Economic pressures

[Danny B]

Grand chessboard and , useless sanctions

Pre- WW II, Imperial Japan was gobbling up territory that Great Britain considered to be theirs. British bankers made a lot of money trading with China, et al. At the same time, Great Britain was losing out to competition from Germany. France committed the first invasion of WW II. Soon, everybody was in it. The British knew that they couldn't win and had to work very hard to drag America into the fight. Roosevelt blockaded Japan to get them to attack. "They" hoped that an attack from Japan would finally overcome American resistance to entering the war. It was hoped that America could be dragged into Europe once it was engaged in the Pacific.

The same thing is happening again but, with different players. China is creating an Eastern "Marshall Plan" with their new Belt & Road initiative. Iran is to be a central hub.
https://www.axios.com/china-is-makin...3139f1f57.html
Pox Americana is working against China by cutting off Iran.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...-money-network
"to develop its $430 billion economy, Iran is being forced to rely on political allies in the east. Trade with China has more than doubled since 2006, to $28 billion. The biggest chunk of Iran’s oil exports go to China, about $11 billion a year at current prices."
"China is “already the winner,’’ Dina Esfandiary, a fellow at the Centre for Science and Security Studies at King’s College in London, told Bloomberg. "Iran has slowly abandoned the idea of being open to the West. The Chinese have been in Iran for the past 30 years. They have the contacts, the guys on the ground, the links to the local banks.’"

And they’re more willing to defy U.S. pressure as Trump slaps sanctions back on.
In short, the more Trump pushes Iran - and the broader middle-eastern region - to comply with the will of Israel and Saudi Arabia, the closer Iran will get with China whose influence in the middle-east, where it is ideologically aligned with Russia, will only grow..."
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...n-nuclear-deal

The neocons, hawks and nut cases think that they can block the Belt & Road initiative. I seriously doubt it. Pox Americana has just made TOO many enemies. The hawks have surrounded Russia with missile bases. They rattle sabers in the direction of Iran.
The Ultimate Nightmare: Why Bombing Iran Would Be a Disaster
Why war with Iran would spell disaster | Iran | Al Jazeera
An attack on Iran would be a disaster for Israel - Haaretz - IsraelNews
Regime Change in Iran Would Be a Disaster for Everyone – Foreign
Wilkerson: Invasion Of Iran A 'Disaster That Would Make Iraq Pale In comparison.

There is really nothing that can be done with Iran. They have over 1/4 million missiles,,, most of them heavy ordinance. An attack on Iran would unleash the Hezbollah from Lebanon. NOTHING would stop them. Iran would make sure that not one barrel of oil left Saudi, Iran and UAE.
So, the West tries to get a proxy war going with Iran to stop Russia. But, China is backing Iran also. China said that they would protect Iran.
China is sending subtle hints of their intentions.
China flies fighters and bombers around Taiwan ... - Business Insider UK

The sanctions just push Iran and others to get even more involved in the Asian investment and infrastructure bank. Iran has had many years to prepare for these sanctions. Pox Americana has also created great solidarity in Russia. The sanctions will hurt Iran but, they won't stop them.

Oil is starting to rise quite a bit in price. This will hurt oil importers worldwide. Who will it help? Who will the money be flowing to?
https://sputniknews.com/russia/20180...-profits-rise/
So, we threaten Iran when we can not sanely do anything against it. That raises the price of oil so, we send more of our money to Russia.
At historic interest rates, America will soon be paying $1 trillion a year in interest payments. China, on the other hand is NOT loaded with this kind of debt.

[Danny B]

New day,,, faster BS flow

Central banks were originally created to finance wars for the State / banks. The Bretton Woods credit card allowed the FED to do a real bang-up job of war-making. The State, being much like other organized-crime groups, tends to push the most ruthless people to the top. The ruthless people push things to the limit,,, including the economy. The criminals eventually push things too far and, get either a collapse or a revolution. How far is too far?
Fifth of UK population now in poverty amid worst decline for children
Child poverty in Britain 'set to soar to new record' | Society |
MPs of the Public Accounts Committee warned on Thursday that Britain’s armed forces could be up to Ł21 billion (around US$28.5 billion at the current GBP/USD exchange rate) short of funds
And the justification, Ex-UK Military Chief: Boost Defense Budget to Protect 'Homeland' From Russia

Pax Romani expanded until it went bankrupt.
Pax Britannia expanded until it over-reached and went bankrupt.
The London bankers saddled up America to be the new world conquerer.
With $21 trillion in State debt, our time is not far off. How in the world did the DoD manage to misplace $21 trillion and not create a financial problem,, so far?
Pox Americana blindly marches on threatening new wars on a half dozen fronts. Regardless of what the FED claims, the State is still wildly printing new money.

"These domestic sources of buying are led by that juggernaut of funding known in the Treasury reports as "other". Not domestic banks, not domestic pensions, not insurers, not state or local governments...no it's mutual funds assisting the massive bid from "other", loading up like never before on US Treasury debt and saving America from interest rate Armageddon."
Regardless the BLICS efforts, the remainder of foreigners have eschewed US debt to such a degree that foreign holdings as a whole have essentially stalled since the Fed ceased QE. This has left the domestic sources to do nearly all the buying."
https://econimica.blogspot.com/2018/...reviewing.html
The FED bought dollar confidence by doing QE under the table. It also raised rates to attract foreign capital. Just the same, there aren't enough inflows to sovereign debt. Uncle Sam is going broke.

Avoiding the 'Q" word.
"Japan gov't debt hits record-high Y1,087 tril at end of March"
"The figure rose 16.25 trillion yen from a year earlier. Debt per capita stood at 8.60 million yen"
They can say,,, 1,087 trillion but, they won't say,,, quadrillion.

Argentina shows us that everything is speeding up.
"The speed by which the EM boom has faltered offers a warning to all. After all, it was only weeks ago that EM prospects were viewed as exceptionally bullish. And with "money" flooding into "developing" markets, it was too easy to disregard structural vulnerabilities and mounting risks. As always, there was ample "hot money" originating from leveraged "carry trades," derivatives and the leveraged speculating community more generally. But these days, with the broad menu of available hot international ETF products, it has never been so easy for retail "money" to jump aboard the EM boom cycle. Jump they did,"

"The Bubble inevitably faltered (2001/2002), and "hot money," as it does, raced for the exits. There were no buyers, no liquidity and meager real wealth to make good on all the debt that had been extended. It was a horrendous collapse and tragedy for the Argentine people, for which they're still suffering some 17 years later. "
"Turkey, another recent EM "darling," saw its currency drop another 2% this week, boosting its two-week decline to 6.3% and y-t-d losses to 12.0%."
" It took just 43 days for China's average yield to rise from 7% to 8%, after having taken more than four months for the move from 6% to 7%."
"A hundred years ago, at about the same time that the Titanic hit the iceberg, Argentina was among the 10 richest countries in the world. Today it ranks 87th. In all, it has defaulted on its debt eight times, suffered hyperinflation twice, and gone through 20 IMF-supported economic programmes in 60 years. The most brutal of these ended in 2001, triggering a $100bn default and crushing devaluation."
"Emerging markets added on $7.7 trillion in new debt last year,"
https://creditbubblebulletin.blogspo...uilibrium.html

5/13 Fed’s Bullard says no more rate hikes needed – Reuters
Ahh yes, but, what does Powell say?
5/12 US Postal Service lost $1.3 billion in fiscal Q2 – 24/7 Wall Street
That's chump-change for the DoD.

