Economic pressures

[Danny B]

The unwinding of the dollar monster and world domination

Various Central Bankers bought U.S. debt to support the dying dollar. It was hoped that the system would keep going until the Euro reached maturity as a contender. The Euro had a floating gold backing and it was hoped that this was enough to retain confidence. Super Mario Draghi (GS) printed Euros with wild abandon. Goldman Sachs poisoned the Euro right from the start. It was hoped that the Euro would allow/force the dollar to be dethroned. But, Pax Americana continued to use the reserve credit card to go on a spree of world domination/destruction.

"Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that. �I want to tell you something very clear: Don't worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it." � Alleged quote by Ariel Sharon to Shimon Peres (October 3, 2001)

Congress was bought and sold and the wars for the Ashkenazi went on unabated. Wars are good business for the bankers. Saddam Hussein was led to believe that America would turn a blind eye if he invaded Kuwait. Kuwait was undercutting OPEC and he was stupid to believe that America would allow it to be absorbed by Hussein.
So, he invade Kuwait and America valiantly defended them. The destruction to Kuwait was figured at $ 600 billion. Pox Americana went in and rebuilt the place and charged a pretty penny.
https://hendersonlefthook.wordpress....alances-books/
It was quite a successful and profitable operation.

As America neuters the Euro, our war credit card keeps working and we blow up any State that is in the way of a greater israel.
The Euro is no longer a viable contender to the dollar. The Yuan, even less so. Same for the Rouble. It takes a long time for a currency to mature and be accepted around the world. Gold is another story. It has about 5,000 years of history as a store ov value.
The world is going to continue to have currencies but, it will go back to the barbaric relic as a store of value. Pox Americana continues with the wars for as long as it can. The Chinese and Russians do NOT want to be included in the list of States that have been trashed by Tel Aviv on the Potomac.
China allowed their financial system to go into hyperdrive knowing that it would blow up.

5/19 Chinese insurer warns of �mass defaults, social unrest� � Zero Hedge
5/19 China creates own insurance monster � Bloomberg
5/19 Chinese phone giant: �unprecedented degree� of falsified revenue � Zero Hedge
Pox Americana created NUMEROUS weapons that have now been turned back on America.
https://www.rutherford.org/publicati..._what_it_sows?

The world has had quite enough of empire building by the demented Ashkenazi warlords. The Anglo-American empire is coming to an end. The British empire ended when it became too expensive to maintain control. The American empire would have ended decades ago it it weren't for our reserve-currency credit card. This is coming to an end in spite of the machinations of GS.

[Danny B]

Unwinding the welfare state

The reserve-currency credit card not only allowed expensive wars, it allowed expensive social support. LBJ started it with the war on poverty. It would have been better to have a war on stupidity and laziness but, that didn't happen. Voters wouldn't like to be held responsible for their own actions. This ongoing war on poverty has cost $ 25 trillion by most accounts.
Times have changed and wages are no longer a viable means of distributing the national wealth.
It has been proposed that the FED deposit $ 80,000 into everybody's account. We would all stop working and pursue our hobbies,,, or just veg-out in front of the screen.
It has been proposed that all debts be cancelled. The people who are owed money would become instantly poor.
As an alternative, it has been proposed that everybody be given a basic income. This would still allow a LOT of people to kick back and do nothing. Then, there is the problem of human nature.
Here is a page on the universal basic income.

It lists the pros and cons. FDR very clearly lists one of the major cons.
"The lessons of history, confirmed by the evidence immediately before me, show conclusively that continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fibre. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit. It is inimical to the dictates of sound policy. It is in violation of the traditions of America. Work must be found for able-bodied but destitute workers.�
Work can NO LONGER be found for these people.

