Chet Raymo, “Examination of Conscience”

“Examination of Conscience”
by Chet Raymo

"I have been reading Stephanie Smallwood's “Saltwater Slavery,” a close examination of the trade in human beings between the coast of West Africa and the Americas in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is a sobering read, but if there is one thing I came away with, it was this: We have an enormous capacity to rationalize the most horrendous crimes. Everyone involved in the slave trade - the European owners of the ships, the masters of the trading companies, the ship captains and crews, the plantation owners in the West Indies and the Chesapeake, the African tribal chiefs who captured and sold their neighbors to the European merchants - knew in some part of their souls that what they were doing was wrong. All of them - good Christians among them, pillars of their communities - found ways to rationalize their participation.

Who among us is immune to self deceit? To what extent am I implicated in the horrendous tragedies that are Darfur and Iraq? What do I owe to the global environment? Is there such a thing as innocence when we are so intimately connected that people in Fiji and Japan will read these words only moments after I write them?

What about science, the favored subject of this blog? Here is Smallwood: “The littoral [of the West African coast]...was more than a site of economic exchange and incarceration. The violence exercised in the service of human commodification relied upon a scientific empiricism always seeking to find the limits of human capacity for suffering, that point where material and social poverty threatened to consume entirely the lives it was meant to garner for sale in the Americas.”

Even science, like religion and democratic politics, can be pressed into the service of evil. We are all of us to some extent in the grip of economic forces as powerful and sometimes as pernicious as those that drove the saltwater slave trade. Few of us are required to personally face the direst evils. We are saved from moral anguish only by the fact that our acts of commission and omission ripple outward until their consequences are diluted and lost in the general happiness or unhappiness of humankind.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

"Once We Begin To See..."

"The apple cannot be stuck back on the Tree of Knowledge; once we begin

to see, we are doomed and challenged to seek the strength to see more, not less."
- Arthur Miller

The Daily "Near You?"

 

Philomath, Oregon, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Greg Hunter, "Super Exponential Money Printing & Debt Phase"

"Super Exponential Money Printing & Debt Phase"

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

"Financial and precious metals expert Egon von Greyerz (EvG) stores gold for clients at the biggest gold vault in the world buried deep in the Swiss Alps. This year, EvG’s company, Matterhorn Asset Management, has seen “a major inflow, a massive inflow of big amounts of gold” being vaulted by his wealthy clients. Why the big spike in people wanting physical gold? EvG says, “You have seen this year incredible money creation around the world by central banks along with the massive debt increases. You are looking at the money supply, which has been going up for 50 years, but now it’s going up in a straight line. So, we are now entering into the exponential phase of this financial system. We are seeing unlimited money printing, helicopter money like Ben Bernanke (former Fed Head) called it. Then we are going to see accelerated debasement of the currency. The real moves in gold and silver haven’t started yet.”

This next move, according to EvG, is going to be a global phenomenon. EvG explains, “The bond market is going to collapse, and interest rates are going to go a lot higher. Inflation is going to go a lot higher, and, eventually, the currency collapses, and it is a collapsing currency that leads to hyperinflation. When the currency falls, we will see hyperinflation. The next group of people that are going to come into this are the institutional investors. We’ve already seen signs of that. The risk I would say is the highest ever in history. You have never had a situation in history where basically every country in the world is in the same position. In the past, you have had individual countries that have had problems, economic collapse and hyperinflation. You have never had a situation where the whole world has had an insoluble debt problem. That is now about to collapse. That’s never happened in history, and that’s why it’s going to be on a much bigger scale than before. I am not a prophet of doom and gloom. I am just someone who analyzes risk, and I say it is inevitable. This has to happen. It’s not a question of when, it’s just a question of how long will it take.”