[Danny B]

Bankers, politicians,,, all sinners, no saints

Winston Churchill made it clear that WW II was started for the bankers. Why?
"The debt-to-GDP ratio hit its all-time record of 113% by war's end. Debt was at $241.86 billion in 1946, about $2.87 trillion in current dollars. Unlike after World War I, the US never really tried to pay down much of the debt it incurred during World War II"
Eisenhower warned against letting the military-industrial get control. But, war was so profitable, they just wouldn't let it go. The war industries had no intention of just fading away. The bankers had no intention of letting go of a cash-cow. America had it's Bretton-Woods unlimited credit card and, it was going to SPEND.
The Gulf of Tonkin (non) incident kicked off a new war that was far more profitable than the Korean war.
LBJ kicked off the "Great Society" to buy lots of votes. The mid-60s saw the inception of the warfare-welfare state,,,, all financed by the Bretton Woods credit card. By 1971, this had broken the golden link that had been designed to keep currency expansion in check.

Some judicious arm-twisting by Pox Americana created new life for the dollar and further embedded the (petro) dollar as the reserve currency. This lead to even more wars for resources and power. Pox Americana was playing whack-a-mole slapping down every threat to dollar hegemony.
War and resource theft was the name of the game.

War was great for the debt it produced. U.S. wars lately haven't produced much profit. The American public is strip-mined to finance them. We haven't been able to pay up so, the cost of war has been put on our tab for future generations to pay off.

Where did this all start? Who bears responsibility? There are 2 candidates for ultimate responsibility. Politicians and bankers.
"After all, it was bankers (backed by mainstream economists) that lobbied most successfully (both in the UK, the US and the EU) for laissez faire in the 1960s and ‘70s: the deregulation of credit creation, and for the lifting of controls over interest rates and for cross-border capital mobility. (Duncan Needham, 2014). By bribing and intimidating the political class, most notably in the US, financiers achieved, and still enjoy, self-regulating, global markets in finance."

"After the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-9, it was the finance sector that lobbied politicians into bailing out the private financial system. The system was on the brink of collapse, with the very real threat that hundreds of millions of deposit-holders would not be able to withdraw funds from their banks in the event of systemic failure. Bailouts of individual banks (and other institutions including insurance companies) were both inevitable and, given the circumstances, right. After the Fed bailout, Wall St. bullied and blackmailed the US Congress and demanded a further $700 billion in bailout funds “

" (According to Reuters, the financial sector spent $2 billion on political activity from the beginning of 2015 to the end of 2016, including $1.2 billion in campaign contributions – more than twice the amount given by any other business sector, according to the study from Americans for Financial Reform. That works out to $3.7 million per member of Congress and is the most ever tracked by the group, which analysed spending data going back to 1990.)"
"So I repeat my point: global bankers and financiers (including those overseeing trillion-dollar Asset Management Funds) can be blamed for the rise of populist and fascist political parties after the Great Financial Crisis."
https://rethinkingeconomicsnorge.com...e-the-bankers/

OK, so, Glass-Steagal took our savings from the control of the bankers.
Graham-Leachy-Bliley gave our savings back to the bankers. Who voted yes for Graham Leachy?
Here are the names right here, https://www.senate.gov/legislative/L...n=1&vote=00354
It was close to unanimous. All those millions and billions for bribes worked magic. Don't forget the revolving door from Wall Street to the District of corruption. Vote "correctly and, you'll never be out of a job.
Graham-Leachy gave all your savings to the bankers to "invest". The big banks all do speculation in commodities and real estate. Since they have all of YOUR money, they can buy up everything. Then, when you need to buy something,,,, you buy it from a banker. They use your money to front-run EVERYTHING.
Not only that, they sweep all accounts every night and take "non-working" money and, put it to work. Since they don't pay interest on savings, the money works for the bank alone.

So, the banks were going to crash in 2007 because lack of money. They received $trillions when all was said and done.
TODAY, the banks are in a huge battle to get deposits. What happened to the hundreds of $billions of depositor money they were speculating with?
What happened to the sweep money?

The IRS and FED produced a Star Trek vid showing that a world falls into total chaos if they don't have taxes and a central bank. Hard to believe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxU6n4pAnrU
Armstrong, naturally, is an apologist for the banks.
"the solution is a cryptocurrency to eliminate central banks and the creation of money by lending. That is so impractical it just shows the lunacy of it all. If you stop the creation of money by lending, do you realize property values would crash? We would be back to the Dark Ages "

" All pension funds would be wiped out. The savings accounts would not be there for probably 80%+ of banks would close if not 100%. To suggest that the solution is the end of central banks and bank lending, you are talking about blood in the streets. The riots would be incredible if not revolution. "
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/w...banks-survive/
You get the idea. Our very survival depends depends on the banking system. The fact is; the survival of the banking system depends on those who create wealth. The parasite must convince the host to continue to produce. THAT is why bankers go catatonic at the mention of barter.

Armstrong preaches about destruction of the economy by too LITTLE currency creation.
No where does he write about the destruction of the economy by too MUCH currency creation.
We are at the point where all the previous currency creation is starting to blow up. The State is trying to suck out more blood regardless of consequences.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/w...-for-30-years/
We are at a point where the system can not just be reset.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/w...-out-all-debt/

Graham-Leachy gave all our money to the bankers. Apparently, it has run out. Apparently, the TARP money has run out. The FED claims to have started QT, withdrawing money from the economy. OTHER is buying up all the Treasury bonds to keep U.S. GOV from going off a cliff. Foreign capital flows are supporting private markets. Nobody will touch sovereign debt.
Just the same, the blob-State wants to make sure that their retirement is secure.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...ension-problem
A great deal of the money (debt) supply is leveraged consumer debt. The consumer is defaulting and deflating the money supply.
5/15 Subprime auto loan default rates above financial crisis levels – Zero Hedge
5/15 Millennials feeling impact of higher interest rates spending less – Globe & Mail
5/15 America’s worst long-term challenges: #1- debt – Sovereign Man
5/15 Shoppers desert UK High Streets, putting more jobs at risk – Guardian

[Danny B]

More bumps in the road

Things are looking really bad in the Middle-East. Dunno when they are going to blow up.
Trump, unfortunately, is threatening Europe if they don't toe the line at isolating Russia.
"Der Spiegel (May 12) wrote “Clever resistance is necessary, as sad and absurd as that may sound. Resistance against America.”

At the time of Trump’s announcement, former Fox News staffer and US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell tweeted:

“As @realDonaldTrump said, US sanctions will target critical sectors of Iran’s economy. German companies doing business in Iran should wind down operations immediately.”

That dictatorial command might seem good international diplomacy to Fox News fans, but was taken correctly by Chancellor Angela Merkel and most Germans as an insult to their leaders, industry, sovereignty and nation."
"Trump is resolving for Europeans one nagging question: “Can Trump be trusted?” As it stands the answer is NO, Trump cannot be trusted. And since Donald J. Trump is president of the United States and represents it, it translates to the United States cannot be trusted."
" A sort of “mini-Axis” could evolve based, for now, solely on the sanction issues, but having the potential to enlarge into a full-Axis as more destructive maneuvers by Trump catapults most of the developed world (West and East) to form stronger ties and alliances with each other despite their preexisting differences (“the enemy of my enemy is my friend”). One Axis foreseeable is: EU-Russia-China vs. US-Israel-Saudi Arabia."
https://www.globalresearch.ca/trump-...acting/5640296
It didn't have to be this way but, that's how the world sees things.
https://nationalvanguard.org/2018/05...-lobby-a-list/

Bonds,
"That will break the back of emerging market debt, and probably the European banking system.

Keep in mind that the USA took the bad loans out of the banks and stuffed them in Freddie and Fannie. ....... The banking crisis just never ends. That combined with Draghi leaving next year means that and any halt to QE by the ECB will leave marginal governments unable to sell their new debt."
"I am continually called throughout Europe because they know this is just a waiting game. I do not think the solution will be one that anyone is willing to talk about without blood pouring from the ticker-tape."
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/m...l-or-adjusted/

"But Monday's action shows what may be in store for bond traders after ECB policy maker Francois Villeroy de Galhau told Bloomberg News that he expects bond purchases to end this year and an interest-rate increase could follow "
Maybe, they'll do like the Japanese and talk about raising rates year after year.
https://www.bloombergquint.com/view/...pse#gs.L=_Q1_A
Feces-for-brains politicians believe that; if they raise interest rates on sovereign bonds, investors will flock to buy them.
So, they can't cut back on bond purchases but, they are going to do it.

