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Friday, March 14, 2025
Bill Bonner, "The Last Temptation of Musk"
Icarus falls after flying too close to the Sun.
"The Last Temptation of Musk"
by Bill Bonner
"Live happily. Live hidden."
- French proverb
"Poor Elon. Such a genius. Such a fool. Bullied as a child. Somewhere ‘on the spectrum.’ Elon set out to prove that he was the greatest human being who ever lived. He would make more money than anyone… start more businesses… develop more technology… and even put humans on Mars… the first ever extra-terrestrial colonization by our species. Or, maybe any species.
A polymath. A tech rock star. Inventor. Investor. Innovator…and now…in over his head. The public is turning against his cars. Investors are selling his stock. His net worth is collapsing. His influence is waning. His popularity is plummeting. Newsweek:
"Elon Musk, the world's richest man, saw his net worth plummet by more than $100 billion in 2025, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The decline is largely tied to Tesla's struggling stock price, broader investor concerns about the increased competition in the electric vehicle (EV) market, and the knock-on impacts of Musk's political activities on his business ventures."
USA Today: "Tesla stock was the biggest S&P 500 loser on Monday and for 2025 as Musk's politics according to Investors Business Daily reports, having dropped 45% so far this year and 54.5% from the record high of $488.54 set on Dec. 18."
Today, we shed a tear of sympathy for the nation’s most successful African-American immigrant. LA Times: "'I've been betrayed.' Tesla drivers are pushing back on Elon Musk. In late February, Culver City resident David Andreone posted a photo of his black Model 3 Tesla on Facebook and Instagram and offered it for sale for $35,000. Though the posts received dozens of comments, no buyers emerged. Andreone, 59, said he loves driving the car, but made the decision to sell after the brand’s association with founder Elon Musk became too much to bear."
Poor Elon. It was just a couple days ago when the DOGE champion was going to be a hero in outer space…The New York Post: "Elon Musk says SpaceX capsule will bring home stranded ISS astronauts ‘in a few weeks’. And then… hardly a day later. The Daily Beast: "SpaceX Mission to Rescue NASA Astronauts Stranded in Space Ditched Last Minute."
It might have been enough for most men…getting into the electronic payments business early…and selling Paypal for $1.5 billion…or starting a company whose mission is to colonize Mars…or founding a global, satellite- based communications system at a cost of $10 billion…or building a whole new car company…worldwide…with a value of more than $1.5 trillion at its peak…or developing an AI company…or one that links the brain to computers…or owning the most influential social media company…or founding a recording company and putting up lyrics and voice of his own…or being selected as TIME’s ‘Person of the Year.’or being the world’s richest person ever…or fathering 14 children.
Merely reciting his achievements is exhausting. But all of this was not enough for Elon. Like Christ, tempted by Satan, he was offered political power; unlike Christ, he went for it. Elon was not the first to imagine that government ‘waste’ could be eliminated…and that the feds could operate ‘efficiently.’
Indignation over wasteful spending has been a staple of the National Enquirer for decades. A half-century ago, your editor was a ‘source’ for the National Enquirer’s research and a regular voice for its outrage. But with a surfeit of naivete…a shortage of cynicalism…and an excess of vanity… Elon got involved in politics. He’d been so successful at so many businesses…now he set out to be the most powerful private citizen in world history.
But politics and business don’t follow the same rules. Eliminate ‘waste’ in a business and you increase profits. But eliminate ‘waste’ in government and who cares? The taxpayers won’t remember…while the parasites won’t forget.
‘Waste’ is someone’s income; they’re not going to be too happy to give it up. And they’re going to use politics to a) get the money back and b) crucify the cost cutters. The US spending machine is set up to waste trillions of dollars. And as Musk probes more deeply into the fat - especially in Social Security, Medicare, and the Pentagon - more and more political power will howl against him. It is only a matter of time before his patron - Donald Trump - begins to see him as a liability."
Gregory Mannarino, "It's Over. The U.S. Has To Borrow Just To Pay The Interest On It's Debt!"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 3/14/25
"It's Over. The U.S. Has To Borrow Just
To Pay The Interest On It's Debt!"
Comments here:
Jim Kunstler, "Spring's Frightful Awakening"
Ursula con der Leyen
"Spring's Frightful Awakening"
by Jim Kunstler
“The notion that Europe is able to pose a military threat to
Russia does not even qualify as trashy propaganda for sub-zero IQs.”
- Pepe Escobar
“The left became hideously, ostentatiously, unapologetically corrupt (as ruling parties tend to do). They sold out bigtime and got bigtime rich. You want to know why none of them want to cut waste anymore? Because they’re the one’s stealing it.”
- El Gato Malo on Substack
"In my quiet backwater of the Hudson Valley, an early spring drives all creation violently. The peaceful sleep of winter ends in twitches and spasms. The ground breaks open like one big egg and all living things emerge: green shafts of the crocus, scuttling sowbugs, slithering snakes, sleek garlic shoots, ‘possums in the compost bucket, ticks are back on the cat’s face, the ice in the river cracks in frightening booms, hungry songbirds infest the bare roadside lilacs, tiny voices trill darkly in the woods, a lone early moth in its first rapture of flight meets the pitiless windshield.
You can feel it. The northern hemisphere of this planet shudders, rattles, and rolls into the most tumultuous spring in memory. Everything is in play, turning, turning, while forgotten consequence rises on vengeful wings like an aggrieved god of yore. Nothing will be as it was. A most wicked spell has been broken. What does it feel like to be able to think again?
