Economic pressures

[Danny B]

Everybody has power except for you and me

"Leverage funds with huge interest rate derivative positions. And who is on the hook if they blow up? The big banks who are on the other side of the trade."
So, the FED is trying to save all the banks and, all the counterparties to all the derivatives.
It was regulatory capture that brought on most of these problems.
"Greenpeace’s Connor Gibson has described ALEC as “a one stop shopping outlet for large companies seeking state legislators to move their agenda through statehouses coast-to-coast.” And it is a “pay-to-play service” for corporations."
https://www.wakingtimes.com/2020/01/...e1702-54347961
A corporation has no brain, heart, mind, nor soul.
If ROUNDUP will make money, sell it,,, no matter the long range damage. If wars will make money, cause them,,, no matter the long range damage. If depleted uranium bombs will kill more effectively,,, use them.
Kill the bees, bats, fish and birds. Cut all the trees and, poison the soil,,, as long as it makes money.
"Charles Koch’s and ALEC’s underlying philosophy about national and state governance is that the heads of private industry are far more qualified to lead the country"

"The greater public good represented by the leaders of civil society are completely absent from the conversation. The titans of industry run the show. Benefits to private corporate interests, revenues and stock prices are all that matters."
"Verizon quit ALEC after a human rights campaign was launched against the Council for David Horowitz’s racist keynote hate speech against women, Blacks and Muslims at ALEC’s annual convention in New Orleans"
So, powerful financial interests have brought war, poverty and biosphere degradation. BUT, WE are too stupid to make decisions in our own best interests.
So, BIG business is definitely looking out for itself over the needs and concerns of the little guy.

What about the State?

Parkinson't Law pretty much proves that the cadre of government employees will grow by 6% a year regardless of the work load. This is also true of large organizations in the private sector if they have access to enough funding. If they don't have adequate funding, it is a different story.

Robots to cut 200,000 US bank jobs in next decade, study says. Bloomberg
The robots are coming. While we might not have robot overlords anytime soon, changing technology is already making many of our workplaces increasingly dystopian. And as factories incorporate robots and automation, there will likely be job losses. Some studies estimate that up to half of the current workforce will soon see their jobs threatened by automation, and that more than four in five jobs paying less than $20 per hour could be destabilized.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitic...il-unrest-2020
"Political analyst firm Verisk Maplecroft predicts that 75 out of the world’s 195 countries will see some form of social disorder this year.
Nearly 40% of countries across the globe will see some form of civil unrest or riots in 2020, according to a new study.

Democracy has failed because big money bought the politicians. Political pressure to provide more freebies is rising. The working class is voting in the maternity wards rather than is the polling stations. The birth rate is crashing. They didn't provide us with adequate wages to produce our replacements. All of this is playing out against a backdrop of crashing sovereign debt. In the long run, there is no possibility of going forward with the current system.

Legacy costs.
https://economicprism.com/living-on-borrowed-time/

[Danny B]

Notes, taxes & wars,,,forced work / poverty


Historically, it had always been forbidden to tax a man's wages. He produced it and, it was his to keep. Taxes were laid on commerce. This, of course, varied with time and place.

Before 1913, federal government revenues came mainly from taxes on goods—tariffs on imported products and excise taxes on items like whiskey. The burden of these taxes fell heavily on working Americans, who spent a much higher percentage of their income on goods than rich people did. When a tax takes a larger percentage of a poor person's income than a rich person's income, economists refer to it as "regressive."

Although an income tax was proposed as early as 1812, Congress did not enact one until 1861, when the Civil War began. The enormous costs of waging war had plunged the Union into debt ($75 million in 1861) forcing Congress to seek a new source of revenue.

When the Union debt reached $500 million in 1862, Congress next passed the nation's first graduated income tax. Those with an annual income between $600 and $10,000 were taxed at the rate of 3 percent while those earning over $10,000 paid 5 percent. Thus, individuals with more ability to pay were taxed at a higher rate. This graduated tax structure is often called a "progressive" tax.

During the war, Congress raised the tax rates. After the war, however, Congress reduced income tax rates and then finally abandoned the income tax altogether in 1872.

The election of 1892 produced a Democratic president (Grover Cleveland) along with Democratic control of both houses of Congress. This ended the long reign of the Republicans who had opposed restoring the income tax

Unlike the Civil War income tax, this one was not graduated. Everyone with an income over $4,000 paid the same 2-percent tax rate. This type of income tax is sometimes called a "flat tax."

Opponents of the new income tax claimed that it was a socialistic confiscation of wealth by the federal government. Barely a year after it was enacted, the Supreme Court declared the tax unconstitutional. In a 5-4 ruling, the high court decided that the income tax was forbidden by Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution. This prohibits direct taxes on individuals unless apportioned on the basis of the population of each state.

In just a few days during the summer of 1909, the proposed 16th Amendment was approved by the Senate (77-0) and the House (318-14).

The main argument for ratification was that the amendment would force the wealthy to take on a fairer share of the federal tax burden that had in the past been largely carried by those earning relatively little. Only a few critics spoke out forcefully against the amendment. John D. Rockefeller, one of the country's richest men, stated: "When a man has accumulated a sum of money within the law. . . the people no longer have any right to share in the earnings resulting from the accumulation."

A few years after the income tax amendment was ratified, the United States entered World War I. As in the Civil War, Congress turned to the income tax to quickly raise large amounts of revenue

(Keep in mind that the civil War had been precipitated by the Morill Tarrif)
For 72 years, Northern special interest groups used these protective tariffs to exploit the South for their own benefit. Finally in 1861, the oppression of those import duties started the Civil War.

The Law That Never Was: The Fraud of the 16th Amendment and Personal Income Tax is a 1985 book by William J. Benson and Martin J. "Red" Beckman which claims that the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, commonly known as the income tax amendment, was never properly ratified.

