- Net Zero, The Digital Panopticon, & The Future Of Food
Net Zero, The Digital Panopticon, & The Future Of Food
Authored by Colin Todhunter via Off-Guardian.org,
The food transition, the energy transition, net-zero ideology, programmable central bank digital currencies, the censorship of free speech and clampdowns on protest. What’s it all about? To understand these processes, we need to first locate what is essentially a social and economic reset within the context of a collapsing financial system.
Writer Ted Reece notes that the general rate of profit has trended downwards from an estimated 43% in the 1870s to 17% in the 2000s. By late 2019, many companies could not generate enough profit. Falling turnover, squeezed margins, limited cashflows and highly leveraged balance sheets were prevalent.
Professor Fabio Vighi of Cardiff University has described how closing down the global economy in early 2020 under the guise of fighting a supposedly new and novel pathogen allowed the US Federal Reserve to flood collapsing financial markets (COVID relief) with freshly printed money without causing hyperinflation. Lockdowns curtailed economic activity, thereby removing demand for the newly printed money (credit) in the physical economy and preventing ‘contagion’.
According to investigative journalist Michael Byrant, €1.5 trillion was needed to deal with the crisis in Europe alone. The financial collapse staring European central bankers in the face came to a head in 2019. The appearance of a ‘novel virus’ provided a convenient cover story.
The European Central Bank agreed to a €1.31 trillion bailout of banks followed by the EU agreeing to a €750 billion recovery fund for European states and corporations. This package of long-term, ultra-cheap credit to hundreds of banks was sold to the public as a necessary programme to cushion the impact of the pandemic on businesses and workers.
In response to a collapsing neoliberalism, we are now seeing the rollout of an authoritarian great reset — an agenda that intends to reshape the economy and change how we live.
SHIFT TO AUTHORITARIANISM
The new economy is to be dominated by a handful of tech giants, global conglomerates and e-commerce platforms, and new markets will also be created through the financialisation of nature, which is to be colonised, commodified and traded under the notion of protecting the environment.
In recent years, we have witnessed an overaccumulation of capital, and the creation of such markets will provide fresh investment opportunities (including dodgy carbon offsetting Ponzi schemes) for the super-rich to park their wealth and prosper.
This great reset envisages a transformation of Western societies, resulting in permanent restrictions on fundamental liberties and mass surveillance. Being rolled out under the benign term of a ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’, the World Economic Forum (WEF) says the public will eventually ‘rent’ everything they require (remember the WEF video ‘you will own nothing and be happy’?): stripping the right of ownership under the guise of a ‘green economy’ and underpinned by the rhetoric of ‘sustainable consumption’ and ‘climate emergency’.
Climate alarmism and the mantra of sustainability are about promoting money-making schemes. But they also serve another purpose: social control.
Neoliberalism has run its course, resulting in the impoverishment of large sections of the population. But to dampen dissent and lower expectations, the levels of personal freedom we have been used to will not be tolerated. This means that the wider population will be subjected to the discipline of an emerging surveillance state.
To push back against any dissent, ordinary people are being told that they must sacrifice personal liberty in order to protect public health, societal security (those terrible Russians, Islamic extremists or that Sunak-designated bogeyman George Galloway) or the climate. Unlike in the old normal of neoliberalism, an ideological shift is occurring whereby personal freedoms are increasingly depicted as being dangerous because they run counter to the collective good.
The real reason for this ideological shift is to ensure that the masses get used to lower living standards and accept them. Consider, for instance, the Bank of England’s chief economist Huw Pill saying that people should ‘accept’ being poorer. And then there is Rob Kapito of the world’s biggest asset management firm BlackRock, who says that a “very entitled” generation must deal with scarcity for the first time in their lives.
At the same time, to muddy the waters, the message is that lower living standards are the result of the conflict in Ukraine and supply shocks that both the war and ‘the virus’ have caused.
The net-zero carbon emissions agenda will help legitimise lower living standards (reducing your carbon footprint) while reinforcing the notion that our rights must be sacrificed for the greater good. You will own nothing, not because the rich and their neoliberal agenda made you poor but because you will be instructed to stop being irresponsible and must act to protect the planet.
NET-ZERO AGENDA
But what of this shift towards net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and the plan to slash our carbon footprints? Is it even feasible or necessary?
Gordon Hughes, a former World Bank economist and current professor of economics at the University of Edinburgh, says in a new report that current UK and European net-zero policies will likely lead to further economic ruin.
Apparently, the only viable way to raise the cash for sufficient new capital expenditure (on wind and solar infrastructure) would be a two decades-long reduction in private consumption of up to 10 per cent. Such a shock has never occurred in the last century outside war; even then, never for more than a decade.
But this agenda will also cause serious environmental degradation. So says Andrew Nikiforuk in the article The Rising Chorus of Renewable Energy Skeptics, which outlines how the green techno-dream is vastly destructive.
He lists the devastating environmental impacts of an even more mineral-intensive system based on renewables and warns:
“The whole process of replacing a declining system with a more complex mining-based enterprise is now supposed to take place with a fragile banking system, dysfunctional democracies, broken supply chains, critical mineral shortages and hostile geopolitics.”
All of this assumes that global warming is real and anthropogenic. Not everyone agrees. In the article Global warming and the confrontation between the West and the rest of the world, journalist Thierry Meyssan argues that net zero is based on political ideology rather than science. But to state such things has become heresy in the Western countries and shouted down with accusations of ‘climate science denial’.
Regardless of such concerns, the march towards net zero continues, and key to this is the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development Goals.
Today, almost every business or corporate report, website or brochure includes a multitude of references to ‘carbon footprints’, ‘sustainability’, ‘net zero’ or ‘climate neutrality’ and how a company or organisation intends to achieve its sustainability targets. Green profiling, green bonds and green investments go hand in hand with displaying ‘green’ credentials and ambitions wherever and whenever possible.
It seems anyone and everyone in business is planting their corporate flag on the summit of sustainability. Take Sainsbury’s, for instance. It is one of the ‘big six’ food retail supermarkets in the UK and has a vision for the future of food that it published in 2019.
Here’s a quote from it:
“Personalised Optimisation is a trend that could see people chipped and connected like never before. A significant step on from wearable tech used today, the advent of personal microchips and neural laces has the potential to see all of our genetic, health and situational data recorded, stored and analysed by algorithms which could work out exactly what we need to support us at a particular time in our life. Retailers, such as Sainsbury’s could play a critical role to support this, arranging delivery of the needed food within thirty minutes — perhaps by drone.”
Tracked, traced and chipped — for your own benefit. Corporations accessing all of our personal data, right down to our DNA. The report is littered with references to sustainability and the climate or environment, and it is difficult not to get the impression that it is written so as to leave the reader awestruck by the technological possibilities.
However, the promotion of a brave new world of technological innovation that has nothing to say about power — who determines policies that have led to massive inequalities, poverty, malnutrition, food insecurity and hunger and who is responsible for the degradation of the environment in the first place — is nothing new.
The essence of power is conveniently glossed over, not least because those behind the prevailing food regime are also shaping the techno-utopian fairytale where everyone lives happily ever after eating bugs and synthetic food while living in a digital panopticon.
FAKE GREEN
The type of ‘green’ agenda being pushed is a multi-trillion market opportunity for lining the pockets of rich investors and subsidy-sucking green infrastructure firms and also part of a strategy required to secure compliance required for the ‘new normal’.
It is, furthermore, a type of green that plans to cover much of the countryside with wind farms and solar panels with most farmers no longer farming. A recipe for food insecurity.
Those investing in the ‘green’ agenda care first and foremost about profit. The supremely influential BlackRock invests in the current food system that is responsible for polluted waterways, degraded soils, the displacement of smallholder farmers, a spiralling public health crisis, malnutrition and much more.
It also invests in healthcare — an industry that thrives on the illnesses and conditions created by eating the substandard food that the current system produces. Did Larry Fink, the top man at BlackRock, suddenly develop a conscience and become an environmentalist who cares about the planet and ordinary people? Of course not.
Any serious deliberations on the future of food would surely consider issues like food sovereignty, the role of agroecology and the strengthening of family farms — the backbone of current global food production.
The aforementioned article by Andrew Nikiforuk concludes that, if we are really serious about our impacts on the environment, we must scale back our needs and simplify society.
In terms of food, the solution rests on a low-input approach that strengthens rural communities and local markets and prioritises smallholder farms and small independent enterprises and retailers, localised democratic food systems and a concept of food sovereignty based on self-sufficiency, agroecological principles and regenerative agriculture.
It would involve facilitating the right to culturally appropriate food that is nutritionally dense due to diverse cropping patterns and free from toxic chemicals while ensuring local ownership and stewardship of common resources like land, water, soil and seeds.
That’s where genuine environmentalism and the future of food begins.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 03/14/2024 – 02:00 - Escobar: Confident Dragon Lays Out Modernization Roadmap
Escobar: Confident Dragon Lays Out Modernization Roadmap
This is the Year of the Wooden Dragon, according to China’s classic wuxing (“five elements”) culture. The dragon, one of the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac, is a symbol of power, nobility and intelligence. Wood adds growth, development and prosperity.
Call it a summary of where China is heading in 2024.
The second session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) was finalized on Sunday in Beijing.
The wider world should know that within the framework of grassroots democracy with Chinese characteristics, an extremely complex – and fascinating – phenomenon, the importance of the CPPCC is paramount.
The CPPCC channels wide-ranging expectations of the average Chinese to the decision level, and actually advises the central government on a vast range of issues – from everyday living to high-quality development strategies.
This year, most of the discussion focused on how to drive China’s modernization even faster. This being China, concepts – like flowers – were blooming all around the spectrum, such as “new quality productive forces, “deepening reform,” “high-standard opening-up,” and a fabulous new one, “major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics.”
As the Global Times emphasized, “2024 is not only a critical year for achieving the goals of the ‘14th Five-Year Plan’ but also a key year for achieving the transition to high-quality development of the economy.”
Betting on strategic investment
So let’s start with Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s first “work report” delivered a week ago, which opened the annual session of the National People’s Congress. The key takeaway: Beijing will be pursuing the same economic targets as in 2023. That translates as 5% annual growth.
Of course deflationary risks, a downturn in the real estate market and somewhat shaky business confidence simply won’t vanish. Li was quite realistic, emphasizing Beijing is “keenly aware” of the challenges ahead: “Achieving this year’s targets will not be easy.” And he added: “Global economic growth lacks steam and the regional hotspot issues keep erupting. This has made China’s external environment more complex, severe and uncertain.”
Beijing’s strategy remains focused on a “proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy”. In a nutshell: the song remains the same. There won’t be a “stimulus” of any kind.
