In true Orwellian fashion, the U.S. empire’s support for Myanmar’s rebellion has little to do with “democracy” and everything to do with rare earths. Beneath the slogans, it's a resource war—part of the AI-fueled tech race. Control over Myanmar’s Kachin State, rich in critical minerals, now trumps idealistic rhetoric.

https://tass.com/politics/1991007

For decades, the U.S. Empire has waged a quiet war of regime changes—some successful, others botched—all driven by the same playbook: seize natural resources under the guise of democracy and protect imperial interests. But the mask is slipping. The empire, bloated with debt and ruled by a fading plutocracy, is cracking.

Whether branded Trumperialism or anything else, the outcome is the same: imperial overreach on borrowed time. Meanwhile, the mercantilist Global South, tired of Western diktats and Malthusian technocrats, is rising.

You can now also listen to a summary of The Macro Butler weekly newsletter via podcast on Substack; YouTube; Rumble & TikTok.

https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/in-stablecoins-we-patch-podcast

If anyone still clings to the fantasy of Germany as the disciplined fiscal hawk and engine of the Eurozone, the 2026 budget should clear things up: €520.5 billion in core spending, with a whopping €174.3 billion in new debt—half of it sneakily labeled as “special funds” for infrastructure and climate virtue-signaling. Welcome to the first act of German economic decadence.

Germany’s budget math now resembles a Kafkaesque riddle: Finance Minister Klingbeil swears by Maastricht compliance, yet 2026 includes 3.3% of GDP in new borrowing—conveniently renamed “special funds.” Between 2025 and 2029, €850 billion in new debt will be the glue holding Berlin’s shaky coalition together.

As Germany trades its fiscal halo for Southern Europe’s debt profile, the welfare state quietly implodes—€47 billion health insurance deficit, rising pension shortfalls, collapsing long-term care. Growth? Nonexistent. Reform? Delayed indefinitely. Germany isn’t entering a crisis—it’s already drowning in one while it keeps financing the dancer on high heels in power in Kiev.

The 2026 budget is Merz’s white flag in Germany’s fiscal war. Once the Eurozone’s stern accountant, Berlin now finances its collapsing welfare state with smoke, mirrors, and mounting IOUs. Social deficits are exploding, and supplementary budgets are becoming routine. Cheap credit has replaced real consensus, pushing Germany toward the same debt-fueled paralysis that made reform a French pastime. The age of austerity is over—long live the era of creative insolvency.

While Donald Copperfield keeps bragging about the “booming” U.S. economy and dismisses inconvenient data as fake news, Vegas—the nation’s unofficial GDP thermometer—is flashing red. The so-called temple of optimism is emptying fast. Hotel occupancy dropped nearly 15% in June and nearly 17% in early July, with RevPAR collapsing nearly 30%. If the slot machines aren’t ringing, maybe the economy isn’t either.

https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Hotel-News/Las-Vegas-hotels-grapple-with-steep-occupancy-decline

Checking stilettos and dimly lit clubs, the infamous “stripper index” is screaming red: escort rates are falling, tips are drying up, Google searches are down, and more newcomers are jumping in—hardly the hallmark of a booming economy. When even lust turns unaffordable, you know confidence has officially left the building.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/real-recession-indicator-forget-the-fed-or-wall-street-an-exotic-dancer-in-austin-gives-shocking-signals-on-the-worlds-largest-economy-heres-why-you-cant-ignore/articleshow/119495998.cms?from=mdr

Indeed, even the world’s oldest profession isn’t immune to the modern economy’s collapse. Allie Rae, a former nurse turned OnlyFans mogul, says her once six-figure monthly income is down 25%, and others are seeing drops of up to 50%. “I’m working harder than ever,” she laments—though it’s not just digital performers feeling the pinch. At brothels, workers are clocking in and walking out empty-handed. One put it bluntly: “Six hours, zero clients.”




https://nypost.com/2022/06/03/onlyfans-models-sex-workers-feel-pinch-of-sluggish-economy/

But sure, CNBC and the White House say everything’s peachy. Maybe the only thing booming these days is the gaslighting industry—because when even sex gets too expensive, you know the economy’s officially tapped out.

