"We do not rest satisfied with the present. We anticipate the future as too slow in coming, as if in order to hasten its course; or we recall the past, to stop its too rapid flight. So imprudent are we that we wander in the times which are not ours, and do not think of the only one which belongs to us; and so idle are we that we dream of those times which are no more, and thoughtlessly overlook that which alone exists. For the present is generally painful to us. We conceal it from our sight, because it troubles us; and if it be delightful to us, we regret to see it pass away. We try to sustain it by the future, and think of arranging matters which are not in our power, for a time which we have no certainty of reaching. Let each one examine his thoughts, and he will find them all occupied with the past and the future. We scarcely ever think of the present; and if we think of it, it is only to take light from it to arrange the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means; the future alone is our end. So we never live, but we hope to live; and, as we are always preparing to be happy, it is inevitable we should never be so."
"Disney is indeed in deep trouble. The entertainment favorite that dominated our screens for longer than we even care to remember is now getting absolutely wiped out. The beloved Mickey Mouse was not the solution to the world’s problems, but it brought huge smiles to the faces of kids and adults alike. One would expect that with such remarkable success, the Disney Conglomerate would only continue to thrive. Unfortunately, we were wrong. Disney is experiencing staggering levels of decline in all sectors.
In November 2022, a leaked memo revealed what the company's management had been trying to conceal - over $1.4 billion in operating losses from streaming for just one quarter. Now, almost a year later, it appears to have only gotten worse as losses are being recorded in all its three major sectors. Disney garners revenue from its popular, widely acclaimed themed parks, streaming platforms, and studio productions. This diversity of operations has been advantageous in the past because losses could be easily managed and balanced. However, all three sectors are going under now, and there’s none stable enough to keep the ship afloat for much longer."
"You only practice for something if you think that there is a decent chance that it will actually happen. This week, two “tests” will be conducted that sound rather ominous. The first of these “tests” will happen in Russia on Tuesday. Vladimir Putin has ordered the very first “nationwide nuclear attack exercise” in the entire history of his country, and that is making headlines all over the globe…"Russia will stage its first nationwide nuclear attack exercise across 11 time zones in preparation for potential nuclear war. It is scheduled to take place on October 3 and will see Vladimir Putin’s regime present the West as a nuclear aggressor."
If Vladimir Putin was entirely convinced that there is zero chance that a nuclear war will happen, he would not have ordered these drills. Obviously he believes that there is at least a remote possibility that the conflict in Ukraine could spark a nuclear war.
It is being reported that this exercise will assume “that martial law has been introduced in Russia” and that a nuclear attack by the western powers would destroy “up to 70% of Russian housing”…"The one-day nuclear attack exercise, which has only ever been done region by region, will include preparation for the destruction of up to 70% of Russian housing stock and life support facilities. It will assume the scenario that martial law has been introduced in Russia and that is has gone through full mobilization."
But that doesn’t mean that most of the Russian population would die during such an attack. Russia has more than 16,000 nuclear shelters, and some of them can hold vast numbers of people. Here in the United States, we have one. It is in the Seattle area, and at the time it was built it could hold about 200 people…"In November 1962, only a month after the Cuban Missile Crisis, excavation of a shelter in Seattle began. It was expected to be the first of several fallout shelters across the U.S., but ended up being the only one built in the country. The May 15, 1962, Seattle Times identified the structure as “the nation’s first fallout shelter to be built into a freeway.”
And of course the U.S. is not likely to hold a “nationwide nuclear attack exercise” any time soon, because our leaders have fooled themselves into thinking that the Russians would never dare fire their missiles at us. But just last week thousands of Russians were involved in extensive nuclear combat drills…"The combat drills took place in the Sverdlovsk region on Thursday and saw 3,000 Tagil Rocket Division soldiers being trained on the “highest degrees of combat readiness”, according to RadarOnline.com.
Video footage of the nuclear missile division’s combat drills was shown on the Russian defense ministry TV channel, Zvezda. The clip shows thousands of soldiers training and Yars thermonuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles, feared throughout the world because of their massive 6,835-mile range."
If both sides continue to escalate matters in Ukraine, this is where things are eventually heading, and the Russians realize this. Unfortunately, our leaders in the western world just don’t seem to get it. If push comes to shove, the Russians will use their nuclear weapons.
