ROT & DISEASE SPREADING ACROSS THE GLOBE

Guest Post by Jim Kunstler

     The rot moves from the margins to the center, but the disease moves from the center to the margins. That is what has happened in the realm of money in recent weeks due to the sustained mispricing of the cost of credit by central banks, led by the US Federal Reserve. Along the way, that outfit has managed to misprice just about everything else  — stocks, houses, exotic securities, food commodities, precious metals, fine art. Oil is mispriced as well, on the low side, since oil production only gets more expensive and complex these days while it depends more on mispriced borrowed money. That situation will be corrected by scarcity, as oil companies discover that real capital is unavailable. And then the oil will become scarce. The “capital” circulating around the globe now is a squishy, gelatinous substance called “liquidity.” All it does is gum up markets. But eventually things do get unstuck.

     Meanwhile, the rot of epic mispricing expresses itself in collapsing currencies and the economies they are supposed to represent: India, Turkey, Argentina, Hungary so far. Italy, Spain, and Greece would be in that club if they had currencies of their own. For now, they just do without driving their cars and burn furniture to stay warm this winter. Automobile use in Italy is back to 1970s levels of annual miles-driven. That’s quite a drop.

     Before too long, the people will be out in the streets engaging with the riot police, as in Ukraine. This is long overdue, of course, and probably cannot be explained rationally since extreme changes in public sentiment are subject to murmurations, the same unseen forces that direct flocks of birds and schools of fish that all at once suddenly turn in a new direction without any detectable communication.

     Who can otherwise explain the amazing placidity of the sore beset American public, beyond the standard trope about bread, circuses, and superbowls? Last night they were insulted with TV commercials hawking Maserati cars. Behold, you miserable nation of overfed SNAP card swipers, the fruits of wealth and celebrity! Savor your unworthiness while you await the imminent spectacles of the Sochi Olympics and Oscar Night! Things at the margins may yet interrupt the trance at the center. My guess is that true wickedness brews unseen in the hidden, unregulated markets of currency and interest rate swaps.

     The big banks are so deep in this derivative ca-ca that eyeballs are turning brown in the upper level executive suites. Notable bankers are even jumping out of windows, hanging themselves in back rooms, and blowing their brains out in roadside ditches. Is it not strange that there are no reports on the contents of their suicide notes, if they troubled to leave one? (And is it not unlikely that they would all exit the scene without a word of explanation?) One of these, William Broeksmit, a risk manager for Deutsche Bank, was reportedly engaged in “unwinding positions” for that that outfit, which holds over $70 trillion in swap paper. For scale, compare that number with Germany’s gross domestic product of about $3.4 trillion and you could get a glimmer of the mischief in motion out there. Did poor Mr. Broeksmit despair of his task? 

     Physicist Stephen Hawking declared last week that black holes are not exactly what people thought they were. Stuff does leak back out of them. This will soon be proven in the unwinding derivatives trades when most of the putative wealth associated with swaps and such disappears across the event horizon of bad faith, and little dribbles of their prior existence leak back out in bankruptcy proceedings and political upheaval.

     The event horizon of bad faith is the exact point where the credulous folk of this modern age, from high to low, discover that their central banks only pretend to be regulating agencies, that they ride a juggernaut of which nobody is really in control. The illusion of control has been the governing myth since the Lehman moment in 2008. We needed desperately to believe that the authorities had our backs. They don’t even have their own fronts.

     Is the money world at that threshold right now? One thing seems clear: nobody is able to turn back the plummeting currencies. They go where they will and their failures must be infectious as the greater engine of world trade seizes up. Who will write the letters of credit that make international commerce possible? Who will trust whom? When do people seriously start to starve and reach for the pitchforks? When does the action move from Kiev to London, New York, Frankfurt, and Paris?

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TeresaE
TeresaE

Years back (’08ish), I knew to watch for rat’s jumping ship as my warning.

Looks like it may be starting anew.

We seem to be near top of this Wall Street rally. Wonder what the market will look like if the big banks decide they need actual cash?

Blood on the streets would be my guess.

hardscrabble farmer
hardscrabble farmer

I’m fairly handy with a pitch fork, I can see where that trope would have staying power in the era of automation. There’s something visceral in the possibility of putting it to alternative uses.

