“When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat?”
- Chuck Palahniuk
So, we rise from the rubble...
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Wednesday, May 6, 2026
“Parasitic Derivatives: $1.5 – 2.5 Quadrillion Dollars, Too Big to Understand”
“Parasitic Derivatives: $1.5 – 2.5 Quadrillion Dollars,
Too Big to Understand”
by David Hague
“I recently returned from two weeks of ‘high level’ meetings with a group of Bankers [this is code for two weeks of subsidized debauchery with bankers] in Rome. As I sat at my desk, I was hoping to motivate myself to pursue a more chaste and pure existence. Unfortunately the Polar Vortex experienced by North America drained me of my good intentions. The bone chilling cold once again had me reaching for my trusty bottle of Jack Daniels for warmth and inspiration. My time in Rome had not been completely ‘wasted’, so to speak. I had secured a contract from the European Central Bank [ECB] to research the topic of Derivatives. I was to present my findings at the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos later that month.
One Quadrillion Dollars: Too Big to Understand: Dear Reader, please resist your natural instinct to click away from this commentary at the mere mention of the word ‘Derivatives’. I am acutely aware of the boredom and befuddlement that this word instills in you. At this point I would simply remind you that the derivatives market is estimated to exceed one quadrillion dollars. [This incredibly large number is actually an accurate estimate of the size of the derivatives marketplace]. (In addition, unfunded liabilities, like medical care and pensions, are at least $300 trillion globally. If we add gross derivatives of $1.5 quadrillion, which are likely to turn into real debt as counterparties fail, the total debt and liabilities are above $2 quadrillion. Source - CP) Despite the fact the derivatives market eclipses the market capitalization of the NYSE by an exponential factor, it is not discussed, reported or tracked because it is simply too complicated and opaque. Warren Buffet’s, comment about ‘weapons of mass financial destruction’ seem to be the beginning and end of any discussion on the topic.
Derivatives are a parasitic financial instrument: For those of you who are unschooled on the topic of derivatives, allow me to explain. Derivatives are abstract financial instruments, which, like parasites, can attach themselves to all manner of stocks, bonds, mortgages, commodity, debt obligations, currency exchange, interest rate fluctuations… in short, anything. Derivatives exist in the ‘twilight zone’ of the banking industry. Like black holes, their presence and massive influence are acknowledged yet the true influence on the global economy of this quadrillion dollar ‘event horizon’ is only theoretical. The near catastrophic disasters at Barings, JP Morgan and AIG are small examples of their destructive powers. However I will offer you Investorpedia’s more clinical definition. “A security whose price is dependent upon or derived from one or more underlying assets. The derivative itself is merely a contract between two or more parties.”
You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, {Kenny Rogers}: One might think of derivatives as a random game of online poker: you don’t know who your opponents are [your counterparty], you do not know if you will be paid [counterparty risk], you do not know if the game is legitimate, [lack of regulation], and your opponents are probably able to see what cards you are holding, [market domination by large banks]. As well, you are making bets that in many instances neither you nor your opponents fully grasp [complexity of the market]. With each wager you are potentially risking not only your current assets, but your future assets as well. [Leverage]. In some cases you do not know how much you are betting. Imagine as well, that you play this game every day with trillions of dollars that you do not have. This is the global derivatives market.
It is all Greek to me: Alternately, as derivatives are often created as a form of insurance, think of them as an insurance policy in which you:
• Do not know the name, address or any contact information relating to your insurer.
• Do not know if your insurer has the resources to pay a claim.
• Do not understand the insurance contract as it is written in Greek.
• Must rely on a shadowy third party [ISDA] to decide what constitutes a claim. [Credit event]
• Do not know whether your insurer is itself vulnerable to the particular risk you have contracted with it to insure.
His moral lassitude allowed him to excel: Dear Reader, I digress, let me return to my narrative. The aforementioned lucrative contract was secured by two key factors. The first factor was my friendship with Gustavo Laframboise-Pierre, the European Central Bank’s [ECB] Global Director of Statistical Creation. My relationship with such an esteemed member of the ECB traced its roots back to Gustavo’s days as a bookie for Wall Street’s elite. I referred so much business to him we became very good friends. His station in life took a remarkable turn when a senior member of the ECB, while in New York on a ‘fact finding mission’ [this is code for visiting his favorite escort] made an outrageously large and incorrect wager on the outcome of the 2010 World Cup. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, the term ‘derivative’ is commonly used in sports betting!) The only way the debt could be settled was for the banker to offer Gustavo a highly paid sinecure at the ECB. Gustavo became the Global Director of Statistical Creation with the responsibility of making up statistics to support whatever fantastical and deranged policies Central Banks around the world were initiating. Remarkably Gustavo’s aptitude for numbers, coupled with his moral lassitude allowed him to excel at his job. It was Gustavo who invented the term ‘Quantitative Easing’ as a benign euphemism for runaway money printing.
Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise’: The second factor that secured the contract for me was a chance remark I made as Gustavo and I enjoyed a ‘working lunch’, with several senior executives who represented many of the world’s largest banks. The working lunch was held at Rome’s exclusive Blue Moon Gentleman’s Club. As the featured dancer left the stage I happened to mention to the assorted luminaries that I had read an article on the subject of derivatives. The bankers looked at me with something akin to awe and reverence. Gustavo whispered to me that the topic of derivatives had been discussed in a recent conference call by the world’s bankers. The conclusion reached at that time was that derivatives were too boring and too complicated for bankers to grasp. Despite JP Morgan’s very public, expensive and monumentally stupid 5 billon dollar derivatives trading loss bankers still choose to remain cocooned in a ‘Cloak of Ignorance’ as it relates to derivatives. Thomas Gray’s lament that ‘where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise’ could easily be the mission statement of the global banking industry.
