Wednesday, May 5, 2021

"FUBAR"

"FUBAR"
by Bill Bonner

YOUGHAL, IRELAND – "Poor Bill and Melinda. They are calling it quits. It’s all over but the long road and the sad songs. Apparently, the COVID-19 lockdowns are responsible for a lot of marriage break-ups. After spending so much time in close quarters, Bill and Melinda may have decided that they couldn’t stand each other anymore. Maybe Bill left the cap off the toothpaste or the toilet seat up. Hard to figure. Nice people. Spoke the same language. Both committed to world improvement. Shame they couldn’t get along.

Prepared for Failure: But ours is not to wonder why it went wrong… Ours is only to marvel at how easy it was to end it. Things didn’t work out. They split. And now, Bill will load a few things in his car – a lamp… a favorite picture… his tennis racket and shaving cream – and head off to a rental unit.

One of the few advantages of getting old is that we’re prepared for things like this. We’ve seen enough businesses, investments, marriages, careers, lives, and hopes that didn’t pan out that we’re ready for failure. We even expect it. A new crypto? Another NFT? After all the hundreds of federal programs to make the world a better place… another one to make it even better? Sometimes, even at a wedding, for example, we can barely help ourselves. “That’ll never work,” we blurt out. This cranky attitude does not make us the life of the party. But it leaves us in a position to say, “I told you so,” when, in fact, things don’t work out.

FUBAR: We only bring this up to introduce our destination for today’s perambulation. We stumbled upon the subject, by accident, on Monday. We were looking at how mistakes are corrected. We noticed that private life clears away its mistakes regularly – swiftly, brutally, unequivocally. In the public sector, on the other hand… errors are much harder to correct. Today, we go back for a more careful study.

Context: The feds are making trillions of dollars’ worth of “investments.” Some are bound to go bad. How will they ever be corrected? You will not be surprised at our conclusion: Disastrously.

Divorce, default, destitution… crime and punishment… humiliation… bankruptcy… and the ledge. The private world has its remedies. You spend too much money – you quickly run out of money to spend. You want to borrow more… but who, apart from the feds, will lend to a spendthrift?

In the Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP), the Small Business Administration allegedly gave out billions in “loans” without so much as looking at a photo ID. Friends tell us they were shocked at how easily they got money. Watchdogs tell us that much of the loot went to organized and disorganized crime (not our friends, I’m sure). The idea of the PPP was to “protect jobs” in the midst of a plague. But such a desperate shambles was the lending process, that each job “saved” was estimated to have cost $377,000.

In other words, the program was a disaster. A mistake. An error. FUBAR, as we used to say in the Navy.

Win-Lose Model: Of course, this is just one program. There are dozens… hundreds… thousands of agencies and programs… all making “investments” in a better world.In the real world of Main Street, as we’re becoming monotonous for saying, real goods and services are exchanged. One gives. Another takes. And the world becomes a richer place as each person tries to please the other with better goods and services, delivered with ever bigger smiles. Bad exchanges are quickly stopped. You don’t like the bread your baker is making for you; you go to a different baker.

Hygiene is the hidden secret of capitalism. Bad restaurants are emptied. Bad ideas are purged. Mistakes are corrected. But governments operate on a pre-civilized, win-lose model. There is take, but no give. The feds never have to satisfy a customer or show a profit. And their “investments” are almost all losers.

Funny Money: From Baltimore, for example, comes news that the city will receive $670 million from the American Rescue Plan. This, we’re told, is an investment in getting the city back on track after pulling out of the COVID swamp. WBFF has more details: "The bill sets some guidelines but the Mayor’s Office has a lot more leeway this time around to decide who will receive this money."

Oh stop! Talk about FUBAR! We’re laughing so hard, we can barely sit upright. Imagine Baltimore’s corrupt and incompetent city government deciding how to “invest” $670 million of “free” money from Washington. (Will someone please call Mercedes-Benz and tell them to increase inventories!) The spending is supposed to have something to do with COVID-19 relief. But what doesn’t these days?