Kunstler, "One way or another, though, the Deep State is determined to drive Trump from office. In the final rounds of this struggle, Trump might conceivably undertake a sudden swamp-draining operation: the firing of a great many politicized Intelligence Community officers, especially the ones legally culpable for leaking classified information to media — another area that Mr. Mueller could also shine a light on. The colossal security apparatus of this country — especially the fairly new giant NSA — has become a monster eating America. Somebody needs to literally cut it down to size. Perhaps that’s the Deep State’s main motive in moving heaven and earth to dump Trump.

When they do, of course, they are liable to foment an insurrection every bit as ugly as the dust-up that followed the shelling of Fort Sumter. Trump, whatever you think of him — and I’ve never been a fan, to put it mildly — was elected for a reason: the ongoing economic collapse of the nation, and the suffering of a public without incomes or purposeful employment. That part of the common weal is liable to completely whirl down the drain later this year in something like a currency crisis or a depressionary market meltdown engineered by yet another Deep State player, the Federal Reserve. That and the ejection of Trump could coincide with disastrous results."
A Monster Eating the Nation - Kunstler

The petro-yuan system might not be all the great but, a lot of international players will do anything to bring about the demise of the dollar.
https://www.rt.com/business/426637-c...il-trade-iran/
Mike King on income tax, http://tomatobubble.com/tax_central_bank_scams.html

5/16 Many forces are in place that could keep pushing rates even higher – CNBC
5/16 German economy stumbles, Europe suffers setback in growth – Bloomberg
5/16 China to blame for millions of lost U.S. manufacturing jobs – MarketWatch
No kidding. When did they figure that out?
5/16 Global synchronous recovery collapses as Japanese GDP plunges – Zero Hedge
5/15 Bond traders get a peek at the apocalypse – Bloomberg
5/15 Stocks and Treasuries are selling off – CNBC

5/15 India bonds hit near 33-mth low, rupee weakest in 16 months – Nasdaq

[Danny B]

The lit fuse in Italy,,,, destroying the tribes of europe,,, oil squeeze

"A Bank of America Merrill Lynch report reveals investors removed $29.4 billion from mutual funds and ETFs the first quarter.
And TD Ameritrade’s Investor Movement Index (IMX) sank 8.2% last month."
The article goes on to state that the stock market can't crash this year because stock buybacks are holding up everything.
https://dailyreckoning.com/stock-mar...ot-crash-2018/

"Another serious problem is illustrated in Chart 1 below. This shows the U.S. budget deficit as a percentage of GDP " "From the late 1980s through 2009, these two time series exhibited a fairly strong correlation." "But as the chart reveals, the correlation has broken down since 2009 and the two time series are diverging rapidly."
https://s3.amazonaws.com/agorafinanc...getdeficit.png
https://dailyreckoning.com/economic-...less-meet-eye/
It's all smoke & mirrors, vapor-ware and debt.

Only FOUR stocks are holding up the market averages.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...018s-sp-return
One take-away, consumer staples are down 12.77% 16 million are absent from the labor force. Evidently, they are not buying much of anything.

5/16 Turkey’s economy is entering a ‘slow burning crisis’ – CNBC
5/17 Japan and Europe both show signs of slow-down – Fx Street
Yep, a falling population and capital flight will do that.

5/16 Italian bonds tumble amid political chaos, debt writedown fears – Zero Hedge
5/16 Five Star Lega deal is a commitment to leave the eurozone – Mish
They laughed at Beppe Grillo when he said that he wanted to take Italy out of the Euro. They aren't laughing now.
They laughed at Nigel Farage when he said that he wanted to dismantle the Eurozone structure. They aren't laughing now, either.
5/17 Mortgage rates highest since 2013 taper tantrum – Mish
5/16 It’s time to bail on the homebuilders – Seven Figure Publishing
Yep, one more sector gets the rug pulled out from under it.

"This is the entire problem with the structure of the European Union. They want one federal government, one single currency, but none of the responsibility of a national debt."
Socialism is fine until you run out of other people's money.
"The economics behind the Eurozone is a complete disaster. The markets are reflecting that economic reality behind the curtain that nobody wants to pretend is even going on for fear what that will do to Europe. Two-year Italian government yields are now back in positive territory for the first time"
"Now we have for the first time Italy and Greece currently yielding above ZERO on their respective two-year Eurozone government bonds. Interest rates are going to EXPLODE when we look down the line!!!!!!!"
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/m...is-inevitable/
The ECB buys all the imperilled sovereign debt that investors won't touch.
Did feces-for-brains Draghi think that investors would eventually change their minds?

The Poles and the Hungarians have blocked the efforts to destroy their countries by forced immigration. They are trying to preserve national unity. The one-worlders are trying to destroy all national unity to make populations more controllable. They are making "great" progress.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/i...cades-to-come/

When the CB quits printing, the bubbles pop.
https://www.themaven.net/mishtalk/ec...UeILgorCkZz5w/
It remains to be seen how much new capital is flowing into markets from back-door channels.
https://www.themaven.net/mishtalk/ec...UeILgorCkZz5w/

Fracking oil from America is an almost worthless LIGHT distillate. Oil from Venezuela is an extremely heavy crude like paste shoe polish. It doesn't flow at all. Russia is a huge producer of oil. Russia and China are buying up as much oil as possible and blending it to re-sell. This is all flowing through Petro-Yuan contracts.
https://www.rt.com/business/426637-c...il-trade-iran/

The defense Dept admits that there is $21 trillion missing. As the dollar is used less and less, it will be more difficult to paper-over small financial discrepancies.

Permian Basin Is Growing Into the Largest Oil Patch in the World ...
https://www.bloomberg.com/.../permia...il-patch-in-th...
Why is the shale industry still not profitable? | MINING.com
http://www.mining.com/web/shale-indu...ot-profitable/

Shale oil was financed from the junk bond market. It never made a profit. Chevron borrowed from the credit markets to pay stock dividends. Oil is headed up in price but, that just means that everything else is headed down from the higher cost of the master resource.

[Danny B]

The Blockchain noose

Every baby born in California has DNA sample stored - Digital Journal
U.S. Fertility Rate Hits 40-Year Low
Births plunge to record lows in United States
Death rates for many young Americans rising - Business Insider
What's behind the rise in youth suicides? - CBS News
Age 15-24, 10% of deaths are from suicide.

US ‘Government’ Has Spent $2.8 Trillion From
Future Generations On The Phony War On Terrorism
America Spends $1 Trillion on its Military Every Year - and Has No Way to Pay for It
I don't want the wars. I don't want the trashy immigrants. Someone in some office somewhere has decided for me. They claim that it is in my best interests. They need money for all of this. Negative interest rates worked for siphoning off a bit of money. Wouldn't it be great if the PTB had access to ALL of your money.

"If you’re looking for insights into what Central Banks have planned when The Everything Bubble bursts, on Monday one of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) top bankers provided a blueprint."
"The second is that central banks today could make use of new technologies that would enable the introduction of what is widely referred to as a “token-based” currency – one based on a distributed ledger technology (DLT) or comparable cryptographic technology.

And the third “new” fact, at least from a long-term perspective, relates to the role of central banks in setting monetary policy, and more recently to the emergence of negative rates as a policy instrument and the consequences for the transmission of monetary policy."
Yup, negative to you and, positive to them.
" Potential cash bans in tandem with negative interest rates (the problem with physical cash is it allows you to avoid paying interest via NIRP because you can simply store it yourself instead of keeping it in a bank).
Shifting over to a completely digital currency controlled by a Central Bank."
"Put simply… discussions of ending physical cash and introducing strictly digital money are taking place within the highest circles of Central Bankers.
If you think this isn’t coming to the US, you’re mistaken."
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...C0%2C0%2C0%2C1
COMMENTS;
Just think how easy asset forfeiture will be.

