“Life, Explained To You”

“Life, Explained To You”

Author Unknown

“On the first day God created the dog. God said, “Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. I will give you a life span of twenty years.” The dog said, “That’s too long to be barking. Give me ten years and I’ll give you back the other ten.” So God agreed. 

On the second day God created the monkey. God said, “Entertain people, do monkey tricks and make them laugh. I’ll give you a twenty-year life span.” The monkey said, “Monkey tricks for twenty years? I don’t think so. Dog gave you back ten, so that’s what I’ll do too, okay?” And God agreed. 

On the third day God created the cow. “You must go to the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves, and give milk to support the farmer. I will give you a life span of sixty years.” The cow said, “That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. Let me have twenty and I’ll give back the other forty.” And God agreed again. 

On the fourth day God created man. God said, “Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. I’ll give you twenty years.” Man said, “What? Only twenty years? Tell you what, I’ll take my twenty, and the forty the cow gave back, and the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back, that makes eighty, okay?” “Okay,” said God, “You’ve got a deal.” 

So that is why the first twenty years we eat, sleep, play, and enjoy ourselves; the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family; the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren; and the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.”

“Life has now been explained to you.”

"We're All Sinking..."

"We're all sinking in the same boat here. We're all bored and desperate and waiting for something to happen. Waiting for life to get better. Waiting for things to change. Waiting for that one person to finally notice us. We're all waiting. But we also need to realize that we all have the power to make those changes for ourselves."

- Susane Colasanti

"The Odds Are Stacked Against Us..."

"Our world is not safe. It is a toxic swamp populated by predators and parasites. The odds are stacked against us from the moment of conception. We survive only because we fight the elements, hunger, disease, each other. And, although civilization promises us safe harbor, that promise is a fairy tale. Only the storm is real. It comes for each of us. And we cannot win. We can only choose how we will suffer our defeat. We can meekly take our beatings, and die like lemmings, finding solace in the belief that we shall one day inherit the earth. Or, we can plunge into the chaos with eyes wide open, taking comfort instead from the bruises, scars, and broken bones which prove that we fought to live and die as gods."

 - J.K. Franko, "Life for Life

"The worst part is wondering how you'll find the strength tomorrow to go on doing what you did today and have been doing for much too long, where you'll find the strength for all that stupid running around, those projects that come to nothing, those attempts to escape from crushing necessity, which always founder and serve only to convince you one more time that destiny is implacable, that every night will find you down and out, crushed by the dread of more and more sordid and insecure tomorrows. And maybe it's treacherous old age coming on, threatening the worst. Not much music left inside us for life to dance to. Our youth has gone to the ends of the earth to die in the silence of the truth. And where, I ask you, can a man escape to, when he hasn't enough madness left inside him? The truth is an endless death agony. The truth is death. You have to choose: death or lies. I've never been able to kill myself."

- Louis-Ferdinand Celineo

"Terrible News...SHTF For The Middle Class, Prepare For Economic Collapse"

Ron Yates, PM 4/8/22:

"Terrible News...SHTF For The Middle Class, 

Prepare For Economic Collapse"

"Will SSI get a fourth stimulus check? Is there a release date on the 4th stimulus check update today 2022? Today I’ve got much more to cover in this video, like: the $200 monthly increase in social security raise, SSI, SSDI, VA, survivor benefit, and railroad benefit. I’ll be updating you on where we stand today on the Social Security $200 per month boost for SSI raise, SSDI, and really good news regarding COLA today in this video! We will discuss mortgage forbearance, relief and mortgage forgiveness. $2500 student financial aid."

"The Rate Hike That Will Crash the System"

"The Rate Hike That Will Crash the System"

by Brian Maher

"Mr. James Bullard presides over the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He fears the inflationary flames presently fanning. He wants to get good water on them: “The current policy rate is too low by about 300 basis points," he argues. That is, the policy rate should approach 3.50% - rather than today’s 0.50%. Can the Federal Reserve attain this 3.50% target without flooding Wall Street… and Main Street? Artificially low interest rates keep both dry as can be.

Here we yield a hint: The Federal Reserve cannot attain this 3.50% target without flooding Wall Street and Main Street. At what point must the Federal Reserve kink the hoses and dispatch the lifeboats? Please select your answer:

A): 1%

B): 2%

C): 2.50%

D): 2.75%

Have you taken your guess? The answer - revealed shortly - hides within the “shadows.” Today we drive a penetrating light through the murk… and illuminate the answer. First the fundamental facts, the skeleton facts…

Steering Blind: The federal funds rate is the interest rate the Federal Reserve influences directly. It presently ranges between 0.25% and 0.50%. Traditional models calculate this rate’s gravitational exertions upon economic conditions… whether it pushes… or pulls. Lower rates are believed to push. But how can they give additional push at the zero boundary? They cannot.

The Federal Reserve roughhoused rates down to zero after the Great Financial Crisis — and again during the plague year. In both instances the Federal Reserve was hot for more stimulus than zero rates could yield. They found their answer in quantitative easing. In 2020 the Federal Reserve undertook quantitative easing in quantities truly astounding, quantities that shamed all previous easings. Economists lacked the models to discern quantitative easing’s gravitational effects. Thus the economics world slipped into a sort of netherworld, an unmapped wilderness where all familiar reference points fell away.

Analyst Michael Lebowitz in summary: "The Fed conducts monetary policy via manipulating the fed funds rate. In 2008, when the rate hit zero, the Fed wanted to do more. Unwilling to lower rates below zero, they introduced quantitative easing, or QE. QE effectively lowers rates by buying Treasury and mortgage securities. The reduction of supply leads to higher prices and, therefore, lower interest rates and yields.

Before 2008 we could measure how aggressive monetary policy was by comparing fed funds to measures of economic growth… Since the birth of QE, the [models] do not paint a complete picture of monetary policy. To do that, we must factor in QE and the effect it has on interest rates." What was quantitative easing’s effect on interest rates?

