"Every Bubble is About to Burst - It's All Risky Business"

Full screen recommended.

Dan, iAllegedly PM 8/3/21:

"Every Bubble is About to Burst - It's All Risky Business"

"Congress is on vacation and you are left to fend for yourself. Everything is about to burst from the real estate market, stock market and this massive inflationary spike. I’m at Central Park in Huntington Beach California."

"A Look to the Heavens"

"Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years away, toward the constellation Leo. Relatively bright in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is easily visible in small telescopes but often overlooked by amateur imagers in favor of other Leo spiral galaxies, like M66 and M65. It's hard to overlook in this colorful cosmic portrait, though. 

Spanning some 50,000 light-years the galaxy sports characteristic patchy, irregular spiral arms laced with dust, pink star forming regions, and clusters of young, blue stars. Remarkably, this deep image also finds NGC 3521 embedded in gigantic bubble-like shells. The shells are likely tidal debris, streams of stars torn from satellite galaxies that have undergone mergers with NGC 3521 in the distant past."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210402.html

"This World...."

"This world, after all our science and sciences, is still a miracle;

wonderful, inscrutable, magical and more, to whosoever will think of it."

- Thomas Carlyle

The Poet: Rainer Maria Rilke, "Book of Hours II, 16"

"Book of Hours II, 16"

"How surely gravity's law,

strong as an ocean current,

takes hold of even the strongest thing

and pulls it toward the heart of the world.

Each thing-

each stone, blossom, child-

is held in place.

Only we, in our arrogance,

push out beyond what we belong to

for some empty freedom.

If we surrendered

to earth's intelligence

we could rise up rooted, like trees.

Instead we entangle ourselves

in knots of our own making

and struggle, lonely and confused.

So, like children, we begin again

to learn from the things,

because they are in God's heart;

they have never left him.

This is what the things can teach us:

to fall,

patiently to trust our heaviness.

Even a bird has to do that

before he can fly."

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

The Daily "Near You?"

Bullhead City, Arizona, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"Marching to Victory"

"Marching to Victory"

By Bill Bonner

POITOU, FRANCE – "We love a good parade as much as the next guy. And a good war. The sound of the trumpet! The shine of the medals! The thrill of the ranks… marching to victory! Out on the battlefield, the front-line troops give ‘em hell… while back at home, mom and dad follow the glorious fight on the wireless… proud of their sons and daughters… And as long as the money keeps flowing… who cares what is really going on?

Career Opportunity: “War is the health of the state,” as the writer Randolph Bourne put it. Especially a war it can’t win, adds Bill Bonner. And now, with “breakthrough infections,” new “variants,” and vaccinated people still getting sick…

Hey, like the War on Poverty, the War on Drugs, and the war in Afghanistan, the War on COVID-19 is turning out to be a career opportunity for the feds…and a real moneymaker for their main suppliers – the drug companies. Forbes reports: "Operation Warp Speed (OWS)- the U.S. government’s Covid-19 relief program - would dole out $22 billion to Big Pharma." "The amounts of money were the kinds of sums normally seen in the smaller defense budget line items, but were massive for a public health project- $2.5 billion to Moderna, $1.2 billion to AstraZeneca, half a billion dollars to Johnson & Johnson, and $1.6 billion to a small company called Novavax. Only Pfizer opted out of ponying up to the trough at first - it didn’t want to devote resources to coordinating with the US government on its work."

In July, Pfizer signed a $1.95 billion deal to sell one hundred million doses of its two-shot vaccine to the United States, enough for fifty million people. It turned out to be a profitable move for Pfizer. The New York Times: "Pfizer Reaps Hundreds of Millions in Profits From Covid Vaccine." The vaccine brought in $3.5 billion in revenue in the first three months of this year, nearly a quarter of its total revenue, Pfizer reported. The vaccine was, far and away, Pfizer’s biggest source of revenue.

