Berkshire's Cash Pile Hits A Record $382 Billion Amid Continued Stock Sales As T-Bill Purchases Soar

With just two months left until Warren Buffett, 95, departs as CEO of the iconic conglomerate he made into one of the world's largest investment companies over the past 60 years, earlier today Berkshire reported in its latest 10Q filings that its cash pile soared to a new all time high of $381.7 billion in the third quarter, an increase of $37.6 billion for the quarter, which translate to $420 million per day, and $17 million per hour.

At the same time operating earnings jumped 34% to $13.5 billion from $10.1 billion, as the firm’s insurance underwriting profit more than tripled in the third quarter boosted by lower insurance losses, offsetting declines in the Insurance-investment income and Berkshire's Energy company.

The $13.49 billion quarterly operating profit, or $9,376 per Class A share, grew from $10.09 billion a year earlier. Currency fluctuations accounted for more than two-fifths of the increase.

While results benefited in part from an absence of major catastrophes such as hurricanes, Berkshire auto insurer Geico’s pretax underwriting profit fell 13% amid higher claims and a 40% increase in underwriting costs, which the firm said is due to “increased policy acquisition-related expenses" i.e., advertising, to acquire new policies in a period of soaring insurance costs. Additionally, insurance will likely face headwinds as falling interest rates reduce income from Berkshire's cash holdings, which also occurred in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, Berkshire’s utilities business, which runs PacifiCorp, MidAmerican and NV Energy, posted a 9% decline in operating earnings, to $1.5 billion over the period, and reflected legal bills from wildfires, and higher costs from natural gas pipelines and Northern Powergrid in Britain. Berkshire is still evaluating how U.S. President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed in July might affect the viability of its renewable energy projects.

One especially sore point was Pilot, which posted a $17 million loss in the third quarter. Berkshire said the decline is driven by lower wholesale fuel and retail margins, as well as higher expenses. “The Pilot business is not really doing very well,” Shanahan said. “I’m interested to see what the plan might be to turn that around.”

On the positive side, the BNSF railroad boosted operating earnings rose 6% to $1.4 billion, on lower fuel costs and "improved employee productivity" while revenue from the transportation of agricultural and energy products grew, driven in part by slightly higher grain exports.

Berkshire's $30.8 billion of net income, or $21,413 per Class A share, rose from $26.25 billion a year earlier. Net results include gains and losses on stocks Berkshire is not selling. This adds volatility, and Buffett believes such results are useless in understanding his company.

Also of note: revenue for Berkshire, which is seen by many as a mini model of the broader US economy due to its extensive diversification, grew just 2%, slower than the overall U.S. economy's growth rate. 

Economic uncertainty and waning consumer confidence have been drags, Berkshire said, stalling sales growth at the Clayton Homes homebuilder and reducing revenue from Duracell batteries, Fruit of the Loom apparel and Squishmallows toymaker Jazwares.

"Berkshire, which is often considered a microcosm of the U.S. economy, isn't even keeping up," said Cathy Seifert, a CFRA Research analyst with a "hold" rating on Berkshire. "Investors will struggle to find a catalyst for this stock."

Turning to the company's investment activities, for the 12th straight quarter, Berkshire sold more stocks than it bought for its $283.2 billion equity portfolio...

... whose largest holdings are Apple, American Express and Bank of America.

In fact, at $13.7BN in sales in Q3, this was the most aggressive purging of risk since the same quarter in 2024. 

“There isn’t much opportunity in Buffett’s eyes right now,” said Jim Shanahan, an analyst for Edward Jones.

For Berkshire's bulls this may be vexing, since earlier this year, Buffett appeared to be back on the hunt for deals, with the acquisition of a $1.6 billion stake in UnitedHealth Group and a $9.7 billion deal to buy OxyChem last month. But the famed billionaire remained on the sidelines in the third quarter. Berkshire Hathaway offloaded $6.1 billion of shares during the period. 

Also notable: after a burst of stock buybacks in the aftermath of the covid crash, Berkshire has not repurchased any of its own stock since Q2 2024...

.... which may explain why Berkshire's stock price has significantly lagged the broader market, and is now trading where it was last August 

“I think that sends a very powerful message to shareholders,” said Cathy Seifert, an analyst at CFRA Research. “If they’re not buying back their shares, why should you?”

And since Berkshire isn't buying either others shares, or its own, it had to park all this record cash somewhere; and once again it did so by buying a record $183 billion (net) in treasuries in the quarter, bringing total purchases during the past 12 months to a record $540 billion. 

Berkshire's massive holdings of T-Bills is also why the firm’s net investment income declined 13% to $3.2 billion amid lower short-term interest rates.

As previously reported, Buffett, 95, is set to end his six-decade tenure as chief executive at the end of the year. Vice Chairman Greg Abel, 63, will succeed the legendary investor, though Buffett will remain chairman. Abel is known as a more hands-on manager than Buffett.

It is unclear what he will do with Berkshire's record cash, with options including paying the $1.03 trillion conglomerate's first dividend since 1967. Berkshire is planning to use $9.7 billion of cash to buy Occidental Petroleum's chemicals business, a transaction announced on October 2. James Shanahan, an Edward Jones analyst who upgraded his Berkshire rating to "buy" in September, said the company's resistance to spending more cash during this year's market rally has been disappointing.

"If you feel like stocks are expensive, including your own shares, you're eventually going to be right, but you can be wrong for a long time, and that's what happened here," he said.

And indeed, it's not just Berkshire that has not been buying back its own stock: investors have voted their apprehension about Berkshire's outlook and pending management change by selling its stock. Since Buffett announced on May 3 he would step down, Berkshire's stock price has fallen 12%, and trailed the S&P by 32%. For all of 2025, Berkshire is 11% points behind the index.

"Impatient investors feel an urgent need for Berkshire to deploy its cash, and have been casting their nets elsewhere," said Tom Russo, a partner at Gardner Russo & Quinn in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which invests $10 billion.

Russo has owned Berkshire stock since 1982 and said Berkshire remains "extremely well-positioned" for the long term. "Berkshire isn't going to deploy capital that won't increase intrinsic value on a per share basis," he said. "Knowing that guides Berkshire means investors won't have to second-guess it."

The conglomerate owns close to 200 businesses that also include chemical and industrial companies, and familiar consumer brands such as Dairy Queen and See's Candies. As noted yesterday, many US businesses which rely on the strength of the consumer has been hammered in recent weeks because while the AI trade continue to soar, the US consumer has hit a brick wall and even Goldman Sachs is warning that the deterioration in K-Shaped economy is starting to spread from the lower income class to America's otherwise unstoppable middle class. 

Berkshire has not made a huge acquisition since paying $32.1 billion for aerospace parts maker Precision Castparts in 2016, a deal which ended up being a disaster. 

"Abel has a tremendous opportunity," Shanahan said. "He has a lot of available cash and by all accounts he is an excellent operator, so he may want to deploy capital in Berkshire's operating businesses to improve their performance."

Still, despite the earnings gains and massive cash pile, the firm’s tepid revenue growth in the period is not going to help investor sentiment, according to CFRA's Seifert.

“I’m struggling to find a catalyst” for an increase in the stock price, she said.

*  *  * CLICK HERE!

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/01/2025 - 15:41

Controversial Democratic Lawyer Argues Republican Majorities Are Evidence Of Racism Under The Voting Rights Act

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

There is another bizarre filing from Mark Elias, the controversial Democratic lawyer who helped to secretly fund the infamous Steele Dossier. In a new filing, Elias is challenging the district in New York City with the lone Republican member as violating the state voting rights act. Elias is effectively arguing that voting Republican is evidence of racism.

