🗣 There’s been a little lull with the pullback in energy and oil prices. People are feeling that maybe the worst of it is over? Maybe we’ve hit peak inflation? Maybe we’re back in a bull market? Well, maybe? and maybe not.
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Mantra World News
1:15 Food
4:35 Water
7:26 Energy
11:18 Security
13:46 Barterability
15:14 Wealth Preservation
20:01 Community
22:11 Shelter
TRANSCRIPT FROM VIDEO:
There’s been a little lull with the pullback in energy prices or oil prices to be more specific. People are kind of feeling well, maybe the worst of it is over. Maybe we’ve hit peak inflation, maybe we’re back in a bull market. Well, maybe, and maybe not, coming up.
I’m Lynette Zang, Chief Market Analyst here at ITM Trading and a very proud prepper. You have to understand that the whole reason for my prepping is because of all of the work that I’ve done paying attention to this currency life cycle issue. So, you know, people, again, you know, the inflation came in and it’s not running quite as hot as it was and people are going, well, maybe this is peak inflation. Maybe the government has gotten, or the central bank has gotten control of inflation, but I don’t think so.
The food prices in the US surged the most since 1979. Hmm. What was happening in 1979? Oh yeah. We were transitioning from a gold back currency to a pure debt-back currency controlled by the central banks. So you’ll see a lot of references back to that period of time on everything, but they never talk about what was actually happening during that period of time. A lot of chaos, right? We’ve got a lot of different moving parts back then. There’s a lot of different moving parts and a lot of chaos now. But the bottom line is, is everything is getting more expensive. So while the headline rate of inflation declined from the previous month, largely due to the drop in energy prices, the surging cost of food, as well as rising rents continues to pinch consumers, especially low income Americans who spend a much bigger chunk of their household budgets on groceries, US consumer prices, oh, they only went up eight and a half percent year over year, according to the overall picture. But in reality, people are still having trouble meeting their bills and meeting their expenses. And still, even though it’s gotten a little cheaper at the gas pumps, a lot of people still have to make that choice and it’s not gonna get cheaper and cheaper and cheaper, but food let’s face it. We have to eat. That’s why it is so important to secure your food. Whether you’re doing it in a freezed dried way, I personally prefer fresh food. So I like my gardens. And you’ll be seeing a lot more about what we’re doing up at the up at the bug out house. We’re about to get goats, etcetera. So there’s lots of things that are happening. Unfortunately, my geodesic domes are for a moment in stall mode. I’ll talk more about those at another time, but food is the single biggest issue for people then, and now, so even though they say eight and half percent, well, eggs are up 33% butter, 21% flour, 19% chicken, 18% milk, 16% baby food, 14% you know, and then they throw in used cars and trucks, which are still up 7% at fresh vegetables. So if you eat eggs, you better have chickens. I’m glad I do. And they’re much better eggs and they’re much better fed as well. But that’s the food part of this. It is the single biggest issue for people as we go through these transitions, secure your food in any way that you can even doing some dried broccoli seeds, which is extraordinarily nutritious. And you know, you rinse ’em off. I have ’em in the freezer. I rinse ’em off three days and boom, I have fresh food so you can supplement, but you need to really take seriously the, to ensure that you have food security.
