Gregory Mannarino, AM 5/13/22:
"Important Updates: Stocks, Gold, Silver,
Crypto, Crude, Debt, And More!"
So, we rise from the rubble...
Friday, May 13, 2022
"Massive Price Increases At Walmart! Baby Formula Shortages! What's Next?"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures with Danno, 5/13/22:
"Massive Price Increases At Walmart!
Baby Formula Shortages! What's Next?"
"In today's vlog we are at Walmart and are noticing massive price increases! We are here to check out skyrocketing prices, and a massive baby formula shortage! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"
"The Economy is Burning to the Ground - People Need to Get Ready Now"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 5/13/22:
"The Economy is Burning to the Ground -
People Need to Get Ready Now"
"Devastation can happen in a moment‘s notice. The poor people of Laguna Niguel California experienced a wildfire and it destroyed 20 homes in a very expensive exclusive neighborhood. Wildfires don’t care if you live in a gated community. You have to prepare for disaster because it can strike at any time."
"What Happened?"
.jpg)
○
Marvin Gaye, "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)"
"Make me wanna holler, throw up both my hands..."
"We Shall Soon..."
“We shall soon be in a world in which a man may be howled down for saying that two and two make four, in which furious party cries will be raised against anybody who says that cows have horns, in which people will persecute the heresy of calling a triangle a three-sided figure, and hang a man for maddening the mob with the news that grass is green.”
- G.K. Chesterton
The hypocricy is astounding...
"How Inflation Erodes Culture"
by Jeffrey Tucker
"Wednesday was a day of spin, with every regime apologist assuring the public that inflation is getting better. Just look at the wonderful trend line! In the footnotes, you find the truth: It was a tiny drop and mostly for technical reasons and the main reason for the drop has already disappeared from the price trends.
And now, the spin continues: Yes, inflation will vex us for a bit more time but will settle down in a few months. The New York Times assures us that this is only because it takes a long time for inflation to wash out of the system. Just calm down everyone and relax! Everything will be fine! Plus, the president is working to fix this!
But how can we find out what the future of inflation looks like? There is no certain way but when in doubt, have a look at the money supply. In February 2021, a month after Biden took office, M2 was increasing 27.5% annualized, which is nothing short of astonishing. Today, the increases are running 8.6%, which is about four times as high as the Fed claims to want with its target rate of 2% inflation.
A good rule of thumb is that inflation shows itself 18 months following the bout of printing. That’s precisely what happened. Here we are at 15 months following peak printing and we are experiencing incredible increases. It could be another three months before the peak of printing is washed out. Then we still have to eat the policies of the full year following.
The Propaganda Isn’t Working Has any political propaganda on this topic ever been this ineffective? It’s truly a joke. The producer price index that came out this week paints a clearer picture. It’s grim. It reveals no softening at all. In fact, it shows that there are plenty of price increases in the waiting. Here is the index by commodities 2013 to the present.
Remember how last year many people finally came to the conclusion that we had to learn to live with COVID? That was a smart choice because there was no way that the China-style suppression method could work. Well, here we are now with a preventable inflation pandemic and the realization that we have to learn to live with inflation. Soon we’ll realize that we have to live with recession at the same time. But what does this mean? The impact will be felt not just in terms of economics but in culture. Inflation causes a societywide shortening of time horizons.
Live for Today: Let’s review some basics. All societies are born desperately poor, fated to live off foraging and just getting by. Prosperity is built through the construction of capital, which is the institution that embodies forward thinking. To make capital requires the deferral of consumption: You have to give up some today in order to make tools that enable more consumption tomorrow. This means discipline and a future orientation. And it means, above all, savings that can be invested. Only through that path can societies grow rich.
A key component of this concerns the stability of the medium of exchange. And not just stability: A currency that rises in value over time incentivizes saving and thus investing for the long term. The late 19th century provided a good example of this. Under the gold standard, money grew more valuable over time, thus rewarding long-term thinking and instilling that outlook in the culture at large.
Inflation has the opposite effect. It punishes saving. It forces a penalty on economic behavior that is future oriented. That means also discouraging investment in long-term projects, which is the whole key to building a complex division of labor and causing wealth to emerge from the muck of the state of nature. Every bit of inflation trims back that future orientation. Hyperinflation utterly wrecks it.
More Than Just Rising Prices: Living for the day becomes the theme. Taking what you can get now is the method and the theme. Grasping and spending. You might as well because the money is only going down in value. Better to live hard and short and forget the future. Go into debt if possible. Let the depreciation itself pay the price. Once this attitude becomes instilled in a prosperous society, what we call civilization gradually devolves. If inflation persists, this kind of short-term thinking can wreck everything. This is why inflation is not just about rising prices. It’s about declining prosperity and a culture that gradually falls apart.
Another factor in reducing time horizons is legal instability. This was my first concern when the lockdowns began 26 months ago. Why would anyone start a business if governments can just shut it down on a whim? Why plan for the future when that future can be wrecked by the stroke of a pen?
Many people had assumed that this new path would be short-lived. Surely the politicians would wise up and stop the madness. Surely! Tragically, it got worse and worse. The spending and printing began and ramped up over time. It was a perfect storm of sheer madness, and now we are paying the highest possible price.
The Hinge of History: We need to speak frankly about what’s happening to the global economy. It’s not just about supply chain breakages. Those can be repaired. It’s not just about inflation affecting every country. We are living amidst a fundamental upheaval of the whole world. The biggest single danger to global prosperity now comes in the form of a devastating and deeply tragic wreckage of the country that was set to lead the world in finance and technology: China.
