Thursday, July 1, 2021

"A Look to the Heavens"

“This wide, sharp telescopic view reveals galaxies scattered beyond the stars and faint dust nebulae of the Milky Way at the northern boundary of the high-flying constellation Pegasus. Prominent at the upper right is NGC 7331.
A mere 50 million light-years away, the large spiral is one of the brighter galaxies not included in Charles Messier's famous 18th century catalog. The disturbed looking group of galaxies at the lower left is well-known as Stephan's Quintet. About 300 million light-years distant, the quintet dramatically illustrates a multiple galaxy collision, its powerful, ongoing interactions posed for a brief cosmic snapshot. On the sky, the quintet and NGC 7331 are separated by about half a degree.”

"14 Astonishing Facts About The Blistering Heatwave That Is Absolutely Frying The Northwest Right Now"

Full screen recommended.
"14 Astonishing Facts About The Blistering Heatwave 
That Is Absolutely Frying The Northwest Right Now"
by Epic Economist

"There are so many absurdities happening right now that is getting hard to know which one is actually the worst. The United States is being plagued by so many crises and disasters that it almost feels like we have been cursed. And the extreme weather conditions we have been witnessing are just way far from "normal". For years, experts have been telling us that global weather patterns were starting to spiral out of control, but it seems like no one has listened to their warnings. However, nobody can deny right now that what we are experiencing is absolutely unprecedented. Most parts of the Northwest are being slammed by a “heat dome,” something just as crazy and scary as the catastrophes we see in apocalyptic movies.

Even though the U.S. went through other severe heatwaves, nothing compares to what is going on over the past few weeks. In the past, when the weather has gotten unexpectedly hot, one or two cities might have set new high temperature records during a given date, but this week we are seeing cities break their all-time records for hottest temperature ever recorded every day. At this point, all we can hope for is that this situation doesn't become the "new normal".

This phenomenon is reaching unimaginable proportions and we are just at the beginning of the summer. Over the past few years, we have been witnessing extraordinarily freezing temperatures during the winter, ravaging storms, floods, and also exceptionally high temperatures during the summer, catastrophic droughts, and water crises as well as multiple natural disasters all over the world. As opposed to what our leaders ingenuously believe, simply "changing our approach to the environment" won't solve crises like these. At this stage, those small "green initiatives" won't do much to contain nature's rage.

According to climate experts, the heatwave that is now completely baking the U.S. Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, Canada, has an intensity that was never recorded by modern humans. Data recently released suggest that "it is more rare than a once in a 1,000-year event," meaning that if you could be alive for 1,000 years and you happened to be at this particular spot, you'd probably only experience a heat dome like this once in your lifetime, if ever. The brutal heat is a result of a combination of an atmospheric blocking pattern in addition to a human-caused climate-changed planet, where standard temperatures are already much higher than nature intended. The current heatwave comes just after another historic one that happened less than two weeks ago in the U.S. Intermountain West, Desert Southwest, and California, which also set hundreds of new record highs.

We have been destroying entire ecosystems for decades, and now the whole planet is dramatically and irreversibly changing. These extreme weather conditions will persist throughout the rest of the season, and we will probably have new record-highs by then. Another worrying aspect of this crisis is how hot temperatures can affect people's mental health. Here, in the U.S. hot weather usually means a great level of social unrest and turbulence in our cities' streets, and since our society was already melting down all around us way before all of this happened, bizarre weather is definitely not going to help matters. In fact, those who are still believing that this situation is going to be miraculously turned around are just in a deep state of blissful denial. That’s why today, we brought you 14 truly astonishing facts about the blistering heatwave that is absolutely frying the Northwest over the past weeks."

"In The Presence of Difficulty, Compassion"

"In The Presence of Difficulty, Compassion"
by Madisyn Taylor, The DailyOM

"True compassion recognizes that all the boundaries we perceive between ourselves and others are an illusion. Compassion is the ability to see the deep connectedness between ourselves and others. Moreover, true compassion recognizes that all the boundaries we perceive between ourselves and others are an illusion. When we first begin to practice compassion, this very deep level of understanding may elude us, but we can have faith that if we start where we are, we will eventually feel our way toward it. We move closer to it every time we see past our own self-concern to accommodate concern for others. And, as with any skill, our compassion grows most in the presence of difficulty.

