Month: August 2024

Authored by James Howard Lunstler via Kunstler.com,

The Significance of the Passage of Time

DANA BASH: “You’ve been Vice President for three and half years. The steps that you are talking about now, why haven’t you done them already?”

KAMALA: “I’m very proud of the work we have done.”

She was speaking, you understand, but the main thing you noticed was the musical quality of her voice: sonorous, resonant, like one of the more obscure woodwind instruments, an alto clarinet or a basset horn, producing a sound like unto creamy dressing over the familiar word-salad of iceberg lettuce.

It would be ungentlemanly to bang on the particulars of Kamala Harris’s CNN interview performance, so I’ll proceed. The nocturne was 18-minutes long, all that survived from the 41-minutes CNN actually recorded, so you might wonder a little about the notes not played. The leitmotif throughout was “my values have not changed,” meaning, disregard any dissonance you might detect in the velvet honk of my voice. Mind the significance of the passage of time, not the music, Altogether, as nocturnes should, it had a soporific effect.

And now candidate Kamala Harris will go back to hiding on her campaign bus, which makes a different statement than, say, hiding in the basement a la “Joe Biden,” 2020. It’s the difference between going nowhere fast and going nowhere at all — though both concepts apply to the condition of the USA during the four years of “Joe Biden” (loved and revered by his comrades in the Party of Chaos, who threw the president under the very bus Kamala is hiding in).

Did you think Kamala would still be rising on the joyful billows of hot air that blew out of the Democratic Convention? Like so many of the magic tricks in the party’s repertoire, that one was a spoof of artificial levitation, to give the appearance of something holding up, like, say, the US economy, when there is actually nothing underneath. Nothing real, that is. What’s giving the economy its appearance of loft has been “Joe Biden” pouring government money into scores of party-connected NGOs as pure grift. The main effect of that is the inflation that everybody notices. Meanwhile, nobody gets hooked up to promised broadband and only eight EV charging stations get built for $7.5-billion allocated to the Department of Transportation.

The current prank, though, is to artificially pump-up Ms. Harris in the polls in the attempt to justify the coming ballot fraud to be executed two months from now, as engineered by election lawfare maestro Marc Elias, now on the Harris campaign payroll. That is, an effort to obviate any apparent discrepancies between actual poll numbers and harvested ballots flooding in at two o’clock in the morning on Nov 6.

As it happens, Ms. Harris’s poll numbers have begun to sink the past week, as the tactic of hiding the candidate from the press has backfired. As of August 29, Nate Silver has her chance of winning down at 42.7 to Mr. Trump’s 56.7. Voters have begun to notice that the candidate represents nothing except whatever happened the past four years in Biden-Land — which is to say, open borders, war for the sake of arms profiteers, flagrant censorship, inflation, cratering business activity, and overt DOJ political persecutions. Martin Armstrong, for instance, has estimated Kamala Harris’s true polling number in the ten percent range. Yikes.

So, what was the net effect of the CNN interview with Ms. Harris? It couldn’t have helped. They had to get her out of hiding, considering the significance of the passage of time in an election campaign. Even the in-the-tank news media was starting to complain about her holing-up on the bus. Dana Bash was surprisingly harsh at times when the veep confabulated about her plans to “fix” America’s problems, like asking, “Why haven’t you done that already?” The answer was the bizarre, “We can do what we’ve accomplished so far.” Roger that.

You’re probably wondering: how Mr. Trump will play this? He’d best be polite about it and assume that the voters can see and understand the obvious: that the Democrats have put up an especially inadequate candidate who can’t explain away the fiascos of the past four years. He doesn’t have to rub in so hard that it seems cruel. His own policy intentions are a quite clear alternative to four years of hoaxes, pranks, trips, gaslighting, and grift. Installing Ms. Harris without any input or votes from the party rank-and-file was about as desperate an affront to “our democracy” as anyone could imagine, like something straight out of the old Soviet politburo, picking an Andropov or a Chernenko. Mr. Trump should remind audiences of this at every opportunity if the Democrats keep yapping about “our democracy,” which seems to be all they’ve got.

