The Universe

“There are no accidents. If it's appeared on your life radar, this is why: to teach you that dreams come true; to reveal that you have the power to fix what's broken and heal what hurts; to catapult you beyond seeing with just your physical senses; and to lift the veils that have kept you from seeing that you're already the person you dreamed you'd become. There are no accidents. And believe me, that was one heck of a dream.”

“Tallyho,”

    The Universe

“Thoughts become things... choose the good ones!”
- http://www.tut.com/

The Daily "Near You?"

La Porte, Texas, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"The Future Can Wait"

"The Future Can Wait"

by Bill Bonner

"When political campaigns are funded by corporations, 

unions, and non-profit goo, the future is ruled out."

– George Gilder

RANCHO SANTANA, NICARAGUA – "Today, prodded by George Gilder… we connect some big dots. But first, the news... The U.S. stock market – as represented by the Wilshire 5000 Index, which tracks the market value of all American stocks actively traded in the United States – is now “off the charts.” As a percentage of GDP, stocks have reached almost 200% – an all-time record. And it’s not just the big names. The Russell 2000 Index – which tracks the smallest 2,000 stocks in the Russell 3000 Index – has gained more than 50% since November. And it’s done so despite the fact that four out of 10 of its companies are losing money.

And there is poor Gabe Plotkin of Melvin Capital Management. He made nearly $850 million in 2020. But then, he got caught in the GameStop hullabaloo and lost $460 million. Easy come, easy go, right?

Shocking Headline: Hey ho…WT… Well, this is one for the record books. A real, certified, no-doubt-about-it BUBBLE. And as we know, because we weren’t born yesterday, all bubbles burst. They don’t expand infinitely… or forever. They puff themselves up… and then something comes along to prick them. And BOOM! It’s over.

MacroMavens’ Stephanie Pomboy was interviewed on Fox News yesterday. She says the usual ratio between GDP and stock market capitalization is about 80%. That is, stocks should be worth only 80% of GDP, not 195%, which is where they currently stand. To get back to where they belong, the stock market will have to cut in half. This, she believes, could be coming soon… as the inflationary trends we’ve been talking about here in the Diary for the last few days come to a head. “It would take relatively modest increases in the monthly consumer price index (CPI) to get us up to or north of 4% year-on-year by May. That headline will be shocking to a lot in the markets,” she warns.

This could be the pin that this donkey tail is waiting for. It could cause a panic of selling… followed, of course, by a panic of money-printing. We’ll see…

Government’s Real Role: In the meantime, we’ll return to our theme for today by pointing out that a crash in the stock market is actually not a bad thing. Things that get out of whack have to get back into whack somehow. It really doesn’t matter whether stock prices are low or high… only that they are true. And as Scarlett O’Hara once observed, that’s what tomorrow is for. Like it or not, it always comes… at about the same time every day.

But the future – with all its innovations, evolutions, and surprises – must be allowed to happen. Which is where the government comes into play – it’s real role, that is. Whether controlled by Republicans or Democrats, it acts on behalf of the super-elite – those with the most to lose – to stop the future from happening. Like an aging dictator who puts his rivals in jail, the only future the elite will tolerate is one that leaves them rich and powerful… Anything else must be delayed… distorted… and derailed.

Which is why the printing presses are running so hot. Remember, it’s “Inflate or Die.” Either they continue to fund the feds’ schemes – including the bubble on Wall Street – with printing-press money… or they admit the truth. “Hey, look,” President Biden might begin, interrupting the latest episode of "I Hate Suzie" with an urgent announcement. “We made some mistakes. We spent too much. We borrowed too much. We printed too much. Well… we’re just going to have to bite…”

At about that point, the TV screen would likely go blank. Maybe after some popping noise… or a sprinkle of red drops on the screen. Because there is no way the powers-that-be would stand for it. Surrender to the future? Que sera sera? Not a chance.

Scary Future: “The future is scary,” they tell the voters. “There are terrorists out there! Viruses! Higher mortgage rates! The planet is hotting up! The Mexicans are invading! The Russians are stealing our elections! The Chinese are stealing our wealth! A stock market crash! A depression! A coup d’état! The future? You’re not going to like it. But don’t worry. We’ll make war on it. We’ll give you a better version of tomorrow.”

