"Into The Abyss We Go…"

Full screen recommended.

"Into The Abyss We Go…"

by Epic Economist

"Why won’t our politicians ever listen? Americans have made it exceedingly clear that they don't agree with vaccination mandates, but the administration has decided to ignore the people and do whatever they want anyway. The nationwide OSHA mandate will go into effect early in 2022, and that is putting millions of workers and hundreds of thousands of businesses on the edge. The OSHA mandate will affect the lives of tens of millions of people, and some economists argue that it could potentially result in a severe shortage of highly qualified workers by the beginning of 2022. New estimates point that the order will apply to approximately 84 million workers. Thankfully, many representatives are noticing the immense absurdity of this measure, and some of them are already challenging it in court.

From an economic perspective, this measure will have absolutely disastrous consequences. Especially considering that we're already in the middle of a severe worker shortage. The fact over 80 million more workers may be pushed out of their jobs is just insane. We're currently facing the worst supply chain crisis in modern history, and forcing all of these people out of the labor market right in the middle of the upcoming winter will take both the worker shortage and the supply chain crisis to a whole new level. But the government is insisting to do it anyway.

Last week, White House officials announced that staff members of companies with 100 or more employees are required to show proof of vaccination until the end of the first week of January 2022. Those who choose not to comply have to get tested for the virus on a weekly basis and show negative results if they want to keep working. To make things even worse, OSHA warned that companies that fail to comply are eligible to pay a fine of nearly $14,000 per violation.

Other Georgia lawmakers added that "millions of American workers will fight against job losses over the vaccine mandate, but many of them are unfortunately bound to tight non-compete clauses. If terminated, these people will be held in workers' purgatory -- they won't be able to earn a living, and they can't find a new job. How are they expected to put food on their table? This is unacceptable!" New York Congresswoman Claudia Tenney said the "OSHA rule far exceeds the boundaries of executive authority": "The President has made the decision to render our constitutional guardrails completely irrelevant," she added. "It is truly the point of no return for this Administration, and the rule will further exacerbate an already disastrous labor crisis."

This is where we're at now: in the middle of a tyrannical uprising led by those who vowed to protect us. Remember the days when America used to be the “land of the free”? Those are far gone by now. The coming months will be incredibly hard. As the new rules push the economy into the abyss, we're about to see the ongoing shortages getting a whole lot worse and prices spiking to unprecedented levels. The administration's obsession with vaccine mandates is clearly making them forget about the issues plaguing Americans' everyday lives. The top concern of our society right now is rising inflation, which economists say will only get worse with the new mandate.

We're being warned to brace ourselves for “sticker shock” when we go to the stores. A wide range of food products is already facing sharp price hikes. For meat-eaters, the increase is absolutely shocking. Some cuts have surged by 25 percent over the past year, and others are reaching near-record prices, which is making meat one of the biggest contributors to food inflation in the US. And industry experts forecast that meat prices will keep going up through the holidays and beyond. It goes without saying that these problems will continue to intensify over the coming year. That's why we always recommend you to stock up while you can because many unpleasant disruptions emerge every day. From now on, food prices are only going to get higher, and if you're amongst those whose job is on the line because of those new mandates, you should start getting ready as soon as you can because very dark days are ahead."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com​

"A Look to the Heavens"

"The small, northern constellation Triangulum harbors this magnificent face-on spiral galaxy, M33. Its popular names include the Pinwheel Galaxy or just the Triangulum Galaxy. M33 is over 50,000 light-years in diameter, third largest in the Local Group of galaxies after the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), and our own Milky Way. About 3 million light-years from the Milky Way, M33 is itself thought to be a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy and astronomers in these two galaxies would likely have spectacular views of each other's grand spiral star systems. 

As for the view from planet Earth, this sharp image shows off M33's blue star clusters and pinkish star forming regions along the galaxy's loosely wound spiral arms. In fact, the cavernous NGC 604 is the brightest star forming region, seen here at about the 4 o'clock position from the galaxy center. Like M31, M33's population of well-measured variable stars have helped make this nearby spiral a cosmic yardstick for establishing the distance scale of the Universe."

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

Gregory Mannarino, "Must Watch! Shock And Awe: The US Dollar Value Is Plummeting! Get Out Of The Dollar Now!"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 11/12/21:

"Must Watch! Shock And Awe: 

The US Dollar Value Is Plummeting! 

Get Out Of The Dollar Now!"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"Are We Living Through the Most Terrifying Experiment in Human History?"

"Are We Living Through the Most Terrifying 

Experiment in Human History?"

by Chris MacIntosh

"Any organized structure is corrupted over time. That is a law of entropy. The "Universe 25" experiment is one of the most terrifying experiments in the history of science. It involves the behavior of a colony of mice, and is an attempt by scientists to explain human societies.

Here is what happened. Between the late 1960s and early 1970s, American ethologist John B. Calhoun created a seemingly perfect utopia for mice. Calhoun built a predator-free, disease-free enclosure, furnished it with limitless food and even an upper level with miniature mouse condos. Essentially, the mice would enjoy all the modern comforts that people in the developed world have come to enjoy and now actually expect today as a "right".

Consider what we are witnessing today. What I call "safety extremists" run the Western liberal democracies. It is as if hall room monitors all got put in charge. No climbing trees for Johnny because he may fall. Safety extremism. You can’t ride your bike without a helmet on. Safety extremism. Warning signs on hot coffee cups, telling you that the coffee is hot. The list of safety extremism is endless. So, you see, we’re like these mice. Now, along comes the hand-wringing lefties who believe it’s everyone's "right" to enjoy all the benefits of a modern world.

Let’s see what happened to the mice because it’s instructive for what is happening to Western societies.

The Experiment: To begin the experiment, Calhoun introduced four pairs of healthy mice into the enclosure. For the first 104 days, the mice explored their new habitat, marked their territory, and began nesting. Then, the population began to increase, doubling every 55 days. All normal stuff.

Interestingly, even when the population was well under 1/4 of the enclosure’s capacity, most of the mice still crowded together in select areas. Eating, for example, was a shared activity, so mice would group together during feeding times even though there was plenty of space to eat by themselves. Just like humans.

By the 315th day, the population reached 620 mice. Crowding behavior discouraged mating, heavily contributing to dropping birth rates. Universe 25 would now begin its slow but steady decline. A prominent social ladder quickly took shape.

