This article was originally published by James Quinn at The Burning Platform
“The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.” – H.L. Mencken
“The older I get the less I listen to what people say and the more I look at what they do.”– Andrew Carnegie
I’m 53 years old. The older I get the less sure I am about things I was sure about when I was 25 years old. I believed stocks for the long run was an unquestioned truth. I believed our economy was based on free market capitalism. I believed stock prices were based upon profits and cash flows. I believed a home was a place to live – not an investment. I believed the Catholic Church was run by good men doing good things. I believed journalists and the media were watchdogs working on behalf of the public. I believed our military was protecting our interests. I believed politicians legislated on behalf of the people. I believed the main purpose of bankers was to loan money to businesses and consumers in order to support economic growth. Boy, was I dumbass.
My skeptical nature, reliance on data I’ve personally vetted, and judging our leaders based on what they have done versus what they say, has allowed me to escape the Matrix. I wasn’t truly awakened until I watched Bush, Cheney, Powell, the rest of the neo-con prevaricators and fake news mainstream media utilize propaganda to railroad Americans into a $6 trillion unnecessary war, resulting in 36,000 American casualties, the destruction of a country and the creation of thousands of new Muslim terrorists.
I’ve spent the last fourteen years pushing back against the establishment narrative, documenting the fake data published by government apparatchiks, and trying to open the eyes of as many people as possible to the propaganda utilized by the Deep State to keep the ignorant masses dazed, confused and distracted. The country is in deep trouble because what the majority believe regarding the economy, politics, religion, and culture just ain’t so.
“What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.” – Mark Twain
Since the start of this year I’ve found myself in a mental funk. I’m tired of the lies. I’m tired of incessant media propaganda. I’m tired of politicians. I’m tired of economic experts. I’m tired of hucksters touting their “the end is near” tale to sell me something. I’m tired of faux mainstream media journalists and their whining about Trump being mean and threatening the First Amendment.
They don’t know jack about the First Amendment, as they work for one of the six media conglomerates whose job it is to produce fake news supporting whatever narrative keeps their Deep State benefactors in power. Regurgitating lines written for them by corporate propagandists is not journalism and has absolutely no relationship to the First Amendment. Over the last decade the only place to find some truth has been the alternative media thriving on the uncensored internet. That’s why the establishment wants to regulate the internet.
The fake news blitz by a Deep State, flailing about trying to retain their power and wealth, has reached frantic proportions. The left wingers, egged on by Obama and funded by Soros, hold increasingly inane protests with themes like: wear a vagina hat to support feminazis; hug an illegal immigrant; everyone I hate is a Nazi; and women take another day off and no one notices. The traitorous neo-con warmongers like McCain, Graham, and Kristol see their enormously profitable never ending global conflict agenda at risk. The military industrial complex needs enemies. The left wingers and neo-cons have joined forces to utilize the fake Russian election intervention propaganda in a last ditch desperate attempt to derail the Trump presidency before it starts.
The relentlessness, bitterness, and blatant disregard for the truth exhibited by Trump’s vast array of opponents have made TV virtually unwatchable. I’ve found myself mentally checking out. Why waste mental energy debating hacks, mental midgets and paid trolls for the establishment? After spending years obliterating fake government statistics on a daily basis, I find continuing to do so is just mental masturbation with no ultimate satisfaction. Confronting left wingers and neo-cons is like wresting with a pig, you both get dirty and the pig likes it.
I’ve always been an observer. I’ve been observing how certain both sides are regarding their positions on illegal immigration, Muslims, Russia, Obamacare, Supreme Court nominees, executive orders, jobs, taxes, climate change, school choice, oil pipelines the First Amendment, Second Amendment, the rule of law, and the Bill of Rights. I find it exhausting. We’re lost in a blizzard of lies. I’m not certain about anything. I will remain skeptical of everything uttered by all politicians, all government bureaucrats, all corporate executives, all central bankers, all media pundits, all religious leaders, all corporate paid journalists and especially Wall Street shysters.
“Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is based on “I am not too sure.” – H.L. Mencken
The dissonance between what I have been observing and what is being flogged by the establishment mouthpieces in the corporate mainstream media has never been greater. Some of my observations are anecdotal, others are based on real unadulterated truthful data, a few are based on simple common sense and the rest are based on my understanding of what happens during Fourth Turnings.
When you understand the cyclical nature of history you are not surprised when events lead to reactions among the masses which take the linear thinking status quo by complete surprise. The 2008 global financial implosion and the subsequent election of Donald J. Trump by the deplorable white silent majority completely blindsided the oblivious establishment, but were entirely predictable if you had studied previous Fourth Turnings throughout history.
I’ve been making a horrific sixty mile round trip commute into Philly for the last ten years. The average daily commute has been about two hours, as the entire route has been under some sort of construction for the entire decade. A fantastic one way commute is forty five minutes. I regularly have ninety minute commutes, and I’ve experienced a few which breached the two hour mark. It became immediately evident to me something changed as this new year got under way. My morning and evening commute has been consistently in the forty-five minute range for the last two months. There are less cars and trucks on the road. The question is why?
