Saturday, March 11, 2023

Greg Hunter, "$2.5 Quadrillion Disaster Waiting to Happen"

"$2.5 Quadrillion Disaster Waiting to Happen – 
Egon von Greyerz"
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"There is sufficiency in the world 
for Man's need but not for his greed." 
Mahatma Gandhi

"Egon von Greyerz (EvG) stores gold for clients at the biggest private gold vault in the world buried deep in the Swiss Alps. EvG is a financial and precious metals expert. EvG is a former Swiss banker and an expert in risk. He says the risk in the global markets has never been this high.

EvG explains, “Credit has increased dramatically through derivatives. All instruments being issued now by banks, pension funds, stock funds, it’s all synthetic. There is no real underlying payments in anything almost. Therefore, my estimate for derivatives would be at least $2 quadrillion, and I think that is probably conservative. Then, we have debt on top of that of $300 trillion, and we also have a couple hundred trillion dollars of unfunded liabilities. So, we are talking about $2.5 quadrillion, and that’s with a global GDP of $80 trillion. So, there is a disaster waiting to happen, and especially because all this created money has created no value whatsoever. I always knew this would collapse, and it’s taken longer than I expected, but I think we are at the end of a major era. 

These derivatives, at some point in the coming few years, will actually turn into debt. Central banks will have to cover all the outstanding liabilities of the commercial banks as we are seeing now with Credit Suisse, Bank of England and etc. This is going to happen across the board. Whether it’s called derivatives or called debt, as far as I am concerned, it’s the same thing. It will have the same effect on the world financial system, which will be disastrous, of course.”

EvG says the derivative markets were simply a way for financial institutions to carry debt and not show it on their balance sheets. In the end, everything will balance out. EvG goes on to say, “Nobody can repay the debt, and they can’t even pay interest. So, therefore, when the debt implodes, so will the assets that were financed by this debt. So, both sides of the balance sheet have to come down. Whether it comes down by 50%, 75% or 90%, I don’t know. All I think about is risk, and the financial system will not survive in its present form. Central banks only use one kind of medicine, and that is more printed money. Now, you are getting negative returns on printed money. So, that is not going to save anything. 

Sadly we are looking at a situation when this system will start to implode. The rich are still rich, but the poor are really poor. Overall in the UK, Germany and most European countries, people don’t have enough money to live. This is a human disaster already. With food costs going up 25% and energy going up the same and gasoline, interest rates and rents, people don’t have enough money, and that is happening now. It’s a human disaster of mega proportions. It’s so sad, and governments will have no chance of doing anything about it.”

In closing, EvG says, “This is why it is getting closer for implosion because the whole system can’t take this. The risk is increasing exponentially. So, I think people should be prepared. Most asset markets have lost money, and it is going to get worse.” There is much more in the 43-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One with Egon von Greyerz of Matterhorn Asset Management, which can be found on GoldSwitzerland.com
o
Related:

“Parasitic Derivatives: $1.5 – 2.4 Quadrillion Dollars, Too Big to Understand”

“Parasitic Derivatives: $1.5 – 2.4 Quadrillion Dollars,
 Too Big to Understand
By David Hague

“I recently returned from two weeks of ‘high level’ meetings with a group of Bankers [this is code for two weeks of subsidized debauchery with bankers] in Rome. As I sat at my desk, I was hoping to motivate myself to pursue a more chaste and pure existence. Unfortunately the Polar Vortex experienced by North America drained me of my good intentions. The bone chilling cold once again had me reaching for my trusty bottle of Jack Daniels for warmth and inspiration. My time in Rome had not been completely ‘wasted’, so to speak. I had secured a contract from the European Central Bank [ECB] to research the topic of Derivatives. I was to present my findings at the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos later that month.

One Quadrillion Dollars: Too Big to Understand: Dear Reader, please resist your natural instinct to click away from this commentary at the mere mention of the word ‘Derivatives’. I am acutely aware of the boredom and befuddlement that this word instills in you. At this point I would simply remind you that the derivatives market is estimated to exceed one quadrillion dollars. [This incredibly large number is actually an accurate estimate of the size of the derivatives marketplace]. (In addition, unfunded liabilities, like medical care and pensions, are at least $300 trillion globally. If we add gross derivatives of $1.5 quadrillion, which are likely to turn into real debt as counterparties fail, the total debt and liabilities are above $2 quadrillion. Source - CP) Despite the fact the derivatives market eclipses the market capitalization of the NYSE by an exponential factor, it is not discussed, reported or tracked because it is simply too complicated and opaque. Warren Buffet’s, comment about weapons of mass financial destruction’ seem to be the beginning and end of any discussion on the topic.

Derivatives are a parasitic financial instrument: For those of you who are unschooled on the topic of derivatives, allow me to explain. Derivatives are abstract financial instruments, which, like parasites, can attach themselves to all manner of stocks, bonds, mortgages, commodity, debt obligations, currency exchange, interest rate fluctuations… in short, anything. Derivatives exist in the ‘twilight zone’ of the banking industry. Like black holes, their presence and massive influence are acknowledged yet the true influence on the global economy of this quadrillion dollar event horizon is only theoretical. The near catastrophic disasters at Barings, JP Morgan and AIG are small examples of their destructive powers. However I will offer you Investorpedia’s more clinical definition. “A security whose price is dependent upon or derived from one or more underlying assets. The derivative itself is merely a contract between two or more parties.”

