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African Stampede For Kentucky Fried Chicken Causes Pandemonium

Kentucky Fried Chicken is running a once in a blue moon promotion to celebrate a 15 year franchise anniversary.  The only problem is, they're doing it in West Africa in the country of Ghana where the poverty rate is 22% and the average yearly wage is $2630 USD. 

The one-day deal (one piece of chicken, two tenders, and a small fry for GH¢15, roughly equivalent to $1.35 US) ran from 9 AM to 5 PM at locations across Ghana.  The event unexpectedly drew massive crowds with no police presence, which resulted in a stampede at multiple locations that nearly developed into riots.

They opened a KFC in Africa and it goes exactly how you think it would.

I’m not even making this up. pic.twitter.com/TxbkiWY118

— Amiri King (@AmiriKing) August 18, 2026

The aftermath of chaos at KFC Ashaiman shows a shattered glass door panel after residents attempted to force their way into the branch, with officers of the Ghana Police Service having restored calm and averted a potential stampede. pic.twitter.com/80QIjOpgoR

— 𝐀𝐒𝐊 (@askghmedia) August 15, 2026

Hungry Ghana citizens arrived as early as 3 AM at some locations to get their hands on the meal containing only three pieces of chicken (reports of four pieces of chicken are, apparently, incorrect). Lines ran into the streets followed by overcrowding and confrontations.  Some KFC restaurants suffered property damage as customers tried to force their way inside.  Hired security tried to force the crowds back by whipping them with leather belts or spraying them with water hoses.

Police finally intervened to restore order and prevent full blown mob violence.  Local media noted with some embarrassment the behavior of Ghana citizens, leading to questions about the state of Ghana's economy and level of overall poverty.

The incident once again showcases the deep canyon separating first world and third world cultures, not to mention the overall economic despair in large regions of Africa.  Although, certain demographics fighting over fried chicken is not limited to Africa.  Similar scenes are common on cruise lines from the US and are also a source of embarrassment for the wealthiest nation in the world.

  

Ghana was originally a colony of Great Britain until it gained independence in 1957; the country spiraled into steep financial decline starting in the 1960s.  There have been no significant improvements in their economic situation since that time and they joined an IMF support program starting in 2025.  The inflation rate has fallen sharply in the past year, but this does not improve the inflation already accumulated. 

For those who want to see what food riots might look like in the wake of a cost of living crisis, incidents like this can help to paint the ugly picture.  That said, it doesn't take an economic collapse to trigger a riot over fried chicken, depending who your neighbors are.   

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 06:55

An 18-year-old Australian hiker was found dead eight days after she vanished during a solo trip — all while her anguished family had mistakenly been told she was alive earlier. Lily Hooper was last seen leaving her Oakdale, New South Wales, home last Wednesday ahead of a hike at the Nattai National Park – around 62...

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Argentina's Monetary Policy Reveals Germany's Loss of Control

Submitted by Thomas Kolbe

Javier Milei is a politician who was trained along the lines of the Austrian School of Economics. For him, the maxim coined by Ludwig von Mises applies: inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.

In other words: artificial expansion of the money supply leads to price increases – in different ways. Newly created, unbacked credit, as it is inherent in the fiat money system, can initially manifest itself in asset prices depending on the structure of an economy, for example in a rising gold price. Once this credit becomes effective on the demand side, it can lead to broad-based increases in the prices of goods – and that is when consumers feel it in their wallets. At this point, monetary policy in the fiat system becomes unpleasant for consumers.

We experienced this phenomenon in extenso during the Covid lockdowns. At the time, governments delighted their citizens with so-called “Stimmy Checks”, free money, delivered to their doors. We experienced, in a sense, a reminiscence of the policies of the Weimar era under Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno. During the French occupation, he called on the citizens of the Ruhr region to go on general strike and attempted to keep them economically afloat with cash transfers. The outcome is well known: the Weimar Republic went under amid waves of hyperinflation, loss of confidence and systemic failure.

