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This Country is a Mess! Here is My Opinion! - Sep 12, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYhG2p2vuRw
A true MEGATREND: Oil To $300? BY TYLER DURDEN FRIDAY, JUN 04, 2021 - 01:15 PM
By Doomsberg Substack
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/oil-300
Stock Market Sectors 101: The 11 Sectors of the Market
Here's what you should know about the 11 stock market sectors.
By John Divine | July 16, 2019, at 3:02 p.m.
https://money.usnews.com/investing/investing-101/slideshows/stock-market-sectors-101-the-11-sectors-of-the-market?slide=13
JP Morgan CEO acknowledges “something has gone terribly wrong” in America
Sovereign Man - Simon Black -
April 7, 2021
Cancun, Mexico
Last week I wrote to you about billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio’s most recent advice for people to diversify their investments OUT of the US dollar.
Dalio didn’t pull any punches when he laid out his analysis for America’s economic future.
He warned readers of the very real risk of stagflation (starting “late this year”) and tax increases that could be even “more shocking than expected”.
He also advised people to anticipate the possibility of capital controls and prohibitions against assets like gold and cyptocurrency.
All of this, he wrote, means that “the United States could be perceived as a place that is inhospitable to capitalism and capitalists,” and he advised readers to think about “currency diversification, country diversification, and asset class diversification.”
That specific concept of diversification has been one of the dominant themes here at Sovereign Man over the past decade. And the fact that someone as prominent as Dalio is echoing the same sentiment suggests that we may be much closer to a reckoning than most people realize.
Yesterday, another prominent leader in the financial sector published his own thoughts on the matter.
Jamie Dimon, CEO of banking giant JP Morgan, published his annual shareholder letter, and it contained an incredibly candid appraisal of the numerous challenges facing the United States, including China:
“China’s leaders believe America is in decline...The Chinese see an America that is losing ground in technology, infrastructure and education – a nation torn and crippled...and a country unable to coordinate government policies (fiscal, monetary, industrial, regulatory) in any coherent way to accomplish national goals.”
“Unfortunately,” Dimon writes, “there is a lot of truth to this.”
He then goes on to provide a wide-ranging laundry list of problems that have been building for years in the United States-- “I’ll give some examples, but if I tried to address them all this letter would become a book.”
Dimon cites “a litigation and regulatory system that is costly, crippling small businesses with red tape and bureaucracy”.
“terrible infrastructure planning and investment”
“huge waste and inefficiency at both the federal and state levels”
a lack of “effective immigration policies”
“we fail to properly fund pension obligations”
“income equality has gotten worse”
“social safety nets [are] poorly designed”
“30% of Americans don’t have enough savings to deal with unexpected expenses that total as little as $400”
“Veterans [hospitals] . . . are broken”
“Almost all institutions – governments, schools, media and businesses – have lost credibility in the eyes of the public. And perhaps for good reason: Many of our problems have been around for a long time and are not aging well.”
“Politics is increasingly divisive, and government is increasingly dysfunctional”
He also rails against the education and healthcare systems, saying:
“Our education and health issues come together in this alarming statistic: Seventy percent of today’s youth (ages 17-24) are not eligible for military service, essentially due to a lack of proper education (basic reading and writing skills) or health issues (commonly obesity or diabetes).”
Dimon goes on to explain that all of these problems “may explain why, over the last 10 years, the U.S. economy has grown cumulatively only about 18%.”
“Some think that this sounds satisfactory, but it must be put into context: In prior sharp downturns (1974, 1982 and 1990), economic growth was 40% over the ensuing 10 years.”
So US economic performance over the past decade has been less than HALF as strong as in the decade following previous downturns.
Dimon acknowledges that “something has gone terribly wrong...and people are right to feel angry and let down.”
He puts on a brave face and tells readers that the problems are fixable. And certainly, in theory, some of them should be.
For example, in theory it should be easy to eliminate corruption and incompetence in government: stop electing corrupt and incompetent people.
Yet year after year, corrupt and incompetent politicians are re-elected to powerful offices.
Dimon also suggests that the US “would do well to study the successes of the rest of the world.” To learn how to build top-quality infrastructure again, for example, learn from Hong Kong. Or he suggests the US can learn from Singapore how to build an effective healthcare system.
Yet instead the US seems to be learning from bad examples, places like Argentina and Venezuela-- “all countries with tremendous natural resources that allowed, in the name of their people, their economies to be destroyed.”
Dimon writes correctly that the US has faced tough times before-- “the Civil War, World War I, the U.S. stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed, and World War II, among others. . . . But in each case, America’s might and resiliency strengthened our position in the world, particularly in relation to our major international competitors.”
Yet even Dimon acknowledges-- “This time may be different” i.e. perhaps this time the US doesn’t emerge stronger.
This certainly echoes what Ray Dalio published last week.
Now, Jamie Dimon may be right. Perhaps elected leaders in the United States, and across the West, suddenly grow brains, consciences, and backbones. Perhaps people on social media set aside their differences and find common ground. Perhaps the media starts presenting unbiased truth.
And perhaps, altogether, these problems are solved once and for all, ushering in an era of peace and prosperity never before seen.
That’s certainly a nice thought.
But just in case it doesn’t pan out that way, you might want to think about having a Plan B.
To your freedom,
Simon Black,
Founder, SovereignMan.com
Silver is easily my #1 megatrend:
https://www.reddit.com/r/StockMarket/comments/mbqrgb/smoke_alarms_are_ringing_in_the_silver_market/
Food and beverage is the only sector projected to grow this year, report says
https://www.fooddive.com/news/food-and-beverage-is-the-only-sector-projected-to-grow-this-year-report-sa/578930/
UN food agency chief: World could see famines of "biblical proportions" within months
BY AUDREY MCNAMARA
APRIL 22, 2020 / 12:33 PM / CBS NEWS
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-famines-united-nations-warning/
The Next Generation: Giant Locust Armies Of “Biblical Proportions” Threaten To Cause Mass Starvation In Africa
April 22, 2020 by Michael Snyder
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-next-generation-giant-locust-armies-of-biblical-proportions-threaten-to-cause-mass-starvation-in-africa
Enter the greatest depression. India locks down 1B people.
Top 10 ways to f*ck the system
https://me.me/i/top-10-ways-to-fuck-the-system-1-shop-local-9066870
Of interest re $VRUS: Verus International Inc./ARJ Consulting/Andrew Garnock companies (Reset BioScience and Disruptive Labs):
Andrew Garnock mainly known as a private investor with huge successes in $CRON and Banyan Branch:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-garnock-bb88b5121/
Malcom Wood currently involved in an amazing 20 different organizations mostly as a founder or board member/director:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/malcolmgwood/
Chris Barber - (CEO) Disruption Labs bio shows this statement:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-barber-a0130890/
Misrepresentations of Clinical Nutrition in Mainstream Medical Media
https://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/misrepresentations-clinical-nutrition-mainstream-medical-media
2018 As a Milestone in the Post-Truth Era
Among the various topics that have either interested or fascinated me throughout my youth and well into my adult years, Nutrition has certainly reigned supreme. My personal routine has been to read as much as reasonably and practically possible on the topic, while not doing so to the exclusion of other topics in biomedicine, psychosociology and philosophy. Thus, with roughly 30 years of experience in reading books and primary research in the field of Nutrition, I could not help but notice the radical departures that occurred in 2018 from the previous norms to which I had grown accustomed.
