Economic pressures

[Danny B]

Desperate U.N,,,, anti anti war hysteria

ZH, Civil Unrest Is Erupting All Over The World, But Just Wait Until America Joins The Party...
I've got my remote BOB.
Central Banks Are Out Of Ammo - UN Head Demands Immediate Fiscal Stimulus To Save World From Crisis
Don't hold your breath. This is all part of planned population reduction.
Goldman: The Fed Was The Main Driver Of Markets In 2019
There is an election coming

Democrats Have No Answer For Trump's Anti-War Posture
"Russian Asset" Is A Meaningless Noise War-Pigs Make With Their Face-Holes
It has been firmly established beyond any doubt that it is now literally impossible for an American political figure to vocally oppose US warmongering without being labeled a Russian asset...
Winners & Losers In The Failed American Project For A 'New Middle East'
The winners would be Americans, Syrians, Iranians and Putin. The main loser would be Netanayahoo.

"Toe The Line Or Be Destroyed": Tulsi Gabbard Dismantles Establishment 'Hit-Job' In Viral Video
"If you stand up to the rich and powerful elite and the war machine, they will destroy you and discredit your message..."
10/21 Trump’s anti-war stance is the real target of the latest impeachment push – HL

10/21 Hong Kong police fire water cannon with blue dye as crowds defy ban – Guardian
The new Blue man group.
10/21 Japan’s September exports slip for 10th month, pressuring BOJ to ease – Reuters
Yes, absolutely. Easing has failed for 20+ years. Keep doing it.
Entrenched congressional corruption.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamand.../#71282ee11287

[Danny B]

Responsibility and validation for men in the future

Here is a vid Of George Jetson. He gets up at 11:00 to go to work. He works 2 days a week for 1 hour a day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayWyniqrT3w
Sheep dogs are genetically suited to herd sheep and, only happy when they are doing this. Race horses are only happy when running.
Man is a social creature who is programmed to support the family and clan.
Jordan Peterson argues convincingly that; the meaning of life for men is; seeking and, bearing responsibility. (crosspost)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX2ep5fCJZ8

He also argues that "weak men can't be virtuous."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWYrAU5mmXE&t=137s
Moreover, he argues that; young men (especially) feel lost in today's culture because there is no call for them to shoulder responsibility as it was many years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1tS7ylRVHw&t=384s

Statistics seem to bear this out. 80% of college students are women. As we perfect ever-more labor saving devices, there are fewer niches that are a good fit for men.
Peterson calls this a crisis. Drug addiction and suicide rates seem to prove him correct.
Militant feminism has alienated him from traditional relationships.
Women seem to believe that men lack enough confidence to approach and, date women.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqYNQc3F0P8&t=354s

Women have just become too mercenary.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...attractive-men
As women alienate men, the men are thwarted in their natural roles.
https://aeon.co/essays/the-devotion-...rom-other-apes

How will this play out in the future?
What does George Jetson DO all day?
What is the future of automation.?
Humans are extremely social. What happens when women can't find mates.
What happens when men can find no validation or fulfilment in life?

In Japan, only 42% of couples have sex in a given month. The men have just lost all interest,,, especially in the crowded cities. The Japanese girls are all looking for a "farm boy". The population is shrinking rapidly.
Our natural tendency is to; take on responsibility to support the family and clan.

The antithesis of this is corruption.
As most people know, Aspartame is a neuro-toxin that produces formaldehyde in the body. It's a poison, plain and simple.
Donald Rumsfeld was the CEO of Searle and, when he went to work for the State, he demanded that the FDA approve aspartame. He is responsible for the early death of millions.

Most corruption is simply a question of putting personal gain ahead of the good of the clan. Some of the corruption is a case of putting the interests one clan far above the general good. Theocracies seem to be pretty bad about this. Israel and Saudi being good examples. Erdogan in Turkey is moving in this direction. Turkey is 98% muslim so, it's no surprise.

Automation has brought on a crisis where very few men have a necessary niche in society. The women are floundering because they can't connect with men. They are finding that there are ever-fewer men who will listen to their demands. Much of society is dis-integrating because of these problems.
The coming financial crash will be that much worse because the left-right dynamic will prevent the State from working cohesively.
The banker-caused destruction of the nuclear family will mean that family support will be that much more unlikely. The gender wars mean that supportive men will be mostly unavailable to women.

[Danny B]

Chaos in every quarter

Pervasive lies. Armstrong is a trader and investor. The current regime of Central Banks is specifically tailored to enrichen the investor at the expense of the actual producer. Naturally, Armstrong is going to support the investors (gamblers) with MY money, no less.
QUESTION: You commented that the central banks had a difficult position when they were on the gold standard compared to post-1971

"ANSWER: The United States created the Federal Reserve in 1913. Prior to World War I, central banks were long-established in Europe like the Bank of England in 1694. What you have to understand is that BEFORE World War I, the central banks of Europe were faced with two duties because there was the gold standard.

1.) The first was to defend their currency’s parity with gold and thereby the entire edifice of the international gold standard. This required raising interest rates and keeping the total volume of money and credit under control, often with contractionary effects."

Back then, we had small "contractionary effects"
CNBC “If you look at the market historically, we have had, on average, a crash about every eight to 10 years"
Abandoning the gold standard has brought big crashes as opposed to small contractions.
The crashes serve to skin the small investors and allow the banks to buy up everything at fire-sale prices.

Armstrong, "2.) The second responsibility was to act as a lender of last resort for their banking system by supplying emergency liquidity. This necessitated an expansion of credit and a lowering of interest rates. "
TOTAL BS.
The original charter of the FED allowed it to do OVERNIGHT loans for good collateral at punitive rates. The FED created the overnight liquidity and then, destroyed it upon repayment. It kept the interest.
Armstrong, "Post-1971, the central banks were no longer required to intervene to maintain the exchange rate relative to the gold standard"
OK, so, the presses went into overdrive to supply liquidity to ALL the speculators.

"Paul Volcker raised interest rates insanely into 1981 to stop inflation, but he ignored the consequences that would have on the value of the dollar on world markets. "
NO MENTION of where this inflation came from. "Ignoring the consequences" came first. Inflation came later.`

As a general rule, A State would go off the gold standard every time that it wanted to get a war going. The Bretton Woods agreement tied the U.S. dollar to gold. And, it tied all currencies to the dollar. The Korean war was small potatoes. Pox Americana had to destroy the Bretton Woods agreement to get the Viet Nam war rolling.
The bankers absolutely hate the idea of a gold standard because it would put most of them out of business.
Trump threatens to put the war industries out of business. The war mongers threaten to get rid of Trump for such effrontery.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/10...re-steps-back/

China has 10 times the steel producing capacity as America. At one time, the excess steel capacity in china was equal to the total steel capacity in America and Europe.
"China, the world’s No 1 steel producer, has said it would lay off millions of workers in the coal and steel sectors in a bid to reduce industrial overcapacity. However, coal mining and steel making were among the heavy industries that contributed to about 40 per cent of the Chinese economy in 2018."
So, China is going to spend billions producing more steel for more infrastructure.
https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-e...pprovals-stave
NOPE, can't have layoffs.

