Jim Kunstler, "Bobby Steps Up"

"Bobby Steps Up"

by Jim Kunstler

“It is neither our position nor our circumstances that define us, according to the Stoics, but our response to those circumstances; when destiny crushes us, small heroic gestures of courage and service can bring us peace and fulfillment. In applying our shoulder to the stone, we give order to a chaotic universe.” - RFK, Jr.

"Of course, Yahoo News, and all the rest of the in-the-tank news media greeted Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s presidential announcement by branding him a “noted-anti-vaxxer,” as if that’s a bad thing. Yes, noted, thank you very much. Reuters elaborated: “Kennedy has been banned from YouTube and Instagram for spreading misinformation about vaccines and the COVID-19 pandemic.” By now, whenever you see the agit-prop platitude spreading misinformation, does your brain not instantly translate that into telling the truth? And by now, does banishment from social media not tell you that certain guilty parties recognize a truth-teller when they see one?

Bobby Kennedy stepped up on Wednesday and gave a long and comprehensive speech so rich with historic resonance, intelligence, and flat-out bravery — in the face of, let’s face it, a Satanic opposition — that he made every other figure in this land aspiring to high office within memory look like quality-control rejects from evolution’s Homo sapiens assembly line. For 90-minutes in a Boston ballroom, RFK, Jr. told America the truth: that its entire matrix of leadership has laid one trip after another on our country going all the way back to the murders of his father and uncle, and he did it plainly, gently, humorously at times, but with an unmistakable gravitas and decorum that must scare the beJeezus out of the low life-forms currently running things.

Most of all, Bobby demonstrated that there is a way out of the bad-faith wilderness America has been lost in for years. He spoke to the audience in the ballroom, and to the country, in an adult conversational tone, without notes, as if he expected that voters would actually understand the problems we face: the wicked partnerships of corporations and governments to swindle and gaslight the public; the reckless military adventurism-for-profit campaign that has bankrupted the USA, now culminating in the Ukraine fiasco; the botched response to the Covid-19 episode and the chicanery that induced it; the insults to our ecosystem that are destroying the other organisms who live with us on this planet; and the financial chicanery that is driving America into inflation and bankruptcy. He reminded the nation of the good-faith efforts sixty years ago to end racial injustice - which has lately turned into a series of dispiriting hustles to promote antagonism and separation.

Bobby’s entry onto the national stage is already a shock to the political system, which is why the captive news media is trying so hard to squash the news about it. They know that he brings something to this game that can trip-up the players currently on-the-field and take the contest of 2024 in a wholly different direction than the owners of the game expected. Bobby’s confident adult demeanor at the podium alone is a reassuring and sharp contrast to the spookish mental vacancy of “Joe Biden” and the egotistic childishness of Mr. Trump. Voters will not fail to notice the difference, possibly even Woke Democrats lost in vaccine raptures and other cultish transports of self-righteousness.

I think RFK, Jr. sees very clearly the historical moment he represents. He’s keenly aware of the shade thrown over this land by the murders of his father and President Kennedy, and he has said flat-out in so many words that our own CIA was behind the dastardly acts. He was in a position to know the animus between JFK and the founding director of the CIA, Allen Dulles, and the reckless blunders of the agency and its partners in the Pentagon who buffaloed President Kennedy into the Bay of Pigs farce and then tried to drag him deeper into the Vietnam quagmire. JFK resisted that, threatened to shred the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter them to the four winds… and Allen Dulles whacked him. He got away with it the same way that today’s Intel “community” got away with RussiaGate and all their subsequent crimes. In short, Bobby Kennedy knows what it looks like when a government is at war against its own people.

Everybody I know is justifiably worried that the Intel spooks might have no qualms about whacking Bobby Jr. He is at least as dangerous to the establishment today as his father and uncle were back in their day. Thus, his bravery in stepping up now, knowing what he knows. At the least, he will drag a set of issues into the political arena that his rivals would prefer to keep out in the cold and dark. He’ll get some assistance from events themselves, which are spooling out fast now.

The Neocon’s Ukraine project had gone south. The result, which should be hugely embarrassing to our State and Defense departments, will be the paradox of Russia restoring order to a region that we wrecked on-purpose at great cost to the denizens of Ukraine — and, as Bobby pointed out, at great cost to the shattered American middle-class. America will also have to face all the criminal activities around the Covid-19 story: the machinations of Dr. Fauci and company in developing the virus and then the vaccines that proved to be so harmful and deadly; the stupid, disastrous lockdowns; and the government-directed censorship campaign against all and any voices in opposition to medical tyranny.

Most of all, the Democratic Party faces a severe reformation. It’s about to be dragged kicking and screaming out of the diabolical Woke hall-of-mirrors it gamboled into under the Clintons and Barack Obama. How those characters deal with the uncomfortable reality of RFK, Jr. will be something to behold. Finally, there is the news, straight from The New York Times, that “Joe Biden” intends to announce his reelection plans within days. The idea is preposterous, of course, the old grifter visibly oxidizing a little more each day in plain sight of the whole world.

In fact, it’s just another one of their lies, another trip they’re laying on America. The establishment Dems are actually prepping Gavin Newsom to run, another haircut-in-search-of-a-brain, like John Kerry before him. Governor Newsom: the man who almost overnight proudly turned California into a third world shithole. That’s who Bobby Kennedy will be debating, one way or another, in the many months ahead."

- https://kunstler.com/

"The Middle Class Squeeze"

"The Middle Class Squeeze"

Rich, middle or poor... inflation comes for us all.

by Bill Bonner

Dublin, Ireland - "Our point this week: inflation is not beaten. And it won’t be beaten without pain. No pain, no gain. The rich need to lose as their assets fall in value. The poor need to lose as the feds’ ‘transfer’ schemes become unaffordable. Today, we look at what happens to the middle class. In preview, it gets the hardest of all. And then, when it comes time to take up arms against inflation, no one wants to enlist.

