Wednesday, September 29, 2021

"The Market Crash Nobody Thinks Is Possible Is Coming"

"The Market Crash Nobody Thinks Is Possible Is Coming"
by Charles Hugh Smith

"The ideal setup for a crash is a consensus that a crash is impossible - in other words, just like the present: sure, there are carefully measured murmurings about a "correction" but nobody with anything to lose in the way of public credibility is calling for an honest-to-goodness crash, a real crash, not a wimpy, limp-wristed dip that will immediately be bought.

What I'm calling for is a rip your face off, weeping bitter tears over the grave of the speculative wealth that you thought was forever crash. All those buying the dip because the Fed will never let the market go down will be crushed like scurrying cockroaches and all those trying to rotate into the next hot sector or asset class will also be crushed like scurrying cockroaches because when the Everything Bubble pops, well, everything pops. There is no shelter in a risk-off cascade.

The crash is coming as a result of multiple mutually reinforcing dynamics, the first being that no "serious person" believes a crash is possible, much less imminent. In no particular order, here are a raft of other causally consequential triggers of a cascading market crash:

1. As I noted in my call for the top, "Is Anyone Willing to Call the Top of the Everything Bubble?" (September 6, 2021), there is no history to support the widespread confidence that the extremes of over-valuation, leverage, euphoria and speculation last forever, or even much longer than the lifespan of a cockroach. We're well past that benchmark into unprecedented insanity. So what happens next: squish.

Just for the record, the Dow topped out on August 13, the S&P 500 topped out on September 2 and the Nasdaq topped out the day after my call, September 7. (Close enough for gummit work...)

2. The credibility of the Federal Reserve is in the dumpster, which just caught fire. As I explained in "The Fed Is Fatally Corrupt - And So Is the Rest of America's Status Quo" (September 10, 2021), the Fed is corrupt on multiple levels - thoroughly, completely corrupt, and so are all its minions, proxies, apparatchiks, toadies, apologists and lackeys.

This is finally leaking through the Fed corruption containment vessel as even the lackeys in the billionaire-owned corporate media are now fearful of losing whatever tattered shreds of credibility they still possess by refusing to acknowledge Fed corruption, over-reach and hubris. And so at long last, the Fed no longer walks on water. The Fed's fraudulent travesty of a mockery of a sham scam has finally breached the three-foor thick containment walls and the putrid stench of Fed corruption can no longer be bottled up.

Like any good kleptocratic Politburo, the Fed cashiered the two most indefensible scapegoats to divert attention from the equally corrupt incumbents presiding over the collapse of Fed credibility. Don't be surprised if the scapegoats are airbrushed out of official photos, per officially approved propaganda.

3. As I detailed in "The U.S. Economy In a Nutshell: When Critical Parts Are On "Indefinite Back Order," the Machine Grinds to a Halt" and "Sorry, Fed, Inflation is Already Embedded", the fuel of the inflation rocket has just ignited and the clueless, corrupt Fed is watching the boost phase in abject, humiliating confusion, as the Fed is now completely powerless, having blown the opportunity to get ahead of the curve by reducing their making billionaires richer "stimulus" a year ago.

Inflation is not just embedded, it's global. Natural gas prices could triple in entire regions without even breathing hard, and the costs of other essentials could just as easily triple without breaking a sweat. Inflation crushes risk-on speculative markets like, well, scurrying cockroaches. Squish.

4. The Fed has lost control of yields. We all know that liars reveal their dishonesty via micro-signals, and with this is mind, slow down the video of Fed Politburo speakers, starting with Chairperson Powell. Wealth inequality soaring? It's not our doing! etc. Oops, the cat is out of the bag: the Fed has lost control of yields. Trust in the Fed's god-like powers is wavering, as punters and players realize the Fed's shuck-and-jive has finally lost its power to wow the greedy and the credulous. Rising yields crush risk-on speculative markets like, well, scurrying cockroaches. Squish.

5. China is not "saving the world" this time. As I explained in "What's Really Going On in China" (September 23, 2021), China has other fish to fry and it isn't bailing out global markets as it did in previous bubble pops. Squish.

6. The rising US dollar is Kryptonite to speculative markets, emerging market debt and risk-on euphoria. Sorry about that, but you know what happens next: Squish.

7. The retail bagholders are now all-in. As I noted in "Please Don't Pop Our Precious Bubble!" (September 8, 2021), the retail punters have finally gone all-in on the "this bubble will never pop" Everything Bubble. As I observed in August, "The Smart Money Has Already Sold" (August 18, 2021) as the retail bagholders have poured more cash into the Everything Bubble than they did in the past decade or two. This is of course the most reliable signal that a bubble is about to pop. Sorry about that: squish.

8. The buy the dip crowd has been so well-trained that they will provide the necessary buying to keep the cascade from gathering too much momentum. A stairstep down that sucks in buy the dip buyers is ideal for those profiting from the decline. First up: a rally to close the quarter positively to make it appear that every money manager beat the index funds. And so on. But the net result is still: squish. Consequences can be put off for quite some time, but the rot beneath the machinations only amplifies the eventual collapse.
The banquet of consequences is being served, and risk-off crashes are, like revenge, best served cold."

Gregory Mannarino, AM 9/29/21: "JP Morgan CEO Warns Of Potentially 'Catastrophic' Event"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 9/29/21:
"JP Morgan CEO Warns Of Potentially 'Catastrophic' Event"

Musical Interlude: Peter Gabriel (Feat. Kate Bush), "Don't Give Up"

Peter Gabriel (Feat. Kate Bush), "Don't Give Up"

Must Watch! “Stock Market Bubble Bigger Than 1929; No Money, No Consumer Confidence; Cost Of Everything Soars”

Jeremiah Babe, PM 9/28/21:
“Stock Market Bubble Bigger Than 1929; 
No Money, No Consumer Confidence; Cost Of Everything Soars”

Absolute catastrophe is so close, folks...
Brace yourselves.

