"11 Ominous Predictions For 2023"

"11 Ominous Predictions For 2023"

by Michael Snyder

"There is a growing consensus that 2023 is going to be a miserable year for the U.S. economy and for the global economy as a whole. In fact, in all the years that I have been writing I have never seen so many big names on Wall Street be so incredibly pessimistic about the coming year. Of course much of that pessimism is due to the fact that 2022 went so poorly. The cryptocurrency industry imploded, trillions of dollars in stock market wealth evaporated, inflation became a major problem all over the industrialized world, and a new housing crash suddenly erupted. Considering all of the pain that we have experienced over the past 12 months, it is only natural for the experts to have a negative view of 2023. The following are 11 ominous warnings that they have issued for the year ahead…

#1 The IMF: “We expect one-third of the world economy to be in recession. Even countries that are not in recession, it would feel like recession for hundreds of millions of people”

#2 Bloomberg: “Economists say there is a 7-in-10 likelihood that the US economy will sink into a recession next year, slashing demand forecasts and trimming inflation projections in the wake of massive interest-rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.”

#3 The World Bank: “As central banks across the world simultaneously hike interest rates in response to inflation, the world may be edging toward a global recession in 2023 and a string of financial crises in emerging market and developing economies that would do them lasting harm, according to a comprehensive new study by the World Bank.”

#4 Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan: “We’re going to have a shallow recession”

#5 Mohamed El-Erian: “Many ‘high-conviction’ U.S. recession calls are immediately coupled with the assertion that it’ll be ‘short and shallow.’ Reminds me of the behavioral trap ‘transitory inflation’ proponents fell into last year”

#6 Nouriel Roubini: “No, this is not going to be a short and shallow recession, it’s going to be deep and protracted”

#7 Larry Summers: “My sense is that it’s much harder than many people think to achieve a soft landing”

#8 Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon: “Economic growth is slowing,” Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said at the same conference. “When I talk to our clients, they sound extremely cautious.”

#9 Charles Schwab & Co.’s Liz Ann Sonders: “We have to take our medicine still, meaning a weaker economy and a weaker labor market. The question is, is it better to take our medicine sooner or later?”

#10 BlackRock: “Central bankers won’t ride to the rescue when growth slows in this new regime, contrary to what investors have come to expect. They are deliberately causing recessions by overtightening policy to try to rein in inflation”

#11 Michael Burry: “Inflation peaked. But it is not the last peak of this cycle. We are likely to see CPI lower, possibly negative in 2H 2023, and the US in recession by any definition. Fed will cut and government will stimulate. And we will have another inflation spike. It’s not hard.”

As you can see, there is a general consensus that things will be bad in 2023, but there is disagreement about just how deep the coming economic downturn will turn out to be. If the worst of these forecasts turn out to be accurate, that will actually be incredibly good news. Because the reality of what we will be facing in 2023 is likely to be significantly worse than any of these experts are currently projecting.

With each passing day, we continue to get even more numbers that indicate that big trouble is ahead. For example, we just learned that luxury home sales absolutely cratered during the months of September, October and November…"Sales of luxury homes fell 38.1% year over year during the three months ending November 30, 2022, the biggest decline on record, according to a new report from Redfin, a technology-powered real estate brokerage. That outpaced the record 31.4% decline in sales of non-luxury homes. Redfin’s data goes back to 2012."

The luxury market and the overall housing market lost momentum in 2022 due to many of the same factors: inflation, relatively high interest rates, a sagging stock market and recession fears. We haven’t seen anything like this since 2008. And we all remember what the housing crash of 2008 ultimately did to the financial markets.

Normally, the beginning of a calendar year is a time for optimism. As we look forward to a completely clean slate, it can be easy to forget the difficulties of the previous 12 months. But this year things seem completely different. On some level, just about everyone can feel that very challenging times are ahead of us. Decades of very foolish decisions are starting to catch up with us in a major way.

Our leaders tried very hard to keep the party going for as long as possible, and to a certain extent they were quite successful in doing so. Our politicians in Washington kept borrowing and spending trillions upon trillions of dollars that we did not have, and that definitely delayed our day of reckoning. And the Federal Reserve kept the financial markets artificially propped up for years by endlessly pumping giant mountains of fresh cash into the system.

But such foolish measures only made our long-term problems even worse, and now our leaders are losing control. All of the “mega-bubbles” are starting to burst, and the system is beginning to fall apart all around us. It is time to turn out the lights, because the party is over. We all had a lot of fun while it lasted, but now the bill is due and an extraordinary amount of pain is ahead."

- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

"Here Comes Trackable Digital Dollars"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly 1/3/23:

"Here Comes Trackable Digital Dollars"

"The current administration is working on a digital dollar. This will be trackable. Do you think this is a good thing? 2023 will be the year of the digital dollar."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Bill Bonner, "Rough Seas Ahead"

"Rough Seas Ahead"

A precarious Channel crossing 

and a look at the forecast for 2023...

by Bill Bonner

Youghal, Ireland - "We are on our way to France. Checking the maritime forecast, we expected the sea to be so rough. We didn’t want to be seasick for a 17-hour voyage. So, we’re taking the short route to Wales, thence across England to the southeast coast, where we will board the Eurotunnel and cross to Calais. This leaves us little time to read or write. So, we begin with a quick market update…and tomorrow…leave you with our memoire of our first Christmas in Ireland.

Here’s the headline from the Financial Times: "Markets lose more than $30 trillion in worst year since financial crisis." “The end of cheap money,” begins an editorial.

The BBC adds more bad news: "A third of the global economy will be in recession this year, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned. Kristalina Georgieva said 2023 will be "tougher" than last year as the US, EU and China see their economies slow. "Even countries that are not in recession, it would feel like recession for hundreds of millions of people," she added."

Caveats and Qualifiers: Reading the news, we find many “predictions for 2023.” The consensus view is that inflation will relent, the Fed will either ‘pivot’ or at least swing around to less of a ‘tightening’ program...and stocks will end the year higher. In that regard a couple of caveats and qualifiers are needed. While US stocks were down about 20% for the year, Turkish stocks rose 110%. What made the Istanbul market suddenly worth twice its value in 2021? A return to the free market by the authorities? New inventions? A booming economy?

None of the above. Instead, an inflation rate of 85% caused Turks to seek shelter in equities. “There is a lack of alternatives…” said a sage in Istanbul. In other words, stock market gains are not always what they appear to be. Recall that during the late ‘60s and ‘70s, the US stock market held steady…even as inflation erased 75% of the values. So, rather than guess about the level of the Dow, let’s try to figure out what is really going on.

Readers of these posts will recall, too, that just before the holidays we suggested a couple of provocative, and perhaps seditious, ideas. First, ‘the government’ is not all of us; it is just some of us. That is always true. And everywhere true. No matter what you call your government, a small elite always takes control.

When the US was formed, those ‘deciders’ were also outsiders. They made their living by providing goods and services to one another. They understood that government was always a threat to honest commerce. So, they attempted to limit it…and to leave ultimate control of the government with ‘The People’ and their representatives.

Leading Us to Crisis: It was a good try. But after a couple hundred years, the termites have gotten into the woodwork. And the parasites can do pretty much whatever they want. The things that are most ruinous to a country – war and inflation – are entirely under their control. The president can start a war on his own say-so. And the Fed can manipulate the value of the US dollar with no discussion or vote in Congress. Even the First Amendment, guaranteeing Free Speech, has largely been ignored, as federal agents conspire with private companies to restrict what Americans can read.

And now, the deciders are not longer outsiders. Now, they’re insiders. They do not want to limit the power of government, but to extend it further and further. Each step, they realize, brings them more power, money and status…while diminishing the wealth and independence of their rivals in the private sector.

And the US Constitution is largely irrelevant. The people who wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were completely different from the people who now ignore it.

We have seen, too, that the situation in today’s economy and its markets is almost the exact opposite of what it was 40 years ago. Back then, stocks had been in a bear market for the previous 16 years; prices were low. Bonds had been in a bear market too – dating back to the late ‘40s. As for debt levels, the US government owed less than $1 trillion. And the benchmark 10-year US treasury sported a yield over 15%.

Today, stocks, bonds, and debt are high, with stocks and bonds nearer to the top of their ranges rather than the bottom…and US debt is over $31 trillion. Interest rates are low (even after the Fed’s hikes, the key lending rate is still about 300 basis points…3 percentage points…below the level of consumer price inflation.)

Given these circumstances, we have a hunch about where today’s markets are headed…and what the Fed is likely to do about it. In short, we are in a correction. The primary trend is down – for both stocks and bonds. This will lead to a crisis – as it becomes more and more expensive to finance debt.

How the elite will react to this coming crisis is the story of the coming years. Will they tighten their belts and allow the correction to do its work, returning us to a more ‘normal’ financial world? Or will they panic…pivot…and print more money? We think we know the answer. But we would be happy to be surprised. Stay tuned."

- bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com

Gregory Mannarino, "So It Begins!"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 1/3/23:

"So It Begins! Central Banks Start NEW 

Debt Buying Spree As Inflation Continues To Rise"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

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Market Data Center, Live updates:

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

"Nine Meals from Anarchy"

"Nine Meals from Anarchy"

by Jeff Thomas

"In 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy.” Since then, his observation has been echoed by people as disparate as Robert Heinlein and Leon Trotsky. The key here is that, unlike all other commodities, food is the one essential that cannot be postponed. If there were a shortage of, say, shoes, we could make do for months or even years. A shortage of gasoline would be worse, but we could survive it, through mass transport or even walking, if necessary.

But food is different. If there were an interruption in the supply of food, fear would set in immediately. And, if the resumption of the food supply were uncertain, the fear would become pronounced. After only nine missed meals, it’s not unlikely that we’d panic and be prepared to commit a crime to acquire food. If we were to see our neighbor with a loaf of bread, and we owned a gun, we might well say, “I’m sorry, you’re a good neighbor and we’ve been friends for years, but my children haven’t eaten today – I have to have that bread – even if I have to shoot you.”

There’s no need to speculate on this concern yet. There’s nothing so alarming on the evening news yet to suggest that such a problem might be on the horizon. So, let’s have a closer look at the actual food distribution industry, compare it to the present direction of the economy, and see whether there might be reason for concern.

The food industry typically operates on very small margins – often below 2%. Traditionally, wholesalers and retailers have relied on a two-week turnaround of supply and anywhere up to a 30-day payment plan. But an increasing tightening of the economic system for the last eight years has resulted in a turnaround time of just three days for both supply and payment for many in the industry. This a system that’s still fully operative, but with no further wiggle room, should it take a significant further hit.

If there were a month where significant inflation took place (The Feds lie say 9.1%; really now at least 17%), all profits would be lost for the month for both suppliers and retailers, but goods could still be replaced and sold for a higher price next month. But, if there were three or more consecutive months of inflation, the industry would be unable to bridge the gap, even if better conditions were expected to develop in future months. A failure to pay in full for several months would mean smaller orders by those who could not pay. That would mean fewer goods on the shelves. The longer the inflationary trend continued, the more quickly prices would rise to hopefully offset the inflation. And ever-fewer items on the shelves.

From Germany in 1922, to Argentina in 2000, and to Venezuela in 2016, this has been the pattern whenever inflation has become systemic, rather than sporadic. Each month, some stores close, beginning with those that are the most poorly capitalized.

In good economic times, this would mean more business for those stores that were still solvent, but in an inflationary situation, they would be in no position to take on more unprofitable business. The result is that the volume of food on offer at retailers would decrease at a pace with the severity of the inflation.

However, the demand for food would not decrease by a single loaf of bread. Store closings would be felt most immediately in inner cities, when one closing would send customers to the next neighborhood seeking food. The real danger would come when that store also closes and both neighborhoods descended on a third store in yet another neighborhood. That’s when one loaf of bread for every three potential purchasers would become worth killing over. Virtually no one would long tolerate seeing his children go without food because others had “invaded” his local supermarket.

In addition to retailers, the entire industry would be impacted and, as retailers disappeared, so would suppliers, and so on, up the food chain. This would not occur in an orderly fashion, or in one specific area. The problem would be a national one. Closures would be all over the map, seemingly at random, affecting all areas. Food riots would take place, first in the inner cities then spread to other communities. Buyers, fearful of shortages, would clean out the shelves.

Importantly, it’s the very unpredictability of food delivery that increases fear, creating panic and violence. And, again, none of the above is speculation; it’s a historical pattern – a reaction based upon human nature whenever systemic inflation occurs.

Then… unfortunately… the cavalry arrives. At that point, it would be very likely that the central government would step in and issue controls to the food industry that served political needs rather than business needs, greatly exacerbating the problem. Suppliers would be ordered to deliver to those neighborhoods where the riots are the worst, even if those retailers are unable to pay. This would increase the number of closings of suppliers.

Along the way, truckers would begin to refuse to enter troubled neighborhoods, and the military might well be brought in to force deliveries to take place. (If truckers could afford $5.75 a gallon diesel fuel.)

So, what would it take for the above to occur? Well, historically, it has always begun with excessive debt. We know that the debt level is now the highest it has ever been in world history. (US debt as of October 2022: $31.12 trillion; World debt as of Feb. 2022: $303 trillion.) In addition, the stock and bond markets are in bubbles of historic proportions. They will most certainly pop.

With a crash in the markets, deflation always follows as people try to unload assets to cover for their losses. The Federal Reserve (and other central banks) has stated that it will unquestionably print as much money as it takes to counter deflation. Unfortunately, inflation has a far greater effect on the price of commodities than assets. Therefore, the prices of commodities will rise dramatically, further squeezing the purchasing power of the consumer, thereby decreasing the likelihood that he will buy assets, even if they’re bargain priced. Therefore, asset holders will drop their prices repeatedly as they become more desperate. The Fed then prints more to counter the deeper deflation and we enter a period when deflation and inflation are increasing concurrently.

