Jeremiah Babe, PM 10/18/21:
"Goodbye Middle Class; US Workers Are Broke;
Serious Financial Problems"
So, we rise from the rubble...
Monday, October 18, 2021
"Goodbye Middle Class: 50 Percent Of All U.S. Workers Made $34,612.04 Or Less Last Year"
Full screen recommended.
"Goodbye Middle Class: 50 Percent Of All
U.S. Workers Made $34,612.04 Or Less Last Year"
by Epic Economist
"The U.S. middle class is shrinking at an alarming rate and if inflation keeps soaring while wages stagnate, soon we won't have much of a “middle class” at all. For decades, economists have been writing about the millions of "working poor" Americans that have gone through so many financial difficulties. But now, most of the nation is seemingly falling into the “working poor” category. Even though wages have been going up little by little with each passing year, the rise wasn't enough to cover all basic living expenses. All over the U.S., the cost of living has been absolutely soaring. But it is safe to say that paychecks haven't similarly soared, and wages have been struggling to keep up with rampant inflation, and this has been gutting the middle class. Now, the vast majority of our society is in constant “survival mode” financially, and there's no end in sight for this situation.
According to data just released by the Social Security Administration, the final wage statistics for 2020 were extremely alarming. Nationwide, 50 percent of all workers had "net compensation less than or equal to the median wage, which is estimated to be $34,612.04 for 2020," which means that half of our entire population has lived with less than $3,000 a month over that past year, and that is without adding taxes to that equation. Living with that kind of income in any major U.S. city is not easy, especially in today's economic environment. These days, the median wage can cover expenses needed for your survival, but that's pretty much it. Decades ago, this same amount would be more than enough to live nicely because the cost of living used to be much lower. Back in the 60s, you would be able to buy a lovely home in a middle-class neighborhood having that income. But today, you probably wouldn't be able to make a down payment on a one-bedroom apartment with that money.
As the price of everything will jump by several hundred percent - or much, much more - over the next decade, this means that pre-outbreak prices are gone forever. So your savings, investments, retirement, purchasing power, and the quality of life that you’ve spent a lifetime planning and working for will be shredded. In contrast, we have millions of jobs now available in the U.S. But why no one applies for them? Because people know they will pay “working poor” wages, which means they will not be able to afford housing, groceries, and other basic expenses having that income, especially if they have kids.
Just as economists have been warning over the years, more and more of our population is living paycheck to paycheck. And when people are in that position, it only takes one bad break to push them right into financial distress. Unfortunately, conditions are going to get even worse for ordinary Americans in the coming months because inflation continues to soar dramatically. Many experts argue that real inflation is in double-digit territory, somewhere between 11 and 14 percent compared to the same period last year. The official numbers actually greatly understate what we are facing at the stores. It seems like the sort of inflation Americans faced during the Jimmy Carter era is here again.
Sadly, our politicians don't seem to care about this issue, and their recent policies and restrictions are only speeding up the demise of the middle class. Vaccine mandates are pushing more and more Americans out of decent-paying jobs and they are also creating critical staff shortages. For instance, a local report described that at a hospital in Lewiston, Maine, where the vaccination policy demanding all employees to take the vaccine was enacted last week, more than 250 employees refused to comply and all of these employees were subsequently fired. And the same scenario is playing out in several industries all over the country right now. If the government fails to look after its people, the people will simply not trust the government. That is to say, the more the new administration forces people to get the vaccine, the more people will be inclined to refuse it, even if that decision may cost their jobs.
Let's just hope that we don't have to face yet another wave of virus cases this winter because our healthcare system is critically understaffed and it would become overwhelmed very rapidly. These are incredibly ominous times for our economy, our workers, and our nation as a whole. The outlook for the months ahead includes more inflation, more shortages, and definitely more questionable decisions made by our leaders. Events are truly starting to spin out of control, and America will never return to 'normal'. It is time to face that things will never be the same ever again."
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Why isn't this ant a big sphere? Planetary nebula Mz3 is being cast off by a star similar to our Sun that is, surely, round. Why then would the gas that is streaming away create an ant-shaped nebula that is distinctly not round?