Deeper answers should be found in the work report/budget released by the National Development and Reform Commission: the focus will be on structural change, via extra funds to science, technology, education, national defense, agriculture. Translation: China bets on strategic investment, the key for a high-quality economic transition.
In practice, Beijing will be heavily invested in modernizing industry and developing “new quality productive forces” such as new-energy vehicles, biomanufacturing and commercial space flight.
Science Minister Yin Hejun made it clear: there was an 8.1% increase in national investment in research and development in 2023. He wants more – and he will get it: R&D spending will grow by 10% to a total of 370.8 billion yuan.
The mantra is “self-reliance”. On all fronts – from chipmaking to AI. A no holds barred tech war is on – and China is totally focused to counter “tech containment” from the Hegemon as much as its ultimate goal is to wrest tech supremacy from its prime competitor. Beijing simply cannot allow itself to be vulnerable to U.S.-imposed tech choke points and supply chain disruptions.
So short-term economic problems will not be causing sleepless nights. The Beijing leadership is always looking ahead – focusing on long-term challenges.
Learning lessons from the Donbass battlefield
Beijing will continue to steer the economic development of Hong Kong and Macau, and invest even more in the crucial Greater Bay Area, which is the premier southern China high tech, services and finance hub.
Taiwan of course was central to the work report; Beijing fiercely opposes “external interference” – code for Hegemon tactics. That will become even trickier in May, when William Lai Ching-te, who flirts with independence, becomes president.
On defense, there will be only a 7.2% increase in 2024, which is peanuts compared to the Hegemon’s defense budget now approaching $900 billion: China’s stands as $238 billion, even as China’s nominal GDP is approaching the U.S.
A great deal of China’s defense budget will go for emerging tech – considering the immensely valuables lessons the PLA is learning out of the Donbass battlefield, as well as the deep interactions part of the Russia-China strategic partnership.
And that brings us to diplomacy. China will continue to be firmly positioned as a champion of the Global South. That was made explicit by Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a press conference on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress.
Wang Yi’s priorities: to “maintain stable relations with major powers; join hands with its neighbouring countries for progress; and strive for revitalisation with the Global South”.
Wang Yi once again stressed that Beijing favors an “equal and orderly” multipolar world and “inclusive economic globalization”.
And of course he could not allow U.S. Secretary of State Little Blinken – always out of his depth – to get away with his latest “recipe”: “It is impermissible that those with the bigger fist have the final say, and it is definitely unacceptable that certain countries must be at the table while others can only be on the menu.”
BRI as a global accelerator
Crucially, Wang Yi re-emphasized the drive for “high-quality” cooperation within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) framework. He defined BRI as “an engine for the common development of all countries and an accelerator for the modernisation of the whole world”. Wang Yi actually said he’s hopeful about the emergence of a “Global South moment in global governance” – in which China and BRI play an essential part.
Li Qiang’s work report, incidentally, had only one paragraph on BRI. But then we find this nugget as Li refers to the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor – which links China’s landlocked southwest with the eastern seaboard, via Guangxi province.
Translation: BRI will be focusing on opening new economic roads for China’s less developed regions, diversifying from the previous emphasis on Xinjiang.
Dr Wei Yuansong is a member of the CPPCC and also the Chinese Peasants’ and Workers’ Democratic Party – which happens to be one of the eight non-CCP parties in Chinese politics (very few outside of China know about this).
He offered some fascinating comments on BRI to Fengmian News and also stressed the need to “tell China’s story well” to avoid “conflict and incidents” along the BRI road. For that, Wei suggests the need to use an “international language” in telling these stories; that implies using English.
As for what Wang Yi said in his press conference, in fact that was discussed in detail at the closed-door Central Conference on Foreign Affairs Work in late 2023, where it was established that China faced “strategic opportunities” to raise its “international influence, appeal and power” despite “high winds and choppy waters”.
The key takeaway: the narrative war between China and the Hegemon will be pitiless. Beijing is confident it’s capable of offering stability, investment, connectivity and sound diplomacy to the whole Global South, instead of Forever Wars.
That is reflected, for instance, by Ma Xinmin, the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s legal advisor, telling the International Court of Justice that the Palestinians have the right to armed resistance when it comes to fighting the colonialist, racist, apartheid state of Israel. Therefore, Hamas cannot be defined as a terrorist organization.
This is the overwhelming position across the lands of Islam and across the majority of the Global South – linking Beijing with fellow BRICS member Brazil and President Lula, who compared the genocide in Gaza to the Nazi genocide in WWII.
How to resist collective West sanctions
The Two Sessions did reflect Beijing’s full understanding that Hegemon containment and destabilization tactics remain the biggest challenge to China’s peaceful rise. But simultaneously it reflected Chinese confidence on its global diplomatic clout as a force for peace, stability and economic development. It’s an extremely sensitive balance that only the Middle Kingdom seems capable of pulling off.
Then there’s the Trump factor.
Economist Ding Yifan, a former deputy director of the World Development Institute, part of the State Council’s Development Research Centre, is one among those who’s aware China is learning key lessons from Russia on how to resist collective West sanctions – which will be inevitable against China especially if Trump is back at the White House.
And that brings us to the absolute key issue being currently discussed in Moscow, within the Russia-China partnership, and soon among the BRICS: alternative settlement payments to the U.S. dollar, increasing trade among “friendly nations”, and controls on capital flight.
Nearly all Russia-China trade is now in yuan and rubles. As much as Russian trade with the EU fell by 68% in 2023, trade with Asia rose by 5.6% – with new landmarks reached with China ($240 billion) and India ($65 billion) – and 84% of
Russia’s total energy exports going to “friendly countries”.
The Two Sessions did not get into detail on some extremely thorny geopolitical issues. For instance, India’s version of multipolarity – considering New Delhi’s unresolved love affair with Washington – is quite different from China’s. Everyone knows – and no one more than the Russians – that within BRICS 10 the biggest strategic issue is how to accommodate the perpetual tension between India and China.
What’s clear even behind the fog of goodwill enveloping the Two Sessions is that Beijing is fully aware of how the Hegemon is – deliberately – already crossing a key Chinese red line, officially stationing “permanent troops” in Taiwan.
Since last year U.S. Special Forces have been training Taiwanese in operating Black Hornet nano microdrones. In 2024 U.S. military advisers are deployed full time at army bases on Kinmen and Penghu islands.
Those actually driving U.S. foreign policy behind the Crash Test Dummy at the White House believe that even as they are powerless to handle the Houthi Ansarallah in the Red Sea, they are capable of poking the Dragon.
No posturing will alter the Dragon’s roadmap. The CPPCC’s political resolution on Taiwan calls for uniting “all patriotic forces”, “deepen integration and development in various fields across the Taiwan Straits”, and go all out on “peaceful reunification”. That will translate in practice into increased economic/trade cooperation, more direct flights, more cargo ports and logistics bases.
As Project Ukraine goes down the drain of history, Project Taiwan will go on overdrive. Forever Wars never die. Bring it on. The Dragon is ready.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 23:40 - The World's Most Valuable Sports Teams In 2024
The World’s Most Valuable Sports Teams In 2024
Worth more than $5 billion, the world’s most valuable sports teams in 2024 can be found in baseball, basketball, and soccer leagues, but American football’s NFL reigns supreme.
This chart, via Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu, highlights the 15 sports teams with the highest value in the world, according to Forbes data published late last year.
Ranked: Top 15 Sports Teams by Value
The NFL’s Dallas Cowboys are the most valuable team in the world with a $9.0 billion valuation.
The team was purchased in 1989 for $150M by Jerry Jones. Its growth in value was slower at first, but over the past five years, the Cowboys’ valuation appreciated by 80%.
Here are the 15 most valuable sports teams around the world:
Other NFL teams including the New England Patriots at $7.0 billion and the Los Angeles Rams at $6.9 billion are amongst the world’s top five most valuable sports teams.
Indeed, NFL teams account for nine out of the top 15 most valuable sports teams today.
The MLB’s New York Yankees are the second-most valuable sports team with a valuation of $7.1 billion, but is the only representative from Major League Baseball on the ranking. Meanwhile, the NBA has three teams in the top 15, with the Golden State Warriors ranking the highest with a $7.0 billion valuation.
Only two teams from outside of America feature in the top 15 sports teams by value, and both are internationally-renowned soccer teams: Real Madrid of Spain’s La Liga at $6.1 billion, and Manchester United of England’s Premier League at $6.0 billion.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 23:20 - Republican Warns Of Biden Order Allowing Illegal Immigrants, Felons To Vote
Republican Warns Of Biden Order Allowing Illegal Immigrants, Felons To Vote
Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
A Republican secretary of state sent a letter this week to the Department of Justice (DOJ) alerting it to an executive order signed in 2021 that he says will allow felons and illegal aliens to register to vote in elections.
An election worker opens envelopes containing vote-by-mail ballots in a file photo. (Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images) In the letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Republican Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson wrote that a Biden-signed executive order has led to agencies under Mr. Garland’s charge “attempting to register people to vote, including potentially ineligible felons and to co-opt state and local officials into accomplishing this goal.”
The order, which the White House described as an effort to promote “access to voting,” suggested that it was designed to eliminate racial discrimination at the polls. It told federal agencies, including the DOJ, to “consider ways to expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process.”
Mr. Watson took issue with one provision that directed the DOJ to ensure that the U.S. Marshals Service change jail and “intergovernmental agreements” to mandate that the facilities “provide educational materials related to voter registration and voting,” and “facilitate voting by mail, to the extent practicable and appropriate.”
The problem, according to Mr. Watson, is that those materials may be given to people who can’t vote such as felons and illegal aliens. State officials are also essentially being forced to comply with the rules, he said.
“Our understanding is that everyone in the Marshals’ custody is given a form advising them of their right to register and vote,” his letter said, according to Fox News. “Providing ineligible non-citizens with information on how to register to vote undoubtedly encourages them to illegally register to vote, exposing them to legal jeopardy beyond their immigration status.”
The letter said that the secretary of state’s office believes that providing a form to illegal immigrants who are jailed to advise them of their right to vote “undoubtedly encourages them to illegally” do so and exposes them to “legal jeopardy.”
It also noted that some individuals in jail custody “only have fleeting ties to Mississippi and do not meet the residency requirements necessary to be a Mississippi voter.”
“Many outside groups performing voter registration and vote harvesting services are partisan entities with a history of being unreliable. There have been documented instances of these groups providing incorrect directions to voters,” the Republican official warned. “It is not proper for the Federal government to push partisan groups into the voting process in Mississippi or any other state.”
