Author: Administrator

Pete Buttigieg’s father was a Marxist professor who lauded the Communist Manifesto

Via The Washington Examiner

The father of Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg was a Marxist professor who spoke fondly of the Communist Manifesto and dedicated a significant portion of his academic career to the work of Italian Communist Party founder Antonio Gramsci, an associate of Vladimir Lenin.

Joseph Buttigieg, who died in January at the age of 71, immigrated to the U.S. in the 1970s from Malta and in 1980 joined the University of Notre Dame faculty, where he taught modern European literature and literary theory. He supported an updated version of Marxism that jettisoned some of Marx and Engel’s more doctrinaire theories, though he was undoubtedly Marxist.

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The Pandemic Isn’t Ending, It’s Just The Beginning Of Global Disorder & Depression

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

When you’ve been lied to, you’ve been betrayed. Betrayal has consequences.

Unsurprisingly, denying the pandemic is unstoppable and consequential is the order of the day: authorities everywhere are terrified these realities might leak through all their oh-so-obviously desperate firewalls and filters. Why are they terrified? Because they know the entire global economy, including the linchpin Chinese and U.S. economies, was extremely fragile before the pandemic arose: why else the panic-stimulus and panic-repo policies of the Federal Reserve and the People’s Bank of China in the pre-pandemic months of Q4 2019?

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The Next “Minsky Moment” Is Inevitable

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

In 2007, I was at a conference where Paul McCulley, who was with PIMCO at the time, was discussing the idea of a “Minsky Moment.”  At that time, this idea fell on “deaf ears” as the markets, and economy, were in full swing.

However, it wasn’t too long before the 2008 “Financial Crisis” brought the “Minsky Moment” thesis to the forefront. What was revealed, of course, was the dangers of profligacy which resulted in the triggering of a wave of margin calls, a massive selloff in assets to cover debts, and higher default rates.

So, what exactly is a “Minsky Moment?”

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Trump Did Not Save America From Decline

Guest Post by Bill Bonner

You never have to default because you print the money.

– Donald J. Trump

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – Today we look at numbers. And oh… what you can do with numbers.

There are only 10 of them. But you can string them together in a sequence as long as you want.

Then, depending on where you put the single period, you can describe either the distance to Pluto… or the thickness of a molecule…

Twisted Truths

Numbers can be as true as a carpenter’s level… or as twisted as the U.S. budget.

They may not lie. But they can hide the truth, disguise the truth, or pretend there is truth where there is none.

Put enough dodgy, dopey, and fakey numbers together, for example, and you have the U.S. GDP growth rate. The number is so full of fudge it will make your teeth rot.

They get it by subtracting the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the nominal growth numbers. The economy is growing, in nominal terms, by 4%… and inflation (the CPI) is running at 2%. Subtracting one from the other, they get 2%.

But suppose you calculate the CPI the way the government did in, say, 1980?

Shadowstats economist John Williams still runs those numbers. He gets an inflation rate of 10%. Subtract that from nominal growth and what do you get? Minus 6%!

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Smaller Restaurants Forced Into Bankruptcy As Foot Traffic Collapses

Via ZeroHedge

While the big names in eating out – McDonald’s, Popeye’s, Chick-Fil-A and Olive Garden, to name a few – are all working diligently to get customers through the door at a time when the American eater is staying home more, lesser known restaurants are bearing the brunt of not being able to find new customers.

Names like Bar Louie and American Blue Ribbon Holdings, which owns Village Inn and Bakers Square, both filed for bankruptcy earlier this week, according to Bloomberg. Both cited lower foot traffic in the U.S. as the reason for their downfall.

Michael Halen a senior restaurant analyst at Bloomberg, said: “The business is just over-built, especially casual dining and full-service dining. There are too many restaurants.”

