Economic pressures

[Danny B]

P 2 P lending,,, Blockchain... Vids

Blockchain and GOV, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cicwpqr5oR8
Cryptocurrencies and communism, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uabpZAO0xI&t=167s
Bankers sense the competition, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8TyZgJWUkA&t=16s
Bill gates weighs in, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0HmrSfJwhU
An outline of the disruption, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3psxs3gyf8&t=9s
Doug Casey weighs in, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUQiYrc9tWc

7/26 US signals clampdown on red-hot digital coin offerings – Bloomberg
7/26 Some bitcoin backers are defecting to create a rival currency – NY Times
7/26 World’s largest bitcoin tumbling service announces sudden shutdown – Coin Telegraph
7/25 Daily trading volume in Bitcoin surpasses GLD – Zero Hedge
GLD is another Ponzi scheme so, it is very susceptible to volatility and competition.

While cryptocurrencies have their place, it is the blockchain that will bring all the major changes. LEGITIMATE businesses love the universal distributed ledger. They love the idea of escaping the predations of the bankers. Since the State of Delaware has made the big jump, the blockchain will be universally accepted by business.

[Danny B]

Creating debt to finance consumption

The world-improvers are slowly shifting us to world socialism. Socialism is the firewall between non-producers and Darwinian pressures. BUT, supporting all those non-producers (bankers, bureaucrats and beggars) is getting quite expensive. The French GOV spends 57% of their GDP. Their are wildly out of compliance with Eurozone deficit rules. A State can only spend a small portion of the budget to support consumption. Money is spent either on consumption OR investment. If it is spent on investment, there is a chance for an increased return on investment.

If debt money is spent on consumption, it can never be repaid, other than with the proceeds from the money spent on investment. The investment spending must always be much larger than the consumption spending. In a debt-money system In the case of countries that ARE spending too much on consumption, they can temporarily paper over the difference with bond sales.

"One of the primary problems, not only in the U.S., but globally, is that government spending has shifted away from productive investments that create jobs (infrastructure and development) to primarily social welfare and debt service which has a negative rate of return. According to the Center On Budget & Policy Priorities, nearly 75% of every tax dollar goes to non-productive spending."
"Here is the real kicker, though. In the first quarter of 2017, the Federal Government spent $4.27 Trillion which was equivalent to 22.45% of the nation’s entire GDP."
"it took almost all of the revenue received by the Government just to cover social welfare and service interest on the debt. "
"Therefore, the larger the balance of debt becomes, the more economically destructive it is by diverting an ever growing amount of dollars away from productive investments to service payments."

Debt graph, http://realinvestmentadvice.com/wp-c...wth-072217.png

"That clearing process is going to be very substantial. With the economy currently requiring roughly $3 of debt to create $1 of real, inflation-adjusted, economic growth, a reversion to a structurally manageable level of debt would involve a nearly $35 Trillion reduction of total credit market debt from current levels. "
https://realinvestmentadvice.com/how...talking-about/
You should read the whole article. The debt growth is going into hyperdrive. There doesn't seem to be an escape from our huge deflationary reset. After the reset, we could go to debt-free currency creation. Who knows?
Deutsche bank is doing their part to try to block Brexit, "Worse Than People Can Imagine" - Deutsche Bank To Shift $350 Billion Of Assets From London To Frankfurt | Zero Hedge

7/26 More than a third of CA households have virtually no savings – Pasadena Star-News Governor Moonbeam will take care of them.
7/26 It’s five years since Draghi’s ‘whatever it takes’ – Bloomberg Yep, and it still hasn't worked.
7/26 Some bitcoin backers are defecting to create a rival currency – NY Times At least you could hold a tulip bulb in your hands.

[Danny B]

The (maybe) conundrum of gold

Pax Americana used it's unlimited Bretton Woods credit card to build a world wide empire. The FED dictated monetary policy to as much of the world as it possibly could. Our military enforced FED policy. Pox Americana was born. Anybody who didn't like it got bombed. If bombing was too
messy or too obvious, the CIA was sent in to overthrow the government.
The world would like to go back to a gold standard and take away our credit card.
"Sergey Glazyev, a well-placed Russian politician and key Kremlin player, recently declared: “As soon as we (Russia) and China dump the dollar, it will be the end of the U.S. military might.”
"According to Salinas Price, “The present monetary system of the world, based on the dollar, is on its death-bed. A fiat currency — such as the dollar — cannot be replaced by another fiat currency,” he explains. “Therefore, the world will necessarily have to take up (precious metals) as the world’s money.”
OK, that sounds real good but, the SDR and blockchain are waiting in the wings.
"Specifically, he foresees China and Russia creating a gold- and/or silver-backed currency to conduct trade. "
"China, Russia and India are all accumulating massive amounts of gold."
"In summary, Sputnik states that, “if the dollar’s role as a global reserve currency is decreased, the world will see radical political and economic transformation.”
https://dailyreckoning.com/dollar-demise-continues/

OK, most of you know that John Bedini developed a method for producing elemental gold. THAT would be a complication for a gold standard.
Aaron has sent out this announcement, Gold Magnet by Jeff Moe
A gold magnet would definitely cut down on the cost of extracting and refining gold.
There are so many wild cards in the deck, it is impossible to predict what will be a store of value 10 years from now.

