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Kitco Gold Forum Returns -- Trinovant, 15:32:17 7/21/24 Sun
Kitco's new gold forum is now active. I would have thought that some people who still follow this site, which was originally a kind of backup for the Kitco gold forum, might be interested - if you are, go to kitco.com and follow the link "Kitco Forum NEW".
well we made it guys! to the end of the world...here we are and gold is going up -- Goldenstein (), 23:35:30 7/20/24 Sat
just as we planned, isn't this awesome?
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nigs and noses -- ChinkyDinky, 13:09:32 11/15/23 Wed
who controls the 'music' industry?
same as who controls mass media.
same as who controls making of 'movies'.
Having arrived in bethesda md looking at an apartment i stepped on to the balcony was close to a new job to start soon.
There in the middle of the afternoon on a cloudlest bright afternoon
A huge falling asteroid fell before my sight before my feet reached the balconey which i was stepping on to - there showed me the future and immediately opened my crown shakra.
Cutting it short, Bethesda MD is the capital or administrative center of the great enlightenment event which will usher in the Golden Age of Aquarius for planet earth.
Arjuna was tasked to kill his evil minded cousins -- MichaelJH (), 12:38:23 9/07/23 Thu
A big exploration of human consciousness. One of the epics of - lord krsna winded up saying kill kill those bAstards - you and the world will come to NO
harm for doing so.
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Doctor, do you know anything thAt can help or harm me? -- MichaelJH (), 19:28:53 9/04/23 Mon
If you do, let me know when you do so i can entirely ignore you as i have always done.
But there are others such as sixth density light beings who had A constant message - take melatonin.
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Jim Stone on Maui -- aloon, 20:21:20 9/01/23 Fri
I have been through piles and piles of material on Lahaina. Here are the bullet points on what happened there.
1. Power lines did not start the fire.
2. The hurricane did not produce the perfect wind, I strongly suspect a weather warfare system did.
Nicole Schwab, the offspring of World Economic Forum mastermind Klaus Schwab, admitted that COVID was simply a precursor for coming climate lockdowns. In the leaked video above from a June 2020 panel discussion in Switzerland, Nicole comments that COVID proved the world could strongly shift once people felt an extreme threat to their livelihoods. She notes that policymakers now have more power post-COVID, and changes need not be incremental. In the full video, she states....
Nicole Schwab stated that the youth would be the easiest to brainwash into accepting this new reality. “And one of the key reflection points here is also around engaging youth, and for me, it’s again, I come back to this shift in the mindset of the restoration generation can we conceive of ourselves as humans?” she stated. Hence, they are confusing children in schools about their identity and disrupting their sense of self at the core. They are teaching the youth the “facts” when they have no other point of reference.
Schwab’s daughter knows that lockdowns and power grabs may happen instantaneously. They studied the masses during the extended plandemic to see how well everyone would obey. The masses gave into the fear-mongering, permitted their own children to be injected with an experimental drug, covered their faces for years, and placed themselves on house arrest. The “fringe minority,” as Trudeau put it, was small enough to control and punish. The push toward 15-minute cities will enable the globalists to keep us in place at whim...
Agriculture is major fucked up now -- MichaelJH, 16:31:44 7/26/23 Wed
The largest companies in are considering declaring force majure - cannot meet our obligations due to nature.
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China - the last one i would expect- fully followed buckminster fullers -- MichaelJH, 20:51:00 7/21/23 Fri
Observations and are swiftly increasing wealth of a whole region that
Will soon expand the wealth of the average person of se region far above the western world billionaires who retarded real progress.
Bud light -- MichaelJH (), 1:10:39 7/14/23 Fri
Decades of strong advertising a manly piss water drink. Blew it up in under a year with a tranny on the can. So opposite and so permanately killed.
Well hell, at this point why not try a few experimental brands? Tranny lite? Butfuck lite.
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When the Russians were the good guys and saved Americans -- MichaelJH (), 7:57:11 7/12/23 Wed
From Europes would be dominators of the world.
During the us civil war, the Russian tsars sent out a fleet of ships
To protect Amrican ports from those vipers trying to
Take advantage. For their good efforts they got executed 55 years later.
Name stealers and identy theft generally known now khazarian mafia - not jews - identy theft, tho those ugly long bearded jews who look like they crawled out of hell are expecting the aliens el to return soon - they are so fucked.
I am not part of that forum - no need to be. I see things as a wave 5 with a collapse, but the other wave it could be would be a wave 2 - retraces dramatically to wave 1 low. Probably means unclear to most. Dangerous to go against Wolanchuk.
Sorry about that - wave 1 is a high- the first high of a major new bull market. Wave 2 is a low retracing almost all of the low from the new bull market started from - and i quit talking right here.
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We have already gone through this no taxation -- MichaelJH (), 23:13:23 7/10/23 Mon
Without representation thing before. Get all the new irs agents you like - joe and hoe gone or, well, guess.
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Biden said to have less than 10% support amoung Americans -- MichaelJH (), 22:57:56 7/10/23 Mon
According to martin armstrong and a few other sources. They would have to do a 90% change of vote counting if that guy is still alive and able to utter a coherent sentence or phrase - not likely - and assuming all the whisleblowers are all shut up successfully.
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Zuckerbergs Threads a complete imitation of twitter -- MichaelJH (), 21:47:59 7/10/23 Mon
According to everything ive seen in my life, imitators will always remain far behind in market share than the originator.
Zuckerberg - i wont touch anything that cia douchebag is involved with anyway.
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bots, AI, lazy greedy people -- aloon, 14:57:24 7/07/23 Fri
I think I've seen the end of the internet.
It used to be good. now it's hard panning for nuggets
Stock marlet not important to most -- MichaelJH (), 15:02:55 7/02/23 Sun
But whar is important is what stage it is at. I say wave 5 - much much shorter in time than wave 3 (my estimate 1982 aug - 2022 jan). Wave 5 is followed by the word “collapse” - not crash.
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Defense from attackers going to be -- MichaelJH, 14:12:03 7/02/23 Sun
Self defense or local groups, against the Chinese who have held long term aims at taking over US lands. US military to be at its weakest.
1960’s spoof tv show Maxwell Smart -- MichaelJH (), 10:57:16 7/02/23 Sun
Put out during James Bond movies coming out seems to be occurring - two opposing organizations Kaos and Control.
Third world status -- MichaelJH (), 3:55:52 6/28/23 Wed
We got two destinies coming up - a short term one and a long term
You talking short term but that seems long to most.
I wish the very best under these dire circumstances. I didn’t create these damned situations and just let me enjoy how they get resolved by the authors.
Ps I forgot to mention lets have booze and sex
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@3rd World Status coming here -- GoldenEggs, 15:02:18 6/27/23 Tue
Remember you boomers on the fetid other forum, you hate me and don't like what I say. But I say the facts that WILL come to pass and you do not like me because of it. This future I predicted long ago WILL happen(give it time) and your complacency, apathy and complicity DOOMED your progeny and bloodline to this fate.
YOU doomed your children and whole bloodline to this dismal future.
POLITICO’s Foreign Owner Is Slashing Staff, Replacing With AI.
Around a fifth of the staff at Europe’s highest-circulation newspaper, Bild, are being fired by owners Axel Springer SE, which also owns influential U.S. publications such as POLITICO and Business Insider. The move is part of a drive to replace human workers with Artificial Intelligence (AI). https://thenationalpulse.com/2023/06/23/politicos-foreign-owner-is-slashing-staff-replacing-with-ai/
Here is another reason I’ll never pay them -- MichaelJH (), 3:10:42 6/23/23 Fri
Walking past road construction sites for the past 5-10 years
I only see 10-20 guys standing/sitting around doing nothing - always the case - never an exception. Lately i see some offers for work from them. Welll hell, i can do nothing also, but i would imagine it a bit challenging to somehow keep interested.
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@He had all of trans and sexual deviations and why - in 1982? -- GoldenEggs, 21:09:58 6/22/23 Thu
Because he knew the real history of pre WW2 Germany and why the German people went after the k1kes.
Want to know what books were burned in the street the k1kes are so quick to dogwhistle?
Guess who is behind all of the same shit today?
Kikes and predilection to the same perversions!
It's not hard to see the future when you see the jews and their past. They never change. That's why I can see the future so clearly. This Republic is doomed without a REAL holocaust. Not the fake crap the heebs have been lying about for permanent victim status.
The ONLY way to stop (((them))) is by rounding them all up and really shoah'ing them this time for real.
This is why the k1ke hate groups like the SPLC and the ADL are so desperate to quash any and all dissent from the right because the conservatives are waking up quick. So they use the alphabet agencies to intimidate the parents that are trying to protect their children from the clutches of the k1kes (Guess who is the head of the teachers union. Look up her name and heritage and who is also in control of the federal curriculum for the public indoctrination system masquerading as schools that are teaching kindergarteners how to use dildos)
Yes, it is all the same shit with the same filthy tribe of child molesters. I have a personal friend that had a grandmother that would tell stories about how she was raped as a child by these filthy sand n1gger bastards.
Humans in the universe by buckminster -- MichaelJH (), 20:00:50 6/22/23 Thu
My former fave - he was completely honest - i got shocked to my core -the was so up to date in knowing everything on right now 40 years after his death.
He had all of trans and sexual deviations and why - in 1982?
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Xcel energy sent email to join us for pride day -- MichaelJH, 16:02:47 6/22/23 Thu
Im paid up to most recent bill and planning to move far away if can. That just made uo my mind - i will never pay another xcel energy bill in my life no matter what.
@theNose -- GoldenEggs, 5:17:39 6/19/23 Mon
And I can assure you that you are NOT my medical doctor and that my blood testing would prove you wrong as well. It is called being in shape, ALWAYS eating correctly and meditation. Well, and probably good genes too.
I know you're poking the bear and now i'll ignore ya :)
eggs I can assure that you are hypothyroid and full of parasites.. -- Goldenstein, 21:56:54 6/18/23 Sun
I expect you to fully ignore me...that is fine too.
Juneteenth -- MichaelJH, 19:13:26 6/18/23 Sun
A new holiday, celebrates the final end of slavery in America. I was wondering what that was. In galviston tx a general released the last slaves from bongage.
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golden eggs, im responding to your post -- Goldenstein (), 19:28:11 6/15/23 Thu
"Not many people can say they have a BP of usually 109-110 over 60 and a resting heart rate averaging be3tween 55 to 60"
I had numbers like that in the 1990s and the MDs made me feel kinda proud...i have learned since I was severely hypothyroid, with a 96F body temperature to go with my slow weak heartbeat...and unknowingly FULL of PARASITES! ITs been an interesting journey since then, my body temp is now 98.6F, my blood pressure and heart rates a little higher but more attuned to a high-functioning mind/body and I feel better than when i was 28 at 61. and I strike FEAR in the minds of parasites of all kinds both known and unknown...Buyiodine.com and i will tell you why.
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Wolanchuck had been touting -- MichaelJH (), 11:26:55 6/14/23 Wed
The stock market upside recognition wave dor the last 25 y . I could see this happening now.
It is an artificial valuation as are precious metals in which governments have guaranteed that they wont be used as money and are nothing but beautiful pet rocks - at least until the last one of them is still in power.
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Stock market about to go wild on the upside -- MichaelJH, 11:03:14 6/14/23 Wed
Bosch - very poor debating style - no clue who you are and no clue about what has upset you about goldeneggs statements.
This is the backup or main board for Voy www.voy.com/249970/ Voy has restricted posters by not renewing their SSL certificates.
It requires a lot more tuning in due time but it will do in the meantime. I'm asked to duplicate the Voy forum as close as possible but have a major project on at the moment.
Please try it and any feedback is welcome.
These BB Boards have a lot more features that take a while to get used to. The board is open to all.
Not lucky, I just think different than others -- GoldenEggs, 8:42:11 6/11/23 Sun
I've always ate that way. Once maybe twice and that's it. I never did like junk food. Was never a fan of it. Even as a child I really didn't like dessert and I loved veggies.
Lastly, I stopped eating all mammals well over 20 years ago. I am not aging like those of my peer group.
Goldeneggs -- MichaelJH (), 14:26:32 6/10/23 Sat
You are lucky then. I myself ran cross country for a couple of years in high school. For twenty years after never gained one pund - about ten miles a day 4 miles before achool, 6-10 miles after school.
