Jun 02

Today’s News 2nd June 2020

  • "Unmatched Performance" – German Army Test-Fires New Light Machine Gun
    “Unmatched Performance” – German Army Test-Fires New Light Machine Gun

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 06/02/2020 – 02:45

    As tensions boil between the US and Russia, Germany’s armed forces have recently test-fired a new lightweight, compact machine gun with high firepower. 

    According to Defense Blog, German Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) have tested the MG4 A3 light machine gun, manufactured by German firearm company Heckler & Koch. 

    The advanced version of MG4 is expected to replace MG3 machine guns currently in field service with Bundeswehr soldiers. 

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    Three-week test trials were recently completed with soldiers from the 26th Airborne Brigade based in Zweibrücken, a NATO military air base in West Germany. 

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    The machine gun chambers a 5.56×45 mm NATO round and offers a fully automatic shooting opportunity with a rotating bolt gas mechanism. A new paint coating and optical sight upgrades make this model even more lethal. The weapon has less recoil than before and is much lighter, which improves firing accuracy.

    “It provides unmatched performance characteristics: Owing to its low recoil, the shot is readily controllable, giving high target precision. Its great combat effectiveness and range, the optimal rate of fire, and simple handling make it a weapon unlike any other,” Defense Blog said. 

    Germany is not the only country in the process of upgrading service weapons among its armed forces. We’ve noted in the last several years, there’s been a big push by the Trump administration to upgrade service weapons in the US Army. 

    Several months ago, the Pentagon doubled its purchase of a new anti-personnel precision rifle.

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    In January, Special Operation Command granted Sig Sauer with a safety certification for the new MG 338 Machine Gun, 338 Norma Mag Ammunition, and Next Generation Suppressors, which means US Special Forces are about to receive a badass advanced machine gun. 

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    Late last year, Textron Systems’ AAI Corporation delivered their next-generation machine gun to the Army that chambers a telescoped round between 6.5 mm and 6.8 mm and is expected to be the future replacement for the M16 rifle, M4 carbine, and M249 light machine gun.

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    It just so happens countries in the Western world are beefing up their military forces as the global economy plunges into economic depression. Is a military conflict ahead?  

  • Europe's Non-Hamiltonian Muddle
    Europe’s Non-Hamiltonian Muddle

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 06/02/2020 – 02:00

    Authored by Nouriel Roubini and Brunello Rosa via Project Syndicate,

    Although any joint EU action should be welcomed, the current COVID-19 response plan hardly amounts to a radical break with business as usual. Far from a long-awaited embrace of debt mutualization, the newly proposed European recovery fund risks being both politically unpalatable and economically inadequate.

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    This past week, the European Commission unveiled a plan to help European countries manage the Great Depression-scale shock from COVID-19. Building on a recent Franco-German proposal, the Commission is calling for a €750 billion ($834 billion) recovery fund (€500 billion of which would be distributed as grants, and €250 billion as loans).

    The money issued through this so-called “Next Generation EU” plan will flow through European Union programs, in order to achieve the Commission’s goals, including its green and digital economy agenda. The Commission will raise funds in the market by issuing long-term bonds, and their efforts will be backed by a suggested increase in new taxes, such as those on greenhouse-gas emissions, digital services, and other areas of supranational commerce.

    Though we are among the few commentators who anticipated that the EU would offer a plan much larger than what most market participants and pundits expected, we also would advise European policymakers to remain realistic about what can be achieved at the moment. Celebrations of the EU’s long-awaited “Hamiltonian moment” of debt mutualization are premature.

    As matters stand, the EU is still an incomplete transfer union in which resources (human, physical, financial) so far move from the periphery to the center – which is to say, to the United Kingdom or Germany. Ironically, one of these poles of attraction, the UK, has decided to leave the EU, ostensibly to end the flow of migrants into its economy. With Brexit, which officially occurred on January 31, the EU has already literally begun to disintegrate.

    Optimists believe that, with the UK out, a more cohesive EU can finally emerge. But this prediction seems too rosy. After all, the UK wasn’t so much a hurdle to integration as an excuse for other reluctant member states to avoid closer ties. For example, the UK hasn’t been the one blocking the European Deposit Insurance Scheme, which is needed to complete the eurozone banking union; that honor falls to Germany.

    With the rise of populist parties across Europe, it has long been clear that the next major crisis would constitute an existential threat to the EU. The EU now must demonstrate that it is up to the challenge of completing its integration process. Otherwise, it could confront a “Jeffersonian moment” that returns it to some form of confederation with only limited shared sovereignty.

    Facing the abyss, France and Germany have devised a plan to mitigate the pandemic’s devastating economic fallout. But while their proposal has its merits, Alexander Hamilton would be unsatisfied – and rightly so. For starters, the envisaged bond issuance would not come with a “joint and several guarantee,” and thus would not constitute genuine debt mutualization. Financier George Soros’s proposal for EU perpetual bonds, or Consols, would alleviate this problem, but it would not solve it. And, in any case, if the funds do not become available by this summer, it may already be too late for hard-hit countries such as Italy, Greece, and Spain, which will be facing a dreadful tourist season on top of it all.

    More to the point, the distrust between the EU’s “frugal four” (Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden) and the allegedly “profligate” southern countries (including Italy, Spain, and Greece) remains so deep that it is frankly difficult to imagine any long-term solution being adopted. A recent ruling by Germany’s own constitutional court sent a powerful signal to European institutions about what to expect on the road ahead. Though the decision eventually will be overruled by the European Court of Justice and ignored by the European Central Bank, the ECB nonetheless faces political limits to its actions.

    Germany will either have to offer a partial EU fiscal backstop with its own taxpayers’ money or allow EU institutions to provide a sufficient mutual backstop (starting with the eurozone budget) for the entire monetary union. If the proposed EU recovery fund were capable of revitalizing the eurozone budget – particularly its never-agreed stabilization function – that by itself would represent a significant achievement.

    In signing on to a joint plan with France, Germany presumably realized that it could not simply say “nein” to both a monetary and a fiscal backstop (that is, the budding fiscal and transfer union). Both are needed for the euro to survive. But even with backstops in place, critical questions would remain unresolved, not least the sustainability of Italy’s surging public debt. Italy would have to make massive strides to restore growth and competitiveness now that its comparative advantage in tourism has been so severely compromised.

    Overall, although any common European approach to the COVID-19 crisis is a step in the right direction (and certainly better than no action), there is little reason to expect the EU to break from its long tradition of merely muddling through. If European leaders can prevent an immediate breakdown of the EU and euro projects, they at least will have averted the enormous economic, social, and political costs that would come from further rapid disintegration. But a net response that reflects the old inertia will leave Europe unequipped for the post-COVID world, where other major continental economies – the United States, China, and India – will make the most important geo-strategic and economic decisions.

  • CJ Hopkins: Mainstream Media Has Been Conditioning You For This Uprising For Four Years
    CJ Hopkins: Mainstream Media Has Been Conditioning You For This Uprising For Four Years

    Tyler Durden

    Tue, 06/02/2020 – 00:10

    Authored by CJ Hokpins via The Consent Factory,

    The Minneapolis Putsch

    Well, it looks like the Resistance’s long-anticipated “Second Civil War” has finally begun … more or less exactly on cue. Rioting has broken out across the nation. People are looting and burning stores and attacking each other in the streets. Robocops are beating, tear-gassing, and shooting people with non-lethal projectiles. State National Guards have been deployed, curfews imposed, “emergencies” declared. Secret Servicemen are fighting back angry hordes attempting to storm the White House. Trump is tweeting from an “underground bunker.” Opportunist social media pundits on both sides of the political spectrum are whipping people up into white-eyed frenzies. Americans are at each other’s throats, divided by identity politics, consumed by rage, hatred, and fear.

    Things couldn’t be going better for the Resistance if they had scripted it themselves.

    Actually, they did kind of script it themselves. Not the murder of poor George Floyd, of course. Racist police have been murdering Black people for as long as there have been racist police. No, the Resistance didn’t manufacture racism. They just spent the majority of the last four years creating and promoting an official narrative which casts most Americans as “white supremacists” who literally elected Hitler president, and who want to turn the country into a racist dictatorship.

    According to this official narrative, which has been relentlessly disseminated by the corporate media, the neoliberal intelligentsia, the culture industry, and countless hysterical, Trump-hating loonies, the Russians put Donald Trump in office with those DNC emails they never hacked and some division-sowing Facebook ads that supposedly hypnotized Black Americans into refusing to come out and vote for Clinton. Putin purportedly ordered this personally, as part of his plot to “destroy democracy.” The plan was always for President Hitler to embolden his white-supremacist followers into launching the “RaHoWa,” or the “Boogaloo,” after which Trump would declare martial law, dissolve the legislature, and pronounce himself Führer. Then they would start rounding up and murdering the Jews, and the Blacks, and Mexicans, and other minorities, according to this twisted liberal fantasy.

    I’ve been covering the roll-out and dissemination of this official narrative since 2016, and have documented much of it in my essays, so I won’t reiterate all that here. Let’s just say, I’m not exaggerating, much. After four years of more or less constant conditioning, millions of Americans believe this fairy tale, despite the fact that there is absolutely zero evidence whatsoever to support it. Which is not exactly a mystery or anything. It would be rather surprising if they didn’t believe it. We’re talking about the most formidable official propaganda machine in the history of official propaganda machines.