Messers Trump and Putin sincerely seek to end the age’s stupidest war in Europe’s dumbest country, while the European Union and its outlier Great Britain go ostentatiously more insane every week. They bethink themselves storybook conquerors out of some retrograde history written by gibbering globalists. Macron and Friedrich Merz propose a grand invasion of Russia, as if Napoleon and Hitler had never existed, and they aim to get it done on about three days’ worth of ammunition. You first, Emmanuel, Merz insists. Non, non, pas de tout, Macron demurs with a deep bow.
Keir Starmer, Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, and PM of an empire in late-stage sclerosis, does jumping jacks with pom-poms across the channel to cheer on France and Germany in their quixotic quest to conquer of Russia. “Go get’um lads!” he cries. Think of Sir Keir as a Monty Python archbishop as written by George Orwell under the direction of Franz Kafka — there’s what’s left of your jolly old England!
Meanwhile Ursula con der Leyen rehearses her part as the wannabe Joan of Arc in this political psychodrama. Her sweet grandmother’s face will smile placidly as the flames tickle her penitent’s robe. She was born for this. A million deracinated Congolese perform the twerk mazurka around her flaming pyre while the muezzins sing out the call to prayer from every minaret around Brussells. Her Hanoverian ancestors weep for Ursula through the mists of the centuries. Was Satan himself behind the contract she signed with Pfizer for as much as 4.6 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine at a cost of €71-billion? Where did the money come from and where exactly did it go, and what did Ursula finally have to show for it? The European Court of Auditors had a look at this tangled web and blew their lunches all over the rue Alcide De Gasperi in Luxembourg City. Snails, champignon, and shards of puff pastry on the ancient stone steps. A disgrace.
You are not compelled to understand all these occult machinations roiling Europe at the moment, except to see that the continent wants to turn itself into the world’s premiere slaughterhouse once again after a seventy-year hiatus from the exciting frolics of World War Two. Almost everyone who lived through that episode is dead now. The cultural memory has faded. Europe is sick of lollygagging in the café, nibbling effete palmier and tartelette. They apparently want to wade across the chilly Vistula River and race to the east, like berserkers, hacking off Slavic limbs and heads along the way.
No, it is not true that Donald Trump’s ancestors invented the trumpet, but shrill brassy notes resound all over America these days as his enemies ululate and rend their garments. Liz Warren is yelling from streetcorners like her head’s going to blow plumb off her shoulders. Randi Weingarten was keening on MSNBC like an oboe with a broken reed. The entire two month-long spectacle has been a musical extravaganza. The President and his sidekick, Elon, keep coming at the country’s resident blob-of-evil like pit-bulls on a pack of wild hogs. Shreds of bacon have been flying all over the Beltway. I could have told you years ago that the blob was mostly lard and little meat. Now you know. It’s a sight to behold for the ages.
Yet, strange things keep happening day by day. The Democratic Party’s main grifting engine, the USAID, was deconstructed weeks ago, yet we hear that just this week USAID workers were ordered to go back into their offices to shred all their documents. Did they have anything to hide, ya think?
Questions: 1.) federal janitors pried the nameplate off the building back in February, and we must suppose that somebody also locked the joint up. 2.) How did these former USAID workers propose to get in the building and do their dirty-work? 3.) Why have we not heard that the FBI or the US Marshal Service was dispatched to prevent such a document shredding party?
I wouldn’t worry too much about those cheeky federal judges around the country declaring and ordering this-and-that on Mr. Trump’s campaign to fire federal workers and close down useless agencies. This is a last-gasp ultimate lawfare operation. Let’s assume that Norm Eisen, Mary McCord, Marc Elias, and associates of theirs are the ringmasters in that circus. They will eventually be indicted for all manner of lawbreaking, possibly up to treason. And the SCOTUS will eventually put a sharp end to the judges’ monkeyshines. Judges do not administer executive action out of the executive branch. And Guess what: lawfare is not law. It’s just dirty-fighting dressed up in abstruse ceremonial language."
"US Deficit Surpassed $1 Trillion in February"
"US Deficit Surpassed $1 Trillion in February"
by Martin Armstrong
"According to the Treasury Department, America’s deficit surpassed the $1 trillion mark this February. The deficit reached $307 billion for the month, marking a 2.5X increase on a monthly basis and 3.7% higher on an annual basis. The deficit for the first five months of FY25 hit $1.15 trillion, a $318 billion increase (+38%) from the same period last year. America is paying $74 billion simply to finance this debt, with interest payments over the FY rising to $396 billion.
The deficit under the last three years of Biden-Harris grew from $1.38 trillion to $1.83 trillion as the public sector and government spending multiplied. Trump is attempting to make a dent in government spending through DOGE, but he is hitting America’s revenue with these tariffs. Both measures have only just begun and have not made a major impact on the economy yet.
Deficits no longer create economic growth; instead, they now consume it. Each additional dollar of debt generates diminishing returns, meaning the cost of servicing this debt will soon exceed the nation’s ability to function without radical restructuring.
Investors and global capital are beginning to take notice. Foreign demand for US debt has waned, with China and Japan significantly reducing their Treasury holdings. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is trapped. If it raises rates to combat inflation, it exacerbates the debt crisis. If it lowers rates, it risks unleashing another speculative bubble, but central banks tend to lower rates when they see a recession looming. There is no way out without structural reform."
