lewrockwell--2020-06-20--Fiscal Disaster, Social Unrest, and the Presidential Election

International Man : Recently , massive riots have broken out in many cities across the US .
Despite the unrest—and the economic damage from the shutdowns—the stock market continues to rally .
It seems that markets don ’ t reflect earnings , economic prosperity , or growth .
What is going on here ?
David Stockman : It ’ s quite simple .
The Fed has unleashed the greatest torrent of liquidity ever , and it ’ s finding its way into a relentless , massive bid for risk assets .
Since the eve of the Lockdown Nation disaster on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ balance sheet has erupted from $ 4.3 trillion to nearly $ 7.2 trillion .
That ’ s $ 32 billion per day—including weekends , Easter , and nationwide riot days .
Fictitious Capital : Ho ... Durand , Cu00e9dric Best Price : $ 13.50 Buy New $ 18.18 Worse still , at their June meeting , the mad money printers domiciled in the Eccles Building promised to keep printing $ 120 billion per month to buy US Treasuries and other assets for an indefinite period .
That should get us to a $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years ’ time .
What this means , of course , is that honest price discovery in the canyons of Wall Street is deader than a doornail .
We now have a putative capitalist economy in which the most important prices in all of capitalism—the prices of financial assets—are pegged , rigged , and manipulated by the central banking agents of the state .
The result , of course , is speculation and malinvestment on a biblical scale .
As to the former , we are now being treated to the preposterous spectacle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stock of bankrupt Hertz .
Hertz ’ s stock is worthless .
It ’ s pinned under a pile of $ 20 billion of debt—senior debt securities , which are trading at 40 cents on the dollar—and a vastly overvalued fleet of vehicles .
All this is in a world in which airline and business travel has been crushed by more than 80 % from trends and won ’ t be coming back any time soon—so long as Dr. Fauci and the Virus Patrol are stalking the land .
Yet the unhinged millennials—who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ money on the Robinhood trading platform—have bid up Hertz ’ s post-chapter 11 stock price by more than 10X , thereby inducing a mainstream investment banking firm to propose underwriting a $ 1 billion stock offering in lieu of a debtor-in-possession ( DIP ) loan !
Never before has it been this crazy .
And , yet , the empty suit who sits in the top chair at the Fed keeps insisting this is all being done for Main Street and the workers , and as Powell said in his June presser , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in mind at all ; it just wants to keep financial markets functioning smoothly .
What hay wagon does this doofus think we fell off from ?
Whether they intend it or not , their massive infusions of liquidity into the financial markets and relentless bid for financial assets funded with fiat credits has redounded to the top 1 % and 10 % who own 53 % and 88 % of equities , respectively , and it ’ s setting up the financial system for the third—and most spectacular—crash of this century , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out what remains of middle-class wealth .
The Phoenix Program Douglas Valentine Best Price : $ 14.55 Buy New $ 11.00 International Man : Over 40 million Americans are unemployed .
Many small and medium-sized businesses will never reopen .
Many must survive not only an extended lockdown but also the most severe riots in decades .
How are the riots and shutdown going to affect Main Street ?
David Stockman : It ’ s a devastating combo and originates in the most senseless , destructive act of the state in modern times—if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sweeping quarantine and lockdown orders that caused instant economic heart attacks in vast sectors of the US economy after mid-March .
There is no precedent in history for activity levels in huge industries like airline travel to plunge by more than 95 % virtually overnight , or the restaurant sector , where Open Table reservations dropped by 80 % versus prior year in a matter of days .
Not surprisingly , there have been nearly 50 million unemployment claims ( counting the new federal benefit ) in just 11 weeks—a figure which amounts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ million employed Americans as of February 2020 .
Indeed , not even the bubble-blowing , crack-up boom antics of the Fed have ever created the kind of depressionary collapse now underway .
Yet its propagators—Dr .
Fauci and the Virus Patrol at the CDC , NIAID , WHO , Big Pharma and the Bill Gates camarilla of foundations , think tanks , NGOs , and vaccine lobbies—have been peddling a Big Lie from day one .
Namely , that COVID-19 is the modern equivalent of the Black Plague and spreads its deathly pathogens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the population—the young , the old , the healthy , the sick , and all variations in between—with equal alacrity .
There are 104 million young people in the USA under 25 years of age , and as of the end of May , the mortality rate with COVID was , well , 0.12 per 100,000 population .
That is , all the schools , bars , gyms , restaurants , movie theaters where they congregate were shut down by orders of the governors and mayors , but it would take a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just one death attributable to the COVID .
NATO ’ s Secret Ar ... Daniele , Ganser Best Price : $ 70.25 Buy New $ 53.31 And we emphasize the with COVID part because the CDC changed its coding criteria at the beginning of the pandemic , and now they are coding as “ COVID deaths ” virtually everyone who dies in a hospital—even cases where someone arrives DOA at the emergency room after a traffic accident and tests positive for the coronavirus on a post-mortem basis .
By contrast , there are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 85 or over—representing 2 % of the population—but they accounted for 33 % of the CDC reported deaths of May 30 , and that represented a mortality rate of 450 per 100,000 .
So , the risk of death with COVID for what we call the Great Grandparents Nation is 3,750 times greater than for America ’ s School Age Nation .
Yet the mass quarantine orders amount to a one-size-fits-all attack on everyday economic and social life when the obvious thing to do was to keep the schools open and isolate , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grandparents and great grandparents .
In fact , if you take the entire population of 52 million persons 65 years and older , they account for fully 81 % of all COVID deaths—with upwards of 50 % of these fatalities attributable to residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities .
As a matter of reality , residents of the latter do not frequent bars , gyms , movie theaters , offices , bus stations , and factories , essential , nonessential , and otherwise .
The general population never should have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of what we call the Parents and Workers Nation , the 83 million people between 35 and 54 years of age , the with COVID mortality rate is just 7.0 per 100,000 .
That is , for this group , the risk of death from contracting the coronavirus is not much higher than what is incurred in commuting to work and back , day in and day out .
In short , the whole Lockdown Nation fiasco was a mutant exercise in social engineering that will leave Main Street battered and bruised for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its infection cycle and succumbs to the summertime sun in most parts of the nation .
And that gets us to the George Floyd uprising , which was overwhelmingly comprised of under-35-somethings breaking out of house arrest and mad as hell about their now dramatically reduced prospects in life—which weren ’ t all that compelling in the first place .
Active Measures : The S ...
Rid , Thomas Best Price : $ 18.48 Buy New $ 19.86 Just consider that the overwhelming share of leisure and hospitality industry workers are in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ million jobs reported by the BLS in this sector as of February had plunged to hardly 8 million by the end of April .
Even worse , average hours declined , too , so what we had at the end of April was an industry which had shrunk back to October 1979 levels in terms of labor hours actually deployed and paychecks issued .
So , the authorities sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind , but on such a gigantic scale as to make the future fraught like never before .
There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the US , and during the long , hot summer ahead , an overwhelming share of them will be unemployed .
It doesn ’ t take too much imagination to see that the current , so-called social justice uprising is just developing an explosive head of steam .
International Man : During the COVID lockdown , Trump and Democratic governors were at odds .
We saw a similar dynamic occur with the recent riots .
How do you see this impacting the presidential election ?
David Stockman : It will just exacerbate the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will posture as the nation ’ s super sheriff and the Dems as the champions of a cavalcade of victims—some real , though mostly politically invented—who deserve help from the heavy hand of the state .
In other words , the upcoming campaign will be a contest between the Trumpian law-and-order form of big government and the liberal-progressive-socialist version of the leviathan state .
And what ’ s going to get crushed by the clash is the Constitution , fiscal solvency , Federalism , free enterprise , and personal liberty .
The fact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has any legitimate place in the halls of government .
The identity politics and racialist agenda of the Dems is simply a brazen abuse of the democratic process for the purpose of winning and retaining the perks , pelfs , and powers of public office .
But the Donald ’ s law-and-order demagoguery is just as bad .
WHITE HOUSE REDS : Comm ... Loudon , Trevor Buy New $ 24.95 The solution to mismanaged riots in the blue state cities and juvenile stunts like the six-block Autonomous Zone in Seattle is Federalism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a state and local function that should never have been elevated to the federal level in the first place .
We should get rid of the FBI , DEA , ATF , and the rest of the law enforcement alphabet of bureaucratic fiefdoms by repealing the War on Drugs and the rest of the nanny state statutes .
There is no reason whatsoever that legitimate law enforcement—protection of the lives and property of the citizenry— can not be handled by the 17,000 law enforcement agencies operative at the state and local level .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ job , well , that is the purpose of elections to remedy—not some Bully Boy tweeting from the Oval Office .
And if elections chronically fail in their purpose in certain deep Blue State jurisdictions , there is a solution to that , too , which does not require sending in the Feds from Washington .
To wit , people and businesses will vote with their feet , and eventually , even the likes of Governor Cuomo and Bill De Blasio would get the message .
The Best of David Stockman

