Jeremiah Babe, 9/1/22:
"Get Ready, Everything Will Collapse;
Middle Class Going Homeless; Fake Money Won't Save Markets"
Comments here:
So, we rise from the rubble...
Thursday, September 1, 2022
Gregory Mannarino, "A Warning: Be Ready For The World As We Know It To Change Dramatically"
Gregory Mannarino, PM 9/1/22:
"A Warning: Be Ready For The World
As We Know It To Change Dramatically"
Comments here:
"A Look to the Heavens"
“What will become of these galaxies? Spiral galaxies NGC 5426 and NGC 5427 are passing dangerously close to each other, but each is likely to survive this collision. Typically when galaxies collide, a large galaxy eats a much smaller galaxy. In this case, however, the two galaxies are quite similar, each being a sprawling spiral with expansive arms and a compact core. As the galaxies advance over the next tens of millions of years, their component stars are unlikely to collide, although new stars will form in the bunching of gas caused by gravitational tides.
Close inspection of the above image taken by the 8-meter Gemini-South Telescope in Chile shows a bridge of material momentarily connecting the two giants. Known collectively as Arp 271, the interacting pair spans about 130,000 light years and lies about 90 million light-years away toward the constellation of Virgo. Recent predictions hold that our Milky Way Galaxy will undergo a similar collision with the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy in a few billion years.”
- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130825.html
Free Download: Mark Twain, 'Letters From the Earth'"
"Mark Twain's 'Letters From the Earth'"
by Wikipedia
“Letters from the Earth” is one of Mark Twain's posthumously published works. The essays were written during a difficult time in Twain's life; he was deep in debt and had lost his wife and one of his daughters. Initially, his daughter, Clara Clemens, objected to its publication in March 1939, probably because of its controversial and iconoclastic views on religion, claiming it presented a "distorted" view of her father. Henry Nash Smith helped change her position in 1960. Clara explained her change of heart in 1962 saying that "Mark Twain belonged to the world" and that public opinion had become more tolerant. She was also influenced to release the papers due to her annoyance with Soviet propaganda charges that her father's ideas were being suppressed in the United States. The papers were edited in 1939 by Bernard DeVoto. The book consists of a series of short stories, many of which deal with God and Christianity. The title story consists of eleven letters written by the archangel Satan to archangels, Gabriel and Michael, about his observations on the curious proceedings of earthly life and the nature of man's religions. Other short stories in the book include a bedtime story about a family of cats Twain wrote for his daughters, and an essay explaining why an anaconda is morally superior to Man.
Textual references make clear that sections, at least, of “Letters from the Earth” were written shortly before his death in April 1910. (For instance, Letter VII, in discussing the ravages of hookworm, refers to the $1,000,000 gift of John D. Rockefeller Jr. to help eradicate the disease – a gift that was announced on October 28, 1909, less than six months before Twain's death.)"
Textual references make clear that sections, at least, of “Letters from the Earth” were written shortly before his death in April 1910. (For instance, Letter VII, in discussing the ravages of hookworm, refers to the $1,000,000 gift of John D. Rockefeller Jr. to help eradicate the disease – a gift that was announced on October 28, 1909, less than six months before Twain's death.)"
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Excerpt: "Letters From the Earth"
by Mark Twain
by Mark Twain
"This is a strange place, an extraordinary place, and interesting. There is nothing resembling it at home. The people are all insane, the other animals are all insane, the earth is insane, Nature itself is insane. Man is a marvelous curiosity. When he is at his very very best he is a sort of low grade nickel-plated angel; at is worst he is unspeakable, unimaginable; and first and last and all the time he is a sarcasm. Yet he blandly and in all sincerity calls himself the "noblest work of God." This is the truth I am telling you. And this is not a new idea with him, he has talked it through all the ages, and believed it. Believed it, and found nobody among all his race to laugh at it.
Moreover - if I may put another strain upon you - he thinks he is the Creator's pet. He believes the Creator is proud of him; he even believes the Creator loves him; has a passion for him; sits up nights to admire him; yes, and watch over him and keep him out of trouble. He prays to Him, and thinks He listens. Isn't it a quaint idea? Fills his prayers with crude and bald and florid flatteries of Him, and thinks He sits and purrs over these extravagancies and enjoys them. He prays for help, and favor, and protection, every day; and does it with hopefulness and confidence, too, although no prayer of his has ever been answered. The daily affront, the daily defeat, do not discourage him, he goes on praying just the same. There is something almost fine about this perseverance. I must put one more strain upon you: he thinks he is going to heaven!"
Freely download "Letters From the Earth", by Mark Twain, here:
"Our Planet..."
"We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds;
our planet is the mental institution of the universe.”
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Someone Once Told Me..."
"Someone once told me that time is a predator that stalked us all our lives. But I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey, that reminds us to cherish every moment because they'll never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we live it. After all, Number One, we're only mortal."
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Gerald Celente, "Roundtable: The Case For Peace In Ukraine"
Full screen recommended.
Gerald Celente, 9/1/22:
"Roundtable: The Case For Peace In Ukraine"
"Gerald Celente, the publisher of The Trends Journal and founder of Occupy Peace, held a ‘Peace & Freedom Rally’ in Kingston, N.Y., with some of the finest minds in the peace movement.
Prior to the rally, Celente held a roundtable discussion that gives an intimate and privileged perspective into the argument for peace that is banned in the mainstream media. Celente was joined by Judge Andrew Napolitano, the former chief legal analyst for Fox News; Phil Giraldi, the former CIA operative; Gary Null, the host at Progressive Radio Network; and Scott Ritter, an ex-weapons inspector for the UN.
