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Wednesday, July 30, 2025

"War Phase Of This Fourth Turning Has Arrived"

"War Phase Of This Fourth Turning Has Arrived"
by Jim Quinn

“The risk of catastrophe will be very high. The nation could erupt into insurrection or civil violence, crack up geographically, or succumb to authoritarian rule. If there is a war, it is likely to be one of maximum risk and effort – in other words, a total war. Every Fourth Turning has registered an upward ratchet in the technology of destruction, and in mankind’s willingness to use it.” – Strauss & Howe – "The Fourth Turning"

“History offers no guarantees. Obviously, things could go horribly wrong – the possibilities ranging from a nuclear exchange to incurable plagues, from terrorist anarchy to high-tech dictatorship. We should not assume that Providence will always exempt our nation from the irreversible tragedies that have overtaken so many others: not just temporary hardship, but debasement and total ruin. Losing in the next Fourth Turning could mean something incomparably worse. It could mean a lasting defeat from which our national innocence – perhaps even our nation – might never recover.” – Strauss & Howe – "The Fourth Turning"

As I observe the seemingly endless narratives of ongoing and future wars, traitorous machinations of Deep State snakes, curious “assassination” plots, BBB legislation designed to set the stage for financial Armageddon, and the coverup of a global pedophile network implicating the ruling elite, I can’t help but be reminded of Shakespeare’s assertion the world is a stage and we are all merely bit players in this tragedy disguised as a comedy. Based on what I’ve witnessed over the last several months, I would change the line to “the world is staged”. This really came into focus during the Israel – Iran dustup several weeks ago. The entire episode had a theatrical vibe to it, with Israel assassinating key military leaders and the top nuclear scientists of Iran, while both sides launched missiles at each other for a week or so.

What passes for war these days is now missiles and drones lighting up the sky for TV cameras while inflicting relatively moderate damage and few casualties. Only Putin seems to understand wars are won on the ground, with armies destroying the enemy in brutal bloody combat. Israel appears to have been tasked with lighting the fuse on this Fourth Turning powder-keg of religious hate, neo-con retribution, globalist new world order schemes, Deep State machinations, and an empire of debt, delusion, and degradation in its death throes.

Did Trump know Netanyahu was going to launch a surprise attack on Iran, knowing he lacked the firepower to eliminate their underground nuclear facilities? Or was Trump fully onboard with the plan to distract Iran with fake negotiations, so they would let their guard down? In either case, Netanyahu is calling the shots and Trump has been doing his bidding. Trump, the self-proclaimed peace president, has misled those of us who believed he wanted to end the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts.

When Israel began getting pummeled by Iranian hypersonic missiles, proving their Iron Dome wasn’t living up to its hype, Netanyahu knew he could appeal to Trump’s vanity to save the day by using our bunker busters on the underground nuclear facilities. Israel knew they couldn’t take out those facilities but started the war anyway. Their plan all along was to have Trump do the dirty work. The question is whether Trump was in on it all along or forced into it by Bibi’s puppet master machinations.

Everything seemed to be staged once the U.S. entered the fray. The U.S. alerted the Iranians their three underground facilities were going to be obliterated. The Iranians then warned the U.S. about their token retaliatory attack on our Qatar air base. And then an arranged cease fire the next day. When do enemies warn each other about coming attacks, inflict no casualties, and already have a cease fire pre-arranged? When it is nothing but a show.

A cease fire is not the end of hostilities. Israel is rearming with the help of their good buddy Trump and his military industrial complex cronies. Iran is rearming with the help of Russia, China and North Korea. The lull in hostilities will be broken by Israel, as they continue their Gaza genocide, with nary a peep from their bought off swamp creatures in DC and have turned their sites on obliterating Syria as part of their Greater Israel master plan.

Netanyahu will stop at nothing to instigate a WW3 scenario with Iran, creating the conditions which would “force” Trump to engage our military, compelling Russia, China, Turkey and the rest of the Middle East to become involved. The masses have been lulled back to sleep with the Epstein and Obama narratives being flogged by our overlords, but a Middle East and possibly global conflagration is only a few missteps or miscalculations away.

We are now in the 17th year of this Fourth Turning, with a likely climax before 2032. Based on a very limited sample of three previous Crisis periods in American history, we would expect a major war or wars, with unthinkable destruction and death. With the technological “advancements” in warfare this destruction and death could be unleashed in an instant. But no one seems worried or concerned with this outcome, as the EU, with the military backing of the U.S., continues to provoke Putin into responding in a way that will ignite WW3.

The rationale for this insane strategy is to distract their enraged citizens from the fact they have encouraged a Muslim invasion which has destroyed the social fabric of their nations and destroyed the financial health of their states. As always, when politicians have created domestic chaos by their reckless blunders, they seek a foreign bogeyman as a dire threat in order to rally the people to their side.

The three stooges: Macron, Merz and Starmer, with the orchestrator of lies and propaganda – Ursula von der Leyen – continue to financially and militarily support the corrupt Ukrainian cokehead even after the war has already been won by Putin’s armies the old-fashioned way, by destroying the enemy’s armies, industrial capacity, logistical hubs, and energy infrastructure. Of course, the peacemaker, Trump, who was going to end the Ukraine war in 24 hours, tells the American public he is no longer arming the midget dictator/actor, while selling the arms to the EU so they can give them to the Ukrainian “hero”. The grift runs deep, with the U.S. military industrial complex reaping riches, which are dispensed to corrupt congress critters, and foreign leaders. Zelensky and his totalitarian regime skim billions from the “aid” they receive, as they bleed their nation dry in a fruitless effort to stop Putin at the behest of their overlords.

Very few people can comprehend the potential loss of life in the coming Fourth Turning wars. Since they only happen every 80 years or so, those who experienced the death and destruction have passed into the great beyond. About 5% of the entire adult white male population were killed, with another 4% wounded, during the American Civil War. An equivalent loss today would be 5 million dead and 4 million wounded. Approximately 75 million people died, with tens of millions wounded during WW2. This death toll was about 3.2% of the global population. An equivalent death toll today would be 250 million.

This level of death is incomprehensible to the indoctrinated ignorant masses, staring at their igadgets, rooting for their sports teams, going further into debt buying shit they don’t need with money they don’t have, eating toxic manufactured corporate foodstuff, and oblivious to history. Technology exists to create and exceed the level of casualties described, and this technology is in the hands of unhinged psychopaths ruling our nations.

Even though Fourth Turnings follow a general pattern of an initial trigger, one or more regeneracies, conflict, and climax, the aspects and specifics will always be different, due to technological advancements, cultural changes, financial dynamics, and the particular traits of the leaders making the crucial decisions during the Crisis. The progression of technology since the American Revolution has increased the ability to kill vast numbers of human beings efficiently and quickly. The level of firepower has probably increased by a factor of one hundred or more as we progressed from the American Revolution Fourth Turning to the Civil War Fourth Turning to the Word War II Fourth Turning to the yet to be named Fourth Turning we are living through today.

Technology has also drastically increased the ability to communicate and coordinate forces during conflict. During the American Revolution and Civil War, armies often stumbled upon each other by accident. Lee’s battle plan was accidentally left on the ground by one of his messengers, letting McClellan prepare for his attack at Antietam. Stonewall Jackson was killed by his own men, because visual scouting was the only reliable method to determine your enemy’s position. World War II saw a huge advancement in communication technology, but glitches often resulted in mass casualties.

