Jeremiah Babe, PM 11/22/21:
“Financial Reckoning; Wall St Buying Up Homes;
Wages Falling Fast; Economy On Borrowed Time”
So, we rise from the rubble...
Monday, November 22, 2021
"Jan. 4: Expect an Economic Train Wreck"
"Jan. 4: Expect an Economic Train Wreck"
by Jim Rickards
"Today, President Biden renominated Jerome Powell to a second term as Federal Reserve Chairman. Progressives in his party wanted Biden to nominate someone more to their liking, such as Lael Brainard, the only Democrat on the Fed's Board of Governors. But it really doesn’t matter, unless you somehow manage to resurrect Paul Volcker. And his options would be far more limited today than they were in 1981 when he raised interest rates to 20%.
With today’s crushing debt levels, raising rates to any significant extent would collapse the entire system. No Fed head could afford to do it, even if he or she wanted. Whoever heads the Fed, it’s proven time and time again that it has no idea what it’s doing. There’s absolutely no reason to expect anything different from Powell the second time around. He’s a one-trick pony, and that trick is old. And the Fed has no answers for the most urgent problem facing the economy right now: supply chain shortages.
Plenty of Blame to Go Around: By now, you’re well aware of the supply-chain fiasco unfolding across the country. Of course, it’s not just an American phenomenon; the supply-chain crisis is global. But, as the world’s largest economy driven 70% by consumption, it’s fair to say America is ground zero in this struggle.
The effects are not limited to the paper goods aisle at Costco as they were during the pandemic. The effects are everywhere. There are bare spots on shelves in every aisle of the supermarket. Liquor stores can’t get certain kinds of wine. Garages can’t get auto parts. Doctors can’t get certain medical devices. Anyone not done with her Christmas shopping should prepare for disappointment. Santa won’t be coming to a lot of homes this season. Everyone is blaming everyone else.
Ships that can’t unload at ports blame the truckers who are supposed to remove the containers already ashore. Truckers blame state regulators who make them wait in line for days to pick up containers only to tell them to come back tomorrow. Retailers blame distributors. Customers blame retailers.
The problem is they’re all right. The supply-chain breakdown is not at one single bottleneck. It’s up and down the supply chain at all levels from component suppliers to manufacturers to transportation providers to customers. What is the Biden administration doing about this?
Making a Bad Situation Worse: They’re busy making things worse. First, the Biden administration ordered the Port of Los Angeles to stay open 24-hours per day and work three shifts to ease the backlog. The problem is that working longer was never the problem. The port can’t unload the vessels because there’s no place to put anything. The piers and storage yards are full. Containers are stacked to the sky. Working longer hours does nothing when there’s no place to put the cargo. The next Biden move was even dumber.
They proposed a penalty on containers that remain on the docks for more than six days. But, no one wants the containers moved faster than the shippers. It’s just a physical impossibility when they can’t get the trucks to the ports. The penalty does not speed up the transportation process, but it does increase the cost of goods, which makes inflation worse and could drive some retailers out of business. The supply-chain crisis is real. The Biden administration is incompetent. That’s a bad combination for the economy. Compounding the problem is a labor shortage, which is going to get much worse in January.
The Straw to Break the Camel’s Back: There’s already a labor shortage in America. The causes are complicated. In reality, there’s no literal shortage of potential workers, but many workers prefer to stay home because of some combination of government benefits, child-care responsibilities or inadequate pay offered by employers (who can’t afford to pay more themselves because they’ll go out of business).
A lot of this centers on lower-wage jobs such as waiters, store clerks, fast-food staff and office assistants. But, there will be a labor shortage coming soon in more high-skilled areas such as engineers, pilots, machinists and medical personnel.
This shortage will not be due to low pay but to vaccine mandates. Joe Biden ordered that all federal contractors had to be fully vaccinated. (That’s in addition to federal workers and the military who already have no choice). This mandate is different from the OSHA vaccine mandate that applies to all employers with 100 or more employees. The OSHA mandate has been stopped by the courts while the federal contractor mandate goes into full force and effect on Jan. 4 (pushed back from the original Dec. 8). The vaccinated rate among federal contractors is actually lower than the country as a whole.
The national vaccination rate is approaching 70%, while the federal contractor rate is closer to 60% and even lower in some specialties such as avionics. These workers know the vaccine is available, understand the risks (both ways because of side effects) and have chosen not to be vaccinated. It’s almost impossible to change their minds at this point.
Expect a Train Wreck on Jan. 4: But the Biden administration is not backing off the mandate, despite the fact that the vaccines don’t stop you from getting the virus or from spreading it to others. Its effects also wear off after a few months, which is why they’re pushing the booster shots so aggressively. And if you think you’re fully vaccinated after getting both jabs, you might want to think again. Dr. Fauci is warning that we may have to change the definition of “fully vaccinated” to include getting the booster. Well, what about when the booster wears off? Are you going to need booster shots every few months to be considered fully vaccinated or else lose your job and your ability to lead a normal life?