It should be the task of specialist media and the academic economics community to educate the public about the fundamental relationship between expansionary monetary policy and the destruction of purchasing power.

This would expose the state’s camouflage surrounding the supposed benefits of debt-financed central planning. Many people might lose their faith in the debt-based welfare sedative. Democracy could only benefit from this.

Back to the present. Since Milei took office in December 2023, remarkable developments have taken place in monetary policy and the credit mechanism. The strict fiscal policy that produced a primary surplus appears to have curbed the development of the money supply, just as the massive reduction in the public-sector workforce has done. The standard measure of the money supply, M2, which, very broadly speaking, comprises cash, bank deposits and highly liquid securities, fell from 94.7 trillion pesos when Milei took office to 84.5 trillion pesos in the second quarter of the current year. The broader measure of the money supply, M3, rose only slightly, from 163.2 to 164.2 trillion pesos.

In Argentina, a small but remarkable monetary revolution has taken place. The country had been highly inflationary for decades and drove its citizens almost by necessity into the US dollar as protection against an overbearing state apparatus. Citizens fled into the best of all bad worlds – the world’s reserve currency of fiat credit – and are now in a transitional phase. The consequence of the monetary turnaround: inflation stood at 211.4 percent in 2023, but fell to 117.8 percent in Milei’s first year in office and then to 28 percent last year. It is still fluctuating around this level.

This is a clear mandate for the president to continue his consolidation policy. Milei knows that politics also has a symbolic dimension. And so he is already presenting a political curiosity: a proposed law that would make politicians personally liable for government deficits and, in serious cases, suspend their salaries.

Milei’s fight against monetary debasement is the foundation of his economic policy. From the perspective of a libertarian economist, this makes sense: inflation throws the entire calculation mechanism of a market economy into disarray. The misallocation of scarce resources and the loss of confidence in customers’ ability to pay destroy any hope of economic prosperity. Milei is therefore attempting, through his stability policy, above all to protect the purchasing power of his citizens. You know the man: the one whom German Chancellor Friedrich Merz believes is trampling on his own people is trying to put the protective shield of a functioning market economy over his people.

A policy that in Germany is now known only by hearsay. Memories of stories told by grandparents about the era of Ludwig Erhard still linger. “Prosperity for all” was his promise, built on the social market economy, stable money and a minimal state that left economic affairs to the professionals, skilled workers and entrepreneurs.

Javier Milei has cut the state budget by 27 to 30 percent during his time in office. While price increases have subsequently moved into a disinflationary channel, that is, a trend of falling inflation rates, inflation in Germany continues to rise. Officially, Germany’s inflation rate is around 2.8 percent. Yet everyone knows that the state manipulates the definition of the consumer basket used to calculate the price level, to put it cautiously. Money is being debased considerably faster than the official statistics suggest.

Inflation is a hidden tax, a transfer from the creditor to the largest debtor, the state apparatus.

Anyone who buys government bonds to finance this mountain of debt should be clear about one thing: the coupon on the ten-year German government bond, at around 3.2 percent, is completely eaten up by inflation. In the end, the state repays its creditors with debased money.

Serious fiscal policy in Germany would first have to abandon projects that are no longer compatible with the country’s economic strength. For one thing, it would have to take into account the fact that the German welfare state should end its efforts to recruit from abroad. Remigration is unavoidable in view of the explosion in costs if rapid relief is to be achieved. The same applies to Germany’s involvement in the war in Ukraine, which will once again consume billions in transfers this year. Combined with development aid that is more than questionable and is to a large extent woven into the NGO extraction scheme, German taxpayers should be relieved of more than €20 billion annually in these two areas alone.

Considering that new borrowing to finance all these political escapades amounts to at least 5.5 percent of GDP this year, this is nothing other than a scandal. From the perspective of the German taxpayer, the only hope is that the bond market will put an end to these megalomaniacal excesses in the not-too-distant future – through massive sell-offs of German and European bonds, in order to show the chancellor and his debt minister the red card.