You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, {Kenny Rogers}: One might think of derivatives as a random game of online poker: you don’t know who your opponents are [your counterparty], you do not know if you will be paid [counterparty risk], you do not know if the game is legitimate, [lack of regulation], and your opponents are probably able to see what cards you are holding, [market domination by large banks]. As well, you are making bets that in many instances neither you nor your opponents fully grasp [complexity of the market]. With each wager you are potentially risking not only your current assets, but your future assets as well. [Leverage]. In some cases you do not know how much you are betting. Imagine as well, that you play this game every day with trillions of dollars that you do not have. This is the global derivatives market.

It is all Greek to me: Alternately, as derivatives are often created as a form of insurance, think of them as an insurance policy in which you:
• Do not know the name, address or any contact information relating to your insurer.
• Do not know if your insurer has the resources to pay a claim.
• Do not understand the insurance contract as it is written in Greek.
• Must rely on a shadowy third party [ISDA] to decide what constitutes a claim. [Credit event]
• Do not know whether your insurer is itself vulnerable to the particular risk you have contracted with it to insure.

His moral lassitude allowed him to excel: Dear Reader, I digress, let me return to my narrative. The aforementioned lucrative contract was secured by two key factors. The first factor was my friendship with Gustavo Laframboise-Pierre, the European Central Bank’s [ECB] Global Director of Statistical Creation. My relationship with such an esteemed member of the ECB traced its roots back to Gustavo’s days as a bookie for Wall Street’s elite. I referred so much business to him we became very good friends. His station in life took a remarkable turn when a senior member of the ECB, while in New York on a ‘fact finding mission’ [this is code for visiting his favorite escort] made an outrageously large and incorrect wager on the outcome of the 2010 World Cup. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, the term ‘derivative’ is commonly used in sports betting!) The only way the debt could be settled was for the banker to offer Gustavo a highly paid sinecure at the ECB. Gustavo became the Global Director of Statistical Creation with the responsibility of making up statistics to support whatever fantastical and deranged policies Central Banks around the world were initiating. Remarkably Gustavo’s aptitude for numbers, coupled with his moral lassitude allowed him to excel at his job. It was Gustavo who invented the term ‘Quantitative Easing’ as a benign euphemism for runaway money printing.

Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise’: The second factor that secured the contract for me was a chance remark I made as Gustavo and I enjoyed a ‘working lunch’, with several senior executives who represented many of the world’s largest banks. The working lunch was held at Rome’s exclusive Blue Moon Gentleman’s Club. As the featured dancer left the stage I happened to mention to the assorted luminaries that I had read an article on the subject of derivatives. The bankers looked at me with something akin to awe and reverence. Gustavo whispered to me that the topic of derivatives had been discussed in a recent conference call by the world’s bankers. The conclusion reached at that time was that derivatives were too boring and too complicated for bankers to grasp. Despite JP Morgan’s very public, expensive and monumentally stupid 5 billon dollar derivatives trading loss bankers still choose to remain cocooned in a ‘Cloak of Ignorance’ as it relates to derivatives. Thomas Gray’s lament that ‘where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise’ could easily be the mission statement of the global banking industry.

I had read a complete article, I was a ‘de facto expert’: Dear reader, I am not being rude and offensive in my remarks about JP Morgan. Surely you would agree with me that any large bank that loses $5 billion in derivatives trading is ignorant of the properties and risks of derivatives? The fact that I had actually read a complete article on the subject made me a de facto expert on the topic. Gustavo, in an act of kindness, seized the opportunity on my behalf and pressed his colleagues to retain me to research the topic and make a presentation at the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos. Thus I found myself preparing to dazzle the world’s financial elite with my insights into the risks and opportunities presented by the global derivatives market. In a rush to complete the deal before the next dancer took the stage it was agreed that I would receive the standard banker’s honorarium of $5,000/hour up to a maximum of ‘whatever it takes’.

At $5,000/hr., you would surely not expect me to be brief: I sat at my desk, sipping ‘Gentleman Jack‘ while I looked out at the bleak weather that made Brooklyn so depressing in the winter. My TV was tuned to CNBC, as I waited for Wall Street to open. I put my crack pipe in its case. Dear reader like many of you [especially those of you who work in the banking industry], I have learned all too well, the dangers of mixing crack cocaine with whiskey on an empty stomach. [Have we not all indulged, to our regret, that particular venial sin at least once?] I collected my thoughts and began to write my lengthy tome on the derivatives market. Dear reader at $5,000/hr., you would surely not expect me to be brief.

Lions and Tigers and Bears [and derivatives] Oh My!: I do not want to frighten you. However I will share with you some facts about derivatives that will have you reacting as nervously as Dorothy did in the Wizard of OZ when confronted with the thought of Lions and Tigers and Bears. ‘Derivatives, Oh My’, will I suspect be the words that escape your lips.
• Size of the derivatives market: 1.5 – 2.4 QUADRILLION dollars
• Size of Global Stock and bond markets: 175 trillion dollars
• Who regulates the Derivatives market? LOL, Regulation is a ‘work in progress’ dominated by the big banks.

How dangerous are derivatives? They almost destroyed the world’s largest insurance company, AIG, as well as the global economy. Seriously, you don’t remember? Just Google the words AIG and collapse. Alternately you might call Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan and ask him if Derivatives are dangerous. Have recent regulatory changes made the world economy less likely to implode from a derivative fuelled explosion? Actually as one might expect, thanks to regulatory enhancements that had to run the gauntlet of bank lobbyists prior to their approval, the world’s economy is in more danger than ever from a derivatives inspired meltdown.

