Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has reached 23 percent in a new Forsa poll, marking the highest poll result the party has ever reached for a Forsa poll at the national level.
AfD co-chair Alice Weidel. (afd.de)
The poll, conducted for RTL/ntv’s trend barometer, shows the AfD has gained one point compared to last week, while the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) remain the top party in Germany, standing at 31 percent.
Combined, the AfD and CDU/CSU could easily form a coalition government if elections were held now.
At the same time, the poll shows the dire state of the ruling coalition, with the Social Democrats (SPD) at 14 percent, the Greens at 13 percent, and FDP at 5 percent. The Left party (Die Linke) lost one point, falling to 3 percent.
The RTL/ntv trend barometer shows a number of hypothetical options for chancellor, with 15 percent choosing Olaf Scholz, 24 percent Friedrich Merz, and 18 percent Robert Habeck.
In another potential configuration involving Scholz, Merz and Annalena Baerbock, Scholz comes in at 19 percent, Merz at 27 percent, and Baerbock is at 17 percent.
The AfD’s plan to run Alice Weidel in the chancellor position is not reflected as an option in the poll.
The poll also asked whether respondents had the impression that politicians at the federal level understand what “moves” people in their everyday lives, to which 81 percent of Germans answered in the negative.
No one ever lost money betting on the ability of the Empire of Chaos, Lies and Plunder to construct a “coalition of the willing” whenever faced with a geopolitical quandary.
In every case, duly covered by the reigning “rules-based international order”, “willing” applies to vassals seduced by carrots or sticks to follow to the letter the Empire’s whims.
Cue to the latest chapter: Coalition Genocide Prosperity, whose official – heroic – denomination, a trademark of the Pentagon’s P.R. wizards, is “Operation Prosperity Guardian”, allegedly engaged in “ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.”
Translation: this is Washington all but declaring war on Yemen’s Ansarullah. An extra US destroyer has already been dispatched to the Red Sea.
The Houthi military not only reaffirmed it has “weapons to sink your aircraft carriers and destroyers” but made a stunning call to both Sunnis and Shi’ites in Bahrain to revolt and overthrow their King, Hamad al-Khalifa.
As of Monday, even before the start of the operation, the Eisenhower aircraft carrier was around 280 km off the closest Ansarullah controlled latitudes. Houthis have Zoheir and Khalij-e-Fars anti-ship ballistic missiles with a range of 300 to 500 km.
Ansarullah Supreme Political Council member Muhammad al-Bukhaiti felt compelled to re-stress the obvious: “Even if America succeeds in mobilizing the entire world, our operations in the Red Sea will not stop unless the massacre in Gaza stops. We will not give up the responsibility of defending the Moustazafeen (oppressed ones) of the Earth.”
The world better get ready: “Aircraft carrier sunk” may become the new 9/11.
Shipping in the Red Sea Remains Open
Weapons peddler Lloyd “Raytheon” Austin, in his current revolving door position as head of the Pentagon, is visiting West Asia – mostly Israel, Qatar and Bahrain – to promote this new “international initiative” for patrolling the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb strait (which links the Arabian Sea to the Red Sea) and the Gulf of Aden.
As al-Bukhaiti remarked, Ansarullah’s strategy is to target any ship navigating the Red Sea linked to Israeli companies or supplying Israel – something that for the Yemenis demonstrates their complicity with the Gaza genocide. That will only stop when the genocide stops.
With a single move – a de facto maritime blockade – Ansarullah proved that the King is Naked: Yemen has done more in practice to defend the Palestinian cause than most of the key regional players put together. Incidentally, they were all ordered by Netanyahu in public to shut up. And they did.
It’s quite instructive to once again follow the money. Israel has been hit very hard. The port of Eilat is virtually closed, and its income fell by 80%.
For instance, Taiwanese shipping giant Yang-Ming Marine Transport Corporation originally planned to re-route its Israel-bound cargo to the port of Ashdod. Then it cut off any shipments to any Israeli destination.
It’s no wonder Yoram Sebba, President of the Israel Chamber of Shipping, revealed himself to be puzzled by Ansarullah’s “complex” tactics and “unrevealed” criteria that have imposed “total uncertainty”. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan have also been caught in the Yemeni net.
It’s crucial to keep in perspective that Ansarullah only blocks ships that are going to Israel. The bulk of maritime shipping in the Red Sea remains wide open.
So shipping giant Maersk’s decision not to use the Red Sea, alongside other global shipping behemoths, may be pushing the envelope too fast – as in nearly begging for a US-led patrol to be in effect.
Enter CTF 153
So far, on one side we have Yemen virtually ruling the Red Sea. On the other side, we find UAE-Saudi-Jordan tandem, in the form of an – alternative – cargo land corridor set up from the port of Jebel Ali in the Persian Gulf across Saudi Arabia to Jordan and then Israel.
The corridor uses logistical tech from Trucknet: that’s truck-based overland connectivity in practice, reducing transport time from 14 days via the Red Sea to a maximum of 4 days on the road, 300 trucks a day, everyday.