* * * 

About the author: Thomas Kolbe, a German graduate economist, has worked for over 25 years, he has worked as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 06:30

“Telling one to ‘shut up’ is not leadership.” 

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"Economic D-Day": Trump Announces "Most Crushing Economic Operation Ever" Against Iran

Summary:

• Trump's Economic War against Iran Begins 
• Trump says "severe economic consequences" for any country that does businesses with Tehran
• Trump says "ECONOMIC D-DAY" begins against Iran
• UAE Cuts Ties As Iran Warns Gulf States Against Helping Washington; Kpler Says US Navy Gaining Ground In Hormuz

​​​​​​​"ECONOMIC D-DAY"

President Trump is out with a Truth Social post describing today as "ECONOMIC D-DAY" against Iran, declaring that his total economic war against Tehran will be the "MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY."

Trump said that with Tehran's military and military-industrial base reduced to "now rubble" and its "currency worthless," he will unleash severe economic consequences against "ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran."

Here's the full Truth Social post:

Last week, Derek Holt, head of Capital Markets Economics at Scotiabank in Toronto, offered clients a preview of what the campaign to economically isolate Iran could look like (view here), including the potential targeting of China. Notably, much of Iran's crude exports flow to Chinese buyers.

UAE Cuts Ties As Iran Warns Gulf States Against Helping Washington; Kpler Says US Navy Gaining Ground In Hormuz

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is visiting Baghdad while at the same time US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss the Hormuz situation and security. Except of course the two sides aren't talking with each other.

President Trump has made clear that no talks are on, and that none are scheduled, as he's been floating a 'new' strategy to 'strangle' the Iranian economy over the long term. CNN reported Tuesday that White House officials have recently communicated that they are shifting their strategy — going from "hammer Iran ASAP" to "strangle them" over time.

US Navy file image/Reuters

As for Ghalibaf, he blasted War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday, mocking this new disengagement strategy, given the US has already failed to bring Tehran to its knees.

"Americans think squeezing Iran harder will win concessions that were never part of the agreement," Ghalibaf wrote in a post on X. "Bessent and Hegseth are way out of their league," Ghalibaf added while referring to them as the "clown crew." He stated:

Stop waiting for the clown crew to pull a rabbit out of their hat and clean up the mess you made.

After declaring a new 'offensive' military posture in response to the crisis, Iran is showing no signs of backing off the confrontation with the US in the region. On Wednesday its armed forces warned Gulf countries against hosting or assisting American forces, saying it would be tantamount to joining the war on the US side.

"We wish to warn that any assistance or facilitation provided to the aggressor U.S. military amounts to participation in the U.S. military operation," armed forces chief of staff Ali Abdollahi said.

"It seems unlikely that such a large number of military aircraft, particularly refueling aircraft could be present at regional bases without knowledge of host countries," the official continued as cited in Mehr news agency.

It's not known how many refueling tankers or else large warplanes are still positioned in the Gulf, but certainly the bulk of regional refueling aircraft operated by the US Air Force are currently concentrated at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion international airport - and has been subject of a lot of media attention.

And in another significant escalation that effectively torpedoes any remaining illusions of hoped-for cross-Gulf detente, the United Arab Emirates has announced Wednesday a complete and immediate severance of all economic ties with Tehran. The move comes on the heels of what UAE officials claim was a barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles targeted directly at Emirati territory.