"In the first quarter of 2019, global debt hit $246.5 trillion.
The first-quarter spending spree brought the debt pile to 318% of global GDP,
According to the World Bank, countries whose debt-to-GDP ratios are above 77% for long periods experience significant slowdowns in economic growth. Every percentage point above 77% knocks 1.7% off GDP, according to the study, via Investopedia. The United States’ current debt-to-GDP ratio is 106.5%.
In other words, the country is accumulating about the same amount of debt – currently $22 trillion – as its annual economic output. Each year another trillion dollars gets added to the national debt."

"As the graphics below show, every couple of hundred years there has been a change in the world currency, dating all the way back to the denarius of ancient Rome.
"“Gold is... the trust anchor for the financial system. If the whole system collapses, the gold stock provides a collateral to start over. Gold gives confidence in the power of the central bank's balance sheet.”"
China has quite a large anchor. Is America producing manufacturing gold via Bedini's process?
https://aheadoftheherd.com/Newslette...obal-Reset.htm
The rest of the article is an inti0Trump tirade..

Debt per capita.
https://zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b...?itok=EtLbMXmh
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/...onate-pressure


10/21 Merkel says German multiculturalism has failed – Reuters

That dirty commie 8itch did her best to destroy Germany by bring in unvetted immigrants. Switzerland has Italian cantons,,, French cantons and, German cantons. They get along fine they do NOT have any Somali cantons.
Merkel won the Kalergi prize for the damage she has done.
Wiki, "The Kalergi plan (Italian: piano Kalergi), or sometimes called the Coudenhove-Kalergi Conspiracy, is a far-right, anti-semitic, white nationalist conspiracy theory, ..."
Yes, of course it is anti-semitic and white and a conspiracy.

"a plan to destroy the indigenous nations and peoples of Europe. What Kalergi called for was not only the destruction of European nation states but also the deliberate ethnocide of the indigenous, mostly Caucasian race of the European continent. This, he proposed, should be done through enforced mass migration to create an undifferentiated homogenous mass of serfs to be dominated by a wealthy self-electing elite. These are all Kalergi's crude and racialist words, not mine:"
You can see why this appeals to the master race.
Sweden Is Sliding Into Utter Chaos...and The Media Is Applauding

10/21 Will the Democratic party exist after 2020 election? – OffGuardian
10/22 Pompeo says Trump is ‘fully prepared’ for military action against Turkey – CNBC
Uh, Turkey is a member of NATO and, has 50 nukes. I suspect that Trump is trying to sow enough dissension that NATO is dismantled.
10/22 Is democracy a dying species? – Pat Buchanan
In Catalunya, the Guardia Civil is specifically beating up members of the press.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/...-got-lot-worse
Trump - US Military Companies Against Bringing Troops Home From Syria

50% Of World's Banks Too Weak To Survive Downturn
Omniviolence Is Coming And World Isn't Ready
Spell check doesn't recognise Omniviolence. Are they going to beat up omnivores?

[Danny B]

Misc headlines

Zero Hedge has an article titled, "The End of Fiat" It just isn't that simple. We must have an instrument for exchanging goods and services. The acceptance of fiat currencies is mandated by the State in a given currency domain. OUTSIDE this domain, it is a different story. China can't force anybody to accept Yuan. So, the crux of the problem is; a State can only force acceptance of it's notes & instruments inside it's domain.
You can see that the weak point is the sovereign bond market. The BIS mandates that ALL settlement between States is settled in gold. No State can force another State to accept ANY paper instrument for settlement. The use of paper currencies will continue within the borders of a given State.

The global reset that is fast approaching is a rejection of bonds, not currency. Armstrong claims that it will be a rejection of sovereign bonds. He seems to ignore the fact that corporate bonds have been over-issued enormously.
The rationale about gold from the BIS is logical. Many States are loading up on gold.
"This twenty-year agreement between central banks put in place a structure for their gold SALES. When the agreement was not renewed, many wondered if that was due to a desire of central banks to make gold PURCHASES instead.
Well, guess what? That appears to be exactly the case! For the first time since 1998—and the introduction of the euro currency!—the German Bundesbank has added gold to its reserves."
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...ks-begin-panic

"With ECB mutiny and Deutsche Bank's rapid demise, fears are rising of a looming financial crisis, and with that, Germany has shown a renewed interest in gold.
As a reminder, September's outright purchase of the precious metal comes after Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, repatriated 583 tonnes, or $31 billion worth, of gold in 2017, years ahead of schedule."
Dumping treasuries and, buying gold.
https://zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b...?itok=jPDVUdPN
https://www.zerohedge.com/commoditie...fiat-one-chart

Banks May Cut Ties With Facebook If Libra Is Launched: ING CEO
Crypto has been downvoted.
Boeing Revenue Tumbles 20% As Cash Burn Soars Most In 9 Years; 787 Production Throttled
"And yet the stock is up because management,miraculously, expects the 737 MAX to magically fly in the 4th quarter of this year. Good luck with that."
You aren't getting me on a plane that has cracks in the wings.
Trader Warns "Market Dysfunction Will Ultimately Have Its Limits"
40 U.S. States Do Not Have Money to Pay their Bills

10/23 Anxious Democratic establishment asks, ‘is there anybody else?’ – NY Times
10/23 How Democrats became the party of monopoly and corruption – RIA
10/23 Russia and China are buying gold, not bitcoin: Gabelli analyst – U Today
Apparently, they killed Tor.
10/23 US markets “roll over” on earnings and economic data at channel highs – TT

[Danny B]

Shrinking food production, chaos everywhere

A lot of people have claimed that climate change is just bogus news. For a while, Armstrong went along with that idea. As the weather extremes get more prevalent and pronounced, he has changed his tune.
"The new EU Agriculture Commissioner has publicly stated that Europe loses 1,000 farms per day. He acknowledged that the EU is losing 400,000 farms per year. However, crop and livestock production in Europe is projected to decline and may be completely abandoned Europe’s southern and Mediterranean regions due to the increased negative impacts of climate change, according to a European Environment Agency (EEA)."
How is that for a turnaround?