"We Are On The Verge Of Completing An Impressive Trifecta: A Stock Market ‘Correction’, A Global Trade War And A Government Shutdown All At The Same Time"
"We Are On The Verge Of Completing An Impressive Trifecta:
A Stock Market ‘Correction’, A Global Trade War
And A Government Shutdown All At The Same Time"
by Michael Snyder
"We certainly do live in “interesting” times. In all my years of writing, I have never seen a stock market correction, a global trade war and a government shutdown all happen at the same time. If the federal government does indeed shut down on Friday, we will complete that very impressive trifecta. Needless to say, a government shutdown would only add to the jitters that we are witnessing on Wall Street right now. On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down for a fourth day in a row, and the S&P 500 fell into correction territory…
"Stocks fell on Thursday, with equities unable to shake a three-week market rout under the weight of new tariff threats from President Donald Trump. The S&P 500 dropped about 1.4%, ending the day in correction and 10.1% off its record close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 537 points, or 1.3%, its fourth day of declines putting it below the 41,000 level. The Nasdaq Composite shed 1.9% with shares like Tesla and Apple lower."
If the Dow successfully breaks through the very important psychological barrier of 40,000, we could potentially see it fall a long way. A lot is going to depend on how the global trade war plays out. More new tariffs are being announced on an almost daily basis. On Thursday, President Trump announced a new 200 percent tariff on alcoholic beverages from the European Union…"President Donald Trump said Thursday he plans to put a 200% tariff on alcohol from France and other European nations in the latest escalation of global trade tensions."
The U.S. tariff comes after the European Union moved to reinstate an import tax on American whiskey. “The European Union, one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States, has just put a nasty 50% Tariff on Whisky. If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES. This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.,” Trump said on Truth Social.
We haven’t seen anything quite like this in modern times, and President Trump insists that he is “not going to bend at all”…"President Donald Trump on Thursday doubled down on his escalating tariff plans, even as his economic agenda continued to rattle investors and contribute to a weekslong stock market sell-off. “I’m not going to bend at all,” Trump said when asked about his tariff plans during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. “We’ve been ripped off for years, and we’re not going to be ripped off anymore,” he said.
It shall be fascinating to see how all of this plays out. Meanwhile, we are right on the brink of a government shutdown. According to Politico, Trump administration officials believe that a shutdown will be avoided because Democrats in the Senate will feel forced to accept what Republicans are offering…"Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer threw down the gauntlet Wednesday, proclaiming that Republicans don’t have the 60 votes needed to keep the government open past Friday. But President Donald Trump and senior White House officials are increasingly confident Schumer will release enough centrists to put up the votes for passage, according to multiple White House officials I spoke to over the past 24 hours. “They’re 100 percent gonna swallow it,” one White House official told me. “They’re totally screwed.”
I am not convinced. Personally, I think that the Democrats are quite serious about allowing the government to shut down. We shall see what happens. Normally, when a government shutdown is looming the White House will attempt to reach out to the other side. But this time around, things have been very different…
In some ways, the White House’s posture smacks of over-confidence bordering on arrogance. During most face-offs like this - when an administration needs the votes of the opposition party for must-pass legislation - there’s typically some sort of outreach, even by the president himself. Not so with Trump. Instead of extending an olive branch this week, the president used his Oval Office bilateral meeting with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin to attack Schumer in vicious personal terms, saying he’s “no longer Jewish” and calling him a Palestinian.
The Trump administration is counting on Chuckie Schumer to fold. But during a Senate floor speech on Wednesday evening, it certainly did not sound like he intended to fold… “Republicans do not have the votes in the Senate to invoke cloture on the House CR. Our caucus is unified on a clean April 11 CR,” Schumer said during a Senate floor speech. “We should vote on that,” Schumer said. “I hope - I hope - our Republican colleagues will join us to avoid a shutdown on Friday.”
Of course all of this is happening at a time when economic conditions are steadily deteriorating and low-income consumers are being hit particularly hard. The following comes from the Wall Street Journal…"Take low-income consumers: At an interview at the Economic Club of Chicago in late February, Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon said “budget-pressured” customers are showing stressed behaviors: They are buying smaller pack sizes at the end of the month because their “money runs out before the month is gone.” McDonald’s said in its most recent earnings call that the fast-food industry has had a “sluggish start” to the year, in part because of weak demand from low-income consumers. Across the U.S. fast-food industry, sales to low-income guests were down by a double-digit percentage in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier, according to McDonald’s."
We are certainly experiencing a lot of economic pain now, but much more is ahead if we stay on the path that we are currently on. And more signs of trouble are constantly erupting all around us. For example, the seventh largest bank in the U.S. has decided to permanently close 38 branches…"America’s seventh biggest bank will shut 38 branches as it continues to roil from massive penalties related to failures in its anti-money laundering controls.
TD Bank has filed notice with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to close locations across 10 states on June 5. Closures will include six each in New Jersey and Massachusetts, five in New York, four in New Hampshire and Maine, and three in Pennsylvania and Florida, according to The Philadelphia Business Journal."
Hundreds of U.S. banks are in bad shape, and dozens of them are in very serious trouble. Of course our banking crisis is just one element of the nightmarish economic storm that is now brewing. Hopefully our leaders will make very wise economic decisions in the days ahead. If not, things will rapidly become even more “interesting” than they are already."
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AM 3/14/25:
Adventures With Danno, "Massive Changes At Dollar Tree"
Full screen recommended.
Adventures With Danno, 3/14/25
"Massive Changes At Dollar Tree"
Comments here:
Thursday, March 13, 2025
"Holy Sh!!!!t! Russia Rejects Trump, Nukes Mobile! Markets Crash, Gold Smashes 3000"
Full screen recommended.