    And now the propaganda is paying off. The protesting and rioting that typically follows the murder of an unarmed Black person by the cops has mushroomed into “an international uprising” cheered on by the corporate media, corporations, and the liberal establishment, who don’t normally tend to support such uprisings, but they’ve all had a sudden change of heart, or spiritual or political awakening, and are down for some serious property damage, and looting, and preventative self-defense, if that’s what it takes to bring about justice, and to restore America to the peaceful, prosperous, non-white-supremacist paradise it was until the Russians put Donald Trump in office.

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    In any event, the Resistance media have now dropped their breathless coverage of the non-existent Corona-Holocaust to breathlessly cover the “revolution.” The American police, who just last week were national heroes for risking their lives to beat up, arrest, and generally intimidate mask-less “lockdown violators” are now the fascist foot soldiers of the Trumpian Reich. The Nike corporation produced a commercial urging people to smash the windows of their Nike stores and steal their sneakers. Liberal journalists took to Twitter, calling on rioters to “burn that shit down!” … until the rioters reached their gated community and started burning down their local Starbucks. Hollywood celebrities are masking up and going full-black bloc, and doing legal support. Chelsea Clinton is teaching children about David and the Racist Goliath. John Cusack’s bicycle was attacked by the pigs. I haven’t checked on Rob Reiner yet, but I assume he is assembling Molotov cocktails in the basement of a Resistance safe house somewhere in Hollywood Hills.

    Look, I’m not saying the neoliberal Resistance orchestrated or staged these riots, or “denying the agency” of the folks in the streets. Whatever else is happening out there, a lot of very angry Black people are taking their frustration out on the cops, and on anyone and anything else that represents racism and injustice to them.

    This happens in America from time to time. America is still a racist society. Most African-Americans are descended from slaves. Legal racial discrimination was not abolished until the 1960s, which isn’t that long ago in historical terms. I was born in the segregated American South, with the segregated schools, and all the rest of it. I don’t remember it — I was born in 1961 — but I do remember the years right after it. The South didn’t magically change overnight in July of 1964. Nor did the North’s variety of racism, which, yes, is subtler, but no less racist.

    So I have no illusions about racism in America. But I’m not really talking about racism in America. I’m talking about how racism in America has been cynically instrumentalized, not by the Russians, but by the so-called Resistance, in order to delegitimize Trump and, more importantly, everyone who voted for him, as a bunch of white supremacists and racists.

    Fomenting racial division has been the Resistance’s strategy from the beginning.

    A quote attributed to Joseph Goebbels, “accuse the other side of that which you are guilty,” is particularly apropos in this case. From the moment Trump won the Republican nomination, the corporate media and the rest of the Resistance have been telling us the man is literally Hitler, and that his plan is to foment racial hatred among his “white supremacist base,” and eventually stage some “Reichstag” event, declare martial law and pronounce himself dictator. They’ve been telling us this story over and over, on television, in the liberal press, on social media, in books, movies, and everywhere else they could possibly tell it.

    So, before you go out and join the “uprising,” take a look at the headlines today, turn on CNN or MSNBC, and think about that for just a minute. I don’t mean to spoil the party, but they’ve preparing you for this for the last four years.

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    Not you Black folks. I’m not talking to you. I wouldn’t presume to tell you what to do. I’m talking to white folks like myself, who are cheering on the rioting and looting, and are coming out to “help” you with it, but who will be back home in their gated communities when the ashes have cooled, and the corporate media are gone, and the cops return to “police” your neighborhoods.

    OK, and this is where I have to restate (for the benefit of my partisan readers) that I’m not a fan of Donald Trump, and that I think he’s a narcissistic ass clown, and a glorified con man, and … blah blah blah, because so many people have been so polarized by insane propaganda and mass hysteria that they can’t even read or think anymore, and so just scan whatever articles they encounter to see whose “side” the author is on and then mindlessly celebrate or excoriate it.

    If you’re doing that, let me help you out … whichever side you’re on, I’m not on it.

    I realize that’s extremely difficult for a lot of folks to comprehend these days, which is part of the point I’ve been trying to make. I’ll try again, as plainly as I can.

    America is still a racist country, but America is no more racist today than it was when Barack Obama was president. A lot of American police are brutal, but no more brutal than when Obama was president. America didn’t radically change the day Donald Trump was sworn into office. All that has changed is the official narrative. And it will change back as soon as Trump is gone and the ruling classes have no further use for it.

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    And that will be the end of the War on Populism, and we will switch back to the War on Terror, or maybe the Brave New Pathologized Normal … or whatever Orwellian official narrative the folks at GloboCap have in store for us.

  • 37% Of Americans Say They Would Give Up Porn For Better Sleep During COVID Crisis
    37% Of Americans Say They Would Give Up Porn For Better Sleep During COVID Crisis

    Tyler Durden

    Mon, 06/01/2020 – 23:50

    Perhaps the most widely-discussed psychological phenomenon of the coronavirus crisis is the stress and lack of sleep that have led to, among other consequences, a surfeit of suicides. Millions of Americans have also self-reported experiencing vivid “stress dreams”. Among them is host of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Joe Kernan.

    As brands and marketing strategists parse what this means for consumer attitudes, one recent survey answered by 1,000 American adults during the month of May, more than a month into the lockdown, found that products claiming to help with sleep might soon experience a mini-boom, as millions of Americans struggle to develop the discipline often required to successfully work from home.

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    The study mentioned above asked respondents what they would give up for a year of good sleep; some of the answers might surprise you.

    For example…the survey by SleepStandards found:

    • 37% of Americans would give up sex or porn
    • 41% of Americans would give up social media
    • 40% of Americans would give up alcohol and smoking
    • 39% would give up video games
    • 26% would give up steaming services such as Netflix or Hulu
    • 21.5% would become a vegetarian for a year

    Some key findings from the survey: the premium Americans would be willing to pay for a perfect night’s sleep has risen.

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    Ironically, 41% say they would give up social media, and 26% say they would give up Netflix; many sleep specialists recommend that giving up both activities – at least in the hours before bedtime – actually would help with their sleep.

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    The average American only sleeps 6.6 hours a night…

     

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    …and as productivity continues to stagnate, we suspect products aiming to boost sleep “efficiency” – that is, helping people feel well-rested, despite getting fewer than 7 full hours of sleep – or products that simply promote good sleep hygiene, will soon be all the rage.

  • Ready For War? Largest Chinese Base Has Full-Scale Model Of Taiwan's Presidential Palace
    Ready For War? Largest Chinese Base Has Full-Scale Model Of Taiwan’s Presidential Palace

    Tyler Durden

    Mon, 06/01/2020 – 23:30

    Via AlMasdarNews.com,

    Satellite photos released over the weekend revealed the presence of a full-scale model of the Taiwanese presidential palace at a Chinese military base, The Drive reported.

    In the satellite photos, the images revealed that China’s Zhurihe Combined Tactics Training Base, which is the largest of its kind, has a replica of Taiwan’s presidential palace so that the soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could conduct storming exercises.

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    Mock Taipei Presidential Office Building as previously seen in Chinese state media. 

    While conducting urban warfare in mock towns is standard procedure for most militaries, the replica of the Taiwanese presidential palace appears to have a more nationalistic twist, as tensions remain high between Beijing and Taipei.

    The model of the of the presidential palace even has the red and white facade of the building from which Taiwanese President Tsai Ing Wen runs the autonomous island.

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    The real Presidential Office building in Taipei, via Wiki Commons.

    The front of the mock-up can also be seen very briefly in the below promotional video from 2015 which, according to The War Zone, would have been two years after the structure was built.

    Here’s the prior archived state media footage:

    Since the election of Tsai in 2016, the Taiwanese government has drifted further away from any potential reunification between Taiwan and China.

    This has culminated in strained ties between the two governments, with Taiwan increasing its military capabilities, thanks in large part to the United States.

    Satellite photos recently captured by Planet Labs and republished in The Drive:

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    At the start of 2020, the Taiwanese military carried out a large-scale exercise on island against a potential Chinese invasion force.

    This exercise sent a message to Beijing that Taipei is prepared for a potential war with China, should diplomatic efforts collapse.

  • Horrific Scene As Car Plows Into Dozens Of Police Amid Rioting In Buffalo, New York
    Horrific Scene As Car Plows Into Dozens Of Police Amid Rioting In Buffalo, New York

    Tyler Durden

    Mon, 06/01/2020 – 23:11

    A shocking scene has unfolded Monday night from the streets of Buffalo, New York as police attempted to clear rioters and presumably looters from a city street. 

    Video captured from a protest live feed shows a car plowing into a large group of police and what appear to be state troopers, and SWAT or possibly national guard soldiers.  

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    The group of police are seen initially clearing the street with weapons drawn, and gunshots are heard in the background in an intensifying situation. 

    Suddenly the group of police attempt to jump out of the way as what appears an older model SUV rushes straight into the group. 

    Another angle to the attack shows the car gaining speed as officers realize it’s headed straight for them, most dashing out of the way at the last moment:

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    At least one officer is directly crushed under the vehicle in the graphic footage, and it appears multiple are down, with others rushing to aid and pull them from the street. 

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    AP has confirmed the video, with White House correspondent Zeke Miller writing, “Video shows SUV plowing into officers at Floyd protest in Buffalo, New York, running over at least 1, then speeding away.”

    The group of clearly rattled police then attempt return fire as the vehicle rushes away from the scene. It’s unclear if the driver was apprehended.

    Though there was no initial confirmation of the horrific and clearly intentional attack on police via Buffalo Police social media accounts, the footage is now going viral.

