a preview of coming attractions;

 

 

 

 

THERE ARE SO MANY DOT HEADS IN TEXAS IT DOESN'T FEEL LIKE MEXICO ANYMORE

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watch.......... 

 larry johnson tells you why just reopening the hormuz won't bring back 'normal' for a long time afterwards; 

 

Karl Miller is out with another report on the state of the oil production infrastructure in the Persian Gulf and, as always, it is a must read. Unfortunately, it is behind a firewall but he has given me permission to summarize his findings and share them with you. So here goes.

There is a comforting assumption buried in nearly every oil forecast on the market right now: that the day the Strait of Hormuz reopens, the Persian Gulf’s missing barrels come flooding back, prices normalize, and the shock is over. A detailed engineering-and-financial model of the restart says that assumption is not merely optimistic — it is wrong by years and by trillions of dollars. The day safe passage returns is not the end of the disruption. It is Day 0 of a five-year industrial rebuild.

The market is starting from the wrong number

The first error is the baseline. Analysts leaned on a roughly 8.3 mb/d loss figure that captured a temporary rebound in Gulf production, not the full loss of marketable liquids. Corrected, the model begins with the prewar Hormuz system moving 20 mb/d of crude, condensate, products, and LPG, against barely 1.5 mb/d still trickling out today — and it separates two numbers the market keeps conflating..........more............

 caitlin describes where we are and where we aught to be; 

The only way to truly have dignity and integrity as a westerner is to put your energy into opposing the empire under which you live.

Under the individualism of our capitalist society, we are indoctrinated with the belief that the most important and interesting things about us are the personal characteristics which distinguish us from other people: our likes and dislikes, our lifestyle, our interpersonal relationships, our sense of fashion, how successful we are professionally, academically and romantically, etc.

But when you live under the most murderous and tyrannical power structure on the planet, your individual little quirks and facets are a lot less significant than the extent to which you oppose the abuses that your rulers are inflicting upon human beings around the world. If you met a German in 1940, you would probably be a lot less curious about his taste in music and fondness for dapper suits than you would be about his level of support for Adolf Hitler.

That’s you right now. You’re the German in 1940. The most interesting and relevant thing about you is the extent to which you oppose the globe-spanning empire you live under. At this point in history, everything else about you is a very distant second..........more..........

martin armstrong uses history to show us where we're going; 

 

 All Republics eventually turn against their citizens when they begin to see their power slipping away through their fingers. Today in Europe, free speech has vanished. In the US, you see “See Something, Say Something.” Looking at history, we see this same pattern. Perhaps the most famous example was the Venetian Republic, which eventually destroyed its own power.

The practice of encouraging citizens to report others was instituted by Maximinus I (236-248AD) who tore Rome apart declaring all wealth belonged to the state and paid rewards to people who reported others. Once he turned everyone against each other, there was no going back. The economy began to implode as trust and unity evaporated. The wealthy began to hoard their wealth instead of investing and lending it out. Capitalism requires wealth disparity for then the wealthy put their money to use in venture type arrangements that even took place in ancient Athens, which was the birth of insurance underwriting voyages for trade. Maximinus I destroyed that unity and venture capital virtually ceased to exist after him.

The Venetian “Mouth of Truth” (Bocca di Leone) letterboxes was officially introduced in 1310 where people could rat on fellow citizens. This introduction was a direct response to a specific political crisis. The first of these stone mailboxes were installed after the failed coup d’état led by Baiamonte Tiepolo in 1310. The Venetian government established this system to allow for the secret reporting of crimes and conspiracies, creating an early intelligence network to protect the state............more.......