We practice small acts of compassion every day, when our loved ones are short-tempered or another driver cuts us off in traffic. We extend our forgiveness by trying to understand their point of view; we know how it is to feel stressed out or irritable. The practice of compassion becomes more difficult when we find ourselves unable to understand the actions of the person who offends us. These are the situations that ask us to look more deeply into ourselves, into parts of our psyches that we may want to deny, parts that we have repressed because society has labeled them bad or wrong. For example, acts of violence are often well beyond anything we ourselves have perpetuated, so when we are on the receiving end of such acts, we are often at a loss. This is where the real potential for growth begins, because we are called to shine a light inside ourselves and take responsibility for what we have disowned. It is at this juncture that we have the opportunity to transform from within!

This can seem like a very tall order, but when life presents us with circumstances that require our compassion, no matter how difficult, we can trust that we are ready. We can call upon all the light we have cultivated so far, allowing it to lead the way into the darkest parts of our own hearts, connecting us to the hearts of others in the understanding that is true compassion."

"FED Kills Economy To Save Wall St; Hollywood Has Fallen; Businesses Decimated; Doom and Gloom Reality"

Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, PM 7/1/21:
"FED Kills Economy To Save Wall St; Hollywood Has Fallen; 
 Businesses Decimated; Doom and Gloom Reality"

The Daily "Near You?"

Oakes, N. Dakota, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

Kahlil Gibran, "The Madman"

"The Madman"

"It was in the garden of a madhouse that I met a youth with a face pale and lovely and full of wonder. And I sat beside him upon the bench, and I said, “Why are you here?” And he looked at me in astonishment, and he said, “It is an unseemly question, yet I will answer you. My father would make of me a reproduction of himself; so also would my uncle. My mother would have me the image of her seafaring husband as the perfect example for me to follow. My brother thinks I should be like him, a fine athlete. And my teachers also, the doctor of philosophy, and the music-master, and the logician, they too were determined, and each would have me but a reflection of his own face in a mirror. Therefore I came to this place. I find it more sane here. At least, I can be myself.” Then of a sudden he turned to me and he said, “But tell me, were you also driven to this place by education and good counsel?”

And I answered, “No, I am a visitor.”And he answered, “Oh, you are one of those who live in the madhouse on the other side of the wall...” 

- Kahlil Gibran

The Poet: Langston Hughes, “Life is Fine”

“Life is Fine”

"I went down to the river,
I set down on the bank.
I tried to think but couldn't,
So I jumped in and sank.
I came up once and hollered!
I came up twice and cried!
If that water hadn't a-been so cold
I might've sunk and died.
But it was Cold in that water! It was cold!

I took the elevator
Sixteen floors above the ground.
I thought about my baby
And thought I would jump down.
I stood there and I hollered!
I stood there and I cried!
If it hadn't a-been so high
I might've jumped and died.
But it was High up there! It was high!

So since I'm still here livin',
I guess I will live on.
I could've died for love -
But for livin' I was born.
Though you may hear me holler,
And you may see me cry -
I'll be dogged, sweet baby,
If you gonna see me die.

Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!"

- Langston Hughes

"How It Really Is"


Must Watch! "All the Stimulus Programs Ending in July, with Jeremiah Babe"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, IAllegedly, PM 7/1/21:
"All the Stimulus Programs Ending in July, with Jeremiah Babe"
"Jeremiah Babe joins me to cover all the different stimulus programs that are ending in the month of July. You need to get ready for rent moratorium, forbearance, unemployment and getting prepared with savings and security."
Related:

Gregory Mannarino, AM/PM 7/1/21

Gregory Mannarino, AM 7/1/21:
"ALERT! We Are In A Full Blown Inflationary Crisis; 
Crude Oil Now OVER $75 A Barrel"
Gregory Mannarino, PM 7/1/21:
"Wall St. Now Betting The Fed.
 Will INCREASE Asset Purchases! Not Taper"

"Think of the Wavering Millions"

"Think of the Wavering Millions"
by Bill Bonner

"Raise your glass to the hard-working people,
Let’s drink to the uncounted heads.
Let’s think of the wavering millions
Who need leading, but get gamblers instead.

Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter,
Empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows.
And a parade of the gray-suited grafters
A choice of cancer or polio."
– "Salt of the Earth" by The Rolling Stones

YOUGHAL, IRELAND – "Today, we raise a glass to the hard-working people… robbed by the gamblers and conned by the gray-suited grifters…Yes, we drink to the uncounted heads… the people who till the earth and pay the bills.

Elite Role: As we’ve oft explored in these Diaries, all wealth comes from work. Sweat. Innovation. From people who save their money and accumulate their knowledge. From people who plant gardens, write songs, and clean the windows. Typically, the elite play a valuable role – designing bridges, settling disputes, teaching the young, and healing the sick.

Its priests point the way to Heaven or hell. Its judges and opinion leaders moderate the savage impulses of the mob… and guide the “lower depths” (mostly by example) in all matters aesthetic, moral, and practical.

Its politicians should restrain themselves, stealing no more than a few percentage points of the national treasure.

Its generals should stay in their barracks, unless called upon to defend the country.

And its central bankers should protect the value of its money… no more, no less.

Irresistible Temptation: But the elite, naturally, have power as well as responsibility. They have guns and laws to boss people around. And the temptation not just to protect money… but to print infinitely more of it… appears to be irresistible. Left unchecked, the power corrupts… turning them from a helpful service class to a group of self-serving parasites. That is what America’s fake money has wrought.

As we reported, the top 1% has seen its wealth increase by $25 trillion since 2009. There are 330 million people in America, so the top 1% numbers 3.3 million… Divide that into $25 trillion, and we see that the average one-percenter has gained about $7.5 million – which works out at about $1,845 per day. Not a lot of money for a one-percenter. Maybe he can do better over the next 12 years!

Wealth Inequality: But today, our attention is on the rest. The carpenters and used car salesmen, the streetwalkers and factory girls, the people who serve the hamburgers and fix the potholes. The total “wealth” gain since 2009 is about $70 trillion. If the top 1% got $25 trillion, the bottom 99% must have gotten $45 trillion. But of that, almost all was concentrated near the top. Those in the bottom 50% gained only about $13,250 apiece over the last 12 years – or about $3.23 per day!

That is the “inequality” you hear lamented so frequently in the press. And it’s no accident. In the last 15 months, for example, the Federal Reserve has “printed” up some $4 trillion. Stocks have hit record after record. Real estate, too, is now in record territory.

Hornswoggled: The gamblers have never seen the cotton so high. They can borrow money below the level of consumer price inflation, and use it to speculate on SPACs, NFTs, meme stocks, cryptos – you name it. Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller tells us what it is like: "...everyone wealthy that I know is making fortunes… this guy [Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell] is printing money like there’s no tomorrow… for the life of me, I can’t understand why the left is so excited about money-printing when all the data shows that the people who benefit from money-printing are rich people."

But the foot soldiers? The hairdressers? The proles and hoi polloi? They have only their time to sell… and, by retarding the growth of capital, the feds make each hour less valuable They are the masses… the people… the folks who supposedly control the government. But they’ve been hornswoggled. The inflation trick is too subtle. They don’t understand it. Besides, in each election, they are offered the same choice – between cancer and polio.

Bright Side: Still, here at the Diary, we always look on the bright side. We walk on the sunny side of the street and drink from the half of the glass that is full. Yes, there are advantages to being poor.

The poor man doesn’t have to look at ugly or depressing art; he can buy a print of a Norman Rockwell magazine cover. He doesn’t have to wander around in a giant, empty palace and hire a gardener named Joselito. He can live in a cozy rambler… warm himself in front of the fireplace in the winter… enjoy a cool beer on the porch in the summer… and cut the grass himself. And he doesn’t have to travel. The rich man flits from business conference to his vacation digs, exhausting himself while pretending to be important. The poor man gets to stay at home.