Tehran had quickly denied it had fired missiles on its territory, but UAE authorities later clarified that the military observed two missiles inbound from Iran, which caused no damage or casualties - which triggered an urgent missile alert for the population on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, below are some of the latest major developments and reports related to the Iran conflict:

Iran has weighed attacking US military targets in Europe should Donald Trump escalate the war, according to people close to the regime, as Tehran considers its options to increase the stakes of the conflict. FT

Even as Iran projects resilience in the war with the United States, its leaders are worried that a threat of more economic punishment by Donald Trump could increase hardships, reignite unrest and further erode the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy. RTRS

Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz are piling up without an American military response, raising the risks of crossing the strategic waterway and frustrating some Arab allies who worry the U.S. doesn’t have a strategy to wind down the conflict. WSJ

However, shipping analytics firm Kpler has suggested that the US Navy is gaining ground in the Strait of Hormuz, and that Iran is ceding some control, amid a war of words between President Trump and Iranian leadership over who has actual 'control'.

previewing new sanctions still to be announced...

The Trump administration appears to be indicating it favors economic warfare in its approach to the conflict with Iran, touting its naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and previewing new sanctions still to be announced. https://t.co/k5g4FBcxF7

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 19, 2026

"At the moment, however, the evidence is clear: The United States, patrolling the strait with its navy, is gaining ground – and Iran is losing much of its control of the critical waterway," writes CNN. "More than 80% of liquids transits through the Strait of Hormuz over the past two weeks have taken the Omani route – a UN-authorized shipping channel that Iran vehemently opposes – or have been 'dark' transits that likely took the Omani route, according to Kpler, which tracks ships using transponders and satellite data."

But there's as yet no rush for international shipping to return to the waterway, given the risk of attack and all of the serious unknowns which could result in total losses as well as threaten the safety of crew.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 06:25

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The Cost To Retire Comfortably Around The World

For Americans considering retirement abroad, the same savings can go dramatically different distances depending on the destination.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, maps the estimated cost for Americans to retire comfortably around the world, based on data from NetCredit and Numbeo.

Estimates reflect a retirement of 14 years and 8.4 months, based on the average U.S. retirement age and life expectancy, and exclude taxes and healthcare costs.

The U.S. Is One of the Most Expensive Places to Retire

At an estimated $738,000, the U.S. ranks as the fifth-most expensive country in the dataset for an American to retire comfortably, behind Singapore, Iceland, Switzerland, and Luxembourg.

RankCountryCost to Retire Comfortably ($USD) 1🇸🇬 Singapore$1.1M 2🇮🇸 Iceland$893K 3🇨🇭 Switzerland$859K 4🇱🇺 Luxembourg$794K 5🇺🇸 United States$738K 6🇮🇪 Ireland$702K 7🇦🇪 UAE$684K 8🇳🇱 Netherlands$663K 9🇮🇱 Israel$642K 10🇬🇧 United Kingdom$627K 11🇩🇰 Denmark$625K 12🇳🇴 Norway$623K 13🇦🇺 Australia$620K 14🇶🇦 Qatar$606K 15🇨🇦 Canada$598K 16🇨🇷 Costa Rica$556K 17🇦🇹 Austria$553K 18🇲🇹 Malta$551K 19🇧🇪 Belgium$534K 20🇩🇪 Germany$530K 21🇳🇿 New Zealand$527K 22🇨🇾 Cyprus$525K 23🇫🇮 Finland$520K 24🇸🇪 Sweden$508K 25🇫🇷 France$496K 26🇮🇹 Italy$491K 27🇵🇹 Portugal$478K 28🇪🇸 Spain$478K 29🇺🇾 Uruguay$451K 30🇭🇷 Croatia$442K 31🇪🇪 Estonia$438K 32🇵🇱 Poland$438K 33🇰🇼 Kuwait$436K 34🇨🇿 Czech Republic$432K 35🇸🇮 Slovenia$430K 36🇱🇹 Lithuania$429K 37🇱🇻 Latvia$427K 38🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago$427K 39🇸🇰 Slovakia$417K 40🇰🇷 South Korea$406K 41🇬🇷 Greece$406K 42🇯🇵 Japan$398K 43🇲🇪 Montenegro$395K 44🇦🇱 Albania$388K 45🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia$362K 46🇹🇷 Turkey$361K 47🇲🇩 Moldova$360K 48🇷🇸 Serbia$359K 49🇲🇽 Mexico$356K 50🇹🇼 Taiwan$354K 51🇭🇺 Hungary$347K 52🇦🇷 Argentina$347K 53🇩🇴 Dominican Republic$339K 54🇨🇱 Chile$338K 55🇷🇴 Romania$335K 56🇺🇿 Uzbekistan$331K 57🇲🇺 Mauritius$330K 58🇬🇭 Ghana$324K 59🇳🇬 Nigeria$324K 60🇧🇬 Bulgaria$324K 61🇹🇿 Tanzania$322K 62🇹🇭 Thailand$317K 63🇬🇪 Georgia$315K 64🇿🇦 South Africa$313K 65🇵🇪 Peru$305K 66🇲🇰 North Macedonia$304K 67🇮🇷 Iran$302K 68🇵🇭 Philippines$301K 69🇧🇦 Bosnia & Herzegovina$299K 70🇻🇪 Venezuela$296K 71🇻🇳 Vietnam$295K 72🇰🇿 Kazakhstan$294K 73🇲🇾 Malaysia$292K 74🇮🇶 Iraq$290K 75🇺🇦 Ukraine$286K 76🇲🇦 Morocco$284K 77🇷🇺 Russia$281K 78🇪🇨 Ecuador$281K 79🇨🇳 China$279K 80🇨🇴 Colombia$279K 81🇰🇪 Kenya$272K 82🇺🇬 Uganda$272K 83🇦🇿 Azerbaijan$270K 84🇧🇷 Brazil$268K 85🇧🇾 Belarus$267K 86🇽🇰 Kosovo$266K 87🇱🇰 Sri Lanka$258K 88🇮🇩 Indonesia$254K 89🇹🇳 Tunisia$253K 90🇩🇿 Algeria$222K 91🇳🇵 Nepal$214K 92🇪🇬 Egypt$190K 93🇧🇩 Bangladesh$190K 94🇮🇳 India$189K 95🇵🇰 Pakistan$187K

