Thursday, February 4, 2021

"Folly Is Perennial..."

“Folly is perennial, yet the human race has survived.”
- Bertrand Russell
Graphic: Auguste Barthelemy Glaize, 
"The Spectacle of Human Folly," 1872 

"Doctor Admits Masks Don’t Work: “All Viruses Can Get Through”

"Doctor Admits Masks Don’t Work: “All Viruses Can Get Through”
by Adan Salazar

"A medical doctor’s lecture explaining face masks aren’t effective at blocking viruses has gone viral. In the message, a member of America’s Frontline Doctors, Dr. Richard Urso, admits masks block little if any microscopic virus particles, contrary to what mainline health experts have been telling the public. "When I wear a mask, which is not very often fortunately, this is why." Video: pic.twitter.com/FkSAt15FKp
- Jeff Nelson (@vegsource) January 29, 2021

“We know what works - these don’t work against viruses. Regular masks don’t work. That’s simply what it is,” Urso explains. “It has nothing to do with Covid. Covid doesn’t even factor into the equation, because for years we’ve been looking at these issues.”

The Texas-based ophthalmologist goes on to explain there are more protective methods which would be more effective, but the N-95 masks recommended to the public still allow virus particles to pass. “So, they have these spacesuits, they’re called ‘PAPRs,’ they’re incredibly effective, they filter viruses down to .01. Basically we have materials like N-99, N-100, but N-95… only five percent of airborne particles can get through, but all viruses can get through period. Do they all get through? No, it’s just like a chainlink fence. When you throw sand at a chainlink fence not all the sand gets through.

So, I think the best example I can say is the reason we wear masks and the reason I wear a mask is because the fear is so massive in this country. I wear a mask so people don’t think I don’t care about them, but I don’t wear a mask because they work.”

Dr. Urso’s message is spreading as NIAID Director Anthony Fauci has once again flip-flopped on masks, at first claiming last week that it was “common sense” to wear two, or even up to three masks. Over the weekend, however, Dr. Fauci claimed there was “no data” to indicate that wearing two masks “would make a difference.” Fauci on double masking: “There’s no data that indicates that that is going to make a difference” Video: pic.twitter.com/ptVivQfuw
- Eli Klein (@TheEliKlein) January 31, 2021
Dr. Urso interview, Dec. 30, 2020.

"How They Really Intend It To Be"

 

"The Only Cure..."

"We're all susceptible to it, the dread and anxiety of not knowing what's coming. It's pointless in the end, because all the worrying and the making of plans for things that could or could not happen, it only makes things worse. So walk your dog or take a nap. Just whatever you do, stop worrying. Because the only cure for paranoia is to be here, just as you are."
- Dr. Meredith Grey, "Grey's Anatomy"

"Why Are So Many Americans Stockpiling Guns, Silver And Food Right Now?"

"Why Are So Many Americans Stockpiling Guns, 
Silver And Food Right Now?
by Michael Snyder

"We were told that 2021 would be the year when everything starts to get back to normal. But that hasn’t exactly been the case, has it? It has been just over a month, and there is still chaos everywhere. We have seen a wild riot at the U.S. Capitol, civil unrest has been erupting in major cities from coast to coast, millions of people have filed for unemployment benefits, a president was impeached, and a crazy ride on Wall Street made “GameStop” a national phenomenon. That would normally be enough for an entire year, but we are still in the first week of February.

All throughout history there have been critical turning points when events have greatly accelerated, and it appears that we have reached one of those turning points. In fact, this may be turn out to be the biggest turning point of them all.

Millions upon millions of Americans can sense that big trouble is ahead. For many, it is like a “gut feeling” that they just can’t shake. Just a few days ago, my wife met a woman from the west coast that just moved here. This woman and her husband were desperate to leave California, and they felt very strongly that they should move somewhere safe. What makes her story remarkable is the fact that my wife and I have heard similar stories from others countless times over the past 12 months.

Our nation is being shaken in thousands of different ways, and so many of us can feel that things are building up to some sort of a grand crescendo.So that is why so many Americans are stockpiling guns, silver and food right now. They want to be ready for what is ahead.

