A Collapse In Fiat Currencies Within The Next 2 Years? | Alasdair Macleod (Video > 1h)

  Great video but two years? How optimistic! 

  Still a very knowledgeable talk. Plenty to learn about finance there.

  But the process has now started... (see below)

 

Leaked Paper Shows UK Cops Preparing For "Greater Civil Unrest" This Winter

New Prime Minister Liz Truss may have only weeks to deliver a confidence turnaround in the UK economy or face a surge in violent crime and breakdown in public order caused by a cost-of-living crisis.

The Times revealed police chiefs fear "economic turmoil and financial instability" has the "potential to drive increases in particular crime types," such as shoplifting, burglary, vehicle theft, and online fraud and blackmail, as Brits face one of the worst collapses in living standards in a century amid energy hyperinflation. 

"Prolonged and painful economic pressure" could spark "greater civil unrest," similar to the 2011 London riots, the leaked national strategy paper read. 

"Greater financial vulnerability may expose some staff to a higher risk of corruption, especially among those who fall into significant debt or financial difficulties," it continued. 

One police chief noticed increased violent crime as inflation is stuck at multi-decade highs. This comes as energy regulator Ofgem increased the cap on power bills to a record £3,549 ($4,189) beginning Oct. 1 from £1,971 ($2,330). That cap is expected to rise to £5,439 ($6,427) by January and £7,272 ($8,594) by spring. 

Besides police, energy executives warned that mass civil unrest looms as people cannot afford their heating and electricity bills this winter. 

About 160,000 Brits have joined a movement against skyrocketing electricity bills, vowing not to pay come Oct. 1. 

Last Friday, Russia's energy giant Gazprom PJSC halted flows via Nord Stream 1 to Europe, sending EU natural gas and electricity prices soaring on Monday. This means Truss hardly has any time to deliver a coherent strategy to save households from energy poverty and businesses from failing. 

The massive protest in Prague this past weekend, where tens of thousands of Czechs flooded the streets, offers a glimpse of the impending social unrest that could hit the street of the UK if power bills continue rising without government intervention. 

Published last week was a new report via Verisk Maplecroft, a UK-based risk consulting and intelligence firm, warning there's a high risk of social unrest in Europe later this year due to rising inflation. 

Europeans are finally waking up to how bad Western sanctions on Russia have backfired, as their governments sacrificed ordinary people over NATO's proxy fight against Russia in Ukraine. These protests could spread like wildfire across Europe, and it appears the UK is preparing for the worst-case scenario.

Çatalhöyük in Anatolia is rewriting the earliest signs of civilization

  This is the oldest "infographic" known. It represents the relatively big village  of Çatalhöyük in Anatolia in modern Turkey. (7000+ people)

 What is extraordinary about this drawing is that it dates from approximately 6,200 BC (The drawing can be dated in part thanks to the erupting volcano in the background.) or close to the very beginning of civilization although the origin of the village seems to be around 7,200 BC which is very close to the filling up of the Black Sea around 7,400 BC.  (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.05.011)

 It shows a relatively egalitarian society where all the houses are more or less the same size and tools are used in common. No fortifications or military equipment were found but the sheer number of people must have been the best defense at that time since no other such large settlements are known in the area.

 All this would be about 2,500 years after the end of the younger Dryas 11,600 years ago, the last glaciation which fits almost perfectly with the time it took for early agriculture and domestication of animals to develop.

 This happened a few thousand years before the earliest signs of civilization in Mesopotamia, China and Egypt. (At that time the Sahara is still green and populations have not yet been concentrated in the Nile Valley.)

 As such, the complete human civilization process fits within 9,000 short years since these early signs of organization and well within the latest "warm" period beginning uncannily with the very earliest signs of "warmth" as can be seen in the chart below.

 Which itself is almost insignificant on a slightly larger scale map based on measurements taken at Lake Vostok in Antarctica where the full "recent" warm period above is little but the last red blip!

What If?

  What if it is time to end this blog?

  Or rather to go back to technical subjects that almost no one is interested in? 😁

  I had great fun sharing some insight with people about energy, technology and the market but now that the long anticipated collapse is upon us, foresight is quickly becoming obsolete. What's the point of keeping tracks of your direction in a polar fog if your short term objective is solely focused on not falling into ice cracks? 