When the United States entered the war, the Board of Governors issued a statement indicating that the Federal Reserve System was “. . . prepared to use its powers to assure at all times an ample supply of funds for financing the war effort”

Plans for financing the war were devised by the Treasury and the Federal Reserve. These organizations met frequently to determine how to finance the war and organize machinery for marketing United States government securities.
The plan called for financing the war to the greatest extent possible through taxation and domestic borrowing

To keep the costs of the war reasonable, the Treasury asked the Federal Reserve to peg interest rates at low levels. The Reserve Banks agreed to purchase Treasury bills at an interest rate of three-eighths of a percent per year,

A second amendment authorized the System to purchase government securities directly from the Treasury.
(FED war finance)

We've come a long way since then.


How Long Do I Have to Work to Pay Off My Taxes? | The ...

Jan 3, 2019 - This calculator can help you figure out how much time you spend essentially working for the IRS.

.Surprise! You Work Nearly 4 Months Every Year Just to Pay your taxes
Surprise! You Work Nearly 4 Months Every Year Just to Pay your taxes.

Thanks to the miracle of regulatory capture, the tax burden has been shifted from the rich to the poor.
91 Fortune 500 companies paid no federal income tax in 2018 Not just Amazon: 60 big companies paid $0 in taxes under Trump law

Warren Buffet claimed that his secretary paid more taxes than he did. The big companies just claim that they create all the jobs so, they shouldn't have to pay taxes.

Keep in mind that all the big companies make huge use of American infrastructure. The people who pay taxes underwrite the cost of this infrastructure.
Regulatory capture served to lay the taxes most heavily on those who could least afford them.

In 1930, British economist John Maynard Keynes made a series of predictions about the state of the Western world 100 years hence. One prediction was that technological change will have progressed far beyond anything he could imagine. For another, compound interest will continue to accrue at 2%, such that the standard of living will increase four to eight times over. Finally, because of all this, no one will have to work.
Keynes was not totally bonkers when he claimed we'd be working 15 hours per week right about now.

For those of you who are miffed by now – cheated of the 15-hour workweek you were promised – here are five possible explanations for where Keynes went wrong in his prediction, and why he's unlikely to be proven right in the next decade.
"It seems like there's plenty of wealth, at least in the U.S., for most of us to be able to live on 15 hours per week of work," Schneider said. "One problem seems to be massive wealth inequality."
As Schneider points out, while it may be possible to work less with the average American wealth, that's not possible when it's concentrated among a select few.

Finally, there's something Keynes failed to consider that's probably foremost on everyone's mind – work is fulfilling. A cynic may call it workaholism, or blame it on America's Puritan roots, but for many, work gives meaning to one's life and can even be enjoyable.
In fact, perhaps even more surprising than Keynes' 15-hour workweek prediction is his "general disparagement of working overall," said economist Richard Freeman in an essay on Keynes. "Evolution presumably imbued us with a work ethic for our survival and not a Garden of Eden existence. That is fine with me."


You can see that; if we only worked 15 hours a week, there would be far less wealth produced for the rich to siphon off. WAR is the answer to keep the economy perpetually stimulated. We create, not to accumulate wealth. We build to destroy stuff in a war. That way , we don't get so rich that we kick back and, take it easy.

Believe it or not, the government reports every year that it has FAR more money than it needs. 37,000 GOV agencies report that they have cumulatively stashed away $237 trillion. There is no need at all to tax. They are very clear and precise in their reports.
http://cafr1.com/


Just the same, a heavy tax burden is laid on the working man. After all, what would happen if he stopped working?
According to Goldman Sachs, 50% of the stock market wealth is owned by the wealthiest 1%, up significantly from 39% in the late 1980s.
"While American consumers are drowning in trillions of dollars of debt, the Federal Reserve’s money-printing machine has created a massive asset bubble that has helped the rich get richer. With income inequality jumping to the highest level ever recorded, it’s no surprise that young people are embracing socialist rhetoric.

One 2019 poll suggested that 70% of U.S. millennials are leaning far-left and believe that a welfare state is a solution to their problems. They are more likely than ever to vote for a socialist candidate."
Yes, the chosenites never stop trying to spread socialism

"In 2018, a single average worker in the U.S. faced a 29.6 percent tax burden on their pre-tax earnings, or about $17,596 in taxes, according to the Tax Foundation.”
Gates, who’s worth an estimated $114 billion after he added $22.7 billion to his fortune in 2019, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, proposed several steps to make the U.S. tax system “more fair.” Those included raising the capital gains tax “Probably to the same level as taxes on labor”

https://northmantrader.com/2020/01/20/backlash/
So, the poor working man who creates wealth must hand over 27% of it to the state. later, he pays the inflation tax to the banks. They use his savings to front-run everything that he needs to buy.

The Report From Iron Mountain claims that we must have perpetual war and that, peace must be avoided at all costs.
SO, most of the tax burden is forced on the poor. Gates thinks that the speculators (et al) should pay the same tax rate as the laborer.
Heaven forbid that the rich speculators should pay any tax. There have long been demands for them to pay a small percentage of their gains.

"Each taxable party in a transaction would be taxed at the rate of 0.01 per cent of the notional value for derivatives and 0.1 per cent of the market value for other financial instruments.

[Danny B]

I had to break it up.

James Tobin, a Nobel laureate in economics, who first proposed “throwing some sand in the wheels” of currency markets in the late 1970s. Nitin Mehta of the CFA Institute explores the proposed Financial Transaction Tax (FTT)"

"Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Wednesday, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma accused the United States of spending too much money on foreign wars and risky financial speculation and not enough money "on your own people."
""It's not that other countries steal jobs from you guys," Ma said. "It's your strategy. You did not distribute the money and things in a proper way."
He said the U.S. has wasted over $14 trillion in fighting wars over the past 30 years rather than investing in infrastructure at home.
"American international companies made millions and millions of dollars from globalization."
"The past 30 years, IBM, Cisco, Microsoft, they've made tens of millions—the profits they've made are much more than the four Chinese banks put together," he continued. "But where did the money go?"
"The money goes to Wall Street. Then what happened? Year 2008 wiped out $19.2 trillion in U.S. income," he said. What's more, he added, "In the past 30 years, America had 13 wars spending $14.2 trillion...no matter how good your strategy is you're supposed to spend money on your own people."

