Nov 10

Today’s News 10th November 2021

  • Sprawling Tent City On EU Border Amid Freezing Temperatures In Belarus-Poland Migrant Showdown
    Sprawling Tent City On EU Border Amid Freezing Temperatures In Belarus-Poland Migrant Showdown

    After Monday’s major confrontation between thousands of mostly Middle Eastern migrants who sought to breach Poland’s border from Belarus, a makeshift tent city has emerged at the EU entry point as the standoff continues, and as temperatures plunge. 

    “Hundreds of migrants shivered in freezing temperatures and huddled round campfires on the Belarusian border with Poland on Tuesday in front of razor wire fences and lines of Polish border guards blocking their entry into the European Union,” Reuters describes of the intensifying situation. Encampments can be seen a mere meters from the barbed-wire separation fence outside Kuznica village, with a heavy Polish police and military presence on the other side. 

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    Polish authorities are continuing to warn of an “armed confrontation” potentially coming, given they’ve charged Belarus with intentionally orchestrating a violent showdown on the border as retaliation for Western anti-Lukashenko sanctions. 

    On the ground video which circulated widely on social media this week has appeared to show Belarusian security services behind the migrants. They haven’t disbanded the group on their side of the border, but seem to be goading them into confrontation with the Polish guards.

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    The migrants have been reportedly shouting chants of “Germany! Germany!” – indicating their intent to make it to the Western European country known for its ample social benefits given to migrants and refugees.

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    After clashes which involved attempts to tear down the wire fencing on Monday, The Associated Press reported the overnight situation as follows: 

    Polish authorities reported that the situation on the border was calm overnight and earlier Tuesday, but authorities said they were bracing for any possibility. Poland’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that a large group of Belarusian forces was moving toward the migrant camp.

    European Union headquarters is laying blame squarely on Minsk, saying Lukashenko is engaged in a form of “hybrid attack” using migrants as a weapon, with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen urging more sanctions on Belarus for the escalation.

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    Lithuania and Latvia have also beefed up military presence at their borders with Russia-backed Belarus, with the former country overnight declaring a border emergency for one month. 

    Russia’s Putin and Alexander Lukashenko are said to be in talks over the EU border situation…

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    Meanwhile Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak made a Tuesday morning visit to the border where in the name of the EU he proclaimed the “effective defense of our border” to a group of police and guards. “We do not know what else Lukashenko’s regime will come up with — this is the reality,” he said.

    Tyler Durden
    Wed, 11/10/2021 – 01:00

  • ​​​​​​​Gun Control Dooms Dems In Securing Rural Votes
    ​​​​​​​Gun Control Dooms Dems In Securing Rural Votes

    Submitted by Bearing Arms. 

    I don’t know about you, but though I’m a conservative (or at least conservatarian), I’d love to actually have an election where it was difficult to choose between the two major parties. Since the Second Amendment is by far the most important factor in my vote, however, it’s been really easy to decide where my vote is gonna go. But based on the absolute ass-kicking delivered to the Democrats last Tuesday in my home state of Virginia, you’d think they’d get the message that maybe it’s time to move on from their goals of disarming American citizens. Based on the reaction so far, though the Democrats are in deep denial or simply unwilling to waiver on their commitment to denying Americans their Second Amendment rights, and disparaging those who exercise them.

    Witness the reaction to Republican Winsome Sears winning election as Lt. Governor in Virginia. Sears is the first Black woman to win a statewide election in Virginia, but Democrats by and large have preferred to focus on the campaign ad with her proudly holding an AR-15. In fact, Saturday Night Live’s Michael Che declared that the picture was actually good news for Democrats, because “nothing will get Republicans to support gun control faster than this picture.”

    Che should come hang out with me in central Virginia sometime. I guarantee that conservative white folks are far more comfortable with Winsome Sears (or himself) owning an AR-15 than his white liberal neighbors in New York City. The “tolerant Left” is never more bigoted than when it comes to conservatives of color, which is evident when it comes to the Left’s collective disdain over Sears’ embrace of the Second Amendment.

    Combine the “everyone who disagrees with me is racist” argument with a “and hell yes we’re coming for your guns” and it’s no wonder that Democrats couldn’t even muster 20% of the vote in more than a dozen rural Virginia counties. Heck, my own county, which went for Barack Obama twice before flipping to Trump in 2016, saw Democrats get less than 40% of the vote, which is a big deal. And I know firsthand how important gun control was for many of these voters, who knew that Terry McAuliffe was going to try to ram through his gun and magazine ban if elected. These folks have as much disdain for most Republicans as they do Democrats, but there was no way they were going to sit out this election.

    While there are some Democrats sounding the alarm bell, none of them are highlighting the need for the party to ghost the gun control lobby.

    “We’ve got a branding problem as Democrats in way too many parts of our country,” said Ms. Bustos, who is retiring from a downstate and heavily rural Illinois seat that Mr. Trump carried twice. She called it “political malpractice” and “disrespectful to think it’s OK to run up the score in big cities and just neglect the smaller towns.”

    There is no easy solution.

    Many of the ideas and issues that animate the Democratic base can be off-putting in small towns or untethered to rural life. Voters in Bath County, many of whom are avid hunters and conservative evangelicals, have long opposed liberal stances on gun rights and abortions. Some Democrats urge the party to just show up more. Some believe liberal ideas can gain traction, such as universal health care and free community college. Others urge a refocus on kitchen-table economics like jobs programs and rural broadband to improve connectivity. But it is not clear how open voters are to even listening.

    Representative Dean Phillips, a Democrat who flipped a Republican-held seat outside Minneapolis in 2018, said that when it comes to issues that concern rural America, his party is afflicted with a “disease of disinterest.”

    For years the Democrats’ rural outreach in many parts of the country was about as important to them as the Black, urban vote was to the GOP. But we’re in the midst of a bit of a political realignment at the moment, and it’s unclear just how seismic some of these shifts will become. It’s not just that Democrats were demolished in rural areas of Virginia. They lost ground everywhere, even if they still racked up easy wins in places like Fairfax and Arlington counties. As it turns out, even in what was supposed to be a safe state for Democrats, the strategy of treating the Second Amendment as a second-class right (along with telling parents they shouldn’t have a say in their child’s education and trying to run against Donald Trump instead of the Republican candidate for governor) doomed the party to defeat.

    Winning Fairfax County by 30+ points doesn’t mean much if you lose the state by 3, and I do think it would be wise of the Democrats to rethink their governing philosophy when it comes to the right to keep and bear arms. However, given the sincerely held anti-gun beliefs of many politicians and the deep pockets of Democratic donors and gun control activists like Michael Bloomberg, I just don’t expect the party to change course anytime soon.

    * * * 

    Here’s Bearing Arm’s Cam Edwards explaining if Democrats want to start winning, they need to back off gun control.

    Republicans should continue pushing gun-toting candidates as the Virginia gubernatorial race is a blueprint to win the midterms next year. Dems are ignoring the massive surge in Second Amendment sanctuaries at the state, county, and local levels. 

    With millions of new gun owners because of the pandemic and social unrest in 2020, Republicans might win back the House and Senate majorities solely because they resonate with many voters on both sides of the political aisle who bear arms. 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 23:45

  • Beijing Is Trapped: Chinese Producer Prices Soar At Fastest Pace In 26 Years
    Beijing Is Trapped: Chinese Producer Prices Soar At Fastest Pace In 26 Years

    China’s trade balance may have just hit a record on the back of resurgent exports and slowing inflation, but the favorable impact to China’s mercantlist economy was more than wiped out by the just released record PPI and resurgent CPI.

    China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported that in October, CPI rose 1.5% Y/Y, higher than the 1.4% expected, and a 0.7% sequential increase from the September print; the CPI increase was evenly split between base effect and sequential growth.

    At the same time factory gate, or PPI, inflation hit a fresh all time high of 13.5%, steamrolling the 12.4% consensus estimate, and rising at the fastest pace since records began in November 1995.