The British breaking the German communication codes and the Americans breaking the Japanese codes were crucial in winning that war. The Americans were able to shoot down Yamamoto’s plane because they broke the code. These enhancements also created the opportunity for misinformation. By creating a fake army under Patton and leaking that information to the Germans, they were able to convince them the D-Day landings would be at Calais, rather than Normandy.

We are currently experiencing warfare on multiple fronts, through multiple means, with technology the key factor in conducting this warfare. This technological “progress” has been neither beneficial nor positive for humanity. In fact, it has drastically dehumanized our world and with the onset of AI, could lead to humanity’s demise. Huxley’s prescient warnings from over seven decades ago have come to fruition.

“Advances in technology do not abolish the institution of war; they merely modify its manifestations.” – Aldous Huxley

“Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.” – Aldous Huxley

I’ve been speculating whether the advancements in technology could possibly alleviate the level of death and destruction in the looming conflicts. But I believe that is a forlorn hope. War is being waged against the American people and most of the citizens in this world on a daily basis and multiple fronts that did not exist during the previous Fourth Turning. Propaganda did exist prior to the last Fourth Turning, as described by Edward Bernays just before the onset of the Depression/WWII Fourth Turning in his 1928 book – "Propaganda":

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.”

Essentially, he described an early version of the Deep State, as men in the shadows behind the curtain manipulating the masses using whatever means to achieve the ends desired by themselves and their cohorts. This was done inefficiently and haphazardly one hundred years ago using newspapers and radio. But the inception of television, the internet, social media and artificial intelligence laid the groundwork for the perfect Orwellian surveillance and propaganda network, spanning the globe.

The same exact message created by those “invisible government” controllers is delivered on multiple platforms simultaneously to overwhelm the senses and make the masses believe rather than think critically. These technologically powerful propaganda techniques have proven to be incredibly fruitful in manipulating the masses into obeying and following orders.

The covid scam brought to fruition decades of propaganda enhancements and government school indoctrination, convincing billions the annual flu was a lethal pandemic and the only way to survive was to be injected with a toxic experimental Big Pharma enriching gene altering concoction, which did not keep you from getting the flu, spreading the flu, or dying from the flu. But it did kill many instantaneously, continues to cause myocarditis and infertility in young people, has driven the mortality and disability rates for young people higher, and has spiked the number of turbo cancers.

The covid mRNA jab is a depopulation war against humanity being waged by Gates, Soros, and the other globalist psychopaths who constitute a major faction of the invisible government that really calls the shots. They have realized psychological manipulation/warfare against the masses is effortless, efficient, deniable, obscure, and extremely effective in manipulating their opinions without the use of force. This “soft” totalitarian state, enslaving the masses with debt, delusions and debauchery, has successfully navigated our world for decades. Again, Huxley nailed it when describing how the masses would come to love their servitude.

“A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude.” – Aldous Huxley

The war for our souls has been waged in the government-controlled K-12 social indoctrination centers disguised as schools. They teach obedience, feelings over thinking, dependency on their government overlords, and to never question authority. Any child who doesn’t adhere to their doctrines is immediately diagnosed with ADHD and heavily drugged. Female teachers stop at nothing to feminize boys, making them act like girls.

These indoctrinated drones then move onto universities completely controlled by left wing professors and administrators who further indoctrinate them with socialist and communist doctrines. They have won the war for our youth by having matriculated millions of non-thinking, non-questioning, outright morons, who are addicted to their phones, fast food, and porn, into society. The degradation of our moral character as a nation is directly attributable to this war on our youth.

The Epstein Mossad pedophile/blackmail coverup and the unearthing of documents proving an Obama/Clinton treasonous plot to undermine a duly elected president is essentially a war within the Deep State/Invisible Government for control of who dictates how we are going to be controlled. None of this is for the good of the American people. The ruling elite will always protect themselves. Justice and the law are meaningless to them.

The Constitution is an outdated piece of paper in their warped view. We are worthless peasants to them. They will go to war and use us as cannon fodder to keep their treasure chests filled. There will be hearings, accusations, ten thousand articles written, hundreds of Fox News interviews, and conservative influencers will make millions flogging these stories, but no one of substance will be perp walked or spend one minute in prison. It’s a big club, and we ain’t in it.

The anger, vitriol and animosity oozing from the pores of every critical thinking American, Russian, Chinese, and Western European, who can clearly decipher the globalist agenda of creating a new world order, with CBDCs, social credit scores, 15 minute cities, eating meatless meat and bugs, trapped in a 24 hour electronic surveillance gulag, and artificial intelligence weaponized to control us all, will come to a boil once a particular event triggers the chaotic unwind. Keeping the masses distracted and amused by their electronic gadgets, in debt up to their eyeballs, and running faster and faster on their hamster wheels to make a buck that loses value every single day, works as long as the economy and financial markets provide the appearance of stability and growth.

Our glorious leaders had to pass the “big beautiful bill” adding another $3 trillion of debt to the $21 trillion already projected over the next ten years, bringing our future national debt to a nice round $60 trillion by 2035. Their solution to our debt problem is to add an infinite amount of more debt. They believe they can pull off this insane scam because they believe the USD will retain its reserve status forever. But Russia, China and the rest of the BRIC countries may add a dose of reality to that American dream scenario. And that is the main reason for the animosity towards Russia and China exhibited by the neo-cons and Deep Staters who know their American empire is in peril.

In my opinion, the most likely trigger for the more violent phase of this Fourth Turning would be a financial crisis causing a global financial meltdown. With the stock market at all-time highs, bitcoin at all-time highs, low unemployment, positive GDP, and Trump declaring America is great again, there is virtually no “expert” predicting a financial crisis, just like 2007/2008. What the “expert” stock market shills fail to acknowledge is a housing bubble 15% greater than the epic 2006 bubble, leaving home prices 90% above the long-term median. The last bubble burst in 2008/2009 did a bit of financial damage. But this time the commercial real estate market is even far worse than the residential market. Extend and pretend doesn’t work forever. This Jenga tower of debt is teetering.

Both the Fed and their Wall Street owner banks have massive levels of unrealized losses due to purchasing Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities when interest rates were close to zero (courtesy of the Fed). The banks currently have $450 billion of unrealized losses, while the Federal Reserve has over $900 billion. If these losses were realized, our entire banking system would be destroyed. They all seem to be in a bit of a pickle, but no one in the MSM, DC, or financial industry says a word. They use the Sergeant Shultz mantra – “I see nothing!!!”. The reality is we are in an extremely risky situation.

Stock market valuations, based on historic measures, have only been higher during the dot.com bubble, and are currently 30% higher than the long-term averages. The shysters, who make their money fleecing the average schmuck, have convinced millions to invest at these all-time highs with narratives about a new paradigm created by AI and crypto-currencies. This time is always different.

It’s almost as if the overlords pulling the strings are expanding this everything bubble to mammoth proportions before “pulling it” and creating the crisis they need in order to save the day by implementing their “Great Taking” of your 401k, IRA, mutual funds, and bank accounts, while offering CBDCs as compensation for absconding with your life savings. They would get the added benefit of pinning the catastrophe on Trump. Based on the almost absolute compliance by the masses during the covid scam, our ruling elite controllers are confident they could pull this off. If not, civil war would be the alternate outcome.