My five sisters were extemely jealous of me i could enjoy eating three of their deserts with no effect.
I wont mention what happened after that big time bad venus and mars lords of karma open shooting season on me.
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@vsixth density light beings, with us being third density beings: -- GoldenEggs, 20:48:14 6/09/23 Fri
Hey mikey, what density am I? I must be maximum density because i'm really opaque. Noone can see through me. It takes an X-ray or an MRI for anyone to see the light through me....
The shithole -- GoldenEggs (), 20:39:23 6/09/23 Fri
I just checked the sewage plant forum, the first time in many weeks.
LOL, PB and others over there are bitching and moaning about lack of participation. Well, it certainly cannot be because of the 'controllers' and the lousy regular posters over bitching and moaning about verifiable facts being posted.
I hope that forum dries up and withers away.
It will in time and they will only have their old dumb asses to blame.
I will have the last laugh as all the boomers over there wither away and die off.
Good riddance, they stunk up the place with their unwillingness to accept uncomfortable facts that DO have a bearing on the markets.
F them :)
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Weight loss - dont matter how much tou eat a day -- MichaelJH (), 19:48:24 6/03/23 Sat
It matters when you eat. 18 hours a day you fast - 6 hours a day eat all you want.
Got it? 6 hour window for eating.
March steadily towards ideal weght and be super healthy.
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Havent looked at this for over a decade -- MichaelJH (), 8:54:56 5/31/23 Wed
“Channeling” sixth density light beings, with us being third density beings:
Viruses arrive from space. Lab created stuff ineffective. A real pandemic from space may be arriving very soon that would wipe out 80% of humanity on the first pass - especially with reduced herd immunity from all the wrong mandates. Other interesting things in this
Dean koonts book includes an AI machine that -- MichaelJH (), 16:51:06 5/19/23 Fri
Is an incredible 4,000 years old.
Is that so? We are all 2 billion years old - except some negative beings may be 4 billion or more old - that missed the boat and need to start over from square 1 in order to reach enlightenment. They may be made a deal for excelerated evolution.
Some fiction writers are so far behind actual reality.
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Can biden and his crime family avoid prison? -- MichaelJH (), 10:44:45 5/16/23 Tue
That what is obvious to everyone else is about the last thing in the criminal mind
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I remember perhaps my favorite spiritual teacher -- MichaelJH (), 7:30:26 5/16/23 Tue
Stating that the Chinese are not Christians - thats why there are so damned many of them.
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Lipstick is appropriate for Ukraine -- MichaelJH, 6:54:24 5/16/23 Tue
They cannot stand on their own two feet by themselves without major support from whats left of declining western powers.
I dont know about you -- MichaelJH, 17:50:17 5/14/23 Sun
But i got a fucking beard which grows in which cannot be shaved of with less than 4new expensive razors.
Try me out. I was a happy guy, but, beware of cops and their wires which say arrest warrants- detain now. Not for me but for my enemies. They better hope the cops get them first.
.is it the end of the world with these deadly vax shots? -- MichaelJH (), 9:34:22 5/11/23 Thu
First of all you would need to define what is the world.
If you said the whole universe, then one would ask - just this universe we are in? Or countless millions of universes that exist?
But just counting this one speck in the eternal infinity- this speck in one milky way galaxy ?
Go fuck yorsel if you think you have 1 in a trillion cances of guessing +~ a triliion years squared.
All i can tell you these bad actors have the worst timing in choosing this for when the golden age of aquarius enlinighenment event occurs before 2294. This is just what was shown to me. Shown within this speck with giant to me cosmic omens.
I think jason is an amazing guy.
As the vedas say there was never a time when you didnt exist nor a time when you dont.
If jason is wrong about dreaming $6 silver i iwill have to pull the pin on the all infinite destroyer multi universe infinite grenade - just for the hell of it.
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I remember this as a kid approaching this in 5th grade -- MichaelJH (), 16:43:15 5/09/23 Tue
Just a spaced out kid who skipped out of Catholic mass ahead of elementary school to investigate to buy a mechanical pencil which i had become intrigued with.
Moved to public elementary school when caught. This is what i listened to there right away
I tell you that life can be such a hassle. Moved from 2 blocks across the street to directly across the street.
You know that covid ending -- MichaelJH (), 11:10:08 5/06/23 Sat
About the same as ehen all news stations started covering the covid pandemic on the same day with bill board all coming out also.
If they hadnt had that massive advertising campaign and govt mandates, no one would have noticed anthing. Flu deaths would have remained about the same instead of dropping down to zero. No assisinations of half a dozen Africa leaders who publicly mocked the pandemic and no DOD bioweapon vax shots.
About as dangerous as posting w/o having paid the certificate fee.
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Logging in - -- Krug, 10:41:16 5/04/23 Thu
Trouble logging in - -- Krug, Thu, May 04 2023, 10:24:10 [1]
Looks like Voy didn't renew their certificate on time, expired May 2. Just open up a new window, copy in the address/http and choose the option to override the security window. It may take 2 or so attempts. Voy will eventually get around to renewing the cert like they did same time last year.
I'm thinking Finviz futures charts are screwed up. -- Jasper, 7:58:17 5/03/23 Wed
according to today's data the lumber futures are 511 and have been that way for 7 days. Yesterday I mentioned that the price had been stuck at 382. Cheating, lying, sob's.
Paul Roberts from a couple of days ago. -- Jasper, 16:18:24 5/02/23 Tue
.
But not the supply. The supply is exploding. Budget deficits are running in the trillions of dollars while the Federal Reserve shrinks economic growth and the tax base, and nothing can be done about the US trade deficit. The decision to offshore US manufacturing was an economy-wrecking decision. The goods that Apple, Nike, Levi, and all the others make in China and Asia enter the US as imports when they are marketed in the US. The US, having moved its manufacturing offshore, has little to export to cover the trade deficit resulting from imports. By using their trade surpluses with the US to purchase US Treasuries, foreigners financed the US budget deficit and US wars. As countries increasingly settle their trade imbalances in other currencies, foreign demand for US debt is declining.
The consequence is that the supply of dollars is increasing, but the demand for them is falling. This means a drop in the exchange value of the dollar, which means a rise in import prices. The worst inflations are caused by the decline in the exchange rate of a currency. It is an inflation that the central bank cannot fight by throwing people out of work.
Anybody notice that lumber futures has been stuck on 382 for 3 days now. -- Jasper, 16:14:29 5/02/23 Tue
Doesn't show on the graph but it has been sitting there.
Biden bails out svb but not willing to foot the bill for other banks. -- Jasper, 14:35:34 5/02/23 Tue
.
The White House baulked at a blanket guarantee for all deposits because that would look like social welfare for the rich. Besides, the FDIC has only $127bn of assets (and less very soon) and may ultimately require its own bailout.
---------------------------------------------
Mr Whalen said US banks and bond investors (i.e. pension funds and insurance companies) are “holding the bag” on $5 trillion of implicit losses left by the final blow-off phase of the Fed’s QE experiment. “Since US banks only have about $2 trillion in tangible equity capital, we have a problem,” he said.
He predicts that the banking crisis will keep moving up the food chain from the original outliers to mainstream banks until the Fed backs off and slashes rates by 100 basis points.
The Fed has no intention of backing off. It plans to raise rates further. It continues to shrink the US money supply at a record pace with $95bn of quantitative tightening each month.
The horrible truth is that the world’s superpower central bank has made such a mess of affairs that it has to pick between two poisons: either it capitulates on inflation; or it lets a banking crisis reach systemic proportions. It has chosen a banking crisis.
From over to Jesse's cafe -- Jasper, 10:39:23 5/02/23 Tue
.
PM announced the 'rescue' of First Republic Bank this morning, in a takeover subsidized by the FDIC.
This is the second largest bank failure. Three of the four largest bank failures in U.S. history have taken place over the last two months.
The better than expected ISM Manufacturing numbers this morning helped throw the markets into a sharp reversal.
Gold and silver managed a fairly impressive intraday wash and rinse.
The Dollar shifted into rally mode.
Stocks had another ranging day but managed to finished mostly unchanged.
This may be a data driven week, with the Fed's latest rate decision on Wednesday afternoon, and the Non-Farm Payrolls report on Friday.
The corruption at the Supreme Court is almost on a par with the financial corruption and insider trading at the Fed.
And its performance falls about as historically short of intentions.
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Pretty cool! -- Jasper, 15:01:01 5/01/23 Mon
.
Rather than crop the image to focus on that single large central jellyfish galaxy, I have instead sharpened the much-reduced full photo to bring out clearly the number of surrounding galaxies. There is only one Milky Way star in this picture, the object with the four diffraction spikes in the lower-right. Every other dot is a galaxy, many of which can be seen to be very strangely shaped in the original full resolution image. In fact, I strongly recommend you click on the picture to explore that original image, just to see the variety of galaxy shapes.
And yet the stock market continues to chug blithely higher, well capable of achieving new record highs despite big layoffs by large companies, softening real estate prices and dim prospects for corporate earnings. We should have learned by now that Mr. Market can ignore bad news for as long as he pleases. Thus do share prices continue to ratchet higher on cooked data and faint support from the economy. Under the circumstances, many of us grow more skeptical each day toward a seemingly heedless bull market.
So why is your editor, a true bear’s bear, so bullish on stocks at the moment? The chart above explains why. It shows Chipotle (CMG) shares in a vertical climb that projects to as high as $2739. That would be a 34% gain over its current price. My technical runes suggest that this is very likely to happen. Mainly, it is the way buyers shredded the red line, a ‘midpoint Hidden Pivot’ resistance. Whenever this telltale gives way so easily, especially in the context of a bullish pattern as compelling as this one, it means the D target will be reached.
A Bull-Market Illusion
If so, it will not occur in a vacuum while other stocks languish or slip into a bear market. CMG is as much a proxy for institutional mindset as AAPL, a bellwether featured here many times in the past for the same reason. The portfolio managers who control mega-cap stocks want them higher simply because sticking with a half-dozen-or-so stocks as they continue to rise on autopilot has been an unbeatable way for even the laziest and stupidest among them to make money hand-over-fist. All they need do to exploit the rise of AAPL, CMG and a few other world-beaters that have vivified the illusion of a robust bull market is to stay out of the way. Absent their participation, short-covering on thin volume will lift stocks without requiring much capital. That’s because gap-up openings that have become routine over the last year or so have enabled stocks to waft into thin, frictionless air. It is a perpetual motion machine of sorts, at least while it lasts.
Bottom line, if you’re going to rely on someone else’s bullish forecasts, wouldn’t you rather it come from a disinterested technician who hates the market than from some permabullish simpleton who doesn’t believe in recessions and thinks stocks are headed to infinity?
contract shipping woes continue. -- Jasper, 8:53:06 5/01/23 Mon
.
Contract Load Accepted Volumes (CLAV) is an index that measures accepted load volumes moving under contracted agreements. In short, it is similar to OTVI but without the rejected tenders. Looking at accepted tender volumes, we see a rise of 3.41% w/w as well as a fall of 9.4% y/y. This y/y difference confirms that actual cracks in freight demand — and not merely OTRI’s y/y decline — are driving OTVI lower.
The not-so-recent round of earnings calls from major carriers confirmed what our data had been showing for the past year: Namely, weak truckload volumes and a sharp decline in ocean imports, particularly on the West Coast, are forcing the market into a downturn — or, as J.B. Hunt titled it, a “freight recession.” Talking to their customers, carriers widely reported that shippers were continuing to struggle with high inventory levels. Retailers especially expressed uncertainty about consumer activity in the near-term future and had accordingly adopted a cautious stance.
Mexican National Who Murdered 5 People Was Deported 3 Times -- Jasper, 8:52:10 5/01/23 Mon
.
The illegal alien suspect is a Mexican national, and the five murdered victims are Honduran nationals here illegally, looking for a better life. Todd Bensman of CIS said the area of San Jacinto is known as an illegal alien enclave.
Oropeza is armed and dangerous. Sheriff Capers said Oropeza could be “anywhere.”
People have a tough time understanding the game rules -- Jasper, 7:52:09 5/01/23 Mon
Tucker became a non-player and so had to go. Easy-peasy, no crying over spilt milk here, he's gone, done, finished at Fox. Big deal, the only time I ever saw him is when a link would pop up on the net or the missus would send a link.