"What if the money was spent on the Midwest of the United States?" he asked. "What if they had spent part of that money on building up their infrastructure, helping white-collar and blue-collar workers? You're supposed to spend money on your own people."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/20...nd-wall-street

Also the top 3 people in the US control more wealth than the bottom 50% in the US combined. https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1219175228145897472 …

Reuters The world's richest 2,153 people controlled more money than the poorest 4.6 billion combined in 2019, according to Oxfam
World's 26 richest people own as much as poorest 50%, says Oxfam

1/20 Never before seen market complacency, as everyone goes even more “all in” – ZH
1/20 Stocks have rarely been this quiet in the past 50 years – Wall Street Journal
1/19 Stock market more overpriced and perilous than anytime in history – Great Recession

[Danny B]

Where did the tax base go?

96 million Americans of working age are not in the labor force. Most of the productivity is done by machines that are owned by big corporations that don't pay taxes.
44 million Americans are too poor to pay taxes. Many thousands of Americans are too rich to pay taxes. The tax burden is avoided by the corporations and poor people. This leaves the middle class to pay the tax burden but, the middle class is shrinking. This middle class is so poor that they can't produce their replacements to take the jobs as they retire. Regulatory capture has allowed the rich to avoid taxes. Sovereign debt is growing faster than exponentially. Armstrong has warned that all sovereign debt is going to melt down. The hollowing out of the middle class was accomplished with inflation, taxing and, outsourcing. The government is flat broke.
Armstrong refers to this as, "the crash of socialism"

Is the Fed About to Trigger the $35 Trillion U.S. Housing Market Crash?

1/21 “Where do we put our money:” the Davos elite is struggling to invest – CNBC
They don't want to invest it. They want to hide it.
1/21 737 Max crisis: Boeing in talks to borrow $10 billion or more – CNBC
Ah yes, confidence. Once killed, it tends to remain dead.
1/21 Are consumers nearing the end of their road of debt? – Schiff Gold
No mention of GOV debt that is much higher.
1/21 The Federal Reserve is stuck in quantitative-easing hell – MarketWatch
That is what happens when you try to save the entire financial system that is based entirely on gambling.

Armstrong's prediction of a crash on January 81 of 2020 does NOT seem to have materialized............ or, did it?
1/21 China’s coronavirus cases likely grossly underestimated, study says – CNN
1/20 Virus spreads to more chinese cities, Xi says containment is priority – Reuters
1/20 Lebanon’s bond yields surpass 200% as default risk rises – Bloomberg
Get used to this.

HUGE denial in Europe, https://sputniknews.com/uk/202001191...s-aspirations/
"Brussels has “failed to grasp their judges will have no power and we are not interested in level playing fields", Cummings thundered."
NO DEAL is going to be traumatic. Buy more popcorn.
Armstrong claims that GOV is forcing mega-bucks into the financial system to keep interest rates from rising.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/w...what-to-watch/
How can he possibly miss the fact that most everything will collapse when FED pumping comes to an end???

Zero Hedge,
Is Mass Civil Disobedience Our Future?
How does it all stay together? And for how long?
UBS Tumbles After Biggest Swiss Bank Misses Key Targets As Investors Pull Money

"I’m Not An Expert On Pandemics But...": Global Stocks Slide, Hong Kong Plunges On Coronavirus Fears
Xi Warns Party Officials: Anyone Who Covers Up Coronavirus Will Be "Nailed To Pillar Of Shame"
Stocks, Yuan, Bond Yields Tumble As Fears Over Coronavirus Outbreak Spread


Sweden Has 'Lost Control' After Bombings Spike 60% In 2019, Says MP
I'm sure that it couldn't be the muzzies
Baltic Dry Continues Epic Plunge As IMF Slashes Global GDP Forecast
Global trade is crashing
SocGen Makes A Striking Discovery: For More Than Half The Market, It Already Feels Like A Recession
The Biggest Stock Market "Melt Up" In US History Has Pushed Prices To The Most Overvalued Ever

[Danny B]

The big question on interest rates

I have $1000 dollars. I loan part of this to you. I forgo spending it on myself so, I deserve compensation for deferred consumption.
I have $ 1 trillion dollars. I loan part of this to you because I can not possibly spend all the money. I do not defer any of my consumption. My money is insured by my possession of your collateral. How much interest payment do I deserve?
We measure our wealth in how many manufactured goods we have. Also, in how much energy we have control of. As mechanization took over production, the price of manufactured goods fell way down. You no longer have to work 2 weeks to buy a pair of shoes. Industrialization brought great wealth to both the workers and the bankers. Automation has gradually shifted this equation in favor of the bankers. The worker has lost ground. All the money accrues to the bankers. The supply of money goes up tremendously. The bankers still insist that they earn interest on money, no matter how big the supply grows. The interest rate has trended down for 5 centuries. The only spikes upwards have been during wars. Here is an excellent article that lays out the history of interest rates.
https://dailyreckoning.com/5000-year...nterest-rates/
Not surprisingly, usury is only marginally profitable unless the world is at war.

