Under the category of “what the heck is this?” the news over the last 48 hours surely qualifies. On Sunday I read that President Obama skipped the national security briefing regarding Russia and the Ukraine. (While looking up the article I googled “Obama skips” and the suggestions were …national security briefings, memorial day, Arlington, medal of honor ball, Gettysburg, D-day, national day of prayer, and intelligence briefing). Then yesterday Zero Hedge forwarded a “tweet” from the White House that said “Life is unpredictable. Get some peace of mind: http://ofa.bo/jBQ #TimeToEnroll” regarding Obamacare. In other news, it appears that the U.S. is readying a $1 billion care package to Ukraine and economic sanctions for Russia. The cherry on top of this “chocolate colored cake” is that the U.S. has “barred” Russia from the G-8 talks this week.
Really? Obamacare is more important than the Russian bear even though it’s none of our business in the first place? We actually “barred” Russia from the G-8? Are we trying to poke a finger in Mr. Putin’s eye? If this was not so serious I would say that this is funnier than Moe sticking two fingers in Larry’s eyes. Is there really a purpose, ANY purpose to barring Russia from the table? Did we “miss” the story yesterday that “Russia and China are in agreement over Ukraine?” Has anyone in Washington taken even a single step back to look at this forest?
Think about it, we are putting a “package” together worth a whopping $1 billion for the Ukrainians. This will do what exactly? Keep the lights on for a few weeks? We offer this money …while our biggest creditor China stands in agreement with the “other side?” What must China be thinking (while laughing)? First off the amount of money is like penny candy, secondly and more importantly we can’t even afford it. The reality in case no one has thought it through is that we don’t have a “spare” billions of dollars to GIVE anyone!
Don’t get me wrong, China is not on a solid footing either because their own economy is debt ridden in many areas but I offer a different view here. Is it possible that “they” not only know that this ship is going down (and them with it) but are also resigned to this fact? Who will be hurt the most? Whose lifestyle will fall the furthest? Do you see where I’m going?
Many nations have been blown up financially several times since WWII; they are “used to” or at least can remember tough times. “Tough times” as in a currency that has become worthless or banking systems that shrunk or closed, empty shelves at stores or what have you…we have not. They toughed it out, they survived they dealt with whatever it was they were “dealt.” I use the word “dealt” because the U.S. has often times “imposed situations” by forcing a price structure. Without going into multiple examples, it is well known that during the Reagan years we crashed the price of oil which in turn crashed the finances of the Soviet Union and led to their breakup…mission accomplished. We did the same thing to China in the early 1900s with silver which was their primary money.
I would ask if you think it is possible that any of these nations have “memories?” I say yes they absolutely do, and it is burned into their memories on national scales. Let me ask you this, do you think that maybe they have already had thoughts of “turning the tables” on us? The next question is of course “could it be done?” In my opinion we have weakened ourselves in so many ways and to such an extent that yes it can be done. Actually, even without “effort” on their part, we have done it to ourselves and carved our own fate into stone. Ask yourself if we are a weaker nation with regards to production, financially, socially and of course our currency itself?
To finish, who will suffer the most when this tent finally does come down? The simplest and most obvious answer is “those who had the most to lose” which of course is “us.” This is because we grew so grand and large (and on solid footings) and then even ‘that” was not enough, we borrowed and levered to live even better. We denied or aborted every recession’s effort at “cleansing” the system of bad debt…only to slightly pause before increasing our lifestyle. “We” as a nation do not know truly hard times. Yes there are a few still alive that can tell you stories of the Great Depression but those stories are through the eyes of children, it was their parents who truly dealt with the brunt of it.
In my opinion, it very well may end up that our “foes” are willing to take a little pain, pain that they know they can bear because they already have…to cause us unbearable pain. Our biggest problem will be in rebuilding. We will have to do this from scratch as our industrial base is gone, our infrastructure aged, our morals decayed and yes; our “money” (gold) is gone. Can we recover? Yes of course we can. We have natural resources and can rebuild industry and infrastructure given some time. The toughest area will be in our national “mindset” which is the most important and will probably take more time than anything else to repair. Our “mindset” has been molded for several generations; it will take at least a full generation to turn this ship around. For you personally, it is your job to get from “here to there” with wealth intact. This is exactly what gold has done at major historical inflection points.
Ah Bill, must you forget, we do have those “non-dimensional” assets called ‘numerical digits’ that are on those great statements we get on line & in the mail. And, what do the dupable Chinese have..?…Gold…..Heck everyone knows, per Warren B. & Ben B. that isn’t money.
And, with John F…ing Kerry so easily “Punting Putin”, putting him in a headlock & giving him a noogey (I didn’t say that the lame streamers inferred it), what do we have to worry about. Shit am I really typing this…?
I am going to start watching cartoons….hey some Road Runner flicks might be good….Hmm who is the coyote Putin or Kerry?
SG
Putin plays chess.
Hey two of the biggest powers in the world just publicly announced agreement on the approach to dealing with the Ukraine. And, one of them “team Putin” says they may drop the dollar, and what does that yield? A wildly rallying market. Why that makes sense to me.