"The study says that adapting to climate change must be made a top priority for the European Union’s agriculture sector if it is to improve resilience to extreme events like droughts, heat waves, and floods. But the obsession with Climate Change in Europe which is destroying its economy and now its ability to even grow food many are concerned will lead to starvation once again"
Then, he seems to contradict himself; "The nonsense of Climate Change seems to be poised to accomplish what it is designed to do – reduce the population."
You can bet that; when the fall in food production gets more exposure in mainstream news, there will be quite a panic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnDY62ioHHg&t=68s
10/25 Meet the lender that turned US farms into vortex of defaults and lawsuits – ZH

In the mortgage crisis, the banks were bailed out with several $trillions. Did they forgive interest payments that were in arrears with this new-found wealth?
"During the last Mortgaged Backed Security scandal which undermined the entire world economy, they created mortgage modifications which enabled millions of delinquent homeowners to avoid having their home foreclosed. Since 2007, it has been estimated that some 8.7 million permanent mortgage modifications were created. There are still over $800 billion of these bubble-era loans outstanding. How were they allowed to survive? For at least the past five years, between 75% and 95% of all mortgage modifications have taken the past interest due that was in default, included it in a capitalization of interest arrears, which means the resolution was never for the benefit of the homebuyer.

By adding the past-due interest, they have been paying interest on the interest. This failure to address the issue by some partial debt forgiveness with respect to prior interest means that the mortgage crisis has been simply postponed. "

"Barons did a good review of the problem. They came to the conclusion that re-defaults will be more likely as home values fail to get back to par and these people will just walk away. Indeed, the resolution should have been the forgiveness of past-due interest. Then the value of the homes would have been less impacted. But the bankers refused to accept the loss "
So, the taxpayer was on the hook for $trillions to the bankers but, the bankers refused to take any loss.
"Barrons reported that if we look at JPMorgan Chase (JPM) which holds the second-largest residential mortgage portfolio in the nation, we see in its second quarter of 2019 report, that almost $10 billion of modified loans (known as troubled debt restructuring)remained outstanding. Of this restructured debt, 43% were listed as having re-defaulted. Bank of America (BAC) has stated that 41% of its modified loans had re-defaulted."
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/m...r-real-estate/

Armstrong, "ANSWER: The bail-in laws were passed during the last crisis which was a popular response at that time because no bankers were ever punished for what they did in New York City. The problem with a bail-in is that the ramifications would be far worse than the Great Depression. You would destroy businesses that would then be unable to make payroll and the unemployment would be massive – far greater than the 25% high of the Great Depression."
"The hatred was directed at the New York Banks – and rightly so. Because the federal court in New York City has protected the bankers, they have actually undermined the entire country by their stupid actions."

Armstrong makes a very interesting point, " To the extent that FDIC exists, they would certainly honor that or it would be political suicide. However, the fine print is FDIC cover per person. Putting money at 5 different banks would seem to get around their limitations, but I would not count on that."
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/w...-banks-in-usa/
The FDIC is capitalized to about $2.4 billion but, it is "covering" accounts worth about $70 trillion.

European banks will be the first to go because they are unprofitable.
https://sputniknews.com/europe/20191...ems-integrity/

10/25 Banks stuck with over $2 billion of loans as investors cut risk – Bloomberg
10/25 Amazon clobbered after a miss on the bottom line and soft guidance – CNBC
No matter how big it gets, Amazon needs to make a profit.
10/25 Fed ups Wall Street bailout to $690 billion a week as media, Congress snooze – GATA
10/25 None dare call it QE4 & getting to the bottom of the repo mess – FSN
ALL of this is necessary to pay U.S. banks for defaulted interest rate swaps (derivatives) from failing Deutsche bank. If you were to graph the payouts from the FED, you would see that they are climbing FAST. Deutsche bank probably has another $20 trillion to go. Just how much can the FED print? Keep in mind that has stated that 41% of its modified loans had re-defaulted."
So, along with interest rate swaps defaulting, mortgage backed securities are defaulting.

10/24 Chicago’s death spiral: There’s no can left to kick – Mish
Kick a democrat instead
An economy is PEOPLE, not money.
https://econimica.blogspot.com/2019/...sion-will.html
10/24 Twitter loses a fifth of its market cap on huge guidance miss – Zero Hedge
10/24 Germany slides into recessionary abyss as employment falls – Zero Hedge
10/24 Fed to increase emergency repos to $120 billion, but hey, it’s not monetary – Mish
10/24 Peter Schiff: QE is monetary ‘roach motel’ for the Fed – Money And Markets

10/25 The Democratic party is dead, and everyone knows it but them – Helen of Destroy
10/25 Impeachers searching for new crimes – Gatestone Institute
10/25 Professor says grading, good grammar are examples of white supremacy – College Fix
10/24 Benghazi coverup discussed on emails to Clinton’s unsecured server – Epoch Times
10/24 Nancy Pelosi, Democrats produce more subpoenas than laws – Washington Times

[Danny B]

Collapsing cooperation & economioc dis-integration

10/25 Warren and Sanders race to out-left each other — and moderates are terrified – Politico
10/25 Justice Dept launches criminal investigation into its own Russia probe – Hill
10/25 Senate Democrats tell Hillary Clinton: Time to move on – Politico
Rich Dem donors won't support Warren or Sanders. No wonder many are predicting the demise of the Dem party.

10/25 Inflation or deflation and the road ahead – Seeking Alpha
Nope, we will have inflation in necessities and deflation in the price of luxuries.
10/25 One of the world’s largest oil companies just ditched the dollar – Oil Price
Not smart, the dollar will continue to go up for some time to come. The Euro is on it's deathbed. The Yen is nothing to cheer about. The Russian Rouble is very solid. The Russian GOV has reduced State debt to zero.
10/24 Wages in Venezuela are as low as $3 a month as hyperinflation continues – ZH
Venezuela built a big romance with socialism. Notice that all socialist States eventually build walls and fences to keep the people from escaping. Millions of people have abandoned Venezuela.
Slavery is; work without wages.
Socialism is; work without any future.

10/25 S&P 500 heads for record close on earnings, trade-deal optimism – CNBC
10/25 Wall Street firms record best first-half profit in a decade – Reuters
The money renters are doing great as long as the FED keeps pumping in liquidity.
10/25 Subprime auto giant’s loans souring at fastest clip since 2008 – Bloomberg
Sub-prime never went away. It got shoved into the broom closet. Wages never recovered so, the broom closet is going critical.
10/25 How France gets away with breaking EU rules on its budget deficit every year – MW
The French GOV spends 57% of the gdp and, has never been compliance with EU budgetary rules.

10/25 GDPNow forecast unchanged at 1.8% despite dismal economic data – Mish
We don't need no stinkin data.

Rense'
Chicago Ranked Most Rat-Infested City In America For Fifth Consecutive Time
Well, at least they won't starve in the crash.
For anyone who cares about this ,kind of stuff, Cuba invented a rat killer that gives "rat salmonella" to rats,, ONLY.
'Millennial Millionaires' Banking On $68 Trillion 'Great Wealth Transfer' From Parents
Somebody has been vaping banana peels.
Vegas Casinos In Big Trouble - Many Venues Now Charging 'Service Fees' For Drinks
Do they charge for doobies?