In fact, many prominent voices inside Russia are already encouraging Vladimir Putin to go in that direction. Here is just one example…"The rhetoric was raised by loyalist MP and army commander Lt-Gen Andrei Gurulev who demanded Putin be ready to use nuclear weapons. ‘Our strategic capability is our [nuclear triad],’ he said. This is what is designed for the landmass of the United States of America. This is specifically for them. And they know very well that after that there will be no United States of America. We 100% inflict an unacceptable defeat on the USA. They know that.’
If our leaders had any sense, they would be looking for a peaceful way out of this mess while it is still possible. Because Ukraine is not going to defeat Russia, and the Russians are not going to back down. Last week, it was being reported that Putin has decided to bring in another 130,000 conscripts…"Russian President Vladimir Putin is calling up 130,000 conscripts for military service this fall, increasing the age limit of conscripts from 27 to 30, according to a document posted on the Russian government website on Friday.
Russia’s lower house of parliament voted last July to raise the age for conscripts, and that legislation will take effect on January 1, 2024. Putin said earlier this month that he is bracing for a long war with Ukraine as Russia’s armed forces press on with their “special military operation” in Ukraine, now in its 20th month." We are rapidly approaching a point of no return with Russia, and so we should sit down and talk while we still can.
The second ominous event that I wanted to discuss is the “Nationwide Emergency Alert Test” that will happen just one day after the Russians conduct their “”nationwide nuclear attack exercise”. On Wednesday afternoon, televisions, radios and phones all over the entire country will suddenly come alive at 2:20 PM eastern time… Get ready to not freak out. On Wednesday, Oct. 4 at 2:20 p.m. EDT, every TV, radio and cellphone in the United States should blare out the distinctive, jarring electronic warning tone of an emergency alert. It’s a test – only a test. Officially, the trial is called the Nationwide Emergency Alert Test. You know it’s a test and not an actual emergency because it’s accompanied by an explanation of the test.
Even if your phone is set to silent mode, you will still hear a very loud alarm…"The alerts include a series of loud alarms meant to attract attention. These will go off even if devices are set to silent mode. The test will last for about one minute on radio and television, and cellphones should receive the alert within a half-hour of the test starting. The test system will broadcast a message reading, “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.” A translated message will be delivered for those whose language is set to Spanish."
So does this mean that something really bad will happen on Wednesday? Probably not. They are telling us that it is just a test, and hopefully that is all it is. But they are obviously practicing because they believe that there is a reason to do so.
We live at a time when one bad thing is going to happen after another. This summer, Hawaii was devastated by wildfires, a massive tropical storm hit California, and Hurricane Idalia caused an enormous amount of damage in Florida. Even if a major disaster does not occur this week, the truth is that it is just a matter of time before we get hammered with more major disasters. But some disasters are avoidable. Hopefully our leaders will pull us back from the brink of nuclear war with Russia, because that really would mean the end of our society as we know it today."
"We are seeing office buildings sell for over 60% off right now. This is the beginning of the end for commercial real estate. LA County is just announced that they will have no bail on most crimes. Plus, Target is teaming up with homeland security to protect its stores."
Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in the Second World War.
"Nyet Means Nyet"
Russian tanks, rising bond yields and a national debt that just won't quit...
by Bill Bonner and Joel Bowman
Poitou, France - "There are some things that are obviously disastrous…but apparently irresistible. Driving drunk…invading Russia… spending more than you can afford – sooner or later, all are bound to lead to trouble.
US deficits are now tending towards $2 trillion per year. At that rate, it won’t take very long to go broke. And since the US Treasury has the ability to ‘print’ all the money it wants, it’s only a matter of time until the presses are running hot, day and night. At least…that’s our baseline assumption.
Another of our assumptions is that the Primary Trend has reversed. After a 4 decade bull market, both stocks and bonds are now in a sustained downtrend. Bond yields hit their bottom in July 2020; the mainstream financial press is catching on. Reuters: "US bond market signals the end of an era." "The…age of low interest rates and inflation that began with the 2008 financial crisis has ended. What follows is unclear. The market's view has come into sharp focus in recent days amid a dramatic run-up in 10-year Treasury yields that hit 16-year highs. "We have moved into a new era here," said Greg Whiteley, a portfolio manager at DoubleLine. "It's not going to be a matter of struggling to get the inflation rate higher. It's going to be working to keep it down."
