from TENET Media
Sound Money vs. Fiat Currency: Trade and Credit Are the Wild Cards
by Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds
We need to start thinking outside the current system, which has no solutions.
Our convictions about money are quasi-religious: heretics are burned at the stake. I’m not sure which stake I’ll be tied to, because all the conventional choices–fiat currency, sound money (gold, Bitcoin) or debt-free currency (a.k.a. MMT)–are all fatally flawed.
To understand why, consider the wild cards in any monetary system: global trade and credit. Let’s start with credit, which as David Graeber explained in his book Debt: The First 5,000 Years, has been an integral component of monetary arrangements since the dawn of civilization.
Taxes must be paid and seed purchased for the next crop, and so credit in some form–notched sticks, bills of sale, purchase orders, loans–is the lifeblood of commerce and state revenues. Credit naturally divides into short-term commercial credit–credit extended until the goods or payment are delivered–and longer term credit secured by collateral.
This Terrifies the Regime
by Jeffrey Tucker
Daily Reckoning
In April 2020, I confidently predicted a political revolt, a movement against masks, a population-wide revulsion against the elites, a demand to reject “social distancing” and streaming-only life, plus widespread disgust at everything and everyone involved.
I was off by four years. It looks like the backlash may finally be here. New literature is emerging to document it all.
The new book White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy is a viciously partisan, histrionic and gravely inaccurate account that gets nearly everything wrong but one: Vast swaths of the public are fed up, not with democracy but its opposite of ruling-class hegemony.
The revolt is not racial and not geographically determined. It’s not even about left and right, categories that are mostly a distraction. It’s class-based in large part but more precisely about the rulers versus the ruled.
Rand Paul: Mike Johnson Voting with Democrats On FISA, Spending ‘Abdicating the Power of the Purse’
by Jeff Poor
Breitbart.com
During this week’s broadcast of FNC’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for voting along with Democrats on two key subjects — the renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) last week and a $1.2 trillion budget package last month.
Paul acknowledged that Senate Republicans were also partly to blame. However, he accused Johnson of abdicating the power of the purse.
“I want to also ask you about what you heard from the speaker regarding FISA,” host Maria Bartiromo asked. “Can we trust government? Can we trust government to use FISA appropriately and legally?”
“Absolutely not,” Paul replied. “Americans shouldn’t be spied on by their own government. The Fourth Amendment was put in by our founding fathers to protect us. FISA doesn’t obey the Fourth Amendment.
Don’t Forget to Claim Drug Dealing Income On Your Taxes
According to IRS guidance, any income derived from illegal activity is taxable, and there’s no statute of limitations on when they can go after you.
by Joe Lancaster
Reason.com
As just about every American adult knows and is dreading, Monday, April 15, is Tax Day. Each year, taxpayers scrounge together each income statement the government requires and any random receipt that may result in a modest deduction in the amount they’re expected to pay.
The IRS wants taxpayers to know that if you made money from anything illegal last year—stealing, selling illegal drugs, taking bribes—then that’s taxable, too.
Last year, Americans spent 6.5 billion hours doing their taxes, which translates to roughly $260 billion in lost productivity. That’s in addition to the $104 billion they spent in direct costs on the actual tax filing and preparation.
Much of that complexity stems from the amount of deductions and carve-outs the tax law allows, as well as the types of revenue required to be treated as taxable income.
The Bargain with Government is Coming Apart
by P.F. Kelly, Jr.
American Thinker
Imagine you are a mouse — a placid little creature — living in a labyrinth. You don’t know it’s a labyrinth; it’s just where you live. You follow a well worn path, meandering along, chasing the red button. The red button provides you with food or whatever makes you happy.
But you’ve started to notice that things are changing. It’s not as good as it used to be in the labyrinth, not as easy to get to the button. And the payoff when you get there isn’t as good anymore. You’re anxious, but you’re not sure what to do. You’re starting to wonder about things. It’s been dawning on you that following the path isn’t getting you anywhere, and you may even be going backwards.
Suddenly you’re presented with a choice: keep running along the same path, or exit the labyrinth. Will you head for the door? Are you nodding yes? Will you do it? What will it take for you to lift up your head and leave the comfortable confines of the labyrinth?
