I’ll be out driving around for a few hours today. In the meantime, there are persistent rumors of war soon to come. Netanyahu is in DC—to give Trump instructions?
Not that I think Netanyahu is the ruler or controller of Trump—more like the messenger. Remember when I was impressed that Trump was getting his nominations confirmed with so little fuss? I thought that the political class was fearful of his electoral mandate. But there was always another explanation—follow the thread at the link:
It was the same explanation for the war on Free Speech that Trump launched—aimed at suppressing all criticism of those who would lead us into war. Yes, it looks like Trump was elected under false pretenses. Not that he lied, exactly, just told people what they wanted to hear while cleverly concealing what he actually intended to do. Recall—he said he wanted to get along with Iran. But he didn’t tell us that the way he intended to get along with Iran was to give them an ultimatum: Submit or else! It should have sounded alarm bells that the Zionists didn’t raise a hue and cry against Trump when he talked about peace with Iran.
Will Schryver @imetatronink
I predict that, in coming days, weeks, and months the most commonly used phrase among those who believed Trump was the "anti-war candidate" and the "savior of America" will be:
"Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"
So what are these rumors of war? They are rumors that the US will back an attempted Arab occupation of the Yemeni port of Hodeidah:
MenchOsint @MenchOsint
The US plans to send & support the Saudi & UAE-backed mercenaries to try taking the coastal city of Hodeidah.
This move could backfire & the Saudi-backed coalition could lose territories.
Yemeni pro-government forces are reportedly preparing to launch a ground offensive aimed at retaking the strategic port city of Hodeidah, according to officials speaking to CNN. The planned operation is expected to be backed by coordinated Saudi and U.S. air and naval support.
The decision to pursue a ground assault comes amid growing assessments that continued airstrikes alone have stopped short of halting the Iranian-backed Houthi group’s persistent drone and ballistic missile attacks targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
Larry Johnson quotes CNN reporting which cites “sources and analysts” who claim this attack “may be a ground operation.”
Meanwhile, according to Alastair Crooke today, Netanyahu’s proposed American attack on Iran would look like this (summary):
The Israeli proposal to Trump:
The first wave of the American attack on Iran would be to destroy its air defense system--the previous Israeli attempt was aborted when Iranian radar locked onto Israeli planes before they ever got to Iranian air space.
The second wave will be "decapitation" strikes against the Iranian leadership to turn Iran into "another Syria," allowing the US led forces to “walk in” to a “naked Iran.” Israeli will control its resources, it’s oil and gas, through regime change.
This would supposedly inaugurate Israeli hegemony over the entire Middle East and its oil—the Jewish Supremacy Project.
Iran is taking these reports seriously:
Iranian Supreme leader Khamenei have put the Iranian Armed Forces on high alert against the backdrop of a possible US military operation - Reuters
How about the other war? The economic war. Let me re-emphasize. I’m presenting varying views, because I have no expertise. I will continue presenting takes from Philip Pilkington, but please be alert to this caveat. PP is plumping for a Great Reset of the Monetary Architecture of the world. No doubt that would be nice—but it’s not going to happen without something approaching a world war happening first. China certainly doesn’t want any sort of monetary reset—they want the status quo to continue, because it works for them. Nor do the financial elites of the West want such a reset, because the current financialized economies of the West are what enrich the ruling class and ensure their control. Trump is attempting shock therapy, and it’s an open question whether this will work against the forces arrayed against him. At this point there are far more questions than answers.
With that proviso, a brief look at how things stand this morning. First, a quick glance at the misdirection play of the ruling classes:
obotjinetes2 @robotjinetes2
and they talk as if the western financial elites who built up china's industry over the last four decades didn’t have significant control over the CCP. The narrative usually portrays the CCP as the enemy of the U.S. so that americans don’t think about the western financiers
Man on the Silk Road @silk_road_man
It's incredible how many people come to openly defend financial oligarchy simply because China has benefit from it.
It's quite an irony that they are forced to defend Wall Street out of their own libidinal attachment to communist China!
Like, guys chill, China's gonna be fine.
As we wrote yesterday, Trump has truly attacked Wall Street—but that doesn’t mean the real financial elites will lose out. If Trump succeeds, there will be an economic revolution of sorts, and it will benefit America. The question remains: How will the real financial powers react? Will they play the long game, or will they try to protect the status quo? And how does the projected Middle East war play into this?
Remember. Within the Ruling Class hierarchy, the “Wall Street folks" PP is referring to are the little people. The people who will move to Trussify Trump—if it comes to that—won’t be losing their “jobs”. The little people may, but not their power players:
Philip Pilkington @philippilk
The people who Trussed @trussliz kept their jobs and solidified their power base. The people who are moving to Trussify @realDonaldTrump are going to have a very hard time finding employment in the future. There is going to be a massive oversupply of Wall Street folks.
