I saw the millions, if not billions of taxpayer dollars change hands during my 12 years in the US Army and four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Reflecting on the experience, it has to be one of the bigger boondoggles the United States has ever participated in. Neither country is better off in any form or fashion while expenditures topped $20 trillion over 20 years. I have no reason to believe that $32 trillion dollars of federal debt could ever be fully repaid.
Neither country. Correct. But multiple Defense contractors would not share your view about someone benefitting.
It is a truly sad thing, when brave souls like yourself give their heart, their souls and sometimes, their lives for something they truly believe in, only to see its original intent, so horribly misdirected.
No problem. What irks me is that fiscal responsibility was within reach and senior administration officials did not listen to human intelligence reports in the 90s when faced with the realities of what select individuals would do and were capable of if left unchecked.
Going forward, I believe we (The United States) needs to completely overhaul our approach to being a global citizen. Stop being the worlds police force and allow autonomy for nations that have disputes to reconcile individually.
The point was made hit another contributor that the US Defense Industry and the thousands of firms that profit off these engagements/campaigns are too entrenched within the political apparatus.
Mr. Kolakowski, You got right to the heart of the matter in your last paragraph. Most money spent by the U.S. Warfare Sate stays in the U.S., primarily for the building of weapons systems that provides millions of good jobs with benefits to VOTERS. If this wasn’t the case, the Warfare State could never obtain $800B annually (or over $1T/year per Bill’s estimate). But does most of this spending create true wealth for the U.S.? Of course not. It’s similar to what Sarah Palin pointed out about the Bridge To Nowhere; i.e., creating lots of make-work jobs that created a bridge no one uses; i.e., that doesn’t create true wealth. The True Wealth Q Bill asks when money is spent is the most critical Q every time.
If someone criticizes defense spending, then the Warfare State rounds up the usual suspects; i.e., our troops and veterans (like you), and screams loudly about how terrible the critic is to be hating on these brave patriots. Distract. Distract. Similar to what some clergy do with missionaries when the clergy gets caught committing financial or sexual improprieties. “But look at all the great mission work WE do!” Distract. Distract. And the Warfare State and Welfare State also play a game of: If you cut us back, then the other State will get the money (not the taxpayers, of course). And the Welfare State employs lots of VOTERS, just like the Warfare State.
Another big Q is: When this Warfare-Welfare State nonsense eventually collapses everything, what then? A breakup of the country; i.e., the heavily-armed middle breaks away from the wimpy coasts? Or the U.S. lives with endless high inflation? I think the Globalist Elite have to be worried about a breakup of the U.S. because they desire integration (one world), not separation. Look at how angry they are at Vlad for trying to provide independence to a TINY area of Eastern Ukraine. But how can the Globalist Elite stop this runaway debt train in the U.S.? I guess they must hope most Americans can be brainwashed into accepting the U.S. as another Argentina.
Timely info Mr. Fishin'. If we get into a shooting war, we are basically screwed and it will become apparent within the first 3-5 days in my opinion.
I went to college on an Army ROTC scholarship back in the '80's. I put in the obligatory time afterward and was within 24 hours of getting sucked into Bush's first Desert war. Luckily, it was over so fast that we were stopped on the runway at Camp Blanding and called off. At the time I was pissed and believed I was "missing out." A naïve 23-year old, high speed, low drag butter bar. Looking back, I am thankful because so many Vets from that first go around got sick with unexplained illnesses and cancer. The point?
Looking at today's "military" I couldn't and wouldn't recommend it to any young person. Not even for four free years at a top-notch college...
Hey Star. I have a nephew playing football for army. He just started this year. He has so many unbelievable offers from so many great football schools. Yet he chose army. I just bit my tongue. Our military is fast becoming a disgrace. The plan demolition continues.
Yessir - a Planned Demolition is the ONLY thing that can explain the damage being done and the lows being bested to ignore it.
Good on your nephew, sir! Just because you and I wouldn't recommend the Military in its current form, it's great to know there are young Patriots out there who have the ambition, talent and stubbornness to not accept what's happening. Hopefully he can help fix things from the inside...
