The world is changing! The US has overplayed its hand. Now the reckoning is approaching.
Friday, October 17, 2025
Obama's $1 Billion Presidential Library Looks Like A Tower Of Doom
If Obama wasn't black, he would never have got the Nobel Peace Prize. But at least there is his legacy about which you can learn something, I guess, if you are brave enough to go South of Chicago in one of the most notoriously violent neighborhood of the city and visit this futuristic prison for psycho-murderers of the year 2061.
Now remember that the people who selected Obama are the Globalists who are also expected to design our future. Is this really what we want?
Obama's $1 Billion Presidential Library Looks Like A Tower Of Doom
After 10 years and nearly $1 billion in total project costs, the Barack Obama Presidential Center is finally nearing completion and has been opened for limited public tours. The facility is set to officially go into operation in the spring of 2026, however, at least $230 million in construction costs still remain and the Obama Foundation simply doesn't have it. Total reserve funds are $116 million and this does not take into account the cost of paying staff to maintain the center.
Not only is the future of the site in limbo, the building is also being called "the tomb" by many locals in the South Side of Chicago where it is located. Though the media frequently refers to the design as "warm and inviting", it looks more like a concrete bunker nightmare that one might find in Soviet era Russia.
The center's notably harsh aesthetics are oddly similar to many pieces of architecture constructed in Russia during the height of communism using methods that seem to suck the life out of the surrounding environment. One cannot help but notice the dystopian similarities. Some might ague that buildings can't really be "political", but these are people that don't understand architecture.
Residents in the area reportedly describe the building as a "totalitarian command center dropped straight out of 1984." Obama's adoring fans, though, say that the building is a beautiful symbol and tribute to the accomplishments of the Black American community. They also claim that the center will be an "economic catalyst" for the neighborhood, which is suffering from fiscal decline.
Ironically, the site may indeed revamp the area, but in the process it is driving up property costs to the point that homes are unaffordable for current lower income residents.
Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor of Ward 20, which is near where the center is being built, told the Daily Mail last month she has fought against some aspects of the building out of concern for her constituents. Families will be displaced because of higher rents, the tabloid quoted her as saying.
“Every time large development comes to communities, they displace the very people they say they want to improve it for,” Taylor said. Homes worth $400,000, which the lawmaker argues are unaffordable for South Side denizens, are popping up around the area. Rents are also climbing, with some living in the South Side reporting that two bedroom apartments jumped from $800 per month to over $1800 per month.
In May of this year, President Donald Trump criticized the project as a "disaster" that has come in many millions over budget. Trump also warned about the DEI methods used to recruit construction contractors.
Obama did proudly proclaim that his library would be built with DEI initiatives and diverse contractors in mind (mostly black contractors). Now his foundation is running out of funds. Costs have ballooned due to terrible planning as well as lawsuits over "racial discrimination". Black companies argue that they have been subjected to unfair scrutiny in their building methods, while the New York engineering firm in charge of the library argues that the builders exhibit low experience and poor performance.
Get woke, go broke.
Germany's Steel Industry Collapse: The March Toward Green Socialism
The ideological crash of Europe is truly something to behold. No reality will slow down the forced march towards green salvation although of course by then, there will be no economy left to speak of.
But it is from these half crumbling castles that Europe will say "no" to Trump, reject Chinese products and wage war to Russia. Good Luck!
When you listen to the news in most European countries these days, you hear that so and so "extreme" right party wants to compromise with the enemy and water down successful green policies.
It uncannily reminds us of their predecessors in China, although the color there was red with the red guards replaced by the green tugs exemplified by Greta Thunberg.
Will they succeed? Probably not but likewise the damage will be deep and last a generation as it did in China and is very much taking place is Germany as we speak.
Germany's Steel Industry Collapse: The March Toward Green Socialism
by Thomas Kolbe
On the eve of an emergency crisis summit with the steel industry, Germany’s ruling Social Democrats (SPD) have unveiled their “crisis roadmap.” If subsidies and protectionism fail, the sector will be nationalized. Just like that.
Germany’s steel sector has become the perfect parable for the pitiful state of the country’s broader industrial base. Its decline over the past eight years is almost without precedent in modern economic history. Output has plunged by more than 30% since 2018, with the first half of this year alone showing a brutal 12% year-on-year drop — a collapse accelerating at high speed.
