Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Bill Bonner, "Cluster Ahead!"

"Cluster Ahead!"
Five major trends combining to make 2023 one heckuva show...
By Bill Bonner

Normandy, France - "Yesterday, we made it sound so simple…so easy to understand. The Fed increases the money supply and prices go up. The Fed cuts back…prices fall. But there’s always more to the story, isn’t there?

The half-word “cluster” comes to mind. It describes the motley crew of incompetent jackasses and interlaced calamities coming our way. Clever readers will notice that the word ”cluster” is usually joined with another word that begins with an ‘f.’ But the use of the f-word is just another, minor part of the phenomenon. And the coarsening of vernacular speech is connected – like a sewer line to a septic tank– to the degeneration of the whole cluster complex.

Yes, speech patterns evolve along with everything else. The meaning of ‘don’t fight the Fed,’ for example, has morphed. From 1982 to 2021, it was instruction on how to make money. Now it is a warning – about how not to lose it. Prices are no longer rising on a tide of the Fed’s easy money. Now, the money supply ebbs…and prices fall.

Aimless Wanderers: But there are other, more important things going on. We can begin to explore them by looking at the painful and sometimes comic election of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House. What a spectacle. But it is part of a larger phenomenon – a general weakening and corruption of America’s most important institutions. We have two major political parties. Neither of them has a coherent program or sensible philosophy. Republicans couldn’t agree on Mr. McCarthy because they didn’t know what he stood for…or what they stand for…or whether they were on their feet at all.

We used to rely on Republican (and Democratic) ‘conservatives’ to block the growth of government and hold down spending. But then, in the 21st century, the need disappeared. Why limit spending when money is practically free? The Fed pushed down interest rates so much that Congress could add 500% to federal debt and only increase its debt service payments by 50%.

And so now, Republicans wander aimlessly…with no map…no purpose…no creed…and no plan – which is why they are so easily bamboozled by TV stars like Zelenskyy and Trump. They put on a good show.

And just look at the nation’s politicians. Santos, Biden, McConnell, Pelosi, AOC – they are hacks or frauds…often both. We were not around in the 19th century or the first half of the 20th, but it is hard to believe that the politicos of the period were as dim and dishonest. Those political leaders are the ones most responsible for much of the cluster. Not necessarily for what they did, but what they didn’t do. They didn’t do their jobs. They didn’t protect the public.

5 Major Trends: In addition to the market correction, we see five major trends that come together in a cluster of awful.

1. The continued exploitation of the middle class by the elite, which is why the correction will not be allowed to complete its work.
2. The decline of the American Empire, beginning about 1999.
3. Abandoning the rules, principles and ideas that made the US so successful.
4. A fanatical fear of global warming and a belief that the earth’s climate can be and must be controlled.
5. The unchallenged political power of what Eisenhower called the ‘military, industrial complex.’

Members of Congress could have stopped it. They might, for example, have insisted on balanced budgets. They could have just said ‘no’ to the boondoggles and ‘earmarks’…to war and sanctions abroad…and to runaway claptrap at home. Instead, they not only didn’t balance the budget…they didn’t even pass a budget at all. Instead, they financed the country with ‘continuing resolutions’ and ‘omnibus’ budgets that no human being actually reads.

Fish… Birds.. and Jackasses: With no deficits to finance, the Fed would have had no compelling reason to manipulate interest rates. Federal debt, if left where it was when Bill Clinton moved out of the White House, would be about five and a half trillion, not $31 trillion.

The ‘conservatives’ could have nixed the idea of bailing out Wall Street in 2009…(where would they get the money?)…and opposed lockdowns in the Covid Hysteria of 2020. Instead, the go-along, get-along politicos went along with everything, including Trump’s record $3.1 trillion deficit. This caused the Fed to add nearly $5 trillion in new money to keep up, which is the proximate cause of today’s inflation. (Even China – the world’s top Covid-fighter – eventually realized that détente with the germ was a better policy than active combat.)

But fish gotta swim. Birds gotta fly. And late, degenerate empires gotta get out of the way to make room for the next act. How? In the usual ways – inflation, war, corruption, and delusion, broadly playing out in those 5 trends we listed above. Together, they will destroy the wealth, power and prestige of the United States of America and its citizens. But it will be one heckuva cluster show."

"Major Price Increases At Walmart! Not Good! This Is Ridiculous!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 1/11/23:
"Major Price Increases At Walmart!
 Not Good! This Is Ridiculous!"
"In today's vlog we are at Walmart and are noticing major price increases on groceries! With prices on everyday items continuing to rise all around the country, we are searching for the best prices to save people money! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"
Comments here:

"It Is Our Fate..."

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

"We Are All Alone..."

“We are all alone, born alone, die alone, and – in spite of True Romance magazines – we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way. I do not say lonely – at least, not all the time – but essentially, and finally, alone. This is what makes your self-respect so important, and I don’t see how you can respect yourself if you must look in the hearts and minds of others for your happiness.”
- Hunter S. Thompson

“If your happiness depends on someone else, then you do have a problem.”
- Richard Bach

"Ok, Doomer"

"Ok, Doomer"
by William Schryver

“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
- Seneca

"I have struggled in vain for almost a year now to comprehend the frequently expressed fears of potential defeat from a great many Russian observers of this war – as though they are constantly haunted by a sense that inevitable humiliation is lurking in the shadows just ahead, and they’d best prepare themselves accordingly.

