"U.S. Cities Fall Into A “Doom Loop” As The CRE Crisis Absolutely Explodes"

"U.S. Cities Fall Into A “Doom Loop” 

As The CRE Crisis Absolutely Explodes"

by Michael Snyder

"In the entire history of the United States, we have never witnessed an urban collapse of this magnitude. During the pandemic, millions of Americans started working from home, and many of them have never returned to the office. Meanwhile, rapidly rising levels of crime, homelessness and migration have transformed many of our inner cities into extremely dangerous places. As a result, thousands upon thousands of businesses have left our core urban areas in search of greener pastures. So now there is lots and lots of commercial real estate space that is sitting empty, and commercial real estate prices have absolutely plummeted.

At this moment, we are in the midst of a meltdown that I believe will eventually be regarded as the worst commercial real estate collapse that America has ever seen. In fact, we just learned that the number of commercial real estate foreclosures in March was 117 percent higher than it was during the same month in 2023…"The commercial real estate market is starting to buckle under the weight of higher interest rates and remote work. There were 625 commercial real estate foreclosures in March, up 6% from February and 117% from the same time last year, according to a new report published by real estate data provider ATTOM."

Things are particularly bad on the west coast. The struggles of San Francisco and Los Angeles are well documented, and so it is not much of a surprise that last month commercial real estate foreclosures in the state of California were up 405 percent compared to the same month last year…"California had the highest number of commercial foreclosures in March, with 187 properties. While that marked an 8% decrease from the previous month, it is a stunning 405% jump from the previous year. “California began experiencing a notable rise in commercial foreclosures in November 2023, surpassing 100 cases and continuing to escalate thereafter,” the report said."

But it isn’t just the west coast that is facing a nightmare. This is what St. Louis looked like at the time of the World Fair in 1904…

I know this may be hard to believe, but at that time it was a glorious city. But now it looks like a hellhole. Recently, a vacant office building in the downtown area sold for 98 percent less than it did in 2006…"A vacant office building in downtown St. Louis just sold for $3.6 million — a nearly 98% discount from its 2006 sales price, signaling a concerning course for the Midwestern city’s downtown area. The former One AT&T Center, which at 44 stories is the third-tallest building in St. Louis, sold for $205 million in 2006 and recently sold for $3.6 million to the Goldman Group, a real-estate investment firm, according to CoStar News."

Very few people want to live or work in downtown St. Louis these days, because it has become “a very dangerous place”…"The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday published a story on the “real estate nightmare” and detailed stories of boarded-up properties and occasional raids by police and firefighters searching for squatters and missing people. “It’s a very dangerous place,” St. Louis Fire Department Chief Dennis Jenkerson told the paper."

As things continue to get worse, more people want to leave. At this point, just about everyone acknowledges that St. Louis is trapped in an “urban doom loop”…"The cycle is often called the “urban doom loop,” which the Atlantic describes as the cycle of people moving away from city as things get worse, then things getting worse because more people moved away.

Business Insider’s Eliza Relman described the doom loop afflicting Midwestern cities: “Commercial property taxes make up a large chunk of many city budgets, so as office vacancies rise, the decreased revenue could force leaders to curtail municipal services or make cuts to key programs. Declining services and quality of life in turn pushes residents out, leading to a self-reinforcing exodus. Without serious changes, these midsize cities in the middle of the country could be quietly sliding into oblivion.”

Honestly, I don’t know why anyone would still want to be in St. Louis. Violence is a constant threat, and it has experienced the largest decline in foot traffic of any major U.S. city…"Locals said they are often depressed and scared by the sight of empty shops and restaurants, according to the WSJ. Sidewalks are left barren as fewer people choose to commute into the downtown area, and recently installed signs urge visitors to “park in well-lit areas.”

According to the University of Toronto’s School of Cities, the business district of St. Louis experienced the greatest drop in foot traffic of 66 major U.S. cities between the start of the pandemic in 2020 and the summer of 2023." Sadly, this is the road that almost all of our major cities are now going down.

New York was once one of the finest cities on the entire planet, but now the streets are littered with open air markets that are selling stolen goods, drugs and sex services…"Roosevelt Avenue near 91st Street is littered daily with migrant vendors hawking goods they ripped off from shopkeepers just steps away, while prostitutes proposition passersby at all hours — and frustrated merchants and residents say they’re helpless to do anything about it.

“It’s relentless,” said Milton Reyes, who manages Mi Farmacia pharmacy on the avenue. “You should see it on Saturdays. It’s so heavy, you can’t even step onto the sidewalk. There are a lot of doctors’ offices right around here and my customers don’t even want to get dropped off."

What a nightmare. The police do patrol the streets, but as soon as they are out of sight the open air markets resume business as usual…"In Jackson Heights, the hookers now share the landscape with shoplifting migrants who mob and ransack local retailers, then brazenly sell their stolen merchandise for 20% or 30% less just steps from the stores, retailers said. “They are stealing,” Francisco O’Porta, a security guard at Lot-Less, told The Post. “They rip it out of the box, but it’s ours. You can see. It is brand new, but they are selling it as used. It’s our stuff.

“They have been training people,” said O’Porta, 55, of Long Island City. “They have lookouts, you know, people to yell so they can pick up and leave when police come. I am catching a lot, a lot of them stealing. I caught 20 people last week. Twenty in one week. They are hurting business.”