Jordan of course is in, operating the trans-shipment from the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The overarching framework for all this is the One Israel plan, enthusiastically promoted by Netanyahu, whose key aim is a link with the Arabian peninsula and most of all the NEOM tech metropolis to be built theoretically up to 2039 in the northwestern Tabuk province in Saudi Arabia, north of the Red Sea, east of Egypt across the Gulf of Aqaba, and south of Jordan.
NEOM is MbS’s project to modernize the country, which is incidentally bound to feature Israel-operated AI cities.
This is what Riyadh is really betting on, much more than developing closer relations with Iran under the framework of BRICS+. Or to care about the future of Palestine.
On the planned naval blockade of Yemen though, the Saudis were way more circumspect. Even as Tel Aviv directly asked the White House to do something, anything, Riyadh “advised” Washington to exercise some restraint.
Yet as few things matter most for the Straussian neocon psychos who currently direct US policy than to protect the trade interests in the Red Sea of its aircraft-carrier in West Asia, the decision to set up a “coalition” was all but inevitable.
Enter the latest – actually fourth – incarnation of the Combined Maritime Force (CMF): a multinational coalition from 39 nations established in 2002 and led by the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.
The task force already exists: it’s CTF 153, focusing on “international maritime security and capacity building efforts in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb and Gulf of Aden”. That’s the basis for Coalition Genocide Prosperity.
Members of CTF 153 include, apart from the usual suspects US, UK, France and Canada, Europeans such as Norway, Italy, Netherlands and Spain, superpower Seychelles and Bahrain (the Fifth Fleet element).
Saudi Arabia and UAE, crucially, are not members. They know, after a seven-year war, when they were part of another “coalition” (the US was sort of “leading from behind”) what it means to fight Ansarullah.
All Aboard the Northern Sea Route
If the Red Sea situation turns really red, it will instantly shatter the Riyadh-Sanaa ceasefire. The White House and the US Deep State simply do not want a peace deal. They want Saudi Arabia at war with Yemen.
The Red Sea turned red will also send the global energy crisis into a tailspin. After all at least four million barrels of oil and 12% of total global seaborne-trade to the West transits the Bab al-Mandeb every single day.
So once again we have graphic confirmation that the Empire of Chaos, Lies and Plunder only calls for ceasefires when it’s losing badly: see the Ukraine case.
Yet no ceasefire in Gaza – supported by the overwhelming majority if UN member-states – runs the risk of metastasizing into an expansion of the war in West Asia.
That may fit into the clumsy imperial rationale of setting West Asia on fire to disturb China’s commercial BRI drive and the entry of Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE into the expanded BRICS next month. Simultaneously, and in tune with the absence of real strategic planning in Washington, that does not take into consideration an array of appalling, unintended consequences.
So according to imperial optics, the only path ahead is further militarization – from the Mediterranean to the Suez Canal, the Gulf of Aqaba, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. That fits exactly into the framework of the War of Economic Corridors.
An axiom should be set in stone: Washington would rather bet on a possible, deep global recession than simply allowing a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. The recession may well turbo-charge a widespread economic collapse of the collective West, and an even more rapid rise of multipolarity.
To offer much needed relief of so much insanity: almost casually, President Putin recently remarked that the Northern Sea Route is now becoming a more efficient maritime trade corridor than the Suez Canal.
From drip coffees to decadent lattes, every cup of coffee begins its journey from the humble coffee bean. A massive global coffee trade moves these beans from farms in one country to cafes in another.
In this piece, Airi Ryu uses data from Chatham House’s resourcetrade.earth to track the global trade of unroasted and non-decaffeinated coffee beans in 2019, highlighting the world’s top coffee exporters and importers.
The Biggest Exporters in the Global Coffee Trade
Close to 84% of the world’s coffee bean exports come from just 10 countries.
All these countries are found in the “Bean Belt” between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn where coffee grows best. These top coffee-producing nations include Brazil, Vietnam, and Colombia.
Here are the top coffee exporting nations in 2019:
The South American nations of Brazil, Colombia, and Peru export nearly 42% of the global coffee beans. Brazil exported over 2.2 million tonnes in 2019 alone, more than a quarter of the global coffee trade.
Across the Pacific, Vietnam and Indonesia together exported 23.4% of the world’s coffee beans in 2019. Other major exporters include the Central American nations of Honduras and Guatemala, which combined for 8.7% of global coffee bean exports, and the African nations Uganda and Ethiopia with 6.7% combined.
Biggest Coffee Bean Importers, By Country
On the other side of the global coffee trade are nations with high demand for coffee dominating import shares. Many of these importing nations also re-export coffee beans to other parts of the world under their own local brands.
Here are the top coffee importing nations in 2019:
The U.S. is the largest importer of coffee beans in the world, bringing in 1.5 million tonnes of unroasted coffee beans in 2019, equivalent to 19.3% of all exports that year. While Brazil and Colombia are its biggest sources of coffee, beans imported from Asia and Central America also thrive thanks to a strong specialty coffee culture.
Europe is also a massive destination for coffee bean exports. Germany led the way with 14.2% of global coffee imports, while Italy accounted for 8.3%.
