Defying threats from the European Union, Hungary has announced they will not stop purchasing oil and gas from Russia and join a blockade of energy products by the 27 member EU alliance.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the International Monetary Fund today he needs $7 billion per month in global subsidy in order to supplement the economic losses currently being incurred.

(VIA CNN) – “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Ukraine needs $7 billion per month in financial assistance to make up for the economic losses from the war. 

In a virtual address to a World Bank forum, Zelenksy also said that it would take “hundreds of billions of dollars” to rebuild his country later. 

He said every country must be prepared to break all relations with Russia and that Moscow should “immediately” be excluded from all international financial institutions including the IMF and the World Bank.” (link)

Plus, “10% for the big guy”.

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The German government released their version of the producer price index for inflation, and they are reporting 30.9% inflation for products leaving German factories.  [DETAILS HERE] That’s the highest rate of inflation since shortly after the second world war.

The inflation rate is being driven mostly by energy costs which are more than 80% higher than last year.   However, each nation’s overall inflation rate is also driven by the amount of central bank spending they used during the COVID economic lockdowns.  The more any govt spent on subsidies, the more money they printed, the more they devalued their money and subsequently, the higher their current rate of inflation.

Germany is the largest economy in the European Union.  This level of inflation within Germany has major ramifications.

First, with this level of energy inflation Germany cannot afford to stop purchasing Russian energy products.  There’s no way for Germany to join or increase western sanctions against oil and gas they need to stay sufficient.  Germany is dependent on Russian energy.

Second, with Germany’s economy this vulnerable; and with Germany being so dependent on Russian energy; Germany will have to distance itself further from any Ukraine assistance.   In the background of western voices already being upset with Germany for not providing more support for Ukraine, their economic vulnerability explains their unwillingness.   The U.S. proxy war against Russia does not benefit Germany, at all.

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Fed Governor Christopher Waller appeared on CNBC to announce we have reached peak inflation, and things will moderate from here.  All of these fed moves are political moves, not monetary policy-based moves. Here’s the thing they will never admit to the non-institutional investor.

The fed has been painfully slow to raise interest rates on purpose.  They did not make a mistake.  The reason for their delay is they needed to wait for the beginning of the first 2021 inflation wave to cycle through before they raised interest rates.  It’s a game of mirrors that almost no one sees.  WATCH:

The rate of inflation will drop once the statistical year-over-year comparisons reach the same moment in the prior year.  The fed will raise interest rates in May and then use the June inflation rate decline as a false talking point to highlight how their policy is working.  They wait for May, because they need to wait for the calendar, nothing else.  Inflation is measured as the percentage of change from the prior year.  By waiting until the inflation is measured against the first wave of rising prices, it will give the illusion of a decline in inflation.

So that’s why they waited.  But here’s the worse part….

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Against the backdrop of increased Russia-India trade {link}, and the BRICS discussions about new trade payment mechanisms to avoid being shackled to the dollar {link}, it would appear the people behind the White House operation to create/maintain conflict with Russia are scheduling a stern conversation with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

WHITE HOUSE – ” President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will meet virtually with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India on Monday, April 11 to further deepen ties between our governments, economies, and our people. President Biden and Prime Minister Modi will discuss cooperation on a range of issues.” …

“President Biden will continue our close consultations on the consequences of Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine and mitigating its destabilizing impact on global food supply and commodity markets.” (read more)

The message from the White House will likely be akin to: ‘Nice country of 1.5 billion hungry people you got there Modi.  With all this talk of global famine going around, it’d be a shame if you couldn’t feed them.’ Oh, and by the way, did you happen to catch what just rolled out in Pakistan?  Imagine that – what with common borders and such… 

For those unfamiliar, it appears the DoS/CIA were up to their old tricks again, because Pakistan was favorable to the position of China and Russia in the Ukraine conflict and would not take sides with NATO and western allied leaders.

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Neil Oliver takes a look at the economics of COVID and how government intervention and spending has crushed the working class.  However, it is not the financial aspects that carry the worst debt in the aftermath, there is a human cost that can never be repaid or recreated.  WATCH:

{TRANSCRIPT} –  “There are debts that can be repaid and debts that can’t. During the time of Covid, vast piles of money were conjured into being by the government, borrowed as if by magic from the distant future. Unimaginable quantities of that funny money were wasted – spent on PPE that didn’t work or that wasn’t needed and is now yet more plastic heaped into landfills or otherwise littering the landscape and seascape. Millions went on the Nightingale hospitals that were never used. Around 37 billion pounds – ten percent of a total of 370 billion pounds set aside for Bounce Back Loans and the Eat Out to Help Out scheme – were lost to fraudsters. £37 billion pounds.”

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The UN Food and Agriculture Organization reported on Friday they are recording the highest Food Price Index since they started recording thirty years ago. With record highs in prices for cereals, vegetable oils, dairy and meats

This issue has been a slow burning fuse toward the biggest powder keg in modern history, and it is about to get very serious.  We have been warning about it since last fall {Go Deep}.  In the most deliberate and painstaking ways possible, we have been urging everyone to take this issue seriously.