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

"Panic And Chaos Sweep Across In China As Power Shortage Leaves Millions In The Dark"

Full screen recommended.
"Panic And Chaos Sweep Across In China As
 Power Shortage Leaves Millions In The Dark"
by Epic Economist

"Widespread panic is sweeping across China due to a sudden power crisis that is leaving millions of homes in the dark and forcing several industries to completely halt production as strict rationing mandates have started to be put in place. China's energy crisis is threatening to trigger an economic and financial meltdown like no other. The risk of generalized supply chain disruptions is making economists extremely alarmed with the prospects of yet another global economic slowdown. Even worse, the crisis is likely to incite social instability all across the nation as residents grow increasingly more frustrated with the rigid mandates and prolonged blackouts.

Over the past month, at least 16 out of 31 provincial jurisdictions have enacted out electricity-rationing measures, alarming ​the population and plunging the nation’s industrial sector into chaos. “The situation worsened over the past weekend,” Lu Ting, chief economist at Nomura, wrote in a recent note, highlighting that large-scale outages are not limited to factories.

Residents in both northern and southern provinces have been facing extensive blackouts for weeks, but since the beginning of this week, the situation has escalated to a whole new level. Traffic lights are being turned off and causing unprecedented chaos on roads and cities. Local authorities are urging residents to only use natural light in their homes and limit the usage of all electronics. And many angry and confused residents are reporting their complaints on social media, exposing that major electricity cuts have come during peak hours without any warning.

The country is currently facing power issues on two fronts. The main reasons for electricity shortages in the south of China are different from what's causing them in the north. While the south is running low on hydropower, the north is struggling with a massive spike in coal and gas prices.

According to the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese government, the power cuts are forcing companies to raise prices of goods for Chinese consumers and resulting in rampant inflation. "This will likely bring unnecessary disorder to the economy and society," it said.In Guangdong, the provincial energy administration warned that "all walks of society" must conserve energy to prevent further widespread outages. Broad cuts to factories have already been implemented, but now office workers are required to use the stairs, and shopping malls are closing hours earlier than usual.

Chinese consumers, for their part, aren't happy with the steep rise in energy prices and dwindling energy supplies. Local reports describe that the population is getting angrier and angrier as local authorities force them to ration electricity usage. Even though official data released by the government does not mention explicit numbers, it is estimated that thousands of blackouts caused a lot of trouble across several provinces last week. In the northeastern city of Liaoyang, "twenty-three people were hospitalized with carbon monoxide poisoning after ventilation in a metal-casting factory was cut after a power outage," according to the state media. Millions of homes have been left in the dark for 5 to 10 hours in northern China over the past weekend, and millions more are likely to face a similar fate in the coming days.

The government is stressing that people should ration power at all costs to “avoid the collapse of the entire grid”. One water company said in a statement released on social media on Sunday that “irregular, unplanned and unannounced power cuts or limits will last until March 2022, and power and water outages will become the norm to meet the requirements of the national grid and the mandates set by local authorities". The energy crisis will likely cut China’s growth rate by 0.1 to 0.15 percentage points in the third and fourth quarters, CICC economists revealed in a report. “The power-supply shock in the world’s second-biggest economy and the biggest manufacturer will ripple through and impact global markets,” Nomura's Li Ting added.

Given that companies all across the board are being forced to shut down or reduce activity, this could result in a catastrophic supply chain crisis in the coming weeks and months. While the world is watching the unfolding of the Evergrande crisis, the effects of China's energy crisis on the manufacturing sector may be overlooked, but the end result could be the worsening of the shortage of everything - from textiles to electronics components. And that could cause a financial and economic meltdown that would push the world's economy to the edge of a cliff very rapidly.

Global events are accelerating at record speed. And we all should pay very close attention to what happens next. In the meantime, try to get ready while you can, because when the flow of goods between Asia and the U.S. is finally cut, we will see the rapid collapse of our nation."

Gerald Celente, "Trends Journal: Show Us Your Vax Papers"

Full screen recommended.
Gerald Celente, PM 9/28/21: 
VERY Strong Language Alert!
"Trends Journal: Show Us Your Vax Papers"
"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."

Musical Interlude: Gnomusy, "Shadows In The Wood"

Gnomusy, "Shadows In The Wood"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Stars are sometimes born in the midst of chaos. About 3 million years ago in the nearby galaxy M33, a large cloud of gas spawned dense internal knots which gravitationally collapsed to form stars. NGC 604 was so large, however, it could form enough stars to make a globular cluster.
Many young stars from this cloud are visible in the above image from the Hubble Space Telescope, along with what is left of the initial gas cloud. Some stars were so massive they have already evolved and exploded in a supernova. The brightest stars that are left emit light so energetic that they create one of the largest clouds of ionized hydrogen gas known, comparable to the Tarantula Nebula in our Milky Way's close neighbor, the Large Magellanic Cloud.”

Chet Raymo, “Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright…”

“Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright…”
by Chet Raymo

“Divinity is not playful. The universe was not made in jest but in solemn incomprehensible earnest. By a power that is unfathomably secret, and holy, and fleet.” You may recall these words from Annie Dillard’s “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.” There is nothing intrinsically cheerful about the world, she says. To live is to die; it’s all part of the bargain. Stars destroy themselves to make the atoms of our bodies. Every creature lives to eat and be eaten. And into this incomprehensible, unfathomable, apparently stochastic melee stumbles… You and I.

With qualities that we have - so far - seen nowhere else. Hope. Humor. A sense of justice. A sense of beauty. Gratitude. But also: Anger. Hurt. Despair. Strangers in a strange land.