 Likewise, we will quickly be overwhelmed with short term emergencies so that eventually, most people will focus on "cheap" easy to understand solutions paving the way to demagogues and tyrants as history repeats itself.

 We literally and pathetically learn almost nothing as a society repeating the same mistakes time after time. The end of democracy is therefore in sight proving Mencken was right: "Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance"

 My sole smallish schadenfreude is that the collapse will not follow the roadmap anticipated by the World Economic Forum towards their dystopian "New World Order". What we will get instead is a new world disorder. A fog of war from which few will benefit since income will crash faster than population. (Although you can trust these people that they will try. They are after all the richest and brightest.)

 With luck and provided we avoid a nuclear armaggedon, (50% chance according to most "experts"), we will still get the four horsemen of war, pestilence, famine and death. It is at this stage unavoidable. The die is cast. 

 This Winter will be hard but nothing compared to next year and the following years as the rapid unraveling of our social order will make everything scarce. Especially in developing countries which will suffer even more. Inflation and "free" money is nothing but transfer from the poor who don't have access to it to the rich who do. 

 And this is THE reason why this blog must be terminated as it will slowly turn to doom and gloom in line with current events.

 Interesting times ahead for sure!      

 

Authored by Tumoas Malinen via The Epoch Times,

Probably the most important thing in forecasting is the ability to ask: What if something is not how you think it is? Open speculation on world developments is the key to establishing a position, where basically nothing can really surprise you. And at that point, you have come so far as a forecaster.

The “What if?” questions I am currently asking are:

1. What if the raid of the Mar-a-Largo resort of President Trump was politically motivated?

2. What if the war in Ukraine was part of some plan to break the emerging Eurasian (China, Europe, Russia) global power structure?

3. What if central banks, or the “power brokers” behind them, know that monetary policies are going to crush the economy with interest rate hikes?

4. (To continue:) What if central bankers are deliberately pushing for the central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, to gain total oversight over the economy?

The first two are rather political, but as I mentioned before, politics has become a major factor affecting the global economy. That is why the questions need to be addressed and, perhaps, speculated upon.

Speculation on the actual reasons behind the Trump raid are already running high. There have been reports of Federal Bureau of Investigation whistleblowers coming forward with statements on the politicization of the FBI. At this point, this is naturally pure speculation, and political games, but these are alternative narratives we can consider, because if they turn out to be true, they will have serious repercussions.

Most important, if the raid was politically motivated, why is former President Donald Trump viewed as such a threat to the current system, or the “establishment,” such that his possible becoming again the president of the United States should be stopped? Comparing the tenures of Presidents Barrack Obama and Joe Biden with that of the one term of President Trump, for example, the latter was a rather peaceful and prosperous world.

Due to the Ukraine–Russia war, Europe may be facing its darkest winter since 1945. Our economic systems and societies are unlikely to be able to withstand major energy and possible food crises combined with interest rate hikes. Due to sanctions and central bank policies, we could be facing the deepest economic crisis since World War II, which also would make primarily Europeans a lot poorer.

What’s Going On?

This leads to the question: Why on earth did President Vladimir Putin attack Ukraine?

He had to know that it would lead to a serious backlash. It also is possible that there were other forces in play that paved the path toward war. There’s the scenario that some powerful entities in the United States wanted to stop the formation of the economic power structure among China, Europe, and Russia. The “entities” would have known which policies would push Putin “over the edge.”  This is, again, just speculation, but it’s an idea we need to consider, because, if accurate, it would mean that the economic prosperity of Europeans and possibly the world is being “sacrificed” for a geopolitical play or to accomplish an even more ominous objective.

Could this impoverishment, and thus a controlling of the middle-class through ravaging inflation and indebtedness, be a possible endgame of the “globalists” possibly threatened by another presidential term for Trump?

The question with central bank policies is equally pressing and worrying.

A sound economy needs no savior. It also does not need anyone to “push” it to grow with, for example, artificially low interest rates, as a healthy economy grows organically from the risk-taking of entrepreneurs, corporations, and individuals with the assistance of the financial system. Mistakes naturally do happen, and they sometimes lead to serious financial crashes and economic crises. However, stringent and punitive policies toward excessive financial speculation are truly the only remedy against “moral hazard” and other financial malpractices leading to crises. The financial crises in Finland and Japan during the early 1990s are good examples of this. And it should be remembered that the biggest economic crisis thus far, the Great Depression of the 1930s, occurred just 16 years after the creation of the Federal Reserve.

