GOV/MIL Main "Great Reset" Thread

[marsh]

President of Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis tells truth about CBDCs .53 min

President of Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis tells truth about CBDCs​

SettingBrushfires Published September 16, 2022

(no summary given.)

 

[marsh]

Alberta Cowboy applies History Lessons from Buffalo Herding to the Current WEF Agenda | Sept 12 2022 3:12 min

Alberta Cowboy applies History Lessons from Buffalo Herding to the Current WEF Agenda | Sept 12 2022​

BrightCanNews Published September 16, 2022

An Alberta Cowboy applies the History Lessons from Buffalo Herding to the Current WEF Agenda be pushed in Canada on September 12th 2022. He compares the fronts runners in the herding techniques to those currently being pushing by the WEF agenda through the legacy media and government systems. His advice is to separate yourself from the herd before it runs off the cliff. Protests and calling out the WEF-ers continue across Canada.

 

[marsh]

The Truth About Social Distancing

The term 'social distancing' predates the pandemic phenomenon. It was used by social scientists to describe Stage One in bullying and workplace mobbing. So when the elites locked down the planet and i

rumble.com

6:18 min

The Truth About Social Distancing (work place bullying)​

The New American Published September 16, 2022

The term 'social distancing' predates the pandemic phenomenon. It was used by social scientists to describe Stage One in bullying and workplace mobbing. So when the elites locked down the planet and imposed their will on the populace, they didn't even bother to come up with a new term. How many people even noticed?

 

[marsh]

Teaser For Plandemic 3 8:24 min

Teaser For Plandemic 3​

Sunfellow On COVID-19 Published September 16, 2022

As many of you know, we are getting excitingly close to the release of Plandemic 3: The Great Awakening.

In celebration of this highly anticipated moment, we are thrilled to announce “The Great Awakening, Plandemic 3 Prelaunch Party” on Friday, September 16th!

 

[marsh]

Ep. 2876a - The [CB]/[WEF] Unveiled Their Currency Agenda, This Will Fail Just Like Everything Else 18:40 min

Ep. 2876a - The [CB]/[WEF] Unveiled Their Currency Agenda, This Will Fail Just Like Everything Else​

X22 Report Published September 16, 2022

The economic system is breaking down around the world, the [CB] has no cover story they are left out in the open and now they are making their move on alternative currency. They need to drive people away from other currencies so they can introduce their CBDC, this will fail.

 

[marsh]

Embalmer Sounds Alarm: Massive Increase in Strange Blood Clots and Cancer, 'It’s not Normal, It’s Drastic' 31:35 min

Embalmer Sounds Alarm: Massive Increase in Strange Blood Clots and Cancer, 'It’s not Normal, It’s Drastic'​

RAIRFoundationUSA Published September 16, 2022

“I’ve talked to so many other embalmers, and we are all seeing the same thing, but governments don’t want to look at it.” – Richard Hirschman

^^^^^

Embalmer Sounds Alarm: Massive Increase in Strange Blood Clots and Cancer, 'It’s not Normal, It’s Drastic' (Exclusive Interview) - RAIR

“I’ve talked to so many other embalmers, and we are all seeing the same thing, but governments don’t want to look at it.”

rairfoundation.com

Embalmer Sounds Alarm: Massive Increase in Strange Blood Clots and Cancer, 'It’s not Normal, It’s Drastic' (Exclusive Interview)​

Miranda Sellick
September 16, 2022


“I’ve talked to so many other embalmers, and we are all seeing the same thing, but governments don’t want to look at it.” – Richard Hirschman
In an exclusive interview with RAIR Foundation USA, an Alabama-based embalmer and licensed funeral director revealed a massive increase in strange blood clots found in the bodies that he is now embalming.

Richard Hirschman, who has been an embalmer since 2001, has noticed “a change of condition of bodies since the roll-out of mRNA vaccines.” These changes include the huge increase in people with blood clots, the strange nature of these blood clots, and patients who have died of cancer without any of the tell-tale signs, such as hair loss and emaciation. “Unfortunately, there is a new normal,” he says.

Hirschman has embalmed thousands of bodies during the course of his career. Last year, he handled over 600 himself. So he knows the signs to look for, and he knows what blood looks like. “In all my years of embalming, we would run across clots from time to time,” he says, “but since May last year, something about the blood has changed. It’s not normal. It’s drastic.”

When Hirschman first started seeing anomalies, he thought it strange, “but when you see the same thing over and over, you start to realize that something’s not right.”

Hirschman and many of his colleagues in the industry noticed an increase in clotting during the pandemic, “but it wasn’t until the roll-out of the vaccine that these really unusual fibrous structures started appearing.”

He describes a normal blood clot as having a texture like grape jelly or jam. If you were to pick it up, it would likely disintegrate in your fingers. Before 2021, blood clots would appear in between five and 10 percent of bodies. These days, says Hirschman, those numbers are more like 85 percent. “The majority of bodies I embalm are clotted,” he says. “Out of 358 bodies this year, only around 60 were not clotted, and a half of those were heavily clotted. Prior to last year, it wasn’t like that. Nothing like what we see now.”

What is more, these clots are unlike anything he’s ever seen before. He describes them as “a white fibrous structure, like calamari, a rubber band or spaghetti. Even the small ones are unusual looking, like worms. They resemble a small parasite.” Typically, blood clots come out of veins during the embalming process, very, very rarely out of an artery. However, Hirschman recently took one out of an artery 33 inches long. “Normally, I wouldn’t be able to pull a clot of that length without it falling apart,” he explains. “It’s the white, fibrous length that’s unusual. I cannot possibly imagine that being inside a healthy person.”

Hirschman suspects the vaccine is causing these clots. “The reason why I feel the vaccine is related is that I have found these strange structures inside of people who supposedly never had covid but had been vaccinated.”

Looking back, Hirschman sees a date correlation. “It was January 2021 when they really started pushing the vaccines,” he recalls. “I have never been so busy in all my life. I was running into clots like crazy; even in February and March, the clotting was huge. Initially, it was in elderly people, and those were the first they tried to protect.”

Typically, Hirschman’s patients have been in their late 60s, 70s, and 80s. But he’s seeing increasingly younger bodies, “some in their 20s, too,” he says, but just not as many as elsewhere because Alabama has a low vaccination rate amongst young people, according to the embalmer. “I know they are dying, though; I’m hearing about it everywhere,” he says. “But it seems like in Alabama, people are waking up.”

Not so for 17-year-old Ohio football player Kaden Clymer, who recently had six feet of strange clots removed from his legs. Mainstream media continues to deny any link between these clots and the covid-19 vaccine, even though Clymer was diagnosed with inferior vena cava atresia, a disease that typically only affects men in their 30s.

Hirschman has also noticed a change in the bodies he is receiving who have died from cancer. Typically, these people have tumors, hair loss and are emaciated due to their struggle with the disease and harsh treatments. “Lately, had I not been told these people had cancer, I’d not have known. People are getting cancers and are dead before they know it,” he says. “They don’t live long enough to go through the stages.” His observations jive precisely with reports from a senior Swedish physician and researcher, Dr. Ute Kruger, who recently expressed alarm at the extraordinary rates of aggressive cancers she is now seeing.

Hirschman would like to understand what’s going on. He’s sent three dozen clots out for analysis, some of them to Mike Adams, who runs an ISO-17025 accredited lab in Texas. Adams has compared these clots to the blood of unvaccinated individuals and has concluded that these are not blood clots because they lack iron, potassium, magnesium, and zinc.

“We have tested one of the clots from embalmer Richard Hirschman via ICP-MS. Also tested side by side, live human blood from an unvaccinated person,” Adams told The Epoch Times.

But nobody knows quite what these things are, nor how they are caused. “I’ve talked to so many other embalmers, and we are all seeing the same thing,” says Hirschman. “But governments don’t want to look at it.”

 

[marsh]

What Biden just said about Crypto should scare all of us | Redacted with Natali and Clayton Morris 18:29 min

What Biden just said about Crypto should scare all of us | Redacted with Natali and Clayton Morris​

Redacted News Published September 16, 2022

The Biden administration released a report saying that crypto mining operations could get in the way of climate change efforts and that they may have to do something about crypto miners. For the planet that is. Not because they happen not to like it right? No, that’s just a coincidence. So will Bitcoin kill us all? We break down the numbers that politicians are using for their convenience and what they are leaving out for their inconvenience.

^^^^

 

[marsh]

Central Banks: The Use of Sovereign Immunities & Secrecy to Engineer a Global Coup… 3:07 min

Central Banks: The Use of Sovereign Immunities & Secrecy to Engineer a Global Coup…​

solarireport Published September 16, 2022



^^^^^

Introduction – 1st Quarter 2022 Wrap Up

planetequity2022.solari.com

Introduction​

“The law? The law? I don’t have to obey the law. I report to a higher moral authority.”
~ Jack Kemp as Secretary of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) in 1990
explaining why it was not necessary for HUD to obey U.S. law

By Catherine Austin Fitts

After 21 years of watching $21+ trillion go missing from U.S. federal accounts at HUD and the Department of Defense (DOD), I am often asked, “Where did the money go and how do we get it back?”

While the government has documented the money missing from these two federal agencies through fiscal 2015—and thus the documented violations of the Constitution related to financial accounts and disclosure as well as financial management laws—it has not published accounts of where the money went, who has those resources, and how it was reinvested or spent. Consequently, it is perfectly natural for us to engage in high-octane speculation, starting with asking questions about who stole it, how they did it, and who has the missing money or related assets. Who is liable? If money was laundered in or through DOD accounts from foreign wars or the Afghanistan central bank, we have no way of knowing.

