Post COVID, humans now accept economic realities that defy traditional logic

A surprisingly stable financial system built on mass psychosis
The bedrock of the current financial system rests on the belief that negative real long-term yields are normal.

“In March, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 5.0 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.4 percent in March (SA); up 5.6 percent over the year (NSA). ”

https://www.bls.gov/cpi/

Numbers out of Europe are even more bizarre than in the states.

Unless we encounter another staged exogenous crisis (e.g. U.S.G. debt default or the city of seven hills is destroyed), intermediate term, I see no real clouds as the world accepts economic concepts that I thought were previously unacceptable.

With regards to negative real bond yields, prior to COVID I never thought this was possible for more than a couple months. Such bizarre aspects of the newly emerging financial system are dependent on society’s willingness to embrace it, and it seems to me they are now easily embracing concepts that people in previous decades would have thought were contemptible.

What a difference a fake pandemic has had on the human mind. While many may think that this is not a big deal, I say concepts such as persistent negative real soverign yields are the festering sore of a financial cancer that consumes the body from within. It is gradually destroying the financial futures of all wage earners, while concomitantly  accelerating the pace of global wealth and power consolidation. If the reader wonders why asset prices continue to levitate, look no further than the above two charts.

And for the ZeroHedge disciples who believe a collapse is imminent I am warning them that our entire system is incumbent on its participants’ willingness to accept it, regardless of its circumstances, and I see no real pushback. Moreover, to help grease the wheels in the process, our global handlers create one manufactured crisis after another, so that these ostensible ad hoc changes seem almost normal. Yet at the end of the road, an entirely new system will have been created.

Even if the people are getting sicker, as long as at least 10,000 immigrants who don’t ask questions stream across the border daily, spending will hold up just fine and the USG can continue printing whatever it needs to spend.

But the engineers of the New World Order know the importance of psychologically demoralizing the population to accept their servitude. Thus, the Pentagon and CIA use a chunk of this cheap money to develop advanced psychological techniques that are employed on the people to get them to freely accept their circumstances. Indeed, it’s a state of mind that no normal sane human would ever wish to contemplate. And from where I stand, society is embracing its fate. The frauds of multiculturalism need a like minded economic and financial system to support it.

So, do not count out the dollar nor this economy. How long can the Fed pretend to care about the rank and file and continue this staggered phase of QT? As long as real sovereign bond yields remain negative. If longer term yields began to rise precipitously, another manufactured crisis would be manifested and the ship would be righted once again.

To wit, I have added a Bloomberg article below from this morning that discusses topics that five years ago would have been something we would have read in The Onion. It’s normal now, because investors and wage earners accept it as such. It’s even more bizarre when we realize how high inflation in Europe has become.

___________

Charting the Global Economy: Fed, ECB Policies May Diverge

(Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve and European Central Bank forged ahead with interest-rate hikes this week, though Washington policymakers signaled they’re in the final round of their inflation fight.

The tale of the tape: ECB President Christine Lagarde acknowledged there is “more ground to cover” and the central bank isn’t pausing because of “significant” inflation. Fed Chair Jerome Powell hinted officials may have room to stand pat and assess the impact of their policy tightening against a backdrop of stress in the banking system.

World

Besides hikes by the Fed and ECB, Australia signaled further policy tightening ahead after unexpectedly raising interest rates. Norway’s central bank lifted borrowing costs to the highest level since 2008 and signaled more to come. The Czech central bank kept its benchmark rate at 7%, Malaysia unexpectedly boosted its rate and Brazil held rates steady, resisting calls from the government for looser policy.

Oyu Tolgoi, in southern Mongolia just north of the Chinese border, is key to Rio Tinto Group’s efforts to expand in copper, the metal that underpins the clean energy transition. But analysts at Wood Mackenzie estimate a greener world will be short about six million tons of copper by next decade, meaning 12 new Oyu Tolgois need to come online within that period. BloombergNEF estimates appetite for refined copper will grow by 53% by 2040, but mine supply will climb only 16%.

US

Powell hinted the Fed’s latest interest-rate increase could be the last one, but stopped short of declaring victory on its battle against rapid price increases. The Fed chief said there was strong support for raising rates by 25 basis points. But he suggested officials may pause their tightening campaign in June to assess how the economy is responding to tighter credit conditions and recent stress in the banking sector.

Anyone looking for signs of an imminent downturn for the US economy won’t find it in the latest employment data. That’s the takeaway from the latest monthly jobs numbers, which showed an acceleration in hiring and pay gains last month as working-age Americans continued streaming back into the labor market.

Washington’s ability to avert a catastrophic US debt default risks coming down to as few as seven days in May, underscoring the enormous threat of the ongoing partisan impasse. Time is short and it’s unlikely the two parties will strike a grand bargain before the potential X-date advised by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen — raising the likelihood of a short-term fix.

American consumers are still eager to spend, giving companies that cater to them room to push through more price increases. That’s a key takeaway midway through earnings season. Companies in the consumer staples segment, which includes such household names as Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Hershey, stood out, with 90.5% reporting first-quarter results through May 2 that beat analyst expectations, versus 80% for the entire S&P 500.

Europe

The ECB delivered the smallest interest-rate increase yet in its battle with persistently strong inflation but insisted that the move won’t be the last. Officials raised the deposit rate by a quarter-point to 3.25%, the highest since 2008. In what may be seen as a concession to hawkish officials, to win their backing for the smaller rate increase, the ECB also said it expects to halt reinvestments under its Asset Purchase Program as of July.

Britain’s economy is showing signs of unexpected resilience, firming up the case for another interest-rate increase. Figures on inflation expectations also indicated firms expect an even sharper rise in their own prices over the next year.

Britain’s acute housing shortage, snarled planning departments and local protectionism are combining to divide a nation where homeownership was once seen as a rite of passage. But beyond the thorny issues is a quieter reality: a decade of budget cuts have left local governments with too few people to keep up with approving new homes.

Asia

China’s economic recovery remains patchy, with latest indicators pointing to a contraction in manufacturing, while consumers splurge over the holidays and the housing market continues to rebound. Purchasing managers’ indexes showed an unexpected decline in factory activity in April, weighed down by weaker global demand for Chinese exports.