The Epoch Times contacted the DOJ for comment but didn’t receive a reply by press time.
Speaking to Fox News, Mr. Watson said the issue should be immediately considered because the 2024 election is just months away. Citing the significant number of illegal border crossings in recent years, the secretary said they could try to register to vote and cast ballots in the coming months, while other Republican officials in recent years have warned that illegal immigrants could register to vote and cast ballots in favor of Democratic candidates.
“If you look at what’s going on at the border when you’ve got so many illegal aliens pouring into our country, imagine the efforts used to get them to register to vote and that’s what this is all about,” he told the outlet on March 11. “It’s about control, it’s about continuing their power, and unfortunately that puts our country in a terrible position, so it’s immediate and it’s something where we hope they will respect our request to stop the program.”
A group of more than 1,000 illegal aliens walk toward a U.S. Border Patrol field processing center after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Dec. 18, 2023. (John Moore/Getty Images) With just eight months to go before the November election, illegal immigration has increasingly become a focus among American voters, according to recent opinion polls. A poll released in late February showed that about six in 10 Americans believe illegal immigration is now a serious problem and a majority now back the construction of a border wall, which former President Donald Trump has championed.
During President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech to Congress, he made reference to an illegal immigrant who allegedly murdered a college student, using the term “illegal” to describe the individual.
But he later retracted his comments over the weekend, telling MSNBC that he “shouldn’t have used the term illegal.” Instead, the president said he would use the term “undocumented” immigrant—a term that has risen to prominence among Democratic politicians and legacy news outlets in recent years.
When asked the same question last week, the president replied, “Technically, he’s not supposed to be” in the United States.
The president also said on March 9 that “they built the country,” referring to illegal immigrants. “The reason our economy is growing. We have to control the border and more orderly flow,” he said.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 23:00 - Under Armour Puts Scandal-Plagued Founder Kevin Plank Back In Charge, Mohamed El-Erian To Become Chairman
Under Armour Puts Scandal-Plagued Founder Kevin Plank Back In Charge, Mohamed El-Erian To Become Chairman
Just 13 months into her tenure at Under Armour, Linnartz is already out as CEO. The Marriott veteran took over in 2023 less than a year after former CEO Patrik Frisk was ousted (Frisk himself had only run the business for two years). Disgraced founder Kevin Plank – who used then Bloomberg’s Stephanie Ruhle as both a private PR adviser and alleged love interest – will take the reins from her on April 1, according to a company press release.
Stephanie Ruhle, then with Bloomberg, conducted a 2014 interview with Kevin Plank Plank, currently executive chair of the board, will return to the CEO job April 1, Under Armour said Wednesday. Linnartz will remain an adviser to the company through April 30, while a familiar name on Wall Street, lead director Mohamed El-Erian, will succeed Plank as non-executive chairman.
Plank thanked Linnartz for her efforts and said in a statement that he looks forward to “seizing the opportunities ahead” for Under Armour.
“During her tenure, [Linnartz] strengthened the leadership team with executive hires in critical areas, including product, design, supply chain, consumer connectivity, and regional management,” Plank said in a statement. “Her prior experience leading major brands was instrumental in focusing our consumer strategy, including the launch of the U.S. loyalty program, UA Rewards. Her efforts have helped set us on the right path, and we wish her success in her future endeavors.”
Indeed, Linnartz was in the midst of overhauling Under Armour’s C-suite, which recently saw the exit of Browne, Chief Product Officer Lisa Collier and other roles. During her last earnings call, Linnartz highlighted that in addition to a new chief of product and head of the Americas, named in January, Under Armour over the months had also brought on a new: chief consumer officer, chief communications officer, chief design officer, chief supply chain officer, leader for the EMEA region and senior vice president of DTC in the Americas. The business is also in the middle of a pivot to a more athleisure-focused offering.
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Poonam Goyal said the CEO change was a surprise because there were early signs that Linnartz’s turnaround plan was taking hold. Plank’s return “might raise eyebrows, given his resignation amid workplace controversies,” Goyal wrote in a note, eyeing former co-worker Stephanie Ruhle.
Plank stepped down as CEO of Under Armour in 2020 after a series of scandals, including a Wall Street Journal story that reported the company had a culture of inappropriate behavior toward women. Not only that, but details emerged that the billionaire had developed close ties with MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle, who had traveled with Plank and Under Armour staff on his private jet, while “advising” the CEO her input on a range of business matters.
Ruhle’s involvement at the Baltimore company was unusual and problematic, the WSJ reported, and left employees unsure how to handle her feedback because “many people believed she was romantically involved with Plank.” Both Mr. Plank and Ms. Ruhle are married.
Linnartz outlined a three-year plan in 2023 to grow the brand through womenswear, footwear and “sports style” by pushing into more design collaborations and bolstering its presence in sneaker culture. She called her first year a “building year” for Under Armour as she moved to reset inventory levels and realign the business around the new strategic priorities.
A former executive at Marriott International Inc., Linnartz is a polished leader who oversaw the hotel chain’s rewards program and forged partnerships with entities like the National Football League and the National Collegiate Athletic Association before taking the top job at Under Armour.
During her tenure at Baltimore-based Under Armour, Linnartz started the athletic-wear company’s own rewards program and brought in many new senior managers across divisions, including heads of product and branding, to help execute the turnaround plan.
“Her efforts have helped set us on the right path,” Plank, who founded Under Armour in 1996, said in the company’s statement Wednesday.
Under Armour raised its outlook for full-year earnings in February, with cost-cutting efforts overcoming a continued decline in revenue, particularly in its home market. Still, North American revenue was down 12% in the most recent quarter and the stock is a mere fraction of where it traded over the past decade.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 22:49 - Mapping Credit Card Delinquency Rates In The US By State
Mapping Credit Card Delinquency Rates In The US By State
Credit card debt carries a hefty bill in America, and falling behind on payments can be extremely costly for cardholders.
This graphic, via Visual Capitalist’s Marcus Lu, shows credit card delinquency rates across 50 U.S. states, as of Q3 2023. This data comes from a WalletHub study published in January 2024.
Which States Have the Lowest and Highest Delinquency Rates?
Credit card delinquency is when a cardholder falls behind on required monthly payments. Credit agencies are often notified after two months of delinquent payments.
WalletHub examined proprietary user data on the average number of delinquent credit card tradelines—also known as credit accounts—across states. Here they are from lowest to highest:
Rank State Share of Credit Card
Tradelines Delinquent (%)1 Iowa 12.9 2 Massachusetts 13.9 3 Hawaii 13.9 4 Rhode Island 14.7 5 Washington 14.7 6 Florida 14.8 7 New York 14.9 8 California 15.1 9 New Hampshire 15.5 10 Alaska 15.6 11 New Jersey 15.6 12 Colorado 15.7 13 Utah 15.8 14 Vermont 16.1 15 Montana 16.1 16 Illinois 16.5 17 Oregon 16.6 18 Idaho 17.0 19 Ohio 17.5 20 Connecticut 17.8 21 Maine 18.0 22 Nebraska 18.1 23 Wyoming 18.1 24 Maryland 18.4 25 Kansas 18.4 26 Wisconsin 18.5 27 Virginia 18.7 28 Nevada 19.1 29 South Dakota 19.3 30 Arizona 19.8 31 Minnesota 19.8 32 Pennsylvania 20.2 33 Michigan 20.9 34 North Dakota 21.3 35 Delaware 21.4 36 Missouri 22.4 37 New Mexico 22.6 38 Georgia 23.1 39 North Carolina 24.0 40 Indiana 24.3 41 Texas 24.7 42 West Virginia 25.2 43 Tennessee 26.2 44 South Carolina 26.9 45 Kentucky 27.6 46 Oklahoma 28.2 47 Arkansas 30.1 48 Alabama 30.5 49 Louisiana 31.7 50 Mississippi 39.1 No state had credit delinquency rates of less than 10%, with Iowa coming the closest at 12.9%.
That puts Iowa ahead of wealthier states like Massachusetts (13.9%), Washington (14.7%), and New Hampshire (15.5%).
At the bottom end was Mississippi, which had 39% credit delinquency rates to end 2023. That’s well ahead of the next-lowest states Louisiana (31.7%) and Alabama (30.5%).
It’s notable that the American South had higher rates of delinquency almost across the board. The five states with the highest rates of credit card delinquency are all located in the southeastern region of the country, and Texas had a higher delinquency rate (25%) than other majorly populated states like Florida (14.8%) and New York (14.9%).
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 22:40 - "Burn It All Down": Radical Maryland 'Equity' Official Promotes Racial Revolution
“Burn It All Down”: Radical Maryland ‘Equity’ Official Promotes Racial Revolution
In a crime-ridden metro area just north of the Washington, DC swap, dominated by radical progressives, it comes as no surprise that the mayor recently appointed a “racial equity” leader who openly supports violence and advocates for a revolution.
Fox News reports that “Kayla Aliese Carter,” the head of College Park, Maryland’s racial equity department, which aims to eliminate systemic racism in its local government, supports “Black liberation” through revolutionary means and praises a plan “how we will eat and live and grow after we burn it all down.”
The banner image on Carter’s X account reads: “I can’t wait for society to collapse so MY ideology can rise from the ashes!”
Following the killing of George Floyd, Carter wrote on X:
“Do you all understand why the oppressed are constantly shamed out of using violence??? BECAUSE THE OPPRESSOR WANTS TO BE THE SOLE PROFITEER OF VIOLENCE. THEY DONT WANT TO DEAL WITH BACK TALK. ‘DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO’ FACE ASS. No.”
Do yall understand why the oppressed are constantly shamed out of using violence??? BECAUSE THE OPPRESSOR WANTS TO BE THE SOLE PROFITEER OF VIOLENCE. THEY DONT WANT TO DEAL WITH BACK TALK. “DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO” FACE ASS. no.
— Dick Wolf (@kaylaliesec) May 30, 2020
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In 2022, Mayor Fazlul Kabir hired Carter via Resolution 20-R-16, “which renounced systemic racism, declared support of Black lives, and called for the ongoing explicit and conscious confrontation of racism.” This was in direct response to the aftermath of the death of George Floyd. The law mandated that Carter perform examinations of “all current policies and programs” for radical bias.
“Remember we are at war against colonialism,” a 2021 Instagram post read.
She has repeatedly expressed frustration online: “I hate when White children stare at me … Its literally terrifying so I just stare back until they stop.”
I hate when White children stare at me its literally terrifying so I just stare back until they stop 😩
— Dick Wolf (@kaylaliesec) July 31, 2021
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The social justice warrior also hates the police.
