Jeremiah Babe, 3/21/23
"Markets Love Bank Bailouts But You Will Pay The Price"
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So, we rise from the rubble...
Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Gerald Celente, "Devolution of Humanity"
Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 3/21/23
"Devolution of Humanity"
"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."
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"A Look to the Heavens"
“Large, dusty, spiral galaxy NGC 4945 is seen edge-on near the center of this rich telescopic image. The field of view spans nearly 2 degrees, or about 4 times the width of the Full Moon, toward the expansive southern constellation Centaurus.
Click image for larger size.
About 13 million light-years distant, NGC 4945 is almost the size of our own Milky Way Galaxy. But X-ray and infrared observations reveal even more high energy emission and star formation in the core of NGC 4945. The other prominent galaxy in the field, NGC 4976, is an elliptical galaxy. Left of center, NGC 4976 is much farther away, at a distance of about 35 million light-years, and not physically associated with NGC 4945.”
- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090109.html
The Poet: Paul Laurence Dunbar, “We Wear The Mask”
“We Wear The Mask”
“We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,-
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be overwise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!”
- Paul Laurence Dunbar
"Three Things..."
“To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special. I just got one last thing... I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have.”
- Jim Valvano
“Modern Society Is Seriously Sick”
“Modern Society Is Seriously Sick”
by Sofo Archon
"One of the greatest thinkers of the 20th century, Jiddu Krishnamurti, once said: “It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” I agree with Jiddu. Society is seriously sick. Yet most of us aren’t aware of it. That’s because we’re so conditioned to our society that the idea of something being terribly wrong with it usually doesn’t cross our minds.
Well, it did cross mine – in fact, it does and has every single day for the last 15+ years. And I write about it so that it might cross yours too (if it hasn’t already). Not because I want to disappoint you, but because I want you to know what’s truly going on so that you can perhaps help make some change.
There are some crystal clear signs that reveal the sickness of our society, and certainly one of them is consumerism – that is, the compulsive buying of stuff. Look around you attentively and you’ll see almost everywhere people chasing products they think will bring them happiness, only to feel sadder a few moments after acquiring them. Yet they keep on getting more and more of them, without ever realizing their addictive behavior.
But why exactly do we fall victims to consumerism? And how could we free ourselves from it? Well, that’s exactly what my newest article is all about. So if you’re interested in knowing the answers to those questions, then be sure to check it out. It's a bit lengthy compared to most articles you come across online, but I'd highly suggest you to dedicate some of your time to it, as I consider it to be one of the best pieces of writing I've published so far."
Gregory Mannarino, "Bank of America Warns Of 'Systemic Credit Event.'
Gregory Mannarino, PM 3/21/23
"Bank of America Warns Of 'Systemic Credit Event.'
Liquidity Crisis/Credit Freeze"
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Watch...
"Time..."
“Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so?
Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live.
Before they know it, time runs out.”
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
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“How small a portion of our life it is that we really enjoy. In youth we are looking forward to things that are to come; in old age, we are looking backwards to things that are gone past; in manhood, although we appear indeed to be more occupied in things that are present, yet even that is too often absorbed in vague determinations to be vastly happy on some future day, when we have time.”
- Charles Caleb Colton, “Lacon”
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“The problem is, you believe you have time.”
- Buddha
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Full screen recommended.
Hans Zimmer, "Time"
"It Is Our Fate..."
"Well, it is our fate to live in a time of crisis. To live in a time when all forms and values are being challenged. In other and more easy times, it was not, perhaps, necessary for the individual to confront himself with a clear question: What is it that you really believe? What is it that you really cherish? What is it for which you might, actually, in a showdown, be willing to die? I say, with all the reticence which such large, pathetic words evoke, that one cannot exist today as a person – one cannot exist in full consciousness – without having to have a showdown with one’s self, without having to define what it is that one lives by, without being clear in one’s mind what matters and what does not matter.”