Of course, 2018 was not the first year during which "bad research" was published in mainstream medical journals and then replicated throughout the echo chamber of mass media; one could observe this periodically occurring throughout the past 50 years, starting not at least with the demonization of dietary cholesterol and the glorification of processed foods, especially refined grains and so-called vegetable oils. But in 2018 what many of us observed was not simply poorly performed research but, in some instances, radical departures from any attempt to present data and descriptions that could be considered "reasonable" by any previous standard.1 Especially related to the topic of Nutrition, mainstream medical journals and the mass media which parrots their conclusions have begun to distribute overt misrepresentations of Nutrition with reckless disregard for science, logic, biomedical history and ethics.
One has to be aware of a few key ironies that characterize mainstream medical discussions of nutrition--namely that 1) medical physicians receive essentially zero training in clinical nutrition in their graduate school education nor in their post-graduate residency training2, 2) medical physicians and organizations publish "research" and related commentaries (both of which commonly conclude that nutritional interventions are inefficacious or unsafe), despite their lack of formal education on the topic, and then 3) mainstream medical voices consistently call for "regulating the nutrition supplement industry" despite their lack of training on the topic and because of negative conclusions based on their own poorly conducted research and self-serving conclusions. As such, not only are the map-makers blind, but they mislead their blind followers, and then both groups promote themselves as expert cartographers and guides when advising the public on an area that none of them have studied or understood. We should have no surprise whatsoever when the "medical community" publishes poorly conducted and self-serving "research" on the topic of nutrition, to reach their desired conclusion that nutrition is unsafe and inefficacious, and that the profitable market needs to be managed of course by the selfsame "medical community" that is never received a decent 15 minutes on the topic of therapeutic nutrition. Pervasive and persistent ignorance on the topic of nutrition among medical physicians must be understood as intentional and strategic because otherwise this problem would have been solved 30 years ago when it was first discussed during what was called at the time the "golden age of nutrition.3 The easiest way to manipulate people and to keep them in a perpetual state of confusion, ineffectiveness, and dependency is to keep them ignorant on important topics; our educational system consistently achieves this goal with spectacular brilliance and efficiency.4 To be sure, most societies throughout history have maintained inculcated inconsistencies; but the paradox that we currently witness is that in this so-called "age of information", the use of lies ("post-truth era"5) and the manipulation of science and public opinion ("manufacture of consent"6) appears to be getting worse, not better.
Add to this the shortened attention spans of today's students raised in fractured families amid a culture of distraction, their growing disregard for hard work, their incendiary lack of respect for experienced teachers, and the fact that many "accredited universities" function as diploma mills by allowing students to sleep and cheat their way through graduate programs, and one can experience a nihilistic chill when pondering the probable future of intellectual integrity and the products of education.
Transitioning from 'Post-Truth' to Overt Censorship
As if erroneous and fraudulent information were not bad enough, now in early 2019, we are witnessing a transition from propaganda to censorship, insofar as information unfavorable to the pharmaceutical paradigm is being blocked from bookstores and social media at the request of American politicians, presumably at the behest of their pharmaceutical funders.7 Various social media platforms, film distributors and bookstores have moved to ban discussion of iatrogenic adverse effects following the administration of various pharmaceutical drugs, thereby depriving millions of people access to information independent from direct pharmaceutical influence. In the history of the United States, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution was intended to protect free speech and free press - that is the distribution and publication of ideas; unfortunately, the American founding fathers never had any idea that the media and means of distribution of information would become so privatized and centralized that it could be controlled - not through direct government action as the First Amendment addresses - but through political pressure on those means of distribution; i.e., the government does not have to ban anything as it only has to put political and social pressure on those who distribute information such as bookstores to create an effective ban even though the ban is not coming directly from the government. If independent opinions and compelling case reports cannot be openly discussed with regard to medical iatrogenesis, especially in cases where no organized and effective system of postmarketing surveillance exists, then what I call the "pharma-media echo chamber"8 will be the only source of information, albeit highly biased in favor of drug sales.
Mainstream Medical Media Misinforms
For decades, the general public has been misinformed about diet, and this misinformation has come directly from mainstream medical journals and major universities (especially those that are considered "elite") and has been endorsed from top to bottom throughout the medical spectrum all the way to the highest levels of government. The most obvious example is that of endorsing high carbohydrate diets while witch-hunting dietary sources of fat; this advice did much to promote the carbohydrate-induced/exacerbated epidemics of obesity, insulin resistance, type-II diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia and cardiovascular disease as well as exacerbation of many other inflammation-related diseases including psoriasis, asthma, and multiple sclerosis. For decades, alternative views contradicting this mainstream dogma were labeled as "dietary quackery." Ironically, the only way to eat a healthy diet has been to ignore the officially endorsed recommendations from governments and medical societies.9
Importance of Legitimate Expertise in Independent Peer-Reviewed Publications
The medical misinformation machine is not going to stop itself because it has no will to stop and also because it is fully self-perpetuating and virtually without internal friction. The medical machine controls the means of communication via mainstream headlining medical journals, medical news and information websites, as well as the mass media of television, magazines, and newspapers. Notably in the United States, the medical machine pays politicians millions of dollars each year to ensure that its voice and interests receive preferential treatment in the form of squashing alternative views and legislating mandatory drug enforcement policies; these political problems are further compounded by the fact that the fossil fuel industry blocks initiatives promoting public mass transportation, which would otherwise have a health-promoting effect by encouraging walking and bicycling and promoting development of antiobesogenic neighborhoods with their attendant safety, convenience, beauty, and public forum.10 Whereas independently published materials - scientifically valid though they may be - might reach a few hundred or a few thousand people, by comparison, the mainstream medical media can reach an assured audience of several million people despite any scientific substantiation or logical basis in their message. The same drug companies that fund and influence research structure and reporting also fund and influence the major media outlets, which reciprocate the publication of pro-pharmaceutical news in exchange for advertising dollars. As the mainstream echo chamber perpetuates itself, repeated messages and soundwaves transform from a reverberating echo into a power vortex which suctions money from the population while feeding itself in a manner similar to a wildfire that becomes a tornado (i.e., fire whirl, firenado, pyro-tornadogenesis11), likewise thereby intensifying the groundfire below (e.g., drug sales fund infomercial research to fund more drug sales) and the air-moving fire-feeding vacuum torrent above, which becomes a political power vortex as dollars pyroclastically convert into political protections and drug-mandating laws, thereby showering the underbrush with more incendiary financial influence. Reforming the political system by eliminating gerrymandering and reducing the financial and political influence of pharmaceutical and other private corporate interests is necessary to break the influence held by industry over the government. Increasing scientific literacy - including that of Nutrition - among the population and especially within the so-called "medical community" is also essential to break the echo chamber of misinformation. However, both of those recommendations - political reform and educational improvement - will require decades before taking effect, if they ever occur. Meanwhile, the one thing that we can do immediately to have a beneficial effect in the here-and-now is share accurate information related to health and nutrition - and to do so via media that are not controlled by pharmaceutical interests - and this is exactly our goal at the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine and International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine. As I stated in my previous editorial12, "The future belongs to those who write it", and this is exactly why we encourage you to support and write for our Journal.