2020 was a record year for U.S. gun purchases, but instead of slowing down in January, gun sales went even higher: "According to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check (NCIS) data, 4.3 million firearm background checks were initiated in January. That’s the highest number on record, and up over 300,000 in comparison to December 2020. Three of the top 10 highest weeks are now from January 2021.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation’s adjusted background check figure of 2 million, reached by subtracting out background code permit checks and permit rechecks and checks on active concealed carry permits, was a jump from its adjusted figure of 1.1 million in January 2020."

One of the biggest reasons why people feel a need to be armed right now is because crime rates have been absolutely skyrocketing. In particular, murder rates in our major cities rose by an average of 30 percent last year: "Murder rates in nearly three dozen American cities exploded in 2020, rising 30 percent over the previous year, resulting in 1,200 more deaths from murder last year when compared to 2019, according to a new study examining possible connections between crime, the coronavirus pandemic and protests against police brutality.

Homicide rates were higher during every month of 2020 relative to rates from the previous year. That said, rates increased significantly in June, well after the pandemic began, coinciding with the death of George Floyd and the mass protests that followed,’ states a report from the National Commission of COVID-19 and Criminal Justice (NCCCJ), titled Pandemic, Social unrest and Crime in US Cities."

We have never seen an increase of that magnitude from one year to the next, and the brutality of some of these murders has been off the charts. For example, the recent murder of two women in California deeply shocked people all over the nation: "A brother of up-and-coming rapper Uzzy Marcus was arrested in California following an eight-hour standoff with police and charged with murdering two women, whose lifeless bodies were captured in an Instagram Live video. Raymond Weber, 29, was taken into custody by police in Vacaville at around 8.30 am on Saturday and was then booked into the Solano County Jail on two counts of first-degree murder and multiple other felonies, including domestic assault."

In addition to the straight up crime we have been witnessing, endless political violence has also made some of our largest cities almost unlivable at this point. I honestly do not know why anyone would want to live in downtown Portland or downtown Seattle now. Of course conditions are not much better in the core areas of many of our other major metropolitan areas.

Meanwhile, our economy continues to be greatly shaken and recent volatility in the financial markets caused a massive run on physical silver: "U.S. bullion broker Apmex warned of delays in processing silver transactions because of surging volumes. Other U.S. dealers, including JM Bullion and SD Bullion, warned customers of shipping delays of five to 10 days. Everett Millman at Gainesville Coins in Florida said they were expecting shipping delays, perhaps until perhaps mid-March, for some products like Silver Eagles and Silver Maples."

Things have calmed down a bit after the craziness of the past few days, but people are going to continue voraciously buying silver. Precious metals have been a safe haven all throughout human history, and that is especially true during highly inflationary times.

And as I have written about extensively, we are moving into very highly inflationary times. In addition to gold and silver, Americans have also been feverishly stockpiling food: "Wise Company estimated in 2018 that Americans were buying between $400 million and $450 million worth of emergency food supplies per year. And, while Wise declined to release any specific revenue figures, Eriksson tells CNBC Make It that the company saw its food sales surge by “probably five or six times” in 2020 amid the pandemic."

In the long run, I would argue that food is more important than guns or silver, because you can’t eat guns or silver when you are hungry. And yes, things will eventually get that bad. Most people don’t understand the specifics of what is coming, but what they do know is that they have a gnawing feeling deep inside that they can’t shake that really bad things are on the horizon. I would strongly encourage you to use this current period of relative stability to get prepared for the very uncertain times that are ahead of us. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, and our society will soon be turned completely upside down."

"A Conspiracy So Monstrous..."

"The individual comes face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst. It rejects even the assumption that human creatures could espouse a philosophy which must ultimately destroy all that is good and decent."
- J. Edgar Hoover

"Redefining Death"

"Redefining Death"
by Eric Peters

"The biggest lies go down easiest – because most psychologically normal people have trouble believing anyone could lie on a scale like that. This is why psychopaths get away with lying on an epic scale. It is literally unbelievable. It is why people working 60 hours a week for $15 an hour believe in TV evangelists who live in multimillion dollar homes and travel in private jets. And it is why people believe that “400,000” have died Because Corona. They hear the sermons – which like those of the TV evangelist are full of fire and brimstone, death – and promises of salvation. Now send in $100.

Or wear “your” mask. Accept a life of perpetual diminishment, personal and economic. Subservience eternal – as the price of your salvation. But maybe hold off on sending in that $100 and consider some simple division.

