Jeremiah Babe, 10/17/23
"Without Free Money We Got Big Trouble; Banks Keep Closing,
Get Your Cash Out; Battle Of Armageddon?"
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So, we rise from the rubble...
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Gerald Celente, "We're On The Verge Of Economic And Human Annihilation"
Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, Trends Journal 10/17/23
"We're On The Verge Of Economic And Human Annihilation"
Comments here:
"Walmart CEO Warns Americans Will Freak Out This Winter As Prices Continue To Soar"
Full screen recommended.
Epic Economist, 10/17/23
"Walmart CEO Warns Americans Will Freak
Out This Winter As Prices Continue To Soar"
"Americans are about to hit a breaking point, according to Walmart’s CEO. Soaring prices are severely impacting consumer spending habits, and the world’s biggest retailer is worried about how this trend is going to affect its bottom line this fall and winter. Bill Simon, the head of U.S. operations for four years, revealed that for the first time in a decade, the company is seeing a significant slowdown in sales activity as consumers start to buckle.
Simon believes the U.S. consumer is on the verge of folding due to an accumulation of pressures exacerbating people’s money issues. During an interview with CNBC earlier this week, the executive pointed to a series of factors working together to squeeze Americans’ purchasing power, and forcing them to tighten their budgets even further. Those include inflation, high-interest rates, and rising political tensions around the nation and the globe.
The former Walmart chief executive also warned that discounts and bargains will become harder to find in the coming weeks and months. Simon said that promotions won’t be nearly as good as they were in the past. He also exposed that not only Walmart but many other major retailers are using an old trick to hide the true value of discounts from consumers.
On top of that, brands are also using shrinkflation by reducing the amount of product in the packaging while keeping the same price. Although some consumers may fall for the trick a few times, eventually they notice the change and realize they are spending more money, so they tend to pull back.
Walmart customers are also outraged about recent price increases. A new viral TikTok exposing how much prices at Walmart stores have climbed is leaving superfans particularly frustrated. TikTok creator @__curtdogg recently racked up 3.7 million views on a video where he compared a 2020 receipt and a recent receipt with the exact same items. The most shocking finding was that even Walmart’s house brand Great Value has shot up in price over the past three years.
Walmart is already trying to prepare shareholders for an earnings miss this quarter. Even though people are spending more, they are buying less and this is driving sales volumes down and hurting the megaretailer’s bottom line. Walmart executives seem so desperate to conceal the results that, last week, they released a note saying that weight loss medications such as Ozempic are leading consumers to buy less food, and that is eating at the retail giant’s food profit margins. The company said it analyzed anonymous data of the customers who are buying the medicines at their stores, plus what the individuals spend on groceries, and it found that they are consuming increasingly less with each passing month.
But while only 14% of Americans use Ozempic, nearly 60% said they are struggling to afford groceries due to higher prices, a new report by Attest showed. The situation is getting so extreme that more and more people are losing hope that things will ever get better. And when it comes to incomes, U.S. households making under $50,000 and over $100,000 are all reporting greater financial challenges this year. In essence, they are on an unsustainable path of losing savings, and increasing debt. And with the cost of essentials shooting up all across the nation, it is easy to understand why the U.S. consumer is starting to break."
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Col. Douglas Macgregor, "The Situation In Ukraine Grows More And More Dangerous"
Col. Douglas Macgregor, Straight Calls 10/17/23
"The Situation In Ukraine Grows More And More Dangerous"
Analysis of breaking news and in-depth discussion of current
geopolitical events in the United States of America and the world.
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"The Gaza Open Air Prison: Unraveling The Dark Realities"
"The Gaza Open Air Prison:
Unraveling The Dark Realities"
By Mike Adams
Over many years, Israel has perfected the human enslavement and extermination model that will power "15-minute cities" and human extermination camps that will be pushed by depopulation globalists as the next phase of human extermination gets under way. The Gaza Strip is a massive experiment in human enslavement and behavioral engineering involving 2.3 million civilians who have now been dubbed "animals" and are being systematically displaced and / or exterminated. Everything learned from this pilot program will next be deployed against all of us.