In the petition, voters bring a New York Voting Rights Act challenge, arguing that the Eleventh District “provides Black and Latino Staten Islanders “less opportunity than other members of the electorate to elect a representative of their choice and influence elections in New York’s 11th Congressional District (“CD-11”), in violation of the prohibition against racial vote dilution in Article III, Section 4(c)(1) of the New York Constitution.”

The filing occurs after New York moved to further gerrymander the state, aiming to eliminate more Republican members of Congress. Across the country, Democrats have pushed for such gerrymandering, but in New York, the efforts are particularly extreme.

Trump received 45 percent of the vote. Republicans are confined to a small handful of districts. It is still too much for Elias.

Elias has not only been sanctioned in past litigation, but past courts have also criticized his group. In Maryland,  Elias filed in support of an abusive gerrymandering of the election districts that a court found violated not only Maryland law but the state constitution’s equal protection, free speech, and free elections clauses. The court found that the map pushed by Elias “subverts the will of those governed.”

It was Elias who made the key funding available to Fusion GPS, which in turn enlisted Steele to produce his now discredited dossier on Trump and his campaign.

During the campaign, reporters did ask about the possible connection to the campaign, but Clinton campaign officials denied any involvement. Weeks after the election, journalists discovered that the Clinton campaign hid payments for the Steele dossier as “legal fees” among the $5.6 million paid to Perkins Coie.

New York Times reporter Ken Vogel said at the time that Elias denied involvement in the anti-Trump dossier. When Vogel tried to report the story, he said, Elias “pushed back vigorously, saying ‘You (or your sources) are wrong.’” Times reporter Maggie Haberman declared, “Folks involved in funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year.”

*  *  *

*  *  * CLICK HERE

It was not just reporters who inquired about the Clinton campaign’s role in the Steele dossier. John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, was questioned by Congress and categorically denied any contractual agreement with Fusion GPS. Sitting beside him was Elias, who reportedly said nothing to correct the misleading information given to Congress.

Back to the latest Elias filing. There is a pending case before the Supreme Court in Louisiana v. Callais that could curtail or end the use of race to set voting districts to favor black voters under the federal Voting Rights Act.

However, this is a novel claim that, even a gerrymandering state striving to reduce Republican members, a district is racist because it favors the election of a Republican  Thus, as Professor Josh Blackman noted “in a district where Democratic voters cannot elect a Democrat, they can bring a VRA claim, even in an overwhelmingly democratic state where there is not even a scintilla of evidence of racial discrimination.” However, the opposite is not true. In a red state with overwhelming Republican majorities, a district that effectively bars the election of a Republican could not be grounds for a VRA claim.

The filing proclaims that the heavily Democratic gerrymandered state shows that “New York has become a national leader in protecting voting rights.” It emphasizes that the state goes further than the federal VRA:

“the NY VRA does not require the plaintiff to show that a district could have been drawn that would have a majority of residents of a single protected class. A plaintiff need only show that the current district map is responsible for the protected class’s lack of electoral influence based on the existence of racially polarized voting or the totality of the circumstances.”

The filing makes clear that Black and Latino voters support democrats and thus a Republican member favoring the GOP dilutes their votes:

“Black and Latino voters on Staten Island are politically cohesive and consistently and overwhelmingly support the same candidates, which the rest of the electorate consistently opposes. At the same time, the white majority on Staten Island overwhelmingly supports the same candidates and votes as a bloc to usually defeat Black and Latino voters’ candidates of choice.”

In other words (with translation):

“Black and Latino voters on Staten Island are politically cohesive and consistently and overwhelmingly support [Democrats], which the rest of the [District] opposes. At the same time, the white majority on Staten Island overwhelmingly supports [Republicans] and votes as a bloc to usually defeat Black and Latino voters’ [Democratic] candidates of choice.”

So, even in a state that has artificially reduced Republican members and is claimed as a model of districting to enhance minority voters, any district that favors Republicans is still evidence of racist discrimination in voting. Presumably, the only way to truly guarantee the protection of minority voters in New York City is the effective elimination of any Republican member.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/01/2025 - 15:10

Luxury Watch Market SITREP For October 

Via Watches Of Espionage,

It's Halloween, which means it's time for a special spooky edition of the W.O.E. SITREP, or Situation Report, our monthly compilation of news and events related to watches, intelligence, national security, and the military, all paired with our riveting commentary. 

From a high-profile heist targeting literal crown jewels in Paris to Vice President JD Vance returning to his Apple Watch-wearing ways to a French politician accused of hiding his luxury watch, to a major slowdown in Swiss watch exports to the US, it's been a big few weeks for the broader Watches of Espionage community. 

As ever, all of that is in addition to a satisfying smattering of watch crime, including the heartwarming story of a would-be luxury watch thief targeting exactly the wrong guy. So please, lean back, check the buckles on your five-point harness, and let's dive into the SITREP. 

$102M in Jewels Stolen From the Louvre in Brazen Heist - Are the Pink Panthers Back?

On Sunday, 19 October, a team of highly choreographed thieves disguised as construction workers carried out one of history's most daring robberies at one of the world's most high-profile locations, the Musée du Louvre in Paris. Arriving shortly after the famous museum's opening, four thieves entered the Louvre with a vehicle-mounted lift, wielding power tools that they would use to open display cases containing jewels with direct connections to French royalty, including Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. 

Even more important culturally than for their considerable material value, which has been estimated at 88 million Euros (approximately 102 million freedom dollars), the stolen jewels accompanied the thieves on a pair of awaiting scooters, making good their escape. While I am not as dedicated a student (fan) of criminal activity as W.O.E., the heist bears all the hallmarks of the Pink Panthers, a Balkan-based criminal organization responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen jewels and luxury watches in the early 2000s. 

It's too soon to say whether this is an actual Panthers heist, as the group appears largely disbanded, or Panthers-inspired, but we will be eagerly monitoring any developments going forward. 

Swiss Watch Exports to the US Plummet by 56%

Over the past few months, we've done our best to follow the rapidly evolving global tariff situation, particularly as it relates to Switzerland, the birthplace of so many of the great watches at the center of our Use Your Tools ethos. The current tariff for Swiss watches entering the United States stands at 39%. Established back in August, the weighty figure has cast a long shadow over export statistics. In September, Swiss watch exports to the US dropped by over 55.6% to 157.7M Swiss francs (approximately $198.5M), according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. Even more surprisingly, the United States is no longer the number one market for Swiss watches, with the UK taking over the top spot for the first time in a long time.

If you appreciate Swiss watches and don't want the inevitable price hike brands will likely be forced to implement, this is not great news. As we've speculated before, the 39% figure is likely intended to apply pressure to the Swiss government for bargaining purposes, which appears to be working. However, how this will shake down is anyone's guess. I think everyone on both sides of the aisle can agree we don't want a $10,000 Rolex to suddenly become a $14,000 Rolex, which seems to be where we're headed. Only time will tell. 

JD Vance is Wearing His Apple Watch Again 

In a move eliciting deep sighs among intelligence professionals everywhere, Vice President JD Vance was once again spotted wearing an Apple Watch while en route to the 250th anniversary US Marine Corps celebration at Camp Pendleton in California. After W.O.E. penned an open letter to the VP earlier this year, warning him of the CI risks of the Apple Watch and other connected devices, we had hoped Vance got the message. However, nine months later, I guess we have to take this ride one more time. 

As VP, Vance is a priority intelligence target for bad actors around the world. His Apple Watch constantly transmits data, GPS, audio, heart rate, location, and movement, all potential entry points for foreign intelligence services. Even with Apple's security, any connected device can be hacked, period. For these reasons, CIA and NSA both warn against wearing connected devices during sensitive discussions for a reason. A smartwatch isn't just a gadget to track your Zumba class; it's a live sensor platform on your body.