International Man: Recently, massive riots have broken out in many cities across the US.
Despite the unrest—and the economic damage from the shutdowns—the stock market continues to rally.
It seems that markets don’t reflect earnings, economic prosperity, or growth. What is going on here?
David Stockman: It’s quite simple. The Fed has unleashed the greatest torrent of liquidity ever, and it’s finding its way into a relentless, massive bid for risk assets.
Since the eve of the Lockdown Nation disaster on March 11, the Fed’s balance sheet has erupted from $4.3 trillion to nearly $7.2 trillion. That’s $32 billion per day—including weekends, Easter, and nationwide riot days. Fictitious Capital: Ho... Durand, Cu00e9dric Best Price: $13.50 Buy New $18.18 (as of 03:43 UTC - Details)
Worse still, at their June meeting, the mad money printers domiciled in the Eccles Building promised to keep printing $120 billion per month to buy US Treasuries and other assets for an indefinite period. That should get us to a $10 trillion balance in less than two years’ time.
What this means, of course, is that honest price discovery in the canyons of Wall Street is deader than a doornail. We now have a putative capitalist economy in which the most important prices in all of capitalism—the prices of financial assets—are pegged, rigged, and manipulated by the central banking agents of the state.
The result, of course, is speculation and malinvestment on a biblical scale.
As to the former, we are now being treated to the preposterous spectacle of an IBO—or Initial Bankruptcy Offer—of the stock of bankrupt Hertz.
Hertz’s stock is worthless. It’s pinned under a pile of $20 billion of debt—senior debt securities, which are trading at 40 cents on the dollar—and a vastly overvalued fleet of vehicles.
All this is in a world in which airline and business travel has been crushed by more than 80% from trends and won’t be coming back any time soon—so long as Dr. Fauci and the Virus Patrol are stalking the land.
Yet the unhinged millennials—who idle their ample time and de minimis money on the Robinhood trading platform—have bid up Hertz’s post-chapter 11 stock price by more than 10X, thereby inducing a mainstream investment banking firm to propose underwriting a $1 billion stock offering in lieu of a debtor-in-possession (DIP) loan!
Never before has it been this crazy.
And, yet, the empty suit who sits in the top chair at the Fed keeps insisting this is all being done for Main Street and the workers, and as Powell said in his June presser, the Fed has no asset price target in mind at all; it just wants to keep financial markets functioning smoothly.
What hay wagon does this doofus think we fell off from?
Whether they intend it or not, their massive infusions of liquidity into the financial markets and relentless bid for financial assets funded with fiat credits has redounded to the top 1% and 10% who own 53% and 88% of equities, respectively, and it’s setting up the financial system for the third—and most spectacular—crash of this century, which, in turn, will wipe out what remains of middle-class wealth. The Phoenix Program Douglas Valentine Best Price: $14.55 Buy New $11.00 (as of 04:30 UTC - Details)
International Man: Over 40 million Americans are unemployed. Many small and medium-sized businesses will never reopen. Many must survive not only an extended lockdown but also the most severe riots in decades.
How are the riots and shutdown going to affect Main Street?
David Stockman: It’s a devastating combo and originates in the most senseless, destructive act of the state in modern times—if ever.
We are referring to the sweeping quarantine and lockdown orders that caused instant economic heart attacks in vast sectors of the US economy after mid-March.
There is no precedent in history for activity levels in huge industries like airline travel to plunge by more than 95% virtually overnight, or the restaurant sector, where Open Table reservations dropped by 80% versus prior year in a matter of days.
Not surprisingly, there have been nearly 50 million unemployment claims (counting the new federal benefit) in just 11 weeks—a figure which amounts to nearly 32% of the 158 million employed Americans as of February 2020.
Indeed, not even the bubble-blowing, crack-up boom antics of the Fed have ever created the kind of depressionary collapse now underway.
Yet its propagators—Dr. Fauci and the Virus Patrol at the CDC, NIAID, WHO, Big Pharma and the Bill Gates camarilla of foundations, think tanks, NGOs, and vaccine lobbies—have been peddling a Big Lie from day one.
Namely, that COVID-19 is the modern equivalent of the Black Plague and spreads its deathly pathogens on a random basis to all segments of the population—the young, the old, the healthy, the sick, and all variations in between—with equal alacrity.
That’s not even remotely true.
There are 104 million young people in the USA under 25 years of age, and as of the end of May, the mortality rate with COVID was, well, 0.12 per 100,000 population.
That is, all the schools, bars, gyms, restaurants, movie theaters where they congregate were shut down by orders of the governors and mayors, but it would take a million of these young people to generate just one death attributable to the COVID. NATO’s Secret Ar... Daniele, Ganser Best Price: $70.25 Buy New $53.31 (as of 03:43 UTC - Details)
And we emphasize the with COVID part because the CDC changed its coding criteria at the beginning of the pandemic, and now they are coding as “COVID deaths” virtually everyone who dies in a hospital—even cases where someone arrives DOA at the emergency room after a traffic accident and tests positive for the coronavirus on a post-mortem basis.
By contrast, there are 6.5 million Americans with an age of 85 or over—representing 2% of the population—but they accounted for 33% of the CDC reported deaths of May 30, and that represented a mortality rate of 450 per 100,000.
So, the risk of death with COVID for what we call the Great Grandparents Nation is 3,750 times greater than for America’s School Age Nation.
Yet the mass quarantine orders amount to a one-size-fits-all attack on everyday economic and social life when the obvious thing to do was to keep the schools open and isolate, protect, support, and treat the grandparents and great grandparents.
In fact, if you take the entire population of 52 million persons 65 years and older, they account for fully 81% of all COVID deaths—with upwards of 50% of these fatalities attributable to residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. As a matter of reality, residents of the latter do not frequent bars, gyms, movie theaters, offices, bus stations, and factories, essential, nonessential, and otherwise.
The general population never should have been quarantined.
Even among the core of what we call the Parents and Workers Nation, the 83 million people between 35 and 54 years of age, the with COVID mortality rate is just 7.0 per 100,000. That is, for this group, the risk of death from contracting the coronavirus is not much higher than what is incurred in commuting to work and back, day in and day out.
In short, the whole Lockdown Nation fiasco was a mutant exercise in social engineering that will leave Main Street battered and bruised for years to come—long after the coronavirus completes its infection cycle and succumbs to the summertime sun in most parts of the nation.
And that gets us to the George Floyd uprising, which was overwhelmingly comprised of under-35-somethings breaking out of house arrest and mad as hell about their now dramatically reduced prospects in life—which weren’t all that compelling in the first place. Active Measures: The S... Rid, Thomas Best Price: $18.48 Buy New $19.86 (as of 03:43 UTC - Details)
Just consider that the overwhelming share of leisure and hospitality industry workers are in the under-35 age cohort. Yet the 17 million jobs reported by the BLS in this sector as of February had plunged to hardly 8 million by the end of April.
Even worse, average hours declined, too, so what we had at the end of April was an industry which had shrunk back to October 1979 levels in terms of labor hours actually deployed and paychecks issued.
So, the authorities sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind, but on such a gigantic scale as to make the future fraught like never before.
There are 80 million persons aged 16–34 in the US, and during the long, hot summer ahead, an overwhelming share of them will be unemployed. It doesn’t take too much imagination to see that the current, so-called social justice uprising is just developing an explosive head of steam.
International Man: During the COVID lockdown, Trump and Democratic governors were at odds. We saw a similar dynamic occur with the recent riots.
How do you see this impacting the presidential election?
David Stockman: It will just exacerbate the red/blue divide like never before.
Trump will posture as the nation’s super sheriff and the Dems as the champions of a cavalcade of victims—some real, though mostly politically invented—who deserve help from the heavy hand of the state.
In other words, the upcoming campaign will be a contest between the Trumpian law-and-order form of big government and the liberal-progressive-socialist version of the leviathan state. And what’s going to get crushed by the clash is the Constitution, fiscal solvency, Federalism, free enterprise, and personal liberty.
The fact is, neither party’s agenda has any legitimate place in the halls of government. The identity politics and racialist agenda of the Dems is simply a brazen abuse of the democratic process for the purpose of winning and retaining the perks, pelfs, and powers of public office.
But the Donald’s law-and-order demagoguery is just as bad. WHITE HOUSE REDS: Comm... Loudon, Trevor Buy New $24.95 (as of 03:32 UTC - Details)
The solution to mismanaged riots in the blue state cities and juvenile stunts like the six-block Autonomous Zone in Seattle is Federalism. That is, law enforcement is a state and local function that should never have been elevated to the federal level in the first place.
We should get rid of the FBI, DEA, ATF, and the rest of the law enforcement alphabet of bureaucratic fiefdoms by repealing the War on Drugs and the rest of the nanny state statutes.
There is no reason whatsoever that legitimate law enforcement—protection of the lives and property of the citizenry—cannot be handled by the 17,000 law enforcement agencies operative at the state and local level.
And if they are not doing the job, well, that is the purpose of elections to remedy—not some Bully Boy tweeting from the Oval Office.
And if elections chronically fail in their purpose in certain deep Blue State jurisdictions, there is a solution to that, too, which does not require sending in the Feds from Washington. To wit, people and businesses will vote with their feet, and eventually, even the likes of Governor Cuomo and Bill De Blasio would get the message.
Reprinted with permission from International Man.
The Best of David Stockman