There is a myriad of other more ambiguous potential triggers which could light the fuse on this powder keg, disguised as civilized society. There are quite a few lunatics running countries with the ability to launch a nuclear missile. One miscalculation, with additional dominos falling, and the world turns into an ashtray. Earthquake and volcanic activity seem to be increasing. A volcanic winter caused by a massive eruption would cause global havoc and starvation. A massive grid failure due to a solar event, EMP, or just plain incompetence would cause pandemonium. NATO pushing Russia too far, with missiles launched at Germany, triggering treaty obligations as in 1914, with dire consequences for the globe. The assassination of Putin and ascension of Medvedev to president/dictator would surely ignite WW3. China invading Taiwan would certainly get the fireworks going.

The truth is no one knows what will initiate the next bloody phase, but you can’t deny the volatile concoction simmering, as societal collapse awaits. I know I sound like a broken record, but Strauss & Howe conjured up four potential outcomes to this Fourth Turning, and I think their educated guesses are on target and deeply concerning. The long road ahead will be stormy and dangerous. Hopefully we come out whole on the other side with a renewed appreciation for our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Currently, the odds for that outcome seem long.

Strauss & Howe provide four possible outcomes to our current Crisis:

This Fourth Turning could mark the end of man. It could be an omnicidal Armageddon, destroying everything, leaving nothing. If mankind ever extinguishes itself, this will probably happen when its dominant civilization triggers a Fourth Turning that ends horribly. For this Fourth Turning to put an end to all this would require an extremely unlikely blend of social disaster, human malevolence, technological perfection and bad luck.

The Fourth Turning could mark the end of modernity. The Western saecular rythm – which began in the mid-fifteenth century with the Renaissance – could come to an abrupt terminus. The seventh modern saeculum would be the last. This too could come from total war, terrible but not final. There could be a complete collapse of science, culture, politics, and society. Such a dire result would probably happen only when a dominant nation (like today’s America) lets a Fourth Turning ekpyrosis engulf the planet. But this outcome is well within the reach of foreseeable technology and malevolence.

The Fourth Turning could spare modernity but mark the end of our nation. It could close the book on the political constitution, popular culture, and moral standing that the word America has come to signify. The nation has endured for three saecula; Rome lasted twelve, the Soviet Union only one. Fourth Turnings are critical thresholds for national survival. Each of the last three American Crises produced moments of extreme danger: In the Revolution, the very birth of the republic hung by a thread in more than one battle. In the Civil War, the union barely survived a four-year slaughter that in its own time was regarded as the most lethal war in history. In World War II, the nation destroyed an enemy of democracy that for a time was winning; had the enemy won, America might have itself been destroyed. In all likelihood, the next Crisis will present the nation with a threat and a consequence on a similar scale.

Or the Fourth Turning could simply mark the end of the Millennial Saeculum. Mankind, modernity, and America would all persevere. Afterward, there would be a new mood, a new High, and a new saeculum. America would be reborn. But, reborn, it would not be the same."

Dan, I Allegedly, No More Paper Checks! Banks Won't Even Take Them!"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, AM 7/30/25
"No More Paper Checks! 
Banks Won't Even Take Them!"
"No more paper checks! Come next month, all government departments and agencies must issue disbursements via electronic funds transfer (EFT) methods, like direct deposit, debit/credit card payments, digital wallets, and real-time transfers. Payments made to the federal government, like taxes, fees, fines, or loans, will also have to be made electronically, with limited exceptions."
Comments here:

"The Bubble Is Bursting: Delinquency Rates Have Doubled And Credit Card Defaults Are Soaring"

"The Bubble Is Bursting: Delinquency Rates Have 
Doubled And Credit Card Defaults Are Soaring"
by Michael Snyder

"Did you know that U.S. households are carrying $1.18 trillion in credit card debt? Considering the fact that the average rate of interest on credit card balances is now over 20 percent, that is not good news at all. Sadly, most of the country is just barely scraping by from month to month in this very harsh economic environment, and turning to credit cards for some relief can be extremely tempting. A thousand dollar credit card balance can turn into four or five thousand dollars in the blink of an eye, and once you get that deep into the hole it can be very difficult to ever dig yourself out. Of course if you end up losing your job or having a major medical emergency, that can be enough to push you completely over the edge financially. Today, that is happening to an alarming number of Americans.

For some perspective, let’s go back to the end of 2024. At that time, it was being reported that “credit card loan defaults soared this year”…"Experts are sounding the alarm over a new report indicating credit card loan defaults soared this year, warning the dam is about to break on Americans’ record-high consumer debt. During the first nine months of 2024, lenders wrote off more than $46 billion in seriously delinquent credit card loans, according to a report from the Financial Times citing data analyzed by BankRegData. That’s an increase of 50% from the first three quarters of 2023, and the highest since 2010."

Unfortunately, this crisis has continued to intensify in recent months. Delinquency rates have “hit the highest levels in more than a decade”, and this is especially true for younger borrowers…"Delinquency rates have doubled since the record lows of 2021. On one hand, this makes sense: Consumer credit has grown 20% since 2021. Stimulus-fueled excess savings drove down credit card balances during the pandemic, then, as the economy opened up, consumers depleted those savings. This has also reignited delinquencies.

But delinquency rates haven’t just rebounded — they’ve hit the highest levels in more than a decade. Even more concerning, the rate of credit card borrowers who transitioned to serious delinquency (90-plus days) is now at 2008 levels. Borrowers age 18-29 make up the biggest portion of this group."

This is starting to become a big problem for our banks. In particular, small banks have been getting absolutely hammered by very high delinquency rates.


Let’s hope that we can get this turned around. Our seemingly endless cost of living crisis is putting a tremendous amount of strain on our society, and even delinquency rates for high income households have been soaring…"Upper-income Americans are increasingly falling behind on credit card and auto loan payments, signaling an underlying vulnerability in the US economy as the labor market slows.

Delinquencies on such debts from those making at least $150,000 annually have jumped almost 20% over the last two years, faster than for middle- and lower-income borrowers, according to the credit-scoring firm VantageScore. A recent Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis study found the share of people making late card payments in the highest-income zip codes has risen twice as much over the last year as in the lowest-income ones."

Are the facts that I just shared with you a sign that the economy is healthy or that the economy is unhealthy? Needless to say, the answer is self-evident. Despite what the talking heads on CNBC are telling you, the truth is that most of the nation is really struggling right now. But no matter how much you are struggling, you should avoid going into credit card debt, because credit card debt is financial poison.

Unfortunately, today the average U.S. household is carrying more than $6,000 in credit card debt…
• The average U.S. household has $6,120 in credit card debt.
• Total U.S. household credit card debt is currently at $1.18 trillion, making up 6% of all household debt.
• Washington, D.C., carries the highest level of credit card debt per capita at $5,360 on average, while Mississippi carries the lowest at $2,940 on average.
• Americans aged 65 to 74 have more credit card debt than any other age range, coming in at an average of $7,720 in debt.

Can you guess what the average rate of interest on all of that credit card debt is? I just asked Google AI, and I was told that the “average APR for all credit card accounts in Q2 2025 was 21.16%”. Wow. If you are paying more than 20 percent interest on a credit card balance, you are getting absolutely killed financially.

And “buy now, pay later” plans can be even worse. At this point, those plans have become so lucrative that even Costco is getting in on the game…"Costco is now offering a buy-now, pay-later option for online shoppers through a new multi-year partnership with Affirm. The installment plans will allow customers to select the payment option at checkout for purchases ranging from $500 to $17,500. Customers will be checked for eligibility in real time and can choose a monthly payment plan that fits their budget."