The Wall Street Journal summarizes the current pain: China in 2021 accounted for 18.1% of global gross domestic product, according to International Monetary Fund data, behind the U.S. at 23.9% but ahead of the 27 members of the European Union at 17.8%. It accounts for almost a third of global manufacturing output, according to United Nations data from 2020. China’s economy expanded modestly at the beginning of the year but data for March and April point to a sharp slowdown.
The trouble there traces to the top. When Xi Jinping locked down Wuhan, the world celebrated him for achieving what no other leader in history had achieved: the eradication of a virus in one country. Even now, he gets accolades for this. The rest of the world followed, and elites in all countries said that this path was the future.
Now the virus is on the loose all over the country, and the eradication methods are intensifying. This is crushing economic growth and now threatening genuine economic depression in the country that only a few years ago was seen as the greatest economic engine of the world.
No Solution for a Very Long Time: It’s truly the case that Xi Jinping has put his personal pride above the well-being of all people in China. The scientists in the country know that he is wrong about this but no one is in a position to tell him. Plus he has an election coming up and is in no position to reverse course.
We cannot really trust the data coming out of China but officially the rate of infection in that country is one of the lowest in the world. Many more people need to get the bug and recover in order to have anything close to herd immunity. This means that lockdowns are the way for years to come so long as the present regime remains in power.
American prosperity for decades has relied on relatively low inflation, fairly stable rules of the game and widening trade with the world and China in particular. All three are at an end. Yes, it is heartbreaking to watch it all unfold. We all need hope right now but it’s very difficult to find. The Republican takeover in November perhaps provides some but the problems are much deeper and broader. We find ourselves on a course that is not likely to be fixed for a very long time."
Jim Kunstler, "That Sinking Feeling"
"That Sinking Feeling"
by Jim Kunstler
"You might ask yourself: Why is it “important” that we spend thirty, forty, fifty billion dollars pounding sand down the rat hole that is post-Maidan Ukraine, grift central for the sketchy nexus of US politicians and their sponsors in the warcraft industry? Answer: Aside from one final magnificent payday, they are producing a grand opera of distraction to direct the American public’s attention from the sinking of our own ship-of-state in the waters of Babylon.
That giant wad of money, you understand, goes mainly to the likes of Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Textron, Boeing, et cetera, and a substantial portion re-circulates through the K-Street laundromat into the congressional campaign finance wishing well, while billions more get creamed off by Mr. Zelenskyy & Co. - providing self-reinforcing incentives to, how shall we say, blow more sh*t up on the global landscape.
It does not escape the attention, however, of some people on deck that the US ship is riding lower in the water each day, and listing at a distressing angle. Many other passengers have retreated to their staterooms, sick from the “vaccines” they were required to take to stay on-board for the voyage. Meanwhile water is streaming in below-decks, down in the stinking bilges, from many cracks in the hull. Nobody seems to know what to do, least of all the ship’s captain, who won’t come out of his quarters. (It’s whispered that he’s gone mad.) Is it time to lower the lifeboats?
In the hazy realm that is reality these days, those metaphorical cracks in our ship’s hull represent grave acts of negligence and even treasonous sabotage. Chatter over the Internet says our country, and other countries, are fixing to surrender their national sovereignty - that is, their ability to decide things for themselves - to the World Health Organization in anticipation of some as-yet-unnamed global emergency. Surrender, you say? By means of what? A vote in UN? A memo from the White House signed by the howling ghost known as “Joe Biden”? Surely not some procedure in Congresses and parliaments that would call for debate.
There is further suggestion that all this mischief is at the behest of larval would-be World Fuhrer Klaus Schwab. A more preposterous idea I have not heard in all my born days. And yet what else accounts in country after country for the bizarre super-coordination of insults to the world population such as mass lockdowns and mandated vaccination with genetic cocktails which, let’s face it, don’t look so goshdarn salubrious anymore. Rain-man and amateur immunologist Bill Gates is imputed somewhere in the mix. He’s been promising the world new-and-improved pandemic viruses. The last one was kind of a flop, like Windows 10X (code-name: Santorini). Uh, why is this man still at large?
And how, exactly, do the likes of WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WEF founder and chief Professor Klaus Schwab, and world-beating do-good wizard Bill Gates propose to enforce their plans to seize leadership of the whole wide world in their hypothesized next crisis-to-come? Again, chatter on the Web suggests that the United Nations, these days a convocation of failed states and diseased backwaters, somehow marshals the developed nations’ armies against their own citizens. Sorry, but I just don’t see it. Are there three less charismatic characters in all world history than that above-named trio of human worms? What are they going to do to make Bill Gates look like a Leader-of-Men? Dress him in the raiment of a Napoleonic hussar: gold-frogged tunic, epaulets, leopard-skin cape, knee-high boots, and plumed bear-skin shako? Nigga, please….
Meanwhile, hardships-upon-hardships pile up at bewildering volume and speed in this-here federal consortium of states. No baby formula for you, non-aborted birthing persons of America! (And yet, what bureaucrat in which Deep State burrow organized a baby formula airlift to the Mexican border for the relief of foreign interlopers of the birthing persuasion?) Diesel fuel at $6.49-a-gallon, meaning pretty soon nobody will get anything (including more diesel fuel)… gasoline at $6, plus zero inventory of new cars (R.I.P. suburbia)… no parts for anything with broken parts… big holes in those supermarket shelves… fertilizer at ruinous prices… no water out west… after-effects of “vaccines” killing folks (including from the disease they were “vaccinated” against)… hoards of foreign nationals strolling across the southern border (not a few of them males of military age with perhaps not very wholesome intentions)… financial markets trending down and real estate vortexing… and the FBI / DOJ combo looking to bash down your door and stuff you in a dungeon with neither formal charges nor bail, in violation of the constitution that they now programmatically oppose.
