Full screen recommended.
Gonzalo Lira, 6/10/22:
"The Great Ukraine Blame Game Has Begun!"
So, we rise from the rubble...
Friday, June 10, 2022
Bill Bonner, "The Caracas Course"
"The Caracas Course"
Want to be a Venezuelan millionaire? Just bend over!
by Bill Bonner
Youghal, Ireland - "It’s the “Decision of the Century.” Like the decision to get married, start a business, or rob a bank, it will affect our quality of life for decades to come. The decision to go to war in 1914 set the stage for the Russian Revolution, the Nazis in Germany, WWII, the rise of Mao in China… and 100 million deaths. This, too, is likely to be regretted for generations.
Mathematically, the US deciders have a 50% chance of getting it right. It’s either yea or nay… up or down… now or never. But politically, the odds heavily favor the wrong choice. Either they voluntarily abandon their inflation policy… or let it run its course. The pain will be severe, one way or the other. Stopping inflation now will mean huge losses on stocks, bonds, and real estate. Businesses will go broke. Millions will lose their jobs as the economy corrects two decades of Fed mischief.
But sticking with the inflation policy will be much worse. The longer it goes on the more distorted, indebted and fragile the economy becomes. “When the money goes, everything goes” – including the political system… and the social norms that a civilized society depends on. Today, we look at the past in order to guess about the future. And let’s begin with the ‘forgotten depression of 1920.’
Hard and Fast: US consumer prices were rising at a 1% to 2% rate as the war began. By its end, they were going up at a nearly 15% annual rate. Then, in 1919, came the correction. The troops came home and looked for jobs… the wartime spending came to a halt… and the economy went into recession. US stocks lost half their value. Corporate profits dropped by 90%. Business failures tripled. And consumer prices fell 18%.
This pain came on hard and fast. But the dollar was still as good as gold. And the newly-hatched Fed did not intervene. Capitalism had been wounded in the trenches, but less than 24 months after the armistice was signed it had recovered completely. And not for nothing was the period that came next called the “Roaring Twenties.” The depression of 1920 had cleared out the wartime distortions, leaving the economy ready for strong consumer-focused growth.
An intentional, government-policy inflation is a very different thing. For one thing, it can last much, much longer – about 16 years on average. But it too eventually comes to an end. The most recent example comes from Venezuela. Bloomberg this week: "More than two dozen office towers are rising from the narrow lanes of Las Mercedes. On the ground level of the 15-story Jalisco Tower, passersby can marvel at three red Ferraris on display at a dealership. The four-seater Portofino convertible, the cheapest, retails for more than $200,000, which equals the annual pay of 590 entry-level public employees. Across the street, an apartment building is under construction. A brochure advertises a rooftop pool, game salon, gym, and co-working space. Stores sell Hermès and Pronovias clothing around the corner. Not far away, a shop displays $1,000 stilettos from Gianvito Rossi, the Milan designer."
What happened? Did the Venezuelan feds confess that they had failed? Did they apologize, forswear their inflation policy, vow to balance the budget and back the bolivar with gold? Nope… they kept inflating as long as they could.
Dollarize This! Venezuela had a longstanding practice of spending more than it could afford… and papering over the difference with ‘printing press money.’ Sixteen years ago, the inflation rate was already in double digits. Then, it took years more for the rate to get into the triple digits. During those years – from 2006 to 2011 – an observer might have concluded that consumer price inflation was more or less ‘stable’ in the 20 – 30 percent range.
But then, in 2015, the inflation rate hit 256%. Three years later, it was almost a million percent (based on IMF data) and the Venezuelan economy made Mariupol look like a model of peace and prosperity. It was easy to become a bolivar billionaire, overnight. You only had to go to Caracas and bend over. There were billions of them lying in the street… not worth the trouble it took to pick them up. By then, the national currency had become so worthless that people used it to light fires or as packing material.
The country was a catastrophe. Five million desperate people left – many with little more than the clothes on their backs. Inflation reached nearly 3 million percent. The shelves were bare and stomachs were empty.
The Venezuelan feds could still add zeros to their notes. But who would take them? Their ‘inflation tax’ collected nothing. And their regular taxes brought in only more worthless bolivars. (The Romans once devalued their own currency so much that they refused to accept it for tax payments.) In other words, for the country’s rulers, inflation no longer paid off. By 2018, there was nothing more to be gained by devaluing the currency. There was no value left in it. So, the Venezuelan feds allowed people to use a different currency – the dollar.
Bloomberg again: "Most significant, in late 2018, Maduro let the US dollar circulate legally. Everyone, from executives to street vendors, now carries greenbacks, which could have led to jail time under Chávez. And now, with a new far more stable currency available, the economy begins to recover.
