"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."
"If you feel like global events are about to hit a dramatic turning point, you are definitely not alone. Lately, I have been hearing from so many people that are feeling such a sense of dread about the days that are ahead of us. It kinds of reminds me of the waning days of 2019. If you go back and review my articles and my interviews from that period, you will see that I repeatedly warned that I had such a bad feeling about 2020. At the time, that didn’t make a lot of sense to some people, because life was still relatively normal. But then the COVID pandemic came along and the world went completely nuts. Well, now I am sensing another huge wave of trouble, and countless others are feeling the exact same way.
Normally, I tend to focus my articles on things that just happened in the news. But today I want to talk about the bigger picture because we have reached such a dangerous time in our history. The events of the past couple of years have put us on a very alarming trajectory, and I believe that we are rapidly approaching a point of no return.
There are still a lot of people out there that believe that some sort of a magic solution will suddenly be found and life will revert to normal. Sadly, that isn’t going to happen. Nobody has a “silver bullet”, and men on white horses are not going to come riding in to save us.
At this moment, the stage is being set for so many of the things that I warned about in "Lost Prophecies" and "7 Year Apocalypse." Great natural disasters are occurring all over the planet, extreme weather events are playing havoc with worldwide crop production, global hunger is on the rise, we are facing a supply chain crisis of epic proportions, and I have written numerous articles in recent weeks about the growing shortages that we are witnessing.
Meanwhile, the pandemic continues to rage on, and now we are being told that this virus will be with us indefinitely. Of course many believe that how national governments have responded to the pandemic has been even worse than the pandemic itself. We are seeing civil unrest and mass protests all over the globe as ordinary citizens lash out against the alarming rise of authoritarianism all around us. We have seen so much chaos and death over the past couple of years, and there will be so much more in the years ahead. Millions upon millions of people have already died, but what we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg.
As I discussed a few days ago, this is also a time of wars and rumors of wars. Needless to say, military conflict will take many of our current problems to an entirely new level. Sadly, most Americans have absolutely no idea that we are moving toward war even now.
But most Americans can see the product shortages that are growing all around us. At this point, the supply chain crisis has gotten so bad that the mainstream media can’t stop talking about it. On a very basic level, our economic infrastructure is breaking down, and this is something that is happening all over the world.
Originally we were told that things would be “getting back to normal” by this point, but now we are being told that the shortages are going to be getting even worse in the months ahead. Earlier today, I came across a video in which Glenn Beck detailed why he is extremely concerned about this. I think that Glenn did a really good job of communicating the urgency of the crisis that we are now facing, and I hope that people will share his video with as many people as they can.
There are some that have used the word “hell” to describe the past couple of years, but the truth is that they aren’t even worth comparing to what is still ahead of us.But no matter what comes along, you can get through this.
I have heard from so many people that are scared about what is to come, and it is okay to be honest about our emotions. If you truly understand the bigger picture, the gravity of what we are dealing with will definitely weigh on you. But there is no reason to be afraid. You were born for such a time as this, and you were placed at this specific moment in human history for a reason.
Since I write about such difficult topics, some people out there have suggested that I must be deeply depressed. But the truth is that my wife and I are not depressed at all. We are not on any pills, we don’t have to see any psychologists and we don’t walk around in a state of gloom all the time.
That is because we know who we are, we know where we are going and we understand how the story ends. All of human history has been building up to a grand crescendo, and we get to be here for it. There is no other time in all of human history that I would have rather lived than right here, right now.
But if your life is defined by the system that the elite have established, and if what you care about are the material possessions that the system has provided for you, then the years ahead are going to be exceedingly painful for you. Because the truth is that the system is dying.
Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, and we are going to see horrors that are far beyond what most people would dare to imagine right now. But for those that are living for the things that really matter, this will be an incredibly exciting time to be alive.
If you have not been paying much attention to global events, now is the time for you to wake up. So many of the pieces of the puzzle are coming together simultaneously, and so many of the major things that the watchmen have been warning about are on the verge of taking place. I will have so much more to say about all of this in the days ahead. Be strong and keep the fire burning, because the times that are approaching are going to greatly challenge all of us."
