- Something Is Looming Geopolitically, And We Better Start Taking It Seriously
Something Is Looming Geopolitically, And We Better Start Taking It Seriously
Authored by ‘Sundance’ via The Last Refuge blog,
As a result of western governments’ taking collective action under the auspices of a ‘climate change’ agenda, we are on the cusp of something happening with ramifications that no one has ever seen before.
Western governments’, specifically western Europe, North America (U.S-Canada) and Australia/New Zealand, are intentionally trying to lower economic activity to meet the intentional drop in energy production.
This is the core consequence of the Build Back Better agenda as promoted by the World Economic Forum.
Anyone who says there is a reference point to determine both the short-term and long-term consequences is lying. There is no precedent for nations’ collectively and intentionally trying to reduce economic activity.
Hiding behind the false justification that current inflation is driven by too much demand, central banks in Europe, the Bank of England, Bank of Canada and U.S. federal reserve are raising interest rates. The outcome we are currently feeling is an intentional economic contraction and global recession.
The Build Back Better monetary policy is successfully shrinking western economic activity; however, the impacted nations that produce goods for markets in North America and Europe, specifically southeast Asia, Japan and China, are not raising interest rates in an effort to try and offset the drop in demand. China has announced they are dropping their central bank rates in a desperate effort to lower costs and keep their export dependent economy working.
Underneath all of this, is a drop in energy production in the same nations trying to lower economic activity. The political policymakers are attempting to manage this process without informing the citizens of the unspoken goal. Shortages of oil, coal and natural gas are self-inflicted problems, all part of the BBB agenda.
Beyond the massive increases in energy costs, which is the true source of inflation and a direct/intentional outcome of the BBB effort, Europe is now facing a looming winter without the energy resources to heat homes and sustain people. Things are going to be very uncomfortable in Europe this winter as roaming brownouts are now predicted.
As the collective west attempts to, using their words, “manage the transition,” they do not have mechanisms to control an outcome of this magnitude. It is simply too big a situation to manage. Where the rubber meets the road, the think-tanks and high-minded climate change ideologues do not have the ability to manage a transition and still meet the needs of people. Beyond the esoteric thinking, there are real consequences from these actions.
Many people have discussed the potential for longer-term food shortages and recently, shorter-term winter heating. However, beyond that, the downstream geopolitical consequences are seemingly being ignored. Instead, what we see is an effort to keep pretending the climate change ends will justify the means (disruption of energy production).
In this connected world, when the western nations stop buying things, we find ourselves domestically with economic trouble. Businesses fail, unemployment rises, financial stress ripples throughout the economy, dependency on government subsidy increases and real pain is felt. However, beyond the domestic issues the supplier nations run into even bigger problems.
Unemployment in Malaysia, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and even China, creates an entirely different set of regional stability issues on a geopolitical level.
There is no precedent for this. Never before in the history of industrialized nations has any government intentionally tried to lower its economic activity. It has never been done with intent before because within the contraction nations get more poor, people suffer.
Not only has no single nation ever tried to intentionally shrink its wealth, but there is no precedent whatsoever for an alliance of nations to join together with the same purpose. While this might seem like an academic economic modeling exercise, unfortunately it is very real. What I am describing is happening right now, and we had better start talking about it before the unforeseen consequences start to become a crisis.
In North America (U.S-Canada), Europe and Australia, there will continue to be massive increases in food prices as a result of the collapse in energy production. Beyond the western nations there will be food shortages as a result of lowered harvest yields and less industrial food production. This is not controversial.
It is also not controversial that regions with harsh winter climates are going to be paying much more for scarce heating resources.
That being accepted, what happens geopolitically, even militarily, when the entire global economy starts to feel the impacts from western nation economic contraction on a scale -created by collective action- that has never been seen before.
I have no idea what that big picture consequence looks like, but whatever “that” is, will be happening at the same time as people everywhere will be more desperate as an outcome of their economic position. I don’t have the answers, but I sure as hell can see the problem coming.
Political leadership in the aforementioned western nations are seemingly, perhaps intentionally, keeping people distracted with domestic shiny things to occupy time. However, someone needs to start talking about, and seriously challenging, the big picture consequence of this Build Back Better future, before it’s too late.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 23:40 - ATF Shows Up At People's Homes To Confiscate Rare Breed FRT-15 Triggers
ATF Shows Up At People’s Homes To Confiscate Rare Breed FRT-15 Triggers
A new report from the gun blog website AmmoLand Shooting Sports News claims that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents have shown up at the homes of “multiple people” to confiscate previously legal forced reset triggers for AR-15 style rifles that were recently classified as “machine guns.”
According to the report, it is unknown how the ATF acquired the customers’ information – though the owners in question acquired their triggers via Gun Broker or the Rare Breed Triggers website.
Rare Breed Triggers FRT – Animation from RARE BREED TRIGGERS on Vimeo.
“It is possible the ATF received the customers’ information from credit card processors or shipping companies,” AmmoLand said, adding the federal agency had received customer information from Authorize.net and Stamps.com to track people who’ve bought 80% lowers from gun parts kits manufacturer Polymer80.
A person named “Paul Britton Finch” is allegedly one of those gun owners who got a knock on the door from ATF agents.
“Just a heads up, I got a visit today from the AFT for a trigger I bought from gunbroker and one from Rare Breed directly…hide your dogs, ladies and gentlemen. They’re comin’ a knocking,” Finch said in a post in what appears to be a gun forum.
He continued: “I don’t want to say much more on here because they [ATF] do infact watch this group and who posts what information. so take what you will of it. They’re out there with all the information you used to buy them with and enough to prosecute you if they want to push it. Yeah it sucks, but that’s the reality of it right now.”
Finch provided pictures of the special agent’s identification card who visited his home that served him with a “warning notice: you may be in violation of federal law.” The notice was dated Aug. 16.
We have thoroughly covered the ATF’s battle against Rare Breed Triggers. The gun parts company once legally sold a drop-in trigger for an AR-15-style rifle that forces the trigger to reset at such a high speed that it increases the weapon’s fire rate.
- ATF Now Labels FRT-15 A Machine Gun, Turning Law Abiding Citizens Into Criminals
- Rare Breed Triggers Fires Back At ATF, Says “Will Not Comply”
- Rare Breed Triggers Responds To Alleged Leaked ATF Memo To Seize FRT-15s From Dealers
- ATF Declares Some FRT-15 Triggers “Prohibited Machineguns”
- Rare Breed Triggers Cancels Customers’ Orders After “ATF Raided Vendor”
Meanwhile, people are learning to 3D print these triggers, posing an even larger challenge for the ATF.
Under the Biden administration, the ATF has waged war against gun companies, parts manufacturers, and law-abiding citizens.
Last month, a Delaware man was stunned when special agents rang his doorbell and asked if they could do an inventory audit of his legally-obtained firearms.
ATF agents and a #Delaware state officer showed up to a man’s house without a warrant demanding to see his #firearms. #2A pic.twitter.com/DKuRd8UtKt
— Sarah Fields (@SarahisCensored) July 20, 2022
And last summer we told readers that the “puzzle pieces were all laid out” – in terms of how the ATF, weaponized under the Biden administration, would try to ban semi-automatic rifles.
One year later, the US House of Representatives passed a bill to ban importing, selling, manufacturing, or transferring semi-automatic assault weapons. However, it has no chance of passing in the Senate.
Meanwhile, the online gun community is quickly accelerating the 3D printing technology of guns that can be entirely printed at home, even the plastic ammo. We’ve pointed out that others have printed weapons at home for under $350, while one company in Austin, Texas, unveiled the 0% lower earlier this year.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 23:20 - These Are The 10 Biggest Military Spending Nations In The World
These Are The 10 Biggest Military Spending Nations In The World
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has continued, military spending and technology has come under the spotlight as the world tracked Western arms shipments and watched how HIMAR rocket launchers and other weaponry affected the conflict.
But, as Visual Capitalist’s Niccolo Conte details below, developing, exporting, and deploying military personnel and weaponry costs nations hundreds of billions every year. In 2021, global military spending reached $2.1 trillion, rising for its seventh year in a row.
Using data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), this visualization shows which countries spent the most on their military in 2021, along with their overall share of global military spending.
Which Countries Spend the Most on Military?
The United States was the top nation in terms of military expenditure, spending $801 billion to make up almost 38% of global military spending in 2021. America has been the top military spending nation since SIPRI began tracking in 1949, making up more than 30% of the world’s military spending for the last two decades.
U.S. military spending increased year-over-year by $22.3 billion, and the country’s total for 2021 was more than every other country in the top 10 combined.