A brewing coffee culture in Japan has made the country a major player in the global coffee trade. In 2019, Japan was the fourth-largest coffee bean importer in the world and far and away the leading importer in Asia.
As the desire for coffee continues to permeate throughout the world, and as climate change puts a strain on coffee production (and vice versa), the flows of coffee beans are sure to change in the coming decades.
“There are two kinds of forecasters: those who don’t know, and those who don’t know they don’t know.”
Forecasts create the mirage that the future is knowable – Peter Bernstein
Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said, “the central bank isn’t really discussing cutting interest rates right now.” Are they, or aren’t they? Who knows? (Ed)
“The problem is that by forcing prices into unnatural places for too long the manipulators interfere with this thing we call reality.” Chris Martenson
In our line of work, there is a common saying: the market can stay irrational longer than one can stay solvent.
Lately, it appears we should revise the ending of that saying to include “or sane.”
Having priced in nearly double the number of rate cuts given by the Fed’s forward guidance for 2024 (-140 bps vs. -75 bps), the market has declared the inflation problem solved and the glidepath to a goldilocks economy all but certain. Stuck in yesteryear’s paradigm of inflation, rates, and earnings multiple revaluation, risk assets have melted up in a crazed frenzy. John Authers – Bloomberg
“Many of those numbers are not really true – look at inflation. If there is anybody who believes that inflation is what they publish, you know, you cannot be serious. Of course, inflation is another number. My inflation is probably 10% of my basket of goods and services I consume, and so it is for many other people, so I think the numbers are made up, you know.
The shelter part of the CPI is a problem, and it is exaggerated on the downside, and recently they exchanged what was it health care insurance premiums for healthcare insurance profits of those companies – I mean, it’s ridiculous. So I think inflation is in fact higher, and that would mean that a higher and higher percentage of the US consumer is struggling, is struggling more than what the statistics tell us, and credit card delinquencies are probably pointing in that direction.”
John Williams agrees with Felix’s 10% inflation rate. The CPI on the Alternate Data Series, shown below, reflects the CPI as if it were calculated using the methodologies in place in 1980. In general terms, methodological shifts in government reporting have depressed reported inflation, moving the concept of the CPI away from being a measure of the cost of living needed to maintain a constant standard of living.
“The percentage of companies with strong/healthy Altman Z-scores (which combine account profitability, leverage, liquidity, solvency, activity ratios, etc. to measure bankruptcy risk) has dropped below 10% for first time on record” John Authers – Bloomberg
On the FEDeral Reserve: We have to get away from this PhD standard, the improvisation of our monetary masters who, having earned a doctorate in economics, they think they know things they cannot possibly know.
” If you look at the computer models, which not just the bank of England, but other central banks use, whatever you do to monetary policy, inflation always comes back to 2%. Why does it do that? Because the model says it has to, it’s built in, it’s an assumption.”
Got gold?
It may seem quaint, but there was a time pre-1971 when you could divide the monetary aggregates (there are several) by the amount of gold held by the US Treasury and you would derive the reference price of $35/oz.
And in 1980 when gold soared to $800/oz the dollar was 100% backed by the gold the US held.
What is shocking is the amount of paper money created since that time frame.
If one were to do the same calculation today (monetary aggregates/gold ounces held by the US Treasury) it would take a gold price of $80,000/oz to balance the equation.
A far cry from today’s $1,950/oz.
Mark Twain was right“One of the most important reasons for studying history is that virtually every stupid idea that is in vogue today has been tried before and proved disastrous before, time and again.” – Thomas Sowell
Think about this one… “For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.” – Richard Feynman
If your system of government relies upon the sagacity and ethics of the leaders who run it to keep you safe and free, you are engaging in utopian thinking and you’re going to get the tyranny you deserve.
Oh dear…😯
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” – Stephen Hawking
And finally, a thought to carry into 2024 and beyond
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.
Nikki Haley Tries To Tie Putin To Israel Attackers, Says Gazans Should Be Resettled In ‘Pro-Hamas Countries’
Two ultra controversial and somewhat bizarre statements from Nikki Haley this week on the Israel-Hamas war… first, the Republican presidential candidate lashed out at what she called the “pro-Hamas” countries of Iran, Qatar, and Turkey in a fresh ABC News interview.
She said these countries, given their well-known ‘support’ to the terror group, should take in all Palestinians fleeing the war in Gaza. During the discussion Haley was asked where the war refugees in Gaza should go. She responded: “They should be going to the Rafah gate and [have] Egypt take them.” That’s when she added the controversial statement, “But I’ve always said that what you should have is that they should go to pro-Hamas countries — Qatar, Iran, Turkey… send them there… Those are pro-Hamas countries.” Watch:
“Palestinians should go to pro Hamas countries” @NikkiHaley uncensored and unafraid to say it like it is. She’s so right. pic.twitter.com/StNZCULsFd
“Why won’t Egypt take them? Because they don’t trust which ones are terrorists and which ones aren’t? It’s a sad state of affairs, but the reality of that evil is very clear in Arab countries too. Arab countries have very much always been cautious and know the threats that Iran can place,” she posed further.