Emerging Markets

The International Monetary Fund expects Saudi Arabia won’t balance its budget if oil is below $80 a barrel, a revision that means the kingdom will move back into fiscal deficit after its first surplus in almost a decade.

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54 thoughts on “Post COVID, humans now accept economic realities that defy traditional logic

  1. Deuteronomy 28:43-48

    “The foreigner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. Moreover all these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever. Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.”

    1. Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28; the cursings and the blessings. The NT-only Christians don’t realize that this law is still in effect. The synagogue of Satan adversary knows it’s still in effect that’s why they’ve demoralized and corrupted us. I’m part of it, they corrupted me for decades. The only difference now is that I’m a repentant sinner who knows better.

      The foreigners who are now teaching us a lesson have been put there by God as our punishment for fornicating, whoring, listening and watching self-indulgent media and music, drinking and smoking, taking drugs, interbreeding with the foreigners…. The foreigners now tell the remnant we’re the evil ones for taking exception.

      I just withdraw now. Not one person whom I know personally listened to me about not taking the injections. The young blacks and young Hispanics trash talk me now. There’s no honor anymore, and I am experiencing my punishment. Young white women who are young enough to be my daughters are great at excoriating me. Most folk now don’t listen to what I say, but rather parse my conversation to see if there’s anything in which they can be offended.

      I have to be extra careful as these all could easily be one of my tenants if I don’t screen carefully. The type of psychological algorithms I employ now are definitely more sophisticated. As a property manager I find it useful to employ the “Detective Columbo” tactics and let the heathen sink themselves. The multi breeds are exceptionally adept at destroying their chances at finding cheap accommodations with me.

      In the old days, regardless of race, I didn’t disrespect the elders. It was not honorable for them nor me. But that’s all over now.

      I withdraw from a degenerate world that I no longer want to be part of. Imagine if I was a wage slave. I shiver at the thought.

      1. Indeed, CJ.

        Isaiah 26:20-21

        “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.”

  2. President Zelensky to meet Pope Francis in the Vatican this weekend

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/president-zelensky-meet-pope-francis-vatican-russia-ukraine-b1080535.html

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to meet Pope Francis in the Vatican on Saturday, diplomatic sources said.

    The planned trip, which has not been officially announced, would be just two weeks after the pope said the Vatican was involved in a peace mission to try to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

  3. PPI and unemployment claims both looked good for those who are bullish on inflation falling. The third derivative of inflation.

    Just in time for the kayfabe debt default wrestling match.

    1. No Country for Old Men opening scene.

      The sheriff remarks that though he’s willing to be killed for his work, he just doesn’t understand the drastic changes in the types of crime. This was the early 1980s, right around the time daddy Bush opened up the southern border and dollarized the Western hemisphere.

      https://youtu.be/9eZ6EACDKiE

    1. When I first saw that headline my first thought was what is described in this essay –
      https://kommunalka.colgate.edu/cfm/essays.cfm?ClipID=376

      Quoted from the link:
      “In the Soviet Union, housing in cities belonged to the government. It was distributed by municipal authorities or by government departments based on an established number of square meters per person. As a rule, tenants had no choice in the housing they were offered. Rent and payment for communal services like water and electricity did not form a significant part of a family’s budget. They did not cover the real costs, and were subsidized by the government. ”

      Every high density low income project that is going up I call communist housing. Some people get it while some think I’m crazy or perhaps out of touch with reality.

      In the 80s my grandfather, who was in the US since the late 50s or early 60s, visited his cousins in Russia. He brought with him photos of my parents house and people were amazed that house (a mid 60s era 3/2 rancher) was for only one family.

      It seems the Business insider article above is trying to plant the mindset that people need to “bunk up” (as mentioned” if they want to see lower prices. Problem. Reaction. Solution.

  4. The way the MSM are playing up the idea, I suspect that the powers want a debt default. It will be just another excuse to get rid of the two party system. We’ll have a government like Russia or China, both are dictatorships.

    1. That would not be that surprising.

      They are not the same circumstances at play nowadays however it is at least curious the coincidence that at the zenith of Spain’s power, when Phillip II was the inheritor of a huge empire with territories in all continents, his highly leveraged Kingdom too defaulted on its debts not once, just five times, at 1557, 1560, 1569, 1575 and 1596 and it did not collapse.

      America is in its zenith too and it would not be that strange that rulers are tempted to follow the same route.

      1. Indeed. Also like England after WWI and WWII. The bankers get us into wars and bankrupt the nations.

        Isaiah 14:12 KJV
        How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

        1. As England and Spain did not collapse because of their unpaid debts, it makes sense to predict that neither America will.

          What you are being teaching us so diligently agrees with the historical data of these old empires: there will be no any collapse in any powerful country because of any financial catastrophes as the Alt-Media trumpets, the only way to overcome the actual US power and its monetary system is a military DEFEAT, a force majeure and a big one indeed.

          Some rockets or nuclear bombs falling from the sky would?…

          They would destroy and damage a lot for sure but the rest is up to the Lord.

          When I lived in England, locals used to tease me a lot about the Spanish Armada Defeat, a proud English historical fact I never heard off much about in my country.

          The reality was that this English victory was not a complete military defeat for the Spaniards, it was a big one for sure, but not big enough as the empire carried on 200 hundreds years more until Horatio Nelson at 1805 won the Battle of Trafalgar and destroyed the French and Spanish Navy, bringing Napoleon and Spain to their knees.

  5. Argentina Is Going Broke to Stall a Full-On Currency Collapse
    S

    (Bloomberg) — Argentina’s fight to prevent its problematic currency from a total meltdown is leaving the central bank, by some estimates, broke.

    The South America nation has already spent all of its liquid international reserves, plus another estimated $1 billion, according to Buenos Aires-based consulting firm 1816 Economia & Estrategia — raising the stakes as the nation contends with a historic drought and impending recession.

    Without easy-to-spend cash on hand, questions are swirling about how much longer the government can continue to defend the peso from an all-out collapse. At risk is a currency devaluation that stands to fan 104% inflation and exacerbate high levels of social unrest ahead of October’s presidential elections.