This is one of the big stories we should all be watching ... not that this will do us any good. If “they” want to do this - and they obviously do - they will do this.

BitCoin was the BETA Testing.

Need a blockchain crypto that only trades over the airwaves via ham radio or the like.

think bitcoin gave them the idea. Their crypto code will allow for expansion/contraction of currency in circulation along with the added bonus of traceability, its designed to be traceable centrally controlled fiat. Free market crypto code is designed not to be expanded/contracted or traced, its designed to be anonymous specie.
All cryptos are not the same. Hackers will have a field day with central banker cryptos and free market denizens will strengthen specie crypto invulnerability via open source code.
Quantum computing will present real challenges to all code that rely on strong encryption, both fiat and specie and all other computer security systems. Nevertheless the fight is on between freedom and slavery and while the vast majority of people, zh commenters included, don't understand the game, enough people do, and that will ensure that free market specie crypto currencies are here to stay, irrespective of what central banksters throw at them.

1. Cash is becoming eliminated to great a extend within the next 5 to 1o years. This will kill the "small man's or woman's" tax saving scheme making them even more vulnerable as they are already today.
. Electronic cash comparable to Bitcoin will be the way the CBs are preparing for us. The Swedish Ryksbank has already given a licence to a company to manage and ocersee a bitcoin-style official Swedisch Krona (which is more or less pegged to the Euro).So to say the first bitcoin backed by an official CB located within the EU. It will be the forerunner for the Euro in bitcoin style.
3. But what is the worst consequence of the plans laid out in the speech of the Central Banker in Geneva, in my opinion, is the following fact: Negative interest rates will have the effect than no one can accumulate by saving a first "working capital" to start an enterprise. This will make the banks indispensable toget a permission to start a business and the position of a future entrepreneur is much weaker than it is today. The banks will know then everything and own everything.

In other words, when you save some money to have a small capital to start a business in the not so far future you will be crippled by the new tax which is called negative interest rates. Saving is punished and you have to borrow it all from the banks at unfavorable rates due to the lack of a sufficient own capital.
In short without the banks blessing and knowledge no "small man or woman" can in the future open a business because saving is destroying capital. It is the total surrender of society to the money lenders. Good Night, land of the Free, you do not exist anymore when this becomes reality. Land of the bank slaves would be the correct title for all the areas what we call now the Western World.

Asset forfeiture is the new kid on the block.
If one were to ponder about the future, it is easy to see that at some point digital currency will replace physical cash. There are too many positives for the banks and central banks and governments to switch to all digital.
Also, at some point negative interest rates will be employed. Most likely the next recession or all out depression. As far as the central banks are concerned, their past and current monetary manipulation has worked fantastically. So, it stands within reason that they will do it again, and this time to a higher degree. Another inevitability is UBI. Like it or not, this will pacify the masses for a little time. Thus, the use of digital. It is not a matter of if, but when, sadly.

No doubt that that is their agenda. But they can't do anything unless most people comply. As long as they have the sheeple plugged into the Matrix, they can pull it off. But they are getting worried. Their agenda is event driven, not time driven, but even so they are way behind schedule. For example, Wesley Clark was told in a visit to the Pentagram in early October 2001, that the regime change in all the named countries which included Iran was to take place in less than five years. While we are frustrated with how slowly most people are awakening from their daze, the 0.0001% are terrified.

Your universal basic income payment is being withheld for lack of compliance with our directives.
by suppressing labor central banks have avoided inflation unleashing a red-pill moment upon the masses. little by little, step by step, transforming the fruits of our labor to their fruits of graft

Yes, once labor is reduced to entries on a digital ledger we will "pay to exist."


"I'm from the government and I'm here to help you. Please be advised that effective today your asset balance has been electronically reduced by 15% due to unforeseen government needs for more cruise missiles, aircraft carriers, F-35's, and more other stuff. We are confident that future additional reductions will not be necessary. However, should they be necessary, we will be sure to advise you ASAP, after the fact."

"You are of course free to complain about this to your Senators and Congressmen. They are also always eager to help."
"Have a nice day."

It looks like blockchain is just too good of a control structure for the CBs and Pols to walk away from.
Meanwhile, the people refuse to reproduce. Many of the young just kill themselves. This is a question of confidence, control and quality of life. That isn't something that is easily changed for the better. Automation and
AI can't be put back in the bottle. The criminal gang that is running the show isn't going to just set us free.
I see so MANY people waiting and hoping for a collapse.

[Danny B]

Italy to shaft the ECB,,,50% increase in EM debt,,,Rape Germany again

The Trump administration is playing hardball trying to force Europe to sanction Russia. It even wants Europe to cancel the oil pipeline. It has always been economic war. It was never about ideology.
5/18 Trump hardball: Europe pressured to cancel Russia pipeline – Mish
Europe needs dollars to service dollar-denominated debt. The FED can pressure Europe to push away from Russia in return for dollar liquidity. Pox Americana told Europe that it will get relief from American tariffs if it buys more LNG and less Russian gas. This is all about starving out and carving up Russia for $75 trillion in natural resources.
At the same time, Italy is in the process of blowing up the European banks.

5/18 Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Italy’s insurgents enrage Germany and ECB – GATA
Five Star And Lega Ask ECB To Cancel €250 Billion In Debt!
Italy's bond market will blow up the EU exposing ECB Mario Draghi's idiocy
Bridgewater Asks "Could Italy Blow Up The Euro?" | Zero Hedge
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-...taly-blow-euro

It's not just Europe that needs dollars and a continuation of low interest rates.
5/18 Fitch says EM is vulnerable as debt balloons to $19 trillion – Bloomberg
Armstrong did say that interest rates and a rise of the dollar would make emerging markets blow up.
"The outstanding Emerging Market debt has exploded by 50%. "
"We passed $200 trillion in global sovereign debt back in 2016."
"he world comes unglued ONLY with a dollar rally – not a decline. A drop in the dollar would be cheered by governments who would then issue even more debt. A dollar rally will cause the Sovereign Debt Crisis – not a dollar decline. Emerging Market defaults are once again on the timeline. They are economically in far worse shape today than they were in 2008. As interest rates rise, they will blow their budget out "
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/w...n-the-horizon/
Armstrong talks about the U.S. economy being in far better shape. WELL, if the EMs default on a few $trillion, I am sure that will take down a lot of banks everywhere.

The EU was an exercise in futility because they didn't have a common debt market. Germany has a $1trillion surplus and, the rest of Europe has a $1trillion deficit. Not surprisingly, Draghi wants a common debt market. It's all very simple. All the Eurozone States vote for Germany to pay all their debts.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/w...n-the-horizon/

5/18 Bitcoin mining to use 0.5% of world’s energy by end of 2018 – Cointelegraph
BTC is useless. It was just a beta test for Central Bank crypto currencies.

[Danny B]

RE sucked up by hot money,,,

This graph shows the number of owner-occupied houses.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/...us-since-1975/
It has barely gone up.
This graph shows the population growth;
https://www.statista.com/statistics/...nt-population/
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley act took your money and gave it to the bankers to speculate. Residential RE is a long-term, high-dollar investment. It is VERY attractive to the upper loop where the free money flows. Home ownership just hasn't gone up because the upper loop is buying it up to park wet-ink money..
The hot money flows in and, the average worker is priced out.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/...old-in-the-us/

"Compare that to the average family today. Both spouses likely have to work—whether they want to or not—just to afford the same basic lifestyle.
Plus, it now costs well over $200,000 to raise a child, on average"
"In 1959, the median annual salary for a US high school teacher was $5,276, according to the Department of Labor. Meanwhile, the median US home value was $9,627, according to the US Census Bureau.