This only happened once before over the last decade – during the 2008/2009 recession. In a shocking correlation (especially for brain dead tax and spend liberals), when there are less jobs, there are less drivers on the roads going to work. I tried to think of other reasonable explanations for why traffic appeared to be contracting so dramatically. But lo and behold, certain data can’t be easily manipulated by the government. Gasoline demand is plunging, with the year over year trend crashing to levels last experienced during the 2001 recession. Gasoline demand was higher during the 2008/2009 crisis. Demand was higher when oil was over $100 per barrel. Based on this crash in gasoline demand, Goldman Sachs issued a report saying we should be in a recession.
Total miles driven are dramatically slowing down. It’s not because of electric cars or fuel efficiency, as the vast majority of the 17.5 million vehicles being hawked to the math challenged driving public (using low payment leases and six year 0% loans) are pickups, SUVs, or luxury sedans. The Fed induced and subprime debt fueled frenzy of vehicle sales (aka long – term rentals) has seen vehicle sales skyrocket from 10 million in 2010 to an all-time high above 17.5 million in 2016, while auto loan debt has soared from $700 billion to over $1.1 trillion during this same time frame. The truthfulness of the 17.5 million sales number may be in question, as dealer lots are stuffed with record levels of inventory. With a record number of cars in the hands of consumers, how could gasoline usage and miles driven crash?
More questions emerge to those with critical thinking skills. If the unemployment rate is really 4.8%, how could 40% of the employable population (102 million) not be working? This explains the lack of cars on the road during my commute. Obama and his minions jabber about the tremendous jobs recovery during his reign of error. In 2007 there were 122 million full-time workers among a working age population of 233 million, or 52.3%. After Obama’s eight year economic “recovery”, there are 125 million full-time workers among a working age population of 254 million, or 49.2%.
We’ve added 3 million full-time jobs in the last 9 years, and the captured mainstream media touts this as a success story. The deceitfulness – it burns. When 125 million full-time workers, of which 22 million are non-producing government drones, have to support 102 million non-working Americans, most living on the dole, you have a financially unsustainable paradigm. Trump’s slogan should be Make Americans Get Off Their Fat Asses and Work Again.
The explanation for the plunge in gasoline demand and miles driven is quite simple if you haven’t drunk the mainstream media kool-aid about the fantastic economy, low unemployment, and soaring consumer confidence. Americans drive their vehicles to work, to shop, and to eat out. Truckers are the backbone of our just in time big box retail society. If Americans are driving less, there are less people with jobs, less spending at bricks and mortar retailers, and fewer people eating out.
If truckers are logging less miles, retailers are ordering less inventory, manufacturers are selling less widgets, and the economy is contracting. The entire economic improvement narrative is based on soft data about feelings from consumer confidence surveys and dozens of other easily manipulated surveys. Propagandists are experts at convincing clueless dolts it’s raining when their government is actually pissing down their backs.
Despite government reports about expanding retail sales and strong holiday sales, real info from real retailers tells the true story. Major retailers have announced 1,500 store closings in the first two months of 2017, including:
- JC Penney – 140 stores
- Sears – 150 stores
- Macy’s – 68 stores
- HHGregg – 88 stores
- The Limited – 250 stores
- Abercrombie & Fitch – 60 stores
- Wet Seal – 171 stores
- CVS – 70 stores
Kohl’s, Target, Macy’s, Sears, and dozens of other retailers reported awful holiday sales. Wal-Mart was lauded for generating a 1% comparable store sales increase. There is virtually no store expansion by large retail chains. During the 2000 to 2007 period these chains were each opening hundreds of new stores per year. We are in the midst of a long term retail contraction which is just picking up steam.
The closure of these stores combined with rising interest rates are a toxic concoction for real estate mall developers. The Fed allowed them to extend and pretend for the last eight years. The jig is up. A wave of retail and mall bankruptcies is baked in the cake. The government reported retail sales growth is driven by Fed induced auto sales (leases and loans), home furnishing sales financed at 0% over five years, building materials stores offering 0% financing, Amazon and until recently restaurant and bar sales.
Since I don’t go into malls or many retail establishments, and rarely eat at chain restaurants, my observations of retail and restaurant traffic are based on how full their parking lots are at peak hours. When the economy was in bubble mode prior to 2008, mall parking lots were jammed and you had a ninety minute wait to get a seat at Outback or Olive Garden. Today, you can get a parking spot at a big box retailer near the front door on a Saturday afternoon.
Malls are ghost towns, with Space Available as the hot new location. Except for peak dinner time on a Friday or Saturday (if then) there are no longer long waits to get a table at one of the struggling chain restaurants. We reached peak retail and peak overpriced restaurants a few years ago. The downward spiral, due to demographics, declining real income, and over-saturation, is irreversible.
As usual, with propaganda distributed by the government or industry organizations, they present a positive restaurant performance index based on false hope and delusional expectations. Restaurant chains like Applebees, Outback, Ruby Tuesday, Chilis, Buffalo Wild Wings and many other major chains have been reporting declining same restaurant sales. Industry comparable restaurant sales are lower than two years ago.
Outback’s parent company announced it will close more than four dozen locations of Outback Steakhouse, Bonefish Grill, Carrabba’s Italian Grill and Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse. Ruby Tuesday is closing 100 locations. Despite government reports showing strong restaurant sales over the last eight years, annual traffic to U.S. restaurants has been flat or up just 1% since 2009, when there was a 2% drop in the wake of the Fed created financial crisis.
