Wednesday, May 5, 2021

"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."

Musical Interlude: Kevin Kern, "Above The Clouds"

Full screen recommended.
Kevin Kern, "Above The Clouds"

"A Look to the Heavens"

“This shock wave plows through space at over 500,000 kilometers per hour. Moving toward to bottom of this beautifully detailed color composite, the thin, braided filaments are actually long ripples in a sheet of glowing gas seen almost edge on. Cataloged as NGC 2736, its narrow appearance suggests its popular name, the Pencil Nebula.
About 5 light-years long and a mere 800 light-years away, the Pencil Nebula is only a small part of the Vela supernova remnant. The Vela remnant itself is around 100 light-years in diameter and is the expanding debris cloud of a star that was seen to explode about 11,000 years ago. Initially, the shock wave was moving at millions of kilometers per hour but has slowed considerably, sweeping up surrounding interstellar gas.”

"Biden Family Justice"

"Biden Family Justice"
by Jim Kunstler

"If you want to grok the awesome failure of authority these Fourth Turning crack-up years in America, start with the lawlessness at the Department of Justice and its sociopathic step-child, the FBI, along with a demonic host of intel agencies seeded throughout the national government: the CIA, the NSA, the DIA, the DHS, and even the lowly crypto-public US Postal Service, lately enlisted to spy on US citizens’ social media posts.

Who is supposed to rein-in these freewheeling rogues? I’ll tell you: the courts and the judges appointed to them. The problem is especially acute in the federal courts where, for instance, Judge James Boasberg allowed the FBI to lie repeatedly on warrant applications to his FISA court, and Judge Emmet G. Sullivan hung General Mike Flynn out to dry even after the DOJ had to admit misconduct in his prosecution - and the DC Court of Appeals failed to enforce the DOJ’s reluctant decision to finally drop charges.

The campaign of false witness against US citizens went into overdrive when Donald Trump strutted onto the scene and “seventeen agencies of the Intel Community” conspired with The New York Times and other news media to manufacture the RussiaGate hoax. No top official across the boards has been taken to law for the stupendous cavalcade of false accusations and deceitful investigations associated with that venture in sedition, and the nation is still waiting for the apparition known as Special Counsel John Durham to make a peep. In fact, since 2017 much of the publicly-reported activity around the DOJ and FBI has demonstrated only their attempts to suppress their own felonious misdeeds - cover-ups on top of cover-ups.

Now comes the curious case of Rudy Giuliani, whose apartment was raided on a warrant last week by the FBI seeking his computers and cell phones. The probable cause remains murky - something to do with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in representing Ukrainian clients in the US? So, the DOJ wants Rudy’s files, emails, and memoranda on that? Of course, Rudy was acting as the President’s lawyer in impeachment No. 1 over a telephone call to Ukraine, and what was that about? Hunter Biden’s grifting activities, his cumulatively receiving millions from the Burisma Company, of which Hunter’s dad was due to receive at least his usual ten percent cut? And concerning which activity, Joe Biden threatened former Ukraine President Poroshenko in withholding US aid, unless an investigation into Hunter’s Burisma grift was dropped.

It might be helpful to the current occupant of the Oval Office to know what kind of evidence Rudy has acquired on all that and more over the years - yes? But then, there’s plenty of evidence about it and much much much more on Hunter’s wayward laptop. Perhaps hundreds of millions in wide-ranging grifts beyond lowly Ukraine all the way to China, where to this day Hunter retains active and substantial financial connections through his Skaneateles LLC financial company. And it has become known that the FBI was in possession of Hunter’s laptop from at least one month prior to the commencement of impeachment proceedings in December of 2019. And nobody was informed about that… not least the president’s lawyer?

Don’t Christopher Wray and William Barr have some ‘splainin’ to do about how such a crucial trove of evidence was withheld during the impeachment? After all, Mr. Trump’s fateful phone call to Ukraine was about the influence-peddling operations of the Biden family in foreign lands. A whole other year passed before the existence of Hunter’s laptop was even acknowledged in the fall of 2020, and then the sole reportage about it from The New York Post was suppressed in a coordinated campaign between the social and news media - in the midst of a national election, with Joe Biden standing for president. Funny how that worked.

Also, note the connections between Rep Adam Schiff’s House Intel Committee, where the first impeachment hearings were staged, especially the committee’s Chief Counsel, one Daniel Goldman, and William Barr’s DOJ. Mr. Goldman was a former US Attorney in the Southern District of New York (2007 -2017). Do you suppose he knows people in Main Justice - like, just about everybody? Was he apprised formally or otherwise of the existence of Hunter’s laptop in possession of the FBI at the time of the hearings? Or Did Mr. Wray and Mr. Barr leave him in the dark about what was on it? (Personally, I doubt it.)