The Federal contractor workforce is huge; it’s in the millions. So, expect an economic train wreck on Jan. 4. Workers from Boeing to Textron and hundreds of thousands of other firms will be fired or quit that day. The economy is already weak. The supply chain is already busted. This mass termination of skilled contractors could put the economy into a recession. It’s a good time to lighten your equity exposure. As usual, the stock market will be the last to see this coming."
"Welcome To The 'New Normal': This Is Going To Be A Holiday Season That None Of Us Will Ever Forget"
Full screen recommended.
"Welcome To The 'New Normal': This Is Going To Be
A Holiday Season That None Of Us Will Ever Forget"
by Epic Economist
"Americans are facing a nightmare that seems to have no end. Every time people think conditions are starting to improve, something happens and we get back to square one. At the beginning of this year, the federal government assured the population that the economy would be booming by the end of 2021, but that turned out to be a big fat lie. Instead, what we have is the worst inflation since the 1970s, the most epic supply chain crisis in the history of the United States, and nationwide supply shortages that are threatening to undermine our traditions this holiday season.
In fact, this is going to be the "new normal" holiday season, and you have to set your expectations very low, otherwise, you'll probably get bitterly disappointed. The upcoming holidays will not be like what most people have grown accustomed to, but our leaders and the corporate elites are still trying to make things sound better than they actually are. The corporate media is already encouraging us to look "on the bright side," because as opposed to last year, in 2021, we won't have to "cancel Thanksgiving," even though shortages continue to plague most of our stores and supermarkets.
The truth is that the shortages we experienced last year have only gotten worse and more widespread this year, despite the fact that every government "expert" said in 2020 that this crisis would be long gone by now. A recent survey exposes that product availability for this year's Thanksgiving is far lower than during the same period last year. According to Krishnakumar Davey, president of IRI's strategic analytics practice, the survey used point-of-sales data and e-commerce transactions to track weekly store stock rates. It highlighted that retailers typically have a roughly 95% in-stock rate overall. But this year, stores aren't anywhere close to that.
For those who still remember the "good old days", an era of abundance and fair, affordable prices, these holiday shortages will be exceedingly painful. We might not see such days again for decades to come. To make things worse, there's also a shortage of Christmas trees. Recent reports revealed that the U.S. is now facing a significant shortage of both real and fake Christmas trees, and anyone planning on purchasing a tree this year, should act fast before they run out. Of course, a Christmas tree shortage is not the end of the world.
We can definitely survive without most of these items. However, if anything, these extensive shortages and price hikes highlight our leaders' utter incompetence to ease the impacts of the crisis we faced throughout the year, including disasters sparked by extreme weather and the supply chain crisis that has been affecting every aspect of our society, even our traditions. At this stage, even Goldman Sachs is publicly acknowledging that the inflation crisis is going to be further aggravated in the coming months. We're in the middle of one of the most devastating inflation crises this country has ever had, and our society is becoming increasingly restless.
Our population is just now realizing that inflation will stay at record-highs for much longer than what our politicians and policymakers have promised. In short, with living expenses relentlessly going up, Americans are losing their trust in the federal government. Inflation is downgrading our living standards at the same time it boosts price growth like never before. We definitely have a lot of bad news out there. But it could be much worse. One "positive" thing that happened recently was the official suspension of the implementation and enforcement of the OSHA vaccine mandate. However, as litigation proceeds, the verdict could still change in the future. At least for now, millions of jobs have been saved, and the U.S. economy has avoided an absolutely crushing blow.
That's probably the first smart choice our leaders have made in a very long time. Of course, it's in their best interest to keep people in their jobs during the most important season of the year. They don't want to be seen as the ones who "ruined" the holidays for us. But we all know that we're here because of them, and much of this chaos could have been prevented if they have acted intelligently a long time ago. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, because it doesn't mean that this is all over. They lied to us before, and they are probably lying to us right now. The truth is that this is going to be a painful holiday season none of us will ever forget.
Musical Interlude: Procol Harum, "A Whiter Shade of Pale"
Full screen recommended.
Procol Harum, "A Whiter Shade of Pale"
Procol Harum performing "A Whiter Shade of Pale"
with the Danish National Concert Orchestra and choir at
Ledreborg Castle, Denmark in August 2006.
"A Look to the Heavens"
"In 2003, the Hubble Space Telescope took the image of a millenium, an image that shows our place in the universe. Anyone who understands what this image represents, is forever changed by it."- YouTube/NASA
Full screen recommended.
"It helps to put things in perspective here on our frenetic little planet with a look at this extraordinarily powerful and moving video of the Hubble Space Telescope mapping of the Universe, whose known size is 78 billion light years across. The video of the images is the equivalent of using a "time machine" to look into the past to witness the early formation of galaxies, perhaps less than one billion years after the universe's birth in the Big Bang.
