I spent much of the afternoon transcribing a video of Tom Luongo at RogueNews. That means I condensed at some points, weeded out repetitions, edited out things I didn’t understand. Follow the link for the original. Just a few comments before we get to the transcript.
And a Post by Matt Crawford. He gets into deep conspiracy concepts from time to time, and this is one of those - I don't often read them. (He does very good and interesting research, but I only have energy for so many rabbit holes.) This one is generally about Scientology (worthy of conspiracy theories) but moreso about the likely presence of intel people in 'unlikely' places, like resistance and dissident movements. The third major section, Scientologists Around the Presidential Candidates, third paragraph down, a brief mention of strong Vivek backing by the cult's largest donors. (Also discusses Trump in next paragraph).
FWIW, here's an assertion that Trump may profit meaningfully from a backlash vote among Black America - from what can hardly be called the "Trump Only" crowd over at PowerLine. I know this line of thinking is hardly novel, but to see it come from powerline makes it a bit more interesting.
Russia is continuing to push getting paid in non dollars, and this seems to be expanding.
My guess this will impact Europe. Germany is continuing to de-industrialize. Niger’s de-coupling from France economically is eventually going to impact France.
China is having economic issues. This will decrease European exports to China.
Gas / Oil is staying high, and with the strategic oil reserve at 50%, the us can’t use it to keep oil prices depressed.
Commercial real estate (offices and retail) in the us is a ticking time bomb that is getting worse.
I don’t think with all this going on, Yellen and the Biden Administration can keep the economy inflated for much longer. They want to push the mess past the 2024 election. And my bet is U.S. interest rates won’t be cut by Powell soon. Unless Powell want huge inflation, they can’t be cut.
The above could also be part of what is driving the new covid variant, as a scapegoat for the economy.
France is saying government is illegitimate, but has issues projecting power. Other Western aligned countries are threatening, but no action. So Niger asked French ambassador to leave.
I’m surprised Syria is so quiet. US just said will be there for years. My guess Iran is waiting for the check to clear.
Not so much. I saw yesterday that Niger has demanded the French and US ambassadors leave. I also saw something just this morning, but lost track, that Algeria says it will help Niger if Niger is attacked (presumably by ECOWAS).
Vivek is a "close friend" of Jared Kushner per NY Times, 5/28/23: “A close friend of Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, Mr. [Vivek] Ramaswamy dined with Mr. Trump and Mr. Kushner at the former president’s New Jersey club, Bedminster, in 2021, according to two people familiar with the event."...May 28, 2023, “Trump Looks Like He Will Get the 2024 Crowd He Wants,” NY Times, Shane Goldmacher, Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman....All 3, Vivek, Jared, and Trump, have connection to convicted felon Soros: Vivek's scholarship from Soros family that Vivek erased from Wikipedia; Jared and his business accepted a $250 million credit line from Soros in 2015 (per Wall St Journal, 5/3/2017); and Trump accepted a $160 million loan from 3 hedge funds including money from Soros in 2004 to build his Chicago hotel....https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/kushners-partners-include-goldman-and-soros-wsj.....https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2004-10-28-0410280265-story.html, "Big names back Trump Tower," Thomas A. Corfman, "Donald Trump has lined up three New York hedge funds, including money from billionaire George Soros, to invest $160 million in his Chicago skyscraper, a key piece in perhaps the largest construction financing in the city's history, according to real estate sources and public documents."...
Susan, you continue to express your disenchantment with Trump, but what you haven’t revealed is, who do you prefer among the empty suits? There is no one in that group who is not bought and paid for. There is no current Republican candidate who would do anything different than Romney, McStain, Jeb, Christie, DeSantis, etc. they are all going to promise shit, but never deliver for the middle class just B.S. They will enact policies that are just more of the same. Whatever the left wants they will deliver. I dislike Kushner for all the reasons you do. I always felt that Trump chose poorly when he gave Ivanka and the huckster husband outsized roles in his administration. Giving Kushner the reins to his PAC was akin to giving the fox the code to the hen house, he’s a vandal of the Yellen sort. I like Trump, but until he sorts out his mistakes and begins to articulate how he will do things differently I remain on the sidelines. Help me with some erudite thinking of who, and what the alternative might be.
Citing Trump hating serial liar Maggie Haberman and the fish wrap known as the NYT as a source of meaningful or accurate information ? Really? Trump is in Soros’ pocket due to hedge fund loan in 2004? Really? I think you are on the wrong substack.