" Martin Luther King Jr, a supporter of the basic income, who stated that: "I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective � the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: the guaranteed income."
The Fears and Hopes of Universal Basic Income | Big Think

Sending support to unemployable people just leads to them creating more little people who will most likely be unemployable. Socialism always leads to a crash because it destroys motivation. It creates a "lethargy of spirit". Can a world operate with all the machines doing all the work and all the people just lying about?
Collectivism has a long, sad history. Can it be made to work in an automated world? Can man change his very nature?
The Escape from Collectivism | SWP Cayman Gold Storage

Nigeria receives most of it's income from sales of oil. This has fostered LOTS of procreation. BUT, the standard-of-living is the GDP divided by the population. In spite of all the oil, 80% of Nigerians live in slums. In the more responsible populations, procreation is tempered by lower wages. In the less responsible populations, procreation carries on regardless of available financial resources.
The coming reset is going to lower the standard of living for everybody. Those already on the bottom will slip down to death. The PTB have gone to great lengths to reduce the food supply in Africa in anticipation of the great crash.

When the Great Depression one hit America, 5.4 million starved to death even though 44% of Americans lived on the farm. This time will be more dramatic.

[Danny B]

Shut off the money,,, start the riots.

When the family income goes down, we cut back on expenses. When the State income goes down, any attempt to cut back brings howls of rage. This recently happened in Saudi Arabia where a huge % of people work for GOV and do almost nothing. GOV tried to cut back and created a feces storm.
Venezuela recently experienced a sharp reduction in income. Unfortunately, a LOT of Venezuelans NEED that missing money to survive. They are trying to boot out the government to keep the money flowing. The money just isn't there so, it is never going to flow as it did previously. They need to accept reality and find other means to survive.
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2...uela-protests/

Brazil also depends a LOT on oil. Brazil is also going down FAST; Brazilian Bloodbath: Currency Halted, Futures Crash, Bonds Tumble Most On Record | Zero Hedge
Protesting and rioting won't bring in foreign money needed for food imports.

Greece didn't have oil but, Berlin is gutting the country to save the banks. It won't be long now before they reach nationwide anarchy.
Meanwhile... In Greece | Zero Hedge

Puerto Rico has melted down.
Illinois is not far behind, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-amid-fighting

Socialism; from each as to his abilities,,, to each as to her needs.
As long as you claim that you need something, it must be provided. Of course, you don't have to actually work for it. What kind of mentality does that create?
Schools in one area of Baltimore have a 50% graduation rate BUT, " 6 Baltimore Schools Have Zero Students Proficient In State Math, English Tests"
"It's Absurd" - 6 Baltimore Schools Have Zero Students Proficient In State Math, English Tests | Zero Hedge
socialism just doesn't demand ANYTHING from anybody. Why exert yourself?

Moving on to the western bastion of socialism.
"Cali Governor Jerry Brown Slams "Free-Loading" Taxpayers For Opposing Higher Taxes"
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-0...g-higher-taxes
The proponents of socialism must turn a blind eye to human nature.

The State figured that; if they printed enough dollars, EVERYTHING would get funded. We would have a socialist paradise.
Armstrong said that California will crash going into 2018. Just as the people of Brazil and Venezuela are rioting when the cash stops, the Californians will do the same. You can see that this is a fairly slow-motion wreck and there will be time to move out of the way if you have mobility. If the banks close, you exit window will just be a few days.

[Danny B]

Blinded by fear and hate,,, running to the edge of the cliff

The economy is just a fa�ade that can't stand up to close examination, let alone an attack. The controlled media works to ensure that it is not examined. The entrenched deep state has a lot of power and wants to keep it that way. Tel Aviv on the Potomac has had many decades of plunder and control AND, wants the status quo. Trump came along and threatens that status quo. The neocons and demopubs have joined together to fight Trump. The very serious problem is ; they believe their own BS in MSM. They believe that the economy is fine.

We are in an all out civil war in the newspapers and TV to get rid of Trump to protect the status quo.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/m...-rid-of-trump/
"Trump is clueless that he is hated by the Deep State, Democrats, and the elite Republicans. All of them like everything as is � thank you very much"
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/i...al-prosecutor/
Democrats want to shut down government until they get a special prosecutor.

"The perpetual dollar bears cannot see the light. Just how is the world economy going to crack with a lower dollar? They look at the dollar as if it is a SHARE PRICE up is bullish and down is bearish for America. Currency is the opposite of share prices. The higher the currency, the greater the deflation and the lower the economic growth. They never heard of �competitive devaluations� or currency wars. Every crisis has come with a rising dollar. The solution was a dollar devaluation as Roosevelt did in 1934. They look at everything backwards and that�s why the lose a fortune consistently buying highs."

