Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Thanks for stopping by!
So, we rise from the rubble...
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Tuesday, January 13, 2026
"We Don’t Really Know What’s Happening"
"We Don’t Really Know What’s Happening"
by Paul Rosenberg
"And, believe it or not, this is rather good news. I’ll explain. We all like to know what’s happening in the world, and for good reason… understanding our surroundings is essential to survival. We instinctively seek information… we need information. There is, however, a problem that we face: No matter how much “news” you consume, you won’t really know what’s going on in the world.
We can’t know, because ‘the news’ is half illusion, provided by government-dependent corporations that are paid to keep you watching and to keep you joined to the status quo. Granted, they are quite good at providing pictures from disaster areas, but when it comes to explaining why the disaster happened, they mislead almost every time. Yes, some truth makes its way through the news machine, but most of it is wrapped in layers of manipulation. If, for example, you watch the news feeds all day, you’ll find a good deal of truth, but you’ll find it amongst a pile of half-truths. Do you really have enough time to analyze them all?
One Piece of Truth: The truth about public reporting comes out from time to time, but usually well after the fact. So, here’s one piece of truth that’s worth remembering: For those who don’t recall the 1970s, Daniel Ellsberg was a man who worked as an analyst at the RAND Corp., moved from there to the Pentagon, spent two years in Vietnam working for the State Department, and then went back to RAND. He is the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971. These were the documents that revealed that three US presidential administrations had been plainly, knowingly, and openly lying to the public.
Here’s what Ellsberg thought the New York Times was good for: "… to see what the rubes and the yokels are thinking about and what they think is going on and what they think the policy is…" Later, in 1998, he said this in an interview: "The public is lied to every day by the president, by his spokespeople, by his officers. If you can’t handle the thought that the president lies to the public for all kinds of reasons, you couldn’t stay in the government at that level…"
And here’s what Michael Deaver, a top aide to President Ronald Reagan, said about the press: The media I’ve had a lot to do with is lazy. We fed them and they ate it every day." That’s the truth about news, my friends. The news channels and newspapers are where the yokels get informed, presidents flatly lie, and legislatures are massively corrupt. And Internet news sites primarily recycle TV and newspaper stories.
Yes, some truth does slide through, but it looks almost the same as the other stuff. The only places we get anything close to refined truth is on a few Internet sites… and many of them have a particular axe to grind. The Internet is being funneled into Google, Facebook, and a few other friends of the state. Social media is being massively censored, and the the independents are being squeezed out anyway.
More Truth: This is what William Colby, former director of the CIA, is quoted as saying in "Derailing Democracy: The America the Media Don’t Want You to See": "The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media."
Now, since people have disputed that quotation, let’s back it up: Please consider Operation Mockingbird: Beginning in 1948, a CIA agent named Frank Wisner started gathering journalists and broadcasters… and started using them to ‘inform’ the public. The operation soon got so elaborate that other agents called it “Wisner’s Wurlitzer.” (Wurlitzer being a popular brand of organ.) In other words, Wisner played the media like a musical instrument.
While the real situation is more complex than this short description, rest assured that every major news organization in every major country is manipulated by intelligence groups. Where do you think they get all those “unnamed sources”? If you were an intel operator, wouldn’t you do precisely that? You’d be considered derelict not to. So, you can rely upon this fact.
And So…I could continue listing facts, but there’s no real point. The crucial thing is to accept the truth: The news is worked over before it reaches us. We do know some facts, of course, and a generation from now we may learn nearly the whole truth about some of these events, but only if we wait and then go out of our way to find it.
The good news in all of this comes when we accept the facts and stop running our brains on bad information. Yes, it would be nice to know what’s really going on, but we don’t, and there isn’t much we can do about it. So, it’s time to stop treating the news seriously.
So long as the guv-megacorp-intel structure remains, it will enforce our ignorance. That’s what such organizations do, by their very nature. To expect differently is like expecting a dog to sprout wings and fly. But once we accept that fact, we stop being spun around by the talking heads and their handlers. And then, you can start building the kind of world you’d like to live in."
Free Download: "Report From Iron Mountain On The Possibility And Desirability Of Peace"
"The Report from Iron Mountain"
by Bill Bonner
"Laugh…and know."
~ Marcus Valerius Martialis
"Every day the war drums beat louder. Asia Times: "US provocatively points new nuke-tipped missile at China." The US has just tested a new type of nuclear-tipped air launch cruise missile, reaffirming the viability of the air-based leg of its nuclear triad against evolving threats from near-peer adversaries China and Russia with profound implications for regional stability and global non-proliferation norms. This month, The Warzone reported that the US Air Force had conducted nine flight tests of its future nuclear-tipped AGM-181A Long Range Stand Off (LRSO) cruise missile prototypes, including one test with a mock nuclear warhead.
When Europeans were just beginning to discover North America, an intrepid explorer spent time with the tribes along the Hudson Bay of Canada. He reported that one day, the young men of the tribe took their weapons and headed north. He thought they were on a hunting party. For weeks they continued…until the trees had disappeared …and it looked like desolate tundra. Finally, they found what they were looking for – an Eskimo village. The Eskimos were different people – different language, different culture… Wasting no time, the Indians attacked and slaughtered everyone in the village – men, women, children.
They were on a crusade. And they targeted people they must have viewed as ‘bad.’ Were they bad because they worshiped other gods? Or because they worshiped no gods at all? Were they bad because they had bad breath…or because the Indians lived on a vast, mostly-empty continent and the Eskimos were the only plausible ‘enemy’ within range?
