I’ve been dealing with a major website crash. I’ve thus been spending a heck of a lot of time trying to get it up and running. This has thus taken away from my video time, my patreon time, and my article generation time. Not to mention my time in regards to my life, my work, my career and my family… as well as my retirement time. Sheech!
So if you noticed some holes in the daily output, now you know why they are there. I’m way to busy trying to “patch things up”
It will take me quite some time to regain full daily functionality. There are many issues and holes that were electronically “punched” into my operations. In the meantime, I will continue on and adapt.
I’m going to be wrapping up all this geopolitical stuff and going back to the standard MM fare. Right now, most are on Patreon videos, but I will have a transition period so that all may benefit.
Moving on…
Hal Turner has an article out that paints a very gloomy picture inside of China. He has no love for China, and his is part of the Intel community, no matter how he might appear otherwise. But that does not mean that he doesn’t have something good to say. It only means that he tends to color his “reporting” with a strong bias.
Today he had an article that seems like an American Depression “bank run” inside of China. And he named a number of my banks that I hold accounts with. So after I read his article I went down the street, to my Bank of China (BOC) and talked to the manager there. They didn’t know what I was talking about. There just isn’t any runs in the banks at all here in the Guangzhou corridor.
BANK RUNS IN PROGRESS WITHIN CHINA
All banks in Shanghai have just restricted depositors from withdrawing money, causing people to line-up in panic at bank branches. Banks in rural China have been delaying customer withdrawals for 60 Days, and media have been warned not to publish stories about this or risk prosecution for contributing to additional Bank runs!
Multiple sources have confirmed deposits at the following six banks have been frozen:
- Yuzhou Xinminsheng Village Bank (located in Xuchang City, Henan Province)
- Zhecheng Huanghuai Bank (City of Shangqui, Henan Province)
- Shangcai Huimin Rural Bank (Zhumadian City, Henan Province)
- New Oriental Village Bank (City of Kaifeng, Henan Province)
- Huaihe River Village Bank (Bengbu City, Anhui Province)
- Yixian County Village Bank (Huangshan City, Anhui Province)
It’s understood the banks with branches across the Henan and Anhui Provinces successively issued announcements in April, stating they would suspend online banking and mobile banking services due to a system upgrade.
At the same time, clients reported their electronic deposits in online accounts, mobile apps and third-party platforms could not be withdrawn.
This led to depositors rushing to local bank branches, only to be told they were unable to withdraw funds.
By late May, images emerged on Chinese social media of demonstrations at the front of numerous bank branches.
According to one user on the Chinese social media platform WeChat, the protests are ongoing but are rarely mentioned in Chinese press.
“It has caused widespread concern on the internet but the media attention is not high, the highest degree of concern is the four banks in Henan.”
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has responded to the rural bank run. It issued a statement on April 25.
“The People’s Bank of China is highly concerned… At present relevant departments have launched an investigation, the People’s Bank of China will cooperate with the relevant departments, to protect the rights of financial consumers.”
Fraud scheme blamed
Following the public protests and the PBOC statement, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission revealed it is investigating fraudulent activity carried out by the Henan New Fortune Group – the largest shareholder of the four banks listed above in the Henan Province. It’s understood the commission is working with police to investigate allegations that the Group colluded with bank insiders to misappropriate bank funds.
Anti-CCP group, bannedbook.org, reported the following:
“According to a call recording between depositors and police officers, a company named Henan New Fortune Group Investment Holdings Co., Ltd. is suspected of illegally absorbing public deposits, and the amount is huge.”
Bank run contagion to “sweep across China”
Regardless of the cause, the developments raise serious questions about the health of China’s banks and its regulatory oversight. The more immediate concern, however, is the prospect of contagion, which is now seeing bank runs spread to bigger cities.
There’s evidence this is already happening.
In one of the only mainstream international media articles to report on the unfolding situation, local residents highlighted the seriousness of the situation and the likelihood of contagion.
From the Financial Times on June 9:
“Some depositors such as Xu have already lost trust in the system. The 39-year-old said he had withdrawn all of his deposits from 10 other small banks that had promised him an annualised yield of more than 4 per cent.
“Another depositor, a 30-year-old father, said he had placed more than Rmb900,000 in his village’s banks since 2020 at a return of 4.1 per cent. “I felt like being slaughtered,” he said, declining to give his name. He drove overnight to negotiate with the banking regulator in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, in mid-May. “This is the money my wife and I have saved together since we got married. I had to lie to her that I was away for work.”
On Twitter, a video of a large line at an ICBC Bank in China (one of China’s largest state-owned banks) posted on Tuesday, June 9, suggest contagion is in progress.
Translated to English, the tweet reads “The bank card system is locked, and these people are here to unlock it. Massive runs are coming.”
Blogger, Jennifer Zeng, has reported major issues with withdrawing cash from banks in Shanghai in recent days. The uncertainty no doubt exacerbated by the prospect of more lockdowns as COVID cases again spike.
“All banks in Shanghai have restricted depositors from withdrawing money… A bank run is about to sweep China,” she said.
The lack of reporting about the clear signs of a bank run in China is somewhat surprising.
As HSBC China’s Xuefang Liu puts it, “The rise of China as a global economic power has caused concern that a crisis in Chinese banking could lead to a worldwide downturn similar to the Global Financial Crisis.”
While many analysts believed China’s banking system was widely immune to the Evergrande Crisis, cracks are beginning to emerge and should this bank run intensify, already volatile global markets could be faced with a black swan event even more significant than Evergrande.
HAL TURNER EDITORIAL OPINION
In the anatomy of an economic crisis, a bank run is the point of no return. China has just reached that point . . .
Bank runs occur when people scramble to withdraw cash from banks in fear of collapse. In the worst cases, banks’ liquid cash reserves are exhausted, not everyone gets their money and the bank defaults.
It’s a grim scenario which, fortunately, has occurred rarely in history.
The most significant bank runs in the United States took place during the 1930’s Great Depression. More recently, there were runs on numerous U.S. banks during the Financial Crisis in 2008.
In Asia, bank runs have also been rare. A run on Japanese banks in 1927 led to the collapse of dozens of institutions across the country. There was a banking crisis in Myanmar in 2003 which the country has never really fully recovered from.
But perhaps since the Great Depression, none has been as significant compared to what is seemingly unfolding in China right now.
The fact that some con artists scammed some small village banks into going broke would not ordinarily be a big deal, except in this case, the fear such revelations caused triggered mass withdrawal efforts at other small banks . . . which then had to DENY WITHDRAWALS to stay afloat.
Word of these denials spread and people started panicking, going to still more banks to get THEIR money out. Then, more denied withdrawals.
Instead of containing this in the rural areas, China Regulatory Agencies “opened investigations” but did nothing to restore depositor money . . . which lead to more withdrawals from a wider geographic area.
