Category: Economy
The End Of The U.S. Empire
The DC regime lost in Afghanistan and is losing in Ukraine and they’re powerless to respond to Russia’s invasion with anything but sanctions.
Europe, US Preparing To Impose Sanctions On Russia
Now that Putin has officially recognized the separatists regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent, sovereign states, warning that from this moment onward, Ukraine must halt all military actions against Donbas, or whatever happens next will be on them and the West, it was only a matter of time before Europe (and the West) retaliated with progressively escalating sanctions.
Sure enough, the ink wasn’t quite dry yet on Putin’s signature, when the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Josep Borrell Fontelles tweeted that “the recognition of the two separatist territories in Ukraine is a blatant violation of international law, the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the Minsk agreements” adding that “The EU and its partners will react with unity, firmness and with determination in solidarity with Ukraine.”
Oil Prices Will Be Above $100 For A “Prolonged Period”
As Bloomberg’s Jake Lloyd-Smith wrote last night, oil markets are so bullish at present that forecasts for $100/bbl crude have become par for the course, which suggests that the threshold will be tested in 1H, “even if tensions over Ukraine cool,” which now appears improbably and is why $100 oil may come as soon as tomorrow.
As the BBG reporter notes, “the three-digit-barrel forecast surfaced at least a year ago and used to turn heads given it was bold, and prices were way, way lower back then. It’s founded principally on the case that energy consumption returning to normal as the pandemic ebbs will underpin gains”.
Goldman Sachs added its voice to the chorus not so long ago, when its chief commodity strategist and one of the closest-followed analysts on Wall Street, said he’s never seen commodity markets pricing in the shortages they are right now.
“I’ve been doing this 30 years and I’ve never seen markets like this,” Currie told Bloomberg TV in an interview last week. “This is a molecule crisis. We’re out of everything, I don’t care if it’s oil, gas, coal, copper, aluminum, you name it we’re out of it.”
Last week, JPMorgan echoed Goldman’s lament, when the bank’s global head of oil trading Jake Pashelinsky sent the following note around the bank’s trading desks (full note available to professional subs):
I can’t stress enough how tight near term fundamentals are, we are running out of molecules and don’t have enough storage to bridge the gap to potentially looser 2h22 balances.
We have Cushing modelled at going into refinery maintenance season near tank bottoms and getting almost no resupply
this market will do anything to avoid running dry and the only real option in the near term is to price to demand destruction which is north of here.
Then, as Lloyd-Smith notes, the latest riff on the theme comes from Russell Hardy, CEO of Vitol Group, the boss of the world’s largest independent oil trader, who’d already flagged the possibility back in November. This is what Bloomberg reported overnight:
Oil prices could be set for a “prolonged period” above $100 a barrel over the next six to nine months, with the world setting fresh demand records this year, said Vitol Group Chief Executive Officer Russell Hardy.
Crude already surged to within a few dollars of that level earlier this month, as the recovery in fuel use from the pandemic started to run into supply constraints. In an interview in London with Bloomberg television, the boss of the world’s largest independent oil trader said the market will get tighter, with daily consumption set to rise well above pre-Covid levels by the end of 2022.
“The 100 million-barrel number is probably going to be exceeded this year,” Hardy said. “Demand is going to surge in the second half” if travel continues to return to normal.
Glen Beck Warning- The FED is propping up the Stock Market
Dem States Are Worried They Can’t Pay Out Retirement Benefits
Three high-profile Democratic governors are struggling to stabilize their states’ retirement programs due to a falling stock market and may have difficulties paying out benefits in the coming years, according to Politico.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, all of whom are considered potential candidates for the 2024 presidential race, have poured billions of dollars into their states’ pension funds, according to Politico. They may struggle to maintain their public images if they’re forced to raise taxes or make budget cuts to keep pension payments flowing.
URUGUAY to Join BRICS | Brazil the Catalyst?
2nd Biggest Bank Failure In U.S. History: On The Verge Of A Much Bigger Collapse Than 2008
Russians bought record number of gold bars in 2022, data shows Reuters | February 3, 2023 | 4:54 am Intelligence Europe Russia and Central Asia Gold
Russians bought an all-time record number of gold bars in 2022, finance ministry data showed on Friday, as tax cuts on precious metals encouraged people to stock up on bullion as a safe asset.
Moscow scrapped its 20% VAT on physical gold trades for individuals last March in a bid to draw people away from using the US dollar as a safe haven.
According to the data, Russians bought over 50 tonnes of gold bars in 2022, ten times more than the year before. The most sought after were 1 kilogram bars which accounted for about 60% of those sold.
The figures are not yet final and only cover the period ending November 2022, the finance ministry told Reuters.
State-controlled VTB Bank said it sold 33.8 tonnes of gold bars to customers in 2022, with clients holding 50 billion roubles ($711 million) worth of the metal.
CLAIM: Tractor Supply chicken feed allegedly laced with ingredients causing chickens to stop laying eggs; company board members tied to WEF, Jeffrey Epstein
(Natural News) CLAIM: The popular Tractor Supply chain of farm stores has reportedly reformulated its “Producer’s Pride” chicken feed, causing hens that eat it to no longer produce eggs.
Multiple online sources, many of them hen farmers, say that ever since Tractor Supply changed the Producer’s Pride formulation, their birds have gone desolate. This could be because of a reduction in the amount of protein contained in the feed, or it could be caused by other factors such as aflatoxin contamination.
Note: Mike Adams has committed to acquiring and testing Tractor Supply chicken feed products in his food science lab and sharing the results publicly, whatever they show. Tests to be conducted will include aflatoxins, heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, zinc, copper, strontium, etc.), glyphosate and a full slate of microbiology including e.coli, salmonella, yeast and mold.
It is wintertime, which means birds are exposed to less sunlight and thus naturally produce fewer eggs. However, farmers say the drop-off in egg production is so dramatic this year that many hens are producing no eggs at all, as opposed to just a reduction in eggs.
All of this is happening at a time when inflation is off the charts and eggs are in short supply supposedly due to “avian flu”. (Related: There probably isn’t a real avian flu crisis like the media and the Biden regime are claiming, though, since the U.S. government is using fraudulent PCR tests to diagnose hens before slaughtering them.)
Persecution Live 