Wednesday, November 20, 2024

The Looming Debt Crisis and What Lies Ahead


Doug Casey on the Looming Debt Crisis and What Lies Ahead


People have been observing this trend since the late 1960s; the idea of the federal debt getting irredeemably out of control isn’t new. But I think that we’ve finally reached a genuine tipping point.

In other words, when you keep racking up debt at interest, with growing deficits every year, bankruptcy is inevitable. But now it’s also imminent.

90% of the US government’s spending is baked in the cake. It’s not just that the spending is mandated by law and enthusiastically promoted by the agencies that dispense it. Government spending has totally corrupted the country, from welfare moms to giant corporations. They’ll all squeal like stuck pigs if the spending stops. I expect the accumulated distortions it’s caused to come unglued in the next few years.

I think that Trump is sincere, as are Elon and Vivek. But what we’re dealing with are absolutely massive entrenched programs. What’s worse, Trump has promised that he would not alter Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, and military spending. Those things alone add up to something like 80% of the federal budget. It’s very hard to get the number exactly, because the US government’s accounting is so complex. I’m reminded of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld’s comment on 9/10/01, saying that the Pentagon couldn’t track $2.3 trillion of spending.

On top of those things, you have to add the interest on the official national debt, which is over a trillion dollars a year. That debt is absolutely going higher as the debt burden grows, compounded by rising long-term interest rates. I’m not even counting another perhaps $150 trillion of contingent liabilities and off-balance sheet debt.

Can Elon and Vivek do anything about this trend?

I suggest everybody visit https://www.usa.gov/agency-index. You’ll see hundreds of government agencies and departments listed—page through it. Few of them serve any useful purpose. In fact, almost all of them are wasteful and destructive. They’re bureaucracies employing drones (all of them with fat salaries, benefits, and pensions) to shuffle paper, basically to distribute tax dollars to favored entities. They should all be abolished.

Elon and Vivek should have a field day abolishing scores, even hundreds, of these departments and agencies. But will they be able to do it? I really question that, because individual Congress-critters have vested interests in their continuation—as do the other groups I mentioned earlier.

Can Trump do it by executive order? It’s highly questionable. Could he arm-twist the Senate and the House to abolish these agencies? Not much, especially since most of the Congress is not really ideologically aligned with Trump, even the Republicans. Forget about the Democrats.

The government’s running a $2 trillion per year deficit right now.

The only way out is to totally delete these agencies. Just replacing the personnel with “better people” is a mistake. Why? Because cutting costs means you’re just filling the piggy bank, so the next administration can gleefully empty it, and be heroes when they hire even more of the very same zombies that you fired.

The only way to solve this problem is to abolish these agencies. Don’t reform them, but make sure they cease to exist. Pull them out by the roots and sow Agent Orange in the soil where they grew.

The US Constitution has mostly been interpreted out of existence. Or blatantly ignored, like the 9th and 10th Amendments. The government is force and should be limited in a civil society. The implies a military, to protect citizens from force from abroad. Police, to protect them from domestic crime. And a court system to adjudicate disputes without reverting to force.

All the other requirements of society should, could, and would be handled by entrepreneurs. In fact, a good argument can be made that the “essential” tasks of government are too important to be left to the type of people who are inevitably drawn to governments.

Let me make a radical proposal that will shock almost everybody reading this now. I suggest defaulting on the debt, for several reasons.

Number one, it’s immoral. It’s criminal to impose the repayment of that debt on the next generations of unborn Americans. The debt is so large that they’ll be turned into serfs or indentured servants to pay it back.

And the question is: Pay it back to who? We don’t “owe it to ourselves,” which is what the liberals always used to say. It’s owed to particular people and institutions who have enabled the government to do all the destructive things that it does. They should be punished. I have no sympathy for the owners of government debt. In fact, these politically-wired people have enriched themselves at the expense of the average guy, who has few assets. It’s correct that they be punished.

There’s another reason. The debt the US government has is like a 100-story building that’s wobbling and is about to fall. There are two possibilities. You can wait for it to fall randomly and unpredictably. Or you can devise a controlled demolition. That’s the best alternative.