Canadian Prepper, 3/13/25
"Holy Sh!!!!t! Russia Rejects Trump, Nukes Mobile!
Markets Crash, Gold Smashes 3000"
Comments here:
Musical Interlude: Vangelis, "Alpha"
- Blaise Pascal
Despite ourselves, this song always suggested the images of
Mankind's relentless march through the ages to our unknown destiny...
Vangelis, "Alpha"
"A Look to the Heavens"
"Close to the Great Bear (Ursa Major) and surrounded by the stars of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici), this celestial wonder was discovered in 1781 by the metric French astronomer Pierre Mechain. Later, it was added to the catalog of his friend and colleague Charles Messier as M106. Modern deep telescopic views reveal it to be an island universe - a spiral galaxy around 30 thousand light-years across located only about 21 million light-years beyond the stars of the Milky Way. Along with a bright central core, this stunning galaxy portrait, a composite of image data from amateur and professional telescopes, highlights youthful blue star clusters and reddish stellar nurseries tracing the galaxy's spiral arms.
It also shows off remarkable reddish jets of glowing hydrogen gas. In addition to small companion galaxy NGC 4248 at bottom right, background galaxies can be found scattered throughout the frame. M106, also known as NGC 4258, is a nearby example of the Seyfert class of active galaxies, seen across the spectrum from radio to X-rays. Active galaxies are powered by matter falling into a massive central black hole."
"It's Just... Life."
“Bad things don’t happen to people because they deserve for them to happen. It just doesn’t work that way. It’s just… life. And no matter who we are, we have to take the hand we’re dealt, crappy though it may be, and try our very best to move forward anyway, to love anyway, to have hope anyway… to have faith that there’s a purpose to the journey we’re on.” - Mia Sheridan
"Life is short, break the rules. Forgive quickly, kiss slowly. Love truly.
Laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that makes you smile."
- Mark Twain
“Embracing Life-Affirming Death Awareness: How to Transform Yourself and Possibly Save Human Civilization”
“Embracing Life-Affirming Death Awareness:
How to Transform Yourself and Possibly Save Human Civilization”
By Fred Branfman
“I never want to forget the prospect of death. Because, if I am ever able to block out those emotions, I will lose the sense of purpose and focus that cancer has given my own life." — Hamilton Jordan, "No Such Thing as a Bad Day"
"My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood. The '80s were about acquiring. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. The country (is) caught up in moral decay. (Our leaders) must speak to this spiritual vacuum at the heart of American society, this tumor of the soul." — Lee Atwater, "Life" Magazine, 1991
When he was 55, a newspaper mistakenly printed an obituary of Alfred Nobel, condemning him for his invention of dynamite and stating "the merchant of death is dead." Nobel was so shocked that he created the Nobel Peace Prize.
When he was 41, Anthony Burgess, working unhappily in the British colonial service, was given a terminal diagnosis with one year to live. He quit, wrote five novels in the next year and 11 including “Clockwork Orange” by age 46.
After serving as Jimmy Carter's chief of staff, Hamilton Jordan contracted several cancers. He wrote in his memoir that cancer was "a strange blessing," and that "after my first cancer, even the smallest joys of life took on a special meaning."
His Republican counterpart Lee Atwater, known for such dirty tricks as claiming off the record that a political opponent "had been hooked up to jumper cables," contracted cancer and then apologized to Michael Dukakis for his "naked cruelty" in running the Willy Horton ad, and repudiated the "Reagan Revolution" he had done so much to create. He wrote in a 1991 Life magazine article, "What power wouldn't I trade for a little more time with my family? What price wouldn't I pay for an evening with friends? It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth. My illness has taught me something about the nature of humanity, love, brotherhood and relationships that I never understood, and probably never would have. So, from that standpoint, there is some truth and good in everything."
Former CEO Eugene O'Kelley wrote in “Chasing Daylight: How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life”, that "the present felt to me like a gift. Living in it now, maybe for the first time, I experienced more Perfect Moments and Perfect Days in two weeks than I had in the last five years. (When a CEO) I had barely even considered limiting my office schedule. I wished I'd known then how to be and stay in the present, the way I now knew it."
These people are not alone. Countless lives have been transformed for the better over the centuries by breaking through their denial about their own deaths, whether due to a terminal diagnosis, surviving a serious illness or suicide, engaging in combat, having a serious accident, being a crime victim, or experiencing the death of a loved one.
Many people find their lives enriched by facing death voluntarily, not because they were forced to. In his famous Stanford commencement speech Steve Jobs said that since he was 17, "Remembering that I'll be dead soon (has been) the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life, don't be trapped by dogma, and most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition."
Let It Come: In the summer of 1990, I was directing “Rebuild America”, a think tank whose advisors included Larry Summers, Paul Krugman, Robert Reich, and semiconductor inventor Robert Noyce, with Gov. Bill Clinton just having agreed to join as well. At 3am one night, I noticed a small fear of death arising, that I automatically pushed it away, and said to myself "Let it come!" I was plunged into the most painful experience of my life, as I felt I was disintegrating, followed by the most ecstatic moments I have ever known. The next morning I quit a sterile full-time politics that was burning me out, and embarked on a spiritual and psychological journey. After a time, I gradually returned to the world of social and political action, enriched and refreshed by my spiritual and psychological explorations.
