"Is The Real Rate Of Inflation More Than Twice As High As The Number We Were Just Given?"

"Is The Real Rate Of Inflation More Than Twice 

As High As The Number We Were Just Given?"

by Michael Snyder

"I warned you that inflation was going to get worse. On Thursday, we learned that the consumer price index was 7.5 percent higher in January than it was a year ago. We are being told that this was the highest reading since February 1982, and that sounds really bad. But it isn’t exactly honest, because the truth is that the way the inflation rate is calculated has been changed more than two dozen times since 1980. So if we are going to compare the rate of inflation today to historical numbers, we should actually be doing an apples to apples comparison.

Fortunately, there is someone out there that takes care of the math for us. According to John Williams of shadowstats.com, if inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1990, the official rate of inflation would be above 10 percent right now. And if inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, the official rate of inflation would be above 15 percent right now. In other words, using the same methodology that the government used in 1980 would give us an official rate of inflation that is more than double the official number that we have just been given.

Wow.

Many have compared the current crisis to the Jimmy Carter era, but the truth is that we are now surpassing anything that we witnessed back then. On her Twitter account, Washington Post columnist Heather Long shared some specific numbers from the inflation report which show where American consumers are being hit the hardest…

Used cars 40.5% y/y

Gas 40%

Rental cars 29%

Utility gas 24%

Hotels 21%

Furniture 20%

Bacon 18%

Steak 17%

Peanut Butter 15.5%

Pork 14.5%

Fish 13%

Eggs 13%

New cars 12%

Electric 11%

Chicken 10%

Oranges 10%

I am particularly concerned about the rise in energy prices. According to the Labor Department, energy prices overall are up a whopping 27 percent over the past year… "The Labor Department reported that gasoline prices have skyrocketed 40% over the past year, while natural gas has surged 22.6% and electricity is up 10.7%. A gallon of gas, on average, cost $3.47 nationwide Thursday, according to AAA, up from $2.47 a year ago. In California, gas prices are well over $4 per gallon."

In all, energy prices have climbed more than 27% over the course of the past 12 months. A lot of people expect that this new energy crisis will just be “temporary” just like the energy crisis of the 1970s was. But this time is very different.

As I have discussed previously, easily accessible energy reserves are steadily being depleted, and that means that we are going to become increasingly dependent on energy reserves that are more costly to extract. In addition, major financial institutions have become extremely hesitant to fund projects that have anything to do with traditional forms of energy. They don’t want to be seen as “contributing to global warming”, and so they are focusing on funding alternative energy projects instead. But alternative energy sources are not producing enough to keep up with global demand.

So we are now facing a major crunch, and it isn’t going to go away. In fact, it is only going to get worse. On Thursday, Joe Biden promised to “work like the devil to bring gas prices down”. Really? Exactly how does he plan to do that? He already ordered a very large release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve back in November, and that didn’t work. And that was actually a very stupid thing to do, because we are going to need those reserves someday.

The cost of food continues to rise very aggressively as well. According to CNBC, one way that Americans can cope with this is by eating less meat and less dairy… "Meat and dairy tend to be the more expensive items at the supermarket, and especially of late. In response, aim to make more meals that don’t rely on them as the central ingredient, Brown said. Using meat sparingly as flavor, like adding a bit of bacon to a mushroom risotto, is more economical,” she said. Consuming less meat also helps you to lower your environmental footprint, she added." The elite really don’t want us to eat much meat anyway, and so this would work out very well for them.

Of course Biden realizes that ordinary Americans are becoming increasingly frustrated, but he is assuring us that “we will make it through this challenge”… “On higher prices, we have been using every tool at our disposal, and while today is a reminder that Americans’ budgets are being stretched in ways that create real stress at the kitchen table, there are also signs that we will make it through this challenge,” Biden said in a statement responding to the report."

Unfortunately for Biden, the American people are increasingly losing faith in his leadership. In fact, CNN just reported on some new approval numbers that are absolutely dismal… “Nearly 6 in 10 Americans disapprove of how Joe Biden is handling his presidency, with most of that group saying there’s literally nothing Biden has done since taking office that they approve of,” CNN detailed. The latest survey, taken January 10-February 6, 2022, shows 58 percent disapproving of Biden’s job performance, compared to 41 percent who approve. That reflects a seven-point increase in the number who disapproved from the last survey, taken in December 2021."

So where do we go from here? Well, many are expecting that the Federal Reserve will soon be substantially raising interest rates… "The chances of a 0.5 percentage point Fed rate increase in March rose to 44.3% following the data release, compared with 25% just before, according to CME data. Chances of a sixth quarter-percentage point hike this year rose to about 63%, compared with about 53% before the release.

“With another surprise jump in inflation in January, markets continue to be concerned about an aggressive Fed,” said Barry Gilbert, asset allocation strategist at LPL Financial. “While things may start getting better from here, market anxiety about potential Fed overtightening won’t go away until there are clear signs inflation is coming under control.”

When I saw the term “overtightening”, I just had to chuckle. The Fed has had interest rates pushed to the floor for more than a decade, and someone actually has the gall to suggest that the Fed could soon be engaged in “overtightening”? When the Fed pushed interest rates into the stratosphere in the early 1980s, that was overtightening. Any rate hikes that we see in 2022 will be extremely modest by comparison.

But without a doubt, any rate hikes at all will be painful for the financial markets. Low interest rates helped to fuel the absurd bubble that we are in right now, and many investors could interpret higher rates as a sign that the party is finally about to come to an end."

- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

"Dystopia Disguised as Democracy: All the Ways in Which Freedom Is an Illusion"

"Dystopia Disguised as Democracy: 

All the Ways in Which Freedom Is an Illusion"

by John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead

“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.” - Frank Zappa

"We are no longer free. We are living in a world carefully crafted to resemble a representative democracy, but it’s an illusion.

We think we have the freedom to elect our leaders, but we’re only allowed to participate in the reassurance ritual of voting. There can be no true electoral choice or real representation when we’re limited in our options to one of two candidates culled from two parties that both march in lockstep with the Deep State and answer to an oligarchic elite.

We think we have freedom of speech, but we’re only as free to speak as the government and its corporate partners allow.

We think we have the right to freely exercise our religious beliefs, but those rights are quickly overruled if and when they conflict with the government’s priorities, whether it’s COVID-19 mandates or societal values about gender equality, sex and marriage.

We think we have the freedom to go where we want and move about freely, but at every turn, we’re hemmed in by laws, fines and penalties that regulate and restrict our autonomy, and surveillance cameras that monitor our movements. Punitive programs strip citizens of their passports and right to travel over unpaid taxes.

We think we have property interests in our homes and our bodies, but there can be no such freedom when the government can seize your property, raid your home, and dictate what you do with your bodies.

We think we have the freedom to defend ourselves against outside threats, but there is no right to self-defense against militarized police who are authorized to probe, poke, pinch, taser, search, seize, strip and generally manhandle anyone they see fit in almost any circumstance, and granted immunity from accountability with the general blessing of the courts. Certainly, there can be no right to gun ownership in the face of red flag gun laws which allow the police to remove guns from people merely suspected of being threats.

We think we have the right to an assumption of innocence until we are proven guilty, but that burden of proof has been turned on its head by a surveillance state that renders us all suspects and overcriminalization which renders us all lawbreakers. Police-run facial recognition software that mistakenly labels law-abiding citizens as criminals. A social credit system (similar to China’s) that rewards behavior deemed “acceptable” and punishes behavior the government and its corporate allies find offensive, illegal or inappropriate.

We think we have the right to due process, but that assurance of justice has been stripped of its power by a judicial system hardwired to act as judge, jury and jailer, leaving us with little recourse for appeal. A perfect example of this rush to judgment can be found in the proliferation of profit-driven speed and red light cameras that do little for safety while padding the pockets of government agencies.

We have been saddled with a government that pays lip service to the nation’s freedom principles while working overtime to shred the Constitution.

By gradually whittling away at our freedoms - free speech, assembly, due process, privacy, etc. - the government has, in effect, liberated itself from its contractual agreement to respect the constitutional rights of the citizenry while resetting the calendar back to a time when we had no Bill of Rights to protect us from the long arm of the government.

Aided and abetted by the legislatures, the courts and Corporate America, the government has been busily rewriting the contract (a.k.a. the Constitution) that establishes the citizenry as the masters and agents of the government as the servants.

We are now only as good as we are useful, and our usefulness is calculated on an economic scale by how much we are worth - in terms of profit and resale value - to our “owners.” Under the new terms of this revised, one-sided agreement, the government and its many operatives have all the privileges and rights and “we the people” have none. Only in our case, sold on the idea that safety, security and material comforts are preferable to freedom, we’ve allowed the government to pave over the Constitution in order to erect a concentration camp.

The problem with these devil’s bargains, however, is that there is always a catch, always a price to pay for whatever it is we valued so highly as to barter away our most precious possessions. We’ve bartered away our right to self-governance, self-defense, privacy, autonomy and that most important right of all: the right to tell the government to “leave me the hell alone.” In exchange for the promise of safe streets, safe schools, blight-free neighborhoods, lower taxes, lower crime rates, and readily accessible technology, health care, water, food and power, we’ve opened the door to militarized police, government surveillance, asset forfeiture, school zero tolerance policies, license plate readers, red light cameras, SWAT team raids, health care mandates, overcriminalization and government corruption. In the end, such bargains always turn sour.

We asked our lawmakers to be tough on crime, and we’ve been saddled with an abundance of laws that criminalize almost every aspect of our lives. So far, we’re up to 4500 criminal laws and 300,000 criminal regulations that result in average Americans unknowingly engaging in criminal acts at least three times a day. For instance, the family of an 11-year-old girl was issued a $535 fine for violating the Federal Migratory Bird Act after the young girl rescued a baby woodpecker from predatory cats.

We wanted criminals taken off the streets, and we didn’t want to have to pay for their incarceration. What we’ve gotten is a nation that boasts the highest incarceration rate in the world, with more than 2.3 million people locked up, many of them doing time for relatively minor, nonviolent crimes, and a private prison industry fueling the drive for more inmates, who are forced to provide corporations with cheap labor.

We wanted law enforcement agencies to have the necessary resources to fight the nation’s wars on terror, crime and drugs. What we got instead were militarized police decked out with M-16 rifles, grenade launchers, silencers, battle tanks and hollow point bullets - gear designed for the battlefield, more than 80,000 SWAT team raids carried out every year (many for routine police tasks, resulting in losses of life and property), and profit-driven schemes that add to the government’s largesse such as asset forfeiture, where police seize property from “suspected criminals.”