lewrockwell--2020-06-20--Hysteria Based on Phony Numbers, BLM Edition

Well , Dilbert creator Scott Adams has gone and done it now .
He just published the following Twitter thread , which I reproduce here without comment : Today is the last day of my seven-day challenge to provide a current example of systemic racism in America .
No examples yet , just conceptual takes .
One view is that racist people in a non-racist system creates “ systemic racism.
” For example , the justice system is colorblind by intention , but not by outcome .
The reason for different outcomes is assumed to be racism , but studies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The CIA as Organized C ... Valentine , Douglas Best Price : $ 21.35 Buy New $ 23.74 And here we have a new problem .
If “ look at the data ” is an argument for ANYTHING , why are we having mass protests about police killing black citizens at a higher rate than other groups when the data says otherwise ?
If you think the data says police are killing black citizens at a higher rate than other groups it is because you are not good at analyzing things .
Which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ % of the public .
Maybe 5 % of the public knows the numbers you see in the media are INTENTIONALLY misleading .
For example , if you think it means something that a higher percentage of the black population is killed by police , you are in the 95 % who are being duped by data that is misleading .
Don ’ t trust me about the data ?
Good call .
You shouldn ’ t .
Trust the left-leaning people who are experts at analyzing data and statistics .
They are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ barking .
No professional data/statistics expert on the left are helping us sort out the data .
Why ?
You f***ing know why .
They would be cancelled by their own team if they told the truth .
Don ’ t believe me ?
Again , good call .
We live in a world where no one is credible .
So let me offer a test of my claim .
The Invisible Enemy Garrett , Mr. Gregory L ... Buy New $ 26.94 Find me the most credible and left-leaning data/statistics expert , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interview with a well-informed right-leaning interviewer on the topic of police violence .
Let ’ s say Ben Shapiro .
This will not happen .
Ask yourself why .
You know that executive order Trump just signed that creates a national database of police misconduct ?
Half the country is in for a big surprise if the data is deemed credible .
To be fair , that surprise could go either way .
Cancel culture has forced white people to lie to black people for self-preservation .
No solutions are possible when debate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are in hiding .
We are now experiencing mass protests over an issue the data can ’ t find , in a context of continuous race relations improvements , and everyone started out on the same side after seeing the George Floyd video .
More white people than black protested .
How did we get to this absurd point in which the country is being ripped apart by AGREEMENT ?
Well , it wasn ’ t because millions of independent-minded citizens looked at the data and made wise decisions , many of them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coincidence .
Jabbed : How the Vaccin ... Wilcox , Brett Best Price : $ 13.02 Buy New $ 13.05 The biggest red pill in the world is the realization that your opinions on politics are assigned to you by people who know how to make you believe you made up your own mind .
There is probably some genetic propensity for conservatism or liberalism , but not policy details .
Most of you know I ’ m a trained hypnotist and I write about the techniques of persuasion .
Viewed through my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ country is predicated on something real and important-to-fix ( racism ) , but the way we are ACTING on it comes from external persuasion .
I don ’ t see a public trying to find solutions .
What I see is hypnotized puppets fighting other hypnotized puppets while the puppet-masters cash their checks .
And no , I don ’ t blame George Soros .
This isn ’ t about money influence .
It ’ s about something far more powerful .
You aren ’ t yet ready for the truth .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ add : Current controversies are far from alone in this .
So much of what people think they know is contradicted by readily available data that they don ’ t bother to consult or even know where to find if they did want to consult it .
What people think they know about U.S. history or economics is downright horrifying .
But rather than fruitlessly shake my fist at the institutions teaching them this crap , I built something of my own , the dashboard university I call Liberty Classroom .
If you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — and let ’ s face it : who isn ’ t ?
— you ’ ll be like a kid in a candy store .
Go and absorb the knowledge : Oh , and incidentally , here ’ s our secret coupon code page .
The Best of Tom Woods

Shop all books by Tom Woods
From the Tom Woods Letter:
Well, Dilbert creator Scott Adams has gone and done it now.
He just published the following Twitter thread, which I reproduce here without comment:
Today is the last day of my seven-day challenge to provide a current example of systemic racism in America. No examples yet, just conceptual takes.
One view is that racist people in a non-racist system creates “systemic racism.” For example, the justice system is colorblind by intention, but not by outcome. The reason for different outcomes is assumed to be racism, but studies can’t isolate that variable. The CIA as Organized C... Valentine, Douglas Best Price: $21.35 Buy New $23.74 (as of 11:36 UTC - Details)
And here we have a new problem. If “look at the data” is an argument for ANYTHING, why are we having mass protests about police killing black citizens at a higher rate than other groups when the data says otherwise?
If you think the data says police are killing black citizens at a higher rate than other groups it is because you are not good at analyzing things. Which puts you in good company with 95% of the public.
Maybe 5% of the public knows the numbers you see in the media are INTENTIONALLY misleading. For example, if you think it means something that a higher percentage of the black population is killed by police, you are in the 95% who are being duped by data that is misleading.
Don’t trust me about the data? Good call. You shouldn’t. Trust the left-leaning people who are experts at analyzing data and statistics. They are all hiding. Hear the dog not barking. No professional data/statistics expert on the left are helping us sort out the data. Why?
You f***ing know why. They would be cancelled by their own team if they told the truth. Don’t believe me? Again, good call. We live in a world where no one is credible. So let me offer a test of my claim. The Invisible Enemy Garrett, Mr. Gregory L... Buy New $26.94 (as of 05:21 UTC - Details)
Find me the most credible and left-leaning data/statistics expert, and put that expert in a long-form interview with a well-informed right-leaning interviewer on the topic of police violence. Let’s say Ben Shapiro. This will not happen. Ask yourself why.
You know that executive order Trump just signed that creates a national database of police misconduct? Half the country is in for a big surprise if the data is deemed credible. To be fair, that surprise could go either way.
Cancel culture has forced white people to lie to black people for self-preservation. No solutions are possible when debate is effectively outlawed and the data experts are in hiding.
We are now experiencing mass protests over an issue the data can’t find, in a context of continuous race relations improvements, and everyone started out on the same side after seeing the George Floyd video. More white people than black protested.
How did we get to this absurd point in which the country is being ripped apart by AGREEMENT? Well, it wasn’t because millions of independent-minded citizens looked at the data and made wise decisions, many of them in agreement with their own side by coincidence. Jabbed: How the Vaccin... Wilcox, Brett Best Price: $13.02 Buy New $13.05 (as of 03:50 UTC - Details)
The biggest red pill in the world is the realization that your opinions on politics are assigned to you by people who know how to make you believe you made up your own mind. There is probably some genetic propensity for conservatism or liberalism, but not policy details.
Most of you know I’m a trained hypnotist and I write about the techniques of persuasion. Viewed through my filter, the current upheaval in the country is predicated on something real and important-to-fix (racism), but the way we are ACTING on it comes from external persuasion.
I don’t see a public trying to find solutions. What I see is hypnotized puppets fighting other hypnotized puppets while the puppet-masters cash their checks. And no, I don’t blame George Soros. This isn’t about money influence. It’s about something far more powerful.
You aren’t yet ready for the truth. But you will be.
Now let me add:
Current controversies are far from alone in this.
So much of what people think they know is contradicted by readily available data that they don’t bother to consult or even know where to find if they did want to consult it.
What people think they know about U.S. history or economics is downright horrifying.
But rather than fruitlessly shake my fist at the institutions teaching them this crap, I built something of my own, the dashboard university I call Liberty Classroom.
If you’re a victim of educational malpractice — and let’s face it: who isn’t? — you’ll be like a kid in a candy store.
Go and absorb the knowledge:
http://www.LibertyClassroom.com
Oh, and incidentally, here’s our secret coupon code page.
The Best of Tom Woods