One of my most moving experiences was spending several months with a psychologist named Jackie McEntee, after she had received a terminal diagnosis. She reported that the diagnosis was a wakeup call which led her to feel far more profoundly, deepened her relationship with her husband Bob, kids and community, and spend her time more purposefully and meaningfully. I asked whether she would rather have lived decades more as she had been living, or these few years as she was living now. She replied: "I call this my Year of Ecstasy. Sublime, incredible things have happened. That's why I wouldn't go back. Even though my previous life was good, it was not the bliss, the splendor, the ecstasy of how I live now."
I asked her what she felt her experience had to teach people who did not face a terminal diagnosis. "I think we need as a society to sustain death in our consciousness. Death is a reality by virtue of life. Our society has been in such a fog, evading death and dying, that I really think we don't live as fully because of that evasion. Well, I've learned to live fully now. And it's my deepest wish that everyone else will also—and without having to go through this kind of illness." That is a key question each of us faces. Do we want to wait for a terminal diagnosis, like Eugene O'Kelly or Jackie McEntee, before discovering that facing death could have transformed our lives for the better years earlier? Or do we wish to explore that question now?
There is no whitewashing the fact that feeling our sadness about our approaching deaths is more painful than defending against it. But, as adults, we can stand it. Doing so can release the enormous psychic energy we have been repressing, enriching our lives and leading to a far greater concern for those in need today and all who will follow us.
Feeling Our Sadness: The most important common feature of those whose lives have been enriched by facing their death is that they were willing to experience sadness and even intense pain about having to lose what they value in this life, and then used it as energy to transform their lives for the better. One could hear that sadness pulsating through the voice of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., as he faced his own pain at social injustice and living under a daily threat of death. Sadness is the opposite of the closed, contracted state we call depression. As in the case of Dr. King, it can energize and activate, connecting people on a far deeper level than anger or outrage.
As Hamilton Jordan suggests, it is possible to "block out" much of the emotional pain that can arise even from a terminal diagnosis. We can use antidepressants, entertainment, constant activity, exercise, and a variety of other means to maintain the denial of death we have practiced since early childhood. As Jordan put it, "Nobody thinks too much on Desolation Row," especially about their own deaths, as long as they keep busy and occupied with other matters. But as he also found, daring to feel one's pain at the prospect of death can transform one's life.
I discovered this truth, to my amazement, when my life was transformed by facing my own eventual death at age 48. When the death anxiety I had been repressing burst to the surface I discovered that facing it, though painful, released enormous energy, appreciation for the preciousness of life, deep reservoirs of feeling I never knew existed, and a deep desire to contribute to the wellbeing of those who would follow me. Indeed, the more emotional pain I was consciously willing to feel about my death, the more truly alive, loving, empathetic and appreciative I felt. It was almost mathematical: more pain, more life; more life, more pain.
The key was to consciously bring my pain to the surface. We normally avoid doing so as much as possible, and only react with denial, anger, bargaining or depression when we must, which can make it much harder to handle. But when we choose to bring our sadness to the surface so as to release energy for life, as Hamilton Jordan and Lee Atwater found, it can enhance our experience of life in ways we never dreamed possible—and transform our attitudes toward political action as well.
Facing death openly does not necessarily, of course, lead to political action. The opposite is often true. Many people in their retirement years react to reminders of death by turning to meditation and other spiritual and religious practices. They feel they've done enough politically, and they pursue long-deferred creative projects, focus on their grandchildren, face health issues, care for their mates, or conserve their declining energy.
Much of this is healthy for the individual and society. Spiritually inclined, serene and peaceful elders who have moved beyond materialism and frenetic activity can serve as important role models for an America that badly needs to move beyond the "acquisition," frenetic activity and mindless materialism Lee Atwater so rightly decried. "Don't just do something, sit there," as Buddhist teacher Sylvia Boorstein has written. If enough of us experienced “a touch of Enlightenment," the world would be a far better place.
Facing Our Deaths: Facing repressed death anxiety can benefit anyone at any age. In their book, "Beyond Death Anxiety: Achieving Life-Affirming Death Awareness", the psychotherapist Robert Firestone and Joyce Catlett explain how we first learn we will die between the ages of 3 and 8, and we automatically repress this frightening information. We continue this pattern as adults, rarely reexamining whether it make sense to continue this denial of our death, although we now have the tools to handle it.
They explain how our unconscious death anxiety influences every aspect of our adult lives, including our relationships and our sexuality. We often either unconsciously distance ourselves because true intimacy is so painful, or we violently turn against our partners when we realize they will not be the saviors we imagined. Our anxiety about death affects our child-rearing, as we often partly have children because we wish to live on through them, and then seek to control them so they will be the kind of "immortality vehicle" we seek. Death anxiety also lies at the heart of much of the midlife crisis many undergo, and explains many of our social behaviors as well. We identify with religious, ethnic or national "immortality vehicles" (USA! USA! USA!), because if the "other" triumphs, our own will fail. These processes are unconscious, which is why they have so much power.
The importance of Firestone and Catlett's work is that it is not based upon theory but the actual lived experience of a group of over 100 friends who have broken through much of the death-denial and openly discuss their death anxiety on a regular basis. This experience indicates, first of all, that people can bear it—while painful, surfacing repressed death anxiety does not destroy one's equilibrium, but enhances it. They have discovered that sharing their sadness together is a positive, life-enhancing experience. It also leads to greater empathy and compassion for each other and for the world as a whole.
Gifts of Death Awareness: Reports by people whose lives have been transformed by facing their own deaths reveal what might be called the gifts of death awareness. Examples of these gifts include:
• Increased aliveness and vitality: Feeling sadness about our mortality can release enormous reservoirs of psychic energy, aliveness and vitality that is otherwise wasted on repressing our death-feelings.