The video includes mankind's deepest, most detailed optical view of the universe called the Hubble Deep Field (HDF). One of the stunning images was assembled from 342 separate exposures taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) for ten consecutive days. Representing a narrow "keyhole" view stretching to the visible horizon of the universe, the HDF image covers a speck of the sky only about the width of a dime located 75 feet away. Though the field is a very small sample of the heavens, it is considered representative of the typical distribution of galaxies in space because the universe, statistically, looks largely the same in all directions. Gazing into this small field, Hubble uncovered a bewildering assortment of at least 1,500 galaxies at various stages of evolution.
Most of the galaxies are so faint (nearly 30th magnitude or about four-billion times fainter than can be seen by the human eye) they have never before been seen by even the largest telescopes. Some fraction of the galaxies in this menagerie probably date back to nearly the beginning of the universe. "The variety of galaxies we see is amazing. In time these Hubble data could turn out to be the double helix of galaxy formation. We are clearly seeing some of the galaxies as they were more than ten billion years ago, in the process of formation," said Robert Williams, Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute Baltimore, Maryland. "As the images have come up on our screens, we have not been able to keep from wondering if we might somehow be seeing our own origins in all of this."
The video includes mankind's deepest, most detailed optical view of the universe called the Hubble Deep Field (HDF). One of the stunning images was assembled from 342 separate exposures taken with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) for ten consecutive days. Representing a narrow "keyhole" view stretching to the visible horizon of the universe, the HDF image covers a speck of the sky only about the width of a dime located 75 feet away. Though the field is a very small sample of the heavens, it is considered representative of the typical distribution of galaxies in space because the universe, statistically, looks largely the same in all directions. Gazing into this small field, Hubble uncovered a bewildering assortment of at least 1,500 galaxies at various stages of evolution.
Most of the galaxies are so faint (nearly 30th magnitude or about four-billion times fainter than can be seen by the human eye) they have never before been seen by even the largest telescopes. Some fraction of the galaxies in this menagerie probably date back to nearly the beginning of the universe. "The variety of galaxies we see is amazing. In time these Hubble data could turn out to be the double helix of galaxy formation. We are clearly seeing some of the galaxies as they were more than ten billion years ago, in the process of formation," said Robert Williams, Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute Baltimore, Maryland. "As the images have come up on our screens, we have not been able to keep from wondering if we might somehow be seeing our own origins in all of this."
- http://www.dailygalaxy.com/
•
"When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged
in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams,
to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where
he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars."
- Walt Whitman
"When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged
in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams,
to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where
he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars."
- Walt Whitman
The Poet: Mary Oliver, "Mysteries, Yes"
"Mysteries, Yes"
"Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous
to be understood.
How grass can be nourishing in the
mouths of the lambs.
How rivers and stones are forever
in allegiance with gravity
while we ourselves dream of rising.
How two hands touch and the bonds
will never be broken.
How people come, from delight or the
scars of damage,
to the comfort of a poem.
Let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers.
Let me keep company always with those who say
"Look!" and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads."
~ Mary Oliver
"What's He To Do Then?"
"You've seed how things goes in the world o' men. You've knowed men to be low-down and mean. You've seed ol' Death at his tricks... Ever' man wants life to be a fine thing, and a easy. 'Tis fine, boy, powerful fine, but 'tain't easy. Life knocks a man down and he gits up and it knocks him down agin. I've been uneasy all my life... I've wanted life to be easy for you. Easier'n 'twas for me. A man's heart aches, seein' his young uns face the world. Knowin' they got to get their guts tore out, the way his was tore. I wanted to spare you, long as I could. I wanted you to frolic with your yearlin'. I knowed the lonesomeness he eased for you. But ever' man's lonesome. What's he to do then? What's he to do when he gits knocked down? Why, take it for his share and go on.”
- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
○
"When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard,'
I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'"
- Sydney J. Harris
"A Well-Packaged Web Of Lies..."
“A truth’s initial commotion is directly proportional to how deeply the lie was believed… When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker, a raving lunatic.”
– Dresden James
"The Economic Bubble Bath"
"The Economic Bubble Bath"
by Jeff Thomas
"At the end of a long, tiring day, we may choose to treat ourselves to a soothing bubble bath. Surrounded by steaming water and a froth of sweet-smelling bubbles, it’s easy to forget the cares of everyday life.
This fact is equally true of economic bubbles. When the markets are up, we’re inclined to feel as though life is rosy. Unfortunately, it does seem to be the norm that investors fail to recognize when a healthy up-market transforms into a dangerous bubble. We tend to be soothed into overlooking the fact that we’re in hot water, and economically, that’s not an advantageous situation to be in.
Periodically, any economy will experience bubbles. It’s bound to happen. Human nature dictates that, if the value of an asset is on the rise, the more success it experiences, the more we want to get in on the success.
Sadly, the great majority of investors have a tendency to fail to educate themselves on how markets work. It’s easier to just trust their broker. Unfortunately, our broker doesn’t make his living through our success; he makes it through brokering transactions. The more buys he can encourage us to make, the more commissions he enjoys.