I call it "death by government". It starts relatively innocuously. In a period of optimism and prosperity (1950s), the government, through its words, and even more by its actions, tells the voters that government can replace pesky virtue: initiative, hard work, frugality, saving, responsibility, accountability, and the people want to believe it. Government begins to expand (1960s), and both parties join hands down the primrose lane of centralization and bureaucracy (1970s+). It works until it doesn't: government gets bigger than the enterprise supporting it, producing failure. Best always. PM
Most professional fighters win a few battles here and there. You would think that amongst all of our military misadventures we would dismiss the BS about protecting democracy abroad and figure out how to institute it at home. Instead we have become a surveillance state and a revolving door to the money machine for ex-spooks and generals who have mucked up our foreign policies and proliferated expensive hatred and derision. Frankly, except for all the debt held by our major competitors (falling rapidly) they are laughing at our ineptness and attempts to prop up a failed empire. We need saving from ourselves!
As long as people like Bill write, and people like the ones on this forum and the ones who understand what it will take, keep reading, there is hope.
Hope that someone, with balls (proverbial of course) big enough, and a brain half functional, can stem the tide. Tell the people what they don't want to hear. And do the unthinkable. But the necessary.
Bring the troops home. Cut the deficit in half by letting the rest of the world fend for itself. Get rid of the majority of the over 1800 Federal agencies. Reduce the tax laws from a 28,000 page tome to a single 10% flat tax for everyone across the board. If they do all that and more, there is hope.
That the empire doesn't go to it's grave in my lifetime.
Arriving at the figure that should be taxed is most of the issue. That figure is what takes time and resources to determine, not the rate once that number is arrived at.
Unless of course you propose that a company that takes in $1,000,000 with $900,000 in expenses should pay $100,000 in taxes.
One of my sons is an attorney that specializes in tax-LOL. He oversees mergers and acquisitions for very large deals on a team that handles state and local taxes which means he's "safe" if a proposal similar to yours ever became law (it requires repealing the 16th Amendment by the way). Despite all that I wouldn't have a problem to see a far more simplified tax system and the vast majority of IRS agents and tax attorneys digging ditches.
Digging ditches is HIGHY underrated. Builds a ton of Character, Stamina and Resolve - three admirable traits that seem to be in short supply among today's under-30 crowd...
Character, stamina and resolve, I think those first two are totally absent from the vast majority of IRS Agents and Tax Attorneys as well so we'd all get a threefer-LOL.
Dave and I are in the same exact business (just a cross-country trip apart) and yes, we all use the more efficient equipment when we can. That doesn't mean we haven't dug MORE than our share of trenches, ditches and holes over the years - by hand. Further, I have employees very happy (and well-paid) in jobs that require operating a shovel pretty much all day as the detailed nature of what they do is too delicate for a piece of equipment to complete without causing damage requiring costly rework or repairs.
It DOES build character and you can't do it all with a backhoe, skid steer or excavator. Though one of my favorite sayings in the industry goes along the lines of:
"Boss, I can't dig that hole. I need a left-handed shovel!"
I know, I'm a landscape contractor that digs miles of trenches each year to lay irrigation pipe (using Ditch Witches mostly). However, I love the visual image of people that I despise doing very hard manual labor.
Most people don't owe any tax at all. There are plenty of web sites out there that will explain that for you. How about reducing the size of government, instead? That's not going to happen, of course. The US is pretty much doomed, and the rest of the world with them.
We're not writing about what is. But what could be.
Flat tax is one way. Bill had a list of things he would do, which included reducing the government, to what it was when the original founding fathers thought it up - one that had limited resources and limited power.
To solve the deficit, Bill would:
Cut off all foreign aid
Bring back the troops
Close all the outposts
Recall all the spies
Scrap all long range airplanes and warships as we wouldn't need them anymore
Pentagon budget reduced
Fed disbanded
Gold Standard reintroduced
Approximately (lol) 1950 government agencies terminated leaving only those performing vital functions (like collecting taxes) remaining
All welfare ceased
All grants ended
All bribes stopped
Social security and medical care would continue, but then curtailed and gradually eliminated
In any flat tax scenario IMHO, the biggest issue is figuring out where to set the exemption because the bleeding hearts will scream that it's "regressive!" if it kicks in on dollar one or anywhere near dollar one. Then we'll be back to having a huge portion of the population paying no income tax, just like we have now. Until the threshold is established it's virtually impossible to figure out what the rate needs to be.
The problem as I see it (and what do I know, I'm just a "getting old" guy that has been self-employed by owning and running businesses for the last 41 years) is it really doesn't matter what system is used for collecting taxes if there's no correlation between the tax income and government expense. It really doesn't matter what the collection scheme is because if the cost of government keeps rising they have no choice but to take more money from those that have it.