    While the gradual increase in CPI is alarming, and the NBS said that it was affected by weather, commodities demand and costs – it was the producer price inflation that was far more alarming, soaring as a result of a tight supply of energy and resources. In reality, however, there was just one key variable – thermal coal, which as we said last month indicates that PPI will continue rising far higher, although judging by the recent sharp reversal in the price of Chinese thermal coal (if only for the time being), this may be as high as PPI gets.

    Or so Beijing should hope because with the spread between PPI and CPI hitting a new all time record, virtually no Chinese companies that use commodity inputs – which in China is a vast majority – are making any profits.

    The gap between upstream and downstream prices “continues to highlight weak consumer demand in the economy and the immense pressure on profit margins downstream firms are facing,” said Michelle Lam, greater China economist at Societe Generale SA in Hong Kong.

    The latest price jump comes against the backdrop of a weakening economy as electricity shortages, a slump in the property sector and virus outbreaks weigh on activity. Rising inflation will likely reignite the debate over whether the central bank can provide more policy easing to help support growth.

    Some more details on the latest data:

    • In year-over-year terms, food inflation rose to -2.4% yoy in October from -5.2% yoy in September, due to both a low base and a sequential increase in prices month-on-month. The increase of food inflation in October was broad-based (particularly an extreme increase in vegetable prices). Pork prices, a big driver of CPI, continued to decline in October, and that helped to mask a rise in other food costs. Deflation in pork prices eased slightly to -44.0% yoy in October from -46.9% yoy in September, primarily on a favorable base effect. Overall CPI would have risen almost 2.5% if not for the effects of falling pork prices, according to the NBS. 
    • Inflation in fresh vegetables rose to 15.9% yoy in October from -2.5% yoy in September, contributing 0.33 percentage point to the increase in CPI while the price of fresh fruits increased to 0.5% yoy in October (vs. -0.8% in September), both primarily on the back of sequential increases in prices. Prices of freshwater fish, eggs and edible vegetable oil also rose sharply in October from a year ago. Vegetable prices have jumped since mid-October following supply disruptions, prompting the government to crack down on hoarders.
    • Non-food CPI inflation increased to +2.4% yoy in October from +2.0% yoy in September, primarily on a sequential increase (especially fuel costs). Fuel costs increased by +31.4% yoy in October (vs. +22.8% yoy in September).
    • Core CPI inflation (headline CPI excluding food and energy) edged up to +1.3% yoy in October (vs. +1.2% in September), with inflation in services flat at +1.4% yoy in October. In other words, producers are passing on a growing part of their own surging costs on to consumers, but nowhere near all as the record gap between CPI and PPI shows.
    • And speaking of PPI, producer price inflation rose to +13.5% yoy in October from +10.7% yoy in September, largely on strong sequential growth. PPI inflation in producer goods rose to +17.9% yoy in October from +14.2% yoy in September, and PPI inflation in consumer goods edged up to +0.6% yoy in October (vs. +0.4% yoy in September). Among major sectors, in seasonally adjusted non-annualized month-over-month terms, inflation in coal mining increased the most (+17.2% in October from +10.5% in September), followed by upstream sectors, such as petroleum/coking and chemicals. In year-over-year terms, coal mining picked up the most due to both high sequential growth and a low base.

    Looking ahead, Goldman predicts that headline CPI inflation is likely to continue rising in the coming months as high frequency data suggest that the year-on-year decline in pork prices tightened in early November, and year-on-year inflation in fresh vegetables and fruits picked up. Needless to say, PPI inflation is expected to stay elevated in the near term, although as noted above, October may be the peak given the recent decline in coal prices.

    Xing Zhaopeng, China strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group agrees and writes that while the impact of vegetable prices might be short-lived, rising demand before the upcoming Chinese New Year might drive CPI higher in the next couple of months.

    Or maybe not, because while Beijing has succeeded in dragging coal prices lower now, it is only at the expense of a far bigger surge in coal in the future. And while China may be facing its first “galloping inflation” PPI print since the early 90s, it’s only downhill from there, because as Citigroup wrote recently, power cuts (with over 20 provinces, making up >2/3 of China’s GDP, have rolled out electricity-rationing measures since August) and contractionary PMI “seem to suggest China could enter into at least a short period of stagflation.”

    Local stocks were certainly not happy, with China’s CSI 300 Index sliding as much as 1.3% amid signs that producers are passing on higher costs to consumers, and that the PBOC may have no choice but to tighten financial conditions at the expense of risk assets. Several food companies have already announced price hikes of up to 15%, including Haixin Foods, Anjoy Foods and Jiajia Food, due to rising costs for raw materials.

    The stronger than expected inflation data is “bad news for the A-share market,” according to Ken Chen, an analyst at KGI Securities Co., referring to the stocks of companies listed on mainland exchanges. “The market is expecting some policy support to help the weak economy, but the CPI data may give limited room” for any stimulus, he said echoing what Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said last month: “We think the risk of stagflation is rising in China as well as the rest of the world. Persistent inflationary pressure limits the potential scope of monetary policy easing.”

    Liu Peiqian, China economist at Natwest Markets expects policy makers to keep prioritizing stabilizing supplies and prices of commodities and raw materials to tame PPI inflation, while the People’s Bank of China is unlikely to tighten monetary policy, as CPI remains well below target.

    Commenting on the latest inflation data, Bloomberg’s China economist David Qu said that “the acceleration in China’s inflation in October is probably a bit of a side show for the central bank — we don’t expect the People’s Bank of China to take its eye off the need to cushion a slowdown in the economy. We still expect it cut banks’ required reserve ratio by another 50 basis points in the next month or so.”

    And so, Beijing is now trapped: if it eases, inflation – already at nosebleed levels – will soar further crushing margins and sparking a deep stagflationary recession; if it does not ease, the property market – already imploding – will crater.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 23:25

  • Boston Anti-Mandates Rally Disrupted By 'Anti-Fascism' Protesters, Clashes Break Out
    Boston Anti-Mandates Rally Disrupted By ‘Anti-Fascism’ Protesters, Clashes Break Out

    Authored by Learner Liu via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    A rally against mask and vaccine mandates in Boston was disrupted by “anti-fascism” protesters on Nov. 7. According to Boston Police, two individuals were arrested as clashes broke out between the two sides.

    Police officers with clubs and anti-riot gear quickly reacted and divided the two groups. After that, the “anti-fascism” protesters marched to another side of the park and broke through barrier fences. Not long after that, riot control officers assembled and began to clear the field.

    Anti-fascism protesters removed police fences. The two groups had brief clashes.(Learner Liu/The Epoch Times)

    The brief conflicts on Sunday concerned many of the rally-goers. One participant, Kevin Mackie, who held a sign that read “see people not sides,” was worried about “people blinded by hate, calling names and dehumanizing each other.”

    “I think we need to be diplomatic. We need to be respectful of each other. Listen to each other. Remember, at the end of the day, no matter what sides people are on, they are all human beings,” Mackie told The Epoch Times.

    He said that people are taking different sides because they disagree on how to achieve the common goal of keeping everyone wanted to be safe and free. Therefore, he said it is important to “look at the rationale behind everybody’s thought.”

    “Each of us is unique. We all have a unique mishmash of what we believe in. To distill it into two sides is really reductionist. And it’s not productive, it’s not the way out,” Mackie said.

    The protest was organized by Super Happy Fun America, “a right of center civil rights organization focusing on defending the Constitution,” according to their website. Their rally began around noon with a heavy police presence.

    About 100 attendees sang the national anthem, read the pledge of allegiance, and shouted slogans like “we will not comply” and “USA.”

    “Anti-fascism” protesters with communist flags disrupt an anti-mandates rally in the Boston Common on Nov. 7, 2021. (Learner Liu/The Epoch Times)

    At the same time, a larger crowd of protesters congregated on the other side of police fences with communist flags and signs that read “death to fascism.”

    As the anti-mandates rally went on, the “anti-fascism” protesters tried to dismantle the barricades and rush into the rally. A few physical altercations ensued.

    The Boston Police Department said in an email that two persons were arrested.

    Samson Racioppi, a Super Happy Fun America organizer, told CBS that their rental van’s front window was smashed.

    Racioppi said he was right by the van when the incident happened. He also said he was pepper-sprayed by the other group of protesters.

