Tag: economy

Perception Vs. Reality

If you only get your news from the mainstream media, you would be tempted to believe that global conditions are relatively stable right now. 

Yes, there is a war between Russia and Ukraine, but the mainstream media is assuring us that Ukraine is winning that war. 

Other than that, the mainstream media seems to think that everything is just fine.

Of course the truth is that our planet is facing a whole host of extremely challenging problems at the moment.  The UN has warned that we are entering the worst global food crisis since World War II, inflation has started to spiral out of control all over the world, the war in Ukraine is making our supply chain nightmares even worse and an absolutely horrifying bird flu plague is killing millions upon millions of chickens and turkeys.

But if you flip on one of the corporate news channels tonight, they will be focusing on other things.

And you probably won’t even hear them talk about the food riots that have suddenly begun erupting around the world at all.

For example, a “curfew” has just been imposed on the capital of Peru after a series of extremely passionate protests that were sparked by rapidly rising fuel and food prices…

Peruvian President Pedro Castillo announced a curfew for Tuesday in the capital Lima and neighboring port city Callao, after demonstrations across the country over fuel prices caused roadblocks and “acts of violence”.

Protests had erupted across Peru in recent days due to a hike in fuel prices and tolls, during a time of rising food prices.

Is this the first time that you have heard about this?

For many of you it will be, and that is because the mainstream media in the U.S. is largely ignoring this.

In Sri Lanka, severe shortages of “food, medicine and fuel” have caused a full-blown economic collapse and tremendous chaos in the streets…

In Sri Lanka, where an economic crisis is growing, more than 40 lawmakers walked out of the ruling coalition today. That leaves the government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the minority in Parliament. There have been new calls today for both the president and prime minister to step down after the entire Cabinet resigned on Sunday. Shortages of food, medicine and fuel have sparked countrywide protests, and security forces have fired tear gas and water cannons at protesters marching on the president’s home.

Most of you have probably not heard about that either, and that is because our largest news outlets are being really quiet about it.

But USA Today wants to make sure that you know about a new promotion that McDonald’s is running: “McDonald’s brings back Spicy Chicken McNuggets to select restaurants for a limited time”.

More than ever before, our perception of the world around us is shaped by the corporate elite.  Americans get more than 90 percent of the “television news” that they consume from just five giant media corporations, and so that gives those corporations an incredible amount of influence over how our society views reality.

For example, far more Americans are talking about “the slap” at the Academy Awards than about the fact that North Korea just threatened South Korea with nuclear war…

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Biden’s “booming economy” is just another front in the media’s war on reality

Did you know the economy was booming? This may come as a shock to anyone out there who a) is alive or
b) has to buy things, but it’s definitely true.

MSNBC and the New York Times said so.

Mehdi Hasan did a segment on his show.

NBC report “President Biden’s approval rating has fallen to lowest level of his presidency despite booming economy”, and Hasan just doesn’t understand why people would be “unhappy with the way Biden is handling the economy” when wages are growing and they’ve added a “record 6.4 million job” in 2021.

Now, OK, that reported 4.5% wage growth is lagging way behind inflation, meaning in real terms people are being paid less.

Yes, alright, the “new jobs” were really just (some) of the people who lost their jobs during lockdown being rehired.

And fine, the reason spending is increasing could be that everything costs more.

But seriously, we’re fine, it’s booming.

Now, some booming economy deniers, Russian bots or anti-vaxxers will doubtless point to all the “evidence” that the US economy is not booming.

They’ll probably point out that inflation is at a 40 year high, and likely to keep on rising.

That the current price of gas is the highest ever in US history.

That the US is expected to enter a recession by the end of the year.

That house prices are increasing so fast that experts are predicting a “housing bubble”.

That “homeless camps” and “tent cities” with populations in the thousands are popping up in dozens of cities.

That the “crippling sanctions” placed on Russia seem to have “accidentally backfired” and hurt the US economy badly.

And, most of all, that moves are afoot which could see major oil trades being done in Yuan, not dollars. A change that could potentially cause the death of the petrodollar, the end of the USD as the global reserve currency, and send the US economy into a death spiral somewhere between Black Monday and Weimar Germany.

Clearly, this is all just conspiracy theories and nonsense. The economy really is booming. Oh, and in more good news the chocolate ration has increased from 30 grams a week to 20.

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Democrats push for $300 a month stimulus checks to help Americans struggling to pay for sky-high gas prices as a gallon soars past $6 in LA and 73% of voters say they back tax breaks

With the price of gas rising across the U.S., lawmakers are developing a string of proposals to help motorists – from $400 rebates for all taxpayers in California to imposing windfall taxes on oil companies or a sliding scale of payments that could net families as much as $300 every month.

The average cost of a gallon has raced past $4 a gallon amid domestic inflation and the impact of Vladimir Putin‘s war in Ukraine.

This week, the average price of a gallon of regular gas in Los Angeles hit a record $6.011, even as the national average continued to decline slightly from the all-time high earlier this month, according to the AAA Gas Price Index. 

An opinion poll published Wednesday found that almost three quarters of voters were in favor of a holiday from federal energy taxes to ease the burden.

And lawmakers across the country are pushing legislation to bring down prices at the pumps.

A new bill proposed by three Democrats – Reps. Mike Thompson of California, John Larson of Connecticut and Lauren Underwood of Illinois – could be worth $300 each month to some families if the price of a gallon stays above $4.

‘Americans are feeling the impact at the pump of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and right now we must work together on commonsense policy solutions to ease the financial burden that my constituents are feeling,’ Thompson said in a news release. 

‘The Putin Price Hike is putting strain on our economy, and I am proud to be working with Reps. Larson and Underwood to introduce this legislation to provide middle-class Americans with monthly payments to ease the financial burden of this global crises.’ 

Their plan follows the model of COVID economic impact payments – offering $100 for single filers earning less than $75,000, plus $100 for each dependent. 

It is just one of a series of proposals unveiled recently.

In California, Democratic lawmakers want a $400 rebate for taxpayers – costing about $9 billion drawn from the state’s budget surplus and equivalent to the average gas tax paid by residents over a year. 

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BACKLASH As Media Says Let Pets Die And Don’t Eat Meat, While Globalist Energy Agency Calls For Climate Lockdowns

Bloomberg News elicited a massive backlash over the weekend for offering ‘tips’ to Americans who might struggle with the rising cost of living which included letting their pets die and eating lentils instead of meat.

The piece, titled “Inflation Stings Most If You Earn Less Than $300K. Here’s How to Deal,” was penned by Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economics at the New School for Social Research, a private university in New York.

Ghilarducci proved she is completely out of touch with the reality of life for everyday Americans, writing “I expect those most affected will adjust to inflation in the classic way by shifting away from relatively expensive items toward close substitutes.”

She continued, “Here are some ideas on how to reconfigure consumption and lessen the blow. But again, adjustment is hard for people without savings or choices.”

The professor then outlined how people should take public transportation instead of driving, eat meat subsitutes like lentils and vegetables, avoid buying items in bulk, and avoid medical expenses for pets.

Right, so let pets die? In short yes.

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