Moreover, for the past decades, central bankers have manipulated our economies through interest rates and asset purchasing (and selling) programs (quantitative easing and tightening). What has this led us into? The global economy is more fragile than ever, and many heavily indebted sovereigns, such as those in the eurozone, remain solvent only by continuous central bank support. Essentially, the world economy is in constant need of resuscitation because of central bank policies.

How demented would be that, after destroying an economy, central bankers would make themselves appear as our saviors?

It would be Machiavellian: to crash something just to get more power over it.

This, however, could be the “hand” central bankers are playing, especially through the looming issuance of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The issuance of digital currencies controlled by the central banks would eventually annihilate the banking system, or make it an obedient follower of central bank policies. This is because, especially during crises, deposits would flock to the central bank from commercial banks, as all deposits in the central bank are essentially fully covered by the taxpayers, or the State, and the money creation (printing) abilities of the central bank. This would lead the central bank to obtain a monopoly-like power in banking.

Then only cash would need to be banned for the central banks to gain full control of interest rates, and the economy.  The end result would be an economic dystopia, where the ability of citizens’ to control their own (economic) fate—a particular kind of agency—will effectively have been taken away.

This is something central bankers may try to sell us after the economy crashes, through the rationalization of “safety.” This again is speculation that ought to be considered as the end result of such an aim; it truly would be horrible, on the level of a kind of enslavement of the populace.

So, I urge everyone to ask the “What if?” questions presented above (and more).

This is because if any of them (not to mention several not discussed above) turn out to be true, we are living in a very different world that has been presented to us.

China's Imminent Economic Collapse: How It Will Impact You (Video - 15')

 More on the imploding Chinese bubble.

 It is getting more and more obvious that the black swan of this crisis will be Chinese.

 Get ready, the whole world will be impacted.

 

Blain: This Is A New Game, What Comes Next Isn't Pretty...

  Over the last two years, this blog has slowly morphed from data and business to the ongoing crisis which is slowly taking on apocalyptic proportions.

 The huge Chinese bubble imploding.

 The absurd but very real energy crisis in Europe.

 The Worldwide financial market heading strait to the wall due to 30 years of over leveraged banking system.

 And the weather changing back to a much more variable pattern so frequent and ominous in the past.

 All these waves and forces are converging on us and will strike sometimes between the end of this year and next year, rocking our economy as it hasn't been for over 500 years. 

 Get ready. The tsunami is coming!

Authored by Bill Blain via MorningPorridge.com,

“The church bell chimed ’til it rang twenty-nine times, for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald”

Warning – Readers of a sensitive nature may wish to take a chill pill before reading this morning’s Porridge comment. Remember, the sun will come up tomorrow. The market might not.

Red Sky in the Morning – Sailor take warning. I woke to a vivid red sky this morning – by the time I rushed upstairs to snap a photograph it was already fading. In sailor lore Red Skies presage storms – it’s the rising sun reflecting off high levels of water vapour carried by approaching weather fronts that causes the bright red effect. Curiously, it’s been the quietest Caribbean Hurricane Season in decades, yet I suspect there is an almighty storm already upon global markets – we are so caught up in it we don’t realise its knocking on the windows – and about to knock them out!

The worst part of any storm is not the Eye (which is calm), or even the winds and storm surges as the gale approaches. The strongest winds are just outside the “eye-wall”, following the path of destruction. The really sustained high-winds and storm waves are in the following quarters. When it’s an Atlantic storm barrelling into Europe from across the Atlantic, is the bottom left-hand of the rotating storm where the winds are strongest and most destructive.

Which is all a long-winded way of saying.. this might get worse.. Much worse.

Despite many storm warnings – this market is ill prepared for the kind of instability about to hit, as recession, stagflation, geo-politics, domestic politics, energy, food, inflation and the rest combine in that most misused of metaphors; a Perfect Storm. There is no such thing – every storm is different – and it’s not the things you see coming that maims you, it’s the things you don’t!

Following Jackson Hole last week – where the Fed and other Central Banks confirmed the battle versus inflation means higher rates for longer – the market has staged a predictable sell-back. The numbers look bad – but hardly terminal. It still looks kind of normal for a typical September market reverse, a correction. The gains from the summer rally will probably be wiped out, but market participants will be expecting the next play to begin. In the next few days we will be back to talk of recovery.