[Danny B]

Electric vehicles,,, not yet

Here is an image showing how very important it is to switch over to electric cars.
https://mishgea.files.wordpress.com/...ng?w=529&h=348
I haven't seen any mention of the cost of doing a total rebuild and upgrade of the grid.
An interesting take on the new technology ...

I always wondered why we never saw a cost analysis on what it actually costs to operate an electric car. Now we know why....

At a neighborhood BBQ I was talking to a neighbor, a BC Hydro executive. I asked him how that renewable thing was doing. He laughed, then got serious. If you really intend to adopt electric vehicles, he pointed out, you had to face certain realities. For example, a home charging system for a Tesla requires 75 amp service.

The average house is equipped with 100 amp service. On our small street (approximately 25 homes), the electrical infrastructure would be unable to carry more than 3 houses with a single Tesla, each. For even half the homes to have electric vehicles, the system would be wildly over-loaded.

This is the “elephant in the room” with electric vehicles ... Our residential infrastructure cannot bear the load. So as our genius elected officials promote this nonsense, not only are we being urged to buy the damn things and replace our reliable, cheap generating systems with expensive, new windmills and solar cells, but we will also have to renovate our entire delivery system! This latter "investment" will not be revealed until we're so far down this dead-end road that it will be presented with an oops and a shrug.

If you want to argue with a green person over cars that are eco-friendly, just read the following:

Note: If you ARE a green person, read it anyway. Enlightening.

Eric test drove the Chevy Volt at the invitation of General Motors...and he writes: For four days in a row, the fully charged battery lasted only 25 miles before the Volt switched to the reserve gasoline engine. Eric calculated the car got 30 mpg - including the 25 miles it ran on the battery. So, the range including the 9-gallon gas tank and the 16 kwh battery is approximately 270 miles.

It will take you 4 1/2 hours to drive 270 miles at 60 mph. Then add 10 hours to charge the battery and you have a total trip time of 14.5 hours. In a typical road trip your average speed (including charging time) would be 20 mph.

According to General Motors, the Volt battery holds 16 kwh of electricity. It takes a full 10 hours to charge a drained battery. The cost for the electricity to charge the Volt is never mentioned, so I looked up what I pay for electricity. I pay approximately (it varies with amount used and the seasons) $1.16 per kwh. 16 kwh x $1.16 per kwh = $18.56 to charge the battery. $18.56 per charge divided by 25 miles = $0.74 per mile to operate the Volt using the battery. Compare this to a similar size car with a gasoline engine that gets only 32 mpg. $3.19 per gallon divided by 32 mpg = $0 . 10 per mile.

The gasoline powered car costs about $15,000 while the Volt costs $46,000........So the American Government wants loyal Americans not to do the math, but simply pay 3 times as much for a car that costs more than 7 times as much to run, and takes 3 times longer to drive across the country.....gambling that you’d find 75 amp charging stations whenever needed!

This is the "gorilla in the room" with electric vehicles; we would need lots more power plants to supply the required electricity to charge everyone's car. Our residential infrastructure is just part of the costs. Can you imagine how much a KW of electricity would cost then? Not just to run your car, but for lights, laundry, heating & cooling, etc!!!!!

[Danny B]

Dormancy, volatility, zombies, Venezuela,Kunstler

When it comes to "buy and hold" the CBs are locked in.
"The volatility on stocks, as gauged by the VIX index, hit its lowest intraday level on record July 25 of this year. As for how much stocks are jostling about on any given day, that’s sunk to the lowest in 50 years."
"Even go-go assets are dormant. The risk premium, or extra compensation you receive to own junk bonds, is negative. Negative!"
Junk bonds pay less than safe bonds.
"In short, a less liquid world would be smaller, for a time. But when the time came to allow nature to take its course, central bankers could not bear the pain, nor muster the discipline, to allow creative destruction to cull the weakest from the herd. "

"On this basis, the average proportion of zombies among publicly listed companies grew from less than six percent in 2007 to 10.5 percent in 2015.
So we have one-in-ten firms effectively sucking the life out of the world economy’s ability to regenerate itself. "
The Greater Moderation - Danielle DiMartino Booth – Money Strong, LLC

" One of the most pernicious consequences of financialization is the shifting of risk from the top of the wealth-power pyramid to the bottom: those who benefit the most from financialization's leveraged, speculative credit bubbles protect themselves from losses while those at the bottom of the pyramid (the bottom 99.5%) face the full fury of financialization's formidable risk."
"As Chad observed, the wealthy own the income streams from debt (bonds, etc.), while everyone else owes the interest and principal due on debt. As this chart shows, the wealthy own business equity and financial securities and have a modest slice of debt. The bottom 90% owe most of the debt, and their primary asset is the family home-- an asset that doesn't generate income while it generates interest income for those who own the mortgage. "
"The asymmetry of risk and exposure to loss resulting from financialization is about to become consequential."
Of Two Minds - The Toxic Fruit of Financialization: Risk Is for Those at the Bottom

Venezuela has zillions of barrels of oil so, https://sputniknews.com/military/201...-latinamerica/
Venezuela is to be trashed in the short term to raise oil prices, What Trump's Venezuela Sanctions Will Do To Oil Prices: Barclays Explains | Zero Hedge
The militants are going to make sure that the place burns, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...o-take-up-arms
The people are screwed no matter what, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...w-constitution

"the IMF is worse than pathetic. Their chief economist just stated that the global economy is on track for the broadest synchronized upswing it has experienced in the past decade."
"Canada is experiencing a historic building boom" hot Chinese money " Ironically, an increasing amount of the residential real estate is beyond the average Canadian’s capacity to purchase at current prices, "
http://kingworldnews.com/john-embry-...erribly-wrong/
The CBs can create lots of money but, they can't control where it goes. Just like Canada, Australians are being priced out of the housing market.
It is very dangerous to price the average working man out of the housing market.