For Vance, the fix is simple: go analog. A mechanical watch doesn't upload your heartbeat to the cloud or broadcast your location to adversaries. When the time is right, we have plenty of ideas for watches that honor the VP's personal history without placing his personal information and even his safety in jeopardy. 

Bill Clinton & Dubya Wear Watches While Celebrating the Navy's 250th 

Along with the US Marine Corps, the US Navy also celebrated its 250th anniversary with a series of ceremonies and international military exercises. Former presidents Bill Clinton (42) and George W. Bush (43) also got in on the action, penning letters in front of the press honoring the Navy's history. If there's one thing we love about a letter-writing photo op, it is that watches are often front and center, with Clinton wearing his Panerai Radiomir Black Seal PAM00292 for the occasion. An established watch nerd, Clinton has worn watches from Panerai, Cartier, JLC, Audemars Piguet, and other brands. 

Bush, who is historically loyal to his modest white dial Timex Indiglo with an American flag at 12 o'clock, has broken our hearts by wearing an Apple Watch. Sure, he's not the priority intelligence target he would have been while in office, but it still hurts to see an important political figure give up the analog life in favor of monitoring their heart rate or knowing how many theoretical flights of stairs they have climbed. That detour aside, the history of watches and US Presidents is deep, bipartisan, and intriguing. Read our article on the subject HERE. 

Former Cyber Security Exec Accused of Selling Secrets to Russia & Buying Watches with the Proceeds 

In a developing story that we intend to cover with a dedicated Dispatch, a tech executive at a defense contractor has been accused of selling trade secrets to a buyer in Russia to the tune of $1.3 million. The accused, Peter Williams, is the former general manager at Trenchant, a division of a company called L3Harris that develops hacking and surveillance tools, typically for Western government organizations. Between 2022 and 2025, Williams is accused of stealing and selling eight trade secrets to an unnamed Russian party. 

This appears to be espionage, but where it falls under the purview of W.O.E. is in DOJ documents that call for the forfeiture of Williams' home and assets, allegedly purchased with his misbegotten funds. Among the goods ordered forfeited were twenty-two watches, including several replica Rolex models, as well as an authentic Grand Seiko, a couple of Tag Heuers, and several Apple Watches. It's a wild story. Stay tuned for more. 

French Politician Accused Of Hiding Luxury Wristwatch

Diving deep into international politics, Louis Boyard, a prominent member of France's far-left Unbowed party, was accused of removing his watch before a television interview. After being filmed in the act, many online had words for Boyard, including Argentina's radical right-wing President Javier Milei. Boyard is famously critical of the ultra-rich, which led Argentina's president and the rest of the internet Illuminati to accuse the French politician of hypocrisy, assuming the watch he was hiding was a Rolex, Patek Philippe, or something else ostentatious.

All was not as it seemed, however, and Boyard quickly clapped back with a video where he reveals the watch in question was, in fact, a modest Tissot, stating, "Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't have a Rolex, I have this watch, which costs €295. My friends bought it for my 25th birthday, thanks, guys!" While the narrative here didn't play out as intended for Boyard's critics, the situation emphasizes the power of watches as tools of communication in political scenarios. Boyard could be shining us on, but whether it was in fact a $10,000 Rolex or an affordable Tissot PR 100, we can agree that his watch is doing a lot more than simply telling the time. 

Man Robbed of Rolex, Jewelry, & Cash While Pumping Gas

Delving into watch crime, a man in Memphis, TN, was robbed of his $7,000 Rolex, $17,000 in jewelry, and $4,000 in cash while pumping gas at a Circle K. Details are sparse, but the victim told investigators he was getting gas when a man approached from behind, brandished a firearm, and demanded he "empty his pockets" before absconding in a black sedan with tinted windows. Surveillance cameras captured the perpetrator, but no arrests have been made. Given the value of the stolen goods, we can't help but wonder whether this was a targeted crime, but the incident still serves as a reminder to be aware of your surroundings at all times, and maybe, just maybe, don't carry $28k worth of stuff on your person. 

We have discussed the most common modalities for luxury watch theft in a separate article, and this is another reminder that even your local gas station may be unsafe. If you're flexing your AP at an upscale bar in Mayfair or going out in Miami looking for paid evening company with a GMT-Master II on your wrist, you've made yourself a target, but apparently, you will also need your head on a swivel just to wear your Richard Mille to gas up the ride. What is the world coming to? 

Would-be Rolex Thief Targets the Wrong Guy

In a heartwarming case of mistaken identity, an armed man jumped out of a car in West Hollywood, California, hell bent on stealing a Rolex he spotted on the wrist of a pedestrian. Proof that the Uno Reverse Card is a real thing, the intended target turned out to be a former professional fighter who proved reluctant to surrender his timepiece, instead peeling back the lid on a can of whoopass that, despite his assailant's loaded gun, ended with the freshly-pummeled thief pinned to the ground awaiting the arrival of law enforcement. According to eyewitnesses, the man's girlfriend, with whom he had been walking, also got a few licks in. And they say no news is good news. 

Final Thoughts 

As October winds down, the kids go trick-or-treating, and we collectively transition into soup mode, this month's SITREP proves that the broader world of Watches of Espionage remains as unpredictable and entertaining as ever. From jewel thieves channeling Ocean's Eleven in Paris to politicians fumbling their horological optics to a former professional fighter serving a would-be thief his comeuppance and VP Vance once again tempting the SIGINT gods, there's never a dull moment when timepieces intersect with power, crime, and culture. 

Remember, whether you're wearing a $300 Tissot or a $30,000 Rolex, your watch says something about you, sometimes more than you intend. We'll see you next month. 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider signing up for our weekly free newsletter for further updates HERE.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/01/2025 - 14:00

These Are The States Where Most Americans Need Housing Assistance

Housing costs keep climbing faster than wages in many parts of the U.S., putting extra pressure on low-income renters.

This visualization, via Visual Capitalist's Pallavi Rao, maps all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico by how many low-income renters receive federal housing assistance relative to their population.

Data is sourced from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Policy Development and Research (HUD).

HUD’s 2024 estimates count more than 9 million Americans (27 per 1,000) currently receiving vouchers, public-housing units, or other subsidies.

Households typically pay 30% of their adjusted income (i.e. after taxes) as rent, and the government covers the rest.

Ranked: Americans Needing Rental Assistance, by State

D.C. stands out with 72 assisted renters per 1,000 residents.

That’s more than double the U.S. average of 27 and reflects both DC’s high housing costs, its population growth since 2000, and the limited growth in housing in the same time period.

