Today’s News 23rd October 2024

• Poles Are Getting Fed Up With Ukrainian Refugees & The Proxy War; Latest Survey Shows
  Poles Are Getting Fed Up With Ukrainian Refugees & The Proxy War; Latest Survey Shows

  Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack,

  The state-run Polish Press Agency recently reported on the publication of the latest survey by the publicly financed Center for Public Opinion Research about Poles’ attitudes towards Ukrainian refugees and the proxy war.

  

  The results might surprise casual observers who hitherto assumed that this population is still gung-ho about both due to their supposedly innate and irredeemable Russophobia. Before diving into the details, the reader should review these three prior analyses on this subject:

  * 21 February: “A Top EU Think Tank’s Poll Proved That Polish Views Towards Ukraine Are Noticeably Shifting”

  * 27 March: “What Do The Latest Surveys Say About Poles’ Attitudes Towards Ukraine & The Farmers’ Protests?”

  * 8 July: “Interpreting A Top EU Think Tank’s Latest Survey On Polish Attitudes Towards Ukraine”

  Having shared the evolving statistical context for those who are interested, it’s now time to highlight what the latest survey showed.

  Only a little more than half of Poles (53%) support accepting more Ukrainian refugees, while two-thirds (67%) want to deport conscription-aged Ukrainian males (25-60 years old).

  Less than half (46%) support Ukraine continuing to fight Russia, slightly less (39%) want it to give up territory for peace, and a little bit more (44%) believe that this will ultimately happen in any case.

  The military-strategic context within which these results were obtained is that Poland confirmed in late August, several weeks before the survey was conducted between 12-22 September, that it had already maxed out its military support for Ukraine.

  Mainstream Media outlets like CNN also began sharing glimpses of just how bad everything had become for Ukraine too.

  The Volhynia Genocide dispute, which deeply enrages most Poles, returned to the fore of bilateral relations in early September as well.

  This confluence of factors served to catalyze the preexisting trends that were discovered by the previously cited surveys and led to the surprising situation where two-thirds of Poles want to deport conscription-aged Ukrainian males even though less than half support Ukraine continuing to fight Russia.

  In other words, they want to send them to their deaths for a cause that they themselves no longer support, which hints at a vindictiveness towards them that’s only now being discussed by top officials.

  Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told an interviewer last week that:

  “The fact is that our society is very shocked by the sight of young men from Ukraine driving the best cars, spending weekends in five-star hotels. And this is unfair to Poles, who contribute to healthcare, benefits, education, not to mention weapons supplies and other assistance.”

  He himself also expressed resentment towards his state-level Ukrainian peers by accusing them of taking Polish aid for granted.

  In his words, “We gave Ukraine military equipment worth over 15 billion złoty and we were the first to do so when others were wondering whether they could send anything. If we, as Poland, had not given them all those tanks, planes and other weapons, there would be no one to help today. And I have the feeling that the Ukrainian side does not remember this, is not aware that if it were not for this Polish help, they would not have reached the stage they are at today. This is not right.”

  It therefore naturally follows that a growing number of Poles have become fed up with Ukrainian refugees and the proxy war after feeling that their country has been taken advantage of. Poles are a generous people, but they also have enough self-respect to not tolerate ingratitude from those who they help. Ukrainians and their state have spit in Poles’ faces for far too long, which is why most of the latter now want to throw those that have leeched off of them into the Russian meatgrinder as revenge. 

  Tyler Durden
  Wed, 10/23/2024 – 02:00

• The Danger Is Real: The Deep State's Plot To Destabilize The Nation Is Working
  The Danger Is Real: The Deep State’s Plot To Destabilize The Nation Is Working

  Authored by John & Nisha Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

  “The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out … without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.”

  – H. L. Mencken

  If the three-ring circus that is the looming presidential election proves anything, it is that the Deep State’s plot to destabilize the nation is working.

  The danger is real.

  

  Caught up in the heavily dramatized electoral showdown between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, Americans have become oblivious to the multitude of ways in which the government is goosestepping all over our freedoms on a daily basis.

  Especially alarming is the extent to which those on both sides are allowing themselves to be gaslighted by both Trump and Harris about critical issues of the day, selectively choosing to hear only what they want to hear when it casts the opposition in a negative light.

  This is true whether you’re talking about immigration and border control, health care, national security, the nation’s endless wars, protections for free speech, or the militarization of the U.S. government.

  For starters, there’s the free speech double standard, what my good friend Nat Hentoff used to refer to as the “free speech for me but not for thee” phenomenon in which the First Amendment’s protections only apply to those with whom we might agree.

  Despite her claims to being a champion for the rule of law, which in our case is the U.S. Constitution, Harris isn’t averse to policing so-called “hate” speech. In this, Harris is not unlike those on both the Right and the Left who continue to express a distaste for unregulated, free speech online, especially when it comes to speech with which they might disagree.

  Then there’s Trump, never a fan of free speech protections for his critics, who has been particularly vocal about his desire to see the military vanquish “radical left lunatics,” which he has dubbed “the enemy from within.”

  If it were only about muzzling free speech activities, that would be concerning enough.

  But Trump’s enthusiasm for using the military to target domestic enemies of the state should send off warning bells, especially coinciding as it does with the Department of Defense’s recent re-issuance of Directive 5240.01, which empowers the military to assist law enforcement “in situations where a confrontation between civilian law enforcement and civilian individuals or groups is reasonably anticipated.”

  This is what martial law looks like—a government of force that relies on the military to enforce its authority—and it’s exactly what America’s founders feared, which is why they opted for a republic bound by the rule of law: the U.S. Constitution.

  Responding to concerns that the military would be used for domestic policing, Congress passed the Posse Comitatus Act in 1878, which makes it a crime for the government to use the military to carry out arrests, searches, seizure of evidence and other activities normally handled by a civilian police force.

  The increasing militarization of the police, the use of sophisticated weaponry against Americans and the government’s increasing tendency to employ military personnel domestically have all but eviscerated historic prohibitions such as the Posse Comitatus Act.

  Yet sometime over the course of the past 240-plus years that constitutional republic has been transformed into a military dictatorship disguised as a democracy.

  Unfortunately, most Americans seem relatively untroubled by the fact that our constitutional republic is being transformed into a military dictatorship disguised as a democracy.

  The seeds of chaos that have been sown in recent years are all part of the Deep State’s plans to usher in martial law.

  Observe for yourself what has been happening right before our eyes.

  Domestic terrorism fueled by government entrapment schemes. Civil unrest stoked to dangerous levels by polarizing political rhetoric. A growing intolerance for dissent that challenges the government’s power grabs. Police brutality tacitly encouraged by the executive branch, conveniently overlooked by the legislatures, and granted qualified immunity by the courts. A weakening economy exacerbated by government schemes that favor none but a select few. Heightened foreign tensions and blowback due to the military industrial complex’s profit-driven quest to police and occupy the globe.

  This is no conspiracy theory.

  There’s trouble brewing, and the government is masterminding a response using the military.

  Just take a look at “Megacities: Urban Future, the Emerging Complexity,” a Pentagon training video created by the Army for U.S. Special Operations Command.

  The training video is only five minutes long, but it says a lot about the government’s mindset, the way its views the citizenry, and the so-called “problems” that the government must be prepared to address in the near future through the use of martial law.

  Even more troubling, however, is what this military video doesn’t say about the Constitution, about the rights of the citizenry, and about the dangers of locking down the nation and using the military to address political and social problems.

  The training video anticipates that all hell will break loose by 2030, but the future is here ahead of schedule.

  We’re already witnessing a breakdown of society on virtually every front.

  By waging endless wars abroad, by bringing the instruments of war home, by transforming police into extensions of the military, by turning a free society into a suspect society, by treating American citizens like enemy combatants, by discouraging and criminalizing a free exchange of ideas, by making violence its calling card through SWAT team raids and militarized police, by fomenting division and strife among the citizenry, by acclimating the citizenry to the sights and sounds of war, and by generally making peaceful revolution all but impossible, the government has engineered an environment in which domestic violence is becoming almost inevitable.

  The danger signs are screaming out a message

  The government is anticipating trouble (read: civil unrest), which is code for anything that challenges the government’s authority, wealth and power.

  According to the Pentagon training video created by the Army for U.S. Special Operations Command, the U.S. government is grooming its armed forces to solve future domestic political and social problems.

  What they’re really talking about is martial law, packaged as a well-meaning and overriding concern for the nation’s security.

  The chilling five-minute training video, obtained by The Intercept through a FOIA request and made available online, paints an ominous picture of the future—a future the military is preparing for—bedeviled by “criminal networks,” “substandard infrastructure,” “religious and ethnic tensions,” “impoverishment, slums,” “open landfills, over-burdened sewers,” a “growing mass of unemployed,” and an urban landscape in which the prosperous economic elite must be protected from the impoverishment of the have nots.

  And then comes the kicker.

  Three-and-a-half minutes into the Pentagon’s dystopian vision of “a world of Robert Kaplan-esque urban hellscapes — brutal and anarchic supercities filled with gangs of youth-gone-wild, a restive underclass, criminal syndicates, and bands of malicious hackers,” the ominous voice of the narrator speaks of a need to “drain the swamps.”

  Drain the swamps.

  Surely, we’ve heard that phrase before?

  Ah yes.

  Emblazoned on t-shirts and signs, shouted at rallies, and used as a rallying cry among Trump supporters, “drain the swamp” became one of Donald Trump’s most-used campaign slogans.

  Now the government has adopted its own plans for swamp-draining, only it wants to use the military to drain the swamps of futuristic urban American cities of “noncombatants and engage the remaining adversaries in high intensity conflict within.”

  And who are these noncombatants, a military term that refers to civilians who are not engaged in fighting?