    “Fewer reserves leads to more pressure on the exchange rate, which in turn leads to more pressure on inflation,” said Fernando Losada, a managing director at Oppenheimer & Co. “I see no possible scenario under which inflation goes below three digits this year.”

    Argentina has struggled to build and keep international reserves at healthy levels for decades, running through cash piles to combat rising prices and juggle obligations on overseas bonds.

    The nation now technically has less than $34 billion in total foreign reserves, but the majority is locked up in less-liquid assets — such as gold, credit swap lines with China and the Bank of International Settlements and the dollars Argentines have in their savings accounts.

    That’s a problem for a country in need of ready-to-spend cash. Argentina’s liabilities in foreign currency already exceed total reserves by about $1 billion — the worst such ratio since the nation was wracked by economic crisis in the early 2000s, according to the 1816 firm’s report last week.

    Argentina has been flying through its dollar reserves as it tries to stop a slide in the peso’s parallel-market exchange rate, which has replaced the government’s official currency rate amid draconian capital controls. In just the past week, the central bank sold about $470 million to support the currency in parallel markets, said Fernando Marull, an economist at Buenos Aires-based consultancy FMyA.

    It’s been difficult to measure the success of the government’s intervention. The unofficial peso lost about 13% against the US dollar last month, and is down 33% so far this year, by far the biggest decline in key emerging markets. The parallel peso rate, known locally as the blue-chip swap, is lingering near the all-time low reached in late April.

    President Alberto Fernandez has, in the past, attempted to beef up reserves by forcing dollars earned from exports to flow into central bank accounts and by accepting International Monetary Fund cash injections. But those measures are largely falling flat. And Fernandez — who has already withdrawn his candidacy for reelection — has no guarantees that talks to rework a $44 billion program with the IMF will result in sped-up loan disbursements to help ease the situation.

    A spokesperson for Argentina’s central bank said the market’s calculation of net reserves doesn’t properly reflect its balance sheet because it fails to account for other sources of financing, such as a currency swap line with China.

    Officials have opted for other emergency measures in the meantime, including tapping the China swap to finance $1.8 billion of imports from the country. It’s also working with Brazil to boost bilateral trade with credit lines in reais, allowing it to bypass the dollar.

    For Argentines, the uncertainty in palpable.

    Scarred by the central bank’s decision to freeze access to dollar savings during the 2001 economic crisis, many Argentines are already pulling cash from their savings. They yanked over $1 billion of US dollar deposits from the banking system from late March to the end of April.

    There are also few signs that reserves can be rebuilt any time soon. The worst drought of the century has all but removed any possibility of an influx of cash from agricultural exports before the elections.

    “The risk of having liquid reserves in negative territory is that the central bank may not have the dollars needed to meet an even stronger outflow of foreign-exchange deposits,” said Juan Sola, an economist at BancTrust & Co. in Buenos Aires.

    ©2023 Bloomberg L.P.

  6. ECB Has ‘Marginal’ Distance to Cover With Rate Hikes, Villeroy Says
    9 minutes ago

    (Bloomberg) — The European Central Bank has only a “marginal” distance left to cover in raising interest rates to combat inflation, according to Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau, who sounded a more cautious tone on future monetary tightening than some of his colleagues.

    Inflation in France — where Villeroy heads the central bank — is moving past its peak and may ease to about 4% by year-end before meeting the ECB’s 2% goal as soon as end-2024, he told the Ebra group of regional French newspapers in an interview published Wednesday.

    Most of the required impact on consumer-price growth will come from the 375 basis points of increases in borrowing costs already enacted since last summer, Villeroy said.

    “We’ve already completed most of the journey,” he said. “What’s left to cover is more marginal.”

    After slowing the pace of its unprecedented tightening campaign last week, other ECB policymakers have continued to emphasize that hikes aren’t over. While economists mostly envisage two more quarter-point moves to bring the deposit rate to 3.75%, officials are starting to accept that increases may need to continue for longer, according to people familiar with the debate.

    President Christine Lagarde said earlier Wednesday that there’s still “more ground to cover,” while Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel said Tuesday that the ECB will continue raising borrowing costs “with full determination until there are signs that core inflation is also falling on a sustained basis.”

    Villeroy’s remarks coincided with the publication of the Bank of France’s monthly economic survey in April, which showed inflation pressures abating in industry. For the first time since 2020, more French business leaders reported raw material costs falling than rising. The share in industry increasing prices that month also slipped to the lowest since January 2021.

    “There’s clearly a change in price trend for production prices in manufacturing,” Bank of France Chief Economist Olivier Garnier said in a presentation of the poll’s results.

    The survey also showed increased economic activity in April for industry, services and construction. While a May slowdown is likely due to several public holidays, gross domestic product should still record a “slightly positive” second-quarter result, the central bank said.

    Villeroy said that outlook confirms the Bank of France’s 0.6% growth forecast for 2023.

    In a further boost to the economy and efforts to tackle inflation, supply constraints also moderated for a second straight month in industry — reaching their lowest since the measure was created two years ago.

    ©2023 Bloomberg L.P.

  7. The Fed will pause here as the numbers look okay here.

    Core CPI (MoM) (Apr)
    Act: 0.4% Cons: 0.4% Prev: 0.4%

    Core CPI (YoY) (Apr)
    Act: 5.5% Cons: 5.5% Prev: 5.6%

    Core CPI Index (Apr)
    Act: 306.49 Cons: 306.21 Prev: 305.24

    CPI (YoY) (Apr)
    Act: 4.9% Cons: 5.0% Prev: 5.0%

    CPI (MoM) (Apr)
    Act: 0.4% Cons: 0.4% Prev: 0.1%

    CPI Index, n.s.a. (Apr)
    Act: 303.36 Cons: 303.53 Prev: 301.84

    CPI Index, s.a (Apr)
    Act: Cons: 303.28 Prev: 301.81

    CPI, n.s.a (MoM) (Apr)
    Act: 0.51% Cons: Prev: 0.33%

    Real Earnings (MoM) (Apr)
    Act: 0.1% Cons: 0.0% Prev: -0.1%

    1. GDP looks pretty good here, too. Halfway through the quarter and data look good.

      Latest estimate: 2.7 percent — May 8, 2023

      The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the second quarter of 2023 is 2.7 percent on May 8, unchanged from May 4 after rounding. After last week’s employment situation report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and this morning’s wholesale trade report from the US Census Bureau, an increase in the nowcast of second-quarter real gross private domestic investment growth from 2.7 percent to 4.2 percent was offset by a decrease in the nowcast of second-quarter real personal consumption expenditures growth from 2.1 percent to 1.8 percent, while the nowcast of the contribution of the change in real net exports to second-quarter real GDP growth increased from 0.31 percentage points to 0.35 percentage points.