Clues might include the high 1000-kilometer per second speed of the expelled gas, the light-year long length of the structure, and the magnetism of the star visible above at the nebula's center. One possible answer is that Mz3 is hiding a second, dimmer star that orbits close in to the bright star. A competing hypothesis holds that the central star's own spin and magnetic field are channeling the gas. Since the central star appears to be so similar to our own Sun, astronomers hope that increased understanding of the history of this giant space ant can provide useful insight into the likely future of our own Sun and Earth.”
"When a Train Wreck Is No Accident"
"When a Train Wreck Is No Accident"
by Jeff Thomas
"In spite of all the rhetoric, we will go deeper in debt, the Fed will print more money, and the value of the dollar will continue to plummet." – Ron Paul
"Never in history have the economic and political structures been so manipulated by those who are responsible for their safekeeping; never has so much been at stake, in so many countries, and facing collapse, all at the same time.
The great majority of people in the First World recognize that the world is passing through an economic crisis. However, most are under the impression that there are some pretty smart fellows running the show and all they need to do is tweak the system a bit more and we’ll return to happy days. Not so. The "smart fellows" who are in charge of fixing the problem are in fact the very same people who created it.
Understandably, this a hard concept for most people to even consider, let alone accept, as the very idea that those in charge of the system might consciously collapse it seems preposterous. So, we might wish to back up a bit here and present a very brief history of the system itself, in order to understand that the eventual collapse of the economic system was baked in the cake from the very beginning.
Creating a Central Bank: From the very earliest days of the formation of the American republic, bankers (along with inside help from George Washington’s secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton) sought to create a banking monopoly that would create the country’s currency and become the central banking system.
The first attempt at a central bank was a failure, and strong opponents, including Thomas Jefferson, prevented a second central bank for a time. Later, further attempts were made by bankers and their political cronies, and each central bank was either short-lived or defeated in its planning stages.
Then, in 1913, the heads of the largest banks met clandestinely on Jekyll Island, Georgia, to make another try. Having recently lost yet another bid to create a central bank, due to the public’s understandable concern that the big bankers were already too powerful, a new spin was placed on the idea. This time, they decided to present the idea as a government body that would be decentralized and would have the responsibility of restricting the power of the banks. However, the new bill was in fact the same old bill, with a new title and some minor changes in wording. But this time, it would be presented by the new president, who was a liberal.
The president, Woodrow Wilson, had in fact been handpicked by the banks. The banks then scuttled their own conservative party’s candidate, got the Democrat Wilson elected, then installed a secretary of the Treasury whose job it would be to ensure that the Federal Reserve was created.
The bill was widely supported by the public, even though, in truth, it was not a federal agency, but a privately owned conglomerate, controlled by the banks. Neither was it a reserve. It was never intended to store money; it was intended to give the biggest bankers control of the economy. They followed the central principle of uber-banker Mayer Rothschild: "Let me issue and control a nation’s money and I care not who writes the laws."
From the start, the new institution peddled itself as the protector of the people’s interests, but it was quite the opposite. Its purpose from its inception was to control the economy and the government by controlling the issuance of the currency. In addition, it was to be a system of taxation.
Typically, a population accepts a certain amount of direct taxation but has its limits of tolerance. Yet, the bankers understood that a less direct method of taxation was infinitely more profitable and infinitely safer from criticism.
Inflation as a Profit System: Inflation was not always the norm. At one time, prices were relatively static from one generation to the next. But the Federal Reserve touted the idea that "controlled" inflation was in fact necessary for a prosperous economy. Of course, the greater the debasement of the currency through inflation, the more the central bankers profited. But at some point, the currency would have lost virtually all its value and it would be time for a reset. The currency would need to collapse and a new one created.
And so, the Fed set about its hundred-year program of continuous inflation. Although there have been periods of lower inflation (and even deflation), the program stayed more or less on course, and now, its hundred-year life has all but ended: the dollar has been devalued almost 100%.
And so, we find ourselves at the day of reckoning. The economic crisis we are now facing (not only in the US; it will be felt, to a greater or lesser extent, worldwide) is not a mere anomaly that we need to "push past". It’s a systemic crisis. It’s been created by design and the system must collapse.
