"Juggling Sticks of Dynamite: Our Fatally Distorted Sense of Risk"

"Juggling Sticks of Dynamite: 

Our Fatally Distorted Sense of Risk"

by Charles Hugh Smith

"The problem with constantly being saved from the consequences of our actions is this fatally distorts our sense of risk. The foundation of the ability to accurately assess risk is the experience of real-world consequences: hardship and losses.

If you are sloppy about positioning the ladder securely, the ladder falls and so do you. If you survive the fall, you've learned that risk is real and that precautions must be taken to minimize risk. Precaution requires thinking through all the components of risk and taking steps to remediate or avoid each specific source of risk.

If you've never really been pushed to your limit of endurance, you lack the experience needed to realize you're dehydrated and in danger of succumbing to heat stroke. So when you run out of water on a shadeless climb exposed to the blazing sun, you fall into magical thinking: if we just push on, push harder, power through this, then we'll be fine. But powering on is the worst possible choice, and so the inexperienced hiker passes out and expires.

The Federal Reserve and the rest of the Savior State has saved us from the financial consequences of rampant speculation for decades. As a result, few of those in the casino have the necessary experience of hardship and losses to accurately assess risk. The vast majority have only experienced being saved: the most profitable response to a losing bet is to double-down on the next bet because the house (the Fed) will amply reward every "buy the dip."

After decades of being rewarded for "buying the dip," all the gamblers in the casino believe they are "investors": magical thinking at its most dangerous. Gambling is not investing, and every dollar, yuan, yen and euro being plunked down on a table in the casino is a gamble, because the entire casino is on unstable quicksand.

The gambler who's constantly been saved naturally reckons they're an "investing" genius. Having only experienced winning, the delusional punter attributes this grand success to their own brilliance and trading moxie. They feel invulnerable because they have the winning strategy: but the dip, double-down and ride the next wave of gains.

This feeling of invulnerability is exquisitely dangerous because the punter believes the experience of winning is the consequence of his brilliance. Having never experienced any real losses or hardships, the punter doesn't understand that the winning was the result of the Fed saving all punters from the consequences of speculation.

Having been saved at every turn, the gambler has no real-world experience of risk. Lacking the ability to accurately assess risk, the gamble keeps upping the size of his bets because this has been rewarded.

So when the gambler ends up juggling lit sticks of dynamite, he's confident nothing bad can happen because nothing bad has ever happened, no matter how much risk he takes on. This is the plight of all the gamblers who see themselves as "investors" in the Everything Bubble. Their experience has been artificially limited by the suppression of risk, but they are unaware of this and so their invulnerability exposes them to catastrophic losses they don't even recognize as possible, much less inevitable.

As I often point out here, risk cannot be extinguished, it can only be transferred. Risk has been offloaded from speculators to the entire financial system itself, and so rather than a few speculators going down in flames, the entire casino will collapse.

Although we pride ourselves on being so smart, we only learn from hardship, loss and failure. The Fed and the Savior State have deprived the speculators of the means to learn how to accurately assess risk. Making matters even worse, they've encouraged the delusion that rampant, disconnected-from-reality speculation is actually "investing."

As I also point out here, systems have their own dynamics. The Fed and the Savior State are not omnipotent gods. They have constructed a flimsy facade of marketing, magical thinking and artifice, and this system of falsehoods is manifesting dynamics that have escaped their control.

Every gambler prays for every bet to be a winner. As Oscar Wilde observed: "When the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers."

- https://www.oftwominds.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

Sheboygan, Wisconsin, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Economy And The Market Are At A Breaking Point"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly, AM 2/16/22:

"Economy And The Market Are At A Breaking Point"

"Enough is enough. We are seeing worldwide markets and the global economy at a breaking point. Prices are way up in value is way down. The fed is giving conflicting information on what they will do."

"And It May Be..."

 

"Butterflies..."

“I think humans might be like butterflies; people die every day without many other people knowing about them, seeing their colors, hearing their stories… and when humans are broken, they’re like broken butterfly wings; suddenly there are so many beauties that are seen in different ways, so many thoughts and visions and possibilities that form, which couldn’t form when the person wasn’t broken! So it is not a very sad thing to be broken, after all! It’s during the times of being broken, that you have all the opportunities to become things unforgettable! Just like the broken butterfly wing that I found, which has given me so many thoughts, in so many ways, has shown me so many words, and imaginations! But butterflies need to know that it doesn’t matter at all if the whole world saw their colors or not! What matters is that they flew, they glided, they hovered, they saw, they felt, and they knew! And they loved the ones whom they flew with! And that is an existence worthwhile!”

- C. JoyBell C.

"The Equality Myth"

"The Equality Myth"

by Bill Bonner

Youghal, Ireland - "The American Elite Establishment has launched three major initiatives so far this century. All were based on lies, mistakes, and corruption. All were failures. “Weapons of mass destruction” led off. There were none. But the US squandered $8 trillion and thousands of lives looking for them.

Then came Ben Bernanke’s whopper: “If we don’t do this [pass a $700 billion boondoggle bill] we may not even have an economy on Monday.” As reported yesterday, it led to $44 trillion in additional debt since 2008.

Then came the campaign to stop COVID. Pfizer made a fortune from its experimental new drug. The Guardian: "Pfizer made nearly $37bn (£27bn) in sales from its Covid-19 vaccine last year – making it one of the most lucrative products in history – and has forecast another bumper year."

But it didn’t stop the virus. And ‘the science’ now tells us what we suspected all along – that natural immunity is better than a vaccine and we would have been better off letting the young and the healthy get the virus and get over it, rather than shooting everybody up with drugs and turning vaccines into a political issue. Meanwhile, shutdowns and mandates cost trillions of dollars more, along with stunted lives, drug overdoses, depression, suicides, and broken marriages.

Where did the feds get the money to throw down these ratholes? First, it was real money from taxing citizens and borrowing their savings. Then, when that wasn’t enough, the Fed filled the gap with fake money, ‘printing’ $8 trillion of new money since 1999.

Wholesale Lunacy: And now… rising prices! Who could have seen that coming? Even as to inflation, they were wrong. First, they thought the problem was “too little inflation.” Then, they said they wouldn’t have to ‘normalize’ until 2024. Then, they said inflation was ‘transitory.’ And now they say they are going to raise rates – as much as one full percentage point! – next month.