As the 47th president leans deeper into his Chaplin cosplay from The Great Dictator, Americans’ trust in their institutions is in freefall.
Take Social Security: faith in the program just hit a 15-year low, per AARP—because who doesn’t love a 90-year-old Ponzi scheme that’s almost out of gas? Just 36% believe it’ll actually pay out, and among younger adults, belief collapses faster than tech stocks in a bear market. Still, 69% say it’s “important,” which is like clutching a burning couch because it holds memories.

https://www.aarp.org/social-security/ssa-trends-survey-90th-anniversary.html

Why do we let the government skim our paychecks just to hand us back peanuts decades later—with no interest? Social Security has become a slow-motion Ponzi scheme, now paying out an average of $2,005 a month—barely survival income. The trust fund is set to run dry by 2034, leaving payroll taxes as the only fuel.

Why? Because the entire fund is stuffed with low-yield government bonds. Congress rejected smarter, diversified investment decades ago. So yes, if you're not counting on Social Security, you're not paranoid—you’re paying attention.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/social-security-trust-funds-now-projected-run-dry-2034-triggering-massive-benefit-cuts

Big thanks to Hubbis for spotlighting The Macro Butler’s take on stablecoins — those shiny digital IOUs dressed up as tech-savvy heroes, quietly plugging the gap in US debt demand while sneakily rolling out the red carpet for financial censorship. Because nothing says “freedom” like programmable money and invisible handcuffs.

https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/hubbis-in-stablecoins-we-patch

As the August war drums start pounding, Ukraine’s high-heeled wartime performer is now enlisting grandmas and grandpas to plug the frontlines.

With fresh cannon fodder running low, he's scrapped the age cap entirely—inviting anyone over 60 to sign up for a one-year military tour, pending a two-month “are-you-even-breathing?” trial. This follows earlier moves to draft 18–24-year-olds and lower the conscription age to 25.

The message is clear: if you’re not dead yet, you're eligible. Sound familiar? History may not repeat, but it sure loves a good parody.

https://youtu.be/tkkzWhSsfmI

Ukraine’s recruitment drive has gone full throttle, now targeting women to make up for severe manpower shortages. With 70,000 already enlisted, propaganda is ramping up to erase “Soviet-rooted prejudice” and fill the illegitimate president’s dream of a 1.5 million-strong army. He brags Ukraine’s force dwarfs France’s, while quietly drafting teens, seniors, and soon likely everyone in between. Even schoolkids are learning firearms—because in this war, age is just a number and civilians are cannon fodder in waiting.

https://kyivindependent.com/facing-manpower-shortage-ukrainian-brigade-turns-to-women-in-first-ever-female-recruitment-drive/

While the Manipulator-in-Chief keeps whining about the July jobs report, the ISM Services PMI quietly slipped to 50.1—just a hair above contraction and well below the 51.5 consensus. Production slowed, new orders stalled, and businesses are basically shrugging, citing tariffs and uncertainty as reasons for delayed or cancelled projects. Turns out front-loading purchases ahead of tariffs wasn’t a sustainable growth strategy after all.

Meanwhile, inflation isn’t taking a summer break—prices paid jumped to 69.9, the highest since 2022, thanks to rising equipment and supply costs. And hiring? Still contracting. The employment index dropped to 46.4, its lowest since March, echoing the July jobs report, where gains were mostly limited to healthcare and social assistance.

In a nutshell, Services are stalling, prices are surging, and jobs are vanishing—just don’t tell the Manipulator-in-Chief.

One week after the Treasury’s refunding announcement delivered a whole lot of nothing—no changes to the coupon auction schedule, no bold moves, just a lazy punt to short-term bills—the government rolled out a hefty $158 billion in debt issuance, including a jaw-dropping $100 billion in four-week bills and $58 billion in 3-year notes.

The market, ever the optimist, treated this flood of paper as a signal that a Fed rate cut in September is practically baked in, with the 3-year high yield dropping to 3.669%—the lowest since last September and a far cry from the 4.332% peak seen in January. Of course, the auction still couldn’t stick the landing, coming in with a 0.7 basis point tail versus the 3.662% when-issued level—the third tail in a row and the ninth in the last eleven auctions. But who’s counting?

Apparently not the Treasury, which seems content to paper over fiscal reality with an endless stream of short-term IOUs while hoping nobody notices the mounting dysfunction.