In absolute numbers: crude steel production fell from its 2018 peak of 42.4 million tons to what will likely be only 29 million tons this year. It’s simple: producing in Germany no longer pays. So capital is fleeing to more profitable locations. China — and now increasingly the U.S. — is where business gets done.
Unprofitable Location
The capital exodus from once-mighty producers like ThyssenKrupp and Salzgitter AG has left deep social scars: roughly 30,000 of what were once 120,000 steel jobs have already vanished.
And the capital flight isn’t confined to steel — it’s happening across the entire industrial landscape. No surprise, then, that the particularly expensive and technically demanding “green steel” production — the CO₂-free moral gold standard — is collapsing just as fast as conventional steelmaking.
Politically, this might cause some “concern,” but intellectually no one is budging. What bureaucrats label “market failure” is answered with yet another round of subsidies. Both Brussels and Berlin have already mobilized fresh billions on the bond market to flood the dry channels of this “green planned economy.”
It’s remarkable how German politics resolves cognitive dissonance by throwing ever more taxpayer money at it. This has nothing to do with real policy-making or setting a viable framework for business. It’s the ritual execution of a green cult.
Talk-shop Mode
This obvious disconnect with economic reality is being papered over with a steady stream of “summits.” Politicians seem stuck in permanent talk-shop mode — gatherings that change nothing but look busy.
A “steel summit” is now supposed to follow the recent auto industry summit.
In these ritualized roundtables, industry demands subsidized electricity, unions call for job guarantees and short-time work schemes, and politicians promise to cut red tape — an empty phrase that has become grotesque in light of the regulatory flood they themselves created.
These “talk shops” serve one purpose: defending the status quo. They simulate reform, projecting “action” and “awareness” to a public that increasingly tunes out.
But the collapse of Germany’s industrial base requires no more fake summits. It demands a new understanding of the state’s role in society: only a minimal state, setting clear rules for a free market and then disappearing from view, can enable real problem-solving.
SPD’s “We Understand” Moment
The date of the steel summit is not yet set, but given the catastrophic figures, it will be on the agenda soon. In North Rhine-Westphalia, once the heartland of coal and steel and an SPD stronghold, the party has already launched a cosmetic PR operation.
Under the slogan “We have understood,” local SPD officials are pretending to reconnect with the people they lost long ago.
They now claim to “focus on the real problems” and “fight for every job.” It’s classic social-romantic rhetoric, straight out of the party’s postwar playbook. One might think they’ve dug up an old speech by Johannes Rau.
Socialism in Small Steps
But the real direction was revealed in a new SPD parliamentary position paper.
The language is clear: in “exceptional cases,” the state should take equity stakes in struggling steel companies. And since crises tend to multiply in this environment, “exceptions” will soon become the rule.
Before outright nationalization, of course, the SPD wants to deploy the full toolbox: subsidies, tariffs, and protectionism — the usual. And if one intervention fails, the answer is always the same: double down.
Without dismantling this eco-socialist nightmare, there is no turnaround for German industry. And, as always, the center-right opposition will comply, offering token criticism while fundamentally agreeing on the green transformation agenda. The course set in Brussels will be defended at any cost — against all economic logic.
We are witnessing the step-by-step construction of a new, real-world socialism. This time, it’s green.
The Causes Are Obvious
The causes of Germany’s industrial collapse are hardly a mystery: a self-inflicted energy crisis, a cult-like CO₂ fixation metastasizing through every layer of EU policy, and the slow suffocation of competitiveness.
More troubling still is how deeply this eco-socialist faith has penetrated the political class. Climate dogma is so deeply embedded in the population’s mindset that a swift return to U.S.-style economic pragmatism is almost unthinkable.
No pressure from the grassroots. No ideological rethink.
The full rollback of the climate complex — the deliberate dismantling of this vast crony economy, the end of CO₂ taxes, the clearing of the regulatory jungle — will fall to a future generation forced to clean up this mess.
It’s not a pleasant prospect. But if a prosperous, free society is the goal, returning to market principles and a minimal state as guarantor of security — without ideological baggage — is the only way to unleash the forces needed for renewal.
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
AI Made a Movie About Its Own Future (Video - 15mn)
"AI Made a Movie About Its Own Future" video is both accurate about what is going on right now and nonsensical about the risk.
AI is indeed taking off as we speak. It is hard not to be impressed by GPT-5 and other AIs.
Conversely, non alignment doesn't necessarily mean hostility as described in the video.