The next top military spender in 2021 was China, which spent $293.4 billion and made up nearly 14% of global military spend. While China’s expenditure is still less than half of America’s, the country has increased its military spending for 27 years in a row.
In fact, China has the largest total of active military personnel, and the country’s military spending has more than doubled over the last decade.
While Russia was only the fifth top nation by military spending at $65.9 billion in 2021, it was among the higher ranking nations in terms of military spending as a share of GDP. Russia military expenditures amounted to 4.1% of its GDP, and among the top 10 spending nations, was only beaten by Saudi Arabia whose spending was 6.6% of its GDP.
Military Collaboration Since the Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February has resulted in seismic geopolitical shifts, kicking off a cascade of international military shipments and collaboration between nations. The security assistance just sent by the U.S. to Ukraine has totaled $8.2 billion since the start of the war, and has shown how alliances can help make up for some domestic military spending in times of conflict.
Similarly, Russia and China have deepened their relationship, sharing military intelligence and technology along with beginning joint military exercises at the end of August, alongside other nations like India, Belarus, Mongolia, and Tajikistan.
Since China’s breakthrough in hypersonic missile flight a year ago, Russia has now been testing its own versions of the technology, with Putin mentioning Russia’s readiness to export weaponry he described as, “years, or maybe even decades ahead of their foreign counterparts”.
Sanctions and Energy Exports: New Weapons in Modern Warfare
Along with advanced weaponry, sanctions and energy commodities have become new tools of modern cold warfare. As Western economic sanctions attempted to cripple Russia’s economy following its invasion, Russian gas and oil supplies have been limited and forced to be paid in rubles in retaliation.
Global trade has been turned into a new battlefield with offshore assets and import dependencies as the attack vectors. Along with these, cyberattacks and cybersecurity are an increasingly complex, obscure, and important part of national military and security.
Whether or not Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ends in 2022, the rise in geopolitical tensions and conflict this year will almost certainly result in a global increase in military spending.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 22:40 - Details Of New Iran Nuclear Deal Approved By Tehran: Report
Details Of New Iran Nuclear Deal Approved By Tehran: Report
Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,
As the US is considering Iran’s response to an EU proposal to revive the nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, The Cradle reported on Thursday the details of the agreement Tehran put forward. The Cradle report cited an unnamed Iranian source who said that the deal includes comprehensive sanctions relief for Iran and a series of measures meant to deter the US from withdrawing from the agreement in the future.
Iran has to shut down some centrifuges to bring its nuclear program back into the limits of the JCPOA. The source said that the centrifuges will be left in a state such that if the US pulls out of the deal again, the centrifuges could be restarted within a year.
Iran’s FM Hossein Amir-Abdollahian with EU’s Josep Borell, AFP/Getty Images “The platforms of the centrifuges will not be destroyed and their connections and electricity are collected, which brings our rebuildability to under one year and is a kind of guarantee,” the source said.
The source said that altogether, there are 21 guarantees written into the deal to alleviate Iran’s concerns about the US withdrawing from the agreement. Under one guarantee, if the US leaves the deal, there will be a three-year and one-month grace period during which foreign companies will be unaffected by sanctions.
It’s not clear if any guarantees that are reliant on US action would be enforceable on a future administration. Since the JCPOA is not a treaty, the next administration will not be bound by the agreement, and that issue has been a significant factor in the talks between the US and Iran.
During earlier negotiations in 2021, when the two sides were close to a deal, Iran wanted President Biden to give a guarantee that the US would stay in the agreement just for his term in office, but he refused, and the talks stalled.
According to The Cradle report, the ball is once again in Washington’s court. If the US approves the deal, its implementation will take place in stages. The first step would be the signing of the agreement in Vienna. Then, the US would cancel three executive orders signed by President Trump that withdrew the US from the JCPOA.
Striking an agreement on reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, known as the Iran nuclear deal) may be achieved in the coming days, Russian Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov said:https://t.co/4cVDH9orLt pic.twitter.com/yrJPnR8cMK
— TASS (@tassagency_en) August 19, 2022
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Iran would then have 60 days to test the sanctions relief by selling oil to Western countries and accessing Iranian funds that were frozen overseas. Sanctions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will remain in place, although some will be eased by allowing Western business with Iranian companies that make “transactions” with the IRGC.
The Iranian government declined to verify the details of The Cradle report, but Iranian media has said the main outstanding issue with the US was over “guaranteeing the continuation” of the JCPOA. It’s not clear when the US will respond to Iran’s proposal, and the Biden administration is coming under pressure from Israel and Iran hawks in Washington to scrap the negotiations altogether.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 22:20 - Streaming Viewership Tops Cable TV For First Time, Nielsen Says
Streaming Viewership Tops Cable TV For First Time, Nielsen Says
For the first time, streaming platforms surpassed cable as the most popular way to consume shows, live broadcasts, and movies, according to new data from Nielsen.
It was only a matter of time before streaming platforms, led by Netflix, would dominate how Americans watch television. In July, Nielsen revealed US households that streamed content accounted for 34.8% share of total consumption versus 34.4% for cable.
Source: Axios Netflix continues to be the most used streaming platform, accounting for 7.7% of the total share of consumption in the month. YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ increased their share last month to 7.3%, 3%, and 1.8%, respectively. HBO Max was around 1%.
Streaming usage has surged over the years and was supercharged during the virus pandemic lockdowns, though Netflix earlier this year disclosed in a first-quarter earnings report that years of blowout subscriber beats have ended with the first subscriber loss for a quarter since 2011. In the second quarter, the streaming giant reported another loss of subscribers.
Also, consumers are grappling with price hikes across many streaming platforms. Netflix and Disney have raised their prices this year, leaving consumers with tough choices.
Nielsen reported earlier this year almost 60% of Americans using streaming devices have three or more video subscriptions, and with mounting inflation and negative real wage growth — some consumers are cutting back on the most expensive packages.
Looking at the age gap in TV consumption and more streaming platforms acquiring live sports broadcasting rights, the future does look bright for streaming industry.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 22:00 - Inflation Sends Car Ownership Costs Soaring To Over $10,000 Per Year: AAA
Inflation Sends Car Ownership Costs Soaring To Over $10,000 Per Year: AAA
Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Owning and operating a new car has become increasingly more expensive over the last year, driven predominantly by inflation and rising fuel prices, according to the American Automobile Association’s (AAA’s) annual “Your Driving Costs” report.
Gas stations serve customers at peak prices in Irvine, Calif., on Feb. 23, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times) The overall average cost to own and operate a new car in 2022 is $10,728 on an annual basis, or $894 per month, marking a considerable increase from 2021 when owning a new car cost $9,666 annually, or $805.50 per month, according to AAA.
That marks a nearly 11 percent increase from last year.
AAA’s report (pdf) looked at 45 models in nine vehicle categories to come up with the average annual cost of owning and operating a new vehicle.
AAA selects top-selling, mid-priced models and compares them across six categories: fuel, maintenance and repair and tire costs, insurance, license/registration/taxes, depreciation, and finance charges.
The study, which does not account for used car prices, assumes a five-year ownership period, with the vehicle being driven 15,000 miles annually, or a total of 75,000 miles.
It found that it would cost drivers of gas-powered vehicles approximately $2,700 a year to fuel up, while owners of electric vehicles that charge at home would need around $600 a year to charge that vehicle to cover the same distance, marking a difference of $2,100 annually.
Fuel costs in the study were projected based on a weighted average of the first five months of this year, during which time they cost drivers about 17.99 cents per mile or $3.999 per gallon.
‘Purchase Price Not the Whole Story’
However, gas prices have drastically increased since early March, in part because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing supply chain crisis, meaning Americans are now having to splash out more if they want to own a vehicle. AAA noted that the cost of vehicle ownership has increased accordingly since its Your Driving Costs evaluation was completed.
As of Aug. 18, the national average price for gasoline was $3.94 per gallon, up more than $1 per gallon compared with August 2019 and 2020, albeit much lower than the $5 per gallon prices seen in June.
“You’re usually focused on the purchase price and that is not the whole story. Not even close,” Greg Brannon, director of automotive engineering for AAA, told USA Today. “I think [$10,000 is] a number that will surprise a lot of people.”
“We’re all feeling that at the pump,” Brannon said. “That is driving a big piece of [the annual price increase], and particularly with Americans’ desire to drive things like pickup trucks that don’t get good fuel economy.”