We fell for the government’s promise of safer roads, only to find ourselves caught in a tangle of profit-driven red-light cameras, which ticket unsuspecting drivers in the so-called name of road safety while ostensibly fattening the coffers of local and state governments. Despite widespread public opposition, corruption and systemic malfunctions, these cameras are particularly popular with municipalities, which look to them as an easy means of extra cash. Building on the profit-incentive schemes, the cameras’ manufacturers are also pushing speed cameras and school bus cameras, both of which result in hefty fines for violators who speed or try to go around school buses.

We’re being subjected to the oldest con game in the books, the magician’s sleight of hand that keeps you focused on the shell game in front of you while your wallet is being picked clean by ruffians in your midst. This is how tyranny rises and freedom falls.

With every new law enacted by federal and state legislatures, every new ruling handed down by government courts, and every new military weapon, invasive tactic and egregious protocol employed by government agents, “we the people” are being reminded that we possess no rights except for that which the government grants on an as-needed basis.

Indeed, there are chilling parallels between the authoritarian prison that is life in the American police state and "The Prisoner", a dystopian television series that first broadcast in Great Britain more than 50 years ago. The series centers around a British secret agent (played by Patrick McGoohan) who finds himself imprisoned, monitored by militarized drones, and interrogated in a mysterious, self-contained, cosmopolitan, seemingly idyllic retirement community known only as The Village. While luxurious and resort-like, the Village is a virtual prison disguised as a seaside paradise: its inhabitants have no true freedom, they cannot leave the Village, they are under constant surveillance, their movements are tracked by surveillance drones, and they are stripped of their individuality and identified only by numbers.

Much like the American Police State, The Prisoner’s Village gives the illusion of freedom while functioning all the while like a prison: controlled, watchful, inflexible, punitive, deadly and inescapable. Described as “an allegory of the individual, aiming to find peace and freedom in a dystopia masquerading as a utopia,” "The Prisoner" is a chilling lesson about how difficult it is to gain one’s freedom in a society in which prison walls are disguised within the trappings of technological and scientific progress, national security and so-called democracy.

Perhaps the best visual debate ever on individuality and freedom, "The Prisoner" confronted societal themes that are still relevant today: the rise of a police state, the freedom of the individual, round-the-clock surveillance, the corruption of government, totalitarianism, weaponization, group think, mass marketing, and the tendency of mankind to meekly accept his lot in life as a prisoner in a prison of his own making.

"The Prisoner" is an operations manual for how you condition a populace to life as prisoners in a police state: by brainwashing them into believing they are free so that they will march in lockstep with the state and be incapable of recognizing the prison walls that surround them.

We can no longer maintain the illusion of freedom. As I make clear in my book "Battlefield America: The War on the American People" and in its fictional counterpart "The Erik Blair Diaries", “we the people” have become “we the prisoners.”

- https://www.rutherford.org/

"Perhaps..."

"How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that needs our help. So you must not be frightened if a sadness rises up before you larger than any you have ever seen; if a restiveness, like light and cloud shadows, passes over your hands and over all you do. You must think that something is happening with you, that life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand; it will not let you fall."

- Rainer Maria Rilke

"What We Paid For"

"What We Paid For"

by Bill Bonner

Youghal, Ireland - "This week we’ve been looking at the “culture of work.” We’ve seen that over time people want to move to join the elite – the people who work without getting their clothes dirty. We’ve seen, too, that having more administrators, controllers, regulators, elite hangers-on, meddlers, and finger-waving know-it-alls is not necessarily a good thing. Instead of helping move things along more swiftly, they slow things down… misallocate time and resources… reward cronies… push pet projects… and fund jackass ‘investments’ with the country’s hard-earned savings.

Yes, the upper classes are filling up with idle moochers or trouble-making busy bodies. But today, we turn to the others – the 90% of the population who schlep, tote, and bus to keep us fed, clothed, housed, and entertained. Have they been corrupted too? The answer is ‘yes.’ And as usual, our favorite dysfunctional society is way ahead of us. Jared Dillian of the DailyDirtnap:

The labor force participation rate in Argentina dropped to 38.4% in 2020, during the pandemic. Now it stands at 46.7%. A labor force participation rate below 50% means that less than half the country is working - and supporting the other half that is not. It enlarges the welfare state and creates generations of institutionalized dependency that is difficult to reverse. Generations of Peronism have destroyed the culture of work that once existed in Argentina. The country’s problems aren’t simply economic, a matter of a rapidly depreciating currency and high inflation. They’re also deeply rooted in cultural norms around work.

Happily, the US is not quite there…yet. There are approximately 257 million adults over 18 in the country. About 150 million are employed – or around 60%. That leaves a little more than 150 million adults with no visible means of support. How do they pay the rent and their Netflix subscriptions? Transfer payments!

“Transfer” – what a marvelously lobotomized description. Value-free. Judgment-free. Information-free. On the transferee end, people are not criminals… who have knowingly received stolen goods. Nor are they objects of pity and shame for being “on the dole.” Nor should they be embarrassed by being too gimpy, too dumb, too old or too fat to work. No...no… Much of what is transferred is called an “entitlement,” as if they had a right to the money.

Entitlements… welfare… Medicare… Medicaid… unemployment… “Disability…” – with these “transfer payments” millions of people are bought off... pacified… idled by small amounts of public charity and a large dose of government larceny. Peter is paid. But the money must be taken from Paul.