"With regards to policy, very low real rates can be expected to become a permanent and protracted monetary policy problem…

The long-term historical data suggests that, whatever the ultimate driver, or combination of drivers, the forces responsible have been indifferent to monetary or political regimes; they have kept exercising their pull on interest rate levels irrespective of the existence of central banks… or permanently higher public expenditures. They persisted in what amounted to early modern patrician plutocracies, as well as in modern democratic environments…"

Here is an EXCELLENT article from Charles Hugh Smith talking about the FED has been the enabler of much of the evil in the world.
http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com...eal-names.html
"One does not need money to speak/write to convey one's thoughts, but what money does allow is the drowning out of speech of those without money by those with a lot of money. In essence, the ultra-rich (i.e. the top .01%) get a huge megaphone to blare their thoughts, many of which are deliberately used to disorient and confuse the common man through the major media and so-called higher institutions of learning. "
"And we must not forget the bailouts, lack of prosecution for economic crimes, such as fraud and monopolistic and deceptive trade practices, and tax loopholes, all of which are bought in one way or another from the compromised "representatives" and "public servants" within the system."

"The evil manifests itself as an enabler and promoter of an endless warfare state that is used to maintain an empire based upon the dollar that uses force, bribery, and blackmail to keep various peoples within the empire in line, which includes those within the host country(ies) (i.e. the USA (and the UK)) "
"While massive resources are used to support the empire of the dollar, the host country rots from a lack of resources due to taxes, debt, and the misappropriation of resources."
"If the Federal Reserve System was simply a decentralized clearing house for financial transactions and it was not allowed to buy government debt and we had a currency that was not based upon usury, would it be evil? It's fair to say that the Fed has become more and more evil, because it had fundamental flaws (features?) from its inception or it has been changed by evil actors over the years. "
It has been changed. The original charter of the FED forbade it from buying State debt. Power corrupts. What do you think happens when you put a big pot of money outside the reach of corrupt politicians?
http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com...eal-names.html
You can see why gold was always used to chain down politicians.

Armstrong claims that the CBs are fighting any kind of rise in interest rates.
"The disparity in the rates between the USA and those in Japan and Europe are all part of the crisis in both liquidity as well as international banking. The vast majority of derivatives out there are interest rate related. Europe has a major, major, major problem. An uptick in interest rates will be devastating in so many ways. It will not only cause major losses for the ECB portfolio of bonds with over $12 trillion in negative-yielding bonds, but then you have the derivatives market."
"This experiment with negative interest rates has created a nightmare from which we are desperately afraid to wake up because it could be very real."
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/a...global-crisis/
Interest rates have been trending down for 5 centuries. I really can't see them rising as long as the money supply grows by $trillions a year. Something is going to break.

The gold standard brought stability and a good standard of living for the common man. It was just too restrictive for the bankers. They just can't flourish economically without a flexible currency. It is doubtful that a gold standard will return. But, you never know.
https://www.bullionvault.com/gold-ne...dard-012120201

1/22 Monetary scripts have changed: Fed policy stimulates finance over spending – JC
1/21 Global central banks are fueling a Ponzi market – Guggenheim Investments
Yep, looking out for number one.

The Middle East has always been an albatross around the neck of America. America does NOT need all those stupid wars. Here is another reason for a certain group to hate Trump.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/did-tr...russia/5700660
Here is another reason for a certain group to hate Trump.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/...amin-Netanyahu
You go to the store and, everything that you see is from China. What about your local pharmacy?
https://www.foxnews.com/us/america-d...hina-medicines
What happens when China collapses?

[Danny B]

BIG surprise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXd09NDQW3w
Armstrong said that something was going to hit out of the blue. Keep in mind that China is riding a credit tiger that will eventually eat them up. They don't need any upsets.
Rense;
At Least 17 Now Dead And Over 500 Confirmed Infected By Wuhan SARS 2.0 Virus Is Running Wild
Five Fully-Prepared Health Care Workers Infected With SARS 2.0 In Huanggang, Hubei
14 Prepared Health Care Workers Infected With SARS 2.0 at Union Hospital In Wuhon
All Rail and Air Traffic Out of Wuhan Halted
Two New Confirmed SARS 2.0 Cases in Thailand ex Wuhan
First Confirmed nCoV Case In Hong Kong - 39M Second nCoV Confirmed Case In Hong Kong - 56M
First Confirmed nCoV Case 52F In Macau
Dollar Collapse;
1/22 “No Chinese allowed”: Hysteria grips Asia as millions travel amid viral outbreak – ZH
1/22 Chinese officials warn of “virus mutation spreading” – 440 cases confirmed, 9 dead – ZH
Key words, Mutation,,, human-to-human,,, fully prepared AND, hysteria.
You can bet that people will be leaving Wuhan by oxcart of they have to. They are calling it SARS but, more accurately, it is the corona virus.

• COLLOIDAL SILVER. Silver has been utilized as a medicine since ancient times to treat scores of ailments, including the bubonic plague. ...
• ELDERBERRY. ...
• ECHINACEA. ...
• GARLIC. ...
• GREEN TEA. ...
• LIQORICE. ...
• OLIVE LEAF. ...
• PAU D'ARCO.

Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) is a well-known Chinese herb. ... With its broad-spectrum, anti-viral activity against influenza viruses, MIR2911 and MIR2911-containing honeysuckle tea may represent a new effective therapeutic strategy that can be used to subdue deadly infections.Oct 15, 2014
http://www.sci-news.com/medicine/sci...kle-02206.html

[Danny B]

NOT-recession news

1/22 Fed’s “national activity index” plunges back into contraction – Zero Hedge
But, do not worry. The gdp is growing
1/22 Everyone should be worried about Social Security and 401(k) plans – MarketWatch
The SS money was all spent on wars. The 401 money was used to build up China
1/22 Wall Street is a fraud-monetization system with money-printing by the NY Fed – GATA
Nothing new there.
1/22 Bitcoin has its best start to a year since 2012 – Forbes
1/21 Peter Schiff says he’s lost his bitcoin after wallet freeze-out – Yahoo!

