Friday, 14 April 2023 — Albert Park

By Brian Chu Editor, The Daily Reckoning Australia

[7 min read]

Dear Reader,

We’ve had more than just a taste of globalist schemes in recent times. Here are a few…

Non-elected bureaucrats using governments to impose mandates on people during the Wuhan virus outbreak.

Propaganda dressed up as news that employs circular citation of their own sources (if you look at most of your news outlets, their main source invariably goes back to The Associated Press).

Globalists using catchy buzz words and phrases such as ‘sustainability’, ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’, and ‘national security’ to draw taxpayer funding to solve problems that end up dividing communities and fail to deliver benefits (I’ll come back to this one later in the article).

Oh, and, of course, the dreaded Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs).

Every day it seems like they’re getting more of a foothold in our society. After all, they seem set to phase out fossil fuels in the next decade, lay down blueprints of their ‘green energy’ infrastructure plans, and are even changing the words we’re allowed to say to ensure we don’t cause any offence.

To the many that cherish liberty, it seems like there’s no way out from the encroaching tyranny. 

For a while, I felt somewhat discouraged about the fate the world was facing.

But what made me change my perspective?

It’s watching this new agenda run into the brick wall of the public refusing to consent.

It comes in many forms. And it’s satisfying to watch.

I’ve been enjoying this show, watching it from a position of relative safety by being debt-free and reducing my dependency on their system.

If you’re in a similar position to me, sit back and enjoy this article. If you’re feeling anxious about what’s happening around us, I hope this article provides some much-needed encouragement.

Globalist agenda — insufferable, in-your-face but quietly fizzles away

As much as you’re conditioned to believe that the top echelons of society, from all walks of life have your best interest in mind, and that the public is fully on board with their grandiose plans, I’m here to slash that illusion.

How can you tell? Look at how hard these people are pushing their ideas onto you.

Think about those ‘safe and effective’ vaccines they were making everyone take in the past two years or so.

It was plastered on billboards everywhere; it was in the back of the bathroom door in a public cubicle. You heard it on the news and in commercials.

Well, where are they now? The take-up rate after the second dose in Australia plummeted. They quietly phased out reporting the statistics late last year.

Oh, and did you know they’ve quietly withdrawn the AstraZeneca vaccine from Australia (check out this announcement from the Department of Health and Aged Care website)?

I thought not…

And I reckon this is the pattern in which every aspect of their agenda will follow.

The harsh reality of cost and efficiency hammers the green energy agenda

Moving along, let’s look at how well the push to reduce the impact of climate change has fared in recent times.

Remember how electric vehicles (EVs) are the way of the future? There’s a push by international governments around the world to phase out fossil fuel-powered vehicles by 2035.

There are a good number of EV owners that are experiencing buyer’s remorse after living the reality of trying to recharge a car in a brutal winter in cities going through brownouts. And not to mention that insurance companies are likely to charge higher premiums — or even refuse to cover — for these vehicles, as they may need to be written off in even a minor accident if the battery pack is damaged.

DEI in a hurry to D-I-E

Aside from climate change, there’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). The initial vision of this agenda sounded noble.

I mean, who doesn’t want society to support diversity in people, ideas, and culture?

However, it seems like this was a nice package wrapped around a seriously flawed and insidious movement aimed at inverting society and causing irreparable discord.

Several multinational companies have been pushing some rather wild marketing campaigns to promote this, except, recently, it’s moved to what is bordering on distastefulness and sheer absurdity.

Take women’s sports. Not only are their records being broken by men in many events, their place as a role model and brand ambassador is threatened.

You may’ve heard of how a biological male turned female, Dylan Mulvaney, has recently become the brand ambassador for Bud Light beer and Nike sports shoes. And, not surprisingly, the public backlash has been harsh and it could cost these companies billions of dollars’ worth of shareholder value due to plummeting sales and boycotts.

This is somehow meant to be progress for society, right? Move over women, let a man dressed and donned up like you do a better job!

I can top it off with something even funnier. In China, there’s recently been a move to replace female lingerie models with males because, this way, it won’t interfere with the social mores over there!

Take a look for yourself here.

Anyway, it looks like we’re finally reaching the end of this absurdity…

Central banks could put an end to the globalist agenda

The ties between globalists and central banks are very close. Just look at how they’re frequent attendees of various global summits.

However…

I’m not sure if they’re aware of it, but central banks have implemented monetary policy decisions in the past year that are sure to destroy the globalist agenda.

Why is that?

Because higher interest rates mean less room for pet projects and destructive spending. It’s back to basics when there’s greater competition to access capital. This also means government officials, corporate boards, institutional heads, and individual households need to ration their capital and seek to maximise returns.

When capital is scarce and your competitors are pulling their finger out to deliver real value, those institutions that continue to monkey around with silly agendas will face the heat.

If you don’t deliver, there’s the door!

Many in Silicon Valley have realised this in the past year. The era of easy money gave way to knuckling down and earning your keep. Management became ruthless in cutting their staff. No cries of discrimination could save them…they were excess baggage that deserved to be let go.

And I believe as the belt tightens globally, these globalists will realise they tightened their own noose.

It’s a big drop below for them…take a deep breath!

God bless,

Brian Chu,
Editor, The Daily Reckoning Australia

By Bill Bonner Editor, The Daily Reckoning Australia

Dear Reader,

‘Something seems to have broken with capitalism.’