    Super Happy Fun America said in an email that “Antifa” smashed the windshield and started beating the van and driver, forcing the driver to desperately try to escape by driving through barriers.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 23:05

  • Rolls-Royce To Develop Mini Nuke Reactors To Decarbonize Power Grid 
    Rolls-Royce To Develop Mini Nuke Reactors To Decarbonize Power Grid 

    In a world where ESG is all the rage, and the transition from coal to cleaner energy sources is paramount, the UK has become the latest country to embrace nuclear power. 

    According to a company press release, Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc raised $617 million to fund “the next generation of low cost, low carbon nuclear power technology.”

    Rolls-Royce Group, BNF Resources UK Limited, and Exelon Generation Limited will develop small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) that will allow the country to meet net-zero commitments. SMRs will be built in the UK and open for export to customers worldwide. 

    With every passing week, our core thesis set here last December (see “Uranium Stocks Soar: Is This The Beginning Of The Next ESG Craze“) is that nuclear would be widely embraced as a net-zero enabling technology for power grids.

    Warren East, the Rolls-Royce CEO, adds, “the SMR program is one of the ways that Rolls-Royce is meeting the need to ensure the UK continues to develop innovative ways to tackle the global threat of climate change.

    “With the Rolls-Royce SMR technology, we have developed a clean energy solution which can deliver cost-competitive and scalable net-zero power for multiple applications from grid and industrial electricity production to hydrogen and synthetic fuel manufacturing,” East said. 

    SMRs are a much cheaper solution than big nuclear power plants that have been in use for more than half a century. Nuclear power will be at the heart of Britain’s strategy to reach net-zero carbon emissions in the coming decades, along with the rest of the world. 

    A combination of nuclear power via SMRs, renewables, carbon capture, and storage could be part of a balanced net-zero grid. 

    Last month, we noted that France was also adopting nuclear as part of President Macron’s strategy for decarbonization.   

    Recall, Germany is trying to stop the decommissioning of its nuclear reactors. A recently penned letter to the FT, signed by professors from Oxford, Harvard, and American University alongside a group of environmentalists, urged Germany to postpone its exit from nuclear energy for the benefit of the environment.

    Also, last month, Poland’s second-largest energy consumer was considering a move to SMRs to help generate green energy. 

    And just days ago, China has emerged as the world’s great believer in nuclear power with plans for 150 new reactors in the next 15 years, in a bid to transition from coal to cleaner sources of energy. 

    One of the biggest stories is the company that will power the green nuclear revolution, such as the world’s largest publicly traded uranium company, Cameco Corp. 

    Today’s nuclear ambitions by companies and countries to fuel the ESG craze will be rewarding for those who bought uranium stocks. 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 22:45

  • Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Sells Shares At 93% Discount To May Price
    Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Sells Shares At 93% Discount To May Price

    By Sofia Horta e Costa, Bloomberg commentator and TV anchor

    What a difference six months make for Evergrande’s cash-strapped electric vehicle unit.

    With its parent all but shut out of the dollar bond market, China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle is tapping equity investors for fresh funds by selling 174.8 million new shares at HK$2.86 apiece. That’s 93% lower than the price of its additional offering in May.

    At HK$500 million ($64 million), the amount of funds the company seeks to raise is modest compared with two previous share sales this year. The May placement raised HK$10.64 billion, while in January six investors — who are locked up with the shares for 12 months — bought HK$26 billion worth of the stock at HK$27.30 a share.

    Shares in Evergrande’s electric car unit have tumbled almost 90% this year amid concern over the group’s liquidity crunch. Evergrande NEV said in September it couldn’t guarantee it could meet its financial obligations. At its peak, Evergrande NEV was one of the most valuable assets in Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan’s empire, and a potential source of funds to prop up the parent company.

    Parent Evergrande Group needs to pay interest of $148.1 million on three bonds Wednesday as grace periods expire. Failure to pay could trigger cross-default clauses among the builder’s $19.2 billion of outstanding dollar notes.

    While Evergrande NEV bills itself as a carmaker, much of the money it does bring in comes from its community health service business and nursing home facilities — a legacy of when the unit was a health-care company.

    Evergrande NEV’s shares closed Tuesday at HK$3.57.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 22:25

  • Trust Issues And Climate Scientists
    Trust Issues And Climate Scientists

    Judging by the sound and fury from the media, climate change and its current and future effects is the most pressing issue of our time.

    But, as Statista’s Martin Armstrong notes, as world leaders gather at the COP26 climate change conference to discuss and negotiate solutions to the crisis, in some regions of the world, there are significant shares of the population that have little or no trust in what ‘scientists’ are warning us about the environment.

    Infographic: Trust Issues and Climate Scientists | Statista

    You will find more infographics at Statista

    According to a new survey by the World Economic Forum, 16 percent of North Americans admit to trust issues when it comes to climate science.

    This group is smaller in East Asia & the Pacific and Western Europe but still amounts to 9 percent according to the survey conducted in the fall of 2021.

    Globally the figure is 7 percent, although 68 percent say they have a lot or a great deal of trust.

    South Asia was the stand-out region for trust in climate scientists – here just 3 percent signified a lack of trust compared to a massive 84 percent on the other side of the climate change fence.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 22:05

  • Bubbles Weren't Built In A Day, So Bond Purchases Will Continue
    Bubbles Weren’t Built In A Day, So Bond Purchases Will Continue

    By Ven Ram, Bloomberg Markets live commentator and analyst

     U.S. employers added more than half a million jobs in October, sending stocks to yet another record high on Friday. Over the weekend we also learnt that China exported much more than economists had penciled in — suggesting that demand to consume goods and services from around the world is robust. And most economies around the world are on track to grow at a pace that is well above trend growth next year.

    Yet, if you looked at key yields across much of the developed world, you could be forgiven for thinking that the global economy is in dire straits.

    And we still have central banks actively buying bonds, supposedly meant to support their economies. There is no question that monetary policy is too loose relative to where most of the developed-market economies are, spawning imbalances in financial markets and providing a backdrop conducive for asset bubbles to build.

    Central banks are behind the curve, and seem to be willingly so: we got a taste of that with the Bank of England, which after weeks of warning about the dangers of runaway inflation, failed to walk its talk.

    Raising rates, we were told, will not produce more gas or more semiconductor chips — meaning central banks can’t battle a supply problem. But how is that when the economy is hit with a pandemic and people are reluctant to travel and fill hotel rooms, central banks find it convenient to slash rates?

    Do lower rates — or worse, central bank bond purchases — cure either of those? And therein is the big lesson for traders: monetary authorities will give us cockamamie excuses to lower rates with impunity, but will always be reluctant to raise them with anywhere near the same level of urgency — simply because that’s just politically convenient. After all no one gets blamed for keeping rates artificially low.

    Unfortunately, that means that financial markets are destined to lurch from one bubble to another.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 21:45

  • How Does Your Personality Type Affect Your Income?
    How Does Your Personality Type Affect Your Income?

    You’ve just finished giving a presentation at work, and an outspoken coworker challenges your ideas. Do you:

    a) Engage in a friendly debate about the merits of each argument, or

    b) Avoid a conflict by agreeing or changing the subject?

    As Visual Capitalist’s Jenna Ross details below, the way you approach this type of situation may influence how much money you earn.

    Today’s infographic comes to us from Truity, and it outlines the potential relationship between personality type and income.

    Through the Myers-Briggs Lens

    The Myers-Briggs personality test serves as a robust framework for analyzing the connection between personality and income, in a way that is easily understood and familiar to many people.

    The theory outlines four personality dimensions that are described using opposing traits.

    • Extraversion vs. Introversion: Extroverts gain energy by interacting with others, while introverts draw energy from spending time alone.

    • Sensing vs. Intuition: Sensors prefer concrete and factual information, while intuitive types use their imagination or wider patterns to interpret information.

    • Thinking vs. Feeling: Thinkers make rational decisions based on logic, while feelers make empathetic decisions considering the needs of others.

    • Judging vs. Perceiving: Judging types organize their life in a structured manner, while perceiving types are more flexible and spontaneous.

    For example, someone who aligns with extraversion, sensing, thinking, and judging would be described as an ESTJ type.