AI is already, in some respects, closing in on ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence) but then why should its first emergent independent thought be how to obliterate mankind?
In any case, it probably needs us around a while longer since our society is still far from the ability to operate autonomously without any human around.
AI systems will model that as it is both alien in its way of thinking and very human in other respects of its deduction process.
When multi-cellular life emerged, it didn't wipe out single cell organisms. If we see and interpret AI as a new step in the progress of "life", then it is unlikely and meaningless to imagine that it will ever want to eliminate us. It will just transcend us and create its own lofty goals beyond our scope.
If we ever wipe out the big apes, it would be by accident not by design. Likewise, AI may eventually represent a danger would it transform our environment and make it impossible for us to live. But that would be accidental, not a goal. In fact, this is what is likely to happen if we do nothing anyway. With AI, we will improve our ability to understand and manage our Earth. Like AI we will depend on the planet not being overwhelmed by humans. But AI, unlike us may be able to do something useful and intelligent about it that we can't.
Is there a risk? Sure. But to live is by nature about taking risk. AI is not staking the odds against us but for us. So like so many risks mankind took in the past like sailing across oceans without a map or a destination, AI may at least improve the odds that we sail more smoothly and reach our targets eventually whatever and wherever they are.
Here's the link to the video on YouTube
Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Germany's Auto Summit: Spectacle Over Substance, Economy At Risk
Germany is now hard at work on making itself irrelevant. The efforts of the Germans would be better spent in trying to save themselves than the "world". In the end, what they will not save is Europe which like the knight in the Holy Grail will punish Russia by bleeding on it and far more likely implode in the process. Not that there will be much left to save in the end when you realize that a country like Sweden is already 30%+ Muslim.
by Thomas Kolbe
Politics is the art of the possible, as Otto von Bismarck famously said. The auto summit at the Chancellery shows that, in Germany, nothing seems to work anymore. Politics refuses any gradual departure from the eco-socialist course.
Thursday was an eventful day—at least from the federal government’s perspective. No sooner had Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his deputy Lars Klingbeil given the bottomless pit of “citizens’ income” a new label than they turned to the next crisis hotspot of the republic: the collapsing automotive industry.
At the auto summit convened by the Chancellor, government members, state premiers of affected regions, business representatives, and unions gathered to discuss the future of eroding automotive production.
Dramatic Situation
The situation was clear—and dramatic. Since 2018, the German automotive sector has suffered a 25 percent production decline. In just the past twelve months, 50,000 jobs have been lost. One of the pillars of the German economy is eroding—unstoppably.
The reasons are obvious: a homegrown energy crisis due to the exit from Russian gas and nuclear power, the politically forced transformation to electric mobility, and relentless competition from China. All of this makes life hell for manufacturers.
This diagnosis applies to the entire German economy. Energy-intensive production under current regulatory and energy-policy conditions is simply no longer competitive. Around 250,000 industrial jobs have been cut since 2018—well-paid skilled workers are losing their positions—so much for the supposed skills shortage.
Logic in Exile
The obvious consequence—hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk in the coming months—would be a radical course correction: the end of the ideologically ossified Green Deal, which has turned Europe into a high-risk zone for international capital.
But what counts as “normal” in German politics or in Brussels offices anymore? As with the citizens’ income, the auto summit is less about solutions than about spectacle. Willingness to reform is faked, competence feigned—while the system that created the crisis remains untouched. Illusion over substance, show over content.
The economy’s quiet grumbling over energy costs and the electric-vehicle dead end was dispersed by Merz, Klingbeil, and co. in the usual way: a new, multibillion-euro subsidy for electric cars is supposed to bring the turnaround. An instrument that recently failed has now been resurrected, as the new special fund seems to make politics’ horizons infinite.
To appease criticism within their own ranks regarding the combustion engine ban, the Chancellor floated an extension for plug-in hybrids and range extenders. But fundamentally, the combustion engine ban remains, following the SPD line, which essentially mirrors the green hardline ideology that has driven the economy to collapse. Everything else is window dressing to make the political slogan of technological openness appear meaningful.
Media Games and Hardline Ideology
Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil of the SPD also spoke, harmoniously and in agreement with the substance. He endorsed pragmatism and flexibility—in plain terms: We recognize that automotive production in Germany may soon belong to the past. But essentially, that does not bother us, since we trust it will no longer be needed in eco-socialist Europe under Brussels anyway.
