Thursday, March 10, 2022

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Is this what will become of our Milky Way Galaxy? Perhaps if we collide with the Andromeda Galaxy in a few billion years, it might. Pictured below is NGC 7252, a jumble of stars created by a huge collision between two large galaxies. The collision will take hundreds of millions of years and so is effectively caught frozen in time in the above image. The resulting pandemonium has been dubbed the Atoms-for-Peace galaxy because of its similarity to a cartoon of a large atom.
The above image was taken by the MPG/ESO 2.2 meter telescope in Chile. NGC 7252 spans about 600,000 light years and lies about 220 million light years away toward the constellation of the Water Bearer (Aquarius). Since the sideways velocity of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is presently unknown, no one really knows for sure if the Milky Way will ever collide with M31."

Tecumseh, "Live Your Life..."

"Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about his religion.
Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours.
Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.
Seek to make your life long and of service to your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting
or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.
When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light,
for your life, for your strength.
Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.
Touch not the poisonous firewater that makes
wise ones turn to fools and robs their spirit of its vision.
When your time comes to die, be not like those
whose hearts are filled with fear of death,
so that when their time comes they weep and pray
for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way.
Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home."

- Tecumseh, Shawnee

“Before the Leaves Fall From the Trees”

“Before the Leaves Fall From the Trees”
by Simon Black

"The morning of June 28, 1914 began like any other normal day. It was a Sunday, so a lot of people went to church. Others prepared large meals for family gatherings, played with their children, or thumbed through the Sunday papers.

At that point, tensions had been high in Europe for several years; the continent was bitterly divided by a series of complex diplomatic and military alliances, and small wars had recently broken out. Italy and the Ottoman Empire went to war in 1912 in a limited, 13-month conflict. And the First Balkan War was waged in early 1913. Overall, though, the continent clung to a delicate peace. And hardly anyone expected that most of the next THREE DECADES would be filled with chaos, poverty, and destruction. And then it happened.

That Sunday afternoon, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire was assassinated during an official visit to Sarajevo. And the world changed forever. Five weeks later the entire continent was at war with itself. But even still, most of the ‘experts’ thought it would be a simple, speedy conflict. Germany’s emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, famously told his troops who were being shipped off to the front line in August 1914, “You will be home before the leaves fall from the trees...” It took four years and an estimated 68 million casualties to bring the war to a close. But that was only the prelude.

Following (and even during) World War I, a series of bloody revolutionary movements took hold in Europe, including in Russia, Greece, Spain, Turkey, and Ireland. Then came the Spanish flu, which claimed the lives of tens of millions of people. Later, Germany sunk into one of the worst episodes of hyperinflation in human history.

Communism began rapidly spreading across the world almost as quickly as the Spanish flu, often through violent fanatics who engaged in murder and arson in order to intimidate their opponents; this became known as the ‘Red Scare’ in the United States.

Of course there were some good years during the 1920s when people generally felt prosperous and happy; but it all came crashing down at the end of the decade when a severe economic depression strangled the entire world. It lasted for more than ten years, during which time the world was once again brought to an even more destructive war that didn’t end until atomic weapons obliterated the civilian populations of two Japanese cities.

Again – go back to June 1914. Who would have thought that the next 30+ years would play out so destructively? Even for the people who did predict that Europe would go to war in 1914, most leaders thought it would be over quickly. And almost no one expected it would spawn decades of chaos.

Today we’re obviously living in different times and under different circumstances. But we may be standing at a similar precipice as in 1914, staring at enormous trends that could shape our lives for years to come. Covid only scratches the surface.

We now know without a doubt, for example, how governments will respond the next time they feel there’s a threat to public health. They’ll say, “We’re listening to the scientists.” Really? The same scientists who tell people they can’t go to work, school, or church, but it’s perfectly fine for peaceful protesters to pack together like sardines without wearing masks because they’re apparently protected from the virus by their own righteousness? The same scientists who want to lock everyone down to prevent Covid, but are happy to accept skyrocketing rates of cancer, depression, suicide, heart disease, and domestic abuse as a result of those very lockdowns…?

The public health consequences from this pandemic will reverberate for years to come. And that doesn’t even begin to take the economic consequences into consideration. Western governments have taken on trillions of dollars in new debt this year and central banks have printed trillions more. Even with all that stimulus, however, there are still hundreds of millions of people worldwide who lost their jobs, and countless businesses that have closed.

Future generations who haven’t even been born yet will spend their entire working lives paying interest on the debts that are being accumulated today. The long-term consequences of all this are incalculable.

And then there are the social trends – the rise of neo-Marxism that’s sweeping the world so fast. It’s the Red Scare of the 21st century. They despise talented, successful people. They believe it’s greedy for you to keep a healthy portion of what you earn… but it’s not greedy for them to take it from you and spend it on themselves.