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."
The Poet: Charles Bukowski, "Darkness Falls"
"Darkness Falls"
"Darkness falls upon Humanity
and faces become terrible things
that wanted more than there was.
All our days are marked with
unexpected affronts -
some disastrous, others less so,
but the process is
wearing and continuous.
Attrition rules.
Most give way,
leaving empty spaces
where people should be.
And now,
as we ready to self-destruct,
there is very little left to kill,
which makes the tragedy
less and more,
much, much more. "
- Charles Bukowski
Must View! "You Have to Buy an Electric Car That You Can’t Charge", And Much More
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly, 9/1/22:
"You Have to Buy an Electric Car That You Can’t Charge"
"The global energy crisis is taking its toll on everyone. Restaurants cannot afford to pay the electric bill. We are seeing warnings from around the world that this is going to get much worse before it gets better."
Comments here:
"The Life You Have Left..."
“The life you have left is a gift. Cherish it.
Enjoy it now, to the fullest. Do what matters, now.”
~ Leo Babauta
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“This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time.
Every breath is a choice.
Every minute is a choice.
To be or not to be.
Every time you don't throw yourself down the stairs, that's a choice.
Every time you don't crash your car, you re-enlist.
If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume
and come back as a new character...Would you slow down? Or speed up?"
- Chuck Palahniuk
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"If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make,
who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?"
- Stephen Levine
"What Would You Do If You Had To Go Through The Economic Horrors Of 2008 Again?
"What Would You Do If You Had To Go
Through The Economic Horrors Of 2008 Again?"
(Spoiler Alert: The Next Economic Crisis Has Already Begun)
by Michael Snyder
"If you knew for certain that we were about to plunge into another massive economic downturn like we experienced during the “Great Recession”, how would you respond? The events of the second half of 2008 took almost everyone by surprise, and the vast majority of the population was completely unprepared for what happened next. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, and that meant that they were suddenly unable to pay their bills. Countless households got behind on their mortgages and rent payments, and we witnessed a dramatic spike in foreclosures and evictions. I wish that we would never have to see such suffering again, but unfortunately it is already starting to happen right in front of our eyes.
The Biden administration keeps insisting that the U.S. economy is in good condition, but if that is the case why are so many large companies now laying off workers? On Wednesday, we learned that Snap Inc. will be laying off approximately 20 percent of their entire global workforce…"Snap Inc., the parent company of the popular app Snapchat, announced plans to lay off some 20% of its more than 6,400 global employees. The news will impact the jobs of more than 1,200 staffers at the tech giant, and comes as broader economic conditions have deteriorated in recent months amid rising inflation and the Federal Reserve’s interest rates hikes. The recent market downturn has especially pummeled the tech sector, where news of hiring freezes, layoffs, and other cost-cutting measures have dominated headlines for months."
Of course it isn’t just the tech industry that is getting monkey-hammered these days. It was also just announced that Bed Bath & Beyond will be permanently closing 150 stores and will be getting rid of about 20 percent of their corporate employees…"Bed Bath & Beyond is in deep turmoil. The company is trying to rescue itself and stay out of bankruptcy by shrinking. The chain said Wednesday that it will lay off approximately 20% of corporate employees, close around 150 stores and slash several of its in-house home goods’ brands. Crucially, the company also said it secured more than $500 million in financing to shore up its ailing financial straits."
Normally, retailers wait until after the lucrative holiday season before announcing store closings. So this move seems highly unusual. Sadly, this is all part of a “layoff tsunami” that has now started. As I discussed the other day, approximately half of all U.S. companies anticipate that they will be eliminating jobs over the next 12 months. Needless to say, a “tsunami of layoffs” is only going to accelerate the new housing crash that we are now witnessing.
Last week, total mortgage application volume was 63 percent lower than it was during the same week in 2021…"After falling back earlier this month, mortgage rates began rising sharply again to the highest level since mid-July. That caused mortgage demand to pull back even further. Total mortgage application volume fell 3.7% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. Volume was 63% lower than the same week one year ago."
63 percent! What a catastrophe. And many other recent numbers confirm the fact that we are now past the peak of the housing bubble and are now on the way down…"Sales volume of existing homes plunged by 20% from a year ago across the US, and by 31% in California, and by 41% in San Diego. Median prices in the West have begun to drop, and in the San Francisco Bay Area fell below year-ago-levels, including by 8% in San Francisco. Sales of new houses plunged by nearly 30% year-over-year across the US, and in the West by 50%, as the supply of new houses has exploded to 11 months, the highest since the peak of Housing Bust 1. And big institutional buyers have started to pull out of this market because they don’t want to overpay. This has been going on for months."
Home prices have only just begun to drop. They could potentially go down a lot further, because soaring mortgage rates have put home ownership out of reach for a huge chunk of the population at this point. What we really need is for the Federal Reserve to stop hiking interest rates. But Fed officials have already told us that they aren’t going to do that. So the housing crash that we are currently experiencing is only going to get worse.
Meanwhile, an increasing number of renters are getting behind on their rent payments. In fact, it is being reported that 3.8 million renters believe that it is likely that they will be evicted within the next two months…"For the first time ever, the median rent in the U.S. topped $2,000 a month in June - and the increases show no sign of stopping. Those rising rents mean that households representing a total of 8.5 million people were behind on their rent at the end of August, according to Census Bureau figures. And 3.8 million of those renters say they’re somewhat or very likely to be evicted in the next two months."
