There have been something like 2,000 or more flights cancelled over the last three days, primarily with Southwest Airlines.  Southwest stated that it was due to weather and some unidentified air traffic control issues.

A lot of the cancellations were occurring with flights to and from Florida.  I live in Florida, and I can tell you that there were no severe weather issues over the weekend.  There may have been a few very scattered thunderstorms, but less than what would be typical on a summer afternoon in Florida.

At this time, all indications point to what is being called a “sick out”.  It is a protest against coming vaccine mandates.  A sizeable enough portion of the Southwest workforce decided to temporarily go on strike.  It was a mini Atlas Shrugged.

It just shows that a rather small percentage of the people can disrupt everything.  It doesn’t have to be anywhere close to half the employees walking out.

A few places can get away with the vaccine mandates.  In New York, it’s likely that somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of those eligible are vaccinated.  If you go down to 60 to 70 percent in another location, then things get dicey quickly.  If half of those people are willing to strike (or willing to get fired), it can mean just about the complete shutdown of a company.

With how hard the vaccines have been pushed, most unvaccinated people have made a very conscious choice to not get jabbed at this point.  Some could get bullied into it with a threat of being fired, but the 30% or so are pretty firm in their conviction at this stage.

The government (in this case, the FAA), the corporate media, and Southwest are not really being honest.  They may be technically factual in what they say, but they are not being truthful.  They are either ignoring the vaccine mandates entirely as it relates to this story, or they are not willing to attribute the staffing shortage over the weekend with the mandates.

The media is also gaslighting the public by tying these company mandates to Joe Biden’s executive order.  They will say that Southwest is trying to meet the deadlines to require employee vaccination from Biden’s executive order, but there is no such thing.  There is no executive order with a deadline, and OSHA has not released anything.

If there were a deadline, then why aren’t some other airlines like Delta imposing absolute mandates?  Is the “mandate” optional then?  Maybe Biden will go through with his executive order and OSHA will issue detailed instructions, but that hasn’t happened at this time.  There is no legal obligation for any of these airlines to impose any vaccine mandates.

I have had decent experiences before flying with Southwest.  But in this case, I believe the executives there are essentially lying to the public.  They don’t want to admit that it was their own stupid policies that caused this disaster to happen.

It’s hard to say how the tens of thousands of stranded passengers will feel about this.  Some will blame the selfish unvaccinated employees.  But I think a larger percentage will blame the Southwest executives for putting in place a stupid policy that caused a significant portion of their employees to show how important they are.

This would be hard for a nurse to do in a hospital.  If half the nurses walk out in protest, then it literally could kill people. But the hospital administrators have no problem risking the lives of their patients by firing nurses for not getting jabbed.

I think there must have been some kind of coordination of Southwest employees for this to happen.  I’m guessing someone came up with the idea and the word spread fast.  There is safety in numbers to a degree.  If a couple of people called in sick to protest the mandates, Southwest could just fire these people if they know that was the intent.  If it is hundreds of people or more calling in sick to protest, it’s rather hard to fire these people without destroying the entire business.  The people who didn’t show up at work in protest just showed how powerful they are.

We’ll have to see if this starts happening in other industries.  With flights, it has a rather immediate and dramatic effect, as flights just can’t go anywhere.  It is a bit more subtle if you are talking about a company that sells insurance or paints houses.

It is also understandable that pilots and flight attendants would be especially concerned, as flying increases your chance of blood clots.  Developing blood clots is one of the primary concerns of the COVID vaccine side effects.  They don’t call it the clot shot for nothing.

While the protest itself seems promising, this whole story is just another example of gaslighting.  I have been hearing lately that the COVID deaths in the United States have now passed those of the flu of 1918 (misnamed the Spanish flu).  Even if you accept the phony COVID death count, this is still dishonest reporting, as the population at that time was less than one-third of what it is today.  Again, it is technically factually correct, but it isn’t truthful.

Most media outlets will not outright lie on a regular basis.  They are sneaky with their words so that most of what they say is not technically wrong.  “An anonymous CIA source has confirmed that Russia stole the elections.”  “The CDC has officially declared that this is the deadliest pandemic on record.”

Joe Biden is a different story.  He just outright lies now.  He is still going around saying that if you are vaccinated, then you won’t die.  This is all while he is pushing his fake executive order that hasn’t even done anything yet except to scare people and give cover to employers.

I have one thing to say to that.  Let’s go Brandon.

At certain large events in the country, chants of “F**K Joe Biden” have been breaking out.  These are not just a group of five or ten people doing this.  These are loud chants that can be heard throughout a stadium or arena.

If this is any sign of the intensity of the American people being fed up with government and their “rulers”, then it means that things should start to change.  It means the political establishment has overplayed their hand.

If I were at a college football game with my kids and such a chant broke out, I would tell them to cover their ears as I join in.  Maybe it isn’t the best chant in the world, but it certainly gets the message across.  Because some people shy away from loudly cursing in public, the chants might be even louder if it was a little more appropriate for a public setting.

After Biden’s speech on September 9 (the chants started just before this), when he proclaimed himself dictator in requiring mass injection in the American population (or lose your job), I received many messages from friends.  Even a few people who had previously been vaccinated were outraged, even though it didn’t impact them directly.

I was in communication with several people who don’t want the jab, and they are fearful that they will have to submit or lose their job.  Many people are already faced with this situation because of corporate wokeness and government nudging (to put it mildly).

But there is one emotion I saw that was greater than fear.  It was anger.  There are tens of millions of people who are angry at Joe Biden and his handlers.  They realize that these people are out to destroy their lives and take away all of the good things.  While Fauci, Biden, and the other tyrants want everyone jabbed while celebrating a virtual Christmas again this year, most Americans are trying to get on with their lives.

If COVID has done one thing for us in the last year and a half, it has exposed the thirst for totalitarianism, particularly from the political left.  The rulers want to rule good and hard.