Which of the mayor’s friends has not been affected by the disease? Which of his relatives doesn’t have an idea about how to make the city a better place… with the appropriate spending, of course? Which pocket in the Baltimore political/elite class is so shallow that it can’t accept another $1 million or so?

Zero Return: You know, gentle reader, as does everyone in Baltimore, that this “investment” is likely to produce zero positive return… and, by diverting people from honest business (if there’s any left)… much harm. But who will ever know? Whether it is the billions sent to cities like Baltimore… the stimmy checks given to businesses and individuals… the subsidies… the giveaways… no return on investment will ever be calculated.

The money will disappear in dribs and drabs… showing up in new houses… new cars… and beach pads in Ocean City. Nobody will ever admit failure. No reckoning will ever happen. No one – in shame and regret – will ever open a window of the Bank of America building and take a leap. Nope. No scrubbing. No soap. No hygiene will happen. No divorces. No bankruptcies. And no corrections.

Never-Ending Wars: The war on poverty has been going on since the 1960s. No victory yet! The war on drugs began in the 1970s. And now, we are declaring a $9 trillion war on viruses… on temperature changes… on recessions and stock market corrections… And the scum, muck, and toxic sludge gets deeper and deeper. Then what? Stay tuned…"

"Economic Market Snapshot 5/5/21"

"Economic Market Snapshot 5/5/21"
"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:
Gregory Mannarino, AM 5/5/21:

"UPDATES: Stocks, Crypto, DASH, 

Debt, Fed, Dollar, Inflation, MORE!

"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.
May 4th to May 7th, 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

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Gerald Celente, "Trends Journal: Freedom is Dead, The Politicians Killed it and the Mindless Masses Let Them"

Gerald Celente,
"Trends Journal: Freedom is Dead, 
The Politicians Killed it and the Mindless Masses Let Them"

Must Watch! "Home Prices Exploding; Food Prices Soar; Housing Crash Will Be Epic; The Good Times"

Jeremiah Babe,
"Home Prices Exploding;  Food Prices Soar;
Housing Crash Will Be Epic; The Good Times"

Musical Interlude: 2002, "We Meet Again"

Full screen recommended.
2002, "We Meet Again"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"To some, it looks like a giant chicken running across the sky. To others, it looks like a gaseous nebula where star formation takes place. Cataloged as IC 2944, the Running Chicken Nebula spans about 100 light years and lies about 6,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Centaur (Centaurus).
 
The featured image, shown in scientifically assigned colors, was captured recently in a 12-hour exposure. The star cluster Collinder 249 is visible embedded in the nebula's glowing gas. Although difficult to discern here, several dark molecular clouds with distinct shapes can be found inside the nebula."

"I Assure You..."

"You may wonder about long-term solutions. I assure you, there are none. All wounds are mortal. Take what's given. You sometimes get a little slack in the rope but the rope always has an end. So what? Bless the slack and don't waste your breath cursing the drop. A grateful heart knows that in the end we all swing."
- Stephen King

"You Know..."

“You know, we never see the world exactly as it is. We see it as we hope it will be or we fear it might be. And we spend our lives going through a sort of modified stages of grief about that realization. And we deny it, and then we argue with it, and we despair over it. But eventually - and this is my belief - that we come to see it, not as despairing, but as vitalizing. We never see the world exactly as it is because we are how the world is.”
- Maria Popova

Gregory Mannarino, PM 5/4/21: "We Are In Full Blown Currency Crisis Right Now! Get On The Right Side Of It"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 5/4/21:
"We Are In Full Blown Currency Crisis Right Now! 
Get On The Right Side Of It"

"New Report Sheds Light on Vaccine Doomsday Cult"

