Jeremiah Babe, 12/13/22:
"When People Get Hungry They Eat Rats"
Comments here:
So, we rise from the rubble...
Tuesday, December 13, 2022
"15 Essential Items To Buy Now Before They Sold Out At Grocery Stores"
Full screen recommended.
"15 Essential Items To Buy Now Before
They Sold Out At Grocery Stores"
by Epic Economist
"Winter is just a week away, and colder weather is known for bringing some chaos to grocery stores. Deliveries are slower, supplies get tighter, product stockouts become more widespread, and consumer demand accelerates, pushing prices even higher. It's actually during wintertime that stores see the biggest waves of hoarding and panic buying. Any unexpected disaster can trigger a rush to purchase a certain item, and after that first disruption, others start happening more frequently. Declining food manufacturing will also add more pressure on retailers in the weeks ahead. This was a year of major floods, hurricanes, extreme heat, drought, and unusually large bouts of rainfall that have destroyed crops, decimated harvests, and impacted meat and poultry production. Limited supplies are leaving grocers in a tough spot while consumers scramble to find their favorite items.
For example, Giant food marker Hershey announced in October that it was bracing for a shortage of chocolate and candy in the months ahead. The iconic candy manufacturer said that global disruptions made raw ingredients such as edible oil and cocoa harder to come by, and at the same time, a shortage of sugar is rapidly worsening in the U.S. On top of that, higher consumer demand over the holidays is likely to keep shelves empty for longer given that the company is focusing on the production of seasonal products and decreasing the production of other consumer favorites.
Similarly, with beef slaughter is up by up to 30 percent in some states, all that meat entering the food supply chain right now will not be a good thing for consumers in the months ahead. The cows being slaughtered would normally end up producing calves in the near future. They're being culled now because there isn't enough food for them to eat —and that will result in less beef down the line. "There isn't enough grass to eat and it's become too expensive to buy feed. We've had a large amount of culling this year because of drought," David Anderson, a livestock specialist at Texas A&M University, exposed during an interview with USA Today. "There's going to be a shortage of beef and prices are probably going to go up," the expert warned. So if you're thinking about stocking up on meat, some seasoned ground beef is a great option to freeze for the longer term. But you should probably start soon because prices are set to rise 40 to 50 percent in 2023, according to various reports.
The best strategy to keep your home stocked with all the goods you and your family need during the winter is to purchase your essentials before everyone starts having the same idea. People tend to leave things for the last minute or after some major disaster or emergency occurs. That causes a spike in demand and, consequently, a spike in prices as well. Therefore, getting ahead of these stockouts and price swings is also a way to save money and invest in your short-term future. With all that said, you may not be able to find some staples in the months ahead, and others will become way too pricey for us to afford. For that reason, today we decided to list some key products to buy now before supplies run out at the stores and prices shoot up."
Musical Interlude: Ludovico Einaudi, “Life”
Full screen recommended.
Ludovico Einaudi, “Life”
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"What is life?
It is the flash of a firefly in the night.
It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs
across the grass and loses itself in the sunset."
- Crowfoot, Blackfoot Warrior and Orator
"A Look to the Heavens"
“What will become of these galaxies? Spiral galaxies NGC 5426 and NGC 5427 are passing dangerously close to each other, but each is likely to survive this collision. Typically when galaxies collide, a large galaxy eats a much smaller galaxy. In this case, however, the two galaxies are quite similar, each being a sprawling spiral with expansive arms and a compact core. As the galaxies advance over the next tens of millions of years, their component stars are unlikely to collide, although new stars will form in the bunching of gas caused by gravitational tides.
Close inspection of the above image taken by the 8-meter Gemini-South Telescope in Chile shows a bridge of material momentarily connecting the two giants. Known collectively as Arp 271, the interacting pair spans about 130,000 light years and lies about 90 million light-years away toward the constellation of Virgo. Recent predictions hold that our Milky Way Galaxy will undergo a similar collision with the neighboring Andromeda Galaxy in a few billion years."
- http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130825.html
"The Trick..."
or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.”
- Carlos Castaneda
Chet Raymo, “Try To Remember…”
“Try To Remember…”
by Chet Raymo
“In a sleepless hour of the night, I was trying to remember the last name of a person I have known well for more than forty years. When my spouse stirred in her sleep, I asked her. She couldn't remember either. One again I started mentally through the alphabet. "I think it starts with B," I said. Ten minutes later she rolled over and said, "The next letter is R." Bingo! The name popped into my head. Or I should say, "popped out of my head." Because it was in there somewhere, recorded in a tangle of neurons as materially as if it were written on a piece of paper.