Get the (shocking) full details in today's broadcast here:
Judge Napolitano, "Scott Ritter, 'Why I No Longer Stand With Israel'"
Full screen recommended.
Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom, 10/17/23"
Scott Ritter, "Why I No Longer Stand With Israel"
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"Gaza Hospital Massacre"
Full screen recommended.
"Hospital Blast: Hundreds Feared Dead In Gaza Explosion"
"Israel Defense Forces is reacting after Hamas health officials say
an Israeli airstrike on a hospital in Gaza has killed more than 500 people."
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o
Full screen recommended.
Crux, 10/17/23
"Hamas Says Hundreds Dead In Hospital Strike,
Israel Kills Top Commander, Iran Warns 'Shockwave'”
"Hamas said one of the top leaders of its armed wing was killed in an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip. A member of the higher military council of Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades, Ayman Nofal was in charge of the Central Gaza area. The Gaza govt media office claims Israel attacked the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, killing hundreds of people. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said Hamas has the option of surrender or to die. The IDF said another anti-tank guided missile was fired from Lebanon, at the northern town of Zar’it. Meanwhile, the deputy commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards has warned Israel of “another shockwave on the way.”
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
Al Jazeera English. 10/17/23
"Israel Kills 500 In Gaza Hospital Strike As Thousands Sheltered"
Comments here:
What kind of MONSTERS bomb crowded hospitals?!
Bill Bonner, "Risky Business"
"Risky Business"
We're in Maximum Safety Mode: Here's why...
By Bill Bonner
Dublin, Ireland - "The US Empire can withstand moron presidents, a jackass Congress, and dumbbell Fed chiefs…but can it survive 5% interest rates?
We’re in Maximum Safety Mode. Here’s why. By our reckoning, the big sea change came in the summer of 2020. That is when the Primary Trend in the credit market – that is, the most primary of all trends in the financial world – changed direction. After a 40-year spell of rising bond prices (along with falling yields), the yield on the US 10-year bond finally hit bottom in July, 2020. Since then, bond yields are up…bond prices are down. In fact, it is the worst sell-off in the bond market ever seen. And it’s the strongest upswing in yields ever recorded.
Risky Business: The US 2-year note, for example, is the benchmark for short-term finance. On the last day of July, 2020, the yield was only 0.11% – barely one tenth of one percent. Today, it is over 5% – or 45 times higher.
When you can get 5% on two-year loans, it puts other investments in a new light. Adjusted for inflation, stocks are down 20% to 30% over the last two years. Why buy them? Who wants to risk another 25% loss? A five percent gain, guaranteed, takes the wind out of their sails…and sucks the credit out of their balance sheets.
Remember, the whole idea of lowering interest rates to absurd lows was to encourage investors not to save…but instead to put their money into risky ‘investments.’ Trouble was, with the real cost of capital thus obscured, the markets no longer imposed any discipline. A real interest rate – set by willing buyers and sellers of credit (lenders and borrowers) – is the only way to know whether you are making money or losing it. That interest rate – the going rate to borrow capital – is known as the “hurdle rate.” If your investment earns enough to pay the interest, it clears the hurdle. All is well. You, and by extension the whole world, get richer. But if you don’t clear the hurdle, you stumble…fall on your face…and real capital is consumed…used up…and lost.
When the Fed falsified the interest rate – in its crackpot effort to ‘stimulate’ the economy with fake money lent out at fake interest rates – it effectively knocked down the hurdle. Without it, there was no way to tell whether you were making money or losing it. The result? Money was wasted – on cryptos of no productive value…buybacks that only enriched shareholders while adding no productive capacity…zombie companies…and worst of all, on government “investments” that not only destroyed capital but also warped the whole economy, twisting it towards disastrous wars and economic meddling.
A Credit Crisis: You may say, ‘well…so what…the money wasn’t real anyway.’ True. But it was used to buy real resources…time…skills…that were squandered on silly projects. And these precious resources are, by the way, irreplaceable. Once you have used a gallon of gasoline…eaten a hamburger…or spent an hour of time…it is gone forever.
