Steve Bull's Blog, page 113
June 29, 2023
When in Rome
Over its last one hundred years, the State steadily devalued the currency by 98%The high cost of government—particularly, growing entitlements and perpetual warfare, coupled with a diminished number of taxpayers, led the government to massive debt, to the point that it could not be repaid.Those citizens that were productive began to exit the country, finding new homes in countries that were not quite so sophisticated but offered better prospects for the future.The decline in the value of the currency resulted in ever-increasing prices of goods, so much so that the purchase of them became a hardship to the people. By governmental edict, wage and price controls were established, forcing rises in wages whilst capping the amount that vendors could charge for goods.The result was that vendors offered fewer and fewer goods for sale, as the profit had been eliminated.If the reader is a citizen of the EU or US, the above history may seem quite familiar, with the one exception that strict wage and price controls have not (yet) been implemented. Still, the history is accurate; it is the history of Rome.
The Roman denarius pictured above features the profile of the emperor Diocletian, circa 301 AD, at the time when he issued the edict mentioned above. Like the US dollar that followed 1700 years later, the denarius was the most recognised and most respected currency of its day, as it was almost 100% silver. However, it was steadily devalued by successive emperors during the Era of Inflation from 193 to 293 AD. This was done by diminishing the amount of silver in the coin until it was made entirely of base metal, with a thin silver wash. Just as the US Federal Reserve devalued the US dollar 98% between 1913 and 2023, Rome devalued the denarius over a similar period of time.
…click on the above link to read the rest…
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June 28, 2023
Modern Currency Policy: Nations Compete, Citizens Suffer
Below we consider how modern currency policy may not be so good for, well, the people…
This is why gold inevitably enters the conversation, for unlike policy makers, this old pet rock garners more trust.
Gold, of course, loves chaos, tanking currencies and cornered, debt-soaked nations, the numbers of which rise with each passing day.
We see currency debasement as mathematically and historically inevitable, though we have no clue (no one really does) as to the precise date, trigger or time the already teetering fiat money systems fall over the global debt cliff.
We only know that the $300+T cliff is here, and that nations are racing toward it at historical speed, with equally historical consequences.
Physical gold holders, however, enjoy a certain and calm advantage: They don’t need to be precise timers; simply patient owners.
As for more signs of the move toward weakening currencies in general, and a weakening USD in particular, let’s look at some more history and current facts.
Hot vs. Financial Wars: Today’s Evidence, Tomorrow’s Polices
As headlines change with daily Western biases regarding the military war in Ukraine, America’s financial war with the East (i.e., China) will continue into the next generation.
It’s no secret to me, or many others, moreover, that the war in the Ukraine is a US proxy war against Russia, in which Ukraine (and its citizens) are merely a convenient battering ram against Putin.
That’s just my opinion, but we’ve seen this “freedom” movie before. Many times, and in many countries, none of which ended with much “freedom” …
But as to financial wars, they too are just an extension of politics by another means, and with the growing waves of de-dollarization rising in speed and height following the predictable ripple of effects of the 2022 sanctions against Russia…
…click on the above link to read the rest…
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US Honeybees Suffer Second Deadliest Season On Record
Figures published today reveal beekeepers in the U.S. lost an estimated 48% of their honey bee colonies in 2022-23.
As Statista’s Martin Armstrong reports, according to an annual survey that tracks the state of managed hives, this is the second highest death rate on record after 2020-21’s 51%.
You will find more infographics at Statista
Honey bees are crucial to our food supply, pollinating over 100 different crop types.
As reported by Bee Informed, a national collaboration of leading research labs and universities in agricultural science, the most prominent cause of colony death reported by commercial beekeepers over the year was “varroa destructor” – a parasitic mite that attacks and feeds on honey bees.
In the summer, ‘Queen issues’ were the second most common reason cited, followed by ‘adverse weather’.
According to the publication, “although the total number of honey bee colonies in the country has remained relatively stable over the last 20 years (~2.6 million colonies according to the USDA NASS Honey Reports), loss rates remain high”.
This puts beekeepers under “substantial pressure” to create new colonies each year.
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Solar Cycle 25’s Maximum Might Arrive Earlier And Hit Harder
Solar Cycle 25 has been underway since April 2019. Ever since the cycle began, the sun has become more active, unleashing solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and geomagnetic storms, with at least one scientist warning solar maximum could arrive ahead of schedule, and that’s not great news for the digital economy here on Earth.
The current solar cycle has a forecasted peak sometime in 2025. In December 2022, the total number of sunspots was at its highest in eight years, indicating solar activity was ramping up. Earlier this year, scientists observed twice as many sunspots — red flags that solar maximum could be nearing.
