Today’s News 1st August 2021

• Brandon Smith: Why Are Globalists And Governments So Desperate For 100% Vaccination Rates?
  Brandon Smith: Why Are Globalists And Governments So Desperate For 100% Vaccination Rates?

  Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us,

  I don’t think I am the only person that has noticed it – There has been a sudden deluge of covid vaccination propaganda and vaccine passport propaganda in the past month, more so than I think we have seen since the beginning of this year. I am speaking of the US in particular, but it is important to point out that in the US the establishment is still desperately clamoring for a much higher vaccination rate. In places like Europe, the UK and Australia vaccinations rates are higher and governments have moved on to the vaccine passport phase of their agenda.

  

  Some people may be confused by the obvious lockstep that most nations are moving in as far as covid mandates and restrictions are concerned. How is it possible that almost all the governments on the planet are in agreement on medical totalitarianism? Well, it’s rather easy to understand when you realize the majority of them are linked together through globalist institutions like the World Economic Forum, which has repeatedly called the pandemic a “perfect opportunity” to push through their plans for a “Great Reset”.

  The “Great Reset” is a long term ideological usurpation of what’s left of individual freedom and free market economies, and it’s goal is the imposition of a global socialist/communist dictatorship. Globalists wrap these objectives in pretty sounding words and humanitarian sounding aspirations, but at bottom the “Reset” is about an end to liberty as we know it. This is not an exaggeration, this is reality; this is what these people desire above all else. But how to achieve such a goal?

  Well, interestingly enough the WEF and the Bill And Melinda Gates Foundation described exactly how they planned to do it during a “simulation” they held in October of 2019 called “Event 201”. During the event, they imagined a massive coronavirus pandemic, spread supposedly from animals to humans, which would facilitate the need for pervasive restrictions on individual liberties, national economies as well as the internet and social media. I’m sure it’s all a coincidence, but the exact same scenario the globalists at the WEF played out during Event 201 happened in the real world only two months later.

  In any case, the pandemic itself has been a boon for the globalists. We have not seen a far reaching government power and corporate power grab since the rise of the National Socialists in Europe and the spread of communism in Russia and China almost a century ago. In fact, I would say that what humanity as a whole is facing today is much worse than what those wretched empires ever could have produced.

  There is no doubt; globalist institutions and their government “partners” are the greatest beneficiaries of the covid crisis. They stand to gain ultimate social and political power if their agenda to exploit the pandemic succeeds.

  That said, there a few hangups in their plan, and this is why I believe we are seeing an aggressive propaganda push in recent weeks. For example, as I outlined with extensive evidence in my article ‘Biden’s Vaccine Strike Force Plan Stinks Of Desperation’, it appears that the vaccination rate, especially in the US, is nowhere near as high as the elites would like.

  While the Biden Administration and the CDC claims an overall vaccination rate of 67%, numerous other stats including the Mayo Clinics state map numbers indicate that only four states in the US actually have a vaccination rate over 65% (for one dose or more), and the majority of states have rates around 50% or less. Even large population blue states like California and New York are not above the 65% mark, and frankly, those numbers are going nowhere as vaccinations are dropping off a cliff.

  If someone has not submitted by now with zero wait times and ample doses everywhere, then they are unlikely to ever be vaccinated.

  Contradictory stats suggest to me that Biden and the CDC are inflating their vaccination numbers to create the illusion that a larger majority of Americans support the jab. And if this is the case, it explains why Biden, Fauci and the mainstream media are force feeding the public with pro-vaccine hype that consistently contradicts the real science. They are not getting the fear and public compliance that they had hoped for.

  But why do they want 100% vaccination? Why are they so desperate for every single person in the world to get the mRNA jab?

  After all, the average (IFR) death rate of covid is a mere 0.26% of those infected (this is a stat that the media consistently and deliberately refuses to mention to the public). This means that 99.7% of the public is in NO danger from covid whether they are vaccinated or not.

  Do the vaccines ensure better odds? Well, according to recent statistics from Massachusetts, not necessarily, as they report over 5100 infections and 80 deaths of fully vaccinated patients. The media keeps telling us that only the unvaccinated are dying, but this is a lie, like so many other lies they have been peddling when it comes to covid. So, what’s the point of taking an experimental vaccine if the death rate of the virus is so low and the jab doesn’t necessarily protect you anyway?

  There is no point. The science and the stats do not support it. The vaccines can’t even be credited with the decline in infections and deaths this year; the numbers plunged in January – Only 5% of the population was vaccinated by February. The only explanation for this is that the population hit herd immunity many months ago. Remember when governments said that they needed 70% herd immunity or vaccination to stop the lockdowns and mandates? The goalposts have been moves several times and the government “science” changes monthly. Now they claim herd immunity doesn’t matter and demand 100% vaccination.

  We must ask the question again – Why the relentless government push for total vaccine saturation? It’s not saving lives, and the mandates remain regardless, so why?

  I can only posit theories based on the evidence at hand, but I think it’s clear to most of us that the vaccines are NOT about public health nor are they about saving lives. They are obviously about something else…

  As numerous virology and vaccine experts have warned over the past year, there is a great risk of harmful health side effects when it comes to experimental mRNA technology. Even one of the creators of mRNA vaccines has suggested that there are dangers in rolling out these gene manipulation cocktails without more testing. Of note are concerns about longer term disorders such as autoimmune disorders and infertility.

  The mainstream media and the globalists will argue that there is “no evidence” that the mRNA vaccines will cause deadly side effects or infertility. I would argue back that there is NO EVIDENCE that they are safe. Most vaccines are tested over the course of 10-15 years before they are released to the public for use. The covid vaccines were unleashed on the public within months. Honestly, I have no intention of acting as a guinea pig for an untested vaccine.

  But what if the elites know exactly what the side effects will be? What if the vaccines are a pivotal part of their “Great Reset?”

  The infertility question in particular is drawing the most fire from the establishment, and I would point out a particularly insidious narrative being implanted in the media. Whenever people question the chance of sterility caused by the vaccines, bureaucrats and media talking heads go on the attack, and then say “There’s no evidence that the vaccines cause infertility, but Covid-19 might cause it…” Just watch this recent speech by the governor of Arkansas where he and his medical flunky were almost run from the podium by an angry audience for peddling the same propaganda:

  And there you have it. The stage is being set, in my view, for a mass infertility event, and covid will be blamed in place of the experimental vaccines. This is why the establishment needs a 100% vaccination rate; unvaccinated people would stand as evidence of their crime. Let me explain…

  My concern is that Klaus Schwab’s reset agenda is impossible to enforce in a permanent way unless the human population is greatly reduced over a short period of time (a generation or two). Globalists are constantly talking about population control and reduction. Elites like Bill Gates are famous for it. Is it any wonder that they would devise a plan to institute it?

  What if, as many experts have suggested, the vaccine side effects create this condition of a diminishing population? What if they are meant to? We will not know for certain for a couple of years at least as autoimmune disorders and infertility take time to become visible in a population. The average timeline for actually diagnosing an autoimmune disorder is 4.5 years. Infertility can take six months to a year to diagnose.

  If a large population of millions of people remain unvaccinated after the next couple of years, then they will represent a sizable and undeniable control group. A control group is a group of subjects that act as a pure sample untouched by a drug or vaccine experiment. If the vaccinated group becomes ill or dies from specific conditions and the control group does not have those same conditions, then that is a pretty good sign that your vaccine or drug is poison.

  The 50% of Americans and smaller percentages in other nations are a control group for the experimental vaccines. If something goes wrong with the vaccines, then we will be the proof. I suspect this is what the elites are really afraid of.

  They have to force us to be vaccinated as well – ALL of us, so that there is no control group and thus no proof os what they have done. They could simply blame mass health disorders on covid itself, or some other false culprit.

  If the vaccines are a Trojan horse that causes widespread illness or infertility, and the globalists get caught because a control group exists, then it will mean outright rebellion along with ropes and lampposts for them. Their “Great Reset” will fall apart.

  To be sure, this might happen anyway. Vaccine passports are the line in the sand for most people. We are even seeing extensive protests and riots in places like Italy, France, UK and Australia over the draconian passport scheme. The US, though, is where the biggest fight will take place, in my opinion. We have an armed population, millions upon millions of trained combat veterans and civilians, a military with around 70% conservatives and independents and a historical understanding of asymmetric warfare. As we have seen in places like Afghanistan, tanks, jets, missiles and drones are no guarantee if victory against a guerrilla force.

  Vaccine passports are not going to happen here. We simply won’t allow it.

  The globalists have set in motion an end game – It could be an end game for us, but it also could be an end game for them. They are on a strict timeline. They must get near 100% vaccination rates in the next couple of years or sooner. They must get their vaccine passports in place in the next couple of years or sooner. And, they must instill permanent lockdown conditions in the near term to stifle growing dissent. We are now in a kind of race in which the globalists must implement their agenda as fast as possible while we must hold out and hold them back until the truth becomes obvious to the masses; the truth that the lockdowns, mandates and vaccines were never about safety and were always about control – from social control to population control.