It is true, of course, that there will be things about the future we won’t like. What if they bring the Confederate statues back? What if Jeff Bezos gets even richer? Or drugs are legalized? Or Joe Biden starts smoking! What if stocks crash and interest rates rise? Oh please… won’t somebody do something to stop it!

Oh… and by the way, we all will have to die. That’s in the future, too… guaranteed. And thank God! What a world it would be if time froze. We can’t imagine it, because it is unimaginable. Change… death… the rise and fall of empires… the coming and going of fame and fortune… the building up and the tearing down… clearing away yesterday to make space for tomorrow. (In this Amor Fati – love of fate – sense, COVID-19 – which seems to target the old and the weak – could be seen as a helpmate to the future… not a menace to it.)

Yes, Dear Reader, fortunes will be lost as well as made. Old money will give way to new money, just as the old, land-based wealth of the Agrarian Era gave way to the new fortunes of the Industrial Age… which then lost ground to Wall Street and the Silicon Valley billionaires.  Detroit, the richest U.S. city in 1955, is now a dump. And the richest man in the world in 1955 is now dead.

Guard the Bubble: Excesses have to be squeezed out. The old must be laid in their graves. Mistakes must be corrected. Money moves on… from the old to the young… from weak hands to strong ones. Vanity… laziness… pride… and wickedness are punished. The Devil claims his sinners. Heaven finds her own.

But standing tall against this future is the Biden Administration… heavily armed… backed by crony money… and by the entire Elite Establishment… The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Swamp, the military/industrial/prison/entitlement complex…lined up together… a phalanx of the great and the good… unstoppable… immovable…

All there… to protect our sacred democracy… to guard the bubble… to keep the printing presses humming… and to keep the future from making any changes they don’t like. But can they actually produce a better tomorrow? Stay tuned…"

- www.rogueeconomics.com

"The Only Thing We Know..."

"The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different." 

- Peter Drucker

"The future ain't what it used to be."

- Yogi Berra

Paulo Coelho, “Dreams: The 12 Steps”

“Dreams: The 12 Steps”

by Paulo Coelho

"When Joseph Campbell created the expression “follow your blessing,” he was reflecting an idea that seems to be very appropriate right now. In “The Alchemist,” this same idea is called “Personal Legend.” Alan Cohen, a therapist who lives in Hawaii, is also working on this theme. He says that in his lectures he asks those who are dissatisfied with their work and seventy-five percent of the audience raise their hands. Cohen has created a system of twelve steps to help people to rediscover their “blessing” (he is a follower of Campbell):

1. Tell yourself the truth: Draw two columns on a sheet of paper and in the left column write down what you would love to do. Then write down on the other side everything you’re doing without any enthusiasm. Write as if nobody were ever going to read what is there, don’t censure or judge your answers.

 

2. Start slowly, but start: Call your travel agent, look for something that fits your budget; go and see the movie that you’ve been putting off; buy the book that you’ve been wanting to buy. Be generous to yourself and you’ll see that even these small steps will make you feel more alive.

 

3. Stop slowly, but stop: Some things use up all your energy. Do you really need to go that committee meeting? Do you need to help those who do not want to be helped? Does your boss have the right to demand that in addition to your work you have to go to all the same parties that he goes to? When you stop doing what you’re not interested in doing, you’ll realize that you were making more demands of yourself than others were really asking.

 

4. Discover your small talents: What do your friends tell you that you do well? What do you do with relish, even if it’s not perfectly well done? These small talents are hidden messages of your large occult talents.

 

5. Begin to choose: If something gives you pleasure, don’t hesitate. If you’re in doubt, close your eyes, imagine that you’ve made decision A and see all that it will bring you. Now do the same with decision B. The decision that makes you feel more connected to life is the right one – even if it’s not the easiest to make.

6. Don’t base your decisions on financial gain: The gain will come if you really do it with enthusiasm. The same vase, made by a potter who loves what he does and by a man who hates his job, has a soul. It will be quickly sold (in the first case) or will stay on the shelves (in the second case).