Another indication of increased solar activity is the number and intensity of solar flares:
In 2022, there were fivefold more C-class and M-class solar flares than there were in 2021, and year on year, the number of the most powerful, X-class solar flares is also increasing, according to SpaceWeatherLive.com. The first half of 2023 logged more X-class flares than in all of 2022, and at least one has directly hit Earth. (Solar flare classes include A, B, C, M and X, with each class being at least 10 times more powerful than the previous one.) — Live Science
Over the years, we’ve explained solar flares can spark geomagnetic storms and cause disruptions to satellites and even power grids.
The Next Big Geomagnetic Storm Poses An Astronomical Risk To Modern Man Digital Economy Disruption Possible As “Terminator Event” Suggests Strongest Sunspot Cycle On Record ImminentRisks Solar Storms Pose On Modern Economy
What’s concerning is a solar physicist at the University of College London, Alex James, told Live Science that the sun’s increase in solar activity is a warning sign the solar maximum could arrive by the end of this year. He said the initial forecast was for 2025.
…click on the above link to read the rest…
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Fear and Loathing in the City of Westminster
Fear and Loathing in the City of WestminsterOur descent into City Airport was like the drop-ship scene in the movie Aliens. The BA CityFlyer Embraer 190, a narrow-body twin-engine airliner, rolled over into a 40-degree bank and started bucking like a mechanical bull. Simulated “chimes” began chiming frantically. Flight attendants bolted for their seats. The German businessman in the seat beside me, obviously a nervous flyer, immediately adopted the “brace” position. I gripped his shoulder reassuringly and shouted into his ear like a drunken redneck, “WE’RE ON AN EXPRESS ELEVATOR TO HELL! GOING DOWN!”
And so began my latest trip to London. This time, I wasn’t there to talk to “the Left” or to hunt down endoparasitoid xenomorphs. I was there on Serious Conspiracy Theorist Business, which I explained to the chirpy MI6 operative posing as a “survey taker” that followed me out of Border Control asking questions about my “nation of residence” and my “experience with the passport scanners,” and so on. She was wearing one of those rubber “Mission Impossible” masks that made her look like a middle-aged British woman. I waited for an opportunity, head faked, juked right, and lost her in the crowd. As I entered the “Arrivals” lobby, I turned and shouted in her general direction, “NOT MY FIRST RODEO, MR. PHELPS!”
I don’t know what was up with all the shouting. I’ve been experimenting with different types of medication for this sinus condition I’ve had for months. My Sinus Specialist diagnosed me with “long” or possibly “permanent Covid,” or some yet-to-be-named debilitating syndrome caused by some other bio-weapon that produces cold-and-flu-like symptoms and has a survival rate of 99.8 percent. So, maybe it was bad reaction to my meds. Whatever it was, I was feeling jumpy.
…click on the above link to read the rest…
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June 23, 2023
“A Global Digital Compact” – UN promoting censorship, social credit & much more
The proposed clauses promote everything you’d expect them to promote.
Digital identities linked with financial access:
Digital IDs linked with bank or mobile money accounts can improve the delivery of social protection coverage and serve to better reach eligible beneficiaries. Digital technologies may help to reduce leakage, errors and costs in the design of social protection programmes
Environmental or climate change-based social credit systems:
Sensors and monitors connected to the Internet of things, cloud-based data platforms, blockchain-enabled tracking systems and digital product passports unlock new capabilities for the measurement and tracking of environmental and social impacts across value chains.”
Public-Private Partnership:
Partnerships between States, private sector and civil society leverage the capacity of digital tools to provide solutions for development across the Sustainable Development Goals. Examples include the Digital Public Infrastructure Alliance, the Coalition for Digital Environmental Sustainability and public-private partnerships for disaster response.”
Countering online “harm”:
Disinformation, hate speech and malicious and criminal activity in cyberspace raise the risks and costs for everyone online […] we must strengthen accountability for harmful and malicious acts online.
Those are the obvious ones, there’s also more sneaky, insidious language regarding “equity” and “access”. The report is concerned there are many people in the world (mostly the developing world) who don’t have regular access to the Internet.
…click on the above link to read the rest…
June 16, 2023
Say M for Magic!
Simon Sinek, Underpants Gnomes and the Energy Transition
Photo by israel palacio on UnsplashOne of the goals of this blog — beyond making an attempt at giving a technical explanation on how this iteration of a technological civilization works, and why it is inherently unsustainable — is to explore the thought patterns we humans apply when confronted with such a predicament . We have discussed the many aspects of human reactions like denial , thinking in false dichotomies as well as our two modes of operation ( complacency and panic ) earlier. Now, I would like to shed some light on a missing link (or rather: a black hole) in our thought processes when thinking about “solutions” to the “problems” we face. Warning, what follows turned out to be a tad bit more sardonic than I initially intended, so as usual: proceed with care.