"Sky-high prices for natural gas and electricity have made the headlines in recent weeks as energy crises started to erupt all over the world. The most menacing of them is taking place in China, where coal stocks hit perilously low levels. Chinese officials warned that China's energy crunch will have greater consequences for the global economy than other energy squeezes now occurring in Europe, South-Eastern Asia, and Africa.
Several Chinese regions have started to conserve energy and issue rationing mandates to factories, ordering plants to halt or significantly reduce production over the next weeks. At least two-thirds of the entire country faced severe blackouts last week as China struggled with the worst power shortages in over a decade. Just this year, energy prices have more than double in China due to soaring electricity demand from factories and lower than expected output from the country’s coal mines.
If China's economy slumps any further this year, the whole global economic rebound can be derailed, and that will lead to even higher inflation in global markets, warn economists. "China’s energy crunch is set to have a rippling effect across the world”, says Howie Lee, an economist at Singapore’s OCBC Bank. The outlook doesn't seem very promising, particularly considering that official government figures released last month indicate that that Chinese factory activity in September dropped to the lowest level since February 2020, when lockdowns crippled the economy.
The unexpected slowdown in factory activity will add further pressure on an economy already facing serious problems in its inflated property sector, mostly in the form of the decaying giant Evergrande. While the property sector accounts for up to 25% of China's GDP, the country's huge tech sector is also experiencing major disruptions as the power outages are forcing widespread factory shutdowns. At this point, shortages are already emerging and hitting stressed global supply chains, with both Apple and Tesla temporarily closed. Other small businesses that play a key role in global manufacturing are recording an output collapse like no other.
This crisis is coming at the worst possible time: just as businesses get ready for the Christmas shopping rush. This means that shortages will not only be seen in China but also on shelves in western countries, including America. Moreover, given the Vice Premier's order, China seems to have made an abrupt policy change regarding its commodity markets approach. Many local reports are stressing the fact that the central government has given state-owned energy companies a directive to secure winter energy supplies "at any and all costs".
However, with commodity inflation already soaring and straining large importers, supply shortages are becoming more and more frequent across the globe. The plan now is to hoard all available supplies no matter the cost, in order to support continued economic growth, particularly due to the threat of a cold winter scenario. This may turn the commodity market upside down. China's rigorous steps to ensure energy supplies are likely to trigger a panic buying spree just as we witnessed early in the health crisis, when consumers depleted inventories of toilet paper and other household items, and more recently, in the UK's ongoing supply chain crisis.
Therefore, "in addition to the speculative interest, the world’s biggest commodity importer is now going on a historic buying spree. As such, this buying is a strong tailwind for oil, as supply certainty trumps price in the near term," as explained by Ryan Fitzmaurice, the senior commodity strategist at Rabobank. Speculators have gigantic piles of money at hand to bid the market even higher, especially knowing that China has every motive to panic buy supplies and central banks have flushed extraordinary amounts of liquidity to fund huge purchases on global financial markets.
"This new policy has the potential to trigger panic buying in physical markets, which will likely spill over into financial markets as institutional money chases returns," Fitzmaurice wrote in a recent note to clients. Sadly, world leaders are just now realizing that, unlike artificially-created money, you cannot print commodities nor artificially create energy supplies. The rules are not the same. The commodity market is volatile and dangerous.
The lack of energy is a life-threatening issue, and that was conclusively demonstrated earlier this year during the Texas power grid collapse. As the price of energy skyrockets, those increased costs will fall disproportionately upon the poorest in society, and those devastating income inequalities will be dramatically exposed as the most millions have to face a painful choice: Heat or Eat.Don't be mistaken, this winter is going to be shocking. Dark clouds are looming on the horizon and the perfect storm is coming for us."