Now that interest rates are (barely) positive in real terms (after inflation) savers are once-again being rewarded and a hurdle, however modest, is back in place. But how do the zombies stay in business? They need to borrow just to keep the lights on. And what about the banks? They lent money at low rates…now, they’re being repaid at low rates, while customers expect to earn higher rates of interest on their deposits. US banks are said to be sitting on as much as $200 billion in losses. Four major banks have already gone broke. What about the rest of them?
It may be true – you never know! – that the economy can somehow muddle along towards higher interest rates and lower inflation. We doubt it. There is $307 trillion of debt in the world. Every penny represents a commitment by somebody to pay somebody else. And all of them made plans…and other commitments…based on assumptions that are no longer correct. They planned to refinance at 3%. Now, they must pay 6%...or 10%...or more.
We are describing a ‘credit crisis.’ When they changed the US dollar in 1971, the economy gradually became dependent on credit. Instead of paying for things with money they had already earned, people began to finance their houses, their cars, their dinners at TGIF, their corporate takeovers, their wars – everything – on credit. And when credit becomes harder to get and more expensive, there is a ‘crisis.’ And when investments go bad, the losses are not taken from past output…but from the future.
The Worsening Decline: Mortgages at 8% interest…cars at 10%...and business borrowing has shot up too; the Bank of America’s high yield index has more than doubled in the last two years. Bloomberg: "Junk Bonds Yielding Over 10% Hit $325 Billion, Tempting Investors."
The amount of double-digit yielding debt for investors to choose from in the US junk bond market has swelled over the last six months as higher borrowing costs and a weakening economy weigh on credit quality. Meanwhile, under the weight of higher interest rates, the whole capital structure begins to creak and wobble. Housing starts this year are at the same level they were in 1959. Business start-ups, too, are slipping. Bloomberg: "Venture Slowdown Hits the Earliest Stages of Investing, Signaling Worsening Decline."
The slowdown afflicting the venture capital and startup sector has hit the worst point of the last 18 months, new third-quarter data shows. Financings at the seed stage—the earliest chapter of startup investing and one previously insulated from the choppy environment—are slowing, a sign that the downturn is deepening."
And what about the biggest borrower of all – the US government? It is borrowing at the rate of $2 trillion per year. Three years ago, it would have paid less than 1% on a 10-year bond. Now, it’s 4.7%. For every debit, there is a credit. But not necessarily enough collateral. That is why we are in Maximum Safety Mode. We don’t know what will fail, or when – a bank, a company, a household? But we don’t want to be holding its I.O.U. when we find out."
o
Joel’s Note: "We asked BPR’s investment director, Tom Dyson, to explain Maximum Safety Mode in simple terms in a recent Private Briefing. Here’s what he said…"That's a shorthand way of saying that we're on the sidelines. I was just thinking about 2020 and 2021 and just looking back over some of the things that we were talking about and that were in the news back then. It's easy to forget how crazy the markets got back then with blank check companies, for example. To think that people were propositioning investors with this pitch. “We don't know what we're going to invest in, but we're going to invest in something cool. Why don't you give us our money now and we'll take care of it?”
That was even a thing. Loans with negative interest rates and images of rocks selling for hundreds of thousands or whatever. So it was crazy. It was a true bubble. And then you overlay on to that, they've just jacked up interest rates the fastest that any of us have ever seen in our lifetimes. I'm not going to say the fastest ever, but who knows? I don't know what's going to happen. I'm not saying that there's going to be a market crash or that bad things are going to happen. I'm not saying that. I don't know that. I don't have a crystal ball. What I'm saying is I don't want to participate in this right now. I just don't want to. I want to be on the sidelines and I'm happy to watch. It's fun to watch, I love it, but I don't want to be on the field.
By the way, we're getting paid to watch. For the first time in many years there's actually a real interest rate on risk-free securities. So why not? Why not watch? To me, that's just a sensible position. And I'm a gambler. I'm into asymmetric risks and making... We weigh up all the probabilities of all the potential outcomes and then you try and figure out what's the best thing to do. I just can't get away from this that the best place right now is on the sidelines watching.