Trump: “Everything Biden Touches Turns to Shit”
What has he done that’s good? Nothing.
by Steve Watson
Modernity News
During a huge rally in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania Saturday night, Donald Trump blasted Joe Biden, reeling off a list of massive failures and urging that “everything he touches turns to shit.”
Trump was speaking while Iran, which just four years ago was crippled under Trump, but in the past three years has prospered after Biden eased sanctions, decided to launch a full on military attack on Israel.
[…] “Before going any further, I want to say God bless the people of Israel,” Trump stated, adding “They’re under attack right now. That’s because we show great weakness.”
Trump urged that such an attack would never have happened under his watch.
“A Declaration of War”: How the Conflict Between Israel and Iran Fits Into the Bigger Picture
by Michael Snyder
End of the American Dream
Iran’s attack on Israel is being called “a declaration of war”, and that is precisely what it was. Shooting more than 300 drones and missiles at another country is definitely an act of war, and the Iranian parliament was loudly chanting “death to Israel” as it was happening. Many are shocked that a full-blown war between Israel and Iran is developing, but those that have been following my work are not shocked at all. In fact, this is precisely what we have been anticipating. I have been writing about a coming war between Israel and Iran for years, and in my book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” I lay out what will happen in great detail. So the truth is that we have been waiting for this for a very long time and now it is here.
After IDF troops entered Gaza, a lot of people out there didn’t initially believe that a major regional war would develop in the Middle East.
RFK Jr. Breaks Down How BlackRock Controls Political Parties, Big Pharma & Military Industries
“BlackRock owns the processed food companies that are poisoning us, and they own the pharmaceutical companies that are making $4.3 trillion a year,” says presidential candidate.
by Infowars.com
Info Wars
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. explained how BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management corporation, controls both political parties to suppress meaningful discussions about America’s health crisis and foreign policy.
“BlackRock owns the processed food companies that are poisoning us, and they own the pharmaceutical companies that are making $4.3 trillion a year…treating the chronic disease that’s being caused by BlackRock’s other group of companies,” Kennedy said on the “Rubin Report” Sunday.
[…] “Shouldn’t we talk about the fact that we have 1,000 ingredients in our foods that are illegal in other countries?”
And on America’s interventionist doctrine, Kennedy explained:
Iran Strikes: Silver Sees Highest Weekly Close in 11 Years, but Take a Look at This…
from King World News
The silver markets saw the highest weekly close in more than 11 years on Friday, but take a look at this…
Let me add one final thought about the increasing geopolitical tensions that have been ramping up recently. Gold is not rising because of wars or rumors of wars. Gold is rising because of the constant debasement of fiat money, which is how politicians and governments have stolen from the people since the beginning of time. It is theft through inflation. It is insidious, and it is the sole reason why the price of gold is headed many thousands of dollars higher. — James Turk
Silver Highest Weekly Close In 11 Years
April 14 (King World News) – James Turk: Friday’s big swing in precious metals prices may have left some heads spinning, Eric. But what happened is exactly the kind of volatility I said to expect in our interview last weekend.
What Will Israel Do Now?
by Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse Blog
I have been sitting here trying to figure out what to write about what we just witnessed. Just like October 7th, the shocking attack on Israel that just took place altered the course of history. This was the first time that Iran ever attacked Israel directly, and I was flooded with emails by readers that were concerned about World War III. So now that the Iranian attack is over, what will Israel do now? That is the big question. If Israel directly attacks Iran, the Iranians will inevitably respond and the conflict could spiral out of control. But if the Israelis do not strike back, they will look weak and the Iranians could feel like they will be able to get away with similar things in the future.
Overall, the Iranians sent more than 300 drones and missiles toward Israeli territory…
Inflation Everywhere, War Everywhere
by Greg Hunter
USA Watchdog
The latest inflation numbers came in this week, and it says inflation is everywhere. Gasoline is up 6.3%, the Consumer Price Index is up 3.5%, rent, electricity, water and sewer are all up at least 5% and the Fed is realizing it is not cutting interest rates. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers says you might even get a rate increase. Bidenomics = inflation.