Here’s the latest from US News & World Report: "Wholesale inflation rose 1% in January, twice as much as forecast as producers saw the prices they pay showing no sign of a slowdown, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Tuesday. Economists had expected an increase of 0.5% for the month. On a yearly basis, prices rose 9.7%, the same as in December.

And now… onto the next losing proposition! Yes, the feds might have been wrong about almost everything so far this century… but there are still a lot more things they can be wrong about. The nation’s chief executive signaled one of them in his SuperBowl comments. "The whole idea that a league that is made up of so many athletes of color as well as so diverse, that there's not enough African American qualified coaches to manage these NFL teams, it just seems to me that it's a standard that they'd want to live up to. It's not a requirement of law, but it's a requirement I think of just some generic decency."

We have no idea what ‘generic decency’ is. Old fashioned decency is good enough for us. But why would it be more decent to have a Black head coach than a White one? Equality? Even a casual observer can see that NFL coaches tend to be White, whereas the players tend to be Black. In the name of equality, Biden chose to focus on the apparent disproportion of White coaches, suggesting that it was somehow indecent. But if it was indecent to have too many White coaches, why was it not indecent to have too many Black players?

Depending on Inequality: ‘Equality’ doesn’t exist in nature. No two snowflakes are exactly alike. Nor are two people. And Thank God. Imagine if we were all tipped into a gray porridge of perpetual mediocrity! Distinctions are what we want… not equality. One is smart, another dull. One is fast, another slow. One comes from a good family; another is a gutter rat.

Progress and civilization depend on inequality. We choose one baker over another because we judge his cakes superior... unequal to those of his competitor. We put our money with a money manager whom we believe will give us returns above those of the others on offer. And we don’t want an NFL team that is just as good as the others. We want one that wins.

One of the propositions, adjacent to ‘equality,’ is ‘racism.’ It purports to explain unequal results in American society. If Blacks are generally poorer than Whites it is because the latter hold the former back. It must be a comfort to some people to think so; it excuses them from responsibility for their own lifestyle choices. And it must be a source of pleasant indignation to others; it gives the White elite another big stick to beat the ‘deplorables’ over the head with. But is it true?

Capitalism is (theoretically) color blind. Investors want more money; they don’t care who brings it to them. Businesses, too, want sales and profits above all else. But now, in this Enlightened Age, businesses are supposed to care about other things – about the planet, for example… and having a ‘diverse,’ racially balanced workforce.

But Biden’s “equality” and (sotto voce) “anti-racist” suggestion would require us to believe something extraordinary. Apparently, NFL owners are able to put aside their inherent racism when they hire players. And pay them huge amounts of money. The highest paid player, for example, is Patrick Mahomes, who gets $45 million per year as quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs. And there are 19 other players in the NFL who earn more than $20 million per season.

But then, when they go to hire their coaches, for some inexplicable reason, the ‘white privilege’ kicks in… and they hire a White man! It could be a very strange and sophisticated form of racism. And team owners who want to heed Biden’s call, and follow ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) guidelines, may do perfectly well. (Maybe coaches don’t really matter very much.) But if we were betting on the SuperBowl… we’d put our money on the old fashioned, decent capitalists. We’d bet on the team that hires the coaches and players who are most likely to move the ball across the goal line."

- bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com-

"How It Really Is"

 

"Social Insecurity"

"Social Insecurity"

by Tom Purcell

"A quarter of a million dollars. That’s the amount that I’ve paid in FICA payroll taxes during my working career, according to my recent Social Security statement. FICA, which stands for “Federal Insurance Contributions Act,” “is a payroll tax that helps fund both Social Security and Medicare programs, which provide benefits for retirees, the disabled and children,” says the Social Security Administration (SSA). The FICA tax also will partially fund - at least I hope it will - my retirement years.

My statement says I am eligible to begin receiving Social Security payments of $1,851 a month when I hit age 62. If I wait until I am 70, I’ll receive $3,370 a month. However, if I had invested the $250,000 FICA deducted from my earnings on my own, I’d have, according to my money manager, more than $1.5 million socked away. If I drew a conservative 4 percent of that $1.5 million every year, I’d be collecting a $5,000 retirement check every month right away.

Of course, that is assuming I would have saved and invested all the money that FICA took from my weekly paychecks. More likely, me knowing me, I would have blown most of it on nicer cars and more vacations. Saving money for your future is hard, even for more-disciplined people.

My parents raised six kids on one income and had a lot of big bills along the way, so saving money for the future was not always possible. They now rely on the Social Security payments they receive every month to help them cover their basic expenses. Millions of elderly Americans are in the same precarious financial boat. The Social Security Administration reports that about 40 percent of Americans 65 and older receive half of their retirement income from Social Security - and about 13 percent rely on it for 90 percent or more of their income.

It takes some of the sting out of the 15.3 percent FICA tax that is imposed on my self-employed earnings to know that my contributions are helping others get by in their old age. But will Social Security be around to help me in my old age?

Social Security is now paying out more than it is taking in and the funds working taxpayers contribute now go directly to Social Security recipients. But what about the Social Security “trust fund,” which saved trillions of the surplus tax contributions that had rolled in for years? The partially good news is that it will not run out of money until 2034 - at which time Social Security payments will have to be reduced, taxes will have to be raised or more money will have to be borrowed. The bad news is that its funds were “invested” in government bonds, which the federal government happily spent on day-to-day budget expenses, such as foreign wars, food stamps and the national debt.

As the great columnist Charles Krauthammer explained in 2011, the Social Security trust fund is filled not with money but with special-issue government IOUs that can only be repaid by raising taxes or borrowing even more money. In any event, it’s anybody’s guess how much my monthly Social Security checks will be, so let me make the guys at the Social Security Administration an offer. How about you give me back my 250 large in return for removing me from your rolls? What do you say, SSA?

Hello?"

- https://www.cagle.com/

"5 New Numbers That Prove That America’s Horrifying Inflation Crisis Is Getting Even Worse"

"5 New Numbers That Prove That America’s 

Horrifying Inflation Crisis Is Getting Even Worse"

by Michael Snyder

"If you are less than 40 years old, you have never seen inflation like this in the United States. Despite all the warnings, our politicians in Washington just kept borrowing and spending trillions upon trillions of dollars that we did not have. And despite all the warnings, the Federal Reserve just kept pumping trillions of fresh dollars into the financial system. Now we have a giant mess on our hands, and anyone that believes that this is going to be easily fixed is simply being delusional.