- Dorothy Thompson
"Oh SH*T, They're Really Doing This"
Redacted, 3/21/23:
"Oh SH*T, They're Really Doing This"
"Chinese President Xi Jinping completed his first day of visits in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the two leaders seem to be getting along swimmingly, with the West watching closely. The U.S. has begun ramping up accusations that China is considering sending lethal weapons to Russia although National Security spokesperson John Kirby admitted that “the U.S. has no evidence China has done so.” China and Russia are continuously warning about NATO aggression and NATO is giving them reason to by signaling that they will amass 300,000 troops along Russia's borders."
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Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 3/21/23:
"Putin & Xi Have Met - Now What in Ukraine?
Col. Doug Macgregor"
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Bill Bonner, "All Hell Broke Loose"
"All Hell Broke Loose"
Plus, America at a cross roads: destitution... or revolution?
by Bill Bonner
San Martin, Argentina - "Take a look at this.
We don’t usually put charts in our daily comments. If we’re going to make mistakes, we prefer to make them with words. But this chart is just more graphic evidence of how the future has been hi-jacked. The average American today can expect to be poorer than his parents. For the first time in our lives, yesterday really was better than tomorrow.
The disappointment is even more remarkable when you consider the context. Never before has tomorrow had so much to work with – so many people with college degrees, so much capital – trillions of it – sloshing around Wall Street, so many inventions, innovations, and technical breakthroughs…and over all of it, a class of elite deciders, enlightened by Keynesian economics and protected from ‘misinformation’ by The New York Times and federal censors.
So many forward gears…and still going backward! What does it mean? Where does it lead? To revolution? Or destitution?
Born of the Wind: In the meantime, a report from the Calchaqui Valley. As long time readers know, we spend part of each year down here in Argentina. Here, we learn more about dysfunctional economies…and what happens when inflation goes over 100% per year. It began as it was supposed to. The cows – about 100 of them – were to be moved from one side of the river to the other. “Hoop…yaaah…aiyee.”
Two cowboys rode into the corral…got behind the cows to urge them out of the gate. Two others were waiting outside the corral to guide them down the road and across the river. Down here, in the valley, the local people don’t really know much about cattle ranching. We raise our cattle up at the ranch, an hour and a half away, by the gravel road…but 8 hours for the cattle, who come over the pass. The two properties join each other. But only up at the pass, with a lot of rocky trail between one pasture and another. These cows were brought down here because here is where the rolls of alfalfa are. “Ya….ahi…baca…baca…”
Since the local people are farmers, not ranchers, we brought in a couple of young men from the ranch to work down here. Lazaro and Pablo are both of medium height and slight of build. Dark hair, brown skin – they could be brothers. And maybe they are. People here know their mothers. They are sometimes less clear about their fathers. When a girl gets pregnant, often the unknown sperm donor is referred to as “el viento’ (the wind).
We don’t ask questions. Both Lazaro and Pablo are friendly. And they are good with horses and cattle. That’s all that matters. “Yip…yip…yip…” The cattle drive was short. The herd moved along nicely…entered the river and then, dripping with water, continued along the road to the stone corral on the other side.
All Hell Breaks Loose: The next day they would be given their vaccinations and released into a field of fescue waiting for them. No problem. “But that’s when all hell broke loose.”
Our son-in-law was on the scene. As we hinted earlier this month, we had a secret agenda for our visit. We were hoping that he would take an interest in our projects down here…and take charge of them. “You either love the valley,” says our neighbor, a lifelong resident. “Or you can’t stand it. There’s no middle ground.”
So far…the affair between the valley and our son-in-law seems to be progressing. He reports: “I’m a city guy. I was not prepared for it. But I like it. We got all the animals in the corral. And then, Pablo noticed that one of the cows was missing a horn. It had gotten knocked off in a fight. And the wound had not healed. Plus, they had taken away her calf; she didn’t like that much either.
The idea was to separate the cow from the herd and run her through the chute. There, we’d be able to lock her neck in place and treat the infection. Lazaro had a needle and thread…as well as some disinfectant. And, of course, his knife.