History tells us that it is easy to gin up a war fever and get millions of people killed for no apparent reason. All you need is an enemy. And right now, America’s foreign policy experts…its glorious think tank generals…and its newspaper heroes turn their eyes east – to China. What have the Chinese done to us? Don’t know? But that was the point of the ‘Report from Iron Mountain.’ An enemy doesn’t have to do something, he just has to be something – a useful foe.
The Health of the State: China is the world’s greatest success story – ever. Since 1979, it brought 800 million people up from the grit and slime of Mao’s communist poverty into the modern world of capitalism, decent salaries, abundant food and technological wonders, such as its high speed rail and Shanghai’s maglev train. The US can’t match it.
But instead of admiring it…trying to learn from it…and hoping to profit from it, all of which would benefit the American people, China is becoming the enemy the empire elite need. Richard Cullen: "Bad-tempered coverage of China continues to flourish across the entire US media. It ranges from fire-breathing to pearl-clutching. Most commentators look daggers at Beijing in a dozen different over-cooked ways – and especially at the Communist Party of China – while reminding readers and viewers of America’s continuing paramount superpower status."
Truth emerges, often, in unexpected places. The “Report from Iron Mountain” may have been a spoof, designed only to elicit a knowing chuckle from the cynical cognoscenti, but it reveals the real cause of war better than any group of federal hacks ever could. The supposed background is that a 15-member group of pipe smokers got together in a Special Study Group to speculate on the consequences of ‘peace.’ They met in a nuclear-secure bunker under Iron Mountain. They came to the conclusion that government is incompatible with ‘peace.’ It can’t exist without war. Nation states only exist so they can make war.
There was nothing new about this insight. “War is the health of the state,” said Randolph Bourne. War is not just useful to government; it is government. The defining difference between the US government and the Catholic Church, Kiwanis Club or Walmart is that the former uses force to get what it wants. The latter do not. Without the use of force – police, jails, wars – the ‘state’ would have no reason to exist. Tune in Monday…for more on why war is inevitable…and why the US will probably lose it.
o
Freely download
"Report From Iron Mountain On The
Possibility And Desirability Of Peace" here:
"Remembering the Battle of Teutoburg Forest"
Battle of Teutoberg forest in 9AD, in which German tribes led by
Arminius of the Cherusci defeated three Roman legions.
"Remembering the Battle of Teutoburg Forest"
by John Leake
"Quintili Vare, legiones redde! "
("Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!")
- Emperor Augustus, after the Teutoburg Forest disaster.
"The German chieftain Arminius was a prince of the Roman-friendly Cherusci tribe. To make sure that the Cherusci remained friendly, the Romans took him hostage when he was a boy, educated him in Rome, and then sent him back to Germania with the Roman politician and general, Publius Quinctilius Varus, who was tasked with completing the Roman conquest of the country and its tribes.
From his close observation of the Romans, and Varus in particular, Arminius had privately come to the conclusion that - for all of their talk about civilization, law, and citizenship - they were a rapacious, exploitative, and tyrannical bunch. In Arminius’s estimate, Varus was little more than a glorified tax collector.
And so, in the year 9 AD, Arminius set about forming a secret, rebel alliance of German tribes to set a trap for Varus’s 17th, 18th, and 19th Legions. Under normal circumstances, these tribes and their leaders were fractious and uncooperative, but in 9 AD, their uniform resentment of Varus brought them happily together.
Arminius’s plot was extraordinarily effective. Falling for a ruse de guerre, Varus (a lawyer who grossly overestimated his military acumen) and his legions pressed deep into unfamiliar terrain (now in Lower Saxony), where they were ambushed and totally destroyed - all three legions wiped out to a man in the most brutal conceivable way.
Arminius’s plot was extraordinarily effective. Falling for a ruse de guerre, Varus (a lawyer who grossly overestimated his military acumen) and his legions pressed deep into unfamiliar terrain (now in Lower Saxony), where they were ambushed and totally destroyed - all three legions wiped out to a man in the most brutal conceivable way.
When the Emperor Augustus received word of the defeat, he is said to have temporarily lost possession of his senses. All three legions totally destroyed? How was it possible? The “Varian Disaster” was a demoralizing blow, prompting the Romans to abandon their ambition of conquering Germania. Nevertheless, the Romans - with their vastly superior organization - continued to rule much of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East for centuries to come. The German tribes, on the other hand, went back to their fractious ways. Just twelve years after his great triumph at the Teutoburg Forest, Arminius was murdered by rivals in his own tribe .
Nevertheless, I believe that a valuable lesson can be learned from the Varian Disaster -namely, a people should never let triumphs like the one that Trump just enjoyed in Venezuela go to their heads.
Given President Trump’s own experience with a Kangaroo Court in New York in 2024, there’s a certain weird irony in Maduro being hauled back to the States to stand before a federal court in New York. I’m sure he’ll get a fair trial!
The story reminds me of the Gallic leader Vercingetorix during Julius Caesar's triumph in 46 BC, who was paraded through Rome in shackles to the exultation of the plebs before being ceremonially executed. Most plebs in the city lived in the Subura slum and subsisted on the grain dole, but the humiliation of the recalcitrant Vercingetorix gave them great satisfaction and pride in being Roman. And boy did it elevate Caesar’s status!