If New York authorities cannot get crime under control, the mass exodus out of the Big Apple will get even worse. According to the video that I have posted below, the city now has “a $4.4 billion shoplifting economy”…

This is what societal collapse looks like. And you definitely do not want to be in an environment like that when things really start hitting the fan. The moral character of our country really matters. Sadly, it has been declining for decades, and now we have a complete and utter horror show on our hands."

- https://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

o

"Beverly Hills is Dying, Lots Of Stores Are Out Of Business.

 Beverly hills Is Becoming A Ghost Town"

o

"Every Store Is Closed In Hollywood"

o

Meanwhile, in a sane and civilized society...

Full screen recommended.

Travelling with Russell, 3/10/24

"Russian Typical Shopping Mall 

After 700 Days of Sanctions"

"Join me on a tour of a Russian Shopping mall in Moscow, Russia. How does it look inside, how does it feel, after 700 days of extreme sanctions imposed on Russia?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Look around where you are, Good American, just like 

where you live, right? RIGHT? Yeah... 

Now look at these people, what do you see? What don't you see?

"America’s 'Bougie Broke'”

"America’s 'Bougie Broke'”

by Brian Maher

"Is the United States economy a “bougie” economy? Bougie: “High-class, fancy, materialistic, snobby. Mistaken for prosperity.”

Mr. E.J. Antoni is an economist with the Heritage Foundation. From whom: "Despite inflation-adjusted incomes falling dramatically since January 2021, Americans are buying more than ever. That may sound like a contradiction, but it’s perfectly possible, at least in the short run. Americans today, especially the young, are just “bougie broke.” That’s a fancy way of saying people have given up on saving, investing and planning for their future, so they spend every last dime in hedonistic pleasure-seeking. Ironically, the sky-high cost of living is what drives people to spend frivolously.

Thus an expanding gross domestic product does not indicate economic progress - but economic regression. It confuses motion for direction, activity for energy. It confuses desperation for contentment, resignation for purpose, anxiety for bliss. It is, in brief, an economy that lives for today. It lacks all concern for the morrow."

Americans Can’t Keep Up: Mr. Antoni: "Americans have raided their savings and gone deeply into debt to try and maintain their standard of living. Credit card debt is at an all-time high, costing families over $240 billion a year just in finance charges, while hardship withdrawals from retirement plans are also setting records. Unable to make ends meet without going into debt, many Americans have simply stopped saving altogether. Three-quarters don’t even have an emergency fund. The reasoning is sad but simple: Why save for retirement if you’ll never have enough to retire?

Why indeed? A racer is miles and miles behind the finishing tape, steamless, as the pitiless clock conspires against him. He simply throws up the sponge… and quits. He is a man vanquished. He will never finish. He therefore concludes he may as well dedicate his remaining wealth to his personal pleasure. Off to the restaurant he goes. Off to the tavern he goes. Off to the airport he goes. Eat, drink and be merry he tells himself… for tomorrow I die. Die he will. Not by natural causes will he die - but by slow suicide.

Slow Death: Each filet mignon he munches, each Champagne bottle he guzzles, each vacation adventure he undertakes - all accelerate his progress to the grave. To the outward observer he appears a bon vivant on a high spree. He is instead a broken man in a deep hole. Thus the live-for-today economy is an economy of slow suicide. It is an economy that fails to save and fails to invest. It only spends.

It is a wastrel economics. Antoni: "One survey found 60% of Gen Z choose to buy “experiences” (spend profligately) instead of saving for retirement. They often record those experiences and flaunt them on social media, as if these occasional luxuries are a status symbol. Of course, many Americans cannot afford what they’re buying; they can barely make the interest payments to finance their purchases with 60% of them living paycheck to paycheck."

More: "All the while, the shift from saving and investing toward consumption is hamstringing long-run economic growth. The savings rate today is less than half its pre-pandemic level and has absolutely plummeted since January 2021, dropping by more than four-fifths. Less savings also means less investment, which translates into a lower capital stock. That’s bad news since capital is where we get machines and tools that increase worker productivity."

Immemorial Proverbial Wisdom: “From time immemorial proverbial wisdom has taught the virtues of saving,” wrote Henry Hazlitt 75 years ago, “and warned against the consequences of prodigality and waste.” Many Americans - evidently - have heaved this immemorial proverbial wisdom into the bonfire of their vanities. et shriek the economists: “If everybody saved, the economy would collapse.” Sales would plummet, warehouses would bulge with unpurchased wares, the virtuous cycle of spending would bang into reverse.

Thus we confront the paradox of thrift, so-called. It is the theory that: An increase in autonomous saving leads to a decrease in aggregate demand and thus a decrease in gross output which will in turn lower total saving. Yet the old dead economists argued there is no paradox whatsoever…

What Paradox? What applies to the individual applies to society at large, they insist. What is society but a collection of individuals - after all? When society saves it is not canceling consumption. It is merely delaying consumption. The demand that is supposedly lost is not lost at all… but shifted toward the future. Today’s savings are therefore tomorrow’s spending, tomorrow’s consumption.

By lowering consumption today, society can consume more tomorrow. Hazlitt: “‘Saving,’ in short, in the modern world, is only another form of spending.” Thus today’s “bougie” anti-savers condemn themselves to a lean future. Yet is the blame entirely theirs? Or are they merely victims of the economic system they inhabit?

The Real Culprit: We return to Mr. E.J. Antoni: "The culprit is actually excessive government spending. Over the last several years, Congress and the president spent trillions of dollars we didn’t have, and the Federal Reserve created the money to finance those deficits. That created 40-year-high inflation and caused the cost of living to skyrocket.