The abundantly manifest facts of the ongoing NATO proxy war against Russia, as I have been able to ascertain them, are that Ukraine has now suffered approximately five hundred thousand irretrievable casualties and virtually the entirety of their original inventories of military hardware – the equivalent of ALL the personnel and equipment (both active and reserves) with which they commenced this conflict.

Their military strength was partially reconstituted over the summer of 2022, infused with the best equipment NATO could spare, but which, in both quantity and quality, is simply no longer capable of being replenished.

In addition to this substantial infusion of NATO armaments, several thousand “sheep-dipped” NATO soldiers appeared on the battlefield, mostly in the form of shock troops and technical specialists to operate and maintain the more complex systems such as M-777 howitzers and HIMARS rocket artillery.

This partially rebuilt army has now been effectively wrecked over the course of the previous four months of futile – arguably suicidal – Ukrainian “offensives” against layered Russian defensive lines. We know this to be true because now the Ukrainian high command is desperately begging the west to provide it with yet a third fully equipped army to throw against Russia’s overwhelming firepower.

Meanwhile, here at the start of 2023, Russian combat strength is, by almost every metric, significantly more potent than it was a year ago. On the other side of the balance, NATO quite literally has nothing meaningful left to deliver except the few remaining crumbs of their obsolete equipment, surplus ammunition, and empty promises of future production, which is highly unlikely to ever materialize.

Western #EmpireEvangelists masquerading as “military analysts” continue to speak in terms of extraordinary Ukrainian military prowess and their stunning string of “victories” over the course of this war. They then passionately entreat western governments to dramatically increase deliveries to Ukraine of the means to launch a final decisive offensive that will drive the (allegedly) militarily eviscerated and abjectly humiliated Russians from the Donbass and Crimea.

Indeed, in their most feverish fantasies, they speak of marching to Moscow itself, effecting regime change by force of arms, and then once and for all dividing Russia into multiple vassal states that can then be submissively incorporated into the rapacious “rules-based international order”. And, incomprehensibly, for the perpetually fatalistic Russian doomer class, it seems as though many of these ludicrous chimeras just might be not-so-detached from the realm of possibility.

Whence cometh this irrepressible Slavic fatalism and the inexplicable inferiority complex that quite often accompanies it?

I am not Russian. I am not fluent in the Russian language. I have never been to Russia. I have never even had a Russian friend or acquaintance. But I have been fascinated with Russia since I was a child, and I am modestly knowledgeable of Russian history, and the high achievements of the Russian people over the course of the past several centuries.

From my distant perspective, Russia is a great nation inhabited by extraordinarily intelligent and capable people – albeit one that has repeatedly permitted itself to be deceived and abused by its western cousins, towards whom it has afforded far too much envy for far too many generations.

In my estimation, we are now witnessing what later historians will characterize as Russia’s “finest hour”. Faced with the prospect of submissively yielding to and embracing the demeaning decadence of declining western civilization, a great many in Russia have instead sought to reestablish the cultural guidance of their ancient Orthodox traditions; to reemphasize the family as the fundamental unit of society; to stand boldly independent of the degrading social trajectory of unmoored western “values”.

More significantly and pertinently, Russia has courageously chosen to “stand alone” against what almost everyone on the planet believed to be the indomitable power of the thoroughly corrupted American Empire. Yes, it can perhaps be argued that, in certain respects, Russia’s first steps in that direction were somewhat halting. But because it was audacious enough to take them, it has now attracted to its cause not only the moral support, but increasingly the substantive support of many other powerful nations who are determined to resist the continuation and exploitative expansion of imperial hegemony in their regions of the globe.

It has been said that, more than a physical contest of arms, war is a moral argument. I believe there is substantial merit to this thought. Vladimir Putin, Sergey Lavrov, Dmitry Medvedev, Sergey Glazyev, Aleksandr Dugin, and many other influential Russians have been engaging in that moral argument for many years now.

But in the context of the ongoing NATO / Russia war in Ukraine, I submit that Russia will prevail primarily because its military might and leadership are manifestly superior; its strength and capabilities are greater now than they were a year ago, and are growing month by month; its understanding of the rapidly evolving realities of 21st century warfare has been greatly educated by the events of the preceding year – and, not to be underestimated, I am convinced it will be supported to an ever-increasing degree by China and Iran, both of whom now clearly understand that their existential fortunes are inextricably bound to Russia’s ultimate triumph in the present contest of arms.

From the perspective of this author and observer of events, and notwithstanding the fatalistic and often fearful inclinations of many who call themselves Russians, Russia simply cannot and will not be defeated in this war. Quite to the contrary, I am convinced it will emerge more self-confident, more self-sufficient, and more globally influential than it has ever been."
o
As for us...dated, but so true.
“We have become a Nazi monster in the eyes of the whole world - a nation of bullies and bastards who would rather kill than live peacefully. We are not just whores for power and oil, but killer whores with hate and fear in our hearts. We are human scum, and that is how history will judge us... No redeeming social value. Just whores. Get out of our way, or we’ll kill you.