Many of the people in this movement, of course, are violent fanatics who routinely engage in arson, assault, and vandalism. Same for the social justice warriors who are just as quick to violence and intimidation; plus they’ve already commandeered the decision-making of some of the largest, most powerful companies in the world. You can’t even watch a football game or a TV commercial anymore without some commentary on oppression and victimization. And any intellectual dissent is met with intimidation… or censorship.

In fact the largest consumer technology companies in the world have become our censors. We’re not allowed to share scientific information that doesn’t conform to the Chinese-controlled World Health Organization’s guidance. And news articles that don’t match their ideology are blocked.

Let’s not kid ourselves – these trends are not going away any time soon. It’s great to be optimistic, hope for the best, and enjoy the good years as they come. But it makes sense to at least be prepared for the possibility that we could be at the very beginning of a period of enormous instability that may last a very long time."
"The Guns of August" 

"In this landmark, Pulitzer Prize–winning account, renowned historian Barbara W. Tuchman re-creates the first month of World War I: thirty days in the summer of 1914 that determined the course of the conflict, the century, and ultimately our present world. Beginning with the funeral of Edward VII, Tuchman traces each step that led to the inevitable clash. And inevitable it was, with all sides plotting their war for a generation. Dizzyingly comprehensive and spectacularly portrayed with her famous talent for evoking the characters of the war’s key players."
Freely download here:

"Shaya's Home Run"

"Shaya's Home Run"
by Rabbi Paysach Krohn

"In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to learning-disabled children. Some children remain in Chush for their entire school careers, while others can be mainstreamed into conventional yeshivos and Bais Yaakovs. There are a few children who attend Chush for most of the week and go to a regular school on Sundays. At a Chush fund-raising dinner, the father of a Chush child delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he cried out, “Where is the perfection in my son Shaya? Everything that Hashem [G-d] does is done with perfection. But my child cannot understand things as other children do. My child cannot remember facts and figures as other children do. Where is Hashem’s perfection?” The audience was shocked by the question, pained by the father’s anguish and stilled by his piercing query.

“I believe,” the father answered, “that when Hashem brings a child like this into the world, the perfection that He seeks is in the way people react to this child.” He then told the following story about his son Shaya. Shaya attends Chush throughout the week and Yeshivah Darchei Torah in Far Rockaway on Sundays. One Sunday afternoon, Shaya and his father came to Darchei Torah as his classmates were playing baseball. The game was in progress and as Shaya and his father made their way towards the ball field, Shaya said, “Do you think you could get me into the game?”

Shaya’s father knew his son was not at all athletic, and that most boys would not want him on their team. But Shaya’s father understood that if his son was chosen in, it would give him a comfortable sense of belonging. Shaya’s father approached one of the boys in the field and asked, “Do you think my Shaya could get into the game?”

The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, “We are losing by six runs and the game is already in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we’ll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning.” Shaya’s father was ecstatic as Shaya smiled broadly. Shaya was told to put on a glove and go out to play short center field, a position that exists only in softball. There were no protests from the opposing team, which would now be hitting with an extra man in the outfield.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shaya’s team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shaya’s team scored again and now with two outs and the bases loaded and the potential winning runs on base, Shaya was scheduled to be up. Would the team actually let Shaya bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shaya was told to take a bat and try to get a hit. Everyone knew that it was all but impossible, for Shaya didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. However as Shaya stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so that Shaya should at least be able to make contact.

The first pitch came in and Shaya swung clumsily and missed. One of Shaya’s teammates came up to Shaya and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher waiting for the next pitch. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shaya. As the next pitch came in, Shaya and his teammate swung the bat and together they hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shaya would have been out and that would have ended the game.

Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field, far and wide beyond the first baseman’s reach. Everyone started yelling, “Shaya, run to first! Shaya, run to first!” Never in his life had Shaya run to first. He scampered down the baseline wide eyed and startled. By the time he reached first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman who would tag out Shaya, who was still running. But the right fielder understood what the pitcher’s intentions were, so he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman’s head, as everyone yelled, “Shaya, run to second! Shaya, run to second.”

Shaya ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home. As Shaya reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran towards him, turned him towards the direction of third base and shouted “Shaya, run to third!”

As Shaya rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, “Shaya, run home! Shaya, run home!” Shaya ran home, stepped on home plate and all 18 boys lifted him on their shoulders and made him the hero, as he had just hit the “grand slam” and won the game for his team.

“That day,” said the father who now had tears rolling down his face, “those 18 boys reached their level of perfection. They showed that it is not only those who are talented that should be recognized, but also those who have less talent. They too are human beings, they too have feelings and emotions, they too are people, they too want to feel important.”