What followed were steep interest rate hikes, which in turn greatly increased borrowing costs for the American people. Those who already possessed large stores of wealth, like equities and housing, saw their portfolios appreciate in price, while those who only had some cash in the bank saw the value of that cash drop by more than a fifth in four years.

Thus, a two-tiered society quickly developed where many families now view retirement and homeownership as fantasies enjoyed only by a wealthy elite, not the average American whose financial situation is still deteriorating."

We find vast justice in this statement. Many are hopeless and helpless cogs in a lunatic economic machine. Its easy money has yielded them hard times. This machine was designed by lunatics, staffed by lunatics, supervised by lunatics. What is worse, these lunatics confuse their lunacy for genius. And there exists no greater menace than the lunatic who believes himself genius. This is the bedlamite who presently has us all in siege.

Consolation for the “Bougie”: Perhaps, on some distant tomorrow, the United States will recall the immemorial proverbial wisdom of saving. As its debt careens, it may face little choice. Concludes Antoni: "If the excessive government spending that caused this problem isn’t rolled back, today’s “bougie broke” phenomenon will soon be “basic broke.”

Basic broke is dead broke. “Being broke is not a disgrace,” argued a certain Rex Stout - “it is only a catastrophe.” Take solace, profligate Americans. You do not confront disgrace. You merely confront catastrophe…"

- https://dailyreckoning.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

Dan, I Allegedly, "It’s All Smoke and Mirrors"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly, 4/20/24

"It’s All Smoke and Mirrors"

"It’s funny how we keep getting employment numbers that are exactly the same each week. The unemployment numbers don’t go up and they don’t go down. Plus supposed to believe that the economy is thriving and that people are not having a difficult time at all."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

“I’m Jewish, and I’ve Covered Wars. I Know War Crimes When I See Them”

Democracy Now! 4/20/24

“I’m Jewish, and I’ve Covered Wars.

 I Know War Crimes When I See Them”

"We speak with veteran journalist Peter Maass about the Israeli war on Gaza and his new opinion piece for The Washington Post headlined “I’m Jewish, and I’ve covered wars. I know war crimes when I see them.” Maass, who was a senior editor at The Intercept until earlier this year, has spent decades covering wars, including the Bosnian genocide in the 1990s that killed about 100,000 people over nearly four years. He says many of the same war crimes he reported then are part of Israel’s current assault, including sniper attacks on civilians, bombing of civilian infrastructure, attacks on bread lines and besieging whole populations by preventing food and other aid from entering. “What seems to be unfolding in Gaza is even worse than what I saw in Bosnia,” says Maass."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

35,000 old people, men, women and 15,000 CHILDREN killed, 8,000 more buried under the rubble and unrecovered. Starvation, no electricity or water, hospitals bombed into rubble. This is GENOCIDE, and after Israel is crushed in the coming war, and it will be, there must be Nuremberg-style war crime trials for the psychopathic monsters responsible, with the same penalties inflicted on the Nazis...

Hang your heads in eternal shame and disgrace, Americans, 

YOU allowed and supported this horror, and paid for every bomb and bullet. 

The bloods on YOUR hands too... - CP

"Wars And Rumors Of Wars: The Middle East Crisis""

Dialogue Works, 4/20/24

"Larry C. Johnson: Iran Has Destroyed All the 

US and Israel's Calculations in the Middle East"

"Larry C. Johnson is a veteran of the CIA and the State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism. He is the founder and managing partner of BERG Associates, which was established in 1998. Larry provided training to the US Military’s Special Operations community for 24 years. He has been vilified by the right and the left, which means he must be doing something right."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

OpenmindedThinker Show, 4/20/24

"Scott Ritter: Forecasts Next War Between Israel and Iran; 

Massive Escalation In Few Days!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Greg Hunter, "Weekly News Wrap-Up 4/19/24"

"Weekly News Wrap-Up 4/19/24"

"Israel Attacks Iran, Iran Widens War, Economy Tanks"

by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"A deadly, out-of-control war in the Middle East became a reality this week. Israel attacked Iran. Iran released a massive counter-attack on Israel. And now, Israel has attacked multiple Iranian targets, including Iran’s nuclear facilities in the center of the country. Where will it stop? Now, Iran is vowing to attack Israel’s nuke sites. Many have been warning for months about a conflict that could bring on World War III. Is this it? It sure looks like it.

The markets are tanking on war news between Iran and Israel. This is at a time when interest rates are rising. The Fed talked about lowering rates three times this year. This week, they say no rate cuts are coming in 2024 because of high and persistent inflation. Of course, war is a huge driver of inflation, and we are just getting started. Gold and silver look like they have a long way to go on the upside, and stocks and bonds have a long way to go on the downside. Many people will be calling their broker and getting a busy signal–that’s if the markets are not completely shut down. Many will be caught on the wrong side of this economy because there is no fear to downside risk. The sheeple are going to be getting a huge lesson on managing risk. There is no telling where this will go, but a crashing economy is definitely on the table, if war does not kick the table completely over. There is more in the 39-minute newscast."

- https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he talks about 

these stories and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up.

- https://rumble.com/

o

Scott Ritter, "Checkmate"

Judge Napolitano, "Intel Roundtable: Weekly Intel Wrap-up w/ Johnson & McGovern"

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 4/19/24

"Intel Roundtable: 

Weekly Intel Wrap-up w/ Johnson & McGovern"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Canadian Prepper, "A Warning From A Wise Old Man, 'The Trigger Event For WW3' Is This..."

