So, the markets were mostly waiting for the (Friday) CPI this week: the print was +0.78% m/m, which is a 9.3%/year annualized rate. It was slightly higher than expected, and overall, the worst since 1982 – even with the manipulated-in-1992 CPI, which has been carefully crafted to remove signs of inflation from the inflation-indicator. Even Fed Chair Powell (recently renominated for another 4 years, presumably because he’s done so well fighting inflation) has stopped using the word “transitory”, as it has made him a laughingstock. Remember: The Fed inflation target is 2%. The current, grossly-understated-by-design inflation rate is 9.3% (m/m annualized).
Mostly, the MSM worked overtime to bury the story, since inflation makes the lower classes poorer very rapidly. Oligarchy does just fine, since they own assets, but the poor-and-middle class get crushed. Inflation is a wealth-transfer, from those who don’t have assets, to those who do. It is almost as if this wealth transfer was a planned outcome.
Then again, the massive (unpopular) inflation will make it that much more difficult for the Oligarchy to successfully rig the election in 2022. Assuming we have one. Perhaps they’ll cancel it due to OMICRON! Or maybe the Oligarchy will try to fund “Republicans” who have already been captured to run in the primary. There are a lot of moving parts for sure.
Anyhow, more on inflation later on.
Prices were all over the map this week. Lumber went nuts: +16.50% [+147.21], strongest rally of all the things I track.
In the other direction, there was natgas, which fell -5.16% [-0.21] this week, after dropping an insane -26% last week. I can’t imagine having a leveraged long futures NG position, and then be handed a 26% loss, in just one week. Last week was literally the worst week ever for natgas. How many people went BK if they were long natgas? I’m sure there were some.
The master resource – crude – has recovered to some degree; it hasn’t quite printed a swing low, but it rallied +8.63% [+5.71], and managed to climb back above the 200 MA. Crude Open Interest is at a 4-year-low. My sense: the banksters do NOT want to be short crude oil. This lines up nicely with the sense Chris had (in one of his recent podcasts) of a much, much higher oil price to come.
But don’t worry. Inflation is “transitory.” Like Jerome told us months ago. Which is why he’s continuing to print money. Yay Fed! Transitory Inflation! Sorry. You own that word now. Until you start raising rates to actually fight inflation.
Gold hardly moved, down -0.02% [-0.37]. So far, gold hasn’t responded at all to the massive, almost historic move higher in inflation. And silver actually fell, losing -1.55% [-0.35].
The buck was unchanged [+0.0%], the 10-year yield rose +12 bp to 1.47% (most of that move happened on Monday & Tuesday), crappy debt shot up +0.74%, and…equities made a new all time high, up +3.82%, with most of the move happening Monday & Tuesday also. The equity sector map was bullish. Just like that, the equity market correction is over.
Overall – I see a whole lot of lows in open interest in commodities. Natgas, crude, lumber, copper, palladium, silver, and gold too. A lot of relatively low OI values seem like a setup for higher commodity prices. This doesn’t line up well with “transitory” inflation. Yes, I know. Jerome isn’t using the T-word anymore. But the “its transitory” money-printing policies are only slowly being removed. Not using the T-word isn’t the same as taking action to stop inflation.
As with the deliberately pathetic “Afghanistan” outcome, if President Grandpa’s handlers wanted a different outcome, they’d be acting differently. Conclusion: they want inflation.
Just like they wanted the deaths from the deliberately-imposed “No Treatments for You” policy. Just like they left tens of billions in military hardware in Afghanistan. Just like the borders remain open to millions of new low-wage workers from other countries – no “vaccine” required for them – but if you fly here legally from another country, a “vaccine” is most definitely required.
Here’s a picture that provides one viewpoint. Kids = eating alone – “socially distant”, because – pandemic! Oligarchy’s stooges = “life is normal.” You’ll own nothing. And they’ll be happy. Don’t the stooges look happy? Wine is probably a Grand Cru too. Macron probably brought a case with him. Who doesn’t like a Grand Cru?