That is the exceptional lesson of this episode. Too often we seek to find favor and give honor to those who have more than us. But there are people who have fewer friends than we, less money, and less prestige. Those people especially need attention and recognition. We should try to achieve the level of perfection in human relationships which the boys on the ball field at Yeshiva Darchei Torah achieved. Because if children can do it, we adults should certainly be able to accomplish it as well."

"Walk Like A Roman In This Digital Reconstruction Of The Ancient City"

Full screen recommended.
"Virtual Ancient Rome in 3D - Via Sacra at Constantine I Time: 
Walking From Colosseum to the Forum"
by History In 3D

"What did the main street of ancient Rome look like in the 4th century AD, during the time of Emperor Constantine I? In this video tour, we will walk down the street from the Colosseum to the Forum, look at the legendary Roman buildings, and then look at the same location from the air and from the Palatine. Happy viewing!

Through increasingly sophisticated virtual reality (VR) technologies, motion graphics and the committed work and research of 3D modellers, such an immersive educational experience may soon be possible. The team behind History in 3D is working to bring this concept to life through its ambitious project to ‘create the most extensive, detailed and accurate virtual 3D reconstruction of ancient Rome’. Eventually, the team hopes to allow users to explore a historically accurate rendering of the city, and perhaps beyond, via VR technology.

Today, viewers can watch excerpts from this expansive work-in-progress on the History in 3D YouTube channel. In this extract, titled "Virtual Ancient Rome: Walking from the Colosseum to the Forum", we’re led on a gentle digital stroll between these two landmarks, in the 4th century CE, with views of several other notable sites along the way. While it’s but a glimpse into the larger, more ambitious endeavor, the video is a fascinating experience in its own right, and hints at the promise of historical reconstructions to come."
View many fascinating videos here:

The Poet: James Kavanaugh, “Searchers”

“Searchers”

“Some people do not have to search -
they find their niche early in life and rest there,
seemingly contented and resigned.
They do not seem to ask much of life,
sometimes they do not seem to take it seriously.
At times I envy them,
but usually I do not understand them -
seldom do they understand me.
I am one of the searchers.
There are, I believe, millions of us.
We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content.
We continue to explore life,
hoping to uncover its ultimate secret.
We continue to explore ourselves,
hoping to understand.
We like to walk along the beach -
we are drawn by the ocean,
taken by its power, its unceasing motion,
its mystery and unspeakable beauty.
We like forests and mountains, deserts and hidden rivers,
and the lonely cities as well.
Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter.
To share our sadness with the one we love is
perhaps as great a joy as we can know -
unless it is to share our laughter.
We searchers are ambitious only for life itself,
for everything beautiful it can provide.
Most of all we want to love and be loved.
We want to live in a relationship that will not impede
our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls.
We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love.
We are wanderers, dreamers and lovers,
lonely souls who dare ask of life everything good and beautiful.”

- James Kavanaugh

"He Is Under A Spell..."

“The fact that the foolish person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with him as a person, but with slogans, catchwords, and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the foolish person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings.“
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Letters and Papers From Prison”
Freely download “Letters and Papers From Prison” here:

Gregory Mannarino, "Expect Another Massive Bank Bailout, And Here Is Why!"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 3/10/22:
"Expect Another Massive Bank Bailout, And Here Is Why!"

The Daily "Near You?"

Davisburg, Michigan, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Collateral Damage"

"Collateral Damage"
by Bill Bonner

San Martin, Argentina - "Like bombs and missiles, sanctions – supposedly ‘precision targeted’ – tend to blow up more than they were aiming for. Today, we look at some of the body parts littering the ground… including the cheapest stocks in the world. One unfortunate victim: world energy prices:

Not every recession is led by a 50% rise in crude.
But every 50% rise in crude has led to a recession.
(Chart source: Refinitiv Datastream; Pictet Asset Management)

Yes, most likely, higher prices and a recession will make millions of ordinary people poorer. Perhaps some Americans will feel good about this. They’ll be happy to pay more for gasoline. They’ll feel proud even as they have less money to spend. After all, they’re fighting a holy war against the Russkies!

As in any war, many of the victims are unarmed and had nothing to do with the invasion of Ukraine. Bloomberg reports: "Sanctions are targeting Russia’s largest banks, biggest companies and richest people, in the wake of the country’s invasion of Ukraine. They’re also having a knock-on effect further afield by squeezing everyday Russians living abroad."

These expats don’t have private jets or wealth managers. But they are accustomed to easy online banking, cheap currency conversions and a steady flow of goods and services between their current outposts and home. With new sanctions - as well as sudden policy changes by Russia and the breakneck drop in value of the ruble - those links have broken down in just days.