What also has to happen are dramatically higher gold and silver prices? EvG says, “Silver at $25 per ounce is incredibly cheap. In my view, silver is going to go to at least $600 per ounce. Gold should be at least $10,000 per ounce right now. Gold should be $20,000 per ounce on an inflation adjusted basis. When gold is $100,000 or $100 million (per ounce) or whatever it reaches, then everyone is going to be talking about gold. Gold is going to reach an ultimate peak, but that depends on the amount of money printed. America has had a budget deficit for 90 years. What’s your forecast? It’s so easy. It’s going to get worse because now you are getting into the crisis situation. That’s why it’s going to accelerate. Nobody can believe these forecasts of gold and silver. People just like to extrapolate a few percent a year. That’s not where we are now. We are not at a point now where it’s going to happen gradually. We are at the exponential point, and the super exponential point of money printing, deficit and of currency collapse. That’s why this will be reflected in the precious metals prices.”

-https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog.com as he goes One-on-One with

 Egon von Greyerz of Matterhorn Asset Management. 

"The Feds Dominate Your Life"

"The Feds Dominate Your Life"

By Bill Bonner

SAN MARTIN, ARGENTINA – "The news this morning is focused on a remarkable development. Let’s begin with the press coverage. Here’s USA Today, reporting on the reaction to President Trump’s tweet on returning to the White House from the Walter Reed Medical Center: "Celebrities, political pundits, and critics responded to President Donald Trump’s tweet to not “be afraid of Covid,” calling the message “preposterous” and “dangerous” for the leader of a nation that has surpassed 210,000 deaths to spread." And The New York Times: “Don’t be afraid of Covid,” he wrote. “Don’t let it dominate your life.”

Scientists, ethicists and doctors were outraged by the president’s comments about a disease that has killed nearly 210,000 people in the United States. “I am struggling for words – this is crazy,” said Harald Schmidt, assistant professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania. “It is just utterly irresponsible.”

Even his Secret Service agents – according to the Palmer Report – have turned against him… "Current Secret Service agents are privately lashing out at Donald Trump over his reckless disregard for their safety, and those conversations are now leaking to The Washington Post. They’re saying that it’s “so obvious” that Trump has 'never cared about us.'”

Black Death: When POTUS got the coronavirus, the country held its breath. Here was the proof so many had hoped for. The threat was real! All of the hardships and sacrifices of the last seven months were worth it after all. The Donald… after scoffing at the coronavirus… was now getting the divine retribution he had coming. Nearly half the population got down on its knees and beseeched the Almighty. “Please take him away,” they prayed. Trouble was, the threat was not what they had cracked it up to be.

The coronavirus was advertised as an existential threat… a scourge of humanity… a Black Death. Nicholas Kristof, writing in The New York Times back in March, passed along the grim, but dizzy, forecast: "Dr. Neil M. Ferguson, a British epidemiologist who is regarded as one of the best disease modelers in the world, produced a sophisticated model with a worst case of 2.2 million deaths in the United States."

Sophisticated? Maybe. But so far, the worst case is way off the mark. And the way the statistics are compiled – counting everyone who dies “with COVID” as a “COVID death” – probably greatly overstates the actual results.

Lethal Reputation: For most people, the virus is not much of a threat at all. An elderly person might want to check his will. But Trump is right; a healthy person under 60 probably shouldn’t worry about it. And when the fat, 74-year-old President Trump walked out of the hospital after only three days, the cat was out of the bag. Mr. Trump joined a growing list of world leaders – almost all of them old – who had contracted the virus and survived, including the presidents of Brazil, the UK, Bolivia, Honduras, Guatemala, and Belarus. Despite its lethal reputation, the virus couldn’t kill any of them.

So why make such a fuss about it? Why not just treat it like any other health problem – cancer, heart disease, pneumonia, allergies, murder, or accidents? Why make a federal case out of it? Or to put it in Donald Trump’s words, why let it dominate your life?

No Hard Proof: The goal of politics is to scare people… China, Russia, disease, poverty, racism, alcohol, terrorists, noisemakers, markets, the reds, the reefers – whatever the threat, the feds offer protection. Ban, prohibit… tax, fine… go to war!

