"The Countdown to Calamity Begins"

"The Countdown to Calamity Begins"

By Brian Maher

"Today we bear grim news: Uncle Samuel has rammed his whelky head against the “debt ceiling” — the debt ceiling set presently to $31.4 trillion. Unless Congress votes to haul the jacks out of storage… and elevate the ceiling once more… the United States government can issue no additional debt… and risks default as its cupboards run bare. Come the evil day when the china is at last depleted…

Every manner of calamity would ensue. Chaos and Old Night? Here you would have them and then some. The federal government would slam its door on the noses of the American people. They would be forced upon very lean rations and thrown into severe desperation. Meantime, the federal government’s creditors would go scratching as it defaults on its debt. Economic woe would spread and spread in ever-widening circles — even to the world beyond.

Run for the Hills! Reports CNN, its breath bated, its voice cracking, its hands quaking: "The U.S. hit the debt ceiling set by Congress on Thursday, forcing the Treasury Department to start taking extraordinary measures to keep the government paying its bills and escalating pressure on Capitol Hill to avoid a catastrophic default… fears are growing that the partisan brinksmanship could result in the nation defaulting on its debt for the first time ever…

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Thursday, informing him that the nation’s outstanding debt is at its statutory limit of $31.4 trillion and that the agency will implement extraordinary measures so it doesn’t default on its debt, which would have enormous consequences on the U.S. economy, global financial stability and many Americans. She said the measures would last through June 5. That is, Ms. Yellen estimates she maintains the wherewithal to keep the government apparatus in funds through June 5, approximately.

“Extraordinary Measures" This she will accomplish through the application of “extraordinary measures." Of what will these consist? CNN: "As part of the debt issuance suspension period, the agency will begin to sell existing investments and suspending reinvestments of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund. Also, it will suspend the reinvestment of a government securities fund of the Federal Employees Retirement System Thrift Savings Plan."

How the nation can endure such privations as these, we do not know. Yet we must discover ways to gutter along as we can. Our hearts are particularly with the civil servants, postal servants and federal employees who will absorb the heaviest blows. They suffer mightily as is. Simply ask them — and they will tell you. Now reinvestment into their health and retirement funds are being suspended to meet higher obligations? Yet we cringe most for our nation’s reputation. And its dignity.

The “Full Faith and Credit of the United States” Is at Stake The world’s greatest power simply cannot be permitted to careen into default. As Ms. Yellen pleaded in a letter to Congress: "I respectfully urge Congress to act promptly to protect the full faith and credit of the United States."

As well act to protect the virtue of a streetwalker. Here is the Treasury secretary’s argument, stripped to its core: So what if Congress has demonstrated a limitless inability to balance the ledgers? So what if Congress cannot rein itself in — and limit spending to the proceeds of honest taxation? So what, so what? We are simply told the show must continue. We must elevate the debt ceiling this year. And if need be, next year, the year after that, the year after that one, world without end. We must defend our virtue — even at the very price of our soul.

The Bad Guy Is the Good Guy, and Vice Versa If you attempt to impose a halt on the business? You are a reckless and irresponsible hellcat willing to risk the full faith and credit of the United States — such as it is. That is, the grand villains of this tale are not the spenders who bust through debt ceilings and plunge the nation deeper into debt. It is instead the prudent and fiscally responsible fellow. It is the concerned caretaker of the nation’s finances. It is the honest and earnest man after a sound and sustainable accounting.

This is our national fee-fi-fo-fum. He must be locked in a cage. Else he risks the full faith and credit of the United States. He will plunge us into the unfathomable abysses of default. “Wrong!” shrieks our former colleague David Stockman.

They’re Crying Wolf The calamity-howlers are hawking a false tale, argues David. Failure to elevate the debt ceiling does not equal default. Do not forget, the federal government hauls in loads of tax money each month. It can meet its debt obligations with these monies. It may endure something of a squeeze, yes. But it will not fall into default. Here David pounds his table with two tightly clenched fists:

"Failure to raise the debt ceiling absolutely does not mean default. In the most recent month, Uncle Sam took in about $252 billion of receipts, or 5.4 times the $47 billion monthly cost of net debt service. The great beltway lie is that the president is powerless to make these interest payments from available receipts. In fact, rather than prioritizing other spending and allocating the remaining revenues to those priorities, it’s claimed the president must sit on his hands, making default unavoidable and instantaneous. That’s a damn lie!" A “damned lie,” David calls it.

What Crisis? Here David radios in support from Mr. Mick Mulvaney. Like David before him, Mr. Mulvaney is a former congressman who also commanded the Office of Management and Budget. This is what this fellow said about the October 2013 debt ceiling “crisis”: "We’re not going to default; there is no default. There’s an [Office of Management and Budget] directive from the 1980s, the last time we got fairly close to not raising the debt ceiling, that clearly lays out the process by which the Treasury secretary prioritizes interest payments."

Are you not convinced? Here David conscripts into his cause the very “dean of liberal constitutional experts,” Harvard Law School’s Laurence Tribe: Several weeks prior to the great August 2011 debt crisis professor Tribe declared as follows: "What is the government to do if… it does not have enough money to make all of the expenditures that Congress has required by law? The answer, I think, is that it must prioritize expenditures: some payments simply have to be postponed until the Treasury has enough money to make them." “There you have it,” David adds — “simple as pie.”

Easier Said Than Done Simple as pie, yes — in theory. Yet in practice? Harder than Damascus steel. How many congressmen will agree to scissor the credit card upon which their political career depends? The question is the answer. As David argues with great precision: "The Imperial City fears these words more than Dracula feared a glittering crucifix."

Wicked Congress: Yet we are extremely confident that Imperial City will emerge victorious. Certain House Republicans will raise a rumpus. They will do a lot of shouting against elevating the debt limit. Yet they will be cried down. The debt ceiling will be elevated — certainly by June 5. Depend on it. And so the soda can will go kicking down the road… once again. If wrong, we will devour these very words, without salt. Yet we depart with a biblical injunction against profligacy, for we fear divine retribution. It is our sincere wish that Congress take it aboard — though we are certain it will not: “The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again.”