  They are, according to the Pentagon, “adversaries.”

  They are “threats.”

  They are the “enemy.”

  They are people who don’t support the government, people who live in fast-growing urban communities, people who may be less well-off economically than the government and corporate elite, people who engage in protests, people who are unemployed, people who engage in crime (in keeping with the government’s fast-growing, overly broad definition of what constitutes a crime).

  In other words, in the eyes of the U.S. military, noncombatants are American citizens a.k.a. domestic extremists a.k.a. enemy combatants who must be identified, targeted, detained, contained and, if necessary, eliminated.

  In the future imagined by the Pentagon, any walls and prisons that are built will be used to protect the societal elite—the haves—from the have-nots.

  If you haven’t figured it out already, we the people are the have-nots.

  Suddenly it all begins to make sense.

  The events of recent years: the invasive surveillance, the extremism reports, the civil unrest, the protests, the shootings, the bombings, the military exercises and active shooter drills, the color-coded alerts and threat assessments, the fusion centers, the transformation of local police into extensions of the military, the distribution of military equipment and weapons to local police forces, the government databases containing the names of dissidents and potential troublemakers.

  The government is systematically locking down the nation and shifting us into martial law.

  This is how you prepare a populace to accept a police state willingly, even gratefully.

  You don’t scare them by making dramatic changes. Rather, you acclimate them slowly to their prison walls.

  Persuade the citizenry that their prison walls are merely intended to keep them safe and danger out. Desensitize them to violence, acclimate them to a military presence in their communities, and persuade them that there is nothing they can do to alter the seemingly hopeless trajectory of the nation.

  Before long, no one will even notice the floundering economy, the blowback arising from military occupations abroad, the police shootings, the nation’s deteriorating infrastructure and all of the other mounting concerns.

  It’s happening already.

  The sight of police clad in body armor and gas masks, wielding semiautomatic rifles and escorting an armored vehicle through a crowded street, a scene likened to “a military patrol through a hostile city,” no longer causes alarm among the general populace.

  Few seem to care about the government’s endless wars abroad that leave communities shattered, families devastated and our national security at greater risk of blowback.

  The Deep State’s tactics are working.

  We’ve allowed ourselves to be acclimated to the occasional lockdown of government buildings, Jade Helm military drills in small towns so that special operations forces can get “realistic military training” in “hostile” territory, and  Live Active Shooter Drill training exercises, carried out at schools, in shopping malls, and on public transit, which can and do fool law enforcement officials, students, teachers and bystanders into thinking it’s a real crisis.

  Still, you can’t say we weren’t warned about the government’s nefarious schemes to lock down the nation.

  Back in 2008, an Army War College report revealed that “widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security.” The 44-page report went on to warn that potential causes for such civil unrest could include another terrorist attack, “unforeseen economic collapse, loss of functioning political and legal order, purposeful domestic resistance or insurgency, pervasive public health emergencies, and catastrophic natural and human disasters.”

  In 2009, reports by the Department of Homeland Security surfaced that labelled right-wing and left-wing activists and military veterans as extremists (a.k.a. terrorists) and called on the government to subject such targeted individuals to full-fledged pre-crime surveillance. Almost a decade later, after spending billions to fight terrorism, the DHS concluded that the greater threat is not ISIS but domestic right-wing extremism.

  Meanwhile, the government has been amassing an arsenal of military weapons for use domestically and equipping and training their “troops” for war. Even government agencies with largely administrative functions such as the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Smithsonian have been acquiring body armor, riot helmets and shields, cannon launchers and police firearms and ammunition. In fact, there are now at least 120,000 armed federal agents carrying such weapons who possess the power to arrest.

  Rounding out this profit-driven campaign to turn American citizens into enemy combatants (and America into a battlefield) is a technology sector that has been colluding with the government to create a Big Brother that is all-knowing, all-seeing and inescapable. It’s not just the drones, fusion centers, license plate readers, stingray devices and the NSA that you have to worry about. You’re also being tracked by the black boxes in your cars, your cell phone, smart devices in your home, grocery loyalty cards, social media accounts, credit cards, streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon, and e-book reader accounts.

  All of this has taken place right under our noses, funded with our taxpayer dollars and carried out in broad daylight without so much as a general outcry from the citizenry.

  And then you have the government’s Machiavellian schemes for unleashing all manner of dangers on an unsuspecting populace, then demanding additional powers in order to protect “we the people” from the threats.

  Are you getting the picture yet?

  The U.S. government isn’t protecting us from terrorism.

  The U.S. government is creating the terror. It is, in fact, the source of the terror.

  Just think about it for a minute: Cyberwarfare. Terrorism. Bio-chemical attacks. The nuclear arms race. Surveillance. The drug wars.

  Almost every national security threat that the government has claimed greater powers in order to fight—all the while undermining the liberties of the American citizenry—has been manufactured in one way or another by the government.

  Did I say Machiavellian? This is downright evil.

  We’re not dealing with a government that exists to serve its people, protect their liberties and ensure their happiness. Rather, these are the diabolical machinations of a make-works program carried out on an epic scale whose only purpose is to keep the powers-that-be permanently (and profitably) employed.

  Mind you, by “government,” I’m not referring to the highly partisan, two-party bureaucracy of the Republicans and Democrats.

  I’m referring to “government” with a capital “G,” the entrenched Deep State that is unaffected by elections, unaltered by populist movements, and has set itself beyond the reach of the law.

  I’m referring to the corporatized, militarized, entrenched bureaucracy that is fully operational and staffed by unelected officials who are, in essence, running the country and calling the shots in Washington DC, no matter who sits in the White House.

  Be warned: in the future envisioned by the government, we will not be viewed as Republicans or Democrats. Rather, “we the people” will be enemies of the state.

  For years, the government has been warning against the dangers of domestic terrorism, erecting surveillance systems to monitor its own citizens, creating classification systems to label any viewpoints that challenge the status quo as extremist, and training law enforcement agencies to equate anyone possessing anti-government views as a domestic terrorist.

  What the government failed to explain was that the domestic terrorists would be of the government’s own making, and that “we the people” would become enemy #1.

  As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, we’re already enemies of the state.

  It’s time to wake up and stop being deceived by Deep State propaganda.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 23:25

• Reporter Injured By Bullet Fragment During Kinzinger-Democrat Campaign Stunt
  Reporter Injured By Bullet Fragment During Kinzinger-Democrat Campaign Stunt

  A local TV reporter was struck in the arm with a bullet fragment while covering a campaign event for a Democratic Senate candidate featuring former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R).

  

  Missouri Democratic candidate Lucas Kunce – who’s trying to unseat Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) – was shooting an AR-15 at the time, and was the only person shooting when KSHB-TV’s Ryan Gamboa was struck.

  

  Kunce, a former Marine, wrapped gauze around Gamboa’s arm and applied a tourniquet using his belt, according to the Kansas City Star, which notes that ‘Kunce has his military background in campaign ads, some of which show him firing a gun.‘

  After he was treated, Gamboa soldiered on covering the event.

  

  Maybe ‘hunters’ Kamala Harris and Tim Walz should have stopped by to offer some tips – like how to load a shotgun with your crotch?

  🚨 NEW: Disgraced former Congressman Adam Kinzinger and Democrat MO Senate nominee Lucas Kunce went shooting today for a photo-op, and a reporter ended up being SH0T

  Absolutely incredible.

  These idiots decided it’d be a good idea to shoot metal plates with an AR-15 from just… pic.twitter.com/NcIh4QimNC

  — Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) October 23, 2024

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 23:00

• Israeli Ministers Call For Expulsion Of Palestinians At 'Resettle Gaza' Conference
  Israeli Ministers Call For Expulsion Of Palestinians At ‘Resettle Gaza’ Conference

  Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

  On Monday, Israeli Knesset members and senior government ministers attended a conference on re-establishing Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip that was held in southern Israel near the Gaza border.

  The conference, titled “Preparing to Resettle Gaza,” was organized by the Israeli settler organization Nachala and members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

  

  At least ten out of the 32 Likud party members in the Israeli Knesset were set to attend the conference, including May Golan, who is in Netanyahu’s government as the minister for Social Equality and the Advancement of the Status of Women.

  In a speech at the rally, which drew hundreds of attendees, Golan vowed Palestinians in Gaza would face another “Nakba,” referring to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Arabs when the modern state of Israel was formed in 1948.

  “We will hit them where it hurts – their land,” Golan said, according to Haaretz. “Anyone who uses their plot of land to plan another Holocaust will receive from us, with God’s help, another Nakba that they will tell their children and their grandchildren about for the next 50 years.”

  National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the Jewish Power party, also delivered a speech at the conference, and he received a very warm welcome. Haaretz reported that attendees broke out in chants of “Look over here, it’s our next Prime Minister” and “Death penalty for terrorists,” referring to Ben Gvir’s calls to execute Palestinian prisoners to make room in Israeli prisons.

  In his speech, Ben Gvir said, “We will encourage the voluntary transfer of all Gazan citizens. We will offer them the opportunity to move to other countries because that land belongs to us.”

  Far-Right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir leads the crowd in song at the “Preparing to Resettle Gaza” Conference, which took place over two days on Israel’s southern border with Gaza.

  Ben-Gvir was greeted by eager applause from the crowd. “We are the owners of the… pic.twitter.com/hbVP7XdTSK

  — Rachel Fink (@RachelSFink) October 21, 2024

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  Ben Gvir and other proponents of conquering Gaza have framed their idea as “voluntary” for the Palestinians, but the Israeli military campaign has made most of Gaza uninhabitable. Palestinians in northern Gaza are currently facing Israeli evacuation orders to move to the south under the threat of death by military action or starvation.