Read more here…
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 21:40 - Republicans Call For Pelosi To End House Proxy Voting
Republicans Call For Pelosi To End House Proxy Voting
On Friday, the House of Representatives passed the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, a $420 billion package that funds 87,000 more IRS agents, raises corporate taxes, throws hundreds of billions of dollars at climate projects and imposes a new tax on stock buybacks.
There was plenty at stake in a bill that proponents are calling “historic,” and yet 158 House members — more than a third of the body — didn’t even bother showing up for the vote. Rather, they were content to take advantage of proxy voting rules that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi controversially ushered in during the pandemic and still clings to like microchip stocks.
To use proxy voting, House members must submit a signed statement to the House clerk declaring they are “unable to physically attend proceedings in the House Chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency.” In reality, members are using the scheme to take early recesses, schmooze donors and campaign for office.
“When those people go up, and they vote by proxy, they’re LYING.”
Watch Rep. Roy demand Republicans END proxy voting on @IngrahamAngle: pic.twitter.com/0nPUl1kTML
— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) August 17, 2022
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Despite the fact that only a few hardcore Branch Covidians still think Covid-19 presents a “public health emergency,” Pelosi on Aug. 9 extended proxy voting rules until Sept 26. Serving as an accomplice in the farce, House Sergeant at Arms William Walker continues to certify that a public health emergency exists.
Even The New York Times has spotlighted the ulterior motives:
Perhaps no one has benefited more from the arrangement than Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who recently informed lawmakers that proxy voting would be in effect for the remainder of the summer. It has allowed Ms. Pelosi, whose majority is so slim that she can afford to lose no more than four Democrats if every member is present and voting, to all but ensure that absences alone do not cost her pivotal support.
Central Texas House Republican Chip Roy decried the state of affairs in a colorful text to the Austin American-Statesman:
“It’s bullshit the Democrats can just call a last-minute vote knowing half their caucus are free to vote by proxy. And it’s perhaps even higher level bullshit that many Republicans (even ones who signed litigation challenging it) similarly proxy vote and stay on vacation while those of us trying to defend any semblance of fidelity to the Constitution and respect of the institution to look each other in the eye and treat our offices with respect — and it’s exquisite next level bullshit that the Supreme Court hid behind speech and debate to avoid the plain text, obvious unconstitutionality of not being present to do our jobs.”
Chip Roy represents parts of San Antonio, Austin and the Texas Hill Country (Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via Reuters) In January, the Supreme Court chose not to hear an appeal by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who’d argued proxy voting is unconstitutional. Earlier, in a 3-0 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said courts had no jurisdiction to rule on House procedures, which are adopted under the Constitution’s speech or debate clause. The court didn’t rule on whether proxies count toward a quorum.
That lawsuit originally had more than 150 Republican House members listed as plaintiffs. In the end, there were just two: McCarthy and Roy. While others still supported the suit, many removed their names after they’d used proxy voting themselves and reasoned it wouldn’t help the case to keep plaintiffs who’d taken advantage of the very rule they were challenging.
Austin Republican representative Michael McCaul told the Statesman that proxy voting is having an insidious effect:
“The broader concern is that it encourages disengagement by members — hearings and markups are nearly empty with little attendance. There is no reason to extend remote voting. It’s time we return to regular order — members should be here in D.C. working for their constituents.”
While this tweet doesn’t actually show proxy voting, it does illustrate the disengaged culture that McCaul spoke of, as an Arizona Democrat casually registers a committee vote from some leisurely setting far from DC:
This is one example of what proxy voting (the fancy congressional term for “working from home”) has looked like over the past two years. Phoning it in from a boat. pic.twitter.com/agmfXbVd26
— Rachel Bovard (@rachelbovard) August 12, 2022
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The Senate hasn’t adopted a proxy voting provision. The House rule does not allow a “general proxy.” Absent members must provide exact instruction on each vote. Present members can vote on behalf of up to 10 others.
In the military, Democratic New Jersey Rep. Albio Sires would be derisively called “retired on active duty.” Cruising through his final term, the 71-year-old voted entirely by proxy from January through April.
As mentioned earlier, many Republicans are indulging in the rule, too. For example, several GOP members declared they were unable to physically attend proceedings because of the purported health emergency, only to instead attend the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
Pelosi may not have the power to extend proxy voting much longer. “If Republicans earn back the majority, proxy voting will be eliminated on Day One,” a spokesman for McCarthy said in January.
“Proxy voting” in Congress was supposedly created for those who had COVID or feared contracting COVID and therefore couldn’t come to work. Now it’s being abused by members who are campaigning for other offices or raising money. Number of times I’ve voted by proxy? ZERO. https://t.co/Oe6rUxcZPj
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) July 18, 2022
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 21:20 - Watch: Border Patrol Unlocking Gates For Illegals; Rand Paul Says Time For "Zero Tolerance Policy"
Watch: Border Patrol Unlocking Gates For Illegals; Rand Paul Says Time For “Zero Tolerance Policy”
Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,
Video of Border Patrol agents unlocking a gate in Eagle Pass and allowing illegal immigrants to pour through after the National Guard had locked it prompted Senator Rand Paul to call for a ‘zero tolerance policy’ to be implemented.
Screenshot Fox News reporter Bill Melugin tweeted footage of the incident, noting “For the first time, we witnessed the TX National Guard close & lock a gate on private property at a major crossing area in Eagle Pass, denying entry to migrants who just crossed illegally & expected to be let in. Border Patrol then came w/ a key & let them in for processing.”
Meliugin also noted “Border Patrol opening gates etc to allow migrants in is not new. They have to process migrants on US soil per federal law. What’s new is TX is now closing the gate & denying entry at this major crossing location. Always open in months past, including this video I shot in May.”
Border Patrol opening gates etc to allow migrants in is not new. They have to process migrants on U.S. soil per federal law. What’s new is TX is now closing the gate & denying entry at this major crossing location. Always open in months past, including this video I shot in May. pic.twitter.com/FfWWvoch6r
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) August 17, 2022
Commenting on the video, Senator Rand Paul stated “The Democrats love illegal immigration, and so they have not been willing to change the laws.”
“Anybody who is caught in the act of coming in should be immediately placed back on the other side. No process, nothing. If you were caught breaking in, not through a normal portal of entry, you should go back on the other side of the river immediately,” Paul asserted.
The Senator further explained that he would like to see more incentives for legal immigration as a way of stemming the influx of undocumented migrants.
“We should put more resources to allow more people to come and apply in a normal fashion at the port of entry. But I would have zero tolerance.”
“Once you did that for about six months, and while I was not opposed to the wall, I think you could do it with helicopters and with maybe 50 stations along the border, and you could have it done in a month,” Paul said:
Watch:
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 21:00 - Federal Government To Stop Paying For COVID Shots, Tests, & Treatments
Federal Government To Stop Paying For COVID Shots, Tests, & Treatments
The Biden administration is starting to transition the federal government away from paying for Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatments, with the shift likely to materialize this fall.
“One of the things we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about in the last many months…is getting us out of that acute emergency phase where the US government is buying the vaccines, buying the treatments, buying the diagnostic tests,” White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha said at a US Chamber of Commerce Foundation event on Tuesday.
“My hope is that in 2023, you’re going to see the commercialization of almost all of these products,” Jha added. “Some of that is actually going to begin this fall, in the days and weeks ahead.” Earlier this year, a White House request for another $10 billion in pandemic response funding stalled in Congress.
On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that, on Aug. 30, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will host a meeting of pharmaceutical companies, state health departments and pharmacies to start sorting out how to make the transition, which also include regulatory adjustments.
Referring to the broader transition, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America SVP Anne McDonald Pritchett told the Journal “there are issues of reimbursement, equitable access to vaccines and treatment, and distribution that need to be resolved.”
“Resolving the issue of equitable access” loosely translates to figuring out how to still give many tests, vaccines and treatments away to the uninsured and others — so drug companies will still be reaping some benefit from governmental redistribution of wealth where Covid-19 is concerned.
The federal government has already stopped buying monoclonal antibody treatments, such as Eli Lilly’s bebtelovimab. The list price is $2,100 a dose, and Lilly is working with HHS to transition to direct sales to health care providers. At the same time, “Lilly is coordinating with the US government to identify solutions so that uninsured, lower-income individuals can access bebtelovimab,” an Eli Lilly spokeswoman told Bloomberg.
Pfizer and Moderna racked up $79 billion in Covid vaccine sales in 2021 alone, the Journal reports, with sales juiced by public health officials’ false claims of efficacy, coupled with coercive vaccination requirements imposed by governments, schools and employers.
