Ripped From The Headlines, April 17, 2023
Free Markets Not Really Free? Commercial Real Estate In The US On The Brink, Secret Chinese Police Arrested In US - Read, Share, & Subscribe - SherlocExposes.com
We Are The Watchmen On The Wall
Please support our sponsor, Satellite Phone Store!
Next-level preparation is necessary...
The potential for blackouts, cell phone service outages… it’s real.
How will you communicate?
Objects being shot down, train derailments, bank runs, infrastructure issues…
How long could people be without communication? What could be lost?
Satellite Phone Store has phones, radios, alternative power, and much more.
Visit them today - YOUR FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Orange-linked text is clickable for additional information.)
“Following the latest rescues of big banks at the same time the Federal Reserve is warning of a recession that could put more than a million Americans out of work, economists, historians and market commentators are drawing comparisons to previous eras of global capitalism when the government and the banking sector were more officially entwined.
As the Fed responds to the current wave of profit-led inflation by punishing not firms and their managers but workers and employees through the labor market, some are even saying that the age of capitalism is dwindling.
‘We all came together,’ a tie-less JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon told CNN last week, referring to his bank’s ostensibly civic-minded bailout of rival bank First Republic at the behest of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
‘I may have been the first phone call but everyone was on every call talking about ideas and what works, and they’re all patriots and want to help,’ he said.
In a free market, a weaker bank like First Republic that didn’t successfully manage the rising interest rate environment would have simply been allowed to fail.
Dimon’s statist tone about the relationship between government and high finance came right as the welfare protections provided to the public in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic were being dismantled and allowed to lapse.
‘Mercantilism, to a lesser degree, dirigisme, although in some ways that’s a preferable term because I don’t think it has the historical specificity that mercantilism has, [applies],’ Daniel Sargent, a historian of public policy at the University of California, told The Hill.
‘I think we’ve clearly entered an age in which government, certainly in the United States, is working the levers of economic control much more proactively than in recent historical experience in order to advance a combination of geopolitical and domestic political purposes,’ he said.”
Over the past several months we've seen a series of progressively negative headlines over commercial real estate - predictions becoming more and more dire.
Hartnett: Commercial Real Estate Is The Next Shoe To Drop (subscribers only, really all you need to know...)
Echoes Of New Century's Collapse Amid Sudden Firesale Of Real Estate Loans As Morgan Stanley Sees 40% Downside (subscribers only)
Commercial Real Estate Faces Perfect Storm: The Demise Of Downtown Office Buildings
Blackstone, of course, is waiting with dry powder for the "largest ever" real estate drawdown.
Now, according to one CEO of a real estate investment firm, things could get as bad as what was seen during the 2008 financial crisis.
‘Unfortunately in the situation we're in, things need to bottom out, and they haven't bottomed out yet,’ said Patrick Carroll, the CEO of the real estate investing firm Carroll, in a Thursday interview with CNBC, adding that while some areas of CRE could remain intact, such as multifamily housing, areas such as offices and hotels could be ‘destroyed,’ as the sector grapples with tighter credit conditions and a cascade of debt maturities.
‘It's going to be ugly. It's going to be at least as bad as '08, '09,’ he warned.’
‘Sellers are not realizing how much their properties have lost value, and they're not willing to dump their properties yet because they haven't felt enough pain. They're about to start feeling pain. These lenders are screwed,’ said Carroll, who noted that $1.5 trillion in commercial real estate debt will come due in the next three years - which will either need to be refinanced or renegotiated.”
“Two men have been arrested on charges that they helped establish a secret police outpost in New York City on behalf of the Chinese government, and more than three dozen officers with China’s national police force have been charged with using social media to harass dissidents inside the United States, the Justice Department said Monday.
The cases, taken together, are part of a series of Justice Department prosecutions in recent years aimed at disrupting Chinese government efforts to locate in America pro-democracy activists and others who are openly critical of Beijing’s policies.