The “increase” in sales was generated by price increases of 2% to 3% per year. Now these chains are paying the price for high prices, shitty food, and poor service from their college graduate millennial staff. With higher taxes, soaring Obamacare costs, student loan and auto loan debt up to their eyeballs, and low paying service jobs as their career, even clueless millennials have gotten a clue – they don’t have the money to eat out four times per week.
Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows the majority of Americans have fallen further behind since 2009, with only the establishment and those leaching off the establishment profiting from the suffering of senior citizens and the former middle class. When real personal spending plummets at the highest rate since 2009, you just might be in the midst of a recession.
As consumer confidence surveys, ISM surveys and Fed surveys provide fake news about consumer and corporate feelings about a glorious future, the hard data tells the truth. How could households feel confident when real median household income fell by $558 in December and is down by $529 year over year? How could Obama and his lapdogs in the mainstream media pontificate about the record economic recovery when real median income is 2% lower than it was nine years ago?
How can anyone deny the average American household has been experiencing a depression since 2000, when real median household income is lower today than it was at the turn of the century? Do you think the lack of income growth over the last 17 years may have played a part in the deplorables electing Trump in November?
The corporate fake news media will continue to produce the false narrative as directed by their Deep State employers. The credibility of journalists can be summed up in two pithy sentences by Hunter S. Thompson.
“The press is a gang of cruel faggots. Journalism is not a profession or a trade. It is a cheap catch-all for fuckoffs and misfits—a false doorway to the backside of life, a filthy piss-ridden little hole nailed off by the building inspector, but just deep enough for a wino to curl up from the sidewalk and masturbate like a chimp in a zoo-cage.” – Hunter S. Thompson – Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
In Part Two of this article I’ll show how the Deep State/establishment/ruling class/status quo have utilized their mastery of propaganda techniques to convince the masses inflation and debt are beneficial to their interests and why Trump’s election is the pushback by a citizenry who are beginning to awake and are mad as hell.
This article was originally published by James Quinn at The Burning Platform
D__N!! About time somebody told it like it IS!!!
“Since the start of this year I’ve found myself in a mental funk. I’m tired of the lies. I’m tired of incessant media propaganda. I’m tired of politicians. I’m tired of economic experts. I’m tired of hucksters touting their “the end is near” tale to sell me something. I’m tired of faux mainstream media journalists and their whining about Trump being mean and threatening the First Amendment.”
Take a break Jim.
Get up to the mountains for some well deserved fresh air. Renew Yourself and your relationship with your Creator. Prepping, as an example, is as much about your psychology (SPIRIT) as anything else.
Everyone else should pray for the President. No leader in my lifetime has taken so much vitriol from every quarter, for having a sincere desire to serve the American People, and meet their needs.
Then gird up your loins, Jim, reach back and grab your ass, and get back into the fight. We must all stay ENGAGED against the Globalists until the war for America is over and VICTORY is secured. 🙂
I took a few months off because Trump won the election. It was a well deserved vacation.
I’ve been watching CNN and MSNBC in recent weeks, they are in total meltdown. The entire media has gone insane. I’ve never in my very long life seen this kind of desperation on a nightly basis.
May I say, just keep on prepping, because we are about to arrive at a nexus. That concept based entirely on the desperation of the left that is obvious on the nightly news.
i got another tell for y’all…my friend manages the local landfill, and about a year ago he told me that he is running HALF the normal trash …if you aint BUYIN’ as much, you aint disposing as much….i take EVERYTHING i hear with a grain of salt i gotta carry home in a dumptruck.
@BCD,
That’s an interesting statistic. And it is one that can be verified as garbage trucks and private vehicles dumping trash weigh in and out, and are then billed accordingly.
Quinn failed to mention the population growth since 2000 adding tens of millions of people and immigrants but the jobs numbers today hasn’t risen since that year.
My job has me doing the work of two people since two years ago with layoffs and they cut my income over 20% since that time. There is a hiring freeze across the country in the company I work with. I have also seen it slow down too with recyclables and garbage the last few years as hauling it is part of my job.
The MSM has been doing their best to build up ANYTHING that can overthrow Trump, no matter the consequences. I would say that 80% of the distress over Trump has been manufactured and fueled by them. Without their vitriolic influence people would be left to make up their own damn minds, and it wouldn’t be nearly as spectacular or apocalyptic. As a result the country can go one of two ways from here: either the MSM-whipped ignorant public comes to a head and have to be put down, or they fail to reach critical mass and have the opportunity to realize that Trump is the best the Democrats could have hoped for in a Republican President (globalists drivers and people who are overly invested in globalist ideals will never like him), and he is clearly the only man that could have done the job at hand. Either way I hold out hope that we see people jailed or executed for their part in this–as far as I’m concerned it’s treasonous to willfully destabilize the country, even recklessly, in the pursuit of an ideological agenda.
@Plan twice, Agreed! the left has been harassing and attacking people in and effort to intimate us. I believe they are not far away from getting real violent…..
amen brother. I’ve been away from all of the nonsense for a couple months and its done my mental health a world of good. lots of cycling, hiking, camping and the USPSA seasons now kicking off. gotta moderate keeping the ear to the ground vs sanity sometimes 🙂
NEWS FLASH YOU OLD FUCKS: YOU CANT SAVE BRICK AND MORTAR STORES BECAUSE THEY ARE INEFFICIENT.
THE INTERNET HAS MUCH BIGGER SELECTION AND MUCH LOWER PRICES.