Of course most Americans weren’t going to start paying attention to all of this until it started to affect them personally. Now it is affecting all of us personally, and there are millions of people out there that are becoming increasingly frustrated about the current state of affairs. Unfortunately, this crisis appears to be just in the early stages. The following are 5 numbers that indicate that the inflation crisis in the United States continues to get even worse…

#1 The producer price index has risen at a rate of 9.7 percent over the previous 12 months. According to CNBC, that is close to a brand new record…The producer price index, which measures final demand goods and services, increased 1% for the month, against the Dow Jones estimate for 0.5%. Over the past 12 months the gauge rose an unadjusted 9.7%, close to a record in data going back to 2010.

Last week we learned that the consumer price index has risen by 7.5 percent over the previous 12 months. Of course if the consumer price index was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, the real number would actually be more than double the official number that we were just given.

#2 Truck trailer prices in January 2022 were 29.6 percent higher than they were in January 2021… A shortage of parts and labor has sent the prices of truck trailers through the roof. Truck trailer prices jumped 3.1 percent in January, data from the Department of Labor showed Tuesday. That followed a 3.8 percent increase in December. Compared with 12-months ago, trailer prices are up 29.6 percent, by far the biggest one-year jump in records going back to 1980.

#3 The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is telling us that the price of used vehicles rose by an astounding 40.5 percent from January 2021 to January 2022… According to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday, the consumer price index for used cars and trucks jumped up by 40.5% from January 2021 to January 2022. That means within a year, the average price of used cars and trucks for urban consumers has gone up by 40.5%.

#4 You may have noticed that you are paying a lot more at the pump these days. If you can believe it, the price of gasoline has actually shot up 40.8 percent since Joe Biden first entered the White House… Between January 2021 and January 2022 – President Joe Biden’s first year in office – the price of unleaded gasoline increased 40.8 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

#5 The price of lumber has really been surging once again. According to the National Association of Home Builders, this most recent surge has “added more than $18,600 to the price of a newly built home”… That is adding to the cost of both building a new home and remodeling an older one. The National Association of Home Builders estimated the recent price jump added more than $18,600 to the price of a newly built home. It also added nearly $7,300 to the cost of the average new multifamily home, which translates into households paying $67 a month more to rent a new apartment.

Ouch. I sure wouldn’t want to be trying to build a new home in this environment.

Pressure has been building on the Federal Reserve to take action, and it is being anticipated that the “geniuses” at the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates by 50 basis points next month… "The hot inflation readings led financial markets to price in a better-than-even chance of a 50 basis points interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve next month. Inflation is running well above the U.S. central bank’s 2 percent target. Economists are expecting as many as seven rate hikes this year."

Just recently, a reader sent me an email which pointed out that we shouldn’t have a system where an unelected group of bureaucrats gets together and determines what our interest rates are going to be. And he is exactly right. In a free market system, interest rates would be determined by the free market. But we don’t have a free market system anymore. In fact, we haven’t had one for a long time.

Of course when it comes to the economy, the guy in the White House is going to get more of the credit or more of the blame for what is going on than anyone else. And a brand new poll that was just released has Joe Biden’s approval rating sitting at just 34 percent… "The president’s approval rating nationally sits around 40 percent, according to several tracking averages, but a new CIVIQS poll showed it sitting at 34 percent from the 165,786 respondents surveyed."

That is a shockingly bad number, and what should alarm Democrats even more is how bad Biden’s numbers are in the most important swing states… "Swing states of Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin all voted narrowly blue in the 2020 election, but the new poll shows their approval of Biden sits in the low 30 percentages.

Arizona has the biggest split with 32 percent approval to 61 percent disapproval. Georgia sits in second with 31 percent approval to 59 percent disapproval; Pennsylvania’s split is 36 percent to 57 percent; Michigan is 33 percent to 59 percent; and Wisconsin has 36 percent approval and 56 percent disapproval of Biden."

Unfortunately, Biden isn’t going to resign no matter how low his numbers go. That means that we are going to have at least three more years of either Joe Biden or Kamala Harris running the country. So we shouldn’t expect any dramatic policy shifts from Washington.

And the “geniuses” at the Fed are undoubtedly going to find even more ways to really mess things up. They are the ones that are more responsible than anyone else for getting us into this mess, and now many Americans are desperately hoping that they can get us out of it. If you are waiting for them to fix the economy, you are going to be waiting a really, really long time.

I have been warning for years that the decisions that were being made would have severe consequences, and now those consequences have started to arrive. We are on a road to national ruin, and those that are running things are even more blind than those that they are supposed to be leading."

- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

○

"Biden Energy Policies Added $1,000 

To Typical Household’s Costs In 2021: Report"

Gregory Mannarino, "Inflation Scapegoat: Expect A Global Energy Crisis And A Crude Oil Superspike. Here's Why"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/16/22:

"Inflation Scapegoat: Expect A Global Energy Crisis 

And A Crude Oil Superspike. Here's Why"

- https://traderschoice.net/

○

"A Rapidly Developing Super-Crisis - You’re In One"

by Gregory Mannarino, 2/16/22

"The global economy is in FREEFALL, inflation is surging, and debts/deficits are skyrocketing. Real wages, personal income weighed against inflation, is CRATERING. Meanwhile, the US stock market after its rebound off the recent low, is only single digit percentage points away from all time highs. Does this make sense to you? In short, it’s a freakshow.

Today here in the United States 20% of the population is unable to pay their energy bills - and this issue is much greater in parts of Europe. People are deliberately being pushed beyond their breaking points all over the world, BY DESIGN.

Expect widespread protests to develop and spread. Protests which will eventually turn violent! Which will give governments the “false flag event” which they need to implement MORE CONTROL. Global events may seem to be getting out of control, but nothing could possibly be farther from the truth. What we have is an environment moving from engineered crisis to engineered crisis, and all this is 100% deliberate.

The current rapidly developing energy crisis is going to get much worse, globally. I would be willing to believe that we are in the early stages of a SUPER-crisis regarding energy. Moreover, surging energy prices will be blamed for skyrocketing global inflation - they need a scapegoat.