The IMF wants to be where the money is; https://www.rt.com/business/397424-i...ecade-lagarde/
Kunstler, "The next big entertainment for them will be the financial implosion of the elites themselves as the governing forces of physics finally overcome all the ruses and stratagems of the elites who have been playing games with money."
"That’s exactly what is about to commence at the end of the summer when the government runs out of cash-on-hand and congress finds itself utterly paralyzed by party animus to patch the debt ceiling problem that disables new borrowing. "
"The Deep State may win its war against the pathetic President Trump, but it won’t win any war against the imperatives of the universe and the way that expresses itself in the true valuation of things. And when the moment of clarification arrives — the instant of cosmic price discovery — the clueless elites will have to really and truly worry about the value of their heads."
http://kunstler.com/cluster****-nati...of-everything/

22 reasons;
Real GDP has grown 1.97%, .83% and .69% over the last 3, 5, and 10 years respectively.
The Federal Reserve forecast for real GDP is 2.05% and 1.90% for 2018 and 2019
Remember that FED GOV spends 24% of the gdp into existence with DEBT money.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-0...ublesome-facts

[Danny B]

The cost of crony capitalism

Socialism is the firewall between non-producers and Darwinian pressures. But, socialism isn't just for incompetent persons.
"On this basis, the average proportion of zombies among publicly listed companies grew from less than six percent in 2007 to 10.5 percent in 2015.
So we have one-in-ten firms effectively sucking the life out of the world economy’s ability to regenerate itself. "
Socialism for the corporate sector.
"In a true free market, government doesn’t seek to protect jobs, industries, or firms. Rather, it merely fosters contract enforcement and protects individual rights—including property rights—under the rule of law."
Crony capitalism;
"The key here is competition. Corporate welfare assaults the very concept of competition by giving selected enterprises government-sponsored advantages or privileges that fall into three fundamental categories: financial support through spending subsidies, tax incentives, special government financing, or bailouts; regulatory preferences such as monopolies or mandates; and protectionist policies such as tariffs or quotas."

"This brings us to “creative destruction,” a key element of any free market, essential for human progress."
"In this way creative destruction provides greater prosperity and advancement over time. The Austrian-born economist Joseph Schumpeter first described this process as an essential element of capitalism, necessary for progress in an always-evolving economy."
"When it isn’t allowed to work through the intervention of corporate welfare, the result is economic inefficiency. Subsidies, price supports, and price setting all distort the function of market signals"
The State has protected MANY zombies BUT, zombies don't die. The State must support these zombies in perpetuity. Once again, the money is spent directly on consumption. It can never be repaid.
The Ultimate Trifecta of Crony Capitalism | The American Conservative

The tab just keeps growing, "Total Government And Personal Debt In The U.S. Has Hit 41 Trillion Dollars ($329,961.34 Per Household)"
Total Government And Personal Debt In The U.S. Has Hit 41 Trillion Dollars ($329,961.34 Per Household) | Zero Hedge
The eventual debt liquidation is expected to erase $35 trillion. THAT will definitely leave a mark.

Illinois public servants have set a new benchmark for GOV consumption.
Why Illinois Is In Trouble - 63,000 Public Employees With $100,000+ Salaries Cost Taxpayers $10 Billion | Zero Hedge
The City of Bell, Ca must have been their spiritual guidance, Bell Reveals More Six-Figure Salaries - NBC Southern California

7/28 How on earth can profits grow at 10% in a 2% economy? – Fortune It can when the FED is your godfather.
7/27 Seattle home prices go vertical as laundered Chinese money flows in – Zero Hedge
7/26 Australian housing affordability the worst in 130 years – Renegade Inc.
7/25 US existing home sales stumble as prices hit record high – CNBC
Just like Vancouver and other cities favored by the Chinese. They can sustain these bubbles for a long time. 50% of the rich Chinese want to live some place other than China.
"In the 1990s as much as 50% of the debt of State Owned Enterprises went bad. The Chinese government engineered a huge bailout "
https://seekingalpha.com/article/409...ate-china-debt
They are going to have to do this again.

[Danny B]

Permanent bailouts,,Saudi collapsing

The Central Banks engineered bailouts for enterprises, large and small. When consumption and manufacturing crashed in the West, the CBs came in to save the day. They expected to temporarily support everything until commerce resumed to carry the financial burden. Because of the overwhelming competition from low-wage markets, wages and consumption continue to fall. Absent the enormous credit bubble in the consumer markets, it would have fallen much faster.