Well, shit on that dumbness. George W. Bush does not speak for me or my son or my mother or my friends or the people I respect in this world. We didn’t vote for these cheap, greedy little killers who speak for America today - and we will not vote for them again in 2002. Or 2004. Or ever.

Who does vote for these dishonest shitheads? Who among us can be happy and proud of having all this innocent blood on our hands? Who are these swine? These flag-sucking half-wits who get fleeced and fooled by stupid little rich kids like George Bush?They are the same ones who wanted to have Muhammad Ali locked up for refusing to kill gooks. They speak for all that is cruel and stupid and vicious in the American character. They are the racists and hate mongers among us - they are the Ku Klux Klan. I piss down the throats of these Nazis. And I am too old to worry about whether they like it or not. F*ck them.”
- Hunter S. Thompson

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Judge Napolitano, "Col. Doug Macgregor: Ukraine/Russia Latest"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 1/10/23:
"Col. Doug Macgregor: Ukraine/Russia Latest"
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Douglas Macgregor, 1/10/23: 
"150,000 Dead So Far In Russia-Ukraine War!
Maximum Offensive By Russian Army"
Comments here:
o
"One source claims that 14,500 wars have taken place between 3500 BC and the late 20th century, costing 3.5 billion lives, leaving only 300 years of peace."

And now, God help us, a final, total nuclear war seems unavoidable. There's something terribly wrong in the human DNA, a murderously deranged blood lust causing us to love war so fiercely. God help us, indeed...

"Everything Is Just Fine; Wells Fargo Cutting Home Loans"

Jeremiah Babe, 1/10/23:
"Everything Is Just Fine; 
Wells Fargo Cutting Home Loans"
Comments here:

"20 Signs Our Society Is Rapidly Deteriorating All Around Us"

Full screen recommended.
"20 Signs Our Society Is Rapidly
 Deteriorating All Around Us"
by Epic Economist

"Everything seems to be falling off the tracks lately. The housing market is melting down, but home prices continue to skyrocket. Financial markets are in panic mode. Businesses are shuttering a large number of stores, cutting jobs, and struggling to stay afloat, while the average American is seeing the cost of living rise past their purchasing power, at the same time living conditions continue to worsen for many of us. This is one of the craziest economies of all times, and our entire population is paying a hefty price.

How can our society evolve if more than half of its citizens can’t afford somewhere to live? The December Housing Affordability Survey found that 55% of Americans can’t afford to buy a home at current prices and interest rates. Meanwhile, 62% percent of renters are concerned about their ability to pay rent. In fact, a separate survey conducted by rewards app Piñata, a program that works with renters to build their credit and get cash back for paying their rent, found that 30% of US renters have taken out a loan to help pay rent in the past twelve months, and right now, around 15% of them, or about 8 million people, are late on rent as prices continue to soar. This means that many families are at risk of losing their homes as we enter 2023, and unfortunately, the official forecast is that housing will continue to be expensive throughout the entire year.

At the same time, almost 133 million workers make less than $15 an hour, according to a study by Oxfam America, an anti-poverty advocacy group.“It’s shameful that at a time when many US companies are boasting record profits, some of the hardest working people in this country – especially people who keep our economy and society functioning – are struggling to get by and falling behind,” said Kaitlyn Henderson, the study’s author, and senior research adviser at Oxfam America. It’s been almost a decade that wages fail to keep up with the rate of inflation, and as interest rates continue to soar, we will see our purchasing power getting increasingly lower.

No wonder why the latest Gallup poll showed that the vast majority of Americans predict 2023 will bring more economic difficulties such as higher taxes and rampant inflation. Eight in 10 respondents believe taxes will increase along with the federal deficit, while two-thirds of those polled believe prices will rise and the stock market will continue to tumble. Pessimism also extends to politics and world affairs with 90 percent of respondents anticipating domestic political conflict and 85 percent foreseeing a "troubled year with much international discord."Slightly more than half of the respondents expect higher unemployment as well," states the American consulting company.

In essence, we all can feel that something is really wrong with our country. It definitely doesn't feel like we’re in the right direction. Things are taking a turn for the worst in our society, and the implosion of our economy will only make conditions more difficult for all of us. We are literally careening toward disaster, and it seems like no one is going to come for the rescue. Today, we decided to compile several indicators that show why the fabric of our society is being ripped apart before our eyes, and also why so many absurdities are happening right now."
o
Related:

Gerald Celente,"In God We Trust? What God Supports War?"

Full screen recommended.
Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 1/10/23:
"In God We Trust? What God Supports War?"
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: Liquid Mind, "Moment of Grace, Part 1"

Full screen recommended.
Liquid Mind, "Moment of Grace, Part 1"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"From our vantage point in the Milky Way Galaxy, we see NGC 6946 face-on. The big, beautiful spiral galaxy is located just 20 million light-years away, behind a veil of foreground dust and stars in the high and far-off constellation of Cepheus. From the core outward, the galaxy's colors change from the yellowish light of old stars in the center to young blue star clusters and reddish star forming regions along the loose, fragmented spiral arms.
NGC 6946 is also bright in infrared light and rich in gas and dust, exhibiting a high star birth and death rate. In fact, since the early 20th century at least nine supernovae, the death explosions of massive stars, were discovered in NGC 6946. Nearly 40,000 light-years across, NGC 6946 is also known as the Fireworks Galaxy. This remarkable portrait of NGC 6946 is a composite that includes image data from the 8.2 meter Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea.”