Party politics is essentially a contest in which the Democrats and Republicans each claim to be able to protect you better. Of course, in exchange, you give up your money, your privacy, your dignity, and your liberty. The most popular bugaboo du jour is COVID-19. It’s a killer (joining a long list of homicidal ailments; ultimately, nobody beats them all). And there’s no hard proof that the feds can do anything about it.

Lockdown, lockup, face masks, social distancing – a vulnerable person may or may not be able to take precautions and protect himself. But there’s no reason to think that forcing a healthy person – or a whole society – into house arrest has any benefits at all.

Power Grab: Still, the COVID Crisis offers the protection racket a powerful new weapon. The feds can confine you without trial, outlaw popular assembly, close schools, and restrict travel. They’ve already used it to make a breathtaking power grab. In March, they closed down much of the U.S. economy… and then “printed” some $4 trillion fake dollars to protect people from the economic damage. And we’re getting used to it…

Here in Argentina, for example, we have been locked down for seven months. A permanent roadblock has been set up near here. Each time we go to town, we are expected to tell the police where we are going and why… as well as have a travel permit ready for inspection. It almost seems “normal.”

Fact of Life: In the U.S., too, normality dives to the downside to escape the dreaded disease. Soon, it wouldn’t be surprising to find a new CDC “health police,” like the TSA, requiring temperature checks or COVID tests before entering a public building (even though they did nothing to stop the virus in the White House). And the fake money? That’s becoming a fact of life, too. And like a virus, or even the threat of one, it attacks the soft tissue of the brain… Regards."

- www.rogueeconomics.com

"How It Really Is"

 

"So We Never Live..."

“We do not rest satisfied with the present. We anticipate the future as too slow in coming, as if in order to hasten its course; or we recall the past, to stop its too rapid flight. So imprudent are we that we wander in the times which are not ours, and do not think of the only one which belongs to us; and so idle are we that we dream of those times which are no more, and thoughtlessly overlook that which alone exists. For the present is generally painful to us. We conceal it from our sight, because it troubles us; and if it be delightful to us, we regret to see it pass away. We try to sustain it by the future, and think of arranging matters which are not in our power, for a time which we have no certainty of reaching. Let each one examine his thoughts, and he will find them all occupied with the past and the future. We scarcely ever think of the present; and if we think of it, it is only to take light from it to arrange the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means; the future alone is our end. So we never live, but we hope to live; and, as we are always preparing to be happy, it is inevitable we should never be so.”

- Blaise Pascal

Gregory Mannarino, "Situation Critical: The US Economic Collapse Is Accelerating"

Gregory Mannarino,

"Situation Critical: The US Economic Collapse Is Accelerating"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"Market Fantasy Updates 10/6/20"

"Market Fantasy Updates 10/6/20" 

Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...

Only the consequences are real - to you!

○

"The more I see of the monied classes, 

the better I understand the guillotine."

- George Bernard Shaw

○

Updated live.

- https://www.marketwatch.com/tools/marketsummary

○

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

○

- https://wallstreetonparade.com/

10/6/20: "As 98,000 Businesses Permanently Closed, the Fed and

 Treasury Have Sat on $340 Billion of Untapped Money from the CARES Act"

○

Daily Update (October 6th to 8th)

- http://www.shadowstats.com/

○

Insane...

Musical Interlude/Comment: Gary Jules, “Mad World”; Pet Shop Boys, “Numb”

Gary Jules, “Mad World”

Sometimes it feels like the whole damned world has lost its mind; words like “insane” and “crazy” just don’t work anymore. Something like this:

“We work in the dark. We do what we can to battle with the evil that would otherwise destroy us. But, a man’s fate is defined as not a choice but a calling. Yet sometimes the weight of this burden causes us to falter, breaching the fragile fortress of our mind, allowing the monsters without to turn within and we are left alone, staring into the abyss… into the laughing face of madness.”