Economically, we’d all be better off if the Fed would allow borrowers and lenders to set interest rates, rather than do it as a policy decision. We’d be better off, too, if the Fed were abolished…gold were reinstated…and inflation disappeared. But politically, it is unlikely. And as long as politics controls the future of the dollar…its direction will be down. But let’s look more closely. Before we go further, though…a personal update.

Baby Watch: We’ve been staying here in Dublin; on ‘baby watch.’ A daughter-in-law was scheduled to give birth this weekend. Grandad and grandmother were called upon to provide back-up. That’s what grandparents do. But last night, our ‘baby watch,’ got called to active duty. Mother and father rushed to the hospital; the grandparents rushed over to stay with the toddler.

Uh oh. It’s been so long since we played this role, we’ve forgotten how to do it. We worried that the toddler – when he realized that his parents were nowhere to be found – would not be in the mood for substitutes. But all’s well. Late at night, the baby “came to the light,” as the Spanish put it. A cute little girl. Father returned to the house…(by then the 3-year-old had fallen asleep)…and the grandparents could go back to their digs and fall into a contented sleep of their own.

So, let us return to finance…The falling prices we see now do not mean that the Fed’s higher interest rates and ‘QT’ program are working. Even after more than a year of ‘normalization,’ the Fed’s key rate is still nearly 2 percentage points (200 basis points) below the level of ‘sticky inflation’ (CPI less food and energy).

Repo Man Calling: While the month-to-month numbers change, the underlying reality is that the cost of living has gone up. Big borrowers – banks, hedge funds, pension funds – can still borrow at absurdly low rates. But for ‘normal’ people, the interest charged on credit card balances is 24%. Over the last two years the cost of food-at-home is up nearly 20%. Home utilities, oil and gas, are up 21% and 26% respectively. The cost of owning a car has gone up so substantially that Bloomberg reports that the ‘repo man’ is back on the job…and foreclosures on houses, too, are up 22% in the first quarter.

Breitbart adds: "All U.S. consumers are financially worse off now than last year …The financial well-being scores by annual household income dropped across all income levels in 2023.

• Income <$50k (-0.86)

• Income $50k-$99K (-0.59)

• Income $100k+ (-2.45)

• All adults (-0.27)

All of these are signs of growing ‘pain’ in the middle class. Here’s the latest, from Fox News: "Home prices see biggest annual drop in over a decade: Report." Prices in Boise, Idaho, had the biggest drop in March compared to other US metros. This comes as pending home sales fell to their lowest level since the start of the pandemic in part because elevated mortgage rates diminished demand and a lack of homes for sale limited purchases, Redfin reported."

An Impossible Fight: House prices were inflated by the Fed’s ultra-low interest rates. Take away the low rates and you also deflate the housing market. Who owns houses? The middle class. The poor get handouts from the government (transfer payments). The rich have their coupons and dividends. But the middle class has to work for its money. And the real crunch for the middle class comes when the job market darkens. Come the recession and the unemployment rate goes up. And there you have why it becomes almost impossible to win a fight against inflation.

The deciders want to protect their assets. The groundlings have become dependent on government ‘transfer’ payments. And the middle class, trapped between the housing market and the job market, feels the pain most intensely. It cannot bear to think of the long term. It joins the rich and the poor, demanding an end – not to inflation – but to the fight against it.

Where does this lead? You already know, don’t you? It starts with an “A”…its wines are rich, but its people are poor. More to come…"

- https://bonnerprivateresearch.substack.com/

"The Future..."

"The future ain't what It used to be."

- Yogi Berra

"I Am Done"

"I Am Done"

by OHMama

"I was born at the end of Gen X and the beginning of the Millennial Generation, and grew up in a middle class town. Life was good. Our home was modest but birthdays and Christmas were always generous, we went on yearly vacations, had 2 cars, and there was enough money for me to take dance classes and art lessons and be in Girl Scouts.

My 1940s born Dad raised me to be patriotic and proud, to love the war bird airplanes of his era as much as he does, and to respect our flag and our country as a sacred thing. I grew up thinking that being an American was the greatest gift a person could have. I grew up thinking that our country was as strong, and honest and true as my Dad. I grew up thinking I was free.

As an adult, I have witnessed the world I grew up in fall to ruin. I have watched as our currency and our economy have been shamelessly corrupted beyond redemption. Since we’ve been married, my husband and I TWICE had our meager investment savings gutted by the market that we were told to invest in, now that pensions no longer exist and we working stiffs are on our own. We will be working until we die, because the Social Security we’ve been forced to pay into has also been robbed from under us.

I have watched as our elected officials enter Congress as ordinary folks and leaves as multi millionaires. I have watched my blue collar husband get up at an ungodly hour every day and come home with an aching back that we pray will hold out long enough to get him to old age in one piece. Outside of shoes, socks and underwear, almost everything my family wears was bought used. We’ve been on one vacation in 12 years.

We don’t have cell phones, or cable, or any sort of streaming services, just a landline and internet. We hardly ever eat out. Our house is 1400 square feet, no air conditioning. I cook from scratch and I can and I garden and I raise chickens for eggs and meat and I moonlight selling things on Etsy. Still it is barely enough to pay the bills that go up every year while service quality and the longevity of goods goes down. What I just described is the life you can live on 60K a year without going into debt.

At last calculation, when you consider all of the federal, state and local taxes plus registration and user fees, Medicare and SS payroll taxes, almost a third of what my family earns is stolen by the govt each year. What’s left doesn’t go far, just enough to cover the basics and save a little for when the wolf howls at the door.