I fear that The Demented One and his handlers in the White House have a "blow it up so we can remake it the way we want it" mentality. Similar to how things went down during the Great Depression when FDR took advantage of that "crisis" to fundamentally change America (violating our Constitution with reckless abandon while he was at it).
From a behavioral point of view, what might really be happening behind the curtain of our country's secretive and out-of-control (?) government with its relatively secretive and out-of-control financial institutions?
Could it be that hose who PRETEND to be interested our nation's economic and social welfare are actually cowards, who who would rather utilize others to control us, and to thereby accomplish their secretive ends?
And, could it be that parts of our current government (specifically the "godless" parts that seem to always lie about what they're really doing) are constantly seeking to concoct some kind of imagined enemy to pit against our imperfect yet beautifully respectful and free culture which was originally handed off to us by our World Changing, God loving, and People loving Constitutional Founders?
And might not the reason for such devious behavior be that our current so-called "leaders" are actually more cowards than leaders, fearful of exposing themselves through their own direct participation in their concocted battles to destroy our country's imperfect yet beautiful Godly heritage?
And might it be that their primary motivation, rather than being love, is more in the nature of hate?
We must never forget that "God is LOVE". And therefore logically, might that not also mean that the opposite is HATE?
However, I use "could" and "might" so as to purposely not come off as being demanding and autocratic.
In my personal opinion, it's better for a reader to believe that he/she is accepting a potentially new premise voluntarily rather than under duress :) :) :)
I guess you could call it a kind of "love" tactic? :) :) :)
I had a friend tell me long ago that if I were to change the word "but" to "and" in every written and spoken communication - it would change my life and the lives of those around me.
She was absolutely correct. Though it doesn't fit or make sense in all instances, after years of noticing when this situation arises I would estimate "and" has been more appropriate or makes for better outcomes in 50% of the cases.
Give it a try over this weekend. You might be amazed by Sunday night...
Bill and team, thanks for all you do. The warning signs are all around and you guys have given readers plenty of notice. I’m ten miles up a gravel road from the nearest small town and I’m starting to think that’s not far enough out. My brother’s family just pulled out of Washington state and is moving to Portugal, no explanation given.
M1: Portugal is a great place to live. I have relatives living there and they love it. It is Much less expensive (they were living in Munich). I have visited many times and enjoyed the food and ocean scenery.
Inflate or die. It’s not just the Empire that will die but millions of “rich” people as in the French Revolution. Government policies to appease the poor and stave off the Terror lead to more poor people until eventually, it all collapses. I fear for my grandchildren.
With fewer independent, middle class voters…political power ends up in the hands of those who are best able to manipulate the poor. Then, they must reward the poor with free stuff, requiring more printing press money, while continuing the policies that make the poor poorer and the rich richer – including keeping the empire in business.
Bill Bonner assumes that only the poor can be manipulated. The whole nation is subject to the same. If paying millions for advertising tooth paste pays of, how about the millions of election campaigns. With the greatest constitution on the planet nothing can stop con artists like our president elected by the people for the people.
It's easier to think about it by replacing the elected government with the military/industrial crowd as the primary business of America, with the Joint Chiefs as the BOD and the generals as CEOs. Long as there's enough money to keep the machine going, we have 'relative' peace. But now Yellen is telling us she can't pay for both guns and butter this month and somebody has to choose. Meanwhile, the tech billionaires are thumbing their noses at the oil and gas billionaires and battling it out for control of the energy markets. What a mess! The US shoots, the Chinese bribe, and people seem to like money more than destruction.
Bill writes, "The elites use their access to ‘printing press money’ and their control of the federal budget to squeeze as much wealth and power, as fast as possible, from the rest of the society. "
EXAMPLE: a friend of mine manages a charity that annually produces and donates 8-9 million servings of healthy mixed dehydrated vegetables for soup and also dehydrated apple chips around the world. The source is healthy but "unsalable" fresh produce donated by local producers, and processed by hand by volunteers from near and far who put on aprons and clean, chop, dehydrate, mix, bag, and box the food for shipment.
My manager friend told me that at a recent delivery of 2 million servings to the Ukraine, our agent was told that "most of the food aid here has been potato chips and granola bars." The volunteers' donation of real food was a treasure!