Kill Bill
Kill Bill

Dont Worry, Yellen is going to repair all this by deflating those super-elastic bubble plastic things….well until the fire alarm goes off sending Yellen in full panic mode with a high pressure fire hose spouting Promissory Notes across the NYSE.

treemagnet
treemagnet

I don’t know about you folks, but I’ve started to view Fridays very, very differently than I used to.

Thinker
Thinker

And yet, I feel like the tide may be turning… it’s still early days, but stories like these give me hope that people are starting to say, “enough is enough.”

Long-Shot Bill Would Allow NH Voters To Vote ‘None Of The Above’

Voters in NH may soon be able to indicate their lack of satisfaction with candidate choices from the parties in presidential elections. The drawback? It might “humiliate” candidates selected by their parties.

“Real choice means people have to be able to withhold their consent,” Weed said. “You can’t do that with silly write-ins. Mickey Mouse is not as good as ‘none of the above.’”

Property Rights Bill Introduced After Va. Woman Threatened with Fines for Kids’ Birthday Party – See more at: http://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/mark-fitzgibbons/property-rights-bill-introduced-after-va-woman-threatened-fines-kids#sthash.Hho3bOVc.K1guV1fv.dpuf

Virginia considering a new law that would fine local officials with zoning authority powers for overreach of duty and depriving land owners of their Constitutional rights in enjoyment of their land is being considered. The law was introduced after a woman was threatened with $5,000/day fines for “menacing activities” like hosting a birthday party for eight 10-year old girls without a permit. Other residents rallied for her at “pitchfork protests,” prompting a lawmaker to take action and introduce the bill.

California Legalized Selling Food Made At Home And Created Over A Thousand Local Businesses

California is realizing that over-the-top rules and regulations kill local business. A local lawmaker has stepped up and introduced a bill — that passed with overwhelming support — to allow the cottage food industry to operate with common sense rules and regulations.

treemagnet
treemagnet

@thinker, the story about the menacing activities fine for having a birthday party…..am I the only one that’s fed up with having the accused having to respond politely to a bullshit ‘ticket’. If the mother told the official for example, ‘go fuck yourself’, her having said that to the official would then become the basis of the justification for the original act of menacing.

Its like you aren’t even allowed to get sick of the bullshit or its all on you.

Econman
Econman

The only time Jesus got mad in the Bible was at moneychangers/bankers.

Financial alchemists cause more suffering with their counterfeiting than any other criminal.

Kill Bill
Kill Bill

Hayo, thumb down trollop…
comment image
Kiss me right here.

Econman
Econman

People have to realize if it isn’t in the Constitution, it’s illegal.

Thinker
Thinker

@ treemagnet, I do think that power-hungry officials — and cops in particular — abuse their power of authority in direct relation to the amount of grief a citizen gives them in response. It’s very likely that the mother in question told local authorities she wasn’t going to get a permit to hold a birthday party, so the local officials then monitored her to see if she “broke the law.” That kind of harassment is exactly what citizens are facing everywhere (the California article profiles a bread baker who was set upon after a favorable news story).

I still say civil disobedience is the way to go. Starve the beast. People find out there’s more support for their actions against authority than they imagined.

BUCKHED
BUCKHED

I’ve said this many times on this sight but hell I’ll say it again, When a person tells me we live in the freest country in the world I tell him to build a garage in his backyard without a permit and then tell me how free you feel after you’re fined for not paying tribute to the local officials .

Pirate Jo
Pirate Jo

“Financial alchemists cause more suffering with their counterfeiting than any other criminal.”

We exchange half of our waking hours for money. When money itself is poisoned, think about what that really means.

Stucky
Stucky

“The only time Jesus got mad in the Bible was at moneychangers/bankers.” —–Econman

Fig trees also pissed off Jeebus.

KaD
KaD
indialantic
indialantic

The beginning of the emerging markets currency crises appears to have started at the ending of the 2014 Davos Summit of philanthropic global billionaires.

Thinker
Thinker
Econman
Econman

Fig trees also pissed off Jeebus.

Stucky, please explain. I’m not a big religious expert, except in some places econ comes in.

Econman
Econman

We exchange half of our waking hours for money. When money itself is poisoned, think about what that really means.

Wow. Thanks for pointing that out. No matter how much I think I understand the scam of fractional reserve banking, the scam goes deeper.

Stucky
Stucky

“Fig trees also pissed off Jeebus. ……… Stucky, please explain” ——— Econman

It comes from Mark 11:12-25 — Jesus Curses a Fig Tree and Clears the Temple Courts — (emphasis mine)

———————————————————- –

12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 THEN HE SAID TO THE TREE, “MAY NO ONE EVER EAT FRUIT FROM YOU AGAIN..” And his disciples heard him say it.