We’re told that – as of the end of 2020 – about 315,00 people died Because Corona. The problem is, almost no one died of anything else. The CDC said – in late December – that the total number of deaths from all causes in the U.S. over 2020 was about 2.9 million. If you subtract the number of asserted deaths Because Corona, you end up with fewer total deaths than in any years since 2014.

There’s a very revealing article over at uncoverdc.com by the journalist Celia Farber, who specializes in sussing out large-scale medical fraud and who has written for Esquire, Harper’s and Rolling Stone. She cites an academic paper just published – “A Critical Review of CDC USA Data on COVID-19: PCR/Antigen Tests & Cases Reveal Herd Immunity Only & Do Not Warrant Public Hysteria or Lockdown,” by atmospheric scientist James DeMeo, Ph.D.

DeMeo did the math and came up with a conclusion so spectacular it is very hard to believe – because the idea of a lie on such a monumental scale is hard to believe. But numbers don’t require belief. They just are.

Well, the number of people who’ve died, at rate – which isn’t fungible. You can’t inflate the body count – as opposed to the cases! the cases! But the reason for these deaths can be redefined – and that’s what DeMeo’s paper deconstructs.

According to the CDC’s numbers as of the end of 2020, approximately 2,916,492 people died in the United States during all of 2020, with about 315,507 of those deaths attributed to the “novel” Corona virus. But when you subtract the latter from the former you get 2,600,985 total deaths – a lower number of deaths than for any years since 2014. The conclusion must be that either 2020 was a year in which people stopped dying – or the year in which deaths were redefined.

Farber quotes DeMeo: “That figure, 2,600,985, is less than the all-cause death counts each year going back to 2014! That means the total death count for all fatal diseases and accidents in 2020, excluding Covid-19, dropped mysteriously and substantially - right about to the same degree that Covid-19 went up. For the Covid deaths to be genuinely new ‘excess’ deaths, that all-cause total of 2.9 million - which already includes ‘Covid-19’ deaths - should be something like 3.2 million, with an annual increase in 2020 of at least 360,000 deaths, not 61,000.”

Put another way, there are about 300,000 “missing” deaths for all of 2020 – e.g., deaths from ordinary influenza/pneumonia – which deaths have all-but-disappeared – as well as deaths from heart disease and cancer and so on. “What’s going on with influenza statistics? They’ve gone down to a very low number, the figure I found was 0.2%. Two-tenths of one percent, when at this time of year, we should be having something between 5 and 20 percent. In terms of the number of influenza deaths, that happens every winter. The numbers they are throwing out make no sense whatsoever,” DeMeo says. 

Then a really strange thing happened. On January 7, the CDC altered its body count and came up with another 269,249 deaths for 2020 and added these in a lump-sum to the 2020 total and – presto! – about 3.2 million total dead. Farber writes: “Evidently, 269,249 people suddenly died in the last week of 2020.” This is also so improbable as to beggar belief.

Farber quotes Tom DiFerdinando, an associate of DeMeo’s: “Without those added deaths, there would be no evidence of a Covid pandemic,” he said. ”This triangulation of facts: essentially no excess deaths beyond the normal annual background count; absolutely NO relationship between Covid “confirmed” cases and Covid “confirmed” deaths; and the mysterious, last-minute dump of 268,259 all-cause deaths into the 2020 end-of-year all-cause death totals; completely demolish any pretext of there having been a 2020 viral pandemic, whether caused by a novel coronavirus or by anything else and that therefore there is no rational reason to be putting masks on children, isolating elders, destroying businesses, locking down populations or shattering the public trust.”

DeMeo adds: “The numbers do not lie; the numbers tell the story. Where are the massive, massive numbers of people dying, which you would correlate with positive PCR and antigen tests, which is what you would expect to happen. People who are dying of old age diseases, they’re re-defining them as Covid 19, but the symptomatology is so exactly similar to influenza and other lung diseases.”