 

7. Follow your intuition: The most interesting work is the one where you allow yourself to be creative. Einstein said: “I did not reach my understanding of the Universe using just mathematics.” Descartes, the father of logic, developed his method based on a dream he had.

 

8. Don’t be afraid to change your mind: If you put a decision aside and this bothers you, think again about what you chose. Don’t struggle against what gives you pleasure.

 

9. Learn how to rest: One day a week without thinking about work lets the subconscious help you, and many problems (but not all) are solved without any help from reason.

 

10. Let things show you a happier path: If you are struggling too much for something, without any results appearing, be more flexible and follow the paths that life offers. This does not mean giving up the struggle, growing lazy or leaving things in the hands of others – it means understanding that work with love brings us strength, never despair.

 

11. Read the signs: This is an individual language joined to intuition that appears at the right moments. Even if the signs point in the opposite direction from what you planned, follow them. Sometimes you can go wrong, but this is the best way to learn this new language.

 

12. Finally, take risks! The men who have changed the world set out on their paths through an act of faith. Believe in the force of your dreams. God is fair, He wouldn’t put in your heart a desire that couldn’t come true.”

- http://paulocoelhoblog.com/.

"The Human Condition"

"The Human Condition"

by Meanings of Life

“We are all of us born, live and die in the shadow of a 

giant question mark that refers to three questions: 

Where do we come from? Why? And where, oh where, are we going?”

- Tennessee Williams

"Man remains largely unknown of himself. What are we, in our innermost recesses, behind our names and our conventional opinions? What are we behind the things we do in our lives, behind what we see in others and what others see in us, or even behind things science says we are? Is man the crazy being about whom Carl Gustav Jung spoke ironically, when he demanded a man to treat? Is man the Dr. Jerkyll that contains in himself a criminal Mister Hyde, and more than a personality, and contradictory feelings?

Are we the result of our dreams, as Prospero, in the Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” asked? Are we able to raise our nature and become the dignified beings evoked by Pico de la Mirandola (It’s the seeds a man cultivates that "will mature and bear fruit in him. If vegetative, he will become a plant; if sensual, he will become brutish; if rational, he will reveal himself a heavenly being; if intellectual, he will be an angel and the son of God")?

Almost two centuries ago, Spencer characterized the contradictory features of natives from the African east coast: "He has at the same time good character and hard heart; he is a fighter, conscientious, good in a precise moment, and cruel, pitiless and violent in the other; superstitious and rudely irreligious; brave and pusillanimous, servile and dominator, stubborn and at the same time fickle, relied to honor views, but without signs of honesty, niggard and economical, but careless and improvident".

It’s probably a good definition of a certain primitive man, to whom we are undoubtedly connected. But we are also cultural and ethic beings. We are able to change our values and behaviors. As William James says, human beings can change their lives through their mental attitudes. We can grow ethically. We can dominate part of our own instincts. And that’s why we can be different from the indigenous African described by Spencer. More: our thought dignifies us ("All the dignity of man consists in thought", says Blaise Pascal). We are, in many senses, the conscience of the Universe, and its utmost elaborated product. As Edgar Morin says, "in the core of our singularity, we carry not only all the humanity, all the life, but also all the cosmos, including its mystery, present in the heart of our beings".

We are creators, creator beings, and, in a sense, we can create, or recreate ourselves. All goes through our mind. It is our mind that constructs our truths and errors, and also the most sublime things in the Universe. And yet evil and stupidity exist in us. Sometimes we fall, we are stroked, and life reveals its cruelty, and we may think as Mark Twain, and say that it was a pity that Noah had arrived late to the ark. In our innermost recesses, there is also the cruelty and the inhumanity of life. Charles Darwin showed that we are descendants of inferior life forms: we have been long ago a "bush and a bird, and a fish silently swimming in the waters", to use the poetic terms used by Empedocles in its "Purifications."

From a genetic and evolutionist point of view, we contain in us the survival reflexes and the aggressiveness of the life forms that preceded us: "All that threatened the cave man - dangers, darkness, famine, thirst, ghosts, demons – all has passed to the interior of our souls, all troubles us, grieves us, threatens us from inside." (Morin). Besides, we are also beings that can differ significantly from each other. We are equal, but also different. "The awake involve a common world, but dreams deviate each one to its own world," Heraclites rather enigmatically declares. He thought we can’t help sleeping and living in illusory worlds, even when awake.