Rank State Code # of People on
Housing Assistance
(2024) State Population # of People on
Housing Assistance
per 1,000 Residents 1 District of Columbia DC 50,389 702,250 72 2 Puerto Rico PR 196,165 3,203,295 61 3 Rhode Island RI 58,640 1,112,308 53 4 New York NY 1,000,730 19,867,248 50 5 Massachusetts MA 346,968 7,136,171 49 6 Connecticut CT 148,989 3,675,069 41 7 Mississippi MS 115,391 2,943,045 39 8 Louisiana LA 178,836 4,597,740 39 9 Alabama AL 175,759 5,157,699 34 10 Ohio OH 392,408 11,883,304 33 11 Vermont VT 21,313 648,493 33 12 Kentucky KY 150,525 4,588,372 33 13 Hawaii HI 47,342 1,446,146 33 14 Illinois IL 392,302 12,710,158 31 15 New Jersey NJ 289,801 9,500,851 31 16 Maryland MD 187,764 6,263,220 30 17 West Virginia WV 52,826 1,769,979 30 18 Maine ME 41,698 1,405,012 30 19 Minnesota MN 165,434 5,793,151 29 20 Pennsylvania PA 366,433 13,078,751 28 21 Arkansas AR 82,678 3,088,354 27 22 Tennessee TN 193,490 7,227,750 27 23 North Dakota ND 19,271 796,568 24 24 New Hampshire NH 33,811 1,409,032 24 25 Michigan MI 242,304 10,140,459 24 26 Missouri MO 147,635 6,245,466 24 27 California CA 918,612 39,431,263 23 28 Georgia GA 259,256 11,180,878 23 29 Oklahoma OK 92,093 4,095,393 22 30 South Carolina SC 122,225 5,478,831 22 31 Nebraska NE 44,628 2,005,465 22 32 Virginia VA 194,664 8,811,195 22 33 Oregon OR 93,896 4,272,371 22 34 Delaware DE 22,865 1,051,917 22 35 South Dakota SD 19,928 924,669 22 36 Washington WA 170,021 7,958,180 21 37 North Carolina NC 223,353 11,046,024 20 38 Indiana IN 137,552 6,924,275 20 39 Wisconsin WI 118,308 5,960,975 20 40 New Mexico NM 40,853 2,130,256 19 41 Alaska AK 14,146 740,133 19 42 Texas TX 595,361 31,290,831 19 43 Colorado CO 113,116 5,957,493 19 44 Iowa IA 60,330 3,241,488 19 45 Montana MT 20,172 1,137,233 18 46 Florida FL 405,398 23,372,215 17 47 Kansas KS 49,535 2,970,606 17 48 Nevada NV 50,441 3,267,467 15 49 Wyoming WY 8,663 587,618 15 50 Arizona AZ 85,458 7,582,384 11 51 Idaho ID 20,902 2,001,619 10 52 Utah UT 32,862 3,503,613 9 N/A U.S. USA 9,039,779 340,110,988 27

Puerto Rico places second at 61 per 1,000—a legacy of limited job opportunities and post-hurricane rebuilding needs—while Rhode Island rounds out the top three at 53.

One study found that a minimum wage worker in Rhode Island must work an 85-hour workweek to afford a standard two-bedroom apartment.

ℹ️ Related: Puerto Rico also has the highest share of residents on welfare. Rhode Island is 10th and DC is 12th.

States With the Fewest Americans on Housing Assistance

Roughly half of U.S. states cluster between 20 and 30 assisted renters per 1,000 residents.

This middle group includes Midwestern states like Minnesota (29) and Michigan (24) as well as fast-growing Sun Belt hubs such as Georgia (23).

At the lower end, Western states Idaho (10) and Utah (9) report the fewest recipients per 1,000 residents. Part of that gap reflects younger demographics and higher home-ownership rates.

ℹ️ Related: Idaho ranks 16th and Utah 18th by home ownership rates, both higher than 70%.

But the eligibility to qualify for federal rental assistance varies by county and household size. Low numbers can also signal unmet needs or where waitlists run long.

Americans On Housing Assistance by Pure Numbers

When we shift from per-capita rates to raw counts, America’s largest states unsurprisingly dominate.

New York alone supports one million low-income renters, roughly equal to the combined totals of the bottom 10 states.

California follows closely with 919,000 recipients, reflecting the state’s chronic affordability crunch. Texas (595,000) and Florida (405,000) also rank high—even though their per-capita rates sit near the national average.

Wondering how much money the HUD is paying out on average per renter? Check out Where Rent Subsidies Are Highest, by U.S. State on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.

credittrader Sat, 11/01/2025 - 13:25

Democratic Party Base Has Been "Overtaken By Angry Women"

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

As we’ve previously highlighted, Democrats have lost culture.

With that comes another massive problem for them. The kind of people they attract.

Conservative pundit Mollie Hemingway provided Democrats with a simple home truth Wednesday, that once again explains why they’re doomed.

During an appearance on Fox News, Hemingway was asked to explain why extreme left Rep. AOC has been so intent on verbally attacking former swimmer turned gender ideology critic Riley Gaines.

Hemingway noted that “the base of the Democrat party really has become angry women.”

“And women who are angry tend to be very mean to other women who are smarter or prettier or more successful or braver than they are, and that’s what we’re seeing here,” she added.

“The idea that any member of Congress would claim that anyone in the country doesn’t have a real job, which was her, you know, insult most recently against Riley Gaines, it’s just laughable,” Hemingway asserted.

“Particularly laughable when we’re dealing with a government shutdown caused by AOC and her buddies deciding that they don’t want to do any work right now,” the pundit further stressed.

“But it’s a situation where the entire party has kind of been overtaken by angry women, and that is going to cause a little bit of a political challenge for them,” she outlined.

Hemingway: The base of the Democrat Party really has become angry women and women who are angry tend to be very mean to other women who are smarter or prettier or more successful or braver than they are. pic.twitter.com/leiRvxrxuO

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 28, 2025

The Democrats are the Party of Karens.

pic.twitter.com/JgOmypgc5m

— Orpheus (@Antoine01686702) October 29, 2025

To be more specific, angry White liberal women in their 40s and 50s.

I could write volumes about my theories on why this is, but suffice it to say I believe they are mad at life choices they are too old to change and too young have self-reconciled.

So they blame Republicans.

— IT Guy (@ITGuy1959) October 29, 2025

Ya think? pic.twitter.com/IYy40HnbgX

— Katie Scarlett (@Katiescarlet2) October 29, 2025

pic.twitter.com/gT5lRHOtuj

— Arthur Dent (@ArthurDent2024) October 29, 2025

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/01/2025 - 12:50

​​​​​​​America's Power Bill Crisis Rages In Democrat-Run States

The epicenter of America's power bill inflation crisis stretches across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, where far-left state and city leaders have swallowed the globalist "climate crisis" pill, which even Bill Gates admitted last week that the climate crisis narrative was fake news.

The result of these leftist extremist "green" policies has been the systematic degradation of regional power grids in Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states, as reliable fossil-fuel generation was prematurely retired in favor of unreliable, intermittent solar and wind. These nation-destroying green policies have gutted spare grid capacity (read here) just as demand surges from data centers, onshoring, and the broader electrification push (read here), culminating in today's power bill crisis. 

A recent Goldman Sachs report by analyst Carly Davenport found that "higher power bill inflation has been the most pronounced in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and California in the past three years."

It's no secret that the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and California are governed primarily by Democratic leaders who have pushed at least a decade of climate crisis hoax narratives to justify massive "green" funding, some of which was funneled into NGOs, and to advance the progressive utopia narrative that solar and wind power would deliver clean skies and save, most importantly, planet Earth from immient climate catastrophe. Yet this fantasy was far from reality. There was never going to be a green utopia, only what millions of Americans across these states are now realizing: unaccountable Democrats have left them with a power bill crisis.

Davenport told clients:

Residential utility bill inflation has accelerated in certain regions, raising concerns about customer affordability. A few states in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic such as MD, CT, DE and DC, as well as California, have seen accumulated bill inflation of 29% in the past three years (20pp above CPI), while other states such as MI, ND, AR, SD and LA had bill growth of only 5% in the same period (Exhibit 2). Interestingly, the states with higher bill inflation during this period have deregulated or competitive power markets, and those with lower inflation are in traditional regulated markets. We provide more details on power market fundamentals and utility bills within.

Northeast/Mid-Atlantic States Hit Hardest by Power Bill Crisis 

The topic of power bills is beginning to dominate local political discussions across these states. In the New Jersey governor's race, power bill ads seen by Republicans were criticizing the Democratic Party's failed green energy policies. And the Maryland Freedom Caucus of lawmakers joined forces with other conservatives in surrounding states to combat and break the far-left's stranglehold on the region.