Nothing much to panic about when the US 2 year bonds nearly hit 3.5%. Stocks in reverse. The VIX fear indicator of stock volatility is up to 27. None of these are chaotic – yet. Arrr…. The calm will not last…

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the captain did too
T’was the witch of September come stealin’

The big issue is how prepared for a market blow are we? Anyone with a career record under 15-years has never experienced a real market gale – the last one being the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. I reckon that’s well over 50% of the financial workforce. Their careers have been forged in markets artificially supported by quantitative easing and Zero Interest rates. Now we are stepping into aggressive rate hikes and quantitative tightening – with the Fed confirming a steep pace of hikes to tame inflation, even if it causes a slowdown. And the financial conditions barometer is tumbling as consumers and business face impossible budget calls.

This is a new game.

Lots of young fund managers will be looking at their books and wondering how they are going to reverse the 10-15% losses they’ve sustained this year. The compliance and risk management mitigation mindset that dominates institutional investor groupthink will largely ensure they don’t bet the farm on big risky bets, but for most funds – which means the money folk are saving for retirement – it’s going to a very bad year.

Risk and groupthink mean there are going to be fewer folk out there looking for risky opportunities – potentially meaning the crisis last longer. Losses on losses, at a time when consumer discretionary spending and pension saving will have been hammered by inflation, will have profound consequences on the future market.  Forget the walls of money that’s fuelled funds, and speculative market rallies – we’re looking at significantly less money coming into markets.

Bankers will be smiling. They are focused on how the transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich was accelerated by QE and now means the top 1% of the global population own over 58% of societies wealth and assets. No wonder investment banks are hiring aggressively into private banking and wealth management services! Family offices don’t mind being smoozed.

Meanwhile… The Fed and the US economy can afford some economic misery. The US is largely detached from the global energy price shock, and will survive global recession in its largely self-contained domestic bubble. A recession will hurt – but won’t kill the economy.

This gathering storm is going to hit Europe hardest. Energy insecurity and the Ukraine war is responsible, but a large number of ECB board members are publicly calling for an unparalleled 75 bp hike to tame the inflation beast, and to reverse the sinking Euro (down 15% this year, and headed lower). Higher rates and a deepening economic crisis as Europe heads into recession and rising unemployment is scary, and doubly so as soaring energy costs look likely to trigger rising social tensions. As I’ve said before, when the going gets tough, the French will be revolting.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of September came slashin’
When afternoon came it was freezin’ rain
In the face of a hurricane west wind

As for the UK. La-la land. New prime minister next week, promising tax cuts for the rich and regressive tax allowances to fight soaring energy bill – when the bottom 40% of the UK don’t pay tax. It won’t help the national mood to know our new Aircraft Carrier, the Prince of Wales, broke down a few miles from port yesterday on its way to a major deployment. Oops.. Sums up busted Britain.

What comes next isn’t pretty.

Since 1985 I’ve experienced a number of market crashes. They have been shocking, sharp and surprising. In every case they were caused by a blindingly obvious financial market imbalance – like consumer lending risks, over-exuberance, unsustainable expectations, etc. The coming crisis is very different – it’s been a series of exogenous shocks; Covid, and now Energy and Ukraine. It feels more fundamental that the simple market mispricings that triggered some form of market crash every 6-7 years. These were short, and we quickly recovered.

What is coming is something worse. This may be a once in a century storm…

When suppertime came, the old cook came on deck sayin’
“Fellas, it’s too rough to feed ya”
At seven PM, a main hatchway caved in, he said
“Fellas, it’s been good to know ya”

This is developing into something with a smattering of 1929 – unravelling massive financial mispricings – together with the exogenous effects of the wartime shocks in 1914 and from 1939. Forget inflation and growth, but consider issues like expertise, experience, groupthink, panic and fear, and the crushing of small investors trying to figure out where this might go next..

The captain wired in he had water comin’ in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went outta sight
Came the wreck of the Global Economy

The one positive thing I can add.. following any storm.. the seas calm, the sun comes up, and we go out and do it all again..