So how many people have actually been Corona’d so far in the United States? According to DeMeo it might be as high as 16,848 people. The article’s worth your time – as hard as it may be to believe."
The corrupt establishment will do anything to suppress sites like the Burning Platform from revealing the truth. The corporate media does this by demonetizing sites like mine by blackballing the site from advertising revenue. If you get value from this site, please keep it running with a donation. [Jim Quinn - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal at the website.
A MUST Read:

"Economic Market Snapshot AM 2/4/21"

"Economic Market Snapshot AM 2/4/21"
"Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will
do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone."
- John Maynard Keynes
"Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...
Only the consequences are real - to you!
Your guide:
"The Economic Meltdown Is Accelerating"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/4/21
"The more I see of the monied classes, 
the better I understand the guillotine."
- George Bernard Shaw
MarketWatch Market Summary, Live Updates

CNN Market Data:

CNN Fear And Greed Index:
A comprehensive, essential daily read.
Feb 1st to Feb 5th, Updated Daily 
Financial Stress Index
"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: credit, equity valuation, funding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United States, other advanced economies, and emerging markets."
Daily Job Cuts

Wednesday, February 3, 2021

Musical Interlude: Pink Floyd, "The Dark Side of the Moon" (Full Album HQ)

Pink Floyd, 
"The Dark Side of the Moon" (Full Album)
1973, incredibly...that can't be possible. It is...

"A Look to the Heavens"

“What's happening behind those houses? Pictured here are not auroras but nearby light pillars, a nearby phenomenon that can appear as a distant one. 
In most places on Earth, a lucky viewer can see a Sun-pillar, a column of light appearing to extend up from the Sun caused by flat fluttering ice-crystals reflecting sunlight from the upper atmosphere. Usually these ice crystals evaporate before reaching the ground. During freezing temperatures, however, flat fluttering ice crystals may form near the ground in a form of light snow, sometimes known as a crystal fog. These ice crystals may then reflect ground lights in columns not unlike a Sun-pillar. The featured image was taken in Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks in central Alaska.”

Chet Raymo, "In the Cave"

"In the Cave"
by Chet Raymo

"I have mentioned here before the ospreys that patrol our beach - or "fish hawks," as they call them here - generally in the afternoon at about the time I take my long walk to the palm point. Magnificent birds with broad wings that glide seemingly effortlessly on the wind. And here's the thing: As often as not I am startled by a bird's shadow before I see the bird itself. That wide-winged shadow, sweeping across the white sand, sometimes across me. That flicker of chill as the osprey blocks the sun.

And generally when it happens I think of Plato's allegory of the cave. Prisoners in a cave are constrained to look only at a blank wall. Somewhere behind them there is a fire, and people come and go in front of the fire, casting shadows on the wall. The shadows are the only reality the prisoners know. They have no idea of the flesh-and-blood people behind them or the blazing fire. The prisoners know only what presents itself to their senses.

Forget for the moment Plato's point, which has to do with the duty of the philosopher to enlighten the benighted. There is a humbling moral to the story for all of us: We can only know what our senses - directly or indirectly - can perceive.

Who, a century ago, could have imagined the universe of the galaxies, or the marvelous dance of the DNA in every cell of our bodies? By cleverly extending our senses - limited as they are - with technological enhancements a whole new universe has opened up to us. Who can imagine what we might know a century from now? Plato's "real" world is like a shadow compared to the universe we inhabit today. Our own universe may be a shadow of a reality vastly more wonderful than anything we have so far dreamed.

Never mind. We live in the world we have. Even the osprey's shadow is magnificent in its own way. I am privileged to lift my eyes and see the feathered bird. And I have an intuition that there is more - much more - yet to see.”

"Let It Roll Off Our Back: Dodging and Deflecting"

"Let It Roll Off Our Back: Dodging and Deflecting"
by Madisyn Taylor, The DailyOM

"When we are criticized or attacked it is important to not take it into our heart space. One of the most difficult challenges in life is learning not to take things to heart and hold on to it. Especially when we’re younger, or if we’re very sensitive, we take so much of what comes our way to heart. This can be overwhelming and unproductive if it throws us off balance on a regular basis. When we are feeling criticized or attacked from all directions, it becomes very difficult for us to recover ourselves so that we can continue to speak and act our truth. This is when we would do well to remember the old saying about letting certain things roll off us, like water off a duck’s back.