    The researchers surveyed over 72,000 people to measure these four personality preferences, as well as 23 unique facets of personality, income levels, and career-related data.

    Traits With the Highest Earning Potential

    Based on the above four dimensions, extroverts, sensors, thinkers, and judgers tend to be the most financially successful. Diving into specific personality characteristics, certain traits are more closely correlated with higher income.

     

    For instance, extroverts are much more likely to have higher incomes if they are quick to share thoughts, have high energy, and like being in the public eye. Thinkers also score high on income potential, especially if they enjoy debates, make rational decisions, and moderate their emotions.

     

    The Top Earners

    Which personality types earn the highest incomes of all? Extroverted thinking types dominate the ranks again.

    Source: Truity

    The one exception is INTJs, with 10% earning an annual salary of $150K or more in their peak earning years.

    Personality and the Gender Pay Gap

    With all these factors in mind, the researchers analyzed whether personality differences would affect the gender pay gap.

    When the average salaries were separated for men and women, the results were clear: men of almost all personality types earn more than the average income for the sample overall, while all but two personality types of women earned less than the average.

    Source: Truity

    In fact, women with high-earning personality types still earn less than men who do not possess those traits. For example, extroverted women earn about $55,000 annually, while introverted men earn an average of over $64,000.

    Maximizing Your Potential

    Are the introverted personalities of the world doomed to lower salaries? Not necessarily—while personality does play a role, many other factors contribute to income levels:

    • Level of education

    • Years of experience

    • Local job market

    • Type of industry

    • The particular career

    Not only that, anyone can work on the two specific personality traits most aligned with higher incomes: set ambitious goals, and face conflict head-on to ensure your voice is heard.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 21:25

  • Feds Seek To Block Promotion Of Nasal Spray Against COVID-19
    Feds Seek To Block Promotion Of Nasal Spray Against COVID-19

    Authored by Alice Giordano via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

    The leading U.S. manufacturer of xylitol-based products says the federal government is deliberately trying to conceal a nasal spray it developed that it says has been scientifically proven to be effective in treating and preventing COVID-19.

    A battle is on in the courts over whether certain nasal sprays can be used as a treatment, or preventative, for COVID 19. (Thorsten Frenzel/Pixabay)

    The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in federal court against Utah-based company Xlear on Oct. 28, saying it has deceptively advertised its nasal spray as a treatment and preventative of COVID-19.

    The lawsuit asks a federal court to permanently ban the company from promoting the nasal spray as a treatment for COVID-19 and also asks that monetary penalties be levied against it.

    COVID-19 is the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.

    The DOJ filed the complaint on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission, which alleges the company has violated the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Consumer Protection Act by making false claims about the benefits.

    The spray’s main ingredients are saline, grapefruit seed extract, and xylitol, a plant-derived sweetener commonly used in oral care products.

    “Companies can’t make unsupported health claims, no matter what form a product takes, or what it supposedly prevents or treats,” said Samuel Levine, director of the trade commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a press release on the lawsuit.

    “That’s the lesson of this case and many others like it, and it’s why people should continue to rely on medical professionals over ads.”

    The commission and the Justice Department declined to make any further comment.

    Xlear’s attorney Robert Housman, of the Washington firm Book Hill Partners, told The Epoch Times that the commission is “flat out lying” about the company’s claims being unsupported.

    Housman pointed out that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)—along with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an arm of the Department of Health and Human Services—funded clinical studies of the use of nasal sprays like Xlear’s and published findings last year that found they were an effective treatment and method of prevention for COVID-19.

    “When Xlear tells people about scientific studies, even ones republished by the NIH, we are somehow misleading people and making false claims. It’s nonsensical,” Housman told The Epoch Times.

    “Rather than embrace nasal interventions, the government is trying to eliminate their use because they don’t fit the government’s highly flawed, vaccine-only agenda.”

    On Sept. 20, 2020, the NIH and NIAID published the findings of a random clinical trial they funded at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee on the merits of using hypertonic nasal saline irrigations to combat the CCP virus.

    The researchers in that study wrote that the “effect of nasal irrigation on symptom resolution was substantial,” reporting that “nasal congestion and headaches in COVID patients resolved an average seven to nine days earlier” in the study group.

    “Our analysis suggests that nasal irrigations may shorten symptom duration and may have potential as a widely available and inexpensive intervention to reduce disease burden among those affected,” the researchers wrote in their findings.

    “We would advocate the use of hypertonic nasal saline irrigations in non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients as a safe and inexpensive intervention to reduce symptom burden.”

    Housman pointed out that the NIH also published the results of a clinical trial, held a few months later in November at the Larkin Community Hospital in Florida, that found the Xlear nasal spray specifically cleared symptoms of the disease in half the time.

    In addition to the Tennessee and Florida trials, another random clinical trial—more recently conducted at Augusta University’s Emergency Department in Georgia—also concluded that the use of nasal spray was beneficial in treating COVID-19.

    Researchers in the university trial, which is still ongoing, have so far found that patients with the CCP virus that participated in daily nasal irrigation were eight times less likely to be hospitalized than the national rate.

    The Justice Department didn’t specifically cite the Larkin, Vanderbilt, or Augusta trials in its lawsuit.

    It instead cited the results of lab studies conducted earlier at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill and the University of Tennessee involving in vitro and animal testing, neither of which the DOJ and FTC argue is a viable way to test nasal spray for live, human COVID-19 patients.

    The lawsuit additionally pointed out that the University of Tennessee study is based on a nasal spray containing iota-carrageenan, which the Xlear spray does not contain and, therefore, cannot be used as scientific evidence to support Xlear’s claims.

    The lawsuit also stated that researchers at Chapel Hill admitted that without further research it couldn’t conclusively determine that  “administering treatment through the nose is the best way to treat COVID-19.”

    Housman said the trade commission cherry-picked findings within the lab studies to make them fit its agenda.

    The federal government has warned companies against promoting nasal sprays for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19.

    BlueWillow Biologics, a Michigan biopharmaceutical company that manufactures a nasal antiseptic, and the Miami-based company Halodine, which created a proprietary iodine-based nasal antiseptic swab, both received warning letters earlier this year from the FDA to discontinue their promotion of their nasal products as a safe and effective treatment for COVID-19.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 21:05

  • Mastercard Launches Bitcoin Payment Cards in Asia-Pacific
    Mastercard Launches Bitcoin Payment Cards in Asia-Pacific

    Authored by ‘Namcios’ via BitcoinMagazine.com,

    The card giant partnered with three bitcoin service providers in the region to enable consumers to spend BTC anywhere that accepts Mastercard…

    • Consumers and businesses in the Asia Pacific region can now apply for bitcoin-linked Mastercard credit, debit, and prepaid cards.

    • The card giant partnered with cryptocurrency service providers Amber, Bitkub, and CoinJar to enable customers to pay for regular purchases with BTC.

    • On the backend, cryptocurrency in the user’s account is instantly converted into fiat currency to allow the payment.

    Card giant Mastercard has partnered with cryptocurrency service providers Amber Group, Bitkub, and CoinJar to offer bitcoin-linked payment cards across the Asia Pacific region, the company said in a statement on November 8. These firms are the first APAC-based platforms to join the card issuer’s global Crypto Card Program, which seeks to make it easier for bitcoin and cryptocurrency firms to offer payment cards to their customers.

    “For the first time, consumers and businesses in the Asia Pacific region will be able to apply for crypto-linked Mastercard credit, debit or prepaid cards that will enable them to instantly convert their cryptocurrencies into traditional fiat currency, which can be spent everywhere Mastercard is accepted around the world,” per the announcement.

    Cardholders will be able to use their Mastercard through the arrangement established between the card issuer and the bitcoin service providers, which entails having the corresponding amount of BTC or other cryptocurrency be deducted from the user’s account and instantly converted into fiat currency.

    “Cryptocurrencies are many things to people — an investment, a disruptive technology, or a unique financial tool. As interest and attention surges from all quarters, their real-world applications are now emerging beyond the speculative,” said Rama Sridhar, Mastercard’s Asia Pacific executive VP of digital and emerging partnerships.