The cow didn’t want to go into the chute. We yelled at her…and whipped her. But she only got mad and charged us. We were ducking and diving all over the place. At one point, we had her in the little corral…and I was meant to cover one of the exits…and not let her out. But she came right at me. I waved my hat…and poked her with my stick. She kept coming. I had to jump out of the way or I’d be gored. I felt bad about it. I was supposed to stop her. But I didn’t want to die trying.
We finally got her into the chute…and put the ‘sepo’ on her neck, to keep her head from moving. We could see the problem closer up. There were maggots in the wound. They had to be cut out….the wound disinfected and sewn up. But her head was still moving around too much.” “We’ve got to do this the old-fashioned way,” said Pablo.
The Rise of Lazaro (and Pablo): “I was so impressed by those two guys. They really know what they are doing. They let her out of the chute. But she got her leg stuck. Lazaro grabbed her tail and pulled as hard as he could to get her to back up. And Pablo grabbed her foot to pull it out of the fence. Then, she ran around wildly. She was tired. We were all tired. We’d been wrestling with her for half an hour. They tried to rope her. And she kept charging. We got out of the way as fast as possible. And then, we went back into the corral to try again.
Finally, Victor (a big guy who doesn’t even work for us) got a rope around her back legs. And then Pablo was able to tie up her front legs. They pulled her over onto her side. And we all piled on top of her to hold her head down while Lazaro did the surgery.”
We got up cautiously. We were ready to run for the gate. But when we untied her, she got up and didn’t move. I’m not sure whether she was just exhausted…or whether she was grateful that she had gotten necessary treatment.”
"Russia is Annihilating Ukraine's Last Soldiers"
Col. Douglas Macgregor, Straight Calls, 3/21/l23
"Russia is Annihilating Ukraine's Last Soldiers"
"Analysis of breaking news and in-depth discussion of current geopolitical events in the United States of America and the world."
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"This Just Makes No Sense"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 3/21/23:
"This Just Makes No Sense"
"It is crazy that we are seeing banks fail globally. Now we’re supposed to believe everything is going to be OK. Billionaires and economist have stepped forward to remind us how serious everything is and that we have major problems coming in the economy."
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"Shopping Trip To Meijer! Finding Some Deals On Groceries!"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danny, 3/21/23:
"Shopping Trip To Meijer!
Finding Some Deals On Groceries!"
"In today's vlog we are at Meijer, and are noticing a massive amount of price increases on groceries! This is getting ridiculous as products continue to skyrocket in the grocery stores! It's getting rough out here as stores also seem to be struggling with getting products!"
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Monday, March 20, 2023
"186 More Banks “Are At Risk Of Failure”, And That Could Push Us Into The Next Great Depression"
Full screen recommended.
"186 More Banks “Are At Risk Of Failure”,
And That Could Push Us Into The Next Great Depression"
by Epic Economist
"They are desperately trying to plug one leak in the system after another, but what happens if the entire system suddenly comes crashing down all around them? Back on January 4th, I specifically warned that our problems would “greatly accelerate over the next 12 months”, and that is precisely what has happened. We are now in the midst of the most severe banking crisis since 2008, and it could soon get a whole lot worse. We have already witnessed the second and third largest bank failures in the entire history of our nation, and now it is being reported that 186 more banks “are at risk of failure”…
On the heels of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse earlier this month, 186 more banks are at risk of failure even if only half of their depositors decide to withdraw their funds, a new study has found.
The collapse this month of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank prompted a flood of deposits out of regional lenders and into the nation’s largest banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. Customers spooked by the bank failures were taking refuge in firms seen as too big to fail.
If every bank account in America is suddenly fully guaranteed by the federal government, there will be a giant sucking sound as wealthy individuals pull their money out of European banks where large balances are not fully insured.
The European banking system is already teetering on the brink of collapse. In fact, we just learned that Switzerland’s biggest bank, UBS, has agreed to buy its ailing rival Credit Suisse in an emergency rescue deal aimed at stemming financial market panic unleashed by the failure of two American banks earlier this month.
Our economy runs on mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and debit cards. If a bank gets into trouble, the flow of credit from that bank is restricted. And if a bank fails, the flow of credit from that bank completely stops. If lots of banks start going under in this country, economic activity will shrink substantially and we really will be facing “another great depression”. Hopefully a way can be found to stabilize the banking system, because economic conditions are certainly bad enough already."