Within the male population, the most dominant mice were characterized by their extremely aggressive behavior. The so-called "alpha mice" would often engage in wildly violent bloodbaths, proceeding to attack, rape, and even practice cannibalism at the expense of their peers. Disturbingly, these violent outbursts usually had no clear provocation or motive.

On the opposite side of the spectrum were the least socially adept mice who were completely excluded from mating. They spent their time moving between larger groups of mice, eating, and sleeping by themselves. Occasionally, these mice would also fight one another.

As the social roles broke down, the females took on more aggressive attitudes of their own. Taking care of their nests in the midst of such a chaotic domain was no easy task, so many mothers would sometimes act violently towards their own litters. Others would completely withdraw from their motherly responsibilities, ignoring their litters and quitting mating practices entirely.

Day 560 marked the beginning of the end, the "death phase." The spike in mortality rate fluctuated at around 100%, halting population increase altogether. However, the new generations that did survive had grown up in the tumultuous environment that was the Universe 25. These mice had no perception of the "normal" lives that mice led beyond the enclosure’s walls. "Studies… have consistently revealed that an absence of social stimulus and maternal care leads to a high rate of physical and emotional retardation and mortality."

Now, consider the absence of social stimulus that we’ve all experienced during this plandemic. In the context of the Universe 25, isolation paved the way for a new category of mice that Calhoun called the "beautiful ones." These mice were segregated from the other, bloodthirsty mice and the violence that plagued the rest of the enclosure. Their subsequently unruffled appearances were the inspiration for their name.

Furthermore, being separated from the rest of the Universe 25 mice, the beautiful ones made no contributions to society. The mice gave no help in mating, mothering, marking territory, etc. Instead, they spent all their time feeding, drinking, grooming, and sleeping.

Eventually, the beautiful ones outnumbered the more aggressive mice. Still, rather than mating or creating new roles in the Universe 25 society, the beautiful ones continued to exist solely for their physiological satisfaction. With everything provided for them in the enclosure, the paradox of the beautiful ones reveals the self-destructive patterns that emerge when living a life without purpose. Soon, because of the collective indifference towards mating or building a sustainable society, the mouse population began to die out until there were no mice left at all. Every single mouse died leaving nothing left. Calhoun repeated this experiment multiple times and found the exact same outcomes every time. Chilling.

Implications For Humanity: The Universe 25 experiment offers insight into the demise of humankind. The beautiful ones in particular show us that individuals will not assume a productive role in society if they do not have proper relationships or role models in the environment they grow up in. It is worth noting that the extreme left, which is found in Western society today, rejects family values in favor of multiculturalism and it is an advocate for universal basic income. How is this any different from the mice? It’s not.

The parallels with Universe 25 and humanity are obvious. Clearly we’re a more sophisticated species with the ability to acknowledge, think about, and change course. What gives me optimism for the future is that during times of crisis we see both the worst of humanity but also the very best. As we head into increasingly troubling times humanity has the chance to stop, recollect, re-evaluate and recalibrate what we value, why life is beautiful and worth fighting for. The minds of mice and men are not the same but just as a diamond is only made when put under extreme pressure, so too are people, communities, and societies."

- internationalman.com

The Daily "Near You?"

Kinsman, Ohio, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"The U.S. Is a Powder Keg"

"The U.S. Is a Powder Keg"

by Jeffrey Tucker

"Last night I did my usual grocery run. I don’t shop at stores with philosophies. I go for el cheapo places that don’t have olive bars and don’t play Schubert on the intercom. I just want the stuff I need at the lowest possible prices. Even I was stunned at the 40% increase in my usual bill. I thought I was buying in a minimalist way.

Later I looked more carefully at what went wrong. I bought beef and bacon. Beef price increases are now at double-digit rates, and bacon is even higher. You are paying much more per pound than one year ago. Pork and chicken are less, but that could change. Turkeys are in short supply for Thanksgiving. It will be the most expensive Thanksgiving meal in our lifetimes.

Stores don’t tag groceries based on the percentage increases in prices. Those you have to remember from last week and last month. Indeed, stores have every reason to disguise this. Manufacturers too, which is why packaging these days is holding ever less product. This is called “shrinkflation.” It is an epidemic right now, as manufacturers are struggling to survive huge increases in their own costs.

Biggest Inflation Spike in Over 30 Years: The Consumer Price Index came out this week. It revealed that consumer prices soared 6.2% in October, the biggest inflation spike in over 30 years. And it’s probably even worse than the official figures show. Meanwhile, the Producer Price Index revealed that the year-over-year change in the index for construction materials is up almost 20%.

Now let’s look at gasoline. You experience it daily, the high prices at the pump. Last year at this time, the average price per gallon was $1.81. Now it is $3.40. It is also rising as demand intensifies and supply faces restrictions.

Most important here are the monetary effects, as all the money that the Fed sloshed up in the last 20 months reduces its value or what it can buy. This inflation will never hit all products and all sectors evenly. It moves from sector to sector. These days the toxin is moving so fast and in so many directions it makes one’s head spin.

Not So Thrifty: We keep hoping each month to get good news. Perhaps the Fed will prove correct that inflation is only transitory. Sadly, that is not likely. They have been way off in their predictions. The Producer Price Index is the one to watch because these price increases get passed on to consumer prices as inventory is depleted.

Clothing is a case in point. We are already facing high prices and shortages on the shelves. This is driving people to the thrift stores. The major headlines are starting to show this. Thrift store prices too are on the increase, as I predicted last month. The percent change in the producer prices that go into making polyester clothing is now up 23.6%.

Even if monetary policy is fixed, even if supply chains are repaired, even if the clogs at the dock are unclogged, it will be months before this figures into consumer prices. Sadly, there is almost no chance that any of these good changes happen, meaning that these higher and higher prices are here to stay.

A Broken State: As I’ve mentioned before, there is something about American political culture that is especially averse to inflation. People frankly hate it, especially since we’ve lived 40-plus years without consumer inflation being a particularly pressing problem. Now looking at price trends creates shock and even hatred. It is hitting the Biden administration particularly hard.

A USA Today poll shows that Biden’s approval has sunk to 38%. The trend line here is truly devastating. We can speculate why. Inflation plays a role. But also the vaccine mandate seems to have hit the Biden approval rating very hard. In the coming month, millions of jobs could be affected by this. The protests are growing in every city, and the people protesting are union members, city employees and even tech workers. They are furious that government would presume the right to tell people what medicines they must inject into their bodies.