New Era? Not exactly. A very old era…in which the chickens come home to roost, just like they always do. And with prices rising and interest rates going up…along with a bigger and bigger pile of debt to finance…there’s sure to be some squawking in the henhouse.
Our focus last week was on the biggest single item of federal spending – the cost of maintaining the sprawling empire…military bases, aid programs, weapons procurement, ships, planes…and the whole shebang of ‘dominance.’ It is usually lumped into a category called ‘national defense.’ But the ‘defense’ part is probably only about a third of the budget. The rest is for projecting power and influence, not protecting the Homeland. Right now, for example, $100 billion in the most recent price tag for the war in the Ukraine. The money has nothing to do with the defense of the 50 states; au contraire, it puts the US into conflict with Russia, a nuclear power, generating risks far beyond any possible rewards.
What causes this kind of delirium…where you look at the gates of Hell, and can’t stop from entering therein? It begins with voluntary stupidity. You ignore history. You make a list of the pros…and study it carefully. You list the cons too – and dismiss them. Most important, you take out all the ‘ifs’…the ‘buts’…and the ‘maybes.’ This is where people like Tom Friedman are so helpful.
The Western media and US weapons giants – prominently aided and abetted by the New York Times columnist– reduce the conflict in the Ukraine, for example, to a simplified meme for the masses: Putin is evil…and that if he isn’t stopped in the Ukraine, there will soon be Russian tanks rolling down the Champs-Elysees.
This, of course, is nonsense. As subsequent events have shown, there was no way Putin posed a risk to Europe; he couldn’t even conquer a country on his own doorstep, where roughly a third of the population was sympathetic to him. Europe has an economy 7 times larger than Russia’s…and much more sophisticated; there was never any danger of a Russian conquest.
No Middle Ground: Tom Friedman spent 3 days in the Ukraine. He reported to New York Times readers: "One need only look into the eyes of Ukrainian soldiers back from the front, or talk to parents in the streets of Kyiv, to be stripped of any illusions about the moral balance of this war. I was in the country for just three days…This is as obvious a case of right versus wrong, good versus evil, as you find in international relations since World War II.
How could the journalist have an opinion on the ‘moral balance’ without taking a glance at the other side of the scale? Did he attend a conference in Moscow? Did he talk to Russian veterans? To any of the victims of the Ukraine’s firepower…or to any of the 2 million refugees who fled – to Russia? No? We didn’t think so.
Thank Tom Friedman, the sultan of sap, for removing all the hesitations and second thoughts that might have saved a sensible person. Friedman merely clarified that Putin was a devil. There was really no reason to say more. You can’t compromise with the archfiend from Hell. You can’t try to ‘see it from his perspective.’ There’s no middle ground.
Friedman, though, had another full page to fill. So he launched into the Great Game, with one of the lamest geo-strategic justifications for war since the Wehrmacht invaded Poland. “Without the Ukraine, Russia ceases to be an empire…” This left us stunned. Where were the question marks? Really? Why? There are plenty of other foundling countries Mother Russia could take in. And why would we care whether Russia were an empire, or not?
Russia has made no claim on the Ukraine. It has only taken over the Eastern provinces. It says it has done so partly because that is where the people live whom it wants to protect. The Kyiv government banned the Russian language; Russian speakers are fined for using their language in public. Naturally, they welcomed a ‘regime change’ led by Vladimir Putin.
The other reason Russia has provided for its invasion is that it is afraid that NATO might pose a threat. An attack from ‘the West?’ Seems unlikely to us. But Russia’s been down that road. The last time 1941-1945, the Soviet Union suffered 26 million deaths; it doesn’t want to go there again.
Casus Belli: Justified or not, those are the things Putin seems to care about. But the mainstream media barely mentions them. It describes the war in terms that leave no space for exploring ‘the other side.’ So often are the adjectives “brutal” and/or “unprovoked” used to describe the invasion, there is probably a whole generation of young people who think the words are permanently attached, like ‘high dudgeon’ (we’ve never heard of someone stomping out of a room in ‘low dudgeon’)…or ‘gratuitous insult’ (whoever gets a ‘gratuitous compliment?’).
The attack was not especially brutal. The war began in Feb. 2022. By September, 2023, 18 months later, The New York Times said about 500,000 people had died. The last time Kiev was a battleground, in 1941, German and Soviet forces lost that many men in just 10 days of fighting.