"New Report Sheds Light on Vaccine Doomsday Cult"
by Mike Whitney

“The risk-benefit calculus is therefore clear: the experimental vaccines are needless, ineffective and dangerous. Actors authorizing, coercing or administering experimental COVID-19 vaccination are exposing populations and patients to serious, unnecessary, and unjustified medical risks.” - Doctors for Covid Ethics, April 29, 2021

An explosive new study by researchers at the prestigious Salk Institute casts doubt on the current crop of gene-based vaccines that may pose a grave risk to public health. The article, which is titled “The novel coronavirus’ spike protein plays additional key role in illness”, shows that SARS-CoV-2’s “distinctive ‘spike’ protein”...”damages cells, confirming COVID-19 as a primarily vascular disease.” While the paper focuses strictly on Covid-related issues, it unavoidably raises questions about the new vaccines that contain billions of spike proteins that could greatly increase the chances of severe illness or death. Here’s an excerpt from the article dated April 30, 2021:

“In the new study, the researchers created a “pseudovirus” that was surrounded by SARS-CoV-2 classic crown of spike proteins, but did not contain any actual virus. Exposure to this pseudovirus resulted in damage to the lungs and arteries of an animal model—proving that the spike protein alone was enough to cause disease. Tissue samples showed inflammation in endothelial cells lining the pulmonary artery walls. (Note - “Vascular endothelial cells line the entire circulatory system, from the heart to the smallest capillaries.”)

The team then replicated this process in the lab, exposing healthy endothelial cells (which line arteries) to the spike protein. They showed that the spike protein damaged the cells by binding ACE2. This binding disrupted ACE2’s molecular signaling to mitochondria (organelles that generate energy for cells), causing the mitochondria to become damaged and fragmented.

Previous studies have shown a similar effect when cells were exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but this is the first study to show that the damage occurs when cells are exposed to the spike protein on its own.” (“The novel coronavirus’ spike protein plays additional key role in illness”, Salk.edu)

The new research paper is the equivalent of a hydrogen bomb. It changes everything by confirming what vaccine critics have been theorizing for months but were unable to prove. Now there is solid evidence that: Covid-19 is primarily a disease of the vascular system (The vascular system, also called the circulatory system, is made up of the vessels that carry blood and lymph through the body.) and not the respiratory system.

The main culprit is the spike protein. (Spike protein - “a glycoprotein that protrudes from the envelope of some viruses” Merriam-Webster “Like a key in a lock, these spike proteins fuse to receptors on the surface of cells, allowing the virus’s genetic code to invade the host cell, take over its machinery and replicate.” - Bruce Lieberman)

Simply put, if Covid-19 is primarily a vascular disease and if the main instrument of physical damage is the spike protein, then why are we injecting people with billions of spike proteins?

Here’s how architect and author, Robin Monotti Graziadei, summed up these developments on you tube: “So, we have been told for the last year, that the only role the spike protein was supposed to play was to enter the human cells. (But) It’s clear, that that is not what they do, (since) they give you illness, vascular illness. Vascular illness can have many manifestations. They can include sinus vein thrombosis, blood clots, bruising, and longer-term conditions. Do you think it’s a good idea to bypass the first (defenses) of your immune system, and inject trillions of spike proteins in your cells given the information that has just been released by the Salk Institute? Think about it…"

Salk Institute researchers have told us - without any ambiguity - that the spike protein is a fundamental part of the Covid-19 disease. Yes, it’s true that the spike protein with the N-protein, will not replicate. However, trillions (of these proteins) induced by the vaccine injection have the capacity to create damage in your vascular system. This is what the study says and what has been published by an extremely important center for biological studies. This is not a conspiracy theory. I think, at this stage, there is enough information to consider whether we will be told the truth in the coming days, because such information should be on the cover of every newspaper and the top story on every news channel. And what they should say is this: “The fundamental and technological basis – on which all of the vaccines that were distributed in the West – is flawed. We thought that the spike protein would only enter the cells to create antibodies so if you faced the wild virus, it would not latch onto your cells, however, we were wrong. We were wrong because the spike protein in itself, creates disease, and if you inject trillions of them into a human body, there will be manifestations of disease in many cases.” 