Some of the protesters are themselves vaccinated against their will. They are bitter and angry about it. The news of adverse outcomes from vaccination is leaking out through family networks and alternative news venues, though it continues to be suppressed by the media. So this mandate is now being seen as a direct threat to individual health. That’s something that will inspire people to take to the streets.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a stay against OSHA’s mandate on businesses. The Biden administration attempted a response, but the result was lame. It just said that it stands by the mandate on health grounds, period. Perhaps this won’t surprise you, but the president himself instructed businesses to go ahead and proceed, essentially advocating that they ignore the court ruling. In other words, the Biden administration has gone completely lawless, not just ignoring the U.S. Constitution but also advocating that businesses ignore the courts. That’s dangerously close to announcing that we now live with dictatorship.

It’s no wonder that even Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is talking about secession from the union. If he is saying this, I truly cannot imagine the kind of anger there is among the citizens.

If you wanted to live in exciting times, you chose a great time to be alive. The conditions are ripe not only for continuing electoral bloodbaths but more street protests, explosive town halls, hate-filled school board meetings and much worse. A more divisive and destructive policy is hard to imagine. Sadly, these policies are dividing friends and family. Some people with vaccinations don’t see the big deal here. Just get the jab, they say, and then you can be free. Others find this idea to be outrageous, an immoral acquiescence to power that can only lead to even worse outcomes.

Powder Keg: I just watched several hours of testimony from big shots at the NIH and the CDC. It might as well have been a paid advertisement from Moderna and Pfizer. Nearly every word out of the bureaucrats’ mouths was structured to push the vaccines that most everyone knows by now have failed to live up to their promise. Indeed, if they were as good and safe as they say, government would not need to mandate them. The mandates, ironically, undermine public confidence. It’s hard to imagine that public confidence in everything could fall further, but it will. To top it off, making all the above much worse, the vaccination is now coming for the kids.

Mandates will surely follow. You want revolution in this country? This is a good way to foment one. The current regime has another year of unchecked power. It seems unfathomable. So far, they have not been deterred by anything, not the courts, not public opinion, not even sinking election prospects. The U.S. has become a powder keg."

- dailyreckoning.com

"Ode to Elon"

"Ode to Elon"

by Bill Bonner

"What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?

What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?

What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on..."

– "Ode on a Grecian Urn", by John Keats

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – What a wonderful time to be alive! Wait… A news flash… Our Doom Index has just hit “8”… which is “Crash Alert” level. Details on Monday… Meanwhile, the world is just chock-a-block with marvelous, magical, absurd, and absolutely ridiculous things. Like a city sewer in a flood, we are awash in things best not looked at too closely. But since it’s Friday, let us at least take a look at something that happened this very week.

3,519,252 Financial Advisors: As every sentient being on the planet knows, Elon Musk, the world’s richest – and clearly, cleverest – man decided to guide his financial life via a Twitter poll. That is, he asked the Twitter-sphere if he should sell 10% of his stake in Tesla (TSLA). This is obviously a novel way of making decisions. And perhaps better.

If two heads are better than one… surely, the 3,519,252 poll respondents, including the 2,037,647 who answered “Yay,” raise the quality of the decision at least to a C+. What is most amazing about the whole thing is that 3,519,252 people… all supposedly compos mentis… probably adult-ish… presumably with real lives… actually found the time to weigh in on a financial question that didn’t concern them. The decision would normally be of interest to only one, the very one person who – if results are anything to go on – is the most qualified human being to make the call. After all, if the world’s most successful man can’t decide when to buy or sell his own stock, who can?

Have Your Say: And now that we see that there are so many people ready to help with our personal decision-making… perhaps we should make use of it. Should we have a café latte this morning… or a cappuccino? You decide for us. Where should we invest? In stocks? Bonds? Farmland in Argentina or Nicaragua (prices are low because they are… like… disaster areas)? Tell us, please. Is it time to buy a new pair of blue jeans?https://click.exct.bonnerandpartners.com/?qs=75c5d79c0d6f10e66219d3fe4c19e140d2571345f6c3d1330a6be7eba16686c286f3f425369777396c01bf987d40b8f3c3afff3c6c1184ed Get a COVID booster shot? Wink at the pretty barista? We need guidance.

We invite replies and promise to abide by the results as faithfully as we would if they came from the U.S. federal government or the Papal See.

Twitter Says Sell! So, let’s return to the other curiosities surrounding this story. And don’t worry if we get the facts wrong; they hardly matter. What matters is the cockeyed principle of the thing… which is what we’re trying to figure out. In any event, Musk’s poll was taken. The twitterers rendered judgement. And it was in the affirmative.

This news then had a remarkable effect (but not at all unanticipated… at least, not by Elon Musk’s bro, Kimbal, who sold $109 million worth of shares on Friday). Earlier this week, Tesla stock fell, wiping out nearly $235 billion from the value of the company. That vanished $235 billion represents more than the combined value of GM, BMW, and Ford. In other words… Well… there really are no words that can do the situation justice.

Elon Effect: Investors who judged the stock worth $1,243 on Thursday of last week found it was worth only $1,011 on Tuesday of this week. Same company. Same products. Same earnings. Same markets. Same Joe Biden. Same Elon Musk. Same customers. Same problems. Same weather. Same COVID. Same everything. So why would a share be nearly 19% less valuable? We hope you’re not expecting an answer from us.

As far as we can tell, Elon is sui generis… an economic law all of his own. God? Man? We can’t say. But when he pipes up… investors hear melodies so sweet, they can’t resist. If he buys something, it goes up. If he mentions something, it goes up. Even if he mentions something else by mistake, it goes up, too. So far, the Elon Effect is the most reliable indicator in modern finance.

Enrichment of Elon: And now, Elon is the richest biped ever to walk on the planet. That is odd, too, considering that up ‘til now, his contribution, in goods and services, is worth (net) less than zero. Add up all the money that has been invested in Elon’s projects. Subtract the value of all goods and services (mainly Tesla cars) rendered. Do this for Edison, Ford, Rockefeller, Jobs, even Zuckerberg – almost any really rich person – and the sum will be hugely positive. Their companies make profits by providing goods and/or services that are more valuable than the resources (including capital and labor) that go into them.

We’re not going to do the math for Elon. It’s too much work. But the result must be a staggeringly negative number. His businesses do not make money; they lose it. They destroy wealth; they don’t create it. He is so rich because the Federal Reserve has falsified the value of capital… and rigged the auto market with carbon credits. There is also the mysterious Elon Effect, for which we offer no explanation.