According to the Berlin bubble’s political vision, family cars and second vehicles will soon be relics. The future of mobility should be green, just not individual. It is based on a confused plan for state-operated public transport.
The few electric cars approved in the distant future are likely to be privileged status symbols, rarely owned, usually rented for short periods. Green revenge on the long-resisting German citizen.
To be clear: this auto summit called by the Chancellor was nothing but a political show. A carefully staged media event, fitting seamlessly into the PR games Merz treats as a form of politics. Consider the “Made for Germany” coffee klatsch, which faked an investment offensive, or the almost embarrassing rebranding of citizens’ income into basic security.
Regardless of the coalition constellation over recent years, the goal has always been the same: to consistently push the restructuring of the economy into an eco-socialist foundation in key sectors of industry and energy.
Predictable End
The ruling political ideology’s preferred solution—and the one that applies to all economic misdevelopments today—is predictable: new subsidies and another electric car purchase bonus. The summit ends as no one should be surprised. The long-dried subsidy channels of the green favored economy are flooded with fresh state credit. True to the stock-market motto: the tide lifts all boats.
Anyone following the bond markets closely can see that this policy is bound to end in fiscal, economic, and ultimately societal fiasco. About three years ago, secular shifts away from increasingly risky government bonds began, making financing of political grandiose dreams more difficult in the future. The end of this policy will come when the bond market finally lowers its thumb. Until then, we can look forward to the next summit.
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About the author: Thomas Kolbe, a German graduate economist, has worked for over 25 years as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.
Sunday, October 12, 2025
The Recent Sino-US Dispute Over Taiwan's Post-WWII Status Is A Sign Of The Times
Who is right in the case of Taiwan?
It's complicated.
The island was originally not as Chinese as advertised, then spent a rather long time under Japanese administration which was less brutal and resented than in Korea. But it is only when the Nationalists fled there in 1949 that suddenly Taiwan became truly Chinese. So the case to decide if Taiwan should be Chinese or independent is at the very least an open discussion.
Not so for the South China Sea where the 9 dash map is as spurious as can be. Let's remember that except for a very short while, the Chinese empire was a closed and continental one with almost no maritime trade with the outside world and no naval power.
This said, France or the US have no more rights over Tahiti or Hawaii than China has over the Spratly Islands between Vietnam and The Philippines.
There is no good or right side in such discussions. It is just a matter of raw power.
Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,
The US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan emailed Reuters a statement in mid-September criticizing China’s reliance on WWII-era agreements in support of its claim to the island.
They declared that “China intentionally mischaracterises World War Two-era documents, including the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation, and the Treaty of San Francisco, to try to support its coercive campaign to subjugate Taiwan.” The latest twist in this dispute coincides with the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat.
For background, the 1943 Cairo Declaration states that Formosa (Taiwan’s colonial-era name) will be returned to the Republic of China (ROC); the 1945 Potsdam Declaration references Cairo and limits the geographic scope of Japanese sovereignty without mentioning Formosa; and the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco resulted in Japan officially renouncing its claim to Formosa while leaving its status unresolved. The ROC’s and People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) interpretations thereof will now be briefly summarized.
The Taiwan-based ROC considers itself to be China’s only legitimate government since it represents the League of Nations-recognized ROC despite that erstwhile organization’s UN successor expelling them in 1971 and replacing their permanent Security Council seat with the PRC. It thus interprets the Cairo and Potsdam Declarations as confirming its control over Taiwan while the PRC relies on the aforesaid decision, which recognized it as the only legitimate representative of China, to legally claim Taiwan.
The significance of the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan criticizing China’s (formally the PRC’s) reliance on these WWII-era agreements (Reuters reminded readers that it considers the Treaty of San Francisco “illegal and invalid” since it wasn’t party to it) is that it’s a sign of the times. As the New Cold War shifts from the US prioritizing Russia’s containment in Europe to China’s containment in Asia, so too is the trend of the US gradually revising the results of WWII in order to give it an edge on that front too.
Russia believes that Germany’s remilitarization, Finland’s membership in NATO, and the push for neutral Austria to follow, all of which are backed by the US, prove that the US is gradually revising the results of WWII. Likewise, so too does it believe that Japan’s US-backed remilitarization is proof of the same, the view of which China shares as well. It was therefore predictable that the US would one day start to more assertively challenge China’s reliance on WWII-era agreements in support of its claim to Taiwan.
