorbed by the speculative, liquidity-driven market surge. Such leaves the markets vulnerable to a disappointment in earnings, a slowing of economic growth, or a reduction in liquidity flows into the markets."

Stocks Will Go Nowhere for 20 Years?Today’s preposterous valuations suggest stocks will return negative 2.9% per year across the next decade - dividends included. And over 20 years? Sourpuss analyst John Hussman believes that the S&P may jog in place for much of them: "From this particular starting point, I expect that the S&P 500 will go nowhere for something approaching 20 years."

We do not know where the S&P 500 will trade in 20 years, or 10 years, or three minutes. Yet this we do know - or at least believe powerfully: The stock market is an ingenious device… constructed to inflict the greatest suffering upon the most people… within the least amount of time.

Warns former Securities and Exchange Commissioner Arthur Levitt: "While the temptations are great, and the pressures strong, illusions in numbers are only that - ephemeral, and ultimately self-destructive." (We acknowledge Mr. Roberts for the reference).

Dispelling the Illusions: Let us now penetrate the veil of numerical illusions — the ephemeral and ultimately self-destructive numerical illusions. Here is the substance beneath and within the illusions: Last week Nasdaq components turned in 350 fresh lows. We are informed that is the highest figure since last March 2020 - when the stock market was a howling bedlam of terror. Yet the Nasdaq presently bangs along at record levels. How? We must conclude a limited number of draft horses are hauling the cargo, doing duty for the laggards.

Mr. Larry McDonald of Bear Traps is with us: "This speaks to how mega cap equities are the only reason the market continues to trade at the highs. There is significant weakness beneath the surface. That is, there is significant weakness beneath the gaudy and illusory surface."

“Poor Risk Reward Setup”: But it is not merely the topheavy Nasdaq that is straining under the burden. Mr. McDonald: "In May, with the S&P 500 on all time highs, there were 300 to 550 NYSE stocks at new 52 week highs. In June it was 200 to 300. In August it had been 90 to 120. Despite the strong rally on Friday, there were just 32 (!) new fifty two week highs set."

You therefore have a “poor risk reward set up” on your outstretched hands: "This shows an incredible loss of breadth in the equity market. Index strength is being led by fewer and fewer names. A poor risk reward set up." Is this the description of market health? We do not believe it is. How much longer can the Clydesdales push on… before depleting their steam… and announcing a halt? As always, we offer no answer. Yet we hazard these wagon-pullers require rest sorely. And there are presently no replacements..."

- dailyreckoning.com

Musical Interlude: Disturbed "The Sound Of Silence"

Full screen recommended.

Disturbed "The Sound Of Silence"

Singer: David Draiman

"A Look to the Heavens"

"In silhouette against a crowded star field along the tail of the arachnalogical constellation Scorpius, this dusty cosmic cloud evokes for some the image of an ominous dark tower.

In fact, clumps of dust and molecular gas collapsing to form stars may well lurk within the dark nebula, a structure that spans almost 40 light-years across this gorgeous telescopic portrait. Known as a cometary globule, the swept-back cloud, is shaped by intense ultraviolet radiation from the OB association of very hot stars in NGC 6231, off the upper edge of the scene. That energetic ultraviolet light also powers the globule's bordering reddish glow of hydrogen gas. Hot stars embedded in the dust can be seen as bluish reflection nebulae. This dark tower, NGC 6231, and associated nebulae are about 5,000 light-years away."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210715.html

Chet Raymo, “Cosmic View”

“Cosmic View”

by Chet Raymo

“When writing about Philip and Phylis Morrison’s “Powers of Ten” the other day I found I had made the following notation in the flyleaf, perhaps a dozen or more years ago:

Britannica
 32 volumes
 1000 pages per vol
 1200 words per page
 5 letters/wd
 = 200 million letters. So, 200 million letters in the 32 volume set of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Why was I making that estimate? I can think of several possibilities. Perhaps…

1. I was making a comparison with the number of nucleotide pairs in the human DNA; that is, the number of steps- ATTGCCCTAA, etc.- on the double-helix. If the information on the human genome- an arm’s length of DNA in every human cell- were written out in ordinary type, it would fill 15 sets of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Nearly 500 thick volumes of information labeled YOU. Think of that for a moment. Fifteen 32-volume sets of the Encyclopedia Britannica in every invisibly-small cell of your body. And every time a cell reproduces, all of that information has to be transcribed correctly. Did I say the other day that it took a semester to stretch the imagination to grasp the universe of the galaxies? It could take another semester to stretch the imagination to grasp the scale of the molecular machinery that makes our bodies work.

Or maybe…

2. I was trying to give an insight into the complexity of the human brain. There are something like 100 billion nerve cells in the brain. That’s equivalent to the number of letters in 500 sets of the Britannica! Each many-fingered neuron connects to hundreds of other neurons, and each synaptic connection might be in one of many levels of excitation. I’ll let you calculate the number of potential states of the human brain. We’ve left behind the realm of Britannica. Even talking of libraries would be insufficient. I was marveling here recently about the amount of digital memory Google must command to store all of those 360-degree Street View images from all over the planet, all of it instantly retrievable by anyone with access to a computer and the internet. I imagined banks and banks of electronics in some cavernous building in California. Big deal! I’m sitting here right now in the college Commons and I can bring to mind street views of every place I’ve lived since I was three or four years old.

By the way…

3. The number of letters in 500 sets of the Britannica is about the number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.

