So, we rise from the rubble...
Friday, October 29, 2021
"When We Can No Longer Tell the Truth "
"When We Can No Longer Tell the Truth "
by Charles Hugh Smith
"When we can no longer tell the truth because the truth will bring the whole rotten, fragile status quo down in a heap of broken promises and lies, we've reached the perfection of dysfunction. You know the one essential guideline to leadership in a doomed dysfunctional system: when it gets serious, you have to lie. In other words, the status quo's secular goddess is TINA - there is no alternative to lying, because the truth will bring the whole corrupt structure tumbling down.
This core dynamic of dysfunction is scale-invariant, meaning that hiding the truth is the core dynamic in dysfunctional relationships, households, communities, enterprises, cities, corporations, states, alliances, nations and empires: when the truth cannot be told because it threatens the power structure of the status quo, that status quo is doomed.
Lies, half-truths and cover-ups are all manifestations of fatal weakness. What lies, half-truths and cover-ups communicate is: we can no longer fix our real problems, and rather than let this truth out, we must mask it behind lies and phony reassurances.
Truth is power, lies are weakness. All we get now are lies, statistics designed to mislead and phony reassurances that the status quo is stable and permanent. The truth is powerful because it is the core dynamic of solving problems. Lies, gamed statistics and false reassurances are fatal because they doom any sincere efforts to fix what's broken before the system reaches the point of no return.
We are already past the point of no return. The expediency of lies has already doomed us.
Honest accounts of hugely successful corporations that implode share one key trait: in every case, managers were pressured to hide the truth from top management, which then hid the truth from investors and clients. is the key dynamic in failed oligarchies as well: if telling the truth gets you sent to Siberia (or worse), then nobody with any instinct for self-preservation will tell the truth. If obscuring the truth saves one's job, then that's what people do. That this dooms the organization is secondary to immediate self-preservation.
A distorted sense of loyalty to the family, community, company, institution, agency or nation furthers lying as the solution to unsavory problems. Daddy a drunk? Hide the bottle. Church a hotbed of adultery and thieving? Maintain the facade of holiness at all costs. Company products are failing? Put some lipstick on the pig. The statistical truth doesn't support the party's happy story? Distort the stats until they do what's needed. The agency failed to fulfill its prime directive? Blame the managerial failure on a scapegoat.
Pathological liars and cheats rely on self-preservation and misplaced loyalty to mask their own failure and corruption. A hint here, a comment there, and voila, a culture of lying is created and incentivized.
Obscuring the truth is the ultimate short-term expediency. Now that it's serious, we have to lie. We'll start telling the truth later, we say, after everything's stabilized, we hope. But lying insures nothing can ever be truly stabilized, so there will never be a point at which the system is strong enough and stable enough to survive the truth.
We are now an empire of lies. The status quo,politically, socially and economically, depends on lies, half-truths, scapegoats and cover-ups for its very survival. Any truth that escapes the prison of lies endangers the entire rotten edifice.
In an empire of lies, leaders say what people want to hear. This wins the support of the masses, who would rather hear false reassurances that require no sacrifices, no difficult trade-offs, no hard choices, no discipline. The empire of lies is doomed. Lies are weakness, and they prohibit any real solutions. Truth is power, but we can no longer tolerate the truth because it frightens us. Our weakness is systemic and fatal."
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Related:
"You Know What They Sayin’?"
"You Know What They Sayin’?"
by Jim Kunstler
"Do you marvel, as I do, at this malignant hive organism - arguably worse than the Covid-19 chimera virus - that calls itself “Joe Biden?” The personage of that name is a mere effigy, of course, like one of those grotesque mummies hoisted above the mob in a religious procession from some primitive cannibal kingdom. It’s the mob itself that actually matters, though, the twerking parade of Woke-Progressive Democrats, because it is bent absolutely on rooting out, punishing, and torturing its perceived enemies, which in this case are about half the people in the country. That’s really all it seeks to do. It has never been about anything else, because, get this: the Woke mob is insane.
But now this other half of the country has raised a war cry, “Let’s go Brandon,” in objection. In case anyone does not know what the phrase means, peruse the actual lyrics from one of four rap chants topping the Apple music charts right now: this ditty by entertainer Loza Alexander:
"Let’s go, Brandon (f*ck Joe Biden)
(Let’s go, Brandon, f*ck Joe Biden) you know what they sayin’, hoe
Let’s go, Brandon (f*ck Joe Biden)
(Let’s go, Brandon, f*ck Joe Biden) you know what they sayin’, hoe"
Is that too subtle for anyone? Do you catch the drift? (Know what they sayin’?) The sentiment is timelier and apparently more popular than “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was in 1963. America has had enough of the Woke religious cult and its cavalcade of depravities. America is about to bum-rush the darn thing, seize the ghastly mummy from its skull-bedecked palanquin, and knock the living sawdust out of it.
Doings in the Loudon County, VA, school board lately became the rectified essence of the wild, irresponsible, Woke derangement overtaking the land. The board authorized a sex education booklet that instructed teenage boys how to perform oral sex on each other — with explicit illustrations of one boy on his knees servicing another boy standing — while the board backed the sowing of maximum gender confusion among high schoolers who, under the best conditions, have a tough time adjusting to the hormonal storms of adolescence… all in the name of promoting a Woke brownie-point-collecting exercise called “Pride Week.”
And guess what? The parents of Loudon County began to object to this… meshugas. And then the school board proceeded to squash and evade their objections, and even enlisted that degenerate troll Attorney General Merrick Garland to intimidate objecting parents with the FBI and federal writs against “domestic terrorism.” For his trouble, Mr. Garland was unmasked as a prevaricating tool in a US Senate hearing this week, nicely captured by the TV cameras so the citizenry could see him in weaselly operation.
