Category: zerohedge

The Chair of the University of British Columbia Board of Governors has resigned after a college activist group was triggered by several tweets he “liked.”

Michael Korenberg was targeted for cancellation by pro-antifa campus activist group, UBC Students Against Bigotry, after he liked tweets from Ann Coulter, Charlie Kirk and Dinesh D’Souza – as well as tweets wishing President Trump a happy birthday, according to True North.

One of the ‘liked’ tweets was critical of Black Lives Matter – drawing condemnation from far-left media outlets, as well as UBC staff such as professor Annette Henry, who said Korenberg’s Twitter activity has reflected a “white supremacist capitalist [hetero]patriarchy” worldview, adding that “It’s unfortunate that we have people in such positions of authority at UBC.”

According to Henry, UBC ‘still keeps hiring white people where we have the opportunity not to.’

UBS professor Jennifer Berdahl called on Korenberg to resign.

And now, he has, accompanied by a lengthy apology.

“Over the past two weeks some articles/statements that I ‘liked’ on Twitter supported regressive voices and took aim at thousands of brave individuals who are standing up against racism, discrimination and hatred,” wrote Korenberg in a Saturday tweet containing a typed statement.

“I accept that in liking these social media posts, I damaged what I support and that I hurt people. I wholeheartedly apologize to them, particularly to the students, faculty and staff of UBC…I have stepped down because it is the right thing to do.”

Today I stepped down as Chair of the Board of Governors of UBC. I owe all students, faculty and staff and all those who stand against all forms of discrimination, an apology. I do so with all my heart. pic.twitter.com/tDczgwvmbp

— Michael Korenberg (@Mikey4493) June 21, 2020

And as TNC‘s Lindsay Shepherd notes: 

And that really is all he is resigning for, folks: because he liked some tweets featuring basic, mainstream Republican talking points.

Korenberg was showing signs, early on, that he was the “apologize and resign” type. He told PressProgress that he regrets liking the tweets, giving the weak excuse that he liked them late at night.

But for the rest of us, if we are ever targeted by a mob of leftist campus activists and media outlets for something so minuscule as liking conservative-minded tweets, I hope we can muster up some courage and not be the type to “apologize and resign.” –True North

We’re sure the woke mob will forgive his transgressions and he’ll regain his previous stature within academia. Or not.

ViaAlmasdarNews.com,

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced its intention to establish a permanent military base in the Indian Ocean by next March, with the aim of providing security in the waters of the Gulf of Oman and the ocean, and protecting fishermen and merchant ships from piracy.

The commander of the Naval Forces, Ali Reza Tungsiri, said that the Guards have directives from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, to be present on the high seas permanently.

In a press statement, Tungsiri said that the Iranian Army and Revolutionary Guards have previously sent fleets to the high seas, stressing that other future fleets will be sent.

The military official pointed out that Iranian fishermen and merchant ships were exposed to harassment by pirates in the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean, stressing that the permanent presence of the guards in those areas would prevent any future attacks.

“The deployment of the fleet by the IRGC navy to distant waters has been done in the past, and our second fleet was also sent to the waters of the Indian Ocean,” the naval commander said.

“[Building a permanent marine base will improve] security in the mouth of the Indian Ocean that will also be of great help to the growing presence of Iranian fishing and fishing development in the region,” he added.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg mentioned that the Monday comments in Fars News Agency Agency didn’t specify a planned location for the base. Bloomberg also recalled that:

In April, Guard Corps gunboats approached American ships at close range, prompting President Donald Trump to order the U.S. Navy to open fire in any repeat confrontation. Iran, Russia and China late last year held joint naval drills in the Gulf of Oman and northern Indian Ocean.

It is also noteworthy to mention that Iran possesses the strategic port of Chabahar on the waters of the Indian Ocean and the Sea of ​​Oman, but its development suffers from difficulties due to the U.S. sanctions on Tehran.

You’d think eating random animals – not to mention pets – in China would be frowned upon at this point. But a little global pandemic hasn’t stopped organizers from kicking off a 10 day dog meat festival, despite pushback from activists and government, according to the South China Morning Post. This despite earlier reports that China would no longer market dogs as livestock.

The festival is known to attract “thousands of visitors” who buy dogs “for the pot” that are on display. Animal rights activists are trying diligently to get the festival disbanded permanently. 