Whoopsie…#Biden #vaccine #covid #trust#Bidenlying pic.twitter.com/WKAkLfUv82
— Dubb’ed Dan (@DubbedDan) August 11, 2022
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Moving forward, Covid-associated prices will be subject to negotiations among drug-makers, pharmacy benefit managers and insurance companies. Kaiser Family Foundation executive vice president Larry Levitt told the Journal the net effect will likely be higher prices and higher insurance premiums.
No idea why WSJ thinks that now the pharma companies are going to make more money. They already profited insanely off of C-19, and a lot of people didn’t even want the shots for free.https://t.co/fcwsyehXMh
— Cecilia Glennon (@CeciliaGlennon) August 18, 2022
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However, after The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that planning for the transition is getting underway in earnest, shares of vaccine makers slumped: Moderna was down 5% and Pfizer down nearly 2%. “Moderna will be at a disadvantage as the Covid-19 vaccines enter the commercial market, as it goes up against Pfizer, which has a substantially larger commercial infrastructure,” said Josh Nathan-Kazis of Barron’s.
While the inept government middleman was in the mix, Pfizer and Moderna were happy to churn out far more vaccines than the market demanded. Between December 2020 and mid-May of this year, US federal agencies, pharmacies and states threw out a whopping 82.1 million Covid-19 vaccine doses.
Meanwhile, in mid-October, the Biden administration is expected to extend the declared Covid-19 public health emergency into January 2023, ensuring midterm voters are still benefitting from expanded Medicaid coverage and higher payments to hospitals.
What a racket.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 20:40 - Tent Cities Are Taking Over Vast Stretches Of Our Major Cities (And It's Only Going To Get Worse)
Tent Cities Are Taking Over Vast Stretches Of Our Major Cities (And It’s Only Going To Get Worse)
Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,
If brighter days are ahead for the U.S. economy, why are so many tent cities popping up all over the nation? At this point things are so bad that even the New York Times is admitting that “America’s homelessness problem has the makings of an acute crisis”. That article goes on to explain that our homeless population is steadily rising. Tonight, hundreds of thousands of our fellow Americans will be sleeping in tents, under bridges, in overcrowded shelters or in their vehicles. Of course there are many that are so addicted to drugs or alcohol that they just sleep wherever they end up passing out. This is a tragedy that is growing with each passing day, and it is only going to get worse in the months ahead as the U.S. economy slows down even more.
Earlier today, I was truly stunned by a Fox News article about what is going on in Portland right now. Tent cities are literally taking over entire neighborhoods, and many residents are “resorting to selling their homes” as a result…
Residents in a Portland, Oregon, neighborhood are resorting to selling their homes and moving due to homeless encampments right outside their front doors.
“It’s a little scary because I know there is mental illness and that concerns me,” North Portland resident Maria Inocencio told KGW8.
Residents of North Portland said at least three families on one street have left in recent days due to the homeless camps, and KGW8 reported seeing for-sale signs up and down streets.
Portland was once such a beautiful place, but now it has literally been transformed into a hellhole.
Needless to say, Portland is far from alone. From Seattle all the way down to San Diego, communities all along the west coast are being plagued by relentlessly growing encampments. In many cases, such encampments are magnets for drug addicts and other societal outcasts.
But this is not just a west coast problem.
Let me give you are couple of examples. In recent weeks, tent cities have been popping up all over Pittsburgh…
“We want immediate action. We want to see people in homes. There’s a humane way to deal with homelessness,” said Pittsburgh City Council president Theresa Kail-Smith.
Homeless camps are popping up all over the Northside.
You’ll see them on the Riverfront Trail to Millvale.
Another makeshift tent city popped up underneath the Andy Warhol Bridge.
And in Fayetteville, North Carolina one burgeoning homeless camp recently made news because it features quite a few registered sex offenders…
There are 843 registered sex offenders living in Cumberland County. For dozens in Fayetteville, their home is a tent alongside the road.
Deputies in the Sheriff’s Office Sex Offender Registration Enforcement Unit (SOREU) learned the group of offenders are homeless and stay in a tent community along where the busy Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway (Highway 87) goes over Gillespie Street. Some live under the overpass while others live in a nearby field beside Gillespie Street.
From coast to coast, this is becoming an enormous issue.
And the truth is that it is only going to intensify as the months roll along.
In 2008 and 2009, millions of Americans lost their jobs as the economy plunged into a major downturn.
Once those people lost their jobs, many of them could no longer afford their homes and soon found themselves on the streets.
I wish that we would never have to see anything like that again. It was truly a very dark chapter in our history, and countless people had their lives turned completely upside down.
Unfortunately, it is starting to happen again.
As I detailed earlier this month, large companies are starting to lay off workers in substantial numbers.
This even includes Facebook. This week, we learned that Facebook recently used a very unique method to lay off one group of workers…
A group of about 60 contractors who work with Facebook learned they were laid off this week after they were chosen ‘at random’ by an algorithm.
The layoffs are the latest example of Big Tech reining in spending and hiring, as just days ago Apple let go of about 100 recruiters.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also recently said he will weed out underperforming employees with ‘aggressive performance reviews’ as the company braces for a deep economic turndown.
I suppose that is one way to avoid personal responsibility for firing someone.
“Don’t blame me – it was the algorithm”.
If a big corporation that is swimming in cash like Facebook already feels forced to “thin the herd”, I think that is a very bad sign for the employment market as a whole.
In the months ahead, I think that there will be a lot more layoffs all over the country.
And this comes at a time when the housing market is starting to collapse.
Existing home sales in the United States have now fallen for six months in a row, and the numbers for the month of July were downright depressing…
Sales of previously owned homes fell nearly 6% in July compared with June, according to a monthly report from the National Association of Realtors.
The sales count declined to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 4.81 million units, the group added. It is the slowest sales pace since November 2015, with the exception of a brief plunge at the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
Sales dropped about 20% from the same month a year ago.
I anticipated that home sales would be lower than last July, but a 20 percent drop is pretty catastrophic.
And as the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates, it is probably inevitable that the numbers will get even worse.
The stage is being set for a historic economic meltdown, and I would encourage you to do what you can to get prepared for it.
2008 and 2009 were extremely bitter.
What is coming will likely be even worse.
And as the economy deteriorates, tent cities will continue to take over more neighborhoods all over America.
But don’t look down on those that are living in tents.
With a run of bad luck, you could be one of them too.
* * *
It is finally here! Michael’s new book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 20:20 - The Great Resignation Is Coming To An End As Workers Return Back To Their Old Jobs
The Great Resignation Is Coming To An End As Workers Return Back To Their Old Jobs
So it turns out the grass isn’t always greener on the other side…
That’s what many who quit during “The Great Resignation” are apparently finding out, judging by a new Bloomberg piece that is highlighting how many people are returning to the old jobs that they quit over the last couple of years.
4.2% of all new hires for companies that advertised jobs on LinkedIn were boomerangs in Q1 this year – meaning employees that returned to their old jobs – the report says, This compares to 3.3% in 2019, showing clearly that people are returning to their old jobs. Firms are even “boasting” on places like social media, the report says.
Companies are writing blog posts and sharing photos of employees returning to their respective firms. Dan Black, EY’s global leader for talent attraction, commented: “On social media, you can very easily click back in and say, ‘Hey, I’d love to talk to someone again about maybe reengaging in employment with the firm.”
The move goes to show that the recent jobs data isn’t necessarily indicative of a strong economy, but rather could mean the opposite: that people are returning back to work because rising rates, inflation and recession are starting to mire their quality of living.
Rachel Bentley, a 31-year-old from Austin, Texas who went back to her job at Duo, told Bloomberg: “I just realized that startups don’t really offer a lot of family benefits that larger companies do.” By going back she was able to reconnect with old friends…oh, and double her pay.
Adam Kail, founder and chief executive officer of Harrison Gray Search and Consulting commented on the trend: “The hard reality is that at 30, 40, or even 50, it’s really hard to change careers and maintain the lifestyle you’re used to. I’ve seen people switch careers drastically but in a short period of time realize, ‘I’m not as happy doing something I like more, but with my pay a third of what it was before.’”
Matthew Wragg, CEO of engineering and tech recruitment firm Gattaca, told Bloomberg he has hired 6 former employees back over the past three months. He commented: “You’ve got that cultural cognizance. They know the culture. They know the operating processes.”
A study of about 30,000 employees who returned to their old jobs found that employees generally performed with the same efficiency as before they left the first time. This has been prompting companies to examine why these employees left in the first place. Poor cultural fits or underperformance generally don’t solve themselves upon coming back to a firm, so companies want to be cognizant of such reasons for leaving.