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"We're so freakin' doomed!"
- The Mogambo Guru
"Liquidity Crisis. Failed Bank 'Rescue.' Expect A Global Inflation Tsunami"
Gregory Mannarino, PM 3/20/23
"Liquidity Crisis. Failed Bank 'Rescue.'
Expect A Global Inflation Tsunami"
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"Banks Panic As Liquidity Crisis Spreads, Banking Disaster Imminent, Who Will Bail You Out?"
Jeremiah Babe, 3/20/23:
"Banks Panic As Liquidity Crisis Spreads,
Banking Disaster Imminent, Who Will Bail You Out?"
Comments here:
Musical Interlude: Paul Mauriat, "Love is Blue"
Full screen recommended.
Paul Mauriat, "Love is Blue"
"A Look to the Heavens"
"On an August night two friends enjoyed this view after a day's hike on the Plateau d'Emparis in the French Alps. At 2400 meters altitude the sky was clear. Light from a setting moon illuminates the foreground captured in the simple vertical panorama of images. Along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy stars of Cassiopeia and Perseus shine along the panorama's left edge.
Click image for larger size.
But seen as a faint cloud with a brighter core, the Andromeda galaxy, stands directly above the two friends in the night. The nearest large spiral galaxy, Andromeda is about 2.5 million light-years beyond the stars of the Milky Way. Adding to the evening's shared extragalactic perspective, the fainter fuzzy spot in the sky right between them is M33, also known as the Triangulum galaxy. Third largest in the local galaxy group, after Andromeda and Milky Way, the Triangulum galaxy is about 3 million light-years distant. On that night, the two friends stood about 3 light-nanoseconds apart."
"What Might Have Been..."
“Space I can recover. Time, never.”
- Napoleon Bonaparte
“Lands can be reconquered, indeed in the course of a battle, a hill or a certain plain might trade hands several times. But missed opportunities? These can never be regained. Moments in time, in culture? They can never be re-made. One can never go back in time to prepare for what they should have prepared for, no one can ever get back critical seconds that were wasted out of fear or ego. Napoleon was brilliant at trading space for time: Sure, you can make these moves, provided you are giving me the time I need to drill my troops, or move them to where I want them to be. Yet in life, most of us are terrible at this. We trade an hour of our life here or afternoon there like it can be bought back with the few dollars we were paid for it. And it is only much, much later, as they are on their deathbeds or when they are looking back on what might have been, that many people realize the awful truth of this quote. Don’t do that. Embrace it now.”
- Ryan Holiday
The Poet: Mary Oliver, "There Is Time Left"
"There Is Time Left"
"Well, there is time left
fields everywhere invite you into them.
And who will care, who will chide you if you wander away
from wherever you are, to look for your soul?
Quickly, then, get up, put on your coat, leave your desk!
To put ones foot into the door of the grass, which is
the mystery, which is death as well as life,
and not be afraid!
To set ones foot in the door of death,
and be overcome with amazement! "
~ Mary Oliver
"Bad News Comes in Small Packages"
"Bad News Comes in Small Packages"
by Jeff Thomas
"There’s a change taking place in supermarkets – one that’s going largely unnoticed, in spite of the fact that it’s becoming a new norm. Packaging for products, particularly foodstuffs, is getting downsized. Folger’s coffee, Chobani Yoghurt, Fritos, etc. – all are being offered in smaller packages than before. The resizing is not dramatic; in fact, it’s so small – sometimes less than 10% - that it’s hard to imagine why they’re bothering to do it. This is particularly true of items that come in plastic packaging. Gatorade, for example, has been reduced in size from 32 to 28 ounces, but the price is the same.
To the consumer, a change in the size of a plastic Gatorade bottle doesn’t raise an eyebrow, but for food producers, it’s a significant event. Each time a new bottle is designed, even if the change is very slight, new moulds must be designed and machined. And every machine in every factory across the country that produces the bottles must be fitted with new moulds. Then, the injection-moulding machine must be re-calibrated to insert a smaller amount of polyethylene into the mould, and the moulding time must be re-calibrated. Injection moulding machines are notoriously temperamental, and it can take weeks or months to fine-tune them to perform consistently in continual production. Very costly.