1/22 Housing market falling short by nearly 4 million homes as demand grows – CNBC
The stock market is 3 times historical valuation. The hot money wants to buy houses as an alternative.
1/18 U.S. home prices rise the most in 19 months – Bloomberg
1/19 Home prices in some cities up over 15% in December – 24/7 Wall St.
1/19 California’s median home price jumps 10% to $615,090 – Housing Wire
The hot money has priced out those who actually want to live in a house.

1/22 Five Star meltdown adds to Italy tensions as leader set to quit – Bloomberg
1/21 Hillary Clinton: nobody likes Bernie – Jonathan Turley
HRC attacked the deplorables and, caught a lot of flak for it. Now, she attacks Bernie. Some people just don't learn.
Buttigieg says U.S. ‘economy needed 11 million’ illegal immigrants to continue functioning

Zero hedge;
China Quarantines City Of 11 Million As Hong Kong Confirms Second Case Of Coronavirus






Does this really sound "contained"?

Automation Nation: Walmart Deploys Robots To 650 Additional Stores

Nearly 5 Times As Many Police Officers Killed Themselves Than Were Shot In 2019
Many others were killed by not wearing seat belts.

China Slashes 2020 GDP Growth For Provinces As Widespread Slowdown Persists






Where are these "green shoots"?

"It Just Keeps Getting Crazier" - Options Speculation Reaches Record High






“We’ve never seen anything like this before.”


Just In Time! Lenders Seek Congressional Approval For No Income Mortgages






Here we go again...

[Danny B]

Zero Hedge is a good place to start;
Bitcoin Tumbles To Key Technical Level, Dalio Disses Diversification Into Digital Currency
AND
World Economic Forum Debuts Framework For Central Bank Digital Currency
If you think that the currency is elastic now, you've seen nothing.
Bill O'Reilly; " All of us thought our quest was noble, that we would become purveyors of truth, skilled fact-finders and truth-tellers in the Watergate tradition. "
Forty-five years later, having reached the top of my profession, I generally despise my own industry,
The national TV press is presently controlled by six major corporations that use their vast power to profiteer while attempting to destroy ideological enemies.
Ideological enemies,,, that would be anybody who is anti-war.
Please understand this: the primary reason the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump is that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat members knew the national press would give them cover and blatant support.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/...you-hate-media
OK, at what point do you stop calling it MSM and just call it by name. The Jewish controlled media?
55% say media are 'corrupt' and 'exaggerate' news

The Empire's War On Oppositional Journalism Continues To Escalate
Whoever controls the narrative controls the world. The imperialists understand this... Hence their persecution of Assange, and hence their persecution of Greenwald...


Ex-Wells Execs Hit With $59MM In Fines Over Fake Account Scandal; Stumpf Barred For Life
Trump isn't taking any prisoners.
A Stock Market Boom Is Not The Basis Of Shared Prosperity
Obviously, this is incorrect. You can see trickle-down and green shoots everywhere.
The Future Of What's Called "Capitalism"

• Capitalism allocates capital to its most productive uses. Does the current system actually do this? You must be joking.
• Capitalism is based on private labor and capital freely choosing where to invest time/assets. Does the current system actually do this? You must be joking.
• The psychotic instability will resolve itself when the illusory officially sanctioned "capitalism" implodes.

WAIT A MINUTE? What happens to the parasites? Parasites need love too.
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/...led-capitalism

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin asked Dimon if he sees any frothy areas in the market.
“Only in sovereign debt,” the bank chief responded.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/22/jami...aboolainternal

Yeah right,,, no other bubbles.

The Corporate Debt Bubble Is A Train Wreck In Slow Motion
Localism In The 2020s, Part 3 – Scaling Politics
The big elephant in the room that many people still refuse to talk about is that the U.S. in 2020 is an imperial oligarchy... a system defined by gross concentrations of power and centralization...
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/...aling-politics
Just as "power corrupts" centralized power corrupts even more efficiently.

Pharma Founder Gets 66 Months For Bribing Doctors To Overprescribe Deadly Opioids
Small consolation for millions of addicts but, it will serve as a deterrent.
Yesterday's news,
$180 Billion Asset Manager: "There Is No Way Out, Fed Policies Can No Longer Be Exited Without Provoking The Next Crisis"
In 2008, when they didn't let the banks go,,,, I bought farmland. It was obvious back then that there was no exit.
The Real Umbrella Corp: Wuhan Ultra Biohazard Lab Was Studying "The World's Most Dangerous Pathogens"
"But worries surround the Chinese lab, too. The SARS virus has escaped from high-level containment facilities in Beijing multiple times

1/23 Gold prices firm as ECB seeks ‘robust inflation’ with negative rates – Bullion Vault
Negative rates cause capital flight. As capital flees, you have money supply deflation..
"Mr. Armstrong; What do you think about Harvard Professor Kenneth Rogoff who advocates a global carbon tax and then takes that money and hand it to China to subsidize them ending coal to generate electricity?"
"ANSWER: This is why major institutions have ZERO respect for academics. They have no concept of the real economy because they have never had to actually roll up their sleeves and deal with a crisis. They have never seen firsthand how capital actually moves. They also see people as an endless source of taxes."
1/23 The great American shale oil & gas bust: fracking gushes bankruptcies – Wolf Street
WHAT took so long?

