"Sound Money Isn’t Enough"

"Sound Money Isn’t Enough"

by Brian Maher

Annapolis, Maryland - "We note the following: the United States Department of Defense has failed its annual audit for the fifth consecutive year. It has - in fact - failed each and every audit since the business began in 2018. Has Congress seized the red pencil… and threatened to run it through the defense budget until the Pentagon can square the ledgers? No it has not. Congress’ latest proposal would spend an additional 8% over last year’s allocations… in fact.

The Private Sector vs. Government: Imagine the scene at a private concern, Company X you may name it. For five consecutive years its “management” has failed the audits. Yet instead of demanding a square accounting, ownership showers this mismanagement team with even greater resources to squander. A private concern is jealous of its capital and guards it with great ferocity. Yet the government runs to a different accounting.

Literally Burning Fuel: Would an airline park its planes on a tarmac, idle, with the engines going? It is very nearly inconceivable. Fuel is costly. Yet the United States Air Force has done it. It has deliberately wasted fuel by running the engines on parked planes. Why? Because the end of the fiscal year was nearing. And if the Air Force did not burn through all the fuel allotted it in this year’s budget, it could not justify requests for additional fuel the following year. The solution of course is to run the engines on inert airplanes - to literally burn fuel.

Can you imagine it? But here you have the “logic” of government appropriations. We cite but one example. Many others exist - be assured. Yet today we recognize a distressing possibility: Sound money does not ensure sound government. Sound money alone will not restrain it.

Sound Money Is the Money of a Free People: The Daily Reckoning has for years beat its tom-toms for sound money. That is, for private, decentralized money. That is because we believe private, decentralized money is the money of a free people. And we are heart and soul for freedom - our freedom, your freedom, the fellow’s freedom one house across the street - the fellow’s freedom 3,000 miles across the country.

That is one reason we embrace gold. It curbs, checks and limits the natural rascalities of government. It is a money suited for a free people. Unlike today’s money - which is disguised debt - government cannot fabricate gold into existence at a stroke. Human labor must haul it out of the ground. Often, at great expense. Yet men would not do it if they did not find it profitable.

Washington’s Warning: And as we have argued before: Paper (fiat) money fuels government in the manner oxygen fuels fire. And as Washington long ago warned: “Like fire [government] is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” Meantime, gold is a sound money. It is therefore an honest money. An honest, sound money is a disciplined money. It chains government down in thick, imprisoning fetters. Would the Air Force get away with burning fuel if the government truly had to watch its money? Perhaps it would not. Yet a government in charge of money is a fox in charge of a henhouse.

Immoral, Dangerous and Imprisoning: “Austrian” school economist Ryan McMaken: "State-controlled money is immoral, dangerous and impoverishing. It paves the way for government theft of private wealth through the inflation tax, and thus allows the state to do more of what it does best: wage wars, kill, imprison, steal and enrich the friends of the regime at the expense of everyone else. Privatizing the monetary system and imposing a “separation of money and state” would help limit these activities."

Today many cryptocurrency drummers believe these digital currencies are 21st-century gold. They are private creations of the free market. Governments cannot monkey them. Utopianists even believe cryptocurrencies can murder the state altogether, consigning it forevermore to history’s hell box.

Sound Money Won’t Fix the World: We have argued our piece for sound money. Yet does private, decentralized money - sound money - necessarily equal restrained government? Alas, the answer is no. McMaken: "It’s also important to not overstate the benefits of taking money out of the hands of the state. The temptation to push the “fix the world” idea to utopian levels is often seen among cryptocurrency maximalists, and among some gold promoters as well…"

The idea that changing to different money will somehow end theft, poverty or even war is the sort of messianic thinking that would have given old-school Marxists a run for their money. Gold of course predated the state. Yet gold did not box in the state, the ambitious, avaricious and mischievous state. The state grew and grew regardless… as the tick grows and grows under constant intake of blood.

The State’s Ambitions Are Boundless: Again, McMaken: "States long predate the money monopolies they now enjoy. During the 16th and 17th centuries - without the benefit of fiat currencies - states created enormous standing armies for the first time. They established mercantilist economies. Many rulers managed to assemble large bureaucracies to serve absolutist states. States were centralized to a degree that had not been seen in Western Europe since the Romans. It was a period of enormous gains in state building for princes and their agents."

More: Yet these states could not “print money” nor enjoy the benefits of fiat money except in very short-lived and limited cases. Indeed, this period of immense state growth was also a period of “concurrent” and “parallel” currencies during which a wide variety of gold and silver coins - most of them foreign - competed within the borders of a single state. Many efforts by regimes to issue questionable, debased money failed because there were so many alternatives. But this didn’t stop, say, Louis XIV from hammering together a powerful state.

Experience Teaches a Hard Lesson: Here is McMaken’s frowning and spirit-stealing conclusion: So when we ask ourselves the question “Can states survive without fiat currency?” the answer is clearly, “All experience points to yes.” Alas… all experience does point to yes. The state does not require a monopoly on money to conduct its business, this fellow notes. What does it require? It merely requires a monopoly on coercive power - the coercive power of taxation in particular. Taxation forms the living and vital bloodstream of the state. So long as taxes flow in, the heart is busy… and the blood flows freely.