I had read a complete article, I was a ‘de facto expert’: Dear reader, I am not being rude and offensive in my remarks about JP Morgan. Surely you would agree with me that any large bank that loses $5 billion in derivatives trading is ignorant of the properties and risks of derivatives? The fact that I had actually read a complete article on the subject made me a de facto expert on the topic. Gustavo, in an act of kindness, seized the opportunity on my behalf and pressed his colleagues to retain me to research the topic and make a presentation at the upcoming World Economic Forum in Davos. Thus I found myself preparing to dazzle the world’s financial elite with my insights into the risks and opportunities presented by the global derivatives market. In a rush to complete the deal before the next dancer took the stage it was agreed that I would receive the standard banker’s honorarium of $5,000/hour up to a maximum of ‘whatever it takes’.
At $5,000/hr., you would surely not expect me to be brief: I sat at my desk, sipping ‘Gentleman Jack‘ while I looked out at the bleak weather that made Brooklyn so depressing in the winter. My TV was tuned to CNBC, as I waited for Wall Street to open. I put my crack pipe in its case. Dear reader like many of you [especially those of you who work in the banking industry], I have learned all too well, the dangers of mixing crack cocaine with whiskey on an empty stomach. [Have we not all indulged, to our regret, that particular venial sin at least once?] I collected my thoughts and began to write my lengthy tome on the derivatives market. Dear reader at $5,000/hr., you would surely not expect me to be brief.
Lions and Tigers and Bears [and derivatives] Oh My!: I do not want to frighten you. However I will share with you some facts about derivatives that will have you reacting as nervously as Dorothy did in the Wizard of OZ when confronted with the thought of Lions and Tigers and Bears. ‘Derivatives, Oh My’, will I suspect be the words that escape your lips.
• Size of the derivatives market: 1.5 – 2.4 QUADRILLION dollars
• Size of Global Stock and bond markets: 175 trillion dollars
• Who regulates the Derivatives market? LOL, Regulation is a ‘work in progress’ dominated by the big banks.
How dangerous are derivatives? They almost destroyed the world’s largest insurance company, AIG, as well as the global economy. Seriously, you don’t remember? Just Google the words AIG and collapse. Alternately you might call Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan and ask him if Derivatives are dangerous. Have recent regulatory changes made the world economy less likely to implode from a derivative fuelled explosion? Actually as one might expect, thanks to regulatory enhancements that had to run the gauntlet of bank lobbyists prior to their approval, the world’s economy is in more danger than ever from a derivatives inspired meltdown.
‘Duck Dynasty’ and ‘Real Housewives’ to the rescue: How much attention does the Main Street pay to the world’s largest and riskiest casino? [AKA: the Derivatives market]. If one were to Google the word derivatives, one will get 34 million ‘hits’. Alternately, if one does a similar search for the words stocks bonds and markets one will get 400 million ‘hits’. The 34 million ‘hits’ generated by a Google search of the word derivatives compares unfavorably with the 37 million ‘hits’ generated by a search of the term ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’, the 209 million ‘hits’ generated by a search of the term ‘Duck Dynasty’ or the 713 million ‘hits’ generated by searching the word ‘Sex’. One must conclude that only when derivatives are discussed by one of the ‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ posing nude in bed with one of the cast members of ‘Duck Dynasty’ will derivatives receive the attention they deserve.
Reality bites: Derivatives can only be discussed as ‘Fake News’: Where can one find insights and coverage of the Derivatives Market in the mainstream media? Is Fox News or CNN my best choice? Sadly Dear reader your best choice would have been The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Despite the calamitous risk and obvious importance of this topic only Mr. Stewart and his team dared to share information with the general public. Given the outlandish and frightening risks derivatives constitute to the Global Economy, perhaps Mr. Stewart was correct that it can only be discussed in the ‘Fake News’ format.
Derivatives: better suited for Ripley’s Believe it or not than the Wall Street Journal: How bizarre is the derivatives market? How is the concept of money for nothing propagated by the derivatives market? What is the difference between a chump and a champion in the derivatives market? I will leave it to Shah Gilani in his excellent post in “Wall Street: Insights and Indictments“ to explain. Suffice to say that one is able to buy insurance in the derivatives market. One can then cause the insured event to occur by collaborating with a third party. All that remains is to collect the insurance proceeds. [To be clear the proceeds are usually in the tens of millions of dollars.] The derivatives market makes the Ponzi-like money printing of the Central banks look like ‘Amateur Hour’.
Who needs ‘Crack’? Dear reader, usually I needed a little help from my friend Mr. Crack to feel as paranoid and euphoric as I did at this moment. Paranoid, because it was clear to me that the derivatives market was truly a weapon of mass financial destruction. Euphoric because I knew that my research would make my ‘Derivatives’ presentation at the World Economic Forum a groundbreaking ‘tour de force’ that would vault me to the forefront of ‘talking heads’ that pass for experts on mainstream media. Fame, fortune, a book deal and perhaps that elusive Nobel Prize would surely follow. My twenty minutes of painstaking research, had made me one of the world’s foremost experts on this complex subject. [BTW Dear Reader by reaching this point in my commentary, you surely now know more about derivatives than most bankers and traders on Wall Street. You should be quite pleased.]