For all these reasons, Blaise Pascal’s celebrated definition of the human being, despite the hard language, not exactly agreeable to our ears, is undoubtedly one of the most powerful that can be applied to the rather unknown being that we can’t help being to ourselves: "What a chimera then is man! What a novelty, what a monster, what a chaos, what a contradiction, what a prodigy! Judge of all things, imbecile worm of the earth; depositary of truth, a sink of uncertainty and error; the pride and refuse of the universe! Who will unravel this tangle?"

- http://www.meaningsoflife.com/

This website no longer exists, sadly...

"Do You Want..."

"Do you want to live life, or do you want to escape life?"

- Macklemore

Musical Interlude: "Isochronic Tones Upbeat Study Music - Deep Focus for Complex Tasks"

"Isochronic Tones Upbeat Study Music - 

Deep Focus for Complex Tasks"

by Jason Lewis, Mind Amend

"Deep focus for complex tasks, upbeat study music mix with isochronic tones. Uses beta wave tones to help you reach and maintain a high focus mental state. Use when working on advanced and complicated topics like mathematics, scientific formulas, financial analysis or any complex mental activity. Isochronic tones produce a stronger and more powerful brainwave entrainment effect, compared to binaural beats study music tracks or standard music. 

What is this? This is a high-intensity audio brainwave entrainment session, using isochronic tones. Listen to this when you need a strong burst of intense focus to concentrate and study things like advanced mathematics, scientific formulas, financial analysis or any other complex mental activity. 

How is this session constructed? The session starts off beating at 10Hz and ramps up to 18Hz by the 6-minute mark. It stays at 18Hz until the final 5 minutes where it ramps back down again.

How to use it? Listen to this track with your eyes open while doing the task/activity you want to focus on.

Headphones are NOT required: Although headphones are not required you may find they produce a more intense effect, because they help to block out distracting external sounds. 

When to listen? Because this track increases your beta brainwave activity, it's best to listen to this during the daytime and early evening. If you listen to this too close to bedtime, it might disrupt your sleep, in a similar way to how you might respond if you drank coffee just before going to bed.

How loud should the volume be? The main thing to consider is that it should be loud enough to hear the repetitive isochronic tones, so you don't want it so quiet you can hardly hear them. But you also don't want it so loud that it's uncomfortable for you and hurts your ears, or gives you a headache. I'd recommend starting with the volume around halfway and adjust it to a level that you feel comfortable with from there."

"What You Need to Know About Isochronic Tones"

- https://www.mindamend.com/

Works very well for me...

Musical Interlude: Nirvana, "The Man Who Sold The World", "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" (MTV Unplugged)

Nirvana, "The Man Who Sold The World" (MTV Unplugged)

Nirvana, "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"

Long time personal favorites, a nice change up...

Maybe you'll like them too...

"So Make Sure..."

 

"CDC Begins Recommending Wearing Two Masks"

"CDC Begins Recommending Wearing Two Masks"

by Tyler Durden

FEB 10, 2021 - 21:55: "We already know based on objective, impartial, empirical data, that there is effectively no difference in covid case counts/hospitalizations/deaths in states that mandate masks and business restrictions (such as North Dakota) vs states which do not (such as its southern neighbor). So, perhaps while looking at this graphic, the CDC had a brilliant idea: ok, one mask does not work, but what about... two masks!

That's right: starting Wednesday, the CDC (aka the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) began recommending that Americans wear two masks, or specifically a cloth mask over a medical mask to slow the spread of Covid-19.

The guidance followed the release of an agency study (because "scientists") that found double masking can boost protection from aerosolized particles. Whereas government officials previously said the CDC was waiting to gather evidence on double masking, they now appear to have a greenlight to mandate double-masking. The new study, part of the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, also examined the efficacy of modifications made to improve the fit of a medical mask. Either double masking or tightening a mask’s fit reduced exposure to aerosols that could be infectious by about 95%, the research concluded. “These experiments highlight the importance of good fit to maximize mask performance,” the authors wrote. “There are multiple simple ways to achieve better fit of masks to more effectively slow the spread of Covid-19.”

