"C.P.I. Disaster!"; "It Keeps Getting Worse"

Chuck Barone, 7/13/22, "C.P.I. Disaster!"

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"It Keeps Getting Worse"

by Brian Maher

"CNBC gives today’s headline news: Shoppers paid sharply higher prices for a variety of goods in June as inflation kept its hold on a slowing U.S. economy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. The consumer price index, a broad measure of everyday goods and services related to the cost of living, soared 9.1% from a year ago, above the 8.8% Dow Jones estimate. That marked the fastest pace for inflation going back to November 1981. Yes, the weisenheimers botched again, and to the downside, again.

We cling nonetheless to our belief - despite all reason, despite all evidence - that on some distant tomorrow they will strike bull’s-eye. But to return to the topic under discussion…

Gasoline prices ballooned an alarming 11% last month - and nearly 60% year over year. Sky-shooting gasoline prices are ill economic omens. They portend recession. We learn further that eating costs increased 1% in June - and 10.4% since last June. Not since February 1981 have food prices sizzled at such an incandescent annual rate.

Yet the present inflation is scarcely limited to gasoline and food prices. Like an evil weed worming catastrophically through a garden, inflation spans the economy. Mr. Robert Frick, economist with Navy Federal Credit Union: "CPI delivered another shock, and as painful as June’s higher number is, equally as bad is the broadening sources of inflation. Though CPI’s spike is led by energy and food prices, which are largely global problems, prices continue to mount for domestic goods and services, from shelter to autos to apparel."

Whenever confronted with official inflation data fabricated by government data-torturers - as today - we consult Mr. John Williams and his ShadowStats. Thus we learn: "If today’s inflation were gauged by 1990’s metrics, the rate is not 9.1%... but in excess of 13%. And if by 1980’s metrics, the present inflation rate approaches a fantastic 17.3%."

How do you like it? The Federal Reserve’s “Open Market” Committee gathers in two weeks’ time. Thus a question presents itself: Will today’s inflation-soaked report accelerate its operational tempo?

One James Knightley, ING’s chief international economist, believes it will: "U.S. inflation is above 9%, but it is the breadth of the price pressures that is really concerning for the Federal Reserve. With supply conditions showing little sign of improvement the onus is on the Fed to hit the brakes via higher rates to allow demand to better match supply conditions."

The market is with him. CME Group’s FedWatch gadget presently gives 78.6% odds of a 100-basis-point July hike. Yesterday those odds came in at 7.6%.

Conversely: Today’s odds of a 75-basis-point hike read 16.7% - plunging from 92.4% yesterday. Yet if inflation goes at 9.1% (let alone 17%), the Federal Reserve remains well “behind the curve.” Today’s federal funds rate hovers between 1.50% and 1.75%. Mr. Powell and mates cannot possibly elevate rates to inflation-crushing levels - for those are also economy-crushing levels - and market-crushing levels. In brief… inflation has them by the ear.

Yet the dollar bounces along at 20-year heights. A formidable dollar purchases more goods than a straggling dollar. This dollar likewise equates to depressed commodity prices - foodstuffs and energy prices among them - and thank the Lord for it. “How bad would inflation be if the dollar was weak?” wonders our colleague Dave Gonigam of The 5 Min. Forecast. We wonder as well. We hazard the answer would raise our hair and freeze our blood.

We prefer to hold a muscular dollar than a runt dollar. But can the dollar grow overly mighty? Jim Rickards: "[A strong dollar] makes imports less expensive, which has a deflationary impact on the U.S. domestic economy…"

A strong dollar also hurts U.S. exports from major companies such as Boeing and GE. That hurts U.S. competitiveness and U.S. jobs. Finally, a strong dollar hurts corporate profits of U.S. global companies because their overseas profits are translated back into fewer U.S. dollars. This is a headwind to U.S. stock market performance.

And so we have a clashing of warring forces - inflation from one side - deflation from the other. Inflation enjoys a present advantage. But will a deflationary counteroffensive reverse inflation’s gains? And will today’s inflation yield abruptly to deflation?"

- dailyreckoning.com

MUST READ! "Red Alert! USA Pushes Putin Into Multi-City First Strike Nuclear Attack To Destroy America" (Excerpt)

"Red Alert! USA Pushes Putin Into Multi-City

 First Strike Nuclear Attack To Destroy America"

by Mike Adams

Excerpt: "New York City has released a new public service announcement video that advises residents what to do after a nuclear strike on the city. The joyfully-presented video advises residents to go into buildings and undress, then shampoo and use soap to wash themselves off. Once done, residents are told to stay indoors until directed what to do by government media sources. Sounds like a quick way to die... According to an announcement published by Russian news agency TASS, the USA is pushing Russia into a cycle of nuclear escalation that could end in catastrophe.

Remember that Russia has vastly superior nuclear strike capabilities and anti-air defenses compared to the United States and European nations. On top of that, Russia's military doctrine describes a "first strike" advantage, which means Putin knows that if this war is irreversibly headed into global conflict, his strategic advantage is best exploited if he strikes first."

Get full details, including NYC nuclear strike maps (and casualty estimates) in today's feature article and podcast here:"

- https://www.naturalnews.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "IMF Warns Of A Global 'Debt Crisis' Which Is A Liquidity Crisis"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 7/13/22:

"IMF Warns Of A Global 'Debt Crisis' Which Is A Liquidity Crisis"

- https://traderschoice.net

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"A Complete Lock Up of The System Will Occur"

By Gregory Mannarino

"Why is the world awash in never ending and inflating debt? Moreover, why does global debt keep expanding relentlessly every day, every month, and every year, in what seems like some kind of twisted mass insanity? What is THE REAL TRUTH behind all this? The answer is simple, and frightening. The expansion of debt cannot ever stop! Additionally, it must constantly and ceaselessly be expanded on EXPONENTIALLY.

What this means is that the amount of debt being borrowed into existence CANNOT EVEN REMAIN STATIC! It must be expanded on VASTLY every moment, every day, every week, every month, and every year, just to allow the system itself to function day to day. If the amount of debt being borrowed into existence were to remain at its current level, without being expanded on, the entire system would FREEZE UP in an instant.