Costa Rica is also a popular destination for American retirees, combining a well-regarded healthcare system with a territorial tax system that generally does not tax foreign-source income.

The estimated retirement cost is $598,000 in Canada and just $356,000 in Mexico. That means the same modeled retirement in Mexico costs less than half as much as in the U.S.

The gap extends to several popular European destinations. Portugal and Spain both come in at $478,000, roughly $260,000 below the U.S. estimate, while Greece requires an estimated $406,000.

Europe Has Some of the Biggest Retirement Cost Gaps

Retirement costs across Europe range from $893,000 in Iceland to $267,000 in Belarus.

Many of the highest estimates are concentrated in Northern and Western Europe. Switzerland ($859K), Luxembourg ($794K), Ireland ($702K), the UK ($627K), and Denmark ($625K) all rank among the more expensive countries in the dataset.

Further south and east, retirement savings can stretch considerably further. The estimated cost falls to $395,000 in Montenegro, $388,000 in Albania, and $335,000 in Romania.

Even within Western Europe, there are sizable differences. Retiring in Portugal or Spain is estimated to cost about 35% less than in the United States.

Where $200,000 Could Fund an Entire Retirement

At the other end of the ranking, just four countries have estimated retirement costs below $200,000.

Pakistan is the cheapest at $187,000, followed closely by India ($189K), Bangladesh ($190K), and Egypt ($190K). Pakistan’s estimate is roughly one-quarter of the $738,000 required in the United States.

Several other large economies also fall below $300,000, including Brazil ($268K), China ($279K), Colombia ($279K), Russia ($281K), Malaysia ($292K), and Vietnam ($295K).

Across the full dataset, the gap between the most and least expensive countries exceeds $900,000, highlighting how strongly local living costs can affect the purchasing power of retirement savings. These figures are not individualized retirement targets and exclude healthcare and taxes, which can significantly affect the cost of retiring abroad.

To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the share of Americans receiving Social Security by state.

Tyler Durden Thu, 08/20/2026 - 05:45

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