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Bill Bonner, reckoning today from Dublin, Ireland...
We are on our way to South America. We're going to check up on the farm. But we have a hidden agenda…stay tuned.
Meanwhile, inflation did not cooperate last month. CNBC:
Inflation is higher than expected at 6.4%, with the 'most important' measure remaining elevated
Core inflation, which is the price of all items on the index except for food and energy, went up slightly to 0.4%, compared with 0.3% in December. Since food and energy prices are volatile, core inflation is seen as a better indicator of overall inflation trends.
The figure for January inflation (including food and energy) was 0.5%. Annualize it, and you get inflation over 7%.
Some things are more easily reversed than others.
Real Prices, Real People
Once you mix cement and water, you can't unmix them; it's going to harden in whatever shape you leave it. And once you blow up a major piece of foreign infrastructure, you can't un-blow it up. All you can do is to say you're sorry and try to make amends.
Likewise, when inflation gets going, there's no going back. Some prices go up and down. Some go only one way. Salaries, for example, tend to only go up. And once risen, they give businesses a new cost structure. So, consumer prices can't go back down either.
Despite the Bureau of Labor Statistics' valiant efforts (taking food out of the 'core' inflation reading), when you go to the supermarket, you still have to pay higher prices. Joel reported over the weekend, for example, that the cost of a Super Bowl party rose at a double digit rate last year. That was not seasonally adjusted nor hedonically enhanced. That was a real number…paid by real people.
Also very real is the cost of groceries, generally…which rose at a 10.1% rate last month.
People have to eat. And they have to live somewhere. Here's USA Today on housing inflation:
…housing costs – which make up 40% of the index – rose 0.7% for the month and increased 7.9% from a year ago.
Just Say "No"
But wait…why do we have inflation? It's a choice, right? Policymakers choose it as a way of financing their spending. And a single word would stop it – no. As in 'no more money printing…no more ultra low interest rates…no more budget deficits.' Presto…as if waving a magic wand, price increases would halt
And yet, there it is. Plenty of inflation. And a shortage of 'no's.
And war…we have that too, even though the same two-letter word would stop it. Just say the word – 'no' – and war would be over. Without continued support from Americans, Ukrainians and Russians would come to terms quickly, drink vodka shots together, and dance like Cossacks.
We left off yesterday wondering what the elite want. And now we have our answer. They want 'yes.' They control the Deep State. The Deep State controls the empire. And of all the blah-blah claptrap coming out of the White House, Congress and the bureaucracy…millions of words flowing like toxic waste from a chemical plant…one of the simplest words of all – no – is missing.
Why? Why no no's? The answer is obvious. The elite don't want no. An honest republic minds its own business. But the US elite run an empire. And the empire's game is war…funded by inflation. War, because that's what empires do, either protecting their frontiers…or expanding them. And inflation? Because, that's how they keep the money flowing.
And war and inflation? That's how an empire destroys itself.
Yes Men
So, instead of 'no's, the deciders give us 'yes's. You want tanks? Yes, you got 'em. The MiddleEast Eye:
With tanks on the way, Nato is inching toward full-scale war with Russia
Increasingly, the Ukraine war looks like a feature – rather than a bug – of Washington's post-Cold War planning.
There is a logic to how Nato is operating. Step by step, it gets more deeply immersed in the war. It started with sanctions, followed by the supply of defensive arms. Nato then moved to issuing more offensive weapons, in aid so far totalling some $100bn from the US alone. Nato is now supplying the main weapons for a land war. Why should it not join the battle for air supremacy next?
Unexpectedly, the only prominent dissent from western leaders has come from Donald Trump, the former US president. He wrote on social media: "FIRST COME THE TANKS, THEN COME THE NUKES. Get this crazy war ended, NOW."
It is indeed a troubled world when Donald J. Trump is the voice of reason.
But that was the charm of the ex-prez. Usually, he was 'on message;' despite what he said, his actual policies fit very well with the elite agenda – more spending, more borrowing, more bullying, more numbskull programs. But occasionally, he would slip 'off-message;' he would go stark, raving sane and begin saying things that made sense.
That's why the elite were so eager to get rid of him. Every major newspaper, think tank, and non-profit opposed him. Every respectable university taught its students that he was stupid.
They were, of course, right. But the alternative…a president who is 100% reliable, consistently shilling for the elite agenda – war and inflation – may be even worse.
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