Month: September 2024

Authored by James Howard Kunstler via Kunstler.com,

“The lies then and now are mind boggling. The people who continue to lap up the lies are beyond reach. The poison unleashed into the population will be with us a long time.”

– Edward Dowd

How is it that our country turned into some kind of theme park spook ride, a cheesy-looking haunted house of programmed frights, howling holograms, phantoms with their hair on fire, doors slamming open on glimpses of hell, ill-winds and foul odors, climaxing in a tableau vivant of death-in-life neverending?

I’m sure that this will surprise you, but you can choose to be sane.

How?

You take care of your business conscientiously; you steer in the direction of what is true and away from what is false; you find purpose in your existence by discovering your talents and using them in ways that do not bring harm to other people; you seek the company of kindred spirits. . . love the one you’re with. . . work hard so you can rest easy. . . express your gratitude for being here. That’s a start.

If you prefer being insane, there’s always the current incarnation of the Democratic Party, dedicated to gaslighting the nation into ruin.

Of course, at this point — the point of extreme desperation — the Dems are just running interference for the distraught intel-Globalist blob. The blob’s agenda has been thwarted, overwhelmed by runaway debt and drinking too much of its own propaganda Kool-aid. A great deal of that has entailed the commission of crimes, which always implies the possibility of having to pay for them.

Russia is about to roll up on what’s left of Ukraine. Our State Department neocon division thought it was wicked-smart to start a little action there in 2014, to provoke Russia into a ruinous war against NATO (the game: “Let’s You and Him Fight”) in order, theoretically, to wreck Russia and depose Mr. Putin. Didn’t work. Do you know why? I will tell you (it’s really simple): Russia’s leadership is more intelligent than ours, and far less psychopathic. They perceived correctly that we were only wrecking ourselves.

Ten years later, the Ukraine caper draws to a humiliating end for our neocons, and a ruinous end for NATO and the EU. So far this year, it appears that “Joe Biden’s” party has ceased paying attention to Ukraine. The pretty yellow and blue flags have all but disappeared — except in Massachusetts, we noticed, the most highly “educated” and most deeply insane state in the union. I’ll be interested in how Kamala Harris explains our Ukraine war policy in Tuesday’s presidential debate. Defending democracy, I suppose.

The governments of the major EU nations stupidly followed the bidding of America’s psychopathic neocons and now they ‘ll have to answer for it as their people awake to the destruction of the EU nations’ economies. Early elections will be called and globalist stooges will be swept away. The turmoil will rhyme with the chaos of 1848, a year of revolution. NATO, finding itself not just purposeless but toxic to Europe’s well-being, must dissolve as members on the periphery withdraw, some seeking to join the BRICs economic bloc. Germany, France, and the UK get sucked helplessly into a new great depression and social turmoil as they contend with many millions of hostile migrants.

Here in America, you can already hear the fake anguished cry of “Russia, Russia, Russia” echoing out of Merrick Garland’s fake Justice Department. We’re to understand that the Russians are coming for our election — more gaslight — when it’s actually the Democratic party, led surreptitiously by its lawfare cadres, Norm Eisen, Marc Elias, Andrew Weissmann, Mary McCord, Lisa Monaco, et al. Their many courtroom pranks have failed against Mr. Trump. Judge Chutkan was bloviating in the DC federal court this week to generate a little heat on MSNBC, but her case has a wooden stake through its heart and Xs where its eyes used to be.

Up in New York, Judge Juan Merchan pretends to wrassle with whether or not to start Civil War Two by remanding Mr. Trump to Rikers Island on September 18 (I doubt that happens). In the event, though, I believe Mr. Trump might simply say, “No thank you,” and go about his business running for president. That would be a counter-prank I’d be eager to see. Who gets in the act then? Federal marshals? The FBI (ha!)? The Supreme Court term begins the first Monday in October. They could have something to say about the steaming pile of horseshit that was Alvin Bragg’s and Mathew Colangelo’s case. (Also, Weissmann’s, Eisen’s, Monaco’s, and McCord’s.)

Gawd knows where things might stand after next Tuesday’s great debate. The rules are pretty stringent. No candidates questioning each other. No audience. No confab with staff during commercial breaks. The mute buttons will be on. Without her “I’m speaking” routine, Ms. Harris has. . . zotz. All Mr. Trump really has to do is be polite for 90-minutes.

More than a few people, meanwhile, are beginning to ask who is running the country, since “Joe Biden” is mostly off-duty, beaching it, not attending cabinet meetings, and probably not being consulted on any number of matters being carried out in his name. Are you comforted to know that the US government is on auto-pilot, a colossal, menacing machine run by ghosts?