Nor is the poor man expected to cheerlead for whatever cause is popular. He need not fly a rainbow flag from his bedroom window; his neighbors would think he was a little “funny” if he did. Nor does he have to worry about his carbon footprint. He drives a gas-guzzling pickup… but only to get to work.

The poor man doesn’t have to read How to Be an Anti-Racist or know who Ibram X. Kendi is; he knows where he stands. Black or white, he’s proud of his own people… and sure that others are low-lifes. And he doesn’t have to waste his time learning the difference between a Chablis and a Chardonnay. Or fear picking up the wrong fork at a fancy dinner party. “Fork ‘em all,” he mutters…"

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Must Watch! "You Could Be Jobless And Homeless Tomorrow; Living Paycheck To Paycheck; Economic Endgame"

Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, PM 6/30/21:
"You Could Be Jobless And Homeless Tomorrow; 
Living Paycheck To Paycheck; Economic Endgame"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Few cosmic vistas excite the imagination like the Orion Nebula. Also known as M42, the nebula's glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular cloud only 1,500 light-years away. The Orion Nebula offers one of the best opportunities to study how stars are born partly because it is the nearest large star-forming region, but also because the nebula's energetic stars have blown away obscuring gas and dust clouds that would otherwise block our view - providing an intimate look at a range of ongoing stages of starbirth and evolution. 
The featured image of the Orion Nebula is among the sharpest ever, constructed using data from the Hubble Space Telescope. The entire Orion Nebula spans about 40 light years and is located in the same spiral arm of our Galaxy as the Sun."

"Home Prices Just Did Something That They Have Never Done Before"

Full screen recommended.
"Home Prices Just Did Something That 
They Have Never Done Before"
by Epic Economist

"Everyone could see home prices were spiraling out of control, and now we are seeing some solid numbers that are just shocking. Home prices are rising at the fastest pace ever recorded, and millions of potential homebuyers are getting increasingly frustrated with how competitive the housing market has become. All across the country, average hard-working American families are being completely priced out of the market. Prior to the health crisis, the biggest price bubbles used to be in big cities and major urban centers along both coasts. But right now, buyers have been looking for the safety and comfort of rural and suburban areas, whose markets all over the nation are red hot. Bidding wars are happening so frequently that offering more than one million dollars over the asking price has become a common thing. Buyers are so desperate to purchase a home that in addition to cash bags they have been offering trips, cars, and even to buy another home for the seller. This crazy frenzy is sending home prices to dizzying heights, and the latest numbers can prove so.

On Tuesday, headlines all across America were reporting the latest reading of the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home price data, which revealed that in the month of April, U.S. home prices jumped the most in over 30 years. Other financial experts with ZeroHedge affirmed these sharp price increases "make sense" thanks to "trillions in stimmy checks, near-record low mortgage rates, and an exodus away from cities". Experienced economists are telling us that this euphoric market is only expanding the growing divide between the haves and have-nots in housing, with sales activity dramatically rising on the higher end of the market but falling on the low end as increasingly more buyers are getting priced out.

They note that the Federal Reserve is responsible for keeping mortgage rates artificially low through its bond-buying program, and those suppressed rates helped to fuel the home buying boom over the past year. Even though they have ticked slightly higher in recent days, that wasn't enough to offset the huge price gains. “So much for the Fed’s all-inclusive monetary policy where lower income people now can’t afford housing,” wrote Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group.

Those who are being left out of the market have no other alternative rather than renting a place. However, rent prices have also been on a relentless rise in many areas around the country. The latest price increases are coming at a time U.S. renters collectively owe more than $30 billion in back rent. Some states, such as California, are trying to pay off unpaid rent accrued during the recession before mass evictions begin. At least 10 million workers who live paycheck-to-paycheck remain on the verge of losing their homes as soon as the CDC moratorium expires next month.