ITS MORE ECONOMICAL TO PAY A WAREHOUSE MAN TO SHIP YOUR STUFF THAN A STORE CLERK TO SIT MOST OF THE DAY DOING NOTHING.
THIS IS CREATIVE DESTRUCTION
ANY WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU WANT TO SAVE CHAIN RESTAURANTS WITH DISGUSTING IMITATION FOOD WHEN SPERM COUNTS ARE DOWN 50% AND TESTOSTERONE IS DOWN 30%?
PUT WOMEN BACK IN THE FUCKING KITCHEN WHERE THEY BELONG AND DENY THEM THE RIGHT TO WORK OR VOTE.
WOULD THAT ACTION IMPROVE OUR CURRENT SITUATION?
IT WOULD STOP WHITE WOMEN FROM MARCHING IN THE STREETS FOR THE RIGHTS OF MUSLIMS AND COMMUNISTS WHEN WHITE MEN MADE 97% OF ALL INVENTIONS
“EISENKREUTZ IS A SEXIST PIG”
YOURE GODDAMNED RIGHT. THE ONLY WAY TO STOP WOMEN FROM DESTROYING CIVILIZATION IS TO MAKE THEM SUBSERVIENT.
DO YOU WANT YOUR KIDS TO LIVE UNDER SHARIAH LAW?
THEN WOULD WE HAVE “EQUALITY”???????????
YOU FUCKING BOOMERS ARE WORSE THAN A FUCKING PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS
A TRANSSEXUAL RUNS FOR CT GOVERNMENT???
TRANSSEXUALS ARE FUCKING DISGUSTING
ANY DOCTOR WHO DOES THAT SHIT SHOULD BE DISBARRED IMMEDIATELY
SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!
Couldn’t of been better said.
Can you really blame people for doubting the holocaust story when all governments demonstrate on a daily basis that they are pathological liars?
Governments yes, individuals no. My Uncle Jim 4th ID, Utah Beach Invasion, liberated a few concentration camps as my friends father did. Another friends father was a young teen Polish Catholic that was slave labor feeding bodies into the ovens. Mr L had his T shirt off momentarily at the swim club in our suburban area. He had scars on his back right out of a movie. His kids, our friends never seen Combat on TV as they were forbidden to watch it or any war show or movie.
It happened.
One of my folks friends had the tatoo on his forearmfrom being in a camp as a kid, he watched his family being dumped in a ditch
They offed a lot of non Jews too. My friends wife from Belarus said the Germans took the people in the village, kids, women, old men and put them in the church, set it on fire and shot anyone fleeing. Mans inhumanity to man amazes me. Interestingly the German Soldiers had a belt buckle with “Gott Mitt Uns” on it. Transition “God Is With Us”.
Given sufficient demonization propaganda and some carrot and stick motivation all peoples are capable of brutal inhumanity. Governments harness that at the bequest of the powerful, to be used upon the weak, to maintain and expand their domination. Governments are just the hiring hall and managers.
10% of Dachau was Christian clergy. If you haven’t read the book on Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxes, you are missing THE definitive book on the Confessing Church and the resistance to Hitler.
Was 100% of what Hitler did wrong? No. Neither was 100% of what Pol Pot, Mao or Stalin did. But I have *zero* respect or sympathy for the Nazi (Nazionale Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter Partei – the National SOCIALIST German Workers Party) sympathizers that seem to infest this site.
I guess those people that were targeted and thrown out of Germany really liked SOCIALISM too, because they are now in NY committing welfare fraud. Kind of ironic huh.
When I was a child I remembering traveling to NY City and seeing many men and women with death camp serial numbers tattooed on their wrists/forearms.
I am a living witness to this. Say what you will, the Holocaust is real.
Two of my uncles saw the death camps had a very hard time talking about it. They would break down and be in tears if they tryied to describe the horrors they witnessed
They never wanted to talk about it said their conscience told them it was their duty to tell what they saw.
Anyone who doubts the Holocaust is an ignorant DICKHEAD. I don’t need to decide wether I trust a government narrative to believe in the Holocaust, all I has to do was talk to my uncle Buck or my Godfather Harold. Buck was with the first troops to liberate Bergen Belsen the things he saw would freeze your blood. My godfather was the most honest simple man I ever knew, who liberated a smaller camp, he said he saw frozen bodies of Jews stacked next to a railroad siding like cordwood. He also described a pit with over 300+ burned bodies in it. He had difficulty with the smell of barbecues his whole life and said even 50 years later he still sometimes woke from nightmares remembering that smell. Don’t believe the holocaust is real, grow the fuck up.
HaloFraud Pity party. 6 Million lies… Most died of dysentery. The 6 Million Figure was fabricated back in the late 1880’s and used decades later for WW2 fraud. Seems to be a common number in a same victim theme as they beg for donations today like true commie thieves.
20 Million Russians died in WW2 but you sure don’t see them out there playing perpetual victim generation after generations later do ya. F*ck you pitty party BS!!
Even the Chews admitted it was all a fraud as I posted a lengthy article link with lots of quotes a few days ago, who told the truth that it was all a fraud. The Chews just think they deserve some special treatment. F-off. Grow a spine and quit playing some shill victim.
So Zues the returning World War vets were all liars then, are you really going there. All I can say is I wish my uncle Buck was around and you could say that to his face, then you could spew your ignorant rubbish through a mouth with no teeth.