• A wider range of feeling: We cannot repress painful feelings without repressing joyful ones as well. Death awareness can widen and deepen our feelings. We find we can stand the painful feelings we have spent a lifetime avoiding. We open up new vistas of love, appreciation, tenderness, joy, compassion, and empathy.
• Deeper relationships: When we deny our pain about our own death and those of loved ones, we often unconsciously pull away from intimacy. Repressing feelings not only deadens us, but causes us to shrink from the pain that true closeness brings. Consciously facing death can lead to deeper intimacy and love for those closest to us. A friend recently wrote me about attending a funeral and sitting with the sister of the deceased, weeping side by side without saying anything for 15 minutes. It was their most intimate interaction in a decade, and it forged a lifelong bond between them.
• Increased life-purpose and passion: Like Hamilton Jordan, Steve Jobs and countless others, facing the shortness of time we have left often leads to a greater sense of purpose and focus. Our passion is increased, as we realize that with the time we have left we will create what we wish to create, and enjoy our most precious experiences.
• Wider perspective: People facing death commonly report that they gain a greater sense of perspective, are less prone to petty fears, slights, jealousies, and anxieties, and have their sights raised to issues of meaning and the human condition. Facing our mortality broadens our perspective.
• Great lucidity and sanity: When one becomes exposed to death, often when parents die, many experience a painful but somehow liberating sense of clarity and sanity. As I was flying back to New York from Florida after my father's death, I found myself writing these words: "I have been living as if I will never die, which is a lie. And to live a lie is not really to live at all."
• Greater creativity: Increased passion often brings greater creativity. As Steve Jobs noted, death-awareness can lead us to commit to following our own path and not be trapped by the opinions of others.
• Greater compassion and empathy: Death awareness can lead us to focus on what we have in common with our fellow beings. It is not only that we are all going to die, but that we are all facing similar difficulties in dealing with this fact. As we become more feeling, our compassion can also deepen and extend to millions who suffer unnecessarily.
• The courage to be vulnerable: Though we tend to see courage as involving strength, decisiveness and risk-taking, the greater bravery is daring to feel and display our vulnerability. Facing death leads to a softer and more feeling appreciation of life and closer relationships with those around us.
• Gratitude, appreciation and awe: Experiencing our vulnerability as creatures who will die can lead to the most precious possible experiences of appreciation and awe that life even exists, let alone that we have been privileged to participate in it. It is precisely because our time with loved ones, or our opportunity to experience life, is so limited that it is so precious.
• Greater aesthetic appreciation: Death awareness opens us up to the beauty of life in space and in time. We become more aware of fleeting and infinitely precious moments of beauty.
• Spiritual openings and the experience of oneness with life: Death awareness can lead to unmediated, direct spiritual experiences in which the personal ego dissolves and we experience a sense of oneness with all life, including the countless humans who have preceded us and those who will follow us.
• Greater concern for preserving civilization for future generations: Such death-influenced spiritual experiences can lead to a greater commitment to saving human civilization for our offspring and all who will follow us.
Exploring Life-Affirming Death Awareness: Words are cheap and only useful if they encourage us to experiment for ourselves whether they might be true. This is particularly true for an issue like whether to surface our sadness about death, which goes against the habits of a lifetime. The following exercises are meant to help us explore how we wish to respond to the fact of our eventual deaths. Many of us have never consciously considered this question as adults, continuing the denial of our feelings that we first learned as kids. But we may find now that exploring this issue can enrich and revitalize our lives, as well as all society.
These explorations are intended to help explore two basic issues: 1) feeling rather than denying painful feelings about our eventual death; 2) using these feelings as energy to live with more purpose and compassion. These exercise tend to yield the deepest results if they are preceded by some minutes of quiet reflection.
1. Focus on what unites us. Pick a time-period—a few hours, a day, longer—in which you focus on what you have in common with each person you see or interact with, whether you know them or not. They, like you, are going to one day die; they, like you, are confused and frightened by this knowledge, and tend to think or feel about it as little as possible; and they, like you, may have a dull look in their eyes, or rigid expression on their face, partly because they are using up precious psychic energy to repress their death anxiety.
Note what you are feeling as you engage in this exercise, particularly any feelings of compassion or empathy for yourself or others. How does this exercise make you feel? Does this exercise in any way change how you feel toward others? Perhaps extend this exercise by meeting with people you normally dislike or disagree with, and note whether any change in your normal feelings arise as a result.
2. Appreciate a last meal or walk. Set aside a time when you can eat a meal alone in a quiet place, and imagine it is the last meal you will ever eat. Eat slowly, noting each smell, how each component of the meal tastes, everything it took for this meal to reach you, from the life of the animal or plant involved to the apparatus—farmer, transport, supermarket, etc.—required to get this food to you. Note your feelings at the prospect that this will be the last meal you will ever eat in this lifetime.
Set a time to take a walk, imagining it is the last walk you will ever take on this earth. Walk extremely slowly, taking the time to smell every smell, hear every sound, see every sight. Note the feelings that arise, whether sadness that you will never have this experience again, or gratitude that you have been able to have this experience of life. As you return to daily life, reflect on whether these experiences change how you might want to eat or take walks from here on out.
3. Appreciate the preciousness of life. Reflect upon those experiences of life you most value at this point in your life, perhaps making a list of them in order, e.g. your experiences of loved ones, travel, learning, contributing, nature, art, and so on and so forth.