It also came out that twice this fall a teenage boy wearing a skirt - ostensibly gender-confused in exactly the way promoted by the school board - committed two rapes of teenage girls in the girls’ bathrooms of two Loudon County schools, to which he was granted access as someone pretending to bethink himself a girl - though it turned out he knew quite well how to deploy his male generative organ. The crimes were reported to the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office and shared with the County School Superintendent, who covered it up… not a smooth move, as things turned out, because now the country can see exactly how criminally dishonest the Wokesters are.
And as all this rolled out, Woke-Progressive Democratic candidate for Governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, made the supernaturally doltish utterance that “parents shouldn’t tell schools what to teach.” His campaign even put out roadside signs under his name repeating the statement-of-principle, in case anyone missed it. The result: McAuliffe dropped about eight points almost overnight in the polls. The voters are about to pop him out of the political universe like a watermelon seed between their fingers.
Meanwhile, the mummy known as “Joe Biden” has ventured abroad, first to Rome to be feted, his handlers thought, by the Pope. But his excellency Pope Francis ordered the TV cameras turned off, apparently unwilling to be seen consorting with the inanimate, disintegrating graven image of a US president - anymore than he would want to be caught conversing with a statue of the Medici Pope Leo X in his Vatican garden.
Also meanwhile, the stage managers back at the White House, Chief of Staff Ron Klain and Susan Rice, shadowy Director of the Domestic Policy Council, floated an initiative to give half-a-million dollars to each family member of children and parents who had gotten separated while attempting to enter the US illegally. That ought to warm the hearts of US citizens thrown out of their jobs and their livelihoods for demurring to take a vaccine that doesn’t work and which causes havoc in the organs, blood vessels, and immune systems of many who have taken it - against a disease the engineering of which was paid for by their own tax dollars.
Now, cue the Mother of all Migrant Caravans marching north to the wide-open US / Mexican border - because “Joe Biden” wants it that way - just what millions of broke, thrown-out-of-work, soon to freeze and starve US citizens will be treated to watch on their flat-screens before the cable service is switched off for non-payment. “Joe Biden” just wants to rub their faces in it, or rather the folks behind him pulling his strings want to do that. Maybe the time has come to cut “Joe Biden’s” strings. And just maybe it’s time to put an end to the Woke march through our history."
"Our Economy is Contracting at the Fastest Pace in History - Europe and China are Worse"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly, AM 10/29/21:
"Our Economy is Contracting at the Fastest Pace in History -
Europe and China are Worse"
"From the decline in Gross Domestic Product to rising unemployment the news is getting worse. Fuel costs are rising throughout the world. There is no economy that is growing the world over."
"Time..."
“Space I can recover. Time, never.”
- Napoleon Bonaparte
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“Lands can be reconquered, indeed in the course of a battle, a hill or a certain plain might trade hands several times. But missed opportunities? These can never be regained. Moments in time, in culture? They can never be re-made. One can never go back in time to prepare for what they should have prepared for, no one can ever get back critical seconds that were wasted out of fear or ego. Napoleon was brilliant at trading space for time: Sure, you can make these moves, provided you are giving me the time I need to drill my troops, or move them to where I want them to be. Yet in life, most of us are terrible at this. We trade an hour of our life here or afternoon there like it can be bought back with the few dollars we were paid for it. And it is only much, much later, as they are on their deathbeds or when they are looking back on what might have been, that many people realize the awful truth of this quote. Don’t do that. Embrace it now.”
- Ryan Holiday
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Full screen recommended.
Hans Zimmer, "Time"
Thursday, October 28, 2021
"Federal Reserve Has Stolen Our Future"
Peak Prosperity,
"Federal Reserve Has Stolen Our Future"
"In this video Dr Martenson breaks down the immense personal and institutional failures of the US Federal Reserve, connecting them broadly to the failures of the FDA, the CDC, NIH, Fauci and the mainstream media.
Why should you care? Because the imminent economic crisis that’s coming will be extremely damaging. It will have the same root as the many Covid policy failures; entrenched greed & corruption leading to extremely poor decisions that will cause a lot of pain for the most vulnerable in society. There’s no practical difference between Fauci’s “No treatments for you!” policies and Jerome Powell’s “No money for you (only the uber wealthy)!” policies. Both grievously harm the majority while benefiting the very few.
The wealthy will skate by, but mainly because they have feathered their own nests at the expense of everyone else. The extraordinarily regressive inflation tax combined with what can only be described as a purposeful decimation of the middle and lower socioeconomic classes is both a looming tragedy as well as indicative of a profound moral and ethical failure by Federal reserve staff and leadership.
Growing corruption is fingered as a principal contributor to the downfall of empires all throughout history and this time assuredly is not different.
This all connects to the probability that the current inflationary impulses and growling supply shocks will be handled equally poorly by similarly conflicted and entrenched bureaucrats across the Americas and Europe."
“Economy On Life Support; Cars Will Flood Dealerships Again; Spending Collapse; Homebuyer Regret”
Jeremiah Babe, PM 10/28/21:
“Economy On Life Support; Cars Will Flood Dealerships Again;
Spending Collapse; Homebuyer Regret”
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Related:
"Biden Wants To Give Separated Illegal Immigrants $450,000 Per Person"
"Biden Wants To Give Separated Illegal
Immigrants $450,000 Per Person"
by Tyler Durden
"The Biden administration is mulling a plan to offer immigrant families separated during the Trump administration $450,000 per person in compensation, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. The payments - part of an inter-agency solution to several lawsuits filed on behalf of separated parents and children claiming lasting psychological trauma could amount to nearly $1 million per family, though 'the final numbers could shift,' according to the report.
According to sources, most of the families crossing into the US from Mexico included one parent and one child. Depending on circumstances, many families could get smaller payouts. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents families in one of the lawsuits, has identified about 5,500 children separated at the border over the course of the Trump administration, citing figures provided to it by the government. The number of families eligible under the potential settlement is expected to be smaller, the people said, as government officials aren’t sure how many will come forward. Around 940 claims have so far been filed by the families, the people said. -WSJ In total, the potential payout could reach $1 billion or more.
