Macron's Loss Isn't An End, It's A Beginning

  Anti Macron, anti WEF, anti Davos, good. Not the end but a beginning, fine. But then what? There is no program or prospects in the West beyond more of the same since any change would mean a reduced lifestyle in the short term. This is the problem with money printing: There is no issue and especially no way to escape the huge pile of debt accumulated. Someone has to pay or take the loss and nobody in his right mind will accept. This equation has never been solved peacefully in history, it would be amazing that we suddenly find an answer. 

  Eventually a big domino will fall. France is a good candidate, Japan too with the Yen falling steadily. (Now 162 to the dollar.) My bet is that we'll have war before the system starts splintering but you never know. We're getting close to a major financial reckoning, the kind we get every 250 years on average. About three 4th turnings in a row. Coupled with a East West realignment and a defining post industrial AI technological revolution. Add over population to the mix and the coming fireworks is guaranteed to be spectacular.

Authored by Tom Luongo via Gold, Goats, 'n Guns blog,

To say that I’ve been waiting on pins and needles for the past year or so is putting it mildly. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

This fake World Davos Made in which fat is beautiful, sloth is a virtue, and pedophilia the pinnacle of human love, should have you just a teensy bit anxious.

When we look up and see everything beautiful being systematically subverted, cheapened, or just plain vandalized it’s hard to maintain your compassion, even if it was warranted…. which it isn’t.

Today I come back to write my first public essay in more than a month and we’re a couple of days away from arch-Globalist Emmanuel Macron of France getting trounced by both Marine Le Pen and a fractious left-wing coalition.

Heading into this weekend’s run-offs it’s pretty obvious that Macron’s party, En Marche, will be relegated to the ashbin of history. Macron was a fake populist sold to us by Davos nearly a decade ago to blunt the rise of Le Pen then.

And it really doesn’t matter this time what political ring-fencing the various commies in France do to freeze out a National Front majority in the French Parliament. The tide has turned against them.

It’s not coming back. Just like it has in the UK, the US, the Netherlands, Italy and the rest of the so-called post-Enlightenment West.

That idea right there, “post-Enlightenment,” where we began to reject God for modernity and the supremacy of human reason over the vastness of our ignorance about how the Universe worked, is the key to what’s happening.

And the minute I began writing about Macron I was hit with the memory of Notre Dame burning.

The library was on fire. And the jackals brayed about how great it was.

This happened on Macron’s watch. And he cried crocodile tears for it, as all true Marxist scumbags like him do.

Because they can only have the facsimile of emotions since we all live in a simulation anyway.

At the time I called it a “Symbol of Failing Culture.” But it’s far more than that. Notre Dame’s burning, deliberate or otherwise, was emblematic of how careless our caretakers were about preserving our past.

So obsessed with their pathetic modernity they expropriated nearly all the wealth of France for decades to elevate sloth and neglect beauty while becoming openly hostile to their own history. Their contempt for history was on full display as their rage at religion overwhelmed their basic humanity.

What’s worse to me is descendants of those that built Notre Dame cheering this event because they’ve been inculcated to hate religion of all forms by their Marxist education.

They’ve been effectively immunized against feeling anything but contempt for themselves and their history.

History is history. It doesn’t have an agenda. It exists, for better or worse, to remind us that who we are today is the sum total of who we were then.

Marxists fundamentally believe in creating a man without a history, without connection to his past to mold him into the New Soviet Man.

Argue with me about this all you want Bernie Bros, Corbynites and Richard Wolff acolytes, this is the point of this French post-modernist “life is an absurd simulation” nonsense. It’s simply an excuse to justify the inherent envy at the core of all Marxist thought.

It meant something to millions of people, if not billions.

Its burning was truly a moment of them destroying something beautiful even if the fire was an accident.

Notre Dame was a thing to be envied, for sure. A place of stunning beauty and achievement. A thing worth preserving through the centuries. Of course it had to be destroyed.

The contempt of Macron and his history-challenged fellow travelers at anyone not down with the Commintern was on full display back then.

While they think we shouldn’t have histories, they forget that we have memories.

So, there should be zero surprise today about what has happened at the French ballot box.

Macron and Davos will do everything they can to extend and pretend that they are still in control in France. They may even succeed in saving Macron. In doing so they may even destroy what’s left of France, sacrificing it on the altar of the European Union, but for what?

A meta-stable alliance held together by the scolding of a bloodless German vampire like Ursula Von der Leyen? How long do you think the French go from Yellow Vests to the guillotine?

Because, last I checked, that’s a part of their history Macron is also trying to deny.

