"How Extreme Has The Dumbing Down Of America Become? You Might Want To Brace Yourself For This One"

"How Extreme Has The Dumbing Down Of America Become? 

You Might Want To Brace Yourself For This One"

By Michael Snyder

"Back when I taught at UCLA, I was constantly amazed at how little so many students knew. Finally, I could no longer restrain myself from asking a student the question that had long puzzled me: ''What were you doing for the last 12 years before you got here?''

- Thomas Sowell

"Everyone knows that the quality of education in our public schools is declining. We continue to fall behind the rest of the world, and this is particularly true in science and in math. Personally, I am a product of the public schools. I attended public schools all the way through high school, and I earned three degrees at public universities. And I have to admit that the quality of the education that I received was terrible. If I had not spent a great deal of time and effort educating myself, I would not be able to do what I do today. Sadly, things have gotten even worse in recent decades. Today, a large proportion of our young people are not even equipped to function on a very basic level in our society once they graduate from high school, and that has huge implications for the future of our country.

When I was growing up, kids would start learning algebra before they even got to high school. But these days many of our college students can’t even handle algebra. In fact, the Kansas Board of Regents is actually considering dropping algebra as a requirement at the state’s six public universities because so many students are failing the basic algebra course…"The Kansas Board of Regents is considering stripping specific university math requirements after it was found that a significant percentage of college freshmen fail algebra, NPR affiliate KCUR reported.

The Regents, who oversee the system’s six public universities, are considering implementing the Math Pathways approach which matches students to a math course based on their major instead of mandating algebra for all incoming students. While many universities require that all freshmen pass algebra as a prerequisite for graduation, one in three Kansas students reportedly fail the course, which could delay a student’s graduation."

Are they serious? Apparently they are. One academic official in Kansas insists that for a majority of the students in the system algebra is simply “not relevant for their fields”… “We’re sending the majority of students down the college algebra road, which is really not necessary,” said Daniel Archer, vice president of academic affairs for the Kansas Board of Regents. “It’s not practical. It’s not really needed. And it’s not relevant for their fields.”

I have an idea. Instead of having our college students deal with hard stuff like quadratic equations, perhaps we can just design a course where they just watch videos of Count von Count from Sesame Street count things. Or will that be too difficult for them?

If we aren’t teaching our high school kids the basic math skills that they will need once they get to college, what are they actually learning? Well, one thing they are learning is how to use all of the new pronouns correctly. This is very important for life after high school, because using the wrong pronoun at the wrong time can get you into all sorts of trouble these days. For example, just look at what happened to one middle school teacher in Ohio…

"A middle school teacher in Ohio alleges in a lawsuit against her former employer that she was forced to resign after refusing to refer to students by their preferred pronouns. The lawsuit, filed in federal court on behalf of former Jackson Memorial Middle School teacher Vivian Geraghty by the Alliance Defending Freedom, states that her school district required teachers to participate in the “social transition” of students in her class who have “‘transitioned’ to a gender that was inconsistent with their sex.” Jackson Memorial Middle School is in Massillon, Ohio. Geraghty, however, refused to participate in the policy because of her Christian religious beliefs. The lawsuit alleges that the school “ejected her” within two hours of Geraghty telling principal Kacy Carter about her reservations to the policy."

In the years ahead, we will have lots of young people that don’t understand math and science, but at least they will be well versed in the intricacies of modern pronoun usage. Needless to say, many of them will have to be supported by the government because they won’t be of much use to society. In fact, the U.S. already “redistributes more to the bottom 50% than Sweden or Norway”.

At this point, we truly do live in an “idiocracy”, and every single day we see even more signs of this. Earlier today, I came across a story about someone that decided to shoot a KFC employee because “the restaurant was out of corn”…"Police in St. Louis are investigating after a KFC employee said a customer shot him because he was angry the restaurant was out of corn. According to a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department incident report, the shooting took place just after 6 p.m. Monday at the fast food chain in the city’s Central West End."

You would have to be really stupid to do something like that. If they are out of corn, just ask for an extra biscuit. Don’t go to jail for the rest of your life just because you are feeling a little frustrated. Sadly, today we have vast hordes of young people that cannot handle their emotions, and that is because they have never been equipped to handle life. But if they can’t even handle current conditions, how will they respond when things get really rough?

Please don’t get me wrong. I am certainly not lumping all of our young people into a single category. There are some young adults that are doing more than fine. But in general, we have a real mess on our hands, and our system of education just continues to deteriorate with each passing year."

- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

o

"The problem isn't that Johnny can't read. 

The problem isn't even that Johnny can't think.

The problem is that Johnny doesn't know what thinking is; 

he confuses it with feeling."

