Jim Kunstler," "A Smoldering Fuse"

"A Smoldering Fuse"

by Jim Kunstler

"Thirty-seven billion more dollars for Ukraine? (That’s thirty-seven thousand millions of dollars, by the way.) Bringing the total this year to a click-or-two over ninety billion (ninety-thousand millions), on top of whatever Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX company funneled through that sad-sack international money laundromat - soon to be the darkest backwater of a European failed state since Field Marshal Melchior von Hatzfeldt of Westphalia left Bohemia a corpse-strewn wasteland after the Battle of Jankau (1645).

It really doesn’t matter how much more money we pound down that rat-hole, you understand, because by the time various parties - the weapons-makers, Volodymyr Zelensky, sundry members of the US House of Representatives, The Biden family, the World Economic Forum - are finished creaming off their fair shares, poor Ukraine won’t have enough cash-on-hand to replace six fuse-boxes in Zaporizhzhia.

Against this backdrop, the USA enters a holiday season near-death spiral as unspooling scandals battle a collapsing economy for supremacy of the alt news sites. Case-in-point: the aforementioned FTX monkey business, a metastasizing tumor of the body politic. This complex fraud will smolder for a few weeks before it explodes into an extinction-grade event for the Democratic Party. The usual suspects among the mainstream media are trying to ignore it for the moment, but the shreds of this exploding money-borg are already sticking to guilty parties far and wide across the political landscape.

FTX commander-in-chief Sam Bankman-Fried remains at large after steering the crypto-currency trading platform into a bankruptcy so hideously tangled that the assigned liquidator in court proceedings, one John Ray III, who oversaw the Enron aftermath years ago, was boggled by what he’s found so far (and it’s early in the game): Namely, a company run by a handful of twenty-something drug freaks with no idea what they were doing, no record-keeping, and a slime trail of misappropriated investor’s funds leading to Kiev and Geneva through various crooked American political action committees, and the halls of Congress - with echos in ballot harvesting shenanigans which shaped the outcome of this month’s US elections.

Mr. Bankman-Fried is still scheduled as a main speaker for Accenture’s Nov. 30 DealBook Conference in New York ($2,499 for a ticket), along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Odds on him showing up? Or even being alive elsewhere on this planet then?

The extended family Bankman-Fried is the quintessence of Woke aristocracy. Dad Joe Bankman and mom Barbara Fried are both law professors at Stanford. She also acted as a money-bundler for the Democratic Party and ran two non-profit “voter registration” orgs (against the IRS laws which only permit non-partisan organized voter registration). Brother Gabe Bankman-Fried headed a non-profit named Guarding Against Pandemics (funded by Sam), which lobbies Congress to construct new platforms for medical tyranny. Aunt Linda Fried is Dean of the Columbia U’s Public Health school, and is associated with Johns Hopkins, which ran the October 2019 Event 201 pandemic drill (sponsored by the Gates Foundation) months before the Covid-19 outbreak.

Sam’s girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, ran the Alameda Investments arm of the FTX empire (that is, FTX’s own money laundromat). Her dad, Glenn Ellison is chair of MIT’s Econ School. His former colleague on the MIT Econ faculty, Gary Gensler, who specialized in blockchains there, is now head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, an agency that Sam Bankman Fried was attempting to rope into a regulation scheme to eliminate FTX’s crypto-currency competitors. Caroline’s mom, Sara Fisher Ellison is an MIT econ prof specializing in the pharmaceutical industry (fancy that!). Caroline Ellison is currently on-the-run.

The sum total of all this professional and academic accomplishment is also the quintessence of Woke-Jacobin turpitude in service to a political faction that seeks maximum moneygrubbing while acting to overthrow every norm of behavior in the conduct of elections, and perhaps in American life generally. That’s some accomplishment. It’s also a lesson in why the managerial elite of our country are no longer trustworthy. They have gotten away with crimes against the nation for years, which has only made them bolder and more reckless.