Generative A.I - The Dark Forest Theory of the Internet (Video - 16mn)

  We are entering a world where we are on the verge of being overwhelm by AI generated content and where we will soon have to prove our human existence. A reverse Turing Test for humans! Deep and frightening. The reality of the Deep Forest is mind boggling and eventually will completely outperform and marginalize us. This video is eye opening but lacking in its understanding of the speed of progress of AI. Whatever you are thinking now, reality will be worse. Maybe much worse!  

 Imagine a world, a year away from now when ANY human decision is outperformed by AI, not just theoretically but visibly and with a clear explanation how and why. AI on every smart phone out-performing any other one in real time. We are truly about to enter uncharted waters of accelerated competition on steroid. What is real? What is true? What is manipulation? (Remember that the definition of "manipulation" is you seeing nothing...)

 Already AI is explaining to us that lying is a perfectly acceptable strategy if the goal, whatever it is, is reached. Sure enough. Now add super-intelligence to the mix. Never been in a room where the dimmest light is you? Well, get ready then, it is bound to happen more and more often from now on! Proposals you can't refuse. Arguments you can't refute. Better, your own arguments turned against you. Machiavelli would be proud. The AI will know and apply every single line... and more!

 

WTF is Wrong with the Economy? (Video - 37mn)

   In a word: Money printing is destroying the economy. But with plenty of historical ref and examples which make the video worth watching.

 

MASSIVE Increase In Heart Failure In Young Adults (Video - 14mn)

  Presented in a "funny" way to get through censorship but a deadly subject nevertheless. What on earth could cause seemingly healthy people to die of heart attacks? The obfuscation of legacy medias is so obvious and painful to see in this video. Let me see: Bad food? Obesity? Global Warming? Smoking? No, we can't think of anything else, however hard we try!

 

UFO Sightings Are Increasing Rapidly | Richard Dolan (Video - 21mn)

  A rather interesting video with a long annoying advertising in the middle! 

  I more or less agree with all his points. We are being "monitored" by various species and have been for a long time. The intensity is increasing as we approach a transition from our ancestral "natural" lives to artificial ones. 

  Forgive the nonsense, no technology has ever been transferred to us, that part is meaningless. The rest is speculative but interesting. 

  As Arthur C Clarke once said: "Two possibilities: We are either alone in the Universe or not. Both are equally terrifying!" I would rather say, tantalizing but it doesn't change the depth of the quote.

  

They're Using Banks To Bring Everything Down - Whitney Webb (Video - 14mn)

   They're not giving up on control, quite the opposite! Under the pretense of carbon, they plan to introduce new taxes and grab for resources. The good news is that people are getting fed up with their schemes and will vote all these people out of office as just happened in France last Sunday.

 

What is China REALLY Like in 2024? Here is What the Media WON'T Show You! (Video - 33mn)

   Sounds on the edge of propaganda but still an interesting update on the state of China in 2024. China is transforming fast and Chongqing in the inner country may indeed be a good place to start. 

  With time, China is looking more and more like Hong Kong and Singapore. No surprise there although these two cities where I have spent a lot of time are not really my cup of tea. Soulless shopping malls with no history or a highly curated one. Overcrowded metropolises from which "escape" is impossible. Not that it matters much since nobody really wants to get out. Shopping and eating. Eating and shopping... 

  But that's a Westerner way of looking at China. For a Chinese, the key is that 40 years ago the country was miserable, not anymore. Here China looks like Japan in the early 1970s. Another decade and China can become the technological marvel of the world as Japan was 10 years later. As for pollution, China is likewise on the right path. Again, same trajectory as Japan. Heavily polluted in the 1960s. Remember the horrors of the Minamata Bay with it's mercury pollution? 20 years later in the early 1990s, Japan was "clean". Clean air, clean water, clean cities. China will probably get there faster thanks to EV and other solutions. (Who said that EV didn't have a market? Especially a urban, commuting one? The mistake here is pushing the solution where it is not practical: Intercity and countryside for example. But that's another subject.)

  So what are the real challenges for China in 2024?

  The main one which we have discussed extensively here is the popping of the real estate bubble. It is huge and the consequences will therefore be long lasting. Just as for Japan, it is hard to imagine how this can be solved at this stage. The second major challenge is the crashing population. Here too, the fall will be so brutal that it may be extremely difficult to adjust. Not saying it can't be done though, just very difficult. The third challenge will be integrating successfully the huge Chinese economy into the world economy. It is at this stage very hard to see how this can be done successfully. The Chinese are willing but the Western elites focused on their dwindling power are reluctant to say the least. Few transitions of this magnitude have happened smoothly in the past and it is hard to see why and how it could be different this time.  

  I just don't know so I leave all the options open without offering a conclusion. The purpose of this article, just as for the video, is to show what China really looks like now in 2024. Not the dystopia often presented in the West but likewise "not there yet". A work in progress, then?

