Twelfth Edition - Harsh Reality Newsletter

Good morning, everyone! We hope you had a happy May the 4th and Cinco De Mayo. Today is the Twelfth edition of the "Harsh Reality" newsletter! If you're new here, welcome to the fight. If you want to see previous editions of the newsletter they'll be available at the link below. And if you want to join us on our social media platforms click on those links as well. Our intent is to always provide you more value than we receive so thank you for being here and enjoy the show.

Weekly Dose of "Harsh Reality"

It is estimated that 78% of people live paycheck to paycheck. It's also believed that over 66% of families have no contingency funds for emergencies. In essence, the vast majority of people are financially illiterate. 

Harsh Reality - Financial illiteracy is the new form of slavery.. It may sound like a sensationalist claim to make, but it's absolutely true. Think about how the southern slave owners kept control over the slaves back in the antebellum days? They kept them illiterate.. They did not allow them to go to school, to learn how to read, to do math or to further develop critical thinking skills. They did that because a society that does not think is a society that can be easily oppressed.

Fortunately, in the modern world, slavery is not an acceptable practice. Unfortunately, we're still seeing the same mass manipulation of society today, although its much more obscured. In modern society, the masses are more educated than any other time in history. However, the type of education they're receiving leaves out the one critical item necessary for full independence. Financial literacy.

We've shown you in previous editions that the entire education and economic systems are set up to keep you in a specific mindset. The mindset of a worker.. What they don't tell you is that that mindset keeps you poor through indebtedness, and working in a J.O.B. while someone else benefits off of your labor. Instead, we should be shown/taught how to invest in our own high-demand skills which would give us more independence, and the freedom to become wealthy. We are absolutely not knocking work or those who put in a hard day of labor; but your career path should be based on an advised decision, not manipulation.

The best way we have found to learn about business and wealth creation is mentorship and relationships. As we've said before, "show me your friends and I'll show you your future." Having said that, finding a long term mentor is up to you.  We do our best with this publication but we don't know you or your situations.. Luckily, reading is the second best way to learn; so today I'm going to go over the best books I have found on the topics of money management & wealth generation. Before you go off saying that we're making money off of some sponsorship from these books, we are not. I'm not even going to give you an affiliate link to amazon to show you that these are genuine recommendations on how to become more financially literate. The rest is up to you.

First, we recommend "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. If you're past the age of 25, then this is the book you should start with when you first set off on your wealth building journey. It's an extremely conservative, but extremely effective way to manage your money and to generate wealth. The strategy revolves around getting rid of debt and living within your means. This is not the end all be all on the subject, but it's a great start.

Second, we recommend "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki. This book is the antithesis to Dave Ramsey's strategy and it's for the more aggressive and less risk averse crowd. The strategy outlined in this books revolves around using debt as a tool to get higher returns on investments. **Disclaimer** While this book outlines a sexier and quicker way to build wealth, it's also a strategy than can lead you to bankruptcy if you can't control yourself. Always be aware of and to control the amount of risk you take on using this strategy.

Lastly, we're going to throw in a quick read for the adolescents in our community. "First To A Million" by Dan Sheeks is a book geared towards adolescents with little or no responsibilities. A fresh canvas if you will.. This book combines some of the lessons from the two above; but it lays out some actionable steps to take to be financially independent very early on in life. If you have a kid that's in high school/college, you need to be gifting this to them.

There you go.. Three books that will all make you a millionaire if you implement what they teach. From the most conservative to the more aggressive strategies, with a bit in between, you've got a good place to start. Go out and get it!

Shit That Matters

The Fed Increased The Fed Funds Rate.. Again. - The Federal Reserve met on 2 & 3 May & decided to increase the Fed Funds Rate by another 25 basis points.

Harsh Reality - As we discussed in previous editions, this will continue with the intention of driving credit/mortgage/unemployment rates higher; while driving the cost of assets down. Given that the jobs report came back with the lowest unemployment rate in years, it looks like we've got a high potential for additional rate hikes. Unfortunately the number is flawed in that it doesn't account for people who have simply quit the work force or are underemployed. Be prepared for more pain in the future and safeguard yourself!

God Save The King! - King Charles III will be coronated as the King of England today in Westminster Abbey.

Harsh Reality - The ceremony, pomp and circumstance will be on full display today for the first coronation in most people's lifetimes. We at Harsh Reality wish His Majesty good luck and a long reign. It is a thankless job and he follows his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who was loved by all and was coronated in 1953 at the age of 27. Not an easy act to follow..