Wait for the FTX bankruptcy to unwind, along with all the political ramifications it entails, not to mention the financial afterburn in the whole crypto market, very likely extending into and befouling the rest of the banking system. This is going to be a clusterf**k for the ages, and will propel the USA into a depression with no visible horizon."

- https://kunstler.com/

"Strange Prices At Target! Stock Up! What's Next?"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures with Danno, 11/18/22:

"Strange Prices At Target! Stock Up! What's Next?"

"In today's vlog we are at Target and are noticing very strange prices! We are here to check out skyrocketing prices, and the empty shelves situation! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Economic Market Snapshot 11/18/22"

"Economic Market Snapshot 11/18/22"

Market Data Center, Live Updates:

- https://www.marketwatch.com/market-data 

○

Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...

Only the consequences are real - to you!

○

Your guide:

Gregory Mannarino, 11/18/22:

"Expect The Global Money Supply To Double, 

And The World Economy To Collapse Faster"

- https://traderschoice.net/

○

○

Latest Market Analysis, Updated 11/18/22

- https://www.asktraders.com/analysis/

○

A comprehensive, essential daily read.

- http://www.shadowstats.com/

○

Financial Stress Index

"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: credit, equity valuation, funding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United States, other advanced economies, and emerging markets."

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- https://www.dailyjobcuts.com/

Job cuts and much more.

○

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

○

- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

○

- https://wallstreetonparade.com/

○

- https://www.whatreallyhappened.com/

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- https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

○

Commentary, highly recommended:

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

○

"The more I see of the monied classes,

the better I understand the guillotine."

- George Bernard Shaw

○

Oh yeah... beyond words. Any I know anyway...

○

And now... The End Game...

Greg Hunter, "Weekly News Wrap-Up 11/18/22"

"Weekly News Wrap-Up 11/18/22"

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"There was a huge political news story this week, but you would not have known it if you listened to the Lying Legacy Media (LLM). They simply did not cover Donald J. Trump’s announcement to run for President again in 2024 on Tuesday, 11/15/22. That’s not big news? Of course, it is no matter if you like him or not. This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the so-called “news” organizations are in the tank for the globalist cabal, and that includes leadership of BOTH parties.

It is a miracle, but the Republicans won control of the House of Representatives. First on the “to do list” is investigate President Joe Biden. The incoming House leadership is investigating Biden for felonies such as wire fraud and money laundering, just to name a few. Meanwhile, the Governor’s race in Arizona is still contested by Kari Lake, and she has no plans to concede. The LLM is calling her an “Election Denier,” but she says Arizonians know BS when they see it. The 2022 Midterm election there will probably be settled in court. There are some other election hot spots, and Pennsylvania is on that list. Patriots there are trying to stop the certification because of irregularities and fraud.

Anybody still thinking the Fed is going to “pivot” and start lowering interest rates is in dream land. The Fed’s new Fed Funds target rate is as high as 7%. The Fed Funds rate is now around 4%. The Fed is determined to fight inflation and the economy, and employment be damned. No doubt the FTX crypto implosion is going to lead to huge economic problems and expose major parts of the financial and political system to be a total fraud fest. This while new Shadowstats.com data and analysis is showing a “deepening economic collapse.” Take some risk off the table and harden your physical and financial position." There is much more in the 58-Minute Newscast.

- https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he talks about these 

stories and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up for 11/18/22:

- https://rumble.com/

"Walmart’s Worst Stock Crash In 35 Years Is Another Sign That The Economy Is Rapidly Falling Apart"

Full screen recommended.