This is a really interesting graph. Agriculture is and always will be the basis for American power—not that the Ruling Class understands or cares. Agriculture has always been cyclical in a very Big Picture sort of way, but these Ag trade deficits? Ridiculous:
Philip Pilkington @philippilk
Actually I think the American ag sector will be happy to see the fortunes of its industry reversed after it was demolished in the Biden administration.American ag 100% has the capacity to feed Americans and produce a nice trade surplus along with it. 
The problems are huge, but now here’s PP with his scheme of “Come, let us reason together.” As stated above, that won’t happen without something approaching a world war, and I wouldn’t want to bet on a happy outcome for the plebes. These times are very different from the world war times of the 20th century.
Robin Brooks robin_j_brooks
China has begun to devalue. Moves are still small, but this is clearly a signal to Washington. After all, the Dollar has been falling, so - if anything - the Yuan should be rising against the Dollar to remain stable in trade-weighted terms. But it's falling and that's a signal...
In other words, China is signaling their continued support for the status quo. They don’t want no stinking “new monetary architecture.” PP needs to internalize that messaging, but he hasn’t so far:
Philip Pilkington @philippilk
Devaluing is annoying for the Chinese at multiple levels but it is an option. The @realDonaldTrump and @JDVance administration should be negotiating a new monetary architecture rather than waging a trade war.
If I understand this correctly—and YMMV emphatically applies, alternate views are welcome—this is not a “trade war” in the usual sense. Trump has labeled it an “economic revolution.” Making all allowances for Trumpian rhetoric, this strongly suggests that the results he’s aiming for go far beyond rejiggering trade balances. It’s the Big Reset of the global economy, of which a “new monetary architecture” would be one part. But, Trump being Trump, he’s probably not telling us everything. And that’s troubling.
Finally, a reminder of some real fundamentals that get lost in all the focus on the stock market:
Jack Farley @JackFarley96
Smoot Hawley tariff exacerbated Great Depression but didn't cause it.
It was the collapse in capital flows, not goods, that caused the Great Depression.
There was a bubble in gold-denominated sovereign debt the popping of which caused bank failures.
We don't have that now.
Hopefully, more clarity will emerge sooner rather than later, because malign forces luv lack of clarity.
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I always get excited about a market correction when I read the Keynesian consensus predict a disaster. The same people who claimed massive money printing and soaring government spending wouldn’t cause inflation are the ones who know exactly how tariffs will impact aggregate prices. Fascinating.
In June 2016, sixteen Nobel Prize winners expected higher inflation from tariffs, and it never happened. Furthermore, many of those economists recommended enormous government spending and Federal Reserve quantitative easing in 2020, stating there were no concerns about inflation. However, this led to the highest inflationary burst in thirty years. Reality showed that there was no inflation in 2016-2019 and that the insane printing and spending spree of 2021 led to the current inflationary burst. This happens because many economic experts will always justify all government imbalances and tax hikes but raise alarm at any tax cut or supply-side measure. We should never trust experts that work painfully close to social democrat governments.
When Keynesians predict a disaster, it is unlikely to happen. When the Keynesian consensus tells you that there is no risk, as they did in 2008, run away.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will soon declare something ZeroHedge readers have known for quite some time - the economic system championed by the international elite is dead and gone.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/when-keynesians-predict-disaster-start-buying
I always get excited about a market correction when I read the Keynesian consensus predict a disaster. The same people who claimed massive money printing and soaring government spending wouldn’t cause inflation are the ones who know exactly how tariffs will impact aggregate prices. Fascinating.
In June 2016, sixteen Nobel Prize winners expected higher inflation from tariffs, and it never happened. Furthermore, many of those economists recommended enormous government spending and Federal Reserve quantitative easing in 2020, stating there were no concerns about inflation. However, this led to the highest inflationary burst in thirty years. Reality showed that there was no inflation in 2016-2019 and that the insane printing and spending spree of 2021 led to the current inflationary burst. This happens because many economic experts will always justify all government imbalances and tax hikes but raise alarm at any tax cut or supply-side measure. We should never trust experts that work painfully close to social democrat governments.
When Keynesians predict a disaster, it is unlikely to happen. When the Keynesian consensus tells you that there is no risk, as they did in 2008, run away.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/uk-pm-starmer-make-stunning-admission-globalization-over
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will soon declare something ZeroHedge readers have known for quite some time - the economic system championed by the international elite is dead and gone.