The findings came from experiments done by the agency last month, which tested how double masking and changes to improve mask fit worked amid coughing, which the researchers simulated. Knotting the loops of a surgical mask and tucking in extra fabric near the face was found to reduce exposure, as was wearing a cloth mask over a surgical mask. As a result, the CDC's new guidance now recommends that Americans should ensure that masks fit tightly on their face and have layers, both of which improve protection. There are several routes to do that, including wearing a disposable mask beneath a cloth mask or choosing a mask with multiple layers of fabric, according to the recommendation.

That said, double-masking with two disposable masks, or with a KN95, isn’t recommended. “The bottom line is this: Masks work and they work best when they have a good fit and are worn correctly,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at a White House briefing on Wednesday.

And while the CDC may argue that "the bottom line" is whatever it wants it to be, at least until it changes its mind in a month to suit some political interest du jour, the reality is that wearing just one mask has shown no tangible improvement on infection numbers. In fact, none other than Dr Anthony Fauci said one week ago that "there's no data that indicates that [double masking] is going to make a difference." Fauci on double masking: “There’s no data that indicates that that is going to make a difference” pic.twitter.com/ptVivQfuwt — Eli Klein (@TheEliKlein) January 31, 2021

But that was science in January. We now have February science. As a result, it's time to reset the count and start with two.... then three masks.... then four.... until eventually we all will look like this...at least for a few minutes before everyone dies from asphyxiation."

- https://www.zerohedge.com/

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"How It Really Is"

 

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 2/11/21"

"Covid-19 Pandemic Updates 2/11/21"

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"When you have eliminated the impossible, 

whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

- "Sherlock Holmes", Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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

• "Redefining Death"

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- https://www.zerohedge.com/

FEB 11, AT 8:25 AM: "Global Cases Top 107MM As WHO Warns About COVID Mutations: Live Updates"

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 Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Global Outbreak 

 Feb 11, 2021 7:54 AM ET: 

The coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 107,417,100 

people, according to official counts, including 27,328,455 Americans.

Globally at least 2,355,700 have died.

  Feb. 11, 2021 7:54 AM ET: 

Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count

- www.nytimes.com

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"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/
○

- https://www.cdc.gov/library/covid19/

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Coronavirus World Map: Tracking The Spread Of The Outbreak

Feb. 11, 2021, 7:20 AM ET

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Where I Live:

- CP

"Economic Market Snapshot AM 2/11/21"

"Economic Market Snapshot AM 2/11/21"

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"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

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

Only the consequences are real - to you!

Your guide:

Gregory Mannarino, AM 2/11/21

"The Total Economic Collapse Is Just Getting Started”

- https://traderschoice.net/

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"The more I see of the monied classes, 

the better I understand the guillotine."

- George Bernard Shaw

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MarketWatch Market Summary, Live Updates

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

CNN Market Data:

- https://money.cnn.com/data/markets/

CNN Fear And Greed Index:

- https://money.cnn.com/data/fear-and-greed/

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A comprehensive, essential daily read.

- http://www.shadowstats.com/

Feb 11th, Updated Daily 

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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."

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Daily Job Cuts

- https://www.dailyjobcuts.com/

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- https://www.zerohedge.com/

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- https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/

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- https://wallstreetonparade.com/

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- https://www.whatreallyhappened.com/

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- https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

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Commentary, highly recommended:

- https://www.theburningplatform.com/

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And now, the End Game...

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Oh yeah...

Greg Hunter, "Aristocrats vs 'We the People'”

"Aristocrats vs 'We the People'”

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

"Financial writer John Rubino says massive unpayable debt has already bankrupted America, and when this happens, politics are also massively corrupted. Rubino explains, “When you bankrupt your country, your politics are inherently corrupted by that bankruptcy, and that’s what is happening to us. We created a financial system that is run by an aristocracy. It’s not a Right/Left, liberal, socialist or conservative aristocracy. Look at JPMorgan Chase, Google and General Dynamics. Look at Mitch McConnell, the big Republicans and the big Democrats. They are not socialists, and they are not capitalists - they’re aristocrats. They are mainly interested in a system where the rules apply to you and me but do not apply to them. You need to view those guys as Dukes and Duchesses whose main job is to maintain power over the peasants, then their behavior makes complete sense. Seeing them that way makes their motivation and behavior pretty much crystal clear.”