Historically, when this point has been reached, no government has ever done the right thing. They have, instead, done the very opposite – keep printing. A by-product of this conundrum is reflected in the photo above. Food still exists, but retailers shut down because they cannot pay for goods. Suppliers shut down because they’re not receiving payments from retailers. Producers cut production because sales are plummeting.

In every country that has passed through such a period, the government has eventually gotten out of the way and the free market has prevailed, re-energizing the industry and creating a return to normal. The question is not whether civilization will come to an end. (It will not.) The question is the liveability of a society that is experiencing a food crisis, as even the best of people are likely to panic and become a potential threat to anyone who is known to store a case of soup in his cellar.

Fear of starvation is fundamentally different from other fears of shortages. Even good people panic. In such times, it’s advantageous to be living in a rural setting, as far from the centre of panic as possible. It’s also advantageous to store food in advance that will last for several months, if necessary. However, even these measures are no guarantee, as, today, modern highways and efficient cars make it easy for anyone to travel quickly to where the goods are. The ideal is to be prepared to sit out the crisis in a country that will be less likely to be impacted by dramatic inflation – where the likelihood of a food crisis is low and basic safety is more assured."

- https://internationalman.com/

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"Strange Prices At Meijer! This Is Crazy! Stock Up Now!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, 1/3/23:

"Strange Prices At Meijer! This Is Crazy! Stock Up Now!"

"In today's vlog we are at Meijer and noticing some strange 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/

"When People Go Hungry You Got Trouble; Be Ready, The Meltdown Has Begun; Retailers Brace For Impact"

Jeremiah Babe, 1/2/23:

"When People Go Hungry You Got Trouble; Be Ready,

 The Meltdown Has Begun; Retailers Brace For Impact"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Breaking: Massive Escalation in Next 72 Hours"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 1/2/23:

"Breaking: Massive Escalation in Next 72 Hours"

"Only 48 hrs into 2023 and everything is going to hell..."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"15 Things The Average American Family Can't Afford Anymore"

Full screen recommended.

"15 Things The Average American 

Family Can't Afford Anymore"

by Epic Economist

"By now, we can all tell that our dollars don't stretch as far as they used to. The purchasing power of the average American family has declined by over 35% since 2010, and as we enter a new year, more price increases, inflation, and financial hardships are on the horizon. It's never been so expensive to live in the United States. While the cost of basic necessities continues to reach new highs, our incomes stay the same, and the threat of job losses reemerges due to the ongoing recession. 2023 will be a very challenging year for many households, and in today's video, we listed a series of things that are either going up in price in the months ahead or becoming more unaffordable and out of the reach of hard-working Americans.

For example, We’re still in the middle of one of the greatest housing bubbles in history, and even though prices are crashing in some pandemic hotspots, soaring interest rates are keeping the cost of a home and monthly mortgage payments over 40% higher than a year ago. The trend is expected to continue throughout 2023 as the Fed announced that it will continue its monetary tightening policy until inflation is tamed down. New research released by ATTOM Data Solutions revealed that Americans can’t afford to purchase a home in more than 75 percent of the country. Out of 473 U.S. counties analyzed in the report, 355 listed median home prices more than what average wage earners could afford, the firm found. “New York City claimed the largest share of a person's income to purchase a home,” researchers noted, adding that “while average earners nationwide need to spend only about one-third of their income on a home, residents in Brooklyn and Manhattan must shell out more than 115 percent of their income. In San Francisco, residents must spend 103 percent, and in Hawaii's Maui County, it takes 101 percent”.

Similarly, renters seem to be struggling just as much, but their uncertain situation is even worse. With unemployment rates steadily rising, and a recession at our door, a wave of evictions is expected to occur in 2023. Affordable housing problems will, unfortunately, stay with us for quite some time, and many hard-working people out there are at risk of becoming homeless. Already, roughly 51 million households don't earn enough to afford rent according to a study released Thursday by the United Way ALICE Project. That represents 43% of households in the entire country. The figure includes the 16.1 million households living in poverty, as well as the 34.7 million families that the United Way has dubbed as ALICE -- Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. This group makes less than what's needed "to survive in the modern economy," the organization noted.

Unfortunately, financial stability will not be in the cards for millions of families out there in 2023. This will be a year marked by the burst of financial bubbles, business shutdowns, layoffs, and an economic downturn that is set to be the greatest since the 2008 meltdown. The recession has only just begun, and we should all brace for a bumpy ride in the coming months."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Jim Rickards: It's Over! Banks Will Get Bankrupt?!"

