Are the Days of Ishmael Here? Global Finance Leadership Takes a Turn East, to the Arab Middle East

If Saudi Arabia did not appear in your news feed for the past two days, then you have missed what has been perhaps one of the most important news stories of not only the past couple of days, but perhaps of the past year, if not the past decade or century, while most of the U.S. population is being distracted by entertainment news as the clown circus show in Florida took their act to Manhattan today. First, out of nowhere, Saudi Arabia shocked the western financial world yesterday (Sunday, April 2, 2023), by announcing that OPEC was going to reduce oil production by over 1 million barrels per day. The U.S. financial news publishers were very busy today trying to process what just happened. There are concerns that this move will now cause more inflation in the U.S., and hasten the collapse of the banking system. And as if the announcement of the OPEC production reduction wasn't already enough major breaking financial news on the first Monday in April, there is this explosive report published by The Information today: "Saudi Arabia Discloses Ties to Andreessen Horowitz, Dozens of Other Venture Funds" Wow!! Talk about timing for Saudi Arabia to come out in the open and reveal that they have made massive investments into Silicon Valley venture capitalists for the past several years! As Health Impact News readers well know after my headline article yesterday, since the banking crisis started last month, the Tech sector has been mostly holding up the economy in the U.S., mostly based on all the hype surrounding new Chat bot artificial intelligence development, which doesn't even have a working model yet to produce revenue. And now we find out today, the day after OPEC announced they are reducing oil production which will almost guarantee inflation will increase, and potentially spell doom to America's small and regional banks, if not collapse the entire banking sector, that Saudi Arabia has been one of the major contributors of liquid assets into Silicon Valley? Will they continue to invest in Silicon Valley and prop up the U.S. economy? The entire U.S. economy now seems to be in the hands of Saudi Arabia. So are the days of Ishmael here, and the fulfillment of God’s promises and prophecies made thousands of years ago to bless Ishmael, the son of Abraham and the father of the Arab people?

WARNING: Faith in Artificial Intelligence is About to Destroy America – A Total System Collapse May be Imminent

As we now enter the first week of the second quarter here in 2023, the United States stands on the brink of a total financial collapse. There are many ways to view the current economic crisis we all face, and the economic factors that have brought us to this point today, such as the steps that were taken in 2008 during the last economic crisis which never solved the problem, but only kicked the can down the road until the crisis grew bigger, or the role that COVID policies played starting in 2020, or the myriad of other factors that have led us to the place where we all stand today. But the view that I choose to write about and explain, since so few others are writing about it, is the Big Tech collapse that began in 2022, with the blowup of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, and the massive layoffs that began in the world's largest technology companies. While it is hard to put a number on the total financial loss in the U.S. economy due to the FTX collapse, over $30 billion alone was lost just due to bankruptcies of some of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges. And that does not include the two largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance and Coinbase, which today are in serious trouble and could also be facing failures and potential bankruptcy. This crisis spread to the banking industry at the end of the first quarter this year, with banks heavily invested in the cryptocurrency market experiencing bank runs and collapse, including Silicon Valley Bank, which at the time was the 15th largest bank in the U.S. And more banks face failure today, as the bank runs have not stopped. But the markets haven't crashed yet, partially because there is so much money in the system that the Fed has created since 2020. And not only has the U.S. stock market not crashed yet, the one sector that one logically would conclude is in the middle of massive correction, the technology sector, which investors should avoid like the plague, is the one sector that is actually increasing, even since the bank failures. This sector, represented mostly on the NASDAQ, is holding up the entire financial system right now (at least as of the end of the last week in March), and I am not the only one questioning the logic of seeing Big Tech as a "safe haven" to park money into today. So if Wall Street financial analysts are warning that Tech stocks are NOT a safe haven to put money into today, what is causing this faith in technology to continue drawing investors, which appears to be the only thing holding up the economy right now and stopping a complete financial collapse? We don't need to look far to see what is causing the latest feeding frenzy in technology these days, as it is in all of our news feeds on a daily basis: Artificial Intelligence Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT. LLM based Artificial Intelligence is believed to be a market that will grow to over $1.59 trillion by 2030. However, as in all other technology financial bubbles in the past, all of this money is being bet (not "invested") on the future, not the present, because all we have today are prototype models that don't even work correctly. In spite of all the hype you are reading on a daily basis regarding the latest "AI technology" with these chat bots, they are not actually producing any revenue yet. They are simply sucking up much of the remaining capital in the U.S. market. And now, the chat AI products are in position to be perhaps the biggest financial bubble of all time, and when it bursts, which could be tomorrow, next week, next month, or perhaps not until the end of 2023 or first quarter of 2024, it most definitely could bring down the entire financial system in the United States.