There was a time, back when I was a young man, when some scientists thought memory might be molecular - stored as proteins or RNA molecules that have somehow been modified by experience. The molecule theory of memory rested on experiments with worms (I remember the cover illustration on Scientific American). The worms were taught to navigate a simple maze. Then they were ground up and fed to untrained worms, which seemed to navigate the maze without training. Only molecules, it was thought, could have survived the transfer. Those experiments have been discredited. Scientists now overwhelmingly believe that memories are stored as webs of connections between spider-shaped brain cells called neurons. Each neuron is connected through electrochemical connections to thousands of others. According to the current view, experience fine-tunes the connections, strengthening some, weakening others, creating a different "trace" of interconnected cells for each memory.
But truth be told, memory is still deeply mysterious. How exactly are a lifetime of memories stored and retrieved at will? We know how it works for computers, but how for the human brain? What is self-consciousness? What are dreams? This is the primary scientific agenda for the 21st century. In the middle of the night I go fishing, in that sea of potentiated synapses that are the human soul, for a name that becomes ever more difficult to extract as I get older. I troll the alphabet: A, B, C, D… The name is in there, along with a face and more that forty years of interactions. The Nobel Prizes are waiting.”
- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/
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Graphic: Salvador Dali, "The Persistence of Memory"
"Not Much Mental Distance..."
“A man who has blown all his options can't afford the luxury of changing his ways. He has to capitalize on whatever he has left, and he can't afford to admit - no matter how often he's reminded of it - that every day of his life takes him farther and farther down a blind alley. Very few toads in this world are Prince Charmings in disguise. Most are simply toads, and they are going to stay that way. Toads don't make laws or change any basic structures, but one or two rooty insights can work powerful changes in the way they get through life. A toad who believes he got a raw deal before he even knew who was dealing will usually be sympathetic to the mean, vindictive ignorance that colors the Hell's Angels' view of humanity. There is not much mental distance between a feeling of having been screwed and the ethic of total retaliation, or at least the random revenge that comes with outraging the public decency.”
- Hunter S. Thompson
The Realty Of Life..."
"Despite my firm convictions, I have been always a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth."
- Malcolm X
"What Really Drives the World"
"What Really Drives the World"
by Brian Maher
"O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on; that cuckold lives in bliss
Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger;
But, O, what damned minutes tells he o’er..."
Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves!"
- Iago speaks to Othello, William Shakespeare, "Othello
"The world in not driven by greed. It’s driven by envy.” Here is the sage conclusion of Mr. Charles Munger, aged 98 years. Mr. Munger is of course the partner of Warren Buffett and legendary vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. What human vice ranks fourth among the seven lethal sins? That is correct - envy. Today we evaluate the acid emotion of envy. We further document how envy can wreck a man’s wealth… as easily it can wreck his soul.
“Hate the Man Who Is Better off Than You Are”: “The whole gospel of Karl Marx can be summed up in a single sentence,” argued economics journalist Henry Hazlitt long ago: “Hate the man who is better off than you are.” Continued Hazlitt: "Never under any circumstances admit that his success may be due to his own efforts, to the productive contribution he has made to the whole community. Always attribute his success to the exploitation, the cheating, the more or less open robbery of others. Never under any circumstances admit that your own failure may be owing to your own weakness, or that the failure of anyone else may be due to his own defects - his laziness, incompetence, improvidence or stupidity."
The History Pages Are Filled With Hatred: “Hate the man who is better off than you are…” History is a detailed diary of this very hatred.
Jealousy: The average man is not jealous of the champion golfer who once shot 60… but the fellow duffer in his weekend foursome who once broke 80. He is not jealous of the Hollywood movie actor who hauls in the unparalleled and unattainable beauty. He is jealous instead of his acquaintance who hauls in the pretty-enough gal he himself set his cap for - the seven out of 10 gal. Is the average man jealous of a Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk with their billions and billions? He is not. Yet he is jealous of the insurance salesman down the street who takes in $10,000 more than himself.
The Sage of Baltimore - H.L. Mencken - once defined a wealthy man as “a fellow who earns $100 more than his wife’s sister’s husband.” Be assured, the wife’s sister… and her husband… feel that $100 keenly.
Envy Is Never Contented: Envy sees only what it lacks. Not what it has. Today’s average fellow lives royally compared with actual royalty of yesteryear. Next to them he wallows in a sort of oriental luxury. Yet the envious man of today does not rank himself against the royalty of yesterday. He ranks himself against the royalty of today, though it wears no crown on its head. Envy gives him a mighty itch he is forever scratching. It is never soothed.