"Politicians and special interest groups have traded energy independence for a delusional climate cultist ideology, and every Maryland family is paying the price with skyrocketing bills and a rapidly dwindling energy supply," Maryland Delegate Brian Chisholm told local TV station Fox Baltimore.

Chisholm continued, "We stand firmly united with our colleagues in neighboring states to deliver real, adult solutions and finally put an end to the childish nonsense impacting our state."

We've told readers. 

In one year, this will be the most popular chart on this site pic.twitter.com/h93gWXMoNL

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 11, 2025

Related:

•  Power-Bill Crisis Spreads From Maryland To New Jersey, May Doom Democrats As 'Green' Implodes

• MSM Finally Understands Power Bill Crisis "Now A Major Political Issue"

What's entirely clear is that the power bill crisis began with green policies that have now backfired in an epic way, and it will continue to drive power bills higher. Ahead of the Midterms, Republicans are likely to seize on this topic as they seek to break the Democratic Party's stranglehold over the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, which have been transformed into unaffordable living, elevated violent crime, and illegal alien safe havens.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/01/2025 - 11:05

Are Democrats Trying To Start A Civil War?

Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us

Whenever you delve into the modern history of internal national conflict you’re bound to come across post-crisis accounts from people who said “We never saw it coming…” or “The violence hit us from nowhere…” Generally speaking, these were the people who weren’t paying attention and they just happened to survive by sheer luck.

I think of this dynamic a lot these days. I see a large contingent of American society (perhaps 25% of the population) which has been radicalized or brainwashed beyond all reason or repair. These people (leftists) operate deep within a protective bubble of propaganda and zealotry; they function within a hive mind that does not deviate from the demands of their gatekeepers. They cannot be reasoned with, nor can they be satiated. They lust for power and the suffering of anyone who opposes them.

One can see an immediate difference between the sides. Conservatives are so independent we in-fight constantly. We might agree on basic values (even in this we sometimes argue), but in terms of policy and action we rarely shake hands.

For the political left, any disagreement with the majority leads to immediate ostracism. The hive mind does not tolerate individual rebellion. Only the gatekeepers can change the mindset or the mission of the mob.

It is strange then that this dichotomy has resulted in conservatives, with their values of liberty and independence, seeking order. Meanwhile leftists, in their Orwellian uniformity of thought, seek chaos and the deconstruction of civilization. You would think the relationship would be reversed, but this is the way it has always been.

Looking back on the events of the Bolshevik Revolution and the long list of Marxist disruptions in Europe following WWI, it should not have been at all surprising to Europeans that domestic conflict would erupt. It should not have been surprising that people would follow their natural inclination to rally around their founding heritage rather than submit to the cultural and moral relativism of the radical left.

Fascism was popular exactly because it offered shelter from the chaos and degeneracy of communism. The war and brutality that followed was seen as a balancing of the scales. Europeans wanted to ensure that the communists would never get a chance to wreak havoc again.

To be clear, both systems of governance are authoritarian and can lead to monstrous outcomes, but communism’s love for economic sabotage, mob actions and political violence are almost always a precursor to a fascist crackdown. The public does not embrace fascism in a vacuum, they must be compelled by an existential threat.

The question is, can communist subversion be defeated without using “authoritarian” measures? Is a constitutional republic equipped to deal with this kind of threat? When someone wages war on your society internally, is there a way to fight them while remaining civic minded? Probably not.

What we are witnessing in the US and Europe today is, in every way, a Marxist/Communist insurgency. It’s difficult to determine what stage we are at in this war. We have moved well beyond the stage of propaganda and mob influence into the realm of political violence, with multiple assassination attempts and terror attacks against civilian targets.

The gatekeepers for the woke communist movement are obviously Democrat politicians and media influencers. They have been consistently and actively encouraging mass hysteria and violence. They have used media spin to protect activist groups like Antifa, pretending that such organizations don’t exist. Whenever activists cause harm or death, the media and political leaders immediately move to defend that action as if it was justified.

When asked why Democrats are continuing down the path of militancy, their response is that Donald Trump is a “dictator and a fascist.” Yet, these same people can’t seem to come up with a single legitimate example of HOW Trump is acting like a dictator.

Deportations of illegal immigrants? Most countries on Earth have basic immigration laws and enforce them much more harshly than the Trump Administration does. Cuts to federal programs and employees? The President is perfectly within his power of office to reduce waste in the federal government. How about using the National Guard in US cities? Democrat leaders in those cities have aided violent activists, helping to disrupt ICE operations while threatening the lives of agents. If they don’t want the National Guard in their cities they should stop waging war on immigration officials.

From Trump’s remodeling of the White House ballroom to the US troops countering drug smugglers, everything Trump does is blown out of proportion by Democrats into an “end of democracy” scenario. Their useful-idiot followers then take these claims as permission to create even more turmoil.

The government shutdown in particular is becoming a nexus point for this agenda. The Senate needs only five Democrat votes to reopen the government with a clean funding bill, but Democrats refuse to see reason. Meanwhile, they are blaming Republicans for the consequences of the shutdown, specifically seeking public pain as leverage over conservatives.

Trump is already being held accountable for a prolonged shutdown of EBT. The Democrats know their audience well. They know that the free-stuff army is entitled, vicious and easy to manipulate.

I warned about this outcome at the beginning of the month; Democrats are fighting hard for the shutdown to continue because it creates greater fear in their constituency. However, if Republicans fold then Democrats will use the same threat of civil unrest over and over again. The government will be under their control even though they lost the elections.

Democrat rhetoric has been even worse than usual.  DNC Chair Ken Martin recently argued on MSNBC that:

“The Democratic Party’s job right now is to win elections. That’s our focus. But we may be nearing the moment where we are truly in a dictatorship and an authoritarian regime here has completely shredded the Constitution. Then elections don’t matter, and then the resistance looks completely different. And we may be nearing that moment.”

Senator Chuck Schumer also made provocative statements calling for “resistance” against Trump:

“This is tyranny. This is what happens in dictatorships… I don’t care if you’re Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, moderate – people should be forcefully rising up against this…”

In an odd and obviously inciting discussion on MSNBC, Joy Reid and Jasmine Crockett sent out multiple signals to leftists, barely disguising their intent:

Joy Reid: “We’re in a moment where the MAGA crowd is armed to the teeth, and they’re not shy about it. So, everybody needs to pick up a weapon – whether it’s a vote, a protest sign, or whatever it takes – because this isn’t just politics anymore; it’s survival.”

Jasmine Crockett: “Absolutely, Joy. This is a war, this isn’t a battle. We’re talking about the soul of this country, about whether democracy survives or gets crushed under fascism. And yeah, we need to arm ourselves with everything we’ve got—truth, turnout, and tenacity. The other side declared war on us long ago.”

Numerous Democrats across social media are announcing, in no uncertain terms, that they want conservatives dead and Trump allies humiliated or eliminated. When they return to a government majority and get power back, they say conservatives are going to pay a terrible price for daring to oppose them.

But if we’re living under a fascist regime as they assert, then how could they possibly expect to return to government power? If elections are still an option, then leftists must not be too serious about their claims of fascism.

A perfect example is the New York mayor’s race, which is is going much like I predicted months ago.  Zohran Mamdani (a champagne socialist/communist with wealthy parents) is holding a steep lead in polling over all other candidates. As I noted when the race began, Mamdani is the natural end game of the political left – A combination of all the groups that hate western civilization, concentrated into a single man.

Democrats are doubling down.  Mamdani proudly mentioned this in a recent campaign speech, arguing that the correct path of Democrats is to blindly charge forward. In other words, they should not self reflect on their long list of failures, but dive headfirst into radical chaos.