These days, companies are taking advantage of heated demand for products and dwindling supplies to stretch prices as much as they can. That goes from homes and vehicles to everyday items and food. At this point, every time Americans take a trip to the grocery store they end up paying more for the same products. But higher food prices aren't just affecting financially strapped families and the working poor. The truth is food price inflation is getting very painful for food banks just as well, which is making their mission of helping those in need much more expensive.

And if rampant inflation wasn't bad enough, U.S. consumers are also dealing with extensive shortages. For instance, now that the holiday weekend is just around the corner, several gas stations around the nation are already reporting widespread gasoline shortages. In the meantime, the 43 million Americans that are getting ready to hit the road for the July 4th holiday should brace for some of the highest gas prices in almost seven years, which are averaging $3.10 a gallon, a 42% increase compared to a year ago. The current shortages are being mainly caused by a lack of available truckers to deliver fuel, and according to CNN, this means that thousands of stations will not get any gas delivered at all. If we see the same we've seen after Colonial Pipeline was shut down for a week, this implies that we're headed to another wave of panic buying and chaos across the country's stations.

Although the mainstream media keeps trying to sugarcoat the devastating effects of high inflation, saying that these widespread shortages are a sign of a "booming" economy, the reality is much more bitter than many realize. We're effectively living a rerun of the Jimmy Carter era of the 1970s, and unfortunately, this is just the beginning of this crisis. Just like back then, Americans' financial pain was extended through years and years, and today, our economy's long-term outlook never looked so despairing."

"MacArthur Park Is a Complete Wreck - Hollywood Homeless Breakdown"

Full screen recommended.
Dan, IAllegedly, PM 6/30/21:
"MacArthur Park Is a Complete Wreck - Hollywood Homeless Breakdown"
"Hollywood and MacArthur Park are two of the areas that are just getting worse by the week. Both of these areas are completely unsafe and sketchy to say the least."

Musical Interlude: Grateful Dead, "Touch of Grey"

"If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was
a thousand miles away, I'd still swim. And I'd despise the one who gave up." 
- Abraham Maslow

Grateful Dead, "Touch of Grey"
"We will get by, we will get by, we will get by,
we will survive..."

The Daily "Near You?"

Rockledge, Florida, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Therefore..."

“The bewildered herd is a problem. We've got to prevent their roar and trampling. We've got to distract them. They should be watching the Superbowl or sitcoms or violent movies. Every once in a while you call on them to chant meaningless slogans like "Support our troops!" You've got to keep them pretty scared, because unless they're properly scared and frightened of all kinds of devils that are going to destroy them from outside or inside or somewhere, they may start to think, which is very dangerous, because they're not competent to think. Therefore it's important to distract them and marginalize them.”
- Noam Chomsky

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed 
(and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it 
with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
- H. L. Mencken

"Silly Season Gets Sillier"

"Silly Season Gets Sillier"
by Bill Bonner

YOUGHAL IRELAND – "Yes, it’s the age of miracles. The Bubble Epoch. The silly season. And it just gets sillier and sillier. Christine Lagarde, who holds the top spot at the European Central Bank (ECB), announced that she’s going to continue pumping up the money supply by 17 billion euros per week. She says it is going to add 1.8% to Europe’s growth over the next two years. That is, somehow the fake money will be magically transformed into real wealth. How does she know that?

Strange Voodoo: Oh, Dear Reader, is that a serious question? Of course, she has no idea…And by the way, if her €17 billion per week would add precisely 1.8% to the economy, why not print €18 billion and get 1.9%, we wonder? Or €100 billion? Apparently, none of the journalists who cover the ECB thought to ask… So we’ll just have to go on wondering. What strange voodoo is this… that 17 billion per week is the exact number of euros needed to raise GDP by 1.8%?

A Good Deal: Meanwhile, her co-delusional over in the U.S., Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell, says he’s going to continue the money-printing, too – at the rate of $30 billion per week. His aim is to hit 2% inflation – not 2.1%, not 1.9% – which he’s convinced is some sort of sacred number guaranteeing uninterrupted growth and full employment.