Let's just see how this new interest rate regime goes, this new inflation burst that we've just had. Again, for the first time in a long time, no one is making us invest. Why don't we just chill? I guess that's my main message and that's the main position and that's what setting the dial to maximum safety means. It's like, "Let's not take any risk just for the moment. Let's just wait." And so that's what I mean by that. It's a philosophical position of “let's wait and see.”
Gregory Mannarino, "Tipping Point: The Higher The Risk Goes The More People Will Die"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 10/17/23
"Tipping Point: The Higher The Risk Goes The
More People Will Die, What You Must Know Now"
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Dan, I Allegedly, "A Scary $1 Billion Side Hustle"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly 10/17/23
"A Scary $1 Billion Side Hustle"
"Journey into the billion-dollar world of seasonal side hustles with me, Dan, of I Allegedly! Uncover the secrets of Spirit Halloween, a lucrative business that transforms vacant retail spaces into Halloween wonderlands. Join me as I explore these massive pop-up stores, revealing how this short-term hustle can result in long-term profits. You'll discover how these seasonal stores, open for just 60 days, generate a staggering $1.1 billion in Halloween sales."
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"Adventures With Danno, 10/17/23"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 10/17/23
"Items Everyone should Be
Stocking Up On At Meijer The Week!"
"In today's vlog, we are at Meijer and are showing all the great deals of things everyone should be stocking up on right now. With inflation and grocery prices getting unaffordable, we are seeking out the best prices that everyone should be taking advantage of!"
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o
Food related:
Full screen recommended.
The Atlantis Report, 10/17/23
"Costco Warns Of Huge Price Increases,
As Thousands Of Stores Begin To Panic"
Since its establishment in 1983, Costco has established itself as the go-to destination for substantial, low-priced items. This membership-based warehouse club, which originated in Seattle, Washington, has evolved into an international powerhouse. As of 2018, Costco operated 768 warehouses globally, including one in Iceland, and boasted a dedicated membership base exceeding 94 million individuals worldwide.
From its inception, Costco has nurtured its brand and garnered a fervent following by prioritizing the delivery of the most competitive prices on its products. In a competitive landscape where giants like Amazon and Walmart loom, offering competitive pricing has been a pivotal strategy to distinguish itself. In the words of Costco's CFO to company investors in 2018, "Price is at the top of our list. When prices are going down... we want to be the first to go down." But how does the retailer sustain its rock-bottom prices when others are striving to do the same?
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Monday, October 16, 2023
Canadian Prepper, "Red Alert! "We're Going To War"
Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 10/16/23
"Red Alert! "We're Going To War, Canada Advises
Citizens To Leave Lebanon; Iran Sets The Trap"
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Jeremiah Babe, "We Are On The Verge Of Darkness, No Time For Complacency"
Jeremiah Babe, 10/16/23
"We Are On The Verge Of Darkness,
No Time For Complacency"
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"A Look to the Heavens"
“NGC 253 is not only one of the brightest spiral galaxies visible, it is also one of the dustiest. Discovered in 1783 by Caroline Herschel in the constellation of Sculptor, NGC 253 lies only about ten million light-years distant.
NGC 253 is the largest member of the Sculptor Group of Galaxies, the nearest group to our own Local Group of Galaxies. The dense dark dust accompanies a high star formation rate, giving NGC 253 the designation of starburst galaxy. Visible in the above photograph is the active central nucleus, also known to be a bright source of X-rays and gamma rays.”
"I'm Rightly Tired..."
“I'm rightly tired of the pain I hear and feel, boss. I'm tired of bein' on the road, lonely as a robin in the rain. Not never havin' no buddy to go on with or tell me where we's comin' from or goin' to or why. I'm tired of people bein' ugly to each other. It feels like pieces of glass in my head. I'm tired of all the times I've wanted to help and couldn't. I'm tired of bein' in the dark. Mostly it's the pain. There's too much. If I could end it, I would. But I can't.”