Nor was the attack un-provoked. Instead, it appears to be just what America’s empire architects wanted. The deal made in the early ‘90s, between Russia and the leaders of the US, France, Britain and Germany was that Russia would allow re-unification of Germany and in exchange ‘the West’ would not allow NATO to creep to the East. US Ambassador to Moscow, William Burns, who later became head of the CIA, reminded the Bush administration of this promise in 2008. His memo – ‘Nyet Means Nyet’ – famously recalled that bringing NATO up to Russia’s border was a ‘red line’ that shouldn’t be crossed. Unless, of course, you really wanted to provoke a war.
Even Zelensky’s own team admitted that the real cause of the war wasn’t Putin’s desire for conquest; it was NATO enlargement. Oleksiy Arestovych, former Advisor to the Office of the President of Ukraine under Zelensky, declared that “with a 99.9% probability, our price for joining NATO is a big war with Russia.” Russia tried to avoid war; it was the US that was eager for it. Stay tuned..."
o
Joel’s Note: "Two weeks ago today, the US national debt surpassed $33 trillion for the first time ever. A dubious milestone, to be sure. But with $2 trillion deficits as far as the eye can see, it’s certainly not the last…
Just how much is $33 trillion, really? Well, it’s about 22% more than the U.S. gross national product as of June 30 (about $27 trillion). It’s also six times what the national debt was when George W. Bush took office, back in 2000 ($5.6 trillion). And if the government were to pay it back at the rate of $1 million an hour, interest free, it would take…oh, about 3,750 years…Of course, the debt is not interest free (and the empire probably don’t have three and three-quarter millennia to pay it back.)
In fact, the current upper limit on the federal funds rate is at its highest since 2001. That puts huge pressure on debt that needs to be rolled over from historically low rates. From The Daily Caller: "Almost 60% of the debt that the U.S. currently owns originated when the average interest rate on U.S. ten-year Treasury notes was less than 3%, while 75% of debt held in three-month Treasuries was acquired at that same rate, according to the CRFB. That debt is now being rolled into new Treasuries at much higher rates, with ten-year Treasuries at a rate of 4.61% and three-year Treasuries at a rate of 4.89% as of Sept. 27, according to FRED.
Currently, the US is spending just over $800 billion per year to service its debt pile, or about 15 percent of the total annual federal spending. That’s before manning a single foreign military base… rolling out a single tank… launching a single ship… piloting a single F-16… firing a single missile, and the myriad associated costs with maintaining a vast empire abroad."
One wonders how many more blank checks Uncle Sam can write to countries afar… when its own financial house appears to be on fire."
"A Victory Day military parade was held at Moscow's Red Square to mark 78 years since the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. Amid Russia’s war with neighboring Ukraine, Kyiv marked the anniversary a day earlier reflecting a new break with Moscow."
"You have to wonder what took Bobby Kennedy, Jr. so long to recognize that the Democratic Party was a home that he had long ago been turned out of, like a dog that has peed on the carpet too many times. At the end of last week, Mr. Kennedy intimated that he might run for president on an independent line. If he manages to get that line on the state ballots - and you can easily imagine New York and California trying to thwart him - it will change all the current calculations about the 2024 election.
As of right now, the Party of Chaos is living up to its name. They continue to present an obviously false and ridiculous consensus among themselves that “Joe Biden” is running for reelection. In fact, “the Big Guy” is about to get run through a wringer of the most abject public disgrace as his already-well-known crimes of bribery and treason get conscientiously laid out for all to see with cold and implacable decorum. Even the mind-f**ked spawn of the Ivy League, toiling away on their CIA-owned newspapers and cable news networks, might find themselves forced to spin their narrative in a new direction.
“Joe Biden” is now a monumental embarrassment and a liability to our country, let alone to the degenerate party that owns him. Sub rosa efforts must be in motion to persuade him to resign before the impeachment inquiry spotlights all those telltale bank records, but they will fail to overcome his demented pride. He’ll ride this thing out to the bitter end, when he can use the last tool at his disposal to officially pardon everyone involved in his family’s racketeering operation. The longer the party pretends to support him, the closer the party itself skates toward self-destruction. Also consider: if allowed to play out, the impeachment inquiry will implicate the DOJ and the FBI in obstruction of justice - exposing many Deep State blob players to danger of prosecution.