- Thomas Sowell

"How It Really, Tragically, Is"

 

"You Really Don't Own Anything"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly 12/15/22:

"You Really Don't Own Anything"

"There are so many people that are getting hit with huge property tax bills right now. This is happening all around the country. Municipalities are not making money so they have to go to raise property taxes. This is criminal."

Comments here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

"How Are Things Going, Joe?"

"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

"Massive Price Increases At Kroger! This Is Ridiculous! Not Good!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures with Danno, 12/15/22:

"Massive Price Increases At Kroger! 

This Is Ridiculous! Not Good!"

"In today's vlog we are at Kroger, and are noticing massive price increases on groceries! 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/

Gregory Mannarino, "The World Economy Is Free-Falling Faster! Are You Ready For What Is Coming? "

Gregory Mannarino, 12/15/22:

"The World Economy Is Free-Falling Faster!

 Are You Ready For What Is Coming? "

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Greg Hunter, "Tsunami of Vax Deaths Coming in Next Two Years"

"Tsunami of Vax Deaths Coming in Next Two Years"

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Dr. Betsy Eads has been fighting to get the truth out about the debilitating and deadly CV19 bioweapon injections form the very beginning. The truth is coming out showing Dr. Eads was right all along even though the Lying Legacy Media (LLM) was suppressing her life saving data and analysis. In August, Dr. Eads predicted the human damage from the CV19 bioweapon was going to get far worse, and increasing numbers of vax deaths and injuries show she was right again. Dr. Eads now predicts, “We are in the millions (of vax deaths) in America right now, and I am projecting a tsunami of deaths coming in the next two years. The problem is you cannot turn off this messenger RNA spike protein producing factory mechanism. People are still lockstep getting in line to take boosters, which have 70 million copies of the messenger RNA."

The lies the CDC, FDA, Big Pharma and the LLM told were all designed to get the unsuspecting public to take an experimental vax injection that they all knew was deadly and dangerous. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is leading his state to hold people accountable for the CV19 vax lies and human destruction. On Tuesday, Governor DeSantis asked for a statewide grand jury to investigate Covid vaccine-related injuries. Is this the beginning of what may turn into a Nuremberg 2.0 for crimes against humanity in which the Germans were held accountable after World War II? Eads says, “DeSantis is going to petition the Florida Supreme Court to convene a grand jury to investigate every case of malpractice or misinformation regarding the Covid vaccine shots. He is going after all those people who did not give informed consent. Florida has a law about giving misinformation regarding side effects of drugs. DeSantis is going after anyone who gave misinformation about Covid vaccines, anyone who harmed anybody or gave misinformation regarding informed consent.”

There were so many lies and misinformation given to get people to take the injections. One of the biggest was the vax was 95% effective and very safe. A total lie on both counts. Eads says, “It was absolutely not ‘safe and effective.’ The numbers from the early Pfizer studies were fudged. It was not 95% effective. It was actually 15% or less effective.”

The lies came from everywhere, and they were paid lies. Dr. Eads says, “The propaganda coming from the media, sports stars and Hollywood were all paid off by Big Pharma to put out misinformation.”

They knew one of the big medical problems for anyone who took the injections was permanent heart damage. Dr. Eads points out, “What’s been all over the news the last month? Sudden cardiac death, sudden death, died suddenly. It is just insane we cannot get this message out through the mainstream media. It is crimes against humanity. These people need to be arrested and tried. We are going to have Nuremberg trials here in America this coming summer. We need to have them now. People are dropping dead now. People need to be held accountable now.”

Dr. Eads also talks about why you need to get Ivermectin whether you are vaxed or unvaxed. She also talks about many other helpful treatments that can help offer some hope for these huge and growing numbers of harmed people caused by the deadly bioweapon injections falsely passed off as vaccines." There is much more in the 48-minute interview.

- https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter as he talks to 25-year veteran Dr. Elizabeth Eads, DO, as she continues to highlight the worsening carnage of the CV19 bioweapon vax.

- https://rumble.com/ 

"Alert! Russia Mobilizes Nuclear Forces, This Is Nuts"

Canadian Prepper, 12/14.22:

"Alert! Russia Mobilizes Nuclear Forces, This Is Nuts"

"Russias has deployed nuclear missiles in an active show of force as a Russian commander has called for the use of nuclear weapons, all after NATO is preparing a No-fly zone by proxy in Ukraine."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Dealing With Evil And Disturbed People; FED Has Created Mother Of All Economic Crises"

Jeremiah Babe, 12/14/22:

"Dealing With Evil And Disturbed People; 

FED Has Created Mother Of All Economic Crises"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Walmart And Other Major Retail Brands Are Closing Stores As Hard Times Approaching"

Full screen recommended.