“They don’t want those terrorist proxies coming after them…”. And more from her commentary:
“Why isn’t everybody talking to Egypt? Why aren’t they talking to Turkey? Why aren’t they talking to Qatar? Why aren’t they talking to Iran? Why aren’t they doing something to help the Palestinians? Why is it that you come back to Israel and the US? It’s always the case.”
“If [the October 7 attack] had happened to America, do you not think that we would have hit back?” asks Haley, who is trying to pull off an improbable primary win over GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.
Even before the crisis which kicked off with the Oct.7 Hamas attacks, Haley has long been a staunch supporter of Israel and has advocated for keeping up maximal US defense and foreign aid. Israel remains the biggest recipient, at over $3 billion annually. In this case, the Netanyahu government would likely agree with her, given it’s been trying to press Egypt to take in hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and place then in tent cities in the Sinai desert.
Second, she also had some interesting (ahem) things to say about an alleged Putin-Hamas connection at a recent campaign rally…
“Hamas invaded Israel on October 7th, October 7th is Putin’s birthday,” Haley told a crowd of supporters.
Nikki Haley is now psychotically claiming that Putin’s birthday is on Oct 7 & that’s somehow related to Hamas’ attack on Israel.
You can see the $$ signs flashing in her eyes. She needs to publish her tax returns & clients of her defense contractor – now.
As for her identifying ‘Hamas-supporting’ regional countries, while Qatar and Iran’s financial support has long been well known, Turkey has of late been the most vociferous in denouncing and attacking the Israeli government for the massive amounts of civilian casualties in Gaza due to its air and ground campaign.
President Erdogan is vowing to get Israeli leaders hauled before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Geneva, though Turkey itself is not a signatory to ICC founding documents.
Amid its ongoing streak of expansions and collaborations, Worldcoin has reportedly rolled back one of its core functions in three markets…
Worldcoin has shut off its offline orb verification function for users in three markets: India, Brazil, and France, a report by Moneycontrol on Dec. 21 says.
A five-pound chromatic helmet that scans individuals’ eyeballs to verify their identities, the Orb was conceived by Worldcoin as a tool for onboarding the inhabitants of those regions where traditional ID is not always available.
The company stimulated the offline onboarding process by offering rewards in USDC for local Orb operators.
Starting in November, Worldcoin began paying the rewards in its native token, WLD.
According to Moneycontrol, Worldcoin “silently discontinued” the orb verification process in India “3-4 months ago,” despite the crowds gathering in queues for Orb operators in some parts of the country. However, Tools for Humanity, the foundation overseeing Worldcoin, explained that from the start, the Orb was a “limited-time access” initiative in India, France, and Brazil.
Cointelegraph has contacted Worldcoin for further details but hasn’t yet received a response.
The onboarding process, which involves gathering private data such as the iris scan, has led Worldcoin into numerous public controversies.
Critics have repeatedly suggested that the project, launched by OpenAI founder Sam Altman, is ethically questionable and contains the makings of a “dystopian nightmare.”
In August, security platform CertiK reported a vulnerability in the vetting processes for Orb operators that could have allowed an attacker to bypass the verification process and operate an Orb without being interviewed or having a proper ID.
Where do you fall on the distribution of income in the United States?
The nice people over at Political Calculations blog can help you answer this question using the data that the U.S. Census Bureau has collected on the total money income earned by individual Americans as well as for the families and households into which Americans gather themselves!
If you’re a visual person, we’ll first present the U.S. income distribution information in three charts presenting the cumulative distribution of income for U.S. individuals, U.S. households, and U.S. families.
To use these charts, first find the income that applies for you on the horizontal axis, then move directly upward to the curve that defines the cumulative distribution of income. Once you’ve found your place on S-shaped curve in each chart, look directly to the vertical scale on the left hand side of the chart to determine your approximate U.S. income percentile ranking. Each of the charts will be displayed for five seconds and will cycle back to the beginning after running through each of the charts. The charts will also indicate the median and average income earned by each category.
Now, let’s find out more precisely where you really fit into the 2022 distribution of income! To find out where you, your family or your household ranks among each of these categories, just enter your personal income, your family’s income, which includes the incomes of your spouse and other family members who live with you, and also the combined income of just the people who live within the walls of the same household that you do, into the following tool. We’ll do some quick math and provide a more better estimate of the percentage of all American individuals, families and households that you outrank given the incomes you enter than you can get from scanning the charts. We’ll also break down the numbers for your Individual income to tell you how you compare to your fellow male and female Americans.
Our tool should be able to place most people within half a percentile of their actual income percentile. A percentile of zero indicates that you are at the very bottom end of the U.S. income spectrum, while a percentile ranking of 100 indicates that you are effectively at the very top end. A percentile rank of 50.0 puts you at the median, where 50% of the U.S. population would have a higher income and 50% has a lower income.
For our readers who live outside of the United States, you can still get in on the action if you convert your income from your local currency into U.S. dollars first!