I watched as my family’s health insurance was gutted and destroyed. Our private market insurance, which we had to have because my husband’s employer is too small to have a group plan, was made illegal. We were left with the option of either buying an Obamacare plan with unaffordable deductibles and insanely ridiculous out of pocket maxes, or paying the very gov’t that destroyed our healthcare a fine for not buying the gov’t mandated plan that we cannot afford. We now have short term insurance that isn’t really insurance at all, and I live in fear of one of us getting injured or sick with anything I can’t fix from the medicine cabinet.

I have watched as education, which was already sketchy when I was a kid, became an all out joke of wholly unmathematical math, gold stars for all, and self-loathing anti-Americanism. My family has taken an enormous financial hit as I stay home to home school our child. At least she’ll be able to do old-fashioned math well enough to see how much they are screwing her. A silver lining to every cloud, I guess.

I’ve sat by and held my tongue as I was called deplorable and a bitter clinger and told that I didn’t build that. I’ve been called a racist and a xenophobe and a chump and even an “ugly folk.” I’ve been told that I have privilege, and that I have inherent bias because of my skin color, and that my beloved husband and father are part of a horrible patriarchy. Not one goddamn bit of that is true, but if I dare say anything about it, it will be used as evidence of my racism and white fragility.

Raised to be a Republican, I held my nose and voted for Bush, the Texas-talking blue blood from Connecticut who lied us into 2 wars and gave us the unpatriotic Patriot Act. I voted for McCain, the sociopathic neocon songbird “hero” that torpedoed the attempt to kill the Obamacare that’s killing my family financially. I held it again and voted for Romney, the vulture capitalist skunk that masquerades as a Republican while slithering over to the Democrat camp as often as they’ll tolerate his oily, loathsome presence.

And I voted for Trump, who, if he did nothing else, at least gave a resounding Bronx cheer to the richly deserving smug hypocrites of DC. Thank you for that Mr. President, on behalf of all of us nobodies. God bless you for it.

And now I have watched as people who hate me and mine and call for our destruction blatantly and openly stole the election and then gaslighted us and told us that it was honest and fair. I am watching as the GOP does NOTHING about it. They’re probably relieved that upstart Trump is gone so they can get back to their real jobs of lining their pockets and running interference for their corporate masters. I am watching as the media, in a manner that would make Stalin blush, is silencing anyone who dares question the legitimacy of this farce they call democracy. I know, it’s a republic, but I am so tired of explaining that to people I might as well give in and join them in ignorance.

I will not vote again; they’ve made it abundantly clear that my voice doesn’t matter. Whatever irrational, suicidal lunacy the nanny states thinks is best is what I’ll get. What it decided I need is a geriatric pedophile who shouldn’t be charged with anything more rigorous than choosing between tapioca and rice pudding at the old folks home, and a casting couch skank who rails against racism while being a descendant of slave owners.

I’m free to dismember a baby in my womb and kill it because “my body my choice”, but God help me if I won’t cover my face with a germ laden Linus-worthy security blanket or refuse let them inject genetically altering chemicals into my body or my child’s. I can be doxed, fired, shunned and destroyed for daring to venture that there are only 2 genders as proven by DNA, but a disease with a 99+% survival rate for most humans is a deadly pandemic worth murdering an economy over. Because science. Idiocracy is real, and we are living it. Dr. Lexus would be an improvement over Fauci.

I am done. Don’t ask me to pledge to the flag, or salute the troops, or shoot fireworks on the 4th. It’s a sick, twisted, heartbreaking joke, this bloated, unrecognizable corpse of a republic that once was ours.

I am not alone. Not sure how things continue to function when millions of citizens no longer feel any loyalty to or from the society they live in.

I was raised to be a lady, and ladies don’t curse, but f**k these motherf**kers to hell and back for what they’ve done to me, and mine, and my country. All we Joe Blow Americans ever wanted was a little patch of land to raise a family, a job to pay the bills, and at least some illusion of freedom, and even that was too much for these human parasites. They want it all,  mind, body and soul. Damn them. Damn them all."

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

"The Zombie Banking System Gets Half A Trillion From The FED, And This Is Just The Beginning!"

Gregory Mannarino 4/21/23

"The Zombie Banking System Gets Half A Trillion 

From The FED, And This Is Just The Beginning!"

- https://traderschoice.net/about-trade

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

So, $500 billion to the banksters, at very least $120 billion to Ukraine, $870 

billion to "Defense Dept"... how about YOU, Good Citizen? How are you doing? 

"This Will Get Worse"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly 4/21/23

"This Will Get Worse"

"Peter Schiff steps forward and said what we’re heading into is going to be much worse than your garden-variety recession. There is so much to cover in today’s video."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Food Shortage Updates At Target! Empty Shelves Situation! What's Coming?"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, 4/21/23

"Food Shortage Updates At Target! 

Empty Shelves Situation! What's Coming?"

"In today's vlog we are at Target, and are checking out different options as we continue to get more bad news on different food shortages, and massively high prices at the grocery stores!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

The Real Economy, 4/21/23

"Americans Going Broke Buying Food! 

Massive Food Price Increases! Economic Collapse!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

MUST VIEW! "It's Over! 10 Days For Ukraine; US Troops in Taiwan; Nuke Base Emergency; Walmart War"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 4/20/23

"It's Over! 10 Days For Ukraine; US Troops in Taiwan; 

Nuke Base Emergency; Walmart War"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com

Douglas Macgregor, "Putin Calls Up 500,000 More Reservists"

Douglas Macgregor, 4/20/23

"Putin Calls Up 500,000 More Reservists"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com

o

Full screen recommended.