Russo-Ukrainian War - It appears that a rift has formed in the Russian leadership..

Harsh Reality - Wagner mercenaries may be giving the Ukrainians exactly what they need to survive the assault on Bakhmut.. This week, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group made multiple public statements admonishing Russian military leadership for limiting their access to ammunition. One of them are posted above for your viewing pleasure.

It appears that the power struggle between the Wagner leader and Russian military leaders is coming to a head. Prigozhin went so far as to threaten a withdrawal of Bakhmut on the 10th of May, the day after the anniversary of the end of the "Great Patriotic War" (WWII). I can't imagine this actually occurring but only time will tell. If it does occur, it may be a good time for reinforcement and/ore a counterattack by the Ukrainians.. Or, it could be another deception that will lead to a baited ambush.. The chess match continues.

Drone Strike On The Kremlin - A drone strike over the Kremlin is being touted by the Russians as an attempted assassination of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Harsh Reality - This has all the hallmarks of a false flag operation and we at Harsh Reality believe that it will likely be used to justify some type of escalation by Russia. We don't know exactly what that looks like yet, but that's our assumption. The video of the actual attack is posted on our Facebook page if you're interested in seeing it.

For those that don't know, a false flag operation is an act committed by one party, while disguising the actual source of the attack. The intent is to use the act as a justification for a predetermined outcome. For example, lets say that Russia wanted to target Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his family directly, but that would draw criticism from the international community. The Russians could stage a false flag operation like we just saw, and blame the Ukrainians for an assassination attempt. They would then use that as a justification to go after Zelenskyy himself and claim that they weren't the ones who escalated the conflict to that level to begin with.

Again, we have no proof of this, but it's exactly what we'd expect from the Russians.

Bank Collapse Continues - First Republic Bank collapsed this week and it appears that two more are soon to come. PacWest and Western Alliance Banks were both thrashed during trading this week and may not survive.

Harsh Reality - Let's all thank Janet Yellen for this ongoing issue. When she made the statement to congress that "Not all deposits would be guaranteed," after guaranteeing the deposits of her tech friends, she all but guarantied the flight of money from regional banks to larger banks. When that happens, regional banks have issues and could potentially fail; and that is exactly what we're seeing now. Way to go Janet (Karen)..

Honorable Mentions - 

U.S. Debt Ceiling - The U.S. is expected to run out of money as early as 1 June. The republicans have put forward a bill that defunds pretty much all of the liberal policy accomplishments over the past two years but increases the debt limit. Joe Biden has dismissed the bill but will meet with republican leadership on 9 May to start the negotiating process. The fuckery continues..

Weekly Market Recap

Shit That Doesn't Matter

Title 42 To Expire - Title 42, the policy that required immigrants to remain in Mexico to process through the various immigration options, is set to expire on 11 May. 

Harsh Reality - This is nothing more than the democrats' way of changing the voting demographic in the U.S. The more illegal immigrants you bring in to vote, the wider the margin for liberal elections. Unfortunately, the legal authority that was initially used to implement Title 42 was dissolved by Joe Biden last week when he declared that the Covid 19 pandemic was over. We're absolutely shocked at the timing.. **Sarcasm**

Biden Bribery Whistleblower - A whistleblower reported to members of the house oversight committee that the FBI is in possession of an unclassified document that shows the then VP, Joe Biden was bribed for various policy initiatives by foreign governments.

Harsh Reality - If true, this is nothing short of treasonous. Unfortunately, the democrats have zero concern over things like this and there is a 0.00% chance that he'll be impeached by the democrat held senate no matter what evidence comes to light. 

Hunter Biden Child Support Hearing - Hunter Biden attended a hearing in Arkansas this week where he is attempting to reduce or stop child support payments to his former mistress/stripper.

Harsh Reality - I think we all know that Hunter Biden is a huge piece of shit by now; however, it's hard to believe that he can't pay child support with all of the ill-gotten gains he's received over the years. Hell, he's living in the White House right now and just got a tax-payer funded trip to Ireland.. You can't bullshit a bullshitter, Hunter.

That's A Wrap!

Thank you for taking the time to read this edition of "Harsh Reality." Each edition will only get better going forward so if you got value from this content please consider inviting your friends and family to subscribe using the link below. Once we make it to 10,000 subscribers this will transition from a weekly to a daily newsletter and we need your help to get there! Also, hit us on our Facebook page, Twitter, YouTube channel or Discord server to keep the conversation going! We welcome your feedback and discussion!