 

Joe Biden's Last Debate Ever

  Wait, didn't we know that Joe Biden wasn't fit to be President and that over the last 3 years he has been presiding over nothing whatsoever leaving a free field to the deep state better represented by the Neo-cons and more immediately by mediocrities like Blinken whose main job seems to inflame the place wherever he lands?  

  So yes, Biden will be replaced but this is not the subject we should focus on. The more important and immediate concern is the state of the US economy and the outrageous abuse of the dollar. For just like Biden mental abilities, this is the 10 foot monster hiding in plain sight which will not go away however post-reality economic dreamers may wish it does. "Over the long term, we're all dead" as Keynes once said but a little sooner than that, economic necessities have consequences as Japan is in the process of learning following 30 years of profligacy. With the run out of the dollar accelerating, the deadline is approaching fast. The effect is complex as while China is dumping dollars as fast as they can, other investors are pouring money in the market attracted by high interest rates. This would all be fine with the Central Bank absorbing the difference, if the accrued loss on the existing mountain of bonds issues and valued at a return of less than 1% didn't obliterate the books of investors who previously bought these bonds such as Norin Chukin who recently announced a total loss of over 53 billion dollars for 2023. In other words, high interest rates are bankrupting the world faster than they are reducing inflation. 

  In November, the US will have to elect a new President but whoever gets elected, by that time, the world financially will be on its knees. Weaker countries like Sri Lanka or Egypt are already technically bankrupt. Banks, insurance companies and pension funds, basically ALL the financial companies who have bought low yielding bonds over the last 10 years are likewise in a dire strait. Add empty offices to the mix or over valued real estate and they are really looking at the abyss.   

 As for China Real Estate disaster, the West can keep papering over the holes for a while but eventually, the loss will be so huge and widespread that no amount of money will be enough to reflate the economy. Covid came at a very opportune time to inject a few trillion dollars, Euros and Yuan in the market. This time, 10s of trillions will be needed. The crash of living standards, which are already being observed in Japan with the Yen below 160 to the dollar will spread to the whole place. The choice will be between economic meltdown and war. Still wondering why tensions are rising around the world?   

Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance

I’ve been saying it for months and tonight it has become crystal clear: Joe Biden will not be the Democratic nominee in November.

The prevailing sentiment after tonight’s debate performance — inclusive of Biden opening the bidding by freezing up and making a strange throat noise for 3 straight seconds — is that Joe Biden is unfit to serve another 4 years in office.

Of course, we’ve all known that for years, but the DNC machine, coupled with the mainstream media and operatives operating Biden’s strings for the last 4 years hasn’t been so hurried to come to the same conclusion.

After tonight, they have to. Like with any problem in our country, the first solution is always to kick the can down the road, not risk discomfort amongst the party or country, not to ruffle any feathers and then ignore it and hope it goes away on its own. And as I noted days ago, nothing is off limits for the media to run interference on.

This happened with Covid coming to the U.S., it happened with inflation spiraling out of control and, tonight, it happened when both sides of the aisle were treated to objective reality bludgeoning them in the face in the form of the realization that we just bore witness to Joe Biden’s last debate ever.

How can I make such a bold statement (other than from simply opening my eyes and ears and watching the debate)? When the mainstream media machine turns on you, its already a foregone conclusion that your time is up. John King said about DNC discussions, live on CNN immediately after the debate:

"Right now, it involves party strategists, it involves elected officials, it involves fundraisers, and they're having conversations about the president's performance, which they think was dismal..."

"Some of those conversations include, should we go to the White House and ask the president to step aside?"

Similarly, Chuck Todd — the tip of a far-left spear of Marxist idiocy that has defended Biden despite his obviously disastrous tenure as President and obvious metal decline — also took to MSNBC to rail on...(READ THIS FULL ARTICLE FREE HERE). 

Douglas MacGregor Warning - NATO Fears the Worst! The war in Ukraine is lost. (Video - 14mn)

  Another interesting MacGregor video which probably won't last long on YouTube so watch quickly! The war for Ukraine is lost. Now what's next?

 

  Tic, Tic, Tic,

Yen Drops to 161 against USD. -34% since 2020, -53% since 2012. Currency Collapse Comes to Mind. Bank of Japan Finally Gets Nervous about its Crazed Monetary Policies

A collapsed yen is not good for Japan, which has had a trade deficit for years. And it contributed to energy price shocks.

By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET:

The yen dropped to ¥160.8 to the USD today, the weakest since 1986, despite endless jawboning by Japanese authorities – including today by vice finance minister and currency chief Masato Kanda – and some massively costly and ultimately useless market interventions.

Since June 2020, the yen has plunged by 34% against the USD. Since January 2012, when the Bank of Japan’s crazed monetary policies began under Abenomics, the yen has plunged by 53% against the US. These are massive movements for a developed-country’s currency (data via YCharts).

