Two things happened in the markets this week: The Fed Pivot What’s a Recession Anyway? First, the Pivot. Which hasn’t happened, insofar as I can see, but the markets appear to believe that the Fed has “pivoted” – setting up to raise rates less enthusiastically than previously thought. Listening to the Federal Open Market Committee …
Pivots, Recessions, and Covid-Zero Read More »
A Special Weekend Report For Subscribers Well, I thought I might have a quiet weekend, but then events happened. In this case, the chatter and posturing between the U.S. and China over Taiwan has exploded. The proximal trigger seems to be Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Asia where deliberately provocative rumors were floated about a possible …
China, Pelosi and Taiwan Update Read More »
Peak Prosperity is hiring again! We’re currently seeking an Executive Assistant and Research Assistant to maximize the efficiency of Chris and team. Ideally, we would hire one person for both roles, but would also be willing to consider them separately if needed. Regardless, the successful candidate for either role must be highly organized, detail-oriented, self-motivated, …
Seeking an Executive Assistant Read More »
I have a few global concerns for this week. First, members of Congress continue calls to designate Russia a state sponsor of terror. Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said the move was “long overdue” and a resolution has support from 99 senators. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was holding off his support until he …
Twitter is on the hunt for anyone that mentions vaccine deaths…See who’s been banned by the bots.
Just over seven months ago, I helped introduce the world to Mattias Desmet and the concept of “Mass Formation” (aka Mass Psychosis). Nearly half a million people watched our video on our many social media channels and at the Peak Prosperity website. Prominent voices like Dr. Robert Malone, Joe Rogan and many others quoted the …
The Psychology of Totalitarianism Read More »
Recession. Shortage. Inflation. Resilience. Censorship. The 4th Turning. There is no shortage of major, civilization-altering topics to discuss. You have a lot of questions… Chris and Evie are ready to answer them! Hope to see you there! Submit Your Questions
The Fed and the New York Times are just a few of the major U.S. institutions targeted by Chinese Communist Party. Who else and what does it mean for you?
We have a Fed meeting Wednesday; this week, there was no material change in rate increase projection from the futures markets: a roughly 81% chance of a 75 basis point rate increase, with more rate increases projected to come after that. (Source) The European Central Bank actually did raise rates 50 bp this week, for …
Fed Meeting This Week Read More »
If you are on social media, photos of your face may be everywhere on the Internet. But some unscrupulous technology companies (e.g. Clearview AI) may have pulled these photos without your knowledge or permission to build a facial recognition model to connect your face with your online identity. Some people are resigned to the fact …
How to Defeat Facial Recognition Technology Read More »
Are the Covid vaccines effective? Depends on your definition of “effective”. It’s getting some MSM coverage, and we’re not talking Dr. Fauci-style obfuscation. Finally becoming common knowledge. Chris explores that and more.
The British Secret Intelligence Service, otherwise known as MI6, announced this week that China is the United Kingdom’s most pressing threat and top intelligence priority. MI6 chief Richard Moore described China’s intentions and capabilities as a “black box,” adding that his role is to help British leaders understand and “navigate this really complex, difficult relationship …
Geostrategic Intelligence Report – China, US, UK Prepare for Taiwan Read More »
The end is near, at least if you want to take advantage of extremely reduced ticket prices for the upcoming Honey Badger Gathering 2022 event. Buying now saves all subscribers 20% off the full ticket price of $399. As a Peak Insider, you save an additional 20% at the time of purchase. That means Peak …
Early Bird Ticket Sales End Sunday, July 24. Save up to 40% This Weekend. Read More »
As previously announced, Peak Prosperity’s ability to post new content on its public YouTube channels have been shut down for a week. This means the weekly Informed Consent LiveCast cannot be streamed until next week. “The heat is back on,” said Chris when he announced the censorship by the social media channel. “We’re being actively …
Informed Consent Delayed One Week, Join The Tribe and Fight Censorship Read More »
In this episode, I cover “The Beer Game” and how it helps us understand the Bullwhip Effect, which I believe is going to dominate our future supply chains. Too much, then too little, then way too much, then abject scarcity, then rotting piles of inventory followed by no inventory at all…back and forth we’ll totter …
The Bullwhip Effect Read More »
Huge, scary announcement from Saudi Arabia…
This week, due to YouTube censorship, both parts of my weekly presentation are here behind the Peak Prosperity paywall. The topic might also hit a few nerves over at the corporate mothership because I directly encourage and side with the farmers, truckers, and citizens of all the many nations who are uprising against their corrupt, …
Populist Uprisings Around The World! Read More »
Well, we just received a Youtube “strike” for allegedly spreading “medical disinformation.” This means we are unable to post anything for a week to our channel and raises the prospect of losing the entire channel permanently. My crime? “Medical misinformation.” And this was on top of a warning and the automatic removal last week of …
Chris discusses the idea that either the Fed (and others like it) created the currency and supply problems through bad policies, or it’s a deterioration of systems caused by something different.