What will avail in the face of these treacheries and hardships? Oppose. Refuse. Resist. This is getting personal. How many of you not fully entranced by media psy-ops are willing to just say “no, and no more”?"
○
"Sinking feeling?" Yeah, like this...
Full screen recommended.
Greg Hunter, "Weekly News Wrap-Up 5/13/22"
"Weekly News Wrap-Up 5/13/22"
"WHO in Charge? Nothing is Working, '2,000 Mules' Proves Fraud"
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
"The Biden/Obama Administration looks like it will cede U.S. sovereignty over to the UN and World Health Organization (WHO) in the next pandemic. This will allow the Director General of the WHO to declare a health emergency or crisis at his whim. Is the Biden gang this desperate coming into the Mid-Term election in November? Will the WHO step in to rig another election via another plandemic? The Dems look sure to lose a fair election with voters struggling with sky high inflation.
Everywhere you look nothing is working for the Democrat party. Fuel prices are hitting one record high after another. There are shortages in just about everything. The war in Ukraine is not going well, and the sanctions on Russia are backfiring. And yet, the Biden/Obama Administration keeps causing pain, and it looks like it’s being done on purpose. Why? Maybe they don’t have to have a wining election cycle to stay in power. Maybe they have other plans?
The movie "2,000 Mules" is out, and it made $1 million in a matter of hours. Many say it proves massive ballot fraud in the November election of 2020. Now, the so-called “fact checkers” are weighing in trying to tell everyone this is all a lie, but they don’t have much of a case. I think the movie "2,000 Mules" has been largely ignored by legacy media because they cannot disprove the election fraud, some of which is caught on camera. Is Joe Biden an illegitimate President? The filmmakers of "2,000 Mules" say yes.
Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he talks about these
stories and more in the Weekly news Wrap-Up for 5/13/22:
"That Giant Sound You Just Heard Was The Housing Market Starting To Crack"
"That Giant Sound You Just Heard Was
The Housing Market Starting To Crack"
by Michael Snyder
"It is happening again. More than a decade ago, we witnessed an absolutely unprecedented “housing bubble” in the United States followed by a horrific crash that resulted in millions of Americans losing their homes and a financial catastrophe on Wall Street that we still talk about today. But instead of learning our lessons from that disaster, we are repeating history instead. The “housing bubble” that we are currently experiencing is far larger than the one that burst in 2008, and everyone knew that if mortgage rates rose high enough it could cause the bubble to burst. Unfortunately, that is precisely what is taking place. The average 30 year fixed mortgage rate was sitting at 2.67 percent in December 2020, and now it has risen to 5.30 percent. In case you are bad at math, that means that the average 30 year fixed mortgage rate has roughly doubled, and that is extremely bad news for the housing market.
The combination of rapidly rising prices and soaring interest rates means that homes have become far less affordable these days. According to CNN, U.S. home prices have jumped almost 21 percent compared to a year ago…"It’s understandable that homeowners, in particular, might be worried about a potential housing market crash - 2008 is our most recent example of what can happen after an incredible run-up in home values. And we’ve never seen a market hotter than this one. The typical US home is worth nearly 21% more than it was just a year ago, a record that’s been reset each of the past 12 months."
Meanwhile, mortgage rates have gone absolutely nuts. According to Freddie Mac, the average 30 year fixed mortgage rate went from 2.97 percent last April to 5.11 percent this April. That is a seismic shift. As a result of this shift, the typical monthly payment for someone buying a home went from $1,124 in December 2020 to $1,742 in April 2022. That represents a whopping 55 percent increase…"Here’s how the numbers look for the typical home in the U.S.: The median price for a home has risen from $309,200 in December 2020 to $357,300.
Over that same period, interest rates rose from 2.67% to 5.08% this week. With a 10% down payment, that has pushed the monthly payment up from $1,124 to $1,742 - a whopping 55% increase. That’s upward of $600 a month on that $357,000 home. That’s the impact of higher prices together with rising rates."
And the truth is that the typical monthly payment is even higher here in May, because the average 30 year fixed mortgage rate has shot up to 5.30 percent…"The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 5.3% the second week of May, according to the government-backed mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. That’s the highest it’s been since 2009. Six months ago, mortgage rates were in the 3% range."
This is the highest that mortgage rates have been since July 2009. And in July 2009 we were living through the aftermath of the worst housing crash in all of U.S. history. Will the coming collapse be even worse?
Data that is coming in for the month of April seems to indicate that the market is already starting to crack…"As data trickles in for April, it’s becoming clear that the historically hot housing market has flipped trajectories. It’s now in cooling mode. The number of homes listed for sale is rising again. Fewer shoppers are scheduling tours. And Redfin reports 15% of home sellers in April cut their asking price - up from 9% a year ago."
And it appears that things could rapidly get even worse. The following quotes from industry insiders were recently posted on Zero Hedge…
• Washington DC builder: “Traffic half what it was in March. Worried about first time buyers. Many fewer REAL buyers than number of people collected on interest list last 6 months. Certainly more attempts [from buyers] to negotiate.”