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Support his blog by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page or Substack

The Pentagon giveth and the Pentagon taketh away. According to Israeli media, the Netanyahu has been put on notice that US warships could soon be ordered home and that they can’t stay in eastern Mediterranean waters indefinitely to protect Israel.

Israeli media is reporting Friday that with regards to a potential wider all-out regional war and Iranian attack, a message was sent that tensions need to be reduced at some stage because “the US aircraft carriers will not be able to stay in the area forever.”

Currently no less than two air craft carriers — the Theodore Roosevelt and the Abraham Lincoln — along with accompanying warships are in Mideast regional waters. They were deployed there following threats from Iran weeks ago. 

The whole region braced for an Iranian response to the Israeli killing of Hamas leader outside Tehran Ismail Haniyeh on July 31st. The US moved warships closer to Israel in anticipation that the US would help shootdown potential inbound Iranian ballistic missiles and drones.

Apparently the guided-missile submarine Georgia, which can fire cruise missiles and transport Navy SEAL commandos, is also in the region.

Did Iran back off its threat for a major attack? It appears so, or else Tehran is just slow-playing the response, anticipating that the Pentagon will eventually withdraw its naval assets and that a willingness to defend Israel will subside.

All of this comes at a moment of rare US-Israel tensions, especially in the wake of Prime Minister Netanyahu declaring that efforts to achieve a ceasefire deal with Hamas are essentially dead.

“There’s not a deal in the making,” he told Fox News. “Unfortunately, it’s not close.” He said this during a morning Fox News live interview segment. This flatly contradicted recent White House statements and is somewhat of an embarrassment for the Biden administration.

Meanwhile divisions within the Israeli government and differences over the Gaza end-game have been growing:

Washington has sent a message to Israel that they “oppose the [potential] firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant,” and said that they are “satisfied with the cooperation” with him, Channel 13 news reports.

The outlet says the message was “polite, but clear.”

But even should the US carrier groups be recalled from the region, Washington weapons are still pouring into Israel. Some reports have said that without US arms, Israel would only be able to sustain its Gaza operations for a couple of months.

The conclusion of many analysts is that Biden could pressure Netanyahu enough to force him to strike a truce and hostage exchange deal. Instead Biden has been largely hands-off and Bibi has prioritized the military offensive to eradicate Hamas. 

Netanyahu has laid blame on Hamas for there being no deal. He said to Fox this week that the group “don’t agree to anything. Not to the Philadelphi Corridor, not to the keys of exchanging hostages for jailed terrorists, not to anything. So that’s just a false narrative.”

Mass Israeli protests in the wake of the recent recovery of six dead hostages have demanded Netanyahu’s removal from office. The hostage victims’ families also claim he has thwarted a truce deal for the release of the hostages at every turn, instead choosing to prioritize the military operation against Gaza militants.

Authored by Haika Mrema via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The biopic “Reagan” exceeded box office expectations after its release over Labor Day weekend.

The full-length feature film, starring Dennis Quaid, is the story of former President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy Reagan, who is portrayed by Penelope Ann Miller.

According to Box Office Mojo, “Reagan” took in over $10.3 million during the Aug. 30–Sept. 2 showing period, ranking third behind “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Alien: Romulus.”

The biographical film “almost doubled projections that it would make about $5 million in its opening weekend,” per The Oklahoman, earning $7.4 million from Friday through Sunday.

Directed by Sean McNamara, “Reagan” is based on the 2006 book “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism” by author and professor Paul Kengor.

Moviegoers responded positively, giving the film a 98 percent “Popcornmeter” score on Rotten Tomatoes compared with a 22 percent critical rating as of Wednesday.

“What I can say is when the movie was over, people were wiping tears from their eyes, and the theater broke into applause. I haven’t been to a movie in years where an audience reacted this way,” one reviewer wrote. “It’s inspirational. It’s feel good and positive. It’s historical. It’s real and well done. It recounted a time when people who disagreed found ways to stay friends and work together for the good of the country.”

“A remarkable piece of filmmaking that not only brings a popular president to vivid new life but puts his unlikely story into the broadest possible cosmic context,” another reviewer said. “Dennis Quaid delivers a career-topping performance of stunning breadth—and depth.”

In August, ahead of the film’s release, Quaid brushed aside criticism of his choice to depict the Republican president, telling Fox News that “Reagan” is not a “political movie.”

“It’s a biopic. It’s a love story. It’s about all of us as America, where we used to be,” he said. “A lot of that gets twisted because people have agendas. And so, yeah, they tried to cancel me a couple of times, but so what?”

