Nineteenth Edition

Good morning, everyone! I’m sorry for the delay; but we are back! Today is the Nineteenth 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 with more value than we receive so thank you for being here and enjoy the show.

Weekly Dose of "Harsh Reality"

The Supreme Court has struck down the Biden admin’s attempt to forgive a portion of federally guaranteed student loans. Normal payments and interest accruals will resume in October 2023.

Harsh Reality - You were just used as a pawn to help the democratic party survive the midterm elections and now we’re back to reality. If you honestly thought that Biden had the authority to unilaterally forgive student loans, you’re confused about how the government works. Before you go thinking that their new attempt has any chance in hell at succeeding, just don’t. It’ll be struck down right after the next primary election and you will have once again been manipulated for your vote, unless you get smart.

Now for the scary part..

No one has been required to make a student loan payment since March of 2020. So people have had three years to adjust their lifestyle to their higher income disregarding the fact that the payments would some day return. Banks who originated the loans were also sitting on massive losses for over three years and will be pushing collections aggressively.

Unfortunately, not only will they return, but some of the private loans will readjust dramatically and be more expensive than ever. Remember, the Fed has increased the Federal Funds Rate by almost 20x since inflation spiked. That’s going to have a negative affect on anyone who has adjustable rate debt, i.e., private student loans.

It’s also important to point out that private loans weren’t paused, they were placed in forbearance. That means that the interest never stopped accruing and the amount owed has been increasing the entire time.

Hopefully you were one of the smart ones who used the pause to pay down their balance on federal loans interest free. If not, or if you have private loans, then you need to assess what’s about to happen when your payments become due again. It’s extremely important to get ahead of this issue and protect yourself. Open up your statements and make phone calls if necessary to find out what your payments are going to be and start preparing NOW! These are predatory loan products and you have to get rid of them as soon as possible.

Shit That Matters

Fitch Ratings Agency Downgrades U.S. Credit - For only the second time in U.S. history, the full faith and credit of the United States has been downgraded.

Harsh Reality - This is overdue in our opinion. We’ve seen too many years of disfunction in congress and ludicrous government spending and it seems like no one is willing to restore sanity. We usually hear people bitch about defense spending or the cost of welfare programs. Well get ready to have your mind blown.. The U.S. government is about to be paying more every year to service our debts than the entire annual defense budget. That’s where we find ourselves now..

The Fed Hikes Rates At The July FOMC Meeting - The Federal Reserve has hiked the federal funds rate to 5.5%; and they are unwilling to dismiss the possibility of more hikes in 2023.

Harsh Reality - Back in June, we reported that the Fed will likely have to resume rate increases in July. We expect an additional 25 basis point (0.25% for all us normals) increase to the Fed Funds rate by the end of 2023. If we’re right, the cost to service the debt will continue to rise and the availability of credit to the private sector will continue to decline.

Devon Archer, Former Hunter Biden Business Partner, Spilling On Biden Family Bribery - Devon Archer testified for the House Oversight Committee for over five hours last week.

Harsh Reality - The spin machine is running on extreme overtime over this testimony. CNN, MSN, etc. are claiming a huge nothing burger as always. Fox is screaming that this proves that Hunter sold access to Joe Biden and more importantly, policy favors. Instead of ingesting the talking points from either side, here is the link to the actual transcript. Decide For Yourself!

Anyone who’s not completely jaded by politics, or mesmerized by technical lawyer speak, knows that this shit just isn’t right.. Bank records, not political talking points, are showing that over $50M was funneled through twenty-ish shell companies to the Biden family. At a minimum, the testimony shows that Joe Biden, the sitting U.S. president, was not ignorant of what Hunter was doing. And no, we’re not buying the “weather” BS from Dan Goldman.

Russo-Ukrainian War - Things Continue To Escalate.. - Both sides are striking deep into each other’s territory and causing serious damage.. Thousands have been lost in the ongoing Ukrainian offensive.

Harsh Reality - Ukraine is striking Moscow and surface ships with various drones; Russia is striking port towns and inflicting massive casualties on Ukrainian assault forces on the southern front.

Wagner Group has set up a base of operations in Osipovichi, Belarus prompting both Poland and Latvia to harden up their border defenses.. This comes on the heels of Belarussian helicopters’ violation of Polish airspace earlier in the week. NATO has since confirmed that the intrusion will not prompt Article 5, the mutual defense clause of the NATO charter. Below are some video highlights taken from open source intelligence groups we’re continuously monitoring.

Coup In Quasi-French-Colony of Niger - A military coup that deposed the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum occurred in Niger last week.

Harsh Reality - There is a lot of controversy surrounding this coup. Several heads of state are placing the blame at the feet of the Wagner Group. It’s hard to dismiss that claim given the pro-Russian signage during post-coup demonstrations. Unfortunately for the Sahel region of Africa, the French are the only stabilizing force in the area. Burkina Faso and Mali, whom fell to their own coups, left the entire area open to Wagner Group influence and militant islamic terrorists. Leaders in Burkina Faso and Mali have already warned the French that military intervention in Niger would be an act of war. We’re monitoring the situation to see how the French will react.

Weekly Market Recap

Shit That Doesn't Matter

Twitter is No More.. - Elon Musk has dropped the iconic Twitter name and bird logo from his platform. It has since been renamed “X.”

Harsh Reality - Good. We’re glad that the old “iconic” representation of censorship and and hypocrisy is dead! You can find @HarshActual on “X” at the link below.

Football Is Back!!! - The annual Hall of Fame game cooked off the 2023 NFL Football season! The Browns ultimately defeated the Jets 21-16.

Harsh Reality - Thank you Sweet Baby Jesus that football is back! Now, if we can just keep politics out of it for the entire season..

That's A Wrap!

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