Full screen recommended.

Be Awakened, 1/2/23:

"Jim Rickards: It's Over! Banks Will Get Bankrupt?!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Josh Groban, “Gira Con Me Questa Notte”

Josh Groban, “Gira Con Me Questa Notte”

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English lyrics:

- https://lyricstranslate.com/en/gira-con-me-wander-me.html

"A Look to the Heavens"

"These cosmic clouds have blossomed 1,300 light-years away, in the fertile starfields of the constellation Cepheus. Called the Iris Nebula, NGC 7023 is not the only nebula to evoke the imagery of flowers. Still, this deep telescopic image shows off the Iris Nebula's range of colors and symmetries, embedded in surrounding fields of interstellar dust. 

Within the Iris itself, dusty nebular material surrounds a hot, young star. The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. Central filaments of the reflection nebula 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 contains complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. The dusty blue petals of the Iris Nebula span about six light-years."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210903.html

"The Eternal Silence..."



"The eternal silence of infinite spaces frightens me. Why now rather than then? Who has put me here? By whose order and direction have this place and time have been ascribed to me? We travel in a vast sphere, always drifting in the uncertain, pulled from one side to another. Whenever we find a fixed point to attach and to fasten ourselves, it shifts and leaves us; and if we follow it, it eludes our grasp, slips past us, and vanishes for ever. Nothing stays for us. This is our natural condition, most contrary to our inclination; we burn with desires to find solid ground and an ultimate and solid foundation for building a tower reaching to the Infinite. But always these bases crack, and the earth obstinately opens up into abysses. We are infinitely removed from comprehending the extremes, since the end of things and their beginning are hopelessly hidden from us in an encapsulated secret; we are equally incapable of seeing the Nothing from which we were made, and the Infinite in which we are swallowed up."

- Blaise Pascal

"Sanctimania"

"Sanctimania"

by Jeff Thomas

"In recent decades, political correctness has been very much on the rise in the countries that were formerly regarded as the "free world." It’s important to remind those who live in these countries (North America, Europe, etc.), that political correctness is not by any means as prevalent in the rest of the world. In fact, the further removed a country is from the influence of the EU and US, the less prevalent political correctness is. The EU and US are, in fact, the epicentre of this movement… This is no accident.

So, should political correctness be forcibly controlled? Well, no. If someone wishes to adopt a belief, regardless of whether we find it silly, pointless, or even offensive, that should unquestionably be their right. But, is there a point at which political correctness becomes dangerous? Yes, decidedly so. It becomes dangerous when it becomes sanctimonious and aggressive – it then morphs into what I term "sanctimania."

Sanctimania can be defined as the point at which personal opinion encroaches upon the personal liberty of others; when the other person’s rights are aggressed upon or removed in the name of the opinion being expressed. Sanctimania is, by its very nature, the point at which anger overcomes reason and force is employed in order to achieve social change.

To be sure, the anger and intolerance that typify sanctimania, taken together, are a most powerful force. As Mahatma Gandhi said, "Anger and intolerance are the twin enemies of correct understanding."

Anger has a way of taking personal viewpoint to a destructive level. And, in fact, throughout history, we’ve seen political leaders repeatedly whipping their followers into anger in order to seize greater control. Certainly, this was true in virtually every speech given by Adolf Hitler. It was used extensively by Maximilien Robespierre following the French Revolution. And, not surprisingly, it has been employed in political demonstrations and riots throughout history.

Confucius, a fellow who had a reputation for careful reflection, said, "When anger rises, think of the consequences." A good point. It’s invariably true that no emotion has the ability to eliminate reason and self-control like anger. And this, of course, is why political leaders so often seek to create anger amongst their followers – so that they can be trained to do the bidding of the leaders without questioning either the validity of their actions or the consequences.

Well, what, then, are the benefits of this anger? Does it achieve its end? Does it typically convert or defeat the adversary? Let’s query Buddha on that one. "Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." Quite so. Of course, Buddha was referring to the consequence upon the person who is angry, not the consequence upon the person who inspired him to anger. The person who inspired the anger is not harmed at all.

So, is there a difference between anger and sanctimania? Most decidedly so. Sanctimania is a refinement of anger. It’s the better tool for political leaders seeking to control their followers. Any political leader wishes to create in the minds of his followers a separation of opinion. He creates rhetoric that’s intended to set his followers apart from others. That rhetoric is intended to have the appearance of a moral high ground. Once the followers believe that they’re morally apart from others – once they’ve reached the stage of sanctimony, they’ve fallen under the control of the leader. Whether he’s Vladimir Lenin, George Patton or Jim Jones, both the purpose and the method are the same.