Of course, the central banks are in the process of protecting their interests, to make sure that, whilst this will be a major economic calamity, they themselves will continue to profit. The damage will be borne by the general public. This began in earnest in 1999, with the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, allowing banks to create a massive, reckless mortgage spree. It was backed by the government’s "too big to fail" policy that guaranteed that, when the banks predictably became insolvent as a result of the loans, government would bail them out. (And by "government" we mean "the taxpayer"; it was he who picked up the bill for the banks’ recklessness.)
The next step in getting ready for the collapse is an all-out effort to confiscate the wealth of the public. This can be seen in the effort to push investors away from solid forms of wealth protection such as gold and silver and into stocks, bonds and bank deposits. More recently, we’ve seen the emergence of an effort to end the use of safe deposit boxes and a push to end the use of paper currency in making transactions.
The end objective is to force as much money as possible into deposits in banks, then take it. The US, EU and a few other countries have passed confiscation legislation, allowing the banks carte blanche to confiscate and/or refuse to release deposits. Of course a reset of these proportions will not be without its fallout. The public will be horrified at the outcome, at the realization that the very institutions they thought had been created to protect them had never been intended to serve their interests at all.
Once they realize that the world’s greatest Ponzi scheme has been foisted on them, they will be hopping mad and justifiably so. Those who had not had the foresight to internationalize themselves, to remove themselves as much as possible from the system, will most certainly want to get even in some way. And this makes clear why governments, particularly that of the US, are working so hard to create a police state. Unless a totalitarian state can be created, those who are presently taking the wealth may not be able to fully realize their objectives.
The coming train wreck is no accident. It has long been planned. That the "smart fellows in charge" will somehow save the day is therefore a vain hope indeed."
Free Download: Charles Mackay, "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds"
"Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds"
"Every age has its peculiar folly: Some scheme, project, or fantasy into which it plunges, spurred on by the love of gain, the necessity of excitement, or the force of imitation. Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one."
- Charles Mackay
"'Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" is an early study of crowd psychology by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay, first published in 1841. The book chronicles its subjects in three parts: "National Delusions", "Peculiar Follies", and "Philosophical Delusions". MacKay was an accomplished teller of stories, though he wrote in a journalistic and somewhat sensational style.
The subjects of Mackay's debunking include alchemy, crusades, duels, economic bubbles, fortune-telling, haunted houses, the Drummer of Tedworth, the influence of politics and religion on the shapes of beards and hair, magnetizers (influence of imagination in curing disease), murder through poisoning, prophecies, popular admiration of great thieves, popular follies of great cities, and relics. Present-day writers on economics, such as Michael Lewis and Andrew Tobias, laud the three chapters on economic bubbles. Scientist and astronomer Carl Sagan mentioned the book in his own discussion about pseudoscience, popular delusions, and hoaxes.
In later editions, Mackay added a footnote referencing the Railway Mania of the 1840s as another "popular delusion" which was at least as important as the South Sea Bubble. Mathematician Andrew Odlyzko has pointed out, in a published lecture, that Mackay himself played a role in this economic bubble; as leader writer in the Glasgow Argus, Mackay wrote on 2 October 1845: "There is no reason whatever to fear a crash."
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Freely download "Extraordinary Popular Delusions
and the Madness of Crowds", by Charles Mackay, here:
"Our Collective Fate..."
"We live in radical times surrounded by tasks that seem impossible. It has become our collective fate to be alive in a time of great tragedies, to live in a period of overwhelming disasters and to stand at the edge of sweeping changes. The river of life is flooding before us, and a tide of poisons affect the air we breathe and the waters we drink and even tarnish the dreams of those who are young and as yet innocent. The snake-bitten condition has already spread throughout the collective body.
However, it is in troubled times that it becomes most important to remember that the wonder of life places the medicine of the self near where the poison dwells. The gifts always lie near the wounds, the remedies are often made from poisonous substances, and love often appears where deep losses become acknowledged. Along the arc of healing the wounds and the poisons of life are created the exact opportunities for bringing out all the medicines and making things whole again."