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 4/19/24

"A Warning From A Wise Old Man,

 'The Trigger Event For WW3' Is This..."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Adventures With Danno, "Shopping For Bargains At Walmart! Awesome Prices!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures With Danno, PM 4/19/24

"Shopping For Bargains At Walmart! Awesome Prices!"

"I take you along with me for breakfast at Dunkin' 

and my shopping trip to Walmart to find some good bargains!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Jeremiah Babe, "Car Auction Disaster - Shocking Reality!"

Full screen recommended.

Jeremiah Babe, 4/19/24

"Car Auction Disaster - Shocking Reality!

People Are Losing Their Cars; Carmax Stock Crushed"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Meet Joe Black"

“Death twitches my ear; 'Live,' he says...

'I am coming.” - Virgil

"Meet Joe Black"

Bill Parrish (Anthony Hopkins) enters his office and begins speaking to a voice that materializes into a person by the name of Death (Brad Pitt). Death knows Bill is struggling with his mortality, so Death offers Bill time in exchange for acting as his tour guide.

Full screen recommended for all.

1. "Bill Meets Joe"

2. "Death Meets with Cancer Patient in Hospital"

 

3. "Enough Pictures?"

4. The final speech from Anthony Hopkins, 

“65 years, don’t they go by in a blink?!"

 

5. "'That Next Place', Final scene."

Food for thought...

Musical Interlude: Kevin Kern, "Another Realm"

Kevin Kern, "Another Realm"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Messier's famous catalog, but definitely not one of the least. About 170,000 light-years across, this galaxy is enormous, almost twice the size of our own Milky Way. M101 was also one of the original spiral nebulae observed by Lord Rosse's large 19th century telescope, the Leviathan of Parsontown. Assembled from 51 exposures recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope in the 20th and 21st centuries, with additional data from ground based telescopes, this mosaic spans about 40,000 light-years across the central region of M101 in one of the highest definition spiral galaxy portraits ever released from Hubble. 

The sharp image shows stunning features of the galaxy's face-on disk of stars and dust along with background galaxies, some visible right through M101 itself. Also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, M101 lies within the boundaries of the northern constellation Ursa Major, about 25 million light-years away.”

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

Chet Raymo, “Living In The Little World”

“Living In The Little World” 
by Chet Raymo

"My wisdom is simple," begins Gustav Adolph Ekdahl, at the final celebratory family gathering of Ingmar Bergman's crowning epic “Fanny and Alexander.” I saw the movie in the early 1980s when it had its U.S. theater release. Now I have just watched the five-hour-long original version made for Swedish television. Whew!

But back to that speech by the gaily philandering Gustav, now the patriarch of the Ekdahl clan and uncle to Fanny and Alexander. The family has gathered for the double christening of Fanny and Alexander's new half-sister and Gustav's child by his mistress Maj. A dark chapter of family history has come to an end, involving a clash between two world views, one - the Ekdahl's- focussed on the pleasures of the here and now, and the other - that of Lutheran Bishop Edvard Vergerus, Fanny and Alexander's stepfather - a stern and joyless anticipation of the hereafter. It is not the habit of Ekdahls to concern themselves with matters of grand consequence, Gustav tells the assembled guests. "We must live in the little world. We will be content with that and cultivate it and make the best of it."

The little world. I love that phrase. This world, here, now. This world of family and friends and newborn infants and trees and flowers and rainstorms and- oh yes, cognac and stolen kisses and tumbles in the hay. The Ekdahl's are a theatrical family; we will leave it to the actors and actresses to give us our supernatural shivers, says Gustav. "So it shall be," he says. "Let us be kind, and generous, affectionate and good. It is necessary and not at all shameful to take pleasure in the little world."

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

"So..."

"That life. This life. It looks as if you can have both. I mean, they're both right there, one on top of the other, and it looks as if they'll blend. But they never will. So, you take this thing. You take this thing you want, and you put it in a box and you close the lid. You can let your fingers trace the cracks, the places where the light gets in, the dark gets out, but the lid stays on. You don't look inside. You don't look at this thing you want so much, because you Can. Not. Have. It. So there's this box, you know, with the thing inside, and you could throw it away or shoot it into space; you could set it on fire and watch it burn to ashes, but really, none of that would make a difference, because you cannot destroy what you want. It only makes you want it more. So. You take this thing you want and you put it in a box and you close the lid. And you hold the box close to your heart, which is where it wants to go, and you pretend it doesn't kill you every time you feel yourself breathe."

- Megan Hart

The Poet: Grace Schulman, “Blessed Is The Light”

“Blessed Is The Light”

“Blessed is the light that turns to fire, and blessed the flames 

that fire makes of what is burns.

Blessed the inexhaustible sun, for it feeds the moon that 

shines but does not burn.

Praised be hot vapors in earth's crust, for they force up

mountains that explode as molten rock and cool like

love remembered.

Holy is the sun that strikes sea, for surely as water burns

life and death are one. Holy the sun, maker of change,

for it melts ice into water that bruises mountains, honing 

peaks and carving gullies.

Sacred is the mountain that promises permanence but

changes, planed by rockslides, cut by avalanche,

crushed, eroded, leeched for minerals. 

Sacred the rock that spins for centuries before it shines,

governed by gravity, burning into sight near earth's

orbit, for it rises falling, surviving night.