The left and the establishment (almost one and the same now) are overplaying their hand, but it isn’t clear that they know this.  They are turning millions of people towards libertarianism or some mild form of it.

It is one thing for someone to say that they disapprove of the job the president is doing in a poll.  It is quite another to passionately hate the president because you view him as a tyrant.  There are tens of millions of Americans who view Biden as a liar and a tyrant.  They see him as a thug trying to stick a needle in your arm, as well as in the arms of children.

The hard part is that almost the entire corporate media is on Biden’s side, and most of the corporate executives are on Biden’s side or too afraid to speak out.  There isn’t much honesty or courage in corporate America these days, and many of these employers are using sleazy tactics to compel their employees to take the jab.

And now Biden’s people are instructing the FBI to treat protesting parents as domestic terrorists.  Jen Psaki said that it isn’t acceptable for parents to use threats.  I would like for one actual reporter to ask her if threatening people to get vaccinated or lose their job constitutes domestic terrorism by her and Biden.

You have to wonder when this whole thing is going to break.

Consent of the Governed

In the 1500s, Etienne de la Boetie pointed out that all rulers rely on the consent of the governed.  It does not have to be an explicit consent, but the majority of people have to accept the legitimacy of the rulers in some way.

So how can Joe Biden still be standing at this point?  A slim majority of Americans do not accept what Biden is doing, and most of the people who do not support him absolutely despise him and what he is doing.

First, Biden was just inaugurated in January of this year.  He hasn’t even been in office for 9 months yet.  This makes it that much more astounding that he is so hated.  But other than a recall vote in ultra-leftist California for the governor, there has been no major referendum yet.  Perhaps the gubernatorial election next month in Virginia will tell us a little more.

Second, and more importantly, most of the people who despise Biden still grant some legitimacy to the system.  Some of that legitimacy has faded, but most people are not libertarians.  They see a greater role for the state than just protecting people’s rights.  They still give too much respect to all of the illegitimate laws and orders out there.

The good news is that things are slipping away from the statists.  I believe that many of Biden’s critics are starting to question the legitimacy of the whole system.  They may even be seeing the benefits of a possible separation.

There have been many protests in schools over masks, critical race theory, and other political issues.  Of course, they are all political issues when we are talking about government schools.  While I am happy to see parents speaking up for their kids, unfortunately some don’t see the answer that is right in front of them.  They need to make the big sacrifice of pulling their kids out government schools.  This is at least becoming a thought for many parents who would have scoffed at the idea a few years ago.

The entire state apparatus is being called into question to some degree.  The establishment is pushing so hard on vaccines, and calling anyone who opposes their agenda a domestic terrorist, that they are risking their own power.

They are losing the consent of a substantial minority of the population.  This is a positive development for liberty.

The bad news is that the state apparatus is still big and powerful.  The establishment will dig in even deeper and flail around like an out-of-control destruction machine.  There are going to be some hard-fought battles ahead.

The battles are going to be in information.  The politicians and the corporate media will keep trying to gaslight the substantial minority of Americans who will just believe and go along with whatever they say.

When it comes to the vaccines, we have to make it a liberty issue.  It’s fine to argue that the vaccines are not as safe and effective as what Biden and his handlers tell us.  But even if you think the vaccines are the greatest thing ever, do you believe that we should be able to make our own choices?  Do you believe the state should compel us in making our own personal and medical decisions?

There is no sign of Biden’s executive order after his speech a month ago.  There is no sign of any rules coming down from OSHA.  Maybe it was all a bluff, but this doesn’t make it any better for Biden’s image.

“Ha ha, there really isn’t a mandate.  We were just trying to get employers to do our dirty work.  Sorry if you had to worry about your job for months and months because we were bluffing.  But we got millions of more people vaccinated.”

I have one thing to say: F**K Joe Biden.

Every single government edict coming down in the COVID era is an add-on to what was already established before March 2020.  Last year, I wrote about how we need a radical defense of property rights to fight against lockdowns.  We really need this radicalism to fight against all of the mandates at every level.

The existence of business licenses easily enabled the government to issue lockdowns and mask mandates on what are supposed to be private businesses.  I have also written about the medical tyranny, including having to go to a doctor to get a permission slip (a prescription) to get certain drugs.  Incidentally, this also drives up the price of medical care.

Now we are seeing reports of some pharmacies denying people their prescription for Ivermectin as a treatment or preventative measure for COVID.  It is an off-label prescription, meaning that Ivermectin is not officially designated as a treatment for COVID, but this is a common occurrence in medicine.  In a free market, you wouldn’t need a prescription at all.  It would be your choice whether to consult a doctor or a pharmacist.

The most tyrannical thing to happen in all of this is Biden’s pronouncement that most federal workers and federal contractors must get vaccinated.  In addition, any company with 100 or more employees will have to require vaccination or testing of their employees (if the edict goes into effect).

The federal government shouldn’t have this power in the first place, and it doesn’t according to the Constitution and the 10^th Amendment.  But the federal government has been mostly ignoring the Constitution for a long time now.  It is even more egregious that Biden is doing this through executive order.  It is not actually a law being passed by Congress.

The idea of using executive orders has been going on for a long time now, so it is no surprise that the president took his dictatorial powers to such an extreme this time.  In addition, Biden is handing off the rulemaking to OSHA, which also has no legitimate law-making power.  But this is a continuation of Congress unconstitutionally delegating law-making powers to alphabet agencies.

One of the excuses for mandating vaccines is that schools have been mandating a whole host of vaccines for a long time now for kids.  This excuse is also being used in California, which will mandate COVID shots for all eligible kids attending school (supposedly including private schools).  I have seen some responses to this that the COVID vaccine is different in that it is experimental and rushed, despite the FDA approval for Pfizer.

While it is probably correct that the COVID vaccines are more dangerous than other vaccines, the principle being espoused by the totalitarians is consistent.  If you already conceded that the state can tell you to inject your kids, then what is one or two more shots in the arm?