"Walmart And Other Major Retail Brands 

Are Closing Stores As Hard Times Approaching"

by Epic Economist

"Walmart, Target, Rite Aid, Home Depot, CVS, Walgreens, Best Buy, and many other big brands are now threatening to close stores due to an industry-wide problem that is causing major losses to retailers and severe consequences for their customers. According to several reports, the holiday season is making things exponentially worse, and experts note that many companies will be forced to raise prices even further to offset their losses or face the risk of going out of business in the months ahead.

Last week, Walmart joined the growing list of retailers being plagued by raging theft amid the busiest shopping season of the year. In the past few months, big pharmacy chains like CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, and retail giants including Kroger, Target, Best Buy, and Home Depot, all publicly cited shoplifting concerns and reported acute financial losses.

In the retail world, shoplifting is often referred to as “shrinkage” and this year, shrinkage is biting a big chunk out of retailers’ profits. Over the past twelve months, rising retail theft cost the industry $94.5 billion in losses, nearly double the amount from a couple of years ago, according to data from the National Retail Federation. In fact, last month, Target CFO Michael Fiddelke said that the company expects to lose over $600 million in gross profit by the end of the year due to shrinkage from shoplifters, "This is an industry-wide problem that is often driven by large networks of offenders," Fiddelke stressed.

"It's a misdemeanor. It's not a felony. So, people are using theft as a business to fund other illegal activities because there's not a penalty for it," emphasized California Retailers Association President Rachel Michelin. Given that shoplifting isn’t a priority in the justice system, big retailers are forced to hire loss-prevention specialists to combat the issue themselves. And that’s all at the company’s expense.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said the big box retailer would close several stores if thefts continue to plague those locations. Right now, Walgreens is actually in process of closing five locations in San Franciso, where the rate of shoplifting turned stores unprofitable. Since 2019, more than 10 Walgreens stores in the city here shut down due to the same reason.

The latest events have alarmed Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli, who said last year that retail theft was an epidemic, that was spreading faster than COVID. “Our associates are afraid. The retail salespeople are afraid. Consumers are afraid. We’ve got to get control of this. And if the administration doesn’t get control of this, they’re abdicating it to the businesses, both public and private,” stresses the CEO.

Researchers with the Heritage Foundation warned that the surge in organized retail theft will shutter storefronts and further increase consumer prices. "If companies can't increase their costs to cover the cost of the theft, if they're not making a profit, then they're going to go out of business,” Puzder alerts. Stores in cities where the issue is rampant are left with two options: further hike up prices to cover the cost of theft or close locations struggling to turn a profit, said Joel Griffith, a Heritage research fellow."The companies have to make up for that loss somehow," Griffith explains.

The problem is getting worse by the day, and it’s spreading all over the industry. And even though big brands are seeing their balance sheets being impacted by this wave of organized robbery, at the end of the day, the hardest hit will be ordinary Americans, who may lose access to their favorite stores and cope with skyrocketing prices that never seem to stop rising."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com/

Musical Interlude: Deuter, “Black Velvet Flirt”

Full screen recommended.

Deuter, “Black Velvet Flirt”

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Two stars within our own Milky Way galaxy anchor the foreground of this cosmic snapshot. Beyond them lie the galaxies of the Hydra Cluster. In fact, while the spiky foreground stars are hundreds of light-years distant, the Hydra Cluster galaxies are over 100 million light-years away.

Three large galaxies near the cluster center, two yellow ellipticals (NGC 3311, NGC 3309) and one prominent blue spiral (NGC 3312), are the dominant galaxies, each about 150,000 light-years in diameter. An intriguing overlapping galaxy pair cataloged as NGC 3314 is just above and left of NGC 3312. Also known as Abell 1060, the Hydra galaxy cluster is one of three large galaxy clusters within 200 million light-years of the Milky Way. In the nearby universe, galaxies are gravitationally bound into clusters which themselves are loosely bound into superclusters that in turn are seen to align over even larger scales. At a distance of 100 million light-years this picture would be about 1.3 million light-years across."

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120512.html

o

"In this galaxy, there's a mathematical probability of 3 billion Earth-type planets. And in all of the universe, 2 trillion galaxies like this. And in all of that... and perhaps more, only one of each of us."

- "Dr. Leonard McCoy"

The Poet: Anne Sexton, "Courage"

"Courage"

"It is in the small things we see it.

The child's first step,

as awesome as an earthquake.

The first time you rode a bike,

wallowing up the sidewalk.

The first spanking when your heart

went on a journey all alone.

When they called you crybaby

or poor or fatty or crazy

and made you into an alien,

you drank their acid

and concealed it.

Later,

if you faced the death of bombs and bullets

you did not do it with a banner,

you did it with only a hat to

cover your heart.

You did not fondle the weakness inside you

though it was there.

Your courage was a small coal

that you kept swallowing.

If your buddy saved you

and died himself in so doing,

then his courage was not courage,

it was love; love as simple as shaving soap.