The Answer Is in the Shadows: University of Chicago Booth economists Jing Cynthia Wu and Fan Dora Xia were out for answers - to penetrate the blackness at the zero bound… and to get light in. Here is the question they raised: Can we develop an interest rate model that accounts for quantitative easing’s loosening effects? They furled their sleeves, chained themselves to their desks and burned barrels of midnight’s oil… hunting answers.

In 2014 they barreled through the zero boundary and its inky mysteries. They illuminated the “shadow rate.” As one observer explains the shadow rate: "When the federal funds rate hovers near zero, many economic models stop working. Researchers developed a “shadow rate” that can stand in for the fed funds rate, drop into negative territory and make those models functional again."

The Bills Will Soon Come Due: “The pace of QE or QT can be combined with the headline federal funds rate to calculate a shadow federal funds rate,” explains Zero Hedge, adding: "So combining the expansion of the Fed’s balance sheet from sub-$4 trillion at end 2018 to almost $9 trillion was the equivalent of the federal funds rate falling to minus 5%." That is, the headline rate had been zero or near zero. Yet mix in the $5 trillion of quantitative easing. Now sink into the shadows… and you have a shadow rate of negative 5%.

Now come home, to the present day. The Federal Reserve plans to drain its balance sheet from the present $9 trillion to $6 trillion. If quantitative easing dragged the shadow rate down - to negative 5% -  how high will quantitative tightening push the shadow rate? The Federal Reserve has vastly reduced its quantitative easing. Meantime, it has elevated the federal funds rate by 0.25%.

Into the Shadows: Now come into the shadows. The March rate increase may be listed officially at 0.25%. Yet the shadow rate suggests a much greater tightening. SocGen “quant” Solomon Tadesse calculates the 0.25% rate increase… was in fact a 2.50% rate increase.

Thus the shadow rate has leapt from negative 5% to negative 2.5%. Zero Hedge, by way of emphasis: "But now that the Fed has reversed, ending QE combined with just one 0.25% hike in the headline federal funds rate, means the shadow FFR has already jumped from minus 5% to minus 2.5% - a 250-basis-point hike."

The Federal Reserve is likely preparing a 0.50% rate increase in May. It likewise plans aggressive drainings of its balance sheet. Thus the shadow rate would jump into light, into positive space. The Federal Reserve evidently seeks a 3.5% federal funds rate. Yet when the shadow rate is considered, 3.5% is not far distant. SocGen’s crackerjacks believe the Federal Reserve will be forced to abandon its target long before it plans.

And so we return to our earlier question: At what federal funds rate must the Federal Reserve quit the tightening - before it lays waste to Wall Street and Main Street alike? Again, your choices are:

A): 1%

B): 2%

C): 2.50%

D): 2.75%

Drumroll…Here is your answer: A. The Federal Reserve will be forced into retreat once the headline federal funds rate scales 1%.

Zero Hedge: "[This] latest analysis for this cycle puts the peak of the fed funds at just below 1.0%, or less than three more rate hikes before the Fed is forced to reverse!" Affirms SocGen’s Albert Edwards: "The actual federal funds rate will struggle to get to 1% before the Fed needs to halt the tightening cycle. That is shocking."

We must agree. It is shocking. Yet it is not surprising. It merely indicates the exquisite fragility of a financial system constructed of gossamer. How have we arrived at this sad, sad pass? The aforesaid Mr. Michael Lebowitz: "Without extremely low interest rates to make the new and existing debt affordable, economic growth would disappear, and financial defaults would be plentiful. The Fed must believe they must help Congress worsen the nation’s fiscal imbalances versus dealing with the problem in a sustainable manner. Expediency at tomorrow’s cost, once again, seems to be winning the day… Hiding such actions under the guise of appropriate monetary policy seems to be their modus operandi."

Just so. Expediency at tomorrow’s cost won yesterday. It wins today. And we wager our last dollar bill that expediency will win tomorrow…Expediency at tomorrow’s expense… forever and ever… world without end…Until it does end."

- dailyreckoning.com

"Two Cautionary Tales Rolled Into One"

"Two Cautionary Tales Rolled Into One"

by Addison Wiggin

“If there is anything unique about the human animal, it is that it has the ability to grow knowledge at an accelerating rate while being chronically incapable of learning from experience.”

- John Gray

"You may be aware, we try to work Merriam Webster’s “Word of The Day” (WOD) into each of our missives. Today’s WOD was nearly prophetic. It’s true. We’ve taken on a couple of mettlesome topics this week. The dry powder-keg at the Federal Reserve. Along with Chrisopher Leonard, we observed the Fed can’t “normalize” rates because it will “nuke the economy”.

We also observed, with Scott Horton, that just because we understand Vladimir Putin’s motives for invading doesn’t mean we agree with them or think he and his cronies are right. During our discussion, Scott quotes a comedian to make the point we all know is true on some level. Mr. Horton: The great comic, Dave Smith, my good friend, has this bit where he talked about the origins of September 11th. He goes, "And then people would say, 'Come on, man, we've been bombing them for 10 years before September 11.' And then people say, 'What? Well, that doesn't sound like us.'" And then he goes, "Yeah, well, but think hard about it. Bill Clinton was bombing Iraq from bases in Saudi from 10 years, wasn't he?" And people go, "Oh yeah, I guess actually that does kind of ring a bell, you know? Yeah. Maybe I wasn't putting it at the height of importance in my life, but it could have been important to somebody. I guess I could concede that, right?"

Mr. Horton proceeds to outline a litany of reasons the imperially ambitious Putin would want to counter Western aggression in a historical context, right here. That’s our first cautionary tale: be careful what you say if your curiosity runs counter to the woke mob.

To allay their concerns, we’ll discuss a more precise economic reason for the Russian invasion with commodities sage James West on Monday. It involves both the Russian “pullback” to the Donbas region and an estimated trillion+ cubic feet of natural gas somewhere underneath the Black Sea. Stay tuned. Today, however, we’re going to leave you with a cautionary tail from the Bank of Japan. Since we began the week trying to understand the inner workings of the Powell Fed, we have been summarily stocking financial journalists from Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal.