"Our True Friends..."

“Our true friends are those who are with us when the good things happen. They cheer us on and are pleased by our triumphs. False friends only appear at difficult times, with their sad, supportive faces, when, in fact, our suffering is serving to console them for their own miserable lives.”
- Paulo Coelho, "The Zahir"
"Positively 4th Street"

"What Foolish Forgetfulness..."

“You live as if you were destined to live forever, no thought of your frailty ever enters your head, of how much time has already gone by you take no heed. You squander time as if you drew from a full and abundant supply, so all the while that day which you bestow on some person or thing is perhaps your last. You have all the fears of mortals and all the desires of immortals… What foolish forgetfulness of mortality to defer wise resolutions to the fiftieth or sixtieth year, and to intend to begin life at a point to which few have attained.”
- Denis Diderot

Kahlil Gibran, “The Farewell”

“The Farewell”

“Farewell to you and the youth I have spent with you.
It was but yesterday we met in a dream.
You have sung to me in my aloneness,
and I of your longings have built a tower in the sky.
But now our sleep has fled and our dream is over,
and it is no longer dawn.
The noontide is upon us and our half waking has turned to fuller day,
and we must part.
If in the twilight of memory we should meet once more,
we shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song.
And if our hands should meet in another dream
we shall build another tower in the sky.”
- Kahlil Gibran, “The Prophet”
Freely download "The Prophet", by Kahlil Gibran, here:

“Thucydides in the Underworld”

“Master, what gnaws at them so hideously their lamentation stuns the very air?” 
“They have no hope of death,” he answered me…” 
- Dante Alighieri, “The Inferno”

“Thucydides in the Underworld”
by J. R. Nyquist

“The shade of Thucydides, formerly an Athenian general and historian, languished in Hades for 24 centuries; and having intercourse with other spirits, was perturbed by an influx into the underworld of self-described historians professing to admire his History of the Peloponnesian War. They burdened him with their writings, priding themselves on the imitation of his method, tracing the various patterns of human nature in politics and war. He was, they said, the greatest historian; and his approval of their works held the promise that their purgatory was no prologue to oblivion.

As the centuries rolled on, the flow of historians into Hades became a torrent. The later historians were no longer imitators, but most were admirers. It seemed to Thucydides that these were a miserable crowd, unable to discern between the significant and the trivial, being obsessed with tedious doctrines. Unembarrassed by their inward poverty, they ascribed an opposite meaning to things: thinking themselves more “evolved” than the spirits of antiquity. Some even imagined that the universe was creating God. They supposed that the “most evolved” among men would assume God’s office; and further, that they themselves were among the “most evolved.”

Thucydides longed for the peace of his grave, which posthumous fame had deprived him. As with many souls at rest, he took no further interest in history. He had passed through existence and was done. He had seen everything. What was bound to follow, he knew, would be more of the same; but after more than 23 centuries of growing enthusiasm for his work, there occurred a sudden falling off. Of the newly deceased, fewer broke in upon him. Quite clearly, something had happened. He began to realize that the character of man had changed because of the rottenness of modern ideas. Among the worst of these, for Thucydides, was that barbarians and civilized peoples were considered equal; that art could transmit sacrilege; that paper could be money; that sexual and cultural differences were of no account; that meanness was rated noble, and nobility mean.

Awakened from the sleep of death, Thucydides remembered what he had written about his own time. The watchwords then, as now, were “revolution” and “democracy.” There had been upheaval on all sides. “As the result of these revolutions,” he had written, “there was a general deterioration of character throughout the Greek world. The simple way of looking at things, which is so much the mark of a noble nature, was regarded as a ridiculous quality and soon ceased to exist. Society had become divided into two ideologically hostile camps, and each side viewed the other with suspicion.”

Thucydides saw that democracy, once again, imagined itself victorious. Once again traditions were questioned as men became enamored of their own prowess. It was no wonder they were deluded. They landed men on the moon. They had harnessed the power of the atom. It was no wonder that the arrogance of man had grown so monstrous, that expectations of the future were so unrealistic. Deluded by recent successes, they could not see that dangers were multiplying in plain view. Men built new engines of war, capable of wiping out entire cities, but few took this danger seriously. Why were men so determined to build such weapons? The leading country, of course, was willing to put its weapons aside. Other countries pretended to put their weapons aside. Still others said they weren’t building weapons at all, even though they were.

Would the new engines of destruction be used? Would cities and nations be wiped off the face of the earth? Thucydides knew the answer. In his own day, during an interval of unstable peace, the Athenians had exterminated the male population of the island of Melos. Before doing this the Athenian commanders had came to Melos and said, “We on our side will use no fine phrases saying, for example, that we have a right to our empire because we defeated the Persians, or that we have come against you now because of the injuries you have done us – a great mass of words that nobody would believe.” The Athenians demanded the submission of Melos, without regard to right or wrong. As the Athenian representative explained, “the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept.” 