Animal rights activist Peter Li said: “I do hope Yulin will change, not only for the sake of the animals but also for the health and safety of its people. Allowing mass gatherings to trade in and consume dog meat in crowded markets and restaurants in the name of a festival poses a significant public health risk.”

The article claims that the coronavirus has forced China to “reassess its relationship with animals”, although with an event like, well, a 10 day dog meat festival, it appears to us the country has a lot more reassessing to do. 

Back in April, Shenzhen banned the consumption of dogs and other provinces are expected to follow suit. The agriculture ministry also decided to classify dogs as pets instead of livestock, SCMP noted. That did not last long.

Another activist, Zhang Qianqian, said: “From what we understand from our conversations with meat sellers, leaders have said the consumption of dog meat won’t be allowed in future. But banning dog-meat consumption is going to be hard and will take some time.”

By Tony Pasquariello, global head of HF Sales at Goldman

For the financial markets, the period since late February has been a watershed – a genuinely epic sequence of action and reaction.

In tactical terms, there’s no shortage of stories to recount.  there was the day when S&P closed down … 12% (and, thereafter, the VIX touched 85).  or, the time when the US long bond rallied 40bps … in 24 hours.  and, to be sure, no greatest hits list would be complete without reference to the futures expiry when WTI sold off, ahem, 305%. 

Jumping off those points, below is a simple layout of 22 line items that stuck out to me over the course of the past several months.

This sequence wasn’t constructed to represent a cohesive theme or directional bias, but I think we can agree on the following: this period has been epochal.  we’re passing the early chapters.  and, perhaps most importantly, the interplay between the financial markets and policy has been truly enormous and without precedent; the undeniable fact that government has been an overwhelming force in markets is shot through the list below:

1. 2020 has likely featured the sharpest — but, the shortest — recession in US history (certainly since the 1850s for the US, and since WWII on a global scale).  credit: Jan Hatzius, GIR.  

2. in turn, we’ve just seen the strongest rally out of a bear market since … 1932.  credit: Ben Snider, GIR. 

3. the US alone had conducted $2.3tr of QE in the past three months (Treasuries + mortgages).  for those keeping score at home, that’s an average of around $35bn of bond buying per business day since mid-March.  credit: David Mericle, GIR.  

4. GIR expects zero interest rates in the US for several more years — until the economy reaches 2% inflation and full employment — which is perhaps not until 2025 (link). 

5. GIR expects another $1.5tr of US fiscal support to come this summer (link). 

6. largely thanks to fiscal support, GIR expects US disposable income to grow 4.0% in 2020 (link). 

7. the US Treasury planned to borrow $3tr in Q2 alone (link); despite that supply glut, we’re just off the all-time low yields in US 2yr notes and 5yr notes.

8. in that same general context, US 30yr mortgage rates are down to all-time lows (link).

9. the past six weeks have seen the largest amount of global equity issuance on record, at $205bn (link). 

10. March saw record outflows from corporate bond funds (-$42bn); we’re now witnessing record inflows to corporate bond funds (+$85bn since the start of April); link. 

11. it’s not just that we’re witnessing record new issue in the credit markets, it’s that we’re also seeing record low corporate financing costs (e.g. AMZN raised $10bn of capital at the lowest 3/5/7/10 and 40yr yields ever; link).

12. March saw record outflows from equity mutual funds and ETFs; one can argue we’re now seeing legitimate signs of retail investor euphoria (e.g. a record # of account openings at US retail brokers; link).

13. buybacks: GS executed repurchase is down ~ 50% YTD (link).  that said, it wouldn’t be surprising to see AAPL + MSFT + GOOG collectively buy back $75bn this year.

14. subject to your interpretation: the market cap of MSFT is larger than the entire US High Yield market (link). 

15. Michele Della Vigna, GIR: “we estimate that clean tech can drive $1-2tr pa of green infrastructure investments and create 15-20mm jobs worldwide, mostly through public-private collaboration, low financing costs and a supportive regulatory framework … renewable power will become the largest area of spending in the energy industry in 2021” (link).

16. related: ESG funds comprised 31% of all YTD flows to global passive equity funds (link).

17. randomly found in a comment section on the world wide web: “does not capitalizing the first word in a paragraph make a writer appear to be cool or is it simply that Tony Pasquariello is an idiot.”  I’m not bolding any part of this sentence.