This morning we found this headline: 'A $430 Billion Cautionary Tale Inside Japan’s Central Bank.' It’s worth a read because it foreshadows the nightmare situation the Fed is barreling headlong toward. “The world's boldest monetary policy experiment,” reads the subhead, “landed the Bank of Japan with a vast portfolio it just can’t quit.” You may recall we wrote a chapter on “turning Japanese” back in the early days. If not, you can find it in Financial Reckoning Day Fallout, here.

For me, the money quote in the lead of this Bloomberg piece is: "In most of the world, exchange-traded funds are simply tools that allow investors to track a certain set of stocks. In Japan, they’ve been saddled with everything from propping up the market and boosting inflation, to accelerating economic growth, improving corporate governance and even encouraging gender equality.

Following this multifaceted policy, very similar to the one Christopher Leonard laments with today’s Fed, the Bank of Japan have collected 80% of the country’s ETFs.”That’s far further than any other central bank in the world has gone in trying to prime its economy via equities purchases,” Bloomberg gasps, “The Bank of Japan has also outpaced peers with its $3.7 trillion in net bond purchases.”

And yet, one wonders, when they need to unload all those direct purchases, who will be the greater fool to buy them?"

"Follow your bliss,"

- WigginSessions@email.5minforecast.com

"Doomsday 'Preppers' Warn Of Hard Times Ahead As Preparedness Goes Mainstream"

Full screen recommended.

"Doomsday 'Preppers' Warn Of Hard Times Ahead 

As Preparedness Goes Mainstream"

by Epic Economist

"We’re at the very early stages of a global emergency that is going to trigger widespread food scarcity, food riots, and flash mobs – and all of that is happening sooner than you think. That’s what food scientist, prepper, and “Health Ranger” podcaster, Mike Adams, is trying to warn the public. His main advice: you need to get prepared while you still can because conditions are only going to get worse from now on. With fertilizer shortages collapsing agricultural production while skyrocketing fuel costs push shipping prices to soar, increasingly more people are waking up to the fact that supply chain problems are going to persist for a long time. Over the past twelve months, around 45 percent of Americans, or about 116 million people, said they spent money preparing for hard times or spent money stockpiling survival goods, according to Finder.com.

Preppers have been marginalized and discredited for decades, but now they’ve built their own market and they’re becoming significantly more popular on social media. “With food production issues, supply chain problems, a slow economic recovery from the health crisis, and the cascading effects of an overseas conflict, it seems rather clear that shortages, disruptions, and price hikes are here to stay,” Matt, the “magic prepper,” has emphasized, noting that the worsening situation in Ukraine has revived interest in preparedness as fears of a nuclear, biological, or chemical attack continue to rise. At this point, the elites are already spending tons of money to make sure they will be able to run away when a collapse hits. One Texas-based company has seen a massive spike in bunker sales since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

Rising S sells every type of bunker you can imagine – from a $39,500 “mini bunker” to their $8.35 million “aristocrat” model that can hold up to 44 people. General Manager Gary Lynch says sales have “increased astronomically” over the past few days. During “normal times,” Lynch sells between two to six shelters a month. But these times are far from normal. On the very first day of the invasion, he said he sold five units at prices ranging from $70,000 to $240,000 because demand went up 1,000%.

Interest in bunkers isn’t a new or unexpected trend. Quite the opposite, according to a 2012 National Geographic survey, 62% of Americans thought the world would experience a major catastrophe in less than 20 years. Given that we had a global health crisis followed by a major conflict, we can say that forecast was accurate. An additional 40% believed that stocking up on supplies or building an underground shelter was a wiser investment than saving for retirement.

Economic protectionism is making a comeback, with many countries from Russia to Hungary to China, halting food exports and shrinking the global supply of grains. There’s no doubt this will result in the most extreme food shortages we’ve seen in our lifetime. According to Adams, “it will begin about August and continue until the end of the year. I think this is a red pill moment for the people of the world that they need to be more self-reliant. We need decentralization of food production. Food must be grown locally,” Adams defends. Unfortunately, only about 5% of Americans are truly prepared for what’s coming. But the opportunity to start is still here. “The more people prepare, the less they panic when shortages appear,” Adams said. The only question left is - when the collapse hits, will you be on the side of those who prepared, or will you be lost in the chaos?"

- https://www.epiceconomist.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "Bank Of America Says: 'Prepare For Inflation Shock'. Also A Real Threat To The Petrodollar"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 4/8/22:

"Bank Of America Says: 'Prepare For Inflation Shock'. 

Also A Real Threat To The Petrodollar"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Musical Interlude: Josh Groban, "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)"; "Remember When It Rained"

Full screen recommended.

Josh Groban, "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)"

○

Full screen recommended.

Josh Groban, "Remember When It Rained"

Chet Raymo, “The Sound And Fury”

“The Sound And Fury”

by Chet Raymo

“Not so long ago, I mentioned here Himmler and Heydrich, two of Hitler's most terrible henchmen. A friend said to me: "If there's no afterlife, no heaven or hell, then those two diabolical creatures got away with it. Their fate was no different than that of any one of their victims, an innocent child perhaps." And, yes, if there is no God who dispenses final justice, then we are left with an aching feeling of irresolution, of virtue unrewarded, of vice unpunished. Heydrich was gunned down by partisan assassins, and Himmler committed suicide a few hours before his inevitable capture, both fates arguably less tragic than that of their victims. How much more satisfying to think that the two mass murderers will spend an eternity in hell, while their victims find bliss.

This may not be a logically consistent argument for the existence of God, but it is certainly compelling. My friend says: "If there's no afterlife, then it's all sound and fury, signifying nothing. Of course, this emotive argument for the existence of God is balanced by another argument against his existence – the problem of evil: How can a just and loving God allow the existence of a Himmler or Heydrich in the first place. Here the argument is not just emotional, but consists of a thorny contradiction.

It comes down, essentially, to head vs. heart - what we would like to be true with all of our heart, vs. what our head tells us is an unresolvable conundrum. So each of us decides: To follow our hearts and make the blind leap of faith, or to follow our heads and learn to live with the sound and the fury. For those of us who choose the second alternative, the relevant words are that distressing coda, "signifying nothing." Our task is one of signification, of finding a satisfying meaning this side of the grave.