lewrockwell--2020-06-20--After the Fed Punts, the ECB Throws Another ‘Hail Mary‘

Last week FOMC Chair Jerome Powell and company did , essentially nothing , at their June meeting .
They held interest rates at 0.25 % , did not expand QE nor did they indicate any changes .
This wasn ’ t what the market wanted , as the bond were pushing the Fed to take rates negative and further open up the liquidity spigots .
Rates would be lower for longer and central bank swap lines would remain open .
Other than that , the Fed didn ’ t give the markets what it wanted .
There were plenty of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ immediately changed after the FOMC meeting .
By punting the Fed put the ball back in the hands of the ECB who had been enjoying the dynamic of a weaker dollar to alleviate offshore dollar liquidity concerns .
Killing the Host : How ... Hudson , Michael Best Price : $ 26.04 Buy New $ 32.95 It didn ’ t hurt that political instability here in the U.S. is at a high not seen since the 1860 ’ s .
The stronger euro was assisting the ECB in selling their balance sheet expansion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s latest TLTRO-3 Auction for this quarter .
The total amount of the auction was a stunning $ 1.3 trillion , which broke down into $ 550 billion in new lending and $ 760 billion in rollovers .
And it means the total TLTRO outstanding balance is already at all-time high levels and nothing has been solved yet .
But , as Goldman Sachs through Zerohedge points out , these loans were at incredibly generous rates : This gives banks the great incentive to get paid to borrow in euros and get the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dollar or the Japanese yen .
The size of this issuance is your proof that there simply aren ’ t enough dollars out there to soak up demand or banks wouldn ’ t have fed so deeply at the trough .
Earlier this week I was asked by Money and Markets to comment on Stephen Roach ’ s comments about the dollar setting up for a 35 % drop .
While I agree with him in the long run , I disagree about where the dollar is headed in the medium term .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ 35 % fall in it — or more — but only after we get a peak , which we haven ’ t seen yet , ” Luongo wrote via email .
“ For the past two years , the central banks have worked overtime to keep the dollar from rising thanks to massive offshore dollar-denominated liabilities .
These still exist , some $ 8-9 trillion of them in the form of non-bank foreign corporate debt that was borrowed in dollars when the Federal Reserve was at the zero-bound rate under ( former Fed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) Yellen .
That hasn ’ t been worked off yet.
” And Powell ’ s refusal to go negative on yields or begin Yield Curve Control — pegging certain parts of the yield curve to a nominal rate , like the BoJ — continues to push the spread between the Fed ’ s and the ECB ’ s target rates and , more importantly , real rates .
This TLTRO offering was a way for banks who took up huge offerings from the Bundesbank earlier this week to flip those to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ creating new carry trades with other currencies trading at higher yields .
Socialism Sucks : Two E ... Powell , Benjamin Best Price : null Buy New $ 23.39 This is a win/win ultimately .
Christine Lagarde gets to buy up more of the European sovereign debt market , further shoring up her ability to blackmail German voters to accept fiscal responsibility for the Euro-zone .
But in the long run it ’ s also undermining any idea of the euro .
Negative rates are capital destructive and , as Martin Armstrong continually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ever taking over for the dollar as a potential reserve currency .
And while Jay Powell ’ s announcement of zero-bound rates through 2022 is , ultimately , more dovish than it looks on the surface , it still isn ’ t dovish when compared to the ECB , the BoJ or the Swiss National Bank .
That ’ s why the Fed standing pat was , in this perverse environment , hawkish .
It ’ s why Powell ’ s punt pinned Lagarde deep in her own zone and why we are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dollar trade that has been in effect for the past few weeks .
Despite rising oil prices the Canadian dollar is falling , the Aussie has topped , the euro is back to $ 1.12 and the Mexican peso is falling again .
And I think Powell isn ’ t fully on board with bailing out the world through the Fed .
He knows that he can ’ t go negative on rates or the Fed is admitting it ’ s lost the fight and stands naked against a receding tide .
If @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that make everyone else ?
And how does anyone not call in their markers looking for a safe harbor ?
If anything , as Fed chairman , it ’ s his job to use the dollar as the U.S. ’ s best weapon against its enemies at this point .
No one wants a dollar spike but the credibility gap between the Fed and the other major central banks will keep the dollar from falling .
It will , ultimately , force the dollar much , much higher .
The problems for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Fed will provide Trump with whatever dollars he needs to keep the domestic economy from collapsing .
Foreign markets won ’ t matter , and that speaks to Roach ’ s complaints about the U.S. pulling back from international committments .
Hasn ’ t Powell not done enough already to bail out foreign markets ?
But those are tomorrow ’ s problems .
Today the euro-zone is a mess and the only reason to be bullish on the euro is the prospect of Boris Johnson failing to secure a real Brexit this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Costas Best Price : $ 9.99 Buy New $ 25.87 The Bank of England just announced a major QE package putting pressure on the pound against the euro and the dollar .
And once the attention turns back to Europe the ability for the ECB to hold rates at the bottom will be challenged further .
“ The dollar should slowly rise off its recent lows with a spike higher into 2021 and possibly into 2022 , depending on how things play out in Europe and whether Trump wins reelection , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the dollar will collapse as the outstanding foreign debt is defaulted on/redenominated in local currency , or paid off .
As the dollar rises , the default risk overseas explodes .
Trump has made the dollar persona non grata overseas and many are looking to dump it , just not until it is in their best interest to do so and they see how this internal conflict in the U.S. plays out.
” The Best of Thomas Luongo

Last week FOMC Chair Jerome Powell and company did, essentially nothing, at their June meeting. They held interest rates at 0.25%, did not expand QE nor did they indicate any changes.
This wasn’t what the market wanted, as the bond were pushing the Fed to take rates negative and further open up the liquidity spigots.
Rates would be lower for longer and central bank swap lines would remain open. Other than that, the Fed didn’t give the markets what it wanted.
There were plenty of dollars in the system. That dynamic immediately changed after the FOMC meeting.
By punting the Fed put the ball back in the hands of the ECB who had been enjoying the dynamic of a weaker dollar to alleviate offshore dollar liquidity concerns. Killing the Host: How ... Hudson, Michael Best Price: $26.04 Buy New $32.95 (as of 11:40 UTC - Details)
It didn’t hurt that political instability here in the U.S. is at a high not seen since the 1860’s.
The stronger euro was assisting the ECB in selling their balance sheet expansion.
The ECB then announced it’s latest TLTRO-3 Auction for this quarter. The total amount of the auction was a stunning $1.3 trillion, which broke down into $550 billion in new lending and $760 billion in rollovers.
And it means the total TLTRO outstanding balance is already at all-time high levels and nothing has been solved yet.
But, as Goldman Sachs through Zerohedge points out, these loans were at incredibly generous rates:
Given improved terms (-1% for YR1 until June 2021, and -0.5% for YR2-3 if lending benchmarks criteria are met) starting with this auction, banks were expected to repay some outstanding TLTRO-II early to refinance at cheaper rates. Taken together, this still leaves some €550bn of net new take-up.
This gives banks the great incentive to get paid to borrow in euros and get the yield spread against other currencies like the dollar or the Japanese yen.
The size of this issuance is your proof that there simply aren’t enough dollars out there to soak up demand or banks wouldn’t have fed so deeply at the trough.
Earlier this week I was asked by Money and Markets to comment on Stephen Roach’s comments about the dollar setting up for a 35% drop. While I agree with him in the long run, I disagree about where the dollar is headed in the medium term.
“I think the dollar has a 35% fall in it — or more — but only after we get a peak, which we haven’t seen yet,” Luongo wrote via email. “For the past two years, the central banks have worked overtime to keep the dollar from rising thanks to massive offshore dollar-denominated liabilities. These still exist, some $8-9 trillion of them in the form of non-bank foreign corporate debt that was borrowed in dollars when the Federal Reserve was at the zero-bound rate under (former Fed Chiefs Ben) Bernanke and (Janet) Yellen. That hasn’t been worked off yet.”
And Powell’s refusal to go negative on yields or begin Yield Curve Control — pegging certain parts of the yield curve to a nominal rate, like the BoJ — continues to push the spread between the Fed’s and the ECB’s target rates and, more importantly, real rates.
This TLTRO offering was a way for banks who took up huge offerings from the Bundesbank earlier this week to flip those to the ECB, pocketing the difference while also creating new carry trades with other currencies trading at higher yields. Socialism Sucks: Two E... Powell, Benjamin Buy New $23.39 (as of 07:10 UTC - Details)
This is a win/win ultimately. Christine Lagarde gets to buy up more of the European sovereign debt market, further shoring up her ability to blackmail German voters to accept fiscal responsibility for the Euro-zone.
But in the long run it’s also undermining any idea of the euro. Negative rates are capital destructive and, as Martin Armstrong continually points out, precludes the euro from ever taking over for the dollar as a potential reserve currency.
And while Jay Powell’s announcement of zero-bound rates through 2022 is, ultimately, more dovish than it looks on the surface, it still isn’t dovish when compared to the ECB, the BoJ or the Swiss National Bank.
That’s why the Fed standing pat was, in this perverse environment, hawkish. It’s why Powell’s punt pinned Lagarde deep in her own zone and why we are already seeing a reversal of the weak dollar trade that has been in effect for the past few weeks.
Despite rising oil prices the Canadian dollar is falling, the Aussie has topped, the euro is back to $1.12 and the Mexican peso is falling again.
And I think Powell isn’t fully on board with bailing out the world through the Fed. He knows that he can’t go negative on rates or the Fed is admitting it’s lost the fight and stands naked against a receding tide.
If the Fed is naked, what does that make everyone else? And how does anyone not call in their markers looking for a safe harbor?
If anything, as Fed chairman, it’s his job to use the dollar as the U.S.’s best weapon against its enemies at this point. No one wants a dollar spike but the credibility gap between the Fed and the other major central banks will keep the dollar from falling.
It will, ultimately, force the dollar much, much higher.
The problems for the U.S. right now are internal. And the Fed will provide Trump with whatever dollars he needs to keep the domestic economy from collapsing. Foreign markets won’t matter, and that speaks to Roach’s complaints about the U.S. pulling back from international committments.
Hasn’t Powell not done enough already to bail out foreign markets?
But those are tomorrow’s problems. Today the euro-zone is a mess and the only reason to be bullish on the euro is the prospect of Boris Johnson failing to secure a real Brexit this fall. Profiting Without Prod... Lapavitsas, Costas Best Price: $9.99 Buy New $25.87 (as of 03:46 UTC - Details)
The Bank of England just announced a major QE package putting pressure on the pound against the euro and the dollar.
And once the attention turns back to Europe the ability for the ECB to hold rates at the bottom will be challenged further.
In summary:
“The dollar should slowly rise off its recent lows with a spike higher into 2021 and possibly into 2022, depending on how things play out in Europe and whether Trump wins reelection,” Luongo wrote. “After that, the dollar will collapse as the outstanding foreign debt is defaulted on/redenominated in local currency, or paid off. As the dollar rises, the default risk overseas explodes. Trump has made the dollar persona non grata overseas and many are looking to dump it, just not until it is in their best interest to do so and they see how this internal conflict in the U.S. plays out.”
Reprinted with permission from Gold Goats ‘n Guns.
The Best of Tom Luongo


lewrockwell--2020-06-20--Washington Complains: China Is Doing What We Always Do!