I’ll lead again with my new focus: rate increases. Where are we?
Last week:
- July 27, 92%: 2.25%-2.50% +0.75% increase
- Nov 2, 50%: 3.25%-3.50% +1.75% increase
This week:
- July 27: 71%: 2.25%-2.50% +0.75% increase
- Nov 2: 44%: 3.25%-3.50% +1.75% increase
Not much change. The prospects for a rate increase are similar to last week, but slightly less certain (44% vs 50% for November 2, and 71% vs 92% on July 27th). The markets are still projecting an 0.75% increase by July 27th, and a 1.75% increase by Nov 2. That’s two percentage points in three meetings.
There were a bunch of economic reports this week including my favorite, producer price index by commodity all commodities (PPIACO), which came in at 23.36% y/y – with the Nov 1976 high being 23.44%. The inflation-deadened consumer price index (CPI) came in at 9.1% (expected 8.8%, with previous high: 14.6% in March 1980). Industrial production (INDPRO) came in at -0.2% m/m, and 4.16% y/y. Retail sales (RSXFS) was up 1.0% m/m, and 7.7% y/y. Added up, it is monster base inflation, weak manufacturing, and with positive retail-sales – positive, if you ignore the product costs which are increasing at a rate (23%) around triple the sales increase (7.7%).
Wolf has a good breakdown of “where the inflation is” here (click to read).
The inflation isn’t spread evenly. Hot areas include food/fuel/supplies, non-store retailers, food and beveridge, food services, gasoline stations, and miscellaneous store retailers… roughly speaking.
The Commodity Research Bureau (CRB) continues to tumble (source), making yet another new low this week. That’s recessionary.
Here’s a chart from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), inspired by another column by Wolf Richter (click to read). His column talks about recent gasoline demand destruction due to absurdly high gasoline prices (up 63%), and a modest increase in electric vehicle (EV) sales – up 66% from last year, to a total sales market share this year of a modest 5.6%, while internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle sales fell by 21% – but EV as a percentage of vehicles-on-the-road are a tiny fraction of total autos. The chart below clearly shows lower gasoline product demand vs 2019.
The WEF-Biden-Handlers continue to drain oil from the strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) at around 1.4% per week, which will leave the SPR empty in 70 short weeks. The WEF has managed to infiltrate their mostly-stupid Young Global Leaders into the West’s cabinets, and the US batch are dutifully following orders by emptying our critical-for-national-defense strategic reserve with no emergency in sight, and no rationale at all. And Congress isn’t saying boo, because they’re apparently owned & operated by the WEF Uniparty, or that Utah Server Farm, or those Epstein Tapes, or – heck – maybe the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its hard to know which. But one thing is for sure: they aren’t working for You and Me. SPR: on track to be completely empty in 70 weeks.
The unexpectedly hot CPI print on Wednesday encouraged silver to rally, but the banksters were not pleased, and on Thursday they smashed the price of paper silver lower (by around 80 cents) for its impudence in attempting to rally on the back of the hot inflation data. Silver’s $18.01 Thursday low was a 23-month low. This, with inflation at 23%. Of course actual silver (say, silver eagles) are somewhat more expensive than the paper stuff at COMEX: today they cost $31.11 per eagle, which is a 63.39% premium vs COMEX paper (source).
That’s quite the premium! Assuming you want actual silver, mind you, rather than trusting in some WEF/bankster promise in these chaotic times. “Oh yes. We’ll deliver silver. We promise.” Unless of course the rules change. Which they always do, when the banksters are under duress. “Oh look I broke a nail! No Silver For You!”
Speaking of duress – I recall during the last crisis reading through my contract with my bank regarding my savings account. Turns out, they were able to basically impound the contents of my savings account, for some reason, or no reason at all, for up to 90 days. They had no such power over my checking accounts. Not all accounts are the same.
The other important items:
Of all of these – I pick copper’s ongoing plunge, and the 1-10 yield curve inversion. I’m going to claim that “copper = China”, and in support of this thesis, I point to the turning point in copper, which dates back to just after the Shanghai lockdown started at the end of March (source).
More on this thesis: I claim that mostly, China = growth, and specifically, China’s property construction = a big part of global commodity demand growth & “inflation.” This appears to be ending. The Shanghai Lockdown might well have been just the specific mechanism that Engineer Xi is using to convince his people to stop with the property construction bubble behavior.
“I’m going to wipe out your unproductive, property-bubble ‘savings’ mechanism, but I’ll blame ‘COVID’ for it. Ultimately it is YOUR fault for getting infected. You just wiped out your own savings by your collective virus-carelessness. Yay COVID-ZERO!”
Think maybe the higher-ups in the CCP already know this? And might have been front-running this since early April?