Make no mistake about it. Everything which we are seeing develop on the global stage is being directly driven by central banks who are working in concert to fulfill their endgame - to be the ruling body of the world. All this is creating an entirely new demographic. Extreme haves, and extreme have-nots, with a global wipeout of the middle class. Wealth is being concentrated and re-distributed to a very small percentage of the population. The established powers have gone out of their way to create the illusion of wealth being distributed in a more socialistic way - this was a distraction. The truth is that the movement of cash ALWAYS moves higher, straight up to the 1 and 2 percenters.

Yes, you were “sold” yet another lie. It wasn’t EVER socialism where we are going, that was the cover story, but to a concentration of power and wealth right up to the top. I expect that the crisis-to-crisis phenomenon will not only continue but accelerate.

Never take your eye off the ball so to speak. What I mean by that is this - when your attention is being directed in whatever direction by the mainstream propaganda ministries and puppet politicians, ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE BEING MISLED… look in the opposite direction to find the truth."

- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

From Gerald Celente's "Trends Journal"

- https://trendsresearch.com/

Must Watch! Tucker Carlson, "The Media Played A Starring Role In The Death Of Canadian Democracy"

Full screen recommended.

Tucker Carlson, 2/15/22:

"The Media Played A Starring Role 

In The Death Of Canadian Democracy"

"Never, Ever Forget..."

"Truckers Are Terrorists"

"Truckers Are Terrorists"

by Jim Rickards

"As you may know by now, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is invoking the nation’s “Emergencies Act” to put down the truckers’ protest, or the “Freedom Convoy.” This would be the first time the bill has entered effect since it was created in 1988. Trudeau's martial law – and that’s what it amounts to – is supposed to be "temporary." But in 1971, Nixon said the suspension of the gold standard was "temporary." Fifty-one years later we're still waiting for a new gold standard.

Trudeau can’t act until Parliament approves the measure. But Canada is already plowing full-speed ahead with its war on financial privacy. It’s the latest offensive in the elites’ war on cash. The gloves are coming off. The Canadian government is threatening to freeze the bank accounts of truckers participating in the protests. Here are the comments of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, whom I’ve actually debated in the past: "This is about following the money. This is about stopping the financing of these illegal blockades. We are today serving notice: If your truck is being used in these protests, your corporate accounts will be frozen."

Canada is also denying crowdsource funding to the truckers. If you sent money to the truckers through GoFundMe or GiveSendGo, the Canadian government intervened to freeze the money. The government is essentially labeling the truckers terrorists and anyone who funds them as sponsors of terrorism. That’s not hyperbole. Chrystia Freeland admits it herself. And if you think sending cryptocurrencies will get in their way, think again.

Here’s what she said yesterday in defense of the Emergencies Act: "We are broadening the scope of Canada’s anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules so that they cover crowdfunding platforms and the payment service providers they use. These changes cover all forms of transactions, including digital assets such as cryptocurrencies. The illegal blockades have highlighted the fact that crowdfunding platforms, and some of the payment service providers they use, are not fully captured under the Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist Financing Act…

We are making these changes because we know that these platforms are being used to support illegal blockades and illegal activity, which is damaging the Canadian economy…The government is issuing an order with immediate effect, under the Emergencies Act, authorizing Canadian financial institutions to temporarily cease providing financial services where the institution suspects that an account is being used to further the illegal blockades and occupations. This order covers both personal and corporate accounts.

Third: We are directing Canadian financial institutions to review their relationships with anyone involved in the illegal blockades and report to the RCMP or CSIS."

Got money in a Canadian bank account? You’d better get it out fast before Freeland freezes it. Canada has gone full-fascist and they're coming for your money first. Today they’re going after the truckers and those who support them. But why should it stop there?

Once governments exercise previously unexplored powers, they rarely surrender them. Maybe tomorrow they’ll go after the accounts of “climate deniers” or those who support political parties the establishment doesn’t approve of.

And don’t think it’s limited to Canada. Here in the U.S., if you support Donald Trump or question the legitimacy of the 2020 election or question vaccine mandates, maybe the federal government will try to freeze your accounts too. You’ll be guilty of spreading “hate” and “disinformation” that undermines the public’s trust in government institutions (as if the government has earned that trust). You may even be guilty of “terrorism.”

Again, that may strike some as hyperbolic. But after what we’ve seen during the past two years, why should anything surprise you anymore? The Department of Homeland Security recently issued a new National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin suggesting that if Americans question vaccine mandates, they’re now potential “domestic violent extremists.”

These aren’t just theoretical fears. They’re happening in real-time. And Canada's newest offensive in the war against cash and financial privacy will only encourage governments further."

- dailyreckoning.com

○

"Canadian Government Resorts to Financial Terrorism

 Against Peaceful Freedom Convoy Protesters"

by Brighteon

"All governments eventually resort to terrorism against their own citizens when they don't get the compliance they want. Now, as the freedom convoy participants in Canada are achieving real traction against the tyranny of Justin "Castro" Trudeau's regime, that same regime has decided to engage in blatant acts of financial terrorism against Canadian citizens in order to try to destroy them.

Under Trudeau, Finance Minister and WEF governor Chrystia Freeland has announced that Canada will direct banks to steal all the money out of the accounts of protest participants and make their lives a kind of financial hell, all without any due process or the rule of law.

What Canada, Trudeau and TD Bank are demonstrating here for the entire world to see is that we can't trust the financial institutions anymore, since they will collude with criminal governments to steal money from innocent people."

Listen to this astonishing story in today's feature podcast here.

"Never, Ever Forget..."

  

"Never, ever forget that nothing in this life is free. Life demands payment in some form for your "right" to express yourself, to condemn and abuse the evil surrounding us. Expect to pay... it will come for you, they will come for you, regardless. Knowing that, give them Hell itself every chance you can. Expect no mercy, and give none. That's how life works. Be ready to pay for what you do, or be a coward, pretend you don't see, don't know, and cry bitter tears over how terrible things are, over how you let them become."