One Piece of a Much Larger Puzzle: Thus McMaken moans that: "Taking the control of money out of the hands of politicians and bureaucrats is clearly a good thing, and ought to be done quickly and thoroughly. But it won’t “fix the world.” It’s only a piece of a much larger puzzle."

One piece of a much larger puzzle… indeed. We must conclude: Sound money - in this fallen world of sin and vice - cannot constrain sinful and viceful men determined not to be constrained Alas: The ability to constrain sinful and viceful men is the puzzle piece that has always eluded us…likely always will be."

- https://dailyreckoning.com/

"How It Really Is"

"The Greatest Crash Ever, Avoid Debt And Get Liquid ASAP; Massive Economic Pain Coming"

Jeremiah Babe, 12/8/22:

"The Greatest Crash Ever, Avoid Debt And Get Liquid ASAP;

 Massive Economic Pain Coming"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Canadian Prepper, "A Shocking Warning From Nuclear Expert"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 12/8/22:

"A Shocking Warning From Nuclear Expert"

"The co-author of the most comprehensive Nuclear War Survival Guide talks about radiation and preparedness. The foremost authority on surviving nuclear war joins us again!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

Check out part 1 here:

- https://youtu.be/CqSNwtqvbmc

"Equities, Economies And Civilization Are Ready To Crash. The Facts Are Clear"

Full screen recommended.

Very strong language alert!

Gerald Celente, Trends Journal, 12/8/22:

"Equities, Economies And Civilization Are Ready To Crash. 

The Facts Are Clear"

"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."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Walmart CEO Warns Of Store Closings As US Enters A Deep Dark Winter"

Full screen recommended.

"Walmart CEO Warns Of Store Closings

 As US Enters A Deep Dark Winter"

by Epic Economist

"Walmart is the largest retail chain on the entire planet, the indisputable industry leader, and a very well-established consumer favorite - but none of these attributes have kept the company from having a particularly difficult year in 2022, and it seems like more bad news just emerged. Since January, sales have been slipping, and the brick-and-mortar retailer has been struggling to compete with online retailers such as Amazon, which continues to seize an even larger share of the market. But those aren’t the only signs of trouble for Walmart. From inflation to overstock to over-hiring, the world's largest employer has been falling behind in recent months after taking a huge profit hit and seeing its shares rapidly plummeting. Now, CEO Doug McMillion is warning that even higher prices and more store closures could be on the horizon for the retailer as it faces painful inventory losses due to an ominous reason.

McMillion stressed that theft has become a major issue for the chain in recent months, and the rapid increase in the number of cases is leaving a dent in the company’s profit margins and causing distressing inventory losses. Even though the executive preferred not to point out which stores were being particularly affected by the problem, he noted that soft local policies have contributed to the surge in these types of offenses and that the lenient approach needed to be “corrected.” “If that's not corrected, prices will be higher and our stores will close,” he warned.

Just one month ago, the chief financial officer of one of Walmart’s biggest competitors, Target, also revealed that shoplifting at its stores had increased more than 50% year on year, leading to more than $600 million in losses in 2022 alone. Although Walmart executives have been notoriously secretive about how much of an issue shoplifting is for the company, in 2016, Bloomberg estimated that the superstore chain loses approximately $7 billion a year due to shoplifting, which represents about 2.5% of its annual profits.

This new wave of larceny couldn’t come at a worse time for the retailer. In its latest earnings report released on October 31, Walmart reported a net income loss of 15.36% compared to the same period a year prior, at $28.7 billion. Moreover, the chain reported an operating income of $2.7 billion in the past quarter, down 53% from $5.8 billion in the same period of 2021.

Walmart, though known as a discounter, is getting too expensive for millions of shoppers feeling the pinch of rising consumer prices. With inflation at a 40-year high, consumers are more aware of the rising food and fuel costs and they’ve been spending increasingly less, the company’s CEO noted analysts in a recent call.

Believe it or not, the finances of the world’s biggest retailer are being squeezed, too. And now the company is imploring suppliers not to rise prices and asking for discounts, according to The Wall Street Journal. The report notes that rivals like Target and Amazon are taking a similar tactic. All of them have also been canceling orders and seeking new ways to cut expenses. The strength of the industry leader is really being shaken by a list of problems that never seems to stop growing. 2023 may be a dark year for Walmart, and considering the pace at which things are turning sour for the retailer, customers may see many of its beloved local Walmart stores going dark soon."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com/

Musical Interlude: Yanni, “For All Seasons”

Full screen recommended.

Yanni, “For All Seasons”

"A Look to the Heavens"

“Scanning the skies for galaxies, Canadian astronomer Paul Hickson and colleagues identified some 100 compact groups of galaxies, now appropriately called Hickson Compact Groups. The four prominent galaxies seen in this intriguing telescopic skyscape are one such group, Hickson 44, about 100 million light-years distant toward the constellation Leo. The two spiral galaxies in the center of the image are edge-on NGC 3190 with its distinctive, warped dust lanes, and S-shaped NGC 3187. Along with the bright elliptical, NGC 3193 at the right, they are also known as Arp 316. 

The spiral in the upper left corner is NGC 3185, the 4th member of the Hickson group. Like other galaxies in Hickson groups, these show signs of distortion and enhanced star formation, evidence of a gravitational tug of war that will eventually result in galaxy mergers on a cosmic timescale. The merger process is now understood to be a normal part of the evolution of galaxies, including our own Milky Way. For scale, NGC 3190 is about 75,000 light-years across at the estimated distance of Hickson 44.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110829.html

The Poet: Mary Oliver, “I Worried”

“I Worried”

“ I worried a lot. Will the garden grow,

will the rivers flow in the right direction,

will the earth turn as it was taught,

and if not how shall I correct it?

Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,

can I do better?

Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows

can do it and I am, well, hopeless.

Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it,

am I going to get rheumatism, lockjaw, dementia?

Finally I saw that worrying had come to nothing.

And gave it up. And took my old body

and went out into the morning, and sang.”

- Mary Oliver

Judge Napolitano, "Ukraine-Russia War, Latest w/Col. Douglas Macgregor"

Full screen recommended.

Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 12/8/22:

"Ukraine-Russia War, Latest w/Col. Douglas Macgregor"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

ͦ

"Humanity is the spirit of the Supreme Being on earth, and that humanity is standing amidst ruins, hiding its nakedness behind tattered rags, shedding tears upon hollow cheeks, and calling for its children with pitiful voice. But the children are busy singing their clan's anthem; they are busy sharpening the swords and cannot hear the cry of their mothers."

- Kahlil Gibran

"The Bubble Economy's Credit-Asset Death Spiral"

"The Bubble Economy's Credit-Asset Death Spiral"

by Charles Hugh Smith

"Central banks seem to have perfected the ideal financial perpetual motion machine: as credit expands, money pours into risk assets, which shoot higher under the pressure of expanding demand for assets that yield either hefty returns (junk bonds) or hefty capital gains as the soaring assets suck in more capital chasing returns.

As assets soar in value, they serve as collateral for more credit. Higher valuations = more collateral to borrow against. This open spigot of additional credit sluices capital right back into the assets that are climbing in value, pushing them higher - which then creates even more collateral to support even more credit.

This self-reinforcing feedback of expanding credit feeding expanding valuations feeding expanding collateral which then feeds expanding credit has no apparent end. Modest houses once worth $100,000 are now worth $1,000,000, and nobody's complaining except those priced out of the infinite spiral of prices and credit.

For those priced out of traditional assets, there's NFTs, meme stocks and short-duration options. The credit-asset bubble-economy casino has a gaming table for everyone's budget and desire to "make it big" via speculation, since the traditional ladders to middle-class security have all been splintered.

This financial perpetual motion machine distorts traditional incentives. Why bother renting a house bought for speculative gains? Renters are problematic, better to just let it sit empty and rack up huge capital gains. Count the lighted windows at night in all those new condo high-rises. Are even 20% occupied? Probably not.

This is how you get a "housing shortage": investors would rather keep units clean and off the market rather than risk renting units. When credit and asset valuations are both feeding an infinite expansion, all that matters is leveraging capital to acquire as many assets as possible to maximize the gains from this self-reinforcing wealth-creation machine.

This machine also incentivizes fraud. To really maximize gains, why not borrow clients' capital? Indeed, why not? But unbeknownst to the central bank sorcerers and the greed-crazed participants, all systems have limits and all consequences have their own consequences, i.e. second-order effects. There are many such dynamics which are eroding the apparently unbreakable financial perpetual motion machine.

One is debt saturation. Even low rates of interest eventually pile up consequential debt-service obligations, and any weakening in revenues, cash flow or income exposes the borrower to a cash crunch which can only be resolved by selling assets.

Another is the widening disconnect between financially sound valuations and "market" valuations set by rapidly expanding credit and collateral. Based on rental income or cash flow, Asset B is worth $200,000, but it's currently valued at $1 million, and still rising. Obviously, traditional methods of valuation no longer apply.

But weirdly enough, they do. Debt service doesn't matter when your collateral is expanding so fast you can borrow mountains of capital at "low, low prices" and not even consider debt service. But once collateral stops rising and interest rates start rising, suddenly all those absurd obsessions with cash flow start making sense.

But too late, too late: bubbles, regardless of how rock-solid the sorcery, tend to manifest symmetry: they fall at roughly the same rate and magnitude as they rose. As collateral declines, loans slide underwater as the asset is not longer worth more than the outstanding loan. Credit dries up and so does buying as greed-crazed buyers start worrying that perhaps the asset they're about to buy might actually be worth less next month (gasp).

Liquidity and the credit impulse aren't sorcery, they're herd behaviors. When the madness of the herd switches from greed to panic, buyers disappear and thus so does liquidity - the ability of sellers to find a Greater Fool to buy the depreciating asset. Greater Fools are soon wiped out and then there's nobody left who's dumb enough to buy assets that are in freefall and still far above any financially prudent valuation. The magic circle reverses, and as valuations fall, collateral shrinks and credit collapses. Lenders who greedily reckoned valuations and thus collateral would rise forever are stuck with life-changing losses - along with all the punters who built shanties of credit and leverage they mistakenly viewed as permanent palaces.

In making the economy dependent on the financial sorcery of self-reinforcing credit-asset bubbles, central banks and all the greed-crazed punters who participated have guaranteed a self-reinforcing death spiral as the "virtuous" self-reinforcing wealth-creation machine reverses into a self-reinforcing wealth-destruction machine.

Who believed that central banks' financial perpetual motion machine was anything more than trickery designed to generate phantom wealth? Once the death spiral reaches its devastating end-game, the true believers will have fallen silent."

- https://www.oftwominds.com/

"Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

"Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

Commencement Speech, Stanford University, 2005

- Steve Jobs, 

"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true...