- Michael Meade, "Fate And Destiny"
"American Farmers Are Having Trouble Finding Replacement Tractor Tires Amid Escalating Supply Chain Woes"
"American Farmers Are Having Trouble Finding
Replacement Tractor Tires Amid Escalating Supply Chain Woes"
by Ethan Huff
(Natural News) "A new and unexpected problem has emerged in America’s collapsing supply chain that is making it close to impossible for some farmers to continue growing food. Spare tires for tractors are now in dangerously short supply thanks to the government’s never-ending Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) fascism.
For whatever reason, critical farming equipment and parts are either not getting produced anymore or not getting delivered to where they need to be, leaving farmers across the heartland in a major bind. “You try to baby your equipment, but we’re all at the mercy of luck right now,” says Cordt Holub, a fourth-generation corn and soybean farmer in Buckingham, Ia, who now locks his machinery up inside his barn every night after thieves robbed hard-to-find tractor parts from a local Deere & Co. dealership.
Tractor tires, semiconductors and other vital components needed in the industrial farming sector are just not available like they once were, which threatens the ability of farmers to not only continue planting food but also harvesting it. When equipment or machinery breaks, many farmers are now having to scramble to find some kind of workaround. Local welders and mechanics are often called on to try to rig something up just to get the job done, even if it is not a long-term solution to the problem.
Because machine tires have become so difficult to find, growers looking to buy used equipment are also asking for close-up photos of the tires to see how much tread is left. Those that are bare are often skipped over in favor of something newer. “As harvest ends, we will see farmers at equipment auctions not for the machinery – but for parts,” says Greg Peterson, founder of the Machinery Pete website, which hosts farm equipment auctions. “We’re already hearing from guys talking about buying a second planter or sprayer, just for parts.”
Is the American government intentionally trying to starve out the country? Before the Fauci Flu was even a thing, the American government was already targeting the farming sector with obliteration by forcing tractor manufacturers to start building the machines with built-in obsolescence. Much like a smartphone that turns into a “brick” after a certain number of software upgrades, the tractor industry was told by Big Brother that all new tractors must be made virtually impossible to fix. This forces farmers to have to keep buying new tractors, assuming they can find any.
Fast-forward to now and it seems obvious that this is a planned destruction of the farming sector. It is unclear how much longer the charade can go on before the entire industry collapses, leaving Americans starving without food. Even irrigation supplies are in short supply, which means some farmers are no longer able to get water to their crops. Keep in mind that much of the country is still suffering under historic drought conditions.
“We were in the middle of a drought up here,” says Rami Warburton, who owns a small welding shop in western Washington. Warburton says that she and her husband Bob have barely been able to keep up with all the orders coming from farmers who need something repaired, whether it be new fittings for irrigation systems or a new bucket for a bulldozer. “At that time, they couldn’t wait to water their fields for a month. The crops will be dead by then.”
Since most products used in America these days come from China, all thanks to the globalist policies that Americans have been voting in for decades, the supply chain can now be easily weaponized, which is clearly what is happening. The latest news about the engineered collapse of the global economy due to “covid” can be found at Collapse.news."
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I cannot recommend this site highly enough.
"Let Us Count the Ways"
"Let Us Count the Ways"
by Jim Kunstler
"What America really wants to know is: after those months of “family leave,” did Pete Buttigieg get the hang of lactating? Hey, if sexuality is just a “social construct,” then the functions of sexuality must be teachable. So now Pete can move on to ovulation lessons and become the “birthing person” of his dreams. Pete’s dreams are America’s dreams, you see.
In the meantime, though, America has a little transportation problem that a Secretary of Transportation might look into if he wasn’t so busy performing a gender reeducation parable for the Woke family values crowd. Namely, that federal rules combined with California Air Resource Board regulations are destroying the trucking industry, a major link in the broken supply-chains for the gazillion products and parts that an advanced technological economy needs to keep on keeping on.
Under the rules, for example, California wants to phase-out tractor trailer rigs more than three years old, and eliminate all trucks that run on fossil fuels by 2035. Now, it happens that most of the truckers who service the ports of southern California are independents. They have to buy their own rigs, on which many make the equivalent of a mortgage payment, because a semi-rig can cost as much as a house. Of course, the rig must be allowed to operate for the duration of the loan. The new government regulations cancel that financial formula, and with it, the trucking industry. So much for the good intentions of the eco-wonks.