Prominent Democrats like AOC and Bernie Sanders are openly endorsing Mamdani. Like it or not, this is the course that their party is taking, which means violent conflict is inevitable.  If Dems are being honest in their rhetoric to “get revenge” on conservatives once they return to power (there’s no reason to think they are joking), then the rules of survival dictate that leftists can never be allowed to return to power.

If Democrat leaders continue on the path of disrupting deportations of illegals and threatening immigration officials, then Americans will increasingly support National Guard intervention. The public may even support the arrest of those same politicians.

If leftists incite mass violence over the loss of SNAP benefits, the gatekeepers will have to be arrested or removed from the country. One can question the constitutionality of the reaction, but the path that led us to this is undeniable. Leftists are provoking these responses; they are making peaceful resolution impossible.

They have gone so far over the top in their behavior, I have to ask: Are they doing this on purpose to trigger a civil war, or an authoritarian response? Do they really believe they will be able to use national instability as a weapon to get what they want?

My long running theory ever since Trump ran for office in 2016 is that he represents a perfect scapegoat for a leftist/globalist induced collapse of the US. In fact, for many years I have posited that if real conservatives and patriots (not Neo-Cons) ever gained legitimate government power, the elites would simply crash the system around our ears and make it look like it was our fault.

This plan seems to be unfolding right now. Progressive gatekeepers are using far-left activists as cannon fodder to induce a crisis, or a domestic war.

Think about the Bolshevik Revolution: The gatekeepers spurred a revolution of the poor and the working class, yet Lenin and Trotsky both came from upper-middle class wealth (like Mamdani). Hell, Karl Marx came from an upper middle-class family and married into his wife’s riches. When his debts and refusal to work a steady job caught up with him, he lived off the money of rich benefactors.

The gatekeepers of the left rarely share the struggles of the downtrodden workers they purport to represent, they only use the working class and the poor as tools to gain power and destroy their ideological enemies.

This is what Democrat leaders are doing with the mentally ill rabble they have accumulated. They are aiming the naive and unhinged horde at the guts of the country and they are hoping to create enough mayhem that Trump, conservatives, nationalists, all of us get blamed for the uncompromising response that follows.

Maybe they are hoping that in the process, conservatives will haphazardly jump on the bandwagon of totalitarianism; that we will look like the villains. I think the progressives are underestimating the average American’s resolve to see order restored. Playing the victim may not help them garner much public empathy this time.

It’s hard to say what the end result will be, but I’m finding it difficult to see an outcome that doesn’t include considerable conflict and, unfortunately, bloodshed. And, to be frank, most of it is likely to befall the leftist side. For the sake of their own self preservation, I hope they realize they’re only being used to further an agenda, and their gatekeepers don’t actually care what happens to them in the end.

 

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/01/2025 - 10:30

Starbucks Can't Get Customers to Stay, Despite Costly Cafe Makeovers

Starbucks is struggling to keep customers in its cafes, even after spending heavily to make stores more inviting. New data from Placer.ai shows the share of visits lasting more than 10 minutes has dropped from over 40% in 2023 to roughly one-third today, according to Bloomberg.

CEO Brian Niccol made longer in-store visits a core piece of his turnaround plan when he took over in September 2024, promising better service, faster drinks and a return to the “warm, cozy, comfortable environment” Starbucks once championed.

Yet foot traffic has fallen for four straight quarters, while profits have slid by double digits over the last four and same-store sales have declined for six. Shares are down 6.4% this year.

“They’ve trained their customer to use this brand as a convenience channel, not as a place where you sit down and linger,” said Citi analyst Jon Tower. Still, he noted that if shops look and feel better, customers may at least come in more often: “They just want more people to come in and walk in and say, ‘wow, this feels like a great place.’”

Bloomberg writes that Starbucks has been adding seating, more electrical outlets and ceramic mugs, effectively reversing years of redesigns that prioritized speed over comfort.

The company says remodeled locations are seeing visitors stay longer and return more frequently. “Early results from uplifted coffeehouses in New York City and Southern California are already showing promise,” a spokesperson said. “Customers are staying longer, visiting more often, and sharing positive feedback.”

Renovations have also gotten cheaper, with some now costing about $150,000 instead of up to $1 million. Starbucks plans to refresh 1,000 North American stores in fiscal 2026. The chain has also sped up service — 80% of drinks are now served in under four minutes — and simplified the menu by 25%, cutting back on seasonal excesses. “We streamlined our menu to clear the way for innovation and focus on what customers love most,” the company said.

But the company is also closing older and to-go-focused locations as part of a $1 billion restructuring meant to align operations with Niccol’s more café-centric vision.

Some customers say the shops still aren’t conducive to lingering. At a Manhattan location, Dennis O’Leary noticed design updates but complained the music was too “tinny” and loud to make him stick around. Most seats were filled with customers waiting for orders rather than relaxing or working.

Analysts expect Starbucks to report flat same-store sales in North America when it announces earnings Wednesday — signaling the company’s push to make Starbucks a place to stay, not just stop, still has a long way to go.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/01/2025 - 09:55

The EU's Two-Tier Encryption Vision Is Digital Feudalism

Authored by Bill Laboon via CoinTelegraph.com,

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, recently showed a moment of humanity in a tech world that often promises too much, too fast. He urged users not to share anything with ChatGPT that they wouldn’t want a human to see. The Department of Homeland Security in the United States has already started to take notice. 

His caution strikes at a more profound truth that underpins our entire digital world. In a realm where we can no longer be certain whether we’re dealing with a person, it is clear that software is often the agent communicating, not people. This growing uncertainty is more than just a technical challenge. It strikes at the very foundation of trust that holds society together. 

This should cause us to reflect not just on AI, but on something even more fundamental, far older, quieter and more critical in the digital realm: encryption.

In a world increasingly shaped by algorithms and autonomous systems, trust is more important than ever. 

Encryption is our foundation

Encryption isn’t just a technical layer; it is the foundation of our digital lives. It protects everything from private conversations to global financial systems, authenticates identity and enables trust to scale across borders and institutions.

Crucially, it’s not something that can be recreated through regulation or substituted with policy. When trust breaks down, when institutions fail or power is misused, encryption is what remains. It’s the safety net that ensures our most private information stays protected, even in the absence of trust.

A cryptographic system isn’t like a house with doors and windows. It is a mathematical contract; precise, strict and meant to be unbreakable. Here, a “backdoor” is not just a secret entry but a flaw embedded in the logic of the contract, and one flaw is all it takes to destroy the entire agreement. Any weakness introduced for one purpose could become an opening for everyone, from cybercriminals to authoritarian regimes. Built entirely on trust through strong, unbreakable code, the entire structure begins to collapse once that trust is broken. And right now, that trust is under threat. 

A blueprint for digital feudalism

The European Commission’s ProtectEU initiative proposes a mechanism that compels service providers to scan private communications directly on users’ devices before encryption is applied. This effectively turns personal devices into surveillance tools and breaks the integrity of end-to-end encryption. While state actors would never permit such a vulnerability in their own secure systems, this mandate creates a separate, weaker standard of security for the public.

On the surface, it sounds like a reasonable compromise: stronger encryption for governments, with so-called “lawful access” to citizens’ data. However, what it proposes is a hardcoded imbalance, one in which the state encrypts, and the public is decrypted.

This isn’t a security policy. It’s a blueprint for digital feudalism — a future where privacy becomes a privilege reserved for the powerful, not a right guaranteed to everyone. Two-tier encryption shifts the balance of trust from democratic accountability and cements a structure of control no free society should accept. Make no mistake: This debate isn’t about safety. It’s about control. 

We shouldn’t live in a world where only the powerful get to be private.