- David Duchovny as “Fox Mulder”, “The X Files”

If you've dealt long enough with this “Mad World”, as we all have been forced to, after all these months of relentless economic destruction and pandemic terror, maybe you're feeling it too, and if you're not very, very careful, you’ll wind up like this… listen to the words.

Pet Shop Boys, “Numb”

You do not want to go there…

“Bank Runs Are Coming; Stock Market Overheating; Rents Unpaid; Store Closures”

Jeremiah Babe,

“Bank Runs Are Coming; Stock Market Overheating; 

Rents Unpaid; Store Closures”

Musical Interlude: 2002, "Memory of the Sky"

2002, "Memory of the Sky"

Please view in full screen mode.

"A Look to the Heavens"

“M13 is one of the most prominent and best known globular clusters. Visible with binoculars in the constellation of Hercules, M13 is frequently one of the first objects found by curious sky gazers seeking celestials wonders beyond normal human vision. 

M13 is a colossal home to over 100,000 stars, spans over 150 light years across, lies over 20,000 light years distant, and is over 12 billion years old. At the 1974 dedication of Arecibo Observatory, a radio message about Earth was sent in the direction of M13. The featured image in HDR, taken through a small telescope, spans an angular size just larger than a full Moon, whereas the inset image, taken by Hubble Space Telescope, zooms in on the central 0.04 degrees.”

- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160727.html

Chet Raymo, “We Are Such Stuff...”

“We Are Such Stuff...”

by Chet Raymo

“Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,

Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not.

Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments

Will hum about mine ears, and sometimes voices,

That, if I then had wak'd after long sleep,

Will make me sleep again.”

"Caliban is talking to Stephano and Trinculo in Shakespeare's “Tempest”, telling them not to be "afeard" of the mysterious place they find themselves, an island seemingly beset with magic, strangeness, ineffable presences. And you and I, and, yes, all of us, find ourselves inexplicably thrown up on this island that is the world, and we too, if we are attentive, hear the strange music, the sounds and sweet airs, that seems to come from nowhere and everywhere

No, I'm not talking about the usual ubiquitous clamor, the roar of internal combustion, the blare of the television, the beeping of mobile phones. I'm not talking about the Limbaughs and the Becks, the televangelists, the blathering politicians, the twitterers and bloggers (including this one). I'm not even talking about the exquisite music of Mozart, the poetry of Wordsworth, the theories of Einstein.

I'm talking about the sounds we hear in utter silence, in moments of repose, in the heart of darkness, when we are a little bit afraid, disoriented, off kilter. A strange music that comes from beyond our knowing, a felt meaning. You've heard it. I've heard it. You'd have to be deaf not to have heard it. 

Where we differ is how we describe it. Mostly, we give its source a name. Angels. Fairies. Gods or demons. Yahweh. Allah. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Nixies, E.T.s, shades and shadows. Naiads, dryads, Ariel and Puck. A host of invisible creatures who are, in one way or another, images of ourselves. And, in naming, we are a little less afraid.

And some of us are just content to listen, to take delight. Having woken to the inexplicable mystery of the world- the sounds and sweet airs that give delight and hurt not- we let the music lull us back into a sweet slumber, a kind of dreamless dream, a reverie. Does reverie share a deep root with reverence? I don't know.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

Thee Poet: Galway Kinnell, "Another Night in the Ruins"

"Another Night in the Ruins"

"How many nights must it take

one such as me to learn

that we aren't, after all, made

from that bird that flies out of its ashes,

that for us

as we go up in flames,

our one work is

to open ourselves,

to be the flames?"

~ Galway Kinnell

“8 Things to Remember When Everything Goes Wrong”

 “8 Things to Remember When Everything Goes Wrong”

by Marc Chernoff

“Today, I’m sitting in my hospital bed waiting to have both my breasts removed. But in a strange way I feel like the lucky one. Up until now I have had no health problems. I’m a 69-year-old woman in the last room at the end of the hall before the pediatric division of the hospital begins. Over the past few hours I have watched dozens of cancer patients being wheeled by in wheelchairs and rolling beds. None of these patients could be a day older than 17.”