Hindustan Times, 4/20/23

"Russia Strikes Ukrainian Army Headquarters Near Bakhmut; 

Over 500 troops Killed"

"Russia has launched massive strikes on Ukrainian Army’s headquarters in Donetsk. According to Russian Defence Ministry, barrage of missiles hit the joint headquarters of the Ukrainian Army’s combat group near Bakhmut. In addition, in areas near the Ukrainian Army settlements of Terny and Tonenkoye in the so-called 'Donetsk People’s Republic' was also targeted. Russian Defence Ministry stated that Moscow's forces have eliminated about 500 Ukrainian troops & mercenaries in Donetsk advance. The battle got bloodier since Russia 'liberated' Bakhmut from three sides."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

So, Good Citzen, look around, while our own country is literally going straight to hell in every possible way YOU and all of us have paid at very least $120 billion for this nightmare. 180,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed, 20,000 Russians dead.

Aren't you proud?

o

Gravitas WION, 4/20/23

"Putin Line: Russia's 800-km-long Boundary

 That Divides Ukraine Into Two"

"Russia has drawn a 800-km-long 'Putin Line' in Ukraine. The line features trenches, barbed wire, dragon teeth and anti-tank ditches, and it divides Ukraine into two. Will the war in Ukraine freeze at the Putin line?"

"WION The World is One News examines global issues with in-depth analysis. We provide much more than the news of the day. Our aim is to empower people to explore their world. With our Global headquarters in New Delhi, we bring you news on the hour, by the hour. We deliver information that is not biased. We are journalists who are neutral to the core and non-partisan when it comes to world politics. People are tired of biased reportage and we stand for a globalized united world. So for us, the World is truly One."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"People Are Living On Borrowed Time; Bank Runs Are Coming"

Jeremiah Babe, 4/20/23

"People Are Living On Borrowed Time; 

Bank Runs Are Coming"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Gerald Celente, "Trends In The News"

Strong language alert!

Gerald Celente, 4/20/23

"Trends In The News"

"The Trends Journal" is a weekly magazine analyzing global 

current events forming future trends. Find out more here: 

https://trendsjournal.com

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

As only Gerald can do, lol

Musical Interlude: Deuter, "Along The High Ridges"

Full screen recommended.

Deuter, "Along The High Ridges"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Far beyond the local group of galaxies lies NGC 3621, some 22 million light-years away. Found in the multi-headed southern constellation Hydra, the winding spiral arms of this gorgeous island universe are loaded with luminous young star clusters and dark dust lanes. Still, for earthbound astronomers NGC 3621 is not just another pretty face-on spiral galaxy. Some of its brighter stars have been used as standard candles to establish important estimates of extragalactic distances and the scale of the Universe.

This beautiful image of NGC 3621 traces the loose spiral arms far from the galaxy's brighter central regions that span some 100,000 light-years. Spiky foreground stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy and even more distant background galaxies are scattered across the colorful skyscape.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090919.html

"Still, Sometimes..."

“The early bird catches the worm. A stitch in time saves nine. He who hesitates is lost. We can’t pretend we haven’t been told. We’ve all heard the proverbs, heard the philosophers, heard our grandparents warning us about wasted time, heard the damn poets urging us to seize the day. Still, sometimes, we have to see for ourselves. We have to make our own mistakes. We have to learn our own lessons. We have to sweep today’s possibility under tomorrow’s rug, until we can’t anymore, until we finally understand for ourselves what Benjamin Franklin meant: That knowing is better than wondering. That waking is better than sleeping. And that even the biggest failure, even the worst, most intractable mistake, beats the hell out of never trying.”

- “Meredith”, “Grey’s Anatomy”

"A Single Lesson..."

"Your thoughts, opinions, beliefs, and worldviews are based on years and years of experience, reading, and rational, objective analysis. Right? Wrong. Your thoughts, opinions, beliefs, and worldviews are based on years and years of paying attention to information that confirmed what you already believed while ignoring information that challenged your preconceived notions. If there’s a single lesson that life teaches us, it’s that wishing doesn’t make it so."

– Lev Grossman

"Bye Bye Dollar, The US Dollar's Purchasing Power Just Hit An All Time Low"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 4/20/23

"Bye Bye Dollar, The US Dollar's Purchasing 

Power Just Hit An All Time Low"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"This Is Not Just A Retirement Crisis: It's The Beginning Of A Catastrophic Societal Collapse"

Full screen recommended.

"This Is Not Just A Retirement Crisis: 

It's The Beginning Of A Catastrophic Societal Collapse"

by Epic Economist

"The foundations of our society are shaky. And the fact that entire generations are about to find out that they will never be able to retire comfortably is going to change our labor market, our collective mindset, and our economy, and rip apart the fabric that holds everything together in our country. Today, over 50% of Americans have zero money saved for their retirement years, including almost 30% of older Americans that will soon reach retirement age. Although some can blame the retirement crisis on workers' lack of savings, the reality is that for the vast majority of workers in the U.S., it is getting impossible to afford housing, utilities, food, cars, fuel, monthly bills, healthcare, and education and still have money to put aside for the future.

Analysts say this crisis may wreck the institutions that our nation is built upon and it will be felt by each and every one of us. In this video, we are going to investigate a new study that predicts that a retirement uprising is on the cards for the U.S. as both private and public retirement arrangements fall to pieces by the end of the decade.

Both private and public retirement plans are failing to provide adequate help. And younger generations, which were the main catalyst of the Great Resignation movement that led 47 million people to voluntarily quit their jobs in 2021, are becoming aware of the fact that they may not achieve financial safety during their working lives. And they are getting furious.