The Never-ending Chase: That is why a man’s eye is forever glued to the next rung of the ladder… the prettier plum just out of reach… the grass on the other side of the fence that is greener. A poor man may tell himself he’d settle for the middle class. But once he finds himself lodged therein, discontentment soon bubbles within him. He lights out for the upper classes. If by grace he attains it, he at once takes notice of the floor above him. And he begins another merry chase up the ladder. There is always another.
Such is man. He focuses not on what he has… but on what he lacks. He is forever chasing rainbows.
It’s Not Always Negative: Here we do not criticize. We merely observe. And your editor, by his own admission, offers no exception. Be assured he has his sights on a thing - or three - beyond his outstretched grasp. Besides, it is this ceaseless striving that accounts for all material progress. A contented civilization does not erect skyscrapers, amass empires or rocket into space. Yet beware of envy’s tempting snares. They surround you on all sides - particularly in the forms of television and social media.The French Revolution. Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution. China’s Cultural Revolution. Perhaps even America’s unfolding cultural revolution of its own.
We cite but some examples. They all set out to fix wrongs. They mostly ended up wrecking rights. The right to life itself was often among them.
Jealousy Isn’t Envy: Yet let us distinguish jealousy from envy. The two are siblings - yet they are not twins. It is said a man is jealous of his betters. Yet it is only partly true. The average man harbors no jealousy for the great man. He is not jealous of the Alexanders… the Caesars… the Napoleons of this world. These are men stamped from a finer metal. And the average man inwardly acknowledges it is not his metal. The sparrow understands its place is not among the soaring eagles. No. The subject of the average man’s jealousy is his peer - the average man.
Envy Poisons Your Investment Decisions" Here you see various “stars” and “influencers” soaring on wings of leisure… rocketing from one good time to the next… enjoying the high life. They appear to have life by the snout. And it may arouse your envy.
Yet this very envy may poison your investments. Mr. Marcelo Perez of Alhambra Investments: "In a day and age where… keeping up with the Joneses (or the Kardashians, or the Windsors) is no longer a silent, Sisyphian struggle but a top-rated TV series or Netflix special, it is only natural for this poison to seep into the investing world…"
YouTube stars dole out “investment strategies” left and right, extolling the benefits of the newest and coolest moneymaking venture, as per views, of course. Message boards are full of posts containing stock and option trades that yielded percent returns in the hundreds and thousands, over the course of no more [than a] few days. Virtually riskless, they say…:And even if we are skeptical, we become befuddled with amazement, consumed by “Why not me?” We are driven by envy as much as we are by greed. We see that our neighbor is excelling, or so we think, so we change our own course, or regret that we didn’t take the plunge."
The Siren Call of Envy: You must instead resist envy’s siren cries. As Odysseus of old, you must chain yourself to the mainmast so that you cannot yield to the false temptations… and crash your vessel against the punishing rocks. As Mr Perez notes: Premier celebrities such as Matt Damon, Kim Kardashian and Tom Brady all promoted cryptocurrencies. Many followed because they yearned “to be covered in that heavenly glitter ourselves and open an account at FTX.”
Mr. Perez: "In investing (and in life), we need to stop constantly peering into the lives of others who appear to have what we want. We must try to avoid the siren song of high returns without taking risk into account. We must try to avoid the fool’s gold and the snake oil that cures all…" Avoiding envy, and its associated pitfalls, is one of the simple secrets to a successful investment portfolio, and life.
The Wisdom of the Ancients: Can you do it? It is not easy. The sirens are extremely enchanting. Yet maybe, perhaps on some distant tomorrow… men will learn to take ease in their own inn, however modest… and wherever they happen to find it. It seems they will find peace nowhere else. We all might recall the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus: “Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy.”
The Poet, :Galway Kinnell, "Another Night in the Ruins"
"Another Night in the Ruins"
"How many nights must it take
one such as me to learn
that we aren't, after all, made
from that bird that flies out of its ashes,
that for us
as we go up in flames,
our one work is
to open ourselves,
to be the flames?"
~ Galway Kinnell
"How many nights must it take
one such as me to learn
that we aren't, after all, made
from that bird that flies out of its ashes,
that for us
as we go up in flames,
our one work is
to open ourselves,
to be the flames?"