I know that it can be so tempting to reach for a short-term solution. But don’t do it. You will always regret it later. But I certainly understand why so many Americans are looking for an easy way out. I shared this yesterday, but I felt that I should share it again today. A recent survey discovered that 83 percent of U.S. adults are experiencing “stressflation”

"A LifeStance Health survey released today reveals “stressflation” is affecting most Americans, with 83% reporting financial stress driven by inflation, mass layoffs, the rising cost of living and recession fears. Millennials and Gen Z report the most significant mental health impacts. If you are stressed about your finances, you have lots of company. Economic conditions are very painful, and more Americans are falling out of the middle class with each passing day."

Unfortunately, even more trouble is potentially on the horizon. The U.S. and China still have not been able to reach a permanent trade agreement, and if that does not happen by the deadline both nations “are set to once again place historic tariffs on each other’s imports starting August 12″…"Chinese and American trade negotiators concluded their two-day meeting in Stockholm without a resolution to avert tariffs from skyrocketing back to ultra-high levels that formed an effective blockade on trade between the world’s two largest economies. But President Donald Trump’s trade advisers and their Chinese counterparts sounded a hopeful note. Without an agreement, the United States and China are set to once again place historic tariffs on each other’s imports starting August 12."

We have about two weeks. Hopefully negotiators will be able to work something out. But even if an agreement is reached, so many other long-term trends are taking us in the wrong direction very rapidly. Now is a time to get “lean and mean” financially, because I have a feeling that the economic news is going to get very “interesting” during the second half of this year."

"Wilder’s Fables: Killing The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg"

"Wilder’s Fables: 
Killing The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg"

“Oh, yeah, call the police. Tell them about the Spear of Destiny,
 the golden goose, the lost Ark. Enjoy your stay in the psych ward.
 I understand Thorazine® comes in vanilla now.” 
– The Librarian: "Quest for the Spear"

"In the OG version of The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg, (the OG version of which is pushing 2600 years old) a greedy farmer finds a goose that pops out golden eggs, but instead of chilling with the steady bling, yo, he decides to open up the bird for a quick jackpot despite the goose giving him a new golden egg each day. Shockingly, there is no gold mine inside. Just goose guts. And a lesson no one ever seems to pay attention to.

In 1945, the West stood astride the world like an economic Applebee’s® with endless appetizers, its factories humming and the treasury brimming with gold. Literal gold, and some of it was even ours – I’ll skip my usual grumbling about FDR’s confiscation for another post. Some of the gold wasn’t, it was gold from our allies that had been given to the United States for safekeeping. Because, panzers.

But America was a far greater treasure than all the gold in the country. America at that time was the goose of golden prosperity. The United States was responsible for half of the world’s GDP, its assembly lines spitting out cars, steel, washers, sinks, and dreams of a better future. Add in the allies? It was a clear three-quarters of the world GDP, with only the Soviet Union, still bulging from the war steroids it took for a decade, being close. And there’s not a big market for a used T-34/76. “One owner, very nice. Ignore red stains, please. Last owner not so careful at Kursk.”

Allies flocked to the Western orbit. Some were spooked by the hordes of Soviet tanks, others were nudged by CIA coups, and then nudged again until they got it right. Most, however, was because Uncle Sam’s deal of bikinis and bourbon was sweeter than a Moscow winter and a Siberian GULAG. It was an empire, but it was an empire of alliance.

Fast forward to today. The Soviets are long gone, and the goose isn’t dead, but it’s close. The economy has been slowly strangled by a combination of bad policies and worse ideas, and none are deadlier than mass immigration.

To be clear: the wealth of the West wealth was no accident – things that produce wealth aren’t illiterate laborers, pools of oil, or uncut trees. Nope. The wealth producer, the golden goose was culture, not what Vox Day so eloquently described as “magic dirt.” By killing the goose, our future is becoming bleaker, and the GloboLeft is cheering the downfall.

The golden age peaked post-World War II, and the United States had a 20-year head start on the rest of the world while Europe and Asia rebuilt from rubble. By 1973, though, the United States began to falter economically. This wasn’t entirely from external foes, but at least partially from our own hands.

Four factors gutted the goose:
• dumping the gold standard,
• feminizing the workforce,
• enforcing affirmative action, and
• opening borders to unrelenting immigration.

The first three wounded us; the last is the mortal blow, changing our people, our culture, and our wealth. Let’s discuss the carnage.Dumping the Gold Standard (1971): Nixon’s pen stroke cut the dollar loose from gold, turning money into Monopoly® paper. Oh, wait, there’s a limit to how much Monopoly© cash they can print. The median home price in 1973 was $32,500. Today, it’s $412,300. Without gold’s anchor, our wealth’s a mirage, and the goose’s eggs are plastic.

Feminization of the Workforce: The 1970s pushed women into offices, doubling labor supply but halving family focus. Birth rates tanked - 2.1 kids per woman in 1973, 1.6 in 2023. Empty cradles mean fewer Actual American workers, and less innovation from the best workforce on Earth. The GloboLeft calls it “empowerment” when a woman has to leave the home for fifty hours a week in order to afford to pay for another woman to ignore her child by becoming a cubical Karen. Go figure.

Affirmative Action (Duke Power, 1971, for example): Forcing quotas over competence, the Supreme Court’s decision diluted merit. Companies hired to check boxes, not build bridges. A 2022 study found 30% of firms reported lower productivity post-DEI mandates. 30%. If diversity is our strength, I’m not sure who “our” refers to when we’re forced to play diversity bingo.

Mass Immigration: Here’s the killing blow. Since 1973, legal and illegal immigration flooded the West. There were 2.5 million border crossings in 2024 alone and those are the numbers that they’ll admit to, which we know are low. Now add in the Islamification of Europe, where France is nearly a Caliphate and the Germans keep going to work in order to pay for the illegals that flocked to them. Most don’t integrate. Imagine the farce: Mexican banners at California ICE protests where they tried to stop ICE from arresting underage illegals busy in the process of harvesting illegal (federally) marijuana. Can we be honest and just admit that immigration is not at all about joining the West, it’s about exploiting it. Immigration, though, is the dealbreaker because it changes the people. And everything is downstream of who the people are: culture, politics, and even PEZ®.

In 1973, a near-minimum-wage earner could buy a median home for $32,500, which was about five times the average annual wage. Today, that median home costs a stunning $412,300, ten times the average wage. Why? Illegals depress wages. Back in 1973, a high school grad could pull a great job in construction. But even since 1990, construction wages have dropped 15% in real terms. Illegals also drain services: illegal immigration costs taxpayers $150 billion annually (FAIR 2024), siphoning wealth like a cuckoo bird stealing the nest for its own young rather than for those that built it in the first place.

The GloboLeft insists “diversity is our strength,” but Pew’s 2019 study shows diverse communities have less trust. Many immigrants - legal or not - don’t assimilate and have no desire to assimilate. Ever. Many (not all!) second and third-generation Mexicans in California wave foreign flags because they’re only here for the gold, not the goose and, in fact, despise the goose.

Meanwhile, families, the nucleus of Western civilization, struggle. Low wages and high costs mean fewer kids - Europe’s at 1.5 fertility, which means that, pretty soon, the Swedish Bikini Team™ will have mustaches and be wearing burkas. As we often repeat, the future is there for those who show up.