While this information is boring for most of us, it’s of great importance to the producer of the product. Resizing packaging is a last resort for any producer of goods. A simple downsizing is costly enough that he wouldn’t entertain the idea unless he’s backed into a corner and can’t do anything else. If an entire industry is downsizing products, it means something more concerning than just a few companies trying to remain competitive. And, in fact, a writer for Consumer World commented recently that price increases and smaller packaging "comes in waves," but that "We happen to be in a tidal wave at the moment."
But, again, all this is small potatoes to the consumer – it’s not his problem. So why should we bother to think about the minutiae of food production when we have bigger issues to concern us? Well, in actual fact, there’s no issue that’s of greater importance to us than the supply of food. Until recently, we’ve been able to be fairly complacent about food availability, as most of us have been accustomed to the shelves at the supermarket remaining full. But, recently, there have been a few scares. Some items have gone missing for several months. Certainly, the shortage of baby formula was important enough to have appeared on the evening news for several weeks.
But what if all food products were, without warning, in short supply? What if a percentage of the supermarkets began shutting their doors across the country?
Let’s back up a bit here. In decades past, it was the norm for most major supermarkets to have their own warehouses, where backup stock could be stored. If, for any reason, shipments were delayed by, say, a snowstorm, the shelves could be restocked locally until the weather improved. In addition, payment terms of 30 days net were not uncommon in the industry.
Markups, too, were substantial enough that items that were marked up 10%, 20%, or more could cover for those items that could not be marked up as much but were necessary as a draw to get customers through the door. A store owner might decide, "Put 5% on the milk, and we’ll get the shortfall back on the Häagen-Dazs."
But, over the last decade or more, the food industry has taken repeated economic hits. In each case, the industry has attempted to give the impression that there were no problems – that it has been business as usual. But, truth be told, the viability of the industry as a whole has degraded considerably.
The food industry has, for years, gotten by on a retail markup as low as 2% on most items. Also, suppliers are demanding three-day payment turnarounds in order to get by. In addition, the local warehouses that most supermarkets once maintained are largely gone. Supermarkets now rely on semi-weekly deliveries from wholesalers to keep the shelves full. There’s minimal backup supply.
What all this means is that the food industry, from the producers to the wholesalers, to the retailers, has no wiggle room left. At this point, the industry resembles a boxer who has given up and dropped his hands and is just waiting for the knockout punch.
It will come as no surprise to the reader that inflation is increasing due to dramatic government spending. In the last ten years, more currency has been created than in the previous 230 years put together. Dramatic inflation is unavoidable. If significant inflation were to occur in any given month, food industry profits would be eliminated for the month. This now happens periodically in the industry, but it’s recoverable the following month. (The next shipment is marked up enough to cover inflation, and while the profit for the month in question is never recovered, the industry survives.)
However, if a mere three consecutive months of significant inflation were to occur, we might expect to see the lights going off in supermarkets across the country. Those that are the most heavily in debt would go first. They’d be followed in the following months by others for as long as the inflation trend continued.
If any nation were to lose suppliers and retailers in, say, shoes or washing machines, shortages would occur, and we would simply adjust. Our old shoes would go to the cobbler rather than being thrown out. We’d call the washing machine repairman if we couldn’t go to the appliance store and buy a new one. But food is different. It’s the one product that must be replaced immediately. We cannot simply postpone our need for food for a period of weeks or months.
A decade ago, when I wrote that food shortages would take place in the coming economic crisis, unsurprisingly, few people took the notion seriously, as the warning had been made so early. But those shortages have now begun. They’re not yet serious, but we’re now seeing the warning signs. Back then, I additionally projected that the shortages would become severe enough that food riots would take place and, worse, that famine would occur for the first time in living memory in the First World.