Now notice the feelings that emerge as you go through the list, and imagine never being able to have those experiences again. Note where the feelings of sadness, loss or worse, are most intense. Although you are likely to experience a range of feelings, including a distancing from feeling, focus on any feelings of sadness that arise as you understand dying as losing the experiences of life that you most value. Reflect on what your sadness tells you about the parts of your life you value most, your deepest regrets, your deepest desire for developing the qualities you desire, your relationship to the violence and injustice of the world, the unfinished business of your life, internal and external.
4. Appreciate loved ones and friends. Pick a moment when you can gaze upon a loved one or close friend. Either with eyes closed or open, imagine her head as the skull it will be, her body as the skeleton it will become after she dies. Feel the sadness, the pain of it. Now return to the present, feel your love for her, your appreciation of the fact that you can have this experience of her. Note your feelings of appreciation for the fact that you can now experience her, the preciousness of this opportunity to know, interact with and love her.
5. Feel valued by society. Imagine that you had died today and were reading your obituary in the newspaper. Write out what you imagine it might say. Imagine you have another 10 years to live, and then write out your obituary as you would like it to appear then. Conclude by noting the key changes you need to make in your life so as to have your obituary read as you would like it to a decade from now.
6. Set priorities, inner and outer. Imagine that you are on your deathbed, looking back on your life. (This exercise is best conducted while lying on your back, in a dark room, in the actual position you are most likely to be in while facing your actual end.) Note the outer events—your accomplishments, impact on your kids, grandkids, community, America, the world—that are the most meaningful to you at this point. Note the inner events that are most meaningful—ways in which you developed internally, touching experiences with loved ones, friends, nature, the cosmos, moments of spiritual transcendence, etc. Note which kinds of experiences are the most meaningful, inner and outer, past and present, or the impact your life will have after you have gone. Note your feelings about the state of the world you are leaving behind.
Think of those people who have wronged you whom you wish to forgive, or those from whom you wish to ask forgiveness. Perhaps write letters to the most important ones. After conducting this exercise, reflect on whether the thoughts and feelings you had have any implications for how you want to lead your life from here on out. Did you note any enhanced experiences of aliveness and energy, compassion or love for yourself or others, the world, greater serenity, a greater sense of direction and life-purpose, a greater concern for the environment and the world you are leaving behind, a deeper sense of spirituality and connection to all things?
7. Looking backward, looking forward. Reflect on the next 10 years of your life— the people with whom you will interact, the places you will visit, the countless feelings you will experience, and so forth. Reflect upon how long these 10 years seem, how rich the many experiences you will have. Now reflect back on the last 10 years of your life, note how it all seems to have passed in an instant.
Now imagine that you are on your deathbed, looking back on the time between now and when you die. Reflect on how it, too, will seem to have passed in an instant. Reflect on any implications this may have for how you want to live from here on out, whether it helps illuminate what is and isn't important to you, whether it seems to call for an increased commitment to any sort of activities or experiences, and so forth.
8. The precious shortness of life. Imagine your doctor has just told you that you have three years to live in full possession of your health, after which you will decline precipitously and die. Reflect on what you imagine your priorities, internal and external, would be if you knew you had but three more years to live. Would you change anything about your present life? Relationships? External projects? Inner development? Would you live with greater purpose and waste less time? Would you devote yourself to artistic creation, travel or political activity? How would your relationships with people change? Then imagine that your doctor tells you he was mistaken, and you can look forward to a normal lifespan. If you would have lived differently if you had only three years to live, does this have any implications for your future now?”
"Only One Question..."
"There's only one question that matters, and it's the one you never get around to asking. People are capable of varying degrees of truth. The majority spend their entire lives fabricating an elaborate skein of lies, immersing themselves in the faith of bad faith, doing whatever it takes to feel safe. The person who truly lives has precious few moments of safety, learns to thrive in any kind of storm. It's the truth you can stare down stone-cold that makes you what you are. Weak or strong. Live or die. Prove yourself. How much truth can you take?"
- Karen Marie Moning
"Every Day..."
“Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on their fellow humans to gain or maintain power. What is more, those who choose not to empathize may enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it through our own apathy. If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”
– J. K. Rowling, Harvard Commencement, June 5, 2008
Dan, I Allegedly, "Consumer Panic Hits Rich and Poor"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 3/13/25
"Consumer Panic Hits Rich and Poor"
"In today’s video on IAllegedly, I’m breaking down why everyone’s struggling right now - no matter their income level. From Walmart to high-end brands like Louis Vuitton, the signs of economic strain are everywhere. People aren’t just cutting back; they’re shopping smarter, skipping luxury items, and even buying fewer basics like deli meats or snacks. This is a wake-up call for all of us to rethink spending habits and prepare for what’s next.
Whether it’s inflation, shrinking paychecks, or rising costs, this economic “detox” is hitting hard across the board. But don’t panic—there are ways to navigate this. I’m sharing tips on finding deals, building financial resilience, and staying ahead during these tough times. It’s not about doom and gloom - it’s about making smart choices and keeping your household afloat."
Comments here:
o
Full screen recommended.
ThisisJohnWilliams, 3/13/25
"It’s Happening:
Consumer Loans Are Getting Cut Off"
Comments here:
Gerald Celente, "Market Meltdown! Gold Soars! Prepare For What's Next!"
Strong language alert!
Gerald Celente, 3/13/25"
"Market Meltdown! Gold Soars! Prepare For What's Next!"
