Happy Thanksgiving!
From the Bonner Private Research Team (Plus a Bill Bonner Classique...)
Dear Reader,
It’s Turkey Day today and you’ve got plenty to do... so we won’t get in your way.
We just wanted to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving from our scattered team...
From Bill in Baltimore, MD...
Dan in Laramie, WY...
Tom in Palm Beach, FL...
...and Joel, down at the end of the world in Buenos Aires, Argentina...
From all of us at BPR, thanks for reading our work and sharing it with friends and family.
Wherever you are, we hope you’re enjoying the day with loved ones and celebrating all there is to be thankful for in this life.
Cheers,
The BPR Team
P.S. For dear readers who cannot do without a daily dose of Bill’s wit (or who simply wish to be excused from their duties in the kitchen), we provide the following classique – originally published in lieu of a regular issue.
Feel free to bring it up at the dinner table...
The Best Political Party of All
Bill Bonner
“If we run out of food this winter, we've always got each other.”
~ Hannibal Lector
We have a plethora of new readers here at BonnerPrivateResearch. Many have practical questions. Dan, Joel, and Tom try to answer the important ones.
But there are other issues: Who are we? What are we doing?
Some accuse us of being silly “liberals.” Or even “left wingers.” Others are sure we’re gun totin’, MAGA hat wearin’, Trumpistas. One reader (perhaps relying on our poorly-worded prose) leveled the most incendiary charge of all; he accused us of having voted for Joe Biden.
Some readers think they see a hint of nihilism… some suspect us of antinomianism. And some are just puzzled by what must seem a sour temper, with a ready contempt for every ‘ism’ on offer.
Who are we? What are we? What noxious creed lurks between our words?
A remark by French President Emmanuel Macron set our mind to a-thinkin’ about it.
“The best energy,” said he, “is the energy you don’t use.”
Really?
We use energy to heat our houses, to run our factories, and to move us from point A to point B. Would it be better not to?
The best meal is the one you never eat?
The best kiss is the one you never get?
And that lucky break you’ve been waiting for? The best one is the one that never comes?
A dear reader, Bill T., sent us this real photo, taken in Northern California...
The Road Not Taken
The Tesla is now relying on old-fashioned, planet-destroying gasoline in order to do what it couldn’t do on its own. So, as of this photo, the trip was still one of the best ones the driver never took.
The best of our daily columns is, of course, the one we never write. And our best opinions are the ones we don’t have.
But the only way to makes sense of Macron’s head scratcher is to apply it where its author did not – to something you shouldn’t do anyway, i.e.: The best murder you ever commit is the one where no one is harmed.
Which leads us effortlessly to our political affiliation: we have the best one; that is, none at all. How could we see the action on the field clearly if we were rooting for one team or the other? How could we observe the great mob if we were in the middle of it?
And how could you expect to get anything of value from us if we only confirmed your own prejudices?
Oh… dear, dear reader… here is a ‘trigger warning.’ This is no ‘safe space.’ This is meant to be a ‘dangerous space,’ where you come face to face with ideas you may not like. We might not like them either; we only bring them up because they might be right.
But which ones? We don’t know. All we can do is to ‘connect the dots’ and try to describe what we see.
That Which Governs Least
Yes, dear reader… we are innocent of all charges. We didn’t vote for Biden. Or for Trump. Neither, we figured, was worthy.
But who is? After all, the best politician is the one who never ran for office, who never cast a vote… never mouthed a slogan… never took a bribe (oops… did we say ‘bribe’? We mean ‘campaign contribution’)… and never attempted to tell anyone other than himself what to do.
That is, the best politician is the one who is not a politician at all. Which accounts for why those who are politicians are very far from the best. Not even second best. They are almost all sleazy grifters… ready to say anything or do anything to hold onto power.
Power corrupts. And at this late, degenerate Fin de Bubble stage, the US empire is the most powerful that ever existed. The best power is, of course, the power you don’t have. And those who do have it are… surprise!... corrupted by it.
Our job here is not to join a party… a cause…or a movement… not to push an ideology, wave a flag or find a solution… nor to cast blame or stones…
…but merely to watch. And if we pay attention, and are really lucky, we might see some vague shadow, perhaps reflected in a dirty window pane for a second or two, of what is really going on.
Thanks for reading…
Regards,
Bill Bonner
As I noted the first time you published the comment from Macron, we need to parse his statement a little better. "The best energy is the energy YOU don't use." He was speaking to the public, to the voters, the common people, and he sincerely believes that a lot of us should use no energy at all. However, he fully intends to continue moving around the world in his private jet, eating at luxurious banquets with his peers at the top of the ruling class, and lecturing the rest of us about how WE are responsible for global warming, and the ugly state of the world in general.
It occurs to me that connecting the dots can be dangerous too. What if you connect the wrong dots?