**The police ARE the white supremacists** https://t.co/rEca3VxiHv
— Dick Wolf (@kaylaliesec) August 26, 2020
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Responding to Carter’s ridiculousness is Del. Nino Mangione, R-Baltimore County, who said:
“The blatant racism from Kayla Aliese Carter is on full display for the entire world to see. She is an embarrassment to Maryland and the city of College Park. She should be immediately terminated from the position in city government and apologize for her offensive, vile, vulgar statements. Leaders of goodwill across Maryland should forcefully condemn Ms. Carter’s words and actions immediately. There is no room for this inexcusable hatred and intolerance in Maryland.
“People with attitudes like this should not be in public service, and their thoughtless behavior should not be excused. Shame!”
and apologize for her offensive, vile, vulgar statements. Leaders of good will across Maryland should forcefully condemn Ms. Carter’s words and actions immediately. There is no room for this inexcusable hatred and intolerance in Maryland. People with attitudes like this should
— Nino Mangione (@NinoMangione42) March 13, 2024
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What are X users saying about this?
🚨Breaking: Elon Speaks to Woke Ideology… pic.twitter.com/oLHd0Sxgln
— JDO Post | 𝙽𝚎𝚠𝚜 + 𝙰𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚢𝚜𝚒𝚜 (@JDOPost) March 13, 2024
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Democrats are saying the quiet part out loud!
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) March 13, 2024
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It’s Communism.
— James Lindsay, number one Gay Studies author (@ConceptualJames) March 13, 2024
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They want you dead.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 13, 2024
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Yet this is another progressive radical the FBI will ignore as they’re more concerned with Catholics and elderly MAGA folks in rural America.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 22:00 - Health Officials: Man Dies From Bubonic Plague In New Mexico
Health Officials: Man Dies From Bubonic Plague In New Mexico
Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Officials in New Mexico confirmed that a resident died from the plague in the United States’ first fatal case in several years.
A bubonic plague smear, prepared from a lymph removed from an adenopathic lymph node, or bubo, of a plague patient, demonstrates the presence of the Yersinia pestis bacteria that causes the plague in this undated photo. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Getty Images) The New Mexico Department of Health, in a statement, said that a man in Lincoln County “succumbed to the plague.” The man, who was not identified, was hospitalized before his death, officials said.
They further noted that it is the first human case of plague in New Mexico since 2021 and also the first death since 2020, according to the statement. No other details were provided, including how the disease spread to the man.
The agency is now doing outreach in Lincoln County, while “an environmental assessment will also be conducted in the community to look for ongoing risk,” the statement continued.
“This tragic incident serves as a clear reminder of the threat posed by this ancient disease and emphasizes the need for heightened community awareness and proactive measures to prevent its spread,” the agency said.
A bacterial disease that spreads via rodents, it is generally spread to people through the bites of infected fleas. The plague, known as the black death or the bubonic plague, can spread by contact with infected animals such as rodents, pets, or wildlife.
The New Mexico Health Department statement said that pets such as dogs and cats that roam and hunt can bring infected fleas back into homes and put residents at risk.
Officials warned people in the area to “avoid sick or dead rodents and rabbits, and their nests and burrows” and to “prevent pets from roaming and hunting.”
“Talk to your veterinarian about using an appropriate flea control product on your pets as not all products are safe for cats, dogs or your children” and “have sick pets examined promptly by a veterinarian,” it added.
“See your doctor about any unexplained illness involving a sudden and severe fever, the statement continued, adding that locals should clean areas around their home that could house rodents like wood piles, junk piles, old vehicles, and brush piles.
The plague, which is spread by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, famously caused the deaths of an estimated hundreds of millions of Europeans in the 14th and 15th centuries following the Mongol invasions. In that pandemic, the bacteria spread via fleas on black rats, which historians say was not known by the people at the time.
Other outbreaks of the plague, such as the Plague of Justinian in the 6th century, are also believed to have killed about one-fifth of the population of the Byzantine Empire, according to historical records and accounts. In 2013, researchers said the Justinian plague was also caused by the Yersinia pestis bacteria.
But in the United States, it is considered a rare disease and usually occurs only in several countries worldwide. Generally, according to the Mayo Clinic, the bacteria affects only a few people in U.S. rural areas in Western states.
Recent cases have occurred mainly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Countries with frequent plague cases include Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Peru, the clinic says. There were multiple cases of plague reported in Inner Mongolia, China, in recent years, too.
Symptoms
Symptoms of a bubonic plague infection include headache, chills, fever, and weakness. Health officials say it can usually cause a painful swelling of lymph nodes in the groin, armpit, or neck areas. The swelling usually occurs within about two to eight days.
The disease can generally be treated with antibiotics, but it is usually deadly when not treated, the Mayo Clinic website says.
“Plague is considered a potential bioweapon. The U.S. government has plans and treatments in place if the disease is used as a weapon,” the website also says.
According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the last time that plague deaths were reported in the United States was in 2020 when two people died.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 21:40 - India Joins Small Group Of Nations Able To Fire Multiple Nuclear Warheads Using Single ICBM
India Joins Small Group Of Nations Able To Fire Multiple Nuclear Warheads Using Single ICBM
India this week unveiled the maidan flight test of a new ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads, with an eye on its nuclear-armed neighbors China and India.
Only a handful of countries in the world possess this technology, which features MIRV technology, or “multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles” for the deployment of nuclear warheads. This makes the missile capable of of multiple attacks across different locations based on a single missile launch.
Getty Images Named the Agni-5, which is Sanskrit for “fire”, the intercontinental ballistic missile being touted as being able to reach targets more than 3,100 miles (or 5,000km) away.
The Wall Street Journal has observed of the significance that “this puts Beijing and its neighborhood within the direct target range of India’s Strategic Forces Command, the dedicated tri-services nuclear force under the direct control of the prime minister, said New Delhi-based defense analyst N.C. Bipindra.”
But this also enables India to strike anywhere in its archrival Pakistan’s territory, which New Delhi has fought no less than three wars with in the last century.
The nuclear watchdog Federation of American Scientists (FAS) has issued the following further details…
Reports have circulated for two decades about the Indian defense industry working on MIRV technology. Some have suggested that a MIRV capability might exist for the Agni-3 medium-range missile, which is currently being fielded with the Indian army, but this has not yet been confirmed. Unconfirmed press reports also said that an Agni-P medium-range missile test in December 2021 carried two reentry vehicles to simulate MIRV capability.
The Indian government says that the latest Agni-5 test––named Mission Divyastra––was the first time that this missile had successfully demonstrated MIRV technology. If so, it will likely take several additional flight tests to complete the development of an operational MIRV capability for the Agni-5. Yet the test-launch demonstration of MIRV capability on the Agni-5 with a significantly modified payload section marks a significant development for India’s nuclear posture, and faster than we anticipated just a few years ago.
First images of India’s latest Agni-V test — the first of the A5 with MIRV warheads. pic.twitter.com/KJo6zyvbQm
— Livefist (@livefist) March 11, 2024
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This first successful test flight has come after many years of rumors that India was on the cusp of achieving MIRV technology, which so far is only possessed by the US, Russia, China and France. According to more from FAS:
Reports have circulated for two decades about the Indian defense industry working on MIRV technology. Some have suggested that a MIRV capability might exist for the Agni-3 medium-range missile, which is currently being fielded with the Indian army, but this has not yet been confirmed. Unconfirmed press reports also said that an Agni-P medium-range missile test in December 2021 carried two reentry vehicles to simulate MIRV capability.
The Indian government says that the latest Agni-5 test––named Mission Divyastra––was the first time that this missile had successfully demonstrated MIRV technology. If so, it will likely take several additional flight tests to complete the development of an operational MIRV capability for the Agni-5. Yet the test-launch demonstration of MIRV capability on the Agni-5 with a significantly modified payload section marks a significant development for India’s nuclear posture, and faster than we anticipated just a few years ago.
India of course has long had intense border and territorial disputes with both China and Pakistan, and also regularly enters into religiously inspired verbal altercations with Pakistan officials (Hindus vs. Muslims), with latter being concerned over India’s treatment of its sizeable Muslim population.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 21:20 - Justice Arthur Engoron 'Shot' New York With 'Absurd Decision'
Justice Arthur Engoron ‘Shot’ New York With ‘Absurd Decision’
Authored by Roger L. Simon via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
It remains to be seen to what extent New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron put a stake in the heart of the once-great, now-beleaguered, city of New York, but he certainly didn’t help when he issued his draconian judgment against Donald J. Trump, ruling that the former president and his family must pay a staggering $350 million-plus in penalties and forbidding them from doing business in the state for several years.
Judge Arthur Engoron presides over former President Donald Trump’s fraud trial in N.Y. Supreme Court, in New York, on Oct. 3, 2023. (Dave Sanders/Pool Photo via AP) Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary for President George W. Bush, was the first I heard to acknowledge the disastrous protentional economic repercussions on cable news, but I imagine that businessmen across the city and state had anticipated this and have been making plans to exit New York for some time.
That state already has the biggest population outflow, outnumbering even California’s.
The mind-blowing size of Justice Engoron’s decision was just rancid icing on an already unpalatable cake.
But it was enough to inspire the ire of truckers across the United States who, like their peers in Canada and farmers in Europe, had had enough nonsense from the Engorons of the world.
We can only wish them well because they are the allies of freedom.
Meanwhile, what businessperson—high or low—wants to incorporate in a state where a wanton judge can suddenly decree his or her estimates of their real estate valuations to obtain a loan to be inflated, impose ridiculous fines, and then shut them down—possibly forever?
In President Trump’s case, as those same businesspersons surely noted, not a soul had been damaged by the former president’s estimates, inflated or not. All the loans had been repaid and the banks involved, of course, made money. There were no victims.
As the late Los Angeles Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn would say, “No harm. No foul.”
Except to the likes of Justice Engoron and New York Attorney General Letitia James, for whom Trump Derangement Syndrome is an illness more irreversible than pancreatic cancer.
Whether President Trump succeeds in overturning the absurd decision is in some senses irrelevant because the damage is already done.
Welcome to Florida, Texas, Tennessee, the Carolinas, and so forth, Mr. and Mrs. New York.
I should be grateful to Justice Engoron and Ms. James for selling copies of my new book on the exodus to red states from blue states, “American Refugees,” as a guide for where to move, but I’m not.
I would prefer such people go away because I love New York, the city I grew up in, and they are destroying it in the most reactionary manner, although they think of themselves as “progressives.” Go figure.
The onslaught on the business community means fewer jobs for the working class, including minorities, all classes actually, not that that has ever deterred the new Democratic Party that seems to care little for working men and women.