Federal Case: When COVID-19 came to light, all over the world, authorities might have treated it like any other health challenge. They might have alerted local officials… and warned vulnerable people to take cover. Instead, for better or for worse, almost all of the major nations – save, perhaps, Sweden – made a federal case out of it. They went to war.

They attempted to stop the virus… isolate it… to trace carriers… to block transmission… and to stifle its spread. The strategy seemed reasonable enough, if your aim was to treat it as an enemy. But the virus must have broken the code. It seemed to know what the field marshals were up to. It changed its tactics. Its new Delta variant is said to move quickly. It sneaks through our lines – even those of the veterans who are fully vaccinated.

And here’s the latest from the front, The Washington Post reporting: "Florida breaks record for new coronavirus cases as surge of infections rips through state. The data shows the severity of the surge in Florida, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak and now responsible for 1 in 5 new infections nationally. The previous peak in Florida had been on Jan. 7, when the state reported 19,334 cases, according to the CDC - before the widespread availability of coronavirus vaccinations. Florida has reported an average of 15,818 new cases a day over the past seven days, according to data compiled by The Washington Post."

The best wars – from the feds’ point of view – are those where the enemy never gives up… but can’t win either. Then, the conflict drags on for years. The feds spend trillions… get battlefield promotions… and reward their friends with contracts (guaranteeing a rich retirement for the insiders as “consultants” to their former suppliers).

Criminal Victims: So far, there is still no conclusive evidence that going to war with the virus really pays off. The headlines are full of alarums. But the death statistics show little connection between the war effort and the body count. Despite its sans souci approach, Sweden still has fewer deaths per 100,000 than the U.S., U.K., France, or Italy.

Argentina is notable, with a higher fatality rate than any of them… and also the strictest control measures. We spent nine months there last year. Roadblocks kept us from going anywhere. Everything was closed. The whole country was locked up… You needed a special permission to come in or go out. And now, Argentina is leading the way to the future (we fear) by turning the victims into criminals. Yes, the gauchos are cracking down. Here’s a message received from friends:

"Today's Infobae newspaper says that 20 people are down with the Delta version of COVID-19 and that five others have been arrested for violating articles 202 and 205 of the Argentine Penal Code. Article 202 of the Argentine Penal Code says [in an awkward translation]: “Shall be punished with seclusion or imprisonment for three to fifteen years a person who spreads a dangerous and contagious disease to others…”

Article 205 of the Argentine Penal Code says: “Will be punished with imprisonment for six months to two years he who violates the measures adopted by the competent authorities for impeding the introduction or propaganda [it probably is supposed to say propagation] means “of an epidemic.”

Found and Fined: All over the world, as we reported last week, the warriors are running out of patience with the malingerers and peaceniks. Far from giving up the war as a lost cause, they want a surge. Here’s the latest from the Earth’s underside, The Daily Mail: "Australia uses helicopters and the ARMY to enforce its 'Zero Covid' lockdown as thousands of police flood Sydney to enforce the rules and hand out $500 no-mask fines - with just 17% of adults vaccinated. Sirens blared across the city and a draconian message was broadcast from the skies, as millions were told: 'This is public health order - do not break rules - you will be found and fines issued.'

Yes… COVID-19 appears to be here to stay… along with a long war against it. And tomorrow, we look at yet another enemy… and another “transitory forever” war. Stay tuned…"

- www.rogueeconomics.com

"Stop the Lies"

"Stop the Lies"

by Jim Rickards

"Health officials continue to lose credibility over COVID-19. They seem to change their minds daily based on whim rather than science. But that’s been the case since the pandemic started.

Going back to last January, official comments on COVID have been mostly wrong. The comments were either outright lies or were prescriptions based on politics, not medicine.

In January 2020, the World Health Organization said there was no human-to-human transmission of COVID. They knew better because of data from China, so that was a lie. Dr. Anthony Fauci said there was little risk of COVID coming from China to the U.S. Another lie. Then, over the course of 15 months, Fauci said not to wear masks, then he said to wear them, then he said you could take them off. Now, he says it’s time to put them on again.

