Economics by Wes.....
Imagine you wanted to buy things online and websites only accepted paypal. You didn't mind at first but then paypal started taking 2% more of your money each year. If they found out you did something they didn't like, they would suspend your ability to conduct any transactions. But you have to use them because all the websites you order things from only take paypal. Paypal knows this too and locked in the merchants with a 50 year agreement. Then they start taking 20% of your transactions as fees every year instead of the old 2%.
This really sucks but they are the only game in town..... Imagine what would happen if all the merchants started accepting Visa and Mastercard. All the people who hated paypal's fees and arbitrary lockout rules would cash out their paypal balance and GTFO and run to MasterCard.
Friends this is what just happened in the world last night. In 1974 the US entered into an agreement with Saudi to sell oil only in dollars for 50 years. Along the way, the US has continued to print money and devalue the dollars held in other nation's vaults for international trade. The US has imposed sanctions on countries we didn't like by locking them out of the SWIFT payment system. The EU did the same to Russia two junes ago. Russia needed to make a payment of $40M to the EU but the EU had frozen their bank account.... the money was there, the bank would not process the transaction. These sorts of stunts have made other countries hate having to deal in US dollars (ie paypal). The first alternative that comes along will have everyone jumping to it.
Presently there are about 40 nations involved in BRICS. Their combined GDP is greater than the G7 nations. Those nations no longer have to use USD and you can bet they will be cashing out of dollars.
I'm telling you this because you need to buy the things you think you will need in the furture TODAY. You will look back on this month in the next year and see an inflexion point in the chart of inflation.
How many of you hesitated to buy 9mm when it was 18c a round? Boy you'd love 18c 9mm right now wouldn't you? Boy you'd love 25c 5.56 right now wouldn't you? Don't get a year down the road and wish you'd bought a tiller or solar, or a generator.... or a spare water pump. Trust me you will look back on today and wish you had bought something.
WOW 🚨 The Republican Party is protecting Ilhan Omar from accountability
Rep Nancy Mace “I tried to subpoena her immigration records, her brother husband's immigration records, and IT WAS REPUBLICANS that killed my motion”
It’s a Uniparty. One Big Club.
https://x.com/WallStreetApes/status/2029691279555305592?s=20
Iran War & Fuel Rationing – are “Energy Lockdowns” on the way?
The war in Iran is having the impact that most people with any sense knew it would have: The price of oil is going up, and the supply of oil is going down.
Of course, whether or not the latter of these is actually true we will never know, and it’s beside the point. Oil companies will natural take the slightest excuse to price gouge and contrive scarcity for the basest of profit motives.
It also serves a political motive as well, since we know the global political machinery is –
against free travel…...
Read full article ...
https://off-guardian.org/2026/03/16/iran-fuel-rationing-are-energy-lockdowns-on-the-way/
That means that of the 2.1mn tonnes of urea — the world’s most widely used nitrogen fertiliser — that would normally have been loaded for export over the past two weeks, about half has been disrupted.
At the same time, more than 1.1mn tonnes of fertiliser and fertiliser inputs, including 570,000 tonnes of urea, is currently stuck in the Gulf, either being loaded or already on ships, according to Kpler data.
Nitrogen fertilisers, which underpin about half of global food production, are made from ammonia using natural gas, which has soared in price since the war began last month.
The shortages have begun during the northern hemisphere’s planting season, leading industry executives to warn of lower harvests for staples such as rice.
If the disruption continues, “this will be much worse than 2022”, said Veronica Nigh, senior economist at The Fertilizer Institute, a US-based trade group. “The longer the conflict goes on, the more dire the situation will become.”
The Middle ...
With reference to the University of Kent meningitis outbreak. All exams being conducted atm are to be taken online. Campus is open as usual. Outbreak was traced to a canterbury nightclub called club chemistry , popular with students in which 2 students (1- UKC student, 1- Faversham college student) have sadly died.