Or between Scylla and Charybdis is you want some pre-Oprah imagery.

So, the whole economy is a gigantic credit bubble completely dependent on artificially low interest rates, and the whole thing would be destroyed if the Fed had to raise interest rates to fight inflation, which means they won’t raise interest rates to fight inflation, which means inflation is going to win and it is going to destroy the savings of Americans.^[1]

~ Peter Schiff.

No big deal, of course. Americans can just stick in their ear while the magnificent people play at running the country. The Magnificent Ones are on the threshold of that point after which there is no PR campaign and no raft of BS they can float down the river to your shoreline to remove the stink. Simply stated, they have proved that the cared about everything else except the welfare of the nation and its people. They turned our gigantic, magnificent engine of prosperity into a casino.

PS — A+ if you can pronounce Scylla and Charybdis. El linko for the back story.

Notes
^[1] “Peter Schiff: The Fed Between A Rock And A Hard Place.” By Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge, 3/9/21.

SIL-uh and kuh-RIB-dis.

Because, before Harris can depose Biden, she has to be able to ram her VP replacement into the job.

As it takes a simple majority of BOTH the House and the Senate, the Leftists MUST win the NEXT election. Which, given the way they have pi$$ed off the Normals, and the determination that they will have to monitor the next election carefully, will not be possible unless they can replace real votes with fake mail-ins.

If you have a Democrat or a RINO in Congress who is up for re-election in 2024, make sure that they know they will NOT be returned unless this bill is gutted in the reconciliation process. Make it hurt. Pressure local DA’s to investigate any potential crimes – financial, ethical, moral. Dog them relentlessly, and make sure they know it will get worse.

Just saw this on my Facebook account.

[Sad Face]

Isn’t that a hoot!

I’m loving it – apparently, just posting a picture is such a dangerous incitement to revolt (VIOLENTLY), that they had to STERNLY warn me about it!

Should I respond to the ban by commenting?

I’ve been reading a new series of essays, by Paul Graham. Well, technically, they’re not NEW – but they are new to me.

This one has got me thinking – it’s about the way that writing is taught in schools, and what’s wrong with it (short answer: a lot). But, it also touches on what we should be aiming at when we write an essay.

Well, that got me thinking about blog posts, and how they differ from either news reports or argumentative essays.

The thing is, the posts that stick with me the longest, that have the most impact on my thinking, are NOT those that are fully structured, traditional-type essays.

They are an exercise in writing down the progression of thought, in a way that allows me to gain insight into the subject of that essay.

That’s it. Not the most polished. Not the most elegant.

Just a peek into the meanderings of one person’s thought process.

New Thought – towards the end of the essay, there is something about surprises, and how they occur, and what can come from them (some very good things).

Something else new:

I started listening to music while I write. I’m not one that usually does that; I can go for DAYS in silence.

But, I started thinking about tapping into another part of the brain, and an easy way to facilitate that access is to use a part that I don’t normally use – for me, speech/sound processing.

So far this morning, I’ve used an internet radio site to play:

• Let’s Hear it for the Boy
• I Want a New Drug
• Footloose

Why, yes, I DO like the songs of the 80s! And, the music seems to tap into that memory-generating part of the brain, so, yes, playing that music is worth it – for me. Not necessarily for others.

New Thought:

Dear Heavens, I seem to be a veritable font of those today.

This one was unleashed by another essay, about money and wealth.

If I had to pick one area where the thinking of most people is hopelessly wrong, it would be in the realm of money. Most people are wage-earners. A few have run a business. Even fewer have subsisted by independently selling their labor/products in a crowded market.

Most people, when they think of investing, turn it over to other people – mutual funds, bank accounts/CDs, or pension funds/IRAs. Even the relatively independent will generally look at putting their money into traditional means, such as setting up an account on RobinHood or E-Trade, and picking from among those options.

What most do not do is consider the work of their life as an investment.

When they INVEST in training or education, they look at “things I’d be good at”, rather than the overall cost/benefit for that purchase (including the years needed to be an earner in that field).

They also don’t consider the long-term payback. Will you be able to pay for the amount that was loaned – and interest – with the income you will generate? Even after the cost of setting up an office (for medical people and lawyers)? Even if you have a large overhead (you can find out by talking to someone in your field – most will be quite candid about the huge amount paid in workers, rent, insurances, continuing education, loss of money from unpaid bills, the downsides of managed care or having to scramble for clients/patients)?

