Markets: Of Train Wrecks and Trackage

by

To set the mood for today’s look at what’s ahead for the economy, we recommend a 2-minute warm-up exercise consisting of your choice of:

This last one is especially good if you’re confused by government policy, the Fed, or the caliber of people running for the What House?

Seriously – Some Data

Two numbers to roll around today:  The first being the PPI – Producer Price Index.  Just out from Labor:

“The Producer Price Index for final demand increased 0.3 percent in August, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Final demand prices rose 0.6 percent in July and fell 0.2 percent in June. On an unadjusted basis, the final demand index declined 0.2 percent for the 12 months ended in August.

In August, the rise in prices for final demand was led by a 0.5-percent increase in the index for
final demand services. Prices for final demand goods also advanced, inching up 0.1 percent.

The index for final demand less foods, energy, and trade services moved up 0.3 percent in August, the same as in both July and June. For the 12 months ended in August, prices for final demand less foods, energy, and trade services increased 0.3 percent.”

The whiz-bang of this report is it can give hints as to “inflation in the pipeline.”

Just what the hell the “pipeline” looks like, however, is a matter of much debate.  Because thanks to CV-19 (which will hit 28-million cases worldwide in the next day or three) demand destruction has been going on at levels not seen since the 1930’s.

We’ve been screaming about this (Consumer Super-Saturday, useless shit-piling-up) for several years.  Yet despite the in-your-face-data, De Nile ain’t a place in Egypt.

Latest adds: More young adults in the U.S. live with their parents than at any time since the Great Depression from CBS and the Mercury News version at Coronavirus: Share of young adults living with parents higher now than Great Depression, Pew poll finds.

It’s OK, you can tell yourself all day “This isn’t a train wreck – this is just extended parenting!”  (De Nile).

Let’s Talk Lost Jobs

As long as we’re in the Depression groove – and people’s jobs in fast food have been disappearing, how about some reassurance (because I’m such a flaming optimist): These restaurants made it out of the Great Depression but couldn’t weather coronavirus.

Which is mentioned (big into mood-setting aren’t we?) this morning’s big-whoop from Labor on weekly unemployment claims…

“In the week ending September 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 884,000, unchanged from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 3,000 from 881,000 to 884,000. The 4week moving average was 970,750, a decrease of 21,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 750 from 991,750 to 992,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 9.2 percent for the week ending August 29, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the previous week’s unrevised rate. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending August 29 was 13,385,000, an increase of 93,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up 38,000 from 13,254,000 to 13,292,000. The 4-week moving average was 13,982,000, a decrease of 523,750 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 9,500 from 14,496,250 to 14,505,750.

CPI Tomorrow is Critical

Tomorrow morning, we’ll be “edge of seats” when the CPI report comes out.  Because we’re getting into the “matters very much” window for those of us (geezers and gleezer-pleasers) who are on the Social Security dole for the last few miles of life.  The issue is the annual COLA – or Cost of Living Adjustment.

According to Social Security, here’s how the numbers get crunched:

The Social Security Act specifies a formula for determining each COLA. According to the formula, COLAs are based on increases in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). CPI-Ws are calculated on a monthly basis by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A COLA effective for December of the current year is equal to the percentage increase (if any) in the CPI-W from the average for the third quarter of the current year to the average for the third quarter of the last year in which a COLA became effective. If there is an increase, it must be rounded to the nearest tenth of one percent. If there is no increase, or if the rounded increase is zero, there is no COLA for the year.

Which gets us to looking at this month very closely — because there’s only one more number after this (September’s) which will come out this time next month.

Is it an honest number?  Well…long discussion here:  I have yet to live a year where my actual expenses were anywhere near the “Offishul” CPI.  You have to believe in heuristic adjustments (substitute sirloin for filet mignon, anyone?) – which we don’t.

It’s a long-term statistical snow-job that no one talks much about because – like the use of leeches in the Middle Ages, the bleed-out is slow.  Since we’re nearly immortals, the transition from salads and filets to mac & cheese will take 14.3 years… But WTF… may not even be a country by then…

Reliving D-1:  “Hipsteaders”

Oh, God…not another word hustle, please.  Yet here we are, reading about how CV-19 has turned us into an  evolving group of “hipsteaders.”  AYFSM?  Prepper was too self-explanatory, or what?