      1. A few corporations in my area and the place I work for are hiring large groups of people so the forcast must not be that bad. Most of the new employees are for the low skill set departments are mostly minorities and foreigners, not seeing many white people come thru the door, but if they do it’s brainwashed libtard ciggy smoking single mommy welfare types. I’m not putting anyone down with that statement it’s just my observation. I know people that fit that decription that I care about, but their lives are screwed up. The production goals for my facility are to increase for the next few years.

        I’m not seeing a collapse either, just a replacement. It seems that’s what the force majure is, a replacement, a slow breeding out type of conquest, no military needed.

        VRME had a low volume pump, the last two hours today, can’t find any news on it. Held AH, not sure if it continues. PPSI back over $6 trying to fill that 52 week high gap at 6.90. Has decent cash, don’t see any S1 offerings notices in the SEC filings except from last year.

    2. Have you heard of moneyball economics? The guy who runs it Andrew Zatlin is a talking head on Bloomberg and now he wants people to pay $99 for his secret $2.25 stock pick on the nasdaq that’s shooting to 5pp after the launch of fednow in July. Is this some kind of mainstreaming of financial contiel? It’s advertised on finance sites everywhere. I did a bit of digging myself on fednow partners and it’s a quagmir with usual suspects linked to ripple and signature bank and usual slimehouses, and then known founders are memory holed and new figureheads pop up. Im sure there will be winners, aside from shorting the banks, but its hard to make heads or tails … but it seems blockchain can in no way touch snywhere near the speeds fednow is promising. Amex for examples settles way faster with traditional ledgers than any distributed technology … but then fednow block chain won’t be using distributed BC tech, right? And thats the sort of question you can’t find a straight answer on anywhere. Do you have any thoughts?

      1. I feel like I’m Tommy Lee Jones’ character in No Country for Old Men.

        I never heard of the gentleman you speak of and I don’t know anything of his trading service and such. I know there’s a lot of different services out there and I guess maybe some of them must be okay.

        As for people shilling trading services and spending a lot of money advertising it, I ask myself; if that person was so successful why does he need to raise money from customers? I would just make the trades and make the money.

        The problem I see with so many of these people who shill trading services is that when it comes to stocks and illiquid securities, they often front run and then announce to their subscribers. The world is full of dishonest and disingenuous people and if I had no morals I would establish a trading service and recommend illiquid stocks that are ready to pop. Of course, I would initially establish a large stake and then announced to my thousands of subscribers to buy. I would then sell as they bought.

        Stuff is happening so fast now I can’t really keep up on it anymore. This is why I keep focused on the large picture. It’s actually easier for me and helps me out quite a bit to not get distracted. The largest financial decisions tend to be the most profitable anyway. The only real trading service I have recommended in the past is Live with Oscar. I guess he’s about my age and he trades the old fashioned way with short-term scalps and larger position trades, the way I used to.

        Personally, I suspect that FedNow will transform over time into the desired outcome of some sort of centralized and digitized currency. As the concentration of assets in the banking sector get more centralized the job of the powers will become easier. The largest few banks have even established Zelle as a practical means to move cash. I honestly wouldn’t even consider the other ones like Cashapp and Venmo anymore. I had a problem with a Zelle transaction and my bank reversed it.

        Why do we need Ripple or other wannabes? Maybe for underbanked folk, but they are insignificant anyway. The instant payment apps can work seamlessly with any official currency. Eventually, the banks will own that sector and I think PYPLs lagging performance reflects some other of this. Venmo has serious competition with Zelle.

        I mentioned some time ago that I worked with a closed-end fund back in the early and mid-90s that specialized in small savings Banks and thrifts. I recall how well this fund performed and usually traded at a 10 to 15% premium to NAV, which is very rare. The portfolio manager was very savvy at identifying buyout targets. Back then I think they were about 10 to 15, 000 banks, thrifts, and savings and loans in the country. The top banks comprised only a moderate fraction of total deposits and reserves. Fast forward 30 years later and the largest banks comprise about 85% of reserves.

        Whatever the Fed and its handlers want to establish is now much easier, and if they want a CBDC they can make it happen. They can use a CBDC simultaneous to allowing cash. In fact, the powers may never have to eliminate cash. Over time, fewer establishments are accepting it anyway. Eventually cash will be like gold bullion. The globalists use pallets of $100 bills to bribe people around the world and grease the wheels to achieve certain objectives.

        Okay, I recall all of the hype back in 2017 about blockchain and how real estate transactions would eventually be recorded on blockchain. I remember all of the articles and analysis done and how it would be so much more efficient, but I kept telling the reader and listener that this is impossible as there are so many aspects to a real estate transaction and that it is impossible to buy and sell like a digital coin. Blockchain can work for fungible commodities, but not with unique and peculiar assets.

        Anyway, the hype of the blockchain and the digital currencies continue to this day and the attributes of these cryptos are still incongruent to a transaction-based currency. The only sort of crypto type of currency that will work as a replacement to a nation’s currency will be a highly centralized one. The powers may call it decentralized, but I guarantee it will all run through a centralized location. It will run through a set of highly secure computers that only a few can access.

        It is impossible for a crypto like Bitcoin to ever replace transaction-based currencies. Concepts like FEDNow and Zelle blow everything out of the water and make decentralized cryptos a non-issue as a competitor to currency. Sure, Bitcoin can replace, and has replaced, gold in many aspects, but it can’t replace the dollar. Its drawbacks are just too numerous and large to reconcile.