In a new official strategy of confrontation against the People ’ s Republic of China , the Trump administration has announced its intention “ to compel Beijing to cease or reduce actions harmful to the United States ’ vital , national interests and those of our allies and partners.
” Given Beijing ’ s increasing use of economic leverage to extract political concessions from or exact retribution against other countries , the United States judges that Beijing will attempt to convert [ One Belt One Road ] projects into undue political influence and military access .
Beijing uses a combination @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , elites , corporations , think tanks , and others—often in an opaque manner—to toe the CCP line and censor free expression .
Beijing has restricted trade and tourism with Australia , Canada , South Korea , Japan , Norway , the Philippines , and others , and has detained Canadian citizens , in an effort to interfere in these countries ’ internal political and judicial processes .
All true .
But which government pioneered the use of economic resources to reward and punish other nations ?
Hint : it was not China @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Howard W. Best Price : $ 6.94 Buy New $ 19.94 The U.S. has long used foreign aid as walking around money for the secretary of state .
Countries with American bases have always gotten more cash , as have nations that have made peace with American allies , such as Egypt and Jordan .
In contrast , governments that have crossed Washington have lost money .
In 1956 , the Eisenhower administration punished Egypt ’ s Nasser government by revoking its offer to finance the Aswan High Dam .
In 1990 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yemen ’ s UN ambassador , “ that was the most expensive no vote you ever cast , ” after he voted against the UN Security Council resolution authorizing war against Iraq .
Washington has also used trade barriers to reward and punish other states .
The U.S. embargoed Cuba six decades ago , and has since applied secondary sanctions that have hit other nations as well .
The use of financial sanctions has become Washington ’ s modus operandi .
Indeed , the Trump administration has dramatically escalated economic warfare , applying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ North Korea , and Venezuela , hitting Cuba , Russia , and Syria with multiple new penalties , threatening to sanction Europeans if they try to avoid Iranian restrictions , and targeting Germany ’ s Nordstream 2 natural gas pipeline to Russia .
The White House treats sanctions as the default response to governments that resist Washington ’ s dictates .
American Grand Strateg ... Kang , David C. Best Price : $ 12.64 Buy New $ 21.67 All of these measures were imposed “ in an effort to interfere in [ other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ processes.
” In fact , despite Washington ’ s fervent objections to Russian election meddling in 2016 , the U.S. has intervened in more than 80 democratic elections in other nations , including the 1986 presidential contest in Russia .
Yet although America remains number one , China ’ s economic clout is significant , including with important countries such as South Korea .
Indeed , without any sense of irony , Matthew Ha of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies recently expressed concern that China was thwarting U.S. pressure on Seoul to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ instance , Beijing “ launched an economic warfare campaign that cost South Korean companies operating in China at least $ 15.6 billion in losses ” because the Republic of Korea deployed the THAAD missile defense system .
Complained Ha : “ To placate China , Seoul eventually agreed not to deploy further THAAD systems , not to join a U.S.-led regional missile defense architecture , and not to form a trilateral U.S.-Japan-ROK alliance.
” Moreover , claimed Ha , “ due in part to concerns over Chinese retaliation , Seoul has not completely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ company Huawei.
” Further , “ China ’ s hand is also evident in Seoul ’ s aversion to the U.S.-and Japan-led ‘ Free and Open Indo-Pacific ’ ( FOIP ) initiative , ” instead favoring its own policy directed at Southeast Asia .
Busted Sanctions : Expl ...
Early , Bryan Best Price : $ 22.96 Buy New $ 22.97 If all this is due to a $ 15.6 billion hit , then Washington should take lessons .
The Trump administration has caused economic damage to many countries , yet its wrecking-ball @ @ @ @ @ @ @ case : Cuba , Iran , North Korea , Russia , Syria , and Venezuela all have refused to give into U.S. demands .
The president has been reduced to begging Tehran to negotiate , promising a better deal if it surrenders before November 3 to help his reelection prospects .
Iran and Venezuela ridiculed Washington ’ s threats to interdict Tehran ’ s tankers .
The communists still rule Cuba .
Despite two summits , North Korea ’ s Kim Jong-un is strengthening his country ’ s nuclear deterrent .
No one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
No doubt , South Korea worries about China ’ s clout , since the Chinese trade more with them than America and Japan combined .
But Beijing is also a good excuse to resist U.S. demands seen as unreasonable , especially given that the current president is Moon Jae-in , a man of the left who has no natural affinity for President Trump .

In a new official strategy of confrontation against the People’s Republic of China, the Trump administration has announced its intention “to compel Beijing to cease or reduce actions harmful to the United States’ vital, national interests and those of our allies and partners.”
Explains the strategy paper:
Given Beijing’s increasing use of economic leverage to extract political concessions from or exact retribution against other countries, the United States judges that Beijing will attempt to convert [One Belt One Road] projects into undue political influence and military access. Beijing uses a combination of threat and inducement to pressure governments, elites, corporations, think tanks, and others—often in an opaque manner—to toe the CCP line and censor free expression. Beijing has restricted trade and tourism with Australia, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Norway, the Philippines, and others, and has detained Canadian citizens, in an effort to interfere in these countries’ internal political and judicial processes.
All true. But which government pioneered the use of economic resources to reward and punish other nations? Hint: it was not China. Everything Under the H... French, Howard W. Best Price: $6.94 Buy New $19.94 (as of 05:00 UTC - Details)
The U.S. has long used foreign aid as walking around money for the secretary of state. Countries with American bases have always gotten more cash, as have nations that have made peace with American allies, such as Egypt and Jordan.
In contrast, governments that have crossed Washington have lost money. In 1956, the Eisenhower administration punished Egypt’s Nasser government by revoking its offer to finance the Aswan High Dam. In 1990, Secretary of State James Baker told Yemen’s UN ambassador, “that was the most expensive no vote you ever cast,” after he voted against the UN Security Council resolution authorizing war against Iraq.
Washington has also used trade barriers to reward and punish other states. The U.S. embargoed Cuba six decades ago, and has since applied secondary sanctions that have hit other nations as well. The use of financial sanctions has become Washington’s modus operandi.
Indeed, the Trump administration has dramatically escalated economic warfare, applying “maximum pressure” to Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela, hitting Cuba, Russia, and Syria with multiple new penalties, threatening to sanction Europeans if they try to avoid Iranian restrictions, and targeting Germany’s Nordstream 2 natural gas pipeline to Russia. The White House treats sanctions as the default response to governments that resist Washington’s dictates. American Grand Strateg... Kang, David C. Best Price: $12.64 Buy New $21.67 (as of 03:47 UTC - Details)
All of these measures were imposed “in an effort to interfere in [other] countries’ internal political and judicial processes.” In fact, despite Washington’s fervent objections to Russian election meddling in 2016, the U.S. has intervened in more than 80 democratic elections in other nations, including the 1986 presidential contest in Russia.
Yet although America remains number one, China’s economic clout is significant, including with important countries such as South Korea. Indeed, without any sense of irony, Matthew Ha of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies recently expressed concern that China was thwarting U.S. pressure on Seoul to follow Washington’s policies. For instance, Beijing “launched an economic warfare campaign that cost South Korean companies operating in China at least $15.6 billion in losses” because the Republic of Korea deployed the THAAD missile defense system.
Complained Ha: “To placate China, Seoul eventually agreed not to deploy further THAAD systems, not to join a U.S.-led regional missile defense architecture, and not to form a trilateral U.S.-Japan-ROK alliance.” Moreover, claimed Ha, “due in part to concerns over Chinese retaliation, Seoul has not completely divested its telecommunications infrastructure from the Chinese company Huawei.” Further, “China’s hand is also evident in Seoul’s aversion to the U.S.-and Japan-led ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ (FOIP) initiative,” instead favoring its own policy directed at Southeast Asia. Busted Sanctions: Expl... Early, Bryan Best Price: $22.96 Buy New $22.97 (as of 03:47 UTC - Details)
If all this is due to a $15.6 billion hit, then Washington should take lessons. The Trump administration has caused economic damage to many countries, yet its wrecking-ball sanctions have so far failed in every case: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, and Venezuela all have refused to give into U.S. demands.
The president has been reduced to begging Tehran to negotiate, promising a better deal if it surrenders before November 3 to help his reelection prospects. Iran and Venezuela ridiculed Washington’s threats to interdict Tehran’s tankers. The communists still rule Cuba. Despite two summits, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un is strengthening his country’s nuclear deterrent. No one believes that Russia will give up Crimea.
No doubt, South Korea worries about China’s clout, since the Chinese trade more with them than America and Japan combined. But Beijing is also a good excuse to resist U.S. demands seen as unreasonable, especially given that the current president is Moon Jae-in, a man of the left who has no natural affinity for President Trump.
Read the Whole Article