The insanity of all this actually gets even worse. Despite the FACT that global debt is continually expanding, there is not enough of it.

As most people who follow my work are already aware, the current central bank run global financial system is debt based, and at its core what this means is every conceivable reason, including things which the average person could not even dream of, must and will be utilized to continually find reasons/create more reasons to borrow more cash into existence. As of late the two biggest machinations being forced upon the people of the world and are currently being used as mechanisms to pull EPIC sums into the now by more borrowing are:

1. Global disease processes like Covid and the various variants thereof, also

2. Expanding war(s).

It’s this crisis-to-crisis economic model which has given world leaders a blank check, spending which is not allowed to even be questioned! As they have turned this upside down on the people of the world as ANYONE who now dares question as to why all this crisis-to-crisis spending is being done is then branded as being “unpatriotic!” Or a person who does not care about “helping” people.

NOT ONE mainstream media source will EVER be allowed to explain the truth behind the crisis-to-crisis borrowing debt expansion mechanism, nor will a single world leader, OR a central banker explain it.

Will it ever end? YES! The system, despite ever expanding debt, will eventually become illiquid. A lack of liquidity in the system, despite finding ever more reasons to borrow, will eventually reach a saturation point. This saturation point will, and is already, manifesting itself in the form of skyrocketing inflation worldwide.

The inevitable end of the current debt-based system is rapidly approaching, and a move to yet another central bank run system is coming. A system of extreme control, a cashless system, where every single transaction is tracked down to the ten thousandth of a cent."

- https://gregorymannarino.substack.com/

"No Enemies..."

The Daily "Near You?"

Montpelier, Virginia, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"It Is Our Fate..."

"Well, it is our fate to live in a time of crisis. To live in a time when all forms and values are being challenged. In other and more easy times, it was not, perhaps, necessary for the individual to confront himself with a clear question: What is it that you really believe? What is it that you really cherish? What is it for which you might, actually, in a showdown, be willing to die? I say, with all the reticence which such large, pathetic words evoke, that one cannot exist today as a person, one cannot exist in full consciousness, without having to have a showdown with ones self, without having to define what it is that one lives by, without being clear in ones mind what matters and what does not matter."

- Dorothy Thompson

The Poet: Charles Bukowski, "Roll The Dice"

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"Life's a gamble. Courage is to roll the dice and go

for the gusto when all odds and bets are against you!"

- Bobby Compton

Charles Bukowski, "Roll The Dice"

"​The Things You Think Matter...Don't"

"​The Things You Think Matter...Don't"

by Ryan Holiday

"I dropped out of college. When this happened it was a big deal - to my parents anyway. Then it was a big deal when people met me because they were constantly surprised by it. You didn’t finish college?! But for all the warnings and then surprise, there has been literally zero times where my lack of a degree has come up in the course of any business deal or project.

So I am always surprised by the lengths people will go to get their degree. I read a fascinating book a couple years ago about the Varsity Blues scandal and the parents who bribed their kids into various colleges - many of which were not even that hard to get into. The parents were so convinced that college mattered that they were willing to do just about anything to make sure their kids got in…even in one case where one of the girls had millions of YouTube followers and didn’t want to go to college. Or another where the daughter wanted to be an actress and the mother was an actress, but she still tried to cheat on her daughter’s SAT’s to get into Juilliard (even though Julliard doesn’t require SATs!)

It reminds me of a line from Peter Thiel who pointed out that we can get so good at trying to win that we don’t stop and ask if we’re playing the right game.

Here’s something I thought mattered a lot: The New York Times Bestseller list. When my first book came out I worked very hard to sell a lot of copies so I could say I was an NYT bestseller. I missed it (for somewhat suspicious reasons) and hit the WSJ list instead. As it turns out, this had absolutely no impact on the sales of the book or my ability to have a writing career. What mattered was whether the book continued to sell well over time and whether I continued to have interesting things to say.

Literally no one ever bought the book because it hit one list…and certainly no one didn’t buy it because it wasn’t on the other. But I found it quite funny in the years since that when people would introduce me for talks they would call me “a New York Times Bestselling author” because they just assumed, and it sounded like something important. So in one sense the term did matter and mean something…yet the fact they couldn’t tell or care about the difference was a reminder to me that it didn’t really matter at all.

I would write more than a half dozen other books before I did become “a New York Times Bestselling author” in fact and let me tell you, nothing changed. And when I did debut on the list for my book "Stillness is the Key," it was at the #1 spot. But nobody threw me a parade. My speaking fee and my royalties did not go up. The publisher sent me a cool plaque but it wasn’t that cool…my wife asked that I keep it at the office instead of the house.

Still, whenever I talk to first-time authors and ask them what they hope to do with their book, hitting the list is almost always at the top of their list. I realize it’s easy for me to say that it doesn’t matter, since I have the plaque in my office, but it’s true. I wouldn’t trade my sales numbers for more weeks on the list. I wouldn’t trade having written books I’m proud of to spend more time there either. Writing a book that I’m proud of, saying what I have to say, growing as a writer in doing it, making something that reaches people, that makes a difference in their lives? That’s way more important.

But this is what we do - we put way too little time and energy into the things that do matter (e.g. being a decent person) and way too much time and energy into the things we think matter…but don’t (e.g. getting into a decent college).

Sometimes our kids can help us realize this (as the Varsity Blues kids often tried in vain to do). We did an email about David Letterman for DailyDad.com recently (sign up!). After becoming the longest-serving late night talk show host in the history of American television (33 seasons), the king of late night decided to walk away. He went and told his young son Harry, “I’m quitting, I’m retiring. I won’t be at work every day. My life is changing; our lives will change.” Who knows what Letterman expected his son to say, but certainly he expected more than, “Will I still be able to watch the Cartoon Network?” Letterman replied, “I think so. Let me check.”