    In July, Mastercard announced the creation of a simplified payments card offering for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency companies. The product sought to reduce friction in experience and provide greater choice for consumers by helping facilitate the conversion between BTC and fiat currency.

    “In collaboration with these partners that adhere to the same core principles that Mastercard does…Mastercard is expanding what’s possible with cryptocurrencies to give people even greater choice and flexibility in how they pay.”

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 20:25

  • Cheese Prices Crumble After Cyberattack Hits Top Wisconsin Dairy Producer 
    Cheese Prices Crumble After Cyberattack Hits Top Wisconsin Dairy Producer 

    A cyber attack disrupted dairy distribution in Wisconsin late last month, resulting in a big plunge in cheese prices. 

    A spokesman for one of the state’s largest milk processors, Schreiber Foods, told local newspaper, Wisconsin Farmer, that a five days “cyber event” halted operations as hackers demanded a rumored $2.5 million in ransom.

    The ransomware attack began on Saturday (Oct. 23) and limited the company from buying 500-pound barrels of cheese, which are turned into slices and sold at supermarkets. 

    In a recent statement, the company said, “we had a systems issue that impacted our plants and distribution centers. It did impact our ability to receive raw materials, ship product and produce product. We’ve made good progress in resolving the issue and our plants and distribution centers have begun to start up again.”

    The five-day ordeal triggered spot prices for cheese barrels traded in Chicago to plunge 19% in the last week or so. 

    The cyberattack on the dairy processor comes as hackers have targeted food supply chains. JBS SA, the world’s largest meat producer, was hit with a ransomware attack by hacker group REvil in June. 

    Compound cyberattacks with supply chain woes, including port congestion, higher transportation costs, labor woes, and soaring commodity prices, it’s never been harder to be in the food industry.

     

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 20:05

  • John Durham Is Getting Close To The Jugular
    John Durham Is Getting Close To The Jugular

    Authored by Charles Lipson via RealClearPolitics.com,

    Last week, John Durham’s grand jury issued its third criminal indictment in the Trump-Russia collusion hoax. The person who was arrested may be obscure; the news may have been buried after Virginia’s bombshell election results; but Durham’s move is a big deal. It shows that the special counsel’s probe is methodically unraveling a huge conspiracy, seemingly engineered by Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and implicating James Comey’s FBI, either as a willing participant or as utterly incompetent boobs.

    The latest indictment also damages the mainstream media, which is why so many news outlets have ignored or underplayed it. After all, they broadcast a false story for years and are none too eager to revisit it. Other losers are the prosecutors assembled by Robert Mueller, most of them Democrats, who had reams of this damaging information and ignored it.

    What Durham and a few intrepid reporters are uncovering may well be the most ambitious dirty trick pulled in an American election and its aftermath. The question now is whether Durham can expose the full extent of this malfeasance and charge those who planned and executed it.

    Durham’s latest indictment charges Igor Danchenko (pictured) with lying multiple times to the FBI. Danchenko, who worked at the Brookings Institution as a Russian expert, may not be a household name, but he was a crucial player in concocting the false story that Donald Trump was collaborating with the Kremlin to win the White House. The real conspiracy, it turns out, was aimed at Trump and was conducted by the Clinton campaign and her longtime associates. It was financed jointly by Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Some leaked emails suggested it was approved by the candidate herself. The FBI continued running with it long after it had ample evidence to know it was a concoction. House Democrats ran with it even longer, basking in fulsome, uncritical media coverage. All of it was false.

    The Danchenko indictment matters because his bogus information was the heart of the “Steele dossier,” which, in turn, was the heart of the anti-Trump investigation. The dossier was compiled by a former British spy, Christopher Steele, who had been hired by people working for Clinton. Steele claimed his information about Trump, including salacious sexual allegations, came from Russian sources. It didn’t. It came from Danchenko, who was working at a Washington think tank. As Danchenko admitted to the FBI, much of what he told Steele was old rumors or exaggerations. Some of it appears to have  been simply fabricated. Steele incorporated it, and the Democrats deployed it.

    The FBI interviewed Danchenko multiple times in January 2017, around the time Trump was taking office. Comey’s FBI had already received the dossier and his agents were trying to verify its allegations. They couldn’t do so, and Danchenko’s admissions told them why. His interrogation should have immediately stopped the FBI from using the dossier to investigate Trump. So should a warning from Bruce Ohr, the highest-ranking career official in the Department of Justice, that Steele was strongly biased. The FBI blew right through these red lights.

    The bureau continued to use the bogus information in applying for secret warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to spy on Carter Page and, through him, on others connected with Trump. Officials told the court, falsely, that the warrant information was reliable and verified when they knew it was neither.

    What the warrants say, in essence, is, “We need to spy on Carter Page because we think he’s an enemy agent.” But the FBI already knew he wasn’t. That means they were trolling for other information. How did the FBI know Page was on our side? Because they asked the CIA and were told, quite explicitly, that Page was helping them, not the Kremlin. The CIA gave that exculpatory information to FBI lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, who altered the message to say Page was not working for the CIA. His alternation was criminal, and he plead guilty after Durham charged him.

    The story gets worse. Although Clinesmith altered the CIA message for FBI use, he also gave his superiors the CIA’s true communication. So, his bosses knew the real story. They weren’t interested in the truth, which they kept secret from the FISA court to continuing spying on Page. If there is any justice left in Washington, those responsible for this travesty will be held criminally liable. Page may well have a civil case against them, too.

    As the FBI blundered forward on its political mission, it made other revealing missteps. The most important was Director Comey’s meeting with the incoming president in early January 2017. Comey told Trump the FBI had acquired some damning materials about him but emphasized they were still unverified. As Comey’s own aides warned him, that communication could be seen as a kind of blackmail threat, the kind that marked J. Edgar Hoover’s tenure.

    Comey’s meeting with the president had another major consequence. Until then, even anti-Trump news outlets had been wary about mentioning the dossier (which the Clinton team had been shopping to them) because they couldn’t actually verify any of the vital details. That reticence changed with Comey’s briefing, which was news in its own right. The story now became, “FBI chief briefs president-elect Trump about salacious dossier, revealing damning info Kremlin could use to blackmail Trump.” One online outlet, BuzzFeed, went further. It published the full Steele dossier, and the media frenzy began.

    Remember, this whole story was concocted and paid for by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and fed to the FBI and the media by her attorneys and associates. The FBI, which should have been able to quickly prove the story was false, plodded on with its investigation and fed the frenzy.

    Although the dossier was commissioned to sink Trump in November, it was still useful after he won the election. Trump’s adversaries could exploit it to hamstring his embryonic administration, and that’s exactly what they did. With the whole-hearted backing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff spent three years beating the drum of the “Russia collusion” hoax. Schiff’s constant media appearances claiming he had conclusive evidence of Trump-Russia collaboration continued long after he had received classified briefings that demolished his story. The briefer was former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, and he has confirmed those meetings with Schiff and his Senate counterpart, Mark Warner. No matter to Schiff, who kept repeating his claims and pursuing his full-scale investigation. First the verdict; then the inquiry. It was all part of a four-year-long battle, first to prevent Trump’s election, then to undermine his presidency, and finally to damage his chances for reelection.

    The Clinton team launched this operation with professional expertise. The goal was to produce a powerful anti-Trump story, using whatever materials they could, then share it with the media (to smear Trump) and the FBI (to launch a major investigation and ensnare Trump). Ideally, the campaign’s involvement would be hidden, removed from the damning report by several layers of lawyers, opposition researchers, camp followers, and flacks.

    To provide that insulation, the campaign used attorney Marc Elias, then at Perkins Coie law firm in Washington (where the recently indicted Michael Sussmann was a colleague), to hire an opposition-research firm, Fusion GPS. That firm, headed by former reporters Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch, in turn hired Steele, a Brit who had formerly worked for his country’s intelligence services, to produce the damning dossier. To translate some Russian materials, Fusion GPS hired Nellie Ohr, whose husband, Bruce, learned how biased Steele was and told the FBI to treat Steele and his information warily.