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called "The Whole Earth Catalog", which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of "The Whole Earth Catalog", and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now I wish that for you. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

"Listen to me. We're here to make a dent in the universe.

Otherwise why even be here?"

- Steve Jobs

"We Are Mortals All..."

"We are mortals all, human and nonhuman, bound in one fellowship of love and travail. No one escapes the fate of death. But we can, with caring, make our good-byes less tormented. If we broaden the circle of our compassion, life can be less cruel."

- Gary Kowalski

The Daily "Near You?"

Marana, Arizona, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"We Owe That To Ourselves..."

“In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upwardly mobile - and the rest of us are f****d until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely. We owe that to ourselves and our crippled self-image as something better than a nation of panicked sheep.”

- Hunter S. Thompson, “The Great Shark Hunt”

"Thought..."

"Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth, more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man."

- Bertrand Russell

"Five percent of the people think; 

ten percent of the people think they think; 

and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think."

 - Thomas A. Edison.

"Is Your Bank Safe?"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly 12/8/22:

"Is Your Bank Safe?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com

"How It Really Is"

 

"Can You Guess What Percentage Of Americans Are Having Trouble Paying Their Grocery Bills?"

"Can You Guess What Percentage Of Americans

 Are Having Trouble Paying Their Grocery Bills?"

by Michael Snyder

"For the first time in decades, the cost of food has become a major issue in America. If rapidly rising food prices are not a problem for you, then you should be very thankful, because most of the country is really hurting right now. The cost of food has been going up much faster than our paychecks have throughout 2022, and this week Walmart CEO Doug McMillion publicly admitted that double-digit price increases for packaged foods “are going to be with us for a while”. This is a crisis that isn’t going away, and as you will see below, it appears that things will get even worse in 2023.

But even though I am constantly writing about our deteriorating economic conditions, even I was absolutely stunned by the results of a new survey that was just released…"More than two-thirds of Americans are having a hard time affording groceries as food costs continue to soar, according to new data. Retail technology platform Swiftly reported Wednesday that 69% of shoppers say they are struggling to pay their grocery bills after months of persistently sky-high inflation, and 83% currently rely on some form of coupons or loyalty program to put food on the table, according to its True Cost of a Grocery Shop survey."

If this poll is accurate, that means that almost 70 percent of all Americans are having trouble paying their grocery bills right now. That is crazy!

Unfortunately, food prices are only going to go higher because global food supplies just keep getting tighter and tighter. For example, the USDA is projecting that the upcoming orange harvest in Florida will be the smallest since 1943…"Orange juice futures squeezed to a near-record high ahead of another US Department of Agriculture’s crop report on Friday that will likely show tight global supplies will persist well into the new year.

USDA’s next report will provide an estimate for Florida’s 2022-23 harvest. Figures will add to October’s downbeat report, which showed that Florida would only produce 28 million boxes (each box is 90 pounds) for the current season, down 32% from the prior year. This season is expected to be the lowest harvest since 1943."

Meanwhile, Fox Business is reporting that our endless national baby formula shortage “keeps getting worse”…"The baby formula shortage keeps getting worse. One parent from Keystone, Florida, said it’s been “crazy” – especially for parents in need of a popular hypoallergenic and lactose-free formula. “We have been getting less powder, Nutramigen. So, whatever I have, I’m kind of like, can I just feed him less? But then it’s like, you can’t feed a child less because that’s not fair to them,” mother Ellie Johnston told FOX Business."

On my website, The Economic Collapse Blog, I have been documenting countless other reasons why global food supplies will keep getting tighter in the months ahead. Make sure to bookmark the site and check it several times a week for the latest updates.

As Americans on the bottom levels of the economic pyramid become increasingly desperate, we are seeing a very alarming spike in retail theft. During a recent appearance on CNBC, Walmart CEO Doug McMillion was asked about what his stores are seeing…"Walmart stores across the U.S. are grappling with an uptick in shoplifting that could lead to higher prices and closed stores if the problem persists, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said Tuesday. “Theft is an issue. It’s higher than what it has historically been,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

“We’ve got safety measures, security measures that we’ve put in place by store location. I think local law enforcement being staffed and being a good partner is part of that equation, and that’s normally how we approach it,” McMillon said."

That certainly doesn’t sound good. And McMillion went on to say that some Walmart stores could eventually be closed if high levels of retail theft persist… “If that’s not corrected over time, prices will be higher, and/or stores will close,” McMillon said.

I have bad news for him. This isn’t going to be corrected. In fact, things are only going to get worse in this country. For years, I have been warning that food would become such a target for thieves that armed guards would be needed.Unfortunately, that time has now arrived…

"A Philadelphia gas station owner fed up with incessant crime threatening his employees and customers hired heavily armed security guards to watch over his business. Neil Patel, operator of a Karco gas station at Broad and Clearfield streets in North Philadelphia, recruited Pennsylvania S.I.T.E Agents clad with Kevlar vest and AR-15s or shotguns.

In many parts of Philadelphia, the criminals are the ones that are in control, and so that is why this gas station owner feels compelled to hire his own private security force…“They are forcing us to hire the security, high-level security, state level,” Patel told FOX 29. “We are tired of this nonsense; robbery, drug trafficking, hanging around, gangs.” The final straw for Patel came after he said his business was vandalized by young people and an ATM machine was stolen. His car was also a casualty of crime around the area."

