News, Rumors and Opinions Monday Morning 4-20-2020
TNT:
Harambe: Bloomberg: Zimbabwe’s Currency Plans Upended as It Fights on Two Fronts
The fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has upended Zimbabwe’s plans to enforce the use of its own currency and left it scrambling to find money to tackle twin crises of economic collapse and famine.
A global slump spurred by the outbreak of the virus has come with the southern African nation’s economy in its worst state since at least 2008. Already trying to raise $400 million to buy grain after the most-severe drought in 40 years threatened to leave half of its people without enough food, it now needs another $220 million to deal with the impact of Covid-19, according to Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube.
We are working with the two crises, we are fighting on both fronts,” he said in an April 16 interview. “Our issue is just financial resources.”
Zimbabwe’s economy has been in free-fall as a shortage of foreign currency led to scarcity of fuel and wheat. Conditions worsened after the government removed a 1-1 peg between a quasi-currency known as bond notes and the dollar more than a year ago and in June banned the use of foreign exchange as it sought to reintroduce the Zimbabwe dollar that had been scrapped in 2009.
The situation has been compounded by the imposition of a national lockdown to curb the spread of the disease. The International Monetary Fund estimates the economy contracted 8.3% last year.
Now, to contain the fallout the local currency has been pegged at 25 to the dollar, still well below the black-market rate, and the ban on the use of foreign currency has been lifted.
Derailed plans
“You are allowed to keep your U.S. dollars under your pillow” and they can be used in shops, Ncube said. “Our plans are derailed. We are determined to get back on track once the Covid-19 outbreak” is over, he said.
The decision may improve trading as retailers were reluctant to accept local currency that couldn’t be used to import goods.
“ It means we can easily buy from our suppliers,” said Mikey Goredema, 28, who sells building materials in an outdoor market in Harare, the capital. “The U.S. dollar was what people wanted, even when it was illegal.”
It’s a setback for Ncube, an economist who has lectured at the University of Oxford and who tried to instill financial discipline since accepting the post in September 2018. He has slashed government spending, set up a monetary policy committee and introduced a benchmark interest rate.
Despite those measures, the country failed to attract significant foreign investment, has external debt of $8 billion that it can’t repay and annual inflation surged to 676% in March. Ncube admits a target of double-digit price growth by the end of the year may be difficult to attain.
“It has all been complicated by Covid-19,” he said. “It’s very hard to get our targets.”
The country isn’t eligible for funding from the IMF, due to arrears to other multilateral lenders, but has received some assistance from the European Union and the U.K. as well as from a number of organizations, Ncube said.
Harambe: Bloomberg: Oil Drops to 18-Year Low on Global Demand Crunch, Storage Woes https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-19/oil-drops-to-18-year-low-on-global-demand-crunch-storage-woes
Harambe: CNBC: US crude plummets 18% as coronavirus pandemic ravages oil demand https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/20/oil-markets-us-crude-futures-in-focus-as-coronavirus-dents-demand.html
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DJ: DID YOU KNOW?
It has become blatantly obvious, that as citizens of a large population, we are constantly kept oblivious to actualities. The narratives being served up to be digested by the masses always seem to have a ring of truth but are rarely a true definition of the actual agenda behind the narrative. This methodology of how, when and what kind of a message is delivered to the people is engulfed in ours and most other societies. It is only when we look back later do we discover the falsehoods of these narratives delivered at the time.
We have been kept in the dark on so many issues so many times that our psyche has been programed into a constant state of confusion. Everything has a conspiracy theory attached to it, even when the truth and what we are presented with may be exactly what is presented. We can no longer discern between truth, fiction or hidden agenda.
This discernment comes from a real place. We question things because of previous nefarious activities later discovered. All you have to do is dive into any ongoing conspiracy theory, which may or may not be true, and depending on actual facts disclosed, the mind is swayed into believing things you once thought true to be false and things you thought false to be true.
The C.I.A.’s involvement in manipulating Hollywood, J.F.K assassination, 911, the reasons we have entered onto wars, how our economic systems were birthed and run, subliminal messaging in advertising, big pharma, politics, the GCR, the pandemic the list of mind manipulation is never ending. Somewhere between what has actually happened or is happening and the narrative, we are presented with lies amidst the truth. We know it is real but to what extent?
There was a Star Trek episode where captain Kirk and his crew were faced with a society of robots. Dr. McCoy tells one of the robots “Captain Kirk is a liar”. Captain Kirk then says to the robot, “I am a liar”. The robot tries to compute the statement, “if you are a liar then you are lying about saying you are a liar which means you are telling the truth but you can’t be telling the truth because to be telling the truth you are a liar” and so it goes back and forth until the robot short circuits. We are the robots. We are being told truths by liars, at least their version of the truth, and unknowingly, truthful people are perpetuating miss or disinformation which in essence is a lie.
That being said, as we digest information we all must be critical in our thinking on any issue presented, keeping in mind to not form perceptions based on missing information. And there is always missing information. We are served up just enough info to steer us in the predesigned direction whoever is delivering the message wants us to go. This is called “controlled opposition”. Look the term up.
The point is, our minds (psyches) have been programed to be kept in a state of confusion enabling all manner of input access to our conscious and sub-conscious to manipulate our behavior. Being aware it is happening is the first step to free thinking and making better decisions. Decisions relative to your individual life needs not decisions made based off outside influences.
You have to ask yourself the purpose in what information you choose to absorb. Most of the time it is more a curiosity then a need to know. I have learned things that I can’t un-think and all it serves to do is pollute the soul. The gravity and extent of some of these evil happenings is beyond the level of the average person’s understanding. Basically beyond a normal person's comprehension. We can’t conceive how someone or something could be so evil.
As a suggestion, be mindful and critical in what information you choose to absorb or learn. If it doesn’t serve a purpose and only satisfies a curiosity, don’t let that curiosity effect or pollute your otherwise rational behavior. It just may make your life’s path a little easier.
DJ
Mike Maloney
What Is A Wealth Cycle? The Difference Between Price & Value Explained by Mike Maloney
Premiered Apr 18, 2020
In 2018 Mike Maloney gave a presentation titled ‘Early Warning’. Today we present to you one of the first segments of that presentation - an explanation of what Mike calls ‘Wealth Cycles’.
Bix Weir
Life After Lock Down Will Be Very, Very Different!!
RoadToRoota:
The months long Global Lock Down have destroyed many jobs, industries and Lives. So much so that we will never return to the ways of the past!
Everything has changed and we will create a New Way Forward from this moment onward.