My manager friend called the agency who delivers their tons of food around the world and said that for $100 thousand he could have 3 million servings of dehydrated soup and fruits in their hands a week from now. (That's three cents a serving.) The offer was apologetically declined, because "the way it works" is that millions are collected as charities, paid out to big name, government inspected and approved firms (Nestle was named), who then send out their products.
The trend is your friend Woody, and it has finally changed. The month of May broke out of the gate with a fumbled start, but like Secretariat, she’s about to change the pace and head for the winner’s circle once the May CPI, GDP, and PCE numbers come out this month. The CPI is going to be well below the 5.5% previous reading (4.9% to be exact,for those of you that want to know the future 😂). Then it’s smooth sailing ahead and the markets will begin an unstoppable upward trend.
A few market challenges remain, inflation, interest rates, oil, China’s fake economic news, Ukraine, Global upheaval. Nothing to worry about, more bark than bite.
S&P 500 sideways snake pattern will once again break symmetry and began and upward green frog leap jump with a 43,000 target scope.
I saw the millions, if not billions of taxpayer dollars change hands during my 12 years in the US Army and four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Reflecting on the experience, it has to be one of the bigger boondoggles the United States has ever participated in. Neither country is better off in any form or fashion while expenditures topped $20 trillion over 20 years. I have no reason to believe that $32 trillion dollars of federal debt could ever be fully repaid.
Neither country. Correct. But multiple Defense contractors would not share your view about someone benefitting.
It is a truly sad thing, when brave souls like yourself give their heart, their souls and sometimes, their lives for something they truly believe in, only to see its original intent, so horribly misdirected.
No problem. What irks me is that fiscal responsibility was within reach and senior administration officials did not listen to human intelligence reports in the 90s when faced with the realities of what select individuals would do and were capable of if left unchecked.
Going forward, I believe we (The United States) needs to completely overhaul our approach to being a global citizen. Stop being the worlds police force and allow autonomy for nations that have disputes to reconcile individually.
The point was made hit another contributor that the US Defense Industry and the thousands of firms that profit off these engagements/campaigns are too entrenched within the political apparatus.
Hey Matthew. That will never happen until the collapse. Sadly, they were just too much money and war for these pigs to give it up.
Mr. Kolakowski, You got right to the heart of the matter in your last paragraph. Most money spent by the U.S. Warfare Sate stays in the U.S., primarily for the building of weapons systems that provides millions of good jobs with benefits to VOTERS. If this wasn’t the case, the Warfare State could never obtain $800B annually (or over $1T/year per Bill’s estimate). But does most of this spending create true wealth for the U.S.? Of course not. It’s similar to what Sarah Palin pointed out about the Bridge To Nowhere; i.e., creating lots of make-work jobs that created a bridge no one uses; i.e., that doesn’t create true wealth. The True Wealth Q Bill asks when money is spent is the most critical Q every time.
If someone criticizes defense spending, then the Warfare State rounds up the usual suspects; i.e., our troops and veterans (like you), and screams loudly about how terrible the critic is to be hating on these brave patriots. Distract. Distract. Similar to what some clergy do with missionaries when the clergy gets caught committing financial or sexual improprieties. “But look at all the great mission work WE do!” Distract. Distract. And the Warfare State and Welfare State also play a game of: If you cut us back, then the other State will get the money (not the taxpayers, of course). And the Welfare State employs lots of VOTERS, just like the Warfare State.
Another big Q is: When this Warfare-Welfare State nonsense eventually collapses everything, what then? A breakup of the country; i.e., the heavily-armed middle breaks away from the wimpy coasts? Or the U.S. lives with endless high inflation? I think the Globalist Elite have to be worried about a breakup of the U.S. because they desire integration (one world), not separation. Look at how angry they are at Vlad for trying to provide independence to a TINY area of Eastern Ukraine. But how can the Globalist Elite stop this runaway debt train in the U.S.? I guess they must hope most Americans can be brainwashed into accepting the U.S. as another Argentina.
Timely info Mr. Fishin'. If we get into a shooting war, we are basically screwed and it will become apparent within the first 3-5 days in my opinion.
I went to college on an Army ROTC scholarship back in the '80's. I put in the obligatory time afterward and was within 24 hours of getting sucked into Bush's first Desert war. Luckily, it was over so fast that we were stopped on the runway at Camp Blanding and called off. At the time I was pissed and believed I was "missing out." A naïve 23-year old, high speed, low drag butter bar. Looking back, I am thankful because so many Vets from that first go around got sick with unexplained illnesses and cancer. The point?