It’s been said that a broker is "someone who invests your money until it’s gone," and there’s a great deal of truth in that assessment. And so, we can expect to continue to witness periodic bubbles in the markets. They’ll occur roughly as often as it takes for us to forget the devastation of the last one and we once again dive in, only to be sheared once again. But we’re presently seeing an economic anomaly – a host of bubbles, inflating dramatically at the same time.
The Stock Market Bubble: Only a decade ago, stocks plummeted and billions were lost by investors. But then, before the system could be cleansed of the detritus, more money was artificially pumped into the system and stocks began to rise again.
Margin debt is now at an all-time high and complacency is at a maximum. The present condition looks quite a bit more like 1929 than 2008, and the stock market is overdue for a crash. This time, it promises to be much greater than before, as the debt that’s fueling the bull market is at a level that’s historically unprecedented.
Back in 1929, communications were poor and stock market trades were recorded in handwritten ledgers. Today, the recording is entirely electronic, and in addition, in order to minimize losses, the investor may have his broker set electronic stops that will ensure that a given stock is offered on the market automatically, if it drops below the stop price. This works quite well as long as times are good, but, if there were to be a crash, what it means is that, even if a crash were to be triggered in the middle of the night, when everyone is asleep, the market would awake in the morning to a sudden collapse, as prices blew through the stops of countless investors. Therefore, the collapse would be much swifter and much more severe than in 1929.
The Bond Market Bubble: This bubble could just as easily be termed a "debt bubble," as bonds are simply a promise to pay a debt at a future date. (It’s important to note that the bond market consists of a far higher level of investment than the stock market and therefore has the potential to do far more damage in a crash.)
Bonds may be issued by companies, municipalities or central governments. By far, the largest portion of the bond market is that of Treasuries, or government-issued bonds. Since 1944, the US has been in the catbird seat in the world, as its dollar has been the world’s default currency. But, as the US has, in recent decades, increasingly abused that privilege, the rest of the world has been looking for ways to extricate itself from this economic stranglehold.
With the introduction of new central banks in Asia, plus the new CIPS system (an alternative to the monopolistic SWIFT), it’s become increasingly possible for the East to wean itself from the dollar. Increasingly, this has meant dumping US Treasuries back into the system. Bonds are presently in a bubble of epic proportions, and with every month, the foundation underneath them is crumbling more, due to ever-increasing dumping. Even the perma-conservative Alan Greenspan now states that, "We are in a bond market bubble… Prices are too high… The bond market bubble will eventually be the critical issue."
The Real Estate Bubble: In 1999, the Fed, then under Alan Greenspan, convinced the US president to repeal the Glass Steagall Act, freeing the banks to create the types of loans that helped cause the Great Depression. This, of course, led to the real estate crash of 2007, but instead of the banks going belly-up, they were rewarded for their misdeeds through bailouts that were paid for by taxpayers. Consequently, although there was a significant correction in real estate prices, this didn’t result in prices dropping to fair value.
They have once again risen and, at this point, are overdue for a major correction. That correction is now well under way. Since it has begun at a time when other markets are also in peril, the level of bailout required for all of them at the same time is impossible to achieve.
Had each of these markets been allowed to collapse in the normal manner, as would occur in a free-market system, they would have done so at levels below the present ones and would have done less damage when they burst. Additionally, each bubble would have burst at its own, logical time. Instead, all are being propped up artificially, far beyond their natural sell-by date.
For this reason, they’re so over-inflated that, when one bubble is popped, it’s all but certain that they’ll all go down together. And so, effectively, the financial world is in a bubble bath. The investor is surrounded by soothing bubbles, each of which is rising, reassuring him that his investments are growing. Although it should be clear to him that he’s in hot water, the majority of investors are holding on to their bonds, rubbing their hands over the rising sale prices of homes in their neighborhood and considering taking out a loan to buy more stocks on margin. The collapse will therefore come to most as a complete surprise.
Economic bubbles are normal. They’re created by the lack of forethought that’s common to human nature. But the present bubble bath is an anomaly without precedent and, as such, promises to result in a crash of unprecedented proportions."
"Night..."
“The day has been so full of fret and care, and our hearts have been so full of evil and of bitter thoughts, and the world has seemed so hard and wrong to us. Then Night, like some great loving mother, gently lays her hand upon our fevered head, and turns our little tear-stained faces up to hers, and smiles; and though she does not speak, we know what she would say, and lay our hot flushed cheek against her bosom, and the pain is gone. Sometimes, our pain is very deep and real, and we stand before her very silent, because there is no language for our pain, only a moan. Night’s heart is full of pity for us: she cannot ease our aching; she takes our hand in hers, and the little world grows very small and very far away beneath us, and, borne on her dark wings, we pass for a moment into a mightier Presence than her own, and in the wondrous light of that great Presence, all human life lies like a book before us, and we know that Pain and Sorrow are but angels of God.”
- Jerome K. Jerome
"Boondoggle Back Better"
"Boondoggle Back Better"
by Bill Bonner
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – "Sit down. Remain calm. Let’s try to figure this out…The big news on Friday was that the House got together and passed Joe Biden’s social spending program. Nancy Pelosi congratulated herself: "[The package] is a spectacular agenda for the future, with transformational action on health care, family care and climate that will make a significant difference in the lives of millions of Americans."