Later,

if you have endured a great despair,

then you did it alone,

getting a transfusion from the fire,

picking the scabs off your heart,

then wringing it out like a sock.

Next, my kinsman, you powdered your sorrow,

you gave it a back rub

and then you covered it with a blanket

and after it had slept a while

it woke to the wings of the roses

and was transformed.

Later,

when you face old age and its natural conclusion

your courage will still be shown in the little ways,

each spring will be a sword you'll sharpen,

those you love will live in a fever of love,

and you'll bargain with the calendar

and at the last moment

when death opens the back door

you'll put on your carpet slippers

and stride out."

~ Anne Sexton

"Animals"

"Animals"

"I think I could turn and live with animals, they

are so placid and self contain’d;

I stand and look at them long and long,

They do not sweat and whine about their condition;

They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins;

They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God;

Not one is dissatisfied - not one is demented with

the mania of owning things;

Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that

lived thousands of years ago;

Not one is respectable or industrious over the whole earth."

- Walt Whitman

"Where Your Gaze Lingers..."

“Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn’t something that has nothing to do with you, this storm is you. Something inside you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn’t get in, and walk through it, step by step. There’s no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up the sky like pulverized bones.

You have to look! That’s another one of the rules. Closing your eyes isn’t going to change anything. Nothing’s going to disappear just because you can’t see what going on. In fact, things will be even worse the next time you open your eyes. That’s the kind of world we live in. Keep your eyes wide open. Only a coward closes his eyes. Closing your eyes and plugging up your ears won’t make time stand still.”

- Haruki Murakami

“Closing your eyes won’t make the awfulness go away. It may be that nothing will. But dwelling on it, dreading the evil, playing out the misery in your head – doesn’t this feed the monster? You can’t close your eyes to life, but you can choose where your gaze lingers.”

- Richelle E. Goodrich

The Daily "Near You?"

Urbana, Illinois, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Breaking: Putin's Next Move Will Be Devastating, And NATO Is Out Of Options"

Full screen recommended.

Redacted News, 12/14/22:

"Breaking: Putin's Next Move Will Be Devastating, 

And NATO Is Out Of Options"

"The U.S. is sending Patriot missiles to Ukraine in a last ditch PR move. Colonel Douglas MacGregor joins Natali and Clayton Morris to talk about Putin's massive oncoming offensive which will have three main goals. JK Rowling upsets the internet by trying to protect biological women. Member of Parliament Andrew Bridgen is calling for the complete suspension of mRNA jabs in the U.K."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Mother Of All Economic Crises Will Lead To 'Social Unrest & Violence'”

"Mother Of All Economic Crises 

Will Lead To 'Social Unrest & Violence'”

by Ron Paul

"Nouriel Roubini, a former advisor to the International Monetary Fund and member of President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisors, was one of the few “mainstream” economists to predict the collapse of the housing bubble. Now Roubini is warning that the staggering amounts of debt held by individuals, businesses, and the government will soon lead to the “mother of all economic crises.”

Roubini properly blames the creation of a debt-based economy on the near-or-at-zero interest rate and quantitative easing policies pursued by the Federal Reserve and other central banks. The inevitable result of the zero-interest and quantitative easing policies is price inflation wreaking havoc on the American people.

The Fed has been trying to eliminate price inflation with a series of interest rate increases. So far, these rate increases have not significantly reduced price inflation. This is because rates remain at historic lows. Yet the rate increases have had negative economic effects, including a decline in the demand for new homes. Increasing interest rates make it impossible for many middle- and working-class Americans to afford a monthly mortgage payment for even a relatively inexpensive home.

The main reason the Fed cannot raise rates to anywhere near what they would be in a free market is the effect it would have on the federal government’s ability to manage its debt. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), interest on the national debt is already on track to consume 40 percent of the federal budget by 2052 and will surpass defense spending by 2029! A small interest rate increase can raise yearly federal debt interest rate payments by many billions of dollars, increasing the amount of the federal budget devoted solely to servicing the debt.

The federal government’s fiscal picture is made worse by the fact that the Social Security “Trust Fund” will begin to run deficits by 2035 while the Medicare Trust Fund will run deficits by 2028. The looming bankruptcy of the two major entitlement programs, combined with the unwillingness of most in Congress to reduce either welfare or warfare spending, puts the Fed in a bind. If it raises rates to the levels needed to really combat price inflation, the increase in interest payments will impose hardships on individuals and businesses, as well as raise federal interest payments to unsustainable levels. This will cause a major economic crisis including a government default on its debt causing a rejection of the dollar’s world reserve currency status. Also, if the Fed continues to facilitate federal deficits by monetizing the debt, the result will be an economic crisis caused by a collapse in the dollar’s value and rejection of the dollar’s world reserve status.