Rubino contends, “This won’t change. You’ve got to have all the peasants grabbing their pitch forks and heading to the castle before it changes. In the meantime, we are stuck with this system, and it has given us the biggest financial bubble in human history. That sounds like hyperbole and click bait, but it’s actually not. If you look at the big financial bubbles we have lived through, junk bond bubble, tech bubble and then the housing bubble, they were sector specific financial bubbles where one asset class just blew up. They became the center of a mania, crashed and almost took down the whole economy. We now have at least four and maybe five bubbles of that magnitude all going at the same time. That’s why they call it the ‘Everything Bubble.’ When this thing blows, it’s not just going to be one sector tanking. It’s going to be all the sectors tanking at once. It’s going to be astounding. I wouldn’t want to be Joe Biden when that happens. This is going to be an impossible thing to govern.”

Rubino warns, “When it becomes obvious that there are no tools to fix any of these markets that are blowing up, that shifts the attention over to currencies. Because if we can’t fix the financial markets, why would we want to hold these currencies when everything in these financial markets that these currencies kind of govern are going crazy? So, when this thing blows up, it will shift the pressure over to the dollar. Thus, this is the whole DollarCollapse.com thing. Nobody is going to want to hold the dollar or the euro or the yen. It won’t matter what the governments do because there will be nothing effective for them to do. That’s when things get really crazy, and people will be glad they have gold and silver among a handful of other things. It’s completely possible we end back up on a gold standard in 10 years with gold at $10,000 per ounce. If you are a stacker, this chaos is less terrifying to you because you know your financial life is going to be okay no matter what happens to housing, tech or whatever. We think we have lived through some tough times in the financial markets, but we have never seen anything like what is coming.”

- https://usawatchdog.com/

Join Greg Hunter on Rumble as he goes One-on-One 

with the founder of DollarCollapse.com, John Rubino:

- https://rumble.com/

"8 Million More Living In Poverty, 9 Million Businesses In Danger Of Closing, 10 Million Behind On Rent"

"8 Million More Living In Poverty, 9 Million Businesses

 In Danger Of Closing, 10 Million Behind On Rent"

by Epic Economist

"The economic collapse always starts with a major breakdown that trickles down to all the main systems and institutions of our society. The health crisis was surely the kick that pushed the U.S. economy over the edge, but we have to remember that first of all, we were already nearing the edge long before the start of a global sanitary outbreak. Evidently, the consequences brought on by the crisis accelerated our downfall, but we were set to fail regardless of that. Now that the collapse has arrived and the big burst was already witnessed, many might be under the impression that things will improve from here. But don't be mistaken: there's always a way to fall further down the rock bottom. The decay of our nation was triggered in 2020, but it has only started. And today we brought you the latest numbers to prove to you that everything around us is still crumbling, and the worst is yet to come. 

To illustrate how dire our economic conditions have become, we decided to gather some numbers. Starting with the number of Americans who would still have jobs if the health crisis had never happened. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 7 million people out of work in 2021 would reportedly be working if widespread business shutdowns haven't occurred as a result of the outbreak. The CBO report stresses that this is a terrible situation for the labor market, and it calls "to immediate action, not calm, not wait-and-see". The agency projected that without effective federal assistance, the unemployment rate will remain above its pre-outbreak levels until 2024, which means millions would be unemployed for years, even after the health threat is gone. 

Additional numbers provided by the report outline that now that we're almost a year into the crisis, nearly 11 million workers remain unemployed, and at least 4 million have been unemployed for six months or longer. Over 2 million women have left the labor force, as a consequence of school closures and challenges with child care. Right now, the figures that expose their suffering point out that roughly 24 million adults, and as many as 12 million children, are struggling with food insecurity, while more than 80 million adults are having problems covering household expenses. 

