Every week we provide insight on events as they develop and transpire across America. In these unprecedented times, it’s difficult to grasp the complexity of everything that’s going on. We are not a news agency and make no claims to be experts on the topics discussed. What is absolutely certain is we are investing time to research information with a quest for truth using facts, logic, and some common sense thrown in.
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COVID-19
The spreading of COVID-19 continues with the number of cases and deaths worldwide increasing daily.
Here are the numbers as of August 27th, 2020:
Global Confirmed Cases: 24,266,622
Global Deaths: 827,527
Global Recoveries: 15,839,685
US Confirmed Cases: 5,838,695
US Deaths: 180,020
US Recoveries: 2,084,465
US Active Cases: 3,574,210
Commentary: The past 3 weeks is showing a slight trend downward for deaths attributed to COVID and a fairly significant drop in new cases.
One of the biggest things we can do right now from a preparedness perspective is to take care of ourselves. Exercise, lose weight, stop smoking, and improve immune systems. There are many thousands of people across America right now laying in a hospital bed who thought it wasn’t that big of a deal.
With the year nearing the end of summer let’s hope the “second wave” fails to transpire with Fall approaching.
PROTESTING/RIOTING/CIVIL UNREST
Riots continue in several areas of the country – especially in Portland, OR. Protests are ramping up after the police shooting of a black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
- The NBA boycotted several games in response to the Kenosha shooting.
- Kenosha has become a battlefield. Several people have been shot and killed with one incident recorded on video as a man with an AR-variant was chased and attacked. He shot several of his attackers.
- A total of 71 people were arrested during protests over Breonna Taylor’s death in Louisville, Ky.
- Rioters in Portland tried to set city hall on fire Tuesday during another chaotic night that resulted in the arrest of nearly two dozen people.
- A suspected gunman fatally shot himself Wednesday as Minneapolis police were moving in to arrest him for a slaying committed hours earlier, sparking looting in the downtown area. Area residents were blaming the police for the death with many believing police shot the man.
- The majority of professional sports are canceling games as a protest against the shooting in Kenosha.
Commentary: While overall protesting and violent civil unrest have decreased across much of the country there is no doubt the sheer violence and intensity has increased. BLM continues to ramp its rhetoric as well as Antifa. Most major businesses and sports are doing the “politically correct” thing and creating policies in support of BLM. Some businesses are even giving preferential support to minority-owned businesses in an effort to remain off the “targeted” list of BLM and the Left.
We are seeing that most any event perceived as race-based is generating an outburst of protests and rioting. Where this will all go especially with the increase in violence is unknown. I suspect it is not going to suddenly improve.
ECONOMY
The Coronavirus pandemic continues to be directed affecting the economy. Businesses across the nation have closed….and many are still closed. Reopening is happening at different levels and even seen some movie theaters are starting to reopen. Businesses of all sizes are included as manufacturing plants down to small mom & pop shops feel the effect. Some industries have seen a spike in business, while others have been decimated. With the rise of cases, limits on the number of people allowed in the business, and mandated masks – many business are just trying to stay afloat.
- It’s easier to understand gold’s record-breaking move up if you look at it from the other side of the equation. The dollar is now at its all-time low compared to gold. In simple terms, the dollar is losing value and dollar debasement is driving up the price of gold. This isn’t a narrative you don’t typically hear on the mainstream financial networks, but there seems to be a growing awareness that the dollar and the system based on it might be in trouble – even in the mainstream investment world.
- The National Debt is approaching 27 trillion dollars.
- Jobless Claims: The 1.006 million claims was a very modest improvement over last week’s 1.104 million but is the 22nd of the last 23 weeks where over 1 million Americans have filed.
- The stock market continues to hover unrealistically high and counter to economic indicators. This is a positive thing for 401k’s.
- Record GDP Plunge Revised Slightly Higher: US Economy Contracted 31.7% In Q2. The decrease in real GDP reflected decreases in consumer spending, exports, business investment, inventory investment, and housing investment that were partially offset by an increase in government spending. Imports, a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.
- Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell announced a new strategy of average inflation targeting. According to reports Thursday, the central bank formally agreed to the policy to allow inflation to “moderately” run higher than the two-percent target for an undetermined time.
Commentary: The economy continues to be held up by Federal spending, bubble gum, and duct tape. Reopening in areas continue to be a positive force in the economy, however, we are nowhere near the economic activity pre-COVID. The economy and commerce in this country have been changed and the evolution continues. So many industries have disappeared completely. Others have been damaged severely. Businesses have changed the way they conduct their activities due to COVID as well as political correctness.
My hope is that Congress will NOT provide incentives for people to remain out of work. Ingenuity will create solutions where problems lie and many businesses will regain their ability to succeed. Should the Trump administration continue for another 4 years, it is likely that further trade deals and deregulation will have a positive impact on the economy, thus helping a recovery.