The crisis will lead to social unrest and violence, as well as increased popularity of authoritarian movements on both the left and the right. This will lead to government crackdowns on civil liberties and increased government control of our economy. The only bright spot is this crisis will also fuel interest in the ideas of liberty and could even help bring about a return to limited, constitutional government, free markets, individual liberty, and a foreign policy of peaceful trade with all. Those of us who know the truth have two responsibilities. The first is to make the necessary plans to ensure our families can survive the forthcoming turmoil. The second is to do all we can to introduce as many people as possible to the ideas of liberty."

- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

"What a Mess! Who Knew?"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly 12/14/22:

"What a Mess! Who Knew?"

"The FTX scandal is just starting to unfold. This is complete insanity. Who knew that this thing was such a complete scam? Plus, I go out to the shopping malls and show you more retail insanity."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"It's The Way..."

"It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it."

- Lena Horne

"Strange Prices At Sam's Club! Stock Up Now! - What's Next?"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures with Danno, 12/14/22

"Strange Prices At Sam's Club! 

Stock Up Now! - What's Next?"

"In today's vlog we are at Sam's Club, 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/

"Inflation Nation"

"Inflation Nation"

Spending money the Feds don't have, 

causing problems you don't need...

By Bill Bonner

Baltimore, Maryland -  "Whence cometh inflation? Today, we turn to a Nobel Laureate economist for answers. And then, appalled, we figure it out for ourselves. First, from the The Wall Street Journal comes news that the feds are spending even more money that they don’t have: "Federal Deficit widened to a record $249 billion last month." At that rate, the annual deficit would grow to nearly $3 trillion. The economy does not save that much money, so to finance the deficit, the Fed would have to print money. But wait, revenues for the month were only $252 billion. So, the federal government is borrowing almost as much as it receives in taxes. Does that cause inflation? Of course, it does.

QE to QT: Meanwhile, the Fed has switched from printing money (QE) to un-printing it (QT…in which it retires existing debt, thereby reducing the quantity of money). And it’s raising rates to keep inflation down. CBS News: "The Consumer Price Index rose 7.1% over the last 12 months, the Labor Department said, lower than the 7.3% increase economists had expected and the slowest rate of inflation since December of 2021. Falling prices for energy, commodities and used cars offset increases in food and shelter."

The CPI is a little lower than the month before. But it’s still more than 300 basis points above the Fed’s key rate target. Does that cause inflation? Yes, again. Anytime the real interest rate is negative (below inflation) people are encouraged to borrow rather than save. The banks – including the Fed – create new money to lend out. The result? Higher prices.

But wait. Here’s an economist with a Ph.D.,a Nobel prize, and a contrary opinion. We’re talking about Joseph Stiglitz. The Intercept: "The Pandemic and War - Not, Government Spending - Caused Inflation, According to Nobel Prize Winner." A new paper by Ira Regmi and Joseph Stiglitz…suggests that we can use the tools of the government to make life better for almost everyone. If they’re wrong, perhaps that’s impossible - because the Immutable Laws of Economics simply don’t allow it - and if we try to make our lives better, we will be punished for our hubris.

Money for Nuthin’: The journalist goes on to explain why he thinks Stiglitz is right; apparently, he believes that there are no immutable laws of economics. There are just opportunities for bold economists to pick up hammer and chisel and go to work. Referring to the post-WWII period he says: “As the Polish economist Michal Kalecki wrote at the time, we had discovered we could create a more or less permanent “synthetic boom”: high wages, high worker power, and low unemployment. But we have to choose to do so. We can still make that choice, but only if we understand the reality in front of us.”

There are so many idiotic ideas in this pensée, we can’t begin to contradict them. If government really could ‘choose’ to make life better for almost everyone, surely one government – eager for re-election – would have done it. But none has. So, let’s start from scratch.

People create wealth by providing each other with goods and services. There are no public policy ‘choices’ involved. People do the best they can. Their goods and services are measured in ‘money.’ If more money is put into the system, above and beyond the measure of the goods and services that the system produces, the result is inflation.

No Free Lunch: Adding more money creates the sensation of a boom. But it is a ‘synthetic’ boom. That is, it is a fake. There are no goods and services to support the cash provided by the manipulators. So, prices rise. In today’s inflation, the feds fiddled both sides of the equation. They increased the supply of money while also decreasing (by lockdowns, sanctions and mandates) supplies of goods and services. The consumer was caught in a vise, squeezed on both sides.

That didn’t happen after WWII for a very obvious reason: government spending went down, not up. In other words, the Feds didn’t create a ‘synthetic’ boom at all. Instead, they stood back. Federal spending hit 40% of GDP in 1945. Three years later, it was only 10%. It was that big boost – from letting people go about their business – that created a real boom. They built houses, launched businesses, started careers and began their families – greatly increasing the goods and services available to each other, while the feds put relatively less money into the economy.