Although many remain oblivious, this has tremendous ramifications for what is nauseatingly termed “elitist” liberal and progressive Democrats who love, as I do, the magnificent cultural benefits that New York has always offered.
But with the economic base fleeing, with manufacturing nearly a thing of the past, who will pay for all the monumental museums, the Lincoln Center, the theater on and off Broadway, the many parks, the Bronx Zoo, and so forth, not to mention the plethora of world-class restaurants in any cuisine imaginable that depend on a well-to-do clientele?
The state?
As former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher put it so succinctly years ago, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”
Not that that would mean much to Justice Engoron or Ms. James, so lost in their lust to destroy Donald Trump that the fate of any of the classes in the city of New York, even the outside world itself, is of little consequence to them.
This is par for the course for much of the Democratic Party these days, with the exception of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose intelligence and good sense they can no longer countenance.
They have switched roles with the MAGA wing of the Republican Party, composed of actual everyday, hardworking Americans, whom they disdain.
In a sense, the two parties are in the midst of what could be termed a political sex change operation. They are having a form of gender reassignment surgery.
This particular episode led me to consider, not for the first time, of course, why people such as Justice Engoron think the way they do.
That they have replaced religious faith with unquestioning leftist politics has become a cliché, but like many clichés, there’s some, in this case considerable, truth to it.
But other things are at work.
I have been rereading Tom Wolfe’s 1987 novel “The Bonfire of the Vanities.” It’s all about race, greed, and the justice system in New York in those days.
One thing that struck me is how pathetic the justice system was, as portrayed by Wolfe, and how its denizens were rife with jealousy of characters such as the book’s principal protagonist, Wall Street bond trader Sherman McCoy, even though McCoy gets his comeuppance in the story.
This made me think of the way that Justice Engoron must regard President Trump. Justice Engoron, though he is a Manhattan Supreme Court justice, is basically a lowly civil servant and inhabits what was in essence the lower ranks of the Manhattan hierarchy, especially as compared to real estate magnates, hedge fund managers, CEOs, media giants, successful entertainers, and even doctors and lawyers.
No wonder he despises President Trump, who is a genuine “Master of the Universe,” as Wolfe characterized it, albeit a truly successful one, unlike Wolfe’s protagonist.
No wonder Justice Engoron wants nothing more than to bring President Trump down and is highly offended, or claims he is, when President Trump talks back to him.
As we all know, older—way older than the Democratic or Republican parties—is that document, chiseled in stone from on high, known as the Ten Commandments.
Number 10 is, of course, “Thou shalt not covet.” More completely: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house: you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17).
How much coveting has been going on in our culture, do you think, lately—not just in obvious places such as Justice Engoron’s courtroom? I would say an incomprehensible amount.
On top of all that, Justice Engoron as well as Ms. James are both tried-and-true members of the judicial division within the government.
If Mr. Trump succeeds in November’s election, it’s their jobs—not those of the working class and the populace in general—that will be in jeopardy.
One of the benefits of believing in leftist politics, despite its notoriously failed efficacy and historical danger to human life in several continents, is that, by atheistically replacing religious faith with political ideology, you are free to covet anything you want and destroy anybody in the process.
I think, however, to President Trump, Justice Engoron’s covetous decision, in the end, will be no more than a glancing blow.
To the city of New York, however, one of the monuments of Western civilization, it could prove yet one more step, and perhaps a fatal one, in a rapid decline that we have been witnessing for several years now—or, thanks to the truckers and other freedom lovers, an actual, long-awaited wake-up call.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 21:00 - Boeing "Overwrote" Camera Footage Of Work On MAX Jet Door That Blew Out, Can Not Identify Employee Who Worked On It
Boeing “Overwrote” Camera Footage Of Work On MAX Jet Door That Blew Out, Can Not Identify Employee Who Worked On It
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more bizarre or surreal, the Boeing story did just that.
As previously reported, the aerospace giant has been under regulatory scrutiny following a string of safety-related incidents since the beginning of the year (really, since 2019 when two of its 737 MAXes fell out of the sky like overpriced deadly paperweight, but let’s just skip to the latest snafu), starting with a door blowing off a flight and continuing with multiple other incidents, including a cracked cockpit window, bolts missing on a wing, various wheels falling off during takeoff in at least two incidents and several engine fires/failures.
And as the pressure ratchets up on Boeing, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that management is running the same type of interference it did during the infamous MCAS scandal and ensuing cover-up attempt which cost former CEO Muilenburg his job. Sure enough, on Wednesday we learned that Boeing – in a pure coincidence that Jeffrey Epstein would approve of – “overwrote”, i.e. deleted, security camera footage showing work being done on a door that blew out on the Alaska Airlines MAX jet in January.
It’s not just the footage however: NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said it is unclear “who performed the work to open, reinstall, and close the door plug on the accident aircraft,” as Boeing is “unable to find the records documenting this work.” In Homendy’s letter, she writes that despite requests to Boeing and interviews at the Renton, Washington factory where the panel was removed, the identity of the crew member that worked on the panel remains unknown and has would be unable to “provide a statement or interview to NTSB due to medical issues.“
It gets crazier: in her letter, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said she directly appealed to Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun for information on who worked on the faulty door plug, expressing frustration over Boeing’s claim of missing records and security footage. Even then, Boeing merely stonewalled and said it was “unable to provide that information and maintained that Boeing has no records of the work being performed.”
Finally, the epic culmination – at least so far – of the shitstorm that has engulfed Boeing, we noted yesterday that a key whistleblower, a former quality control manager at the company who raised concerns about the firm’s production standards, was found dead from an apparent suicide.
John Barnett, a former veteran Boeing employee of 32 years, passed away from a self-inflicted wound on March 9, the BBC reported on Monday evening. Barnett was involved in a whistleblower lawsuit against Boeing, alleging serious safety concerns at the North Charleston plant, where he managed quality for the 787 Dreamliner production. Boeing was in Charleston for legal interviews related to the lawsuit when he was found dead.
He claimed the push for speed compromised safety, with sub-standard parts being used and a significant failure rate in emergency oxygen systems. Despite raising these issues, he felt his concerns were disregarded, leading to legal action against Boeing, alleging career damage due to his whistleblowing.
Meanwhile, what would a catastrophe in a company near and dear to the government – and of course, the deep state – be without questionable trading surrounding the incident in Congress? In filings reported on Wednesday, it was revealed that Congressman William R. Keating sold somewhere between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of Boeing shares on February 28.
He’s the latest Congress critter to have “excellent timing” when it comes to stock trades: while it isn’t Fed Governor Raphael Bostic selling massive S&P futures lots ahead of Fed minutes dropping, the sale took place the day before it was announced that the DOJ was investigating Boeing. Recall, on February 29, Bloomberg wrote that the DOJ was “looking into” the Boeing door plug blowout that took place earlier that month. Since his sale, Boeing’s stock value has tumbled by about 11%.
In any case, between Barnett who “suicided” himself, and now the video footage which also also apparently was “accidentally” snuffed out, we wonder just who is next on the Epstein escalator of “not suiciding themselves” at Boeing?
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 20:25 - From 'Hungry Looters Looking For Bread' To 'Million Dollar Organized Retail Crime' In Record Time
From ‘Hungry Looters Looking For Bread’ To ‘Million Dollar Organized Retail Crime’ In Record Time
My, my my…how quickly we go from a couple kids just looting to feed their families to “organized crime rings plaguing retailers”. Seems like we made the transition in just a couple of years and no Soro-appointed DA even noticed!
But alas these crime rings were the topic of a new CNBC report which spent 8 months investigating organized retail crime rings.
Organized retail theft has emerged as a significant concern for both large and small retailers, contributing to reduced profits, staffing challenges, and a diminished shopping experience. This issue has also garnered bipartisan public frustration over increased security measures, such as locking products behind glass, the report notes.
The rise of such crime is debated, with retailers like Target, Foot Locker, Walgreens, and Ulta reporting escalating theft issues, though specifics on frequency and financial impact are often not disclosed. This has led to suspicions that retailers might be attributing operational shortcomings to crime, as we have alluded to numerous times here on Zero Hedge and on our X account.
According to the National Retail Federation, $40.5 billion was lost to external theft in 2022, accounting for 36% of inventory losses, a slight decrease from the previous year. Despite debates on its direct impact on profits, the perceived threat to employee and customer safety is clear.
Adam Parks, an assistant special agent in charge at HSI, which is the main federal agency investigating retail crime, told CNBC: “We’re talking about operations that have fleets of trucks, 18-wheelers that have palletized loads of stolen goods, that have cleaning crews that actually clean the goods to make them look brand new.”
“Just like any business, they’ve invested their capital into business assets like shrink wrap machines, forklifts. That is what organized theft looks like, and it actually is indistinguishable from other e-commerce distribution centers,” he continued.
In response, both local and federal law enforcement efforts against organized retail crime have intensified. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) significantly increased its actions, with cases and arrests rising sharply between 2021 and 2023. The California Highway Patrol reported a 170% increase in arrests for organized theft in 2023 compared to 2022, though it remains uncertain if this reflects a genuine spike in theft or enhanced enforcement efforts driven by increased public and industry pressure.
Ulta CEO Dave Kimbell said: “The financial impact is real, but way more important is the human impact, the impact it has to our associates, the impact it has to our guests.”
“It also impacts the communities in which we live. If people don’t feel safe going in to shop in certain areas of a community, it really has an impact and can change neighborhoods and change communities over time,” he continued.
In New Orleans, the investigation unearthed security video that captured a man walking into a Walgreens, going straight to the cosmetics section, and filling a plastic bag hidden in his pants with 17 nail polish jars, worth about $200. He then proceeded to the main branch of the New Orleans Public Library, about half a mile away, and sold the stolen items to a security guard, according to police.
In San Jose, the California Highway Patrol discovered a vast array of new merchandise, including detergents like Gain, Tide, and Downy, Gillette razors, Olay moisturizer, Allegra allergy pills, and sparkly silver boots with T.J. Maxx tags, in a home and storage unit linked to a suspected organized retail theft ring.
In total, nearly 20,000 items, worth over $550,000 and believed to be stolen from T.J. Maxx and various drugstores and grocery stores in the Bay Area, were found at five locations associated with the group.
In San Diego, police uncovered “a multimillion-dollar criminal scheme” involving shoplifting and then selling the items on Amazon. One scheme participant texted back in January 2023: “I’m not stealing regular I’m going to start filling up my bag quick. So I want to know stuff I can grab in bulks too.”
After that, the suspect committed at least 10 thefts at Ulta stores across California. But don’t worry – AOC says these shoplifters are just ‘hungry’ people seeking bread to feed their family with.