  Other Israeli ministers who attended the conference include Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Yitzhak Wasserlauf, the minister for the development of the Negev and Galilee.

  Daniella Weiss, a leader of Nachala, vowed that Jewish settlements would begin popping up in Gaza within a year. “In less than a year, each one of you can call me and ask me if I succeeded in fulfilling my dream,” she told reporters at the conference. “Actually, you don’t even have to call me. You will witness how Jews go to Gaza and Arabs disappear from Gaza.”

  Daniella Weiss, one of the leaders of the settlement movement, was a featured speaker at the “Preparing to Resettle Gaza” Conference which took place over two days on Israel’s border with Gaza. Speaking to foreign journalists, she vowed to renew the Jewish presence in Gaza within… pic.twitter.com/SFmNA8SZce

  — Rachel Fink (@RachelSFink) October 21, 2024

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  Weiss also made it clear that her ambitions for Israeli expansion did not stop in Gaza or the West Bank. “The real borders of greater Israel are between the Euphrates River and the Nile.”

  Haaretz recently reported that the Israeli government is not seeking to revive ceasefire talks with Hamas and is now pushing for the gradual annexation of large portions of the Gaza Strip.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 22:35

• Escape Biden-flation Storm With A Walmart Tiny Home
  Escape Biden-flation Storm With A Walmart Tiny Home

  Housing affordability in the United States under the Biden-Harris administration has hit a generational low. After all, WEF’s slogan of ‘owning nothing and being happy’ has become an alarming reality for millions of Americans in the last 3.5 years.

  

  To counter this hellscape that Democrats have created through the worst inflation storm since the 1970s, folks stuck in the doom loop of renting in dangerous big cities should find a plot of land in rural America. Next, find a tiny home. 

  We’ve discussed this for years: as the standard of living implodes in the US, the size of homes will shrink. Television shows have popularized tiny homes in recent years, and big-box retailers have been selling them (Home Depot).

  

  Walmart is the latest retailer selling tiny homes. It now offers a 19-by-20-foot “expandable prefab house” delivered by flatbed truck for $15,900.

  

  It looks almost like a double-wide mobile home from the Canadian mockumentary television sitcom ‘Trailer Park Boys.’ 

  

  For $21,888, Walmart is offering a towable tiny home. 

  

  Next, browse Zillow for land lots in rural America. A simple search in Terra Alta, West Virginia, shows numerous lots with multiple acres for dirt cheap.

  

  Why go this route? Well, it’s cheaper than trying to afford the most basic home. Also, grow your own food and source locally, breaking away from the processed food industrial complex.

  Fast Food is a part of American culture. But that doesn’t mean it has to be unhealthy, and that we can’t make better choices. Did you know that McDonald’s used to use beef tallow to make their fries from 1940 until phasing it out in favor of seed oils in 1990? This switch was… pic.twitter.com/ygijMtsSQt

  — Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) October 21, 2024

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  According to data compiled by the National Association of Realtors, the average household income to buy a home now requires over $100k. 

  

  Housing affordability has collapsed to record lows under Biden-Harris…

  

  Power hookups and wells are extra costs. Plus, for remote workers, connecting to the internet is as easy as using a Starlink terminal.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 22:10

• Health Care Is Complicated
  Health Care Is Complicated

  Authored by Jerry Rogers via RealClearHealth,

  The American healthcare system is not really one system. No, health care in the U.S. is comprised of several systems – Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, private insurance as well as myriad state and local healthcare programs. What’s more, patients have access to charity care programs and patient assistant programs. For instance, pharmaceutical manufacturers sponsor patient assistance programs (PAPs) that provide financial assistance or free product (through in-kind product donations) to low-income individuals to augment any existing prescription drug coverage.

  

  So, when you hear a politician talking about quick fixes to lower the cost of medicine, usher in a single-payer system like ‘Medicare-for-All’, or bring about an immediate free-market revolution to health care, it’s not true. There are no easy reforms or singular solutions that will impact all the layers and complications of providing greater access to health care at lower costs.

  Healthcare reform requires numerous transformations that will take time, and the willingness of both the public and private sectors to evolve. The one truth about American health care is that it’s a complete mess.

  The current health care environment demands an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach – more private-sector competition, health insurance flexibility, greater price transparency, and myriad other reforms. For instance, what are Alternative Funding Programs (AFPs) and how do they deliver medical coverage to patients?

  Businesses are desperate to remain competitive – our economy has been shattered by historic inflation, unprecedented supply-chain shortages, high interest rates, and low-cost foreign competition. AFPs could help small businesses in their efforts to stay open – and thrive. AFPs help companies reduce their health care costs by ‘offloading’ the health expenses of certain specialty medications. AFPs can do this by exploiting the pharmaceutical industry’s charitable giving – the patient assistant programs. Very simply put, AFPs help employers lower their pharmacy benefit costs. Alternative Payment Programs advocate for patients by navigating the complicated healthcare landscape of PAPS to find solutions where employer-sponsored health plans fall short.

  Millions of Americans are underinsured – they might have some form of group health plan coverage, but that coverage doesn’t adequately address their medical costs – the specialty medicines they need. Specialty drugs are high-cost prescription medications used by patients with serious, complex illnesses – for instance, patients with cancer, arthritis or MS. AFPs fill the insurance gap for the underinsured patient – an insurance gap that if not addressed leaves patients vulnerable to both serious illnesses and financial ruin.

  AFPs can help patients lacking traditional insurance; specifically, patients who are in self-funded plans that do not provide coverage for high-cost prescription medications needed to treat chronic conditions – i.e., specialty medicines. AFPs serve patients who can’t afford treatment, and patients who lack the financial means to pay for the medication out-of-pocket.

  AFPs are a growing presence impacting our healthcare systems, and their business model is provocative. The pharmaceutical industry points to how AFPs are designed to take advantage of manufacturer-sponsored PAPs, primarily for high-cost specialty medications. AFPs work by carving out specialty medicines and then using patients’ insurance status to enroll them in a manufacturer PAP. The results are health plans and employers benefit from these services by saving money on prescriptions.

  In a recent conversation with Paydhealth’s David A. Galardi (Chief Commercial Office), he described his company’s vocation with an actual client’s circumstance:

  ‘In a large school district, an employee under a group health plan needed three costly specialty medications. Without intervention, the district would have faced nearly $650,000 in annual costs. PaydHealth stepped in, reviewed the case, identified forms of assistance the individual was eligible for, and helped secure free assistance for the employee within 72 hours. This not only preserved access to the prescribed therapy but also saved the public sector employer from bearing the high costs while ensuring the patient received the necessary treatment.’

  AFPs are a part of the healthcare ether. Paydhealth’s website puts it this way: We are ‘changing the funding of specialty healthcare to re-imagine the possibilities of bringing real savings to the purchaser of health care’ – the patient

  Specialty medications account for 51% of total pharmacy spending though they are used by less than 2% of the population. Policymakers should be looking at solutions to get the right medicine to the right patient at the right time – and at the right cost. Let’s have that public discussion so patients see greater access to the medicines and treatments they need.

  AFPs, like Paydhealth, could be part of the health care fix patients deserve – addressing real problems in the healthcare space.

  Jerry Rogers is editor at RealClearPolicy and RealClearHealth. He hosts ‘The Jerry Rogers Show’ on WBAL NewsRadio 1090/FM 101.5 and the Federal Newswire’s ‘The Business of America’. Follow him on Twitter @JerryRogersShow.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 21:45

• India's Modi Urges Quick 'Peaceful' End To Ukraine War In Meeting With Putin
  India’s Modi Urges Quick ‘Peaceful’ End To Ukraine War In Meeting With Putin

  On the first day of the annual BRICS summit held in Kazan, Russia – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a call for the war in Ukraine to be resolved peacefully and “quickly”.

  This is the message he conveyed directly Russian President Vladimir Putin upon the start of the three-day gathering. Putin hopes to present the BRICS alliance as the main alternative to Western hegemony.

  “We have been in constant touch over the conflict between Russia and Ukraine,” Modi told Putin, just after the two once again shared a warm embrace. “We believe that disputes should only be resolved peacefully. We totally support efforts to quickly restore peace and stability,” Modi emphasized. Russia looks anything but “isolated” during this week of hosting major heads of state.

  

  “All our efforts give priority to humanity. India is ready to provide all possible cooperation in the times to come,” the prime minister added.

  Modi had recounted upon arriving in Kazan the night prior – and as a way to highlight steady relations with Moscow despite the more than two-year long Ukraine war – that this is his second visit to Russia in just three months.

  “My two visits to Russia in the last three months reflect our close coordination and deep friendship. Our Annual Summit in Moscow in July has strengthened our cooperation in every field…In 15 years, the BRICS has created its special identity and now many countries of the world want to join it. I am looking forward to participating in the BRICS Summit tomorrow,” Modi said.

  Putin responded positively by describing that “Russian-Indian relations have the character of a particularly privileged strategic partnership and continue to actively develop.”

  Modi and Putin laugh at a joke by the Russian president…

  🇷🇺🇮🇳 “Our Relations are So Good, You Understand Without a Translator” – Putin Jokes with Modi

  A friendship between nations not lost in translation?#BRICS2024 pic.twitter.com/bQ92M1yZHB

  — RT_India (@RT_India_news) October 22, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  Other BRICS partners are likely to repeat this call for peace and de-escalation in Ukraine. Around two dozen global leaders in the Russian city, notably including Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

  Russian state sources are hailing Russia playing host to the summit:

  By hosting BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia “shows the West that it’s not isolated” and President Vladimir Putin “is no pariah,” Time Magazine reported on Tuesday.

  According to Alicia Garcia-Herrero, a senior research fellow at the Bruegel think tank who spoke to the outlet, BRICS “expansion is a clear sign that the global balance of power is shifting.”

