Fake wars are everywhere. From Bill Bonner at bonnerandpartners.com:
A cigarette that bears a lipstick’s traces
An airline ticket to romantic places
– Billie Holiday, “These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)”
BALTIMORE – South Beach…
Last week, we were sitting in the hotel restaurant in Miami Beach having breakfast…
A man – about 30 – was leaning on the counter. His dirty pants were falling down. He wore a black t-shirt with a skeleton on it. He put his head down on the counter… and said something incomprehensible.
He got a cup of coffee… and staggered over to a chair and flopped down, talking to himself.
After a few minutes, he got up. He clutched his pants, which were almost around his knees. He wobbled. He lurched. He headed for the door and disappeared out through it.
Then, a woman… voluptuous… pretty… dressed in white jeans, with a very low-cut t-shirt came in the same door.
She looked in our direction. She said something. We couldn’t make it out… Was she asking the time of day? Directions? We smiled.
She came towards us and sat down next to us on the couch.
She whispered…
“Would you like a massage?”
Two young men came in. Shorts. T-shirts. Almost identical outfits. But one wore his baseball cap backwards. They held hands. Smiled at each other. They got cappuccinos.
They left.
South Beach.
Deceit and Delusion
But now, we are back in Baltimore, visiting our new granddaughter. Then, we’ll be off again, back to Ireland.
There was a time when we looked forward to traveling. Buying an airline ticket to a romantic place promised a thrill, an adventure… and a learning experience.
Now, we’d rather stay home. But now, the cost of not traveling is higher than the benefit of staying home. We’re taking care of business, in other words. And as business has grown, so has the need to take care of it.
But let’s turn to our familiar beat – the world of money. Or, more particularly, the world of deceit and delusion known as “economics.” Unromantic. Tawdry. But fascinating.
Staged Revenge
When we left off last week, we were looking at fake wars. As you know, these are wars that no one wants to win, since their real purpose is to shift wealth from the public to the war-fighting industries.
Our point was that even fake wars sometimes spin out of control – when people forget what kind of war they’re fighting, for example.
Early in the week, U.S. president Donald J. Trump was taking the trade war far too seriously. Then, his Deep State handlers must have straightened him out on that; before the week was over, he declared that he wanted to get back into the Trans-Pacific Partnership!
To continue reading: Trump’s Deal With the Deep State