Behold the arcs your eyes make when you speak. Behold 

the hands, white fire. Branches of pine, holding votive

candles, they command, disturbed by wind, 

the fire that sings in me.

Blessed is whatever alters, turns, revolves, just as the gods

move when the mind moves them.

Praised be the body, our bodies, that lie down and open 

and rise, falling in flame.”

~ Grace Schulman

"I Wish You Enough"

"I Wish You Enough"

by Bob Perks

"I never really thought that I'd spend as much time in airports as I do. I don't know why. I always wanted to be famous and that would mean lots of travel. But I'm not famous, yet I do see more than my share of airports. I love them and I hate them. I love them because of the people I get to watch. But they are also the same reason why I hate airports. It all comes down to "hello" and "goodbye." I must have mentioned this a few times while writing my stories for you.

I have great difficulties with saying goodbye. Even as I write this I am experiencing that pounding sensation in my heart. If I am watching such a scene in a movie I am affected so much that I need to sit up and take a few deep breaths. So when faced with a challenge in my life I have been known to go to our local airport and watch people say goodbye. I figure nothing that is happening to me at the time could be as bad as having to say goodbye. Watching people cling to each other, crying, and holding each other in that last embrace makes me appreciate what I have even more. Seeing them finally pull apart, extending their arms until the tips of their fingers are the last to let go, is an image that stays forefront in my mind throughout the day.

On one of my recent business trips, when I arrived at the counter to check in, the woman said, "How are you today?" I replied, "I am missing my wife already and I haven't even said goodbye." She then looked at my ticket and began to ask, "How long will you... Oh, my God. You will only be gone three days!" We all laughed. My problem was I still had to say goodbye. But I learn from goodbye moments, too.

Recently I overheard a father and daughter in their last moments together. They had announced her departure and standing near the security gate, they hugged and he said, "I love you. I wish you enough." She in turn said, "Daddy, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Daddy." They kissed and she left. He walked over toward the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say goodbye to someone knowing it would be forever?" "Yes, I have," I replied. Saying that brought back memories I had of expressing my love and appreciation for all my Dad had done for me. Recognizing that his days were limited, I took the time to tell him face to face how much he meant to me. So I knew what this man was experiencing.

"Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever goodbye?" I asked. "I am old and she lives much too far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is, the next trip back would be for my funeral," he said. "When you were saying goodbye I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?" He began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone." He paused for a moment and looking up as if trying to remember it in detail, he smiled even more. "When we said 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them," he continued and then turning toward me he shared the following as if he were reciting it from memory...

"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.

I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish enough "Hello's" to get you through the final "Goodbye."

He then began to sob and walked away. My friends, I wish you enough!"

- http://www.gaia.com/quotes/topics/life?page=33

"The Daily "Near You?"

Columbia, Tennessee, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

“Sigmund Wollman’s Reality Test”

“Sigmund Wollman’s Reality Test”

by 
Robert Fulghum  

“In the summer of 1959, at the Feather River Inn near the town of Blairsden in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of northern California. A resort environment. And I, just out of college, have a job that combines being the night desk clerk in the lodge and helping out with the horse-wrangling at the stables. The owner/manager is Italian-Swiss, with European notions about conditions of employment. He and I do not get along. I think he’s a fascist who wants pleasant employees who know their place, and he thinks I’m a good example of how democracy can be carried too far. I’m twenty-two and pretty free with my opinions, and he’s fifty-two and has a few opinions of his own. One week the employees had been served the same thing for lunch every single day. Two wieners, a mound of sauerkraut, and stale rolls. To compound insult with injury, the cost of meals was deducted from our check. I was outraged.

 On Friday night of that awful week, I was at my desk job around 11:00 P.M., and the night auditor had just come on duty. I went into the kitchen to get a bite to eat and saw notes to the chef to the effect that wieners and sauerkraut are on the employee menu for two more days.

That tears it. I quit! For lack of a better audience, I unloaded on the night auditor, Sigmund Wollman.

I declared that I have had it up to here; that I am going to get a plate of wieners and sauerkraut and go and wake up the owner and throw it on him.

I am sick and tired of this crap and insulted and nobody is going to make me eat wieners and sauerkraut for a whole week and make me pay for it and who does he think he is anyhow and how can life be sustained on wieners and sauerkraut and this is un-American and I don’t like wieners and sauerkraut enough to eat it one day for God’s sake and the whole hotel stinks anyhow and the horses are all nags and the guests are all idiots and I’m packing my bags and heading for Montana where they never even heard of wieners and sauerkraut and wouldn’t feed that stuff to the pigs. Something like that. I’m still mad about it.

I raved on this way for twenty minutes, and needn’t repeat it all here. You get the drift. My monologue was delivered at the top of my lungs, punctuated by blows on the front desk with a fly-swatter, the kicking of chairs, and much profanity. A call to arms, freedom, unions, uprisings, and the breaking of chains for the working masses.

As I pitched my fit, Sigmund Wollman, the night auditor, sat quietly on his stool, smoking a cigarette, watching me with sorrowful eyes. Put a bloodhound in a suit and tie and you have Sigmund Wollman. He’s got good reason to look sorrowful. Survivor of Auschwitz. Three years. German Jew. Thin, coughed a lot. He liked being alone at the night job – gave him intellectual space, gave him peace and quiet, and, even more, he could go into the kitchen and have a snack whenever he wanted to – all the wieners and sauerkraut he wanted. To him, a feast. More than that, there’s nobody around at night to tell him what to do. In Auschwitz he dreamed of such a time. The only person he sees at work is me, the nightly disturber of his dream. Our shifts overlap for an hour. And here I am again. A one-man war party at full cry.