It’s relatively simple to work at a job in a related field, and get some understanding of the economics of that work, and whether it would appeal to you. Even if the person had to put some volunteer time in, it would be worth it to check whether the investment was worth the cost – for them.

At the other end of a working life, few realize that having no debt – paid-for housing, no loan/lease on transportation, some savings, and NO credit card debt – is worth more than any number of investments. And, that having a decent relationship with productive family members is worth even more (you never know when you will need that safety net). Having some skills and tools that you can use to generate a part-time income is also handy.

No amount of ‘trips of a lifetime’ will replace the comfort of knowing that you will always have a snug roof over your head, particularly in these inflationary times.

Now, what about that “gap between the rich and the poor”?

What about it?

“One often hears a policy criticized on the grounds that it would increase the income gap between rich and poor. As if it were an axiom that this would be bad. It might be true that increased variation in income would be bad, but I don’t see how we can say it’s axiomatic.

Indeed, it may even be false, in industrial democracies. In a society of serfs and warlords, certainly, variation in income is a sign of an underlying problem. But serfdom is not the only cause of variation in income. A 747 pilot doesn’t make 40 times as much as a checkout clerk because he is a warlord who somehow holds her in thrall. His skills are simply much more valuable.”

The same is true in school. Those students who have mastered skills that are valued in our society (hint: with those skills, they are ready to train for a job paying more money), will get better grades. The grades are a reflection of what valuable skills they have picked up, and how well they have demonstrated they mastered them.

Too many people look at grades as a measure of the worth of a human being. They are not. But they do reflect how well their skillset matches what others will be willing to pay for their labor.

Teachers don’t generally understand that – for most of them, “a teacher – of ANY subject/grade – is worthy of being paid the same as any other teacher with the same educational level (Bachelor’s, Master’s, or doctorate) and number of years doing the job.

This is why we lose so many STEM teachers every year. Because most of them can transfer their skills to private industry, and equal or even make more than they did when teaching.

Not generally true of elementary or non-STEM teachers. They have acquired a skillset that is narrowly useful – only in schools can they make that kind of money. Just about all their education or training is not seen as necessary or valuable by companies outside of the education industry. Most would have to expand their skillset before finding a job paying a comparable amount.

With that mindset (ALL workers in a field should earn the same amount), is it any wonder that kids end up at graduation holding such erroneous ideas?

And, speaking of erroneous ideas, don’t neglect the end of the previously cited article, because what he has to say about Heresies is worth reading.

I read a lot. Mostly blogs, for the breadth of content. And, what I have found most interesting about that reading is the links.

The links are an indicator of what that blogger was reading/thinking about, when they decided to put down those thoughts. In essence, the links are a cookie trail to what inspired that thinking.

Some of the link go to a book – often, one that they didn’t write (not self-promotion). More often, they go to either a factual story, or to a relatively obscure blogger.

Like this blogger.

One of his stories focused on startups, and how to tell if they are Alive (will continue growing, even if slower), or Dead (continuing on that current trajectory will inevitably result in “He’s dead, Jim”). In my pre-teaching career, I worked for a lot of smaller companies, and saw businesses in either of those conditions. I learned early to steer away from those on the Dead Path.

But, that’s also true of other entities:

• Relationships – we’ve seen them, those that are Destined to Die. Their fundamentals are so unsound, that, absent a MASSIVE and QUICK change in that relationship, they are just waiting for those words, “Clear!” to enable the announcement to be made.
• Neighborhoods/cities – you’ve seen them, many are coasting on past glories and reputations. San Francisco was like that for a long time. The rot was obvious, just hidden by the fact that their proximity to decent jobs was driving up the prices to an unstainable level (both because the average worker was unable to find affordable housing, and because the houses, assessed objectively, were much more expensive that even other urban areas). It just required a flashpoint, which the business lockdowns of COVID were, to deliver the death blow.
• Sports teams – many of them manage to eek out a few more years, usually by hiring a superstar who – almost single-handedly – delivers a championship. But, the rest of the team is still crippled – by aging players, injuries, addiction issues, and lack of team cohesiveness (which the infusion of the superstar seems to help, because everyone is united against him). After the ‘soop’ moves on – and they ALWAYS do, as their paycheck will bankrupt the team if they stay – the team collapses. The perfect example team is Cleveland – they hired Lebron TWICE to deliver the goods, only to implode when he left.

So, what about countries/cultures? Is there a trajectory that ends up in Dead Country Walking?