Our entire world is held by a single thread. Sooner or later, that thread will break. That day is coming soon.
” We’ve added 3 million full-time jobs in the last 9 years. ” That should tell you right there
that we are finished. Try to remember about a year ago when we were adding something
like 125,000 jobs a month. If you divide 125,000 by 50 states, thats about 2,500 jobs per
state. And those are not even full-time jobs!!! The glass is not half full or half empty.
It’s bone dry. No rest for the weary. No rest for the wicked.
The US has been in a downward spiral for decades but many didn’t start realizing it until after 9/11..NAFTA flat out destroyed middle class America just like Ross Perot said it would.NAFTA was hyped as being”beneficial to the world” and yet looking back some 20 years later Mexico is still one of the poorest countries with Millions of immigrants fleeing annually in search of a better life.In reality the only one’s that actually benefitted from NAFTA were corporate america/banksters,and the corrupt politicians who supported that disastrous bill.The US lost MILLIONS of good paying jobs to cheap overseas labor and will never see 25% of those jobs back here again.What MSM touts as “jobs being created” are mostly fast food and retail shit that doesn’t provide a LIVEABLE wage and with NO benefits.The US is grossly Overpopulated today and decent paying jobs are at a premium.People are not retiring like in decades past and are working well into their 70’s.The “American Dream” has turned into a nightmare,it’s gone..The one’s i truly feel sorry for are the young kids,as their the one’s that are going to have to pay for this mess..
Amen.
Then they pass the biggest piece of pork thing called the obamacare to wrestle more money from you that you don’t have.
The jobs they claimed to add does not keep up with the new people entering the workplace whether citizens turning 16, being legal or illegal immigrants. They NEVER mention this population is growing and jobs are way behind.
The fact that Donald Trump loves the republicans version of the new health insurance plan just tells you whom he serves and it is not you and I.
30% increase in your rates if you coverage ever lapses.
Not to mention no more subsidies but only a tax credit – which if I am assuming correctly means you pay upfront and get the money back at the end of the year?
If that’s the case my monthly plan under obamacare without the subsidies was closer to 1000.00 per month and the amount you get back in the tax credit is only like 2000 – 4000 dollars depending on your age.
So this is a WIN for the insurance companies to say the least and the government who will not have to shell out as much money for over priced health insurance.
RJ, this is my first time reading one of Mr. Quinn’s article and I enjoyed it. I looked at the replacement plan for Obolacare earlier and realized Rand Paul is right. It’s ObamacareLITE. I believe Trump is WRONG to support this plan and should have Ryan and company go back to the drawing board. This plan won’t fly. Trump has been misled on this one. I knew there was a chance Trump might end up on the wrong side of an issue and this is it. OK everyone you just heard me say it. TRUMP IS WRONG ON THE REPLACMENT PLAN FOR OBAMACARE AND I FEEL IN GOOD CONSCIENCE THAT I HAVE TO SAY IT.
Well lets see…… The postal service, Medicaid and medicare, Social Security, Health Care, Military (taking in fags and transgenders)(I know I’m missing more). Anytime the government gets their dick skinners on something it ends up a cluster fluck.
BTW, Hey there DB hope you’re doing well.
PO’d Patriot. I’m fine except for what the GOP calls a ‘replacement’ plan for Obolacare. All Ryan and his cohorts did was make a few changes to ACA and make it ObolacareLITE like Rand Paul called it. They’re trying to pull a scam on Trump on this issue. I hope he wakes up and realizes it and calls for them to come up with another plan.
I have been a fan of Jim Q since his early articles on Zero Hedge. His site , The Burning Platform, and his series on The Fourth Turning are must reads.
I am even more focused on prepping now more than ever. Living in the southeast, it seems we are always on a tornado watch or warning. Right before a big storm, the “calm before the storm” appears which indicates a big one is near. I have had that same uneasy feeling about the economy for quite some time now. It’s hard to explain, you can’t feel it, taste it or smell it, but you know it’s there. It seems like everything is always on sale now. I go into the local K-Mart and Ace Hardware (convenient) and there’s never any foot traffic. I wonder how much longer they can hang on. I don’t believe when the economy goes down it’s going to be slow. It’s going to be quick meaning you better have your ducks in a row and ready. Be ready fellow readers, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES.
Kevin2, I agree and have the same feeling. You say you’re in the southeast?
Apparently there are two Kevin’s. I’m number 2. Saving the pun I guess like the bathroom connotation.
Yes, NW Georgia.
Kevin, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES.
It usually comes from the wicked ones in control.
This gvmnt that has been in power since they assassinated JFK, has much blood on its hands! How THEY actually control and even CAUSE killer storms:
2/28/2017 — NEXRAD Weather RADAR + HAARP weather modification — EXPLAINED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpgWB1XwOoM&spfreload=10
good article been telling people this for a couple of years now most think I’m crazy they just cant believe it you can lead a horse to water but you cant make him drink. people need to wake up.
Cause no body has any money. Get what you need now.
They should down size Washington.
