The Next Economic Crisis; Social Security

 It’s becoming fairly obvious to everyone that having fewer and fewer workers paying into Social Security is going to make it crumble. Also 0% interest rates means that Social Security is investing in what to earn any returns?  This is just one other example of the many that show America is on an unsustainable path. It seems that there are many of our foundations that have either collapsed (marriage and family) or will soon collapse.  The good news is that followers of Christ have a very bright future!  So keep looking up and the things of this world will continue to grow strangely dim and less interesting.

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Inflation, for example, is an enormous problem for Social Security.

Even before the pandemic, Social Security's key trust fund was projected to run out of money by the early 2030s.

But last year's Covid lockdowns meant that millions fewer people were employed and paying in to the Social Security system; that means a LOT less revenue for the program.

And now with inflation surging, Social Security has to make Cost of Living adjustments and increase the monthly benefits to its tens of millions of recipients.

These are pretty much the worst possible conditions for the long-term health of Social Security. And it means that the trust fund will likely run out of money even sooner than projected.

It's ironic that, last year, the Social Security administrators actually reduced their long-term inflation forecast.

https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=4879

So Which One Is It?

Here are 2 articles from CNBC. One article says the outbreaks are happening in unvaccinated areas of the country while the other says 74% of cases are happening in fully vaccinated people. 

Let me sum it up. “Get the vaccine to protect your neighbors or you are a selfish freak who doesn’t deserve to buy groceries. But if you get it the shots you can still get Covid and pass it to your neighbors so stay indoors and masked up or you are a selfish freak. Any questions?”

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The data published Friday was based on 469 cases of Covid associated with multiple summer events and large public gatherings held in July in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, which encompasses Cape Cod and is just outside Martha’s Vineyard. The events were held in Provincetown, according to NBC News. Approximately three-quarters, or 74%, of the cases occurred in fully vaccinated people who had completed a two-dose course of the mRNA vaccines or received a single shot of Johnson & Johnson’s.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/30/cdc-study-shows-74percent-of-people-infected-in-massachusetts-covid-outbreak-were-fully-vaccinated.html

Many companies are debating whether they should implement vaccination mandates or solely incentivize more of their staff and customers to get vaccinated. The discussion has intensified as the more contagious delta variant continues to infect the largely unvaccinated areas of the United States, causing the seven-day average daily case count to recently surpass last summer’s peak.

 https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/03/delta-air-lines-ceo-ed-bastian-difficult-to-mandate-covid-vaccines-to-fly-in-us.html?recirc=taboolainternal

Rand Paul; Stand Up! They Can’t Arrest us All!

 How are we supposed to behave as followers of Christ when tyranny and godlessness comes to America? Some might say that Paul says to obey authorities. But clearly our forefathers were not following that line when they refused the King of England the authority he demanded.

Others say we should resist and let the government hand us our consequences for disobedience, like Paul and Peter did. They refused to stop preaching Christ and submitted to beatings and prison handed out by authorities.  Our day of reckoning might be coming far sooner than any of us expected.

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They can’t arrest us all. They can’t keep all your kids home from school. They can’t keep every government building closed – although I’ve got a long list of ones they should.

We don’t have to accept the mandates, lockdowns, and harmful policies of the petty tyrants and feckless bureaucrats. We can simply say no, not again. 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi — you will not arrest or stop me or anyone on my staff from doing our jobs. We have all either had COVID, had the vaccine, or been offered the vaccine. We will make our own health choices. We will not show you a passport, we will not wear a mask, we will not be forced into random screening and testing so you can continue your drunk with power rein over the Capitol. 

President Biden — we will not accept your agencies’ mandates or your reported moves toward a lockdown. No one should follow the CDC’s anti-science mask mandates. And if you want to shutdown federal agencies again — some of which aren’t even back to work fully — I will stop every bill coming through the Senate with an amendment to cut their funding if they don’t come to work. 

No more.

Local bureaucrats and union bosses — we will not allow you to do more harm to our children again this year. Children are not at any more risk from COVID than they are for the seasonal flu. Every adult who works in schools has either had the vaccine or had their chance to. There is no reason for mask mandates, part time schools, or any lockdown measures.

Children are falling behind in school, and are being harmed physically and psychologically by the tactics you have used to keep them from the classroom last year. We won’t allow it again.

If a school system attempts to keep the children from full-time, in-person school, I will hold up every bill with two amendments. One to defund them, and another to allow parents the choice of where the money goes for their child’s education.

Do I sound fed up to you? That’s because I am. 

I’m not a career politician. I’ve practiced medicine for 33 years. I graduated from Duke Medical School, worked in emergency rooms, studied immunology and virology, and ultimately chose to become a surgeon. 

I have been telling everyone for a year now that Dr. Anthony Fauci and other public health officials were NOT following science, and I’ve been proven right time and time again. 

But I’m not the only one who is fed up.

I can’t go anywhere these days — from work, to events, to airports and Ubers, restaurants and stores, without people coming up to me thanking me for standing up for them.

For standing up for actual science. For standing up for freedom. For standing against mandates, lockdowns, and bureaucratic power grabs.

I think the tide has turned, and more and more people are willing to stand up. I see stories from across the country of parents standing up to teacher unions and school boards.

I see members of Congress refusing to comply with Petty Tyrant Pelosi. 

We are at a moment of truth and a crossroads. Will we allow these people to use fear and propaganda to do further harm to our society, economy, and children?

Or will we stand together and say, absolutely not. Not this time. I choose freedom. 

Here; https://www.zerohedge.com/political/they-cant-arrest-us-all-sen-rand-paul-urges-americans-resist-pelosi-petty-tyrants

$100 If You Get Your Shot

 I just saw on our local Twin Cities 10 pm news that Minnesota is offering $100 to get vaccinated. They also explained how to take care of your Proof of Vaccination card. More and more businesses are going to require it to work or get in the front door of many businesses.

Soon they will find that people are counterfeiting or stealing cards and will require you get a mark on your right hand or forehead to prevent fraud.

We hope Jesus doesn’t tarry too much longer!

More Reasons Why Americans Don’t Trust MSM

 Very interesting report here from Tucker Carlson explaining how the New York Times has gone back in its archives to delete hundreds of articles that were paid for by China.  Also watch how the MSM did everything possible to discredit the idea that Covid 19 originated in China.  They called the idea racist even though we are now finding out it’s most likely “highly probable.”.

https://youtu.be/CtOjn2g8Xkk

He Tried to Tell You This Would Happen

 A really good 6 minute video on how the Democrat leaders flip flopped on vaccinations.  When Trump was President they weren’t going to get vaccinated and now they are supporting mandatory vaccinations to enter any public venues and soon grocery stores.  It’s coming!

https://youtu.be/qkbC_R0039s

Hanging By a ZIRP Thread

 What's ZIRP?  Zero Interest Rate Policy.

"So Dennis, who the heck cares about interest rates?  This is America!  We can do anything we want!"

We have blogged about this many times but we now live in a country (and world) where nations have borrowed huge amounts and the only way they can afford to pay the interest on those trillions of dollars is to make sure that THERE IS NO INTEREST to be paid!

So what happens when ZIRP is forced to go away because people start DEMANDING more interest to use their money?  Why would they do that?  Because they begin to realize that $20,000 today will buy you a new car but in a year that same car will cost $30,000 (inflation) and there is NO WAY they are going to loan their $20,000 in exchange for only getting $20,000 back in a year. (that's what ZIRP is)

And that's when the whole financial system comes apart.

The stock market and economy are hanging by a thread over an economic abyss. That thread is zero interest rate policy (ZIRP). Rampant inflation and foreign competition will snap the thread. Jerome Powell is gaslighting the public. The Fed cannot manipulate bond prices forever. Money printing will create inflation.

ZIRP is the only thing that is protecting the U.S. stock market and economy from a shocking falloff. The Fed’s bond price manipulation pokes the hegemony bear, testing the world’s trust and respect for our bonds. The Fed has signaled (warned) that it might increase interest rates as the pandemic fades, but it does not have an interest-rate control dial, especially not for long-term bonds.

Regardless of the reasons for increases in bond yields, the consequences are predictable and alarming:

Bond prices will fall.

Stock prices will fall because (1) earnings are discounted at a higher rate and (2) bonds become a reasonable investment with an actual rate of return.

Interest expense on the Federal debt will surge, triggering a debt spiral of ever-increasing money printing (a.k.a., monetizing the debt), causing rampant inflation.

The Fed cannot continue to suppress bond prices much longer because inflation is on the horizon and some foreign governments pay much higher yields on bonds that are comparable in quality to U.S. bonds.

Money printing brings serious inflation

The Fed has warned that it may have to increase interest rates to cool off rising inflation in a heated economy, gaslighting the public into ignoring the massive amount of money that has been printed since the onset of the pandemic. When the market recognizes serious inflation, it will require higher yields that the Fed cannot stop, although it’s setting the stage to take credit for the increase. At some point, even the Fed will not have resources to fight off market forces, although it might seem that its powers are unlimited.