Most of the time, the attacks and criticisms of others have much more to do with them and how they are feeling than with us. If we get caught up in trying to adjust ourselves to other people’s negative energy, we lose touch with our core. In fact, in a positive light, these slings and arrows offer us the opportunity to strengthen our core sense of self, and to learn to dodge and deflect other people’s misdirected negativity. The more we do this, the more we are able to discern what belongs to us and what belongs to other people. With practice, we become masters of our energetic integrity, refusing to serve as targets for the disowned anger and frustration of the people around us.

Eventually, we will be able to hear the feedback that others have to offer, taking in anything that might actually be constructive, and releasing that which has nothing to do with us. First, though, we tend ourselves compassionately by recognizing when we can’t take something in from the outside without hurting ourselves. This is when we make like a duck, shaking it off and letting it roll off our back as we continue our way in the world."

"In the End...

"Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time;
it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable." 
~ Sydney J. Harris

"The Exact Same Thing That Is Happening To GameStop Is Eventually Going To Happen To The Stock Market"

"The Exact Same Thing That Is Happening To 
GameStop Is Eventually Going To Happen To The Stock Market"
by Epic Economist

"GameStop stocks have been continuously crashing over the past few days, making those who are still holding on the their shares lose millions of dollars. The WallStreetBets-fueled short squeeze isn't over just yet, but it is entering a tortuous phase after trading restrictions were imposed in some stocks and the movement inevitably started to lose traction, as retail investors could only buy a limited amount of stock shares in the platform Robinhood. The ban has shown that the platform was never concerned about small investors as it claimed to be, since it not only sold their information to big corporations as it made sure to contend with the elite's agenda. It's no news that the stock markets are rigged, and eventually, the exact same thing that is happening to GameStop will happen to the market as a whole. That's what we're going to analyze in this video

A few days ago, GameStop stocks soared to over $300 a share, and several investors that were in the middle of the market frenzy thought they have suddenly become rich. But the thing about the stock market is that you only really make money on the way out. During the last two trading sessions, GameStop was sent down, with shares of the volatile retail-trader favorite sinking 60% and closing at $90 per share on Tuesday.

Many have seen the value of their stock holdings experience a steep decline. Amongst them, Keith Gill disclosed he suffered a loss north of $13 million on Tuesday alone from his GameStop bet, but he has no plans of selling it. He was one of the main heads behind the epic short squeeze in GameStop. Gill unveiled he has been holding 50,000 shares of GameStop as well as 500 call options. As the short squeeze in GameStop started to lose strength this week, a large chunk of Gill’s massive gains has disappeared. And while he is still refusing to sell and GameStop stocks are on a free fall, more losses are likely to occur over the next few days. 

After some major backlash, Robinhood decided to roll back the trading ban but decided to keep a limit on the amount of shares traders can buy in some stocks. Now, the platform is allowing clients to buy up to 100 shares of GameStop, up from the previous limitation of 20. The platform reported that the restrictions had to be put into place after an increase in capital requirements from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation in the face of the WallStreetBets investing frenzy. The wild trading has sparked varying reactions amongst high-profile investors and other public figures. Yesterday, billionaire Mark Cuban said he didn’t expect the Reddit army to go away even after the GameStop story is over, and he blamed brokerages and regulators for not being more transparent about the potential for trading restrictions.

In a recent statement, Senator Josh Hawley has exposed the fact that Robinhood "wasn’t really about its users. Its bread was buttered by selling the data on users’ trades to the big players - the elite guys, like Citadel - to give them inside tips on where retail investors were sending their money," he wrote. The economic collapse writer Michael Snyder outlined in a recent article: “The talking heads on television are preaching to us about the dangers of “the GameStop bubble”, but the truth is that our entire stock market has become one gigantic bubble".

Indeed, the stock market has been hanging by a thread for a long time now. Doomsday predictions for an 80% correction were becoming regular amongst experts way before the WallStreetBets short squeeze had started. This is just one of the numerous bubbles inside the market, and just as GME stock seems to be returning to its fair value, price to earnings ratios always return to their historical averages. Although no one can predict the exact time a crash will occur, it was set to happen regardless of the latest events. So sooner rather than later the stock bubble will pop and it will end badly for everyone, but we cannot say they didn't have it coming. As Zero Hedge likes to remind its readers, “on a long enough timeline the survival rate for everyone drops to zero”.

The Daily "Near You?"

Burke, Virginia, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

The Poet: Langston Hughes, "Dreams"

"Dreams"

"Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow."