This is why I have been an opponent of mandatory vaccinations for a long time now.  Of course, when it comes to government schools, I don’t think they should exist at all, which is another problem, which has fed into the tyranny of today.  But given that state schools exist, I don’t think vaccination should be required in any way.  I don’t even think you should have to apply for an exemption.  It set the bad precedent that we are dealing with today.

All of the tyranny we are dealing with today is a result of government overreach that was allowed to happen in the past.  A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take away everything you have.  That includes your individual liberty, which includes controlling what goes into your own body.

When I think of the many areas of our lives that government is involved in, especially the worst things, it has all fed into where we find ourselves today.

You can look at wars, executive orders, the drug war, the Federal Reserve, government education, government medical care and regulations, Congress illegally delegating its powers, government regulation of businesses, and unconstitutional alphabet agencies.  It all fed into the authoritarianism of COVID.

On the plus side, many people are being awakened from the tyranny, and it isn’t just against the COVID hysteria.  When the tyrants say that “vaccines are already required for school, so what’s one more”, it makes some people question why all other vaccines are a requirement for school.  Some people question why they have their kids being educated by the state at all.

Some people are questioning why they need a permission slip from their doctor to acquire certain medications.  Some people are questioning why businesses need a permission slip to operate.  Some people are questioning the entire bloated system who didn’t previously question it.

For this, there is reason to be optimistic.  Many people are being awakened.  The problem is that the tyrants and their sheep are going to make our lives miserable until they are beaten back.

With the federal government continuing to spend towards disaster, and with Biden acting as a dictator, the market activity seems like minutia.

For a long time in writing this blog, I have stressed the importance of being healthy and maintaining an income.  While I tend to focus on the Federal Reserve and market activity, I always say that you should worry about your source of income more than your investments, with certain exceptions.

If you have a net worth over a million dollars with a modest middle-class salary, then you should actually probably worry more about your investments than your job.  But for most people, your job or main source of income comes first.

Joe Biden is threatening tens of millions of Americans that they will have to get the government’s jab in the arm if they want to keep their job.  As of now, we are still waiting for OSHA to release the details of these tyrannical dictates, so we don’t know how much of it is a bluff and how big the loopholes will be.  Still, thousands of people across the country are already losing their job because their employer put in place a mandate.

With that said, I still have to pay attention to what is happening in the overall economy.  It has been the focus of this blog over the years.  I can fight hard against Biden’s immoral and unconstitutional dictates while still commenting on the economy and the markets.

Stocks Show Signs of Weakness

The last week of September was a tough one for the stock bulls.  But I am not convinced that this is the beginning of a bear market or some kind of major pullback.  We have seen this trick before.  Last year and in previous years, there have been significant pullbacks of 5 or 10 percent.  Then the pullback stops and within months or weeks, stocks are hitting new all-time highs again.

In the present scenario, the financial media is blaming the pullback earlier this week on rising long-term yields.  The 10-year yield hit 1.5% this past week, which supposedly frightened investors.

It is hard to believe that a 10-year yield of 1.5% is frightening to the markets.  If that is frightening at all, it should be because it is way too low, not too high.

Price inflation, even by the government’s own measures, is running above 2% at this point.  Yet bond investors are accepting a return of 1.5% per year over a 10-year period.  This means, even before taxes, that the yield is negative in real terms.  You get 1.5% on your money, while losing 2% or more in purchasing power.  It’s not exactly the path to wealth.  It could be argued, however, that it is a path to protecting wealth in a time of great risk.

It actually doesn’t make sense that stocks would fall because of a modestly rising 10-year yield.  If anything were to signal trouble for stocks at this point, it would be falling long-term rates.

The only reason a rising long-term yield could spell trouble for stocks is that there is fear the Fed will have to tighten.  But this is really a reflection of price inflation.  The only reason the Fed would tighten faster than expected is because price inflation is getting out of control.  It’s not clear that the higher 10-year yield is due to fears of higher price inflation.

The Yield Curve

The best predictor of a recession is an inverted yield curve.  And a recession and a crashing stock market typically go hand-in-hand.  In this sense, we should see the yield curve inverting before we see a major crash in stocks.  This means that the short-term rates would go up or the long-term rates would come down, or some combination of the two.

With a slightly rising 10-year yield, this is getting away from an inversion.  The yield curve is getting steeper.  So it is not necessarily pointing to a recession.

Here’s the problem though.  We did have an inverted yield curve in 2019.  There is typically a delay of 6 months to over a year after this happens before the recession becomes evident and stocks fall.

But things didn’t happen as normal in 2020.  (That’s the understatement of the year.)  Due to COVID hysteria and government lockdowns, there was a massive slowdown in business activity across the board in March 2020.  The Fed reacted right away.  It even reacted before the world shut down.  The Fed’s balance sheet took off to the stratosphere.

In a more normal situation, the Fed would not react like this.  If there had been no COVID hysteria in 2020, then a recession likely would have followed a more typical path.  We probably would have seen signs of a slowdown, with stocks falling, and then the Fed would have reacted.  It would have been too late, and there would have been some kind of a real recession, instead of the very brief one in the spring of 2020.

Since the Fed started the process of inflating and lowering interest rates before the recession even officially began, it prevented a major shakeout.  While it was a bad time for many small businesses, most large companies seemed to get through just fine, or even better.  The resumption in the bull market came in late April or May of 2020, and it has been a major boom time ever since for stock investors.

We never really got any kind of correction.  We never saw much of a cleansing of the malinvestment.  Therefore, I don’t know if we ever saw a true recession following the inverted yield curve in 2019.

This makes me wonder whether we actually need to see another inverted yield curve in order to get the next recession.  It really isn’t clear at all because of the abnormality of what happened in 2020.

I generally think that the latest trouble in the stock market is not the beginning of a sustained bear market.  However, I do think we are in a massive bubble that could implode at any time.