The 70-year-old actor said the 40th president was “like everybody’s dad at the time that he was president,” noting that people either admired or rebelled against their fathers. “With what we were going through with politics or whatever in this country today, a lot of people wanting to kind of relate that to Reagan and make this a political movie, which it’s not,” Quaid said.

“Reagan” stars Dennis Quaid, Penelope Ann Miller, Jon Voight as retired KGB agent Viktor Petrovich, and Scott Stapp as Frank Sinatra. It’s currently showing in movie theaters nationwide.

Presidential Roles

“Reagan” was not Quaid’s first on-screen portrayal of an American president. After returning to television following a series of movie appearances, including “In Good Company” (2004), “American Dreamz” (2006), “Vantage Point” (2008), and “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” (2009), Quaid portrayed former President Bill Clinton in the 2009 HBO Film “The Special Relationship.”

For his performance as the 42nd president, Quaid earned a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. He starred alongside Michael Sheen as Tony Blair and Hope Davis, who portrayed Hillary Clinton.

In “American Dreamz,” Quaid played a fictional American president named Joseph Staton, a character loosely resembling George W. Bush, alongside Hugh Grant, Marcia Gay Harden as First Lady, and Willem Dafoe as Chief of Staff.

But out of all the U.S. presidents, Quaid said Reagan was at the top of his list.

“Reagan was my favorite president,” he told Daily Wire editor Ben Shapiro on the “Sunday Special” show. “I voted for Jimmy Carter in ’76; that was my first time I could vote, but then I voted for Reagan in ’80.”

Israel’s IDF military has been engaged in an intense 10-day operation in the West Bank, which in the last several days has been heavily focused on ‘counter-terror’ operations in Jenin. The Palestinian health ministry has said at least 36 Palestinians have been killed during what is widely being described as the IDF’s biggest operation in the West Bank in years. There are now fears that the situation could become like the Gaza Strip.

The deteriorating situation has attracted the greater scrutiny of Washington after on Friday 26-year old American-Turkish human rights activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was reportedly gunned down by Israeli soldiers. Eyewitnesses near the scene of her death described that Israeli forces used live ammunition on a large group of protesters.

“During the weekly protest in Beita, south of Nablus in the West Bank, IDF soldiers opened fire at the protesters using live ammunition,” Jerusalem Post writes of the eyewitness accounts. “Eygi was subsequently critically wounded in the head. The 26 years old activist was evacuated to Rafida Hospital in Nablus, where she later died.”

Doctors at the Rafidia Hospital confirmed the young woman’s death to Reuters. Subsequent social media posts from the hospital showed Eygi’s American passport. 

Israeli and Palestinian media reports say that along with live ammunition, stun grenades and tear gas were used to try and disperse the protest in Beita.

The Jerusalem Post describes of the organization Eygi was protesting with as follows:

Eygi was part of the Faz’a campaign, which supports Palestinian farmers against military and settler violations. Additionally, similar to Rachel Corrie, who was killed in Rafah in 2003 while attempting to interfere with IDF operations, Eygi was a member of the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led movement.

Israel’s military says it is investigating the shooting, but a statement also appeared to own up to it: “The Israeli military stated that during a violent public disorder, stones were thrown at IDF forces, who responded by shooting at the lower body of the main instigator of the rioters,” the IDF was quoted in local media as saying.

A Palestinian doctor said that in the immediate aftermath, “We tried to perform a resuscitation operation on her, but unfortunately she died.”

The governments of both Turkey and the United States confirmed the death of the dual national. Eygi was Turkish-born and a citizen of the United States.

“We have learned with deep regret that our citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi has been killed by the Israeli occupation forces,” The Turkish Foreign Ministry said.

UPDATE: US- Turkish citizen killed in West Bank

• Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26 yr old woman
• Shot in head by Israeli forces: WAFA
• Turkey accuses Netanyahu of murder
• US gov.: ‘aware of tragic death’
• Israel ‘reviewing’
• 3rd US citizen killed in WB https://t.co/2Ynj6cbxWD

— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) September 6, 2024

And US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said: “We are aware of the tragic death of an American citizen, Aysenur Eygi, today in the West Bank. We offer our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones. We are urgently gathering more information about the circumstances of her death, and will have more to say as we learn more. We have no higher priority than the safety and security of American citizens.”

This is likely to exacerbate tensions between the US and Israel further. In Turkey’s case, relations with Tel Aviv are already an a historic low point, and this killing is likely to send things spiraling further.