I made a comment on unhealthy seeds oils -- MichaelJH, 5:14:16 5/01/23 Mon
That the low level AI bot had posted about one seed oil and a bunch more unhealthy oil posts follow. And included a clif high on healthy fats.
Work on those bots some more and come back in 1,000 years.1
Fred on Everything -- Jasper, 21:16:39 4/30/23 Sun
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A wag once described Washington as a federal conclave surrounded on all sides by reality. In this there is much truth.It is a city isolated from what it doesn’t want to know, wallowing in its supposed indispensability and unaware of how much of the world wants, and intends, to dispense with it.
The dispensing-with goes apace, mortal but not spectacular. From David P. Goldman of Asia Times: “Central Asian countries increased imports from China in March by 55% over the year-earlier month, beating the 35% jump in Chinese shipments to Southeast Asia reported previously...There’s another geopolitical consequence of China’s export prowess in Central and Southeast Asia: China’s exports to the Global South and BRICS countries in March reached a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of $1.6 trillion a year…That’s nearly four times China’s exports to the United States and more than the combined total of China’s exports to the US, Europe and Japan…That represents a geopolitical point of no return of sorts, the moment when China’s economic dependence on the United States in particular and developed markets in general slipped behind its economic standing in the developing world.”
The European show is over, the curtain beginning to fall, and people get up to leave the theater. Yet in Washington they still talk of America as a shining city on a hill, not and Anglo favela. The center of gravity of economy, technology, science, and finance moves eastward
John Hussman -- Jasper, 21:00:21 4/30/23 Sun
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Market conditions
At present, our most reliable equity market valuation measures remain more extreme than at any point in history prior to July 2020, with the exception of a few months directly surrounding the 1929 peak, and two weeks in April 1930. Meanwhile, our primary gauge of market internals remains unfavorable, based on uniformity and divergence of market action across thousands of individual stocks, industries, sectors, and security-types, including debt securities of varying creditworthiness. Those conditions may change, but for now we continue to estimate the likelihood of negative 10-12 year S&P 500 total returns, with the prospect of interim losses on the order of -60%. I recognize that these projections seem preposterous, but that is the situation that more than a decade of Fed-induced, yield-seeking speculation has now created for investors. For an extensive, data-rich discussion, see my February comment, Headed for the Tail.
Still, because financial markets are driven by the beliefs and opinions of market participants, it’s essential to concede that it doesn’t matter a bit – in the short term – whether those beliefs and opinions are correct. Actual economic relationships, cash flows, valuations, and reality only matter over the complete market cycle and over the long-term. It’s on that horizon – the completion of the cycle, and the long-term – that the difference between opinions and reality exert their impact, in the form of events like credit crises, market collapses, and extraordinarily long and interesting trips to nowhere for total returns.
As Benjamin Graham observed, in the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long-run, it’s a weighing machine. We remain convinced that attention to the combination of valuations and market internals is the most effective way to arbiter battles between short-term investor psychology and long-term cash flows.
While a shift back toward speculative investor psychology would not relieve the extremely poor long-term outlook for the equity market, it could certainly defer those consequences. My impression is that the window for such improvement is narrowing, given that measures of deteriorating employment conditions are gradually joining leading measures that have been pointing toward recession for months now. At current valuations, an improvement in our measures of market internals wouldn’t provide the basis for a bullish investment outlook, but it would suspend the immediacy of our bearish outlook. For now, conditions remain in what I often describe as a “trap door” situation. A market collapse, at its core, is really nothing but risk-aversion meeting a market that is not priced for risk.
Elon Musk wants a halt in AI for civic purposes but - He realizes he is behind the ball -- Jasper, 16:58:49 4/30/23 Sun
and wants to even up the playing field so here is his plea. 15min in.
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In my late 30's I got into rollerblading. -- Jasper, 17:44:06 4/29/23 Sat
It was nothing to go 20-30miles. Had lots of falls and many a bruise but I was bad-assed. Broke my collarbone on a hairpin turn cause of sand on the track, still pushed on through.
I didn't do as much rollerskating until my kids got old enough for me to take -- Jasper, 7:21:21 4/29/23 Sat
then had a pretty good time, until the kids didn't want Dad there to embarrass them in front of their friends.
Blue states in denial. -- Jasper, 7:18:59 4/29/23 Sat
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The IRS data shows a net 105,000 people left Illinois in 2021, taking with them some $10.9 billion in AGI. That’s up from $8.5 billion in 2020 and $6 billion in 2019. New York’s income loss increased to $24.5 billion in 2021 from $19.5 billion in 2020 and $9 billion in 2019. California lost $29.1 billion in 2021, more than triple what it did in 2019.
By contrast, the lowest tax states added some $100 billion of income during the pandemic. Zero-income-tax Florida gained $39.2 billion—up from $23.7 billion in 2020 and $17.7 billion in 2019. About $9.8 billion of the total arrived from New York, $3.9 billion from Illinois, $3.7 billion from New Jersey and $3.5 billion from California.
A couple more I Loved to skate to -- GoldenEggs, 22:23:03 4/28/23 Fri
Miss big hair and bubblegum without all the degeneracy of todays shitty monkey noise.
You gotta believe -- Jasper, 18:24:24 4/27/23 Thu
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Filthie's Thunderbox
@Glenfilthie
14h
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There Is So Much To Un-Learn
All my life, I’ve been told that if I smoke, I AM GONNA GET LUNG CANCER AND DIE A HORRIBLE DEATH!!!!! What errant bullshit!!! After surviving the great Covid Scamdemic unvaccinated… I have started looking at the medical establishment with contempt and suspicion. No one I know that smokes got cancer and died. My dad smoked like a stack for 55 years. He’s still kicking at 82. HIS father smoked like a stack and died at 87. How long do ya wanna live, anyways? My grandfather on my Mom’s side didn’t smoke at all and he died at the age of 77. I’m convinced genetics have a far bigger impact on determining our health than anything else.
I’m not saying people should be irresponsible with their health… but each time these new “studies” come out… I begin to question the expertise of the self-proclaimed “experts”.
John Rubino writes about the ponzi in the house. -- Jasper, 16:04:36 4/27/23 Thu
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he key takeaway is that a Ponzi scheme dies when the inflow of new money is insufficient to pay off existing investors victims. To understand why this matters today, let’s do a thought experiment. Say that in the coming year, the US has to pay out 5% more for Medicare and Social Security, and 7% more for its global military empire. Meanwhile, businesses with debts coming due have to roll them over at higher interest rates, while homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages see their monthly payments rise.
In the aggregate, that’s a lot of new dollars — let’s say half a trillion — that didn’t exist a year ago but are needed now. And they have to come from somewhere. In a normal fiat currency system, the central bank simply creates the needed currency out of thin air, everyone gets paid, and the resulting decline in the value of the currency is small enough that few are bothered.
But that’s not what’s happening today. As the above obligations come due, the amount of available money is … shrinking. The following chart of the M2 money supply growth rate shows a massive spike from all the covid lockdown stimmy checks (which partially accounts for last year’s surge in consumer prices) and a correspondingly dramatic plunge this year. Note that during the entire fiat currency era, M2 has never before gone down.
Martin Armstrong weighs in on the Tucker Carlson exit -- Jasper, 15:43:58 4/27/23 Thu
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Fox News fired their most popular reporter a day after the Dominion settlement. Within minutes, Fox lost $1 billion in market capitalization. Carlson claims that he amicably parted ways with Fox, but the timing is no coincidence. He tore into media agencies for forcing COVID vaccinations on employees during his last broadcast. When a popular host leaves a news network, there are promotions for weeks regarding their last show but his exit was sudden and unexpected.
CNN fired Don Lemon the same day, which made more sense since he was losing views and alienating his target audience with sexist remarks and alleged misconduct. Tucker Carlson Tonight was the highest-rated program on cable news. This was not a business decision.
This is the statement during his last broadcast that may have led to Carlson’s exit from Fox:
“Now, imagine as they told you that that Fox as a news organization endorsed it, amplified the government’s message. Imagine if Fox News attacked anyone who refused to buy MyPillow as an ally of Russia as an enemy of science and then imagine that Fox kept up those libelous attacks, even as evidence mounted that MyPillow caused heart attacks, fertility problems and death. If Fox News did that, what would you think of Fox News? Would you trust us? Of course, you wouldn’t. You would know that we were liars.”
He then went on to say he was grateful Fox did not implement mandates. Still, it seems as if Carlson was being stifled from speaking. He continued questioning the voting scandal and has made numerous valid arguments against the 2020 US Presidential results. There are now calls to cancel Fox News across every social platform. It is a shame as this was the last large conservative news network but they are caving into the desires of their advertisers. More notable, they are caving to the Neocons who do not want a popular TV host calling them out by name in front of millions.
The same thing happened to Bill O’Reilly, who only became more popular upon his exit. Not only are people unsubscribing from Fox, but they are also unsubscribing from streaming services that they used to watch Tucker’s show. Horrible business decision on Fox’s part, but conservative voices have no place in Biden’s America.
The only black powder production facility in the US to reopen. -- Jasper, 9:05:00 4/27/23 Thu
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A handful of critical materials used by the U.S. are only produced inside war-torn Ukraine, said Anthony Di Stasio, a senior Pentagon official in charge of prioritizing and investing in defense production.
Stimulating the marketplace to bring production to the U.S. is doable, he said. “I’d be really surprised if we couldn’t get this done within the next three years,” Mr. Di Stasio said, of the overall effort.
In February, Estes company officials touring the facility pointed to upgrades to the mill. It now has a new, state-of-the-art fire suppression system, a shiny network of metal pipes and water guns aimed at the points of production vulnerable to the sparks that caused the 2021 accident.
The previous month Estes had restarted production of an inert black powder substitute as a safety test, before it resumes production of the real thing. The launch has been delayed a number of times, once recently when a water main broke in the middle of the factory grounds.
“Whenever you turn on old machinery that has stood for a while, [there] tends to be something that breaks,” said Karl Kulling, chief operating officer of Estes Energetics. “So we’ve gone through basically each machine and fixed up things here, there and everywhere.”
Good news on the epa front. -- Jasper, 6:49:41 4/27/23 Thu
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Senate voted 50-49 to overturn Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules that aim to drastically cut smog- and soot-forming emissions from heavy-duty trucks but the White House said President Joe Biden would veto the measure.
The bill, which was backed by Republicans and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, seeks to repeal the Biden administration rule finalized in December.
Republicans argue it was overly challenging to implement, would make trucks cost prohibitive for small business owners, and increase supply chain costs. The White House said the rule "cuts pollution, boosts public health, and advances environmental justice."
Under the Congressional Review Act, a simple majority vote in both chambers of Congress can reverse recently finalized rules. The House of Representatives has not yet voted on the bill.
@Casey interview -- GoldenEggs, 23:23:38 4/26/23 Wed
Watched it, no new concepts and insights that most here would not already know (I would surmise). Both participants were very wooden throughout the exchange. That alone made it very boring to someone on the same page as his for decades.
I prefer Celente. He makes me laugh because i'm much like him in his angst and lets it fly, damn those who may be too stuffy for their own good. You know, the same verbosity that made the curmudgeons feathers ruffle in the other asylums.
I rattled their cages and made them think. Thinking hurts many stuck in their stuffy ways and they don't like the pain of someone speaking the truth that challenges their narrow world view. Some thought I was entertaining and others genuflected whilst throwing textual bedpans at yours truly.
As the saying goes, the truth hurts. F'em if they can't take a joke. The boy down 'blunder surely couldn't
Martin Armstong post -- Jasper, 20:33:36 4/26/23 Wed
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and by 1301 there was virtually no silver remaining in the open market in France. Currency depreciation let Philip cover the cost of the war but it destroyed the credit of France and that ultimately led to France seizing the Papacy and strip-mining all its assets moving the Church to Avignon where a French Pope was installed. They then seized all the assets of the Knights Templar and burned all resistance alive. The Knights Templar were effectively an international transfer agent. If you were in France and needed to pay someone in Italy, you gave the money to the local office in France and they instructed the brank in Italy to pay. It was a 13th-century version of a wire transfer service. That is why the French crown seized the Knights and strip-mined all their wealth as well.
Obviously, this banking crisis of 1298 was far beyond anything most people would have read about in a financial crisis. This is what I mean when I warn that those in power will do WHATEVER it takes to retain power, and religion never means anything at the end of the day.