POLITICS
Much of the divide that is present in the nation is directly correlated to the divisive political environment currently in existence. Beyond healthy debate or even normal agenda-driven bias, the level of aggressive and purposely damaging action taken by Progressive politicians and groups is at an all-time high.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Thursday that former Vice President Joe Biden cancel his three scheduled debates with President Trump because the commander-in-chief would “belittle” the forum and engage in “skullduggery.”
- Former President Barack Obama on Wednesday praised the Milwaukee Bucks for “standing up for what they believe in” following the team’s decision to boycott their NBA playoff game in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in the team’s home state of Wisconsin.
- Latest Fox News poll has Biden winning should it happen now.
- Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Tuesday charged that President Trump is “rooting for more violence, not less” after two people were killed in Kenosha, Wis., amid turmoil following a law enforcement officer wounding 29-year-old Black man Jacob Blake.
Commentary: As usual, Democrats and Republicans remain on opposite ends of the opinion spectrum to best serve this country….and pretty much everything else.
The unpredictability of these times is maddening. It’s like trying to find Waldo while on a roller coaster doing multiple loops at 90mph. It’s an effort in futility. I suspect this will continue for months and it will be months before we realize the true effect all of this will have on our daily lives – and our future.
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Comments welcome below.
Stay safe.
Rourke
……and follow my progress as I work on my American Exit Strategy Project only on Patreon.
We need to “target the businesses that are standing behind the domestic terrorists with boycotts. Do those idiots think the punks are their customers? Lets give them some pain in the pocketbook. As far as the sports teams canceling games, I canceled all of them years ago. You should as well. They are no longer relevant.
Excellent idea and I bet someone has put together a list of those businesses. I can tell you I have stopped dealing with many businesses or decreased due to this. There comes a point though that I won’t pay twice as much or 50% more for something and hurt myself. It is a fine line, but, I have goals I am trying to reach and financial considerations are a large part of that. Regardless – I agree. I no longer will walk into a Target or a Lowe’s because of the stand they have taken. My visits to Walmart have dropped WAY back.
Well, I do feel slight twinges of guilt holding shares of companies like WMT and MSFT but then I remember that I bought them for a fraction of what they are priced at today the actual dividend return rate I’m getting is crazy good.
It is a head scratcher how the markets remain so buoyant all through this turmoil but I have a theory as to why. The dollar is being decimated (intentionally IMHO) so the apparent value of all things is holding strong. Some might recall my suggesting buying gold and silver miners for quite a while. It certainly has served me well. As JR pointed out above, it’s not so much that gold is more valuable now then before but that the dollar is worth so much less. Gold is just a store of wealth that they can not print and devalue. Well, stocks in their own way are doing the same thing. You would probably do very well to convert all your dollars into something like MSFT or WMT despite political reasons to dislike them. As the value of the dollar falls away stocks must necessarily rise.
Good stuff CaptTurbo. Agree on the markets. Over the years in numerous prepper fiction where the cause of SHTF is economic collapse – in almost everyone those in power drive the stock market up just prior to its crash. I have no doubt manipulation is occurring. The economy as a whole as well as the uncertainty revolving around the future of the country provides no reason why the stock market would be as high as it is. I do not believe that, as many do, believe that “Trump” and “hope” is the reason.
No – manipulation of the markets is well at hand.
Ticklish subject since many of us would be the last to admit to even owning a firearm but … the subject of ammo. …
I never thought of ammunition as an investment but as it turns out it very well has been a good one. I have always had a love for shooting and have owned very hungry (select fire) toys. For whatever reason, the last two years found me tight on range time yet I kept buying the deals. Ammo deals are like potato chips for me. Just can’t stop munching.
Have you all noticed that suddenly there just isn’t much out there for bulk case ammo, and certainly nothing remotely resembling a “deal”? Especially the good stuff I like to buy, the M-855 green tip (62 grn) in the .556 cal.
If you can find it at all now they are asking crazy money for it. I feel silly now for grumbling when I was paying more than $300.00 per case on it when now I’m sitting on a double or better. No need to reply if the subject is uncomfortable. Just a ponderment. lol!
https://www.terrorism.news/2020-06-25-269-companies-supporting-antifa-black-lives-matter.html
Thank you Relic-13!!
OK .. so I’ll agree to a point. Hear me out before you fire back. I have no love and many bad feelings for they way this is being supported by companies. Clicking trough the list, I see sympathy and maybe seom pandering to customers and employees, that is not financial support. Do we thing they are not people? Of course not. Do we think a shade of brown is bad ? Of course not. We are interested in good citizens right ? We are interested in making America productive and peaceful, as well as safe for our families, right ?