Albert Edwards

‘Something seems to have broken with Albert Edwards.’

Bill Bonner

You can tell when we’re in an economic crisis. The influencers begin to tell us how ‘capitalism’ has failed…yes, the ‘system’ that made us so wealthy has now reached the end of the line…no more juice in that lemon, they say.  Now, it’s time for the experts to take over. Here’s Futurism: ‘Economist Warns That Capitalism May Be Ending’:

‘The world is changing, and it's getting more expensive — while wages, as most working people have witnessed in their own lives, have failed to keep up with the rising cost of pretty much everything. According to Albert Edwards, a global strategist at the 159-year-old bank Société Générale, this phenomenon is the result of what he calls “greedflation.”

‘“The latest release of US whole economy profits data delivered another shock to my weakening confidence that the capitalist system is working as it should,” the note continues. “Companies have used first the pandemic and then the war in Ukraine to ‘profiteer.’”

‘In other words, in Edwards’ eyes, the fact that Fortune 500 companies are raking in normal — if not record-breaking — profits in the wake of pandemic and war-induced geopolitical and economic stress, while price-gouging consumers as working-class wages stay the same, isn’t exactly a sustainable way for people to live…’ 

No! Unbelievable! Those greedy SOBs: they raise prices…when they can get away with it!

Lower salaries everyday

Well, thank God other segments of the population are more public spirited…more self-sacrificing…and more civic minded. You don’t see them trying to take advantage of a bad situation, do you?

Take the long-suffering consumer, for example. He realises that producers are always trapped between resource costs, labour, taxes, and interest rates. So, the consumer always wants to pay full price so that producers’ profit margins can be maintained, right? No discount shopping for him.

And what about laborers? Employees? You don’t see them asking for wage increases…just because they know there’s a shortage of skilled labour. Un un. They happily stick with their low salaries so employers can keep prices as low as possible for consumers.

But what’s this? Rutgers already charges out-of-state students US$33,963 per year. From Fortune: ‘Around 9,000 Rutgers employees are going on strike for the first time in 275 years’:     

‘Classes were still being held at Rutgers as picket lines were set up at the school’s campuses in New Brunswick/Piscataway, Newark and Camden. Union officials had decided Sunday night to go on strike, citing a stalemate in contract talks that have been ongoing since July. Faculty members had voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing a strike last month.’

Guess tuition is going up.

Good for the goose

But if you’re looking for examples of civic virtue, you can’t ignore the public servants who never ask for anything save a little ‘thank you’, from time to time. Would they consider increases to their wages or the pensions…knowing that governments are already a little short of cash? Of course not.

Greed is uniquely concentrated in the corporate sector. And if businesses weren’t so greedy, prices would be much lower, right?

We have that on the authority of at least two of the peoples’ most selfless representatives: Bernie Sanders (net worth, US$3 million) and Elizabeth Warren (net worth US$67 million). Also, Jon Stewart (net worth, US$120 million) should be mentioned for his star performance in grilling ex-Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. All of them believe their own salaries and profits are merely reflections of their worth…they deserve the money. Amounts earned by corporate management and stockholders, on the other hand, are just evidence of ‘obscene greed’.

What troubles us is this:

Stewart, Sanders, and Warren are paid to act like fools, Albert Edwards is not. He’s a serious financial analyst. What’s gone wrong with him?

He must know that ‘capitalism’ is no ‘system’. It’s merely what happens when greedy people — consumers, workers and owners — work out whatever arrangements they can. It is infinitely adaptable. Workers and owners could agree to split whatever gains they get, for example, as we do with our sharecroppers. We provide the land, the tractors, the fuel, the fertiliser and the marketing…they provide the labour. We share the gains equally. Is that capitalism? Yes, of course it is.

Or a capitalist enterprise could perfectly well agree to pass part of its margins to shoppers — as some co-ops and consumer clubs do. That’s capitalism too. So, too, could a group of people get together and agree to live in tepees, to share wives and incomes, to make glass beads and sell them to tourists. That’s capitalism.  

Blind capitalism

Capitalism doesn’t care how much things cost. It doesn’t care who works for whom…what they do…how they do it…or how they share the profits and losses. It only cares that, whatever they do, they do so voluntarily. That is really the only difference. Capitalism is win-win. Other ‘systems’ are win-lose, where one group uses its police power…or robbery…or treachery…to get what it wants.

And what about ‘employee-owned’ businesses? They’re capitalist too. And we presume that since employees are not greedy, they must offer the best products at the lowest possible margins. No price gouging from them! So, it’s just a matter of time until they have competed away exorbitant corporate profits…charmed customers with their lower prices…and become the dominant form of business in the US, right?

Wrong. All small, family businesses are ‘employee owned’. Many large businesses are employee-owned too. And they’re just as greedy as everyone else. Because we’re all subject to the same emotions and compulsions — greed, power, ambition, fame, vanity — workers, investors, managers, politicians, opinion mongers…everyone.  

And ‘capitalism’ is just a word used to describe what happens when people — with all the faults and foibles — are left alone to get the job done. They work out all sorts of different arrangements. Some work better than others. But the alternatives — statism, central planning, various forms of State-sponsored collectivism — all require the use of force. They give the ‘experts’ more power and money.  

But ‘The People’ are always poorer. On Monday we’ll look at what really went wrong with ‘capitalism’.

Regards,

Bill Bonner,
For The Daily Reckoning Australia