That means a teacher made enough money each year to cover over half of the price of a middle-class home. Or 55%, to be exact."
"Today, the median purchase price of a US home is $241,700. To maintain the 1959 income-to-home price ratio, a high school teacher would need to make $132,935 annually."
The median income-to-home price index, https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/defa...rt1_jlf940.jpg

We would be OK with stagnant wages if prices didn't rise. Here is a very important graph.
https://www.zerohedge.com/sites/defa...rt2_jlf940.jpg
It is painfully obvious that the break with the last vestige of the gold standard is what unleashed the monetary inflation that robbed our purchasing power.
"The average family has to work twice as many years to afford the average home as compared to the 60s:"
The last nail in the coffin for the middle class, occurred in 1999, when Bill Clinton signed the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. Before then, banks were required to pay no less than 4% on savings accounts, and charge no more than 6% on loans. Savings accounts were a big thing to help the middle class along, and low interest loans were too.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley act was called the "financial modernization act" We're all very "modern" now.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...s-middle-class
Once again, it was regulatory capture that set the (price) inflationary wheels in motion. The economy was reconfigured to serve the bankers rather than the bankers serving the economy.
The FED transparently works to get a 2% price inflation in the overall economy. This is 100% a mechanism to keep all the bankers and speculators well off. FED GOV goes along with this hoping to inflate away the burden of repaying the debt. When you talk about regulatory capture, don't forget that the State wants monetary inflation too.
It's no secret that the state is working against the best interests of the productive economy.

But, wait! 51% of Americans receive a check from GOV. 43 million are on food stamps. 45.3 million pay no federal taxes. What happens to the poverty rate of FED GOV should go broke?
http://money.cnn.com/2018/05/17/news...udy/index.html

The TARP money is gone. The follow-up bailout money is gone. The gold is gone. Cheap oil has peaked long ago. The 401k money is gone. The banks are fighting for deposits. There are giga-tons of money (liquidity) in the system. Only problem is,,, it isn't really there.
http://ggc-mauldin-images.s3.amazona...quidCrisis.jpg
The corporatocracy has tried to scale-up to global markets. It is possible that global-scale markets could work. The problem is that there is no such thing as free trade. It's all smoke and mirrors because scale-up doesn't work when it is twisted and distorted by power-mad maniacs.
http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com...-to-scale.html

So, everybody lies about their GDP to keep the hot money from flowing out.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...C0%2C0%2C0%2C1
Emerging markets are blowing up,,, right on schedule. Italy is going to blow the ECB right out of the water.
https://creditbubblebulletin.blogspo...sis-watch.html
The US civil work force is 33%. This is the blob State sucking up every penny they can find.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/a...going-forward/

[Danny B]

Conflicting info,,,, driving the dollar out of Europe

Things are definitely in flux. It's hard to organize a post.
"But Federal government expenditures have risen by 317% and state/local government spending has leaped by 328% since 1990. In other words, government has expanded at roughly four or five times the underlying growth rate of the economy."
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-...eak-government
The State prints debt money but, never intends to repay the debt.
So, how much do you owe?
https://www.goldbroker.com/news/ever...5-million-1226
The FED had to force ZIRP to keep sovereign debt from eating everything.
Martin Armstrong – Rates are Going to Jump to 10% Instantaneously
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFRuRoqLKZU&t=154s
Interest Rates Are About to Shoot Through The Roof - Peter Schiff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvMyiBw8R18&t=72s

Of course, ZIRP ate everything. The State is worried about the State.
It's not just the EMs that are running into problems, "Argentinareceived a short term reprieve on Tuesday when they 'rolled over' $26 billion of debt (known as Lebacs), and issued new debt totalling $200 billion. However, at rates between 38-40%, it raisesquestions on the long-term sustainability of such financing."
Brent Hits $80, Highest in 4 years
Emerging Market Chaos, the Lira and Peso in Freefall
The spike in the oil price will undoubtedly cause problems.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...here-next-gold

The Atlantic writes that corporations have a $5 trillion stash of cash. Not ONE WORD about having $5 trillion in debt. https://www.theatlantic.com/business...ermany/260006/
"rising rates, a surging dollar, and a 4 year highs in oil have wreaked havoc on Emerging Markets, and may soon spill over to developed markets although so far US stocks have been resilient, if failing to break out of the recent range despite the small-cap Russell 2000 hitting new all time high. At the same time, a financial publication used several hundred words to not so simply say that there was $8.8bn in equity inflows into US stocks even as the S&P had its biggest weekly drop in over a month;"

OK, now contrast that with;
US stocks suffer second biggest outflow ever in first quarter as ...
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/.../us-sto...ver-in-first-q...
Apr 3, 2018 - A stunning $63.3 billion left U.S. stock funds in the first quarter,
"February saw the third-highest stock outflows on record amid volatility .."
The devil is in the details.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...-short-squeeze

So, reportedly, we're headed for a train crash, https://www.mauldineconomics.com/fro...-crash-preview
5/20 Credit card delinquencies at smaller banks spike past 2008 high – Wolf Street
5/20 Earnings estimates: Yardeni asks “what are analysts smoking”? – Mish
Pox Americana is trying to do some heavy arm-twisting to cut off Iran. The arm-twisting is forcing many other States to do a work-around that involves side-lining the dollar.
https://journal-neo.org/2018/05/19/w...rican-century/
EU States, Russia, China To Discuss New Iran Nuclear Deal, Leaving Zionist US Sidelined

"The annual report showed that 2017 saw the biggest increase in the number of billionaires in history, with new ones created at a rate of one every two days. Their wealth has increased by 13 percent a year on average in the decade from 2006 to 2015."
https://www.rt.com/business/416644-w...-wealth-oxfam/
Corruption kings;
https://www.rt.com/business/417874-s...-most-corrupt/

[Danny B]

Willie and Fulford,,,, gold and nukes

Jim Willie is at the fringes because he writes about stuff that isn't widely perceived. Of course, he has more "misses" than most writers but, at least you get a preview of possibilities.
" As central banks across the globe discharge (dump) a sizeable portion of their USTreasury Bond holdings, they will seek alternatives. They will choose Gold bullion and Chinese Govt Bonds more often"
"Indirect Exchange. The latter is a practice of using USTBonds for instance in large projects as cash payment from two parties, like with China and Russia in building an oil pipeline."

"USDollar will no longer have sole trade payment status. It is losing its monopoly, led by oil shipments, the sole status lost to the Chinese RMB. The Petro-Yuan contract out of Shanghai is a major game changer. Many observers believe this is a minor issue, but it is not. As more nations purchase oil with RMB, the banking systems will see the RMB Bonds push out the USTBonds in their reserves management. As the Jackass has stated consistently, gold will be introduced first in trade payment, then in bank reserves, and finally in currencies."

"Hidden important aspects in banking structures and debt structures are in the making, some difficult to fully discern. They relate to the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) filings against all private money systems. "
I can find no other reference to a UCC filing like this.
"Nations must resolve trade imbalances. Since the abrogated 1971 Bretton Woods Accord, which had set the Gold Standard, the imbalances have grown without bound. The worst offender nation is clearly the United States, which exchanges fraudulent debt securities for finished products and commodity supply. The USGovt debt will never be repaid, a fact gaining awareness. Thus the payment for ample imports in the form of USTBills and USTBonds is spurious at best, and fraudulent at worst."