- Stephen King, "The Green Mile"
"Family Dollar Issues Massive Recall On Hundreds Of Products"
Adventures With Danno, 10/16/23
"Family Dollar Issues Massive Recall
On Hundreds Of Products"
"Family Dollar issues a massive recall on hundreds of over the counter medicines and oral hygiene products. 23 states are affected from June 1, 2023, to October 4, 2023. We have thousands of viewers that shop at Family Dollar and wanted to bring this information to you as fast as possible!"
Comments here:
Full list of recalled products is here:
"Major Stock Market Crash Looms This Month As We See Multiple Warning Signs"
Full screen recommended,
The Atlantis Report, 10/16/23
"Major Stock Market Crash Looms This Month
As We See Multiple Warning Signs"
"Wall Street is shaking. October is here, and history has shown that it hardly smiles when it comes calling. For a Stock Market already unsteady in its tracks, will it survive the month of Market Crashes? The Ghost of October 24 to 29, 1929, seems to be very much alive and lurking in the shadows, waiting for another opportunity. Thursday, October 24, 1929, was tagged Black Thursday as investors woke up to the most shocking news ever. The market opened 11% lower than the previous day’s close, leading to heavy trading through the day and a series of panicked selling. Unfortunately, that was just the first day of the Great Stock Market Crash of 1929, and it continued for five days, ending on the 29th of October."
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"Holding On To Something..."
Sam: "It's like in the great stories Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end it's only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it'll shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something even if you were too small to understand why. But I think Mr. Frodo, I do understand, I know now folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there's some good in the world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for."
- Samwise Gamgee,
"Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers"
"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.”
There’s no need to speculate on this concern yet. There’s nothing so alarming on the evening news yet to suggest that such a problem might be imminent. 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 $4.54 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 13, 2023 $33,529,128,255,188.48; World debt as of September 2023: $307 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."
"Ticking Time-Bomb: Food Inflation Is Crushing Millions Of Low Income Americans"
"Ticking Time-Bomb: Food Inflation Is
Crushing Millions Of Low Income Americans"
by Tyler Durden
"In 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy.” The sentiment was expressed right on the heals of a banking crisis which led to the Panic of 1907. The event was widely blamed on a liquidity crunch, and this same crisis was used as a rationale for the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank in 1913-1916. Of course, it is the central bank and its ability to generate fiat money from thin air (unbacked liquidity) that has led the US to the stagflationary disaster we face today. The “solutions” offered by establishment elites are often worse than the problems they are supposed to solve.
The total inflationary damage done to Americans consumers since 2020 varies according to who you ask. Stats from the Federal Reserve and government are muddled in a series of creative mathematics in order to make the situation look much better than it is. CPI is not a valid indicator of true inflation given it is watered down with over 80,000 items and services, and many of them are not necessities for the common US household. If we look only at necessities like housing, food and energy, the economic picture looks increasingly bleak.
Food, as Alfred Lewis noted, is particularly vital to civil cohesion. The human body can in fact survive up to three weeks without a meal, but the vast majority of people in the first world are not acclimated to such conditions and might just panic after one or two days without sustenance.
The potential for this scenario might sound exaggerated to those in a higher income bracket, but it's important for these people to understand that a 25%-50% increase in food costs for them is not the same as a similar increase for people on a low or fixed income. For example, food price increases for the average middle-class to upper-middle-class households amount to around 11% of their annual income in 2023. However, for people in the low income bracket, food costs now amount to 31% of their annual income. That's a pile driver to the wallet.
The problem may also be even more pervasive than the data indicates, with inflation tracking under-representing real prices on the shelves. Just look at this price comparison of 2020 grocery expenses vs 2023 grocery expenses by one US consumer:
Full screen recommended.
Prices are rising exponentially and low income Americans just can't keep up. In terms of SNAP benefits, over $3 billion were cut from total payouts in 2023, meaning food stamp benefits are decreasing as inflation rises. Social Security has seen an 11% increase from 2020 to 2023, but average costs have risen at least 25%-50% on most goods.
Over 42 million people in the US will rely on SNAP benefits in 2023, and that's 4 million more people than those using SNAP at the end of 2019. Almost 12% of Americans stated they were food insecure in 2022 as opposed to 10% in 2019. Over 66 million Americans rely on Social Security payments as of 2023. In 2022, one-in-six Americans used food charity including food pantries in order to feed their families; that's 16% compared to only 6% in 2020. Rising food inflation affects these people most, and the consequences are starting to become visible.