If things are this bad already, what will conditions look like once millions more Americans have lost their jobs? Just like we saw in 2008, huge numbers of evictions and foreclosures are on the horizon, and the middle class is going to be absolutely eviscerated by this crisis.
Last time around, the Fed was able to reduce the severity of the crisis by pushing interest rates to the floor and by pumping trillions of fresh dollars into the financial system. This time around they are unlikely to implement such measures because they are deathly afraid of causing even more inflation. So the stage is set for an economic meltdown of absolutely epic proportions, and there is no hero that is going to come riding to the rescue.
We are about to experience the consequences of literally decades of exceedingly foolish decisions. Enjoy the rest of the summer while you still can, because the U.S. economy is only going to go downhill from here."
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Horror indeed...
Check the current list of recent user layoff related
comments, questions, rumors and messages here:
"How It Really Is"
"What this country needs... what this great land of ours needs is something to happen to it. Something ferocious and tragic, like what happened to Jericho or the cities of the plain - something terrible I mean, son, so that when the people have been through hellfire and the crucible, and have suffered agony enough and grief, they'll be people again, human beings, not a bunch of smug contented cows rooting at the trough."
- William Styron, "Set This House On Fire"
Bill Bonner, "America On The Verge?"
"America on the Verge?"
Could a housing collapse drag the economy
from recession into... something far worse?
by Bill Bonner
Poitou, France - "Here’s the Daily Mail with the latest lurid headline: "Is America on the verge of a house price collapse? Prices could crash by up to 20% and homes are overvalued by as much as 72%, expert warns."
Boise, Idaho; Charlotte, North Carolina and Austin, Texas were the three most overvalued areas in the United States, according to Moody's Analytics Moody's found that found that 183 of the nation's 413 largest regional housing markets are 'overvalued' by more than 25 percent If a recession hits, house prices in those 183 regions could plummet by as much as 20 percent, Moody's predicted
If there is not a recession, they will still fall 10-15 percent, the analysts believe - echoing other experts. The housing inventory is at its highest level since April 2009, as sellers struggle to get rid of their property because mortgages have become more expensive.
Last week, investors were surprised by the forthright and clear-headed tone of Jerome Powell’s remarks from Jackson Hole. It almost seemed as though the Fed jefe had come to his senses: "The successful Volcker disinflation in the early 1980s followed multiple failed attempts to lower inflation over the previous 15 years. A lengthy period of very restrictive monetary policy was ultimately needed to stem the high inflation and start the process of getting inflation down to the low and stable levels that were the norm until the spring of last year. Our aim is to avoid that outcome by acting with resolve now.."
Powell is telling us – loud and clear – that he intends to ‘pull a Volcker.’ That is what we expected him to say. And we still don’t believe it.
Buckle Down: When push comes to shove, we predict, the Fed will buckle under demands to ‘pivot’ towards a looser monetary policy. But that is still somewhere in the future; today, we look at where ‘shove’ might be.
Remember, it’s ‘inflate or die.’ Since the 1990s, the markets – and the economy – have been under the spell of the Fed’s voodoo economics. It inflated everything – with its ultra-low interest rates for ultra-long periods. Now, with consumer prices rising uncomfortably, the Fed is forced to position itself as a steadfast, almost heroic, inflation fighter.
That is a fairly easy role for Powell et al; for now, they can fight inflation without taking casualties. Employment is still high. Stocks are still high. Interest rates are still low, with the 10-year Treasury bond yielding only 3.2% (more than 5% below the CPI). And houses are still selling near their peak prices.
So far… so good. But there’s $90 trillion in debt to reckon with. Raise the average carrying cost (interest rate) by a single percentage point and the cost to debtors is an extra $900 billion a year. As we mentioned on Monday, while the Fed’s balance sheet is coming down (the Fed is buying fewer bonds… aka QT, quantitative tightening), it is still lending to member banks at rates far below consumer price inflation. This is essentially ‘inflationary,’ since it encourages people to borrow. It is only by getting lending rates above the level of consumer price hikes that the Fed can control inflation.
At today’s 8.5% CPI (More lies, see here for true 17% inflation rate. - CP) that would mean interest rates around 10%. And if applied to all the debt outstanding that would cost the economy $9 trillion per year – or more than a third of total GDP. Not going to happen.
But what can happen is that the Fed’s gradually increasing interest rates will put the economy into a deeper recession. Then, people stop buying; businesses fail; jobs are lost; and prices fall. Most likely, we’ll see the two converge – rising rates from the Fed coming up to meet falling consumer prices – leaving us with positive (above zero after inflation) interest rates. But wait… there’s more.
Ropes in Their Hands: The Fed is also stepping up its QT program, re-absorbing much of the liquidity it put out into the economy. It will be extinguishing nearly $100 billion per month, beginning this month. Instead of buying bonds, in other words, the Fed will be selling them (or letting existing bond holding expire).
And here is where the battle against inflation becomes a fight for survival. It’s where the pain really begins… and where the Fed begins to fear for its own safety. Because, if the Fed isn’t buying US bonds, who will? And if fewer buyers appear at the Treasury bond auctions, bond prices will fall… and bond yields will rise. And as Treasury yields go up, mortgage rates will go up too. And soon, there will be mobs forming – on line, or on Pennsylvania Avenue, of homeowners, stockholders, politicians, the media – with ropes in their hands and Jay Powell in their sights.