A retirement rebellion is brewing. That is what a study conducted by Reed in partnership with 55 Redefined is warning. Citing data released by personal finance site Credit Karma, analysts estimate that for the average U.S. worker today retire with $1 million in savings, they would have to work for 108 years, saving at least 21% of their after tax-income and having a balanced portfolio of secure investments.

In other words, for millions of Americans earning $69,717 a year or less, the idea of a comfortable retirement, where healthcare costs and living expenses are covered, is out of their reach. According to the National Institute on Retirement Security, half of all working-age individuals in America, which represent 103.6 million individuals, do not own assets in retirement accounts.

38% of millennials say they have zero or negative net worth, meaning they have more debts than assets. For Gen Z, more than 41% of respondents said their net worth is $0 or less. That is particularly true for younger generations working in low-paid jobs. In fact, the study argues that Generation Z is likely to orchestrate the FIRE movement which can be defined as a massive upheaval in the labor market that will see younger workers stepping back from their jobs en masse in protest to anemic wage growth in an era of ballooning costs for basic goods and services.

The chaotic demonstrations we’re now witnessing in France are just a hint of what may lie ahead for the United States, they say. Never before in history, U.S. workers had such meager chances of accumulating wealth during their working years. And such opportunities are even more scarce as they age. Our workers are getting sick and tired of all the exploitation, all the corruption, and all the neglect. A day of reckoning is coming, and if major changes aren't done to fix our broken retirement system, our society will crumble faster than anyone dares to imagine."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

'It Matters A Great Deal..."

In the movie “The Lion in Winter”, when the sons, in the dungeon, think they hear Henry coming down the stairs to kill them:

Richard: "He's here! He'll get no satisfaction out of us! Don't let him see you beg! Take it like a man!

Geoffrey: "You fool! As if the way one falls down matters!"

Richard: "Well, when the fall is all that's left, it matters a great deal."

"On The Meridian Of Time..."

“On the meridian of time there is no injustice: there is only the poetry of motion creating the illusion of truth and drama. If at any moment anywhere one comes face to face with the absolute, that great sympathy which makes men like Gautama and Jesus seem divine freezes away; the monstrous thing is not that men have created roses out of this dung heap, but that, for some reason or other, they should want roses. For some reason or other man looks for the miracle, and to accomplish it he will wade through blood. He will debauch himself with ideas, he will reduce himself to a shadow if for only one second of his life he can close his eyes to the hideousness of reality. Everything is endured – disgrace, humiliation, poverty, war, crime, ennui – in the belief that overnight something will occur, a miracle, which will render life tolerable.”

- Henry Miller

"Hard Landing Ahead"

"Hard Landing Ahead"

The rocky road to Argentina, the most important decision

in 40 years and the price of escaping hyperinflation...

by Bill Bonner and Joel Bowman

Dublin, Ireland - "Coming up for US deciders is their most important decision in at least 40 years. It can be reduced to a simple question: are we headed down the Argentine path, or not? The Argentines are champions of the world at soccer. What they don’t know about kicking cans down the road isn’t worth knowing. But what about the US? Where are we headed? That is not just a question for the authorities; it’s a question for you. If we’re bound for the pampas, better pack light…and bring lots of real money; you’re going to be glad you did.

That’s the ‘inflation route.’ “Print” money….and pay the costs later. And we warn you: the roads are rough…and dangerous. The deflation trip is no picnic either. But those are the two choices. When you deflate, you take the pain now. When you inflate, you take the pain, more of it, later. And by all means, don’t get on the wrong bus.

This Raggedy Plane: Here’s the situation now. Prices are falling (deflation). Commentators are joyful. ‘Inflation is beaten,’ they say. ‘A soft landing, after all.’ Charlie Bilello: 

• "US Producer Prices (PPI) increased 2.75% over the last year, the 9th consecutive decline in the YoY rate-of-change and the lowest print since January 2021. PPI peaked at 11.7% in March 2022."

• Year-ahead business inflation expectations continue to fall, down to 2.8% in the latest Atlanta Fed survey. That’s the lowest we’ve seen since July 2021. 

• Global Container Freight Rates (cost of 40′ Containers) are now lower than they were in February 2020 (pre-covid), down 87% from their peak.

• US Import Prices fell 4.6% over the last year, the largest YoY decline since May 2020.

• U.S. Asking Rents are lower than they were a year ago, the first YoY decline since March 2020."

But this raggedy plane has barely begun its descent. While some prices are falling, others are still rising. Shelter, for example, rose 8.2% in the latest reading – the biggest increase in housing since 1982. And transportation. Bilello: "The average monthly payment for a new car has skyrocketed to $777, which is nearly double the average payment in late 2019 (Kelley Blue Book data). Nearly 17% of consumers who financed a new car in the first quarter of 2023 had a monthly payment of $1,000 or more (a record high), up from just 6% in the first quarter of 2021 (Edmunds data)."

Taking the most common measure – the ‘sticky’ CPI, less food and energy – price inflation is actually going up, not down. It was mostly the falling price of oil that brought the overall measure down last month. But wait, oil may be going back up.

Inflation Volatility: What these numbers – some up, some down – are showing us is that inflation is far from beaten. It’s what happens when the feds spend more than they can afford year after year. And now the federal government is facing trillion-dollar deficits ‘as far as the eye can see.’ Yes, dear reader….inflation is always and everywhere a political phenomenon. And stopping it involves pain…political as well as economic. Push hasn’t yet come to shove, yet, but when it does the pain will come with it.

Greed & Fear reports: "A little noticed working paper by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, published in January (“PostCOVID Inflation Dynamics: Higher for Longer” by Randal J. Verbrugge and Saeed Zaman, 13 January 2023). This paper found that if the Fed really tried to reduce inflation to 2%, it would cause the unemployment rate to rise to 7.4%.