It is not safe to inject trillions of spike proteins into a muscle, because it bypasses layers of your immune system which could have potentially neutralized the virus. By crossing the threshold of the human body through the injection of these compounds, you are not giving your immune system the chance to mount a strong enough response to the spike protein in order to neutralize it. (The vaccine) will have this disease-creating spike protein in it if you agree (to take) any of these vaccines. It is now up to us to try to fix the mistake they have made.” (- Robin Monotti Graziadei on the new Salk Institute research paper, You Tube, –See it before it is removed)

Perfectly stated and right on the money. Graziadei extrapolates the hidden meaning of the Salk report and clarifies its significance. How are the public health officials, the politicians, the media and the rest of the pro-Covid Vaxx camp going to respond to these revelations especially with the imprimatur of the Salk Institute affixed to the front of the report? Will they try to sweep it under the rug or will they try to divert the public’s attention to the ‘variant’ hobgoblin? Or will they try something else entirely, like claim that one class of spike proteins are good for you while others lead to protracted illness and death? What will they do?

Doctor Vladimir Zelenko, who has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his use of hydroxychloroquine in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, had this to say: “Do you understand what this means - we are are injecting viral genetic code for the spike protein into innocent people and it gets into almost every cell In the body.” (Nobel nominee, Zelenko has also been banned from Twitter.) Indeed, that’s precisely what they’ve done. And, let’s not forget, the vaccine manufacturers have complete legal immunity for the injuries they produce. Legal immunity means moral impunity.

So what effect will these spike proteins have on the people that have gotten vaccinated? Here’s what the Doctors for Covid Ethics have to say in their latest article that was published just this week: “The vaccines are dangerous to both healthy individuals and those with pre-existing chronic disease, for reasons such as the following: risk of lethal and non-lethal disruptions of blood clotting including bleeding disorders, thrombosis in the brain, stroke and heart attack; autoimmune and allergic reactions; antibody-dependent enhancement of disease; and vaccine impurities due to rushed manufacturing and unregulated production standards...all gene-based vaccines can be expected to cause blood clotting and bleeding disorders. The vaccines are not safe.”(“COVID Vaccines: Necessity, Efficacy and Safety”, Doctors for Covid Ethics")

There it is in black and white: “The vaccines are not safe”. Here’s more from an article at Children’s Health Defense about Professor Yehuda Shoenfeld, the Israeli clinical immunologist who is widely credited as the “father of autoimmunity.” Shoenfeld approaches the issue from an entirely different angle. Take a look: “Shoenfeld’s primary concern boils down to what’s called molecular mimicry. There are a number of genetic sequences that are identical both in the human genome and that of SARS-CoV-2. The immunologists go on to draw particular attention to the identical sequences in a specific group of proteins found deep in the lungs (the site of ARDS/covid pneumonia). This is a concern Shoenfeld…"

It’s why Shoenfeld and colleagues have been banging on the drum during the vaccine development phase last year, arguing that peptide sequences used in the new vaccines should be unique and not be common to ones found in the body.

For a predisposed individual, an adverse reaction to the vaccine, Shoenfeld and colleagues argue, could be enough for them to be tipped over the edge - into autoimmune disease.One of the most obvious signals for predisposition is to already have one of the over 100 autoimmune diseases that are charging through industrialized societies. Yet, with the father of autoimmunity sounding the warnings of autoimmune risks, there is scarcely a word of caution being uttered by governments rolling out the mass vaccination programs. Shame on them.” (“Are We on the Verge of a ‘Super-Epidemic’ of Autoimmune Diseases?” Children’s Health Defense)

My limited understanding of “molecular mimicry”, is this: By injecting proteins into the body that are so similar to the Covid proteins that are wreaking havoc in the vascular system, we could trigger a situation in which the body’s immune system attacks its own organs or vascular system. Which is why the author asks: "Are We on the Verge of a ‘Super-Epidemic’ of Autoimmune Diseases?"