Everybody out in the sticks knows why Walmart is losing. Dollar Generals are popping up everywhere. Most country folks would rather drive 5 miles to a dollar store than 20 miles to
Walmart. They still go to Walmart, but they don’t get as much there as they used to. Those
dollar stores have a good strategy. They siphon off quite a bit of WalMart’s money. People
don’t want to burn up a lot of gas with all that back and forth. The share prices of Dollar
General and Dollar Tree have been going up. Thats a sign of the times right there. Big box
stores closing, dollar stores expanding. All of those chain restaurants are overrated and
overpriced. Almost everything on their menu comes off the back of a Sysco truck. Not too
much “buy local” going on there.
I read not long ago, DG’s goal was a store every 7 miles..around here, that’s pretty close.
JayJay, in the last 3 years in my area there have been some new dollar generals and family dollar stores opening up I’m only a 1.5 miles from a DG. Ironically, a new wallyworld opened up in the eastern part of town just back in October. I’ve noticed since the first of the year less foot traffic in the wallyworlds in my area. Something serious is coming.
government is upset because with people driving less there is less federal gas tax money coming in. they now want to tax mileage driven so now your fuel efficient car pays as much tax as a four wheel drive truck or SUV. More cars are leased than ever before(cheaper to lease than buy). Food store sales are up because people are eating at home and you’ll notice fottball,baseball and Nascar crowds are smaller due to cost. Good article!
Jim in VA, the Governor of TN is already talking about raising the STATE gas tax. Gas has already increased some in my area. I’m sticking with my old Honda since it’s paid for and gets better gas mileage than a truck. I don’t eat out much anymore myself due to the prices. That plan for taxing mileage won’t fly.
Danger, Will Robinson! Danger! Brace yourselves, another Mikey Snyder headline is on
the way. It’s about Venezuela and Brazil. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Joey, thanks for the warning on Snyder. At least now I know when to go back to sleep, LOL!
“Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!”
Your giving your age away. My first crush was Angela Cartwright, “Penny Robinson”, on Lost In Space.
Yeah, Angela was HOT… for us 9 year olds! Barbara Eden was FAR too old for us back then, as was Mary Tyler Moore. And June Lockhart certainly was a loooong way from the farm and Lassie… but also far too old. Now, Angela must be about 90!!!
Kevin2 and TEST, you both sound like you’re right around my age. I also grew up with those same programs. I’ll be turning 60 on the 16th. DAMN, we’re getting OLD…..
Angela Cartwright, Penny from Lost In Space, was born in 1952 making her 5 years older then me. I will be 60 this year too. I think in decade long increments like, “Oh I did that 10 years ago”. Then you think back it was closer to 30. I was fortunate enough to take the ride catching the caboose as it was pulling out of the station on the good job train. I looked out the rear window and watched the USA disappear into the horizon.
Excellent article, can’t wait to see the next one!
This guy put into words all the things that have been in my mind but not in a coherent timeline, for lack of a better way to put this.
I believe we have just seen the truth in a concise fashion!!
Too funny! Mine was Bill Mumy! He was so cute!
Are you seeing the forest for it’s trees?
GOING DOOOOOWWWWWWNNNNN…….
Everyone wants to be an expert in cracking “the code”.
Nobody pays attention to the obvious.
Local news had a 20 second spot on the Wiki Leaks CIA exposure. I doubt anyone gave it more than 5 seconds consideration.
I see these things and laugh. Others may chime in “Yeah. Conspiracy Bullshit.” or “Man. I have not time for that political shit. Whatever.”
I laugh harder. Another day with the free range inmates.
James Quinn – it’s so simple. Maybe it’s because I’ve a decade on you; but, this situation you find yourself in is not new. Not at all. Been around all my adult life. I’ll just let a single vid tell you how it all goes down:
Ought to clear things up for you. Significantly
you tube white rabbit and somebody to love by Jefferson Airplane (embedded link in post above either blocked or prohibited…. one more limit upon us all, huh?)
Hunter S Thompson rules!
You had me at “masterbation”.
You lost me at “fat asses”
What ever happened to language?? A little on postings I’ve barfed through, and contributed a few times; but I couldn’t imagine preparing a formal report with “data” that might be worth knowing and then corrupting it with obscenities. They say, “know your audience”. Brownie points with a few probably, but to me it just makes you sound desperate and weak. Now, I’m not a prude (maybe just old) but I know gutter language doesn’t do anything constructive. If you want to be taken seriously by most people, write that way.
If civilized men are always uncertain, they will be unable to be effective. Generals like Patton didn’t wallow in doubt. Yet when it came to confronting the enormity of his and his Country’s error, he was able to face it directly. Thus his immortal quote, “We fought the WRONG enemy”.
__
Your comment must make you feel really important…..
No Dora, I am important.
__
YOU FUCKING PANTYWASTE
IM STOP CURSING WHEN YOU BOOMER SONS OF FUCKING CUNTWHORES STOP DESTROYING MY COUNTRY IN FRONT OF MY FUCKING EYES
IM AN AMERICAN-AMERICAN
ULTRA PROUD DESCENDANT OF THE ORIGINAL SETTLERS
I WANT MY FUCKING BIRTHRIGHT BACK OLD MAN
YOU DIG????????????
Easy my wages aren’t growing but my prices are. Go look at Lays potato chips. The bag is tiny, almost like the Big Grab snack sizes but the price is he same or higher.
What a shitshow.
Yeah I like potato chips. Sorry
Charley Waite:
A little useless trivia about potato chips.