• Seattle builder: “Pause by a large population of buyers. To achieve our desired [sales] pace, we had to make price adjustments. Rates starting to knock people out of qualification.”
• Riverside San Bernardino builder: “Cancellations are starting to creep up due to loan declines and job losses. Waiting lists are certainly smaller. Saw an immediate change in buyer behavior when rates climbed over 5%.”
• Los Angeles builder: “Buyers who are stretching to purchase have become more cautious.”
• San Diego builder: “Buyers are definitely a bit more edgy.”
The market has clearly peaked, and now we are getting ready for the long ride downhill. And it won’t be pretty.
If the Federal Reserve wanted to support the housing market, it would keep interest rates low, but the Federal Reserve has decided not to do that. Instead, the Federal Reserve is recklessly raising interest rates because it is so scared of inflation. The Fed has warned us that more rate increases are on the way in the months ahead, and that will undoubtedly push mortgage rates even higher.
When asked if he could engineer a “soft landing”, Fed Chair Jerome Powell was very honest about the fact that he could not guarantee one…"Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned Thursday that getting inflation under control could cause some economic pain but remains his top priority. Powell said he couldn’t promise a so-called soft landing for the economy as the Fed raises interest rates to tamp down price increases running near their fastest pace in more than 40 years."
If a plane does not have a “soft landing”, what kind of landing does it have? Needless to say, the only other options are a bumpy landing or a crash. Sadly, it appears that our housing market is in for either a bumpy landing or a crash as well. And considering how much larger this housing bubble is compared to all other U.S. housing bubbles throughout history, I would say that the odds of a crash are really quite high.
The party was fun while it lasted, but now it has come to a screeching halt. I hope that you are prepared for what comes next."
Thursday, May 12, 2022
Canadian Prepper, "SHTF Enters Terrifying New Phase..."
Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, "SHTF Enters Terrifying New Phase..."
"20 Sad Facts About The Deindustrialization Of America"
Full screen recommended.
"20 Sad Facts About The Deindustrialization Of America"
by Epic Economist
"The decline of the U.S. industrial sector has been accelerating at a frightening pace over the past decades. Millions of manufacturing jobs have been shipped to overseas markets and a large share of our production has been offshored to China. The shift has been so intense, that some argue the United States is rapidly becoming the very first "post-industrial" nation on the globe. But all of this happened with a cost - and for American workers, that cost has been massive. Yearly wages for manufacturing jobs range around $48,000 to $60,000, allowing workers to support middle-class lifestyles, and granting them medical insurance and retirement benefits. But especially after the 2000s, Americans have been losing job opportunities in the manufacturing sector and being left with limited low-paying options that do not provide any benefits nor promote financial stability.
In the 1940s, the United States was the largest producer in the world. In fact, by 1945, more steel was produced in the state of Pennsylvania alone than in Germany and Japan combined. This belle epoch, the glory days of ‘Made in America’, ran well into the 1990s, but after that, the American industry steadily declined. By the turn of the century, the US’s global domination in mass-scale industrial production, technology, and efficiency was lost. Long-standing issues culminated between 2000 and 2010, when the US lost over 30% of its manufacturing jobs. “This was a very tough decade, a very dramatic shift,” explains William B Bonvillian, a lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Millions of jobs just disappeared.”
Deindustrialization also leaves the U.S. supply chain in a very risky position. Since much of the products we buy and consume are produced outside of the country, one single disruption in shipping or manufacturing in foreign nations can lead to shortages, price increases, and port congestion in the U.S. Even worse, if America were to enter a global conflict, sanctions on exports from Eastern nations could completely break our domestic supply chains and trigger an unprecedented amount of chaos all over the country. Unfortunately, it seems that we won't be reversing this trend any time soon.
Today, we gathered some telling statistics that illustrate why deindustrialization is becoming a national crisis.These numbers expose that a deindustrialized America doesn't have any kind of viable economic future. While our domestic production declines, we continue to be the largest consumers on the planet, and that has been expanding the U.S. trade deficit to alarming levels. As the most powerful economy on the globe, we shouldn't be putting ourselves in such a vulnerable position and especially not leaving our workers with jobs that only allow them to live paycheck to paycheck. Our national debt has become way too big, and our economy is now just a shadow of what it once was. Outsourcing our production is a strategy that will come back to bite us in a moment when we need it the most. America's future is in deep, deep trouble. Now more than ever, it is time to wake up."
Gerald Celente, "Trends Journal: FED Head Says His Actions Will Inflict Pain"
Full screen recommended.
Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 5/12/22:
"Trends Journal: FED Head Says His Actions Will Inflict Pain"
"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."
"An Infant Story Of American Scarcity"
"An Infant Story Of American Scarcity"
by Addison Wiggin
“The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.”
– Thomas Sowell
"In the economy, there is the “seen” and the “unseen.” Frederick Bastiat wrote his foundational economic piece in 1850. How soon we forget.
Seen: A baby formula shortage. Check the headlines.
Unseen: a mysterious bacteria; the infernal virus; and the usual suspect regulations.
This is less a story of “the more things go away, the more people want them,” than it is a failed attempt at market manipulation. It also has aspects of the Pandemic which mask the real culprit. Far be it for us to bloviate on shortages. We still have packages of Charmin Ultra Soft; canned Le Petit Soeur peas and boxes of Barilla pasta in our pantry from the spring of 2020. I’ve often thought, looking at my own pantry, if I was an infantryman from an occupying force, my pantry would be a good find after several days of battle.