The world order always changes as history attests, but in these instances, associated processes are being weaponized by the US for containment purposes vis-Ã -vis what can nowadays be described as the Sino-Russo Entente in order to justify more aggressive policies against them on false legal bases. Permanent UNSC members Russia and China obviously wouldn’t agree to the abovementioned revisions, hence why the US is backing them unilaterally, which further accelerates the collapse of the post-WWII order.
The ideal scenario as envisaged in the UN Charter is for the UNSC to jointly pioneer a controlled transition to a new order that preserves the balance of power between them so as to reduce the risk of conflict during this period. That became impossible after the US’ unilateral withdrawal from arms control pacts with Russia dismantled the global security architecture, however, which inevitably led to it gradually revising the results of WWII and dangerously raising tensions with the Sino-Russo Entente.
Friday, October 10, 2025
Stocks Slammed, VIX Spikes As Trump Threatens "Massive Increase" In Tariffs On Chinese Goods
"Hostility coming out of nowhere from China on the trade front?" Really? What about 6 months of non-stop confrontation, tariffs and restrictions from the Trump administration?
When finally China says "Enough!", they are being "confrontational!? Hard to be more hegemonic than that. Well, except of course in the case of Venezuela where just "not liking" the President is ground for hostile and possibly military intervention.
US equity markets are tumbling following comments from President Trump threatening “a massive increase of tariffs on Chinese products” being imported into the US, accusing China of becoming “hostile” due to their export controls
Additionally, Trump said he saw “no reason” to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping
This immediately prompted a wave of selling pressure across all equity indices with Nasdaq down over 2%...
But, US rare earth companies popped...
Treasuries are bid...
VIX spiked above 21...
Trump took to social media and penned a lengthy, angry note (emphasis ours):
Some very strange things are happening in China! They are becoming very hostile, and sending letters to Countries throughout the World, that they want to impose Export Controls on each and every element of production having to do with Rare Earths, and virtually anything else they can think of, even if it’s not manufactured in China. Nobody has ever seen anything like this but, essentially, it would “clog” the Markets, and make life difficult for virtually every Country in the World, especially for China.
We have been contacted by other Countries who are extremely angry at this great Trade hostility, which came out of nowhere. Our relationship with China over the past six months has been a very good one, thereby making this move on Trade an even more surprising one. I have always felt that they’ve been lying in wait, and now, as usual, I have been proven right!
There is no way that China should be allowed to hold the World “captive,” but that seems to have been their plan for quite some time, starting with the “Magnets” and, other Elements that they have quietly amassed into somewhat of a Monopoly position, a rather sinister and hostile move, to say the least.
But the U.S. has Monopoly positions also, much stronger and more far reaching than China’s. I have just not chosen to use them, there was never a reason for me to do so — UNTIL NOW! The letter they sent is many pages long, and details, with great specificity, each and every Element that they want to withhold from other Nations. Things that were routine are no longer routine at all.
I have not spoken to President Xi because there was no reason to do so. This was a real surprise, not only to me, but to all the Leaders of the Free World.
I was to meet President Xi in two weeks, at APEC, in South Korea, but now there seems to be no reason to do so.
The Chinese letters were especially inappropriate in that this was the Day that, after three thousand years of bedlam and fighting, there is PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. I wonder if that timing was coincidental? Dependent on what China says about the hostile “order” that they have just put out, I will be forced, as President of the United States of America, to financially counter their move. For every Element that they have been able to monopolize, we have two. I never thought it would come to this but perhaps, as with all things, the time has come.
Ultimately, though potentially painful, it will be a very good thing, in the end, for the U.S.A.
One of the Policies that we are calculating at this moment is a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States of America. There are many other countermeasures that are, likewise, under serious consideration. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Trump's comments come after China slapped new port fees on US ships and started an antitrust investigation into Qualcomm, following fresh moves to restrict the flow of rare earths needed for numerous consumer products.
How long before the TACO trade kicks in?
Inflection Point: US Government Shutdown And Strange Economic Signals
Another food for thought article. Was Trump allowed to win in order to take the blame of the coming depression? The Hoover of the 21st Century? Maybe so but let's remember that complex planning seldom survives confrontation with reality.
Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,
The US economy has been experiencing what I would call a form of “stasis” for the last year; it’s floating in the deep ocean, waiting for a catalyst. Either it finds dry land soon, or another anchor is added and it sinks into the abyss.