"Colorful NGC 1579 resembles the better known Trifid Nebula, but lies much farther north in planet Earth's sky, in the heroic constellation Perseus. About 2,100 light-years away and 3 light-years across, NGC 1579 is, like the Trifid, a study in contrasting blue and red colors, with dark dust lanes prominent in the nebula's central regions.
In both, dust reflects starlight to produce beautiful blue reflection nebulae. But unlike the Trifid, in NGC 1579 the reddish glow is not emission from clouds of glowing hydrogen gas excited by ultraviolet light from a nearby hot star. Instead, the dust in NGC 1579 drastically diminishes, reddens, and scatters the light from an embedded, extremely young, massive star, itself a strong emitter of the characteristic red hydrogen alpha light."
"How do you beat the odds when it’s one against a billion? You stand strong, keep pushing yourself past all rational limits and never let yourself give up. But the truth of the matter is, despite how hard you try and fight to stay in control, when it’s all said and done, sometimes you’re just outnumbered."
- "Dr. Meredith Grey," "Grey's Anatomy"
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"There are days that make the sacrifices seem worthwhile... and then there are the days where everything feels like a sacrifice. And then there are the sacrifices that you can't even figure out why you're making. A wise man once said, you can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it. What he meant it, nothing comes without a price. So before you go into battle, you better decide how much you're willing to lose. Too often, going after what feels good means letting go of what you know is right. And letting someone in means abandoning the walls you've spent a lifetime building. Of course, the toughest sacrifices are the ones we don't see coming. When we don't have time to come up with a strategy, to pick a side, or to measure the potential loss.When that happens, when the battle chooses us, that's when the sacrifice can turn out to be more than we can bear."
“What keeps you going isn’t some fine destination but just the road you’re on, and the fact that you know how to drive. You keep your eyes open, you see this damned-to-hell world you got born into, and you ask yourself, ‘What life can I live that will let me breathe in and out and love somebody or something and not run off screaming into the woods?’”
“The very survival of the nation will feel at stake. Sometime before the year 2025, America will pass through a great gate in history, commensurate with the American Revolution, Civil War, and twin emergencies of the Great Depression and World War II.”
– Strauss & Howe, “The Fourth Turning”
“In Part One of this article I laid out the reasons for Gray Champions arising to meet challenges during crisis periods in history. In Part Two of this article I assessed the configuration of Gray Champions throughout the world and the potential impact on the course of this Fourth Turning.
The swirling fog of confusion enveloping the globe as the high lords of the universe play their game of thrones has even the most critical thinking individuals baffled by the course of events. The desperation and blatant lawlessness of the Deep State players in their endeavor to preserve their hegemony over the course of global affairs is palpable with every attack, false flag, accusation, and ratcheting up of their propaganda media machine.
Like “Game of Thrones,” the behind the scenes machinations, subterfuge, and deceptions taking place outside the purview of the common folk are designed to only benefit the rich and powerful players undertaking these traitorous actions. Open warfare will not happen until it is thought to be in the best interests of those manipulating the levers of society and the narrative produced by their perpetual propaganda media machine. But, in the end, it will be the innocent common people who will suffer the consequences, while the lords reap the riches, glory and power.
“Why is it always the innocents who suffer most,
when you high lords play your game of thrones?”
– “Lord Varys”,
- George R.R. Martin, “Game of Thrones”
The common people have always been blind to the next turning until after it fully arrives. Even now, the average person has no idea we are in the midst of a crisis period which will change the course of history. The overwhelming majority of the 335 million Americans, and billions around the globe, try to go about their daily lives oblivious to the intrigues, conspiracies, and treachery playing out at the highest levels of government and in smoky backrooms, where deals are made, wars plotted, and billions dispersed to the oligarchical lords running our world.
The common people get up, go to work, try to earn enough to survive or get ahead in life, raise their children, and endeavor to attain the lifestyle sold to them by their overlords based on delusion and debt. They are easily distracted by technological baubles, watching sporting events, enslaved by government handouts, and told what to believe by their keepers. They don’t want to experience the challenges of winter, but a never ending summer. They don’t want to think and be responsible for their lives. They want to be left in peace on Twitter and Facebook, but that isn’t how it works during a Fourth Turning winter.