We spent our energy - our lives - slaving away, chasing things that don’t matter. Worse, we tell ourselves we’re doing it for some specific reason - for our careers, for our kids…but it’s all based on nothing! They don’t care! Not like we think they do.

Why do we do this? One, I guess it’s because we don’t know, we don’t listen. We only realize the things are worthless once we get them…even though plenty of people had already returned to the cave and told us we were chasing shadows. But I think the biggest reason is actually the biggest thing we chase that doesn’t matter. We chase achievements and money and status because we’re trying to create a legacy. Because we want people to remember us, for our stuff to last.

You want to talk about what really doesn’t matter? Other people’s opinions of you when you’re dead! As Marcus Aurelius writes in "Meditations," “People who are excited by posthumous fame forget that people who remember them will soon die too. And those after them in turn.” And suppose all those people you want to remember you were immortal, Marcus says, “What good would it do you?” You’ll still be dead!

A couple of years ago, I worked on an album that won a Grammy. I got to go on stage and accept it with a group of producers who all had to share one statue together. So a few months later, I had my own commemorative with a little reminder: “When you die, this will go in the trash alongside all your other ‘accomplishments.’”

None of that external stuff matters. Only right now matters. The life you’re living - that’s the only monument that counts. Who you are in this moment, how you treat people, how you treat yourself - that is what you think doesn’t matter…but does. That is the real legacy. And it’s passing you by as you read this."

- https://ryanholiday.net/

Musical Interlude: Walter Murphy, "A Fifth of Beethoven"

Walter Murphy, "A Fifth of Beethoven"

A little music to clear away the stench of reality...

"Economic Crash is Here - Horrific Inflation Report"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly 7/13/22:

"Economic Crash is Here - Horrific Inflation Report"

"The hits just keep on coming. Businesses are failing at a record pace. The inflationary numbers were announced, and they were considerably higher than they anticipated. Refinances on mortgages are off 80% from where they were a year ago."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoHu7yDJO18

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"Inflation Flash (July 13): The Official Lie: June 2022 Annual headline CPI Inflation jumped to 41-year high of 9.1%, up from 8.6% in May, while the June 2022 Annual ShadowStats Alternate “Corrected” CPI Inflation jumped to a new 75-Year high of 17.3%, from 16.8% in May, on top of resurgent energy prices."

- http://www.shadowstats.com/

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"Inflation in June soared 9.1 percent higher than last year, hitting a new peak amid rising gas prices. The Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation report for June reveals how American households and businesses continue to feel the weight of higher prices for housing, food and energy."

- Washington Post

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"Inflation hits 9.1%, highest and fastest increase in 40 years. Below is a chart of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from 2015 to 2022. If this doesn’t shock you, I don’t know what will.

Click image for larger size.

The scary thing is that food shortages are coming. Energy shortages have only just begun. Energy costs have increased 40%. - particularly fuel. They are trying not to have gas and diesel shortages - by making energy prices unaffordable for the average American. The consequences of ESG scores, WEF carbon policies, domestic oil policy and the Ukrainian war are flushing our economy down the toilet. Furthermore, when transport prices go up that much, more inflation is sure to follow. Hang on folks, we are not even close to being out of the woods."

- https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/

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Lies, lies and more lies from the Govt. Only truth there is 

"feel the weight of higher prices for housing, food and energy."

And just how are you doing, Good Citizen?

Bill Bonner, "Inflation Nation"

"Inflation Nation"

Core prices spike 9.1% for the year 

as Biden's approval rating tanks...

by Bill Bonner

Baltimore, Maryland - "The Fed has walked off the job. It is no longer spiking the punch and inflating the economy. But the music is still playing; once underway, inflation can be hard to stop. Here’s the latest from the Washington Post: "Inflation in June soared 9.1 percent higher than last year, hitting a new peak amid rising gas prices. The Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation report for June reveals how American households and businesses continue to feel the weight of higher prices for housing, food and energy."

Meanwhile, Mr. Market is trying to clean up. The Street: "Oil Plummets On Recession Fears, U.S. Gas Prices On Longest Weekly Decline Since 2020." "Americans are saving around $140 million a day as gas prices extend their longest losing streak in two years amid a sharp pullback in global crude markets."

Forbes: "Mortgage Giant Cuts Thousands Of Jobs - Warns Of 'Accelerated' Downturn As Housing Market Abruptly Collapses." "Mortgage originator loanDepot on Tuesday unveiled a plan to cut thousands of jobs and reduce costs "significantly" as higher interest rates sink mortgage demand - becoming the latest company to warn the housing market is due for a steeper turnaround after the pandemic-era home-buying frenzy."

How to understand what is going on?

A Market Midden: There are bull markets and there are bear markets; this is a bear market. There are up-swings in the long credit cycle and there are down-swings; this is a down-swing (rising yields). Trillions of new dollars were born in the post-1971 free love, free money era. Now, those dollars – old and grumpy – are dying off. Millions of Chinese peasants joined the modern world, worked for peanuts and helped keep consumer prices low; now, China is out of cheap peasants, labor costs are rising, and the Fed must learn to fight inflation.

There are many ways to understand what is going on. It is like digging down into a midden of market history. We come across gnawed bones and broken pots – each offers a little more insight. And sometimes we find something, right there on the surface.

We don’t read The New York Times for news. We read it to find out where the deciders are going. Like the Soviet press, the NYT tells us only the part of the story it wants us to have. But it sends winks and nudges to the legions of deciders, insiders, the elite, the Deep State and the Establishment. It signals important policy shifts. And in the last few days, the old gray lady gave us a heads up: Biden will not run again in 2024. From the weekend: "Mr. Biden looks older than just a few years ago, a political liability that cannot be solved by traditional White House stratagems like staff shake-ups… Some aides quietly watch out for him. He often shuffles when he walks, and aides worry he will trip on a wire. He stumbles over words during public events, and they hold their breath to see if he makes it to the end without a gaffe."

And then, on Monday: "Widespread concerns about the economy and inflation have helped turn the national mood decidedly dark, both on Mr. Biden and the trajectory of the nation… a pervasive sense of pessimism that spans every corner of the country..."