    The man who took the original video from a nearby balcony, who appears to be Yemeni-American based on the Facebook page hosting the live feed, expresses disbelief in Arabic and utters a prayer. 

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    The attack happened at the corner of Decker Street and Bailey, across from an Autozone which is partially seen in the video.

    It comes as attacks on police become more brazen and violent nationwide, and as the mayhem spirals out of control – further as President Trump has threatened military deployments to American streets to quell the violence. 

  • Which Industries Are Suffering The Biggest Job Losses?
    Which Industries Are Suffering The Biggest Job Losses?

    Tyler Durden

    Mon, 06/01/2020 – 23:10

    With trader attention turning to Friday’s May jobs report, where consensus expects an 8 million increase in unemployment after April’s record 20 million, we took a closer look at which industries are set to report the biggest job losses.

    To do that, we looked at the weekly initial jobless claims report where many states release claims on an industry level, which as BofA writes, can be used to think about how national payrolls will evolve. While initial claims only reflect outflows, they are still a crucial component for the net job growth trajectory and therefore useful as a leading signal according to BofA’s economists. As a result, collecting and aggregating these data allows to create proxies that provide a read on national conditions.

    To extrapolate the bigger picture, the bank calculates the % change in cumulative initial claims for each industry during the relevant weeks for the April and May jobs reports, apply that to April payroll growth, and then scales to the total NFP forecast of -8.0 million. The exercise suggests that job losses in accommodation & food services-the most pandemic-sensitive sector-could be in the 2.5mn range in May, bringing three month total losses to 9.3mn. Meanwhile, we could see more than 500k job losses in each of the retail trade, healthcare / social assistance, administrative/support services, arts/entertainment/recreation, and public administration sectors. While not scientific, as these remain rough estimates, the table below helps give a sense of the magnitude of the pain that each sector could experience in Friday’s report.

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    In addition to the aggregate level data, the weekly trajectory of these industry claims data are also insightful.

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    For most of the sectors, initial claims follow the broad trend of a peaking in early April followed by a gradual decline. However, initial claims are trending sideways in professional /scientific / technical services and management of companies/enterprises – two of the major sub-sectors of professional/business services. Even worse, initial claims are rising and reaching new highs in the educational services, information, finance / insurance, and public administration sectors. Thus, in several sectors we are not seeing improvement, which according to BofA “argues for more persistent labor pain and a more delayed recovery.”

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    So what will the recovery look like?

    According to BofA’s Alex Lin, as states are gradually re-opening, focus is shifting towards what kind of recovery we can expect. A key question will be how many laid off workers will be rehired? At this stage, consumer expectations remain optimistic- an April 27-May 4 Washington Post/Ipsos poll found that 77% of laid off workers expect to hired back to their old job. However, the reality may prove grimmer given such an uncertain outlook. A vaccine for the virus may still be two years away, and businesses cannot discount the risk of another wave of infections as the economy reopens, which would slow the economy.  Meanwhile, a recent paper by Barrero, Bloom, and Davis argue that 42% of jobs lost will be permanent which would be a concerning outcome.

  • New Ebola Outbreak Kills Four In West Congo
    New Ebola Outbreak Kills Four In West Congo

    Tyler Durden

    Mon, 06/01/2020 – 23:01

    Health officials have confirmed a second Ebola outbreak in Congo, the World Health Organization said Monday, adding yet another health crisis for a country already battling COVID-19 and the world’s largest measles outbreak, according to the AP. Congo also has yet to declare an official end to Ebola in its troubled east, where at least 2,243 people have died since an epidemic began there in August 2018.

    The United Nations Children’s Fund said that five people, including a 15-year-old girl, have died of Ebola in a fresh outbreak of the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo; a total of nine cases total have been reported.

    “Four additional people who contracted the virus – all contacts of the deceased and including the child of one of the fatal cases – are being treated in an isolation unit at the Wangata Hospital in Mbandaka,” UNICEF said in a statement. “The deaths occurred between the 18th and 30th of May but they were only confirmed as Ebola-related yesterday.”

    The country’s Health Minister Eteni Longondo confirmed that “There are already four deaths and four suspected cases” who are still alive.

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    An Ebola health worker is shown at a treatment center in Beni, Eastern Congo on April 16, 2019; Photo: AP.

    Earlier on Monday, embattled WHO Director-General and and Chinese PR spin guru Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted news that six cases had been reported in Mbandaka, in the country’s northwest Equateur province. It’s the country’s 11th outbreak of the potentially deadly virus, which is passed by bodily fluids and has a fatality rate of anywhere between 25% and 90%, depending on the outbreak.

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    The Democratic Republic of Congo has still been struggling to end an outbreak that started in 2018 in the eastern part of the country, in which 3,406 cases have been reported, with 2,243 deaths, according to WHO. There has not been a new case in the past 21 days in that outbreak and since Ebola has a 21-day incubation period, that particular outbreak may be under control but WHO waits for two full incubation periods, or 42 days, to be sure before determining that an outbreak has ended.

    “The announcement comes as a long, difficult and complex Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is in its final phase, while the country also battles COVID-19 and the world’s largest measles outbreak,” WHO said in a statement. The central African country has reported 3,195 cases of coronavirus and 72 deaths. By far the worst epidemic affecting the DRC is measles, which has infected nearly 370,000 people and killed 6,779 since 2019.

    The Ebola virus lives in bats, and WHO says new outbreaks can be expected in the Democratic Republic of Congo. By far the largest epidemic of Ebola was in 2014-2016 in the West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. More than 28,000 people were infected in that epidemic and more than 11,000 of them died.

    If that wasn’t enough, Covid-19 already has touched 7 of Congo’s 25 provinces, with more than 3,000 confirmed cases and 72 deaths. However, like many African countries Congo has conducted extremely limited testing, and observers fear the true toll may be far higher.

    There’s more: while Ebola and COVID-19 have drawn far more international attention, measles has killed more Congolese than those diseases combined. WHO said there have been 369,520 measles cases and 6,779 deaths since 2019.

    “This quadruple threat could prove lethal for millions of children and their families,” said Anne-Marie Connor, national director in Congo for the aid organization World Vision.

  • Exposing The Media's "Distraction" Deception
    Exposing The Media’s “Distraction” Deception

    Tyler Durden

    Mon, 06/01/2020 – 22:50

    Authored by Tom Bevan via RealClearPolitics.com,

    I’ve been in the news business for over 20 years now, and among the many things I’ve learned about how the media complex operates is this: One of the favorite tricks journalists and politicians use to control the focus of viewers and push the media’s preferred narrative is to label other stories as “distractions.”

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    This is especially true when it comes to President Trump. In the recent past, most mainstream media outlets have been obsessed with the pandemic, and his leadership during this crisis. That is certainly understandable. In some ways, it’s the biggest news story in a generation, with a large death toll and global implications about governmental control over the economy, international relations, and the very idea of life-sustaining social interactions between human beings.

    But it’s not the only story. And this is where the sleight of hand comes in. Among Democrats and many liberal journalists, it is an article of faith that Trump’s handling of the pandemic has been a disaster. Keeping the focus on Trump’s failures has become a priority. In this framework, anything the president does or says that is not related to the pandemic is labeled a “distraction.”

    Nancy Pelosi played this card yesterday, responding to a question about Trump’s proposed crackdown on social media companies.

    “I think it’s just typical President Trump,” said the House speaker.

    “A distraction. More than 100,000 people have died from the coronavirus. This administration has been a failure in terms of what we’re doing testing, tracing, treating and isolating people. The president has been a terrible example of not wearing a mask, and belittling those who do. So anything he does is a distraction from the problem at hand.”

    Just a few weeks ago, any discussion of the troubling Justice Department treatment  of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn was declared a “distraction” by a flurry of reporters and media outlets. CNN has been particularly fond of the “distraction” theme in recent weeks, as you can see from the following headlines:

    “10 things Trump would like to distract you from focusing on” 

    “Trump and right-wing media distract from bad virus news with alternate reality” 

    “Trump goes on wild tweetstorm to distract from Fauci testimony”  

    Notice that when Trump tweets or comments about a subject or story that the media approves of, such as he did with the George Floyd case Thursday, it’s never labeled a distraction. Only stories on subjects in which the press disagrees with the administration earn the “distraction” distinction.  

    If this feels familiar, that’s because it’s been going on since the day Trump took office. From the beginning of his presidency, as the Russia collusion stories began peppering the landscape, journalists and Democrats used the technique to make sure audiences stayed focused on what they believed was the most important story in history: the Trump campaign’s supposed collusion with Vladimir Putin. 

    Over the last three years media outlets have dismissed dozens of presidential statements and initiatives as efforts by Trump to distract the public from the Russia collusion story or special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation, including tweeting about Iran, pulling John Brennan’s security clearance, starting a cold war with China, meeting with Kim Jong-Un, and even slapping tariffs on Mexico.  

    The collusion story turned out to be false. So what exactly was Trump trying to distract you from? The answer is he wasn’t.  

    Donald Trump is, by his very nature, an outrageous, impulsive, torrential news-making machine. He seemingly tweets about every thought that enters his head, from consequential policy pronouncements to strange conspiracy theories and petty schoolyard taunts. But it’s up to you, the citizens and voters, and not the media gatekeepers, to decide what is a “distraction” and what isn’t.  