Google Co-Founder Among Billionaires Subpoenaed in Jeffrey Epstein Case

Billionaires Sergey Brin, Thomas Pritzker, Mortimer Zuckerman and Michael Ovitz were issued subpoenas this week by the US Virgin Islands as part of its lawsuit against JPMorgan over the bank's relationship with now-deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. The subpoenas seek any communications or documents related to JPMorgan and Epstein. JPMorgan is being sued by the US Virgin Islands along with several Epstein accusers in a combined case over Epstein's sex trafficking operation. The plaintiffs claim that the bank facilitated abuse by allowing Epstein to remain a client while helping send money to his victims. The lawsuit also alleges that JPMorgan turned a blind eye to Epstein's activities after receiving referrals for high-value business opportunities.

Is the War in Syria Intensifying? U.S. Carrier Strike Group Deployment Extended as U.S. Troops Suffer “Brain Injuries”

America's resolve to hang on to oil fields in Syria that former President Donald Trump seized in 2019 seems to be intensifying as the U.S. military has extended the deployment of the George HW Bush Carrier Strike Group, which has been under NATO command since last year, and is currently in the Mediterranean Sea. The George HW Bush Carrier Strike Group replaced the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group in the Mediterranean Sea last year. We reported on the original deployment of Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group to the Mediterranean Sea under NATO command last year, because it marked the first time that U.S. Navy forces based in Norfolk, Virginia were being commanded by a non-American as part of NATO. This followed the annexation of the U.S. Naval base by NATO in 2021, even though the base is on U.S. soil. It is also now being reported that some American troops in Syria are suffering from "traumatic brain injuries" after recent attacks in Syria. This is not the first time U.S. troops based in the Middle East have suffered from these types of "traumatic brain injuries." In 2020, American troops stationed in Al Asad Air Base in Iraq came under attack when Iran launched 15 ballistic missiles on the base in retaliation for a U.S. drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Quds Force military branch. Troops there also suffered "traumatic brain injuries," but then President Donald Trump and others refused to acknowledge the injuries for over two years. This latest round of conflicts in Syria follows major announcements in the rapidly changing geopolitical makeup of the Middle East, where Saudi Arabia has put aside decades of conflict with Iran and has also agreed to start selling oil to China in China's currency, rather than U.S. dollars. Turkey is another major player in the Middle Eastern oil conflicts, and they just announced this week that they were closing down their pipeline pumping oil out of Iraq due to ongoing conflicts with the Kurds in northern Iraq. This action by Turkey has allegedly taken 450,000 barrels per day of crude exports out of the market. The American Empire is crumbling, as is their control of Middle Eastern oil.

China And Brazil Strike Deal To Ditch The US Dollar

According to the Brazilian government, China and Brazil have reached a deal to trade in their own currencies, ditching the United States dollar as an intermediary entirely, AFP reported. The deal, Beijing’s latest salvo against the almighty greenback, will enable China, the top rival to US economic hegemony, and Brazil, the biggest economy in Latin America, to conduct their massive trade which amounts to $150 billion per year, and financial transactions directly, exchanging yuan for reais and vice versa instead of going through the US dollar. In doing so China extends its bilateral, USD-exempting currency arrangements beyond countries such as Russia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to now include the Latin American exporting powerhouse.