Enrichment of the Elites: The enrichment of Elon, in other words, parallels the growing wealth of the entire elite caste. It is not based on actual output – neither on sales nor on profits – but on fake money and fake interest rates. It favors gamblers… showmen…geniuses, as well as grifters. And as we saw this week, it goes as well as comes."

- www.rogueeconomics.com

"Economic Collapse Will Be On The Thanksgiving Menu - Be Prepared"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly AM 11/12/21:

"Economic Collapse Will Be On The 

Thanksgiving Menu - Be Prepared"

"It is better to be ready than to get ready. There is still time to prepare to stock up on supplies, food, security and have some cash on hand. Economic collapse is on the menu this Thanksgiving."

Gregory Mannarino, "HYPER-Bubble? Is The Stock Market REALLY In A Bubble? And Is It About To Burst?"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 11/12/21:

"HYPER-Bubble? Is The Stock Market REALLY In A Bubble? 

And Is It About To Burst?"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"How It Really Is"

 

Greg Hunter, "Weekly News Wrap-Up 11/12/21"

"Weekly News Wrap-Up 11/12/21"

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"The Chinese property company called Evergrande has officially gone under and is defaulting on much of its debt. The legacy financial media lied and told investors that the company was making interest payments when it was clearly not. What is going to happen now? It is only a matter of time before the global economy takes a big hit. The knock-on effect will be stunning for the unprepared. This event is something you best take notice of. You have been warned is the take-away here.

The Fed is between a rock and a hard place. It either stops the bond buying and the market crashes or they keep printing cash and inflation will crash the markets. Either way, the markets are going to crash if the entire financial system does not implode first. Again, you have been warned.

One of the few bright spots is gold and Bitcoin prices. They are up and going higher. They smell trouble, and people are running for cover. That move is just getting started."

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he talks about these stories and more in the "Weekly News Wrap-Up 11.12.21".  View video here: https://rumble.com/

After the Wrap-Up: Financial and geo-political cycle expert Martin Armstrong will be the guest for the Saturday Night Post.  He will tell us what he sees coming, and it’s not going to be pretty.

Gregory Mannarino, "The Fed. Made A Mistake? They Are Trapped? They Lost Control? How About NO! This Is All By Design"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 11/11/21:

"The Fed. Made A Mistake? They Are Trapped? 

They Lost Control? How About NO! This Is All By Design"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Gerald Celente, "Trends in The News 11/11/21"

Strong Language Alert!

Gerald Celente, "Trends in The News 11/11/21"

"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/

"Inflation is the Highest Tax - We Are Being Taxed to Oblivion"

 

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly 11/11/21:

"Inflation is the Highest Tax - 

We Are Being Taxed to Oblivion"

"Inflation is out of control. This is truly the highest tax that we pay. The worst problem is that there is no control to it. We don’t know when it’s going to end and how high it will go."

Musical Interlude: 2002, "River Of Stars"

Full screen recommended.

2002, "River Of Stars"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"NGC 1333 is seen in visible light as a reflection nebula, dominated by bluish hues characteristic of starlight reflected by interstellar dust. A mere 1,000 light-years distant toward the heroic constellation Perseus, it lies at the edge of a large, star-forming molecular cloud. 

This telescopic close-up spans about two full moons on the sky or just over 15 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 1333. It shows details of the dusty region along with telltale hints of contrasty red emission from Herbig-Haro objects, jets and shocked glowing gas emanating from recently formed stars. In fact, NGC 1333 contains hundreds of stars less than a million years old, most still hidden from optical telescopes by the pervasive stardust. The chaotic environment may be similar to one in which our own Sun formed over 4.5 billion years ago."

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

"An Insider Revealed Containers Piled Up As Far As The Eye Can See As Supply Chain Crisis Deepens"

Full screen recommended.

"An Insider Revealed Containers Piled Up As Far As 

The Eye Can See As Supply Chain Crisis Deepens"

by Epic Economist

"Last year the US economy suddenly ground into a halt. This year, things eventually picked up speed and started moving again, but only to get stuck in the biggest logjam ever recorded in our nation's history. Our supply chains are suffering from extended disruptions and the severity of this crisis is already apparent to the naked eye. Consumers are witnessing empty shelves in major supermarkets all around the country. Car plants are being shut down due to a shortage of semiconductors. Ports remain extremely congested, and millions of containers are now stuck at cargo ships outside the coast of California that can wait up to a month for a berth to finally be able to dock.

The situation is so out of control that things have been similarly chaotic onshore, where hundreds of thousands of containers are being piled up after being unloaded from those massive ships. As one industry insider described, right now, the backlog of containers stretches "as far as the eye can see." In one very revealing video recently posted on social media, a dockworker showed the gigantic piles of undelivered shipping containers sitting at a key US port, exposing the true extent of the supply chain crisis plaguing our nation.

Over the past year, numerous disruptions were recorded. Months ago, a key index for the industry found that shortages caused by supply chain bottlenecks jumped by over 400 percent from 2020 levels. A combination of several issues, including steep imbalances between supply and demand, a slowdown in global manufacturing, rising shipping and logistics costs, and severe worker shortages have all contributed to the worsening situation we're seeing today.In the video released on TikTok, the supply chain worker who said to be in charge of "crane operations" used his smartphone to document the staggering amount of shipping containers stacked and awaiting distribution on the quayside.

The TikTok video uploaded on October 13 has already over 3.6. million views on the social media site. In the 30-second clip, you can also hear the worker complaining about the status quo. The user identified as Stanimal18 has 12 other videos documenting the shipping container industry. In one of them, he says that "one of the reasons everything is backed up is that our container yards are stuffed to the hilt with containers."

Most US retailers did not anticipate the enormous growth in consumer demand, adds the executive director of the Port of Houston Roger Guenther. "When everybody was staying home and they were getting stimulus checks, they started buying. Since they weren't going on vacation and going to restaurants and buying services, they started buying furniture and bicycles and home improvement goods," he said. As they try to make up for the lost sales, some of them increase their orders by up to four times. However, the panic ordering retailers have been doing resulted in an even bigger backlog, and congestion is becoming so acute that shippers are transferring ships that arrive in California to other ports, such as the Port of Houston, New Jersey, or Savannah.

At this point, all available space in the port of Houston is occupied by immense towers of multicolored containers that can get stranded for weeks until trucks arrive to haul them to distribution centers. Even though there's plenty of supply, millions of products remain trapped at ports and out of the reach of consumers due to lengthy delivery delays, which are causing shortages at a national and local level. As the holiday season approaches, Americans are already getting increasingly frustrated with the growing number of out-of-stock items as the crisis threatens to ruin Christmas. In October alone, online shoppers received nearly 2 billion out-of-stock messages -- three times more than during the same period in 2019 -- according to an Adobe Analytics study released Tuesday. The analysis tracked one trillion visits to US retail sites.