A notably cool head in Rome at the time - Marcus Tullius Cicero - perceived that Caesar’s Gallic Triumph would certainly go to his head. He viewed Caesar as a dangerous figure who was willing to disregard established laws and norms to gain power. I don’t know if Cicero’s perceptions of Caesar are applicable to President Trump, but I’m a bit concerned that they are.
If you get angry when you read this column and reach for your keyboard to fire off a comment, please take a moment to contemplate at least the possibility that cooler heads in the past - though lacking celebratory cheer and humor - have kept this country out of harm’s way.
I am thinking about President Kennedy’s rejection of the advice of Air Force General Curtis LeMay, who advocated immediate military attack of the Russian missile bases in Cuba in October 1962. Kennedy and his brother Robert chose a more cautious approach, and quietly negotiated the withdraw of the Soviet missiles from Cuba in exchange for the U.S. withdrawing its missiles from Turkey.
I hope that President Trump will limit his imperial ambitions to low hanging fruit like Venezuela, and not let his triumph lull him into thinking he can take on Russia. This was the fatal error made by Napoleon in 1812 and Hitler in 1941.
I know, I know, the U.S. isn’t like the great powers of the past. We are utterly unique in our brilliant technological prowess, and no one on earth could ever touch us. We are invincible. As Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) recently put it in a Fox Business interview about his plan to wrest Greenland from Denmark:
It’s important that we have a stake in Greenland, that they are, quite frankly, a protectorate of the United States. You know, they’ve been in... a relationship with Denmark, that needs to end... When you look at the Monroe Doctrine, you look at the Western hemisphere, we are the dominant predator, quite frankly, force in the Western hemisphere.
Yes, we are the apex predator. All of mankind, including Denmark (!) may now behold the sublime majesty of our might. As Ben Shapiro recently put it, “There is no such thing as international law. It is nonsense.” The law of the jungle now prevails, and the Rampant Lion of the United States will, if resisted, display the awesome firepower of its fully armed and operational military. (Author’s note: I write this in a tone of playful irony).
In all seriousness: Till his dying day, the Emperor Augustus was confounded by the question: “How did the German boy Armenius succeed in totally annihilating three Roman legions? How was it even possible?”
"Socialist Zombies"
"Socialist Zombies"
by Joel Bowman
“We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
~ Zohran Mamdani, from his Inauguration Speech, January 1, 2026
Buenos Aires, Argentina - "For every silver lining, a clamorous thundercloud. For every sweet-smelling rose, a procession of funeral mourners. And for every measured and thoughtful student of history, a cocksure Zohran Mamdani. Naturally, the mainstream media has been holding the new mayor’s feet to the fire, speaking truth to power, afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted, etc., etc., etc... Just look at these hard-hitting headlines from The New York Times:
Amid Opening Sprint, Mamdani Paused to Socialize With Steven Spielberg (Jan. 8)
Handing Out Free Tickets, Mamdani Says Theater Should Not Be ‘a Luxury’ (Jan. 9)
Mamdani Brings Affordability Push to Arts With Pick to Lead Film Office (Jan. 13)
Down here at the End of the World, meanwhile, we’ve been tracking a curiously underreported political experiment, one rooted in unfashionable sentiments and unpopular concepts... like liberty, self-determination and “rugged individualism.” It’s that rare brand of politics once practiced by cautious men, men who were wary of the state’s reliable, historical tendency to overstep its mark... to engage in mission creep... and to meddle in the private lives of decent, ordinary people.
At its heart, “libertarianism” is a recognition that governments are made up of men – not angels – and that mere men are prone to err, especially when tempted by that most corrupting seductress: power. In other words, it is exactly the kind of laissez-faire politics that keeps the Bernie Sanders, AOCs and Zohran Mamdanis of the world awake at night, fretting that someone, somewhere might be pursuing “life, liberty and happiness” on their own accord.
The Warmth of Collectivism: There is nothing new about Mamdani’s promises, of course, except a brand new cohort of mental lemmings willing to fall for his spiel. Here he is on...
State run labor: “As the cost of living explodes in New York City, the City must be a leader in setting a minimum wage that better meets New Yorkers’ needs. I have committed to raising the minimum wage in New York City to $30/hr by 2030.”
State run groceries: “I will create a network of city-owned grocery stores, whose mission is lower prices, not price gouging. These stores will operate without a profit motive... and will pass on those savings to you.”
State run housing: “Whether you call it the abolition of private property or you call it a statewide housing guarantee, it’s preferable to what is going on right now.”
Never mind that these things have all been tried and tried again, always to disastrous results. To take just one example...Last year, the United Socialist State of California (USSC) raised its fast food minimum wage to $20... and (according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics) promptly lost 36,000 jobs as a result. Fast food prices in the Golden State also went up 10% faster than across other states as businesses passed rising costs onto consumers, rubbing greasy salt into the wounds of newly unemployed burger flippers. As one former employee (interviewed for Stossel TV) noted: “Twenty-dollar minimum wage don’t matter much if you ain’t got a job no more.”
A Loss of Blood to the Brain: As for state-run groceries and state-run housing, one only need visit one of the fast-failing socialist utopias of the world – from Cuba to Venezuela, North Korea to Eritrea – to discover the ubiquitous misery of empty shelves and crumbling public housing.
As it happens, Argentina provides a textbook example of how not to intervene in a rental market, by way of 2020’s disastrous “Ley de Alquiler” (2020 Rental Law), which essentially amounted to national rent control. The law reads so badly, in fact, we’d be surprised if a copy of it is not sitting on Mamdani’s photocopier...