David, you are an imbecile: I decided to reach out to my pal Gustavo and share some of my findings. I knew that it was 3:30 in the afternoon in Paris so I would be able to catch Gustavo just as he arrived for another day of work. “Gustavo”, I intoned, breathless with excitement. “I have uncovered some startling, controversial, and frightening information about derivatives. The luminaries and leading lights who attend my presentation in Davos will be utterly gobsmacked by my revelations. The media will undoubtedly ensure that my findings go viral. The topic of derivatives will no longer exist only in the dark shadows of the banking industry. The danger that derivatives pose to the global economy will permeate the consciousness of Main Street.” Gustavo sighed, “David, I do not know if you are stupid or naïve. Every September when you bet $1,000 that the perennially atrocious Toronto Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup, I assumed you were simply ingenuous. Your comments today have convinced me that you are an imbecile. Let me assure you that those will not be the findings that you present at the World Economic Forum. Rather you will inform the world that derivatives are a financial instrument that is being used by brilliant and prudent financial professionals to mitigate risk and make the world a safer place.”
The ‘Truth Will Out’: “Gustavo”, I groaned, “that would be a lie. I cannot in good conscience, sacrifice my integrity, my honor, my core beliefs and my good name simply to placate Wall Street and the Central Banks. I have a responsibility to my readers on Main Street to inform them, to warn them, to prepare them for the likely financial chaos that derivatives will cause”. “Gustavo”, I said with iron willed determination, “the Truth Will Out”. “David”, Gustavo snarled, “If you change the tenor of your presentation and indicate that derivatives are the most benign form of financial instrument, somewhat akin to Treasury bills, we will double your fee”.
Move along nothing to see here: Dear Reader, in summary let me say that derivatives are the most benign form of financial instrument, somewhat akin to treasury bills. Gustavo’s immutable logic and persuasive argument was instrumental in helping me reach the correct conclusion regarding the risks to the Global economy posed by derivatives. So Dear Reader, move along, there is nothing to see here.”
o
"$2.5 Quadrillion Disaster Waiting to Happen
– Egon von Greyerz"
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
"There is sufficiency in the world
for Man's need but not for his greed."
- Mahatma Gandhi
From November 1, 2022, and more terrifyingly worse now... "Egon von Greyerz (EvG) stores gold for clients at the biggest private gold vault in the world buried deep in the Swiss Alps. EvG is a financial and precious metals expert. EvG is a former Swiss banker and an expert in risk. He says the risk in the global markets has never been this high.
EvG explains, “Credit has increased dramatically through derivatives. All instruments being issued now by banks, pension funds, stock funds, it’s all synthetic. There is no real underlying payments in anything almost. Therefore, my estimate for derivatives would be at least $2 quadrillion, and I think that is probably conservative. Then, we have debt on top of that of $300 trillion, and we also have a couple hundred trillion dollars of unfunded liabilities. So, we are talking about $2.5 QUADRILLION, and that’s with a global GDP of $88 trillion. So, there is a disaster waiting to happen, and especially because all this created money has created no value whatsoever. I always knew this would collapse, and it’s taken longer than I expected, but I think we are at the end of a major era.
These derivatives, at some point soon, will actually turn into debt. Central banks will have to cover all the outstanding liabilities of the commercial banks as we are seeing now with Credit Suisse, Bank of England and etc. This is going to happen across the board. Whether it’s called derivatives or called debt, as far as I am concerned, it’s the same thing. It will have the same effect on the world financial system, which will be disastrous, of course.”
EvG says the derivative markets were simply a way for financial institutions to carry debt and not show it on their balance sheets. In the end, everything will balance out. EvG goes on to say, “Nobody can repay the debt, and they can’t even pay interest. So, therefore, when the debt implodes, so will the assets that were financed by this debt. So, both sides of the balance sheet have to come down. Whether it comes down by 50%, 75% or 90%, I don’t know. All I think about is risk, and the financial system will not survive in its present form. Central banks only use one kind of medicine, and that is more printed money. Now, you are getting negative returns on printed money. So, that is not going to save anything.
Sadly we are looking at a situation when this system will start to implode. The rich are still rich, but the poor are really poor. Overall in the UK, Germany and most European countries, people don’t have enough money to live. This is a human disaster already. With food costs going up 25% and energy going up the same and gasoline, interest rates and rents, people don’t have enough money, and that is happening now. It’s a human disaster of mega proportions. It’s so sad, and governments will have no chance of doing anything about it. The risk is increasing exponentially, and it is going to get worse.” There is much more in the 43-minute interview.
Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One with Egon von Greyerz of Matterhorn Asset Management, which can be found on GoldSwitzerland.com.
o
Greg Hunter, "US Officially a Banana Republic"
"US Officially a Banana Republic"
by Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
"Last time financial writer and precious metals expert Bill Holter (aka Mr. Gold) was on USAW, he said don’t even think about selling any gold or silver. One of the big reasons why he is still saying this is the news last week that the US debt to GDP ratio is now at 100%. Mr. Gold says, “I have talked for years about how the entire world runs on credit. What we started this off with is the United States is officially a banana republic. It’s 100% debt to GDP. When I was in school in the early 1980s, the definition of a banana republic is when it hit 100% debt to GDP. In this instance, it is the issuer of the world’s reserve currency that is admitting it is officially a banana republic. Everything runs on credit. The biggest issuer of credit is the United States, and if their credit card gets declined, then what does that do to the real economy? Nothing will work. There will be nothing on shelves. Stores will be dark. Should you store food? The answer is yes because something really bad is right in front of us. It’s a credit collapse.”
So, the Trump Administration is not going to just let everything collapse. What is the contingency plan? Mr. Gold says, “I think the contingency plan is oil. They went after Maduro. So, they have taken control of the Venezuelan oil supply. They want to do the same thing elsewhere. I mean President Trump said in his own words, he said basically we are pirates, and we are going to take Iran’s oil. I think that’s the plan. It is to control more oil and keep the petrodollar system alive. Is it going to work? I think, ultimately, it will not work because the numbers are far too upside down at this point. If you really look under the hood, the Federal Reserve itself is insolvent. And we have not even talked about derivatives. Derivatives are the gorilla in the room. In the derivative market, you are looking at $2 quadrillion in derivatives. Once you get things off sides, and an example of that is look at the British yields, they are back to pushing 7%. They are back to rates that are the same as in 1998. So, all of the easing is gone. Everything runs on credit, and once you gum up credit, you start affecting the real economy. Then, there is less cash flow in the real economy, and that spills over into the financial economy and financial markets.