Something is slip-sliding out there, perhaps the solidarity of the news media. Even The New York Times dissed Kamala Harris — Bret Stephens called her interview “vague and vacuous” the day after. One thing you have to give CNN credit for: they didn’t show a whole lot of Kamala Harris cackling in her trademark manner — to cover that mental vacuum. The cackle has been getting very mixed reviews, anyway, when you disconnect it from the fake “joy” trope. Maybe a laugh-riot is what’s in the missing 23-minutes that CNN edited out of the 41-minute recording.

*  *  *

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

As we previewed overnight, Elon Musk’s X has been ordered ‘immediately suspended’ by Brazilian Supreme Court Judge Alexandre de Moraes, citing the company’s refusal to comply with a legal order to censor the judge’s political opponents, Bloomberg reports.

Officially, the ruling was due to Musk’s refusal to name a legal representative for the social network (after the judge froze his last attorney’s bank accounts).

On Thursday, X’s global government affairs account said that it would “not comply in secret with illegal orders,” and said that it would publish Moraes’ demands and related court documents for transparency.

More:

When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts. Our challenges against his manifestly illegal actions were either dismissed or ignored. Judge de Moraes’ colleagues on the Supreme Court are either unwilling or unable to stand up to him.

We are absolutely not insisting that other countries have the same free speech laws as the United States. The fundamental issue at stake here is that Judge de Moraes demands we break Brazil’s own laws. We simply won’t do that.

In the days to come, we will publish all of Judge de Moraes’ illegal demands and all related court filings in the interest of transparency.

Unlike other social media and technology platforms, we will not comply in secret with illegal orders.

To our users in Brazil and around the world, X remains committed to protecting your freedom of speech.

On August 18, Moraes sanctioned X’s bank accounts in order to guarantee the payment of fines imposed by the Brazilian justice for refusing to censor content, Metropoles reports.

According to information published by the G1 and confirmed by the Metropolis, advisors to the office of Minister Alexandre de Moraes said that another company under Musk in the country, Starlink Holding, responsible for the sale of satellite internet services, also had the finances blocked.

All Starlink managers in Brazil received notifications and were subpoenaed to answer for the values due to the Brazilian Justice by the network X. -Metropoles (translated)

In response, Musk called Moraes a dictator, and said “this picture of you in prison will be real. Mark my words.”

The tyrant, @Alexandre, is dictator of Brazil. Lula is his lapdog. https://t.co/svONz3iv5S

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 29, 2024

Developing…

The S&P 500 traded in a 500+ point band in August (about 10%) as investors first became very concerned that an imminent recession was being ignored by the Fed, before becoming more convinced that a recession may not be that imminent and the Fed is poised to cut rates at its September meeting.

Along the way, the Nikkei dropped 12% in one day (only to reclaim almost all the lost ground by today, Sep-30) and the VIX spiked above 60 before receding back to 15 as uncertainty receded…

Source: Bloomberg

August was a replay of July in terms of macro surprise data (early ugly, late recover)…

Source: Bloomberg

…but August really spooked the markets (after payrolls – recession concerns), sparking a bloodbath in stocks to start the month, stocks (broadly speaking) rallied back to unchanged-ish on the month (flat-ish on the week and the day) with the S&P 500 leading the month while Small Caps lagged…

Source: Bloomberg

Rate-cut expectations rose on the month – mostly driven by the early month panic…

Source: Bloomberg

Treasuries were aggressively bid on the month led by the short-end (2Y -33bps)…

Source: Bloomberg

…which steepened the curve significantly  (disinverting 2s30s)…

Source: Bloomberg

Bonds and stocks disagreed notably on the month and the recession odds…

Source: Bloomberg

Gold rallied to new record highs on the month after the early tumble…

Source: Bloomberg

Oil oscillated in a broad range but ended lower on the month…

Source: Bloomberg

The dollar was down hard on the month but staged a decent comeback this week after testing near YTD lows…

Source: Bloomberg

Bitcoin ended the month lower after recovering the early month losses and fading back…

Source: Bloomberg

Finally, it was a big week for the world’s most important stock…

Source: Bloomberg

Can NVDA keep the recession risks away single-handedly?

Iran-backed Houthi militants published new footage showing rebel forces commandeering Greek-flagged oil tanker MV Sounion about 77 nautical miles west of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah. 

Yahya Saree, a spokesperson for the Houthis, posted the footage on X on Thursday, showing heavily armed masked men moving around the Suezmax tanker—the largest type of oil tanker capable of transiting the Suez Canal—and setting it ablaze.