Asthe somewhat (OK, brutally) over-hyped management guru Simon Sinek wrote in his book Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action:
“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe”
What he meant by that, is that in order to sell a product (or in idea for that matter) and make a big bang on the market you have to have a strong sense of vision and mission as to why you are selling what you are selling. There has to be an emotional charge catching your audience’s attention, compelling them to be part of your great story.
In order to do that, you must follow Sinek’s Golden Circle theory and answer three simple questions, starting with Why. Why do you do what you do? Be careful though, the answer must give a succinct description of the ultimate purpose of your business…
…click on the above link to read the rest…
UN Secretary-General Proposes ‘Global Digital Compact’ to Push Laws Against Online ‘Hate’
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres deliver remarks to reporters outside the U.N. Security Council at U.N., headquarters in New York City, on April 20, 2023. (Mike Segar/Reuters)United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, proposed a “Global Digital Compact,” (GDC) to push sweeping international laws against “hate and lies” online.
“The proliferation of hate & lies in the digital space is causing grave global harm. This clear & present global threat demands clear and coordinated global action. We don’t have a moment to lose,” he wrote in a tweet announcing the compact.
The UN policy brief, which was released on June 12, called for handing control of the internet to international bodies, as part of the UN’s 2030 Agenda.
Guterres also referred to another UN brief, “Information and Integrity on Digital Platforms” (IIDP), which he said will be used as a guide to coordinate global efforts against “hate.”
The IIDP warned about what it calls, the “darker side of the digital ecosystem,” which could enable “the rapid spread of lies and hate, causing real harm on a global scale.”
Guterres said that the internet is being misused to deny science and spread disinformation and hate to billions of people, in a veiled reference to vaccine skeptics and growing populist movements.
“The proliferation of hate and lies in the digital space is causing grave global harm. This clear and present global threat demands clear and coordinated global action. We don’t have a moment to lose,” he declared in his call for global censorship.
UN Calls for Nations to Suppress Online Disinformation
The GDC is focused on eliminating the “divide across regions, gender, income, language, and age groups” regarding internet access and decries the fact that “some 89 percent of people in Europe are online, but only 21 percent of women in low-income countries use the internet.”
…click on the above link to read the rest…
June 11, 2023
Why Just Stop Oil will win
The billionaire-funded group is an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion, and as the name suggests, they have just one aim; to see the UK stop using oil entirely. Although, tellingly, the one thing the group seem determine to avoid disrupting is the flow of oil from Britain’s handful of remaining oil refineries… something which would serve to emphasise just how dependent a complex industrial economy like the UK is upon a steady flow of oil and oil products.
For the most part, opposition to Just Stop Oil has focussed on the disruptive nature of their protests, which involve either blocking roads or disrupting the sporting events enjoyed by people who are largely powerless to do anything about energy policy. Although perhaps the hope is that if they piss-off enough ordinary people, they will go out and vote for politicians who want to ban oil. But even in the unlikely event that people respond in this way, the bigger problem is not that the political class doesn’t listen, but that the political class has already consumed rather too much of the Just Stop Oil Kool-Aid. Indeed, the man being touted as Britain’s next Prime Minister has pledged to make a rapid transition to the utopian net zero, including a pledge to end any further oil and gas extraction in the North Sea.
…click on the above link to read the rest…
June 10, 2023
Snowden Warns Today’s Surveillance Technology Makes 2013 Look Like ‘Child’s Play’
Edward Snowden said in an interview on June 8, 2023 that advances in surveillance technology have made it far easier for government agencies to spy on citizens than it was in 2013, when he first disclosed the broad use of spying by the NSA and other agencies.
(Image: Screenshot/Citizenfour)Snowden Warns Today’s Surveillance Technology Makes 2013 Look Like ‘Child’s Play’“We trusted the government not to screw us,” said Edward Snowden. “But they did. We trusted the tech companies not to take advantage of us. But they did. That is going to happen again, because that is the nature of power.”
With this week marking 10 years since whistleblower Edward Snowden disclosed information to journalists about widespread government spying by United States and British agencies, the former National Security Agency contractor on Thursday joined other advocates in warning that the fight for privacy rights, while making several inroads in the past decade, has grown harder due to major changes in technology.
“If we think about what we saw in 2013 and the capabilities of governments today,” Snowden told The Guardian, “2013 seems like child’s play.”
Snowden said that the advent of commercially available surveillance products such as Ring cameras, Pegasus spyware, and facial recognition technology has posed new dangers.
As Common Dreams has reported, the home security company Ring has faced legal challenges due to security concerns and its products’ vulnerability to hacking, and has faced criticism from rights groups for partnering with more than 1,000 police departments—including some with histories of police violence—and leaving community members vulnerable to harassment or wrongful arrests.
Law enforcement agencies have also begun using facial recognition technology to identify crime suspects despite the fact that the software is known to frequently misidentify people of color—leading to the wrongful arrest and detention earlier this year of Randal Reid in Georgia, among other cases.
…click on the above link to read the rest…