You can read CNBC’s full investigation, including details of thefts in individual cities, here.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 20:00 - Mexican Military Incursions On US Soil Worry Border Agents
Mexican Military Incursions On US Soil Worry Border Agents
Authored by Brad Jones via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
As daylight begins to fade at an abandoned illegal immigrant camp at the border wall near Jacumba, in California’s San Diego County, a couple of Mexican soldiers armed with assault rifles patrol the rocky terrain in the hills above.
(The Epoch Times) Below them, white tents along the Mexican side of the border wall signal the army presence as Mexican national guard (Guardia Nacional) troops pull up in a truck. They set up camp here in early February.
On Feb. 29, a Mexican soldier hides behind a rock as he realizes reporters have seen him on the U.S. side of the border. Several moments later, he ducks back under the barbed wire fence into Mexico.
Manny Bayon, a National Border Patrol Council spokesman in San Diego, said usually any incursion by the Mexican military is directly reported to headquarters and the White House is notified.
After watching an Epoch Times video of the Mexican soldier in the hills above the San Judas break, Mr. Bayon said it’s obvious that the soldier was on U.S. soil.
“They should know better,” he told The Epoch Times. “There’s a boundary marker on top of that hill. I’ve been up there. I’ve seen it.”
Any incursion presents a risk to the safety of Border Patrol agents, Mr. Bayon said.
“When you have somebody with an automatic weapon coming into the U.S., it’s concerning. I mean, they’re not coming here with flowers or to make things better,” he said. “It’s concerning because they do counter surveillance on us.”
And, just because someone wearing a uniform appears to be Mexican military, doesn’t necessarily mean they are, Mr. Bayon said.
“The cartels have also used military uniforms to make it look like they are military—but they’re actually cartel,” he said.
Illegal immigrants walk through a gap in the U.S. border wall to await processing by Border Patrol agents in Jacumba, Calif., on Dec. 7, 2023. A Border Patrol agent in Arizona, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, told The Epoch Times that no incursions go unanswered.
“Any time Mexican military comes on our side, we’re always notified. It’s a big deal,” he said. “We have guys that are liaisons with the south side, so they’re going to be notified, and there is definitely going to be phone calls made immediately.”
Sometimes, he said, it’s Mexican soldiers not knowing where the boundary is or they get lost, especially in remote areas where it’s not as cut and dry, he said.
“But then there are certain areas where it’s very clear,” he said. “We try to play nice with them, because for the most part they’re the same with us.”
“We don’t come in like guns blazing. Typically, we try to defuse the situation and their chain of command is notified. It’s not something that we just allow to happen. There’s definitely people notified immediately. It’s always a big deal if they come over onto the U.S. side and vice-versa.”
Less than three months ago, the gap at the end of this border wall where the military tents now sit, was a pedestrian highway for thousands of foreign nationals entering the U.S. illegally from Mexico.
Mexican smugglers routinely dropped off their human cargo at a footpath leading to the narrow gap, called the San Judas break, where the 30-foot border wall ends at the steep hillside.
In February, Kate Monroe, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Republican congressional candidate in District 49 who lost in the March 5 primary election, bought a 400-foot coil of razor wire off Amazon and blocked the gap. The razor wire is still there.
A few hundred yards away on the American side at a site known as Willow camp to the U.S. Border Patrol agents, little remains of the dozens of firepits and makeshift shelters where hundreds of illegal immigrants waited to be transported and processed after surrendering to agents in December 2023.
Two other sites—known as Moon and 177 camps—close to known illegal crossing sites near the small towns of Jacumba and Boulevard on the southeastern fringe of the county, are also now patrolled by the Mexican military, according to the Border Patrol.
For all the military presence, illegal crossings haven’t substantially dipped in the area. On March 6, 1,132 illegal immigrants were apprehended in the San Diego sector, which is within the average daily range over the last several weeks, according to Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council.
“We have not seen a drop in total arrests,” he told The Epoch Times.
An illustration with red markings highlighting the border wall and fencing that separates the United States (L) and Mexico (R), near Jacoumba, Calif. , on Feb. 29, 2024. A Deal with Mexico?
Todd Bensman, a senior national security fellow at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies and former counterterrorism intelligence officer, told The Epoch Times that according to Mexican soldiers he interviewed, they’re rounding up migrants near the U.S. border and moving them south.
“They said their orders are to hunt down all immigrants and give them to Mexican immigration for deportation to their southern provinces. They also told me their deployments are open ended,” Mr. Bensman said.
The increased Mexican military presence along the border coincides with a flurry of bilateral talks.
President Biden hosted bilateral meetings with his Mexican counterpart on Nov. 17, 2023, and spoke with him over the phone on Dec. 22, 2023, which led to a Dec.. 27, 2023, meeting between the Mexican president and a U.S. delegation, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, preceding President Biden’s trip to Mexico City on Jan. 9.
“Secretary Blinken will discuss unprecedented irregular migration in the Western Hemisphere and identify ways Mexico and the United States will address border security challenges,” said a State Department spokesman prior to the meeting.
The spokesman also said Mr. Blinken would reaffirm U.S. commitment to the Los Angeles Declaration for Migration and Protection, and “underscore the urgent need for lawful pathways and additional enforcement actions by partners throughout the region.”
After their return, Mexico “mounted one of the most epic domestic anti-illegal-immigration operations in recent memory,” Mr. Bensman wrote.
He surmised the Biden administration may have “cut a deal” with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to crackdown on illegal immigrants headed northward. Both presidents have elections this year.
“The Mexican army is all over the northern border now doing different kinds of interdiction across from Texas, they’re hunting down immigrants aggressively. And when they find them, they force them onto buses and ship them south,” Mr. Bensman said.
“They are interdicting the traffic on top of the freight trains, blocking access to the rail yards, and pulling immigrants off the trains,” he said. “This is all part of a Biden-inspired and directed Mexican crackdown that is nationwide for Mexico.”
In January, Border Patrol agents apprehended 124,220 illegal immigrants along the southern border, CBP data show. It’s a 50-percent decrease from the record surge of 249,735 in December 2023.
American news outlets have essentially ignored Mexico’s actions while “the Mexican media has been all over this,” Mr. Bensman said.
One Mexican newspaper reported the Mexican government is “under U.S. pressure” to step up its military operations in Tijuana, Juarez, and Matamoros—cities across from San Diego, El Paso, and Brownsville, respectively. In Matamoros, the military recently bulldozed a massive migrant camp and dug anti-pedestrian trenches.
Read more here…
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 19:40 - Ethereum's Dencun Upgrade Goes Live: Industry Veterans Share Praise, Skepticism
Ethereum’s Dencun Upgrade Goes Live: Industry Veterans Share Praise, Skepticism
Ethereum’s much-anticipated Dencun upgrade (portmanteau of two upgrades, ‘Deneb’ and ‘Cancun’), which allows for the reduction of gas fees on layer-2 solutions through proto-danksharding, went live earlier today, March 13, drawing both applause and doubts from speculators.
The Dencun upgrade brings enhancements that boost Ethereum’s efficiency and scalability, among other improvements to the network. The most noticeable benefit of Dencun will be the reduced costs for L2s to post data on Ethereum. This will result in significantly lower gas fees on L2s, potentially up to 90% cheaper based on current activity levels.
To illustrate the impact, let’s look at a comparison of projected gas costs for a DEX swap on major L2s before and after the Dencun upgrade:
Source: Dencun Upgrade For those unfamiliar, the Dencun upgrade is centered around EIP-4844, known as “proto-danksharding.” As Bankless explains, this proposal is named after Ethereum researchers Protolambda and Dankrad Feist, and its main aim is to support the rollup-centric roadmap of Ethereum. It fundamentally changes the structure of Ethereum as a modular blockchain and makes it a more efficient data availability layer for its L2s.
EIP-4844 introduces a new transaction type that carries “blobs,” which are large packets of raw data that L2s post on Ethereum. With the Dencun Upgrade, Ethereum now processes two main types of transactions:
- Regular transactions — these are the standard transactions we’re familiar with, covering actions like ETH transfers and interactions with smart contracts on the mainnet. These transactions are processed and executed by the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and are stored permanently on the Ethereum blockchain, consuming significant amounts of blockspace. They currently account for about 90% of Ethereum’s gas usage and storage, with the remainder being transaction data posted by L2s.
- Blob-carrying ‘data transactions’ — introduced by EIP-4844, these transactions provide L2s with a more efficient way to post large amounts of their data on Ethereum by storing them in blobs. Unlike regular transactions, they don’t need to be executed by the EVM and are stored on Ethereum temporarily, around 18 days (or 4096 epochs), rather than permanently.
Traditionally, L2s post batches of regular transactions on the mainnet. These transactions are more expensive because they include call data. Call data provides granular details about each transaction – for instance, when transferring tokens, it includes the transfer function’s arguments and other transaction parameters. This level of detail enlarges the transaction size and, consequently, the gas required, as the EVM must read and execute it. While this is necessary for transactions directly on the mainnet, it’s superfluous for L2s that only need Ethereum for data availability.
With EIP-4844 and blob-carrying transactions, the data posted by L2s only includes important details of L2 transactions required for the data availability needs of the chain. These include raw data of the transactions in the form of blobs as well as references or pointers to the blobs within the transaction.
Ultimately, blob-carrying transactions make it drastically cheaper for L2s to post data on Ethereum mainnet. Since blob data doesn’t require re-execution on Ethereum, it’s cheaper to post. This cost-effectiveness is their key advantage when compared to regular transactions.
To summarize, EIP-4844 and blob-carrying transactions introduce several key enhancements:
- Enhanced scalability for Ethereum — Given the constraints on the number of transactions Ethereum can process per block, EIP-4844 and blob-carrying transactions enable a more efficient use of blockspace compared to existing methods.
- Lower fees on L2s via more efficient data availability — With blobs, L2s now have a cheaper way to post data on Ethereum Mainnet. This reduction in costs can be passed on to users, making transactions on L2s much cheaper. Moreover, since blobs are a different type of transaction altogether, they have their own fee market and remain unaffected by any increased activity of regular transactions on Ethereum Mainnet. Lower gas fees are a big part of every L2’s roadmap and vision for onchain adoption, and we are seeing proactive initiatives from all L2 teams to integrate these fee reductions into their ecosystems promptly following the Dencun Upgrade.
- Foundation for harding — Proto-danksharding is an incremental step that introduces some of the concepts of sharding without fully implementing it. For instance, EIP-4844’s blobs will be a crucial part of full sharding. The Dencun Upgrade’s activation of blob transactions allows the community to test Ethereum network’s capacity to handle increased data loads live in production and prepare for the full sharding upgrade.