"Walmart’s Worst Stock Crash In 35 Years Is Another

 Sign That The Economy Is Rapidly Falling Apart"

by Epic Economist

"Now that a major recession has begun, economists would expect big retailers like Walmart to run into trouble as consumer spending dries up - and recent numbers show that’s exactly what is happening. The giant superstore chain experienced its largest single-day decline in 35 years after an extremely disappointing earnings report was released. According to Forbes, the drop was so brutal that the Walton family lost $34 billion in two days! Adding fuel to the fire, a potentially weak holiday season and falling demand are threatening to spark even more losses for Walmart, but the retailer isn’t alone. Many big companies are saying that inflation is eviscerating their profits and sales are going down far more rapidly than they’ve projected just a few months ago. Their woes are a reflection of an economy that is crumbling down in plain sight, and with economic activity contracting all across the board, businesses’ struggles have only just begun.

The last time Walmart saw such a wild market was on Friday, October 16, 1987 – the last trading day before the infamous "Black Monday" -- when shares of the superstore chain suffered their steepest one-day decline ever, crashing 11.7% in a single day. This year, right after releasing its fiscal report for 2023 earnings, shares of the world’s biggest retailer plunged by 11.4% in a single day. At a first glance, the drop was sparked by the most mundane of reasons: the company missed investors’ earnings expectations -- but other indicators show that this was just one element of a very bad year for Walmart stockholders.

Forbes exposed that the Walton family saw its fortune drop by nearly $34 billion in only two days after its fiscal report was released. “Jim, Rob, and Alice Walton, children of Walmart's founder, each lost roughly $9 billion, making them the hardest hit by the drop. Other Walton family members were affected by the decline, each losing more than $1 billion,” it reported.

As an industry leader, Walmart has dropped a big hint, suggesting that it does not think demand will be all that strong this holiday season. In September, the superstore chain announced it was hiring only 40,000 seasonal workers to help with the upcoming holiday demand. That's in stark contrast to the more than 150,000 workers it added in the same period in 2021.

Of course, it isn’t just Walmart that is having trouble navigating through the current macro environment. Online retailer and Walmart's rival Amazon. The company’s latest efforts to boost its revenue may not pay off, and after stating that inflation is “eviscerating” its profits and sharing a bleak forecast for the holiday quarter, the e-commerce giant saw its shares falling by 19%. For the fourth quarter, the world’s biggest online retailer forecasted net sales of between $140bn and $148bn. Analysts were expecting $155.15bn. “Early holiday marketing did little to boost sales growth while labor and delivery expenses continue to swell,” the company said.

Most Americans are already financially drained, and around two-thirds of U.S. households are saying they intend to tighten their belts and curb spending this holiday season. Needless to say, that will result in many more earnings disappointments and market losses in the final stretch of 2022 and well into 2023. Our economic scenario is looking very bleak right now, and what is happening to all of these major companies is just a hint of what smaller competitors will be forced to face in the coming weeks and months."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gerald Celente, "Trends In The News"

Full screen recommended.

Strong language alert!

Gerald Celente, Trends Journal, 11/17/22:

"Trends In The News"

"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing

 global current events forming future trends."

- https://trendsjournal.com

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"California Collapse - Where Did The Money Go?"

Jeremiah Babe, 11/17/22:

"California Collapse - Where Did The Money Go?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Deuter, "Endless Horizon"

Deuter, "Endless Horizon"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Here is one of the largest objects that anyone will ever see on the sky. Each of these fuzzy blobs is a galaxy, together making up the Perseus Cluster, one of the closest clusters of galaxies. The cluster is seen through a foreground of faint stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy.

 

Near the cluster center, roughly 250 million light-years away, is the cluster's dominant galaxy NGC 1275, seen above as a large galaxy on the image left. A prodigious source of x-rays and radio emission, NGC 1275 accretes matter as gas and galaxies fall into it. The Perseus Cluster of Galaxies, also cataloged as Abell 426, is part of the Pisces-Perseus supercluster spanning over 15 degrees and containing over 1,000 galaxies. At the distance of NGC 1275, this view covers about 15 million light-years.”

-http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110712.html

"Everybody's Pretending..."