Derivatives are the biggest danger. Warren Buffett calls them mass financial destruction. It should not go unnoticed that Berkshire Hathaway is now sitting on $400 billion of cash, which is the biggest hoard they have ever had. In 1998, the financial media called him an idiot, and what happened in 2000? Buffett was an idiot again in early 2008. What happened in late 2008 and 2009? Buffett is not an idiot, and for him to say now that there is nothing out there of value to buy and I’d rather have cash, that tells you a pretty big story.”
On silver, Holter says, “I think we are reloading for a much larger event than we saw in November to January. That 90 days was spectacular, but I think this next move is going to dwarf that.” Holter says many big analysts are predicting silver much, much higher by the end of the year." There is much more in the 42-minute interview.
Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes one-on-one with financial writer and precious metals expert Bill Holter/Mr. Gold as the “credit collapse” in the financial system begins.
"In The Souls Of The People..."
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"There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success."
“And the great owners, who must lose their land in an upheaval, the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed. The great owners ignored the three cries of history. The land fell into fewer hands, the number of the dispossessed increased, and every effort of the great owners was directed at repression. The money was spent for arms, for gas to protect the great holdings, and spies were sent to catch the murmuring of revolt so that it might be stamped out. The changing economy was ignored, plans for the change ignored; and only means to destroy revolt were considered, while the causes of revolt went on.”
“...and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.”
- John Steinbeck, "The Grapes Of Wrath"
Freely Download "The Grapes Of Wrath", by John Steinbeck, here:
"Americans Are Feeling the Economy Collapse in Real-Time"
"Americans Are Feeling the
Economy Collapse in Real-Time"
by Martin Armstrong
"A new Gallup poll shows that 55% of Americans now believe their financial situation is getting worse, the highest level recorded since Gallup began tracking the data in 2001. Even during the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID lockdown collapse, Americans were not this pessimistic about their personal finances. That alone tells you the mainstream narrative claiming the economy is “booming” is completely disconnected from reality.
The most important detail is why people feel this way. Roughly 31% of Americans now cite the cost of living as their biggest financial problem, while concerns over energy prices surged 10 percentage points in a single year to the highest level since 2008. Americans are not reacting to one isolated issue. They are being hit simultaneously by rising food costs, insurance premiums, housing expenses, property taxes, debt payments, utility bills, and fuel prices.
This is precisely what happens during the later stages of a debt cycle. Governments and central banks spent years artificially suppressing interest rates while flooding the system with liquidity. Asset prices exploded higher, but the real economy underneath weakened steadily. Once inflation returned and rates normalized upward, the pressure shifted directly onto households.
The media continues pointing to stock indexes and headline employment numbers while ignoring collapsing consumer confidence underneath the surface. Ordinary people do not measure the economy through the S&P 500. They measure it through grocery bills, rent, gas prices, insurance costs, and monthly debt payments.
The poll also found that 62% of Americans are now worried about not having enough money for retirement, while concerns about paying normal monthly bills and maintaining living standards remain near record highs. Credit card anxiety has risen sharply as well, reflecting how dependent many households became on debt simply to maintain basic consumption.
The ECM has projected rising volatility into this decade because sovereign debt crises eventually infect household confidence and consumer behavior. Governments can manipulate statistics temporarily, but they cannot force consumers to feel financially secure when purchasing power keeps deteriorating."
Bill Bonner, "Easily Squeezed"
"Easily Squeezed"
by Bill Bonner
"What will be unfolding at unprecedented scale during the months ahead is dislocations, screaming imbalances, severe bottlenecks and absolute physical shortages in global markets for upwards of 200 million BOE of liquid petroleum, LNG, LPGs and hydrocarbon processing by-products - fertilizer, sulfur, helium, aluminum etc. These unfolding dislocations will be roiling the global economy like never before.’"- David Stockman
Youghal, Ireland - "A recent poll reported in The Hill: "Most Americans say Trump is mentally, physically unfit to serve effectively." This may be good news to Republicans and maybe even to Trump himself. It gives him space to exit the stage with at least some grace; he can simply retire. He knows that if the Democrats get control of Congress the investigations and indictments won’t be long in coming. Who made those near-perfect trades based on Trump’s upcoming announcements? How much did the Trumps make from their World Liberty Financial scheme; what exactly were the Trump boys offering investors? Should the Navy officers who killed alleged drug importers stand trial for murder?
This may not be just idle day-dreaming. There is a powerful undertow that is poisoning Trump’s poll numbers, threatening Republican control of Congress, and menacing the empire itself. We’re entertaining the idea that the double blockades on the Strait of Hormuz may have repercussions on the banks of the Potomac. Trump’s blue water troops besiege the Indo-Aryans (Iranians), while the Iranians besiege the world oil market. POTUS bets that the Iranians will yell ‘uncle’ first.
Maybe. But Iranians have little debt. Who would lend to them? Their economy is like a walnut - small, dry, with a hard shell. You could press it in a vise, but you’d be unlikely to get much juice. The entire public debt of Iran is only $162 billion - about 25% of its tiny GDP.
How different is the economy of the US and much of the rest of the world - so lush, airy and soft...so easily squeezed. In the US, the feds owe $39 trillion...130% of GDP. Including private debt, for every dollar of output, Americans owe $2.50.