- dailyreckoning.com

"Mental Health Crisis Spreading Across America As People Are In Deep, Deep Trouble"

Full screen recommended.

"Mental Health Crisis Spreading Across America 

As People Are In Deep, Deep Trouble"

by Epic Economist

"It’s no secret that the past few years have had a devastating effect on people’s mental health. But what America is facing today is an unprecedented mental health crisis that is affecting large swathes of our population, including our children. For many, the pandemic was the trigger. Others have seen their finances being turned upside down by recent stock market volatility. Millions have lost their jobs, and current economic problems have only added to the pressure. Meanwhile, young Americans have been mentally struggling at rates we have never seen before, and social media is a big contributor to that.

The Kaiser Family Foundation just published a new study in partnership with CNN which found that the vast majority of people in the country think the U.S. is experiencing a severe mental health crisis. Nine out of ten adults, or 90%, said that mental health issues in the U.S. are at crisis levels rather than being merely a problem, with high rates of mental health issues and mental illnesses being reported among children, teenagers, and adults, the study highlights.

One of the main causes of mental distress in children and teenagers is their prolonged exposure to social media. At this point, over 1 in 10 young Americans are experiencing depression that is severely impairing their ability to function at school or work, at home, with family, or in their social life, the research highlights. The problem is reaching such alarming proportions that last year, Seattle’s public schools' district has filed a lawsuit against multiple major social media companies, accusing them of harming young people’s mental health. The lawsuit accused the social media companies behind TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat of creating a “mental health crisis among America’s youth”.

Meanwhile, the CNN and KFF poll also revealed that over 53 million adults say they are currently dealing with a severe mental health issue, with about half of them reporting that their family members suffer from similar problems as well. And although we’re talking about mental health more than at any other period in history, getting psychological and psychiatric care can be difficult and still be a stigma in many communities. Only 20% of those who reported experiencing anxiety and depression in the past year have sought medical care and treatment. The study detailed that most Americans see those issues as significant problems. A majority, 55%, say it’s a big problem that there aren’t enough mental health care providers, about 75% say that insurers not covering mental health the way they do physical health is a significant concern, and 80% say the same about the cost of mental health care.

With all that said, there’s no wonder why this epidemic is only getting worse year after year. Americans of all ages have been coping with increased pressure and a faster way of living. The fact that medical assistance is inaccessible for millions of people that truly need it only aggravates people’s personal mental health issues and makes illnesses persist for longer than they would if patients were getting proper treatment.

Hopelessness and despair continue to sweep through our society, but healing is still possible. If you’re struggling and feeling overwhelmed by painful and unbearable thoughts, know you don’t have to manage them alone. There are online therapy options and trained counselors that can help you get through this. Even when times are tough, there's still hope, and together, we are stronger indeed."

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Musical Interlude: Deuter, "Music of the Night: East of The Full Moon"

Full screen recommended.

Deuter, 

"Music of the Night: East of The Full Moon"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Large galaxies and faint nebulae highlight this deep image of the M81 Group of galaxies. First and foremost in the wide-angle 12-hour exposure is the grand design spiral galaxy M81, the largest galaxy visible in the image. M81 is gravitationally interacting with M82 just below it, a big galaxy with an unusual halo of filamentary red-glowing gas. 

Around the image many other galaxies from the M81 Group of galaxies can be seen. Together with other galaxy congregates including our Local Group of galaxies and the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, the M81 Group is part of the expansive Virgo Supercluster of Galaxies. This whole galaxy menagerie is seen through the faint glow of an Integrated Flux Nebula, a little studied complex of diffuse gas and dust clouds in our Milky Way Galaxy."

- http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080512.html

Chet Raymo, “A Few Words Inspired By The Tomato Plant”

“A Few Words Inspired By The Tomato Plant”
by Chet Raymo

"Mostly we think of life in terms of individuals - this person, this tomato plant, this frog, this oak tree, this gnat. And we talk about birth and death as the beginning and ending of life. But there is another sense in which life is just one thing, whose beginning is lost in the depths of time and whose end is not in sight. Life in this sense embodies itself in matter, temporarily, as a tomato or a frog, puts on matter and puts off matter as we might don or doff clothes. By this account, I am an ephemeral conglomeration of atoms that life is using to perpetuate itself.

But what is this thing called life? It cannot exist except as embodied form, but it maintains a continuity independent of any particular embodiment. It is a strange enduring wave that stirs the material world into purposeful and directed avenues. With Johannes Kepler we might call it the facultas formatrix of nature, the formative faculty, but giving something a name doesn't explain it. Whatever life is - in the unitary, enduring sense - it would be surprising if it only existed here on Earth. If I were a betting man I would bet that life is as pervasive as matter itself, or energy. Matter, energy and complexification. We have lots left to learn.

But let's be cautious. There are lots of folks out there with half-baked biocentric theories of the universe. Someone once chided the philosopher W. V. O. Quine with a quote from Shakespeare: “There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” To which Quine is said to have responded: “Possibly, but my concern is that there not be more things in my philosophy than are in heaven and earth.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

Read Online: Gregory David Roberts ,“Shantaram”

"Sometimes we love with nothing more than hope.

Sometimes we cry with everything except tears.

In the end that’s all we have – to hold on tight until dawn.”

“For this is what we do. Put one foot forward and then the other. Lift our eyes to the snarl and smile of the world once more. Think. Act. Feel. Add our little consequence to the tides of good and evil that flood and drain the world. Drag our shadowed crosses into the hope of another night. Push our brave hearts into the promise of a new day. With love: the passionate search for truth other than our own. With longing: the pure, ineffable yearning to be saved. For so long as fate keeps waiting, we live on. God help us. God forgive us. We live on.”