Fauci is an over-the-hill bureaucrat, not a true scientist. His greatest skill has been successfully navigating the Washington swamp for the past four decades. He’s heavily conflicted because he owns patents on inputs to the vaccines. He also has a lot to hide, because he funded the Wuhan laboratory coronavirus research in the first place. The science is clear that masks don’t work (because the virus is far smaller than the mask weave), and lockdowns don’t work (because people indoors in confined spaces spread the virus faster than people outside who are in motion).

Masks are positively dangerous for children because they force you to breathe your own CO2, which causes dizziness, lethargy, inability to focus and can cause people to pass out. The latest lie is Biden’s call for vaccine mandates for federal workers or weekly testing, masking and distancing.

What Vaccine Mandate? The White House had repeatedly said there would be no federal vaccine mandates. It’s true that there is no single mandate that applies to all Americans. But there are now hundreds of mini-mandates that add up to the same thing. Biden’s federal worker mandate covers 4 million federal employees and as many as 4 million federal contractors.

Meanwhile, universities are imposing vaccine mandates on returning students. Large companies like Facebook and Google are imposing vaccine mandates on their workers. New York State has imposed a vaccine mandate on state workers. Sports and entertainment venues are barring anyone who cannot prove they have been vaccinated.

When you add it all up, we’re turning into a society of vaxxed and unvaxxed where the latter are denied the opportunity to work, attend school, go out for a show or sporting event and so on. “There is no vaccine mandate,” they’ll say. But in reality, the unvaccinated will be treated as second-class citizens who can’t live regular lives or participate fully in society.

Cheap, Effective Therapeutics Are Suppressed: At the same time, health authorities have suppressed cheap, effective therapeutics like Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine that can significantly reduce COVID hospitalizations and deaths. These drugs have been around for decades and are extremely safe. But the alphabet soup of health agencies says they need more testing before they can be approved. Yet these are the same people who are shoving experimental gene therapy down people’s throats, which were rushed through on an emergency basis without the usual testing that takes years.

Any health professional who cites the benefits of these therapeutics can be banned from social media, despite numerous clinical studies that demonstrate their effectiveness, especially if used in the early stages of illness. They aren’t magic bullets, but the data indicate they provide substantial benefit.

Why are public health authorities so determined to suppress these cheap but effective therapeutics? Well, you might want to follow the money. The FDA granted emergency use approval for the vaccines. But for the FDA to grant that emergency approval, “no formally approved alternatives” can be available at the time. If these other therapeutics were deemed effective, the vaccines couldn’t be rushed through on an emergency basis. And a lot of powerful interests stood to profit from the vaccines. They wouldn’t profit from off-patent therapeutic drugs that might cost pennies per pill.

Meanwhile, the push for new lockdowns, universal vaccination and vaccine passports continues. It’s a Brave New World, and it’s not going away soon."

- dailyreckoning.com

Gerald Celente, "The Declaration of Vaccination, We The People Shall Not be Free"

Very strong language alert!

Gerald Celente, "The Trends Journal,"

"The Declaration of Vaccination, We The People Shall Not be Free"

"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What’s Next in these increasingly turbulent times."

- https://trendsresearch.com/

"How It Really Is"

"Shipping Container Shortage & Soaring Freight Rates Are Severely Aggravating Supply Chain Crisis"

Full screen recommended,

"Shipping Container Shortage & Soaring Freight 

Rates Are Severely Aggravating Supply Chain Crisis"

by Epic Economist

"Last week's events were another major blow for global supply chains and now industry experts are warning businesses and consumers more delivery delays, shortages, and even more acute price hikes are coming. A series of disasters, including devastating floods in China and Europe, could result in empty grocery shelves, out-of-stock products, and prolonged shipping delays, exacerbating the already strained global supply chains. Western Europe and China’s Henan province - key transportation centers and home to several major businesses - are struggling to resume operations as the disasters have severely damaged railways used for the delivery of goods and raw materials in both regions. Companies in the supply chain industry reported that "water rushed into industrial areas extensively damaging facilities".