Now, Banks in Shanghai are denying withdrawals. That’s it. That’s the “big one.”
I am told the Shanghai situation is deteriorating very rapidly today. I was awoken at 3:03 this morning with Covert Intel sources saying there is panic in the streets in Shanghai over this.
Shanghai means banks on other nations ***may*** be affected. It would likely go first to Banks in eastern Europe, already flummoxed by the Russia-Ukraine hostilities, then move west to London, then to New York.
It could all spread THIS WEEK.
Having proper cash on hand for yourself and your family to get by for a month or two, is now highly advisable . . . just in case. Remember, cash is NOT for paying bills; it is for SURVIVAL. Buying food and fuel to get to/from work. That’s it.
A ding on your credit report is nothing compared to going hungry. Don’t go hungry. Have cash.
MM Opinion
This might be happening regionally. But it is not happening where I live, nor where my extended family lives. One of whom lives in Shanghai.
If it IS HAPPENING…
Don't be so sure that it is a random event that is the result of malfeasance. Instead consider the potential that it might be part of a grand "chess move" actuated by the Chinese government intentionally.
If it is NOT happening…
Then consider that this is just more of the same out of the American-controlled "news" media operation. It's an effort to generate fear, and to create the illusion that China is collapsing.
Now a great opinion from Jeff Brown…
A run on Chinese banks? Don’t believe the West’s Big Lie Propaganda Machine. It can’t happen, since the citizens own them all. China Rising Radio Sinoland 220622
People with eyes with x-ray abilities
Natasha Demkina has something unique, namely eyes with x-ray abilities. Her abilities began to manifest at the age of 10. “I was at home with my mother, and suddenly I had a vision. I could see inside my mother’s body, and I started telling her about the organs I could see. Now, I have to switch from ordinary vision to ‘medical vision.’ I see a colorful picture inside the person for a split second, and then I analyze it,” said Demkina.
After describing her mother’s internal organs to her, Demkina’s story spread by word of mouth among the locals. People began to gather outside her door seeking medical consultation. This discovery attracted the interest of groups from London, New York, and Tokyo, all of whom invited Demkina to demonstrate her abilities.
Demkina’s ability is super powerful. That said, many people and experts doubt her ability. Instead, they believed that Natasha was utilizing “cold reading,” a deceptively simple yet effective method commonly used by astrologers, psychics, and fortune-tellers.
Regardless, Demkina claims she could see that one of her subjects had a prosthetic knee. She was also able to determine that another person has asymmetrical internal organ positions. She can also see the early stages of pregnancy and even the fetus in pregnant women. Remarkable, isn’t it?
Another Cataclysmic Error Threatens To Plunge The U.S. Economy Into A Bottomless Abyss Of Pain And Suffering
I can’t believe that they actually did it. Even though it is painfully obvious that the U.S. economy is slowing down dramatically and that we are heading into an excruciating repeat of the housing crash of 2008, the Federal Reserve decided to go ahead with the largest interest rate hike in 28 years anyway.
History has shown us that raising rates just as an economy is entering a recession is an exceedingly foolish move, and many of us have been pleading with the Fed not to do it. But of course if the Fed actually listened to people like us, we would not be facing such a dire crisis in the first place.
Essentially, the Fed just killed any hopes of avoiding a recession. The rate hike that was announced on Wednesday was the largest that we have seen since 1994…
The Fed raised its key short-term interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point Wednesday – its largest hike since 1994 – to a range of 1.5% to 1.75. It also downgraded its economic forecast. And it signaled that more big moves may be coming. Fed officials forecast the federal funds rate will end 2022 at a range of 3.25% to 3.5% and next year at close to 4%, according to their median estimate.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell insists that substantially raising rates will tame inflation.
That worked in the early 1980s, but I am skeptical that the same playbook will work again for a couple of reasons.
First of all, in the early 1980s the U.S. was one trillion dollars in debt. Today, we are 30 trillion dollars in debt. Our politicians have been on the greatest borrowing and spending binge in the history of the world during the last couple of years, and hiking interest rates cannot erase the trillions upon trillions of new dollars that have entered the economy.
In addition, the Federal Reserve has pumped trillions of dollars that they created out of thin air into the system in recent years. Hiking interest rates is not a “magic bullet” that can erase that colossal mistake either.
But the Fed feels like it has been forced to do something to address the current crisis, because prices continue to spiral out of control.
For example, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States hit a new record high for the 18th day in a row on Wednesday…
Gas prices on Wednesday reached a record high for the eighteenth consecutive day. The national average price of gas reached $5.039, according to GasBuddy. On Tuesday, gas prices were around $5.02 per gallon.
And survey after survey has shown that the American people are rapidly losing faith in the Federal Reserve…
Even more concerning are new signs that families have lost faith in the Fed’s policies. Consumer sentiment in June sank to a low not seen since the 1980 recession, according to a University of Michigan survey. Similarly, a poll by The Washington Post and George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government found that most Americans expect inflation to worsen and are adjusting their spending habits, a mind-set that can make the surge in prices even worse.
So I can understand why Powell and his minions felt a need to raise rates.
But you simply can’t raise rates as the economy enters a recession. That is suicidal.
At this point, even the Fed’s own numbers show that the economy is really slowing down…
After a week of rampant jawboning to adjust the market’s expectation for The Fed’s actions later today (after last Friday’s unexpected resurgence in CPI), the continued erosion in economic data (most notably retail sales this morning) has prompted The Atlanta Fed to slash its forecast for Q2 GDP growth from +0.9% to 0.0%, meaning the US is now right on the verge of a technical recession (after Q1’s contraction).
If U.S. GDP goes negative again in the second quarter, then we are already officially in a recession right now.
And what the Fed just did is going to make it much worse, because it is about to become a lot more expensive to borrow money…
Every time the Fed raises rates, it becomes more expensive to borrow. That means higher interest costs for mortgages, home equity lines of credit, credit cards, student debt and car loans. Business loans will also get pricier, for businesses large and small. The most tangible way this is playing out is with mortgages, where rate hikes have already driven up rates and slowed down sales activity.
In particular, higher rates are going to absolutely eviscerate the housing market. In fact, yesterday I discussed the fact that another housing crash has already begun. Right now there is a tremendous amount of panic out there as those that work in the industry come to grips with what is now taking place.
A year ago, the housing market in the U.S. was red hot, but now the environment has completely changed.
Compared to the same period a year ago, total mortgage application volume was down a whopping 52.7 percent last week…
Total mortgage application volume was 52.7% lower last week than the same week one year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. Sharply rising interest rates are decimating refinance volume, and those rates, along with sky-high home prices and a shortage of houses for sale, are hitting demand from potential buyers.
In 2008, the Federal Reserve played a major role in bursting the most epic housing bubble in the history of our country.