That said, I’m not a mother. I don’t have an infant. There is a difference between yearning for peas and not being able to feed your newborn.
To begin: Abbot is one of the three largest manufacturers of baby formula in the U.S. Gerber is another you’ll recognize. The third is Mead Johnson. “Abbott says it will be at least two months,” reads a headline from FOXNews, “before baby formula from shuttered plant hits shelves.”
This morning, "The Atlantic" ran this article by a writer I’ve come to respect, Derek Thompson, on the baby formula shortage. When did it become normal for a supply chain issue to occupy major headline news? Mr. Thompson asserts 40% of baby formula is out of supply across the United States. A bacterial outbreak of cronobacter sahazakii – which also made headline news – shut down one of Abbot’s plants in Michigan.
Still, how is it possible that one plant… one manufacturing plant… can and could be the source of a 40% dearth in baby formula for small humans in the United States? Ahh… there’s the seen and the unseen. Or might we suggest, unseemly. Thompson: "FDA regulation of formula is so stringent that most of the stuff that comes out of Europe is illegal to buy here… one study found that many European formula meet the FDA nutritional guidelines – and in some ways, might even be better than American formula because the European Union bans certain sugars, such as corn syrup, and requires formula to have a higher share of lactose."
Whether Derek’s conclusion is correct or not, we give it to you knowing full well fructose producers and Abbot may have a concern in the issue: “America’s reasonable instinct to protect infants has metastasized into an unreasonably protectionist trade policy that makes the U.S. formula market exquisitely sensitive to existential shocks (like a pandemic) and domestic shocks (like a major recall).”
To get a reasonable investment perspective of the food supply chains, we have Mark Rossano on The Wiggin Sessions this week. We’re talking about global food supplies from a macro perspective.
Click above. Listen closely."
"Follow your bliss,"
Musical Interlude: Deuter, "Sound of Invisible Waters"
Full screen recommended.
Deuter, "Sound of Invisible Waters"
"A Look to the Heavens"
“A now famous picture from the Hubble Space Telescope featured Pillars of Creation, star forming columns of cold gas and dust light-years long inside M16, the Eagle Nebula. This false-color composite image views the nearby stellar nursery using data from the Herschel Space Observatory's panoramic exploration of interstellar clouds along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Herschel's far infrared detectors record the emission from the region's cold dust directly.
The famous pillars are included near the center of the scene. While the central group of hot young stars is not apparent at these infrared wavelengths, the stars' radiation and winds carve the shapes within the interstellar clouds. Scattered white spots are denser knots of gas and dust, clumps of material collapsing to form new stars. The Eagle Nebula is some 6,500 light-years distant, an easy target for binoculars or small telescopes in a nebula rich part of the sky toward the split constellation Serpens Cauda (the tail of the snake).”
"Something Like Reverence..."
“When the pain of leaving behind what we know outweighs the pain of embracing it, or when the power we face is overwhelming and neither flight nor fight will save us, there may be salvation in sitting still. And if salvation is impossible, then at least before perishing we may gain a clearer vision of where we are. By sitting still I do not mean the paralysis of dread, like that of a rabbit frozen beneath the dive of a hawk. I mean something like reverence, a respectful waiting, a deep attentiveness to forces much greater than our own.”
- Scott Russell Sanders
"Does Anyone Know..."
"All sins, of course, deserve to be treated with mercy: we all do what we can, and life is too hard and too cruel for us to condemn anyone for failing in this area. Does anyone know what he himself would do if faced with the worst and how much truth could he bear under such circumstances?"
- Andre Comte-Sponville
City Prepping, "I’m Concerned About What I See Coming Next..."
Full screen recommended.
City Prepping, "I’m Concerned About What I See Coming Next..."
"There are many challenges coming on the horizon that seem very probable, but have I been right or wrong about my concerns?"
Download the free Start Preparing! Survival Guide here:
Start your preparedness journey today: - https://courses.cityprepping.com/
Visit online: - http://www.cityprepping.com
Gregory Mannarino, "Markets: Sell It All? Everything? Several Things In Play Right Now that You Must Know"
Gregory Mannarino, PM 5/12/22:
"Markets: Sell It All? Everything?
Several Things In Play Right Now that You Must Know"
"Done! Financial Markets Burn To The Ground; Game Stop Halted; Credit Markets In Danger; PPP"
Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, 5/12/22:
"Done! Financial Markets Burn To The Ground;
Game Stop Halted; Credit Markets In Danger; PPP"
"Economic Devastation is Here with No End in Sight"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly, 5/12/22:
"Economic Devastation is Here with No End in Sight"
"There are so many things happening right now in the global economy. Small business sentiment is at one of the lowest levels around the globe. Small businesses having nothing but problems with hiring and getting product for their businesses."
"Peak Focus For Complex Tasks, Deep Ambience (Multi Track) Isochronic Tones"
Full screen recommended.
Jason Lewis - Mind Amend,
"Peak Focus For Complex Tasks, Deep Ambience
(Multi Track) Isochronic Tones"
"This an extended version of my Peak Focus For Complex Tasks session. Listen to this when you need a strong burst of intense focus to concentrate and study things like advanced mathematics, scientific formulas, financial analysis or any other complex mental activity.
What is this? This is a high-intensity audio brainwave entrainment session, using isochronic tones. Listen to this when you need a strong burst of intense focus to concentrate and study things like advanced mathematics, scientific formulas, financial analysis or any other complex mental activity.