The Melians were shocked by this brazen admission. They could not believe that anyone would dare to destroy them without just cause. In the first place, the Melians threatened no one. In the second place, they imagined that the world would be shocked and would avenge any atrocity committed against them. And so the Melians told the Athenians: “in our view it is useful that you should not destroy a principle that is to the general good of all men – namely, that in the case of all who fall into danger there should be such a thing as fair play and just dealing. And this is a principle which affects you as much as anybody, since your own fall would be visited by the most terrible vengeance and would be an example to the world.”

The Athenians were not moved by the argument of Melos; for they knew that the Spartans generally treated defeated foes with magnanimity. “Even assuming that our empire does come to an end,” the Athenians chuckled, “we are not despondent about what would happen next. One is not so much frightened of being conquered by a power like Sparta.” And so the Athenians destroyed Melos, believing themselves safe – which they were. The Melians refused to submit, praying for the protection of gods and men. But these availed them nothing, neither immediate relief nor future vengeance. The Melians were wiped off the earth. They were not the first or the last to die in this manner.

There was one more trend that Thucydides noted. In every free and prosperous country he found a parade of monsters: human beings with oversized egos, with ambitions out of proportion to their ability, whose ideas rather belied their understanding than affirmed it. Whereas, there was one Alcibiades in his own day, there were now hundreds of the like: self-serving, cunning and profane; only they did not possess the skills, or the mental acuity, or beauty of Alcibiades. Instead of being exiled, they pushed men of good sense from the center of affairs. Instead of being right about strategy and tactics, they were always wrong. And they were weak, he thought, because they had learned to be bad by the example of others. There was nothing novel about them, although they believed themselves to be original in all things.

Thucydides reflected that human beings are subject to certain behavioral patterns. Again and again they repeat the same actions, unable to stop themselves. Society is slowly built up, then wars come and put all to ruin. Those who promise a solution to this are charlatans, only adding to the destruction, because the only solution to man is the eradication of man. In the final analysis the philanthropist and the misanthrope are two sides of the same coin. While man exists he follows his nature. Thucydides taught this truth, and went to his grave. His history was written, as he said, “for all time.” And it is a kind of law of history that the generations most like his own are bound to ignore the significance of what he wrote; for otherwise they would not re-enact the history of Thucydides. But as they become ignorant of his teaching, they fall into disaster spontaneously and without thinking. Seeing that time was short, and realizing that a massive number of new souls would soon be entering the underworld, the shade of Thucydides fell back to rest.”

The Daily "Near You?"

Bucklin, Missouri, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"I Can't Convince Myself..."

“I can’t convince myself that it does much good to try to challenge the everyday political delusions and dementias of Americans at large. Their contained and confined mentalities by far prefer the petty and parochial prisons of the kind of sense they have been trained and rewarded for making out of their lives (and are punished for deviating from them). What it costs them ultimately to be such slaves and infants and ideological zombies is a thought too monstrous and rending and spiky for them even to want to glance at.”
- Kenneth Smith

“If you want to tell people the truth,
 make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.”
- Oscar Wilde

"Quotes for Hard Times"

Full screen recommended.
RedFrost Motivation, "Quotes for Hard Times"
Spoken by Peter Revel Walsh

"Col. Douglas MacGregor: Ukraine Is About to be Reduced to Rubble"

"Col. Douglas MacGregor: 
Ukraine Is About to be Reduced to Rubble"
By Chris Black

"Huge new equipment transfers to Ukraine from NATO is bad news for Russia. Whenever the Russians start gaining momentum, USA hands over another 20 or 30 billion in high tech weapons to bring it back to a stalemate. Even if Western Europe can no longer afford to back Ukraine, US can continue, making a diplomatic solution very difficult. Additionally, the US Federal Reserve is taking policy measures to engineer a worldwide economic collapse by mid to late 2023. Part of the motive for this, in my opinion, is to cause trouble for the Russian economy as it will sharply reduce demand for commodities.

“The Russians have decided there is no way to negotiate an end to this. No one will negotiate in good faith; therefore we must crush the enemy. And that’s what’s coming.” Colonel Douglas MacGregor (9:35 minute)
The war in Ukraine is not going to end in a negotiated settlement. The Russians have already made it clear that they don’t trust the United States, so they’re not going to waste their time in a pointless gabfest. What the Russians are going to do is pursue the only option that is available to them: They are going to obliterate the Ukrainian Army, reduce a large part of the country to rubble, and force the political leadership to comply with their security demands."

Douglas Macgregor, "Ukrainian 600,000 Man Army With One Purpose"

Douglas Macgregor, 
"Ukrainian 600,000 Man Army With One Purpose"
Comments here:

"'We Are Facing The Entire NATO In Ukraine': Kremlin Says, As UK Mulls Battle Tanks"

"'We Are Facing The Entire NATO In Ukraine':
 Kremlin Says, As UK Mulls Battle Tanks"
By Tyler Durden

"Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev has issued ultra-provocative words claiming that it's not fundamentally Ukraine that Russia is at war with, but that the Russian military is facing all of NATO inside Ukraine. "The events in Ukraine aren’t a clash between Moscow and Kiev. It’s a military confrontation of NATO, first of all the US and Britain, with Russia. Fearing a direct engagement, NATO instructors push Ukrainian men to certain death," he said in a fresh interview with state-owned newspaper aif.ru.