We can safely assume that money continues to disappear. Thanks to the federal government’s continual refusal to produce audited financial statements as required by law and the 2018 adoption of FASAB 56 as an administrative policy (which allows federal accounts to be kept off books and secret), we no longer have any reliable means of determining the amount of “undocumentable adjustments” after fiscal 2015. Because the undocumentable adjustments were $6.5 trillion in 2015—the largest amount missing in one year—it is not surprising that the operations then went dark. In addition, there are numerous black budget and classification laws that can make it difficult, if not impossible, for us to tell what is really going on in the federal accounts. (For those interested, we recommend our seven-part series on the financial management laws of the U.S. government, including our piece describing FASAB 56. See the “Financial Laws” section at the Solari Missing Money website.)

The U.S. federal government maintains its bank accounts at the New York Federal Reserve Bank. When the money left the federal accounts, therefore, it left on the financial train tracks run by the New York Fed.

The New York Fed is a private bank owned by its member banks, including Citibank and JPMorgan Chase. (See “New York Fed” under “What Is a SPAC?” in the SPACs section of this Wrap Up.) Presumably, its member banks act as agents with respect to the New York Fed’s depository responsibilities for the U.S. government. That means they hold bank accounts or act as servicers or custodians for securities issued by or secured with subsidies or credit provided by the U.S. government and its mortgage insurance funds, such as the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Single-Family Mortgage Insurance Fund. They also act as custodians and servicers with respect to government-held assets like defaulted mortgages and foreclosed properties acquired when mortgage owners make claims on FHA, VA, and other government mortgage insurance. It is fair to say the Fed member banks operate—even control—a significant part of the U.S. federal balance sheet and related accounts.

When looking at the accounts held by the New York Fed and its member owners as agents for the U.S. government, it is also worth asking another question: Where did the money that went missing come from? We can presume the bulk of the funds paid into the U.S. Treasury come from taxes and proceeds of debt issued by the Treasury through a group of dealers called “primary dealers.” Note that the New York Fed website says that the primary dealers are counterparties to the New York Fed in issuance of government securities. (Many of the primary dealers are also members/owners of the New York Fed, including Citigroup Capital Markets, JPMorgan Chase, and HSBC. See the “Primary Dealers in U.S. Government Securities” section in the “New York Fed,” under “What Is a SPAC?”)

Why is this important? It is important because it means New York Fed members/owners can sell U.S. Treasury bonds, put the proceeds in a HUD government account for which their bank serves as agent for the government, and proceed to move that money into a private account. Very few would be the wiser, particularly if the Treasury bonds were not properly recorded on the U.S. Treasury balance sheet or, as now may also be the case, were sheltered by FASAB 56.

We do know that, on occasion, foreigners have reported that they hold more U.S. debt than the U.S. government reports owing. The Financial Times described a particularly notable example in a June 14, 2006 article titled “Discrepancies in US accounts hide black hole.” Note that this article was published in the same year that the power to waive Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) compliance by banks and contractors doing business with the government was delegated to the Director of National Intelligence.

Indeed, the last time a U.S. Treasury Secretary made the mistake of commissioning a study of the outstanding U.S. government debt, the published study was taken down quickly, and he left shortly thereafter. This was Secretary Paul O’Neill in the George W. Bush Administration; O’Neill also made the mistake of trying to warn that the estimates for the cost of the Iraq invasion were unreasonably low.

As Assistant Secretary of Housing-Federal Housing Commissioner and then as President of Hamilton Securities, the lead financial advisor for the FHA at HUD, I regularly ran into anecdotal evidence and allegations that the amount of outstanding mortgage insurance issued by the federal mortgage insurance funds was significantly greater than what was reported on the FHA/HUD balance sheet.

When in my company’s role as FHA financial advisor I tried to build a complete database of total outstanding mortgages secured by federal mortgage insurance, the Department of Justice seized my company offices and all of our digital records. One of the lead government investigators was quite upset when he discovered that we had moved our computers out in the middle of the night to the offices of our attorneys, saying: “I have strict instructions that you may not keep a copy of your data.” I was required to certify that we had not kept copies of any HUD mortgage data. The investigating team could not come up with a legal reason why we should not be allowed to keep our own data once the HUD mortgage data had been removed.

I believe Hamilton’s portfolio analysis would have documented that the number of mortgages recorded in HUD’s databases were far greater than the number of houses in America—a reality supported by the fact that 2008 Financial Crisis bailouts of an estimated $27-$29 trillion were required to bail out the banks operating the mortgage markets, when this amount was sufficient to pay off all outstanding single-family mortgages in America several times over.

You would think that the rating agencies might notice the systemic criminality in the U.S. federal accounts and raise this question with investors in securities that pay for their reports. In fact, S&P, the leading U.S. rating agency, did attempt to downgrade the U.S. bond rating. Here is the story described in an article our general counsel, Carolyn Betts, and I co-authored: “Caveat Emptor: Why Investors Need to Do Due Diligence on U.S. Treasury and Related Securities”:

To demonstrate the likelihood that rating agencies are no longer able to withstand political pressure, notwithstanding post-Financial Crisis attempts to become more independent, witness what happened when, in August 2011, for the first time in history, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S. credit from AAA to AA+. A furor ensued. In order to mend its relationship with the U.S. government, eighteen days after the U.S. debt was downgraded, S&P asked its then-CEO, Devin Sharma, to step down. Think about this for a minute. The CEO of a rating agency was fired for allowing his rating analysts to issue a perfectly reasonable rating change on the U.S. government’s credit.

Read the rest at the website Introduction – 1st Quarter 2022 Wrap Up

 

[marsh]

UNsustainable Development Goals: An Overview with Rypke Zeilmaker – Solari Report

home.solari.com

UNsustainable Development Goals: An Overview with Rypke Zeilmaker​

September 15, 2022

“Fossil energy accounted for 82% of global energy consumption last year, down from 85% in 2016, so fossil fuels are headed to zero, right? No, total energy consumption is growing—last year it jumped a walloping 5.8%, the biggest increase ever, including a 2.6% increase in renewables and a 5.7% increase in coal. The demand for energy will keep growing as a billion-plus humans seek to rise from poverty. Renewables will be lucky to hold even their current share of the market.… Still, the biggest wonder is the sheer size of the taxpayer sum we are getting ready to spend on climate change when nobody can honestly pretend it will have an impact on climate change.” ~ Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., “Why Pretend Green Pork Will Stop Climate Change?,” Wall Street Journal, July 29, 2022

By Catherine Austin Fitts
In 2015, UN member states adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with the agreement’s centerpiece being the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs, despite the elevated verbiage that Mr. Global uses to promote them, are a dangerous inversion of what they claim to be—and represent technocracy on steroids. This week, Dutch author, researcher, investigative journalist, and photographer Rypke Zeilmaker joins me to look under the hood of the 2030 Agenda. With the Netherlands playing a leading role in implementing the 2030 agenda, Rypke was well positioned to research and interpret SDG doublespeak. (Part 2 of Rypke’s series on “The End of Nature Conservation,” listed below in Related Reading, dissects the “green” NGO movement in the Netherlands.)

Through his work and his Interesting Times website, Rypke “challenges you in word and image to look at life on our planet in a different way than you may be used to.” His motivation to do a deep-dive on the SDGs arose out of his love of nature, culture, country, and region—and especially love of his native Friesland. As the author of a book on Friesland’s history—which he describes as his magnum opus—Rypke is steeped in the region’s traditions in defense of freedom, including the motto “Rather dead than a slave.” This cultural heritage has allowed Rypke to grasp at the most profound level what is at stake with the SDG steamroller.

Trained as a science writer, Rypke began paying attention to how science manipulated data about nature for political purposes—and was able to recognize the weaponization of the conservation and environmentalist movements. “Following the money” has also been a helpful tool for understanding the core threat hiding behind the SDGs—namely, the build-out of a global control system.

The first step in taking action is always to understand what is happening. Zeilmaker’s contributions will help you achieve greater clarity on why the SDGs are a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Related Reading:
Interesting Times (Rypke Zeilmaker website in Dutch)

 

[marsh]

(Italy)
Veneto, Italy, First it was everyday people, now the corporate sector are burning their bills. .35 min

VENETO, ITALY, FIRST IT WAS EVERYDAY PEOPLE, NOW THE CORPORATE SECTOR ARE BURNING THEIR BILLS.​

• WATCH

^^^^^
(Haiti)
Haiti has been paralyzed since yesterday following the announcement of a rise in fuel prices .25 min

HAITI HAS BEEN PARALYZED SINCE YESTERDAY FOLLOWING THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF A RISE IN FUEL PRICES​

• WATCH

Haiti has been paralyzed since yesterday following the announcement of a rise in fuel prices.

Besides smaller increases for diesel and kerosene, further squeezing a population already struggling with soaring costs of living

^^^^
(Hungary)
EU PARLIAMENT : "Hungary is no longer a true democracy." POPULISM IS DEMOCRACY! .09 min

EU PARLIAMENT : "HUNGARY IS NO LONGER A TRUE DEMOCRACY." POPULISM IS DEMOCRACY!​

• WATCH

Translation: “Hungary is no longer following our narrative”
Despots don’t understand populism IS democracy!
Just like most other European country's are not any longer. Fraud, lies and corruption is the new normal. And freedom of speech, only count if you say the right thing.

When Orban’s main opponent is Soros you know that something is very wrong.
^^^^

 

[marsh]

When The Truth Comes Out..... 53:35 min

WHEN THE TRUTH COMES OUT.....​

• WATCH

Roger Hodkinson is a Pathologist, Clinical Researcher and Medical Director of Virology and Medical Research Laboratories. He is a board certified pathologist in the USA and Canada, the CEO and Medical Director at Western Medical Assessments, and the former chairman of the Royal College of Physicians of Canada Examination Committee in Pathology. He has been speaking and writing on pandemic policy since early on, and found himself embedded with the trucker convoy as they made their way to Ottawa. He is interviewed here by Jeffrey Tucker of the Brownstone Institute.