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Optimism Fades As Virus Deaths Jump To 724; 190K Under Observation; Drop In New Cases Reverses Higher

Via ZeroHedge

Summary:

  • Confirmed cases rise to just shy of 35K in China and 24 other countries, deaths surge by 86 to 722, set to surpass SARS total in hours; total number of people under observation jumps to an all time high of 189,660.
    • Suspected cases rose to 27,657 from 26,359 the day before, with 6,107 people in in serious/critical condition. Patients who have recovered jumped to 2,050,
  • 6,107 people are in serious/critical condition
  • Reporter says ‘real’ death toll could be closer to 20k
  • German scientists say coronavirus can survive for 9 days on surfaces
  • Chinese quarantine expanded to Guangzhou; 400 million now on lockdown
  • Singapore raises response level to Orange
  • Hong Kong confirms case No. 25
  • Death of Dr. Li stokes demands for more free speech in China

* * *

Update (2000 ET): After two days of declines in the number of “new cases” reported by China’s National Health Commission, and the latest number of total infected in China coming in below JPMorgan’s daily estimate – no really, to JPM the number of daily new infections is just like the jobs report: it either beats or it misses…

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WAL-MART FREAKS OF THE WEEK

Listen pal, ditch the wallet and hat. With that tail, we all know you’re a rebel.

Holy shit bud, can we get any more specific with useless personal facts on that t-shirt? Was your mother’s maiden name too long to fit on there or something?

Anybody else disappointed that she didn’t just tuck that gun up underneath her FUPA?

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The U.S. Cities Mired In The Most Debt

Quite a feather in the cap of good old Mike Bloomberg.

Via ZeroHedge

Truth in Accounting has released its 2020 Financial State of Cities report, highlighting the fiscal health of America’s 75 most populous cities. Statista’s Niall McCarthy notes that the study found that this year, 63 cities do not have enough money to pay their bills and total municipal debt now stands at $323 billion.

It ranked the cities according to their taxpayer burden or surplus which is the amount each taxpayer would have to pay to clear municipal debt with nothing, such as benefits and services, in exchange.

Infographic: The U.S. Cities Mired In Debt | Statista

You will find more infographics at Statista

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Impeachment 2.0

Guest Post by Martin Armstrong

I previously warned that the Democrats were considering a second Impeachment. The Democrats cannot defeat Trump in a fair election. They have sought to effectively stage a coup and Adam B. Schiff, California Democrat is launching an investigation of President Trump and his entire family as well as his businesses. The new theory is he must be guilty of money laundering and maybe bribery. Obviously, they are desperately trying to prevent a loss in 2020.

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Doctor Copper Strikes – A True Economic Barometer

Guest Post by Marin Katusa via International Man

copper

Copper has long been an excellent proxy for global economic health. It’s used in everything from washing machines to electric cars.

That’s why copper is often referred to as “Doctor Copper” – because it can diagnose the health of the market.

There’s been a lot of market sentiment that the bottom has been put into copper, and that 2020 is the year of the metal rat.

I’m long term bullish on copper, but I stated publicly in late 2019 that caution was required in the near term.

Rewind just over 12 months ago when we wrote about the potential of a copper wipeout. That research piece was one that got an insane number of eyeballs.

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY – Americans secure Guadalcanal – 1943

Via History.com

On February 8, 1943, Japanese troops evacuate Guadalcanal, leaving the island in Allied possession after a prolonged campaign. The American victory paved the way for other Allied wins in the Solomon Islands.

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QUOTES OF THE DAY

“Fraud and falsehood only dread examination. Truth invites it. Whoever commits a fraud is guilty not only of the particular injury to him who he deceives, but of the diminution of that confidence which constitutes not only the ease but the existence of society.”

Dr. Samuel Johnson

“Price discovery is not a sexy function of markets, but it is critical to the efficient allocation of scarce capital and resources, and to the preservation of the long term wealth of investors and the economy as a whole. If price discovery is compromised by manipulation, then we will all be gradually impoverished and the economy will be imbalanced and unstable.”

London Banker, Lies, Damn Lies and LIBOR

“The truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it, ignorance may deride it, malice may distort it, but, there it is.”

Winston Churchill

“Then the kings of the earth, their nobles and their commanders, the rich, the powerful, and every one of their willing slaves and free men, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us, and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne, and from the righteous anger of the Lamb.'”

Rev 6:15-16

The Consequence of Globalism Is World Instability

Guest Post by Paul Craig Roberts

If the coronavirus proves to be serious, as it does not appear to be at the present time, many economies could be adversely affected. China is the source of many parts supplied to producers in other countries, and China is the source of the finished products of many US firms such as Apple. If shipments cannot be made, sales and production outside of China are affected. Without revenues, employees cannot be paid. Unlike the financial crisis of 2008, this would be an unemployment crisis and bankruptcy of large manufacturing and marketing corporations.

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