Without the Fed there to buy up bonds (providing more cash and credit… more ‘liquidity’) borrowers will have to depend on real savers. But the savings rate has been going down since the Covid panic and now stands around 5% – or less than $1 trillion per year. The US government is still running deficits and expects to borrow more than $1 trillion in FY 2022.
You can do the math as well as we can. If all of the available savings are gobbled up by the federal government, private corporations, local governments, and mortgage lenders will be starved for credit. What we are going to see is something we haven’t seen for many years – a bidding war, not for houses… not for meme stocks… not for gas… but for scarce credit. In effect, the Fed is doing to the US credit market what the Russians are doing to the European gas market – cutting off supplies. The price is going to go up. Mortgage rates will go up. Housing prices will go down… and the whole economy will tip into a deeper recession. Then we will see what stuff Jay Powell is really made of."
Gregory Mannarino, "Prepare Yourselves! It's Happening Now"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 9/1/22:
"Prepare Yourselves! It's Happening Now,
The 10-Year Yield Is Spiking, The MMRI Is Markedly Higher"
Comments here:
"A Wise Man Once Said...
“A wise man once said you can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it. What he meant is nothing comes without a price. So before you go into battle, you better decide how much you’re willing to lose. Too often, going after what feels good means letting go of what you know is right, and letting someone in means abandoning the walls you’ve spent a lifetime building. Of course, the toughest sacrifices are the ones we don’t see coming, when we don’t have time to come up with a strategy to pick a side or to measure the potential loss. When that happens, when the battle chooses us and not the other way around, that’s when the sacrifice can turn out to be more than we can bear.”
- “Dr. Meredith Grey”, “Grey’s Anatomy"
"Death Sentence by Starvation"
"Death Sentence by Starvation"
by Chris McIntosh
“You can’t build a peaceful world on empty stomachs and human misery.”
- Norman Borlaug
"Trudeau pushes ahead on fertilizer reduction. The sales pitch by Trudeau is that by cutting nitrous oxide emissions the central planners will save the planet from assured annihilation. Like any ridiculous war, whereby the goal is so broadly defined so as to ensure a never ending and ultimately unwinnable war (see war on “terror” and the war on “hate speech” as prime examples), this one too has a fugazi aspect to it. The target now is “emissions from agricultural sources” and they intend to reduce these 30% by 2030. For agriculture, that means cutting applications of nitrogen fertilizer.
Let me be blunt. The inevitable consequence is mass starvation.
Farmers will find their businesses under intense pressure as they are forced to try to make ends meet while reducing productivity. This will see many fail. But fear not, their land will be purchased by the likes of Bill Gates, Blackrock, and the government via various “collective bodies,” who will, via a complicit media, explain that this is needed “for the good of everyone,” of course. The net result will be a catastrophic decline in the aggregate food supply, and people will starve. We’ll be told that “the old way wasn’t sustainable” and we’ll be offered synthetic lab grown isht that will be referred to incorrectly as food and specifically meat. It is neither and will, like high fructose corn syrup, further weaken and sicken people. A perpetual never ending cycle of dependent, mentally, and physically sick populace reliant on the technocrats for their very survival.
Nitrogen is THE most important nutrient for crops. The invention of synthetic nitrogen is what allowed humanity to grow from a population of under 2 billion to almost 8 billion within a century. No synthetic nitrogen means no food.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is generated as part of nitrogen fertilizer. The pointy shoes and their “sanctioned” experts have categorized N2O as an extremely potent greenhouse gas alongside methane. Why N2O and methane? Well, N2O hits directly at ALL crops and methane hits directly at all animals farmed. Every one of them. The hobgoblin of climate change is being used to obtain full and total control over the entire food industry. Quite a feat.
Canada is one of the major agricultural players globally. That means it’s an export powerhouse. But this isn’t possible without nitrogen fertilizer. Canada produces 8% of the world’s tradable wheat, 10% of tradable barley, and well over 50% of tradable canola.
Cut nitrogen usage by 30%, and you’re not going to simply see a consequent 30% reduction in Canada’s food supply. It doesn’t work like that. Cut 30% nitrogen usage and you have entire farm failures. Imagine any business where, for argument’s sake, your margins are 20% (they’re less in farming) and you see a 30% fall in production or something like that. You go out of business. 100% out of business. Poof! Gone! Some obviously will survive, but the production collapse is some figure north of 30%. And all that’s likely gone from the world market. Global food insecurity is already rising rapidly.
As we pointed out before COVID we were due a bull market in agricultural prices simply due to the energy component. Now, of course, it’s much, much worse. The world is staring down the barrel of a looming humanitarian catastrophe at a scale unseen since the mid-20th century.
The decision by Canadian and Dutch elites to restrict nitrogen usage is nothing less than a death sentence to millions globally to die of starvation. This self-righteous posturing by Canadian and Dutch WEF shills is about to create untold human suffering. The only positive out of this situation is that with each subsequent lockdown and disastrous policy initiated the populace will become angrier. Like every empire before it, this one, too, is likely to succumb under the weight of its own debts."
"Stocking Up At Kroger! Get It Before It's Gone! More Price Increases!"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures with Danno, 9/1/22:
"Stocking Up At Kroger! Get It Before It's Gone!
More Price Increases!"
"In today's vlog we are at Kroger, and are noticing massive price increases, and are prepping for the future! We are here to check out skyrocketing prices, and a lot of empty shelves! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"
Comments here:
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Related:
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
"Panic Sweeps Across Energy Supply Chains As China Aggressively Reselling Russian Gas"
Full screen recommended.