15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

19 When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.

20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “RABBI, LOOK! THE FIG TREE YOU CURSED HAS WITHERED!”

22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly[d] I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

Thinker
Thinker

Stucky, oh font of all knowledge, here’s another riddle for you: http://www.thekitchn.com/can-you-help-me-recreate-this-1-125980

I’m not familiar with it (don’t believe it’s Schwaben). I know the Austrians have a similar dish, but do you happen to know it?

Billy
Billy

Speaking of rot and disease…

Fred Reed has an awesome column today. Fred is awesome…

—————————————————————-

Dismal Wisdom for Dismal Times

Ah, the guttering candle of civilization! How I love it. The dwindling flames warm the cockles of a curmudgeon’s heart (whatever precisely a cockle may be): the galloping rot, the stampede to enstupidation, the gathering night of the Fifth Century….

http://fredoneverything.net/Soul.shtml

Fred and I are in agreement on many things… that alcohol in copious amounts helps a great deal when you’re dealing with the insane or with fucktards… we both gleefully rub our hands together at the thought of the end of western civilization. But Fred has a razor wit that I cannot duplicate or match…

The guy is just fucking awesome…

Chaos… glorious chaos..

Stucky
Stucky

Thinker

My mom (nor I) have made soups with beer in them. However, she has made a soup with most of the other ingredients. It’s called “Graupensuppe” with a beef base, and barley.

But I did have soups with beer in Munich during Oktoberfest. It’s an onion soup. But, even here, it does not have all the ingredients you listed.

So, I, the Fountain Of Knowledge, have failed you.

comment image

http://www.germanfoods.org/consumer/recipes/dark-beer-onion-soup.cfm

Thinker
Thinker

Thanks, Stucky. My family has soup recipes with beer in them, but never the dumplings on the top; that tends to be more Austrian.

Stucky
Stucky

Thinker

Maybe this helps.

That website you had me look at …. One of the comments was from Germany … says it’s a family recipe … Brotsuppe (bread soup). I included the conversions, and took out the German words. Whatever ingredients are missing, such as mushrooms, can easily be added. I think I might try it this week.

250 g (1 cup, or 8.8oz) ————– Stale bread
50 g (¼ cup , or 1.8 oz) —– smoked bacon
1 onion
1 clove garlic
125 ml (½ cup) —– beer
1 Liter ( 4 ¼ cups) beef broth
2 Tablespoons sour cream
1 bunch chives

1) Slice bacon into pieces, and mince garlic — cook on medium heat

2) cut bread in squares. Add chopped onions and roast all in the bacon fat.

3) stir in beer and broth …. cook for 15 min.

4) chop up chives, stir in sour cream and serve.

Kill Bill
Kill Bill

12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 THEN HE SAID TO THE TREE, “MAY NO ONE EVER EAT FRUIT FROM YOU AGAIN..” And his disciples heard him say it.

15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” -Stucky

I think the fig tree with no fruit was an allusion to the robbers who took but did not give.

-KB

Billy
Billy

I despise starlings.

Some asshat English guy brought FOUR of the fuckers to the US once upon a time… we didn’t have any of our own…. so this guy brings FOUR of the stinking things over here and they get loose…

Fast forward, and there are BILLIONS of the little bastards! Horrible invasive species… Not only are they are danger to aviation (airport up in Northern Kentucky gassed a few million of them so they wouldn’t get sucked into engines on takeoff or landing and crash the fucking planes), but they SHIT ALL OVER EVERYTHING. Nasty fuckers, they wait till other, nicer birds build their nests, then kick the nice birds the fuck out and take over. They swarm the farmland around here like locusts… every time I get the chance, I blast the little fucks. Since I began blasting them (which barely makes a dent in their numbers, but makes me feel better and scares away the survivors), the other birds (cardinals, bluebirds, etc) have began coming back.

Starlings aren’t songbirds, either… they mostly make croaking noises. They aren’t colorful either. Dark ash grey to blackish colored… nasty.

Stucky
Stucky

“I think the fig tree with no fruit was an allusion to the robbers who took but did not give.” —-KB

That sounds as reasonable as any other explanation.