And…”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

The Poet: Dylan Thomas, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"

"Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"

"Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

- Dylan Thomas

Musical Interlude: 2002, "We Meet Again"

Full screen recommended.

2002, "We Meet Again"

The Daily "Near You?"

East Hampton, Connecticut, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Some Things Are Best Left Alone"

"Some Things Are Best Left Alone"

By Bill Bonner

YOUGHAL, IRELAND – "A great headline from yesterday’s AP: "US Troops Surge Evacuations Out of Kabul But Threats Persist." Yes, U.S. troops are launching a major “reverse assault”… surging out of Afghanistan like water down a toilet drain. But at least they tried!

In some countries, women appear on the beach – in public – with practically no clothes on. In others, such as Afghanistan under the Taliban, they cover up, head to toe. Which one is right? We don’t know. We only know which we like. And even as to that – seeing the state of some of the people we see on the beach – we have our doubts. But it is not for us to tell other people what to wear. There are some things we can change for the better. And some things that are better left alone. Today, we explore how to tell the difference.

Down the Drain: And here’s a headline story from yesterday’s Washington Post… giving us advance warning: "House passes $3.5 trillion budget plan, aims to vote on infrastructure package by late September. House Democrats on Tuesday approved a roughly $3.5 trillion budget that could enable sweeping changes to the nation’s health-care, education and tax laws, overcoming their own internal divisions to take the next step toward enacting President Biden’s broader economic agenda."

Yes, the same geniuses who gave us the 20-year debacle in Afghanistan are now working on U.S. finances. And soon, it will be the U.S. economy surging down the drain. Just as they tried to make sweeping changes south of the Hindu Kush… now, they’re aiming to make improvements south of the 49th parallel. Will they succeed? Will the U.S. be a more prosperous place after the improvers are finished with it?

Win-Win Trades Win: Yesterday, we looked at the basics. Money doesn’t make you rich. If it were so, Zimbabwe and Venezuela would be among the richest places in the world. They’ve got plenty of money… all you could want of it. But their money is worthless. The U.S. has money, too. The Federal Reserve is “printing” $120 billion in new money every month. And there’s plenty more where that came from. But wealth comes from supplying goods and services to others – not from money. As we explain in our book "Win-Win or Lose" it’s win-win trades that make people wealthy, nothing more. [Bonner-Denning Letter subscribers can download a copy of Bill’s book here. To subscribe, and receive a free electronic copy – click here.]

And how do you make sure the trades are win-win? It is very simple… People do not go into restaurants run by bad chefs. They do not buy furniture with a reputation for falling apart. They do not buy things they neither want nor need from people they don’t like or don’t trust. So the fellow who fails to provide good products and good services at a reasonable price goes out of business.

No federal program needed! Subsidizing inefficient, unproductive businesses… paying people not to work…providing bailouts to shaky corporations… tariff protection to uncompetitive industries… “investment” funds to unprofitable projects… “welfare” to people who are believed to be unable to provide for themselves… or artificially low rates to keep the zombies alive… all of it makes us poorer.

Easy-Peasy Economics: But wait… Isn’t there anything “we” can do to make a win-win economy work better? How about long-term central planning? How about price controls… maybe only for the price of credit (interest rates)? How about providing liquidity in a pinch… or rewarding/punishing different investments so as to direct capital where “we” want it to go?

According to Marxist theory, you don’t need a free economy to produce goods and services. You can do it more intelligently, more rationally, by organizing the economy according to what you’re trying to achieve.

Women and men earn different salaries? Easy, peasy… Just pay them the same thing.

Too many imports from China? No sweat… Close the border!

Too much advertising? Ban it.

High unemployment? Create jobs.

Poverty? Give a guaranteed income.

Inflation? Declare a moratorium on price increases.

Want people to drive less? Force them to tie their shoelaces together and hop to work.

See how easy it is?

Tried and Failed: The only trouble is, it doesn’t work. Marxian economics, price controls, Grand Projects, and funny money have been tried many times… over many decades. Is there one example where an economy has flourished as a result? Nope. Not a one. More to come…"

- www.rogueeconomics.com

"Most People..."

"Most people find facts irritating. 

Facts interfere with their systems of denial."

- Walter Darby Bannard

“A Pathologist Summary Of What These Jabs Do To The Brain And Other Organs”

“A Pathologist Summary Of What These Jabs 

Do To The Brain And Other Organs”

"A scientific clarification of what these injections 

do in the head and other organs of the vaccinated people."

by Dr. Ryan Cole

Google Blogger will not allow embedding this material. 

Please view the video here on Rumble:

- https://rumble.com/

○

Related:

Sucharit Bhakdi: COVID-19 Vaccination Is 

Greatest Threat Humanity Ever Faced"

by The Herland Report

"Covid-19 vaccination is greatest threat humanity ever faced: Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi, forefront virus expert in microbiology in Germany, is one of the many doctors, scientists and medical professionals who give dire warnings about the current untested vaccines that are being administered to billions in the world." "In February, 2021, Professor Sucharit Bhakdi, M.D. and a number of his colleagues warned the European Medicines Agency about the potential danger of blood clots and cerebral vein thrombosis in millions of people receiving experimental gene-based injections.  In this episode of Perspectives, Professor Bhakdi explains the science behind the problem, why it is not just limited to the products already suspended, and why in the long term we may be creating dangerously overactive immune systems in billions of unwitting subjects."