When it finally does implode, it is going to severely hurt a lot of people who put their faith in the dictum that stocks always go up in the long run.

Maybe it’s true that stocks always go up in the long run, especially when you have a central bank always willing to inflate.  But “the long run” can mean different things to different people.

Do you know anyone who has made a lot of money in the stock market over the last decade who has sold most of it off and taken the gains recently?  I don’t.

You have conservative investors who have been light on stocks who have missed out on the gains, and you have more aggressive investors who are heavy on stocks who have done quite well over the last decade.  But the ones who have done quite well have mostly stayed in stocks, or have even become more aggressive.  So when the crash finally comes, they are going to be devastated.  We just don’t know when that will be.

It was recently announced where I live that the city government was suspending the pickup of recycling.  This is supposedly due to a shortage of workers.  Curbside garbage (bulk items) and tree branches have been piling up on streets everywhere, so the workers picking up recycling will shift to picking up other things.

While I am concerned about the environment, I think recycling is mostly a joke.  It is a show so that people can feel good about “doing something” to save the planet.  If recycling made sense, then you wouldn’t need government programs spending money on it.  It would be incentivized through the profit motive.

With that said, we still use our recycling bin for empty bottles and boxes.  The reason is because our garbage gets pretty full every week.  If we didn’t use our recycle bin, then our garbage would be overflowing.

I say there is “supposedly” a shortage of workers.  The economist in me says that there are almost never shortages.  There are just shortages at some price.  If the city wanted to pay workers 50 dollars per hour, I am sure they could find the help quickly.  Even if you have to get a special license to drive a truck, there would be takers at some price if they thought the salary were sustainable.

My wife was wondering why there is such a shortage of workers, and I’m sure a lot of others must be wondering the same thing.  It is easy to blame COVID, but it goes a lot deeper than that.  Sure, government at all levels has been incentivizing some people not to work, but that can’t account for what we’re seeing.

Most of the added unemployment benefits are gone or coming to an end, and the unemployment rate is relatively low.  The unemployment rate was a lot higher in 2009 after the financial crisis, but I don’t remember hearing about a mass shortage of workers.  That wouldn’t make sense, because then the unemployment wouldn’t be high.

There are some supply chain issues coming out of China, but it still goes back to the fact that there seem to be a lack of workers.

It’s interesting that Biden is trying to give an ultimatum to tens of millions of workers that they have to be vaccinated or risk losing their job.  There are already staff shortages in hospitals, so it’s not clear how things will work out if 10% of the nurses out there decide they would rather be fired or quit rather than take the jab.  This potential mandate by Biden’s executive order isn’t going to help the worker shortage situation any.

So what gives?  Why do we seem to have a shortage of workers everywhere?  It ranges from healthcare, to office workers, to restaurants, to garbage collectors.

A Misallocation of Resources

One thing that is being missed by most people is the Federal Reserve.  The Fed has doubled its balance sheet since February 2020.  It has forced short-term interest rates to near zero, while buying up government debt and helping add trillions of dollars to the national debt over the last 18 months.

Money is flooding the system, and many people are feeling better than they should.  With rising stock prices, rising housing prices, stimulus checks, and relatively low unemployment, people feel like they have gotten wealthier.  I know this doesn’t go for all people, but the top 40% or so are generally feeling pretty good.

Therefore, you have more demand for stuff.  Stuff can be anything.  It can be demand for a swimming pool in the backyard for the kids.  It can be demand for Lamborghinis.  It can be demand for an upgraded kitchen.

But just because there is an increase in demand, it doesn’t mean there is more stuff being produced.  You still need the labor to produce stuff, and you also need the materials.

A lot of companies are hesitant to raise their prices too dramatically all at once.  That plays a big part of the shortages.  A fast food place may have a shortage of workers.  They could start paying 30 dollars per hour, and they wouldn’t have much trouble finding some reliable workers.  But if they pay that much, then they will have to raise the price of their food if they want to be profitable.  And there is no guarantee that raising prices will keep generating as much in sales.

From my original story, there is a shortage of workers to pick up garbage, recycling, and yard waste.  So where have the workers gone?  Maybe a few have retired, but then there don’t seem to be new people to fill the spots.  Maybe some left for other work.

If a pool contractor has more people demanding pools for their backyards, then the pool contractor needs to hire people.  If the garbage collector was getting 20 dollars per hour, maybe the pool contractor can pay 35 dollars per hour.  He can pay more because the demand is so high.

There may be more people being trained to install new kitchen cabinets and flooring.  There may be more people driving trucks to deliver appliances because of the increased demand.

The general principle is that people are demanding more things.  So there may be more people working on backyard pools, while there aren’t enough people to take orders at Burger King and McDonald’s.

We are currently in an unsustainable boom caused by loose money and artificially low interest rates.  The so-called shortages we are currently seeing can be laid at the feet of the Fed.  This not only includes the shortages in labor, but also the shortages in materials.  But most people simply can’t go this deep.  Aside from a few Austrian school economists, I don’t see this explanation given at all.

People feel wealthier than they should right now.  They think the rising stocks and rising real estate have made them richer.  But they will only be richer if they sell.  And if they don’t sell and think the euphoria will continue, then it is a green light to demand more consumer goods and services.

All of the government debt and newly created money don’t actually produce more things.  It can rearrange (misallocate) production.

The thing that will cure these shortages will be a good hard recession.  That is why it is appropriately called a correction. It will flip things around, and people will be looking for work instead of work looking for them.

If we don’t get a good hard recession soon, then prices are likely to surge higher.  That will be the only way to cure the shortage then.  If people want to put a pool in their backyard and get a Lamborghini for the garage, it will start to cost them even more.  At some price, the demand can be fulfilled.  But at some price, the demand will also go down.

In the case of my city, they obviously can’t pay significantly more for workers.  That’s because they are tied to a budget, which is funded by the taxpayers.