Now it is happening again, only this time the housing bubble is even larger than the one that imploded over a decade ago.
Most Americans may not realize it, but this is truly a very sad day for the United States.
An immensely painful economic crisis has essentially been guaranteed, and beyond that we are going to see things happen that once would have been unthinkable.
But things didn’t have to turn out this way.
If we would have made better decisions, we could have had much different results.
Unfortunately, the Fed has come up with an endless series of colossal errors in recent years, and this latest error is one of the biggest of them all.
MidJourney Neural Algorythm Sharpens Style of AI Art
MidJourney is a new art-making tool in closed beta. Though both mysterious and obvious—the output suggests AI-powered generative networks trained to perform style transfer—the resulting art is breathtaking.
As test participants write, invitations come much more often compared to DALL-E 2, because the neural network is more focused on creating amateur art.
China’s top trade official fails to meet Australia minister at WTO conference | The Straits Times
The heading should actually be “China refused meeting with the self indulgence arrogant Aussie minister”.
GENEVA (BLOOMBERG) - China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao was not available to meet Australia's new Trade Minister Don Farrell during a visit to Geneva, potentially delaying a reset in relations between the two countries. Canberra and Beijing ended a diplomatic deep freeze lasting more than two years on Sunday (June 12), when Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Defence Minister Wei Fenghe met in Singapore during an international summit.
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Superior canal dehiscence syndrome (SCDS)
Pam Gilbert began to hear things that others couldn’t. The noises then seized control of her life. Pam Gilbert’s hearing appeared to be a superpower ability at first. When she was on the second story of her house, she could hear the faucet in the basement trickling or her kids turning over in the next room. But it rapidly became a nightmare when she realized she could hear the noises of her own body—her heart pounding in her ears and even her eyeballs shifting from side to side.
Superior canal dehiscence syndrome (SCDS) is a devastating and rare inner ear condition that impairs Gilbert’s hearing and balance. Gilbert describes the sounds she’s hearing as “unshakable noises.”
“They never went away, and there was no way to turn them down. The bones in my neck were breaking like sandpaper, and I could hear it. I could hear my eyeballs moving at one point,” Pam Gilbert detailed the situation. Gilbert confesses that her sanity is eroding as a result of her condition.
Gilbert, fortunately, had surgery on March 4th, 2011. The operation went well. Gilbert felt a sensation of serenity and that her hearing had returned to normal.
How US ‘debt-trap’ diplomacy backfired in Cambodia | South China Morning Post
Both sides could have settled on long-standing loans made to the corrupt regime of Lon Nol in the early 1970s. Instead, US intransigence pushed Phnom Penh further into the embrace of Beijing at a time of intensifying rivalry between the two superpowers
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Confessions Of A Woman In A Polygamous Marriage
How did you end up in a polygamous marriage?
I was born and was raised in Saudi Arabia, in Riyadh. A few months before my seventeenth birthday, my father, due to the Guardian System, told me that he had arranged a marriage for me to a foreign businessman in Dubai, and that I would be married within a few weeks.
At the beginning of 2017, I was married to my new husband in Dubai, and became his second wife. I didn’t ever realize that I wouldn’t be his first wife until a few days before the wedding, and I can only remember crying for an entire afternoon the day I found out I would be his second wife. It would not be until the end of last year that our husband took his 3rd and most recent wife.
How old is your husband?
Early 50s
How soon before the wedding did you meet him? What would have happened if you didn’t like him/he didn’t like you?
I met him about a week before the wedding for the first time. If he hadn’t like me, it’s not likely anything would happen since he had already talked to my father, but if i hadn’t liked him there was not much I could have done about it. At that point I was such a mess of nervous teenage anxiety and emotion that there wasn’t much I could have even thought or said.
Why did he marry you?
I’m not sure why exactly, it could have been for my looks or age, since his first wife is quite a bit older than i am, but I’m sure it was also due to the social connections between him and my father that would be forged because of the marriage.
Has your husband mentioned how many wives he plans on having?
He legally can’t marry more than 4 according to Sharia Law, but I can’t imagine he would marry someone else, especially at this point in his life. But who knows, he certainly could. I hope not, but it is a possibility.
Do you have a good relationship with him?
We have a fairly good relationship. Although he doesn’t spend as much time with me as his new wife, he’s very polite and nice to me, and doesn’t mistreat me at all.
Do you love him? Does he love you?
In a way I think I love him; even though I don’t think he married me for love, and I didn’t have much of a choice, I’ve learned to love him for what he is. I know he cares for me in his own way, and I know he wants me to be happy and provided for, which I am very thankful for.
Do you guys have children?
Yes, we have one child, a beautiful two-year old baby girl!
How does your husband treat you? Does he treat all his wives equally or is he biased?
It depends; he treats his first wife and I pretty much the same, or at least spends the same amount of time with us, but ever since his third marriage he’s spent most nights with his new wife. I try not to feel jealous, but it is hard not to resent him and her for it.
How old are his first and third wife?
His first wife is 36, and his most recent wife is only 16. Even though 18 is legally the marriable age in the UAE, a judge can approve a younger marriage, and our husband is wealthy enough to ensure that it happens.
What do you think of a man in his early 50s marrying a girl of 16?
I personally don’t think it’s right for such a marriage to take place. Even though legally it was allowed, the odds are she’ll be widowed before she even turns 40, which is really tragic for her.
Why are you more concerned for her after he dies than what might happen during the marriage?
I don’t think it’s right for him to marry someone so young, but at least this way she is provided for. Once he dies, I’m not sure what’s going to happen to any of us once he dies.
What typically happens to the wives once their husband dies? Say you are 50. Do you get an inheritance?
I would most likely be sent to live with a male relative, and perhaps receive an inheritance or something similar. I would have to follow ‘Iddah’ under Shariah Law and wait before remarrying though. If I an widowed while still young, I could probably remarry, but if I was older I might just live as a widow with my relatives.
He must be very rich to afford 3 wives, 3 households. Are you allowed to spend any money?
He is, as far as I know, fairly wealthy, even though he never talks about business or finances with us. Each of us gets a monthly allowance for groceries, clothes, shopping, and anything else we might need, but it’s never enough to make any really extravagant purchases; for anything like that, like jewelry or really nice clothes; anything really expensive, we have to ask him for permission.
What do you enjoy spending your allowance on?
Well, its usually not enough to buy anything more than the essentials, but I love cooking and buying new ingredients, and i always put a little aside to buy paints and art supplies with.
Are you allowed to work?
No, we aren’t allowed to work, or at least not for money. I love painting and art, so I do work on that a lot, but my husband would never let me sell them or earn a living myself. For the most part I have to rely on my husband to provide for me and our daughter.
How are mealtimes? Do you cook? Do you all eat together?
I usually cook meals for myself and daughter, and maybe a few friends, but we usually I don’t eat with our sister wives, except for on Friday, when we usually eat a meal together with our husband.