China has high flying balloons and so does everyone else including yours truly. -- Jasper, 18:19:57 4/26/23 Wed
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Experimental NASA high altitude balloon circles Antarctica in ten days
An experimental NASA high altitude balloon has successfully circled the continent of Antarctica in only ten days, flying at an average elevation of 107,000 feet.
The images have so far been of astronomical objects, such as the Antennae galaxy and the Tarantula nebula. Being so high above the atmosphere, the pictures are sharper than ground-based telescopes and have a much wider field of view.
The press release did not state how long this flight will last, but it did mention a second balloon mission is planned, flying a European cosmic-ray detector.
I got three dates for a tsunami which ate relatedto a tsunami -- MichaelJH, 15:58:04 4/26/23 Wed
Which was heavily mentioned shen i first arrived on this pathetic site in eaely 2000. Oh gofish
Quote the Raven article on a Harris Kupperman tweet. -- Jasper (), 9:22:15 4/26/23 Wed
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In the end, it all comes down to math. Unfortunately, given the nature of oil, precise data is impossible to come by. Instead, I’m forced to use some back-of-the-envelope internal estimates that are likely to be directionally correct, if empirically incorrect. With that in mind, I believe that oil investors have now suffered through the following since the late summer of 2022:
China locking down over COVID for approximately 200 days with a demand loss of 2.5 million barrels per day (bbl/d) or 500 million barrels (bbl) throughout Asia
Global Strategic Petroleum Reserve releases in excess of 300 million bbl
Russia dumping approximately 150 million bbl of crude and refined products before sanctions took hold
A warm winter in Europe and North America which reduced heating oil and propane demand by approximately 100 million bbl
In total, we’re looking at a swing of approximately 1.05 billion barrels over a period of roughly 200 days, or 5.25 million bbl/d. With that in mind, the surprise shouldn’t be that oil prices declined under the weight of this massive swing. Rather, the surprise should be that global commercial inventories barely increased. Where did those barrels go? They got consumed. What’s more, they got consumed during a period where increasing interest rates incentivized many consumers to run down their existing inventory, inventory that is not tracked by the various acronym agencies tasked with tracking inventory, adding a further headwind to global imbalances.
Now, we find ourselves at a moment in time when the first three of the headwinds noted above are reversing, and no one can predict the weather. Meanwhile, global demand grows every year. If global commercial inventories could barely increase with these extreme factors in play, what happens now that they’ve reversed? What happens if there’s an accident on the supply side for a change?
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Druckenmiller, who as George Soros’s right-hand man helped break the Bank of England -- Jasper, 8:31:56 4/26/23 Wed
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Druckenmiller also reiterated his view that big asset classes like equities were likely to show little if any positive direction over the next 10 years. “I think we will have a lot of swings.” However, the investor expected a US recession and is shying away from “old economy” small and midsized companies. “I’m in the ‘hard landing’ camp,” he told the conference.
The US dollar went on a tear higher in 2022 when the Fed jacked up interest rates aggressively to contain inflation, with an index that measures the currency’s strength against a basket of its biggest counterparties climbing 8 per cent.
However, growing investor fears that the US economy is heading towards a recession and that the US central bank is about to halt its rate increases — and might even be forced to begin to cut by the end of the year — have sent the dollar index down by nearly 10 per cent since its November peak.
GoldenEggs -- Jasper, 20:47:13 4/25/23 Tue
Everything is coming off the rails, the train has left the station and us plebes are still slogging and milling around the rosy.
When the politicians only pander to the lowest common denominator (the minorities) the social contract ceases to exist.
A democracy is supposed to pander to the majority. That is how it is supposed to be BUT now it only works for the minorities that only take and contribute nothing at all and perp almost all the crime.
It's been a race to the bottom for a long time. Well, the bottom is approaching fast.
Charles Smith's latest -- Jasper, 13:04:48 4/25/23 Tue
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When scammers large and small live better than those creating value in the real economy, the Social Contract has ceased to exist. When the illegitimate process of wealth acquisition--a rigged playing field, a bought-off referee, and an Elite that's above the law by every practical measure--dominates the economy and the political structure, the Social Contract has been shattered, regardless of how much welfare largesse is distributed to buy the complicity of state dependents.
Once the chumps and marks realize there is no way they can ever escape their exploited banana-republic status as neofeudal debt-serfs, the scammers, cheats and grifters large and small will be at risk of losing their perquisites. The fantasy in America is that legitimate wealth creation is still possible despite the visible dominance of a corrupt, venal, self-absorbed, parasitic, predatory Aristocracy. Once that fantasy dies, so will the marks' support of the Aristocracy.
Comex expiration today -- Jasper, 9:51:40 4/25/23 Tue
With metals not hit as hard as previously it could mean that by Thursday or Friday we could see a significant advance of the metals.
A thoughtful but sad post eulogy to a Mom. -- Jasper, 9:06:34 4/25/23 Tue
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She died in her apartment, 75 years-old, living alone, taking care of herself while both her legs were amputated. She lived to see her oldest son married. She did not see her middle son married nor her granddaughter. But at least she did not live to see her youngest son die of cancer. As I look back over the hardships in her life I think her thoughts of suicide were understandable. She did not have any religion to comfort her. So I think of her with immense pride now to continue with such fortitude, inspite of feelings of suicide, to raise three children, and to achieve two masters degrees and a PhD degree. What I think was amazing about my mom is that she had tremendous courage for someone who was always afraid and imparted the most important wisdom to her children even though she was often in a state of panic.
Oh! it's the people that don't want to kill and process their own food folk. -- Jasper, 17:24:13 4/24/23 Mon
No please, don't make me kill and butcher that chicken. But it is okay to pay someone else to do the dirty work.
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I don’t remember exactly what I said to Dave, but I probably mumbled that I don’t know much about it; why?
“Republicans want guns at schools, and they also want hunter training in schools. I don’t have guns in my home, and my kids don’t have guns in their homes, yet they want to expose my grandkids to gun culture when neither I, my wife or my kids, and their spouses want that. We don’t want anything to do with it,” he said.
I might say I cannot fathom why someone so very against guns believes not teaching gun safety is important? Not teaching kids who might not now about firearms is a good idea? However, I do have an idea as to why many so afraid of guns oppose teaching kids the dangers of irresponsible handling of guns. I believe it is simply at they hate guns and fear anything that might lessen someone else’s fear of a firearm.
What is missing in these news articles? There is zero articles about how to make America better. -- Jasper, 15:13:17 4/24/23 Mon
No new science break throughs to help the US. No new peace talks. Not anything to bring this world to a non-chaotic alliance. Zero, nada, zip. It's as if the media does not want to write the good stories, go figure.
4/24 The many weaknesses of the Chinese economy – AT
4/24 What influence does the market actually have on gold and silver prices – TT
4/24 Real wages fall for 2 yrs as “transitory” inflation turns stubborn – MI
4/24 Animated chart: the S&P 500 in 2023 so far – VC
4/24 Volatility set to rise as we enter recession event horizon – ZH
4/24 Bed bath & beyond files for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection – A
4/23 Recession watch: cars and houses join the list – Rubino
4/23 BRICS-G7 war: mercantilism, multipolarity, and gold… – ZH
4/23 The global economy’s slow-motion reset as cheap money era ends – Axios
4/23 Where people borrow money from, by country income level – VC
4/23 Needed: ‘a made in the USA’ policy plus energy independence… – GI
4/22 Fantasy of the Day: The U.S. Consumer is Holding Up Well – MT
4/22 Short end of the treasury market goes totally nuts… – WS
Don't jump! -- Jasper, 9:41:55 4/24/23 Mon
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“The average interest rate for a new vehicle was 7 percent in the first quarter, compared with 4.4 percent a year earlier. That’s the highest level since 2008, according to new data from Edmunds, a car shopping website. For used vehicles, the average jumped from 7.8 percent to 11.1 percent.”
This is why the monthly payment for roughly 17 percent – or about 1 in 6 – of new vehicle loans in Q1 2023 was over $1,000 bucks.
At that price it really doesn’t matter what your income level is. One thousand dollars a month for a car payment is a significant pile of money. So, too, is $730 per month, which was the average monthly payment for a new vehicle in the first quarter.
In all seriousness, do not sign up for one of these monster car payments. This will ruin your life for decades to come. Sooner or later, something must give in the way of lower car prices. Don’t lock yourself in to this misery.
Not only does a monster car payment cut into people’s monthly budgets. It also limits their ability to save and invest for the future. And if people aren’t saving and investing for the future, they’re not building wealth. To the contrary, like Brookfield, they’re burning wealth.
To this end, we have a hunch that over the next couple of years vast numbers of people are going to experience the rush that comes when time simultaneously slows down and speeds up.
Not because they’ve committed a base jump off a skyscraper – though some will. Rather, it’ll occur at the precise moment they come to the disturbing realization that they’re broker than broke.
Great finds posted today Japer. -- MichaelJH (), 18:45:31 4/23/23 Sun
What is your excuse for not posting this 40 years ago?
Im not interested in any of your excuses, such as the public internet and social forums didnt even exist then, much less much of that knowledge. I want accountability.
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The author has come to the conclusion that we already knew. -- Jasper, 18:22:48 4/23/23 Sun
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Now, what precisely is the connection between NPR’s sanitized “news” and the thesis of the Templeton book? It suddenly dawned on me. It is possible to understand nearly everything going on today – the Covid response, the political tribalism, the censorship, the failure of the major media to talk about anything that matters, the cultural and class divides, even migration trends – as a grand effort by those people who perceive themselves to be clean to stay away from people they regard as dirty.
And not just people but ideas and thoughts too. This goes way beyond some reemergence of Puritanism, though this is a species. The desire for purification extends to the whole of the physical and intellectual world. It’s the reason for the cancellations, the purges, the demographic upheavals, the loss of liberties, and the threat to democratic norms. It covers everything.
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So the dirty people were healthier people in particular ways. Fascinating, right? It’s only the beginning of what you will discover in this book. If I were to summarize, Templeton proves that there is no such thing as clean in the way that term is popularly understood, and every attempt to bring it about carries with it grave risks to human health. A naive immune system is a killer. This thesis could also be a metaphor concerning the attempts to clean up the public mind too: the more we censor, the more stupid we become. The more we cancel, the less fully human and safe are our lives.
The clean vs. dirty distinction was once an indicator of class, perhaps a desiderata of germaphobic pathology, even a harmless eccentricity. But in 2020, the obsession became extreme, an aesthetic priority that overrode all morality and truth. It then became a fundamental threat to liberty, self-government, and human rights.Today this demarcation has invaded the whole of our lives, and it threatens to create a horrifying caste system consisting of those who enjoy rights and privileges vs those who do not and serve (at a distance) the elites.
From David Stockman -- Jasper, 17:10:49 4/23/23 Sun
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So Greenspan pretended to be the champion of sound money by taking credit for a phony gain he was pleased to call “disinflation”. The latter amounted to deliberately depreciating the purchasing power of savers and wage earners, but just not quite as rapidly as during the worst days before Volcker.
Needless to say, in a globalized economy inflationary money is quite the trickster. In the initial instance it led to the massive and relentless off-shorting of production, and the re-importing of the same goods produced abroad via the cheap labor being requisitioned from China’s vast interior rice paddies.
Inflation of the dollar came back as deflation of durable goods prices!
It also allowed the Fed to claim that it had vanquished inflation and that its altogether new challenge was the madness called “lowflation” or too little inflation. That’s truly when the Keynesian central bankers lost their minds.
Alas, the trouble with “lowflation” is that it was a one-time aberration, not a permanent or sustainable condition. As the above sharp hook in the chart attests, the sub-index for durables is now up by 15% from the bottom, even as the global supply chain continues to contract owing to the exhaustion of cheap labor in China and badly lagging political patience with free trade in the US and throughout the west.
Amen to that. -- Jasper, 16:28:32 4/23/23 Sun
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The agents who profess to rule over us publicly in fact use their share-owning control to overrule or simply smear anything that gets close to the reality of 1% profiting obscenely from economic scenarios apparently unrelated – first the banking bust and then Covid19. An unhappy coincidence? I think not: we are ruled, cheated, lied to and robbed by incompetent ignorami who care only for the rewards from above rather than the tragic social chaos created below. They serve the megalomanically deranged red, green, black and brownshirts who seek a rationale for culling 94% of the human race, and then “mating” the residue with half-brained bits of tin powered by crappy Chinese circuit boards.