- Gregory David Roberts, “Shantaram”

o

“Shantaram”

by Gregory David Roberts

“Crime and punishment, passion and loyalty, betrayal and redemption are only a few of the ingredients in “Shantaram,” a massive, over-the-top, mostly autobiographical novel. Shantaram is the name given Mr. Lindsay, or Linbaba, the larger-than-life hero. It means “man of God’s peace,” which is what the Indian people know of Lin. What they do not know is that prior to his arrival in Bombay he escaped from an Australian prison where he had begun serving a 19-year sentence. He served two years and leaped over the wall. He was imprisoned for a string of armed robberies performed to support his heroin addiction, which started when his marriage fell apart and he lost custody of his daughter. All of that is enough for several lifetimes, but for Greg Roberts, that’s only the beginning.

He arrives in Bombay with little money, an assumed name, false papers, an untellable past, and no plans for the future. Fortunately, he meets Prabaker right away, a sweet, smiling man who is a street guide. He takes to Lin immediately, eventually introducing him to his home village, where they end up living for six months. When they return to Bombay, they take up residence in a sprawling illegal slum of 25,000 people and Linbaba becomes the resident “doctor.” With a prison knowledge of first aid and whatever medicines he can cadge from doing trades with the local Mafia, he sets up a practice and is regarded as heaven-sent by these poor people who have nothing but illness, rat bites, dysentery, and anemia. He also meets Karla, an enigmatic Swiss-American woman, with whom he falls in love. Theirs is a complicated relationship, and Karla’s connections are murky from the outset.

Roberts is not reluctant to wax poetic; in fact, some of his prose is downright embarrassing. Throughout the novel, however, all 944 pages of it, every single sentence rings true. He is a tough guy with a tender heart, one capable of what is judged criminal behavior, but a basically decent, intelligent man who would never intentionally hurt anyone, especially anyone he knew. He is a magnet for trouble, a soldier of fortune, a picaresque hero: the rascal who lives by his wits in a corrupt society. His story is irresistible. Stay tuned for the prequel and the sequel.”

– Valerie Ryan

Freely read “Shantaram” online, by Gregory David Roberts, here:

- https://www.readanybook.com/online/565858

There is a download option for registered users.

The Poet: David Whyte, ”Sweet Darkness”

”Sweet Darkness”

“When your eyes are tired the world is tired also.

When your vision has gone no part of the world can find you.

Time to go into the dark where the night has eyes

to recognize its own.

There you can be sure you are not beyond love.

The dark will be your womb tonight.

The night will give you a horizon

further than you can see.

You must learn one thing:

the world was made to be free in.

Give up all the other worlds

except the one to which you belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of your aloneness

to learn anything or anyone that does not bring you alive

is too small for you.”

- David Whyte,

“House of Belonging”

"It May Be Necessary..."

"You may encounter many defeats, but you must 

not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to

 encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, 

what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it."

- Maya Angelou

The Daily "Near You?"

Miami, Florida, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Problems?"

Problems? "Dig you way out," they said...

"They Are Saying..."

"When people pile up debts they will find difficult and perhaps even impossible to repay, they are saying several things at once. They are obviously saying that they want more than they can immediately afford. They are saying, less obviously, that their present wants are so important that, to satisfy them, it is worth some future difficulty. But in making that bargain they are implying that when the future difficulty arrives, they’ll figure it out. They don’t always do that.”

– Michael Lewis, “Boomerang”

Bill Bonner, "Cradle to Grave"

"Cradle to Grave"

Bankrupt governments, 

rotten social contracts and deadbeat currencies...

by Bill Bonner

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.” ~ Charles Dickens, from ‘David Copperfield’

Normandy, France - "All the trains into Paris are canceled. Why? Is it because the western model of democratic socialism is going broke? Because it has allowed its expenses to exceed its income year after year? Is the bankruptcy of the welfare state among the ‘cluster’ of disasters headed our way?

Here’s the story from CNN: "France faces widespread protests and 'hellish Thursday' as anger at pension reform mounts French workers are set to take to the streets Thursday to protest radical reforms to the country’s pension system that, if implemented, will require most people in France to work two years longer before retirement.

Eight of France’s largest unions - covering transportation, education, police, executives and public sectors - called for Thursday to be the “first day of strikes and protests” against the proposed pensions reform. Widespread strikes are expected, and it may be “a hellish Thursday” on public transport networks, Transport Minister Clement Beaune warned French broadcaster France 2 Tuesday. Paris’ transport authority predicts “very disrupted” service on the city’s transport network."

We’re happy to stay where we are, about two hours west of Paris, in an old farmhouse. Outside, it is raining, snowing, sleeting – a typical winter in Normandy. But inside, in front of the open fire, ‘the weather outside is frightful…and the fire is so delightful.’ (Tomorrow, we’ll explain what brings us here.)

Public Disservice: Meanwhile, the French are on strike. Teachers. Air traffic controllers. Police. Many ‘public sector’ employees…that is, the people paid to provide services to the public…are not doing what they are paid to do.

To put this in perspective… Otto von Bismarck invented the model welfare state for Prussia in the late 19th century. What a clever fellow. He launched three short and successful wars, against Austria, Denmark and France. He realized that the masses could be rallied behind the flag in wartime.

But most of Ol’ Blood and Iron Bismarck’s efforts were spent on diplomacy, trying to preserve peace. And in peacetime, ‘the people’ had less need for government. If war was the health of the state, as Randolph Bourne suggested, peace must be its sickness. Bismarck’s medicine is described by Kees van Kersbergen and Barbara Vis as follows: “…granting social rights to enhance the integration of a hierarchical society, to forge a bond between workers and the state so as to strengthen the latter…”

In Sickness and Health: The state was strengthened because its new mission allowed the government elite to take more of the nation’s GDP by promising to provide social services in return. It also unified the people behind the government, in one, shared insurance program, giving citizens a stake in the system itself. They began to see ‘the government’ not just as a nuisance, but as a source of security and wealth. After all, it was the government that would support them in their old age. Today, at least 60% of the French and 50% of Americans receive ‘money’ from their governments.