New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman, refers to the Bloomberg report: "Marina Gretskaya, a 32-year-old Russian living in London who moved last year to work in communications. She kept a ruble savings account in an online Russian bank, Tinkoff. Two weeks ago, her assets there were worth $7,400. On Monday, the ruble plummeted more than 30 percent against the dollar. That evaporated more than $2,000 from her savings. “It’s a month’s salary,” she said."

New and Dangerous: Years ago, we enjoyed mocking Friedman. His “The World Is Flat” (suggesting that the ‘liberal’ world order – globalization, financialization, technocratization – had irrevocably triumphed) was laughably shallow. His support of the ‘War against Terror’ was just embarrassingly dumb. Then, he seemed to drop from view. But he’s back. And he raises a good point in his latest New York Times column. The way the US wages war is new and dangerous. Predictably, Friedman misunderstands everything; we’ll take a closer look, tomorrow.

What is not new about this Russia-Ukraine conflict is the way the private sector rallies to the Great Cause. Do-gooders all want to appear to be doing good, without any of them knowing what good they might actually be doing. Is it really a good idea to arm Ukrainian civilians, so they can be killed by professional Russian troops? Is it really a good idea to send money to the Ukraine, encouraging more bloodshed and property damage? Why all of a sudden, is the ‘liberal world order’ so keen to protect Mr. Zelensky’s government; how does it know that another leader wouldn’t be better?

But there is no point in asking questions. Americans think they have a dog in this fight; they want to see him tear the other animal apart. And consumers – US, European or Russian – who are in no way responsible for the war, pay the price.

Collateral Damage: Nor are investors to blame. Those who owned stock in the big-box store, Magnit, for example, are losing big-time. The stock was down from $15 last month to as low as one cent. The Russian bank, Sberbank, had assets worth nearly half a trillion dollars. What they are worth today, we don’t know. But it is almost surely more than the $244 million the company was valued at when trading on the stock ceased in London last week. An investor who could buy it today would be buying dollars for pennies.

Or, Lukoil. It had assets of $83 billion in 2020 – mostly oil reserves (which are probably worth a lot more today). On Friday, the company was reportedly worth about $500 million, or only 6 tenths of 1% of its previous value. Another great speculative opportunity.

Whether out of solidarity or plain stupidity, westerners are selling low… when they can sell… and taking huge losses. BP, for example, says it will lose about $25 billion unloading its Russian assets. Yet, rarely does an ill-wind blow no one good. Who has the wind to his back? Who gains?

Well, imagine that you could buy a house worth $300,000 for only $3,000. Imagine that you could buy a company with $10 million in the bank for only $100,000. Who wins? The buyer or the seller? Who’s getting billions of dollars’ worth of real value for almost nothing?

In other words, Western investors take the losses… Russian oligarchs (who are, most likely, on the other side of the trade) get even wealthier. Among the collateral damage, over the long term, will probably be the US-dominated financial system… including the ‘exorbitant privilege’ of having the world’s reserve currency, the dollar. Sanctions push Russia, Iran, China, and others closer together and encourage them to find alternatives. Few people will want to keep their savings in a currency that can be sanctioned away whenever the rulers of the ‘liberal’ world order choose.

And finally, dollar inflation weakens the American economy, makes its people poorer, and encourages them to look for alternatives too. Gold is selling over $2,000 an ounce this morning. At the beginning of this sad century it was only $290. That is the measure of America’s decline so far. With reckless wars, uninhibited money-printing, and sanctions that blow up in our faces… it is bound to sink further."

"Beef Is Now A 'Luxury Meat' And Goldman Sachs Says To Brace For “One Of The Largest Energy Supply Shocks Ever”

"Beef Is Now A 'Luxury Meat' And Goldman Sachs Says
To Brace For “One Of The Largest Energy Supply Shocks Ever”
by Michael Snyder

"The new global economic crisis that we have entered into is starting to hit home with hard working American families in a major way. I have been hearing from so many people that are absolutely horrified by how rapidly the price of gasoline is rising. Especially for those that have to drive a lot, this is going to cause a tremendous amount of pain. Food prices continue to surge as well, and this is particularly true when it comes to meat. Unless you are a vegan or a vegetarian, you are probably accustomed to eating quite a bit of meat on a regular basis. Unfortunately, now we are being told that Americans are going to have to cut back due to global supply problems. In fact, a Yahoo Finance article that I came across earlier today actually referred to beef as a “luxury meat”…

"Americans could be cutting steaks and burgers from their diets as inflation soars, if beef-packer profit margins are any indication. Processors like Tyson Foods Inc. and JBS USA are making the least amount of money per head of cattle slaughtered in more than two years, according to data from HedgersEdge LLC. That’s a sign that demand for the luxury meat is flagging."