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Boris Johnson Spurs on War in Ukraine


Boris Johnson Spurs on War in Ukraine


Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson reemerges from the shadows whenever he hears word that a war may be winding down. He played an instrumental role in persuading Zelensky not to negotiate a peace treaty with Russia, and now he is proposing immediate NATO membership for Ukraine, which is the official onset of World War III.

A chip off the old block, Boris takes after his father, Stanley Johnson, who is from the same club as Bill Gates’ father and a eugenicist. Stanley worked for the Rockefeller Foundation in New York. Johnson and Rockefeller have the same population reduction goals as Gates. They somehow justify the need for a reduction of 70 million people from the population in Britain to 10 million to enhance economic growth. Stanley was also a proponent of climate change before it really gained traction in the mainstream community.

Back on June 3, 2020, I announced that I would not support Boris Johnson and that I saw him as a threat to Britain. I had my reasons behind the curtain, which I was unprepared to express fully. However, as they say, the apple does not fall far from the tree. Here, we have Boris following his father’s depopulation ideas, as is the case with Bill Gates following his father. Quite honestly, I do not understand that.

Johnson is the man who made that emergency trip to Ukraine when Zelensky was considering a peace deal with Russia, urging him to continue the endless war. All the neocons are in a mad rush to arm and fund Ukraine before Trump returns in January. Now, Johnson wants to give $500 billion in a “loan” and force NATO to enact Article V. At the same time, Zelensky is telling the press that he is willing to keep the war alive after 1,000 days of death and destruction. It’s past the point that Zelensky could even stop the war if tried. He sold out Ukraine and it is too late.

And here we have Boris resurfacing from the swamp once again to urge NATO to permit Ukraine to join.  “That means we must have the courage and logic to give the Ukrainians the security guarantee that they need and announce a date in the near future by which Ukraine will join NATO,” Johnson said, also adding that Ukraine needs another $500 BILLION–$500 BILLION. For what reason? He believes it can come in the form of a lend-lease obligation, but how can they expect Ukraine to pay off all of its debt without conquering Russia and amassing its fortune? That is what these neocons believe is possible – a Russian takeover.

Europe Braces For War As Biden Shovels More Fuel On The Fire


Europe Braces For War As Biden Shovels More Fuel On The Fire



As the mainstream press in the United States continues to obsess with imaginary threats from Trump’s army of “fascist” supporters, the Europeans are focused on the very real possibility that the Biden–Harris administration is going to start World War III on its way out the door. All over the continent, military and civilian authorities are working hard on civil defense preparations and planning for armed conflict with Russia.

Sweden is sending out five million pamphlets to its citizens telling them how to prepare. The pamphlets include instructions on stockpiling food and finding shelter during a nuclear attack. Excerpts from the document include:


An insecure world requires preparedness. The military threat to Sweden has increased and we must prepare for the worst - an armed attack.”

“The global security situation increases the risks that nuclear weapons could be used. In the event of an attack with nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, take cover in the same way as in an air attack.”

“Shelter provides the best protection. After a couple of days, the radiation has decreased significantly.”

“If Sweden is attacked by another country, we will never give up. All information to the effect that resistance is to cease is false.”

The Swedes are not alone. Norway and Finland are doing the same thing, preparing their populations for nuclear war.

Finland has launched a new website advising people on how to prepare, and the Norwegians recently mailed out their own booklet giving people tips on how to prepare for the end of the world. The Norwegian booklet includes advice on how citizens should prepare themselves to live self-sufficiently for a week, with a list of long-life items to keep such as cans of beans, energy bars and pasta, and medicines in case of a nuclear event.


The Finnish website includes detailed instructions on how Finns should react in the event of war:

“The warning signal is a regularly rising and falling sound that lasts for one minute used to warn people of an immediate outdoor hazard.

In the event of a war, the signal is used to alert people about incidents as well as air strikes, for example.

In case of a military attack, you must immediately seek shelter in the nearest civil defence shelter or the best available shelter.”