1/23 Japan exports shrink for 13th month in further blow to economy – Reuters
1/23 ‘Peak greed’ fuels record junk bond sales in Europe – Bloomberg
Which will eventually become peak bloodletting.
"As long as rates stay this low, Cuban said, “Where else are you going to put your money?”
“So that money is going to continue to flow into our equities, our market,” Cuban said, while borrowing a phrase used by his friend who compared low interest rates to universal basic income “for rich people.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/22/mark...aboolainternal
These plagues aren't all that they are cracked up to be.
https://www.wakingtimes.com/2020/01/...34853-54347961

[Danny B]

China news

It looks like things are getting out of control in China;
SARS 2.0 - Forty One Now Dead, About 1300 Confirmed Infected In TEN Countries
US SARS n.CoV Sequence Shares Mutations With Shenzhen Cluster...Including Critical orf8
35 Million People now Quarantined In China Cities
Wuhan Ultra Biohazard Lab Was Studying 'The World's Most Dangerous Pathogens'
Very sloppily at that.
Like It's Predecessor, SARS 2.0 Spreads Through Coughs And Sneezes And Lays Active On Door Handles and all Horizontal Surfaces
Obviously, we need to stop all imports

Wuhan (19 Million Area Total) in lockdown... 'It's a ghost town' - shortages in Wuhan Develop
Does that mean that they aren't allowing local imports?
'It's a ghost town' - shortages in Wuhan Develop
"9 hours ago - Killer coronavirus could be spread through the EYES: Chinese doctor says he caught the SARS-like infection because he wasn't wearing protective goggles ."
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...READ-eyes.html
Wuhan residents scramble to stockpile food And medical supplies
Watch Infected people COLLAPSE on China streets - Vid

[Danny B]

Destroying the world to bring harmony

Guggenheim - The Market Is a Ponzi Scheme That Must Collapse
BRILLIANT deduction.
Pope Francis Calls Marxist Economic Summit
'Sloppy Record-Keeping'. - Pentagon Amassed $35 Trillion in 2019 Accounting Changes
Color me surprised
Watch ECB's Christine Lagarde Explain How Greenwashing Central Bank Policy Will Save Europe
They are ALL demented.

Australia – The Most Aggressive Tax Authority in the World?
Posted Jan 24, 2020 by Martin Armstrong
AND
Australia:
Manufacturing PMI decreased from 49.2 to 49.1
Services PMI decreased from 49.8 to 48.9
Tax everybody to death and, the real economy has no money.

"German Finance minister Olaf Scholz stated that he isn’t concerned about the US-EU trade deal, as he believes it will happen. He also mentioned that a global digital tax is within reach which has caused the US concern during discussions with member states."
Global digital tax,,, sound marvellous.

"Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde engaged in a heated debate over climate change today at the World Economic Forum. Mnuchin stated that technological advances will naturally curtail hazardous emissions and implementing taxes will cause a spike in energy prices. Lagarde rebuked his proposal, stating that companies can price in the additional taxes given notice. “ If you want to put a tax on people, go ahead and put a carbon tax."
Suspicious Observers reports that scientists around the world are discovering that current models leave out huge amounts of energy from the sun. This is especially true in the polar regions.
The IPCC is finally going to update their models to include solar forcing

1/24 Trump is right: Afghanistan is a ‘loser war’ – American Conservative
What did the U.S. get for $2 trillion spending in Afghanistan?
The U.S. wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Pakistan have cost American taxpayers $5.9 trillion since they began in 2001.
Well, we got lots of opium and, lots of rich war-mongers. Quite a few dead Americans.

1/24 How Washington is ramming Real ID down our throats – American Conservative
Can't have the slaves escaping the plantation.
1/24 Trump now says he’s open to entitlement cuts, including Medicare – CNN
Each year, Congress approves hundreds of billions of dollars for the US defense budget—but the real number exceeds $1 trillion.
Here is a good article about; The danger of cutting military spending. I can cite or copy.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...EXM_story.html

“We’ve spent more money on the military than the next 12 nations combined.”
Claimed by: Bernie Sanders

1/24 Copper set for biggest weekly drop in 17 months amid China virus scare – Reuters
1/24 Blain: “we know next to nothing about what the kung-flu does next” – ZH
1/24 Fears mount as cases of China’s viral pneumonia surge exponentially – Epoch Times
1/24 Jamie Dimon actually does own negative-yielding bonds, and you may, too – CNBC
All they have to do is; lie about price inflation and, VOILA !,,, Your bonds are negative yield.

1/24 Alumni of the ‘vampire squid’ control two Fed banks, U.S. Treasury, ECB, BoE – GATA
When congress refused to let the bad banks die in 2008, I went and bought farmland. The vampire squid of goldman sachs will try to save the banks until everything blows up.
"Ever since Sept. 19, 2008, when Hammerin' Hank Paulson appeared in front of the U.S. Congress on bended knee and begged those clueless politicians for a bailout—which he did successfully—the spread of moral hazard throughout the world has been a contagion that makes the Bubonic plague appear as harmless as the common cold.

That was, in fact, the day that shall go down in fiscal infamy as a most dangerous precedent was etched into the fabric and soul of the U.S. financial system. Not only did it set the behavioral course for the banker-politico alliance, it laid out as an insidious blueprint the operation manual for treasury departments and central banks around the world, the result being where we are today, a global economy teetering on an Mount Everest of debt with no solution on any horizon."
https://www.streetwisereports.com/ar...at-counts.html

Armstrong, "ANSWER: The Fed’s attempt to lower rates in 1927 to help Europe backfired. It sent capital rushing out of Europe and into the US share market as well as real estate. The Fed had to then abandon its international policy and focus on domestic policy objectives. That will most likely take place again. Despite this crisis becoming a global contagion, each country will defend itself and adopt its own measures independently. That is where the risk will truly lie because politicians are used to running on promises of power. They are not ready to surrender domestic policy objectives for international ones. I suspect we will need such a crisis before we can understand we are all connected."

We already have a World Bank and, an International Monetary Fund. Is Armstrong advocating a global digital currency?
China has the Belt & Road program and, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
China is stealing water form about 2 billion people. India & Pakistan are not too far from war. The several Nations that borrowed easy money from China are now in a debt trap
The European Union is blowing all to hell. China benefited enormously from globalization. Only those States that benefited from globalization want more central control.
"Despite this crisis becoming a global contagion, each country will defend itself and adopt its own measures independently."
Politicians MUST answer to their people. EVERY State will try to preserve their domestic economy and job market. The alternative is revolution.