If you want a more precise estimate of your income percentile ranking within the U.S., please check out Don’t Quit Your Day Job’s Income Percentile Calculator. DQYDJ uses a more refined version of the U.S. Census Bureau’s income data to estimate the distribution of total money income within the United States, which means that compared to our tool, which will put you in the right seating section of the ballpark, PK’s tool can put you in the right row of that seating section.
Finally, if you’re looking for the income data for 2023, please note that the U.S. Census Bureau will report the data it collects for this year sometime in September 2024. The data for 2023 won’t even be collected until March 2024, when Americans will be preparing their income tax returns for the 2023 tax year and have all the records needed to do that. The Census Bureau’s statisticians will then take the next six months to analyze all the income data they collect before reporting their results.
Bills filed in the Oklahoma and Missouri legislatures for the 2024 legislative session would eliminate state capital gains taxes on the sale of gold and silver. The legislation would also take other steps to treat gold and silver as money instead of as commodities.
In Missouri, Rep Doug Richey filed HB1867 on Dec. 11. Rep. Bill Hardwick filed HB1955 on Dec. 15. The bills are companions to SB735 filed in the Senate by Sen. William Eigel earlier this month.
In Oklahoma, Sen. Shane Jett filed SB1507 and Sen. Nathan Dahm is running SB1508.
The enactment of any of these bills would eliminate state capital gains taxes on the sale and exchange of gold and silver bullion.
Both of these states are already among the 42 that do not levy sales taxes on gold and silver bullion.
Exempting the sale of gold and silver bullion from taxes lowers the investment cost of precious metals. It also takes a step toward treating gold and silver as money instead of commodities. Taxes on precious metal bullion erect barriers to using gold and silver as money by raising transaction costs.
Imagine if you asked a grocery clerk to break a $5 bill and he charged you a 35-cent tax. Silly, right? After all, you were only exchanging one form of money for another. But that’s essentially what a sales tax on gold and silver bullion does. By eliminating this tax on the exchange of gold and silver, Missouri and Oklahoma would treat specie as money instead of a commodity. This represents a small step toward reestablishing gold and silver as legal tender and breaking down the Fed’s monopoly on money.
“We ought not to tax money – and that’s a good idea. It makes no sense to tax money,” former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul said during testimony in support of an Arizona bill that repealed capital gains taxes on gold and silver in that state. “Paper is not money, it’s fraud,” he continued.
The impact of enacting this legislation will go beyond mere tax policy. During an event after his Senate committee testimony, Paul pointed out that it’s really about the size and scope of government.
“If you’re for less government, you want sound money. The people who want big government, they don’t want sound money. They want to deceive you and commit fraud. They want to print the money. They want a monopoly. They want to get you conditioned, as our schools have conditioned us, to the point where deficits don’t matter.”
GOLD AND SILVER AS LEGAL TENDER
Under provisions in the Missouri bill, gold and silver in physical or electronic form would be accepted as legal tender and would be receivable in payment of all debts contracted for in the state of Missouri. The state would be required to accept gold and silver for the payment of public debts. Private debts could be settled in gold and silver at the parties’ discretion.
Practically speaking, this would allow Missourians to use gold or silver coins as money rather than just as mere investment vehicles. In effect, it would put gold and silver on the same footing as Federal Reserve notes.
Oklahoma took a similar step in 2014. Utah and Arkansas also consider gold and silver legal tender.
The proposed Missouri law also includes provisions authorizing the state to invest in gold or silver “greater than or equal to one percent of all state funds” and to expressly bar any state agency, department, or political subdivision from seizing gold or silver bullion.
BACKGROUND
The United States Constitution states in Article I, Section 10, “No State shall…make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.” Currently, all debts and taxes in the US are either paid with Federal Reserve Notes (dollars) which were authorized as legal tender by Congress, or with coins issued by the US Treasury — very few of which have gold or silver in them.
The Federal Reserve destroys this constitutional monetary system by creating a monopoly based on its fiat currency. Without the backing of gold or silver, the central bank can easily create money out of thin air. This not only devalues your purchasing power over time; it also allows the federal government to borrow and spend far beyond what would be possible in a sound money system. Without the Fed, the US government wouldn’t be able to maintain all of its unconstitutional wars and programs. The Federal Reserve is the engine that drives the most powerful government in the history of the world.
Tax repeals knock down one of the tax barriers that hinder the use of gold and silver as money, and could also begin the process of abolishing the Federal Reserve’s fiat money system by attacking it from the bottom up – pulling the rug out from under it by working to make its functions irrelevant at the state and local levels, and setting the stage to undermine the Federal Reserve monopoly by introducing competition into the monetary system.
In a paper presented at the Mises Institute, Constitutional tender expert Professor William Greene said when people in multiple states actually start using gold and silver instead of Federal Reserve Notes, it would effectively nullify the Federal Reserve and end the federal government’s monopoly on money.