  *  *  *

  If you would like to support the work that Alt-Market does while also receiving content on advanced tactics for defeating the globalist agenda, subscribe to our exclusive newsletter The Wild Bunch Dispatch.  Learn more about it HERE.

  Tyler Durden
  Sun, 08/01/2021 – 00:00

• Wildfires Are Coming For Wine, Weed, And Christmas 
  Wildfires Are Coming For Wine, Weed, And Christmas 

  There are 86 large wildfires that have burned 1,498,205 acres in 12 US states and emit large quantities of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and dangerous particulate matter into the atmosphere this summer that could affect wine weed and Christmas. 

  The West Coast fire season is off to a fiery start, and an abundance of smoke can destroy precious vineyards and damage the fruit. 

  University of California Davis researchers say California’s wine country is being consumed by a megadrought and resulting wildfires that taint and affect crop yields. 

  “We’re seeing the impact of climate and climate change,” said Megan Bartlett, a UC Davis plant biologist and assistant professor.

  “Especially after the heatwaves and the megadrought a few years ago, we really saw, as an industry, declines in (crop) yield. These are really pressing problems, especially now.”

  The smoke of wildfires permeates regions like Napa Valley and other top-producing vineyards, changing the taste of wine. 

  “Can you imagine licking an ashtray?” Anita Oberholster, a Cooperative Extension enology specialist at UC Davis, said.

  “When wines are heavily impacted, it can taste like that.”

  The smoke of wildfires can also stress or even kill marijuana plants growing outdoor or in greenhouse operations. 

  “Smoke taint is the most obvious and the most apparent threat to cannabis as [it’s] exposed to these forest fires, and that’s something you’re going to be able to readily tell from just qualitatively examining the cannabis,” Josh Wurzer, president of SC Labs, told Cannabis Business Times. 

  “So, that’s certainly a concern—just ruining the flavor of the cannabis,” Wurzer said. 

  Although Christmas is about five months away, record-breaking heatwaves and raging wildfires are destroying Christmas tree farms in Oregon. We noted days ago that Reuters spoke with multiple tree farm operators, who said their crop yields this year would be reduced. 

  Dozens of wildfires burning in the Western half of the US are unleashing near-surface smoke in parts of California but also countrywide. Smoke was visible on the East Coast last week. 

  

  So what this all means is that if wildfires persist, wine and marijuana crop yields could be affected and or at least tainted, which would lower quality, and Christmas tree yields would also be reduced, resulting in higher prices. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 23:30

• CDC's Walensky Shrugs Off Idea That Illegals Are Spreading COVID At The Border, Promises "Guidelines" Someday
  CDC’s Walensky Shrugs Off Idea That Illegals Are Spreading COVID At The Border, Promises “Guidelines” Someday

  Authored by Monica Showalter via AmericanThinker.com,

  The more CDC director Rochelle Walensky talks, the worse she sounds.

  

  Along with her well noted controversial statements about returning to mask-wearing and a nationally mandated COVID vaccine, the latter of which she walked back to some extent, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director threw out other nutty statements that are worth noting — if for nothing else, then the fact that Joe Biden says he defers to her and her continuously mistaken bureaucrats at CDC.

  Breitbart News reported that a question about illegal border-crossers spreading COVID, from Fox News’s Bret Baier, triggered this exchange:

  Baier said, “But do you know the surge, how the surge of illegal immigrants with COVID is affecting the overall rate, you know, it sounds like the percentages down there on the border are astronomical?”

  Walensky said, “Yeah, you know, I would say that the percentages in the southern part of this country are really quite high. I don’t necessarily think we can attribute all of that to what’s going on at the southern border. I think what we really need to do is spend our time getting our communities vaccinated to getting our individuals vaccinated to prevent disease from transmitting in our communities.”

  https://video.foxnews.com/v/embed.js?id=6265922207001&w=466&h=263Watch the latest video at foxnews.com

  Basically, she was attempting to brush off the obvious problem of unvetted illegal aliens coming into the U.S. and spreading COVID throughout the country.  With the U.S. paying for their tickets, either by airplane or bus, to their choice of destinations, it’s pretty obvious that a disease vector, courtesy of the Biden administration, is in place.  During the Trump administration, that avenue of spread was shut down firmly through Title 42, throwing illegal migrants back on COVID concerns, based on protecting the country.

  These days, there’s nonsense like this going on:

  Baier said, “One woman wrote in, My in-laws live in Austria, they cannot come here to see their six-month-old baby because of the EU travel band even as migrants come across the southern border from other countries with more COVID and worse vaccine performance and they are allowed in. Is that a problem, Dr. Walensky?

  Walensky said, “We’re working, um, at the CDC to provide technical assistance for all areas of travel as well as to provide technical assistance at the southern border. So as people come in, we are keeping migrants, as well as those communities, as safe as possible with the technical assistance and infection prevention guidelines from the CDC.”

  There are also tweets like these being passed around:

  Fully vaccinated Canadians can’t come to America. American citizens in Mexico can’t come back unless they are tested. But 1,400,000 illegals 50,000 from around the world not the Americas in June are allowed in.

  — James Jay Carafano (@JJCarafano) July 30, 2021

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  [Note: That latter number is likely far higher.]

  The contradictions are pretty amazing here.

  

  What’s more, Walensky’s claim to be ready to send “guidelines” is something she’s been talking about for months, but somehow has never gotten around to doing.  Here she was back in February, according to ABC News, promising all those migrant guidelines:

  The CDC, in a three-paragraph order signed by its director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, on Feb. 11, exempted unaccompanied children from being expelled to Mexico until “a forthcoming public health reassessment,” which has yet to be published.

  Here’s what’s happened since, from NBC News three days ago:

  WASHINGTON — Two more whistleblowers have come forward to allege that children were mistreated by contractors and senior federal employee managers at a Department Health and Human Services migrant shelter in Fort Bliss, Texas, earlier this year, and also say HHS told them to downplay hundreds of Covid infections among children held at the facility.

  “Covid was widespread among children and eventually spread to many employees. Hundreds of children contracted Covid in the overcrowded conditions. Adequate masks were not consistently provided to children, nor was their use consistently enforced,” the whistleblowers, Arthur Pearlstein and Lauren Reinhold, said in a federal whistleblower complaint filed Wednesday[.]

  But at the end of their service, they said, federal detailees were regularly given written instructions from HHS public affairs that told them, “when asked, to make everything sound positive about the Fort Bliss experience and to play down anything negative.”

  And she’s still brushing off that child migrants (many of whom reportedly catch COVID in U.S. detention centers before being dispersed through the U.S.) are spreading COVID?  And she’s still working on her “guidelines”?  Perhaps it’s because she’s making so many television appearances that she can’t get around to doing her actual $188,063-salaried job.  Or perhaps she takes Kamala Harris as her role model, hoping to best her on the border-laziness front.

  In addition, Walensky hasn’t done anything about Title 42, which the Biden administration says it’s awaiting word from her on as a million migrants stream in:

  The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on the future of Title 42. A White House official said the lifting of Title 42 had never been planned.

  “That decision will rest with the CDC and that public health process — as of right now there is no change in policy in Title 42, nor a timeline to preview or announce when it’s no longer needed,” the official said.

  That’s the current in-place guideline to throw back illegal migrants on COVID grounds.  Joe Biden said he was going to lift it but then said it was up to Dr. Walensky to make that decision.  Rather than affirmatively advise that it should stay in place based on all the migrant COVID-spreading, she’s actually said nothing, and Biden, being Biden, is supposedly leaving it in place but not enforcing it, based on the kinds of statistics around open borders and migrant COVID-spreading that we are seeing now.  Words, and rules, no longer have meaning to Biden, and she’s letting this go on and on as COVID spreads through the U.S.

  As if that weren’t bad enough, she’s back to nonsense about everyone masking up, and all she needs is two weeks to “stop the spread.”

  Heard that one before?  How stupid does she think the public is?

  As the New York Post notes in its fierce editorial, it’s time to get this person off the air.  (Glenn Reynolds, writing at the Post, has a good one saying similar, too.)  She’s got a bizarre speaking style, at times with strange, inappropriate giggles, and she’s constantly spewing disinformation, or shifting information, all of which blow apart her tattered credibility.  Medical professionals are nothing without credibility, and Walensky is proving herself to be a colossal zero.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 23:00

• 3D Printed Soft Robo-Hand Can Play Nintendo Super Mario Bros. And Win
  3D Printed Soft Robo-Hand Can Play Nintendo Super Mario Bros. And Win

  What if Americans become too obese and lazy that they had robots play video games for them one day? 