In my entire life, I have never heard beef called a “luxury meat” before. Have you? But with the way that the price of beef is rising, many Americans will soon only be able to eat it once in a while.

In normal times, those moving away from beef would be able to eat more chicken and more turkey, but thanks to a devastating new outbreak supplies of chicken and turkey are going to be getting a whole lot tighter. For much more on this, please see an article that I just published entitled “Nearly 2.8 Million Birds (Mostly Chickens And Turkeys) Have Died In The First Month Of America’s Raging New Bird Flu Pandemic”.

Of course it isn’t just meat supplies that are going to be tightening. Ukraine and Russia normally account for about 30 percent of all global wheat exports, but now the war is going to cause that number to drop precipitously. As panic about global food supplies spreads, some countries are already placing restrictions on how much can be sent out of the country. For example, on Wednesday Indonesia “tightened curbs on palm oil exports”.

And in eastern Europe, Serbia, Hungary and Bulgaria have all recently made moves to make sure that their people have enough to eat… "Serbia announced on Wednesday it will ban exports of wheat, corn, flour and cooking oil as of Thursday to counter price increases while Hungary banned all grain exports last week. Bulgaria has also announced it will increase its grain reserves and might restrict exports until it has carried out planned purchases."

But of even greater concern is what Ukraine has decided to do. Normally, Ukraine is one of the biggest exporters in the entire world, but now the Ukrainian government has issued an emergency order which essentially bans the export of most food… "Ukraine, known as the “breadbasket of Europe” given it’s long been among the world’s top ten wheat exporters and supplied over $6 billion in agricultural products to the European Union in 2020, has issued an emergency order Wednesday banning the export of grains and other products.

The ban includes the export of wheat, oats, millet, buckwheat, sugar, live cattle, meat, and other products considered vital to the global economy. But amid wartime, and with Ukraine’s government saying many of its citizens are now starving under Russian siege, Ukraine’s minister of agrarian and food policy Roman Leshchenko said the drastic action was taken to avert a “humanitarian crisis in Ukraine,” stabilize the market and “meet the needs of the population in critical food products,” according to the AP."

I can understand why Ukraine has made this decision, but this is going to have a devastating domino effect. Lebanon normally gets 60 percent of the wheat that it uses from Ukraine, and the fact that they have been cut off from Ukrainian wheat is already causing major problems…"Lebanon could face wheat shortages from July, forcing the government to reduce subsidized flat rounds of Arabic bread, which sustain the 80 percent of Lebanon’s population who live in poverty, according to a report by The Irish Times. Flour mills in Lebanon delivered supplies only to bread bakeries on Monday and Tuesday, forcing bakers who make pastries and thyme pizzas to close as a means of rationing wheat imported from Ukraine, which supplies 60 percent of the country’s wheat needs."

I am stunned when I read things like that. If the war stretches on for an extended period of time, how bad will things be 6 months from now?

Here in the United States, fertilizer prices are causing havoc for farmers all over the country. If you don’t believe me, perhaps you will believe a prominent farmer from Iowa that Tucker Carlson just interviewed… "Ben Riensche, the owner of Blue Diamond Farming Company in Iowa and a farmer of 16,000 acres in that state, told Carlson that the sanctions will have a far-reaching impact on our food supplies in the very near future. “Soaring fertilizer prices are likely to bring spiked food prices,” Riensche said. “If you’re upset that gas is up a dollar or two a gallon, wait until your grocery bill is up $1,000 a month, and it might not just manifest itself in terms of price. It could be quantity as well. Empty-shelf syndrome may be starting.”

Weeks ago, I passed along what a farming insider shared with me. He explained that some fertilizer prices had doubled or even tripled in price, and he warned that this would make growing corn unprofitable for farmers all over America this year. And that was before the war in Ukraine started.

Speaking of the war, Goldman Sachs is now telling us that it could result in “one of the largest energy supply shocks ever”… “Given Russia’s key role in global energy supply, the global economy could soon be faced with one of the largest energy supply shocks ever,” Goldman Sachs said in the Monday night report, adding that the scale of the shock is “potentially enormous.”

I have been writing a lot about the price of oil lately, because it affects just about all of us on a daily basis. We all have to fill up our vehicles with gasoline, and that is going to become a lot more expensive. For example, gas prices in Washington D.C. have been shooting up dramatically… "The trajectory of gas prices at the Mobil station four miles north of the White House has been brutal, clocking in at $3.85 a week ago, $4.17 on Friday, then $4.43 Tuesday, leaving Elizabeth Lopez, a mother of three and employer of six, feeling trapped. “I don’t know how we can do it,” Lopez said, filling up a Chrysler minivan across from a shuttered tire shop in Northwest Washington."