Galaxies by the billions turn like St. Catherine Wheels, throwing off sparks of exploding stars. Atoms eddy and flow, blowing hot and cold, groping and promiscuous. A wind of neutrinos gusts through our bodies, Energy billows and swells. A myriad of microorganisms nibble at our flesh.

We have a sense that something purposeful is going on, something that involves us. Something secret, holy and fleet. But we haven’t a clue what it is. We make up stories. Stories in which we are the point of it all. We tell the stories over and over. To our children. To ourselves. And the stories fill up the space of our ignorance.

Until they don’t. And then the great yawning spaces open again. And time clangs down on our heads like a pummeling rain, like the collapsing ceiling of the sky. Dazed, stunned, we stagger like giddy topers towards our own swift dissolution. Inexplicably praising. Admiring. Wondering. Giving thanks.”
“The Tyger”

“Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?
And what shoulder, and what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? and what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”

- William Blake

"Happily Men Don't Realize..."

"Happily men don't realize how stupid they are, or half the world would commit suicide. Knowledge is a will-of-the-wisp, fluttering ever out of the traveller's reach; and a weary journey must be endured before it is even seen. It is only when a man knows a good deal that he discovers how unfathomable is his ignorance. The man who knows nothing is satisfied that there is nothing to know, consequently that he knows everything; and you may more easily persuade him that the moon is made of green cheese than that he is not omniscient."
- W. Somerset Maugham
“It takes considerable knowledge just to
realize the extent of your own ignorance.”
- Thomas Sowell

Gregory Mannarino, PM 9/28/21: "Former FED. Chairwoman J. Yellen Warns Of Calamity, Financial Crisis, Meltdown"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 9/28/21:
"Former FED. Chairwoman J. Yellen Warns 
Of Calamity, Financial Crisis, Meltdown"

"Our Gloomy Economy Will Never be the Same Again"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly, PM 9/28/21:
"Our Gloomy Economy Will Never be the Same Again"
"The Economist have spoken. They are predicting that our economy is slowing down. This is going to be a horrible third-quarter for our country. It’s only going to get worse as we get into the end of the year."

"Teach the B*st**ds a Lesson"

"Teach the B*st**ds a Lesson"
by Bill Bonner

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – "Politics is war. War is politics. Everything is a battle. Good vs. Evil. Black vs. White. Democrat vs. Republican. Force someone else to do something he doesn’t want to do. Or try to stop him from forcing you. The only goal is to win. If life were that simple, perhaps even Washington Post reporters and Members of Congress could understand it. But it is not.

Blame Game: We charged yesterday that the fight between Republicans and Democrats is a distraction. A fake-out. A side-show designed to keep Americans entertained by trivialities and diverted by non-sequiturs, while the real show – ripping off the public – goes unremarked. We take up the theme again today…

If there is a flood in New Orleans, it’s because Republicans have blocked desperately needed climate change mitigation measures. Fires in California? Ditto. And were our proud warriors stabbed in the back in Afghanistan? Were our jobs stolen by the Chinese? Are we now facing an economic and fiscal cataclysm? Hey, that must be the fault of the Democrats, no?

According to the popular narrative, everything is either the Democrats’ fault… or the Republicans’ fault – depending on which team you’re rooting for.

Red vs. Blue: Even the death toll from COVID-19? Yes… At first, it looked like the Democrats had brought it on themselves, like the Genoese traders, who brought the Plague to Europe. Hardest hit were the “Blue” states, such as New York and California.

Here’s a Law & Liberty report from April 2020: "When controlling for the differences in population across states, the number of deaths from coronavirus is over three times higher in states with Democratic governors than in states with Republican governors. As of Sunday, April 26, states with Republican governors have experienced 57.53 coronavirus deaths per million of population, states with Democratic governors have 179.74 deaths per million of population. Even excluding the state of New York as an extreme outlier, states with Democratic governors have 138.58 deaths per million from coronavirus, still over twice as many coronavirus deaths per million as deaths in states with Republican governors."

Republicans sneered at their masked-up cousins in the “Blue” states. But then, the virus didn’t stop at the New York state line. It soon made its way to the Red states. Then, it was widely reported that the Republicans were the ones who deserved to die. Some commentators even went as far as to say that Republican governors of Texas and Florida were “killing” their citizens by failing to enforce Dr. Fauci’s latest recommendations. Here’s The National Memo of July 11, 2021:

"The childish narcissism and prideful ignorance of the American right – as personified in its idol, former President Donald Trump – have transformed “conservatism” into a public health menace. Republicans in office and their media echoes are the principal obstacles to vaccinating enough Americans to achieve herd immunity from COVID-19, which would be awful even if their gullible audiences were the only potential victims."

No Party Affiliation: Well, guess what? COVID-19 doesn’t really seem to care who you vote for. Look at the deaths per state. The results are all over the place. Mississippi (Rep.) and New Jersey (Dem.), for example, have very little in common… except that they have the highest death rates in the country – over 300 per 100,000 of the population.

Likewise, Vermont (Dem.), Hawaii (Dem.), and Alaska (Rep.), are hardly ideological soulmates… but they have needed the fewest caskets – below 100 per 100,000 of the population.

Texas – scarlet in color – has a lower death toll than Massachusetts (Dem.) or New York (Dem.), despite Governor Abbott’s attempts at mass murder. Florida (Rep.), too.

What probably happens is the obvious thing. You can slow the movement of a virus by closing borders, social distancing, masking, etc. – especially if you are relatively isolated, geographically, such as places like Hawaii and Alaska. But then, your population is virgin territory for the disease. Sooner or later, you have to open up… and in comes the lusty bug.