- Ernest Hemingway, "For Whom the Bell Tolls "

"Walmart Locks Up Meat; Lumber Prices Madness; Living Off Credit Cards; Debt Addiction"

Jeremiah Babe, PM 2/15/22:

"Walmart Locks Up Meat; Lumber Prices Madness; 

Living Off Credit Cards; Debt Addiction"

Gerald Celente, "Covid War Ending, Covid Cult Dying"

Full screen recommended.

Strong language alert!

Gerald Celente, 2/15/22:

"Covid War Ending, Covid Cult Dying"

"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/

"Hoarding Sweeps Across America As People Rush To Stockpile Food At Local Supermarkets"

Full screen recommended.

"Hoarding Sweeps Across America As People 

Rush To Stockpile Food At Local Supermarkets"

by Epic Economist

"Previously referred to as “survivalists” who wanted to live “off the grid,” now, those who decide to arrange their lives for any potential disaster are called “preppers,” and this group is much bigger than we can imagine. They were commonly portrayed as isolated individuals and loners, but in actuality, they can be everyday folks. The shortages and supply chain disruptions we had to face over the past years led many people to realize that the system is much more vulnerable than it appears. And from that point on, consumer psychology radically changed. Most Americans have never dealt with such extensive shortages and sharp price hikes in their entire lives. They weren’t used to buying in bulk because they assumed goods would always be available at the stores.

Needless to say, those times are long gone. Now, prepping is becoming increasingly more common as supply chain problems continue to compound and food inflation spins out of control. The average American had to confront a harsh reality: be prepared or be hungry. Many Americans expanded their pantry over the past two years, bought freezers, and started to stockpile non-perishables. Although most of the media tries to generalize the prepper movement and diminish its importance by calling it “bulk shopping” or “hoarding,” that’s not what preparedness is all about.

Some might be tempted to say that people are “hoarding” food, but hoarding is, in fact, a psychological disorder in which there’s an unwillingness to discard possessions leading to a massive accumulation of items. In some cases, that can make someone’s living space completely unusable. What’s happening right now is not the emergence of a widespread hoarding disorder amongst consumers. People are just trying to look after themselves and take care of their families at such uncertain times.

“If it's out of anxiety and fear that when I need this, I won't be able to get it, it's a valid fear,” explains Laurah Pastel Shames, a clinical social worker in Miami. That’s particularly true “when we are kind of used to going to the supermarket and realizing the things that were easily able to be picked up are now a lot more difficult to find," she continued.

According to Bob Nolan, senior vice president of Demand Science at food giant Conagra Brands, consumers have "made permanent changes" after they experienced the "harsh realities of health-crisis-induced shortages”. "They didn't just stock up that week, but they said to themselves, even if subconsciously, 'That's not going to happen to me again,'" Nolan stressed.

“Preppers come from all walks of life, all races, all ages,” highlighted Anne Marie Bounds, PhD, a professor of sociology at Queens College in New York, who has written Bracing for the Apocalypse: An Ethnographic Study of New York's 'Prepper' Subculture. “It's much more mainstream. As climate collapse, concerns about the economy, or government collapse, you have very young people, families, singles, couples, some senior citizens – all ages. The [health crisis] was the first thing many experienced. Unlike the perception, they're not loners. It's not an isolated thing.”

This movement is also becoming more popular as people lose trust in the government and corporations. Consumers are trying to become more independent because the system itself is not only destined but also designed to let us down. There’s simply no way our crumbling infrastructures will be able to remain unaffected by extreme weather events, cyberattacks, and persistent outages. Adding that to rising geopolitical conflicts, a never-ending sanitary outbreak, and an unstable economy, many Americans feel unprepared for today's world, and this fear about the lack of stability of the system leads to them becoming preppers, to preparing for the worst.

Being independent, self-reliant, and prepared definitely makes those in positions of power scared they will not be able to force us to comply with their rules. That’s why they try to discredit the entire movement and make preppers look like crazy hoarders. But preparedness is much more complex than that, and people are just now realizing they can take their power back to themselves. When we get under the skin of the corrupt leaders and greedy elites, then we know we’re doing something right. That’s why you shouldn’t waste any more time, and start preparing while you still can!"

- https://www.epiceconomist.com​

Gregory Mannarino, "Full Blown Liquidity Crisis? Or Will The Fed. Continue To Inflate? You Decide"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 2/15/22:

"Full Blown Liquidity Crisis? 

Or Will The Fed. Continue To Inflate? You Decide"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"Fools and Their Money"

"Fools and Their Money"

by Bill Bonner

Youghal, Ireland -"Is the Fed really as incompetent as it appears? Today, we take a look. The Fed’s inflation now vexes consumers… investors… and politicians. CNS: "The average price of a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline in Los Angeles County rose four-tenths of a cent Saturday to $4.754, a record high for the eighth time in the last nine days. The average price has risen 12 of the past 13 days, increasing 8.6 cents, including three-tenths of a cent Friday, according to figures from the AAA and Oil Price Information Service. It is 2 cents more than one week ago, 8 cents higher than one month ago and $1.21 more than one year ago."

And voters are feeling the pinch. One headline put the increase in monthly expenses per household at $256.

“Do something” is the word going out to Fed governors. But ‘go easy,’ says the elite. The last thing it wants is a screaming crash on Wall Street. Yes, the Fed put itself in a vise. On one side is the interest rate suppression and money-printing that has paid the feds’ bills and made the rich richer. On the other side is the Main Street economy, which craves stability, steady prices and honest interest rates. On one side are the 90% of Americans – hard-working families with limited budgets who suffer inflation like tooth decay, painful and debilitating. On the other is Wall Street and the elite, who make the rules… control Congress… and the Fed itself. And now the vise tightens and the Fed’s ‘credibility’ is about to crack.

A Guardrail for Capitalism: ‘Credibility’ is almost always an invitation to disaster. Alexander Hamilton must have thought his credibility was at stake when he agreed to a duel with Aaron Burr. The French under Napoleon III thought their credibility was on the line when they went to war with the Prussians in 1870. And it was a matter of ‘credibility’ that kept US boys dying in Vietnam… and later Afghanistan… long after they should have gone home. What mischief will ‘credibility’ beget this time?

September 2008 was probably the decisive moment. The Fed’s credibility was in question then too. Ben Bernanke, Fed chief, was center stage… addressing Congress. It was a moment that defined Bernanke as a snivelly little grifter; and it defined the Fed too. Thenceforth, it would play the lead role in the destruction of America’s prosperity.