That’s an entry from my grandmother’s journal, dated 9/16/1977. I photocopied it and pinned it to my bulletin board about a decade ago. It’s still there today, and it continues to remind me that there is always, always, always something to be thankful for. And that no matter how good or bad I have it, I must wake up each day thankful for my life, because someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs.

Truth be told, happiness is not the absence of problems, but the ability to deal with them. Imagine all the wondrous things your mind might embrace if it weren’t wrapped so tightly around your struggles. Always look at what you have, instead of what you have lost. Because it’s not what the world takes away from you that counts; it’s what you do with what you have left. Here are a few reminders to help motivate you when you need it most:

1. Pain is part of growing. Sometimes life closes doors because it’s time to move forward. And that’s a good thing because we often won’t move unless circumstances force us to. When times are tough, remind yourself that no pain comes without a purpose. Move on from what hurt you, but never forget what it taught you. Just because you’re struggling doesn’t mean you’re failing. Every great success requires some type of worthy struggle to get there. Good things take time. Stay patient and stay positive. Everything is going to come together; maybe not immediately, but eventually.

Remember that there are two kinds of pain: pain that hurts and pain that changes you. When you roll with life, instead of resisting it, both kinds help you grow.

2. Everything in life is temporary. Every time it rains, it stops raining. Every time you get hurt, you heal. After darkness there is always light – you are reminded of this every morning, but still you often forget, and instead choose to believe that the night will last forever. It won’t. Nothing lasts forever.

So if things are good right now, enjoy it. It won’t last forever. If things are bad, don’t worry because it won’t last forever either. Just because life isn’t easy at the moment, doesn’t mean you can’t laugh. Just because something is bothering you, doesn’t mean you can’t smile. Every moment gives you a new beginning and a new ending. You get a second chance, every second. You just have to take it and make the best of it. 

3. Worrying and complaining changes nothing. Those who complain the most, accomplish the least. It’s always better to attempt to do something great and fail than to attempt to do nothing and succeed. It’s not over if you’ve lost; it’s over when you do nothing but complain about it. If you believe in something, keep trying. Don’t let the shadows of the past darken the doorstep of your future. Spending today complaining about yesterday won’t make tomorrow any brighter. Take action instead. Let what you’ve learned improve how you live. Make a change and never look back. And regardless of what happens in the long run, remember that true happiness begins to arrive only when you stop complaining about your problems and you start being grateful for all the problems you don’t have.

4. Your scars are symbols of your strength. Don’t ever be ashamed of the scars life has left you with. A scar means the hurt is over and the wound is closed. It means you conquered the pain, learned a lesson, grew stronger, and moved forward. scar is the tattoo of a triumph to be proud of. Don’t allow your scars to hold you hostage. Don’t allow them to make you live your life in fear. You can’t make the scars in your life disappear, but you can change the way you see them. You can start seeing your scars as a sign of strength and not pain.

Rumi once said, “The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” Nothing could be closer to the truth. Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most powerful characters in this great world are seared with scars. See your scars as a sign of “YES! I MADE IT! I survived and I have my scars to prove it! And now I have a chance to grow even stronger.”

5. Every little struggle is a step forward. In life, patience is not about waiting; it’s the ability to keep a good attitude while working hard on your dreams, knowing that the work is worth it. So if you’re going to try, put in the time and go all the way. Otherwise, there’s no point in starting. This could mean losing stability and comfort for a while, and maybe even your mind on occasion. It could mean not eating what, or sleeping where, you’re used to, for weeks on end. It could mean stretching your comfort zone so thin it gives you a nonstop case of the chills. It could mean sacrificing relationships and all that’s familiar. It could mean accepting ridicule from your peers. It could mean lots of time alone in solitude. Solitude, though, is the gift that makes great things possible. It gives you the space you need. Everything else is a test of your determination, of how much you really want it.