“You go up to a man, and you say, “How are things going, Joe?” and he says, “Oh fine, fine... couldn’t be better.” And you look into his eyes, and you see things really couldn’t be much worse. When you get right down to it, everybody’s having a perfectly lousy time of it, and I mean everybody. And the hell of it is, nothing seems to help much.” - Kurt Vonnegut

"People are sad. People are broke. People are worried about money, people are worried that they're not enough and not amounting to anything and they don't feel good about themselves. People have rough times, and everybody's pretending it's not true, and we need to break that veneer." - Eve Ensler

The Poet: gk thomas, “Wretched of the Earth”

“Wretched of the Earth”

“Poor kids,
wretched of the earth,
why should we feed you?
Why shouldn't we empty our sea of
bullets into your swollen bellies or
poison you with toxic chemicals
or depleted uranium?
Why should we care,
we who are living well?

Where is it written in stone
that you deserve better?
Or that we are not animals
subject to the law of nature:
kill or be killed?

You suspect us of being cruel,
but we are kind.
Our god tells us so.
It is yours that lies.

So you cry at night,
shivering in the cold
or sell yourselves
for a slice of bread.
What is that to those of
us who are living well?”

- gk thomas

"Three Things..."

“To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special. I just got one last thing... I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have.”

- Jim Valvano

The Daily "Near you?"

Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. Thanks or stopping by!

"Don't Imagine..."

"We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. Do remember that dishonesty and cowardice always have to be paid for. Don't imagine that for years on end you can make yourself the boot-licking propagandist of any régime, and then suddenly return to mental decency."

- George Orwell

"The Broken Christmas Story"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly, 11/17/22:

"The Broken Christmas Story"

"As we get closer to the holidays there’s a story to all of this. The Economy is crashing, Your dollar is losing buying power by the minute."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

○

Related:

"The End Of The Retail Industry As We Know It Today"

Bill Bonner, "The Middle Class Delenda Est," Part II

"The Middle Class Delenda Est," Part II

Lessons from Baltimore's elitist slumlords and blah-blah know-it-alls...

by Bill Bonner

Baltimore, Maryland - "News flash from Reuters: “Shares of Target Corp. tumbled 13.1% after the big-box retailer forecast a surprise drop in holiday quarter sales.” While sales figures looked fairly good for October, shoppers are having a hard time keeping up the pace. Seeking Alpha: "Credit card balances rose by $38B during the quarter and 15% Y/Y, the largest boost in more than 20 years."

Wages have been trailing inflation for 19 straight months. Diesel fuel – the stuff that powers our economy – is becoming scarce, with the average price at the pump up to $5.35/gallon. Producer prices – as opposed to consumer prices – show a lot more inflation coming down the pike. Retailers are wondering if Santa will come this year…

Slumlords Elites: Our subject is the destruction of America’s middle class. How? Why? Let’s look: An incident from long ago…Our first office in Baltimore was in a very down-at-the-heels neighborhood. The building was a dump. But the city had offered to sell it to us for $100. As it turned out, we paid too much.

Not far away was the area known as “Lil’ Italy,” which was known for its good restaurants. It was also the safest part of the city; the Italians had baseball bats, and during the riots of 1968, for example, they stood guard. Nobody got hurt. No windows were broken in Lil’ Italy.

Between our office and Lil’ Italy were ‘housing projects’ – high rise horrors where ‘poor’ people lived. The area was so dangerous that even the cops locked their car doors when driving through. One day, we decided to take the whole staff – about 6 people – to lunch in Lil’ Italy, which meant walking by ‘the projects.’ While doing so, a police car suddenly pulled up. “What the hell do you think you’re doin’,” said the cop, yelling through the open window. “You should know better. If anything happens to you, I’m going to call it a suicide.” At least the Baltimore police still had a sense of humor back then. But here is the backstory on “the projects.”

Blah-Blah Know-it-Alls: One of the on-going conflicts of modern public life takes place between the know-it-all elites…and the middle-class, ‘common’ man. The know-it-alls are typically better educated, more media savvy…able to stand on a platform and give blah-blah answers to questions they know nothing about.