Especially, I mean, this is happening globally too. We’re just talking about the US, but this is happening on a global basis and it’s not getting better. On top of that. We have drought now drought impacts so many different things. And what I think is interesting in here, and I didn’t realize this, but from the Rhine to the Danube a lot of these rivers that enable Europe to trade with each other and get goods from one place to another, it’s drying up. And we’re getting to a point where a number of these, the Cologne, Dulsburg, Kaub but the Danube and the Rhine, if their water level falls below a certain level, a barge cannot get through. And so then there are more expensive ways and means that they have to take this food overland. Do you think the food is gonna get cheaper with that? It’s not. So there are so many areas we have to make sure that wherever you are, I mean, I’m in Arizona, in Phoenix and here in Phoenix, we’ve been, I think this is a 12 or 14 year drought. Now at my bug out location, there is ample water with aquifers. It gets a lot more precipitation, whether it’s rain, we’ve just been going through the monsoon. It’s been raining constantly or heavily, I should say every single day to snow, etcetera. So wherever you are, you have to do what you need to do in my home in Phoenix, I have five ponds and those ponds are also rain catchments. What can you do in your location? If you don’t have that much land you can put up a rain barrel, you could catch it. You can do bladders. I’ve done pieces on different options to make sure that you can secure your source of water. This is critically important as we go through what we’re going through, because due to its worst to ever drought, France has imposed water restrictions throughout almost the entire country. More than a hundred municipalities now rely on drinking water supplied by truck. Oh yeah. That’s not good because what they’re gonna end up doing is rationing it. And who’s gonna determine the most important people to get the water or the most important industries to get the water? We’ll talk more about this next week when I can look into it a little bit better. But Edgar was just telling me about some of the big tech corporations that are moving into my area and how much water use those take up. and let’s face it. Tech is really taking over everything. So who do you think is gonna ultimately be the priority, but you can’t live if you don’t have Water.
So this is part of also feeding into the Energy issue. This is lower water levels restrict the transport of vital commodities. Like I was just talking about the Rhine is the linchpin of European’s network of inland waterways. So if they can’t use, if companies for energy, for food, for anything, if they can’t use the Rhine to transport again, they have to go to other locations. It’s used to ship everything from fuels to chemicals, to paper products, to grains, to food, to everything. So this just adds on top another layer of the energy crisis that is happening in Europe. And, you know, I hate to say this, but coming to a theater near you, the reservoirs in the US are also dangerously low. So what are you personally doing to secure your water source? The trade of 400,000 barrels a day in oil products. If they have to find an alternative way to move, that, that increase is expenses. So whatever little dip we’re experiencing right now, because of the global slow down, that’s why the oil is presumably pulling back. If they have to figure out different ways to transport it or different ways to generate energy, that’s gonna cost you more. And one of the things that’s happening right now is, you know, they were talking about ESG, right? So all these alternative forms of energy, but they hadn’t really made enough investment in it or basically brought those alternative forms up to a better use system. So they’re relying on old technology or older technology. What I think is particularly interesting in this nuclear power plans are being revived globally. Well, when I was married about a gazillion years ago he worked for a power company and they had a nuclear plant, but let’s face it amid renewed interest in nuclear power governments across Europe and Asia are extending aging fleet of nuclear plants, restarting reactors, and dusting off plants for project shelf. After the 2011 nuclear crisis in Fukushima, Japan. I’m not really convinced that that is over, but in an effort to produce more energy, we are taking a lot of risks or governments are taking a lot of risks as the EU second largest economy struggles with an energy crisis, the French nuclear regulator this week, granted a temporary waiver for five nuclear plants to discharge hot water, meaning water that contains, you know, the waste from these nuclear power plants. Yeah. Let’s see if we have fish with five heads. That sounds good to me, but don’t worry because there’s a temporary waiver for five nuclear plants to discharge hot water into rivers that may breach environmental standards. So all of this talk and positioning for ESG is now going by the wayside, right? And who’s gonna suffer the most from that people that are exposed to this nuclear waste. I don’t think this is a great idea.