For many of us, that means finding our place in the great cosmic unfolding, and of recognizing that our lives are not inconsequential, that by being here we jigger the trajectory of the universe in some way, no matter how small, and preferably for the good and just. Yes, we make a leap of faith too, I suppose - that love, justice, and creativity are virtues worth living for- but at least it is a leap of faith that is not into the unknown, does not embody logical contradiction, and is consistent with what we know to be true, or at least as true as we can make it.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

The Poet: James Broughton, "Having Come This Far"

"Having Come This Far"

"I've been through what my through was to be,

I did what I could and couldn't.

I was never sure how I would get there.

I nourished an ardor for thresholds,

for stepping stones and for ladders,

I discovered detour and ditch.

I swam in the high tides of greed,

I built sandcastles to house my dreams.

I survived the sunburns of love.

No longer do I hunt for targets.

I've climbed all the summits I need to,

and I've eaten my share of lotus.

Now I give praise and thanks

for what could not be avoided,

and for every foolhardy choice.

I cherish my wounds and their cures,

and the sweet enervations of bliss.

My book is an open life.

I wave goodbye to the absolutes,

and send my regards to infinity.

I'd rather be blithe than correct.

Until something transcendent turns up,

I splash in my poetry puddle,

and try to keep God amused."

- James Broughton

"And I Ask..."

 

"So, You Take This Thing..."

"That life. This life. It looks as if you can have both. I mean, they're both right there, one on top of the other, and it looks as if they'll blend. But they never will. So, you take this thing. You take this thing you want, and you put it in a box and you close the lid. You can let your fingers trace the cracks, the places where the light gets in, the dark gets out, but the lid stays on. You don't look inside. You don't look at this thing you want so much, because you Can. Not. Have. It. So there's this box, you know, with the thing inside, and you could throw it away or shoot it into space; you could set it on fire and watch it burn to ashes, but really, none of that would make a difference, because you cannot destroy what you want. It only makes you want it more. So. You take this thing you want and you put it in a box and you close the lid. And you hold the box close to your heart, which is where it wants to go, and you pretend it doesn't kill you every time you feel yourself breathe."

- Megan Hart

Gerald Celente, Peter Schiff, "Economy Headed for Dramatic Collapse, Prepare Now"

Full screen recommended.

Gerald Celente, Peter Schiff:

"Economy Headed for Dramatic Collapse, Prepare Now"

"Peter Schiff, the chief economist at Euro Pacific Capital, told Gerald Celente in an interview published Thursday that Americans need to be prepared for a “dramatic collapse” of the economy. “Interest rates are going substantially higher from here. They’re still much too low,” he said. “We’re now kind of approaching three percent yields on U.S. treasuries, we’re not quite there yet.”

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/

Bill Bonner, "Reaping the Whirlwind"

"Reaping the Whirlwind"

by Bill Bonner

San Martin, Argentina - "Oh my…On Monday we reported that Joe Biden’s tax plan will give the US the highest tax rates in the Western world. And now comes Senator Bernie Sanders with a ‘one-up.’

On Friday, Sanders introduced the "Ending Corporate Greed Act," cosponsored by fellow progressive Senator Ed Markey, with New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman introducing the legislation in the House. Under Sanders' plan, companies that make over $500 million in annual revenue would be taxed 95% on their "windfall profits." That amount would be calculated based on their average profit level in the five years leading up to the pandemic. Deemed a "temporary emergency measure," the tax would only be in place from 2022 to 2024. In a release, Sanders said the levy would bring in $400 billion in just one year.

"We cannot allow big oil companies and other large, profitable corporations to continue to use the war in Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the specter of inflation to make obscene profits by price gouging Americans at the gas pump, the grocery store, or any other sector of our economy," Sanders said in a release.

Robbing Peter to Bribe Paul: Sanders’ pencil pushers figure they can squeeze $66.1 billion from Berkshire Hathaway (a company that offers candy, insurance, coke… and other consumables), Amazon (a company that makes it easy to shop) is supposed to cough up $28.6 billion; JPMorganChase is targeted for $18.8 billion (JPMorgan is, of course, a bank; it does whatever banks do), and an additional $12.9 billion from Chevron (which provides fuel to thousands of drivers).

Let’s see… the money will go from people who provide valuable goods and services to…Raytheon and General Dynamics, who will give the nation yet more weapons! (Has any investment in weapons since 1945 actually paid off?)

Baltimore and other cities… which squander billions each year in corruption and incompetence… (the more they get… the more they waste) payoffs to lobbyists… student loans that don’t get paid back… sex change operations… and a list of grift and plunder that would take weeks to catalog.

There is no need to spend our time pointing out how absurd this is. But we will do it anyway… if only to reach for another point: the world doesn’t respond favorably to simpleminded control by jackasses. Instead, it is a weave of connections, often invisible and infinitely complex. Pull on one thread and the fabric wrinkles or tears.

But how would Sanders know? Life’s intricate textiles are not of interest to him. Instead, typical of his entire caste, he has been in politics since 1971 – almost his entire adult life. He has no idea how the real world works; he only knows the world of socialist politics. So, herewith a brief tutorial on ‘windfalls’: Profits – windfall or otherwise – are the reward for providing goods and services. The ‘windfall’ happens when those services are most appreciated. A guy who spends all year cutting firewood, for example, will reap a “windfall” when the weather turns especially cold. The proposal on the table is to take the money away from him… and give it to people who didn’t bother to cut a single log.

The Fabric of Civil Society: Down here in Argentina, farmers grit their way through years of crushing taxes, socialist rules and regulations, droughts, and heat waves – often going broke. And then, through no fault nor virtue of their own, the weather turns favorable… farm prices rise… and they are able to pay off their loans and stay in business.

This year, US dollar inflation, and sanctions against one of the world’s largest grain producers, sent farm prices soaring. Suddenly, the gauchos are in high clover, eager to make up for years of barely making ends meet. Should we take away their ‘windfall’ profits now?

Or how about people who manufacture portable, emergency generators? Their whole business strategy may be based on windfalls. Most of the time, few people want to make the investment in their generators. But come the big hurricane, and suddenly, customers can’t get enough of them.