The Importance of Becoming a Global Citizen
Global Citizenship in a Post-Nation State World
Global Citizenship Essential for Gender Equality: Ambassador Chowdhury
What kind of global citizens are teachers creating?

They are pushing to eliminate all borders and, allow labor to move freely. The Kalergi Plan is designed to destroy all racial continuity by inundating all populations with foreign immigrants. 1/2 the babies born in Germany are non-German. Supposedly, this crash will usher in a new paradigm where we all consider ourselves as global citizens. We will tackle all problems with a global perspective.
Like all Marxist plans for central control, this won't work. As the economy shrinks and we all get poorer, our "trust horizon" shrinks down to our immediate family.
A family and a clan is the original socialist unit where we / they work to support genetic continuity. A nation State is an attempt to stretch the umbrella of clan protection & support over a disparate group of strangers.
French Intel - 150 Neighborhoods Now Held By Radical Islam France Is being taken over by Muslims - We're Next,
The immigrants that are available to dilute the tribes of Europe have such an entirely different modus operandi that they will NEVER assimilate. They openly and stridently proclaim this. An economic collapse will NOT bring some kind of world unity to Europe. It will bring complete breakdown. The immigrants have no viable skills OR any desire to change from the mindset that destroyed their home country.

[Danny B]

Star Power,, The matrix,,, power without ethics

https://thebaddaddy.com/sorry-kids-t...1f#comment-265

[Danny B]

The fallout from the coronavirus is just starting

Here is an EXCELLENT article on deflation. Fear of deflation has prompted the CBs to always strive for inflation.
https://www.goldmoney.com/research/g...s-of-deflation
On the China front, one senses real panic.
Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Pandemic Simulation Run 3 Months Ago Predicts 65 Million People Could Die
UK Researcher Predicts Over 250,000 Chinese Will Have Coronavirus In Ten Days
45 Million People now Quarantined In China Cities
Infected people seen dead in streets of Wuhan -Vid
Wuhan SARS 2.0 Is A Big Threat To China Economy
Corona-Contagion Crashes Commodity & Stock Markets Worldwide
1/25 Xi says China faces ‘grave situation’ as virus death toll hits 41 – Reuters
1/25 Hong Kong leader declares citywide virus emergency over coronavirus – CNBC

Armstrong on pandemics.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/i...ext-peak-2022/
The first time that I posted this link, the board erased my entire post. This is about the fourth time.
1/25 Dow drops 170 points to end the week as coronavirus fears grow – CNBC
1/25 The Wuhan wipeout – could it happen? – Technical Traders
1/25 After months of calm, volatility finally resurfaces in stocks – Bloomberg

1/25 Adam Schiff’s very scary warmongering speech – Antiwar
THAT is Trump's major crime.
Schiff has gone beyond ALL sanity,,, all reason. The Dems can't seem to stop the suicide march.
https://kunstler.com/cluster****-nation/the-big-sleep/

[Danny B]

More virus news.
Coronavirus and the end of boom and bust – Doug Noland, Credit Bubble Bulletin
1/26 Are you ready for the market crash? – Traders
1/26 This is how China is hiding the true number of coronavirus deaths – ZH
The death certificate reads, "Viral Pneumonia"
1/26 “Thermonuclear, pandemic-level bad” – Harvard epidemiologist warns on virus – ZH
OK, you get the idea.
Armstrong gives a good analysis of the whole situation. He makes it clear that a 3% death rate is not a result of a bio-weapon. The sketchy death certificates makes that an open question.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/i...ab-conspiracy/

This is what I wrote to Kunstler;

James, it has been a tried & true subterfuge of; when a country faces economic collapse, start a war and blame collapse on the war. The PBOC was creating more liquidity that the FED, BOE and ECB put together. It's NOT working.
It's called Hormesis.

They tried to combine communism with quasi-democracy. Like all command economies, it is going bust in a big way. They are riding a credit tiger that is soon to eat them up. It is not practical for China to start a kinetic war. Large-scale kinetic war has been impractical since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
BUT, if a (mild) pandemic shuts down the economy, you can blame it on the irrationality of people who panicked for minor reasons.

China moved >300 million self-sufficient peasants to the cities and, put them to work. China took the jobs of their best customers in the West and, lost their markets. These >300 million have now become State dependents. At a loss of what to do, China pays them to build white elephants. China sees that the end is near and, evidently, needs a plan B that minimizes the chance of anti-government revolution.

Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Pandemic Simulation Run 3 Months Ago Predicts 65 Million People Could Die

Inquiring minds Want to know WHY they ran this simulation.

Corona-Contagion Crashes Commodity & Stock Markets Worldwide
Letting the air out of the bubble AND avoiding blame

Xi Warns The SARS 2.0 Coronavirus Is Accelerating
This sounds out-of-character for Xi.

Coronavirus and the end of boom and bust – Doug Noland, Credit Bubble Bulletin
SO, it's nobody's fault,,,,,,,,,,, not even the FED

Much of this sounds scripted.
The claimed death of Epstein doesn't hold water. He was too valuable an asset to get sloppy security.
The purported death of Solemani was just TOO scripted. The response TOO precise and scripted.

The IMF and World Bank have been preaching collapse for some time now. "They" have had time to prepare a scapegoat.

[Danny B]

Guiding the collapse to create a wonderful new system

There is no denying that there is worldwide push towards a one-world GOV. We're all going to be "world citizens' and use world digital money.
Why schools have stopped teaching American history
The past must be destroyed to allow for a pure Marxist future. Our money supply must be infinitely flexible. Remember that Keynes wrote about "euthanasia of the rentier"
Nobody would loan money at interest in the future. The jewish controlled FED lead the way and, other CBs have followed. The jewish intellectuals have always championed socialism.
The rampant credit expansion of recent decades was always done purposely to precipitate a crash. Every effort at blocking the creation of derivatives was thoroughly quashed. Collapse was the desired result. The present pandemic will get the blame and, NOT the CBs.