‘Duck Dynasty’ and ‘Real Housewives’ to the rescue: How much attention does the Main Street pay to the world’s largest and riskiest casino? [AKA: the Derivatives market]. If one were to Google the word derivatives, one will get 34 million ‘hits’. Alternately, if one does a similar search for the words stocks bonds and markets one will get 400 million ‘hits’. The 34 million ‘hits’ generated by a Google search of the word derivatives compares unfavorably with the 37 million ‘hits’ generated by a search of the term ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’, the 209 million ‘hits’ generated by a search of the term ‘Duck Dynasty’ or the 713 million ‘hits’ generated by searching the word ‘Sex’. One must conclude that only when derivatives are discussed by one of the ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ posing nude in bed with one of the cast members of ‘Duck Dynasty’ will derivatives receive the attention they deserve.

Reality bites: Derivatives can only be discussed as ‘Fake News’: Where can one find insights and coverage of the Derivatives Market in the mainstream media? Is Fox News or CNN my best choice? Sadly Dear reader your best choice would have been The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Despite the calamitous risk and obvious importance of this topic only Mr. Stewart and his team dared to share information with the general public. Given the outlandish and frightening risks derivatives constitute to the Global Economy, perhaps Mr. Stewart was correct that it can only be discussed in the ‘Fake News’ format.


Derivatives: better suited for Ripley’s Believe it or not than the Wall Street Journal: How bizarre is the derivatives market? How is the concept of money for nothing propagated by the derivatives market? What is the difference between a chump and a champion in the derivatives market? I will leave it to Shah Gilani in his excellent post in “Wall Street: Insights and Indictments“ to explain. Suffice to say that one is able to buy insurance in the derivatives market. One can then cause the insured event to occur by collaborating with a third party. All that remains is to collect the insurance proceeds. [To be clear the proceeds are usually in the tens of millions of dollars.] The derivatives market makes the Ponzi-like money printing of the Central banks look like ‘Amateur Hour’.

Who needs ‘Crack’? Dear reader, usually I needed a little help from my friend Mr. Crack to feel as paranoid and euphoric as I did at this moment. Paranoid, because it was clear to me that the derivatives market was truly a weapon of mass financial destruction. Euphoric because I knew that my research would make my ‘Derivatives’ presentation at the World Economic Forum a groundbreaking ‘tour de force’ that would vault me to the forefront of ‘talking heads’ that pass for experts on mainstream media. Fame, fortune, a book deal and perhaps that elusive Nobel Prize would surely follow. My twenty minutes of painstaking research, had made me one of the world’s foremost experts on this complex subject. [BTW Dear Reader by reaching this point in my commentary, you surely now know more about derivatives than most bankers and traders on Wall Street. You should be quite pleased.]

David, you are an imbecile: I decided to reach out to my pal Gustavo and share some of my findings. I knew that it was 3:30 in the afternoon in Paris so I would be able to catch Gustavo just as he arrived for another day of work. “Gustavo”, I intoned, breathless with excitement. “I have uncovered some startling, controversial, and frightening information about derivatives. The luminaries and leading lights who attend my presentation in Davos will be utterly gobsmacked by my revelations. The media will undoubtedly ensure that my findings go viral. The topic of derivatives will no longer exist only in the dark shadows of the banking industry. The danger that derivatives pose to the global economy will permeate the consciousness of Main Street.” Gustavo sighed, “David, I do not know if you are stupid or naïve. Every September when you bet $1,000 that the perennially atrocious Toronto Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup, I assumed you were simply ingenuous. Your comments today have convinced me that you are an imbecile. Let me assure you that those will not be the findings that you present at the World Economic Forum. Rather you will inform the world that derivatives are a financial instrument that is being used by brilliant and prudent financial professionals to mitigate risk and make the world a safer place.”

The ‘Truth Will Out’: “Gustavo”, I groaned, “that would be a lie. I cannot in good conscience, sacrifice my integrity, my honor, my core beliefs and my good name simply to placate Wall Street and the Central Banks. I have a responsibility to my readers on Main Street to inform them, to warn them, to prepare them for the likely financial chaos that derivatives will cause”. “Gustavo”, I said with iron willed determination, “the Truth Will Out”. “David”, Gustavo snarled, “If you change the tenor of your presentation and indicate that derivatives are the most benign form of financial instrument, somewhat akin to Treasury bills, we will double your fee”.

Move along nothing to see here: Dear Reader, in summary let me say that derivatives are the most benign form of financial instrument, somewhat akin to treasury bills. Gustavo’s immutable logic and persuasive argument was instrumental in helping me reach the correct conclusion regarding the risks to the Global economy posed by derivatives. So Dear Reader, move along, there is nothing to see here.”