And if you want it, you’ll do it, despite failure and rejection and the odds. And every step will feel better than anything else you can imagine. You will realize that the struggle is not found on the path, it is the path. And it’s worth it. So if you’re going to try, go all the way. There’s no better feeling in the world… there’s no better feeling than knowing what it means to be ALIVE. 

6. Other people’s negativity is not your problem. Be positive when negativity surrounds you. Smile when others try to bring you down. It’s an easy way to maintain your enthusiasm and focus. hen other people treat you poorly, keep being you. Don’t ever let someone else’s bitterness change the person you are. You can’t take things too personally, even if it seems personal. Rarely do people do things because of you. hey do things because of them.

Above all, don’t ever change just to impress someone who says you’re not good enough. Change because it makes you a better person and leads you to a brighter future. People are going to talk regardless of what you do or how well you do it. So worry about yourself before you worry about what others think. If you believe strongly in something, don’t be afraid to fight for it. Great strength comes from overcoming what others think is impossible.

All jokes aside, your life only comes around once. This is IT. So do what makes you happy and be with whoever makes you smile, often.

7. What’s meant to be will eventually, BE. True strength comes when you have so much to cry and complain about, but you prefer to smile and appreciate your life instead. There are blessings hidden in every struggle you face, but you have to be willing to open your heart and mind to see them. You can’t force things to happen. You can only drive yourself crazy trying. At some point you have to let go and let what’s meant to be, BE.

In the end, loving your life is about trusting your intuition, taking chances, losing and finding happiness, cherishing the memories, and learning through experience. It’s a long-term journey. You have to stop worrying, wondering, and doubting every step of the way. Laugh at the confusion, live consciously in the moment, and enjoy your life as it unfolds. You might not end up exactly where you intended to go, but you will eventually arrive precisely where you need to be.

8. The best thing you can do is to keep going. Don’t be afraid to get back up – to try again, to love again, to live again, and to dream again. Don’t let a hard lesson harden your heart. Life’s best lessons are often learned at the worst times and from the worst mistakes. There will be times when it seems like everything that could possibly go wrong is going wrong. And you might feel like you will be stuck in this rut forever, but you won’t. When you feel like quitting, remember that sometimes things have to go very wrong before they can be right. Sometimes you have to go through the worst, to arrive at your best.

Yes, life is tough, but you are tougher. Find the strength to laugh every day. Find the courage to feel different, yet beautiful. Find it in your heart to make others smile too. Don’t stress over things you can’t change. Live simply. Love generously. Speak truthfully. Work diligently. And even if you fall short, keep going. Keep growing. Awake every morning and do your best to follow this daily TO-DO list:

Think positively.

Eat healthy.

Exercise today.

Worry less.

Work hard.

Laugh often.

Sleep well.

Repeat…”

- http://www.marcandangel.com/

"Retail Apocalypse Gets Much Worse: Bankruptcies & Store Closings Are Creating An Apocalyptic End Game"

"Retail Apocalypse Gets Much Worse: Bankruptcies & 

Store Closings Are Creating An Apocalyptic End Game"

by Epic Economist

"The retail apocalypse is causing bankruptcies, liquidations, and store closings that are fast spreading across the nation, and celebrated iconic brands are witnessing the inevitable collapse of their businesses as they shut down permanently. In this video, we analyzed a study that indicated that the catastrophic retail crisis reached record bankruptcies in the first half of 2020, and the economic collapse boosted by the sanitary outbreak is pushing the sector to the edge. In that sense, millions of jobs are permanently gone due to lockdown restrictions that deeply affected this industry.

In this video, the Epic Economist crew examined the impacts of the generalized retail meltdown and also listed some of the most popular stores that are closing doors for good. Mandatory store closures enacted by the government, social distancing rules, supply chain issues, and the upsurge in e-commerce sales have contributed to accelerate the collapse of brick-and-mortar retailers, provoking a massive wave of bankruptcies that is diving into the second half of the year as well. The reduction of foot traffic in shopping centers have affected stores in malls, which, as a consequence, also put their lives in jeopardy.