The Fed was meant to be a guardrail for capitalism. A bankers’ bank, it was expected to keep its head when others were losing theirs. It was supposed to maintain an atmosphere of calm calculation and reasoned reflection in order to prevent the sort of panic that leads to chaos and unnecessary losses. But there, on September 10th, was the Fed Chief himself, Benjamin Shalom Bernanke acting as if a giant meteor were about to hit the Rose Garden. He did not seek to restore a mood of quiet deliberation among the nation’s legislators, but to set their hair on fire with visions of Armageddon.

In short, in order to panic Congress into passing a $700 billion bill that not a single member had read… for reasons none understood… he resorted to the biggest whopper ever told by a central banker. With no hint of a smile, Bernanke told Congress that if it didn’t pass its crackpot stimmie bill on Friday, “we may not have an economy on Monday.” This was plainly absurd and everybody knew it.

Too Stupid to Succeed: The mistake investors, householders, businesses and speculators had made was borrowing or lending too much money. They did so largely because the Fed itself had misled them, holding interest rates too low, for too long… and encouraging debt.

But economies don’t cease to function just because the central bank makes mistakes. Left alone, markets correct errors, which is just what the US stock and bond markets were doing. They were separating the good investments from the bad ones. Markets sort out excess debt – quickly and efficiently. The credits are marked-to-market. Debtors default. Debt decreases as intrepid lenders rescue the best of them, while the others are left to sink.

It would have been a huge mistake to step in and stop the rectification process. But that is exactly what Ben Bernanke, an academic economist with no knowledge or understanding of how a real economy works, was doing. His message was breathtakingly naïve and dumbellish. It was like giving your bank details to a Nigerian you met over the internet… and then waiting for the $25 million deposit to come in. Instead of allowing market capitalism to fix its bad debt problems, Bernanke, Yellen and now Powell came in with what the market least needed – more EZ credit. The Fed’s key interest rate was pushed down to ‘effectively zero,’ where it’s been almost ever since. And then, as consumer prices inevitably rose, the Fed’s key lending rate – in real terms – kept going deeper and deeper into negative territory, so that it is now about MINUS 7.4%.

Once the Fed was on the case, not a single large lender went broke. Those that were too stupid to succeed became “too big to fail.” Fools and their money stayed together. Reckless managers got their bonuses… and became more reckless. And the excess debt problem became much, much worse. Total US debt almost doubled, from around $44 trillion in 2008 to $86 trillion at the end of 2021. What kind of way was this to fight a debt crisis?

Alas, the Fed learned nothing. It continues to print money at the rate of $20 billion per week. And it promises to do something to protect its credibility. What? Word on the street is that it is going to raise rates! Maybe even 100 basis points! That would bring the rate to MINUS 6.4%. We get a little dizzy just thinking about it."

- bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Land of Forever"

2002, "Land of Forever"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"How did galaxies form in the early universe? To help find out, astronomers surveyed a patch of dark night sky with the Very Large Telescope array in Chile to find and count galaxies that formed when our universe was very young. Analysis of the distribution of some distant galaxies (redshifts near 2.5) found an enormous conglomeration of galaxies that spanned 300 million light years and contained about 5,000 times the mass of our Milky Way Galaxy. Dubbed Hyperion, it is currently the largest and most massive proto-supercluster yet discovered in the early universe.

A proto-supercluster is a group of young galaxies that is gravitationally collapsing to create a supercluster, which itself a group of several galaxy clusters, which itself is a group of hundreds of galaxies, which itself is a group of billions of stars. In the featured visualization, massive galaxies are depicted in white, while regions containing a large amount of smaller galaxies are shaded blue. Identifying and understanding such large groups of early galaxies contributes to humanity's understanding of the composition and evolution of the universe as a whole."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181023.html

“7 Things Fear Has Stolen From You”

“7 Things Fear Has Stolen From You”

by Marc Chernoff

“There is no greater hell than to be a prisoner of fear.”

- Ben Johnson

“Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid; courage means you don’t let fear stop you. Everything you want is on the other side of fear. Don’t ever hesitate to give yourself a chance to be everything you are capable of being. Although fear can feel overwhelming, and defeats more people than any other force in the world, it’s not as powerful as it seems. Fear is only as deep as your mind allows. You are still in control. The key is to acknowledge your fear and directly address it. You must step right up and confront it face to face. This tactic robs fear of its power, instead of fear robbing YOU of…

1. Your true path and purpose. Fear of being different… Don’t be fooled by what others say, especially when they try to tell you what is right for you. Listen and then draw your own conclusions. What is your intuition telling you? There is not a clear path that everyone should follow. Your greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding in life at all the wrong things. Choose a path that fits YOU. Those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it. Challenge yourself to ask with each and every step, and each focus point that consumes your energy: “Does this thing I’m doing right now truly serve me and those I care about in the next few minutes, few months, and few years?” Whatever you settle on, just make sure you don’t gain the whole world by losing your soul and purpose in the process.

2. Self-respect. Fear of not being good enough… Don’t be too hard on yourself. There are plenty of people willing to do that for you. Do your best and surrender the rest. Tell yourself, “I am doing the best I can with what I have in this moment. That is all I can ever expect of anyone, including me.” Love yourself and be proud of everything you do, even your mistakes, because your mistakes mean you’re trying. If you feel like others are not treating you with love and respect, check your price tag. Perhaps you subconsciously marked yourself down. Because it’s YOU who tells others what you’re worth by showing them what you are willing to accept for your time and attention. So get off the clearance rack. If you don’t value and respect yourself, wholeheartedly, no one else will either.

3. Your ability to make concrete decisions. Fear of commitment… You cannot live your life at the mercy of chance. You cannot stumble along with a map marked only with the places you fear, or the places you know you don’t want to revisit. You cannot remain trapped, endlessly, in a state where you are unable to ask for directions, even though you’re terribly lost, because you don’t know your destination. You have to commit to goals that speak to you. You have to stand up, look at yourself in the mirror, and say, “It isn’t good enough for me to know only what I DON’T want in life. I need to decide what I DO want.”