The basic Peronist pitch, common to all such “government knows best” conceits, relied on the heart taking a massive advanced loan of blood from the brain, such that feelings – for the poor, for the lame, for “those experiencing unhousedness” – take on lifelike animations… while reason, logic and empirical evidence were left to flail and fold, like an unarmed sock puppet.
The law itself, among the most draconian rent control measures in the world, mandated landowners shackle themselves to strict, three-year leases. Meanwhile, all contracts were required to be denominated in pesos, which the econo-clowns at the nation’s central bank were busy printing into oblivion. It also gave tenants wide discretion to dictate terms of lease termination and weighed heavily against landlords who sought to evict deadbeat tenants, even on grounds of property destruction and failure to keep up with payments. All of which was designed to stop evil capitalists from “ripping off” the poor and downtrodden workers of the world. Can you guess what happened next?
Home Sweet Homeless: Predictably, instead of leasing their apartments to the rental equivalents of “tenants with tenure,” a situation in which they were virtually guaranteed to lose money thanks to the government’s world-beating inflation, many landlords simply kept their places vacant... or sold them for dollars.
Thus, by 2022, some 200,000 apartments were left vacant in the capital of Buenos Aires, up 45% from a year earlier. By 2023, as many as one in seven homes in the entire country sat empty, an historic supply shortage in exactly the thing most needed by precisely the group the state claimed to be helping.
Not until Javier Milei arrived with his trademark chainsaw in 2023 and tore the disastrous Ley de Alquiler to shreds was some semblance of normalcy restored. In fact, the return to free(r) market capitalism was so dramatic, even the mainstream press was obliged to notice. From The Wall Street Journal: "The country’s new president, Javier Milei, has scrapped the rental law, along with most government price controls, in a fiscal experiment that he is conducting to revive South America’s second-biggest economy.
The result: The Argentine capital is undergoing a rental-market boom. Landlords are rushing to put their properties back on the market, with Buenos Aires rental supplies increasing by over 170%. While rents are still up in nominal terms, many renters are getting better deals than ever, with a 40% decline in the real price of rental properties when adjusted for inflation since last October, said Federico González Rouco, an economist at Buenos Aires-based Empiria Consultores."
Milei’s move to undo rent-control regulations has resulted in one of the clearest-cut victories for what he calls “economic shock therapy.” He is methodically taking apart a system of price controls, closing government agencies and lifting trade restrictions built up over eight decades of socialist and military rule in an effort that has upended the lives of many Argentines. Of course, lessons only matter if you’re paying attention... something it’s hard to do when you’re busy fleecing taxpayers, dolling out other people’s money and generally eating the rich."
More on the free market side of the coin in your
next Notes From the End of the World...
"10% Credit Card Interest Cap, This Changes Everything"
Full screen recommended.
ThisisJohnWilliams, 1/13/26
"10% Credit Card Interest Cap, This Changes Everything"
Comments here:
"92 Percent Of Employed Americans Have Cut Back On Spending As The Standard Of Living In The U.S. Crumbles"
"92 Percent Of Employed Americans Have Cut Back
On Spending As The Standard Of Living In The U.S. Crumbles"
by Michael Snyder
"The headline of this article is not a misprint. The reason why “affordability” has become the number one issue for U.S. voters is because most of the population is being absolutely crushed by the rising cost of living. Just look at how much you are paying for electricity compared to five years ago. And just look at how much you are paying for food compared to five years ago. Housing costs have risen to absurd heights, property taxes have become absolutely insane in many areas of the country, and health insurance premiums have more than doubled for millions of Americans. It isn’t just a coincidence that so many people are bitterly complaining about the cost of living these days. The truth is that most of the country is experiencing very real pain.
Of course it isn’t an accident that this has happened. Our politicians have borrowed and spent 28 trillion dollars that we did not have since Barack Obama first entered the White House in January 2009, and I warned that all of this money would create rampant inflation. On top of that, the Federal Reserve has pumped trillions of dollars that were created out of thin air into the financial system since 2008. That has helped the stock market hit record highs, but it has been one of the factors that has made the cost of living unbearable for the rest of us.
The very foolish decisions that our leaders have been making have had dramatic consequences. Our standard of living is crumbling right in front of our eyes, and now a brand new report is telling us that 92 percent of employed Americans have been forced to cut back on spending…"For millions of Americans, staying financially afloat now means difficult trade-offs. As the price of everyday necessities continues to rise faster than wages, new data shows workers are cutting back wherever they can – often at the expense of savings, overall financial security and even essential needs.
That is the picture emerging from Resume Now’s 2026 Cost-of-Living Crunch Report, a national survey of 1,011 employed Americans, which has found that only 17 percent of Americans feel financially secure enough to cover essentials and save money. Nearly two-thirds of respondents cited everyday essentials as their biggest financial burden. What’s more, a remarkable 92 percent said they have cut back on spending, including on items many would previously have considered non-negotiable."
Please notice that only “employed Americans” were asked about the cost of living. More than 100 million U.S. adults are not working at all. For those that do not regularly follow my work, yes that is an accurate number. The vast majority of U.S. adults that are not working are considered to be “not in the labor force” by the federal government.