In an interview with CNBC, Pawan Joshi, the executive vice president of supply chain software firm E2open, said that “Black Friday and the holiday season, for which products and raw materials are being staged, will face the brunt of the impact,” he added that “consumer electronics, dorm room furniture, clothing, and appliances will all continue to be in short supply as back-to-school shopping starts up, and will trickle into the peak holiday shopping season". Delays from the distribution of raw materials necessary to produce goods will have a ripple effect and disrupt supply chains “for weeks and months,” Joshi highlighted. "Come Black Friday, we can likely expect to see prices rise for all sorts of goods such as consumer electronics, furniture, apparel, and appliances,” he told CNBC.

Amongst the hardest hit industries by the brutal floods is auto. Many of the biggest automakers in the globe along with their suppliers are based in regions that were critically affected by the disaster. Now that automakers were finally being able to start ramping up production, the disruption will likely hammer car manufacturing once again, with shipping delays expected to stall operations at several plants for months. The global shipping crisis is worsening at a quite alarming pace. Even Apple CEO Tim Cook stressed that freight costs are way too high. In a year, freight rates skyrocketed by nearly 500%, and they continue to reach unprecedented levels with each passing month. If billionaires are complaining about the staggering surge, for small business owners is has become simply impossible to find affordable vessel space to send their products overseas.

The main factor pushing shipping prices to sky-highs is the container crisis that started in September 2020. Almost one year later, the situation has only got worse, and the main problem behind the critical shortage of containers is the extraordinary surge in demand for consumer goods coming from China. Chinese companies are so eager to refill containers that shipping lines are sending them back to Asian ports rather than waiting for them to be restocked with U.S. products such as crops. That is aggravating the container shortage, and resulting in soaring transportation costs.

Shipping industry experts are estimating that only half of the normal container supply will be available for U.S. businesses to send their products in the September-October period when new crops are supposed to be moving to overseas markets. But several farmers and ranchers are already aware that they will remain unable to send their products across the ocean, and some of them are being forced to make some extremely painful choices. "We’ve already begun the process of laying off half of our staff,” one California farmer said, noting that shipping lines are canceling traditional container routes to focus on getting empty containers back to China.

The container shortage issue is particularly concerning for the U.S. agricultural industry, which is comprised of many small farmers that supply niche products to buyers who don’t want to buy bulk commodities. For instance, 40 percent of California's nuts and 35 percent of oat crops travel by container to markets around the world. But now, that number is expected to sharply drop due to the lack of available containers.

According to Jordan Atkins, the vice-president of WTC Group, a transloading company, there is no end in sight to the container crisis. “We’re seeing the demand that is causing these imbalances continue for at least the next six to eight months,” he said.

Already, shipping delays are having serious impacts across several U.S. industries as companies try to recover amid the reopening. Unfortunately, inflated prices are here to stay and what we're seeing right now is just the beginning. As supply chain woes get dramatically aggravated and imbalances between supply and demand get even more acute, the worst is yet to come, and in the coming months, we will all be seeing how ravaging the inflation crisis will turn out to be."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com​

"Wake Up, It's Getting Real; Debt Defaults And Rate Hikes Coming; Household Debt Soars; Prepare Now!"

Jeremiah Babe, PM 8/3/21:

"Wake Up, It's Getting Real; Debt Defaults 

And Rate Hikes Coming; Household Debt Soars; Prepare Now!"

Gregory Mannarino, AM/PM 8/3/21

Gregory Mannarino, AM 8/3/21:

"Very Important Updates"

- https://traderschoice.net/

Gregory Mannarino, PM 8/3/21:

“Hyperbubble! Start Betting Against It Right Now”

- https://traderschoice.net/

Musical Interlude: 2002, “When I See You Again”

 

Full screen recommended.