“Baltimore was like the maternity ward for the American row house,” explained a friend yesterday. “The row house was a great success…for the builders and for the families that lived in them. They didn’t take up much space…but they left people with space of their own…usually including a backyard where they could have a few vegetables, keep a few chickens…and have a backyard barbecue. Then, along came the urban planners. They thought people – especially poor people – should live in high-rise tenements. So, in vast urban improvement campaigns, they tore down the row houses and put up big-box warrens for people to live in.”

How did that work out? Take a look. Here is what happened to the ‘projects’ near our office:

Full screen recommended.

The Baltimore row house was where the middle class lived. The husband went to work in the factories and warehouses. The wife stayed at home….and scrubbed the white marble steps on the weekends. It was not a perfect set-up, but they were clean and safe…and what people wanted. And from the end of WWII to the 1970s…Baltimore’s middle class prospered. Wage earners sell their time, and time became more and more valuable.

But now, here in Charm City, the middle class has practically disappeared from the houses that once knew them. They’ve moved to the suburbs – largely to escape the crime and taxes of the city. The factories have mostly gone cold and silent too. In their places are high rise office towers, more or less emptied out in the Covid Hysteria of 2020.

Elite planners always think they know best. Their victims? The middle class. In business, they bring the latest business school BS. In government, they push whatever claptrap is trending in elite circles. And in the investment world…they pile on. Dot.coms…mortgage finance…ESG…cryptos – whatever the fad is, they’re on it, developing products that are sold to investors as the ‘next new thing.’

Thanks to their fake dollars – introduced in 1971 – real middle- class incomes peaked in 1975 and have been flat or falling ever since. Thanks to their wars – against drugs, poverty, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia – thousands of middle- class young people have been killed, mutilated, or impoverished…and $31 trillion was added to the national debt. And now, thanks to their inflation and energy policies, the American middle class may be doomed. Prices will rise. Incomes will lag even further. The poor will get more and more free stuff from the government. And the rich will find ways to protect their wealth…and even grow richer (when the Fed begins pumping out money again, they’ll be first in line to get it).

But the people in between…the millions of people who earn their money honestly….who bus and tote…who toil and spin…who schlep and sweat, what happens to them?

Middle Class Delanda Est: Yesterday, we looked at how the Roman empire destroyed its middle classes. War and inflation have always been the leading ways to ruin a country. Both hit the middle classes especially hard…and then, without a strong middle class, the country itself stumbles and falls.

You can see the phenomenon today in high inflation countries. In Venezuela, the rich were able to dodge inflation with bank accounts in Miami. The poor had nothing to lose. But the middle class was almost wiped out.

In Argentina, the process is less dramatic. But there too, inflation is said to be approaching 100% per year. The rich are moving their money to safety (after so many years of financial crises, they know what to do.) The poor rely on welfare payments (moving between dozens of confusing ‘plans’). And the middle class, where can they move? What can they do? They sell their time. What do they do when time becomes less valuable?"

"Stay tuned…"

- bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com

Gregory Mannarino,"No Doubt About It! Massive Insider Trading Going On At The FED!"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 11/17/22:

"No Doubt About It! 

Massive Insider Trading Going On At The FED!"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Really Is"

"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it. You and I are not in the Big Club."

- George Carlin

"Ridiculous Price Increases At Kroger! Not Good! What's Coming?"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures with Danno, 11/17/22"

"Ridiculous Price Increases At Kroger! 

Not Good! What's Coming?"

"In today's vlog we are at Kroger and are noticing massive price increases! 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:

- https://www.youtube.com/

○

For comparison, absolutely astonishing:

Full screen recommended.

Travelling With Russell, 1/17/22"

"Russian Normal, Typical Hypermarket Tour After 9 Months of Sanctions"

"Walking together with me through a Russian TYPICAL Hypermarket in Moscow, Russia. Let's see what is for sale after 9 month of Sanctions in this Russian Hypermarket. What will it look like?" (One ruble equals 0.016 United States Dollars.)

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

○

 "How many times do you have to get hit over the 

head until you figure out who's hitting you?"

- Harry S. Truman

"The Big Bankruptcy"

"The Big Bankruptcy"

by Michael Palmer

"Bill Bonner wrote to his readers after the FTX crypto fiasco last week: Three trends made the period of 1980 to 2022 one of the most investment-friendly episodes in history. Cheap energy… cheap labor (mostly from China)... and cheap credit, in the form of ultra-low interest rate loans. “But now,” says Bonner, “all three of these trends have radically reversed.”

You can see the wreckage beginning to pile up all around us...The cryptocurrency company FTX, for example, which at one point was worth $32 billion and counted Blackrock and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan as shareholders, recently went bust. The billions in losses from this collapse are just beginning to be tallied.

Before that, nearly half of England's 400 pension funds almost collapsed. They were saved only by the intervention of the country's central bank. (Click here for the full story.)

Then, there are the formerly “hot” tech businesses like Carvana, a company that was being touted as a way to reinvent the car business. It's fallen 98% in roughly a year... and is on the verge of bankruptcy. Many more former tech darlings, like Arrival (electric cars), Vapotherm (healthcare), and Porch (home buying and selling) are also all down more than 95% in the past year.

But here's the really scary part...According to Bill Bonner, “these collapses and bankruptcies are just getting started.” In fact, Bonner says the next big bankruptcy and next big collapse is likely to come from a place few people are even thinking about right now. Bonner says this looming fall is going to catch almost everyone by surprise and could lead to some very difficult years in America.

I strongly encourage you to check out Bonner's recent analysis. You're unlikely to hear this message anywhere else, and the mainstream press likely won't report on it for months to come, when it's far too late."

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Ukraine is Being Pulverized Out of Existence"

Douglas Macgregor, 11/16/22:

"Ukraine is Being Pulverized Out of Existence"

"Straight Calls with Douglas Macgregor - Your home for analysis of breaking news and in-depth discussion of current geopolitical events in the United States and the world.Geopolitics. No ego descriptions. No small talk. Straight to the point. Calls with the relevant analysis only."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Bombshell Info: Intel YOU Aren't Supposed to Talk About"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper 11/16/22:

"Bombshell Info:

 Intel YOU Aren't Supposed to Talk About"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

A terrifying must-view!

"People Will Be Shocked Because They've Never Seen Prices Jump This High, This Fast"

Full screen recommended.

"People Will Be Shocked Because They've Never 

Seen Prices Jump This High, This Fast"

by Epic Economist

"We’re being hit on each and every front. And people will be in absolute shock when they get hit by the avalanche of price increases that will make virtually every aspect of our lives even more expensive. We’re being warned by energy providers, industry executives, farmers, grocers, and virtually everyone in the industry that more shortages and price hikes are headed our way. Millions of Americans are so broke right now that they’re taking two or three jobs, and still they aren’t being able to make ends meet. We’re being economically destroyed and the facts we’re going to expose in this video show that we do have a lot to worry about. Before moving on, support us with a thumbs up, and make sure you subscribe to keep tuned for our next videos!

For those who live in rural areas, are you ready to pay between $850 and $950 on energy this winter? And for the ones who live in urban and suburban areas, are you okay with paying between $1,300 and $1,800 to heat your home in the next few months? Because those are the amounts you’re going to have to disburse if you want to keep the lights on and stay warm during the colder months, according to the Energy Information Association.

Natural gas is the substance that powers our electric grid, and a shortage of the fuel is driving electricity prices to extraordinary levels. About half of the nation relies on nat gas as the primary source of home heating, as revealed by the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey. The EIA is saying that we’re going to face a nearly 30% increase in energy costs when temperatures start to drop. And that’s actually the best-case scenario. If national reserves drop even further, expect that rate to go even higher.