The West’s prosperity had nothing to do with luck. It was culture. Discipline, merit, family, forged in Athens, Rome, and 1930s Detroit. The GloboLeft’s dogma remains one based in hate for the West: open borders, DEI, and reviling of every bit of the culture that creates wealth. They’d rather pluck the goose than protect it, and be happy with the result. But the goose isn’t dead yet. Bleeding? Yes. In a state that’s getting worse every day? Also yes. Is it worse than most people think? Absolutely. It is a dire point we find ourselves at.

But one thing I’ve seen when I read about Western Civilization is this: every time it looks bleak, and it looks like the flame of what we stand for is in danger of getting extinguished, people become firm and take that stand. And we win because we’re fighting, at the core, not for an economic idea but for the Truth, the Beautiful, and the Good. I think, in part, it’s because it’s not magic dirt. It’s in us, and this rallying from near defeat is what makes us who we are, what drives us to make civilizations, to make the golden goose, again and again. You know, that even inspires me. Almost gives me goose bumps."

Bill Bonner, "The Dog Deals of Summer"

"The Dog Deals of Summer"
Dogs don’t pay tariffs. Inanimate objects don’t pay them.
 In the end, all government revenues must come from The People.
by Bill Bonner

Poitou, France - "Here’s Nicole Russell, a columnist for USA Today, weighing in on Trump’s latest trade triumph: "Trump's EU deal will help blue-collar workers." Critics can hate Trump's personality all they want, but the president's ability to forge trade deals that favor American workers shouldn't be discounted. The gist of Ms. Russell’s argument is that the deal includes requirements for Europe to buy energy and military equipment from the US. This kind of stuff is made by people wearing hardhats or wielding power tools, that is...by ‘blue collar’ workers. Ms. Russell, who lives in Texas and has four children, must not have much free time. If she had, she might have thought this through a bit further.

In the first place, why should US government policy favor one group of workers (blue collar) over another group (white collar)?

In the second place, the tariffic negotiations also favor very big businesses - oil and defense. How is that a plus for the guys who mostly work for small businesses?

In the third place, the same policies that will supposedly favor US industry output with a 15% tariff on imports also call for taxes of 50% on steel and aluminum, which must be paid by US automakers...and ultimately by auto buyers. What good does that do the guy who needs wheels to get to work?

In the fourth place, who does she think pays for the tariffs? Tariffs are essentially a tax, paid by American importers, not foreign exporters...and then, inevitably passed along to US consumers. Fox:

July tariff revenues break monthly record, with $150B collected so far in 2025. White collar...blue collar...or no collar at all - they’re all going to pay. Who else would? Dogs don’t pay tariffs. Inanimate objects don’t pay them. In the end, all government revenues must come from The People. But wait. The only good thing about the tariffs is that they might increase the feds’ income and reduce their need for borrowing. But the geniuses in the US Senate are already finding ways to rip out that silver lining. USA Today: "Josh Hawley Introduces $600 Trump's Tariff Rebate Bill For Working Americans."

You have to wonder...if you’re going to give away money, why give it only to ‘working’ Americans? What have the feds got against retirees? No matter. None of it makes sense. The US is running a $2 trillion deficit...and heading right for a financial crisis. It can’t afford to give money away. Still, the trade deals are seen as a political ‘win’ for Mr. Trump. He seems to have been able to apply his tariff taxes without Congressional approval...and without setting off a brutal trade war.

The Wall Street Journal: "President Trump has achieved the remarkable: raising tariffs by more than the notorious Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, while - it appears - avoiding the destructive trade war that followed. Including the deal struck over the weekend with the European Union, the U.S. will impose an effective tariff rate of about 15% on its trading partners, by far the highest since the 1930s, according to JPMorgan Chase."

But will the deals stick? The New Republic: "Trump’s Big Trade Deal With Japan Is Already Falling Apart." "...a new report from The Financial Times demonstrates that U.S. and Japanese officials don’t see eye-to-eye on what exactly the countries agreed upon. Mireya Solís, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, told The Financial Times that the deal contains “nothing inspiring,” as “both sides made promises that we can’t be sure will be kept,” and “there are no guarantees on what the actual level of investments from Japan will be.”

It’s not exactly a done deal with Europe either. Energy Intel: "US-EU $750 Billion Energy Deal Faces Major Reality Check." "Fred Hutchison, CEO of pro-US LNG export group LNG Allies, said both sides can do a lot to encourage additional commercial deals in the LNG space, but "neither government has any control over what happens commercially."

WSJ continues: "Marine Le Pen, a leader of France’s populist right-wing National Rally, which is slightly favored to win the presidential election in 2027, called the EU deal a “political, economic and moral fiasco.” Alice Weidel, leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany, wrote on X, “The EU has let itself be brutally ripped off.”

Trump got his deals because of the leverage other countries’ deep economic and security ties gave to the U.S. In coming years, that leverage will wane as those countries cultivate markets elsewhere and build up their own militaries. The resulting international system will be less dependent on the U.S. - and less stable. The markets are less stable too. Already teetering at the tippy-top of their trading range, stocks have become even more overvalued. More importantly, Donald Trump has raised the cost of trading with the US. He must also have increased the desire not to trade with it at all."

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

"Moving Out Of California Is A Big Job; California Minimum Wage Killed 18,000 Restaurant Jobs"

Jeremiah Babe, 7/29/25
"Moving Out Of California Is A Big Job; 
California Minimum Wage Killed 18,000 Restaurant Jobs"
Comments here:

"Alert! They're Moving Scary Fast! Russian ICBM Chief In USA!"

Full screen recommended.
Prepper News, 7/29/25
"Alert! They're Moving Scary Fast! 
Russian ICBM Chief In USA!"
Comments here:

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Remember Now"

Full screen recommended.
2002, "Remember Now"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Have you ever seen the Pleiades star cluster? Even if you have, you probably have never seen it as large and clear as this. Perhaps the most famous star cluster on the sky, the bright stars of the Pleiades can be seen without binoculars from even the depths of a light-polluted city. With a long exposure from a dark location, though, the dust cloud surrounding the Pleiades star cluster becomes very evident.
The featured exposure covers a sky area several times the size of the full moon. Also known as the Seven Sisters and M45, the Pleiades lies about 400 light years away toward the constellation of the Bull (Taurus). A common legend with a modern twist is that one of the brighter stars faded since the cluster was named, leaving only six of the sister stars visible to the unaided eye. The actual number of Pleiades stars visible, however, may be more or less than seven, depending on the darkness of the surrounding sky and the clarity of the observer's eyesight." 

"Now Is No Time..."

 

Gerald Celente, "Don't Call Macron's Lady A Drag Queen Or Be Sued"

Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 7/29/25
"Don't Call Macron's Lady A Drag Queen Or Be Sued"
"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:

"Everyone Got It Anyway"

"Everyone Got It Anyway"
by Paul Rosenberg

"As the year 2020 arrived, we were living and thinking as we had been in 2019, 2018 and 2017. There was plenty of fear and outrage in the world, but the levels were fairly smooth. And then, unexpectedly, a long and nightmarish storm battered us. We've all lived through three years of professionally-applied social pain. It has subsided now, but most people haven’t processed what has happened... they haven’t sorted and settled things inside themselves. This type of delay is not unusual. In the aftermath of World War II, the Holocaust simply wasn’t talked about. After World War I, no one dared examine its obscenities for a full decade.