'Chaos Map' Shows Murders, Violent Deaths Will Soar In 10 Yrs Due To Food And Water Shortages
Armstrong reports that America will hit it's lowest point in 2032.
Don't Get Caught Without A Gun When The SHTF
Some people just don't understand a "Mexican standoff"
Bundestag Lawmakers Want US Troops And Nukes Completely Out Of Germany
Germany wants to end the occupation and garrisoning.
'Brink Of Collapse' - Hong Kong Businesses Struggle To Survive Amid Violent Protests
No wonder so many people there want to leave. China is going to make a big mess of things.

UK Women Resorting To 'Survival Sex' To Put Food On The Table Because Of Universal Credit Failure
As we get closer to the default cascade, you're going to hear that term a lot more.,,,Universal Credit Failure
Panic Mode' Run On Lebanon's Banks Feared After 7-Day Closure Amid Protests
UK Slammed For 'under-enforcement' Of Corruption Laws As New Report Identifies Ł325 BILLION In 'suspect' Cash
NOTHING new there.
Boeing Backlash Begins - Spirit Airlines Orders 100 New Airbus Planes
Boeing outsourced design work to $7 an hour Indians. The plane is cracking at the wing boxes. There is no fix for something that basic.

Trump Education Official Quits, Says Govt Should Forgive 'Fundamentally Broken' Student Loans
So, does that mean that the FEDs PAY OFF all the student loans to all the bankers?

"If employment was indeed as strong as reported by government agencies, then social benefits would not be comprising a record high of 22% of real disposable incomes. Here is the breakdown:

40 million Americans on food stamps
An estimated 50% of the 330 million Americans in this country get at least one federal benefit, according to the Census Bureau.
An estimated 63 million get Social Security; 59.9 million get Medicare; 75 million get Medicaid; 5 million get housing subsidies; and 4 million get Veterans’ benefits."
"With 1/5 of incomes dependent on government transfers, it is not surprising that the economy continues to struggle as recycled tax dollars used for consumption purposes have virtually no impact on the overall economy. In 2018, households received $2.2 trillion in some form of government transfer payments"

"“The ‘gap’ between the ‘standard of living’ and real disposable incomes is shown below. Beginning in 1990, incomes alone were no longer able to meet the standard of living so consumers turned to debt to fill the ‘gap.’ However, following the ‘financial crisis,’ even the combined levels of income and debt no longer fill the gap. Currently, there is almost a $2654 annual deficit that cannot be filled.”"
Scary graph; https://realinvestmentadvice.com/wp-...g-3-101519.png

https://realinvestmentadvice.com/str...-pay-in-taxes/

The automation genie can't be put back in the bottle. The State can't afford to absorb all the surplus workers because there are just too many. MMT would help but, it is hardly compatible with human nature.

This vid is a crosspost from another thread. The relevant part starts at the 5:00 minute mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ0hadRWu-4&t=570s
Too many people are living in an echo chamber where they only hear people who agree with them. The middle ground is lost. The hatred just keeps growing. WE are in a downward spiral of dying cooperation.
Man is a very social animal but, he is also a tribal animal.
Here is a vid on the evolution of cooperation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOvAbjfJ0x0&t=9s

1,000 farms are closing in Europe every day. (Armstrong). The unfolding credit collapse will drive even more people out of business. As the economy worsens, WE will move our "trust horizons" ever closer until they only include our immediate family.
The family and clan is the original socialist unit. Anything bigger than that strains the idea that we should all work for the good of the collective. As we get poorer, the strain will get greater.
Igor Panarin predicted that America would break up into 6 zones. I doubt that. As food gets in short supply, there will be a disconnect between; people who do actual productive work and,,, paper-pushers and money-renters. All the credit instruments are a claim on the goods produced by the actual producers.
The lefties specialize in gender studies classes and,,, sexual harassment lawsuits.
California now mandates that all employees must take harassment awareness classes. You must respect all choices and, all pronouns.
The collapsing cooperation,,, collapsing food production,,, collapsing credit will all work against societal cooperation.

Suggested reading, Collapse of Complex Societies by Joseph A. Tainter

[BroMikey]

Controlled Collapse

SHC coming fed reserve notes gone.

[VIDEO]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUsFEDqI4ZE[/VIDEO]

[Danny B]

MMT,,,, impossible to post

The lower loop of the economy needs to be re-capitalized. MMT looks to be the candidate selected. I need to copy a big article and, do insertions.

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is presented as a means to painlessly fund the large-scale infrastructure / alternative energy spending the nation desperate needs to rebuild and modernize.
Partially true.
While most people support the goal of useful fiscal stimulus (as opposed to paying people to dig holes and fill them), the question remains: Will MMT work as advertised?

Rather than dismiss it out of hand, I’m trying to approach the subject without ideological bias.
What Exactly Is MMT?

The basic idea of MMT (as I understand it) is that the economy is not running at 100% capacity–there is capital, equipment, people and resources which could be put to work to better society, and the chief impediment to making full use of our capacity is a lack of funding for projects that would benefit society.
Slightly true
In other words, the only thing standing in the way of broad-based, socially beneficial spending / progress is a lack of money (funding).
Weakly true
In the view of MMT advocates, a blindingly obvious source of funding is already available: the federal government can issue however much new currency it wants, and so the government could fund large-scale socially useful projects if the political will to do so was present.
Weakly true
We have to pause at this point and distinguish between borrowing money to fund projects, which is the current model, and issuing (printing) new currency.

In the current model, the federal government sells Treasury bonds and uses the proceeds to fund government spending. The Treasury pays interest on the bonds, and this mechanism — interest due on borrowed money — creates a “governor” on spending: as borrowing rises, so do interest payments, and as interest payments rise, this crimps other government spending.
The debt is now at $22 trillion and, the governor seems to have a spanner in the guts
The other mechanism in the current model is the central bank (Federal Reserve) can create currency out of thin air and buy Treasury bonds. This is a form of monetary stimulus, i.e. a way to inject new money into the financial system.
Yes, the financial system ONLY
When the central bank creates money out of thin air to buy newly issued Treasury bonds, this is called “monetizing the debt”: in effect, the central bank creates money out of thin air and transfers it to the government by buying Treasury bonds.