Finally, these were some of the more striking charts from H1’20:

18. for better or for worse, this clearly illustrates the top heavy nature of S&P 500 returns YTD (credit to Cole Hunter, GIR):

19. despite an absence of available yield, we live in a world of record inflows to money market funds (link).  I find it a little interesting that we’re seeing a tentative inflection lower here:

20. an updated chart of the y/y % change in US money supply (credit William Marshall in GIR.  your interpretation of this chart may hinge on whether you’re a first or second derivative kind of person:

21. yes, there’s been some significant rotation of late in things like leaders vs laggards.  for example, you can see there was some recent retracement in names were hit hard by the health crisis (see white line below, which is a ratio vs S&P).  that said, note that the stocks most leveraged to the stay-at-home theme continue to outpace most everything else in the market (blue line):

22. last but not least, through thick and thin, the big S&P bull trend line still holds:

As the NYPD disbands its undercover investigations unit, taking hundreds of crime-spotting undercover officers off the streets (a decision that will almost certainly lead to fewer low level arrests, but also leaves an opening for more serious crime to make a comeback), it appears one of the most closely followed crime metrics in NYC has skyrocketed compared with the same period last year.

According to stats released by the department, the number of shootings reported in NYC over the past week hit 55, compared with just 12 during the same period last year. That’s a nearly 5-fold rise.

Commissioner Dermot Shea officially disbanded the plainclothes unit a week ago. The results since then have been startling.

Meanwhile, the hundreds of “journalists” who live in NYC have been obsessed with a bogus ‘conspiracy theory’ about the surfeit of fireworks heard around the city is part of a ‘conspiracy’ to stop black and brown people from getting enough sleep, in order to fomet more unrest.

Even Commissioner Shea acknowledges that the rank and file are “demoralized” after weeks of sometimes deadly interactions with protesters and looters and rioters. On Sunday, video of an officer applying a chokehold while detaining a suspect in Rockaway Beach, Queens led to his suspension without pay, further rankling the rank and file after Shea limply defended the decision to foster more “accountability in policing.”

The city council last week passed a new law requiring cops who use chokeholds to be charged with a misdemeanor, regardless of whether the subject is injured.

Venting to the New York Post, one law enforcement source claimed that this is what the politicians want, they want an increase in crime so they can further demonize police, while letting “non violent” offenders out of Rikers by the hundreds. “This is what the politicians wanted – no bail, nobody in Rikers, cops not arresting anyone,” one angry law enforcement source said Friday. “All those things equal people walking around on the street with guns, shooting each other.”

NYC isn’t alone: Chicago witnessed an explosion of violence over father’s day weekend.

Authored by Doug Casey via CaseyResearch.com,

I’d like to address some aspects of the Greater Depression in this essay.

I’m here to tell you that the inevitable became reality in 2008. We’ve had an interlude over the last few years financed by trillions of new currency units.

However, the economic clock on the wall is reading the same time as it was in 2007, and the Black Horsemen of your worst financial nightmares are about to again crash through the doors and end the party. And this time, they won’t be riding children’s ponies, but armored Percherons.

To refresh your memory, let me recount what a depression is.

The best general definition is: A period of time when most people’s standard of living drops significantly. By that definition, the Greater Depression started in 2008, although historians may someday say it began in 1971, when real wages started falling.

It’s also a period of time when distortions and misallocations of capital are liquidated, and when the business cycle, which is caused exclusively by currency debasement (also known as inflation), climaxes. That results in high unemployment, business failures, uncompleted construction, bond defaults, stock market crashes, and the like.

Fortunately, for those who benefit from the status quo, and members of something called the Deep State, the trillions of new currency units delayed the liquidation. But they also ensured it will now happen on a much grander scale.

The Deep State is an extremely powerful network that controls nearly everything around you. You won’t read about it in the news because it controls the news. Politicians won’t talk about it publicly. That would be like a mobster discussing murder and robbery on the six o’clock news. You could say the Deep State is hidden, but it’s only hidden in plain sight.

The Deep State is the source of every negative thing that’s happening right now. To survive the coming rough times, it’s essential for you to know what it’s all about.

The State

Now, what causes economic problems? With the exception of natural events like fires, floods, and earthquakes, they’re all caused directly and indirectly by the State, through its wars, taxes, regulations, and inflation.

Yes, yes, I know this is an oversimplification, that human nature is really at fault, and the institution of the State is only a mass dramatization of the psychological aberrations and demons that lie within us all.