~ Galway Kinnell
"Massive Russian Offensives On Three Axis Storm Ukraine"
Straight Calls with Douglas Macgregor, 12/13/22:
"Massive Russian Offensives On Three Axis Storm Ukraine"
"Straight Calls with Douglas Macgregor. Your home for analysis of breaking news and in-depth discussion of current geopolitical events in the United states and the world. Geopolitics. No ego descriptions. No small talk. Straight to the point. Calls with the relevant analysis only. On the other side of the line is Andrew Napolitano."
Comments here:
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Full screen recommended.
Redacted, 12/12/22:
"NATO Escalates Full Blown War With Russia,
Putin Warns Retaliation"
"Is the U.S. at war with Russia? The U.S. says that it cannot prevent Ukraine from escalating the war or firing inside of Russia but is this causing retaliation inside U.S. borders? Who is behind all of those power outages that have been happening for the last 8-9 months? And what is Russia's end game?"
Comments here:
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"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar."
- Julius Caesar
"Never Forget..."
"Take risks! That is really what life is about. We must pursue our own happiness. Nobody has ever lived our lives; there are no guidelines. Trust your instincts. Accept nothing but the best. But then also look for it carefully. Don't allow it to slip between your fingers. Sometimes, good things come to us in a such a quiet fashion. And nothing comes complete. It is what we make of whatever we encounter that determines the outcome. What we choose to see, what we choose to save. And what we choose to remember. Never forget that all the love in your life is there, inside you, always."
- Linda Olsson
"Kirstie Alley's Passing Unleashed The Left's Dark Side"
"Kirstie Alley's Passing Unleashed The Left's Dark Side"
by Christine Flowers
"I turned 61 last week. I don’t plan on joining the celestial choir any time soon, but birthdays make me think of the opposite end of the life cycle. Every birthday morning, I have a somewhat ghoulish tradition of writing a mental obituary, composing my own epitaph since I don’t trust others to pen it for me. We all should prepare our own “homegoings,” as my friends in the African American community call it, because there’s been a troubling trend toward speaking ill of the dead. If you can get your story out before the haters have their say, you’ve won the eternal battle.
This was brought home to me when I read the cruel things that were written about Kirstie Alley, who died last week from late-diagnosed cancer. While she most recently sported blonde hair, most of us will remember her as the breathtakingly beautiful woman with the raven locks who replaced Diane in Sam’s affections on “Cheers.”
The character of Rebecca was the opposite of Shelly Long’s annoying and cerebral dilettante, filled with fire and fury and fun. She was a perfect replacement for Diane, even though the dynamic between her and Sam was completely different. And while Long’s sort of humor was more along the lines of a sophisticated-but-neurotic Myrna Loy, Alley was the reincarnation of Lucille Ball with her physicality and willingness to look silly. Alley appeared in many other roles, but she’ll always be remembered as Rebecca.
She was also a high-profile Scientologist. Up until recently, that was the only controversial aspect of this beloved comedian. Then came Twitter, and Alley began to express political views that shocked the sort of fan who thought she walked in lockstep with their progressive outlook. More importantly, she didn’t seem to hate Donald Trump. In fact, in some tweets, she endorsed his policies.
The Scientology thing was OK, even though it made some people squeamish because of the rather strange beliefs on psychotherapy (evil!) and ex-Scientologists (evil!). Kirstie’s public battles with her weight were also endearing, because who doesn’t love someone who is honest about their personal struggles? But when it became clear that Kirstie was a conservative, and possibly a Trumper, the dogs of war were unleashed.
I would follow her Twitter feed and see people write the most amazingly cruel things, acting as if she’d just declared her loyalty to ISIS. People started showing, with pride, screenshots of being blocked by the actress as proof that she was a MAGA crazy who couldn’t take criticism. When you delved a little more deeply, you understood why she’d canceled these folks: they were absolutely horrible in their attacks. In some bizarre turn of events, the progressives felt betrayed by their beloved. The breakup was ugly. But the worst part came after her death was announced.
Mixed in with the many expressions of sympathy and sorrow were a large number of sarcastic digs about how Scientologists don’t think they can get cancer, and now isn’t she surprised? They also dismissed her as a “Donald Trump Apologist” with her Wikipedia page immediately edited by some low-life hacker to read “Conspiracy Theorist Nut Job.” This was only moments after her death had been announced by her grieving children.
I have to admit that I’m particularly outraged because I’ve seen the cruelty of the left much more often than I care to remember. In my own life, people I love have been targeted as proxies, and my inbox has filled with the most disgusting vitriol over the years. I’m a very, very, very minor media figure. Most people have no idea who I am beyond “that crazy lady in Philadelphia who sort of looks like Sarah Palin.” I can only imagine the things real celebrities like the aforesaid Palin are subjected to.