Sharper focus here is on $VRUS (Food) and $GWTR (Water) w/21M OS.
How Our Medical System Evolved Into One Big Sham
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
Over half of U.S. adults now have chronic health conditions like cancer, heart disease, diabetes and stroke
Prevention of chronic health conditions is not a priority of traditional medicine
Statins only address one risk factor of heart disease and pose serious health risks
The herbicide glyphosate has been linked to liver, bile duct and thyroid cancers
High fructose corn syrup is correlated with metabolic syndrome and nonalcoholic liver disease
Fluoride acts as an endocrine disrupter and lowers IQ in children
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/07/20/serious-threats-to-public-health.aspx?utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20190720Z1&et_cid=DM301496&et_rid=668002006
Look At This Map – It Shows Devastating Crop Losses Are Literally Happening All Over The Globe
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/look-at-this-map-it-shows-devastating-crop-losses-are-literally-happening-all-over-the-globe?fbclid=IwAR3_lwY06XVVA5ZvsNYZEdh5_ERWPdtPTe_ctJN24XFRyyGpuLVhhilydhg
Shocking Before & After Photos Reveal Awful Truth About Widespread US Crop Failures In 2019
by Tyler Durden - Mon, 06/24/2019 - 13:14
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-24/shocking-after-photos-reveal-awful-truth-about-widespread-us-crop-failures-2019
Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour Raises $21.5 Million to Fight Climate Crisis in Guitar Auction
https://www.ecowatch.com/pink-floyd-dave-gilmour-climate-crisis-2638969494.html
David Gilmour, guitarist, singer and songwriter in the rock band Pink Floyd, set a record last week when he auctioned off 126 guitars and raised $21.5 million for ClientEarth, a non-profit environmental law group dedicated to fighting the global climate crisis, according to CNN.
The auction lasted more than eight hours and had bids from over 66 countries, according to Christies, the London-based auction house, which hosted the sale in New York City, as CNN reported.
"The global climate crisis is the greatest challenge that humanity will ever face, and we are within a few years of the effects of global warming being irreversible," Gilmour wrote on Twitter. "As Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist said in a speech earlier this year, 'Either we choose to go on as a civilization, or we don't.' The choice really is that simple, and I hope that the sale of these guitars will help ClientEarth in their cause to use the law to bring about real change. We need a civilized world that goes on for all our grandchildren and beyond in which these guitars can be played and songs can be sung."
The auction's showpiece was the iconic black Fender Stratocaster — nicknamed the "Black Strat" — that Gilmour used to record the band's best-selling albums, including "The Dark Side of the Moon," "Wish You Were Here," and "The Wall."
The guitar was first appraised at $100,000 to $150,000, but relentless bidding drove up the cost to a world-record sales price for a guitar at auction of $3,975,000, according to the HuffPost.
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, who made the winning bid for the Black Strat, plans to publicly display the collectible.
"The incomparable David Gilmour ... the greatest 'phrasing' guitarist in the world!!" Jim Irsay wrote on Twitter. "Honored to bring The Black Strat to the public. The most expensive guitar EVER purchased. And for charity!!!"
ClientEarth CEO James Thornton called the donation "truly humbling and extraordinary," as the HuffPost reported.
"The law is one of the most powerful tools we have to tackle the world's increasing environmental problems," he said, according to the HuffPost. "This gift is a phenomenal boost to our work using the law to tackle climate change and protect nature. It will allow us to play an even greater role in addressing the climate crisis and securing a healthy planet for future generations."
Kerry Keane, Christie's Musical Instruments Specialist, commented on Gilmour's place in the pop culture canon, as Forbes reported. "For the last half-century, David Gilmour's guitar work has become part of the soundtrack in our collected popular culture," Keane said. "His solos, both lyrical and layered with color, are immediately identifiable to critics and pop music fans as readily as the brushstrokes of Monet's water lilies are to art historians. These instruments are unique in that they are the physical embodiment of David Gilmour's signature sound throughout his over 50-year career. Like palette and brush, they are the tools of the trade for an iconic rock guitarist."
Then let's throw in a little untested long term 5G, and a few directed energy weapons and we get human destruction stew. Our socialist media that wants what socialism has brought to Venezuela and Cuba, that media has most liberals by what ever sex's organs you choose to have attached to your body, and that's another great plan by those wonderful people.
Scientists Warn "Geoengineering" Could Start WW3
by Tyler Durden - Tue, 06/18/2019 - 19:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-18/scientists-warn-geoengineering-could-start-ww3
“Stand back and consider: You can’t breathe without inhaling these [metal] particulates [used to reflect the sun’s rays]. They are completely saturating the air column. I assure you, this is building up in all of us. Lab tests prove this with hair, blood and urine . . . they are building up in all of us. Not only is it right here, right now, toxifying every breath we take, it is decimating the earth life support system, the protective layers of the atmosphere and the ozone layer. This is an all-out assault against life. This is being used as a weapon. These programs are not benevolent. In addition to being used as a weapon, climate engineering is being used to mask, and this is very important, it is being used to mask the full severity of climate collapse from the population by confusing and dividing people. . . . They are going to keep covering this up until the last possible moment.” –Dane Wigington
The 5G War — Technology Versus Humanity
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
5G relies primarily on the bandwidth of the millimeter wave, known to cause a painful burning sensation. It’s also been linked to eye and heart problems, suppressed immune function, genetic damage and fertility problems
FCC admits no 5G safety studies have been conducted or funded by the agency or telecom industry, and that none are planned
The FCC has been captured by the telecom industry, which in turn has perfected the disinformation strategies employed by the tobacco industry before it
Persistent exposures to microwave frequencies like those from cellphones can cause mitochondrial dysfunction and nuclear DNA damage from free radicals produced from peroxynitrite
Excessive exposures to cellphones and Wi-Fi networks have been linked to chronic diseases such as cardiac arrhythmias, anxiety, depression, autism, Alzheimer’s and infertility
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/06/05/technology-versus-humanity.aspx?utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20190605Z1&et_cid=DM292347&et_rid=632298147
Yet our recent study found the global pharmaceutical industry is not only a significant contributor to global warming, but it is also dirtier than the global automotive production sector.
It was a surprise to find how little attention researchers have paid to the industry's greenhouse gas emissions. Only two other studies had some relevance: one looked at the environmental impact of the U.S. healthcare system and the other at the pollution (mostly water) discharged by drug manufacturers.
Our study was the first to assess the carbon footprint of the pharma sector.
More Polluting
More than 200 companies represent the global pharmaceutical market, yet only 25 consistently reported their direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions in the past five years. Of those, only 15 reported their emissions since 2012.