        1. Yes, that’s very reasonable, thanks for your reply. But when I was day trading bitcoin and all the altcoins available through multiple crypo app… I forget what it was called but it was run by a big south african bank … there was this hatred for xrp which is ripple because it wasn’t really decentralised like bc and eth and there is a ton of info showing that ripple was working with the IMF and other banks. Plus there was the SEC case, which pointed to a showdown between US regulators wanting to preserve the dollar status quo and old money us interests, and these khazarian types, which is what Ripple seems to have been. My research the other day showed up a company called Tasset Group which has done simulations with banks, including Signature, as well as the Fed in prep for FedNow, which is a clearing platform and its not about zelle or venmo, but trillions per day cleared on the derivatives market. The founder of Tasset was some guy who was a senior advisor to Ripple, but very public links to Signature seem to have led to his recent departure. On the crypo market unterest around XRP (which 10xed for me backing 2021:) has always been around which platform might the fed or imf parner with. Thinking was that the entire crypto mushroom situation with Solana and about a dozen others fairly well capitalized, was only allowed as a way to allow private sector innovation for them to vamp. Come to think of it, I still have money in a few coins I should go have a look at.

        2. Thanks for your reply.

          Not sure why my comment didn’t post, but in a nutshell it’s not zello or venmo, it’s clearing trillions off the derivatives market everyday.

          1. It’s about a bunch of things, including behavioral psychology and the transformation of people to accept such concepts. If the Fed introduced a CBDC by 2030, the only people who would complain would be the people who stop by the alt media blogs. 75% of Americans wouldn’t even know the functional difference.

            1. I suppose we have been in a digital currency for decades the way money is moved around? Wire money here or there? The banks don’t take pallets of $100 bills to other banks. I suppose that’s only for the CIA to grease third world counties as you pointed out. All those armored cars taking cash are likely loading them onto a C130.

              You make a good point about how only the alt media is in a rage regarding digital currency while citing how each person can be cut off at the flip of a switch. I wonder if that’s even possible from a legal perspective. At least for now… Taking a step back, it seems cash is being gradually taken away. Remember, it has to be your idea. The convenience of the bank card has replaced cash since the 60s. Now it’s the ATM card, Zelle and others. So who is taking cash away? It’s you and me by using the cards.

              I was at a car meet a couple of months ago and none of the food vendors take cash. Not one. This event is always at a county fairgrounds so I’m sure it’s a legal right to decide how business can be transacted on state property. No doubt the ability to sell your products on state property requires you to sign something. The funny thing (rather sad really) was for the first few hours the “system was down” so no one could buy anything. I said I have cash and the reply was we can’t take cash. The sales lost in those few hours must have been huge.

            2. Indeed. Shows like Breaking Bad conflate physical cash with crime. COVID germs conflate cash with disease. If I were Walter White, I would have been hoarding gold bullion.

              Virtually all the prerequisites for a CBDC rollout have been achieved. The necessary concentration of financial power and wealth has now been reached. Not enough people use cash anymore. Most transactions are done electronically anyway. We are only a few years left and there will be no immediate abolishment of cash; both can run concurrently for a given period of time.

              The CBDC serves many purposes and to focus on one purpose means we miss the larger picture. The psychological preparation of the masses has largely been achieved. Now, we are just waiting for the proper catalyst. That catalyst will be the force majeure.

    3. Will the Fed cut later in the year? I doubt it, but with headline YoY CPI now slightly below the Fed funds, perhaps we could see one, especially if the downtrend in CPI persists. But the core data need to come follow lower.

      This does not look good for the USD vs. EUR and GBP as inflation is higher there, and their policies are tighter.

  8. It’s so cool living the van life. The Pentagram and CIA have properly demoralized the people. If we can’t afford an apartment anymore, we can always live in a van down by the river.
    _________

    Two Seattle friends who never even tried ‘van life’ made $320,000 last year turning Sprinter vans into sleek mobile homes and renting them out to remote workers and families

    •Carson Reid, 32, and Jeff Singer, 31, met working at Amazon and shared an interest in “van life.”
    •In 2020, they turned their first van into a rolling vacation home that they now rent for $350 a night.
    •Their company, Noma Vans, now has a fleet of six and has grown its earnings 433% since 2021.

    https://www.businessinsider.com/van-life-sprinter-rentals-noma-pacific-northwest-2023-5?amp

    1. The big reason the Synagogue of Satan is pushing Van life is to discourage home ownership as well as discourage settling down financially. Unsettled people are easier to control as they are more likely to live paycheck to paycheck. It is always the promise of freedom that leads people to more slavery and control in the end. God’s adversary lead a third of the angels astray by promising more “freedom “. This van life thing and discouraging home ownership is an example of that empty promise of freedom pushed by Satan that leads to more slavery.

      Clearly most of humanity, especially those younger than middle age are clearly brainwashed. Besides, anyone stupid enough to pay $350 a night to live in a van must be totally brainwashed.

    2. If it’s new and shiny, people are all in. Amazing, they (the renters) think they are bucking the trend and yet all they’re doing, is bucking themselves. Yeehaa……………..

    3. CJ, could you please post a link to your article(s) on places you recommend for relocation?

    4. OMG. My entire monthly budget living in my van is 350 a month. $42 AAA third party only, $50 climate controlled storage unit 5ftx4.5ft.8ft. 120ish gas currently, and $35 rec centre fees for swimming and showering. I get steak and chicken and pork belly for my doxies plus fruit and veg from the food bank and i get free food at my one job which is quite delish. I save around $3000 a month.

      1. I guess if I wanted I could buy some godawful unit and rent it out but I gather interest rates are through the roof.

  9. Hi Chris,

    I was reading about the hyperinflation of the 1922-23 in Germany. My understanding is the cause of housing prices collapsing was due to exploding maintenance costs resulting from hyperinflation that rendered real estate a zero yielding asset. Do you see that as a risk for RE in the USA, and if not why not?

    Thank you,

    1. Pardon me for butting in. The immediate thought I had after reading your post is 1920’s Germany didn’t have HOAs. I’m assuming there was no built in plan to maintain those houses. I don’t know in detail the 1920s housing issue you mention, but my point is housing today – especially planned developments, which there are many – are all under some form of HOA and long term financial plan. I’m pretty sure as large lot single family homes get mowed down in favor of new higher density construction, with it will come a comprehensive financial plan. After all, the asset owners must not have their assets in the hands of the people who pay the rent (or mortgage, which is really rent if you look up how some of these low income developments are structured). The days of foreclosed rodent infested single family homes is coming to an end. CJ for sure will elaborate with all the numbers, but for me who can only “rough it in with a hammer”, this is how I see it.