Of course.

But, I would argue that America is not yet there – and, there is evidence that they have stepped off the trajectory they were on.

What has changed?

Sales – it’s the underappreciated part of business. Those who make the business look at the “suits” as overpaid and unnecessary. Surely, if you have a great product, it will virtually sell itself?

Nah.

There are a lot of products who need the salesmen/women – the people who don’t speak of the products features, but of how YOU will benefit from them – to get them off the ground floor. There are some example here that demonstrate just how massively important sales is to a company’s survival.

On killer for business is when the founders don’t have at least ONE person in that group who can enthusiastically explain just how incredible their product/service is, and push you to try it out. That’s not an unimportant function – it’s the beating heart of a business. The case of Stripe, the credit card processor, is one of those cited at the above link, and the story of its early days is illuminating.

This essay, for example, is one that has implications for America – it’s the story of a once-great company that is now operated by power-mad people resting on Apple’s past successes – sound familiar, Nancy/Chuck/Obama?

Because that’s the issue. America is run by people who care more for their perks and media stories, than the people who make up the company country. The path they are following leads to bankruptcy, collapse of the ruling structure, and economic uncertainty for the investment class – which, as it includes a LOT of retirees, makes my stomach hurt.

Eh.

I have kids. And other family. And friends. If we accept the need to work together, we may be able to get through this situation alive. Those who haven’t family, or whose friends are also old, may die out.

I’m confident that the smaller towns/cities will survive, in some form. One promising aspect of implosion of the big structures – government, Wall Street, multinational businesses, NGOs/charitable foundations – is that local efforts can be maximized, without the drain that sending money out of the community will cause. It will mean local leadership, to protect homes, trade/sell goods, care for the genuinely helpless, and other measures for the ‘public good’.

What leadership may rise up will be – as the tradition always was in America – poorly paid, or even unpaid. Perhaps they can use the time put into those jobs to earn them some in-kind donations – food, fuel, exemption from patrolling streets or fighting fires. It won’t, however, be able to make them rich.

It also won’t make them powerful. Which should do a lot to take the psychos out of politics.

There will still be ruthless people in charge. Given the need to protect a community from invasion, a little (or a LOT) of ruthlessness might be a good thing.

The cities will hollow out. Gangs of looters will be able to stay alive for years, just harvesting and either consuming or selling the stuff left behind. S’Okay. It keeps them away from the rest of us for long enough to build up defenses.

Could taking just ONE step make the collapse go away? This guy seems to think so: from the comments at the link.

This all folds into the story of how for decades the monetary illusion created by central banks collaborating with governments has delayed an inevitable crisis by not dealing with reality. This means when the forces pent-up over the years finally break free events will most likely occur faster with far deeper ramifications than many people expect. When imbalances are ignored, bad things occur. When things finally blow up in the faces of those creating and promoting MMT we can expect to hear them claim it was not their fault and it was because of a general misunderstanding of the role of money and credit in the economy.^[1]

.

The geniuses at the central bank have such an immense understanding of the role of money that they have managed to destroy the very concept of building a nest egg over your working life. The Rule of 72 ensures that the dollar you put into your savings account will lose half its value in 36 years with an inflation rate of . . . hah . . . 2%. One half. The purchasing of the dollar under the stewardship of the wise men at the Eckles Building has gone down over 90% since the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank.

.

.

And the people who supposedly DO understand the role of money and credit in the economy have even managed to impoverish people who live by their wages, never mind what they have under the mattress:

.

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Manufacturing jobs were destroyed:

.

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Our congressional crack whores made “debt limits” into a joke:

.

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Are you laughing yet?

Debt-fueled government spending soared:

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And welfare spending — otherwise known as “family destruction and crime encouragement spending” — soared:

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This is what the political class wants us to believe is “wise stewardship” and that lying, rotten, class of destroyers wants us to swallow The Great Reset they have in mind for us because, you see, they understand stuff and know how to get us out of Deep Woods. If you ask me this is shaping up into (continued) rule by dweebs, freaks, and arrogant pricks. But, I know, they care.

Notes
^[1] “The First ‘Global Inflationary Depression’ Is Very Possible.” By Bruce Wilds, ZeroHedge, 3/6/21 (emphasis added).