 

[marsh]

(Global ID)
Today is International Identity Day, recognizing The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 16.9 by 2030 1:04 min

TODAY IS INTERNATIONAL IDENTITY DAY, RECOGNIZING THE UN’S SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL 16.9 BY 2030​

• WATCH

Today is International Identity Day, in recognition of The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 16.9 by 2030.
Those ruling governments say it will free you, but really it will tie you to the whims of Governments forever.
Just listen to Tony Blair
^^^
(EV)
This is a typical community mine, unregulated, dangerous and cruel. .41 min

THIS IS A TYPICAL COMMUNITY MINE, UNREGULATED, DANGEROUS AND CRUEL.​

• WATCH

 

[marsh]

Putin at SCO summit calls on countries to stop using economic selfishness and illegal sanctions 1:28 min

PUTIN AT SCO SUMMIT CALLS ON COUNTRIES TO STOP USING ECONOMIC SELFISHNESS AND ILLEGAL SANCTIONS​

• WATCH

Putin at SCO summit calls on countries to stop using economic selfishness and illegal sanctions in their policies, pointing out to systemic mistakes in world's leading economies.

 

[marsh]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-aEL_r7-vk
13:45 min

Starving to Death Under China’s Covid Lockdown in Xinjiang​

China Uncensored

Residents of Xinjiang are dying under China's strict lockdowns, which have gone on for over 40 days in parts of the region. The EU's top intel chief canceled a trip to Taiwan after China found out. Xi Jinping is leaving the country for the first time since the pandemic started to attend an economic and security summit in Asia. Watch this episode of China Uncensored for that and more of this week's China news headlines.

 

[marsh]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAdupiU8Pqc
8:13 min

Copper Pennies - Why They're Worth More Than You Think (1909-1982)​

The Economic Ninja

Copper Pennies Will Blow Your Mind

 

[marsh]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOnVSoEYyUQ
5:33 min

Nuclear Power can save the planet & batteries made from seashells | WEF | Top Stories Of The Week​

Sep 16, 2022

World Economic Forum

This week's top stories include: 0.15 - These restaurants are making takeout sustainable: Just Salad, Loop, DeliverZero, and Burger King are cutting back on food containers and packaging. Here's how. 01.38 - Nuclear Power is unpopular but could really save our planet: The IEA says the world’s nuclear power capacity must double by 2050 if we are to achieve net zero. 03:13 - The renewable battery made from crab and lobster shells: Scientists at the University of Maryland have shown the potential of the chemical chitin to make a biodegradable electrolyte. 04:10 - Handheld device lets you check for breast cancer at home: The device, called the Dotplot, has won the 2022 UK James Dyson Award.

 

[marsh]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0mVxaW2Y3s
.59 min

ESG Is a Socialist Plot, Disguised as the Free Market: Andy Puzder | Teaser​

Premiered 15 hours ago

Crossroads with JOSHUA PHILIPP

 

[marsh]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OldrDNf5m2o
10:53 min

Life In The Disinformation Age​

Sep 16, 2022

Tony Heller

One hundred years ago Scientific American knew that increasing the amount of CO2 in atmosphere would make the planet more habitable for humans. But now they have a different agenda.

 

[marsh]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-OVwYC78cA

FedEx & Jamie Dimon Warning​

The Economic Ninja

FedEx & Jamie Dimon Warning.

^^^^

Jamie Dimon warns something worse than a recession could come

The prediction, while vague, is direr than most other executives, including Goldman Sachs chief David Solomon and Blackrock's Larry Fink.

fortune.com

Jamie Dimon warns ‘something worse’ than a recession could be coming​

BYSOPHIE MELLOR
August 16, 2022 at 6:01 AM PDT

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said on a client call that while the U.S. economy is still strong and consumer balance sheets and businesses are in “good shape,” there are storm clouds ahead.

JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon sees only a 10% chance of an economic slowdown that doesn’t lead to a recession, while ominously warning there are 20% to 30% odds of “something worse.”

(Pay wall)

^^^
zerohedge Fed Ex articles have been previously posted
See post #8351 and 8352 for the latest

 

[marsh]

India Overtakes UK To Become Fifth Biggest Economy | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

India Overtakes UK To Become Fifth Biggest Economy​

FRIDAY, SEP 16, 2022 - 05:40 PM

Just a decade ago, Indian GDP was the eleventh largest in the world.
Now, as Statista's Martin Armstrong shows in the chart below, with 7 percent growth forecast for 2022, India's economy has overtaken the United Kingdom's in terms of size, making it the fifth biggest.

That's according to the latest figures from the International Monetary Fund.


You will find more infographics at Statista

India's growth is accompanied by a period of rapid inflation in the UK, creating a cost of living crisis and the risk of a recession which the Bank of England predicts could last into 2024.

This situation, coupled with a turbulent political period and the continued hangover of Brexit, led to Indian output overtaking that of the UK in the final quarter of 2021, with the first of 2022 offering no change in the ranking.

Looking ahead, the IMF forecasts this to become the new status quo, with India expected to leap further ahead of the UK up to 2027 - making India the fourth largest economy by that time, too, and leaving the UK behind in sixth.

 

[marsh]

China Taps 'Strategic Pork Reserves' In Largest Monthly Release Yet | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

China Taps 'Strategic Pork Reserves' In Largest Monthly Release Yet​

FRIDAY, SEP 16, 2022 - 04:20 PM

China, the world's top consumer and pork producer, tapped its 'strategic pork reserves' to dump the largest amount of supplies ever into the marketplace in one month to cool prices.

A statement from the country's economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), indicates that the first batch of pork reserves flooded regional markets on Sept. 9. The second batch is slated for Sept. 18.

"According to the amount already put in and the plan for later release, it is expected that the country and localities will put a total of about 200,000 tons of pork reserves in September, and the amount put in a single month will reach the highest level in history," NDRC said in a statement.

The move comes as consumer prices hit a two-year high in July with a 2.7% increase YoY, due mainly to a rebound in pork prices.



Wholesale pork prices have more than doubled since March. The good news is prices are still well below prices during the pig ebola days of 2019-20.



NDRC said the pork reserves are well supplied and have more than enough to maintain an orderly market, adding it will monitor market changes if more releases are needed.

The agency also asked farmers to increase the number of live pigs sold at markets.

A new survey via research firm Oliver Wyman found that Chinese people are beginning to complain about inflation as pork prices rise. However, inflation is not nearly anywhere compared to the US and the rest of the world.
The only thing President Xi Jinping can't afford is discontent among the population due to rising prices ... thus Beijing will continue dumping pork supplies to tame prices.

 

[marsh]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Violence In California Reaches "Epidemic" Levels As Our Society Rapidly Deteriorates All Around Us

FRIDAY, SEP 16, 2022 - 06:00 PM
Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

I can’t understand why anyone would still want to live in California. Yes, there are lots of high paying jobs and the weather is very nice, but crime is completely and utterly out of control. As you will see below, a new report that has just been issued is warning that violence in the state has now reached “epidemic” levels. The police are doing what they can to try to contain the violence, but at this point they are vastly outnumbered by the predators.

Sadly, this is the end result of literally decades of cultural rot, and what is happening in California is going to happen to the rest of the nation if we do not take urgent action to turn things around.

Originally, I was going to write about something else today. Tens of thousands of rail and port workers were threatening to go on strike, and this could definitely cause some substantial economic disruptions…

America is bracing for chaos as tens of thousands of railway, port, and hospital workers look set to strike over the winter – plunging the country into further disruption.

As many as 60,000 railway workers, 15,000 nurses, and 22,000 West Coast port workers are plotting mass walkouts as they seek better working conditions.

Several US freight railroads said they were preparing for widespread strike and service interruptions Friday, a deadline set by two holdout labor groups in protracted talks with railroad carriers about better benefits.

But even though these strikes could cause severe short-term problems, they will eventually be resolved.

[ZH: And were resolved right before the strike was set to take place]

So in the greater scheme of things, they really aren’t a major concern.

On the other hand, our cultural decay is a massive ongoing crisis that isn’t going to go away.

As I mentioned earlier, a brand new report that was just released is warning that violence in the state of California has risen to “epidemic” levels…

The Golden State is losing its luster. A troubling new report labels physical and sexual violence in pandemic-era California a statewide “epidemic.” To put it simply, violence is on an alarming rise.

According to the new annual report from the California Study on Violence Experiences across the Lifespan (CalVEX), violence statistics have seen a significant increase since COVID-19 emerged. The report, conducted by scientists at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, reports more than one in six Californians (18%) experienced either physical or sexual violence in just the past year.

If you live in one of the biggest cities in California, this isn’t news to you.

Once upon a time, the state was a place of great beauty and great tranquility, but now it has been transformed into a crime-infested hellhole.

I was particularly alarmed by the numbers on sexual violence in this new report…Violence is common and increasing in pandemic-era California

While more than 1.5 million adults in California admit to committing acts of sexual violence in the past year, men were more than two times as likely as women to report that they perpetrated sexual violence and intimate partner violence.

Women also showed greater mental health impacts and life disruptions due to violent experiences, with 82 percent of women reporting anxiety or depression as a result of physically aggressive, coercive or forced sexual behavior.

Of course much of this violence is being fueled by illegal mind-altering drugs.