Mark Royal, a senior director at consultant Korn Ferry, offered up tips for those wanting to go back to their old jobs: “You want to be framing it in terms of what you’ve learned in the role you’re now leaving and what you can bring back to your former employer and why that will be valuable for you both.”
First question you should address: at what point, exactly, did you learn that free Covid money wasn’t going to last forever and how did this effect your search for a job…
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 20:00 - Oversight Democrats Demand Federal Intervention Against 'Election Misinformation'
Oversight Democrats Demand Federal Intervention Against ‘Election Misinformation’
Authored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee demanded in an Aug. 11 report that the federal government do more to respond to alleged “election misinformation,” which they say has weakened the capacity of election offices across the United States to carry out their official duties.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, speaks during a hearing in Washington on June 8, 2022. (Andrew Harnik/Pool/Getty Images) The committee report claimed that so-called misinformation efforts led by President Donald Trump and other conservatives have overwhelmed election offices and caused an uptick in threats against election workers (pdf). To respond to this, Democrats said, “strong federal leadership is needed.”
“Lies and confusion about the 2020 election are an ongoing threat to representative democracy,” the report states. “Misinformation and disinformation drive fraudulent efforts to cast doubt on legitimate election results, increase threats to election administrators, and create pathways for bad actors to subvert our democratic elections.”
In the same strain, the report added, “Lies about our elections, whether intentional falsehoods or pervasive misunderstandings, endanger both the democratic system and the people who administer our elections.”
Threats Against Election Workers Allegedly Increased
A key focus for Democrats in the report is the ways that the alleged misinformation about the 2020 election has increased threats against election officials and made it more difficult for them to do their jobs.
“Election officials have been continuously vilified by conspiracy theorists led by former President Donald Trump and his supporters,” the Democrats wrote in one section of the report.
In a subsection about “disinformation campaigns” carried out by “malicious domestic actors,” the report dives deeper into Democrats’ claims on this front.
“Leading up to the 2020 presidential election, misinformation about all aspects of the voting process surged,” they wrote. “The coronavirus pandemic created a unique environment for voter confusion as states sought to adapt their rules on registering and voting by mail, creating opportunities for online misinformation to spread widely across the country.
“After the election, some elected officials leveraged voters’ distrust to question the election results by espousing the ‘Big Lie’—the false claim that former President Donald Trump was the true winner of the 2020 election. These elected officials carried a dangerous message: that election administrators were to blame for the ‘stolen’ election.
“Election administrators informed the Committee that responding to the influx of threats and disinformation required hours of work and increased security that made it more difficult for them to do their jobs. The President of the Election Officials of Arizona reported to the Committee that responding to the surge of concerns about voting by mail was ‘distracting us to the point where we can’t get our real work done.’ As each new false allegation of voter fraud was released and spread online, ‘the angry phone calls and threats start anew.’
“The President of the Florida Supervisors of Election told the Committee they ‘have been consumed with responding to numerous public records requests, debunking election myths, and increasing voter education efforts to strengthen voter confidence in the elections process.’
“The mounting pressures facing election workers and administrators are compounded by a vicious cycle of misinformation intended to reduce public faith in our election system.”
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) did find in an investigation that more than 1,000 election workers reported contacts that were “hostile or harassing.”
However, though the report implies that the uptick has caused a great deal of violence, DOJ findings showed that only about 11 percent of those reports—about 110 cases—met the threshold for federal criminal investigation.
Election Integrity Laws Targeted
A key critique in the Democrats’ report involved efforts by state legislatures to tighten their election security laws in the wake of continuing concerns over the integrity of the 2020 election.
In late 2021, Democrats in Congress attempted to respond to this spurt of tighter election laws—which many Democrats characterized as a “new Jim Crow”—with a series of ill-fated bills to strengthen federal control over elections.
Though those efforts failed one by one to win enough support in the Senate, where Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) joined Republicans in opposing several of the proposals, Democrats have remained frustrated with the litany of new laws. The Aug. 11 report makes clear that these laws are still a prime target for disgruntled Democrats.
The report contends that “dangerous, misinformation-driven, so called ‘election integrity’ laws … threaten to undermine the voting process in future elections.”
Since the 2020 election, the report says further down, “state legislators have … introduced and passed hundreds of election laws based on the Big Lie. Some of these bills would give partisan legislators more control over non-partisan election systems, while simultaneously making it more difficult for election officials to effectively do their jobs.”
Throughout the report, Oversight Democrats leave no doubt as to whom they blame for the rise in “misinformation”: President Donald Trump and his conservative allies.
“Misinformation led to violent death threats against local election officials, often inspired by comments from right-wing politicians and activists, leading many experienced officials to leave their positions,” the report claims.
In another section, Democrats named several conservative commentators who have cast doubt on the results of the 2020 election by name.
“In Florida, Alex Jones, Roger Stone, and Mike Lindell spread conspiracy theories about one election official for responding to false allegations of fraud,” they wrote in an effort to bolster their claim that conservatives are largely responsible for issues experienced by election officials.
‘Fraudulent’ Audits
Democrats in the report targeted two election audits that took place in Arizona and New Mexico in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Despite being approved by relevant elected officials in the state, Democrats claimed these audits were “fraudulent.”
The most important audit in the aftermath of the 2020 election took place in Maricopa County, Arizona—a blue stronghold in the state, which President Joe Biden reportedly won. Maricopa County was at the center of electoral controversies, spurring Republicans in the Arizona State House to order a full audit of the county’s results.
The other prime audit targeted by Democrats in the report took place in Otero County, New Mexico.
These audits, Democrats said, were “partisan” and “highlight the grave harm that could result from such efforts.”
Committee Democrats said that the audits in Arizona and New Mexico were the result of “a network of malicious actors … encouraging elected officials across the country to undermine the integrity of their election systems.”
“The audit [in Maricopa County],” Democrats claimed, “undermined public confidence in elections and fostered efforts across the country to suppress votes and subvert elections.”
These “fraudulent” audits, Democrats said, “generate a feedback loop of more misinformation, increased pressure on election officials, and disruptive legislation, paving the way for bad actors to overturn valid election results.”
They warned of the possibility of such audits increasing after the 2022 elections, which they said could further damage trust in the electoral process.
“Fraudulent audits and unfounded refusals to certify election results may multiply during the 2022 midterms, further damaging trust in the electoral process.”
‘Strong Federal Action Is Needed’
In concluding their report, Democrats argued that “strong federal action is needed” to counter these alleged threats to the democratic process they say is caused by misinformation.
“The threat posed to American democracy by election misinformation has changed and increased dramatically in the past two years,” they wrote. “The Committee’s investigations make clear that the greatest current threat to democratic legitimacy now comes from lies by domestic actors who seek to convince Americans that their election systems are fraudulent, corrupt, or insecure.”
They describe the “urgent need to implement a federal whole-of-government plan to support local and state election officials as they respond to misinformation and share accurate information with voters. This response must also include vigorous law enforcement efforts to protect election officials from harassment and violence.”
Democrats then laid out a litany of suggestions for actions by both the president and Congress.
“The President should designate a lead federal agency or office to support state and local efforts to counter election misinformation,” they wrote, in a plan reminiscent of the now-defunct Department of Homeland Security Disinformation Governance Board, which was shut down after critics blasted the planned body as reminiscent of George Orwell’s “thought police” in the novel, “1984.”
“[The president] should direct relevant agencies to coordinate with the lead agency on overall approaches, chains of communication, and best practices for advancing accurate information about the election process.”
The report continues with the suggestion that “all relevant federal agencies should use their authorities in coordination with the lead agency to support state and local election officials’ efforts to counter misinformation during and after elections.”
Oversight Democrats also recommended the continuation and expansion of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) “rumor control” webpage.
“During the 2020 election, the [CISA webpage] sought to counter election misinformation,” they wrote. “CISA should continue to update this site to respond to national misinformation narratives. Trusted local voices, however, are the most effective messengers against misinformation.”
The report went on to say that CISA’s misinformation team should coordinate with state authorities to create state-level “rumor control” websites.
Further, Oversight Democrats demanded that the DOJ “aggressively pursue criminal and civil enforcement against those who threaten or harass election administrators.”
To aid in this, Democrats recommended the creation of a DOJ task force that would aid local officials in determining which federal charges they can bring against those who threaten or harass election workers.
Finally, on a congressional front, Oversight Democrats called for expanding funding allocations to election offices across the country, in addition to strengthening already-existing laws against threatening, harassing, or harming election officials.
“To counter malicious actors threatening violence against election officials, Congress should also enact meaningful statutory penalties for anyone who threatens election officials and administrators,” the report said.