We, The Mob: In the US meanwhile, the inflation cycle is just beginning. The CPI is still under 10% (officially). The ruling deciders can still boost their stock and bond prices by printing up more money. They can still placate the mob, too, with gimmie/stimmie checks. And they can still pursue their favorite hustles – setting the earth’s thermostat, ‘equality,’ un-ending war with designated enemies abroad… and social control at home, made necessary by ‘terrorists’ in the ‘homeland.’
But wait. “The people” hate rising prices. They won’t look too kindly on politicians that allow it. Won’t that be incentive enough for the Biden Team to turn away from inflation now? We’ll look at that on Monday."
"Celente And The Judge, 6/10/22"
Full screen recommended.
Gerald Celente and Judge Andrew Napolitano
"Celente And The Judge, 6/10/22:
Gitmo Still Open, Still Costs U.S. a Fortune,
and People Like ‘Bloody’ Gina Haspel Walk Freely"
"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."
"If We Have No Idea..."
“If we have no idea what we believe in, we’ll go along with anything. Truth takes courage. Courage to stand up for what we believe in. Not necessarily in a confrontational way, but in a gentle yet firm way. Like an oak tree, able to sway gently in the wind, but strongly rooted to the ground.”
- A.C. Ping
"All The Data Shows That The Economy Is Collapsing"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 6/10/22:
"All The Data Shows That The Economy Is Collapsing"
"Regardless of where you are in the world you cannot deny the economic data. Everything is pointing to major problems. The latest inflation numbers prove that the economy is collapsing."
Reader Comments:
Todd Smith: "Thanks Dan. You sir are 100% correct, the economy is indeed collapsing. I remember 2008 quite well and am also 100% convinced that this is going to become FAR worse. This is just the beginning. Just wait until real estate, both commercial and residential, begins to collapse. This will be followed by millions being laid-off. The markets are already sinking fast. By next winter, when food shortages really kick in, I fully expect to see chaos. Napoleon Bonaparte said it best over 200 yrs ago: "Empty stomachs riot!" That is exactly what we are going to see around the world including the US. I keep telling people to stock up now as best they can while they still can do so. By the end of the year, imo, all HELL is going to break loose. All the best to you from the mountains of Central PA."
Gregory Mannarino, "Alert: Inflation Report Worse Than Expected; 100% Proof That Inflation Is Not 'Peaking'"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 6/10/22:
"Alert: Inflation Report Worse Than Expected;
100% Proof That Inflation Is Not 'Peaking'"
Jim Kunstler, "Get Your Monkeypox On"
"Get Your Monkeypox On"
It’s a dangerous game trying to beat down the
population this way, and to what end, exactly?
By Jim Kunstler
"The made-for-TV January 6th Capitol Riot hearings kicked off last night with tribute video of a whole lot of pissed-off ordinary Americans marching on the stately building where, that fateful day, the final certification ceremony of a blatantly dishonest election was underway after, mind you, four years of seditious machinations by a weaponized bureaucracy aimed at disabling and destroying the sitting chief executive - in case it’s unclear why the huge crowd flocked to the capital city in the first place.
The Party of Chaos is playing its hand: a select committee of seven deuces and two jokers. Do they look like they’re going to get through this extravaganza without humiliating themselves? You never know what might come out of some witness’s mouth, despite the orchestrations of former ABC’s Good Morning America producer James Goldston, brought in to cement the narrative in the collective public brain, pre-softened with years of manifold media mind-f**keries.
It’s the centerpiece of their midterm campaign. And I submit that it may be just a little premature as it becomes increasingly clear that the Party of Chaos, led by the “winner” of the 2020 election, “Joe Biden” and unseen handlers, have nearly completed their mission of destroying the USA as an ongoing enterprise. Broken economy, broken health, broken military, broken law enforcement, broken culture, broken morale. They sure got’er done. Do they think nobody noticed?
If the January 6th Committee show is short-and-sweet, say a few weeks, it will be quickly forgotten in the welling summertime heat as the great masses of America groan under $5… $7… maybe $10-a-gallon gasoline prices (or maybe no gas at all) while diesel prices at $6.50 today are already destroying the trucking industry - and thus the entire system for delivering all goods around the country. The zeitgeist is quivering with intimations of food shortages and the philosopher reminds us that any given body politic is just nine missed meals away from bloody rebellion. Have another look at that motley January 6th committee group photo and consider the lampposts along Pennsylvania Avenue.
It’s a dangerous game trying to beat down the population this way, and to what end, exactly? I doubt that even the Blue Team could articulate it… or would dare to… because at this point their sole aim, really, is to hide their many acts of criminality over a span of the past six years and escape prosecution, a compelling motive. And it’s getting harder and harder to conceal all that, especially their campaign to physically harm over 200-million people with mRNA “vaccines.” The body-count is rising - way higher even than deaths from the hypothetical “pandemic” that the “vaccines” were supposedly concocted to vanquish, and spectacularly failed to.