"Panic Sweeps Across Energy Supply Chains As
China Aggressively Reselling Russian Gas"
by Epic Economist
"The world is going through the most severe shortage of energy supplies that we have ever seen in modern times. The imbalance between supply and demand is pushing prices to absolutely astonishing levels, and sending many major economies to the edge of a disaster. Natural gas supplies, in particular, are shrinking all across the U.S. and Europe after Russia’s aggression on Ukraine resulted in a series of western sanctions on Russian exports. But while western nations suffer from energy scarcity, and populations face energy poverty, the Kremlin and Beijing continue to profit with record-high prices. In fact, a new report reveals that China is now aggressively reselling Russian liquified natural gas to energy-strapped countries in Europe and all over the world, effectively circumventing sanctions and helping to boost costs up 700% in some places. A rush for energy is now here, and the supply shock is likely to only get worse from this point on.
Over the past three months alone, China spent $18.9 billion on Russian oil, gas, and coal, almost double the amount a year earlier, the latest customs data show. Meanwhile, India spent $5.1 billion in the same period, more than five times the value of a year ago. That’s an additional $13 billion in revenue from both countries compared to the same months in 2021.
Although Europe continues to reject Russian energy exports, Sinopec data shows that China has been reselling Russian liquefied natural gas shipments to European countries. ZeroHedge experts noted yesterday that “China has been quietly reselling Russian LNG to the one place that desperately needs it more than anything: Europe - and of course, it is charging a kidney's worth of markups in the process.”
Make no mistake: all of these "excess" energy supplies were soured in part or in whole in Russia, but since it has been "tolled" in China, it is no longer Russian. It is instead being branded as Chinese LNG, they exposed. The main problem is that as soon as economic activity bounces back in China, the situation will quickly reverse, and Beijing will no longer resell Russian gas to keep Europe warm during the coming winter.
At the end of the day, what the West has done was to make energy more expensive and scarce to itself while remaining primarily reliant on the exports of the country it now wants to ban. Worse even, is the fact that Europe could buy these supplies for less than half the price that it is paying right now. Instead, it has to pay 6 to 7 times more just to virtue signal to the world that it won't fund Putin's regime when in reality it is paying extra to both Xi and to Putin, who are both collecting a premium price thanks to the overall market scarcity.
It’s no wonder why European authorities are rushing to fill storage reserves so there’s enough gas to meet household heating and industrial needs over the northern winter. With European wholesale natural gas, coal, and CO2 prices near all-time highs, Europeans are facing a real threat of energy poverty, one which may in fact last for many years. In Germany, electricity prices have risen by a staggering 720% from the beginning of the year. This is a seismic energy supply shock that is destabilizing the entire West. The social, economic, and political fabric of the U.S. and Europe has never been so vulnerable to external disruptions. And once again, we, the consumers, are the ones who were left to deal with a myriad of terrible repercussions."
Canadian Prepper, "This Keeps Me Up At Night..."
Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 8/31/22:
"This Keeps Me Up At Night..."
"If you think it can't get bad here you may want to watch this video."
Comments here:
"Stock Market Crippled by Liquidity Crisis - You Are Not Prepared For What's About To Hit"
Jeremiah Babe, 8/31/22:
"Stock Market Crippled by Liquidity Crisis -
You Are Not Prepared For What's About To Hit"
Comments here:
"Millions of Americans To Be Evicted From Their Homes As Economic Collapse Accelerates"
"Millions of Americans To Be Evicted
From Their Homes As Economic Collapse Accelerates"
by Mike Adams
Excerpt: "The collapse is now accelerating by the day. Earlier this week, we learned that one in six US households is behind on paying their electric bills (and electricity isn’t even expensive in the states compared to all of Western Europe, where people in France are paying $1 per kWh and going broke). Now, we’re learning that as many as 3.8 million American renters could face eviction in the next two months (see StrangeSounds.org) because they can’t keep up with rent payments, which now average over $2,000/month in America.
Thanks to the disastrous economic policies of the illegitimate Biden regime that staged a ballot-stuffing election insurrection to steal the presidency, the American people are suffering like never before, fending off skyrocketing inflation (at nearly 20% once you include food, fuel and energy), rising food prices, still-high fuel prices (diesel just went back up over $5/gallon today), and unaffordable rent and housing.
More and more Americans, it turns out, are going to have to choose between housing and food, meaning millions of new people will be homeless and / or starving before year’s end… all while Biden and the Democrats claims that Republicans are “a threat to democracy.”
Get the full article and podcast in today's feature story here:
"Something Like Reverence..."
“When the pain of leaving behind what we know outweighs the pain of embracing it, or when the power we face is overwhelming and neither flight nor fight will save us, there may be salvation in sitting still. And if salvation is impossible, then at least before perishing we may gain a clearer vision of where we are. By sitting still I do not mean the paralysis of dread, like that of a rabbit frozen beneath the dive of a hawk. I mean something like reverence, a respectful waiting, a deep attentiveness to forces much greater than our own.”
- Scott Russell Sanders
"World War Next" (Excerpt), Part I
"World War Next" (Excerpt), Part I
by Contemplations on the Tree of Woe
Excerpt: "War is coming. Maybe not this month, maybe not this year, but it’s coming. The Pax American has ended. The men and women who remember the horror of World War II are long gone. The taboo on violence has been lifted. War is coming. You can disagree, but I have a ham radio set up at my desk, and when the missiles start to fly, I will radio you to say “I told you so.” (Leave your callsign in the comments.)