It’s interesting that the federal government has seemingly unlimited money, while local governments struggle with the price inflation created by the federal government and the Fed.

I am in favor of privatizing garbage collection.  But I am much more in favor of ending the Federal Reserve and allowing for competing forms of money.

We are at a critical point in the United States, and indeed the world, where we could head in any direction.  It almost seems as if we are on a small rope, and we are bound to fall one way or the other.

We could fall to the dark side and go down a path towards some kind of fascist tyranny.  Or we could fall to the other side where we see a new world of greater liberty, peace, and prosperity.

I don’t want to overexaggerate here.  I don’t think we are going to turn into North Korea or the old Soviet Union in the next 5 years.  I also don’t think we are going to become some libertarian paradise where the state is rolled back to a tiny fraction of what it is today.

But I also don’t want to understate the case.  We have seen great tyranny hit over the last 18 months with widespread lockdowns and stay-at-home orders.  Now, about 100 million Americans are told they may be forced to choose between getting their government-approved jab in the arm or losing their job.  The tyranny is already here.

The good news is that there is widespread resistance.  Just like about 10% of the population is vocal in favor of lockdowns, mask mandates, and vaccine mandates, there is about 10% of the population that is vocal against lockdowns, mask mandates, and vaccine mandates.

The numbers against the lockdowns and mandates are much greater than 10%, and may even be a majority now, but we need that 10% who are willing to speak out loudly and honestly.

There are tens of millions of Americans who are fearful that they will have to choose between their job or the jab, but they are also furious at Biden and the situation.  They are not used to speaking out.  Most of these people do not want to be involved politically.  They don’t want confrontation of any kind.

It has been said that you may want to avoid politics, but politics won’t avoid you.  That has come to light for a lot of Americans in 2020 and 2021.

The tyrants may be overplaying their hand.  They may have awakened tens of millions of people from their sleep.  That is my case for optimism.  I just don’t know how much damage will be done in the meantime.

Decentralized Examples

My hope is that common sense will eventually prevail for most people.  I know that is a stretch when we are talking about the sheep in the crowd.

In 2020, there was a piece of me that was really down on society.  The lockdowns, while being encouraged by the federal government, were imposed at state and local levels.  Almost every governor in the United States adopted dictatorial powers and shut down what were deemed non-essential businesses.

I thought, what is the point of decentralization if everyone gets it wrong?  I am fortunate to live in Florida where Ron DeSantis figured out the errors of his ways and opened up Florida completely in September 2020.  While he was slammed by the predictable tyrants, it showed that decentralization does matter.  Florida became an example for the rest of the country that you could open things up and not experience mass death.

South Dakota stayed open the whole time, but it is a state with a lot of land and not a lot of people.  So it probably didn’t provide much comfort to the more populous states with big cities.  Florida, on the other hand, has big cities with big populations.

It was actually a little funny seeing people visit Florida from the north in late 2020 and early 2021.  It was a bit jarring for some people who had been essentially locked in their house for many months, or even a year.  Then they would come to Florida and see life as pretty close to normal (as it was known prior to March 2020), except a lot of people were still wearing masks indoors.

The existence of social media also helped.  People in Florida and a few other open places would post pictures of parties, or even a few people enjoying a lunch inside a restaurant.  Someone living in New York or New Jersey would have to think twice when seeing such a picture, realizing that there wasn’t mass death occurring in Florida, despite any insinuations by the corporate media.

Now I can see a sporting event in places like New York or California and see it packed with people.  I don’t know if we would be at this point if it weren’t for a few places like Florida.

The Media Stories vs. The Real Stories

In our world of instant communication and social media, there is hope that the truth will get out there.  Unfortunately, the corporate media is still very powerful in propagandizing people.  That is why we had mass COVID hysteria in the first place.

The politicians and the media are constantly deceiving, and just flat-out lying at times.  I think of Joe Biden saying that if you’re vaccinated, then you are protected from hospitalization or death.  Now he has changed his stance that we need to protect the vaccinated from the unvaccinated.  On this last point, I can’t think of a better sales pitch against the effectiveness of the vaccines.

The media had no trouble telling us about all of the heart-wrenching stories of COVID deaths throughout 2020, and even up to this day.  It didn’t matter if they died of COVID or with COVID.

Other than maybe the rare local television news station, you won’t hear any stories about adverse vaccine reactions.  You won’t hear about people dying shortly after vaccination.  You won’t hear about young people who were seemingly healthy who now have a heart condition or some kind of neurological disease.  You won’t hear about the stroke victims or the people who are paralyzed after getting the clot shot.

The good news (if you can call it that) is that people spread these stories.  If someone knows someone else who got jabbed and then suffered a serious reaction after, then they will now know the dangers, assuming they connected the dots.  Even if they aren’t one to share on social media, they will probably quietly mention it to their family and friends.

The one problem is the assumption that people will connect the dots.  Many doctors are not connecting the dots, or their high salary and reputation is incentive to not connect the dots.  I find that nurses are much more likely to connect the dots because they are on the ground seeing the patients, and they are also a little more courageous in thinking against the grain.

Outside of the hospital setting, it is amazing how many people are being gaslit by the media.  They hear that 95% (or some high percentage) of people being hospitalized with COVID are unvaccinated.  These are sham statistics coming from the CDC.  They are old statistics taken from when most Americans weren’t vaccinated.

The gaslighting is even worse when it comes to adverse events from the vaccine.  You can see the numbers on the Open VAERS website, but VAERS is likely understated dramatically.  There are probably many reports to VAERS of things that really might have been coincidental.  People have new medical conditions all the time, and some of them are going to happen when 100 million or more people get a shot in a period of less than a year.

On the flip side, the majority of adverse events don’t get reported to VAERS.  Sometimes the dots aren’t connected, or the event simply isn’t reported.  It becomes harder when there is a delay.  What if you get a shot and then die or suffer a serious injury three months later that may or may not be because of the vaccine.  We don’t know how common this is because it is purposely not being studied or reported.

