Hard news. No corned beef was to be had at the local grocery store. So now we have cabbage and potatoes and no beef. Shocking and depressing. Well, we’ll see. If we have it another day it’ll count.
Out in the real world today. Some bank business and visiting some folks. Got back to my regular exercise routine after a week of snow shoveling. Finally had a chance to listen to the ZMan’s podcast this afternoon. It was a discussion of the Irish “Troubles.” He explains how some of the lessons learned there could be applied to our situation with respect to the occupying army we face.
Looking through the news articles I saw that various federal and state prosecutors are trying to get up the nerve to indict Donald Trump for everything from soliciting sex (Stormy Daniels) to treason. And another article said that YouTube has restored Trump’s account on the video site. Boy, do they hate that guy.
But the biggest stories are about failing banks. Apparently, a reckoning is finally setting in over our reckless, seemingly endless trillions of dollars conjured out of thin air. You can see it happening. In 2008 we saw the first wave. After the Bush II wars and the loosening of home mortgage requirements had maxed out the federal government’s credit card, the investment banks were overleveraged and Lehman Brothers sank under the weight. The Fed rescued the even bigger banks and GM and we saw the beginning of “too big to fail.” The stock market has been propped up by zero interest rates for a decade and more but with the COVID debacle and the insane energy policies of the Greenies, inflation has roared back to life and so the government economists tried to raise the prime rate to tame this inflation. But that puts all these zero rate bonds under water. And the little banks then see people stampeding out looking for a way to get some return on their money.
And the result is smaller investment banks like SVB go bust. Now it’s thought the Fed will stop increasing the interest rates and maybe even back it down. And that will reignite inflation and impoverish the working class. “Well so what?” says Joe Biden, “as long as the banks stay open.”
And we hear that consolidation is ahead and when the dust settles there will be only four or five banks left. And since those banks are too big to fail what it really means is that the banks are really now just another name for the US Treasury. And that’s supposed to make us feel better.
But what’s the next step? So essentially the US government now guarantees all of our money in all banks. And not just $250,000 or $500,000 but however much you have. And what’s next? When another big corporation starts failing like Google or Meta will the Feds prop it up too? And what about smaller companies? You see where this goes. There will be one car company, one giant retailer, one appliance company, one social media company, etc. and all of them will be propped up by Uncle Sam. And the employees of those companies are effectively employees of the government.
What is being described is a socialist country like Britain in the 1970s, or as the worst case, the Soviet Union. Long before we get to that endpoint our currency will no longer be considered the world’s reserve currency. It will be considered toilet paper. But the way things are going nobody will do anything about it. Nobody wants to rock the boat. We just slowly settle into endless bureaucracy, mediocrity and dependence.
So, in this pathetic version of 1984, Big Brother is Joe Biden; a lying dementia case who smiles or shouts or cries depending on which lies he’s selling that day. But somehow he’ll have to explain away the fact that America is becoming Cuba. I guess he can buy an olive drab uniform, grow a beard, smoke a cigar and start calling himself “El Presidente.” Yeah, it’s about right.
Update:
Chemist replies:
“Not so fast, Photog. The US government will not guarantee all the deposits in all of the banks. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that: uninsured deposits, would only be covered in the event that a “failure to protect uninsured depositors would create systemic risk and significant economic and financial consequences.”
Josh Hawley relied: “Let me translate that, you only get protection if you’re a woke billionaire who gives a lot of money to Democrats.”
I can easily see Biden letting a red state bank fail and telling the red state depositors to suck it up. Just like he is letting the people in East Palestine suffer.
If you vote GOP you don’t matter in Biden’s America.”
You make a good point Chemist. If Gavin Newsome asks Uncle Joe to help out he will. If I might lose money that would be a source of humor and nothing else.
photog