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The Political Establishment Have Sold Their Souls To The Devil

A weekend topic starting with KIRO in Washington. “Seattle police and fire investigators are searching for a known arson suspect who they believe intentionally started a fire which destroyed an abandoned housing complex in the 5200 block of University Way NE. Squatting, burglary and property crimes have soared in the area, according to neighbors and nearby business owners. Haitham Almaamar, owner of Nathan’s Barbershop across the street, said general crime has spiked here since early June when a nearby unauthorized homeless encampment on Ravenna Ave. was swept by the city after a murder and 70 separate police incidents.”

“‘Now they have no place to stay so they can break in wherever they want,’ said Almaamar. ‘They broke into my barbershop a couple of times. When you have nothing to lose, no matter what you do, you’re not losing anything.'”

From KXAN in Texas. “A daycare owner is calling for the city’s help after she was threatened at knifepoint on her business property. Dina Flores said a shirtless man was bathing at a faucet near the school. When she approached, informed him that he was on private property and asked him to leave, he brandished a knife and repeatedly pointed it at her menacingly. She said she reported it to Austin Police, who arrived on scene more than two hours later.”

“Flores claims she’s witnessed an increase in crime near Escuelita del Alma on Interstate 35 and East 32nd Street since the city opened up the nearby Days Inn hotel last year to be used as a ‘Protective Lodge’ for people at high risk of catching COVID-19. The ProLodge was never part of the community’s homeless response system. However, ‘most individuals accessing the ProLodges are experiencing homelessness,’ the city said last month.”

“‘In June 2020, I chose to not formally complain to City of Austin officials, because I was informed that the housing at the Days Inn Motel was temporary,’ Flores wrote. ‘Now I must raise my voice in protest, because someone, somewhere, made a decision that will continue to permanently affect Escuelita del Alma and no one seemed to care.'”

The DC Line in Washington DC. “Will the emergency ever end? That’s probably the question many landlords and utility companies asked as the DC Council took action this week that confirmed the public health emergency will end July 25. However, legislators extended Mayor Muriel Bowser’s authority under a general emergency. Even worse, elected officials continued their myopic recovery response, turning a blind eye to the needs of middle-class residents while almost entirely focusing the majority of assistance on low-income residents.”

“So, while some DC homeowners, including those in condominiums, are struggling to meet mortgage payments, District officials apparently have been lollygagging.”

From Bisnow New York. “The Big Apple’s hotel industry has been battered and bruised over the past 16 months, and a deluge of supply set to hit the market this year will likely only slow its recovery timeline. Many of the city’s hotels are still temporarily shuttered, while the ones that are open are bringing in less than half of the revenue they did in 2019 on average. Some hotels have seen significant drops in value, and some have been sold at nearly half of what they were bought for just a few years ago.”

“In the months to come — even amid optimism surrounding an expected tourism bounce back with the return of Broadway — the city will have to overcome another huge hurdle: the thousands of newly constructed hotel rooms that are set to hit the market. More than 8,000 new rooms are expected to open before the end of the year, and almost 22,000 are under construction — the most in the U.S., and more than triple the second-place city, Los Angeles, according to hotel research firm STR.”

“Between tax payments, fixed costs and decreased cash flow, no one is making money, Hotel Association of New York City CEO Vijay Dandapani told Bisnow. ‘It’s not possible for any hotel in the city right now to be profitable,’ he said.”

The Victorville Daily Press in California. “Buildings are burning in Barstow at an unusually high rate. A chief city firefighter sees decades of economic deterioration and social despair — accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic — as the root cause. Battalion Chief Nick DiNapoli joined the Barstow Fire Protection District nearly 40 years ago and says his team has been stretched thin for much of that time. In 2021, the agency is facing added pressure from an uptick in structure fires: Incidents of residential or commercial buildings burning — a class separate from wildfires, which are also on the rise across the High Desert.”

“Barstow’s fire department has responded to 79 structure fires in the last six months, Acting Fire Chief Sid Hultquist said, ‘with 14 of them being significant fires that required an extended commitment time.’ This half-year total is more than twice the 30 structure fires BFPD responded to in the final six months of last year, and nearly five times the 17 it responded to in the first six months of 2019, according to data the department provided the Daily Press.”

“DiNapoli thinks economic desperation and homelessness across the region are making for a dangerous mix. In some cases, he says, homeless people are starting fires to keep warm. In others, people in need of cash are stripping valuable materials from within the structures to sell — and unintentionally leaving fire-prone conditions behind. Both are a high risk for places with high volumes of vacant properties, such as Barstow.”

“DiNapoli says a major contributor to vacancies in Barstow is wealthy companies and individuals leaving the city in recent decades and selling off their property to off-site investors ‘living in L.A. or Brentwood or wherever the hell they live.’ He pointed to the years leading up to and after the financial crisis that exploded in 2008, fueled by faulty mortgage-backed securities in the investment world. ‘It’s not an acute problem,’ DiNapoli said. ‘It’s a chronic problem that’s been going on for a long time.'”

The San Jose Spotlight in California. “Vacant storefronts with ‘For Lease’ signs fading in the windows. Abandoned strip malls with a sea of empty concrete spaces. Massive corporate offices from a bygone, pre-virtual era, sitting unoccupied, desolate, forgotten.”

“Sadly, this is the post-pandemic narrative for many California cities, suburbs and exurbs these days. Along with an unexpected financial collapse and a flight of employees to remote office work, the decades-old urban planning principles that put jobs and parking first – and, correspondingly, housing last – have led to vastly underutilized deserts that we have in our communities today.”

From Los Angeles Magazine in California. “How is L.A.’s homelessness crisis affecting the high-end market? Agent Michelle Schwartz: ‘That’s driving people away from certain locations. I mean, it’s just major: you come off some of those side streets, and people start scratching their heads and asking, ‘How do I own a $10 million house where there’s a homeless encampment down the road?'”

The Los Angeles Times in California. “The town hall meeting was organized by a group of Westside residents passionate about keeping public spaces free of homeless encampments. They were outraged over Councilman Mike Bonin’s proposal to study the feasibility of allowing camping or tiny-home villages in beach parking lots and parks, and they had been sharing their anger for months.”

“A lot of them have supported Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who has muscled his way into the homelessness issue by threatening to forcibly remove illegal campers from our beaches and parks, and the virtual town hall was an opportunity to hear from him directly.”

“You’d like to think our elected officials would enthusiastically work together on this most pressing problem, but as Villanueva amply demonstrated during Monday’s virtual town hall, his modus operandi is lobbing insults. ‘Right now,’ he said, ‘reality is butting up against the political establishment,’ which he accused of having ‘sold their souls to the devil.'”

From Global News in Canada. “Businesses in Vancouver’s downtown core are again sounding the alarm on what they say is an increase in property crime and vandalism targeting the region. At Lure Salon on Howe Street, the usually-bright front windows have been boarded over after someone attempting to break in, shattering multiple panes of glass. It’s not the first time someone has tried to get in, owner Lisa Rofasco told Global News, but it’s the boldest attempt yet.”

“The cost to replace the glass is in the ballpark of $10,000, and while the salon has insurance it will still have to eat the deductible. ‘Coming back from the pandemic it’s a big expense,’ she said.”

“On top of that, she’s looking at a five-week wait to have the work done, as glass installers have told her they’re overwhelmed with similar work elsewhere. Rofasco said the city is reeling under mental health and drug crises, and that while she’s not angry at people committing crimes to survive, she’s frustrated at the lack of action from government to deal with the root causes.”

“About 10 minutes away, the Vancouver Pen Shop on the edge of Gastown is also boarded up, after repeated break-in attempts. ‘We’ve had to replace the glass three times. There have been five attempts,’ employee Marlon Velez said. ‘There have just been so many attempts on that window … just as a precaution, even for the other glass that’s intact we’ve decided to board it up.'”

“About two weeks ago, thieves were actually able to get into the shop and made off with expensive pens, art supplies and even worthless display props. Other times, Velez said it appeared people were just trying to smash the window for the sake of breaking it.”

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This Post Has 112 Comments

  1. ‘she’s not angry at people committing crimes to survive’

    Just how is breaking into a salon going to help survive? Or a pen shop? There’s nothing new under the sun. This is purposeful breaking down the rule of law. Some of it is Marxism. They don’t even hide it.

    1. ‘she’s not angry at people committing crimes to survive’

      Bahahahahaha … every criminal needs to live somewhere, the smart ones will choose to live where she lives.

    2. How about crimes for fun and sport?

      “Velez said it appeared people were just trying to smash the window for the sake of breaking it.”

    3. committing crimes to survive

      Funny how looters always look well fed, even too well fed.

      When victims don’t even get mad at their aggressors, you know there is a problem. I don’t see how such a society can survive in the long haul.

      1. “I don’t see how such a society can survive in the long haul.”

        It can’t, thus it won’t.

      2. It’s also a problem if a society says, “It’s ok if they commit crimes, because they are [SUBSTITUTE YOUR PREFERRED RACE HERE], and society has historically mistrated them.”

        This is a good recipe for permanently high crime rates in the bracketed racial group.

        1. I liked the comments from the King county judge forced off the bench and retired far away in Phoenix.

          1. I moved from not too far from the university area to Bainbridge Island in November. Best single decision I’ve ever made. I still get pinged on my Next-door app for daily break-ins and thefts. (Here the complaints are usually about bears or coyotes.) Someone had their bike stolen the other day while they were mowing their lawn. Catalytic convertors are routinely stolen. In the weeks leading up to our escape from Seattle someone had managed to override our car’s alarm and rifle it for who the hell knows what three times.

            The hardest part for us was my 10-year-old having to leave friends behind. She wasn’t happy with me for a few months, and that’s okay. However, earlier in the year while visiting friends in Cowen Park, which is a stone’s throw from the building that was torched, a homeless man had strolled through the play area with a gun. This once beautiful area has become a veritable $%@(hole over the past two years. Upon returning to Bainbridge, my daughter offered her unsolicited opinion on the matter: “I’m really happy we don’t live there anymore.”

            I still get to see the resplendent downtown on the two days a week I commute, meaning on occasion I have to weave my way though homeless encampments. Every time I get back on the dock to head home, I can feel my blood pressure dip.

    4. ‘she’s not angry at people committing crimes to survive’

      She just self-identified as a D voter and criminal apologist (same thing). The capacity of Democrat voters to rationalize corruption and criminality knows no bounds.

      1. actually – she has been conditioned to be ‘sensitive’ and ‘worldly’. She doesnt even understand the implications of her statements.

    5. I love love love this post, it is such a great example of how paying property taxes to sh*thole cities gets you nothing.

      No police, no fire, no public safety, just excuses and skyrocketing crime, you are getting exactly what you voted for.

      “This sucker could go down” — George W. Bush

  2. MSM writers are puzzling over plunging longterm Treasury yields in the face of rising inflation. Does Mr Market see a crater dead ahead that MSM writers cannot foresee?

    1. The Financial Times
      US Treasury bonds
      ‘Strange’ bond reaction to US inflation data puzzles investors
      US government debt has broken with tradition and pushed higher despite inflation surge
      Investors have homed in on recent signalling from the Federal Reserve about its evolving sensitivity to elevated inflation as one explanation for the seemingly unstoppable rally in government bonds
      Tommy Stubbington in London and Colby Smith in New York yesterday

      A relentless rally in US Treasuries has accompanied the biggest burst of inflation in more than a decade, snapping typically reliable patterns and leaving investors scrambling for an explanation for what is going on in the world’s largest bond market.

      Inflation is typically bad news for bond prices, eroding the value of the fixed payments the debt offers and making it more likely that central banks will respond with interest rate rises.

      But recent months have turned that relationship on its head, at least for longer-dated debt. US Treasuries prices have run up big gains — with other bonds around the world following in their wake — pulling the 10-year yield to its lowest in more than three months this week just under 1.3 per cent, down from 1.75 per cent at the end of March.

      “There’s a lot of head scratching going on,” said Mike Riddell, a portfolio manager at Allianz Global Investors. “On the face of it this move looks pretty counterintuitive.”
      …

      1. Because the market KNOWS…

        No matter how high and bad inflation gets…

        THE FED WILL NOT RAISE INTEREST RATES.

        1. If it was only up to Mr Market, then longterm Treasury yields would be soaring to try to price present and expected future inflation into yields, as used tho happen before the introduction of the Fed’s yield suppression measures. With Unlimited Quantitative Easing buying eighty billion dollars a month in Treasury bonds and forty billion dollars a month in mortgage backed securities, it’s hard to find the market signature in yields.

          But a reasonable hunch is that Mr Market is trying to price in a longer period of COVID-19 stimulus measures than previously expected, due to the big freakout over the delta variant.

          1. “QE = deflation.”

            This is another possible explanation for collapsing longterm Treasury yields:

            The Fed’s best efforts to create inflation in the face of economic collapse may ultimately have the opposite effect from what was intended.

        2. Which leads to the next question: where to you put your money?

          In a savings account that pays less than 1% interest?
          PM’s?
          Crypto?
          Stonks?
          Shacks?

          1. The flip side of stimulus policies that purport to make everyone rich by pouring money into the economy is a short-term tendency for all asset classes to become overvalued, relative to fundamentals, followed by a period of mean reversion to fundamental value when everything tanks at the same time. In this mean reversion period, there generally is nowhere to hide.

            In Alan Greenspan’s words:

            “History has not dealt kindly with the aftermath of protracted periods of low risk premiums.”

          2. Platinum & silver. No-brainers at these price points & supply/demand fundamentals going forward. Also in view of the Keynesian fraudsters at the Fed printing us down the road to Weimar Republic 2.0.

      2. Watched “The International” today on Amazon Prime. Whoever wrote it seems to have a clear understanding of how the international banking system now works.

        “You control the debt and you control everything”:
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFqx2sROwsE

        It’s an interesting, entertaining and disturbing movie.

  3. ‘a shirtless man was bathing at a faucet near the school. When she approached, informed him that he was on private property and asked him to leave, he brandished a knife and repeatedly pointed it at her menacingly. She said she reported it to Austin Police, who arrived on scene more than two hours later’

    Where do I sign up for a half million peso shack in that socialist sh$thole? Just who do the commies think is going to take care to little kids? The city who can’t respond for two hours? No it’s a greedy capitalist, who puts out her money and time and takes risks.

    You can see it’s pointless. But commies want this. Destroy, and the media attempts to normalize destruction. These lock downs are destruction. Your ability to go to work, school, operate a business you spent decades building up.

    1. BTW it’s sad to see this coming to Austin. Sleepy little town no more. They’ve always had bums (usually young able bodied). But this stuff didn’t used to happen AFAIK.

      1. Regarding Austin, I drove thru a couple times last year during planning conferences and was surprised by how many homeless there were living under the freeway overpasses. Where the hell are the cops to clean the mess up?

        Also stopped in Waco at Chip and Joanne’s Magnolia place and was surprised how nasty the area surrounding their compound was. Poor TX, don’t remember thinking it was falling apart just 15yrs ago when I went thru various area there.

        Must be all the Clownifornians moving out there and ruining it for everyone else, like always.

        1. was surprised by how many homeless there were living under the freeway overpasses

          Same with Dumver.

          1. It’s worse than you even know. The Santa Fe / Kalamath corridor is a new hotspot, one that I know of because I drive through there often.

            The Reddit /r/Denver threads about the homeless are increasing too. LMFAO reading any post from a Dumver loanowner who pays property taxes to that sh*thole.

        2. Also stopped in Waco at Chip and Joanne’s Magnolia place

          How many middle-aged women were worhipping at their alter?

          Couldn’t stand either of them. Once in a while J would say something sensible but Chip always interrupted her with goofball PDA and I had to run for the Pepto. Don’t get me started on her one and only design style.

    2. But…but…equity.

      If you have more through hard work and taking risks then it either must be:

      Taken away
      Destroyed

      Except, of course, Bernie’s three vacation homes or obama’s $16M beach front vacation home.

    3. “She said she reported it to Austin Police, who arrived on scene more than two hours later.”

      Hmmmmm … I suppose this is not an appropriate time for me to discuss the merits of defunding the police.

    4. Just who do the commies think is going to take care to little kids?

      Not to worry, I’m sure they have a drag queen story hour at the school library.

  4. ‘as Villanueva amply demonstrated during Monday’s virtual town hall, his modus operandi is lobbing insults’

    The LA Times is the worst about this crap. Insults, when you got murders and people crapping in the streets? We’re supposed to just hold our noses and accept this?

    ‘Right now reality is butting up against the political establishment,’ which he accused of having ‘sold their souls to the devil’

    This is not hyperbole. There is a political establishment. And it wants to take us all down. How long until we stand up and do something about it?

    1. As I mentioned yesterday, even though I am unvaxxed and should be hiding under my bed, I will be going on a road trip soon. As for the destination, it WON’T be California,

      1. I was mobilized for my state’s Covid response and have been non stop traveling since the start.

        No jab.

        And FYI, saw first hand the immense bullsh!t of the lockdowns and dictatorial responses.

      2. We’re going to NorCal next month to stay with my MIL. I’ll spend my time doing yardwork, her sprinklers need tuning up, check her generator, etc. All the fruit trees probably need attending to. She’s in Fairfield, not too far from Napa. We’ll do a day trip to Muir Woods, then 3 nights in Bodega Bay. Rented a house with Pacific views. Surprised we got one as we didn’t book until last week. Everything is really booked.

        We fly into Oakland. There are considerably more homeless than in the past there. Saw a homeless camp burning off 880 last time we were there. Once we get out of town though I don’t see any homeless.

        1. “All the fruit trees probably need attending to.”

          The last two heat waves might have ruined this year’s fruit.

  5. ‘the thousands of newly constructed hotel rooms that are set to hit the market. More than 8,000 new rooms are expected to open before the end of the year, and almost 22,000 are under construction — the most in the U.S., and more than triple the second-place city, Los Angeles’

    NYC had too many hotels a decade ago. QE = deflation.

    ‘It’s not possible for any hotel in the city right now to be profitable’

    Say, what happened to frozen soup line Larry with his NY hotel empire?

    1. Probably dead from the jab, up to at least 50k now according to insiders.

      And we need to clarify that Marxist translates to criminal scum. They have no core principles beyond advancing their power and Marxism just happens to be the best fit

  6. ‘Black Lives Matter is blaming the U.S. government’s “cruel and inhumane” economic embargo for the current unrest in Cuba, while praising the communist regime for its “solidarity” by granting asylum to “black revolutionaries.”

    ‘The Marxist organization has faced strong criticism since posting a statement on July 14 in response to protests that have erupted in multiple cities across Cuba, where demonstrators have called for greater freedoms and an end to leader Miguel Díaz-Canel’s authoritarian regime.’

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/black-lives-matter-defends-cuban-regime-blames-deadly-protests-on-us-government_3903323.html

    1. And they are waiving American flags.

      Marxists don’t really want to live under Marxism, unless they are the ones in charge with absolute power.

      1. unless they are the ones in charge with absolute powe

        The problem with being part of the Nomenklatura is that purges come with no warning and you can go quickly from an apparatchik with a cushy job to digging a ditch with a shovel.

          1. I recall reading stories about people in apartment buildings hearing the midnight knock on someone else’s door, wonder which poor soul had just had his life ruined. Of course, no one would peek. They would find out in the morning who had been hauled away.

          2. “And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?… The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If…if…We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation…. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”

            ― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn , The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956

      2. Marxists in power typically have to build walls and use armed guards to keep the people not in power, whom they ruthlessly exploit, in — just like with a prison.

        Nobody wants to live inside a Communist hellhole.

    2. Why are undocumented immigrants allowed to flood across our Southern Border and be flown and bussed into cities of their choosing while those fleeing Cuba are not welcome? Could it be because the Cubans in this country do not vote for Democrats?

      Homeland Security chief says U.S. will not give refuge to those fleeing Cuba and Haiti by boat

      BY CAMILO MONTOYA-GALVEZ

      JULY 13, 2021 / 9:08 PM / CBS NEWS

      https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-homeland-security-secretary-cuba-haiti-boats-no-refuge/

      1. The “We believe” yard signs in my blue nabe specifically say that “No human is illegal.” Oh, and that “We believe in science (unless it’s HCQ and Iver).”

    3. Comrade Pelosi, the DNC “leadership,” and their FBI Chekists all took a knee for these communist insurrectionists. Speaks volumes, doesn’t it?

      1. Try finding a copy of Solzhenitsyn’s “Two Hundred Years Together”. Good luck, as you won’t be able to for less than a $1,000.00 and it isn’t going to be printed in English. Not a single English language printing house will touch it. Read up on the book and you may understand why this is so.

        They brag about destroying (liberating) White South Africa amongst themselves. I wonder which ones will be chosen to get the honor of having their picture enshrined on US stamps after they finish liberating our Country?

        http://vilnews.com/2011-01-legendary-litvak-heroes-of-africa

  8. This situation must be getting nods of approval from the Keynesian big thinkers who favor unlimited economic stimulus to keep the economy humming whenever it shows a hint of slowing. What better way to stimulate the glass manufacturing industry than by repeatedly breaking windows?

    “Businesses in Vancouver’s downtown core are again sounding the alarm on what they say is an increase in property crime and vandalism targeting the region. At Lure Salon on Howe Street, the usually-bright front windows have been boarded over after someone attempting to break in, shattering multiple panes of glass. It’s not the first time someone has tried to get in, owner Lisa Rofasco told Global News, but it’s the boldest attempt yet.”

    1. The Broken Window
      Claude Frédéric Bastiat

      “Neither industry in general, nor the sum total of national labor, is affected, whether windows are broken or not.”

      Have you ever witnessed the anger of the good shopkeeper, James B., when his careless son happened to break a square of glass? If you have been present at such a scene, you will most assuredly bear witness to the fact, that every one of the spectators, were there even thirty of them, by common consent apparently, offered the unfortunate owner this invariable consolation: “It is an ill wind that blows nobody good. Everybody must live, and what would become of the glaziers if panes of glass were never broken?”
      …

    2. This is another form of broken window stimulus. These homes that were destroyed will have to be replaced, providing stimulus to the construction industry. The Fed can print the dollars needed to pay for the work.

      “Seattle police and fire investigators are searching for a known arson suspect who they believe intentionally started a fire which destroyed an abandoned housing complex in the 5200 block of University Way NE.”

        1. Black Lives Matter edition…

          Up next: White business owners are accused of racism for refusing to operate in culturally enriched areas of Oakland.

  9. “So, while some DC homeowners, including those in condominiums, are struggling to meet mortgage payments, District officials apparently have been lollygagging.”

    District officials in DC are almost entirely affirmative action hires whose worth ethic is abysmal.

  10. “DiNapoli says a major contributor to vacancies in Barstow is wealthy companies and individuals leaving the city in recent decades and selling off their property to off-site investors ‘living in L.A. or Brentwood or wherever the hell they live.’

    Bingo. Private equity with access to unlimited Yellen Bux is systematically looting the productive economy and leaving gutted shells and ruined lives behind, while speculators price housing out of reach for millions of the working poor. The financial reckoning day, when it can no longer be deferred by QE-to-Infinity, is going to be a bitch.

    1. QE infinity is destroying the country. The longer it goes, the worse it will get. It’s a real life game of Monopoly.

      1. In the game of monopoly, winners and losers depend largely on the roll of the dice. That couldn’t be further from the oligarchy we have now, where the game is rigged to ensure the Fed’s Wall Street accomplices always win regardless of how reckless and greedy they get.

  11. I mean, it’s just major: you come off some of those side streets, and people start scratching their heads and asking, ‘How do I own a $10 million house where there’s a homeless encampment down the road?’”

    As California’s downward spiral accelerates, those $10 million houses are going to be shedding millions in Yellen Bux fake valuations as the state becomes increasingly unlivable.

      1. Cuz you haven’t discovered the home’s actual market value, by reducing your list price to a level where a buyer is willing to step up and make an offer.

  13. I think the core conceit of monetary policy was that quasi-omniscient policy makers – wizards – could expertly redistribute purchasing power in order to increase prosperity, as indicated via whatever indicators they monitor.

    The problem is that they are not the only wizards in the economy. There are politicians and business titans influencing these decisions. Also, monetary authorities are making decisions that affect their own well-being. The economy is a competition for resources, and the quasi-omniscient policy makers (QOMPs) are just one power player among many, and not necessarily the smartest or most well informed. But the QOMPs are the only ones with the money bazooka.

    1. But the QOMPs are the only ones with the money bazooka.

      And the current regime is ready to spend about 4 trillion it doesn’t have. I guess $30/lb steak isn’t too far off.

    2. “…redistribute purchasing power…”

      Technically wealth redistribution isn’t part of the Fed’s mandate. However, crisis situations such as the 2007-2009 financial collapse open the door to redistributive policies such as Quantitative Easing measures designed to enrich homeowners while throwing renters under the bus.

      1. The Fed since its clandestine 1913 establishment on Jekyll Island, SC, by the robber barons of the era has had just one mandate: facilitating the oligarchy’s looting and asset stripping of the middle and working classes.

      2. I suspect the theoretical underpinnings of Friedmanian monetary policy met the political realities that all the other economic models meet, and founder upon. The communistic “from each according to his ability to each according to his needs” contradicts human nature. The Keynesian “pay down the debt in good times” was replaced with the more tepid “raise interest rates in good times” – but neither of these seem to be workable as they impose costs on politicians that are undesirable / untenable. I guess they contradict human nature as well.

        “Pay down the debt? And stop spending, thus reducing my power? Haha no.”

        “Raise interest rates and harm my portfolio of stocks and real estate, while also reducing tax revenue? Haha no.”

        The economy grows around any source of revenue, be it organic, from people’s demand, or artificial, from Fed and government spending. Pruning that, be it buggy whips or the financial sector, is problematic. Especially when the sector which stands to lose has a large say in generating and distributing the largesse.

  14. The Democrat-Bolsheviks drop the mask a little more each day. Commie scum like this who want me dead think I’m going to meekly hand over my means of self-defense? Think again, comrades.

    ‘Let them die!’: NAACP leader blasts parents marching against critical race theory being taught at Virginia middle school her children attend – sparking PTA to send her on ‘sensitivity training’

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9797411/NAACP-leaders-furious-speech-against-opponents-critical-race-theory-outside-middle-school.html

    1. ‘sensitivity training’

      They started this nonsense at my last employment since we had local, state and federal government clients.

    1. The rate of acceleration towards the cliff is truly breath taking. It’s like being trapped on a runaway train knowing that the bridge is out and you can’t convince anyone that the brakes need to be applied right now.

      1. This is what happens in a civilization when it dies.

        I’m not religious, but the Old Testament of the Bible correctly termed this as an “abomination.”

        The best thing about not having children is that I am not forced to lie to them that this country has a future, or that their lives will be better than their parents.

        This country doesn’t have a future…

        1. That’s the hardest thing for me to deal with as a father. And preparing my kids for what they’re going to have to deal with.

  17. A weekend topic starting with KIRO in Washington. “Seattle police and fire investigators are searching for a known arson suspect who they believe intentionally started a fire which destroyed an abandoned housing complex in the 5200 block of University Way NE. Squatting, burglary and property crimes have soared in the area, according to neighbors and nearby business owners.”

    From KXAN in Texas. “A daycare owner is calling for the city’s help after she was threatened at knifepoint on her business property. Dina Flores said a shirtless man was bathing at a faucet near the school. When she approached, informed him that he was on private property and asked him to leave, he brandished a knife and repeatedly pointed it at her menacingly. She said she reported it to Austin Police, who arrived on scene more than two hours later.”

    The Victorville Daily Press in California. “Buildings are burning in Barstow at an unusually high rate. A chief city firefighter sees decades of economic deterioration and social despair — accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic — as the root cause.

    The San Jose Spotlight in California. “Vacant storefronts with ‘For Lease’ signs fading in the windows. Abandoned strip malls with a sea of empty concrete spaces. Massive corporate offices from a bygone, pre-virtual era, sitting unoccupied, desolate, forgotten.”

    From Los Angeles Magazine in California. “How is L.A.’s homelessness crisis affecting the high-end market? Agent Michelle Schwartz: ‘That’s driving people away from certain locations. I mean, it’s just major: you come off some of those side streets, and people start scratching their heads and asking, ‘How do I own a $10 million house where there’s a homeless encampment down the road?’”

    The Los Angeles Times in California. “The town hall meeting was organized by a group of Westside residents passionate about keeping public spaces free of homeless encampments. They were outraged over Councilman Mike Bonin’s proposal to study the feasibility of allowing camping or tiny-home villages in beach parking lots and parks, and they had been sharing their anger for months.”

    “You’d like to think our elected officials would enthusiastically work together on this most pressing problem, but as Villanueva amply demonstrated during Monday’s virtual town hall, his modus operandi is lobbing insults. ‘Right now,’ he said, ‘reality is butting up against the political establishment,’ which he accused of having ‘sold their souls to the devil.’”

    “The social system of private property and limited government is the only system that tends to debarbarize all those who have the innate capacity to acquire personal culture.” – Ludwig von Mises

    “A society that chooses between capitalism and socialism does not choose between two social systems; it chooses between social cooperation and the disintegration of society.” – Ludwig von Mises

    “The only thing you can give a man without hurting him is an opportunity.” – Henry Ford

    “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” – H L Mencken

    “Toute nation a le gouvernement qu’elle mérite.” (Every country has the government it deserves.) Lettres et Opuscules Inédits (1851) (letter of August 15, 1811). – Joseph de Maistre

    “The government you elect is the government you deserve.” – Thomas Jefferson

    “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” – Benjamin Franklin

    “Neither the wisest Constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.” – Samuel Adams

    “Socialism is Western Civilization in retrograde.” – I said that.

    “It’s déjà vu all over again.” – Yogi Berra

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydPaSWObL6E
    Ball Of Confusion – The Temptations (1970)
    165,562 views | Sep 15, 2014

    Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)
    The Temptations f(1970)

    [Intro]
    One, two
    One, two, three, four, ow!

    [Verse 1: Eddie, Dennis]
    People movin’ out, people movin’ in
    Why? Because of the color of their skin
    Run, run, run, but you sure can’t hide
    An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
    Vote for me and I’ll set you free
    Rap on, brother, rap on
    Well, the only person talkin’ ’bout “Love thy brother”
    Is the preacher
    And it seems nobody’s interested in learnin’
    But the teacher

    [Pre-Chorus: Dennis]
    Segregation, determination, demonstration, integration Aggravation, humiliation, obligation to our nation [and don’t forget inflation!]

    [Chorus]
    Ball of confusion
    Oh, yeah
    That’s what the world is today
    Woo, hey, hey

    [Verse 2: Paul, Dennis, Melvin]
    The sale of pills are at an all-time high
    Young folks walkin’ ’round with their heads in the sky
    Cities aflame in the summertime
    And oh, the beat goes on
    Evolution, revolution, gun control, the sound of soul
    Shooting rockets to the moon, kids growin’ up too soon
    Politicians say more taxes will solve everything
    And the band played on
    [Pre-Chorus]
    So ’round and around and around we go
    Where the world’s headed, said, nobody knows

    [Chorus]
    Oh, Great Googa Mooga
    Can’t you hear me talking to you?
    Just a ball of confusion
    Oh yeah, that’s what the world is today
    Woo, hey, hey

    [Verse 3]
    Fear in the air, tension everywhere
    Unemployment rising fast
    The Beatles’ new record’s a gas
    And the only safe place to live is on an Indian reservation
    And the band played on
    Eve of destruction, tax deduction
    City inspectors, bill collectors
    Mod clothes in demand, population out of hand
    Suicide, too many bills
    Hippies moving to the hills
    People all over the world are shouting, “End the war”
    And the band played on

    [Chorus]
    Great Googa Mooga
    Can’t you hear me talking to you?
    It’s a ball of confusion
    That’s what the world is today, hey, hey
    Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya
    Sayin’, ball of confusion
    That’s what the world is today, hey, hey (Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya)
    Sayin’, ball of confusion
    That’s what the world is today

    1. I live about 40 miles from Dumver and am thinking that it isn’t far enough and am pondering moving to northern Wyoming or South Dakota.

  19. Oh dear….

    Houses in Beijing’s top school district lose allure with young parents as authorities change admissions policy

    https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3141444/houses-beijings-top-school-district-lose-allure-young

    Chinese policymakers’ crackdown on Xue Qu Fang – homes in good school districts – is worrying buyers. Young parents fear they could lose out on an assured place for their children in elite schools and an assured appreciation in home prices. Authorities, however, seem to have found a way to cool down runaway property prices.

    Fang Liang, mother of a 4-year-old girl, has had recurring nightmares in the past few days. They were all about a 7.4 million yuan (US$1.14 million) Xue Qu Fang she bought earlier this year, despite which she failed to secure a seat for her daughter in an elite school nearby.

  20. “I live about 40 miles from Dumver and am thinking that it isn’t far enough…”

    Tootsie (1982)
    [Dorothy Michaels’ screen test]
    Rita:
    I’d like to make her look a little more attractive, how far can you pull back?
    Cameraman:
    How do you feel about Cleveland? [Heh!]
    Rita:
    Knock it off.

    – I’ve heard that Dumver is now a Socialist utopia. So Socialists and those favoring “mostly peaceful protests” and “third world sh*tholes” should stay put. Anyone that enjoys a bit of freedom and private property rights might want to look elsewhere, IMHO.

  21. How’s that “Defund the police” working out for ya, commies?

    Eight People Shot in Downtown Portland Mass Shooting as City Gets More Dangerous by the Day

    https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/victoria-taft/2021/07/17/eight-people-shot-in-downtown-portland-mass-shooting-in-city-that-gets-more-dangerous-by-the-day-n1462536

    Portland Police – what’s left of them – report that eight people were shot overnight in a mass shooting in downtown Portland. Portland Police reported that one of the victims had life-threatening injuries. No one died in the shooting. No arrests have been made.

    The latest incident is just another example of the “skyrocketing” number of shootings seen by the anti-police city.

  22. This is my “gravely concerned” face.

    3 Texas Democrats test positive for COVID-19 in Washington, D.C.

    https://www.statesman.com/story/news/politics/state/2021/07/17/texas-democrats-walk-out-three-test-positive-covid-in-washington-dc/8002121002/

    WASHINGTON — Three Texas House Democrats have tested positive for COVID-19 from Washington, D.C., according to Texas House Democratic Caucus leadership.

    They’re among nearly 60 lawmakers who fled the state Monday to break quorum in the House, part of an effort to block the passage of a GOP-led elections bill. Most members are staying in the same hotel.

    1. Unfortunately, repeated lockdowns might be what’s required to finally make Gen-Z open their eyes and see what the globalists and their Quislings have in store for them – and to undo years of globalist brainwashing and ideological conditioning in our public education system and by the media-entertainment complex.

      1. I (boomer) keep telling my kid (millennial), it didn’t used to be like this (not very eloquent). Hate to come off as dramatic or discouraging. Probably no danger there though; I’m pretty sure she already thinks I’m nuts because of things I’ve told her.

        Found out someone set up a Go Fund Me for the Australian girl. It was cut off at 60 grand. She is going to share it with friends in the same situation.

      1. Steady, yep big difference.

        Huh, just had a short power outage, saved you from a longer reply 😁 IMHO…

        Screaming girl: bad situation no doubt, but why blame others? Irrational, attention-seeking. Not really a serious attempt to change minds, just a rant. I have been in similar situations but never felt compelled to film myself while unglued, never mind showing the whole world.

        Aussie girl: obviously very intelligent, hard worker, made excellent points. Glad she got some Go Fund Me money, she deserves the help.

        You mentioned “The International”, agree, well worth seeing.

        I have a pdf of “200 Years Together”, don’t remember where I got it. Yeah, no book available. I have no idea if the pdf is complete, haven’t read it. I read somewhere that one chapter was not translated and completely unavailable. Sounded mysterious.

  24. “While she’s not angry at people committing crimes to survive, she’s frustrated at the lack of action from government to deal with the root causes.”

    Umm, apparently Lisa is ignorant of the fact that a large portion of homeless folks refuse help, i.e., refuse drug/alcohol rehab and/or other programs to help them move toward achieving sobriety and self-sufficiency. Excusing crime on any level only emboldens those prone to criminal acts, and therefore, from a psycho-behavioral perspective, is akin to pouring rocket fuel on hot coals.

  25. Ok maybe some investment advice, if we are heading for a crash wouldn’t 3x inverse funds be a logical place to park money? like FAZ Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares

    1. UVXY (bet on increased volatility) showed signs of life on Friday. FAZ (bet against financial sector) also seems likely to head higher if the eviction moratorium actually ends in July and millions of freeloaders finally get told to GTFO. But I’ll believe that when I see it. This “delta variant Fall resurgence” seems timed to give the CDC and Biden administration a pretext to keep the moratoriums in place – eight million kulak landlords must be driven into insolvency – and keep the stimmy checks flowing.

  26. Define irony: Cubans are using a US-government sponsored technology to circumvent Cuban government social media blackouts. Meanwhile, here in the land of the free, the globalists’ creepy Orwellian tech giants have a free hand to censor and de-platform truth-tellers who challenge globalist Narratives and point out their lies and contradictions. Will some foreign champion of free speech be making software available so free-thinkers here in the U.S. can circumvent the globalist-Democrat war on freedom of expression?

    1M Cubans use U.S. software to skirt government’s social media blackouts

    https://www.axios.com/1-million-cubans-use-us-software-skirt-government-social-media-blackouts-f8556715-f7ad-438a-9a29-0a5699743316.html

    More than 1 million people in Cuba every day are using an anti-censorship tool supported by the U.S. government to circumvent their own government’s social media blackouts, Bloomberg reports.

    The big picture: Censorship-circumvention software company Psiphon Inc. has facilitated the transfer of over 600 terabytes of data from users in Cuba since Sunday, per Bloomberg.

    1. More than 1 million people in Cuba every day are using an anti-censorship tool supported by the U.S. government to circumvent their own government’s social media blackouts, Bloomberg reports.

      It’s just a VPN.

      Just how many Cubans have a PC or Smartphone? Or internet access?

        1. primarily funded by western governments

          In other words, there’s nothing private about it at all.

          1. It’s an open source project similar to blockchain, tor browser, tails linux, etc., and using 256-bit encryption. It’d take lots of computing power to unravel it. Many smartphones now use mac spoofing on public wifi access points.

  27. The 2020 Election was stolen. Everybody knows it was stolen, the fraud happened on Election Night 2020.

    1. Pshaw, Deplorable. Everywhere Biden went, his charisma and man-of-the-people oratorical skills, coupled with his manic energy and enthusiasm, and image as a populist anti-Establishment outsider, caused him to be mobbed with huge, fervid crowds of supporters. His choice of an extremely popular and capable VP sealed the deal.

      Oh, wait….

  29. This story was never mentioned on the National Real Journalists Teevee programs…

    Chicago violence: 100 shot, 18 fatally, in weekend shootings across city, CPD says

    By Jessica D’Onofrio, Craig Wall, Liz Nagy and Alexis McAdams
    Wednesday, July 7, 2021

    https://abc7chicago.com/chicago-shootings-gun-violence-police-weekend/10864499/

    But they led with this on ABC’s Good Morning America today.

    Washington Nationals game halted after shooting outside park, fans told to leave

    Three people were injured in the shooting outside Nationals Park.

    ByMark Osborne
    July 18, 2021, 12:20 AM

    The Washington Nationals game was called to an abrupt halt on Saturday night after a shooting outside the stadium.

    Police said at a late-night press conference that the shooting was an isolated incident and believed to be a shootout between two vehicles.

    Earlier, the team had confirmed there was a shooting outside the Third Base Gate at Nationals Park. After initially telling fans to stay in their seats due to an “incident” outside, they were then told to exit the stadium through the Centerfield or Right Field gates.

    https://abcnews.go.com/US/washington-nationals-game-halted-shooting-park-fans-told/story?id=78907123

  30. Today is Sunday, July 18th and Joe Biden is not the legitimately elected president of the United States.

    The 2020 election was stolen.

  31. Of course the 2020 election was stolen. Klaus Schwab, the Leader of the free World calls for mandated Vaccines.
    Its becoming more and more obvious by the day that the Entities that criminally stole the Election have a Puppet in the White House who is advancing a criminal agenda of Medical fraud and destruction of the Constitutional protections .

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