“Fulchum, are you finished?”

“No. Why?”

Lissen, Fulchum. Lissen me, lissen me. You know what’s wrong with you? It’s not wieners and kraut and it’s not the boss and it’s not the chef and it’s not this job.”

“So what’s wrong with me?”

“Fulchum, you think you know everything, but you don’t know the difference between an inconvenience and a problem. If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire – then you got a problem. Everything else is inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Life is lumpy. Learn to separate the inconveniences from the real problems. You will live longer. And will not annoy people like me so much. Good night.” In a gesture combining dismissal and blessing, he waved me off to bed.

Seldom in my life have I been hit between the eyes with a truth so hard. Years later I heard a Japanese Zen Buddhist priest describe what the moment of enlightenment was like and I knew exactly what he meant. There in that late-night darkness of the Feather River Inn, Sigmund Wollman simultaneously kicked my butt and opened a window in my mind.

For thirty years now, in times of stress and strain, when something has me backed against the wall and I’m ready to do something really stupid with my anger, a sorrowful face appears in my mind and asks: “Fulchum. Problem or inconvenience?”

I think of this as the Wollman Test of Reality. Life is lumpy. And a lump in the oatmeal, a lump in the throat, and a lump in the breast are not the same lump. One should learn the difference. Good night, Sig.”

- http://www.livinglifefully.com/

"The Most Frightening Thing..."

“Murderers are not monsters, they're men.

And that's the most frightening thing about them.”

- Alice Sebold, "The Lovely Bones"

o

“Do you believe,’ said Candide, ‘that men have always massacred each other as they do today, that they have always been liars, cheats, traitors, ingrates, brigands, idiots, thieves, scoundrels, gluttons, drunkards, misers, envious, ambitious, bloody-minded, calumniators, debauchees, fanatics, hypocrites, and fools?”

“Do you believe,” said Martin, “that hawks have always eaten pigeons when they have found them?”

- Voltaire

"The Hell Of It Is..."

“You go up to a man, and you say, “How are things going, Joe?” and he says, “Oh fine, fine… couldn’t be better.” And you look into his eyes, and you see things really couldn’t be much worse. When you get right down to it, everybody’s having a perfectly lousy time of it, and I mean everybody. And the hell of it is, nothing seems to help much.”

- Kurt Vonnegut

"How It Really Is"

 

"Israel Attacks Iran, Escalating The World Toward A Nuclear Apocalypse "

"Israel Attacks Iran, Escalating 

The World Toward A Nuclear Apocalypse "

by Mike Adams

"The situation in the Middle East is now escalating even more as Israel launches a new attack against Iran, reportedly striking multiple targets on Iranian territory. Despite the efforts of the White House to convince Israel to stop escalating the situation, Netanyahu and his war officials are dead set on provoking a full-scale war with Iran in the hopes of dragging the United States into regional warfare. Today, I present a list of 7 things that will happen once Israel launches its first nuclear weapon. Get ready to hear the term "fallout" a lot more, including discussion about the food supply. There will soon be "pre-fallout" food which will command a premium in price, and then there will be "post-fallout" food that will always be suspected of being slightly radioactive. Difficult times are coming for the entire world if Israel's provocations aren't stopped."

View full video here:

- https://www.brighteon.com/

Jim Kunstler, "Batshit Crazy America"

"Batshit Crazy America"

by Jim Kunstler

“Look at what all these white patriarchs built.

 Without pay. In their spare time. Anonymously.” 

- Jordan Peterson on “X”

"Before the saints come marching in, the human archetypes strut down the avenue in their revealing regalia. Do you know why the archetypal batshit crazy women of the Democratic Party adore “Joe Biden?” I’ll tell you: because he represents perfectly and exactly the “patriarchy” they revile in his floridly comic senescence. “Joe Biden” is the patriarchy disabled, feeble, feckless, impotent, and reduced to inanity. He would be pitiful if the patriarchy itself were not so contemptible. This is exactly how the batshit crazy women want it to look.

Do you wonder why “progressive” (i.e. batshit crazy) elite class women seem so unperturbed about the conspicuous number of rapes committed by “newcomers,” as they style illegal border-jumpers these days, who are by an overwhelming percentage “military-age men”? Because, having functionally transformed the ranks of American men into eunuchs, they relish the arrival of so many wild and lustful fellows on the scene, as long as post the imagined bodice-ripping exploits they can be dominated and domesticated — turned into so many swimming pool cleaners and busboys to be ordered around.

Of course, much of that archetypal psychodrama is only played out in the batshit crazy mind of batshit crazy women; for the sake of decorum it is never acted-out. The lurid, shameful fantasies are instead displaced onto Donald Trump, the archetypal “Big Daddy” who so insolently evaded the castration shears of Hillary Clinton — with the help of Russian arch-rapist “Putin” — and keeps on coming at the batshit-crazy women like Jason Voorhees, the psycho-killer in the Friday the 13th horror series (Qu’est-ce que c’est, ladies?)