That said many on that list do not deserve ire, because they give no direct support, or tolerance for bad behavior in either direction. The pandering is irritating, but a working economy is necessary. Direct criticism won’t help that, where activism might. We have to overcome political and personal sensitivity.
The businesses that provide direct funding, and some of those are there too, do deserve to be reduced to something less or removed from the ecosystem and thier owners, changed. They promote domestic terrorism in America. And you know the Muslim extremists have not gone away, nor has immigration, though COVID19 has probably helped slow that down. Even if it is only because funding switched the focus or where it is spent.
Target the businesses that are fund the socialist attack on American values IMO.
Condemning racism is not a bad thing. Using that as a platform for a socialist attack on America is. In my mind there are two types of people. People that treat America well and people that don’t. There is no room for the latter, regardless of where they hang thier hat.
Sorry for the rant
GG58
You’re good GG58. I agree with your perspective. There is a difference and those providing direct support are to organizations such as BLM can go pound sand.
CaptTurbo – Agree. As GG58 mentioned some businesses are merely pandering and trying not to become targeted themselves. Those that financially support BLM – I’m done with them if at all possible. If I cannot vacate them completely for some reason – I will diminish the use of the business as much as possible.
Well said CaptTurbo.
Same here Capt. Soo I expect sooner or later the pro sports will realize that you have to make money, to pay paychecks. First sport back gets all the viewing marbles, but they will do it without me. Every pro venue was built with bonds floated in the local economy they reside in. The vendors suffer for it .. not the players. Taxes will be raised to meet fiscal shortfalls. And when/if they resume the taxes will not be rolled back.
I do think the economy is a house of cards, but I think I understand WHY, the players can’ seem to see it. I think they do. They are keeping the economy inflated long enough to get out of paper and into assets Re:gold and real estate. I’ve seen many companies pop up buying distressed properties for pennies on the dollar.
At any rate the economy has to lure money in to work, and if it can’t the government has to print more and subsidize. Keep in mind most of the “print” is just unfunded debt in the form of ones and zeros in a computer.
If any of what i think is true, then it IS coming, and the clock is ticking down.
On Kenosha:
I have long and often said that is will not go well for the first few that stand up in any form. That is proving true. Leave it to a 17 year old with no concept of “consequences” to act on a conviction, and follow though. That is why they draft youngsters.
It still won’t go well for the next ever how many. The media machine and opinion generators are stack against them in a big way.
I did think Sturgis and the town Idaho are object lessons on how bullies fold when there is a group of people rather than a lone person or small group. That is how you shut it down I think, with minimal loss. Eventually the left woudl up the game, and you woudl have a fight probably .. that’s your civil war possibly.
prepare, just like you have been.. for hurricanes, job loss, and all the things that normally happen, but keep and ear to the ground. Get out of cities if you can. Fortify if you cannot. Have a plan.. any plan is better than no plan.
keep the faith
GG58
GG58 – Same here with the pro sports. I’m done. I’ve retired my Red Sox hat. Oh well – “insert expletive here” ’em!
On Kenosha – I was going to do a video on my thoughts – or write something up. I watched the video MrGunsNGear put out and he is right on the money. I’ll probably post it in an article very soon and provide a downloadable version of the video as well as YouTube has been taking down many videos on the subject.
It is a tough subject as in the case with the 17-year-old in Kenosha there are many factors involved. What he did, or didn’t do can be looked at as right, wrong, legal, and illegal. From my perspective, there is often a difference between what is RIGHT, and what is LEGAL/ILLEGAL. I’ll post MrGunsNGear’s video tomorrow. Good stuff.
As always thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I forgot to say this when I posted earlier, I normally don’t listen to speeches by politicians but last night I turned on the TV and it happened to be on a channel that the RNC was on so I listened. Trump’s daughter did a great job introducing him then the President gave his acceptance speech. I thought he did a great job telling it like it is. He sure had some pokes at Biden (well deserved). One thing he said is no more 2nd Amendment if Biden wins.
Anyone else listen and if so, comments????
I listened to many of the speeches over the 4 nights and I was very impressed with what was done. The contrast between dem and republicans was stark, and polls show the republicans hit a home run with independent voters.
As I see it we will have a nightmare on our hands should President Trump lose to massive vote fraud, which is the only thing that could challenge him in my view. You need only look back to how the Muslim usurper weaponized the IRS, FBI, CIA, and DOJ. Barry’s plants are still infesting much of what is the deep state, frustrating efforts to right the ship.
If the dems dogs of war are attacking city hall, the beast are biting the hand that feeds them.
In every Socialist/Marxist revolution those are the first ones to end up in the mass graves. The new Marxist overlords always eliminate the competition within their own movement first. Stalin, Moa, the NV got rid of the VC, Nazi Germany, Cambodia, Cuba, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela. Anyhow, you get the point, they we be the first!!
Sorry should say Mao