Not since Caligulan Rome or feudal Pope times has such hidden, evil privilege ruled the World.
$102M cold storage warehouse planned for Houston area -- Jasper, 15:10:41 4/23/23 Sun
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New Jersey-based cold storage operator FreezPak Logistics and BG Capital are partnering to build a 281,849-square-foot temperature-controlled warehouse in Baytown, Texas.
The partnership, known as BGFP International LLC, acquired a 30.7-acre site in Cedar Port Industrial Park, about 27 miles southeast of downtown Houston.
The facility in Houston is the first project from the partnership, which was formed in August with the aim of building $1 billion worth of cold storage facilities in port-centric markets across the United States.
BGFP International will begin construction on the first phase of the Baytown facility by the end of April. It is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024, with development costing $102 million, according to a news release.
FreezPak Logistics will lease the cold storage facility from BGFP. The facility will include a range of temperature-controlled spaces to accommodate operations such as storage, processing, packaging and distribution.
Wished I'd of thought of this before. -- Jasper, 15:06:50 4/23/23 Sun
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The people in power want an army of terrorists
Participants in the January 6 panty-raid were tracked down via cellphone records.
Flash-mobs in Chicago and other places are organized via social media and dozens of people were taking video with their smartphones. Pretty good bet that more than 95% of the flash-mob were carrying their personal cellphone.
If it suited the powers, the terrorists destroying our cities could be found quite easily. The thugs could be collected from their homes or on their way to school or where they buy weed.
Take-away: The people in power want our cities destroyed and their residents angry. They want an army of terrorists.
More on the bullion theft from a Canadian airport -- Jasper, 15:01:43 4/23/23 Sun
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The Toronto Sun was first to report the pilfered shipment and says it has seen a confidential note that the gold and banknotes belonged to TD Bank and that Air Canada was the carrier. The Globe and Mail, citing an anonymous source, said Air Canada’s cargo division was handling the gold when it got lost. Air Canada has a large cargo terminal is in Toronto.
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In early March, a shootout between an organized crime group targeting a $32.5 million shipment that arrived on Latam Airlines from Miami and security personnel at Arturo Merino Benitez International Airport in Santiago, Chile, left two dead. The shipment was to be transferred to a Brinks vehicle for transport to the end customer.
John Rubino writes about “official narrative” scams and cons of the past few years -- Jasper, 12:51:20 4/23/23 Sun
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The Secretary of State created the laptop letter
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is being investigated by the Committee on the Judiciary and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for his prominent role in persuading 51 former intelligence officials to falsely discredit the “New York Post story regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop as supposed Russian disinformation” during the 2020 Presidential election. The intelligence assessment led to a nearly blanket censorship of investigative stories exposing the alleged corruption.
During the campaign, Blinken was a senior campaign advisor to then former Vice President Joe Biden and recruited the direct assistance of then former Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Michael Morell, who was one of the 51 signatories of the public statement.
Old news to us but it reinforces our determination. -- Jasper (), 9:37:08 4/23/23 Sun
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Why Banks Short Gold
He gives the reader the rationale by which banks have been profitably shorting Gold since futures were invented. Here is our translation of that same sentence at top.
Translated from the original Zoltanese:
Banks have been using rehypothecation for decades fearlessly with approval of global governments who in turn promised them Gold would never be used as a settlement medium—i.e. have a practical use — again.
Stated as a bank trader once said: Gold? We can short it until the cows come home. Why? Because not only is it unconsumed/indestructible, it isn’t used for anything anymore. Its price is how much more USD money we have to pay you to delay delivery. It’s a collectible, a pet rock, and nothing else. Short it. Government1 can’t let it back in as an MOE. If they did it would destroy them. If we go under, they go under. 2
Zoltan is telling us indirectly what Banks and Nations fear about this Gold-as-settlement-medium concept.
@Virtual arrests -- GoldenEggs, 17:43:35 4/22/23 Sat
Pyrone, I am very certain the corporate bastards in conjunction with the .zog thieves already have that plan in waiting and already built into the firmware for future deployment.
With the built in GPS, they will have the time date speed and the municipal corporate jurisdiction that the chits will be credited to.
Go search the patent office and see if it isn't already patented.
From the Credit Bubble Bulletin -- Jasper, 14:51:20 4/22/23 Sat
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So, I worry about China’s “Plan B”. Beijing is clearly preparing its military and people for confrontation with the U.S., a conflict I fear will be increasingly likely when China’s economic gambit falters. Xi and the communist party will never accept responsibility for so mismanaging China’s financial system, economy, and international reputation. Crisis will have Beijing pressing the Taiwan issue, deflecting attention and responsibility, increasing the odds for a direct showdown with the U.S.
I’ve discussed previously how boom periods engender perceptions of an expanding global pie. Cooperation, integration, and alliances are seen as mutually beneficial. But when the cycle turns, the pie is increasingly viewed as stagnant or shrinking; zero sum game thinking dominates. Insecurity, animosity, disintegration, fraught alliances, and conflict take hold.
We are in a period of momentous change. A historic global Bubble has begun to deflate. The war in Ukraine has unleashed pernicious forces that will be difficult to control. China’s autocratic communist government has towering ambitions - inflated by a historic Bubble that is now leaking a lot of air. Japan has a new central bank governor that will need to end a historic monetary experiment that was for a decade left to run wild. Across the globe, economies big and small, wealthy and poor alike, confront unprecedented debt overhangs. Policymakers almost everywhere face the predicament of elevated inflation and weakening growth prospects.
We’re at a critical juncture in the global bubble, where acute fragility is forcing another round of desperate measures meant to hold crisis dynamics at bay. Over recent quarters, we've witnessed major instability and volatility. I suspect this has become the new normal. We should be prepared for the environment to turn only more uncertain and tumultuous, with odds rising for a major accident.
In conclusion, I see developments at home and abroad corroborating the new cycle thesis. I just wish I could be more optimistic about future prospects. Much has to go right - and we need some lucky breaks - to avoid a destabilizing downturn. So much is uncertain. However, there’s one thing I am certain about: additional monetary inflation and massive government deficit spending are not the answer. They only make things worse.
Virtual arrests, ygbsm. -- Jasper, -- Pyrite, 13:13:01 4/22/23 Sat
Wait til you see the squillion bucks I will get when I perfect the automatic in-car traffic ticket dispenser.
Senses travel speed and speed limit and prints the ticket.
When you pay by your digital currency card, the engine will restart.
Charles Smith writes -- Jasper, 12:13:57 4/22/23 Sat
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If Household Net Worth had tracked GDP, it would total about $90 trillion, $50 trillion less than its current level of $140 trillion. You see what's really fine here: the federal government injects $16 trillion in excess stimulus, the Federal Reserve injects $7 trillion in excess stimulus for a total of $23 trillion, and the top 10% reap $50 trillion in excess wealth: yowza, that's a really fine investment!
Of course private and corporate debt has soared along with federal debt, but never mind the details. $50 trillion in excess wealth is roughly twice the size of America's GDP of $26 trillion. That's a lot of extremely fine wealth to play with.
But all this really fine wealth hasn't exactly been evenly distributed. It turns out the bottom 50% of households lost ground since 1990, as their share of the total household wealth fell from about 4.5% to 3% (see chart below).
The middle class (the 50% to 90% segment of households) also lost ground, as their share of wealth fell from above 36% to less than 29%. A 7% decline may not sound like much, but recall that each 1% is $1.4 trillion, so that 7% decline adds up to roughly $10 trillion in today's total wealth of $140 trillion.
Meanwhile, back at the Really Fine Ranch, the top 1% saw its share of the wealth soar by 40%, from 23% to 32%. It seems some have received more fineness than others.
Extremes keep getting more extreme, but for those at the top of the heap, it's all fine. For everyone else slipping down the ladder, all that FINE adds up to Fragile, Insecure, Nonsensical, Expensive.
Virtual arrests, ygbsm. -- Jasper, 11:59:56 4/22/23 Sat
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VIRTUAL ARRESTS
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is looking into “virtual” arrests. They need a solution for their growing backlog of unprocessed illegal immigrants.
Where is the world headed? -- Jasper, 8:31:26 4/22/23 Sat
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The Conclusion: We are at war.
The path forward continues to march onward as described below.That path is now inevitable. In a mercantilist, protectionist environment accompanied by (caused by) collapsing complexity (de-globalized supply chains, trade relationships shredded) weaker countries must pick sides for economic and territorial protection. The world is now a jail. Pick your gang. This side-choosing is also inevitable in the 21st Century new Cold-war climate.
What is not inevitable is the outcome of this war. It can remain economic via a new industrial renaissance in the West vs. a further maturing of Eastern economies; Or it can end in hotter bigger wars all over the globe as neo-colonialist behavior follows mercantilist philosophy. Both will probably happen. Skirmish wars in Southeast Asia, Europe, and LATAM will increase while superpowers enact land-grab policies amidst the chaos.
With a focus on Gold, Oil,The USD, and geopolitical economics, the following 43 points summarize what has happened, what is happening and likely will happen culminating in the outcome possibilities above.
Inflation will not base at 2% for at least 5 years, and likely over a decade.- Furman, TS Lombard, Pozsar
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If you haven't read Kunstler's newest article, it's about RFK's step into the presidential race. -- Jasper, 12:34:44 4/21/23 Fri
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Most of all, the Democratic Party faces a severe reformation. It’s about to be dragged kicking and screaming out of the diabolical Woke hall-of-mirrors it gamboled into under the Clintons and Barack Obama. How those characters deal with the uncomfortable reality of RFK, Jr. will be something to behold. Finally, there is the news, straight from The New York Times, that “Joe Biden” intends to announce his reelection plans within days. The idea is preposterous, of course, the old grifter visibly oxidizing a little more each day in plain sight of the whole world.
In fact, it’s just another one of their lies, another trip they’re laying on America. The establishment Dems are actually prepping Gavin Newsom to run, another haircut-in-search-of-a-brain, like John Kerry before him. Governor Newsom: the man who almost overnight proudly turned California into a third world shithole. That’s who Bobby Kennedy will be debating, one way or another, in the many months ahead.
You know our currency will be debased totally when it goes digital. -- Jasper, 10:51:59 4/21/23 Fri
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bill would let the U.S. Mint alter the metal content of coins to save money
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan bill to authorize the U.S. Mint to alter the metal content of coins in order to save taxpayers money will be reintroduced on Thursday, the two senators sponsoring the bill told CNBC exclusively.
The bill’s reintroduction comes just days after a new report from the U.S. Mint revealed that in 2022, soaring costs for raw metals drove the price of minting a single nickel past 10 cents, or more than double the value of the coin itself.
This was bound to happen. -- Jasper, 10:45:37 4/21/23 Fri
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BRICS Will Contribute 50% by 2030 As the West Destroys Its Wealth
According to the British Consultancy, the five BRICS nations now contribute nearly 31.5% of the global GDP, compared to 30.7% by G7 countries. By 2030, the BRICS nations are expected to account for over 50% of global GDP, potentially rising further as the bloc expands.
Wheni first seen obama on tv when visiting father -- MichaelJH (), 4:30:05 4/21/23 Fri
As i wasnt doing the tv thing i was so fucking obvious this guy was a completely obvious fake. How cannot most see that?
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What i seen in 1970 and all kinds of stuff earlier than was ever mentioned -- MichaelJH, 4:11:01 4/21/23 Fri
After 7th lsd trip - bigger and bigger revalations the final kundalini - what is causing these lsd trips? Dont want them at all each time - remember to never do rhem again. What caused that again how could I possibly forget? Something is causing these to happen.
I saw tvs basically mesmerizing the population. I could never fall for cov19 as it was a media event with no reality behind it.
According to that article about iq their re some good tests and some bad ones -- MichaelJH, 3:47:51 4/21/23 Fri
It seems reasonable to me as a possibility.
Now about parental blame - if your parents were great ones but you ran into some unwanted experience in life can you sue them?
Especially if you saw their futures and those were great also then what is my rationale? Cant find any but bad stuff happened. Someone has to be punished.
yeah IQ is meaningless, never had any advantage having higher than average -- Goldenstein, 1:33:57 4/21/23 Fri
my bosses were usually dumer than me and made lots more money...the whole career thing is something stupid they make us strive for so we can waste our lives on nothing.