The undeniable interconnectedness of our supply chains used to be a sign of strength and resilience for the global economy. Right now, as each and every country faces its own struggles, our reliance on this global system threatens to plunge our economy into another recession - one much worse than what happened in 2020. This time, as the economy slumps, the price of everything skyrockets. And experts are warning that the worst is yet to come for the supply chain crisis, so buckle up and get ready for a bumpy ride."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com​

"Homeowners Tapping Into Equity ATM; Overstimulated Economy Over Heating"

Jeremiah Babe, PM 11/11/21:

"Homeowners Tapping Into Equity ATM; 

Overstimulated Economy Over Heating"

The Daily "Near You?"

Blanco, Texas, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Most Expensive Thanksgiving Ever!"

"Most Expensive Thanksgiving Ever!"

by Bill Bonner

"Policy failures will be responsible for tens of thousands of families getting stranded at airports, paying exorbitant gas prices, and encountering grocery store shortages. Americans face the most expensive Thanksgiving on record."

– The Hill

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – "The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report came out just after we filed yesterday’s Diary. The Washington Post broke the news: "Prices rose 6.2 percent in October compared with a year ago, the largest annual increase in about 30 years, as rising inflation complicates the political agenda for the White House and policymakers’ road map for the economy heading into the end of the year. Overall prices rose 0.9 percent from September to October, tying June for the biggest one-month increase since the Great Recession. Only a few categories saw prices fall last month, including airfare and alcohol."

But don’t worry. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, who insisted that inflation was only “transitory,” now promises to make it go away: "…we understand completely that it’s particularly people who are living paycheck to paycheck or seeing higher grocery costs, higher gasoline costs, when the winter comes, higher heating costs for their homes. We understand completely what they're going through. And we will use our tools over time to make sure that that doesn’t become a permanent feature of life."

But a 6% inflation rate wreaks havoc. The current yield on the world’s most important asset – the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond – is only 1.46%. The 10-year Treasury is the backbone of pension funds, corporate savings, Social Security, insurance programs, and other institutional holdings. But at this rate, they’re losing 4.54% of their money each year. Who wants to take that deal? That’s why U.S. deficits… like those in Argentina… are now being funded almost entirely by “printing press” money.

No Escape: We keep busy on weekends with DIY projects. Every time we go to the lumber yard, we’re staggered by the price increases. Overall, construction materials are up 31% year on year. Gasoline is running at 62% more than a year ago. Meanwhile, wages are going up at a 5% rate. But subtract the losses from inflation, and the average working man is actually getting poorer. The Wall Street Journal reports that “real wages are down 2.2% since January.” That’s the way the inflation tax works… It falls most heavily on the poor and middle classes, who have no way to escape it.

Clean Getaway: The feds added about $3 trillion in new cash – based on the Fed’s balance sheet – between 2007 and 2019… and then another $5 trillion since then. Those chickens are now descending on the U.S. economy, like a flock of vultures. And so, the inflators are doing their best to lay the blame anywhere and everywhere… except where it belongs.

Joe Biden has already told the Federal Trade Commission to find some patsies. It is supposed to “strike back at any market manipulation or price gouging [in the energy sector],” he says. And yesterday, he came to Baltimore again. He went down to the harbor and pretended to “do something” that will solve the “supply chain disruption” problem, whatever that is…The Washington Post, a “paper of record” for U.S. politics and an all-purpose shill for the ruling elite, eagerly helped mislead the public. Here’s the subhead from yesterday’s article quoted above, pointing the finger in the wrong direction, so the real culprits can make a clean getaway: "It’s unclear when supply chains will clear, especially given how vulnerable the economy remains to the pandemic." Damned supply chains!

From Bad to Worse: According to the servile press, Biden’s $1 trillion in new “infrastructure” spending – almost every penny of which will be financed with more printing-press money – will help fix the “supply chain problem.” We can’t wait to see the follow-up story: "Biden Mends Supply Chains By Printing More Money; Prices Fall." Don’t hold your breath. Not going to happen.

First, because Biden knows nothing about supply chains, he has no clue about what’s wrong with them or how to fix them. Second, because the supply chains are not the real problem. They’re just being used as a “rope-a-dope” by the elite press. And third, because more money-printing will make the real problem – monetary inflation – worse, not better.

And so approaches the moment of truth, when the Fed will have to lay its cards on the table… Raise interest rates to limit inflation? Or let ‘er rip… Blame the supply chain and protect the elite? Stay tuned…"

- www.rogueeconomics.com

Gregory Mannarino, "Global GDP Is Plummeting And Real Wages Are Cratering"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 11/11/21:

"Global GDP Is Plummeting And Real Wages Are Cratering"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"How It Really Is"

 

"Veterans Day, November 11, 2021"

With respect, honor and gratitude we

thank you for your service and sacrifice!

"They Have Lost Control, And Now The Dollar Is Going To Die"

"They Have Lost Control, 

And Now The Dollar Is Going To Die"

by Michael Snyder

"I think that they actually believed that they could get away with it. I think that they were actually convinced that they could create, borrow and spend trillions upon trillions of dollars without any serious long-term consequences. But they should have known better. The people running things are very highly “educated”, and after spending decades getting to their current positions they are supposed to be “experts” that we can trust with very difficult decisions. Unfortunately, the “experts” have put us on a path that leads to currency collapse and financial ruin.

All throughout history, there have been many governments that have given in to the temptation to create money at an exponential rate, and it has ended badly every single time.So our leaders should have known better. But it is just so tempting, because pumping out money like crazy always seems to work out just great at first. For example, when the Weimar Republic first started wildly creating money it created an economic boom, but we all know how that experiment turned out in the end.

This week, the mainstream media is full of talk about inflation, and many of the talking heads seem mystified that things have gotten so bad. But anyone with half a brain should have been able to see that this was coming. Just look at what has been happening to M2 since the start of the pandemic.

What we have been doing to the money supply is complete and utter lunacy, and this is inevitably going to kill the U.S. dollar eventually. Next, I would like for you to take a look at how rapidly the Fed balance sheet has been rising. This is the sort of thing that you would expect to see in a banana republic.

I think that our leaders deceived themselves into thinking that they could get away with creating money so recklessly, but they haven’t.