The trouble with this scheme is mathematical. The feds can only give what they take. Logically, the money to pay for pensions still has to come from the people who get the money. And practically, government is a very poor manager of retirement funds. It wastes much of its revenues (especially in America, where the ‘defense’ budget dwarfs other spending). And much of it is siphoned off to the deciders themselves. So, the actual return on investment for the typical pensioner is low.

This defect was delayed and disguised for more than a century, thanks to the extraordinary growth of the fossil-fueled economy…and the big increase in population. As society became richer, with more people to support the government, the feds were able to pay retirees more than they deserved. So, retirees began to expect more. Politicians raised payouts. The costs crept higher…as revenues lagged behind.

Replacement Value: Every white shoe yearns for mud. And every public policy aims for failure. Today, almost everywhere, public pension programs are under-funded. Almost all the world’s governments are deep in debt. GDP growth rates have slowed to a crawl. Productivity – under the weight of so much social welfare regulation – is failing. And populations are peaking out.

In Europe, the fertility rate – the number of children per woman – was 3 in 1950; now, it’s 1.6, well below replacement level. In America, too, women are not having enough children to maintain the current population level or its Social Security system. Overall, the fertility rate is 1.7. For white women, it is about the same as Europe, at 1.6. That is why the elites tend to favor immigration; it helps keep the Social Security systems solvent.

The French are trying to ease the strain by raising the retirement age (along with other measures.) But those moves merely make Bismarck’s ‘social contract’ less attractive. And now the young Frenchman, who expects to be taken care of, cradle to grave, is wondering how it is going to work out. How can a bankrupt government…heavy with debt and legacy obligations, and managed by a large class of incompetent, over-paid, over-powerful deciders…make good on its promises?

Won’t it have to ‘inflate’ some of them away? Won’t its central banks and central governments have to back away from their ‘tightening’ policies? And won’t that be a death sentence to their currencies and their fixed-rate bonds? Yes."

- bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com

"Strange Prices At Kroger! This Is Ridiculous! What's Next!?"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures with Danno, 1/19/23:

"Strange Prices At Kroger! This Is Ridiculous! What's Next!?"

"In today's vlog we are at Kroger, and are noticing some very strange price increases on groceries! We are here to check out skyrocketing prices, and the empty shelves situation! It's getting rough out here as stores continue to struggle with getting products!"

Comments here:

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"This Can Go One of Two Ways"

Full screen recommended

Dan, iAllegedly 1/19/23:

"This Can Go One of Two Ways"

"Everything in the economy points to major problems in the near future. We are being told one thing and then something else happens. Real estate is a big problem that’s only going to escalate and get worse. Interest rates are not going down, they're going up."

Comments here:

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"How It Really Will Be"

 

"Massive Russian Offensives Are Annihilating Ukraine"

Full screen recommended.

Straight Calls with Douglas Macgregor, 1/19/23:

"Massive Russian Offensives Are Annihilating Ukraine"

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

Comments here:

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"Documentary of the Dangerous Streets of Kensington, Philadelphia"

Full screen recommended.

Kensington Daily, 1/18/23:

"Documentary of the Dangerous Streets 

of Kensington, Philadelphia"

Comments here:

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"WW3 Starts This Friday"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 1/18/23:

"WW3 Starts This Friday"

"Top US Military General meets Ukrainian command for first time on border, 32 defense chiefs meet Friday to plan conflict with Russia, WEF meeting was primer."

Comments here:

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"We Are Witnessing An Enormous Wave Of Bankruptcies And Layoffs During The Early Stages Of 2023"

"We Are Witnessing An Enormous Wave Of

Bankruptcies And Layoffs During The Early Stages Of 2023"

 by Michael Snyder

"Is your job safe? Right now, we are witnessing so much turmoil is so many different sectors of our economy. The housing market is crashing, the cryptocurrency industry has imploded, the tech industry is laying off workers at an extremely frightening pace, and some of our most important retailers are heading into bankruptcy. The information that I am about to share with you is deeply troubling. It has become exceedingly clear that our economy is in huge trouble, and I fully expect that our problems will accelerate even more as the year rolls along.

Let me start by pointing out what is currently happening at Microsoft. It is one of the wealthiest companies in the entire world, but due to a shift in “macroeconomic conditions” executives have decided that it has become necessary to lay off 10,000 workers…"Microsoft announced thousands of job cuts this week, becoming the latest tech company to pluck its workforce as the global economy slows. The software company confirmed Wednesday its reducing workforce by 10,000 people through the end of the third quarter of the 2023 fiscal year. The cuts come “in response to macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities,” the company’s CEO Satya Nadella released in a statement to its employees Wednesday."

If even Microsoft is laying off thousands of workers, is any job in the private sector truly safe? Meanwhile, some of the biggest names in the retail industry are plunging into bankruptcy now that the holiday season is over. On Tuesday, it was Party City’s turn…"Party City filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday, weighed down by competition and years of financial losses. The largest party goods and Halloween specialty retail chain in the United States said in a regulatory filing that it reached an agreement with debtholders to cut its $1.7 billion debt load."

Even more alarming is the fact that it is being reported that a bankruptcy filing for Bed Bath & Beyond has become “likely”…"Bed Bath & Beyond has been in discussions with prospective buyers and lenders as it works to keep its business afloat during a likely bankruptcy filing, according to people familiar with the matter. The retailer is in the midst a sale process in hopes of finding a buyer that would keep the doors open for both of its major chains, its namesake banner and Buybuy Baby, said the people, who weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly."

So many brick and mortar retailers are really struggling right now, and many of them are blaming competition from Internet retailers such as Amazon. But if Amazon is doing so well, why did they start laying off approximately 18,000 workers on Wednesday?…"Earlier this month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees in a blog post that the company was laying off about 18,000 people as it seeks to cut costs and would begin contacting impacted employees on Jan. 18. “Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so,” Jassy said in the Jan. 4 post. “These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure.”