2002, “When I See You Again”

"Be Ready For The Biggest Eviction Horror Show In U.S. History"

Full screen recommended.

"Be Ready For The Biggest Eviction Horror Show In U.S. History"

by Epic Economist

"The month of August has just started, and for millions of Americans, so did a nightmare: A day of reckoning has arrived for renters all across the nation. Almost one year ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a moratorium that protected millions of renters who became unable to keep up with their monthly rent payments. But the moratorium has officially ended, and now billions in back rent must be paid. For some, this means that they have to come up with almost an entire year of rent in only a few weeks to avoid getting evicted. However, for the millions that simply cannot afford to pay what they owe, this means that they can effectively lose their homes anytime now. This situation has been building up for several months, and now it is rapidly evolving into a major national disaster. Welcome to America's eviction horror show.

Up until now, there doesn't seem to be any hope of preventing the most devastating eviction tsunami in the story of the United States.In essence, the expiration of the moratorium means that we are about to witness a years’ worth of evictions over several weeks, which can lead the U.S. to the worst housing crisis since the Great Recession. While some places will see a spike in evictions in just a few days, other jurisdictions will see an uptick in court filings that will lead to evictions over several months. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that roughly 3.6 million households in the U.S. are going to face eviction in the next two months, as their eviction notices have already been filed. And over 15 million people live in these households that collectively owe as much as $20 billion to their landlords, according to the Aspen Institute.

Even more alarming is the fact that this crisis is bound to get a lot worse in September when the first foreclosure proceedings are expected to begin. Approximately 1.75 million homeowners - which account for roughly 3.5% of all homes - are in some type of forbearance plan with their banks, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. But the official U.S. government data indicates that 5.9 million homes are not current with their mortgage payments, while 8.7 million homeowners said they have little or no confidence in their ability to pay their mortgage next month, which puts 7.4 million tenants who are in rental properties that are not current with mortgage payments in danger of eviction too, regardless of having paid rent or not. As soon as these proceedings start, we're going to see a tragedy of unimaginable proportions.

In short, an avalanche of distressed renters will be forced out of their homes and into a housing market where prices are skyrocketing and vacancy rates are at all-time lows, meaning that those people will become unable to find housing for an indefinite period of time. Particularly because when people have an eviction record and back rent it's impossible for them to find new apartments, which leaves many in a very vulnerable position, especially amid a health crisis. Whether they shack up with families, seek already overcrowded shelters, or find unsafe dwellings in low-income neighborhoods that lack good schools, good jobs, and access to transportation, the alternatives do not look good. Many will also be overwhelmed by debt. In face of all of this, we have to think about what is going to happen to this country when millions of impoverished Americans are suddenly thrown out into the streets. The eviction crisis can potentially be the catalysts of widespread chaos and unrest all over the nation.

We have to admit that our system is not designed to handle a sudden disruption of this magnitude. While organizations can try to help those that are deeply in need, they cannot solve this crisis. Already, roughly half a million Americans will sleep on the streets tonight. So what will the number be after this massive wave of evictions is over? This is truly concerning. We are heading to extremely troubled times, and this eviction tsunami will without a doubt be a huge destabilizing force in our society. If we have got to this point is because the billions spent by Congress to lift people out of poverty never really provided a real safety net, and their "preventive" measures didn't work. August is going to be a major turning point, and you are going to see a whole lot more trouble erupting as we move towards the end of this year."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com​

○

"Evictions Start With Nancy Pelosi & The House On A 7-Week Break"

○

What now for possibly 40 million people?

What happens when they knock at YOUR door for help?

"A Look to the Heavens"

“M82 is a starburst galaxy with a superwind. In fact, through ensuing supernova explosions and powerful winds from massive stars, the burst of star formation in M82 is driving a prodigious outflow. Evidence for the superwind from the galaxy's central regions is clear in sharp telescopic snapshot. The composite image highlights emission from long outflow filaments of atomic hydrogen gas in reddish hues. 