  University of Maryland researchers have 3D printed a soft robotic hand capable of playing Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The soft robotic hand is flexible and powered by air rather than electricity. 

  

  The breakthrough in soft robotics is led by University of Maryland assistant professor of mechanical engineering Ryan D. Sochol and his team, who 3D print a fully functional soft robotic hand with “integrated fluidic circuits” that allowed it to be programmed and play NES. 

  “Previously, each finger of a soft robotic hand would typically need its own control line, which can limit portability and usefulness,” said co-first author Joshua Hubbard. “But by 3D printing the soft robotic hand with our integrated fluidic transistors, it can play Nintendo based on just one pressure input.”

  During a session of Super Mario Bros., various types of air pressure control each of the robot’s fingers. For example, the first finger is controlled by low pressure, and the second finger is controlled by medium pressure, and so forth. In total, three fingers can control the NES remote and are programmed to beat the first level of the game in under 90 seconds. 

  Sochol and his team aren’t satisfied with using soft robotics technology for just video games. They’re exploring ways to use this technology in the biomedical field. 

  Watch the robot play the first level of the game and win. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 22:30

• California Parents Are Pulling Children From Public Schools
  California Parents Are Pulling Children From Public Schools

  Authored by Vanessa Serna via The Epoch Times,

  Faced with contentious changes within the public school sector—including the introduction of ethnic studies in some districts—some California parents are searching for alternative options.

  “I don’t want my daughter exposed to any type of sex education at any grade level, and I don’t want her introduced to any type of critical race theory at any grade level,” Denise Ramirez told The Epoch Times.

  Ramirez is a mother of three children, with two enrolled in the Tustin Unified School District and another recently enrolled in private school.

  With concerns mounting over critical race theory (CRT) being taught in classrooms—coupled with mask mandates for public schools leading into the coming curricular year—Ramirez began to seek other options for her children.

  She enrolled her daughter at a private Christian school to attend kindergarten. The facility remained open during the pandemic, and did not require kindergarteners to wear masks.

  Ramirez said she wants her daughter to have an education that doesn’t involve sex education and critical race theory. She said her boys were exposed to a “comprehensive sex education” in Grade 7.

  “What we want for her education to look like is that she can go in person, and there won’t be any interruption,” she said.

  

  Increasing Private School Enrollments 

  At Aliso Christian Academy, principal Kaelyn Peterson said she is witnessing an increase in enrollments.

  Before enrolling families into the school, Peterson provides them with a tour of the facility. Based on information she’s gleaned on the tours she’s led, parents are reaching for more in-person instruction as they see it more suitable for their kids, she said.

  She also said that more conservative families are searching for alternative education options as different ideas and agendas that go against beliefs are being “pushed down” into the public education spectrum.

  “The majority of them say is they want their kids in-person and they also want them in an environment where they feel like what’s being taught to them aligns with their values,” Peterson said.

  The school took safety precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic, but remained open.

  As some families turn toward private schools, others decide to stay put and wait for their children to finish out their public education.

  Jon Schank, whose son is an incoming high school senior at Tustin Unified School District (TUSD), said that he disagrees with the decisions being made in public schools but doesn’t intend to move his son.

  “I do not like the direction of education…the introduction of ethnic studies,” he told The Epoch Times.

  “I think the school board does not act in the best interest of the students.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 22:00

• Google Play Store To Ban "Sugar Daddy" Apps
  Google Play Store To Ban “Sugar Daddy” Apps

  Google published several changes to its Google Play Store policy on Wednesday, including banning “sugar dating” apps. 

  The policy change in question reads, “We’re updating the inappropriate content policy to institute new restrictions on sexual content, specifically prohibiting compensated sexual relationships (i.e. sugar dating).”

  

  Those who aren’t familiar with “sugar dating” involve older, wealthier individuals dating young partners and showering them in gifts or money, often in exchange for sexual favors. 

  Play’s policies already forbid apps that promote “services that may be interpreted as providing sexual acts in exchange for compensation.” The updated policy change kicks in on Sept. 1. 

  A search shows plenty of sugar daddy-style apps on Play, including “Sugar Daddy Dating,” “Elite Millionaire Singles,” and “SeekingArrangement.”

  There was no mention of which apps would be banned, but there are workarounds such as manually entering the website on an Android web browser or sideloading the dating app. 

  So much for some millennials who traded sexual favors to older partners to pay off their student debt. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 21:30

• California Biggest Public Sector Union Opposes Newsom's Vaccine Order
  California Biggest Public Sector Union Opposes Newsom’s Vaccine Order

  Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

  California’s biggest public sector union has come out in opposition to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order requiring state workers to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or undergo regular testing.

  

  Richard Louis Brown, president of SEIU Local 1000, which represents some 96,000 employees of the State of California, on Wednesday shared a letter from the union to the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR) objecting to Newsom’s vaccine mandate.

  “The new policy constitutes a unilateral change in violation of the obligation to give notice and the opportunity to meet and confer prior to implementation,” reads the letter, signed by SEIU Local 1000 chief counsel Anne Giese.

  Giese called on CalHR and the State of California to “cease and desist enforcing this requirement or imposing an immediate deadline” until the union has had the chance to meet and confer.

  The move came in response to the Democrat governor’s order, issued on Monday, requiring all of California’s state employees, some 246,000 people, to get vaccinated starting Aug. 2 or be subjected to weekly COVID-19 testing.

  COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

  In announcing the vaccine mandate, Newsom pointed to the spread of the Delta variant of the CCP virus, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists as a “variant of concern” and considers to be more transmissible and potentially more resistant to vaccines.

  “We are now dealing with a pandemic of the unvaccinated, and it’s going to take renewed efforts to protect Californians from the dangerous Delta variant,” Newsom said in a statement.

  “As the state’s largest employer, we are leading by example and requiring all state and health care workers to show proof of vaccination or be tested regularly.”

  So far, opposition by SEIU Local 1000 marks the only union objection to Newsom’s order.

  On Friday, Newsom’s office shared statements in support of his order issued by a number of local leaders and associations.

  “Newsom’s new vaccine policy is a reasonable compromise that we can get behind,” said Glen Stailey, president of the Correctional Peace Officers Association.

  “It provides for regular testing at work for those who have chosen not to get vaccinated—this will prevent the spread of the virus among correctional officers and incarcerated individuals alike.”

  Denise Duncan, president of the United Nurses Association of California said in a statement that, “COVID-19 transmissions are high, we’re in a fourth surge, and we know that unvaccinated people are suffering the most. This is a forward-thinking order from Governor Newsom which will save lives by protecting patients and caregivers both.”

  Federal, state, and local government officials have pushed vaccinations harder as cases linked to the Delta variant have risen.

  Just under half of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

  Vaccine mandates have become a hot-button issue, with advocates welcoming them as a measure to help stem the spread of the CCP virus and protect vulnerable populations, while opponents object on a range of grounds, including concerns about side effects, that the COVID-19 vaccines are currently under emergency use authorization, and that mandates infringe on personal liberties.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 21:00

• Air Force's Second Attempt To Air-Launch Hypersonic Weapon Fails 
  Air Force’s Second Attempt To Air-Launch Hypersonic Weapon Fails 

  For the second time in months, the US Air Force has unsuccessfully tested a prototype hypersonic weapon. 

  The Air Force’s AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW, separated from the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bomber during an air-launch test on July 28 when the rocket motors failed to ignite. This test follows the first unsuccessful flight test in April. 

  

  Testing was conducted over Point Mugu Sea Range in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California. The Air Force explains what went wrong this time:

  The missile cleanly separated from the aircraft and successfully demonstrated the full release sequence, including GPS acquisition, umbilical disconnect and power transfer from the aircraft to the missile. The missile also demonstrated fin operation and de-confliction maneuvers which ensures a safe operation for the aircrew.

  Following the safe separation maneuvers, the rocket motor did not ignite. The ARRW team continues to progress through the rapid prototyping effort with a steadfast commitment to the well-being of Airmen and equipment, striking a balance between prudent risk and rapid advancement of the program. 

  The test failure is a significant blow for the US locked in a hypersonic weapons race against China and Russia. Hypersonic weapons, like the ARRW, can travel at Mach 5, or about 3,836 mph. The missiles are designed to travel at super-fast speeds and penetrate the world’s most advanced air defense shields.

  The push for hypersonic weapons occurred under the Trump administration where America was reasserting its military dominance across the world. 