Another survey that was conducted at the end of December found that 70 percent of Americans consider the cost of living where they live to be “not very affordable” or “not affordable at all”…"American consumers aren’t feeling great about the economy or their own financial situation, with the phrase “affordability crisis” dominating headlines and political campaigns over the last few months. The majority - 70% - of Americans surveyed in a Marist poll of over 1,400 adults taken in December, say that the cost of living in their area is not very affordable, or not affordable at all, for the average family."
This is the result of decades of incredibly bad economic policy. The purchasing power of our money has been steadily declining, and now 65 percent of employed Americans are struggling to even afford everyday essentials…"Sixty-five percent of the survey respondents said that affording everyday essentials was a top contributor to their financial strain. Jared Kessler, founder of Forex Broker, said the concentration of stress around essentials is a key indicator that the problem runs deeper than any short-term financial shocks. “It is clear, based on this data, that we are experiencing a real cost-of-living crisis as opposed to an immediate inflationary response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he told Newsweek."
Read that last sentence again, because it is so true. We are in the midst of a nightmarish cost of living crisis that never seems to end. At this stage, 60 percent of employed Americans “could only cover three months or less of expenses if they were to lose their job”…"Sixty percent of respondents said they could only cover three months or less of expenses if they were to lose their job, leaving little room for error in the event of layoffs, illness or other events that could impact their financial standing. For many, even routine expenses are being trimmed."
Most of the country is living right on the edge. Nobody can deny this. And consumer sentiment rapidly moved in the wrong direction in 2025…"Between January and November last year, consumer sentiment among the lowest and middle terciles of American household income fell 29.8% and 27.6%, respectively, while the country’s highest third of earners suffered a steeper 32.1% decline."
Our politicians in Washington shouldn’t have been borrowing and spending so much money all these years. But they did. And we should have never allowed ourselves to go 38.4 trillion dollars in debt. But we did. Many of us ranted about the bad decisions that were being made for years. But most of the population didn’t listen.
Sadly, as I pointed out in a previous article, we have now reached a point where “affordability” has become the number one issue for U.S. voters…"A University of Michigan poll published in December shows that high prices remain a pain point for consumers. About 46% blame high prices for poor personal finances - among the highest shares since the series started in the late 1970s. Consumers’ views of their current financial situation in December “collapsed” into negative territory for the first time since July 2022, the month after pandemic-era inflation had peaked, according to a poll published Tuesday by the Conference Board. Overall, 65% of U.S. households say the cost of living has gotten worse or much worse in the past year, according to a recent Politico poll."
Previous generations handed us the keys to the greatest economic machine that the world had never seen. And we went out and wrecked it.
50 years ago, the U.S. economy was so dominant that it would have taken stupidity on an epic scale to cause it to fail. But somehow we managed to do it.
Even though our standard of living is in the process of collapsing all around us, most Americans are still working hard and are “effectively trying to muscle through this”…“What we’re seeing is there is still inflation pressure across the system, particularly in the retail environment, and consumers, through our research tell us that they are effectively trying to muscle through this,” Will Auchincloss, Americas retail sector leader at EY-Parthenon, says. “They’re trying to buy what they’ve always bought or want to buy, but in the face of higher prices.”
Most of us want to continue to live the way we did before, but we simply do not have enough money to do it. So U.S. households are piling up tremendous amounts of debt. In fact, U.S. household debt recently hit an all-time record high of 18.59 trillion dollars…"Americans’ household debt levels – including mortgages, car loans, credit cards and student loans – are now at a new record high, according to data released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Total household debt reached $18.59 trillion from July through September of this year, up by $197 billion from the previous quarter."
Of course the federal government is an even bigger offender. The U.S. government is now 38.4 trillion dollars in debt, and it is being projected that number will be well above 40 trillion dollars before the end of this year. For more than a decade I warned about what would happen if we kept going down this road, and now it has happened. We are literally committing societal suicide. The next time you feel like screaming while you are paying your bills, you might want to remember who got us into this mess in the first place."
"California Governor Panics as Del Monte Declares Bankruptcy"
Victoria Davis, 1/13/26
"California Governor Panics
as Del Monte Declares Bankruptcy"
"California faces a food security nightmare as Del Monte declares bankruptcy - and the collapse of this iconic food giant exposes how the state's regulatory war on agriculture is destroying its own food supply. This video reveals how California's suffocating environmental mandates, water restrictions, and labor regulations have made it impossible for one of America's largest food producers to survive in the very state where it was founded. Discover how Del Monte's bankruptcy threatens thousands of farming jobs and processing plant closures across California's agricultural heartland, why grocery store shelves could face devastating shortages of canned vegetables, fruits, and essential pantry staples that millions of families depend on, and how this follows an alarming trend of food processors, canneries, and agricultural operations fleeing California for states with saner policies.
We'll explore the catastrophic ripple effects hitting California's Central Valley farming communities already struggling with drought restrictions and rising costs, the supply chain crisis that will force consumers to pay premium prices for produce that used to be grown and processed right in their backyard, and why the state's relentless regulatory assault on agriculture is systematically dismantling the very industry that feeds America. Learn how California's politicians have prioritized environmental extremism over food security, the warnings from industry experts that more agricultural bankruptcies are inevitable under current policies, and why the state that produces one-third of America's vegetables is now watching its food infrastructure crumble - leaving families wondering where their next meal will come from."
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o
Victoria Davis, 1/13/26
"California Governor Loses Control As
$20 Minimum Wage Destroys 18,000 Fast Food Jobs!"