The post-war boom carried the US up to the 1970s. It was then that the Johnson Administration decided to ‘use the tools of government to make life better for everyone.’ Including the Vietnamese. Johnson’s ‘guns and butter’ spending – war in Vietnam, war on poverty – both flopped. But inflation rose to over 13%.

Government controls the money. The more it spends…the more it meddles in the economy or goes to war…the more it borrows and prints – the higher prices go. Immutable laws? We don’t know. But pretend they don’t exist… and good luck to you."

- https://bonnerprivateresearch.substack.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "It's A Set Up! Central Banks Pushing The World Into An Economic Meltdown"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 12/14/22:

"It's A Set Up! Central Banks Pushing 

The World Into An Economic Meltdown"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"We Like To Think..."

"We like to think that we are rational beings; humane, conscientious, civilized, thoughtful. But when things fall apart, even just a little, it becomes clear we are not better than animals. We have opposable thumbs, we think, we walk erect, we speak, we dream, but deep down we are still routing around in the primordial ooze; biting, clawing, scratching out an existence in the cold, dark world like the rest of the tree-toads and sloths."

- "Grey's Anatomy"

Judge Napolitano, "Russia Targets Kyiv with More Drones - Scott Ritter"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 12/14/22:

"Russia Targets Kyiv with More Drones - Scott Ritter"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Urgent News: No Fly Zone and WW3! Pope Issues Warning! Putin in Bunker?!"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 12/13/22:

"Urgent News: No Fly Zone and WW3! 

Pope Issues Warning! Putin in Bunker?!"

"The USA is essentially preparing to implement a no fly zone in Ukraine, that means one step closer to WW3. This is crazy... The pope was issued another warning, Putin is mysteriously absent, Belarusian troop movements have NATO on high alert."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

ͦ

"Russia War Update Live: Putin Worries As US Prepares 

Plan To Send Patriot Defense System To Ukraine"

"Russia War Update: The US is poised to approve sending a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine, finally agreeing to an urgent request from Ukrainian leaders desperate for more robust weapons to shoot down incoming Russian missiles, US officials said."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"When People Get Hungry They Eat Rats"

Jeremiah Babe, 12/13/22:

"When People Get Hungry They Eat Rats"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Really Is, Always Was, And Always Will Be"

 

"15 Essential Items To Buy Now Before They Sold Out At Grocery Stores"

Full screen recommended.

"15 Essential Items To Buy Now Before 

They Sold Out At Grocery Stores"

by Epic Economist

"Winter is just a week away, and colder weather is known for bringing some chaos to grocery stores. Deliveries are slower, supplies get tighter, product stockouts become more widespread, and consumer demand accelerates, pushing prices even higher. It's actually during wintertime that stores see the biggest waves of hoarding and panic buying. Any unexpected disaster can trigger a rush to purchase a certain item, and after that first disruption, others start happening more frequently. Declining food manufacturing will also add more pressure on retailers in the weeks ahead. This was a year of major floods, hurricanes, extreme heat, drought, and unusually large bouts of rainfall that have destroyed crops, decimated harvests, and impacted meat and poultry production. Limited supplies are leaving grocers in a tough spot while consumers scramble to find their favorite items.

For example, Giant food marker Hershey announced in October that it was bracing for a shortage of chocolate and candy in the months ahead. The iconic candy manufacturer said that global disruptions made raw ingredients such as edible oil and cocoa harder to come by, and at the same time, a shortage of sugar is rapidly worsening in the U.S. On top of that, higher consumer demand over the holidays is likely to keep shelves empty for longer given that the company is focusing on the production of seasonal products and decreasing the production of other consumer favorites.

Similarly, with beef slaughter is up by up to 30 percent in some states, all that meat entering the food supply chain right now will not be a good thing for consumers in the months ahead. The cows being slaughtered would normally end up producing calves in the near future. They're being culled now because there isn't enough food for them to eat —and that will result in less beef down the line. "There isn't enough grass to eat and it's become too expensive to buy feed. We've had a large amount of culling this year because of drought," David Anderson, a livestock specialist at Texas A&M University, exposed during an interview with USA Today. "There's going to be a shortage of beef and prices are probably going to go up," the expert warned. So if you're thinking about stocking up on meat, some seasoned ground beef is a great option to freeze for the longer term. But you should probably start soon because prices are set to rise 40 to 50 percent in 2023, according to various reports.