Yep – already the web site (dotcom) domain has been snagged.  Almost fished the .org for it, but go be a domain squatter if you want.

Interesting side note here:  I wonder if there’s any sense of the future that could be gleaned from looking at domain names being issued.  (Most are domain squatters, though.)  For example, we will shortly add the domain “PrintableFuture.org” to our Ultra-Make 3D printing and design hobby site.  <More on this for  Peoplenomics subscribers this coming weekend.>

All Fired Up

California wildfires growing bigger, moving faster than ever.  Be surprised.  Looks like the firefighter/emt wunderkind will be on the White River fire in Oregon into next week.

Does the WaPo Hate Trump?

Evidence?  So – now we are seeing how those “poor little darlings – peaceful protesters in Oregon – who in reality  have burned buildings, blinded law enforcement, beaten passersby – being pimped out in the lefty apologist Washington Post. See “Swept up in the federal responseto Portland protests: ‘I didn’t know if I was going to be seen again’ (as) Videos obtained by The Washington Post show agents’ tactics during Trump operation…”

Laughably – a splash screen “Support Journalism When It Matters Most – Get One Year for $29″ pops up, too.  It wasn ‘t a “Trump operation” – it was a Dept. of Justice operation.  But hey!  Never lose a chance for a cheap shot, huh?

Meantime, we wonder why the WaPo story Tractor-trailer crashed on Beltway in Maryland failed tp blame Trump for the accident? Ov ersight – just sure of it.

Racial Hot Buttons

Did you see this little gem on why the Media Ignores BLM’s Terrorist and Communist Inspirations?  Yep. Worth a look.

17 Ure’s died in the Union Army fighting the Civil War for the North.  Dying to win what?  Black rights and freedoms.  The way I figure it, our family is on the “prepaid reparations plan.”   We looked it up at the Civil War Museum (all in a computer system – very cool) over in Vickburg, MS. a few years back.

40,000 black soldiers died in the Civil War.  Out of 620,000 dead total.

Notwithstanding here we go with more craziness: Assistant principal under fire for screaming ‘F*ck the police’ at BLM protest.  Where’s the McCarthy hearings when they might actually do some good?  Can  you explain something for me? Why are people like these  educating our children?

In Linux:  $ rm idiots [enter]

Global Strategic Picture

\Let’s see:  Contested election in just 54-days.  Then riots, demonstrations, mass insanity, legal challenges, press to toss out the Electoral College, then Depression and…oh year – War with China.

Note from .mil affairs contributor  warhammer updates this part of the Big Slide:

The Taiwan clock is still ticking . . .

Much like Hitler’s obsession with the Czech Sudetenland, Chinese ‘President for Life’ Xi covets Taiwan as the next jewel in his divine legacy of historic immortality.

Watch these areas closely – the order in which they fall or become economic and/or military vassals to Xi may vary:

  • – S. China Sea (Paracel and Spratley Islands)
  • – Taiwan
  • – Cambodia
  • – Indian Ocean deep port capable islands
  • – S. Korea

As China’s power and reach in the area expands and America’s wanes, Japan also has reason for concern.”

Of course so does America.  Want to place any bets on who will control the internet via backdoors in chips when we get into the thick of it.  Sheesh – Xish!

Got plans for something besides digital silly-dough?

Write when you get rich,

George@ure.net

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George Ure
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/George-Ure/e/B0098M3VY8%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share UrbanSurvival Bio: https://urbansurvival.com/about-george-ure/
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44 thoughts on “Markets: Of Train Wrecks and Trackage”

  1. Whunting wabbits G – be wery,wery,quite, and concentrate, we dont want to miss any “holes”..

    Need to turn off all electronics, dont want the sounds of the Burn Loot Murder Bugaloo to distract from the game afoot – whunting wabbits.

    Who’s that ?- Vannevar Bush – No who is that really, and who was his Protege?

    John Trump ? How did he come into Possession/Knowledge of ALL of Nikolai Teslas work/papers? UFO Files ? X-Tech?