Please view the full text interview here:

- https://www.globalresearch.ca/

○

"Unthinkable Thoughts"

○

Freely download MedFox Book "Rapid Virus Recovery" here:

- https://rvr.medfoxpub.com/

"How It Really Is"

Gregory Mannarino, "AM/PM 8/25/21"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 8/25/21:

"Economy Continues To Crater Which May Be Enough 

For Yet ANOTHER RECORD HIGH For Stocks"

- https://traderschoice.net/

○

Gregory Mannarino, PM 8/25/21:

"Economy Collapsing And Contracting Rapidly. 

Inflation Is SURGING!"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"FDA Lied - Vax Not Approved, Still Experimental"

"FDA Lied - Vax Not Approved, Still Experimental"

By Greg Hunter

"The big news the FDA had given “full approval” to the Pfizer CV19 vaccine is a HUGE lie. The FDA has granted approval to some future vaccine called “Comirnaty.” (FDA approved the biologics license application (BLA) submitted by BioNTech Manufacturing GmbH for COMIRNATY (COVID-19 Vaccine, mRNA). (Here’s the letter from the FDA to Pfizer) You cannot get Comirnaty now because it does not exist. Who knows when, in the future, they will manufacture it so you can get this vax. What you can get is the same old experimental Pfizer vaccine that is under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). All the FDA did was extend the EUA for the crap they were already injecting. This is the vaccine that is available for the forced mandates to civilians and military alike. It’s a total experimental vaccine, and they lied to the public and said it was “fully approved” and “safe and effective.” In a letter to Pfizer on Monday, the FDA said, “The EUA will remain in place for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for the previously-authorized indication and uses...” There it is in black and white from the criminal Nuremberg Code violating liars at the FDA.

Don’t take my word for it. Dr. Robert Malone, inventor of the mRNA (that is found in the so-called vaccines), says there are “two vaccines.” Today, Dr. Malone explained what the FDA did on Steve Bannon’s “War Room.” There was one approval for a future vaccine, and one extension of the Emergency Use Authorization for the vaccine being used now. There is little doubt this will continue to be used for all the upcoming mandates. Is this a huge lie to trick the public into taking the experimental shot? I say yes.

Greg Hunter talks on Rumble about the huge lie that the FDA just told the public that will force them to participate in an experimental drug trial through a new round of jab mandates.

- https://usawatchdog.com/

○

To see the viral video of Dr. Sean Brooks at the Talawanda School Board, click here. It’s only four very educational minutes long. The MSM is calling it a “scare video.” Don’t believe the liars at the MSM who are currently lying about the Pfizer vax approval.

Finally, take 10 minutes to watch Friar Alexis Bugnolo. If he is half right, you better prepare for very rough times in the not-so-distant future."

Friar Alexis Bugnolo, "The Horrors Of Covid-19 'Vaccine'"

○

"The Fake News that FDA Approved the 

Vaccines is Made Clear in the Letter"

Related, essential:

"Unthinkable Thoughts"

“The Good Ship “World Economy” Meets The $2.3 QUADRILLION Perfect Storm”

Full screen recommended.

“The Good Ship “World Economy” Meets 

The $2.3 QUADRILLION Perfect Storm”

- https://goldbroker.com/news/

Any questions?

Must Watch! "Tremendous Economic Disruption; Empty Store Shelves; Party Is Over"

Jeremiah Babe, PM 8/24/21:

"Tremendous Economic Disruption; 

Empty Store Shelves; Party Is Over"

"We Are Witnessing Incompetence On A Colossal Scale Throughout Our Society"

Full screen recommended.

"We Are Witnessing Incompetence On A 

Colossal Scale Throughout Our Society"

by Epic Economist

"For a long time, we have become accustomed to seeing things being done improperly, so when someone actually does something in a competent manner we get truly surprised because it has become such a rare event that most of us wouldn't be expecting to see things working right. People always say "if you want something right, do it yourself," and nowadays, that is more true than ever. Unfortunately, in our broken society, the most incompetent people are in positions of power and making decisions that affect everyone's lives. They run entire organizations, states, and the whole country. It seems that the more inept and corrupt someone is, the bigger are the chances for that person to be a politician.

And the prize of "most incompetent" of them all has to go to our delirious Mr. President. Everything Biden tries to do turns into an epic failure. A major example of it is the ongoing border crisis. It is the most chaotic it has ever been in all of our History, and recent reports describe that our Border Patrol agents are completely burned out. Thanks to Biden's illogical new policies, our Border Patrol agents have their hands tied and have been forbidden to do their jobs, and as a result, many of them show up to work hopeless and exhausted. Evidently, the border crisis is just one of the many Biden has been failing to tackle. When it comes to our economy, his reckless spending has resulted in what many are calling the "Bidenflation" because in less than a year into his presidency he effectively succeeded in making everyone's purchasing power collapse irreversibly.

And if we were to criticize his response to the health crisis and the completely impulsive decisions he has been making ever since he got into office, we would definitely get censored into oblivion. At least right now his utter incompetence has been making the headlines due to the tragic crisis he provoked in Afghanistan. The offenders that we were supposed to destroy in 2001 have managed to surround and corner us in half an airport, and there are still countless people that can’t get to the evacuation planes. Several staff members that worked at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul are still in extreme shock and totally disappointed in how poorly the US government handled the situation.

As opposed to British forces that have been leaving the airport and bringing back people that need to be evacuated, the U.S. government isn't taking more active evacuation measures. In fact, the Daily Mail revealed that "The White House repeatedly refused to address the August 31 deadline to get US troops out of Afghanistan on Monday, dodging questions on the subject and snapping at reporters who asked how the government planned to save the remaining Americans stuck in Kabul". At this point, our troops are still holed up at the airport, trying to evacuate tens of thousands of people while fending off an increasingly desperate crowd.