Patrushev continued by describing Russia's military as geared toward seeking to "free its regions from occupation and must put an end to the West’s bloody experiment to destroy the fraternal people of Ukraine." "We are not at war with Ukraine because we can’t have hatred for ordinary Ukrainians by default," he stressed. He then presented Russian and Ukrainian heritage and closely bound up together, according to state media:

"Get this: the Ukrainian language is one of the official languages in Crimea. Ukrainian cultural centers, Ukrainian folk song and dance groups continue to exist in many cities. A considerable number of people in the south of the Far East regard Ukrainian culture as their own, given a large proportion of migrants from the times of Stolypin," he said, referring to Pyotr Stolypin, a prime minister of the Russian Empire in the early 1900s, who oversaw a resettlement policy.

"The sooner the people of Ukraine realize that the West is using them to wage a war on Russia, the more lives will be saved," Patrushev added. "Many have realized that long ago, but they are afraid to say that publicly out of fear of reprisals. It’s not a part of the West’s plans to save someone’s life to the detriment of its enrichment and other ambitions. Even so, the Americans, the British and other Europeans often create an illusion that they protect civilization from barbarians."

He then referenced the ongoing Western backed attempts of Kiev to make Russian language and culture illegal, which directly impacts millions in the region: "all this story with Ukraine was engineered by Washington to rehearse the technologies of dividing a people that’s one and sow discord," he said.

Meanwhile, there's a growing move among leading NATO countries to begin transferring Western tanks and troop carriers to the Ukrainian battlefield. Starting last week, France began leading the way, resulting in a fierce response from the Kremlin. But following this warning that a "red line" has been crossed, the Biden administration approved sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and now Britain is the next to be mulling tanks for Ukrainian forces, as Sky News reports Monday: "The UK is considering supplying Ukraine with British tanks for the first time to fight Russia's invading forces, Sky News understands.

Discussions have been taking place "for a few weeks" about delivering a number of the British Army's Challenger 2 main battle tank to the Ukrainian armed forces, a Western source with knowledge of the conversations said. A Ukrainian official was cited in the report as saying that the UK sending tanks would in turn "encourage others to give tanks." President Zelensky during his December in-person address to US Congress mentioned that his country is in dire need of tanks, and he's specifically multiple times asked Washington for M1 Abrams tanks."

The US has still remained reluctant, however, largely on fears that too much heavy weaponry too fast would lead to direct NATO-Russia confrontation, ostensibly at least. But based on the words of Russian Security Council Secretary Patrushev, it seems Russia increasingly sees military confrontation with NATO as already happening. After all, the massive loss of Russian troops in the Makiivka barracks attack was reportedly accomplished with US-supplied HIMARS missile systems."
o
"Time to Get Real About Ukraine"
"The total of such Ukraine aid, including the $1.7 trillion budget boondoggle passed by the U.S. Congress several weeks ago, is now approaching $112 billion."
Full article here:

We're just begging for a nuclear war...

"How It Really Is"

 

"The Fire Sale Has Started"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 1/10/23:
"The Fire Sale Has Started"
"Everything is going on sale. You are seeing assets that were in demand just a few months ago being flipped had a huge discount. We are seeing electronics go on sale as well as recreational items."
Comments here:

"It's the Fed, Stupid!"

"It's the Fed, Stupid!"
Plus, a year of "I told you so's" and plenty more to come...
by Bill Bonner and Joel Bowman

Normandy, France - "Last year was such a hoot we are reluctant to say goodbye to it. It was one ‘I-told-you-so’ moment after another. The Fed raised rates…trying to recover from the embarrassment of failing to see the approaching inflation. The higher rates caused stocks to go down. The biggest losers were those that had just made the biggest gains – especially the big techs and cryptos. It all happened pretty much as it should have happened. See, ‘I told you so.’

People try to complicate it. Disguise it. They aim to distract your attention from what is right before your eyes. They claim ‘capitalism failed’ or ‘corporate greed’ suddenly imposed itself or, for those with no ax to grind, simply that there were ‘supply chain interruptions.’ Here’s the hopeless Robert Reich, former US Labor Secretary, in The Guardian. He says corporate monopolies are to blame:

"Worried about sky-high airline fares and lousy service? That’s largely because airlines have merged from 12 carriers in 1980 to four today. Concerned about drug prices? A handful of drug companies control the pharmaceutical industry. Upset about food costs? Four giants now control over 80% of meat processing, 66% of the pork market, and 54% of the poultry market. Worried about grocery prices? Albertsons bought Safeway and now Kroger is buying Albertsons. Combined, they would control almost 22% of the US grocery market. Add in Walmart, and the three brands would control 70% of the grocery market in 167 cities across the country."

And so on. The evidence of corporate concentration is everywhere. Put the responsibility where it belongs – on big corporations with power to raise their prices.

But Why? You’d think a man at his stage of life might be curious. Yes, there is consolidation. But why? How come Kroger is buying Albertsons? Where does it get the money? Could it have something to do with the Fed’s low interest rates? And how come – now that people can compare prices instantly and order on-line – doesn’t competition keep prices low? Even with only two competitors, isn’t price competition sharper than ever? The questions deserve a fuller treatment. But Mr. Reich is like an old-time labor leader with one enemy: the powerful, greedy, black-hearted capitalist.