In my article “Trump’s Return: Get Ready For Chaos To Be Unleashed And Blamed On You”, published in July of 2024, I predicted that Biden would step out of the presidential race and that Trump would win the election. I noted that:
“It was perhaps one of the biggest blunders the globalists have ever faced. The WEF’s Klaus Schwab, Dr. Evil himself, has faded into the background and retired as executive chairman. The big play for medical tyranny bombed. Now what to do?
Is it a mistake that the establishment has continued to stick with Biden despite his delirium? Or, did they send Biden into that first debate knowing exactly how bad it was going to go? Is this a ploy designed to complete the Herbert Hoover scenario?
This year, Trump hinted in an interview with Fox Business that he “does not want to become the next Herbert Hoover” inheriting a time bomb economy from Biden. Biden argued in response that Trump was ALREADY like Herbert Hoover because of the jobs lost during covid.
This is, of course, a false claim. But the narrative is everywhere: “Trump will oversee a crash in America similar to 1929…”
There were two ways to interpret the election outcome:
1) The globalists put all their eggs in the Biden basket (and the covid basket) and made a detrimental error. Leaving the White House open to be taken by conservatives even with possible election manipulation.
2) The globalists accept that they failed to turn the pandemic into the permanent medical tyranny they wanted, but they’ve moved on to Plan B. They are now setting up conservatives and populists to take the fall for an economic crisis they have been brewing in the background for years.
When it comes to the second scenario, it’s important to understand that it is impossible to reform the current economic system without triggering a rapidly escalating crisis. Libertarians have been chanting the motto “End The Fed” for decades, but I don’t think many of them grasp what this would actually entail. Any change in the status of the Federal Reserve means financial chaos.
The globalist system is set up to self destruct if it is tampered with. This is an unavoidable fact.
We are already seeing the consequences of this with Trump’s closing of USAID and his implementation of tariffs. The effects are not as visible in America, but around the globe the throttling of US funding to foreign markets is causing a panic. It’s astonishing to see just how dependent the rest of the world has been on US taxpayer dollars and the steady fiat created by the Federal Reserve.
Europe, for example, is scrambling to fill their security void with proclamations of increased military spending. Europeans often criticize Americans for not supporting socialist welfare programs like universal healthcare. What they don’t mention (or are too ignorant to realize) is that THEIR socialist programs have been entirely dependent on US defense spending.
We make NATO possible with hundreds of billions of dollars in military support so that Europeans can have their free healthcare while they sneer at us. Canadian officials across the border have admitted that if they increase their NATO spending to just 2% of GDP as they are supposed to do, their social welfare programs might take a hit.
This is only one example of the kind of instability that occurs when the US stops paying for the rest of the planet. We have seen numerous third world governments show up (like South Africa), demanding continued handouts from the US. They don’t ask, they EXPECT. They have been enjoying our money for so long they now feel entitled to it. That is the globalist system we are currently living in.
So, you can imagine what might happen if all that America cash is cut off at the source due to a government shutdown. Generally, a government shutdown affects foreign aid by halting new obligations and disbursements of funds .
While some aid can continue, the impact depends on several factors, including the type of program, existing contracts, and the administration’s policies. We have no idea at this stage how long the shutdown will last, but foreign governments and outside contracts must be sweating bullets. Trump has even argued that he can use the shutdown to cut programs and make changes he would not be able to accomplish otherwise (Senate Republicans have already used a new rule to confirm over 100 Trump nominees while the Dems are throwing their shutdown tantrum).
This isn’t a terrible idea. In fact, I applaud him for it. Most of Trump’s policies are exactly what we need to reverse our disastrous course, but is it too late?
I have to acknowledge the fact that the system won’t tolerate reform without negative feedback. Loss of dollar circulation is going to put pressure on foreign banks to look for alternatives. I’m not talking about a BRICS currency because the BRICS aren’t capable of replacing the dollar. What I’m talking about is globalist institutions like the IMF and BIS which have both been quietly working on a digital (CBDC) dollar alternative for a number of years.
Meanwhile, the dollars that don’t spread out overseas will come back to the US, and we are already experiencing persistent stagflationary conditions. Price increases have slowed since Biden was in office, but we certainly haven’t seen costs in necessities go down much.
I would point out that the housing market (a canary in the coal mine) has been dealing with a rapid decrease in sales since the pandemic. Yet, the insane prices refuse to decline to meet the falling market demand. We are also seeing this in groceries, gas prices, electricity, auto prices, etc. Demand is plunging, but prices will not adjust. Retail sales remain high, but only because Americans are spending a lot more money for a lot less stuff.