However vs. 15-19 occur in Jerusalem. So, the time-sequence goes like this;
—– 1) They are on the way to Jerusalem, Jeebus curses a fig tree
—– 2) They are in Jerusalem for two days, Jeebus turns over tables, pisses off authorities
—— 3) They leave Jerusalem, see the fig tree again

In other words,, the tables&robbers stuff is, imho, an intermediate story not related to the fig tree.

If anything, Jeebus; speech AFTER seeing the tree the second time probably gives the meaning for the cursed and wilted fig tree. That is, Jeebus said “Have faith in God”. Many of Jeebus’ stories are constructed ‘from-lessor-to-greater.

So, the lessor act the first time is to cause a fig tree to wither, with just a word from Jeebus. The greater act the second time is to throw a mountain into the sea, …. but this time with just a word from His’ followers.This is sensible because Jeebus says — “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and EVEN GREATER WORKS” …. lessor to greater. It’s ALL about faith. And it all ties in very nicely with Jeebus’ greater message.

However, most theologians say both you and I are wrong. The most popular explanation, by far, involves all kind of symbolism. Israel is the fig tree, as per other parables from Jesus involving fig trees. Israel (the fig tree) is cursed for not believing in the Messiah.

Personally, I hate “symbolic interpretation”. Why? You can pretty much make the symbol mean whatever you want it too. I like my interpretation, and yours, better.

bb

I love those birds and feed them hamburger buns when I am home .Sometimes I buy 5 Or 6 packs and they will come up.and take the buns right out of my hand.Billy ,maybe you should try this instead of trying to kill them you heartless ………

bb

Stucky it wasn’t me. Whose the bird murderers that give me a thumbs down.Reveal yourselves.

Thinker
Thinker

Stucky, just back and saw your follow up — thanks for that. It does sound good, and I’m going to add it to my list of soups to make next. I still have some beef-mushroom-barley to finish.

If you make it, let me know how it is, or what you’d do to change it. It sounds delicious.

Stucky
Stucky

“If you make it, let me know how it is, or what you’d do to change it. It sounds delicious” —Thinker

Will do!

Billy
Billy

“I love those birds and feed them hamburger buns when I am home .Sometimes I buy 5 Or 6 packs and they will come up.and take the buns right out of my hand.Billy ,maybe you should try this instead of trying to kill them you heartless ………” — bb

If this is really you, and not a dopple, it doesn’t surprise me in the least.

Starlings are an invasive species. They SHIT all over everything. They’re nasty. We have a mulberry tree in our yard. EVERY YEAR the west side of our house is literally painted with the purple droppings from thousands of these little cocksuckers… swarms of them blot out the sun. Feeding them hamburger buns? Fuck, feeding them ANYTHING would only encourage them to come back and increase the numbers of the useless fucks… and, since any given bit of land can only support X number of critters, if there are MORE of these nasty croaking fucks, then there are LESS of the cool, colorful songbirds I like… eventually, they will drive the colorful birds out completely and all I’m left with are flying shit machines that sound like frogs with a chest cold.

Every time I deck a handful of these nasty pieces of shit, it makes me happy. They’re not too bright – they keep coming back and I keep decking them – but there are less of them and the other, CLEARLY BETTER birds are coming back… I’ve seen birds living in the trees around here that I’ve never seen before, THANKS TO ME BLASTING THE SHIT OUT OF THE FUCKING STARLINGS.

Keep up your butthurt whining about it, bb, and I’ll buy a HeroCam and bolt it to my shotgun and film the little fucks getting swatted out of the sky… then I’ll post them here for you to enjoy… .

So shut the fuck up..

Billy
Billy

Followup to bb’s whiney butthurt-ness…

Before you get any ideas, asscrust, allow me to inform you of something…

“English sparrows and starlings may be hunted year-round, with no bag limit, but a hunting license is required, unless license exempt.” — Kentucky Hunting and Trapping Guide, 2013/14, p. 25

Hey bb? GUESS WHO HAS A VALID 2013/14 HUNTING LICENSE YA FUCKING FAP-STAIN!?!

And Wally-World has a sale on shotgun shells, too…. I’m thinking I might buy me a few more cases of #6’s and #7’s….

bb

Billy ,…..blow me ….you Bird murderer.

Billy
Billy

“Billy ,…. I’m so butthurt I might cry….. you’re a bad bad man! WAHHHHH!” —- bb

BAAHHH-HAHAHAHHAH!!!

Stucky
Stucky

“you Bird Murderer” —- bb to Billy

That’s some funny shit right there. HAD to vote up. Sorry, Billy.

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