A Genuinely Disabled System: The amounts paid to the poor and middle classes are trivial – at least, compared to the $35 trillion transfer to the wealthy via the Fed. But the effect is huge. A stimmie check here… a disability payment there… a Fannie Mae subsidized mortgage… soon you’re talking irresistible temptation… and undying loyalty to the grand viziers who provided it. And then, instead of tending their flocks and fields, the transferees can pass their long, slow days in front of TV and social media, where the elite make sure they don’t get any ‘misinformation’ that might call ‘the system’ into question.

In the early 70’s, about one out of every ten dollars of income came from government-managed ‘transfers.’ Now, it is one out of every three dollars. In gross dollar terms, that’s an increase from around $30 billion to over $3 trillion.

There are now some 80 million people – up from 20 million in the 1980s – receiving free meds from the Medicaid program. The roster of Medicare and Obama Care beneficiaries adds up to some 65 million. There are 40 million getting ‘food stamps.’

Back when it was set up in 1935, the ‘disability’ part of the Social Security system was meant to give support to people who couldn’t work. And back then, most work was physical. People who couldn’t see or couldn’t walk were practically unemployable. The minimum payment in 1936 was just $10 a month. Now the average is $1,385 per month, with top recipients getting as much as $3,345.

And now there are said to be 8 million people – 5 times as many as in 1970 – collecting SSDI benefits. This is remarkable in itself, since it’s much harder to be genuinely disabled now than it was 50 years ago. Today, millions of people ‘work’ in comfortable chairs, using only their fingertips. Advances in medical science and technology have overcome many former disabilities. Now, you can talk to your computer… and it will answer you. And ‘voice generators’ will transform written text and numbers into spoken words.

Tipping the Scales: If the standards of 1970 were applied today, there would be fewer, not more, disabled people. But standards have changed. Now, psychological, mental, and self-inflicted infirmities fatten SSDI rolls. A Baltimore politician even suggested that being Black should be enough to get onto disability rolls.

Obesity is in itself not a sufficient cause for a ‘disability’ rating, but it can be combined with other impairments to tip the scales in your favor. A skinny person with a bad knee might still be able to get around. A fat one with the same joint issue might be ‘impaired.’

The incentives are perverse. If you could get $3,345 per month simply by eating more desserts… and being unable to work… why not? And of course… the elite are there to help. Here’s a typical ad: "It's Time to Get the Benefits You Deserve." "Suze Orman shares how to get disability benefits in less time—with no out-of-pocket costs."

‘You get what you pay for,’ said Milton Friedman famously. America spent an estimated $60 trillion on transfer payments from 1970 to 2020. What it got was approximately 90 million more people who do not work. But wait… then… what do they do? What happens to them? And what happens to the country that harbors them? More to come…"

- bonnerprivateresearch@substack.com

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Where the Stars and Moon Play"

Full screen mode recommended.

2002, "Where the Stars and Moon Play"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Like delicate cosmic petals, these clouds of interstellar dust and gas have blossomed 1,300 light-years away in the fertile star fields of the constellation Cepheus. Sometimes called the Iris Nebula and dutifully cataloged as NGC 7023 this is not the only nebula in the sky to evoke the imagery of flowers. Still, this remarkable image shows off the Iris Nebula's range of colors and symmetries in impressive detail. Within the Iris, dusty nebular material surrounds a hot, young star.

 

The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. Central filaments of the dusty clouds glow with a faint reddish photoluminesence as some dust grains effectively convert the star's invisible ultraviolet radiation to visible red light. Infrared observations indicate that this nebula may contain complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. The bright blue portion of the Iris Nebula is about six light-years across.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120929.html

"Emergency Rate Hike Tomorrow? The FED Is Scared; The Crash Is Just Starting; Free Money Addiction"

Jeremiah Babe, PM 2/10/22:

"Emergency Rate Hike Tomorrow? The FED Is Scared; 

The Crash Is Just Starting; Free Money Addiction"

Gregory Mannarino, "Again And Repeatedly! The FED Is Playing Their Same Twisted Game!"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 2/10/22:

"Again And Repeatedly! 

The FED Is Playing Their Same Twisted Game!"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"This Isn’t Just A Temporary Supply Chain Crisis, Its The Beginning Of A Global Supply Chain Collapse"

Full screen recommended.

"This Isn’t Just A Temporary Supply Chain Crisis, 

Its The Beginning Of A Global Supply Chain Collapse"

by Epic Economist

"All around the planet, inflation is rapidly spiraling out of control. And the worst supply chain crisis in modern history is only adding fuel to the fire. With each passing day, more disruptions emerge and more price hikes are announced while the global population continues to struggle to get by. The vast majority of us are just barely scraping by from month to month. And this means that we have never been more vulnerable than we are right now.

In the United States, an alarmingly high rate of Americans literally lives on the brink of financial disaster. A survey released in recent days has found that seven out of ten Americans are living paycheck to paycheck right now. Researchers also highlighted that 63 percent of adult Americans don’t see themselves reaching a level of financial security that will allow them to live the lifestyle they want. Amongst their biggest financial concerns were rising credit card debt, cited by 58 percent of the respondents, declining credit scores, with 54 percent, and unaffordable housing, noted by 51 percent of the surveyed. Even in the world’s leading economic superpower, the largest portion of the population doesn’t have a financial cushion to fall back on. Even after politicians and policymakers have absolutely flooded the system with printed money over the past two years, more than two-thirds of Americans are struggling to make ends meet.