Oops got to go…Yellen just poked her head through the screen, and said, “Bedepedepede…That’s all folks”
I saw a flashing headline that stated that Obama demands 3.9Trillion dollars for jobs and infrastructure repair. He then said that will reduce the deficit by 5.9Trillion. Is this not the same person who with BS Berbanke ran the debt to 17+Trillion? Now I am no expert, but math is math even with Trillions of dollars. El Presidente after the banks were bailed out with 750Billion, helped to secure 850Billion in 08 on top of that and started stealing Trillions soon after. I wonder who will we be buying from to fix infrastructure and who will be providing the jobs. Remember those pic and shovel jobs which turned out to be solar company theft to the tune of 500Million? We have reached Zimbabwe now and though we don’t see a trillion dollar note, we do have it in digi currency. Obama has a PEN and it seems he is using it to write bad checks and sanction Russia. Pen is short for penis but you need to have the balls to produce. That is why Putin is not fearful because he can see debt has America by the balls, and that means no production. The last flags are soon to be waved.
probably white flags.
Your point in this one is SPOT ON Bill! Most Americans alive today have no idea what hard times are, but I’m pretty sure they are soon going to find out.
“If you mean by ‘hard times’ there is bread but no cake, I have no sympathy for you.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
Nature’s main directive is: “Survival of the fittest.” She tests all life forms using this method, generation after generation. “What doesn’t kill you makes you strong.” I’m in California. We’re experiencing extreme drought at present. The oak trees here are designed to survive with little rainfall, but even so, some are now dieing of thirst. The oak trees that survive this drought will make acorns; those that don’t survive it will not pass their DNA on… This is how nature separates, the wheat from the chaff.
The men and women who built this great country were tested every day, but most of the American People alive now have never been tested — and their time to be tested is past due. We – as a nation – are not immune to economic reality.
Perfect timing Bill! I sent your article, “The Stage Is Set” to a friend. His reply was along the lines, “what comes around, goes around”. He said in the 1980’s we manipulated the price of gold and oil downward as they were the only two sources of hard currency the Soviets had. They had a couple of years of bad grain harvests and no money and were looking at civil unrest if the people in the cities got hungry. Gorby went looking for some hard currency loans to buy grain, and the west said only if you play nice. The funny part is they only needed an immediate $20 billion and wanted a total of $100 billion in loans. $20 billion is one week of QE now, pocket change. Now the tables have turned and I imagine Russia and China won’t be very compassionate about our plea’s for help. Seeing how corrupt the entire western civilization is from top to bottom, it can’t come quick enough in my opinion.
I wrote further on this again today.
Bill I generally like your writing but I am dismayed that you have drank the MSM kool-aid that the US still has lots of natural resources left to rebuild with. Of anyone I would have expected you to take that story with a grain of salt and a bit more cynicism.
I don’t know how anyone can look at the plunge in US oil “production” since 1971’s peak (which was clearly predicted by the peak oil prophets of doom) and argue that there is lots left. Add to that the fact that the US has imported about half the oil it burns since then (thereby enabling an unsustainable addiction to only increase) and the US resource picture reveals itself as even worse.
Oil price has basically tripled over the last 8 years. Yet globally, oil production has remained flat. What does that tell you? US oil production has gone up a little bit, offsetting the decline in the rest of the world, due to the Bakken and Eagle Ford tight oil formations. It’s interesting how cornucopians can argue that our oil future lies with wells that cost $10 million to drill and produce $5 million in oil over their lifetime… only low interest rate Wall Street ponzi schemes could enable that.
These tight oil wells have extremely fast decline rates, in the order of 50% a year. Furthermore, the sweet spots were all drilled at the beginning, and now fracking is allowing the poorer areas to be drilled “profitably”. And what impact does fracking have on production rates? Well it increases the initial production even more, but the cracks make it more difficult to remove the “tight” oil stuck in the porous rocks, so the decline rates are even steeper.
To maintain this overall minor spike in production we’ve had the last few years they are having to frantically drill more and more wells, which simply isn’t sustainable. This will be yet one more of the minor reversals on the US’s downward post-peak oil spiral, an overall insignificant blip that puts a sparkle in the eye of every optimist who refuses to look frankly at the simple chart of US oil production since 1971.
Simply put, the US is essentially out of oil, except what’s left in its parks. Imagine what will happen when interest rates rise…
sorry I disappointed you Mark…and no I don’t drink Kool Aid, I drink Miller Lite. At any rate your case for my faux pax is oil oil oil oil oil oil oil oil oil oil …. I wrote if remember correctly “natural resources”, which we do. We have coal, natural gas, (LNG), lumber, gold and silver deposits and fertile farmland to name a few. I get it, we are addicted to oil but even some heroin addicts are forced to, and actually do kick the habit by changing their lifestyle.
An aide to oBama left soon after he took office, saying the man was simply lazy. It rang true to me at the time, having hired and fired many in my life. Lazy people develop many evasive skills and charms. The man has them all in spades. When he said he did not know about Benghazi, I believed him. I honestly believe he shuts the door with orders not to be disturbed for any reason. I also suspect this is largely why Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel ducked out, knowing he would soon appear stupid in trying to defend and explain this.
Bill, Shame on you, “Miller Lite?” Don” you know that “Yuengling” is The American Beer?
It seems all of the responses today are from people that probably grew up like President Harry Truman, hard working and self sufficient. Most of todays citizens are just not like that So that leaves us with the most important natural resource, the “American People” maybe unable to do what needs to be done.
What we need today is for a Davy Crockett to clean up the Senate and a Daniel Boone to clean the House.
unfortunately as far down the rabbit hole as we are, Davy and Daniel wouldn’t stand a chance. As for the Miller Lite, “the official beer of Texas”, tastes great and less filling!