Can't believe what the media tells ya. -- Jasper, 20:03:41 4/20/23 Thu
How about the one a year ago about Biden signing an order to increase the ethanol in gasoline from 10% to 15%.
The BS Virus 19 freeze on evictions and this shit is why I danced the jig in the street (literally) when I sold my rental units years ago.
I saw this shit coming.
'Tards are gonna... TARD! -- GoldenEggs, 18:20:24 4/20/23 Thu
Flat Earther spends $20,000 on DIY experiment that accidentally proved the planet is round
I've met a few of these retards over the years and they have a mindset and reasoning tree that is exactly the same as those used by libtards.
Patterns of behavior everywhere.
The misguided author of that word salad article would totally see this guy as "high IQ" but as we all can see the high IQ "flat earph" 'tard is still retarded. In the face of observable facts, they still cling to their failed ideologies and default to seek a scapegoat as to why they keep failing, flailing and floundering. The never see the light. Thus, CLOWN WORLD!
I had to know -- GoldenEggs, 18:01:56 4/20/23 Thu
Skimmed quickly because the reasoning was unsound. I saw that in the first paragraph. Had to get a bead on where this guy was from.
...sure enough, San FranSHITco. The libTARD paradise.
LOL
Now, that guy is a retard -- GoldenEggs, 17:49:26 4/20/23 Thu
He bases his whole thesis on mistaking outright degeneracy for high IQ.
"It's a fundamental misunderstanding of how money works."
Giggles, I think this guy doesn't understand the big picture.
I could not read it all. It reeks of libtard flights of fanciful 'thinking'.
Yikes!1 ranharri. -- Jasper, 16:53:59 4/20/23 Thu
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I am going to have to work on that one. I get the IQ thing only the Last Tango in America thing needs some thinking.
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a general that sits in the rear takes it in the rear. -- Jasper, 14:55:40 4/19/23 Wed
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How strong the conception of physical leadership was will be recognized more clearly if we recall the names of a few of the many generals who were casualties on the field of battle. The Athenian Cleon was slain in retreating from the fight at Amphipolis (422 B.C.), and his victorious opponent, Brasidas, was fatally wounded; Cleombrotus was mortally wounded at Leuctra (371 B.C.); Epaminondas died shortly after the battle of Mantinea (362 B.C.) from a spear wound he received in the breast while heading the charge, pike in hand; Philip was wounded at Chaeronea (338 B.C.); Agis was slain at Megalopolis (331 B.C.); at the third Battle of Mantinea (207 B.C.), Philopoemen completed his victory by personally slaying his opponent, Machanidas. The Persian prince Cyrus was killed at the head of his combined Persian and Greek army.
Recession in freight hauling right here in River City. -- Jasper, 10:54:49 4/19/23 Wed
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According to Bloomberg, the latest data from American Trucking Association shows the truck tonnage index dropped 5.4% in March versus February, the largest decline since Aug. 2012.
"Falling home construction, decreasing factory output and soft retail sales all hurt contract freight tonnage," said Bob Costello, chief economist for the ATA.
"The freight market is one of the most volatile markets on the planet. Hot markets can turn ice cold in a flash, particularly after the federal government and central bankers flooded our economy with so much liquidity and then proceeded to institute the fastest monetary tightening cycle in history," supply chain data firm FreightWaves said.
FreightWaves pointed out, "The freight market downturn is a thing of the past. The freight recession has come, and carriers, regardless of whether they operate in the contract or spot markets, are having to contend with it."
FreightWaves' data also shows spot rates of truck hauls have plunged over the last 12 months, tender volumes are sliding, and there's a trucking overcapacity issue.
Despite all the gloom, Ravi Shanker, Morgan Stanley transportation equity analyst, recently told clients besides "all the bad headlines and mixed data points on macro, our latest quarterly Shipper Survey keeps showing signs of improvement under the surface."
Well, that depends if the consumer can survive even more tightening of monetary conditions as the Fed is expected to increase interest rates by 25bps next month to around 500bps.
From Ted Butler -- Jasper, 10:31:16 4/19/23 Wed
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A major development last week was the large amount of gold issued by JPMorgan over the first two days of the COMEX April contract. Total gold deliveries by JPMorgan of 14,326 contracts, including 10,682 contracts (1.07 million ounces) by JPM in its proprietary house account were the largest by JPM in history. This is big news because it demonstrates clear and blatant price manipulation by JPMorgan. With more than 19,000 contracts of gold standing for delivery, what would have been the price of gold, had JPM not delivered more than 10,000 contracts from its house account? Even the dimmest of wits (say at the Justice Department or the CFTC) should be able to conclude that without JPMorgan delivering this many gold contracts, gold prices would have had to increase enough to attract others to take JPM’s place.
Price manipulation cannot occur without a concentrated position. That’s what we witnessed, in full view, by JPMorgan over the first two days of the COMEX April gold deliveries. Back in 2020, JPMorgan entered into a deferred criminal prosecution agreement (DPA) with the Justice Department for manipulating precious metals on the COMEX (and other infractions) and agreed to pay a headline-grabbing $920 million (a pittance for JPM). The fine and the DPA only scratched the surface of JPMorgan’s long-term manipulation of silver and gold, because the case focused solely on spoofing and the short-term manipulation of prices. It ignored the much more serious price suppression of silver (and gold) and JPMs accumulation of massive quantities of physical silver (more than a billion ounces, plus more than 30 million ounces of physical gold) over a decade. They did this while functioning as the biggest short seller (in order to keep the price down). Spoofing was peanuts compared to what JPMorgan was actually guilty of.
Erick Peter's autos writes, -- Jasper, 8:25:21 4/19/23 Wed
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The sole point of car insurance is to make you pay – not to “cover” anything.
Recently, I ran over a truck tire in a rain storm and had to file a claim to get my front air spoiler repaired, which cost over $500. The insurance company decided that the rain storm and the truck driver’s blow out were my “fault” and raised my insurance rate from $750 a year to $2500 a year (for full coverage.)
This is sort of thing is common. And, commonly understood. From that understanding flows the realization that using the coverage one is forced to buy is foolish – because doing so will result in being forced to pay more for the coverage, going forward.
Are conservative blog sites afraid of this news. C'mon righties, no subterfuge allowed. -- Jasper, 7:21:01 4/19/23 Wed
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Fox, Dominion reach $787.5M settlement over false election claims
Coupled with other lawsuits in the pipeline, the agreement shows there is a real financial risk for conservative media that traffic in conspiracy theories. What remains unknown is how much of a deterrent this will be. Even as the Dominion case loomed this spring, Fox’s Tucker Carlson aired his alternate theories about what happened at the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
Peace3 in the Mideast, who'd a thunk. Neocons have to be besides themselves. -- Jasper, 18:03:50 4/18/23 Tue
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Over the last week the Saudis and Houthi sides released prisoners of war. The U.S. has done its best to sabotage the deal:
In the wake of the China-backed détente, the Saudis have largely been willing to abandon their proxies in the interest of ending what has been a draining war. The U.S. responded with alarm, rushing diplomats to the region to insist that pressure continue being applied to the Houthi government in the hope of undermining the deal in the works. [Tim Lenderking, the U.S. envoy for Yemen,] rushed to Riyadh on April 11, as news broke of a peace deal, to remind Saudi leaders of the U.S. desire that they continue to back their proxies in the war.
Instead, the ceasefire talks appear to have become possible because of an agreement in principle that Saudi Arabia would abandon its puppet government, back down from the blockade, and — as the Houthis hoped — use its vast oil wealth to pay Yemeni civil servants.
A similar rapprochement is happening between Saudi Arabia and Syria. On April 12 the Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad visited Saudi Arabia:
The visit is the first by a Syrian foreign minister to Saudi Arabia since 2011, when the war in Syria began. Saudi Arabia supported the Syrian opposition, but ties have thawed in recent months.
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has largely defeated the opposition with Russian and Iranian backing.
Over the past few months, there has been increasing engagement with al-Assad, who has been isolated since the start of the Syrian war.
Al-Assad has visited the UAE and Oman this year, and last month Saudi Arabia said it has started talks with Damascus about resuming consular services.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia will host a meeting of regional foreign ministers on Friday to discuss the return of Syria to the Arab League.
Comments section from Boom finance latest article -- Jasper, 14:02:10 4/18/23 Tue
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Steve Z.
In aggregate, the stock Market provides only the illusion of profit.
I bailed on the stock market in 2012. After years of “investing” I saw no real increase in purchasing power. Sure the numbers went up but were fully offset by depreciation of purchasing power. Factor in all cost related to investments, taxes incurred/due on gains and inflation of the currency, I saw minimal gains in actual purchasing power. Plus, the worry associated with economic downturns or some unforeseen calamity and the fact that years of increases could be wiped out on any given sunny day I had enough and closed out completely.
Gold in particular has been the best investment overall this century (from 2000 to present). Of course there have been some exceptions like BitCoin ,etc. but where that is headed is anybody’s guess. Further, I see energy problems making the long term view of stocks dubious at best. You can’t have infinite growth on a finite planet and there has been a terrible lack of investment in long term energy strategies and discoveries.
Your stockbroker or fund manager reports an outstanding return of 12%!!!!…… Yeah, but inflation last year was over 15%. Oopps, you lose…
Worries about market gyrations and the huge wipe out in the markets that is undoubtedly due sometime relatively soon (today, tomorrow, next week, month , year?)
Forgetaboutit…
It’s not for everybody but works well for me.
Here is an article from Charles Smith on just that mortgage rate scenario. -- Jasper, 10:35:58 4/18/23 Tue
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Meanwhile, those with 3% mortgages are trapped in their current homes which are effectively off the market, and would-be young homeowners face the unaffordable combination of bubble-valuations and high mortgages rates. As I concluded in my previous commentary on the housing bubble (This Housing Bubble Is Different: It's Much More Precarious), Distortions eventually have consequences. Concentrate wealth and income in the top 5% and corporations, and give the already-wealthy abundant low-cost credit to concentrate ownership of assets, and you get a distorted economy in which the older and wealthier have outpriced the young.
Who's left to buy overvalued houses? Too few to prop up bubble valuations. This Fed-engineered generational wealth-opportunity inequality will generate more than a phantom "wealth effect"--it will also generate second-order effects of social fragmentation and the erosion of the social contract that the Fed is powerless to repair.
All the hype about higher mortgage interest rates are just that, hype. -- Jasper, 10:34:23 4/18/23 Tue
In 1977 we bought our first home, a little cracker box (that we still have as a rental). The mortgage rates were 11% and we still paid it off early by 10yrs. So what if home prices are higher, they were higher then than before the recession that hit us in '72.
If new buyers want a home they will get one albeit a cracker box but still a home to raise the next generation.
An ode to Billy Joel. -- Jasper, 11:36:14 4/17/23 Mon
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The] tax applies to every real estate sale within Los Angeles that is not exempt – including not just mansions, but apartment complexes, retail and industrial buildings and other structures, causing some in the real-estate business to warn that developers will look elsewhere to build.
“So you add another 5% onto the equation – a lot of times the margins are very thin. If they don’t have the incentive to build, and people aren’t going to build for a loss, we’re going to have less housing,” said David Kramer, president of Hilton & Hyland, a real-estate broker that deals with homes that generally cost more than $10 million.
And he’s not referring to mansions, but to apartments. Kramer says large complexes that lease out homes can easily cost more than $10 million to build. Tacking on potentially millions more in taxes will scare developers away.
“When you include the tax, plus commissions, plus other taxes, potential sellers are looking at 11%,” said Aaron Kirman, CEO and Founder, AKG/Christie’s International Real Estate. “And that is a lot of money.”
Pepe Escobar writes -- Jasper, 9:36:20 4/17/23 Mon
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Lula went for the jugular right from the start, during the inauguration of former President Dilma Rousseff as the new president of the NDB, the BRICS bank.
In simple, direct language that anyone from Sahara to Siberia can understand, Lula said, “Every night I ask myself why should every country need to be tied to the dollar for trade? Why can’t we trade in our own currencies? And why don’t we have the commitment to innovate?”
Directly implied is the fact that the expanding BRICS+ should design and promote its own currency (the long, complex process has already started), on top of allowing trade in national currencies.
