Watching to See

[Ed Hurst]

Lots of experts, real or imagined, are telling readers to beware of specific problems coming our way. I'll mention a couple, and some of you may be aware of others worth sharing.

1. The Governor of Texas ordered inspections of trucks coming across the border from Mexico, looking for drugs and so forth. The Mexican truckers have responded by blockading the main port on their side. Then the narco gangs set fire to some of the trucks because they won't tolerate the blockade. They would rather face the risk of their drugs being found than the certainty that their drugs can't cross the border at all. At any rate, experts warn that in the next two weeks we should see serious shortages of the vegetables that come from Mexico. The US buys almost half its produce from there. One story can be found here.

2. This story quotes Martin Armstrong (video interview I didn't watch) saying that the collapse of the western economic system will demand a war to prevent the worst consequences. It could come in the next few weeks, but could also take longer, since there are so many variables that have to be lined up.

So, these two are ostensibly close-range enough that we can easily keep track and test if these experts know what they are talking about. I'll probably grab a few bags of frozen veggies today, but that's not really any different from my recent habits.

[Ed Hurst]

To add: I listened to the interview in the video with Martin Armstrong. For once, it was worth my time. My convictions witness to most of what he said; my opinions backed some more of it. Not all, of course, but the substance of his analysis is correct. I did not care for the host's obvious political slant, but I'm glad Armstrong answered honestly.

[jaybreak]

That some drug trucks are found by LE after crossing is probably already accounted for in the cartel's bookkeeping and budget, etc. It's likely another cost of doing business for them. I read a book once a while ago, darned if I remember the name of it, but it was about a economics writer who interviewed different types of drug dealers. One of his conclusions is that part of the "job" involves a lot of business acumen that you don't normally associate with drug dealers.

[Ed Hurst]

Back in the days when I drove a taxi cab in OKC at night, I saw an awful lot of drug trafficking. This was right after I left the Army as a Military Policeman, so I had an elevated awareness of some aspects of this stuff (mid-1990s). It struck me then that if the drug trade in OKC were to ever act like a business, the police would never have a chance against the thugs. The upper levels of the trade are run that way now, but it never seems to have seeped down to the street level. Still, the move to decriminalize or legalize a lot of stuff around these parts is actually supported by the police because it has gotten so totally unmanageable. They now focus more effort on the violence that attaches to the trade.

[jaybreak]

I'm gonna assume LE's get kickback from that, somehow, too.

[Ed Hurst]

That's very hard to assess. Some do; I've seen too many things that can't be explained any other way. But I doubt the cops on the street see very much of it.