      1. Thanks for the response. If I understand correctly, you are saying that a lot of these maintenance costs will have been accounted for via long term service contracts for example and will be therefore manageable and kept low enough to maintain positive cash flows? That seems reasonable enough, especially for the higher density constructions, I suppose the devil is in the details/numbers then.

        I also wonder if the same would apply for SFRs.

        1. Yes, that’s my theory. I too am learning so welcome any and all comments. CJ has a grip on the numbers and has proven to be more correct over time than incorrect.

          The alt financial media post 08 was having everyone eating Top Ramen. Instead we sat back and watched a relative minority clean up on property and anything of value. I sold a classic Porsche 911 in 2009 for the cost of the parts to build it ($26K with the labor on me) thinking everything is crashing. That car a couple of years ago would have brought $80K easily and I’m still hearing people tell me I would have a $100K car today. Sometimes I wish I had it back so I can sell it again but I also learned to say glory to God for all things.

    2. It is a real risk for those struggling and who are not good landlords. We as landlords need to stop giving cheap rent out. At least we need to raise rents annually. I didn’t used to. Now I do. The tenants expect it.

      In a high inflation world, we as landlords need to be extra careful about screening applicants, and having sensible leverage. We need to be extra careful about every aspect of managing.

      If we can manage our properties well, we can clean up. Most mom and pop landlords will be gone as they underestimate cost increases. Mom and pop listen to MSM and remain naive, or listen to alt-finance and panic.

      For those few who can sweat it, it will be a great time to profit. Yes, taxes, insurance, repairs going up, but rent goes up, too.

      Price to HH income ratios still relatively low in the states. I see a scenario where this number explodes. Don’t cash out for new cars or vacations.

  10. Like in 1984, the dollar will be the official currency of Oceania… Eastasia and Eurasia will have their own.
    ________

    Mexican president backs U.S. dollar as globe’s ‘principal currency’

    MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gave the U.S. dollar a vote on confidence on Monday after he was asked if a weakening greenback might spur a move to diversify Mexico’s foreign currency reserves.

    “We are going to continue considering the dollar as the world’s principal currency,” Lopez Obrador told a press conference.

    “We have sufficient reasons to not move to other currencies,” he said, underscoring Mexico’s “increasingly close” economic ties to the United States.

    The United States is by far Mexico’s largest trading partner, with both economies closely integrated over decades in sectors ranging from energy, autos and agriculture.

    The dollar remained weaker against most of its major peers on Monday as fears persist about a potential recession in the United States later this year.

    Asked if he would recommend that the central bank diversify Mexico’s foreign currency reserves, Lopez Obrador said that “even with a financial crisis in the future, the dollar would continue to be the most important currency in the world”.

    Despite concerns over recession, positive economic indicators helped push Mexico’s peso on Friday to its strongest level against the dollar since 2017.

    The Mexican president’s remarks follow comments from Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a fellow leftist, in which he expressed support for an alternative to the U.S. dollar for trade in certain circumstances including within South America.

  11. “It has to be your idea” is a saying I began to use a few years ago after seeing first hand examples of how humanity has learned to embrace certain aspects of life that of course are carefully set up by those who control the assets. CJ gives detailed financial examples in this post.

    Perhaps it’s not fair to always point the finger at the gov’t when looking who to blame. After all the gov’t must do the will of the people and that they do. Because…go back to my opening line: It has to be your idea. The system largely operates within the law; despite so many who believe the gov’t is illegal or somehow getting away with something. I’m not saying the system is made up of a bunch of angels. Rather it’s made up of a bunch of crooks who know quite well how to operate within the laws (that they create). As pointed out in previous articles, the Delphi Technique is a way of convincing people to do something that they otherwise would never do. It’s how you run a nation of 330m people. Not by force. But by – over time – planning a series of events that leads the voting majority to take pride in accepting a new reality. It has to be your idea. You go to the voting booth and demand change. You do this over and over again and 50 years later, after all the “good things” you voted for, life is not less expensive and you have fewer freedoms.

    What name do we give those who design the crisis, reaction, solution methods that control a nation? It’s not simply the gov’t. or the bankers, or the communists. It’s those that control the assets. They are partnered with gov’t, bankers, large corporations and CIA type operations like Amazon and Tesla. I mean, how is it possible that one company with virtually no competition can amass so much wealth unless they were put in place to change the face of transportation? How one name (Jeff Bezos) can change the way people shop unless he was put in place to do so. Going back further, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, with minimal competition, were victorious in putting a computer in every house and in everyone’s hand. All while people are banging away on a Microsoft keyboard complaining about monopolization of industry (and somehow the “dirty” oil companies are always the target). So what is the name of this group that allows all this misery to happen? Who controls the population and gives us no choice but to accept the reality du jour?

    It’s you. And me.

    And it all fits in perfectly with the bible and Christ’s teachings. My grandfather always said if something goes wrong always start by blaming yourself.

    Getting back to finance, the house I put a bid on and lost came back to me. I resubmitted an offer $10K higher and agreed to buy the place as is contingent on selling my condo. The house has a 1200 sq ft shop in the back that will allow me to casually generate an income stream providing a service. I say casually because this isn’t a business zoning but the neighbors should be used to the activity as the previous owner was into the same things as I am. We will see this week, but if this goes through I’m on the hook for about $2K / month for 30 years. And I’m not 30 YO. I sure hope I didn’t screw up, but one way to stay clear of ever escalating asset prices is to have a fixed rate payment. And as CJ pointed out to me, that $2K / mo. will begin to look comical after a number of years.

    1. Just based on what you enumerate in your comments, I think you made the right financial decision. Mortgage payments originated three or four years ago are almost an afterthought now. A mortgage I took out in 2015 was paid off just before covid with cash on hand in the checking account.

      With regards to government, I couldn’t have said it better myself. I often say to those who bother listening that we get the government we “choose”, not what we deserve.

