Prepare For The Storm

This is a special edition of Prepare For The Storm.

It pains me to write about sell-offs, but the collapse of the United States is unfolding in real time. The massive selloffs in the US financial markets are the first domino to fall, and things that we’ve worked so hard to build are crashing around us.

Welcome to the Hamberder Depression.

Yes, the last time the markets sold off this violently, 3 days in a row, was before the Great Depression. What made things worse after those sell-offs were the levied tariffs created by the Smoot–Hawley Act.

Already, companies are freezing up and laying off workers. Already, food prices are skyrocketing. This is a financial assault against you, and they need to be stopped, if they can at this point.

Normally, I like to write about topics other than the markets and Wall Street, but no matter how much we don’t want to believe it, Wall Street does affect the world and us. In a capitalist society, capital is the most important lever controlling the motor of the world. If that lever breaks, then the motor stops and every else will follow.

Except this time, it’s a Mad King breaking the lever because he believes he can hold the world hostage. He’s wrong; the rest of the world will decouple us and leave us in the dust. They will have nice things, and we will be fighting in the streets for the last potato.

They're Stealing Your Social Security

One of the best things to come out of the Great Depression was a safety net for people. Social Security is one of those things. Now Musk and DOGE will be rewriting the old COBOL code in a few months, something that took years to perfect by teams of smart people. This is a recipe for disaster.

DOGE Plans to Rebuild SSA Code Base in Months, Risking Benefits and System Collapse

Social Security systems contain tens of millions of lines of code written in COBOL, an archaic programming language. Safely rewriting that code would take years—DOGE wants it done in months.

WIREDMakena Kelly

Under any circumstances, a migration of this size and scale would be a massive undertaking, experts tell WIRED, but the expedited deadline runs the risk of obstructing payments to the more than 65 million people in the US currently receiving Social Security benefits.

If this is anything like the design and production of Musk's Cybertruck, then expect Social Security to be all FUBAR'd after this. They're stealing your hard-earned money.

Work Harder, You Peasants!

Can we just stop supporting Amazon? I know it's hard, but the time to start the parallel society is now.

Jassy also urged employees to "move fast and act like owners," as some of the company’s competition is "working seven days a week, 15 hours a day." - The Street

If Jassy was actually a hands-on kinda of guy, who was working in the trenches with his co-workers AND shared in the profits equally, then I'd be less harsh on this. What he's saying here

Elections Have Consquences

It’s over. America has ceased to be leader of the free world

Accidentally copying in a journalist to senior officials’ private thoughts about Europe was a gift of Providence

The TelegraphJanet Daley

No more room for doubt now. It’s over. The United States has ceased to be the leader of the Western alliance. That is the clearest and most significant message that emerges from this exchange of puerile texts – which a White House official has described as a “demonstration of the deep and thoughtful policy coordination between senior officials” in the administration. If describing the European nations as a bunch of pathetic free loaders is what they do when they are being thoughtful and deep, what do they say when they are being shallow and irresponsible?

China Fights Back Against Tariffs

This is the first time that I've seen China not back down to anything the USA demands. I've been watching various Chinese propaganda, and they're laying it on thick. They're moving their pieces into place to ascend to superpower status as the Mad King burns down the USA.

Don't let the Mad King fool you, China holds all the cards.

The Collapse of the US Dollar

I follow the capital markets like a hawk. Why? Because capitalists use those markets to determine how well they win at Capitalism. So far? Not so good. The price of Gold has skyrocketed since Trump. Just one year ago, an ounce of gold was trading at $2,390. Today? It's crossing $3,400.

Why should you care? Because it means the value of the US Dollar eroded in a parabolic way. Remember, Gold prices up = US Dollar down, and inflation running rampant.

The Mad King is deluded that prices are down; this chart is a harbinger of massive inflationary pressures about to come down on the USA.

What Should You Do Now?

Many of my readers will be caught with their pants down. That's not a swipe at them, it's just the reality that the machinations of the 1% affect the rest of the 99%. How do you insulate yourself from the coming rise in prices? You won't be able to, but you can lessen the impact if you start gathering into groups and helping each other out.

You will need to trade and barter services and learn how to DIY many things. Need to replace a leaking pipe? Watch a YouTube video, borrow a pipe cutter, and find an old piece of copper pipe. You might have to buy the couplings, but those will cost a lot less than hiring a plumber.

I'm not against workers in the trades; on the contrary, I support the 99% of hard-working Americans looking for their slice of the American Dream. The problem is that the 1% sold the dream for profit and left you with a nightmare, one that will come back to haunt them.

The 1% needs to learn that they don't hold all the cards; we do. If they don't want to be tarred and feathered, they better stop trying to tear it all down to satisfy their greed.