    Who did Rockin Ronnie Rayguns bring on board the Admin. to Assist in Nuclear Arms Talks/Negotiations with the Russkies ?
    and how the Hell did that person ever get the Towers built in NYC During a Cement Strike ?

    These dam wabbits..

    • Not really defending Trump, but which national politician was raising any alarms? They were/are interested in only continuing with their power and privilege. They, on either side, have no concern for the everyday people. You know what, it doesn’t really bother me at all. I used my own information sources, and none of them are politicos. I expect them to exaggerate and outright lie in almost all situations. I recall Trump banned travel from China and the democrat party leaders immediately went after him as a racist against Asians. I cannot recall the later apologies. So sure continue with your blinders that orange man bad, but my team are all righteous. This is another way they control us, but dividing us against each other and growing our dependence on them. It actually might be a good thing, as they continue to break our trust and show how incompetent they are, perhaps that will lead to us taking back power and influence from these slimy power mad people. I fear it will be to late when folks wake up to how manipulated we have become.

      • “which national politician was raising any alarms? They were/are interested in only continuing with their power and privilege.”

        AMEN well said Joe… they knew about it long before.. how long before the alarm was raised that the bill to jump in and help the people went before congress .. it was months before any of it was brought up.. if it hadn’t of been for the doctor in china that worked at the lab that got on and told everyone to prepare it was out.. ( she passed away from it that night) no one would have told anyone..

  3. You Wrote:
    ” Contested election in just 54-days. Then riots, demonstrations, mass insanity, legal challenges, press to toss out the Electoral College, then Depression and…oh year – War with China.”

    Trump has portraits of both Lincoln And A. Jackson on the walls of the Oval Office – Clues?

    Considering what Lincoln did at the start of the Uncivil War would the our President be telegraphing his possible post election actions?

    Remember that there was an assassination attempt (The Baltimore Plot) as Lincoln was traveling to DC for his Inauguration which undoubtedly steeled his future actions.

    Sorcha wrote:
    http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index3327.htm

    When one considers what Sorcha wrote, perhaps it’s time for you to re-visit your “fictional” Directorate 51 essays?

  4. “De Nile ain’t a place in Egypt.” BRILLIANT!!

    Shout-out to: n___, and Andy, not necessarily in that order. Appreciate both your comments. Thought I had contracted COVID-19 a while back but it turned out to have been pneumonia instead – as bad when you’re old. However, except for the few days in the hospital I do enjoy my daily walks along the East River watching the interplay of the changing tides. I often say to myself if this is not paradise where would I be looking? Many people miss this point, because of their individual exagerated expectations (w/o own effort!!). All of us seem to be gluttons for gossip and load up our minds with mostly useless information.

  5. When it comes to the riots whatever you want to call them. Perhaps a good read of the 14th Amendment section one and 2-5 is in order.

    • I wish they worked harder, and had rooted out more of the real corruption! Then again, we might not have much of a government left.

  7. Early in February, Trump should have said;

    “THIS IS IT!! THIS KILLER VIRUS WILL WIPE
    OUT 75% OF THE POLULATION IN THE NEXT
    FEW WEEKS!! THERE IS NO HOPE!! STAY
    HOME, BOLTED IN, FOR AS LONG AS YOU
    CAN!! ARM YOURSELVES!! TRUST ONLY
    THE GOVERNMENT!!!’

    Yeah. That would have worked Real Well…

    • No William, He should not have said that. You radials are so dramatic.

      He should have handled it like an adult and said..Hey folks…Seems there is a virus that seems serious enough to take pre-cautions. Let’s nip this in the bud and wear masks at first, to inhibit the spread…if things don’t abate, then we may have to shut down for a few weeks. Don’t worry though…I have a plan to compensate the average Joe to close any pay gaps. Le’ts give this thing 6 weeks. If we work together, we can stop this virus and get back to work.

      Instead, he did the opposite…Denial, confusion and free money to the corporate wealth…

      • “He should have handled it like an adult and said..Hey folks…Seems there is a virus that seems serious enough to take pre-cautions.”