Still, not all is going according to plan. There is a “silver” lining. The paper markets in the metals have grossly underperformed the other commodities in this “transitory” inflationary time. I do not think they will be able to keep a lid on the metals forever. Premiums are a measure of just how much separation there is between the physical markets, and the bankster-run paper markets.
So, what do premiums look like? My code that scans the silver-premiums site actually broke. Why did it break? I’m not sure. So, I went to look myself. Here’s what I saw – I had to construct this by hand:
- Silver SI contract: $22.21
- COMEX Bar: +1.38 [+6.11%]
- 100 oz Bars: +2.56 [+11.50%]
- 10 oz Bars: +3.61 [+16.6%]
- Silver Rounds: +3.53 [+15.9%]
- 1000 oz Junk Silver: +6.45 [+29.0%]
- Silver Eagles: +8.56 [+38.54%]
Say what? Silver Eagles at a 38% premium – they cost $30.77 each? That seems insane. Can that be right?
https://findbullionprices.com/collection/American-Silver-Eagles/
Conclusion: the paper “silver” prices at COMEX are crap. I’ve never seen a COMEX bar at a 6% premium. Nor have I seen silver eagles at a 38% premium! PSLV discount to NAV is -2.51%. You can take delivery from Sprott if you have enough shares of PSLV – it takes a month, and eventually you get a bunch of COMEX bars. Supposedly.
And you can collect the spread.
News That Caught My Eye
MSM-Promoted Headlines:
ABORTION!
In allowing Texas’s outrageous abortion ban to stay in place, the court signaled that it is willing to sacrifice its own legitimacy and power in order to destroy Roe.
WAR!!
President Biden, tough words on China and Russia need to be backed with action.
Tornadoes!
At least 50 likely dead in Kentucky alone, governor says, after tornadoes hit central and southern US.
Buried Stories:
Inflation is red hot, soaring to 6.8% in November, the highest in nearly four decades
So “government-measured headline” inflation (not current-month-annualized, but y/y) is 6.8%. By contrast, here are some “actual price” y/y moves:
- Commodities: Natgas +52%, Heating Oil +52%, Crude +48%, Lumber +45%, Copper +22%
- Other Items: SPX +25%, PPIACO +20%, Fed Balance Sheet +17%
- Rent Increases: Miami +25%, NYC +24%, Scottsdale +24%, San Diego +15%, Anaheim +15%, Atlanta +15%, Boston +13%
- Rent Decreases: Minneapolis -1%, Richmond -1%, Buffalo -1%, Des Moines -3%, Rochester -4%, Laredo -5%, Baltimore -9%, Milwaukee -13%, Newark -14%
- PM: Gold -6%, Platinum -13%, Silver -16%, Palladium -29%
PM looks a whole lot like rents in some poorly-managed cities. Kudos to the Fed & the Banksters for keeping PM in check. How long can they continue to do this? More importantly, what happens when the control finally snaps?
And in the meantime:
CBO Score of Permanent Costs of Build Back Better Act Show $3 Trillion Increase in Deficits
….Key provisions described as “transformational” are only temporary. For example, the enhanced Child Tax Credit is extended only one year through 2022. What looks like a $185 billion provision in BBBA would actually cost $1,597 billion if made permanent.
First law of holes: when you find yourself in a deep (inflationary) hole – get a bigger shovel, and dig even faster! Yay President Grandpa’s handlers! 10 held by H for the Big Guy!
Judge blocks Biden vaccine mandate for federal contractors
CMS Vaccine Mandate Temporarily Enjoined
OSHA suspends enforcement of COVID-19 vaccine mandate for businesses
The Vaccine Domestic-Terror Campaign is over. They’d strongly prefer that you not notice.
Black Lives Matter stands with Jussie Smollett after verdict, but Don Lemon does not
Mr. Fake-Hate-Crime just lost Don Lemon and CNN. As we saw with Nursing-Home-Killer (slash Handsy Boobsqueezer) Cuomo – once you lose CNN, its over. My guess: this represents “Peak Fake Hate Crime”, as it did “Peak Cuomo” a few months back. But MSM would much prefer to memory-hole the entire matter.