In earlier articles, we presented the views of scientists and medical professionals who anticipated the issues that are now emerging in relation to the spike protein. For example, here is an excerpt from a piece about pediatric rheumatologist, Dr. J. Patrick Whelan, who said the following in a letter to the FDA: “I am concerned about the possibility that the new vaccines aimed at creating immunity against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein have the potential to cause microvascular injury to the brain, heart, liver and kidneys in a way that does not currently appear to be assessed in safety trials of these potential drugs.

“Before any of these vaccines are approved for widespread use in humans, it is important to assess in vaccinated subjects the effects of vaccination on the heart. As important as it is to quickly arrest the spread of the virus by immunizing the population, it would be vastly worse if hundreds of millions of people were to suffer long-lasting or even permanent damage to their brain or heart microvasculature as a result of failing to appreciate in the short-term an unintended effect of full-length spike protein-based vaccines on these other organs.” (“Scientists Challenge Health Officials on Vaccinating People Who Already Had COVID”, Global Research)

We also pointed out that “gene-based vaccines release a spike protein that spreads throughout the body, gets trapped in the bloodstream and collects in the layer of cells (endothelial cells) that coat the blood vessels.” We think the new research by the Salk Institute supports this general theory.

Also, according to Dr. Hyung Chun, a Yale cardiologist, the cells “release inflammatory cytokines that further exacerbate the body’s inflammatory response and lead to the formation of blood clots. Chun has stated: “The ‘inflamed’ endothelium likely contributes not only to worsening outcome in COVID-19, but also is considered to be an important factor contributing to risk of heart attacks and strokes.”

This seems to suggest that the spike protein from the vaccine can have the same effect as the spike protein from the infection. Here’s more: “Individuals with COVID-19 experience a vast number of neurological symptoms, such as headaches, ataxia, impaired consciousness, hallucinations, stroke and cerebral hemorrhage. But autopsy studies have yet to find clear evidence of destructive viral invasion into patients’ brains, pushing researchers to consider alternative explanations of how SARS-CoV-2 causes neurological symptoms…"

If not viral infection, what else could be causing injury to distant organs associated with COVID-19? The most likely culprit that has been identified is the COVID-19 spike protein released from the outer shell of the virus into circulation. Research cited below has documented that the viral spike protein is able to initiate a cascade of events that triggers damage to distant organs in COVID-19 patients.

Worryingly, several studies have found that the spike proteins alone have the capacity to cause widespread injury throughout the body, without any evidence of virus. What makes this finding so disturbing is that the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines manufactured by Moderna and Pfizer and currently being administered throughout the U.S. program our cells to manufacture this same coronavirus spike protein as a way to trigger our bodies to produce antibodies to the virus.”(“Could Spike Protein in Moderna, Pfizer Vaccines Cause Blood Clots, Brain Inflammation and Heart Attacks?” Global Research)

The above quote is key to grasping what Covid really is and why the new vaccines threaten to greatly exacerbate the problem. As Chun says: “…autopsy studies have yet to find clear evidence of destructive viral invasion into patients’ brains, pushing researchers to consider alternative explanations of how SARS-CoV-2 causes neurological symptoms….”

This observation is correct. The research does not indicate “viral invasion into patients’ brains”. Why? Because – as the Salk report indicates – it is not the viral infection that is getting into the brain but the spike protein that has passed the blood-brain barrier via the vascular system.

Here’s Dr Chun again: “What else could be causing injury to distant organs associated with COVID-19?” Once again, it is not the virus but the spike protein and the autoimmune response. Finally, Chun acknowledges that the new vaccines “program our cells to manufacture this same coronavirus spike protein as a way to trigger our bodies to produce antibodies to the virus.”

The production and distribution of these potentially-lethal injections goes way beyond mere recklessness. This is an unprecedented global catastrophe that could result in the deaths of millions. How long will this insanity continue?"