How is this session constructed? The session starts off beating at 10Hz and ramps up to 18Hz by the 6-minute mark. It stays at 18Hz until the final 5 minutes where it ramps back down again.
How to use it? Listen to this track with your eyes open while doing the task/activity you want to focus on.
Headphones are NOT required: Although headphones are not required you may find they produce a more intense effect, because they help to block out distracting external sounds."
If you are new to this type of audio brainwave entrainment, find out how isochronic tones work and how they compare to binaural beats here:"
○
This works for me, but you may say "So why bother?" The world's an astonishingly complex place, and truth is buried under layers of lies, deceptions and deliberate misinformation. See that graphic? That's us, all of us, facing the inescapable consequences the psychopath's actions have caused, not just total economic destruction; the Covid vaccine abomination, described accurately as "The greatest organized mass murder in the history of the world"; and the very real possibility of nuclear war. There is truly NO escape, folks, no hope. Nothing we can do about it, either. Knowing that doesn't relieve us of the responsibility to live good, honorable, decent lives as best we can, do what we can to help others, and look for the truth, trying to understand always. Why, when we're literally doomed and it can't be avoided? My own reason is simple... if I'm to stand before a firing squad, and we all are, I want, no, I demand to at least know why...
- CP
"Sitrep Operation Z – Where Are We?"
"Sitrep Operation Z – Where Are We?"
by Saker Staff 5/12/22
Excerpt: "The main observation which one cannot help but agree with, comes from Andrei Martyanov and I rephrase somewhat: The rate of change is markedly accelerating as the first result of the crumbling and implosion of the Ukraine as a state and the structure of its armed forces. Things will go quicker now and they are, as discussed further!
First though, pure fantasy. We call it ‘narrative’ but it is fantasy! This was found on a Ukrainian site : https://t.me/ice_inii
Take a look at a few things here: The US influence, the fantasy of being the Robin Williams character in the movie Good Morning Vietnam and the fantasy of being the gook! These fighters live in a movie. And then, the breakdown of the fantasy. This is another example of exactly what Martyanov means.
Strong language alert!
The main observation which one cannot help but agree with, comes from Andrei Martyanov and I rephrase somewhat: "The rate of change is markedly accelerating as the first result of the crumbling and implosion of the Ukraine as a state and the structure of its armed forces. Things will go quicker now and they are, as discussed further!"
First though, pure fantasy. We call it ‘narrative’ but it is fantasy! This was found on a Ukrainian site : https://t.me/ice_inii
Take a look at a few things here: The US influence, the fantasy of being the Robin Williams character in the movie Good Morning Vietnam and the fantasy of being the gook! These fighters live in a movie. And then, the breakdown of the fantasy. This is another example of exactly what Martyanov means."
Please view this complete, factual article here
"Is 'Meltdown' The Correct Term To Describe The Current State Of The U.S. Economy?"
"Is 'Meltdown' The Correct Term To Describe
The Current State Of The U.S. Economy?"
by Michael Snyder
"I have really been struggling to come up with an accurate way of describing the current state of the U.S. economy, because none of the traditional labels seem to apply. Inflation is out of control, and that normally happens when an economy is overheating. But of course the U.S. economy is not overheating. In fact, if U.S. GDP falls once again during the second quarter, that will officially confirm that we are actually in a recession right now. There are some that have suggested that “stagflation” is a good description of current economic conditions, but the truth is that what we are facing is so much worse than anything that we dealt with during the 1970s.
Let me give you an example. The Bureau of Labor Statistics just informed us that the consumer price index is 8.3 percent higher than it was a year ago…"Inflation rose again in April, continuing a climb that has pushed consumers to the brink and is threatening the economic expansion, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. The consumer price index, a broad-based measure of prices for goods and services, increased 8.3% from a year ago, higher than the Dow Jones estimate for an 8.1% gain."
That is a really bad number, but it doesn’t accurately reflect reality. If inflation was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, the official rate of inflation would be well over 15 percent right now, and that is far worse than at any point during the Jimmy Carter era. And if you can believe it, the real rate of inflation is now the highest that it has ever been in the entire modern history of the United States.
The term “meltdown” comes to mind, but I don’t think that completely captures what we are facing either. Of course Joe Biden says he has a plan, and he insists that reducing inflation is his “top economic priority”…"President Biden, reacting to April’s consumer price index Wednesday, acknowledged that inflation is “unacceptably high,” and maintained that lowering prices for American families is his “top economic priority,” while again blaming the surging numbers on COVID-19 and Russian President Vladimir Putin."
Meanwhile, tens of millions of ordinary Americans continue to deeply suffer as prices spiral out of control. Earlier today, I was stunned to see that even CNN is admitting that some Americans are “skipping meals” these days in order to make ends meet…"The price of groceries, gas, rent and utilities has marched higher over the past year; but wages have not kept up - and more than half of single parents make less than $15 an hour, according to recent research from Oxfam. That has left many single parents skipping meals so their children have plenty of food, providing less healthy meals for their families, and culling expenses to the point where any unforeseen cost could mean more debt - or worse."
If people are skipping meals already, what will things be like a year from now when economic conditions are even worse? Most people don’t realize this, but we are extremely vulnerable. When the next major downturn strikes, millions upon millions of Americans will be instantly wiped out.