“Jussie who? Pshaw, that was ten seconds ago. Tornadoes-Climate Change! Billionaires In Space!”
Proposed India bill banning crypto payments could mean jail for violations
MUMBAI, Dec 7 (Reuters) – Proposed legislation that would ban the use of cryptocurrencies as a method of payment in India also seeks to make those who infringe the law subject to arrest without a warrant and being held without bail, according to a source and a summary of the bill seen by Reuters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has previously flagged that it plans to ban most cryptocurrencies – a move which follows measures by China this September that intensified its crackdown on cryptocurrencies.
Self-custodial wallets that allow people to store digital currencies outside exchanges are also likely to be banned, the source added.
From the outside, in. This is how the Oligarchy really feels about crypto – or rather, how they feel about not-their-crypto. They can’t very well construct a brand-new realtime, trackable, global currency (with social credit scores attached, a monthly UBI printed out of thin air and trickled out to all the well-behaved, vaxxed-and-boosted former-middle-class, who dutifully stay in their rooms playing “Meta”, while not-having-children, growing ever more obese, and occasionally “dying suddenly”) with a legal free-market alternative – bitcoin – running around wild. People would choose bitcoin in a nanosecond. So they have to cheat. And they are. Starting in India.
Australia Weighs Central Bank Digital Currency, Crypto Rules
Australia is weighing plans for a central bank-issued digital currency alongside the regulation of the crypto market as it seeks to overhaul how the nation’s consumers and businesses pay for goods and services.
The government will consult on a digital version of cash that will be universally accessible, according to notes from a speech to be delivered by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in Melbourne Wednesday. At the same time, it will consider a licensing framework that will allow crypto transactions within a regulated environment. It expects advice to be received on both by the end of 2022.
In India, they are slapping over-the-top “terrorism-equivalent” punishments for holding bitcoin, while in Australia they are about to roll out a CBDC. Doing both in the same country: too obvious, so they have to split it up so the Plebes don’t make the connection.
Related: where on earth might the inflation-hedge money go if/when it has to flee bitcoin?
Related-related: it is substantially harder to track molecules than it is to track packets on the Internet-you-designed-and-control.
Evergrande Defaults on Debt
Highly leveraged property development company China Evergrande Group (EGRNY) has defaulted on its debt servicing, Fitch Ratings ruled. As of early afternoon on Dec. 10, 2021, S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s had not issued rulings of their own on Evergrande.
“We should have been calling this a technical default for a long time already, but nobody dared,” according to Alicia Garcia-Herrero, the chief economist for the Asia-Pacific region at France-based investment banking firm Natixis. She added: “China is not making it clear because there’s no pressure to make it clear. Ratings [agencies] should be pushing. Some investors did push. Nobody wants to label this because they don’t want to bear the consequences. Everybody’s trying to increase what they can get out of it.”
Japan-based global financial services firm Nomura Group warns in its 2022 global economic outlook report that measures being taken by the Chinese government to curb speculation in the property market, in tandem with its carbon neutrality drive, may “result in a vicious cycle of rising defaults and slower growth in North China.”
“If a company defaults, and nobody reports on it, is it really a default?”
It may seem as though the CCP owns Western Media and the ratings agencies. That’s only because they do. Each failure of “The Institutions” to honestly report on actual events cumulatively reduces public trust. Same thing happened in 2008. Only this deal is still about 30% of China’s GDP. Poof – gone. How do we imagine that plays out in China?
Evergrande:
* total liabilities: $300 billion (US)
* offshore USD-denominated debt: $19 billion
Similar to “died suddenly,” I’ve noticed a lot of CEOs have been “stepping down.” Does it mean something? [Note: this list dates back to July 2021].