Higher energy prices are going to hit us in a whole host of different ways. We’re about to face sticker shock at the gas stations again, airlines may be forced to scale back on flights, freight prices will go through the roof, farming will become more expensive than it already is, and at the bottom of the economic chain is the end consumer, who is going to absorb all of these costs.

One trucking company said that they’ve never seen prices jump this high, this fast: “Customers really don’t want to hear it, but fuel prices are going through the roof so we’re having to charge more,” said John Migliorini, vice president of Lakeville Trucking in Rochester, N.Y., where diesel costs have nearly doubled to about $400,000 a month. “What choice do we have? I’ve never seen prices jump this high, this fast.” “We’re going to get hit on every front, on every expense possible,” warned Oklahoma farmer Ben Neal, “From fertilizers to fuel to labor, insurance – everything in between, including our packing supplies.”

Crops need to be transported to processors and final markets and the skyrocketing fuel costs to power the trucks, trains, barges, and ships to make that happen means that, at the end of the day, groceries are going to be getting more expensive. A lot more expensive.

Just imagine what may happen to your family members, co-workers, neighbors, the teachers of your kids, the cashiers at your local stores, the people who are trying to retire, and those who are already living on the edge of society. It is going to be brutal. What we are watching play out in front of us should sadden our entire nation, because everyone will be affected, and the next one could be you."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Consumer Is Spending A Lot More And Getting Less; Home Equity Line of Credit Is Dangerous"

Jeremiah Babe, 11/16/22: 

"Consumer Is Spending A Lot More And Getting Less; 

Home Equity Line of Credit Is Dangerous" 

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: 2002, “Land of Forever

Full screen recommended.

2002, “Land of Forever

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Scanning the skies for galaxies, Canadian astronomer Paul Hickson and colleagues identified some 100 compact groups of galaxies, now appropriately called Hickson Compact Groups. The four prominent galaxies seen in this intriguing telescopic skyscape are one such group, Hickson 44, about 100 million light-years distant toward the constellation Leo. The two spiral galaxies in the center of the image are edge-on NGC 3190 with its distinctive, warped dust lanes, and S-shaped NGC 3187. Along with the bright elliptical, NGC 3193 at the right, they are also known as Arp 316. 

The spiral in the upper left corner is NGC 3185, the 4th member of the Hickson group. Like other galaxies in Hickson groups, these show signs of distortion and enhanced star formation, evidence of a gravitational tug of war that will eventually result in galaxy mergers on a cosmic timescale. The merger process is now understood to be a normal part of the evolution of galaxies, including our own Milky Way. For scale, NGC 3190 is about 75,000 light-years across at the estimated distance of Hickson 44.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110829.html

"We Are Mortals All..."

"We are mortals all, human and nonhuman, bound in one fellowship of love and travail. No one escapes the fate of death. But we can, with caring, make our good-byes less tormented. If we broaden the circle of our compassion, life can be less cruel."

- Gary Kowalski

"Dog Diary, Cat Diary"

"Dog Diary, Cat Diary"

- Author Unknown

"Dog Diary:

7:00 AM - Outside! My favorite thing!

8:00 AM - Dog food! My favorite thing!

9:30 AM - A car ride! My favorite thing!

9:40 AM - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!

10:30 AM - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!

12:00 PM - Lunch! My favorite thing!

1:00 PM - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!

2:00 PM - Looked out the window and barked! My favorite thing!

3:00 PM - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!

4:00 PM - Chased a bird out of the tree! My favorite thing!

5:00 PM - Milk bones! My favorite thing!

6:00 PM - Watched my people eat! My favorite thing!

6:20 PM - Table scraps! My favorite thing!

7:00 PM - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!

8:00 PM - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!

11:00 PM -Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

Cat Diary:

Day 983 of my captivity. My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape.

In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a 'good little hunter' I am. B*st*rds!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of 'allergies.' I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow - but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog continues to receive special privileges. He is regularly released and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded."