What it actually guarantees is higher prices, as we see in the asset markets. The S&P 500 just hit another new all-time high. As did house prices. The Fed is buying $40 billion worth of mortgage bonds each month, driving down mortgage rates to the point where you can get a 15-year mortgage at a negative rate. That is, your mortgage interest will be less than the going rate of consumer price inflation. A good deal? Apparently. And it’s likely to be a better deal if tomorrow’s inflation makes today’s mortgage rates even more negative.

Housing Market Update: Capitalism never strikes out completely. It just swings at whatever wacko spit-balls the authorities send its way. Here’s an update from yesterday’s Stansberry’s Morning Market Update: "According to the Census Bureau, sales of newly constructed homes fell 5.9% from the month prior to an annualized rate of 769,000. That was below Wall Street’s estimate of 817,000. It also marked the third decline in the last four months.

Existing home sales saw a similar story. The National Association of Realtors reported a 0.9% drop from 5.85 million sold in April to 5.8 million in May. However, that exceeded analysts’ expectation for 5.73 million existing home sales. Yet, according to the Census Bureau, prices are up 23.6% on a year-over-year basis. The figures hit a record-average price of $350,300 in May."

Let’s see… Fewer houses for sale. Higher prices. Inflation!

Swing for the Fences: But the wilder the pitches… the wilder the swings… and the more foul balls. Facebook – a timewaster! – was worth more than $1 trillion dollars yesterday. Tesla, a company that loses more than $1,000 on every car it makes, was not far behind, at $650 billion. Invisible artNFTsjoke cryptosMicroStrategySPACs… An investor gives a SPAC (special-purpose acquisition company) his money. The SPAC looks for something to buy.

The targets are coy. They know the score. There are no “walks” in the SPAC game. If the SPAC makes no purchase within two years, it must give the money back to the investors. And then, the SPACsters lose money. If they make a purchase, on the other hand, even if it is a bad one, they get 20% of the deal, just for putting it together. Won’t they swing at almost anything?

Zombie Companies: Meanwhile, a serious investor can only laugh. He needs facts… figures… profits! If he is buying a soap company, for example, he might reasonably enquire as to how many bars of soap the company sold last year… and at what profit margin. But even asking the questions puts him out-of-step with the whole team of uncoordinated lunatics who make up today’s financial world.

Profits? Airbnb, Dropbox, Casper, Blue Apron, Lime, Lyft, Peloton, Pinterest, Slack, Snap, Uber, WeWork, Wayfair, Zillow – none of them are profitable.

And here’s the latest from Bloomberg: "Since the end of March, almost 100 unprofitable U.S. companies, including GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., have raised money through secondary offerings, twice as many as coming from profitable firms, according to data compiled by Bloomberg." … "During the past 12 months, almost 750 money-losing firms have sold shares in the secondary market, exceeding those that make profits by the biggest margin since at least 1982, data compiled by Sundial Capital Research show."

$3 Billion Home Run: But at least there are a couple of capitalists who hit a home run, with $3 billion in fees coming their way from the most reliable payer in the world, the U.S. government. What’s their secret? Simple. They set up websites and ran ads to offer free money. No kidding. One ad on Facebook: “Literally free money for those who qualify.” Who qualified? Almost everyone. Another ad you might have seen on billboards or buses spelled it out: “Get up to $50,000 in PPP. Apply now.”

The two small companies partnered with banks to hand out Paycheck Protection Program cash. Everybody involved made money. The banks made the loans (guaranteed by the feds). The loan recipients got the money and, generally, didn’t have to pay it back. But nobody made more than these two companies, Blueacorn and Womply. According to an analysis by The New York Times, they have $3 billion to split between them. But wait. Whose money are they divvying up? Oh, Dear Reader, don’t ask such silly questions. Just enjoy the game."

Gregory Mannarino, AM 6/30/21: "Currency Crisis: Mortgage Demand Craters And The FReaKshoW Continues"

Gregory Mannarino, AM 6/30/21:
"Currency Crisis: Mortgage Demand 
Craters And The FReaKshoW Continues"
Related: