e-commentary

. . .

K          “Seems like ten years ago, not two years ago.”

J          “It was ten years ago.  Covid time.”

K          “In mid-February way back then, we were terrified that it was as virulent as a Hantavirus and more terrified that the rest of the public was oblivious to the threat.  The threats to the supply chains were obvious to only a few.”

. . .

K          “Two years ago they said that we needed two weeks to ‘flatten the curve’ but never said that they would take two years to ‘flatten the economy’ and transfer wealth to the wealthy and undermine small and independently owned businesses.”

J          “They launched ‘helicopter money’ that dropped a dollar to the plebs for every hundred thousand dollars delivered to the Kleptocrats.  What an experiment.  We as a society tried wage and price controls in 1971 and helicopter money in 2021-2022.  Inflation is no surprise; inflation is the consequence.” 

. . .

K          “Biden and Putin agree.  Biden plans to boycott Russian oil and gas that is desperately needed in Germany and the West; Russia agrees not to provide the much needed oil and gas to Germany and the West.  As dad would say, Biden is cutting off Europe’s nose to spite Europe’s face and Putin is providing the scalpel.”

J          “Oil is life.  Turning off and turning down the oil wells will not turn out well.”

. . .

K          “Biden’s decision to cut off the Russian central bank’s access to most of its $630 billion of foreign reserves is a desperate and frightening move.  Once again, the United States weaponized the monetary system and issued a formal declaration of ‘World War E’ against Russia.  The rest of the world knows one truth – No one can trust the United States.  There is nothing more important or precious than trust.  Mark my words, there will be a new economic order that is fundamentally different than the current machinations.”

J          “I tell you, for those of us on the outside, the early tell is when the manipulated paper gold price results in few sellers of gold and then a huge chasm between the manipulated price and the actual selling price between a willing seller and a willing buyer.”  

. . .

J          “Someone said that Russia holds 90% of the world’s neon that is critical for lasers and semiconductor manufacturing, 40% of palladium that is necessary for catalytic converters and 35% to 40% of Boeing’s titanium and over 50% of Airbus’s titanium.  And then there is platinum and there is aluminum and there is rhodium.”

K          “From what I read, Europe imports 28% of their oil and 40% of their natural gas from Russia.  The U.S. is not happy with that reality yet cannot meet the demand.  So the U.S. tells the Europeans to freeze.  In the dark.  That will play well in Potsdam.”

. . .

K          “The move from the factory to the farm is as disquieting.  In high school, they described the Ukraine as the breadbasket of what was then the USSR.” 

J          “We always flow back to oil.  Oil is life; food is just oil reconstituted in another form.  Someone observed that Russia and Ukraine account for 30% of the global wheat trade, 20% of the corn, 80% of the sunflower-oil exports and 12% of all calories traded globally.  And they provide fertilizer to grow the products.  Without fertilizer, farmers will not plant.  The inescapable problem is that a car plant can be closed or opened at any time of the year, but a carrot must be planted at a specific time of the year governed by Gaia not by the government.  The times to plant have passed and are passing.  You cannot plant yesterday.”

. . .

K          “You reap what you sow.  We are not sowing.”

J          “We are so in trouble.”

. . .

[See “If Russian Currency Reserves Aren’t Really Money, the World Is in for a Shock” dated March 3, 2022 by Jon Sindreu in the “Wall Street Journal”.]

[See the e-commentary at Covid-19: BAU v. BAU (February 24, 2020), Covid-19 PanICdemic/Plague:  Basically, Back To Basics:  Finding Food; Printing Rutabagas.  Happy Earth Day! (April 20, 2020), Is Inflation Inflating!?!? (April 26, 2021) and Careening Toward A Global Totalitarian Authoritarian Behemoth?  And Then There Is The Fed’s Self-Inflicted Great Checkmate. (January 3, 2022).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“Control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people.”  Henry Kissinger

Two is one; one is none; none is none.

Socio-politico-economic experiments:  1971:  Wage and Price Controls; 2020 – 21:  Helicopter Money

“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”  Galatians 6:7