Very painful inflation is here, and on Wednesday we learned that prices have been rising at the fastest pace in more than 30 years…"The consumer price index, which is a basket of products ranging from gasoline and health care to groceries and rents, rose 6.2% from a year ago, the most since December 1990. That compared with the 5.9% Dow Jones estimate. On a monthly basis, the CPI increased 0.9% against the 0.6% estimate."

If inflation continues to rise at about 1 percent a month, it won’t be too long before we are well into double digits on a yearly basis. Of course I don’t actually put too much faith in the inflation numbers that the government gives us, because the way inflation is calculated has been changed more than two dozen times since 1980. And every time the definition of inflation has been changed, the goal has been to make inflation appear to be lower.

According to John Williams of shadowstats.com, if inflation was still calculated the way it was back in 1980, the official rate of inflation would be close to 15 percent right now. This is a real national crisis, and it isn’t going away any time soon.

One of the factors that is driving up the overall rate of inflation is the price of gasoline. If you can believe it, the price of gas is almost 50 percent higher than it was last year at this time…"Gasoline prices last month shot up nearly 50% from the same month a year ago, putting them at levels last seen in 2014. Grocery prices climbed 5.4%, with pork prices up 14.1% from a year ago, the biggest increase since 1990.

Prices for new vehicles jumped 9.8% in October, the largest rise since 1975, while prices for furniture and bedding leapt by the most since 1951. Prices for tires and sports equipment rose by the most since the early 1980s. Even Joe Biden is using the term “exceedingly high” to describe the current state of gasoline prices."

Other forms of energy are also becoming a lot more expensive…"The price of electricity in October increased 6.5% from the same month a year ago while consumer expenses paid to utilities for gas went up 28%, according to numbers released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Fuel oil rose 59%, and costs for propane, kerosene and firewood jumped by about 35%, the data show." It is going to cost you a lot more money to heat your home this winter. I hope that you are prepared for that.

Speaking of homes, they continued to shoot up in price during the third quarter…"The median price of single-family existing homes rose in nearly all - 99% - of the 183 markets tracked by the National Association of Realtors in the third quarter, with double-digit price increases seen in 78% of the markets. If our paychecks were rising fast enough to keep up with inflation, then at least our standard of living would remain the same. But that isn’t happening, is it?

In fact, the Labor Department’s own numbers show that real average hourly earnings are going down…"The Labor Department reported Friday that average hourly earnings increased 0.4% in October, about in line with estimates. That was the good news.

However, the department reported Wednesday that top-line inflation for the month increased 0.9%, far more than what had been expected. That was the bad news – very bad news, in fact. That’s because it meant that all told, real average hourly earnings when accounting for inflation, actually decreased 0.5% for the month." What this means is that our standard of living is going down. And it is going to keep going down.

In a desperate attempt to maintain the status quo, many Americans are taking on more debt than ever before…"American households are carrying record amounts of debt as home and auto prices surge, Covid infections continue to fall and people get out their credit cards again. Between July and September, US household debt climbed to a new record of $15.24 trillion, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Tuesday."

How in the world did we allow ourselves to get 15 trillion dollars in debt? Of course many would point out that the federal government is an even worse offender. Very shortly, the U.S. national debt will cross the 29 trillion dollar mark. As our leaders in Washington continue to engage in the greatest debt binge in world history, the U.S. dollar will steadily lose value. This is going to deeply affect everyone and everything in our society. For instance, just check out the pain that inflation is causing for one food bank in the San Francisco area…

"In the prohibitively expensive San Francisco Bay Area, the Alameda County Community Food Bank in Oakland is spending an extra $60,000 a month on food. Combined with increased demand, it is now shelling out $1 million a month to distribute 4.5 million pounds (2 million kilograms) of food, said Michael Altfest, the Oakland food bank’s director of community engagement. Pre-pandemic, it was spending a quarter of the money for 2.5 million pounds (1.2 million kilograms) of food."

I warned you way ahead of time that this was coming, and what we have experienced so far is just the beginning. The “experts” running the Fed and our politicians in Washington aren’t going to suddenly reverse direction. In fact, Congress just passed another gigantic spending bill that Joe Biden desperately wanted.

Our course has been set and there is no turning back. Our destination is economic collapse, and life in America will never, ever be the same again."

- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

“Digital Dollars Flood The World; Wages Destroyed By Inflation; High Prices Crush Middle Class”

Jeremiah Babe, PM 11/10/21:

“Digital Dollars Flood The World; Wages Destroyed By Inflation; 

High Prices Crush Middle Class”

Musical Interlude: 2002, "We Meet Again"

Full screen recommended.

2002, "We Meet Again"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"It’s always nice to get a new view of an old friend. This stunning Hubble Space Telescope image of nearby spiral galaxy M66 is just that. A spiral galaxy with a small central bar, M66 is a member of the Leo Galaxy Triplet, a group of three galaxies about 30 million light years from us. The Leo Triplet is a popular target for relatively small telescopes, in part because M66 and its galactic companions M65 and NGC 3628 all appear separated by about the angular width of a full moon. 

The featured image of M66 was taken by Hubble to help investigate the connection between star formation and molecular gas clouds. Clearly visible are bright blue stars, pink ionized hydrogen clouds - sprinkled all along the outer spiral arms, and dark dust lanes in which more star formation could be hiding."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210224.html

"Supply Chain Disruptions Will Continue"

"Supply Chain Disruptions Will Continue"

By Jim Rickards

"Forty percent of all the cargo into the United States comes through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Offshore, there are thousands of containers stacked up on vessels waiting to get in. How many containers can the ports unload on a normal day? New containers are coming in. There are daily arrivals. When will that supply chain backlog clear? The answer is never. If there are more coming in than you can unload and you have an existing backlog that’s getting worse, it will never clear.

But let’s just say that with no new shipments coming in, it would take 30 days just to unload what’s already waiting offshore. Thirty days, by the way, puts you into December and the Christmas rush. And getting it offloaded in California is just the beginning of the supply chain. You’ve got to put it on a train or a truck and get it to a distribution center and put it on another truck and get it to a store.

But wait, there’s also a trucking shortage. That’s a big part of the supply chain problem. If you can unload the merchandise but can’t transport it due to a trucking shortage, what good is it? So this is not getting better. That’s probably the understatement of the year.