When it comes to sex, is it only ever you and him? Or is part of it that the four of you have sexual relations?
It is always only him and one of us, he has never asked any of us to have relations with him at the same time. It’s a very private affair.
Do you spend time with the other wives? Are they your friends? Or do you keep separate lives?
For the most part we are like separate families, we each have our own apartment, cook our own meals, and have our own beds, but fortunately his first wife and I do get along very well; since I left Saudi Arabia she’s been almost like a sister to me. His third wife though, she is very rude to us, since she is the youngest, and we definitely don’t get along.
How is she rude to you?
It feels like since our husband spends more time with her than the rest of us, she has a more privileged relationship with him than we do. She can get him to do things to us that he wouldn’t do otherwise, like punish us for doing innocent things, like going out without his permission, he is usually fine with, but if his youngest wife convinced him to, he will get angry and even hit us, even very softly. It’s more of symbolic than anything, but it still makes me feel awful. She also doesn’t miss an opportunity to bring me down or insult me.
What’s the best thing about your marriage?
Probably having such a good relationship with his first wife. It’s almost like having another sister, and it definitely helps make up for some of the worse parts of my marriage. Either that or being provided for so well. I’m not mistreated or neglected, and it gives me a chance to raise our daughter.
If he were to die soon, would you still be friends with the first wife?
I think we would. Even if we didn’t share a husband, I think we would have been friends anyway, and I think we would stay friends even if we weren’t married to the same man.
What is the worst part about living in such a relationship?
The worst part of my relationship is probably just the stress it brings. For instance, he spends most nights with his new wife, and she knows she is his favorite right now and uses that to treat his first wife and I very badly. I try not to hold it against her or our husband, but it’s hard not to.
Do you feel any resentment towards your father for putting you in a situation you may not have necessarily chosen for yourself?
I do sometimes. He never really gave me a choice in the matter, so I do sometimes feel resentful towards him for putting me into this situation, but it’s the culture he knew growing up, and i know he had my best interests at heart. He wanted to be sure I would be provided for, and I know that despite everything he loves me and wants what’s best for me. But it’s not easy to forgive him.
If you were given a chance to, would you get out of the marriage?
Although under Sharia Law divorce is allowed, the only way it could realistically happen for me is if my husband wanted a divorce as well, which he does not. And if I did divorce him, I don’t know what I would do or where I would go, especially since I would have trouble finding anyone willing to marry a divorced single mother. But honestly, I really don’t want to leave, although I wish it hadn’t happened at all, now that I’m married, I’m fairly well off and happy, and although it’s hard, it’s something I have to live with, and I am alright with that.
Would you prefer a different future for your daughter?
Absolutely. I would never want anyone, least of all my daughter, to be in the same relationship as me.
I would like to see the attitudes towards marriage become more western, and allow women more of a say in who they marry. I also pray that plural marriage continues to become more and more rare as time goes on.
Did you have a childhood sweetheart/relationship before your marriage?
I did have a sweetheart before I got married, he was a family friend, and I thought I was going to marry him for the longest time. I was actually looking forward to it, and I stroll sometimes regret not being able to spend my life with him. But I never had a choice in the matter, so I’ve learned to live with it.
How do you feel about the fact that a lot of the world (at least a lot of the Western world) looks down upon plural marriages. Do you ever question your own lifestyle?
I definitely question my lifestyle, and if I had the choice, I don’t think I would want to be in a plural marriage. Since I do live in Dubai, I do get exposed to more western culture than I did before, and I generally think that the west is right about the negative aspects of polygamy. Despite this, I’ve lived my whole life this way, and I’m not unhappy like many people in the west think. It’s not ideal, and certainly causes more stress and emotional strain on everyone, but it’s not all bad.
How has your life changed because of the marriage?
Before I was married, I lived with my family, and, because of the laws in Saudi Arabia, I had very little freedom of movement, and had to ask permission to do or go anywhere. Even while I was at home my parents, and especially my father, had absolute control over what I did.
Now that I’m married, I don’t have to ask permission to go out, as long as I am accompanied by another woman or male guardian, and I have more control over how I spend the small allowance I get. I also have more freedom at home, to raise our child and to talk and spend time with female friends. Despite this, if he wanted to, or if I made him unhappy with me, my husband could control me just like my father, did and monitor my every move, but fortunately he allows his wives to be fairly independent as long as we obey.
Russia may withdraw recognition of the independence of the Baltic republics and Ukraine
Article HERE
Russian State Duma deputy Yevgeny Fedorov, in an interview with the Sputnik Latvia news agency, said that Russia could withdraw recognition of the independence of Latvia, Estonia and Ukraine in the future. Earlier, Fedorov submitted to the State Duma a draft law on the abolition of the resolution of the USSR State Council of September 6, 1991 - "On the recognition of the independence of the Republic of Lithuania." The explanatory note to the document states that the decision is illegal, since it was adopted by an unconstitutional body in violation of the requirements of several articles of the Constitution of the Soviet Union. The MP also noted that after Lithuania, such a scenario is possible for Estonia, Latvia and Ukraine. “ We just started with Lithuania. And it is clear why - Lithuania is more dangerous for the Russian Federation in terms of the situation related to the Kaliningrad region, and in the confrontation with NATO and the United States. Therefore, Lithuania is now more important, but this does not mean that we will stop there ,” Fedorov said. In an interview with the International Affairs magazine, Fedorov spoke about the consequences of the withdrawal of recognition of the independence of Lithuania by the Russian Federation: "First, Lithuania, in accordance with international law, will automatically cease to be a nation like Kosovo. Someone recognizes Kosovo, someone does not, but Kosovo is not in the UN. It's not a nation, it's a disputed territory. The status of a disputed territory means that this territory cannot be part of NATO, because there is paragraph five there, which states that disputed states and territories cannot be part of NATO. In this case, we proceed from the fact that NATO did not know about this, we did not raise the issue of the dispute, but either after this law or a court decision, by the way, there is such a procedure for canceling the decision of the State Council to recognize the independence of Lithuania, NATO will be obliged to return to this issue due to newly discovered circumstances. In the process of our negotiations with NATO, there will be a legitimate basis for excluding Lithuania from the Alliance in accordance with the fifth paragraph of the NATO Charter. We are in a constant cycle of conflicts. The operation on the territory of Ukraine is already the hundredth military conflict in thirty years, and the basis for this is the violation of the law in 1990-1991. It was then that territorial international law was violated following the results of the Second World War,” Yevgeny Fedoro said . From the material of the information portal of the Izvestia newspaper - IZ.RU: “ Similar measures should also be applied to other countries of the post-Soviet space, in respect of which there are questions about the legal grounds for their withdrawal from the Soviet Union and which show hostility towards Russia. At the same time, Fedorov emphasized, this is not about the return of territories, but about “eliminating threats” for the Russian Federation. Director General of the Center for the Study of Integration Prospects Sergey Rekeda commented on Fedorov's initiative, calling it a signal to Lithuania and other Baltic countries about their political inferiority. He also added that the decisions to divide the territory of the USSR were not flawless from a legal point of view. In them, according to Rekeda, the factual rather than the formal side prevailed, later consolidated by the consensus between the elites in Moscow and the former Soviet republics, which was violated. On June 14, the head of the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry, in an interview with Foreign Policy, expressed Vilnius' concerns about the bill introduced by Fedorov. According to him, despite the fact that the initiative to revoke the recognition of Lithuanian independence does not come from top Russian officials, the Lithuanian authorities perceive it as a direct threat to the country .”