But we don’t have time to go all the way down the rabbit hole, so let’s just talk about the proximate rather than the ultimate causes of the Greater Depression. And here, I want to talk about the nature of the State, in general, and then something called the Deep State, in particular.

A key takeaway (and I emphasize that because I expect it to otherwise bounce off the programmed psyches of most people) is that the very idea of the State itself is poisonous, evil, and intrinsically destructive. But, like so many bad ideas, people have come to assume it’s part of the cosmic firmament, when it’s really just a monstrous scam.

It’s a fraud, like your belief that you have a right to free speech because of the First Amendment, or a right to be armed because of the Second Amendment. No, you don’t. The U.S. Constitution is just an arbitrary piece of paper… entirely apart from the fact the whole thing is now just a dead letter. You have a right to free speech and to be armed because they’re necessary parts of being a free person, not because of what a political document says.

Even though the essence of the State is coercion, people have been taught to love and respect it. Most people think of the State in the quaint light of a grade school civics book. They think it has something to do with “We the People” electing a Jimmy Stewart character to represent them.

That ideal has always been a pernicious fiction, because it idealizes, sanitizes, and legitimizes an intrinsically evil and destructive institution, which is based on force. As Mao once said, political power comes out of the barrel of a gun. But things have gone far beyond that. We’re now in the Deep State.

The Deep State

The concept of the Deep State originated in Turkey, which is appropriate, since it’s the heir to the totally corrupt Byzantine and Ottoman empires. And in the best Byzantine manner, the Deep State has insinuated itself throughout the fabric of what once was America. Its tendrils reach from Washington down to every part of civil society. Like a metastasized cancer, it can no longer be easily eradicated.

I used to joke that there was nothing wrong with Washington that 10 megatons on the capital couldn’t cure. But I don’t say that anymore. Partially because it’s too dangerous, but mainly because it’s now untrue. What’s now needed is 10 megatons on the capital, and four more bursts in a quadrant 10 miles out.

In many ways, Washington models itself after another city with a Deep State, ancient Rome. Here’s how a Victorian freethinker, Winwood Reade, accurately described it:

“Rome lived upon its principal till ruin stared it in the face. Industry is the only true source of wealth, and there was no industry in Rome. By day the Ostia road was crowded with carts and muleteers, carrying to the great city the silks and spices of the East, the marble of Asia Minor, the timber of the Atlas, the grain of Africa and Egypt; and the carts brought out nothing but loads of dung. That was their return cargo.”

The Deep State controls the political and economic essence of the U.S. This is much more than observing that there’s no real difference between the left and right wings of the Demopublican Party.

It’s well known by anyone with any sense (that is, by everybody except the average voter) that although the Republicans say they believe in economic freedom (but don’t), they definitely don’t believe in social freedom. And the Democrats say they believe in social freedom (but don’t), but they definitely don’t believe in economic freedom.

Who Is Part of the Deep State?

The American Deep State is a real, but informal, structure that has arisen to not just profit from, but control, the State.

The Deep State has a life of its own, like the government itself. It’s composed of top-echelon employees of a dozen Praetorian agencies, like the FBI, CIA, and NSA… top generals, admirals, and other military operatives… long-term congressmen and senators… and directors of important regulatory agencies.

But the Deep State is much broader than just the government. It includes the heads of major corporations, all of whom are heavily involved in selling to the State and enabling it. That absolutely includes Silicon Valley, although those guys at least have a sense of humor, evidenced by their “Don’t Be Evil” motto.

It also includes all the top people in the Fed, and the heads of all the major banks, brokers, and insurers. Add the presidents and many professors at top universities, which act as Deep State recruiting centers… all the top media figures, of course… and many regulars at things like Bohemian Grove and the Council on Foreign Relations. They epitomize the status quo, held together by power, money, and propaganda.

Altogether, I’ll guess these people number 1,000 or so. You might analogize the structure of the Deep State with a huge pack of dogs. The people I’ve just described are the top dogs.

But there are hundreds of thousands more who aren’t at the nexus, but who directly depend on them, have considerable clout, and support the Deep State because it supports them.

This includes many of the wealthy, especially those who got that way thanks to their State connections… the more than 1.5 million people who have top secret clearances (that’s a shocking, but accurate, number)… plus top players in organized crime, especially the illegal drug business, little of which would exist without the State. Plus, mid-level types in the police and military, corporations, and non-governmental organizations.