" Only a rise in the dollar will break the system and end the dollar as the reserve currency. "
"Only a total idiot forecasts the long-term by one month worth of price action. We need these fools to make the trends. Somebody has to buy the high and sell the low. This entire political-geopolitical mess us starting to bubble up. Why are two Republicans, McCain and Graham, acting as Trump�s worst enemy trying to destroy the Republican Agenda? They are being paid by their lobbyists to protect the corrupt establishment. They are against their own Party and should just join Hillary on vacation. Oh that�s right. They have the same backers. Graham�s number one contributors are law firms really on behalf of their clients to hide the source of the money I believe."

"With the stock market crash into 2009, this was the PERFECT storm, which was a FALSE MOVE. Even Barrons as last of 2011 ran a story saying tongue in cheek how I was forecasting new highs. They thought it was a joke. That�s because these people have never been traders or students of the market. The chart patterns are always the same regardless of the instrument because you are plotting human emotion � not really that instrument."
Academia and MSM lost in the woods and telling all of us what is going to happen.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/m...he-false-move/

No limits to hacking; "The entire world will become vulnerable and they use to counterfeit an adversary�s currency to undermine their economy. Today, if we keep this nonsense up, they will hack into the entire thing and shut it down.
The idea of moving to a cashless society is just insane."
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/w...hless-society/

[Danny B]

TAE and the Great Collateral Grab

The Automatic Earth (TAE) has existed for almost ten years now. That is nearly ten years of exploring and describing the biggest possible big picture of our present predicament. The intention of this post is to gather all of our most fundamental articles in one place, so that readers can access our worldview in its most comprehensive form.
We are reaching limits to growth in so many ways at the same time, but it is not enough to understand which are the limiting factors, but also what time frame each particular subset of reality operates over, and therefore which is the key driver at what time.
When the operating system crashes, nothing much will work until the system is rebooted. The next few years will see that crash and reboot. As financial contraction is set to occur first, finance will be the primary driver to the downside for the next several years. After that, we will be dealing with energy crisis, other resource limits, limitations of carrying capacity and increasing geopolitical ramifications.

The ensuing Great Collateral Grab will reveal just how historically under-collateralized our supposed prosperity has become. Very few of the myriad claims to underlying real wealth can actually be met, leaving the excess claims to be exposed as empty promises. These are destined to be rapidly and messily extinguished in a deflationary implosion."

First, we get the Default Cascade, then, we get the Great Collateral Grab
https://www.theautomaticearth.com/20...er-guide-2017/

5/19 Australian economy among �walking dead of debt� � News.com.au
5/19 China puts financial stability ahead of debt control � AFR So, how do you have financial stability if debt is out of control?
5/19 Taleb sees worse tail risks than in 2007 � Bloomberg That is a LOT of tail
5/19 US shale roars back at OPEC � Bloomberg So, the oil glut gets worse and prices stay low enough to crash more and more States and corporations.
5/19 ECB tapering may trigger �disorderly restructuring� of Italian debt � Wolf Street No doubt about it. BUT, when the Italian banks go down, this takes down the German banks.
5/19 Some euro zone banks �in denial� about bad loans: ECB�s Nouy � Reuters
5/19 China is using the yuan to combat risk of a market meltdown � Bloomberg YEP, more credit will fix everything.

[Danny B]

Failed petro-States

" You see, Saudi Arabia is the world�s lowest-cost oil producer. Its oil companies can turn a profit at as low as $10 per barrel. That�s one-fifth of what oil trades for today.
So what�s the problem?
The problem is that Saudi Arabia is one giant welfare state."
"Not only that, about 70% of Saudi nationals work for the government. These �public servants� earn 1.7 times more than their counterparts in the private sector."
" This is creating big problems for the Saudi kingdom. In 2015, the Saudis posted a record $98 billion deficit. That was equal to about 15% of the country�s annual economic output.
Last year, it ran another $79 billion deficit."

" According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Saudi Arabia needs oil to trade north of $86 a barrel to balance its budget."