Iran can afford to suffer. Its people are used to it. They have been hammered by years of US sanctions and steeled white hot by bombing and killings. In the US, on the other hand, even a temporary lapse in broadband coverage could set off a revolution. As for a dollar-a-gallon increase in the price of gasoline, come the next election...it is probably a ‘regime changer.’
So far, the world has missed out on about 900 million barrels of oil. They didn’t disappear...they just got stuck in the ‘pipe. And Goldman Sachs estimates that even if the two sides decide to work out a re-opening of the strait today, the total accumulated loss of ready oil supplies will be 1.6 billion barrels.
A rich, debt-drenched society is fragile. A poor, pay-as-you-go economy is not. So, what happens when a billion barrels of oil are removed from the world economy...that is, when people have to spend more to get gas, fertilizer, sulphur, etc? How do voters feel if they have to wait in line for gasoline...or their supermarkets run out of potatoes? And what do farmers do when they can’t afford fertilizers? These ‘dislocations’ are already in the ‘pipe.’ They took the place of the oil that wasn’t delivered. How it will work, exactly...what link will break first - we’ll find out.
But look for higher interest rates. Because the savings that might have been used to fund past borrowing must now be directed to current expenses. Also, lenders begin to think their money might be safer at home, rather than lent out to people who may, or may not, be able to pay it back. And the higher rates could easily hasten the decline of the leveraged empire, which may be the real historical intent. Why else send three Israeli advocates – Kushner, Lutnick, and now Stewart – to bargain for peace…unless you didn’t want to succeed?
o
Adventures With Danno, "Massive Price Increases At Family Dollar"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 5/6/26
"Massive Price Increases At Family Dollar"
Comments here:
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
"Iran's Next Move Will Shock The World - Israel Has No Answer!"
Professor Marandi Report, 5/5/26
"Iran's Next Move Will Shock The World -
Israel Has No Answer!"
"The Middle East is on a knife’s edge. As tensions surge between Iran, Israel, and the United States, new developments suggest the situation could spiral far beyond what anyone expected. In this urgent analysis, Dr. Marandi breaks down why Iran may be preparing a move that could redefine the entire conflict - and why its impact could shock the world.
Recent reports show the situation rapidly escalating despite a fragile ceasefire. The U.S. has launched naval operations to secure shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz, while clashes, drone attacks, and regional strikes continue to unfold. At the same time, missile and drone attacks have expanded beyond Israel, hitting key infrastructure in the Gulf and raising fears of a wider regional war. Behind the scenes, high-level discussions are already underway as leaders prepare for the possible collapse of the ceasefire and a return to full-scale conflict. With global oil supplies, shipping lanes, and alliances at stake, every move now carries massive consequences.
Dr. Marandi explores what Iran’s next step could be, whether escalation or strategic deterrence is more likely, and why this moment may define the future of the region. Is the world heading toward a turning point - or something far more dangerous? Get the full breakdown, real context, and expert insight beyond the headlines."
Comments here:
"God Bless America"
Full screen recommended.
"God Bless America"
"Iran just dropped another LEGO video that will make every American cry. A prayer from afar. A song for every worker, dreamer, soldier, farmer, mother, veteran, and soul carrying the weight of uncertain times. “God Bless America” is a cinematic LEGO music video blending emotional storytelling, country gospel energy, and powerful American imagery into one unforgettable experience. From Kansas farms and Detroit factories to crowded city streets and quiet church pews, this song speaks to the struggles, division, hope, and resilience of ordinary Americans. This isn’t about politics. It’s about people. About faith during hard times. About unity when the world feels broken. Created with cinematic LEGO animation, emotional orchestration, and heartfelt lyrics, this project was made to remind people that hope can still shine through darkness. If this song moved you, share it with someone who needs encouragement tonight."
Dan, I Allegedly, "AI, Layoffs and War - It’s Getting Worse Fast"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 5/5/26
"AI, Layoffs and War - It’s Getting Worse Fast"
"The economy is sending clear warning signs, and today we break down the real story behind layoffs, inflation, and global conflict. Major corporations are cutting jobs at an alarming pace, blaming AI while quietly reducing costs and reshaping the workforce. At the same time, inflation is not cooling as promised—gas prices, food, insurance, and everyday essentials continue to rise, putting more pressure on working Americans. On top of that, global tensions and war are directly impacting your wallet, from higher fuel costs to rising travel expenses. The housing market remains distorted, debt is exploding, and central banks are admitting that people are getting poorer. This is the reality behind the headlines - and why so many people feel like the economy is getting worse, not better."
Comments here:
Gerald Celente, "Global Warning: Stagflation, No! Dragflation: Declining Economic Growth And Rising Inflation"
Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 5/5/26
"Global Warning: Stagflation, No!
Dragflation: Declining Economic Growth And Rising Inflation"
"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:
"A Look to the Heavens"
"Galaxies of the Virgo Cluster are scattered across this deep telescopic field of view. The cosmic scene spans about three Full Moons, captured in dark skies near Jalisco, Mexico, planet Earth. About 50 million light-years distant, the Virgo Cluster is the closest large galaxy cluster to our own local galaxy group. Prominent here are Virgo's bright elliptical galaxies from the Messier catalog, M87 at the top left, and M84 and M86 seen (bottom to top) below and right of center.