And it’s important to state that it doesn’t matter whether the sanctimonial intolerance comes from the political left or right, although there can be no question that collectivist leaders have historically made greater use of it.

But sanctimania takes the rhetoric to the final stage. Whether it’s as minor as beating up someone for being a ginger in the UK, or whether it’s stoning a woman to death for the crime of infidelity, as in Leviticus, 20:10, sanctimania represents the power of the leader to control the aggression of the follower without question; without reason. Quite a powerful political tool.

At present, we’re viewing this phenomenon as an extension to political correctness. Whereas ten years ago we might have seen a man being reviled for making a sexual advance to a female co-worker, or using a pejorative with regard to someone of a different race or ethnic background, we’re increasingly seeing these "crimes" elevated to the point that punishment is being called for.

The buzzwords are familiar to us all – racist, sexist, homophobic, fascist, hate, etc. It matters little whether the person being attacked is actually "guilty" of the entire list. If he’s identified as being objectionable for any reason, he’s then tarred with the entire list. Conversely, if another individual has been accepted within the group, should he actually be guilty of any of these "crimes," this fact is ignored. He’s a "good" person.

Historically, Jews have been made the target of Christians and vice-versa. Blacks have been made the target of whites and vice versa. Conservatives have been made the target of liberals and vice versa.

Whenever in history political leaders have used the media to create a campaign against a given group or groups, the objective has been to create sanctimania as a vehicle by which increased control may be implemented. In the eye of the leader, it truly has nothing to do with one group being superior to the other. (In fact, the group could be chosen at random and the outcome would be the same.) The objective is to create alienation.

Whether we assess Fidel Castro in his frenzied all-day speeches against the greedy capitalists, the Ayatollah Khomeini railing against infidels, or Al Gore creating fear of global warming from nothing, what we’re witnessing is a leader creating sanctimania. When we see large demonstrations of people with placards aggressing against others in reaction to such rhetoric, we’re witnessing the intended product of sanctimania.

But, if we’re able to step back a bit and take a deep breath, we’ll hopefully remind ourselves not to fall into the trap of taking the opposing view of the sanctimaniacs just because we find their behavior offensive. Instead, we’ll hopefully remove ourselves from the field of rhetoric entirely and reach our conclusions through objective reasoning. This is not just a helpful lesson in objectivity - it’s a survival technique, as, historically, periods of sanctimania are often followed by periods of great unrest.

Once sanctimania results in general chaos, the objectivity that we’d practiced may well determine whether we will become casualties of sanctimania or whether we’ll quietly remove ourselves from the fray."

- internationalman.com

"In All Seriousness..."

"Thomas Edison said in all seriousness: "There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the labor of thinking"- if we bother with facts at all, we hunt like bird dogs after the facts that bolster up what we already think- and ignore all the others! We want only the facts that justify our acts- the facts that fit in conveniently with our wishful thinking and justify our preconceived prejudices. As Andre Maurois put it: "Everything that is in agreement with our personal desires seems true. Everything that is not puts us into a rage." Is it any wonder, then, that we find it so hard to get at the answers to our problems? Wouldn't we have the same trouble trying to solve a second-grade arithmetic problem, if we went ahead on the assumption that two plus two equals five? Yet there are a lot of people in this world who make life a hell for themselves and others by insisting that two plus two equals five - or maybe five hundred!"

- Dale Carnegie

Must View! "Get Ready for the Earthquake"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly 1/2/23:

"Get Ready for the Earthquake"

"It is absolutely unbelievable how many earthquakes we have had in the last few days. This is a great metaphor for how people need to prepare for what’s coming in 2023. We’ve been given an earthquake warning for California. A major earthquake could strike northern California at any time."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com

“What’s The Root Cause Of The US Proxy War in Ukraine? Most People Don’t Have A Clue. Let Me Explain”

“What’s The Root Cause Of The US Proxy War in Ukraine? 

Most People Don’t Have A Clue. Let Me Explain”

by Kim Dotcom

"What’s the root cause of the US proxy war in Ukraine? Most people don’t have a clue. Let me explain.

It all started after the 2007-2008 financial crisis that originated in the US. The reliability of the US Govt as a partner in global financial affairs was destroyed. In 2009 Russia hosted the first BRICS summit to establish a better international financial system with China, India, Brazil, South Africa and later with future BRICS+ partners. In short a new “multipolar order”. BRICS is challenging the US Dollar reserve currency status.

That started a new Cold War with Russia and China. US National Debt is now at $31 trillion, total US Debt is at $92 trillion and total US unfunded liabilities are at $172 trillion and all of that without any US Govt surplus to pay for any of it. Only more debt and money printing.