" The Saudis are begging Trump to stop pumping so much oil."
" Instead of cutting output, they�ve (U.S.)rapidly increased production."

You can see this in the chart below. U.S. oil production has jumped 10% since last July."
" Unless this changes soon, Saudi Arabia is doomed.
After all, the country is already in a race against time. According to the IMF, Saudi Arabia is on pace to burn through all of its cash within five years."
This Giant Welfare State Is Running Out of Time | Casey Research

Do not worry, the house of Saud is tackling the problem.
"In his first overseas trip as president, Donald Trump sealed an arms deal with Saudi Arabia worth $350 billion "
https://www.rt.com/news/389061-trump-saudi-arms-deal/

Venezuela had it's best economy when it was run by dictators and generals. Democracy ALWAYS morphs into socialism and Venezuela was no exception.
"In the 1950s, General Marcos P�rez Jim�nez would continue G�mez�s legacy. At this juncture, Venezuela was at its peak, with a fourth place ranking in terms of per capita GDP worldwide."
"As mentioned earlier, Venezuela was at the height of its prosperity during the military dictator Marcos P�rez Jim�nez�s regime." DISCIPLINE
https://mises.org/blog/venezuela-cha...ialist-failure

[Danny B]

Great treasure here and there,,, why work?

It's a quiet day and you may be bored. I have some reading for you. Not just any reading. This is a story of great treasures.
EVERY GOV agency reports that it has buckets of money in various accounts. JUST the Californian University system reports that it has over $ 90 billion. If you add up every GOV agency with a big stash, it comes to ?$80 trillion. ALL of this money is reported annually.
CAFR1 Home Page

Then, there is the story of Leo Wanta who is reportedly custodian for a LOT of American wealth.
The Story Of Leo Wanta 'The 27.5 Trillion Dollar Man'
Lee Wanta, American Hero | Veterans Today
So, yes or no?

Moving on. There is an interesting tidbit from wikileaks. This concerns global capital accounts. It is a fascinating story brought to us by Waking Times. This is the same group that published an account of the Attack on Tianjin by an American space weapon. The story postulates that there is enormous wealth just waiting for Americans to claim it.
Liens Filed Against the Federal Reserve: The Key to Trump Ending the Fed & Returning the Gold Standard? - Waking Times Media
Why is all this presumed wealth hidden away? Why is every agency of the GOV stashing away $trillions that could make our lives easier. Actually, why did they take it in the first place?

The first answer that comes to mind is; when FED GOV finally goes bankrupt, the $ 80 trillion won't be subject to confiscation because it is held by minor GOV entities. We go bankrupt but, still get to keep the house and car.
The other answer that comes to mind is related to John Maynard Keynes.
Keynes said that the industrial revolution would be so productive that eventually, we could all stop working. There would be so much physical wealth in the world that, there would be plenty for everybody. We've pursued a lot of wars to destroy a lot of wealth but, it just keeps rolling off the production lines. Almost 100 million Americans of working age are unemployed but, production just keeps going.
The lower loop of the economy is frozen fast because of a lack of money. The original plan was to keep the masses relatively poor so that they would continue to work. There has been a plan floated to just credit everyone's bank account with $80,000 to get consumption moving again.

The problem appears; how do "they" move sufficient liquidity into the lower loop of the economy AND still keep people working? And still, the problem remains; wages are inadequate to distribute national wealth.
Automated productivity is humming along nicely but, consumption is crashing.

"They" have always tried to keep us poor enough to force us to work. We are definitely poor but, the market and demand for labor is continuously shrinking. Globalization has moved the shrinking demand for labor to just a few locales. The State tries to make up the difference in the drop in demand for labor. Here is the result;
https://i0.wp.com/www.zerohedge.com/...01_obama_0.jpg

Earth could have one-world globalism but, it would demand the destruction of all capital markets. That would demand State control of all facets of the economy. The dis-incentives of communism would soon destroy EVERYTHING.

[Danny B]

Mother nature bats last

Socialism ALWAYS goes bankrupt. Socialism is the firewall between Darwinian pressures and Mother Nature's second-tier offspring. A State survives and thrives based on the productivity of it's people. It also survives based on it's internal cohesiveness. Education is an absolute necessity for productivity.