Some of these drugs are so immensely powerful that they literally put people into catatonic states for an extended period of time…

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1569726738355339266

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Can anyone explain to me why Democrat voters enjoy seeing this so much they just keep voting for more? pic.twitter.com/hq4unJn0S8

— Piglosi's Peaks (@StokingFreedom) September 13, 2022
I will never understand why people would willingly do that to themselves.

Today, we are facing the biggest drug crisis that we have ever seen in American history, and addicts will often do whatever it takes to get another fix.

Sadly, this is one of the factors that is contributing to skyrocketing rates of shoplifting all over the nation…

We are all painfully aware of the huge rise in shoplifting and even violent robberies of stores. We watch the videos of thugs brazenly raiding stores, and read about the organized crime rings that have sprung up to profit from the trend. Shoplifting has become a big, if criminal business. Chances are that if you use eBay to purchase a wide range of products at reduced prices you have unwittingly purchased stolen goods. No good way for eBay to stop the practice.

One homeless man that originally came from Alabama recently admitted that he regularly shoplifts in order to fund his heroin use…

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People say high rent causes homelessness but Ben, who has been homeless in San Francisco for 7 years, says the “vast majority” are homeless due to addiction. Just 6-7% are from SF. Ben says he "boosts" (shoplifts) and breaks into cars to pay for his $60/day heroin habit. pic.twitter.com/uewKTtBuOS

— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) February 6, 2022
There have been homeless addicts in the streets of San Francisco for years, but now we have reached a point where they are seemingly everywhere.

The following is what one reporter witnessed during a recent journey through the city…

I saw complete hopelessness in the eyes of haunted souls dragging themselves down the street looking for their next fix.

I saw men and women of all ages hunched over on the sidewalks with open wounds all over their bodies.

I saw the filthy tent cities stinking with human excrement and strewn with needles and pipes.

I saw children staring in horror at people dying right in front of them.

At one time, such activity was limited to the bad portions of the city.

But now addicts that have been drugged out of their minds are pulling down their pants and crapping in the streets right in front of some of the most expensive real estate in San Francisco.

This has made the wealthy people really angry, and Mayor Breed says that she is finally going to “get serious” about this crisis.

Of course “getting serious” doesn’t mean arresting a bunch of people and throwing them into prison.

That just wouldn’t be very “progressive”.

Instead, authorities in San Francisco are getting ready to launch a “soft-touch” program that will seek to “interrupt” drug trafficking…

City supervisors released a resolution for a vague ‘soft-touch’ initiative called ‘San Francisco Recovers.’

And here’s the catch, and it’s a doozy: the plan is being touted as, ‘a way that nobody’s going to jail but we’re doing an effective job of interrupting the drug market and drug scenes.’

Is this a sick joke?

Yes, it certainly sounds like a sick joke to me.

Good luck with all that.

If major cities such as San Francisco actually want to have a chance of turning things around, they need to send the police out to round up all the drug dealers.

Unfortunately, police forces in many of our biggest cities are rapidly getting smaller.

In fact, a whopping 122 officers have left the Seattle Police Department in 2022 alone…

The liberal city of Seattle is losing police officers amid a major spike in crime, 770 KTTH reported.

“We’re screwed,” former King County Sheriff John Urqhart said, according to 770 KTTH.

In total, 122 officers have left the Seattle Police Department in 2022, including six that left in August, 770 KTTH reported, citing a police source. Since the city council voted to defund the police department in 2020, nearly 500 police officers have left the force.

I wouldn’t want to be a police officer in a major west coast city at this point either.

They are underpaid, the politicians treat them with tremendous disdain, and they are often hindered by absolutely ridiculous regulations which keep them from doing their jobs effectively.

We like to think that we are so “advanced”, but the truth is that if you compare video footage from major cities on the west coast from decades ago to video footage from today there is absolutely no comparison.

Our society is melting down right in front of our eyes, and if we stay on the path that we are currently on there is no future for our country.

But the politicians insist that people like me have it all wrong.

They continue to tell us that things are better than ever and that a glorious future for our nation is dead ahead.

You can believe that if you want, but the truth of what is really happening to our society is on display for the whole world to see.

America is dying, and we are quickly running out of time to turn things around.

 

[marsh]

Mapping The Countries With The Highest Risk Of Flooding | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Mapping The Countries With The Highest Risk Of Flooding

FRIDAY, SEP 16, 2022 - 07:00 PM

Devastating floods across Pakistan this summer have resulted in more than 1,400 lives lost and one-third of the country being under water.

This raises the question: which nations and their populations are the most vulnerable to the risk of flooding around the world?

Using data from a recent study published in Nature, Visual Capitalist's Niccolo Conte and Christina Kostandi created this graphic that maps flood risk around the world, highlighting the 1.81 billion people directly exposed to 1-in-100 year floods. The methodology takes into account potential risks from both inland and coastal flooding.

Asian Countries Most at Risk from Rising Water Levels​

Not surprisingly, countries with considerable coastlines, river systems, and flatlands find themselves with high percentages of their population at risk.
The Netherlands and Bangladesh are the only two nations in the world to have more than half of their population at risk due to flooding, at 59% and 58%, respectively. Vietnam (46%), Egypt (41%), and Myanmar (40%) round out the rest of the top five nations.

Besides the Netherlands, only two other European nations are in the top 20 nations by percentage of population at risk, Austria (18th at 29%) and Albania (20th at 28%).



The Southeast Asia region alone makes up more than two-thirds of the global population exposed to flooding risk at 1.24 billion people.

China and India account for 395 million and 390 million people, respectively, with both nations at the top in terms of the absolute number of people at risk of rising water levels. The rest of the top five countries by total population at risk are Bangladesh (94 million people at risk), Indonesia (76 million people at risk), and Pakistan (72 million people at risk).

How Flooding is Already Affecting Countries Like Pakistan​

While forecasted climate and natural disasters can often take years to manifest, flooding affected more than 100 million people in 2021. Recent summer floods in Pakistan have continued the trend in 2022.

With 31% of its population (72 million people) at risk of flooding, Pakistan is particularly vulnerable to floods.

In 2010, floods in Pakistan were estimated to have affected more than 18 million people. The recent floods, which started in June, are estimated to have affected more than 33 million people as more than one-third of the country is submerged underwater.

The Cost of Floods Today and in the Future​

Although the rising human toll is by far the biggest concern that floods present, they also bring with them massive economic costs. Last year, droughts, floods, and storms caused economic losses totaling $224.2 billion worldwide, nearly doubling the 2001-2020 annual average of $117.8 billion.

A recent report forecasted that water risk (caused by droughts, floods, and storms) could eat up $5.6 trillion of global GDP by 2050, with floods projected to account for 36% of these direct losses.

As both human and economic losses caused by floods continue to mount, nations around the world will need to focus on preventative infrastructure and restorative solutions for ecosystems and communities already affected and most at risk of flooding.

 

[marsh]

Facebook Spied On Private Messages Of "Conservative Right-Wing Individuals", Then Reported To FBI For Domestic Terrorism | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Facebook Spied On Private Messages Of "Conservative Right-Wing Individuals", Then Reported To FBI For Domestic Terrorism

FRIDAY, SEP 16, 2022 - 08:07 AM

According to DOJ whistleblowers, Facebook has been spying on Americans' private messages and reporting them to the FBI if they express 'anti-government or anti-authority' statements - including questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 US election.

As the New York Post's Miranda Devine writes, "Under the FBI collaboration operation, somebody at Facebook red-flagged these supposedly subversive private messages over the past 19 months and transmitted them in redacted form to the domestic terrorism operational unit at FBI headquarters in Washington, DC, without a subpoena."

"It was done outside the legal process and without probable cause," said one of the whistleblowers, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Facebook provides the FBI with private conversations which are protected by the First Amendment without any subpoena."

According to one Post source, "They [Facebook and the FBI] were looking for conservative right-wing individuals. None were Antifa types."

The Facebook users whose private communications Facebook had red-flagged as domestic terrorism for the FBI were all “conservative right-wing individuals.”

“They were gun-toting, red-blooded Americans [who were] angry after the election and shooting off their mouths and talking about staging protests. There was nothing criminal, nothing about violence or massacring or assassinating anyone.
...
Some of the targeted Americans had posted photos of themselves “shooting guns together and bitching about what’s happened [after the 2020 election]. A few were members of a militia but that was protected by the Second Amendment …-NY Post

Once flagged, the private messages were farmed out as "leads" to FBI field offices around the country, which would then reach out to that area's US Attorney's Office to legally obtain the private conversations they had already been shown.

"As soon as a subpoena was requested, within an hour, Facebook sent back gigabytes of data and photos. It was ready to go. They were just waiting for that legal process so they could send it," said one source.

That said, the feds aren't finding much to prosecute.

"It was a waste of our time," said one source familiar with the 19-month 'frenzy' by the FBI to find domestic terrorism cases to match the Biden administration's rhetoric after the Jan. 6 2021, Capitol riot.

Facebook has denied the allegations in two contrasting statements sent one hour apart.

"These claims are false because they reflect a misunderstanding of how our systems protect people from harm and how we engage with law enforcement. We carefully scrutinize all government requests for user information to make sure they’re legally valid and narrowly tailored and we often push back. We respond to legal requests for information in accordance with applicable law and our terms and we provide notice to users whenever permitted," said Erica Sackin, a spokesperson at Facebook’s parent company, Meta.

Then, in a second "updated statement" sent 64 minutes later, Sackin changed her language to say that the claims were "wrong" and not "false."