Recalibration: Storms such as we’ve just been through distort human character. We suffered through a fear-storm of Biblical proportions, supercharged with the high-tech application of social pain. Anyone who differed with the party line was punished, and harshly. Millions were fired from their jobs, tolerance for the opinions of others was destroyed, bodily autonomy was rejected, free speech was thrown away with force. And all the authorities, all the holders of positions, all the enforcers and sacrifice collectors... they drove it all in unison, mercilessly. Those who objected were removed in one way or another. So, we have a lot to face and a lot to unwind.

Most of us, in one way or another, need to re-balance ourselves… to recalibrate ourselves. And we can do that in either of two ways: We can recalibrate to reality, or we can recalibrate to fantasy. The healthy and sustainable path forward is to recalibrate to reality, but reality and doesn’t cater to human feelings. Fantasy, on the other hand, succeeds by painting pictures of whatever the hearers would like to be true. So, I think we should begin by facing the one, essential conclusion from the entire Covid business: Everyone got it anyway.

All the threats and enforcements and orders... the actions of authority and the authorized... simply failed. It was the greatest public failure in human history. Appeals like “We did the best we could” are fake, late and thin. The pronouncements of authority were absolutes backed by force, shame, threat and the weaponizing of one's own family. We need to grasp this rather than evading it. If everyone got it anyway, then all the edicts and punishments were worthless at best, and all attempts to evade that recognition are the enemies of mind.

Last Words: Jesus was ever so right when he advised people to clean the inside first. We need to begin by fixing ourselves. Whether we feel like it or not, we must recalibrate to reality. And the reality is that all the pompous pronouncements, all the punishment, all the censorship and all the intimidation... all of it crashed and burned in a flaming heap. Everyone got it anyway."

"Here Come Tariff Rebate Checks - Could You Get $2,000?"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, PM 7/29/25
"Here Come Tariff Rebate Checks - 
Could You Get $2,000?"
"Could you really get $2,000 in tariff rebates this year? Let’s dive into this exciting proposal and what it could mean for you and your family! Hey, it’s Dan, welcome back to IAllegedly. In today’s video, I’m breaking down everything you need to know about the potential tariff rebate plan that could bring some much-needed financial relief just in time for the holidays. From Senator Josh Hawley’s proposal to the surprising success of tariffs, we’re talking numbers, eligibility, and how this could impact American families. We’ve already seen $30 billion collected in tariffs this year, and with projections of $150 billion, there’s a real opportunity here. Families could receive up to $2,400, with individual rebates potentially reaching $1,200 or even $2,000! I’ll also share updates on income limits and how this rebate could be distributed – electronically or via debit card. This isn’t just talk – it’s about creating a financial boost when people need it most."
Comments here:

The Daily "Near You?"

South Pittsburg, Tennessee, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Real Church Sign"

 
"Oh yeah, we're doing fine, thanks for asking."

"All Earthly Empires Die"

"All Earthly Empires Die"
by Bill Bonner

"'Amor fati' was Nietzsche’s famous expression. It is a Latin phrase with connections to the Stoic writings of Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius. Literally translated, it means “love of fate.” It is a white shoe yearning for mud. It is a turkey looking forward to Thanksgiving. Or an investor stoically preparing for a bear market.

We use the term to describe the grace and courage you need to meet a complex, unknowable, and uncontrollable future. You don’t know whether the Earth is warming or cooling… whether it is good or bad… or whether you can do anything about it. You don’t know who’s doing “equal work.” You don’t know what equality is… how to measure it… or what to do about it. You don’t know who the bad guy is. It may even be you. It recognizes that we are all God’s fools, living in a world of ignorance, headed towards we don’t know where. Using our brains, we can make progress in our physical, material world. Technical thinking yields pyramids and Eiffel Towers.

Ignorance Everywhere: But there is another part of life, which has a mind of its own. It does not bend readily to our desires or yield to our intelligence. It is the part of life whose purposes are unknown. The first and most important Commandment, according to Jesus, was not to fight it, but to love it.

But ignorance can be a charm. You just have to take it seriously. And appreciate it. Recognizing your own ignorance will inform your newfound modesty. You will be aware of it. And fiercely proud. Nobody will be humbler than you are! And since you are so chummy with ignorance, you will see it everywhere – in every headline, every public announcement, every speech on the floor of the Senate… and every crackpot comment from every dummy voter in the empire.

In private affairs, you reduce uncertainty by getting as close to the subject as possible. That is, you avoid secondhand “news” and try to find out for yourself. The more you know about a company, for example, the more confident you can be about investing in it. That’s why the insiders always have the inside track, an advantage that is increased by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s phony “level playing field” propaganda. In public affairs – policy discussions, economics, politics – as you get closer, you become less cocksure. That is, the more you know, the more you know you don’t know.

In an interesting university study, people were asked to pick out Ukraine on a map… and whether they approved of military intervention in that country. Curiously, the further off they were on the geography (the average guess was 1,800 miles off), the more they favored forceful intervention. In public affairs, ignorance and confidence vary inversely.

Moral Certainty: When we first moved to Baltimore in the 1980s, we noticed this phenomenon in another context. Baltimore was a disaster. Crime, drugs, poverty, venereal disease, broken homes, unwed mothers, corruption – name a social problem; Baltimore had it. And while its leaders had been noticeably unable to solve any of these problems right in their own back yard, the city’s politically correct politicians were loud and clear on one issue: apartheid had to end… in South Africa. Had they ever visited South Africa? Could they find it on a map? Probably not. But they were sure they knew how to make it a better place.

“Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority,” wrote Baltimore’s own H.L. Mencken. “The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is based on ‘I am not too sure.’”

“I am not too sure,” would eliminate many of the world’s myth-driven, self-inflicted ills – pointless wars, dumb arguments, pogroms, persecutions, and lynchings. And reckless spending of other people’s money.

Imagine a wise Hitler entertaining the idea of building Auschwitz as a “final solution” to the “Jewish problem.” “Hmmm… I’m not too sure that would solve it… In fact, I’m not too sure there is a problem!”

Imagine Simon de Montfort readying to attack the town of Albi to exterminate the “heretics.” When told that half the people in the town were good Catholics, de Montfort replied: “Kill them all. God will recognize His own.” Suppose he had thought twice… “Hmmm… Maybe this is not such a good idea… Maybe killing people is not what Christianity is all about… Maybe the heretics aren’t so bad… Maybe I’ll take the afternoon off.”

Unwarranted Confidence: The barroom blowhard… so sure he is right about everything… is generally the dumbest guy in the place. And the most dangerous. He’s the one who will stir up a mob… and get himself elected president. The whole system of modern public policy is built on false knowledge and unwarranted confidence. The elite claims to know what is best for you. That is how every politician can claim his proposals would “benefit the American people.” But the only program that would benefit the American people would be to let them decide for themselves what would benefit them. Give them back their money. Stop bossing them around. End the wars. Stop the empire. But who would suggest such a thing?

A book that appeared in 2018, "Psychology of a Superpower: Security and Dominance in U.S. Foreign Policy", by political scientist Christopher Fettweis, argued that power really does corrupt, and that when a nation or an empire gets too much power, its elite develops new opinions.

Rather than seeing itself as one of many nations that must get along with each other, its elites begin to see that they have a special role to play. They become the one, “indispensable” nation, as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright put it. They are the world’s only hope in combatting evil, which they do, as then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo elaborated, with “the righteous knowledge that our cause is just, special, and built upon America’s core principles.”