Repost;
"At West Baltimore's Frederick Douglass High, one of five high schools and one middle school where not one student scored a four or a five on the state test, only one out of 185 students who took the test last year scored a three, while 165 students scored a one, the lowest possible score. "
"It's Absurd" - 6 Baltimore Schools Have Zero Students Proficient In State Math, English Tests | Zero Hedge
OK, so these "students" plan to be wards of the State.
The bottom tenth quantile has seen no wage gains since 1967.
http://media.peakprosperity.com/imag...-5-19-2017.jpg

Income is broadly connected to education. Income is dropping for even the more educated.
http://media.peakprosperity.com/imag...-5-19-2017.jpg
https://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/...ation-continue

"The biggest differentiator appears to be education: the Fed reported that 82% of adults with a bachelor�s degree or more in education said last year they were �living comfortably� or �doing okay,� up from 80% the year before, as well as 69% of those with some college or an associate degree, up from 66%. Furthermore, 79% of those with at least a bachelor�s degree said they would still be able to pay all of their other bills in full if hit with a $400 charge. Just 52% of those with no more than a high school diploma said the same."

"the survey findings remind us that many American households are struggling financially, including fully 40 percent of those with a high school diploma or less. More broadly, 44 percent of all respondents could not cover an unexpected $400 emergency expense or would rely on borrowing or selling something to do so. The survey also shows that many adults have no savings for retirement."
A Quarter Of American Adults Can't Pay All Their Monthly Bills; 44% Have Less Than $400 In Cash | Zero Hedge

LBJ started the "Great Society" BS to hand out money for votes... a common practice. This allowed a LOT of people to slack off because Uncle Sam would take care of them. Lacking internal motivation, they could get by well on handouts originally created for those in dire need. The nirvana dreams of social security meant that they could spend every last cent and save nothing for retirement.

The State destroyed the familial transfer of wealth along genetic lines. The majority of people would no longer pass their wealth to their children. They would hand the money to the State and the State would hand the money to someone else�s children. The more-productive people would subsidise the procreation of the less-productive people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLTTX35LNJo

Armstrong says that the FED GOV is going to bankrupt and insolvent. So, what happens to all the people who can't survive without the continual support of the State?

[Danny B]

With a finger on the "kill switch"

"Organizations like the IMF have been talking excitedly for the past few years about something they call �the great global economic reset.� The details behind this �reset� are rather vague, but the general notion is that the economic systems of today are going to evolve in a painful way and that certain elements of our fiscal structure could be wiped clean altogether. In order for such a �reset� to take place, some kind of crisis event would be needed or would happen inevitably as a consequence.

In order for a new economic system to be entrenched, the old system has to be dismantled; but how can banking moguls and globalist interests succeed in doing this without taking the blame for the ultimate social and geopolitical suffering and carnage that would result? Well, they would need scapegoats.

Some of these scapegoats will be political in origin. For example, the mainstream media has been pumping out non-stop rhetoric suggesting that the next global crisis will be a direct result of the �rise of populism and nationalism� within Western societies. "

The NSA and other organizations have handcrafted global networks to fail, and not just fail, but fail spectacularly leaving maximum destruction in their wake. I do not think this was done without foresight. Events like Ransomware might only be the beginning. Watch this trend carefully, and be extra vigilant if cyber attacks begin to target financial institutions and systems. If this does happen, the �great economic reset� may not be far away."
Brandon Smith Warns: 'All Global Banking Systems And Stock Exchanges Are Open To Attack With These Same NSA Exploits'

[Danny B]

The baton of power is slipping away

�Of course the people don�t want war. But after all, it�s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it�s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it�s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.�
� Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

The English Central Bank was created specifically to finance wars. They sold bonds,,,, created a credit line... started a war. If they were on a gold standard, they had to abandon it before the war could be lit off. The English sequestered support from wherever they could squeeze it out.