"Governor Newsom is facing a crisis as California's $20 minimum wage law triggers the loss of 18,000 fast food jobs - and the economic devastation proves critics were right all along. This video exposes how the state's aggressive wage mandate has backfired spectacularly, forcing major chains to slash hours, close locations, and replace workers with kiosks and automation. Discover how McDonald's, Chipotle, and other fast food giants are responding by cutting their California workforce while expanding in business-friendly states, why the very workers this law was supposed to help are now unemployed or facing reduced hours, and how menu prices have skyrocketed 10-15% as struggling families can barely afford what were once cheap meals.
We'll explore the immediate consequences hitting communities across the state—from shuttered franchises in low-income neighborhoods to small business owners forced to choose between bankruptcy and layoffs, the devastating ripple effects on young workers and immigrants who relied on these entry-level opportunities, and why economists warned this exact scenario would unfold. Learn how California's policy experiment has become a cautionary tale of good intentions creating terrible outcomes, the political fallout as angry constituents blame Sacramento for destroying their livelihoods, and why this wage law represents everything wrong with California's approach to helping workers - punishing businesses until they simply leave or automate away the jobs entirely.
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Dan, I Allegedly, "The $200 Rule That Will Change Banking Forever"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 1/13/26
"The $200 Rule That Will Change Banking Forever"
"The $200 Rule is here, and it’s changing banking forever! In today’s video, I’m diving into how the feds and your bank are cracking down on cash transactions, with new thresholds that trigger suspicious activity reports as low as $200. What started as a way to curb crime is now impacting everyday people, businesses, and workers who rely on cash. From lowering transaction limits to scrutinizing patterns, this major shift will affect how you handle money. I’ll break down the history behind this, the impact on remittance from states like California and Texas, and why cash-based businesses are feeling the heat. Plus, how federal agencies are using these changes to fight tax evasion, fraud, and even human trafficking. It's a wild ride, and you’ll want to stay informed as these changes roll out across all 50 states."
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Bill Bonner, "School for Scoundrels"
"School for Scoundrels"
by Bill Bonner
Baltimore, Maryland - "ABC brings us the latest news: "The Justice Department investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is drawing backlash from former Federal Reserve and Treasury officials as well as current members of Congress, including those in President Donald Trump’s own party. A bipartisan group of top economic officials released a blistering statement on Monday calling the probe an “unprecedented attempt to use prosecutorial attacks to undermine” the central bank’s independence."
Once again, American observers are staggered. Their knees wobble. Their palms sweat. Alert observers quake and shake. They’ve watched the whole of edifice - habits, rules, laws, customs...some fraudulent, but many useful and even necessary - dissolve like the last bits of a sinking island. And now, another hallowed tradition, widely believed to be essential to the dollar - the independence of the Fed - is giving way.
Of course, the Fed was never really totally independent of the federal government. But it was never completely subservient either. Ruling parties almost always want lower interest rates; it helps them win re-election. But never has a Fed chairman been threatened with a criminal investigation…based on cost over-runs on a renovation of its headquarters!
It doesn’t take much imagination to see what is likely to happen. Powell will step down when his term as Chairman is up in May. He could stay for another two years at the Fed, acting as a kind of ‘shadow chairman.’ But weakened and distracted by the DOJ investigation, he is likely to leave entirely, making room for Trump to put in his own people. Whoever they are, they are likely to want to juice the markets with more credit in advance of the mid-term elections.
Up until now, Fed chief Powell has been reluctant to engage with the president. But this weekend, he counter-punched: “This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions, or whether instead, monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.”
Donald Trump has long made it clear that he had no truck with international institutions, their courts, or their laws. When the International Court of Justice issued arrest warrants for Trump’s Israeli sidekicks, for example, rather than respect the ruling, Trump sanctioned the justices. Nor did he care that killing alleged drug smugglers in international waters - especially when they cling helplessly to the wreckage of their boat - was a violation of laws and decency, just about everywhere.
But now the lawlessness is coming home. Over the weekend, we heard the Vice President tell the world that POTUS don’t need no stinkin’ War Powers Act. The Hill: "Vice President Vance called the War Powers Act “fundamentally fake” and unconstitutional, ridiculing the law passed in 1973 shortly after senators on Capitol Hill voted to advance a bipartisan measure to block President Trump from using military force against Venezuela."
What, then, is real? What is worth defending? Is there any limit to the president’s power other than those of his own making? A Supreme Court decision? The Constitution itself? The US seems to be split into two camps - each viciously opposed to the other. There are those who love the Big Man, almost no matter what he says or does. And there are those who despise him, again almost no matter what he says or does.
The MAGA-istas were delighted to see Trump dismantle and annihilate the things they loathed...foreign aid, DEI, the high-culture Kennedy Center, immigrants, foreigners who were ‘stealing our jobs’...and everyone else who got in our way or made us feel small. The others, suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, could find no good in the man. As one of our readers wrote (accusing us!) even if he discovered a cure for cancer, we would still hold him in contempt.
Our dear reader may be right about that. But our problem with Trump is that he doesn’t search for a cure for cancer...or anything else that might be helpful. He is a purely zero-sum kind of guy, a product of Roy Cohn’s school for scoundrels…a throwback to a pre-do unto others world.
Zero sum works in war and pro wraslin’. Someone’s gotta win. Someone’s gotta lose. But in economics and the rest of life you don’t win by making the other guy lose. You win by helping him to win too. If you steal a car, you now have wheels. But someone doesn’t have the car anymore. Net result = zero.