“The common people pray for rain, healthy children, and a summer that never ends,” Ser Jorah told her. “It is no matter to them if the high lords play their game of thrones, so long as they are left in peace.” He gave a shrug. “They never are.”
– George R.R. Martin, “A Game of Thrones”
There is no telling how the next ten or so years will play out; which alliances prove to be successful or disastrous, and the outcomes of the fast approaching civil and global wars, which are inevitable given the current state of affairs in the world. The Fourth Turning isn’t a prediction. It’s a period of crisis driven by the generational alignment which happens like clockwork every 80 to 100 years. It predicts nothing. The course of events is up to the individuals driving those events.
Those who attempt to dismiss this generational theory by calling it doom porn or saying it is impossible to predict the future are revealing their fears rather than arguing based on facts or substance. A man who fears the coming trials and tribulations has already lost. Fear works far better than swords in keeping the masses controlled. Take the Russian bogeyman scenario utilized to keep the ignorant masses distracted and bemused. Praying for a lone wolf to save the day and restore the world to its summer like condition is irrational and again based upon fear. Winter winds are already blowing at gale force.
“When the snows fall and the white winds blow,
the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.”
– “Ned Stark”,
– George R.R. Martin, “Game of Thrones”
It’s fear that appears to be pushing people over the edge. The common people are being manipulated by the “powers that be” though propaganda, mistruths, distractions, iGadgets, hero worship, irrelevant social justice warrior issues, the illusion of political choices, and being lured into debt servitude by the banking cabal and their mega-corporation co-conspirators. They have successfully divided us into angry subsets of lone wolves unwilling or unable to unite and fight the true enemies.
The common people will again do the dying and get the short end of the stick, just as they did during the Civil War, Great Depression and World War II. In order to change the dynamics of this Fourth Turning from one where the lords determine our fate, it would require the majority to open their eyes to see the truth and be led by truly just men to overcome the forces of darkness currently in control. Based on history, this is an unlikely scenario, but still possible.
“Opening your eyes is all that is needing. The heart lies and
the head plays tricks with us, but the eyes see true.”
– “Syrio Forel”,
– George R.R. Martin, “Game of Thrones”
While Biden, Putin, and Xi play their game of thrones for world dominance, we the people still have to do our part at this crucial time in history. While the vast majority of Americans may not be intellectually capable of independent thought or critical thinking due to decades of dumbing down through the government education gulags and a steady diet of government propaganda, there are a minority of patriotic people who respect the Constitution and will need to man the wall.
We know the existing social order will be demolished by the end of this Fourth Turning and courageous acts will matter, sacrifice required, and defeating enemies from within and without will be compulsory. There will be no glory for common men who make the ultimate sacrifice and die for a better tomorrow for their children and grandchildren. Everyone has the potential to make a difference. Danger is omnipresent.
“I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men.”
– The Oath of the Brothers of the Night’s Watch
– “Game of Thrones”
You don’t have to be a fan of the ‘Game of Thrones’ or a believer in the Fourth Turning to realize the world is in the midst of a crisis. Denial and willful ignorance will not turn back time to better days. Whether it be a fictional battle for control of the seven kingdoms or a real battle for control of petro-currencies, gas pipelines, natural resources, and military dominance, the humans locked in these battles never change.
Human nature has remained the same throughout history. The shortcomings of men across centuries have remained consistent: greed, power seeking, arrogance, cruelty, immorality, and hubris.Even Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a man of true courage, knew “the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being”.
The coming storms will bring out the best and the worst in humanity. The nation could be snuffed out or be elevated to new glorious heights. If good wins out over evil the heroic deeds of the winners will become the stuff of myths and legends. If evil wins out over good the final shocking scene in “The Planet of the Apes” may be our future. The choices we make will matter.
Full screen recommended.