Needless to say, this is just the beginning. If people think that things are bad now, how are they going to feel when the price of gasoline is six or seven dollars a gallon?

And as the price of gasoline rises, so does gasoline theft. In fact, it is being reported that thieves are already drilling holes in fuel tanks so that they can siphon off the gasoline inside…"A FOX 11 viewer shared photos of what happened to a vehicle - a thief drilled a hole in the fuel tank, draining all the gas. AAA is seeing a rise in gas siphoning and theft across the country, and now they’re warning car owners about how to keep their vehicles safe. “This is a sign of the times you know,” AAA’s Doug Shupe said. “It’s thieves looking for ways that they can make money by stealing what is becoming an increasingly more expensive and valuable commodity, gasoline.”

At one time, I never would have imagined that anyone would ever drill a hole in my fuel tank so that they could steal my gasoline. But times have completely changed, and the worse things get the more desperate people are going to become.

I know that this article is getting quite long, but I wanted to squeeze as much in as I could. Global events have really started to accelerate, and conditions are changing at a pace that is absolutely breathtaking. We really have entered a “perfect storm”, and things are only going to get crazier in the months ahead."

"Americans Can’t Afford Gas, Congress Just Gave Itself a 21% Raise"

"Americans Can’t Afford Gas, 
Congress Just Gave Itself a 21% Raise"



Crazy in California. One lone gouger: $8.62/gal 
- Patrick De Haan ⛽️📊 (@GasBuddyGuy) March 9, 2022

"Americans Can’t Afford Gas, Congress Just Gave Itself a 21% Raise"

"The $1.5 trillion omnibus bill has plenty of inflationary spending, and the honorable members of the legislature didn’t leave themselves out. As part of the $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill released Wednesday, the $5.9 billion fiscal 2022 Legislative Branch funding portion would substantially boost the office budgets of House members to pay staff more…

"This legislation would provide $774.4 million for the Members Representational Allowance, known as the MRA, which funds the House office budgets for lawmakers, including staffer salaries. This $134.4 million, or 21 percent, boost over the previous fiscal year marks the largest increase in the MRA appropriation since it was authorized in 1996, according to a bill summary by the House Appropriations Committee. For paid interns in member and leadership offices, the House would get $18.2 million.

It’s not technically a pay hike for congressmembers, but, in particular House members, are notorious for putting family members on the payroll. And for using staffers to run their errands and handle assorted personal projects for them.

In August, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced staffers’ salaries could exceed those of lawmakers. Members in both the House and Senate, with the exception of leadership, make an annual salary of $174,000. Staffers can make up to $199,300.

"More Bank Warnings - Depression Ahead - Vegas is Finished"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly AM 3/10/22:
"More Bank Warnings - Depression Ahead - Vegas is Finished"
"More Bank warnings in regards to the Global Economy. 
They are lowering predictions for GDP around the globe. Las Vegas is finished."

"Soon You’ll Own Nothing, and the American Oligarchy Will Own Everything. Biden is Sanctioning the Working Class"

"Soon You’ll Own Nothing, and the American Oligarchy 
Will Own Everything. Biden is Sanctioning the Working Class"
Biden’s sanctions are doing significant harm to the working class in America. At this point, sanctions are useless because Russia is going to sell all of its oil & gas to China. WEF slogan might come true, sooner rather than later. When they say “you” they don’t mean the oligarchs."

Barbarians at the Gate – In Russia and on Wall Street" (Excerpt)

Barbarians at the Gate – 
In Russia and on Wall Street" (Excerpt)
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens

"Interestingly, the names of major corporations severing ties with Russia do not, as yet, include the big names on Wall Street. One day after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Wall Street On Parade broke the news that one of the four largest banks in the U.S., Citigroup’s Citibank, was servicing 500,000 customers in Russia and operating bank branches in 10 Russian cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Sochi, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, Ufa and Kazan. Citigroup, a multinational banking behemoth, has never had the best interests of the United States as a priority. After receiving the largest banking bailout in history from the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve from December 2007 through mid-July 2010 (a cumulative $2.5 trillion in loans, $45 billion in equity infusions, and more than $300 billion in asset guarantees) the bank went on its merry way serially violating the laws of the United States, paying fines, and then breaking more laws.

Yesterday, Citigroup released a statement indicating that instead of closing down its bank branches in Russia, or at least stating that it will accept no new deposits, it is merely operating on an undefined “more limited basis” while also “supporting our corporate clients in Russia.”
Please view this complete article here:
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.”
 - Taylor Caldwell, "A Pillar of Iron"

And what help has the government given YOU, Good Citizen?