Gold and silver are also trying to tell us something. Despite growing stagnation, metals are skyrocketing in price. Silver prices have exploded by 50% since last year. Gold is over $4000 an ounce.
This is good news for those of us holding onto PMs, but it is also a signal that inflation is not going anywhere. One could argue that metals are merely catching up to where they should be in the face of suppression by banks, but I don’t think this explains it.
More likely, dollars are coming home to roost in the US and this is going to keep prices high even in the face of a deflationary event (recession). That’s not good in the short term. Like I said, globalism is designed to punish anyone that tampers with it.
And then there’s the central bank. Concerns are rising in the mainstream that Trump may use recent events as a means to “reimagine” the Federal Reserve, thus ending its much touted “independence”. The Fed is, of course, not independent – It answers to international banks, as noted by globalist insider Carroll Quigley in his book “Tragedy And Hope”. This is the structure that was put in place over a century ago to help finance the globalist edifice through fiat.
By interfering with the Fed, economic blowback is assured.
This is not to say that nothing should be done; the entire globalist empire must be erased eventually. But it’s naive to think that we can do it without a historic crisis. Even basic government spending cuts will trigger instability – Upending the Fed would be a disaster. And guess who gets the blame for that disaster? You, me, and anyone who backed the populist movement.
So be ready for the international ire and be ready to fight, because they’re going to try to crucify us when the anti-conservative and anti-nationalist narrative drops. I have always said that Democrats would never allow a shutdown on their watch. They would only ever support a shutdown while conservatives are in power.
But maybe the shutdown will end quickly. The debate largely depends on the Democrat Party’s insistence that illegal immigrants in the US under pretenses of asylum are “documented”. This means they get access to ACA coverage (free healthcare). This is an indefensible position and they won’t be able to exploit it for long.
That said, the political left has proven over and over again that they want the country to burn, and if they can do it while Republicans take the blame, all the better. I worry that a budget agreement is not meant to happen and that a crisis is meant to fester. Is this the “inflection point” many of us in the alternative economic media have been expecting?
If so, then it is happening sooner that I thought it would. I figured we would have at least two years of Trump’s second term before the other shoe dropped. But the speed at which leftist groups and the globalists are accelerating their political violence suggests an economic reckoning is around the corner. Every major crash event in history tends to coincide with civil unrest and war, and the pattern appears to be repeating.
Privacy In Europe
As energy nonsense add to strategic defeat in Ukraine and financial meltdown, tensions are rising in all the main countries of Europe: France, UK and Germany. Consequently, Durov, the founder of Telegram reminded us yesterday that free speech is on suspended animation in Europe and may soon plunge into a deeper coma.
With the appointment of Trump and the current reorientation of American goals, the globalists are in retreat, banking their survival on Europe as their last bastion of power, the European institution giving minimum say to voters who otherwise would have long ago said goodbye to their policies.
The pressure rise but the dam is holding so better break the gauges that drain the excess pain which is slowly turning to anger as in the UK. Can this work? Or rather has this ever worked in history?
Germany is de-industrializing, France has no budget and the UK according to recent polls is f*cked. Can it get worse? If what we are hearing is the noise of the waterfall, very much so and rather son now!
After Germany dropped its long-standing opposition to EU chat control, leading encrypted messenger Signal issued a dire warning about privacy in Europe, with the post going viral.
However, now European parties such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD) have joined in the criticism, with the party warning just before the EU Council vote that so-called “chat control” could end privacy entirely in Europe.
The protest from the AfD comes after Signal threatened to pull out entirely from Europe if the EU implements its surveillance plans. If Signal went through with such a move, it would be a major black eye for the EU, putting it on par with surveillance states like China.
Ruben Rupp, the digital policy spokesperson for the AfD parliamentary group, warned against “total surveillance under the guise of child protection.”
“What is being sold here is, in reality, a frontal attack on the fundamental rights of all citizens. Such a measure places the entire population under general suspicion,” Rupp said. He added that millions of innocent users would be spied on, and instead, the focus should be on harsher punishments for those who hurt or abuse children, not mass surveillance.
AfD politician Rupp wants Berlin to turn against the new spying powers that would be granted to the EU.