These are what you might call the running dogs.

Beyond that are the scores and scores of millions who depend on things remaining the way they are. Like the 50%-plus of Americans who are net recipients of benefits from the State… the 60 million on Social Security… the 66 million on Medicaid… the 50 million on food stamps… the many millions on hundreds of other programs… the 23 million government employees and most of their families. In fact, let’s include the many millions of average Joes and Janes who are just getting by.

You might call this level of people, the vast majority of the population, whipped dogs. They both love and fear their master, they’ll do as they’re told, and they’ll roll over on their backs and wet themselves if confronted by a top dog or running dog who feels they’re out of line.

These three types of dogs make up the vast majority of the U.S. population. I trust you aren’t among them. I consider myself a Lone Wolf in this context and hope you are, too. Unfortunately, however, dogs are enemies of wolves, and tend to hunt them down.

The Deep State is destructive, but it’s great for the people in it. And, like any living organism, its prime directive is: Survive! It survives by indoctrinating the fiction that it’s both good and necessary. However, it’s a parasite that promotes the ridiculous notion that everyone can live at the expense of society.

Is it a conspiracy, headed by a man stroking a white cat? I think not. I find it’s hard enough to get a bunch of friends to agree on what movie to see, much less a bunch of power-hungry miscreants bent on running everyone’s lives. But, on the other hand, the top dogs all know each other, went to the same schools, belong to the same clubs, socialize, and, most important, have common interests, values, and philosophies.

The American Deep State rotates around the Washington Beltway. It imports America’s wealth as tax revenue. A lot of that wealth is consumed there by useless mouths. And then, it exports things that reinforce the Deep State, including wars, fiat currency, and destructive policies. This is unsustainable simply because nothing of value comes out of the city.

With gold pushing up to multi-year highs (as the dollar begins to sink), many are asking: where to from here?

Goldman earlier increased their 12-month target for the yellow metal to $2000, but what will it take to send gold prices materially higher?

Specifically, Goldman believes inflation will need to move above the Fed’s 2% target and this move to be met with a muted policy response.

Historically, gold’s relationship with inflation is non-linear. Gold does not display a strong correlation with inflation while the latter is moderate but becomes strongly correlated when inflation gets above a certain threshold. Gold also tends to go up moderately in deflationary environments.

In fact, we find that what matters most is the deviation of inflation from its trend, rather than its absolute level (see Exhibit 11 and Exhibit 12).

This is understandable – investor expectations of future inflation changes through time. For example, while a 5% inflation rate in the early 1980’s may have been perceived as relatively low, today it would represent a large upward surprise to the market. The relationship between gold and inflation gets stronger when we adjust inflation for its trend. The relationship holds in the post-Volcker period that excludes the extremely high inflation of the 1970’s.

Using this relationship between gold and inflation deviations from trend we find that to get to $3000/toz we would need to have inflation exceed its average over the past 10 years of 1.75% by about 3 standard deviations (approx 4.5%). Alternatively, gold could reach $3000/toz if the move in inflation is smaller but more persistent. For example, an inflation rate of 3.5% maintained for several years would achieve a similar target. Persistently high inflation rates would lead to concerns over the commitment of central banks to meet their inflation targets, amplifying fears of inflation further.

But, an increase in interest rates in excess of the level of inflation, akin to Volcker’s 1980 policy, would remove any tail risks of inflation, reducing gold’s appeal.

Additionally, Goldman finds that gold is a useful addition to any portfolio in periods of high inflation.

Specifically, we looked at gold and equity’s performance over previous inflationary environments. We divide the inflationary regimes by looking at deviation of YoY inflation rates vs. its 10 year rolling average.

We find that gold tends to outperform equities in high inflation regimes as well as in deflationary environments, whereas equities do better when inflation is moderate.

There is another shoe that needs to drop – a breakdown in the US dollar. Several people in the mainstream have warned about this in recent weeks. Yale economist Stephen Roach’s warned that “the era of the US dollar’s ‘exorbitant privilege’ as the world’s primary reserve currency is coming to an end.” Meanwhile, Guggenheim Investments Chief Investment Officer Scott Minerd said that while “there are no signs the world is questioning the value of the US dollar” right now, it’s clear that the greenback is  “slowly losing market share as the world’s reserve currency.”