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker to Step Down
In a surprise tweet, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said he’s stepping down
Royal Caribbean CEO Richard Fain to step down after 33 years in role and remain chair of board
Tripadvisor CEO Will Step Down Next Year
Icahn Enterprises CEO Kekedjian Steps Down After Seven Months
Landos Biopharma Chairman, President and CEO Steps Down
Cirque du Soleil CEO Daniel Lamarre Steps Down
J&J CEO Steps Down, Taps Successor Joaquin Duato
Jeff Bezos steps down as Amazon CEO as retailer starts new chapter
Japanese billionaire soars into space
Previous Space Adventures flights to the ISS have cost travelers between $20 million and $40 million, Tom Shelley, the company’s president, acknowledged in an interview with CNN Business. But he added that current market prices are more in the $50 million to $60 million range.
I’m guessing this space flight – like all the other billionaire-space-flights – are about “Climate Change.” It is “private jets” but taken to an entirely new level. Or maybe it is about penis size. What do you think? Climate Change or Penis Size?
‘Mystery hut’ on the far side of the moon
Huts? On the dark side of the moon? Does this tie in (somehow) with Billionaires In Space?
The definition of fully vaccinated in the United States will be changed, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday.
“It’s going to be a matter of when, not if,” Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during an appearance on CNN.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a Pfizer board member and former head of the Food and Drug Administration, said last month he thinks the CDC will update the definition of fully vaccinated to include boosters, but not until next year.
“I think at some point they’re going to, but not this year. I think eventually this will be considered the three dose vaccine, but I would be hard pressed to believe CDC is going to make that recommendation any time soon,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
We knew this was coming. If you don’t get boosted soon, you’ll be a filthy-dirty unvaxxed scumbag. My guess: this happens in January 2022. Sweden told us that VE goes to zero after 240 days, and is negative thereafter. Safe & Effective! A whole lot of “fully vaxxed” people are at VE=0 right now.
Tick tock.
The CEO of South Africa’s largest private healthcare network says that the Omicron variant is “so mild” that it “may signal the end of COVID-19….
There have been zero deaths from Omicron worldwide and in countries like the UK it hasn’t even caused anyone to be hospitalized.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said Wednesday that people might need a fourth Covid-19 shot sooner than expected after preliminary research shows the new omicron variant can undermine protective antibodies generated by the vaccine the company developed with BioNTech. Pfizer and BioNTech released results from an initial lab study Wednesday morning that showed a third shot is effective at fighting the omicron variant, while the initial two-dose vaccination series dropped significantly in its ability to protect against the new strain. However, the two-dose series likely still offers protection against getting severely sick from omicron, the companies said.
Thank the heavens the Holy Shot still protects against severe illness from OMICRON – which doesn’t appear to cause severe illness.
Time for your booster-booster, because OMICRON! Which is so mild, “it may signal the end of COVID-19.”
Did you follow the logic there? Never mind! It’s Science!!
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that of the 43 cases attributed to Omicron variant, 34 people had been fully vaccinated. Fourteen of them had also received a booster, although five of those cases occurred less than 14 days after the additional shot before full protection kicks in.
For those keeping score at home: 79% of OMICRON cases were in “the fully vaccinated.” Is 79% of the United States population fully vaccinated? No – it is around 60%.
So OMICRON = “A (mild) Pandemic of the Vaccinated.”
Here’s the real issue. A large percentage of the “unvaccinated” in the US – perhaps 60% – are actually COVID-recovered, and they are more durably immune to re-infection than the vaccinated, a large percentage of whom are now 9 months post-shot, where VE/infection has drifted into negative territory.
That steady decline of the “fully vaccinated” population into vaccine failure territory is the real problem. If the captured regulators at NIH/CDC don’t compel the “fully vaccinated” to receive obligatory boosters soon, it will become a very obvious “pandemic of the vaccinated”, since a VE of 0% won’t measure up so well against the “unvaxxed” (COVID-recovered) effectiveness of 99%+.
And that would be embarrassing – to them – especially given the immense amount of political capital they have spent shoving the shots down our throats. So, take your booster now! It is Safe & Effective! And if everyone does it, it might just pull their asses out of the fire. For three more months.
Did I mention adverse events? The shots aren’t free. Do they care? Definitely. They care about the political capital they have expended. They do NOT care about you. After all, they are captured regulators, in the business of public “health.” We may pay their salaries, but they are working full time for someone else. All the folks who cared even slightly about actual public health have quit more than a month previously.