Authored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness,

The public is exhausted after a decade of chronic untruth from the left-wing and its media.

The 2016 presidential campaign will be long remembered for the false allegation that Donald Trump colluded with the Russians to warp the election.

Citing the bogus “Steele dossier,” loser Hillary Clinton and other Democrat grandees claimed that the victorious Trump was an “illegitimate” president.

Almost immediately, the left and media then pushed for the appointment of special prosecutor Robert Mueller. He assembled a ‘dream team’ of partisan prosecutors to prove Trump-Russian collusion.

Some 22 months later, Mueller found no evidence that Donald Trump improperly won the 2016 election with help from any colluding Russians.

More hysteria followed when Trump was impeached in December 2019.

The left claimed he had pressured the Ukrainian government to look into the family of Joe Biden (then a potential 2020 election opponent) for its corruption with Ukrainian oligarchs—as a condition for releasing military aid designated to Kyiv.

Yet Hunter Biden was paid nearly $1 million a year by a Ukrainian energy company to enlist his father, Vice President Joe Biden, for quid pro quo services.

In turn, Joe Biden himself later bragged he had pressured Ukraine to fire its prosecutor, Victor Shokin—who happened to be looking too closely into the various shady schemes of the Biden family.

The deceptions and lies continued.

On the eve of the first 2020 debate, Biden aide and now Secretary of State Antony Blinken helped to round up “51 former intelligence authorities” to claim falsely that Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop—full of incriminating evidence of felonious Biden family behavior—was fabricated by the Russians.

Yet the FBI already had the laptop and had authenticated it as genuine.

The FBI was also actively enlisting Silicon Valley social media companies to suppress accurate news accounts of the laptop’s embarrassing contents—ostensibly to aid the Biden campaign.

The signees of the false letter included former intelligence kingpins such as Leon Panetta, James Clapper, and John Brennan. None has ever apologized for deliberating lying to the country in a (successful) attempt to help alter an election.

During the summer of 2021, top military officials, at least publicly, parroted the Biden administration’s lie that it was safe to abruptly withdraw all troops from Afghanistan.

The Biden plan was to take political credit for ending the two-decade-long war on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and the American invasion of Afghanistan.

Yet many intelligence officials in and outside the Pentagon had warned both Biden and the Pentagon top brass that any such reckless and total withdrawal would collapse Afghanistan.

They rightly also advised that sudden flight would give terrorists a windfall of equipment and infrastructure.

But they were ignored and during the subsequent Biden misadventure, thirteen American Marines were needlessly killed.

After the greatest military humiliation in a half-century, Biden and many in the media lied that the mission was nevertheless a successful withdrawal.

But that was not all. For the first time in history, a presidential candidate, Donald Trump, was subjected to numerous criminal and civil suits in an election year.

Yet the federal prosecutor, Jack Smith, met with Biden officials. A high-ranking Biden Justice federal attorney joined the New York municipal prosecution. The Georgia prosecutor met stealthily with Biden’s legal counsel. And a major Biden donor funded the civil suit.

The once collusion-hungry media ignored all such lawfare and rank collusion.

During the 2020 Democratic primaries, the general election, and throughout the first three years of the Biden administration, it was evident that Joe Biden was physically and mentally incapable of serving as president.

Yet his aides and the media all misled the American people. They insisted that Biden was vigorous and sharp.

Then suddenly in June 2024, within a 24-hour period, Biden was declared by these same insiders as unfit to continue as the Democratic nominee.

Their new problem with Biden was not just his long-standing embarrassing dementia. Rather bad polls increasingly warned that voters no longer believed their lies and thus would likely not reelect Biden but would instead punish most Democrats in the upcoming 2024 election.

So, a new media narrative arose: the once-hale Biden was forced to resign as the Democrat nominee. His once widely caricatured vice president, Kamala Harris, just as abruptly was coronated as his replacement candidate by an equally suddenly gushing and colluding media.

In sum, for some nine years, the media and the left have successfully fed the country a succession of rank deceptions and conspiracies.

They did so because they proclaimed Donald Trump too dangerous to be president and therefore any means they employed to stop him were to be justified. And they are doing so yet a third time in 2024.

As they continue, they have all but destroyed democracy, ruined the reputation of the media, alienated the public—and embarrassed their country before the world.

One month after the Aug 5 Kamala Karry Trade Krash, we got part 2…

… and boy was it an epic flush: everything – like literally everything – and certainly anything with a high beta or even a trace of momentum, imploded with a sheer violence that made Aug 5 look like amateur hour. And unlike Aug 5, the puke was only at the beginning with stocks spiking from the first moment of trading, this time it was the other way around, with stocks pushing higher to start the day before falling apart, and ending a catastrophic week in the worst way possible: on a downtick.