  Here’s our recent coverage on the ARRW program: 

  • National (In)Security: The Hypersonic Road To Hell
  • Lockheed Martin Awarded Second Contract Worth $480mn For Hypersonic Missile Weapons
  • Watch: Lockheed Martin Successfully Flies Its Newest Hypersonic Missile On B-52 Bomber
  • Air Force Eyes Hypersonic Weapons For B1 Bomber
  • USAF Prepares For Imminent Hypersonic Missile Test
  • USAF Hypersonic Missile Fails To Launch In Highly-Anticipated Test

  The US is attempting to field the ARRW in the early 2020s, but the latest setbacks could delay fielding the super-fast new weapons. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 20:30

• David Stockman On Why Money Printing Doesn't Generate Economic Growth
  David Stockman On Why Money Printing Doesn’t Generate Economic Growth

  Authored by David Stockman via InternationalMan.com,

  To understand the Fed’s culpability for the inflationary disaster afflicting the American economy, it is necessary to start with the Big Lie that underlies all of its destructive machinations: the claim that market capitalism gravitates toward cyclical instability, recession and chronic shortfall from its potential Full Employment path.

  

  From this presumption, there flows an alleged requirement for continuous central bank “stimulus.” Deft action by the central banking arm of the state is purportedly needed to compensate for the inherent prosperity-retarding imperfections of the free market.

  If Fed policy has actually been reducing cyclical instability and pushing the $21 trillion US economy ever closer to its Full Employment potential, then productivity growth should be rising over time commensurate with the Fed’s more aggressive deployment of its “stimulus” policies.

  In this context, it should be noted that productivity growth is a purer measure of monetary policy impact than total real GDP growth. That’s because the latter is in part driven by long-run demographics and the annual growth of the labor supply.

  Productivity growth has exhibited an indisputable decline over the past 72 years, even as Fed policy has become dramatically and chronically more “stimulative.” For purposes of analysis, we have divided the 1947–2019 period, when productivity growth averaged 2.14% per annum for the entire period, into three sub-periods which roughly track the progressive ratcheting up of central bank stimulus policy.

  During the first of these periods, the Fed was still tied to the Bretton Woods gold exchange standard and had modest room for stimulus, while during the second period it was just getting its money-printing sea legs and discovering how far it could actually go with a pure fiat dollar.

  And the final stage commenced with the financial crisis of 2008, when the Fed embarked upon stimulus unbound. In this stage the balance sheet erupted from $0.9 trillion to $7.9 trillion during the 13 years after the pre-crisis peak.

  Needless to say, Fed stimulus policy and US productivity growth are inversely correlated, and dramatically so.

  Nonfarm Labor Productivity Growth per Annum decreased with each stage:

  • Gold-anchored dollar era, 1947–1970: 71% per annum;

  • Initial fiat dollar era, 1970–2007: 03% per annum;

  • Unhinged fiat dollar era, 2007–2019:37% per annum;

  You just plain can’t argue with the above statistical riff. Nor can the Fed heads and their apologists claim that long-term productivity growth is not an appropriate measure of their policy efficacy.

  The Fed is peddling a growth and economic performance narrative that is wholly unwarranted.

  Annual Nonfarm Labor Productivity Growth, 1947–2020

  

  It’s the Great Lie that obfuscates the fact that it’s really in the anti-prosperity, pro-inflation money-pumping business.

  Common sense and casual observation tell you that the Fed got steadily more aggressive in its stimulus policies during the unfolding of the three periods shown above.

  The following illustrates the point well:

  Fed Balance Sheet Growth/ Per Annum Money GDP Growth = Stimulus Ratio

  • Gold anchored dollar era, 1947–1970: 6.6% GDP growth, 2.4% Fed balance sheet growth = 36% Stimulus Ratio;

  • Initial fiat dollar era, 1970–2007: 7.3% GDP growth, 6.7% Fed balance sheet growth = 92% Stimulus Ratio;

  • Unhinged fiat dollar era, 2007–2019: 3.1% GDP growth, 12.3% Fed balance sheet growth = 400% Stimulus Ratio

  The above omits the 2020 data owing to the massive disruption of both the GDP numbers and the monetary statistics caused by the COVID-Lockdowns and the radical fiscal and monetary experiments implemented to counter them. In fact, the Fed’s balance sheet soared skyward by $3 trillion, even as money GDP fell backward resulting in a 13-year trend that was even more over the top:

  • Unhinged fiat dollar era, 2007–2020: 2.9% GDP growth, 17.1% Fed balance sheet growth = 590% Stimulus Ratio.

  At the end of the day, the only real policy “tool” the Fed possesses is its printing press. Namely, it cannot really move interest rates lower, implement QE, ease financial conditions on Wall Street or accommodate better economic performance on Main Street (to use its preferred nomenclature) except by expanding its balance sheet.

  Accordingly, the ratio of Fed balance sheet growth to money (nominal) GDP growth is a close quantitative proxy for its level of “stimulus.” And on that measure, the results are the opposite of the deteriorating productivity trend shown for the three periods above.

  Stimulus has gone parabolic.

  How did productivity grow by 2.71% per annum over 1947–1970 — double the 2007–2019 rate — when the Fed’s balance sheet grew by a mere 2.4% per annum or just 38% of the growth rate of nominal GDP?

  The truth is, we are dealing with narrative, not facts or analytics.

  The Fed’s absurd money-pumping is so convenient for both Wall Street speculators and money-movers and Washington’s debt-addicted politicians that no one questions the narrative. No one points out that the emperor of improved economic growth and performance is buck naked.

  *  *  *

  The Fed has already pumped enormous distortions into the economy and inflated an “everything bubble.” The next round of money printing is likely to bring the situation to a breaking point. If you want to navigate the complicated economic and political situation that is unfolding, then you need to see this newly released video from Doug Casey and his team. In it, Doug reveals what you need to know, and how these dangerous times could impact your wealth. Click here to watch it now.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 20:00

• "They Just Appeared One Day": Detroit Is Importing Millions Of Honey Bees
  “They Just Appeared One Day”: Detroit Is Importing Millions Of Honey Bees

  While most of the focus on Detroit generally boils down to how many vehicles it is exporting elsewhere, it’s what the city is importing now that is turning heads.

  Detroit has imported about 12 million honey bees to the metro Detroit area over the last five years, the Wall Street Journal reported this week. The bees are part of an effort by a non-profit (called ‘Bees in the D’) to help urban farms that offer residents produce, the report says.

  Detroit resident Don Carter said: “There are so many empty fields, it can’t do anything but help add some color to all the green, grassy lots.”

  And of course, there’s pushback from environmentalists, who are accusing the non-profit of being mean to the local bees which “might not make honey but can hold their own as pollinators,” the report says. The newcomer bees might add competition and spread disease, environmentalists claim. 

  Some local residents aren’t amused, either. 46 year old Damon Currie lives near where about 360,000 bees were placed in 2019 and was stung with his 8 year old son last summer. 

  He told the WSJ: “I started waving off the bees that were around him and I got stung too. I had never been stung before that in my life.”

  

  “They couldn’t knock on the door and tell us about it? The hives just appeared one day. We’ll just be sitting on the porch talking, laughing, and the bees will come at us and ruin it. Take those hives somewhere else.”

  The founder of the non-profit, Brian Peterson-Roest, says he tells people close to the new hives but isn’t able to reach everyone in a specific area. “I was in a real low in my life when the bees came my way and brought new purpose to me,” he said.

  Sheila Colla, an associate professor of environmental studies at York University in Toronto whose research focuses on the conservation of pollinators and who is familiar with the Michigan-area ecosystem, told the Journal: “Honey bees are so different from our native bees. The bees that are at risk of extinction are ones you can’t order by the millions.”

  Annie Hakim, co-owner of Featherstone Garden, said of the bees: “I feel very fortunate to have them”. 

  ‘Bees in the D’ is expected to open a $1.1 million botanical garden that will house about 300,000 bees in Spring 2022. He has struck deals for the bees to live on properties of local farms and even on the properties of some General Motors facilities. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 19:30

• One Lockdown From Disaster
  One Lockdown From Disaster

  Authored by MN Gordon via EconomicPrism.com,

  The popular economic tune being played by the popular press drones on.  You know the melody by now…

  That the post-pandemic boom is alive and well.  That growth is enduring.  That blue skies are here to stay.

  If you listen closely, however, several notes ring sour.

  The Commerce Department reported on Thursday that second quarter gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annualized rate of 6.5 percent.  This may sound good, initially.  But economists with Dow Jones had estimated an 8.4 percent Q2 GDP increase.  Once again, extreme fiscal stimulus, at the expense of a long term debt burden, drifted off key.

  The monetary policy refrain was also lacking.  This week, at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting press conference, Fed Chair Jay Powell remarked that, “we’re some way away from having had substantial further progress toward the maximum employment goal.”

  Thus the Fed will continue to hold the federal funds rate near zero and will continue creating credit from thin air at a rate of $120 billion per month to purchase Treasuries and mortgage backed securities in the amounts of $80 billion and $40 billion, respectively.  By now these damaging actions have become exceedingly mindless.  The aim for maximum employment will ultimately prove to be a shortsighted calamity.

  If the economy was really strengthening, the Fed would be tapering back these security purchases and even normalizing its balance sheet.  At the very least, it would be talking about tapering.