The biggest fraud now is that adverse vaccine events are being blamed on COVID.  If you get your first shot of one of the two-dose vaccines (not including “boosters”) and then end up in the hospital three weeks later, they will blame it on COVID.  They won’t blame it on the vaccine.  Even worse, it will be marked as a COVID case for the unvaccinated because the person wasn’t considered “fully vaccinated”.

There are even situations now where someone had COVID, then got the vaccine (or vice versa) and then has a medical problem down the road.  The problem isn’t blamed on the vaccine of course, but it is said to be a symptom of “long COVID”.

A certain segment of the population is being completely gaslit.  They can’t see what is right before their eyes.  They could have a close family member get vaccinated and die two weeks later, and they would never connect the dots.  If anything were suggested to them that it might have had to do with the vaccine, they would shut down mentally, if it is possible to shut down any more than was already the case.  They would be in denial.

As Mark Twain supposedly said, it is easier to fool someone than to convince someone that they have been fooled.

I wish these COVID vaccines were as harmless as what the media makes them out to be.  Unfortunately, that just isn’t the reality at this point.  Anyone with a little common sense and an open mind should be able to see that.

Maybe there is an argument to be made that the benefits outweigh the risks in terms of getting the vaccine, especially for older people.  But can the vaccine pushers at least acknowledge that there is a safety risk to the vaccines?

I have to believe at this point that at least half the people in the country realize that there isn’t an insignificant risk of the vaccines.  The personal anecdotes, over time, should overcome the media disinformation.

While it is hard to connect delayed reactions, I think at some point some people will connect the dots.  If, say, 5% of the vaccinated population either dies or comes down with a severe disease over the next year, then I think the word will get out even more than it is now.  Some people will be in denial forever, but the majority of people will see the stories in front of their eyes and take it more seriously than what is told (or not told) to them by the media.

There isn’t much good to say about the possibility of mass death.  But if the death count goes up dramatically from here for the vaccinated, then the one little piece of good news is that most people will figure it out eventually.

The more that people are lied to and realize it, the less they trust the media.  Over the long run, this is positive for the prospects of liberty.  We are at a crossroads here, and we could fall towards greater tyranny or greater liberty.  The way to get to greater liberty is for the general populace to distrust the corporate media, the politicians, the bureaucrats, and the so-called experts.

What happened when Atlas felt the weight of the world on his shoulders?  He shrugged.

In Ayn Rand’s famous novel, Atlas Shrugged, the producers went on strike.  It is not all that realistic, but it’s not because of how it’s done or how they secretly disappear into a hidden world.  It is unrealistic because it involves some courageous business leaders.

If there’s one thing lacking in today’s world, it is courageous business leaders who are willing to go against the grain and stand up to the establishment.  Maybe it is because anyone who does this finds they cannot operate a business successfully against the behemoth empire.

While the idea of the liberty loving people running away from the tyrants is appealing, it is hard to imagine how that would work in today’s world.  I have followed the Free State Project from the beginning, but that has had only marginal success.  New Hampshire was not as free as South Dakota or Florida by October 2020.

Perhaps the best way to spread liberty is to lead by example.  You create pockets of freedom where it can be done.  You find loopholes around the state.

But sometimes seceding from the tyrants is the only option, even at an individual level.  Unfortunately, we may be approaching a situation where that nuclear option is the only option left other than letting our society completely fall to the tyrants.

Joe Biden issued an executive order that will require most federal workers and federal contractors to be vaccinated for COVID.  It will also require that all companies with 100 or more employees require weekly tests or vaccination for all employees.  This is immoral and tyrannical.  If it is allowed to stand, then we have fallen, and our children face a grim future.

In the United States, we are a completely divided country.  Biden talked about unity when entering office, but his version of unity means obeying all of his commands.  If everyone obeys, then there will be unity.

If someone holds up a bank with a gun, there is great unity by everyone lying down on the ground with their hands spread out.  There is no violence as long as everyone obeys those who are threatening the violence.

Since tens of millions of adult Americans don’t want the experimental COVID jabs, there is disunity.

The battle isn’t about the vaccinated versus the unvaccinated.  The battle is between those who believe in liberty and those who believe in tyranny.

The tyrants will not admit to being tyrants.  They do it all in the name of safety.  This includes the sheep who follow the tyrants and allow it to happen.  They now think of the unvaccinated as second-class citizens.  They see the unvaccinated as spreaders of disease.

I would say it is like Nazi Germany, but there are differences.  One difference is that Joe Biden just skipped over the Enabling Act.  He just issued his executive order without even trying to pretend that it’s a valid law.

If this tyrannical order goes through, then a lot of people will be faced with a choice.  The choice is their job or to roll up their sleeve.  I can’t tell people what to do, and it isn’t an easy decision.  But just know that if this is allowed to happen, the future is bleak indeed.

I think people should try to find a way around it any way they can.  This may mean becoming an independent contractor and then contracting out your services to your employer.  Or maybe you can get an exemption of some sort.

If there are no workarounds and you do not consent to the vaccine, then you should not quit unless there is a major financial incentive to do so.  Otherwise, let your employer fire you.  It is discriminatory.

While I don’t believe there should be anti-discrimination laws, we know that most employers will speak political correctness about how diverse they are and how they will never discriminate (unless it is discrimination against an unfavorable group).  Make your employer discriminate and fire you for being in the unvaccinated, second-class citizen boat.

There are a lot of nurses who don’t want the vaccine because they see the adverse effects from people being admitted to the hospital.  A lot of them will quit or be fired because they don’t want the jab.  The already short-staffed hospitals are going to feel the pain, as are the consumers.