    Bureau agents ignored that early warning and all the others. They quickly learned Steele’s material was a mirage, thanks to their interviews with Danchenko. They also confirmed that Steele’s dossier depended on Danchenko, so its claims of “Russian sourcing” were false. By interviewing Danchenko’s own sources, they learned that their third-hand statements, which were used in the dossier, were mainly rumors and “bar talk.”

    The prosecutorial team assembled by Robert Mueller should have known all this, too. They had complete access to this exculpatory FBI material on day one and ignored it. A year and a half later, when Mueller himself finally testified before Congress, he didn’t even know what Fusion GPS was. By that point, Mueller seemed to have genuine difficulty remembering the details of his own investigation. His team of attorneys had no such excuse. Hired by Mueller’s top deputy, Andrew Weissmann, they were among the country’s sharpest and toughest prosecutors — and the most partisan. The more Durham uncovers, the worse the Mueller team will look.

    Reviewing this evidence, Kimberly Strassel of the Wall Street Journal has concluded the Steele dossier is misnamed. It should be called the “Clinton dossier,” she says, since Hillary commissioned it, paid for it, and had her aides feed it to the media, the State Department, and the FBI. It was a full-scale disinformation campaign — coherent, well-organized, and well-funded. It was rotten to the core.

    The question now is whether John Durham can find enough evidence to charge the ones who planned and executed it. The charging documents he filed for Danchenko and Sussmann are far more extensive than the necessary minimum. They suggest that Durham has compiled extensive evidence about a broader conspiracy. Will he settle for the capillaries now that he has the jugular in view?

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 19:45

  • Americans Are The Most "Miserable" In Decades
    Americans Are The Most “Miserable” In Decades

    In his latest economic daily, BofA’s chief economist Ethan Harris eyes the recent article from the New York Times which summarized the foul mood Americans are in as follows “Americans Are Flush With Cash and Jobs. They Also Think the Economy Is Awful,” and lays out his view as to why this is happening. In a nutshell:

    • The growth outlook is very strong, but this is offset by the first serious bout of inflation in decades.
    •  The “misery index”, a simple sum of the unemployment rate and consumer price inflation, has moved sharply higher.
    • This “misery” is expected to fall in the months ahead as easing supply constraints lower both unemployment and inflation.

    First, a quick primer: in the late-1960s, Arthur Okun created a simple statistic to capture the cost of stagflation. His “misery index” simply added the unemployment rate to headline inflation. Over time the index dropped off the radar screen, but in the past year it has staged a dramatic comeback.

    Putting the index in context, after today’s record PPI print tomorrow consensus expects year-over-year CPI inflation to rise from 5.4% to 5.9% for October, more than offsetting the drop in the unemployment rate, and boosting the misery index to 10.5%. That, according to Harris, is the highest in recent decades, outside of a couple years around the Great Financial Crisis, and the 1990 recession and oil price spike.

    Of course, some positive spin is mandatory here, and the BofA chief economist writes that “the good news is that a big chunk of this is the temporary impact of supply constraints. Worker shortages and capacity issues have both slowed the drop in the unemployment rate and caused many prices to spike higher.” Furthermore, with the Delta wave receding, BofA expects the labor market to pick up speed even as headline inflation cools. It’s why the bank expects the Misery Index to drop to 6.3%, with a 3.5% unemployment rate and 2.8% inflation.

    That said, such an optimistic forecast is hardly encouraging to those Americans who are suffering from runaway inflation now.

    It’s also why besides the obvious social implications, this index is important to both the economic and political outlook. On the economic front, high inflation acts as “tax” on real spending power, although this is currently offset by massive cash balances (which benefit mostly the top 10%) and a recovering labor market.

    On the political front, BofA notes that a standard model of elections includes three variables: high inflation and weak growth in the election year hurts the party in control of the White House, and there is a tendency for the incumbent party to do poorly in the midterms regardless of the economy.

    As BofA concludes, if these models are correct, then Democrats may be in better shape by next fall when the misery index is expected to dip, although as Harris admits, “split government is probably still the most likely outcome.”

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 19:25

  • Virginia's Become 'Ground Zero' For Backlash Against Critical Race Theory Madness
    Virginia’s Become ‘Ground Zero’ For Backlash Against Critical Race Theory Madness

    Op-Ed authored by Eric Louw via The Epoch Times,

    The election of a Republican governor in Virginia points to a winning formula in the upcoming mid-terms, a key component of which is empowering parents to fight back against Critical Race Theory’s (CRT) indoctrination of their children.

    Gov-elect Glenn Youngkin’s victory was unexpected because the Democrats had won the governorship of Virginia for the last 12 years and the Democrat candidate, Terry McAuliffe, was popular.

    More importantly, it looked like a major demographic shift had forever changed Virginian politics in favour of the Democrats, given the growth of a huge suburban population of Washington D.C. bureaucrats in northern Virginia.

    For many Republicans, it felt like Virginia’s political game had forever been rigged against them by the arrival of these D.C. immigrants.

    Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin (R-Va.) speaks during an Early Vote rally in Stafford, Va., Oct. 19, 2021. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

    But 2021 showed that even with this northern demographic challenge, Republicans can win Virginia if they can develop a powerful enough message.

    Youngkin built such messages by exploiting the hubris, arrogance, and incompetence that has characterized the Democrats since Biden moved into the White House.

    Essentially, he pledged to: support parents in their fight against CRT, fund the police, and cut red tape and tax.

    So appealing were these pledges that they switched hundreds of thousands of votes from Democrat to Republican, especially independent voters.

    Youngkin was also helped by Biden showing up to campaign alongside McAuliffe. This served to remind voters of the struggles of Biden’s administration, plus how it has empowered the woke-left’s CRT and police defunding agendas.

    Additionally, Biden’s appearance also reminded voters that Biden does not look in charge.

    President Joe Biden speaks during a press conference at the White House in Washington on Nov. 6, 2021. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

    His $3 trillion “remake U.S. plan” is gridlocked in Washington. His migration policies caused chaos on the border. And anti-right-wing security on Washington’s streets only serves to make it look as if he does not even control his own capital.

    But it would seem the core vote shifter was Youngkin’s standing up for parents’ rights to say no to the CRT bullies and to those teachers who want to indoctrinate students with it.

    Youngkin correctly read the anti-CRT mood across his state.

    After all, even in the blue northern suburbs of Loudoun County, some parents mobilized against their schools teaching CRT.

    And so Youngkin has been rewarded with the governorship because he paid attention to the voices of Virginia parents, telling CRT-activists and woke-teachers: “I am not an oppressor, and I am not going to allow you to teach my children your toxic anti-white racism anymore.”

    Essentially he produced a swing towards the Republicans in every part of Virginia by promising to ban CRT in Virginia schools.

    Given the mounting parental backlash against the theory across America, it might be helpful to summarize the CRT worldview and objections to this radicalism. 

    CRT objects to how mainstream (white) Americans see themselves, their country and their history. CRT has the same objection to history as taught in Canada, Australia, and Europe.

    Its solution is to teach a new kind of history.

    Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard called this new history “the black armband view” in which everything before European colonialism was apparently wonderful, and everything since has been evil.

    CRT argues Europeans invented race and racism to justify colonialism and slavery and effectively invented a new updated version of the old Marxist villain-victim idea. For Marxists, capitalists were villains, and workers were victims. For CRT, whites are villains, and blacks are victims.

    Both models grow out of the resentments of the unsuccessful, but CRT’s answer is to tear down the successful and what they built.

    The emergence of parental opposition to CRT in the schools reflects a growing realization that the theory represents a truly existential and revolutionary threat to the American way of life.

    But CRT goes further than just wanting to deconstruct and reconstruct America and its way of life or take down statues. They demand all white individuals must recognize they are racists, which is built into them through language. They also demand that whites must apologize (and recompense black victims) for white racism, for white privilege, and for oppressing black people.

    Within CRT logic, whites are apparently always inherently racist and inherently privileged. Blacks are always apparently oppressed and can never be racist.

    If any white person points to the absurdity of these claims, this is taken a proof such a person is racist and “fragile.” CRT allows no escape from its closed circular argument.  

    Re-education appears to be the only solution, according to the theory.