If war comes, will the US prevail? Our national mythology holds that we’re always the good guys and the good guys always win. But war is the province of blood, steel, risk, and grit, not myth. The United States has not faced a hot war against a peer adversary in 77 years. It has not faced a hot war against a peer adversary capable of attacking its home soil in 157 years. Since that time, we have grown in population and gross domestic product, but we have also deindustrialized and offshored much of the capability that once made us “the Arsenal of Democracy.” In that same time, a new adversary has arisen, the first we have ever faced that has a larger population and economy than us.
Let’s explore what the next world war might look like, if the US, China, and Russia come to blows. This is a complex topic, so it might end up a multi-part series."
Please view the complete Part I of this article here:
Please view the complete Part II of this article here:
"The Decline and Fall of the American Empire"
"The Decline and Fall of the American Empire"
by Doug Casey
"As some of you know, I’m an aficionado of ancient history. I thought it might be worthwhile to discuss what happened to Rome and based on that, what’s likely to happen to the U.S. Spoiler alert: There are some similarities between the U.S. and Rome. But before continuing, please seat yourself comfortably. This article will necessarily cover exactly those things you’re never supposed to talk about - religion and politics - and do what you’re never supposed to do, namely, bad-mouth the military.
There are good reasons for looking to Rome rather than any other civilization when trying to see where the U.S. is headed. Everyone knows Rome declined, but few people understand why. And, I think, even fewer realize that the U.S. is now well along the same path for pretty much the same reasons, which I’ll explore shortly. Rome reached its peak of military power around the year 107, when Trajan completed the conquest of Dacia (the territory of modern Romania). With Dacia, the empire peaked in size, but I’d argue it was already past its peak by almost every other measure.
The U.S. reached its peak relative to the world, and in some ways its absolute peak, as early as the 1950s. In 1950 this country produced 50% of the world’s GNP and 80% of its vehicles. Now it’s about 21% of world GNP and 5% of its vehicles. It owned two-thirds of the world’s gold reserves; now it holds one-fourth. It was, by a huge margin, the world’s biggest creditor, whereas now it’s the biggest debtor by a huge margin. The income of the average American was by far the highest in the world; today it ranks about eighth, and it’s slipping.
But it’s not just the U.S. - it’s Western civilization that’s in decline. In 1910 Europe controlled almost the whole world - politically, financially, and militarily. Now it’s becoming a Disneyland with real buildings and a petting zoo for the Chinese. It’s even further down the slippery slope than the U.S.
Like America, Rome was founded by refugees - from Troy, at least in myth. Like America, it was ruled by kings in its early history. Later, Romans became self-governing, with several Assemblies and a Senate. Later still, power devolved to the executive, which was likely not an accident.
U.S. founders modeled the country on Rome, all the way down to the architecture of government buildings, the use of the eagle as the national bird, the use of Latin mottos, and the unfortunate use of the fasces - the axe surrounded by rods - as a symbol of state power. Publius, the pseudonymous author of "The Federalist Papers", took his name from one of Rome’s first consuls. As it was in Rome, military prowess is at the center of the national identity of the U.S. When you adopt a model in earnest, you grow to resemble it.
A considerable cottage industry has developed comparing ancient and modern times since Edward Gibbon published "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" in 1776—the same year as Adam Smith’s "Wealth of Nations" and the U.S. Declaration of Independence were written. I’m a big fan of all three, but D&F is not only a great history, it’s very elegant and readable literature. And it’s actually a laugh riot; Gibbon had a subtle wit.
There have been huge advances in our understanding of Rome since Gibbon’s time, driven by archeological discoveries. There were many things he just didn’t know, because he was as much a philologist as an historian, and he based his writing on what the ancients said about themselves. There was no real science of archeology when Gibbon wrote; little had been done even to correlate the surviving ancient texts with what was on the surviving monuments - even the well-known monuments - and on the coins. Not to mention scientists digging around in the provinces for what was left of Roman villas, battle sites, and that sort of thing. So Gibbon, like most historians, was to a degree a collector of hearsay.
And how could he know whom to believe among the ancient sources? It’s as though William F. Buckley, Gore Vidal, H. L. Mencken, Norman Mailer, and George Carlin all wrote about the same event, and you were left to figure out whose story was true. That would make it tough to tell what really happened just a few years ago… forget about ancient history. That’s why the study of history is so tendentious; so much of it is "he said/she said."
In any event, perhaps you don’t want a lecture on ancient history. You’d probably be more entertained by some guesses about what’s likely to happen to the U.S. I’ve got some. Let me start by saying that I’m not sure the collapse of Rome wasn’t a good thing. There were many positive aspects to Rome - as there are to most civilizations. But there was much else to Rome of which I disapprove, such as its anti-commercialism, its militarism and, post-Caesar, its centralized and increasingly totalitarian government. In that light, it’s worth considering whether the collapse of the U.S. might not be a good thing.
So why did Rome fall? In 1985, a German named Demandt assembled 210 reasons. I find some of them silly - like racial degeneration, homosexuality, and excessive freedom. Most are redundant. Some are just common sense - like bankruptcy, loss of moral fiber, and corruption.
Gibbon’s list is much shorter. Although it’s pretty hard to summarize his six fat volumes in a single sentence, he attributed the fall of Rome to just two causes, one internal and one external: Christianity and barbarian invasions, respectively. I think Gibbon was essentially right about both. Because of the sensibilities of his era, however, he probed at early Christianity (i.e., from its founding to the mid-4th century) very gently; I’ve decided to deal with it less delicately. Hopefully neither my analysis of religion nor of barbarian invasions (then and now) will disturb too many readers.