The War of 1812 [co-incidentally?] began right after the US Congress refused to renew the charter of the Bank of the US in 1812.. The "war" happened to end right after the US Congress renewed that Bank of US Charter( they were for 20 yrs then).. In 1836 the Bank came up for renewal [and having learned], Congress renewed it. Pres Andy Jackson vetoed the bill (remember.."you're a den of vipers and by God I will roust you out"). The Brits (Lord Rothschild) got really mad at this and voila' pulled their money out..ergo Panic of 1837. A few yrs later Lincoln refused to go hat-in-hand to Rothschild to borrow money to fight the Civil War....you may remember the results.

So, regardless of how the common man may feel, he gets robbed of his silver and is forced to march off to war for the bankers and other psychopaths.

America was in a VERY good position post WW II. The treasury held 24,500 tons of gold. We were the manufacturer for the free world. BUT, power attracts the corrupt. Reportedly, 6 million of the chosenites were killed in the war. It isn't mentioned that most were killed by allied bombing. The B-24 Mitchell bomber was specifically designed as an anti-personnel weapon. It isn't mentioned that Germany reached their highest wartime production right before they fell. We didn't want to bomb all the good stuff that we intended to carry off.

The chosenites were attracted to the new power center. The British had handed off the baton of empire to America. They could no longer afford to rule the world. It could have been a huge, peaceful trading empire. Corruption and a craving for world domination prevented that from coming to pass.

Eventually, Pox Americana used their reserve-currency credit card to blow up much of the world. Once again, the dominant power has gone broke trying to control a world that has grown up, and powerful, all around it. Like the Romans, Dutch, Spanish, French, English, et al, the outer lands had become too expensive to control. As more and more States experienced their own industrial revolution, they gained the capacity for industrialized warfare.

Recognising that warfare had become too dangerous for the planet, Most States are banding together under the Chinese banner. They want to see a trading empire take over. They must necessarily squeeze Pox Americana out of the position of control. They are hard at work doing just that.
World Leaders Gather in Beijing While the US Sinks into Irrelevancy

The U.S.S.R. failed and Russia promised to go quietly if NATO promised NOT to expand Eastward. It remains to be seen if Pox Americana will slip away without a world war or not. We assume that we have the upper ground as far as space warfare.
https://www.wired.com/2008/01/inside-the-ch-1/
The C.I.A has not loaded even one tanker with oil. The R.O.W. can afford to cut off our oil and there isn't much we can do about it.
The key weakness is long-distance truck transport. The R.O.W. may very well plan to cut us off at the knees as the only way to stop planetary destruction.

[Danny B]

The undoing of Trump dollar by dollar...Crouching Tiger

1836, the Brits pulled all their money out of the banks and started a panic,,, and then, a crash.
Any credit airplane must have a continuous supply of air moving over the wings.
"After we first showed in early March the steep drop in bank loan creation for both Commercial and Industrial, auto and total loans Goldman, who in late March "explained" that there was nothing ominous about the crash in loan creation...
Two months later we can confirm that not only was Goldman wrong, but so are all the Pollyannas who assert there is nothing troubling about the ongoing collapse in loan creation.
According to the latest Fed data, the all-important C&I loan growth contraction has not only continued, but over the past two months, another 50% has been chopped off, and what in early March was a 4.0% annual growth is now barely positive, down to just 2.0%, and set to turn negative in just a few weeks. This was the lowest growth rate since May 2011, right around the time the Fed was about to launch QE2. "
Just coincidence that loan contraction occurs on Trump's watch.
We Now Know "Who Hit The Brakes" As Loan Creation Crashes To Six Year Low | Zero Hedge

OK, so the private credit airplane is being sucked into the vortex. The public debt has historically been jacked up to make up the difference. We'll just get QE 7 or, whatever number it is at.

Reportedly, the FED is going to do the opposite. It is doubtful that Trump can arm-twist the FED fast enough when the debt ceiling battle heats up.
https://dailyreckoning.com/get-ready...ve-tightening/

Apparently, BOTH the public and private banking industry are going to yank the rug out from under Trump to destroy him. They will destroy the entire economy at the same time.

Charles Hugh Smith weighs in on the idea of free money. oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith: TINA's Legacy: Free Money, Bread and Circuses and Collapse
If the FED is going to do quantitative tightening rather than QE, there isn't going to be any free money.