Throughout the Trump administration, thousands of children were separated from their parents (and coyotes paid to bring them into the country) after they had crossed illegally into the country from Mexico. The lawsuits allege some of the children suffered various ailments - including malnutrition, heat exhaustion, and were kept in freezing cold rooms with little medical attention. Some claim lasting mental health problems due to the trauma of being without their parents for several months.
The average amount sought through the courts is roughly $3.4 million per family, according to the report. "President Biden has agreed that the family separation policy is a historic moral stain on our nation that must be fully remedied," said ACLU deputy director, Lee Gelernt. "That remedy must include not only meaningful monetary compensation, but a pathway to remain in the country."
Senate Republicans slammed the plan on Thursday afternoon following the WSJ's report. "The Biden administration’s promises of citizenship and entitlement programs have already caused the worst border crisis in history - a huge cash reward will make it even worse," said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR).
The discussions about the payouts have taken place over the past few months among a group of dozens of private lawyers representing the families and government lawyers. Some government lawyers have viewed the payouts as excessive for people who had violated the law by crossing the border, the people said. One government lawyer threatened to remove his name from the case out of disagreement with the potential settlement offer, the people said. -WSJ
"It is a complicated, complex piece of litigation” - trying to resolve hundreds of separate lawsuits at the same time, and "sometimes even more complex to try the cases" said Margo Schlanger, who ran the civil-rights office during the Obama administration at the Department of Homeland Security and now teaches at the University of Michigan law school."
What will the reparations crowd think of this?”
WHAT?!
If you need proof that the government is literally insane this will do nicely...
Gerald Celente, Trends Journal: "Trends in The News"
Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, Trends Journal: "Trends in The News"
"U.S. GDP growth slows to 2%. Sharp downturn in consumer spending... while equities hit new highs. What BS... and it has nothing to do with supply chain disruptions. Find out why its slowing down and what's next."
"It’s Chaos Out There – Extensive Shortages And Explosive Prices Spread Across America!"
Full screen recommended.
"It’s Chaos Out There – Extensive Shortages
And Explosive Prices Spread Across America!"
by Epic Economist
"Our leaders keep feeding us with lies, saying all of this is going to be "temporary" and that we're heading to a "recovery" that never seems to arrive. But with each passing day, more and more Americans are waking up to the fact that what we've been facing isn't "temporary" at all. All across the country, supply chain problems are leaving shelves empty, and industry executives have been bluntly admitting that this crisis isn't going away any time soon. If you walk into any U.S. store these days, you're going to witness by yourself the empty shelves everyone seems to be talking about. As we move closer to the winter months, such widespread shortages are becoming quite alarming.
Supermarkets and local grocery stores are facing a lack of virtually every type of product - from toilet paper to coffee to chicken and bacon. If you go to your local retail store, you'll be lucky if you find the book you want, everyday home appliances, baby products, or clothing items. American consumers are getting increasingly frustrated. That's why a few days ago, they have flooded social media with pictures of empty shelves at supermarkets and department stores, as #EmptyShelvesJoe started trending on Twitter.
Some retailers found some truly bizarre ways to conceal the shortage problem, but their cover-ups didn't go unnoticed by shoppers' vigilant eyes. As the situation worsens, stores are displaying products in 'creative' ways just to have something lying on their shelves. In one video posted on Twitter, people could see several rows of colorful folding lawn chairs set up along bare shelves in a department store. "We are at the edge of the precipice,” one Twitter user who shared the video wrote. “The ‘pretending it’s fine’ aspect of the charade evokes a deep terror,” she continued. Another Twitter user joked in reply, “Those are chairs for us to sit in and enjoy the bread lines".
Consumers have started panic buying and hoarding, as fears of further disruptions continue to rise. That, however, is worsening the shelf shortages and pushing prices even higher. Meanwhile, congestion at two of America’s major container ports in California is getting worse by the day. Cargo ships are having to wait for a month to find a spot to dock and finally unload their goods, leaving numerous items, from food to electronics, toys, and cars sitting in limbo. Now that compounding supply chain challenges are adding immense pressure on the Biden administration, the federal government decided to issue measures to operate ports on a 24/7 basis until the end of the year. One industry executive openly stated that Biden's port directive is "too little, too late" to save Christmas. MGA Entertainment CEO Isaac Larian said, "whether the ports are open 24 hours a day or 48 hours a day, you cannot get labor. If you cannot get labor, you cannot get trucks, you cannot get the merchandise out". "I think this directive is too little, too late.
Many food suppliers are panic buying and hoarding extra supplies to mitigate consumers' panic buying and hoarding ahead of the busiest shopping season of the year. Saffron Road, a producer of frozen meals, is stockpiling four months of inventory instead of the regular two months. "People are hoarding," said CEO and founder Adnan Durrani. "What I think you'll see over the next six months, all prices will go higher." To make the situation worse, pretty much everywhere you look, there aren’t enough workers to make our system operate smoothly. And here in the U.S., work restrictions are about to make things even more chaotic. Recently, a trade group for air cargo giants like UPS and FedEx sounded the alarm over the impending December 8 vaccine deadline imposed by the federal government, arguing that "it threatens to wreak havoc at the busiest time of the year" and that the measure is going to be yet another challenge to the supply chain.
Apparently, the government has become so desperate for people to comply with the mandate, that shamelessly threatening millions of workers with unemployment seemed like a great idea. Why enforce such a draconian measure in the middle of the worst worker shortage in our history? It is obvious that these mandates are going to make the supply chain crisis even worse, but the administration keeps pushing them ahead anyway. That means the shortages are going to intensify, and that is hard to picture because things are already really, really messy. Only if we're blessed with a miracle, this crisis will be solved by 2022. But realistically speaking, there are many things that could go wrong, and any large-scale disruption would take our supply chain crisis to an even more extreme level."
