Column #348     May 6, 2022Meat Packing Plant

Sometimes there’s just too many topics and too little time. This past week was one of them. I can’t possibly dwell on the many topics, So I’ll just touch on a couple of my hot buttons. It’s not necessary to even try to cover them all because most readers have already figured them out and they too can say “never in my life have I seen such a state of affairs.” Is the Great Reset to blame? Dr. Robert Malone discusses this point in his recent essay: “Davos Man, his World Economic Forum, and his Servants.”1

One of my greatest concerns is economic risk. The Federal Reserve is hiking interest rates and will soon shrink its balance sheet which it distorted by buying (with its printed “money”) not only government bonds, but corporate bonds and mortgages. This resulted in too many dollars chasing too few goods which have caused rapidly rising prices for goods and services across the entire world economy.

The only way to stop the inflationary conflagration is to “pause” the debt expansion. With so much debt already outstanding, a pause sets the stage for an uncontrollable contraction of debt which will cause a depression. You prepare for it by saving dollars. Yes, dollars, because it’s dollars all debtors will need to cover their debts. That will be mind blowing for most folks since it won’t set off just a stock market crash. It will involve a crash in all dollar-denominated assets including bonds, crypto, commodities, gold, real estate, collectibles, etc.

Our Federal bureaucracy seems to always have solutions and most of them just involve spending more money. To spend more money, the government needs to borrow more money, which means the Federal Reserve must print more money. That causes rising prices as more money chases a limited supply of goods and services. Usually, when the government borrows money to boost economic activity that causes misallocations of precious resources based on poorly thought out schemes. Politicians are not business majors which is why so much of their “free” money is truly wasted.

The pandemic was a perfect setup for flooding the nation with newly printed currency in order to buy votes. Politicians are always seeking ways to buy votes with their favorite government-funded programs. In no particular order, let me outline just a few of the many hundreds of programs designed for making everyone rich without working. I’ll start with the shutdowns.

During the shutdowns hundreds of thousands of small businesses were forced to close. Because of government aid, most eventually reopened, but that was after their employees learned they could collect checks while not working. The shutdowns literally closed forever about 200,000 small businesses and did nothing to stop the spread. It was a monumental failure.

So the liberals “knew” more benefits were needed. Therefore they pushed benefits for children under the American Rescue Plan which handed out $300 per month for each child under age six and up to $250 per month for each child ages six through 17. Parents loved the “free” money and most of them spent it rather than save it.

There was also subsidized food lines, subsidized healthcare, and other rescue plans put in place. Of course the idea of canceling student loan debt was proposed with a compromise resulting in providing a holiday period for loan payments for not only student loads but mortgages!2

But more was needed.

While the federallies handed out this money to the consuming public, they removed people from the workforce and turned them into professional freeloaders. With fewer workers, fewer goods were produced and fewer services were provided. At the same time the administration created more government regulations which delayed projects, increased risks, and raised costs. They also canceled major infrastructure projects, opened the borders to anyone who could provide competition to domestic workers, and they put more limits on where to drill for oil and gas. They did all this while the M2 Money Supply increased 43% from January 1, 2020 to April 14, 2022—only 27.5 months.

It’s no wonder why prices for goods and services are soaring ever higher these days.

Because some of the large meat packers experienced rolling shutdowns during the initial days of the pandemic, our politicians recently got the idea that we need to increase the number of smaller, regional meat packers. When the big boys shut down here and there during the COVID panic attack, the small outfits saw a surge in business which stretched them to their limits. Business has never been better for them and most small plants are still operating at full throttle. So the idea is that they need $1 billion of grants because business is so good?3

Another reason for more meat processing plants is that some politicians and cattlemen believe that the cattle markets are manipulated. Cattle raisers and feedlot operators are ALWAYS complaining about being cheated by the meat processors! This has been an ongoing argument for decades as cattle prices have soared and plunged. Whatever the livestock price has been, it has never been enough for the livestock raisers. So, some folks believe that if there are more of the “higher cost meat processors” (the smaller boys always charge more to process livestock than the big boys) that these small outfits with already higher costs will gladly pay above the market price for the cattle they need. (I hope you can see ridiculousness of that assumption.)4