I suspect Susan is continuing with her Trump rants as a means of expressing her sense of betrayal. It is interesting that Trump has these associations with Soros, but in the arena of high finance I suspect Soros is always a player. He has insinuated himself into many things, that’s how the hucksters operate. What is also interesting is how much info is coming out about Ramaswamy. He struck me as phony and this info simply reinforces, for me, that he is a plant to disrupt the process. Someone here mentioned that when someone says all the things you want to hear be skeptical of that person.
My thought on the regional banks and credit unions is that if they aren't close to the treasury yield (say within 50-60 basis points) they don't actually need the funding. A lot of regional banks are in fine shape. There are just a few bad apples that have seriously impaired balance sheets due to the risk they've taken on in their localities.
Thanks for your comments. I have been considering moving my banking relationship to a local and wondering the best way to size them up. Currently, I have been Long time Wells Fargo customer and Norwest before the merger. They seem to me to be a likely candidate to attempt to shove CBDC’s down my throat so I am looking for a change, this helps.
Seems to me if trump manages to stay alive and out of jail and gets the nomination then he will choose his VP. All this talk of some power brokers pushing this one or that one to balance the ticket or have the preferred guy in place when trump is removed, etc don’t fly. Trump will decide who he runs with. And I’ll bet anyone it won’t be the guy with the funny name.
I hope you are right but he chose Pence last time and continues to support RINOs like Rona McDaniel and Lindsey Graham. I don’t know if he’s just done some kind of deal with them or is too trusting me but I worry that he surrounded himself with some awful people last time. I hope he’s smarter next time, if there is a next time.
The story of destroying the major cities reminded me of something I had heard years ago. Similar shenanigans was occurring years ago on a smaller scale during the heady gentrification real estate redevelopment boom of the past few decades. These hot shot politically connected redevelopers would work with the local officials who had destroyed neighborhoods in their own cities. The politico destroys the neighborhood, gets paid off by the developer, the developer picks up the real estate on the cheap, government funds flow into the development, the politico makes a pile of money, the developer makes a pile of money, and the little people get to pay the tab. Now we have a globalist version of doing the same on a larger scale. Instead of neighborhoods, whole cities are in play.
Could be the destruction of our major cities, far from crafty profiteering, is just plain stupidity and shortsightedness on the part of our politicians. Creating slums has not been a positive advantage for any city. Is Pelosi happy with her once beautiful San Francisco?
I might be a little out there with this....I tend to think of the fact that while our cities and families are being routinely destroyed by crime and purposeful mismanagement there is this being promoted by some of those "smart people" who think that we need to live like hamsters in a cage. https://www.npr.org/2022/07/26/1113670047/saudi-arabia-new-city-the-mirror-line-desert
I wonder if this is the goal because they think destroying the way we live will make us more compliant so they can control more people.
Thanks for the heads-up on a project I was not aware of. Very interesting, but assuming this is in line with the destruction of our cities is premature. Smacks of a kneejerk reaction to the Saudis and the Kashoggi affair which is still murky. Maybe this is a positive development in city planning.
I'll give TL credit for his brilliant analysis of the interactions between the Fed/certain Wall Street entities and EU Finance which appeared then (Some months ago) and now to be taking it in the shorts. He was the first to point this out to the great unwashed such as myself. Well done!
However.
TL is the gold bug's gold bug. I caught hell from him on TWTR by calling out his incessant promotion of something which traded at $1974 three years ago and traded yesterday at $1943. In short, a fool's errand, IMHO. Warren Buffett has pointed out that Au is this real pretty metal that just sits there looking pretty. A few XOMs and US farmland exceeds the roughly $8 T of Au and continues to add value.
You're welcome, Cosmo! I have to ask about abbreviations myself from time to time.
I've only known one Cosmo in my life. He was from Smithtown. No chance that's you, right?
A little late, but a couple interesting Vivek datapoints:
Tweet reTweeted (or is that an X reXd?) by Luongo shows that V donated max to Dena Grayson, a serious Never-Trumper:
https://twitter.com/MJTruthUltra/status/1695835039844442515
And a Post by Matt Crawford. He gets into deep conspiracy concepts from time to time, and this is one of those - I don't often read them. (He does very good and interesting research, but I only have energy for so many rabbit holes.) This one is generally about Scientology (worthy of conspiracy theories) but moreso about the likely presence of intel people in 'unlikely' places, like resistance and dissident movements. The third major section, Scientologists Around the Presidential Candidates, third paragraph down, a brief mention of strong Vivek backing by the cult's largest donors. (Also discusses Trump in next paragraph).
https://roundingtheearth.substack.com/p/cultic-handlers
FWIW, here's an assertion that Trump may profit meaningfully from a backlash vote among Black America - from what can hardly be called the "Trump Only" crowd over at PowerLine. I know this line of thinking is hardly novel, but to see it come from powerline makes it a bit more interesting.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/08/black-men-flock-to-trump-after-fulton-county-spectacle.php
Yeah, I just read that. That shoulda been his mug shut!