  But the economy’s not really strengthening at all.  Rather, the economy and financial markets, handicapped by extreme intervention, are entirely dependent on this monetary stimulus.

  And there’s no easy way out…

  Woke and Enlightened

  The Fed’s predicament tightens by the day.  Take away the monetary crutches and the Fed risks a catastrophic financial meltdown.  Yet keep them in place for too long and the Fed risks a significant dollar devaluation.  These, no doubt, are the disagreeable options that remain following decades of the Fed’s erudite handiwork.

  The promise of planning the economy via monetary policy, like the promise of gun control or mandatory mask mandates, is a farce.  The body of empirical evidence – the science – shows that monetary policy fails to smooth out the ups and downs of the business cycle.  Moreover, by intervening in credit markets, the Fed actually intensifies the booms and busts.

  Still, central planning via the Fed is not the only madness one must contend with.  There’s a whole army of planners in Congress and dispersed throughout the government’s countless agencies and bureaucracies working overtime to steal your wealth and freedom.

  Today’s central planners and social engineers are especially special.  They’re woke…and progressive.

  They slog away in home offices with central air conditioning, as they swig chilled seltzers and munch on fresh, refrigerated grapes.  Their privilege is both sweet and juicy.

  Yet all the while, they bemoan the cruelty of unequal outcomes.

  “Why can’t others get paid by the government to munch on grapes from home too?” they ask.

  These wokesters jump from one zoom call to the next, figuring new legislation to redirect the flow of money to somehow make society more equitable.

  You see, equality under the law is not good enough.  Charges of systemic racism and white privilege must be overcome with government directed outcomes that are, somehow, morally equitable.

  Partiality centered on an extreme fixation upon micro gradations of skin color is the great cause of the woke and enlightened.

  One Lockdown from Disaster

  Implicit to the planner’s toils, is a shared sense that they know how to spend your money better than you.  At best, the central planners call your money to Washington so they can then distribute it back to your friends and neighbors.  In reality, the lawmakers call your money to Washington where they distribute it to their friends and neighbors – not yours.

  This is not a matter of opinion.  It’s a matter of fact.  Could it really be a coincidence that the top three wealthiest counties in the country are in the shadow of the Capitol in the D.C. suburbs?

  What it is exactly that the residents of these counties do that’s of tangible value is unclear.  However, what is clear is that phony government jobs in Loudoun County, Falls Church, and Fairfax County, Virginia, pay big bucks.

  This week a bipartisan group of senators reached an agreement to advance a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, of which $550 billion is in new spending.  The rest of the package uses previously approved spending, though we can’t tell if this is for infrastructure or something else.

  Regardless, this government-directed stimulus will further the economy’s dependence on federal spending.  Workers will base their livelihoods on these projects.  Many will be boondoggles.  Some may provide useful assets.  They will all contribute to an economy that’s ultimately doomed, where debt well outpaces GDP.

  But wait, there’s more…

  Navigating its way through Congress after the infrastructure bill is the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation plan, which focuses on something called ‘human infrastructure.’  This plan is slated to include complete giveaways for health care, paid family leave, education and climate change, among other things.

  Make of it what you will.  Physical infrastructure.  Human infrastructure.  Debt.  Deficits.  Nonstop money printing.  Price inflation.  Woke central planners.  Economic stagnation.  Delta variant.  Perpetual dependency.

  

  If that’s not enough, with each passing day it appears more and more likely the CDC will goad the Biden administration into another lockdown.  And at this point, we may just be one lockdown from disaster.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 19:00

• Need A Divorce? There's An App For That, And They Just Raised $2 Million
  Need A Divorce? There’s An App For That, And They Just Raised $2 Million

  750,000 divorces happen, on average, every year in the U.S.

  While some call that a shame, others see it as a total addressable market. Take, for example, online divorce startup Hello Divorce. They have just raised $2 million to help couples streamline to the inevitable: splitting up. The company provides a combination of software and legal services that start at $99 and average at about $2,000. 

  The company’s seed rounding of funding was “led by CEAS, with additional funds coming from Lightbank, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, Gaingels and a group of individuals including Clio CEO Jack Newton, WRG’s Lisa Stone and Equity ESQ led by Ed Diab,” according to TechCrunch. 

  The total cost of divorce is, on average, between $8,400 and $17,500. The industry as a whole is valued around $50 billion per annum, the report notes. 

  The company was started in 2018 by family law attorney Erin Levine, who called billable hours for divorce an “antiquated process”. It currently is available in just four states: California, Colorado, Texas and Utah.

  She told TechCrunch: “Right now, lawyers are the keeper of information, and clients keep paying until the divorce is done. Divorce is more than forms. It is a challenging time, and most people need or want support. I saw a big hole there to use technology and fixed fees to put couples in the driver’s seat and take down that level of conflict.”

  

  The company says that most people spend 2 to 5 years thinking about divorce and that 80% of them won’t have access to counsel. 

  The company’s plan is to use the funding for “rapidly scaling legal filing options across the U.S., improving its ground-breaking product, and giving consumers more of the content and services”. It is already operating at a profit and will use the cash to scale to places like New York and Florida. 

  Levine says the company had 2,000 inquiries into divorce over the last year, thanks to the pandemic forcing couples to actually stay in each others’ company: “The inquiries increased about staying or going, and what divorce will look like. It will be awhile before we see the total effects of what divorce looks like following the pandemic.”

  Lightbank’s Eric Ong concluded: “They are a combination of industry expertise and thinking outside of the box. Eighty percent of people are still not getting meaningful representation, and we looked for technology that would provide a customer value proposition and we didn’t find one until Hello Divorce.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 18:30

• Goldman Flow Desk Weekly Recap
  Goldman Flow Desk Weekly Recap

  By Goldman’s Michael Nocerino, flow trader and vice president of multi-asset platform sales

  GS Post Bell

  Quick Look…Best performers on the Week…

  

  The Worst…

  

  *DESK ACTIVITY…Markets ending the month in the red after a lackluster session dictated by the AMZN sales miss after the close yday and additional delta variant headlines hitting the tape. Albeit we are just a hair off ATH’s and despite ending in negative territory, all three indices ended July higher and it marks the 6th consecutive monthly gain for the S&P. According to Stat News’ Covid dashboard, the U.S.’ 7-day moving average for cases as of yesterday reached the highest number since April 19 and has been steadily increasing for the past month. Another pain point this week was the weakness in Chinese stocks as Beijing continues their crackdown on tech companies – KWEB capped off their worst 2 week performance since inceptive and FXI suffered worst month since Sept. 2011. We finished up the busiest earnings week in the history of the SPX (51% of the index reported) and solid prints continue to be unrewarded – another round of prints next week (12% of SPX). Have a great weekend.

  *US DESK FLOWS…The desk finished the day with HF skewed better for sale 1.07x while LO skewed better to buy 1.13x. We were significantly active in info tech, and consumer discretionary names. In terms factors, we net bought value, and we net sold growth.

  *ACROSS THE POND…Flows on the desk today ended up c.1.1x better for Sale. LOs were our most active group, amounting for the majority (c.50%) of flow actually skewed (c.1.1x) to buy. HFs kept their activity relatively high (c.30% of total flow) with a (c.1.2x) sell skew. Sector-wise, we saw net demand for Discretionary, Energy and Real Estate vs supply for Industrials and Financials.

  *THEMES OF THE WEEK…China Crackdown…Delta Variant…Earnings…TMT Pain…Inflows and August Flows…Seasonals Shift…

  –CHINA…More headlines hitting today: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION CHAIR GARY GENSLER SAYS HAS ASKED STAFF TO SEEK CERTAIN DISCLOSURES FROM OFFSHORE ISSUERS ASSOCIATED WITH CHINA-BASED OPERATING COMPANIES…SEC CHAIR GENSLER SAYS NEW DISCLOSURES WILL BE REQUIRED FOR CHINESE COMPANIES BEFORE REGISTRATION STATEMENTS DECLARED EFFECTIVE

  XI…Has stabilized…for now…

  

  –DELTA VARIANT…*MORE THAN 110,000 VACCINE BREAKTHROUGH CASES IDENTIFIED IN U.S.: BBG…110K break through cases / 164M vaccinated = 0.0671% infection rate among fully vaccinated…

  Global Health Basket (GSXUPAND)…continues to fade…sitting right on the 200dma of 137.22…

  

  -Q2 EARNINGS…This week was the busiest earnings week in the history of the U.S. stock market with 51% of S&P’s cap reporting. Next week the action slows significantly with just 12% of cap reporting. We are STILL seeing the highest percentage (74%) of companies beat street wide earnings ests (by >1SD) in the 20+ years that we have tracked this data (well ahead Q121 which was previous best at 61%) . Very few (4%) companies are missing. However, beats are NOT being rewarded and the few misses we have seen are being punished. I will be keeping a close eye on AMZN today already down 7% pre mkt (clearly should weigh on overall mkt sentiment especially after FB closed down 4% yesterday).