Here at the Diary, we don’t care much for numbers. We don’t trust them. We’re talking about numbers used in public policy discussions – which tend to be confected on multiple levels of legerdemain and statistical fuzz. But the numbers connected to the Build Back Better Boondoggle are especially shifty. How much in tax increases? What’s the final tab? Darned if we know.
Fuzzy Numbers: The numbers are all over the place, depending on which lies you believe. The Hill elaborates: "That Congressional Budget Office (CBO) assessment, released Thursday evening, flew in the face of Biden’s promise that the legislation would be fully paid for. It has sparked some debate – and plenty of confusion – over how much the bill will cost overall.
The CBO found that, in total, the package allocates $1.64 trillion in new federal spending over ten years. But unlike the White House, the budget office does not include the tax credits as part of that top-line number. If those credits are added to the CBO’s spending tally, the figure would jump into the $2.4 trillion range – well above Biden’s initial $1.75 trillion framework."
The Wall Street Journal tries to explain further: "The current $10,000 limit on the state-and-local tax (SALT) deduction increases to $80,000 through 2030. In 2031 it would return to $10,000. Penn Wharton says this gimmick would lead to $65 billion in additional tax revenue through 2031 though it would cost about $300 billion through 2025." Well… we’re glad that’s cleared up!
High-Cost Boondoggle: The Penn Wharton Budget model “scored” Biden’s new Build Back Better Boondoggle at $4.6 trillion over 10 years. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (which sounds oxymoronic to us) says the cost will go to $4.9 trillion when the feds finally admit that the sun will never actually set on their “temporary” provisions. But for today’s purpose, let us assume that the Great Cause – whatever it is – will end up taking $5 trillion out of the public purse.
Are you sitting down? Are you aware that this proposal comes on top of the $1.2 trillion “infrastructure” boondoggle… which came on top of the $2.77 trillion deficit for fiscal year 2021… which is 12% of GDP, considerably more than Argentina’s 8.5% deficit/GDP ratio?
And are you aware that every penny in the public purse must come from the public, in one form or another? And that the purse now holds nearly $29 trillion worth of I.O.U.s that the public will eventually have to pay – most likely, in the form of higher consumer prices? Are you aware, too, that inflation is on the move… rising at the fastest pace in 31 years? And that the average working stiff is getting poorer (his wages are going up, but about 2% more slowly than prices)?
Elizabeth reported yesterday that her trip to the grocery store cost $100 more than it usually does. She thought the clerk had made a mistake. But it was no mistake; prices are rising. “Think of those poor families living paycheck to paycheck,” she said. “It must be awfully depressing.”
Almost every penny of the federal deficit is now covered by “printing press” money. So isn’t adding another $5 trillion to federal spending likely to make the situation worse? And won’t this put voters in a foul mood, in which they will most likely throw out the Democrats in the next election? So, why on Earth would the feds do such a thing?
Obvious Cause: We turn to a Democratic senator for a dumb answer. Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) believes that additional spending is good for the economy. Newsweek reports: "I disagree… that Build Back Better is going to add to inflation. In fact, economists rarely agree about anything, but 12 Nobel science economists say that Build Back Better is actually going to not add to inflation and will be anti-inflationary over the long term. So we need to get on and pass the Build Back Better to lower costs for families and to address climate change and all of the other parts of the bill that will actually strengthen our families and our economy."
So, let’s see if we have this straight…Inflation is rising in almost all sectors. The rather obvious cause is that the Federal Reserve added nearly $5 trillion to the nation’s monetary base since August 2019. As we elaborated Friday, fish gotta swim… and money gotta buy something. Buying things caused ships to back up, shelves to empty out, and prices to rise. And now, there are those among us – including 12 Nobel Prize-winning economists! – who believe that another $5 trillion down the drain will “strengthen our economy.”
How so? Tomorrow… it might be worth looking at these 12 Nobel Prize-winners – or at least one of them – more closely."
"The Future Is Here, And It Will Be Filled With Endless Looting, Rioting And Civil Unrest"
"The Future Is Here, And It Will Be Filled
With Endless Looting, Rioting And Civil Unrest"
by Michael Snyder
"Our civilization is crumbling right in front of our eyes. We have become accustomed to soaring murder rates, mass shootings, extreme degeneracy throughout the entire entertainment industry, violent rioting in our streets and severe corruption on all levels of government. To a certain extent, a lot of these things seem “normal” to many of us at this point. But the truth is that what we are experiencing is not even close to “normal”. We are literally watching our entire society slowly but surely go down the tubes, and it is heartbreaking to watch.
If you think that I am being overly dramatic, just consider what happened in northern California on Saturday night. A mob of more than 80 thieves wearing ski masks and armed with crowbars suddenly descended upon a Nordstrom store, and they ransacked the entire place in just minutes…"More than 80 people stormed and robbed a Nordstrom in California on Saturday night, according to a police report from the Walnut Creek Police Department. The robbery was over within minutes as thieves armed with crowbars and wearing ski masks streamed out of the Nordstrom into the dozens of cars lining the block."
