The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
church of Ara Coeli, Rome, Italy
"Cooked Like a Burger"
by Bill Bonner
Poitou, France - "It’s Assumption Day. And it’s hot. Every group is entitled to its own fantasies...its vanities and its lunacies. They are condensed in slogan form, easy for the masses to remember. "Free the Holy Land’ was popular for generations. ‘Make the World Safe for Democracy’ fizzled out fast. As did the ‘Thousand Year Reich.’
Europe has now settled on ‘global climate change’ as its cause celebre. Its number one public goal is to keep the thermostat set where it is. But this summer, it has not been easy. “Europe is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet,” said a report on France24 yesterday. On our laptop computer is a warning of ‘intense heat.’ Today is a ‘red alert day,’ said the message. We were advised to drink plenty of water, drive more slowly, close our doors and windows and stay inside during midday hours.
AP International: "A heat wave gripped parts of Europe...sending temperatures up to 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 Fahrenheit) in southern France and increasing risks of wildfires in wine country, while Bulgaria suffered blazes along its southern borders and Hungary saw record-breaking weekend temperatures." Scientists say Europe is becoming the world’s fastest-warming continent. The temperature yesterday here in central France was 100 degrees - 21 degrees above normal.
Businesses are closing. Employees are going home. Outdoor fires are prohibited. So is watering the lawn, in many areas. The Independent: "Europe is burning...Spain broke its hottest temperature record on 28 June, and on Wednesday, the country was battling its 10th consecutive day of extreme heat. With the heatwave expected to last until Monday, it is set to become one of the longest the country has ever experienced."
Meanwhile...in the financial news are three big headlines. Yesterday morning, the inflation that tariffs weren’t going to cause showed up. Fox: "Producer prices surged more than expected in July, spurring inflation concerns. Producer prices rose 0.9% last month. If that were to continue, it would mean price increases of around 10% over the next twelve months. (Nobody expects it to be that high.)"
Also in the news was this from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. The committee has been waiting for a responsible budget for a long time. But on this 90th anniversary of Social Security, it looks as though it will wait longer: "Social Security turns 90 today – but its retirement program is on course to be insolvent by age 97 – according to new estimates from the program’s Chief Actuary. Even if combined with the disability trust fund, Social Security will deplete its reserves before it turns 100." The Social Security trust fund was already headed for insolvency; the BBBA made it worse. Come 2032, a typical couple will suffer a $18,400 cut in benefits.
And here’s another ominous trend. In a free enterprise economy, companies are supposed to make their own decisions. They’ve got ‘skin in the game.’ They know what they are doing. And they make profits. Political control of business, on the other hand, doesn’t work so well. Bureaucrats don’t know what they are doing...and don’t have much incentive to do the right thing anyway. That’s why AMTRAK loses money - even with a monopoly on train service in the busiest corridor in the US.
For decades, liberals have tried to get a grip on corporate boards - insisting that they go DEI...with more women, more Blacks, and more ‘community’ representation. Republicans resisted; the feds shouldn’t be meddling in private businesses, they said.
But now it is the Republicans, led by their Big Man, who are undermining free enterprise. CNN last week: "President Donald Trump on Thursday demanded the resignation of Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan following reports and allegations that he has ties to China." And here’s the latest. CNN this week: "The White House reportedly discussing taking a stake in Intel, sending shares climbing." How will that work out? Badly. Once on the board, the feds will vote for whatever is politically attractive, not what makes business sense. Intel will end up as a weaker company and America will be a poorer country.
But Americans’ great vanity is that they believe they are good people. And nothing awful ever happens to good people. It doesn't occur to them that even Christ was crucified and St. Laurence was cooked like a burger. “At least, it was over quickly for him,” says our indefatigable ‘homme a tout faire’ - our handyman, Damien – turning out thoughts back to the weather. More like a member of the family than an employee, Damien has been roasting all week, mowing the fields, watering the garden, fixing fences.
Damien charged up to the house yesterday morning; something was wrong. “Who lit that fire?” he yelled at us as we were having breakfast. Red faced...he was almost beside himself.. “Don’t you know it is illegal to have a fire? A little further south, they are fighting a fire along an 80-kilometer front. And the wind is blowing, so it is very dangerous...burning houses and cars.”
In vineyards and Mediterranean scrubland, hundreds of firefighters remained in the rolling wine country guarding the edges of a massive, deadly blaze that scorched 16,000 hectares last week." “Do you want to cause that kind of thing here?”
The anger was aimed at our son, who had lit a campfire down by the pond. He had come from New York and was pleased to spend time with his childhood friend, who was visiting his own family across the street. “Damien....I’m sorry...I didn’t know,” came the rebuttal. “And we were watching it. We were right there. There was no chance that it would get away from us.” Damien was unsatisfied...but after further remonstrance gave up and smiled. He had done his civic duty, protecting France from irresponsible foreigners.
Yesterday, driving through a neighboring town, we saw no sign of life. Shutters were closed. No one was on the street. It was like a zombie movie. We expected to see a mob of lurching dead people around every corner. Only one bar was open. We ducked under an umbrella and asked for a cool drink. “It’s a disaster for our business,” said the jolly Englishman who ran the place. “Nobody wants to go out.”
And pity the poor tourists! Their vacations ruined by ‘global climate change.’ Why the heat? Why Europe? Why now? France24: "Scientists say climate change, primarily triggered by greenhouse gas emissions mainly from burning fossil fuels, will result in more frequent, severe and dangerous heatwaves."
Of course, leading thinkers once insisted that the world was flat...and that human life was dominated by ‘four humours’ - blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. More recently, they told us that if we didn’t get vaccinated against Covid we were practically dead already...and would kill everyone around us. Scientists, like everyone else, ‘talk their book.’ Heavily bought into the ‘global climate change’ hypothesis, they treat it as fact...and tell us that we will all roast in Hell unless we do as we are told.
But what can we do? Give up eating meat? Turn off the A/C (we have none here, anyway)? Cook with electricity? Stay home...sweat...dig roots for food...and wear rags? The woman next door has a withered arm. But she is an excellent seamstress. She sews patches on our old blue jeans. We’ll save the planet that way, one patch at a time."
