Brain Development Issues

The real world consequences of sub-intelligence committees...

(Source: Getty Images)

Bill Bonner, reckoning today from Normandy, France...

A young man was taken out of school because he was, well, retarded. His father reported:

“He was born prematurely, he had brain development issues. I had the school do a neurosurgery evaluation on him and they said his brain was underdeveloped,” Ventura said. “He was suffering endless bullying at school with other kids taking food off his plate, tripping him in the hallway, humiliating him, laughing at him.”

There were never many terrorists on the streets of Wakefield, Massachusetts. Still, the poor kid thought he might want to join up. And it must have been thrilling to be in touch, via the internet, with a real live one. 

Only, the terrorist wasn’t a terrorist at all. He was a G-Man…with his own issues.  He even pretended to be a foreigner, with this corny dialog:

The kid: I reached out to brother [A.D.] for hijrah [migration] I dont know if it is still possible but if it is I know it will take sometime.

FBI agent masquerading as a terrorist: Ahh.. Inshallah [if Allah wills it] I help u, but before talk have rule my brother…U must no talk about what said here or intention to anyone. No tell family. No tell friend. No tell ikhwan [brothers] at masjid [mosque]. No one. This for both are safety. 

Brain Dead

When you don’t have any real terrorists in your area, and you are an ambitious FBI agent, you have to create them yourself. So, the agent continued to phish for the boy for years. And to make sure he could be nabbed on a ‘supporting terrorists’ charge, he got the kid to send him small amounts of money – like $25 – via gift cards.  

The agent encouraged the boy to get on a plane to travel to ‘the Islamic State;’ the youngster balked. He preferred Wakefield. So, the agent tried again…and again, the kid had the good sense to stay home.

When the young man turned 18, the FBI showed up at his house and arrested him.  Who had the brain development issues?

Turns out, there are undeveloped brains all around us.

Yesterday, the French celebrated ‘La Nuit de St. Jean’ with bands in public parks and street corners all over the country…or at least in Paris.   

It was also the day, five years ago, that Greta Thunberg, the child saint of the Green Transition, claimed that “all of humanity” would be wiped out unless we humans “stopped using fossil fuels” by June 21^st, 2023.  

We don’t know about the rest of the world. But we drove to the pharmacy yesterday, in a diesel powered Nissan. We cooked dinner on a gas-fired stove. And we took a shower in water that was also heated with gas. So far, so good. The world uses more fossil fuel today than it did in 2018; still no sign of extinction.

Sub-Intelligence

Ms. Thunberg celebrated her birthday by getting arrested for trying to force people to do what she wanted. MSN:

Greta Thunberg Arrested From Oil Port Protest In Malmo, Sweden

Around 20 climate activists including Greta Thunberg took part in a protest outside an entrance to the port in the Swedish city of Malmo…briefly blocking road traffic to the oil port

This is why we have councils of elders, not councils of adolescents, to guide us.  Teenagers often suffer from development issues.  

But so do adults.

This morning, rescue teams are still trying to find a mini-submarine that disappeared in the deep, dark waters near Newfoundland. The guy who ran the tourist sub operation made a point of hiring a young, diverse crew. He wanted people who were good at ‘inspiration,’ he said…not a lot of “50-year-old white guys” (aka ‘skilled engineers’).

Says a tweet in response:

I, for one, am inspired…to never hire a 25 year old woman fresh out of college with zero industry experience to design a submarine that's intended to go more than half a mile down into the cold, black, mercilessly unforgiving abyss with human beings on board.

But wait. Here’s more brain damage, this time among the proverbial ’50-year-old white guys’ themselves. Defensenews.com:

"Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, introduced the bill that would authorize military force in Mexico in January. It currently has 20 Republican co-sponsors, including two who lead panels on the House Armed Services Committee: Reps. Mike Waltz of Florida and Jack Bergman of Michigan.

"All the leading Republican presidential candidates have advocated using military force in Mexico against drug cartels, including former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.”

Oh yes, just when you thought the feds had reached the bottom of the pit of dumbness…they dig deeper. The wars against Vietnam, drugs, poverty, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Nicaragua… all went so well! And now, even the hot war in the Ukraine, and the cold war they’ve created with China, still aren’t enough. Let’s open up another front – in Mexico.

After Mexico, Canada will be a pushover.

Regards,

Bill Bonner

Joel’s Note: Speaking of sub-intelligence, there’s a generation of denialism lurking beneath the surface in many developed, highly-indebted countries. Recall the old saying:

“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”

Where do you reckon we are in this cycle? Do strong men suffer micro-agressions? Do they need trigger warnings? Do they preference “diversity, equity and inclusion” over core competence?

No. We’re somewhere between weak men and hard times. And, as BPR investment director, Tom Dyson, mentioned in yesterday’s paid research note to members, that has financial consequences, too…

Many people in America are still not convinced that a massive decline in their living standards and quality of life could happen. But the point is, it's already happening. That's inflation.

And the way debt dynamics work in countries that don’t have the exorbitant privilege of printing dollars, it happens faster. You need to prepare for this financially for sure. But also psychologically as well.

It's one big advantage you'll have over everyone else. You'll have a realistic understanding of what's happening, and what's going to happen. You'll be better prepared mentally to do what you need to do now. 

Of course, there’s a “lot of ruin in a nation,” as Adam Smith had it.

“The USA is a very rich country,” continued Tom. “Decades of accumulated capital stock. Inherited wealth. Businesses (big and small). Functioning and sophisticated legal, insurance, and banking systems. Those have allowed centuries of wealth to build up. A lot of the physical wealth—real estate, factories, transportation, power, and communication infrastructure—isn't going anywhere.

“But inflation can ravage financial wealth and asset values. That's what people underestimate about the danger of debt. It's a lesson some generations are unlucky enough to learn the hard way. There's a lot of learning to be done.”

In the meantime, folks who have been around the block a few times, who understand basic common sense and the iron-clad laws of economics, know that there is a time to reap and a time to sow. BPR is preparing for hard times ahead. If you’d like to learn how, you can download our growing archive of investment reports – including The Dollar Report and The Strategy Report – right here…