So – we have China’s highly deflationary 20-year real estate construction bubble pop (destroying a large amount of construction-commodity demand, as well as China-Plebe savings) which meets a Fed determined to raise rates to 3.25% over the next four months. And now we see some (belated) gasoline demand destruction at $5/gallon, plus an inverted US Treasury 1-10 yield curve, plus a topping CRB, both of which signal an impending recession.
And of course this doesn’t include Chris’s currency crises, which are knock-on consequences of rapidly unwinding leveraged currency bets, as well as capital flight out of what-are-now much riskier countries. One tiny example: Germany is about to lose 55% of its natural gas supply. No Manufacturing For You, Germany! (I predict the German government changes course. No way they allow their carefully constructed manufacturing industry to die due to stupid NATO/WEF policies imposed by the outside. Even if they are currently run by the “Greens” party. If they tried, they’d be literally annihilated at the polls. Germans are a pragmatic people. Green or no green.)
Then again, I didn’t think much of the “Ukraine War” before it happened. So I could be wrong! Do you get the sense there’s a lot to keep track of?
Macron’s Minority Government Defeated on Vaccine Passports
Brought to you by the “populist right” + “populist left” working together.
Mario Draghi Resignation Puts Italy’s Leadership in Flux
An issue: the formerly “rebel” Five-star party went along with the Draghi/vaccine-mandate/Technocracy, and boy are the Five-star voters pissed. Five-star got 33% of the vote last time, but they are polling at just 12% now. That’s an object lesson: when populists let themselves get co-opted by WEF/Technocracy, they lose their popular support.
Two More Gone, The Prime Minister of Estonia and the Prime Minister of Italy Tender Their Resignations
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned [1]. Days later, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated [2]. A few days passed and both the President and Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, resigned and fled the country [3, 4]. Today, with their ruling governments in a state of turmoil, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi have both tendered their resignations [5, 6].”
Tucker Carlson’s bombshell claim Biden was fed pills before every public appearance ‘like a small child’
Fox News host Tucker Carlson asserted Friday that the circumstances surrounding President Joe Biden’s dwindling mental capacity are far worse as the man was “like a small child” on the campaign trail until he was given “pills before every public appearance.
Biden Visits Saudi Arabia, Returns with an Empty Tin Cup and Urgent Need for More Windmills
Joe Biden is heading back from an embarrassing trip to Saudi Arabia and the middle east. Putting aside the fact that physically and mentally Biden looked weak, foolish, and generally incoherent, in an odd way he was appropriately representative of the current of U.S. influence on the global stage.
U.S. Public Health Agencies Aren’t ‘Following the Science,’ Officials Say
At the NIH, doctors and scientists complain to us about low morale and lower staffing: …. “They have no leadership right now. Suddenly there’s an enormous number of jobs opening up at the highest level positions,” one NIH scientist told us. The CDC has experienced a similar exodus. “There’s been a large amount of turnover. Morale is low,” one high level official at the CDC told us. “Things have become so political, so what are we there for?” Another CDC scientist told us: “I used to be proud to tell people I work at the CDC. Now I’m embarrassed.
Three more countries set to join BRICS – official
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt plan to join BRICS, and their potential membership bids could be discussed and answered at next year’s summit in South Africa, Purnima Anand, the president of the organization, told Russian media on Thursday.
All those Young Global Leaders who scored this monster “own-goal” on the West sure will go down in history.
China On Verge Of Violent Debt Jubilee As “Disgruntled” Homebuyers Refuse To Pay Their Mortgages
… a rapidly increasing number of “disgruntled Chinese homebuyers” are refusing to pay mortgages for unfinished construction projects, exacerbating the country’s real estate woes and stoking fears that the crisis will spread to the wider financial system as countless mortgages default.
Bank of Canada Hikes by Monster 100 Basis Points, Hits Mortgages. So Might the Fed after US CPI Fiasco
To front-load the path to higher interest rates, the Bank of Canada today jacked up its main rate by a 100 basis points to 2.5%, the fourth rate hike in a row, and the biggest rate hike since 1998, which made the BoC the first of the G-7 central banks to raise by 100 basis points in this cycle.
So signals of impending recession right alongside some substantial projected and actual rate increases, huge inflation in some sectors, demand destruction (gasoline, construction materials) in others, an incipient China banking crisis due to the Plebe construction-mortgage-payment rebellion in the middle of an ongoing real estate bubble pop, a number of Young Global Leader losses, dreadful weakness in US foreign affairs, claims about Joe’s before-appearance medicated senility (and a possible metaphor for the US), increasing interest in a new non-WEF currency, the ongoing traitorous draining of the SPR, and rumors of unrest at the NIH and CDC.
If this was a movie, how far would we be through the script? Probably not even halfway?
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a collective of major corporations, billionaires, politicians, academics and influence makers. That is quite a collection of power.