“Scenes of the storming and burning of the Greek ship (SOUNION) in the Red Sea, whose owner company violated the decision to ban entry to the ports of occupied Palestine,” Saree wrote on X. 

مشاهد اقتحام وإحراق السفينة اليونانية (SOUNION) في البحر الأحمر والتي قامت الشركة المالكة لها بانتهاك قرار حظر الدخول إلى موانئ فلسطين المحتلة. pic.twitter.com/yGKgUNaIuh

— العميد يحيى سريع (@army21ye) August 29, 2024

It’s unclear when the footage was taken. The initial attack was on August 21, when missiles and drones paralyzed the tanker carrying 150,000 tons of crude. 

X account Open Source Intel posted a Maxar satellite image from Thursday that shows Sounion ablaze. According to the account, the tanker “has begun leaking oil.”

Maxar Satellite Image from Aug 29th: The tanker Sounion, which was attacked by the Houthis in the Red Sea, has begun leaking oil. pic.twitter.com/eImeHNL8Eh

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) August 30, 2024

On Tuesday, US Air Force Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, warned about the risks of a major ecological disaster looming in the Red Sea with the tanker on fire. 

“These are simply reckless acts of terrorism which continue to destabilize global and regional commerce, put the lives of innocent civilian mariners at risk and imperil the vibrant maritime ecosystem in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the Houthis’ own backyard,” Ryder said.

To put it in perspective, Sounion is hauling 150,000 tons of crude—a little more than four times the amount spilled by the Exxon Valdez in 1989. 

Another Houthi spokesperson, Mohammed Abdulsalam, was quoted by Reuters earlier this week as saying salvage efforts were underway, and tugboats and rescue ships were permitted into the region to support the crippled tanker. 

Abdulsalam noted there was no temporary truce and only agreed to allow salvage efforts to occur after talks with several international groups. 

Here’s the latest reporting on the Sounion crisis:

• Commercial Vessel “Not Under Command” After Red Sea Attack

• Suezmax Tanker Crew Forced To Abandon Ship After Missile Attack In Red Sea

• Red Sea Crisis: Footage Captures Suezmax Tanker Explosion After Houthi Missile Strike As West Fails To Secure Chokepoint

• US Warns Tanker Hit By Houthis Could Cause Largest Ship Oil Spill In History

All of this Red Sea chaos signifies one thing, as former Navy Seal and Blackwater founder Erik Prince recently explained on X: America’s “credibility and deterrence” are quickly eroding. 

Where is the rightful outrage from environmentalists? Thousands of tons of crude oil will now pour into the Red Sea.
This is a clear sign of the collapse of American credibility and deterrence. Letting the Iranian proxy Houthis shut off a major maritime seaway is an epic fail.… https://t.co/ThmzZ5FAED

— ErikDPrince (@realErikDPrince) August 24, 2024

Great job, Biden-Harris. Your incompetence projects weakness to the world.

By Tom Mullen of Mises Wire

During election years, incumbent presidents are routinely blamed for every societal ill during the previous four years. And almost nothing is riper for the picking than a significant rise in consumer prices. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), prices are currently increasing at a rate of 3 percent year over year and peaked at 8 percent during President Biden’s term in 2022.

That is significantly higher “inflation,” as the BLS defines it, than American consumers have experienced in decades. But as economically harmful as many of President Biden’s policies may have been, no president can cause prices in general to rise. Neither can Congress or “greedy corporations.”

Incidentally, “inflation” as an economic term originally meant the creation of new money and credit, not rising prices. Those wishing to confuse the public on which is the cause and which the effect has gradually redefined inflation as rising prices. Check any hard copy Merriam-Webster dictionary printed in the 20th century and see for yourself.

Only the Federal Reserve can cause a general rise in prices and only when it creates new US dollars that didn’t previously exist (inflation). 

To further deflect the blame for rising prices away from the culprit, the public is constantly given other reasons for this phenomenon. Each one of them can be eliminated using a priori reasoning.

For example, energy policy is often blamed. President Biden restricted drilling on federal land and canceled the permits for multiple oil pipelines, thus decreasing the supply of oil.

Decreasing the supply of oil and gasoline causes their prices to rise. But without the creation of new money, it must necessarily reduce demand for everything else.