According to a report that was just released, almost two-thirds of all Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck…"As of March, close to two-thirds, or 64%, of the U.S. population was living paycheck to paycheck, just shy of the high of 65% in 2020, according to a LendingClub report. “The number of people living paycheck to paycheck today is reminiscent of the early days of the pandemic and it has become the dominant lifestyle across income brackets,” said Anuj Nayar, LendingClub’s financial health officer."
Living on the edge is fine as long as a paycheck keeps coming in like clockwork. But if things suddenly shift, millions upon millions of Americans could suddenly find themselves plunged into poverty.
Before I end this article, I would be remiss if I did not mention the fact that financial markets were way down yet again today. In fact, the Nasdaq dropped another 3 percent. But the big news is what is happening to the cryptocurrency industry. Cryptos are crashing harder than Hunter Biden after a drug-fueled night with a Chinese hooker, and Coinbase is coming apart like a 20 dollar suit…
"The cryptocurrency brokerage reported a first-quarter loss late Tuesday and revenue that fell 27% from a year ago, missing Wall Street’s forecasts. Coinbase shares plummeted nearly 25% in early trading Wednesday morning and hit their lowest level ever. Coinbase stock is now down more than 75% this year and is trading nearly 85% below its all-time high price from November. Shares have lost more than half their value in just the past week alone."
If you have money with Coinbase, you may want to consider your options, because it is being reported that “users might lose all the cryptocurrency stored in their accounts” if Coinbase actually goes bankrupt…"Hidden away in Coinbase Global’s disappointing first-quarter earnings report - in which the U.S.’s largest cryptocurrency exchange reported a quarterly loss of $430 million and a 19% drop in monthly users - is an update on the risks of using Coinbase’s service that may come as a surprise to its millions of users. In the event the crypto exchange goes bankrupt, Coinbase says, its users might lose all the cryptocurrency stored in their accounts too."
I was absolutely floored when I first read that. Right now, Coinbase is holding more than 250 billion dollars worth of assets for its customers, and there is a danger that all of it could become “inaccessible”… "Coinbase said in its earnings report Tuesday that it holds $256 billion in both fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies on behalf of its customers. Yet the exchange noted that in the event it ever declared bankruptcy, “the crypto assets we hold in custody on behalf of our customers could be subject to bankruptcy proceedings.” Coinbase users would become “general unsecured creditors,” meaning they have no right to claim any specific property from the exchange in proceedings. Their funds would become inaccessible."
So there are some people out there that currently believe that they are crypto millionaires that could literally end up with nothing. At this point, the crypto industry is in the process of melting down. But so are the financial markets. And so is the overall economy.
The great unraveling that we have been warned about is here, and we are still only in the early chapters. I would greatly encourage you to protect your assets while you still can. A rush for the exits has now begun, and you don’t want to be caught holding the bag."
○
Related:
The market capitalization of the world's cryptocurrencies crashed over "$200 billion overnight, back below $1.5 trillion - its lowest since July 2021 and almost 50% down from its $3 trillion highs in Nov 2021."
○
"The Current State Of The U.S. Economy?" he asks...
Gregory Mannarino, "When There Is Fear In The Markets, It's Time To Strike"
Your guide...
Gregory Mannarino, AM 5/12/22:
"When There Is Fear In The Markets, It's Time To Strike"
○
Live updates:
"Fate. Luck. Chance"
"That is life, isn't it? Fate. Luck. Chance. A long series of what-ifs that lead from one moment to the next, time never pausing for you to catch your breath, to make sense of the cards that have been handed to you. And all you can do is play your cards and hope for the best, because in the end, it all comes back to those three basics. Fate. Luck. Chance."
- Kelseyleigh Reber
"Unless, of course, there's no such thing as chance, in which case we should either - optimistically - get up and cheer, because if everything is planned in advance, then we all have a meaning and are spared the terror of knowing ourselves to be random, without a why; or else, of course, we might - as pessimists - give up right here and now, understanding the futility of thought-decision-action, since nothing we think makes any difference anyway, things will be as they will. Where, then, is optimism? In fate or in chaos?"
- Salman Rushdie
"More Inconvenience Stickers At Kroger! What's Coming? What's Next?"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures with Danno, 5/12/22:
"More Inconvenience Stickers At Kroger!
What's Coming? What's Next?"
"In today's vlog we are at Kroger, and are noticing inconvenience stickers everywhere! The last time we saw this many, there was a major food shortage. For the past few weeks we have seen a steady increase in food prices around the country. In addition we are also seeing a lot more empty shelves. It's getting rough out here as stores continue to struggle to get in products."
"Fatherly Inspiration Key To Learning The Art Of Grace"
For Kimmy... and all of us.
"Fatherly Inspiration Key To Learning The Art Of Grace"
by Tom Purcell
"After all these years, my dad inspires me still. As I write this, the almost 89-year-old fellow is fighting to get back onto his feet as stenosis, bad knees and general old age are wearing him down. But though his body shows wear and tear, his mind remains as agile as his sense of humor. And as he fights his daily battles he continues to inspire his children.
The old saying “actions speak louder than words” applies perfectly to my dad. He never was much for talking, but he is the biggest action figure I’ve ever known. He worked long, hard hours every day at Bell Telephone and took overtime work almost every holiday I can remember to provide for us the best way he knew how.
He never did much for himself. His greatest indulgences included a weekly case of Pabst Blue Ribbon and keeping a $5 bill in his wallet so he could get hot coffee on cold days. His actions spoke clearly to his kids: “I’m not a sophisticated man, but I love you with all my heart and I will always take care of you.”