You may have heard about a semiconductor shortage. But you don’t need a computer, so what’s the big deal? Well, no, there are semiconductors in everything. You have semiconductors in your refrigerator, dishwasher, home entertainment system, etc. The point is we’re highly dependent on vulnerable supply chains that are currently breaking down. Something radical is going to have to happen. We’re just going to have to stop importing goods. And China may actually oblige us, though not for these reasons…

China now has what’s called a zero-COVID policy. That means they’re not going to tolerate any cases. If they see a case, they’re going to take extreme actions, and they are. But this is a country of 1.4 billion people. It’s the second-largest economy in the world. You’re going to have zero COVID? Sorry, that’s not realistic. You can’t have zero COVID.

The policy is bound to fail. Ample evidence indicates lockdowns don’t work. Masks don’t work. The virus goes where it wants. It’s going to run its course and then fade, no matter what. But if you’ve decided that your policy is zero COVID cases? You’re just going to shut down your economy, or parts of your economy, cities, hubs, transportation networks, factories, more or less randomly. That reduces economic output, obviously, but it also breaks up the supply chain.

What if the particular outbreak shuts down a factory? Sure, that’s bad for the factory. But what if that factory is a critical supplier of intermediate parts to another factory that’s not shut down? Guess what? The other factory is going to be idle because they can’t get the parts.

The shutdown ripples, and that’s the key element. Global trade is a complex, dynamic system. It’s very efficient under normal circumstances. But what we know about complex, dynamic systems is that it takes very little to disturb them. A very small event somewhere in the system can cause the whole system to break down.

We have more than one event occurring, incidentally, and they’re not small. It’s therefore not surprising that the system is breaking down. China has a severe energy shortage right now. Well over 50% of its total electricity generation comes from coal fire plants. It gets most of its coal from Australia. But China started a trade war with Australia because Australia was calling for an independent investigation of the source of the COVID virus, which China didn’t want. The result has been a shortage of coal in China.

So what did China do? It imposed price controls on coal. But we all know that price controls don’t work; it’s basic economics. When you cap the price of coal, you get less of it. The coal shortages are not going away, and China is dealing with the shortages by diverting power to densely populated residential areas and housing. That’s understandable because the Chinese Communist Party doesn't want people freezing in the dark. That’s a good recipe for social unrest.

But if there’s an energy shortage and you’re diverting it to people for political reasons, then who gets deprived? The answer is factories. And so you shut down steel mills, for example, which again causes another disruption in the supply chain. It has a ripple effect.

One of the big industries in China is lithium mining. Well, if you shut down the mining because you don’t have coal to run the electricity, where are you going to get the lithium to make the lithium-ion batteries to get a new Tesla? The answer is you’re not. The waiting list for Teslas is about six months. I’m not going to get into a debate about Teslas, but if you want one, don’t think you’re getting one soon.

When you add it all up, we have a serious problem. I recently spoke to the CEO of a major corporation. He said, “Jim, what you have to understand is that it took us 30 years to build these supply chains. We blew it up in three years, beginning in 2018, and you can’t put it back together. This is Humpty Dumpty. It will take at least 10 years to reconstruct the supply chains if we don’t want to do it with China and globalization.” So don’t think that any of this is going away soon.

Germany’s another example. Due to pressure from environmentalist groups, Germany got rid of all its coal mines and nuclear plants. Guess what? The Germans are going to freeze in the dark this winter because they’re utterly dependent on natural gas, which is a fossil fuel, by the way. They can’t rely on wind and solar because they’re intermittent and can’t meet demand. Vladimir Putin controls the tap on the natural gas pipelines. He’s dialing it down. He’s saying, “You want natural gas? Be prepared to pay me a lot of money, or you’re just not getting it.” That’s going to hurt German industrial production, which is already going down. Again, that results in more supply chain disruption.

Now let’s consider the role of vaccine mandates in supply chain disruptions… The Biden administration is pushing mandates hard. There are also lots of state and city mandates, especially in blue states. The bluer the state, generally speaking, the stricter the mandates.

Now, these experimental mRNA vaccines don’t stop you from acquiring the virus or from spreading it to others, and their effectiveness fades with time, so mandates really have little scientific basis. But put all these considerations aside and focus on their practical effects.

Take a look at the aviation industry. There are thousands, perhaps millions, of components that go into the manufacturing of an aircraft. Those components are specialized and they’re made in different places. Then they’re shipped and assembled. The avionics industry (aviation electronics) is very heavily concentrated in the vicinity of Wichita, Kansas, for historical and other reasons. It’s like the Silicon Valley of avionics.

But the industry has a very low participation rate in the vaccine mandates, meaning about 50%. Nationally, about 80% have received at least one dose. But in this particular industry, maybe because it’s more male-oriented, maybe because it’s more conservative, the rate is much smaller. The reason doesn’t really matter.

But if they’re not vaccinated by now, they probably aren’t going to be. It’s not like they don’t know these things are available for free at the local CVS. Since they won’t obey the mandates, they’re going to quit, get fired, take early retirement, etc. That means a shortage in critical avionics.

What does it mean when the airlines cannot get their avionics updated? It means those planes go out of service, potentially, or they put them in for service and they don’t come out for a long time. We’re talking six months for some of the more sophisticated navigation and communication systems. The backlogs are already building in that industry. How does it help the economy if planes are sitting idle because of components shortages?

And look at the impact of mandates on pilots. Many pilots are hesitant to take the vaccine because studies indicate pilots are more susceptible to developing blood clots than the general population. Well, guess what’s a known side effect of the vaccine? You guessed it, blood clots. Not only can blood clots kill them, they could also end their careers because pilots must undergo rigorous health tests regularly.

Southwest Airlines recently had to cancel thousands of flights. American later canceled thousands of flights. They like to claim it’s the weather. But how come the weather only affects one airline at a time? It wasn’t the weather, it was pilots (and air traffic controllers) conducting informal strikes because of the vaccine mandates. Oh, and mandates extend to large air cargo carriers like FedEx and UPS that haul freight all around the world. More supply chain disruptions if these planes aren’t flying.

Supply chain disruptions are a very big deal. The problem is pervasive. It’s not going away anytime soon because it would require undoing decades of globalization. You’re going to have to get used to it. When I say get used to it, I don’t mean tough luck. I just mean that this problem is going to continue."

- dailyreckoning.com

"Financial Crisis Looming with Imploding Markets Worldwide"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly, PM 11/10/21:

"Financial Crisis Looming with Imploding Markets Worldwide"

"The Producer Price Index is at its highest level in decades. It does not matter where you live. This is become a worldwide problem. Energy cost, food and simple necessities of going through the roof."