  Top of the agenda toward this end will be discussion of and the further advancing of a BRICS-led payment system to rival the SWIFT international payment system, which President Putin has long talked about.

  Looks who’s arriving in “Isolated Russia” for the huge BRICS summit 2024

  The leaders of the biggest economies and democracies on Earth.

  Russian President Putin to hold meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian PM Modi at BRICS Summit tomorrow in Russia. pic.twitter.com/rs1OiJuD0J

  — sumit (@sumityou40) October 22, 2024

  https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

  The conflicts breaking out in the Middle East will also be a prime topic, given Israel is still vowing to strike back at Iran for the Oct.1st ballistic missile attack, and as Lebanon comes under increasing bombardment by Israeli jets.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 21:20

• The Rise Of The Humble
  The Rise Of The Humble

  Authored by Jeffrey A. Tucker via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

  I’m part of a supper club that meets monthly. It was founded at the height of the lockdowns when everyone was being forced into masks and being muscled into getting the shot. This group resisted both, despite the imposing certainty of the mandates.

  

  All these years later, the community is still bonded. Friendships formed and lasted. The culture is one of deep questioning. Each meeting is replete with incredulity toward official pronouncement, a shared perception that elite opinion and elite institutions were simply wrong. And not just about COVID but about everything.

  It’s not a political group at all. Its central theme concerns the failure of conventional wisdom and all the ways in which legacy institutions preached error over several years. These days, as all polls have revealed, this view is widely held. Many of the most pressing trends of our time are about dislodging an old elite (in media, corporate life, government) and replacing them with people interested in new ways.

  I’ve noticed a common feature among many of the rising stars that are displacing the falling stars of the old elites. They are much more humble about what they know and what they do not know. They are happy to admit it. The days of “I am the science” and “We are your source of truth” seem to be ending. The guru scientist and soothsaying academic have fallen from their perches of influence.

  Replacing them is a new generation of thinkers who are happy to admit what they do not know. The other day, for example, Tucker Carlson said he often feels what is called imposter syndrome. This is the belief that every achievement is really just a lucky break, a sneaky feeling that we have temporarily pulled the wool over people’s eyes.

  It’s a humble admission, one we should all appreciate. It’s a common feeling among anyone commonly described as a genius. Even Elon Musk must feel this. Ironically, the person who believes that the moniker of genius is unjust is the person most likely to deserve it.

  The problem of constantly deciding whether we are great or terrible at what we do, toying with the belief that we are geniuses just before worrying that we will be exposed as frauds, is just part of life and a real sign of humility.

  A good example comes from an account of a man who competed as a pianist in the amateur Van Cliburn contest in the 1990s:

  “I haven’t felt this nervous before any recital and tell myself that I should be confident, having already made it through the previous rounds. But I can’t shake the fear that I’m a fraud who lucked into the finals while all the other finalists are pros, even if they’re called amateurs. An extra degree of scrutiny directed at me is attributable to the conspicuous nature of my profession [journalist], which is no consolation at the moment. Reverse psychology—I’m not a fraud, I’m a star—doesn’t help, either. Star, fraud—the only thing I conclude is that I should be focusing on the music.”

  That article appeared in 1999, and the passage above is the one that stood out to me. It signifies that search that all of us make to define a sense of precisely who we are based on our skill level and, in turn, what to expect from others in their treatment of us. Mostly, however, it works in the opposite direction. We extract information from what others around us say about us and infuse that sense into our self-perceptions.

  From little league baseball through one’s school years and all the way to professional life, the following happens to everyone. You do something amazing, and everyone sings your praises. But now you have a new problem: expectations are newly high for your performance. This is especially true if you have won or received a promotion or raise: Now you have to get out there and kill it every time, else you will be seen as undeserving.

  There’s an added problem to being perceived as a genius. Others will want to tear you down and revel in your fall. Envy is the most hidden, but most deeply dangerous of the deadly sins. Those who envy victims are almost always surprised because they were expecting their achievement to be followed by accolades and promotion, not resentment and nefarious plots. But the only way to avoid envy is intolerable: never be excellent.

  Elon faces this daily of course. But so do insurgent political candidates and newly popular media figures. The forces trying to tear them down are everywhere.

  In poor societies, this is the common and tragic response. It’s also a feature of declining societies in which ever more people have money, power, and influence who have done nothing to merit either. They owe their status to legacy and inertia, and cling to it against all winds of change.

  Today such entrenched elites exist in all sectors: the corporate world, government, academia, media, politics, nonprofits, and more. Everyone has encountered them. They are everywhere. There is a word to describe them: fakers.

  The number one fear of a faker is being found out, so every day is spent in scheming and plotting to prevent that. This is why fakers surround themselves with people who are willing to be complicit in the coverup of incompetence, i.e., “Yes men” whose main skill is nodding in agreement. For this reason, fakers breed other fakers and promote them to flood the zone of fakes in hopes of hiding for longer.

  They all develop what today is being called “testy” personalities which they deploy as tactics of intimidation, always with this habit of resenting anyone who questions their words and judgment. They are prickly because they have a grim truth to hide always: namely that they have not merited their status, title, power, or income, and possess a fraction of the abilities of the people over whom they rule.

  In the corporate world, they love calling staff meetings because fakers have learned the art of time-killing blather to cover up for their fundamental incompetence. They have nothing better to do so they call many and make them last as long as possible.

  Fakers loathe competence and punish it. They drip poison in people’s ears to stop the social and professional advancement of their betters. They drive out those with skill in an effort to avoid being shown up. In doing so, they are a source of quiet chaos all around them.

  There is really no cure for this problem. Once a professional is promoted beyond his or her competence—due to family connections, personal relationships, identity visuals, indulging and exploiting undeserved credit and praise, or whatever—there is no going back. The only possible solution, and it is ultimately a compassionate one, is full professional termination. This is because they cannot be dialed back lest they seethe with resentment and plot retribution.

  Of course that solution requires competent leadership in a position to make hard decisions, which is precisely what the fakers are working to prevent.

  In the credit-soaked, bloated, and credential-obsessed economic structures of the 21st century, fakers are everywhere. They demoralize competent employees, demotivate hard work and improvement, foment distrust within and without, and ultimately wreck and discredit whole institutions.

  The imposter syndrome, in contrast, is something felt by every truly competent person. To some extent, all reputations of geniuses are exaggerated. Despite the high reputations of the Wright Brothers, Alexander Graham Bell, and Eli Whitney, there is in fact an ongoing dispute about who was first in flight, who invented the telephone, and whether the cotton gin was actually improved much at all by Whitney’s machine.

  Historians of invention have yet to discover any innovations that were genuinely the product of a single mind. What we find again and again is the phenomenon of Multiple Discovery, with many people competing for the title of the first. It is for this reason that Nobel Prizes are increasingly given to teams of researchers. It seems more accurate to say that genius is in the air and perceived by many different people in different places, even if they have never had contact with each other.

  F.A. Hayek showed that the highest forms of intelligence do not live so much in individuals’ minds but in social processes and institutions that no single human mind can fully conceptualize. The result is an order that no man can accurately comprehend or describe, much less design. This is precisely the core of his defense of freedom in speech and action: we need this process to be adaptable to become ever smarter and more reflective of a multitude of intelligences that emerge from human action.

  Where does that leave us as individuals? All we can hope to do is precisely what the pianist quoted above says: “I should be focusing on the music.” That is to say, do the best we can on the task in which we are engaged. You will have moments of genius and moments of failure, sometimes home runs and sometimes strikeouts, good performances and bad. Knowing this is neither a complex nor a syndrome; it is the stuff of life.

  It is perfectly normal to worry that the plaudits one receives are not truly merited. The most successful musicians I’ve known are not the best; it’s just that they work harder to become successful. It’s the same with writers, scientists, engineers, or entrepreneurs. They are great because they focus on constant improvement.

  The “natural talents” among us rarely blossom because they don’t have to work at it. At the same time, seeming disabilities become abilities because they motivate us to overcome them.

  History will surely record that elite arrogance over the last four years has proven to be their undoing. In contrast, we might be watching the rise of a new generation of leaders in many fields who approach their craft with a different ethos: the humility to recognize one’s limits, a dedication to authenticity, and a passion for genuine excellence in the service of others. We can hope.

  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
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 20:55

• IRS Unveils New Federal Income Tax Brackets For 2025
  IRS Unveils New Federal Income Tax Brackets For 2025

  The IRS on Oct. 22 unveiled the new federal income tax brackets for 2025.

  

  As The Epoch Times’ Zachary Stieber reports, each bracket was changed, including the top one.

  Single taxpayers making more than $636,350, or couples making more than $751,600, will be subject to a 37 percent tax rate.

  That’s up from $609,350, and $731,200, respectively.

  Here are the other new brackets, with the old income threshold in parentheses:

  • 35 percent tax for singles making more than $250,525 ($243,725) and married couples making more than $501,050 ($487,450)

  • 32 percent tax for singles making more than $197,300 ($191,950) and married couples making more than $394,600 ($383,900)

  • 24 percent tax for singles making more than $103,350 ($100,525) and married couples making more than $206,700 $201,050()

  • 22 percent tax for singles with incomes over $48,475 ($47,150) and married couples making more than $96,950 ($94,300)

  • 12 percent tax for singles with incomes over $11,925 ($11,600) and married couples making more than $23,850 ($23,200)

  • 10 percent tax for singles with incomes of $11,925 or less ($11,600 or less) and married couples making $23,850 or less ($23,200 or less)

  The IRS also said it is increasing the standard deduction for individuals by $400 to $15,000, and for married couples by $800 to $30,000.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 20:30

• Prostate Cancer: Over-Testing And Over-Treatment
  Prostate Cancer: Over-Testing And Over-Treatment

  Authored by Bruce Davidson via The Brownstone Institute,

  The excessive medical response to the Covid pandemic made one thing abundantly clear: Medical consumers really ought to do their own research into the health issues that impact them. Furthermore, it is no longer enough simply to seek out a “second opinion” or even a “third opinion” from doctors. They may well all be misinformed or biased. Furthermore, this problem appears to predate the Covid phenomenon.