Yesterday, Biden turned his back on reporters again when the angry journalists asked for answers on what he was doing to solve the worsening crisis. The President has only given a handful of remarks on the situation, claiming he made the right decision to withdraw in every one of them and insisting his administration has "everything under control" while forgetting to share basic details of operations with the public. When will he ever be held accountable for this tragic disaster? Of course, there are many others that also should share in the blame.

If this country still had some sense of justice, and officials started to be held accountable for their performance, many of them would definitely be fired on the spot. What is even more worrying is the fact that millions upon millions of Americans have been dealing with so many hardships and with things being done in a wrongful manner that they became numb and started to accept whatever our incompetent leaders tell them to believe. They don't want to think for themselves and come to their own conclusions. And now we're in a country where the blind are leading the blind while we steamroll down a highway that doesn’t lead us anywhere good. Every major society throughout history ended up crumbling and falling apart, and now our society has started to crumble too. Although our ruin was probably inevitable, do we really have to look so shamefully incompetent in the process?"

- https://www.youtube.com/

"The 'Quiet' Month of August"

"The 'Quiet' Month of August"

by Jim Rickards

"Twenty years ago, I wrote a report called "The Myth of August". The idea was to compare what most people thought about the month of August to what actually happens in August. The myth is that August is a quiet month, everyone in the world is on vacation, no deals get done, people just enjoy the beach or mountains or other quiet recreations. This is famously true in France, but it's a French habit that Americans have copied with enthusiasm. When it comes to business and politics, the attitude is, "See you in September."

The reality is quite different. The number of world historical political events or natural catastrophes that have occurred in August could fill an encyclopedia. Let’s consider... On August 2, 1990, Saddam Hussein of Iraq invaded Kuwait. On August 18, 1991, there was an attempted coup d'état against Russian leader Gorbachev. On August 17, 1998, Russia defaulted on its debt and devalued its currency, which led to the collapse of LTCM and a global financial crisis.

On August 23, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans with fury, killing 1,833 and shutting down natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico. The list goes on but you get the point.

One of the Worst Disasters in History: In fact, August is notorious for disasters that require all hands on deck, even if the hands are calling in from the Hamptons or Catalina. I was thinking about this in early August and asked myself, "Gee, I wonder what it will be this year?"

Now we know. The fiasco in Afghanistan is one of the worst military and diplomatic setbacks in U.S. history. It's still unfolding and we pray for the Americans and our Afghani friends stuck behind enemy Taliban lines.

But there's more at stake here than just an outpost in Afghanistan. This is a major loss of prestige for the U.S... Our allies from Israel to Taiwan will start to doubt U.S. commitments. NATO is splitting at the seams. And the mental health decline of Joe Biden, which we've been writing about since before his election, is now plain for all to see.

This will not be over soon. It's not a three-day news cycle type event. This is more like Pearl Harbor or 9/11 where the aftermath goes on for years. The results will be mostly negative for U.S. confidence, and will have adverse effects in emerging markets that depend on U.S. security guarantees. But Afghanistan is not the only front that is presenting problems...

What Happened to Energy Independence? The Biden administration swept into office last January with a pile of executive orders on a broad range of subjects. Many were directed at undoing the policies of the Trump administration as quickly as possible. Biden rejoined the Paris Climate Accord, opened the U.S. border with Mexico, emphasized multilateralism over America First and much more. (By the way, these executive orders were not written in haste. Activists keep them "on the shelf" and can trot them out quickly when the opportunity presents. Biden's executive order spree was a rapid response to Democrat control of Washington).

Among these anti-Trump initiatives was a wish list from the Green New Deal crowd. Biden shut down the KeystoneXL pipeline from Canada, banned new oil and natural gas exploration on federal lands, imposed new regulations on the fracking industry, stopped energy exploration in Alaska and much more. He did this at a time when the U.S. had finally achieved energy independence from Middle-Eastern suppliers. Guess what happened next?

The U.S. went into energy deficit and began to import more from OPEC. Domestic prices for gas at the pump rose steeply. Right on cue, OPEC began to cut out put to raise oil prices even higher. Now, Biden is begging OPEC to increase output to lower energy prices and reduce the price of gas at the pump for Americans. Not surprisingly, OPEC is ignoring these calls and is continuing its efforts to increase energy prices.

Of course, none of this would be happening if Biden had just left the U.S. energy industry alone and allowed it to use their technology and exploration capability to continue a U.S. energy surplus consistent with environmental goals.

Referring to Biden's policies, Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA) said, "The stupidity behind this couldn't be any greater." That's about right. Gas prices will remain high during the summer driving season to be followed by higher natural gas prices during the winter heating season. You can thank Joe Biden for your higher costs. Here’s more potentially bad news for Democrats...

Finally, the Durham Report: Despite all the storm and stress from 2015 to 2019 about Russian collusion, no actual collusion was ever found. What was found was official wrongdoing, lies, cover-ups, media complicity and a web of efforts to discredit Trump, even though he never did anything wrong. Strangely, there has been almost no accountability about this. There were many investigations, reports and hearings that pointed at the anti-Trump wrongdoing, but almost no one has been held to account. All of that is about to change.

U.S. Attorney John Durham has been leading a criminal investigation of the real collusion behind the fake collusion for the past two years. Most of those who have followed this closely have given up on Durham. The questions, "Where's John Durham?" or "What's John Durham doing?" have become punchlines. Still, based on reliable leaks and other sources, we may be getting close to actual indictments and a detailed report.