The risk of catastrophe will be very high. The nation could erupt into insurrection or civil violence, crack up geographically, or succumb to authoritarian rule. If there is a war, it is likely to be one of maximum risk and effort – in other words, a total war…
History’s howling storms can bring out the worst and best in people. The next Fourth Turning can literally destroy us as a nation and people, leaving us cursed in the histories of those who endure and remember. Alternatively, it can ennoble our lives, elevate us as a community, and inspire acts of consummate heroism – deeds that will grow into myth-like legends recited by our heirs far into the future.”
Are strange - nay, rather, stranger than the rest.
I long for scenes where man hath never trod,
A place where woman never smiled or wept,
There to abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie,
The grass below - above the vaulted sky."
- John Clare
About the poet: John Clare (13 July, 1793- 20 May, 1864) was an English poet. He was born in Northamptonshire, England in the family of a farm laborer. Clare's poetic work mostly showcases his celebratory representations of the English countryside. In his time, Clare was commonly known as "Northamptonshire Peasant Poet" His early work delights both in nature and the cycle of the rural year. "I Am" is a commentary on the complexity of existence.
•
“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering - these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love - these are what we stay alive for.”
“When the pain of leaving behind what we know outweighs the pain of embracing it, or when the power we face is overwhelming and neither flight nor fight will save us, there may be salvation in sitting still. And if salvation is impossible, then at least before perishing we may gain a clearer vision of where we are. By sitting still I do not mean the paralysis of dread, like that of a rabbit frozen beneath the dive of a hawk. I mean something like reverence, a respectful waiting, a deep attentiveness to forces much greater than our own.”
"The Hits Just Keep on Coming! - Bad News is Everywhere"
"The bad news doesn’t seem to stop. I am at the site of where the Pacific Airshow was held in Huntington Beach, CA. There was just a massive oil spill on the same beach. Now they closed the beach down and this caused a huge ecological problem to the beach and the entire community."
See 2 Major Wars Start Before The End Of The Year?"
by Michael Snyder
"Historically, the start of most wars has not been a surprise. Usually, there is a very clear build up before hostilities begin, and we are seeing the same pattern today. For example, by now it should be exceedingly clear to everyone that Israel and Iran will be going to war. Both sides have been talking about the coming conflict for years, and everyone knows who has been causing the “mystery explosions” inside Iran and everyone knows who has been attacking Israeli commercial ships. A “shadow war” has already been going on for quite some time, and at some point missiles will start flying back and forth between the two countries. Likewise, by now it should be exceedingly clear that China very much wants to invade Taiwan. “Reunification” is a top national priority for the CCP, and as you will see below, we are being warned that Xi Jinping has apparently decided that Taiwan is “not a problem that will be passed down to the next generation”.
From a U.S. perspective, the goal is to delay these conflicts for as long as possible. But China just keeps getting more and more aggressive with Taiwan. In fact, the Chinese military sent 77 military aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone on Friday and Saturday… "Taiwan has reported a record number of incursions by Chinese warplanes into its air defense identification zone (ADIZ) for the second day in a row, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said on Saturday night. The self-governing island said a total of 39 Chinese military aircraft entered the ADIZ on Saturday, one more than the 38 planes it spotted on Friday."
This shocking provocation led one British news source to boldly declare that China and Taiwan “are on the brink of war”, and that isn’t too far from the truth. In response, the head of Taiwan’s government had some very tough words for the Chinese… “China has been wantonly engaged in military aggression, damaging regional peace,” said Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang on Saturday.
And he also referred to the fact that Taiwan is depending on the United States to protect it from China… “The U.S. commitment to Taiwan is rock solid and contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and within the region,” he added. “We will continue to stand with friends and allies to advance our shared prosperity, security, and values and deepen our ties with democratic Taiwan.”
When China finally invades Taiwan, the U.S. and China will instantly be in a state of war, and everyone understands this. At one time the Chinese had hoped to peacefully “reunify” with Taiwan like they did with Hong Kong, but that is out of the picture now. CCP leaders have realized that they are going to have to take Taiwan by force, and so they are looking for an opportunity. With feeble Joe Biden in the White House and with the American people deeply tired of wars, this may be the best chance that the CCP is going to get, and they certainly realize this.