As far as we know, businessmen in 1960 were every bit as greedy as those of today. And unless we are mistaken, capitalism itself – that is, the desire to get ahead by trading goods and services with others – has undergone no substantial modification.

The lead characters are still the same. The grasping capitalists. The grumpy business managers. The struggling households. The saintly working stiffs. The earnest feds. All are every bit as avaricious, malign and dumb as they always were. What has changed, substantially, is the setting. US debt in 1960 was $382 billion – and going down against GDP. Now, it’s $31 trillion…and going up. The inflation rate was 1.7%. Today, the numbers are reversed; it’s 7.1%.

That brings us to the most likely real cause of today’s price increases: money. This is where the ‘I told you so’s’ reach some kind of deafening crescendo. For, here at Bonner Private Research, we’ve been warning for many years that the Fed is ruining the economy…and that artificially low interest rates and out-of-control money-printing would produce inflation.

Because… The Fed! Why does it take more money to buy the same things (aka inflation)? Because the Fed added money! The Fed increased its balance sheet 1,200% since 1999. The extra money drove up prices, first where it entered the financial system – on Wall Street. Later, the money made its way into the real economy, where it caused consumer prices to go up at the fastest pace in 40 years. No need to overthink the situation; but a little thinking wouldn’t hurt.

Soaring prices on Wall Street misled investors. They thought there was something about the investments themselves that made them more valuable. And they saw no reason why the trend wouldn’t continue forever. Fortune.com reports: "Billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper said in June 2021 that Bitcoin would hit $250,000 by the end of 2022

ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood …. In November 2020, she told Barron’s that institutional adoption of crypto would drive Bitcoin’s price to $500,000 by 2026 and repeatedly “bought the dip” whenever Bitcoin prices fell. Wood even told The Globe and Mail in a February 2020 interview that Bitcoin was “one of the largest positions” in her retirement account.

Tom Lee, head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors…spent over 25 years on Wall Street…in early 2022, he predicted that Bitcoin would hit $200,000 in the coming years. Bitcoin ended up finishing 2022 just above $16,500…

Snakes in the Grass: Investment banks were way off too. They thought the S&P 500 would end 2022 at 4,825 – a gain for the year. Instead, it went down almost 20%. Many analysts were particularly keen on Carvana, which seemed to have found a sweet spot in auto retailing. Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas said he expected the stock to go to $430 by the end of the year. But by New Year 2023, you could buy a share for just $4.48 – a 98% discount.

Coinbase was another one that the pros got very wrong. Jim Cramer said he liked “Coinbase to $475.” The average price target for the stock was $400 per share. Today, Coinbase is quoted at $33.

As we saw last week, real wealth is based on time and stuff. Both are limited. So, when the dog reaches the end of this chain, he goes no further. Also last week, our investment director, Tom Dyson, examined the chain itself. He noted the ‘hook’ at the end, where money supply (the Fed’s balance sheet) topped out…and began going down. It’s the “most frightening chart in finance,” says Tom. Because it shows that – for now – the Fed’s inflation has turned into the Fed’s deflation. M2 – a broad measure of the money supply – began to hook over and trend down in the summer of 2020. Asset prices followed. Yes, dear reader, we’ve found the snake. Need we keep looking in the grass?"

Joel’s Note: Here’s that chart Tom shared in his research note with BPR members last week, in case you missed it…
Click image for larger size.
As you can see, it’s the first time in some 60 years we’ve seen any “significant” contraction in the M2. (Quick refresher: M2 is the Federal Reserve's estimate of the total money supply. That includes all of the cash people have on hand plus all of the money deposited in checking accounts, savings accounts, and other short-term saving vehicles such as certificates of deposit.)

Think of the flow of money like the ocean tide… when the tide comes in, asset prices - both financial and consumer - tend, on average, to float higher. When the tide goes out, as Warren Buffett likes to say, you get to see who’s been swimming naked. (It also, if we might add, underscores the importance of shorts… a subject for another day.)

In his classic work, "Human Action," Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises outlined what he saw as the 5 fundamental, unavoidable truths of expansionary monetary policy. They’re perhaps worth bearing in mind when considering the Fed’s current, self-inflicted predicament. To quote Mises: "Economics recommends neither inflationary nor deflationary policy. It does not urge the governments to tamper with the market’s choice of a medium of exchange. It establishes only the following truths:

By committing itself to an inflationary or deflationary policy a government does not promote the public welfare, the commonweal, or the interests of the whole nation. It merely favors one or several groups of the population at the expense of other groups.

It is impossible to know in advance which group will be favored by a definite inflationary or deflationary measure and to what extent. These effects depend on the whole complex of the market data involved. They also depend largely on the speed of the inflationary or deflationary movements and may be completely reversed with the progress of these movements.

At any rate, a monetary expansion results in misinvestment of capital and overconsumption. It leaves the nation as a whole poorer, not richer. Continued inflation must finally end in the crack-up boom, the complete breakdown of the currency system. Deflationary policy is costly for the treasury and unpopular with the masses. But inflationary policy is a boon for the treasury and very popular with the ignorant. Practically, the danger of deflation is but slight and the danger of inflation tremendous."