So what do industry insiders and veterans think of today’s long-awaited upgrade?
Speaking to CoinTelegraph, Ruslan Lienkha, chief of markets at crypto wallet provider YouHodler, said “I don’t think this upgrade will significantly impact ETH’s price in the short term,” “But we may notice an increase in activity on the blockchain. At the same time, I expect ETH’s price to grow in the long term because the upgrade will make ETH much more valuable in the growing competition of new innovative layer 1 blockchain projects.”
But for Mara Schmiedt, CEO of liquid staking development firm Alluvial, the implications of the Dencun upgrade are bullish, even in the short term. “In light of Bitcoin’s recent institutional surge enabled by recent ETF spot market approvals and total value locked in Ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem close to scratching the $100 billion mark, this scalability-focused upgrade is much anticipated,” Schmiedt told Cointelegraph, adding: “Ethereum has faced scalability issues that have acted as a blocker to mainstream adoption and accommodating the growing number of users and transactions.”
For Onno Sterk, chief operating officer of crypto exchange OSL, the Duncun upgrade is nothing short of significant, as it allows Ethereum to fix critical issues that have hindered the network’s development for years. “The digital asset space, while revolutionary, has been marred by issues of high transaction fees and limited scalability,” Sterk told Cointelegraph. “These challenges have not only stifled innovation but also restricted the wider adoption of blockchain technology across various sectors.” He further stated:
“At its core, the Dencun upgrade is centered around proto-danksharding, an innovative approach aimed at drastically reducing transaction fees while simultaneously increasing the network’s processing speed. This development is monumental, as it enables Ethereum to serve as an effective database for other blockchains, thereby facilitating a more interconnected and efficient digital asset ecosystem.”
Over the past year, Ether has seen a 141% return due to a combination of Dencun upgrade optimism, speculation on the approval of spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and a broader crypto market recovery, although the asset has somewhat underperformed Bitcoin’s 198% return during the same period. Although crypto enthusiasts are anticipating a favorable decision on Ether ETFs by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in May, not all share the sentiment.
“From my viewpoint, the SEC will use any excuse to postpone the decision,” said Lienkha, “which is why I am not expecting approvals this spring. However, I think the probability of a final positive decision is quite high.”
Recently, Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, also warned that the odds of an Ether ETF approval in May are not as rosy as one may expect.
Meanwhile, Alluvial’s Schmiedt emphasized that in order for Ethereum to reach meaningful adoption, “institutional adoption, widespread accessibility, and clear regulatory frameworks” are all necessary factors. “The success of Ethereum relies on the active participation of its community members, and I‘d encourage everyone — whether you are a developer, user or investor — to continue contributing your expertise and perspective to help shape the future of Ethereum,” she stated.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 19:20 - Lemon's Party Over: Musk Cancels Don Lemon After "CNN, But On Social Media" Interview
Lemon’s Party Over: Musk Cancels Don Lemon After “CNN, But On Social Media” Interview
Fired CNN propagandist Don Lemon says that Elon Musk “has canceled the partnership I had with X … he informed me of his decision hours after an interview I conducted with him on Friday.”
News from me…#TheDonLemonShow pic.twitter.com/PzlKuvkZtj
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) March 13, 2024
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The interview with Musk is slated to be the debut episode of The Don Lemon Show. According to Lemon, the interview will now run as planned on YouTube, where future episodes will be released.
Both Musk and X responded to Lemon’s post
“X is a platform that champions free speech, and we’re proud to provide an open environment for diverse voices and perspectives,” the company’s @XBusiness account said, adding that Lemon is “welcome to publish its content on X, without censorship,” but that “like any enterprise, we reserve the right to make decisions about our business partnerships, and after careful consideration, X decided not to enter into a commercial partnership with the show.“
When asked to elaborate, Musk said that Lemon’s approach was “basically just “CNN, but on social media”, which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying.
“Instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity,” Musk added.
His approach was basically just “CNN, but on social media”, which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying.
And, instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity.
All this said, Lemon/Zucker are…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 13, 2024
Looks like this lemonparty has been officially pooped.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 19:11 - Know Your Enemy
Know Your Enemy
Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance
One of my favorite investors that I love reading and following, Harris Kupperman, has offered up his latest thoughts on the market this week.
Harris is the founder of Praetorian Capital, a hedge fund focused on using macro trends to guide stock selection.
Harris is one of my favorite follows and I find his opinions – especially on macro and commodities – to be extremely resourceful. I’m certain my readers will find the same. I was excited when he offered up his latest thoughts, published below (slightly edited for grammar, bold emphasis is QTR’s).
Whenever someone takes the other side of my trade, I want to put myself in their shoes. Is this a worthwhile opponent with a differentiated view? Am I stepping into a trap? Or are they doing something for totally uneconomic reasons? I need to know my enemy.
“Yes, I know my enemies
They’re the teachers who taught me to fight me
Compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission
Ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality, the elite
All of which are American dreams…”
– Rage Against the MachineNaturally, I prefer the situations where my opponents are being absolute complete fuckwits—totally disengaged from valuation-based decision-making. Those are the opportunities where I want to wave it in with both hands.
Think back to peak ESG idiocy; I’m a hired mercenary, my only mission is to make my investors as much money as possible. Meanwhile, a surprisingly large number of institutional firms are run by their marketing departments—incredulously, those guys decided that their ESG score was far more important than performance. Suddenly, the guys with the big capital didn’t even seem to care if they lost money. I was still playing chess and they were playing dominos. Many allocators simply hit the sell button on non-ESG positions—smashing equity prices to obscene levels. Millions of retirees were looted by their fiduciaries, while being told that their sacrifice would improve the weather. Meanwhile, I was there buying as much as my balance sheet could bear. It was one of the silliest wealth transfers of my career. I still look back at that moment and giggle like a little kid. It’s not supposed to be that easy in finance. Your opponents aren’t supposed to be hateful of performance. Disdain, sure, that happens, but hateful was a whole new experience for me. Ever since, I’ve spent my free time trying to find the next moment when investors fixate on the wrong thing.
Of course, it’s rarely that easy. Often, I see the opportunities, but also wonder what I’m missing. Equities are usually approximately fairly-valued. If something is sort of mispriced, I assume there’s a divergence of views around an accepted framework, and when something is a few standard deviations off the mark, I genuinely wonder if I’m the one who’s lost the narrative. However, I frequently find that there are occasions where investors trade with different rulebooks than my own. These are the situations where opportunities are rife for structural reasons, often for extended periods of time. Let’s look at two prior occurrences so that you’ll understand the opportunity at play here.
Think back over the last decade and look at value stocks. At first, it was a slow drip, then an undertow, followed by a complete torrent of selling—that selling has never really subsided. As value-based funds have underperformed, they’ve gotten redemptions, forcing more selling and more underperformance. This underperformance then leads to market cap weighted index funds selling additional shares, leading to more underperformance and more redemptions. The vicious cycle has continued for a decade now, and still seems to be ongoing in many ways. Amazing opportunities have been created in its wake.
As a side note, my brain literally hurts to think about how many shares have been bought back in the various value sectors like coal companies, often at less than three times cash flow. Who could still be selling these shares this cheaply? Yet, the Venn Diagram of value investor outflows has a strong intersection of ESG idiocy and performance chasing. At some point, this will resolve itself, likely in a positive way for value names, but I’m amazed that it continues even today.
Trust me, value investors don’t want to sell things at 3 times cash flow. I know these guys, they are my friends, and it hurts them deeply in their souls when they’re forced to make sales. However, they show up in the morning, look at their redemptions, and are required to sell something. It’s been ongoing for a decade now. Despite tens of billions in buybacks amongst value names, the buybacks cannot seem to overcome the forced selling by value investors. While we may be nearing the end of this process, it’s only because the companies involved have retired so many shares that they’re starting to run out of free-float to buy. Honestly, I think there’s substantial opportunity here.
Let’s look at another instance when valuation-irrational investors created opportunity. Remember when an army of meme bros showed up in 2020 and 2021? These guys also didn’t care about valuations, except instead of selling cheap assets, they bought the most insanely expensive ones. They gravitated to frauds and Ponzi Schemes, lifting whole sectors to insane prices, often by chasing call options at already silly implied volatilities. This wave of valuation agnostic investors caught many formerly staid investors unaware, particularly as short selling had previously been a core component of most strategies. Look, the individual retail meme investor is undercapitalized and positively braindead, but millions of them are sentient in the way that a cloud of locusts is sentient. They probed at vulnerable situations and stampeded the shorts. This created innumerable opportunities, as the rules had once again changed.
At my fund, I bought highly liquid Ponzi Schemes like Bitcoin, while joining into almost every short squeeze I could find. In particular I realized that if the locusts were chasing call options, the corollary was that deeply OTM put option premiums would also inflate to crazy IV levels, and I sold those, even if they were on a well-diversified basket of Ponzi Schemes and outright frauds. Unfortunately, that wave of mispricing was short-lived, but for over a year, it really was too easy to take money out of the markets, whole sectors went wonky with mispriced opportunity.
Finance is rarely static. If something has worked for a few years, it usually stops working for the next few years. With all the meme bros forced to get jobs again, I’ve once again wondered who’s the sucker at the table. Who’s in the arena trying stuff, yet totally valuation agnostic? Who literally doesn’t care what price he buys or sells securities at? These are the guys that I want to fade. They’re my enemy.
I’m going to generalize a bit and probably offend a bunch of you; but I’ve never been scared of that around here. Simply put, I think we’ve hit peak pod-shop. The idea that you can run a highly levered, yet fully hedged portfolio, with negligible volatility seems illogical. Pod-shops have grown massive and have completely distorted the market—often as multiple pod bros tend to have the same trades on, bullying a stock in the direction that they favor, stampeding everyone in their way. These guys live and die on rate of change. They use almost real-time data, data that I mostly ignore as a longer-term investor. If this week’s credit card runs are inflecting up, they buy more, if they’re inflecting down, they short more of it. They frequently play quarters, often playing intra-quarter. Pods seek momentum and trend; they don’t seek fair value. Maybe that works in an aggregate sense, and maybe it doesn’t. However, I feel confident in saying that many of these guys are valuation agnostic. Instead, they use pair trades, explicitly so that they can ignore valuation, and focus their books on rate of change. Meanwhile, given their size, and the cohesive group-think amongst supposedly competing funds, they tend to overwhelm markets and have optimized their strategies to take advantage of the self-fulfilling nature of the momentum that they generate. Of course, strategies like this work, unless someone takes the other side.