  -296 S&P500 companies have reported 2Q results (76% of total market cap). So far 74% of companies reporting have beat street wide earnings estimates by >1SD (significantly higher than 46% historical avg) whereas only 4% have missed estimates by >1SD (significantly lower than historical avg of 14%).

  –Firms beating earnings ests by at least 1SD have only outperformed the S&P 500 by 31bps on the trading session directly after reporting (vs a historical avg of +103bps of outperformance). Companies missing earnings ests by at least 1 SD have underperformed the S&P 500 by -224bps, which is worse than historical avg of -211bps of underperformance.

  

  

  –TMT (Callahan)…‘Where does Tech’ go from here? … a bit of a buzz / debate around the risk of Tech losing its leadership as soggy T+1 price action for the ‘FAAMG’ group (.. nothing new .. ) and NDX -75bps today leave the group without a catalyst & fresh off a torrid stretch (up ~20% in 6-wks) … to balance that nervous energy, it is worth noting that the backdrop should still prove supportive for ‘Big Tech’ (low rates, hybrid WFH/re-opening, moderating US growth, big cash balances, etc), though likely more ‘intra-FAAMG’ rotations and stock selections. To level-set on YTD moves: GOOGL +55%, FB +31% (vs EPS revisions up ~25% YTD), MSFT +29%, AAPL +10%, AMZN +5%. More TMT earnings to come Monday…

  -WFH Theme as a theme has NOT aged well during earnings – AMZN, NFLX, CTXS to name a few .. next week, watch Video Games (px action today = indicative of positioning / what’s priced in?), streaming names (FSLY, AKAM, etc) and E-Commerce .. keep an eye on: GSTMTWFH / GSXUSTAY Index.

  GSXUSTAY Index…Stalling at the top here…

  

  -INFLOWS CONTINUE (Rubner)…This week (week 30) global equities logged +$23.233 Billion worth of inflows ~ right in line with the YTD run rate. In 2021, there has been +$636.30 Billion YTD inflow into global equity funds, +$518 Billion inflows or 82% passively and +$118 Billion inflows or 18% passively. Global Equity inflows are annualizing +$1.10 Trillion for 2021. This is not small and on pace for the largest annual inflow on record by 2.5x. There have been 143 US trading days this year, which means daily equity flows of +$4.443 billion inflows everyday “buying dip alpha” or $21.21 Billion per week.

  -BUT OUTFLOWS IN AUGUST? Over the last 30 years, money flows change in August. I expect this year to be no different. August typically sees the largest outflow of the year. Even if there are no outflows, but the inflows stop, this will change the #BTD dynamic in the market. Detailed analysis below. Its vacation time now that earnings (which were faded) are behind us. Stay nimble in August, I am focusing on liquidity.

  

  -SEASONALS SHIFT…We are coming out of one of the strongest periods of the year and heading into one of the worst – no surprise given the historical outflow dynamic. This runs us right into Jackson Hole.

  

  -CRYPTO been catching a bit of a bid into and post the US equity close. Since 15:45 NYC time, XBT has rallied almost 6%. Not sure if this is noise or signal but something to keep an eye on.

  

  *NOTES IN CASE YOU MISSED…After Peak Growth: A Slightly Slower Service Sector Recovery (Walker) – Until a couple of months ago, GIR’s GDP growth forecast had been distinguished for the prior year by being well above consensus expectations, reflecting their optimistic view of the prospects for an early vaccination timeline and a strong economic recovery. But at this point, their forecast is instead distinguished from consensus expectations by the sharpness of the deceleration that they expect over the next year and a half, from 8.25%/8.5% during the Q2/Q3 mid-year boom all the way down to a trend-like 1.5-2% by 2022H2 (Exhibit Below).

  After GDP Growth Peaks in Mid-2021, GIR Expects a Sharper Deceleration Than Consensus to a Trend-Like 1.5-2% in 2022H2

  

  Corresponding to the downgrade to their growth forecast, they have also bumped up their unemployment rate forecast slightly from 4.2% to 4.4% at end-2021. GIR expects to learn considerably more about the prospects for labor market recovery from the July employment report, which should provide a test of the impact of seasonal adjustment irregularities and the early expiration of federal unemployment benefits in some states.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 18:00

• Want To Top Tick Used Car Market? Now Could Be The Time To Sell 
  Want To Top Tick Used Car Market? Now Could Be The Time To Sell 

  Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius told clients Wednesday, “used car prices probably peaked in June based on declines in auction prices.” 

  Hatzius explains the stimulus-driven surge in demand and semiconductor shortages resulted in a drawdown in inventories and a massive jump in prices for new and used cars over the last year. 

  New car inventories are expected to begin recovering in September after chip shortages somewhat decrease, but there will still be supply chain disruptions that will drag well into 2022. 

  He lays out commentary from top automakers who report semiconductor shortages will continue to constrain production. 

  

  “We expect that inventories will be steadily rebuilt starting in September but will still remain well below their pre-pandemic level through the end of 2022. We expect a somewhat earlier recovery for used car inventories (which fell by a much smaller amount) following recent data showing sequential monthly increases from an April bottom,” Hatzius said. 

  

  So here it is, for readers who are on the fence about selling their used car.

  Now could be the best time ever, and the window is closing. Hatzius explains: “Based on a statistical model that incorporates our auto inventory and sales forecasts as well as lagged price growth, we estimate that used car prices will retrace almost 35% of their increase since the start of the pandemic by end-2021 and over 70% by end-2022, with tight inventories preventing faster normalization.” 

  

  A steep correction in used car prices could be ahead as explained by Goldman. We outlined a month ago that used car prices “finally peaked.” 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 17:30

• "Not A Drill": Infrastructure Bill Could Sink American Crypto Industry
  “Not A Drill”: Infrastructure Bill Could Sink American Crypto Industry

  Authored by Jeff John Roberts via Decrypt.co,

  The government aims to partially cover the cost of a massive infrastructure bill by taxing crypto companies… and the entire industry will feel it.

  

  Things just got ugly for crypto in Washington, D.C.

  For years, the threat of major regulation has been raised like a hammer, ready to smash the crypto industry. Now, the hammer is ready to drop in the unlikely form of a major infrastructure bill in the U.S. Senate.

  “This is not a drill,” writes Jake Chervinsky, an influential crypto lawyer and a sober voices in a hype-prone industry. In a must-read Twitter thread, Chervinsky explains how the $550 billion bill – which is primarily about roads and bridges – could shiv American crypto companies.

  The pain comes in the part of the bill that explains how the U.S. will help pay for those roads and bridge. Namely, the bill states that Uncle Sam plans to cover $28 billion of the costs by squeezing crypto brokers.

  The trouble is that the bill defines “broker”—a term normally used to describe the likes of Coinbase and Robinhood—as basically any business that touches crypto.

  As Chervinsky writes,

  “This definition is so broad, it could apply to nearly every economic actor in the US crypto industry, if read literally.”

  The catch-all “broker” term could apply to miners, DeFi startups, and others who will have to file customer forms with the IRS, a task that is in some cases impossible.

  The upshot is that the U.S. crypto industry is in the same position as the online gambling industry a decade ago when Congress regulated it out of existence. In the eyes of lawmakers, crypto companies—like online casinos—appear to be both sinful and rich, which makes them the perfect target for a revenue raid.

  The difference, of course, is that crypto is not a new form of vice to be taxed but rather a world-changing technology like the Internet. Sure, it has enabled bad stuff (including gambling-like behavior) but the Internet did too, and U.S. lawmakers came around to realize it made strategic sense to build the web on American shores rather than driving it out of the country.

  There is also the matter of that $28 billion of taxes the crypto industry is supposed to provide. How did the Senate arrive at that figure? No one really knows, but that’s not the point. The point is for Congress to conjure up numbers that will “pay” for roads and bridges, and taxing crypto “brokers” offers a way to do that.

  If you think that this is just another regulatory bogeyman that will never happen, think again. The crypto broker provision is part of a larger $550 billion package that is poised to pass, and that President Biden is aiming to make the landmark accomplishment of his first year. If the U.S. crypto industry has to become road kill to make that happen, few in Washington will bat an eye.

  All of this reflects poorly on U.S. elected officials, but the crypto industry bears responsibility too. For years now, the industry’s leaders have carried on like they’re too rich or too cool to be bothered with Washington DC. Now, that’s coming back to bite them. Meanwhile, the handful of companies who are making a serious effort to help crypto build political capital get branded with the c-word (“centralized”) and dumped on by others in the industry. That’s what happened to Uniswap, which is probably the most promising DeFi project, when it it recently dared to devote some of its budget to defend crypto in the Capitol.