Identifying the problem is one thing, fixing it is another. Democrats would argue that these stats are simply more proof that government spending needs to increase. The thing is, it was government spending and Fed fiat money that created the crisis in the first place. The more the government spends the more the supply of dollars must rise, and the central bank is more than happy to oblige.
Conservatives would argue that spending cuts are needed and that taxes must be reduced. This would slow the effects of inflation but not necessarily reverse the damage already done. Cuts to welfare programs might suppress demand for goods and cause prices to fall, but then again, demand for food is a constant, it does not really disappear just because benefits disappear. Civil unrest in the face of ever diminishing food benefits needs to be taken into consideration.
There are cuts that can be made to the budget without pulling the rug out from under low income families; the issue is, Democrats won't allow them.
And so the debate circles round and round. The US, the “most wealthy nation on the planet”, has a food security problem and is on the verge of an inflationary calamity for millions of low income citizens, all while it spends hundreds of billions of dollars on pointless climate change programs, diversity and inclusion initiatives and proxy wars. Something has to give, and the chances are growing that it will be the American consumer."
Bill Bonner, "The Wolf Awakens"
"The Wolf Awakens"
Old Testament justice and mass murder in the Holy Land...
by Bill Bonner
"Homo homini lupus est."
~ Latin proverb: man is a wolf to man.
Poitou, France - "Last week, all of a sudden, explosions…gunfire…bodies…mayhem – and as the dust settled, there was Truth, blindingly obvious…yet, still shocking. Truth about the past…and a warning about the future.
Stephen Pinker famously argues that we are all becoming lambs now. But now the wolf is back…snarling; and what big white teeth he has. All the world startled awake last week. Yes, it was an old-fashioned eye for an eye…mass murder in the Holy Land. Hamas attacked Israel. Israel retaliated. Now, with the whole world on edge, the Israeli Defense Forces are preparing what threatens to be a massacre…ethnic cleansing… genocide. We don’t know exactly what is happening because the Israelis cut off food, water and electricity to Gaza. Nothing gets in. But no information comes out, either.
We are also watching ‘the West’ handle a major foreign policy problem. Pay attention, because this is how it will handle its major domestic challenge (debt) too.
Rules of Engagement: Over the weekend, the Israelis marched along the walls of Gaza, carrying aloft the Ark of the Covenant and lobbing explosives at apartment buildings, hospitals and shopping malls. How many were killed, we don’t know. They also cut off vital supplies to the Palestinians – including medicines for the very young and very old. When Russia targeted Ukrainian infrastructure, Ursula von den Leyen, EU jefe, described it as a “war crime.” But this time it must be different! The Israelis “have a right to defend themselves,” she says.
Sooner or later, Israeli ground forces will attack. It won’t be easy going. House to house; they will face traps, explosives and small arms fire. Hamas must have known how the Israelites would respond. They must have planned for it. The Israelis too. With all of their sophisticated monitoring…and so many Israeli agents infiltrated within Hamas itself… it is almost unbelievable that they didn’t see this coming. Perhaps they did.
In the Biblical account of the attack on Jericho, with God’s blessing the Israelites wiped out men, women, children, donkeys, oxen and sheep. The only exception was a prostitute who had betrayed her neighbors by helping Jewish spies.
In January, 1943, the Jewish Ghetto of Warsaw was invaded by German and Ukrainian troops. But the Jews had been preparing a defense – they had a few guns and Molotov cocktails. The Nazis were beaten back. It took them until April to finally pacify the city…and cart the survivors off to Treblinka concentration camp.
“Israel upholds the rules of war,” says Joe Biden. Ultimately, the outcome doesn’t depend on right or wrong…or on the rule of law…or sanctimonious declarations of support. People want to argue about who’s good and who’s bad. But what counts is firepower…and staying power. As in the Warsaw ghetto, the besieged city of Gaza has no chance of victory. “Get out now,” says Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Defense Minister, advising the people of Gaza, who have nowhere to go. “We will act everywhere and with full force.”