Authored by Adriana Cohen via RealClearPolitics.com,

The single biggest threat against President Donald Trump’s reelection in November isn’t unhinged liberals out for blood, a hostile media or even a politicized U.S. Supreme Court; it’s Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease adviser on the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

If he’s not reined in, then he may succeed in making Trump a one-term president.

Here’s why.

One of the most important things an incumbent needs to secure reelection is a strong economy, but due to the radical lockdown and months-long national quarantine Fauci championed in March to mitigate the pandemic, the U.S. economy was dealt a devastating blow, resulting in 46 million Americans losing their jobs. So, now, instead of the president galloping into the November election leading one of the hottest economies on record, he’s trudging to the ballot box hoping the economy will recover quickly enough.

Strike 1.

In hindsight, advisers like Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, should’ve recommended a partial lockdown and a quarantine only for our nation’s most vulnerable citizens — the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions — not the entire country. But that moderate and reasonable approach didn’t happen. Instead, the president adopted the questionable advice of Fauci and others who favored a national lockdown — which many voters consider Draconian — kneecapping the economy and our collective rights and now jeopardizing the president’s reelection chances.

Strike 2.

Fauci has also sowed skepticism about kids going back to school in the fall, radically influencing, if not forever altering, our entire U.S. education system. Since March, when schools were closed nationwide, approximately 57 million American children were forced into isolation at home, cut off from friends, socialization, sports and normal activities. Scores have been denied a quality education and have suffered detrimental effects to their mental and physical health — unnecessarily — as it’s well-known that children are a low-risk group for getting the coronavirus and dying from it. For reference, in Massachusetts, a hotspot for coronavirus, not a single child ages 0-19 has died from coronavirus according to the mass.gov website.

But that’s not all Fauci is radically altering in the name of public health. Turns out, he wants to cancel football, too. During a recent interview, Fauci told CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta:

“Unless players are essentially in a bubble — insulated from the community and they are tested nearly every day — it would be very hard to see how football is able to be played this fall. If there is a second wave, which is certainly a possibility and which would be complicated by the predictable flu season, football may not happen this year.”

Strike 3.

Americans are not going to accept a beloved American pastime like football — or other pro sports — being canceled indefinitely because Fauci, an unelected bureaucrat with an opinion, says so.

Bottom line: If the president doesn’t bench Fauci soon and reject his endless calls for extreme mitigation measures, he’s likely to join 46 million on the unemployment line come November.

Beijing has expressed intense displeasure over President Trump’s decision to sign into law a bill targeting senior CCP figures involved with China’s network of concentration camps, even though the White House ultimately held off on putting the sanctions into practice. Which is why it’s hardly surprising that senior financial regulators in Beijing are again echoing criticisms first formulated by Russian President Vladimir Putin amid growing fears that, next time, the sanctions won’t be just a “warning shot”.

But as President Trump threatens to leverage even more sanctions against the Chinese government as well as senior officials over transgressions like corporate espionage and illegal IP theft, one senior official has warned that it’s now ‘inevitable’ that the US will soon apply sweeping Russia-style sanctions to China.

Such brazen punitive sanctions would likely prove unpopular among Washington’s closest allies, especially at such a precarious time for the global economy. But they would certainly serve to accelerate the economic decoupling that White House China hawks like Peter Navarro and Matt Pottinger have hoped for. Which is perhaps why Fang Xinghai, a vice-chairman at the China Securities Regulatory Commission, warned on Monday that China’s reliance on the international dollar-based financial system makes it vulnerable.

Fang Xinghai, a vice-chairman at the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said that as China mainly relies on the US dollar payment system in international deals, it makes it vulnerable to possible US sanctions.

“Such things have already happened to many Russian businesses and financial institutions. We have to make preparations early – real preparations, not just psychological preparations,” Fang said at a forum organised by Chinese media outlet Caixin.

Fang’s comment came at a time when Washington is pondering how far it should go to use the US dollar’s key role in international payment to punish Chinese individuals, companies and financial institutions for alleged involvement in issues such as Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

At the same time, Fang said the value of the US dollar is facing an uncertain future due to additional money being printed by the US Federal Reserve, which poses risks to China’s holdings of US dollar-denominated assets. With this, Fang echoed criticisms posed just days ago by Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, who delivered a strong warning on the U.S. currency last week.