  For now, everything is not lost. One Washington insider—who describes the situation as a “live fire exercise”—tells Decrypt the industry has mobilized like never before and various factions are putting aside differences to fight a common threat. But she added that “we’re running out of cards to play” as Democrats pull out the stops to pass the infrastructure bill by August. Ironically, the crypto industry’s best hope could be other Democrats—namely, the progressive caucus threatening to blow up the entire bill unless their leaders pass a related bill full of left-wing spending goodies.

  In the absence of a Democratic party crack-up, the crypto industry’s best hope is a long-shot bid to rewrite the broker language before the bill takes another step forward. Barring that, Chervinsky notes that the next step will be fighting a rear-guard action in the courts, and urging allies in Congress to prevent the worst parts of the law decapitating the industry when it goes into effect in 2023.

  The bottom line is that this regulatory storm has been brewing years. The crypto industry should have done more to head it off. Now, it may be too late.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 17:00

• Hotels In Popular Mexican Resort Towns Now Require Proof Of Vaccination  
  Hotels In Popular Mexican Resort Towns Now Require Proof Of Vaccination  

  Americans have been traveling to resort destinations this summer ever since they were cooped up in their homes last year during the virus pandemic. Many have flooded Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula resort towns in a move to take advantage of inexpensive flights and epic resort deals. 

  But with the global number of new coronavirus cases surging due to the Delta variant spreading worldwide – hotel guests in the state of Quintana Roo, which is home to resort towns, such as Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, and Tulum, are now required under Mexican law to show proof of COVID health status, according to Forbes. 

  

  Quintana Roo Governor Carlos Joaquín enforced the new measure last week that requires tourists to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative test result before entering public places such as bars, restaurants, and hotels. 

  

  Next week, the resort town of Mazatlán, located on the country’s west coast in the state of Sinaloa, will roll out similar policies that enforce proof of vaccination or negative test for tourists before entering public facilities. 

  Vaccinated U.S. travelers have had more ease entering dozens of countries than unvaccinated travelers. This list includes most European countries and the Caribbean islands such as Anguilla, Bahamas, Barbados, St. Bart’s, and St. Lucia.

  Health freedom has become a hot subject as new lockdowns, new mandates, and new “health passports” begin once more amid the Delta variant outbreak. 

  For the unvaccinated, traveling abroad will include constant testing to stay compliant with local measures.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 16:30

• The Battle Of The Censors
  The Battle Of The Censors

  Authored by James Rickards via DailyReckoning.com,

  Two sides are attacking free speech, but their arguments are so irrational they end up attacking each other.

  

  On one side are Facebook, Google, and the Google-owned YouTube channel. All three have engaged in censorship and suppression of free speech and open debate about the pandemic and vaccines.

  Legitimate questions are squashed, and treatments, such as hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin, cannot be mentioned without the risk of being banned from social media.

  On the other side is the Biden administration, which also wants to ban discussion of alternate treatments and completely block any information that raises concerns about so-called COVID “vaccines.”

  If social media and the Biden administration both favor censorship, what could they be arguing about?

  It turns out that Biden is criticizing Facebook and Google for not censoring enough. Even though social media has squashed legitimate questions and debate, the Biden administration says they should do even more to block “misinformation.”

  Of course, what Biden calls “misinformation” is actually legitimate information that Americans should be able to see. Here are some facts…

  “Misinformation?” — or Information?

  The COVID vaccines have not been approved by the FDA; (they are administered under an Emergency Temporary Standard, ETS). COVID “vaccines” are not true vaccines in the legal or historical sense because they do not prevent the disease; they simply reduce the response to the disease.

  The COVID “vaccines” are experimental gene modification treatments that permanently alter certain gene production functions. How many vaxxed people understand that?

  Most of what you’ve heard in the great vaccine debate is whether everyone will get the vaccine (and possibly be forced to) or whether people will be allowed to choose not to get the vaccine for a variety of reasons.

  There are over 30-million Americans who have had COVID and recovered. They have natural antibodies that are likely stronger protection against new infection than any so-called vaccine.

  Why should they be required to get the vaccine? Why are they never mentioned when mainstream commentators talk about the “unvaccinated?”

  Good science and common sense say that COVID survivors don’t need the vaccine, so they should not be lumped in with those who choose not to get the vaccine, but they are.

  There are serious side effects to the vaccines, including death. And the death toll from the vaccines may be dramatically underreported, at least according to one whistleblower.

  Could the Vaccines Have Killed 45,000 People?

  Named Jane Doe in the filing, the whistleblower is described as “a computer programmer with subject matter expertise in the healthcare data analytics field, and access to Medicare and Medicaid data maintained by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).”

  Here’s what she claims:

  It is my professional estimate that VAERS (the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) database, while extremely useful, is under-reported by a conservative factor of at least 5. On July 9, 2021, there were 9,048 deaths reported in VAERS. I verified these numbers by collating all of the data from VAERS myself, not relying on a third party to report them. In tandem, I queried data from CMS medical claims with regard to vaccines and patient deaths, and have assessed that the deaths occurring within 3 days of vaccination are higher than those reported in VAERS by a factor of at least 5. This would indicate the true number of vaccine-related deaths was at least 45,000.

  Now, VAERS only reports deaths; it doesn’t establish that the vaccines necessarily caused them. Therefore, it doesn’t provide definitive data, and trying to extrapolate the true number of vaccine deaths based upon the VAERS database involves guesswork.

  But even if the true number is half what the whistleblower alleges, that’s still an extraordinarily high number of vaccine-induced deaths.

  In 1976, the Swine Flu vaccine was pulled from the market, even though it resulted in only 53 deaths. It’s true that many more Americans have taken the COVID vaccines than took the Swine Flu vaccine in 1976, but deaths from these experimental vaccines are still several times greater.

  You just won’t hear about that from the government or the mainstream media.

  Does that mean you shouldn’t take the vaccine or that you’re going to die or have serious side effects if you’ve already taken it?

  No, I’m not saying that. And I’m not an “anti-vaxxer.” Whether or not you choose to be vaccinated is your business.

  Why Shouldn’t You Be Able to Make an Informed Decision?

  It may be the case that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the detriments, at least for the elderly and those with preexisting conditions. But it’s still a discussion worth having. You should be able to make an informed decision based upon the risks and benefits.

  Unfortunately, you can’t have that discussion on social media because you’ll be blocked, jammed or de-platformed.

  Dr. Robert Malone, a leading pioneer of the mRNA vaccine technology upon which the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are based, has effectively been disappeared by Wikipedia because he’s expressed concern about the safety of these particular vaccines.

  This isn’t some quack or fringe conspiracy theorist; Dr. Malone is an impeccably credentialed scientist who, again, pioneered the very technology upon which these COVID vaccines are based.

  Meanwhile, some people are being fired from their jobs just for raising the question. And there has been no candid recognition that the vaccines are not FDA approved. They are part of an experimental gene modification treatment.

  If you want to participate in the experiment, that’s fine, but don’t pretend it’s not an experiment. It may take years or longer to find out what the real cost/benefit trade-offs are. Now a new debate has erupted…

  How Many Shots Will You Need?

  It turns out that even two jabs of the vaccine may not be enough. In many people, the ability of the vaccine to prevent the worst effects of the virus wears off quickly. Many who have had the vaccine are being reinfected and becoming quite ill. Some are even dying.

  Of course, Big Pharma has a solution for that. You need a third jab euphemistically called a “booster.” It’s not really a booster. It means the effect of the original jabs has worn off, and you need a new jab.

  Don’t expect that to be the end of it. There’s no reason why this pattern won’t repeat itself given the original sequence. This means you’ll need a fourth jab in another six months and possibly a jab every six months for the rest of your life.

  This means billions of dollars for Big Pharma (mostly paid for by you as a taxpayer).

  It also turns Americans into a nation of drones obediently following orders to get more jabs of the gene modification medicine. What you’re doing to your body with the vaccine is like rewriting the operating system of a computer.

  Every rewrite of computer code involves errors (called “bugs”) that call for more rewrites and so on in a never-ending sequence. The vaccine sequence is lining up the same way.

  Without drawing definitive conclusions, why shouldn’t Americans at least be able to weigh the risks and benefits based on accurate information instead of propaganda? Letting both sides express views has been our First Amendment standard since 1787.

  But as I noted above, now we have an argument between Big Tech, which favors censorship, and the Biden White House, which favors more censorship. As Shakespeare wrote, “A plague on both your houses.”

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 16:00

• Cargo Vessel Expelled From US Waters After Discovery Of Chinese Invasive Insects
  Cargo Vessel Expelled From US Waters After Discovery Of Chinese Invasive Insects

  Not every day does a large cargo vessel get booted from U.S. waters after the discovery of invasive insects from China. 

  According to marine news website gCaptain, a Panama-flagged bulk carrier called M/V Pan Jasmine was anchored downriver from New Orleans on July 17 when the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) discovered five different pests, including two species (namely Cerambycidae, a type of beetle, and Myrmicinae, colonizing queen ants) that are known to pose a significant agriculture threats to U.S. farmland. 