Consider a simple model. There is a total of $100 in the entire economy; $50 is currently being spent on Commodity A and $50 on Commodity B. If the price of A were to increase by 20 percent, then purchasing the same units of A would cost $60. That would leave only $40 with which to purchase B.

The economic actors in this imaginary economy could purchase less of A, less of B, or less of both. But they could not go one purchasing the same amounts of both goods because there are not enough dollars in the economy to make that possible.

If they do not reduce their demand for A at the higher price, they will necessarily reduce their demand for B and the price of B will fall. If they reduce their demand for A, the price of A will fall. If they reduce their demand for both A and B, the prices of both A and B will fall.

While it is true that the US economy is far more complex than this, the same principle still holds. Without the creation of new dollars, the increase in price of one or more products must be offset by a reduction in demand and therefore the price of others.

Assume the US economy is producing $30 trillion GDP per year and spends $6 trillion per year on oil and gasoline and $24 trillion on everything else. If government policy causes the cost of oil and gasoline to rise to $7 trillion per year, the economy can no longer continue spending $24 trillion on everything else because it will run out of dollars when the $30 trillionth dollar is spent.

Now, in reality, a rise in the price of oil and gasoline will necessarily reduce the quantity demanded for oil and gasoline as some spending on these is discretionary. But this doesn’t change the dynamic. It merely means the upward pressure on the price of oil and gasoline is muted a bit as is the downward pressure on the price of everything else.

“But wait,” some will argue, “higher oil and gas prices also raise the price of myriad other products, since they are all delivered to market using oil or gasoline.” This argument faces the same problem. The economy can only spend the dollars that currently exist. No matter how many different products are made more expensive by government policies, demand is limited to the existing dollars.

For the increased price of one or many products not to be offset by reduced demand for others, new dollars must enter the economy. This is the only way it is possible to spend more on A and go on spending the same or more on everything else.

New dollars can only be created permanently by the Federal Reserve. The reason prices have steadily risen over the past 111 years is because the Fed has constantly increased the supply of dollars over that period.

The reason prices rose so much more over the past four years than they had previously is the Federal Reserve created far more dollars in the past four years than it has on average during the past century.

One can verify this either by looking at the Fed’s balance sheet or the monetary base. Both are slightly different yardsticks for measuring the amount of new money created by the Fed. They both show massive increases over historical trends beginning in 2020.

It is true that commercial banks can increase the money supply due to fractional reserve policies. Because they can simultaneously lend out deposits and keep them available on demand for depositors, they create new money with each new loan. However, this ability is limited and ultimately requires new base money from the Fed to avoid reaching an equilibrium level.

There are several other arguments made for the cause of general price level increases that all suffer from the same problem as our example above.

One is that excessive government spending itself causes price increases. But while government spending often creates the conditions for new money creation by the Fed, it does not directly cause general price increases. Any money the government takes from taxpayers necessarily reduces their purchasing power and offsets the spending by the government.

Similarly, when the government borrows existing dollars from lenders, it necessarily reduces the purchasing power of the lenders.

It is only when the government borrows the money from the Fed, meaning the Fed buys government bonds with newly created dollars, that the government can spend more money without reducing the purchasing power of others.

By signing the CARES ACT and other Covid relief spending, President Trump authorized expenditures far beyond what the government could borrow from lenders of existing dollars. So, the Fed created trillions in new dollars to underwrite the difference.

President Biden also signed into law trillions more in excess government spending on the ironically named “Inflation Reduction Act” and other programs. Again, the Fed made the additional spending possible by buying government bonds with newly created dollars.

Trump and Biden’s spending created reasons for the Fed to inflate the currency, but it was the currency inflation and not the spending that caused the subsequent general rise in prices.

Rising prices have also been blamed on “supply shocks” due to the Covid lockdowns. By shutting down a huge percentage of businesses in the economy, the government drastically reduced the overall supply of goods and services. With lower supply, says this argument, comes increased prices, all things being equal.

But all things were not equal. Had the government merely prevented people from working, it wouldn’t have merely been supply that decreased but demand as well. As much as the Keynesians would like to ignore him, Monsieur Say was correct. People producing nothing would have no means to go on consuming.