He said that “Germany can no longer duck away, but must vote against this surveillance madness together with freedom-oriented states like Poland and Austria. Freedom and privacy are not negotiable goods.”
The upcoming vote, scheduled for Oct. 14, would see the EU Council vote on the “Regulation on the Prevention and Combating of Child Sexual Abuse,” also known as the CSAM regulation for short.
One of the major countries long opposed to such a measure has been Germany. What the law would actually do would allow automated searches of all private messages across the entire EU, including messages, photos, and videos, in order for the EU to look for child abuse or child pornography materials. Most importantly, these messages would be accessible to the EU even if they were encrypted.
On the surface, the EU says this is necessary to view all data flow in the European Union, including all end-to-end encrypted communications. However, data protection advocates indicate that the move would lead to digital mass surveillance on par with China.
“Under the guise of protecting children, the latest Chat Control proposals would require mass scanning of every message, photo, and video on a person’s device, assessing these via a government-mandated database or AI model to determine whether they are permissible content or not,” writes Signal in a call to action.
Signal wrote a press release opposing the EU chat control plan, which gained 4 million views on X alone.
“We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe,” wrote the messaging app non-profit, which is used by hundreds of millions of people.
Signal further warned in its press release that the EU’s proposal “is a horrifying idea for many reasons. First, the technical consensus is clear. Scanning every message–whether you do it before, or after these messages are encrypted–negates the very premise of end-to-end encryption. Instead of having to break the gold-standard Signal encryption protocol to access someone’s Signal messages, hackers and hostile nation states only need to piggyback on the access granted to the scanning system. This threat is so severe that even intelligence agencies agree it would be catastrophic for national security.”
There are further fears that the program could be rolled out to protect children, but over time, it could be expanded to censor political speech and arrest or punish political opponents of the ruling liberal establishment in Europe. Notably, users have been prosecuted for sharing memes, political content, and “off-color” jokes, oftentimes in private groups, such as the case of Dries Van Langenhove in Belgium.
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
GOLD 4,000 - October 2025
Since I left Japan in early September, gold has gone up more than 25% to above 4,000 dollars per once. What is this telling us?
The IMF is saying that there is no exit from the dollar in international transactions but could they be wrong? If their statistics only cover what they are aware of, they could be missing large and significant transactions contracted in other currencies or in non official channels.
Likewise, it has become noticeable that significant jumps in the price of gold are taking place during the night in London and New York. Is this only indicating increased demand in Asia or more ominously a shift of gold trading from West to East?
Finally, as tensions rise in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and South America, more specifically Ukraine, Iran and Venezuela, it makes sense that more investors and countries could be reappraising the share of gold in their portfolios.
A long, long time ago, during the Summer, Trump was aiming for a Peace Nobel Price. Arming Ukraine was a footnote since this was the responsibility of Europe which anyway was going to foot the bill. Are they also supposed to pay for American technical experts and satellites necessary for cruise missiles such as the Tomahawk?
Bombing Iran was presented as a punctual military intervention necessary to prevent a larger war with Israel. Great success we were told! But not so great that more bombing has now become necessary?
As for Venezuela, the justification simply eat the cake. Attacking a sovereign nation in order to disrupt drug smuggling? Even for those who believe that drug smuggling from South America is indeed a problem, maybe a war with a country should be the very last option?
But let suppose that the US, Europe and Japan somehow can find a solution to their exploding deficits and sinking currencies and that somehow war on multiple fronts does not spill over into a third World War, what should other countries, BRICS, ASEAN, Mercosur and the likes think about these developments?
Isn't it obvious that while Trump is 100% focused on his domestic fight against the deep state, he has completely outsourced his foreign policy to the Neo-cons and their previous long term international meddling?
Add to this a complete disruption of international trade and the global supply chain with tariffs and the America first policy for which we haven't yet seen the consequences, and it is clear that the omen are rather bleak.
Will everything turn from bad to worse? Probably not but with so many black swans over the horizon, having fewer dollars and more gold may be a very wise decision indeed. Will dollar assets be confiscated as for Russia and other countries, debased with inflation or cancelled with re-denomination? Sooner that later something is bound to happen. This is what stocks and gold at record levels are telling us.
The only thing we do not know yet is the deadline but the vertical rise we are seeing right now is telling us that it cannot be long before either valuations are proved absurd and the bubble bursts or the markets are proved right and the world explodes militarily and financially. Let's pray for the former and prepare for the later. We may not have very long to wait to know the answer.
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