Thus endowed with a special mission and special powers, and subject to the special rules of the only nation with a trillion-dollar-per-year military/empire budget, the elite develop, in Fettweis’s judgment, a fatal combination of unrestrained hubris, unrealistic paranoia, and unrepentant ignorance. They see danger everywhere, without undertaking any serious study (they assume knowledge comes automatically with raw power). And they think they have not only the right, but the means, to do something about it, even if the danger is largely fantasy.

Damned to Hell: But people always come to think what they need to think when they need to think it. “All earthly empires die,” wrote St. Augustine in 413, a few years before the Vandals destroyed his city and finally brought down the Roman Empire in the West.

The elite contribute, by taking up the myths that help it die. Certainty and ignorance vary proportionally, both on the individual and on a national level. The surer a nation is of its myths… its exceptionalism… its manifest destiny… its policies… and its position at the right hand of God… the more it is damned to Hell."

"The Past..."

“Those who cannot remember 
the past are condemned to repeat it.” 
-  George Santayana

Freely download and listen to George Santayana, "The Life of Reason Vol. 1: 
Reason in Common Sense", here: - https://archive.org/details/

Thinking of the past suggested this song. 
What memories does it bring back to you?
Billy Joel, "We Didn't Start The Fire"

"War Bankrupts Empires, Nations & City-States – Here We Go Again"

"War Bankrupts Empires, Nations & City-States – 
Here We Go Again"
by Martin Armstrong

"France was on the brink of its Fifth bankruptcy in 1720. France defaulted in 1558 under Henry II, following the costly Habsburg-Valois Wars (also known as the Italian Wars), the outright repudiation of debt, and currency devaluation. Then in 1648, a Debt Crisis occurred under Louis XIV (Early Reign) with the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) and the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659). Louis XIV suspended payments and manipulated currency. Then, in 1661, there was another financial collapse under Louis XIV, when Finance Minister Nicolas Fouquet was arrested for corruption. Jean-Baptiste Colbert later reformed finances, but debt remained high.

Then, in 1715, France fell into bankruptcy following the death of Louis XIV. The War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) left France deeply indebted. The regency of Philippe d’Orléans implemented the Visa of 1715, a partial debt repudiation. This brings us to 1720 and the collapse of the Mississippi Bubble (John Law’s system), for which history blamed him without examining France’s chronic debt problems. John Law’s speculative financial scheme collapsed, resulting in hyperinflation of paper money and a banking crisis. The French government defaulted on its obligations.

This was followed by the 1770 Bankruptcy under Louis XV. The Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) and financial mismanagement led to another debt crisis. The Finance Minister Étienne de Silhouette and later René de Maupeou imposed austerity and partial defaults.

Then, just 19 years later, this brings us to the debt crisis that sparked the 1789 French Revolution. The Pre-Revolution Financial Crisis was when France was effectively bankrupt under Louis XVI, leading to the Estates-General and the French Revolution (1789). The revolutionary government later repudiated royal debt.

Then, 23 years later, we come to the 1812–1813 Financial Crisis under Napoleon. The Napoleonic Wars drained French finances. The government resorted to forced loans and currency debasement. Just 5 years later, we come to the 1818 Post-Napoleonic Debt Restructuring. After Waterloo (1815), France struggled with reparations and debt. The Duc de Richelieu negotiated loans to stabilize finances. It is a wonder why anyone lends to governments that always want war.

We arrive at the next Revolution in 1848 and the 1848 Financial Crisis during the Second Republic. The February Revolution led to a credit crunch. The government imposed emergency financial measures, as it was unable to meet its debts, given that this was a socialist revolution against the wealthy.

Never learning from the past, which they always seem to assume is gone, we again arrive at the 1871 Post-Franco-Prussian War Bankruptcy Threat. Here, France had to pay 5 billion francs in reparations to Germany after losing the war. The government took massive loans (e.g., Morgan Loans) to avoid default. This was also why France demanded reparations from Germany after World War I, which resulted in bringing Hitler to power in 1933.

Then there was the Great Depression. Here, France was forced to restructure again in 1936, with the Franc Devaluation and Debt Restructuring. The Great Depression weakened France’s economy. The Popular Front government devalued the franc and restructured debt.

Then there was the 2010 EU Debt Crisis, which most people look at in relation to Greece and stop there. The 2010s European Debt Crisis (Near-Default Risk) contagion affected France, which faced high deficits but avoided sovereign default. Debt-to-GDP rose sharply, but the country barely maintained its creditworthiness and is once again incurring deficits, all to wage war on Russia.

Here we go again. We will see massive sovereign defaults in Europe as they wage war on Russia at the behest of NATO and the Neocons."

"How It Really Is"

 

"Another Canary: The Las Vegas Economy Is Tanking Just Like It Did In 2008 And 2009"

"Another Canary: The Las Vegas Economy 
Is Tanking Just Like It Did In 2008 And 2009"
by Michael Snyder

"If you want to get a really good indication of where the U.S. economy is heading, just look at what is happening in Las Vegas. During good times, hotel occupancy rates are very high and lots of money is thrown around in the casinos. But when times are getting tough, less people head to Las Vegas and those that do go tend to be tighter with their money. We saw a perfect example of this during the Great Recession. Once the global financial crisis hit, gambling revenues in Las Vegas plunged. The following comes from an ABC News article that was published in 2009

"To almost everyone - and especially the Germans - Las Vegas seemed recession-proof. But now, since the summer of 2008, gambling revenues have dropped by more than 10 percent (see graphic) after having plunged to as much as 25 percent in the months immediately following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. Of course things eventually turned around and Las Vegas thrived for many years."

But now another enormous shift is taking place. A new downturn has begun “with hotel occupancy, visitor numbers and spending all slipping”…"Las Vegas is experiencing a notable downturn in tourism, with hotel occupancy, visitor numbers and spending all slipping. Industry data points to several key reasons behind the shift, including rising costs, fewer international travellers, and broader economic uncertainties."

So why is this happening? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Despite the absolutely nonsense that you hear on CNBC, the truth is that the U.S. economy is rapidly going in the wrong direction. As a result, occupancy rates at Las Vegas hotels are absolutely plummeting

"Las Vegas hotels are posting some of the steepest year-over-year performance declines among major U.S. markets this summer as international visitor weakness and economic uncertainty take a toll. Preliminary STR data indicates Las Vegas occupancy fell 14.9% in June, which, if actualized, would mark the city’s deepest monthly decline so far this year. The deterioration continued into July, with the week ending July 5 showing Vegas with the worst declines across the top 25 U.S. markets: Occupancy fell 16.8%, to 66.7%, and revenue per available room (RevPAR) plunged 28.7%, to $102.75, according to STR."

Because things are so slow, workers are being laid off, and the unemployment rate in the Las Vegas area jumped quite a bit higher last month…"Las Vegas’ jobless rate ticked higher again last month amid a slump in tourism this year. The Las Vegas-area’s unemployment rate was 5.8 percent in June, up from 5.5 percent in May, according to non-seasonally adjusted figures released this week by the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation."

Nobody can deny what is happening in Las Vegas, because the numbers are telling a very clear story. And it turns out that casinos in other areas of the country are also experiencing financial difficulties right now. Here is just one prominent example

"Earlier this month, resort and casino operator Maverick Gaming filed for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Southern District of Texas. The Kirkland, Washington-based company owns five casinos across Nevada, Colorado, and Washington and reported that it currently has between $100 million and $500 million in liabilities. The Nevada properties include a combined 1,200 hotel rooms, 1,700 slot machines and 43 table games. The Washington resorts also have 17 card tables used by visitors specifically seeking out the hotels for gambling trips."