- Langston Hughes

'Life, eh?"

"We said together, wistfully, 'Life, eh?' It says everything without having to say anything: that we all experience moments of joyful or painful reflection, sometimes alone, sometimes sharing laughs and tears with others; that we all know and appreciate that however wonderful and precious life is, it can equally be a terribly confusing and mysterious beast. 'Life, eh?"
- Miranda Hart

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 2/3/21"

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 2/3/21"
 Feb 3, 2021 2:20 PM ET: 
The coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 104,165,100 
people, according to official counts, including 26,533,428 Americans.
Globally at least 2,260,100 have died.

"The COVID Tracking Project"
Every day, our volunteers compile the latest numbers on tests, cases, 
hospitalizations, and patient outcomes from every US state and territory.
https://covidtracking.com/
Feb. 3, 2021 8:29 AM ET
Where I Live:
- CP

"How It Really Is"

"Comparing the 1930s and Today"

"Comparing the 1930s and Today"
by Doug Casey

"You've heard the axiom "History repeats itself." It does, but never in exactly the same way. To apply the lessons of the past, we must understand the differences of the present. During the American Revolution, the British came prepared to fight a successful war - but against a European army. Their formations, which gave them devastating firepower, and their red coats, which emphasized their numbers, proved the exact opposite of the tactics needed to fight a guerrilla war.

Before World War I, generals still saw the cavalry as the flower of their armies. Of course, the horse soldiers proved worse than useless in the trenches.

Before World War II, in anticipation of a German attack, the French built the "impenetrable" Maginot Line. History repeated itself and the attack came, but not in the way they expected. Their preparations were useless because the Germans didn't attempt to penetrate it; they simply went around it, and France was defeated.

The generals don't prepare for the last war out of perversity or stupidity, but rather because past experience is all they have to go by. Most of them simply don't know how to interpret that experience. They are correct in preparing for another war but wrong in relying upon what worked in the last one.

Investors, unfortunately, seem to make the same mistakes in marshaling their resources as do the generals. If the last 30 years have been prosperous, they base their actions on more prosperity. Talk of a depression isn't real to them because things are, in fact, so different from the 1930s. To most people, a depression means '30s-style conditions, and since they don't see that, they can't imagine a depression. That's because they know what the last depression was like, but they don't know what one is. It's hard to visualize something you don't understand.

Some of them who are a bit more clever might see an end to prosperity and the start of a depression but - al­though they're going to be a lot better off than most - they're probably looking for this depression to be like the last one. Although nobody can predict with absolute certainty what this depression will be like, you can be fairly well-assured it won't be an instant replay of the last one. But just because things will be different doesn't mean you have to be taken by surprise. To define the likely differences between this depres­sion and the last one, it's helpful to compare the situa­tion today to that in the early 1930s. The results aren't very reassuring.

Corporate Bankruptcy 1930s: Banks, insurance companies, and big corporations went under on a major scale. Institutions suffered the consequences of past mistakes, and there was no financial safety net to catch them as they fell. Mistakes were liquidated and only the prepared and efficient survived.

Today: The world’s financial institutions are in even worse shape than the last time, but now business ethics have changed and everyone expects the government to "step in." Laws are already in place that not only allow but require government inter­vention in many instances. This time, mistakes will be compounded, and the strong, productive, and ef­ficient will be forced to subsidize the weak, unproductive, and inefficient. It's ironic that businesses were bankrupted in the last depression because the prices of their products fell too low; this time, it'll be because they went too high.

Unemployment 1930s: If a man lost his job, he had to find another one as quickly as possible simply to keep from going hungry. A lot of other men in the same position competed desperately for what work was available, and an employer could hire those same men for much lower wages and expect them to work harder than what was the case before the depression. As a result, the men could get jobs and the employer could stay in business.

Today: The average man first has months of unemployment insurance; after that, he can go on welfare if he can't find "suitable work." Instead of taking whatever work is available, especially if it means that a white collar worker has to get his hands dirty, many will go on welfare. This will decrease the production of new wealth and delay the recovery. The worker no longer has to worry about some entrepreneur exploiting (i.e., employing) him at what he considers an unfair wage because the minimum wage laws, among others, precludes that possibility today. As a result, men stay unemployed and employers will go out of business.