So could they pull the trigger on an invasion in the months ahead? Let’s hope not, because such a conflict would throw the entire globe into a state of chaos. But the clock is ticking, because as I noted above, we are being told that Xi Jinping has determined that Taiwan “is not a problem that will be passed down to the next generation”… "However, President Xi Jinping in China has previously expressed his aims to annex the island by suggesting there is “no room for any form of Taiwan independence.” Dr Nick Bisley, from La Trobe University in Australia said: “Xi Jinping has made a very public and very clear signal that says Taiwan is not a problem that will be passed down to the next generation.”
Meanwhile, the game of nuclear chicken that Iran and Israel are playing is rapidly approaching a moment of truth. Just like his predecessor, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has promised to never allow the Iranians to develop their own nuclear weapons, and everyone agrees that day is now closer than ever. The following comes from an Israeli news source… "In his speech to the UN General Assembly last week, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett declared that “Iran’s nuclear program has hit a watershed moment, and so has our tolerance. Words do not stop centrifuges from spinning… We will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.”
With quite dramatic candor, meanwhile, IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi publicly declared (in January) that the IDF was preparing fresh “operational plans” for a potent military strike; (in August) that Iran’s nuclear progress has prompted the IDF “to speed up its operational plans,” with a fresh budget to do so; and (in September) that the IDF has “greatly accelerated” preparations for action against Iran’s nuclear program."
Needless to say, a full-blown war between Israel and Iran would also throw the entire globe into a state of chaos, and it is coming. In fact, a top Iranian official just said that “war with Israel has already started”… “The war with Israel has already started,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told Maariv. “Israel has carried out attacks that were intended to destroy our nuclear program for peaceful purposes. It murdered nuclear scientists and harmed the Iranian people. Iran is accused of terrorism, but there is no good or bad terrorist. The whole crisis in the region is Israel’s fault.”
If either of the wars that I have discussed in this article were to fully erupt before the end of this calendar year, economic activity all over the planet would be greatly affected and it would make global supply chain problems far, far worse than they are now. In addition, global financial markets would almost certainly go totally haywire.
Much more importantly, in either case the U.S. would find itself involved in a new war. If China invades Taiwan, the U.S. military would instantly be forced into action, and if Iran and Israel go to war the U.S. would definitely not stay on the sidelines. Needless to say, most Americans are not even thinking about war right now. But war is coming, and it won’t be too long before it is here."
"Is this going to be the worst holiday season in modern American history? Some mainstream news outlets are insisting that the upcoming holidays are going to be “ruined” because of the widespread shortages that are being caused by the global supply chain crisis. Of course we should have never allowed any of our holidays to be defined by material goods in the first place. I think that the fact that a “holiday season” can be “ruined” by a lack of goods on the shelves says an enormous amount about where we are as a society. And if we can’t handle some limited shortages during the waning months of 2021, how in the world are we going to handle the severe economic pain that is coming in the future?
No holiday should ever be defined by material possessions, but the vast majority of the population sees things very differently than I do, and so the coming months are going to be a very difficult time for a lot of people. The following comes from a CNN article entitled “How America Ruined Christmas”… "The supply chain nightmare that’s been plaguing the global economy for over a year is about to snarl the holiday shopping season. Think barren shelves, massive shipping delays, and no small amount of sticker shock. Merry Christmas, everyone!"
Needless to say, these conditions are likely to cause millions of Americans to throw wild temper tantrums. And many young kids will be getting very upset as well. There simply is not going to be enough stuff to go around, and we are being told that supplies of toys will be particularly tight… “There is going to be a major shortage of toy products this year,” MGA Entertainment CEO Isaac Larian told CNN Business. “The [shipping] container that cost $3,200 last year is now $22,000,” Larian told the network, blaming Maersk and other shipping giants. Jay Foreman, CEO of Basic Fun, told CNN: “You’re going to find various times during the holiday season where the store shelves are going to have empty holes in them.”