The globalists pushed for complete financial integration with no trade barriers. The CBs have now come to the enlightened conclusion that the economies of the West will never return to the "good old days". 10% of companies are zombies. They can't let the zombies crash because the markets will lose all confidence from the default cascade.
Mario Draghi promised that he would do "whatever it takes". He couldn't bring back wages and consumption so, he was just blowing hot air.

" Mario Draghi leapfrogged (helicopter) Bernanke, turning to open-ended QE and other extreme measures to preserve euro monetary integration. No longer would QE be viewed as a temporary crisis management tool. And just completely disregard traditional monetary axiom that central banks should operate as lender of last resort in the event of temporary illiquidity – but must avoid propping up the insolvent."
No more temporary. BUT, if it isn't temporary, it must be permanent.
"Draghi ECB is still pumping out enormous amounts of “money” on a monthly basis (buying sovereigns and corporates) with rates near zero."
"What “Helicopter Ben” accomplished with U.S. corporate bonds, “Super Mario” surpassed with Trillions of European sovereign, corporate and financial debt." " Adopt pro-Bubble policies and there will be no turning back."

Credit Bubble Bulletin : Weekly Commentary: Five Years of Whatever It Takes
France and Italy are completely buried in debt that they can never repay.
Draghi has bailed out everything with ZIRP. But, the sovereign debt load continues to climb. He owns it forever.

Jim Willie, "The TIC Report on foreign bond assets is a gigantic fabrication. Most Saudi bond holdings have been hijacked and stolen, used as the core to the USDept Treasury’s vaunted Exchange Stabilization Fund. They will never see at least $3 trillion in sequestered bonds."
Most of the article is about the crash of Saudi Arabia and their dried-up oil fields.
http://www.24hgold.com/english/news-...Willie+CB&mk=1

Chinese money pours in. People buy RVs to have some place to live, https://dollarcollapse.com/stock-pri...-flashing-red/
7/30 Social Security’s bleak future is inevitable – Nasdaq Well, Raytheon and General Dynamics are doing well.
7/29 EU explores account freezes to prevent runs at failing banks – Reuters That should inspire lots of confidence.
7/29 Bill Gross warns central banks set to blow up the global economy – Regal Assets Buy more popcorn
7/30 Koos Jansen: Estimated Chinese gold reserves surpass 20,000 tonnes – GATA Jim Willie said that we would have to lease 10,000 tons to satisfy gold payment for trade if we want to continue our imports.
7/30 Why Japan just can’t quit the ‘Deflationary Mindset’ – Asia Times Their wages, markets and population are deflating.

7/30 Why the feds took down one of Bitcoin’s largest exchanges – Verge Blockchain yes,,, bitcoin, no.
7/29 Venezuela money supply surges 10% in one week, fastest in 25 years – Reuters
7/29 Futures price for bitcoin cash plunges 50%, BTC up 7% – Coin Telegraph A few more hacks will change that.
7/30 Southern California median home price doubles in five years – Zero Hedge Chinese money
7/29 Plan calls for L.A., Long Beach ports to go to zero-emissions technology – LA Times So, they aren't going to let any ships come in?

7/29 How a bug in an obscure chip exposed a billion smartphones to hackers – Wired
7/28 UniCredit data breach hits 400,000 customers – Silicon Buy more bitcoin

[Danny B]

Pension crisis,,, TBTF must fail

Some news from Armstrong. France is WILDLY out of compliance with the debt-level rules from Brussels. Nobody says a thing. Poland is wildly out of compliance at accepting rapefugees and Brussels threatens to kick them out of the eurozone. Also, Warsaw wants to keep judicial control in Poland.
"The European Commission is close to triggering Article 7 on Poland for refusing to accept refugees. Article 7 is called the “nuclear option” that denies a member the right to vote. "
"The entire secret agenda is about the Pension Crisis. The low birthrates in Europe have made politicians assume that the refugees can be put to work to pay taxes to bailout the pensions."
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/i...-europe-apart/

Australian Police Want a New Law to Covertly Turn All Phones into Listening Devices
The NSA is also in bed with major corporations and the idea of defending the economy has turned into defending corporations

Mother Nature avoids centralization and promotes inter-dependency.
Centralization didn't work for the U.S.S.R. and it appears that centralization is tearing the EU and USA apart.
Jordan Peterson argues that the "too big to fail" banks were so big that they HAD to fail.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpXVoSZyHXM&t=30s
Centralization forces everyone to walk the same path. This never works.
https://newswithviews.com/americans-...oaching-storm/

[Danny B]

Once again, my post got zapped. Here is the abbreviated entry.
Margin debt has gone screaming up to an all-time high. https://www.cmgwealth.com/wp-content...07/0707.01.png
The brokerage houses and banks have now invented shadow margin debt. Rich people borrow against their portfolio. Should their stock lose value, they will have to liquidate into a falling market.
Markets Relax Merrily on a Powerful Time Bomb | Wolf Street
7/31 Wall Street isn’t ready for a 1,100-point tumble in the Dow industrials – MarketWatch

Our standard of living continues to drop as we slide towards a global mean wage, Despite appearances, the idea of social progress is a myth | The Independent