Gregory Mannarino, "Economy In Freefall - Food and Energy Inflation At 40 Year High! The WORST Is Yet To Come"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 3/10/22:
"Economy In Freefall - Food and Energy Inflation 
At 40 Year High! The WORST Is Yet To Come"

"How It Really Is"

 

"The Economic War Between The United States And Russia Just Shifted Into Overdrive"

"The Economic War Between The United States 
And Russia Just Shifted Into Overdrive"
by Michael Snyder

"Economic conflicts have a way of becoming shooting wars, and so we should all be deeply alarmed by what we are witnessing. With each passing day, authorities in the United States and authorities in Russia are imposing even more measures which are intended to punish the other side economically. Thankfully, our militaries are not shooting at one another yet, but an economic war has already started and it just shifted into overdrive. On Tuesday, Joe Biden announced that his administration has decided to ban all imports of Russian oil and natural gas…

“Today I am announcing the United States is targeting the main artery of Russia’s economy. We’re banning all imports of Russian oil and gas and energy,” Biden said at the White House. “That means Russian oil will no longer be acceptable at U.S. ports and the American people will deal another powerful blow to Putin’s war machine.”

About the same time, the government in the UK also announced that it will be banning Russian oil… "The U.K. government will ban all imports of Russian oil, its latest sanctions move against Vladimir Putin’s administration over the war in Ukraine. The measure - taken in concert with the U.S. - will be phased in over the rest of 2022, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said. The ban applies to refined products such as diesel - which the U.K. relies on Russia for about a third of its imports. It won’t apply to natural gas."

Will these moves hurt the Russians? To a certain extent. The rest of Europe has not joined the U.S. and the UK in this boycott yet, and Russia will always be able to sell massive quantities of oil and natural gas to China.

In response to this latest move, Vladimir Putin signed an order which will ban the export of certain raw materials… "Within hours of Joe Biden announcing a far-reaching ban on all US imports of Russian oil – while warning Americans that gas prices are about to “go up further” – Vladimir Putin is reported to have signed his own counter-measure decree. Russia’s RIA news agency is reporting that the new decree blocks all exports and raw materials from Russia “of certain materials” – with state media reports noting the specific list will be made public in two days."

We will have to wait and see what specifically will be on that list, but I have a feeling that it will definitely include nickel. On Tuesday, trading of nickel was suspended after it suddenly more than doubled in price… "The London Metal Exchange on Tuesday suspended the trading of nickel after prices more than doubled to surpass $100,000 per metric ton. The LME said in a statement that trading will be suspended for at least the remainder of the day."

A global shortage of nickel is going to severely hurt industries all over the planet. And of course Russia could decide to cut off all oil and natural gas exports to the western world as well. If that happens, natural gas prices in Europe would soar to catastrophic levels, and the Russians are warning that we could eventually see the price of oil reach $300 per barrel… "Russia has threatened to close a major gas pipeline to Germany and warned of $300 oil prices if the West goes ahead with a ban on its energy exports.

“It is absolutely clear that a rejection of Russian oil would lead to catastrophic consequences for the global market,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Monday in an address on state television. “The surge in prices would be unpredictable. It would be $300 per barrel if not more.”

Unfortunately, we are not talking about a short-term crisis. Western powers are never going to forgive Russia, and Russia is never going to forgive the western powers. So a lot of the moves that are being implemented now are likely to be permanent. And that is truly a nightmare scenario.

Right now, many Americans are complaining about the rising price of gasoline. On Tuesday, it hit another brand new record high… "After rising dramatically following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the price of gas has reached a new record, topping an all-time high that stood for nearly 14 years. As of Tuesday morning, the average national price for a gallon of regular gasoline touched $4.17, according to AAA, the highest price ever, not accounting for inflation. That was up from $4.07 on Monday and $3.61 a week earlier."

But this is just the beginning. Not too long from now, $4.17 for a gallon of gasoline will look like a rip-roaring bargain.

Needless to say, higher gasoline prices are going to be very painful for average American families that are just trying to survive from month to month. According to Yardeni Research, the average household “will spend an additional $2,000 per year in gasoline on top of an extra $1,000 in food expenses” in 2022… The latest research note from Yardeni Research estimates the average household will spend an additional $2,000 per year in gasoline on top of an extra $1,000 in food expenses. Adding this all up, the typical household will spend $3,000 less this year on other things."