China is presently the second-largest holder of American Treasuries with more than $1 trillion in Treasury bills, behind only Japan. Though the paper profits from holding these assets are certainly massive, a reversal in interest rates could saddle the PBOC with massive losses over time, especially if rates move swiftly higher in a destabilizing way.

The solution, in Fang’s view, is to continue to expand the international use of the yuan by China’s trading powers, even as Beijing’s tight control of the currency remains a major obstacle to this: “Yuan internationalisation is a must to offset external financial pressure,” Fang added. “If our overseas assets were held in yuan, there won’t be such worries [over US dollar devaluation].”

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

Robert Kiyosaki has been on the front lines warning people of what’s coming. He continues to speak up, even though he was told to “stay in your lane” and not alert the public to what’s going on right in front of them, with their unknowing consent.

Kiyosaki also says that he doesn’t know what’s coming, but that something bigger is coming our way.  As a person speaking out against the ruling class, the elitists, and their system of control and slavery, he could be at the forefront of waking people up. Those still stuck in the left/right paradigm, regardless of the side you choose are going to have to make the worst of choices in the coming future.

Ultimately, Kiyosaki appears to have the same goal as I do right now: waking people up and getting them to leave the Matrix. This is a tough spot to be in because those who still think the ruling class and Donald Trump will save them are going be hurt. The truth is, you are going to have to save yourself, and I agree wholeheartedly with Kiyosaki on that. No government, no false savior (Trump), no bankster, not elitist, no other human is coming to save you.  You must wake up, leave the system, and save yourself.

Is this redundant in recent articles? You bet. But far too many are still stuck in a state of hopeful unawareness of what’s really going on all to support a member of the ruling class who has done nothing but advance the elitists’ agenda. And yes, I mean Trump. Look, it was a tough pill for me to swallow too, and I’ll admit it. And if he magically changes sides and is no longer pushing the banking elitists agenda for world domination, I’ll admit I was wrong. But as of right now, unless you are blind or worshipping Trump like he’s some kind of savior, you cannot deny the New World Order has advanced rapidly on his watch.

As Kiyosaki said:

“I mean, I knew our ‘leaders’ were screwed up, but not THIS screwed up!”

He adds, “People are missing out on one of the biggest catastrophic cash heists in the history of the world. They don’t even know what’s happening!”

Most people are still stuck dependent on the system and will fight to protect it, left and right.

“Our governments have really screwed up!”

Power over anyone, including under the scam of “democracy” should never be tolerated. And going forward, this is the real Great Awakening. Get on board with liberty and freedom now, or be dragged along trying to prop up a system of enslavement.

Government of any kind, always, in every single instance, turns to horrific tyranny. If anyone thinks the United States is a free country, all you have to ask yourself, “who owns the fruits of my labor?” Not you or they wouldn’t steal a good amount from your paycheck before you even get it. If the confiscation of 100% of the fruits of ones’ labor is slavery, what then, is the percentage of confiscation to be “free?” These are the questions you are not supposed to be asking, but not many are anyway.

“Why did they have to shut down the whole world,” ponders Kiyosaki. He then opines that he thinks it’s because “they are covering up something very, very big.”

Kiyosaki suggests using gold, silver, and cryptocurrencies to beat the system. If you don’t like cryptos, don’t buy them.  No one is forcing you, but consider at least real money not backed by the corrupt power-hunger bankers that need you to use their money to keep them relevant and in charge.

They have caused a situation in which they will have to “reset” the system in some way or another. This will be the New World Order, one world, completely centralized digital currency. In my humble opinion, if you crave freedom over wealth, do NOT participate in this system.

I still think humans were not meant to be slaves and that I can appeal to some who may have been fooled. At this point, I’m trying to salvage humanity, and so far, I’ve been called all kinds of things for it. But I don’t care if you like me. I care only about your future and the future of those yet unborn. All I can do is attempt to open eyes and ears.  The rest is up to you. You are the savior you have been waiting for.

It’s about time we all stand together and abolish the last shred of modern-day slavery [governments]! I will not sit back and allow anyone to continue life as a slave if I can help it! I might not be able to do much, but I can promote peace, liberty, and the abolishment of all forms of slavery.

Some say the pen is mightier than the sword, maybe that’s true, maybe it’s not.  But I am tired of being told I have to give up my rights to live free for a false sense of security. I will no longer be owned or commanded. This is MY life and I am peacefully choosing to be free. – Mac Slavo, SHTFPlan, April 2020

Break away from the system and the fear, and you will be free.