Lesson in Consequences: The most remarkably revealing opinion appeared this week in Salon: "To be blunt, white privilege has long shielded many conservatives from the concept of facing consequences for their actions. We see this in a lot of obnoxious right-wing behavior lately, from tantrums over COVID-19 mitigation measures in public places to the attempted insurrection on January 6. Who can forget how many of the arrested Trump supporters expressed genuine shock that they might actually face a legal consequence for participating in a violent effort to overthrow democracy? This lack of familiarity with consequences is likely why there are so many holdouts, even in the face of vaccine mandates."

The Salon piece goes on to say that it’s not enough to watch the anti-vaxxers “pay with their lives”… not while the rest of us “are suffering because of Trumpist hubris.” And there’s no point in scaring them with the threat of death. Why? Because they’re not going to die! Here’s the quote: "The problem with highlighting COVID-19 deaths to scare the Trumpers straight, however, is that they can always tell themselves that they're not going to be the ones who die since 98.4% of people in the U.S. do survive."

That’s right; they’re not going to die because the disease is only dangerous to a few people. According to figures in New York Magazine, an 85-year-old is 10,000 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than a 10 year old. We know who needs protection. We know, too, that natural “herd immunity” is much more effective than vaccine immunity. And we believe that a person who has submitted to the jab has little to fear from those who have not.

So… why the vaccine mandates? Salon explains it: Trump fans are overdue for a lesson in consequences. Get it? The argument is no longer about how to keep people safe. It’s just politics. It’s time to teach the bastards a lesson!"

The Daily "Near You?"

Wasilla, Alaska, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"A Closer Look..."

"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous 
by letting the government take care of him, 
better take a closer look at the American Indian."
- Henry Ford

"30 Facts You NEED to Know: Your Covid Cribsheet"

"30 Facts You NEED to Know: Your Covid Cribsheet"
by Kit Knightly

"We get a lot of e-mails and private messages along these lines “do you have a source for X?” or “can you point me to mask studies?” or “I know I saw a graph for mortality, but I can’t find it anymore”. And we understand, it’s been a long 18 months, and there are so many statistics and numbers to try and keep straight in your head. So, to deal with all these requests, we decided to make a bullet-pointed and sourced list for all the key points. A one-stop-shop.

Here are key facts and sources about the alleged “pandemic”, that will help you get a grasp on what has happened to the world since January 2020, and help you enlighten any of your friends who might be still trapped in the New Normal fog (click links to skip):

Please view this complete, critically important, article here:
Related, highest recommendation:

Gregory Mannarino, AM 9/28/21: "Important Updates"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 9/28/21:
"Important Updates"

"An Industry Insider Just Revealed The Truth About What Is Really Behind The Shortages At Our Local Supermarkets"

"An Industry Insider Just Revealed The Truth About
 What Is Really Behind The Shortages At Our Local Supermarkets"
by Michael Snyder

"The supply chain crisis that our supermarkets are facing is far worse than the mainstream media has been telling us. The mainstream media keeps trying to put a happy face on the “temporary” shortages, but an industry insider has let me know what is really going on behind the scenes. This particular insider runs a grocery store in Maine, and he says that things are as bad as he has ever seen. In fact, he says that he has “never seen anything close to what is happening now”. The email that he sent me the other day greatly alarmed me, and I asked him if I could share it with all of you. He gave me permission to do so, as long as I didn’t use his name. I haven’t received an email this startling in a long time. As you read this email, I think that you will quickly understand why I am saying that…"I’m self employed for 25 years, now, independent IGA affiliated grocery store in coastal Maine. Supply issues are real! My supplier has limited us on orders for about a month now (limited the physical number of cases we can order)

Their issue is/was mainly the help crisis in their warehouse, order pickers and truck drivers. Same story everywhere, I know. Many of the items your reader commented about in this article are the same here, very limited gatorade, and gallon water is sketchy at best. Sometimes we get it, sometimes we don’t. I’ve not seen many supply issues in produce, rather poor quality issues there. Much more than normal. Deli/bakery, yes, lots of out of stocks and “long term unavailable” as my supplier likes to word it on the invoice.

In the center store – dry grocery, like others are saying, tons of out of stocks. Meat supply is “fair” but pricing is extremely high. Shockingly high to me. The middle class is slowly being destroyed with these prices hikes, death by 1000 cuts of sorts, I guess.

My Frito Lay delivery person tells me that he is getting 55-60% of what he’s ordering. My last Nabisco order had 30% out of stocks. Over the years, we always get 99-100% of what was ordered. Pepperidge Farm Cookies, he tells me some weeks he’s only getting HALF of what he orders. These folks all work on commission, if they don’t (or can’t) sell it to me they don’t get paid. Or get paid less. When we place our liquor order (twice a week) out of stocks there are running 30% most orders. This commodity was ALWAYS 99.5 to 100% fill rate over the years, always.

It’s frustrating. As I said … self employed 25 years, and worked for Kroger for 25 years before that, so 50-51 years in this business. Never seen anything close to what is happening now. Add to that - a far left governor, and both houses here in Maine democrat controlled. I just know we are on the verge of another mask mandate, and a lock down of sorts would not surprise me again as we move into the colder months. As you’ve seen I’m sure, Maine is in the news with COVID case surges (so they say) I come to work every day just holding my breath for what is next, for our business and the 35 people I employ here in Maine."

This industry insider is trying to order normal quantities, but his suppliers are often unable to completely fulfill them. As you can see from the email, the shortages are widespread, and this is the worst that they have been during the entire pandemic so far.

If there is something that you need to stock up on, I would grab it if it is still on the shelves, because pretty soon it may be completely gone. On Friday I went to the grocery store and they were out of several things that I wanted to purchase. Unfortunately, we continue to get more confirmations that this is going to become the “new normal”.