But this isn’t about left or right, to be honest. This is about human decency. When a person dies, unless they’ve left a truly toxic mark on society, their passing should be either noted with respect or ignored. Hatred has no place in epitaphs.
I am sure that some on the right are as guilty of this vice as the legions on the left. I wrote about the phenomenon when John McCain passed away and condemned the partisan attacks from right-wing extremists. It is a shared inhuman flaw. The point is that when someone ascends to whatever Heaven awaits, or descends to whatever depths he deserves, we should note that passing with grace, kindness, and a factotum of regret. And if we cannot, we need to shut up and hide the demons consuming us from within."
"Peak Focus for Complex Tasks, With Beta Isochronic Tones"
Full screen recommended.
"Peak Focus for Complex Tasks,
With Beta Isochronic Tones"
by Jason Lewis - Mind Amend
"This is a high-intensity audio brainwave entrainment session, using isochronic tones. Listen to this when you need a strong burst of intense focus to concentrate and study things like advanced mathematics, scientific formulas, financial analysis or any other complex mental activity. Listen to this track with your eyes open while doing the task/activity you want to focus on. Use this session in the morning, afternoon or early evening, to train your brain for better cognition, focus and thought processing. You can either sit somewhere quiet and comfortable with your eyes closed and give your brain a nice workout, or you can also listen to this while doing an activity that requires a boost in concentration.
Headphones are NOT REQUIRED for this video.
Although headphones are not required you may find they produce a more intense effect, because they help to block out distracting external sounds.
Isochronic tones are a fast and effective audio-based way to stimulate your brain. Among many of the benefits, they can help improve focus, relaxation, energy levels, sleep and more, without taking drugs or needing any special equipment. What isochronic tones essentially do is guide your dominant brainwave activity to a different frequency while you are listening to them, allowing you to influence and change your mental state and how you feel."
I strongly suggest you read Comments here:
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"Isochronic Tones –
How They Work, the Benefits and the Research"
This is a brainwave entrainment audio session using isochronic tones combined with music. The isochronic tones are the repetitive beats you can hear on top of the music throughout the track. If you are new to this type of audio brainwave entrainment, find out how isochronic tones work and how they compare to binaural beats here:
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Listen folks, we're out of time! Whether you want to know it or not we're literally in the fight of our lives, for our lives right now, and it's going to get much, much worse. Some of you reading this will not survive, and I may not either, so I'll take any edge I can get, and you should too... This works for me. Prepare yourself, brace for impact...
- CP
"Stick a Fork in It! We're Done"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, iAllegedly 12/13/22:
"Stick a Fork in It! We're Done"
"You can believe what you want. But it is clear that the pundants do not have it right when it comes to the economy. Does anybody ever get it right? Do you believe that inflation is reversing?"
Comments here:
"Stock Up Now At Meijer! Massive Holiday Sale! Don't Miss This!"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures with Danno, 12/13/22:
"Stock Up Now At Meijer!
Massive Holiday Sale! Don't Miss This!"
"In today's vlog we are at Meijer, and are noticing that they are having a huge sale on holiday baking items this month! We are stocking up, and showing the best deals as we take you shopping with us. It's getting rough out here as stores seem to be struggling with getting products!"
Comments here:
"Alert! Inflation Continues To Rise! US Dollar Craters, 10 Year Yield Plunges"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 12/13/22:
"Alert! Inflation Continues To Rise!
US Dollar Craters, 10 Year Yield Plunges"
Comments here:
Monday, December 12, 2022
13th Warrior, "Prayers Before Final Battle"
Full screen recommended.
13th Warrior, "Prayers Before Final Battle"
"In the movie "The 13th Warrior" Antonio Banderas' character, an Arab Muslim, delivered a prayer just before an epic battle that has stuck with me every since. Some of the words in that prayer are words that have inspired me to say and do and think some of the things that I have ever since I walked out of the theater on the night that I saw that movie. This prayer, although delivered by a Muslim rather than Christian character has become part of me. The words are beautiful and simple and eloquent:
"Merciful Father.... I have squandered my days with plans of many things. This was not among them. But at this moment, I beg only to live the next few minutes well. For all we ought to have thought and have not thought, all we ought to have said and have not said, all we ought to have done and have not done, I pray thee, God, for forgiveness."
Of course if you think about it this prayer also spawns thoughts to the inverse of the lines used; i.e. Father forgive me for the things that I/we have thought that I ought not have thought, for the things I have said, that I ought not have said, for things I have done that I ought not have done.
