I lost count of how many wedding parties Obama blew up! I would have thought that at a certain point before the attack was launched they could have aborted it?

https://gregreese.substack.com/p/rise-of-the-safety-state?publication_id=706779&post_id=180655142&r=poko7&triedRedirect=true

IMO this has given the shorts, and the governments they work with and for, the ability to keep the markets under/in control, which gives the public the “picture” that “all is well”…. when we know it is NOT…Until the house of cards… ETF’s, Derivatives, etc  collapses under its own weight.  Then we will be “saved” by the same ones who created these current failed monetary systems…the Bankers…. who are setting up the “you’ll own nothing and you’ll be happy” 2030 Digital currency and ID systems, and the “Smart Cities” which become our Mark of the Beast  “prisons without walls” where if you’re an obedient little jabbed Robot and are up to date on your mandatory monthly “vaccines”, you’ll fit right in. After all, we wouldn’t want you to contaminate the rest of us, now, would we?????????? FWIW   SNG

The short seller cannot return those shares, as he has sold them.

As you say, there is nothing illegal about this. Legal short selling is just giving the punter the opportunity to bet on the share going down. Funny how everyone applauds Burry for doing it in the big short, Tesla etc. when he identifies a looming catastrophe and has the guts to bet on it, but if you see the same opportunity in a miner and act on it you’re a p-o-s.

You have a Margin account.

You buy some PM shares.

Your Broker lends those shares, for a fee, to a “short seller”.

The short seller shorts those same PM shares you just bought, thus nullifying your purchase, and he was NOT naked short because he was in possession of the shares at the time he shorted them. All legally done according to the rules, and those PM shares, go no place.

Now the short seller can just return Your shares so Your Broker can show he has your shares and is complying with his  fiduciary relationship between you and your broker.

After all, your broker notified you that he would loan out your shares unless you specifically notified him that you would not allow him to loan out your shares…and how many of you did that?

All done legally in this stock market Casino IMO and why the PM shares can’t get any traction this time. Better get the real thing(s)… SNG

Hard to say about the eco numbers. I don’t know if it’s the same people putting out the numbers or if it’s Trump’s people now.

As far as Hegseth they are targeting him big time right now. My bet is that Hegseth is very popular among the rank and file and junior officers. I think that probably scares the crap out of the swamp. There’ll be no coup as long as those loyal to Trump run the military.

I’ll say this though, I’m sick of finding out about all the corruption and illegal acts. If no one is going to jail, what’s the point?

I can’t believe we’re going to just hand this country over to a bunch of corrupt judges and Marxists. F*ck that.

Until Trump the emphasis was on pretending that the economy was great. Now it is to make it out it is as bad as possible so the new Fed chairman can cut rates and create the illusion of an economy on a huge rebound into the mid-terms. As a result, none of the numbers mean anything. Look at the deception perpetrated by Middelkoop and Arouet that ipso posted: the implication is that only 33% of the workforce is in the private sector, supporting the bloated bureaucracy, whereas the 33% is a third of the whole population, supporting kids, education, welfare, health, retirees, defence etc. etc.. Probably a pretty good historical norm! When we were a family I (20%) funded a wife (home duties, 20%) and three kids (60%) as well as my contributions to the government to support other peoples’ wives, kids, health, pensions etc. Now that I am retired I guess we are both retired, or home duties, or unpaid child-minders or whatever, but we are self funded retirees, so not a drain on the 33% of the people who are salaried employees or self employed.

And GDP, as meaningless a number as was ever invented, but it has become such a foundation of modern economics that questioning its use is akin to questioning vaccines.

30% salaried private sector (23%)

24% retirees (18%)

20% children (22%)

8% others (homemakers, handicapped) (20%? balancing figure)

8% Civil servants (7%)

4% students (6%)

3% self employed (2%)

3% unemployed (2%)

The figures in brackets are the nearest USA equivalents I can find. Defining  and distinguishing “civil servant” in French and American is difficult, for example.

… a possible attack tomorrow … because they want to jam their tech and bank shares higher this month.

It’s a buy opp IMHO.

Re Hegseth…..and the Coup…..makes sense as to why the MSM etc are so worried about blowing up drugs boats…they never said a word, when Obummer was zapping baddies.