4. Priceless opportunities and life experiences. Fear of change and discomfort… As Thich Nhat Hanh so perfectly said, “People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.” In many cases you stay stuck in your old routines for no other reason than that they are familiar to you. In other words, you’re afraid of change and the unknown. You continually put your dreams and goals off until tomorrow, and you pass on great opportunities simply because they have the potential to lead you out of your comfort zone.

You start using excuses to justify your lack of backbone: “Someday when I have more money,” or “when I’m older,” or the over-abused “I’ll get to it as soon as I have more time.” This is a vicious cycle that leads to a deeply unsatisfying life – a way of thinking that eventually sends you to your grave with immense regret. Regret that you didn’t follow your heart. Regret that you always put everyone else’s needs before your own. Regret that you didn’t do what you could have done when you had the chance.

5. General happiness and peace of mind. Fear of facing inner truths… If you keep looking for happiness outside yourself, you will never find it. Happiness is found from within. What you seek is not somewhere else at some other time; what you seek is here and now, within you. The more you look for it outside yourself, the more it hides from you. Relax, remember the source of your deepest desires, and allow yourself to know their fulfillment. A choice, not circumstances, determines happiness. Each morning when you open your eyes, say to yourself: “I, not external people or events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. It’s up to me. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow hasn’t come yet. I only have today and I’m going to be happy in it.”

6. Your willingness to love, truly and purely. Fear of not being loved in return… Although it is nice when gestures of love are returned, true love is one-way traffic. It’s a pure flow of giving and expecting nothing in return. Anything else is a contract. Notice how whenever you allow love to flow you are always clear, calm and strong. It is only when the thought arises, “What have they given me in return?” that there is confusion and resentment. Ego transacts, love transforms. Life is too short for all these meticulous contracts and transactions.

Look out for yourself by focusing your love in a direction that feels right to you, but once you decide to love, remain clear, remain bright, and remain strong. Love without expectation. Don’t let fear get in your way. When the love you give is true, the people worthy of your love will gradually reveal themselves over time.

7. The right company. Fear of being alone… Sadly, no matter how much love you give, some relationships simply aren’t meant to be. You can try your hardest, you can do everything and say everything, but sometimes people just aren’t worth stressing over anymore, and they aren’t worth worrying about. It’s important to know when to distance yourself from someone who only hurts you and brings you down. When you give your love to someone, truly and purely without expectation, and it’s never good enough for them, there’s a good chance you’re giving your love to the wrong person.

The bottom line is that long-term relationships should help you, not hurt you. Spend time with nice people who are smart, driven and like-minded. And remember, good relationships are a sacred bond – a circle of trust. Both parties must be 100% on board. If and when the time comes to let a relationship go, don’t be hostile. Simply thank the relationships that don’t work out for you, because they just made room for the ones that will.

Next steps… Your biggest fears are completely dependent on you for their survival. Every new day is another chance to change your life, and it’s way too short to let fear interfere. Today, focus your conscious mind on things you desire, not things you fear. Doing so can bring your dreams to life.

Your turn… What has fear stolen from you? What has it stopped you from doing, being, or achieving? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts with the community.”

- http://www.marcandangel.com/

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"Can't You See..."

"Can't you see that the courage to risk, to dare, to toss that gold coin up in the air over and over again, win or lose, is what makes humans human? They are fragile, doomed creatures, blinder than worms yet braver than the gods."

- Jennifer Donnelly, "Stepsister"

Free Download: Dr. Ben Marble, "Master List Of Pharmacies By State"

"They Have Already Dosed Half the 

Planet with Slow Acting Lethal Injections"

"Dr. Ben Marble of https://myfreedoctor.com joins The Alex Jones Show to break down the reality of half the planet being dosed with slow-acting lethal injections." Video here: - https://banned.video/

○

"Master List Of Pharmacies By State"

(Including a couple entries that specifically mention District of Columbia.)

"Please Note: We DO NOT accept insurance and will not offer a prior authorization or pre-authorization for medications. This is a function of insurance and we are not able to accommodate these requests. The accessibility of covid treatments through these pharmacies is always changing. It is the responsibility of the patient to call these pharmacies, to verify they are still filling WITHOUT a diagnostic code, to confirm they have a supply of ivermectin in stock, and to confirm pricing and pickup or delivery arrangements. If you find another pharmacy that will fill according to our criteria, it has to be in the database.

We cannot call or fax pharmacies. To find a pharmacy near you that will fill ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, please google pharmacies in your area -within a radius you are willing to travel- and look for independent pharmacies, or compounding pharmacies. Call and ask them if they will fill ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine WITHOUT a diagnosis code. If they will, then you can use them."

Freely Download PDF: "Master List Of Pharmacies By State" here:

- https://img1.wsimg.com/

"You Cannot Kill Me Here..."

"Relax. They're not going to kill us. They're going to

TRY and kill us. And that is a very different thing."

- Steve Voake, "The Dreamwalker's Child"

○

"You cannot kill me here. Bring your soldiers, your death, your disease, your collapsed economy because it doesn't matter, I have nothing left to lose and you cannot kill me here. Bring the tears of orphans and the wails of a mother's loss, bring your Jesus on a cross, bring your hate and bitterness and long working hours, bring your empty wallets and love long since gone but you cannot kill me here. Bring your sneers, your snide remarks and friendships never felt, your letters never sent, your kisses never kissed, cigarettes smoked to the bone and cancer killing fears but you cannot kill me here. For I may fall and I may fail but I will stand again each time and you will find no satisfaction. Because you cannot kill me here." 

- Iain S. Thomas

"Michael Pento: 2022 Biggest Stock Market Crash In History Likely"

Full screen recommended.

"Michael Pento: 2022 Biggest Stock Market Crash In History Likely"

"Michael Pento, well known money manager, joins us to describe the current setup as the biggest potential stock market crash in history during 2022. The central bank policies and current actions are leading to a moment that will be remembered for generations."

- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

Michael Pento is a specialist in Austrian economics and is the President of Pento Portfolio Strategies. Prior to starting Pento Portfolio Strategies he served as a senior economist and VP of the managed products division of another well known financial firm. Michael has also created ETFs and UITs that were sold throughout Wall Street. Earlier in his career, he worked on the floor of the NYSE. He is the author of "The Coming Bond Market Collapse: How to Survive the Demise of the U.S. Debt Market."