We’ve seen the years of mis- or malinvestments and overconsumption spurred by loose, expansionary monetary policy. Decades of easy money funded the final crack-up boom of recent years, where prices floated ever higher on a tide of the Fed’s printing press fiat. No doubt this was popular with the masses, who saw the “value” of their investments soar. The equal and opposite forces that await may not be so pleasant. Free tip: Keep a pair of shorts handy."

Gregory Mannarino, "Fail Safe: Major Banks Seek New Lifeline From The FED"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 1/10/23:
"Fail Safe: Major Banks Seek New Lifeline From The FED"
Comments here:

"Stocking Up At Meijer! Be Prepared! What's Coming?"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 1/10/23:
"Stocking Up At Meijer! Be Prepared! What's Coming?"
"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:

Monday, January 9, 2023

"This is About to Get Real Interesting..."

Canadian Prepper, 1/9/23:
"This is About to Get Real Interesting..."
"A major crisis is right around the corner."
Comments here:

"You're Crazy To But A House Now; Credit Card Addiction; Used Cars Pile Up"

Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, 1/9/23:
"You're Crazy To But A House Now; 
Credit Card Addiction; Used Cars Pile Up"
Comments here:

"Amazon Layoffs Are 50 Percent Higher As Retail Apocalypse Intensify"

Full screen recommended.
"Amazon Layoffs Are 50 Percent Higher 
As Retail Apocalypse Intensify"
by Epic Economist

"When even the biggest online retailer in the world starts the year by cutting tens of thousands of jobs due to a rapidly deteriorating economic environment, then you know that the outlook for 2023 is a whole lot uglier than we could’ve imagined. In fact, Amazon's CEO just announced that incoming layoffs will be nearly 50 percent higher than previously estimated as the company grapples with slower growth, declining sales, plummeting profits, and a grim stock market performance. Fears of a severe downturn are stirring the e-commerce giant to aggressively cut costs in preparation for even tougher circumstances for businesses in the months ahead. Consumers are seeing their purchasing power evaporate while interest rates rise and unemployment rates start to climb once again. What we’re about to face next may come as a shock for many Americans.

Amazon’s new CEO, Andy Jassy, who took over the role in July 2021, is in an aggressive cost-cutting mode as the company confronts the compounding effects of four quarters of disappointing results, slumping sales across the board, and a gloomy economic landscape for 2023. On Wednesday, the executive announced that Amazon is cutting over 18,000 jobs, almost 50% higher than its December projection that around 10,000 positions would be slashed. The looming job cuts represent the single largest number of layoffs announced by an online retailer since the industry began aggressively downsizing last year.

The current trend of belt-tightening has raised questions amongst investors about whether the financial problems faced by the online retailer in the past few quarters will persist as the recession accelerates. In the fourth quarter, Amazon disappointed Wall Street with a holiday season forecast that woefully missed analysts’ expectations. The company’s stock fell about 20% after releasing its earnings outlook. And its stock closed the year 50% lower than at the beginning of 2022.

Analysts say Amazon is on pace for its worst year since 2008 when it dropped 55%. The only other year that was worse was during the dot-com crash of 2000 when the company lost 80% of its value. And many big companies are also having to implement sobering cost-reducing measures to brace for the challenges that are right at our door. In recent weeks, a number of CEOs have been admitting that they failed to accurately access consumer demand, and now they’re watching their rosy projections turn darker and darker. Even Goldman Sachs revealed plans to layoff up to 8% of its staff in the first half of January, a person familiar with the matter told Insider in December. "We continue to see headwinds on our expense lines, particularly in the near term," Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said at a conference last month. Morgan Stanley and Citi Bank are also planning to cut roles this year.

According to data cited by the Wall Street Journal from Layoffs.FYI, a site that's been tracking layoffs since the start of the pandemic, tech companies alone slashed more than 150,000 in 2022 — compared to 80,000 in 2020 and 15,000 in 2021. And the latest job cuts report from employment firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed overall, layoff announcements surged a whopping 649% from 2021 levels, and they are likely to climb even higher in the months ahead. 2023 is set to be a “hungover” year after the pandemic downturn, and the past couple of years of inflation growth. Sooner or later, six-digit layoffs will start being reported. Unfortunately, these job cuts mean that our population will suffer immensely for yet another year."
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: Yanni, "World Dance"

Full screen recommended.
Yanni, "World Dance"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“The Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) is one of the best known planetary nebulae in the sky. Its more familiar outlines are seen in the brighter central region of the nebula in this impressive wide-angle view. But the composite image combines many short and long exposures to also reveal an extremely faint outer halo. At an estimated distance of 3,000 light-years, the faint outer halo is over 5 light-years across. 

Planetary nebulae have long been appreciated as a final phase in the life of a sun-like star. More recently, some planetary nebulae are found to have halos like this one, likely formed of material shrugged off during earlier episodes in the star's evolution. While the planetary nebula phase is thought to last for around 10,000 years, astronomers estimate the age of the outer filamentary portions of this halo to be 50,000 to 90,000 years. Visible on the left, some 50 million light-years beyond the watchful planetary nebula, lies spiral galaxy NGC 6552.”