Re Numbers

I wonder if we can trust any numbers,as the swamp are desperate to paint the economy as shiite…..

Which is just great …..

More like Animal Farm.

Chuckle

-32K jobs vs. expectations of +20K

Capacity utilization also missed 75.9% vs. 77.1% expected

Apparently, the economy is slowing.

Laura Loomer
@LauraLoomer
EXCLUSIVE:

🚨SECRETARY OF THE ARMY’S OFFICE PLOTTING COUP AT THE PENTAGON TO REMOVE
@SecWar
PETE HEGSETH AND REPLACE HIM WITH
@SecArmy
DAN DRISCOLL 🚨

Individuals in the office of US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll have been orchestrating a Coup against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth
@PeteHegseth
in an effort to have him removed by President Trump and replaced by Dan Driscoll.

Over the last 2 weeks, the legacy media, which is incredibly hostile to Hegseth, has been posting puff pieces about Dan Driscoll and how he is a “rising star” at the Pentagon. Sources have told me that Jake Sullivan
@jakejsullivan
, the former National Security Advisor of the United States under Joe Biden, is very close friends with Dan Driscoll, and they have been friends since they both attended Yale Law School. Driscoll and Vice President Vance also met at Yale Law School, which is how Driscoll was nominated as Army Secretary.

High level sources at the Pentagon have confirmed to me that Sullivan has been planting stories in support of Driscoll because Sullivan wants Hegseth removed and replaced by Driscoll. Sullivan is worried Hegseth and President Trump are going to take action against the seditious 6, the 6 Democrat lawmakers who are now facing federal inquiries and an FBI investigation after they recorded a video in November 2025 urging US military service members not to follow “unlawful” orders, a message President Trump and Pete Hegseth have called “seditious.”

cont.

Michael A. Arouet
@MichaelAArouet
·
Dec 1
This is probably the scariest chart you’ll see today. Let me translate it for you: only one-third of French people have a private-sector job.

How are they supposed to feed the remaining two-thirds with their taxes? It’s starting to feel like a failed state.

https://x.com/wmiddelkoop/status/1996086850822234218

By Alasdair Macleod

December 3, 2025

With signs of economic stagnation hard to ignore, politicians, economists, and even central bankers talk about the necessity for economic growth. Not only are they displaying economic ignorance, but by chasing something that is not a measure of production, they are bound to fail in their objectives.

The consequences for us all end in a crisis of reality. The errors of economic and monetary management by modern governments result in a credit crisis, which ultimately destroys their currencies. The signs that such a crisis is descending upon us are growing.

This article focuses on the delusions and destruction by macroeconomics: its principle objective is demonstrated to be an egregious error: to achieve economic growth. Being the sum of all recorded qualifying transactions over a period usually of a year, the measure of GDP is not of output, but of credit deployed in the economy. The error is to assume that all credit is deployed productively.

Credit recorded in GDP finances consumption, production (including investment), and government spending. Only credit for production and investment in it leads to price stability. But US industrial production is lower than in 2008, when on the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis’s total index, it was 102.38 compared with 101.27 last:

Separately, FRED shows that industrial investment increased by a paltry $100 billion since 2008.

Credit expansion to finance production, particularly of goods, is non-inflationary because it is employed to make goods better, cheaper and more relevant to evolving consumer desires. And if credit funding goods production and investment have gone nowhere in the last seventeen years, then the increase in GDP is misleading.

Since 2008, GDP has more than doubled to about $30,000 billion. With the exception of service industries, many of which add little value, the expansion of credit funds, excess consumption and government spending. Credit expansion to finance the credit bubble is excluded from GDP, which is a separate issue.

It should now be clear that economists and politicians trumpeting growth are being misled or misleading themselves into promoting inflationary policies. The only offset is savings. If consumers save instead of spending, then consumer prices will not be driven up so much by excess credit. But here the US’s record over time is dismal:

Other than the spikes during the COVID lockdowns, when no one could spend, the long-term savings trend is down. Not only are savings down, but consumer debt is up:

Using 2008 as our base, consumer debt has doubled, while production of goods has stagnated. So not only has the personal savings rate generally declined, but the expansion of consumer debt has been a driving factor behind growth in GDP.