"We Are In a State of Limbo and The Fed Will Do Nothing"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly, 2/15/22:

"We Are In a State of Limbo and The Fed Will Do Nothing"

"Everything with the economy is in a state of limbo. The Fed has an emergency meeting and we all think they’re going to raise interest rates. Not only do they not raise interest rates, but they came out with dissenting opinions on what would happen."

"Despite My Firm Convictions..."

"Despite my firm convictions, I have been always a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth."

- Malcolm X

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"How It Really May Be, For The Lucky Ones, Sometime In The Future"

Full screen recommended.

Early American, "A Working Class Supper in 1820s America - Winter"

"An Indian meal pudding (an early version of cornbread), sausages with red cabbage and broiled potatoes. Economical yet hearty food to get one through labor through the worst of Missouri's winters. It's early February in the Missouri Territory."

The Daily "Near You?"

Ellijay, Georgia, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Gregory Mannarino, "Inflation Is Raging And I Am Pissed Off! More Lies And Propaganda, Distraction"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/15/22:

"Inflation Is Raging And I Am Pissed Off!

 More Lies And Propaganda, Distraction"

- https://traderschoice.net/

○

Related:

"Since the Fed Announced It Was “Tapering” Last November, It’s Actually

Added $332 Billion in Liquidity with New Debt Security Purchases"

"If you’re wondering why inflation is running hotter than it has in 40 years and why St. Louis Fed President James Bullard has broken with protocol and is openly criticizing the Fed on television for falling behind the curve on inflation, here’s a key part of that ."

"Walmart Has Started Putting Steaks Inside “Locked Metal Cages” To Keep Shoplifters From Taking Them"

"Walmart Has Started Putting Steaks Inside

 “Locked Metal Cages” To Keep Shoplifters From Taking Them"

by Michael Snyder

"Has it really come to this? We all knew that shoplifting was getting really bad all over the nation, but does Walmart really need to start locking up the steaks? I was stunned when I first learned that pharmacies in our core urban areas were locking up toothpaste and deodorant, but I didn’t think that we were already at a point where supermarkets would start locking up the food. I don’t know about you, but to me this is an extremely chilling omen…Walmart has started securing high-priced steaks inside locked metal cages amid rising crime rates across the U.S., a new viral video has revealed.

Full screen recommended.

I have never seen anything like this in my entire life.

After a man from Florida took a video of this new “packaging” and put it up on TikTok, it quickly accumulated more than four million views… "Michael Fromhold, from Florida, was stunned when he noticed that the meat at his local Walmart had been locked up in what appears to be a rather dramatic attempt to prevent people from stealing it. Michael took a video of it and shared it to TikTok where it quickly went viral – gaining more than four million views in a matter of days – and the clip lead some viewers to lament the fact that such measures have become necessary."

If you see something like this at your local Walmart, please take a photo or a video of it. At this point, it is not clear if these new “security devices” are being rolled out nationwide or just in high crime areas. As the price of meat continues to go higher, steaks will increasingly become desirable targets for professional looters.

Just last week, one man was spotted stealing 10 packages of steaks from a Trader Joe’s in New York City… "As recently as Tuesday, a man was seen stuffing cans of soda into his pants at a Trader Joe’s in Union Square before casually leaving the store, according to footage captured by the New York Post. Just one day before that, another man left the same store with a stack of 10 packages of steaks. Employees told the outlet that they were told not to stop the alleged thief."

And it isn’t just steaks that will need to be locked up. Since Joe Biden entered the White House, just about every category of meat has surged in price… "The price of beef and veal products increased 16.0 percent, according to BLS. That included a 13.0 percent increase in the price of uncooked ground beef; a 17.1 percent increase in the price of uncooked beef steaks; and a 19.2 percent increase in the price of uncooked beef roasts. The price of pork increased 14.1 percent. The price of chicken increased 10.3 percent."

Of course food prices are rapidly escalating across the board, and major grocery chains are now facing a sustained wave of theft that is unlike anything that they have ever experienced before. In fact, things have gotten so bad that the CEO of a major grocery chain in New York says that his company will be hiring retired police officers to help crack down on shoplifters…

"A major New York City grocery chain is buckling down on security measures following a string of brazen retail thefts targeting supermarkets in the Big Apple. John Catsimatidis, the CEO of Gristedes, told FOX Business that the company plans to place retired police officers outside its stores and even offer rewards to customers who provide information on shoplifters." We certainly aren’t too far away from “armed guards on food trucks”, are we?

Everyone agrees that food prices will continue to escalate in 2022, but if Russia invades Ukraine that could take things to an entirely new and dangerous level… "Concerns about an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine are roiling the market for agricultural products like wheat at a time when global food prices are already near 10-year highs. Russia is the world’s top exporter of wheat. Ukraine is also a significant exporter of both wheat and corn. That’s sending prices for grains on a bumpy ride as investors assess the potential for conflict."

In addition, we are being warned that a conflict in Ukraine could result in a “global energy shock”. Energy prices have already begun to spiral out of control, and CNN is telling us that a war in Europe would push the price of oil “above $100 a barrel sooner than earlier projected”… "A Russian invasion of Ukraine could further disrupt supplies of crude, potentially leading prices that are already their highest in seven years and approaching $100 a barrel, to even loftier levels.

“The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is likely to push crude oil prices above $100 a barrel sooner than earlier projected,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst with AvaTrade, in a report Monday. “The potential jump in oil prices depends on what sort of sanctions the United States of America and its allies are likely to impose on Russia if it actually invades its neighbor.”

We have reached such a dangerous moment in our history. Once war begins, there will simply be no going back to “normal”. The Biden administration is about to drag us across a line that nobody will ever be able to uncross.

As I stated yesterday, if the American people truly understood what was at stake they would be flooding the streets in protest all over the nation. But the American people don’t understand what is at stake. Most people simply assume that global leaders couldn’t possibly be foolish enough to start World War 3. Unfortunately, global leaders are far more foolish than most people realize, and we are on the verge of plunging into a conflict that nobody will win."

- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

"Major Shortages At Big Lots! Prices Are Skyrocketing!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures with Danno, AM 2/15/22:

"Major Shortages At Big Lots! Prices Are Skyrocketing!"

"In today's vlog we visit Big Lots and are seeing major shortages, and empty shelves. With stores struggling to get in products we are also dealing with another issue of skyrocketing prices."