Collective Guilt: Many students – innocent of the ways of the world, but informed by the leftish press – showered their sympathy onto the Palestinians. They decried the “collective guilt” put upon a whole nation of people and the death sentences handed down to thousands of women and children, who had nothing to do with terrorism or the resistance movement.
Major governments in ‘the West’ generally, take the Israeli side. After all, that’s where the power and money are. Sen. Josh Hawley: “As far as I’m concerned, Israel can bounce the rubble in Gaza. Nothing should be off the table…we will protect our interests.” What interests? Which way do they cut? Pro-Israel? Pro-Palestine? The satirical journal, The Onion, decided to support the Jews, “because we’re less likely to get into trouble that way.”
Taking his cue was one member of Congress. The Hill: "Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) arrived Friday on Capitol Hill wearing his military uniform from his service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in a display of unity with the country following the Palestinian militant group Hamas’s surprise attack last weekend. “As the only member to serve with both the United States Army and the Israel Defense Forces, I will always stand with Israel,” Mast wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, alongside several photos of him wearing the uniform Friday.
No one seems to have asked Mr. Mast where the bulk of his divided loyalties lay – with the US or with Israel. So far, no member has dared to wear a Russian army uniform…or an Iraqi military uniform in the halls of Congress. It scarcely matters. Outside of the killing zone, it is all theater.
Lambs to Slaughter: But for our purposes, we are focused neither on the wolves nor the lambs, but on the shepherds. In a civilized world…leaders of countries such as the US, France and Germany would be trying to protect the sheep. They would urge restraint. Calm. Negotiation. Deliberation. Most importantly, they would at least make it clear that they could not in good conscience provide aid – guns and ammunition – to be used to slaughter innocent civilians.
This would be deeply hypocritical on their part. But hypocrisy is the proper role of the elites – to preach virtue in public, while enjoying whatever vices they choose at home. Almost all nations at one time or another slip into Old Testament kind of warfare, where they authorize, promote, or overlook the ‘collateral damage’ they cause. But while major nations may not be able to avoid it in themselves, they have the power to curtail it in others.
What is so alarmingly on display in the Levant is the abject failure of The West’s leaders. Even at hypocrisy, they are a flop. Instead of calming people down, they incite them to even more outrageous acts of violence. And when the next financial crisis comes, it will be, grosso modo, these same corrupt and incompetent leaders who react. Will they urge monetary restraint and economic self-discipline? Not likely. Stay tuned..."
Dan, I Allegedly, "Cop Caught Stealing from Homes - Unbelievable Betrayal!"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly AM 10/16/23
"Cop Caught Stealing from Homes -
Unbelievable Betrayal!"
"Crime is out of control. Now we are seeing the police officers steal from us. Many officers in Broward County are being charged with PPP fraud. Plus, an officer in Connecticut, got arrested for breaking into homes."
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Jim Kunstler, "Who Do They Think They’re Kidding?"
"Who Do They Think They’re Kidding?"
By Jim Kunstler
"The din of war drums beating hasn’t completely drowned out the barrage of lying bullshit issued by US Deep State blobsters in their effort to keep reality at bay from a citizenry gone restive and aggrieved over the seemingly deliberate ruination of our country by the people who run it.
On Thursday, FBI Director Chris Wray and Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas warned Americans that terrorist threats are rising in the US since Hamas attacked Israel, October 7th. Mr. Wray explained: “Here in the U.S., we cannot and do not discount the possibility that Hamas or other foreign terrorist organizations could exploit the conflict to call on their supporters to conduct attacks on our own soil.” We must be especially alert to the “lone wolf” lurking amongst us, he added.
Neither of these officials noted that the rising terror threat here had any relation to the thousands of aliens streaming daily across the US border unvetted, or that the agencies under Homeland Security were helping to distribute them into every corner of America by plane and bus, giving them free cell phones, loaded debit cards, and other rewards for breaking the law.