“Over time, as residents of the state use both Federal Reserve notes and silver and gold coins, the fact that the coins hold their value more than Federal Reserve notes do will lead to a “reverse Gresham’s Law” effect, where good money (gold and silver coins) will drive out bad money (Federal Reserve notes). As this happens, a cascade of events can begin to occur, including the flow of real wealth toward the state’s treasury, an influx of banking business from outside of the state – as people in other states carry out their desire to bank with sound money – and an eventual outcry against the use of Federal Reserve notes for any transactions.”
Once things get to that point, Federal Reserve notes would become largely unwanted and irrelevant for ordinary people.
You may have thought of cutting back on or even quitting sugar. But how exactly should you go about it, and, more importantly, how can you achieve the greater goal of overcoming excessive cravings for sweetness?
From 2005 to 2009, at least 74 percent of packaged or processed foods contained added sugars. Even if you don’t have the habit of eating sweets, you may unintentionally consume sugar in excess. For instance, added sugars have dozens of names, so you might not even know you are eating them despite reading ingredient labels.
Nevertheless, quitting sugar is not an impossible mission. Many people face challenges not because they cannot quit but because they don’t know how or they set overly ambitious goals.
You can break it down into steps: First reduce sugar, then quit altogether, and eventually overcome sugar cravings.
The benefits of this approach are no different from quitting sugar directly. Dr. Jason Fung, a nephrologist specializing in reversing Type 2 diabetes and intermittent fasting, likened it to swimming. Some prefer easing into the water to adapt to the temperature, while others dive right in. Both approaches can achieve the same ultimate goal.
“Just like we advise people with any addiction,” Jessica Russo, a clinical psychologist in Philadelphia with a doctorate in psychology, told The Epoch Times, “every day, just [cut] your sugar down a little bit.”
“The process of quitting sugar is about retraining the palate,” said Lorenzo Cohen, professor and director of the integrative medicine program at MD Anderson Cancer Center, during an interview with The Epoch Times. Once people apply this, they will gradually discover that even items with very little sugar taste quite sweet, and unexpected changes will occur in the body.
The Epoch Times interviewed over a dozen experts and reviewed scientific studies to compile the most effective methods for quitting sugar.
Step 1: Reduce Sugar Intake
Avoid High-Sugar Foods
Reading labels is often the first habit many people adopt when quitting sugar or embarking on a diet. When reading labels, there are two key aspects to focus on: the ingredient list and the sugar content per 100 grams or serving.
“There’s more than 60 names for sugar,” Amy Gonzalez, a registered dietitian, told The Epoch Times.
These include barley malt, dextrose, sucrose, and rice syrup.
Ms. Gonzalez stated that among these added sugars, those with high fructose content, such as high-fructose corn syrup and agave nectar, are more detrimental to the body. These may harm the liver and lead to insulin resistance.
“The food industry puts all these forms of sugar in our food and lists their chemical names on the package,” Laura Schmidt, professor of health policy at the University of California–San Francisco, wrote in an email to The Epoch Times. “This is confusing for people.”
Ms. Schmidt shared a simple way to identify sugar: Look for chemical names ending in “ose,” such as “lactose” (sugar in milk). They likely indicate sugar.
Another trick: “If a product has more than a few ingredients, and some are unfamiliar sounding, then just don’t eat it,” she added.
Even in foods that do not taste sweet, like crackers or salad dressings, you might still find sugar listed in the ingredients.
One tablespoon of Heinz Tomato Ketchup (17 grams) contains 4 grams of added sugar. A Big Mac from McDonald’s has 7 grams of added sugar. In a large Big Mac combo meal (with a large Coca-Cola and a large serving of fries), the total added sugar content reaches 84 grams. Even potato chips and other other savory snacks may contain sugar.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), if the added sugar in each serving of food is below 5 percent of the Daily Value (DV)—50 grams per day based on a 2,000-calorie diet—it is considered a product with low added sugar. If it exceeds 20 percent, it is regarded as a high-added sugar product.
As per the UK National Health Service (NHS), foods with less than 5 grams of sugar per 100 grams are categorized as low-sugar, those with sugar content ranging from 5 grams to 22.5 grams are classified as medium-sugar, and those exceeding 22.5 grams fall into the high-sugar category.
Dr. Becky Gillaspy, a chiropractic doctor and author of “Zero Sugar / One Month,” suggests a simpler approach: Avoid purchasing foods where sugar ranks among the top three ingredients on the food label (ingredients are typically listed in descending order of weight). Compared to using specific numerical criteria, this screening method is quicker and more convenient, effectively filtering out items with high added-sugar content, she said.
However, Ms. Gonzalez also emphasized the importance of learning all the names of sugar and reading the ingredient list from start to finish. This is crucial because, unfortunately, many food manufacturers use several different forms of sweeteners, which will move them further down the list.
Swap in Natural Sweeteners or Natural Sugars
Consuming sugar is, fundamentally, a pursuit of flavor. So why not satisfy that craving with natural sweetness, such as sweeteners like stevia and monk fruit? You can add them to your coffee and tea or use them in cooking.
Unlike refined sugar, stevia and monk fruit have a glycemic index (GI) of nearly zero. Many studies indicate their ability to stabilize blood sugar and even suggest potential benefits in managing diabetes. Additionally, stevia offers other benefits, such as reducing blood pressure and blood lipids, and possesses anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Monk fruit has also been found to be beneficial against conditions such as COVID-19 and cancer.
