The Great Unraveling?

Previews of Coming Attractions Were you forwarded this email? [Sign-up to The Daily Reckoning here.]( [Unsubscribe]( [Daily Reckoning] The Great Unraveling? - How much more will Americans take?… - The Soviet Union, minus the attempt at production… - “The only other question for now is when do the different population groups in this land explode in violence?”… Recommended Link [Truth behind V-shaped recovery]( [Read more here...]( On March 16, exactly one week BEFORE this V began to take form… An extraordinary decision was made behind closed doors to rig markets higher. It’s why a former Managing Director at Goldman Sachs says, “every American needs to see what’s really going on behind the scenes.” Her urgent warning is now available to the public... [Click Here To See It]( Upstate New York March 13, 2021 Editor’s note: The United States is spending trillions of dollars it does not have. What are the longer-term societal consequences? Today, James Howard Kunstler sketches a dark picture. [James Howard Kunstler] Dear Reader, How reassured were you by Joe Biden’s speech to the nation Thursday night? The more his managers pretend that he’s in charge of anything, the more unlikely it actually seems. So, they wound him up — Adderall would be my guess, to fortify the attention span — and rolled him out like a mannequin. One could just imagine the leaders of this-and-that foreign nation cringing (or cackling) in their seats to see this embodiment of collapsing America go through his spiritless ritual motions. Mostly what did not fly is the idea that the Covid-19 virus can still be used as a cattle-prod for herding citizens into pens of compliance — Americans are buffalos, not steers. They are determined now to take care of business, and the main business of people with any initiative will be to rig up some sort of gainful occupation while the lumbering old systems break down. They’ll do it despite orders to operate at 50% capacity, or close at nine o’clock, or be handcuffed by rinky-dink regulations. But they’ll have to get creative to figure out ways around all the official impediments to making a living. This group of the not-yet-undead will resist further attempts to restrict their liberty and steal the fruits of their own enterprise to pay for other people’s failures or lack of enterprise. Questions The Schumer-Pelosi gang looks exorbitantly proud of their legislative coup in the stim bill, while Republicans shed crocodile tears about deficits, as if they were somehow responsible fiscal stewards. The federal government is one system visibly working to destroy itself with epic giveaways of money it pretends to command and the Covid-19 Stimulus bill will only accelerate its loss of credibility. How does a couple with no jobs and no income earn $150,000 in a year that they were not working? And if they somehow brought in $150,000 anyway, why do they need the support of the U.S. government? Such are the many mysteries of the Coronavirus 2021 stimulus bill. One-time $1,400 handouts and even regular $300 unemployment subsidies won’t pay the mortgages or feed families very long, and every day there are fewer families bringing in anything close to that mythical $150,000. For many, it’s more like… nothing. And a $1,400 check sure won’t solve the problems of creditors and landlords. If you think shortchanging that class of people is a good idea, you’re beating a path straight to the death of credit per se, and then of our money, the dollar, which is based on credit. Recommended Link [Billionaire: This Ticker Is “Like Investing in Google Early”]( [Read more here...]( There’s a mad rush right now into this one ticker symbol… ([Click here and get the ticker, no strings attached]( Because experts are projecting gains as high as 1,530% by the end of this year. Famous hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones poured $183 million into this ticker and said this is similar to “investing in Google early.” To see for yourself why billionaires are betting big on this ticker… [Click Here To Learn More]( Taxpayer Resentment The one-time bailouts of recklessly insolvent city and state governments and pension funds will only postpone their collapse. Taxpayers are not so stupid that they’ll fail to notice who is being asked to bail out bankrupt states, irresponsible cities, and pension funds and there’s going to be trouble over that. The trouble will express itself both in political strife and in the further decay of the relationship between work and wealth. It means a collapsing standard of living for most people. The varying guaranteed basic income schemes, enhanced child credits, advances on tax refunds, and other gimmicks would turn the former working class into zombies with nothing to occupy them but crime and vice. In fact, we already have a sizable underclass demonstrating exactly what you’ll get from enlarging the social group dependent on government support. Turning the one-shot $1,400 into a monthly Guaranteed Basic Income can only be a short-term shuck-and-jive when a loaf of bread goes from $5 to $15 to $50 — which can happen easily, and quickly, too, as lots of “free” money chases crashing productivity. Wait for it. Illusion of Wealth Whatever else the Soviet experiment was, it was at least predicated on producing stuff, however defective the incentives turned out to be, or how shoddy the stuff was that got produced — and the system finally crashed anyway, because it was based on fantasies of human social behavior that just didn’t comport with reality. Now, the USA, in its own existential climax phase, seeks to re-do the Soviet experiment, only minus that feature of industrial production. Instead, our “wealth” gets generated from the banking system alone, and its subsidiary activities, such as hedge funds, arbitrages, dividends from companies with no earnings, and the fees for swapping digitized bundles of this-and-that. You understand that it’s all an illusion, right? Bitcoin is the exemplar of that divorce of wealth from production. Does This Make Sense? Its value appears to be derived from two features: the mathematically elegant blockchain code, which is a distributed accounting system supposedly impervious to government meddling. And “mining” Bitcoin using colossal amounts of electricity to churn the blockchain code, a simple dissipation of energy. What is actually produced by these operations? A promise that a set of digits residing on countless flash drives around the world equal X-amount denominated in national currencies, which are themselves spun out of nothing by a process far less complex than the exertions that produce Bitcoin. It may be true that Bitcoin’s distributed “ledger” is difficult for governments to crack, but governments can just abolish Bitcoin in a few keystrokes by criminalizing the trade of it and confiscating any theoretical profits from it. Recommended Link [Emergency Briefing: “The Great Reset”]( [Read more here...]( By May 28th, Americans could be faced with a difficult choice: Accept a “Great Reset” and risk losing the American way of life… or stand up and fight back to save what’s left of the American dream. Jeff Brown, member of a D.C.-based advocacy group, explains what every American must do before May 28th to preserve his assets and thrive. [See The Emergency Briefing Here]( Why Government Has Left Bitcoin Alone They have probably refrained so far because the traffic in Bitcoin is still relatively tiny compared to the trade in stocks, bonds, and their derivatives, and because they prefer to keep the Bitcoin model running as a demonstration project in preparation for their own entry into national cryptocurrencies, with all its advantages for tracking individual transactions and targeting tax liabilities. Also, keep in mind that Bitcoin is meaningless without reliable electric service and the Internet that runs on it. How many Bitcoins were bought-and-sold in Texas those dark days a couple of weeks ago when the lights went out? Regardless, trading Bitcoin might be the least of your problems when the pipes freeze and all the sheetrock in your house gets prepped for a black mold experiment. It looks like politicians have achieved the final divorce of wealth from production, and thus economy from reality. The USA has become the Big Rock Candy Mountain. More Violence? The only other question for now is when do the different population groups in this land explode in violence? The group loosely bundled as “Red” is angry enough with the ongoing insults of Wokery, failed rule-of-law, and abridgments of basic constitutional rights. The states where they dominate are likely to resist any more fiats by the federal government, like the imminent attempt to confiscate firearms. The “Blue” auxiliary armies are beyond their creators’ control. Antifa will be ready to rock-and-roll in the streets with good weather because so many young people have absolutely no prospects to thrive in the collapsing economy, and the streets have become their social space, with so little money for lattes and beers. And look no further than the Derek Chauvin trial in Minnesota for an excuse to resume its characteristic activities if things don’t break the way they want. Regards, James Howard Kunstler for The Daily Reckoning Editor’s note: Times may be tough, but you can’t despair. There’s a land of rich opportunity out there… if you know where to look. [One of America’s legendary tech authorities recently gave a talk to a small, invitation-only group of people.]( And when this guy talks, the tech world listens: He was dubbed “America’s Foremost Tech Prophet” by The Economist magazine. His work has been praised by Bill Gates, Ronald Reagan, and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Now he believes we’re on the cusp of a major paradigm shift in the tech world... one that could have far reaching consequences for everyone. In fact, the whole reason this tech genius released this information was because he believes if you understand this idea, [you stand a chance of making a small fortune for yourself and for your family in the years ahead.]( The good news is, while the presentation itself was strictly invitation only (tickets were not available for any price) – you can view his talk from home today, for a limited time only. [Hit this link now and you’ll be able to access the entire thing.]( This technology will have far reaching consequences for everyone. But only some people will profit from it. And according to the man widely considered to be America’s greatest tech investor… [This is how you could be one of them.]( [Go here now to get the information you need.]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for reading The Daily Reckoning! We greatly value your questions and comments. Please send all feedback to [feedback@dailyreckoning.com.](mailto:dr@dailyreckoning.com) [James Howard Kunstler][James Howard Kunstler]( is perhaps best known for his 2005 book [The Long Emergency]( which predicted the financial meltdown and the implications of the peak oil problem. His 1993 book, [The Geography of Nowhere]( about the fiasco of suburbia, is a campus cult classic among the architecture and urban planning students. Add feedback@dailyreckoning.com to your address book: [Whitelist us]( Additional Articles & Commentary: [Daily Reckoning Website]( Join the conversation! Follow us on social media: [Facebook]( [LinkedIn]( [Twitter]( [RSS Feed]( [YouTube]( The Daily Reckoning is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We do not rent or share your email address. By submitting your email address, you consent to Paradigm Press delivering daily email issues and advertisements. 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