Of course this sort of environment can now be found in major urban areas all over the nation. Organized retail crime has become a multi-billion dollar business, and if it is far worse this year than it was last year. In an article that he just posted, Mike Adams did a great job of summarizing where things currently stand…"The key phrase in all this is organized retail crime. This isn’t merely spontaneous, simple shoplifting, it’s a whole new type of large-scale theft where teams of thieves are prepped and coordinated to hit a retail establishment and clean out its most valuable items in seconds. The stolen goods are then sold on Ebay, Amazon and other online marketplaces, or delivered to local buyers in exchange for cash. According to the National Retail Federation, organized retail crime has skyrocketed by 26.5% in 2022, year over year. It now costs retailers over $100 billion per year in losses."

Our country is starting to come apart at the seams all around us. I am sorry if that statement offends you, but it is true. Crime is out of control, predators are roaming the streets, and the population is becoming increasingly desperate as the cost of living spirals out of control. Sadly, things are only going to get worse during the months that are ahead of us."

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

"Three Strikes, You're Out!"

"Three Strikes, You're Out!"

More on the government's Middle Class massacre...

by Bill Bonner

Baltimore, Maryland - "It looks like the post-Thanksgiving shopping binge was not nearly as successful as hoped. Here’s The Wall Street Journal: "Sales at bricks-and-mortar stores over Thanksgiving weekend fell short of prepandemic levels and were behind last year’s totals, another sign that Black Friday is losing its status as the crucial kickoff to the holiday-shopping season. “It used to be people would wait in line from midnight for the stores to open at 4 or 5 a.m….”

What happened? Hot off the press is a report from the UN’s International Labor Organization. It tells us that for the first time this century, workers of the world are getting poorer: "This year’s ILO Global Wage Report… shows that, for the first time this century, global real wage growth has become negative while real productivity has continued to grow. Indeed, 2022 shows the largest gap recorded since 1999 between real labour productivity growth and real wage growth in high income countries. While the erosion of real wages affects all wage earners, it is having a greater impact on low-income households which spend a higher proportion of their disposable incomes on essential goods and services, the prices of which are increasing faster than those for non-essential items in most countries."

Blood on Main Street: One of the themes we’ve been following is the “middle class massacre.” Yes, everyone knows that the middle class gets scalped in an inflationary period. It spends most of its money on consumer items; as prices go up, it loses purchasing power.

Inflation also destroys the value of its time. The middle class sells its time to earn a living. Typically, as inflation rates go up, real wages go down. Countries with high inflation rates – Argentina, Venezuela, Turkey – are usually poor, with a middle class that is getting poorer. Countries with low inflation rates, on the other hand – such as Switzerland – have prosperous middle classes.

Back in the summer, we reported the US was suffering the biggest wage losses in 20 years – with working class incomes down 2.8% (annually) between March and May of this year. To get that number, you had to subtract the CPI (inflation) from the nominal wage increases.

Simple math was apparently too much for most reporters. As of last week, they were declaring that wage-earners were seeing ‘strong gains’ of 5.1%. This was nonsense. But you had to subtract today’s 7.7% inflation rate to see what was really going on. Then, it was clear that the labor market was weak, not strong. The working stiffs were actually still losing ground, at the rate of about 260 basis points (2.6%) per year. In October, for the 20th month in a row, the middle class got poorer.

Tapped Out: And now, while middle class shoppers run out of money, the whole economy runs out of fuel. CNBC: "Americans are spending 10% more than they did a year ago due to inflation and rising interest rates, [JP Morgan CEO, Jamie] Dimon said, and they’re tapping into their savings to do so. The personal savings rate—which measures consumers’ savings as a percentage of their disposable income—fell to just 2.3% in October, well below the over 9% figure seen before the pandemic. “Inflation is eroding everything,” Dimon told CNBC. “[T]hat trillion and a half dollars will run out sometime mid-year next year."

Whom does recession affect most severely? The middle class of course. They lose jobs and incomes…while the value of their main capital assets – their homes – falls. Stagflation, too, is deadly to the middle class. They lose income – while their costs of living keep going up.

But if inflation/recession/stagflation are harmful to lumpen consumers, few dare to wonder why they are so common? After all, the middle class is where “the people” are. And if the feds wanted to do what was best for the majority of the nation, they would stop inflation immediately. But inflation continues.

There is no mystery to controlling inflation. You just have to stop spending money you don’t have…stop lending out money at interest rates below inflation…and stop ‘printing’ up extra money to cover the holes in your budget. Instead, most governments continue to spend and print. Inflation is on the rise almost everywhere. And for the first time in modern history, much of the entire world’s middle class – the people who make the world work – is facing a grim period of higher inflation and lower real standards of living. What’s really behind it? Stay tuned..."

Joel’s Note: “One. Two. Three strikes you’re out!” Bonner Private Research’s macro analyst, Dan Denning, has been on the case as usual. The UN report to which Bill referred above shows a 3.2% wage decline in North America, “the largest of any region,” says Dan. A couple of relevant charts, straight from the report. First, real (inflation adjusted) global wages:

And second, the same for North America:

Notice, too, that the declines in real wages this year have handily outpaced the same measure during the 2008 global financial crisis. What’s driving this trend, you ask? Debt... deficits... and the dollar...“The bottom line,” says Dan, “is that the advanced economies increased gross debt-to-gdp levels because they increased spending and income support to compensate for the lockdowns.” “This had three effects,” he continues, “An increase in gross debt-to-gdp levels, higher inflation, and negative real wage growth.” Hence the three strikes for baseball lovin’, middle class Americans...