They push an agenda. Their mottos include “Build Back Better” and “The Great Reset” and a “New World Order.”
These mottos parroted by people like Joe Biden, Boris Johnson, Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau and others. That’s quite a collection of supporters. Looks like it is serious.
So, what is the agenda behind it all?
The World Economic Forum is headed up by Klaus Schwab. He (along with Thierry Malleret) wrote a book about the agenda. It is called “Covid 19: The Great Reset.” I bought that book to find answers.
Now, the WEF possesses an astounding armamentarium of money and talent. So, I expected a lot.
I expected the book would be meticulously fact based, tightly reasoned and a compelling exposition. It was nothing of the sort.
I expected that it would challenge my existing beliefs to the core. It did nothing of the sort.
It was, instead, an exasperatingly shallow compendium of unproven assumptions, non sequiturs, logical contradictions and wishful thinking. For instance, consider this passage:
At the time of writing this book, COVID-19 has already unleashed a global wave of social unrest. It started in the U.S. with the Black Lives Matter protests following the killing of George Floyd at the end of May 2020, but it rapidly spread around the world.
Huh? Covid 19 caused the riots over George Floyd’s death?!? I don’t think so.
And consider this.
The book advocates a “partnership” of the elites of Government, Private Industry, Academia and other experts as the best possible way to deal with emerging global problems.
Well, okay. But isn’t that the gist of what we experienced with the USA’s handling of Covid 19? After all, that was a hand-in-glove merger of government, private industry, academia and the media to deal with Covid 19.
And what does Schwab say of the results of the United States’ public/private partnership.
He states:
Others, such as Italy, Spain, the U.S. or the UK, seemed to underperform on different counts, whether in terms of preparation, crisis management, public communication, the number of confirmed cases and deaths, and various other metrics.
So, the obvious conclusion would be this:
The USA’s “public/private partnership” on Covid was a failure when compared with other nations.
But Schwab tries to explain away the obvious conclusion by attributing that particular failure to American neoliberalism.
Huh? Isn’t the WEF the very epitome of neoliberalism?
Billionaires, like Bill Gates, with their private jets. Corporate CEOs with their Rolex watches and Gucci shoes. And, all of them, with their country-club-buddy politicos and advisors in tow to advance the goals of the corporate state. The WEF looks like neoliberalism on steroids.
So, what can one conclude?
Only one thing, Schwab’s argument – that his public/private partnerships would have worked in the U.S. except for neoliberalism – is not only wrong, it doesn’t even make any sense.
And there is more.
Schwab speaks of “nonlinearity” and “complex systems.” But he does not seem to understand what those concepts mean.
Let’s break that down.
Schwab noted the obvious. At the present time, there are many, systemic ongoing changes occurring throughout an interconnected world. Schwab mentions climate change, population pressures, emerging pathogens, the spread of pathogens by mass interconnectedness, decreasing biodiversity, ecosystem collapse, pollution, failures in governance and the unsustainable use of depleting resources such as forests, seafood, topsoil and freshwater.
He is describing systemic changes to what is known as a “complex system.” That phrase, “complex system,” has a specific meaning:
A complex system is a system composed of many components which may interact with each other. Examples of complex systems are Earth’s global climate, organisms, the human brain, infrastructure such as power grid, transportation or communication systems, complex software and electronic systems, social and economic organizations (like cities), an ecosystem, a living cell, and ultimately the entire universe.
And “complex systems” have specific characteristics:
Complex systems are systems whose behavior is intrinsically difficult to model due to the dependencies, competitions, relationships, or other types of interactions between their parts or between a given system and its environment.
Because of those characteristics, the results of significant changes to the inputs in such a system are not only impossible to predict, they are even difficult to evaluate after the fact.
Now, here is the point.
With the magnitude of changes currently occurring in this planet-wide complex system, we are probably looking at – not just change – but at epochal, cascading changes of unpredictable dimensions.
One would assume that entire nation states could fail.
And Schwab actually concedes that nations states could fail. So, how would Klaus Schwab address such epochal discontinuity? Here is one example.
The boundaries between state fragility, a failing state and a failed one are fluid and tenuous. In today’s complex and adaptive world, the principle of non-linearity means that suddenly a fragile state can turn into a failed state and that, conversely, a failed state can see its situation improve with equal celerity thanks to the intermediation of international organizations or even an infusion of foreign capital. (emphasis added)
What?
The results of significant changes to the inputs in a complex, non-linear system are completely impossible to predict. But Schwab – dealing with epochal changes causing the failure of a nation state – believes that he:
“… can see its situation improve with equal celerity thanks to the intermediation of international organizations or even an infusion of foreign capital.”
Evidently Schwab doesn’t understand the very concepts he expounds upon in the book.
And passages like those cited above were typical.