  

  The significant presence of pests onboard the vessel forced CBP to expel it from U.S. waters. 

  New Orleans Area Port Director Terri Edwards said if the vessel offloaded with dunnage filled with pests, “it would have been put in a Louisiana landfill where the insects could crawl out and invade the local habitat, causing incalculable damage.”

  Edwards said, “inspecting wood dunnage of otherwise lawful shipments is one of the many, lesser-known ways Office of Field Operations Agriculture Specialists help keep our country safe. I am proud of our agriculture specialists and the USDA personnel for recognizing these dangerous pests.”

  Cerambycids are native to China and the Korean peninsula and were accidentally imported to the U.S. over the decades in shipping material that has led to the destruction of trees and farmland. 

  The USDA Forest Service has spent more than a half-billion dollars to eradicate cerambycids between 1996 and 2013. 

  There was no word if the insects were deliberately put on the ship as a form of “bug warfare,” as for thousands of years, military leaders have used insects as weapons of war. 

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 15:30

• Save, Invest, Speculate, Trade, Or Gamble?
  Save, Invest, Speculate, Trade, Or Gamble?

  Authored by Doug Casey via InternationalMan.com,

  For some time, I’ve been saying that the economy is in the “eye of the storm” and that when it emerged, the weather would be far rougher than in 2008. The trillions of currency units created since 2007, combined with artificially suppressed interest rates, have papered over the situation. But only temporarily. When the economy goes into the trailing edge of the hurricane, the storm will be much different, much worse, and much longer lasting than what we experienced in 2008 and 2009.

  In some ways, the immediate and direct effects of this money creation appear beneficial. For instance, by not only averting a sharp complete collapse of financial markets and the banking system, but by taking the stock market to unprecedented highs. It’s allowed individuals and governments to borrow more, and live even further above their means. It may even create what’s known as a “crack-up boom”.

  However, a competent economist (as distinguished from a political apologist, many of whom masquerade as economists) will correctly assess the current prosperity as an illusion. They’ll recognize it as, at best, a natural cyclical upturn – a “dead cat bounce.”

  What we’re really interested in, however, are not the immediate and direct effects of QE— “Quantitative Easing”, and ZIRP—Zero Interest Rate Policy. As much as I love the way they fabricate these acronyms and euphemisms, what we’re really interested in is their indirect and delayed effects. In particular, how do we profit from them? What is likely to happen next in the economy? Which markets are likely to go up, and which are likely to go down?

  

  What Now?

  I’ve been looking for bargains, all over the world and in every type of market. And, yes, you can definitely find a stock here or a piece of real estate there that qualifies. But when it comes to any particular asset class, absolutely nothing – with the sole exception of commodities – is cheap at the moment.

  You may ask, how that can possibly be? It’s almost metaphysically impossible for “everything” to be expensive, if for no other reason than that it raises the question: “Relative to what?” Nonetheless, we’re in a genuine economic and financial twilight zone, where nothing is cheap and everything is high risk. This is most unusual because there’s usually something on the other end of the seesaw.

  The reason for this anomaly is worldwide “QE” on a completely unprecedented scale, by practically every government. So much money has been created in the recent years that it’s flowed into almost every sector of every market – stocks, bonds, and property. Even money itself is actually overpriced – the conundrum is that it’s maintaining as much value as it is, despite many trillions having been recently created around the world and much more to come.

  Many people, and most corporations, are staying in cash simply because it allows you to move quickly (which is important when you’re sitting on a financial volcano), and it seems better to suffer a sure loss of perhaps 5% per year than an unexpected loss of 50% in some volatile market. Neither is a good alternative, of course. But I’ve thought about it and feel I can offer some guidance.

  Again, an economist tries to see the indirect and delayed effects of actions. But this isn’t an academic exercise. So although we want to think like economists, we want to act like speculators.

  A speculator sometimes profits from the immediate and direct effects of actions, but that’s not his real forte; almost everyone can predict those, so it tends to be a crowded playing field. Running with the crowd limits your profit potential – the whole crowd is unlikely to get rich. And it’s dangerous, because crowds can change direction quickly and trample the less fleet of foot.

  Rather, the thoughtful speculator prefers to look for the indirect and delayed effects of politically caused distortions in the markets. Because the effects are delayed, we have more time to get positioned. And because far fewer people pay attention to what’s likely to occur over the horizon, versus what’s tucked up under their noses, the potential tends to be much bigger.

  The speculator is a natural contrarian because few tend to share his viewpoint, and he rarely runs with the crowd. He’s always looking for something similar to silver in 1965, when the U.S. was controlling it at $1.29, or gold in 1971, when it was controlled at $35. Although politically guaranteed distortions are best, any kind will do – especially those caused by manias, when things rise way too high, or panics, when things fall way too low.

  Rothschild’s famous dictum “Buy when blood is running in the streets” is the speculator’s motto.

  This concept is especially critical at the moment. You have to decide – basically right now – how you’re going to play your cards over the next few years. If you don’t, you’re going to find yourself acting in an ad hoc way in what will likely be a chaotic situation. If that’s the case, you’re likely to wind up as financial road kill.

  There are basically three realistic actions available to you: saving, investing, and speculating. I urge you to burn the distinctions into your consciousness. When people don’t fully understand the words they use, they can’t understand the concepts they convey; the result is confusion.

  Saving

  Saving means taking the excess of what you produce over what you consume and setting it aside. It’s basic and essential, because it creates capital. It is capital, in turn, that allows you to advance to the next level. An individual or a society that doesn’t save will soon find itself in trouble.

  A major problem is looming, however, that transcends the fact that many, or even most, people don’t save. It’s that those who do almost always save in the form of some currency – dollars, euros, yen, etc. If those currencies disappear, so do the savings, devastating exactly the most productive and prudent people. That is exactly what I believe is going to happen all over the world in the years to come. With predictably catastrophic consequences.

  Investing

  Investing is the process of allocating capital to a productive business, in the anticipation of creating more wealth. You can’t invest, however, unless you have capital, which usually only comes from saving.

  Investing necessarily becomes harder, more unpredictable, and less likely to succeed as government interventions – in the forms of currency inflation, taxation, and regulation – increase. And all three are going to increase vastly in the years to come.

  In addition, as society reorders itself to different and lower patterns of consumption, most businesses will suffer serious declines in earnings, and many will go bust. Investing, which thrives in a stable, business-friendly atmosphere, is going to be a tough row to hoe.

  Speculating

  This is the process of capitalizing on government-caused distortions in the markets. In a free-market society, speculators would have few opportunities. But that’s not the kind of world we live in, so speculators will have many opportunities to choose from.

  Sadly, speculators have an unsavory reputation among the unwashed. That’s true for several reasons. Their returns are often outsized, inciting envy. Their returns are often realized in times of crisis, which prompts the thoughtless to presume they caused the crisis. And since speculators usually act counter to the wishes of governments and counter to their propaganda, they’re made to appear anti-social.

  In point of fact, I wish we lived in a world where speculation was redundant and unnecessary – but that would be a world where the state had no involvement in the economy.

  As it now stands, however, the speculator is actually a hero, and something of an unloved good Samaritan. When everyone wants to buy, he stands ready to provide what others want. And when everyone wants to sell, he stands ready with cash in their hour of need. He’s a bit like a fire fighter – his services aren’t usually needed, but when they are, it’s typically a time of danger.

  One mistake that novices make is to confuse a speculator with a trader, or worse, with a gambler. Again, let’s define our terms.

  A trader is generally one who’s in the market for a living, a short-term player who tries to buy low and sell high, often scalping for fractions, typically relying on technical analysis or a read of the market’s mood at the moment. There are some extremely successful traders, but it’s a real specialty.

  I’m disinclined to trade for two reasons. First, it’s necessarily very time and attention intensive, and therefore psychologically draining. Second, you’re always swimming upstream against lots of commissions and bid/ask spreads. A trader and a speculator are two very different things.

  A gambler relies on the odds, or sometimes just luck, in an attempt to turn a buck. While luck and statistical probabilities are elements in most parts of life, they shouldn’t play a big part in your financial activities. People who think so are either ignorant or losers who want to attribute their lack of success to the will of the gods.

  The years to come are going to be tough on everybody, but the speculator has by far the best chance of coming out ahead.

  *  *  *

  Excessive money printing and misguided economic ideas have created all kinds of distortions in the market. All signs point to this trend continuing until it reaches a crisis… one unlike anything we’ve seen before. That’s exactly why Doug Casey and his team just released an urgent report that explains how and why this is happening… and what you can do to protect yourself and even profit from the situation. Click here to download the PDF now.

  Tyler Durden
  Sat, 07/31/2021 – 15:00

Digest powered by RSS Digest