And here, David Stockman reminds us of the pain inflicted by the Fed in 1982: 

• "Volcker pushed the real yield on the 10-year UST [Treasury bond]… from -3% in late 1979 to a peak of +9.3% in August 1983, sustaining that purgative real rate at +5% through early 1986. In the process, everything else fell into place: 

• Unemployment… soared to 10.8% in Q4 1982, a victim of depriving the economy of unsustainable activity fueled by a decade of easy money.

• Real GDP …took a deep dive to -6.2% in Q1 1982, but with the fall of inflation came bounding back to +7.9% in Q3 1983 ;

• CPI inflation…which had stood at 14.6% on a Y/Y basis in late 1979, plummeted to 2.5% by Q2 1983.

And now, Stockman makes our point: "Accordingly, reversing bad policies inherently involves purging their macroeconomic effects. The estimable phrase “no pain, no gain” is rooted in the fundamentals of sound economics." So today, we end up where we left off yesterday, with a question: In today’s US, can policy-makers really stand the pain of a genuine fight against inflation? Or will they cave in under pressure from the rich – whose assets are collapsing in value ... and the poor – whose transfer payments are threatened by tightened federal budgets?

The answer – if Argentina is anything to go by: the pain of inflation may be much greater, over the long run….but the pain of deflation is more immediate. Push comes to shove, they’ll push and shove for inflation. More to come…"

o

Joel’s Note: "As noted this week, Argentina provides a kind of “look around the corner” for America’s potential inflationary future. After a particularly nasty inflation print last Friday, which showed the Fin del Mundo registering triple digit inflation for the first time since 1991, the parallel rate for the local peso shot off like a rocket. From 400:1 on Friday… to 410:1 by Tuesday…to 430:1 as of this morning, the peso is disappearing before savers’ watery eyes.

Yesterday, at our local butcher, we overheard the woman in line before us inquiring about the price of her regular cut. After some lamenting and head-shaking, she left the store… with a half-kilo of ground beef. “Food or medicine?” read one somber headline in the Associated Press. “Peso slumps in parallel market as inflation soars” chorused the Buenos Aires Times.

Meanwhile, there’s growing talk on the street and the local news about “el hambre” (the hunger). For many, including the ~85% of retirees… who rely on paltry government pensions… the situation is getting desperate.

Locals looking to flee their rapidly depreciating fiat pay enormous premiums to convert their meager savings into gold, greenbacks, crypto, etc. Even so, their purchases are strictly limited… and closely monitored…

Of course, Argentina is a long way further down the road than most other countries, but the roadsigns are there just the same. Mercifully, the Argentine peso is also not the world’s de facto reserve currency. But it begs the question: what would Americans do if the dollar goes “full peso,” as Dan Denning described it in a recent correspondence? How many people have a Plan B… some gold under the floorboards… some silver coins… a crypto wallet… a foreign bank account… anything outside the State’s strangulating system?

According to BPR investment director, Tom Dyson, the “days of free money… are finished.” “Our core hypothesis is simple,” wrote Tom in yesterday’s weekly market note to members. “They blew up a gigantic wealth bubble by suppressing interest rates, printing money, bailing out bad investments and encouraging speculation. Now that era is over. The days of free money and low consumer price inflation are finished. We’re in a new period of rising interest rates, falling valuations and inflation volatility. It’s just getting started.”

- https://bonnerprivateresearch.substack.com/

"How It Really Is, And Feels Like"

Full screen recommended.

A video metaphor.

We're the band... and here it comes.

God help us...

o

Literally everywhere you look...

• "Collapse..."

• "Is This The Tipping Point?"

• "Doug Casey on Rising Crime, Legalized Shoplifting, 

and Other Disturbing Trends in US Cities"

"You Can’t Make This Up"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly 4/20/23

"You Can’t Make This Up"

"We are getting more real estate stories about the problems with banks, and with sales dropping. Commercial real estate is teetering on disaster. Class today I introduce you to Drayton Nay. He’s a real estate wholesaler."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

• "US Existing Home Sales Resume Slide In March; 

Home Prices Drop Most In A Decade"

• "Home Foreclosures And Missed Credit 

Card Payments Surge As Consumers Buckle"

Gregory Mannarino, "MSM Warnings On Food Shortages"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 4/20/23

"MSM Warnings On Food Shortages"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Crazy Prices At Kroger! This Is Ridiculous!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, 4/20/23

"Crazy Prices At Kroger! This Is Ridiculous!"

"In today's vlog we are at Kroger, and are noticing massive price increases on groceries! This is not good as we are also seeing some empty shelves! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products, and also charging extremely high prices! "

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"We Got Big Trouble, Nothing Can Save The Economy; Car Dealership Closes; Home Sales Collapse"

Jeremiah Babe, 4/19/23

"We Got Big Trouble, Nothing Can Save The Economy; 

Car Dealership Closes; Home Sales Collapse"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: Gnomusy (David Caballero), "Shadows In The Wood"; "Footprints On The Sea"

 

Gnomusy (David Caballero), "Shadows In The Wood"

○

Gnomusy (David Caballero), "Footprints On The Sea"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Will the spider ever catch the fly? Not if both are large emission nebulas toward the constellation of the Charioteer (Auriga). The spider-shaped gas cloud on the left is actually an emission nebula labelled IC 417, while the smaller fly-shaped cloud on the right is dubbed NGC 1931 and is both an emission nebula and a reflection nebula.

About 10,000 light-years distant, both nebulas harbor young, open star clusters. For scale, the more compact NGC 1931 (Fly) is about 10 light-years across.”