  

  A striking example of that can be found in the recent history of prostate cancer testing and treatment, which, for personal reasons, has become a subject of interest to me. In many ways, it strongly resembles the Covid calamity, where misuse of the PCR test resulted in harming the supposedly Covid-infected with destructive treatments.

  Two excellent books on the subject illuminate the issues involved in prostate cancer. One is Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers by Dr. Mark Scholz and Ralph Blum. Dr. Scholtz is executive director of the Prostate Cancer Research Institute in California. The other is The Great Prostate Hoax by Richard Ablin and Ronald Piana. Richard Ablin is a pathologist who invented the PSA test but has become a vociferous critic of its widespread use as a diagnostic tool for prostate cancer.

  Mandatory yearly PSA testing at many institutions opened up a gold mine for urologists, who were able to perform lucrative biopsies and prostatectomies on patients who had PSA test numbers above a certain level. However, Ablin has insisted that “routine PSA screening does far more harm to men than good.” Moreover, he maintains that the medical people involved in prostate screening and treatment represent “a self-perpetuating industry that has maimed millions of American men.”

  Even during approval hearings for the PSA test, the FDA was well aware of the problems and dangers. For one thing, the test has a 78% false positive rate. An elevated PSA level can be caused by various factors besides cancer, so it is not really a test for prostate cancer. Moreover, a PSA test score can spur frightened men into getting unnecessary biopsies and harmful surgical procedures.

  One person who understood the potential dangers of the test well was the chairman of the FDA’s committee, Dr. Harold Markovitz, who decided whether to approve it. He declared, “I’m afraid of this test. If it is approved, it comes out with the imprimatur of the committee…as pointed out, you can’t wash your hands of guilt. . .all this does is threaten a whole lot of men with prostate biopsy…it’s dangerous.”

  In the end, the committee did not give unqualified approval to the PSA test but only approved it “with conditions.”

  However, subsequently, the conditions were ignored.

  Nevertheless, the PSA test became celebrated as the route to salvation from prostate cancer. The Postal Service even circulated a stamp promoting yearly PSA tests in 1999. Quite a few people became wealthy and well-known at the Hybritech company, thanks to the Tandem-R PSA test, their most lucrative product.

  In those days, the corrupting influence of the pharmaceutical companies on the medical device and drug approval process was already apparent. In an editorial for the Journal of the American Medical Association (quoted in Albin and Piana’s book), Dr. Marcia Angell wrote, “The pharmaceutical industry has gained unprecedented control over the evaluation of its products…there’s mounting evidence that they skew the research they sponsor to make their drugs look better and safer.” She also authored the book The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It.

  A cancer diagnosis often causes great anxiety, but in actuality, prostate cancer develops very slowly compared to other cancers and does not often pose an imminent threat to life. A chart featured in Scholz and Blum’s book compares the average length of life of people whose cancer returns after surgery. In the case of colon cancer, they live on average two more years, but prostate cancer patients live another 18.5 years.

  In the overwhelming majority of cases, prostate cancer patients do not die from it but rather from something else, whether they are treated for it or not. In a 2023 article about this issue titled “To Treat or Not to Treat,” the author reports the results of a 15-year study of prostate cancer patients in the New England Journal of Medicine. Only 3% of the men in the study died of prostate cancer, and getting radiation or surgery for it did not seem to offer much statistical benefit over “active surveillance.”

  Dr. Scholz confirms this, writing that “studies indicate that these treatments [radiation and surgery] reduce mortality in men with Low and Intermediate-Risk disease by only 1% to 2% and by less than 10% in men with High-Risk disease.”

  Nowadays prostate surgery is a dangerous treatment choice, but it is still widely recommended by doctors, especially in Japan. Sadly, it also seems to be unnecessary. One study cited in Ablin and Piana’s book concluded that “PSA mass screening resulted in a huge increase in the number of radical prostatectomies. There is little evidence for improved survival outcomes in the recent years…”

  However, a number of urologists urge their patients not to wait to get prostate surgery, threatening them with imminent death if they do not. Ralph Blum, a prostate cancer patient, was told by one urologist, “Without surgery you’ll be dead in two years.” Many will recall that similar death threats were also a common feature of Covid mRNA-injection promotion.

  Weighing against prostate surgery are various risks, including death and long-term impairment, since it is a very difficult procedure, even with newer robotic technology. According to Dr. Scholz, about 1 in 600 prostate surgeries result in the death of the patient. Much higher percentages suffer from incontinence (15% to 20%) and impotence after surgery. The psychological impact of these side effects is not a minor problem for many men.

  In light of the significant risks and little proven benefit of treatment, Dr. Scholz censures “the urology world’s persistent overtreatment mindset.” Clearly, excessive PSA screening led to inflicting unnecessary suffering on many men. More recently, the Covid phenomenon has been an even more dramatic case of medical overkill.

  Ablin and Piana’s book makes an observation that also sheds a harsh light on the Covid medical response: “Isn’t cutting edge innovation that brings new medical technology to the market a good thing for health-care consumers? The answer is yes, but only if new technologies entering the market have proven benefit over the ones they replace.”

  That last point especially applies to Japan right now, where people are being urged to receive the next-generation mRNA innovation–the self-amplifying mRNA Covid vaccine. Thankfully, a number seem to be resisting this time.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 20:05

• US Insider Selling Soars To 3 Year High As China Buybacks Surge To Record
  US Insider Selling Soars To 3 Year High As China Buybacks Surge To Record

  China may have failed once again to stabilize its moribund housing market and flagging economy, with its latest superficial attempt to stimulate consumer demand by releasing another modest trickle of overdue but insufficient monetary and fiscal stimulus measures, but it is certainly not giving up on hopes to prop up the market at almost any cost.

  Following relentless prodding from the central government, share buybacks on mainland China’s biggest exchanges have soared to a record high this year as Beijing pushes for companies to return cash to shareholders as part of its efforts to revive a flagging stock market.

  According to the FT, there have been Rmb235bn ($33bn) in buybacks across mainland-listed shares so far in 2024, more than double last year’s total and far surpassing the previous record of Rmb133bn in 2022, according to financial data provider Wind.

  

  The scramble to repurchase shares comes as China’s government unleashes its biggest round of economic stimulus since the Covid-19 pandemic, which however has again been seen as insufficient by the market. Beijing is keen to boost investor sentiment, underscoring growing urgency to restore confidence in an economy hit hard by a property sector crisis and weak consumer demand. The government is stepping up efforts to hit its year-end GDP growth target of 5%.

  While the benchmark CSI 300 index had risen as much as 20% over the past month amid Beijing’s bid to breathe new life into its equity market after years of dismal performance, it has since given up much of the gains as expectations of even more stimulus measures did not materialize.

  Goldman’s China strategist Kinger Lau argued that buybacks made “economic sense” for companies with cash to spare given how far Chinese share prices had fallen, and added that such a move could also bolster the government’s coffers when it held big stakes in companies.

  The surge in buybacks began even before the Chinese authorities announced Rmb300bn in central bank loans to fund share repurchases last week; that news however will surely supercharge the buybacks even more.

  More than 20 Chinese companies, including state oil group Sinopec, have announced share buyback plans exceeding Rmb10bn since the announcement of the central bank scheme on Friday, according to a Financial Times calculation based on exchange filings.

  Jason Bedford, a China banking analyst formerly at UBS and asset manager Bridgewater, said Beijing was seeking an equity rally by encouraging buybacks. “Clearly, the government has been pushing this throughout the year,” he said.

  Kin Chan, chief investment officer at Argyle Street Management in Hong Kong, said that China was following “a Japanese approach, which is telling companies to do share buybacks”.

  “As a stock market player, this is wonderful, but does this solve the economic problem? I have no idea,” he said.

  Meanwhile, as China is coming up with feat of financial engineering to prop up its flagging stocks in hopes of creating a virtuous wealth effect cycle, in the US insiders are doing just the opposite.

  At a time when stocks have had no shortage of buyers, as even formerly bearish hedge funds capitulate and unleash the biggest buying spree of stocks since 2021, joining retail investors and record US buybacks, all helping propel US stocks to a sixth straight up week, US company insiders are dumping in near record amounts.

  As Bloomberg notes, while business leaders were busy last week offering reassuring earnings guidance, underneath the rosy outlook was a different trend: They were selling stock… which has traditionally been a major red flag as these are the people who best know the inner workings of the companies they run.

  As shown below, a gauge of insider sentiment, one that tallies the number of sellers versus buyers, is poised to hit the highest monthly reading in more than three years, data compiled by the Washington Service show.

  

  The figures chime with various high-profile sales that have made headlines recently, including Warren Buffett’s unloading of Apple and Bank of America stock, as well as sales by Nvidia insiders, including CEO Jensen Huang.

  

  Granted, some of the exits no doubt have nothing to do with the business outlook, driven instead by the need for cash to buy a house or pay for kids’ tuition. And the stock rally has been mostly invulnerable for months amid Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and generally good tidings on the economy and earnings.