There is already a shortage of workers available (at yesterday’s prices).  Many businesses are already facing reduced hours or closure because there simply aren’t enough people to keep operating.  They could pay a relatively unskilled worker $40 per hour, but then they wouldn’t be profitable unless they could dramatically raise prices.

This shortage is going to get a lot worse if people leave or are fired due to vaccination requirements.  Imagine someone who is 18 years old working a part-time job while going to school.  If this person doesn’t want the jab, they will work at the local coffee shop with 8 employees instead of at Walmart.

There are people who got vaccinated who are against the mandates.  We need these people to speak out too, but I don’t expect them to quit their job.  It is going to be on the shoulders of the unvaccinated.

If 20 million people choose not to get vaccinated and get terminated, how will that impact the economy for everyone?  Is that going to be Biden’s ticket to gaining congressional seats in 2022?

I know that many Republican governors are fighting this at the state level.  Some are only pretending to fight it because they see which way the political winds are blowing.  While this tyranny should be opposed from all angles including state challenges and legal challenges, we have to be prepared to fight this as individuals.

We need everyone on our side that we can get.  This includes military personnel and other federal government workers. We need tens of millions of people to just say “no” and not consent to this.  We have to make employers feel the pain and realize that they will have trouble surviving if 10 to 20 percent of their workforce is willing to leave.  Maybe then we will see some courage from corporate executives, who will really just be choosing the least bad confrontation from their perspective.

If the unvaccinated shrug, the pain will be felt everywhere.  The tyrants and their sheep know this is wrong.  They must be put in a position where they feel very uncomfortable.  They must be looked down upon as the fascists that they are.

We must point out at every opportunity that they are not using persuasion.  They are using violence to impose their way on everyone else.  They are essentially forcing us to participate in their medical experiment.

They are not actually holding us down and injecting us with a needle (yet), but they are telling you that you must get jabbed if you want to keep your job and provide for your family.  Society must know who the tyrants are.  They are thugs.  They are violent criminals who would rather use guns than persuasion.

I believe the Biden speech on September 9, 2021 was a big moment in the life of Americans, whether they know it or not.  Biden announced an executive order that will require most federal workers to get vaccinated.  It will require federal contractors to require their employees to be vaccinated.  It will also require all companies with 100 or more employees to require vaccination or weekly testing of their employees.

As of now, the details haven’t been released, as it is being passed off to OSHA to illegally write the rules.  This is unconstitutional in more ways than one.  It is not a delegated authority in Article I, Section 8, but most things coming out of the federal government are unconstitutional in this sense.  It is also unconstitutional because it is an executive order.  Congress is supposed to make the laws, and they aren’t supposed to be delegated out.

OSHA is supposed to be there for occupational safety.  This is about as applicable as the CDC imposing a rent moratorium.  But as Biden said, we have to protect the vaccinated from the unvaccinated by forcing the unvaccinated to get vaccinated.

It is unclear what exemptions will exist, and who will be in charge of determining whether an exemption is valid.  Maybe our benevolent rulers will be generous with the exemptions.

It is unclear if this will apply to remote workers, as this should have nothing to do with workplace safety, but they are stretching everything else.

This immoral directive will impact tens of millions of people.  The majority of the workforce in the United States will be impacted.  But really, everyone will be impacted.

Let’s say that this actually goes through and takes effect.  How many people will refuse?  How many millions of people will be fired from their jobs?  If you refuse to get vaccinated, I would recommend not quitting your job unless there is some kind of benefit to doing so.  I would make your employer fire you.

I know this is the line in the sand for many people.  There are literally millions of people willing to risk losing their job instead of getting jabbed in the arm.

There are already shortages of things in our world.  There are shortages of workers in many industries.  This is what happens when you create trillions of dollars out of thin air, while also paying people not to work.

There are already stories about busy hospitals.  But in most cases, it isn’t because of a lack of beds.  It is because of a lack of staffing.  And despite Biden’s lies, there is a large chunk of healthcare workers who aren’t vaccinated.  This is particularly true for nurses, many of whom are ready to walk.

Not only will hospitals be even more overwhelmed, but think about businesses everywhere.  How many people working at Walmart want to get vaccinated?

Ironically, this will hurt big businesses the most.  It is a bit of a reversal from what happened in 2020.  However, you could have a small restaurant or store, but if it is part of a franchise, then it will likely be subject to the 100-employee rule.

This could topple an already fragile economy.  With shortages, we ain’t seen nothing yet.

Even if this goes into effect and is later reversed, how much damage will already be done?

Media Blackout

It is crazy how little coverage this whole thing got.  The corporate media talked about it the day it happened, and then it was on to coverage of the 20^th anniversary of 9/11.

Domestically speaking, I believe this is the most dangerous and widespread government action in my lifetime.  I think you have to go back to the military draft to find something worse.  But even with the draft, it did not impact nearly as many people.

I have seen a little bit about this on Fox News on the few good shows that are on there.  Other than that, the corporate media is saying little, while tens of millions of Americans are anxious and angry at the same time.

When I go on social media or forums, I find people who are worried about this.  They are also furious.  I have even seen a few people angry about it who are vaccinated.

I wonder how many people will get the shot so that they don’t lose their job, only to find out that they need booster shots later on in order to qualify as fully vaccinated.  What is to stop Biden and OSHA from requiring even more people down the line?  None of this is being discussed in the corporate media.

It is important not only to not listen to the media, but also to realize that the news they cover is not necessarily what is important.  Last week, during several college football games, chants of “F**k Joe Biden” broke out.  This is the sentiment of tens of millions of Americans.

I can only hope that a year from now we look back at this thing and see it as a triggering point for people to rise up in defense of liberty.

I have little doubt that Biden and his handlers have overplayed their hand on this.  It is just a question of how much damage and how many lives they ruin in the meantime.

I am going to be focusing a lot of energy on defeating the immoral, discriminatory, and unconstitutional executive order that is telling tens of millions of people that they have to get jabbed or else lose their job.  I believe it is the biggest and most widespread tyranny against Americans in my lifetime.