    2. Way to go AL!! Hope you get it – so much potential in your own space. I thought it was a good idea the first time it came up.

      1. Thanks Lientje! I won’t lie. It’s difficult and sad to leave the comfort of my condo. I don’t hate it. It’s a great space laid out very well in an excellent area. My main concerns are of course the lack of space for projects and the plain fact that the condo is now 33 years old. Things will need replacing and the HOA is a governing body that decides how to spend my money. Fail to comply and they have a legal right to take possession of my “property.” Stop paying dues and see what happens. I bet the HOA can take control of my assets at a certain point. Like a child support case? Funny, but if I were renting the place to someone, and they didn’t pay, it would be a tough and expensive battle for me to get that family out. And I still have to pay HOA dues! I have seen this example first hand and is why I can’t even consider being a residential landlord. My pockets are not deep enough to weather the storm of a non paying tenant with a communist dictatorship coming to their defense.

        So perhaps logic must prevail over emotion. This new place literally fell into my lap. It’s unreal. And to have it circle back to me after being booted for having the lowest offer is more proof I’m supposed to be there – for better or worse – I will say glory to God for all things. The place needs work but isn’t junk. Termites, rot on the eaves, etc. $16K estimate to fix it. It’s an old place but nice. Best of all I get to decide what to fix and when. And I have great experienced homeowner friends (one of which is a retired city building inspector) with amazing building trade connections. I just keep praying. Not my will but God’s will.

        Thanks to you and CJ for the comments.

  12. There’s a reason why real estate prices along the I-81 corridor in Virginia continue to escalate while other areas struggle. An identical house next to the one I bought last October has been listed for $102,000 more than what I paid.

    Just stay out of the blue areas. The smart money is evacuating. My property taxes on a wonderful House are $1,350 a year. It’s a homogeneous heaven.

    Hello!?!?

    https://knowyouradversary.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Best-States-to-Retire_Main.jpg

    1. A young PC couple sold me my latest purchase a couple weeks ago at about 15% below market. Even their agent was PC. I tried to explain to them what was going on as I was signing the papers and the reason why I was buying, and they wanted to hear no part of it. All three were Caucasians, of course. I didn’t even discuss race, nor even get to the topic of DoD Pentagram bioweapons. The agent just couldn’t comprehend why prices kept rising in the area. Of course I paid cash and put it into an LLC.

    2. Here’s the suspect of the Brownsville car driver murders.

      I already instructed the reader where in the country to relocate and these types of strange people don’t reside in those locations. Prices are still affordable and the local governments there don’t have the social programs that these foreigners crave.

      The vast majority of mass shooting suspects are not Caucasian. Flee the cities. You Christians out there better overcome your mind engineering to accept Daniel’s iron and clay kingdom. You will end up beheaded for your stupidity. Put your plans into action and don’t delay.

      The time is now.

      1. Being from Spain I can tell this guy is a Latin American, not an Spaniard, not any Mediterranean European, Turkish, Caucasian or any thing like that.

        As many Latin Americans he is somewhat mixed and he can look a little bit Mediterranean, but his dark skin reveals a lot, Mediterranean South Europeans may be a little bit dark skinned, but not so much in general.

        The tattoos speaks tons to me as they tell me he is part of a gang.

        Many Americans probably do not know the difference, but South Europeans, are, in many ways, quite white skinned, even they are tanners and they get quite brown in summer.

        1. He has either Aztec, Inca, or Maya blood with a little European Spanish mixed in. The Mexican, Central American, and South American natives didn’t die off when the European Spanish landed, only their civilizations and religions of blood sacrifice were mostly abandoned. Traces still do remain from that brutal past. It shows up in their elevated rates of crime.

          He could have some Caribbean mixture thrown in, too. European Spanish are royalty and are part of the northern Israelite remnants.

  13. Someone asked about buying US Treasuries, and I recommended sticking to the short end (270 days or less). I ask myself, why take the risk of rising longer dated yields while simultaneously losing out on the yield differential b/w bills and notes/bonds? Why assume extra risk in this environment when a 5% yield is staring us in the face with t-bills? To me, the added risk of holding longer dated paper is not worth the chance of capital appreciation if long yields fall. I suspect inflation here has become institutionalized to a degree and seems stickier than initially thought just 6 mos. ago.

    Buffett seems to agree on how he currently holds his fixed income portion as well.
    _________

    From Seeking Alpha

    Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Dumps Billions Worth Of U.S. Stocks, Buys Treasuries Instead

    https://seekingalpha.com/article/4601257-warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-dumps-billions-worth-us-stocks-buys-treasuries

    Juicy Yield in Treasuries

    One major reason why Buffett is somewhat shifting away from equities is anchored on the juicy yield that treasuries offer. Especially in a stressed macro environment, it might not necessarily be prudent to risk capital for a 10% equity yield, when low risk treasuries yield close to 5%.

    In that context, Buffett commented that Berkshire’s ~$125 billion cash pile invested in short-dated fixed income securities is delivering attractive returns as compared to 1-2 years ago. In fact, Buffett estimated that Berkshire’s investment income from ‘cash and cash equivalents, including marketable securities’ is poised to top $5 billion this year.

  14. Meanwhile in England….

    Deep pocketed investors will clean up as they can buy these properties and raise rents. EVERY government regulation and intervention act raises prices for everyone, with most of it falling on the consumer.

    Measuring the results of a government action is termed “positive” economics. “Normative” economics explains whether or not a policy is fair or if it’s proper. Employing “positive” analysis tells me flat out that all tenants will eventually and ultimately bare the entire burden of the policy.

    In the short run, regulations restrict supply as landlords raise rents and take units off market. Both landlords and tenants lose and bare the cost burden.

    In the long run, the landlords (supply side) adjust and simple pass along the increased costs to the tenant.

    Whatever units are left available have higher costs to pass along. “Normative” analysis tells me that society has gone insane as government determines policy outcomes with a bunch of logic fallacies.
    ___________

    Thousands of landlords sell up to avoid net zero rules as buy-to-let no longer ‘viable’

    Investors forced to ensure their properties have an EPC rating of C or higher from 2028

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/buy-to-let/thousands-of-landlords-sell-avoid-net-zero-rules/

    Thousands of landlords are selling up ahead of Government net zero rules which will force them to make costly energy efficiency improvements.