One of the cases concerns a local branch of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, which operated inside an office building in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood before closing last fall amid an FBI investigation. The two men charged with establishing the outpost were acting under the direction and control of a Chinese government official, and deleted communication with that official from their phones after becoming aware of the investigation, according to the Justice Department.”
Manic Monday, Ripped From the Headlines. Things To Ponder:
“Hey, We’re Controlling The Free Market… Just Wanted To Let You Know!,” signed, The U.S. Government.
Guess what? The “free market” ain’t really all that free…
If you’re a regular reader of Ripped From The Headlines, you already knew this, but if you’re new, we’ve long said that the US government, and its various agencies, are picking winners and losers based on their agenda…
Which, by the way, runs completely counter to the interests of the average American (That’s you!)
Now, they are just saying the quiet part out loud.
This quote from a University of California public policy historian pretty much sums it up:
I think we’ve clearly entered an age in which government, certainly in the United States, is working the levers of economic control much more proactively than in recent historical experience in order to advance a combination of geopolitical and domestic political purposes.
Notice how you’re missing from that equation?
Guess who won’t have a chair when the music stops?
That would be you.
Know. Your. Foe.
“Commercial Real Estate Is Fine! You’re Crazy!”
Yep… crazy like a fox…
Many simply refused to believe it… because cognitive dissonance is a powerful force…
But when all the signs around you point to a major implosion, what’s left to do?
Try to get someone else to hold the bag, that’s what!
See, the big investors, like Blackstone, knew this and got out… and they are simply waiting, with a ton of money in hand, to buy things back up… but at a discount…
Meanwhile, the “Joe Public” narrative was designed to keep people in for as long as possible, until the dam couldn’t be held back any longer, and there’s no more value to extract…
Then, you arrive at a place like this:
‘It's going to be ugly. It's going to be at least as bad as '08, '09,’ he warned.’
‘Sellers are not realizing how much their properties have lost value, and they're not willing to dump their properties yet because they haven't felt enough pain. They're about to start feeling pain. These lenders are screwed,’
When the bomb diffuser is running, you should try and keep up…
The bomb is going to explode right about NOW! Just saying…
“There Are NO Chinese Secret Police In The US!”
We heard that a lot, when we reported on this back in December:
And now, it appears that was indeed the case…
The questions are pretty simple for US government agencies at this point:
How long did they know?
What took so long?
How many more are there?
We’re now left to wonder how much more is happening that we don’t know about, given how weak the US position is in the world.
Keep your eyes open.
You need to be prepared… there’s just too much crazy stuff happening.
We’ve found the 4Patriots solar generators to be light and easy to use. Plus, they are quiet and don’t require fuel.
You’re able to power key things like your fridge, freezer, coffee maker, and more.
What Does This Mean?
Your security and sovereignty are being eroded so rapidly, that there may not be a way back from it.
The question (once again) to ask yourself is this: What happens if when the US becomes insolvent?
Other countries are already thinking about it. Click Here to see their plan.
Why Should I Care?
The anchors of your wealth, and the people who generally control the outcomes around it, aren’t doing well and are nakedly corrupt and getting away with it.
You should care.
Who is watching the watchers? Sherloc is… But are you?
What Should I Do?
We always tell you to GET MOVING ASAP. So you know that’s the case again today.
We’ll add that your sense of urgency, if it isn’t already peaked, should be.
AND: Share what you get from this newsletter. It’s OK if you don’t understand it all.
Tell them to ask us.
You need to get moving…
Now.
Your future depends on it.
James Wesley, Rawles, publisher of SurvivalBlog.com has put together a “bookshelf” list of key things you should have. CLICK HERE to access the list.
Plus a recap of the 50 things you should have handy to barter.
Share this email with everyone you know. Sign up for a free or paid subscription. Paid members will receive our in-depth solutions.
Ripped From The Headlines is your daily digest of what’s happening in the world. We help you to understand what it means, why you should care, and what you should do.
Have a tip on a story, case, or issue that needs to be covered? Email us: asksherloc@protonmail.com. Confidentially assured.