If the executive order goes through and is at least somewhat implemented, it is also going to have widespread impacts on the economy.  There are already shortages of staff in some places, including hospitals.  Just wait until 20% of the workforce quits (or get fired) because of the mandates.  Even if it is just 10%, it will have major ramifications.

More on all of that to come at a later time.

For today, the latest CPI numbers came out, and they were a little lower than expected.  The CPI for August 2021 came in at 0.3%, as did the median CPI.  The year-over-year CPI now stands at 5.3%, while the median CPI is 2.4%.

While there is a deceleration from previous months, it is still well over the Fed’s supposed 2% target for price inflation.

It enables the boom to keep going, it enables the Fed to keep creating money out of thin air, and it enables the malinvestment and the bubbles to continue for a little while longer.  Maybe the Fed will start to taper later this year, but it will still be adding money to its balance sheet.  Incidentally, the Fed’s balance sheet has now doubled from where it was in February 2020.

If price inflation keeps coming down, then it may point to a recession.  Even with an expanding money supply, conditions can tighten quickly.  If people become scared of the economic environment, they can change their habits quickly.

For some, it may mean not putting in a $100,000 swimming pool for the kids.  For some, it may mean not eating out at restaurants any more.

I am seeing more houses in my neighborhood up for sale.  It is still a hot neighborhood, but I think it is slowing down.  I wonder if the people selling are moving nearby.  I also wonder whether they are upgrading or downgrading.  Maybe a few are “cashing out”, taking their paper profits and making them actual profits, and renting.  You can only make money selling your house if you buy a cheaper house or if you rent until the market comes down.

The everything bubble continues for now.  Stock indexes are still near all-time highs, and cryptos, NFTS, and most other speculative assets (if you can even call them assets) are insane right now.

I will continue to not bet hard against the trend, while also warning that this bubble could blow at any time.

We have to get a recession at some point, unless Mises was wrong.  He said that the malinvestment would eventually be exposed, unless there is an ever-expanding money supply.  But then you would face a crack-up boom, which is hyperinflation.

We had a very brief recession in 2020 in technical terms, even though it was devastating for many small businesses.  The Fed went on a money creation spree, so the malinvestment from before was never shaken out.  When the shakeout does finally happen, it will be one for the record books.

I don’t like to be overdramatic.  I don’t like to say that this is our last chance for liberty or else we are all doomed.  As long as there is one voice alive speaking in favor of liberty, then the flame stays lit.

What happened on September 9, 2021 is very troubling.  It is the most dangerous and widespread infringement on liberty that we have seen in modern times, at least domestically.

The war between the states in the 1860s was horrific.  The act of drafting men and sending them off to war was horrific throughout much of the 20^th century.  The killing of innocent people overseas in many wars has been horrific.  I am not trying to compare any of those events to what is happening today.

But this thing just hit home with Biden’s immoral and unconstitutional executive order.  It is all bad, but the part about requiring most federal workers, federal contractors, and companies with 100 or more people to require vaccination of their employees is especially egregious.  In other words, on Biden’s word (there is no law), you have to get jabbed if you want to work.

This is it.  This is the libertarian moment.  This is the last stand.  America, overall, is still the freest place on earth.  Maybe some people will quibble with that.  But there is no moving to another location.  If America falls, the whole world falls.  We are supposed to be the example for the rest of the world.

Joe Biden and his handlers are acting as thug dictators.  A thug dictator dressed in a suit is still a thug dictator.  This must be resisted.

This will directly impact tens of millions of Americans.  They are being given a choice by the government to take a jab or not get a job to feed and house their families.

It will actually impact everyone.  The tyranny has arrived.  If you think this is acceptable, even if you love the vaccine, then you are a permanent slave.  When they come for you, there will be nobody there to defend you.

If this dictate goes through, I believe that millions of people will choose to lose their jobs over getting vaccinated.  But I guess Dictator Biden won’t count these people as unemployed.  He makes up sham statistics for COVID and the vaccines, so he can make up sham statistics about the economy and the employment that he will help destroy.

I encourage everyone to contact their “representatives” in Congress.  Go on the record and let them know where you stand.  Make it clear that you expect them to stand hard against this.  Let them know that they should support articles of impeachment to remove this dangerous man from the presidency.

You can also email the White House.  It’s not that they care about you, but they may care if they receive millions of emails telling them that we will not consent.

I don’t want to hear anyone say, “If the government can do this, then what infringement will be next?”

The tyranny isn’t coming.  The tyranny has already arrived.  It doesn’t matter if you are pro vaccine or anti vaccine.  Anyone who tries to dictate that you must inject chemicals into your body or your livelihood will be taken away from you is a thug.

Joe Biden said he has lost his patience.  Oh, so that means he gets to pull out a gun and demand that you listen to him.  A bank robber loses his patience when the teller doesn’t hand him the cash quick enough.  He may use his gun if he loses his patience.

The American people must resist this.  It should be done through any peaceful means necessary.  This means secession.  This means disobedience.  This means protests.  This means lawsuits.  This means making it clear that you do not consent to these illegitimate dictates.

Let’s see if the cowardly executives in corporate America finally take a stand.  They have been going along with the politically correct crowd all this time.  They have no problem having their diversity trainings and their woke seminars.  Let’s see now who is willing to take a stand and say “enough”.

Most people not getting a COVID vaccine are doing it for legitimate reasons.  It isn’t because they don’t care.  It isn’t because they are stupid.  It isn’t because they are too lazy to make an appointment.  There is skepticism for good reason.  Most people I know who aren’t getting jabbed are doing a thoughtful risk/ benefit analysis.

We need to find allies who did choose to get vaccinated.  There are people out there who took the jab who also don’t think it should be imposed.  This isn’t a battle of the vaccinated vs. the unvaccinated.  This is a battle of liberty vs. tyranny.