"Clearly, the big concerns have been that all the economic theories are turning to dust. Nearly 10 years of quantitative easing has utterly failed to reverse course and the banks are most vulnerable in Southern Europe namely in Greece, Italy, and Spain. The understanding of inflation has collapsed as has the quantity of money theory and the notion that when interest rates rose, the stock market should have dropped. All of these theories still taught in school have crumbled to dust in the real world and people are more and more reaching out for help and explanations other than opinion."
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/i...european-tour/

" Politics is disintegrating and it will only get far worse between now and 2021"
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/i...for-something/
"Nothing scares the government more than something it can’t control, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed this week that it is terrified of cryptocurrencies — as well it should be. See, all those lawmakers and bureaucrats sitting around regulating everything depend on taxpayer money to pay their salaries so they can keep writing regulations. Since cryptocurrencies allow people to keep all of their money, this is a big problem for the lawmakers. "
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-0...less-stop-them

Apparently, the transport system in Rome is even worse than the banking system.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-0...brink-collapse
7/31 Zombie companies littering Europe may tie the ECB’s hands for years – Bloomberg The ECB refuses to let the zombies die for fear of systemic contagion. The zombies just grow bigger and a lot of them are Italian zombies.

[Danny B]

Automation, debt and psychology

There is a lot to read. I'll start with human psychology. Very FEW people can just sit around all day.
"Tax the robots and use the proceeds to fund a universal basic income for all Americans."
“At the exponential rate of robotization, there isn’t a lot of time for legislators to figure out the intricacies of a solution - but they don’t seem to be in too much of a rush. "
How Can America Afford A Universal Basic Income? Simple: "Tax The Robots" | Zero Hedge
Here are the best comments;
"So... let's assume that we have a program in place to give people a living wage. How will they while away their time? Drugs? Video games? Online porn? People need a reason for being, and consuming isn't it... Consider the massive increase in opiod use... pain killers do one thing, kill pain. People's lives are descending into hell.
It is a rare individual that can assign their own tasks in life. Most folks are self destructing... a process that is accelerating."

"Very true regarding human nature, but I see this coming automation as an inevitability. The question still remains: What about the people who will be put out of work as a result of this continued automation? Because it is not going to stop. It's just not. There is a very real crisis coming to the world's workforce if we don't get creative with our solutions, and I don't think they're going to be our grandparents' kind of solutions. "

"Automation is a sort of grim reaper eliminating both low level toilers and human interaction. 'Value' is created by reducing overhead in exchange for a ****tier, dehumanized experience. In the meantime, the workers who are replaced can now enjoy the glory of living out of their cars. The answer to automation is obviously heroin."
"Corporations have record debt on top of record personal debt and even larger unfunded entitlement liabilities, NONE of which can be paid for by a consumption tax, which is indirectly EXACTLY what corporate and business taxes are.

We are so weak and desperate that we are willing to cast rationality out the window and commit ourselves to absolute and irreversible redundancy"
"Automation will provide the goods and services to the OWNERS of this technology and ELIMINATE any need for the bulk of civilization."
"Technology has not YET reached the ability to make people redundant but this discussion shows us it's path. We have been manipulated through indoctrination, propaganda, marketing and redistribution to accept ever shrinking self sufficiency and independence while literally watching our jobs disappear."
"I get the philosophical aspect and agree; however, Pandora's box is not going to close. In fact, it is speeding up exponentially. The jobs are leaving whether we like it or not. And not just the blue collar automated jobs either. We are staring into the face of employment oblivion.

What are some real ways to deal with this coming automation that doesn't end in total catastrophe? I'm sincerely looking at what I see inevitably coming and looking for legitimate answers."
" You can't give EVERYONE a chunk of money, because who's going to pay for EVERYONE? there's no one left. Redistribution schemes only 'work' when you're taxing 'them' to give to 'us'. "
So, either people are supported with debt-free money, NOT taxes OR they reduce population.
"If you could tax the companies to make up for lost jobs, then there would be no benefit to automate in the first place. A UBI will be paid for through debt, just like everything else." Can't work,,, who repays the debt?

From the movie, Zardoz, The Eternals are overseen and protected from death by the Tabernacle, an artificial intelligence. Given their limitless lifespan, the Eternals have grown bored and corrupt. The needlessness of procreation has rendered the men impotent and meditation has replaced sleep. Others fall into catatonia, forming the social stratum the Eternals have named the "Apathetics".
We are moving towards a fork in the road. Employment will soon be a thing of the past. Who will receive support? Who will have a meaningful life? Will the masses be supported by debt-free money? Will they be able to maintain sanity. Will the herd be thinned?

[Danny B]

No exits on this freeway

Steve Westly is running for State Controller in California.
"Unfortunately, it’s only funded at 65 percent of the amount needed for its commitments to retirees. And this is with the stock market at historic highs." (except for earnings)
"We’re already seeing pension liabilities crowd out other spending. "
"Over the same time frame, spending on pensions increased 99 percent."
Here is where he gets "real". "Since taking office, Brown has taken laudable steps to push the assumed rate of return down from 7.75 percent to 7.0 percent." "however, we should push the rate lower. "
Actual returns are 1/2% Before inflation. Governor moonbeam wants to get realistic and practical, and lower expected rates to just 7%.
Westly: California public pensions still put state at risk
This is representative of GOV officials.