Will this work? Something tells me: no. It won’t.
Tick tock, captured-bureaucrats.
….Conspiracy theorists have gone so far as to suggest Merck is actively downplaying ivermectin, a generic drug that costs around $35 for 20 tablets, in favor of urging patients toward molnupiravir, for which it’s charging the U.S. government $700 for each 40-pill course of treatment.
Pfizer Inc., which also has a new Covid pill it hopes will soon get authorized, has faced similarly baseless claims. Some have even called the pill “Pfizermectin,” implying the product is just a repackaged version of ivermectin. The company said in a statement that its antiviral “is not similar to that of an animal medicine and is not the same mechanism” as ivermectin. As far as tamping down on the rumors? A spokesperson declined to comment on that.
For now, Wall Street doesn’t see misinformation posing a big financial risk for the new Covid antiviral drugs, which are poised to bring in more than $5 billion for Merck and $10 billion for Pfizer through 2022, says Damien Conover, director of health-care equity research for Morningstar Inc. Because sales will initially come through government contracts, he says, the drugs may simply sit on pharmacy shelves if people are reluctant to take them.
BOTTOM LINE – Ivermectin demand has soared despite scant evidence it’s effective against the coronavirus. Now drugmakers’ new Covid treatments may be affected by the misinformation.
MSM is still working overtime to conflate people who prefer Early Treatment with “anti-vaxxers.” Unfortunately, plenty of vaxxed people are now getting sick due to widespread vaccine failure, and are now in need of…wait for it…Early Treatment! Which saves lives! Early Treatment doesn’t discriminate! Sequenced Multidrug Therapy works for the vaxxed and the unvaxxed alike.
A Data Reminder: Blessed Molnupiravir (May Peace Be Upon It) has a 50% efficacy vs Alpha, which is no longer with us, and a 0% efficacy vs Delta, which is the current primary variant. But of course the “science-following” MSM doesn’t notice such things – only the dirty “anti-vaxxers” (i.e. Early Treatment-ers) pay attention to pesky details like efficacy data.
But – good news – the Plebes appear to be figuring this out all on their own, much to the chagrin of the captured regulators, media, and the Oligarchy gnashing their teeth behind the scenes.
Fortunately for Merck & their Oligarchy-Shareholders, President Grandpa’s handlers have already paid (in cash) for a few million doses of Blessed Molnupiravir with our tax dollars. Which doesn’t work vs Delta. Yay Shareholders! MPV can sit on the shelves forever!
[Translated]: Treatments against Covid-19: the High Authority for Health says no to the use of molnupiravir, Merck’s antiviral
The nation of France (full of conspiracy-theorists and anti-vaxxers) say “no thanks” to Molnupiravir. Because – it doesn’t work so well. Oops! I mean because they’re anti-vaxxers!
And one more:
Relatively inexpensive to manufacture and hailed as a “godsend” to parts of the world without comprehensive vaccine coverage, molnupiravir is being widely viewed as an exciting breakthrough in the fight against Covid-19.
But the anti-vaccine brigade has rejected it, believing that the drug is part of a global conspiracy to scam and oppress people. Some have developed more elaborate explanations, stating that it is really ivermectin — an anti-parasitic treatment unproven against the coronavirus, but long touted by conspiracy theorists — in disguise.
This narrative has been pushed by an online movement known as the Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance. The group, which has more than 140,000 Twitter followers, is formed of doctors and commentators who dismiss vaccines as a preventative measure against Covid-19 and promote ivermectin as a miracle cure.
“It’s funny because the backlash started right away, as soon as the first press release came out from Merck a few weeks ago,” Panhwar told me, explaining that anti-vaxxers appear to now have a kneejerk response against any treatment for Covid-19 developed by the pharmaceutical industry.
“They want ivermectin, they want herbs, they want vitamin D,” he said. “It’s very politicized. I think the idea of being anti-Big Pharma, anti-establishment, anti-government is very attractive to people.”