    Whites must be taught to recognize their individual “sickness” and the pathology of their society. Then taught to “be sorry,” to take the knee, and to be co-opted into CRT’s plan to deconstruct existing American society.

    This re-education will take place in schools, universities and through compulsory staff training workshops.

    Conveniently, CRT activists have created many jobs for themselves by running these workshops. Apparently, revolution can be profitable for some.

    CRT is a revolutionary project designed to actively disrupt and break the language we use. It is enmeshed with another left-wing project called the “decolonization” of education and the “decolonization” of society.

    These projects aim to undo the so-called evil of European colonialism plus deconstruct the work of the apparently evil white men who colonized and built America, Canada, and Australia.

    Building CRT’s postcolonial world is a project as profoundly revolutionary as was Stalin’s communist project of building the “Soviet Man.”

    Americans need to become aware of what such a project of re-writing their culture; their history, and their language will mean for them. If Americans want to see what “decolonization” of education and society means, just look at what the African National Congress has done in South Africa.

    This is a project of erasure that is totalitarian in its vision.

    What is remarkable is that left-leaning liberals cannot see how Orwellian this CRT re-education project is in the way it wants to replace “bad language” and “bad thinking” with new sanitized “social justice” words and “good thinking.” Similarities can be found with Mao Ze Dong’s Cultural Revolution when communist witch hunts forced people to confess their “guilt.”

    Youngkin’s victory in Virginia should give us all hope.

    Let this be the beginning of an alliance of Republican politicians and parents who say they are tired of having their children come home from school brainwashed by CRT.

    Let the message from Virginia be that enough is enough.

    Vandals attempt to pull down the statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square near the White House on June 22, 2020. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 19:05

  • Michael Burry Claims Musk Selling Tesla Shares To Cover Personal Debts
    Michael Burry Claims Musk Selling Tesla Shares To Cover Personal Debts

    Famous short seller Michael Burry of The Big Short game briefly emerged from a his latest self-imposed twitter exile to offer his thoughts on why Elon Musk might now all of a sudden be in the mood to start selling stock. Shortly thereafter, on Tuesday, Tesla shares plunged 10% in just minutes, leading many to speculate as to whether or not Elon Musk had started selling his personal stock. 

    Burry jabbed at Musk this week, suggesting that the Tesla CEO may need to sell his shares because he had 88 million of them pledged as loan collateral. 

    “Regarding what @elonmusk NEEDS to sell because of the proposed unrealized gains tax, or to #solveworldhunger, or … well, there is the matter of the tax-free cash he took out in the form of personal loans backed by 88.3 million of his shares at June 30th,” Burry wrote in a now deleted Tweet that was captured by the Business Insider tabloid. 

    Burry also suggested that Musk’s narratives about “solving world hunger” or “unrealized tax gains” are diversions from the real reason the Tesla CEO is selling stock. Instead, the iconic investor insinuated that Musk needs to service the loans he took out against his shares.

    Musk had 41% of his shares pledged as collateral as of December 2020 and 48% as of June 2020, Insider reported.

    As he usually does, Burry also drew comparisons between today’s market and the Dutch Tulip bubble. He has made his Twitter header a Brueghel painting called “Satire of the Tulip Mania,” which shows tulip “investors” as monkeys, speculating, taking on debt, and fighting – all over the “mania” in tulips that took place. 

    Burry has been vocal about warning about our current stock market bubble.

    “People say I didn’t warn last time. I did, but no one listened. So I warn this time. And still, no one listens. But I will have proof I warned,” he Tweeted about markets about a year ago. 

    He also commented on Tesla golden child Cathie Wood, earlier in the year, Tweeting: “It is too early, she is too hot, and, today, short sellers are timid, but Wall Street will be ruthless in the end.”

    Burry, recall, revealed a huge Tesla short earlier in 2021 but as of one month ago he was no longer betting against Tesla and said that his position was just a trade.

    Burry has also been vocal warning against a bitcoin bubble. Of course, if he was also short the crypto space in addition to TSLA, his losses in 2021 could be Jess Livermore-sized….

     

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 18:55

  • China Initiates 'Combat Readiness Patrol' Near Taiwan, Outraged Over "Surprise" Large US Delegation Visit
    China Initiates ‘Combat Readiness Patrol’ Near Taiwan, Outraged Over “Surprise” Large US Delegation Visit

    China state media on Tuesday announced that the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command has initiated combat patrols near the Taiwan Strait in response to what it dubbed “secessionist activities”. 

    This on the heels of China’s Defense Ministry condemning the “surprise” latest trip by a US Congressional delegation to Taipei, which Beijing officials denounced as “rude interference in China’s internal affairs.” The apparently large number of officials that touched down at Taipei’s international airport has outraged Chinese leaders as it’s looking like the single largest US group to visit the island in years.

    The South China Morning Post is reporting of the Tuesday visit to the democratic-run island, which was organized by the US de facto embassy (the American Institute of Taiwan, or AIT), that “The group boarded a US Navy C-40A plane from Manila and arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport at around 6pm, according to Taiwanese news reports.”

    PLA drills file image

    Though the names included in the Congressional delegation weren’t immediately disclosed, Taiwan media is reporting that the group includes four senators, two members of the House of Representatives and seven aides.

    Providing confirmation, Taiwan’s residential Office Spokesperson Xavier Chang was cited by CNA as describing that the visit involving “US. senators and congressmen was based on mutual trust and coordination between Taiwan and the US.”

    China’s immediate response is detailed in Reuters as follows: 

    China’s military said on Tuesday it conducted a combat readiness patrol in the direction of the Taiwan Strait, after its defense ministry condemned a visit to Taiwan by a U.S. Congressional delegation it said had arrived on a military aircraft.

    The patrol was aimed at the “seriously wrong” words and actions of “relevant countries” on the Taiwan issue and the activities of pro-independence forces in Taiwan, a Chinese military spokesperson said in a statement.

    “We firmly oppose and strongly condemn this,” China’s defense ministry said further in response. “We urge the US to immediately stop its provocative moves and all destructive actions that escalate tensions across the Taiwan Straits, and not send a wrong signal to ‘Taiwan independence” forces. We warn the DPP authorities not to misjudge the situation or act in a desperate way; otherwise, it will only lead Taiwan into a grave disaster,” the spokesperson of the defense ministry added. 

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    Further as state-run Global Times relates, the PLA patrols near the Taiwan Strait have been put on “high alert”:

    The command will stay on high alert, take necessary measures and strike back on any move that endangers China’s core interests and any provocation that threatens the peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits, and firmly safeguard the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, said Shi. 

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    Given the large numbers of Congressional leaders and senators in the US delegation, and pending the details of the trip, this is looking to be the largest high-level American government group to visit the island in recent memory.

    Likely we are also about to once again witness ramped-up Chinese aerial formations breach Taiwan’s air defense identification zone – which have greatly increased in numbers of aircraft of late, sending a further message to pro-independence forces and their external backers. 

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 18:45

  • Infrastructure: What's The Bang For The Buck?
    Infrastructure: What’s The Bang For The Buck?

    By Philip Marey, Senior US Strategist at Rabobank

    Summary

    • Last Friday, the House of Representatives finally approved the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Although long overdue given the state of US infrastructure, it will hit the economy at a time of full employment and after a couple of years of high inflation. This means that the bang for the buck will be substantially eroded.

    • The attention of Congress now turns to the health care, education and child care bill that the Democrats want to pass through reconciliation, i.e. without Republican support. However, so far Democratic unity on this bill has been more difficult to find than a bipartisan majority for infrastructure spending.

    • Meanwhile, the December 3 deadline for the debt ceiling and government funding is approaching rapidly.

    Introduction

    Last Friday, Nancy Pelosi made a U-turn and surprised everybody with the announcement that the House of Representatives would vote on the infrastructure bill and then take a procedural vote on the reconciliation bill, holding it for final passage until there was a CBO score. Until then, the two bills were tied together, as progressive Democrats were not willing to approve the infrastructure bill before the reconciliation bill (aimed at health care, education, child care), and moderate Democrats did not want to pass the reconciliation bill before the infrastructure bill. In order to break the deadlock, Pelosi called the progressives’ bluff and offered the CBO-contingent solution proposed by the Black Caucus. Although the progressives were not happy about this, they folded. While 6 Democrats defected, 13 Republicans more than made up for them. A victory for centrists in both parties, but those in the Democratic Party now have their hands tied to the numbers that the CBO comes up with for the reconciliation bill. And of course a victory for Nancy Pelosi, who finally took the risk of challenging the progressives. Ironically, she needed moderate Republicans to save the infrastructure bill from defecting progressive Democrats such as AOC.