The wave of layoffs that we have been witnessing in the tech industry is truly unprecedented. Prior to this week, more than 25,000 tech industry workers had already been laid off this year, and this comes on the heels of the massive layoffs that we saw last year…"According to the data tracking website, more than 101 tech companies around the world have laid off 25,436 employees so far in 2023. Most of the layoffs have taken place in the United States, accounting for 22,400 employees fired. The number of workers being laid off from tech companies is a trend that is continuing since 2022, when 154,336 workers were fired from over 1,000 tech companies around the world, according to the data."

But at least the tech industry is in far better shape than the cryptocurrency industry is. Let me share four major announcements that have all happened within the past 10 days…

#1 It is being reported that Genesis Global Capital “is laying the groundwork for a bankruptcy filing”…"Genesis Global Capital is laying the groundwork for a bankruptcy filing as soon as this week, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The cryptocurrency lending unit of Digital Currency Group has been in confidential negotiations with various creditor groups amid a liquidity crunch. It has warned that it may need to file for bankruptcy if it fails to raise cash, Bloomberg previously reported."

#2 Crypto.com announced that it will be laying off “20% of its workforce”…"Crypto.com announced plans to lay off 20% of its workforce Jan. 13. The company had 2,450 employees, according to PitchBook data, suggesting around 490 employees were laid off. CEO Kris Marszalek said in a blog post that the crypto exchange grew “ambitiously” but was unable to weather the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire FTX without the further cuts."

#3 Coinbase has decided “to cut about a fifth of its workforce”…"On Jan. 10, Coinbase announced plans to cut about a fifth of its workforce as it looks to preserve cash during the crypto market downturn. The exchange plans to cut 950 jobs, according to a blog post. Coinbase, which had roughly 4,700 employees as of the end of September, had already slashed 18% of its workforce in June saying it needed to manage costs after growing “too quickly” during the bull market.

#4 The founder of cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato has actually been arrested. Apparently he was laundering money on a scale of epic proportions…"The founder of the Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato was arrested early Wednesday in Miami in connection with a vast money laundering operation, accused of transmitting more than $700 million in illicit funds in the past four years. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Anatoly Legkodymov, 40, a Russian national, oversaw a major “high-tech financial hub that catered to known crooks,” including cybercriminals and drug dealers seeking to process dirty money."

The cryptocurrency industry will never look the same again after all of this turmoil.

On top of everything else, the Saudis appear to be poised to make a major move that could literally change everything. At the yearly gathering of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Saudi finance minister decided to drop a bombshell…"Saudi Arabia is open to discussions about trade in currencies other than the US dollar, according to the kingdom’s finance minister."

Needless to say, this could potentially completely undermine the dominance of the petrodollar. Of course we cannot afford to have that happen, because the dominance of the dollar is one of the only things that is keeping our system afloat. At this point just about everything is moving in the wrong direction for the U.S. economy, but most people still do not understand the bigger picture. A lot of the “experts” assume that we will just suffer through a temporary recession and then things will eventually return to normal. I wish that was true. Unfortunately, our entire system is starting to crack and crumble all around us, and those that are currently running things are not going to be able to put it back together again."

- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

Gerald Celente, "Federal Agencies Destroy Liberty and Attack Security"

Gerald Celente, Trends Journal 1/18/23:

"Federal Agencies Destroy Liberty and Attack Security"

"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present facts and truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for what’s next in these increasingly turbulent times."

- https://trendsresearch.com/

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Redacted, "Putin Readies Massive Offensive To End War in Ukraine"

Full screen recommended.

Redacted, 1/18/23:

"Putin Readies Massive Offensive To End War in Ukraine, 

WEF Wants Longer Conflict" 

"Reports have Russian President Putin ready to launch a massive 700,000-person offensive in Ukraine. Is there any truth to this? Meanwhile, the global elites at the WEF in Davos want more weapons and money sent to Ukraine. Finland's prime minister Sanna Marin says Ukraine must be supported for 15 years or longer until Ukraine wins."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"15 Jaw-Dropping Stats About The State Of Retirement In America"

Full screen recommended.

"15 Jaw-Dropping Stats About

 The State Of Retirement In America"

by Epic Economist

"Even those who worked to the bone throughout their entire lives may have a tortuous path to retirement. The dream of hanging off the working hat, and turning the senior years into golden years is looking more like a fairy tale these days. With incomes that fail to support our basic necessities, it's getting harder and harder to find ways to save for retirement. And even the workers who are squeezing their budgets now to save for later are at risk of seeing their savings being wiped out by the brutal volatility that is gripping financial markets right now.

That’s a truly sad prospect for millions of hard-working Americans who have dedicated their lives to their jobs and careers but still won’t be able to be a part of the American dream. With the cost of living rising at the fastest pace in 40 years, there’s a growing trend of Americans who are taking money away from their retirement funds early. A poll conducted by TD Ameritrade found that 54% of Americans between the ages of 45 and 65 have dipped into their retirement accounts over the past twelve months. Financial experts warn that the practice can cause severe hardships later on, especially considering that as time goes by, it gets harder and harder to rebuild those savings.

Almost 70% of Americans say the rising cost of living is the biggest threat to their financial security, and there is evidence that supports their view. A new Federal Reserve survey indicates that 53% of Americans don’t have enough savings to cover a $400 emergency expense such as an unexpected medical bill, car problem, or home repair. Moreover, student loan debt is also a major obstacle for workers to save enough for retirement. Believe it or not, 73% of Americans are putting off maximizing their retirement savings due to their student loans, while 32% are not saving for retirement at all because of their student loans.

In an economic system that is designed to have winners and losers – or, the haves and the have-nots, – we’re being gradually excluded from our own narrative. It is through the efforts of our great population that our nation grows and thrives. But it seems like most of the wealth we produce is retained by those who are at the very top of the economic chain. While corporate CEOs have seen their wealth rise by over 800% since the year 2000, we have barely seen our wages edging above inflation. This isn’t how things were supposed to be in this country. We should all have the right to have a decent standard of living during our working years and after we retire.

