The Good Old Covid Days

 As the eviction and foreclosure numbers rise in the coming years, be ready to see more and more of this -

Images of "renters" (who pay no rent and who collect Covid-19 Fun Bucks to stay at home and fuck off all day) who are on their way to eviction petitioning for free housing while wearing the ridiculous Covid-19 face diaper.  I think they are looking backward with a sense of nostalgia for the good old days when they could collect more in unemployment than they ever received for working while simultaneously thumbing their noses at their landlords who had been rendered powerless by the government's eviction moratorium.

The ridiculous mask is the talisman of the Covid-19 huckster who enjoyed receiving something for nothing for well over two years.  They continue to wear this moronic symbol as they try to convince an increasingly skeptical population that Covid-19 is worthy of continued shut-downs and, most of all, free shit from the Gub'mint.  

Gee Wally, with "citizens" like this, how can a country go wrong?

Increasingly, We Are a Nation of Deadbeats

From CNBC:

"One of the arguments for forgiving student loans is that millions of borrowers will never pay off their debt anyway.

According to a rough estimate by higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz, just about half of federal student loan borrowers, or 20 million people, were in repayment prior to the pandemic. A quarter — or more than 10 million people — were in delinquency or default. Many others had applied for temporary relief for struggling borrowers, including deferments or forbearances.

These grim figures led to comparisons to the 2008 mortgage crisis. 

In the meantime, student loan borrowers face a host of consequences from having tens of thousands of dollars on their personal balance sheets, including difficulty buying a house and starting a business."

Allow me to translate:  These people need to be recycled back into the debtor system as quickly as possible.  Requiring them to actually pay back the funds borrowed to attend college will keep them from fulfilling their ultimate destinies of being fodder for the banking industry and "good consumers".  This economy needs debtors and it needs them now.  

And, it does not hurt that dangling the prospect of "free money" in front of the Lower Slobovians who vote might help the Democrats in the Fall.

Disingenuous Mea Culpa - Then and Now

 

“No one could have seen this coming”.  I heard that phrase a lot after 2008.  That is total bullshit and these swindlers know it.  It was bullshit then and it is bullshit now.

From Fox News:  The New York Times opinion columnist Paul Krugman published a mea culpa in column form on Thursday, flat out admitting he was wrong for thinking inflation wouldn’t be that bad.

In his piece, titled, "I Was Wrong About Inflation," the economics professor noted that he was on "Team Relaxed" when it came to fears of inflation and acknowledged that was a "very bad call."

After Mao took power in China, there was a backlash and purge of those viewed as “intellectuals”.  Students literally beat their teachers and professors to death.  While I do not necessarily agree with murder, I do understand how it comes to pass that one human being who feels cheated kills another human being that they feel is a high functioning swindler.

There were plenty of people, including myself, that saw 2008’s self created drama and how it was going to unfold.  Making too much credit available at prices that were far too low and then extending that credit to far too many “Great Americans” was going to be a shit show.  Hoening tried warning his fellow Fed Heads and no one would listen.

Today’s bullshit was entirely predictable and there were those like Summers who were warning against what Congress, the Treasury and the Fed were proposing.  Again, no one listened.  Instead, they chose to listen to the happy talk coming from people like Bernanke, Krugman, Yellen, etc.  These are “intellectuals” who would try to debate the fact that water is wet if you let them.

I will guarantee you this – if one of these “intellectuals” were drug out of their office at the White Ivory Tower, strung up from a lamppost by their testicles and then publicly beaten like a piñata at high noon, the other “intellectuals” who run in their social circles would take note and stop floating all of these asinine ideas about Keynesian economics.

A long time ago, Bill Bonner wrote that the Federal Reserve can control the quality of the currency and the quantity of the currency but not both at the same time.  That remains true and both Bernanke and Krugman know it.

Control of Writing and Re-Writing Rules is Key

I am a long time reader of a blog called "Of Two Minds" by Charles Hugh Smith.  He is an excellent writer and does a great job of explaining concepts:

Recently, he posted this: "The history of central banking is actually quite simple:

1. Central banks act to protect the wealth and power of those who own / control most of the wealth. This is their core unstated reason to exist.

2. To justify this absurdly transparent protection of the elite in the eyes of the public, central banks go through the motions of trying to extinguish the business / credit cycle, that is, trying to eliminate defaults and credit crunches which are the frequent but low-intensity fires that burn up the financial deadwood.

This destruction of excessive credit, leverage and liquidity is necessary to protect the forest--the entire economy-- from a much larger, out-of-control conflagration.

Central banks sell this endless expansion of financialization to the public as "we're getting rid of those horrible nasty recessions that hurt all you little folk," but in letting the deadwood pile up ever higher, central banks are only guaranteeing the eventual conflagration will consume the entire forest.

This is basically what happened in 2008-09: the deadwood caught fire despite the best efforts of central banks and almost burned down the entire forest."

They control the rules and they are the proverbial "House" for all of those entering their casino.  

“I don't make the rules, I just think them up and write them down.”

There is a lot of talk right now about the pending resumption of student loan repayment looming in August.  Some are pressuring Democrats to make good on their campaign promises of a debt jubilee for their constituents.  They will re-write the rules to suit their purposes.  It will be a blatant example of "great American voters" voting themselves direct funding from the Treasury.  Everyone with half a brain knows that "student loans" have been used for lifestyle expenditures as well as tuition.  The funding has pumped trillions into "higher education".  The Democrats are on the ropes right now and may see re-writing the rules and forgiving debt as politically expedient.

I said long ago that if this country were truly serious about returning some discipline to the student loan process, the bankruptcy rules would be re-written to allow for the inclusion of student loan debt in Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 cases.  The threat of potential loss is the only thing that truly focuses the mind of lenders and underwriters.  Apparently, re-writing those rules continues to be out of the question for those in authority.  Why?  Because apparently the current scheme greatly benefits the few at the expense of the many.

Jill Biden = The "Karen" Who Says "Gracias" to the Waiter at the Mexican Restaurant & Thinks She's Cool

Hispanics are livid after First Lady Jill Biden, a doctor, compared them to "breakfast tacos" during a Monday speech to the 2022 UnidosUS Annual Conference held in Texas, where she opined on Hispanics' "Quest for Equity."

During her speech, Biden said that "the diversity of this community, as distinct as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blossoms of Miami and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio, is your strength."

Either a Kamala Harris speech writer or Donald Trump himself is writing the text of public addresses for "Dr. Jill".  God, how tone deaf and stupid can one woman be?

Realists Are Often Mislabeled as Pessimists

 Around 20 months ago, I mentioned to an old high school classmate that we as a country were in a Fed induced "Everything Bubble".  He dismissed my statement with the phrase, "your perception is your reality".

Well, I am still here and "my perception" is now "your reality".  The real shit show is yet to begin.  

If you have been borrowing and spending as if the good times would never end during the past few years, you are in for a rude awakening as "your reality" was a dream.  It was a mirage in the desert.  It felt real and maybe it was for a short time but the new reality is not going to match up with your expectations.

Increasingly, great Americans are beholden to their government in ways that would have been unimaginable to Americans 100 years ago.  The financing contracts for their educations and the very roofs over their heads are increasingly held by a government sponsored enterprise.  

The purchasing and refinancing bubble in the real estate market has been brought to you by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and those who sell their long term contracts to them (which is to say every outlet for mortgages in the country).  If you purchased a home or refinanced with cash out your existing home during this most recent real estate bubble, you are now in Uncle Sam's pocket.  So, not only are your children in debt to Uncle Sam for their student loans, you are now in debt to him for your home loan.