  • COVID-19 Exposed The Truth: Laws, Rules, & Regulations Are Futile, Humans Were Born Free
    COVID-19 Exposed The Truth: Laws, Rules, & Regulations Are Futile, Humans Were Born Free

    Tyler Durden

    Mon, 06/01/2020 – 22:10

    Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

    The one good thing to come out of the COVID-19 panic is the increasing awareness of the general public.  The scamdemic has exposed the futility of most rules, laws, and regulations, as people have found out they don’t have to obey any ruler or politician because they were born free.

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    Regulations that needlessly restrict liberty, reduce innovation, and reduce Americans’ access to care are being suspended all over the country, and not because politicians woke up and decided to cede some power.  Instead, Americans have decided to disobey the laws into nonexistence. People are finally figuring out that ink on paper cannot control them useless they allow it to.  Since March, Isabelle Morales of Townhall has compiled over500 such examples of regulations that are nothing more than commands to the people the government wants to enslave. These regulations are being suspended in order to provide relief for care providers, hospitals, businesses, and citizens during the coronavirus plandemic.

    Governors and other politicians recognize that the mere enforcement of these rules and laws places a heavy burden on some of the most important markets in the United States. Hence, their suspension is deemed necessary in these times of hardship. Ultimately, none of these regulations should have been created in the first place. Under other circumstances, the effects of these regulations go unnoticed because the strength of the market covers the government’s tracks. –Isabelle Morales of Townhall

    Often, the markets will survive in spite of regulations, however, people are beginning to realize these rules were not created in their best interest, but in the interest of the state. Once people disobey in larger numbers, they will fully awaken to the fact that they’ve been controlled for their entire lives.  The fact that these regulations should have never been created in the first place, is a moot point. What’s important is that people are finally realizing that the government isn’t there to help them and protect them. It’s there to control and manipulate them, with the help of the mainstream media, of course.

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    The only way out of this has always been, and will always be civil disobedience. It doesn’t matter how many rules, laws, or regulations, the government creates or eliminates because free people operate solely on their own morality. Free people already know they have no obligation to obey a command, especially ones that violate their individual God-given human rights.

  • More Hedge Funds Move To Outsource Trading As COVID-19 Crisis Revives 2-Way Market Swings
    More Hedge Funds Move To Outsource Trading As COVID-19 Crisis Revives 2-Way Market Swings

    Tyler Durden

    Mon, 06/01/2020 – 21:50

    Most people who haven’t worked in the financial services industry probably wouldn’t understand the distinction between being a ‘hedge fund analyst’ and a ‘hedge fund trader’. But the two rolls are completely different. And while one of them – the analyst – might benefit from a shift in skill-set preferences and the ongoing retrenchment in sell-side research shops, the other – the trader – is increasingly seeing their jobs outsourced to a handful of major sell-side players who are offering a new service effectively allowing clients (ie counterparties whom these banks are also trading against) to outsource trading operations.

    And according to a Monday report published by Bloomberg, the coronavirus outbrek is reportedly accelerating this shift toward ‘outsourced’ trading roles in the hedge fund world.

    At this point, only the largest hedge funds even bother to build their own in-house operations. Staffing at smaller and boutique shops is typically no frills: limited to only a small team of analysts and maybe some researchers, led by a portfolio manager or two (or more). This is intentional: it allows star PMs to hog those juicy fees.

    But in the age of COVID, even the bigger shops are outsourcing, and smaller firms are expanding their use of these services, as wealthy investors demand that money managers keep one eye on the exit at all times. Recent crashes of retail platforms like Robinhood and Charles Schwab are worrying reminders about what can happen to retail investors when a real market panic gets going.

    Here’s more on the trend from BBG:

    As the pandemic unleashes unprecedented operational risks, asset managers are joining peers who have flocked to these services in recent years to keep up with new technologies and to cut costs — while liquidity gets ever-more fragmented.

    Among the more established names, Outset Global LLP says its client list has grown 45% in the year through April. Tora Trading Services Ltd. says sales increased 105% in the first three months of the year from the prior period, as existing clients expanded usage and new ones signed on. Tourmaline Partners LLC, an outsourcing firm based in Stamford, Connecticut, just clinched a majority investment from a private equity firm that will help expansion plans.

    While smaller firms often outsource all of these responsibilities to their prime brokers, larger firms with in-house operations are increasingly outsourcing more to these upstart shops and established players.

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    At this point, some of you might be wondering: what’s the difference between offering prime brokerage services, and trading services? These trading operations don’t just execute buy and sell orders; the services they offer are often so comprehensive, they can allow clients to “set it and forget it” – leaving specific instructions with traders to execute in Asian or European hours while traders in New York are asleep – or vice versa.

    It’s part of a broader shift in trading that has allowed greater levels of automation to creep into the market. Even if you’re skilled enough to program your own trading algorithms, wouldn’t you sleep better knowing a human was somewhere nearby, keeping one eye on the tape?

    While some smaller funds opt to outsource entirely, many larger managers use such services to supplement their own operations, like buying and selling Asian stocks when their traders in New York are asleep.

    Unlike agency or prime broking, outsourced players conduct relationships with the sell side on behalf of the client and offer more comprehensive services including monitoring exposures and providing market color.

    “It does appear there has been increased interest in outsourced trading,” said Shane Swanson, an analyst at consultancy Greenwich Associates. “That does go hand-in-hand with the explosion in technology we’ve seen across the past 10, 15 years — in particular in how that has been utilized as part of this response to the Covid crisis.”

    He calls the recent turmoil a “proof of concept” for outsourcing for a host of new managers.

    Market analytics firms told BBG that some of the biggest players in this space – Cantor Fitzgerald and Jeffries – have seen their trading businesses expand by more than 45% over the last year.

    Outsourced traders essentially act as a middleman between the buy side and sell side in handling trading flows. Some outsourced trading divisions are run inside bigger financial services firms, like Jefferies Financial Group Inc., while others operate as small, standalone shops. Their pitch to asset managers: Ensuring best execution with an extensive network of brokerages and high-speed technology, which can be expensive for smaller funds to maintain on their own.

    “We’ve seen folks add our outsourced trading team just to be able to say that they have systems in place and a set-up in place should their traders get sick with Covid,” said Bobby Croswell, head of U.S. outsourced trading at Cowen Inc. The firm’s outsourcing revenue more than doubled in the first quarter compared with the same period in 2019.

    Volatility has undoubtedly accelerated this trend, which is widely expected to continue.

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    On the subject of whether this trend is a waste of money, or an overreaction to the recent shock selloff, we suspect all the 20- and 30-something year-old traders running the market these days could probably use a little hand-holding. As far as market stability is concerned, it’s probably not a bad thing.

    In other new, Bloomberg says, stock market participants want a reduction in the world’s longest trading hours, which they say can improve liquidity and industry diversity, according to the results of a London Stock Exchange survey.

  • Crypto Analyst Releases Stock-To-Flow Model Indicator For Bitcoin Bull Run
    Crypto Analyst Releases Stock-To-Flow Model Indicator For Bitcoin Bull Run

    Tyler Durden

    Mon, 06/01/2020 – 21:30

    Authored by Turner Wright via CoinTelegraph.com,

    Updating its popular BTC price model, crypto analyst PlanB predicts the cryptocurrency could see a rally to $100K by 2021.

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    image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

    Crypto analyst PlanB released a key indicator for its stock-to-flow price prediction model which could signal a Bitcoin bull run to $100,000 by 2021 has just begun.

    PlanB confirmed on Twitter on May 31 that the red dot — indicating a price increase — was now present in its stock-to-flow (S2F) model, a price prediction model for Bitcoin (BTC).

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    The S2F model treats BTC as a commodity like gold or silver, evaluating the existing supply of the cryptocurrency against the amount mined. 

    Though many have predicted BTC bullish behavior in the wake of the May 11 rewards halving, PlanB’s model marks when a run would occur with a red dot. Under this model, the chart shows a BTC price of $100,000 by the end of 2021. 

    Stock-to-flow model

    Cointelegraph reported in April that PlanB had used its new cross-asset S2F model — S2FX — to predict a BTC price of $288,000 by 2024. Crypto analyst Harold Christopher Burger used the same data to forecast a rally to $1 million by 2025.

    The S2F model does have its detractors. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has expressed some reservations about stock-to-flow, calling it part of the 95% of crypto articles that are “post-hoc rationalized bullshit.”

    As of this writing, BTC is priced in the $9,400s, having fallen 2% in the last 24 hours.

  • Looting Breaks Out In LA, NYC As Trump Threatens To Call In "1000s Of Heavily-Armed Soldiers"
    Looting Breaks Out In LA, NYC As Trump Threatens To Call In “1000s Of Heavily-Armed Soldiers”

    Tyler Durden

    Mon, 06/01/2020 – 21:28

    Protest/Riot/Looting Feed here:

    Summary

    • Trump threatens to mobilize US troops if Governors do not get control

    • Curfews enacted across all major cities

    • Protests/Riots spreading to suburbs

    • Looting has begun in LA/NYC

    *  *  *

    Update (2130ET): Looting has begun in NYC and LA as curfew nears and protests/looting has spread to the suburbs around the nation.

    High-end stores like Bloomingdales, Gucci, Nike Soho, Chanel, Tory Burch, Kate Spade were all vandalized. Best Buy in Union Square and several drug stores were also hit.

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    It appears Nike’s virtue-signaling ad failed to stop their store getting looted…

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    New York’s luxury shopping area is all boarded up…

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    And some looters actually faced consequences…

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    This is what police are facing (watch the first few seconds carefully):

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    The looting and protesting has reached various suburbs including Walnut Creek, CA (around 20 miles from Oakland)…

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    *  *  *

    Update (2100ET): Trump is facing flack from his critics for allegedly deploying militarized police to clear out peaceful demonstrators from a church near the white house so he could hold a photo op with a bible.