Put bluntly, this is neither a deep nor a well-reasoned book. There were logical flaws, shallowness of discourse and – most annoying of all – a pretense of great wisdom. Reading it was often exasperating.
It simply drained the will of the reader. Time after time, the book had to be put down so that the reader could recharge.
But I got through it. So, what is its core?
First of all, the book is not about facts. The book is about assumptions. Many of the premises of the book are simply assumed to be true. And all reasoning starts from those assumed premises.
Here are some examples.
It was assumed that Covid-19 jumped from animal species to humans.
That is probably not true. Covid-19 was probably a genetically engineered virus. But, due to the assumption it came from nature, the necessity of shutting down biowarfare/gain of function research was never discussed.
It was also assumed that Covid 19 suggests the consideration of individualized bio-surveillance as a part of our life going forward.
Bio-Surveillance? Why? Early on in the pandemic physicians discovered that healthy Vitamin D levels dramatically improved outcomes in Covid-19. Subsequent studies confirmed that this was true. But Vitamin D supplementation – and other viable treatments – were routinely attacked by the media and by public health agencies.
Obviously, major changes in both media and public health institutions are desperately needed. And bio-surveillance – if it is to be considered at all – should not be considered before systemic reforms occur in both the media and health care institutions. But such reform was not even discussed in the book.
It was also assumed that “stakeholder capitalism and environmental, social and governance (ESG)” – through boardroom and worker initiative – will support needed social changes which will benefit both the individual and society.
Stakeholder capitalism is a form of capitalism wherein companies do not only optimize short-term profits for shareholders, but seek long term value creation, by taking into account the needs of all their stakeholders and society at large.
How could such a program succeed? History is replete with examples of corporate irresponsibility as well as often brutal corporate suppression of worker’s initiatives.
But, again, the known problems inherent in corporatism were not even discussed in the book.
It was also assumed that globalism (rather than localism) is an unmitigatedly beneficial and indispensable feature of modern life. It was assumed that global governance was necessary to manage global supply chains and deal with global challenges. Finally, it was assumed that democracy is consistent with global government.
The assumption of “democracy being consistent with global governance” is certainly not true. There was simply no discussion about the regulatory/plutocratic capture of large political entities like the United States and the European Union. And there was no explanation why a gigantic, distant apparatus of global governance would not follow that very same course. Logically, it would be even worse!
Amazingly, one of the things that was assumed was a continuing access to energy. Although the book talked about resource depletion, fossil fuels depletion was not mentioned. The only reference to fossil fuels was in reference to climate change.21 And that led to another assumption.
It was assumed that automobile production could be easily switched to “greener” electric vehicles, powered by renewables with no problem at all.
But there was no discussion of the feasibility of renewables whatsoever.
And, finally, it was also assumed that the energy-consuming internet of things would increasingly become a feature of daily life.
But there was no discussion of the increased rejection of the internet of things by individuals rightly concerned by the intrusiveness of that technology.
There were all those assumptions and more.
It seemed that assumption after assumption cried out for debate, cried out for factual support and cried out for critiques as to both desirability and feasibility. There was little or none.
But then, with these assumptions portrayed as facts, the book went on to predict how people would or should naturally choose to change their lives based upon these “facts.”
For instance, the book suggests that we should understand the benefits of increased “global governance” to protect “crucial supply chains” and deal with global challenges while being confident that this will cause democracy to thrive.
In another vein, bio-surveillance of individuals will seem quite logical to many due to the threat of more “naturally occurring” pathogens. Individuals and democratic governments would work together to minimize the risks to human freedoms.
And that individualized surveillance was taken even further. It was stated that in:
“the post-COVID-19 world, precise information on our carbon footprints, our impact on biodiversity, on the toxicity of all the ingredients we consume and the environments or spatial contexts in which we evolve will generate significant progress in terms of our awareness of collective and individual well- being.”
We would, in essence, be tracked in every single thing we do.
Additionally, we would also go to restaurants less but “rediscover the pleasure of cooking at home.” Movies, theater and opera would often be replaced by watching from home. And the “combination of AI, the IoT and sensors and wearable technology will produce new insights into personal well-being.”
We would also travel less to international destinations, we would consume less, engage in more virtual interactions and, conversely, personal interactions would decline.
As to those folks having difficulties accepting all this, this answer is provided:
If health considerations become paramount, we may decide, for example, that a cycling class in front of a screen at home doesn’t match the conviviality and fun of doing it with a group in a live class but is in fact safer and cheaper. The same reasoning applies to many different domains like flying to a meeting (Zoom is safer, cheaper, greener and much more convenient), driving to a distant family gathering for the weekend (the WhatsApp family group is not as fun but, again, safer, cheaper and greener) or even attending an academic course (not as fulfilling, but cheaper and more convenient).
Safer, cheaper, greener is the mantra for a proposed better world. But will it be a better world? Realistically, most would see such a world as an Orwellian dystopia of which they want no part.