Some of the gas in the superwind, enriched in heavy elements forged in the massive stars, will eventually escape into intergalactic space. Triggered by a close encounter with nearby large galaxy M81, the furious burst of star formation in M82 should last about 100 million years or so. Also known as the Cigar Galaxy for its elongated visual appearance, M82 is about 30,000 light-years across. It lies 12 million light-years away near the northern boundary of Ursa Major.”

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210709.html

"Things We Don't Want to Do: Outside the Comfort Zone"

"Things We Don't Want to Do:

Outside the Comfort Zone"

by Madisyn Taylor, The DailyOM

"Doing things we don't want to do, or that scare us, creates flow in our lives and allows us to grow. Most of us have had the experience of tackling some dreaded task only to come out the other side feeling invigorated, filled with a new sense of confidence and strength. The funny thing is, most of the time when we do them, we come out on the other side changed and often wondering what we were so worried about or why it took us so long. We may even begin to look for other tasks we've been avoiding so that we can feel that same heady mix of excitement and completion.

Whether we avoid something because it scares us or bores us, or because we think it will force a change we're not ready for, putting it off only creates obstacles for us. On the other hand, facing the task at hand, no matter how onerous, creates flow in our lives and allows us to grow. The relief is palpable when we stand on the other side knowing that we did something even though it was hard or we didn't want to do it. On the other hand, when we cling to our comfort zone, never addressing the things we don't want to face, we cut ourselves off from flow and growth.

We all have at least one thing in our life that never seems to get done. Bringing that task to the top of the list and promising ourselves that we will do it as soon as possible is an act that could liberate a tremendous amount of energy in our lives. Whatever it is, we can allow ourselves to be fueled by the promise of the feelings of exhilaration and confidence that will be the natural result of doing it.”

- http://discuss.dailyom.com

○

Of course, some have different perspectives...

VERY STRONG Language Alert!

"In life you have to do a lot of things you don't ****ing want to do.

Many times, that's what the **** life is, one vile ****ing task after another.”

- “Al Swearengen”,

Ian McShane's character in “Deadwood”

"The Reality Of Life..."

"Despite my firm convictions, I have been always a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth."

- Malcolm X

"The Economy Is Imploding - Brace For Impact; Rental Property Destruction Is Coming; Eviction Apocalypse"

Jeremiah Babe, PM 8/2/21:

"The Economy Is Imploding - Brace For Impact; 

Rental Property Destruction Is Coming; Eviction Apocalypse"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 8/2/21: "PROOF: The US Economy Is In COLLAPSE! Debt In A HYPER-BUBBLE, Inflation Is Surging"

Gregory Mannarino, PM 8/2/21:

"PROOF: The US Economy Is In COLLAPSE! 

Debt In A HYPER-BUBBLE, Inflation Is Surging"

- https://traderschoice.net/

"A Disaster"

"A Disaster"

by Jim Rickards

"Last week, the U.S. Commerce Department reported second-quarter GDP for the U.S. rose at a 6.5% annualized rate. From 2009 to 2019 (the recovery from the 2008 global financial crisis), the average annual growth in GDP for the U.S. was 2.2%. So, in comparison with the previous recovery, 6.5% seems like exceptionally strong growth.

Of course, champagne corks were flying at The New York Times and other mainstream media outlets because Q2 output has regained 2019 levels. But the recession was over in April 2020. It's now August 2021, and they’re celebrating that we’re back to 2019 levels? That's a pathetic rebound and really nothing to celebrate. Let’s take a closer look at the numbers…

Less Than Meets the Eye: First, most analysts and media projected the Q2 number to be 7.5% or 8.0%, so it fell below expectations. Second, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta GDPNow tracker for Q2 GDP fell from 13% in April, to 10% in May, and then 7.5% in June. With allowance for noise, this means that growth weakened considerably over the course of the quarter. It also means if growth was stronger in April and May, and if growth for the quarter overall was 6.5%, then June must have been well below 6.5%. It’s simple math.