When we consider the global outlook we can rapidly realize that it is only a matter of time before another major crisis of some sort erupts to make things even more chaotic. The ongoing global supply chain crisis is at risk of evolving into a global supply chain collapse that will ultimately affect everyone on the entire planet. Problems have been piling up for a long time now, and one industry CEO is warning that more trouble is ahead. The Chief Executive Officer of the world’s largest container shipping company is saying that the supply chain crisis that have been slowing down the global economy and spurring inflation are not getting any better, “Right now the situation does not appear to be getting significantly better,” Skou said in a recent interview. “I wish I could say that things are getting better, but right now there’s nothing in the numbers to suggest so.”

Demand for goods remains Strong, but "global trade is constrained by the shipping capacity that's available," he explained. "We still see this long queue in the U.S., particularly in Los Angeles, not really moving, only very slowly," he added. Given that we’re extremely reliant on this network that allows the flow of goods around the globe, his statement is a very big deal. Some of us may not realize it yet, but this means that the economic difficulties we have been facing won’t go away any time soon. The breakdown of global supply chains will only accelerate and add immense stress to our lives.

According to The National Federation of Independent Businesses, a Tennessee-based association of small business owners, the rate of small business owners in the country that is currently raising prices is the highest that it has been in almost 50 years. The organization found that the percentage of small business owners raising average selling prices jumped to 61% in last month, a four-point increase from the previous month and the highest reading since the fourth quarter of 1974. Just as a reminder, 1974 was definitely not a good year for the U.S. Apparently, 2022 won’t be a good year for us either.

Our system is extremely corrupt, but most people can’t see this reality. Most of us are just going to keep “consuming” and “consuming” until the whole system finally collapses all around us, which will not take too long since the U.S. economy has already started to implode. Global trends show that our crisis will only accelerate in 2022, and we should wake up and stand up for ourselves before it’s too late because most of the global population is still numb and waiting for everything to come back to normal."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com​

Gerald Celente, "Covid War Ending, Economic Calamity Coming"

Gerald Celente, 2/10/22:

"Covid War Ending, Economic Calamity Coming"

"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What’s Next in these increasingly turbulent times."

- https://trendsresearch.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada. Thanks for stopping by!

"Laguna Beach Is On Fire - The Misery Index is Climbing"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly PM 210/22:

"Laguna Beach Is On Fire - The Misery Index is Climbing"

"Laguna is on Fire. The CPI just got announced and we are supposed to believe that inflation is only at 7.5%. The misery index is climbing when people are fully employed. No one believes that the economy is great."

Bill Holter: "We Are In Serious Trouble - 'It Will Be All Over'"

Bill Holter: 

"We Are In Serious Trouble - 'It Will Be All Over'"

- http://bit.ly/CompactFinancialNews-subscribe

"Now The Mainstream Media Is Telling Us That “More Trouble Is Ahead” For the U.S. Economy"

"Now The Mainstream Media Is Telling Us 

That “More Trouble Is Ahead” For the U.S. Economy"

by Michael Snyder

"The last couple of years have not been pleasant, and so nobody wants to hear that more trouble is ahead for the U.S. economy. Unfortunately, that is precisely what the mainstream media is telling us right now. A year ago, so many of the talking heads on television were assuring us that a new golden era of prosperity was right around the corner, but of course that wasn’t true at all. The dismal performance of the economy has been mirrored by Joe Biden’s rapidly declining approval numbers, and at this point there is a tremendous amount of pessimism about the remainder of 2022. But is that pessimism warranted?

CNN just interviewed the CEO of Maersk about the horrific supply chain crisis that is gumming up the entire global economy, and the news wasn’t good. In fact, we are being told that “more trouble is ahead”… "Maersk has a front-row seat to global supply chains. It says more trouble is ahead. Needless to say, the CEO of Maersk is in a position to understand the current state of global supply chains far better than you or I do."

This is a world that he is immersed in every single day, and right now he sees “nothing in the numbers” that indicates that things are going to turn around any time soon… "The supply chain issues that have walloped the global economy and spurred inflation during the coronavirus pandemic are not getting much better, Maersk CEO Søren Skou told CNN Business on Wednesday. “Right now the situation does not appear to be getting significantly better,” Skou told Alison Kosik on First Move. “I wish I could say that things are getting better, but right now there’s nothing in the numbers to suggest so.”

Meanwhile, CNN is also reporting that inflation at fast food restaurants continues to hit consumers really hard… "Buying a burrito bowl or a burger will hit your wallet a lot harder these days. What’s happening: An order at Chipotle (CMG) costs about 10% more than it did one year ago, the restaurant chain said when reporting earnings on Tuesday. That means that if a steak burrito cost $8 this time in 2021, it’s now $8.80."

Of course it isn’t just the price of fast food that is going up dramatically. According to a brand new survey that was just released, the percentage of small business owners in America that is raising prices is the highest that it has been since 1974… "The National Federation of Independent Businesses, a Tennessee-based association of small business owners, found that the net percent of owners raising average selling prices rose to 61% in January, a four-point increase from the previous month and the highest reading since the fourth quarter of 1974."

1974 was not a good year for our country. And 2022 will not be a good year for us either. I must admit that the economy in 2022 is the weirdest economy that I have ever seen in my entire lifetime. For example, even though we are facing a severe labor shortage, the number of homeless people continues to explode higher as well.

In the San Francisco area, the number of homeless is growing so rapidly that many private homeowners are now being encouraged “to give their spare rooms over to the homeless” to help fight the problem… "Homelessness in the Bay Area has become such a problem people are being urged to give their spare rooms over to the homeless. Some charities have urged local families – who are sick of seeing the homeless crisis on their doorsteps – to do something about it personally by taking unhoused people into their own homes and spare rooms – and some schemes have little to no compensation."