Durham's theory of the case is interesting. Instead of focusing on corrupt investigations by the FBI, he's focusing on the false allegations and phony tips that gave rise to the FBI investigation in the first place. This shifts the focus away from James Comey and Andrew McCabe toward less well-known but still powerful figures such as Democrat super-lawyer Marc Elias, Glenn Simpson of research firm Fusion GPS and former Hillary Clinton campaign manager John Podesta. While these names may not be familiar as John Brennan and James Comey, any indictments among this group will shake the Democratic power structure to its core.

How long will it be before these political developments have an impact on the market? We may soon have an answer. But it’s time to bury the myth that August is a quiet month."

- dailyreckoning.com

Gerald Celente, "Trends Journal": "The 'Majority' Wanted War, They Were Wrong"

Full screen recommended.

VERY Strong Language Alert!

Gerald Celente, "Trends Journal":

"The 'Majority' Wanted War, They Were Wrong"

"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."

- https://trendsresearch.com/

○

Related:

Philip Giraldi,  8/24/21:

"The Evil That Men Do Lives After Them"

Musical Interlude: Vangelis, “Hymn”

Full screen recommended.

Vangelis, “Hymn”

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Large, dusty, spiral galaxy NGC 4945 is seen edge-on near the center of this rich telescopic image. The field of view spans nearly 2 degrees, or about 4 times the width of the Full Moon, toward the expansive southern constellation Centaurus.

About 13 million light-years distant, NGC 4945 is almost the size of our own Milky Way Galaxy. But X-ray and infrared observations reveal even more high energy emission and star formation in the core of NGC 4945. The other prominent galaxy in the field, NGC 4976, is an elliptical galaxy. Left of center, NGC 4976 is much farther away, at a distance of about 35 million light-years, and not physically associated with NGC 4945.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090109.html

"The Only Animal..."

"Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is

struck with the difference between what things are, and what they ought to be."

- William Hazlitt

The Poet: Mary Oliver, “October”

“October”

"There’s this shape, black as the entrance to a cave.

A longing wells up in its throat

like a blossom

as it breathes slowly.

What does the world

mean to you if you can’t trust it

to go on shining when you’re

not there? and there’s

a tree, long-fallen; once

the bees flew to it, like a procession

of messengers, and filled it

with honey.

I said to the chickadee, 

singing his heart out in the

green pine tree:

little dazzler

little song,

little mouthful.

The shape climbs up out of the curled grass. It

grunts into view. There is no measure

for the confidence at the bottom of its eyes -

there is no telling

the suppleness of its shoulders as it turns

and yawns.

Near the fallen tree

something - a leaf snapped loose

from the branch and fluttering down - tries to pull me

into its trap of attention.

It pulls me

into its trap of attention,

And when I turn again, the bear is gone.

Look, hasn’t my body already felt

like the body of a flower?

Look, I want to love this world

as thought it’s the last chance I’m ever going to get

to be alive

and know it.

Sometimes in late summer I won’t touch anything, not

the flowers, not the blackberries

brimming in the thickets; I won’t drink

from the pond; I won’t name the birds or the trees;

I won’t whisper my own name.

One morning

the fox came down the hill, glittering and confident,

and didn’t see me - and I thought:

so this is the world.

I’m not in it.

It is beautiful."

- Mary Oliver

"When The Demons Come Along..."

"Here is a universal law: that when it comes to negative and positive, you will always thrive more powerfully in the positive if you have first been immersed in, and have heroically overcome, the polar opposite negative of that thing. To abide in the positive existence of something, without having known and overcome its polar opposite - that is to be only a frame of the real structure. Easily toppled down and taken apart. True power is in the hands of the one who thrives in the positive, after having known and conquered the negative. Because when the demons come along, she will say to those demons: "I know you, I have owned you, but now you bow down to me."

- C. JoyBell C.

“Zachary”

“Zachary”

by Tim Knight

“A handwritten letter arrived in my mailbox last week from a reader. In it was a note from whom I would guess is an elderly gentleman, thanking me for my work both on Slope and on Tastytrade, but politely asking me to use the phrase "God damn it" less frequently, since he found it upsetting. The handwriting on the paper trembled like leaves in an autumn breeze, and it was obvious it took time and effort to send me this two-page missive. It meant something to him.

It never occurred to me that I ever used this phrase in a video, let alone often enough to cause concern. All the same, the letter, as with the many other letters I have received over the years, made an impression. For one thing, it made me wonder how angry I must be in order for this kind of sentiment to seep through, since I wasn't even aware I was saying it.

Which leads me to the topic at hand. Specifically, a man. A terribly deformed man whom I think about almost daily. For now, I'll call him Sup.

One summer evening, a few months ago, I was walking with my family down University Avenue, the central boulevard in our town, and the location of dozens of high-end retail stores that cater to the insatiable appetite of the affluent consumers in my fair city. "Sup?" came from the voice from below. (As is: "What's up?") I glanced around and didn't see the speaker. That is, until I looked lower. There, standing on the brick sidewalk on the corner of Bryant and University Avenues was a person unlike any I had ever seen before.

His head, torso, and arms were normal. There were two things obviously terribly wrong with 1117-suphim: first, his back was completely malformed, with a huge hump, and second, his legs - or what passed for legs - were just a few inches long. He appeared to be mixed race (the politically incorrect term, I think, is "mulatto") and he had a big afro.