"Multi-polar global financial system will continue to emerge. Since the end of World War II, the United States decided to gradually impose a quasi-democratic dictatorship, which has morphed into a global cabal fascist dictatorship since September 2001. The unipolar rule has resulted in profound chronic abuse of power, tremendous development of corrupt systems, hyper monetary inflation as standard policy, a push toward confrontation with the anti-Rothschild East"

"Nations must demonstrate gold reserves in order to participate in global trade. They must produce gold and post the gold as reserves, subject to independent audits. Expect the United States to continue in its astounding gold accounting fraud, but the rogue nation will be revealed and unmasked as massive fraud kings."
"The United States cannot go to war with the Eastern superpowers, along with their entire armada of nations aligned in favor of the Gold Standard and aligned against the continued USDollar usage. "
"The Dollar Sphere will rely upon USGovt pressure and even USMilitary coercion."
It always has.
"When the gold-backing for the Chinese RMB is announced and launched, the Dollar Sphere will lose ground in a magnificent manner with a potential collapse episode, culminating in a USGovt debt default event."
What a surprise.

"Emphasis on infra-structure toward economic development will be given by the Eastern coalition of nations which have formed the Eurasian Trade Zone. The Belt & Road Initiative has tremendous momentum, an impressive list of participating nations, and an enormous $8 trillion in projects, many of which have begun. Few economists comprehend the basic economic fact, that economic development, business growth, job creation, and wealth generation begin with business investment. And business investment begins with infra-structure development. Without roads, highways, railways, bridges, tunnels, port facilities, broadband internet, fiber optic lines, high voltage lines, and other means of flow, economies like the neglected USEconomy will continue to rot. "

This is a very important aspect. The U.S. infrastructure is rotten. All the money and productivity was poured into war industries. It is simple, war industries give a higher rate of return than domestic infrastructure. Not to mention that Tel Aviv / New York bought congress to press for world domination.
"The USGovt has spent over $25 trillion since 1975 on military, while earning global resentment and broadbased enmity. The US has neglected its infra-structure and finally resembles a Third World nation more then ever in over 200 years."
"Nations which do not embark on significant infra-structure projects will fall by the wayside."

"Sanctions led by the USGovt, far beyond its jurisdiction and rule, have resulted in a nearly universal anti-USD policy, even among many US allies. The FATCA rules sealed the deal in angry global reaction. The British have joined the AIIBank, much to the ire of the Washington Fascist lunatics. "
Global RESET Challenge: Ultimate Twist

Along with Jim Willie, there is Benjamin Fulford. His stuff can be pretty hard to digest but, it gives you an idea if which way the winds blow.
"
2018-05-14
Trump Iran sanctions aimed at forcing Middle East peace, Pentagon sources say
By Benjamin Fulford Weekly Reports 252 Comments

The battle for the planet Earth has heated up again with major movements in the Middle East, Malaysia, Indonesia, Europe, the U.S., and elsewhere as a final showdown approaches between the Zionist fanatics who want World War 3 and the rest of humanity who want world peace and friendship."
"On this front, the renunciation by U.S. President Donald Trump of the Iran nuclear accord is, on the surface, a major victory for the Zionists. However, Pentagon sources say, “The endgame is to force both Iran and Israel to de-nuke after North Korea, and then have permanent peace in the Middle East.”
https://benjaminfulford.net/2018/05/...n-sources-say/

[Danny B]

Dollar shortage, China,,, Italy

Everything that Armstrong wrote about a rising dollar exploding the emerging markets seems to be coming to pass.
"Brent (oil) rising above $80 this week for the first time since 2014 - a move which is counterintuitive in the context of the sharply stronger dollar, and which has resulted in even tighter financial conditions across the globe, but especially for emerging market importers of oil."
"private sector QT", further exacerbating tighter monetary conditions and the growing dollar shortage (resulting in an even higher dollar)."
"In other words, the last thing the Fed wants right now as it accelerates its balance sheet normalization, is a sharp spike in the dollar. And yet, that's precisely what is happening. "
What did the FED think would happen when they reduced the quantity of dollars in circulation?

"For Kocic, the relative strength of the dollar is the exogenous event that could awake markets from their peaceful slumber, resulting in a violent reassessment of monetary conditions as the Fed quietly undoes the biggest monetary experiment in history,"
"The punchline: the dollar surge, catalyzed by the April 17 PBOC RRR cut, has launched a feedback loop which, very much like the Chinese 2015 devaluation, culminates in one of two possible unpleasant - for the Fed - outcomes: a collapse in EMs should dollar strength not be arrested, which then morphs into a broad-based liquidation of all risk assets "
Broad based liquidation IF you can find a buyer.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...C0%2C0%2C0%2C1

Armstrong writes that the financial capital of the world will shift to China. I suppose that this will happen AFTER the global meltdown.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/a...orld-to-china/

Europe; The technocrats worked hard to force the eurozone pact down the throats of the various States. As is usual for politicians and tech people, they made not the slightest consideration for differences between different cultures. The forced neoliberal economics on everybody.
"The downfall of the political establishment—and the rise of the “populist” parties—can only be understood against the backdrop of the “the longest and deepest recession in Italy’s history,” as the governor of the Italian central bank, Ignazio Visco, described it. Since the financial crisis of 2007–9, Italy’s GDP has shrunk by a massive 10 percent, "

"As a result, around 20 percent of Italy’s industrial capacity has been destroyed, and 30 percent of the country’s firms have defaulted. "
"effective unemployment rate of 30 percent, which is the highest in all of Europe. Poverty has also risen dramatically in recent years, with 23 percent of the population, about one in four Italians, now at risk of poverty—"
The Eurozone "works" for the bankers,,,, just not for the people. It was forced austerity across the board.
"which concludes that the measures of fiscal consolidation (budget cuts and tax hikes) pursued over the 2012–15 period reduced Italian GPD by almost 5 percent (about €75 billion a year, for a staggering total of around €300 billion), consumption by 4 percent, and investment by 10 percent,"
Maybe, that wasn't such a good plan after all.

"Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, growing wage pressure, rising costs, and increased international competition caused a squeeze on profits, provoking the ire of large capital holders. "
"The Trilateral Commission’s oft-cited Crisis of Democracy report of 1975 argued, from the establishment’s perspective, that a multilevel response was required. It argued not only for reducing the bargaining power of labor,"
How could so many people be so STUPID? If you reduce wages, you reduce consumption and the economy. The money may all float to the top but, it is worthless there.
(Trilaterals) " greater disengagement (or “non-involvement”) of civil society from the operations of the political system, to be achieved by spreading “apathy.”
"depoliticizing economic policy, that is, of removing macroeconomic policies from democratic and parliamentary control through a self-imposed reduction of national sovereignty."
THAT is called communism and, it has always been a financial bust.

"Their aim was not simply to insulate economic policies from popular-democratic challenges, but also to reduce the political costs of the neoliberal transition,"
"taly was seen as requiring far-reaching “reforms,” even though no popular consensus supported such policies. "
Nope, they didn't want to be serfs.
"From the establishment’s perspective, the fact that EMU also entailed the deindustrialization and “mezzogiornification” of the country—to the benefit of German and French firms, which have taken over a great number of businesses (or acquired significant stakes in them) in Italy and other periphery countries—and its demotion to a subordinated role within the European hierarchy of power, was a small price to pay for winning the war against labor at home. "
This wasn't just a war against labor. The technocrats, under the banner of WONDERFUL neoliberalism wanted to destroy the entire social safety net. For being such advanced thinkers, they certainly are STUPID. Did it never occur to them what the effects of poverty would be?
the population of Greece was estimated at 10,783,748 persons, down 0.68 percent year on year from a year earlier
The neoliberals are as stupid as the socialists when it comes to starving the goose that lays the golden eggs.

"the so-called sovereign debt crisis of 2010–11 was not a “natural” response of markets to Italy’s “excessive” public debt, but was largely “engineered” by the European Central Bank (ECB) to force countries to implement austerity."
"It was a form of economic waterboarding that has left the Italian economy devastated"
"led to apoplectic calls from the media to rein in the deficit through emergency austerity measures and ushered in Mario Monti’s “technocratic” government." The media, huh?