Then brave Buliwyf begins to pray, also, to his many pagan gods and to his ancestors, and is joined by all the members of his band:
Buliwyf: "Lo, there do I see my father."
Herger: "Lo, there do I see My mother, and my sisters, and my brothers. Lo, there do I see The line of my people..."
Edgtho: "Back to the beginning."
Weath: "Lo, they do call to me."
Fahdlan: "They bid me take my place among them."
Buliwyf: "In the halls of Valhalla..."
Fahdlan: "Where the brave..."
Herger: "May live..."
Ahmed: "...forever."
"This Confirms What We All Know is Coming..."
Canadian Prepper, 12/12/22:
"This Confirms What We All Know is Coming..."
"A new poll reveals something interesting,
In some western countries the number is insanely high. Buckle Up"
Comments here:
"It's Going To Get Much Worse Very Soon; People And Businesses Can't Pay Their Bills"
Jeremiah Babe, 12/12/22:
"It's Going To Get Much Worse Very Soon;
People And Businesses Can't Pay Their Bills"
Comments here:
"People Will Be Furious As Kroger Doubles Or Triples Food Prices"
Full screen recommended.
"People Will Be Furious As Kroger
Doubles Or Triples Food Prices"
by Epic Economist
If you noticed that your monthly grocery bills from Kroger have been more expensive than usual, it’s not just you. According to Cheapism blog, some products have gone up by 90% so far, and the company said it will continue to pass on higher costs to consumers through the end of the year. In fact, higher prices may become the new normal for the grocer, retail experts say. In recent months, customers have been reporting price hikes on several items at Kroger stores, for that reason, we decided to analyze what’s truly driving those increases – and what we discovered may come as a shock for many people out there.
A report published by retail and grocery news blog Cheapism compared current prices on 35 Kroger items with prices obtained on the very same products one year ago, and it found that only two items saw price drops, nine items remained unchanged, and the other 24 items had some eye-popping price increases. On Twitter, thousands of Kroger customers have been venting their frustration with the rising prices. One of them asked: “Why are groceries so expensive at Kroger right now ?” To what another responded “Kroger profits are at record highs. Its stock is up 36% in a year. Its CEO got a 45% raise to $22 million. Meanwhile, 75% of its workers are food insecure. 63% can't pay their bills. Many are on food stamps,” he wrote attaching a link to an exposé released earlier this year by The New York Times.
On December 2, Chief Financial Officer Gary Millerchip said Kroger was passing along higher costs to the consumer in several categories, “where it makes sense to do so," he said. The executive also noted that Kroger is paying more to its suppliers due to challenges that have been affecting the whole industry. But while consumers are forced to spend more at its stores, the company keeps recording extraordinary profits. In fact, over the past quarter, Kroger’s net income rose to $566 million just after hiking prices on consumers. Kroger’s Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen said the company enjoyed “record performance” in the past couple of years. Meanwhile, the grocery chain spent a staggering $2.2 billion on shareholder handouts last year after it previously admitted it was letting customers absorb higher supply costs.
Essentially, Kroger did have to spend more money to ensure supplies, but while they are raising prices under the guise of increasing supplier costs, they’re also adding a little extra on top of that. Believe it or not – Kroger’s and Albertsons’ CEOs have explicitly admitted that they expect to benefit from rising prices.
“Our business operates the best when inflation is higher” Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said during an earnings call with analysts. “A little bit of inflation is always good in our business.” “Kroger would have its customers believe they marked up prices just to keep up with outside costs – but the half billion in net income last quarter and whopping $2.2 billion worth of shareholder rewards the grocery giant doled out last year alone suggests otherwise,” wrote Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US. “The sooner corporations stop using this as an excuse to demand more from consumers while their profits soar, the sooner we’ll see costs stabilize for working families,” he emphasized.
The prices you’re seeing right now at Kroger stores are probably as low as they will ever be. The era of affordable food prices is over, and from now on, we will probably be forced to get used to some painful grocery bills."
"Martin Armstrong: Davos & the Plot to Seize Russia"
"Martin Armstrong: Davos & the Plot to Seize Russia"
The Wiggins Sessions, 12/12/22:
"Dissecting the complex geopolitics of what Martin Armstrong calls “The Climate Change War”– or the War in Ukraine over resources and economic “domination.” “Overthrowing Putin will only make things worse,” Armstrong claims, and the simple solution seems to go out the window. In fact, many of the solutions brought forth by President Biden and his cabinet are in fact undermining the world economy. That’s the reason Western financiers are nervous every time the United States threatens sanctions, or worse, nuclear warfare. “They just look at what’s in front of their nose… not the whole picture,” he continues.