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In my realm of value investing, I’m genuinely amazed at how these pods will short high-quality, rapidly growing businesses at under five times cash flow—just because the next quarter will be weak. I don’t understand how that strategy makes money, except during highly truncated bear-raids, yet the pods keep playing at it as they fixate on short-term rates of change. Then right after the negative print, they often accelerate their short selling, pressuring the stock in the pre-market and further spooking the longs. They want to take a bad quarter and stampede things, so that they can cover. Even then, sometimes they don’t cover until the data stops inflecting negatively. Then they cover en masse.
I see this group as the newest and greatest source of Alpha in the markets. While I figure that most of these pod-shops will eventually liquidate in a cataclysm of margin calls, I intend to harness them for as long as possible before then. They’re the new meme bros, and they’re the new ESG mandates. They’re the idiots in the room, the pinata that we’re all supposed to swing the bat at. They’ve had it too easy, as too many traders focus on price action, and then get bullied by the pods as they paint the tape. Too many long-side traders still believe that mainstream media is actually reporting, as opposed to reading a script that’s paid for by pods. Not enough guys are willing to trust their research and stand in there, absorbing cheap stock from the pod bros who are shorting it.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 12: Tim Commerford, Brad Wilk, and Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine perform at Madison Square Garden on August 12, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images)
These pods came of age during a time when value investors were getting liquidated—all the pods had to do was push a bit and the liquidations would intensify. No one had fresh capital to buy and defend their names. I now think that the tide is finally turning. I’ve seen the pods get stuffed over and over during the past few quarters as the buybacks are intensifying, the free-floats are consolidating, and the redemptions are slowing. I think this is finally the pivot. As for me, I’m willing to stand my ground, hold my levels and absorb incredibly cheap paper, knowing that I may need to suffer through a bad quarter or two. That’s the very essence of value investing. These pods aren’t used to that, they’re used to using violence to shake someone’s convictions. I feel that as other traders realize that these pods are inch-deep aggression, they’ll also be more willing to stand and fight. If they cannot penetrate your levels, they’ll abandon the mission. Their strict risk-control, with tight stop losses, is their undoing. It really is an idiotic model. They’re my new enemy.
“’Cause I’ll rip the mic, rip the stage, rip the system
I was born to rage against ’em
Now action must be taken
We don’t need the key, we’ll break in”
– Rage Against the MachineIf someone is laying into your company at less than five times earnings, then it’s probably a pod. They’re going to bully you, that’s what they do. I’m not scared, as I know the trick now. I’ll let them short into me. I trust my research. I don’t live on rate of change; I live on valuation. I can suffer through a bad quarter or two and use their vigorous sales to buy more. Like all great surges in valuation-agnostic investing, this one too will wane. Until then, I believe that this is the clearest opportunity out there—though, I fear that it will be fleeting. Until then, I intend to rack up skins.
Happy hunting friends…
Please read QTR and Harris’ full disclaimers here.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 19:00 - Bezos Funds Fake Meat Tech As Elites Push To Reset Global Food Supply Chain
Bezos Funds Fake Meat Tech As Elites Push To Reset Global Food Supply Chain
Bezos Earth Fund Vice Chair Lauren Sánchez announced this week at the multi-day Aspen Ideas: Climate event at the Miami Beach Convention Center that the fund will invest tens of millions of dollars in advancing the science and technology surrounding “alternative proteins.”
Sánchez said a $60 million investment will establish Bezos Centers for Sustainable Protein as part of the Bezos Earth Fund’s $1 billion initiative to transform the food supply chain.
Bezos Earth Fund stated in a press release, “The Centers will target major technological barriers to reducing cost, increasing quality, and boosting nutritional benefit of alternative proteins by advancing science and technology.”
Sánchez said, “We need to feed 10 billion people with healthy, sustainable food throughout this century while protecting our planet. We can do it, and it will require a ton of innovation.”
“Our world is poised for transformation, for a future not constrained by compromise. Solutions to our greatest challenges often come from the quiet persistence of those willing to question, reimagine, and innovate,” she added.
Under the guise of climate change, the World Economic Forum and some billionaire members have been obsessed with resetting the global food supply chain. They attempt to transition the world’s population from a meat-based diet to insects, fake meat, and plant-based foods.
Also…
Corporate media has been trying to convince the masses…
Pay attention to Europe’s farmers. They’re rising up by the tens of thousands against the climate cult in Brussels, which is trying to kill small farms through disastrous ‘greenhouse gas pollution’ measures. The move by the government and elites to crush farmers is an attempt to seize control over the food supply.
THE PITCHFORK PROTESTS IN FRANCE CONTINUE TO ESCALATE.
Outside the Palace of Versailles, French farmers are protesting the EU’s FARM-TO-FORK POLICIES designed to destroy Europe’s agriculture industry.pic.twitter.com/tpEzStMiIN
— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) March 6, 2024
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Say no to fake meat and insects. Buy local.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 18:40 - Vitamin D Could Help Treat Young People With Type 1 Diabetes, Improve Insulin Production
Vitamin D Could Help Treat Young People With Type 1 Diabetes, Improve Insulin Production
Authored by Amie Dahnke via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
A high dose of vitamin D could improve the function of insulin-producing beta cells in children and young adults recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
The discovery, published in JAMA Network Open, could mean that a more cost-effective way of managing the disease affecting 1.45 million Americans has been on pharmacy shelves all along.
“Type 1 diabetes affects millions of people and treatment options can often be costly,” Dr. Benjamin Nwosu, chief of endocrinology and director of the diabetes center at Cohen Children’s Medical Center and the principal author of the research paper, said in a press release. “It is exciting to know that vitamin D could protect the beta cells of the pancreas and increase the natural production of good and functional insulin in these patients.”
People with Type 1 diabetes do not make enough insulin, the hormone responsible for producing and moving blood sugar into the body’s cells for energy. Without enough insulin, blood sugar can’t get into the cells and stays trapped in the bloodstream, which causes diabetes symptoms. Complications of Type 1 diabetes include heart disease, stroke, circulatory problems, eye issues, nerve damage, kidney disease, and gum disease.
How Vitamin D Helps Manage Type 1 Diabetes
Dr. Nwosu and his team uncovered vitamin D’s effects on diabetes by conducting a 12-month trial with 36 youths between the ages of 10 and 21. The average age of the participants was 13. Most of the participants were boys (24).
During the trial, Dr. Nwosu and his team randomly provided the participants with either a dose of ergocalciferol—a form of vitamin D, also known as vitamin D2—or a placebo. The research team found that taking the vitamin D supplement helped the body reduce the proinsulin to C-peptide ratio and delayed the loss of C-peptide more than the placebo. When C-peptide is present, the body is still producing insulin; in other words, the young people’s bodies made insulin that worked the way it was supposed to work.
Dr. Nwosu said slowing down C-peptide loss and improving the function of insulin-producing cells could extend the “honeymoon phase” of Type 1 diabetes.
The “honeymoon phase” is the critical time of Type 1 diabetes when treatment options determine the long-term outlook of the disease, especially for a young person. Typically, after the honeymoon phase, beta cells, which are located in the pancreas, retain between 3o percent and 50 percent of their function, according to Dr. Nwosu’s research. The beta cells can continue to produce insulin for years after the initial diagnosis, which is why prolonging the partial remission phase can help reduce long-term complications of the disease.
Vitamin D Could Benefit Type 1 Diabetics, but More Treatment Needed
The discovery builds upon Dr. Nwosu’s previous work, which showed that high doses of vitamin D are safe and effective in improving glucose control. Dr. Nwosu’s research has also shown that vitamin D prolongs the remission phase of Type 1 diabetes in children and adolescents.
Dr. Nwosu and his team noted that while vitamin D supplementation could elongate the honeymoon phase, more treatment options are likely necessary for those managing Type 1 diabetes.
“Repurposing commonly used supplements such as vitamin D, which is known to be safe and effective for other ailments, presents an opportunity to continue developing other therapies needed to treat type 1 diabetes,” Dr. Charles Shleien, senior vice president and chair of pediatric services at Northwell Health, said in the press release.
Vitamin D is a readily available supplement that comes in several forms. Ergocalciferol, or vitamin D2, is particularly common and has little to no side effects. Too much vitamin D could cause high calcium levels, which can lead to nausea, vomiting, constipation, unusual tiredness, and potential mental or mood changes, but this only happens with extremely high levels of vitamin D of about 10,000 international units (IUs) per day for an extended period.
Individuals with Type 1 diabetes or prediabetes need to connect with their physician or health care provider before beginning any new type of medication or supplement.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 18:20 - Time For A Backyard Chicken Coop? Supermarket Egg Prices Soaring Once-Again
Time For A Backyard Chicken Coop? Supermarket Egg Prices Soaring Once-Again
As of Wednesday, there are just 18 days left until Easter celebrations begin. For those who have recently visited the supermarket, egg prices are trending in the wrong direction, although well off the highs recorded in December 2022.
Data from the United States Department of Agriculture shows that Grade A egg prices per dozen jumped 40% from $2.13 to $3 between November and February.
Customer review and consumer news platform “ConsumerAffairs” reports that egg prices have “zoomed higher by a significant percentage in certain parts of the country,” indicating the largest surges have been at supermarkets in Minneapolis and Buffalo/Rochester, adding “Orlando’s egg prices went up as well.”
ConsumerAffairs noted that the price surges were mainly seen in “large central metro areas, but in non-core rural areas, there was a fairly noticeable decrease.”
“You can try and pin this on grocer greed, but that’s a wasted accusation. The higher prices of eggs in the US are actually due to several factors. There has been a significant reduction in the supply of eggs as a result of the avian influenza outbreak, which has resulted in the euthanasia of millions of chickens and ducks,” ConsumerAffairs said.
What intrigues us is the price gap in egg prices that ConsumerAffairs finds in cities versus rural areas. This means anyone who lives in big cities and wants to escape the inflation horror show under Bidenomics should at least consider rural communities where food can be sourced locally and sometimes a lot cheaper.
Credit: @TheCarpRunner pic.twitter.com/HrZL6tcscY
— Rothmus 🏴 (@Rothmus) March 11, 2024
It probably wouldn’t hurt to homeschool the kids while living out in rural America.
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This woman is pure Americana.
Her kind settled the American West, homeschooled our greatest generations, and bore sons who fought valiantly in our wars.
Femininity is more than a nail salon. pic.twitter.com/Vjq8V3C1EY
— Kingsley Wilson (@KingsleyCortes) March 9, 2024
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Alternatively, starting a farm and taking control of one’s food supply is a powerful step towards independence from the overreaching state and mega-corporations.
For those who can’t move because the Federal Reserve has paralyzed the housing market with high-interest rates, consider a backyard garden and chicken coop.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/13/2024 – 18:00
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