Poor Pharma is so maligned by these “anti-vaxxers!” Its not like Pharma did anything to deserve this hatred. Its not like they killed a hundred thousand people by lying about their trial data with Vioxx. Or another 19,886 people (multiplied by the VAERS undercount rate) dead from The Safe & Effective COVID19 “vaccines.” Or the millions of unnecessary deaths due to the regulatory-capture of the US “health” agencies, who imposed the “No Treatments For You” campaign worldwide. HCQ, then IVM. “You aren’t a horse. You aren’t a cow.”
It appears as though the Plebes have finally noticed what is really going on, even as the captured regulators try to feed them crap while they watch them die. The Oligarchy is not pleased. Ivermectin has mindshare. As do the rest of the early treatments in the sequenced multidrug therapy. Thanks to the FLCCC, many others, and the hundreds of clinicians worldwide – mostly in black-and-brown countries – that ran small, home-grown trials hoping to uncover a treatment that worked in the middle of a global pandemic. Without them, I’m not sure how things would have turned out.
Long term prediction: post-COVID19, half of the US (and I’m guessing – a big chunk of the rest of the world) will eventually ditch many of their Pharma products, including a big chunk of those 23 childhood vaccines. The unintended consequences from the unrelenting 2-year campaign of COVID19 lies & overreach will end up crushing their own industry via blowback. We are at or near Peak Pharma.
Over the next few years, I suspect the “standard of care” for many will change to focus on well-tested off-patent medicines along with natural remedies and interventions such as fasting, activity, and lifestyle/menu-selection changes.
The really curious thing? “The left” used to be all over this story. My Mom (a lifetime Democrat, came of age in the 1960s) was into healthy living long before I was. Yoga, pilates – she would walk her dog for an hour – organic foods, home-made kombucha, supplements, and very careful with vaccinations for her kids. What would she think of today’s “Pharma Can Do No Wrong – You Must Take The Shot and All The Pharma Drugs Without Question!” mindset coming from the DNC/Oligarchy?
I don’t know. It would be very confusing for her. It would just make no sense at all.
Unless you understand: “It’s a Big Club. And You Ain’t In It.” And “the left” is just the Oligarchy’s latest horse-to-ride. Just like “the right” was back in the Bush/Cheney years.
I think it would take about 30 minutes for me to explain it to her. And then she’d be all over it.
Lastly, a construction of my own, inspired by something I read over at Automatic Earth:
@Galileo: “The earth revolves around the sun.”
@ChurchSafety: “This claim is misleading. Learn why Church Officials are certain that the sun revolves around the earth.”
In point of fact, the Inquisition in 1615 concluded that heliocentrism was foolish, absurd, and heretical since it contradicted Holy Scripture.
Galileo later defended his views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632), which appeared to attack Pope Urban VIII and thus alienated both the Pope and the Jesuits, who had both supported Galileo up until this point. He was tried by the Inquisition, found “vehemently suspect of heresy”, and forced to recant. He spent the rest of his life under house arrest.
On 31 October 1992, Pope John Paul II acknowledged that the Church had erred in condemning Galileo for asserting that the Earth revolves around the Sun. “John Paul said the theologians who condemned Galileo did not recognize the formal distinction between the Bible and its interpretation.
It only took 360 years for the Church to say “sorry for that lifetime house-arrest, Galileo.” Power structures – especially religious (and pseudo-religious) structures – tend to be “slow” to admit that they are wrong.
At this point, everyone who is in favor of Early Treatment is Galileo.
How long do we imagine it will take for Pope Fauci to apologize to all the people who have died as a direct result of his national Tuskeegee-inspired No Treatments For You public “health” policy? Not to mention his funding of the “problematic” (and dangerous) Gain Of Function research at the WIV with our tax dollars? And to top it off, his campaign to vaccinate children who are not-at-risk with the most-dangerous-vaccine-ever-made?
I prefer not to wait for “Pope Fauci” to come around.
The politician that removes this incredibly evil man from his position of pseudo-religious authority will have my vote for life.
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