M84 and M86 are recognized as part of Markarian's Chain, a visually striking line-up of galaxies vertically on the right side of this frame. Near the middle of the chain lies an intriguing interacting pair of galaxies, NGC 4438 and NGC 4435, known to some as Markarian's Eyes. Of course giant elliptical galaxy M87 dominates the Virgo cluster. It's the home of a super massive black hole, the first black hole ever imaged by planet Earth's Event Horizon Telescope."
o
"The eternal silence of infinite spaces frightens me. Why now rather than then? Who has put me here? By whose order and direction have this place and time have been ascribed to me? We travel in a vast sphere, always drifting in the uncertain, pulled from one side to another. Whenever we find a fixed point to attach and to fasten ourselves, it shifts and leaves us; and if we follow it, it eludes our grasp, slips past us, and vanishes for ever. Nothing stays for us. This is our natural condition, most contrary to our inclination; we burn with desires to find solid ground and an ultimate and solid foundation for building a tower reaching to the Infinite. But always these bases crack, and the earth obstinately opens up into abysses. We are infinitely removed from comprehending the extremes, since the end of things and their beginning are hopelessly hidden from us in an encapsulated secret; we are equally incapable of seeing the Nothing from which we were made, and the Infinite in which we are swallowed up."
- Blaise Pascal
Chet Raymo, "On Saying 'I Don't Know'"
"On Saying 'I Don't Know'"
by Chet Raymo
“Johannes Kepler is best known for figuring out the laws of planetary motion. In 1610, he published a little book called “The Six-Cornered Snowflake” that asked an even more fundamental question: How do visible forms arise? He wrote: "There must be some definite reason why, whenever snow begins to fall, its initial formation is invariably in the shape of a six-pointed starlet. For if it happens by chance, why do they not fall just as well with five corners or with seven?"
All around him Kepler saw beautiful shapes in nature: six-pointed snowflakes, the elliptical orbits of the planets, the hexagonal honeycombs of bees, the twelve-sided shape of pomegranate seeds. Why? he asks. Why does the stuff of the universe arrange itself into five-petaled flowers, spiral galaxies, double-helix DNA, rhomboid crystals, the rainbow's arc? Why the five-fingered, five-toed, bilaterally symmetric beauty of the newborn child? Why?
Kepler struggles with the problem, and along the way he stumbles onto sphere-packing. Why do pomegranate seeds have twelve flat sides? Because in the growing pomegranate fruit the seeds are squeezed into the smallest possible space. Start with spherical seeds, pack them as efficiently as possible with each sphere touching twelve neighbors. Then squeeze. Voila! And so he goes, convincing us, for example, that the bee's honeycomb has six sides because that's the way to make honey cells with the least amount of wax. His book is a tour-de-force of playful mathematics.
In the end, Kepler admits defeat in understanding the snowflake's six points, but he thinks he knows what's behind all of the beautiful forms of nature: A universal spirit pervading and shaping everything that exists. He calls it nature's "formative capacity." We would be inclined to say that Kepler was just giving a fancy name to something he couldn't explain. To the modern mind, "formative capacity" sounds like empty words.
We can do somewhat better. For example, we explain the shape of snowflakes by the shape of water molecules, and we explain the shape of water molecules with the mathematical laws of quantum physics. Since Kepler's time, we have made impressive progress towards understanding the visible forms of snowflakes, crystals, rainbows, and newborn babes by probing ever deeper into the heart of matter. But we are probably no closer than Kepler to answering the ultimate questions: What is the reason for the curious connection between nature and mathematics? Why are the mathematical laws of nature one thing rather than another? Why does the universe exist at all? Like Kepler, we can give it a name, but the most forthright answer is simply: I don't know.”
"More Than 80% Of Young Adults Believe That The Economy Is “Bad” Or “Terrible” And We Are Seeing The Consequences All Over America"
by Michael Snyder
"Decades of economic decline have brought this country to a breaking point. The vast majority of the population is barely scraping by from month to month as prices continue to rise, thousands of stores and restaurants close, foreclosures spike to alarming levels and the middle class continues to shrink. Now the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz threatens to make things a whole lot worse, and a lot of people are justifiably concerned about what this will mean for their futures.
Our young adults are being hit particularly hard. If you purchased a home 20 or 30 years ago, you are insulated from what is really going on out there. Housing costs are more unaffordable than ever, and many young people have completely given up on the dream of homeownership. Meanwhile, the employment market has gotten very tight, and this is especially true for entry-level jobs.
Do you know anyone under the age of 40 that is doing really well in this economy? Yes, there are some exceptions, but in general our young adults are really struggling. As a result, homelessness is at record levels and hordes of drug addicts are roaming the streets of our major cities. If you doubt this, just check out this video that shows what has happened to the once great city of Los Angeles.It was once a playground for the rich and famous, but now it has been transformed into a rotting, decaying hellhole.
It is undeniable that most of our young adults hate this economy. In fact, a new survey that was just released found that a whopping 84 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 believe that economic conditions in the U.S. are either “bad” or “terrible”… A recent survey by Generation Lab found that more than 8 in 10 young adults rate economic conditions in the U.S. as either bad or terrible. The survey, conducted April 26-29, found that 55 percent of 546 respondents ages 18-24 said they view the economy as bad, while 29 percent said it was terrible. The same survey discovered that 81 percent of Americans between the ages of 25 and 29 believe that economic conditions in the U.S. are either “bad” or “terrible”…As for those in the 25-29 age range, 52 percent of 266 such respondents said the economy was bad. About 3 in 10 respondents said it was terrible, for a combined percentage of 81 percent that view the economy negatively.
This is what a long-term economic collapse looks like. Many people have had their heads in the sand for years, but meanwhile economic conditions have continued to deteriorate all around us. A different survey that polled American adults of all ages found that 78 percent of us do not feel financially secure at this stage…A new Intuit Credit Karma/Harris Poll study found that 78% of Americans don’t feel financially secure, even if they’ve been saving and playing by the rules. Moreover, nearly 3 in 4 Americans (72%) shared that their current financial standing makes them feel like they will never have enough money to achieve the American dream.