It all started with the August payrolls: as described earlier, the number wasn’t terrible: at 142K, it missed the estimate of 165K but rebounded sharply from last month’s (downward revised) 89K…

… and the unemployment rate actually dropped…

… as the number of employed workers jumped by the most since March (even if the composition was terrible, consisting entirely of part-time, illegal workers).

Yet, while on the surface the jobs number was strong enough to eliminate the odds of a 50bps rate cut, the market did not take it that way – perhaps as a result of the massive historical revisions – and odds of a 50bps cut in two weeks first spiked, before reversing… only to spike again after Fed gov Waller said he would “advocate” front-loading rate cuts if that is appropriate, wrong-footing markets again, and sending odds of a 50bps cut as high as 65%… before a tweet from the WSJ’s Fed leaker Nick Timiraos interpreted the Fed’s speech as much more hawkish than it appeared, saying that “Fed governor Chris Waller’s speech doesn’t explicitly say “25” or “50” but it leans into endorsing a 25 bps cut to start, explicitly reserving the option to go faster “as appropriate” if “new data” show more deterioration.”

He also said that “Waller pats the Fed on the back for not overreacting to the banking crisis, the lower inflation prints of 2H 23, the higher prints of Q1 24. Then he says, “Based on the evidence I see, I do not believe the economy is in a recession or necessarily headed for one.” So after all that, we saw what may have been a rate expectation reversal for the ages, with odds of 2 cuts first jumping from 40% to 60% before reversing back to 40%, only to surge to 65% before finally plunging to 25%, all in the span of a few minutes!

This epic, frenzied activity meant, in which nobody had any idea what is going on, meant Trading in fed funds futures surged to a record Friday. According to Bloomberg, volumes in the second generic fed funds future, typically the most active, reached 900,000 as of 1pm ET, the highest for any contract since their inception in 1988. Trading volume in the October contract surpasses previous record from March 2023, when collapse of Silicon Valley Bank reverberated through financial markets!

And while we don’t know for a fact if that’s what happened, it seems fair to guess that these unprecedented, wild swings in what is the market’s most important pricing indicator, sparked a relentless liquidation across all assets, which hit – in no particular order – stocks…

… oil

… bitcoin

… USDJPY

… and even gold was not immune, and after briefly reaching for new all time highs in the aftermath of the payrolls scare, it then proceeded to slide to session lows.

In fact, the only asset class that showed some semblance of rationality was bonds, where yields first dumped, then spiked, then dumped again, only to close near session highs, perhaps realizing that the faster the Fed cuts, the faster it will spark another inflationary conflagration.

Putting today – and this week’s – rout in context, one can argue that it was even worse than the Aug 5 debacle, because while that was just one day of acute pain, by the end of that particular week, stocks had largely rebounded. This time, however, the pain is just getting started, and what started off as an ugly week, ended up much uglier with widespread liquidations…

… and even more remarkably, a non-stop attempt by the 0DTE crowd to kickstart an intraday reversal in the form of a record delta flow divergence from the S&P, ended up achieving absolutely nothing.

And how could it when everyone’s favorite high beta momentum stock, NVDA, resumed its plunge and just barely managed to remain above $100, and now down more 30% from its all time high hit all the way back in June…

… and not just NVDA, but the entire Mag 7 sector is now back to levels last seen just after the Aug 5 freakout…

… which may largely be due to charts like this one from Goldman, suggesting that the AI bubble has burst with a bang.

And while it is easy to speculate and assign a narrative to what happened based on prices, it is just as likely that today’s – and this week’s – price action is precisely what was expected to happen: as the following chart from Goldman makes clear, in presidential election years, stocks peak just before Labor day, before dumping all the way until the election, before blasting off higher once more. Well, you are here!

 

Following Wednesday’s announcement by Attorney General Merrick Garland of new sanctions targeting Russian state media entities, particularly media network RT, which stands charged with conspiring to commit money laundering and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, Moscow is promising to hit back against US journalists and media.

Garland had said, “The American people are entitled to know when a foreign power is attempting to exploit our country’s free exchange of ideas in order to send around its own propaganda.”

But Russia on Friday announced it is imposing new restrictions targeting American media. “A like response is not possible. There is no state news agency in the US, and there is no state TV channel in the U.S.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was cited in RIA Novosti news agency as saying. But he said new measures targeting American media will follow.