And was this Covid-19 “pandemic” itself cooked up tacitly to disorder the 2020 election with mail-in ballots so easily replicated, harvested, and stuffed by the bale into drop-boxes under cover of night? Kind of looks like it, more and more. And now, the Party of Chaos is so keenly desperate to stay out of prison that they apparently seek to repeat the trick in the fall midterm, which is otherwise quite certain to sweep them ignominiously off the game board like so many misplayed quoits.
Thus: monkeypox, the visitation of weeping pustules far more visually horrifying than was Covid-19 in all its spikey iterations, if actually hardly lethal. The hopelessly corrupt CDC has already gotten into the act with its guidance to mask-up on airplanes against this new plague. Perhaps travelers would do better wearing condoms on their noses. Apparently, monkeypox spreads by means of intensely intimate flesh-to-flesh contact. The current outbreak popped up following a giant sex rave in the Canary Islands, men having rough sex with other men. Suspicions abound that this monkeypox bears the earmarks of something engineered in a lab. Jeez, d’ya think?
If there is a God, when judgment is at hand, a jury in the court of the angels will bum-rush this Party of Chaos into a special hell of an eternal drag queen story hour, featuring Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) reading Uncle Remus to an assembled multitude of howling Jacobins, Bolsheviks, and Maoist Red Guards. Refreshments will not be served. Ever."
"Strange Price Increases At Walmart! This Is Crazy!"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures with Danno, 6/10/22:
"Strange Price Increases At Walmart! This Is Crazy!"
"In today's vlog we are at Walmart, and are noticing some strange price increases! We are here to check out skyrocketing prices, and a lot of empty shelves! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"
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Related:
Pfizer CEO at WEF: “By 2023 we will reduce the number of people in the world by 50%.”
Pfizer CEO at WEF:
“By 2023 we will reduce the number of people in the world by 50%.”
by Chris Black
"Sorry for the quality of the video, but it’s enough to see what’s going on. Schwab: “You are a purpose driven company." Who will arrest these two men and set up a citizen’s court to try them for charges of premeditated mass murder? I’ll never get over the fact that hundreds of millions of healthy people if not more were conditioned or coerced into taking an experimental, liability-free, DNA-modifying injection, created and pushed by people who openly stated they wanted to reduce the world’s population through vaccines, for something with a ~99.9% survivability rate…"
○
Related:
"Everyone Vaccinated For Covid Will DIE, Warns French Virologist"
Excerpt: "There is no chance of long-term survival for anyone who received a Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) injection, according to leading French virologist Luc Montagnier. Everyone who is getting jabbed for the Chinese Virus will die, he reportedly stated during a recent interview, which you can watch at Brighteon.com.
“There is no hope and no possible treatment for those who have already been vaccinated,” Montagnier stated plainly during the segment. “We must be prepared to cremate the bodies.” After studying at length the ingredients contained in the injections and what they do, Montagnier came to the conclusion that every single person who gets the shot will eventually die from antibody-dependent enhancement, or ADE. “That is all that can be said,” he added."
Evidence continues to mount that Chinese Virus injections were designed to be a “slow” kill for many, meaning their detrimental impact takes a bit of time to manifest. For some, however, injury and death will come immediately, as we have seen in the headlines as of late. All of this would explain the mad rush to vaccinate people at “warp speed,” using any ploy or coercion tactic necessary to reach the desired target. Once enough vaccinated people start dropping dead, the remaining unvaccinated will more than likely resist, which is why the Biden regime is moving quickly to get as many people injected as possible."
Full article here:
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"Complicity: The data suggests that we may currently be witnessing
the greatest organized mass murder in the history of our world."
Freely download "The Vaccine Death Report" here:
○
"The current world population is 8.0 billion as of June 2022 according
to the most recent United Nations estimates elaborated by Worldometer."
So, they intend to "reduce the number of people in the world by 50% by 2023."
4 BILLION people "reduced"? Tell me any other possible explanation for this...
- CP
Greg Hunter, "Weekly News Wrap-Up 6/10/22"
"Weekly News Wrap-Up 6/10/22"
Russia Threatens West, Pfizer Bait & Switch Confirmed,
Economic Slide Continues
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
"The mainstream media (MSM) is largely not reporting or, at least, underreporting the threats that Russia is making against the West, mainly the US and UK. Russia is making threats to strike because NATO it is supplying rockets to Ukraine that can hit Russia. If that happens, then Russia says it would strike targets such as “decision-making centers.” Why is the MSM underreporting this huge turn of events? Are they trying to hide the fact that this ridiculous Ukraine war is a very bad idea that might produce even more very negative consequences for America? I guess if it gets bad enough, the propaganda press will say ‘nobody saw this coming.’ Please know warnings are being made and ignored by the propaganda press, and the White House is not being questioned about its stupid and dangerous strategy on Ukraine.