Meanwhile, in the Middle Kingdom, the Chinese are making lots of plans for us. BIG plans. VERY conspicuously, they NEVER mention gold even though they are accumulating it as fast as they possibly can.
This Is Exactly How China Plans To Send The Price Of Gold Skyrocketing | King World News

[Rakarskiy]

Russia is ahead, suppression and development, free energy technologies!

Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 13, 2017 No. 208
"On the Strategy of Economic Security of the Russian Federation for the Period to 2030"
Section II "Challenges and threats to economic security"
12. The main challenges and threats to economic security
relate:
6) the change in the structure of global demand for energy resources and
The structure of their consumption, the development of energy-saving technologies and
Reduction of material consumption, development of "green technologies";

Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 13.05.2017 г. № 208 • Президент России

[Danny B]

Evapoprating confidence followed by evaporating power

The chosenites are specialists in creating blackmail material on any politician within reach. Philosophically, one would expect this to be done to advance their plan of world domination AND preservation of their little colony in Judea.
If you look at the endless propaganda emanating from their controlled mouthpieces, it is amazingly virulent and hateful. The anti-Trumpers are embracing an amazing level of hatred.
Hate and fear go hand in hand. They are marching forward with a blind hatred that knows no limits. The upper levels of GOV seem to be permeated with paedophiles and Satanists. They are most certainly susceptible to blackmail. They don't have the control over Trump that they require to feel safe. Their fear is their source of their hate.

These are the same people who are running the country. Their approval rating is absurdly low.
https://armstrongmedia.s3.amazonaws....t-Congress.jpg
Armstrong's main model is a confidence model. Congress is (deservedly) hated by the majority of people. Our system can't rightfully be called a "democracy" if most people do not approve of what the legislature is doing.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/i...a-join-forces/

We are saddled with a 3-ring circus of fools as we approach critical negotiations on the budget and debt-ceiling. What does that imply about confidence in the outcome?
"What is taking place in the United States at this moment indeed exposes the fallacy of democracy. The move to overthrow Trump is the belief that democracy is not fair when one side loses. They refuse to accept anything that Trump promised, and we have women being removed from airplanes for beating up a fellow passenger because he voted for Trump. They really expect that removing Trump will not further divide the country and send it into serious civil unrest. We are witnessing the end of any pretended democratic process."

Armstrong reports that all of these developments put us ON TRACK for the collapse of the sovereign debt market. Add to that; the FED wants to do Quantitative tightening to bring Trump down. The private banking system is on-board also. Just imagine; a blind engineer running the train faster and faster.
Somewhere down the traintrack is an Asian monster who plans to disintegrate the entire train. Short-sighted thinking and blind hatred and mad power-lust are driving our train. Confidence flows out of our system like blood leaking from a corpse. Not wanting to be in the same boat, the Chinese will substitute gold for waning confidence.

Oregon has raised the fine for littering to $ 6250.
Greece is going to go after all your riches, Greek Authorities To Launch Mass Confiscation Of Safe Deposit Boxes, Securities, Homes In Tax-Evasion Crackdown | Zero Hedge
The Spaniards are rolling out local currencies and the Central Bank does NOT like that, the unbalanced evolution of homo sapiens: Could banksters' worst nightmare eventually help Greece to escape the euro-prison?
"Alberta�s carbon tax is expected to fill the provincial coffers to the tune of $6,000,000,000.00 dollars"
"Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has told the provinces they'd have until 2018 to implement a price on carbon or have Ottawa do it for them."
Very, very good article, Ahead of The Herd - Saving Us From Us

5/23 Asia�s largest commodity trader halted after crash � Zero Hedge Unravelling, AS PLANNED.
5/23 �DC insider�: �complete panic� at highest levels of DNC � Zero Hedge They can't find any straight people to get in front of the camera. EVERYBODY is a criminal and/or pedophile.
5/23 �We could install 3,000GW of solar power by 2035� � Greentech Media
5/22 Offshore wind won a German power auction without subsidies � Think Progress
Think of all the States that desperately need the price of oil to rise.