        OTFLMAO…..sounds reasonable enough.. lets try a test.. got to the highest floor that you have in one of your buildings and get on the intercom and say… HEY FOLKS…SEEMS LIKE THERE IS A FIRE THAT SEEMS SERIOUS ENOUGH TO TAKE PRE-CAUTIONS… LOL LOL LOL
        Just saying.. I would have played it down to LOL LOL LOL….
        He had three options.. go large and in charge … do what he did.. or pretend it wasn’t anything at all… we know two didn’t work.. and they are doing three.. I don’t think it will work but heck who am I..
        And do you really thing the JB would have done anything different.. I doubt it.. its easy to judge how the football players are doing everything wrong sitting in your comfy chair.. quite another to be in it playing the game..
        seriously I doubt the JB really intends to give everyone two grand all the way back to February.. although forty g’s would be nice not to mention the four G’s a month and one per child.. LOL LOL

      • It just sounds real nice when they come up with this country killing crap.. LOL.. who was it told the people almost the same shizt.. Hmm his name escapes me.. the people followed like lambs and ended up ten times worse off…
        The fact that the kids issues were buried by those that are sworn to protect.. and absolute power was the reason.. well that is enough for me to never vote for him.. He should have addressed it.. he could have said.. Unfortunately I have no control over my kids actions. I love them very much and will do my best to have them follow on the straight and narrow path.. story ended.. instead well we know how that ended.. he can do pushups and call some hard working american names.. brag on tv that he could maneuver another country to do his bidding over the issue by withholding funds that they never deserved in the first place.. but hey… that is not someone that I want as my president..we already have way to much of that crap in this country.. and at this point I seriously don’t think they can do a think that can stop what is coming..

      • Mark.. during my days in DC… there was an issue.. they thought that the Russians had launched an all out attack on the USA.. everyone went down into the bunkers..

        What is funny is.. they didn’t tell anyone else.. that is why the DUMB’s are pretty well hidden or turned into a myth.. they aren’t intended to house the general population.. that is your job to make one for yourself or make provisions for youself.. In the event of a real catastrophic event.. they won’t tell us..because it would cause undo panic..

        Now back to the incident when I was in the Military.. my boss told me that one of the congressmen had told a friend of his in NYC.. the guy was out and about and started to race home.. He didn’t make it in time to get in his shelter.. even though he was informed the same time the congressman was.. It ended up to be a comunications error but hey.. they aren’t going to tell anyone.. the best option was downplay the seriousness until they seen how it was going to progress.. then go option 1.. for a two month period..they didn’t do that..now its out we live with it let it take its toll and we move on.. the destruction of the economy is way more serious..we were in a death spiral before.. this just put us in free fall for a bit..
        The thing is the panic.. you go into a high rise and say we have a serious fire.. the panic would have people jumping from the windows..
        at least that is my take on it.. but if you want to spearament a little and run up and yell fire once just to see if I am right..then let us know how it turns out.. I may be totally wrong on how people will react.. they might not just because we all have regular fire drills..

      • You do know I do hope Ole Joe gets in and does send out the forty g’s to everyone.. I will get my tesla power walls and buy a different car… at least before the cost of bread goes through the roof LOL…

      • Damn Mark you ruined my day for this article hits it on the head.not that I blame everything on Trump but its a baked in ingredient of the Republicans to screw the working class,everything for the wealthy nothing for the peons.!!!

  8. Putting on my tin foil Holmes hat, eliminating all that is not possible, leaves a lot on the table.

    I submit to you dear reader that this is all man-made.

    CV- is it a weapon, is it natural? You cannot eliminate this: the reaction is man-made. So yes, what we know about CV is a man made disaster.

    Fires – is it arson, is it natural? Environmentalists say all the time that fires like this are the result of man. Most of the people affected are Trump voters, at least in Oregon. Cannot eliminate man made disaster.

    Economy – is this a man made disaster? LOL

    Riots – Man made disaster

    See where I’m going here? Please show me something, anything, on the scale of these disasters that is not raising questions about who is doing it, why they are doing it, and when it is happening. Everything that makes 2020 “2020 is 100% unnatural*.

    *If we get a big earthquake or meteor my theory goes out the window.