  Still, the last time the insider indicator shot up, in July, it was a precursor to market pain, with the S&P 500 subsequently falling 8%.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 19:40

• Michigan Voter Rolls Claim 8.4M Voters, When There Are Less Than 8M Eligible Residents
  Michigan Voter Rolls Claim 8.4M Voters, When There Are Less Than 8M Eligible Residents

  Authored by Eric Lendrum via American Greatness,

  The voter rolls in Michigan claim that there are 8.4 million people registered to vote in the crucial swing state, even though the state’s total population is almost half a million less than that.

  

  According to the Daily Wire, the state of Michigan had previously been sued by the Republican National Committee (RNC) over the extremely inflated voter rolls, and other concerns regarding election integrity.

  But Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D-Mich.) dismissed such concerns in a statement on Wednesday, claiming with no evidence that these lawsuits “lay the groundwork to overturn the results of the election if they don’t like them.”

  “The RNC and its members are concerned that Defendants’ failure to comply with the NVRA’s voter-list maintenance obligations undermines the integrity of elections by increasing the opportunity for ineligible voters or voters intent on fraud to cast ballots,” the RNC’s lawsuit states.

  A spokeswoman for Benson’s office, Angela Benander, even admitted that there are at least 606,800 inactive voters currently on the rolls, but they will not be purged until 2027. Voters who become ineligible include those who have moved to another state, those who have mail returned from their address as “undeliverable,” and voters who do not vote in two or more consecutive federal elections.

  “The RNC relies on registration lists to estimate voter turnout, which informs the number of staff the RNC needs in a given jurisdiction, the number of volunteers needed to contact voters, and how much the RNC will spend on paid voter contacts,” the RNC’s lawsuit continued.

  “If voter registration lists include names of voters who should no longer be on the list, the RNC may spend more resources on mailers, knocking on doors, and otherwise trying to contact voters, or it may misallocate its scarce resources among different jurisdictions.”

  In total, 78 of Michigan’s 83 counties appear to have more registered voters than residents of voting age.

  The largest county in the state, Wayne County – where the city of Detroit is located – has only 1.3 million residents of voting age, but 1.4 million registered voters, according to data from the U.S. Census.

  Another example is Genessee County, with 351,000 registered voters but less than 300,000 residents.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 19:15

• Polaris Warns "Challenging Retail Demand" For ATVs & Jetskis
  Polaris Warns “Challenging Retail Demand” For ATVs & Jetskis

  Polaris shares fell in premarket trading after the company, known for selling ATVs, UTVs, jet skis, and snowmobiles, posted disappointing third-quarter earnings. The company also cut its full-year earnings per share and sales forecast, citing sagging demand for outdoor vehicles due to elevated interest rates. 

  “As consumer confidence and retail demand remain challenging, we have maintained our focus on managing dealer inventory and delivering better operational efficiency,” Polaris CEO Mike Speetzen wrote in a press release. 

  

  Polaris reported sales of $1.72 billion, down 23% YoY, missing the Bloomberg estimate of $1.77 billion. Sales were down modestly in off-road vehicles, motorcycles, and pontoons. 

  Here’s a snapshot of third-quarter earnings (courtesy of Bloomberg):  

  • Sales $1.72 billion, -23% y/y, estimate $1.77 billion (Bloomberg Consensus)

  • Off Road sales $1.40 billion, -24% y/y, estimate $1.41 billion

  • On Road sales $236.5 million, -13% y/y, estimate $241.6 million

  • Marine sales $85.9 million, -36% y/y, estimate $133.7 million

  • Gross profit margin 20.6% vs. 22.6% y/y, estimate 21%

  • Cash and cash equivalents $291.3 million, -1.4% y/y, estimate $337.8 millio

  • Adjusted EPS from continuing operations 73c, estimate 89c

  Visualizing Polaris’ quarterly revenues… The cheap money era of Covid, plus folks moving out of cities to resort towns and or just rural America, sparked a massive demand for outdoor vehicles. As the Federal Reserve tightened monetary policy, which sent interest rates to the moon, affordability for these outdoor grown-up toys worsened, thus curbing demand.

  

  As a result of a challenging market, one in which high interest rates have curbed consumer spending on jetskis, RZRs, and snowmobiles, Polaris had to lower its full-year earnings per share and sales guidance:

  • Sees adjusted EPS -65%, saw -56% to -62%

  • Sees sales -20%, saw -17% to -20%

  Polaris explained more about its reasoning behind lowering its 2024 business outlook:

  The company updated its 2024 sales outlook to be down approximately 20 percent relative to 2023 versus its previous outlook of down 17 to 20 percent relative to 2023. The company now expects adjusted diluted EPS attributed to Polaris Inc. common shareholders to be down approximately 65 percent relative to 2023 versus the prior outlook of down 56 to 62 percent.

  In markets, Polaris shares in New York are down 7%. On the year, shares are down 15% (as of Monday’s close). Shares are hovering at levels last seen since right before the Covid crash. 

  

  Also, watch MasterCraft Boat, MarineMax, Camping World, Brunswick, and Malibu Boats. 

  Polaris is a proxy of consumer health. Certainly, high interest rates and elevated inflation have crimped demand for ATVs, UTVs, and jet skis. The broad theme here is that a consumer slowdown continues to worsen. 

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 18:50

• 'Central Park Five' Sue Trump Over Debate Remarks
  ‘Central Park Five’ Sue Trump Over Debate Remarks

  Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

  Five men cleared of rape charges sued former President Donald Trump on Oct. 21, arguing he defamed them with comments he made at a recent presidential debate.

  

  Trump said during the September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris that the so-called Central Park Five “pled guilty” and that they “badly hurt a person” and “killed a person, ultimately.”

  The new suit, filed in federal court in Pennsylvania, states that those remarks are defamatory because the five men were never accused of nor convicted of killing anyone.

  The plaintiffs say Trump made the comments negligently, either with the knowledge that they were false or with reckless disregard as to their falsity.

  “Defendant Trump’s conduct at the September 10 debate was extreme and outrageous, and it was intended to cause severe emotional distress to Plaintiffs,” the suit states.

  Juries in 1990 convicted Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown, and Korey Wise of rape and other charges. They had pleaded not guilty, after they admitted to participating in a night of criminal activity, including assault and robbery, in Central Park on April 19, 1989.

  Some of the then-teenagers said they had assaulted or sexually touched a jogger Trisha Meili and implicated others in raping her.

  The five, two weeks after their confessions, had recanted their statements, saying that they were allegedly coerced by police into giving false confessions in the case.

  Matias Reyes, a convicted rapist, a decade later confessed to raping Meili on the evening of April 19.

  Investigators confirmed the details offered by Reyes.

  Prosecutors told a state court the convictions against the five males should be vacated, because their confessions linking the five to related crimes were obtained under duress after hours of questioning and without the presence of their guardians or legal counsel.

  A judge in 2002 vacated the five men’s convictions based on the newly discovered evidence.

  A New York Police Department report later concluded that while DNA and other evidence supported Reyes’s story, there was “nothing but his uncorroborated word that he did so alone.” It said that the men “more likely than not” took part in Reyes’s assault of Meili.

  “The new DNA evidence … does not assist in determining whether the defendants were present during the attack on the jogger,” it said.

  Trump, who paid for an advertisement in 1989 calling for the five to be put to death, was responding during the debate after Harris highlighted his involvement with the case.

  “This is the same individual who took out a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for the execution of five young Black and Latino boys who were innocent, the Central Park Five,” she said.

  Trump then offered his response and said that Harris “has to stretch back years, 40, 50 years ago because there’s nothing now.”

  In 2019, when asked if he would apologize to the five men, Trump told reporters that “They admitted their guilt.”

  Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump’s campaign, told news outlets that the filing “is just another frivolous election interference lawsuit filed by desperate left-wing activists in an attempt to distract the American people from Kamala Harris’s dangerously liberal agenda and failing campaign.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 18:25

• McWeaponized: CDC Unveils E.coli Outbreak In Quarter-Pounders, Day After Trump Photo-Op
  McWeaponized: CDC Unveils E.coli Outbreak In Quarter-Pounders, Day After Trump Photo-Op

  There’s no such thing as coincidence in Washington…

  A day after former President Trump ventured into a McDonalds during a campaign stop, cooked some fries, and handed out some food to more-than-happy customers in a photo-op that went very viral (in a good way), the CDC issued a statement announcing an E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders has left one person dead and caused 10 hospitalizations.

  There are 49 cases across 10 states, with most illneses in Colorado and Nebraska (not where president Trump was)…

  E. COLI OUTBREAK: CDC is investigating 49 illnesses in 10 states linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers. If you ate a Quarter Pounder hamburger from McDonald’s and have severe symptoms of E. coli, contact your healthcare provider. https://t.co/g87itkupCQ pic.twitter.com/gHzUKCnTi9

  — CDC (@CDCgov) October 22, 2024

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  “This is a fast-moving outbreak investigation. Most sick people are reporting eating Quarter Pounder hamburgers from McDonald’s and investigators are working quickly to confirm which food ingredient is contaminated,” the CDC’s alert said.

  “McDonald’s has pulled ingredients for these burgers, and they won’t be available for sale in some states,” the CDC said.

  “McDonald’s reported to CDC that it has stopped using fresh slivered onions and quarter pound beef patties in several states,” the CDC said.

  The announcement of the outbreak sent MCD shares down 10% in the after-market (before bouncing back a little)…

  

  The timing of the sudden share-price-crushing contagion comes after McDonald’s corporate office dared to actually accept and welcome ‘hitler, stalin, and mussolini’ into their fast-food joint.

  In an email to employees that was seen by The Epoch Times, the company said that its “brand has been a fixture of conversation this election cycle” and that “we’ve not sought this” but is a “testament to how much McDonald’s resonates with so many Americans.”

  “McDonald’s does not endorse candidates for elected office and that remains true in this race for the next President,” McDonald’s said in the statement, dated Oct. 21. “We are not red or blue—we are golden.”