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180129.html

"The Heart of Humanity"

"The Heart of Humanity"

by Madisyn Taylor, The DailyOM

"Sitting with our sadness takes the courage to believe that we can bear the pain and we will come out the other side. The last thing most of us want to hear or think about when we are dealing with profound feelings of sadness is that deep learning can be found in this place. In the midst of our pain, we often feel picked on by life, or overwhelmed by the enormity of some loss, or simply too exhausted to try and examine the situation. We may feel far too disappointed and angry to look for anything resembling a bright side to our suffering. Still, somewhere in our hearts, we know that we will eventually emerge from the depths into the light of greater awareness. Remembering this truth, no matter how elusive it seems, can help.

The other thing we often would rather not hear when we are dealing with intense sadness is that the only way out of it is through it. Sitting with our sadness takes the courage to believe that we can bear the pain and the faith that we will come out the other side. With courage, we can allow ourselves to cycle through the grieving process with full inner permission to experience it. This is a powerful teaching that sadness has to offer us - the ability to surrender and the acceptance of change go hand in hand.

Another teaching of sadness is compassion for others who are in pain, because it is only in feeling our own pain that we can really understand and allow for someone else’s. Sadness is something we all go through, and we all learn from it and are deepened by its presence in our lives. While our own individual experiences of sadness carry with them unique lessons, the implications of what we learn are universal. The wisdom we gain from going through the process of feeling loss, heartbreak, or deep disappointment gives us access to the heart of humanity."

- http://www.dailyom.com/

"You Think..."

“You think you will never forget any of this, you will remember it always just the way it was. But you can’t remember it the way it was. To know it, you have to be living in the presence of it right as it is happening. It can return only by surprise. Speaking of these things tells you that there are no words for them that are equal to them or that can restore them to your mind. And so you have a life that you are living only now, now and now and now, gone before you can speak of it, and you must be thankful for living day by day, moment by moment, in this presence. But you have a life too that you remember. It stays with you. You have lived a life in the breath and pulse and living light of the present, and your memories of it, remember now, are of a different life in a different world and time. When you remember the past, you are not remembering it as it was. You are remembering it as it is. It is a vision or a dream, present with you in the present, alive with you in the only time you are alive.”

~ Wendell Berry

The Poet: John O’Donohue, “In These Times”

“In These Times”

“In these times when anger

Is turned into anxiety,

And someone has stolen

The horizons and mountains,

Our small emperors on parade

Never expect our indifference

To disturb their nakedness.

They keep their heads down,

And their eyes gleam with reflection

From aluminum economic ground,

The media wraps everything

In a cellophane of sound,

And the ghost surface of the virtual

Overlays the breathing earth.

The industry of distraction

Makes us forget

That we live in a universe.

We have become converts

To the religion of stress

And its deity of progress;

That we may have courage

To turn aside from it all

And come to kneel down before the poor,

To discover what we must do,

How to turn anxiety

Back into anger,

How to find our way home.”

~ John O’Donohue,

from “To Bless the Space Between Us”

○

“Do not lose heart. We were made for these times.”

– Clarissa Pinkola Estes

"It Was Pointless..."

"And it was pointless to think how those years could have been put to better use, for he could hardly have put them to worse. There was no recovering them now. You could grieve endlessly for the loss of time and for the damage done therein. For the dead, and for your own lost self. But what the wisdom of the ages says is that we do well not to grieve on and on. And those old ones knew a thing or two and had some truth to tell for you can grieve your heart out and in the end you are still where you were. All your grief hasn't changed a thing. What you have lost will not be returned to you. It will always be lost. You're left with only your scars to mark the void. All you can choose to do is to go on or not. But if you go on, it's knowing you carry your scars with you."

- Charles Frazier

○

 "Never be ashamed of a scar. 

It simply means you were stronger than whatever tried to hurt you." 

- Unknown

"Few Really Ask..."

“Very few beings really seek knowledge in this world – few really ask. On the contrary, they try to wring from the unknown the answers they have already shaped in their own minds – justifications, confirmations, forms of consolation without which they can’t go on. To really ask is to open the door to a whirlwind. The answer may annihilate the question and the questioner.”

- Anne Rice, “The Vampire Lestat”

The Daily "Near You?"

Barcelona, Spain. Thanks for stopping by!

"U.S. Intel, Ukraine, Russia and China - Scott Ritter"

Full screen recommended.

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 4/19/23

"U.S. Intel, Ukraine, Russia and China - Scott Ritter"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Pentagon Papers 2.0, American Lies Continue"

Full screen recommended.

Gerald Celente, 4/19/23

"Judge Andrew Napolitano:

Pentagon Papers 2.0, American Lies Continue"

"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:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Commercial Real Estate Is Headed For A Crash Worse Than 2008 As Mortgage Rates Explode"

Full screen recommended.

"Commercial Real Estate Is Headed For A Crash 

Worse Than 2008 As Mortgage Rates Explode"

by Epic Economist

"A commercial real estate crash worse than 2008 is now looming in the United States. That’s the warning of Bank of America, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Blackrock, and a number of respected financial analysts who came forward this week to inform the public and several U.S. businesses about the growing risks spreading across the sector. In recent years, commercial real estate was already in huge trouble due to rising vacancy rates, soaring interest rates, declining property values, and monumental piles of debt. The ongoing banking crisis has shifted the outlook from worrying to downright horrifying as lenders start to see cases of debt default and delinquency ballooning all across the country. Today, we reveal the details of this alarming crisis and the impact it will have on the lives of everyday Americans, U.S. companies, and the overall economy.