According to Bloomberg, over 8 million Americans fell into poverty during the second half of 2020, which not only increased racial and income inequalities but will potentially jeopardize the future of millions of children in such tragically impoverished households. As the stimulus money keeps failing to reach those who need it the most, those numbers will inevitably continue to grow in the months ahead, especially because the federal aid is also failing to support our businesses. And that brings us to our next number. Approximately 9 million small businesses in the U.S. say that they “won’t survive” in 2021 without further government assistance, as 88% of the businesses surveyed disclosed that sales had not yet returned to pre-outbreak levels. 

Even if business eventually goes back to normal, these businesses have piled up huge mountains of debt that will not go away. That is particularly concerning since the real estate and housing markets are already overwhelmed with the number of domestic renters behind on their rent payments, which lead us to the final figures: according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 10 million tenants across the U.S. were late on their rental payment in January, and an estimated 16 million renters had little to no confidence they could pay rent in February.

The survey describes that all of these people are at risk of eviction. Altogether, U.S. home renters now owe at least 30 billion dollars in back rent. As a result, America’s landlords have been experiencing extreme financial pain, and experts say that as soon as the rent moratoriums are finally lifted we are going to see the largest tsunami of evictions in all of U.S. history by a very wide margin. 

So taking a step back and looking at the overall picture, we can see how the effects of the collapse have infiltrated all over the economy. The industries that didn't immediately meltdown after the recession began, are now steadily decaying while the ones that were hit the hardest by the downturn are completely disintegrating right before our eyes. Jobs are being shed with every day it passes, and millions upon millions of Americans are deeply suffering from the financial setbacks the recession forced them to face. These are very dark times for the U.S. economy, and it seems like much more pain is on the horizon."

- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com

"The Fed Faces Two Choices"

"The Fed Faces Two Choices"

by Brian Maher

"A man shipwrecked bobs along in his lifeboat…The cruel sun cooks him. His thirst tortures him. His sufferings are doubled, tripled and quadrupled by this impossible irony: Water, water is everywhere - yet there is scarcely a drop to drink. Salt water in any quantity would murder him. Thus he dangles from the hooks of a lethal dilemma. He dies if he does not drink… and he dies if he does drink. The Federal Reserve offers a parallel example. It is the agonized wretch in the lifeboat. It is mad for inflation. Yet inflation is lethal...

The Cry for Inflation: Jerome Powell and his crewmates cry aloud for inflation. Inflation is the spark of growth, they believe...Inflation takes a match to the dollar. The consumer wishes to unload his dollar before the flame burns through it. Thus inflation spurs the consumer to spend. He will purchase his goods today because his dollar is a wasting asset. It will fetch him more goods today than it will fetch him tomorrow. Today’s purchases, in turn, add a figure to the gross domestic product. A benign inflation therefore keeps an economy on the jump… and business in funds.

Under deflation - conversely - tomorrow's dollar packs more wallop than today's dollar. Consumers expect lower prices tomorrow. They will therefore postpone today's purchases until the price falls to them.

The “Evils” of Deflation: What is the evil result of postponed purchasing? Goods wallow upon shelves, stockrooms overflow with surplus. Commerce loses its steam. Under extreme deflation, it may stall almost entirely. Thus is deflation the ultimate bugaboo, the ultimate fee-fi-fo-fum of most economists.

You may relish the formidable dollar gaining strength in your wallet. This buck will give you a greater bang tomorrow. Yet you are not an economist. You do not hear the music of the spheres. You do not realize deflation is your foe.

Deflation, Inflation and Debt: Deflation is certainly the ultimate bugaboo, the ultimate fee-fi-fo-fum of all debtors…Deflation raises the real value of debt. A man borrows $1 today. Under deflation, he must repay perhaps $1.07 when his creditor thunders at his door. Under inflation, the opposite dynamic obtains. The man borrows his dollar. Yet he owes merely 93 cents when his creditor knocks. The borrower escapes with a whole skin - and a bit of blubber. Yet the creditor comes away a man reduced. He lent a dollar and received cents in return. He is the victim of a swindle.

As Jim Rickards reminded us yesterday: "Inflation decreases the real value of debt. It’s easier to pay down debt because you’re paying back debt with dollars that are less valuable than when you originally borrowed them."