Unfortunately, the long-term trends that have put us where we are right now are likely to persist for many more years to come. By the end of the decade, we might find ourselves in the most chaotic economic environment in history. Even worse, we may be struggling to get the financial support we need at the time we are going to need it the most. An unprecedented retirement crisis is about to burst in the United States, and its impact will be far more catastrophic than people can imagine. That's what we're going to expose in today's video."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com/

Jeremiah Babe, "Alert! Bank Deposits Disappear"

Jeremiah Babe, 1/18/23:

"Alert! Bank Deposits Disappear; Markets Rocked Today; 

Home Sale Cancellations Soar"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: 2002, “Children in Time”

Full screen recommended.

2002, “Children in Time”

"This song is from 2002's album 'This Moment Now.' Twenty years ago, Pamela and Randy lived for awhile in different parts of the country, and part of their staying in touch was a steady stream of hand-written love letters to each other. The music on this album reflects a love that transcends distance and time."

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Namibia has some of the darkest nights visible from any continent. It is therefore home to some of the more spectacular skyscapes, a few of which have been captured in the below time-lapse video. We recommend watching this video at FULL SCREEN (1080p), with audio on. The night sky of Namibia is one of the best in the world, about the same quality of the deserts of Chile and Australia.

Full screen recommended. 

Visible at the movie start are unusual quiver trees perched before a deep starfield highlighted by the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. This bright band of stars and gas appears to pivot around the celestial south pole as our Earth rotates. The remains of camel thorn trees are then seen against a sky that includes a fuzzy patch on the far right that is the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy to the Milky Way. A bright sunlight-reflecting satellite passes quickly overhead. Quiver trees appear again, now showing their unusual trunks, while the Small Magellanic Cloud becomes clearly visible in the background. Artificial lights illuminate a mist that surround camel thorn trees in Deadvlei. In the final sequence, natural Namibian stone arches are captured against the advancing shadows of the setting moon. This video incorporates over 16,000 images shot over two years, and won top honors among the 2012 Travel Photographer of the Year awards.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130204.html

"Butterflies..."

"We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it's forever."

- Carl Sagan

"Decline of Empire: Parallels Between the U.S. and Rome, Part III"

"Decline of Empire: 

Parallels Between the U.S. and Rome, Part III"

by Doug Casey

See here for Part II

"Wars made Rome. Wars expanded the country’s borders and brought it wealth, but they also sowed the seeds of its destruction, especially the three big wars against Carthage, 264-146 BCE.

Rome began as a republic of yeoman farmers, each with his own plot of land. You had to be a landowner to join the Roman army; it was a great honor, and it wouldn’t take the riffraff. When the Republic was threatened—and wars were constant and uninterrupted from the beginning—a legionary might be gone for five, ten, or more years. His wife and children back on the farm might have to borrow money to keep things going and then perhaps default, so soldiers’ farms would go back to bush or get taken over by creditors. And, if he survived the wars, an ex-legionary might be hard to keep down on the farm after years of looting, plundering, and enslaving the enemy. On top of that, tidal waves of slaves became available to work freshly confiscated properties. So, like America, Rome became more urban and less agrarian. Like America, there were fewer family farmers but more industrial-scale latifundia.

War turned the whole Mediterranean into a Roman lake. With the Punic wars, Spain and North Africa became provinces. Pompey the Great (106-48 BCE) conquered the Near East. Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE) conquered Gaul 20 years later. Then Augustus took Egypt.

The interesting thing is that in the early days, war was actually quite profitable. You conquered a place and stole all the gold, cattle, and other movable property and enslaved the people. That was a lot of wealth you could bring home—and then you could milk the area for many years with taxes. But the wars helped destroy Rome’s social fabric by wiping out the country’s agrarian, republican roots and by corrupting everyone with a constant influx of cheap slave labor and free imported food. War created longer, faraway borders that then needed to be defended. And in the end, hostile contact with "barbarians" actually wound up drawing them in as invaders.

Rome’s wars radically changed society, just as America’s have. It’s estimated that at times 80-90% of the population of the city of Rome was foreign born. It sometimes seems that way in many U.S. cities. I always look at the bright side, however: after every foreign misadventure, the U.S. gets an influx of new restaurants with exotic cuisines.

The stream of new wealth to steal ended with the conquest of Dacia in 107. The advance in the east stopped with the Persians, a comparable military power. Across the Rhine and Danube, the Germans—living in swamps and forests with only tiny villages—were not worth conquering. To the south there was only the Sahara. At this point, there was nothing new to steal, but there were continuing costs of administration and border defense. It was inconvenient—and not perhaps just coincidental—that the barbarians started becoming really problematic just about when Christianity started becoming popular, in the 3rd century. Unlike today, in its early days Christianity encouraged pacifism… not the best thing when you’re faced with barbarian invasions.

Remember, the army started out as a militia of citizen soldiers who provided their own arms. It eventually would accept anyone and morphed into a completely mercenary force staffed and led largely by foreigners. This is pretty much how the U.S. armed forces have evolved. For all the "Support Our Troops" propaganda, the U.S. armed forces are now more representative of the barrios, ghettos, and trailer parks than of the country as a whole. And they’re isolated from it, a class unto themselves, like the late Roman army.

Even though the Roman army was at its greatest size and cost in the Dominate period, it was increasingly a paper tiger. After its rout at the Battle of Adrianople in 378, the Western empire went into a death spiral. The U.S. armed forces may now be in an analogous posture, comparable to Soviet forces in the 1980s.

Although the U.S. has won many engagements and some sport wars, it hasn’t won a real war since 1945. The cost of its wars, however, has escalated hugely. My guess is that if it gets into another major war, it won’t win, even if the enemy’s body count is massive.

Recall Osama bin Laden’s plan to win by bankrupting the U.S. He was very astute. Most U.S. equipment is good only for fighting a replay of WW II—things like the $2 billion B-2 bomber, the $350 million F-22, and the $110 million V-22 Osprey are high-priced dinosaurs. The Army lost 5,000 helicopters in Vietnam. How many Blackhawks can the U.S. afford to lose in the next war at $25 million each? World War II cost the U.S. $288 billion, in 1940 dollars. The pointless adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan are guesstimated at $4 trillion, a roughly comparable amount in real terms.