The chosenites have shot themselves in the foot,,,, and Crippled America at the same time. World domination is just too expensive when most of the States have become industrialized.
"To date, the United States of America has just under 200,000 troops deployed in over 170 countries around the world and spends more than $611 billion dollars per year on defense"
http://www.theamericanconservative.c...ican-hegemony/
The R.O.W. is tired of our "defense" of the world. They are very tired of all the opium we spread around. The are tired of D.U. everywhere. They are tired of being threatened by space-based weapons. They are trying to band together to stop us economically rather than militarily.

[Danny B]

Well depletion=cash depletion... sales crashing

The petro industry has crashed. Gas prices are low because the oil majors have a gun to their collective heads. When gas prices were much higher, the economy went into a stall. It threatened to crash to earth. The oil majors are losing tons of money. To make matters worse, oil production is crashing,,, especially in the Permian Basin.
"Heinrich explains that the huge increase in the legacy decline (how much production is being lost) is seriously eating into the cash flows of the companies drilling these shale oil and gas wells. Thus, the higher the legacy decline rate, the more negatively it impacts the company�s cash flows"
https://srsroccoreport.com/shale-oil...to-cash-flows/

"Ouch. Oil companies lose whopping $67 billion - CNNMoney
money.cnn.com/2016/04/26/investing/oil-companies-lost-67-billion-dollars/
Apr 26, 2016 - The losses surpassed $1 billion each from struggling oil companies like,,,,

Desperation is starting to set in.
"According to Trump�s budget plan, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will start to be sold from October 2018, which would generate $500 million, according to the documents."
https://www.rt.com/business/389358-t...ctic-drilling/
Our Trade deficit is $1.5 billion a day. An extra $1/2 billion is chump-change.

Kunstler; "a life worth living on a planet worth caring about." Read all of it.
Do You, Mr. Jones...? - KUNSTLER
Trump proposes drilling in ANWR. There is LOTS of oil there and well proven.
Gull Island buzz: 200 years of oil from Alaska�s North Slope? - July 13, 2008 - Petroleum News
BUT, the old ALYESKA pipeline is worn out from sandy oil.
The oil barons are not about to pump oil to subsidise runaway GOV.

5/23 Trump�s $3.6 trillion budget cuts hit his own supporters hard � Bloomberg There is going to be a $hitstorm of a fight over the budget and debt ceiling. Suppose that GOV cuts WAY back on spending. That, in itself, is highly deflationary.
Manufacturing has crashed, Soft Data Collapse Continues - Richmond Fed Crashes | Zero Hedge
5/23 New home sales in April tank -11.4% MoM � Anthony B. Sanders The can is coming near the end of the road and can't be kicked much farther.
5/23 Auto lender Santander checked income on just 8% in subprime ABS � Bloomberg How very strange. Now they have a huge wave of defaults on auto loans. That can isn't going to be kicked any further now that banks have cut WAY back on lending.

[Danny B]

Evolving operating systems

Socialism always breaks the bank. Democracy is socialism-lite. It lasts, on average, 150 years.
In Greece, about 57% of the people worked for the GOV and were paid 1.7 times the wages of the private sector. Wolfgang Sch�uble is trying to unwind this.
Venezuela and many other States have seen their best economic performance under a dictator and/or strongman. The construct that we call the Eurozone is an invention of the technocrats. The finance sector wants to do away with democracy because it leads to socialism and defaults in the bond markets.
The average benevolent dictator runs a country very efficiently. It depends if he is looking for personal riches OR prosperity of his countrymen.

The Eurozone could possibly be run efficiently by the unelected bureaucrats BUT, that is not the way that they are doing it. Rather than creating an efficient technocratic machine, the EU was created as a sinecure for millions of bureaucrats. They get paid handsomely to sit in nice offices and regulate the smallest detail of everyday life. They get gold-plated pensions. The bureaucratic overlay of the EU on top of the already burdensome national bureaucracies subtracted 20% from the GDP of the European States.

The technocrats wanted to avoid the messiness of having a European democracy. In the end, they created a runaway bureaucratic juggernaut that is impoverishing the economy just as "efficiently" as runaway communism might have.

The Chinese have taken a good look at the various systems. They have tried to create a hybrid economy. They loosen control in areas that are necessary for entrepreneurs to create profitable enterprise. They maintain tight control in areas where human nature could cause problems. They try to maintain State control without the economic curse of communism.
Time will tell.