The website also provides detailed guidance on how to try to continue to live in an area that has been irradiated.

“Prepare for a radiation hazard as follows:

  • Learn the steps to seek shelter indoors and how to carry them out at home. Also learn them together with family members.

  • Learn how to switch off ventilation at home.

  • Make sure you have durable tape at home that you can use to seal off windows, doors and other areas with air flow.

  • Know which communication channels are used: the 112 application, television, radio and the websites of the authorities

  • Buy medicine iodine tablets at home according to the recommendation.”


The Germans are making their own preparations for the coming apocalypse. The German military is now advising companies on something called Operations Plan Germany. The paper is a thousand pages long and classified, but details have begun to leak publicly. For example, it lists all buildings and infrastructure facilities to be protected for national security reasons. It also provides significant detail on how Germany will transport hundreds of thousands of soldiers east to engage with Russian forces.

In Prague, a network of Cold War-era bunkers has now seen renewed interest. A spokeswoman from the Czech Republic's Fire Rescue Service told RFE/RL recently that, beginning in 2023, the service began updating "requirements for the shelter system and the shelters themselves." She did not elaborate on what those updates were.

Meanwhile, wasting no time after Biden’s approval of the use of American-made ballistic missiles against targets deep into Russian territory, Ukraine attacked a military installation in Russia’s western Bryansk region. "For the first time, Ukraine's Defense Forces struck Russian territory with ATACMS ballistic missiles." 

Putin, for his part, made good on his pledge to respond. He signed a decree updating and expanding Moscow's nuclear doctrine to allow for the use of atomic weapons in case of an attack on Russia by a nonnuclear actor that is backed by a nuclear power. The updated doctrine says Russia would consider using nuclear weapons after receiving “reliable information about the launching of a massive attack against it and missiles crossing the Russian border."



Huge Swaths Of America Face Blackout Risks If Winter Is Bitter, Grid Watchdog Warns


‘Energy-Limited Resources’: Huge Swaths Of America Face Blackout Risks If Winter Is Bitter, Grid Watchdog Warns



Hundreds of millions of Americans risk experiencing power shortages this winter if weather conditions are harsh, according to a new report published by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), a power grid watchdog.

Nearly all residents of the Northeast, Texas and Midwest could face energy shortfalls in the event of a colder-than-usual winter, the NERC report states. The lack of grid reliability is driven largely by growing electricity demand as well as the replacement of coal-fired and older natural gas-fired generators with energy-limited resources such as solar power


“Foreseeable extreme cold temperatures have the potential to push the existing natural gas supply infrastructure to maximum capacity,” the report warns. “Serving winter load is becoming more challenging and complex as coal-fired and older natural gas-fired generators retire and are replaced by variable and energy-limited resources.”


The expansion of power-hungry data centers has led to a surge in electricity demand, according to the NERC study, with consulting firm Bain projecting utilities could have to increase their annual power generation by as much as 26% by 2028. Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris administration has sought to reduce natural gas and coal-fired power generation, finalizing a rule in April requiring that existing coal plants use carbon capture and storage to control 90% of their carbon emissions by 2032 if they want to stay running past 2039, and that certain new natural gas plants cut their emissions 90% by 2032, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).


Grid operators have requested the EPA nix the power plant rule in order to protect long-term energy dependability, with four major regional operators filing an amicus brief in support of red states’ legal challenge against the rule, stating it would jeopardize the grid’s ability to reliably meet American energy needs.

Mark Christie — a top power grid regulator — wrote a letter to lawmakers in August claiming the EPA rule could be “catastrophic.”

“If the EPA’s new power plant rule survives court challenge, it will force the retirements of nearly all remaining coal generation plants and will prevent the construction of vitally needed new combined-cycle baseload gas generation,” Christie wrote. “This loss of vitally needed dispatchable generation resources will be catastrophic.”


The EPA and Federal Electric Reliability Corporation did not immediately respond to requests for comment.


‘A Little Dystopian’: Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates Bankrolling Methane Vaccine for Cattle




Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is investing $9.4 million to develop a vaccine designed to reduce the number of methane-producing microbes in a cow’s stomach, Agriland reported.