Sadly, most of the homeless in California are drug addicts, so it isn’t exactly safe to have them bunking with your children. Of course most Americans are addicts of one form or another at this point. Instead of focusing on what we can contribute to society, most of us have been trained to consume, consume and then consume some more. I really like how Charles Hugh Smith made this point in his most recent article…

"One aspect nobody seems to notice is the transformation from a society that once drew its identity from producing quality goods and services to a society that draws its identity from consuming crapified goods and services. Now that Americans define themselves by consuming, they are enslaved to consumption: to limit consumption is to disappear–and ‘spending time” on social media is a form of consumption, even if no goods or services are purchased directly, as one’s attention / time are valuable commodities."

In other words, Americans have been trained like Pavlov’s dogs to consume, no matter how poor the quality and service. We just buy it anyway, and grumble over the decaying quality and service–but we won’t take the only action that would impact corporations and the government: stop buying the products and services. Opt out, drop out, make it at home, cancel the service, just stop buying abysmally made junk and pathetically poor services.

Most of us don’t even realize that we are just cogs in the machine. When we aren’t working or shopping, many of us are plugged in to some form of entertainment that is filled with ads encouraging us to “consume” even more. The more we consume, the deeper we go into debt. And once we get really deep into debt they know that they have got us trapped in the system indefinitely.

The only people that win in this twisted game are those at the very top of the pyramid. They milk us for everything that we have got, and then they laugh all the way to the bank. Just consider how much cash Pfizer is raking in. This year, it is expected that Pfizer will have a whopping 54 billion dollars in revenue from selling COVID vaccines and pills… "Pfizer projects it will generate record-high revenue in 2022, saying Tuesday it expects to sell $32 billion of its Covid-19 shots and $22 billion of its antiviral coronavirus treatment pill Paxlovid this year."

That is one big pile of money. And needless to say, they will continue to fund the campaigns of politicians that will make sure that they will continue to be able to make that sort of money for many years to come. Our system is so corrupt, but most Americans don’t seem to care. Most Americans are just going to keep “consuming” and “consuming” until the whole system finally collapses all around them. Unfortunately, the U.S. economy has already started to implode, and many believe that 2022 is going to greatly accelerate that process."

- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

"How It Really Is"

 

“The Immutable Laws of Nature, and Murphy’s Other 15 Laws”

“The Immutable Laws of Nature, and Murphy’s Other 15 Laws”

by Peter McKenzie-Brown

“The Immutable Laws of Nature”

• Law of Mechanical Repair: After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch and you’ll have to pee.

• Law of Gravity: Any tool, nut, bolt, screw, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible place.

• Law of Probability: The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.

• Law of Random Numbers: If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal; someone always answers.

• Law of Variable Motion: If you change traffic lanes or checkout queues, the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are in now.

• Law of the Bath: When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone will ring.

• Law of Close Encounters: The probability of meeting someone you know increases exponentially when you are alongside someone you don’t want to be seen with.

• Law of the Damned Thing: When you try to prove to someone that a machine or device won’t work, it will.

• Law of Biomechanics: The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.

• Law of the Spectator: At any theatrical, musical or sporting event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle always arrive last. They are the ones who will leave their seats several times to go for food, for beer, or to the toilet and who leave before the end of the performance or game. Those who occupy the aisle seats come early, never move once, have long gangly legs or big bellies and stay seated beyond the end of the performance. The aisle people also are very surly folk.

• Law of Coffee: As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your partner will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

• Murphy’s Law of Lockers: When only 2 people are in a locker room, they will have adjacent lockers.

• Law of Plane Surfaces: The chance that a slice of marmalade toast will land face down on a floor is directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet or rug.

• Law of Logical Argument: Anything is possible when you don’t know what you are talking about.

• Law of Physical Appearance: If clothes fit, they’re ugly.

• Law of Public Speaking: A closed mouth gathers no feet

• Law of Commercial Marketing: As soon as you find a product that you really like, it will cease production or the store will stop selling it.

• Law of Psychosomatic Medicine: If you don’t feel well, make an appointment to see to the doctor and by  the time you get there, you’ll feel better. If you don’t make an appointment you’ll stay sick.

“Murphy’s Other 15 Laws”

1. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

2. A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.

3. He who laughs last, thinks slowest.

4. A day without sunshine is like, well, night.

5. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

6. Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don’t.

7. Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.

8. The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there’s a 90% probability you’ll get it wrong.

9. It is said that if you line up all the cars in the world end-to-end, someone would be stupid enough to try to pass them.

10. If the shoe fits, get another one just like it.

11. The things that come to those who wait may be the things left by those who got there first.

12. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

13. Flashlight: A case for holding dead batteries.

14. God gave you toes as a device for finding furniture in the dark.

15. When you go into court, you are putting yourself in the hands of twelve people who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.”

- http://www.24hgold.com/

"You Only Live Once..."

 

"Grocery Prices Are Skyrocketing At Kroger! What's Next?!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures with Danno, 2/10/22:

"Grocery Prices Are Skyrocketing At Kroger! What's Next?!"

"In today's vlog we visit Kroger, and witness grocery prices are skyrocketing. With stores struggling to get in products, we are also dealing with a major issue of soaring prices. We will also check out the shelves as stores all across the country are having trouble."