- https://bonnerprivateresearch.substack.com/

"Strange Prices At Kroger! This Is Crazy! Daily Vlog!"

Full screen recommended.

Adventures with Danno, 12/8/22:

"Strange Prices At Kroger! This Is Crazy! Daily Vlog!"

"In today's vlog we are at Kroger, and are noticing very strange prices! We are here to check out skyrocketing prices, and the empty shelves situation! It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"Could These Mysterious Clots Be the Cause of Death?"

Full screen recommended.

Peak Prosperity, 12/6/22:

"Could These Mysterious Clots Be the Cause of Death?"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

ͦ

"The Future is Bleak"

by Chris Black

"I just got done re-watching "Died Suddenly," and it left me feeling hopeless. You see, I thought eventually the evidence would be too much to ignore or hide, but we’ve reached a point where it should be, and nothing is happening.

Insurance companies predicted that a 10% rise in all-cause mortality would be a catastrophic event in the US. We are at 40%. Birthrates are down 70% in Australia, other countries are getting there as well. Still births and miscarriages in some places are up 71 sigma, which is 71 times the standard deviation from the normal, in other words, a statistical impossibility.

These f**king shots are killing people, will kill even more people, and worst of all, it’s sterilizing us. Watching people react to all this plandemic bullshit transformed me into a misanthrope. What I find funny is that excess deaths are up 10-40% and it is not reported on.

Every day when I turned the news on from 2020-2022 it was a reported daily the numbers of covid cases/deaths, then it was unvaccinated cases/deaths. Why all of a sudden did that stop? More people are dying now than during the pandemic and it’s not even acknowledged. Because your news is sponsored by Pfizer. Big Pharma spends the majority of all advertising money and they are flush with taxpayer cash right now."

○

"Died Suddenly"

by Stew Peters Presents, 11/21/22

"Since the mass vaccinations began, a new phenomenon is being observed in every country of the world: countless perfectly healthy people die suddenly. Large numbers of sports athletes, airplane pilots, bus drivers, celebrities, media personalities... suddenly collapse, many on camera! A quick internet search reveals millions of pages dedicated to this occurrence.This shocking film shows how countless people worldwide have died suddenly after receiving the injections. What is being found in their veins is pure horror...

Why do we never believe them? For centuries, the global elite have broadcast their intentions to depopulate the world - even to the point of carving them into stone. And yet… we never seem to believe them. Now we have a damning presentation on the truth about the greatest ongoing mass genocide in human history.

This film is not for the faint of heart, as it is an uncensored exposure of the terror inflicted on humanity by the experimental injections. This is undeniable evidence that indeed the jabs are part of a mass depopulation agenda. To further confirm the danger of the injections, I have added several other videos to this page, from world leading scientists. Some break out in desperate sobbing, while warning humanity. This page is a powerful tool to shock millions of people wide awake. Please share it far and wide."

View "Died Suddenly" here:

- https://rumble.com/

○

Related, much information and many videos:

- https://stopworldcontrol.com/

ͦ

"The data suggests that we may currently be witnessing

the greatest organized mass murder in the history of our world."

"CV19 Vax Destroys Hearts & Brains of Billions of People"

"Putin Just Confirmed the Worst, Troops Move to Border, Ukraine Evacuating"

Full screen recommended.

Canadian Prepper, 12/7/22:

"Putin Just Confirmed the Worst, 

Troops Move to Border, Ukraine Evacuating"

"New threats from the Kremlin on the heels of Russias nuclear bombers being targetted; Poland gets patriots; Belarus moves troops to border; Kyiv mayor says apocalypse is near for his city; attempted German coup; things are getting crazy to say the least."

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"What's Coming Will Be Worse Than The Great Depression, Prepare For Crash Landing"

Jeremiah Babe, 12/7/22:

 "What's Coming Will Be Worse Than The Great Depression, 

Prepare For Crash Landing"

Comments here:

- https://www.youtube.com/

"15 Biggest Retailers Report Major Layoffs As Tough Times Are Coming"

Full screen recommended.

"15 Biggest Retailers Report Major Layoffs 

As Tough Times Are Coming"

by Epic Economist

"A massive wave of layoffs has begun all across America. A new report published by Challenger, Gray & Christmas revealed that the pace of job cuts by U.S. employers accelerated in November, with the number of layoffs climbing 127% from October. Companies announced 76,835 job cuts in November, the analysis found. That is 417% higher than the same time one year ago.

The holiday season is usually marked by a hiring boom as businesses seek additional help to meet the rise in foot traffic and consumer demand. But conditions are alarmingly different this year. As Americans deal with higher costs of everyday necessities and are left with an increasingly smaller amount of money for other purchases, even some of the biggest retailers in America are seeing sales fall precipitously, and their bottom lines are getting deeply hurt.

For instance, Amazon, which previously announced that it would eliminate 10,000 jobs is now actually preparing to lay off twice as many workers, according to an inside source. Popular brands like Pepsi and even BestBuy, and FedEx are coping with rising operational costs and not enough revenue. Their only choice to continue to make their business profitable is to reduce their headcounts.