"Picture Yourself..."

“Reflect on what happens when a terrible winter blizzard strikes. You hear the weather warning but probably fail to act on it. The sky darkens. Then the storm hits with full fury, and the air is a howling whiteness. One by one, your links to the machine age break down. Electricity flickers out, cutting off the TV. Batteries fade, cutting off the radio. Phones go dead. Roads become impassible, and cars get stuck. Food supplies dwindle. Day to day vestiges of modern civilization – bank machines, mutual funds, mass retailers, computers, satellites, airplanes, governments – all recede into irrelevance.

Picture yourself and your loved ones in the midst of a howling blizzard that lasts several years. Think about what you would need, who could help you, and why your fate might matter to anybody other than yourself. That is how to plan for a saecular winter. Don’t think you can escape the Fourth Turning. History warns that a Crisis will reshape the basic social and economic environment that you now take for granted.”

– Strauss & Howe, “The Fourth Turning”

Gregory Mannarino, "Expect A Debt Market 'Nuclear Meltdown' To Occur, And This Is What To Look Out For"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 11/10/21:

"Expect A Debt Market 'Nuclear Meltdown' To Occur, 

And This Is What To Look Out For"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"Socialism With Chimichurri Sauce"

"Socialism With Chimichurri Sauce"

By Bill Bonner

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – "Inflation is afoot. Breitbart is on the story: “Prices rose 8.6 percent from a year ago in October, the second consecutive month of the fastest annual pace of inflation in records going back 10 years. The Department of Labor said the Producer Price Index accelerated to show a monthly gain of 0.6 percent, up one-tenth of a percentage point from the September gain. That was in line with analyst expectations.”

And the Daily Mail” reports that “meatflation” is getting serious: "…the cost of bone-in ribeye beef has nearly doubled from $8.71 per pound in November 2020 to an astounding $16.99 per pound this week, according to the US Department of Agriculture's Retail Price Report that was released on Friday – an increase of over 95 percent." The Bureau of Labor Statistics will have a price misinformation update later today. Here, we pause to reflect on what inflation actually is… and where higher rates of it are taking us.

Noxious Tax: Democracy is best described as “two wolves and one lamb voting on what to have for dinner.” But after they’ve fully digested the lamb, the wolves are still hungry. What do they do? First, they borrow. And when that source is exhausted (excess borrowing raises interest rates, which depresses the whole economy… and lowers tax receipts)… they print. Inflation is just another way to squeeze blood out of a population of turnips. It is a tax levied on consumers. It’s a particularly noxious tax, in that it distorts and damages the entire economy. And when a country relies too heavily on it, it soon becomes a god-awful mess.

Infectious Socialism: Take our favorite basket case, Argentina, for example. Runaway debt? Out-of-control inflation? Pandering to the masses? Buying votes? Corruption… incompetence… absurdity – the Argentines have been there and done that for the last 70 years.

Now, The Wall Street Journal is on the story: "Argentina’s Welfare State Warning to America." Socialist ideologues know that the welfare state is addictive. New entitlements create dependencies that, once born, demand to be fed and to grow no matter the party in power. Argentina proves the rule.

Yes, “Peronism is Argentina’s most successful export,” jokes a friend in Salta. Juan Perón took a little from Mussolini… a little from Hitler… a little from Stalin. And then, he added a tango beat and chimichurri sauce. The result was a pampa variant of the socialist infection. And it has proved remarkably durable.

Patient Zero: By April 28, 1945, Mussolini was hanging from a lamppost by his feet. Two days later, Hitler was in cinders. Stalin’s Soviet Union limped along until 1991, when President Gorbachev resigned and began doing luggage commercials for Louis Vuitton.

And Peronism? General Juan Perón, who ruled Argentina from 1946 through 1955, and again briefly in 1973-74, was Patient Zero. He came back from Italy in 1941, bringing the dreaded disease with him. It has run rampant through Buenos Aires’ popular neighborhoods ever since.

Survival Tool: What makes Peronism so “sticky” is that once groups acquire a taste for money that isn’t their own, they are very reluctant to give it up. Then, politicians need to keep the money coming or they can’t win an election. And since they can never tax or borrow enough to make good on all their promises (especially since they are simultaneously strangling the productive economy), they resort to the inflation tax… and blame it on greedy businessmen.

Corruption runs wild. In the courts, in the bureaucracy, in the schools, in the medical system… and in private industry, too. Nothing is on the level. Nothing works as you think it should. At first, you attribute it to “incompetence.” But the Argentines are as competent as anyone else. They just react to different incentives. And in a corrupt system, corruption – petty and great – not only pays, it is a survival tool.

Life Goes On: That’s the endearing and enlightening thing about the Argentine system. It has a kind of illicit flexibility that keeps life tolerable… even agreeable… in the midst of perpetual crisis. Coups d’état… military governments… mass murders… widespread terrorism and kidnapping… hyperinflation… humiliating defeats and depression – Peronism has survived them all.

Even today, the inflation rate is around 50%… where it has been for several years. The U.S. dollar trades on “white,” “black,” and “blue” exchanges – at very different rates. Businesses routinely keep at least two different sets of books – one for the government and one for themselves. They trade invoices with each other to manage their tax burdens. And rich people flee to Uruguay or Florida. Still, life goes on… tolerably well, for many people. But a deeper crisis is coming. The Argentine government is broke. No one will lend it money. And if it keeps printing more money, it risks a Venezuela-style catastrophe.

Broken Status Quo: Meanwhile, an important election is coming on Thursday. The Peronists are facing a big challenge. But not necessarily a big change. As The Wall Street Journal puts it, the opposition is “not much more than a milder version of the status quo.” Alas, the status quo – now becoming familiar north of the Rio Grande, as it has been south of the Rio de la Plata for many years – is a shambles. How easy it would be, in theory, to fix it. No more free lunches. No more deficits. No more bribes. No more money-printing. But how impossible it is, in practice, to do it…"

- www.rogueeconomics.com

The Daily "Near You?"

Auburndale, Florida, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

The Poet: Mary Oliver, "There Is Time Left"

"There Is Time Left"

 "Well, there is time left 

fields everywhere invite you into them.

And who will care, who will chide you if you wander away

from wherever you are, to look for your soul?

Quickly, then, get up, put on your coat, leave your desk!

To put ones foot into the door of the grass, which is

the mystery, which is death as well as life,

and not be afraid!

To set ones foot in the door of death,

and be overcome with amazement!"

~ Mary Oliver