They were only able to do so because the government paid them not to work. And they weren’t paid with existing dollars that would have reduced the demand of whoever provided them. They were sent newly created dollars to replace their lost wages.

Probably no argument for the cause of higher prices is more absurd than “corporate greed.” Politicians resort to this argument to deflect blame. But no matter how greedy corporations are or become, they have no power to increase general price levels.

First, every corporation always seeks maximum profit. If this is greed, then corporations are always greedy. There would be no reason for them to suddenly become greedier just at the moment when consumer prices are rising. On the contrary, corporations generally compete by trying to lower their prices to undercut competitors.

But even if corporations did suddenly all decide at once, through coincidence or collusion, to raise their prices at the same time, this could not cause prices in general to rise. It would merely force consumers to make different decisions on what they purchase and what they do not. Consumers would pay the higher prices for those products most important to them, then the next important, and so on until they ran out of money. They would forgo those items lower on their value scales they could no longer afford, putting downward pressure on the prices of those products.

There are many other non-monetary arguments made for what is commonly called “inflation,” but they all fail for the same reasons as those analyzed here. There is no way to increase the price of one product without a corresponding fall in the demand for others unless new dollars are added to the economy. It’s the Fed, stupid.

President Zelensky has fired Ukraine’s longtime Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk, according to a just published official government decree issued Friday night (local).

The major surprise development comes the day after the Ukrainian government belatedly confirmed that on Monday a US-made F-16 fighter jet was destroyed or crashed amid a major Russian missile and drone assault on the country. The Wall Street Journal had called the crash and death “a major blow for Kyiv” following President Biden’s somewhat reluctant greenlight given for European allies to begin transferring the F-16s last year.

That aircraft downing, which is surrounded in ambiguity given Kiev initially claimed that it was not shot down, but that it crashed – killed the man widely considered to be Ukraine’s top pilot Oleksiy “Moonfish” Mes.

Zelensky said that Mes crashed while busy intercepting inbound Russian projectiles which were pummeling several oblasts across Ukraine in the huge attack which started early this week.

The order to dismiss Lt. Gen. Oleshchuk has been formally published on the presidential website. “We need to protect people. Protect personnel. Take care of all our soldiers,” Zelensky said in an accompanying brief address. He further cited the need to protect and solidify the military at the command level. Oleshchuk had been overseeing an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the F-16 downing:

Oleshchuk said an investigation was ongoing into what caused the “aviation disaster,” adding that the United States had joined the investigation.

“No one has hidden anything and is not hiding anything!” he wrote on Telegram. Ukrainian lawmaker Mariana Bezuhla had alleged in a post on social media that there was a “culture of lies” in the Air Force. “And none of the generals are punished,” she wrote on Thursday. She appeared to call for Oleshchuk’s removal, writing, “General Oleschuk remains in office.”

Lt. Gen. Anatolii Kryvonozhko has now been appointed as acting air force commander, according to a fresh statement by the army’s general staff.

The firing of the top general comes after it emerged yesterday that the West-supplied fighter jet, which was handed over to Ukraine only earlier this month, may have been downed by a Ukrainian Patriot air defense system in a friendly fire incident. That’s according to Ukrainian lawmaker Maryana Bezuglaya as cited by TASS on Thursday.

⚡️ President Zelensky has fired Ukraine’s Air Force commander Mykola Oleschuk. Presidential decree published tonight. It comes after the first Ukrainian F-16 was destroyed, killing top pilot Oleksiy “Moonfish” Mes on Monday. pic.twitter.com/9d52YpdJ3W

— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) August 30, 2024

“According to my information, the F-16 of the Ukrainian pilot Alexey ‘Moonfish’ Mes was shot down by the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system due to a lack of coordination between the [military] units,” she wrote on Telegram.

The lawmaker criticized the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces for falsely describing the incident as “a crash.” However, the Ukrainian government has not yet acknowledged or confirmed the specifics of what actually happened.

According to U.S. Defense Officials; during Monday’s Large-Scale Russian Missile Attack against Ukraine, a F-16 with the Ukrainian Air Force crashed in the West of the Country, resulting in the Death of its Pilot, known by his Callsign “Moonfish” but by others as Oleksiy Mes.… pic.twitter.com/vUcvWslIQx

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) August 29, 2024

“The culture of lies in the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as in other higher military headquarters, leads to the fact that the system of managing military decisions does not improve on the basis of truthful, consistently collected analytics, but deteriorates and even collapses, as is happening in the other directions,” she wrote.