Failed Efforts to Change Election Law
The items targeted by the report—allegations of misinformation, attacks on legally ordered election audits, and on election integrity legislation passed in state legislatures across the United States—fit into the larger context of a string of failed efforts by Democrats during the 117th Congress to strengthen federal control over elections.
Election integrity bills have been a focal point for attacks by Democrats, who have said that the legislation constitutes a “new Jim Crow.”
Over the summer and early fall of 2021, when many legislatures were considering and passing such legislation for the first time, Democrats put forward a litany of bills designed to counter this alleged threat.
The most ambitious of these, the For the People Act, would have rendered the federal government more control over elections than it has ever had.
Among many other provisions, that bill would declare Congress has unilateral authority over the conducting of elections in any areas where state and federal prerogatives clashed.
The bill also would have forbidden illegal aliens from facing legal consequences for efforts to vote illegally, allowed for election day voter registration, and permitted convicted felons to vote.
This bill, by far the most expansive piece of election legislation put forward by Democrats, passed the House along party lines but failed in the Senate after Manchin refused to lend it his support.
Other bills, including the House-created “John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act” and a compromise bill created by Manchin, would have gone substantially less far—largely reinstating parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that were struck down in 2013 as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder.
Like the For the People Act, these too failed to win enough support in the Senate to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold.
Republicans have been almost unilaterally opposed to Democrats’ election schemes, which they have said are an effort at “federalizing” elections.
Thus, even if Congress were to move ahead with a legislative response to Oversight Democrats’ claims, it is unclear whether the bill would get very far in the upper chamber.
Because of GOP opposition, it is likely that any such effort by Democrats will fail for the foreseeable future, short of the party gaining a 60-vote supermajority in the Senate.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 19:40 - Adderall Supply Crunch Reported At Hundreds Of US Pharmacies
Adderall Supply Crunch Reported At Hundreds Of US Pharmacies
Wall Street’s favorite drug of choice is
cocaineAdderall, a stimulant that allows traders, analysts, and bankers, working long hours to power through the day with maximum productivity, faces a critical “supply disruption.”
Bloomberg reported the National Community Pharmacists Association surveyed 358 store owners and managers about purchasing Adderall and generic versions of the brand between July 25 and Aug. 5, which revealed that 64% said the amphetamine is on backorder.
In late July, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., the largest seller of Adderall in the US, said it encountered “supply disruptions” of the drug, though expected the situation to be resolved in the near term.
Symphony Health has stunning data that shows the massive rise in prescriptions filled for Adderall, nearly quadrupling over the last decade. As of 2021, more than 41 million prescriptions were filled, up 10% from a year ago — perhaps the latest increase has to do with remote work trends post-Covid.
Bloomberg noted the FDA has yet to report an overall shortage of the amphetamine, though the federal agency said it’s aware of Teva’s delays.
For the cubicle junkies on Wall Street that consume copious amounts of legal drugs, such as Adderall, you might want to pay attention to Teva’s supply crunch.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 19:20 - Saudi Aramco Is Taking A Page Out Of The U.S. Shale Playbook
Saudi Aramco Is Taking A Page Out Of The U.S. Shale Playbook
By David Messler of OilPrice.com
Saudi Aramco reported Q-2, 2022 earnings this week and set tongues wagging with the sheer amount of cash being generated in its daily operations. Net income of $48.4 bn, Free Cash Flow of $34.6 bn for the quarter, and $65 bn for the first half, substantially eclipsed year-ago numbers of $22.6 bn and $40.9 bn for the same period. All of this was driven by price realizations for crude topping the $113.00/bbl mark for the quarter, exceeding year-ago prices ($67.90) by ~66%.
What was noteworthy, and documented in a recent Wall Street Journal article, was the company’s capital allocation budget toward increasing production remained largely unchanged at the lower end of its previously announced range of $40-50 bn for 2022. The Journal article went on to note-
“To be fair, $40 billion is a lot, much more than in 2021, but Aramco is very flush. It earned more than $65 billion in free cash flow in the first half of this year. That spending also includes diversifying into natural gas, wind, solar and blue hydrogen. And while capital discipline is laudable, surely if management really believes that oil demand is growing for the next decade, it should at the very least accelerate plans to expand its maximum sustainable oil capacity to 13.0 million barrels a day, currently set for 2027.”
Where the Saudi mindset appears to depart from their oil-producing cousins on the other side of the planet, is what is to be done with the excess cash now being realized. While U.S. shale producers are raining wealth on their shareholders, in the form of stock buybacks and special dividends, KSA-94% owner of ARAMCO, has focused on paying down debt, and diversifying its energy portfolio. In some ways mimicking the actions of the mega oil producers like ExxonMobil, (NYSE:XOM) Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and BP (NYSE:BP), by delving into alternative energy forms.
The supermajors, tired of being clubbed by the climate alarmists, and having totally bought into the Paris Accord Net Zero by 2030 dictums, have been diverting capital away from legacy sources and toward cleaner energy forms that raise their ESG scores. Author of, The End of Fossil Fuel Insanity, Terry Etam, summarized their plight in an article carried in the BOE Report discussing the coming gap between supply and demand-
“There is little producers can do to help out. Their ‘inventory’ – oil and gas reserves – is in incredibly high demand, and is being bid up in price. What would help alleviate this situation is to find and develop more reserves, but the world’s cultural elite, the group that dominates western political schools of thought, has ‘scientifically’ linked any weather event – anything at all – with climate change, which is linked to ‘fossil fuel combustion’, which is therefore bad, and the mere suggestion of increasing production is unacceptable.”
In this regard, the supermajors have been “Greenwashing” their portfolios in some cases and beginning to transition them in others. Here they depart from the Saudis who intend to straddle the gap between petroleum and green energy into the foreseeable future.
In spite of a publically asserted view by Aramco CEO, Amin Nasser that oil demand will grow for the rest of this decade, KSA appears to be in no hurry to accelerate the timetable for achieving the 13 mm BOPD upper threshold set for 2027. Instead, KSA has embarked on an ambitious decade-long quest to diversify its economy away from its sole reliance on oil and gas, choosing a multi-pronged approach that includes hydrogen, wind, and solar.
One area where they are focusing their efforts is in the production of hydrogen-H2. A Financial Times-FT article notes that the Saudis plan to dominate the production of H2, a few years hence. With its abundant supplies of gas nearby the City of Neom, a Blue-H2 plant is being built with $110 bn of capital. This plant is planned to take 2.2 bn cubic feet of gas daily from the supergiant Jafurrah gas field, for processing Blue H2. It is forecast to come on line in 2026.
Another massive hydrogen project will produce Green H-2, with power supplied by a 99-turbine wind farm. SP Global discusses this in an article focusing on Acwa Power’s 240K mt/ton per year, green hydrogen project that will make 1.2 mm MT of ammonia. It also is expected to start production in 2026.
Finally, solar is thought to have unlimited potential in the Kingdom. It makes sense as the sun shines brightly there more than 300 days per year. Accordingly, KSA is fielding a number of new solar farm projects getting underway. The sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom just this year let two awards for a total of 1 GW IPP One went to Acwa Power for a 700 MW farm at Al-Rass and a second smaller, 300 MW farm at Saad. The Kingdom has a goal of installing 54 GW of solar generation by 2030.
Solar is also finding industrial uses as the Glass Point complex takes shape. This 1.5 GW project, the biggest solar farm in the world will power an aluminum smelting plant designed to use the solar mirrors on water-filled pipes to produce solar steam. This will save approximately 600K tons of carbon annually.
Your takeaway
It is fairly clear from the decisions that KSA is making about the capital allocation for renewable forms of energy that their feet are firmly planted in both camps. The higher price regime that has settled on the oil market since 2021 has provided the cash to fund the projects we have discussed, that will fuel the Saudi Vision 2030 initiative.
At the same time, like their shale counterparts in the U.S., they are committed to an orderly development of their legacy oil reserves in a way that will preserve value as far into the future as possible. That’s just good stewardship.
What this means is that in spite of entreaties by world leaders including the American president to produce more oil to lower prices, oil producers in the U.S. and in Saudi Arabia are seemingly determined to hold the line on capital spending. This will have the effect of keeping supplies tight and prices higher than they otherwise would be.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 19:00 - China's Endless COVID Hysteria Is A Dark Experiment In Social Conditioning
China’s Endless COVID Hysteria Is A Dark Experiment In Social Conditioning
There are many people that will say that Americans “rolled over” in the face of covid restrictions and vaccine pressures despite extensive evidence that neither of these things had any effect on stopping or stalling the pandemic. But the notion of American pacifism is simply not true. If it were then the US would be looking a lot more like China right now.