The week Pfizer’s CV19 vax called Comirnaty was “approved” by the FDA, USAWatchdog.com told you it was a fraud and a bait and switch from the very beginning. Dr. Michael Yeadon told us “Pfizer never made Comirnaty for the U.S. market.” Now, the CDC is running for cover and saying Pfizer’s experimental BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine changed its name to Comirnaty. Spoiler Alert! That does not make it approved!! Pfizer, the FDA and CDC convinced millions of people that the experimental BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was approved, safe and effective, when, in fact, it was and still is experimental. Now, Pfizer says it will not make Comirnaty at all and will make a new mRNA type of CV19 vaccine. GatewayPundit.com summed it all up with this quote from a top mRNA doctor: “Dr. Robert Malone – the inventor of mRNA technology – has said for months, if Pfizer doesn’t give out its ‘fully approved’ (Comirnaty) version, they keep the immunity, and that’s exactly what they’ve done.” The bottom line is this rip-off vax enticed millions of CV19 vax hesitant people to get stuck with something that was experimental and not proven to be safe and effective. The CV19 vax data that keeps rolling in shows it’s just the opposite.
The national average for gasoline is now more than twice the price it was when the Biden/Obama administration started in January 2021. It’s $5.00 per gallon, and America is hurting and struggling with inflation in everything they touch and consume. It’s not peaking anytime soon either. All the big economic folks are saying a big recession is dead ahead. Unemployment is tracking up, and housing is rolling over. What’s the answer for consumers? Data shows people are maxing out their credit cards to buy fuel and food until the whole thing blows up, and it is going to blow up."
Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he talks about these
stories and more in the Weekly News Wrap-Up for 6/10/22:
Thursday, June 9, 2022
Gerald Celente, "Trends In The News 6/9/22"
Full screen recommended.
Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, "Trends In The News 6/9/22:
Fed Banksters: The Inflation Racket Squad"
"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."
"Go To The Stores And Stock Up Now Because Things Are About To Get Really Crazy"
Full screen recommended.
"Go To The Stores And Stock Up Now Because
Things Are About To Get Really Crazy"
by Epic Economist
"Grocery shortages and bare shelves are back with a vengeance, and farmers, industry executives, and even government agencies are warning us that they’re only going to get worse in the weeks and months ahead. And if you thought you have been spending way too much on everyday essentials lately, well... get ready to spend even more because everything is getting far more expensive. As our food production collapses and more and more farmers abandon their crops due to rising costs, grocery prices are set to reach sky-highs this summer, and U.S. consumers will be left scrambling with widespread shortages for the second consecutive year.
If you walked through a grocery store recently, you probably have seen by yourself that empty shelves are starting to multiply. Over the past year, U.S. households have faced localized shortages of certain products and brands while they also dealt with soaring grocery bills and dramatically higher living expenses.
Americans are paying more for everything – from electronics to housing to food, and even more worryingly – fuel. The relentless rise in gas and diesel prices is also having a major impact on U.S. farmers, who are losing motivation to plant and take care of their crops due to a massive increase in commodity prices, raw materials, and fertilizers. According to Iowa farmer, Ben Riensche, the challenges he and his fellow agricultural producers are facing will soon result in “unprecedented grocery bills for millions of U.S. consumers.”
"If you think we're seeing food price spikes right now, I think the food price increases are just starting," Riensche said. "And I don't think your grocery bill will be $1,000 a month. I think it may go up $1,000 a month." That’s a prospect that has alarmed even the USDA, leading the agency to issue a report suggesting that food inflation is threatening to spiral out of control as several factors weighing on the U.S. food supply chain are compounding to send prices to levels not seen since the end of the Carter presidency.
Needless to say, Americans will be totally gutted by another wave of grocery price hikes. According to a Morning Consult survey, 71% of U.S. households are already struggling to keep up with rising grocery prices, 41% reported that they will change their prospective purchasing habits if prices soar higher, and 51% revealed they’re already noticing empty shelves at their local supermarkets. So if you know that you are going to need something in the months ahead, we advise you to buy it now, because with the way things are going there is a very high chance that you will be paying a whole lot more if you wait.
Unfortunately, this is just the beginning. Things are getting crazier and crazier in our domestic supply chains. And the inflationary nightmare we have been into over the past few years won’t be over anytime soon. We should start bracing for more disruptions, extensive shortages, skyrocketing prices, and some more unpleasant surprises coming our way during the second half of this year. So go to the stores and stock up while you still can, because things will soon get much more chaotic."