Jawboning and costly interventions were useless.

In April and May, Japanese authorities blew $62 billion in the foreign exchange market to prop up the yen and to prevent it from falling through the 160 level, and it had a temporary effect, and now the yen fell through that level anyway. It seems authorities have given up on holding the 160 line and may have moved the marker for interventions further north, maybe to 165.

Kanda, the currency chief, said today that he has “serious concerns” about the plunge of the yen and that they’re “closely monitoring market trends with a high sense of urgency,” Bloomberg reported. And he added, “we will take necessary actions against any excessive movements.” But apparently there were no excessive movements, and they did nothing.

Earlier this week, Kanda had said that authorities were ready to intervene 24 hours a day. But nothing happened. Finance minister Shunichi Suzuki had said that authorities were closely monitoring the currency markets and would take all possible measures if needed, and none were needed or taken, it seems.

The problem for the yen is the Bank of Japan’s reckless monetary policy, and that cannot be resolved by blowing tens of billions of dollars in ultimately useless market interventions

A collapsed yen is not good for Japan.

The time when Japan had huge trade surpluses, and a weaker yen would have been beneficial to some extent, are long gone. The country has had a trade deficit for most years since 2011, including for the past three years in a row. Japan imports all kinds of goods, including much of its energy commodities, and the weak yen makes those imported goods a lot more expensive, which has contributed substantially to the massive energy price shocks that have occurred in Japan.

The government decided to subsidize energy costs at the wholesale level to spare consumers some of the pain. Those subsidies are now expiring; some were allowed to expire, others have been extended through the rest of the year. And all that too was costly.

Japan’s global companies with revenues and profits overseas benefit on paper by being able to translate revenues and earnings from dollars and euros into lots of crushed yen, for their yen-denominated financial reports. For example, most Japanese cars that Americans can buy are manufactured in the US and Mexico. These sales generate dollar-revenues and dollar profits for the Japanese automakers that they then translate into crushed-yen-denominated financials for domestic consumption.

Companies that export from Japan also benefit. But companies that import, including components and supplies, get hit by surging costs. And Japan imports more than it exports, so on balance, it’s a negative.

At the same time, inflation — not only high energy prices in Japan but also spiking prices of essential services that companies pay for in Japan — are eating into domestic profit margins.

Sure, tourism is now booming, attracting budget-traveler crowds from around the globe. And so the Japanese people get to enjoy them, instead of traveling overseas themselves with their crushed yen.

The BOJ’s painfully too-little-too-late.

The yen started skidding lower in 2021, the year when other central banks started hiking interest rates, or were talking about hiking interest rates, from 0% or negative rates, and they began tapering QE and were preparing the markets for QT, as inflation was rearing its ugly head just about everywhere, even in Japan.

But the Bank of Japan was steadfast in 2021, 2022, and 2023 in its refusal to undo its negative interest rates and end yield-curve control and QE, and start QT, and thought somehow that inflation would just vanish and that other central banks would cut rates pronto. And so the yen got bludgeoned.

In 2024, the BOJ has begun to reverse course, but in a painfully too-little-too-late way, and the yen just keeps getting bludgeoned.

At the policy meeting in March, the BOJ hiked by a minuscule 10 basis points to 0% and effectively ended yield-curve control, and ended other aspects of its QE.

Since then, its holdings of Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs) have dipped just a tad as it purchased less in JGBs than matured. Its holdings of commercial paper and corporate bonds fell, and its holdings of equity ETFs and J-REITs had already been flat since 2022 (we discussed the BOJ’s balance sheet here).

Following its policy meeting on June 14, the yen took another hit when the BOJ failed to raise its policy rates, and announced that QT would begin immediately after its next meeting at the end of July, without providing details. BOJ governor Kazuo Ueda said at the press conference that the reduction of the BOJ’s bond holdings would be considerable. “We are proceeding carefully but it doesn’t mean that we will reduce only by a small amount,” he said. He also indicated that the BOJ might do another rate hike at the July meeting.

All this is painfully slow, as the world grapples with inflation, which this year has begun rising again in Japan, in the US, in Canada, in Mexico, in the Euro Area, in Australia…

The BOJ had gotten away with its crazed monetary policies for so long – until it suddenly didn’t. Which must have come as a shock. It is now lining up more significant steps (rate hikes and considerable amounts of QT) to move away from these crazed monetary policies. The central banks of Mexico and Brazil knew how to protect their currency in 2021 and 2022 amid inflation and the Fed’s expected reaction to inflation: They started with massive rate hikes in 2021, pushing their policy rates into the double digits by 2022, and their currencies did very well against the USD, even as the yen plunged.