  9. Hi, George,

    I look forward to reading Saturday’s column regarding 3D printing. There are some excellent software programs that run these machines quite well. The machines include resin printers and milling machines, both fourth and fifth axis. These computer programs include SolidWorks, ProE, and others that I cannot recall right now. There is also a steep learning curve with some of these, and tutorials are available online as well as in person in actual classrooms. Some programs are very expensive and require a yearly update charge. One aspect is knowing how to work corners and undercarriages in fractional millimeter measurements and how to smooth sharp edges. Some jewelers who use these programs need to be able to execute measurements for stone settings that fit the gems like a finely tailored suit. A really neat program is 3D Coat, a wonderful program that allows the user to make really cool surface textures. This helps with making the gallery work for gem settings. By the way, look up “nurb surfaces”. Thanks.

      • Fusion 360 for personal use is the best one. It has parametric design, nurbs design, 3D printing, slicing, some CNC/CAM, drawings, etc. That’s free.

        For a few bucks, the professional version has all the bells and whistles. About an order of magnitude cheaper than Solidworks.

      • Right you are about SolidWorks being pricey. When you purchase it, it is called a “seat”. My late husband ran that program like an experienced pilot can fly an airplane. The upgrades for it are pricey, also. It was originally created for architects but has been adopted by many jewelers.

        • Remember, tomorrow’s report is about a basic intro to the processes and work flows – not a drill down or software rating festival! Trying to made 3DP (3d printing) accessible and fill in some baseline knowledge for subscribers…

    • I would love to have a cnc cutter and plastic printer.. unfortunately the wife says no more toys..

  10. “Want to place any bets on who will control the internet via backdoors in chips when we get into the thick of it…”

    …And this is why I have a cherry NexGen 133 loaded with several concentric stacks of (pretty much) impenetrable *NIX and DOS firewalls, Windows, OS2, RedHat (and about a half-dozen other operating systems and *NIX iterations), 28 different web browsers, covert security protocols, and my old BBS and ftp sites, settin’ on a shelf in a cage.

    {Actually the reason is I did a pristine reload when I retired it from being my betatest box, when I became an AMD Distributor… but the old boatanchor does still exist and function, should I ever need it, and aside from possibly Winblows, has no hardware or software backdoor of any kind…}

    • Man after my own – story this weekend about my $100 Linux box, 6GB 500 MB – GIVING ME 3-CPUS with XP and several flavors of deb/mint etc Linux to choose from. One will go in the box with another already there. XP and Vista…hardly worth cutting code to hack anymore. Linux? yeah right.
      -Mr iso burner

      • For extra punch, you might think about setting a boatanchor up with Win98 SE (for DVD and advanced USB support.) There are a lot of things one can do in commandline DOS and older iterations of LINUX of which modern OS are incapable. I never asked Steve Gibson, but always felt the M$ push away from DOS and into NT was more so Redmond could “condition” people away from the really powerful aspects of direct OS access (which ceased to be available through an NT [COMMAND] window), than it was to provide new feature sets. Then again, I’m a suspicious SOB and Gibson was probably blowing smoke, all those years he was warning about Win backdoors…

        ‘Can’t remember what it is, but I set that computer up with a graphical menu so it would boot to a generic (probably RedHat) stub, then display this pretty cyan-ish screen full of silver buttons. ‘Want DOS, or Windows, or BSD, or RBBS or Qmodem? ‘Want to compile that Fortran or Qbasic routine, disassemble somebody else’s proggie, or do a serious fix on a Photoshop file (Photoshop was MAC-native at that time)? Just click the button. An exit or “shutdown” out of a program or GUI would return to this GI menu.

        That is the part of geekdom I miss. I had every translator, compiler, and assembler known to geek-world on that computer (still do, in the ftp site) along with text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and full voice-command (before the final reload.) NexGen’s thing was that their CPU was x86, but RISC architecture, and so could utilize a TSR translator rather than a full emulator, to run Mac-OS or Sparc, or the other Motorola/MIPS chipset-based operating systems… Between the release of the 486 and the release of the P-II, I did a whole bunch o’ things with ‘puters that folks said “couldn’t be done,” mostly because I’m a stubborn cuss and my brain doesn’t acknowledge the existence of the word “can’t…”

        BTW this thread is so long because I’m waxing nostalgic. I was moving a box last night and a floppy copy of Norton Utilities fell out…

  11. Wow, all this who is doing what and who are we gonna blame it on..

    Read the Zoin Protocals and every thing becomes pretty clear…

    No coincidence, no chance,no choice,no you are not in our club.