Gov. Gavin Newsom dangles himself above the fray as the deus ex machina who can touch down in DC and make all the Democrat’s problems go away. Such an attractive fellow! Great teeth and hair! Tall as a sequoia! And such a smooth talker! The woked-up suburban ladies who comprise the party’s main voting bloc grow moist in anticipation of Gov. Newsome landing on-stage like a demigod out of a Mozart opera. But how do you think he’ll make out in an election when the airwaves are filled with oppo ads showing his toothy and hairy visage inset against scenes of homeless junkies and looting flash mobs? Try blaming that on climate change. What else does he stand for? Censorship? Forced vaccinations? Child sex mutilations? Open borders? News-flash: these are increasingly unpopular, except among an easily-identified depraved elite.
Indeed, the whole Left-Right demon-driven psychodrama is proving impossible to live in as it throbs and pulsates toward something like civil war. And it has obscured the truly potent idea that the nation might actually be capable of solving its problems by facing up to them and changing how we act. That potent idea might be what voters will see in Bobby Kennedy if he can get their attention. Mr. Kennedy would dismantle the heinous partnerships between private corporations and the US government that loosed the Covid-19 op on the world and asset-strips the middle-class. He favors closing the border and a reevalution of immigration policy. He aims to negotiate an end to the ignoble Ukraine war project. He’s determined to disassemble the security state apparatus that’s destroying the US Constitution and citizens natural rights with it.
Mr. Kennedy says he can bring divided Americans together on these dire matters. It’s conceivable that his message might go over with enough rancor-weary voters to pull off a tour-de-force plurality in a three-way race, where nobody wins enough electoral votes to settle the contest, which then moves to the House, like in the old days of Jefferson and Burr. The rest is election mechanics, some of it very sinister when you consider all the election-rigging booby-traps already in-place such as mass mail-in ballot harvesting, no voter ID requirements, and the still-mysterious hookups of vote-counting machines to the Internet. But, at least, Mr. Kennedy running on an independent line will be a hard whap upside the Democratic Party’s thick skull, maybe even a death-blow to the party. They made a big mistake trying to un-person him. He’s on a hero’s journey at a moment in history when America dearly needs one."
"Dollar Tree Items That Are Great To Stock Up On! Getting Prepared!"
"In today's vlog, we are at Dollar Tree and are stocking up on some prepping items to add to our stockpile. In case everything hits the fan at some point, it's a good idea to stock up on some of these cheaper options!"
"The OFR Financial Stress Index (OFR FSI)is a daily market-based snapshot of stress in global financial markets. It is constructed from 33 financial market variables, such as yield spreads, valuation measures, and interest rates. The OFR FSI is positive when stress levels are above average, and negative when stress levels are below average. The OFR FSI incorporates five categories of indicators: credit, equity valuation, funding,safe assets and volatility. The FSI shows stress contributions by three regions: United States, other advanced economies, and emerging markets."
“Magnificent island universe NGC 2403 stands within the boundaries of the long-necked constellation Camelopardalis. Some 10 million light-years distant and about 50,000 light-years across, the spiral galaxy also seems to have more than its fair share of giant star forming HII regions, marked by the telltale reddish glow of atomic hydrogen gas. The giant HII regions are energized by clusters of hot, massive stars that explode as bright supernovae at the end of their short and furious lives.
A member of the M81 group of galaxies, NGC 2403 closely resembles another galaxy with an abundance of star forming regions that lies within our own local galaxy group, M33 the Triangulum Galaxy. Spiky in appearance, bright stars in this colorful galaxy portrait of NGC 2403 lie in the foreground, within our own Milky Way.”
“Somewhere, in something I have written, I recall quoting with approval this passage from Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire": “For my own part I am pleased enough with surfaces - in fact they alone seem to me to be of much importance. Such things for example as the grasp of a child's hand in your own, the flavor of an apple, the embrace of a friend or lover, the silk of a girl's thigh, the sunlight on rock and leaves, the feel of music, the bark of a tree, the abrasion of granite and sand, the plunge of clear water into a pool, the face of the wind - what else is there? What else do we need?”
Pleased enough with surfaces. Yes, I know what I meant. Pleased enough with this world, here and now, this world of light and matter. Not wanting or needing that other world that occupies so many people, a world of supernatural agencies, spirits, disembodied presences. Give me a world I can see and hear and touch and taste. Give me a world with heft and substance, a world with surfaces that shine and shimmer. What else is there? What else do we need?