And how about Warren Buffett’s insurance company? Is it a ‘windfall’ when the winds pick up and people see the need for hurricane insurance?

Or how about the pharmaceutical companies? They spend millions maintaining research labs – a cost, not a profit center. Then, without prior warning, a new virus appears. The white coats go to work manufacturing a drug to fight it. Bingo – windfall profits.

Of course, Sanders’ proposal will make sense to many people. They think America is plagued by a severe lack of legislation and regulation. Every ill… every problem… every sin and setback… can be solved by more laws! They believe that every louse that ever crawled into a human crotch can be hosed out – by Mitch O’Connell, Nancy Pelosi and the whole tribe of meddlers, do-gooders and deciders in the greater DC area.

Back in 2017, Forbes counted 88,899 federal rules and regulations added in the previous 20 years. The Sanders folks think we need more! They pull their strings… and the fabric of prosperity and civil society unravels."

- bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com

The Daily "Near You?"

Solway, Minnesota, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Crash Positions" (Excerpt)

"Crash Positions"

by Capitalist Eric

Excerpt: "Well, folks, we’re here.

Over the past decade I’ve written a few essays on the coming economic collapse of the USA. I noted in 2013 that the on-book national debt was an estimated $16 Trillion. The actual debt using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), which includes all off-book obligations (promises of future payments such as Social Security, government retirement accounts, Medicare A & B, et.al.) was $238 Trillion. Today the on-book debt is $30.3 Trillion, not quite double what it was when I last wrote about this. We can reasonably assume the total debt according to GAAP is similarly doubled, all in at $450 Trillion.

The rest of the world loaned us such vast sums, merely because the dollar was the worlds’ reserve currency. And that worked, when the USA produced things of inherent value. Oil and gas, manufactured goods, electronics, software, infrastructure products, even textiles. These days we manufacture dollar bills (or digital currency), and shoot anyone who rejects them. But these strong-arm tactics have worked up until now because we basically slapped around weak countries to keep them in line. Anyone who attempted to “de-dollarize” has had economic sanctions put against them, or invaded, or “revolutions” fomented to facilitate the execution of such leaders who would dare to challenge the dollar hegemony. THIS is the real reason for US troops in Iraq, the desire to go to war with Iran, the NATO attacks of Libya, the attempts to start a war in Syria, the destabilization efforts in Turkey. In every single example listed, the leaders of those countries had announced their intentions to bypass the dollar. Even now, when Saudi Arabia announced they were negotiating with China to sell oil in Chinese Yuan, a missile was mysteriously launched from Yemen somewhere that wiped out a huge refinery in Saudi Arabia within a few days; quite the coincidence.

Speaking of Saudi Arabia, the country is now run by the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, since the King is apparently an invalid. A source told me last year that Prince Salman had openly demanded of his generals, to buy Chinese or Russian military gear; he was told this wouldn’t be possible, due to losing support from the USA. I don’t understand the dynamics of the situation of the time, but the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle has demonstrated that the USA is a paper tiger, and undependable as an ally.

No surprise, considering our “woke” military generals, decrepit and fraudulently “elected leaders” like pedo-Joe and his sidekick “ho,” whose only apparent core skill is the ability to suck-start a J-58 jet engine. Oh, and don’t forget Nancy “box-wine” Pelosi and stolen-valor Senator “Dick” Blumenthal. Yeah, good luck in the next election. But I digress…

The point is, the Bretton-Woods-2 agreement was already on death’s door, and the intentional actions of the Deep State (who use Biden as a puppet) are destroying the credibility of the United States, have pulled the last vestiges of support for the dollar as the worlds’ reserve currency status by forcing Russia and China together… and now here we are."

Please view this complete article here:

- https://capitalisteric.wordpress.com/

Greg Hunter, "Weekly News Wrap-Up 4/8/22"

"Weekly News Wrap-Up 4/8/22"

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Most people do not realize this, but a massive change in money and finance is underway, and at this point, is unstoppable. Russia invaded Ukraine, and the outcome was sanctions that shut off Russia from doing business in dollars. The Obama/Biden Administration was out to kill Russia financially, and it appears they have killed the dollar instead. Russia is demanding rubles for its energy, and that means less dollars needed. Other countries are shedding the dollar to do business with Russia, namely China and India. Those dollars are going to come home, and when you have a lot of something flooding, in the price goes down. In this case, the buying power of the dollar is going to continue to go down. Letting some oil out of America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a drop in the bucket, and it’s not going to reset gasoline or diesel fuel prices lower. Don’t expect anything to go back to the way or the price it was. Count on prices going higher, and I mean much higher.

The massive vote fraud story is not going away. It was simply too big and too many fraudulent ballots in too many states that happened on the night of November 3, 2020. The Democrats wanted this story to go away a year ago, but just the opposite is happening, even though FOX News and the rest of the corrupt media wants to ignore this massive constructional fraud against “We the People.” At CPAC, the battle cry was “move on.” Voter fraud should be President Trump’s top issue because it happened and is the reason why the country is in deep trouble with the Obama/Biden fraud Administration.

The massive inflation you are seeing everywhere is here to stay. Sanctions against Russia are here to stay. The Ukraine war is here to stay, and this inflation is not only here to stay, but will no doubt get worse, harming the poorest of the people in the world. Our leaders should be kicked out of office on both sides of the Atlantic because it is them who did this damage and NOT Russia, Russia, Russia."

- https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he talks about these stories and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up for 4/8/22:

- https://rumble.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "Risk Is Rising; Food Prices Hit Record High And Wall Street Banks Warn On Commodity Surge"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 4/8/22:

"Risk Is Rising; Food Prices Hit Record High And 

Wall Street Banks Warn On Commodity Surge"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"A Big Bank Is in Trouble - Toxic Mix of Economic Problems"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly 4/8/22:

"A Big Bank Is in Trouble - Toxic Mix of Economic Problems"

"People are borrowing more money than ever. Closed restaurants want free grant money using your tax dollars. This is a Toxic Mix of Bad Economic News."