Secretary Pete might have paid attention to the developing trouble at the shipping container ports in late summer and started an emergency review of these untenable rules and regs, but instead, while learning the ins-and-outs of “chest-feeding,” he allowed the system to break down. The reality spinners in the “Joe Biden” news media would like you to think that the breakdown only applies to Christmas schwag for the hoi-polloi: No inflatable Frosty-the-Snowmen for you this year, you deplorable insurrectionist gorks in your sad little towns out in the Flyover gloaming! Actually, it applies to most of the things even super-hip Wokesters need every day in the normal course of things, and especially the replacement parts for all the engines and machines that American normality depends on. Plus, the situation has already moved into food supplies. And now that it’s all broken, the shortages may persist as far ahead as anyone can see.
Let us count the ways that America is committing suicide by Democratic Party policy. There is, front and center, “Joe Biden’s” vaccination mandate - with no basis in law, by the way - that is destroying most of the critical services industries in the nation: the hospitals, school systems, police forces, firefighters, ambulance squads, airlines, railroads, restaurants, you-name-it. No vaxx, no job for you - and no resuscitation for the unfortunate persons writhing on their kitchen floors in myocardial infarction. I’d say that depriving folks of their livelihoods while ensuring harm and death upon the citizenry is a bad combo for public order. One can easily imagine the righteous wrath building to the point where lamp-posts in capital cities are decorated with the dangling government officials who caused this happen.
Then there are the vaxxes themselves and the Covid cat that dragged them in. Do you feel all warm and fuzzy over a shot that will turn your body into a spike protein generator, considering how spike proteins behave in a human vascular system? Got any questions or doubts about the number of adverse events seen so far? Looks like more than ten thousand deaths in the USA directly attributable to the vaxxes under the VAERS registry, and millions of injuries around the world. Not to mention the murky origins of the disease, the participation of US public health officials in its design and development, and the colossal profits reaped by the pharma companies that sell the vaxxes. Have you noted the draconian desperation to vaxx up absolutely everybody, despite some excellent reasons for people to say no thanks? Does the Big Picture look a little nefarious to you? Like some parties are out to bump off a pretty large number of people - including parties who have stated out loud that steeply reducing the global population would be a swell idea?
In the course of an average day, do you ever think about all the people from around the world who are jumping the US/Mexican border? It’s thousands of them each day, and millions piling in over the year 2021 - under the averted eyes of “Joe Biden” & Co. Some of them are criminal opportunists who - how shall we say - aim to blow shit up in this country. That’s apart from the economic burdens that the nonviolent ones will impose on the nation. Can you blame genuine US citizens from regarding this as an affront to common sense and common decency, not to mention an insult to the law and the constitution behind the law? Well, it is, you know. Since it’s the federal government’s duty to control entry across the border, and since “Joe Biden” directed the border patrol to not perform its duties, will you be surprised if the citizens develop the notion that they will have to defend the border themselves?
Do you think economic collapse will make any of this better? As winter looms, you’ll have plenty of time to mull that over, all bundled-up in your kitchen with the propane tanks empty and the last can of cold Spaghetti-Os in your gloved fist. When the time comes for that, don’t expect “Joe Biden” to be reading Thanksgiving homilies off his teleprompter. He will be gone, and the Democratic Party horse he rode in on with him. And when that time comes, we will be ready to start stitching things back together again in this land, perhaps a bit differently than the way we’d gotten used to. Be patient and brave. Our time will soon be at hand."
"A Danger To Ourselves..."
"Humanity today is like a waking dreamer, caught between the fantasies of sleep and the chaos of the real world. The mind seeks but cannot find the precise place and hour. We have created a Star Wars civilization, with Stone Age emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology. We thrash about. We are terribly confused by the mere fact of our existence, and a danger to ourselves and to the rest of life."