One immediate and striking result is that the pharmaceutical sector is far from green. We assessed the sector's emissions for each one million dollars of revenue in 2015. Larger businesses will always generate more emissions than smaller ones; in order to do a fair comparison, we evaluated emissions intensity.
We found it was 48.55 tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) per million dollars. That's about 55 percent greater than the automotive sector at 31.4 tonnes of CO2e/$M for that same year. We restricted our analysis to the direct emissions generated by the companies' operations and to the indirect emissions generated by the electricity purchased by these companies from their respective utilities companies.
The total global emissions of the pharma sector amounts to about 52 megatonnes of CO2e in 2015, more than the 46.4 megatonnes of CO2e generated by the automotive sector in the same year. The value of the pharma market, however, is smaller than the automotive market. By our calculations, the pharma market is 28 percent smaller yet 13 percent more polluting than the automotive sector.
Extreme Variability
We also found emissions intensity varied greatly within the pharmaceutical sector. For example, the emissions intensity of Eli Lilly (77.3 tonnes of CO2e/$M) was 5.5 times greater than Roche (14 tonnes CO2e/$M) in 2015, and Procter & Gamble's CO2 emissions were five times greater than Johnson & Johnson even though the two companies generated the same level of revenues and sell similar lines of products.
We found outliers too. The German company Bayer AG reported emissions of 9.7 megatonnes of CO2e and revenues of US$51.4 billion, yielding an emission intensity of 189 tonnes CO2e/$M. This intensity level is more than four times greater than the overall pharmaceutical sector.
In trying to explain this incredibly large deviation, we found that Bayer's revenues derive from pharmaceutical products, medical equipment and agricultural commodities. While Bayer reports its financial revenues separately for each division, it lumps together the emissions from all the divisions. The company also reports and tracks its emission intensity in terms of tonnes of CO2e produced for each tonne of manufactured goods, whether fertilizer or Aspirin, for example.
This level of opacity makes it not only impossible to assess the true environmental performance of these kind of companies. It also raises questions about the sincerity of these companies' strategies and actions in reducing their contribution to climate change.
Climate Compliance
We also estimated how much the pharmaceutical sector would have to reduce its emissions to comply with the reduction targets in the Paris agreement.
We found that by 2025, the overall pharma sector would need to reduce its emissions intensity by about 59 percent from 2015 levels. While this is clearly a far cry from their current levels, it is interesting to note that some of the 15 largest companies are already operating at that level, namely Amgen Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Roche Holding AG.
If those performance levels are achievable by some, why can't they be achieved by all?
These three leading companies are also the ones with the highest level of profitability and revenue growth in the whole sector. Indeed Roche, Johnson & Johnson and Amgen showed revenue increases of 27.2 percent, 25.7 percent and 7.8 percent respectively between 2012 and 2015, while managing to reduce their emissions by 18.7 percent, 8.3 percent and eight percent respectively. This supports the premise that environmental and financial performance aren't mutually exclusive.
The pharmaceutical industry is responsible for some serious environmental impacts beyond greenhouse gas emissions. For example, the wastewater from drug manufacturers in Patancheru, India has left river sediment, ground water and drinking water polluted. Researchers estimated that in a single day, 44 kilograms of ciprofloxacin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, was released — enough to treat everyone in a city of 44,000 inhabitants.
Clearly, there is a dire need for more extensive and sustained research as well as more scrutiny of the pharmaceutical industry's environmental practices and performance. Healing people is no justification for killing the planet.
Flooding disrupts farm shipments on the Mississippi River
http://www.startribune.com/flooding-disrupts-farm-shipments-on-the-mississippi-river/510114122/
OMAHA, Neb. — Normally this time of year, huge barges can be seen chugging up the Mississippi River, carrying millions of tons of grain to market and bringing agriculture-related products to farmers in the Midwest for the new growing season. But there's not much barge traffic this year.
That's because historic spring flooding that swamped and tainted farmland, also left parts of the Mississippi closed for business.
The river, which runs nearly 2,350 miles (3,782 kilometers) from Minnesota's Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico, is a main conduit of shipping everything from agriculture products and construction material to petroleum and coal. The troubles on the Mississippi also have affected shipping on the waterways that feed into it, including the Missouri River.
The interruption is hitting an agriculture industry that's already suffering from a plethora of ills, including the Trump administration's trade disputes that have helped drive down commodity prices.
"You've got a perfect storm here," said Kenneth Hartman Jr., who grows corn, soybeans and wheat just south of Waterloo, Illinois. "It looks bad for us."
Like other farmers in more than a dozen states in the Mississippi River basin, Hartman would normally be sending soybeans, corn and other grain harvested last fall down the river, where it would eventually be exported — likely to China. Meanwhile, shipments of fertilizer that normally travel up the river to communities from St. Louis to St. Paul, Minnesota, haven't made it through.
The inability to get the grain down the river has exacerbated a shortage of space for those products.
"You have elevators that aren't even taking grain right now," Hartman said. "So that's causing issues as far as selling our grain in a timely manner."
Many of the locks and dams on the Mississippi that closed due to flooding that started in March have reopened, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers doesn't expect the river to be fully unimpeded until possibly June.
Even if the locks were open, "many of these barges wouldn't be able to get here anyway," said Sam Heilig, a Corps spokeswoman at Rock Island, Illinois. "Because the water's so high, there's not enough clearance to get under some of the bridges."
For now, it's impossible to put a number on how much the interruption has cost shippers, farmers and manufacturers. But Debra Calhoun, spokeswoman for the Washington-based advocacy group Waterways Council, said there's no doubt it's having an impact.
On average, nearly 31 tons (28 metric tons) of goods and commodities are shipped on the upper Mississippi River from March through May, according to a five-year average gauged by the Corps' Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center. The biggest slice of that, at nearly 11 million tons (10 million metric tons), is grain, followed by coal, sand and gravel and chemicals and petroleum products. Annually, about $250 million in domestic goods are shipped on the Mississippi, according to the center.
The Missouri River has remained mostly navigable right up until it meets the Mississippi River at St. Louis, said James Rudy with the Corps' Kansas City office. While that allows shipping from point-to-point, it still disrupts shipments from farmers in South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri seeking to get their grain to exporters in the Gulf of Mexico, he said.
The Missouri River has far less barge traffic than the Mississippi, but it still sees on average more than 1.3 million tons worth nearly $63 million shipped from March through May, according to the Corps.
The interruption in river traffic has a domino effect on other industries, particularly in transportation. The National Waterways Foundation estimates that one 15-barge tow on the Mississippi River can ship as much as six locomotives pulling 216 railcars, or as much as 1,050 large semitrailers. It also costs less to ship via the river, because barges can hold so much more and be moved using less fuel.
"One of our Missouri River navigators notes that his business on the Missouri alone removes somewhere from 60,000 to 80,000 tractor-trailers off of I-70 every year," Rudy said.