In an age of ubiquitous AI, state-sponsored hacking and mass digital surveillance, weakening encryption isn’t just shortsighted but a systemic recklessness. For those of us in the decentralized world, this is not an abstract debate; it is a matter of practical concern. Strong, unbreakable encryption is far more than a technical feature; it’s the foundation upon which everything else rests.

Truth by verification

This is why the mission of Web3 must stay rooted in its core promise: truth. Not truth by authority, but truth by verification. This principle of a self-enforcing contract is why true decentralized systems are built with no key master or institution that holds the keys. Introducing a backdoor is a contradiction; it re-establishes a central point of failure, violating the very premise of a trustless system. Security is a binary state: it is either present for everyone, or it is guaranteed for no one.

Fortunately, these principles are not just theoretical. The cryptographic primitives emerging from this space — zero-knowledge proofs that can confirm facts without exposing data, and proof-of-personhood systems that resist Sybil attacks without compromising privacy — offer a real, working alternative, showing that we don’t have to choose between security and freedom.

The irony is stark: The same field now under threat holds the tools we need to build a more secure, more open digital future. One based not on surveillance or gatekeeping, but on permissionless innovation, cryptographic trust and individual dignity.

If we want a digital world that is safe, inclusive and resilient, then encryption must remain strong and universally standardized for everyone.

Not because we have something to hide, but because we all have something to protect.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/01/2025 - 09:20

Kenyan Navy Intercepts Flagless Vessel Carrying $63 Million in Meth

Kenyan authorities have seized more than a metric ton of methamphetamine in a major maritime drug bust coordinated with INTERPOL and international partners.

On 21 October 2025, the Kenyan Navy intercepted a flagless dhow roughly 340 nautical miles east of Mombasa after intelligence sharing between the Regional Narcotics Interagency Fusion Cell in Bahrain and the Regional Coordination Operations Centre in Seychelles, according to a release from Interpol.

The vessel was escorted to Mombasa three days later, where a multi-agency command center was established under the Deputy Commander of the Kenyan Navy. INTERPOL said it played a key advisory and oversight role, helping manage the search to ensure the evidence would stand up in court and coordinating support from the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which deployed personnel to assist.

Interpol writes that authorities discovered 769 packets containing 1,024 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine with a purity level of 98%. Kenyan experts value the seizure at more than KES 8 billion (USD 63 million).

Six crew members were arrested and now face drug-trafficking charges. Kenya’s Anti-Narcotics Unit is leading the ongoing investigation.

INTERPOL said the operation demonstrates how international coordination and real-time intelligence sharing are essential to counter the growing threat of maritime drug trafficking in the Indian Ocean.

Tyler Durden Sat, 11/01/2025 - 08:45

Peter Schiff: Printing Money Is Not the Cure for Cononavirus



In his most recent podcast, Peter Schiff talked about coronavirus and the impact that it is having on the markets. Earlier this month, Peter said he thought the virus was just an excuse for stock market woes. At the time he believed the market was poised to fall anyway. But as it turns out, coronavirus has actually helped the US stock market because it has led central banks to pump even more liquidity into the world financial system. All this means more liquidity — central banks easing. In fact, that is exactly what has already happened, except the new easing is taking place, for now, outside the United States, particularly in China.” Although the new money is primarily being created in China, it is flowing into dollars — the dollar index is up — and into US stocks. Last week, US stock markets once again made all-time record highs. In fact, I think but for the coronavirus, the US stock market would still be selling off. But because of the central bank stimulus that has been the result of fears over the coronavirus, that actually benefitted not only the US dollar, but the US stock market.” In the midst of all this, Peter raises a really good question. The primary economic concern is that coronavirus will slow down output and ultimately stunt economic growth. Practically speaking, the world would produce less stuff. If the virus continues to spread, there would be fewer goods and services produced in a market that is hunkered down. Why would the Federal Reserve respond, or why would any central bank respond to that by printing money? How does printing more money solve that problem? It doesn’t. In fact, it actually exacerbates it. But you know, everybody looks at central bankers as if they’ve got the solution to every problem. They don’t. They don’t have the magic wand. They just have a printing press. And all that creates is inflation.” Sometimes the illusion inflation creates can look like a magic wand. Printing money can paper over problems. But none of this is going to fundamentally fix the economy. In fact, if central bankers were really going to do the right thing, the appropriate response would be to drain liquidity from the markets, not supply even more.” Peter explained how the Fed was originally intended to create an “elastic” money supply that would expand or contract along with economic output. Today, the money supply only goes in one direction — that’s up. The economy is strong, print money. The economy is weak, print even more money.” Of course, the asset that’s doing the best right now is gold. The yellow metal pushed above $1,600 yesterday. Gold is up 5.5% on the year in dollar terms and has set record highs in other currencies. Because gold is rising even in an environment where the dollar is strengthening against other fiat currencies, that shows you that there is an underlying weakness in the dollar that is right now not being reflected in the Forex markets, but is being reflected in the gold markets. Because after all, why are people buying gold more aggressively than they’re buying dollars or more aggressively than they’re buying US Treasuries? Because they know that things are not as good for the dollar or the US economy as everybody likes to believe. So, more people are seeking out refuge in a better safe-haven and that is gold.” Peter also talked about the debate between Trump and Obama over who gets credit for the booming economy – which of course, is not booming.