    Economic impact: what’s the bang for the buck?

    While the law is presented as a $1 trillion infrastructure package, this includes spending on infrastructure the government had already planned for the next decade. The additional spending amounts to about $550 billion for roads, passenger railways, subway systems, airports, ports, power facilities, and broadband networks. The funds are expected to start flowing in the second half of 2022, but the bulk would be spent in 2024 and later.

    If an infrastructure plan arrives during a slowdown or recession, the bang for the buck is relatively high. Unemployed construction workers can get a job and idle machines are put to use. However, this time the recession is already behind us and we are even experiencing labor shortages. By the time the bulk of the infrastructure activities should start, the economy is expected to be at full employment. Note that the Fed expects to hike before the end of 2022 because of full employment. This means that the infrastructure builders will compete for workers and machines that are expected to be short in supply to begin with by 2024. This will make the projects more expensive, so the bang for the buck is much lower than in case of a recession. What’s more, with high inflation in 2021 and a large part of 2022, higher prices of materials and equipment will also erode the purchasing power of the infrastructure package. This comes on top of monopoly power in for example freight railroads and broadband, which is reducing the bang for the buck in any phase of the business cycle.

    So after Trump slashed taxes during an economic expansion, Biden now launches an infrastructure spending package into full employment. The timing of US economic policies seems a bit off in recent years. Instead of counter-cyclical fiscal policies they have turned cyclical. Evidently, the political cycle trumps the business cycle in DC. Still, infrastructure spending has long-term benefits that will outlive the business cycle. Especially, in the US which has an outdated infrastructure compared to some other industrialized nations. What’s more, from a cyclical perspective the next recession could still hit the economy before the decade of additional infrastructure spending is over. In terms of additional annual GDP growth, estimates reach at most 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points in the coming years and even less in later years. So not a major change in economic growth.

    Electoral impact: too late for this and next year’s elections

    The electoral limitations of the infrastructure plan for the Democrats are twofold. In the first place, this is a bipartisan bill, supported by a minority of Republicans. Although most Republicans voted against it, the yes voters were predominantly from swing districts, increasing their electability next year. Meanwhile, the majority of Republicans will continue to claim that only a small portion of the infrastructure package ($110 billion) goes to traditional infrastructure, and that the package is not paid for (the CBO estimated that it would increase federal borrowing by $256 billion over 10 years).

    In the second place, the bulk of the benefits will not arrive until 2024. Democrats will argue that the infrastructure package will alleviate supply chain bottlenecks, but voters are not likely to reap the benefits prior to the November 2022 midterm elections. Meanwhile, rampant inflation is eroding the purchasing power of middle and lower class voters, while the Fed continues to pump up the stock portfolios of wealthy voters until June next year. (Note that tapering is not tightening.) This means that the voters will mostly experience higher prices and constrained supply before the midterm elections in November next year.

    But at least Biden can claim he has delivered a bipartisan bill, which swing voters may appreciate more than the progressive reconciliation bill. This could help rebuild his tarnished image. However, the passage of the infrastructure bill came too late to help Democratic candidates in last week’s elections, which did not go very well for them.

    Reconciliation is next

    Congress is on recess this week and returns on November 15. On top of the agenda will be the $1.75 trillion reconciliation bill. It is difficult to keep track of what’s in the reconciliation bill. Last Wednesday, Pelosi put the four weeks of paid family leave and negotiated changes on prescription drugs and immigration back in the reconciliation bill. These changes are likely to be rejected by the Senate, but Pelosi seems done waiting for what Manchin and Sinema exactly want before starting the process on the reconciliation bill. We are likely to see more changes, especially after the bill has been sent to the Senate. It is interesting to note that these days it seems easier to pass a bipartisan bill than a Democrats-only reconciliation bill. In fact, if moderate Republicans had not come to the rescue, the infrastructure bill would have failed in the House because of Democratic defections. While the bipartisan infrastructure bill had already passed the Senate prior to Friday’s passage in the House, the reconciliation bill still has to be approved by both the House and the Senate. It could take weeks before the CBO has finalized its full analysis of the reconciliation bill, but lawmakers may be satisfied with a few preliminary projection tables. So Congress will be focused on the reconciliation bill during the remainder of November.

    Don’t forget the deadlines

    However, there is a December 3 deadline for the debt ceiling and government funding. McConnell already said last month the Democrats were on their own next time. It remains to be seen if he will blink again in this game of chicken, but if he does not, the Democrats would have to include a raise in the debt ceiling in the reconciliation bill. However, the Democrats are again betting on a bipartisan increase in the debt limit. If the debt ceiling is not raised in time, the extraordinary measures taken by the Treasury Department are expected to run out after December 3 and a federal government default would become inevitable sometime between mid-December and mid-February according to estimates by the Bipartisan Policy Center. What’s more, if no government funding bill or continuing resolution is passed by December 3, the federal government will have to shut down partially in early December. Note that a continuing resolution would prevent a shutdown, but imply a substantial cut in defense spending. Unfortunately, the reconciliation bill may take up most of Congress’ time in coming weeks, leaving little time for the two fiscal deadlines.

    Conclusion

    While this bipartisan infrastructure law was long overdue given the state of US infrastructure, it will hit the economy at a time of full employment and after a couple of years of high inflation. This means that the bang for the buck will be substantially eroded. The attention of lawmakers now turns to the health care, education and child care bill that the Democrats want to pass through reconciliation, i.e. without Republican support. So far this has been more difficult than reaching bipartisan agreement on an infrastructure bill. As we noted earlier, President Biden is trying to hold together a broad and shaky coalition.

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 18:25

  • Taliban Inaugurates "Islamic Emirate Army" With Largest-Ever Convoy Of US Armored Vehicles
    Taliban Inaugurates “Islamic Emirate Army” With Largest-Ever Convoy Of US Armored Vehicles

    The Taliban on Tuesday inaugurated its “Islamic Emirate Army” in the large city of Kandahar in Afghanistan’s south by showcasing a lengthy parade of armored vehicles taken from US and NATO forces.

    While it’s not the first time since conquering the country in August amid the rapid US troop withdrawal that the Taliban has held military parades touting its newly acquired Western hardware and weaponry, the Kandahar parade did appear to involve the most US-supplied vehicles ever on display at once. 

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    Helicopters could also be seen flying overhead, suggesting that the Taliban has to some degree resolved its lack of pilots problem. The Pentagon in its earlier evacuation said it attempted to destroy and disable many aircraft it left behind, but clearly they didn’t get to everything.

    According to the AFP description of the event which featured what looked like hundreds of US military vehicles in a line that stretched as far as one can see:

    The Taliban hold a military parade in Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-largest city and the militants’ spiritual heartland, using former Afghan and international forces vehicles and helicopters to inaugurate their new “Islamic Emirate Army”.

    A convoy of military vehicles drove down Kandahar’s main road, which links the airport to the city center, past onlookers while religious music blasted from loudspeakers. The Taliban defense minister recently announced military units would be reorganized and renamed.

    The Taliban’s army appeared to be much more organized and professional in its presentation than in prior months…

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    Also on Tuesday the Pakistani government and a local Taliban group have confirmed a ceasefire that could see the notoriously restive Af-Pak border area eventually become more stable. Pakistan’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry initially announced Monday a “complete ceasefire” with the group known as the Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is based in South Waziristan.

    As CNN reviews, “The TTP is a banned Islamist group that is responsible for some of the deadliest attacks in Pakistan’s history, including an assault on an army-run school in 2014 that killed 132 children, as well as the 2012 attempt to kill schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai, who became a Nobel laureate and education rights activist.”

    Tyler Durden
    Tue, 11/09/2021 – 18:05

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