Green shoots! A new Pew Research Poll shows that far from the 10% unemployment rate the government sponsored narrative promotes the actual numbers of people who are unemployed, and more significantly are affected by unemployment or under employment, is around 54%.Business Insider sums it up:

Basically, if your household didn’t experience un- or under-employment, then you are in the minority. Moreover, as shown above, fully 70% of American households experienced one of the serious financial problems above. Basically, the vast majority of American households was hit extremely hard.

The majority of Americans are feeling the pinch and most of them are maintaining appearances by picking the bones of the easy credit system’s corpse, but that feast is just about over. Are you prepared?

From Yahoo Finance:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Wholesale prices rose more than expected last month as food prices surged by the most in 26 years. But excluding food and energy, prices were nearly flat.

The Labor Department said the Producer Price Index rose by 0.7 percent in March, compared to analysts’ forecasts of a 0.4 percent rise. A rise in gas prices also helped push up the index.

Still, there was little sign of budding inflation in the report. Excluding volatile food and energy costs, wholesale prices rose by 0.1 percent, matching analysts’ expectations.

Food prices jumped by 2.4 percent in March, the most since January 1984. Vegetable prices soared by more than 49 percent, the most in 15 years. A cold snap wiped out much of Florida’s tomato and other vegetable crops at the beginning of this year.

The author seems to think that because only food is going up inflation is not an issue, which is something only a person with a fridge full of take out can say. These increases are already devastating family budgets, and they’re going to get worse. The combination of a deflating dollar and rising costs for food and fuel means you’re not just treading water anymore, you’re drowning.

Start putting more food in the house now. Anything that stores for a long time should be purchased now because they’re only getting more expensive. It’s time to start that garden and learn to produce some of your own food. Canning, drying and preserving the fresh food you can buy now will save you money in the long run.

I’ve been eying these gas masks for a few weeks, looks like I might just put in an order. If you’re on the west coast I suggest you do the same, or at least order some sort of breathing masks, though for my money for something like this killer fungus I’d at least want something like the 3m P100 which can reliably keep spores out of your lungs, especially if you’re working with soil in areas where this fungus is known to exist.

From MSNBC:

A deadly, airborne new strain of fungus has emerged in Oregon. It has killed nearly one out of four known affected people so far and might also attack animals ranging from dogs to dolphins. And it is likely to spread, researchers now warn.

The new strain known as VGIIc of the fungus Cryptococcus gattii not only targets humans but has also proven capable of infecting dogs, cats, alpacas, sheep and elk. Other strains have even infected porpoises.

Although it can spread to mammals, it does not jump from animal to animal. Instead, people and other animals get it from inhaling spores released by samples of the fungus that infect trees.

[…]

While scientists aren’t sure how the highly infectious or virulent fungus emerged in Oregon, they caution the new strain now looks set to expand to California and other neighboring areas.

“This novel fungus is worrisome because it appears to be a threat to otherwise healthy people,” Byrnes said. “Typically, we more often see this fungal disease associated with transplant recipients and HIV-infected patients, but that is not what we are seeing yet.“

That is worrisome, it sounds like the fungoid equivalent of a super bug like MRSA. More worrisome however is how it’s treated, which requires resources and materials that will be in short supply once Obamacare kicks in full force:

Treatment requires months to years of antifungal medications, and even surgery to remove the large masses of the fungus known as cryptococcomas that can develop in the body. So far it cannot be prevented, as there is no vaccine.

The article goes on to describe the earlier known strains that mysteriously showed up from the tropics around 1999 and had a mortality rate under 10%. No one knows where the fungus comes from however, or how it mutated into such a deadly organism.

They also don’t know how to stop its spread or how far it will eventually travel. AlertNet reports the fungus has also been found in cats, dogs, an alpaca, and a sheep.

N.T.A. is reporting that the Oregon Department of Human Services is naysaying the MSNBC report. From KATU:

“It’s a very rare disease,” she said Thursday evening. “It does not affect otherwise healthy people. It affects people who are already ill from other causes like respiratory disease, asthma and transplant patients.”

She stressed that it is a “very, very rare” disease.

Sounds like someone’s trying to stop a panic.

h/t WhenSHTF forum.