----------------------
Looks bleak weather wise,, more 2X monthly rainfall>>>
Minneapolis May average rainfall 3.35 inches. 4.79 so far, 3.7 more forecast for the month
https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/mn/chaska/44.80%2C-93.60?cm_ven=localwx_10day
St. Louis average May rainfall 4.11 inches. So far in May 11.03 inches, forecast 2 inches more
https://www.wunderground.com/calendar/us/mo/st.-louis/KSTL/date/2019-5?cm_ven=localwx_calendar
Dubuque, Iowa Average 4.17 inches, only 1.7 inches so far, in May, 4.38 more
https://www.wunderground.com/calendar/us/ia/dubuque/KDBQ/date/2019-5?cm_ven=localwx_calendar
A Food Crisis Is Here: Trouble For Farmers In The Corn Belt
by Tyler Durden Sat, 05/11/2019 - 14:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-09/food-crisis-here-trouble-farmers-corn-belt
Trouble is brewing for farmers in the United States located in the “corn belt.” Corn is fed to the animals much of the country consumes, so without it, we are staring a food crisis right in the face.
This is like the early 1980's. Family farms forced into BK and corporate farms(deep stete) come to the "rescue".
American Farmers Are Losing Patience And Money In Record Numbers!
by Tyler Durden Wed, 05/15/2019 - 21:10
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-15/american-farmers-are-losing-patience-and-money-record-numbers
Farmageddon Looms: Only 30% Of US Corn Fields Have Been Planted, 5 Year Average Is 66%
by Tyler Durden Thu, 05/16/2019 - 17:05
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-16/farmageddon-looms-only-30-us-corn-fields-have-been-planted-5-year-average-66
This is truly a major national crisis, and it is just getting started.
Tesla car owners suddenly discover the NIGHTMARE of trying to get repairs for a vehicle that’s out of warranty
http://futuretech.news/2018-09-05-tesla-car-owners-suddenly-discover-the-nightmare-of-trying-to-get-repairs.html
The very first Tesla fans, who pre-ordered their own Tesla Model S in 2013, are now running into big problems with the company. As the warranty expires on their vehicles, Tesla owners are suddenly discovering they can’t get aftermarket parts or repairs. Because there is a widespread lack of service centers that deal with these contentious models, Tesla owners have been forced to fix their own cars. To make matters worse, as soon as the warranty expires, the company treats its customers “like they don’t own a Tesla.”
Model S owner Greg Furstenwerth attests to this. He has been trying to fix his own Tesla ever since the warranty expired and the company stopped trying to help him. As one of the first people to own a Tesla in the state of Hawaii, Furstenwerth was a big fan at first. The company regularly kept in contact with him and responded to his needs. Tesla even provided roadside service if Furstenwerth had a flat tire. As an avid Tesla supporter, Furstenwerth took his electric-powered Tesla on a cross country journey to prove it can go the distance. He thought gas-powered vehicles were a thing of the past. Just a few years later, as cheap parts began to break off his Tesla, Furstenwerth realized that not many mechanics want to work on these vehicles. Their durability is something to be ashamed of. (Related: Tesla caught “crippling” the battery life of cars, then controlling their discharge capacity from headquarters.)
Tesla service, mechanics, and car parts hard to come by
Furstenwerth found out the hard way that only a few mechanics are able to fix the Model S. Parts are hard to come by, too, unless a scrap Model S can be salvaged. Some mechanics have to use 3-D printers to recreate parts. Once he started working on his Model S, Furstenwerth remarked that it was like a “lego car.” It’s “like putting together legos [and] taking apart legos,” he said. As the original Tesla models begin to fall apart and as warranties expire, more “Tesla fans” are going to realize that the company doesn’t care that fans got hoodwinked into buying a piece of junk. Tesla’s own service centers have long wait lines. Prices for timely fixes can reach up to $14,000 for minor repairs.
Furstenwerth, like other Tesla fans, realized there are no diagnostic tools and no repair manuals to go by. The company, promising to be of assistance, left one of their top supporters in the dark. After speaking out to CNBC, Furstenwerth was contacted by Tesla and “rewarded” for being one of the first people to pre-order the Tesla.
“Tesla used to call me. They’d tell me, ‘hey we noticed that there’s something going wrong with your car.’ …as soon as I exceeded my warranty, the interactions all went away. I was treated like I didn’t really own a Tesla,” he told CNBC.
Furstenwerth is now getting repair help that is not covered under the warranty. As time goes by, more Tesla owners are going to need the same help, as their Model S breaks down. Some of the first problems with the Tesla include: leaking tail lights, failing door handles, passenger windows that fall out of place, and faulty wiring. When Furstenwerth began fixing these problems on his own, he “considered destroying the car.” Now he tries to help other Tesla owners fix theirs.
I hope Trump is for real. But, he was a Dem, not brought out at the funeral.
I do not quite see things that way about Trump. All the things you have pointed out have been built into the system funded by the NWO advocate billionaires with seemingly endless coffers funding all the radical agendas including the destruction of all organized Christian religions.
When one analyzes the ideology that says money is the root of all evil, it really is - what money buys AND what money greedily accepted can and will continue to do.
Pro-life, my continuing thoughts are that Trump is here to end up making conservatives look bad, maybe even with his knowledge.. And a market crash right before mid terms might be part of that plan. It is amazing how in his first year and 7 months, we now have censorship of right wing people in social media and internet searches. You know what famous person for about 85 years ago did along those lines in censorship? Second we now have a Gestapo like group going around and trying to intimidate conservatives, Antifa. WOW, mostly in 2 years. This is getting to be scary stuff. Third attacking the USA from a football field by kneeling, and Tiger Woods came out in favor of Nike using Colin in their advertising? Sad that the current MegaTrend seems to be is destroying the USA.
Catalyst for a US Dollar Collapse & Gold Blastoff in play?
by kimblecharting - Thu, 09/06/2018 - 11:03
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-09-06/catalyst-us-dollar-collapse-gold-blastoff-play
Venture capital investing in food accelerating
https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/12060-venture-capital-investing-in-food-accelerating
KANSAS CITY — Emerging food and beverage brands continue to capture the interest of investors. Since 2013, food and beverage start-ups have raised $9.5 billion across 2,100 deals globally, said Zoe Leavitt, senior intelligence analyst at CB Insights, a data analytics firm.
“We’ve seen a real explosion in new venture capital firms focused specifically on the food space as well as more traditional tech and venture capital investors making some of their first investments into food,” Ms. Leavitt said. “As of last year, the sheer number of unique investors participating in the food and beverage space had more than doubled since 2013. There is definitely a lot of excitement there.”
Several factors are attracting new investors to the packaged food sector, Ms. Leavitt said. Consumer demand for healthy, sustainable and personalized options has helped spark a surge in venture capital firms, incubators and accelerators focused on food and beverage.
“There has been a ton of capital that has come into this space, and it’s really fueled by the continued increased disruption that’s happening from the shift in consumers’ eating and drinking habits,” said Clayton Christopher, co-founder and partner of CAVU Venture Partners, an investment fund focused on consumer brands. “Consumers aren’t eating and drinking and consuming the same brands that our parents used to. Most of the brands in our pantries and refrigerators weren’t around 15 years ago… There has been a ton of disruption in the trend toward better-for-you, more transparency and higher quality.”
Nestle recently invested in Freshly, a subscription-based meal delivery start-up.