Lula’s powerful message was addressed to the whole Global South. A Brazilian example is China’s ICBC setting up a clearing house in Brazil allowing direct yuan-real exchange.
It’s no wonder that the CIA official rag, the Washington Post, foaming at the mouth, immediately issued the Deep State verdict: Lula is not obeying the “rules-based international order” diktat.
That means the Deep State will come after Lula and his government – all over again, and will go no holds barred to destabilize it. Because what Lula said is exactly what Saddam Hussein and Colonel Gadaffi said – and tried to implement – in the past.
So Lula will need all the help he can get. Enter, once again, “Zhiyin”.
This is how Xi officially welcomed Lula in Beijing. Very few people around the world, non-Chinese, understand that when someone of Xi’s stature tells you, right in front of you, that you are “an old friend of China”, this is it.
All doors are open. They trust you, embrace you, protect you, listen to you, help you in times of need and will always do their best to keep the friendship close to their hearts.
And that ends, for now, our tale of “bosom friends” taking the road to Beijing. The BRICS friend certainly understood all there is to know. As for the NATOstan Little King dreaming of becoming a true sovereign leader, the moment of truth is knocking at his door.
as if we didn’t know this would happen. -- Jasper, 8:58:03 4/17/23 Mon
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“The Inflation Reduction Act is, at its core, about turning the climate crisis into an economic opportunity,“ Janet Yellen said.
Biden and his crew used it as an opportunity to eliminate our energy independence. The Biden government then created the energy crisis. That led to the inflation crisis. The administration then convinced our stupid politicians to pass a bill that served as a vehicle to turn the climate crisis into their idea of an economic opportunity.
These people are turning our economy socialist.
The inflation act was supposed to stop inflation, yet it made it much worse, and everyone is getting poorer. Joe Manchin is now angry about the changing rules and regulations, as if we didn’t know this would happen.
Warmer weather and the natives are restless -- Jasper, 8:48:51 4/17/23 Mon
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CHICAGO - Hundreds of teenagers flooded into Downtown Chicago on Saturday night, smashing car windows, trying to get into Millennium Park, and prompting a major police response. At least one person in a car was attacked.
Shots were fired near the corner of Madison and Michigan, and FOX 32 Chicago decided that it was unsafe to keep our news crew on the scene.
This is the second time this weekend that a group of rowdy teenagers has prompted a police response. On Friday night, hundreds of kids went to 31st Avenue Beach, and a 14-year-old was shot.
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So how do we get out? -- Jasper, 15:41:35 4/16/23 Sun
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MILLIONS OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
The current federal government in the United States is made up of a huge number (millions) of people and their dependents “working for” the United States. There are also thousands of companies and millions of people working in the private sector but paid by government contracts.
According to USAFACTS.org, as of 2019, there were 23.7 million full-time and part-time employees of our federal, state, and local governments, including:
4.0 million Federal employees
5.5 million State employees
14.2 million Local government employees
The military is called out specifically in our constitution:
“Section 8: Powers of Congress: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.”
As of 2019, there were about 1.4 million people in the military and about 750,000 people that work in national defense but that are not active-duty military.
How can a small government proponent overcome the huge number of people that have a vested interest in maintaining the current size, course and speed of this government? There is an entrenched federal government bureaucracy that will not want to voluntarily change from its current course. Federal government employees are not going to voluntarily eliminate their own jobs. And no federal (or any) politician will willingly step down from power.
Oh yeah i lost my wallet a couple weeks ago and -- MichaelJH, 14:06:05 4/16/23 Sun
When paying thru the nose for a duplicate license i sort of noticed on my way to dispose of the matter that choice i could have picked from instead of male as a non-binary - wtf was that i wondered on my way out.
1 you are trading out of something into something else.
It is now understood that 19 out of 20 us bonds are fake - and that is asuming that the fiat currency it represents will be worth a cow fart in a non carbon world regardless of the fact that we are as has been mentioned carbon based units.
2-to- million other reasons - are you thinking they are in control of things or are they hanging by their fingernails at the edge of a fatal clif?
Equalizing debt, behind the scenes. -- Jasper, 12:15:52 4/16/23 Sun
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In their talk Radhika Desai explains the basic problem with international debt:
RADHIKA DESAI: Well I think that the whole issue of debt, world debt in particular, has become a really important issue at this point, and it’s become an important issue because precisely now China is such a large part of the scene.
I remember going back to the earliest days of the pandemic when Third World debt had also figured as a major issue. Already at that point, the key reason why the debt issues were not going to be settled is because the West could not come to terms with the fact that it had to deal with China, and that it had to deal equitably with China.
Because what the West wants to do is precisely to get China to refinance the debt owed to it so that Third World debt repayments go to private lenders.
And China is basically questioning the terms of all of this, because for example China is saying, “Why should the IMF and the World Bank have priority? Why should its debt not be canceled?”
And the West is saying, “But this has always been so.”
And China is saying, “Well, if you don’t want to reform the IMF and the World Bank, then we are not going to accept their priority. If we have to take a haircut, they will also have to take a haircut.”
They simply do not accept that these institutions, the Bretton Woods institutions, have any sort of priority.
And this is part of the undermining, as you were saying. This is one of the biggest changes since the First World War. And part of these changes is that the world made at the end of the Second World War by the imperialist powers, who are still very powerful, is now increasingly disappearing.
From the Credit Bubble Bulletin. -- Jasper, 18:53:37 4/15/23 Sat
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I began warning about the emerging “global government finance Bubble” in 2009, after contemplating the incredible reflationary monetary and fiscal policy responses to the 2008 crisis. I had zero confidence that the right lessons had been learned. Never, however, did I imagine chronicling this Bubble in 2023 – with the Fed’s balance sheet at $8.6 TN and outstanding Treasuries at $27 TN – both having inflated about four-fold.
I worry most about a mounting systemic crisis of confidence in monetary policy, government debt, market structure, and finance more generally. I see hopelessly dysfunctional markets, distorted from years of low rates, interminable liquidity excess, and habitual market interventions and bailouts. I fear a stock market, incapable of adjustment, increasingly vulnerable to dislocation and panic. I see a Treasury market where yields are completely divorced from an unending massive supply of new debt securities. Devoid of market discipline, Washington politicians will continue to bankrupt the country in debt and inflation.
More -- Jasper, 9:58:32 4/15/23 Sat
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Furthermore, the fact that banks’ accounts are prepared in accordance with the approval of regulators means that they should still be treated with scepticism. For example, why is it that derivative obligations are not properly accounted for in assessing the condition of individual banks, when repos, which are similar obligations, are? Derivative obligations are far larger for some banks than the entire balance sheets of the combined banking systems, and even national GDPs. The table below show the derivative exposure of the twenty most exposed US banks, and the ratio of derivatives to customer deposits, which are the principal source of balance sheet funding.
Admittedly, not all derivative risk should be measured by their notional amount. Credit default swaps, which are likely to predominate in domestic banking activities, do not commit participants to settling their notional amounts, which are reference values only. But foreign exchange forwards and swaps and commodity derivatives as well as sold options do expose banks and other participants to settling their full amounts. Foreign exchange dollar exposure for US banks alone was estimated in a recent BIS paper at $80+ trillion, four times US GDP, and which included the following commentary:
“Embedded in the foreign exchange (FX) market is huge, unseen dollar borrowing. In an FX swap, for instance, a Dutch pension fund or Japanese insurer borrows dollars and lends euro or yen in the “spot leg”, and later repays the dollars and receives euro or yen in the “forward leg”. Thus, an FX swap, along with its close cousin, a currency swap, resembles a repurchase agreement, or repo, with a currency rather than a security as “collateral”. Unlike repo, the payment obligations from these instruments are recorded off-balance sheet, in a blind spot. The $80 trillion-plus in outstanding obligations to pay US dollars in FX swaps/forwards and currency swaps, mostly very short-term, exceeds the stocks of dollar Treasury bills, repo and commercial paper combined. The churn of deals approached $5 trillion per day in April 2022, two thirds of daily global FX turnover.”
Banking stuff, gov/fed figures, go figure. alasdair Macleod -- Jasper, 9:53:50 4/15/23 Sat
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In percentage terms, bank credit has not yet declined as much as it did over the Lehman crisis, but it appears to be declining more aggressively. However, the common factors with every bank credit crisis are fear of losses replacing a desire for profits and their impact on highly leveraged bank balance sheets. The chart below, which is constructed from the FDIC’s bank ratio tables, illustrates the true position from a bank shareholder’s viewpoint.
As an approximation, we can see that based on the ratio of assets to Tier 1 capital that the entire banking system is significantly more leveraged than it has been since 1990, when the FDIC’s figures commenced.[iv] The ratio is now turning down, probably more so when 2023 Q1 statistics become available shortly.
I plan on watching this -- Jasper, 9:26:34 4/15/23 Sat
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SpaceX will try to launch 1st Starship orbital flight on April 17
It's official: SpaceX will try to launch the first orbital test mission of its huge Starship vehicle on Monday (April 17).
SpaceX has been targeting Monday for the Starship flight for the past week or so. That plan was tentative, however, as the company still needed to secure a launch license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
It's tentative no longer. At 5:50 p.m. EDT (2150 GMT) on Friday (April 14), the FAA announced the granting of the license, ending a review that lasted more than 500 days. Mere minutes later, SpaceX firmed up its launch plans.
Don't be fooled by the naz or S&P or dow, they only quote a minimal set of stocks. -- Jasper, 17:15:33 4/14/23 Fri
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The wilshire 5000 and the Russel 2000 tell it like it is out there in this bad world.
Found something from Zman -- Jasper, 16:51:57 4/14/23 Fri
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When I was on the RamZPaul Show, he asked about something and we ended up talking about the lunacy of the age. If you take a step back, it is as if the people in charge are putting on a show. It is supposed to be ridiculous. They are killing time with this stuff to entertain each other. We just happen to be seeing it, but the whole point of it is to keep the Cloud People entertained.
Therefore, the best response from normal people is to laugh at it, maybe just shrug and ignore it if possible. Back when I was just starting out, this was what a few managers decided to do when we were sent off to sensitivity training. This is what they called diversity training back in the before times. They decided to do the absolute minimum in the training class and show it no respect.
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In other words, they are the best they can do. In an age when things will have to get much worse before there is an opportunity to change things, the best you can do is immiserate the people in charge. When their best weapon is menticide, your best weapon is a healthy attitude and indifference to their tricks. Lunatics hate being mocked as much as they hate being ignored.
Been checking the net periodically today and there is not a damn thing -- Jasper, 16:19:36 4/14/23 Fri
I want to post about. At least not yet.
It's friday and you knew that metals had to get hit cause it wouldn't look good to have them end a week above 2k and $26.
It has been a field day for state police down our country road, where they come from, dunno. But at least a dozen have sped through with sirens screaming and that sweet cherry bomb on top letting the world know someone somewhere needs their help.
Guess where the biggest population of Kykes are besides jew your city? -- GoldenEggs (), 9:45:02 4/14/23 Fri
I bet they are kvetching to no end this morning over their bagels.
That's a good thing!
...now if they could only do something about (((their))) organ trafficking, usury and ban their banks
Talmud (Jewish sacred book) quotes (from an official Jewish digital library):
"What does it mean that the Torah does not deem a younger boy to be like an older boy? Rav says: It means that the Torah does not deem the intercourse of one who is less than nine years old to be like the intercourse of one who is at least nine years old, as for a male’s act of intercourse to have the legal status of full-fledged intercourse the minimum age is nine years. And Shmuel says: The Torah does not deem the intercourse of a child who is less than three years old to be like that of one who is three years old." https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.54b.20 https://archive.vn/KFs0B
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"An adult man who engaged in intercourse with a minor girl less than three years old has done nothing, as intercourse with a girl less than three years old is tantamount to poking a finger into the eye." https://www.sefaria.org/Ketubot.11b.6 https://archive.vn/i0bhy
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How relevant is the Talmud as a sacred book for Jews?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud https://archive.vn/nLjX8
"The Talmud (/ˈtɑːlmʊd, -məd, ˈtæl-/; Hebrew: תַּלְמוּד Tálmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (halakha) and Jewish theology.[1][2] Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewish cultural life and was foundational to "all Jewish thought and aspirations", serving also as "the guide for the daily life" of Jews.[3]"
Ann Coulter writes about the expelled Tennessee house members. -- Jasper, 15:40:20 4/13/23 Thu
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Some conservatives say the Republicans should have expelled the white lady just to avoid (false) charges of racism. Yes, and innocent whites and Asians should be sent to prison so no one can say our criminal justice system is racist.