If there’s a shortage of shoes or washing machines – let’s say 10% or even 20% - we’d simply adjust. But if there’s a 10% or 20% shortage of food, it means that some retailers have folded and that a given area no longer receives food. If producers, wholesalers, and retailers shut their doors in greater numbers, there is famine. It will be selective – that is – it will be greater in some areas than others. And, of course, that’s a hard concept for us to wrap our heads around in an economy that until now allowed us to simply pop around to Burger King if we got a bit peckish.
So, the downsizing of a Gatorade bottle doesn’t mean that tomorrow, we’ll be without food. This is a mere symptom of a greater problem. But it’s a warning sign that we should be paying closer attention to an industry that has run out of wiggle room and may soon become unsustainable. If and when that happens, the outcome will be far more important than any of the other economic concerns that we presently focus on. Whether it’s groceries, medical care, tuition, or rent, it seems the cost of everything is rising. It’s an established trend in motion that is accelerating, and now approaching a breaking point."
"How An Army Commercial Shows We’re Rapidly Falling Apart"
"How An Army Commercial Shows
We’re Rapidly Falling Apart"
by John Wilder
“Chicks dig me, because I rarely wear underwear and when I do it’s usually something unusual. But now I know why I have always lost women to guys like you. I mean, it’s not just the uniform. It’s the stories that you tell.” – Stripes
"The United States’ Army has a new ad campaign out. The slogan, however, is fairly familiar: “Be All That You Can Be.” This became the slogan of the Army’s recruiting campaign back when they had to convince people to join because driving a fast car like Burt Reynolds while marrying busty blondes was a much more interesting career option.
That slogan lasted from 1980 to 2001, with “Army Of One®” was replaced by Call of Duty™ online mode. The Air Force was encouraged by that slogan, and decided to use “Air Force Of Only One Plane®” since that was all they could afford if they decided to go with the F-35.
But things have not gone well for Big Green recently. I heard in the last year, they actually recruited only one soldier, and he was a decoy. I kid. They had a goal of something like 60,000, but only recruited 45,000. I’m guessing that’s because the other 15,000 decided that working at McDonald’s® was a better option.
And, why not? The videos showing recent Army performance have been, um, less than stellar. From the pullout of Afghanistan, to Biden forcing troops to take the Vaxx or take a hike, it’s been bad. The commercials for recruitment have likewise been horrific. If it’s not good enough for the wise Latina child joining the armed forces and then looking back on her lesbian biracial parents who gave her hormone replacement therapy at age three, well, it’s not good enough for me.
I think the Army missed some real gems in going back to that old slogan. They could have chosen some of these:
1. Join the Army, where the camouflage makes you invisible to your ex.
2. Join the Army, and let us take care of your social life . . . because you won’t have one.
3. The Army: Where you can kill two birds with one grenade.
4. The Army: If you needed a good excuse to shave your head.
5. Join the Army: Where you’ll find that “hurry up and wait” isn’t just a saying, it’s a way of life.
6. The Army: “You’ll learn to stay awake while standing up.”
7. Join the Army and see the world, through the scope of a rifle.
8. The Army: “You’ll make lifelong friends. Or enemies. Or both.
9. The Army, where you can put your Call of Duty™ skills to use, just without the respawn.
10. Join the Army, and get one free PEZ™ dispenser every year.
I mean, who traditionally makes up the Army, anyway? Actually, white dudes. In the terminology of today, people who were born male at birth and score low on the diversity index. Hell, in 2023, I’m wondering when “mail” will show up as a gender – “Oh, baby, put me in the big slot! I’m an oversized package!”
I looked up the makeup of the Army using the most recent statistics I could find. They’re kind of murky, because they don’t break out “Hispanic” by itself. I guess I can understand that. Even though I’ve been described as “so Danish that’s the picture in the dictionary” I can also claim that at least 25% of my ancestors were born in Mexico. Were they Danish? Yeah. Still don’t understand how they dealt with the sunburn. But Pugsley can check that box on the college application.
So, the stats I could find are murky. It looks like the numbers of white people in the Army has gone down 2% in two years from 70% to 68%. And what’s one percent? About 5,000 guys. So, of their missing 15,000, you could make an argument that 10,000 of them might have been white guys that didn’t join up. I know three kids that were friends of The Boy that were gung ho about joining the military, until November, 2020. Then? “Nah, I think I’ll work.”