"Revelation 6:5-6"
"Revelation 6:5-6"
by Jim Rickards
"My team and I want to make sure you’re caught up on our fast-moving event - and the sinister market forces we expect to play out next week. So, expect to see a “daily” update at 7pm each night…This is your next missive. And it’s vital. For long term readers, you know I’ve written many best-selling books. ("Currency Wars" - 2011, "The Death of Money" - 2014, and "Road to Ruin" -2016)
But today I want you to focus on my 2019 book, "Aftermath." In "Aftermath", I outline what we’re already seeing here in 2022. In particular, I’m talking about the 3rd horseman from the book of Revelation (chapter 6 verse 5-6.) “I looked, and there before me was a black horse. Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages.”
Scholars have determined that a day’s pay, one silver denarius for a soldier of Rome or a common laborer, was an unusually HIGH price for a day’s ration of wheat. The 3rd horseman is scarcity and famine. You don’t have to look too far in the daily news flow (specifically May and June) to see the drumbeat of famine. Like I showed you earlier today, the famine has already begun.
There are plenty more examples, too. In fact, some are predicting this to be the “Summer of Starvation” - something that could lead to more political and social unrest than the Arab spring.
But…I’m not here to talk about the 3rd horseman. It’s clear to me that it’s already here, and the recourse for our world is unstoppable. More urgent for today is my big prediction for next week. It’s the 4th horseman that you should be concerned with. That’s “death”.
And the way I see it, the market is about to see an unavoidable “death step” next week. The probability of the 4th horseman, “death step” is 100%. This is it. The end is near for the global financial system. And it all happens next week.
That’s why it’s vital that you stay up to speed for my Dow Drop Summit on Sunday night at 7pm. Over the next few days I’ll give you all the details you need to know. Plus, you’ll see even more data about this unavoidable “death step”... and a historic market crash. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, I hope you saw my message from earlier today. If you haven’t read that important update or added your name to my urgent SMS reminder list, you’ll want to do that right away. Click here to visit my “Dow Drop" event page, and get caught up."
I’ll talk to you soon."
"The Tragic Legacy of Lockdowns"
"The Tragic Legacy of Lockdowns"
by Jeffrey Tucker
"An 18-year-old kid recently slogged a powerful weapon into a Buffalo, New York, grocery store and started shooting people based on race. Ten people were slaughtered. His goal was to start a race war, along the lines of the fiction books that inspired his online gurus. He livestreamed the carnage and left a manifesto explaining his motives. His ideology - which has deep roots and has spawned genocides - is the kind of demonic gibberish that unstable kids find on the internet when they are looking for some mission and meaning in life.
Why might this kid have allowed his brain to become poisoned in this way? He was a high school junior when the schools in his town were closed by the government, from March 2020 through September at the earliest. That cut him off from peers and normal social life and the civilizing effect that they have. He lived online in isolated loneliness. He admits this in his revolting “manifesto”:
"Before I begin I will say that I was not born racist nor grew up to be racist. I simply became racist after I learned the truth. I started browsing 4chan in May 2020 after extreme boredom, remember this was during the outbreak of COVID… I never even saw this information until I found these sites, since mostly I would get my news from the front page of Reddit. I didn’t care at the time, but as I learned more and more I realized how serious the situation was. Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore, I told myself that eventually I was going to kill myself to escape this fate. My race was doomed and there was nothing I could do about it."
These words reflect grave pathology. Recent surveys of people in forced COVID isolation have found that some 30% develop strong symptoms of PTSD over the course of weeks. In this case, an already imbalanced kid found personal meaning through his own perceived “race” identity. He invented a sense of belongingness through an imagined artificial solidarity with others of his tribe. The next steps are obvious: the demonization of others who are blamed for his plight, the manufacturing of a mission and the valorization of his own violent longings. The grotesque ideology he adopted was the replacement for what he lost or never had.
The disruption of closures and quarantines affected millions of others without the same results but the tendency is there: People are robbed of a moral center and a clarity about life’s meaning. In Freudian terms, the last two years provided every pathway for the id (the primitive instinct) to displace the ego, which consists of social norms, social realities, etiquette and rules when deciding how to behave.
This displacement can leave nothing but instinct fueled by resentment and hate. Along with this comes the search for the “other” on which to blame all problems. Whether that is the racial identity, political deviants, the COVID non-compliant, the unvaccinated or make up any other category, we see the same dynamic at work: the attempt to stigmatize, exclude, dehumanize and eventually eliminate.
Below, I show you why this incident is a deep moral failure - and also a warning. Read on."
"Lockdowns and the Loss of Moral Clarity"
by Jeffrey Tucker
"This kid’s behavior is but a sign, a marker, an extreme example of the loss of moral center. It is also a warning. Millions more have been so affected, as we lost two years, not only of education, but also of socialization opportunities. Networks have been shattered. Expectations that life can be stable and good, and always will be, are gone for many among a whole generation. Even the surgeon general has commented on the crisis for a generation, without of course identifying the most obvious causes.