And that “lone wolf” bit - is it possible that any number of them actually arrived as trained and pre-organized cadres or squads? How would we know? Most of them are military-age young men. Are these unreasonable questions to ask? And If Hamas was so supernaturally successful in secretly planning the mass murder and kidnapping operation of 10/7 from Gaza that the world’s supposedly top intel agencies were blindsided as it rolled out, why should Americans have any confidence that the FBI has a clue what any of those unvetted border-jumping mutts are up to here? Especially since those free phones enable them to find each other and hook-up right from the get-go, without delay. It’s even possible that those phones were preloaded with their comrades’ numbers on speed-dial. Not to mention that illegal migrants have been coming here in huge waves for years, and surely some have been busy ever since setting up networks aimed at making trouble that new arrivals can easily slot into.
Since the FBI has been so preoccupied the duration of the “Joe Biden” regime tracking down every native-born living soul who attended the 1/6/21 riot at the US Capitol, instead of using the agency’s assets to monitor alien networking, you have to wonder why Mr. Wray even bothers to comment on the current situation. He can only embarrass (or incriminate) himself more deeply. One thing for sure is not happening: any effort by Mr. Mayorkas and his 260,000 employees to make the US/Mexico border any less porous. If it hadn’t occurred them yet, they might consider closing down the US-funded United Nations operation in Central America (with help from several international NGOs) that is running way-stations to transport aliens north to our border in hundred-plus bus fleets at a time, taking every possible advantage to accelerate the flow. I guess we’ll just have to stand by and see what happens.
Speaking of mind-blowing bullshit, emanating from a different pseudopod of the DC blob, former CIA Director Leon Panetta chimed in with Fox News’s Bret Baier last week to declare he still thinks that Hunter Biden’s laptop was a Russian dis-info operation. Mr. Panetta was a co-signer of the notorious letter from 50 other former US Intel bigwigs in October, 2020, a few weeks before the election, organized by former Acting CIA Director Mike Morell to gaslight voters after The New York Post published the existence of the Laptop from Hell and some of its sordid contents tending to incriminate the Biden family for foreign influence-peddling.
As with so many blobsters infesting government and its nether regions, Leon Panetta likes to demonstrate that his contempt for the people of this land is boundless. He can’t possibly believe what he is saying. Everyone from the FBI to The New York Times has declared Hunter’s laptop authentic. Therefore, Leon Panetta is either a fool, a lying scoundrel, or insane. This kind of self-satisfied dishonor is a new thing in the USA, at least at the colossal scale it has achieved the past decade. In 2023 it is the order-of-the-day. In this particular case, it led to putting “Joe Biden,” with his handlers and movers, in a position to destroy the country, and they are getting it done.
Yet, events are still in motion, and decades are happening in days now. We’ll learn this week whether escalation of the war involving Israel and its enemies can be averted without giving Hamas a pass on consequences for its recent murder spree. We’ll learn whether a meaningful opposition against the Party of Chaos can organize around a new House speaker. We’ll learn whether that same assembly can begin the process of laying out a president’s crimes for all in the nation to see, including the sizeable cohort of citizens who relish official lying and being lied to."
Yeah, the full name of his website says it all...
Of course, they don't want to know the truth...God forbid...
Gregory Mannarino, "AM/PM 10/16/23"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 10/16/23
"Be Ready For An Immediate Worst Case Scenario"
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Gregory Mannarino, PM 10/16/23
"And Another 'Grand Deception!'
The Stage Has Been Set, Now Get Ready!"
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Adventures With Danno, "Food Shortage Report 10/16/23"
Adventures With Danno, 10/16/23
"Food Shortage Report;
Grocery Prices That Are Becoming Unaffordable!"
"Food Shortage Report for October 2023, and we are seeing some huge price increases on groceries! We go over what this means moving forward!"
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o
Meanwhile, no shortages here...
Full screen recommended.
Travelling with Russell, 10/16/23
"I Went To Russia's Largest Market: Sadavod"
"Sadavod Market in Moscow, Russia is the largest open trading market in all of Russia. With more than 9,500 individual traders spread over a 40ha territory. With more than 91 million shoppers per year. Discover with me what Russia's Largest Market is really like."
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You see it with your own eyes, what's it telling you?
Comments, please...
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