For example, according to Bloomberg meat reserves in this country have plunged to dangerously low levels…"A U.S. report Wednesday showed beef reserves down 7.7% from a year ago in August. Poultry supplies slumped 20% and pork bellies, which are sliced into bacon, dropped 44% to the lowest levels since 2017."

In most cases supermarkets still have meat on the shelves, but it is definitely a lot more expensive than it used to be, and we are being told to brace ourselves for more price hikes in the months ahead.

Of course other types of retailers are facing severe supply shocks as well. A few days ago, another reader sent me an email in which he described what he is seeing at his local pharmacy…"The big issue, however, is at the local drug store; Rite Aid. The place is thin at best and stripped in some areas (last week there was no Zinc available). The beer cases are notably sparse. The main issue, however, is at the pharmacy. Six or eight months ago you could walk in and have your prescription filled inside of 20 minutes. If you called in the prescription the day before it was waiting for you. Not so any more. Yesterday I went to pick up an RX for my wife that had been called in last week. Not only was it not ready but I had to wait an hour before it was filled. There were nine cars in the drive up queue. I opted to walk in and it was nearly as bad. The young woman that helped me was clearly not local with bicolor hair and a large, glaringly obvious, in your face, Baphomet symbol around her neck.

I had a chat with the manager on the way out and asked him what was up with the Pharmacy staffing. I hadn’t seen the regular pharmacist for a few months. He blamed it all on the city for not having any affordable housing (lame) and mentioned that Albertson’s pharmacy, Albertson’s and Ridley’s were all very short on help (true)."

Right now, dozens and dozens of drugs are in short supply. In fact, the official FDA drug shortage list has 149 entries on it right now. That is the most that I have ever seen.As shortages persist, retailers are going to start implementing more limits. Last week, we learned that Costco has already started to pull the trigger…"Costco on Thursday said it was reinstating limits on purchases of toilet paper, paper towels and bottled water. They don’t call it “rationing”, but that is essentially what it is. And we are also being told to expect significant price increases, because supply chain issues are causing costs to go through the roof

Costco this week joined the long list of retailers sounding the alarm about escalating shipping prices and the accompanying supply chain issues. The warehouse retailer, which had a similar cautionary tone in May, was joined by athletic wear giant Nike and economic bellwethers FedEx and General Mills in discussing similar concerns.

The cost to ship containers overseas has soared in recent months. Getting a 40-foot container from Shanghai to New York cost about $2,000 a year and a half ago, just before the Covid pandemic. Now, it runs some $16,000, according to Bank of America. I have been warning that rampant inflation and shortages were coming for a long time, but a lot of people didn’t want to believe me at first.

If you were one of those doubters, do you believe me now? During the first half of this year, many economic optimists assured us that the U.S. economy would be “booming” by this point. But instead our economic infrastructure is being shaken on a very basic level, and we are facing enormous price hikes and very painful shortages throughout the rest of this year and into next year. Events have begun to slide out of control, and it certainly wouldn’t take too much to push us into a full-blown avalanche."

"How It Really Is"

 

Monday, September 27, 2021

Musical Interlude: Liquid Mind, “Serenity”

Liquid Mind, “Serenity”

"A Look to the Heavens"

“It's the bubble versus the cloud. NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula, is being pushed out by the stellar wind of massive central star BD+602522. Next door, though, lives a giant molecular cloud, visible to the right. At this place in space, an irresistible force meets an immovable object in an interesting way


The cloud is able to contain the expansion of the bubble gas, but gets blasted by the hot radiation from the bubble's central star. The radiation heats up dense regions of the molecular cloud causing it to glow. The Bubble Nebula, pictured above in scientifically mapped colors to bring up contrast, is about 10 light-years across and part of a much larger complex of stars and shells. The Bubble Nebula can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of the Queen of Aethiopia (Cassiopeia).”

"Perhaps..."

"Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy.
But it is the best of all to be sane and happy. Whether our descendants
can achieve that goal will be the greatest challenge of the future.
Indeed, it may well decide whether we have any future."
- Arthur C. Clarke

“My Money Is Out Of The Banks; Stockpile Food Now; Banks Commit Financial Fraud; Vacant Stores”

Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, PM 9/27/21:
“My Money Is Out Of The Banks; Stockpile Food Now;
 Banks Commit Financial Fraud; Vacant Stores”

Gregory Mannarino, PM 9/27/21: "ALERT! This Is Coming Next- So Be Ready For It"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 9/27/21:
"ALERT! This Is Coming Next- So Be Ready For It"

The Daily "Near You?"

Frisco, Texas, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Feds’ Plan to Fix the Food System"

"Feds’ Plan to Fix the Food System"
By Bill Bonner

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – "Things go wrong. The Wall Street Journal published this alert last night: "Democratic leaders are trying to shepherd two complicated legislative packages: a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and a sprawling healthcare, education and climate package whose proposed $3.5 trillion price tag and contents are still under intense debate within the party.

At the same time, the government’s funding is set to expire at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 1, which would partially shut down the government if Congress doesn’t act. Lawmakers also are feuding over who is responsible for raising the debt limit and avoiding a potentially catastrophic default. Absent swift action, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen notified Congress this month that the Treasury may be unable to keep paying all of the government’s bills on time during October."

Reuters calls it a “moment of truth” for Congress. Politicians grandstand. They argue and point the finger at each other. But if the spending is interrupted, it won’t be interrupted for long. The real truth is that Democrats and Republicans agree on the important issue – that the rip-off of the American public must go on. Borrow… spend… print… and borrow more. Eventually, the end of the world as we have known it comes. And then, things get serious. Painful. Chaotic. And disastrous.

Empty Stomachs: And today, we look at one of the most nightmarish features of the End of the World As We Have Known It: hunger. It is hard to imagine widespread hunger in the U.S. The country is so rich, so big, so productive… food is so plentiful… and its people are so fat. What could possibly go so wrong as to cause people to go hungry?