The Daily "Near You?"

Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain. Thanks for stopping by!

"And It Speaks To You..."

And why does it make you sad to see how everything hangs by such thin and whimsical threads? Because you’re a dreamer, an incredible dreamer, with a tiny spark hidden somewhere inside you which cannot die, which even you cannot kill or quench and which tortures you horribly because all the odds are against its continual burning. In the midst of the foulest decay and putrid savagery, this spark speaks to you of beauty, of human warmth and kindness, of goodness, of greatness, of heroism, of martyrdom, and it speaks to you of love.”
- Eldridge Cleaver

“Destiny”

“Destiny”
by David Price

“Are we born with it?”

“A genuine calling further ignites the eternal spark originally 
carried into life by the soul and nothing can soothe that inner 
flame except that we fully respond and follow it through the world.”
- Michael Meade, “Fate and Destiny”

“A flame must burn somewhere, otherwise no light shines; there is no warmth, nothing. It is terribly awkward, sure enough; it is painful, full of conflict, apparently a mere waste of time – at all events, it is against reason.”
- Carl Jung

“Destiny is played out in the theater of time. In early days, I assumed it was a well marked, straight path with no washed out bridges or bogs of quicksand. Imagine my surprise when I discovered I had somehow gotten waylaid by the wrong fate and had to find my way back to my one true path. I searched in a good baker’s dozen of world renowned cities, including LA, New York, London, Paris and Mexico City. I spent enchanted years in Venice, Florence, Austin and San Miguel, trying to grow that special seed I was sure must exist in me. That attraction to foreign cities should have given me a clue.

In my twenties and thirties I changed partners every few years, so that now I think of certain periods of my life by the names of girlfriends. I always wrote in a journal, but I tried different art forms, theatre, acting, painting and sculpture, even singing, “Voice Therapy” and dance.

I downplayed one thing I had real passion for, language learning, strangely enough. I don’t know why I did that. When I say downplayed, I mean I only learned one foreign language well instead of a good half dozen. Nobody is unimodal – is that a word? – and I still have time, but it seems to me it’s important to respect your natural interests.

It took me fifty years to become a consistently good artist, whereas I learned French well in less than a year. I just have a knack for speaking foreign tongues. I see that now, but for years I didn’t. I didn’t believe it. I believed it was something I was fated to love and long for but that would be forever denied to me. I didn’t realize that loving and longing for something shows talent. You may have to build your own vehicle to get there, but you will someday find yourself living there.

It seems that we often discount our inborn genius for something and only value the things that are hard for us. I hasten to say I never tried car mechanics or physical science. I only tried things I had a basis of resonance with.

But still, you catch my drift, n’est-ce pas? The lesson I draw from this is to listen attentively to your natural impulses. Respect them, they carry your mission in life. They speak from your core being, with intelligence and wisdom. They are your reason for being.”

"How It Really Is"

 

"The Sky Is Falling"

"The Sky Is Falling"
by Jim Rickards

"What do you think is America’s most serious geopolitical challenge - China, Russia, Iran, maybe North Korea? None of the above, apparently. According to President Biden’s Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, climate change needs to be “at the center” of countries' national security and foreign policy.

Well, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will be doing her best to make sure the crusade against climate change gets plenty of funding. Yellen has called for a “whole-of-economy” approach to fighting climate change - which essentially means massive subsidies to finance so-called green energies and discourage fossil fuel production. In other words, climate alarmism is the official position of the Biden administration.

Where’s the Science? Alarmism has no basis in observable science. It’s all the result of climate models, which have been consistently wrong about warming because they reflect the biases of their programmers. Garbage in, garbage out. They’re kind of like the climate’s version of the Fed’s economic models. They’re always wrong, and not by a little.