"How you guys doin' this evening?", he asked. I stammered that we were pretty good, although I confess being a little surprised. That brief exchange ended the conversation, and my family and I continued on to Umami Burgers for dinner. In the receding distance, I heard this fellow chatting up other people as they passed, asking for a dollar from anyone who would listen.

From that day forward, I paid attention to that corner whenever I passed it in my car or walked by it during my downtown errands. Sup, as I called him, was on that corner more often than not. On occasion, I'd see a special wheelchair near him, which I suppose he could hoist himself onto and roll to wherever it was he lived (if such a place existed). But he was never in it. He was also on the sidewalk at knee level.

What struck me about Sup the most was his attitude. This guy was seriously and, dare I say, grotesquely deformed. When he moved from one place to another, he typically did so by pressing his hands against the ground and swinging his torso and tiny legs forward, much like an ape at the zoo. Although his short stature made him easy to miss, once people saw him, they couldn't help but take note. I can only imagine the range of reactions he's ever received.

But back to his attitude: this guy was relentlessly positive. And I don't mean grinning, giggling, and thumbs-up positive. I'm talking about a self-evident confidence, determination, and cachet. He gave salutations to everyone who passed; he casually smoked on a cigarette while chatting up people who would talk to him; and he made verbal passes at good-looking women as they strolled by (enjoying, incidentally, a supremely good view of their legs from his two-foot high vantage point). In spite of all this, most people tried their best to ignore him. They just felt too awkward (as if they were the ones who were entitled to feel uneasy).

Since I'm an unrelentingly self-referential twit, I pondered these observations in the context of my own behavior. Here was this guy who had every reason to feel sorry for himself. His tremendous physical deformities were going to dominate whatever impression he might possibly give to someone. He was begging on a street corner for dollar bills. He was being passed every day by countless numbers of people, many of them affluent, some of them stinking rich, while he begged for a little money to eat. And yet he was totally unfazed (in spite of, I wager, some cruel reactions or mean utterances offered by heartless strangers).

I, on the other hand, have a PhD in self-pity. I'm a white American male - by definition, a privileged class - who has a perfectly good body, good health, a zillion dollar house, and enough money to live the rest of my life without working another day. I've got a beautiful wife, magnificent children, and a good income that doesn't rob me of any personal freedom. And yet I am seized on a virtually daily basis with how miserable and rotten my life is, and how I don't deserve any of the bad things that have ever happened to me. I dare feel sorry for myself due to solvable personal problems or the fact the stupid stock market refuses to fall.

Sure, if I cornered you and shared a couple of drinks, I could probably conjure up enough tales-of-woe to get you to agree that, yeah, poor Tim is a pathetic sumbitch, and it's no wonder he's often tempted to jump in front of the next CalTrain that passes by. Indeed, most people on this planet would be able to surgically extract some sliver of their lives and make it seem sad. Hell, Elon Musk could surely give grisly tales from his multiple failed marriages, although I imagine it would be a Herculean feat for anyone to actually conjure up sympathy for the guy.

Sup, in sharp contrast to this morose malaise, was just plain cool. On more than one occasion, I'd see that he had managed to coax a couple of women - attractive young women - over to talk to him, and he was just smoking his cig, chatting them up, casual as could be. I don't know what he said to get their attention, but whatever it was, it worked. God knows the guy has chatted up more good-looking women than I ever have in my own life. That's me in the corner.

I've long been tempted to interview the guy, because there's so much I want to know about him. Where is he from? What's his background? What's his physical malady all about? What are the most interesting, kind, and nasty things people have said to him? What are some interesting stories from the many months he's been hanging out at this particular corner? What does he hope the future brings to him? How does he manage to stay so upbeat?

I haven't done the interview yet, and I'm not sure if I ever will. I mean, it takes a certain amount of gumption to start quizzing a guy up and down; he might react poorly to the whole thing. But I've got a suspicion he would be all too glad to tell his story. I'm more worried about my ability to do the interview than his interest in answering my questions.

However, I took one baby step in that direction a few days ago. I was walking by, and as usual, he tosses out - "Sup, man? Got a dollar for me?" I was on my way to my mailbox, so I replied, "In a minute." I suppose he gets this kind of brush-off all the time, but I was sincere. I was going to come back with a dollar in a minute, because there was something I wanted to buy with it.

"Yo, yo!" he said as I returned to the corner. I handed him a dollar and asked, "What's your name?" In my mind, the question was "What's your real name?", since I had known him as "Sup" all these months.

"Zachary."

"OK, have a good night." And I left.

So now at least I had a real name for this person. That was a more dignified, after all, since I had heretofore attached a goofy moniker to him. But I really need to interview this guy one of these days. In a way, I admire him, even though his disposition and attitude just make me loathe myself even worse than before. I mean, seriously, what right do I have?

So be it. Zachary is one tough hombre. Respect.”

- http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-11-17/zachary

- http://slopeofhope.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg City, Russian Federation.

Thanks for stopping by!

"Sometimes..."

"Sometimes even to live is an act of courage."

- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

"The Wisdom to Shirk"

"The Wisdom to Shirk"

by Bill Bonner

"Lord, grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

– American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr

YOUGHAL, IRELAND – "This week, we’re all getting on the same page… and the same chapter. Yesterday, we gave you what we think will be the pattern of the crisis ahead: (Fake) Boom… Bust… Re-Boom… Ka-Boom… Kabul. And today… we make sure we’re all reading the same book!