In the future—unless it completely changes its foreign and military policies—the U.S. will likely be confronting scores of independent, nonstate actors, rather than other nation-states. We won’t really know who they are, but they’ll be very effective at attacking hugely expensive infrastructure at near-zero cost, by hacking computers. They won’t need a B-2 when a stolen Pakistani nuke can be delivered by freighter. They can take out a $5 million M-1 tank with an essentially zero-cost improvised incendiary device. While the U.S. bankrupts itself with defense contractors whose weapons have 20-year development times, enemies will use open-source warfare, entrepreneurially developing low-cost, unconventional weapons with off-the-shelf components.

This is actually analogous to what Rome confronted with invading nomads. Let me relate an anecdote offered by Priscus, a Roman ambassador to the court of Atilla in about 450 AD. While there he met a Greek who had joined the barbarians. This will give you a flavor of the story he tells Priscus. I’ve put some words in bold because they’re especially relevant to other aspects of our story.

After war the Scythians live in inactivity, enjoying what they have gained, harassed very little or not at all. The Romans, on the other hand, are very liable to perish in war, as they have to rest their hopes of safety on others, and are not allowed, on account of their tyrants, to use arms. And those who use them are injured by the cowardice of their generals, who cannot support the conduct of war. But the condition of the subjects in time of peace is far more grievous than the evils of war, for the exaction of the taxes is very severe, and unprincipled men inflict injuries on others, because the laws are practically not valid against all classes.

Wars destroyed Rome, just as they’ll destroy the U.S. But what about the barbarian invasions that Gibbon perhaps correctly pointed out were the direct cause of Rome’s downfall? Do we have a present-day analogue? The answer is at least a qualified "yes." It’s true that the U.S. will bankrupt itself by fighting the ridiculous and chimerical "War on Terror," maintaining hundreds of military bases and operations around the world and perhaps getting into a major war. But from a cultural point of view, it’s possible that the southern border will present an equally serious problem.

The U.S.-Mexican border is a classic borderland situation, no more stable and just as permeable as the Rhine-Danube dividing line was for the Romans. The problem now isn’t invading hordes, but a population that has no cultural allegiance to the idea of America. A surprising number of the Mexicans who cross over to the U.S. talk seriously about a Reconquista, in reference to the fact the Americans stole the land in question from people they presume to be their ancestors.

In many parts of the Southwest, the Mexicans form a majority and choose not to learn English—and they don’t need to, which is a new thing for immigrants to the U.S. Most are "illegal," as you might say the Goths, the Vandals, and the Huns were in Rome’s final days. My guess is that in the near future, there will be a lot of young Hispanic males who actively resent paying half of what they make in income, Social Security, and Obamacare taxes in order to subsidize old white women in the Northeast. I wouldn’t be surprised to see parts of the Southwest turn into "no go" zones for many government agencies over the next several decades.

Could the U.S. break up the way the Roman Empire did? Absolutely; the colors of the map on the wall aren’t part of the cosmic firmament. And it needn’t have anything to do with military conquest. Despite the presence of Walmarts, McDonald’s, and Chevrolet dealerships across a country whose roads are as impressive as the nearly 50,000 miles of highway laid down by the Romans, there’s evidence the country is disintegrating culturally. Although what is occurring in the Mexican borderland area is the most significant thing, there are growing cultural and political differences between the so-called "red" and "blue" states. Semi-serious secession movements are at work in northern Colorado, western Maryland, and western Kansas. This is a new phenomenon, at least since the War Between the States of 1861-65.

To be continued next week…"

- internationalman.com

"Behold, Davos Man!"

"Behold, Davos Man!"

Breaking markets, forcing fragmentation and 

causing price tsunamis wherever he goes!

By Bill Bonner and Joel Bowman

Normandy, France - "‘Davos Man’ is on display this week. With the Alps in the background, he offers his opinions on lazy TV channels. Our guess: he does more harm than good. But there they are...almost non-stop – the great and the good, the Establishment, the elite of the elite; they are today’s ‘global leaders.’ They get together in their fortress retreat at Davos, Switzerland – guarded by 5,000 Swiss troops – to gum about what’s wrong with the world and how to improve it. “We’re going to need to fix our broken supply chains,” says one earnest corporate honcho. “We’re doing all we can to develop a sustainable system of energy inputs,’ says another.

“Witing Off” Klaus Schwab, founder of the sponsor, World Economic Forum, with his heavy Teutonic accent, cannot say the ‘r’ sound. So, he says we will have to “wite off the huge costs” of what he thinks will be difficult year of ‘transformation.’ Of course, the world is always witing off its past...its old technologies...its hula-hoops and failed cryptos. It is always transforming itself. As we discussed yesterday, things become their opposites...bull markets turn into bear markets...young, dynamic countries become old and degenerate... white shoes yearn for mud.

Mr. Klaus, mind you, is not just an observer of ‘transformation.’ He is an activist. His goal is not to follow, but to lead. And therein lies a tale. For how does he know where the world should go? The baker in Berlin...the hod carrier in Karaloon...the lumpenproletariat of Las Vegas – each has his own destination. No matter. Davos Man knows best.

Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, meanwhile, has a delightful Bulgarian accent. She came from the World Bank and replaced Christine Lagarde at the IMF, who replaced Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was disgraced after he allegedly exposed himself to a cleaning woman in a New York hotel. (The affair looked like a set-up...the charges were dismissed, but not before Strauss-Kahn, who had been a leading candidate to become president of France, was ruined.) Ms. Lagarde went on to head up the European Central bank.

At Davos, Ms. Georgieva picked up the ‘transformation’ theme: "2023 will be a difficult year for the world. The silver lining is we can use it to transform economies & accelerate change that’s good for our climate, good for growth. At the IMF, we recognize our responsibility to be a force for good." We’re not going to sit back and see what direction the world takes, she says; we’re going to give it a shove!