I’m sorry if black people break rules out of proportion to their numbers in the population, but we don’t punish the innocent to achieve some childish idea of “equity.”
Rep. Johnson is a liar, but she didn’t break any House rules. Jones and Pearson did.
Johnson defended the assault on democracy by her black colleagues, saying, “The younger generation has a different way of speaking. They have a different way of addressing things.” So get used to bullhorns during legislative sessions, America! It’s just black style.
Apparently, we’ve returned to the Treating-Black-People-Like-Children phase of “Diversity.” I just wish liberals would state their racism plainly: We simply can’t expect black people to abide by white norms of dignity and decorum.
Political parties quagmire. -- Jasper, 13:52:58 4/13/23 Thu
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At the core of the U.S. political issue, you discover that both wings of the DC UniParty agree with this basic economic model. Republicans and Democrats now use the catchphrase ‘service driven economy‘ with bipartisan frequency.
Many voters no longer have any reference to an economic system that is anything except a ‘service driven economy’, yet nothing about that system provides long-term value for U.S. voters or workers.
Within this very specific dynamic, you find the root of the support for Donald J. Trump. A larger, formerly considered silent majority who comprise the baseline middle class workforce, find common understanding with President Trump because he sees the flaws in the economic model.
Not coincidentally, it is only Donald Trump who has ever discussed these economic issues. Factually, no national politician in the modern era prior to Donald Trump ever dared broach the subject of economic nationalism, economic globalism and the negative consequences therein. Republican candidates who would disagree on economic policy would find themselves in the target field of the corporations who fund the political system.
Leadership of both parties now align in a singular foreign policy outlook; thus, we see support for the Ukraine spending and intervention by both Democrats and Republicans. However, outside the DC bubble of multinational corporate influence, the support for the interventionist foreign policy doesn’t exist in the same scale and scope.
Voters inside both the Democrat and Republican base do not support U.S. foreign policy intervention at the same level as the political leadership of both parties. There is a structural break between the priorities of voters and the priorities of the elected officials. None of this is new discussion, we all accept this basic reality and we see it every day amid the headlines.
Rick Ackerman has a hard-on for lawyers. -- Jasper, 9:08:02 4/13/23 Thu
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Anyone who has played around with ChatGPT knows that it is just dumb enough to succeed wildly. It harbors no opinions, grudges or wit, and it can talk a blue streak without saying anything interesting or exceptionable. This kind of artificial intelligence seems perfectly suited to mimicking the rote tasks that lawyers charge clients hundreds or even thousands of dollars an hour to perform. And not just churning out boilerplate, either. Put a voice-activated bot in a courtroom and, without a mote of prejudice, it will prosecute or defend whoever is in the docket by drawing on the entire, vast library of U.S. jurisprudence. Will we even need judges to decide cases or instruct juries when machine intelligence can split hairs of precedent down to inarguable singularity?
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The dubious ability of even mediocre lawyers to earn a comfortable living spewing legalese is in its final days. As for young law school grads, they had better start looking for other ways to support a family, for the day is not far off when firms will no longer hire them to do grunt work that machines can do as effectively and with lightning speed, even with AI barely past its infancy.
The world is getting precious metals fever. -- Jasper, 7:59:34 4/13/23 Thu
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RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources has moved one step closer to giving out mining exploration licenses for two of its sites as it shortlisted 13 bidders amid a drive to develop the Kingdom’s mining sector.
The new opportunity will see the shortlisted bidders compete for permission to dig for valuable metals in two key exploration sites in Riyadh and Asir.
The Ar Ridaniyah site, located in the Saudi capital, contains zinc and silver deposits, and spans over an area of 75 sq. km.
Whereas the Muhaddad site in Asir has copper, zinc, lead, and gold deposits and covers 139 sq. km.
The announcement comes as the ministry aims to support investors, enhance investment in the mining sector and encourage national industries.
The shortlisted bidders include African Rainbow Minerals, Alara Saudi Ventures, AMAK, Barrick Gold Corporation, and ERG Arabia
@shitcoin -- GoldenEggs, 6:07:28 4/13/23 Thu
I said it before MANY times and i'll say it again. Shitcoin has zero anonymity. That WAS one of the main selling points of it that the shitcoin zombies have touted many times. 2015 I posted more than a few times that shitcoin is NOT anonymous, NOT secure, NOT unhackable and it IS traceable.
All of my statements have since been proven fact. YET, retards still insist on using this literal shit instead of cash or metals.
RETARDS! They fully deserve everything that is coming.
The Alamo was just another day at work for the Mexicans. -- Jasper, 17:05:12 4/12/23 Wed
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In its third year of operation, the U.S. Navy nuclear submarine Thresher (SSN-593) tragically went down 60 years ago today, with the loss of all hands: 129 men.
April 10, 1827 was the birthday of General Lew Wallace.
April 10th, 1796 was the birthday of James Jim Bowie, who died March 6th, 1836 at the Battle of the Alamo.
A Wankel by any other name still rotates the same. -- Jasper, 13:13:02 4/12/23 Wed
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BANKING ON ROTARY ENGINE'S STRENGTHS
A rotary engine uses rotational movement of triangular rotors to turn the wheels, as opposed to a conventional engine, which converts piston movement into rotary movement of the wheels. The rotary engine has the advantages of producing less vibration and having fewer component parts.
It is more compact, weighs less and has a higher output than a conventional engine. The rotary engine also has a higher degree of freedom of layout in a vehicle body.
Mazda officials decided that these strong points of the rotary engine will prove their worth in a plug-in hybrid, as the shift toward electric vehicles is still in a transitional stage.
The new plug-in hybrid has a maximum range of 85 kilometers on its battery alone. It will also carry a newly developed rotary engine, with a displacement of 830cc, and a 50-liter gasoline tank.
When its battery level gets low, it will rely on the gas-powered rotary engine to produce electricity and keep the motor running.
Mazda workers improved the fuel efficiency of the engine, which has long presented a challenge, by, for example, reviewing the composition of its parts and having the rotary engine continue operating in a revolution range that ensures higher efficiency.
Gov denies he is a spy,, oh, no! -- Jasper, 18:29:59 4/11/23 Tue
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But the US State Department is already moving faster on Gershkovich's case (again, compared to either Griner or ex-Marine Paul Whelan), given Secretary Blinken on Monday declared Gershkovich to be "wrongfully detained" by Russia.
"Today, Secretary Blinken made a determination that Evan Gershkovich is wrongfully detained by Russia," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said in the statement.
"Journalism is not a crime. We condemn the Kremlin’s continued repression of independent voices in Russia, and its ongoing war against the truth."
Patel continued, "The U.S. government will provide all appropriate support to Mr. Gershkovich and his family. We call for the Russian Federation to immediately release Mr. Gershkovich."
That last article was powerful. -- Jasper, 14:58:34 4/11/23 Tue
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Authors – Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergey Glazyev and Executive Secretary of the NTS under the Chairman of the EEC Board Dmitry Mityaev
Macroeconomists always analyse finances and economics from a statist viewpoint -- Jasper, 14:30:18 4/11/23 Tue
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That such a distinguished economist can be so ignorant of the mechanics of credit creation in the banking system is a perfect illustration of the lack of attention the profession has afforded to credit. Keynesians (such as Krugman), monetarists, and even free marketeers in the Austrian school have different and incorrect theories over how bank credit actually arises. It is really disarmingly simple: loans are created concurrently with deposits through the magic of double-entry bookkeeping. Deposits then become detached from the loans that created them as they are paid away. And banks then work together through clearing systems and wholesale markets to keep their books balanced.
Why is this relevant to Triffin’s dilemma? The answer is that so long as it has access to efficient clearing systems and wholesale credit markets in the relevant currencies, any bank can create credit in any currency it wishes to. This automatically frees trade payments from the requirement that there must be a substantial quantity of currency in foreign hands for that currency to act as a reserve currency. Credit for trade settlement is mostly self-extinguishing anyway, and the role of a reserve currency has more to do with state manipulation of exchange rates.
As to Magnus’s claim that capital outflows could destabilise China’s banking system, that is a strawman argument. As he points out, there are exchange controls, but China need not dismantle them. Just as European banks create eurodollars, Chinese and other banks can create yuan credit for trade financing and for settling external commodity transactions. In fact, the two yuan currencies already circulate separately. And if through its disuse, the dollar and other western currencies decline against the yuan, it might even suit the Chinese to relax exchange controls to accommodate capital flowing out of the US into Chinese projects in Asia. But that is for consideration later.
Ann Coulter gets it. -- Jasper, 7:47:52 4/11/23 Tue
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So why not launch another ridiculous accusation to help him get the nomination? That’s exactly what they did in last year’s GOP primaries, supporting Trump’s nut-bar candidates, knowing they would go on to lose the general election. By boosting Trump’s candidates, Democrats managed to pull out a historic midterm victory for Biden.
And now, they’re doing it again, trying to trick Republicans into choosing the worst possible presidential nominee. Guess what? It’s working! New GOP motto: Unable to learn from the third kick of a mule.
In response to Trump’s arraignment on Tuesday, all conservative media swept aside news of out-of-control crime, chaos at the border, fentanyl overdoses and the looming recession. Their No. 1 job became: SAVE TRUMP! A major conservative talk radio host even suggested DeSantis stand down and endorse Trump.
The blathering of both political parties makes for no new news. -- Jasper, 7:27:14 4/11/23 Tue
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It is really getting annoying to hear both sides lose control of their mouths spewing words that don't make sense. Why the attack dog mentality? What good does that do for America except to confuse and alienate groups of people.
What does this mean, I dunno. -- Jasper, 7:05:00 4/11/23 Tue
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Apple’s worldwide computer shipments fell 40.5% year over year in the first quarter of 2023, amid a broader contraction in consumer demand, according to research firm IDC.
All five of the largest computer makers — Apple
, ASUS
, Dell
, HP
and Lenovo
— saw double-digit drops in first-quarter shipments, reflecting weaker demand and persistent inventory woes. But Apple’s decline was the biggest of the bunch.
Colloidal silver becomes insoluble silver chloride in the stomach. -- Goldenstein, 12:16:57 4/09/23 Sun
It’s the always soluble silver nitrate that turns people blue and a dumb way to go.
A mighty Har, Har to the people out there that believe the written word. -- Jasper, 8:23:25 4/09/23 Sun
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The revelation that Gothe appears to be some elaborate fiction drawn up by some unknown author or authors has greatly upset many within the German political sphere, with the fact that the blogger accepted donations for their coverage in particular ruffling some feathers.
We need bigger government. More and more and more, it's the communist way. -- Jasper, 8:10:43 4/09/23 Sun
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Unlivable Hellholes
With such a massive tax burden going to fund public pensions the rest of Chicago’s public services go neglected. For this reason, and many more, Chicago and other big blue cities have become unlivable hellholes.
According to a Municipal Market Analytics analysis of Bloomberg data, more than 100 city, county, state, and other governments borrowed for their pension funds in 2021. This is twice the highest number that did so in any prior year.
Standing behind these pension funds are state and local taxpayers – that’s you, acting as the ATM. What’s more, when the investment returns of public pension funds fall short, governments are primarily responsible for filling the void. This means cutting other spending and services or increasing taxes.
Indeed, covering pension fund obligations is a massive drag on state and local government finances. And while insolvent cities can declare bankruptcy and welch on their obligations, states as a matter of federal law cannot.
Thus, taxpayers will continue to be called upon to pay more and more to cover the pension shortfalls. In Illinois, for example, 25 percent of general tax revenues pay for pensions.
Quite frankly, it’s obscene to force private sector workers having no pension to bailout the pensions of public sector employees. The fact is there’s a legion of public workers out there who’ve been promised a retirement that’s no longer affordable. These grand promises must be broken.
You can witness the effects when traversing through just about every big city in America. By repeatedly reallocating spending from much needed services, the present and future conditions of cities and municipalities are being transformed to unlivable hellholes.
Feedback: 
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Brandon (Voy coder), 19:50:59 12/09/24 Mon 