It has come out lately that the FBI secretly hacked its way into Mr. Giuliani’s iCloud data storage account without a warrant in the fall of 2019, when Mr. Schiff’s Intel Committee held its hearings preliminary to impeachment and Mr. Giuliani was the president’s lawyer. Did Mr. Wray and Mr. Barr or others funnel info about what was on the president’s lawyer’s private iCloud files to Mr. Goldman and Mr. Schiff? And was that info known to then Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire? Or Intel Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, who allowed the bogus complaints of CIA “whistleblower” Eric Ciaramella and National Security Council officer Alexander Vindman to be manufactured into an impeachable “crime?” Do these seem to be esoteric issues? I don’t think so. Will they ever be adjudicated? And will our country pay a price for allowing all that to happen?

It has also been imputed in media coverage of the Giuliani raid that the president’s lawyer was somehow nefariously involved in advising Mr. Trump to fire US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. In fact, ambassadors to foreign lands serve at the pleasure of the chief executive. He can fire them for any reason. And his lawyer has every right to advise him to do it. Does the news media not know that?

Does the DOJ aim to mount an indictment against Rudy Giuliani? Well, if they do, of course, they open the door to evidentiary discovery - like, who gave the order to hack into the President’s lawyer’s iCloud account during the 2019 impeachment? Anything funny going on with that? It happens that Mr. Giuliani’s personal lawyer is one Bob Costello, who served as head of the Southern District’s criminal division when Rudy ran the DOJ’s SDNY. Mr. Costello might know something of the workings in Main Justice. He could possibly root something interesting out.

To return to my original point: who and where are the authorities who will hold high public officials accountable for the things they’ve been doing? Do you wonder why Americans increasingly lack faith in their government? Do you wonder why, for example, so many want to avoid “vaccine” shots, endorsed by government officials as “safe and effective?” Do you note the contrast between what’s taken ultra-seriously in the BLM hoopla over police shootings of perps obviously resisting arrest and fighting with them, and the awesome depravity at the highest levels of the US justice system? Oh, by the way, the Arizona ballot recount and voting machine forensic inquiry goes on. Maybe soon you will start putting together the reasons why your country is cracking up."

"Here We Are..."

"Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment.
There is no why."
- Kurt Vonnegut

The Daily "Near You?"

Longview, Texas, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"I Would Rather Have..."

"When a bull is being lead to the slaughter, it still hopes to break loose and trample its butchers. Other bulls have not been able to pass on the knowledge that this never happens and that from the slaughterhouse there is no way back to the herd. But in human society there is a continuous exchange of experience. I have never heard of a man who broke away and fled while being led to his execution. It is even thought to be a special form of courage if a man about to be executed refuses to be blindfolded and dies with his eyes open. But I would rather have the bull with his blind rage, the stubborn beast who doesn't weigh his chances of survival with the prudent dull-wittedness of man, and doesn't know the despicable feeling of despair."
- Nadezhda Mandelstam

"I Am An Invisible Man..."

"I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids - and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination - indeed, everything and anything except me."
- Ralph Ellison, "Prologue to Invisible Man"

"Out on the Ledge"

"Out on the Ledge"
by Bill Bonner

YOUGHAL, IRELAND – "Last week, Charles de Vaulx, a famous value investor, was apparently so depressed by the bad performance of his fund that he jumped from the 10th floor of his office building. The New York Post: "Shortly before 1 p.m. Monday, Charles de Vaulx entered the posh Midtown tower at 717 Fifth Ave. that had long housed the offices of International Value Advisers [IVA], an investment firm founded 14 years ago, according to police. Minutes later, de Vaulx - who built IVA into a financial powerhouse with $20 billion in assets at its peak before it abruptly liquidated last month - plummeted from the 10th floor, according to a building employee.

Old fashioned, Graham-and-Dodd value investing is hard work. You need to study balance sheets. And understand a company’s business model. What is the real return on capital employed? How “efficient” is the investment? How risky… and how reliable?

But sometimes – despite your best efforts – things don’t work out. Even Warren Buffett himself – maybe the greatest value investor of all time – couldn’t make much headway in 2019/2020. CNBC: "In 2020, Berkshire Hathaway shares were up, but not by much (2%), against an S&P 500 that gained over 18%, with dividends reinvested, according to S&P Global. Taken together, the two-year stretch of 2019 and 2020 marked one of the biggest gaps between Berkshire and the broader U.S. stock market in recent history, with the [multinational conglomerate led by] Buffett trailing the index return by a combined 37%. Says Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway: “I attribute this largely to a lack of exposure to tech stocks.”