In any event, while accepting Gibbon’s basic ideas on Christians and barbarians, I decided to break down the reasons for Rome’s decline further, into 10 categories: political, legal, social, demographic, ecological, military, psychological, intellectual, religious, and economic - all of which I’ll touch on. And, as a bonus, toward the end of this article, I’ll give you another, completely unrelated, and extremely important reason for the collapse of both Rome and the U.S.
You don’t have to agree with my interpretation, but let’s see what lessons are on offer from the history of Rome, from its semi-mythical founding by Romulus and Remus in 753 BCE (a story that conflicts with Virgil’s tale of Aeneas and the refugee Trojans) to what’s conventionally designated as the end of the Western empire in 476 AD, when the child-emperor Romulus Augustulus was deposed by Odoacer (a Germanic general who was in charge of what passed for the Roman army - which by then was staffed almost entirely with Germanic mercenaries who had no loyalty to the idea of Rome). It looks a lot like the American experience over the last couple of hundred years. First conquest and expansion, then global dominance, and then slippage into decline.
Political: It’s somewhat misleading, however, to talk about a simple fall of Rome, and much more accurate to talk about its gradual transformation, with episodes of what paleontologists describe as "punctuated disequilibrium." There were many falls.
Republican Rome fell in 31 BCE with the accession of Augustus and the start of what’s called the Principate. It almost disintegrated in the 50 years of the mid-3rd century, a time of constant civil war, the start of serious barbarian incursions, and the destruction of Rome’s silver currency, the denarius.
Rome as anything resembling a free society fell in the 290s and then changed radically again, with Diocletian and the Dominate period (more on this shortly). Maybe the end came in 378, when the Goths destroyed a Roman army at Adrianople and wholesale invasions began. Maybe we should call 410 the end, when Alaric - a Goth who was actually a Roman general -conducted the first sacking of Rome.
It might be said the civilization didn’t really collapse until the late 600s, when Islam conquered the Middle East and North Africa and cut off Mediterranean commerce. Maybe we should use 1453, when Constantinople and the Eastern Empire fell. Maybe the Empire is still alive today in the form of the Catholic Church - the Pope is the Pontifex Maximus wearing red slippers, as did Julius Caesar when he held that position.
One certain reflection in the distant mirror is that beginning with the Principate period, Rome underwent an accelerating trend toward absolutism, centralization, totalitarianism, and bureaucracy. I think we can argue America entered its Principate with the accession of Roosevelt in 1933; since then, the president has reigned supreme over the Congress, as Augustus did over the Senate. Pretenses fell off increasingly over time in Rome, just as they have in the U.S.
After the third century, with constant civil war and the destruction of the currency, the Principate (when the emperor, at least in theory, was just the first among equals) gave way to the Dominate period (from the word "dominus," or lord, referring to a master of slaves), when the emperor became an absolute monarch. This happened with the ascension of Diocletian in 284 and then, after another civil war, Constantine in 306. From that point forward, the emperor no longer even pretended to be the first among equals and was treated as an oriental potentate. The same trend is in motion in the U.S, but we’re still a ways from reaching its endpoint - although it has to be noted that the president is now protected by hundreds, even thousands, of bodyguards. Harry Truman was the last president who actually dared to go out and informally stroll about DC, like a common citizen, while in office.
In any event, just as the Senate, the consuls, and the tribunes with their vetoes became impotent anachronisms, so have U.S. institutions. Early on, starting with the fourth emperor, Claudius, in 41 AD, the Praetorians (who had been set up by Augustus) showed they could designate the emperor. And today in the U.S., that’s probably true of its praetorians - the NSA, CIA, and FBI, among others - and of course the military. We’ll see how the next hanging-chad presidential election dispute gets settled.
My guess is that the booboisie (the Romans called them the capite censi, or head count) will demand a strong leader as the Greater Depression evolves, the dollar is destroyed, and a serious war gets underway. You have to remember that war has always been the health of the state. The Roman emperors were expected, not least by their soldiers, to always be engaged in war. And it’s no accident that the so-called greatest U.S. presidents were war presidents - Lincoln, Wilson, and FDR. We can humorously add the self-proclaimed war president Baby Bush. Military heroes - like Washington, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, and Eisenhower - are always easy to elect. My guess is that a general will run for office in the next election, when we’ll be in a genuine crisis. The public will want a general partly because the military is now by far the most trusted institution of U.S. society. His likely election will be a mistake for numerous reasons, not least that the military is really just a heavily armed variant of the postal service.
It’s wise to keep Gibbon’s words about the military in mind: "Any order of men accustomed to violence and slavery make for very poor guardians of a civil constitution."
Continued next week…"
Must Watch! Gregory Mannarino, "Situation Critical: Liquidity Is Quickly Drying Up, Prepare For A System-Wide Lockup!"
Gregory Mannarino, PM 8/31/22:
"Situation Critical: Liquidity Is Quickly Drying Up,
Prepare For A System-Wide Lockup!"
Comments here:
Musical Interlude: 2002, “The Emerald Way”
Full screen recommended.
2002, “The Emerald Way”
“This is the title track to our album, ‘The Emerald Way.’ The Emerald Way refers to that moment in life when a pivotal choice must be made – to choose the way that is customary and expected of us – or to head down the overgrown hidden path leading to the unknown.”