There are numerous problems with the government handing out grants to small meat processors to start new plants or expand. The market can quickly become saturated with plant capacity. Skilled labor in that field is already in short supply. All established meat processing firms pay taxes and, unless they want a grant, their taxes are being handed over to their competitors! So unless they participate in the expansion, they lose market shares. And, worst of all, meat plants funded by grants may not be built in the best locations.

Isn’t it convenient that with the world headed into a recession, the USA instigated a proxy war with Russia? It’s been the plan since before the USA violently flipped the duly-elected Ukrainian government in 2014.

In a May 3, 2022, interview Pope Francis reflected on the roots of the war, saying that "the barking of NATO at the gates of Russia" likely motivated Putin's aggression against Ukraine. In other words the US provoked the Russian/Ukraine war and it’s America’s proxy war which uses Ukrainian troops instead of American troops. To fight this war America and many other countries are sending military aide. But our country is leading the sanction parade, providing intel for killing Russian generals, sinking Russian ships, detecting Russian troop movements, and the giving of sophisticated arms that makes the battle between Ukraine and Russia very much a USA war with Russia that merely uses Ukrainian manpower.5

On April 28, 2022, Biden announced a giant $33 billion humanitarian and military aid package to Ukraine that should fund them through September of this year. That number dwarfs the $4 billion annual aid for Israel. So what happens next? Well . . . on May 1, 2022, Nancy Pelosi met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv during a “surprise” visit. Since we know Ukraine is a very corrupt country, you don’t suppose Pelosi made that visit to make sure Zelenskyy knows she controls the passage of the $33 billion aid package? I wonder if she wants a cut?6 7

Compare the $33 billion with the piddling financial assistance the USA gives Israel. Also, Zelenskyy is a Davos man as is Obama, Biden, Pelosi and the rest of the freaking radical leftists, neocons, and RINOs. Make no mistake about it. The war in Ukraine was set up by the USA and other DAVOS types. The USA refused to talk with Putin. The recent announcements from the USA bragging about how it helps kill generals and sink ships sounds like the USA wants escalation. What’s that for? Is it to take our minds off of a stock market crash?

Corporations are buying their own stock instead of paying down debts, paying dividends, investing in new products, plant and equipment, and increasing wages so employee incomes at least stay up with rising prices. Many of these corporations have huge debts. But paying down debt to improve competitiveness and stability is considered crazy. So they buy their stock instead, increasing their risks of future defaults for private gain.

I could go on and on here. But the main idea is that change is coming. That change will be in our country’s long-term trajectory. Whether or not it will be a sustainable change rests on the citizenry. My suggestion is that everyone should become an activist for their beliefs. Otherwise you can’t complain if the minority takes over and our world becomes really bonkers.

To your health.

Ted Slanker

Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.

Don't miss these links for additional reading:

1. Davos Man, his World Economic Forum, and his Servants by Robert W Malone MD, MS

2. Student Loan Forgiveness In 2022, Are You Eligible? by Lori Stratford from Navicore Solutions

3. President Biden Announces $1 Billion to Support Small Meat Processors, Producers by Lacey Vilhauer from High Plains Journal

4. Local Meat Processing: Rebuild Begins by Mindy Ward, Paula Mohr, Fran O'Leary from Beef Magazine

5. Pope Francis Says He Has Asked to Meet Putin in Moscow by Christopher White from the Vatican

6. Biden Asks Congress for $33 Billion to Support Ukraine Through September by Christina Wilkie and Thomas Franck from CNBC

7. Nancy Pelosi Visits Ukraine, Receives Medal from President Zelenskyy: 'There for You Until the Fight Is Done' by Aaron Parsley from Yahoo News