We are living in crazy times. I have a hard time believing that most of the general public is not awake, but in reality, they are. We've never seen anything like this; I mean not even under Obama during the worst part of the Great Recession." Now the Fed is desperately trying to keep interest rates from rising. The problem is that it's a much bigger debt bubble this time around , and the Fed is going to have to blow a lot more air into it to keep it inflated. The difference is this time it's not going to work." It looks like the Fed did another $104.15 billion of Not Q.E. in a single day. The Fed claims it's only temporary. But that is precisely what Bernanke claimed when the Fed started QE1. Milton Freedman once said, "Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program." The same applies to Q.E., or whatever the Fed wants to pretend it's doing. Except this is not QE4, according to Powell. Right. Pumping so much money out, and they are accusing China of currency manipulation ? Wow! Seriously! Amazing! Dump the U.S. dollar while you still have a chance. Welcome to The Atlantis Report. And it is even worse than that, In addition to the $104.15 billion of "Not Q.E." this past Thursday; the FED added another $56.65 billion in liquidity to financial markets the next day on Friday. That's $160.8 billion in two days!!!! in just 48 hours. That is more than 2 TIMES the highest amount the FED has ever injected on a monthly basis under a Q.E. program (which was $80 billion per month) Since this isn't QE....it will be really scary on what they are going to call Q.E. Will it twice, three times, four times, five times what this injection per month ! It is going to be explosive since it takes about 60 to 90 days for prices to react to this, January should see significant inflation as prices soak up the excess liquidity. The question is, where will the inflation occur first . The spike in the repo rate might have a technical explanation: a misjudgment was made in the Fed's money market operations. Even so, two conclusions can be drawn: managing the money markets is becoming harder, and from now on, banks will be studying each other's creditworthiness to a greater degree than before. Those people, who struggle with the minutiae of money markets, and that includes most professionals, should focus on the causes and not the symptoms. Financial markets have recovered from each downturn since 1980 because interest rates have been cut to new lows. Post-2008, they were cut to near zero or below zero in all major economies. In response to a new financial crisis, they cannot go any lower. Central banks will look for new ways to replicate or broaden Q.E. (At some point, governments will simply see repression as an easier option). Then there is the problem of 'risk-free' assets becoming risky assets. Financial markets assume that the probability of major governments such as the U.S. or U.K. defaulting is zero. These governments are entering the next downturn with debt roughly twice the levels proportionate to GDP that was seen in 2008. The belief that the policy worked was completely predicated on the fact that it was temporary and that it was reversible, that the Fed was going to be able to normalize interest rates and shrink its balance sheet back down to pre-crisis levels. Well, when the balance sheet is five-trillion, six-trillion, seven-trillion when we're back at zero, when we're back in a recession, nobody is going to believe it is temporary. Nobody is going to believe that the Fed has this under control, that they can reverse this policy. And the dollar is going to crash. And when the dollar crashes, it's going to take the bond market with it, and we're going to have stagflation. We're going to have a deep recession with rising interest rates, and this whole thing is going to come imploding down. everything is temporary with the fed including remaining off the gold standard temporary in the Fed's eyes could mean at least 50 years This liquidity problem is a signal that trading desks are loaded up on inventory and can't get rid of it. Repo is done out of a need for cash. If you own all of your securities (i.e., a long-only, no leverage mutual fund) you have no need to "repo" your securities - you're earning interest every night so why would you want to 'repo' your securities where you are paying interest for that overnight loan (securities lending is another animal). So, it is those that 'lever-up' and need the cash for settlement purposes on securities they've bought with borrowed money that needs to utilize the repo desk. With this in mind, as we continue to see this need to obtain cash (again, needed to settle other securities purchases), it shows these firms don't have the capital to add more inventory to, what appears to be, a bloated inventory. Now comes the fun part: the Treasury is about to auction 3's, 10's, and 30-year bonds. If I am correct (again, I could be wrong), the Fed realizes securities firms don't have the shelf space to take down a good portion of these auctions. If there isn't enough retail/institutional demand, it will lead to not only a crappy sale but major concerns to the street that there is now no backstop, at all, to any sell-off. At which point, everyone will want to be the first one through the door and sell immediately, but to whom? If there isn't enough liquidity in the repo market to finance their positions, the firms would be unable to increase their inventory. We all saw repo shut down on the 2008 crisis. Wall St runs on money. . OVERNIGHT money. They lever up to inventory securities for trading. If they can't get overnight money, they can't purchase securities. And if they can't unload what they have, it means the buy-side isn't taking on more either. Accounts settle overnight. This includes things like payrolls and bill pay settlements. If a bank doesn't have enough cash to payout what its customers need to pay out, it borrows. At least one and probably more than one banks are insolvent. That's what's going on. First, it can't be one or two banks that are short. They'd simply call around until they found someone to lend. But they did that, and even at markedly elevated rates, still, NO ONE would lend them the money. That tells me that it's not a problem of a couple of borrowers, it's a problem of no lenders. And that means that there's no bank in the world left with any real liquidity. They are ALL maxed out. But as bad as that is, and that alone could be catastrophic, what it really signals is even worse. The lending rates are just the flip side of the coin of the value of the assets lent against. If the rates go up, the value goes down. And with rates spiking to 10%, how far does the value fall? Enormously! And if banks had to actually mark down the value of the assets to reflect 10% interest rates, then my god, every bank in the world is insolvent overnight. Everyone's capital ratios are in the toilet, and they'd have to liquidate. We're talking about the simultaneous insolvency of every bank on the planet. Bank runs. No money in ATMs, Branches closed. Safe deposit boxes confiscated. The whole nine yards, It's actually here. The scenario has tended to guide toward for years and years is actually happening RIGHT NOW! And people are still trying to say it's under control. Every bank in the world is currently insolvent. The only thing keeping it going is printing billions of dollars every day. Financial Armageddon isn't some far off future risk. It's here. Prepare accordingly. This fiat system has reached the end of the line, and it's not correct that fiat currencies fail by design. The problem is corruption and manipulation. It is corruption and cheating that erodes trust and faith until the entire system becomes a gigantic fraud. Banks and governments everywhere ARE the problem and simply have to be removed. They have lost all trust and respect, and all they have left is war and mayhem. As long as we continue to have a majority of braindead asleep imbeciles following orders from these psychopaths, nothing will change. Fiat currency is not just thievery. Fiat currency is SLAVERY. Ultimately the most harmful effect of using debt of undefined value as money (i.e., fiat currencies) is the de facto legalization of a caste system based on voluntary slavery. The bankers have a charter, or the legal *right*, to create money out of nothing. You, you don't. Therefore you and the bankers do not have the same standing before the law. The law of the land says that you will go to jail if you do the same thing (creating money out of thin air) that the banker does in full legality. You and the banker are not equal before the law. ALL the countries of the world; Islamic or secular, Jewish or Arab, democracy or dictatorship; all of them place the bankers ABOVE you. And all of you accept that only whining about fiat money going down in exchange value over time (price inflation which is not the same as monetary inflation). Actually, price inflation itself is mainly due to the greed and stupidity of the bankers who could keep fiat money's exchange value reasonably stable, only if they wanted to. Witness the crash of silver and gold prices which the bankers of the world; Russian, American, Chinese, Jewish, Indian, Arab, all of them collaborated to engineer through the suppression and stagnation of precious metals' prices to levels around the metals' production costs, or what it costs to dig gold and silver out of the ground. The bankers of the world could also collaborate to keep nominal prices steady (as they do in the case of the suppression of precious metals prices). After all, the ability to create fiat money and force its usage is a far more excellent source of power and wealth than that which is afforded simply by stealing it through inflation. The bankers' greed and stupidity blind them to this fact. They want it all, and they want it now. In conclusion, The bankers can create money out of nothing and buy your goods and services with this worthless fiat money, effectively for free. You, you can't. You, you have to lead miserable existences for the most of you and WORK in order to obtain that effectively nonexistent, worthless credit money (whose purchasing/exchange value is not even DEFINED thus rendering all contracts based on the null and void!) that the banker effortlessly creates out of thin air with a few strokes of the computer keyboard, and which he doesn't even bother to print on paper anymore, electing to keep it in its pure quantum uncertain form instead, as electrons whizzing about inside computer chips which will become mute and turn silent refusing to tell you how many fiat dollars or euros there are in which account, in the absence of electricity. No electricity, no fiat, nor crypto money. It would appear that trust is deteriorating as it did when Lehman blew up . Something really big happened that set off this chain reaction in the repo markets. Whatever that something is, we aren't be informed. They're trying to cover it up, paper it over with conjured cash injections, play it cool in front of the cameras while sweating profusely under the 5 thousands dollar suits. I'm guessing that the final high-speed plunge into global economic collapse has begun. All we see here is the ripples and whitewater churning the surface, but beneath the surface, there is an enormous beast thrashing desperately in its death throws. Now is probably the time to start tying up loose ends with the long-running prep projects, just saying. In other words, prepare accordingly, and Get your money out of the banks. I don't care if you don't believe me about Bitcoin. Get your money out of the banks. Don't keep any more money in a bank than you need to pay your bills and can afford to lose.











The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers , Whistelblowers , truthers and many more













The Financial Armageddon Economic Collapse Blog tracks trends and forecasts , futurists , visionaries , free investigative journalists , researchers , Whistelblowers , truthers and many more

The FBI released a summary of its file from the Hillary Clinton email investigation on Friday, showing details of Clinton's explanation of her use of a private email server to handle classified communications. The release comes nearly two months after FBI Director James Comey announced that although Clinton's handling of classified information was "extremely careless," it did not rise to the level of a prosecutable offense. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the next day that she would not pursue charges in the matter. "We are making these materials available to the public in the interest of transparency and in response to numerous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests," the FBI noted in a statement sent to reporters with links to the documents. The documents include notes from Clinton's July 2 interview with agents, as well as a "factual summary of the FBI's investigation into this matter," according to the FBI release. Throughout her interview with agents, Clinton repeatedly said she relied on the career professionals she worked with to handle classified information correctly. The agents asked about a series of specific emails, and in each case Clinton said she wasn't worried about the particular material being discussed on a nonclassified channel.