"Biggest Bank Failure In U.S. History – 'We Found Our Enron' – 'On The Verge Of A Much Bigger Collapse Than 2008'” (Excerpt)

"Biggest Bank Failure In U.S. History – 'We Found Our Enron' – 
'On The Verge Of A Much Bigger Collapse Than 2008'”
by Michael Snyder

Excerpt: "The wait for the next “Lehman Brothers moment” is over. On Friday, we witnessed the second biggest bank failure in U.S. history. The stunning collapse of Silicon Valley Bank is shaking the financial world to the core. As of the end of last year, the bank had 175 billion dollars in deposits, and approximately 151 billion dollars of those deposits were uninsured. In other words, a lot of wealthy individuals and large companies are in danger of being wiped out. In particular, this is being described as an “extinction level event” for tech startups, because thousands of them did their banking with SVB. I cannot even begin to describe how cataclysmic this is going to be for the tech industry as a whole. There is so much to cover, and so let me try to take this one step at a time."
Full article is here:
o

Musical Interlude: Il Divo, "Wicked Game (Melanconia)"

Full screen recommended.
Il Divo, "Wicked Game (Melanconia)" 
(Live In London 2011)

"The Good Demagogue"

"The Good Demagogue"
by Addison Wiggin

“War is the health of the state.”
– Randolph Bourne

“I was in the Soviet Union in the 90s,” Rickards tells me in his interview this week. “Three big black SUVs pulled up in front of my hotel in Moscow and the first car and the second car had all four doors open. All these thugs and dark suits with machine guns under their coats created a security perimeter,” he enthralls. “They opened the SUV door and two little 10-year-old girls in party dresses got out. They were going to a birthday party, but they were the daughters of an oligarch.”

That’s the absurdity of it all. Young kids are made to live under the gun. Maybe the names and the deeds have changed. But the narrative has not. Who actually wants to fight a war? Who wants to send their sons and daughters into danger? Do the theories of the West coveting Russian land… or Ukrainian wheat… or shipping lanes into Sevastopol warrant death?

The unfortunate lesson of history is that war is the natural outcome of a failure of politicians to guard the people from fighting words and things they don’t understand or care about. “China and the US have locked themselves into a new cycle of recriminations,” Bloomberg Surveillance writes, “provoking fresh worries that the world’s two biggest economies are heading down a path that could one day lead to the once unthinkable: the possibility of open conflict.”

A palpable and mounting distrust for “the other side” recalls images of a Red Scare or McCarthyism. Paranoia from within. “Even worse, the escalating rhetoric is entrenching divisions that could make it harder for both sides to find a way to co-exist peacefully over the long term,” Bloomberg concludes. Why don’t we listen to these words?

Our viewers on Youtube had trouble swallowing some of the things Jim had to say about the War in Ukraine. “I follow Jim for his financial advice,” commented the oddly named Zummbot, “but I must say I was taken aback by his terrible and ill-informed take on Ukraine.” He (it?) continues in dismay:

"It’s ironic these two talk of propaganda (of which there is undoubtedly plenty on both sides) when just repeating verbatim the Russian propaganda line. In truth, the Ukraine war is the deal of the century for the US. We get to exhaust the military capacity of one of our chief rivals on the world stage for a relative pittance and do none of the dying. The Chinese-Russian partnership is born of weakness, not strength."

“If only it were that simple,” Bill Bonner might chuckle in response. That is the problem with this kind of “Bad Guy Theory”; it is dangerous nonsense that only appeals to simpletons. People are neither always good, nor always bad… but always subject to influence.

No doubt, the imagery from Ukraine has been manipulated from the onset. “Remember during the early days of the war,” Rickards says. “There'd be a Ukrainian patriot in battle fatigues with an M4 rifle, and there were just these absolutely gorgeous women defending the Ukraine. And you look at them and say, ‘Wow, she could be a model.’ Turns out they were models. They were actually Vogue models posing as soldiers.”
“They're really good at PR and propaganda,” Rickards explains with fervor. “They're being killed by the hundreds of thousands. The country's being destroyed.”

This, we believe, is the truth of it. Whatever propaganda channel is reaching our eyeballs is inevitably tinged with the tentacles of political assumption; under all of it, under all the rubble and rabble, a country and a people decimated by powers greater than they. A proving ground for the symptoms of an emotional polity, easy to manipulate, easy for “thesis-creep” (Ken Griffin of Citadel talks about this too, with regard to financial politics at home) an easy climate of rage to be capitalized upon by a good deceitful demagogue.

So it goes,"
"The Fed Will Overshoot & Kill the Economy"
"In today’s episode, I have with me back on the show Jim Rickards. Jim is an American lawyer, economist, and investment banker. He's the best-selling author of a number of books on currencies, gold, the global economy, and most recently sold out an analysis of supply side inflation and why the Fed is powerless to do anything about it."
Comments here:

"Something Like Reverence...:

 

“When the pain of leaving behind what we know outweighs the pain of embracing it, or when the power we face is overwhelming and neither flight nor fight will save us, there may be salvation in sitting still. And if salvation is impossible, then at least before perishing we may gain a clearer vision of where we are. By sitting still I do not mean the paralysis of dread, like that of a rabbit frozen beneath the dive of a hawk. I mean something like reverence, a respectful waiting, a deep attentiveness to forces much greater than our own.”
- Scott Russell Sanders


God help us, God help us all...

Friday, March 10, 2023

"Watch For Bank Failure Contagion As Systemic Meltdown Worsens"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 3/10/23:
"Watch For Bank Failure Contagion As 
Systemic Meltdown Worsens"
Comments here:

"Breaking: Widespread Bank Panic; Emergency Nuke Message Sent to Millions; Countries Prep for Worst"

Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 3/10/23:
"Breaking: Widespread Bank Panic; 
Emergency Nuke Message Sent to Millions; Countries Prep for Worst"
Comments here:

"15 Cheap Items That Are Going To Get Very Expensive In The Months Ahead"

Full screen recommended.
"15 Cheap Items That Are Going To Get 
Very Expensive In The Months Ahead"
By Epic Economist

"We all know by now that a single black swan event can interrupt the flow of goods to our stores and result in empty shelves that can last for months on end. With so many factors combining to create a threatening outlook for our supply chains, our economy, and financial markets simultaneously, it is safe to say that it is only a matter of time before the next emergency strikes. This means that many of the goods that we take for granted today may disappear from our local supermarkets, pharmacies, and retail stores, and even essential products that only cost us a few dollars may face huge price spikes due to dwindling inventories.