Waste of Time: There are times when long-term value mining seems like a waste of time. Why go to all the trouble of working at the coalface of real investing when Dogecoin (a popular cryptocurrency that has zero value from an investment standpoint) is up more than 7,000% so far this year? Why bother with all those company reports when you can just listen to Elon Musk… and get rich on Tesla? And why worry about investing at all? The feds will do it for us.

Daring Investments: Also in the news last week was the U.S. government, announcing the jumping-off point for the most daring “investments” in the history of the world. Yes, that’s what Joe Biden calls the 2020 COVID-19 relief programs and the 2021 follow-on infrastructure, family support, and climate change boondoggles… “investments.”

It’s the biggest, most ambitious, grandest larceny ever attempted. Trillions of dollars will be taxed or inflated away from their rightful owners to be “invested” by the feds. In fact, since March 2020, the total to be “invested” by public officials is rising toward $10 trillion.

The fib from the White House is that the rich will pay the costs. The top 5% of taxpayers already pay 60% of the taxes. The bottom 50% pay almost nothing. And if these credits and other provisions are passed, about 75% of the voters will pay zero. That will leave the full burden on the richest 25% of the population. But these are also the people who are most likely to vote. They’re the people who own businesses. They’re investors, accountants, doctors, and lawyers. And they’re the major backers of both political parties and of every member of Congress. And they’re likely to be Democrats. Over the last 25 years, the two parties have flipped, so that the Democrats now represent the wealthiest citizens. Will these people really be asked to pony up an additional $10 trillion?

Point of Diminishing Returns: Most likely taxes will go up – especially for the richest people of all. These super rich people have reached the point of diminishing returns. They already have their houses and their boats. An extra million dollars, more or less, won’t force them to look at the right side of the menu and choose the tuna sandwich. Like superinvestor Warren Buffett, they actually may prefer to pay their “fair share” – giving up a little low-value money in exchange for relatively higher-value, more socially responsible status.

But let us assume that the feds could identify 1,000 billionaires and squeeze each one for $10 million. That would only be $10 billion. Peanuts. Suppose the IRS really cleaned them out, taking a billion from each one. Now, you’re beginning to talk real money – $1 trillion. Hmmm… still a $9 trillion hole.

Nothing Comes From Nothing: And it’s not as if this money were sitting in a drawer somewhere. It is already employed, one way or another. But that is the problem with all efforts to finance the feds’ bamboozles by raising taxes. Nothing comes from nothing. Nobody gets anything from the feds that doesn’t come from someone else. And people are usually much better off spending and investing their own money than letting the government do it for them.

Private investors usually put their money into value-adding enterprises, in the hope of getting a return on their investment. They are value investments, in other words, even if the investors themselves don’t realize it. In the short run, take a trillion dollars out of the stock market and you could cause a panic – wiping out $20 trillion in paper gains and making the whole upper decks of Americans feel much poorer. Longer term, accumulated capital – savings, businesses, machines, factories – is what makes a society rich. Taking money out of the “capital structure” weakens it, leaving it less productive… and ultimately, making us all poorer.

Addled by Fake Money: At this stage in the Bubble Epoch, investors have been so addled by trillions in new, fake money that value may be hard to find. With people pouring billions into nonfungible tokens (NFTs), money-losing companies, dodgy cryptos, SPACs , and buybacks… a good case could be made that even the government could do a better job of allocating capital.

But Mr. Market quickly punishes private mistakes – if he is allowed to do so. And the capital, what is left of it, is shifted into “stronger” hands… which is to say, people who make money instead of losing it. But when the government “invests,” it’s a whole different thing.

What is the return on investment from giving more money to school administrators… to meals-at-school programs… to Amtrak… to people who are on leave from their work… to subsidize electric vehicles… to cities and states that have mismanaged their pension programs… to diversity training? Nobody knows. But few investors – even those now buying NFTs – would want to find out with their own money. And since you can’t calculate the rate of return, government ‘investments’ develop their own political support and continue misallocating capital resources almost permanently.

Out on the Ledge: What was the bottom line on the War on Terror, for example? And the War on Drugs? Or the War on Poverty? How often do lawmakers say, “Well, that was a bad investment,” and cut off funding? No, a nation’s “investment” mistakes are often much more serious. Japan got the bill for attacking Pearl Harbor at Hiroshima. The Soviet Union’s centrally planned economy lasted for 70 years until it was finally discarded in 1989. And now, Venezuela – #1 in the Misery Index – is undergoing a bitter correction.

The rich alone don’t pay for them – everybody does, the poor especially. And what about the decision makers – the people who choose where to place the money? They are the Charles de Vaulxs of the public sector, playing with trillions of dollars that don’t belong to them. Their decisions affect millions of lives. What happens to them when things don’t work out as planned? Will Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer step out on the ledge? More to come…"

"How It Really Is"