"This gives an enormous amount of power to the unelected and unaccountable ECB, which can (and does) use its currency-issuing powers to impose its own policies on recalcitrant governments (as it did in Greece in 2015, when it cut off its emergency liquidity to Greek banks in order to bring the syriza government to heel and force it to accept the third bailout memorandum) or even to force governments to resign, as it did in Italy in 2011. As the Financial Times recently acknowledged, the ECB effectively “forced Silvio Berlusconi to leave office in favor of unelected Mario Monti,” From Goldman Sachs)

As more and more people start to acknowledge the anti-democratic and neocolonial nature of the European Union, " The corporatocracy.
https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2...rganic-crisis/

[Danny B]

Printing to hold off the defaults,,, the U.S. corporation

The corporatocracy, especially the parasitic sector thought that it would be a good idea to have war on labor. They also thought that it would be a good idea to shred the safety net. Then, all the money would flow upwards to them. This money is debt money. When wages are destroyed, there is no money circulating in the economy. The CBs created an "extra" $200 trillion of debt to tide them over until the lower loop could once again carry the load. The banks did a thorough job of regulatory capture.
26 Goldman Sachs Alumni Who Run the World (GS) | Investopedia
https://www.investopedia.com/news/26...-run-world-gs/
Apr 18, 2017 - How Goldman Sachs alumni run the the world. .

Draghi, from GS is FORCED to print the money needed to service the debt that the people can no longer service. All the CBs are printing $trillions waiting for the consumer to return to her old ways of consumption. As consumption fell, capital drove wages down further to maintain margin.
Evidently, the corporatocracy is focused on earnings alone.
The State takes on $bazillions in new debt to keep the banks afloat. State debt has gone to the stratosphere and the private sector doesn't want to buy any more. We are just passing the time waiting for the defaults to smother the banks.

5/22 Consumer debt is set to reach $4 trillion by the end of 2018 – CNBC
5/22 Japan government advisers lay groundwork for more welfare spending – Reuters
There will be enough money in the lower loop as long as the state continues to print more.
5/17 Housing ATM is back (but it won’t work any better this time) – Mish
5/22 Share buyback boom continued apace during recent earnings season – MW
Buybacks diminish the number of outstanding shares and, increase earnings and bonuses. Beware the hangover.
Everybody is nervous about the new government in Italy;
5/22 Italy a ‘submerging market’ as borrowing costs exceed Indonesia’s – Bloomberg
5/22 Italy on verge of introducing fresh European crisis – Zero Hedge
5/22 Italy’s new puppet Prime Minister. Time ringfence the country? – Mis
Yeah right, ringfence.

The money supply is all debt. The banks are waking up to the fact that they hold notes of negative value. The poor aren't going to pay off 200 or 300 $trillion.

This is the kind of stuff that got Trafficant killed;
https://anticorruptionsociety.files....ted-states.pdf
"What is the meaning of Fascism? Corporate power in control of government. Socialism is the government in control of corporations and everything else. Both are known as Collectivism as both create a form of centralized authoritarian dictatorship. What is America? A private foreign owned off-shore corporation subjugated and being destroyed by a witch’s brew of techno-feudal marxist/fascist Collectivism."
https://aadivaahan.wordpress.com/201...ch-and-ponder/

Fascism ruins the economy faster than socialism. Democracy always morphs into socialism. It usually takes about 150 years. Democracy is a temporary situation. BUT, if you compare the economies of North & South Korea, you can see that democracy works well while it works. The same is true for East & West Germany.
There are claims that this was planned all along.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZU0c8DAIU4&t=328s

[Danny B]

Sovereign default will be a NECESSITY

It's not just Hawaii. There are rumblings everywhere.
5/23 Silicon Valley tech bubble is larger than it was in 2000, and the end is coming – CNBC
5/23 Wishful thinking is no way to address public pension shortfalls – CEI
RIGHT, so, use the printing press to fix the problem.
5/23 Santa Monica requires painful changes due to unfunded liabilities – Surf Santa Monica
Yep, but don't worry. No politician will lose her job or feel the pain.

5/23 Fed study asks: Are Millennials a lost generation? – Mish The FED and SEC stole their future. It wasn’t lost.
5/23 Unexpected warning from Goldman Sachs: “Something is not quite right” – ZH
The pyromaniac has noticed the fire.
5/23 41% of Americans have less than $400 of cash on hand – Zero Hedge
So, what is the cost of a pitchfork and torch?
5/23 Will Italy spell the end of the euro? – Globalist
The inception of the Euro was a stupid action guaranteed to fail.

5/23 Pompeo’s Iran plan: Tell them to give up – New York Times
Yep, by 'them", he means Russia, Iran, China, Syria, Iraq and most of Central Asia and parts of Western Europe. The world has grown up and can't be threatened any more.
5/23 With fears of full-scale cyberwar, questions of attribution arise – CIO Dive
5/23 Banks are going full bunker mode to fight cybercrime – Hustle
We're going back to tally sticks.
5/22 Humans just 0.01% of all life but have destroyed 83% of wild mammals – Guardian
The bacteria and virus will be the ultimate conquerors.

The Russian stock market and, sovereign debt is the best in the world.
https://www.rt.com/business/427333-r...nctions-forum/
"One of the most pervasive myths about the United States is that the federal government has never defaulted on its debts. Every time the debt ceiling is debated in Congress, politicians and journalists dust off a common trope: the US doesn’t stiff its creditors.
There’s just one problem: it’s not true."

"But this would not be as easy as FDR calculated. Most debt contracts at the time included a “gold clause,” which stated that the debtor must pay in “gold coin” or “gold equivalent.” These clauses were introduced during the Civil War as a way to protect investors against a possible inflationary surge.

For FDR, however, the gold clause was an obstacle to devaluation. If the currency were devalued without addressing the contractual issue, the dollar value of debts would automatically increase to offset the weaker exchange rate, resulting in massive bankruptcies and huge increases in public debt."
"To solve this problem, Congress passed a joint resolution on June 5, 1933, annulling all gold clauses in past and future contracts. "
"On January 30, 1934, the dollar was officially devalued. The price of gold went from $20.67 an ounce – a price in effect since 1834 – to $35 an ounce. Not surprisingly, those holding securities protected by the gold clause claimed that the abrogation was unconstitutional."

"The underlying question in each case was essentially the same: did Congress have the authority to alter contracts retroactively?

On February 18, 1935, the Supreme Court announced its decisions. In each case, justices ruled 5-4 in favor of the government – and against investors seeking compensation. According to the majority opinion, the Roosevelt administration could invoke “necessity” as a justification for annulling contracts "
"Justice James Clark McReynolds, a southern lawyer who was US Attorney General during President Woodrow Wilson’s first term, wrote the dissenting opinion – one for all four cases. In a brief speech, he talked about the sanctity of contracts, government obligations, and repudiation under the guise of law. "
"A key question, then, is whether governments seeking to adjust contracts retroactively may once again invoke the legal argument of “necessity.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...C0%2C0%2C0%2C1

Ronald Bernard has more to say, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA1Ut-K1FsU
EXCELLENT article from Armstrong covering; the supremacy clause,,,, crypto currency,,,State seizure of assets whenever it is deemed necessary.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/w...ith-the-devil/

" the French. They would sell their shares to a Brit who would be exempt from the tax and then the following day buys them back splitting the tax savings. Not the Germans are licking their lips at how much money they can now fine banks for helping these type of transactions while they are threatening the traders with ten years imprisonment."
"This attempt to use the criminal proceedings in Germany is by no means a solid case. There is such a thing as Ex Post Facto, which means you cannot declare something to be a crime after the fact. It appears that ten years in prison is the favorite means to extort money from people against the law over controversial share transactions, that are retroactively applied when they were not before. "
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/w...d-to-the-past/

Yep, the State is on a hunt for taxes, fines and fees.
Comments;
"the Roosevelt administration could invoke “necessity” as a justification..."