lewrockwell--2020-06-20--The George Floyd Mural

The George Floyd Mural

When I first saw the mural of George Floyd with large angel wings , I assumed that it was a satire on his sanctification—effective , perhaps , but not in the best of taste .
Shortly afterwards , however , I realized that the mural was in earnest : The picture of the mural in the newspaper included a man genuflecting before it , and the caption said that he was making a “ pilgrimage.
” Apparently , St. Peter can no longer cope alone at the pearly gates ; he need bouncers , too , heaven having become something @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not a saint ; in fact , he was a bad man , and being killed by a brutal policeman does not change a man ’ s life from bad to good .
He was a man of many convictions—criminal convictions , that is , not political ones—and at least one of his crimes was of deep-dyed malignity .
Along with five others , he broke into a pregnant woman ’ s house and held her at gunpoint while his associates ransacked the house for drugs and money .
This is not the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sudden surrender to temptation .
It was premeditated and planned , albeit not very intelligently or successfully .
Fentanyl , Inc. : How Ro ... Westhoff , Ben Buy New $ 13.50 George Floyd was not a quick learner .
He had several convictions for possession and supply of drugs , yet when he moved to Minneapolis , allegedly to turn over a new leaf , he still took drugs , and a video showed him discarding what was probably a packet of drugs when he was first arrested .
None of this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and no decent person would suggest that it did .
But the ludicrous sanctification of George Floyd naturally conduces to an examination of his character , and is moreover a sign of our modern tendency to make martyrs or saints of victims .
But victims do not have to be martyrs or saints in order to be victims , and George Floyd certainly did not die for any cause .
Tell Your Children : Th ... Berenson , Alex Buy New $ 13.85 As is so often the case , sentimentality is but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The sanctification of George Floyd implies that the character of a victim of murder is in some way a measure of the seriousness of the murder , when what is wrong with murder is that it is murder .
Even the murder of a very bad man is murder , such that if Derek Chauvin were killed in prison by other inmates , it would still be murder .
We may in our hearts regret the murder of a good man more than we regret that of a bad , but the law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ distinction .
Any other attitude would be to justify or excuse murder .
Another example of the relation between sentimentality and brutality has been the use of very young children in demonstrations .
There are videos of two girls , 9 and 7 , one making a speech at a demonstration and the other marching in a demonstration , her pretty little face contorted with hatred , chanting a horrible slogan , “ No justice , no peace ” ( a justification in advance of further looting , or worse ) , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Theodore Dalrymple

When I first saw the mural of George Floyd with large angel wings, I assumed that it was a satire on his sanctification—effective, perhaps, but not in the best of taste. Shortly afterwards, however, I realized that the mural was in earnest: The picture of the mural in the newspaper included a man genuflecting before it, and the caption said that he was making a “pilgrimage.” Apparently, St. Peter can no longer cope alone at the pearly gates; he need bouncers, too, heaven having become something like a nightclub.
George Floyd was not a saint; in fact, he was a bad man, and being killed by a brutal policeman does not change a man’s life from bad to good. He was a man of many convictions—criminal convictions, that is, not political ones—and at least one of his crimes was of deep-dyed malignity. Along with five others, he broke into a pregnant woman’s house and held her at gunpoint while his associates ransacked the house for drugs and money. This is not the kind of crime that results from a sudden surrender to temptation. It was premeditated and planned, albeit not very intelligently or successfully. Fentanyl, Inc.: How Ro... Westhoff, Ben Buy New $13.50 (as of 05:32 UTC - Details)
George Floyd was not a quick learner. He had several convictions for possession and supply of drugs, yet when he moved to Minneapolis, allegedly to turn over a new leaf, he still took drugs, and a video showed him discarding what was probably a packet of drugs when he was first arrested.
None of this exculpates the policeman, Derek Chauvin, and no decent person would suggest that it did. But the ludicrous sanctification of George Floyd naturally conduces to an examination of his character, and is moreover a sign of our modern tendency to make martyrs or saints of victims. But victims do not have to be martyrs or saints in order to be victims, and George Floyd certainly did not die for any cause.
Tell Your Children: Th... Berenson, Alex Buy New $13.85 (as of 05:32 UTC - Details) As is so often the case, sentimentality is but a short step away from brutality. The sanctification of George Floyd implies that the character of a victim of murder is in some way a measure of the seriousness of the murder, when what is wrong with murder is that it is murder. Even the murder of a very bad man is murder, such that if Derek Chauvin were killed in prison by other inmates, it would still be murder. We may in our hearts regret the murder of a good man more than we regret that of a bad, but the law can take no notice of such a distinction. Any other attitude would be to justify or excuse murder.
Another example of the relation between sentimentality and brutality has been the use of very young children in demonstrations. There are videos of two girls, 9 and 7, one making a speech at a demonstration and the other marching in a demonstration, her pretty little face contorted with hatred, chanting a horrible slogan, “No justice, no peace” (a justification in advance of further looting, or worse), and making aggressive gestures.
Read the Whole Article
The Best of Theodore Dalrymple


lewrockwell--2020-06-20--The Global Reset – Unplugged. ‘The Deep State’