Moscow has long acknowledged that Washington directly sponsors foreign propaganda channels abroad, such as state-run Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). The latter network up until the 1970s was literally run by the CIA, after which the State Department oversaw it.

These US-funded entities were labeled foreign agents in Russia in 2017, and it was only in 2022 that they were banned from Russia altogether. These are Cold War era US stations which disseminated the American view of events abroad as part of soft power. But Moscow is set to now keep going after private media entities operating in Russia.

As for Friday’s fresh announcement, Peskov continued, “But there will certainly be measures here that will restrict their media disseminating their information.”

On the US government’s new target list for sanctions includes RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan and her deputy Elizaveta Brodskaia.

Earlier this week as part of his trip to Russia’s regional ally Mongolia, President Putin told the newspaper Onoodor, “In order to hide from inconvenient facts, from truthful information, the West, which considers itself the standard of freedom, has launched an open persecution against Russian correspondents.”

Despite Russia recently adding almost one hundred more journalists and entities to a growing blacklist, including members of The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post,  Putin has said Western reporters who conform to Russian law have nothing to worry about.

“The only requirement for them is compliance with Russian legislation,” he said. “Foreign correspondents accredited in our country should understand this,” Putin continued, as also cited in US state-run VOA.

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

It certainly seems that technological advances make our lives better. Instead of writing a letter, stamping it, and mailing it (which was vastly more personal), we now send emails. Rather than driving to a local retailer or manufacturer, we order it online. Of course, we mustn’t dismiss the rise of social media, which connects us to everyone and everything more than ever.

Economists and experts have long argued that technological advances drive U.S. economic growth and productivity. As innovations emerge, they play a crucial role in shaping the economy, improving efficiency, and enhancing productivity across various sectors. From artificial intelligence to automation, the benefits of technological progress are widespread and profound.

For example, automation and artificial intelligence have streamlined manufacturing processes, reducing the need for manual labor and minimizing human error. This efficiency boost leads to faster production times and reduced costs, lowering prices while improving profit margins. Higher productivity levels contribute to overall economic growth, as businesses can produce more goods and services with the same resources.

Another significant benefit is the creation of new industries and job opportunities. As technology evolves, it creates demand for new skills and expertise, leading to the development of entirely new sectors. For example, the rise of the technology industry gave birth to jobs in software, data analysis, and cybersecurity, among others. These high-paying jobs contribute to economic growth by increasing consumer spending and driving innovation.

Ray Kurzweil’s 1999 book, “The Age of Spiritual Machines,” introduced the concept of “The Law of Accelerating Returns.“ Ray predicted that the rate of technological advances is exponential rather than linear. That means that technology builds on itself in a positive feedback loop, allowing each generation to advance at an increasing rate.

Kurzweil’s predictions related to this theory have proven remarkably accurate. He predicted technologies such as the internet and the growth in mobile computing power years before they emerged. Out of 147 predictions he made in the 1990s about the future up to 2009, 115 (78%) were correct.

However, were economists’ predictions about the benefit of technology as accurate as Kurzweil’s?

The Dark Side Of Technological Advancement

While technological advances seem to produce an enormous benefit, a dark side gets hidden from public discourse.

One primary concern is job displacement. Automation and artificial intelligence, while improving efficiency, often replace jobs traditionally performed by humans. This displacement mainly affects low-skilled workers in industries like manufacturing and retail, leading to unemployment and underemployment. As machines take over routine tasks, the workforce faces the challenge of reskilling to meet the demands of a more technologically advanced economy. That transition period can lead to economic slowdowns and increased inequality, as not all workers have the means or opportunity to adapt quickly.

The chart below shows the trend of employment versus actual employment. Since 1947, employment has grown with the economy, as expected. However, employment changed in the late 90s as employment fell below the previous growth trend, coinciding with the Internet adoption. The need for employees eroded as the internet fostered technological advances in everything from manufacturing automation to online sales, social media, advertising, and business management. Today, the deviation in employment from the long-term growth trend is the largest in history outside of the pandemic-driven economic shutdown.

Another issue is the increasing concentration of wealth and market power in the hands of a few technology giants. Companies like Amazon, Google, and Apple dominate their respective markets, creating barriers to entry for smaller firms. As shown, as technological advances increased, there has been a clear shift in corporate earnings and concentration. Again, starting in the late 90s, increased technological advances reduced the number of employees required to produce goods and services. At the same time, the market became increasingly concentrated in a smaller group of companies.

Monopolistic behavior stifles competition, reduces innovation, and limits consumer choice. Furthermore, corporate profitability soared by reducing labor, which is the most costly expense for any business.