And here’s Yahoo! News piling on: "President Biden's Approval Rating Drops to 33% as Overwhelming Majority of Democrats Seek New 2024 Candidate." "According to a New York Times/Siena College poll conducted last week, only 1 in 3 Americans approves of Biden's job performance. Perhaps more daunting for Biden's political future, though, is that only 26% of registered Democrats wish to see him secure the Democratic Party nomination during the next presidential election."

A Crisis of Faith: This is only important to us in that it points to yet another way to understand today’s economic and political malaise. And we begin by noting that widespread disapproval is not unique to Mr. Biden. Donald Trump’s approval rating sank below 30% at the end of his term. During the 2008 financial crisis, even fewer people expressed confidence in George W. Bush. Nor is it limited to the US. Boris Johnson was just asked to clean out his desk. Emmanuel Macron is widely despised; 62% of the French public disapprove of him. German president Scholz is not far ahead, with a 36% approval rating. And this just in from Italy: "Italy's Govt Faces Collapse."

What’s going on? Why do people have so little faith in the leaders they elect? What’s wrong with the western democracies? (Vladimir Putin, by contrast, is said to have an 83% approval rating.) And how is this connected to our search for answers… why markets are in one of their worst sell-offs in history? Does the problem go beyond just money?

This may be the end of the long-wave of falling interest rates. It may be the end of the Bubble Epoch, caused by the Fed’s ultra-low lending rates and money-printing. It may be the end of the bull market that began in March of 2009. But it may also be the end of the line for modern, welfare democracies. Stay tuned..."

- bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com

Gregory Mannarino, "Situation Critical: The Global Economy Is Collapsing Faster With No End In Sight!"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 7/13/22:

"Situation Critical: The Global Economy Is 

Collapsing Faster With No End In Sight!"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Shopping At Target After Massive Power Outage Hits Cincinnati!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures with Danno, 7/13/22:

"Shopping At Target After Massive Power Outage Hits Cincinnati!"

"In today's Vlog we visit Target to witness the aftermath of a massive power outage, leaving the stores with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of refrigerated items wasted."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Really Is"

To Hell with Americans, $60 billion for Ukraine!

Sorry, Good Citizen, not a damned thing for you, 

gotta save Wall St. and the rich!

OMG, OMG..."Video Released Of Police Response To Uvalde Robb Elementary School Shooting"

"Video Released Of Police Response To 

Uvalde Robb Elementary School Shooting"

"The Austin-American Statesman on Tuesday released edited footage showing gunman Salvador Ramos entering Robb Elementary School and heavily-armed police waiting an hour and 14 minutes to charge into the classroom and kill the assailant.

From The Statesman: "A 77-minute video recording captured from this vantage point, along with body camera footage from one of the responding officers, obtained by the American-Statesman and KVUE, shows in excruciating detail dozens of sworn officers, local, state and federal - heavily armed, clad in body armor, with helmets, some with protective shields - walking back and forth in the hallway, some leaving the camera frame and then reappearing, others training their weapons toward the classroom, talking, making cellphone calls, sending texts and looking at floor plans, but not entering or attempting to enter the classrooms. The Statesman is publishing an edited version of the video to show how the law enforcement response unfolded.

Even after hearing at least four additional shots from the classrooms 45 minutes after police arrived on the scene, the officers waited. They asked for keys to one of the classrooms. (It was unlocked, investigators said later.) They brought tear gas and gas masks. They later carried a sledgehammer. And still, they waited.

Officers finally rushed into the classroom and killed the gunman an hour and 14 minutes after police first arrived on the scene. Nineteen fourth graders and their two teachers died in the massacre on May 24, days before the end of the school year.

Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw testified last month that police could have stopped the shooter within three minutes if they swiftly engaged him rather than take cover and hide in the name of officer safety."

Video here: 

- http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=63204

OMG...OMf'ng God!

I'm absolutely horrified, furious beyond words and disgusted with these cowards, these sons of bitches!!! And they could hear more shots killing babies and did NOTHING!!! God damn them, God damn them to Hell, all of them!!!

- CP

Canadian Prepper, "I Got A Real Nasty Message"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 7/12/22:

"I Got A Real Nasty Message"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gerald Celente, "Stay Stupid, Stay In The Mainstream"

Strong language alert!

Full screen recommended.

Gerald Celente, 7/12/22:

"Stay Stupid, Stay In The Mainstream"

- https://trendsresearch.com/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gerald's in excellent form...

"Do Not Buy A House Now; Mortgage Markets Crushed; Inflation Numbers Cooked; Starbucks"

Jeremiah Babe, 7/12/22:

"Do Not Buy A House Now; Mortgage Markets Crushed;

 Inflation Numbers Cooked; Starbucks"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Alert! They Warn Populations To 'Prepare For A Total Cut-Off Of Russian Gas' As Social Unrest Looms"

Full screen recommended.

"Alert! They Warn Populations To 'Prepare For A 

Total Cut-Off Of Russian Gas' As Social Unrest Looms"

by Epic Economist

"The current global energy crisis is set to become even worse than what the world experienced in the 1970s. All across the globe, consumers are being hit by soaring prices, businesses are facing energy supply shortages, political leaders and central bankers are struggling with inflation, and countries are confronting worsening supply chain problems. In addition to pushing consumer prices to soar, the ongoing crisis is transforming a previously global market into one that is fragmented and extremely vulnerable to disruption.

It is not only hampering economic growth but also deepening the world’s great-power rivalries. And now, populations around the planet are being warned to prepare for fuel and power shortages, rationing, and rolling outages as energy reserves hit dangerously low levels. On top of everything else, due to the geopolitical crisis arising from the conflict in Ukraine, a total cut-off of Russian gas is about to trigger catastrophic consequences for the global market, according to President Vladimir Putin.