Looking at today's "military" I couldn't and wouldn't recommend it to any young person. Not even for four free years at a top-notch college...
Hey Star. I have a nephew playing football for army. He just started this year. He has so many unbelievable offers from so many great football schools. Yet he chose army. I just bit my tongue. Our military is fast becoming a disgrace. The plan demolition continues.
Yessir - a Planned Demolition is the ONLY thing that can explain the damage being done and the lows being bested to ignore it.
Good on your nephew, sir! Just because you and I wouldn't recommend the Military in its current form, it's great to know there are young Patriots out there who have the ambition, talent and stubbornness to not accept what's happening. Hopefully he can help fix things from the inside...
I call it "death by government". It starts relatively innocuously. In a period of optimism and prosperity (1950s), the government, through its words, and even more by its actions, tells the voters that government can replace pesky virtue: initiative, hard work, frugality, saving, responsibility, accountability, and the people want to believe it. Government begins to expand (1960s), and both parties join hands down the primrose lane of centralization and bureaucracy (1970s+). It works until it doesn't: government gets bigger than the enterprise supporting it, producing failure. Best always. PM
Most professional fighters win a few battles here and there. You would think that amongst all of our military misadventures we would dismiss the BS about protecting democracy abroad and figure out how to institute it at home. Instead we have become a surveillance state and a revolving door to the money machine for ex-spooks and generals who have mucked up our foreign policies and proliferated expensive hatred and derision. Frankly, except for all the debt held by our major competitors (falling rapidly) they are laughing at our ineptness and attempts to prop up a failed empire. We need saving from ourselves!
There still is hope!
As long as people like Bill write, and people like the ones on this forum and the ones who understand what it will take, keep reading, there is hope.
Hope that someone, with balls (proverbial of course) big enough, and a brain half functional, can stem the tide. Tell the people what they don't want to hear. And do the unthinkable. But the necessary.
Bring the troops home. Cut the deficit in half by letting the rest of the world fend for itself. Get rid of the majority of the over 1800 Federal agencies. Reduce the tax laws from a 28,000 page tome to a single 10% flat tax for everyone across the board. If they do all that and more, there is hope.
That the empire doesn't go to it's grave in my lifetime.
"Flat tax" is not the answer.
Arriving at the figure that should be taxed is most of the issue. That figure is what takes time and resources to determine, not the rate once that number is arrived at.
Unless of course you propose that a company that takes in $1,000,000 with $900,000 in expenses should pay $100,000 in taxes.
Flat tax of 10% on Net Profit for Businesses. Flat tax of 10% for all people based on income. Done.
28,000 page tome gone. The need for interpreters of that megalithic creation? Gone.
78,000 IRS people whittled down to more "manageable" numbers.
Tax lawyers? Looking for work elsewhere.
One of my sons is an attorney that specializes in tax-LOL. He oversees mergers and acquisitions for very large deals on a team that handles state and local taxes which means he's "safe" if a proposal similar to yours ever became law (it requires repealing the 16th Amendment by the way). Despite all that I wouldn't have a problem to see a far more simplified tax system and the vast majority of IRS agents and tax attorneys digging ditches.
Hi Dave -
Digging ditches is HIGHY underrated. Builds a ton of Character, Stamina and Resolve - three admirable traits that seem to be in short supply among today's under-30 crowd...
Character, stamina and resolve, I think those first two are totally absent from the vast majority of IRS Agents and Tax Attorneys as well so we'd all get a threefer-LOL.
People dig ditches with excavators these days, not with picks and shovels.
Hi Tom -
Dave and I are in the same exact business (just a cross-country trip apart) and yes, we all use the more efficient equipment when we can. That doesn't mean we haven't dug MORE than our share of trenches, ditches and holes over the years - by hand. Further, I have employees very happy (and well-paid) in jobs that require operating a shovel pretty much all day as the detailed nature of what they do is too delicate for a piece of equipment to complete without causing damage requiring costly rework or repairs.
It DOES build character and you can't do it all with a backhoe, skid steer or excavator. Though one of my favorite sayings in the industry goes along the lines of:
"Boss, I can't dig that hole. I need a left-handed shovel!"
I know, I'm a landscape contractor that digs miles of trenches each year to lay irrigation pipe (using Ditch Witches mostly). However, I love the visual image of people that I despise doing very hard manual labor.
Most people don't owe any tax at all. There are plenty of web sites out there that will explain that for you. How about reducing the size of government, instead? That's not going to happen, of course. The US is pretty much doomed, and the rest of the world with them.