Footnote – On August 11, 1979, 303 small yachts set out on the Fastnet Race from the Isle of Wight to the famous lighthouse off the South-Western tip of Ireland and back to Plymouth. There were strong winds forecast, but nothing unmanagable. It turned out much worse. The fleet was hit by a weather bomb as fronts combined to create a Force 11 Hurricane. 15 sailors died. Lessons have been learnt – mainly that: “there is nothing always about a storm at sea except its danger.”

Same thing in markets….

Excess deaths related to Covid vaccines, the data (Video - 15')

  Mostly data from the UK but excess deaths are significant and correlate quite closely to vaccination campaigns...

 

What Will Be The Real World Consequences Of Europe's Coming Energy Crisis?

 

  This is exactly why you should not let 16 year old kids dictate your energy policy! 

  Whatever Europe does now, there is simply no exit to the conundrum they have created. 

  It is a "good thing" in a way as it will largely impede the WEF plan for a great reset although we'll get all the upheaval part and more.

What Will Be The Real World Consequences Of Europe's Coming Energy Crisis?

Anyone with any sense could have seen it coming – Europe is on the precipice of an economic and social crisis not seen since World War II; and they basically did it to themselves.  Ever since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent NATO sanctions, the talking heads in the mainstream media have consistently fed the public an endless narrative on how the EU doesn't need Russian natural gas.  We've heard an array of theories and chest beating from corporate journalists and lying politicians; all of them sounding so certain that Russia would be isolated and economically destroyed within no time.  This has not happened, and now the reverse might soon be true for the EU and the UK.

To give you a sense of the disinformation being peddled to the public on this issue, take a look at the 10 point “battle plan” put together by the International Energy Agency (IEA) back in March to cut off Russian energy imports and save the EU from a crisis:

1)  Don't sign new gas supply contracts with Russia. (REALITY: This foolishly assumes that Russia wants to sign new contracts with Europe.)

2)  Replace Russian gas supplies with alternative sources.  (REALITY:  No alternative sources exist that can come close to filling Europe's energy needs and that can be as easily transported.  Europe will have to draw on energy commodities from around the world, taking up a large piece of a shrinking pie and driving up prices for most nations on the planet in the process.)

3)  Introduce minimum gas storage rules.  (REALITY:  This assumes there will be gas to store for later.)

4)  Accelerate the deployment of new wind and solar projects.  (REALITY:  Anti-carbon fantasy land not based in science.  There is no green energy in existence which has the ability to heat European homes and fuel their industry except nuclear, and EU governments have consistently been hostile to nuclear projects.)

5)  Maximize gas power from bio-energy and nuclear.  (REALITY:  The more bio-energy you develop the less farmland you have available for food.  And, nuclear power plants take years to build and EU governments continue to fight them.  If the EU had took some of the billions they use annually on useless green technology and anti-carbon programs and spent that money on nuclear plants 5 years ago, they would not be in the mess they are in today.)

6)  Enact short term tax measures on windfall energy profits – Cut energy bills when gas prices are high.  (REALITY:  You cannot enact greater taxes on energy producers and cut energy bills simultaneously without government price controls.  And, price controls lead to less supply anyway.  The more you tax energy producers the more the power bills are going to go up to compensate.  There is no way around this.)

7)  Speed up replacements of gas boilers and heat pumps.  (REALITY:  Before winter?  Not a chance.  This should have been done a couple years ago.  Also, it should be noted that the IEA zero-carbon agenda has called for gas boilers to be eliminated by 2025.  Rather convenient that the energy crisis is expediting their green energy goals, don't you think?)

8)  Accelerate energy efficiency improvements in buildings and industry.  (REALITY:  Who is going to pay for this?)

9)  Encourage a temporary thermostat reduction of 1 °C by consumers.  (REALITY:  This opens the door to “smart meters” which power companies or governments can control without your consent.)

10)  Step up efforts to diversify and decarbonise sources of power system flexibility.  (REALITY:  More green energy, which has proven time and time again to be a completely ineffective replacement for carbon based fuels.)

The IEA is an institution that is hostile to carbon based energy and industries and calls for the end of all carbon emissions by 2050.  This is why none of their bullet points from March that have been attempted have worked; because they aren't designed to work, only promote further carbon controls while harming global power generation in the process.  