Deadbeat Nation: The United States is the world’s largest debtor nation. Its shoulders stoop, its back aches under a $27.8 trillion burden of debt. Total United States debt - public and private - runs to $72 trillion. It cannot endure deflation. Deflation stacks additional weight upon the shoulders… further encumbers the back… and buckles the knees. Recall, debt’s real value increases under deflation.

Inflation, meantime, eases a man’s load. Debt’s chains weigh lighter upon him. He can get on… and move ahead. Hence the Federal Reserve’s mania for inflation. It quickens the pace of commerce. It eases debt’s burden, public and private. Understand this, and you understand 12 years of monetary policy. Has it failed, largely? Yes, it has. But let it go for the moment. Let us instead return the Federal Reserve in its lifeboat… and its lethal dilemma.

Inflation Corrodes the Value of Bonds: Assume - by some miracle of God - it gets its inflation. The fiscal authorities, as you know, are busy. One day they may break through. What then follows when inflation bubbles? Longer-term bond holders begin to grumble. They grumble because inflation corrodes the value of their bonds as rust corrodes the value of a yacht. Years of inflation will reduce their bonds to rust. Thus they demand a sort of boater’s insurance. That is, they demand higher bond yields to compensate them for the rusting. The longer-dated the bond, the more compensation they demand. Who would hold a 10-year or 30-year Treasury to term if inflation would corrode through it? Only the man with adequate insurance to guard his investment.

We now come to the fatal element. We now come to the salt in the water…

“Inflation Is the Water. Interest Rates Are the Salt Within It.” The Federal Reserve is after inflation as the man in the lifeboat is after water. The thirsting and dehydrated man cannot drink in much salt water. And the Federal Reserve cannot allow in much inflation. Why not precisely? Inflation is the water. Interest rates are the salt within it.

As an overdose of water yields an overdose of salt… an overdose of inflation yields an overdose of interest. That is because rising inflation translates to higher bond yields. Higher bond yields translate to higher interest rates. Higher interest rates increase the cost of borrowing… and increase the debt burden. Higher interest rates are therefore lethal for an economy - and a stock market - held up by cheap money.

Thus the impossible conundrum for the man in the lifeboat is the impossible conundrum of the Federal Reserve. Matthew Piepenburg of Matterhorn Asset Management: "Rising yields… lead to rising rates, and rising rates are what kills debt-driven asset bubbles… it is essential for these debt-addicted (and failed) policy makers to keep the price (i.e. interest rates) of their debt down - which means they need to keep the yields on their bonds under “control” by keeping bond demand, and hence bond prices up."

Monetizing the Debt: What if the federal government cannot attract buyers of Treasury bonds? The Federal Reserve fabricates the money to purchase the bonds itself. That is, it monetizes the debt. This bond purchasing holds prices up… and holds bond yields… and interest rates… down. It creates a false impression of demand. What is the result, Mr. Piepenburg?

"The artificial control (repression) of yields and rates means cheaper debt, and hence more binge borrowing (and hence price inflation) on everything from over-priced homes to over-pumped stocks driven by easy and cheap debt…" The “everything bubble” expands and expands - in stocks, in bonds, in real estate, in cryptocurrencies - in everything.

How can the Federal Reserve halt the lunatic cycle? Piepenburg: "The only options central bankers have left are bad ones. They can further [suppress yields] by printing trillions more fiat currencies - which means a dramatic (and further) debasement of the same; or… They can… naturally [allow] bonds to sink and yields (and hence rates) to skyrocket, thereby ushering a total blood bath in stock and bond bubbles reliant on low yields and cheap debt. We believe we have the answer. It is not option #2.

Time Reveals Truth: The show will continue until it cannot. The date is of course a mystery to us. It is on the knees of the inscrutable gods. But the Federal Reserve has engineered a false prosperity by issuing false signals - false interest rates. It conducts a massive and ceaseless warfare upon truth. But time reveals truth… as noted the Roman stoic Seneca. We fear Seneca is correct. Time in its fullness exposes truth. Here is our greater fear: This truth will hurt... and good..."

- dailyreckoning.com