Proof of Mr. Trump’s rapey-ness has been finally and formally declared in the E. Jean Carroll defamation trial. It’s certified, you see, though the trial itself was a joke of performative pretense. All you really need is a cast of characters, including the judge, Lewis Kaplan, who are sufficiently deranged and degenerate to carry out the performance.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James was up next to attempt the financial castration of Mr. Trump with an artfully concocted civil case that magically transformed a normal real estate transaction into a victimless fraud (say, what?), prompting the Rumpelstiltskin-like Judge Arthur Engoron to declare an unprecedented cash penalty of $354-million, designed to enable the confiscation and forced sale of Mr. Trump’s buildings.

That hasn’t quite worked yet, and may never work, given how appeals courts up to SCOTUS might view the malicious prosecution based on Ms. James’s repeated campaign promise to... pin something on Trump. Batshit crazy “progressives” have managed to not notice how inconsistent with American legal precedent this case was - because they held all the levers of power in New York State: governorship, legislature, and AG’s office, and their power to do whatever they liked was all that mattered.

For the moment Judge Juan Merchan presides over Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s fake case of 34 clerical misdemeanors (past the statute of limitations on them), repurposed as felonies committed for the intention of breaking some federal election law (unspecified). Last time I checked, county courts have no jurisdiction over federal law, most particularly unspecified federal law, which is to say no law at all. The question nobody has asked or answered is: what is the flaw in our system of jurisprudence that allows such an insane and preposterous case to play out so harmfully? I can only suppose that this is what happens when ethics and moral codes are brutally excised from the larger culture that law is but one part of.

It is the way of Homo sapiens that moral codes derive generally from the supervision of fathers in the upbringing of human young and, later on, as children develop into adults, these codes are archetypally re-enacted and enforced by men in the greater social matrix. Why? Because it requires a strong sense of boundaries. Boundaries are the essence of the “patriarchy.” Remove men from the scene, or castrate them politically, and you are sure to end up with a problem knowing right from wrong. We’re apparently subject now to the misrule of women with boundary problems who, for one reason or another, rebelled against Daddy and never got over it. It’s a peculiar irony - so far unexplicated by the hierophants of social theory — that the more affluent and successful Daddy was, the more he was hated for it by his female offspring.

The result of all that is the Democratic Party of our time as run by the batshit crazy women, fearful of sex and its consequence (babies), paradoxically subject to biological promptings and unable to find suitable mates among the men they’ve turned into eunuchs of one sort or another; resentful of the dull managerial jobs that have replaced the anathematized “jobs” of motherhood; filled with rage and revenge fantasies which, because of their boundary problems, have now extended to willing the destruction of our country. It’s an uninviting view of what’s happened to us, but there it is, like so much meat on the table."

- https://kunstler.com/

Dan, I Allegedly, "Times Are Tough - You Won’t Believe This"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, I Allegedly 4/19/24

"Times Are Tough - You Won’t Believe This"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Wars And Rumors Of War: The Middle East Crisis"

Full screen recommended.

Vantage with Palki Sharma, 4/19/24

"Israel Attacks Iran, Targets Military Base"

"US officials confirmed that Israel launched missile strikes against Iran today (April 19, 2024). Iranian media outlets reported that multiple explosions were heard near an Iranian military base in the central city of Isfahan. Major airports in Iran were initially closed and flights were diverted. Israel also struck Syria and Iraq. In response to Israel's latest strikes, an Iranian official said that there are "no plans for immediate retaliation against Israel." As tensions continue to escalate in West Asia, the international community is calling for de-escalation and "calmer heads to prevail". UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that "it is high time to stop the dangerous cycle of retaliation in the Middle East." Palki Sharma tells you more."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Times Of India, AM 4/19/24

"'Destructive': Iranians React To Israeli Airstrike; 

Tehran Vows Revenge But 'Not Immediately'"

"Tensions soar as Iran reels from reported Israeli strikes on its nuclear site, leaving Iranians in panic and calling for peace amid fears of escalating conflict. With conflicting reports emerging and the specter of an all-out war looming, the region braces for what could be a critical turning point."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

o

Full screen recommended.

Hindustan Times, AM 4/19/24

"'Hezbollah Will Go To War If...':

Iran-backed Lebanese Group Threatens Israel"

"Hezbollah has threatened to wage a war on Israel if the IDF attacks the Iran-backed group first. Hezbollah's second-in-command, Naim Qassem, said, "If Israel attacks us and aggresses us, then we will definitely respond. If they escalate, we will escalate." The fresh threat comes amid heightened tensions between Israel and Iran in the Middle East. Early morning, explosions were heard in Iran's Isfahan province. U.S. officials claim that they were heard due to Israel's retaliatory missile strikes on Iran to avenge the weekend missile and drone barrage from Tehran. However, there has been no official confirmation."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Hezbollah has over 100,000 extremely well trained and equipped professional soldiers, battle hardened after 10 years of participating in the Syrian civil war, with enormous artillery resources. According to Col. Douglas Macgregor they have 200,000 missiles. They will crush the Israeli Occupation Force in a war...Israel will cease to exist.

Gregory Mannarino, "Take Action And Prepare For Anything, Because It's Coming"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 4/19/24

"Take Action And Prepare For Anything, 

Because It's Coming"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"If The US Doesn't Pull On The Leash Of The Mad Dogs In Tel Aviv It's Going To Escalate"

George Galloway MP, 4/19/24

"If The US Doesn't Pull On The Leash Of 

The Mad Dogs In Tel Aviv It's Going To Escalate"

If the Israeli regime strikes Iran, Iran will strike back much harder. 

And this time not with the dirt cheap drones used in the initial response.

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Canadian Prepper, "Emergency Update: WTF Just Happened? Israel Nearly Starts Nuclear WW3, But Something Isn't Right..."