Our friend, independent publisher MN Gordon, passed along a bit of news: "According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), global food prices were up nearly 33 percent year over year in August. Vegetable oil, grains, and meat all cost more. Unfortunately, rising food prices – and empty stomachs – often presage social chaos and revolution. When adjusted for inflation and annualized, the cost of food is higher than nearly anytime in the past six decades, according to FAO data. Alastair Smith, senior teaching fellow in global sustainable development at Warwick University in the United Kingdom, recently noted: “Food is more expensive today than it has been for the vast majority of modern recorded history.”

Whoa! What happened? Don’t farm machinery, fertilizers, and pesticides get better every year? Aren’t they burning off the Amazon to plant more soya? And wasn’t global warming supposed to be bad for humans, but good for plants? What gives?

And the Blame Goes to… We don’t know. But thank God for the Biden Team. It knows exactly what the problem is: Capitalism! In food production, as in banking, the political hustlers think they know better than consumers, investors, and producers. Here’s the White House Briefing Room blog… "Four large conglomerates overwhelmingly control meat supply chains, driving down earnings for farmers while driving up prices for consumers. The meatpacking industry buys cattle, hogs, and chickens from farmers and ranchers, processes it, and then sells beef, pork, and poultry on to retailers like grocery stores. The industry is highly consolidated, and serves as a key choke point in the supply chain.

That consolidation gives these middlemen the power to squeeze both consumers and farmers and ranchers. There’s a long history of these giant meat processors making more and more, while families pay more at the grocery store and farmers and ranchers earn less for their products. Absent this corporate consolidation, prices would be lower for consumers and fairer for farmers and ranchers."

And here comes the money shot: "As we restart the world’s largest economy and make great strides in the economic recovery, the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to restarting right for the American people – consumers and producers alike – by transforming the food system."

Is that you sputtering and choking, Dear Reader? Yes, you read that right. We saw on Friday that the feds plan to rework the entire financial system, eliminating banks as we have known them. Now this; they aim to “transform” our farms, too.

Empty Shelves: At least 2 million people starved in the Ukraine after the Soviet government took charge. As many as 55 million died in China after Chairman Mao sought to “transform” the farm economy in 1958. As far as we know, no centrally planned, government-directed agriculture program has ever succeeded.

Zimbabwe had been known as “the breadbasket of Africa.” Its rich fields and temperate climate made it one of the most productive countries on the continent. But then, along came a government determined to transform the food system… and the financial system, too… Farms were taken away from prosperous white farmers and given to government cronies. And soon, the shelves were empty.

Venezuela? Want a loaf of bread? A roll of toilet paper? Aspirin… antibiotics… beta blockers? Forget it. The stores are empty. Venezuela is now at what probably is the apex of its government-imposed misery. Prices are meaningless; there is little to buy. Food output has dived. People rummage through garbage bins trying to get enough to eat. Millions leave the country.

Will it reach that point in the U.S.? Unlikely. But who knows? It might not be a bad idea to plant some potatoes, just in case."

"The Big Tell"

"The Big Tell"
by Jim Kunstler

"The Arizona election audit climaxed Friday in the new mode of history-in-the-making: direct deposit in the memory hole‚ proving only (and conclusively) that this is the age of Anything Goes and Nothing Matters. The corporate media played the story as a fart in a windstorm for its audience of the avidly credulous. Nothing to see, folks, move along….

A closer review of the audit results reveals at least 57,000 ballots out-of-order in one way or another and evidence of county officials tampering with digital election records prior to the audit. These matters are now referred by the AZ Senate to the AZ Attorney General Mark Brnovich, known in the past for slow-walking difficult issues. However, Brnovich is running for the US Senate in 2022, and has sent signals that he will take criminal complaints seriously.

In any case, the MAGA crowd didn’t get the hoped-for thumping victory over manifest evil that it wanted and the janky election of 2020 will probably be drowned by the next wave of developments in what is looking an awful lot like the deliberate torpedoing of Western Civ. The 2020 election, after all, was a procedural matter (if at the highest level of national procedure), but what lies ahead are much more life-or-death matters: will you make a living? Will you remain healthy? Will you get enough to eat? Will you have a roof over your head? Will you stay out of prison? Stuff like that.

All of it is hard to sort out under an onslaught of official tyranny and relentless propaganda. The effort to vax-up the recalcitrant vax-no-thank-you half of America got some pushback on Friday when a federal appeals court issued a temporary injunction against NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s order to compel vaccination of all public-school teachers. That quarrel moves swiftly to a three-judge panel for another ruling scheduled for Wednesday. If the order is changed back to max vax, it’ll hasten the death of a chronically ill school system that for decades only pretended to educate kids.

Meanwhile, New York state’s vax mandate for all health care workers goes into effect today. The order will cripple health care for certain now in a state already suffering crisis-level short-staffing in hospitals - largely due to the years-long effort of for-profit hospitals to shed employees, especially nurses, while padding the multi-million-dollar salaries of executives who run hospital conglomerates. Andrew Cuomo’s replacement, the disastrous new governor Kathy Hochul, declared hilariously last week that health care workers fired for vax refusal can be replaced by workers from foreign lands.

Of course, the US health care establishment was already imploding under the weight of embedded racketeering, and the mandated shots to workers will now deliver the coup-de-grace. This is on top of the fact that the public’s mistrust and loss of respect for doctors is starting to edge out even its low esteem for the politicians who assist these racketeering operations. The medical profession that took for its motto first do no harm looks increasingly like an accomplice to mass murder - suppressing effective early treatments of Covid, promoting the known iatrogenic fiascos of intubation and Remdesivir, continuing to use the discredited PCR tests, and utilizing a VAERS system with such a defective website that doctors can’t be bothered to even report harmful reactions to vaccines while the medical bureaucrats hide and game whatever data leaks through their mighty filters. Not to mention developing the Covid-19 bioweapon in the first place and then a toxic vaccine to neatly finish the job.