Let’s get real. These numbers didn’t suddenly appear in a vacuum. The truth is that our standard of living has been declining for a very long time. I am about to share something with you that is absolutely shocking. One man recently shared his paystub that shows what he brings home every two weeks. After taxes, healthcare and child support, his net pay after working 85 hours is just $163.02…
How is he supposed to live on that? I am so frustrated with those that think that everything is going to be just fine. The number of foreclosure filings in the U.S. skyrocketed in 2025, and in the first quarter of this year they were 26 percent above last year’s blistering pace… The Wall Street Journal reported that data from Attom shows the number of U.S. properties with a foreclosure filing has trended up to nearly 119,000 in the first quarter, an increase of 26% from the same period last year. That figure is the highest since the first quarter of 2020, when mortgage relief measures implemented to mitigate the economic impact of COVID shutdowns led to a steep decline in foreclosures.
Unfortunately, the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz is making things even worse. The average price of a gallon of gasoline in California is now up to $6.114… California gas prices have climbed to eye-watering levels, with one rural county emerging as one of the most expensive fuel markets in the United States. Mono County, a remote area in eastern California just east of Yosemite National Park, is seeing average prices close to seven dollars per gallon, according to AAA data. That compares with a statewide average of $6.114 per gallon and a national average of $4.457.
As I discussed yesterday, some residents of Los Angeles are now paying more than 8 dollars a gallon. Higher gasoline prices will mean that Americans have even less discretionary income to play around with. Some restaurant chains are already feeling this…Wingstop, a chicken-wing chain that touts its affordability, said that higher fuel prices contributed to an 8.7% decline in quarterly same-store sales. The chain’s CEO, Michael Skipworth, said Wednesday on a call with investors that it was “extremely difficult for anyone to predict this macro environment,” adding that he expects shrinking sales over this year in part because of expectations that gas prices will remain high.
This is not something that may or may not happen someday. This is happening right now, and we are witnessing the consequences all over America. In Los Angeles, rampant social decay has become a way of life…Reality star-turned-Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt shared a devastating must-see campaign advertisement on X, showing how dire the situation is in LA under Democrat leadership.
The somber video, titled “City of Angels, Fallen – Part 1,” uses a rapid montage of raw street footage, news clips, and on-screen text to show just how far Los Angeles has declined under Karen Bass and Democrats, noting, “business as usual is a death sentence.” Included in the video are stark images of homeless camps, a person lying unconscious or asleep on a dirty sidewalk next to trash bags, a sandwich on a plate, scattered belongings, and individuals who appear to be in the throes of drug abuse.
How could we have allowed this to happen? According to Pratt, there are 70,000 drug addicts that are roaming the streets… Speaking on fire recovery, Pratt notes, “The city failed everyone. The insurance companies failed everyone.” He continues, “Mothers who want to go to the park but don’t want to inhale fentanyl from the 70,000 drug addicts that the Mayor currently let’s live on our streets.”
Of course this isn’t just happening in Los Angeles. In Seattle, street violence has become so common outside of one McDonald’s restaurant that it has become known as “McStabby’s”… Two thugs were caught on video viciously beating an elderly man outside of ‘America’s scariest McDonald’s.’ The Seattle restaurant is so dangerous it is nicknamed ‘McStabby’s’, and bans customers from going inside due to constant mayhem. In the latest chaotic scene, two men were seen standing on the street outside the eatery around 10pm on April 19 when a frail 77-year-old man walked towards them. The two men then approached the victim before one struck him in the head.
Needless to say, it isn’t just old men that are being viciously attacked for no reason. One very unfortunate 33-year-old man is on the verge of death after being hit in the head with a hammer more than a dozen times…A 33-year-old Seattle man is fighting for his life after his mother says a stranger repeatedly hit him in the head with a hammer in an unprovoked assault. Lisa Driscoll is calling for justice after her son, 33-year-old George Miller, was beaten repeatedly with a hammer just after midnight Monday outside the Renaissance Hotel. She says a stranger hit him in the head more than a dozen times. “It was an evil, brutal, unprovoked, horrific attack,” Driscoll said. “Someone who was reported to appear to be hunting to attack someone crossed over, took a hammer out of their backpack and started beating him over the head repeatedly.”
Whether we like it or not, this is our country now. We have raised an entire generation of young people that is simply not equipped to deal with very harsh economic conditions. Sadly, economic conditions are only going to get harsher. It is time to wake up, because a nightmare scenario really is upon us."
Free Download: Gustave Le Bon, "The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind"
"The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim. "
- Gustave Le Bon
Freely download "The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind",
by Gustave Le Bon, here:
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“Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than
when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right.”
- Laurens van der Post
“‘Sometimes’: Poet and Philosopher David Whyte’s Stunning Meditation on Walking into the Questions of Our Becoming”
“‘Sometimes’: Poet and Philosopher David Whyte’s
Stunning Meditation on Walking into the Questions of Our Becoming”
by Maria Popova
“The role of the artist, James Baldwin believed, is “to make you realize the doom and glory of knowing who you are and what you are.” This, too, is the role of the forest, it occurs to me as I walk the ferned, mossed woods daily to lose my self and find myself between the trees; to “live the questions,” in Rilke’s lovely phrase – to let the rustling of the leaves beckon forth the stirrings and murmurings on the edge of the psyche, which we so often brush away in order to go on being the smaller version of ourselves we have grown accustomed to being out of the unfaced fear that the grandeur of life, the grandeur of our own untrammeled nature, might require of us more than we are ready to give.