There are currently no practical replacements for oil, coal and natural gas; none.  Especially not in a reasonable time frame that would spare Europeans from a full blown disaster.  The only way green technology would be able to provide enough energy for the world's populations would be if the human population was greatly reduced.  Europe's energy crisis actually helps the IEA agenda, just as it helps the UN and WEF climate agendas.  But what about all the people that will suffer in the meantime?

Expect to see extensive energy rationing this winter in the EU.  Around 80% of all EU natural gas is imported and Russia's natural gas exports make up around 40% of Europe's heating and electricity.  With Russia now reducing exports down to 20% of their original levels, there is zero chance that the EU will be able to maintain their normal energy usage.  

Supply-side shortages will mean a price explosion going into winter as demand increases.  Prices have the potential to double (or more) by the beginning of 2023.  

European governments will likely prioritize heating for public homes over energy for industry; they will do this to prevent civil unrest, as some government officials are already warning about.  There is a chance that EU industry will be hobbled as energy supplies are rerouted for public consumption.  We have seen something similar to this in China this year as their drought conditions worsen.

Civil unrest will probably happen anyway.  Climate restrictions, green energy rules on carbon emissions and other ludicrous measures are making it impossible for Europeans to adapt to crisis events.  Prices will be high, and price caps won't help with supply shortages.  When people start to freeze, there will be anger and desperation.  

The only legitimate short term solution to prevent a historic energy calamity in the EU this winter would be to remove sanctions on Russia.  But, NATO has made it clear that this will not happen.  So, the European people are being positioned to face the consequences while being told there will be no consequences.  And, when the pain starts to hit, they will be told that it's all for the “greater good.”

Rockefeller Foundation Wants Behavioral Scientists To Come Up With More Convincing COVID Vaxx Narratives

   Is there anything at all behind the Covid-19 narrative but money, power and control?

  If people had any doubts about how "free" countries work or rather are controlled from behind the curtain, the Covid pandemic dispelled them utterly.

Rockefeller Foundation Wants Behavioral Scientists To Come Up With More Convincing COVID Vaxx Narratives

In yet another sign that the covid vaccination agenda of globalist institutions did not do quite as well as they had originally hoped, the Rockefeller Foundation has revealed that it (along with other non-profits) has been pumping millions of dollars into a behavioral science project meant to figure out why large groups of people around the world refuse to take the jab.

The “Mercury Project” is a collective of behavioral scientists formed by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), a non-profit group which receives considerable funding from globalist organizations and governments.  The stated goals of the project are rather non-specific, using ambiguous language and mission statements.  However, the root intentions appear to be focused on using behavioral psychology and mass psychology elements to understand the global resistance to the recent covid compliance efforts.

Mercury groups will be deployed in multiple nations and regions and will study vaccine refusal and the medical “disinformation” that leads to it.  They are operating with the intent to tailor vaccination narratives to fit different ethnic and political backgrounds, looking for the key to the gates of each cultural kingdom and convincing them to take the jab.  

The Rockefeller Foundation and the SSRC note:

“Following the characterization of inaccurate health information by the U.S. Surgeon General as an “urgent threat,” and by the World Health Organization as an “infodemic,” the SSRC issued a call for proposals to counter the growing global threats posed by public health mis- and disinformation and low Covid-19 vaccination rates, and received nearly 200 submissions from around the world.

...With Covid-19 prevalent and rapidly evolving everywhere, there is a pressing need to identify interventions with the potential to increase vaccination take-up.”

The SSRC and the Mercury Project are not only receiving funding from foundations, but also government based institutions.  In June of 2022 the Mercury Project received another $20 million from the National Science Foundation, which claims to be an “independent” agency of the United States government.  Meaning, fabricating effective covid propaganda is becoming a money train for the small groups of behavioral researchers and psychologists that jump onboard.

The purpose of the NSF partnership with the Mercury Project is outlined on the SSRC website:

“This innovative partnership will support research teams seeking to evaluate online or offline interventions to increase Covid-19 vaccination demand and other positive health behaviors, including by targeting the producers and/or consumers of inaccurate health information and/or by increasing confidence in reliable health information.”

The Mercury Project lists these bullet points as their focus:

“Funded projects will provide evidence about what works–and doesn’t–in specific places and for specific groups to increase Covid-19 vaccination take-up, including what is feasible on the ground and has the potential to be cost-effective at scale. Each of the 12 teams will have access to findings from the other teams while exploring interventions including, but not limited to:

Conducting literacy training for secondary school students in partnership with local authorities to help students identify Covid-19 vaccine misinformation.  