Even an unexpected natural disaster can set off a panic buying wave that wipes out the stock of a certain product that can make a difference for you in a life-and-death situation. It seems that people are finally waking up to the fact that getting ready in advance for possible adversities and stocking up on medicine, groceries, and key utensils can not only save a lot of money in the long run but also keep you safe in a situation when things get quite chaotic on our streets.

After the pandemic broke out, we all got a taste of the feeling of being stuck at home with no access to the things we needed for an indefinite period. Even nowadays, people still get shocked when they see that a given product can just vanish from sight from one week to the other. So it’s crucial to use the knowledge this experience has given us to better position ourselves for any challenges that may arise in the future.

For example, we often take for granted our access to clean water. However, we must remember that several parts of the country are already facing water shortages. During summertime, supplies get even more limited. And if you're thinking about long-term survival, you must start considering ways of purifying water using sources around your home. We never really realize how much we rely on clean water until our homes don't have any. Whenever a panic buying wave happens at our local supermarkets, bottled water is the first thing to go missing.

There are simply no guarantees that basic staples will be available forever, and stocking up on them now will be proven very helpful in critical moments. You can slowly create a backstock according to your needs and budget. But it’s important to start before it is too late because inflation will continue to send consumer prices to record highs for quite some time. That’s why today, we compiled a list of simple and affordable items which have both domestic and survival uses that are set to soar in price when the next disruption hits our supply chains.

Although many of these items may seem pretty unimportant right now, they will become critical supplies to have when the next crisis hits. For now, they're still easy to source and purchase. But all of these cheap items are going to be very expensive one day. So let's enjoy the window of opportunity we still have to make sure we're well-equipped for the challenges that are coming for us."
Comments here:

"We Just Witnessed A Bank Run And Bank Collapse In One Day; Bank Balances Missing; Liquidity Crisis"

Jeremiah Babe, 3/10/23:
"We Just Witnessed A Bank Run And Bank Collapse In One Day; 
Bank Balances Missing; Liquidity Crisis"
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: Ludovico Einaudi, "I Giorni"

Full screen recommended.
Ludovico Einaudi, "I Giorni"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Gorgeous spiral galaxy M33 seems to have more than its fair share of glowing hydrogen gas. A prominent member of the local group of galaxies, M33 is also known as the Triangulum Galaxy and lies a mere 3 million light-years away. Sprawling along loose spiral arms that wind toward the core, M33's giant HII regions are some of the largest known stellar nurseries, sites of the formation of short-lived but very massive stars. Intense ultraviolet radiation from the luminous massive stars ionizes the surrounding hydrogen gas and ultimately produces the characteristic red glow. 
To highlight the HII regions in this telescopic image, broadband data used to produce a color view of the galaxy were combined with narrowband data recorded through a hydrogen-alpha filter, transmitting the light of the strongest hydrogen emission line. Close-ups of cataloged HII regions appear in the sidebar insets. Use the individual reference number to find their location within the Triangulum Galaxy. For example, giant HII region NGC604 is identified in an inset on the right and appears at position number 15. That's about 4 o'clock from galaxy center in this portrait of M33."

"Alert! Bank Seized - We Don’t Have Your Money"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly, PM 3/10/23:
"Alert! Bank Seized - We Don’t Have Your Money"
"Breaking News!! The first bank seizure of 2023 has happened. Silicon Valley Bank has closed its doors. The FDIC came in and took over the operation of the bank today."
Comments here:
So it begins...

"Remember..."

"Remember, we all stumble, every one of us.
That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand."
- Emily Kimbrough

"I Was Given Something..."

"I had an experience. I can't prove it, I can't even explain it, but everything that I know as a human being, everything that I am tells me that it was real! I was given something wonderful, something that changed me forever. A vision of the universe that tells us, undeniably, how tiny, and insignificant and how... rare, and precious we all are! A vision that tells us that we belong to something that is greater than ourselves, that we are not - that none of us -  are alone! I wish I could share that. I wish, that everyone, if only for one moment, could feel that awe, and humility, and hope. But... that continues to be my wish."
- "Ellie Arroway", "Contact" by Carl Sagan
o
"Someday stars will wind down or blow up. Someday death will cover us all like the water of a lake and perhaps nothing will ever come to the surface to show that we were ever there. But we WERE there, and during the time we lived, we were alive. That's the truth - what is, what was, what will be - not what could be, what should have been, what never can be."
- Orson Scott Card
"Now the voices and the sound of movement were gone, and the stream could be heard running quietly under its banks. The air was full of the scent of water and of flowers. She walked, quiet, while the house began to reverberate: a band had started up. She walked beside the river while the music thudded, feeling herself as a heavy, impervious, insensitive lump that, like a planet doomed always to be dark on one side, had vision in front only, a myopic searchlight blind except for the tiny three-dimensional path open immediately before her eyes in which the outline of a tree, a rose, emerged then submerged in dark. She thought, with the dove's voices of her solitude. Where? But where? How? Who? No, but where, where? Then silence and the birth of a repetition. Where? Here. Here? Here, where else, you fool, you poor fool, where else has it been, ever?"
- Doris Lessing

The Daily "Near You?"