"How It Really Is"

 

Jim Kunstler, "Leviathan Floundering"

"Leviathan Floundering"

by Jim Kunstler

"Back in the quaint old days of the George “W” Bush admin, White House political advisor Karl Rove famously said, “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality - judiciously, as you will - we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out.” He was actually bragging on it, a little bit, I think.

Didn’t that set the tone for the years that have followed? The part that even the perspicacious Mr. Rove missed, though, is that the viziers of empire are perhaps even more apt to create their own unreality, which explains a lot about these fretful present days of American collapse. Is there anything the government tells you now that is not some sort of fabrication? One thing for sure is that the elite colleges churn out thousands of certified bullshit artists every year - with no other skills - and many gravitate to the power centers national life, where they rise in the ranks spinning metaphysical simulacrums of their boss’s purviews - the Jen Psaki types, who ricochet between the DC political bunkers and boob tube news central. The less glib and physically unpresentable become mere “fact-checkers,” the network of casual liars who toil in the trenches of official unreality.

It’s all pretty hard on the common folk’s brains, and eventually on their souls, as they sink into this mire of purpose-spun cognitive dissonance. Why, for instance, is the head of the CDC, one Rochelle Walensky, still telling the public to vaxx-up and boost when the number of really grave adverse events associated with said vaxxes is so out-of-this-world, compared with previous vaxxes, that liability lawyers from sea to shining sea could be magnificently employed piercing Big Pharma’s EUA shield with fraud charges until the next ice age?

The VAERS program is front-and-center in Ms. Walensky’s CDC purview. Does she not cop a glance at it now and again? It will be fascinating to hear her testify in the Nuremburg-style proceedings that ought to come for America’s public health officialdom. Are they running scared at CDC, FDA, and Dr. Fauci’s NIAID? The waiting must be the hardest part. So much is ominously unknown. But despite official suppression and obfuscation of patient outcome data from the compromised medical establishment, all-causes death numbers are wafting out of the life insurance industry like the Furies from the cosmic darkness.

Is it true, as is hotly rumored now, that the mRNA shots lead uniformly to autoimmune deficiency syndrome? Ditto the alarming rise in cancer cases among the vaxxed… ditto heart damage, organ damage, grievous neurological damage? We’ll know a lot more about this in May and June, and it’s hard to imagine what the collective emotional reaction will be if all that turns out to be true. Never in history will so many face the prospect of an untimely death, and at the hands of such banal bureaucratic villainy. Will they just compliantly check out of this world, the same way they lined up for their vaxxes and boosters, or finally rage against that machine?

The latest venture in unreality these days spills out of Russia’s operation in Ukraine. The mind-f**kery over it sure seems advantageously amplified here as a cover for the tragic developments in the Covid-19 vaxx melodrama and other domestic torments. All the evidence suggests that our country’s leadership wanted this war to happen in the worst way. We set up the provocations in Donbas and let’er rip. Now we posture on the sidelines, crying crocodile tears, pretending to help while sabotaging peace talks.

What’s followed in our attempts to punish The Evil Putin (the source of all our problems) is the most feckless fiasco of unanticipated consequences since Kaiser Wilhelm gave the go-ahead to Austria to punish Serbia over the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914. Voila: a World War. Only in this case it’s looking more like a suicidal economic war by Western Civ on itself.

How are those sanctions working out? No fuel for German industry… no fertilizer for Iowa farmers… no nickel and other metals to make machine parts for Europe and America…. And suddenly, having kicked Russia out of the international trade payment clearing system (SWIFT), we’ve provoked them to resort to backing the ruble with gold, meaning that our broke-down Bretton Woods fiat money system becomes the new “barbarous relic” of global finance, leaving the West to pound sand down a rat hole, while the other two-thirds of the world do actual business for commodities that modern life can’t do without.

The result of all that? America and its partners in Western Civ resign from modern life and go medieval. Everything about America is looking more and more medieval - our rough living conditions, our lawlessness, our violent entertainments, our Hobbesian racketeering, our occult sexual preoccupations, our depraved elites, our quack science. Our center has not been holding for so long that hardly anyone even remembers where the center used to be. And now the bottom is falling out.

Hence, that pitiful scene in the White House this week with “Joe Biden” wandering aimlessly through a crowd focused on the charismatic Barack Obama - apparently tired of working-from-home. Even the luminous Dr. Jill has abandoned this hollow figurehead on Democracy’s flagship. You have to wonder if Mr. Putin saw the video, and if even he had to cringe at the sad spectacle of his antagonist’s ruin."

- https://kunstler.com/

"Sometimes..."

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

- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

"Government’s Greatest Con Job"

"Government’s Greatest Con Job"

by Brian Maher

Editor’s note: On certain days we feel compelled to remind you, our reader, of a colossal swindle the United States government has perpetrated upon you. Today is one such day. Here is the evolution of the swindle.

"United States dollar: “A cotton-linen bill or clad copper coin, and monetary unit of the United States, equal to 100 cents.” Thus the dictionary defines the dollar. Yet questions present themselves at once. If one dollar equals 100 cents… what then is a cent? The answer is one-hundredth of one dollar. And what again is one dollar? 100 cents. And so you have an infinite chasing of the tail - one dollar is 100 times one cent. One cent is one-hundredth of one dollar.

Yet it is clarity we seek. We must therefore turn to the Coinage Act of 1792: "The money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars or units … of the value [mass or weight] of a Spanish milled dollar as the same is now current, and to contain three hundred and seventy-one grains and four sixteenth parts of a grain of pure … silver."

That is, the dollar was defined by weight - some 371 grains of pure silver. The Gold Standard Act of 1900 likewise defined the dollar by weight. Here is the central lesson: Defined in silver or defined in gold… the dollar was nonetheless defined by weight. Today the dollar is defined by a philosophical fallacy, an infinite regression. That is, in cents - themselves defined by dollars.

In today’s reckoning, we track the evolution of a mighty swindle… We begin with this $10 banknote, dated 1928:

The 1928 $10 note bears this inscription: “Redeemable in gold on demand at the United States Treasury, or in gold or lawful money at any Federal Reserve Bank.” In those antique days, a fellow could lumber into a bank. He could hand the clerk a slip of paper, a slip of paper illustrated above. He could then demand the denominated amount in gold coin… payable on the nail.