Welfare 1930s: If hard times really put a man down and out, he had little recourse but to rely on his family, friends, or local social and church group. There was quite a bit of opprobrium attached to that, and it was only a last resort. The breadlines set up by various government bodies were largely cosmetic measures to soothe the more terror-prone among the voting populace. People made do because they had to, and that meant radically reducing their standards of living and taking any job available at any wage. There were very, very few people on welfare during the last depression.

Today: It's hard to say how those who are still working are going to support those who aren't in this depression. Even in the U.S., 50% of the country is already on some form of welfare. But food stamps, aid to fami­lies with dependent children, Social Security, and local programs are already collapsing in prosperous times. And when the tidal wave hits, they'll be totally overwhelmed. There aren't going to be any breadlines because people who would be standing in them are going to be shopping in local supermarkets just like people who earned their money. Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of it is that people in general have come to think that these programs can just magically make wealth appear, and they expect them to be there, while a whole class of people have grown up never learning to survive without them. It's ironic, yet predictable, that the programs that were supposed to help those who "need" them will serve to devastate those very people.

Regulations 1930s: Most economies have been fairly heavily regulated since the early 1900s, and those regulations caused distortions that added to the severity of the last depression. Rather than allow the economy to liquidate, in the case of the U.S., the Roosevelt regime added many, many more regulations - fixing prices, wages, and the manner of doing business in a static form. It was largely because of these regulations that the depression lingered on until the end of World War II, which "saved" the economy only through its massive reinflation of the currency. Had the government abolished most controls then in existence, instead of creating new ones, the depression would have been less severe and much shorter.

Today: The scores of new agencies set up since the last depression have created far more severe distortions in the ways people relate than those of 90 years ago; the potential adjustment needed is proportionately greater. Unless government restrictions and controls on wages, working conditions, energy consumption, safety, and such are removed, a dramatic economic turnaround during the Greater Depression will be impossible.

Taxes 1930s: The income tax was new to the U.S. in 1913, and by 1929, although it took a maximum 23.1% bite, that was only at the $1 million level. The average family’s income then was $2,335, and that put average families in the 1/10th of 1 percent bracket. And there was still no Social Security tax, no state income tax, no sales tax, and no estate tax. Furthermore, most people in the country didn't even pay the income tax because they earned less than the legal minimum or they didn't bother filing. The government, therefore, had immense untapped sources of revenue to draw upon to fund its schemes to "cure" the depression. Roosevelt was able to raise the average income tax from 1.35% to 16.56% during his tenure - an increase of 1,100%.

Today: Everyone now pays an income tax in addition to all the other taxes. In most Western countries, the total of direct and indirect taxes is over 50%. For that reason, it seems unlikely that direct taxes will go much higher. But inflation is constantly driving everyone into higher brackets and will have the same effect. A person has had to increase his or her income faster than inflation to compensate for taxes. Whatever taxes a man does pay will reduce his standard of living by just that much, and it's reasonable to expect tax evasion and the underground economy to boom in response. That will cushion the severity of the depression somewhat while it serves to help change the philosophical orientation of society.

Prices 1930s: Prices dropped radically because billions of dollars of inflationary currency were wiped out through the stock market crash, bond defaults, and bank failures. The government, however, somehow equated the high prices of the inflationary '20s with prosperity and attempted to prevent a fall in prices by such things as slaughtering livestock, dumping milk in the gutter, and enacting price supports. Since the collapse wiped out money faster than it could be created, the government felt the destruction of real wealth was a more effective way to raise prices. In other words, if you can't increase the supply of money, decrease the supply of goods.

Nonetheless, the 1930s depression was a deflationary collapse, a time when currency became worth more and prices dropped. This is probably the most confusing thing to most Americans since they assume - as a result of that experience - that "depression" means "deflation." It's also perhaps the biggest single difference between this depression and the last one.

Today: Prices could drop, as they did the last time, but the amount of power the government now has over the economy is far greater than what was the case 90 years ago. Instead of letting the economy cleanse itself by allowing the financial markets to collapse, governments will probably bail out insolvent banks, create mortgages wholesale to prop up real estate, and central banks will buy bonds to keep their prices from plummeting. All of these actions mean that the total money supply will grow enormously. Trillions will be created to avoid deflation. If you find men selling apples on street corners, it won't be for 5 cents apiece, but $5 apiece. But there won't be a lot of apple sellers because of welfare, nor will there be a lot of apples because of price controls.