Needless to say, Nordstrom workers were caught entirely off guard, and several individuals received injuries during the melee…"During the theft, two Nordstrom workers were punched and kicked, while another was sprayed with pepper spray. All three individuals were treated for their injuries on scene."
This sort of “organized crime” is becoming increasingly common, but the size and scale of this particular attack was particularly alarming. #Breaking About 25 cars just blocked the street and rushed into the Walnut Creek Nordstrom making off with goods before getting in cars snd speeding away. At least two people arrested at gunpoint. pic.twitter.com/AG3R94M9L3
— Jodi Hernandez (@JodiHernandezTV) November 21, 2021
This happened in one of the most prosperous areas of northern California, and one eyewitness described it as “like a scene out of a movie”… Brett Barrette is one of the managers of P.F. Chang’s restaurant across from the Nordstrom store. He watched as the bedlam unfolded. “I probably saw 50-80 people in like ski masks with crowbars, a bunch of weapons,” he said. “They were looting the Nordstrom.” “There was a mob of people,” he continued. “The police were flying in. It was like a scene out of a movie. It was insane.”
Meanwhile, the Louis Vuitton store in San Francisco was also hit by organized looters this weekend. "The Louis Vuitton in San Francisco union square just got emptied out 😳 pic.twitter.com/Imi6qbL0i1" — Yealenne (@Yealenne) November 20, 2021 Many of the looters got away, but police were able to nail a few of them.
pic.twitter.com/7Sz6rlRo8n — Da Juan (@CARLITOSGUEY) November 20, 2021
Even though this sort of thing is taking place so frequently now, I am still shocked whenever I see these sorts of videos. For even more examples, please see my recent article entitled “In Some Parts Of America, Looting Has Become A Way Of Life”.
Over in Portland, approximately 150 rioters started fires and smashed things up following the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict. At one point, about a dozen police officers were forced back into a garage by an extremely unruly mob…"Video captured the moment protesters in Portland cornered police in a garage during riots over the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict. The footage shows a crowd of angry protesters aggressively yelling at the police dressed in full riot gear. The group of nearly a dozen officers are seen backing up into a garage. The door of the garage slowly closes as the protesters continue to confront the police, with one demonstrator even trying to push open the garage door."
Way too often, the bad guys are starting to get the upper hand in situations like this. And I think that does not bode well for the troubled times ahead.
For years, I have been warning that this sort of civil unrest would be coming in the future. Now the future is here, and the chaos in our streets is only going to be getting even more intense.
On the other side of the globe, rioting of a completely different nature is happening. As authoritarian measures become increasingly extreme, vast numbers of people are standing up and saying that enough is enough…"Violent protests have broken out against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and lockdowns across Europe amid new tough rules to curb winter waves of the virus. Demonstrators angry about the new measures gathered in Austria, Croatia, Italy, Northern Ireland, the French territory of Guadeloupe and the Netherlands to protest the moves."
In Belgium, approximately 40,000 protesters descended upon the capital, and police fired water cannons and tear gas to try to control the crowds…"Nearly 40,000 people descended on the capital Brussels to protest against new anti-Covid measures banning the unvaccinated from entering restaurants and bars. Some protesters were seen throwing projectiles at riot police and in response, officers fired water cannon and tear gas at the group. Police have made some arrests, but it is not immediately clear how many."
Next door in the Netherlands, the violence was even worse. At one point, police officers actually opened fire on one group of “rampaging rioters”…"Dutch police have arrested more than 30 people during unrest in The Hague and other towns in the Netherlands that followed an “ orgy of violence ” the previous night at a protest against coronavirus restrictions. The violence by groups of youths in The Hague and elsewhere Saturday night wasn’t as serious as Friday night in Rotterdam, where police opened fire on rampaging rioters and arrested 51 people."
By imposing such harsh authoritarian measures during this pandemic, governments in Europe and elsewhere are losing their legitimacy. And responding to protests with such violence will also result in a loss of legitimacy.
Part of living in a civilized society is being able to trust the government to do the right thing most of the time. But now we have gotten to a point where large numbers of people in industrialized nations all over the globe do not trust their own governments. And once that trust erodes far enough, it may get to a point where entire nations become virtually ungovernable by anyone.
Like I said at this beginning of this article, we are watching civilization crumble all around us, and that should make all of us very sad. We are rapidly plummeting into an abyss of anarchy, madness and chaos, and the days ahead are not going to be pleasant."
"When Everything Is Artifice and PR, Collapse Beckons"
"When Everything Is Artifice and PR, Collapse Beckons"
by Charles Hugh Smith
"The consequences of the drip-drip-drip of moral decay is difficult to discern in day-to-day life. It's easy to dismiss the ubiquity of artifice, PR, spin, corruption, racketeering, fraud, collusion and narrative manipulation (a.k.a. propaganda) as nothing more than human nature, but this dismissal of moral decay is nothing more than rationalizing the rot to protect insiders from the sobering reality that the entire system is unraveling and heading for its final reckoning: collapse.