Well, maybe not. I was scanning issues of “Science” and “Nature,” with their usual illustrations of the molecules of life, the nuclei acids and the proteins. The elaborate machinery that unseen, under the surface, endow the apple's flavor, the silk of skin, the abrasion of sand. Think of it. Atoms that are mere whiffs of resonance, binding into molecules, twisting and turning into endless shapes, fitting together like hand and glove, endlessly spinning and weaving, all without the slightest conscious participation on our part. Abbey's world of surfaces spun out of the mysterious, endlessly active, subsurface stuff of the world.
Pleased enough with surfaces? Not really. I want to know what's under the surface, that world of molecular frenzy that cannot be touched or seen, a world that in its own way is as beautiful and as meaningful as the macroscopic world we consciously inhabit. We don't need to know it. We can live a fulfilling life without knowing it. But I want to know it. I want to know what goes on behind the curtain of the senses. I want to hear that silent and ceaseless music of creation.”
"Do as little harm to others as you can; make any sacrifice for your true friends; be responsible for yourself and ask nothing of others; and grab all the fun you can. Don't give much thought to yesterday, don't worry about tomorrow, live in the moment, and trust that your existence has meaning even when the world seems to be all blind chance and chaos. When life lands a hammer blow in your face, do your best to respond to the hammer as if it had been a cream pie."
"If you’re worried about your finances, you’re far from alone. U.S. banks are warning that a credit crisis worse than 2008 is on the horizon, and it is coming at the worst possible time for American families. Credit card issuers are about to tighten lending standards even further, making it more difficult for consumers to get loans and have access to credit at a time when 77%, or more than three in four, households report feeling anxious about their money situation.
Not only households are having a harder time making ends meet, but getting out of debt is becoming increasingly difficult. No wonder more Americans are going bankrupt. Compared to a year ago, the number of personal bankrupcies is 18% higher. Everyone seems to be dealing with financial setbacks. That’s why we are relying more on credit cards to get by than ever before. And people are not resorting to credit just to make big-ticket purchases, as they used to do in the past. They are having to use their credit cards for basic necessities such as rent, energy, and groceries.
The New York Federal Reserve revealed that the typical household now carries $10,170 credit card debt. In the past quarter alone, nationwide credit card debt swelled by $43 billion - the second-largest increase on record. On the other hand, in September, 60% of respondents to the New York Fed’s Survey of Consumer Expectations said that their ability to get loans is lower than it was a year ago. That’s because the credit crisis banks have been warning about has already begun.
In recent months, credit card companies have been reporting extensive losses due to the rise in credit card debt delinquencies and defaults. Borrowers are facing mounting challenges to pay their balances in full each month. In all, americans owe more than $1 trillion on credit cards, a record high. Goldman Sachs said on Friday that credit card issuers’ financial losses caused by delinquencies and defaults rose by 3.64% in the past three months. The bank’s analysts see them rising another 1.3 percentage points to 4.93% in October.”Losses have been climbing quickly since early 2022, jumping at speeds not seen since the 2008 financial crisis,” Goldman emphasized.
With more banks announcing tighter lending standards, many consumers will become more financially insecure, especially those who rely on overdrafts to cover short-term financial needs and unexpected expenses and maintain their purchasing power. This situation has put already-struggling banks on edge. Fears of a full-blown credit crunch and the resulting negative impact on households, businesses, and the U.S. economy are at an all-time high. During a credit crunch, loans become tougher to get. Banks that offer them might do so with more onerous terms like abnormally high-interest rates or other restrictions - making such financing more costly.
At this point, banks are doing whatever they can to stay afloat, because this time around, there will be no rescuing or bailing out from the Federal Reserve. According to Bloomberg, we may face potentially dire consequences due to the administration’s continued inability to manage its finances. That matters because it shows that the government does not have the means to lift the country out of a crisis like it did in 2008. So if more people become delinquent on their debt and more financial institutions fail, there will be no safety net protecting our economy from collapsing."
"10 Fast Food Chains Are in Serious Financial Trouble"
"Even in the best economy, the restaurant industry is all about struggle. Margins are incredibly tight and even the slightest change in one statistic can make life miserable for the finest of establishments. Restaurants have been taken down by rising food prices, lower walk-in customers, government investigations, and fast food chains in particular have swung from huge revenues to near-oblivion with shocking speed. Today we're talking about 10 fast food chains that are in serious financial trouble."
"Food Shortage Report: It's Worse Than We Thought!"
