Issues discussed:
A vast amount of ‘excess’ money continues to slosh around in the U.S. economy.
Behind the facade of a strong economy, the money-printing has created, a collapse has already begun.
Only a miracle can save the U.S. economy from a crash-landing in the near-future.
I want to start with a notion on the Middle East. Escalation there is progressing in ‘baby steps’, likely due to the strong incentives (forces) pushing for de-escalation I outlined two weeks ago. Yet, despite of such incentives, Israel continues its atrocities, e.g. against children, in the Gaza strip on a scale that can really be described just with one word: genocide.
I visited Jerusalem for two weeks in 2008 with my ex-wife and two friends from which one was an former U.N. intelligence officer from that area. It was a great experience with the Holy City, naturally, bursting with history (we did, e.g., look for the grave of Jesus). Interestingly, it was the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) holding the different fractions apart.
I, for example, learned that Jewish extremists had conducted petrol bomb attacks at the Dome of Rock, which stands above the Western Wall. This is why the IDF was very carefully screening everyone entering the grounds of the mosque. Standing at the checkpoint leading to the mosque was probably the first time I was in a scope of a sniper (IDF), at least that I know of. Our visit also coincided with the memorial day of the Intifada, and there were several attacks by Islamist extremists in and around Jerusalem. We actually came very close of experiencing one first-hand. Two Israeli policemen were shot and killed in the northern entrance to the old city just some 10 minutes after we had passed it. There were also cars burned by Islamist extremists near the Hebrew University, where me and my friend were attending the Summer School in Economic Growth. And, on the night of the Sabbath, we were verbally and very aggressively attacked by radical Jews, when walking in the old town.
Our visit to Jerusalem made it perfectly clear to me that the conflict was fueled by extremists, on both sides, but that a vast majority of Jews and Palestinians just wanted to live in peace. There I also understood that taking sides in the conflict was counterproductive, because it only fueled the bloodshed, planned and executed by small minority groups on each side.
It should be an all-human trait that we to try to stop mass-killings of people, everywhere, regardless of their religious or cultural backgrounds. This is what we all should demand now, that is, ceasefire and peace to Middle East.
That said, let’s continue the deep dive into the U.S. economy.
Is the ‘pivot’ already here?
The near-collapse of the U.S. banking system at the end of March had an interesting effect on the money in circulation in the U.S., shown by the growth rate of M2 money stock.1
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