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    The bishop the DC Episcopal Church just told WaPo that she’s furious with the White House – apparently the church wasn’t told about that they would be gassing demonstrators. Or, at least that’s what they’re telling the press.

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    Footage from the scene outside.

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    Trump’s political opponents are jumping on the outrage bandwagon.

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    To top it off: The top of “The Huffington Post”…

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    But at least the press was there to ask the tough questions.

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    Meanwhile, millions of iPhones across NYC just buzzed with the following alert message…

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    …awhat looks to be a fourth straight night of violence begins with looting and violence in LA and New York.

    As the sun set, the looting started once again as protests entered their fifth day in NYC, and fourth day of protracted violence and looting.

    Businesses on 5th and Madison avenues were spotted quickly throwing up plywood to prevent looting on Monday night.

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    In a memorable scene, an emotional member of the NYPD brass insisted that “agitators” were taking a “peaceful movement” and destroying it from the inside out. He also took a knee with peaceful demonstrators in brooklyn after they worked to “deescalate a standoff”.

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    High-end stores like Bloomingdales, Gucci, Nike Soho, Chanel, Tory Burch, Kate Spade were all vandalized. Best Buy in Union Square and several drug stores were also hit.

    Attempted looters clashed with police as vandals smashed into a boutique tea shop in the middle of Rockefeller Center.

    In Hollywood, reporters claimed the LAPD response to what appeared to be “organized” looting was “much quicker” – following excessive press coverage of looting that went virtually unchallenged.

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    That’s almost ironic, since Hollywood celebrities are the ones donating money to help bail vandals and rioters out of jail indiscriminately with more peaceful demonstrators arrested for civil disobedience. We doubt small business owners in the city have the same level of sympathy after last night.

    In Philly, a radio producer documented a scene at a pro-cop anti-looter “protest” that was on the verge of turning into a vigilante posse, while a crowd of “I can’t breath”-shouting demonstrators formed opposite them. Throwing of projectiles ensued, and several arrests were made.

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    A Reuters reporter was attacked in DC.

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    By the looks of it, the agitators are back on the streets and getting ready to push Trump to make good on his threat.

    * * *

    Update (19000ET):  President Trump announced from the White House Rose Garden Monday evening that he planned to mobilize “all available federal resources, civilian and military” to put an end to violent protests across the country, while blaming the outbursts on “professional anarchists, looters, criminals, antifa” whom he described as “domestic terrorists” bringing widespread harm to the nation.

    As expected following remarks from Press Sec McEnany earlier, President Trump insisted during a brief speech that he would send in military personnel to quell violence and looting if governors failed to act. He also insisted that his administration was committed to justice for Floyd and his family, and that Trump’s administration is “an ally” of peaceful protesters.

    “I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers,” Trump said Monday at the White House, clearly seeking to reassure terrified business owners and members of the community in areas hard-hit by the coronavirus and the riots that he would uphold his duty to maintain order.

    Trump insisted his heavy handed response had nothing to do with suppressing the right to peacefully protest.

    “We cannot allow an ‘angry mob” drown out peaceful protesters,” Trump said, describing the looting and attacks on journalists and bystanders as “acts of domestic terrorism”.

    In an implicit reference to New York, Trump said he would send in federal troops if cities failed to deal with any violent uprisings. “If cities refuse…I will deploy the united states military and quickly solve the problem for them,” Trump said.

    “We are ending the riots and lawlessness, that has spread throughout our country. We will end it now,” Trump said.

    He finished his remarks just before a 7pmET curfew took effect in the capital city.

    According to the FT, insiders said Trump aides had debated whether the president should address the nation. Some argued that he needed to try to bring the country together, while others said he would achieve little and would end up looking weak if the violence continued – meaning that Trump likely means what he says. After all, in his mind, his reelection prospects might depend on how “tough” he looks this week.

    * * *

    Update (1815ET): After President Trump announced plans for an impromptu address to the nation, caving to Republican lawmakers and Fox News hosts who had been pushing him to deliver a presidential address to the nation from the Oval Office like his predecessor George HW Bush did after the Rodney King riots.

    Meanwhile, the Pentagon just announced that more troops are on standby ahead of what’s expected to be another night of chaos in DC.

    • PENTAGON: ADDITIONAL FORCES ON ALERT STATUS FOR DC DEPLOYMENT
    • DEFENSE OFFICIAL SAYS FORCES NOT CURRENTLY BEING DEPLOYED TO DC
    • NATIONAL GUARD TO PROTECT MONUMENTS, WHITE HOUSE: PENTAGON
    • PENTAGON: TOTAL OF 600-800 NATIONAL GUARD BEING SENT TO D.C.

    Federal agents from the DEA and other agencies have been deputized, and are reportedly stopping traffic heading into downtown DC.

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    Journalists decried President Trump’s latest calls for an escalation of force in DC.

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    In New York, the NYPD just released photos of the suspects who allegedly defaced St Patrick’s Cathedral last night.

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    After days of protests, the brother of George Floyd is leading a peaceful vigil in Minneapolis.

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    At a rally in Hartford, Conn., police adhered to a ‘community policing’ approach which has grown in popularity across the state in recent years.

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    In a report published a few hours ago, the LA Times quotes several small business owners in Santa Monica and elsewhere round LA County who claimed that police didn’t even bother to take on the looters, and instead deliberately focused their militarized weaponry on mostly peaceful protesters, who skirmished with police when provoked.

    “Where are the police? They’re nowhere. There’s not a policeman in sight. It’s just like a free-for-all,” Landy remembered thinking. “It was just shocking. I was outraged.”

    He wasn’t alone. From the Grove shopping mall and Santa Monica’s business district to downtown Long Beach, television beamed live images all weekend of looters breaking into stores and stealing merchandise – often without officers in sight.

    The mass protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody have proved a vexing challenge for law enforcement agencies. They have been encouraging peaceful demonstrations, but in recent days watched them devolve as looters and vandals broke off from the peaceful protesters, stealing and setting fires.

    This probably wouldn’t be a bad time to remind the world that tear gas is actually a chemical weapon that’s banned in warfare under international conventions – but is still somehow used by law enforcement from Venezuela, to Hong Kong, to the US.

    * * *

    Update (1605ET): After raising doubts about its efficacy, NY Gov. Cuomo said Monday afternoon that he would impose an 11pm curfew in NYC effective Monday evening until 5am. Mayor de Blasio announced the news after talking it over with Cuomo.

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    During Monday’s COVID presser, Cuomo said that it was possible for a well-intentioned protest movement to be “hijacked” by criminals. “Can you have a legitimate protest movement hijacked? Yes you can,” Gov. Cuomo says. “There is no doubt there are outside groups that come in to disrupt.”

    However, he added “I don’t even believe it’s the protesters. I believe there are people using the protests for their own purpose. There are people who want to sow the seeds of anarchy. Who want to disrupt.”

    Earlier, the SBA, the Sargeants Benevolent Association, one of the NYPD’s most powerful unions, criticized de Blasio for not allowing cops to do their jobs, and called on the mayor to impose a curfew and allow mounted patrols (cops on horseback).

    Around the time that Cuomo announced the news during a radio interview Monday afternoon, the SBA’s twitter account tweeted a message that was quickly taken down by twitter.

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    The governor’s office released a statement on the decision. Read it below:

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    * * *

    Update (1135ET): After Washington DC and NYC bizarrely refused to impose curfews this weekend while nearly 3 dozen other major cities set curfews beginning as early as 4pmET on Sunday, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser is planning to implement a curfew starting tonight at 7pmET (and again tomorrow), while de Blasio tries to save face by saying he’s “strongly considering” a curfew after mobs plunder stores, set fires following day of protests.

    President Trump, meanwhile, reportedly told governors, mayors and law enforcement officials during a video meeting that their response to the unrest was “weak”, and pressured them to allow cops to take more violent measures to contain these crowds during a hastily scheduled phone call to discuss “security measures” Monday morning. Trump also reportedly threatened to “activate” AG Barr if the unrest continues which sounds…more ridiculous than he probably intended.

    Comments reported a few hours after the meeting ended claimed Trump threatened to send the national guard into NYC (which already boasts its own private army, the NYPD).

    * * *

    Update (1100ET): The Global Times is capitalizing on the unrest in the US, and exploiting it for maximum propaganda benefit.

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    * * *

    Update (1045ET): As NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio surveys the wreckage from last night, and reckons with the PR embarrassment of having his daughter arrested with dozens of other demonstrators, the mayor said some “late evening protests” were not acceptable.

    You mean the demonstrations that happened after your daughter was arrested?

    Or the “demonstrations” like this one?

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    Addressing an incident from last night where an NYPD officer drew his gun, and another where two NYPD vehicles “surged” into a crowd of “protesters” blocking the road as they tried to get by, Mayor de Blasio said the cops “shouldn’t have done” what they did (after saying last night that the demonstrators were in the wrong), and also said the cop who drew his gun should have his badge taken, and that the vehicle incident would face an internal inspection.

    * * *

    Following what was either the third or the sixth night (depending on who you read) of chaos to sweep across America following the death of George Floyd a week ago, Americans surveying the wreckage are being met by staggering totals. After tens of thousands of peaceful demonstrators, violent anarchists and opportunistic looters commingled for another night of chaos in cities from California to New York, and from Seattle to South Florida.