Growing opposition to meaningless covid lockdowns and the vaccine passports was a mainstay in the US that made government enforcement impossible. Joe Biden’s attempt to introduce federal vax passport rules for businesses failed miserably, red states defied the lockdowns within a few months of the start of the pandemic and the states that kept restrictions in place had HIGHER rates of infection while their economies sank. When it became clear to the establishment that millions of Americans were not going to comply, they had to back off.
Even blue states and cities have been forced to acknowledge that the farce is over; Los Angeles County tried to reintroduce mask mandates recently and the measure collapsed in failure as many municipalities said they planned to ignore any new ordnance. Covid’s median Infection Fatality Rate of 0.23% was not enough of a threat to convince the public to abandon their constitutional rights.
Without the millions of courageous people that refused to comply our country might look very different today. The CCP has faced little public opposition over their draconian covid rules, and when they do, they don’t worry much because the population is completely disarmed. This has resulted in a veritable nightmare world for the citizenry. In fact, it almost seems like an experiment to find out how much psychological torture and oppression human beings are willing to endure.
Mandate cheerleaders boasted endlessly about how China effectively stopped the spread and was ready to reopen while the western world floundered because we refused to submit and accept medical tyranny “for the greater good.” Now these same people are silent as China goes though an array of outbreaks and lockdowns that cycle perpetually. In the meantime, most of the west has reopened and some places (like dozens of conservative states) have been open well over two years. Remember when leftists and foreign governments said we would be dying off in the streets and ruing our decision to follow the science rather than the hysteria? Yeah, the great cleansing of conservatives they were hoping for never happened.
Open authoritarian systems require dramatic participation by the people being controlled. They have to want to be locked down, otherwise the system cannot continue and it will eventually be toppled. One has to wonder, do the Chinese people even remember anymore why they are locking down? Or, have they just accepted the mandates as the new normal?
Currently, mass covid testing is a regular practice in most major population centers in China. Almost every large indoor business or government building requires proof of a negative covid test. This incessant testing is part of China’s “zero covid” policy, and has led to testing booths in almost every neighborhood.
China has been perfecting the use of QR codes and tracking apps to keep the public cataloged; without these apps and codes a Chinese citizen would find it impossible to get a job or participate in the economy. They would die from starvation first; the minuscule chance of dying from covid would be the furthest thing from their mind.
Though PCR testing often reads asymptomatic cases as exactly the same as full blown infections, the CCP does not recognize the difference and treats every case as if each person is Patient Zero in a zombie apocalypse. For example, a six-year-old boy with asymptomatic covid tested positive and was found through tracking apps to have visited an IKEA store in Shanghai a couple of days earlier. So, rather than admitting that the testing and tracking is a failed system that does nothing to prevent covid spread, CCP authorities instead tried to lockdown the IKEA building with hundreds of people inside for a week. Here was the result:
Testing madness has even spread to the animals. The government is now requiring testing for 5 million fisherman as well as testing of the FISH being delivered by commercial fishing vessels to Chinese ports.
The image of a fish being swabbed for covid is rather hilarious, but it’s important to note that the CCP probably isn’t stupid enough to believe that covid is transmitted through seafood. More likely what this is about is initiating a firestorm of public conditioning to convince the population that covid is around every corner and under every bed forever. The goal here is to engage in a constant fear campaign to make the people more compliant. It is an assessment to see what the government can get away with. And, in China at least, they can get away with quite a lot.
The Orwellian horror that China represents has essentially killed their tourist industry. Millions of potential foreign visitors now fear that they could be trapped within China’s borders if they time their visit to coincide with another surprise mass lockdown. China’s economy suffers extensively from their lockdown culture, but the CCP does not care. The experiment is more important than anything else.
This will never end. Once a government obtains this kind of all pervasive power they will stop at nothing to keep it. While the US has many problems to deal with and many elitists in positions of authority to unseat, at least we have a chance. Some places, like China, are so poisoned by complacency that they can’t escape the boot; it has already landed on them.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 18:40 - Georgia Governor Files Motion To Quash Grand Jury Subpoena In State’s Election Probe
Georgia Governor Files Motion To Quash Grand Jury Subpoena In State’s Election Probe
Authored by Mimi Nguyen Ly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday filed a motion to quash a grand jury subpoena requiring him to testify as part of an investigation into the actions of former President Donald Trump after official results in the 2020 presidential election showed that then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden had won.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp during a dinner reception in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 6, 2022. (Laurie Dieffembacq/Belga Mag/AFP via Getty Images) Kemp had received a subpoena on Aug. 4 after a voluntary interview scheduled for late July was canceled.
“[T]he Governor agreed to a voluntary interview to be held on July 25, 2022, but when counsel for the Governor asked reasonable questions of the [District Attorney’s] Office regarding the scope of that interview, the DA’s Office unilaterally canceled the interview and issued the Subpoena,” attorneys for Kemp said in the motion (pdf) filed on Aug. 17 in Fulton County Superior Court. “Why the DA’s Office acted so abruptly is unclear.”
According to an exhibit in the motion, Kemp has been asked to testify before the grand jury at 9 a.m. on Aug. 18.
Kemp’s lawyers argued the subpoena should be quashed because it is “barred by sovereign immunity.” The subpoena also “improperly seeks to invade established common law executive and attorney-client privileges,” and is “being pursued at this time for improper political purposes,” they wrote.
“Georgia courts have no authority to compel a sitting Governor to provide testimony about matters involving his official duties due to sovereign immunity,” the motion reads. “Even if that were not the centuries-old law of this State, the Subpoena at issue is improper, and due to be quashed, because its timing is neither driven by a genuine investigative need for information nor compliant with the established ethical rules governing prosecutors and election cycle investigations.”
Chief Judge Christopher Brasher of the Fulton County Superior Court in January authorized a special purpose grand jury, as requested by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, “for the purpose of investigating the facts and circumstances relating directly or indirectly to possible attempts to disrupt the lawful administration of the 2020 elections in the State of Georgia.” The grand jury was authorized to begin on May 2.
The DA’s Office back in April 2021 had “informed counsel that the DA’s Office was interested in meeting with Governor Kemp to discuss a telephone call between the Governor and former President Donald Trump,” Kemp’s legal team noted.
The team provided a timeline outlining the correspondence that took place between Kemp’s counsel, Brian McEvoy, and a number of aides to Willis.
“While the special purpose grand jury was only recently authorized, the DA’s Office has been investigating the events surrounding the 2020 Presidential election for at least a year and a half,” Kemp’s lawyers said in the motion. “During that time, and well before the Subpoena was issued, Governor Kemp consistently attempted to engage with DA’s Office and to voluntarily provide it with relevant and appropriate information regarding its investigation … the DA’s Office ignored, denied, or otherwise frustrated these attempts time and time again.”
Kemp’s lawyers alleged that the Fulton County DA’s Office “through delay and artificial deadlines … has engineered the Governor’s interaction with the investigation to reach a crescendo in the middle of an election cycle.”
“This timing cannot be ignored given the Governor’s repeated efforts to engage with the DA’s Office prior to 2022 and even before announcing his re-election campaign,” they said in the Aug. 17 motion.
Read more here…
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 18:20 - China Jails Billionaire Xiao Jianhua For 13 Years, Slaps Unprecedented $8.1 Billion Fine
China Jails Billionaire Xiao Jianhua For 13 Years, Slaps Unprecedented $8.1 Billion Fine
In the most glaring lesson yet to the country’s upstart nouveau-riche oligarchs, a Chinese court has sentenced Xiao Jianhua, the billionaire founder of Tomorrow Group known for managing assets for descendants of prominent Chinese leaders, to 13 years in prison, and slapped the conglomerate with an unprecedented fine of 55 billion yuan ($8.1 billion), culminating the dramatic break-up of China’s largest privately owned financial empire after a five-year investigation.
The Canadian-Chinese tycoon, who disappeared from a luxury hotel in Hong Kong in 2017, was found guilty of illegally collecting public deposits, using entrusted assets in breach of trust, illegally using funds and bribery, according to a statement by the Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People’s Court on Friday, the SCMP reported. Xiao was also personally fined 6.5 million yuan.
“Tomorrow Group and Xiao Jianhua’s criminal acts severely damaged the financial management order, which severely risked the national financial safety, and severely encroached the professional integrity of public servants,” said the Shanghai court in its ruling on Friday. “They should be strictly punished based on the law.”