Armstrong leads the World Economic Conference– a gathering the polemic Nigel Farage calls “the antidote to Davos.” The principal aim of the meeting: To fight back against the “control freak” Klaus Schwab and reinstate the ideals of laissez faire government and economics. To Armstrong and his crowd, Modern Monetary Theory is nothing but a set of antiquated ideals from the 19th century. They claim the collapse of globalist, Keynesian politics is coming to fruition. “The War in Ukraine is just a skirmish in the bigger picture,” he claims."
You can watch the full Episode 86 with Martin Armstrong here:
Martin A. Armstrong, the founder of Socrates and Armstrong Economics, is an internationally recognized economist and former hedge fund manager with over 40 years of experience monitoring and forecasting market behavior.
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Well my friends, the US and all of Europe will be enormous pools of molten radioactive glass before the Russians ever allow that...
"Nine Meals from Anarchy"
"Nine Meals from Anarchy"
by Jeff Thomas
"In 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy.” Since then, his observation has been echoed by people as disparate as Robert Heinlein and Leon Trotsky. The key here is that, unlike all other commodities, food is the one essential that cannot be postponed. If there were a shortage of, say, shoes, we could make do for months or even years. A shortage of gasoline would be worse, but we could survive it, through mass transport or even walking, if necessary.
But food is different. If there were an interruption in the supply of food, fear would set in immediately. And, if the resumption of the food supply were uncertain, the fear would become pronounced. After only nine missed meals, it’s not unlikely that we’d panic and be prepared to commit a crime to acquire food. If we were to see our neighbor with a loaf of bread, and we owned a gun, we might well say, “I’m sorry, you’re a good neighbor and we’ve been friends for years, but my children haven’t eaten today – I have to have that bread – even if I have to shoot you.”
But surely, there’s no need to speculate on this concern yet. There’s nothing on the evening news yet to suggest that such a problem might be on the horizon. So, let’s have a closer look at the actual food distribution industry, compare it to the present direction of the economy, and see whether there might be reason for concern.
The food industry typically operates on very small margins – often below 2%. Traditionally, wholesalers and retailers have relied on a two-week turnaround of supply and anywhere up to a 30-day payment plan. But an increasing tightening of the economic system for the last eight years has resulted in a turnaround time of just three days for both supply and payment for many in the industry. This a system that’s still fully operative, but with no further wiggle room, should it take a significant further hit.
If there were a month where significant inflation took place (The Feds lie say 9.1%; really now at least 17%), all profits would be lost for the month for both suppliers and retailers, but goods could still be replaced and sold for a higher price next month. But, if there were three or more consecutive months of inflation, the industry would be unable to bridge the gap, even if better conditions were expected to develop in future months. A failure to pay in full for several months would mean smaller orders by those who could not pay. That would mean fewer goods on the shelves. The longer the inflationary trend continued, the more quickly prices would rise to hopefully offset the inflation. And ever-fewer items on the shelves.
From Germany in 1922, to Argentina in 2000, and to Venezuela in 2016, this has been the pattern whenever inflation has become systemic, rather than sporadic. Each month, some stores close, beginning with those that are the most poorly capitalized.
In good economic times, this would mean more business for those stores that were still solvent, but in an inflationary situation, they would be in no position to take on more unprofitable business. The result is that the volume of food on offer at retailers would decrease at a pace with the severity of the inflation.
However, the demand for food would not decrease by a single loaf of bread. Store closings would be felt most immediately in inner cities, when one closing would send customers to the next neighborhood seeking food. The real danger would come when that store also closes and both neighborhoods descended on a third store in yet another neighborhood. That’s when one loaf of bread for every three potential purchasers would become worth killing over. Virtually no one would long tolerate seeing his children go without food because others had “invaded” his local supermarket.
In addition to retailers, the entire industry would be impacted and, as retailers disappeared, so would suppliers, and so on, up the food chain. This would not occur in an orderly fashion, or in one specific area. The problem would be a national one. Closures would be all over the map, seemingly at random, affecting all areas. Food riots would take place, first in the inner cities then spread to other communities. Buyers, fearful of shortages, would clean out the shelves.
Importantly, it’s the very unpredictability of food delivery that increases fear, creating panic and violence. And, again, none of the above is speculation; it’s a historical pattern – a reaction based upon human nature whenever systemic inflation occurs.