It is worth noting, however, that animal studies suggest eating stevia long-term may potentially have adverse effects on the liver and kidneys or alter the gut microbiome. These findings are contentious, as other research indicates stevia may benefit patients with chronic kidney disease and ameliorate liver and kidney damage. Researchers have suggested the effects of stevia may depend on how much you eat and what it is eaten with.
The sweetness of pure stevia and monk fruit is several hundred times that of regular sugar. The powdered forms commonly found in supermarkets are typically blended with base ingredients. For example, you might find a composition of 1 percent steviol glycosides mixed with 99 percent erythritol. This means that the usage and quantities of these products are similar to regular sugar. Nevertheless, reading the usage instructions on the packaging is advisable so you understand serving sizes. The same applies to liquid stevia and monk fruit products, where the recommended amounts may vary. For some, one drop might be equivalent to the sweetness of a teaspoon of sugar, while others may require 10 drops or a few milliliters.
Artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin, are commonly used as sugar substitutes in processed food and drinks labeled zero-sugar. However, numerous studies have found that these sweeteners can lead to metabolic syndromes, harm gut health, and may even be potentially carcinogenic.
Natural sugars are another excellent alternative. Honey, for example, while often equated with sugar, can actually help stabilize blood sugar when consumed in moderation. Moreover, honey has been used for thousands of years for its medicinal properties, particularly its antibacterial and antiviral effects. Certain types of honey, like Manuka, have a higher level of antibacterial properties compared to others. Collected from maple trees, maple syrup has a unique taste that captivates many and contains a rich array of nutrients. Coconut sugar is both anti-inflammatory and antioxidative, contributing to heart health.
A common practice is to use ½ to ⅔ cup of honey or ¾ cup of maple syrup to replace 1 cup (240 milliliters) of sugar.
Other ingredients also naturally carry a sweet taste. For example, Ms. Russo mentioned that licorice root has a natural sweetness and offers health benefits when used to make tea. Additionally, naturally sweet ingredients such as red dates and dried goji berries can be used to brew tea or soup that is both sweet and fragrant.
During interviews, many experts supported the idea of cooking at home as the safest and best way to avoid excess sugar. Choose natural, sugar-free ingredients like unsweetened yogurt and plain oats, and then sweeten with an appropriate amount of relatively natural sweeteners.
Replace Desserts With Fruits
Those with strong cravings for desserts and snacks can replace such treats with fresh fruits, said Dr. Luc Tappy, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Physiology at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, in an email to The Epoch Times. The choice of fruits is generally not restricted.
Fruits come in abundant varieties, from common ones like blueberries and bananas to more exotic options like durian and mangosteen. Even the same type of fruit will come in different varieties in some tropical and temperate regions. The many kinds of desserts that can be made from these fruits are just as diverse. As you explore options, you will find that using these fruits can yield unexpectedly delightful flavors while satisfying your sweet tooth.
“The good things in fruit are far more important than the fruit sugar … in fruit,” Ellen Kampman, a nutritional epidemiologist and chair in nutrition and disease at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, told The Epoch Times. “So I’m not afraid that people might overeat [them].”
However, Dr. Tappy pointed out the importance of being mindful of portion sizes. Initially, when reducing sugar intake, consuming up to three servings of fresh fruits per day is recommended, which can later be reduced to two servings. A comprehensive study published in 2021 suggests that consuming two servings of fruits per day is ideal and healthy. One serving typically corresponds to one medium-sized piece of fruit or approximately 80 grams.
Dr. Fung warned that the fruits we consume today are generally much sweeter than 50 years ago, indicating increased sugar content. Individuals, especially those with blood sugar problems or a strong sugar addiction, should opt for low-GI fruits and avoid high-sugar fruits like grapes and bananas; the intense sweetness of such fruits may also trigger sugar cravings.
Cooking methods also impact fruit sugar content. Dried fruits shrink during the sun-drying or dehydration process. While eating one apple might fill you up, eating apple chips might lead you to easily eat two or three dehydrated apples without even realizing it. When consuming dried fruit, we must calculate based on the original size of the fruit. Fruit juice also concentrates sugars from multiple fruits while filtering out the dietary fiber. In an 8-ounce cup of orange juice, you are essentially getting the sugar and calories equivalent to three oranges.
Too Late For US Naval Deterrence In Red Sea After Biden Misled World On Houthi Attacks
It has become clear there’s a full-blown Houthi war on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Weeks ago, we featured commentary that cited US defense officials who were frustrated that the Pentagon was being held back from responding forcefully against Houthis positions in Yemen by the Biden White House.
President Biden stood accused of “downplaying” the threat, as statements in Politico have underscored, “Some current and former military officials were frustrated by the administration’s initial response to the Houthis’ Sunday attacks on the ships.” This as some top military brass pushed for a more forceful response, lest the Iranian proxies grow more emboldened.