    We decide when where and how,shut up sit down and enjoy the ride.

    Your destiny and fate has been decided for you a long time ago.

    • Read it long time ago — mostly B/S in my opinion, because You are the man ;-) with resposibility for yourself.

  13. FedCoin. Conspiracy theory? If they’ve thought about it, they’ve more than likely done it by now. Crash the economy, outlaw cash, outlaw any commodity based money, say goodbye to ANYTHING resembling privacy and real wealth. It’ll certainly make you forget about Antifa and BLM.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChMlQ_DKXnE

  14. It is time once again to ask questions regarding viability of techno society in an EMP operating environment, regardless of source.

    Is money sitting in a Federal system bank, or in a brokerage account, with not so much as a piece of inked paper backing it up or providing a traceable ledger, really any safer than a f’n crypto-coin? Is it that your paper monthly statement makes it safe? You do still get paper copies? I have paper copies of title documents as well.

    Is anyone who is faced with slow starvation going to trade you food for a metal coin? For a piece of paper? For a string of characters which represents value in a dead crypto exchange?

    Will your neighbors stand for you? And you for them? Can you heat a McMansion with the furniture you cut up? You do have hand saws? The chainsaws don’t seem to work.

    Try focusing on the things you can manage to do without the electric toys for a week. It will be OK to surf G’s site. He has solar back-up, for now. Of course, you don’t . Bummer.

    • EMP is probably the least of our worries as the Earth’s magnetic field winds down preparing for a pole flip. Watching Suspicious 0bservers every day Ben is reporting on a Space Weather alert today that talks about peaking cosmic rays. We’re being increasingly exposed to this as our planet’s magnetic field wanes and our solar system comes out from the galactic cloud that’s been shielding us for Lord knows how long. So much cr*p is coming our way it makes me wonder if the ideas/stories/prophecies about the Rapture remnant that is taken from the Earth in the Last Days is really all about saving the human race as this cycle between solar mini-novas completes. No wonder they’ll be looking for the most faithful, the cream of the crop of followers to take. Forget what we can do to each other there’s bigger things afoot. How would you explain things like this to first century people?

      • Increases in background radiation occur during solar minimums, and especially grand solar minimums. Dire climactic impacts have been forecast, but to date, I haven’t spotted the encroaching glaciers. Winter isn’t over.
        Abnormally cold weather and absence of electricity are a bad mix, especially to all-electric McMansion dwellers. Being able to operate without purchased power for an extended period is a valid concern, whatever the cause. The EMP scenario is a rapid onset worst-case, with solar flare EMP probably being the worst of all, as Ray has pointed out recently.

      • n____

        The reason I seem to concentrate on EMP (and I do, with regards to prepping) is in my estimation it is the closest thing to an extinction-level event (ELE) that I believe an individual or small group can prepare for and survive, and because proper preparation for an EMP encompasses all the preps required for lesser events.

        There’s no point “prepping” for an asteroid or meteor strike, or a Yellowstone eruption, or any such, because while species, including humans, may survive, their doing so will be both random, and depend on true Divine Intervention, or on a whole lot more luck than that with which most normal humans (myself included) are blessed.

        It is not that I believe a HEMP attack likely, but I DO accept Bill Forstchen’s analysis, that:

        The probability of a HEMP attack against the United States is about 1:6. The probability of a solar, Earth-directed EMP “Carrington Event” is greater than one.

        That was his studied opinion a year or so after “One Second After” was released. I assume he hasn’t modified his opinion toward a happier future, in the interim…

      • The Achillies heel of techno culture is the public electrical grid. The longest I have been without power in my adult life was due to an ice storm which caused hurricane-level damage in the coastal town I was living in at the time, a place where snow was almost unknown.
        EMP is the mother of all power failure scenarios. Survivability is possible, but less likely than most people have thought through. I occasionally beat the drum, not so much because I believe that an EMP is imminent, but to use it as a method of encoraging people to think through their technical dependencies.