Here’s a letter from a non-fan, clearly not even in the library. Dear reader Nancy M. quotes a line from our Diary last week: “The Taliban are NOT feminists! They think there are two types of human – men and women – and that they are meant to play different roles.” She then comments: "Really? So it sits okay with you that their idea of what type of (sub)human women are is they are to be covered head to toe, not be educated, can’t go out without a male, not make any noise lest they awaken lust in a man, and if they try and rebel against this tyranny they are to be beaten and/or whipped? That’s quite the different role they’re to play, huh?!"

Nancy seems to believe that we (including she) know how the Taliban treat women in Afghanistan… that we (including she) know how women should be treated… and that anyone cares what we think.

Live and Let Live: But that was the whole point. No… No… And no… Everyone believes his own values, right now, are eternal and universal. Of course, they are not. Not even those of America’s elite, circa 2021. Things change – even our own thoughts and beliefs.

Besides, it’s the winners of wars who get to decide. They impose their values – as lame and repulsive as they may be. America lost the war in Afghanistan. Its values (if it has any) lost, too. Is that alright with us? Well, yes… God has given us the strength not to give a damn about a great many things. And if we were running U.S. foreign policy, we’d put a sign on the door: We don’t try to tell other people what to do; we expect the same favor from them.

The Way It Is: Continuing to mine this deep, philosophical vein, let’s look at the basics of economics and finance. Actions have consequences… Are we all agreed on that? And how about this: You can’t get something from nothing? Ex nihilo nihil fit. Everything requires some input. You have to do something to get something. Every investment produces a return – either positive or negative. Every action comes with a reaction.

So, let’s go further. Say’s Law – named after French economist Jean-Baptiste Say – tells us how you get wealthy. It’s a consequence… a reaction… to your own actions. You get by giving. You buy products and services by providing products and services to others, said Say. (Of course, an individual could also rob a bank… or get a stimmy check. We’re referring here to general rules that apply to societies and economies.)

How do you provide goods and services? You work. You put in time, energy, and resources. Even then, there’s no guarantee. If you dig a well, you have to find water. Otherwise, you’ve wasted your time. If you start a business, it has to make a profit… or you are not really increasing the net supply of wealth. If it loses money, it means you are actually making the world a poorer place.

In an honest economy, mistakes are constantly weeded out. It is the process of what Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter called “creative destruction”… the past must die to make room for the future! Yes, Dear Reader, there are some things we just have to accept. So, let us gird our loins to fight the good fight… and say our prayers, that we may be lucky enough to win… ’cause that’s just the way it is.

Bloodsuckers: That’s why American economist Ken Rogoff was so wrong, writing in the Financial Times last month. He lauded the authorities – the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve – for reacting “so quickly and proactively” to the COVID-19 crisis last year. As a result, “there were actually fewer corporate bankruptcies in 2020 than in 2019.” What this really means is that mistakes weren’t corrected… and the zombies multiplied. America’s money-losing, wealth-destroying enterprises continued to suck blood out of the economy, in other words. Keeping them alive was a mistake.

Some things you can change. Some things you can’t. Say’s Law and Schumpeter’s Creative Destruction are ones you can’t. No tricks… no magic… no Ph.D. theories can get around them.

Wisdom to Know the Difference: But wait… “Can’t we at least help people in crisis periods?” “Can’t we just use a little planning, at the top, to prevent corrections and make the economy run more smoothly?” “Can’t wise people in government intervene to change the things they can change – making sure the economy is running at 100% capacity… with full employment?” “Or how about a little stimulus from time to time… and liquidity for those who need it?”

“And… and… what about realizing our world improvement goals – less carbon output… equality… defeating the coronavirus… and providing high-quality broadband to poor people all over the planet?”

Surely we can accomplish some of those goals, no? Yes… and no. Some things you can change. Some things you can’t. Tune in tomorrow for more about which is which…"

- www.rogueeconomics.com

"It Must Be Very Difficult..."

"It must be very difficult to be someone 

who has less intelligence than a pigeon."

- Darwin Award @AwardsDarwin

Gregory Mannarino, "AM/PM 8/24/21"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 8/24/21:

"Yet Another Wall Street Bank WARNS Of A Stock Market Drop"

- https://traderschoice.net/

○

Gregory Mannarino, PM 8/24/21:

"Now Is The Time For Action"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"How It Really Is"

 
The only thing these clowns aren't incompetent about...

"We Are Witnessing Incompetence On A Colossal Scale Throughout Our Society"

"We Are Witnessing Incompetence On 

A Colossal Scale Throughout Our Society"

by Michael Snyder

"These days, it is a surprise when someone actually does something competently. It is often said that if you want something done right you have got to do it yourself, and today that is more true than ever. Just think about it. How often have you had a delivery delayed or messed up? How often have you had someone supposedly “fix” something but it isn’t actually fixed? How often have you purchased something that breaks shortly thereafter? And don’t even get me started on the complete and utter incompetence that we see in the tech industry. How hard could it possibly be to release a piece of software that is not riddled with all sorts of nightmarish bugs that need to be “patched” as soon as possible?

Sadly, in our upside down society some of the most incompetent people that you can imagine end up running entire organizations, and if you are particularly corrupt and useless you may get to be a politician.

By now, you are probably thinking that I am going to talk about Joe Biden in this article, and you are right. In this era of extreme incompetence, it somehow seems appropriate that sleepy Joe is presiding over our “idiocracy”. Barack Obama knew that this could happen. According to Politico, he once said that nobody should “underestimate Joe’s ability to **** things up”.