What kinds of things unleash this Freudian id that is always just beneath the surface? What breaks the barrier created by sublimation? Isolation. Despair. Deprivation. This is linked to a shattering of social bonds (via “social distancing”) and also material loss. These cause hope to evaporate. A happy future starts to seem unattainable, and so there is a loss of desire to work toward that end. Instead, the psychology of reversion takes place: to behave in a primitive, anomic and violent way.
Freud is a good guide to this tragic process, but to see the other end of the moral spectrum, we can turn to Adam Smith’s masterwork "The Theory of Moral Sentiments." It is heavy on the analysis of what it means to feel empathy, and not only to feel it, but to rely on it to the point that our own well-being is connected to the belief that others too are experiencing something like a good life.
What instills this higher sense in our minds? It is the practical experience of depending on others and finding value in their labor, productivity and contribution to community life and coming to see our own well-being as bound up with the fates of others. This is what the market and socializing encourages: the gradual recognition that others, and indeed all people, are worthy of being treated with dignity and respect.
The universalization of this sense is never complete, but as civilization and prosperity grow, we make progress toward that end. This is what grants us ever better lives. Without it, we can very quickly descend into barbarism in the way Lord of the Flies describes. This is particularly true in the volatile years of youth, when the search for meaning is active and the mind is malleable in both good and dangerous ways.
Take away community and you take away the thing that instills that Smithian sense of empathy that extends from a conscience trained by socialization. All of this is contingent on a functioning market and social order. Without that, a decline in mental health can lead to violent outbursts and even genocide. Like you, I never wanted to live in a society that is devolving ever deeper into moral decay. Along with that is, inevitably, a fall in overall prosperity.
Years ago, I was having lunch with one of the great economists who had dedicated his life to studying economic freedom the world over. He developed the metrics to quantify this progress and ranked countries. I asked him the big question, whether there was ever a chance that in the West we could lose what we take for granted and find ourselves falling back to ever more primitive ways, eventually losing both freedom and prosperity.
His answer came quickly: There is almost zero chance of that. Markets are too complex, law is mostly good and humanity has learned the right path. The foundations of civilization are so strong that it would require a mighty effort to break them. People would never stand for it. I was relieved to hear this and went on with my naive ways.
Two years ago, in spring, this confidence in the future was shattered. A friend just now described it to me as a nightmare unfolding in real-time as ruling class elites play willy-nilly with sacred rights and liberties, while smashing so much of what it has taken hundreds of years to create.
The results of compulsory closures and shutdowns are all around us. It’s not only about educational losses, falling optimism, declining health, inflation, weakened financials, empty shelves and shortened lives. Above all else, it is about the decline of society’s moral sense. We saw public officials engaged in the unthinkable - locking people in their homes, closing schools and churches, shutting down venues for fun and therapy, excluding people from public accommodations based on vaccine status - and that sent a message to everyone else.
We’ve been through more than two years of isolating, segregating, dividing, excluding and dehumanizing. The message: There are no more rules based on equality and rights. Nothing that we thought matters really does matter. The replacement is not rationality but primitivism and the destructive mindset.
Many are now asking the unthinkable: Just how bad can this get? Polls say that the No. 1 concern of Americans today is inflation, a direct outgrowth of terrible pandemic policy. We have examples from history of how forces like inflation can prompt rapid devolution.
Venezuela is a good example: a prosperous and civilized country falling into the abyss when the money fails, after which civil society collapses too. Germany and Russia too come to mind. One or two things going wrong can cause a crack in civilized life that exposes whole social orders to the unthinkable. What’s awesome and terrifying to contemplate is just how many things have gone wrong all at once. The quality of money has taken a huge hit that will likely endure many more years.
But we also have a health crisis, a psychological decline, massive learning loss, dependency on government largess, a loss of work ethic, an ideological putsch against basic tenets of traditional liberalism, a revolt against religion, a denial of basic biology and science, a wholesale loss of trust in elites, the valorization of war, even as the administrative state alongside intellectual elites remain firmly in control of the apparatus of power at all levels.
This is an extremely dangerous mix, so much so that it is hard to find historical examples. Our moral sense is getting dulled by the day. We are getting used to rising crime, falling purchasing power, the loss of opportunity, diminished hopes for the future, rising social chaos and the normalization of hate. It can happen gradually and then all at once.
Over two years, our friend networks have been shattered, our communities broken, small businesses beaten and many of our leaders co-opted into a machinery of corruption, while the censorship of open dialogue about the causes and consequences is intensifying. The tools we thought would save us and lead us into the light - our laws and technologies - have betrayed our rights, privacy and liberties.