That leaves government spending. Governments are notoriously bad distributors of economic resources, and nowhere is this more so than reflected in GDP. Total US Government spending is about 40% of GDP, with the federal government portion being 23%. At least state and local governments’ spending is more relevant to their communities, but federal government spending is not, and that is where trouble is mounting from wasteful spending, all of which is included in GDP.

The easiest way to grow GDP is for the federal government to increase its useless and economically destructive spending, which undoubtedly encourages the political class to do so.

The deflator myth

Starting with nominal GDP, econometricians point out that it should be deflated for inflation. If nominal GDP is shown to grow by 5%, than an inflation rate of 2% reduces that to real growth of 3%. The deflator usually used is the consumer price index.

The temptation to bolster real GDP growth by tinkering with the CPI is irresistible. Various methods are used to achieve this outcome. The result is that the current US inflation rate is calculated by the Bureau of Labour Statistics to be 3%, while John Williams of Shadowstats, who uses the original 1980 basis of calculation, computes it as 12%. Taking nominal GDP growth currently estimated by the Congressional Budget Office of 4.5%, this changes “real” GDP growth from 1.5% to minus 7.5%.

Imagine the furore if that was admitted! But we can’t even believe this more realistic presentation of the contraction of the value of total credit deployed in the economy (for that is what it is), because in theory there is a general level of prices, but in practice, no such thing exists. Its construction is therefore purely subjective and can say anything a government statistician wants. Hence, the difference between Shadowstats’ 1980 basis and subsequent revisions.

Consequently, the idea that GDP growth, nominal or real, represents the economic progress we all desire gets even further away from the truth. Instead, we can explain how the real economy is being suppressed by statistical misrepresentation, despite GDP headlines.

The debt trap

If there is one thing GDP is genuinely useful for, it gives a nation’s lenders a basis for judging its creditworthiness. Put simply, if national debt is growing faster than its tax base — roughly measured by the growth in GDP — then the economy is in a debt trap. However, if we are realistic about the distortions in the numbers, then many of the G7 nations are already there.

The reason that debt traps are yet to be properly recognised by markets is that they have been captured by governments themselves. The entire macroeconomic myth, coupled with regulatory oversight, have engendered complacency, which eventually will be shattered.

It happened in Britain the last time it had a far-left government. In 1976, sterling began to fall, and the IMF were called in to stabilise government finances. Inflation the previous year had hit 25% and bond yields had soared to over 16%. The problem was that without the IMF forcing the UK government to cut spending and raise taxes to generate a budget surplus, the dynamics of the debt trap would have driven gilt yields higher still.

An understanding that GDP represents credit and not economic progress, and that most of its deployment is inflationary, tells us that the dollar and other major currencies already face debt traps. That is why central bankers in the know are selling currencies and buying gold.

Conclusion

Investors should be aware that the government statistics upon which they rely for guidance are thoroughly misleading. Nowhere is this truer than in GDP, the quicksand upon which macroeconomics is built. Distortion of the facts compounds distortions of the past. This is why the entire basis of economic analysis is misleading and is bound to end up in a general economic and credit crisis when reality returns.

For this reason, individuals should follow the actions of central banks and protect themselves from a looming credit crisis. That can only be done by getting out of credit and into real money without counterparty risk, which is only physical gold.

VONGREYERZ.gold

The Great Silver Divergence: A Binary Bet with Very Early Bitcoin-Level Potential!

H/T THE HAPPY HAWAIIAN FOR THE CHART

There is a chart making the rounds in the precious metals community that is so stark, so powerful, that it presents a simple, binary choice. It is a chart that screams opportunity, a divergence so extreme that it cannot last.

The resolution of this divergence will either see the price of silver collapse, or it will unleash a rally in the silver mining stocks that will be incredibly powerful.

Take a close look at the chart above. The blue line is the price of silver in 2025, which has been in a powerful uptrend, recently breaking out to new highs above $59. The red line is the ratio of the junior silver miners ETF (SILJ) to the price of silver.

As you can see, for most of the year, they moved in tandem. But over the last month, a massive divergence has opened up. As silver has soared, the miners have fallen off a cliff relative to the metal.