Is this major command shake-up and reshuffling by Zelensky part of efforts to suppress what actually happened? 

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

How many times have you heard the mainstream media tell you that the economy is doing just great in recent months?  Personally, I have seen the word “booming” used over and over again to describe the economy, and it makes me sick.  The level of gaslighting that we are witnessing right now is off the charts.  Millions of Americans are sleeping in their vehicles, thousands of businesses are failing all over the nation, and most of the country now believes that the American Dream is no longer attainable. 

If this is what a “booming” economy feels like, I would hate to see what would happen during a “recession”.

I totally understand why the mainstream media is gaslighting us.  They want us to believe that everything is fine so that we will vote a certain way in November.  They have an agenda, and they are pushing it really hard.

But what they are telling us simply does not match up with reality.

The following are 7 signs that the mainstream media is flat out lying to us about the economy…

#1 Survey after survey has shown that the economy is the number one concern for American voters during this election season.  If the economy was in good shape, we would not be getting results like this…

The economy was still the top issue for 26 percent of voters, per the poll. Threats to democracy and extremism came in second at 22 percent, and immigration was third at 13 percent.

#2 At this point, the economy is in such rough shape that even Dollar General customers seem to be running out of money…

Dollar General shares tumbled Thursday after the discount retailer slashed its sales and profit guidance for the full year, suggesting its lower-income customers are struggling in this economy.

Shares of the retailer, which caters to more rural areas, tumbled 25% after the earnings report.

#3 When the U.S. economy was actually booming, Big Lots was thriving.  Sadly, today’s economic environment has been very hard on the retail chain and it is now teetering on the brink of bankruptcy…

Discount home goods retailer Big Lots is reportedly on the brink of bankruptcy after years of falling sales.

The beleaguered chain may seek Chapter 11 protection within weeks, according to Bloomberg, if it is not able to find investors.

The Ohio-based company runs around 1,400 stores across the US, after closing hundreds of locations earlier this year.

#4 Needless to say, Big Lots is far from alone, because the number of businesses that are filing for bankruptcy has reached dizzying heights…

According to statistics released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, annual bankruptcy filings totaled 486,613 in the year ending June 2024, compared with 418,724 cases in the previous year.

Business filings rose 40.3 percent, from 15,724 to 22,060 in the year ending June 30, 2024. Non-business bankruptcy filings rose 15.3 percent to 464,553, compared with 403,000 in the previous year.

#5 According to Zero Hedge, several regional Fed business surveys just fell even deeper into contraction territory…

‘Four more years’ is not the message being heard from the regional Fed surveys this week as the Philly, Dallas, and Richmond business surveys all slumped deeper into contraction…

#6 As I discussed yesterday, approximately two-thirds of the entire U.S. population no longer believes that the American Dream “is still alive”…

Only about a third of U.S. adults believe the American dream is still alive, a Wall Street Journal/NORC poll published Wednesday found.

A survey of 2,501 people conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute twelve years ago found more than half of respondents believed the American dream “still holds true,” but now only a third feel that way, according to a recent WSJ/NORC poll of 1,502 adults. The study also found an increasingly large gap between people’s economic goals and what they think is actually attainable — a trend that was consistent across gender and party lines, but was especially common amongst younger generations.

#7 Last, but certainly not least, total household debt in the United States has soared to a level that we have never seen before…

A quarterly report published this month by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on household credit and debt found that between the first quarter of 2021 and the second quarter of 2024, credit card debt surged 48.1% while household debt — which includes mortgages and auto loans — rose by 21.6%.

In dollar terms, credit card debt rose from $770 billion in early 2021 to $1.14 trillion in the most recent quarter, while household debt increased from $14.64 trillion to $17.8 trillion in the same period.

Yes, there is a small segment of society that is still doing really well.

Thanks to the unprecedented intervention that we have seen in the financial markets in recent years, they are still able to live the high life while most of the country suffers.

But while stock prices continue to set new all-time highs, much of the nation looks like a horror show.

For example, just consider what has happened to Pine Bluff, Arkansas…

A small Arkansas city suffering from severe population decline and economic turmoil has become so abandoned that properties are on offer for as little as $400.