Where do we go next?
Our current currency has no intrinsic value and, only conveys information. It is eminently corruptible. The problem is that; paper currency can't be corrupted while it is in your wallet. It's value can be stolen by currency inflation but, that causes other problems. Our transactional currency must be removed from physical form. Remember that the people governing us and, writing the laws are non-producing parasites. Previously, the dollar bill in your pocket proved that the had done productive work for society.

"The biggest selling point of digital currency is the convenience factor of national and cross border payments being settled and available without delay. I suspect this is where the banking elite want people to focus their attention, as opposed to how a digital currency network that incorporates central banks and selected private sector players would result in the end of tangible assets."
"Something to ponder also is how faith could be lost with future stablecoin providers. BIS General Manager Agustin Carstens has said before that trust can be compromised in four particular ways – currency devaluations, hyperinflation, wide-scale payment system disruptions and bank defaults. Naturally, Carstens has positioned central banks as the institutions that can rectify such conflict, even though it has been proven that throughout history it is their policies that have created economic instability leading to collapse."

about the necessity for currency degradation before the public demand a solution to the traditional monetary model.

Degrade a currency sufficiently, via hyperinflation and collapse of the banking system, and people will eventually look for alternatives. But that’s generally the sort of thing that has to happen. Almost always, these currency substitutions occur only once the existing currency has become deeply compromised. Even then, the thing people naturally reach for is an existing, trusted currency – often the US dollar – rather than some entirely new unit of account.

When currency substitution has occurred naturally it’s almost always done so only after the incumbent currency has been debauched by hyperinflation.
As ever, central banks will require sustained geopolitical conflict to shape the future design of the financial system. They are already headlong in devising that very system through the reformation of global payment systems.
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/dig...ing-elite-want

Don't forget overpopulation;
"In the wake of the great financial crisis of 2009, ZIRP/NIRP were utilized, federal deficit spending soared, asset prices skyrocketed, employment rose to record levels...but strangely fertility rates and total births have continued falling. Actually, collapsing. "
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitic...y-depopulation

Here is an EXCELLENT article of why globalism works in theory BUT, rarely in practice. It isn't that it doesn't work. It works for just a few. The original theories were just too simplistic.
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/...ders-are-wrong

"Since 2007, the ONLY group that has seen an increase in net worth is the top 10% of the population. This is not economic prosperity. This is simply a distortion of economics."
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/el...olored-glasses
Our true inflation rate is 6%. That means that we are losing ground even faster than reported. It also means that almost every bond in the world is negative yielding.
http://www.shadowstats.com/imgs/char...d&t=1579012004
Armstrong, "We are faced with the collapse in Democracy our model forecast back in 1985 would begin 2015.75. Politicians like Adam Schiff are the poster child for absolute corruption and dishonesty. This type of behavior has never been seen and is merely an attempt to put a Democrat in the White House who will raise taxes and devastate the business community in the spirit of “progressiveness” which is the new politically correct label for Marxism.
This is all part of the decline and fall of the West"

[Danny B]

Mike Adams of Natural News is a great guy doing great work for natural health. Youtube took down his hundreds of videos, supposedly because he strayed into social and political commentary. He is anti-vax. Sometimes he seems to wander into questionable claims. He reports that Lancet is now claiming a 15% mortality rate.
https://www.naturalnews.com/2020-01-...tion-rate.html
Chinese health chiefs warn coronavirus is growing 'stronger'
MUTATION closely monitored by scientists nCoV Doctor To Doctor Cluster In Beijing
Three Doctors Infected With nCoV in Beijing

The usual suspects;
Scientist who simulated the global impact of a coronavirus outbreak calls China efforts to contain the disease Are unlikely to be effective
Note Next Three Stories About Bill Gates
Bill Gates Foundation And Johns Hopkins Predicted 65 Million Dead In A Coronavirus Pandemic Simulation Called 'Event 201' 3 Months Ago - Read Details Here
Formal 'Statement Of Clarification' From Johns Hopkins About The 'Event 201' Coronavirus Pandemic Projection Exercise Hosted By Bill & Melinda Gates Last October

Mayor Of Wuhan Says 5 Million Fled The City Before It Was Locked Down
Chinese health chiefs warn coronavirus is growing 'stronger' MUTATION closely monitored by scientists

OK, so we just watch this,,, and how it affects the economy

"It’s like Dawn of the Dead on Wall Street. Zombies are everywhere.
Even as stocks continue to push to new highs, the number of money-losing companies listed on US stock markets has ballooned to levels not seen since the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, nearly 40% of US-listed companies are losing money.
According to the Wall Street Journal, 42% of money-losing companies are in the healthcare sector, “reflecting the popularity of small, often loss-making biotech stocks.” Another 17% are tech companies, “many of them fashionable new ventures.”
"When you look at IPOs, the situation is equally disturbing. According to a chart provided by University of Florida finance professor Jay Ritter, the percentage of money-losing IPOs hit 81% in 2018, equaling the level in 2000 at the height of the dot-com bubble."
"The dot-com and unicorn bubbles were both made possible by Fed policy that kept interest rates artificially low and allowed companies to leverage up and operate for years without making a profit. Speculative money flowed into these companies. Stock prices mushroomed."
"A ZeroHedge article summed up what has happened citing Tesla as an example.

It’s absolutely stunning how the Fed/ECB/BoJ injected upwards of $1.1 trillion into global markets in the last quarter and cut rates 80 times in the past 12 months, which allowed money-losing companies to survive another day.”
https://schiffgold.com/key-gold-news...n-wall-street/
You get the idea. Who knows how long they can keep rolling?

Much of this is forced into the system to make it last until after the election. NOT GOING TO WORK
New York says that you have to pay for a 'star gazing" permit to look up at the sky.
https://www.wakingtimes.com/2020/01/...59797-54347961