Thanks for your effort. Much appreciated.
Chinese bonds have been outdoing US bonds for a while now.
Russia is continuing to push getting paid in non dollars, and this seems to be expanding.
My guess this will impact Europe. Germany is continuing to de-industrialize. Niger’s de-coupling from France economically is eventually going to impact France.
China is having economic issues. This will decrease European exports to China.
Gas / Oil is staying high, and with the strategic oil reserve at 50%, the us can’t use it to keep oil prices depressed.
Commercial real estate (offices and retail) in the us is a ticking time bomb that is getting worse.
I don’t think with all this going on, Yellen and the Biden Administration can keep the economy inflated for much longer. They want to push the mess past the 2024 election. And my bet is U.S. interest rates won’t be cut by Powell soon. Unless Powell want huge inflation, they can’t be cut.
The above could also be part of what is driving the new covid variant, as a scapegoat for the economy.
I wonder what's happening about Niger? It's all gone quiet.
France is saying government is illegitimate, but has issues projecting power. Other Western aligned countries are threatening, but no action. So Niger asked French ambassador to leave.
I’m surprised Syria is so quiet. US just said will be there for years. My guess Iran is waiting for the check to clear.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/frances-ambassador-ordered-leave-niger-paris-responds-putschists-have-no-authority
Not so much. I saw yesterday that Niger has demanded the French and US ambassadors leave. I also saw something just this morning, but lost track, that Algeria says it will help Niger if Niger is attacked (presumably by ECOWAS).
Vivek is a "close friend" of Jared Kushner per NY Times, 5/28/23: “A close friend of Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, Mr. [Vivek] Ramaswamy dined with Mr. Trump and Mr. Kushner at the former president’s New Jersey club, Bedminster, in 2021, according to two people familiar with the event."...May 28, 2023, “Trump Looks Like He Will Get the 2024 Crowd He Wants,” NY Times, Shane Goldmacher, Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman....All 3, Vivek, Jared, and Trump, have connection to convicted felon Soros: Vivek's scholarship from Soros family that Vivek erased from Wikipedia; Jared and his business accepted a $250 million credit line from Soros in 2015 (per Wall St Journal, 5/3/2017); and Trump accepted a $160 million loan from 3 hedge funds including money from Soros in 2004 to build his Chicago hotel....https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/kushners-partners-include-goldman-and-soros-wsj.....https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2004-10-28-0410280265-story.html, "Big names back Trump Tower," Thomas A. Corfman, "Donald Trump has lined up three New York hedge funds, including money from billionaire George Soros, to invest $160 million in his Chicago skyscraper, a key piece in perhaps the largest construction financing in the city's history, according to real estate sources and public documents."...
Susan, you continue to express your disenchantment with Trump, but what you haven’t revealed is, who do you prefer among the empty suits? There is no one in that group who is not bought and paid for. There is no current Republican candidate who would do anything different than Romney, McStain, Jeb, Christie, DeSantis, etc. they are all going to promise shit, but never deliver for the middle class just B.S. They will enact policies that are just more of the same. Whatever the left wants they will deliver. I dislike Kushner for all the reasons you do. I always felt that Trump chose poorly when he gave Ivanka and the huckster husband outsized roles in his administration. Giving Kushner the reins to his PAC was akin to giving the fox the code to the hen house, he’s a vandal of the Yellen sort. I like Trump, but until he sorts out his mistakes and begins to articulate how he will do things differently I remain on the sidelines. Help me with some erudite thinking of who, and what the alternative might be.
Citing Trump hating serial liar Maggie Haberman and the fish wrap known as the NYT as a source of meaningful or accurate information ? Really? Trump is in Soros’ pocket due to hedge fund loan in 2004? Really? I think you are on the wrong substack.
I suspect Susan is continuing with her Trump rants as a means of expressing her sense of betrayal. It is interesting that Trump has these associations with Soros, but in the arena of high finance I suspect Soros is always a player. He has insinuated himself into many things, that’s how the hucksters operate. What is also interesting is how much info is coming out about Ramaswamy. He struck me as phony and this info simply reinforces, for me, that he is a plant to disrupt the process. Someone here mentioned that when someone says all the things you want to hear be skeptical of that person.