We're not writing about what is. But what could be.
Flat tax is one way. Bill had a list of things he would do, which included reducing the government, to what it was when the original founding fathers thought it up - one that had limited resources and limited power.
To solve the deficit, Bill would:
Cut off all foreign aid
Bring back the troops
Close all the outposts
Recall all the spies
Scrap all long range airplanes and warships as we wouldn't need them anymore
Pentagon budget reduced
Fed disbanded
Gold Standard reintroduced
Approximately (lol) 1950 government agencies terminated leaving only those performing vital functions (like collecting taxes) remaining
All welfare ceased
All grants ended
All bribes stopped
Social security and medical care would continue, but then curtailed and gradually eliminated
https://bonnerprivateresearch.substack.com/p/clowns-and-jokers
Sounds like a great recipe (for a disaster). But who said it was going to be easy?
It's not a good solution for businesses to be sure, but it might work for individuals and capital gains purposes.
Capital Gains? LoL. When was the last time you saw a poor person worrying about capital gains?
Gone. Like the tax lawyers.
We're trying to make this simple. Not create a page 2.
"Not create a page 2" -- hilarious, I love it.
In any flat tax scenario IMHO, the biggest issue is figuring out where to set the exemption because the bleeding hearts will scream that it's "regressive!" if it kicks in on dollar one or anywhere near dollar one. Then we'll be back to having a huge portion of the population paying no income tax, just like we have now. Until the threshold is established it's virtually impossible to figure out what the rate needs to be.
The problem as I see it (and what do I know, I'm just a "getting old" guy that has been self-employed by owning and running businesses for the last 41 years) is it really doesn't matter what system is used for collecting taxes if there's no correlation between the tax income and government expense. It really doesn't matter what the collection scheme is because if the cost of government keeps rising they have no choice but to take more money from those that have it.
I fear that The Demented One and his handlers in the White House have a "blow it up so we can remake it the way we want it" mentality. Similar to how things went down during the Great Depression when FDR took advantage of that "crisis" to fundamentally change America (violating our Constitution with reckless abandon while he was at it).
Hi again Dave -
"I fear that 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 The Demented One and his handlers in the White House have a "blow it up so we can remake it the way we want it" mentality."
FIFY - sorry to quibble...
That’s what he means by “finish the job”
Outstanding article!! And the beat goes on . . . Just sayin' has the other shoe dropped and just not hit the floor yet?
Soooo...
From a behavioral point of view, what might really be happening behind the curtain of our country's secretive and out-of-control (?) government with its relatively secretive and out-of-control financial institutions?
Could it be that hose who PRETEND to be interested our nation's economic and social welfare are actually cowards, who who would rather utilize others to control us, and to thereby accomplish their secretive ends?
And, could it be that parts of our current government (specifically the "godless" parts that seem to always lie about what they're really doing) are constantly seeking to concoct some kind of imagined enemy to pit against our imperfect yet beautifully respectful and free culture which was originally handed off to us by our World Changing, God loving, and People loving Constitutional Founders?
And might not the reason for such devious behavior be that our current so-called "leaders" are actually more cowards than leaders, fearful of exposing themselves through their own direct participation in their concocted battles to destroy our country's imperfect yet beautiful Godly heritage?
And might it be that their primary motivation, rather than being love, is more in the nature of hate?
We must never forget that "God is LOVE". And therefore logically, might that not also mean that the opposite is HATE?
Just thinking out loud.......... ;)
Hi C -
Change "Might not it be", "Could not it be", "Could it be" and "Might it be" to all say "Probab-ly" and by Jove, I think you've got it!
;)...
Your point is well taken!
However, I use "could" and "might" so as to purposely not come off as being demanding and autocratic.
In my personal opinion, it's better for a reader to believe that he/she is accepting a potentially new premise voluntarily rather than under duress :) :) :)
I guess you could call it a kind of "love" tactic? :) :) :)
Thank you soooo much for the encouragement! May you catch many "fish"!
By the way, do you know what kind of movie a rooster absolutely loves to watch more than any other kind of movie? (see below)
Chick Flicks! :)
Well C, since you've opened up that can here today --
Do you know why ants don't get sick?
They have antibodies...
Right on C. I hear you.
I had a friend tell me long ago that if I were to change the word "but" to "and" in every written and spoken communication - it would change my life and the lives of those around me.