Gregory Mannarino, "Inflation Worse Than Expected. Duh! Really?"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/10/22:

"Inflation Worse Than Expected. Duh! Really?"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Greg Hunter, "Fed Rate Hike Will Cause Hyperinflationary Great Depression"

"Fed Rate Hike Will Cause Hyperinflationary Great Depression"

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com

"Economist John Williams says the economy is in deep trouble, and the Fed knows it. Williams says the Fed talking up “robust economic growth” that is causing inflation is “nonsense.” Williams explains, “The one thing that is not causing inflation is ‘robust economic growth.’ So, when they talk about raising interest rates to kill this robust economic growth that’s triggering the inflation, that’s absurd, and the Fed knows it. If the Fed foolishly raised rates as reflected in the payrolls as not being fully recovered, you are going to have a sharp downturn, a double dip depression here. At the same time, you are still going to have the inflation. You are going to end up with an inflationary depression or a hyper-inflationary Great Depression.”

According to Williams’ forecast, “In terms of a crash, I am looking for much higher inflation, maybe hyperinflation, and I am looking for the economy to crash. You can address the inflation by personally holding physical gold and silver.”

So, jobs are going to disappear? Williams says, “They already have, but hopefully all the effects of the pandemic will disappear, and people will get back to work, but that is not happening now. There is no sign of it getting better. In fact, the numbers are indicating it’s getting worse. The holiday retail economy in November and December declined at the worst pace since the Great Recession. You had a negative holiday shopping season. That’s not a booming economy.”

On top of that, Williams says the real inflation rate is 14.8 %, if you disregard all the gimmicks the government uses to make inflation look less than what it really is. Williams says, “That’s the highest inflation rate since the Truman Administration.”

In short, Williams points out, “The Fed has to keep the system liquid. So, the money is going to continue to flow, and they cannot afford to raise interest rates. If the Fed raises interest rates, it’s going to crash the economy from where it is now, and the economy is not healthy.” Williams says buy physical gold and silver and hold it against the inflation that is here to stay and will get worse."

- https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One with John Williams, 

founder of ShadowStats.com, as he explains how bad the economy really is."

- https://rumble.com/

Musical Interlude: Little River Band, "Cool Change"

Full screen recommended.

Little River Band, "Cool Change"

"The Economic Collapse Is Accelerating; $11 Trillion Illusion; Substantial Financial Pain Ahead"

Jeremiah Babe, PM 2/9/22:

"The Economic Collapse Is Accelerating; 

$11 Trillion Illusion; Substantial Financial Pain Ahead"

"Rats in a Cage"

Full screen recommended.

"Rats in a Cage"

by Peak Prosperity, Chris Martenson

"We are all rats in a cage who are being shocked. A very well-studied form of psychological warfare is being waged against us, and it's designed to encourage us to overlook where the shocks are originating and fight amongst each other. Knowing that this is running is your first step towards freedom.

Police fighting people is an example of "rats in a cage." People fighting over relatively meaningless things is an example of acting like rats in a cage. People arguing over Joe Rogan’s prior podcast series (while having practically no objections to zero “Johns” being named in Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial) is an example of rats in a cage.

The shocks being administered are anything but accidental: Student debt growing a trillion dollars in the past decade, while being the only non-dischargeable form of debt in bankruptcy court, is shocking.

The Federal Reserve printing up and expanding the nation’s money supply by 300% in the past 2 years is shocking.

Inflation exploding to levels not seen since the 1970’s is shocking.

The wealthy becoming grotesquely more wealthy and powerful as a result of the Fed’s reckless printing is shocking.

Insects disappearing so comprehensively and suddenly is shocking.

The list of shocks is a mile long and ten feet deep. Given that, it’s not at all surprising that people are turning on each other. But it’s a shame. Their ire really ought to be directed at the architects of the shocks. There are people in power who are both conscious of this dynamic and actively engineering more shocks simply so that people remain befuddled and harmlessly fighting amongst each other. Well, harmless to the powerful, that is.

If we do not recognize this and turn the righteous anger towards the rightful targets, our lives will continue to erode and, eventually, this all devolves into a major social, political, economic, and ecological storm."

- https://www.peakprosperity.com/

"Panic Buying Sweeps Across China As Food Shortage Leaves Millions With No Food"

Full screen recommended.

"Panic Buying Sweeps Across China As 

Food Shortage Leaves Millions With No Food"

by Epic Economist

"A new panic-buying wave is rapidly spreading across China as food shortages get significantly worse amid new movement restrictions and the beginning of Beijing’s Winter Olympics. Millions of Chinese residents are currently facing a shortage of food and other daily essentials and having to pay some exceedingly expensive prices for what they can still find in stock. In Hong Kong, a new set of movement restrictions is preventing the entrance of truck drivers responsible for delivering supplies to local grocery stores. Recent mandates issued by authorities in mainland China are forbidding truckers to re-enter the territory after they leave to pick up supplies at distribution centers. And after some drivers tested positive for the virus, the Chinese government reimposed mass testing and isolation measures, exacerbating delivery delays.