The best strategy to keep your home stocked with all the goods you and your family need during the winter is to purchase your essentials before everyone starts having the same idea. People tend to leave things for the last minute or after some major disaster or emergency occurs. That causes a spike in demand and, consequently, a spike in prices as well. Therefore, getting ahead of these stockouts and price swings is also a way to save money and invest in your short-term future. With all that said, you may not be able to find some staples in the months ahead, and others will become way too pricey for us to afford. For that reason, today we decided to list some key products to buy now before supplies run out at the stores and prices shoot up."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com/

Musical Interlude: Ludovico Einaudi, “Life”

Full screen recommended.

Ludovico Einaudi, “Life”

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"What is life?

It is the flash of a firefly in the night.

It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.

It is the little shadow which runs 

across the grass and loses itself in the sunset."

- Crowfoot, Blackfoot Warrior and Orator

"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

"The Trick..."

“The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable,

 or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.”

- Carlos Castaneda

Chet Raymo, “Try To Remember…”

“Try To Remember…”

by Chet Raymo

“In a sleepless hour of the night, I was trying to remember the last name of a person I have known well for more than forty years. When my spouse stirred in her sleep, I asked her. She couldn't remember either. One again I started mentally through the alphabet. "I think it starts with B," I said. Ten minutes later she rolled over and said, "The next letter is R." Bingo! The name popped into my head. Or I should say, "popped out of my head." Because it was in there somewhere, recorded in a tangle of neurons as materially as if it were written on a piece of paper.

There was a time, back when I was a young man, when some scientists thought memory might be molecular - stored as proteins or RNA molecules that have somehow been modified by experience. The molecule theory of memory rested on experiments with worms (I remember the cover illustration on Scientific American). The worms were taught to navigate a simple maze. Then they were ground up and fed to untrained worms, which seemed to navigate the maze without training. Only molecules, it was thought, could have survived the transfer. Those experiments have been discredited. Scientists now overwhelmingly believe that memories are stored as webs of connections between spider-shaped brain cells called neurons. Each neuron is connected through electrochemical connections to thousands of others. According to the current view, experience fine-tunes the connections, strengthening some, weakening others, creating a different "trace" of interconnected cells for each memory.

But truth be told, memory is still deeply mysterious. How exactly are a lifetime of memories stored and retrieved at will? We know how it works for computers, but how for the human brain? What is self-consciousness? What are dreams? This is the primary scientific agenda for the 21st century. In the middle of the night I go fishing, in that sea of potentiated synapses that are the human soul, for a name that becomes ever more difficult to extract as I get older. I troll the alphabet: A, B, C, D… The name is in there, along with a face and more that forty years of interactions. The Nobel Prizes are waiting.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

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Graphic: Salvador Dali, "The Persistence of Memory"

"Not Much Mental Distance..."

“A man who has blown all his options can't afford the luxury of changing his ways. He has to capitalize on whatever he has left, and he can't afford to admit - no matter how often he's reminded of it - that every day of his life takes him farther and farther down a blind alley. Very few toads in this world are Prince Charmings in disguise. Most are simply toads, and they are going to stay that way. Toads don't make laws or change any basic structures, but one or two rooty insights can work powerful changes in the way they get through life. A toad who believes he got a raw deal before he even knew who was dealing will usually be sympathetic to the mean, vindictive ignorance that colors the Hell's Angels' view of humanity. There is not much mental distance between a feeling of having been screwed and the ethic of total retaliation, or at least the random revenge that comes with outraging the public decency.”

- Hunter S. Thompson

The Realty Of Life..."

"Despite my firm convictions, I have been always a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth."

- Malcolm X

"What Really Drives the World"

"What Really Drives the World"

by Brian Maher

"O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;

It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock

The meat it feeds on; that cuckold lives in bliss

Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger;

But, O, what damned minutes tells he o’er..."

Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves!"

- Iago speaks to Othello, William Shakespeare, "Othello

"The world in not driven by greed. It’s driven by envy.” Here is the sage conclusion of Mr. Charles Munger, aged 98 years. Mr. Munger is of course the partner of Warren Buffett and legendary vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. What human vice ranks fourth among the seven lethal sins? That is correct - envy. Today we evaluate the acid emotion of envy. We further document how envy can wreck a man’s wealth… as easily it can wreck his soul.

“Hate the Man Who Is Better off Than You Are”: “The whole gospel of Karl Marx can be summed up in a single sentence,” argued economics journalist Henry Hazlitt long ago: “Hate the man who is better off than you are.” Continued Hazlitt: "Never under any circumstances admit that his success may be due to his own efforts, to the productive contribution he has made to the whole community. Always attribute his success to the exploitation, the cheating, the more or less open robbery of others. Never under any circumstances admit that your own failure may be owing to your own weakness, or that the failure of anyone else may be due to his own defects - his laziness, incompetence, improvidence or stupidity."

The History Pages Are Filled With Hatred: “Hate the man who is better off than you are…” History is a detailed diary of this very hatred.