That is to say, the retail apocalypse has become so extensive that is causing a downfall of historical proportions. With almost no prospects for a recovery during the 2020 Recession, the sector is facing major challenges, and economic experts have been emphasizing that this is almost certainly the worst year in recent history for retail. By the end of August, 29 big retailers filed for bankruptcy.

In the first half of 2020, 18 major retailers filed for chapter 11 protection. Then, From July through mid-August, 11 more retailers filed, and the number of store closures is catastrophic. Moreover, the excessive debt, store saturation, high unemployment, and changing shopper behaviors can also be added to the reasons why stores in malls were hit particularly hard. Small businesses are struggling to survive until the holiday season, and many retailers are still relying on their physical locations to stay afloat during this recession. However, market experts indicate that critical changes should be put into place to prevent their extinction. The retail bankruptcy trend has been going on for a long time, which proves that despite the eruption of the health crisis, the US economy was already deteriorating long before.

Last year there were 22 retail bankruptcies filed. From 2017 to 2018, over 5,000 stores were closed as well. Historically, the most recent record for bankruptcies in this sector came in 2010 when 48 retailers filed for bankruptcy in the wake of the 2007-09 recession. this year is that the spike in bankruptcies was recorded immediately after the recession started in February, signaling that most of these companies were already experiencing difficulties, or - as people say - they already had “one foot in the grave”, the viral outbreak implications just drove them further down.

With that said, it is expected more bankruptcies to be filed in the coming years, even renowned specialists have stated that it’s very unlikely this is going to stop anytime soon. Amongst the brands that are cutting the number of their stores down, moving into online retail, or completely liquidating their assets are Tesla, Abercrombie & Fitch, Starbucks, H&M, Target, Gap, Forever 21, and many others.

Additionally, as bankruptcies are expected to climb, the financial pain will resonate in shopping malls and in the commercial mortgage-backed securities market, while forecasts suggest that more than half of all mall-based department stores will close by the end of 2021. These factors will pile up to higher the pressure on the markets, possibly prompting a financial crash, because there is a huge bubble that could burst due to the enormous rates of rental delinquency. Yet, another blow on the fragile US economy would severely affect its future, knocking it down into a deeper, scarier, and more complex depression.

The retail apocalypse is only one of the problems in the American economy, there are many other areas that we should also be watching. The downfall of retail is just a sign of the deterioration of the economy. The nation has been crumbling for years, only accumulating economic and financial trouble, but at some stage, the reckoning day will arrive.

In the meantime, keep in mind that the failure of many other sectors will only come later in the cycle, which means the US has gotten itself into a large-scale solvency crisis that it is beyond the Fed’s ability to overcome it. Taking all factors into account, it seems like nothing can stop this ship from sinking."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com

The Daily "Near You?"

 
Bottineau, North Dakota, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Above, the "Tommy Turtle" statue.

"A Head-On Collision"

"A Head-On Collision"

By Bill Bonner

SAN MARTIN, ARGENTINA – "Last week ended with a game of chicken. A new “CARES” boondoggle is in the works. One side wants to keep the price tag below $2 trillion. The other is aiming for more than that. Neither side wants to be blamed for not coming through with the loot. But neither wants to hand the other a political victory.

On the one hand, the Democrats would like to stall… and see the stock market and the economy go up in smoke before the election. But they don’t want to be caught with a can of gasoline and a pack of matches. The Republicans, on the other hand, are desperate to keep the myth of a recovery alive… but can’t be seen giving in to Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. And no matter who chickens out first, a head-on collision is inevitable.

More Damage: Last week, we were exploring the sellout by the geriatric elite. Now comfortable in their sixties and seventies… their fortunes, their careers, their reputations, their marriages, and their families – all made… and in the shade. But they all now depend on fake money and fake interest rates. Their salaries and pensions… their portfolios… their pet programs… their medical expenses – the money has to come from somewhere.