[Danny B]

continued,,, I hope

The basic idea of MMT (as I understand it) is that the economy is not running at 100% capacity–there is capital, equipment, people and resources which could be put to work to better society, and the chief impediment to making full use of our capacity is a lack of funding for projects that would benefit society.
Slightly true
In other words, the only thing standing in the way of broad-based, socially beneficial spending / progress is a lack of money (funding).
Weakly true
In the view of MMT advocates, a blindingly obvious source of funding is already available: the federal government can issue however much new currency it wants, and so the government could fund large-scale socially useful projects if the political will to do so was present.
Weakly true
We have to pause at this point and distinguish between borrowing money to fund projects, which is the current model, and issuing (printing) new currency.

In the current model, the federal government sells Treasury bonds and uses the proceeds to fund government spending. The Treasury pays interest on the bonds, and this mechanism — interest due on borrowed money — creates a “governor” on spending: as borrowing rises, so do interest payments, and as interest payments rise, this crimps other government spending.
The debt is now at $22 trillion and, the governor seems to have a spanner in the guts
The other mechanism in the current model is the central bank (Federal Reserve) can create currency out of thin air and buy Treasury bonds. This is a form of monetary stimulus, i.e. a way to inject new money into the financial system.
Yes, the financial system ONLY
When the central bank creates money out of thin air to buy newly issued Treasury bonds, this is called “monetizing the debt”: in effect, the central bank creates money out of thin air and transfers it to the government by buying Treasury bonds.

The basic idea of MMT (as I understand it) bypasses both paying interest on newly issued money and the artifice of central bank monetization: instead, the Treasury issues new currency directly.
Fairly true
This removes the “governor” of interest payments, freeing the Treasury to issue cost-free currency in virtually unlimited quantities.
The Arguments Against MMT

Various historical studies have concluded that hyperinflation does not occur when governments must pay interest on their debt; True, it brings defaultthe danger with rising interest and debt is default, not hyperinflation.
Happens every time.
Hyperinflation arises when the supply of goods and services — the output of the economy — remains roughly the same while the supply of currency skyrockets. As money increases but the sum of goods and services available for purchase remains flat, the value of existing money declines accordingly.
Patently false. . Both productivity and consumption are crashing, NOT remaining flat.
If the supply of money in an economy is $1 billion, each unit of currency buys X (the purchasing power of each unit of currency). If the money supply is doubled without any expansion in the consumers’ pool of goods and services, the purchasing power of each unit of currency falls in half. This reduction in the purchasing power of each unit of currency is called inflation.
Once again, the worldwide supply of goods would be falling drastically if it weren't for the FED money flowing into the upper loop.

[Danny B]

contin.

Governments facing soaring demands and limited tax revenues are naturally tempted to meet these demands with “free” new currency, since the political and financial pain caused by skyrocketing taxes leads to governments being tossed from power.
Keep in mind that these "soaring demands" are greatly tied to Social security. SS was robbed by being forced to invest in GOV securities that paid almost nothing
This temptation explains the regular occurrence of hyperinflation and debt default, as the temptation to over-borrow and pile up interest payments leads to governments defaulting on their debt. In both cases — hyperinflation and debt default — there’s a currency/ governance/ financial crisis that upends the status quo.

This is one common objection to MMT: the freedom to issue new currency is difficult to limit, as there will always be more demands for government spending. Without some “governor” to limit the issuance of new currency to align with the expansion of goods and services, then governments tend to issue new currency far in excess of what the real economy is creating. This generates inflation, which impoverishes everyone using the currency.

MMT advocates claim that since MMT generates goods and services, it won’t generate inflation. But as noted earlier, rebuilding a bridge doesn’t actually create any new goods and services, or increase productivity: it generates wages and consumes materials and energy. Since it doesn’t generate more consumable goods and services, the expansion of wages and demand for materials will drive prices higher.

The core difficulty here is that the democratic political process is intrinsically skewed to short-term, politically expedient dynamics: politicians focus by necessity on winning re-election, and they will naturally approve new issuance of currency and new spending to placate the demands of constituents, lobbyists and campaign donors.

I honestly don’t see any intrinsic limit on political expediency. Politicians need to be forced to say, “I know your need is legitimate, but the money’s simply not there.” Without some real-world limit on the issuance of new money, money will be issued in surplus because the issuance isn’t an economic process, it’s a political process.

This is a fatal flaw in MMT. Relying on politicians to impose limits on their own desire to win re-election is to deny human nature.

A second concern is the entire notion of “slack” in the economy — untapped capacity. Have you noticed the “help wanted” signs in every Home Depot and many other retail outlets and restaurants? We read about millions of people who aren’t working, but if they wanted to work, or had to work, why are there so many unfilled positions? The answers are complex: the wage being offered isn’t sufficient incentive, the unemployed don’t have the requisite skills, etc.

In other words, in some important ways, the economy appears to be very close to full capacity. New programs such as The New Green Deal will basically be poaching experienced workers from existing projects, driving up wages (good for workers) which can generate a wage-price spiral (bad for everyone who can’t demand higher incomes).

My third concern: as someone with 45 years of construction experience, I am keenly aware that the vast majority of the infrastructure and New Green Deal spending many people see as socially beneficial requires skilled labor. Rebuilding bridges, electrical grids, etc. all require highly specialized labor. Installing solar arrays also requires trained workers with physical stamina.

[Danny B]

Cont,,, maybe

Blank page
corrupted content
unable to connect with internet
blank page
.
The process of training a large new workforce is time-consuming and expensive, and doesn’t necessarily generate new goods and services. In other words, it’s inherently inflationary as it puts new money into the economy but doesn’t increase the goods and services — at least until the newly trained workforce starts generating goods and services.

My fourth concern is related: ultimately, “wealth” (as measured in new goods and services generated by capital and labor) is generated by increasing productivity, via investment in greater efficiencies.

Much of the spending people want — repairing bridges, supplanting natural gas electrical generation with solar or wind, and so on — are not necessarily increasing productivity: the repaired bridge carries the same number of vehicles as it did before, so there is no increase in productivity.

In other words, efficiency and productivity are core dynamics, yet the MMT process is fundamentally political, and politics has little interest in efficiency or productivity. It is, as noted above, politically expedient, with a default setting to put off tough decisions into the future.

In the private sector, return on capital and the productivity of labor and processes are the core dynamics. These rationalize decisions to prioritize efficient use of capital, labor and resources. Absent this rationalization, resources can be squandered for politically expedient reasons. In other words, capital, resources and labor can be mal-invested, which brings up the opportunity cost: all the capital, labor and resources squandered on “bridges to nowhere” and other pork-barrel projects are no longer available for truly productive use.

The key question here is: How do we harness our intrinsically scarce capital, labor and resources to increase productivity and socially/ecologically beneficial investments in a sustainable way?

MMT’s diagnosis is that a lack of currency is the primary problem. The MMT solution assumes the new currency can be efficiently invested within the existing political system without disrupting the increasingly precarious existing financial system.

While the appeal of MMT is self-evident, it seems to me that both the financial and political systems are broken in ways that MMT, no matter how it’s managed, cannot fix.