"The Trends Journal is a weekly magazine analyzing global current events forming future trends. Our mission is to present Facts and Truth over fear and propaganda to help subscribers prepare for What’s Next in these increasingly turbulent times."
Comments here:
Jeremiah Babe, "I'm Getting Worried For The Average American"
Jeremiah Babe, 3/13/25
"I'm Getting Worried For The Average American"
Comments here:
Gregory Mannarino, "Crash - The World Economy Is Free-Falling, And You Are A Casualty Of War"
Gregory Mannarino, AM 3/13/25
"Crash - The World Economy Is Free-Falling,
And You Are A Casualty Of War"
Comments here:
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Gregory Mannarino, PM 3/13/25
"Yes, It's Worse Than We Think!
And With That Be Prepared For Anything!"
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Dan, I Allegedly, "Your Favorite Small Business Will Close - Small Business Credit Crisis"
Full screen recommended.
Dan, I Allegedly, 3/13/25
"Your Favorite Small Business Will Close -
Small Business Credit Crisis"
"Small businesses are collapsing, and the TRUTH you need to hear right now is being swept under the rug. In this video, I’m breaking down how credit issues, delayed tax refunds, and a shaky economy are pushing small businesses to the brink. From empty sandwich shops to unpaid invoices, this ripple effect is devastating - and it’s only getting worse. Plus, I’m diving into the real estate drama, housing price drops, zombie foreclosures, and the shocking realities landlords are facing. What does this mean for you? Whether you’re a small business owner, renter, or homeowner, these economic shifts are hitting hard. Let’s talk about how to protect yourself, your money, and your business in these uncertain times. Are you ready for what’s coming?"
Comments here:
Bill Bonner, "All Measures Necessary"
"All Measures Necessary"
by Bill Bonner
"President Trump wanted a trade war with the world,
and Americans are getting it, good and hard."
- Wall Street Journal
Baltimore, Maryland - "This just in. Bloomberg: "Trump Vows 200% Tariff on EU Wine, Escalating Trade Tensions." "President Donald Trump threatened to enact a 200% tariff on European wine, champagne and other alcoholic beverages, the latest escalation in a brewing trade war between the US and the EU."
What a wild and ridiculous ride. Whee! The Primary Political Trend is headed down… and taking us down with it. You’ll recall our unwelcome guess: that the real historical role for Donald Trump was not to arrest America’s decline…but to hasten it. That is not to say that Mr. Trump is wrong about everything. The Department of Education should have been abolished long ago; education is a local issue, not a national one. Eliminating wokeism and DEI, firing federal employees, etc - much of what Trump is doing is a pleasure to watch. But it doesn’t do any good to put a new label on the bottle if the wine is bad.
After Karine Jean-Pierre, we thought we might have seen the last of the air-head press secretaries at the White House. But no. Irish Times: "Tariffs proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump are a ‘tax cut for Americans,’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday at a tense press conference that included her regretting giving a reporter a question. Leavitt briefed reporters when she clashed with an Associated Press reporter who questioned her about Trump's tax cut promises made on the presidential campaign trail."
Up is down. War is peace. And a tax increase is now a tax cut. This is sour wine. Yesterday, Trump imposed ‘tax cuts’ all over the world…principally on steel and aluminum. Canadians escaped a doubled levy…after threatening to cut off electricity to New York. Trump accuses Canada of ‘ripping us off.’ But Canada’s tariff protections are generally lower than those of the US.
No matter. This isn’t science. Or math. It’s politics. And tawdry politics is what we’re talking about today. An economy either produces what ‘The People’ want…or the elites use politics to get what they want. Typically, there’s a tolerable and fairly reliable middle ground, where the masses don’t mind being ripped off in exchange for the predictability of a stable ruling class.
In a free, honest economy, people make money by trading with each other, with exact outcomes largely unforeseeable. In a politicized economy, on the other hand, hustlers make money by gaming government policies. They know exactly who will get the loot. If they are big steel companies, with big steel-workers’ unions, located in ‘swing states,’ for example, they might ask for tariffs…so they can sell their products at higher prices.
And in a declining empire, such as the Soviet Union in 1991, the opportunities for grift and self-dealing multiply. The old Soviet Union had resources. They were administered by civil servants - apparatchiks and nomenklatura. Then, when the system imploded, these insiders were able to pick up the pieces and become fabulously rich ‘oligarchs.’
Broadly, the more politics the less real freedom and prosperity. That’s why, when politics is on the rise, the Primary Political Trend is down. But none of the victims, of yesterday’s trade war attack seems ready to roll over. The BBC: "Canada's government is announcing how it is hitting back after tariffs of 25% on steel and aluminum imports came into effect this morning. The three government ministers are expected to say Canada will impose more than $20bn in retaliatory tariffs. Canada is the biggest foreign supplier of steel and aluminum to the United States."
The EU says it will strike back with countermeasures on $28 billion worth of US goods…putting tariffs on “everything from bourbon to motorbikes.” “We deeply regret these measures,” said Ursula von der Leyen. “Tariffs are a tax. They are bad for business. And worse for consumers.” China says it will take ‘all measures necessary’ to protect its interests.
Antagonizing allies as well as enemies? What is the point? Whatever the aim, the result will probably weaken the old empire, turning it into a friendless pariah - raising consumer prices while making domestic industries less competitive and more in need of political protection. And as the empire declines so does the real value of its capital assets. Look for continued, long-term, drift downward in both the Primary Political Trend (more politics)…and the Primary Market Trend (lower asset prices, in gold)."
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