With U.S. banks at risk of experiencing cascading systemic failures, beleaguered banks are getting far more aggressive with lending arrangements, giving commercial real estate landlords even less room to breathe as they try to refinance a mountain of loans coming due. Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs said in an analysts’ note: “The recent stress in the banking sector has fuelled growing concern about spillover effects on the commercial real estate industry.” Meanwhile, Bank of America pulled over $450 million from real estate stocks shortly after the Silicon Valley Bank crash, warning that “commercial real estate would be the next shoe to drop.”

This week, Morgan Stanley shared a very detailed report on why the sector is vulnerable to a collapse even bigger than what was seen during the Global Financial Crisis. According to the bank’s chief investment officer, Lisa Shalett, office, and retail property valuations could plummet by an additional 40% this year on top of the losses recorded in the past couple of years. The executive explained that over 50% of the $2.9 trillion in commercial mortgages will need to be renegotiated in the next 24 months “when new lending rates are likely to be up by 350 to 450 basis points." This year alone, roughly $270 billion in commercial mortgages held by banks are set to expire, according to data released by Trepp. “These kinds of challenges can hurt not only the real estate industry but also entire business communities related to it,” stresses Shalett.

At the moment, more than 80% of all commercial real estate loans are now held by banks with fewer than $250 billion in assets, the economists revealed. These loans now comprise the highest percentage of industry loan portfolios in 13 years. Given that smaller institutions are the most likely to face systemic failures, these banks will have no other choice but to significantly raise their lending standards to reduce the financial risk on their end, consequently causing an industrywide credit crunch.

"Storm clouds are absolutely building," says Mark Grinis, EY Americas Real Estate, Hospitality & Construction leader. His firm reports that since 2021, office loan delinquencies rose by 44% while the number of loans in special servicing rose by 55%. On top of that, today, the U.S. office vacancy rate is standing at 12.5%, comparable to where it was in 2010, one year out from the Global Financial Crisis, and office sales volume is now approaching its post-GFC lows.

All of this indicates that the U.S. financial sector is in shambles. With banking institutions becoming even more conservative when it comes to lending, not only big landlords but also U.S. businesses and consumers will have less access to borrowing, which can in turn, further decelerate the economy and throw us into something much more serious than a recession."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

Greg Hunter, "Dollar Finished, America in Danger – Charles Nenner"

"Dollar Finished, America in Danger – 

Charles Nenner"

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Renowned geopolitical and financial cycle expert Charles Nenner has been warning his war cycles are going up. Nenner also predicted a few years back that, at some point, the U.S. dollar cycle would be headed down - way down. The future is here, and Nenner explains, “We have known each other for many years, and I said the dollar is going to hold up, but not anymore, not anymore. It is really in trouble. There is actually no reason to be in the dollar. They especially underestimate this BRICS situation, and all the countries will be forming an anti-dollar. Saudi Arabia is coming onboard, and that means the end of the dollar as the reserve currency.”

Nenner says his cycles see, “The dollar going down to 70 on the dollar index.” It’s a bit over 100 now, but it gets worse. Nenner points out, “I don’t want people to get depressed, but I am really worried. The U.S. does not rule the world any more. They think they can still tell the world what to do. Physically, the Americans are in danger, and they don’t seem to understand that. The economy is really going to suffer. If the dollar goes really low, we could have a small bounce in the economy because it’s good for exports. That’s just a fooling bounce for people. Longer term, it’s just finished.”

Nenner says the signs are clear in the cycle that “America is at the end of empire. The United States is going backwards, and it is not number one anymore.”

On the war cycle, Nenner has been forecasting a huge loss of life coming. Nenner is predicting “30% of the people on Earth will die in the next war cycle. We are like at the end of civilization of the United States. It’s not that we are all going to drop dead, but it’s the end of civilization. The same issues that finished other countries like bad education, too many outstanding loans and people will become too lazy to really do hard work. That usually means the end of an empire.”

Nenner also talks about the top in the real estate market and why commercial and residential are on their way down for a long time. Nenner also talks about a “coming Great Depression style crash” in the no-so-distant future. Nenner also brought up that big banks are contacting him to consult on buying physical gold because “they want to survive what is coming.” Nenner says big banks are building their own vaults to make sure governments do not confiscate their yellow metal. Nenner gives a sign to look for when the economy is going into a recession that has a 100% track record.

Finally, Nenner predicts, “We are going to have a bad dollar. That usually means people are going to dump their securities. If you have China and Russia dumping their U.S. bonds, you are going to have a problem. What I see on my cycle is the rates that went up stop in June. I am getting very worried because there might be a run for safety.”

Nenner is worried about war, and not just in Ukraine. Nenner is looking at war in Taiwan, South Korea, and the Middle East with Iran. Nenner says, “I think you could have all these wars at the same time. It’s endless possibilities. I think they will all act at the same time. Wouldn’t you? You are waiting for the right moment, and if the United states get weaker and busy that’s the time to do whatever you want.” Nenner points out, “Warren Buffett sold most of his Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing shares last week.” There is much more in the 37- minute interview.

- https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One 

with renowned cycle analyst and financial expert Charles Nenner. 

- https://rumble.com/

o

"Peter Schiff: We'd Be Lucky To Escape With Just A Recession"

"There Is No Reason to Wait"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly 4/19/23

"There Is No Reason to Wait"

"We are seeing so many areas that are having issues. We were at the National Association of Broadcasters tradeshow. Postage has gone up over 30% in three years. The banks are feeling the pressure."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Price Increases At Sam's Club! Stock Up Now! What's Next?"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, 4/19/23

"Price Increases At Sam's Club! 

Stock Up Now! What's Next?"

"In today's vlog we are at Sam's Club, and are noticing a lot of price increases! We are here to check out some shelf stable items that we can stock up on for the future! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products! We do manage to find some good deals as well!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/