Musical Interlude: Moby, "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?"
Full screen recommended.
Moby, "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?"
"A Look to the Heavens"
"As far as ghosts go, Mirach's Ghost isn't really that scary. Mirach's Ghost is just a faint, fuzzy galaxy, well known to astronomers, that happens to be seen nearly along the line-of-sight to Mirach, a bright star. Centered in this star field, Mirach is also called Beta Andromedae.
About 200 light-years distant, Mirach is a red giant star, cooler than the Sun but much larger and so intrinsically much brighter than our parent star. In most telescopic views, glare and diffraction spikes tend to hide things that lie near Mirach and make the faint, fuzzy galaxy look like a ghostly internal reflection of the almost overwhelming starlight. Still, appearing in this sharp image just above and to the right of Mirach, Mirach's Ghost is cataloged as galaxy NGC 404 and is estimated to be some 10 million light-years away."
Chet Raymo, “Silk Dawn”
“Silk Dawn”
by Chet Raymo
“A magical morning. Warm and still. The hillside is cloaked in a fine, soft mist that will burn away by ten. I walk down the drive to open the gate. The field is carpeted with silk. Silk made visible by dew.
The spiders were there all along, of course. Their webs too. Everyday as I walked through the grass, they were there, unseen. Unknowingly, I crushed them with my footfalls. A field full of snares, each silken net flung across the grass, each net with its tunnel lair where the predator waits, patiently, for dinner. And now they are made visible in all their arachnoid glory, each grass tuft slung with Chinese silk, each furze bush as finely draped in silk as a pasha’s palace.”
“9 Short Quotes That Changed My Life and Why”
“9 Short Quotes That Changed My Life and Why”
by Ryan Holiday
“Like a lot of people, I try to collect words to live by. Most of these words come from reading, but also from conversations, from teachers, and from everyday life. As Seneca, the philosopher and playwright, so eloquently put it: “We should hunt out the helpful pieces of teaching and the spirited and noble-minded sayings which are capable of immediate practical application – not far-fetched or archaic expressions or extravagant metaphors and figures of speech – and learn them so well that words become works.”
In my commonplace book, I keep these little sayings under the heading “Life.” That is, things that help me live better, more meaningfully, and with happiness and honesty. Below are 9 sayings, what they mean, and how they changed my life. Perhaps they will strike you and be of service. Hopefully the words might become works for you too.
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“If you see fraud and do not say fraud, you are a fraud.”
- Nassim Taleb
This little epigram from Nassim Taleb has been a driving force in my life. It fuels my writing, but mostly it has fueled difficult personal decisions. A few years ago, I was in the middle of a difficult personal situation in which my financial incentives were not necessarily aligned with the right thing. Speaking out would cost me money. I actually emailed Nassim. I asked: “What does ‘saying’ entail? To the person? To the public? At what cost? And how do you know where/when ego might be the influencing factor in determining where you decide to go on that public/private spectrum?” His response was simple: If it harms the collective, you speak up until it no longer does. There’s another line in Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar.‘ Caesar, having returned from the conquest of Gaul, is reminded to tread lightly when speaking to the senators. He replies, “Have I accomplished so much in battle, but now I’m afraid to tell some old men the truth?” That is what I think about with Nassim’s quote. What’s the point of working hard and being successful if it means biting your tongue (or declining to act) when you see something unfair or untoward? What do you care what everyone else thinks?
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“It can have meaning if it changes you for the better.”
- Viktor Frankl
Viktor Frankl, who was imprisoned and survived three separate Nazi concentration camps, lost his wife, his parents, job, his home and the manuscript that his entire life’s work had gone into. Yet, he emerged from this horrific nightmare convinced that life was not meaningless and that suffering was not without purpose. His work in psychology – now known as logotherapy – is reminiscent of the Stoics: We don’t control what happens to us, only how we respond. Nothing deprives us of this ability to respond, even if only in the slightest way, even if that response is only acceptance. In bad moments, I think of this line. It reminds me that I can change for the better because of it and find meaning in everything – even if my “suffering” pales in comparison to what others have gone through.
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“Thou knowest this man’s fall; but thou knowest not his wrassling.”
- James Baldwin
As James Baldwin reflected on the death of his father, a man who he loved and hated, he realized that he only saw the man’s outsides. Yes, he had his problems but hidden behind those external manifestations was his own unique internal struggle which no other person is ever able to fully comprehend. The same is true for everyone – your parents, your boss, the person behind you in line. We can see their flaws but not their struggles. If we can focus on this, we’ll have so much more patience and so much less anger and resentment. It reminds me of another line that means a lot to me from Pascal: “To understand is to forgive.” You don’t have to fully understand or know, but it does help to try.
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“This is not your responsibility, but it is your problem.”
- Cheryl Strayed
Though I came to Cheryl Strayed late, the impact has been significant. In the letter this quote came from, she was speaking to someone who had something unfair done to them. But you see, life is unfair. Just because you should not have to deal with something doesn’t change whether you in fact need to. It reminds me of something my parents told me when I was learning to drive: It doesn’t matter that you had the right of way if you end up dying in an accident. Deal with the situation at hand, even if you don’t want to, even if someone else should have to, because you’re the one that’s being affected by it. End of story. Her quote is the best articulation I’ve found of that fact.
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“Dogs bark at what they cannot understand.”
- Heraclitus
People are going to criticize you. They are going to resist or resent what you try to do. You’re going to face obstacles and a lot of those obstacles will be other human beings. Heraclitus is explaining why. People don’t like change. They don’t like to be confused. It’s also a fact that doing new things means forcing change and confusion on other people. So, if you’re looking for an explanation for all the barking you’re hearing, there it is. Let it go, keep working, do your job. My other favorite line from Heraclitus is: “Character is fate.” Who you are and what you stand for will determine who you are and what you do. Surely character makes ignoring the barking a bit easier.
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“Life is short – the fruit of this life is a
good character and acts for the common good.”