"These claims are just wrong. The suggestion we seek out peoples’ private messages for anti-government language or questions about the validity of past elections and then proactively supply those to the FBI is plainly inaccurate and there is zero evidence to support it,” said Sackin, a DC-based crisis response expert who previously worked for Planned Parenthood and “Obama for America” and now leads Facebook’s communications on “counterterrorism and dangerous organizations and individuals." (via NY Post)

The FBI would neither confirm nor deny the allegations, but did acknowledge that the agency has a relationship with social media companies that enable a "quick exchange" of information and an "ongoing dialogue."

"The FBI maintains relationships with U.S. private sector entities, including social media providers. The FBI has provided companies with foreign threat indicators to help them protect their platforms and customers from abuse by foreign malign influence actors. U.S. companies have also referred information to the FBI with investigative value relating to foreign malign influence. The FBI works closely with interagency partners, as well as state and local partners, to ensure we’re sharing information as it becomes available. This can include threat information, actionable leads, or indicators. The FBI has also established relationships with a variety of social media and technology companies and maintains an ongoing dialogue to enable a quick exchange of threat information," said the agency in a statement.

Facebook’s denial that it proactively provides the FBI with private user data without a subpoena or search warrant, if true, would indicate that the initial transfer has been done by a person (or persons) at the company designated as a “confidential human source” by the FBI, someone with the authority to access and search users’ private messages.

In this way, Facebook would have “plausible deniability” if questions arose about misuse of users’ data and its employee’s confidentiality would be protected by the FBI.

“They had access to searching and they were able to pinpoint it, to identify these conversations from millions of conversations,” according to one of the DOJ sources.

Recall in late August Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed to Joe Rogan that the FBI warned the company about "Russian propaganda" right before the Hunter Biden story broke - which the company then censored aggressively.

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In the cases of allegedly surveilled DMs, snippets of private messages were passed to the FBI, partially redacted and often without context, and which contained cherry-picked portions of conversations that highlighted the most egregious statements.

"But when you read the full conversation in context [after issuing the subpoena] it didn’t sound as bad … There was no plan or orchestration to carry out any kind of violence," said one of the Post's sources.

According to the report, more FBI whistleblowers are ready to expose what's going on within the agency.

"The most frightening thing is the combined power of Big Tech colluding with the enforcement arm of the FBI," said one source. "Google, Facebook and Twitter, these companies are globalist. They don’t have our national interest at heart."

 

[marsh]

'Toxic' Values Undermining US Ability to Tackle Beijing: Senator

Visiting Australian Senator Andrew Hastie says basic struggles with identifying gender are undermining the ability of the United ...

www.theepochtimes.com

US NEWS
‘Toxic’ Values Undermining US Ability to Tackle Beijing: Senator

By Daniel Y. Teng September 15, 2022 Updated: September 16,

Visiting Australian Senator Andrew Hastie says basic struggles with identifying gender are undermining the ability of the United States to lead the developed world in opposing military aggression from Beijing.

“These tensions are tearing at the fabric of our democracies, many among us are no longer confident of truth, tradition, and our democratic values,” Hastie, a former Special Air Service operative, told the Hudson Institute on Sept. 15.

The now-opposition defence minister pointed to research by Prof. James Kurth, of Swathmore College, who said the real culture clash was not between the “West and the rest” but within the West itself.

“This is a clash between Western civilisation and a different grand alliance, one composed of the multicultural and the feminist movements. It is, in short, a clash between Western and post-Western civilisations,” Kurth wrote in The National Interest in 1994.

The professor predicted in his article that there would be a lack of consensus on basic issues like humanity, justice, and within politics.

“Toxins are in the mainstream now, seeping through the media, entertainment, in our schools, and our families. It has brought disruption and political consequences for the Western body politic. It makes it harder for our leaders and policymakers to deal with the strategic challenges,” the senator said.

Hastie said smaller nations could not set into play grand strategies and could only follow bigger countries like the United States.

“Put starkly, if we can’t agree on basic definitions of gender, how can we possibly agree on national strategy? If we can’t agree on Western values, how can we defend the West?” he added.

“If we look up from the cultural chaos at home, we see China encroaching on Taiwan and Russia on Eastern Europe.”

An example of the ongoing debate regarding gender identity is recent orders within the U.S. Pacific Air Forces for leaders to stop using gender, age, or race pronouns in written format, claiming such a move would improve “lethality.”

“We must embrace, promote and unleash the potential of diversity and inclusion,” according to an email sent out in May to commanders in Guam, a U.S. territory just hours away from the South China Sea.

Speakers Take Aim at Media Mischaracterising AUKUS
Hastie also joined a panel discussion moderated by senior fellow Peter Rough, along with Patrick Cronin, Asia-Pacific security chair of the Hudson Institute, and Bryan Clark, former submariner and expert in naval operations.

Cronin took aim at Australian media for focusing too much on issues like capability gaps, money wastage, “alienating options” for dealing with China, and mischaracterising the deal as one where Australia was becoming an “adjunct to the U.S. Navy.”

“While there is some validity to these points … it completely misses the fact that America is taking a big gamble on Australia. We’re not talking about just any technology transfer … we’re talking not just about nuclear propulsion, but about technology writ large,” he said.

“Are we going to get ahead of it? Are we going to harness it? At the university level, or governments and militaries? Or are we not going to do that, we’re going to cede that ground?”

While Clark said AUKUS institutionalised several decades-long arrangements between Australia, the UK, and U.S., particularly “in the area of undersea warfare.”

“Sometimes it misses the fact that this is something that’s been going on for a while now, and we’ve actually taken it and codified it in a way that’s going to allow us to get a lot more benefit for the next decade.”

Hastie also said he was telling school kids to get ready to be involved in AUKUS over the “next 20 years” across a range of areas, including quantum technology, artificial intelligence, and hypersonics.

AUKUS was formed to counteract ongoing military aggression from Beijing in the South China Sea and towards Taiwan. The deal could potentially shift the power balance in the Indo-Pacific substantially and give the United States a strong anchor (Australia) in the region.

 

[marsh]

Deloitte Sees Slowdown In Holiday Sales Growth As Inflation Grinch Hurts Households | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Deloitte Sees Slowdown In Holiday Sales Growth As Inflation Grinch Hurts Households​

FRIDAY, SEP 16, 2022 - 02:20 PM
Real wage growth has stayed deeply negative for more than a year, and consumer confidence is extremely low amid persistent high inflation that is wrecking household finances. The souring macro backdrop has also wiped out personal savings and racked up credit card debt as households struggle for survival amid soaring cost of living.

So what does this all mean for the upcoming holiday season in terms of retail sales?

To answer that question, Deloitte's US economic forecaster Daniel Bachman explains retail sales are projected to slow from November through January.

"Retail sales are likely to be further affected by declining demand for durable consumer goods, which had been the centerpiece of pandemic spending," Bachman said in a report.

He "anticipated more spending on consumer services, such as restaurants, as the effects of the pandemic continue to wane."

Deloitte expects retail sales for November, December, and January to be 4% to 6% higher than the $1.39 trillion retail sales for the same period in 2021.
This compares to a 15.1% jump last year versus the same period in 2020, fueled by pent-up demand and stimmy checks, which caused consumers to spend like there was no tomorrow. There's a noticeable slowdown in this year's estimates as they're more in line with pre-pandemic trends.

Bachman said the sharp pullback from last year "reflects the slowdown in the economy."

Deloitte noted high inflation would push more consumers online in search of deals. The consulting firm forecasts e-commerce sales for the holiday season could be up 13% to 14% from 2021's $231 billion -- that's a quicker growth rate than last year's 8.4%.

There's no question that this year's shopping season will be very challenging for retailers as consumers have changed spending behaviors from durable goods to experiences.

The latest evidence of this was a warning from Sweden's Electrolux AB, the world's second-largest home appliances manufacturer, which said demand for home appliances across the US has plunged.

The good news for consumers is that retailers are stuck with a massive inventory glut of consumer goods. This suggests retailers will be bringing back holiday promotions more than ever to liquidate the excess -- this will be bad news for company earnings.



Inflation could be the Grinch that stole Christmas as households cut back on durable goods spending amid the ongoing inflationary environment.

 

[marsh]

The End Of Cheap Food | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

The End Of Cheap Food

FRIDAY, SEP 16, 2022 - 01:20 PM

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

Global food production rests on soil and rain. Robots don't change that.

Of all the modern-day miracles, the least appreciated is the incredible abundance of low cost food in the U.S. and other developed countries. The era of cheap food is ending, for a variety of mutually reinforcing reasons.



We've become so dependent on industrial-scale agriculture fueled by diesel that we've forgotten that when it comes to producing food, "every little bit helps"--even small backyards / greenhouses can provide meaningful quantities of food and satisfaction.

Virtually every temperate terroir/micro-climate is suitable for raising some plants, herbs, trees and animals. (Terroir includes everything about a specific place: the soil type, the climate variations, sun exposure, the bacteria in the soil, everything.)

We've forgotten that cities once raised much of the food consumed by residents within the city limits. Small plots of land, rooftop gardens, backyard chicken coops, etc. can add up when they are encouraged rather than discouraged.

Let's start with how disconnected the vast majority of us are from the production of the cheap food we take for granted. A great many people know virtually nothing about how food is grown, raised, harvested / slaughtered, processed and packaged.

Highly educated people cannot recognize a green bean plant because they've never seen one. They know nothing about soil or industrial farming. They've never seen the animals they eat up close or cared for any of the animals humans have tended for their milk, eggs and flesh for millennia.

Most of us take the industrial scale of agriculture and the resulting abundance and low cost for granted, as if it was a kind of birthright rather than a brief period of reckless consumption of resources that cannot be replaced.

Small-scale agriculture is financially difficult because it is competing with global industrial agriculture powered by hydrocarbons and low-cost overseas labor.