Now, to be fair, Schwab does say some good things.
Schwab wants to end the economic exploitation of employees and gig workers. He wants to end the destruction of the natural world. He understands that a “consumerist culture” is not only shallow and meaningless – it is unsustainable. He sees the value in online education as a well to help students avoid ruinous debt. And he understands the value of real human contact is far greater than virtual contact.
These are all good and well-meaning intentions. But, despite good intentions, the plan outlined in this book is neither workable nor beneficial.
There are reasons for that.
First, as pointed out above, many of the assumed “facts” underlying this book are simply false. For instance, “stakeholder capitalism” has zero chance of benefitting anyone but the very wealthy. Here is an example.
The WEF claims that Stakeholder Capitalism will restore the types of gains secured by workers in the post-World War II era.
But can one trust an organization run by the wealthy to voluntarily protect the middle and working class?
The answer is no.
Emmanuel Macron, the French prime minister, is a featured member of the WEF. In France, Macron is proposing “labor reforms.” Macron’s proposals actually gut the very same social safety nets built for French workers in the post-war era. Accordingly, he has called for cuts to such social spending.
But such cuts will not cut spending for the privileged. As one writer noted, “Meanwhile, Macron’s lackeys announced his plan to build a new private swimming pool in Brégançon, the presidential holiday resort on the French Riviera — at taxpayers’ expense. And that the presidential couple has decided to replace the China dishware at the Elysée Palace (the presidential residence) for 500,000 euros, or close to $600,000!”
Would you expect any better from Bill Gates or any of the rest of them? Of course not. Trusting the wealthy to protect the right of the middle and working class is simply foolish.
Second, intrusive surveillance is an invitation to abuse. Consider this, Yanis Varoufakis’s book, “Adults in the Room.” Varoufakis talks of his attempts as Greek Minister of Finance to re-negotiate Greece’s debts with European Authorities and the International Monetary Fund (IMF.) Varoufakis recounts a private phone call to one of his confidential advisors, Jeff Sachs, about a sensitive issue, to wit, potential Greek default to the IMF. But that call had been eavesdropped upon by the National Security Council. After the call was finished Varoufakis relates that this happened:
“Half an hour later my phone rang again. It was Jeff, laughing uncontrollably. ‘You will not believe this, Yanis,’ he said. ‘Five minutes after we hung up, I received a call from the [U.S.] National Security Council. They asked me if I thought you meant what you’d said! I told them that you did mean it and that, if they want to avert a default to the IMF, they’d better knock some sense into the Europeans.’”
That anecdote says it all. One simply cannot “trust” that the “authorities” will not abuse surveillance powers. They will definitely abuse such powers. And it is naive to expect anything else.
Third, Schwab does not address the two elephants in the room – overpopulation and fossil fuel depletion. These problems are obvious. They have been obvious for a long time. These problems should have been addressed decades ago. They weren’t. And they aren’t realistically discussed in this book.
Either the WEF doesn’t know about these problems, in which case their advice is not worth listening to, or they do know about it and are not discussing it, in which case the non-discussion is suspicious.
Regardless, the failure of the book to discuss these issues is damning, because these two problems mean that civilization as we know it – or as Schwab envisions it – is simply no longer tenable.
Fourth, and finally, despite touch-feely descriptors like “democracy” and “social justice,” the WEF plan doesn’t look like “democracy.” It doesn’t look like “social justice.”
It looks like tyranny – all dolled up in its age-old garb of benevolence.
The world indeed does need change. It is crying out for change. It needs dramatic change. But trusting that change to plans like these can only be described in one way: foolhardy in the extreme.
China’s global strategy becomes clear at BRICS.
Executive Summary:
Chinese President Xi Jinping opened last month’s BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Summit with a question about where the world is headed: “Peace or war? Progress or regression? Openness or isolation? Cooperation or confrontation?” He spent the rest of his two speeches drawing lines between the Western order – unilateral sanctions, more confrontation, more war, and more isolation – and the emerging Chinese-led global order, which Xi says will offer peace, inclusiveness, and cooperation. Xi’s ability to usher in a Chinese world order depends on China’s ability to recruit members of the “Global South” into a new global monetary system. Xi turned a new page in this chapter of global history during the BRICS Summit.
Xi was very clear in warning the BRICS member nations that a U.S.-led world order will lead to more conflict as the U.S. pursues East-West bifurcation and bloc mentality reminiscent of the Cold War. China blames U.S. sanctions for the breakdown of the global food supply and the worsening food crisis, and Xi warned that conditions would worsen if the United States were to retain global dominance. “If such dangerous trends are allowed to continue, the world will witness even more turbulence and insecurity,” Xi said. He underscored warnings from Chinese officials who have repeatedly banged the drum that, after Ukraine, the next U.S.-led salvo will be in the Indo-Pacific. Xi’s message was also clear that falling under the banner of Chinese leadership is the only way to avoid the next war and a worsening global economic crisis.