Equipping trusted messengers with communication strategies to increase Covid-19 vaccination demand.

Using social networks to share tailored, community-developed messaging to increase Covid-19 vaccination demand.”

In other words, their focus is propaganda, propaganda and propaganda.  The very basis of the existence of the Mercury Project presupposes that individuals cannot be trusted to make up their own minds about the information they are exposed to, and that they must be molded to accept the mainstream narrative.  It also presupposes that mainstream or establishment information is always trustworthy and unbiased.     

The widespread non-compliance against covid vaccination mandates despite extensive government pressure is perhaps one of the most underappreciated events of the past century.  It is likely the reason why political elites and the corporate media went from a non-stop fear campaign against the public to almost no mention of covid within a matter of weeks.  It was as if the populace was being put through two years of waterboarding and then one day the torture simply stopped without explanation.

If vaccine passport laws had been implemented through western nations on the scale that governments and globalists were demanding, then the last vestiges of personal freedom would now be erased permanently.  All individual rights would become privileges granted by authorities and contingent on your submission to whatever covid booster shots or medical procedures happen to be in vogue at the time.  Think about it:  If they had gotten what they wanted, the west would look exactly like China does right now, or worse, with no economic participation without an up-to-date covid pass.    

And, the threat still lingers.  Why the Mercury Project feels the need to compose vaccine propaganda for a virus with a mere 0.23% median Infection Fatality Rate is not explained.  And, if vaccination numbers from agencies like the CDC are accurate, then the population has already achieved herd immunity anyway (perhaps their numbers are not accurate?).  Why are globalist groups so obsessed with 100% vaccination for covid?  This is never explained.  

They will say it's all about saving lives, but if only 0.23% of people on average are at risk regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not, then public health is not really a believable explanation.  It would seem that the Mercury Project's purpose is more about influencing people to vaccinate despite the science rather than in the name of science.

Fauci's COVID Disaster: A Summary

 

  Based on the evidences below, the question is: Should Dr Anthony Fauci face a court of justice?

  But don't hold your breath, because the rabbit hole is so deep he probably won't.

Authored by Ian Miller via Brownstone Institute,

News that Dr. Anthony Fauci is finally leaving his post after what seemed like an endless reign at the helm of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases should be a time for celebration.

But it’s not.

Fauci has caused such tremendous damage throughout the past few years that it’s almost impossible to comprehend.

In nearly every area of life in the United States, as well as in many other parts of the world, Fauci’s influence has been a key contributor to massive amounts of human suffering.

Fauci inexplicably had particular ire for children.

Long after it was abundantly clear that closing schools had no significant health benefit, Fauci continued to support shutdowns and restrictions on normal life for millions of children at little to no risk from the virus.

His capacity for outright political advocacy and activism has been breathtaking to behold and contributed to the extreme collapse of trust in public health “experts” and authorities.

So it seems worth revisiting some of the greatest hits of Fauci’s reign of incompetence. 

Unmasked is entirely reader supported. Paid subscriptions allow the work to continue in this format, and any readership is greatly appreciated.

Masks

Perhaps one of Fauci’s biggest and most dramatic failings has been on masks.

Early on, he famously opined on 60 Minutes that he was confident that masks didn’t work, that they might only block “a droplet or two,” but didn’t provide the protection people thought they did.

He then confirmed the same information to people privately asking for advice on whether they should wear masks when traveling.

He later absurdly claimed that his initial comments were made out of a desire to protect supply for healthcare workers. Except, of course, healthcare workers would never wear the types of cloth masking that Fauci and his allies at the CDC were recommending.

Not to mention that his claim is made even more ridiculous by the fact that he told people privately not to wear masks.

Had he believed they worked but wanted to protect limited availabilities, he could have easily told those who asked to wear a mask without jeopardizing any large scale supply for hospital workers.

Of course, that’s not what he did.

His claim that masking would lower transmission and would demonstrate clearly beneficial results compared to areas that didn’t mask has been proven false repeatedly:

Well after it had been confirmed, by copious amounts of data, that masks don’t work, Fauci continued to advocate for universal masking. 

Even today, he’s remained completely steadfast that masks work, despite the conclusive evidence to the contrary.