Pine Bluff, a bleak metro that saw its population drop from 49,000 to 41,250 residents from 2010 to 2020, made headlines this month after being panned in a YouTube documentary from Abandoned Atlas.

In the movie, filmmaker Michael Schwartz said witnessing the city’s decay ‘shocked’ him, saying: ‘It seems like every time I turn a corner, there is another abandoned home or building left behind.’

The gap between the ultra-wealthy and the rest of us has never been larger than it is right now.

The next time you walk past an abandoned store that has been boarded up, just remember how much the mainstream media has been lying to you.

The next time you walk past someone that is sleeping in a vehicle, just remember how much the mainstream media has been lying to you.

The next time you walk past someone that is hooked on drugs because they have lost all hope, just remember how much the  mainstream media has been lying to you.

Our communities are falling apart right in front of our eyes, our economy is falling apart right in front of our eyes, and our entire society is falling apart right in front of our eyes.

So don’t let the mainstream media fool you.  The economy really is moving in the wrong direction very rapidly, and it won’t be too long before even they are forced to admit the truth.

*  *  *

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

US Vice President Kamala Harris’ much anticipated CNN interview which aired Thursday night is only likely to anger her hardcore Progressive base and pro-Palestinian activists, given she pledged to continue to Biden administration’s arming of Israel. 

Harris emphasized when asked that she won’t change the regular US weapons shipments going to Tel Aviv, amid calls to end them completely over alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip, and as the reported Palestinian death toll has soared past 40,000 killed.

Much of her on the spot commentary was but a rehashing of things she said before the Democratic National Convention: “I’m unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself, and that’s not going to change,” Harris told CNN’s Dana Bash.

NEWS — Vice President Kamala Harris addressed her stance on Israel in her interview with CNN’s Dana Bash:

“Let me be clear—I am unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel and its ability to defend itself.”

Here are the Horrifying Realities out of Gaza:

As of late… pic.twitter.com/fQrCq6BCU5

— News is Dead (@newsisdead) August 30, 2024

“But let’s take a step back. October 7 — 1,200 people were massacred, many young people who were simply attending a music festival. Women were horribly raped,” the vice president continued.

“As I said then, I say today: Israel has a right to defend itself. We would,” she added, in reference to continuing significant Washington support to Tel Aviv.

But in a half-hearted effort to assuage the concerns of Progressive voters, she added an indirect critique of Israel’s tactics: “And how it does so matters. Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.”

“This war must end, and we must get a deal that is about getting the hostages out,” Harris said, and mentioned meeting with the families of US hostage victims. “Let’s get the ceasefire done.” But then she responded with a flat no…

Pushed again on whether she would change the current policy regarding weapons shipments, Harris responded, “No” before quickly continuing her point about the need for a hostage deal.

“When you look at the significance of this to the families, to the people who are living in that region — a deal is not only the right thing to do to end this war but will unlock so much of what must happen next,” the vice president said, not straying from her message.

“I remain committed — since I’ve been on October 8 — to what we must do to work toward a two-state solution, where Israel is secure and — in equal measure — the Palestinians have security and self-determination and dignity,” she added.

Meanwhile, only this week it was widely reported that the Biden administration has sent its 500th shipment of weapons to Israel since Oct.7.

Not sure how much clearer Harris can put it: her Gaza policy will be identical to Biden’s. Same “ceasefire talks” deflection, same refusal to side with UAW/SEIU/NEA/countless humanitarian orgs/majority of US voters and support an arms embargo. Just years more of the status quo https://t.co/VFydsAj64w

— Adam Johnson (@adamjohnsonCHI) August 30, 2024

This has included over 50,000 tons of military equipment, both offensive and defensive, The Jerusalem Post and other Israeli media has detailed. Even outside of airlifted supplied, the US military has sent at least 107 shipments of military cargo by sea.

When months ago, and facing immense pressure from a handful of far-left lawmakers, President Biden paused a shipment of heavy bombs, he was accused of merely a PR stunt for the sake of keeping Progressive voters happy. That appears to be the kind of game Harris is willing to play as well.

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

We have been discussing Democratic leaders and activists who have been calling for revolutionary change and a rejection of the foundation of the American constitutional system. The latest is Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson, who spoke at the National Democratic Convention. In an earlier speech, Robinson rejected what she referred to as Founders’ “little piece of paper” and called for reimagining our constitutional system.