      • This thread is becoming too valuable for the newbs and fear-porn victims that’re regaining their vision. I’m taking it back to the top level…

      • “a method of encoraging people to think through their technical dependencies.”

        Try that on a teenage girl — I dare you! ;-)

  15. ” More young adults in the U.S. live with their parents than at any time since the Great Depression from”

    that doesn’t have a thing to do with covid..for the hourly wage earner.. the economy has outpaced income. acollege grad will have to pay back .. well a friend of mine was paying seven hundred a month for his education.. he made ten dollars an hour.. not sure what my kids are paying back.. but I do know how much they make and its a lot.. if you have kids.. daycare will kill ya.. that is why one out of every two laborers are getting federal assistance in some form.. whether or not it is the EIC tax credit.. ( shove money in the pockets to stimulate the economy) or housing or food stamps.. daycare assistance.. etc..

  16. Interesting article on zerohedge….

    (https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/what-possible-disruption-coming-requires-china-start-massive-stockpiling-all-possible?utm_campaign=&utm_content=ZeroHedge%3A+The+Durden+Dispatch&utm_medium=email&utm_source=zh_newsletter

    China has announced it plans to boost its strategic commodities reserves to assuage anxiety over energy and food security. Starting in 2021, it will make what Bloomberg calls “mammoth” purchases of crude, strategic materials, and farm goods, officials apparently say. This is being done to ensure China can ride out any repeat of this year’s supply disruptions, or a deterioration in trade relations with the US, for example. This is apparently part of the shift to “internal circulation”, or greater self-reliance, which is already being flagged, and which will kick in for the five year plan 2021-25.

    Actually, those in the know know that this has already been happening across the board for some time: China has been swallowing up raw materials and strategic goods far in advance of what the economy needs right now. That means the drop in other imports –which are still down y/y overall even including this commodity surge– is even larger. (And why aren’t FX reserves rising even as the trade surplus soars…? Mmmm.)

    Then I think of what the store manager told me.. we are having issues getting anything.. if you need it or will need it.. then you had better get it now..
    what is coming.. I have my idea’s but only time will tell..

  17. @ n____:

    “The longest I have been without power in my adult life was due to an ice storm which caused hurricane-level damage…”

    Same here — 11 days. No kitchen range, but everything else chugged happily away, including the furnace. It helped greatly that I’d gotten a few of them newfangled CFL light bulbs to light up a portable, remote HAM rig. This outage is why I bought the second backup LP bottle. The grill was no problem, but if we’d been down for a month, I’d have been cooking by campfire in below zero temps the final week. BTDT before, but not when I was responsible for two families and kids…

    “EMP is the mother of all power failure scenarios. Survivability is possible, but less likely than most people have thought through.”

    That’s because most people who’re even aware of the term think of EMP like the “shunt” in “Ocean’s Eleven.” (Oh, power failure? It’ll be back on in a few minutes…) If we get zapped by the Sun, we’ll be without power for nine years (no gas, water, sewage, money, or JIT food deliveries) and we’ll have to collectively “knob-off” Xi for every transformer, even then. If the Pacific between Taiwan and Baja is what gets zapped, our grid goes away AND China loses its ability to manufacture said transformers.

    When a civilization literally has to fight, claw, and struggle to barely survive, its technology is shelved or forgotten because beyond survival, there’s no time remaining for it.

    The Pacific “Carrington Event” is the worst possible EMP scenario short of a global HEMP “doomsday” attack. There’s about a 6 hour window for it, so when the Sun does its “Carrington redux,” odds of this are 1:4. Should it occur, I believe Forstchen’s “90% death rate” estimate will come in quite a bit low, not just for us, but for all of North America.

    However, the Amish and Old Order Mennonites will do just fine without their cellphones and the diesel backup genset they hid in the barn when the parson wasn’t looking. If they can do it, so can I, although I admit even I might have to make a trip up the road occasionally, to tap their expertise or shoot some SOB that’s trying to steal their stuff or diddle their kids…

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