When he spoke actual words, he always began with three: “For Godsakes, Betty…” Betty is his preferred name for my mother, Elizabeth. He met her in high school when he was 16. He told me again last week he knew immediately he would marry her and they did marry five years later. Now they have six children, 17 grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.
Marriage is hard. Family is hard. Our clan wasn’t spared the challenges, setbacks and disagreements every family faces. But the one constant that got us through is that my father deeply loves my mother. He dotes on her. He’s lost without her. After more than 70 years together, my dad told me his heart still beats fast when my mother walks into the room - that they still hold hands every single night as they fall asleep.
A child is the last person on Earth to accurately evaluate his parents’ relationship. Theirs is intense and sometimes confusing to us - but, goodness, they love each other. That is one of the best gifts parents can give their kids. My parents gave us a genuine love story - and here I am at 60 and they’re sharing their love story with me still.
And my father is inspiring me still. He’s in pain every day. The most basic tasks are becoming harder. Sometimes, the frustration gets to him, but most days he displays incredible grace as he jokes, “Getting old ain’t for the weak!”
I share his influence on me because I know how important he has been in shaping me and my sisters into the people we are. I think of all of the kids, particularly boys, who are getting into trouble because they do not have a father whose actions could inspire and guide them to positive outcomes in life.
My sisters and I are not perfect, but we work hard to be good people and good spouses, parents and neighbors. And now, as our parents age, it is our turn to repay them - our turn for our actions to be louder than our words by showing: “We’re not sophisticated people, but we love you with all our heart and we will always take care of you.”
“10 Things You Should Know About Life’s Most Important Questions”
“10 Things You Should Know About Life’s
Most Important Questions”
by Marc Chernoff
“It’s a harsh fact that every one of us is ignorant in some way. Although we tend to pretend otherwise, it’s impossible to know it all. Ignorance is our biggest collective secret. And it’s one of the scariest and most damaging realities of life, because those of us who are most ignorant – and thus most likely to spread ignorance – are also the ones who often don’t know it.
Here’s a quick test: If you have never changed your mind about one of your learned beliefs, if you have never questioned the fundamentals of your opinions, and if you have no inclination to do so, then you are likely ignorant about something you think you know.
What’s the quickest solution? Get outside and find someone who, in your opinion, believes, behaves, and handles certain aspects of life very differently from you, and just have a simple, honest conversation with them. I promise, some of life’s most important questions will become clearer by doing so. And it will do both of you lots of good. Once you’ve done that, here are some key things to remember:
1. Many of the biggest misunderstandings in life could be avoided if we would simply take the time to ask, “What else could this mean?”
2. An expert is not a person who gives all the right answers; she’s the one who asks the right questions. (Be aware of emotional manipulation.)
3. Very few of us actively seek new knowledge in this world on a daily basis. We get comfortable with what we know, and we stop questioning things. On the contrary, we try to squeeze from the unknown the answers we have already shaped in our own minds – judgments, justifications, validations, forms of consolation without which we might feel incomplete or off-center. To really ask something new is to open the door to the storm. And the answer just may blow us away.
4. If someone can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about how they answer you.
5. Monsters do exist in the real world, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous in the long run. More dangerous are the common people with good intentions who are instantly ready to believe and act without asking questions.
6. At the end of the day, the questions you ask of yourself determine the type of person you will become.
7. Courage doesn’t happen when you have all the answers. It happens when you are ready to face the questions you have been avoiding your whole life.
8. When it comes to your relationships: Does he/she treat you with respect at all times? That’s the first question. The second question is: If he/she remains the exact same person ten years from now, would you still want to be in a relationship with him/her? And finally, does he/she inspire to be a better human being? When you find someone that you can answer yes to all three questions, you know you’ve found yourself a relationship worth having.
9. Regardless of how much you know, or how many incredible questions you ask, you can never know it all. To believe that you do, is proof of the contrary. The wilderness around us always holds answers to more questions than we have yet learned to ask. And that’s a beautiful thing.
10. Although life will always be filled with unanswered questions, it’s the courage to seek the answers that counts – this journey is what gives life meaning. Ultimately, you can spend your life wallowing in frustration and misery, wondering why you were the one who was chosen to deal with your problems, or you can be grateful that you are strong enough and smart enough to grow from them.
Your turn: Be present and have patience with everything that remains unexplained in your heart and mind. Try to love life’s questions. Like locked doors or like good books written in foreign languages, respect their nature. Don’t expect all the answers to come easy. They cannot be given to you right now because your present understanding isn’t ready yet. It’s a question of experiencing everything first. Right now you need to hold on to the questions – explore, learn, and live your life. Perhaps, as you do, you will gradually find yourself experiencing the answers you always wanted.
So with that said, which of the reminders above hit home the most? Why? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts and insights with us.”
The Poet: Czeslaw Milosz, “Hope”
“Hope”
“Hope is with you when you believe
The earth is not a dream but living flesh,
That sight, touch, and hearing do not lie,
That all things you have ever seen here
Are like a garden looked at from a gate.
You cannot enter. But you’re sure it’s there.
Could we but look more clearly and wisely
We might discover somewhere in the garden
A strange new flower and an unnamed star.
Some people say we should not trust our eyes,
That there is nothing, just a seeming,
These are the ones who have no hope.
They think that the moment we turn away,
The world, behind our backs, ceases to exist,
As if snatched up by the hands of thieves.”
- Czeslaw Milosz,
“Hope”, from “The World”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)