The system imposed a reasonable discipline upon banks. Federal Reserve banks were required to keep a 35% reserve of “gold or lawful money” on hand - lest they make a liar of the United States Treasury secretary - in this case, the Hon. Andrew William Mellon. In effect, the private citizen locked the banking system behind golden bars.

Now jump ahead a bit. One Great Depression, one New Deal and one world war later… we come now to a $10 banknote, dated 1950:

In appearance, it is nearly a perfect twin to the 1928 model - with one infinitely telling exception. Can you sniff it out? Recall, the 1928 note claims it is: “Redeemable in gold on demand at the United States Treasury, or in gold or lawful money at any Federal Reserve Bank.”

But here reads the 1950 version: “This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private, and is redeemable in lawful money at the United States Treasury, or at any Federal Reserve Bank.” The fine print disguises a vast mischief: Gold redemption was stricken from the record. The bankers had broken free from their golden prison. No longer could a private citizen bring them to honest account.

But what about “lawful money”? What is it? In 1947, a certain gentleman - A.F. Davis by name - dispatched the following note to the United States Treasury, accompanied by a $10 note: "I am sending you herewith via registered mail one $10 Federal Reserve note. On this note is inscribed the following: “This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private, and is redeemable in lawful money at the United States Treasury, or at any Federal Reserve bank. In accordance with this statement, will you send me $10.00 in lawful money?"

The acting treasurer, M.E. Slindee, responded after this fashion:

"Dear Mr. Davis,

Receipt is acknowledged of your letter of Dec. 9 with enclosure of one ten-dollar ($10.) Federal Reserve note. In compliance with your request, two five-dollar United States notes are transmitted herewith."

That is, Mr. Davis received by mail two $5 bills - two $5 bills bearing the identical pledge to redeem in lawful money. But this Davis fellow would not be so easily shooed off. He returned one of these $5 bills, once again demanding lawful money in exchange. Finally, Mr. Slindee threw up the sponge:

"Dear Mr. Davis:

You are advised that the term “lawful money” has not been defined in federal legislation. It first came to use prior to 1933 when some United States currency was not legal tender but could be held by national banking associations as lawful money reserves.

Since the act of May 12, 1933, as amended by the Joint Resolution of June 5, 1933, makes all coins and currency of the United States legal tender and the Joint Resolution of Aug. 27, 1935, provides for the exchange of United States coin or currency for other types of such coin or currency, the term “lawful money” no longer has such special significance.

The $5 United States note received with your letter of Dec. 23 is returned herewith."

In 1963, all promises to redeem notes in lawful money were stricken from United States currency. Here, in graphic detail, is the devolution of American money:

Below, Jeffrey Tucker shows you how the United States government is perpetuating the swindle. He claims it is a “story of corruption and decay.” Read on."

○

"The Great Coin Shortage"

by Jeffrey Tucker

"You have surely seen the signs. They are all over the country. “Please use exact change. We have a coin shortage. Thank you.” Somehow it just seems inevitable. Coin shortages have long afflicted economies in crisis or otherwise experiencing the throws of some government screw up.

In the 18th century, this was a common problem in Britain. Coins were the only money around. The Crown minted only large denominations suitable for lords and merchants. But the workers needed to be paid too! What happened? Private enterprise got involved. As George Selgin has thoroughly documented, button factories got to work to retool their manufacturing to make private money in a variety of forms, if only to serve the cause of local enterprise. And it worked. The results were beautiful and effective. Eventually, of course, government cracked down and re-nationalized coinage again. Nothing new under the sun!

What’s with our own coin shortage? What if anything can be done?

Reason One: The Lockdowns. The Fed explains this well actually: "There is currently an adequate overall amount of coins in the economy. But business and bank closures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted normal circulation patterns for U.S. coins. This slowed pace of circulation reduced available inventories in some areas of the country during 2020.

The Federal Reserve continues to work with the U.S. Mint and others in the industry to keep coins circulating. As a first step, a temporary cap was imposed in June 2020 on the orders depository institutions place for coins with the Federal Reserve to ensure that the supply was fairly distributed. Because coin circulation patterns have not fully returned to pre-pandemic levels, caps were reinstated in May 2021…. Since mid-June of 2020, the U.S. Mint has been operating at full production capacity. In 2020, the Mint produced 14.8 billion coins, a 24 percent increase from the 11.9 billion coins produced in 2019."

Now, this is true but typical of a government press statement. It wildly understates the issue. For many months huge swaths of economic activity came to a grinding halt! Also absurdly, people came to believe (thanks to the goofy CDC) that coins had Covid on them and so people did not want to use them or take them. True story. That began the habit of inadvertent coin collecting.

Reason Two: Hoarding: Once people came to believe their coins had Covid and they weren’t allowed to go anywhere anyway, the long habit of tossing coins into a can grew and became universal. The stores that were open dispensed coins but then coins did not circulate. They ended up in people’s drawers, never to be touched again.

There is another factor here too. We’ve seen many ways in which the collapse in the velocity of money has affected the demand for cash. It affected the demand for coinage too. In a scary crisis like the one that began two years ago, people start doing strange things, some rational and some completely irrational. The irrational in this case was stocking up on coinage for fear of the future. Spending in general crashed especially for those people who don’t have bank accounts and credit cards (22% of the public). There is some strange psychological benefit that derives from looking at a big jar full of coins in the midst of high uncertainty.

Reason Three: Demonetization: In the sequence of events, this low circulation of coins was compounded by rising inflation. Coins are often regarded as little more than an annoyance. People throw pennies in the trash, and nickels are barely noticed. Only quarters get much attention and that’s mostly for laundry machines and car washes.

It’s such a sign of our times. We used to have “Dime Stores” and say “penny for your thoughts.” But in the age of inflation, coins are very nearly demonetized. The wild inflation of the last 12 months, growing by the day, has accelerated this trend.

Reason Four: Money Shortage: It’s truly one of the strangest features of inflationary times is that there is a tendency toward a money shortage. It was certainly true in Weimar Germany. No matter how much money the government prints, people still complain that there is not enough to pay people and give change. We are nowhere near that point yet and may never be. But the coin shortage today is a symptom of this larger problem.