Since Saturday, food supplies in the area have dropped as much as 70 percent, with supplies fresh produce and fruit being the hardest hit, according to Chamber of Hong Kong Logistics Industry vice chairman Chan Fu-chuen. The region relies on mainland China for more than 90 percent of its needs, and at this point, most vegetables and fish cannot be found anywhere. At the same time, prices of food staples have seen massive spikes, going up 30 to 50 percent in less than a week, while some perishable products, such as pea sprouts, faced even sharper increases, said Hong Kong Food Council chairman Thomas Ng. As fears of extensive shortages and new lockdowns emerged, residents have engaged in a new panic buying wave, further aggravating the situation. Local officials say that the new panic buying frenzy resembles what happened in 2020 when shoppers emptied store shelves in record time. Only this time, it is coming at a time when food supplies are already tight all across the nation. Demand usually peaks around the Lunar New Year Holiday and prices are typically higher as grocers struggle to restock inventories.

On top of that, the flow of goods has been slower as key ports have been closed or operating at lower capacity in recent weeks. On social media, Hong Kongers have been expressing their growing dissatisfaction. “We have done all you ask, we sat quietly as mental health takes a toll, as families are torn apart and as businesses close down because it is all in the hope of China reopening our borders," wrote one resident in an open letter that went viral. "You have tried for two years, and failed," it continued. "When will you stop holding the citizens of this city hostage?" he asked.

Many other regions of the country are also suffering from food shortages. Apparently, the situation is getting so out of control that it has been affecting athletes who are going to compete in Beijing’s Winter Olympics. This week, the Chinese government faced lots of criticism for not offering adequate food supplies for Olympic athletes. Supply chain experts say that port shutdowns in China are expected to aggravate the ongoing shortage of commodities in the next few weeks. Several shipping lines have suspended operations as at least three Chinese ports, including Shanghai and Shenzhen, remain partially closed.

In a recent note, HSBC’s head of shipping warned that “China’s restrictions will impact global supply chain recovery as any small disruption in the country will likely trigger shockwaves all across the world.” The health crisis has exposed “how lean the supply chain has become. And there is little margin of error,” said Parash Jain, global head of shipping and ports equity research at HSBC. “The sheer importance of China when it comes to global trade means that any small disruption in China, will have a ripple effect across the supply chain,” Jain said, adding that “the chaos created because of these restrictions will eventually have an impact on the other side of the ocean. That’s why, as long as China maintains this very strict zero-tolerance stance, we cannot rule out a disruption time to time as the year progress,” he added.

Our increased reliance on China is a disaster from the perspective of economic security and leadership in production. Now that the Eastern superpower is experiencing extended disruptions, each and every one of them will be magnified and rattle around the world, creating volatility and instability that will ultimately show up in shortages and price increases in our stores. In other words, China’s supply chain mess is about to disturb the American status quo in ways we could never imagine. And what we witnessed so far is the very tip of the iceberg."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com​

Gregory Mannarino, "Markets: Something Is About To Happen...Be Ready For It!"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 2/9/22:

"Markets: Something Is About To Happen...Be Ready For It!"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Celente & The Judge: "Freedom of Speech Dead in America…Unless You Can Pay for It"

Celente & The Judge: 

"Freedom of Speech Dead in America…Unless You Can Pay for It"

"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What’s Next in these increasingly turbulent times."

- https://trendsresearch.com/

"Do You Want..."

"Do you want to live life, or do you want to escape life?"

- Macklemore

"Why Dogs Live Less Than Humans"

"Why Dogs Live Less Than Humans"

by Bill Overton

"Here's the surprising response from a 6-year-old. Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife Lisa, and their little Shane, were very attached to Belker, and were expecting a miracle. I examined Belker and found that he was dying of cancer. I told the family that we couldn't do anything for Belker, and I offered to perform the euthanasia procedure for the old dog at his house.

While we were making arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as if Shane could learn something from the experience. The next day, I felt the familiar capture in my throat as Belker's family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within minutes, Belker escaped peacefully.

The boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering aloud about the sad fact that dog lives are shorter than human lives. Shane, who had been listening silently, said, "I know why." Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth afterwards surprised me. I had never heard a more comforting explanation. It has changed the way I try to live.

He said, "People are born so they can learn to live a good life, like loving everyone all the time and being kind, right?" The six-year-old boy continued, "Well, dogs already know how to do it, so they don't have to stay as long as we do."

Live simply.

Love generously.

Care deeply.

Speak kindly.

Remember, if a dog were the teacher you would learn things like:

• When your loved ones return home, always run to greet them.

• Never miss the opportunity to go for a walk.

• Allow the experience of fresh air and wind on the face to be pure ecstasy.

• Take naps.

• Stretch before getting up.

• Running, playing and playing daily.

• Thrive on attention and let people touch you.

• Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.

• On warm days, stop to lie on your back on the lawn.

• On hot days, drink plenty of water and lie down under a shaded tree.

• When you are happy, dance and move your whole body.

• Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

• Be faithful.

• Never pretend to be something you are not.

• If what you want is buried, dig until you find it.

• When someone is having a bad day, be quiet, sit nearby, and nuzzle gently.

That's the secret of happiness we can learn from a good dog.”

- https://meawsandwoofs.com/

Musical Interlude: Neil H, "Moonpath"

Neil H, "Moonpath"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365 is truly a majestic island universe some 200,000 light-years across. Located a mere 60 million light-years away toward the chemical constellation Fornax, NGC 1365 is a dominant member of the well-studied Fornax galaxy cluster.

This impressively sharp color image shows intense star forming regions at the ends of the bar and along the spiral arms, and details of dust lanes cutting across the galaxy's bright core. At the core lies a supermassive black hole. Astronomers think NGC 1365's prominent bar plays a crucial role in the galaxy's evolution, drawing gas and dust into a star-forming maelstrom and ultimately feeding material into the central black hole.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100820.html