I know that a lot of you are probably quite horrified by this news, but we can survive just fine without enough toys. Personally, I am far more concerned about the food shortages that we are starting to see around the nation. One of my readers noticed that inventory levels are getting extremely low at the local Albertson’s…
"Wanted to let you know that we went to the store today (Albertson’s) and we are now noticing thin and empty shelf spaces. Pretty much every aisle. Didn’t notice anyone one item being very low except chicken. Otherwise the low or out inventory was pretty uniform aisle to aisle. Don’t know if part of it is because locals are starting to take the shortages issue serious and stocking up or shortages are starting to hit our area or both. The store was packed with people. Interesting how quickly it changed around here in a week or two."
And another one of my readers that lives in the middle of the country says that he is starting to see things happen that he has never seen before… "The lack of workers here is getting worse. Sonic in my small town has resorted to blocking off 40% of their car spots because they simply do not have the Car Hops to service them. They have also resorted to hiring a male Car Hop. I ate their yesterday and they had run out of Onion Rings!!! Never, ever had that happen before!!! Also see more and more Help Wanted Signs around town and everywhere I go."
As I have discussed previously, one of the biggest reasons for the shortages is a lack of qualified workers. There are millions and millions of jobs open right now, and we just don’t have enough people to fill them. Companies are starting to get desperate, and in some cases that could be potentially dangerous.
For example, in California they are now training teenagers to be truck drivers… "Inside Edition spoke to a California 17-year-old, named Isabella, as she trained behind the wheel. She’s one of several teens at Patterson High School who are participating in one of the first truck-driving programs for high schoolers in the U.S. “There is a huge need. We’re short about 63,000 drivers today,” instructor Dave Dein said."
Isn’t that strange? "Over in the UK, there is such a shortage of drivers that the UK has called out the military to help deliver fuel… The army started supplying service stations in the United Kingdom on Monday in an effort to end more than a week of shortages that have forced pumps to close and left motorists without fuel. Tanker drivers from the military underwent training over the weekend to deliver fuel across the country starting on Monday. The UK government said in a statement on Friday that almost 100 tanker drivers will be deployed from this week to “further relieve pressure on petrol stations and address the shortage of HGV [Heavy Goods Vehicle] drivers.”
Where did all the drivers go? In my entire lifetime, I have never seen anything like this.
Elsewhere in Europe, an energy shortage has suddenly erupted, and this threatens to send power bills into the stratosphere. Just check out what is happening right now in Italy… "Household electricity bills will rise by 29.8% for the typical family and gas bills will go up by 14.4%, Italy’s energy regulatory authority Arera confirmed in a press release last week. The new national tariffs came into effect on Friday, the start of the fourth quarter of 2021. The increase comes amid surging energy costs across Europe, and beyond. The price rise passed on to Italian consumers could’ve reached 45 percent, Arera said, if the government had not stepped in to cap the new rise in rates."
On the other side of the globe, China is experiencing an unprecedented energy crisis as well. Now we are heading into the cold part of the year in the northern hemisphere, and this will put even more strain on tightening global energy supplies. Even in a best case scenario, things could get really crazy this winter. So let us hope that a major war doesn’t erupt between Israel and Iran, because that would push energy prices much, much higher.
The global economy is teetering on the brink of a complete and total breakdown, and it wouldn’t take very much at all to push us over the edge. So let us hope for the best, but let us also prepare for the worst."
"It's Chaos Out There: Millions Of Containers Stuck
Outside US Ports As Supply Chain Crisis Aggravates"
by Epic Economist
"The global supply chain crisis is only getting worse with each passing week, but things are about to get much more nightmarish than most people can imagine. In today's video, we are going to expose what is really driving this unprecedented shipping crisis that is impacting multiple economies across the globe and pushing inflation to record levels. As we move closer to the end of the year and the busy holiday shopping season, we're already witnessing businesses' desperation as supply dries up while consumer demand skyrockets. For their part, consumers are having to deal with increasingly emptier shelves and soaring prices. Meanwhile, government measures seem to only add more fuel to the fire as central banks assume this crisis is only a temporary blip, and continue to announce stimulus plans that are bound to aggravate supply and demand imbalances.