If you listen to the climate alarmists, they’ll tell you we only have a few years to save the planet. If we don’t eliminate CO2 emissions quickly, the planet will warm, sea levels will rise, storms will intensify, cities will be inundated, and lives will be lost to starvation, disease and dehydration. Every one of those claims is empirically false, but that doesn’t stop the global power elite from trying to shut down the oil and gas industries and replace power generation with solar, wind and hydropower or so-called renewable sources.

The War Against Plants: Here are the facts: The best evidence is that the planet is not warming, but it may be cooling under the influence of a periodic minimum in solar flare activity and increased volcanic activity (the two may actually be related), which creates an atmospheric ash layer that cuts down on sun intensity.

Sea levels may be rising slightly, but the tempo is about 7 inches in the next 100 years. That’s hardly cause for alarm considering that sea levels rose 400 feet since the end of the last ice age, and humans adapted just fine.

CO2 is a trace gas that makes up just 0.04% of the atmosphere (400 parts per million) and doesn’t have a major impact as far as science can tell, except that it is essential for plant nourishment. Based upon recent studies, a doubling of carbon dioxide would likely result in a temperature increase of only about 1.5 degrees Celsius. That’s hardly a crisis.

There is some danger that if CO2 levels are reduced too much, plant life may suffer. The reason hurricanes are producing more property damage is not because the storms are more intense – peak intensity in the past hundred years was in the 1940s – it’s because fools with federally subsidized flood insurance are building mansions on sand bars where they don’t belong and the mansions get blown away in predictable storms.

The Polar Bears Are Getting Fat: Remember when the same climate alarmists said in 1988 that the New York City subways would be flooded by 2010? Never happened. The polar bears are also doing just fine. Recent reports show the polar bear population is thriving, and one report showed that polar bear obesity is an emerging problem because the bears have so much to eat.

Yet, the claims of the alarmists are even worse than junk science. Even further, the “solution” to these non-problems doesn’t work either. Simply put, solar and wind power cannot replace oil and gas in producing electricity to supply the grid. This is because solar and wind are unreliable. When the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine (which is often in most places), there is no power output at all. The only way to overcome the reliability problem is with immensely expensive batteries. And battery production itself uses up enormous amounts of electricity, poisonous chemicals, and metals, creating disposal problems.

Electric Vehicles Aren’t So Green: Solar and wind can be supplemented by oil and gas (and nuclear power), but they cannot replace them due to unreliability and the expense of batteries.
And do you think you’re going green by driving an electric car? Well, research by the Swedish Environment Institute reveals that up to 17.5 tons of carbon dioxide go into producing an electric battery. If you keep the car for 10 years or longer, the battery will have to be replaced, meaning another 17.5 tons of carbon dioxide. And electric charging stations largely depend on fossil fuels to generate electricity. In comparison, a standard internal combustion engine might produce about 45 tons of carbon dioxide after 160,000 miles, about 16 years of use on average.

But the Biden administration seems determined to push the Green New Deal anyway, despite all the costs and little benefit. Get ready for higher energy costs, power outages, death and damage from cold spells, and possible lines at the gasoline pump. The Green New Deal is a policy fiasco in the making that will take us back to the 1970s."

Gregory Mannarino, AM 5/4/21: "ALERT! FEAR In The Market. Trade Deficit HYPER-BALLOONING, "Economy Cratering"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 5/4/21:
ALERT! FEAR In The Market. 
Trade Deficit HYPER-BALLOONING, "Economy Cratering"

Monday, May 3, 2021

Musical Interlude: Leonard Cohen, "Hallelujah"

Leonard Cohen, "Hallelujah"

Must Watch! “We Are Not Going Back to Normal; FED Is Buying It All; Creative Home Financing; Food Prep Is A Must”

Jeremiah Babe,
“We Are Not Going Back to Normal; FED Is Buying It All; 
Creative Home Financing; Food Prep Is A Must”

Gregory Mannarino, PM 5/3/21: "Silver Rips Higher! B of A Warns AGAIN On The Stock Market. Plus More Updates"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 5/3/21:
"Silver Rips Higher! B of A Warns AGAIN On The Stock Market.
 Plus More Updates"