Perpetual decline and fall are not inevitable. They are fixable but every powerful force out there, especially mainstream media, seems to stand against that. It is all designed to demoralize us and cause us to give up. We cannot accept this fate. There is still time, providing that we understand what is happening and the grave consequences of letting it all take place without a fight."
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Related:
A Blues Musical Interlude: Foy Vance, Ed Sheeran, "Make it Rain"
Foy Vance, "Make it Rain"
The original, Ed Sheeran's version is the cover.
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Ed Sheeran, "Make it Rain"
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Magnificent island universe NGC 2403 stands within the boundaries of the long-necked constellation Camelopardalis. Some 10 million light-years distant and about 50,000 light-years across, the spiral galaxy also seems to have more than its fair share of giant star forming HII regions, marked by the telltale reddish glow of atomic hydrogen gas. The giant HII regions are energized by clusters of hot, massive stars that explode as bright supernovae at the end of their short and furious lives.
A member of the M81 group of galaxies, NGC 2403 closely resembles another galaxy with an abundance of star forming regions that lies within our own local galaxy group, M33 the Triangulum Galaxy. Spiky in appearance, bright stars in this colorful galaxy portrait of NGC 2403 lie in the foreground, within our own Milky Way.”
- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150327.html
Chet Raymo, “At Home In An Infinite Universe”
“At Home In An Infinite Universe”
by Chet Raymo
“They are questions that bedeviled thinkers for thousands of years: Is the universe infinite or finite, eternal or of a finite age? It is certainly hard to imagine a universe that extends without limit in every direction, or a universe without a beginning or end. It is equally difficult to imagine a finite universe; what is beyond the edge? Or a beginning or end in time; how can something come from nothing? how can what is cease to be?
The problems are so intractable philosophically that their resolution has generally been left to the theologians, which from a philosophical (or scientific) perspective offers no solution at all. Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for proposing a philosophical resolution (an infinite universe) that offended theology.
An escape from befuddlement is provided by Einstein's theory of general relativity, which- for example- can describe a finite universe without a boundary, as the "two-dimensional" surface of a sphere is finite and without an edge. Unfortunately, multi-dimensional curved space-time is so counterintuitive that it is difficult to get one's head around it without mastery of the mathematics. Given a choice between the ancient myths of your local preacher and the obtuse mathematics of the physics professor, it's not hard to guess what most folks will opt for.
Meanwhile, I'm reading a meditation on infinity by physics professor Anthony Aguirre, in a collection of essays called "Future Science." He discusses contemporary cosmological theories based on general relativity, and in particular the rehabilitation of the idea of an infinite and eternal universe, or, more precisely, that our universe might be just one of an infinity of infinite universes. He writes in conclusion: “What seems clear, however, is that infinity can no longer be safely ignored; beautifully constructed, empirically supported, self-consistent theories have brought infinity from idle curiosity to central player in contemporary cosmology. And if correct, the worldview these theories represent constitutes a perspective shift unlike any other: in comparison to the universe, we would be not just small but strictly zero. Well, I can't imagine many folks racing to embrace that conclusion.
Oh, but wait. Aguirre adds one final sentence: "Yet here we are, contemplating- if not quite understanding- it all.”
- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/
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Full screen recommended.
Vangelis, “Cosmos: A Tour of the Universe”
"Soon Or Late..."
“A craven can be as brave as any man, when there is nothing to fear. And we all do our duty, when there is no cost to it. How easy it seems then, to walk the path of honor. Yet soon or late in every man’s life comes a day when it is not easy, a day when he must choose.”
- George R.R. Martin
"The Essence Of Human Existence..."
"Curiosity is the essence of human existence.
'Who are we? Where are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?'
I don't know. I don't have any answers to those questions.
I don't know what's over there around the corner. But I want to find out."
- Eugene Cernan
"Economic Market Snapshot 6/9/22"
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Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...
Only the consequences are real - to you!
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"Economic Market Snapshot 6/9/22"
Updated as available.
Latest Market Analysis, Updated 6/9/22
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A comprehensive, essential daily read.
June 7th to June 9th
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Financial Stress Index
"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: credit, equity valuation, funding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United States, other advanced economies, and emerging markets."
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Commentary, highly recommended:
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"The more I see of the monied classes,
the better I understand the guillotine."
- George Bernard Shaw
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Oh yeah...
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And now... The End Game...
Gregory Mannarino, "Get Your Popcorn Ready! Stocks Drop On Tomorrow's Inflation Report Fears"
Gregory Mannarino, PM 6/9/22:
"Get Your Popcorn Ready!