"We are covering the food shortage report for Fall and Winter of 2023 and 2024. It's Worse than we thought it would be as food shortages are popping up everywhere. We expose the truth as thousands of our viewers have commented on what is come up missing in their grocery stores!"
"We kicked the can down the road for 45 days on our government shut down. There are still things are going to be affected by the lack of our government being completely open. The stock market is in a precarious spot. Plus, if You drive a Kia or Hyundai, do you need to watch this."
U.S. Banks are facing some $600 billion of unrealized losses,
roughly 25% of total banking capital, near the highest levels in history.”
by Automatic Earth
"The U.S. banking system and likely, the global banking system, is essentially bankrupt. They just won’t admit it and central bankers won’t let them admit it. These “brilliant” Harvard Business School and Wharton trained financial geniuses thought it was a great idea to load up their institutions with mortgage and Treasury bonds when they were paying 0.5%. Now the ten year Treasury is 4.58%. Even a dolt like AOC or Pelosi should know bonds lose value when rates go up.
So here we are with banks almost $600 billion underwater in their bond holdings, waiting for our next Minsky Moment. Those living in a fantasy world of no consequences aren’t worried, because these banks don’t have to realize these losses unless they sell.
After re-watching "The Big Short" last week, I realized we are about to see history rhyme. There was an interminable period prior to the 2008 financial crash where the Wall Street cabal, government bureaucrats, central bankers, rating agencies, home buyers, and stock investors all pretended everything was fine. As the toxic fraudulent mortgages began to default because Mexican migrant workers and topless dancers couldn’t make the payments on their $500,000 mortgages, the banks actually marked their CDO and CLO weapons of mass financial destruction up in price. They were going to keep on dancing until the music ended. Extend and pretend kept the good times rolling. Until it didn’t.
Once the wrong grain of sand falls on the weakest part of the sand pile we call our financial system, the collapse will commence. Once the losses start to mount, these Wall Street banks will be forced to sell in order to generate liquidity. I know it’s coming. You know it’s coming. They know it’s coming. It’s just a matter of when. The Fed’s balance sheet will be doubled again in a fruitless effort to save their corrupt system once more.
We are in the waning years of this Fourth Turning. This will not be resolved peacefully or by kicking the can down the road once again. We are about to reap what Washington and Wall Street have sown since 2008."
"Renowned geopolitical and financial cycle expert Charles Nenner has been warning his war cycles were turning up. Nenner says, “It happens like clockwork in the second decade of a new century.” Nenner says it’s a lot like the stock market running out of gas, and he warns, “It’s like a stock market that is topping. First, the weak stocks go down. Then, the indexes are still holding up, and then the big ones go down. Now, you see for instance, Apple also came down, but first, the small stocks came down. It’s already happening, but you only see the results suddenly when the whole thing crashes.
Americans seem to have no worries about the war that could be coming. I don’t want people to lose sleep, but the pact is forming. It is China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. They are going against the United States that does not have a functional army anymore. Who do the Americans think they are? It’s over, they can’t rule the world anymore. If they are going to fight all these countries, I don’t think it is going to end well.”
Does Nenner see the American Empire ending? Nenner says, “I think it ended already, but we just don’t know it yet. One of the signals of end of empire is bad education, which we have. Another signal is the lifespan of people is shorter than for the people before. What do you want me to say? It does not look good, does it? Another signal is your children have it worse than the generation before. So, there is a whole list of signals, and it points to the United States is in trouble. I would be short America and I would go long the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India China).
Nenner says the stock market is on its way to being “substantially lower, but not just yet.” Nenner also sees the cycles for gold, silver, bonds and real estate all going lower from here, but gold and silver will be going back up longer term. The only thing Nenner likes right now are short-term Treasury bonds. The dollar will hold up for now, but it is headed much lower in the not-so-distant future. Nenner also likes energy, but it is cycling down at the moment. Nenner says, “Inflation goes up and down” and warns, “Inflation is starting another up trend.” This round of inflation is probably going to be very painful for the common man. There is much more in the 41-minute interview."
"Watch this and have your mind blown. Whoever wrote the script for this episode of X-Files 20 year ago has to be a time traveler or a senior deep state operative who revealed their entire plan just for giggles."
A Factual Overview:
Sound familiar? It should, look around... Who is the World Economic Forum, and what's their agenda? Do your own research, gather all the relevant facts and draw you own conclusions...
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