A Nightmare On Wall Street
This is bad.
This is really, really bad.
Investors loved the ride up, but now the Federal Reserve is helping to destroy the bubble that it once so eagerly created, and trillions of dollars in paper wealth is being wiped out in the process. Unfortunately, our system is not really designed to handle this sort of carnage.
So many in the financial world live right on the edge, and when things go really, really bad the dominoes can start falling at a pace that is absolutely breathtaking. We witnessed this back in 2008, and it could soon happen again.
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 880 points, and many were deeply concerned about what Monday would bring.
Well, the pessimists turned out to be correct, because the Dow plunged another 876 points on Monday.
Overall, the Dow is now down approximately 17 percent from its record high, and so it has almost reached bear market territory.
Of course the S&P 500 is already there…
The S&P 500 fell 3.88% to 3,749.63, marking its lowest level since March 2021 and bringing its losses from its January record to more than 21%. The benchmark closed in bear market territory (down more than 20% from its high) after trading there briefly on an intraday basis about three weeks ago. Some on Wall Street say it’s not an official bear market until the index closes there and that’s what happened on Monday. The last time stocks were in a bear market was in March 2020 at the onset of the pandemic.
Needless to say, the Nasdaq has them both beat. Tech stocks were on the cutting edge on the way up, and now they are on the bleeding edge on the way down. The Nasdaq dropped another 4.68% on Monday, and at this point it has already dropped over 33 percent from the all-time high.
Just think about that.
A third of the value of the Nasdaq has already been obliterated.
Wow.
As I write this article, investors are extremely concerned that the Fed could raise rates by 75 basis points on Wednesday…
Major averages hit their lows of the session in the final 30 minutes after a Wall Street Journal report suggested the Fed would consider raising rates by 0.75% on Wednesday, more than the half-point increase currently expected.
And Fox Business is reporting that some traders believe that we could actually see a 100 basis point increase in July….
While market consensus is for a half-point interest rate hike at the Fed’s policy-setting meeting this week, the odds for a larger increase next month are surging, with a potential 75-basis point or 100-basis point jump on the table in July. About 16% of traders are penciling in a 100-basis point jump next month, compared to 53% forecasting a 75-basis point increase, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, which tracks trading.
Of course the Fed should not be raising rates at all.
The U.S. economy is clearly heading into a very painful recession, and you don’t raise rates as a recession is starting.
Unfortunately, Fed officials feel like their hands are tied because inflation is completely out of control. Last week we learned that the consumer price index has risen to 8.6 percent, and we were told that was the highest that it has been since December 1981.
But if the inflation rate was still calculated the way that it was back in 1980, it would actually be well over 15 percent at this point.
So the Fed is going to bring down the hammer, and that is going to continue to roil financial markets.
And right now cryptocurrencies are being hit harder than anything else.
In fact, the price of Bitcoin plunged 15 percent in just 24 hours…
Bitcoin, the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency, has lost 15% in the last 24 hours — putting it about 66% below its all-time high in November last year, when it traded around $69,000, according to data from Coinbase. Bitcoin fell below $24,000 Monday, sending the crypto to its lowest level since December 2020. Ether, the second-most-valuable digital coin, plunged 17%, and has now lost about 75% of its value since November.
At the peak, just about every Bitcoin investor was in the green.
But as I have warned my readers over and over again, you only make money in the financial markets if you get out in time.
There was quite a bit of panic among crypto investors after the Celsius Network announced that it was being forced to temporarily pause “withdrawals, swaps and transfers”…
Celsius Network Ltd., one of the biggest lenders in crypto and a key player in the world of decentralized finance, said late Sunday that it was pausing withdrawals, swaps and transfers following weeks of speculation over its ability to make good on the outsize returns it offered on certain of its products, including yields as high as 17%. The move effectively halted a platform with registered entities across the globe and billions of dollars worth of digital coins under management, accelerating a selloff in the broader market that was already in progress on concern over prospects for tightening monetary policy ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting this week.
We should watch some of these big players in the cryptocurrency industry very carefully.
In the end, I have a feeling that some people that thought that they were “crypto millionaires” will actually walk away with nothing or next to nothing.
Of course it isn’t just crypto investors that are going to get eviscerated.
In recent years our financial markets have been transformed into the biggest casino in the history of the world.
And a lot of investors had become convinced that the Federal Reserve had decided to permanently rig the game in their favor.
Now the rug is being pulled out from under them, and the losses are piling up fast.
Hopefully the markets will stabilize after the Fed decision comes out.
But the outlook for the months ahead is terrible, and my regular readers already know what I believe is coming beyond that.
It took years to get to the top of the rollercoaster, but the ride down will go much, much faster.
Russian Spares for Airbus and Boeing aircraft – Airline Ratings
Russia plans to manufacture unauthorized and unapproved spare parts for Airbus and Boeing aircraft, as their supply lines have been cut by economic sanctions.
This could further deteriorate the value of leased western aircraft operating in Russia, as the use of unauthorized Russian spares would render the aircraft not airworthy in western countries.
The Russian aviation authority, Rostaviatsia, has issued developer certificates to five companies that authorize them to perform modification, certification of minor changes, and issuance of technical documentation, including approval of repair documentation and changes. The five companies include the State Civil Aviation Research Institute, S7 Technics, the Ural Civil Aviation plant, Aviation Engineering Solutions, and the Navigator Institute of Aeronautical Instrumentation. This certification will enable them to manufacture Russian spares. However, those spares would not be recognized as airworthy outside Russia.
Propaganda award of the day…
Yeah. Just add the word “possibly” and include a statement by an “unnamed expert”. LOL!
By the way, the Chinese don’t brew coffee at home. No one owns coffee makers. They drink tea. And if they want a cup of coffee they go to McDonald’s, KFC, or Starbucks for one.
This is just silly…
UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet says will not seek second term | United Nations News | Al Jazeera
The cost of telling the truth!
Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations human rights chief, has said she will not seek a second four-year term after her current one expires at the end of August, ending weeks of speculation.