This reminds me so much of the Great Recession. If you think that I am exaggerating, let me give you another parallel to 2008 and 2009. Our housing market just experienced “its slowest spring season in more than a dozen years”…"The US housing market just logged its slowest spring season in more than a dozen years, leaving Glennda Baker, a veteran real estate agent in Atlanta, struggling to sell 21 listings. She’s been slashing prices. But months of chatter about AI taking jobs and tariffs tanking the economy is feeding into buyer indecision. “People say price solves everything,” Baker said. “But price doesn’t solve uncertainty.”

For the entire year of 2025, home sales in the United States are expected to hit the lowest level in 30 years…"Home sales are set to plunge to a 30-year low - with experts warning the slump could deepen into a full‑blown collapse. Just four million transactions are expected in the US this year, according to new data from Realtor.com. That would mark the lowest level since 1995, according to the National Association of Realtors."

Yes, it is being projected that home sales in 2025 will be even lower than they were in 2008 and 2009. That isn’t just bad. That is really bad. So why do the talking heads on CNBC continue to insist that the economy is strong? Have they gone completely nuts?

I simply don’t understand why they can’t see the parallels to 2008 and 2009, but one thing that we didn’t have in 2008 and 2009 that we are dealing with today is rampant inflation. If you can believe it, the average list price of a 3-year-old used vehicle has risen by $9,476 over the past six years…"Detroit Free Press autos writer Jamie LaReau reported recently that the average list price for a 3-year-old vehicle is now $32,635, an infuriating $9,476 more than it was six years ago." This is one of the primary reasons why so many Americans are driving around in 20-year-old vehicles these days. The average age of the vehicles on U.S. roads has reached an all-time record high, and that isn’t going to change any time soon.

Meanwhile, meat prices just continue to skyrocket…"In June, meat prices well outpaced the entire food-at-home category, with steak and ground beef prices rising 12.4% and 10.3%, respectively, compared with a year earlier, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index (CPI). Beef prices are now hitting a record $9.26 per pound at retailers as of June, according to the USDA."

Inflation is causing our standard of living to collapse. This is something that I have written about over and over again. At this stage, things are so bad that 83 percent of Americans are dealing with “stressflation”…

"A LifeStance Health survey released today reveals “stressflation” is affecting most Americans, with 83% reporting financial stress driven by inflation, mass layoffs, the rising cost of living and recession fears. Millennials and Gen Z report the most significant mental health impacts." So if you are feeling stressed about the rapidly rising cost of living, you are certainly not alone.

Sadly, the long-term trends that have brought us to this point are not going to abate any time soon. In fact, a tremendous amount of societal chaos is on the horizon. So I would encourage you to batten down the hatches, because the storm that is heading our way is not going to be pleasant."

Gregory Mannarino, "The Convergence: An Economic Superstorm"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 7/29/25
"The Convergence: An Economic Superstorm"
Comments here:
o
"Treasury said it will borrow over $1 trillion in the next three months. This is more than double what it expected to borrow just a few months ago. The announcement cited a lower cash balance in the Treasury General account (the government’s checking account, basically) and lower than expected tax receipts during the third quarter of the fiscal year."
o
"Convergence" generally means the act of coming together or uniting at a single point or in a common interest or focus, economically with inescapable consequences. It can refer to physical things like lines or objects moving towards each other, or to more abstract concepts like ideas or opinions becoming similar. In various fields, "convergence" has specific meanings." 
A totally realistic video metaphor of the economic 
superstorms converging on the good ship "World Economy"...
Full screen recommended.

"The Infinite Money Glitch is Back – Unbelievable ATM Fraud"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, AM 7/29/25
"The Infinite Money Glitch is Back – 
Unbelievable ATM Fraud"
"The $17M infinite money glitch is back, and this time it’s crazier than ever! In today’s video, I break down how $17 million vanished from New York City in just three days through a shocking ATM loophole in a youth financial program. Fraudsters exploited this glitch in ways that will leave you stunned - from kids selling their debit cards to organized criminals withdrawing thousands in cash. This is a wild story you don’t want to miss!"
Comments here:

"Items at Dollar Tree Everyone Should Be Buying Right Now!"

Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, AM 7/29/25
"Items at Dollar Tree Everyone 
Should Be Buying Right Now!"
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Monday, July 28, 2025

Jeremiah Babe, "Say Goodbye To Home Ownership, You Will Own Nothing"

Jeremiah Babe, 7/28/25
"Say Goodbye To Home Ownership, 
You Will Own Nothing"
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"The CEOs of Costco, Walmart, Target Warn That Store Shelves All Over America Could Soon Be Empty"

Full screen recommended.
Economy Zone, 7/28/25
"The CEOs of Costco, Walmart, Target Warn That 
Store Shelves All Over America Could Soon Be Empty"
"America's top retailers are sounding the alarm. Walmart, Target, and Costco CEOs warn of a looming crisis as shelves begin to empty across the U.S. - and this time, it’s not just supply chain delays. From global shipping chaos to skyrocketing theft, the future of retail may never look the same again. Here's what they're not telling you."
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Musical Interlude: Chuck Wild, Liquid Mind, “Dream Ten”

Chuck Wild, Liquid Mind, “Dream Ten”

"A Look to the Heavens"

“This colorful skyscape features the dusty, reddish glow of Sharpless catalog emission region Sh2-155, the Cave Nebula. About 2,400 light-years away, the scene lies along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy toward the royal northern constellation of Cepheus.
Astronomical explorations of the region reveal that it has formed at the boundary of the massive Cepheus B molecular cloud and the hot, young, blue stars of the Cepheus OB 3 association. The bright rim of ionized hydrogen gas is energized by the radiation from the hot stars, dominated by the bright blue O-type star above picture center. Radiation driven ionization fronts are likely triggering collapsing cores and new star formation within. Appropriately sized for a stellar nursery, the cosmic cave is over 10 light-years across.”

The Poet: Arthur O’Shaughnessy, "Music and Moonlight"

"Music and Moonlight"

"We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone seabreakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever, it seems…
We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Ninevah with our sighing,
And Babel itself in our mirth;
And o’erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world’s worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth."

- Arthur O’Shaughnessy
"The Dreamers Of Dreams..."

"The division of one day from the next must be one of the most profound peculiarities of life on this planet. We are not condemned to sustained flights of being, but are constantly refreshed by little holidays from ourselves. We are intermittent creatures, always falling to little ends and rising to new beginnings. Our soon-tired consciousness is meted out in chapters, and that the world will look quite different tomorrow is, both for our comfort and our discomfort, usually true. How marvelously too night matches sleep, sweet image of it, so nearly apportioned to our need. Angels must wonder at these beings who fall so regularly out of awareness into a fantasm-infested dark. How our frail identities survive these chasms no philosopher has ever been able to explain."
- Iris Murdoch

"Some Very Big Problems"

"We have got some very big problems confronting us and let us not make any mistake about it, human history in the future is fraught with tragedy. It's only through people making a stand against that tragedy and being doggedly optimistic that we are going to win through. If you look at the plight of the human race it could well tip you into despair, so you have to be very strong."
- Robert James Brown