Fairmont, Minnesota, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 3/10/23"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 3/10/23:
"Heavy Bombing Continues in Ukraine - Scott Ritter"
Comments here:

Gerald Celente, "Gregory Mannarino: It's A Freak Show On A Knife's Edge"

Gerald Celente, 3/10/23:
"Gregory Mannarino: It's A Freak Show On A Knife's Edge"
"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."
Comments here:
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Related:

"We Are All Burned Out"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 3/10/23:
"We Are All Burned Out"
"People are complaining about everything. There are so many layoffs right now. People are just feeling the wrath of all this and they are burned out."
Comments here:

Bill Bonner, "Are We 'Too Negative?'"

"Are We 'Too Negative?'"
Bill responds to popular demand...
By Bill Bonner and Joel Bowman

"Every sunset brings the promise of a new dawn."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

San Martin, Argentina - "Back home on the range, after 2 days on the road, we take stock. Has anything important changed? Are the economy and the markets still following the script we laid out? But wait…

Colleague Tom Dyson just asked dear readers what they thought of our service. Many remarked that your editor was ‘too negative.’ Whew! We worried that we were too positive. We were afraid we had not warned you with sufficiently lurid details about the crash, depression, hyper-inflation, revolution, war, poverty and mass death ahead. Nevertheless, today, we will respond to popular demand. We’re not changing our tune. But we’ll try to be more up-beat about the coming catastrophe.

Buying the Market: You’ll recall that Wall Street was once a market for stocks and bonds. Each one was analyzed, inspected, weighed and judged. Investors looked for the best of them and traded them with each other, depending on their guesses and opinions. Then, the Fed came into the picture…cautiously…gradually…and then emphatically. Marty Zweig was among the first to notice that Wall Street had become something different…no longer a market of stocks, now it was an investment of its own…a ‘stock market,’ that investors could use like a gambler used Las Vegas…as a place to make his bets.

Instead of doing any real studying, an investor could just “buy the market” …perhaps by getting an ETF…and his fortunes would rise (or fall) with the stock market itself. Zweig noticed, too, that the key to succeeding in this new market was to understand the role of the Fed. “Don’t fight the Fed,” he advised.

After stopping inflation with a 20% Fed Funds rate in 1980, Fed policy pushed rates down and the stock market up for the next 40 years. From 1982 to 2022, the Dow doubled once…twice…thrice…four times…FIVE TIMES. But in 2020, the bond market topped out. Interest rates hit record lows (when bonds go up, yields go down)…and then began an historic move up. A four-decade bull market in bonds (with lower and lower yields) was over.

Measured in Real Money: Last year, the Fed changed course, too. It is now raising rates and lowering stock prices. Here’s the Wall Street Journal: "The Fed has been trying to curb investment, spending and hiring by raising rates, which makes it more expensive to borrow and can push down the price of assets such as stocks and real estate. The fed-funds rate influences other borrowing costs throughout the economy."

Speculators have been slow to understand. They put their ears to the rail…listening carefully for sounds of that coming Pivot Express. They are sure it is rolling their way; soon, they believe, things will return to ‘normal.’ In the meantime, they are still ‘buying the dip’ and expecting a return to booming markets with super-low interest rates

As we’ve pointed out, there was little ‘normal’ about the last 22 years. And stocks do not always go up. So far in the 21st century, even the greatest investor of all time – Warren Buffett – has not made a penny. Not in real money, gold.

Is this beginning to sound ‘negative?’ Well, let’s look at it from the bright side. The US has been on the decline…with fake money, fake wars…and fake prosperity for the last 22 years; happily, Buffett’s flagship company, Berkshire Hathaway, hasn’t lost value. Priced in gold, it is neither more or less valuable than it was in 1999.

That brings us up-to-date. There has been no real change in the program since the bond market hit bottom and the Fed changed course. Interest rates up; asset prices down. And from here on out, there’s nothing but good news: Currently, consumer, business, and government debt is still going up. Borrowing puts more money in circulation, which causes prices to rise (inflation).

Sunny Side of the Street: Thanks to the Fed’s error – keeping interest rates far too low for far too long – we have far too much debt, much of which can never be paid. But, (more positivity!) – that’s what recessions are for. Trying to stop recessions and corrections is like preventing episodic forest fires. The dry tinder just builds up – creating an even bigger danger. That is what has happened. Like fallen limbs and pine needles, the US has accumulated some $90 trillion worth of debt, including about $50 trillion in ‘excess’ tinder (above traditional norms). Good news for a pyromaniac!

So…on with the sunny-side-of-the-street weather outlook: For now, all is hunky dory. Low unemployment (as measured by the feds)…and satisfactory consumer spending (thanks to borrowing) allow the Fed to continue its policy of raising rates, without really causing much pain. Said Jerome Powell: “The latest economic data have come in stronger than expected, which suggests that the ultimate level of interest rates is likely to be higher than previously anticipated.”

And (will the good news ever stop?!) the Fed’s higher rates will probably have the effect the Fed desires – stocks will fall, interest rates will rise, borrowing will go down, consumer spending will drop off…and jobs will disappear. And debt will decline – either by defaults, bankruptcies and write-offs…and/or, later, by inflation.