In another pandemic development, CNN’s go-to doctor and vaccine pusher, Leana Wen of George Washington University, declared startlingly that vaccinated people are now a threat to the unvaccinated because the vaxed carry high viral loads, making them efficient Covid-19 spreaders. Is that what a “vaccine” is supposed to do? Enhance disease transmission? If the public is not already bamboozled enough, that one will probably seal the deal.

Which leads the non-bamboozled to suspect that we are in the midst of a monumental two-year psy-op by malevolent political forces bent on the totalistic domination of daily life in order to change it from the top down, mainly against the peoples’ wishes. There are many theories as to why. The most popular one is that the economic elite want to greatly reduce the global population for the good of the planet. That would be a pretty severe project if true. It’s hard to conceive of such megalomania outside a James Bond movie. But otherwise, you’re left with the somewhat unsatisfying conclusion that, as the old political weasel-phrase goes, mistakes were made. Yeah, for sure, but after making the first half-dozen or so mistakes, you’d think that honorable people would just cop to their errors and change course. That this hasn’t happened is the Big Tell."

"How It Really Is"

"Get Ready for the Second Round of Inflation - Your Bank is Not Safe"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly, AM 9/27/21:
"Get Ready for the Second Round of Inflation - 
Your Bank is Not Safe"
"There are industry leaders that believe that we haven't seen anything when it comes to inflation. These major companies think that the next round of supply chain problems and inflation will be the worst in decades. Plus, your bank may not not be a safe place to do business."

Gregory Mannarino, AM 9/27/21: "Mannarino Market Risk Indicator; Important Updates"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 9/27/21:
"Mannarino Market Risk Indicator; Important Updates"

"‘Spartacus COVID Letter’ That’s Gone Viral"

"‘Spartacus COVID Letter’ That’s Gone Viral"
by Gihadmin

"This is an anonymously posted document by someone who calls themselves Spartacus. Because it’s anonymous, I can’t contact them to ask for permission to publish. So I hesitated for a while, but it’s simply the best document I’ve seen on Covid, vaccines, etc. Whoever Spartacus is, they have a very elaborate knowledge in “the field”. If you want to know a lot more about the no. 1 issue in the world today, read it. And don’t worry if you don’t understand every single word, neither do I. But I learned a lot."

The downloadable original PDF doc is here: "Covid19 – The Spartacus Letter"

Sunday, September 26, 2021

MUST WATCH! “The Scariest Economy Of Your Life; You Could Be Homeless Soon”

Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, PM 9/26/21:
“The Scariest Economy Of Your Life; 
You Could Be Homeless Soon”

Musical Interlude: Adiemus, "In Caelum Fero"

Fill screen recommended.
Adiemus, "In Caelum Fero"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“This shock wave plows through space at over 500,000 kilometers per hour. Moving toward to bottom of this beautifully detailed color composite, the thin, braided filaments are actually long ripples in a sheet of glowing gas seen almost edge on. Cataloged as NGC 2736, its narrow appearance suggests its popular name, the Pencil Nebula. 
About 5 light-years long and a mere 800 light-years away, the Pencil Nebula is only a small part of the Vela supernova remnant. The Vela remnant itself is around 100 light-years in diameter and is the expanding debris cloud of a star that was seen to explode about 11,000 years ago. Initially, the shock wave was moving at millions of kilometers per hour but has slowed considerably, sweeping up surrounding interstellar gas.”

"For Nothing Is Fixed..."

"For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out."
- James Baldwin

The Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke, "Book of Hours II, 16"

"Book of Hours II, 16"

"How surely gravity's law,
strong as an ocean current,
takes hold of even the strongest thing
and pulls it toward the heart of the world.

Each thing-
each stone, blossom, child-
is held in place.
Only we, in our arrogance,
push out beyond what we belong to
for some empty freedom.

If we surrendered
to earth's intelligence
we could rise up rooted, like trees.
Instead we entangle ourselves
in knots of our own making
and struggle, lonely and confused.

So, like children, we begin again
to learn from the things,
because they are in God's heart;
they have never left him.

This is what the things can teach us:
to fall,
patiently to trust our heaviness.
Even a bird has to do that
before he can fly."

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Paulo Coelho, “Dreams: The 12 Steps”

“Dreams: The 12 Steps”
by Paulo Coelho

"When Joseph Campbell created the expression “follow your blessing,” he was reflecting an idea that seems to be very appropriate right now. In “The Alchemist,” this same idea is called “Personal Legend.” Alan Cohen, a therapist who lives in Hawaii, is also working on this theme. He says that in his lectures he asks those who are dissatisfied with their work and seventy-five percent of the audience raise their hands. Cohen has created a system of twelve steps to help people to rediscover their “blessing” (he is a follower of Campbell):

1. Tell yourself the truth: Draw two columns on a sheet of paper and in the left column write down what you would love to do. Then write down on the other side everything you’re doing without any enthusiasm. Write as if nobody were ever going to read what is there, don’t censure or judge your answers.
 
2. Start slowly, but start: Call your travel agent, look for something that fits your budget; go and see the movie that you’ve been putting off; buy the book that you’ve been wanting to buy. Be generous to yourself and you’ll see that even these small steps will make you feel more alive.
 
3. Stop slowly, but stop: Some things use up all your energy. Do you really need to go that committee meeting? Do you need to help those who do not want to be helped? Does your boss have the right to demand that in addition to your work you have to go to all the same parties that he goes to? When you stop doing what you’re not interested in doing, you’ll realize that you were making more demands of yourself than others were really asking.
 