Jealousy: The average man is not jealous of the champion golfer who once shot 60… but the fellow duffer in his weekend foursome who once broke 80. He is not jealous of the Hollywood movie actor who hauls in the unparalleled and unattainable beauty. He is jealous instead of his acquaintance who hauls in the pretty-enough gal he himself set his cap for - the seven out of 10 gal. Is the average man jealous of a Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk with their billions and billions? He is not. Yet he is jealous of the insurance salesman down the street who takes in $10,000 more than himself.

The Sage of Baltimore - H.L. Mencken - once defined a wealthy man as “a fellow who earns $100 more than his wife’s sister’s husband.” Be assured, the wife’s sister… and her husband… feel that $100 keenly.

Envy Is Never Contented: Envy sees only what it lacks. Not what it has. Today’s average fellow lives royally compared with actual royalty of yesteryear. Next to them he wallows in a sort of oriental luxury. Yet the envious man of today does not rank himself against the royalty of yesterday. He ranks himself against the royalty of today, though it wears no crown on its head. Envy gives him a mighty itch he is forever scratching. It is never soothed.

The Never-ending Chase: That is why a man’s eye is forever glued to the next rung of the ladder… the prettier plum just out of reach… the grass on the other side of the fence that is greener. A poor man may tell himself he’d settle for the middle class. But once he finds himself lodged therein, discontentment soon bubbles within him. He lights out for the upper classes. If by grace he attains it, he at once takes notice of the floor above him. And he begins another merry chase up the ladder. There is always another.

Such is man. He focuses not on what he has… but on what he lacks. He is forever chasing rainbows.

It’s Not Always Negative: Here we do not criticize. We merely observe. And your editor, by his own admission, offers no exception. Be assured he has his sights on a thing - or three - beyond his outstretched grasp. Besides, it is this ceaseless striving that accounts for all material progress. A contented civilization does not erect skyscrapers, amass empires or rocket into space. Yet beware of envy’s tempting snares. They surround you on all sides - particularly in the forms of television and social media.The French Revolution. Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution. China’s Cultural Revolution. Perhaps even America’s unfolding cultural revolution of its own.

We cite but some examples. They all set out to fix wrongs. They mostly ended up wrecking rights. The right to life itself was often among them.

Jealousy Isn’t Envy: Yet let us distinguish jealousy from envy. The two are siblings - yet they are not twins. It is said a man is jealous of his betters. Yet it is only partly true. The average man harbors no jealousy for the great man. He is not jealous of the Alexanders… the Caesars… the Napoleons of this world. These are men stamped from a finer metal. And the average man inwardly acknowledges it is not his metal. The sparrow understands its place is not among the soaring eagles. No. The subject of the average man’s jealousy is his peer - the average man.

Envy Poisons Your Investment Decisions" Here you see various “stars” and “influencers” soaring on wings of leisure… rocketing from one good time to the next… enjoying the high life. They appear to have life by the snout. And it may arouse your envy.

Yet this very envy may poison your investments. Mr. Marcelo Perez of Alhambra Investments: "In a day and age where… keeping up with the Joneses (or the Kardashians, or the Windsors) is no longer a silent, Sisyphian struggle but a top-rated TV series or Netflix special, it is only natural for this poison to seep into the investing world…"

YouTube stars dole out “investment strategies” left and right, extolling the benefits of the newest and coolest moneymaking venture, as per views, of course. Message boards are full of posts containing stock and option trades that yielded percent returns in the hundreds and thousands, over the course of no more [than a] few days. Virtually riskless, they say…:And even if we are skeptical, we become befuddled with amazement, consumed by “Why not me?” We are driven by envy as much as we are by greed. We see that our neighbor is excelling, or so we think, so we change our own course, or regret that we didn’t take the plunge."

The Siren Call of Envy: You must instead resist envy’s siren cries. As Odysseus of old, you must chain yourself to the mainmast so that you cannot yield to the false temptations… and crash your vessel against the punishing rocks. As Mr Perez notes: Premier celebrities such as Matt Damon, Kim Kardashian and Tom Brady all promoted cryptocurrencies. Many followed because they yearned “to be covered in that heavenly glitter ourselves and open an account at FTX.”

Mr. Perez: "In investing (and in life), we need to stop constantly peering into the lives of others who appear to have what we want. We must try to avoid the siren song of high returns without taking risk into account. We must try to avoid the fool’s gold and the snake oil that cures all…" Avoiding envy, and its associated pitfalls, is one of the simple secrets to a successful investment portfolio, and life.

The Wisdom of the Ancients: Can you do it? It is not easy. The sirens are extremely enchanting. Yet maybe, perhaps on some distant tomorrow… men will learn to take ease in their own inn, however modest… and wherever they happen to find it. It seems they will find peace nowhere else. We all might recall the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus: “Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy.”

- dailyreckoning.com