Stocks Drop On Tomorrow's Inflation Report Fears"
"Major Real Estate Warning - Sellers Run For The Exits; Credit Cards Maxed Out; Don't Lose Your Job"
Jeremiah Babe, PM 6/9/22:
"Major Real Estate Warning - Sellers Run For The Exits;
Credit Cards Maxed Out; Don't Lose Your Job"
Gregory Mannarino, "Shocker! ECB Admits That Inflation Is Going Much Higher! Economy Continues To Fail"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 6/9/22:
"Shocker! ECB Admits That Inflation Is Going
Much Higher! Economy Continues To Fail"
"Oil and Gas Prices Only Go Up From Here"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 6/9/22:
"Oil and Gas Prices Only Go Up From Here"
"The experts agree that oil prices are going to go to an entirely new level. We have not seen anything close to where they are going to get to. Energy prices will destroy everyone. Oil could hit $150.00 per barrel."
Bill Bonner, "Decision of the Century"
"Decision of the Century"
Two years of short, sharp pain...
or a decade and a half of grinding depression?
by Bill Bonner
Youghal, Ireland - "We have nothing but good news today. First, the US is in a good place, says White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre… a “good position to take on inflation.”
We are coming up to the Decision of the Century. There are only two real choices. One way or another, this scam economy is going to blow up. So, the question is whether the Fed blows it up by stopping inflation now. Or, it lets inflation rip and the whole thing blows up later.
Either way, there will be hard times ahead – with crashing stocks, bonds and real estate… and probably riots and maybe even revolution. But if the feds end the scam voluntarily, the wreck could be short and sweet, like ripping off a Band-Aid, with a crash followed by a depression, but ending in a fairly quick recovery. If the pre-Fed depressions (before 1913) are anything to go on, the whole thing could be over in 18 to 24 months.
A Money Problem: If inflation is allowed to run wild, on the other hand, the disease will fester… and metastasize. These intentional, government-policy inflations last about 16 years on average. In the end, the economy is almost completely destroyed…and the nation’s political and social institutions are left as burnt-out hulks.
And there’s the second bit of good news: in neither case will it last forever. We may even live long enough to see the end of it.
And still more good news: inflation can be easily (but not painlessly) stopped. Like obesity or drug addiction, all it takes is willpower. If the feds wanted to, they could bring inflation to a halt in a few months. Easy. Peasy. That’s because we don’t have a price problem. Prices are just information. What they tell us is that we have a money problem.
Let’s take a look at it more closely. Here’s The Washington Post: "Empty wallets, empty tanks: Surging gas prices leave drivers stranded." AAA fielded 50,787 out-of-gas calls in April, a 32 percent jump from the same month last year. More than 200,000 drivers have been similarly stranded this year, the automobile club said. And gas prices have risen precipitously since April."
People are running out of gas because they can’t afford to fill their tanks. The average gas tank holds about 26 gallons. At its low price 50 years ago, it cost about $6.50 to fill it up. That was nearly two hours of work at the average wage at the time. Today, it will cost about $130 to fill the same tank. At an average wage of $29, that’s four and half hours… more than twice as much time as it took a half century ago.
What happened? Did the oil industry forget how to pump the black goo? Did Vladimir Putin singlehandedly undermine the entire global energy business? Did the Covid 19… which only appeared two years ago, and killed so few people the population of the world actually grew in 2020… undo half a century of economic progress?
Fantasy Land: More likely, the feds lit the match 51 years ago. Now almost the whole world is on fire. But if they wanted to do so, it would be an easy fire to put out. Congress could begin by balancing the federal budget. Why should the feds spend more than ‘the people’ are willing to pay for? Why should they burden future generations with debt and inflation? Aren’t they just forms of ‘taxation without representation?’
The Fed could do its part too. It would only have to announce that it would no longer be backstopping the stock market or bailing out Wall Street. No more money-printing. No more rigging interest rates. No more loans to member banks. Better yet, it could announce its retirement. No more central bank to meddle in the world’s financial affairs and mislead investors and businesses with fake money lent out at phony rates! In a matter of minutes, the whole grotesque abomination… the scam economy… would be history. No more zombie businesses. No more ‘negative’ real yields. No more inflation.
But wait… let us take a deep breath and come back down to earth. Can you imagine Joe Biden, Jerome Powell, and the 435 members of Congress actually doing these things? Of all the possible configurations of the future, this one seems least probable. It’s more likely that aliens from space will land on the White House lawn and take charge of US financial policies! And do a far better job, of course. So, tomorrow, let’s continue our look ahead… to what ought to happen."
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Joel’s Note: Is case you missed Ms. Jean-Pierre’s good news bulletin,
here she is, explaining the situation as if to a roomful of kindergarten children…
Hmm…“Thanks to our navigational expertise,” the Titanic’s captain announced to concerned passengers, “we’re in a good position to address the giant tear in the hull.”
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