CAVU Venture Partners was founded in 2015 by three food and beverage industry veterans with an “operators first, investors second” mindset. Mr. Christopher previously was co-founder and chief executive officer of Sweet Leaf Tea Co., which Nestle Waters North America acquired in 2011, following an initial investment in the brand in 2009. Another CAVU partner and co-founder, Rohan Oza, previously was a marketing executive at The Coca-Cola Co. and Glaceau.
“We founded CAVU with the belief that the best and the brightest entrepreneurs could get access to cash … what they need is expertise and know-how, folks to help guide them along the path to the top of the mountain and ideally be able to climb more quickly and efficiently,” Mr. Christopher said. “We really focus on the relationship more than the transaction, and that’s not the typical Wall Street way.”
Within three years, CAVU’s portfolio has expanded to 18 brands, including Health-Ade Kombucha, Chef’s Cut Real Jerky, High Brew Coffee and Hippeas, a line of organic chickpea puffed snacks. Bai Brands, an early investment for CAVU, was sold to Dr Pepper Snapple Group for $1.7 billion in 2016.
“We’re not going to make an investment unless we feel like there’s significant value we can add, which is why the scope of our investments has been very narrow, within food and beverage,” Mr. Christopher said. “We certainly looked at other areas — consumer electronics, restaurants and apparel — but we’ve been very focused on this area where we feel we can move the needle the most.”
Moving the needle
With the industry’s largest and more mature companies seeking new paths to growth, many have established venture funds or incubators in pursuit of innovation.
“Major food companies are facing challenges,” Ms. Leavitt said. “They’re looking to start-ups that can offer them these new, healthier, more personalized products that they can also sell online, use direct-to-consumer subscription distribution, helping these big food companies start to prepare for a more online world … and to not be so reliant on the traditional grocery, brick-and-mortar retail channels.”
She cited Nestle’s recent investments in Freshly, a subscription-based meal delivery start-up, and Blue Bottle Coffee, a specialty coffee roaster and retailer, as an exploration of alternative distribution models.
“I think that’s going to be a growing area of focus, especially since grocery stores are expanding their own private label products this year; there’s a lot of talk about that, so food companies are increasingly wanting to avoid the grocery store,” she said.
FoodLogiQTyson Foods’ recent investment in tech start-up FoodLogiQ demonstrates the poultry processor’s interest in partnering with the companies behind breakthrough products, technologies and business models. FoodLogiQ provides traceability, food safety and supply chain transparency solutions on a single platform developed for the food industry.
Tyson Ventures, the Chicago-based venture capital fund of Tyson Foods, focuses on two strategic pillars: sustainability and what the company refers to as “the Internet of Food.” Earlier investments include Beyond Meat, the maker of plant-based burgers and sausages; Memphis Meats, a producer of cultured meat products using animal cells; and Tovala, a technology-enabled meal delivery company. In May, Tyson Ventures co-led a seed investment in Future Meat Technologies, a Jerusalem-based biotechnology company advancing a distributive manufacturing platform for the cost-efficient, non-G.M.O. production of meat directly from animal cells, without the need to raise or harvest animals.
“A trend I find particularly interesting is looking at some of these meat companies, like Tyson Foods and Cargill, that are making what I see as very long-term bets on plant protein and lab-grown meat,” Ms. Leavitt said. “They’re starting to hedge their bets, looking even 10 years out. Lab-grown meat obviously is not something that is commercially viable today. When we do see these very traditional major corporations making long-term bets, I think that’s a very positive signal for the food start-up ecosystem. It’s a signal that major corporations are taking the start-up world seriously and are going through these major shifts to focus more on long-term innovation.”
Plant-based protein is the proposition of many of the most well-funded food and beverage start-ups, she added, pointing to Soylent and Ripple Foods as additional examples. Impossible Foods, creator of the plant-based Impossible Burger, has raised approximately $396 million since its founding in 2011, with $214 million of that in the past 18 months, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“In terms of other trends, coffee is definitely hot right now,” Ms. Leavitt said. “We’re seeing a lot of coffee, cold brew start-ups. Nestle and JAB Holding are continuing to snap up coffee companies. As the two of them duke it out, I’m guessing we’ll continue to see more investment in the coffee space.
“Healthy beverages overall is another trend. Over the past few years, there’s been trends in cold-pressed juices, coconut water, and now kombucha. These beverages replace soda and promise more long-term health benefits.”
Looking at the long term
Despite rising interest rates and trade uncertainty, Ms. Leavitt said she expects continued strong interest from investors in early-stage food and beverage businesses.
“I would predict major food companies are going to continue to invest in and acquire start-ups to head off the rising threat in these smaller companies stealing market share,” she said.
The macroeconomic environment “isn’t really having an effect right now on the massive shift that’s happening in the way consumers are consuming products,” Mr. Christopher noted.
“That’s here to stay, and we see it continue to accelerate, and I think that trend will continue,” he said. “As long as that’s happening, and as long as these large strategic publicly traded companies are desperate for growth, and I think that’s going to continue to happen, there’s going to be an appetite…
“We see a great road ahead for at least the foreseeable future on being able to make great investments within C.P.G. and helping grow these brands to a place where there’s going to be plenty of appetite from strategics that would love to bring these products into their portfolios.”
Mr. Christopher said his firm has helped portfolio companies operate more effectively and scale up in several ways, from building leadership teams to expanding retail distribution to overhauling packaging design.
“Nobody’s got a crystal ball, but first and foremost what we look for is incredibly passionate entrepreneurs,” he said. “And then, best-in-class products and great brands, or at least brands we feel like could become lifestyle brands. We’re not investing in just a product but a brand that can become a platform for something much, much greater…
“Your company is going to be worth a lot more if it becomes more of a lifestyle brand with a full platform of products. Strategics find that valuable.”
He added, “We typically aren’t going into these deals trying to engineer a particular financial outcome. We are usually making our investments with a long-term view. We oftentimes see a lot more opportunity within these businesses than even the entrepreneurs are able to see. When we look at what a valuation is compared to some other firms that may be looking at the same business, we are able to look at it a bit differently because we’re able to oftentimes see more opportunity, just given our intimate experience in growing these types of businesses than other firms are able to do.
“Given that we’re investors, I like to say we don’t cross our fingers and hope for a great outcome. We roll up our sleeves and help design a great outcome, or at least do everything we can to help those companies continue to grow.”
Self-sustaining 'future food city' likely to be off coast of Singapore
31-May-2018 By Lester Wan
Not mega yet, lol
Snippet:
A self-sustaining ‘future food city’, featuring a mixed crop cultivation of vegetables, seaweed and fish, could be established off the coast of Singapore.
https://www.foodnavigator-asia.com/Article/2018/05/31/Self-sustaining-future-food-city-likely-to-be-off-coast-of-Singapore
15 Signs That America's Middle Class Is Being Systematically Destroyed
by Tyler Durden - Fri, 06/08/2018 - 18:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-06-08/15-signs-americas-middle-class-being-systematically-destroyed
Pro-Life could you please email me at wowhappens28@gmail.com Note, no underscoure _ in my email compared to my iHub
Catastrophic Bird Decline Due To Pesticides But In An Unexpected Way
https://www.naturalblaze.com/2018/03/catastrophic-bird-decline-pesticides.html
It seems the trail of destruction left behind by the use of heavy pesticides is never ending. Besides the well-known negative effects of pesticides such as glyphosate on human health and the use of certain chemicals on the bee population, there is now damning evidence that they are taking a major toll on the bird population.