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    Reports published late Sunday/early Monday revealed that President Trump spent part of Friday in an underground bunker under the White House as secret service fired rubber bullets into crowds of violent and non- violent demonstrators. Over the entire three nights of chaos, at least 4,400 people have been arrested, according to a tally compiled by The Associated Press. Arrests ranged from stealing and blocking highways to breaking the dozens of curfews imposed by cities around the country on Saturday and Sunday as the violence spread, the AP reports.

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    Source: AP

    Curfews were imposed in more than 30 major cities around the U.S., including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. About 5,000 National Guard soldiers and airmen were activated in 15 states and Washington, D.C.

    In Indianapolis, two people were reported dead in bursts of downtown violence this weekend, adding to deaths reported in Detroit and Minneapolis in recent days. In Oakland, two federal agents were shot Friday night; one was killed.

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    One man was shot and killed when police and the National Guard opened fire on a crowd that had reportedly turned violent in Louisville, the city where Breonna Taylor was killed. WaPo reports Metro Police Chief Steve Conrad confirming the Kentucky National Guard and Louisville police were dispatched to the parking lot at Dino’s Food Mart around 12:15 a.m., where a large crowd had gathered, and that as they tried to disperse the crowd, somebody opened fire at an officer.

    Minneapolis and St. Paul were largely spared on Sunday evening following early marches that were largely peaceful. Though there was one high profile incident involving a tanker driving into a crowd of marchers on a highway (the driver of the truck was later arrested), the widespread violence that plagued other areas didn’t materialize. As WaPo reports, the city on Monday morning looked like a “ghost town”.

    But this relative peace came at a high cost, as the national guard moved to forcefully enforce curfews, even going so far as to fire paint cannisters and rubber bullets at people sitting on porches who ignored shouts to “get inside.”

    The gas stations are closed. The grocery stores are dark. And along Hiawatha Avenue in South Minneapolis, one of the only restaurants serving is a McDonald’s, where every inch of the building’s windows are boarded up except for two small holes at the drive-through just big enough to pass along food.

    After nearly a week of unrest in response to the death of George Floyd, city and state officials were optimistic Sunday after a night passed without the dangerous fires, looting and violence that have cut a wide swath of devastation through the heart of this Midwestern city.

    But it came with a new reality: Thousands of National Guard troops and state and city police officers moving to aggressively – and sometimes violently – regain control of the streets, and a lockdown that has residents under curfew and has closed the major highways at night.

    In some neighborhoods, residents stand outside their homes and businesses with guns, fueling a sense of lawlessness, while medical students descend on the scene with supplies to assist those in need, adding to what increasingly feels like a domestic war zone.

    Minnesota’s Democratic governor, who has been criticized for not responding forcefully enough in the beginning. Now, he says, his approach might be remembered as heavy-handed – but he doesn’t care.

    “There will be critiques of me that this is excessive. Why are you keeping forces on the ground?” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) said Sunday. It would be “irresponsible” to dial back the state’s response, amid rumors of outside agitators that he and other officials say have come into the city to sow chaos, he said.

    In particular, a video of cops and national guard firing at a woman standing peacefully on her porch went viral, eliciting a torrent of criticism. State police leaders defended it

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    On Monday, Gov. Andy Beshear said in a statement that he had authorized the Kentucky State Police to independently investigate the fatal shooting in Louisville “given the seriousness of the situation.”

    But the man in Louisville wasn’t the only casualty of the unrest. As governors in 26 states called in the National Guard and Secret Service agents again clashed with demonstrators outside the White House, media reported that at least six people had been killed in violence across the US, as gunfire rang out from Detroit to Indianapolis to Chicago to Omaha, notably correlating with the sites of notorious police killings.

    While journalists, pundits, celebrities etc joined together to discuss the importance of ensuring that black voices are heard, it appears that many of the “antifascist” protesters were too busy fighting racism by lighting black communities on fire to listen to a handful of community leaders in Portland, Oregon last night.

    Ron Herndon, the longtime director of the Portland-based Albina Head Start, held a peaceful event Sunday night at his organizations, a staple of black life in the city for years, according to the Oregonian.

    “It appears most of the young folks tearing up the city are younger white people,” he said. “If somehow you think that tearing up (downtown) is going to help black people, you are sadly mistaken. Please don’t think you are doing any of us any favors by tearing stuff up.”

    The “nonpartisan, politically neutral” mainstream press has decided to unilaterally give those looting and provoking violence and destruction a pass. Just because they’re telling you that is the “morally correct” position, doesn’t mean they’re right.

    As officials in California deal with the aftermath on Monday, California state government buildings “in downtown city areas” will be closed Monday, officials said, as authorities worry about the prospect of more violence. And while a brief number of international protests were planned in solidarity, many, including a march in Sydney, Australia, have been canceled due to COVID-19-linked concerns.

  • Auto Sales Plunge 33% In May, Set For Worst Year Since 2009
    Auto Sales Plunge 33% In May, Set For Worst Year Since 2009

    Tyler Durden

    Mon, 06/01/2020 – 21:10

    US auto sales are expected to continue their historic plunge in May, further pressuring an industry that is on the brink of all out collapse due to the pandemic lockdowns, plunging used car prices and suffering from a pre-virus recessionary environment.

    Sales figures for May are expected to fall 33% to just 1.05 million units, according to Cox Automotive and CNBC. Even worse, data from Bank of America indicates that demand for new vehicles could be dropping off a cliff at the same time the industry is getting ready to ramp up production again. 

    The numbers show a sequential improvement from April, but still offer an ominous outlook for the auto industry heading into the second half of 2020. Cox Automotive estimates the pace for U.S. car sales to be about 11.4 million units sold by the end of the year, which would make 2020 the worst year for car sales since 2009. These numbers compare to 17.4 million cars sold in 2019. 

    And it may not be because drivers are staying home anymore. Bank of America data from gas stations shows that drivers are back on the road again. “We estimate that gas consumption (in gallons) was still down about 30% YoY in April, but improved to -14% for the week ending May 23rd (latest available),” the bank wrote in a May 29 note. 

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    May’s numbers are in focus since the month kicks off summer sales season, traditionally the point in the year when dealers try to move inventory to make room for new models. Last weekend, some dealers offered incentives like 0% financing and 84 month financing offers to try and entice buyers into showrooms. 

    Some of the most generous incentives, offered around the time the virus started, are already being roped in as sales dead-cat bounce off their 2020 monthly lows. Auto analysts are blaming a lack of readily available inventory for the drop in sales, which is hilarious since the country is suffering from an unprecedented glut. 

    “At a minimum, selection may become more limited as the desired model may be in stock but not in the consumer’s preferred color or trim, potentially resulting in the consumer delaying purchase, switching brands, or moving into the used-vehicle market,” Cox Automotive explains.

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    Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’ executive director of insights, said: “We can safely say that April was the bottom for auto sales during the coronavirus pandemic. There’s still a long road to recovery ahead, but May auto sales are a really encouraging sign for the industry.”

    But experts that are sure the bottom is in are focused on manufacturing without any regard as to whether or not demand is going to pick up. 

    Thomas King, president of the data and analytics division and chief product officer at J.D. Power, said Thursday: “The good news is that in general manufacturing is restarting. Even with our diminished sales pace, we are still in an environment where the industry is selling more vehicles than it produces.”

    With manufacturing picking up, we’ll see how long that lasts. Meanwhile, Bank of America notes that spending in auto parts is ramping up, indicating that OEM demand could be slipping as car owners may be more inclined to fix their current cars instead of buying new ones. 

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    The bank thinks that many Americans spend their stimulus checks on fixing their cars:

    “This data remained weak in the first two weeks of April, but took a sharp uptick in mid-April as stimulus checks began to reach US consumers. This benefit has lingered since mid-April, and auto parts demand now has additional support from increased driving activity as US markets begin to reopen for business. Daily auto parts spending was up approximately 23% YoY on average during the week ending May 23rd (latest available) according to the aggregated card data.”

    The industry is expected to have a lost a total of 1.2 million to 1.6 million total sales as a result of the pandemic. 

    King concluded: “Many of those will be recovered in the future, but some of them will be lost. Many consumers have lost the accountability to purchase a new vehicle or no longer need one because they no longer commuting to work.” 

    We’ll take the “under”…

  • "To Whom Will We Entrust The Truth Now That It No Longer Exists?"
    “To Whom Will We Entrust The Truth Now That It No Longer Exists?”

    Tyler Durden

    Mon, 06/01/2020 – 21:03

    Authored by Eric Peters, CIO of One River Asset Management

    “Protests are being manipulated by domestic terrorists and international forces trying to destabilize the nation,” declared Minnesota Governor Waltz, calling out the National Guard. George Floyd’s video raced through social media, and for an instant, America mourned in collective outrage.

    But no sooner had protests begun, then violence started. Waltz said white supremacists and drug cartels were responsible. Many believe that’s true.

    Trump tweeted, “It’s Antifa and the Radical Left.” Others believe that’s true. Some believe both. A few believe none of it.

    There are as many truths today as there are tribes. “Everything we do is focused on creating an environment in which people will have their best chance to keep their job or maybe get a new one,” explained Jerome Powell.

    “Fed policies absolutely don’t add to inequality,” continued the Chairman. And some think that’s true. Many others believe the opposite. And each tribe finds ample supporting studies to support their respective realities, while unemployment claims surpassed 40mm (1-in-4 workers) and the S&P 500 completed a 36% rally from the lows.