Retirement investing used to be easy. Save money, park it in interest-bearing instruments, and live off the income, with Social Security and maybe a job pension to help. Not complicated and it worked well for decades.
But about the time the oldest Boomers began reaching their mid-60s, this thing called “interest” mostly disappeared as committees and politicians decided to favor borrowers by keeping rates ultra-low. And just like that, retirement broke. The old method stopped working.

This left retirees and pre-retirees little choice but to “stretch for yield” in riskier assets. Indeed, that was the plan. The Federal Reserve under Bernanke, Yellen, and now Powell explicitly wants investors to take more risk. It’s the other side of their desire to encourage borrowing. This is also called “financial repression.”

“Mauldin: Everything Is Broken.” By John Mauldin, ZeroHedge, 3/6/21.

I was thinking about this very thing this morning, when I ran across John Wilder’s post. I won’t excerpt it, you need to read it for yourself, along with the comments.

The thing is, terrible things do happen to people – even those who work hard to live a good life, pay their own way, give to others as they are able, and live according to their own moral rules.

Many of those who were stricken with COVID and other illnesses were victims of happenstance – just random bad luck. I’m not one that claims that ‘All is by God’s Will’. While I do believe that he cares about us, I don’t think that every step is part of a predetermined plan of action.

I think he mostly allows us to determine our own life outcomes, by that concept called Free Will. He has given us the broad guidelines for having a good life, but sometimes we – and others – screw up that path.

And, when life goes off the rails, many of us (OK, MOST) make it worse by our reactions to the crisis. We take shortcuts to ease our pain. We tell convenient lies, rather than painful truths. We slump into our worst habits, avoid the hard work of getting back on track, and complain – a LOT – about how Life is Unfair.

Duh!

It’s hard to admit but the pinnacle of Western civilization turns out to be a state of collective stupefaction and precipitous flight from reality. The civilization that studied the galaxies and the basic structure of matter in the end could not rise above the politics of crack whores, con artists, and pickpockets. We prided ourselves on putting superstition and magic behind us but ended up embracing fairy tales about reality with a vengeance.

The basic principles of economics seem to indicate that financial collapse grimly waits on America’s doorstep, and most of Europe’s as well. The gigantic debt load, rampant inflation, empty banks and unchecked counterfeiting all reveal a culture that is blind to its own weaknesses and now resorts to grasping at gimmicks for an easy fix.

The astounding part for me is the gullibility of Americans, and most advanced societies, to accept the illusion that an inbred clique of financial, political and corporate royalty can master the ability to speak wealth into existence by simply writing the words “this is money” (or something similar) on a piece of paper or a digital token. Continuing in that belief system, we now accept as an article of faith that ritual chanting about “stimulus” and “benefits” and “security” will save us from a day of reckoning.^[1]

As a beloved friend once observed of certain people, “They don’t have the sense that the Lord gave a duck.” Not only is there a flight from reality but there is also a vicious attack on any who still have not abandoned common sense. There will be no dissent from suicide.

Notes
^[1] “Financial False Hope, Part 2: Monetary Monotheism.” By Steve Penfield, ZeroHedge, 3/2/21 (emphasis removed).

Honoré was likely right about the number who are – by Pelosi’s definition – “unreliable” soldiers (not fully committed to implementing the Leftist schema). The thing is, I know people who work in that field. At one time, I taught the students of Fort Jackson’s military families (my school had about 1/3 of the population composed of those kids). So, I am familiar with their thinking and cultural norms.

Pelosi now has the excuse to weed out those soldiers. I would suggest to them – DON’T spend to the limit of your budget. Keep in touch with people outside of the military who can help cushion your sudden ouster, should there be a purge (what am I saying – of COURSE there will be a purge).

The stateside, cushy assignments will go to the pliable types. Crap assignments will be the lot of those who fulfill their oath.

It’s going to be a bumpy ride for the next few months (hopefully not years).

Obama was the second President to graduate from Harvard Law School. Hayes was the first.

I’d always assumed that JFK had a law or graduate degree. He didn’t. He attended Stanford for a short while, then left without a degree.

His undergraduate grades weren’t all that impressive. He was in the second tier of his class. If it hadn’t been for his thesis (later turned into a book “While England Slept”), he would not have gotten cum laude status. And, from what I’ve heard about his writing – he got a LOT of help from some friendly writers. Essentially just about everything he wrote was apparently ghost-written.

He did receive a BS at Harvard, but – from what I can tell, a BS was NOT necessarily either Science or Math heavy in coursework. There is only one Physics course shown, and he made a mediocre grade.

Hey, Special People, Special Rules!