Two studies were conducted in France – one study conducted on the national level and another focused on a large agricultural region – whose results have demonstrated a decline in dozens of bird species, some of them as much as 2/3 decline over the last decade and a half.
Benoit Fontaine, conservation biologist at France’s National Museum of Natural History and co-author of one of the studies that “The situation is catastrophic.”
“Our countryside is in the process of becoming a veritable desert,” he said in National Centre for Scientific Research communique, which also contributed to the research.
Among the species that are exhibiting decline are the common white throat, Eurasian skylark, ortolan bunting, and other birds that were once extremely common.
One bird – the meadow pit – a migratory song bird has declined in population by nearly 70%.
The museum described the bird decline as “a level approaching an ecological catastrophe.”
The researchers are speculating that the reason for the die off is the intense use of pesticide on intensely farmed monoculture crops, particularly corn and wheat. But the problem isn’t that the birds themselves are being poisoned but that there are no more insects left for them to eat.
“There are hardly any insects left, that’s the number one problem,” said Vincent Bretagnolle, a CNRS ecologist at the Centre for Biological Studies in Chize.
He notes that recent research has discovered that, across Europe, flying insects have declined by 80% and bird populations have dropped by more than 400 million over a period of 30 years.
The government has announced its intentions to cut pesticide use in half by 2020 but the sales of pesticides in France are still climbing.
“What is really alarming, is that all the birds in an agricultural setting are declining at the same speed, even ’generalist’ birds,” which also thrive in other settings such as wooded areas, said Bretagnolle.
“That shows that the overall quality of the agricultural eco-system is deteriorating.”
Stats coming from the national survey which uses a network of volunteer ornithologists shows that the die offs have gotten worse and accelerated in 2016 and 2017.
But the lack of edible insects is not the only reason for the bird die-offs according to some of these scientists. There is also the issue of shrinking woodlands, the expansion of mono agriculture, and the gradual decline of allowing fields to repair themselves.
“If the situation is not yet irreversible, all the actors in the agriculture sector must work together to change their practices,” Fontaine said.
In other words, if France and the rest of the world want to change things, they had better start taking measures now if it isn’t already too late.
Signs Of The Peak: 10 Charts Reveal An Auto Bubble On The Brink
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-05/signs-peak-10-charts-reveal-auto-bubble-brink
30% of U.S. Homes Use Organic Food, New Report Shows
http://www.organicauthority.com/organic-food-reaches-30-percent-of-households-new-report-shows/
Household usage of organic food in the United States has reached 30 percent, according to a new report from Packaged Facts. The report also shows that the share of grocery shoppers specifically seeking out organic or natural foods grew by five percent over the past seven years, now also reaching nearly 30 percent.
The report points to evidence that many American consumers find natural and organic food “healthier, tastier, or more nutritious” than the alternative, thus motivating the ever-increasing transition. A recent report from the University of Kent confirms these findings, noting that most people who buy organic food are motivated to do so for reasons relating to taste and health benefits, as opposed to ethics or environmental implications, for example.
The report found that organic produce has the highest penetration into American households, with 34 percent for fruit and 31 percent for vegetables. This is not surprising, given past research on organic shopping habits. Nate Lewis, Farm Policy Director at the Organic Trade Association, says that, “The biggest piece of the organic pie is produce, and always has been,” and Matt Seeley, chief executive officer of the Organic Produce Network, noted at an Excellence in Organic Merchandising seminar last fall that organic fresh produce was “a gateway” into other organic food sales.
The report also shows that organic eggs have reached 30 percent penetration into American households, while organic milk has reached 15 percent penetration. Choosing organic when it comes to products derived from animal agriculture is of ever-increasing importance to shoppers, due to their sensitivity to food safety concerns such as the use of growth hormones and antibiotics in livestock, the report found.
The report, entitled “The Organic and Clean Label Food Consumer in the U.S.,” was compiled using data from Packaged Facts National Consumer Surveys and Simmons Profile Reports.
Other data has postulated even higher penetration of organic food into American households: one report released last April by the Organic Trade Association found that 82 percent of American homes stock organic food.
Organic food currently represents a $43 billion industry in the United States and $77.4 billion worldwide. A report released last year by Grand View Research estimated that the global organic food and beverage market was poised to reach $320.5 billion by 2025.
Plans Unveiled for World's Largest, Most Powerful Offshore Wind Turbine
https://www.ecowatch.com/offshore-wind-turbine-ge-2541368284.html
GE Renewable Energy has unveiled plans to develop the world's largest and most powerful offshore wind turbine.
Each 12-megawatt Haliade-X stands 853 feet tall, or roughly five times the height of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and features 350-foot blades, or the length of a Major League Soccer field.
One turbine can generate 67 gigawatt-hours annually, or enough clean energy for up to 16,000 households. A 750-megawatt wind farm configuration could power 1 million households. GE says the Haliade-X will produce 45 percent more energy than any other offshore wind turbine available today.
"We want to lead in the technologies that are driving the global energy transition," General Electric CEO John Flannery said.
Companies are making bigger and bigger offshore turbines that can capture more wind and produce more power. This is appealing for wind farm developers because fewer turbines can simplify operations and lower maintenance costs.
Greentech Media pointed out that GE is "playing catchup" with its competitors. Its current 6-megawatt offshore turbines, which are installed at the Block Island Wind Farm off Rhode Island, lags behind the ones made by MHI Vestas and Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy.
GE estimates the new turbine will achieve a 63 percent capacity factor, which is five to seven points more than the industry benchmark, noting that each percentage point in capacity factor is worth around $7 million.
More than $400 million will be invested over the next three to five years to develop the Haliade-X. The company aims to supply its first nacelle, or power generating unit, for demonstration in 2019 and ship the first units in 2021.
"The renewables industry took more than 20 years to install the first 17 GW of offshore wind. Today, the industry forecasts that it will install more than 90 GW over the next 12 years," said Jérôme Pécresse, president and CEO of GE Renewable Energy. "This is being driven by lower cost of electricity from scale and technology. The Haliade-X shows GE's commitment to the offshore wind segment and will set a new benchmark for cost of electricity, thus driving more offshore growth."
That is right on, deficits are now just fine, sad. Much of the country lives that way too. The stock market crashes, bit coin crashes, debt goes up.
I remember spending a weekend in Waterloo Iowa in the early 80's. There was a big farm crisis then. John Deer had closed a big plant there, the biggest employer in town. I saw a real estate magazine in a restaurant. I saw a house built in the 60's with an ask of like $69,000. Right next to it was the same basic house going for $39,000. The smaller priced one must have a smaller or no mortgage. Imagine a country wide crisis like that in the USA.
I am one who believes we will need a currency reset, worldwide and I suspect blockchain and some form of bit coin will be a new world currency. If so, they are not ready yet. We will need a lot of pain to accept that.