Those disquieting, transformative stirrings are what the poet and philosopher David Whyte explores with surefooted subtlety in his poem “Sometimes,” found in his altogether life-enlarging collection “Everything Is Waiting for You” (public library) and read here by the poet himself as part of a wonderful short course of poem-driven practices for neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris’s “Waking Up” meditation toolkit (which I can’t recommend enough and which operates under an inspired, honorable model of granting free subscriptions to those who need this invaluable mental health aid but don’t have the means).
“Sometimes”
“Sometimes
if you move carefully
through the forest,
breathing
like the ones
in the old stories,
who could cross
a shimmering bed of leaves
without a sound,
you come to a place
whose only task
is to trouble you
with tiny
but frightening requests,
conceived out of nowhere
but in this place
beginning to lead everywhere.
Requests to stop what
you are doing right now,
and
to stop what you
are becoming
while you do it,
questions
that can make
or unmake
a life,
questions
that have patiently
waited for you,
questions
that have no right
to go away.”
- David Whyte
"I Remember..."
"I remember my youth and the feeling that will never come back any more, the feeling that I could last forever, outlast the sea, the earth, and all men; the deceitful feeling that lures us on to joys, to perils, to love, to vain effort, to death; the triumphant conviction of strength, the heat of life in the handful of dust, the glow in the heart that with every year grows dim, grows cold, grows small, and expires and expires, too soon, too soon, before life itself."
- Joseph Conrad, 1857-1924, English writer.
The Poet: Rolf Jacobsen, "When They Sleep"
"When They Sleep"
"All people are children when they sleep.
There's no war in them then.
They open their hands and breathe
in that quiet rhythm heaven has given them.
They pucker their lips like small children
and open their hands halfway,
soldiers and statesmen, servants and masters.
The stars stand guard
and a haze veils the sky,
a few hours when no one will do anybody harm.
If only we could speak to one another then
when our hearts are half-open flowers.
Words like golden bees
would drift in.
God, teach me the language of sleep."
- Rolf Jacobsen,
"The Roads Have Come to an End Now"
Bill Bonner, "Live by the Sword"
Engraved illustration of Assyrian King,
"Live by the Sword"
by Bill Bonner
"I’m ‘the most powerful person to ever live."
- Donald Trump
Youghal, Ireland - "What do you do with a man like that? Ashurbanipal might be a good model. He inherited an empire from his father. He is credited, or accused, of being ambitious, ruthless and cruel. He, like Donald Trump, faced challenges. And he, like DJT, thought the best way to deal with them was with superior force.
Ashurbanipal...the most powerful person to live, up until then, which was 669 BC. The Assyrian king fought with Arabs, Aramaeans, Medes, Thebians, Nubians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Cimmerians, Lydians, Chaldeans, Gambulians, Elamites, Indo-Aryans (Iranians) and just about everyone else. He described his triumphs...‘I cut off the head of Teumann, their king - the haughty one, who plotted evil. Countless of his warriors I slew. Alive, with my hands, I seized his fighters. With their corpses I filled the plain about Susa as with baltu and ashagu. Their blood I let run down the Ulai; its water I dyed red like wool.’
No more Mr. Nice Guy, he! Ashurbonipal had his enemies’ tongues cut out...and flayed alive. God was on his side...anyone who opposed him must be a terrorist, on the outs with Divine Will. From the Nile to the Persian Gulf, no one had seen anything like it! The Assyrians did to their recalcitrant enemies what POTUS threatened to do to Tehran: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”
Ashurbonipal didn’t back away from genocide either. His attacks were so thorough, the Elamites soon disappeared from history. Too bad all that shock and awe didn’t work out better for Ashurbanipal himself. He described what it felt like at the end: ‘I cannot do away with the strife in my country and the dissensions in my family; disturbing scandals oppress me always. Illness of mind and flesh bow me down; with cries of woe I bring my days to an end. I am wretched; death is seizing hold upon me, and bears me down...’
Et tu, Donald? History remembers a whole line of people who were the most powerful who ever lived. Where are they now? However horrible it may be, there is surely room for one more. But what do you expect? You live by the sword, the blade eventually finds your own neck. Neither Ashurbonipal nor his empire survived the intense world of Near Eastern rivalries. They made enemies of almost all the tribes around them. And after murdering thousands of people...destroying dozens of towns...and salting the earth around many of them, there was bound to be Hell to pay.
In the event, the Assyrian empire may have limped along for another twenty years after Ashurbanipal died. But the glory years were over. And as in so many things in life...including life itself...the end was probably not as much fun as the beginning. But here we are, more than 2,600 years later...and once again, there’s a bull on the loose in the Near Eastern china shop.
So far, the Iranians have resisted the empire’s demands. They had the cheek to crimp the world’s supply of oil...which caused POTUS to lay siege to the Gulf, trying to cut Iran off from its own oil revenues. And now, with Brent crude trading as high as $114 a barrel, ‘when will things return to normal’ is not so much a question as it is a prayer. Alas, the answer is ‘never.’
Here is the surprise that may still be underbought – and may mark the end of Trump’s reign. It takes time to deliver and refine oil and petrol-based products. And since the delivery system is sized for regular use, not episodic surges, we can assume that when it gets going again, it will resume its previous rate. The 900 million barrels that got stuck in the Gulf will not suddenly appear at neighborhood gas stations. The ships that bring them out of the Gulf will not ‘step on the gas.’ Refineries and storage tanks won’t pop their rivets to take in the new supplies. Instead, it will be as if the oil never existed.
It’s like turning on the water in your shower. It doesn’t matter how long you go without bathing...you still get the same water flow. Which means, even if the most powerful person who ever lived kissed Ayatollah tomorrow, begging forgiveness from Allah Himself (perhaps aiming for a deal that included 72 virgins in the afterlife) the world would still be minus almost a billion barrels of oil. How that loss will affect us is our subject for tomorrow..."
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