In France a group of businessmen were having lunch. The chef was a little cranky that day. So, when one man sent back the sliced potatoes because they were too thick, the chef got even. He cut a potato paper thin and baked it crisp and hard. Everyone raved and wanted more potato chips. Birth of a classic.
__
B from CA, that’s interesting about the creation of potato chips. I take my hat off to that chef. I was RAISED on potato chips. CW, I understand your feelings on chips. I’m the same way.
God bless him!
Belgium has more four star Michelin Guide rated restaurants per capita than any other place on earth.
Belgium always wins beer competitions.
Belgium has the best architecture in Europe.
And they share a border with… the Dutch!
That 1 lb box of pasta is now 13.5 ounces. That .5 wasn’t happenstance as they no doubt tested the most deceiving box sizes to mimic the old 16 oz / 1 lb. It came out without an even number ending in .5.
“All the world is a stage”
William Shakespeare
Miracle Whip is 30 ounces now instead of a full quart. I’d rather pay a little more and have the standard sizes.
Archivist
“pay a little more”
They’re not doing it for your benefit but rather to facilitate “stealth inflation” on the masses. Prices are rising due to some of that Federal Reserve money getting into the system. Between financing the governments deficit and pumping up the Stock Market with money given to the banks in a post Glass-Steagall environment there are more dollars chasing goods.
Kevin 2,
The downsizing has been going on for years. Over 5 years ago my dog’s food went from 40 pounds to 31.1 pounds. I called the company immediately to let them know they weren’t fooling me and I got a free coupon for more dog food. Screw these fraudsters.
“The downsizing has been going on for years.”
So has the inflation of too much money that went into full swing in August 1971 with only a few cutbacks and some in the last nine years massive increases.
Tyson chicken patties are absurdly small.
This is fucking bullshit.
Went into Steak and Shake and the burgers are 2/3rds the size they were two years ago plus they have two waitresses for the whole place.
“New and Improved”
New smaller packaging with a higher price. Doesn’t work as well either.
Buy a box of mini wheats
They have to stack them on top of each other
The box height and depth is still the same , but the width is a mini wheat thick
Amazing how many sheeple miss details like this
We should have known when those bastards tried to tell us those little candy bars in the 70s were “Fun size”.
Since 2008 I have purposely cut my spending across the grain! I refuse(d) to be a willing participant!
Ocare-Lite???? REPEAL!!!!
All gov actions, laws, etc…, enacted post 911 need REPEAL!!
We are in for a BIG Fight folks!
Excellent article.
Now now Mac— don’t drive reader traffic over to The Burning Platform! Seriously though, this is an great article. And folks don’t worry about a little Hunter S Thompson thrown in. Poor old bastard is dead anyway.
So the guy thinks I’m math-challenged because I drive a pickup? I’m tall and older and can’t fold up enough to fit in one of those miniature vehicles. The roof is too low for me to easily get into even a Chrysler 300 or Impala. I have to turn sideways, sit in the seat, and then turn toward the front.
Crawling in and out of those small cars.
Driving them makes me feel like an ant on the interstate.
Archivist, I’m 6 ft. 1 in. tall and 180 lbs. My old Honda is the Odyssey minivan. It sits higher than a car, easy to get in and out of, has enough leg and head room for me, and is comfortable. I also won’t touch a stinkin’ CAR. Cars really suck these days.
don’t buy shit just keep going to work taking $ from corporations. The whole economy is run by criminals in suits. Don’t know about y’all but I have zero confidence in the system. Way too much corruption. It’s blatantly obvious the economy is going down.
“Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is based on “I am not too sure.” – H.L. Mencken
If by the age of 53 you have not developed some sense of moral certainty … you haven’t been paying attention.
Skepticism and tolerance are desirable traits in developing a sense of morality but somewhere along the line you have to make a stand.
How can one possibly quote Twain or Hunter S Thompson and not realize both have a deep sense of morality?
Nothing says I’m right and you’re wrong quite like referring to your peer group as a gang of cruel faggots… not even if Rolling Stone promotes you as the hippest of the hip.
If you put pen to paper you’re still one of them no matter how ideologically opposed you are.
Lets just say as an example if Gonzo had not attempted to impose his sense of morality on that Angel a beat down wouldn’t have been necessary … would it now?
That aside thanks for the stats.
Congrats Mac Slavo;
I usually blow through the articles or skip most of it.
This guy is a good and a clever writer.
I enjoyed the article also, had to write down some of the quotes.
Hate to break the bad news. Good times are not ahead…
While you have the chance, prep as much as you can – (ammo/guns/food/water/TP). Get out of debt if at all possible.
How they held everything together this long will be studied in the distant future by many. I, like many others thought it should have fell apart years ago, yet here we are. You have to give them credit for it not imploding and causing worldwide chaos as a result. How long will it all keep going? Don’t no. At this point TPTB have the will and power to probably keep it going for another 20 years. Maybe more. I’m just NOT convinced, even with the well written article above with all it’s graphs and info. And it doesn’t mean I’m not prepared for a collapse or massive economic downturn. I just don’t see it anytime soon……
The Holocaust was real!
The Jews were not the only ones Hitler put in the Camps.
My father was Polish,he was one of the few lucky ones to escape from Hitlers Camps, he made it to France where the French Underground got him to Britain, he then join the British Army and fought with the Brit’s until the end of the war.
Anyone who say’ the Holocaust did not happen is a fool!