    “Mr. President don’t hide behind the Secret Service. Go talk to demonstrators seriously. Negotiate with them, just like you urged Beijing to talk to Hong Kong rioters,” taunted Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief for the Global Times, a Chinese government-controlled paper.

    Some of China’s 1.4bln citizens see a moral equivalent between HK/US protestors, while others just as clearly don’t. And as images of American riots captivated the world, Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong, protests erupted, hundreds were arrested.

    China denounced Taiwan’s offer to resettle HK citizens, saying it was seeking to “loot a burning house” and sow discord. “Bringing black, violent forces into Taiwan will bring disaster to Taiwan’s people,” warned Beijing. And as Xi Jinping told his military officers “to step up preparations for armed combat,” some thought this was true.

    * * *

    Anecdote

    “Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change,” wrote Mary Shelley in 1818, exploring our humanity through her hideous creation, Frankenstein. And ever since, we’ve leapt from one change to the next, those periods in between marked by an eerie calm that we desperately embrace, mistaking stability for reality.

    “We’ll continue to point out incorrect or disputed information about elections globally, and we will admit to and own any mistakes we make,” declared Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO, tormented by the staggering consequences of his creation. Social media has emerged as the principal battleground for what will surely be the most bitterly contested presidential election in modern American history. And this will likely be followed by a constitutional crisis in a devastatingly divided nation.

    Misunderstanding our own nature, we convinced ourselves the internet would be a force for unambiguous good, connecting humanity to a singular truth, inoculating us from our lies. But instead, our reality splintered into a million dimensions.

    Truth has died, replaced by a widening range of alternative realities, each one as vivid as the next to its inhabitants. So Dorsey is in search of something that no longer lives. His reality is another’s fantasy, as sure as the sky is blue, and those who would defend one, by definition, threaten the other.

    “Internet platforms are not arbiters of truth,” declared Mark Zuckerberg, defending his hideous creature from the villagers, their pitchforks. And no doubt, few would want to inhabit a world where Zuckerberg defined reality.

    “I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other,” warned Frankenstein, Shelley’s eternal monster, alive within us all. And we are left to ponder a paradox as the consequences of this great and sudden change become manifest. To whom will we entrust the truth now that it no longer exists?

  • What 'Academic' Antifa Wants
    What ‘Academic’ Antifa Wants

    Tyler Durden

    Mon, 06/01/2020 – 20:50

    Update (2000ET): Right on cue, as Andy Ngo reports below, the mainstream media joins the #DefendAntifa narrative against Trump’s orders with an op-ed in The Washington Post from none other than Mark Bray:

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    Authored by Alexander Riley via Campus Reform,

    In a fully sane culture, the category ‘Antifa professor’ would be a contradiction in terms. The calling of the college professor entails a deep commitment to the power of facts and arguments to change minds. Antifa, on the other hand, is a loose collection of half-educated malcontents who entirely reject the logic of intellectual debate. They aim not to change the minds but rather to crush the skulls of those with whom they disagree, in the manner of sociopathic criminals throughout human history. 

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    Yet contemporary American higher education has produced a number of ‘Antifa professors’ who are currently holders of academic positions. They are engaged in the paradoxical business of making what they purport is an intellectual case for a thuggishly anti-intellectual movement. They include such figures as Michael “Dead cops are good” Isaacson and George “All I want for Christmas is White Genocide” Ciccariello-Maher. 

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    Among this cast, Mark Bray distinguishes himself as the only one who has produced an Antifa handbook. (As a matter of principle, I will not link to the book–the entire text can be found for free online, should you want a look without having to put any money in Bray’s pocket). He has appeared on “Meet the Press” and been written about in The Chronicle of Higher Education, in both cases with significant coddling.

    I had not paid any attention to him until he was recently invited to speak at Bucknell University, where I teach, by the Humanities Center. This gave me the excuse to look closely at his book on Antifa. I am glad to have done so, for it provides a useful blueprint for the whole movement of “academic Antifa,” and now I have a much firmer sense of just how dangerous that movement is. 

    The task to which the “Antifa professors” have set themselves is the same one the Communist International took up in the 1930s when it advanced the ideological line that essentially all parties and ideologies to the right of Marxism-Leninism were de facto fascist because, like the fascists, they opposed the coming to power of Marxist communist regimes. Clearly, some chicanery is required to make a case that not x=x, that is, non-fascists are fascists, with the goal of justifying treating both groups equally, that is, violently. Here’s how Bray eliminates the boundary between real fascists and assorted individuals and groups he dislikes that show absolutely no discernible connection to fascism:

    “From Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan…to Indiana Jones, nothing seems to delight American moviegoers more than killing Nazis…But would those same moviegoers consider it just as heroic to fight Nazis before… Hitler even took power in 1933? How would America respond to a cinematic depiction of communist…organizations…when they fought the Nazi[s]…in the 1920s and ‘30s? I like to imagine most Americans would sympathize with these militant formations because they know that the story ultimately ends in the gas chambers. So why then are so many Americans allergic to…the prospect of physically confronting fascists and white supremacists…?…Antifa argue that we should always remember that few took seriously the small bands of followers around Mussolini and Hitler when they started their ascent, and therefore we should remain vigilant against any and every manifestation of fascistic politics.” (Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, pp. 170-171, 172)

    Did you get that? Anyone who agrees that the killing of Nazis by soldiers in a war is justified ought to understand “physically confronting fascists and white supremacists,” e.g., at college campuses as an equivalent moral imperative.  What precisely is meant by “physically confronting,” we are not told. Should fascists and white supremacists merely be physically prevented from speaking? Should they be beaten? What if they insist on speaking despite efforts to prevent them from speaking, or defend themselves against Antifa beatings? How much is Antifa morally permitted to amplify “physical confront[ation]” in such cases? All of this is left conveniently unclear by Mr. Bray.

    Something even more crucial is left just as unclear here. How is it to be determined that the individuals Antifa desires to “physically confront” are indeed “fascists and white supremacists”? If they are actual Nazis, wearing swastikas and overtly announcing their violent and racist desires to expel “racial enemies,” the work is easy. But this is an infinitesimally small group, perhaps a few thousand in a country of 320 million (around 0.003%), and Mr. Bray is in no way content to restrict the category nearly so significantly:  

    “[W]e must recognize the relationship between two…registers of anti-fascism: analytical and moral. The analytical…consists of mobilizing historically informed definitions…of fascism to craft anti-fascist strategy [for]…facing ideologically fascist groups…The moral register developed out of the rhetorical power of…calling someone or something fascist…[Here] the anti-fascist lens is applied to phenomena that may not be fascist, technically speaking, but are fascistic. For example, were the Black Panthers wrong to call cops who killed black people with impunity “fascist pigs” if they did not personally hold fascist beliefs or if the American government was not literally fascist? At a Madrid Antifa demonstration, I saw a rainbow flag with the slogan “homophobia is fascism.” Does the existence of non-fascist homophobes invalidate the argument?…[T]he moral register of anti-fascism understands how ‘fascism’ has become a moral signifier that those struggling against a variety of oppressions have utilized to highlight the ferocity of the political foes they have faced and the elements of continuity they share with actual fascism…The challenges of defining fascism make the line between these two registers blurry…a key component of anti-fascism is to organize against both fascist and fascistic politics in solidarity with all those who suffer and struggle” (Antifa, pp. 134, 135)

    And a few pages along, Bray elaborates further:

    “[M]ilitant anti-fascism is but one facet of a larger revolutionary project. Many Antifa groups organize not only against fascism, but aim to combat all forms of oppression such as homophobia, capitalism, patriarchy, and so on. In that way, they see fascism as only the most acute versions of larger systemic threats. When I spoke with members of Pavé Brûlant [Burning Pavement] in Bordeaux, they continually stressed that all major political parties…manifested fascistic traits… It’s surreal to watch liberal pundits lambast anti-fascists for disrupting a fascist speech, when their revolutionary socialist ideology advocates the global expropriation of the capitalist ruling class and the destruction…of all existing states by means of an international popular uprising that most believe will necessitate violent confrontation with state forces. If they are critical of ‘no platforming,’ wait ‘til they hear about class war” (Antifa, pp. 158, 159).

    It is not then only “fascists and white supremacists” who can be legitimately met with Antifa violence. It is also individuals or groups Antifa has defined as “homophobes,” supporters of “patriarchy,” capitalism, and the police, finally, all those who participate in unnamed “variet[ies] of oppression” and thereby oppose “all those who suffer and struggle.” All these categories of potential targets, I remind you, are to be defined and determined by the members of Antifa. Mark Bray does not define them anywhere in his book with any precision at all. 

    Can you imagine why he might abstain from doing this?  

    I can.

    It’s because “academic Antifa” wants the answer to the question “Who is a fascist?” to be “Anyone Antifa says is a fascist, that’s who.”

    Bray’s invocation of the Black Panthers is particularly telling.  We should recall that by the early ’70s, factions of the Panthers were openly calling for armed struggle by blacks against the American government. One offshoot of the Black Panthers, the Black Liberation Army, orchestrated perhaps as many as thirteen carefully planned assassinations of police officers. These are Mark Bray’s ideological heroes and models.   

    One last bit from Bray, just to make crystal clear where the noxious teaching of “academic Antifa”is intended to leave us:

    “Our goal should be that in twenty years those who voted for Trump are too uncomfortable to share that fact in public. We may not always be able to change someone’s beliefs, but we sure as hell can make it politically, socially, economically, and sometimes physically costly to articulate them” (Antifa, p. 206)

    This rather lets the cat completely out of the bag, no? If you exercise your right to vote in a way that does not meet Antifa approval, then you are a legitimate target of criminal violence. The ranks of the “fascistic” have now swollen to around 63 million, which is the number of votes Trump received in 2016.  