  The company said that Trump’s visit to a Pennsylvania McDonald’s location was handled locally by a franchise operator.

  “Upon learning of the former President’s request, we approached it through the lens of one of our core values: we open our doors to everyone,” the company said.

  And, in case you thought we over-reached here, this is how the New York Times decide to cover this Trump photo-op…

  

  Yes, that is right – they allegedly asked MCD employees if Trump did a good job!?

  When it was time to bag the order, he asked a woman at the drive-through what they did when a customer wanted more salt.

  “I love salt,” he said, as he shook some onto golden potatoes.

  Then, after spilling some, he paused to throw some over his shoulder in a nod to superstition, a seconds-long gesture that would have most likely been unappreciated by efficiency-loving managers had Mr. Trump been any other employee.

  And remember, Kamala worked there too… according to a friend…

  

  Finally, nothing would shock us more than if Jack Smith stepped in to probe Trump’s cleanliness…

  Trump about to be arrested for the 5th time? https://t.co/kDLynBNafz

  — zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 22, 2024

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  McWeaponized!!

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 18:00

• Mexico Escalates Its War On Obesity By Declaring National Ban On Junk Food Sales In Schools
  Mexico Escalates Its War On Obesity By Declaring National Ban On Junk Food Sales In Schools

  Authored by Nick Corbishley via Naked Capitalism,

  Mexico is the leading consumer of soft drinks in the world with an average consumption of 163 litres per person per year – 40% more than the US in second place. Child and adult obesity are off the charts. 

  

  Yesterday (Oct. 21), while Donald Trump was causing a stir by donning a McDonald’s uniform for the cameras and frying some fries, Mexico’s new Secretary of Public Education, Mario Delgado, announced the launch of a new nationwide program that is unlikely to be replicated north of the border any time soon. The goal of the program, titled “Vida Saludable” (Healthy Life), is to improve the nutrition and overall health of Mexican school children amid an epidemic of child obesity and diabetes.

  The program, enacted by the now-former AMLO administration on September 29, has four main pillars: prevent the sale of ultra-processed food and sugary drinks in school settings; promote the consumption of natural drinking water through the provision of water fountains; train educators in healthy nutrition; and promote sports and physical activity. The Claudia Sheinbaum government, still in its maiden month in office, has said it will also train the heads of school cooperatives to sell fruits, vegetables and seasonal foods.

  A Six-Month Deadline

  “Vida Saludable” will become mandatory for all state schools at all levels of the national education system on March 29. Schools will have just six months to end all sales of foods and drinks that have at least one health warning label from their snack stands, or their administrators could face steep fines.

  Of course, many children bring food from home, but the government says it has no intention of sanctioning parents who put junk food in their children’s lunchboxes. Instead, it will focus on explaining the harmful effects of these foods and the importance of eating a balanced diet.

  Implementing “Vida Saludable” is likely to be difficult, however. At most of Mexico’s 255,000 public schools, free drinking water is not available to students. Since 2020, only 4% of them have managed to install drinking fountains. There are also doubts about how the government will enforce the ban on the pavements outside schools, where vendors set up stalls of goods to sell to kids at breaktime. This being Mexico, one can expect a lively black market in comida chattara to spring up in many schools. Enterprising students will no doubt get rich.

  Nonetheless, drastic steps are necessary to combat Mexico’s soaring levels of child obesity and diabetes. An estimated 5.7 Mexican million children between the ages of 5 and 11 and 10.4 million adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 are overweight or obese. In addition, an estimated 7 out of 10 schoolchildren and 5 out of 10 adolescents are physically inactive, which further aggravates the country’s public health crisis.

  Mexico’s secretary of education blames these trends on the “high consumption of sugars”, the lack of physical activity and the food policies of previous governments, driven primarily by the profit-maximising needs of the food industry:

  “In the neoliberal era they were not concerned about this situation — on the contrary, the sale of these products was promoted and there were even campaigns against hunger promoted by the companies that produce these junk foods. The neoliberal model turned rights such as education, health and food into merchandise.”

  The Role of NAFTA

  In Mexico, obesity reached epidemic proportions after it joined NAFTA with the United States and Canada in the early 1990s, making processed food more easily available. As the New York Times reported in a 2017 investigation, the commercial opening of North America turbocharged the growth of convenience stores and US-owned fast food restaurants on Mexican soil. In addition, trade liberalisation allowed “cheap corn, meat, high-fructose corn syrup, and processed foods” from the United States to flood into Mexico.

  Diets quickly changed as many people, particularly those on lower incomes, replaced largely healthy traditional staples (corn tortilla, frijoles, Jamaica Water…) with highly processed alternatives (hotdogs, nuggets, sodas…). Granted, prior to NAFTA Mexico was already home to a burgeoning junk food industry, but what came after was on a whole different scale.

  Mexico is now the leading consumer of soft drinks in the world with an average consumption of 163 litres per person per year — 40% more than the US in second place, with 118 litres, according to a 2022 study from the University of Yale. Incredibly, there is one state in the country that consumes Coca Cola in per-capita volumes five times higher than the national average and 32 times higher than the global average: Chiapas, Mexico’s poorest state.

  “It is the epicentre of the epidemic of soft drink consumption,” Dr. Marcos Arana, a researcher at the Salvador Zubirán National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition, told BBC Mundo:

  Soft drinks are already an essential part of daily life in this state, especially in the Los Altos region of Chiapas, where the majority of its population is indigenous and rural…

  “The availability and advertising of something so cheap is so great and omnipresent in Chiapas in the face of vulnerable populations that they have created an addiction that is seen as a necessity,” Arana says.

  “Residents told me that before the road to Tenejapa arrived, there was no diabetes or cardiovascular problems there. That all began when the road arrived in town and the soft drinks, the chips…”, says Jaime Page Pliego, anthropologist and co-author of the study.

  Local organizations such as the Centre for Training in Ecology and Health for Peasants (CCESC), which Arana directs, point to the “aggressive” commercial practices of soft drink companies and the easy accessibility of their products in the area as the main drivers of this excessive consumption.

  “Coca-Cola is the most available product in Los Altos, you have to walk the farther to buy tortillas or anything else. The number of points of sale is excessive, without any control, and with prices reduced by up to 30%,” says Arana.

  As sugar consumption in Mexico has soared, waistlines have exploded. In the past 20 years the number of obese and overweight people has tripled, with a staggering 75% of the population and 35% of the child population now overweight. In addition to obesity, the change in diet has contributed to diabetes becoming the second leading cause of death, after heart disease and ahead of cancer. In 2016, a state of epidemiological emergency was declared in the country due to the high rates of obesity and diabetes.

  Food Labelling, Bans on Cartoon Food Packaging…

  “Vida Saludable” is not the first step Mexico’s government has taken to try to improve Mexicans’ food habits. In October 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the AMLO government passed one of the strictest food labelling laws on the planet. From that date, all soft drinks cans and bottles, bags of chips and other processed food packages must bear black octagonal labels warning of “EXCESS SUGAR”, “EXCESS CALORIES”, “EXCESS SODIUM”  or “EXCESS TRANS FATS” — all in big bold letters that are impossible to miss.

  Today, more than half of Mexican food and beverage products have a nutritional warning label — more than any other country in Latin America. The government also banned cartoon food packaging aimed at children.

  Mexico has prohibited cartoon mascots on unhealthy food aimed at kids. See the difference? pic.twitter.com/JYgmDh9fLu

  — El Susto (@ElSustoMovie) June 23, 2021

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  Big Food lobbies tried to block both of these measures, of course — just as they will no doubt try to block “Vida Saludable”. The Interamerican Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property and the Mexican Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property complained that food labelling was unconstitutional and violated the provisions that Mexico had signed at the international level such as the North American Free Trade Agreement — a tactic that has apparently been used in other jurisdictions where food labelling laws have been passed.

  For almost four years the lawsuits dragged on. Of the more than 100 injunctions filed by companies like Coca-Cola Femsa, PepsiCo, Group Bimbo, Hershey’s, Santa Clara, Herdez, Alimentos del Fuerte, Nutrisa and McCormick, three reached the second chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), which, to its credit, ruled – by unanimous vote – that front-of-pack labelling for food and non-alcoholic beverages is a valid measure that protects people’s health and consumers’ right to information.

  The first country in Latin America to really begin tackling the public’s addiction to junk food, sugary drinks and ultra processed foods was Chile. In 2016, it passed a strict food labelling law. Like Mexico, it has also also limited cartoon food packaging, prevented schools from selling unhealthy foods, restricted TV adverts, and banned promotional toys. Over the next two years, sugary drink sales in Chile fell by 23%. According to one study, the labels reduced the likelihood of people choosing sugary breakfast cereals by 11% and sugary juices by almost 24%.

  As I wrote in 2020 for WOLF STREET, it was one of the worst possible nightmares for the junk food industry. The fact that Chile, with its population of around 20 million people, was doing it was bad enough. The prospect of something similar transpiring in Mexico, a country with a population almost seven times larger than Chile and that consumes more processed food than any other country in Latin America and more soda on a per-capita basis than any country on the planet, unnerved global food and beverage companies:

  The United States, EU, Canada and Switzerland, home to some of the world’s biggest food companies, tried to pause or derail the new legislation. But to no avail. The arrival of Covid-19, which has proven to be particularly lethal to people with three comorbidities — obesity, diabetes, and hypertension — has strengthened the government’s case and resolve.

  The [government’s labelling laws] have raised concerns that [it] is overstepping its bounds. The business lobby group Coparmex said that banning the sale of junk food and sugary drinks to minors represents a frontal attack on commercial freedom and freedom of choice. It will also have serious economic consequences for businesses in the retail sector. But those consequences are dwarfed by the economic and health impact of widespread obesity.