That said, it is possible to develop a niche product with local support by consumers and businesses. This is the Half-X, Half-Farmer model I've written about for years: if the household has at least one part-time gig that pays a decent wage, the household can pursue a less financially rewarding niche in agriculture/animal husbandry. Degrowth Solutions: Half-Farmer, Half-X (July 19, 2014)

Industrial agriculture includes many elements few fully understand. The shipping of fruit thousands of miles via air freight is a function of 1) absurdly cheap jet fuel and 2) global tourism, which fills airliners with passengers who subsidize the air cargo stored beneath their feet.

When global tourism dried up in the Covid lockdown, so did air cargo capacity.

I have to laugh when I read another article about some new agricultural robot that will replace human labor, as if human labor were the key cost in industrial agriculture. (Hydrocarbons, fertilizer, transport, compliance costs, land leases and taxes are all major costs.)



Left unsaid is the reliance of industrial agriculture on soil, fresh-water aquifers and rain. Irrigation is the result of rain/snow somewhere upstream.

Once the soil and aquifers are depleted and the rain become erratic, the robot will be tooling around a barren field, regardless of whatever whiz-bang sensors and other gear it carries.

Global food production rests on soil and rain. Robots don't change that. What few of us who rely on industrial agriculture understand is that it depletes soil and drains aquifers by its very nature, and these resources cannot be replaced with technology. Once they're gone, they're gone.

Soil can be rebuilt but it can't be rebuilt by industrial agricultural methods--diesel-powered tractors and fertilizers derived from natural gas.

Few people appreciate that the dirt is itself alive, and once it's dead then nothing much will grow in it. Whatever can be coaxed from depleted soil lacks the micronutrients that we all need: plants, animals and humans.

Every organism is bound by the Law of Minimums: heaping on one nutrient is useless unless all the essential nutrients are available in the right proportions.

Dumping excessive nitrogen fertilizer on a plant won't make it yield more fruit unless it has sufficient calcium, sulfur, magnesium, etc. All dumping more nitrogen fertilizer on the field does is poison waterways as the excess nitrogen runs off.

Irrigation is another miracle few understand. Over time, the natural salts in water build up in irrigated soil and the soil loses fertility. The drier the climate, the less rain there is to leach the salts from the soil. Irrigation isn't sustainable over the long run.

Plants need reliable conditions to reach maturity. Should a plant or tree be starved of water and nutrients, its immune system weakens and it is more vulnerable to diseases and insect infestations. Yields plummet if there isn't enough water and nutrients to support the fruit or grain.

Extreme weather wreaks havoc on agriculture, even industrial agriculture. A crop can grow oh-so nicely and reach maturity, and then a wind storm or pounding rain can destroy the crop in a few hours.

Most people assume there will always be an abundance of grains (rice, wheat, corn) without realizing that the vast majority of grains come from a handful of places with the right conditions for industrial agriculture. Should any of these few places suffer erratic climate change, then exports of grains will shrink dramatically.

Once cheap grains are gone, cheap meat is also gone, because most meat depends on grain feed.

The scale required to grow an abundance of grain is other-worldly. Much of Iowa, for example, is fields of corn and soybeans, a significant percentage of which becomes animal feed.

American tourists ooh and ahh over artisanal goat cheese in France or Italy without any appreciation for the human labor that goes into the artisanal food, labor that can't be replaced by robots.

Industrial agriculture only works at vast economies and scale and high utilization rates. The 10-pound bag of chicken thighs is only $25 because tens of millions of chickens are raised in carefully engineered factory conditions and slaughtered / cleaned on an industrial scale.

Should the utilization rate and scale drop, the entire operation ceases to be economically viable.

Global industrial agriculture relies on exploiting low-cost labor forces and soil that hasn't yet been depleted. This is why clear-cutting the Amazon is so profitable: hire desperate workers with few other options to earn cash money, stripmine the soil until it's infertile and then move on.

There are many misunderstandings about industrial agriculture and the reliance on cheap hydrocarbons. Many pin their hopes on organic vegetables without realizing every organic tomato is still 5 teaspoons of diesel and 5 teaspoons of jet fuel if it's grown on an industrial scale and shipped thousands of miles via air.

Much of the planet is not conducive to high-yield agriculture. The soil is infertile or depleted, and restoring it is a multi-year or multi-decade process of patient investment that isn't profitable on an industrial scale.

As a means to make money, localized production can't compete with industrial agriculture. But that's not the goal. The goal is to replace dependence on industrial agriculture with our own much smaller, optimized-for-our-locale production, and grow a surplus that helps feed our trusted network of family, friends and neighbors.

As industrial agriculture consumes the last of its soils and aquifers, hydrocarbons and mineral fertilizers are becoming costly, and as climate change disrupts the 50+ years of relatively mild, reliable weather we've enjoyed, cheap food will vanish.

Once the scale and utilization rates decay, industrial agriculture will no longer be viable economically or environmentally. This dependence on scale and utilization rates is poorly understood. We assume that somebody will continue growing our food on a vast scale regardless of any other conditions, but any activity must be financially and environmentally viable or it goes away.

As industrial agriculture decays, food will become much more expensive: even if it doubles, it's still cheap to what it may cost in the future.

Due to our dependence on industrial agriculture, we've forgotten how productive localized (artisanal) food production can be. Small operations aligned with the terroir can produce a surprising amount of food.

The future of sustainable, affordable, nutritious food is in localized production optimized for what grows well without industrial interventions. The satisfaction and well-being this connection with the land and Nature generates is under-appreciated. It is not accidental that the long-lived healthy people among us--for example, the Blue Zones Okinawans and Greek islanders--tend their gardens and animals, and share the bounty of their labor with their families, friends and neighbors.

It's fun and rewarding to grow food. It might even become important. Those who can't grow any food would do well to befriend those who do.

The goal isn't to replace industrial agriculture. The goal is to reduce our dependency on unsustainable global systems by reinvigorating localized production.

 

[marsh]

A 'Triple-Dip La Nina' Could Spell Even More Disaster For World Economy | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

A 'Triple-Dip La Nina' Could Spell Even More Disaster For World Economy​

FRIDAY, SEP 16, 2022 - 01:40 PM

The weather phenomenon known as La Nina has a 91% chance in September through November, dropping to about a 54% chance in January to March. This would make it the third consecutive northern hemisphere winter La Nina has occurred, setting off meteorological patterns like drought and flooding worldwide that could wreak even more havoc across the world economy.

"It is exceptional to have three consecutive years with a la Nina event," World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said in a statement.

La Nina is expected to bring droughts to the US, South America, and eastern parts of Africa, while heavy rainfall in Australia, Indonesia, and other parts of Asia.



Bloomberg explains a "triple-dip" La Nina is very usual and what it could mean for weather trends ahead:

How unusual is this?

Since 1950, according to US records, a La Nina in three consecutive years has occurred only twice, in the periods 1998-2001 and 1973-1976. As far as anyone knows there has never been a four-time La Nina, so forecasters believe the current one will fade in early 2023 after it peaks.

What could a third year of La Nina mean?

For California, the biggest farming state in the US, and for the soybean- and corn-growing areas of Argentina and Brazil, it could mean another year of drought. In Australia, it might bring another round of floods across Queensland, Victoria, and New South Wales, where rising waters produced at least $3 billion in insurance claims in early 2022. The price of a cup of coffee could climb if drought afflicts farmers in Brazil while floods hit those in Vietnam and Columbia. Sugar to sweeten it might also cost more if the cane used to make it gets stressed by a lack of rain. Across the Atlantic, there could be even more hurricanes than usual because there, La Nina cuts down on wind shear, one of nature's ways of putting a break on the destructive storms. In 2020, the Atlantic had a record 30 named storms, and in 2021 there were 21.

How does La Nina relate to El Nino?
La Nina is part of a bigger cycle known as El Nino-Southern Oscillation. ENSO, as scientists call it, is made up of El Nino -- so named by Peruvian fishermen for the Christ child in the 1600s when they noticed the tropical Pacific warming around Christmas some years, La Nina, and a neutral phase in between.

What causes this cycle?

El Ninos occur for reasons unknown, although some scientist think they are a way for Earth's atmosphere to shed heat into space. They begin with a weakening in the trade winds that push the sun-warmed waters of the equatorial Pacific into a mound in the west. Some of that water flows back east, making the eastern Pacific hotter. The phenomenon affects larger wind currents, shifting moisture-bearing storms away from some places, such as Indonesia and Africa, and toward others, including Argentina and Japan. When the heat from El Nino is spent, the ocean begins to cool. Initially, the Pacific falls into a state between the extremes, the neutral phase. If the cooling continues and sea surface temperatures fall below normal, La Nina occurs. The whole thing tends to play itself out every two to seven years. As has been evident since 2020, however, one end of the pattern can dominate for a time.

The Atlantic and Indian oceans have similar events but theirs don't have the far-reaching impact of those in the immense Pacific.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, "El Nino and La Nina are naturally occurring climate patterns and humans have no direct ability to influence their onset, intensity or duration."

So the deadly floods in Pakistan, heatwaves in the US Midwest, heavy rains in Australia and Indonesia, and a drought in Brazil and Argentina this year are likely La Nina-related and not as much climate change-related. Perhaps liberal elites know this and have shielded the truth from the masses as they push their green agenda under the guise that man is killing the planet.

Another year of La Nina will mean more extreme weather worldwide (and, of course, more angry tweets from climate alarmist Greta Thunberg). Bloomberg estimates La Nina related-damages could total nearly one trillion dollars in 2023.

Michael Pento, president and founder of Pento Portfolio Strategies, said La Nina "just exacerbates all the problems that already exist in the big picture, like the war in Ukraine and rising commodity prices."