    Those “academic Antifa” actively professing such ideas are still, at this point, a small minority in American higher education—though the fraction of the college professoriate they represent could easily be higher than the fraction of the American population that consists of white supremacists and Nazis. There are however many more working in colleges and universities who help give these ideas oxygen—by assigning books like Antifa, by inviting people like Mark Bray to speak on their campuses, by pretending that antifa are about something more sophisticated or noble than the desire for the violent destruction of the American civil sphere. 

    An important step in challenging this drift in the direction of “academic Antifa” is simply to report, accurately and in detail, on what these people say, write, and believe. Virulent ideas should be exposed to clean air and bright light. Among other positive effects, this allows the people who are largely paying the salaries of individuals like Mark Bray and his professorial supporters at Dartmouth and elsewhere, that is, the parents of college students and donors to institutions of higher education, to see precisely how their money is being spent.

  • Watch: Hundreds Of Handcuffed Perps Lined Up Outside NYC Bookings
    Watch: Hundreds Of Handcuffed Perps Lined Up Outside NYC Bookings

    Tyler Durden

    Mon, 06/01/2020 – 20:30

    As Andrew Cuomo delivers his first daily update on the coronavirus situation in his state following the riots we saw across the nation over the weekend, videos of the processing line outside a police precinct in Manhattan on Monday morning show just how many people were arrested in NYC alone, during a weekend where – according to the AP – more than 4,000 were arrested around the country on charges stemming from unlawful assembly to murder.

    Police are likely still arresting individuals based on surveillance footage and other next-level surveillance techniques that the NYPD can bring to bear when it wants to arrest a given subject. Additionally, many of the thousands who were arrested across NYC over the

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    The Twitter account belonging to one of the NYPD’s most powerful unions, the SBA, released an internal arrest report for Mayor de Blasio’s daughter, Chiara, who was booked for “unlawful assembly” and “object throwing” – though only the first charge was initially released to the media. The account slammed the mayor for his decision to not allow cops to use “mounted units” and other tactics, according to TPM.

    But as media pundits continue to spin a narrative where all the unrest can be pinned on “foreign enemies” like Moscow and Beijing, we can’t help but ask: do these look like Russian sleeper agents – or white supremacists – to you?

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    Others joked that the line was longer than the toilet paper line at Costco.

  • Greenfield: How To Make Your Own Race Riot
    Greenfield: How To Make Your Own Race Riot

    Tyler Durden

    Mon, 06/01/2020 – 20:10

    Authored by Daniel Greenfield via Sultan Knish blog,

    The angry rioter is a sacred figure in the progressive pantheon of social justice. But the saint of the looted convenience store is as mythical a figure as the selfless community organizer.

    The race riot isn’t a bubbling stew of outrage out of which wounded souls emerge to cry out for justice. It’s a complicated criminal conspiracy in which the perpetrators rarely suffer any consequences.

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    Here’s how a race riot is actually put together.

    3. Riots aren’t fed by outrage, but by opportunism

    The rioters aren’t outraged, they’re usually bored young men, frustrated and lacking in empathy. Many of them have gang ties or a criminal record stretching back to kindergarten.

    They’re the same people who commit crimes in any other non-outraged context.

    The rest are there to get some attention while providing them with protective coloration. 9 out of 10 people screaming frenziedly while holding up “Black Lives Matter” signs would eagerly scream and hold up “Tiger King 4 President” or “Minneapolis Loves the KKK” signs if it got them positive attention and a shot at being on television.

    Everything else you need to do know about why riots happen out can be read on a thermometer. Weather breaks up a riot faster than appeasement. It’s hard to riot when your teeth are chattering. There’s a reason that riots usually happen in the summer. The same viral video that sets a nation on fire would have been met with shrugs in the winter.

    The riots didn’t happen because of outrage, but because the gathering mobs were told by everyone from CNN right up to their local Democrat politicians that angry protests were expected and would be tolerated. That was as good as throwing a match into a spreading pool of gasoline.

    No one was stealing beauty supplies or starting fires in Walgreens because they were upset about George Floyd They were stealing because they believed that they could get away with it.

    2. The rioters and looters aren’t burning their own community

    A riot has two components. There are the bored and irritated locals who begin swarming streets because they have no jobs, it’s hot outside and there’s nothing good on television. They will loosely agree with whatever issue is on the table, but they aren’t all that worked up about it.

    And then there are the outsiders.

    Before the riot, community organizers, citizen reporters and assorted activists show up to coordinate, spread slogans and justify the coming violence. They want violence far more than the locals do and they taunt police and try to create incidents, but they ofte avoid personally engaging in violence.

    In the early twentieth century the group stirring up riots was usually some arm of the Communist Party. Later a variety of leftist groups, like Antifa, many closely entangled with the Democratic Party took over. Most of the damage is done by looters and rioters from other areas looking for an opportunity to burn and steal. Some locals will tag after them, but they are usually responsible for the worst of the violence. Some of the looters are from out of state, others from different neighborhoods.

    Being outsiders they’re unknown to the police and rarely have to worry about being identified afterwards. And they don’t care about burning down someone else’s community.

    The media usually sticks to its narrative of an outraged community that engages in excesses, especially when it can’t tell apart the locals from the outsiders. Local cops can, but no one in the media listens to them. Arrest records often show that most of those charged in the more violent crimes aren’t locals, but the media remains immune to facts that conflict with a favorite narrative.

    1. Riots are about power, not for the rioters, but for the establishment

    “We must not reprimand our children for outrage when it is the outrage that was put in them by an oppressive system,” Al Sharpton had said, in the aftermath of the murder of a Jewish student by an angry black mob.

    This same rhetoric was used by the inciters of the violence around the country and has been used in similar riots going back generations. Its major theme is that the rioters are free to do whatever they want. They carry no moral responsibility for their actions.

    And what they want is to smash and steal anything they can get their hands on. This isn’t outrage. It’s textbook amoral behavior. The riot doesn’t release anger; it frees the perpetrators of their morality.

    The real purpose of a riot isn’t to benefit the rioters. It’s to benefit those who incite the riot. The rioters and looters react in response to riot-friendly conditions created from above. If you build the political infrastructure for a riot, the rioters and looters will come.

    Sharpton’s riots weren’t about helping anyone except himself. By associating himself with violence, he sold the idea that he was an influential figure in the black community. Whether or not Sharpton was actually popular, his rise to the top of the political establishment became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

    Riots are about perception, not reality. The ringleader tries to keep his hands clean while convincing the establishment that he can turn the violence on or off any time he wants to.

    The last decade of riots are the product of a new generation of Sharptons, ambitious activists feeding hate, of the New Black Panther Party’s obsession with becoming relevant, of the ragged hipster ends of Occupy Wall Street drifting from occupation to occupation, of radical white lefties and groups like Black Lives Matter that exist to suck up funding and sympathy from their white lefty allies.

    It’s an old and cynical game that has been played in and around the Democratic Party for too long.

    The answers to the rioting can’t be found in its streets. The problem didn’t come from there. It came from a corrupt political establishment that lights the fuse for its own power and profit.

  • India's Electricity Generation Plunges As Worst Economic Downturn In Decades Unfolds 
    India’s Electricity Generation Plunges As Worst Economic Downturn In Decades Unfolds 

    Tyler Durden

    Mon, 06/01/2020 – 19:50

    India has announced plans to ease a strict national lockdown even as the spread of COVID-19 shows no signs of abating. Restaurants, hotels, malls, and places of worship could reopen in the near term. Despite reopening plans, India’s economy is rapidly deteriorating, which has led to a significant decline in electricity generation. 

    Even before the two-month lockdown, India’s economy was decelerating and now faces the worst recession in four decades. The country’s economy could contract by at least 5% this fiscal year.  

    Economic paralysis has led to a collapse in electricity generation across the country, plunging 14.3% in May, compared with a 24% decline in April, a new Reuters analysis of government data showed. 

    The report said electricity demand was higher among households, as consumption among industries and commercial places was still widely depressed. Factories account for 50% of India’s annual electricity demand, which suggests operating capacity is still low.

    India’s economic downturn will result in a decline in the country’s electricity demand for the next several years. Global rating and research agency CRISIL recently said it could take upwards of three years for the economy to get back to growth activity seen in 2019. This means India will not see a V-shaped economic recovery, but rather one that is more of a U or L-shaped. 

    CRISIL believes India’s economy will suffer a 10% permanent loss to real GDP thanks to the pandemic-induced downturn. 

    India will need fiscal support from the government this year to counter the recession. If policy support is limited, it means the downturn will increasingly get worse in the back half of 2020. 

    Here’s what a recent UBS note said about India’s troubling situation:  

    “While there is no doubt that India is facing a significant economic shock, the pace of recovery, if any, will be determined by the economic policy choices taken to ensure that the significant secondary impacts (job losses, reduced income levels, corporate defaults, rising NPLs (non-performing loans), rating downgrade, etc.,) can be contained,” UBS said in a report.

    A few months before the virus outbreak spread across the world, we noted in late 2019 that India’s economy was collapsing in a piece titled “India In “Very Deep Crisis,” Witnessing “Death Of Demand,” Warns Former Indian FM.” 

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    It just so happens that the global economy was slowing before the pandemic began — which has allowed governments and central banks to scapegoat the virus and deflect any attention from their failed policies to boost economic growth. 

     

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