- Edward O. Wilson
"Living In A Potemkin World" (Excerpt)
"Living In A Potemkin World" (Excerpt)
by Jim Quinn
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” - George Orwell, "1984"
“Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.” - George Orwell, 1984
"I never thought I would experience the dystopian “fictional” nightmare Orwell laid out in his 1949 novel. Seventy-two years later and his warning about a totalitarian society, where mass surveillance, repressive measures against dissenters, mind control through government indoctrination and propaganda designed to convince the masses lies are truth, fake is real and the narrative can be manipulated to achieve the desired outcome of those in power, have come to fruition.
Everything is fake. I don’t believe anything I’m told by the government, the media, medical “experts”, politicians, military leadership, bankers, corporate executives, religious leaders, financial professionals, and anyone selling themselves as an authority on any subject matter. We are truly living in times of mass deception, mass delusion, and mass willful ignorance.
The term Potemkin Village comes from stories of a phony movable village built by Grigory Potemkin in the late 1700’s to impress his former lover, Catherine II, during her journey to Crimea in 1787. He supposedly erected fake villages along the banks of the Dnieper River, as her vessel sailed by, to impress her with the progress he was making on her behalf. After she passed, he would have the village disassembled and then reassembled further along downstream.
I guess this was an early version of fake news, though I am sure there were also plenty of falsities and propaganda in the newspapers of the time. But, in our current day, oppressors have taken lies, falsities, miss-truths, and propaganda to heights never conceived by Edward Bernays, George Orwell or Joseph Stalin."
Please view this outstanding, and highly recommended complete article here:
"Forward, Into the Past"
"Forward, Into the Past"
By Bill Bonner
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – "We have been stepping back… back… back… trying to take it all in. The Big Picture, that is. How come… after more than 2,000 years of learning to make progress… all of a sudden, progress seems to be slowing down… or actually going into reverse? And how come our democracy – the crown of political creation – seems incapable of meeting the challenge?
Last week, we were looking at the headlines from Argentina to see where we were headed. After all, what the gauchos don’t know about backing up is probably not worth knowing; they’ve been doing it for decades. In terms of GDP per capita, Argentina was once one of the richest countries in the world. Now, it is number 94, below Turkey and Mexico. The IMF says that even Cuba is richer.
And here’s the latest from the Buenos Aires Times: "Argentina’s government has confirmed a sweeping voluntary agreement with retailers and business leaders that will see the cost of more than 1,200 household products frozen in a massive pre-election price-control freeze." Get it? Prices, up 37% so far this year, according to the country’s statistics bureau, will be held down… until after the election in November.
Price Controls Don’t Work: We saw a similar headline in the U.S…. 48 years ago: The New York Times, from June 14, 1973: "NIXON FREEZES PRICES FOR UP TO 60 DAYS, THEN WILL ESTABLISH PHASE 4 CONTROLS; FARM PRICES, WAGES, RENTS UNAFFECTED."
Richard Nixon had imposed the fake dollar on America in 1971. By 1973, prices were rising at an 8% rate. What did Nixon do? He commanded them to stay put! Of course, it didn’t work; price controls never do. The controls were quickly abandoned and prices continued to rise… with annual consumer price inflation reaching 11% in 1979.
That same year [he was appointed in August 1979], Jimmy Carter appointed Paul Volcker to head the Federal Reserve. Volcker then almost single-handedly turned things around – but only by putting the Fed’s key lending rate up to 18% (now 0.25%) and bringing on the worst recession since the 1930s... Paul Volcker was America’s last honest Fed chief. And now, it’s too late. The elite have too much to lose.
Economic “Traffic Lights”: After so many centuries of trial, error, and adaptation… it is obvious that the best way government can help progress is simply to let it happen. People go where they want. Government just has to make sure the economic “traffic lights” are kept working properly. Honest money, property rights, free markets – it doesn’t take much.
And today, our universities turn out far more engineers, scientists, marketers, and managers than ever before. Our capital markets are awash in money; funding is easy to get, even for outlandish and implausible projects. And tech breakthroughs come so fast, we can’t keep up with them. You’d think the economy would be racing ahead, too… and people would be happier than ever.