On the flip side of the coin, shipping companies are making massive profits as freight costs hit "stratospheric" levels. On the US west coast, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are facing a backlog of at least 500,000 containers stuck in 75 immense cargo ships waiting for a berth. All of these containers were supposed to be carrying other goods to the other side of the ocean by now. But instead, they're waiting up to a week to get unloaded. Many shipping companies are preferring to make the return trip with empty containers rather than waiting for them to get loaded in US ports and shipped back again.
As Peter Sands from the Baltic and International Maritime Council explained in a recent report, “years of low freight rates resulting in rigorous cost-cutting by carriers have left them in a great position to maximize profits now that the market has turned.” Now that shipping prices rose to sky-highs, this inflated market structure is here to stay.
In normal times, an uptick in consumer demand would be a positive outcome for everyone: raw material producers, manufacturers, carriers, shippers, and retailers alike. But in such troubled times, this was all a death blow to global supply chains. As Rabobank's Michael Every underlined in a recent analysis, "due to misplaced global capacity, high export volumes cannot be moved fast enough, intermediate goods cannot reach processors in time, and everybody is fighting to get a container spot on the ships available”. “Ports cannot handle the throughput given the backlog of containers that are still waiting to be shipped inland or loaded on a delayed boat. It is not by chance that congestion hit record peaks at the same time in Los Angeles – Long beach, and in the main ports in China, the two main poles of transpacific trade,” he added.
At this moment, in Shangai and Ningbo ports there are 154 cargo ships with over one million containers waiting to unload. And now China is facing a widespread energy crisis that is only inflaming this situation. Power-cuts are taking the operations of several Chinese companies down, with many only opening 3 days a week. That is causing a major slowdown in production, shortages, further delays in loading, and making problems worse overall.
If a major conflict between the US and China arises 'unexpectedly', both nations could use their market size to force shipping companies to change pricing, they could hike shipping costs even more, refuse to take goods coming from foreign ships or ports, refuse to export goods for enemy nations, remove navy protections in some trade lines or force the costs of their patrols onto others, and the list of offensives goes on and on. It goes without saying that any of these measures would wreak havoc on global shipping and the global economy. "If history is a guide, geopolitics is a tsunami, and soon things will look very different on both the surface and at the deepest depths of the shipping industry and the global economy. Much we take as normal today could become flotsam and jetsam," warned Every.
If there's something we learned from the health crisis is that global events can escalate very quickly and the most unthinkable scenarios can become a reality faster than people can assimilate what is truly going on. The current shipping crisis is rapidly evolving into a geopolitical issue instead of a market issue, and many ports are likely to be caught up in that storm. What we've seen so far is just the very beginning of a much deeper crisis that will likely result in permanently broken supply chains, a collapsing container market, extensive shortages, prolonged delays, and a lot of turbulence on land and at the sea. Now more than ever it's time to get ready for what is coming next because in the coming months we might not have that opportunity anymore."
"Peculiar spiral galaxy Arp 78 is found within the boundaries of the head strong constellation Aries, some 100 million light-years beyond the stars and nebulae of our Milky Way galaxy. Also known as NGC 772, the island universe is over 100,000 light-years across and sports a single prominent outer spiral arm in this detailed cosmic portrait.
Its brightest companion galaxy, compact NGC 770, is toward the upper right of the larger spiral. NGC 770's fuzzy, elliptical appearance contrasts nicely with a spiky foreground Milky Way star in matching yellowish hues. Tracking along sweeping dust lanes and lined with young blue star clusters, Arp 78's large spiral arm is likely due to gravitational tidal interactions. Faint streams of material seem to connect Arp 78 with its nearby companion galaxies."