Additionally, we’ve gotta look at security. So this is every piece of the mantra and what’s going on in these areas because Mexico drug gangs, target civilians in clashes. And that’s what happens as we go through this transition, then we’re going to see that the power is shifting. And so is the lawlessness it’s shifting and it’s getting worse and it’s going to get scarier. So making sure that you can secure your family’s safety is absolutely critical. And there are a number of, again, different ways to do that. I was just finishing up, actually, this just happened this week. I was just finishing up on those security shutters that I put on every single window in my house. I wanna make sure cause remember that’s what started the whole bug out thing was back in April of 2020 when there were that there were riots right near my house and I slept in my bed with a gun. Do I really wanna shoot anybody? Heck no, I don’t want to. I’d rather feed you. I’d rather take care of you. I don’t wanna shoot you. However, you know, it did show me the hole and my strategy. And I want you to look at it so that you can fill in whatever holes in your strategy that you have. It wasn’t just an attack between two different groups. It reached the point where they started shooting at civilians at innocent people. That’s the saddest part of this situation. You have to really get that as chaos prevails and look around you. Is there not a tremendous amount of chaos? Yeah. People are a little bit calmer. Now the stock markets up, inflation. Well, the overall inflation numbers the official numbers, have pulled back a little bit still at 8.5% which is still ridiculous. And you’re still seeing prices for food and those kinds of things go up. You have to make sure that you are completely covered in every single way, Food, Water, Energy, and certainly Security.
It’s just critical. Could bartering become the new buying in a changed world? Absolutely, absolutely. For a while, things are gonna get very, very local because amid economic uncertainty and a desire to connect as we distance bartering is experiencing an unprecedented rise. And I think we’re gonna see that get stronger and stronger and stronger and a lot more people bartering. I know I’ve been doing, I just bartered the other day for a wood chipper that I needed on my farm. We’re gonna have goats. We’re gonna be able to do the fire mitigation. And so in exchange for me keeping this property mitigated, he gave me his chipper. I like that for once. I didn’t have to put out any Fiat money for it. I was ready to, but this worked out much better. So more and more bartering is going to happen. Anything physical, any talent that you have is barterable. So, you know, I could lay irrigation if I needed to do I want to, no, I don’t want to, but could I do it a hundred percent I could do it. So make sure that your skill sets are, you know, are pretty sharp. You can join into community. We haven’t gotten to community yet, but there are ways for you to develop new skill sets. It’s just not a bad thing because all of that goes toward bartering.
So many people are counting on pensions or counting on social security or counting on the government, counting on Fiat money stocks or bonds, pension plans, retirement plans. But if everything that you have is invested in Fiat money products and we do know that those Fiat money, the Fiat money itself, that’s the real trend what’s happening with not just the dollars happening all over the world, losing value so much because of all of the money printing that these governments and these central banks have been doing, you know, since 2008, but particularly since 2020, well, every time they print new money, the money that is out there loses value. But these pension funds, the retirement funds, what are they counting on? They’re counting on a constantly rising stock market. Okay. That’s nominal confusion. You see the stock market going up really since June, it’s gone up quite a bit, but that is really on the hopes that the federal reserve that Jay Powell will slow down the interest rates rising because these corporations and these companies that were depending on for our retirement, well, they’ve taken on an awful lot of debt with debt, basically at zero and all that free money, that new money that was pumped into the system, but now in a rising interest rate environment, well, we saw the stock market pull back. So this is through June. And what they say is analysis shows a sharp decline in multi-employer plans, funded ratio from 91% to 80% for the first half of 2022. But it’s really a double whammy because it’s not just the stock market pulling back. Like we saw, it’s also the value of the currency. But after all, since June the stock market’s gone up. So, you know, I dunno, maybe there’s a start of a new bull market? You know, stocks versus gross domestic product, which is all the money, including the inflation money that flows through the global economy today. It’s at the highest level ever in history. Sure. It can keep going because we all know what goes up. May still go up. May still go up, may still go up until it goes down. And if the markets are moving up, what they’re moving up on is dependent upon the federal reserve. Let’s keep that free money and that cheap money going. They expect either a slow down or a pivot. At some point I do expect to pivot. I don’t think yet, but at some point I do expect a pivot, but the markets haven’t felt enough pain. And some are saying that Jay Powell is a different kind of central banker than what we’ve been used to. So some are saying, and I don’t think I really fully agree with this. I think he’s gonna take it to a level. And then I think he’s gonna do a pivot because even if they raise the rates, as I showed you in a recent video, there are a number of countries that have been aggressively raising rates, and yet their inflation still continues to soar. So we’ll see what happens, but these are inflated dollars. And the reality is, is the more money they print. I cannot say this too much. The more new money that gets printed, the less value the money already in circulation has. And these markets, you know, I mean, I’m sorry, but 10 trillion times zero is still zero. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t mean anything because the real question is how much currency devaluation. That’s really, when you’re seeing these stock markets go up, are the stocks really worth that much more money? Is that house really worth that much more money? Or is it the dollar is worth that much less? A banana is a banana as a banana, whether it’s 25 cents, $10 or $20, it’s still a banana. It’s still has the same function, but this is about fooling you and keeping you inside the system so that it’s easier to rob you.