The sentencing closed the clean-up of Xiao’s financial empire comprising assets worth 3 trillion yuan, and is part of Beijing’s ramped-up efforts to control financial risks in recent years.
Tomorrow Group and Xiao illegally used client funds and entrusted assets of 148.6 billion yuan via Baoshang Bank, the Shanghai court said on July 4. The bank entered the annals of Chinese history in May 2019 when it became the first ever insolvent bank taken over by the government and was placed into bankruptcy a year later.
The company illegally borrowed these funds from Baoshang Bank over the course of 14 years, and it also interfered with the bank’s daily business operations, according to the central bank in 2020.
From 2001 to 2021 – during which Xiao was incarcerated in an unknown location in China for four years – the company and Xiao had given bribes worth 680 million yuan to a number of public servants in the form of stakes in unspecified companies, property and cash, the court said according to the SCMP. The bribes were used to circumvent financial regulation or seek illegal favors.
When asked about Xiao’s right to consular access as a Canadian citizen during a regular briefing on Friday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Xiao does not have the right to consular protection of other countries as Beijing does not recognize dual nationality.
Xiao, 50, was born in Shandong, and began his career in business by selling IBM and Dell computers near the Peking University campus in the 1990s. Within a few years, he was worth an estimated $150 million. Surely, there was no crime there.
Xiao is the owner of Tomorrow Holding (trading as Tomorrow Group), a diversified investment company involved with banking, insurance, real estate development, coal, cement and rare earth minerals.He owns non-controlling stakes in Ping An Insurance, Harbin Bank, Huaxia Bank and the Industrial Bank through a series of other investment vehicles, in addition to being the major shareholder in Baotou Tomorrow Technology.
Xiao reportedly, “worked on behalf of a number of powerful families,” in China over the course of his career, and he has been described by The New York Times as “a banker for the ruling class.” By 2016, he was worth an estimated $6 billion. Xiao’s connections with relatives of China’s government leaders were demonstrated by his purchase of a 50% stake in CCB International Yuanwei Fund Management, an investment management company owned by Qi Qiaoqiao, Xi Jinping’s sister. According to news reports, Xiao was also involved with the business Pacific Securities, a company later accused of facilitating money laundering.
He has Canadian citizenship and reportedly held a diplomatic passport from Antigua and Barbuda.
He ranked 32nd on the Hurun China Rich List in 2016 and his net worth was estimated at US$6 billion before his Tomorrow Group financial empire was dismantled by Beijing following his downfall five years ago.
He went missing from the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong in January 2017. In the small hours of January 27, two vans arrived at the luxurious Four Seasons, where Xiao was staying in one of his several rented serviced flats. At about 1am, five men emerged from the vans and knocked on the door of Xiao’s 28th-floor flat before emerging two hours later with him. Almost 12 hours later, Xiao passed through border controls at the Lok Ma Chau crossing between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, and disappeared in the mainland Chinese city, the SCMP reported.
Although a low profile figure, Xiao was well-known for his connections with China’s political elite. His businesses ranged from insurance to mining.
The tycoon and the company had illegally collected deposits of 311.6 billion yuan by selling trust, insurance and wealth management products, which were against regulations, the court said. They also had used illegal insurance funds of close to 191 billion yuan from connected insurers including Huaxia Insurance, Tian’an Life Insurance and Yi’an Property Insurance, the court added.
Tomorrow Group used the illegal funds to acquire financial institutions and for securities trading and overseas investment. The company had returned some of the illegal funds by selling assets and transferring capital from overseas after the government intervened.
In 2020, Beijing took control of some of the associated companies, including Huaxia Life, Tian’an Life and Tian’an Property Insurance. Privately owned Huaxia Life, founded in 2006, was the flagship of Xiao’s conglomerate. It had 182.8 billion yuan of insurance premium in 2019, ranking it fourth among China’s life insurers. The crackdown that started in 2017 also placed half a dozen of China’s biggest global asset buyers under regulatory scrutiny to prevent their debt-fuelled acquisitions from harming the nation’s financial system.
Xiao’s arrest was among a series of crackdowns on high-profile Chinese businessmen, including Wu Xiaohui, the former chairman of beleaguered insurance giant Anbang Group, and hedge fund guru Xu Xiang, following a stock market rout in 2015.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 18:00 - The Satanic Verses Sells In Droves After Salman Rushdie Attack
The Satanic Verses Sells In Droves After Salman Rushdie Attack
Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,
Sales of Salaman Rushdie’s infamous novel The Satanic Verses have skyrocketed following the horrific attack on the author last week, in a show of strength for free speech over Islamic extremism.
The New York Post reports that Rushdie’s 1988 novel, for which he has received death threats ever since, soared to the top of multiple Amazon bestseller lists.
The book hit number one in Contemporary Literature & Fiction, Fiction Satire and Humorous Literary Fiction.
The audiobook version became the seventh best-seller in Amazon’s Audible store.
The novel was also second bestseller in both the Politics & Social Science and the Self-Help & Psychology Humor categories on Tuesday, and the 26th best-selling book overall on Amazon’s US site.
Rushdie’s other novels also saw a jump in sales.
The Satanic Verses was deplored by extremists and declared blasphemous concerning its depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.
One reviewer wrote “Hope this book becomes #1 bestseller again just as a big F*** you to religious extremists and sympathizers,” adding “I didn’t even know about this book before. So if the idea was to spread the author’s message in modern times, then they succeeded!”
“I just bought this book in response to extremists who try to silence people. You will not win,” another reviewer added.
A further reviewer wrote “Dear Mr. would-be assassin, this book is now back on the bestseller lists. You did that. You tried to silence Salman Rushdie for writing something you found offensive, and now that very work is going to be in more homes, read by more people than ever before.”
The post continues, “This is what you have accomplished. This is the only thing you have ever accomplished, and the only thing you will ever accomplish.”
“Funny thing, if there had never been a fatwa on Mr. Rushdie in the first place, how many people do you suppose would have ever even heard of this book? Now a whole new generation will read it, all because you didn’t want it to be read by anyone,” the reviewer concludes.
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Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 17:40 - BloodBath & Bankuptcy? BBBY Suppliers Halt Shipments Due To Unpaid Bills
BloodBath & Bankuptcy? BBBY Suppliers Halt Shipments Due To Unpaid Bills
Update (1725ET): Following its worst day on record after Ryan Cohen dumped all his shares (and sold all his calls), Bed Bath & Beyond was battered by more bad news after hours after Bloomberg reports that, according to people familiar with the matter, some suppliers are restricting or halting shipments altogether after the home-goods retailer fell behind on payments.
The retailer has previously said it is struggling with cash and inventory optimization, and ordering missteps appear to have left it with a glut of goods that will have to be sold at markdowns.
Several of the firms that provide credit insurance or short-term financing to vendors have revoked coverage of Bed Bath & Beyond, drastically complicating the company’s scramble for liquidity.
BBBY shares are down a further 4-5% after-hours on the news…
But still have a long way to go to catch up with the reality that bonds have been pricing-in for a while…
As far as stocks go – “mark it zero” comes to mind.
Bonds knew… but the question is – did Ryan Cohen know?
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It is only fitting that on the day
Blood, Bath and BankruptcyBed Bath & Beyond suffered a historic crash in its stock price, we learn from Bloomberg that the quasi-insolvent retailer hired law firm Kirkland & Ellis to help it address a debt load that’s become unmanageable amid a sales slump.Kirkland, best known for its legal advice in restructuring and bankruptcy situations, was tapped to help the retailer navigate options for raising new money, refinancing existing debt, or both, according to the report. Translation: from $30 yesterday, BBBY stock will be worthless in a few days (just in case there is confusion why Ryan Cohen pulled the plug).
None of this will come as a shock to debt investors, usually far, far smarter then their equity peers, and is why much of Bed Bath & Beyond’s bonds and loans are already trading at distressed levels, even as its stock climbed as high as $30 per share earlier this week.
The share price however tumbled back to $10 after hours on Thursday, after activist shareholder Ryan Cohen dumped his entire stake making $68 million in the process, while costing a similar amount to the thousands of retail investors who followed him into this melting ice cube.
Alas, the stock is going much lower – in fact, $0.00 sounds like support – as the trading prices of the retailer’s debt, have plunged to half their face value or less this year, with the sharpest drop coming after the company announced dismal quarterly earnings June 29. And since the unsecured debt will be impaired, this implies there is zero value for the equity in the upcoming bankruptcy.
If only BBBY had sold stock in an ATM offering at the grotesquely inflated price from earlier this week, to hapless retail investors. That way RC Ventures pump and dump would have been complete.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/19/2022 – 17:34
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