We've become so accustomed to the excesses of marketing that we've lost the ability to recognize the difference between "science" that's been carefully designed to reach a pre-planned conclusion and science that accepts the outcome, even if it harms well-funded interests.
The vast expanses of ignorance greatly aid this artifice. Even though high school physics, chemistry and biology are sufficient to tease apart the vast majority of rigged experiments, trials and studies, few Americans have the interest or fortitude to read Phase III trial results, etc. critically, and so the corporate media can trumpet bogus results without fear of exposure: all the statistical tricks and gimmicks are passed off as "science" to the distracted and gullible.
And if someone dares to examine the results critically, then those benefiting from the ignorance make the results "secret" until the year 2929. And that's the entire game in a nutshell: maximizing private gain from artifice, PR, spin, corruption, racketeering, fraud, collusion and narrative manipulation, all masked by an putrid spew of virtue-signaling and PR.
Every institution that was once trustworthy has been debauched to maximize private gain: higher education, science, medicine, national defense - the list includes virtually every sector and industry in America. Nothing can be trusted because somebody behind the scenes is spinning the story and data to mask their self-interest, their immense gains and the carefully contrived structure of diverting investigation and eliminating transparency, competition and accountability.
Our technocratic obsession denies the existence of the moral universe, reducing the world to techno-gimmicks (electric air taxis for everyone!), techno-fantasies (fusion reactors on every corner!) and techno-distractions (which billionaire will be the first on Mars?), as if a nation and society hurtling toward moral, social, civic and economic collapse can be saved by some "innovation" that beneath the surface is nothing more than another profiteering monopoly or cartel.
Many people fear collapse, but quality, service and reliability have already collapsed. The washing machine that two generations ago was designed and built to last 25 years now breaks down after a few years - so sorry, the motherboard failed. That will cost you almost as much as new washer, and so the manufacturer, bank and retailer win because the weary, clueless consumer will do the easy thing and buy a new, expensive appliance on credit. The "old" appliance (brand-new by previous standards) is hauled off to the landfill, the ultimate destination of everything in our Landfill Economy of poorly made junk.
Service would be hauled to the landfill as well if it was tangible. Alas, it is simply maddening, as nothing works and Kafkaesque bureaucracies have so much power that they are immune to transparency, competition and accountability. their websites don't work, they botch the most basic transactions and they perpetuate incorrect information, but too bad - there is no recourse.
Big Tech is equally impervious to transparency, competition and accountability. Your "crime" is never explained, and there is no recourse, for the Machine has no judiciary or human contact: you query the Machine knowing full well that you will never extract anything remotely fair or just from its algorithmic monstrosity.
Technology doesn't extinguish moral decay or eliminate the stench of self-serving artifice, PR, spin, corruption, racketeering, fraud, collusion and narrative manipulation. Technology only enhances the potential for profiteering under the tissue-thin guise of "innovation," "technological advance" and the threadbare delusions of a populace that has watched too many contrived narratives in which technology saves the day.
The moral buffers have already thinned; there is nothing left to tap. There is nothing left in what actually matters: social cohesion, moral legitimacy, civic virtue - all stripped, depleted, gone.
Drones and robots won't save us from collapse. Neither will fusion reactors, electric air taxis, billionaires in space, missions to Mars, algae-based meat or any of the other thousand "innovations" those profiting from moral rot promote in the hopes that the banquet of consequences being served can be swept away by more gimmicks, more artifice, more delusions, more fantasies, more PR, more spin and more narrative control.
Collapse can't be gimmicked away. The notion that consequence can be as easily managed as PR is the ultimate artifice and the ultimate delusion."
"Streets of Philadelphia, Kensington Ave, Day and Night"
Nov. 19, 2021; Full screen recommended.
"Streets of Philadelphia, Kensington Ave, Day and Night"
"Violent crime and drug abuse in Philadelphia as a whole is a major problem. The city’s violent crime rate is higher than the national average and other similarly sized metropolitan areas.1 Also alarming is Philadelphia’s drug overdose rate. The number of drug overdose deaths in the city increased by 50% from 2013 to 2015, with more than twice as many deaths from drug overdoses as deaths from homicides in 2015.2 A big part of Philadelphia’s problems stem from the crime rate and drug abuse in Kensington.
Because of the high number of drugs in Kensington, the neighborhood has a drug crime rate of 3.57, the third-highest rate by neighborhood in Philadelphia.3 Like a lot of the country, a big part of this issue is a result of the opioid epidemic. Opioid abuse has skyrocketed over the last two decades in the United States and Philadelphia is no exception. Along with having a high rate of drug overdose deaths, 80% percent of Philadelphia’s overdose deaths involved opioids2 and Kensington is a big contributor to this number. This Philly neighborhood is purportedly the largest open-air narcotics market for heroin on the East Coast with many neighboring residents flocking to the area for heroin and other opioids.4 With such a high number of drugs in Kensington, many state and local officials have zoned in on this area to try and tackle Philadelphia’s problem."