Yes, there’s a small shadow over our otherwise sunny report. It’s easy to turn down a hamburger when you’ve just eaten a steak. It’s much harder when you are starving. When the lean days come – when stocks crash and the economy goes into a recession – we expect Powell’s appetite for a ‘pivot’ to be irresistible. And he’ll have plenty of company. Yes, the Fed is subject to the same fads and trends as the rest of the government. ‘Diversity hires’ at the Fed are likely to favor more government, bigger deficits, lower interest rates and looser monetary policies.

It would be a “serious mistake,” said Larry Summers to load up the Fed with wokish, dovish, leftist deciders. It would cause people to expect more inflation, and thereby “put more inflation premium into interest rates…likely to lead to higher long rates, which means higher mortgage rates for the very people progressives are trying to help.”

Even there, the glass is half full as well as half empty. The housing sector has begun a decline already. Higher mortgage rates will give it a shove, helping it get where it is going sooner. Higher prices….and higher mortgage interest rates…will prevent people from buying houses they can’t really afford.

So you see, dear reader, everything always works out for the best."

Joel’s Note: Speaking of happy days, small business owners and members of America’s entrepreneurial class can finally rejoice. After years watching their bloated federal government overpromise, over-react and overspend on just about every front, President Biden swooped to the rescue yesterday with the promise of…higher taxes and more government spending!

Unveiling his much anticipated tax plan, Mr. Biden’s 2024 budget proposal calls for massive new social spending programs and (get ready to be shocked) tax hikes on the rich. Here’s MSN…"The president’s budget calls for paring back the deficit over the next decade while also spending more than $2 trillion on dozens of new domestic policy initiatives, paid for by more than $4.5 trillion in new revenue, primarily through hefty tax hikes on high earners and large corporations and by reining in federal spending on prescription drugs.

The blueprint envisions a much more expansive role for the federal government overall, aiming for about $10 trillion in annual spending by 2033 — up from roughly $6.3 trillion currently, and about $6.9 trillion in the next fiscal year."

Hmm… a ~50% increase in annual spending over the next decade... funded by “eating the rich?” Where have we seen this playbook before? And this, from the same ace administrators who oversaw the Paycheck Protection Program, from which a cool $120 billion was purloined… not to mention the $163 billion siphoned from the federal unemployment insurance program. Boy, these guys sure have a handle on the situation!

This latest budget would also lift the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, quadruple the stock buyback tax levied last year, double the capital gains tax to 39.6% from 20% for households making over $1 million and raise the top personal-income tax rate to 39.6%, from 37%, for Americans earning $400,000 or more.

But why stop there? At last count, American had 724 billionaires, the most of any country on the planet. (China is #2, at 698.) According to inequality.org, the billionaire class added $2.1 trillion dollars to their net wealth during the pandemic. Never mind whether these people earned their wealth through honest means or by grift… by providing real world goods and services or leaching off the state. Since we’re already coveting our neighbors’ property, why not just go “Full Bernie” and soak ‘em all?!

Well, because… math. Let’s say we arrest Messers. Musk, Bezos, Gates, Zuck, Buffett and the rest of their uber rich buddies. Let’s say we confiscate their yachts, pilfer their accounts, commandeer their rocket ships and turn their factories, outlets, research plants, investment funds, offshore accounts and all the rest over to the federal government.

Taking inequality.org at its word – that is, assuming America’s billionaires have a cool $5 trillion for us to “appropriate” – looting the mega rich would yield enough lucre to run Mr. Biden’s dream 2033 federal government for… six months. Then what? Maybe then it would finally be time, as the learned George Bush II so eloquently phrased it, to “make the pie higher.”

"How It Really Is"

"Moral compass?!" 
 Surely you jest... This is 'Murica!
o

Greg Hunter, "Weekly News Wrap-Up 3/10/23"

"Weekly News Wrap-Up 3/10/23"
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"The video released this week by Tucker Carlson and FOX shows one big fact. Everything the J6 Committee in Congress told us was a huge lie. There was no insurrection, and the video proves it. There are 14,000 hours of video that can be released, and I suspect it will prove the J6 Committee committed treason against the American people for promoting this huge lie. Was it all to make Donald Trump into a crazy insurrectionist to stop him from running in 2024? I think the answer is Yes, and the weasels who promoted this hoax should pay.

While fighting over releasing video proving people were protesting a stolen election in a peaceful manner, the death count with the CV19 bioweapon/vax keeps growing and keeps being ignored. With 600 million CV19 bioweapon injections in USA alone, we are far from finished with the massive amounts of death and disabilities happening every day. The Lying Legacy Media (LLM) keeps on ignoring the problem that will affect every man, woman and child alive today for the rest of their lives. Again, 600 million injections in America alone and about 13 billion injections worldwide of a bioweapon that did NOT HELP A SINGLE PERSON. Maybe FOX can report on this story and explain why it took Pfizer money and HHS money and did not offer a word resisting this CV19 deadly hoax.

The Fed is going to keep raising interest rates. The LLM keeps telling you the Fed is almost done, but Fed Head Jay Powell threw another cold bucket of water on that wet dream this week and said more rate increases are coming to fight inflation. Catherine Austin Fitts says, “The Fed is going to protect the dollar.” It’s really that simple." There is much more in the 35-minute newscast.

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble for these stories 
and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up for 3/10/23:

"The Fierce Urgency Of Now..."