"When you add in the extreme weather, it just creates a scenario for higher energy prices, higher food prices and more inflation. It's negative for the global economy, and it's working against the Federal Reserve," Pento said.

Remember last weekend this UK physicist shocked an RT News anchor by saying: the climate "has always been changing, but this has nothing to do with man."

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1568338056943665154

View: https://twitter.com/i/status/1568338056943665154
2:20 min

 

[marsh]

1.3 Million Jobs Were Result Of Double-Counting This Year, Heritage Economist Says | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

1.3 Million Jobs Were Result Of Double-Counting This Year, Heritage Economist Says

FRIDAY, SEP 16, 2022 - 11:45 AM
Authored by Andrew Moran via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The monthly U.S. jobs reports have topped market estimates many times this year, including the July and August non-farm payrolls reports, which showed 528,000 and 315,000 new jobs, respectively, higher than what many economists and analysts had initially projected.

White House officials have taken victory laps on the data, noting that these numbers are proof the economy is strong and that President Joe Biden’s policies are supporting post-pandemic growth.

But economists had questions about discrepancies between Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data and the various labor-related numbers revealed throughout the month. Plus, why has the Federal Reserve’s quantitative tightening campaign failed to diminish labor demand?

Several experts may have determined what is causing better-than-expected labor numbers. The answer may have to do with double-counting.

Is Double-Counting Hiding Labor Weakness?
The non-farm payrolls report contains the results of two surveys: the establishment survey and the household survey. The former measures employment, hours, and earnings through a sample of businesses. The latter gauges “the labor force status of the civilian noninstitutional population with demographic detail” using a sample of households.

The key difference between these two surveys is the methodology, since the establishment survey allows for double-counting. In other words, it will identify multiple jobholders for every position, meaning that a person with two jobs will count for two jobs. But the household survey will only consider an individual with two jobs as having one job.

BLS researchers also will count someone shifting to working for a company from self-employment as a new position, despite the lack of net gains in employment.

“There is considerable evidence that this double-counting has accelerated recently,” according to E.J. Antoni, a research fellow for regional economics at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis.

Of the 5.8 million jobs noted as recovered in the last year, roughly 1.3 million were the result of double-counting, Antoni’s research found. In the August numbers, double-counting accounted for 208,000 jobs.

“Over the last year, a disproportionate number of people have taken second (or third) jobs and switched from self-employment to working for other businesses,” he told The Epoch Times. “These changes in employment do not actually change the number of people with jobs, but they boost the headline jobs number from the establishment survey, one of two surveys which make up the monthly Employment Situation report from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.”

How the figures are put together should prompt analysts to adopt “a holistic view on the monthly report” rather than the headline numbers, he added.

Last month, the total number of multiple jobholders was a seasonally adjusted 7.747 million, and self-employed workers fell to 9.629 million.

Mike Shedlock, a registered investment adviser for SitkaPacific Capital and author of the popular global economics blog MishTalk, also noted the trouble with how BLS gathers labor data.

“In the household survey, if you work as little as one hour a week, even selling trinkets on eBay, you are considered employed,” he wrote. “In the household survey, if you work three part-time jobs, 12 hours each, the BLS considers you a full-time employee.”

Moreover, other factors can distort the monthly labor report. For example, a common measurement is that if someone is out of work and fails to search for a job, he or she is described as having dropped out of the labor force, rather than being listed as unemployed.

“These distortions artificially lower the unemployment rate, artificially boost full-time employment, and artificially increase the payroll jobs report every month,” Shedlock said.

What About Wage Growth?
Many have championed accelerated wage growth over the past 18 months. In August, average hourly earnings held steady at 5.2 percent year over year, hitting $32.36. But inflation has eaten away at those gains.

BLS data show that real average hourly earnings (inflation-adjusted) fell 2.8 percent. In addition, when real average hourly earnings are combined with the 0.6 percent drop in the average workweek, the figure is negative 3.4 percent.

“The longer inflation and inflation expectations remain elevated, the higher and longer-lasting the pressures on wage growth are likely to be,” Oscar Jorda, a senior policy adviser in the Economic Research Department of the Federal Reserve, wrote in a recent paper.

According to the Survey of Consumer Expectations conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, one-year-ahead earnings growth expectations have remained little changed, at 3 percent, since December 2021. In addition, consumer inflation expectations over the next year eased to 5.7 percent in August, after potentially peaking at 6.8 percent in June.

 

[Jaybird]

At what point do puplic survernts actually serve the public?

 

[marsh]

FedEx Nukes "Economy's Doing Fine" Narrative, Global Stocks/Bonds Lose $4 Trillion In Week | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

FedEx Nukes "Economy's Doing Fine" Narrative, Global Stocks/Bonds Lose $4 Trillion In Week​

FRIDAY, SEP 16, 2022 - 01:00 PM

While some 'soft' survey data provided opportunities for the narrative-writers to suggest hope remains, 'hard data' this week was not pretty at all (and prompted The Atlanta Fed to slash its Q3 GDP outlook). Bloomberg's macro surprise index (ex-survey data) tumbled to its weakest since July 2019...


Source: Bloomberg

Additionally, CPI wrecked the 'Fed Pivot' narrative, and given Powell's reiterated position that inflation is the priority - even if a recession is enabled - that sent inflation-fighting rate-hike expectations soaring this week (and notably sent subsequent recession-fighting rate-cut expectations soaring too)...


Source: Bloomberg

And then FedEx CEO last night confirmed a global recession was underway (which bodes very poorly for global PMIs)...


Source: Bloomberg

All of which stole the jam out of the global "peak inflation and Fed will pivot" narrative that bid stocks and bonds up for a few weeks... wiping out almost $4 trillion in wealth from debt and equity markets worldwide this week...


Source: Bloomberg

That's quite drop for the "strongest economic recovery in recent history"...



As Goldman's Chris Hussey noted late in the day today, this week saw the 'stag' in staglation-nation show its teeth:

Stagflation has been a market concern for about a year now as investors started to realize late last summer that the Fed may need to raise rates fairly aggressively to stave off emerging persistent inflation impulses.

Monetary tightening regimes seek to slow growth in an effort to reduce upward pressure on prices -- effectively to bring demand back inline with available supply. And such a tightening regime can be most successful when growth is slowed just enough to match up supply with demand -- a so-called soft landing -- but not so much so that demand actually declines, companies layoff a lot of workers, and the economy slips into a recession. And arguably the worst outcome from a tightening regime can come if growth declines, but for whatever reason, inflation does not recede -- a so-called stagflation economy, and one not seen in the US since the 1970s.

This week, however, the camp of investors who think that the current environment of high inflation and slowing growth will persist may have grown a bit on the back of the bad mix of data that was released.

Essentially, we saw signs of growth slowing (the Philly Fed index fell to -9.9, and FDX talked about a sudden global slowdown in shipping volumes) and inflation rising (Core CPI inflation rose by 0.57% mom in August versus 0.3% a month earlier).



In a scenario where the Fed has to keep pushing against growth until the unemployment rate reaches 5%, we see S&P 500 down-side to 3400.
And in a scenario where unemployment hits 6%, the S&P 500 may dip below 2900. In other words, there may be a lot more downside to markets if stagflation persists.

Today was also quad witch (with $3.2 trillion in OpEx not helping the chaos) as Nasdaq ended the worst on the week, down almost 6%...



The Nasdaq is down over 14% from its mid-August highs, S&P and Dow are down over 10% from those highs...



Put volumes soared this week (outpacing the rise in call volumes) into OpEx, but we note the Put/Call ratio is back at the same level it was at in mid June that marked the interim low in stocks...


Source: Bloomberg

Treasury yields were up across the entire curve this week but the short-end was the big underperformer...


Source: Bloomberg

The yield curve (2s30s in this case) flattened hard this week, to its most inverted since Sept 2000...


Source: Bloomberg

As yields have soared, bonds are now at their 'cheapest' relative to bonds since Feb 2011...TINA has been Epstein'd


Source: Bloomberg

Part 1 of 2

 

[marsh]

Part 2 of 2

The Dollar surged higher this week,. extending gains after Tuesday morning's hot CPI print...


Source: Bloomberg

The offshore yuan puked for the 5th straight week to its lowest against the greenback since July 2020. Most notably, Beijing has been setting the onshore yuan fix dramatically stronger for 17 straight days as they attempt to show face and fight gravity...


Source: Bloomberg

Sterling fell to its lowest since 1985 today (on the anniversary of 'Black Wednesday')...


Source: Bloomberg

Cryptos were all weaker on the week with Ethereum - having successfully transitioned throug the Merge to a PoS protocol - the worst performer...


Source: Bloomberg

Dr.Copper & Mr.Crude both slid lower this week on global growth concerns (thouhg some comeback overnight after China's macro data miraculously beat). More noatble was the fact that Silver rallied on the week, dramatically outperforming silver...


Source: Bloomberg

The Gold/Silver ratio plunged on the week after silver hit its cheapest relative to the barabrous relic since the COVID crisis. The last two weeks have seen silver's biggest gains relative to gold since August 2020...


Source: Bloomberg

Spot Gold ended back below $1700 - its lowest since April 2020...


Source: Bloomberg

Finally, the S&P 500 has now closed below the 200-day for the longest time since the Financial Crisis...


Source: Bloomberg

And extending the Financial Crisis analog suggests this leg down won't stop until mid-to-late October...


Source: Bloomberg

But would Powell really come out and say something 'pivotal' that close to the election? CPI is released on October 13th?

 

[Jaybird]

 

[Jaybird]

I’m out.