A year ago, most of these retailers had one overwhelming employment problem: they couldn’t find enough people to work in their stores. Employees were leaving the sector in droves and not enough people were applying to fill the open positions. In December 2021, retail job openings were up by nearly 40%, but the pace of people quitting retail employment rose at about the same rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Back then, layoffs and discharges were down 59%. At that time, in assessing the outlook for retail in 2022, Deloitte’s Rod Sides wrote, “Currently, the biggest pain point for retailers is at the store level, and 74% of major retail executives surveyed expect shortages in customer-facing positioning.

It's safe to say that things have changed very quickly. Now there are signs that retail layoffs will continue well into 2023, and estimates released by the National Retail Federation suggest that one-third of retail jobs could be lost during the unfolding recession. “Retailers are already running fairly lean,” Sides observed. “How can retailers deliver the customer service promised and do it in a cost-effective manner with even fewer people? When customers are unhappy in the store, they go home and order it online.”

It becomes a vicious circle. Customers get frustrated when they can’t find what they want in the store or get treated poorly from a customer service perspective – all things at risk with understaffed stores. “If you don’t have enough labor, retailers are going to drive people away from the store and push them online, not because they don’t want to buy there but because they want a better experience,” he explained.

This means that even as they try to save their business now by reducing their workforces, at the end of the day, these layoffs will only accelerate the demise of the sector, and make even more companies fall victim to the retail apocalypse. As the current economic downturn aggravates, more and more layoff announcements will start to emerge in the coming weeks and months. Today, we listed 15 major retailers that are cutting jobs in preparation for harder times."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com/

Musical Interlude: 2002, "We Meet Again"

Full screen recommended.

2002, "We Meet Again"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“The beautiful Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20, is easy to find with a small telescope in the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. About 5,000 light-years away, the colorful study in cosmic contrasts shares this well-composed, nearly 1 degree wide field with open star cluster Messier 21 (top right).

Trisected by dust lanes the Trifid itself is about 40 light-years across and a mere 300,000 years old. That makes it one of the youngest star forming regions in our sky, with newborn and embryonic stars embedded in its natal dust and gas clouds. Estimates of the distance to open star cluster M21 are similar to M20's, but though they share this gorgeous telescopic skyscape there is no apparent connection between the two. In fact, M21's stars are much older, about 8 million years old.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140828.html

The Poet: James Broughton, "Having Come This Far"

"Having Come This Far"

"I've been through what my through was to be,

I did what I could and couldn't.

I was never sure how I would get there.

I nourished an ardor for thresholds,

for stepping stones and for ladders,

I discovered detour and ditch.

I swam in the high tides of greed,

I built sandcastles to house my dreams.

I survived the sunburns of love.

No longer do I hunt for targets.

I've climbed all the summits I need to,

and I've eaten my share of lotus.

Now I give praise and thanks

for what could not be avoided,

and for every foolhardy choice.

I cherish my wounds and their cures,

and the sweet enervations of bliss.

My book is an open life.

I wave goodbye to the absolutes,

and send my regards to infinity.

I'd rather be blithe than correct.

Until something transcendent turns up,

I splash in my poetry puddle,

and try to keep God amused."

- James Broughton

"Whatever Your Fate Is..."

“Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, “This is what I need.” It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment- not discouragement- you will find the strength there. Any disaster you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life. What a privilege! This is when the spontaneity of your own nature will have a chance to flow. Then, when looking back at your life, you will see that the moments which seemed to be great failures, followed by wreckage, were the incidents that shaped the life you have now. You’ll see this is really true. Nothing can happen to you that is not positive. Even though it looks and feels at the moment like a negative crisis, it is not. The crisis throws you back, and when you are required to exhibit strength, it comes.”

~ Joseph Campbell

"A Day That Will Live in Infamy"

"A Day That Will Live in Infamy"

by Brian Maher

"A day that will live in infamy…Do we refer to Dec. 23, 1913 - the date Mr. Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act into law? Or Aug. 15, 1971… the date old Nixon banged shut the gold window? Or perhaps even Jan. 20, 2021, the date when the most popular and beloved president in history vacated the White House? No. We refer of course to Dec. 7, 1941 - 81 years ago today - when naval and air forces of Imperial Japan gave Pearl Harbor a good working over.

In our distant youth we recall the anniversaries drew far greater notice. Many Pearl Harbor survivors still drew breath. And many Americans not present could still recall their precise location when word reached them. Yet fewer and fewer of these Americans - Americans of the “greatest generation” - linger on. Thus the evil day may live in infamy… but not in memory. More memories die with each year that passes. The United States has since endured another Pearl Harbor of sorts. The events of Sept. 11, 2001, rank alongside it, and struck… literally and figuratively… closer to home.

Innocence Lost: Yet the Pearl Harbor blow was the first to remind Americans of their vulnerability to the sinister world beyond. What did most Americans - what do most Americans - have to say about it?

Mr. Robert Higgs of the Independent Institute: "Ask a typical American how the United States got into World War II, and he will almost certainly tell you that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the Americans fought back. Ask him why the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and he will probably need some time to gather his thoughts. He might say that the Japanese were aggressive militarists who wanted to take over the world, or at least the Asia-Pacific part of it. Ask him what the United States did to provoke the Japanese, and he will probably say that the Americans did nothing: we were just minding our own business when the crazy Japanese, completely without justification, mounted a sneak attack on us, catching us totally by surprise in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941."