In the U.S., on top of shortages of oil-based fuels and natural gas, businesses and consumers are grappling with electricity shortages. Experts say that America’s crumbling power grid is reaching a breaking point as scorching temperatures, low wind output, and record power demand overwhelm the already stressed system. In fact, on Sunday, ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, asked households and businesses to conserve power and warned them to prepare for rolling blackouts. The grid is facing a "reserve capacity shortage with no market solution available," ERCOT said in a press release.

The power shock in Texas is likely to result in higher crude prices because oil/gas industries will end up being forced to shutter operations during blackouts. The latest projections showed that wind generation is at only 8% of the grid’s total capacity, and the high temperatures mean no relief in sight. To make things worse, another natural gas plant caught fire this weekend – the fifth incident since the start of the year. At the same time, the outlook isn’t any more promising in U.S. oil markets. Over the past year, the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve has been drained and is now sitting at dangerously low levels.

Despite the repeated warnings that the country is set to face a shortage of fuels, more than 5 million barrels from the strategic reserve were exported to Europe and Asia last month, including to top our geopolitical nemesis in the global arena, China, even as gasoline and diesel prices continue to hit record highs all across the nation. “The situation is more than dramatic,” highlighted Axel Gedaschko, the head of GdW. “Social peace is in great danger,” he stressed.

"Let's prepare for a total cut-off of Russian gas; Today that is the most likely option," Le Maire warned. "We have to anticipate and to put ourselves in order of battle as of now," he emphasized. A potential domino effect from a Russian supply cut-off means that the entire planet could face repercussions as the global market loses one of its major suppliers, La Maire explained.

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin sees catastrophic energy consequences as sanctions against his country continue. For Americans, tighter energy supplies mean that they will spend 70% on energy this year, according to the calculations of Tim Morstad, the associate state director for AARP.

We’re entering very chaotic times, and our social stability is at risk. As geopolitical tensions continue to escalate, the second half of this year will see waves of social unrest emerging all around the globe as populations rise against inflation, food, and energy shortages, and the rampant cost of living."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com/

"Needless Death and Misery"

"Needless Death and Misery"

by Jim Rickards

"The war in Ukraine is in its sixth month, and there’s no end in sight. Here’s what we know…Almost everything you heard about the war in Ukraine from U.S. media over the course of March, April and May was a lie.

You heard that Putin was losing the war. You heard that Russians had poor training and low morale and were deserting in droves. You heard that Ukrainians were destroying Russian armor in large numbers to blunt the Russian advance. None of this was true. In fact, Russian troops have achieved major victories in Mariupol, Kherson, Severodonetsk, Lysychansk and other key targets that control rivers, ports and junctions in Ukraine.

U.S. Willing to Fight Russia to the Last Ukrainian: This article isn’t about strategy and I don’t want to get too deeply into the weeds, but Russia’s next targets are Slovyansk and Bakhmut, which will consolidate Russia’s control over the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Russia has also deployed anti-drone laser systems that have neutralized Ukraine’s ability to target Russian positions with drones. The endgame is the takeover of Odessa, which would give Russia control of 100% of Ukraine’s coastlines along the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

A negotiated settlement that cedes Russian control over Crimea and the Russian-speaking parts of eastern Ukraine is probably the most realistic solution available to end the war. But the U.S. doesn’t want the war to end. Its plan is to wear Russia down through a protracted conflict, no matter how much the Ukrainian people suffer. The battlefield situation aside, the story is even worse from the U.S. perspective…

Blowback! Russia is not just winning the war on the ground. It’s winning the global financial and economic war launched by Biden and our European allies. Russia’s revenues from oil and natural gas exports are at all-time highs. The Russian ruble is much stronger today than it was when the war began. China and India are buying all the Russian oil that Europe is refusing to buy.

Meanwhile, the economies of the U.S. and the EU are in or very near to recession. Inflation is out of control in the West. Commodity shortages will lead quickly to food shortages and more empty shelves in supermarkets. Across the board, Biden’s economic sanctions have backfired and are hurting the U.S. and Europe far more than they are hurting Russia.

Not Pro-Russian, But Pro-Truth: I’ve been reporting honestly on the war since the beginning. My readers have not been misled by false reporting because I’ve been candid about the real impact of sanctions and Russia’s brutal but effective battlefield tactics. It’s not that I’m pro-Russian - I’m not. I’m pro-truth. And I don’t defend the Russian invasion in any way (although I do understand it).

Even Bloomberg and The New York Times are now starting to admit that the war is a lost cause for Ukraine and the U.S. economy is suffering from sanctions aimed at Russia. But it’s a little late for legacy media to get their story straight.

What we know right now is the economic damage to the U.S. economy will get much worse before the economy gets better. Biden won’t stop the sanctions soon. That means the trashing of the U.S. economy will continue. Meanwhile, Russia is “temporarily” shutting down the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline to Germany for repairs. Of course, the temporary shutdown may become permanent. It’s just more proof that U.S.-led sanctions only hurt the U.S. and Europe, not Russia.

Failed Sanctions Against Russia May Actually Lead to Other Wars: Here’s another potentially dangerous side effect of the failed sanctions campaign against Russia: Economic sanctions may now facilitate war instead of preventing or stopping it. Why? Because U.S. sanctions on Russia are a complete failure. Nations considering invasions that might have been deterred because of sanctions threats may now feel emboldened and that they can proceed with confidence. How this new dynamic plays out in hotspots like the Taiwan Strait remains to be seen. But it would be deeply ironic if sanctions actually encouraged China to move against Taiwan.

These are the sorts of issues that should be thoroughly thought through before action is taken. But our political leaders are incapable of thinking even one move ahead. The U.S. has already committed about $56 billion to assist Ukraine, which will likely turn out to be a very poor investment. But American taxpayers might be fleeced even more…

Give Us More Money! The prime minister of Ukraine has calmly asked an international conference for $750 billion of assistance to rebuild Ukraine after the war. Nice try. There are a few problems with this. First of all, there will be no Ukraine to rebuild, at least not in its current form. Russia will take somewhere between a third and half the country and keep it. The parts that Russia is taking control of include the industrial nexus, the largest natural resource deposits and the most fertile land. Russia will be able to finance the reconstruction of their conquests using the very industrial capacity, mining and agricultural output they have captured.