The vast wealth accumulation by these companies contributes to economic inequality. That inequality can hamper overall economic growth by reducing the average consumer’s purchasing power. Since 1990, wealth inequality has soared, with those in the top 10% owning a vast majority of economic wealth. The bottom 50%, which comprises a significant portion of employee labor in the manufacturing and services industries, have barely benefitted.

Lastly, the rapid pace of technological change can lead to productivity paradoxes, where the expected gains in productivity from new technologies do not materialize as anticipated. That happens due to the significant time and investment required to integrate new technologies effectively into existing business processes. Additionally, cybersecurity threats, data privacy concerns, and technology-driven stress can undermine productivity and lead to economic inefficiencies.

But there is even a darker side that no one is talking about.

Social Loneliness

While social media and the internet have revolutionized the way we connect and communicate, they have also contributed to several severe societal issues, including increased loneliness, social and political division, and a troubling rise in teenage suicides. Understanding these negative impacts is crucial for addressing the challenges of the digital age.

One significant consequence of social media is the rise in loneliness. Despite the promise of connecting people, social media often leads to superficial interactions, which lack the depth and intimacy of face-to-face communication. As users compare their lives to the seemingly perfect lives of others online, feelings of inadequacy and isolation can increase. That can be particularly damaging for teenagers, as they are at a critical stage of developing their self-identity and sense of belonging. The constant need for validation through likes and comments can lead to feelings of loneliness and anxiety.

Social media also contributes to social and political division. The algorithms that power these platforms often promote content aligning with users’ beliefs, creating echo chambers reinforcing biases. This polarization can deepen societal divisions, making constructive dialogue and mutual understanding more difficult. The spread of misinformation and fake news further exacerbates these divisions, exposing people to misleading content that can shape their perceptions and opinions. With a growing inability to logically and rationally discuss our differences, passing laws and policies that benefit everyone has become impossible.

Lastly, and most unfortunately, the impact of social media on teenage mental health is alarming. Studies have shown a link between heavy social media use and increased rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts among teenagers. The pressure to fit in, the prevalence of cyberbullying, and the exposure to unrealistic standards of beauty and success can create a toxic environment that negatively affects teens’ mental well-being. Tragically, this can lead to an increase in teenage suicides (as shown by the CDC) as vulnerable individuals struggle to cope with the pressures of the digital world.

In conclusion, while technology is a powerful driver of economic growth, it also presents challenges that can negatively impact productivity, equality, mental health, and societal cohesion. Addressing these issues ensures that technological advancements promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth.

After all, that was the promise of technology, to begin with.

Authored by Luis Cornelio via HeadlineUSA.com,

A Pennsylvania appeals court ruled that county officials must count the provisional ballots of individuals claiming their mail-in ballots were rejected, expanding an infamous practice known as ballot curing.

The Commonwealth Court overturned a Butler County judge’s ruling that officials did not have to count the provisional ballots of individuals whose naked ballots were rejected, reported the Penn Capital-Star on Thursday.

Naked ballots refer to those submitted without the required secrecy envelope and placed directly into the return envelope. Secrecy envelopes provide a layer of privacy and prevent unauthorized individuals from seeing the voter’s choice. 

Judge Matthew S. Wolf, writing for the majority, claimed that the Butler County Board of Elections lacked the legal basis to reject counting provisional ballots. 

The Pennsylvania Republican Party and Butler County Board of Elections had contended that state election laws, known as the Election Code, prohibited voters from casting provisional ballots if their mail-in ballots were received on time.

The lower court ruled that counting these provisional ballots amounted to ballot curing, allowing voters to fix their ballots even after submission. 

The Republican National Committee and the Pennsylvania GOP argued at the time, “There can be no dispute that the unequivocal law of Pennsylvania is that secrecy envelopes are required, and any mail-in ballot received without a secrecy envelope cannot be counted.” 

The appeals court’s ruling marks yet another blow to election integrity measures ahead of the 2024 presidential election. On Friday, the Commonwealth Court ordered the Democratic strongholds of Philadelphia and Allegheny counties to count mismarked ballots. 

“The refusal to count undated or incorrectly dated but timely mail ballots submitted by otherwise eligible voters because of meaningless and inconsequential paperwork errors violates the fundamental right to vote recognized in the free and equal elections clause,” Judge Ellen Ceisler wrote at the time, according to Spotlight Pa.

Pennsylvania is a must-win state for Vice President Kamala Harris, President Donald Trump’s Democratic opponent.

Authored by T.J.Muscaro via The Epoch Times,

It’s been more than three weeks since a named tropical storm or hurricane has developed in the Atlantic, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) as of Sept. 5.