Imagine , you are living in a world that you are told is a democracy – and you may even believe it – but in fact your life and fate is in the hands of a few ultra-rich , ultra-powerful and ultra-inhuman oligarchs .
They may be called Deep State , or simply the Beast , or anything else obscure or untraceable – it doesn ’ t matter .
They are less than the 0.0001 % .
For lack of a better expression , let ’ s call them for now “ obscure individuals ” .
These obscure individuals who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elected .
We don ’ t need to name them .
You will figure out who they are , and why they are famous , and some of them totally invisible .
They have created structures , or organisms without any legal format .
They are fully out of international legality .
They are a forefront for the Beast .
Maybe there are several competing Beasts .
But they have the same objective : A New or One World Order ( NWO , or OWO ) .
These obscure individuals are running , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( WEF – representing Big Industry , Big Finance and Big Fame ) , the Group of 7 – G7 , the Group of 20 – G20 ( the leaders of the economically ” strongest ” nations ) .
There are also some lesser entities , called the Bilderberg Society , the Council on Foreign Relations ( CFR ) , Chatham House and more .
The World Order and Re ... Koenig , Peter Best Price : $ 28.23 Buy New $ 26.14 The members of all of them are overlapping .
Even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 0.001 % .
They all have superimposed themselves over sovereign national elected and constitutional governments , and over THE multinational world body , the United Nations , the UN .
In fact , they have coopted the UN to do their bidding .
UN Director Generals , as well as the DGs of the multiple UN-suborganizations , are chosen mostly by the US , with the consenting nod of their European vassals – according to the candidate ’ s political and psychological profile .
If his or her ‘ performance ’ as head @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the UN suborganizations fails , his or her days are counted .
Coopted or created by the Beast ( s ) are also , the European Union , the Bretton Woods Organizations , World Bank and IMF , as well as the World Trade Organization ( WTO ) – and – make no mistake – the International Criminal Court ( ICC ) in The Hague .
It has no teeth .
Just to make sure the law is always on the side of the lawless .
In addition to the key international @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there are the so-called regional development banks and similar financial institutions , keeping the countries of their respective regions in check .
In the end its financial or debt-economy that controls everything .
Western neoliberal banditry has created a system , where political disobedience can be punished by economic oppression or outright theft of national assets in international territories .
The system ’ s common denominator is the ( still ) omnipresent US-dollar .
The supremacy of these obscure unelected individuals becomes ever more exposed .
We , the People consider it “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , not what we call – or once were proud of calling , our sovereign nations and sovereignly elected governments .
They have become a herd of obedient sheep .
The Beast has gradually and quietly taken over .
We haven ’ t noticed .
It ’ s the salami tactic : You cut off slice by tiny slice and when the salami is gone , you realize that you have nothing left , that your freedom , your civil and human rights are gone .
By then it ’ s too late @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Patriot Act .
It was prepared way before 9/11 .
Once 9/11 “ happened ” , the Patriot Legislation was whizzed through Congress in no time – for the people ’ s future protection – people called for it for fear – and – bingo , the Patriot Act took about 90 % of the American population ’ s freedom and civil rights away .
For good .
We have become enslaved to the Beast .
The Beast calls the shots on boom or bust of our economies , on who should be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a pandemic should break out , and on the conditions of surviving the pandemic , for example , social confinement .
And to top it all off – the instruments the Beast uses , very cleverly , are a tiny-tiny invisible enemy , called a virus , and a huge but also invisible monster , called FEAR .
That keeps us off the street , off reunions with our friends , and off our social entertainment , theatre , sports , or a picnic in the park .
The Phoenix Program Douglas Valentine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 11.00 Soon the Beast will decide who will live and who will die , literally – if we let it .
This may be not far away .
Another wave of pandemic and people may beg , yell and scream for a vaccine , for their death knell , and for the super bonanza of Big Pharma – and towards the objectives of the eugenicists blatantly roaming the world – see this .
There is still time to collectively say NO .
Collectively and solidarily .
Take the latest case of blatant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wave of Covid-19 had passed , at least in the Global North , where the major world decisions are made , in early June 2020 , the unelected WEF Chairman , Klaus Schwab , announced “ The Great Reset ” .
Taking advantage of the economic collapse – the crisis shock , as in “ The Shock Doctrine ” – Mr. Schwab , one of the Beast ’ s frontrunners , announces openly what the WEF will discuss and decide for the world-to-come in their next Davos Forum in January 2021 .
For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We , The People , accept the agenda of the unelected WEF ?
It will opportunely focus on the protection of what ’ s left of Mother Earth ; obviously at the center will be man-made CO2-based “ Global Warming ” .
The instrument for that protection of nature and humankind will be the UN Agenda 2030 – which equals the UN Sustainable Development Goals ( SDG ) .
It will focus on how to rebuild the willfully destroyed global economy , while respecting the ( “ green ” ) principles of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s all connected .
There are no coincidences .
The infamous Agenda 2021 which coincides with and complements the so-called ( UN ) Agenda 2030 , will be duly inaugurated by the WEF ’ s official declaration of The Great Reset , in January 2021 .
Similarly , the implementation of the agenda of The Great Reset began in January 2020 , by the launch of the corona pandemic – planned for decades with the latest visible events being the 2010 Rockefeller Report with its “ Lockstep Scenario ” , and Event @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which computer-simulated a corona pandemic , leaving within 18 months 65 million deaths and an economy in ruin , programmed just a few weeks before the launch of the actual corona pandemic .
See COVID-19 , We Are Now Living the “ Lock Step Scenario ” and this and this .
The racial riots , initiated by the movement Black Lives Matter ( funded by the Ford Foundation and Soros ’ Open Society Foundation ) , following the brutal assassination of the Afro-American George Floyd by a gang of Minneapolis police , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than 160 cities , first in the US , then in Europe – are not only connected to the Beast ’ s agenda , but they were a convenient deviation from the human catastrophe left behind by Covid-19 .
See also this .
The Beast ’ s nefarious plan to implement what ’ s really behind the UN Agenda 2030 is the little heard-of Agenda ID2020 .
See The Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic : The Real Danger is “ Agenda ID2020 ” .
It has been created and funded by the vaccination guru @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations ) , the association of Big Pharma – involved in creating the corona vaccines , and which funds along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ( BMGF ) a major proportion of WHO ’ s budget .
Implosion : An Economic ... Koenig , Peter Best Price : $ 12.53 Buy New $ 12.43 The Great Reset , as announced by WEF ’ s Klaus Schwab , is supposedly implemented by Agenda ID2020 .
It is more than meets the eye .
Agenda ID2020 is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ SDG 16.9 “ by 2030 provide legal [ digital ] identity for all , including free birth registration ” .
This fits perfectly into the overall goal of SDG 16 : ” Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development , provide access to justice for all and build effective , accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
” Following the official path of the UN Agenda 2030 of achieving the SDGs , the ‘ implementing ’ Agenda ID2020 – which is currently being tested on school children in Bangladesh – will provide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nano-chips implanted along with compulsory vaccination programs , will promote digitization of money and the rolling out of 5G – which would be needed to upload and monitor personal data on the nano chips and to control the populace .
Agenda ID2020 will most likely also include ‘ programs ’ – through vaccination ?
– of significantly reducing world population .
Eugenics is an important component in the control of future world population under a NOW / OWO – see also Georgia Guidestones , mysteriously built in 1980 .
The ruling elite used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out this agenda .
Its implementation would naturally face massive protests , organized and funded along the same lines as were the BLM protests and demonstrations .
They may not be peaceful – and may not be planned as being peaceful .
Because to control the population in the US and in Europe , where most of the civil unrest would be expected , a total militarization of the people is required .
This is well under preparation .
In his essay “ The Big Plantation ” , John Steppling reports from a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this militarization is part of a broader trend .
Since the late 1990s , about 89 percent of police departments in the United States serving populations of 50,000 people or more had a PPU ( Police Paramilitary Unit ) , almost double of what existed in the mid-1980s .
He refers to these militarized police as the new Gestapo .
Even before Covid , about 15 % to 20 % of the population was on or below the poverty line in the United States .
The post-covid lockdown economic annihilation will at least @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the risk for civil turbulence and clashes with authorities – further enhancing the reasoning for a militarized police force .
NATO ’ s Secret Ar ... Daniele , Ganser Best Price : $ 70.25 Buy New $ 53.31 None of these scenarios will , of course , be presented to the public by the WEF in January 2021 .
These are decisions taken behind closed doors by the key actors for the Beast .
However , this grandiose plan of the Great Reset does not have to happen .
There is at least @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the most powerful countries , economically and militarily – like China and Russia – opposed to it .
“ Reset ” maybe yes , but not in these western terms .
In fact , a reset of kinds is already happening with China about to roll out a new People ’ s Bank of China backed blockchain-based cryptocurrency , the crypto RMB , or yuan .
This is not only a hard currency based on a solid economy , it is also supported by gold .
While President Trump keeps trashing China for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ covid pandemic , for stealing property rights – China bashing no end – that China depends on the US and that the US will cut trading ties with China – or cut ties altogether , China is calling Trump ’ s bluff .
China is quietly reorienting herself towards the ASEAN countries plus Japan ( yes , Japan ! )
and South Korea , where trade already today accounts for about 15 % of all China ’ s trade and is expected to double in the next five years .
Despite the lockdown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s overall exports recovered with a 3.2 % increase in April ( in relation to April 2019 ) .
This overall performance in China exports was nonetheless accompanied by a dramatic decline in US-China trade .
China exports to the US decreased by 7.9 % in April ( in relation to April 2019 ) .
It is clear that the vast majority of US industries could not survive without Chinese supply chains .
The western dependence on Chinese medical supplies is particularly strong .
Let alone Chinese dependence by US consumers .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ about 70 % of GDP , amounted to $ 13.3 trillion , of which a fair amount is directly imported from China or dependent on ingredients from China .
The WEF-masters are confronted with a real dilemma .
Their plan depends very much on the dollar supremacy which would continue to allow dishing out sanctions and confiscating assets from those countries opposing US rule ; a dollar-hegemony which would allow imposing the components of The Great Reset scheme , as described above .
At present , the dollar is fiat money , debt-money @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no backing whatsoever .
Therefore , its worth as a reserve currency is increasingly decaying , especially vis-à-vis the new crypto-yuan from China .
In order to compete with the Chinese yuan , the US Government would have to move away from its monetary Ponzi-scheme , by separating itself from the 1913 Federal Reserve Act and print her own US-economy- and possibly gold-backed ( crypto ) money – not fiat FED-money , as is the case today .
That would mean cutting the more than 100-year old ties to the Rothschild and Co. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ peoples-owned central bank .
Not impossible , but highly improbable .
Here , two Beasts might clash , as world power is at stake .
Meanwhile , China , with her philosophy of endless creation would continue forging ahead unstoppably with her mammoth socioeconomic development plan of the 21st Century , the Belt and Road Initiative , connecting and bridging the world with infrastructure for land and maritime transport , with joint research and industrial projects , cultural exchanges – and not least , multinational trade with “ win-win ” characteristics , equality @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world , towards a world with a common future for mankind .
Today already more than 120 countries are associated with BRI – and the field is wide open for others to join – and to defy , unmask and unplug The Great Reset of the West .
The original source of this article is Global Research .