Roosevelt, the American president, thundered that Japan’s treacheries that day were “dastardly and unprovoked.” Dastardly: wicked and cruel, by definition. By the dictionary’s terms we must agree. Japan’s severe trespassings against American life and property that morning were dastardly indeed. But were they unprovoked? Here we are less convinced.

Not So Innocent: As we have noted before…In July 1941, the United States government froze all Japanese assets in its possession. In August 1941, the United States government embargoed oil and gasoline exports to Japan. These were done in response to Japanese buccaneering in Indochina.

Meantime, over 80% of Japan’s oil shipped in from the United States. To choke off Japan’s oil was to choke off its oxygenated air. Higgs, in broad summary: “On July 2, 1940, Roosevelt signed the Export Control Act, authorizing the president to license or prohibit the export of essential defense materials.” Under this authority, “[o]n July 31, exports of aviation motor fuels and lubricants and No. 1 heavy melting iron and steel scrap were restricted.” Next, in a move aimed at Japan, Roosevelt slapped an embargo, effective Oct. 16, “on all exports of scrap iron and steel to destinations other than Britain and the nations of the Western Hemisphere.” Finally, on July 26, 1941, Roosevelt “froze Japanese assets in the United States, thus bringing commercial relations between the nations to an effective end. One week later Roosevelt embargoed the export of such grades of oil as still were in commercial flow to Japan.” The British and the Dutch followed suit, embargoing exports to Japan from their colonies in southeast Asia."

Picking a Fight: United States officials understood they were backing Japan into a corner very, very tight. They did this knowing well that Japan might take a desperate armed lunge in response. If you push a man hard and repeatedly… should you be surprised when he clobbers you in the snout?

Higgs, once more: "Roosevelt and his subordinates knew they were putting Japan in an untenable position and that the Japanese government might well try to escape the stranglehold by going to war. Having broken the Japanese diplomatic code, the Americans knew, among many other things, what Foreign Minister Teijiro Toyoda had communicated to Ambassador Kichisaburo Nomura on July 31: “Commercial and economic relations between Japan and third countries, led by England and the United States, are gradually becoming so horribly strained that we cannot endure it much longer. Consequently, our Empire, to save its very life, must take measures to secure the raw materials of the South Seas."

On the 7th of December, 1941, early Sunday morning, the Japanese Empire took its measures… delivering its hammerblow to the American Pacific fleet, snoozing at anchor in the Hawaiian Islands. Japan’s war declaration against the United States (and Great Britain) made very specific mention of the oil sanctions: "Our adversaries, showing not the least spirit of conciliation… have intensified the economic and political pressure to compel… our Empire to submission. This trend of affairs would, if left unchecked… endanger the very existence of our nation. The situation being such as it is, our Empire, for its existence and self-defense, has no other recourse but to appeal to arms and to crush every obstacle in its path." The United States Pacific Fleet was in its path, alas.

Not Just a Crime, But a Blunder: Yet as Talleyrand might have argued: The Pearl Harbor aggression was not merely a crime - it was a blunder. The Japanese had blundered their way into the American game trap. United States officials were adamant that Japan deliver the initial blow. That is because they realized it would incense the American public into a very high state of vengeful incandescence. They would fill the recruiting stations with hundreds of thousands of men, each hot to get his hands around Tojo’s neck.

United States War Secretary Henry Stimson, in a diary entry from Nov. 25, 1941: “The question was how we should maneuver them [the Japanese] into firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves.” Just weeks later, here is the same Henry Stimson — reflecting on the wrecks of Pearl Harbor: “My first feeling was of relief … that a crisis had come in a way which would unite all our people.” And so the Japanese blunder.

Yet here is a question: Would the American people shake their fists so angrily against Japan… had they read the War Secretary’s personal diary? We are ridden by doubt. They might rather storm his office in demand of answers.

Picking More Fights: We might add: Prior to Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy had been initiating jousts against German U-boats along the Atlantic convoy routes. Was the United States a neutral power prior to December 1941? And did razzing German U-boats along the Atlantic convoy routes constitute a breach of the neutrality acts to which it pledged? The answers are yes.

Many historians will tell you Mr. Roosevelt was attempting to lure the Germans into another Lusitania trap. But Herr Hitler penetrated the plot. With sharp and shrewd eyes he could see the bait worm wriggling upon Roosevelt’s shiny hook. He ordered his men to avoid all tangles with vessels flying the neutral flag of the United States. He issued any U-boat man who had gotten himself so entangled a severe barking - even if his man had shot back only in strictest defense.

Understanding the Devil Doesn’t Mean You Sympathize With Him: Let it go immediately into the record: We do not bless or condone the Japanese aggressions of December 7, 1941, 81 years ago today - or those of Japan’s Teutonic ally. In our residence, Victory in Europe Day and Victory Over Japan Day are events of high patriotic revelry. They rank third and fourth, respectively, behind only Independence Day and Flag Day.

We seek merely to understand their aggressions - a man who understands the devil’s grievances can nonetheless condemn his tradecraft. In light of the severe embargoes arrayed against the Japanese Empire in the summer of 1941… we do understand its aggressions. We are out simply to illustrate that truth is war’s first battlefield fatality. Alas… the world we inhabit is often less a world of clarifying black and white… but confounding and vexing gray."

- dailyreckoning.com