Russia will also control the ports and major rivers and will be able to tax the remainder of Ukraine for access. The gradual result will be a prosperous part of Ukraine controlled by Russia and a desperately poor part of Ukraine left to the corrupt oligarchs under Zelensky.

You’re on the Hook to Rebuild Ukraine: When asked how Ukraine will finance the $750 billion demanded, the prime minister said they could use assets seized from Russian oligarchs. But that’s ridiculous. There may be $5 billion or $10 billion in yachts and townhouses, but nothing close to $750 billion. The truth is that this money will be expected to come from the U.S. and the EU, either directly or indirectly through the World Bank and the IMF. In other words, you are going to pay for it one way or the other. Of course, most of the money would end up in the hands of corrupt Ukrainian oligarchs.

It’s unlikely much reconstruction will get done anyway because Ukraine has long been a money-laundering operation for the benefit of U.S. politicians including the Clintons, Bidens and Obamas. That’s something to bear in mind when your taxes start going up to “help” Ukraine."

- dailyreckoning.com

"Social Unrest is Step 1 - then War & Famine"

Full screen recommended.

Peak Prosperity, Chris Martenson, 7/12/22:

"Social Unrest is Step 1 - then War & Famine"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Mark Dice, "Trying To Trade 1 oz Gold Coin (Worth $1800) for Worthless Random Stuff"

Full screen recommended.

Mark Dice, "Trying To Trade 1 oz Gold Coin 

(Worth $1800) for Worthless Random Stuff"

"Standing in front of a local coin shop, I asked people if they'll trade my 1 oz Canadian maple leaf gold coin for random things they're carrying, including a soda and some ice cream. Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

○

“We are in the process of creating what deserves to be called the idiot culture. Not an idiot sub-culture, which every society has bubbling beneath the surface and which can provide harmless fun; but the culture itself. For the first time, the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norm, even our cultural ideal.”

-  Carl Bernstein

○

Hat tip to The Burning Platform for this material.

"Gaslight Nation" (Excerpt)

"Gaslight Nation"

by Slugdaddy

Excerpt: "Sometime around 2016, I began to call America ‘Gaslight Nation’ – I think it’s the simplest way of describing where we are in this American experience. We see a ruling class and its media regularly portraying, not just lies, but a whole false reality to the people, all the time. The gaslighting didn’t start with COVID, but it sure accelerated during COVID. There appears to be an escalating effect; with each successful gaslighting episode, the elite grow bolder and more reckless. If we, the people (the masses) don’t push back, their lies will soon collapse our society and our nation.

"Gaslighting: The term may be used to describe a person (a “gaslighter”) who presents a false narrative to another group or person which leads them to doubt their perceptions and become misled (generally for the gaslighter’s own benefit), disoriented or distressed. Generally, this dynamic is possible only when the audience is vulnerable, such as in unequal power relationships, or when the audience is fearful of the losses associated with challenging the false narrative." - Wikipedia

In Gaslight Nation, there is the idea of Dangerous Misinformation that Could Cause Harm; an idea predicated on an always-unspoken understanding that because some people are too stupid to understand 21st century life, content for them must be censored (or curated.) And, that “some people,” who are too stupid, is meant to include you and me by default. The elite decide, we comply. Nevermind your lying eyes."

Please view this complete article here:

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

Musical Interlude: Runrig, "Running to the Light"

Full screen recommended.

Runrig, "Running to the Light"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"As far as ghosts go, Mirach's Ghost isn't really that scary. Mirach's Ghost is just a faint, fuzzy galaxy, well known to astronomers, that happens to be seen nearly along the line-of-sight to Mirach, a bright star. Centered in this star field, Mirach is also called Beta Andromedae. 

About 200 light-years distant, Mirach is a red giant star, cooler than the Sun but much larger and so intrinsically much brighter than our parent star. In most telescopic views, glare and diffraction spikes tend to hide things that lie near Mirach and make the faint, fuzzy galaxy look like a ghostly internal reflection of the almost overwhelming starlight. Still, appearing in this sharp image just above and to the right of Mirach, Mirach's Ghost is cataloged as galaxy NGC 404 and is estimated to be some 10 million light-years away."

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

Gregory Mannarino, "'Deceptionary' Event As The Economy Melts Down Even Faster"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 7/12/22:

"'Deceptionary' Event As The Economy Melts Down Even Faster"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Are There Any Questions?"

"Are There Any Questions?"

by Robert Fulghum

"Are there any questions?" An offer that comes at the end of college lectures and long meetings. Said when an audience is not only overdosed with information, but when there is no time left anyhow. At times like that you sure do have questions. Like, "Can we leave now?" and "What the hell was this meeting for?" and "Where can I get a drink?"

The gesture is supposed to indicate openness on the part of the speaker, I suppose, but if in fact you do ask a question, both the speaker and the audience will give you drop-dead looks. And some fool - some earnest idiot - always asks. And the speaker always answers. By repeating most of what he has already said. But if there is a little time left and there is a little silence left in response to the invitation, I usually ask the most important question of all: "What is the Meaning of Life?" You never know, somebody may have the answer, and I'd really hate to miss it because I was too socially inhibited to ask. But when I ask, it is usually taken as a kind of absurdist move - people laugh and nod and gather up their stuff and the meeting is dismissed on that ridiculous note. Once, and only once, I asked that question and got a serious answer…

Papaderos rose from his chair at the back of the room and walked to the front, where he stood in the bright Greek sunlight of an open window and looked out… he turned. And made the ritual gesture: "Are there any questions?" Quiet quilted the room. These two weeks had generated enough questions for a lifetime, but for now there was only silence. "No questions?" Papaderos swept the room with his eyes.

So. I asked. "Dr. Papaderos, what is the meaning of life?" The usual laughter followed, and people stirred to go. Papaderos held up his hand and stilled the room and looked at me for a long time, asking with his eyes if I was serious and seeing from my eyes that I was.