While five low pressure disturbances have been spotted in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico, there is little chance that this streak will come to an end in the next few days.

Hurricane Ernesto earned its name on Aug. 12, and the NHC issued its last advisory about the storm on Aug. 20, which, by that day, was moving over the north Atlantic more than 400 miles east-northeast of Newfoundland, Canada.

This marks a three-week gap between tropical cyclones reaching a level of strength and organized convection that warrants a name, and two weeks since a tropical cyclone advisory was issued.

Each of the five low pressure disturbances have a small possibility of becoming a tropical storm within the next week.

“Overall, the tropics (Atlantic basin) are starting to awaken from the slumber we have had for the last few weeks,” Stan Goldenberg, a meteorologist for the Hurricane Research Division at NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory, told The Epoch Times in an email.

He added that there could be several factors as to why they are not seeing more development now, such as the current state of a usually storm-producing phenomenon called the Madden-Julian Oscillation, and enduring dryness in the air.

“We are still seeing a lot of dry air inhibiting activity, but that normally starts to clear out about this time so it is expected to change soon,” he said.

Possible Storm Developments

Only two disturbances appear to be having an immediate impact on land. Disturbance 1 is currently affecting the northwest Gulf Coast around Texas and Louisiana with a 10 percent chance of further development in the next seven days.

“Although development is unlikely, heavy rainfall is expected across portions of the northern Gulf Coast during the next day or so,” the NHC stated.

Meanwhile, Disturbance 4 was expected to reach Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula by Aug. 6, and is described as disorganized shower and thunderstorm activity.

The most probable disturbance to develop was spotted in the northwest Atlantic ocean between North Carolina and Bermuda. The NHC labeled this storm L99 and gave it a 30 percent chance of developing in the next 48 hours, reporting better-organized showers and thunderstorms and near-gale force winds (39 to 54 mph).

“This system could acquire some tropical or subtropical characteristics over the next day or two while it moves generally north-northeastward, remaining offshore of the northeastern United States,” the NHC stated. “Once the low moves over cooler waters by early Saturday, further development is not expected.”

The potential for storm development is also tracked by the NOAA Climate Prediction Center’s Global Tropical Hazards Outlook, which is updated every Tuesday. But that, too, appears to suggest that the relative calm will continue.

Dan Harnos, a meteorologist for NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, told The Epoch Times in an email that the outlook suggests a greater than 40 percent chance that a hurricane will develop between Sept. 11 and 17 in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, “with lower probabilities of formation across the tropical Atlantic the following week.

“Also on the horizon is the potential forecast shift to La Niña conditions forecast during September-October-November, which have been shown to lengthen the duration of prior Atlantic hurricane seasons.”

Named Storms

Tropical Storms and Hurricanes in the Atlantic—which includes the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico—are given names in alphabetical order throughout the season. This means that as of Sept. 5, only five named storms were recorded and only three of those five reached hurricane status. This included Hurricane Beryl, which became the earliest-forming Category 5 hurricane on record.

For comparison, in 2023, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported seven named storms within the two-week period between Aug. 20 and Sept. 5: Tropical Storm Gert, Tropical Storm Emily, Hurricane Franklin, Tropical Storm Harold, Hurricane Idalia, Tropical Storm Jose, and Tropical Storm Katia.

Tropical Storms Gert, Emily, Jose, and Katia never made landfall.

“I do think it’s surprising for the tropics to be relatively quiet as we approach the historical peak of the season, which is just a few days away,” Erica Grow Cei, a National Weather Service spokesperson and meteorologist, told The Epoch Times in an email.

“But that’s just statistics! The atmospheric conditions mentioned by Dr. Harnos are preventing any of the waves originating off the coast of Africa from developing further. So meteorologically, it makes sense.”

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30, and NOAA has said there’s a 90 percent chance that 2024 will have higher than normal activity and a 10 percent chance that activity will be near normal.

NOAA predicted the 2024 season will have 17 to 24 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher), with eight to 13 of them being hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher) and four to seven being major hurricanes, in its Aug. 4 report. A major hurricane is one that grows to a Category 3 or stronger with wind speeds of 111 mph or greater.

NOAA states that a typical Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of which are hurricanes and three of which are major hurricanes.

To those living in hurricane-prone areas, Grow Cei said it only takes one tropical storm or hurricane to cause a catastrophe, and that the 2024 season is far from over.

“Enjoy this respite from a normally active period for the tropics, but make sure your supplies are ready in the event a new storm starts brewing,” she said.