She was absolutely correct. Though it doesn't fit or make sense in all instances, after years of noticing when this situation arises I would estimate "and" has been more appropriate or makes for better outcomes in 50% of the cases.
Give it a try over this weekend. You might be amazed by Sunday night...
Bill and team, thanks for all you do. The warning signs are all around and you guys have given readers plenty of notice. I’m ten miles up a gravel road from the nearest small town and I’m starting to think that’s not far enough out. My brother’s family just pulled out of Washington state and is moving to Portugal, no explanation given.
M1: Portugal is a great place to live. I have relatives living there and they love it. It is Much less expensive (they were living in Munich). I have visited many times and enjoyed the food and ocean scenery.
GF: They are in Peniche, Portugal. It's a seaside city on the west coast.
Inflate or die. It’s not just the Empire that will die but millions of “rich” people as in the French Revolution. Government policies to appease the poor and stave off the Terror lead to more poor people until eventually, it all collapses. I fear for my grandchildren.
Remember, the situation is hopeless, but not serious.
A: Hahahahahaha. That's a good one.
With fewer independent, middle class voters…political power ends up in the hands of those who are best able to manipulate the poor. Then, they must reward the poor with free stuff, requiring more printing press money, while continuing the policies that make the poor poorer and the rich richer – including keeping the empire in business.
Bill Bonner assumes that only the poor can be manipulated. The whole nation is subject to the same. If paying millions for advertising tooth paste pays of, how about the millions of election campaigns. With the greatest constitution on the planet nothing can stop con artists like our president elected by the people for the people.
It's easier to think about it by replacing the elected government with the military/industrial crowd as the primary business of America, with the Joint Chiefs as the BOD and the generals as CEOs. Long as there's enough money to keep the machine going, we have 'relative' peace. But now Yellen is telling us she can't pay for both guns and butter this month and somebody has to choose. Meanwhile, the tech billionaires are thumbing their noses at the oil and gas billionaires and battling it out for control of the energy markets. What a mess! The US shoots, the Chinese bribe, and people seem to like money more than destruction.
Bill writes, "The elites use their access to ‘printing press money’ and their control of the federal budget to squeeze as much wealth and power, as fast as possible, from the rest of the society. "
EXAMPLE: a friend of mine manages a charity that annually produces and donates 8-9 million servings of healthy mixed dehydrated vegetables for soup and also dehydrated apple chips around the world. The source is healthy but "unsalable" fresh produce donated by local producers, and processed by hand by volunteers from near and far who put on aprons and clean, chop, dehydrate, mix, bag, and box the food for shipment.
My manager friend told me that at a recent delivery of 2 million servings to the Ukraine, our agent was told that "most of the food aid here has been potato chips and granola bars." The volunteers' donation of real food was a treasure!
My manager friend called the agency who delivers their tons of food around the world and said that for $100 thousand he could have 3 million servings of dehydrated soup and fruits in their hands a week from now. (That's three cents a serving.) The offer was apologetically declined, because "the way it works" is that millions are collected as charities, paid out to big name, government inspected and approved firms (Nestle was named), who then send out their products.
The trend is your friend Woody, and it has finally changed. The month of May broke out of the gate with a fumbled start, but like Secretariat, she’s about to change the pace and head for the winner’s circle once the May CPI, GDP, and PCE numbers come out this month. The CPI is going to be well below the 5.5% previous reading (4.9% to be exact,for those of you that want to know the future 😂). Then it’s smooth sailing ahead and the markets will begin an unstoppable upward trend.
A few market challenges remain, inflation, interest rates, oil, China’s fake economic news, Ukraine, Global upheaval. Nothing to worry about, more bark than bite.
S&P 500 sideways snake pattern will once again break symmetry and began and upward green frog leap jump with a 43,000 target scope.
Oh yeah boy! Stand by to get some Busters!
Wisdom of the ages BPR.
As the world awaits the reincarnated Charles' the 2nd replica crown atop the already trodden and defeated walking corpse.
Love your name Mr. Dworkin.
Have you been introduced to Clem Devine from down under? He of that great moniker also lurks among these boards...
Hi SE, I guess I should own up to the full moniker, "Clement Frederick Devine"!
Still lurking and enjoying the banter.
Watching the derby and procrastinating our Spring cleanup for another day...
... Well thanks for a compliment on what I still have grammar school PTSD, lol. But I must confess it was my parent's idea. I'm growing into it.