This presents us with a simple, binary bet:

1. Either the price of silver is about to collapse, proving the miners were right.
2. Or the silver miners are extremely undervalued, and a violent catch-up rally is imminent.

So, which is it? Are you willing to bet that silver will significantly fall in the current environment?

Let’s Dig Into The Following:

1. The overwhelming case for a silver super-spike! The monetary demand from investors recognizing the undervaluation squeezes the same finite supply that industrial and strategic players desperately need. This is a perfect storm where silver’s ancient role as money is colliding with its modern role as an irreplaceable industrial commodity.
2. Why Even $100+ Silver Won’t Bring a Supply Flood! 70-80% of silver produced is a byproduct of mining other minerals such as lead, copper, zinc, nickel and gold. This means that the supply of silver is not primarily driven by the price of silver, but by the global demand for these other metals. This creates a rare and powerful structural inelasticity that almost no other commodity faces.
3. Why are the silver miners being ignored? Many investors were burned by the brutal 2011-2020 bear market in precious metals and are suffering from recency bias, unable to believe that this time is different. They see the miners as toxic, perpetually underperforming assets, and are selling every rally, blinded by the past instead of focusing on the future.
4. The early bitcoin parallel! The asymmetric opportunity presenting itself today in the silver miners feels incredibly similar to the early Bitcoin days. The skepticism is rampant. The undervaluation is extreme. The fundamental case is undeniable.
5. The inevitable re-rating of these silver mining stocks! If you believe, as the evidence overwhelmingly suggests, that silver is going higher, then the conclusion is inescapable: the silver miners are on the verge of a re-rating that will be unlike anything the majority of investors have ever experienced. …

Barrick Seeks to Spin-Off US Operations, Hits 13 Year Highs on News

GFN – NEW YORK: Barrick Mining is exploring an IPO of its North American gold assets, a move that could value the unit near $60 billion as the company restructures following operational setbacks and management turnover.

Barrick is exploring an IPO of its North American gold assets, potentially valuing the unit near $60–62 billion while retaining majority control.

Shares hit a 13-year high as the move follows activist pressure, management changes, and a broader restructuring push.

The strategy separates high-quality Nevada assets from higher-risk global operations, with analysts noting possible M&A interest from Newmont.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2025-12-02/barrick-seeks-spin-us-operations-hits-13-year-highs-news

Nice to be on the right side of an investment that doesn’t want to die for a change. Just like tech.

Dollar and rates falling. ADP report in a few minutes, jobs report on Friday.

The most important Fed meeting ever next week – just like all the rest of the Fed meetings.

was supposed to be down to a cooling issue….well they have a full back up operation…how come that wasn’t used !!!!! and the outside temp was minus…so they could have pumped cool air in, which apparently is common in places like Chicago, that are often cold.

Needless to say the story stinks….

Many years back Credit Lyonais , otherwise know as Debit Lyonais, was involved in a major court case, for dodgy dealing….until one weekend the sad news came out that there Paris HQ had had, a bad fire and all the records for the case were burnt !!!

Then someone pointed out they had a warehouse, full of back up records…guess what happened the next weekend…yup you got it…..the ware house self combusted.

Northern Sky charters
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/890392/
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/890391/

Re explaining male-female electrical and pipe connectors ……for anyone in gender studies they would have to learn which is which and put a le or a la in front of it.

is advice that we’re seeing more and more. There’s a new one on ZH about the need for 500,000 engineers to build and run nuclear power stations and stuff by 2030 for the AI boom. Setting aside the fact that it will take three years minimum to train an engineer to complete newbie standard, it is impossible anyway because those with the weird GS and LGBTQRSTU ‘degrees’ are not capable of getting even a conventional non-productive degree in history, or English, or geography. They are incapable of thinking, or working. They rely on grade fixes to pass anyway. It is conceptually ridiculous to consider that with a few years study and training they could operate anything more than a screwdriver by 2030. Even then half of them will be offended by the term screw-driver (bound to be a white, male, heterosexual privileged term), and as for explaining male-female electrical and pipe connectors ……

60.00 has been hit in Shanghai tonight… looks like we’re gonna be having a lot of first time things going forward…

Fake as. And he simply doesn’t talk about this stuff.