    More than 65,000 rental properties went up for sale in the first three months of the year, new instruction data from estate agents showed.

    Of these some 36,460 had low energy efficiency, with Energy Performance Certificate (or EPC) ratings of D or less, according to market analyst TwentyCi, which collates figures from property firms across the country. A is the highest rating, while G is the worst.

    Landlords will be forced to ensure their properties have at least a C rating or higher by 2028 under Government plans.

    Experts said landlords were now selling up to dodge the red tape, fearing bills for improvements such as double glazing, insulation and heat pumps which could stretch into the tens of thousands.

    Chris Norris, of the National Residential Landlords Association, said: “Depending on where that property is and what kind of value it has, it’s difficult to maintain a viable letting portfolio if you’ve got to spend, say, £25,000 on a property that may only be worth £60,000 to £70,000 if you’re in certain towns in the North East.

    “The logical thing to do is to either retrofit or to sell off, and lots of landlords are finding that selling them is their best bet.”

    Some 60pc of rental properties on the market had EPC ratings of D or below, up from 57pc a year ago, showing the number of properties for sale with low energy efficiency credentials was higher than normal.

    Sales of C-rated properties, in contrast, were down by a fifth for the year.

    Since 2020, all newly-let properties have been required to have a minimum EPC rating of E, unless they have an exemption.

    Landlords can register an exemption if they have spent £3,500 on their properties and still have not reached an E rating.

    Under the proposed legislation, the cost of the exemption is expected to rise to £10,000, but the Government has yet to confirm this.

    Max Armstrong, of North East Property Investment, a buy-to-let specialist, said many landlords did not want to spend the money to retrofit the properties until they had some clarity about the new rules.

    He said energy efficiency was increasingly a concern for those investing in new buy-to-let properties.

    He added: “One of the first things new investors are asking is, ‘what’s the EPC rating and what needs to be done? Have you factored into the refurbishment, how much extra it’s going to cost? It has quite a lot of impact on the overall deals.”

    Mr Armstrong said many properties will struggle to get their homes to standard, saying the cost involved was not “financially viable” for large numbers of landlords.

    The Government has said it wants to bring all properties up to a C by 2035, which would affect all homeowners, not just property investors.

    Mr Armstrong said: “It’s a bit of a perfect storm. What’s going to happen to these properties? Are they just going to sit empty when we know we’re struggling to house people? It doesn’t seem to make sense.”

  15. Hi Chris, the unemployment and employment data should be rigged and is part of the concealment as the powers in charge have been changing definitions to both the definition and methods to calculate these datas.

    They seems to frequently points to a more rosy pictures but reality on the ground is grim.

    1. I suspect that you are correct on many levels. For those living in the states we also have to consider the number of illegals crossing the border every day looking for work or government benefits, which probably amount to at least 10,000 a day.

      You bring up an interesting thought; who even qualifies anymore to be part of the labor pool? What constitutes the civilian workforce? That’s not very difficult for the BLS to mess around with. Just by recalculating the size of the civilian labor force, everything else can be made to look decent. While I still use government data to spot trends, I suspect the data sets are being increasingly manipulated.

      There’s a reason why AI is being promoted heavily as an answer to workforce issues. That’s because employers are having a more and more difficult time finding people to work. I just find it interesting that it coincides with the true yet concealed amount of excess morbidities and deaths we are witnessing on an anecdotal basis. Even if someone is remaining in the workforce I’m seeing many instances in which their abilities have been impacted via increased illnesses.

      1. Also when these employee illnesses start hitting the employers health insurance the employer is sure to dispose of you. Seen it a number of times.

  16. So much for trying out currencies other than the US dollar…

    Russia Says It Has Billions of Indian Rupees That It Can’t Use

    (Bloomberg) — Russia has accumulated billions of rupees in Indian banks which it can’t use, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday, pointing to a ballooning trade surplus with the South Asian nation.

    “This is a problem,” Lavrov told reporters in India’s western state of Goa on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting. “We need to use this money. But for this, these rupees must be transferred in another currency, and this is being discussed now.”

    India’s total exports to Russia shrunk 11.6% to $2.8 billion in the first 11 months of the 2022-23 financial year, while imports rose nearly fivefold to $41.56 billion, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. That surge came as Indian refiners have scooped up discounted Russian oil in the past year that’s been shunned by the West in response to President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

    Imports of Russian crude by India reached a record 1.68 million barrels a day in April, up sixfold on a year earlier, according to Vortexa Ltd, a data intelligence firm.

    The Kremlin initially encouraged India to trade in national currencies following sanctions on Russian banks and a ban on transactions using the SWIFT messaging system.

    But volatility in the ruble soon after the war began meant plans for a rupee-ruble mechanism for oil imports were abandoned. India has resisted pressure from the US to scale back relations with Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine.

    ‘Frozen Funds’

    The imbalance in trade for Russia means “the volume of ‘frozen funds’ can reach tens of billions of dollars,” said Alexander Knobel, director of the Institute of International Economics and Finance of the Ministry of Economic Development. “The situation is aggravated by India’s historically high aggregate trade deficit, which reduces the possibilities of clearing settlements with third countries.”

    Russia is India’s largest supplier of weapons and military hardware, though defense supplies to the South Asian nation have stalled for lack of a payment mechanism that doesn’t violate US sanctions.

    Indian payments for weapons amounting to more than $2 billion have been stuck for about a year as New Delhi has been unable to settle the bill in dollars because of concerns about falling foul of secondary sanctions, while Russia is reluctant to accept rupees for purchases.

    Indian oil refiners have been trying to settle payments for discounted crude using United Arab Emirates dirhams, rubles and rupees. Trades can be exempted from international restrictions if they are priced below the $60-a-barrel price cap set by the Group of Seven nations and their European Union partners.

    Indian lenders opened special vostro accounts at Russian banks including Sberbank PJSC and VTB Bank PJSC to facilitate overseas trade in rupees and keep crude flowing.

    Currency restrictions mean Russian exporters face difficulty in repatriating rupees, Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina said on April 28.

    ©2023 Bloomberg L.P.

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