- Marcus Aurelius
Marcus wrote this line at some point during the Antonine Plague – a global pandemic spanning the entirety of his reign. He could have fled Rome. Most people of means did. No one would have faulted him if he did too. Instead, Marcus stayed and braved the deadliest plague of Rome’s 900-year history. And we know that he didn’t even consider choosing his safety and fleeing over his responsibility and staying. He wrote repeatedly about the Stoic concept of sympatheia - the idea that all things are mutually woven together, that we were made for each other, that we are all one.
It’s one of the lesser-known Stoic concepts because it’s easier to only think and care about the people immediately around you. It’s tempting to get consumed by your own problems. It’s natural to assume you have more in common and the same interests as the people who look like you or live like you do. But that is an insidious lie – one responsible for monstrous inhumanity and needless pain. When other people suffer, we suffer. When the world suffers, we suffer. What’s bad for the hive is bad for the bee, Marcus said. When we take actions, we have to always think: What would happen if everyone did this? What are the costs of my decisions for other people? What risks am I externalizing? Is this really what a person with good character and a concern for others would do? You have to care about others. It’s sometimes the hardest thing to do, but it’s the only thing that counts. As Heraclitus (one of Marcus’ favorites) said, character is fate. It’s the fruit of this life.
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“Happiness does not come from the seeking, it is never ours by right.”
- Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt was a remarkable woman. Her father killed himself. Her mother was verbally abusive. Her husband repeatedly betrayed her – even up to the moment he died. Yet she slowly but steadily became one of the most influential and important people in the world. I think you could argue that happiness and meaning came from this journey too. Her line here is reminiscent of something explained by both Aristotle and Viktor Frankl – happiness is not pursued, it ensues. It is the result of principles and the fulfillment of our potential. It is also transitory – we get glimpses of it. We don’t have it forever and we must continually re-engage with it. Whatever quote you need to understand this truth, use it. Because it will get you through bad times and to very good ones.
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“You could leave life right now.
Let that determine what you do and say and think.”
- Marcus Aurelius
If there is better advice than this, it has yet to be written. For many civilizations, the first time that their citizens realize just how vulnerable they are is when they find out they’ve been conquered, or are at the mercy of some cruel tyrant, or some uncontainable disease. It’s when somebody famous – like Tom Hanks or Marcus Aurelius – falls ill that they get serious. The result of this delayed awakening is a critical realization: We are mortal and fragile, and fate can inflict horrible things on our tiny, powerless bodies. There is no amount of fleeing or quarantining we can do to insulate ourselves from the reality of human existence: memento mori – thou art mortal. No one, no country, no planet is as safe or as special as we like to think we are. We are all at the mercy of enormous events outside our control. You can go at any moment, Marcus was constantly reminding himself with each of the events swirling around him. He made sure this fact shaped every choice and action and thought.
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“Some lack the fickleness to live as they wish and just live as they have begun.”
- Seneca
After beginning with Seneca, let’s end with him. Inertia is a powerful force. The status quo – even if self-created – is comforting. So people find themselves on certain paths in life and cannot conceive of changing them, even if such a change would result in more personal happiness. We think that fickleness is a negative trait, but if it pushes you to be better and find and explore new, better things, it certainly isn’t. I’ve always been a proponent of dropping out, of quitting paths that have gotten stale. Seneca’s quote has helped me with that and I actually have it framed next to my desk so that I might look at it each day. It’s a constant reminder: Why am I still doing this? Is it for the right reasons? Or is it just because it’s been that way for a while?
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The power of these quotes is that they say a lot with a little. They help guide us through the complexity of life with their unswerving directness. They make us better, keep us centered, give us something to rest on – a kind of backstop to prevent backsliding. That’s what these 9 quotes have done for me in my life. Borrow them or dig into history or religion or philosophy to find some to add to your own commonplace book. And then turn those words… into works.”
The Poet: William Stafford, ”Today”
”Today”
“The ordinary miracles begin. Somewhere
a signal arrives: “Now,” and the rays
come down. A tomorrow has come. Open
your hands, lift them: morning rings
all the doorbells; porches are cells for prayer.
Religion has touched your throat. Not the same now,
you could close your eyes and go on full of light.
And it is already begun, the chord
that will shiver glass, the song full of time
bending above us. Outside, a sign:
a bird intervenes; the wings tell the air,
“Be warm.” No one is out there, but a giant
has passed through town, widening streets, touching
the ground, shouldering away the stars.”
- William Stafford
"What Will It Mean For The Global Economy When The Price Of Oil Soars To $200 Per Barrel?"
"What Will It Mean For The Global Economy
When The Price Of Oil Soars To $200 Per Barrel?"
by Michael Snyder
"If you haven’t been paying attention, you will want to start watching the price of oil again. Just before the financial crisis of 2008, the price of oil briefly shot up to 140 dollars a barrel, and experts agree that a very high price for oil would definitely unsettle financial markets now. Unfortunately, it appears to be inevitable that the price of oil will go much higher. Large financial institutions have become extremely hesitant to fund any projects that would “pollute the environment”, and governments around the world have made it extremely difficult for those that produce traditional forms of energy to expand operations. Globally, there is a major push to bring in “the new green economy”, but “the new green economy” cannot provide the energy that we need. Meanwhile, the demand for energy continues to grow all over the globe on a daily basis. What this means is that all forms of traditional energy are going to become a lot more expensive.
At this moment, the price of oil is over 80 dollars per barrel, and many are anticipating that it will soon hit 100 dollars per barrel. When Russian President Vladimir Putin was recently asked about the price of oil, this is how he responded… After the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) recently crossed $80 per barrel, Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked whether it could reach $100. He replied “That is quite possible.” Given Russia’s dependence on revenue from its oil exports, he was probably smiling when he said it.