But more emboldened is precisely what has happened, as container ships are coming under drone and missile attack on a daily basis at this point, triggering delays and rising prices on goods as major liners avoid Red Sea transit altogether.
Fast-forward to this week, now nearing the end of December and The Wall Street Journal has run an alarming but apt headline this which spells outU.S. Naval Deterrence Is Going, Going, Maybe Even Gone.
Increasingly, Biden’s desire to make nice with the Iranians in order to keep global energy prices down ahead of the 2024 election is translating to a posture of ‘looking the other way’—and some analysts worry it’s too late to reestablish deterrence.
The Commander-in-Chief hasn’t so much as ordered a military response when American warships in waters off Yemen themselves come under direct attack. Again, this is what has deeply frustrated Pentagon leaders, who feel handcuffed. In its fresh commentary, WSJ points to the reality and immediate consequences of the US Navy coming under attack, but failing to respond or decisively hit back:
Recently the news broke that the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Carney had fended off several missile and drone attacks in the Red Sea. While Biden administration officials tried to frame the battle, for a battle it surely was, as the Carney’s defending nearby merchant ships, it seems clear that Iranian-supplied Houthis were targeting the Carney directly as well as the commercial ships it was accompanying.
This was only one of several recent assaults on American naval assets in the region. They have happened despite the presence of the Ford carrier strike group in the eastern Mediterranean and the Eisenhower strike group in the Gulf of Aden—a conventional level of naval deterrence that should have reduced aggressive activities by U.S. enemies. Instead, Iran attacked American ships and allies.
But still, if the last 20+ years of the so-called global war on terror has taught Washington anything, it is that it’s hard to deter a hardened and determined ragtag army of insurgents with things like giant naval assets sitting off a coast which are designed to fight bigger, conventional wars.
Ships burn as White House dithers…
The WSJ along with beltway think tanks worry this shows US naval power to be in decline. We should add that this is perhaps but one symptomatic indicator that US Empire itself is in decline and in retreat amid foreign policy failure after failure. Writes WSJ further:
These events show that American naval deterrence is failing, and a recent report from the Sagamore Institute concludes that it could soonevaporate.
The report, “Measuring and Modeling Naval Presence,” models the effect of various ships and combinations of ships across a mix of maritime regions. The model pitted an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the U.S. Navy’s current utility platform of choice, against a People’s Liberation Army Navy Luyang III destroyer in several locations ranging from the high seas to the waters approaching the Taiwan Strait. It suggested that the deterrent value of American Navy ships operating in close proximity to a determined adversary has recently declined.
As expected, the report ends with a call to further bloat Pentagon budgets, saying “The Navy’s budget, size and force architecture all need urgent attention from Congress if the U.S. is to preserve its ability to deter its enemies. Failure to do so imperils global trade as well as America’s place in the world and the safety of its people.”
The below headline also just about summarizes the situation perfectly well…
A $2M missile vs. a $2,000 drone: Pentagon worried over cost of Houthi attacks https://t.co/3ZBbRuVS7l
But, we should add, there’s many other factors too. For starters, Washington has chosen to rush headlong into foreign quagmire after foreign quagmire.
From bases in Iraq to Syria, to naval battle groups in the Mediterranean and Mideast waters, this adventurism overseas has ultimately given the Iranians and their allies easy targets as US troops and assets are ‘sitting ducks’ – placed conveniently close to hostile forces. In the case of Syria, the US is engaging in massive oil, gas, and wheat theft – as an outgrowth of its last decade of regime change efforts against Assad in Damascus.
92 now? Someone needs to check Lindsey Graham’s blood pressure…
Simultaneously, the US has essentially given Israel a blank check to execute its war in Gaza, and consistently refuses international efforts at reaching lasting, permanent ceasefire. Washington is left with no exit and no ultimately strategy, yet all the while wants to see oil prices kept down, and trade routes open. As is usual in the region, the US wants its proverbial cake and to eat it too.
* * *
And as a reminder of the prescient Rabobank commentary we just featured…
Concerningly, Marine Tracker data suggests that the launch of Operation Prosperity Guardian has not been sufficient to prevent freight companies from diverting their largest container ships away from the coast of Yemen. The loss of prestige for the global hegemon will not have gone unnoticed by America’s adversaries, who will be emboldened by any signs of weakness.
Adding to the concern has been the lukewarm response of major allies invited to join Operation Prosperity Guardian. Canada committed no ships and opted instead to only send a clutch of staff officers while Australia (an AUKUS ally who fought with the United States in Iraq, Vietnam and Korea) also refused US requests to send a warship to the Red Sea.
The Australian Government claims the refusal was due to a preference to focus on interests in the Asia-Pacific region, but local media has suggested that it is actually because none of Australia’s 7 frigates and 3 air-warfare destroyers are appropriately equipped to deter attacks from cheap Houthi (Iranian) drones for any length of time. If this really is the case, it is an astonishing gap in capability that highlights the extent to which conventional fleets face disruption from small, cheap and agile adversaries. That doesn’t bode well for the security of supply chains elsewhere.
Of course, the situation in the Red Sea has created winners as well as losers. The winners again appear to be Russia and China.