○
Full screen recommended.
Bruce Springsteen, "Streets of Philadelphia"
"A Lot Of People..."
"When science discovers the center of the universe,
a lot of people will be disappointed to find they are not it."
- Bernard Baily
"The Real Hopeless Victims..."
"It is no measure of health to be well
adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
- Jiddu Krishnamurti
"Venice Beach is Still a Mess Just Like Our Economy"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly AM 11/22/21:
"Venice Beach is Still a Mess Just Like Our Economy"
"A Big Flip?"
"A Big Flip?"
by Jim Kunstler
"Proposing a hypothetical: What if “Joe Biden” has worsening symptoms of an adverse reaction to his late September Covid booster shot? Does that account for the sudden flurry of interest in how his handlers might manage the problem of Kamala Harris? And what, is the problem with Kamala Harris? That she is Vice-president and next-in-line for Commander-in-chief in the (adverse) event that “JB” has to step aside. And why is that a problem? Because she is widely loathed and distrusted among those who know her in Washington.
That’s what bubbled up last week as “Joe Biden” went into Walter Reed Hospital for a checkup, including an alleged colonoscopy. What if that was not the test he had? What if they ran him through a CT scan or an MRI to detect neurological damage or vascular irregularities in his brain? (In 1988, “JB” did have a couple of brain aneurysms and endured a four-and-a-half-hour microsurgical craniotomy.) Briefly during this exam, Veep Kamala Harris carried the nuclear football, gaining no yardage in the process, but curdling the spinal fluxes of many casual observers in our nation’s capital. Later, the president’s doctors issued a detailed report that portrayed an elderly gentleman “fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency...”
And so, for the next three days “Joe Biden” proceeded in his august duties. Late Friday, after the checkup ordeal, he successfully pardoned a Thanksgiving turkey (convicted of mis-gendering a capon). On Saturday, he successfully attended evening mass at a church in Wilmington. And on Sunday he did nothing, with apparent success. Today, he flies to Fort Bragg for a “Friendsgiving dinner” with soldiers. One must imagine that Kamala Harris could keep up with a schedule like that, though perhaps without successfully easing the woes and travails of the American people in this time of Covid, Climate Change, inflation, and white supremacist terrorism.
Of course, if it turned out that “Joe Biden” presented symptoms of an adverse reaction to his Covid booster shot, that might flip the government’s claim that the mRNA vaccines are harmless. It might actually blow away the entire rationale for pushing the American people around over all things Covid. It would drive a stake through the heart of the CDC and end the career of Dr. Anthony Fauci. It would end all the efforts to destroy small business and public school in the USA. It would also prompt severe reactions from the citizens in other advanced nations - especially among what is called the West - and put a stop to their lockdowns, health passports, and proposals for mandatory vaccinations.
So, you see, whatever might be going on with “Joe Biden” health-wise has got to be a national security matter. And so, considering that our government lies liberally about thousands of other matters of lesser importance, one can see that they would be motivated to not tell the truth about “JB’s” checkup.
Also, of course, getting rid of Ms. Harris would be another extremely touchy matter, starting from the basic proposition of declaring a woman-of-color not sufficiently competent to lead the nation. Say, what…?!? Don’t even think about it! But then imagine our Veep elevated to the highest office: all a’giggle when meeting other heads-of-state, trying out amusing foreign accents on visits abroad (our own Inspector Clouseau), attending to the “root causes” of illegal immigration by remote viewing, perhaps declining to pardon next year’s Thanksgiving turkey, but rather persuading AG Merrick Garland to bring additional charges.
Who might the Democratic Party scrounge up to replace poor Kamala Harris, anyway? Surely it would have to be another woman-of-color. In terms of sheer seniority, the nod ought to go to Maxine Waters. Wouldn’t that be a helluva ride? I’d like to see her duke it out with Uncle Xi and head-fake nasty old Vlad Putin. For sheer liberal sadomasochism, though, I’d have to put my money on Rashida Tlaib, a born punisher if ever there was one. She’d have all those white supremacist enemies-of-the-state duck-walking through the federal courts like so many cattle through the slaughterhouse. And then capitalism will go on trial, ensuring that no one will ever work for a living again in this land as the government is anointed Breadwinner-in-chief.
Following this year’s great celebration of thankful prayer, gluttony, football, and napping, we can look forward to the battle over raising the national debt ceiling. There will be much remonstrating and rending of garments, and then Congress will cave and boost it. Enjoy the histrionics between your own Black Friday battles in the chain store aisles over the vanishing inventory of Christmas schwag and the vanishing purchasing power of your dollars. Or else just drive up to a Nordstrom’s with eighty of your close friends and enjoy the new style of shopping: bum-rush the clerks, grab everything you can get your hands on, and dash back to the car. Just keep it under $950 and you’ll be fine. Happy holidays everyone!"
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