100 dollar oil wouldn’t be much of a shock, but what about 200 dollar oil? Not too long ago, a team of JPMorgan analysts suggested that we could actually see it happen… “We believe the evolution of coal prices might reflect supply, demand, cost of capital and energy transitioning issues for all fossil fuels, and it would certainly be possible that oil prices will follow the same pattern (inflation adjusted for oil, that would be in a $150-200/bbl range),” wrote a team of JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists led by Marko Kolanovic."
Virtually all forms of economic activity require power, and so if the price of oil doubles or triples from current levels that is going to push all prices much higher than they are now. Some have suggested that we could increasingly switch to other forms of traditional energy if the price of oil becomes too oppressive, but that is not likely to happen due to the widespread shortages that we are witnessing.
For example, supplies of natural gas have never been tighter than they are at this moment. In South Dakota, residents are being warned that their natural gas bills could potentially double this winter… “The natural gas industry is experiencing shortages in supply while also seeing an increase in overall natural gas demand. As a result, homeowners should expect to see higher natural gas bills this winter,” said PUC Chairman Chris Nelson. “South Dakota’s regulated natural gas utilities, including MidAmerican Energy Co., Montana-Dakota Utilities Co., and NorthWestern Energy, are currently projecting bill increases for residential customers of at least 50% to 100% compared to the bills seen between November and February of the 2020-2021 heating season,” he explained."
The current natural gas shortage is the result of a number of factors. High demand due to increased exports of liquefied natural gas and increased natural gas usage for electric generation along with low production due to hurricanes have led to low storage inventories heading into the peak heating season.
We don’t have enough propane either. In fact, we are being openly warned of a major “inventory shortage” in the months ahead… "Total US propane stocks concluded the annual summer build season well below the previous five-year average, fueling longstanding concerns among market participants of an inventory shortage coinciding with colder temperatures ushering in the annual increase in winter demand."
In the old days, we could always count on there being plenty of coal, but now that has changed too. At this point, we are being told that the amount of coal our power plants have on hand is the lowest ever measured “in records going back to 1997”… "Coal stockpiles at U.S. power plants plunged to the lowest in at least 24 years as electricity generators burn the fuel faster than miners can dig it out of the ground. Inventories fell to 84.3 million tons in August, according to government data released Tuesday. That’s the lowest in records going back to 1997, when Bill Clinton was beginning his second term as U.S. president."
Many Americans don’t realize that coal is still extremely important to our economy. According to an article posted on Zero Hedge, coal still accounts for about one-fourth of all U.S. power generation… "As of August, about a quarter of all US power generation was derived from coal. As winter approaches, coal-fired power plants will become a more significant percentage of all U.S. power generation. Power plants are expected to burn 19% more coal this year because soaring natural gas prices have made it uneconomical to produce power. In return, this is forcing generators to burn through coal reserves much quicker and has caught coal producers off guard who cannot bring new coal to the market."
In all my years, I have never seen a time when supplies of oil, natural gas, propane and coal all became extremely tight simultaneously. If we get to a point where there are severe energy shortages for an extended period of time, that is going to be absolutely disastrous for our economic system.
And of course things are already not going very well for the U.S. economy. In fact, Gallup just found that 68 percent of all Americans believe that the economy is “getting worse”… "The share of Americans saying the economy is getting worse climbed from 63 percent in September to 68 percent in October, Gallup reported Wednesday. This was not a case of partisan politics. Democrats and Republican views of the economy were essentially unchanged in October, according to Gallup. What happened was the percentage of independents who say economic conditions are getting worse soared nine points from 63 percent to 72 percent."
Needless to say, all of this is perfectly setting the stage for the sort of epic economic meltdown that I have been warning about. The price of oil will soon hit 100 dollars a barrel, but that won’t be the end of the world. But when it hits 150 dollars a barrel, Wall Street and the mainstream media will definitely be freaking out. And when it hits 200 dollars a barrel, it will officially be time to panic about the economy. The world must have energy to function, and supplies of energy are going to get tighter and tighter in the months ahead.
We have been warned that this energy crunch was coming for decades, and now it is here. I hope that you are prepared for what is going to happen next, because it isn’t going to be pretty."
"Night..."
“The day has been so full of fret and care, and our hearts have been so full of evil and of bitter thoughts, and the world has seemed so hard and wrong to us. Then Night, like some great loving mother, gently lays her hand upon our fevered head, and turns our little tear-stained faces up to hers, and smiles; and though she does not speak, we know what she would say, and lay our hot flushed cheek against her bosom, and the pain is gone. Sometimes, our pain is very deep and real, and we stand before her very silent, because there is no language for our pain, only a moan. Night’s heart is full of pity for us: she cannot ease our aching; she takes our hand in hers, and the little world grows very small and very far away beneath us, and, borne on her dark wings, we pass for a moment into a mightier Presence than her own, and in the wondrous light of that great Presence, all human life lies like a book before us, and we know that Pain and Sorrow are but angels of God.”
- Jerome K. Jerome
"Worldwide Economic Bubble is About to Burst - Trouble is Everywhere"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly, 10/28/21:
"Worldwide Economic Bubble is About to Burst -
Trouble is Everywhere"
"The economic problems are all around us. It makes no difference where you live. From California to New York to Canada to the UK. Energy cost and food prices are completely out of control."
"God Speaks – And the Court Adjourns"
"God Speaks – And the Court Adjourns"
by Bill Bonner
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – "Today is the last day of God’s testimony. We began our case by leveling a simple accusation: that God had created all life – including corporate life and national life – as temporary, fleeting phenomena… like falling leaves in the autumn wind. And every one of us – and our most magnificent empires – is destined to hit the ground. We were programmed to die, in other words.
Not that we were expecting an alibi… or a confession… or even an apology from God. We just wanted to know how it all worked. So we thought we’d put the question to Him directly under oath: “Are you responsible for America’s decline? “Not entirely,” is how we would summarize his defense.