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 4/18/24

"Emergency Update: WTF Just Happened?

 Israel Nearly Starts Nuclear WW3, But Something Isn't Right..."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Scott Ritter, "Iran Can Beat Israel Destroying the IDF"

Scott Ritter, 4/18/24

"Iran Can Beat Israel Destroying the IDF"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Jeremiah Babe, "RV Apocalypse Proof A Credit Crisis Has Begun, Turmoil And Bankruptcies Hit The Industry"

Full screen recommended.

Jeremiah Babe, 4/18/24

"RV Apocalypse Proof A Credit Crisis Has Begun, 

Turmoil And Bankruptcies Hit The Industry"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Musical Interlude: 2002, “A Year And A Day”

Full screen recommended.

2002, “A Year And A Day”

Musical Interlude: George Harrison, "What Is Life"

Full screen recommended.

George Harrison, "What Is Life"

"Sometimes you will never know the value of

a moment until it becomes a memory."

- Dr. Seuss

"A Look to the Heavens"

"How do clusters of galaxies form and evolve? To help find out, astronomers continue to study the second closest cluster of galaxies to Earth: the Fornax cluster, named for the southern constellation toward which most of its galaxies can be found. Although almost 20 times more distant than our neighboring Andromeda galaxy, Fornax is only about 10 percent further that the better known and more populated Virgo cluster of galaxies.

Fornax has a well-defined central region that contains many galaxies, but is still evolving. It has other galaxy groupings that appear distinct and have yet to merge. Seen here, almost every yellowish splotch on the image is an elliptical galaxy in the Fornax cluster. The picturesque barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365 visible on the lower right is also a prominent Fornax cluster member."

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130111.html

"What An Amazing Miracle..."

"In a universe devoid of life, any life at all would be immensely meaningful. We ARE that meaning. "And what we see, "says the poet Mary Oliver, "is the world that cannot cherish us, but which we cherish." As though life itself is the great, universal, unrequited love of all time. But there is even more to this. Deep mystery. We are the universe aware of itself. We let the miracle get lost in distractions. On a planet so rich with living companions, much of humanity sentences itself to solitary confinement. Late at night, I used to lie in my boat listening to radio calls from ships to families ashore. There was only one conversation, and it boils down to, "I love you and I miss you: come home safe." Connections make us individuals. Ironic, isn't it? The more connected, the more unique our life becomes."

- Carl Safinao

"Retirement Crisis Will Trigger Social Insanity In America As People Can’t Take Care Of Themselves"

Full screen recommended.

Epic Economist, 4/18/24

"Retirement Crisis Will Trigger Social Insanity In America 

As People Can’t Take Care Of Themselves"

"The U.S., which once stood as a beacon of prosperity, is now trailing behind in the retirement race. What was once seen as an epitome of the golden age has now slipped out of reach for many Americans. Just imagine you've worked hard your entire life, and now you are looking forward to those golden years of relaxation and well-deserved peace after your retirement. But you know what? That dream has been cut short for many Americans. According to a recent report by Sen. Bernie Sanders, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, the future looks bleak for a significant portion of older Americans. The report highlights a startling statistic from the National Retirement Risk Index – it found that nearly half of households won't be able to maintain their standard of living after retirement. And it gets worse with this one - A staggering 56% of low-income households and 45% of middle-income households are at risk of falling short of their preretirement standards by the time they hit 65."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

The Poet: Charles Bukowski, "The Laughing Heart"

Charles Bukowski, "The Laughing Heart"

"In this poem, Bukowski captures the essence of life and the human experience in a way that is simple, yet profound, a life-changing poem that will make you laugh and cry. This poem is a poetic exploration of the human experience, from the everyday to the profound. After watching this video, you'll understand Bukowski's unique perspective on life and why his poems are so powerful."

"Every Human Decision..."

"Except for totally impulsive or psychotic behavior, every human

decision comes down to the choice between two alternatives."

- Jeff Duntemann

The Daily "Near You?"

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

"The Great Enemy Of Freedom..."

"In a society in which nearly everybody is dominated by somebody else's mind or by a disembodied mind, it becomes increasingly difficult to learn the truth about the activities of governments and corporations, about the quality or value of products, or about the health of one's own place and economy.

In such a society, also, our private economies will depend less and less upon the private ownership of real, usable property, and more and more upon property that is institutional and abstract, beyond individual control, such as money, insurance policies, certificates of deposit, stocks, and shares. And as our private economies become more abstract, the mutual, free helps and pleasures of family and community life will be supplanted by a kind of displaced or placeless citizenship and by commerce with impersonal and self-interested suppliers...

Thus, although we are not slaves in name, and cannot be carried to market and sold as somebody else's legal chattels, we are free only within narrow limits. For all our talk about liberation and personal autonomy, there are few choices that we are free to make. What would be the point, for example, if a majority of our people decided to be self-employed?

The great enemy of freedom is the alignment of political power with wealth. This alignment destroys the commonwealth - that is, the natural wealth of localities and the local economies of household, neighborhood, and community - and so destroys democracy, of which the commonwealth is the foundation and practical means."

 - Wendell Berry,

"The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays"

o

“If the bulk of the public were really convinced of the illegitimacy of the State, if it were convinced that the State is nothing more nor less than a bandit gang writ large, then the State would soon collapse to take on no more status or breadth of existence than another Mafia gang.” - Murray N. Rothbard, "The Ethics of Liberty"