Recently, after his incessant mask-wearing was completely ineffective at preventing him from being infected with the virus, Fauci continued to recommend people wear masks while lying about their effectiveness, saying they were “recommending people when they are in indoor congregate settings to wear a mask.”

“Those are simple, doable things that can help prevent us from having even more of a problem than we’re having right now.”

Just like the mask mandates during winter 2021-2022 were able to prevent the spread of the virus, right?

Lockdowns

The incomprehensible amount of lying that Fauci has done over the past few years extends past masks to lockdowns and business closures and capacity restrictions.

Fauci now claims that he never said to lock down the country. 

Except, of course, that’s exactly what he said on the record in 2020:

In September of 2020, Fauci claimed that states like Florida that reopened were “asking for trouble,” while praising New York for having one of the “best” responses.

Almost immediately afterwards, hospitalizations in California and New York shot past Florida with businesses closed, capacity restricted, and universal masking.

His bewildering lack of awareness is bad enough, but even as late as 2021, long after lockdowns and business closures were disproven, he continued to suggest that areas that reopened were engaging in extremely risky behavior by going against his dictates.

The headline of a story out of Jacksonville in April 2021 read: “Fauci: Opening Florida for business as COVID-19 variants surge a ‘risky proposition.’”

Just a few months prior to this remark, he had pointedly criticized Florida for reopening, only to see other states that followed his advice have significantly worse results. 

You’d think that being proven wrong would create some humility, uncertainty, and willingness to admit mistakes.

But that’s not what Dr. Fauci does. 

Instead, he doubled down, and said that Florida reopening in April 2021, months after vaccines had been available, was “risky.”

Except that California reported significantly higher rates of age-adjusted COVID mortality than Florida for all of the first and second quarters of 2021, with mask mandates and capacity limits for part of that time frame:

He pulled the same thing nationally, claiming inaccurately that the country would risk a new surge due to “relaxed” restrictions and new variants:

Remember too that Fauci claims to be the singular representative of “science.” If this is what “science” is, it clearly doesn’t deserve the respect it’s been given.

Of course, even into this year, Fauci is defending his recommendations, all evidence to the contrary, while denying that lockdowns, which permanently harmed tens of millions of people, didn’t irreparably damage anyone:

Children

Perhaps Fauci’s most damaging recommendations were related to schools. 

Jordan Schachtel compiled perhaps the best timeline of his advocacy to keep schools closed or excuse those who wanted to keep them closed. 

In his capacity as a masking fanatic, Fauci’s also promoted school masking, saying children over 2 should be forced to mask in school if local officials decided it was necessary. 

No matter how many times masking in schools is disproven, he’ll never admit these statements were baseless nonsense.

Between school closures and forced masking, the damage he’s caused to children is quite literally incalculable.

Vaccinations

There’s also his incomparable track record of inaccuracies on what the vaccines would do.

Among many other issues, his prediction that reaching certain levels of vaccination would eliminate the potential for future surges was, like everything else he’s done, almost immediately proven wrong.

His failures in this area are endless.

Obviously this is nowhere close to a comprehensive list of the incomprehensible stupidity that Fauci’s demonstrated over the past few years. A full list would require a book, or several books to chronicle.

His incompetence, hubris, awe-inspiring ego and commitment to being wrong in every possible circumstance is quite literally incomparable.

The tremendous amount of flip-flopping and backtracking to defend his prior ineptitude is continuously defended by Fauci as “The Science™” changing.

Except the CDC guidelines he continuously defended and promoted were never based on changing science, as evidenced by the fact that they never ran high-quality randomized controlled trials to justify their decision-making.

“Science” can’t change when one of the key tenets of it, evidence-based recommendations, was never updated.

But that didn’t matter to Fauci. What mattered is endless media appearances, praise from the left, and maintaining a veneer of infallibility propped up by a fawning press.

While it might be tempting to think that this retirement will signal a dramatic shift in thinking about COVID at a federal level, that seems far too optimistic.

As with everything else COVID-related, the Biden Administration has committed to ensuring that whoever replaces outgoing officials will be even worse. Ashish Jha and Rochelle Walensky are shining examples.

At the very least, there’s a glimmer of hope that Fauci will still be called before Congress and be held accountable for the damage he’s caused and for his blatant, world-altering agenda.

*  *  *

Originally posted at Ian Miller's 'Unmasked' Substack,

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