Where is the inflation coming from? War spending in the hundreds of billions of dollars in Ukraine and more being spent every day so we can have war everywhere. Then, there are the billions of bucks spent on taking care of illegal immigrants and poor Biden Administration policies that we would not have if he was not cheated in in 2020. Yes, I said Biden was cheated in, and the evidence is overwhelming and obvious. Let’s stop pretending Biden is legit. The cheating is why so many things are screwed up in the world, and they are doing it again, according to Tucker Carlson who summed it up perfectly and succinctly last week. Listen to this brilliant description of the nationwide cheating in 2024 for yourself, and you will agree.
The Final Nail in the Coffin of Synchronized Central Bank Actions
from Zero Hedge
By Elwin de Groot, head of macro strategy at Rabobank
As we head into the weekend and gold prices just reached their highest level ever and the euro has slipped below 1.07 for the first time since November last year (perhaps also as some market participants worry about an imminent attack on Israel by Iran or its proxies), we may conclude that this week has proved to be the final nail in the coffin of synchronized central bank policy actions.
Not so long ago ‘June’ appeared to be the month for the two major global central banks. But in the last few weeks the Fed got it’s ‘itchy fingers’ slapped by stronger-than-expected labor market and sticky (services) CPI data.
The Black Swan Rears Its Head: The Fed Has Negative Capital Using GAAP Accounting
by Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Wall Street on Parade
The Fed’s unprecedented experiments with years of ZIRP (Zero Interest Rate Policy) and QE (Quantitative Easing), where it bought up trillions of dollars of low-yielding U.S. Treasuries and agency Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) and quietly parked them on its balance sheet, are now posing a threat to the Fed’s flexibility in conducting monetary policy. (Since 2008, the Fed’s concept of conducting monetary policy has come to enshrine serial Wall Street mega bank bailouts as a regular part of its monetary policy. Large and growing cash losses at the Fed may seriously crimp such future bailouts.)
As of last Wednesday, according to Fed data, the Fed was sitting on $6.97 trillion of debt instruments it had predominantly purchased at very low fixed rates of interest. Because the interest rate (coupon) is fixed for these past purchases, when new bonds are issued in the marketplace at higher interest rates, they become more attractive and the current market value of the low-yielding fixed-rate bonds fall. U.S. Treasuries and agency MBS guarantee principal at maturity but if the securities have to be sold prior to maturity they will be sold at their current market value. This is what triggered the death spiral at Silicon Valley Bank in March of last year.
The Latest Updates From Martin Armstrong for 2024.04.12
by Martin Armstrong
Armstrong Economics
The Coming Events – Iran & Ukraine
Biden’s Secret Flights Responsible for NYC’s Migrant Crisis
USDA: Straight White Male Farmers Will Receive Disaster Aid Last
Insurance Companies Planning for Climate Lockdowns
Canada Accuses India of Election Interference
Inflation Lies & Monetary Madness
Dive into the world of economic truths with us on this week’s Finance University, as Paul and I unravel the deeper impact of inflation beyond the government’s portrayal.
by Dr. Chris Martenson
Chris Martenson’s Peak Prosperity
Welcome to this week’s Finance University episode.
This week, we’re tackling a hot-button issue: inflation. With government figures often underplaying the real impact of inflation on everyday lives, it’s essential to peel back the layers and understand the true picture. We’ll be joined as usual by Paul Kiker from Kiker Wealth Management, bringing his expertise to our lively conversation. Whether you’re grappling with rising costs or curious about how inflation shapes our economy, this episode is a must-watch. So, set a reminder, tune in, and let’s explore these critical financial issues together.
These Powerful Inspired Idiots Will Take Us Back to the Stone Age
by James Hickman
Schiff Sovereign
There’s no limit to how much Inspired Idiots around the world hate oil companies.
It seems like almost every day there’s a story about protestors who superglue themselves to the pavement in order to block traffic. Or deface an art museum. Or interrupt a public sporting event.
Recently they even glitter-bombed the Constitution in Washington DC… because apparently the Founding Fathers caused climate change.
Bear in mind that everything these Inspired Idiots use to ‘protest’ is derived from oil.
The adhesive they use to glue their asses to the pavement is derived from oil. The plastic bottle that the glue comes in is derived from oil. The plastic glitter they use is derived from oil. The paint they use to deface buildings and artwork is derived from oil.