The background cause is complex and started with the 2020 government response to the pandemic.  U.S. and international government intervention in the food supply process has been FUBAR from the beginning. Every action taken since early 2020 has been one bad policy after another; building failure upon failure, crisis upon crisis, bad decision upon bad decision, bringing us to a precipice summed up by saying “the absence of food will change things.”

Some will say the food prices we are about to experience –and the crisis it will create– was deliberate.  Others will say this was the cumulative outcome of major failures on the part of the government.  At this point the former makes more sense, and the latter looks like a justification and excuse, because if government entities were really serious about food prices and shortages, they would be taking pragmatic steps to mitigate the problem; they are not.

There are simple things government could do, such as helping farmers offset targeted fertilizer costs, providing relief for diesel fuel and energy costs, and taking other simple steps that would help the agricultural industry.

Instead of responding with the urgency this would demand, the collective government action has been to ignore the problem (talk soundbites), and give speeches about using subsidies to offset the end result (consumers) – without ever addressing the root cause.  All this while fueling conflict in Ukraine and chasing radical energy policies under the guise of global climate change.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) keeps track of food prices and projections using a global index [SEE HERE].  What they are calculating, and what they are projecting based on the current calculations, is a major increase in food prices combined with a major increase in food scarcity due to the unaffordability of food products.

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CTH noted earlier, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 control mechanisms, things were being done legislatively to follow a ‘new world order’ for western democracies {Go Deep}.  One of the nations we noted following this new direction, was Canada.  Today, a review of the proposed Canadian 2022 budget finds something to align with the new version of democracy – the establishment of funding to create a central bank digital currency.

That should not necessarily come as a surprise.  After all, despite a massive amount of denial from the Canadian Finance Minister and Canadian Prime Minister toward the context of CTH research {Go DEEP}, the direct evidence we were looking for is now discovered.

Buried deep, very deep, in Chapter 9.2 of the Canadian Budget you will find this:  …”In the last several months, for example, there have been a number of high-profile examples—both around the world and here in Canada—where digital assets and cryptocurrencies have been used to avoid global sanctions and fund illegal activities.”

(Chapter 9.2) […] Budget 2022 includes measures that will help maintain the integrity of the financial system, promote fair competition, and protect both the finances of Canadians and our national security.

• • Budget 2022 announces the government’s intention to launch a financial sector legislative review focused on the digitalization of money and maintaining financial sector stability and security. The first phase of the review will be directed at digital currencies, including cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.
  • Budget 2022 also proposes $17.7 million over five years, starting in 2022-23, to the Department of Finance to lead the review.

The review will examine, among other factors: how to adapt the financial sector regulatory framework and toolbox to manage new digitalization risks; how to maintain the security and stability of the financial system in light of these evolving business models and technological capabilities; and the potential need for a central bank digital currency in Canada. (LINK)

Huh. Imagine that.  What was called a “conspiracy theory” just a few weeks/days ago, is now the expressed intent of the same government who denied it was ever being considered.

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The inflationary impact to any specific country is directly proportionate to the scale of the government intervention in the COVID lockdown spend.  Almost all of the nations who deployed the WEF program are in the same inflationary position.

The U.S., U.K., New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the EU, within which Germany is the largest economy, all followed the WEF spending instructions.

(Germany) – According to the German Retail Association (HDE), consumers should prepare for another wave of price hikes for everyday goods and groceries.

Even before the outbreak of war in Ukraine, prices had risen by about five per cent “across the product range” as a result of increased energy prices, HDE President Josef Sanktjohanser told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung on Friday.

With Russia’s invasion hitting economies and the supply chain harder, yet another series of price increases is on the horizon. “The second wave of price increases is coming, and it will certainly be in double figures,” Sanktjohanser warned. (read more)

Every time the supermarket checkout rings, a yellow vested rebel is created.

Something odd is happening in the background of the G7 energy ministers’ announcement earlier today.

Remember that moment {HERE} when Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland seemed really uncomfortable and weird at the presser – just 36 hours before the Trudeau administration announced they were going to drop the Emergency Act banking sanctions against the truckers? {Go Deep}

Here is an encapsulation of what’s weird, and you don’t have to be an expert in geopolitics and international trade to see it:

The G7 countries (including the U.S.) announced today they were demanding that Russia accept payment for oil and gas in euros and dollars.  This is happening at the same time NATO is demanding (via sanctions) that Russia be blocked from accepting payments in euros and dollars.

Something is weird.  Keep in mind, the same nations in the G7 are the same nations in NATO with the exception of Japan (G7 only).

The only way this conflict could make any sense, is if the G7 energy ministers realize that forcing Russia to trade in non-euros and non-dollars will structurally undermine the G7 unilateral hold of global finance and energy policy.   In essence, the G7 see the non-sanction countries, particularly India and China, lining up to replace the petro-dollar, and that not only weakens their position financially, but it also weakens their climate change position.

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