The voices calling for radical change have been growing for years, including among law professors and legal commentators.

Viewers now get a steady diet of figures like MSNBC commentator Elie Mystal who called the U.S. Constitution “trash” and argued that we should simply just dump it.

In a New York Times column, “The Constitution Is Broken and Should Not Be Reclaimed,” law professors Ryan D. Doerfler of Harvard and Samuel Moyn of Yale called for the Constitution to be “radically altered” to “reclaim America from constitutionalism.”

Georgetown University Law School Professor Rosa Brooks went on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” to lash out at Americans becoming “slaves” to the U.S. Constitution and that the Constitution itself is now the problem for the country.

I was recently called for a response to Robinson’s call. Yet, it is not clear if Robinson is speaking about the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution as that “little piece of paper.” However, she insists that “[i]n this moment, we’ve got to reimagine it with people that look and love like us at the center.”

Robinson added:

“And I think for us right now is about reimagining freedom and this American story in a way that is more revolutionary than what our Founders actually put down on that little piece of paper, but instead is the type of democracy that is by and for all of the people in this country. That’s the opportunity that we have.”

Her comments did include positive views of the progress made under the current system:

“The story of America is the story of progress towards freedom. In just a few generations, my family went from being enslaved in Mississippi to the first free Black family in Muscatine, Iowa, to preparing to elect President Kamala Harris. Progress is happening my friends!”

As someone who has supported LGBT rights for over four decades, I have nothing but admiration for those who fight for equal rights for everyone to be able to live their lives according to their own values and associations.

However, a radical “reimagining” our constitutional system is a popular and growing call on the left. It is often left vague in terms of what such a reimagination would entail, but suggests structural, not just policy, changes.

If the “little piece of paper” is a reference to the Madisonian constitution, it is a “type of democracy” that has proven the oldest and most successful constitutional system in the history of the world. It has survived precisely because it was designed for the most pluralistic nation in the world. It allows for tremendous social and political changes but does so within a framework that protects individual rights.

Before we start “reimagining” our way out of the most stable constitutional system in history, we may want to consider how the alternatives have been faring around the world.

It is that “little piece of paper” that introduced a revolutionary concept of governance that permits a nation of rivaling factions and values to govern as one. That does not mean that we do not have deep and at times bitter divisions. However, we are joined in a common article of faith in the Constitution.

While he spoke more generally about democracy in general, Churchill’s famous comment could as easily refer to the Madisonian system: it may be “the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

Former Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI) offered a detailed explanation for her endorsement of former President Donald Trump’s 2024 White House bid earlier this week on Fox Business’s “Kudlow.”

DAVID ASMAN: since you and RFK are part of the Trump campaign, explain why did you go with Trump?

TULSI GABBARD: The choice in this election is very clear and the differences between President Trump and Vice President Harris couldn’t be more stark. Frankly, to put it simply, the choice for the American people is a choice with Donald Trump, a man who values peace, prosperity, and freedom. He has a record that proves that. And Vice President Kamala Harris, whose record shows an increasingly tyrannical government undermining our freedoms. We are embroiled in multiple wars and the world is closer to the brink of nuclear war than ever before, with increasing economic hardship for Americans throughout the 3½ years she served as Vice President of the United States. The contrast couldn’t be more clear.

This is personal for me, the endorsement of President Trump. As a soldier for over 21 years, I deployed to multiple war zones in different parts of the world, putting my life on the line for the safety, security, and freedom of the American people. It is important to me and every one of my brothers and sisters in uniform that we have a Commander-in-Chief who values every one of our lives, who carries that responsibility as Commander-in-Chief very seriously, and who will exhaust all diplomatic avenues before seeing war truly as a last resort.

The last point that I will make on this—another point of contrast—is that President Trump showed through his last administration that not only did he not start any new wars, but he took action to prevent them by courageously meeting with adversaries, allies, partners, dictators. He would meet with whoever he needed to pursue peace. Kamala Harris criticized Donald Trump for doing exactly that. That shows if she is elected President, she will not do what is necessary in the pursuit of peace, and I’m certain she will lead us very quickly into a war to mask the weakness and insecurity that she feels and try to project strength using the lives of my brothers and sisters in uniform to do so.