"I will answer your question." Taking his wallet out of his hip pocket, he fished into a leather billfold and brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter. And what he said went like this: "When I was a small child, during the war, we were very poor and we lived in a remote village. One day, on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place. I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest piece. This one. And by scratching it on a stone I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine - in deep holes and crevices and dark closets. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places I could find.

I kept the little mirror, and as I went about my growing up, I would take it out in idle moments and continue the challenge of the game. As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child's game but a metaphor for what I might do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of light. But light - truth, understanding, knowledge - is there, and it will only shine in many dark places if I reflect it. I am a fragment of a mirror whose design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world - into the black places in the hearts of men - and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life."

And then he took his small mirror and, holding it carefully, caught the bright rays of daylight streaming through the window and reflected them onto my face and onto my hands folded on the desk."

- Robert Fulghum,

"It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It

"Life Is Hard?"

"Life is hard? True - but let's love it anyhow,

though it breaks every bone in our bodies."

- Edward Abbey

"When I hear somebody sigh, "Life is hard,"

I am always tempted to ask, "Compared to what?"

- Sydney Harris

Bill Bonner, "Look Out Below!"

"Look Out Below!"

Hang the black crepe. Light a candle. 

And kiss the dead dollars goodbye.

by Bill Bonner

Baltimore, Maryland - "We’ve been bitten by ticks so often, over 73 years on a Maryland farm, we thought we were immune to Lyme Disease. And maybe we are. But there are other tick-borne bacteria. A friend warned us: “I thought I was dying. I lost the use of my right arm. Then, I began to mix up words. Whatever it was, it had gotten into my brain. Doctors didn’t know what was going on. But I was so alarmed I researched which states had ‘right to die’ laws; I didn’t want to be a burden to my family. And then… a guy I knew told me he thought it sounded like Lyme Disease… so I had some additional tests. And it turned out it was not Lyme… but some other disease you get from ticks. My advice… stay out of the woods in the summertime.”

In the ‘50s and ‘60s, “check yourself for ticks,” was every mother’s command when children came in from playing or working outside. But ticks weren’t so dangerous back then, just obnoxious. They bury their heads in your flesh. You don’t notice until the area begins to swell and itch. But then, they’re almost impossible to dislodge. You pull out the body, but the head stays anchored. You have to daub on alcohol, scratch and claw until you can dig the head out… usually with a big clump of your own skin still in its jaws.

But children get fewer ticks today. They no longer play outside. They need wires attached, batteries and air conditioning to have a good time. Ticks are a non-sequitur. Our subject is money. And today, we look at how it dies.

Down, Down, Down… Personal computer sales are in a downturn, says. The Wall Street Journal: "The waning appetite for personal-computer purchases is accelerating amid economic turbulence, hitting a near-decade low following two years of boom in pandemic-driven purchases."

But it’s not just computers. Here’s TradingEconomics: "Retail sales in the US unexpectedly fell 0.3% mom [month-on-month] in May of 2022, the first decline so far this year and compared to market forecasts of a 0.2% rise. It follows a downwardly revised 0.7% increase in April, as high inflation, gasoline prices and borrowing costs hurt spending on non-essential goods. Auto sales recorded the biggest decline (-4%) and sales also fell at electronics & appliance stores (-1.3%); miscellaneous store retailers (-1.1%); nonstore retailers (-1%); furniture stores (-0.9%); and health & personal care stores (-0.2%)."

What’s going on? Dollars are dying. At some level, it is simply normal and natural… a part of the life cycle. Everybody smiles when new dollars are born. Sales go up. It’s when they pass away – at the other end of the cycle – that sales go down and the wailing and gnashing of teeth begin.

Repo Man Callin’: Stocks are down about 20% so far this year. That is the worst performance since 1970. Bonds are down about 10% – the worst performance, well, since George Washington was president. A 60/40 portfolio – 60% equities/ 40% treasury bonds – is down 16%... which is the worst performance ever.

“Doctor Copper,” reputed to be the “metal with a PhD. in Economics,” supposedly because of its ability to predict where an economy is headed, is down 33%. Corn, wheat, and soybeans are down about 25%.

Even used cars are down 7% since the beginning of the year. This is despite a growing inventory of used cars. The repo men are busy. Here’s Autoblog: "Car repossessions on the rise, as average price hits $47,000.

It’s hard to read automotive news without hearing stories on rising car prices and gouging car dealers. That’s one side of the story, and while it’s important, there’s a whole other thing happening on the financial side of the market that has experts worried. Vehicle repossessions are on the rise, Barron's reports, meaning many people who bought cars in the past two years are running out of ways to pay for them.

According to Kelley Blue Book, the average price of a new vehicle rose 13.5% year over year to $47,148 in May. Combined with record-high monthly payments, it’s easy to start piecing together the story. Edmunds data showed that a whopping 12.7% of new car buyers are on the hook for payments of $1,000 or more per month."

Autos, commodities, stocks, bonds – almost everything is going down. Real estate is so ‘local,’ it’s harder to tell what is going on. But the likelihood is that it will go down with everything else.

Putting numbers to the damage, the total net worth of American households – including their holdings of stocks and bonds, and adjusted for liabilities – is about $140 trillion. If, overall, asset prices are off 15%, this represents the death of $24 trillion dollars’ worth.

Hang the black crepe. Light a candle. And kiss the dead dollars goodbye."

Joel’s Note: Here’s an interesting chart, forwarded to us this morning by our resident macro analyst, Dan Denning. It shows the steep increase in total household assets (green bars), peaking at just over $160 trillion. Adjusted for liabilities (red bars), that number is about $20 trillion lower. Take a look…

(Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System)

Note the increase since early 2020, when the government’s giant COVID spending spree really got underway. How much of that “green growth” is real… and how much is puffed up by funny money? A 15% decline in asset prices ($24 trillion) from here would only take us half way back to pre-COVID levels. Reckon there might be more hot air in the system? Look out below!"

- bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com

"Never Be A Spectator..."

"Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the 'transcendent' and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don't be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you."