The US Govt knows that without the reserve currency status it is bankrupt. Without money printing on the backs of other nations it’s simply Game Over for the US. But not just for the US. The EU and most western democracies followed the US model of endless Debt and money printing.

That’s why they stand with the US and support the escalating actions that seem totally illogical to most people. Why is the EU sacrificing prosperity for a US proxy war in Ukraine? Because if the US is collapsing they collapse too. Their alliance is glued by the fear of failure. BRICS+ was on track to launch its new global financial system by 2030. Ukraine is the tool for conflict with Russia and Taiwan is the tool for conflict with China. Eventually the US and NATO will be at war with Russia and China. They simply don’t seem to have another choice.

It’s either war with Russia and China to stop BRICS+ or the financial collapse of the US, EU and the entire debt and money printing circus. It was never about the people of Ukraine. Ukraine is a sideshow. The main event is yet to come. The two options are poverty or nuclear war."

- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

o

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Americans Need To Understand This!"

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The Daily "Near You?"

Lyons, Oregon, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

The Poet: Theodore Roethke, “The Return”

“The Return”

“Suddenly the window will open

and Mother will call,

it's time to come in.

The wall will part,

I will enter heaven in muddy shoes.

I will come to the table

and answer questions rudely.

I am all right, leave me

alone. Head in hand I

sit and sit. How can I tell them

about that long

and tangled way?

Here in heaven mothers

knit green scarves;

flies buzz.

Father dozes by the stove

after six days' labor.

No - surely I can't tell them

that people are at each

other's throats.”

- Theodore Roethke

“The History of the Middle Finger”

“The History of the Middle Finger”

by pappy

“Well, now… here’s something I never knew before, and now that I know it, I feel compelled to send it on to my more intelligent friends in the hope that they, too, will feel edified.

Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore they would be incapable of fighting in the future. This famous English longbow was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as ‘plucking the yew’ (or ‘pluck yew’).

Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset and they began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French, saying, “See, we can still pluck yew!” Since ‘pluck yew’ is rather difficult to say, the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodentalfricative ‘F’, and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger-salute! It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as ‘giving the bird.’”

- http://pappys-rants.blogspot.com/

"Waiting..."

“Life passes like a flash of lightning, whose blaze barely lasts long enough to see. While the earth and sky stand still forever, how swiftly changing time flies across man’s face. O you who sit over your full cup and do not drink, tell me – for whom are you still waiting?”

- Hermann Hesse

"Consider The Following..."

"Consider the following. We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others' actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others' activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others.

Nor is it so remarkable that our greatest joy should come when we are motivated by concern for others. But that is not all. We find that not only do altruistic actions bring about happiness but they also lessen our experience of suffering. Here I am not suggesting that the individual whose actions are motivated by the wish to bring others' happiness necessarily meets with less misfortune than the one who does not. Sickness, old age, mishaps of one sort or another are the same for us all. But the sufferings which undermine our internal peace- anxiety, doubt, disappointment- these things are definitely less. In our concern for others, we worry less about ourselves. When we worry less about ourselves an experience of our own suffering is less intense.

What does this tell us? Firstly, because our every action has a universal dimension, a potential impact on others' happiness, ethics are necessary as a means to ensure that we do not harm others. Secondly, it tells us that genuine happiness consists in those spiritual qualities of love, compassion, patience, tolerance and forgiveness and so on. For it is these which provide both for our happiness and others' happiness. A good motivation is what is needed: compassion without dogmatism, without complicated philosophy; just understanding that others are human brothers and sisters and respecting their human rights and dignities. That we humans can help each other is one of our unique human capacities"

- Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

"How It Really Is"

 

"The Year When Everything Started To Fall Apart"

"The Year When Everything Started To Fall Apart"

by Michael Snyder

"It amazes me that so many people still cannot understand what is happening. 2022 was supposedly going to be a year when America entered a new golden age of prosperity, but that didn’t happen. Instead, it was a complete and utter disaster. Stock prices fell by the most that we have seen since 2008, the cryptocurrency industry came apart at the seams, inflation soared to absurd heights, and home sales just kept declining all throughout the year. Without a doubt, 2022 represented a major turning point. Americans have already collectively lost trillions of dollars, and many experts are telling us that 2023 will be even worse.

We warned over and over again that the party on Wall Street would eventually come to a very bitter end, but most people didn’t want to listen. Well, the party has now ended, and the stock market losses that we have witnessed over the past 12 months have been absolutely staggering…"As of closing time on Friday evening, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by nearly 3,500 points since the start of the year, a 9.4 percent drop.