 

[marsh]

Lithium Prices Hit New Record As EV Affordability Concerns Mount | ZeroHedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Lithium Prices Hit New Record As EV Affordability Concerns Mount​

FRIDAY, SEP 16, 2022 - 10:44 AM

While California banned the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035, and the Biden administration unveiled $900 million in new funding to build electric vehicle charging stations, rising lithium prices could derail the EV revolution.

The progressive view is that EVs will save the planet from catching on fire because green vehicles would eliminate the harmful carbon emissions of fossil fuel vehicles. Though a widespread rollout of EVs depends on affordability, and EVs are way more expensive than gas-powered.

Bloomberg reported lithium carbonate, a key metal in EV batteries, hit a new record high in China this week. Per ton, prices jumped to 500,500 yuan ($71,315), more than triple the price versus last year.



The global surge in lithium prices has increased the cost of EV batteries. Tesla hiked vehicle prices several times this summer (see: here) because of rising battery costs.

A steady increase in demand for global EVs combined with a recent power crunch in Sichuan province, a region that produces 20% of China's lithium production, resulted in the disruption of output and tighter supplies, hampering an already-squeezed global market.

Research firm Rystad Energy said a second energy crisis could materialize in China this winter when heating demand soars:

"This could lead to new power shortages and hit lithium operations," it noted, expecting lithium prices to stay elevated for the rest of the year.

Soc. Quimica & Minera de Chile SA, the world's second-largest lithium producer, warned investors Thursday of a "very tight market" in the years ahead and sees higher prices.

The expectation that EVs would become affordable for the masses is a distant pipedream because of the high costs associated with battery production.

At least half of an EV battery includes lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt, four metals that have surged this past year. Also, let's not forget China controls the world's rare earth mineral trade...



The surge in lithium prices and other critical metals for EV batteries is a significant concern that could derail the EV revolution due to affordability concerns.

 

[marsh]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

White House Releases 'First Ever' Comprehensive Crypto Regulatory Framework

FRIDAY, SEP 16, 2022 - 10:25 AM
Authored by Shawn Amick via BitcoinMagazine.com,

Tl; dr: Bitcoin bad, CBDC good...

Following U.S. President Biden’s executive order, the White House published a framework for CBDC development and strict regulation of the ecosystem.

The White House has published a legal framework for engaging with bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the U.S. following a “whole of government” executive order (E.O.) from President Joe Biden earlier this year, per an official press release. The framework consists of seven sections:

(1) Protecting Consumers, Investors, and Businesses;

(2) Promoting Access to Safe, Affordable Financial Services;

(3) Fostering Financial Stability;

(4) Advancing Responsible Innovation;

(5) Reinforcing Our Global Financial Leadership and Competitiveness;

(6) Fighting Illicit Finance;

(7) Exploring a U.S. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

The “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets” E.O. [ Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets - The White House ] called on government agencies to produce varying forms of research regarding consumer privacy and protection, energy usage, and central bank digital currency (CBDC) benefits and risks.

In accordance with the research provided, the White House intends to empower the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to “aggressively pursue investigations” in the digital asset space.

Additionally, Biden’s administration will push the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to “redouble their efforts to monitor” the ecosystem as it relates to “unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices.”

However, it is unclear what enables the determination of whether or not these agencies will begin monitoring for the aforementioned malicious behavior.

Continuing on, the framework also calls on agencies to begin accepting “instant payment systems,” such as FedNow and the consideration of regulating non bank payment providers.

Furthermore, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will research “technical and socio-technical disciplines and behavioral economics” in order to understand digital asset ecosystems.

Following a recent report from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the Department of Energy (DoE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are being tasked with “tracking digital assets’ environmental impacts; developing performance standards as appropriate; and providing local authorities with the tools, resources, and expertise to mitigate environmental harms.”

In addition, the Bank Secrecy Act will be amended to apply to digital assets, leading to larger fines for unlicensed money transfers and stricter enforcement against digital asset service providers.

Also, the U.S. Treasury department will complete a risk assessment as it relates to decentralized finance (De-Fi).

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Biden’s administration has developed “Policies for a U.S. CBDC System,” which details the government’s priorities as it relates to the release of a digital dollar. However, the release states that “further research is needed”.

Agencies that were chosen to lead the ongoing working group for the research and possible development of a CBDC include the Federal Reserve, the National Economic Council, the National Security Council, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Treasury Department.

 

[Jaybird]

Thank you Marsh for following the info trail. Your my hero.

 

[marsh]

Germany Seizes Control of Russian-Owned Oil Refineries

German officials said Friday that Berlin has taken control of three Russian-owned refineries located in Germany in a ...

www.theepochtimes.com

Germany Seizes Control Of Russian-Owned Oil Refineries

FRIDAY, SEP 16, 2022 - 09:46 AM
By Tom Ozimek of The Epoch Times

German officials said Friday that Berlin has taken control of three Russian-owned refineries located in Germany in a scramble to shore up energy security before the planned embargo on oil imports from Russia kicks in and further squeezes energy supplies.

Germany’s Economy Ministry said in a statement on Sept. 16 that Rosneft Deutschland GmbH and RN Refining & Marketing GmbH will be put under the administration of Germany’s Federal Network Agency.

With the move, German authorities will also assume control of Rosneft’s shares in three refineries—PCK Schwedt, MiRo (Karlsruhe), and Bayernoil (Vohburg), the ministry said.

Rosneft Deutschland is one of the biggest oil-processing companies in Germany, holding a total of around 12 percent of German oil refining capacity.

The takeover “counters the impending risk to the security of the energy supply, and lays a key foundation stone for the maintenance and future of the Schwedt operation,” the ministry said. Schwedt supplies some 90 percent of Berlin’s fuel.

European Scramble to Bolster Energy Security

The decision to seize control of Rosneft Deutschland is Germany’s latest attempt to stabilize the energy market, which has been rocked by disruptions stemming from Western sanctions on Russian energy and Moscow’s retaliation by curbing flows.

Russian energy firm Gazprom’s move to suspend gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline at the end of August highlighted the prospect of gas shortages to generate electricity and heat households as winter approaches.

The German government said this week it would boost lending to companies at risk of being impacted by soaring gas prices.

‘In It for the Long Haul’

Governments across Europe have been racing to secure fuel deliveries and bolster their power providers and as they intensify sanctions on the continent’s major energy supplier, Russia, over its invasion of Ukraine.

The European Union has declared it would ban Russian oil imports by the end of 2022, even without an alternative source of cheap energy.

“We are in it for the long haul,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sept. 14.

Russia has retaliated to Western sanctions by reducing gas flows and has threatened a complete cutoff, sending prices soaring and raising the prospect of energy rationing in Europe this winter.

In a bid to shield European consumers from soaring energy prices, Brussels has proposed windfall levies on energy firms that seek to raise $140 billion.

The emergency proposal, announced by the European Commission on Sept. 14, would also require EU member states to cut overall electricity usage by 10 percent and impose a 5 percent mandatory reduction during peak hours.

 

[Jaybird]

Germany Seizes Control of Russian-Owned Oil Refineries

German officials said Friday that Berlin has taken control of three Russian-owned refineries located in Germany in a ...

www.theepochtimes.com

Germany Seizes Control Of Russian-Owned Oil Refineries

FRIDAY, SEP 16, 2022 - 09:46 AM
By Tom Ozimek of The Epoch Times

German officials said Friday that Berlin has taken control of three Russian-owned refineries located in Germany in a scramble to shore up energy security before the planned embargo on oil imports from Russia kicks in and further squeezes energy supplies.

Germany’s Economy Ministry said in a statement on Sept. 16 that Rosneft Deutschland GmbH and RN Refining & Marketing GmbH will be put under the administration of Germany’s Federal Network Agency.

With the move, German authorities will also assume control of Rosneft’s shares in three refineries—PCK Schwedt, MiRo (Karlsruhe), and Bayernoil (Vohburg), the ministry said.

Rosneft Deutschland is one of the biggest oil-processing companies in Germany, holding a total of around 12 percent of German oil refining capacity.

The takeover “counters the impending risk to the security of the energy supply, and lays a key foundation stone for the maintenance and future of the Schwedt operation,” the ministry said. Schwedt supplies some 90 percent of Berlin’s fuel.

European Scramble to Bolster Energy Security

The decision to seize control of Rosneft Deutschland is Germany’s latest attempt to stabilize the energy market, which has been rocked by disruptions stemming from Western sanctions on Russian energy and Moscow’s retaliation by curbing flows.

Russian energy firm Gazprom’s move to suspend gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline at the end of August highlighted the prospect of gas shortages to generate electricity and heat households as winter approaches.

The German government said this week it would boost lending to companies at risk of being impacted by soaring gas prices.

‘In It for the Long Haul’

Governments across Europe have been racing to secure fuel deliveries and bolster their power providers and as they intensify sanctions on the continent’s major energy supplier, Russia, over its invasion of Ukraine.

The European Union has declared it would ban Russian oil imports by the end of 2022, even without an alternative source of cheap energy.

“We are in it for the long haul,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sept. 14.

Russia has retaliated to Western sanctions by reducing gas flows and has threatened a complete cutoff, sending prices soaring and raising the prospect of energy rationing in Europe this winter.

In a bid to shield European consumers from soaring energy prices, Brussels has proposed windfall levies on energy firms that seek to raise $140 billion.

The emergency proposal, announced by the European Commission on Sept. 14, would also require EU member states to cut overall electricity usage by 10 percent and impose a 5 percent mandatory reduction during peak hours.

Super glad Trump didn’t embarese them when he told them they was super stupid.

 

[marsh]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxd23UVID7k
5:37 min

Leonard Cohen - Everybody Knows (Audio)​

Nov 14, 2014

LeonardCohen