Un-Free World Order: The major challenge facing the planet, says she, is ‘fragmentation.’ By that she means that the global order – which Davos Men (and women) helped create – is cracking up. She did not mention the main culprit – the US government; it has abandoned free trade in favor of un-free trade. Its sanctions, restrictions, and tariffs are now fragmenting markets and reducing the prosperity of the whole world.

And so, Ms. Georgieva came to Davos to deliver a report, prepared by the diligent number crunchers at the IMF, showing that if they ‘manage’ the world economy carefully the cost of this ‘fragmentation’ would be only 0.2% of global output. Not 0.3%. Not 0.1%. Those researchers must have been punching the numbers so hard, it’s surprising the ref didn’t stop the fight. But they just kept delivering the rabbit punches, putting the growth of the world economy at 2.7% in the year ahead.

Their calculation are ridiculous. Imagine trying to determine the effect of unknown events on an uncertain future in a largely-unmapped $90 trillion world economy? To a 10th of a percent! But what do you expect? The biggest financial event of 2022 was the dramatic rise in inflation – to the highest levels in 40 years. It is what forced the Fed to reverse its monetary policy...and cost the world asset markets an estimated $20 to $30 trillion in losses. (Estimates vary!)

Price Tsunami: By spring of 2021, the tsunami of price increases was visible on the horizon. Anyone who bothered to look could see it coming. The feds had cut off supplies of goods and services (with their Covid Hysteria lockdowns)...and they had greatly increased the supply of money (with their stimmie checks, unemployment toppers, and PPP loans). Consult any Dummies’ Guide to Inflation; you will see that the result is bound to be higher prices. But the economists at the IMF are neither dummies, nor realists; they are fantasists. Here is a CNNBusiness summary of their view, as of April 2021: "The IMF credited continued government stimulus and vaccine rollouts for stronger growth projections. It said that consumer prices could be volatile, but it does not expect high levels of inflation to take root because of weak wage growth and unemployment."

Good thinking! What a wonderful bunch of mental defectives and pompous poseurs. We speak of the whole Davos crowd...as well as their pet economists. It must be delightful – in a childish way, of course – to think you can not only foretell the future...but actually improve it before it happens.

Not content to run their own businesses, governments and non-profit organizations, they think they can ‘transform’ the entirety of human life on planet earth...and wite off anything that gets in the way."

o

Joel’s Note: For dear readers who remain unconvinced about the sheer determination of Davos Man to “save the planet,” consider the modest words of US Climate Envoy Czar John Kerry, speaking to a roomful of fellow extraterrestrials(?) at this year’s globalist gabfest...

“If you stop and think, about it, it’s pretty extraordinary that we, a select group of human beings, because of whatever touched us at some point in our lives, are able to sit in a room and come together and actually talk about saving the planet. I mean, it’s so, almost extraterrestrial to think about quote ‘saving the planet.’ If you said that to most people, most people they think you’re just a crazy, tree-hugging, leftie, liberal... you know, do-gooder, whatever...and there’s no relationship. But really, that’s where we are.”

Now, far be it from us mere “most people,” down here on the flatlands of ignorance, to know the mind of a man as brave and humble as Mr. Kerry, but hearing his words we were reminded of the findings from a Washington Free Beacon analysis, released last year...

The Free Beacon reviewed 75 of Kerry's official travel announcements from March 2021 to July 2022, which show Kerry has flown roughly 180,100 miles - the equivalent of traveling around the world more than seven times - to discuss climate change with various world leaders. Planes on average produce 53.3 pounds of carbon dioxide per mile traveled, according to carbon emissions modeling website BlueSkyModel, meaning Kerry's flights have produced 9.54 million pounds, or 4,772 tons, of carbon - roughly 300 times the average American's carbon footprint for an entire year. From May 13, 2021, to May 19, 2021, for example, Kerry traveled to Rome, London, and Berlin before returning stateside. Those flights total roughly 10,100 miles and 538,000 pounds of carbon.

And that‘s just official travel. From the time Czar Kerry, who has referred to climate change as an “existential crisis,” was appointed by president Biden and the publication of the Free Beacon analysis (July 2022), our dedicated climate activist had also taken the family Gulfstream GIV-SP private jet (est $4.5 million) for a few spins, too. Make that 48 spins, “emitting more than 715,000 pounds of carbon in the process.”

To be fair, Czar Kerry is a very busy man...committed to tackling climate change one carbon-spewing flight at a time. And as we all know, being busy is something average people just couldn’t comprehend. But don’t worry, Czar Kerry has enough dirty dough to buy himself a clean conscience.

Much like the Catholic Church’s system of “indulgences” in the Middle Ages, whereby a sinner could hope to have his peccadilloes mitigated or even absolved in the afterlife by making a “fixed monetary payment” to the church, Czar Kerry offsets his carbon-based transgressions with dollar-based credits. “If you offset your carbon, it's the only choice for somebody like me, who is traveling the world to win this battle."

Nor is Extraterrestrial Czar Kerry alone. The WEF itself even encourages “plane pooling” as a way to combat the deleterious effects of its own meeting (simply not having the meeting, or having it by Zoom being, of course, unthinkable). “We also ask that they share planes if they have to use them,” the organization said in a statement back in 2019, “something that has been gaining popularity in recent years.”

And yet, according to a Greenpeace report released last Friday, the emissions generated from the luxury jets flying in and out of airports serving Davos last year were equivalent to those produced by about 350,000 average cars for a week. Another 1,000+ private jets shuttled this year’s saviors to the mountaintop...and still, we are scolded, the emergency is worse than ever, and there’s plenty more for you to do.

“I’m convinced we will get to a low-carbon, no-carbon economy — we’re going to get there because we have to,” Kerry lectured at this year’s event. “I am not convinced we’re going to get there in time to do what the scientists said, which is avoid the worst consequences of the crisis. So how do we get there? ... Money, money, money, money, money, money, money.”

- https://bonnerprivateresearch.substack.com/