The S&P 500 was also down by 957 points this year, with the tech-heavy index falling by almost 20 percent, capping off a brutal year for the tech industry. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq sunk by more than 5,600 points, a nearly 34 percent decline in 2022. More than a third of the entire value of the Nasdaq is already gone. Just think about that.

Of course some stocks were hit much harder than others. Tesla is down about 70 percent from the peak, and Elon Musk “has become the first person ever to lose $200 billion from his net worth”…"Tesla CEO and Chief Twit Elon Musk has become the first person ever to lose $200 billion from his net worth, according to a Bloomberg report.

Musk, 51, previously became the second person ever to amass a fortune of more than $200 billion in January 2021, after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Musk has now seen his wealth drop to $137 billion following a recent drop in Tesla shares. Musk saw his fortune peak in November 2021, hitting $340 billion, and held the title of the world’s richest person up until last month. Musk was ultimately toppled off the throne by Bernard Arnault, the CEO of French luxury giant LVMH."

You have to give him credit for holding up so well under the circumstances. 200 billion dollars is an amount of money that is so large that it is almost unimaginable.

Facebook also got monkey-hammered over the course of 2022. At this point, Facebook stock has fallen over 64 percent from where it was last January…"On the last day of trading this year, Meta’s stock was down more than 64 percent compared to January, with prices sinking from over $338-per-share to now $120-per-share. The company has lost more than $600 billion in valuation as it spend billions to make its controversial leap to virtual reality with its Metaverse, with the efforts continuing to come up short."

Perhaps Facebook shouldn’t have put so much effort into banning and censoring millions of their best users. What an incredibly stupid thing to do. When I go on Facebook these days, it just feels so incredibly dead. There are still a few diehard users hanging around, but overall it is just a pathetic hollow shell of a social media platform at this point.

Speaking of implosions, 2022 was an absolute disaster for the cryptocurrency industry. The following summary of what we witnessed over the past 12 months comes from Zero Hedge…"Among all the chaos and downfall of many crypto exchanges and leading venture capital firms, the biggest losers are crypto investors. If the burn of the bear market was not enough, millions of crypto investors who had their funds on FTX lost their life savings overnight.

Terra was once a $40 billion ecosystem. Its native token, LUNA — now known as Terra Classic (LUNC) — was one of the top five biggest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. With millions of customers invested in the ecosystem, the collapse brought their investment to zero within hours. After the Terra collapse, crypto investors lost their funds on a series of centralized exchanges and staking platforms like Celsius, BlockFi and Hodlnaut. Crypto investors also lost significantly in the nonfungible token market, with the price of many popular collections down by 70%. Overall, crypto investors are among the biggest losers of the year."

The total value of all cryptocurrencies exceeded 3 trillion dollars at the peak of the market. Now the total value of all cryptocurrencies has fallen to less than 1 trillion dollars. Hopefully you got out before the crash happened.

2022 was also a year when we experienced very painful inflation. Food prices, energy prices and vehicle prices all went completely nuts, and many compared what we were going through to the Jimmy Carter era of the 1970s. But this shouldn’t have been a surprise to any of us. Starting in 2020, our leaders absolutely flooded the system with new cash and the size of the money supply absolutely exploded.

Increasing the size of the money supply so dramatically was inevitably going to cause prices to go haywire, and anyone that thought otherwise was just not being rational. In a desperate attempt to fight the inflation monster that they helped to create, officials at the Federal Reserve aggressively raised interest rates throughout much of 2022.

As a result, we now find ourselves in the midst of another horrifying housing crash. Home values are now steadily receding all over the nation, and home sales have been falling month after month. Home sales have already fallen by more than a third.

How much lower can they possibly go? I don’t know, but we are being warned to brace ourselves for more hard times ahead. In fact, even the IMF is publicly admitting that “the worst is yet to come”… “The worst is yet to come, and for many people 2023 will feel like a recession,” the IMF said in October, noting the slowdown “will be broad-based” and may “reopen economic wounds that were only partially healed post-pandemic.”

If only they knew. We aren’t just heading into a temporary economic downturn. Ultimately, the entire system is starting to fall apart all around us, and the years ahead are going to be incredibly challenging. Our leaders have been making mistake after mistake for decades, and now we get to pay the price. So buckle up and hold on tight, because 2023 is not going to be pleasant at all."

- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

Gregory Mannarino, "Markets, A Look Ahead: New 'Effective' Variant; More Fear! More Control And Propaganda!"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 1/2/23:

"Markets, A Look Ahead: New 'Effective' Variant; 

More Fear! More Control And Propaganda!"

- https://traderschoice.net/

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