Ouch. Speaking of food, the war in Ukraine has absolutely paralyzed shipping in the Black Sea, and it has essentially resulted in “a shutdown of the world’s second-largest grain exporting region”… "The war in Ukraine has severely hobbled shipping in the Black Sea, with broad consequences for international transport and global supply chains. Dozens of cargo ships are stranded at the Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv, shipping trackers said. An estimated 3,500 sailors have been stuck on some 200 ships at Ukrainian ports, according to London-based shipping tracker Windward Ltd. More ships are stranded around the globe than at any point since World War II, maritime historians said. The result is a shutdown of the world’s second-largest grain exporting region. Ukraine accounts for 16% of global corn exports, and together with Russia, 30% of wheat exports."

As I have explained to my readers many times, we struggle to feed the entire planet even in the best of years, and this is definitely not going to be one of the best of years. Global hunger was rapidly spreading even before we got to 2022, and Time Magazine is reporting that the price of wheat has risen by a whopping 70 percent over the past few months…

"The war has already driven wheat prices 70% higher in Chicago this year and is threatening to upend global food trade. Russia and Ukraine are vital suppliers of grains, vegetable oil and fertilizers, which means that supply disruptions will be felt all over the world. Wheat prices have surpassed levels last seen during the 2008 global food crisis - which helped spark widespread protests - and a United Nations index of food prices hit a record in February."

What we are witnessing is going to have a devastating impact all over the planet. For example, Egypt imports more wheat than anyone else in the world, and they normally get almost all of it from Russia and Ukraine… "Egypt - the world’s largest wheat importer - gets roughly 60% of its wheat from Russia and 25% from Ukraine, JPMorgan analysts wrote in a research note last week." So what is Egypt going to do now?

Meanwhile, the price of fertilizer continues to soar to unprecedented heights, and experts are assuring us that a “global food crisis” is dead ahead… “Half the world’s population gets food as a result of fertilizers… and if that’s removed from the field for some crops, [the yield] will drop by 50%,” Svein Tore Holsether, head of agri company Yara International, told the BBC. Known as “the breadbasket of Europe,” Russia and Ukraine export around a quarter of the world’s wheat and half of its sunflower products, such as seeds and oil. “For me, it’s not whether we are moving into a global food crisis – it’s how large the crisis will be,” said Holsether, noting that increasing gas prices were causing a steep rise in the cost of fertilizer."

I wish that I could get everyone to understand how serious this is. The global food crisis that you have been hearing about for years has now arrived, and the poorest areas of the planet are going to be hit the hardest.

This war in Ukraine could have been avoided so easily, but there is no turning back the clock now. A chain of events has started that nobody is going to be able to stop, and things that were once considered unthinkable will soon become commonplace."

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

"Stock Market Ignores Danger, Another Miracle; Credit Card Companies Hate You; Walmart Sanctions?"

Jeremiah Babe, PM 3/9/22:
"Stock Market Ignores Danger, Another Miracle; 
Credit Card Companies Hate You; Walmart Sanctions?"

"50 Facts That Show Just How Much The Average American Has Been Destroyed By This Economy"

Full screen recommended.
"50 Facts That Show Just How Much The Average
 American Has Been Destroyed By This Economy"
by Epic Economy

"Today’s economy is destroying the lives of millions of hard-working Americans. Tonight, countless men and women out there won’t be able to sleep as they get consumed with anxiety about their worsening financial problems.

There are lots of parents all across the country experiencing severe financial insecurity, and they’re trying to figure out a way to explain to their kids why they can’t put food on the table anymore, or why their homes are being taken away.

It’s getting increasingly harder to find a decent job in the U.S. Given the current rate of inflation, the vast majority of job openings do not offer wages that allow workers to make ends meet. Meanwhile, Americans are being crushed by higher grocery bills, rising energy prices, record-high prices for gasoline, and unaffordable housing.

Working conditions continue to worsen by the day. Our once beautiful and bright metropolitan cities have been so devastated by this economy that it seems as if almost everyone has had the hope sucked right out of them. Bankruptcies and business closures have changed the U.S. economic landscape forever. Homelessness keeps rising at an alarming pace and is disproportionally affecting young Americans, whose future has been removed from their hands.

Have you ever been in a position where you couldn't pay the mortgage or put food on the table for your family? It can be an absolutely devastating experience. While our population struggles with rampant inflation, shortages and worsening working conditions, our leaders and the corporate media continue to dismiss our suffering and try to convince the public that this is what an economic recovery looks like.

But the truth is that we’re in the middle of a long-term economic downturn as the wealthiest country in the entire world becomes a nation plagued by poverty and inequality. The average American family is facing more financial hardship right now than at any other time since the Great Depression. And considering the global outlook, we all must brace for a lot more turbulence in the months ahead.

Today, we gathered 50 facts that expose the harsh reality of everyday Americans. The economic statistics that we’re about to report are incredibly shocking, but unfortunately, they are very, very real. Without further ado, here are '50 Facts That Show Just How Much The Average American Has Been Destroyed By This Economy."