The problem is we’re misallocating capital, resources and labor on a vast scale. That’s the problem. Adding more currency and capacity/”growth” doesn’t fix this problem, it actually makes it worse.

If we look around at the trillions of dollars in recently issued currency floating around the world looking for a yield, the trillions poured into asset bubbles that only benefit the few at the top, the billions of gallons of fuel wasted in traffic jams and other consequences of “endless growth on a finite planet”, the gargantuan waste of capital, resources and labor squandered in maintaining a “growth at any cost” Landfill Economy of mindless consumption, regardless of consequences, it’s hard not to see MMT as a “green” Band-Aid for a profoundly broken, wasteful, unsustainable system.

MMT leaves the existing status quo essentially untouched and adds a new layer of newly issued currency and spending, and a new layer of “growth” and consumption, consumption that no matter how socially beneficial is still an additional burden on the planet.

In effect, MMT is another attempt to preserve a dysfunctional status quo by adding another layer of newly issued currency and “growth.” More “growth,” even the sort envisioned as “Green,” is simply adding to a destructive system. What’s needed is a radical reduction in consumption and a diversion from a consumerist Landfill Economy to one driven by incentives other than “more of everything” in the name of “growth.”

As longtime readers know, I see a new system of private-sector currency, DeGrowth and decentralization and the institutionalization of a more sustainable (i.e. less perverse and destructive) set of incentives as the only set of solutions that can fix what’s broken in the current socio-economic model.

But that doesn’t mean MMT won’t be tried, as the three engines of “growth” over the past 20 years — soaring debt, financialization and globalization — all falter.
https://www.peakprosperity.com/could...ually-save-us/

[Danny B]

Pervasive moral decay,, stock market decline

That was last night's post. Even if it said that it was posted, it didn't show up this morning. It is a long post and, that might have been part of the problem. Just the same, why would "It" tell me that it was unable to connect to the internet?

Douglas MacArthur, “History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.”
Davos Group;
"We must re-moralize globalization
The greatest danger is the loss of trust in presidents, Prime ministers, in political parties, in international organizations, in banking systems, in multinational corporations, in democracy itself"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlWc6nKUr_U

Protests rage around the world – but what comes next ...
https://www.theguardian.com › world › 2019 › oct › protests-rage-around-th...
A world on fire: Here are all the major protests happening ...
https://www.businessinsider.com

“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the ... the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered"

There you have it. Rockefeller said that the internet shouldn't have been invented. The dissemination of information is too too rapid, too targeted, too pervasive.
How Hong Kong protests are inspiring movements worldwide

From blocking airports to using encrypted messaging apps, the tactics used by anti-government demonstrators in Hong Kong have been increasingly adopted by protesters in places like Indonesia and Catalonia.
Add in Chile, Lebanon, et al.

MacArthur wrote about morality. Morality left the world stage and, has been replaced by surveillance. The decay and corruption has touched the police, the courts, the politicians and, everything in between. Everyone marvelled at the honesty of Ron Paul because they have come to expect politicians to be corrupt.

The greed and immorality of the bankers inspired them to look for, AND support politicians that they felt could be corrupted,,, or blackmailed. They have been quite successful,
The bankers unwittingly brought their own (hopefully) destruction. As they robbed the masses, the masses refused to reproduce. The bankers privatized their gains and, socialized their losses. We now live in a world with crashing demographics.

"Since 2007, US federal debt has risen 150% while annual US births (legal and otherwise) have fallen almost 14%. Said otherwise, over the dozen years since 2007, federal debt has increased by $13.8 trillion while 5.2 million fewer births have occurred over the same period than the Census projected."
Births vs debt, https://static.seekingalpha.com/uplo...9409741313.png
".and as of 2019, every child born a citizen of the US (regardless their parents status) is liable for a ludicrous $6.2 million in federal debt. And this is just a fraction of the actual liability that is owed, if even faster rising unfunded liabilities were included."
"To repeat, since 2007, total births have declined almost 14% versus a 150% increase in federal debt"
https://econimica.blogspot.com/2019/...rspective.html

Armstrong predicts a crash in sovereign debt. Currently, FED GOV is printing an acknowledged $120 billion a day. It remains to be seen just how much longer that can go on. The Davos group worried about a loss of trust in GOV. That, of course, gets back to confidence. The FED isn't actually printing money. They are printing confidence.
Armstrong predicted the stock market to rise enormously,,, mostly from foreign capital inflows. This just doesn't seem to be happening.

"There remains zero evidence that markets can sustain new highs as all highs in the timespan between 2018 and 2019 have been sold and any new marginal highs have been selling opportunities in the same way that dips have been buying opportunities.
Volumes have completely collapsed. While shrinking volumes are a common aspect during rallies (as are increasing volumes during sell-offs), this here is not your daddy’s market. $SPY average daily volume has shrunk throughout the years and now averages around 73M shares a day.

Not this week. Volumes collapsed to the lowest volume week ever
"Data. Let’s not beat around the bush, but this rally, all rallies, continue on multiple expansion. Retail sales? Missed. Industrial Production? Missed. Durable goods? Missed. Home sales? Missed. Consumer confidence? Missed."
"Have you noticed how all gains are driven by magic gap ups and then nothing but tight ranges void of any real price discovery?"
There's an election coming.
"And so perhaps it’s no accident that on Thursday they upped their $75B facility to $120B, dropped over $134B in total liquidity on that day and magical markets print new highs on the next day as another $77B in liquidity rolled in. "
https://northmantrader.com/2019/10/26/zombieland/
All of this news is centered on the stock market but, the bond market is the more improtant venue.

10/27 The big squeeze on banks is back and badder than ever! – Great Recession
The banking sector is too crowded but, Bernanke figured he could save all of them.
10/27 China’s downturn threatens global growth – MoneyWeek
No doubt, Trump really put the torch to them.
10/26 Confused Fed maintains course and continues QE “as necessary” – Birch Gold
Necessary being the operative word.
10/26 Can Europe be saved from demographic doom? – American Conservative
No problem . Just ship in more Somali garbage. There is a very good reason that Somalia is such a messed up place,,, the people.
10/26 Bitcoin price back over $10k following 36% gains on the day – Coin Telegraph
Gold is desired for it's stability.