That means Q3 is off to a weak start. With the Delta variant of the virus out there, the situation is even worse. Finally, there was some highly troubling data in the fine print that comes along with the headline number.

Imports were healthy because Americans have been on a bit of a buying binge, using government handout checks. But exports were awful, a reflection of the fact that the rest of the world is not doing nearly as well as the U.S. Simply put, foreigners are not buying our goods because they’re in bad shape themselves.

Most dramatically, personal income fell 30% on an annualized basis. This is a measure of private income that does not include government handouts. Most of this 30% drop was based on revisions to prior data, which had been updated by the Commerce Department using more reliable surveys. Statistical adjustments aside, the bottom line is that private income (both wages and proprietor allocations) has been flat for eight months going back to October 2020.

Not a Recovery, But a Disaster: That’s not a recovery; that’s a disaster. It makes the forecast more dire because one-by-one the government subsidies are running out. The U.S. economy fell about 35% (annualized) in the first half of 2020 and then staged a strong comeback, rising 33.4% in the third quarter of 2020 with a more modest 4.3% gain in the fourth quarter. For the full-year 2020, the economy fell by the greatest amount since 1946, but the second-half recovery kept that from being far worse.

Why wasn’t the 2020 economy much worse? The answer is that a huge number of financial rescue programs were put in place, backed up by tens of trillions of dollars of either money printing or deficit spending. The Fed expanded its balance sheet by over $4 trillion in the immediate aftermath of the collapse. Congress approved trillions of dollars of checks sent directly to the American people. Unemployment benefits were extended and increased. Student loan repayments were deferred. Payroll Protection Plan loans were made to small businesses (and most were later forgiven).

The Gravy Train Has Stopped: But expanded unemployment benefits are mostly done. The Payroll Protection Plan loans are over. No additional checks are going to be mass-mailed, as happened last February and December. With government handouts mostly over, private income stagnant and exports falling, it’s not clear what will drive GDP growth at all in the second half of 2021. To top it all off, the rent eviction moratorium is over.

One of the most effective and least reported programs was the moratorium on evictions of renters. This was a federal program, although there were many local equivalents. Once renters knew they could not be evicted, they stopped paying rent. The program was so widespread that 14.7% of all renters in America now owe back rent. That moratorium expired as of last Saturday. What happens next?

It would be one thing if the renters had put the monthly rent money in escrow so that it would be available when the moratorium expired. That’s unlikely to have happened for more than a few of the six million families covered by the program. A three or four-month moratorium on eviction starting in April 2020 might have made some sense. But running the program for 15 months with no plan for a smooth exit has led to another crack-up for an economy still not up to speed.

Landlords Have Bills to Pay Too: People naturally sympathize with the renters who were affected by COVID. However, little consideration is given to landlords. Many landlords have mortgages and had to pay principal and interest to banks, plus maintenance and property taxes while their tenants were paying no rent. Now those landlords want to collect the back rent in order to get caught up on their own obligations. Many tenants just don’t have the money. What comes next is a wave of evictions.

This will put an enormous number of Americans out on the street looking for new places to live without much money in their pockets. It could also lead to a depressed housing market in certain cities as a surge of rental properties comes on the market while people are fleeing the cities to move to suburbs or more attractive states like Florida.

This will be one more headwind for the economy, as both tenants struggle with housing costs and landlords struggle with a surplus of property for rent. It’s one more example of the unintended consequences of government intervention.

Of course, the stock market is still in bubble-land and in denial about all of this technical data. That won’t last. The stock market may continue to float for another month or two, but by October, a severe correction may be in the cards as new data make it impossible to ignore reality."

- dailyreckoning.com