That is the siren song of progs. When they don't have an appealing reason for something they want then they pull out the "necessity" statement. It is always a bald-faced lie.

Roosevelt and his kind CAUSED the depression. And then they kept it going as long as possible, in order to grant themselves more and more and more POWER. If they had stayed out of the way the depression would have resolved itself quickly, and fairly.

One guarantee in life - progs are always liars. Their only interest is in themselves."
"

FDR doubled down on the interventionist economic polices already started by Hoover. The charge was that Hoover hadn't done enough whereas he had done far too much.

FDR really hit a high note when he enacted a policy of destroying crops and livestock in order to drive food price inflation while millions were going hungry."

"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."

-- William Pitt the Younger

[Danny B]

The shale industry

I have to focus on oil and, it isn't looking good. This is going to take some reading. The recent glut of oil is winding down.
https://www.dollarcollapse.com/oil-front-page-news/

"Few Americans realize that the U.S. economy is being propped up by the Shale Oil Industry. However, the shale oil industry is nothing more than a Ponzi Scheme, so when it collapses, it will take down the U.S. economy with it. Unfortunately, the reason few Americans understand how lousy the economics are in producing shale oil and gas is due to the misinformation and propaganda being put out by the industry and energy analysts."
"I provide some interesting charts that explain how the huge decline rates and massive debt are going to bring down the industry, much quicker than the market realizes."

"The Permian, the largest shale basin in the United States, decline rate was a stunning 60% in just two years. Thus, the companies producing oil in the Permian are forced to spend boatloads of Captial Expenditures"
"Furthermore, I explain how many of these shale oil companies are using debt to fund operations. However, lousy shale economics are not allowing these companies to pay back debt, so they must borrow new debt to pay back existing debt. "

The comments are more interesting than the article.
"Isn't it the last hours of empire when most or all of her financial acumen is only scams and hustles for the rich to get as much money out of the dead carcass before it dies and then run off.
"Oil going to $30? I doubt it because we are doing the exact opposite of over investing in future production as we did back in 2008, $30 means a glut is on the way - Or is demand going to slump that hard?

"we have been saying for the last 6 years. Jean Leharrere has been saying it for the last 10. To add insult to injury to keep production even for Shale (because of their horrible decline rate) over the next 5 years will require the drilling of an additional 1.5 million new wells. Which will have a $7.3 trillion price tag attached. That also assumes that they can find places to drill 1.5 million new wells. The sweat spots have long been exhausted. Now it is down to just harder than a brick source rock."

"Today, companies producing shale had to go public because it takes the BAMBOOZLING of faceless investors to produce uneconomic oil and gas.
However, at some point, very soon, thermodynamics of oil depletion will take the printing press away from the Fed & Central Banks.
e wheels of energy production MUST keep turning, otherwise the engine of the global economy dies and takes down civilization with it. The Shale Revolution was a great JOBS program. It kept the oil production industry and all the industries that service oil production in business for a few years longer. It kept people working.
It kept the illusion of "all is well" alive. They had to bamboozle investors -- and print trillion$ in new money -- and keep rates artificially suppressed, etc. What it "took" to keep civilization creeping forward another ten years, from 2008 until today, looks insane at first glance, but when we realize that everything done since 2008 had one and only one goal -- to keep civilization from crashing and burning -- then it all starts to make sense. Short term measures though. It seems like the gig is just about up.

"He said these wells lose 50 percent in under 12 months. They must keep drilling new wells to keep the product flowing. There are ads on the radio for investment products paying 10 11 12 percent for paper on these projects to satisfy the demand for yield on retirement plans. There are people selling and people buying this paper which generates cash to fund these operations. They probably wont pay the first or second coupon because the wells stop hitting the mark so fast before the first coupon is due."
"The problem with rising oil prices is that it impacts costs. Which is why the Shale Oil Industry didn't make any money at $100+ oil either. As oil prices increase, it thunders through the shale industry as rising costs. However, the rising price of oil from the low of $30 was beneficial in the short-term as drilling equipment rental prices were slashed just to keep the lights on.

But, now that more drilling is taking place, drilling equipment costs are increasing once again. Also, the massive 30-50 stage fracks in the Permian are sucking down 15-20 million pounds of sand, trucked all the way from Michigan, and 500,000 barrels of water per well. The EROI of shale oil today must be closer to 2/1.

So, even though the oil price is rising currently, costs will continue to increase as well. "
"Did you explain to Art that they may come in at 15:1 and be 5:1 in 6 months. In five years you have, at best, a rich gas well. They are still producing a few dollars, but at $2.63 MM not many. That is when you go to some stupid banker, tell them about the great oil well that you have, show then five year old books, and borrow some more money. It wasn't technology that made shale, that was all invented 50 years ago, it was dumber than a rock investors. "

"Meanwhile the EROI of all these wars for control of dwindling oil reserves is encapsulated in US and EU debt levels overall … never mind just the small portion involved in fracking. She's all gonna blow and quite soon.
"Fully Agree - looking at first quarter of the large 10 or 15 (producers) only a few are in the black most are in deep RED and can't service their DEBT. Decline % after the first year for a well is around 63%."

The US politicians, government, and banks are working against the US citizen.
Specifically they are all extracting as much wealth as they can, as fast as they can, because they can.
This will go on until there is no more wealth, or future wealth, to extract, or "we the people" put and end to it."
Here are the numbers:

Just in the past few years, the average frac has gone from needing about 4 million gallons of water (100,000 barrels) to needing 20 million gallons (500,000 barrels) or more – sometimes much more.

https://www.sourcewater.com/blog/waterboom6
"follow da money...

why is the USA and now trump and his merry bunch of war mongers, so obsessed with the Middle East resources, routes to market, and trying to upturn the tables on Iran, Russia and China? Iran and Russia have 60% of world energy, a combined one hundred trillion $ of assets, which they’d rather sell to Europe and China for yuan and euros. Game over man, the USA needs to spend its military budget on renewables in its vast country, if not then inside twenty years it’ll look like a scene from mad max. "
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...C0%2C0%2C0%2C1

[Danny B]

Asymetric effects

Other news;
Central bank digital currencies,,, control to the nth degree.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...tal-currencies
Charles Hugh Smith and a must-read article.
" But the effects of the next recession won't be linear--they will be non-linear, and far more devastating than whatever modest GDP decline is registered. To paraphrase William Gibson's insightful observation that "The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed": the recession is already here, it's just not evenly distributed-- and its effects will be enormously asymmetric."
oftwominds-Charles Hugh Smith: The Next Recession Will Be Devastatingly Non-Linear
Most of the people that I know are working overtime and buried in work. The people of lesser abilities are living in a tent under a bridge. Life is competitive.

5/23 Emerging market stress just beginning as record debt wall looms – Bloomberg
This is a new phenomenon that was recently demonstrated by Argentina. They went form selling 100 year bonds to ,,,, needing an IMF bailout in a matter of 2 weeks. capital flows at the speed of information AND confidence.
5/23 “A sense of panic in the air” as Italian bond carnage returns – Zero Hedge Once again, SPEED.
5/23 Italian crisis is far from over – Zero Hedge It hasn't even gotten to a good start.
5/23 Italian 2-Year yield still near 0%, as new government proposes creditor haircut – WS
That "haircut" will be done with a machete or a chainsaw.
5/23 French unemployment rises to 9.2% – MarketWatch

5/23 Trump, Moon try to keep North Korea summit on track amid doubts – CBS 12 NO summit, period
5/23 Lawsuit claims Monsanto hid cancer risk of RoundUp for decades – Guardian I'm SHOCKED !
Silicon Valley and, over-stuffed unicorns.
https://www.rt.com/business/427507-s...ey-bubble-end/