Imagine, you are living in a world that you are told is a democracy – and you may even believe it – but in fact your life and fate is in the hands of a few ultra-rich, ultra-powerful and ultra-inhuman oligarchs. They may be called Deep State, or simply the Beast, or anything else obscure or untraceable – it doesn’t matter. They are less than the 0.0001%.
For lack of a better expression, let’s call them for now “obscure individuals”.
These obscure individuals who pretend running our world have never been elected. We don’t need to name them. You will figure out who they are, and why they are famous, and some of them totally invisible. They have created structures, or organisms without any legal format. They are fully out of international legality. They are a forefront for the Beast. Maybe there are several competing Beasts. But they have the same objective: A New or One World Order (NWO, or OWO).
These obscure individuals are running, for example, The World Economic Forum (WEF – representing Big Industry, Big Finance and Big Fame), the Group of 7 – G7, the Group of 20 – G20 (the leaders of the economically” strongest” nations). There are also some lesser entities, called the Bilderberg Society, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Chatham House and more. The World Order and Re... Koenig, Peter Best Price: $28.23 Buy New $26.14 (as of 04:10 UTC - Details)
The members of all of them are overlapping. Even this expanded forefront combined represents less than 0.001%. They all have superimposed themselves over sovereign national elected and constitutional governments, and over THE multinational world body, the United Nations, the UN.
In fact, they have coopted the UN to do their bidding. UN Director Generals, as well as the DGs of the multiple UN-suborganizations, are chosen mostly by the US, with the consenting nod of their European vassals – according to the candidate’s political and psychological profile. If his or her ‘performance’ as head of the UN or head of one of the UN suborganizations fails, his or her days are counted. Coopted or created by the Beast(s) are also, the European Union, the Bretton Woods Organizations, World Bank and IMF, as well as the World Trade Organization (WTO) – and – make no mistake – the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. It has no teeth. Just to make sure the law is always on the side of the lawless.
In addition to the key international financial institutions, WB and IMF, there are the so-called regional development banks and similar financial institutions, keeping the countries of their respective regions in check.
In the end its financial or debt-economy that controls everything. Western neoliberal banditry has created a system, where political disobedience can be punished by economic oppression or outright theft of national assets in international territories. The system’s common denominator is the (still) omnipresent US-dollar.
“Unelected Individuals”
The supremacy of these obscure unelected individuals becomes ever more exposed. We, the People consider it “normal” that they call the shots, not what we call – or once were proud of calling, our sovereign nations and sovereignly elected governments. They have become a herd of obedient sheep. The Beast has gradually and quietly taken over. We haven’t noticed. It’s the salami tactic: You cut off slice by tiny slice and when the salami is gone, you realize that you have nothing left, that your freedom, your civil and human rights are gone. By then it’s too late. Case in point is the US Patriot Act. It was prepared way before 9/11. Once 9/11 “happened”, the Patriot Legislation was whizzed through Congress in no time – for the people’s future protection – people called for it for fear – and – bingo, the Patriot Act took about 90% of the American population’s freedom and civil rights away. For good.
We have become enslaved to the Beast. The Beast calls the shots on boom or bust of our economies, on who should be shackled by debt, when and where a pandemic should break out, and on the conditions of surviving the pandemic, for example, social confinement. And to top it all off – the instruments the Beast uses, very cleverly, are a tiny-tiny invisible enemy, called a virus, and a huge but also invisible monster, called FEAR. That keeps us off the street, off reunions with our friends, and off our social entertainment, theatre, sports, or a picnic in the park. The Phoenix Program Douglas Valentine Best Price: $14.55 Buy New $11.00 (as of 04:30 UTC - Details)
Soon the Beast will decide who will live and who will die, literally – if we let it. This may be not far away. Another wave of pandemic and people may beg, yell and scream for a vaccine, for their death knell, and for the super bonanza of Big Pharma – and towards the objectives of the eugenicists blatantly roaming the world – see this. There is still time to collectively say NO. Collectively and solidarily.
Take the latest case of blatant imposture. Conveniently, after the first wave of Covid-19 had passed, at least in the Global North, where the major world decisions are made, in early June 2020, the unelected WEF Chairman, Klaus Schwab, announced “The Great Reset”. Taking advantage of the economic collapse – the crisis shock, as in “The Shock Doctrine” – Mr. Schwab, one of the Beast’s frontrunners, announces openly what the WEF will discuss and decide for the world-to-come in their next Davos Forum in January 2021. For more details see this.
Will, We, The People, accept the agenda of the unelected WEF?
It will opportunely focus on the protection of what’s left of Mother Earth; obviously at the center will be man-made CO2-based “Global Warming”. The instrument for that protection of nature and humankind will be the UN Agenda 2030 – which equals the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). It will focus on how to rebuild the willfully destroyed global economy, while respecting the (“green”) principles of the 17 SDGs.
Mind you, it’s all connected. There are no coincidences. The infamous Agenda 2021 which coincides with and complements the so-called (UN) Agenda 2030, will be duly inaugurated by the WEF’s official declaration of The Great Reset, in January 2021. Similarly, the implementation of the agenda of The Great Reset began in January 2020, by the launch of the corona pandemic – planned for decades with the latest visible events being the 2010 Rockefeller Report with its “Lockstep Scenario”, and Event 201, of 18 October in NYC which computer-simulated a corona pandemic, leaving within 18 months 65 million deaths and an economy in ruin, programmed just a few weeks before the launch of the actual corona pandemic. See COVID-19, We Are Now Living the “Lock Step Scenario” and this and this.
The Race Riots
The racial riots, initiated by the movement Black Lives Matter (funded by the Ford Foundation and Soros’ Open Society Foundation), following the brutal assassination of the Afro-American George Floyd by a gang of Minneapolis police, and spreading like brush-fire in no time to more than 160 cities, first in the US, then in Europe – are not only connected to the Beast’s agenda, but they were a convenient deviation from the human catastrophe left behind by Covid-19. See also this.
The Beast’s nefarious plan to implement what’s really behind the UN Agenda 2030 is the little heard-of Agenda ID2020. See The Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic: The Real Danger is “Agenda ID2020”. It has been created and funded by the vaccination guru Bill Gates, and so has GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations), the association of Big Pharma – involved in creating the corona vaccines, and which funds along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) a major proportion of WHO’s budget. Implosion: An Economic... Koenig, Peter Best Price: $12.53 Buy New $12.43 (as of 02:50 UTC - Details)
The Great Reset, as announced by WEF’s Klaus Schwab, is supposedly implemented by Agenda ID2020. It is more than meets the eye. Agenda ID2020 is even anchored in the SDGs, as SDG 16.9 “by 2030 provide legal [digital] identity for all, including free birth registration”. This fits perfectly into the overall goal of SDG 16: ”Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”
Following the official path of the UN Agenda 2030 of achieving the SDGs, the ‘implementing’ Agenda ID2020 – which is currently being tested on school children in Bangladesh – will provide digitized IDs possibly in the form of nano-chips implanted along with compulsory vaccination programs, will promote digitization of money and the rolling out of 5G – which would be needed to upload and monitor personal data on the nano chips and to control the populace. Agenda ID2020 will most likely also include ‘programs’ – through vaccination? – of significantly reducing world population. Eugenics is an important component in the control of future world population under a NOW / OWO – see also Georgia Guidestones, mysteriously built in 1980.
The ruling elite used the lockdown as an instrument to carry out this agenda. Its implementation would naturally face massive protests, organized and funded along the same lines as were the BLM protests and demonstrations. They may not be peaceful – and may not be planned as being peaceful. Because to control the population in the US and in Europe, where most of the civil unrest would be expected, a total militarization of the people is required. This is well under preparation.
In his essay “The Big Plantation”, John Steppling reports from a NYT article that a
“minimum of 93,763 machine guns, 180,718 magazine cartridges, hundreds of silencers and an unknown number of grenade launchers have been provided to state and local police departments in the US since 2006. This is in addition to at least 533 planes and helicopters, and 432 MRAPs — 9-foot high, 30-ton Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected armored vehicles with gun turrets and more than 44,900 pieces of night vision equipment, regularly used in nighttime raids in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
He adds that this militarization is part of a broader trend. Since the late 1990s, about 89 percent of police departments in the United States serving populations of 50,000 people or more had a PPU (Police Paramilitary Unit), almost double of what existed in the mid-1980s. He refers to these militarized police as the new Gestapo.
Even before Covid, about 15% to 20% of the population was on or below the poverty line in the United States. The post-covid lockdown economic annihilation will at least double that percentage – and commensurately increase the risk for civil turbulence and clashes with authorities – further enhancing the reasoning for a militarized police force. NATO’s Secret Ar... Daniele, Ganser Best Price: $70.25 Buy New $53.31 (as of 03:43 UTC - Details)
China’s Crypto RMB
None of these scenarios will, of course, be presented to the public by the WEF in January 2021. These are decisions taken behind closed doors by the key actors for the Beast. However, this grandiose plan of the Great Reset does not have to happen. There is at least half the world population and some of the most powerful countries, economically and militarily – like China and Russia – opposed to it. “Reset” maybe yes, but not in these western terms. In fact, a reset of kinds is already happening with China about to roll out a new People’s Bank of China backed blockchain-based cryptocurrency, the crypto RMB, or yuan. This is not only a hard currency based on a solid economy, it is also supported by gold.
While President Trump keeps trashing China for unfair trade, for improperly managing the covid pandemic, for stealing property rights – China bashing no end – that China depends on the US and that the US will cut trading ties with China – or cut ties altogether, China is calling Trump’s bluff. China is quietly reorienting herself towards the ASEAN countries plus Japan (yes, Japan!) and South Korea, where trade already today accounts for about 15% of all China’s trade and is expected to double in the next five years.
Despite the lockdown and the disruption of trade, China’s overall exports recovered with a 3.2% increase in April (in relation to April 2019). This overall performance in China exports was nonetheless accompanied by a dramatic decline in US-China trade. China exports to the US decreased by 7.9% in April (in relation to April 2019).
It is clear that the vast majority of US industries could not survive without Chinese supply chains. The western dependence on Chinese medical supplies is particularly strong. Let alone Chinese dependence by US consumers. In 2019, US total consumption, about 70% of GDP, amounted to $13.3 trillion, of which a fair amount is directly imported from China or dependent on ingredients from China.
The WEF-masters are confronted with a real dilemma. Their plan depends very much on the dollar supremacy which would continue to allow dishing out sanctions and confiscating assets from those countries opposing US rule; a dollar-hegemony which would allow imposing the components of The Great Reset scheme, as described above.
At present, the dollar is fiat money, debt-money created from thin air. It has no backing whatsoever. Therefore, its worth as a reserve currency is increasingly decaying, especially vis-à-vis the new crypto-yuan from China. In order to compete with the Chinese yuan, the US Government would have to move away from its monetary Ponzi-scheme, by separating itself from the 1913 Federal Reserve Act and print her own US-economy- and possibly gold-backed (crypto) money – not fiat FED-money, as is the case today. That would mean cutting the more than 100-year old ties to the Rothschild and Co. clan-owned FED, and creating a real peoples-owned central bank. Not impossible, but highly improbable. Here, two Beasts might clash, as world power is at stake.
Meanwhile, China, with her philosophy of endless creation would continue forging ahead unstoppably with her mammoth socioeconomic development plan of the 21st Century, the Belt and Road Initiative, connecting and bridging the world with infrastructure for land and maritime transport, with joint research and industrial projects, cultural exchanges – and not least, multinational trade with “win-win” characteristics, equality for all partners – towards a multi-polar world, towards a world with a common future for mankind.
Today already more than 120 countries are associated with BRI – and the field is wide open for others to join – and to defy, unmask and unplug The Great Reset of the West.
The original source of this article is Global Research.