This year, taxes only brought the U.S. government half the money it needed. What to do for the rest? It has to be printed… counterfeited… faked… conjured up with Black Magic and Voodoo Economics. But the more fake money the feds put out… the more damage it does. Already, the fake-money system has cut GDP growth rates in half since the 1970s – despite more engineers, more patents, more new technology, and more money than ever before. It has added debt… cut output… and increased costs throughout the system.

And while the old, educated, and rich have done well – thanks to the way the system skews wealth to the top – millions of lives have already been dented… bent… and banged up… by the disappearance of high-wage manufacturing jobs… by the decay of the old, goods-producing cities… by the shift of $30 trillion to Wall Street and the rich… by depressing interest rates and cheating savers… by the COVID-19 Shutdown… and the gutting of the whole hospitality and leisure sector…

Biggest Crash: But on the horizon is the biggest crash of all. Like a freight train loaded with debt… the U.S. is about to get slammed by $237 trillion worth of “unfunded liabilities.” The boomer elite did not merely look out for itself in the past and the present… It promised itself pension and medical benefits, literally, from now until Kingdom Come.

There are 76 million boomers. None is eager to get to the grave. But every one of them hopes to get there before his Social Security/Obamacare benefits run out. Many believe it’s a sure thing… They think there is a “trust fund” with money tucked away to pay for their care. But there is no “trust fund,” no savings, no pot of money anywhere. Here’s what former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan had to say about it: "The term Social Security “Trust Fund” is nonsense… It is a mandatory outlay and there is a 0% chance that outlay will not get made. When the fund runs out, there is no chance anything will change. The U.S. has committed to pensions it cannot pay…"

Greenspan is right. There is another head-on collision coming, much more serious than the Democrat-Republican game of chicken. There is zero chance that the payments won’t be made. But there is also zero chance that the funds will be there to make them.

Unpayable Liabilities: Immovable object meets irresistible force. The current estimate of unfunded liabilities – made by professor Laurence Kotlikoff of Boston University – is around $210 trillion. Add that to the $27 trillion official “national debt” and you get $237 trillion.

Who’s going to pay that? Well… no one… and everyone. Politically, it must be paid… or the party in power will be removed by boomer voters. But, financially, it can’t be paid, not without some hocus pocus from the Federal Reserve (which will make the payments much less valuable). And no, the system cannot be “reformed” and “saved.” Politically, entitlements are immovable. Mathematically, they are unpayable.

Result: a head-on collision. U.S. entitlements are “a tragedy we see coming,” says JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. So much of the economy now depends on money from the government that if the amounts forthcoming were reduced, consumer spending would go down… and the U.S. economy would crash.

Bigger Bailout: That is also why another CARES Act is becoming more urgent. The big GDP bounce we saw in the third quarter, which commentators took as evidence of a recovery, was a fraud. It was almost completely paid for with the Fed’s phony money. And now, that money is petering out. And so is the recovery. What else can the geezers do, but print more of it? And what will happen as they print more and more money, trying to keep the train on the rails?

There are only a few more weeks before the election. Our guess is that Ol’ Casey Jones – now recuperating in Walter Reed Hospital, and soon back on the job in the White House – and the whole team of Republican lawmakers, will be so desperate to announce another big bailout… and another beautiful stock market boom… that they will welcome a much bigger bailout than they first proposed. That is, they will chicken out… avoid a crash now… and set up a bigger one later. We’ll see."

- www.rogueeconomics.com

"What A Struggle..."

“Over the years you get to see what a struggle life is for most people, how tough it is, how easy it is to be judgmental and criticize and stand outside of situations and impart your wisdom and judgment. But over the decades I've got more tolerant of people's flaws and mistakes. Everybody makes a lot of them. When you're younger you feel: "Hey, this person is evil" or "This person is a jerk" or stupid or "What's wrong with them?" Then you go through life and you think: "Well, it's not so easy." There's a lot of mystery and suffering and complication. Everybody's out there trying to do the best they can. And it's not such an easy business.”

- Woody Allen