So, to recreate the idea that perhaps the Army wants white guys to join up, the reversion to the “Be All That You Can Be™” slogan was the reaction from the Army. To be clear, they’re still using food made before 1960, ammo made before 1970, so why not a slogan that was made in 1980?
Enter the new video. Where in the last few, the only thing not visible was a white guy, this video is chock full of white guys. At one location where the video was stored on YouTube©, the comment section was more disastrous than French naval performance at Trafalgar. I mean hundreds and hundreds of comments that, well, I’ll just post a few of them on the website and let you draw your own conclusions. I did not cherry pick these, and did not see a single, not one, zero positive comments. Feel free to go give a look yourself – the video is here:
Yup, pretty bad. Both of my sons have received text messages from Army recruiters, heck, as late as 2016, I presented to The Boy the options of West Point and Colorado Springs for colleges. He noped out of both choices. Pugsley is not at all interested.
I am not disappointed – rather, the opposite, and became doubly so after the decision by the Biden Administration to force armed forces members to Vaxx up. Sure, the DOD rescinded the requirement this year on January 10, but that didn’t help the people who already Vaxxed up. Wonder if the VA is going to cover that?
Regardless, I would hazard a guess that confidence in the cohesion of the country is lower than at any time in my life. Perhaps the real slogan should be “Be All That You Can Binge-Watch On Netflix®”?"
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Meanwhile, as our Army learns pregnancy simulation...
"Spetsnaz GRU - The Deadliest Russian Special Forces"
"Spetsnaz GRU is the special forces or spetsnaz of the G.U., the foreign military intelligence agency of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The Spetsnaz GRU was formed in 1949, the first special force in the Soviet Union, as the military force of the Main Intelligence Directorate, the foreign military intelligence agency of the Soviet Armed Forces. The force was designed in the context of the Cold War to carry out reconnaissance and sabotage against enemy targets in the form of special reconnaissance and direct action attacks. The Spetsnaz GRU inspired additional spetsnaz forces attached to other Soviet intelligence agencies, such as the Vympel and Alpha Group of the KGB."
"Don’t Think That This is Good"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 3/20/23:
"Don’t Think That This is Good"
"We are seeing banks that want to be bailed out. They are asking the Fed for two years of funding. Plus, I do an update on two great stories over the last two weeks."
Comments here:
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"How Many Times...
"How many times do you have to get hit over the
head until you figure out who's hitting you?"
- Harry S. Truman
Bill Bonner, "The 'Stealth Pivot'"
"The 'Stealth Pivot'"
Is this the moment we've been waiting for?
by Bill Bonner
San Martin, Argentina - "What a week! Another exciting mix of the absurd, the ominous and the sublimely ridiculous. The most important thing that happened was that the Fed revealed more of its ‘stealth pivot.’ It came out with a program to bail out the big depositors of failing banks. Already, the FDIC insures the deposits of small account holders (under $250,000). Now the new alphabet group – BFTB, or something like that – is going to look after large account holders. In other words, the whole banking system is being nationalized.
Well, not exactly. The losses are being nationalized. The profits will remain with the bankers. What’s behind it? We recall our old friend Richard Russell: ‘The feds can control the banks to a large extent. They can control the bond market, to some extent. They can control the stock market, also to some extent. They can cause booms and trigger busts. But they can’t do those things and also control the value of the currency. The dollar is the pressure value. It suddenly pops open when the system needs a reset.’
The Gates of Hell: Ultimately, when you spend more than you can afford, something’s gotta give. Either you go broke. Or, if you are a sovereign country with debts denominated in your own currency, you ‘print’ more money to pay the bills. It’s either deflation (when prices fall), or inflation (when the dollar falls). Either you protect the currency (and the people who depend on it) and let the chips fall where they may. Or you print and spend…and let the dollar go to Hell. Last week, we saw the gates of Hell open a little wider.