[Danny B]

No earnings in the stock market,,, headlines

Bonds are the important market BUT, the stock market is easier to manipulate. The FED pumped in money and, the companies used it to buy-back their stock. This cut back on shares outstanding and, made earnings-per-share rise. Total earnings depend on actual business and consumption,,, which is falling.
" Arguments against a recession next year rely on the still-strong US consumer remaining resilient. The counterargument is that the consumer depends on Corporate America for a paycheck, and Corporate America is hurting, with the average company’s earnings shrinking by 5-10% year-to-date."
Yeah, resilient,,, with $15 trillion in consumer debt.
" Arguments against a recession next year rely on the still-strong US consumer remaining resilient. The counterargument is that the consumer depends on Corporate America for a paycheck, and Corporate America is hurting, with the average company’s earnings shrinking by 5-10% year-to-date."
Buybacks caused al most ALL the rise in the stock market. The buybacks were made possible by all that cheap credit. Profitability is falling and, corporate debt is about $15 trillion. Interest rates MUST be cut to allow corporate debt to be serviced just a little bit longer. The rate cut also cuts the profitability of the funds. Somebody is always going to get gored.

10/28 What if the Fed stops cutting rates? – Daily Gold
Don't ask, don't tell.
10/28 The loan market is freezing up again: “there is growing risk of credit accidents” – ZH
$120 billion a day in new liquidity and,,,, we're freezing.
10/27 Signs of stress in leveraged credit are ‘numerous and multiplying,’ warns B of A – MW
10/27 Enter the selling zone 2.0 – Global Macro Monitor
NO, NO ! don't sell stocks will go up forever.

10/28 After recovery to $10,000, bitcoin ‘should hit $100,000 in 2021’ – Forbes
10/27 In a world of false economies, bitcoin offers an alternative – SA Crypto
Yeah, a false store of value
10/27 30% and counting: bitcoin exterminates traditional asset classes – Crypto Briefing
I'm sure that the State will just let this go on unhindered.

10/27 Tulsi Gabbard vexes leaders in her party much as Ron Paul did in his – Newsday
10/28 Tulsi nails it on national TV… US regime-change wars – Strategic Culture
"They" may have decided that it is time to rein in imperial over reach and that she is the only honest person left in the field.
10/27 Gabbard ends congressional reelection campaign to focus on presidential bid – NA
The donors probably whispered in her ear.

10/26 MIT engineers develop a new way to remove carbon dioxide from air – MIT
What could be simpler than planting a tree?
What happens if you remove TOO MUCH CO2?
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/w...rtual-ice-age/

10/26 In 2030, our protein will come from a lab—and we’ll all be better off for it – Singularity
So, we'll get rid of the beef, poultry and fishing industries. That might cause some dislocation. Where will the feedstocks come from.

10/28 Hezbollah warns of chaos, civil war in Lebanon – Israel Hayom
That might be problematic.
10/27 Over 1 million Chileans take to the streets to demand political reform – CD
Sorry, you're out of luck.
10/22 China and USA locked in a virtual cyberwar alongside trade disagreements – Scroll
10/21 China talks up cybertech prowess in face of US rivalry – Yahoo
Historically, the U.S. DOD got hit by 3 million attacks every day.
10/24 Edward Snowden searched the CIA’s networks for proof that aliens exist – CNN
He also failed to find any mention of chemtrails.

[Danny B]

It isn't going to end well for China,,,, bubble dimensions,,, headlines

China is the new face of economic miracles. They are going to surpass America and, rule the world. They have BIG pans and, great ambitions.
List of rebellions in China - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org
China moved <300 million poor, self-sufficient peasants to the cities and, put them to work. They put them to work alright but, the jobs were temporary. The took the wages of their best customers and, lost that business. They built cities that they couldn't afford to live in. The government is now desperate to keep these, formerly self-sufficient peasants from starvation.

"22% of urban Chinese consumers would permanently leave China of they had the means to do so. This rises to 36% of high income earners."
it is a pretty good article on conditions in China.
https://www.mauldineconomics.com/fro...turbing-vision
The Chinese leaders have instituted their draconian, Orwellian social credit system to maintain control. China is riding a credit tiger that they can't get off of. They have almost nothing of a safety net. They long ago ran out of legitimate work for their people. All they can do is to continue to build bridges to nowhere.
They were hoping to develop the whole Eastern world as a consumer base. They are stealing water from about 3 billion people in their area so, it is doubtful that their Belt & Road initiative will work out.

"An alternative investment strategy is now necessary because the Fed decided around 20 years ago that recessions could be abrogated and it had the tools to repeal the business cycle. It kept pushing interest rates lower every time there was either a downturn in the economy or a sharp selloff in stocks. This is exactly what happened in the wake of the NASDAQ bubble of 2000 and the Housing Crash of 2008. Indeed, Greenspan started this practice in 1987; but its roots were planted in 1971 when the US left the gold standard completely."
"it should be noted that National Home prices have increased for 91 months in a row and have advanced 5.9% y/y—far above the pace of income growth. The sad truth is that the Fed, in full cooperation with Wall Street, has once again made home prices unaffordable for many first-time buyers."
Maybe so, but, prices are affordable to the speculators who get free money.


Total market cap of equities as a share of GDP is now 145%. That ratio was 100% in 2007, and has averaged just 80% since 1971.
$15 trillion worth of sovereign debt with a negative yield
500 billion euros of junk bonds in Europe with a negative yield
$5.4 trillion of BBB, Junk and Leveraged Loans in the US, there was only $1.5 trillion of sub-prime mortgage debt in 2007
The US Treasury yields 1.7% but its average is above 6%
US deficits breached above $1 trillion in fiscal 2019 and the CBO projects deficits will be $1.2 trillion each year for the next decade but that assumes interest rates never normalize and the economy never has a recession. If rates rise and/or we have a recession, the annual deficit could approach 15% of GDP. Adding to our already-huge national debt of $22.6 trillion.
Total global debt has soared to $250 trillion up over $70 trillion from 2008 and is now a record 330% of GDP
US Non-financial debt has soared from $33 trillion in 2007 to $53 trillion in 2019
US National Debt was $9 trillion in 2007 and has skyrocketed to $23 trillion today
Business debt has jumped by nearly 60% since12 years ago

Here is a picture of the Vredefort crater with a ringwall diameter of about 190 miles.
https://assets.atlasobscura.com/medi...LW9yaWVudCJdXQ
There is going to be something similar in New York when this all blows up.

10/28 Central bankers aren’t sure what to believe anymore – Zero Hedge
10/28 Italian bonds stumble as cracks start showing in political calm – Bloomberg
You can count on Italian bonds falling fast.
10/28 S&P 500 jumps to record high on strong earnings, trade-deal progress – CNBC
BOTH lies.

Argentina recently elected a Peronist.
10/28 Argentina central bank bleeds reserves ahead of election, peso crumbles – Reute
10/28 Argentina cuts dollar purchase limit sharply as forex reserves tumble – Reuters
The people want to buy dollars to avoid the inevitable fall in the value of the peso.
10/28 Argentina’s Peronists sweep back into power as Macri ousted – Reuters
Argentina Imposes Draconian Capital Controls As Peronists Return To Power After Macri Defeat
10/28 Merkel’s leadership under threat as political extremes in Germany gain support – CNBC
AfD simply wants German for the Germans,, or at least, Europeans.
10/28 Brexit: European leaders agree extension to 31 January – BBC
Armstrong, "The critical factor is when the GENERAL public loses confidence in the government. That is more likely to take place AFTER the turn in the business cycle in January 18, 2020."