He's also got very white, very expensive teeth. Always a bad sign! :)
I don’t know about whether it’s a bad sign, but as someone with Brit/Welsh background, I am envious of a nice set of pearly whites.
Ha, ha! Yes, we Brits aren't known for nice teeth!
Good question especially in light of the substantial legal costs he is amassing.and now with commercial real estate teetering you gotta wonder.
My thought on the regional banks and credit unions is that if they aren't close to the treasury yield (say within 50-60 basis points) they don't actually need the funding. A lot of regional banks are in fine shape. There are just a few bad apples that have seriously impaired balance sheets due to the risk they've taken on in their localities.
Thanks for your comments. I have been considering moving my banking relationship to a local and wondering the best way to size them up. Currently, I have been Long time Wells Fargo customer and Norwest before the merger. They seem to me to be a likely candidate to attempt to shove CBDC’s down my throat so I am looking for a change, this helps.
I cannot imagine after all the shenanigans at WF over the past few years, why anyone would keep any assets there.
WF is the opposite of sobriety, integrity, and discipline.
YMMV.
Well, that seems to be my point here, Sandy. What is YMMV?
Your mileage might vary. In other words, your outcome may be better, or worse.
Ok, thanks for taking the time to enlighten me.
OK, I think I see that.
OT: Shokin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk43pZl42so
Seems to me if trump manages to stay alive and out of jail and gets the nomination then he will choose his VP. All this talk of some power brokers pushing this one or that one to balance the ticket or have the preferred guy in place when trump is removed, etc don’t fly. Trump will decide who he runs with. And I’ll bet anyone it won’t be the guy with the funny name.
I hope you are right but he chose Pence last time and continues to support RINOs like Rona McDaniel and Lindsey Graham. I don’t know if he’s just done some kind of deal with them or is too trusting me but I worry that he surrounded himself with some awful people last time. I hope he’s smarter next time, if there is a next time.
I don’t understand the Trump Rona Romney McDaniel support.
Graham is to win that states primary for Trump, and use his states political machine.
Remember, Pence was chosen by the GOPe as the insurance policy and inside guy last time. Don’t need a similar situation or outcome repeating itself.
The story of destroying the major cities reminded me of something I had heard years ago. Similar shenanigans was occurring years ago on a smaller scale during the heady gentrification real estate redevelopment boom of the past few decades. These hot shot politically connected redevelopers would work with the local officials who had destroyed neighborhoods in their own cities. The politico destroys the neighborhood, gets paid off by the developer, the developer picks up the real estate on the cheap, government funds flow into the development, the politico makes a pile of money, the developer makes a pile of money, and the little people get to pay the tab. Now we have a globalist version of doing the same on a larger scale. Instead of neighborhoods, whole cities are in play.
Could be the destruction of our major cities, far from crafty profiteering, is just plain stupidity and shortsightedness on the part of our politicians. Creating slums has not been a positive advantage for any city. Is Pelosi happy with her once beautiful San Francisco?
I might be a little out there with this....I tend to think of the fact that while our cities and families are being routinely destroyed by crime and purposeful mismanagement there is this being promoted by some of those "smart people" who think that we need to live like hamsters in a cage. https://www.npr.org/2022/07/26/1113670047/saudi-arabia-new-city-the-mirror-line-desert
I wonder if this is the goal because they think destroying the way we live will make us more compliant so they can control more people.
Thanks for the heads-up on a project I was not aware of. Very interesting, but assuming this is in line with the destruction of our cities is premature. Smacks of a kneejerk reaction to the Saudis and the Kashoggi affair which is still murky. Maybe this is a positive development in city planning.
I'll give TL credit for his brilliant analysis of the interactions between the Fed/certain Wall Street entities and EU Finance which appeared then (Some months ago) and now to be taking it in the shorts. He was the first to point this out to the great unwashed such as myself. Well done!
However.
TL is the gold bug's gold bug. I caught hell from him on TWTR by calling out his incessant promotion of something which traded at $1974 three years ago and traded yesterday at $1943. In short, a fool's errand, IMHO. Warren Buffett has pointed out that Au is this real pretty metal that just sits there looking pretty. A few XOMs and US farmland exceeds the roughly $8 T of Au and continues to add value.
Gold will always have value, but gold is a commodity. Predicting the price of a commodity is always a risky business.
I’m hoping Karri Lake, she is a fighter.
Negative is lack of executive experience.