The 70-year-old made a trip to China last month for which she was criticised by rights groups as well as some Western governments for not doing enough to act against alleged abuses against Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in the western region of Xinjiang.
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China’s hostile environment for Western tech pushed out Amazon and Airbnb, but competition remains the biggest challenge | South China Morning Post
China’s hostile environment for Western tech pushed out Amazon and Airbnb, but competition remains the biggest challenge
An increasing number of Western internet firms are calling it quits in the world’s second largest economy, citing Covid-19 and a tougher regulatory environment
More recent challenges just tell part of the story, according to analysts, who say platforms like Airbnb, Amazon and Uber were outcompeted by local rivals
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Setback For Airbus-Led Consortium: After 20 Years Of Frustration, Norway Goes The Australia Way & Dumps Its Rotorcraft
Norway has terminated its two-decade-old contract with an Airbus-led consortium of European aircraft and defense manufacturers, NATO Helicopter Industries (NHI), to acquire 14 NH90 medium-lift helicopters, citing 20 years of frustration with the delays, errors, and time-consuming maintenance. “Regrettably we have reached the conclusion that no matter how many hours our technicians work, and how many parts we order, it will never make the NH90 capable of meeting the requirements of the Norwegian Armed Forces,” said Norwegian Minister of Defence, Bjørn Arild Gram, in a statement released on June 10. “Based on a joint recommendation by the Armed Forces and associated departments and agencies, the Norwegian Government has therefore decided to end the introduction of the NH90 and has authorized the Norwegian Defence Material Agency to terminate the contract.”
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Ukraine latest updates: Moscow ‘destroys’ Western weapons depot | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera
Of course.
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U.S. paid 2 bln in rubles for astronaut’s trip via Russian spacecraft – CGTN
Russian Space Agency official said U.S. has already paid in ruble for its astronaut's flight on Russian spacecraft in an interview on Saturday, according to China Media Group. Dmitry Rogozin, head of the Russia's state space corporation Roscosmos, said the U.S. has paid the full amount of the cost of the flight to the International Space Station for the crewmate Mark Vande Hei on the Russia "Soyuz" spacecraft in an interview with the Russia 24 news channel. NASA has chosen the Axiom Space Corporation as a middle man to purchase a seat for the American astronaut under pressure from Congress. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned to Earth with two Russian cosmonauts aboard Russia's Soyuz MS-19 Spacecraft in the end of March. The payment was a month later than planned, according to Rogozin. He said Axiom Space is the direct payer who made the payment of 2 billion rubles, not NASA. In March, Rogozin said Roscosmos will switch to ruble-denominated contracts with other countries, according to TASS state news agency. The move came after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia will seek payment in rubles for gas sales from "unfriendly" countries as part of countermeasures against Western countries freezing Russia's overseas assets.
Two Culinary Students Made Gigantic, Chocolate Covered Rock Candy Geodes
At the Culinary Institute of America, two students—Alex Yeatts and Abby Lee Wilcox—have spent the last six months creating a collection of chocolate-covered, rock candy geodes and they look absolutely amazing.
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Taiwan
Recently, China starts to make it clear that Taiwan straight is NOT the so-called international water. Chinese MFA spokeperson said as follows on 2022/06/13 (source).
Bloomberg: We reported that Chinese military officials have repeatedly asserted that the Taiwan Strait is not international waters in recent months during meetings with US counterparts. Does the foreign ministry have any comment on this?
Wang Wenbin: Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory. The Taiwan Strait ranges in width from about 70 nautical miles at its narrowest and 220 nautical miles at its widest. According to UNCLOS and Chinese laws, the waters of the Taiwan Strait, extending from both shores toward the middle of the Strait, are divided into several zones including internal waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, and the Exclusive Economic Zone. China has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait. At the same time, it respects the lawful rights of other countries in relevant waters.
There is no legal basis of “international waters” in the international law of the sea. It is a false claim when certain countries call the Taiwan Strait “international waters” in order to find a pretext for manipulating issues related to Taiwan and threatening China’s sovereignty and security. China is firmly against this.
This QnA was 2 days ago but I didn’t see this in any western media, especially in anglo sphere. It seems to me that China has put Taiwan reunification on schedule.
China’s President Signs Decree: “Special Military Operations”
President Xi Jinping of China signed an order on the right to conduct a “special military operation” without declaring war. It seems clear, he has Taiwan in mind.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, recently signed an order to promulgate a set of trial outlines on military operations other than war, which will take effect on Wednesday.
The outlines will standardize, and provide the legal basis for Chinese troops to carry out, missions like disaster relief, humanitarian aid, escort, peacekeeping, and safeguarding China’s national sovereignty, security and development interests, experts said.
The outlines aim to prevent and neutralize risks and challenges, handle emergencies, protect people and property. They also deal with safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests, world peace and regional stability.
The outlines have important meanings for the Chinese armed forces to carry out their duties and missions in the new era, as they will make innovations in ways military forces are used and standardize the organization and implementation of the armed forces’ military operations other than war, sources say.
Military operations other than war refer to operations that do not involve war, like disaster relief and humanitarian aid, as well as operations that limit the scale of the use of force like maritime escorts and peacekeeping, a Chinese military expert who requested anonymity said today.
The Chinese armed forces have been engaged in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020. They also played a vital role in saving the people from natural disasters like earthquakes and floods, which often took place in China over the past years, the expert said.
The Chinese armed forces are also responsible for counter-terrorism, anti-pirate and peacekeeping missions, including regular escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somalia as well as UN peacekeeping missions, providing public security goods to the international community, the expert said.
By carrying out these operations overseas, in some cases, the Chinese troops can prevent spillover effects of regional instabilities from affecting China, secure vital transport routes for strategic materials like oil, or safeguard China’s overseas investments, projects and personnel, analysts said.
With six chapters and 59 pages, the outlines summarize experiences accumulated from past missions and practices, draw results from both military and civilian research, and standardize the basic principles, organization and command, types of activities, activity support and political work, providing the legal basis for the troops to carry out military operations other than war.
Atop all those matters, the issue of Taiwan seems to be the real focus of the President’s new Decree.
In the same way that Russia is now engaged in a Special Military Operation in Ukraine, China now has the legal basis for it to do the same with Taiwan.