  Since 2020, many other countries in Latin America have introduced strict front-of-package food labelling laws, including Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Colombia. According to the Mexican online news website Sin Embargo, the labelling legislation in Mexico has had two main visible effects: the first is the reformulation of products by companies such as Bimbo, Nestlé and Kellogg’s, in an attempt to lower the concentration of ingredients that have excess sugar, fat or sodium. The second is the testimonials of consumers who claim to have reduced their consumption of products that bear health warnings on their packaging.

  A study published in June in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity suggests that the policy appears to be bearing fruit (pun intended). The study’s authors asked people aged 14 or over to self-report any perceived changes in their shopping habits a year after the food labelling law came into effect. More than a third of young people and almost half of adults said the labelling system had led them to reduce their purchase of various unhealthy foods. In addition, adults who reported higher water intake and lower consumption of sugary drinks said the main reason for this decision was food labelling.

  Is it any surprise that the junk food industry spent years furiously lobbying in Mexico’s Congress to block the introduction of strict and clear front-of-package food labels, and once they were finally introduced spent another four years trying to get them overturned? The lobbies will no doubt try to do the same with Mexico’s “Vida Saludable” program, just as the US’ corn and GMO lobbies are using ISDS to try to prevent Mexico from banning the use of GMO corn for direct human consumption. It is no easy task for a country to mend its eating ways these days, especially if its direct neighbour is the US of A.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 17:40

• WTI Holds Gains After API Reports Crude Build, Product Draws
  WTI Holds Gains After API Reports Crude Build, Product Draws

  Oil prices rallied for a second straight day, erasing some of last week’s ugly losses, with prices supported by some upbeat prospects for Chinese demand and ongoing concerns that the Middle Eastern conflict will threaten crude flows from the region.

  “We’re seeing a constant push-pull between expectations of a cease-fire — which would unwind the geopolitical risk premium — and concerns over potential escalation,” said Rebecca Babin, senior energy trader at CIBC Private Wealth Group.

  “This environment remains highly volatile, with traders operating under low risk thresholds, contributing to significant price swings.”

  While hurricane-related effects are likely still impacting the overall data, traders are looking for any signs of real demand picking up…

  API

  • Crude +1.64mm (+800k exp)

  • Cushing -216k

  • Gasoline -2.02mm (-1.3mm exp)

  • Distillates -1.48mm (-1.6mm exp)

  While crude stocks rose (more than expected), products saw sizable drawdowns and the Cushing hub saw a return to drawdowns…

  

  Source: Bloomberg

  WTI was trading around $71.50 ahead of the API print and limped lower after…

  

  Crude has been buffeted this month – with Brent fluctuating in a range of more than $11 – as the war in the Middle East raises the potential for disruptions to supplies.

  “Assuming no supply disruptions in the Middle East, the oil balance looks increasingly comfortable through 2025,” ING analysts Ewa Manthey and Warren Patterson wrote in a note.

  “With the market returning to a sizable surplus, we should at least see the front end of the curve moving into contango,” they said, referring to the market structure which indicates oversupply.

  At the same time, top importer China has moved to support growth with stimulus, but investors remain wary that the global oil market may swing to a surplus in the coming quarters.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 17:20

• Record High Gold Price Signals "Fragmenting Global System"; El-Erian Warns
  Record High Gold Price Signals “Fragmenting Global System”; El-Erian Warns

  Authored by Mohammed El-Erian

  Something strange has happened to the price of gold over the past year.

  

  In setting one record level after the other, it seems to have decoupled from its traditional historical influencers, such as interest rates, inflation and the dollar. Moreover, the consistency of its rise stands in contrast to fluctuations in pivotal geopolitical situations.

  Gold’s “all-weather” characteristic signals something that goes beyond economics, politics and higher-frequency geopolitical developments. It captures an increasingly persistent behavioural trend among China and “middle power” countries, as well as others. And it is a trend that the west should be paying greater attention to.

  Over the past 12 months, the price of an ounce of gold on international markets has increased from $1,947 to $2,715, a gain of almost 40 per cent.

  Interestingly, this march up in price has been relatively linear, with any pullback attracting more buyers.

  It has occurred despite some wild swings in expected policy rates, a wide fluctuation band for benchmark US yields, falling inflation and currency volatility.

  

  Some may be tempted to dismiss gold’s performance as part of a more general increase in asset prices that, for example, has seen the US S&P index gain about 35 per cent in the past 12 months.

  Yet that correlation itself is unusual. Others will attribute it to the risk of military conflicts that have seen so many innocent civilians lose their lives and livelihoods, together with massive destruction of infrastructure. Yet the price journey suggests that there may well be a lot more going on.

  Consistent foreign central bank purchases have been an important driver of gold’s strength. Such buying seems not just related to the desire of many to gradually diversify their reserve holdings away from significant dollar dominance despite America’s “economic exceptionalism”. There is also interest in exploring possible alternatives to the dollar-based payments system that has been at the core of the international architecture for some 80 years.

  Ask why this is happening and you will normally get an answer that mentions a general loss in confidence in America’s management of the global order and two specific developments.

  You will hear about America’s weaponisation of trade tariffs and investment sanctions, together with its reduced interest in the rule-based, co-operative multilateral system that it played a pivotal role in designing 80 years ago.

  You will also hear about Russia’s ability to continue to trade and grow its economy despite some of the country’s banks being ejected in 2022 from Swift, the international system that governs the vast majority of cross-border payments. It has done this by creating a clunky trade and payments alternative system that involves a handful of other countries. While inefficient and costly, this allowed Russia to bypass the dollar and maintain a core set of international economic and financial relations.

  Then there is the aspect related to the conflict in the Middle East where the US is viewed by many as an inconsistent backer of both fundamental human rights and the application of international law.

  This perception has been amplified by how the US has shielded its main ally from a response to actions widely condemned in the international community.

  

  What is at stake here is not just the erosion of the dollar’s dominant role but also a gradual change in the operation of the global system.

  No other currency or payment system is able and willing to displace the dollar at the core of the system and there is a practical limit to reserve diversification. But an increasing number of little pipes are being built to go around this core; and a growing number of countries are interested and increasingly involved.

  What has been happening to the gold price is not just unusual in terms of traditional economic and financial influences.

  It also goes beyond strict geopolitical influences to capture a broader phenomenon which is building secular momentum.

  As it develops deeper roots, this risks materially fragmenting the global system and eroding the international influence of the dollar and the US financial system. That would have an impact on the US’s ability to inform and influence outcomes, and undermine its national security.

  It is a phenomenon that western governments should pay more attention to. And it is one where there is still time to course-correct, though not as much as some would hope.

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 17:00

• Xi, Putin Hail Ties As Advancing 'Fair World Order' Amid 'Chaos' Sown By Western Hegemony
  Xi, Putin Hail Ties As Advancing ‘Fair World Order’ Amid ‘Chaos’ Sown By Western Hegemony

  Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have discussed the Ukraine war and other global issues at a meeting on the sidelines of the 16th annual BRICS Summit being held in the Russian city of Kaza, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has confirmed. Peskov hailed the bilateral meeting as “very open” and “constructive”.

  Tuesday marked the third time Putin and Xi have met face-to-face this year. But this is perhaps the most symbolic, as the BRICS forum is the biggest which presents an alternative to a Western-led world order. This was precisely a theme of Putin’s opening remarks in the Xi meeting: “Russian-Chinese cooperation in global affairs is one of the main stabilizing factors on the world stage,” he said.

  He then presented that close Moscow-Beijing ties represents the ideal of “a fair world order”—which has been a theme of Beijing’s as well of late when commenting on the imbalance of ‘Western hegemony’.

  

  “We intend to further increase coordination at all multilateral platforms in order to ensure global security and a fair world order,” Putin said.

  Xi introduced his own statements to Putin by describing that “in the context of a tectonic transformation unprecedented in centuries, the international situation is undergoing serious changes and upheavals.” He hailed positive Russia ties in a “chaotic” world.

  “But this cannot shake my conviction… in the inviolability of the deep centuries-old friendship between our countries and the inviolability of the sense of duty of China and Russia as great powers,” Xi added, based on the Kremlin transcript.

  The Chinese president said the two “explored a correct way for neighboring major powers to coexist without forming alliances, engaging in confrontation or targeting third parties” – Xinhua later added of the exchange, in what seemed an indirect swipe at NATO.

  Various Western officials and media reports have sought to downplay or even mock BRICS, but journalist Glenn Greenwald explained the following Tuesday, writing on X: “There’s Western skepticism and even mockery that this huge confederation of countries — united over perceived abuses of US/EU sanctions — could create a non-dollar system.” He continued…

  While many people in the West believe that Russia/Putin are “isolated” – because their media tells them that — two dozen world leaders are in Russia now for a 3-day BRICS conference. BRICS itself includes the two most-populous countries and 4 of the top 10 most populous.

  Beyond the founding 5 (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), it expanded to 5 more (including key US “partners” Egypt, UAE and maybe Saudi). They “account for 45% of the global population” and 28% of global economy. Key goal: a financial system independent of US dollar.

  There’s Western skepticism and even mockery that this huge confederation of countries — united over perceived abuses of US/EU sanctions — could create a non-dollar system. @TheEconomist takes it seriously.

  Either way, this is not “isolation” of Putin:https://t.co/I1poHWH27R

  — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 22, 2024

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  Greenwald also noted that “these countries aren’t sending emissaries or diplomats. They’re sending their top leaders. Brazil’s President Lula was long scheduled to attend, but the 78-year-old fell in the bathroom and sustained a serious head injury this week, so he couldn’t go.”

  Tyler Durden
  Tue, 10/22/2024 – 16:40

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