Human Failure: God made it clear that humans do stupid things… and they run into the “soft limits” that He imposed on us all. People who run empires, for example, inevitably over-reach… and over-spend… And then, to protect their own wealth and power… they lie, cheat, and steal… In the modern era, they make promises they can’t keep… fix prices… and print money to cover their deficits and boost their own stock portfolios… which then leads to chaos, corruption, confusion… resentment… and a breakdown in the empire itself. That is roughly what has happened to the U.S.
Since 2001, four of the worst presidents in its history undertook a series of far-fetched schemes. Each one was a disaster. Together, they multiplied the national debt five times. And now, the whole country relies on their fake money, fake interest rates, stimmy checks, and “transfer payment” giveaways. In theory, leaders with enough brains and backbone might be able to bounce off the “soft limits” and “make America great again.” But in practice, the elites control the government… and they gain more, at least in the short run, by staying on course than by turning around.
Hard Limits: But there are “hard limits,” too… brick walls that humans run into, no matter how good their driving skills. And there are even “extinction events” that wipe out dozens of species. God pointed out yesterday that the “Industrial Revolution” was just a one-time growth spurt. And today, he explains why, if you’re waiting for another growth spurt from the “Internet Revolution,” you should not hold your breath…
Land of the Unfree: You’re the ones who should apologize. For your whole knucklehead race. I gave you a paradise… and you blew it. Then, you were smiting one another, raping, and pillaging… So I gave you a new covenant; all you had to do was do unto others as you would have them do unto you. How hard was that?
And then I gave you a new start… a whole New World… and a free republic – America – from sea to shining sea. And you blew that, too. Each time, you succumbed to politics. You thought voting gave you the right to do unto others whatever you wanted. Tax them. Regulate them. Put them in jail. America was supposed to be the land of the free. But you’ve got 2 million people in your gulags.
And yet… your dear readers say they don’t trust Me! They don’t believe in me. They even say I don’t exist. I don’t take it personally. And it doesn’t matter. The world exists. And it comes with limits.
It was your own author, G. K. Chesterton, who proposed that when you come to a fence in the wilderness, before tearing it down, you should wonder why it is there. Perhaps there is a wild animal on the other side? The fence was, of course, Chesterton’s way of referring to My limits. They are there to protect you from the wildest beast of all – your fellow man. But let’s move on…
What You Don’t Know: Yesterday, I warned you that the rapid progress from using My stored-up solar power has come to an end. And now, you think that another tech revolution will come to the rescue. AI (artificial intelligence… ha ha)… DeFi (decentralized finance)… EVs (electric vehicles)… Will they bring a new wave of productivity and wealth? In a word, no.
An example from recent history shows why… More than 20 years ago, pundits claimed that the internet was a breakthrough equal to the wheel. It would bring all the world’s knowledge to your fingertips, they said. And now, you humans were going to make progress at a whole new level – faster and better than ever. But it didn’t happen. Progress didn’t speed up; it slowed down.
You know why? Of course, you don’t. So I’ll tell you. Progress comes from ignorance, not knowledge. It’s learning… not knowing. If you can figure out how to grow twice as much wheat on your land, you will double your output. That’s progress. But if you already know how to do it, you’ve gained nothing. Is this over your heads?
Waste of Time: Besides, Facebook, Google, Apple, Netflix – they proved not to be ways to increase output… but ways to waste time on idle entertainment, unimportant “data,” and jackass opinions. Want to know what’s up with Khloe Kardashian? No? I don’t either. But millions of your fellow citizens spend almost their entire days just keeping up with the Kardashians and other low-lifes.
There’s a big difference between the Industrial Revolution and the so-called Info Tech Revolution. Fossil fuels increased your ability to make and transport things. That is, they increased your ability to add wealth. (They also increased your ability to destroy wealth. But that’s another story.) But does broadband increase your wealth? Not really; it only passes around what we already know.
Facebook, Google, Twitter, et al. make their money by capturing people’s attention… and then, like newspapers and magazines… they sell the connection to advertisers. There is no new wealth created. It is really just a big shift of advertising money from print to electronic media. Likewise, Uber just shifts money from taxis, busses, and other traditional transportation businesses to private automobiles… It doesn’t make it possible for people to travel more. Airbnb, too, takes money from hotels. It doesn’t add to travel budgets.
And Amazon? Is there any real, new wealth creation going on? Amazon is just a low-margin retailer. It didn’t give consumers a way to make more money; it just makes it easier for them to spend it. And AI? It’s just souped-up data processing. Faster broadband? What… so the government can keep closer tabs on you?
And how about the “metaverse?” It’s mostly gobbledygook. There will be new apps… and new forms of time wasting. The net result could be positive or negative; I’m not saying.
Do Unto Others: But here’s what I will say… The “do unto others” rule is a fence. It’s meant to protect you from others… and from yourself. Yes, it’s tempting to take it down. Then, you can force people to take your vaccines… whether they want to or not. Or you can force them to drive an electric car… as you jet off to a “Green Energy” conference on another continent. Or you can stop them from spreading what you consider “misinformation,” competing with your own lies.
You can make them refer to each other as “they.” You can insist that they all use the same toilets, and banish “mother” from the English language. And you can tax the rich SOBs… while you continue to pump up your own stocks with fraudulent money. Yes, take down that fence and you can do unto others, good and hard. But later, you’ll find out why the limit is there… as you roast in Hell. Don’t say I didn’t warn you."
With that, the gavel came down. “This court is adjourned,” declared the judge, sternly. And as God left the courtroom, He was overheard muttering to Himself: 'I think it’s time for another flood.' Tomorrow, we return to our regularly scheduled programming."
Musical Interlude: Soothing Relaxation, "Dance of Life"
Full screen recommended.
Soothing Relaxation, "Dance of Life"
Relaxing fantasy music, "Dance of Life" by Peder B. Helland, for relaxation and meditation. Stream or download music from Soothing Relaxation: - https://www.youtube.com/redirect?
Absolutely beautiful... relax...