Xi used the conference to paint a picture of what could be under Chinese global leadership, not only for BRICS but for “BRICS Plus” – the constellation of third world countries and emerging markets partially dependent on peace, trade, and global economic growth for its own rising prospects. For the first time, as Xi states, these additional countries were invited to attend the meeting among BRICS Foreign Ministers. This is a part of a strategy to expand BRICS to other emerging markets, and it’s paying dividends.
Earlier this month, Argentina gained China’s approval to join the BRICS economic alliance. According to unconfirmed reports in Russian media, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt are interested in joining. In 2018, BRICS rejected Turkey’s application to join because the organization was not ready to expand. Four years later, BRICS may grow to encompass Middle Eastern powers, including Egypt which controls the Suez Canal. Combine China’s interest in Panama – including the Panama Canal – it’s easy to see where this is going: Chinese hegemony over global trade routes.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi outlined back in April how important these “Global South” countries – which include Latin America – are to a Chinese world order.
“In the race of [Chinese] global governance, we look forward to seeing EMDCs [emerging markets and developing countries] turning from ‘followers’ to ‘forerunners’ and even ‘pacesetters’. Together, we can play a more active role, speak with a bigger voice, help make the international order more just and equitable, and promote more open, inclusive, balanced and win-win globalization for all,” Wang said.
This is important not only because so-called EMDCs make up a majority of the world’s population, but also these emerging markets are countries that could begin using the Chinese yuan or a commodity-backed BRICS basket currency as a standard of trade and reserve currency. China doesn’t have the capital and credit markets required to replace the U.S. Dollar globally, but they don’t need to if China can displace the dollar in these EMDCs. China’s Belt and Road, the digital yuan, and other economic and monetary initiatives are key facilitators in this process.
…he can displace the use of the USD in roughly 40% of the world.
An alternative part of this plan includes cooperation with Russia to build a commodity-backed BRICS basket currency. It’s unclear how China will gain the cooperation of India, which is developing its own international settlement system to accept the rupee for increased agricultural exports, or for Brazil which at least for now has a pro-U.S. establishment. (China is Brazil’s largest customer, by the way.) But we continue to hear the rumblings of this BRICS currency, which plays an important role in China’s global revolution against the United States. A monetary and economic alliance also paves the way for a military alliance to rival “Global NATO”.
Back in May, Xi made mention of this new Chinese-led global order coming together under the banner of a “Global Security Initiative” (GSI), which he again invoked during the conference. “It is important that BRICS countries support each other on issues concerning core interests, practice true multilateralism, safeguard justice, fairness and solidarity and reject hegemony, bullying and division… China would like to work with BRICS partners to operationalize the GSI and bring more stability and positive energy to the world,” Xi explained. That stability, Xi might say, can only come in producing a counterweight to U.S. military might.
The center of gravity for the United States includes its military strength, which for now remains the strongest in the world, and the USD as the global reserve. If Xi is successful in building a new monetary order among BRICS countries, he can displace the use of the USD in roughly 40% of the world. By some estimates, a new BRICS currency could make up a third of global reserves, making it the second largest behind the USD.
The center of gravity for China’s plan includes its own domestic political and economic stability, which Xi likely hopes to smooth over by the end of this year, and cooperation from Brazil, India, and the Global South. This the next front in the diplomatic war between the United States and China, which is already being waged. The Solomon Islands just showed exactly how this works. In May, the Solomons agreed to what Chinese officials described as a “mutual defense pact” with China. Solomons officials were adamant that the deal didn’t include plans for a Chinese naval base, however, they were open to closer military relations with China, as well as domestic security support.
The prospect of the Solomons coming under the orbit of China caused grave concern for Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. The Biden administration, in particular, quickly sortied out State Department officials to the Solomons, and this week announced increased aid to the Pacific Island Forum to prevent other countries from following suit. Following the likely Western carrot and stick back channel diplomacy, the Solomon Islands spun 180-degrees and now say that their China deal was overblown, that the West was reading too much into it, and that Australia remains their “security partner of choice.” It’s truly funny how that works.
Despite China’s short-lived diplomatic victory over the Solomon Islands, their Global South strategy will continue. Based on repeated speeches and statements made by Chinese officials, BRICS countries represent the core of the GSI and Xi likely believes their rising diplomatic and economic power will be enough to peacefully counter and overthrow the U.S. global order. Whether the U.S. order goes peacefully is another matter, but Xi sees the alliance between BRICS and the Global South as key to achieving this global revolution – not militarily, but economically, monetarily, and diplomatically.
New numbers are in…inflation higher, wages lower (of course, because rent and operating costs are way up). Is there more? And what’s it all mean for you?