Consumer prices will probably skyrocket as a result, and the country will have an inflationary depression. Unlike the 1930s, when people who held dollars were king, by the end of the Greater Depression, people with dollars will be wiped out.

The Society 1930s: The world was largely rural or small-town. Communications were slow, but people tended to trust the media. The government exercised considerable moral suasion, and people tended to support it. The business of the country was business, as Calvin Coolidge said, and men who created wealth were esteemed. All told, if you were going to have a depression, it was a rather stable environment for it; despite that, however, there were still plenty of riots, marches, and general disorder.

Today: The country is now urban and suburban, and although communications are rapid, there's little interpersonal contact. The media are suspect. The government is seen more as an adversary or an imperial ruler than an arbitrator accepted by a consensus of concerned citizens. Businessmen are viewed as unscrupulous predators who take advantage of anyone weak enough to be exploited. A major financial smashup in today's atmosphere could do a lot more than wipe out a few naives in the stock market and unemploy some workers, as occurred in the '30s; some sectors of society are now time bombs. It's hard to say, for instance, what third- and fourth-generation welfare recipients are going to do when the going gets really tough.

The Way People Work 1930s: Relatively slow transportation and communication localized economic conditions. The U.S. itself was somewhat insulated from the rest of the world, and parts of the U.S. were fairly self-contained. Workers were mostly involved in basic agriculture and industry, creating widgets and other tangible items. There wasn't a great deal of specialization, and that made it easier for someone to move laterally from one occupation into the next, without extensive retraining, since people were more able to produce the basics of life on their own. Most women never joined the workforce, and the wife in a marriage acted as a "backup" system should the husband lose his job.

Today: The whole world is interdependent, and a war in the Middle East or a revolution in Africa can have a direct and immediate effect on a barber in Chicago or Krakow. Since the whole economy is centrally controlled from Washington, a mistake there can be a national disaster. People generally aren’t in a position to roll with the punches as more than half the people in the country belong to what is known as the "service economy." That means, in most cases, they're better equipped to shuffle papers than make widgets. Even "necessary" services are often terminated when times get hard. Specialization is part of what an advanced industrial economy is all about, but if the economic order changes radically, it can prove a liability.

The Financial Markets 1930s: The last depression is identified with the collapse of the stock market, which lost over 90% of its value from 1929 to 1933. A secure bond was the best possible investment as interest rates dropped radically. Commodities plummeted, reducing millions of farmers to near subsistence levels. Since most real estate was owned outright and taxes were low, a drop in price didn't make a lot of difference unless you had to sell. Land prices plummeted, but since people bought it to use, not unload to a greater fool, they didn't usually have to sell.

Today: This time, stocks - and especially commodities - are likely to explode on the upside as people panic into them to get out of depreciating dollars in general and bonds in particular. Real estate will be - next to bonds - the most devastated single area of the economy because no one will lend money long term. And real estate is built on the mortgage market, which will vanish. Everybody who invests in this depression thinking that it will turn out like the last one will be very unhappy with the results. Being aware of the differences between the last depression and this one makes it a lot easier to position yourself to minimize losses and maximize profits.

So much for the differences. The crucial, obvious, and most important similarity, however, is that most people's standard of living will fall dramatically. The Greater Depression has started. Most people don't know it because they can neither confront the thought nor understand the differences between this one and the last.

As a climax approaches, many of the things that you've built your life around in the past are going to change and change radically. The ability to adjust to new conditions is the sign of a psychologically healthy person. Look for the opportunity side of the crisis. The Chinese symbol for "crisis" is a combination of two other symbols - one for danger and one for opportunity. The rush to inject an unprecedented amount of money into every corner of the economy is a last-ditch effort to keep the stock market casino going for as long as possible - no matter the consequences.

The dangers that society will face in the years ahead are regrettable, but there's no point in allowing anxiety, frustration, or apathy to overcome you. Face the future with courage, curiosity, and optimism rather than fear. You can be a winner, and if you plan carefully, you will be. The great period of change will give you a chance to regain control of your destiny, and that in itself is the single most important thing in life, as an individual and society as a whole."