A Conflict inside of China
The main actions of the world conflict will take place around China—expert (EurAsia Daily, Alan Pukhaev, June 13, 2022 — in Russian)
It is practically no secret to anyone anymore that the big game started by the West in the context of the ongoing geopolitical confrontation is pursuing global goals. The fate of the world order is at stake. At the same time, the West, which is defending its hegemony, in its usual manner, is trying to act by proxy, creating problems along the perimeter of its geopolitical enemies—Russia and China. East and South Asia Outwardly, this looks rather confusing, but not for those who developed the ingenious schemes used today. Today, the main direction of the front of the geopolitical struggle is the Ukraine, where Russia is conducting a special military operation, and where the collective West is investing huge financial resources. In this situation, it may seem that Russia is acting alone and China has taken a wait-and-see attitude. However, according to the renowned sinologist Nikolay Vavilov, this is by no means the case. China is acting. Moreover, it is actively, conscientiously fulfilling the part of the tasks assigned to it. The aggravation of the situation in the Taiwan Strait can serve as evidence of this. Despite U.S. dissatisfaction, Chinese Air Force planes are flying into the island zone more and more frequently, getting on the nerves of the Taiwanese administration and irritating the United States. This does not allow Washington to fully focus on the Ukraine, which is an obvious help for Russia. At the same time, it can be noted that today, along the entire perimeter of the Chinese border, the hot phase of the Cold War unleashed by the U.S. against China has unfolded. “Imran Khan flew to the opening of the Olympics in Beijing. After that, he flew to Moscow. In response, the United States initiated the overthrow of Imran Khan, bringing the pro-American opposition to power. And now a civil war is flaring up in Pakistan,” Nikolay Vavilov wrote in his Telegram channel. “Pakistan is China’s most important ally. The route from western China through Pakistan and on to the Persian Gulf is a strategic hydrocarbon supply route. Basically, a territory bordering China was struck.” The sinologist draws attention to the fact that quite recently the pro-Chinese regime in the state of Sri Lanka was swept away with the support of the U.S. A government crisis is brewing in Nepal, which directly borders China. “There was an active struggle for the President in the Philippines as well,” the expert continued. “The winner is a politician associated with Chinese monopolies. But the Philippine military department is pursuing its own pro-U.S. policy. Recently, the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, visited there. During his visit, a framework agreement on maritime security was signed between the Philippines and the U.S. In addition, the United States is trying to draw Vietnam into the anti-Chinese coalition, taking advantage of the fact that it has territorial disputes with China.” He recalls that Biden has visited South Korea and Japan in May. These are the closest allies of the U.S. And many analysts believe that during his visit a proposal was made to expand Washington’s military cooperation with Seoul and Tokyo with the possibility of transforming Japan into a nuclear power and deploying tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of South Korea. “We see that Biden is flying not to the Ukraine, but to East Asia,” continues Vavilov. “Meeting with leaders of Southeast Asian countries, focusing efforts in that region.” The sinologist points out that nearly at the same time there was a coup attempt in the Solomon Islands, where China basically helped the government to stay in power by signing a bilateral security agreement. In addition, according to U.S. media reports, China intends to sign similar agreements with Kiribati and Vanuatu. This is how, according to the expert, Beijing is responding to Washington’s actions—by creating a security belt in the Pacific Ocean. In addition, it is worth paying attention to NATO’s intentions to grant membership the countries of East Asia. Obviously, this is solely an anti-Chinese measure. Central Asia As a confirmation of the expert’s opinion, we can also recall the situation in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan, which also directly borders China. Recall that on May 17–18 this year, the Tajik security forces carried out an anti-terrorist operation there against organized armed gangs. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic has officially stated that the actions of the militants were coordinated from abroad via extremists wanted by the state, the main figure among whom is the leader of the National Alliance and the Islamic Renaissance Party (banned in Tajikistan) Muhiddin Kabiri. Also bordering China, Kyrgyzstan was visited last month by British representative Richard Chalk (Richard Edward Oliver Chalk. Since 2011, he was heading UK special unit RICU—Research, Information and Communication—a secret service that is part of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism under the UK Home Office. He is now running UK NGO REOC Communications — EurAsia Daily). According to Kyrgyz sources, the main purpose of his visit was to convince the Kyrgyz authorities to start accepting Afghan refugees. Of course, one cannot ignore the January events in Kazakhstan, which brought the country to the brink of civil war. Thus, as Nikolay Vavilov noted, destabilization is taking place along the entire perimeter of the Chinese border, with the exception of Mongolia. At the same time, the weakest links, in his opinion, are Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Myanmar. Therefore, it can’t be said that China is sitting on the sidelines. It is fighting a cold war against the U.S. “Another thing is that this war is still being waged via proxies, via allied political forces, but it is no less fierce,” Nikolay Vavilov continues. “Entire regimes are being demolished, governments are being replaced, and preparations are underway for a large-scale conflict.” In view of the foregoing, there are reasons to believe that the main actions of the current world conflict will unfold in the Asia-Pacific region. And the Ukraine is a maneuver to distracts Russia.
In Germany
Sanctions going really well: 1 in 6 Germans skipping meals due to inflation price increases on food
Nearly one in six Germans (16 percent) have been forced to go without regular meals to make ends meet, and another 13 percent may face a similar situation if food prices continue to rise, a new survey by the Institute for New Social Answers (INSA) for Germany’s Bild newspaper has found.
Electricity in Australia
Sydney suburbs plunged into darkness as more power outages
Entire suburbs in Sydney were sent into darkness on Monday night, with concerns more power outages could hit areas of both New South Wales and Queensland over the next 24 hours.
It appears at least part of the problem is price controls imposed on electricity suppliers such that some are turning off generation rather than lose money on every kWh generated.
Remember 2008? Another Terrifying Housing Crash Is Now In Progress
It is often said that those that refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. More than a decade ago, the Federal Reserve created the most epic housing bubble in American history and everyone was happy until 2008 came along.
The economy slowed down, home prices crashed and the ensuing chaos on Wall Street spawned an endless series of movies, television specials and documentaries.
But instead of learning our lessons, we did it again.
The Federal Reserve created an even larger housing bubble, and I have been relentlessly warning that it would inevitably burst. Now home sales have fallen for six months in a row and prices are crashing again. In fact, in some parts of the country we have already seen prices plunge by as much as 20 percent…
Property prices have fallen by up to 20 percent across parts of the US as buyers shun the market amid ‘Bidenflation’ and spiking interest rates. Asking prices have plummeted by up to $400,000 in wealthy areas while poorer neighborhoods have seen house values nosedive by as much as $115,000.
Do you remember last time around when millions of homeowners ended up “underwater” on their mortgages?
If we continue on this current trajectory, it is going to happen again.
Last year at this time, the housing market was extremely hot, but now a new report from Redfin is telling us that things have dramatically changed…
A May study by Redfin found that about 19 percent of sellers dropped the prices on their homes in a four week period between April and May. The outlet said that the report indicated an end to the country’s pandemic-era housing boom. Their report found that Google searches for ‘homes for sale’ were down 13 percent from the same time last year. It also found that requests for home tours were down 12 percent, and that mortgage applications dropped 16 percent from a year prior.
And the higher mortgage rates go, the worse things are going to get.