If you buy a car honestly, the seller makes a profit which feeds back into the economy promoting more consumption or investment. Economic growth is a measure of the win - the trades that work for both buyer and seller. This is so obvious...and fundamental...that a leader who doesn’t ‘get it,’ is a threat to his organization, whatever it may be. The fight with the Fed will have winners and losers too. A few winners. Lots of losers. Gold hit $4,647 yesterday. Stay tuned."
Monday, January 12, 2026
"Americans Finally Breaking Down, We Aren’t Paying Our Bills"
Snyder Reports, 1/12/26
"Americans Finally Breaking Down,
We Aren’t Paying Our Bills"
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"A Look to the Heavens"
"The small, northern constellation Triangulum harbors this magnificent face-on spiral galaxy, M33. Its popular names include the Pinwheel Galaxy or just the Triangulum Galaxy. M33 is over 50,000 light-years in diameter, third largest in the Local Group of galaxies after the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), and our own Milky Way. About 3 million light-years from the Milky Way, M33 is itself thought to be a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy and astronomers in these two galaxies would likely have spectacular views of each other's grand spiral star systems.
As for the view from planet Earth, this sharp image shows off M33's blue star clusters and pinkish star forming regions along the galaxy's loosely wound spiral arms. In fact, the cavernous NGC 604 is the brightest star forming region, seen here at about the 4 o'clock position from the galaxy center. Like M31, M33's population of well-measured variable stars have helped make this nearby spiral a cosmic yardstick for establishing the distance scale of the Universe."
The Poet: Shel Silverstein, “Where the Sidewalk Ends”
“Where the Sidewalk Ends”
“There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.
Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.
Yes we’ll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we’ll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.”
- Shel Silverstein
“Al Swearengen's Take On Life”
Strong language alert!
"In life you have to do a lot of things you don't ****ing want to do.
Many times, that's what the **** life is... one vile ****ing task after another. "
- “Al Swearengen”, Ian McShane’s character on “Deadwood”
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Strong language alert!
"Pain or damage don't end the world, or despair or f***ing beatings.
The world ends when you’re dead. Until then you got more punishment
in store. Stand it like a man, and give some back.”
- “Al Swearengen”, Ian McShane’s character on “Deadwood”
"Something Huge Is Happening In America And People Are Not Prepared"
Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 1/12/2
"Something Huge Is Happening
In America And People Are Not Prepared"
"Something big is happening in America and most people aren't paying attention. The warning signs are everywhere, rising prices, a weakening dollar, mass layoffs, and a growing sense that the system isn't working the way it used to. People are struggling to afford groceries, losing jobs without warning, and wondering if playing by the rules even matters anymore. In this video, we look at what folks are actually saying, from the data-driven breakdowns to the raw personal stories of people losing jobs, skipping meals, and questioning whether hard work even pays off anymore. What we found goes beyond economic anxiety. There's a growing sense that the old rules don't apply and nobody knows what the new ones are.
This video isn't about predicting doom or pushing panic. It's about paying attention to what's unfolding and asking the questions that matter. When this many people from different walks of life start sounding the same alarm, it's worth listening. Whether what's coming is collapse, correction, or just a painful transition - the honest answer is nobody really knows yet. But staying clear-eyed and informed beats fear-scrolling at 3 AM."
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Dan, I Allegedly, "Billions Stolen in Minnesota Scandal - The IRS Is Cracking Down"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 1/12/26
"Billions Stolen in Minnesota Scandal -
The IRS Is Cracking Down"
"Fraud exposed! Billions stolen in the Minnesota scandal - this shocking story reveals the depths of corruption across businesses and organizations in Minneapolis. From fraudulent vendors to massive kickbacks, it's all coming to light as the IRS and federal government crack down and hold everyone accountable. Scott Bessent from the Treasury has unveiled a new reward program for whistleblowers, incentivizing people to step forward and share information. With billions missing, the tangled web of deceit is set to unravel, and high-profile arrests are on the horizon. Join me, Dan, as I break down this massive fraud case, explore how it affects businesses and everyday people, and discuss why accountability is crucial. I’ve been researching crimes like this for years, but this is one of the most egregious examples yet. Let’s talk about what this means for the future and how the federal government is stepping in to clean up the mess."
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"A New Type Of Dementia Plagues America"
"A New Type Of Dementia Plagues America"
by John Mac Ghlionn
"In the United States, it's estimated that at least 7 million people over the age of 65 have dementia. If current trends continue, by the end of the decade, more than 9 million Americans are expected to suffer from this loss of cognitive functioning - that's equivalent to the population of New York City.
Memory impairment isn't just affecting the elderly. By 2050, the number of U.S. adults over the age of 40 living with dementia is expected to more than double, from 5.2 million to 10.5 million. To compound matters, there’s a new type of dementia plaguing Americans, one that’s affecting people much younger than 40. It’s called digital dementia, and millions of unsuspecting, young Americans are at risk.
A major health epidemic, digital dementia occurs when one part of the brain is overstimulated and another part of the brain is understimulated. When we mindlessly use digital devices, the frontal lobe, which is responsible for higher-level executive functions, gets little, if any, use. Meanwhile, the occipital lobe, the visual processor located at the back of the brain, gets bombarded with sensory input. Slouched over and spaced out, people, both young and old, are abusing their brains, day in and day out. Preteens and teens are particularly at risk for two reasons:An American 8 to 12-year-old spends an average of 4.7 hours a day scrolling their lives away. That’s around 70 days in a given year. The prefrontal cortex (PFC), the brain region responsible for planning and decision-making, doesn’t fully develop until the age of 25.