"All Alone..."
“We are all alone, born alone, die alone, and – in spite of True Romance magazines – we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way. I do not say lonely – at least, not all the time – but essentially, and finally, alone. This is what makes your self-respect so important, and I don’t see how you can respect yourself if you must look in the hearts and minds of others for your happiness.”
- Hunter S. Thompson,
“The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman”
"Streets of Philadelphia, Kensington Ave, Oct.27, 2021"
Full screen recommended.
"Streets of Philadelphia, Kensington Ave, Oct.27, 2021"
"Violent crime and drug abuse in Philadelphia as a whole is a major problem. The city’s violent crime rate is higher than the national average and other similarly sized metropolitan areas.1 Also alarming is Philadelphia’s drug overdose rate. The number of drug overdose deaths in the city increased by 50% from 2013 to 2015, with more than twice as many deaths from drug overdoses as deaths from homicides in 2015.2 A big part of Philadelphia’s problems stem from the crime rate and drug abuse in Kensington.
Because of the high number of drugs in Kensington, the neighborhood has a drug crime rate of 3.57, the third-highest rate by neighborhood in Philadelphia.3 Like a lot of the country, a big part of this issue is a result of the opioid epidemic. Opioid abuse has skyrocketed over the last two decades in the United States and Philadelphia is no exception. Along with having a high rate of drug overdose deaths, 80% percent of Philadelphia’s overdose deaths involved opioids2 and Kensington is a big contributor to this number. This Philly neighborhood is purportedly the largest open-air narcotics market for heroin on the East Coast with many neighboring residents flocking to the area for heroin and other opioids.4 With such a high number of drugs in Kensington, many state and local officials have zoned in on this area to try and tackle Philadelphia’s problem."
Full screen recommended.
Bruce Springsteen, "Streets of Philadelphia"
Why the interest? I'm from Philly...
"Skimpflation, Shrinkflation and the Rising Rebellion of Workers and Consumers"
"Skimpflation, Shrinkflation and the
Rising Rebellion of Workers and Consumers"
by Charles Hugh Smith
"We all see shrinkflation on a daily basis: the 16 ounce container is now 13 ounces, the breakfast cereal box is now so narrow it topples over, and so on. More subtly, the quality of ingredients is also diminishing: sharp-eyed consumers note that salt, sugar and "artificial flavors" are increasingly used to mask the decline of quality as producers scrape the bottom of the barrel to eke out a profit.
A recent NPR article proposes another form of untracked inflation: Skimpflation, the decline of services as prices march higher. "Meet Skimpflation: A Reason Inflation Is Worse Than The Government Says It Is" (via C.A.).
The article notes that skimpflation isn't just a reflection of greedy corporations squeezing consumers to fatten profits (cough, Disney, cough) - Skimpflation is a direct result of the workforce declining to take jobs in which they are treated as chattel.
The article mentions the wholesale decline of service that traces back to the shortage of labor: long waits, spotty maid service (hey pal, you try lifting those super-jumbo mattresses to tuck in sheets all day long for garbage-level pay), the demise of breakfast buffets and Disneyland's still-defunct tram service (entry prices have soared, but never mind - you have to come here, right, because we brainwashed your kids, so pay up and shut up because you have to pay, there is no way out.)
As I have been saying for some time, labor has been devalued and denigrated for decades, most recently in my conversation with Max Keiser. In an economy obsessed with measuring money, economists focus on pay and benefits, as if those metrics are all that matters. What about being valued, having some say about one's work, being respected for one's efforts and earning dignity, not just rapidly depreciating dollars? None of those realities ever enter mainstream economics, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. It's not just low pay that makes work wretched, it's being treated as an object owned by the employer. Exploitation comes in many flavors, and they all taste bad.
There's another factor left out of economists' obsession with counting dollars: the public is increasingly unhinged, and those having to deal with the public are paying an increasingly steep price. Flight attendants are being assaulted, workers are being threatened, cussed out, etc. Who wants a job where someone seeking to vent their rage can unload on an employee?
Labor's quiet rebellion is feeding a self-reinforcing feedback loop of collapse: Corporate America, so accustomed to treating its workforce like donkeys - just load on more work - has responded to labor shortages by increasing the workload of those still on the job, burning out the remaining employees in the process.
This Darwinian feedback - those willing to stay on the job are soon crushed by overwork and screaming customers - increases the pressure on managers to cut services and load more work on whomever is left as the sole means of meeting management's relentless demands for more sales and profits as the means to do so fall off a cliff.
The Financial Nobility's answer - give the super-wealthy more trillions - isn't trickling down to the real world. Conjuring money out of thin air while changing absolutely nothing in the real-world economy is not going to force workers to take chattel jobs which only get more oppressive with each passing day.
Imagine the berobed noble being driven down from the castle to address his army of indebted serfs and you have a snapshot of Corporate America: oh how sweet and endearing the noble's false phrases of appreciation, and then the whip comes out. It's not just the workforce that's rebelling - consumers will eventually rebel, too. The solution to corporate scrimping on service is to simply stop giving them money. Don't wait in line for diminished products, don't book the room or flight, do something better (and more satisfying) with your time and money.
The returns on trying to make all this go away by giving another trillion or three to the super-rich are diminishing fast. Quiet Rebellion leads to mass exodus which leads to a death-spiral of diminishing spending, debt and the quantity and quality of goods and services, because the Prime Directive is increase profits or you're gone.
While Corporate America is focusing on preserving its precious profits, precious stock market bubble and even more precious billionaires, its customers and workforce are rebelling by walking away. Good luck wooing them back with declining quality in both jobs and products. While we glorify self-glorifying, supremely arrogant billionaires, the economy is quietly collapsing beneath the rah-rah cheerleading narrative. Reduce the purchasing power of wages for 45 years as you load on more work and eventually the banquet of consequences is served: Hey Mr. Billionaire, take this job and your rocket and shove it."
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