We Now Have Mass Public Unrest In France, Spain, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Hong Kong, Venezuela,Chile, Ecuador And Bolivia
Mexican Mothers Discover Dozens Of Bodies Buried In Mass Grave Near Resort Town South Of AZ Border
Authorities Brace For Worldwide Protein Shortage After 'Quarter Of ALL Earth's Pigs Wiped Out
Innovation BIS 2025 - A Stepping Stone Towards An Economic 'New World Order'
Won't work.
Russia, China & India To Set Up Alternative To SWIFT Payment System
Might work.
Lebanon Bans Removal Of Large Dollar Sums From Country Amid Bank Run 'Panic'
No mention of Euros??
Pentagon's Map Of Afghanistan - An Eldorado Of Mineral Wealth And Natural Resources
And opium, Don't forget the opium.

"1) Stocks are more overvalued today than they were in 1929

Back in 1929, the price/earnings ratio of the average company trading on the New York Stock Exchange was about 15."
"In 2010, Coca Cola generated $5.06 in profit (earnings) per share. In 2018, just $1.50.

And Coca Cola’s total equity, i.e. the ‘net worth’ of the business, was $31 billion in 2010. By 2018, equity had fallen to $19 billion.

So over the past eight years, Coca Cola has lost nearly 40% of its equity, sales are down, and per-share earnings have fallen by 70%.

Clearly the company is in far worse shape today than it was eight years ago.
Yet Coke’s share price has nearly DOUBLED in that period."
"2) Stocks fell by nearly 90% in 1929… and it took decades to recover.

The ‘crash’ wasn’t isolated to Black Monday.

From the peak in September 1929, stocks ultimately fell nearly 90% over the next three years. The Dow bottomed out in 1932 at just 42 points.

42 is lower than where the Dow was trading in 1885… so the crash wiped out DECADES of growth"
apan’s stock market peaked in late 1989 with its Nikkei index reaching nearly 39,000.

Within a few years the Nikkei had lost half of its value and would ultimately fall by 80%.

Even today, thirty years later, the Nikkei index is still 40% below its all-time high.
3) Adjusted for inflation, stocks have returned just 1.7% per year since 1929.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...out-crash-1929

[Danny B]

Melting banks

"JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States with $1.6 trillion in deposits from more than 5,000 retail bank branches spread across the country."
"According to the filings that JPMorgan Chase makes annually with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), since 2013 JPMorgan Chase has spent $77 billion buying back its own stock. That includes the whopping $17.01 billion it has spent in just the first nine months of this year buying back its stock.

But here’s the shocking news. According to its SEC filings, JPMorgan Chase is partly using Federally insured deposits made by moms and pops across the country in its more than 5,000 branches to prop up its share price with buybacks. "
https://wallstreetonparade.com/2019/...-lit-the-fuse/
What could possibly go wrong?

Quietly, U.S. and Foreign Banks Have Increased their Borrowings from U.S. Money Market Funds
Fed Ups Its Wall Street Bailout to $690 Billion a Week as Media Snoozes
Elizabeth Warren Demands Repo Loan Answers as NY Fed Repo Data Disappears
News Articles on the Fed’s Secret Trillions in Loans to Wall Street During the Last Crisis Have Been Purged from Bloomberg News
Two Investment Banks Eligible for Today’s Fed Loans Got Over $2 Trillion from the NY Fed in the Last Crisis
Banks
Where Are the Hundreds of Billions in Loans from the Fed Actually Going on Wall Street? Fed’s Powell Admits a Bigger Bailout for Wall Street Is Coming; Fed’s Balance Sheet Ballooned by $176 Billion Since September
There’s Nothing Normal About the Fed Pumping Hundreds of Billions Weekly to Unnamed Banks on Wall Street: “Somebody’s Got a Problem”
Derivative Risks Rising: Sell-Off in Interconnected Mega Banks and Insurers

Wall Street’s Mega Banks Report Earnings Today, Capping the Craziest Banking Era in U.S. History
Two Investment Banks Eligible for Today’s Fed Loans Got Over $2 Trillion from the NY Fed in the Last Crisis
Fed Says It Will Offer $310 Billion More in Term Loans to Wall Street as Over 68,000 Job Cuts Planned at Mega Banks
Wall Street Bank Stocks Closed in a Sea of Red Yesterday as Fed Pumps in Another $105 Billion of Liquidity
Surviving
The Fed’s “Emergency” Actions this Week Were Dated 48 Days Earlier
In the WeWork IPO, the Money Trails End Up at JPMorgan’s Doorstep
Here’s the Proof the Federal Government Is Overtly Lying to the Public about Wall Street’s Derivatives

OK, you get the idea. With the escape from the restrictions of the gold standard, monetary expansion took off. The FED heads just started printing and, never looked back. The money-renters just started pumping in liquidity ad infinitum. Every natural pullback was met with ever-greater liquidity creation. The business was just too crowded. It was also to integrated. Anything that happened in London or NYC or Beijing reverberated around the world.
The economy is supported by printing rather than consumption and wages. The merry-goround is now moving too fast for the bankers to get off. Printing is all they know. Just the same, the banking system is in a terminal phase.
"Bank Stocks Closed in a Sea of Red "
J.P. Morgan is taking depositors money to prop up it's stock..
"Fed Ups Its Wall Street Bailout to $690 Billion a Week"
The failure of derivatives, primarily from Deutsche bank is sucking out $trillions from various counter-parties. The suction hose has been connected directly to the FED.
How much longer can this go on??? I have no idea.

10/29 The end of accountable government is close at hand – Paul Craig Roberts
"Accountable government" has always been an oxymoron. It is only accountable to the money powers.
10/28 We now have mass public unrest in France, Spain, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon … – ZH
The net has made the linkage between the rich power mongers & the State that much more obvious.

Lebanon 'days' away from economic collapse if no solution to ...
https://www.msn.com › en-us › news › world › ar-AAJtaDB
9 hours ago -
10/29 Why is unemployment declining while inflation is below target? – Forbes
10/29 US trade partners need to stimulate economies – CNBC
U.S. GOV spends 20% of the GDP trying to uphold employment.
"Headline Unemployment at a 50-Year Low of 3.52%"
96 million NOT in the labor force.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS15000000
THAT explains why inflation is below target.
10/29 Consumer cracks emerge as banks say everything looks fine – Bloomberg
Sure, everything looks fine as long as they receive $100 billion a day.