“Allegory Of The Cave Updated”

“Allegory Of The Cave Updated”

by T4C

"Socrates: “Why do people think philosophy is bullsh*t? Let me put it this way - imagine you’re in a cave, all chained up so you can’t turn your body at all, and all you get to look at is this one wall. Some fools behind you are making shadow puppets using the light from a fire and making echo noises and that’s all you or anyone else chained up has seen or heard all your life. Sounds terrible, right? Except it’s all you’ve ever known, shadows and echoes, and that’s your whole world - there’s no way you could know that, really, you’re watching a slightly-improved M. Night Shyamalan film.

In fact, you get pretty good at understanding how the patterns in the show work, and everyone else chained up is like, ‘Holy sh*t bro, how did you know that that tree was going to fall on that guy?’ and you’re like, ‘It’s because I f*****g pay attention and I’m smart as sh*t.’ You’re the smartest of the chained, and they all revere you.”

Glaucon: “But Socrates, a tree didn’t really hit a guy. It’s all shadows.”

Socrates:  “No sh*t, Glaucon, but you don’t know that. You think the shadows are real things. Everyone does. Now STFU and let me finish.

So eventually, someone comes and unchains you and drags you out of the cave. At first you’d say, ‘Seriously, what the f**k is going on?!’ Well, actually, at first you’d say, ‘HOLY SH*T MY EYES’ and you’d want to go back to the safe, familiar shadows.” But even once your eyes worked you wouldn’t believe them, because everything you ever thought was real is gone. You’d look at a tree, and say ‘That’s not a tree. I know trees. And you, sir, are no tree. THAT DOWN THERE is a tree.’ But you’re wrong. Down there is a shadow of a tree.

Slowly, as your eyes got better, you’d see more and more. Eventually, you’d see the sun, and realize that it’s the source of all light. You can’t see sh*t without the sun. And eventually, you’d figure it out. Something would click in your brain: ‘oh, sh*t, that IS a tree. F**k me. So… nothing in the cave was real? I feel like such an assh**e.’ 

But it’s not your fault, so don’t be so hard on yourself. Finally you’d want to go down and tell everyone about everything you’ve discovered. Except, and here’s the hilarious part, they think you’ve gone f*****g crazy. 

You’d say, ‘Guys, real trees are green!’ and they’d say, ‘What the f**k is green? THAT is a tree over there.’ And you’d squint and look at the wall, but you know you’re f***ed because now you’re used to having sunlight, and now you can’t see sh*t. So they’d laugh at you, and agree that wherever it was that you went, no one should go there because it turns people into idiots.

Philosophy, same thing. The soul ascends and apprehends the forms, the nature of everything, and eventually the very Idea of Good that gives light to everything else. And then the philosopher has to go back to the cave and try to explain it to people who don’t even know what Green is, to say nothing of the Good. But the philosopher didn’t make up the Good, it was always there, and the only way to really make sense of it is to uncover it for yourself. You can’t force knowledge into a dumbass any more than you can force sight into a blind man.

So if you want to learn, be prepared for a difficult journey, and be prepared to make some mistakes. That’s okay, it’s all part of the process. True knowledge must be obtained the hard way, and some people just don’t want to see the light.”

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

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Put another way...

"In 'The Republic', Plato imagines human beings chained for the duration of their lives in an underground cave, knowing nothing but darkness. Their gaze is confined to the cave wall, upon which shadows of the world are thrown. They believe these flickering shadows are reality. If, Plato writes, one of these prisoners is freed and brought into the sunlight, he will suffer great pain. Blinded by the glare, he is unable to seeing anything and longs for the familiar darkness. But eventually his eyes adjust to the light. The illusion of the tiny shadows is obliterated. He confronts the immensity, chaos, and confusion of reality. The world is no longer drawn in simple silhouettes. But he is despised when he returns to the cave. He is unable to see in the dark as he used to. Those who never left the cave ridicule him and swear never to go into the light lest they be blinded as well."

- Chris Hedges