The Days of Reckoning

Most people left and center believe that Trump is the ONLY problem - Get to the mid-terms and all will be well.

Unfortunately, Trump embodies a much bigger problem:

America's TOTAL moral collapse.

There are times we must step back from the daily sound and fury to regain our broader perspective.

So here we go:

America is an erstwhile empire collapsing in real time. The ideals that built the post-WWII American empire have long since peaked and are now in latent atrophy. All except one - the existential belief that America must persist in being the Apex Empire. A belief shared by Republicans, Democrats, and Europeans - the latter of whom enjoy laughing at the collapsing empire, while still being TOTALLY dependent upon it.

Because who really believes that the U.S. should still continue to defend Europe eighty years after the end of World War II? Mostly Europeans, as we all learned again this week at the NATO summit.

In the North American hemisphere, the U.S. has no natural enemies. China and Russia are SEVEN THOUSAND miles from the United States. The United States is very fortunate to have only two neighbouring states - Mexico and Canada - both of which are benign nations. Neither poses ANY threat to the United States. Regardless, the U.S. is the most heavily armed country in the world with respect to the proliferation of military hardware in the hands of the civilian population. Therefore, what exactly is the point of perpetuating a TOTALLY unaffordable global empire? NONE.

When I started blogging back in 2006 at the height of the housing bubble I viewed America to be similar to the Soviet Union circa 1989 - an empire on the verge of collapse. However that fate was delayed by $4 trillion of printed money between 2008 and 2012. Ten years later came the pandemic and another cool $5 trillion of printed money compliments of Jerome Powell. Before you know it, inflation was 9% in 2022. Which is a foreshadowing of the days to come. Federal debt has now passed GDP and is growing 3x faster. In the next recession, GDP growth will turn negative while debt growth will skyrocket. Neither party has the will to make the necessary reforms to bring spending IN LINE with other countries. They are BOTH addicted to the dollar reserve currency which was once an asset, but has now become a colossal liability. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1989 because they were spending far too much money on the military. Now, thirty+ years later and the U.S. is making the exact same mistake the Soviet Union made in the 1980s.

Iran is the straw that broke the camel's back:

What does all of this have to do with gambling in the stock market?

The U.S. is a ZERO SUM nation now. If someone is buying, it's because someone else is selling.

Trump embodies what is left of the Apex Empire:

He is sociopathic, amoral, criminal, and predatory. His will and ability to exploit his fellow citizens is on a scale that no other civilized nation could withstand.

What was once exceptional in a good way is now exceptional in the WORST possible way.

And yet no one says anything because they believe it will happen to everyone else.

Until they find out, they are everyone else.