Clif Highs webbot report for March 2017…WAS SPOT on in “secrets revealed”… the CIA exposure by wikileaks is HUGE and going to bring down the Obama administration with the surveillance exposures….that will EXONERATE President Trumps claims and his direct to the people will push that TRUTH PAST the media…the media will be exposed then for being untrustworthy AT ALL as they mock him and deliberately cover up the truth of the FISA warrants……and also the oncoming CHAOS predictions…and the culture war/CIVIL WAR initialed by the Progressive trash and communists under Obama/Jarretts command….
Stack ammo and brace…here comes the shooting war, no shit in days.
Quinn, you are right, as always. But one correction, where you note “when there are less jobs, there are less drivers on the roads going to work. I tried to think of other reasonable explanations for why traffic appeared to be contracting so dramatically.”
The reason there are less drivers on the road is, yes, 100 mm are not working; however, a LOT of us are now working out of home offices, including both my wife and I, which neither of us did 10 years ago. I know MANY now doing the same thing. So, this is part – albeit not all – of the equation
Every soldier gets tired. A good soldier will move a little slower but will also take a better…….AIM.
May 21, 2013 Why the whole banking system is a scam – Godfrey Bloom MEP
• European Parliament, Strasbourg, 21 May 2013
• Speaker: Godfrey Bloom MEP, UKIP (Yorkshire & Lincolnshire)
https://youtu.be/hYzX3YZoMrs
ALL WARS ARE BANKERS WARS
I know many people have a great deal of difficulty comprehending just how many wars are started for no other purpose than to force private central banks onto nations, so let me share a few examples, so that you understand why the US Government is mired in so many wars against so many foreign nations. There is ample precedent for this.
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/allwarsarebankerwars.php#ixzz3geZmTUcx
Quote: “Propagandists are experts at convincing clueless dolts it’s raining when their government is actually pissing down their backs.” this is the truth of these idiots spouting off their worthless diatribe against anybody that has a different opinion.
Good article Mac
Here is another interesting piece of information as to how well our economic recovery has been over the past eight years. This link to a fed chart shows that the rail freight carloads are almost as low in December 2016 as they were after the 2008 crash. With this decline in freight being moved by rail there has certainly been no real recovery
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RAILFRTCARLOADSD11
Yes! YES! Someone had the guts to tell it like it is!!!!!!!
99% right, spoke as it is and how many feel: but Mr. Trump is just a part of it all, and 99.9% fall for the same MO for the last 6000 years of recorded history.It boggles the mind to think that people think that it is different today because Mr. Trump got into power through rhetoric appealing to the ears just like Mr. Obama. Not understanding that if he were truly for the people he would not be president or will soon be dead, and even if dead, it simply means the competing cabal did not like what he was doing in hurting them. other. Any and all who are in the one percent above leaving in the clouds believe they are special and demigods due to their corrupt mindset of wealth and power which acts as an intoxicating alcohol or an hallucinogen drug giving one an exhilarating rush of supremacy and a heliocentric mindset with them as the center. Human nature is human nature and it doesn’t change, just works in different was and different levels depending where you are on the ladder, always has and always will until a greater power intervenes, an unseen hand from someplace far more powerful than man. Keep sleeping, sleeping beauty. Cursed is man who trust in man!
Have hope Trump would have lost if a lot of people had not caught on to the fake news. Move to a more rural setting if possible. The cities are centers of corrupt
Amen….Tell it like it is…..I was the Middle class I am now the peasant class. It took me 8 years to get two degrees but I got them and was making in the 50k range for 15 years. Then IBM and other companies got the idea in 1993…” say, how can we improve the bottom line?….I know…call in all the workers and we will cut their pay in half!”….Thats exactly what they did in 1993. I live in IBM country in upstate NY. IBM made this area and they destroyed it in 1993. Factory workers were earning in the 50k range….now,try and keep a house making 25k…you can’t..Today, 2017, I work in retail for $11 /hr. Thats a good job up here. Most jobs are minimum wage. Most of the people I work with work two jobs…5 or 6 days per week…they leave one job at 5 or 7 pm…then work a few hours in a supermarket or retail chain till 9 or 10 pm…They still can’t make ends meet. Drive up and down the main drag up here ( US rte 9)…..you will see for lease or for sale signs at every strip mall along the way. In college I remember a book I read in Economics 100…”how to lie with statistics”….I swear that every gov’t official and politician must read this book when they take office. Of course the unemployment rate is not 4%….its around 25% depending upon who you read. I was on unemployment almost for one year one time. I was told to report to the unemployment office. There I was told…” ok, you know why you are here, right?…You reach 1 yr on unemployment as of december. You will loose your unemployment benefits as of Jan 1″…..That was it….They gave us the telephone numbers of the food pantrys in the area, and the suicide prevention line….nice…after paying taxes for 30+ yrs this is the help u get form the gov’t. Fortunately I found a job before Jan but we could not afford the house we were living in for 20 yrs and gave it back to the bank. We had to use bankruptcy to get out of debt…and now i am working for $11/hr….That is the truth about the economy…its in the toilet just waiting for someone to flush it. Maybe Armageddon will be a good thing….all of us won;t be around to suffer any more..
A little tip for you. Ever wonder why schools look like prisons? It is so they can be used as FEMA camps. Same goes for tennis courts, baseball fields etc.
you may notice they are overly secure especially the tennis courts in communities.