Money printing is poking the inflation and hegemony bears, supported by modern monetary theory (MMT), which has been justified by Japan’s early adoption and apparent success.

The U.S. government has printed an unprecedented amount of money since 2009: more than $10 trillion with a probable $6 trillion more on the way. Yet inflation has remained subdued, even though the CPI recently increased 5%, which some think is shocking. The shocking reality is that inflation will not be transitory.

For perspective, new money printing now exceeds the total costs of our most expensive wars. The money supply has tripled but inflation has remained low. Economists explain that this phenomenon is due to extremely low velocity. In other words, that money is sitting in bank vaults going nowhere. That’s somewhat true, but most of that money went into the stock and bond markets, exacerbating the great wealth divide and creating money illusion, the mirage that stocks and bonds have become tremendously more valuable – stocks have become three times more “valuable” in the past decade.

Here;  Hanging by a ZIRP Thread - Articles - Advisor Perspectives

Again, we HOPE that America will stay the place where people are marrying, giving in marriage, eating, drinking, planting building up until the Lord comes and calls us into the clouds.  We hope that as the collapse of America comes into focus that Jesus is going to call us into the clouds before this happens!  But we also realize that we can't KNOW that for sure.

For now let's pray that God will show us all how to be salt and light in a country that is very quickly moving away from God and getting ready to persecute Bible believers.

No Vax? No Cell Service!

Folks can maybe live without food for 40 days but there is no way we could go a single day without our cell phones!  If America decides to do this they would quickly get 99% compliance to get the jab!

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“Since last night thousands of people lining up to get vaccinated in Karachi, Pakistan after Govt. decision to block phone SIM for unvaccinated,” the footage, being promoted on Twitter, is captioned.

Two months ago, the governments of the Punjab and Sindh provinces called for plans to block phone service for unvaccinated people, claiming too many were refusing to get vaccinated despite a rise in Covid delta variant cases.

“At first this was only a proposal, but people have been very hesitant in getting vaccinated so the decision was made,” a spokesman for the Punjab Primary Health department stated in June, not noting a specific date the decision would go into effect.

“The government is trying its best to facilitate people in getting the vaccine,” Sindh information minister Syed Nasi Hussain Shah told the New York Times.

Ahead of the cell phone shut-off, Pakistanis complained life without a phone would be hard, but said they also feared the vaccine.

 https://www.infowars.com/posts/thousands-of-pakistanis-line-up-for-vaccine-after-govt-shuts-down-cell-service-for-unvaccinated/

NFL Forces Unvaccinated to Wear Yellow Wristband

Remember how the Nazis forced the Jews to wear yellow stars?  Now we have the NFL making the unvaccinated players wear a yellow wristband so everyone can see who they are and stay far away. Also more and more venues and businesses are posting signs that say “no vax, no service!”  Soon all people, great and small, will need the mark (jab) in order to buy or sell anything.

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According  to Steelers Now, citing an NFL Network report, more than 90 percent of Steelers players have been vaccinated, making them one of 19 teams over that threshold as of Thursday.

Now the organization is making sure the unvaccinated players stand out by forcing them to wear yellow wristbands at practice, according to Mike Florio of NBC Sports.

“Those who have yet to get the shot will stick out like a proverbial sore thumb,” Florio said in a post on July 25.

That will be the only qualitative difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated players, under the team policy. That being said, the NFLhas mandated numerous restrictions for unvaccinated players:

 https://www.westernjournal.com/unvaccinated-holdouts-nfl-team-ordered-wear-special-armband/

God’s Wrath

 When it comes to the return of Christ there are different opinions.  I'm convinced that some folks desperately WANT to go through the Great Tribulation so they can stand at Jesus' feet and say, "See what I did Lord!  I kept the faith!  I was beheaded, tortured, persecuted but I DID IT!!  I kept the faith!  Now pat me on the back and tell me how I earned my salvation!"

Of course the takes away a huge part of the Gospel in that JESUS PAID IT ALL!  You had NOTHING to do with earning your salvation.  Yes, there will be rewards that Christ will bring with him and yes, Billy Graham will have different rewards that some dude who begs Jesus to save him on his death bed, but that's NOT a salvation issue.

So here is just one other verse to remind us that followers of Christ on earth today WILL NOT be going through the Great Tribulation.  We are waiting for the Trumpet to blow and Jesus to snatch us off this planet to join him in the clouds with our new bodies that will be just like His!  

Encourage each other with these words!

Romans 5:9 

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him?

Amen and Amen!!