Then… unfortunately… the cavalry arrives. At that point, it would be very likely that the central government would step in and issue controls to the food industry that served political needs rather than business needs, greatly exacerbating the problem. Suppliers would be ordered to deliver to those neighborhoods where the riots are the worst, even if those retailers are unable to pay. This would increase the number of closings of suppliers.
Along the way, truckers would begin to refuse to enter troubled neighborhoods, and the military might well be brought in to force deliveries to take place. (If truckers could afford $5.75 a gallon diesel fuel.)
So, what would it take for the above to occur? Well, historically, it has always begun with excessive debt. We know that the debt level is now the highest it has ever been in world history. (US debt as of October 2022: $31.12 trillion; World debt as of Feb. 2022: $303 trillion.) In addition, the stock and bond markets are in bubbles of historic proportions. They will most certainly pop.
With a crash in the markets, deflation always follows as people try to unload assets to cover for their losses. The Federal Reserve (and other central banks) has stated that it will unquestionably print as much money as it takes to counter deflation. Unfortunately, inflation has a far greater effect on the price of commodities than assets. Therefore, the prices of commodities will rise dramatically, further squeezing the purchasing power of the consumer, thereby decreasing the likelihood that he will buy assets, even if they’re bargain priced. Therefore, asset holders will drop their prices repeatedly as they become more desperate. The Fed then prints more to counter the deeper deflation and we enter a period when deflation and inflation are increasing concurrently.
Historically, when this point has been reached, no government has ever done the right thing. They have, instead, done the very opposite – keep printing. A by-product of this conundrum is reflected in the photo above. Food still exists, but retailers shut down because they cannot pay for goods. Suppliers shut down because they’re not receiving payments from retailers. Producers cut production because sales are plummeting.
In every country that has passed through such a period, the government has eventually gotten out of the way and the free market has prevailed, re-energizing the industry and creating a return to normal. The question is not whether civilization will come to an end. (It will not.) The question is the liveability of a society that is experiencing a food crisis, as even the best of people are likely to panic and become a potential threat to anyone who is known to store a case of soup in his cellar.
Fear of starvation is fundamentally different from other fears of shortages. Even good people panic. In such times, it’s advantageous to be living in a rural setting, as far from the centre of panic as possible. It’s also advantageous to store food in advance that will last for several months, if necessary. However, even these measures are no guarantee, as, today, modern highways and efficient cars make it easy for anyone to travel quickly to where the goods are. The ideal is to be prepared to sit out the crisis in a country that will be less likely to be impacted by dramatic inflation – where the likelihood of a food crisis is low and basic safety is more assured."
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Musical Interlude: Josh Groban, "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)"
Full screen recommended.
Josh Groban,
"You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)"
"A Look to the Heavens"
“Will our Sun look like this one day? The Helix Nebula is one of brightest and closest examples of a planetary nebula, a gas cloud created at the end of the life of a Sun-like star. The outer gasses of the star expelled into space appear from our vantage point as if we are looking down a helix. The remnant central stellar core, destined to become a white dwarf star, glows in light so energetic it causes the previously expelled gas to fluoresce.
The Helix Nebula, given a technical designation of NGC 7293, lies about 700 light-years away towards the constellation of the Water Bearer (Aquarius) and spans about 2.5 light-years. The above picture was taken three colors on infrared light by the 4.1-meter Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. A close-up of the inner edge of the Helix Nebula shows complex gas knots of unknown origin.”
"In The Only Time You Are Alive..."
“You think you will never forget any of this, you will remember it always just the way it was. But you can’t remember it the way it was. To know it, you have to be living in the presence of it right as it is happening. It can return only by surprise. Speaking of these things tells you that there are no words for them that are equal to them or that can restore them to your mind. And so you have a life that you are living only now, now and now and now, gone before you can speak of it, and you must be thankful for living day by day, moment by moment, in this presence. But you have a life too that you remember. It stays with you. You have lived a life in the breath and pulse and living light of the present, and your memories of it, remember now, are of a different life in a different world and time. When you remember the past, you are not remembering it as it was. You are remembering it as it is. It is a vision or a dream, present with you in the present, alive with you in the only time you are alive.”
~ Wendell Berry
"Fools And Knaves"
“In the mass of mankind, I fear, there is too great a majority of
fools and knaves; who, singly from their number, must to a certain
degree be respected, though they are by no means respectable.”
- Philip Stanhope
“There are more fools than knaves in the world,
else the knaves would not have enough to live upon.”
- Samuel Butler
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