"Get Ready For The Most Painful Inflation Since The Jimmy Carter Years Of The 1970s"

Full screen recommended.
"Get Ready For The Most Painful Inflation 
Since The Jimmy Carter Years Of The 1970s"
by Epic Economist

"If you are too young to remember what happened in the US during the 1970s, you should consider sparing a moment to read up on the events that occurred in that decade because today's economic conditions are becoming alarmingly similar to what our country experienced back then. In a recent article, Bloomberg reported aggressive hikes in commodity prices, and the upward trajectory is set to continue as the economy tries to come back to life. "From steel and copper to corn and lumber, commodities started 2021 with a bang, surging to levels not seen for years," says the report. "With the U.S. economy pumped up on fiscal stimulus, there’s little reason to expect a change in direction".

That's the same forecast shared by the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Greg Abel, who argued that it all goes back to raw materials and supply levels have been worryingly low right now. As a consequence, the price of everything is soaring and several industries are losing the ability to deliver the end products. On top of that, the Texas storm has taken down several petrochemical plants that the entire country is very dependent upon, so we're seeing the effects of that crisis being translated into higher gasoline prices and scarce supplies of petroleum products.

Sadly, that's not the end of it. According to Council of Economic Advisers chair Cecilia Rouse, “there is going to be supply chain disruptions. That will cause some transitory increases in prices.” However, her statement spurred a heated debate amongst economists and financial experts, on how the administration can surely affirm this period of inflation will just be "transitory" if they keep engaging in inflationary policies and unnecessary spending. Just like in the 70s, the rise in prices was supposed to be a "transitory" thing, but then inflation persisted for almost a decade.

The veteran investor and billionaire, Warren Buffet, said that the US economy is "red hot", and inflationary pressures are hitting multiple sectors and major companies across the country. "We’re seeing very substantial inflation," said the 90-year-old business tycoon. "The costs are just up, up, up," he exclaimed, underscoring that even though American consumers have been spending more, that didn't happen because of wage growth, but due to the extraordinary amount of stimulus money. “It’s very interesting. People are raising prices to us and it’s being accepted,” he stated, adding that now that "people have money in their pocket, they pay the higher prices". "It's almost a buying frenzy," Warren pointed out.

When the population starts accepting rising costs and companies realize they can keep passing price increases on and having them to stick, that means the surge in prices will not be just a "transitory" thing, no matter what the administration, the Fed, or the Treasury have said. And when the money faucet is finally turned off, Americans will be once again facing huge inflationary price bubbles while the value of their dollars sharply collapses.

US consumers are already seeing how this staggering inflation is affecting food staples in grocery stores. For instance, corn prices were up by more than 30% in 2021 and as it is used in hundreds of different products, that will dramatically impact the food budgets of millions of families. Ed Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, a trading, currency data, and analytics solutions firm, told in an interview that Americans "should brace for higher prices" because businesses won't hesitate to pass the increases onto consumers.

In another recent piece, McDonald pointed out that "the oldest trick in the retailer book is back," signaling that "shrinkflation" is intensifying. Essentially, this is known as a "creative" method of masking higher prices by shrinking products in size so that consumers do not notice they are induced to consume and spend more. The report published on The Bear Traps notes that big chains like Costco are now charging the same price for paper towels but the roll has 20 fewer sheets. Although it might not seem like a lot, "the stealthy decline of 20 sheets per roll of towels from 160 to 140 for the "same price" is the functional equivalent of 14.3% inflation," the TBT revealed.

But despite the depth of the issues we have just reported, most Americans are happy with their stimulus checks since they aren't fully aware of how this money is actively helping to crush their purchasing power. We have just been through one of the most chaotic years in all U.S. history, and to say things are going to get better would be a major misconception of the times we are living in. We must get ready because very dark days are looming on the horizon, and those waiting to be saved by our leaders are going to be bitterly disappointed."