But the reality is, is people generally wanna do the right thing. I know a lot of people are more skeptical on the human condition, but I’m not one of those. I really do believe that in most cases, people really do wanna do the, and I, they wanna help. I don’t wanna say the right thing because then that implies judgment. I’m the one that knows what the right thing is. So if you don’t do what I want you to do, then you’re wrong. I don’t feel like that either. But I do think that people are really, there’s a movement, a foot for people to come together and help each other. I have to say that the small, small, small community in which my bug out house is boy, oh boy, if there’s anything that I need, my experience has been there, Johnny on the spot, somebody there is gonna do what they can to help you. And I think that’s a global thing, I really do. I’m really glad in a small community. I think it’s just more obvious, but even in Phoenix, even in a large community, I’ve noticed that more and more in my neighborhood. So we just need to keep that going because this was a study out of Ohio State University researchers have concluded that people generally want to help and do right by each other, even when it may not necessarily be convenient or beneficial. And I say, hallelujah, and thank God, because just as we’re seeing the nasty stuff grow, we’re also seeing the good stuff grow. And I think that there are ultimately more of us than there are of them. And so I believe with all my heart that we have a shot and we have an opportunity to make a difference in this world. And particularly when it comes to the money side of things, keep our options and our choices open. If we come together in Community, we’ve got that shot. So that’s what I’m working on. And a number of other people are working on it too. And if you’re one of them, welcome to the community, let’s keep this, let’s keep it going. Let’s expand it if we can.
And then the last thing I wanna talk about is shelter because housing affordability, plunges to the lowest level since 2006, the property market’s great, slow down is here, says the Bank of America. Well, yeah, prices are super high, severely overvalued. And now you’ve got interest rates and mortgage interest rates that are super high as well. So is it a big shocker that affordability has plunged? No, not a shocker at all, but if you have patience, I mean, look, I can’t tell you buy a house, don’t buy a house because you gotta have a roof over your head and you have to have a place to make your last stand. And that was originally what I was thinking I would do in my home in Phoenix until of course, April 2020, then that kind of changed everything for me. So I’m very grateful for what happened that day. But the reality is is, you know, homes will get cheaper, but if you need a place to create your last stand, you know, it’s gotta be an individual thing. Housing affordability, plunges to lowest level since 2006, the property market’s great, slow down is here. Make no mistake about it. How far down the fed will allow real estate to go? Because they never allowed it to fully express to a bear market. In, you know, I bought my house in 2010. I think that 2010 to 2012 was kind of the bottom at that point. But only because the Fed went in to support that market, it really didn’t go down in nominal terms and price terms as much as it should have. And now it’s at nose bleed levels. So how far down will the fed allow it to go before they make the pivot? Same thing with the stock market. I don’t know.
But one way or the other, what is absolutely clear is that it is currency devaluation that they use to keep everything looking like it’s propped up, don’t buy the lies that will not serve you well. And until next we meet, this is the mantra for this week. Please be safe out there, bye-bye.
SOURCES:
https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2022/08/u-s-food-prices-climb-most-since-1979/
https://www.statista.com/chart/26006/cpi-increase-by-item-united-states/
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200821-the-rise-of-bartering-in-a-changed-world
https://www.milliman.com/-/media/milliman/pdfs/2022-articles/8-5-22_mpfs_mid-year_2022.ashx
https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/people-generally-want-to-help-each-other-study-finds