John Hussman has proved very well that returns will be negative 8-9 years out AND at zero % at the 10 year mark. Goldman Sachs recently concurred.
"Analysts at Goldman Sachs Asset Management pointed out that annualized returns on the S&P 500 10 years out were in the single digits or negative 99 percent of the time when starting with valuations at current levels."
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/31/ther...from-here.html
The public serpents are arguing over the difference between 7% and 7.75%

Ron Rosen, "This REPORT attempts to demonstrate that the day the Dollar Index crosses beneath the 91.88 level will probably be the beginning of a collapse in the stock averages "
https://dollarcollapse.com/dollar-5/...e-gold-spikes/
So, buy more popcorn.

"Now, Jim says, Trump’s getting ready to uncork a trade war against China.
All of his trade top trade advisers are anti-China hawks hot to label China a currency manipulator and teach it a severe lesson on trade.
Jim says China will of course retaliate.
And he expects China will undertake a “maxi-devaluation” of its currency in early to mid-2018.
That devaluation could range from 10–20%."
"Perhaps you’ll recall when the U.S. stock market took a nasty fall in August 2015, after China devalued just a few percent.
And a 20% devaluation?"
"So it seems the currency wars and the trade wars are well underway."

"The panel was asked to pick a “black swan” that could blindside markets.
Each panelist spotted one (although Jim doesn’t like the term).
When David’s turn came he said forget a black swan.
Watch for an orange swan instead, one that presently occupies 1600 Pennsylvania.
Trump had just fired his chief of staff Reince Priebus Friday morning.
And the White House will now be going “bonkers,” as David styled it.
He went on to paint a dark picture of executive dysfunction and grand bungling.
Then the thunderclap erupted…
“I predict Trump will be out of office by February!”
https://dailyreckoning.com/currency-...shooting-wars/

"So far, Trump is a man who does listen, but he is also a man who is very much his own. He is out of his league in politics. This is not about the best deal for the country. This is indeed more than a swamp – it is an entire ocean of corruption and self-interest. "
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/i...s/trump-chaos/

Kunstler, "A related narrative: the US economy is “recovering” — supposedly from a mysterious speed-bump that made it swerve off the road in 2008. No, that’s not it. The US economy has entered a permanent state of contraction because we can’t afford the fossil fuel energy it takes to continue expanding our techno-industrial activities (and there are no plausible adequate substitutes for the fossil fuels). We tried to cover up this state of affairs by borrowing money from the future, issuing bonds to “create money,” and now we’ve reached the end of that racket because it’s clear we can’t pay back the old bonded debt and have no prospect for “making good” on issuing new bonded debt."
A currency war seen from the street level is a big cut in wages for the working man. The price of energy is low. It's just that our effective purchasing power is dropping faster.
http://kunstler.com/cluster****-nati...es-not-truths/

Private equity has quite a boom going by doing leveraged buyouts and then, asset stripping their victims.
https://straightlinelogic.com/2017/0...-wolf-richter/
This is like "malware". It is a great business model. No matter that it destroys productive enterprise to satisfy the blood-suckers.
Freefire zone in the streets, http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-0...wn-dogs-street
The fast-fading empire, https://www.rt.com/op-edge/398234-us...inance-global/
THIS is the boat that you are in and it's going over the waterfalls.

[Danny B]

Bank freeze,,car loans,,death of Amazon

The politicians don't talk about something in public until it seems unavoidable.
"European markets includes a pan-European freezing of all bank accounts in the event of an impending banking crisis. The EU Commission is deeply concerned what happens when the EU stops its life-support for Eurozone government debt. They are actually considering the way in which multi-day cash disbursements can be practically implemented in order to resolve emergency measures for banks.
Their plan is looking at a prolonged banking and financial crisis that would be 20 to 30 days in duration. If government debt crashes with rising rates, then the reserves of banks will decline and this could result in a banking crisis unleashed when the EU stops its life-support program."
"The EU Commission will freeze all bank accounts for one week and up to one month if the crisis continues."
"Some countries already have legislation allowing for a total bank freeze such as Germany. Instead of bailouts, we have now move even beyond bail-ins, and into the realm of just total seizure. It is more likely that such a freeze will not preserve banks, but will result in more bank failures."
ah yes,,, contagion.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/w...throughout-eu/
The world operates on credit, NOT cash.

Kevin Costner said, "if you build it, they will come. The same is true for credit. If you offer it, people will take it.
" You see, more than one out of every three Americans has a car loan right now. Not only that, the average U.S. household owes nearly $29,000 in auto debt.

Americans have borrowed so much money that the auto loan industry is now a $1.2 trillion market. That’s 58% bigger than it was in 2009."
https://www.caseyresearch.com/first-...g-debt-crisis/
"During the first quarter, U.S. household borrowings hit $12.73 trillion"
https://casey-assets.s3.amazonaws.co...-chart02-1.png

Amazon, " Its implied PE multiple of 190X can only be described as blatantly absurd."
"Instead, 91% of its sales involve sourcing, moving, storing and delivering goods. That’s a sector of the economy that has grown by just 2.2% annually in nominal dollars for the last decade, and for which there is no macroeconomic basis for an acceleration."
Yes, AMZN is taking share by leaps and bounds. But that’s inherently a one-time gain that can’t be capitalized in perpetuity at 190X. "
https://dailyreckoning.com/amazon-new-tech-crash/
So, Amazon is toast in the long run.