Digital dementia impedes both short-term and long-term memory. Moreover, as research shows, excessive screen time during brain development increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, in adulthood. Not surprisingly, excessive screen time is intimately associated with digital addiction. This, in turn, fuels digital dementia, which results in the shrinking of the brain’s gray matter. White matter facilitates communication between gray matter areas. But without gray matter, which plays a critical role in emotions, memories, and movements, there’s really nothing to communicate. White matter helps the traffic get from A to B. Grey matter, on the other hand, is the traffic.
It gets worse. As Gurwinder Bhogal, an excellent British-Indian writer, recently noted, not only is “gray matter shrinkage in smartphone-addicted individuals” a growing problem, the Western average IQ is declining - rapidly, he added. This has been the case for decades. The decline of brain power has been particularly notable in America. Lead exposure, and, more recently, the effects of draconian lockdowns, have had deleterious effects on Americans’ IQs. As technology continues to rise, IQ continues to decline. Is there an association? The answer appears to be yes.
What we're witnessing is the Flynn effect in reverse. Named after James R. Flynn, the renowned intelligence researcher who passed away in 2020, the Flynn effect refers to a steady upward shift in IQ test scores across generations. In recent times, however, that steady upward shift has transformed into a spiraling nosedive. This isn't surprising. In fact, as our lives become more intertwined with technology, and as we outsource more of our thinking and doing to search engines and ChatGPT-like systems, we should expect this nosedive to increase in velocity.
As Mr. Bhogal noted, common sense suggests that the decline in IQ is “at least partly the result of technology making the attainment of satisfaction increasingly effortless, so that we spend ever more of our time in a passive, vegetative state.” “If you don’t use it," he added, “you lose it.” Indeed. By "it," of course, he means your brain. But brain function isn't the only thing being lost.
The rise of digital dementia, digital addiction, and lower IQ scores is a reflection of a much broader problem. The United States isn’t just struggling with demographic decline; it’s also wrestling with the unholy trinity of spiritual, psychological, and intellectual decline. The country is becoming fatter, sicker, older, and dumber. The movie "Idiocracy" wasn’t a parody; it was a prophecy.
As intelligence levels continue to plummet and test scores continue to fall in the likes of math and reading, the United States risks becoming a society of brainless, aimless individuals, a nation consisting of millions of obese zombies. Contrary to popular belief, societal collapse doesn’t occur overnight; it occurs in increments, a death by a thousand cuts. The biggest threat to the United States isn't necessarily external; it's posed by the numerous digital devices in our hands and homes. Technology has consumed both our minds and our souls; are we going to get either of them back?"
o
"Trouble..."
“We’ve all heard the warnings and we’ve ignored them. We push our luck. We roll the dice. It’s human nature. When we’re told not to touch something we usually do even if we know better. Maybe because deep down, we’re just asking for trouble.”
- “Meredith Grey”, “Gray’s Anatomy”
If so, we've certainly got all we want...
"Chastity In A Whorehouse..."
"People do not expect to find chastity in a whorehouse. Why, then, do they expect to find honesty and humanity in government, a congeries of institutions whose modus operandi consists of lying, cheating, stealing, and if need be, murdering those who resist?"
- H. L. Mencken
"Pentagon Considers Raising Budget by 50%"
"Pentagon Considers Raising Budget by 50%"
by Martin Armstrong
"President Trump’s announcement that he wants to push the U.S. defense budget to $1.5 trillion in 2027 is being framed as a necessary response to “very troubled and dangerous times” and a way to build what he calls a “Dream Military.” He claims that tariff revenues generated by his trade policies can help fund the increase and even allow for debt reduction while maintaining economic growth. There is a reason that Washington wants to increase its budget drastically, and the timing aligns perfectly with our computer model.
The proposal represents a roughly 50% increase from the $901 billion defense budget approved for 2026. The massive increase in funding represents a country preparing for a major geopolitical event. America stands alone. It can no longer trust the neocons in NATO, besides, America was the one primarily funding the organization. All of America’s allies are on the fence in terms of continued support, with the majority showing intense disapproval for recent military ventures.
Europe’s involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war cannot be ignored. Protests have erupted in France and Germany to declare that the people do not wish to die for Ukraine, but they have no say. The EU is run by neocons who are eagerly awaiting their turn to enter the conflict directly. China, the Middle East, South America, and Europe - conflicts are emerging in every corner of the globe, and unsurprisingly, America has been at the forefront.
An additional $500 billion ensures the United States retains its reputation for having the most advanced military in the world, one would hope, but China has been rapidly advancing its military capabilities in preparation for a grand-scale conflict. Russia has been testing nuclear missiles, some powerful enough to create toxic radioactive tsunami waves that can wipe cities off the map.
We are approaching a critical turning point in the Economic Confidence Model. Confidence will continue to decline as war nears, and capital will continue to seek refuge in private assets. When confidence declines, politicians turn to external enemies to justify internal failures. War becomes a tool to distract from fiscal mismanagement and to consolidate power. The 2026 panic cycle aligns with a historic pattern in which sovereign debt crises and geopolitical conflict converge. This is not the beginning of war; it is the escalation phase."
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