The US currency is just about the worse per capita. I feel we will fall first oe second to Europe. That is why I like food. If our dollar crashes relative to the rest of the world, food exports are cheap for others to buy, forcing our prices to go up. Add in some droughts, etc.food could more than double in the next 2/3 years.
Europe has massive debt, but look at China, India, Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, Argentina, Mexico, Japan------ I just named well over 1/2 of the world's population with very little debt compared to the USA.
Let me add, I suspect it will be a relatively short crisis, a year or two. The big money that controls our governments owns businesses. They don't want to destroy their businesses. They control people through them.
Sorry for the rant, but that is my philosophy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_external_debt
Jim Rickards Warns "This Is Completely Unprecedented"
by Tyler Durden Fri, 03/02/2018 - 18:30
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-02/jim-rickards-warns-completely-unprecedented
In 2002, President Bush Imposed 30% Steel Tariffs; This Is What Happened Next
by Tyler Durden Fri, 03/02/2018 - 08:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-02/2002-president-bush-imposed-30-steel-tariffs-what-happened-next
But it was the market's response that broke the camel's back: what followed immediately after the tariffs were announced was a 30% plunge in the S&P 500, a slump in the dollar and a rally in bonds that slashed 10Y yields in half.
I have not been this excited about food in a long time, great article. JJG is a pure grains play, but I'm heavy on RJA,
I will post at Food, I only got one post on it here so far at iHub,
I really feel this could be the start of a meg trend.
Embarrassing Ag Problem
by Tyler Durden Thu, 03/01/2018 - 19:00
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-01/emarrassing-ag-problem
Infrastructure Emergency: 50,000 American Bridges Are "Structurally Deficient"
by Tyler Durden Thu, 02/08/2018 - 21:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-02-01/infrastructure-emergency-50000-american-bridges-are-structurally-deficient
The Nutrition Wars and Downfall of Big Food
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2017/12/13/war-on-nutrition-food-industry.aspx?utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20171213Z1_UCM&et_cid=DM171271&et_rid=150644684
Story at-a-glance
People are becoming increasingly cognizant of the connection between food and health, and are seeking out healthier fare. They’re also paying closer attention to labeling, favoring companies that provide clear disclosures
The Grocery Manufacturers Association, which was found guilty of money laundering and has fought hard against GMO labeling across the U.S., has lost some of its most prominent members, including Nestlé and Campbell’s
Food industry rifts have also become evident in the field of nutrition, with dietitians who support organics saying they’re being publicly shamed and harassed by their more industry-friendly peers
Online incivility has gotten so bad among dietitians, the American Dietetic Association published social media guidance for its members and is urging dietitians to sign a pledge of professional civility
To increase consumption of fruits and vegetables, Partnership for a Healthier America has launched a fruits and vegetable campaign (branded as FNV) to improve public perception and acceptance of real food
US plant-based food market up 8.1% in year to August 12, 2017, Nielsen data
13-Sep-2017 By Elaine Watson
US retail sales of plant-based foods and beverages rose 8.1% to $3.1bn in the 52 weeks to August 12, according to Nielsen data compiled for the Plant Based Foods Association and The Good Food Institute.
HTTPS://WWW.FOODNAVIGATOR-USA.COM/ARTICLE/2017/09/13/US-PLANT-BASED-FOOD-MARKET-UP-8.1-IN-YEAR-TO-AUGUST-12
$RJA - Why These 8 States Could Soon Form the 'Great American Desert'
https://www.ecowatch.com/ogallala-aquifer-depletion-2511600266.html
One of the world's largest underground bodies of fresh water—the Ogallala aquifer—is quickly shrinking, threatening the livelihoods of farmers in eight U.S. states.
Farmers in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Wyoming and South Dakota are overexploiting the aquifer beneath an American breadbasket, threatening an estimated $35 billion in annual crops. Agricultural wells are pulling out water faster than rainfall can recharge it—federal data shows the aquifer shrank twice as fast in the past six years as compared to the previous 60.
"Now I never know, from one minute to the next, when I turn on a faucet or hydrant, whether there will be water or not. The aquifer is being depleted," Lois Scott, 75, who lives west of Cope, Colorado, told the Denver Post.
In some parts of eastern Colorado the depth at which groundwater can be tapped has dropped by as much 100 feet, according to U.S. Geological Survey data. The USGS has released data on the Ogallala aquifer since 1988. In Colorado alone, farmers pumped water out of 4,000 wells, sucking out as much as 500 gallons per minute to irrigate roughly 580,000 acres. Since 1950 the amount of water used to irrigate farm fields across the eight states equals roughly 70 percent of Lake Erie.
Even if farmers drastically reduce pumping, the aquifer wouldn't refill for centuries, according to the latest research. But the eight states that sit on the Ogallala have no agreement among themselves to try to save the aquifer.
"This will truly become the Great American Desert," Scott said.
The fallout from the aquifer is visible above ground as well. Streams are drying up at a rate of six miles per year.
"We have almost completely changed the species of fish that can survive in those streams, compared with what was there historically. This is really a catastrophic change," Keith Gido, one of the authors of a report on the aquifer, told the Denver Post.
Overpumping has dried up 358 miles of surface rivers and streams within a 200-square-mile area across eastern Colorado, western Kansas and Nebraska. Another 177 miles of rivers and stream are on pace to disappear before the year 2060, according to researchers.
"We're not living in as sustainable a fashion as we need to be. Much of the damage has been done," Gido said.
"It is happening all over the world in places such as Pakistan. It causes conflicts. As human populations grow, the demand for water is going to be greater. Conflicts are going to increase—unless we become more efficient in using the water we have."
Investing in Megatrends: Maximizing the Profits Puzzle
Studies have found that half of a stock's movement is a function of what its sector is doing. So if one is right about the major sector trends, one may take positions in the best stocks and let them ride and trade only for very good reasons - "be right and sit tight" as the saying goes.. And therein lies the art of megatrend investing. One needs not only to recognize the trends, but also recognize when they are running out of steam. Long lasting trends that are at or near the top or bottom tend to last for years... translation: spot these trends at their apex and profit for many years after taking a position. |
Metals Exploration & Mining & All Related ServicesThere is no secret around here: I have a very high respect for silver fundamentals and have been actively involved in trading silver futures & equities since 2003. |
Energy In All Forms & Supporting ServicesEnergy - everyone needs some form of it whether needed for transportation, lighting, heating, cooling, etcetera. In my view, the greener the better. However, with the current infrastructure already in place to support the petroleum industry, getting to all green energy will be a supreme challenge to overcome. |
Food & Agriculture With All Supporting ServicesEveryone needs to eat. Period. |
Water & All Supporting ServicesEveryone needs to drink water. Period. Jim Rogers on the Dangers of Price Inflation, the Promise of Commodities and America's Continued Decline |
Special Situations & Opportunities
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And what about options on some of these MEGA opportunities??? |
Where Should You Fit In???
We Report, You Decide |
PHYSICAL SILVER... the most no brainer investment ever:
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Under Constant Scrutiny & Continuous Reconstruction...
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