Happily, solar, wind and gas are killing nukes, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/31/c...a.html?src=twr
Crosspost, total dysfunction, https://www.theautomaticearth.com/20...-the-yokeldom/
8/02 More than 6,300 stores are shutting down — here’s the full list – Yahoo! But don't worry. The economy is still expanding.
8/01 US auto market slump persists – Bloomberg Well shoot,,, offer more credit.
8/02 Global growth depends on China’s debt – Bloomberg
8/02 China Inc.’s next debt headache is $580 billion of put options coming due – Bloomberg Maybe we shouldn't threaten China with war.

8/02 Venezuelan currency now worth less than World of Warcraft gold – Daily Caller Death awaits them and Pox Americana is making it worse by freezing their assets.

[Danny B]

Putin kicks a$$,,,tokens,,debt ceiling

Putin is a No BS kind of guy. He told the oligarchs that they would get no favoritism.
"By attacking oligarchic schemes in Russia, Putin “cut the poverty rate by two-thirds.”[4] He has also gained the “respect of the old people.” But that’s not all: “In 2000, 2,700 rubles was the average income. In 2012, 29,000 rubles.”[5]"
"You see, the oligarchs cannot live without usury. And for usury to take place, the oligarchs have to suspend the moral law. E. Michael Jones has been saying for years that capitalism is “state-sponsored usury,” and usury, by its very nature, will destroy any economy system. It is actually a cancer to the world."
"Over the centuries, the oligarchs and the Khazarian Mafia have spread that cancer throughout the world in the name of “economic science.”

“That is what it became in the United States; that is what it is today. Capitalism is state-sponsored usury; it is not a defense of the free market, because if it were, the capitalists would not allow the economy to become overburdened with debt. Because debt strangles the economy, it is the opposite of free enterprise."
Once again, we can't confuse State-sponsored crony capitalism with free-market capitalism.
"We hope that Putin will get a copy of E. Michael Jones’ magnum opus, Barren Metal: A History of Capitalism as the Conflict Between Labor and Usury. That will allow Putin to have a better understanding of the capitalist system and its usurious enterprise."
Vladimir Putin: Killing oligarchic schemes economically saved Russia | Veterans Today

8/01 Is money created by government decree? – 24hGold "Money" is a token that you produced some kind of goods or services. You take this token and use it to purchase some other good or service. This is far more efficient than barter. The State is the main actor in the trio of non-producers that must survive by producing like tokens to have a claim on your productivity. Bankers, bureaucrats and beggars must have access to tokens to survive. The State mandates that you MUST use the tokens that THEY produce.
Regulatory capture ensures that the State will try to produce enough tokens to keep all the parasites supported. The interest-drain of usury means that the quantity of tokens must forever grow.
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/chica...-million-loan/
"Chicago Public Schools to pay $850 million in interest on $500 million loan"

The State and the banks definitely have a great conundrum in the question of crypto-currencies. Free-market capitalism wants to escape the predations of the State and crony-capitalism. The West is pulling towards an electronic "token". The East is pulling towards a metallic token.
The crypto-currencies are not a good candidate for replacement of State tokens.
"This, ultimately, was bitcoin's promise to the world: a currency manufactured and supported by the users for the users, which no single entity could manipulate, and which no third party was required to intermediate. Understandably the pledge appealed most to those who might describe themselves as hard-money enthusiasts. Their view was that uncontrolled money creation was the probable cause of most economic instability in the world and must therefore be constrained. Bitcoin offered them the perfect conduit for this vision.

More than eight years after bitcoin's arrival, most of these principles have fallen by the wayside. Bitcoin spawned a litany of copycat systems -- each with its own profiteering opportunity for early adopters. It no longer matters, for example, that the system is being engulfed by rogue and untethered private-money creation. Nor does it seem to matter that it's been a long time since bitcoin could be honestly described as a decentralised system, free of intermediaries."
Izabella Kaminska: Crypto-currencies are mirroring pre-crash banking systems | Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee

Crypto-currencies are speculative. The blockchain is NOT.

"Currencies are IOU’s issued by central banks who promote ever-increasing currency in circulation, expanding debt, and continual devaluations in purchasing power.
The “fiat-currency-game” will continue until it implodes."
NICE graph, http://deviantinvestor.com/wp-conten...ord-image.jpeg
In A Better World | The Deviant Investor
It is obvious that the non-producers have control of the token machine.
They wind up the levers and springs and grab the cash through the bond market. "Greenspan Warns of Potential Bond Market Bubble"
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/gree...175434047.html

"In its projections, the agency (Treasury) said in the first quarter of fiscal year 2018, the net marketable borrowing need is anticipated to be "substantially higher" -- at $501 billion
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017...9321501689730/


Sad news for Venezuela. They need to buy light crude to mix with their heavy, sour crude. They can't afford to buy it any more. Their home refineries are falling apart and their oil exports are of poor quality.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclu...--finance.html
Pretty near all of the economic theories espoused by "progressive" economists have turned out to be garbage. They talked Modi into pulling all the big Rupee notes out of circulation. It failed miserably. They are still trying to recover, https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/a...epurchase-rate
More good news on the nuke story, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/31/c...a.html?src=twr

[Danny B]

Jim Willie,,, moving the IMF

Jim Willie has a lot of conjecture that isn't really on the horizon,,,, YET. He talks about a domestic New Scheiss dollar and an international dollar. OK, that's been done before many times. Everybody has their domestic currency and they use U.S. dollars or gold for international trade. Pox Americana abused their unlimited Bretton Woods credit card to give the world a sound thrashing and build an empire. We get a hint that there will be a major changing of the guard.
https://www.rt.com/business/397424-i...ecade-lagarde/

For the IMF to publicly come out and talk about moving to China, you know that there has to be SEVERE problems in the West that nobody is publicly talking about.
Jim Willie (excerpts from Youtube).

The pressures are building, even as Saudi desperation rises. The essence of the Petro-Dollar is global sales exclusively in USD terms. The weak link in the USDollar global currency reserve status is trade payments. The Saudi Kingdom is highly vulnerable in multiple ways, with grand deficits. The Saudis are being identified as liars on declared oil reserves. Consider the ARAMCO deal, where the Saudis claim the corporation is worth $2 trillion, but for which Western analysts estimate its value at most to be $500 billion.
Enter China on a white horse, to make an overly generous offer for an IPO stake. It will win them the right to force oil payments in RMB terms. Some certain copycat damage will occur with other Gulf Arab exporters and other Asian buyers. The geopolitical effect will be to declare the Petro-Dollar dead, and the King Dollar Era ended. As a result, pressure will build for the USGovt to create and launch a domestic only Dollar. It will suffer a powerful sequence of devaluations. The $500 billion annual US trade deficit will finally become a media topic.

Chinese Leverage to Kill Petro-dollar

July 29th: topics covered include USDollar fake corrupt support with QE, the coming dual universe of USD vs RMB in coexistence (which cannot be stopped), the coming IMF control of the International Dollar from Chinese offices, the global currency reserve risk of loss, the USFed bloated balance sheet at $4.5 trillion in toxic assets, the weak areas in the USEconomy in cars & pensions & energy sector, the Saudi-Qatar conflict as hint of Petro-Dollar fracture with late stage demise, the potential for Chinese oil purchases from Saudi but paid in RMB terms with powerful effect, the New Scheiss Dollar factors at work, the Trump America First reality with no progress on re-industrialization of the United States

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCHUzrGe5SQ
GOLDEN JACKASS.COM - The Golden Jackass Knows Gold, Currencies & Bonds"

"$500 billion annual US trade deficit " We would have to increase our exports by $ 1.5 billion a day to live without a trade deficit. That isn't going to happen The world is wallowing in productive over-capacity at the same time that disposable income in the West is falling. Our stock market will go negative (John Hussman, Goldman Sachs). Our sovereign bond market will blow to smithereens (Martin Armstrong). Our corporate bond market survives solely on QE. Non-federal public debt is waiting for the inevitable meltdown. The pension funds are just a web of lies, not money.

If China does NOT go up in a cloud of revolutionary smoke, the IMF will probably move there. It is an open question of China wants the S.O.B.s

[Danny B]

Imperial over-reach

Stretching sovereignty.
" No, The federal government is not a corporation. It is not even the “sovereign” for that is declared in the Constitution that “we the people” are sovereign over and above that of government. As such, the government only has the authority to have those specific powers that have been delegated to it through the Constitution."
"But be that as it may, there is no such thing as a power of inherent sovereignty in the government of the United States. It is a government of delegated powers, supreme within its prescribed sphere, but powerless outside of it. In this country, sovereignty resides in the people, and congress can exercise no power which they have not, by their constitution, entrusted to it; all else is withheld."
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/i...a-corporation/

"We have a very serious problem with Congress. Their actions in far too many ways is displaying (1) a total disregard for international law, and (2) a clear arrogance that they will punish foreigners for not obeying US law outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States."
"Now the Russian sanctions are effectively an all out economic war. Once again, Congress has taken an imperialist view and will punish any foreign company doing business in the United States if they also do business with Russia. This is beyond a trade war – it is wholesale economic war which also took place during the 1930s that set in motion World War II. "

"The American Congress cannot punish foreign companies because they are doing business in another country. Congress has moved far beyond a trade war of simply tariffs. This is an economic war that can set in motion the next MONETARY CRISIS "
" The reason the Congress cannot compel foreign entities to comply with US law outside the United States is called TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION, which was born with the American Revolution. No nation can sanction another outside its jurisdiction and then demand that all other countries obey its law – that is IMPERIALISM. "
Good article.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/i...rnational-law/
Well, that pretty much covers imperial over-reach. The world is closing ranks against us and our masters in Tel Aviv. The feces-for-brains in congress don't seem to appreciate the fact that America desperately needs imports. Pox Americana can not take on Russia-China now that Russia has their super-jamming system. America could possibly take on Iran. We could never prevail and israel would be a slag heap. The Straights of Hormuz would be Impassable for many years.