Week 19 of the Quarantine
SALTA, ARGENTINA – Dear Reader George S. notes: “Your comments are from the vantage point of a Monday Morning Quarterback.”
Yep. That is almost right. We only react to the news after it has happened.
But we have no football helmet. We stay off the field. We call no plays. We have no running backs to whom we can hand off the ball. And we get no money for celebrity endorsements and no opportunity to harass the cheerleaders.
We are an observer, not a player. We do nothing that you couldn’t do… we see nothing you don’t see… we have no thoughts, ideas, or experiences that you couldn’t find elsewhere…
…we just watch the game… and try to make sense of what is going on.
But sometimes, we look ahead.
We see A firing a pistol at B, and we guess that B will end up in the morgue…
Locked and Loaded
We only bring it up because, today, we see a lot of rowdy fans… and many people locking and loading.
Our hypothesis: A corrupt money system corrupts the entire society. And then, things get nasty. People take sides. They no longer trust one another… or their own institutions.
Over in the military/industrial complex, $7 trillion worth of fake money paid for nearly 20 years of unwinnable wars. Instead of fighting a real enemy, America’s soldiers were asked to put down “insurrections” and kill “terrorists” in the Middle East.
The boondoggle – the War on Terror – brought billions in profits to defense industry cronies… and a kind of ersatz glory to the warriors.
It also brought big increases in snooping and snitching …“see something, say something”… and the creation of a whole new internal Afghanistan-style police force: Homeland Security.
And now, this Doberman is ready to be unleashed against the homeland itself.
On the other side, there are millions of Americans living in a fantasy world.
An estimated 80 million adults don’t pay taxes.
And probably more than a hundred million people think they are entitled to something – a universal basic income, welfare, free medical care, disability, abortions, sex change operations, “affordable” housing… you name it.
Among them are many who think they should get special treatment because of some remote ancestor, their sex or sexual preferences, their religion… whatever…
…and some who want to tear down other people’s monuments and destroy the whole structure of American society because it contains traces of “colonialism,” “racism” or “anti-LGBTQ Plus!-ism.”
The only thing both groups agree on is the one thing that will ruin them both – more corrupt money-printing. Senator Rand Paul:
The majority of Republicans are now no different than socialist Democrats when it comes to debt. They simply don’t care about debt and are preparing to add at least another trillion dollars in debt this month, combined with the trillions from earlier this summer.
Hand-to-Mouth Economy
Powerful people, on both sides, think the printing presses can fund any damned fool thing they want.
As we saw, following the Crisis of ’08-’09, the printing presses ran hot as trillions of fake money was given to Wall Street to boost asset prices.
Banks were bailed out. Mismanaged businesses were saved. Bonuses were paid out to executives who should have been fired.
Since only about 10% of the population own a significant amount of stocks and bonds, and assuming that the total “wealth effect” toted to about $20 trillion, each of the people in the top 10% got an average of $600,000 in unearned new wealth.
Few people really understood what was going on. But the unfairness of it was visible to everyone.
And then, thanks to the feds’ low interest rates and fake money-printing, debt increased. Both businesses and households shifted from “just in case” savings to “just in time” borrowing.
The result? In the last 10 years, $23 trillion in new debt was added to the economy… and the hand-to-mouth economy was more vulnerable than ever before.
Aim for the Stars
The next crisis – over the last four months – proved it. And what was the feds’ reaction?
First, they shut down businesses, schools, churches, restaurants, bars, and just about everything else.
And then, as if they could make up real losses with counterfeit money, they went on another printing spree.
Again, the people at the top got about $250,000 each, on average (stock market gains/top 10% of adult population).
The 90% at the bottom got… well… if they were lucky, they got a check for $1,200… and an extra $600 a week in unemployment comp.
None of these things could have happened without fake money.
No forever war. No Wall Street bailout. No COVID Shutdown. No PPP… no manipulation of the credit markets… no $1,200 per person… no $600/week bonus for being unemployed… and no $4 trillion deficit.
But thanks to counterfeit money, both sides can aim for the stars… and blow up America.
And now… as the poet Lord Byron warned… corruption slides towards violence and barbarity.
Gunning Up
A few weeks ago, Roger Cohen from The New York Times suggested that liberals might want to “gun up.” Now, here’s Philip Giraldi at the Council for the National Interest:
My wife and I went to a local gun range last week for a refresher course. I knew how to shoot from my time in the Army and CIA but have not actually fired a weapon since 1978 and my wife learned how to use a handgun about fifteen years ago when we made the decision to have one available in the house “just in case.”
To be sure, the current situation with deranged radical groups unrestrained by feckless politicians and a complicit media, our decision to re-arm as it were was based on the assumption that we can no longer rely on a demoralized and passive police force to protect either us or our property, particularly if there are any racial overtones to who is doing what to whom. So, we might have to be prepared to defend ourselves.
And here’s Business Insider:
While militarized police squared off with protesters across the US, more than 1,000 guns were stolen from gun shops in one week
Giraldi continues:
So, there we are. The United States is troubled by a pandemic that the government seems unable to respond to which has produced record unemployment and bankruptcies.
Meanwhile, guns and liquor and even coins are in demand while frightened citizens are building home defenses. And much of the government at all levels acts like it is either on the side of or afraid of the destroyers.
America certainly has always had flaws but it was once a land of opportunity where people could prosper and enjoy more freedom than nearly anywhere else. Those days are gone so just relax and turn on the evening news. Watch a once proud country with a resilient and hard-working people come apart before your very eyes.
No, we can’t predict the future. But with so many cannons on the U.S. stage… it is probably just a matter of time before some fool begins firing.
Stay tuned…
Regards,
 |
Bill
P.S. What’s next? What changes are coming… to our government… our society… our economy? And what should you do with your money NOW?
Along with colleagues Dan Denning and Tom Dyson, we set out to answer those questions. We put together a full report – After Armageddon – along with a Crisis Portfolio to guide you through these dangerous times. Don’t miss it. Learn more here.
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