Unfortunately, mortgage rates are spiking at a rate that is absolutely breathtaking this month…
Mortgage rates jumped sharply this week, as fears of a potentially more aggressive rate hike from the Federal Reserve upset financial markets. The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage rose 10 basis points to 6.28% Tuesday, according to Mortgage News Daily. That followed a 33 basis point jump Monday. The rate was 5.55% one week ago.
The last time we saw mortgage rates this high was during the last housing crash.
Unfortunately, they are only going to go higher because the Federal Reserve wants interest rates throughout our economy to rise in order to fight inflation.
But as I have warned repeatedly in recent months, a high rate environment is going to absolutely eviscerate the housing market. Already, higher rates have had a colossal impact on home affordability…
Higher home prices and rates have crushed home affordability. For instance, on a $400,000 home, with a 20% down payment, the monthly mortgage payment went from $1,399 at the start of January to $1,976 today, a difference of $577. That does not include homeowners insurance nor property taxes. It also does not include the fact that the home is about 20% more expensive than it was a year ago.
Vast multitudes of potential home buyers will be forced out of the market until home prices comes down dramatically.
If you are one of those people, you could try to rent a place while you wait, but apartment rents are 15 percent higher than they were a year ago…
A new report from Redfin shows that nationally listed rents for available apartments rose 15% from a year ago. And the median listed rent for an available apartment rose above $2,000 a month for the first time. Rents are up more than 30% in Austin, Seattle, and Cincinnati. In Los Angeles the median asking rent is $3,400. Even in formerly affordable cities such as Nashville it’s now $2,140, up 32% from last year.
I am so thankful that Redfin gives us these numbers, but it turns out that Redfin is in deep trouble too.
In fact, Redfin just announced that they will be laying off 8 percent of their workers…
Real estate firms Redfin and Compass are laying off workers, as mortgage rates rise sharply and home sales drop. In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Compass announced a 10% cut to its workforce, and Redfin announced an 8% cut. Shares of both companies fell Tuesday. Redfin’s stock touched a new 52-week low.
So many of the exact same things that we witnessed back in 2008 are happening again.
The economy is slowing down.
Big corporations are starting to lay off workers.
Home prices are starting to collapse.
And there is a tremendous amount of pessimism about what is ahead. In fact, one new survey has found that small business owners are “feeling their gloomiest in nearly five decades”…
Small business owners in America are feeling their gloomiest in nearly five decades, a survey released Tuesday morning showed. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) said its gauge of businesses expecting better business conditions over the next six months fell to the worst reading in the 48-year history of the survey.
When things got really bad in 2008 and 2009, the Federal Reserve responded by pushing interest rates all the way to the floor, and that certainly helped.
But now the Federal Reserve doesn’t have that option.
In fact, the Federal Reserve seems quite determined to dramatically raise rates in a desperate attempt to fight the inflation monster that they had a major role in helping to create.
And the higher that rates go, the worse things will get for the housing market and for the economy as a whole.
If we would have learned some lessons from the last crisis, all of this could have been avoided. But instead we are now moving into a future which is going to be extraordinarily painful.
At this point, the Federal Reserve is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
If they don’t raise rates, inflation will continue to spiral out of control.
But if they do raise rates, they will crush the housing market and make the coming recession far worse.
For years, they assured all of us that they had everything under control and that they knew exactly what they were doing.
Now everyone can see the truth, but unfortunately it is too late to reverse course.
Tetrachromacy
The majority of us can only perceive a limited number of hues or colors from our surroundings, which may number in the millions. If you think that is already a lot, consider someone who can see 99 million more colors than you. Concetta Antico, the world’s only tetrachromatic artist, is an example.
Tetrachromacy is a hereditary condition in which a small percentage of the global population has more receptors in their eyes than a normal person, allowing them to detect more colors.
Concetta Antico perceives more than green in a tree leaf, stating, “around the rim, I see orange, crimson, or purple; in the shadow, you may see dark green, but I see violet, turquoise, or blue.”
Antoci’s tetrachromacy translates to her vibrant and colorful paintings, and you can see them on her website, concettaantico.com. The crazy part is that her parents first mistook her for color blind or daltonic since she detailed hundreds of hues that only she could see!
Q&A: Indonesia’s defence minister on China in the Asia-Pacific
China has always been the leading civilization in Asia. Many of our sultans, kings, our princes in those days, they would marry princesses from China. We have hundreds of years of relationship. Al Jazeera: In your speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, you spoke about the “Asian way”. Where does Indonesia fit into that idea? Subianto: That is our culture that we always try to resolve problems with negotiations, with interactions, with engagement, and we keep on engaging, we keep on discussing until we come to an amicable, mutually beneficial solution. That is the Asian way. And it is the Indonesian way. We call it musyawarah mufakat (discussion to reach a solution) and we call it gotong royong (working together). We look for common interests; if we always talk about the differences, we might not even meet. Al Jazeera: A big focus during this summit has been on US-China tensions. What do you see as Indonesia’s role in dealing with those tensions? Subianto: We are in the real and actual position that we respect and we are friendly, and we are good friends. We have good cooperation with both powers — I have said that many times. The United States has helped us many times, in our critical moments. But China has also helped us. China has also defended us and China is now a very close partner with Indonesia. And actually, China has always been the leading civilization in Asia. Many of our sultans, kings, our princes in those days, they would marry princesses from China. We have hundreds of years of relationship.
So it’s natural. So, you asked me, what is our position, as good friends we try to be, maybe a good common bridge. If not, then we maintain the good relationships
And we are convinced that both powers will have wise leadership. I’m optimistic on that front, many people, of course, understandably are concerned, and yes there are dangers. But I believe the leader of China will be wise, and the leader of the US also. They are great powers. The world will expect them to give us good leadership. Al Jazeera: What about some of the aspects of Indonesia-China relationships, where there are differences of opinions… for example the South China Sea. How do you navigate those challenges? Subianto: As I said with good relations, good communication with direct contacts, we can come to an amicable understanding that’s mutually beneficial. Q&A: Indonesia’s defence minister on security in the Asia-Pacific
Strawberry Shortcake Poke Bundt Cake
This fun poke bundt cake puts a whole new spin on strawberry shortcake!
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 box Betty Crocker™ Super Moist™ yellow cake mix
- 1 cup milk
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 3 eggs
Strawberry Poke Mixture
- 1 1/2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Cream Cheese Glaze
- 3/4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1 to 2 tablespoons milk
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Garnish
- 1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
Russia, Ukraine, China, Taiwan, NATO w/Gonzalo Lira (Live)
"A conflict with China is a catastrophe."
An outstanding, but very long (4 hours) talk about geopolitics including Russia and China. The China section starts around 1:40:00. A must listen to. Listen to the the entire broadcast if you are able to.
Do you want more?
You can find more articles related to this in my latest index; A New Beginning. And in it are elements of the old, some elements regarding the transition, and some elements that look towards the future.
New Beginnings 5.
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