- Christopher Hitchens

"Trying to Be More Present Isn't Enough"

"Trying to Be More Present Isn't Enough"

by David Cain

"A million years from now, when alien anthropologists begin gathering evidence about what humans were like, they will definitely want to dig up the Self-help and Spiritual/Religion sections of our bookstores and libraries. There they will find direct evidence of what we yearned for and struggled with. One thing that might surprise them is that we really wanted to be more present, and we struggled to do so for some reason. Our visitors will find no evidence that other earth creatures – cats, fish, protozoa – suffered any such difficulty.

Humans though, the aliens will note, spent most of their adult lives distracted from what is happening around them by thoughts of what happened earlier or could happen later. This problem was so great among the human species that returning to “the present” became a central element of both their religious practices and popular culture.

People designed mental exercises to get better at residing in the present moment, involving listening to mountain streams or patiently watching candle flames. Others wrote poems and stories about achieving a fabled state of calm abiding - in which one was lucid, engaged, and at ease - with such fervor that some of these stories mutated into religions.

Authors wrote books like "Be Here Now", "Wherever You Go There You Are", and "The Tao of Pooh", and gave talks in university auditoriums and monasteries. Musicians wrote songs about the primacy of being present in life, including wistful appeals like "Do You Realize??" and tragic warnings like "Cat’s in the Cradle."

Being present, just like being in love, was such a ubiquitous subject for human art and conversation that it was hard to get away from it, especially as new handheld technologies made the problem worse.

Today, we’re at the climax of this struggle, which is why almost everything you can say about “being present” is a cliché. It’s commonplace to say things like, “Life is what’s happening while you’re making other plans,” and “Stop and smell the roses,” in order to remind ourselves of what we already know: that life is always ticking by, evaporating by the second, as we worry about how certain parts of it might go later.

We each do what we can to remember to be present. At this moment, someone somewhere is writing a haiku about the stillness of early morning hours. Someone else is taping an Eckhart Tolle quote to their bathroom mirror. Someone else is hanging a decorative faux-rustic plank in the hallway of a suburban home, hoping it will remind them to Live, Laugh, Love before it’s too late.

Working Against Gravity: Being reminded does seem to help. If I tell you to look away from your screen for a moment, and pause to take in the ambient sound, light, and mood of the moment, whether you’re in an office, a library, or a Dunkin Donuts, you might notice the familiar, sublime sense that life is indeed happening now - happening live. The great machine of the world is humming and moving, and you’re a part of it in a way Napoleon and Ben Franklin and Marilyn Monroe no longer are. Ah, right! Life! This is what you’re here for. This is what you worry about losing. If you want to live your life intentionally, it can only be done from here, in moments like this.

However, chances are good that later today, or even three minutes from now, you will no longer be feeling this potent sense of presence. You’ll still be doing things, but a subtle screen of preoccupation will have descended. Most of life will pass this way. The solution seems to be to try harder to remember. You must resolve now and forever to be more present! You must never forget to stop and smell the roses, seize the day, and Live Laugh Love as much as you can.

I’ve been writing about being present for years now, in the most angular and unclichéd ways I can think of, in the hopes that these ideas resonate despite the ubiquity of the basic message. I’ve recommended, for example, observing your surroundings as though you’re a visiting alien or time-traveler; carefully “tasting” elements of your sensory experience like a sommelier would wine; viewing the room you’re in as though it exists but you don’t, and many other eccentric practices - anything but another admonishment to just be more present.

I do that because the admonishments don’t work. After twenty years of reading, writing, and reflecting on this topic, I can tell you that you cannot become more present by resolving to be more present. Hanging cross-stitched mottoes on your walls and intermittently reading Ram Dass might trigger the occasional moment of presence, but will not significantly change how much of your life you spend being present and how much you spend preoccupied.

That’s because the human mind is mostly habitual and reflexive. It cannot will itself to be present for more than a few seconds. Whatever mental gravity pulled your attention into idle thinking in the first place will draw it away again, almost immediately. You can, anytime it occurs to you, direct your attention back to the present, to the sunshine on your face, to the sound of distant traffic, but just like a submerged volleyball, the attention doesn’t stay there. I’m almost certain - and maybe brain scientists will confirm this someday - that the part of the brain that directs your attention to something is voluntary, and the part that sustains attention on that something is basically involuntary.

And it’s the sustaining that’s most important. Residing mainly in the present, not just glimpsing it occasionally, is what staves off rumination and worry, makes ordinary moments lucid and meaningful, and delivers the kind of circumstance-independent well-being all those fables and sayings and songs were talking about.

The Missing Key to Being More Present: There is a way to become significantly more present that does work with our fickle, fretting human minds. You have to leverage the mind’s habitual and reflexive nature. Instead of consciously “trying to be more present,” you gently train your own attention, like you’re training a dog, to locate and be with present moment experience as a normal and natural reflex.

You do this by setting aside a short period every day, say ten minutes to start, and using it to practice pointing your attention at something - some sensation, sight, or sound -- and observing it with a certain kind of alert curiosity.

As I said above, the human mind can only sustain this kind of voluntary focus for a few seconds at time - certainly not ten minutes - but those few seconds are enough to work with. You essentially fill that ten-minute period of practice as densely as possible with these 3- to 5-second stretches of aware presence. After doing this regularly for a few days or weeks, you might notice that your attention simply ends up in the present more often. You’re going about your day, and a certain lucidity descends on the moment as you get a mug from the cupboard or answer the phone.

Note that these moments of presence happen without your having to try or remember to try. Your attention automatically lands in the present because your mind has become more accustomed to it and is inclined to return there.

What’s happening is you’re changing the mind’s gravitational center. The practice periods develop the same kind of muscle-memory-like familiarity that happens when the fingers of a piano student begin to automatically find the right keys, except that instead of fingers finding keys it’s your attention finding the present moment. The present gradually becomes the resting place. The song begins to play itself. This daily period of attentional training is a form of meditation. Anyone can do it - you already have the basic human talent of focusing on something for a few seconds."

- https://www.raptitude.com/