No Fooling: The End of “Private Banking” Starts Today with Bank Enrollments in the New FedNow Program

The first week of April, 2023 marks the beginning of the enrollment and certification process for financial institutions to start participating in the Federal Reserve's new FedNow "Instant Payments" services, which is scheduled to launch in July, 2023. While many in the alternative media (myself included) have linked the FedNow program to Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), technically speaking, FedNow is NOT part of the development of CBDCs. Michelle Bateman, Director of Product Management, Payments at Finastra, is a member of FedNow’s pilot program, and she has stated that the project to develop CBDCs is completely separate from the FedNow Instant Payment service. The main difference is that once CBDCs are rolled out, consumers will have accounts with a Federal Reserve Bank, while the FedNow program does not. The FedNow program will be offering "Master Accounts" at the Federal Reserve for financial institutions only. However, as I have previously stated, rolling out CBDCs is a mammoth project, and cannot be done overnight. It would be foolish to not believe that the FedNow program is not a stepping stone towards CBCDs. As you can see from the flow chart at the top of this article, with the implementation of the FedNow Instant transfer program, all the data involving a financial transaction between two "End-Users" will flow through the Federal Reserve banks. So while they are advertising the FedNow program as a new system that will make payments and wire transfers much quicker and much more convenient, it is also a mass data collection system for the Fed to begin storing private bank information. Will this include all the personal details of account holders in private banks?

All the Many Ways Big Tech is Selling Your Data to the Government Who is Spying on Americans without Warrants

I am not going to cover the RESTRICT Act proposed legislation regarding TikTok, since just about everyone else in the alternative and right-wing corporate media seems to be covering that story, but I am going to highlight some of the many ways the U.S. Government already purchases data from Big Tech and spies on American citizens, illegally, without a warrant. These articles are from the Cyber Vice topic, a great source of information on the darker side of Tech.

Second Wave of Bank Runs Start – Demise of the U.S. Dollar as the World’s Reserve Currency Accelerates

It's been over a week now since a bank has failed, but according to multiple sources, that does not mean that the banking crisis is over. In fact, many sources are reporting that bank runs are continuing, with a "second wave" of bank runs now going on. As we have previously reported, these modern-day bank runs are not always as noticeable today in the digital era, as you don't typically see people lining up at the banks to physically withdraw their money, as it all happens on the Internet. And while today depositors are rushing into Money Market accounts, once the smaller banks start failing again, expect to see more money exit bank accounts, such as into the FedNow CBDC accounts scheduled to come online this summer, as well as into commodities such as Gold and Silver. The rest of the world is, of course, noticing this, and some are beginning to trade with currencies other than the U.S. Dollar.

Will CBDC FedNow Put Regional and Smaller Banks Out of Business this Summer?

The failures of Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and the current struggles of First Republic and Pacific West Bank have seen bank deposits flee to the perceived safety of large banks. To make matters worse for banks, rising interest rates and easily accessible higher yielding alternatives exist like money market funds (MMF) or US Treasury ETFs. These alternatives are now a few thumb taps and swipes away from depositors, making the near-zero rate of return on bank deposits much less attractive for many consumers and businesses. These issues, plus the new FedNow service which is set to begin trial runs in July, could represent an uphill battle for banks to retain deposits. The Federal Reserve’s new FedNow program will allow bank customers at 10,000 financial institutions to instantaneously transfer funds in and out of bank accounts on a 24/7/365 basis. This is probably the biggest innovation since mobile banking and investment apps and will allow customers greater access to "their" money than ever before.

NATIONAL CATASTROPHE! California Farmers Suffering Record Losses from Flooding as “Worst is Yet to Come”

With the threat of a World War 3 escalation into a nuclear conflict, while the world's financial system is on the brink of collapse, it is easy to see why a local, regional news story about the weather will not make national headlines. But there is a local, regional story developing in California that I guarantee will eventually make national headline news, as the flooding continues with more heavy rain and snow this week, and with local officials declaring that in terms of the flooding and damage, "the worst is yet to come." With California producing over half of America's agriculture, this is indeed HUGE news, as this is also going to affect food prices around the world, since many of California's agricultural products, a $51 BILLION economy, are exported outside the U.S. The main reason this is not a major worldwide headline, yet, is because there are still very few estimates as to how high the losses are going to be, since the farming community in California is just trying to survive right now, bracing for new storms that entered the State yesterday and are continuing today. Total financial losses for the State of California due to flooding that began in January, right now range from $5 BILLION to $30 BILLION.