 

Jim Kunstler, "Everything, All at Once"

"Everything, All at Once"
By Jim Kunstler

“There’s a lot of stupidity in public discourse, and most of it is not worth paying attention to. But once in a while, there is a kind of stupidity that is so grotesque that its very existence to any substantive degree tells us something about our culture.” - Richard Hanania

"Time, they say, is nature’s way of making sure that everything doesn’t happen at once. Whoever “they” are - and these days it is liable to be just one person - obviously hadn’t tried living in the USA in 2023, because now everything is happening at once. The cosmic weirdness has left some observers, such as the formidable and admirable Naomi Wolf, to wonder if we are under the sway of something supernatural, and not a good something.

The old movie "Poltergeist" comes to mind. Remember? Every evil entity in the pop culture universe came spewing out of a TV all at once, to disorder a perfectly banal and serene suburban neighborhood, representing all of us, of course. These days, when I drive to the supermarket to behold the astounding price of tomatoes, I half-expect to see a giant projection of Joy Reid piggyback on a hoofed-and-horned Klaus Schwab, ride across the sickening red twilight sky, her shrieks making the leafless trees cringe and the asphalt crack. The shadow-side of everything in American history and posterity is loose upon the land, and our country has finally come to look exactly like Dylan’s "Desolation Row": "They’re selling postcards of the hanging, and painting the passports brown, all right. The beauty parlor’s filled with sailors, the circus is in town."

The defining moment of the week was the White House ceremony with Dr. Jill Biden and her side-piece, Tony Blinken, presenting an International Women of Courage award to Ms. Alba Rueda of Argentina, a biological man. But, of course! Kisses all around. Mattias Desmet, author of "The Psychology of Totalitarianism," pointed out some time ago that a psychotic political regime would require the people to swallow ever-greater absurdities as things played out in its death-wish drive toward national nullity.

But was that little scene more absurd than the regime’s campaign in Ukraine to do… uh, to do what, exactly? To punish Vladimir Putin, or something like that. Or is it nuclear war they’re really after? A war, they’re telling themselves, that we would surely win, as if being a continent-sized ashtray is winning. Meanwhile, our Intel Community has discovered that it was… well might have been… Ukraine, after all, who blew up the Nord Stream pipelines - with help from some outside parties (namely, America’s Intel Community).

But waitagoshdarnminnit! How does that get anybody off-the-hook for the costly caper? NATO supposedly backs Ukraine, right? And Germany is the European leader of NATO, right? So you’re telling me Ukraine blew up a systemically-important asset of a leading country that supports Ukraine? Something doesn’t add up in that-there rebus puzzle. I’ll spare you the mental labor. The US Spook Industrial Complex is just laying another trip on you. And the “you” includes poor bamboozled Germany, led by arguably the biggest sap ever elected by a supposedly advanced nation, Olaf Scholz, whose name will evermore ring through history as a synonym for “chump.”

Sooner or later, one or both of the following must happen: the German people will dump this chump and/or his replacement will find a way to bow out of Germany’s commitment to America’s foolish proxy war against Russia, leading post-haste to the disintegration of NATO, and leaving America’s army of vaccine-injured transsexuals to reconquer the Donbas and Crimea, led by Tony Blinken in an off-the-shoulder cocktail dress.

Anyway, by the time that hallucination comes to pass, all the other things that are happening at once will be so vividly in America’s face that the epic sleepwalk of the Walking Woke ends with a jolt like unto a cattle prod upside the brain-pan. For instance, the implosion of our financial markets along with a sudden, shocking expiration of the US dollar as a credible currency. The mighty “woosh” heard from sea to shining sea will be the sound of capital going up in a vapor. The event will halt all that jabber about debt ceilings, budgets, and billions for Ukraine. A nauseated silence spreads across the land. Then, what?

I heard a rumor this week (yes, it’s just a rumor) that the Federal Reserve is bailing out WalMart, the Krogers supermarket chain, and other national food distributors in a stealth overnight lending operation. Their business model is shot. Nobody has the scratch to buy stuff. The never-ending Blue Light Special has finally gone dark. Make of it what you will. Could be some kind of fake news. But if it’s not, we’re talking about not just giant businesses in deep trouble and possibly going down, but of a big problem with food moving around the country. Do you suppose that might get people’s attention?

Two other big deals are ripening now: America is discovering just how played the country was by the Covid-19 stunt, including the “vaccine” fraud, now burgeoning into a nightmare of escalating injury and all-causes death. Just this week the nation learned how the previous chief of the CDC, one Robert Redfield, was left entirely in the dark by Dr. Tony Fauci and his minions in discussions of how the novel coronavirus came to be, and who, exactly was responsible for this fiasco. Something went very wrong in American public health officialdom. Indictments, anyone?

The other shock will come when somebody at the FBI - if not Director Chris Wray himself - will finally be forced to disclose to a congressional committee that the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol was fomented by a substantial band of US government agents working the crowd of hapless protesters to produce the perfect Trump-ending fiasco. That will be the end of “Joe Biden.” But then, what?"
o
Bob Dylan, "Desolation Row"

"Alert! Make No Mistake! We Are Now In The Early Stages Of A Systemic Meltdown"

Gregory Mannarino, 3/10/23:
"Alert! Make No Mistake!
 We Are Now In The Early Stages Of A Systemic Meltdown"
Comments here:

"Strange Prices At Dollar General! Preparing For The Future!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 3/10/23:
"Strange Prices At Dollar General! 
Preparing For The Future!"
"In today's vlog we are at Dollar General, and are noticing some strange price increases! We are here checking out some long shelf life grocery items to stock up on for the future. We continue to see skyrocketing prices, and a lot of empty shelves!"
Comments here:
o