And yet, things seem to be going wrong. GDP growth rates are falling. Output is slipping. Freedom is declining. Jackassery is on the rise. The public is getting ripped off by its own leaders. And anger is increasing, as our “consensual democracy” is becoming more democratic and less consensual.
How Democracy Works: What’s going wrong? Greek philosopher Aristotle said, “Democracy inevitably degenerates into despotism.” Juan Perón, an Argentine, proved he was right. Not by overturning democracy, but by perfecting it. Specifically, Perón showed that being able to fool all of the people some of the time… and some of the people all of the time…
That is, he showed how democracy really works. He proved that with some of the people all of the time (probably about a third)… and all of the people some of the time (especially during election season)… you didn’t have to worry that you could never quite humbug all the people all of the time. All you needed was a simple majority! And he found them in the sprawl of Buenos Aires… an urban mob ready for a leader. Bribe them… lie to them… cheat them… and they will re-elect you.
The Elite Benefit: Democracy is not so much a failure as a fraud. It works. But only for the people who control it. It pretends to allow “the people” to call the shots. But in fact, the elites are always in charge… and always use their power to enrich themselves. That is why they can’t “pull a Volcker.” Not this time.
Normally, the stock market is equal to about 60% of GDP. But Fed policies over the last 33 years drove up stocks to where they are now, worth more than two times GDP. That extra gain put about $30 trillion of undeserved wealth into the pockets of the elite (the upper 10% of the country). Returning to honest money and free market interest rates would wipe out that $30 trillion. Stocks would drop down to normal levels – about a third of today’s prices.
Interest rates would rise back to normal levels, too – with mortgages probably around 7% or 8%. So what do you think the elite will do? “Pull a Volcker,” giving up their $30 trillion to protect the economy? Or continue ripping off the public to protect their wealth?"
"The Entire Power Structure Will Be Upended By This Fourth Turning, Part 2"
"The Entire Power Structure Will Be
Upended By This Fourth Turning, Part 2"
by Adam Taggart, Wealthion
"On Friday we sent you Part 1 of our brand-new interview with famed demographer Neil Howe, author of the best-selling book The Fourth Turning. Neil laid out his prediction that today’s society has entered the "bust" part of our current cycle - where the status quo falls apart, often chaotically. Volatility will reign. Crushing inflation looks likely. We may see a stock market crash and widespread job losses. Perhaps even war.
Here in Part 2, Neil explains why, despite the very serious challenges ahead, as with all preceding fourth turnings, he predicts we'll come of it OK. Yes, with some bruises; but likely also with some net improvements for society.”
"Economic Market Snapshot AM 10/18/21"
"Economic Market Snapshot AM 10/18/21"
"Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will
do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone."
- John Maynard Keynes
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"The more I see of the monied classes,
the better I understand the guillotine."
- George Bernard Shaw
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MarketWatch Market Summary, Live Updates
CNN Market Data:
CNN Fear And Greed Index:
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A comprehensive, essential daily read.
October 17th to 18th, Updated Daily
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Financial Stress Index
"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI) is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: credit, equity valuation, funding, safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United States, other advanced economies, and emerging markets."
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Daily Job Cuts
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Commentary, highly recommended:
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And now, the End Game...
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Oh yeah...
Gregory Mannarino, "AM/PM 10/18/21"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 10/18/21:
"Risk In This Market Is Rising; No Fear, No Panic!"
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Gregory Mannarino, PM 10/18/21:
"Billionaire Investor Warns: 'Market Will Hit A Wall.'
Economy Continues To FREE-FALL"
Sunday, October 17, 2021
Must Watch! “Economy Has Been Shredded; Economic Crisis Is Worse Than You Think; FED intervention Not Working”
Full screen recommended.
Jeremiah Babe, PM 10/17/21:
“Economy Has Been Shredded; Economic Crisis Is
Worse Than You Think; FED intervention Not Working”
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Related:
"The point is, through policies of mass dollar debasement, we’ve now entered the next stage of the mass repricing of goods and services in the economy. The price of just about everything will adjust upward by several hundred percent – or much, much more – over the next decade. Pre-pandemic prices are gone forever…and your savings, investments, retirement, purchasing power, and the quality of life that you’ve spent a life time planning and working for will be shredded."
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