Everything that Biden touches seems to turn into a failure. Just look at the crisis on the border. It is the worst that it has ever been in our entire history, and we are being told that “morale is in the toilet” among our Border Patrol agents… “Morale is in the toilet,” Jon Anfinsen, a spokesman for the Border Patrol’s union, told the Washington Examiner. “Morale is low because agents aren’t allowed to do their job - if our job is to be out patrolling the border in between the ports of entry and actively searching for people who have crossed illegally, but we’re not allowed to go do that job, it basically creates this defeated feeling in everyone.”

Thanks to Biden’s wonderful new policies, our Border Patrol agents have their hands tied and are not able to do their jobs, and as a result many of them show up to work “sort of downtrodden, almost dead inside”… “Everyone shows up to work sort of downtrodden, almost dead inside, for lack of a better term,” Anfinsen stated. “They’re not allowed to [do] the job, and they know that people are getting away every single day, every hour.”

Of course it isn’t just on the border where Biden is completely and utterly failing. He is doing such a “great job” with the economy that the term “Bidenflation” has been coined less than a year into his presidency. And his response to the COVID pandemic has been a nightmare of historic proportions. If I were to tell you how I really feel about the decisions that he has been making during this pandemic, I would get censored into oblivion by the social media companies.

Right now, what everyone is talking about is how incompetent the Biden administration has been in handling the situation in Afghanistan. The fall of Saigon in 1975 and the Iranian hostage crisis during the Carter administration both made America look really weak, but we have never seen anything like the debacle at the airport in Kabul. The “terrorists” that we went it to destroy in 2001 now have us surrounded and cornered in half an airport, and there are still countless numbers of people that can’t get to the evacuation planes.

In fact, staff members that worked at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul feel like they have been completely betrayed by our government at this point… "Local staff members at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul are “deeply disheartened” by U.S. evacuation efforts and have expressed a sense of betrayal and distrust in the U.S. government, according to a State Department diplomatic cable obtained by NBC News.

The cable, which was sent Saturday, said memos were sent Wednesday inviting Afghan staff members at the embassy to head to Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. It told them to take food and to prepare for difficult conditions."

When staffers went to the airport in response to that cable, they quickly found themselves in the middle of a nightmare… "Staffers reported being jostled, hit, spat on and cursed at by Taliban fighters at checkpoints near the airport, it said, adding that criminals were taking advantage of the chaos while the U.S. military tried to maintain order “in an extremely physical situation.” Some staff members reported that they were almost separated from their children, while others collapsed in a crush of people and had to be taken to hospitals with injuries, the cable said. Others said they had collapsed on the road because of heat exhaustion, it said."

British forces have been leaving the airport and bringing back people that need to be evacuated, but for some reason the U.S. hasn’t done the same thing. There are still thousands of Americans inside the country, and time is running out, because the Taliban won’t move the August 31 deadline… "The White House repeatedly refused to address the Taliban’s August 31 deadline to get US troops out of Afghanistan on Monday, dodging questions on the subject and snapping at reporters who asked how the government planned to save the remaining Americans stuck in Kabul.

The Taliban’s spokesman issued the sternest threat yet to Biden on Monday morning, saying there will be ‘consequences’ if US troops – who are holed up at the airport in Kabul evacuating tens of thousands of people and fending off an increasingly desperate crowd – don’t leave in the next eight days."

Biden should immediately resign, but he will never do that. Of course there are others that also should share in the blame. Just like much of the rest of our society, the brass at the Pentagon has been getting increasingly incompetent over the years, but up until recently it hasn’t been talked about too much. But now that our failures in Afghanistan have been exposed for the whole world to see, the mainstream media is having a field day mocking them. For example, the following comes from the New York Post…

"To the surprise of only the Biden administration and its top brass, the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan last week after 20 years of frivolous American adventurism. It was a spectacular failure of American diplomacy, statecraft, intelligence and, most of all, military capability. In short, mission very much not accomplished. But that’s pretty much standard operating procedure for the nearly useless behemoth called the Pentagon, which hasn’t won a war since the kinder, gentler American government changed its name from the War Department to the Defense Department shortly after World War II."

So why don’t any of our top military officials ever get fired? As Darren Beattie has pointed out, NFL head coaches are held to a much higher standard than our generals and admirals are… "Is the head coach always the problem with a bad NFL team? Obviously not. But a head coach is the highly-compensated captain of a $200 million operation, and his job is to win. Coaches who don’t win get fired, because being a perpetual, complacent loser is unacceptable."

The ongoing collapse of the U.S.-backed regime in Afghanistan is the geopolitical equivalent of an NFL team going 0-16 twenty seasons in a row. Perhaps it’s worse than that, in fact. The Afghanistan disaster is the equivalent of an NFL All-Pro team taking on a Division III liberal arts college, being shut out, and then crashing the team bus into a ditch.

If we were to start holding military officials accountable for their performance, firing Mark Milley would be a really good start. I have absolutely no idea how someone like that got to be the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Personally, I would not even trust him to mop the floors of the local Dairy Queen. What is even more tragic is that millions upon millions of Americans unquestionably accept whatever our incompetent leaders tell them to believe without taking the time and effort to think for themselves and come to their own conclusions. The blind are truly leading the blind, and we are steamrolling down a highway that doesn’t lead anywhere good.

Every great society throughout history has crumbled eventually, and now our society is crumbling too. I suppose that it was probably inevitable, but do we really have to look so completely and utterly incompetent in the process?"

- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/