The social unrest breaking out all over the world is coming soon to a theater near you. This is not a prophecy, but rather a simple extrapolation of recent trends.
As the stress in the globe mounts, the trouble always moves from “the outside in.”
With severe social unrest in Albania, North Macedonia, Poland, Germany, Holland, and Sri Lanka (just to name a few), it’s only a matter of time before we see similar levels of unrest in the core countries of Europe and North America.
Why?
Because mind-bogglingly horrible decisions by politicians, corporations, and central bankers have brought us here.
It always comes down to food, fuel and water. If you are lacking in any one of these three legs of the stable social stool, you will soon face social unrest.
And well, today there’s a global energy crisis unlike any faced before. With my Peak Oil hat on, I think it is more or less a permanent condition and so you’d do well to pre-adjust to this reality as quickly and as comprehensively as possible.
“Full spectrum war” refers to modern warfare. No longer is “war” confined to bullets whizzing about, but are conducted on many fronts at once.
These include economic, cyber, information, and many other classifications.
Make no mistake, we’re at war.
Exactly who is pulling the strings and their true aims are unknown to me at this time, but it’s not really important that we know these things. The effects will be the same whether we know or never end up learning them: chaos and disruption.
Out of them all, the most powerful foe is using information war against us on a daily basis. The “narrative shapers” who are in charge are slavishly devoted to their precious narratives at the expense of letting reality shape the conversation.
So, we see attacks on the price of gold and silver, on oil and even food prices, all within the eminently and easily manipulated paper markets. The problem with false price signals is that reality does not have a say in things until it’s too late.
Because of this, we all face a very disruptive future with massive and interlocking shortages of food and fuel that will cause excessive economic hardship and elevate the prospect of financial system chaos if not collapse.
Spikes in autism, other developmental disorders and growing reports of health problems with children can not be ignored…and there’s more. But what’s the common denominator? Watch the video.
Back in April, China’s President Xi Jinping gave a speech before the Boao Forum in Singapore. In Xi’s keynote address, he proposed a new “global security initiative” that, in his words, would reject the Cold War mentality and focus on “common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable” security. Xi’s new global initiative would be a “world encompassing” security mechanism. Unfortunately, Xi was short on details about this new Initiative.
After the speech, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin again provided sparse details. Wang outlined how Xi’s initiative is a broad framework of ideas that cover nearly all concerns in the Asia-Pacific. One Asian diplomat stated that Xi’s speech was “typical China,” in that they always come out with an excessively large framework that no one could reasonably object to. The idea is that even if countries don’t agree with everything, at least they can’t fully oppose it. Then, bit by bit, the framework gets peeled away to reveal the primary objective – diminishing U.S. power and increasing Chinese power across the globe.
In May, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi elaborated on Xi’s new security initiative with four major points that he said comprised China’s new official Global Security Initiative (GSI). China would commit to the following:
Xi envisions a gradually weakening America replaced by a multipolar world in which China is the major player. Currently, Xi is playing to a largely domestic audience ahead of the Chinese Communist Party national congress this fall where Xi will seek a third term as president. Should Xi be granted a third term, he can be expected to take the GSI from its current domestic audience to a global audience as an alternative to the U.S.-led “rules-based international order.”
Examining the words of Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng at the May 2022 conference Seeking Peace and Promoting Development: An Online Dialogue of Global Think Tanks of 20 Countries, we can glean what Xi’s argument will be for a new world order led by a China-Russia alliance. Le Yucheng stated:
“According to statistics, the U.S. and other Western countries have launched over 10,000 sanctions on China, Russia and other countries. One in every ten countries has been targeted by U.S. sanctions. This has compounded the enormous strain on global food and energy supply, finance and supply chains. Crises are lurking in the international political, economic and security order, presenting unprecedented challenges to peace and development, the underlying theme of our times”
Chinese officials point out that the U.S. seeks to create a “second front” in the Russia/Ukraine conflict and bring the conflict to the Asia-Pacific. Or short of that, they say the U.S. continues to flex its muscles on China’s doorstep, creating exclusive groups (i.e., alliances) against China and inflaming the Taiwan question to test China’s redlines.
At the June virtual BRICS summit, Xi hit all the right multilateral buttons for the BRICS members (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and made it clear that he intended to use the GSI to supplant what he considers the failed Western model of global governance.
China, and most likely Russia are content, for now, to allow the U.S. and its western allies to make errors and pursue questionable outcomes in their proxy fight against Russia in Ukraine. By doing this, Xi is letting the West shape itself into the antithesis of the China-Russia alliance that is represented by the allegedly multilateral, multipolar GSI. The worse the global economic conditions become, the more acceptable the GSI will likely appear to countries facing sovereign debt crises, hyperinflation, food insecurity and civil unrest that China continues to blame on unilateral sanctions from the United States. This is the point at which the China-Russia alliance could become unrestrained in its geopolitical objectives.