Big depositors, faced with big losses, turned to the big Fed for relief. The Fed could have said: ‘you called the tune; you dance to it.’ Or it could have used a less-festive metaphor: ‘you made your bed; you sleep in it.’
The real world is full of simple truths like that – a penny saved is a penny earned! – observations…recommendations…illuminations that help us avoid mistakes. But the feds live in a fake world…a planet of wishful thinking and self-serving illusions. For more than 12 years, they encouraged people not to save, but to spend.
The Fix Is In: Naturally, some of them go broke. But rather than acknowledge their mistake, they said, ‘Okay…We’ll get a new band…and change the bed. You’ve got too much debt. We’ll give you more of it…so we can keep the scam going.’ That is how the Fed handled every crisis since 1987. It backed the markets with more and more credit…leading to more and more debt…to the point where the debts cannot be serviced at normal interest rates.
But now, for the first time in 40 years, the Fed is not merely adding debt, goosing up the economy and making the rich richer, it is fighting inflation. Yes, the wheel has turned. Jerome Powell is no Paul Volcker. 2023 is not 1979. And the Fed will not follow through on its inflation fight. It has gone too far down the road to perdition. It can’t turn back. So, when the going gets rough, then it will take a dive. But the fix has been in for a long time.
First, the federal government is not even pretending to protect the dollar. It is spending money wily-nily on every cockamamie scheme that comes its way. The deficit this year is anticipated to be $1.7 trillion – that is more than the entire federal budget in 2002. And the interest on the debt is already reaching almost $800 billion. Soon will hit $1 trillion. All of this spending, far in excess of receipts, is inflationary.
Under Pressure: And the Fed, too, is already well advanced with its ‘stealth pivot.’ A month ago, it quietly changed the way it handles its QE bond portfolio. Instead of letting the bonds run off – as had been the program (to reduce the money supply) – the Fed began quietly rolling them over…effectively increasing the supply of debt in the Fed’s balance sheet.
Dan reported last week: "This has been burning up the Twitter wires all night. Quantitative Tightening reduced the Fed's balance sheet by $625 billion when it started on April 13th of last year. Since March 1st, it's up $299 billion. So 47% of QT was wiped out when the first hint of crisis came. And even now, a year after the campaign of rate hikes began, the Fed’s key rate is still well below the level of consumer price increases. The 2-year “stacked” CPI is around 7%. The Fed Funds rate is below 5%. You can do the math. Speculators and borrowers still earn a net 2%."
That is why the debt level is still going up. Household, government, corporate – all major categories of debt are increasing…adding to the pressure in the system. Most likely, the Fed will publicly announce another rate increase this week…and continue with its inflation agenda, without mentioning it."
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"The global derivatives market is a $2+ QUADRILLION (2,000+ TRILLION) ticking time-bomb. When banks fail, derivatives won't just unwind in an orderly fashion. Few people understand this. These are some of the top U.S. banks ranked by derivatives exposure (double-digit TRILLIONs)."
Stipendium peccati mors est...
"Alert! Central Banks To Provide "Unlimited Liquidity" To The Banking System"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 3/20/23:
"Alert! Central Banks To Provide
"Unlimited Liquidity" To The Banking System"
So, Good Citizen, while you're fighting for your life
are you getting your share of this "unlimited liquidity?"
Oh, sorry, I forgot...
"It's a Big Club, and you ain't in it.
You and I are not in the Big Club."
- George Carlin
"We Will No Longer Support This War Against Russia"
Col. Douglas Macgregor, Straight Calls, 3/20/23:
"We Will No Longer Support This War Against Russia"
"Analysis of breaking news and in-depth discussion of current
geopolitical events in the United States of America and the world."
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"Knowing..."
“Knowing can be a curse on a person’s life. I’d traded in a pack of lies for a pack of truth, and I didn’t know which one was heavier. Which one took the most strength to carry around? It was a ridiculous question, though, because once you know the truth, you can’t ever go back and pick up your suitcase of lies. Heavier or not, the truth is yours now.”
- Sue Monk Kidd
“To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.”
- Arundhati Roy, "The Cost of Living"
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