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Like delicate cosmic petals, these clouds of interstellar dust and gas have blossomed 1,300 light-years away in the fertile star fields of the constellation Cepheus. Sometimes called the Iris Nebula and dutifully cataloged as NGC 7023 this is not the only nebula in the sky to evoke the imagery of flowers. Still, this remarkable image shows off the Iris Nebula's range of colors and symmetries in impressive detail. Within the Iris, dusty nebular material surrounds a hot, young star.
Click image for larger size.
The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. Central filaments of the dusty clouds glow with a faint reddish photoluminesence as some dust grains effectively convert the star's invisible ultraviolet radiation to visible red light. Infrared observations indicate that this nebula may contain complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. The bright blue portion of the Iris Nebula is about six light-years across.”
- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120929.html
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"Why Do We Look to the Stars?"
"The Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be. Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us - there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation of a distant memory, as if we were falling from a great height. We know we are approaching the greatest of mysteries.
For as long as there has been humans we have searched for our place in the cosmos. Where are we? Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a hum-drum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people. This perspective is a courageous continuation of our penchant for constructing and testing mental models of the skies; the Sun as a red-hot stone, the stars as a celestial flame, the Galaxy as the backbone of night.
․
The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding. Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home. In a cosmic perspective, most human concerns seem insignificant, even petty. And yet our species is young and curious and brave and shows much promise. In the last few millennia we have made the most astonishing and unexpected discoveries about the Cosmos and our place within it, explorations that are exhilarating to consider. They remind us that humans have evolved to wonder, that understanding is a joy, that knowledge is prerequisite to survival. I believe our future depends powerfully on how well we understand this Cosmos in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky. Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere."
- Carl Sagan
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“Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven
where the love of our lost ones pours through and
shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.”
~ Eskimo saying.
Chet Raymo, “The Spark of Life”
“The Spark of Life”
by Chet Raymo
In a previous post I quoted Teilhard de Chardin referring to the discovery of electromagnetic waves as a "prodigious biological event." A biological event? What could he mean? The universe was awash with electromagnetic waves long before life appeared on Earth, or anywhere else in the universe. The cosmic microwave background radiation- the residue of the big bang- is electromagnetic. Starlight is an electromagnetic wave. You can "discover" electromagnetic waves by opening your eyes.
Of course, what Teilhard referred to was the conscious control of electromagnetic radiation by sentient biological creatures. Electromagnetic waves were predicted theoretically by the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell in 1864, as he played with equations describing electric and magnetic fields. Then, twenty-two years later, electromagnetic waves were experimentally demonstrated by Heinrich Hertz, who in effect made the first radio broadcast and reception. At Hertz's transmitter a spark jumped back and forth between two metal spheres 50 million times a second. Across the room a similar spark was instantly produced at the receiver. Invisible electrical energy had passed through space at the speed of light.
A spark dancing between two spheres- an unpretentious beginning for the age of radio, television, mobile phones and wireless internet. That first transmitter and receiver had a basement-workshop simplicity about them. Hertz demonstrated the nature of electromagnetic waves with constructions of wood, brass and sealing wax.
Wood, brass, sealing wax and conscious intelligence. Here on Earth- perhaps throughout the universe- stardust gave rise to living slime. The slime complexified, became conscious. Invented mathematics, experimental science. Caused sparks to jump between metal spheres. Sent the signature of biological activity across a room. Across a planet. Across the universe. Prodigious!”
Of course, what Teilhard referred to was the conscious control of electromagnetic radiation by sentient biological creatures. Electromagnetic waves were predicted theoretically by the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell in 1864, as he played with equations describing electric and magnetic fields. Then, twenty-two years later, electromagnetic waves were experimentally demonstrated by Heinrich Hertz, who in effect made the first radio broadcast and reception. At Hertz's transmitter a spark jumped back and forth between two metal spheres 50 million times a second. Across the room a similar spark was instantly produced at the receiver. Invisible electrical energy had passed through space at the speed of light.
A spark dancing between two spheres- an unpretentious beginning for the age of radio, television, mobile phones and wireless internet. That first transmitter and receiver had a basement-workshop simplicity about them. Hertz demonstrated the nature of electromagnetic waves with constructions of wood, brass and sealing wax.
Wood, brass, sealing wax and conscious intelligence. Here on Earth- perhaps throughout the universe- stardust gave rise to living slime. The slime complexified, became conscious. Invented mathematics, experimental science. Caused sparks to jump between metal spheres. Sent the signature of biological activity across a room. Across a planet. Across the universe. Prodigious!”
- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/
The Poet: Theodore Roethke, "In a Dark Time"
"In a Dark Time"
"In a dark time, the eye begins to see,
I meet my shadow in the deepening shade;
I hear my echo in the echoing wood -
A lord of nature weeping to a tree.
I live between the heron and the wren,
Beasts of the hill and serpents of the den.
What’s madness but nobility of soul
At odds with circumstance? The day’s on fire!
I know the purity of pure despair,
My shadow pinned against a sweating wall.
That place among the rocks - is it a cave,
Or winding path? The edge is what I have.
A steady storm of correspondences!
A night flowing with birds, a ragged moon,
And in broad day the midnight come again!
A man goes far to find out what he is -
Death of the self in a long, tearless night,
All natural shapes blazing unnatural light.
Dark, dark my light, and darker my desire.
My soul, like some heat-maddened summer fly,
Keeps buzzing at the sill. Which I is I?
A fallen man, I climb out of my fear.
The mind enters itself, and God the mind,
And one is One, free in the tearing wind."
- Theodore Roethke
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