The funding comes from his Bezos Earth Fund, a philanthropy he established with $10 billion in 2020. The fund intends to distribute all of its money by 2030, by funding projects to “fight climate change and protect nature.”

Researchers at the United Kingdom’s Pirbright Institute and Royal Veterinary College, and New Zealand’s AgResearch are among the groups receiving funding to research how a vaccine could reduce the methane emitted by cows as they digest and expel food through manure, flatulence and burping.

“Vaccines have proven to be an incredibly cost-effective way to deliver global health solutions,” said Bezos Earth Fund President and CEOAndrew Steer in a press release. “If we can apply this approach to vaccinate cattle and reduce emissions, the scalability and impact could be phenomenal.”

Although scientists have sporadically researched methane vaccines for over four decades, no vaccine yet exists. The project’s first goal is to show that such a vaccine is possible.

“This grant is a moonshot for proof-of-concept — risky bets like this are essential to tackling the climate crisis,” Steer said, according to Agriland.

The researchers will study how methanogens, or methane-producing microbes, colonize the digestive tract of calves and how their immune system responds to those methanogens.

Researchers will then determine which antibodies would effectively target the methanogens, as the first step in developing the criteria for their methane vaccine.

Professor John Hammond, Immunogenetics Group leader at the Pirbright Institute, said that before they could develop a methane vaccine, they had to first define “what a successful vaccine needs to achieve. By understanding the precise antibody responses required, we can provide a clear path forward for vaccine development.”



Crop scientist and regenerative farmer Howard Vlieger told The Defender such a vaccine could be damaging to cows because it is being designed to target the organisms living in cows’ digestive system — organisms the animals need to digest fiber.

Vlieger cited research on glyphosate showing that when necessary microorganisms in a cow’s rumen are eliminated, even in small amounts, it seriously affects the animal’s health.

However, Hammond said dramatic interventions are necessary to cut global methane emissions.

“Vaccination is a widely accepted farming practice that is auditable and can be used in combination with other strategies, such as chemical inhibition, selection for low-methane genetics or early-life interventions to permanently alter microbiome composition in livestock,” he said, according to Agriland.

But Vliegar said that regenerative farmers take a different approach, which is to be attentive to cattle nutrition and to keep their cattle in balance with the environment.

Shortly after the Bezos Earth Fund announced in August that it was funding the methane vaccine, ag-biotech startup ArkeaBio announced it also had raised $38.5 million to develop a methane vaccine.

Investors include the Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Rabo Ventures, the Grantham Foundation and others. The Series A funding ArkeaBio announced was from its second round of funding.

Breakthrough Energy had fully funded its previous seed funding round with $12 million, Axiosreported.

Gates founded Breakthrough Energy in 2015 to fund start-ups focused on innovating to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Bezos and other well-known billionaires, including Richard Branson and Jack Ma, are also investors.

That means Bezos is funding the methane vaccine through his for-profit investment group and his philanthropic organization.

So is Gates. The Pirbright Institute, which receives Bezos grant funding for the methane vaccine, will use technologies developed in its Pirbright Livestock Antibody Hub, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Both the Bezos Earth Fund and the ArkeaBio initiatives were launched following a meeting in Dubai in 2023, during which the Gates Foundation brought together approximately 40 interested parties to discuss expanding a global effort to develop a methane-reducing vaccine, Beef Centralreported.


The meeting included the few researchers working on methane vaccines and potential investors, vaccine producers and regulators who will need to sign off on a vaccine once it is developed. Researchers predict that will happen within five years.

Paul Wood of the Global Methane Hub organized the meeting. Promotional materials and media reports about the vaccine cite the hub’s claim that reducing methane emissions by 45% by 2030could cool the earth by 0.3 degrees Celsius as justification for why the vaccine is needed.

The Global Methane Hub is also funded by the Gates Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund. Google, which produces tens of millions of metric tons of carbon per year, also is a funder.

Gates said it is imperative to address the issue of cows when it comes to global emissions.