Today, industries that serve retail customers are begging the Treasury to circulate more coins. The banks are doing the same. But right now, they are operating at full capacity. So there’s no chance of that. Regardless, this is hardly a crisis of epic proportions but it is a telling sign of our times. It reveals the discoordination, the confusion, the imbalances, and the losses of our times. Every bit of it traces to government malfunction and terrible policy decisions.

Corruption and Decay: It is also symbolic of something else. The destruction and near-demonetization of coinage is a story of corruption and decay. You can see it in the course of the 20th century, during which time coins went from having intrinsic value to the point where they are made of the cheapest-possible metal. A dealer I know called them “baloney sandwich coins” but that was before the price of baloney also soared up so high. Now such a thing would be far more valuable than present-day coins.

The nickel today is made only of 25% nickel, and the rest is copper. Now have a look at the price of nickel, which is actually massively important in producing the batteries for the electric vehicles that government says is our future. There is just no escaping economics and the laws that govern it! Government officials can preen and pronounce but the laws of supply and demand ignore every press release.

It costs the US Treasury fully 8.5 cents to make 5 cents today! Maybe you know the feeling based on the value of your salary last year compared with this. It’s likely that the composition of the coin will change. To what? Find anything not soaring in price and there’s your candidate. So we can see here that there might be a point to saving your nickels after all.

Final note: did you see that the city of Los Angeles has fined a grocery store $160K for selling eggs in 2020 at “illegal prices”? The anti-gouging law requires that stores cannot raise prices above 10% unless justified by costs or production. So the authorities snagged some small store and have now rendered a judgment."

"Feels like Soviet times."

- dailyreckoning.com

"Empty Shelves Everywhere, And Massive Price Increases! - What's Next? - What's Coming?"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures with Danno, 4/8/22:

"Empty Shelves Everywhere, And Massive Price Increases!

What's Next? - What's Coming?"

“In today's vlog we are noticing massive price increases! We are here to explain skyrocketing prices, and a lot of empty shelves! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!”

"20 Facts About The Emerging Global Food Shortage That Should Chill You To The Core"

Full screen recommended.

"20 Facts About The Emerging Global Food 

Shortage That Should Chill You To The Core"

by Epic Economist

"A global food shortage of catastrophic proportions has already begun, and things are only going to get worse from this point on. The information we’re about to expose might be hard to digest, but we would like to encourage you to share this message with everyone you care for so that people can prepare for what is coming. Everybody deserves to know what is truly going on, and they deserve an opportunity to get ready before this crisis gets out of control. The pace at which things are changing all over the world right now is extremely alarming, but somehow many people still believe life will just continue to carry on as it normally does. Sadly, the truth is that a very real planetary emergency is unfolding right before our eyes, and we must act before it’s too late. The President of the United States has openly admitted that extensive food shortages are “going to be real”, and his officials are concerned about the prospect of a hunger crisis. On the same note, the CEO of BlackRock alerted that this generation is about to experience hardships to get food supplies that they’ve never faced in their lives.

On top of that, one Oklahoma farmer has alerted that Americans are about to be shocked by soaring grocery prices. All of his farmer operations are costing a lot more, and that will have a direct impact on consumers. “We’re getting hit on every front on every expense possible, from fertilizer to fuel to labor insurance to our packing supplies, and everything in between. We operate a small farm in Oklahoma, and one hundred percent of our sales are farm-to-home delivery. We drive all across the state, and the fuel costs are really painful for us. I would say our increases are roughly 25 to 30 percent, and I think that that will soon be reflected at the grocery stores,” Farmer Ben Riensche recently said in an interview. “If you’re upset that gas is up a dollar or two a gallon, wait until your grocery bill is up $1,000.00 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,” Riensche highlighted.

Over the past few years, numerous experts and economists came forward to warn that this was going to happen if precautions weren’t taken. Our leaders largely ignored those forecasts, and now this is where we are. Conditions are accelerating much faster than we can keep track. That’s why it is so important to share this message with as many people as possible because this crisis is going to affect everyone. We’re going to witness the worst food shortages in our lifetime, and we must act now given that things are getting worse with each passing day. An absolutely horrifying global food crisis is already upon us, and hundreds of millions of people are going to suffer as a result, so make sure you are not one of them. Stockpile food while you still can because supplies will start flying off the shelves at record speed in the coming weeks and months. In this video, we compiled facts that reveal the humongous proportion of the global food crisis."

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o11oRt26_8

"Housing Market Will Blow Up Again; Mortgage Apps Collapse; Rates Rise; Credit Card Debt Explodes"

Jeremiah Babe, PM 4/7/22:

"Housing Market Will Blow Up Again; Mortgage Apps Collapse;

 Rates Rise; Credit Card Debt Explodes"

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Remember Now"

2002, "Remember Now"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“This rock structure is not only surreal - it's real. The reason it's not more famous is that it is, perhaps, smaller than one might guess: the capstone rock overhangs only a few meters. Even so, the King of Wings outcrop, located in New Mexico, USA, is a fascinating example of an unusual type of rock structure called a hoodoo. Hoodoos may form when a layer of hard rock overlays a layer of eroding softer rock.

Figuring out the details of incorporating this hoodoo into a night-sky photoshoot took over a year. Besides waiting for a suitably picturesque night behind a sky with few clouds, the foreground had to be artificially lit just right relative to the natural glow of the background. After much planning and waiting, the final shot, featured here, was taken in May 2016. Mimicking the horizontal bar, the background sky features the band of our Milky Way Galaxy stretching overhead.”

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170328.html

"Human Progress..."

"It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone - that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows more than any man of, say, the Eighteenth Century, and is far more civilized. This assumption is quite erroneous. The great masses of men, even in this inspired republic, are precisely where the mob was at the dawn of history. They are ignorant, they are dishonest, they are cowardly, they are ignoble. They know little if anything that is worth knowing, and there is not the slightest sign of a natural desire among them to increase their knowledge."

- H. L. Mencken