4. Discover your small talents: What do your friends tell you that you do well? What do you do with relish, even if it’s not perfectly well done? These small talents are hidden messages of your large occult talents.
 
5. Begin to choose: If something gives you pleasure, don’t hesitate. If you’re in doubt, close your eyes, imagine that you’ve made decision A and see all that it will bring you. Now do the same with decision B. The decision that makes you feel more connected to life is the right one – even if it’s not the easiest to make.

6. Don’t base your decisions on financial gain: The gain will come if you really do it with enthusiasm. The same vase, made by a potter who loves what he does and by a man who hates his job, has a soul. It will be quickly sold (in the first case) or will stay on the shelves (in the second case).
 
7. Follow your intuition: The most interesting work is the one where you allow yourself to be creative. Einstein said: “I did not reach my understanding of the Universe using just mathematics.” Descartes, the father of logic, developed his method based on a dream he had.
 
8. Don’t be afraid to change your mind: If you put a decision aside and this bothers you, think again about what you chose. Don’t struggle against what gives you pleasure.
 
9. Learn how to rest: One day a week without thinking about work lets the subconscious help you, and many problems (but not all) are solved without any help from reason.
 
10. Let things show you a happier path: If you are struggling too much for something, without any results appearing, be more flexible and follow the paths that life offers. This does not mean giving up the struggle, growing lazy or leaving things in the hands of others – it means understanding that work with love brings us strength, never despair.
 
11. Read the signs: This is an individual language joined to intuition that appears at the right moments. Even if the signs point in the opposite direction from what you planned, follow them. Sometimes you can go wrong, but this is the best way to learn this new language.
 
12. Finally, take risks! The men who have changed the world set out on their paths through an act of faith. Believe in the force of your dreams. God is fair, He wouldn’t put in your heart a desire that couldn’t come true.”

"Yes..."

"Yes there is a meaning; at least for me, there is one thing that matters-
to set a chime of words tinkling in the minds of a few fastidious people."
- Logan Pearsall Smith"

The Daily "Near You?"

Munster, Indiana, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Greg Hunter, "Fight for Freedom or It’s Hell on Earth – Gerald Celente"

"Fight for Freedom or It’s Hell on Earth – Gerald Celente"
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Gerald Celente, a renowned trends researcher, is back this time to talk about uniting for the fight for freedom. If we don’t, we will all be a “slave on the Slavelandia plantation” or worse. Whether it’s the economic repression or coerced vaccinations, the problem comes from the elite masters and corporations running the world. You are seeing this in the economy that, under the surface, is stalling out. Celente explains, “Drug store chains, grocery chains, stationery chains, hardware chains, chains, that’s all we are. We are run by the chain. So, they don’t care about the general economy. All they are caring about is boosting the equities, and that’s all they are doing. The economy is going down already. It’s not being shown because it not showing up in the markets. Median household income has had its sharpest decline since they have been taking records. The average price of a home now is $365,000, but where is the growth?”

Celente says that since the Covid crisis, mom and pops have been driven out of business leaving market share for big companies. Celente also says, “Once upon a time, America was called the land of opportunity. That’s gone, finito, finished. The bigs are in control of everything. They run our government. They run our lives. It’s banksters, the drug dealers (Big Pharma), the Military Industrial Complex and Big Tech. So, the markets have nothing to do with reality.”

This is what I am concerned about. The markets are going to crash, and the economy is in crash mode. You look at the numbers and you look at the data, and the rich are getting richer. The rich only got $8 trillion richer in 2020. So, they are going to take us to war because this thing is going to collapse. It’s collapsed already.”

There is only one way to fight this evil taking away our rights and forcing vaccines and poverty upon us. Celente explains, “If we don’t unite under one umbrella to fight this, ‘United we stand, divided we fall,’ it’s the end. I have been crying my heart out because as a visionary, I see the future, and it’s Hell on earth. We have to unite, and we can’t stop. That’s the only way I see it because the future that I see now is Hell on earth.”

Video will be posted asap.
Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One 
with the publisher of The Trends Journal, Gerald Celente. 
(There is much more in the 41 min. interview.)

"How It Really Is"

 

Gregory Mannarino, PM 9/26/21: "Markets, A Look Ahead"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 9/26/21:
"Markets, A Look Ahead"

Saturday, September 25, 2021

"Worldwide Supply Chain Problems - The Fed Says You are on Your Own"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly, PM 9/25/21:
"Worldwide Supply Chain Problems - 
The Fed Says You are on Your Own"
"The international problems with supply chains is getting worse by the week. The latest is with gasoline in the UK. Not only do we have to deal with inflation everywhere, but now we don’t even know if the products that we want will be available. The Fed has just announced that business will not get back to normal for years and that we’re on our own."

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Children In Time"

Full screen recommended.
2002, "Children In Time"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Can the night sky appear both serene and surreal? Perhaps classifiable as serene in the below panoramic image taken last Friday are the faint lights of small towns glowing across a dark foreground landscape of Doi Inthanon National Park in Thailand, as well as the numerous stars glowing across a dark background starscape. Also visible are the planet Venus and a band of zodiacal light on the image left.
Click image for larger size.
Unusual events are also captured, however. First, the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy, while usually a common site, appears here to hover surreally above the ground. Next, a fortuitous streak of a meteor was captured on the image right. Perhaps the most unusual component is the bright spot just to the left of the meteor. That spot is the plume of a rising Ariane 5 rocket, launched a few minutes before from Kourou, French Guiana. How lucky was the astrophotographer to capture the rocket launch in his image? Not lucky at all- the image was timed to capture the rocket. What was lucky was how photogenic- and perhaps surreal- the rest of the sky turned out to be.”