As we here at the Geller Report have reported for the past two years. One only has to look at countries that did not lockdown, ie Sweden, who fared better.
Still Democrats, in their relentless pursuit of American destruction, continue to threaten us with them.
According to a new study by Johns Hopkins University, the pandemic “lockdowns have had little to no public health effects,” and have “imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted.”
“While this meta-analysis concludes that lockdowns have had little to no public health effects, they have imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted,” the authors of the study reported.
They added, “In consequence, lockdown policies are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.”
Wow, you mean the “conspiracy theorists” were right?? No wonder social media giants, the media, and the government worked so hard to keep them quiet.
The authors are Jonas Herby, special advisor at Center for Political Studies in Copenhagen, Denmark; Lars Jonung, professor emeritus in economics at Lund University, Sweden; and Steve H. Hanke, a Professor of Applied Economics and Founder & Co-Director of The Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise.
The study, the authors said, was “designed to determine whether there is empirical evidence to support the belief that ‘lockdowns’ reduce COVID-19 mortality.” The authors defined lockdowns “as the imposition of at least one compulsory, non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI).”NPIs, they explained, “are any government mandate that directly restrict peoples’ possibilities, such as policies that limit internal movement, close schools and businesses, and ban international travel.”
The authors explained that “public health experts and politicians” have “embraced compulsory lockdowns” to address the coronavirus pandemic, and their study was to answer the question of other or not that has done more harm than good.
“To answer our question, we focused on studies that examine the actual impact of lockdowns on COVID-19 mortality rates based on registered cross-sectional mortality data and a counterfactual difference in-difference approach,” the authors said.
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Don’t be surprised if the states topping this new list start losing people to states that don’t take as much of their money.
ax season is in full swing, and many Americans are likely grimacing as they crunch the numbers and prepare to open up their wallets. But some more so than others, as the relative tax burden in the US varies vastly across different states. And now, a new analysis reveals which states will have the highest (and lowest) taxes in 2022.
The right-leaning, nonpartisan Tax Foundation just ran the numbers to rank the states based on their average combined state and local tax burden. This does not include the many federal taxes all Americans must pay regardless of state residency.
This ranking does not look solely at the absolute amount received in taxes by state and local governments. It also attempts to account for the true burden of taxes, given that sometimes the real cost of a state tax can be imposed on residents of other states. (For example, people who live in New Jersey but work in New York City also pay many New York taxes).
The Takeaway: Tax Competition
These differences in taxation levels are more than just a pleasant surprise for taxpayers in some states (and an ugly reality for taxpayers in others). With combined state and local tax burdens varying between nearly 16 percent in New York and just 4.6 percent in Alaska, there’s a big enough difference between the states to encourage tax competition.
What is tax competition?
It’s when “jurisdictional competition leads to better tax policy,” economist Dan Mitchell explains. “Simply stated, politicians are less greedy when they have to worry that the geese with the golden eggs can fly away.”
Americans can (and do) relocate when their local and state governments excessively raise taxes. This means states must always be on the watch against losing residents to lower-tax neighbors, a positive incentive structure that helps keep the growth of government in check and protect our wallets from greedy politicians.
So, don’t be surprised if the states topping this new list of high tax burdens start losing people to states that don’t take as much of their money.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-18 08:52:142022-04-18 08:52:14These 5 States Will Have Highest Tax Burdens in 2022, New Analysis Reveals
The Consumer Price Index today – a measure of how fast the dollar and everything denominated in dollars, including labor, lost its purchasing power – is a horror show, the likes of which the majority of Americans have never experienced in their lives. The reality on the ground is even worse for many people because CPI is slow to pick up the red-hot housing inflation as we’ll see in a moment, and because CPI structurally is skewed to represent the inflation felt by higher-income households, while lower-income households, as Fed governor Lael Brainard pointed out last week, face higher inflation and feel it much more.
The overall Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) spiked by 1.2% in March from February, and by 8.5% from a year ago, the worst since 1981, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics today.
But in 1981, the Fed was effectively cracking down on inflation with double-digit policy interest rates, and inflation was on the way down.
Now inflation is spiking, and the Fed is still repressing short-term interest rates to near 0%, and it still holds $8.9 trillion in assets on its balance sheet as a result of years of money printing, including $4.8 trillion that it printed over the past two years to repress long-term interest rates and to produce the biggest wealth disparity ever. And now we’re surprised by this spike in inflation?
There is no period in history that compares to this period, not even the 1970s because the Fed wasn’t printing money in the 1970s.
WHOOSH goes the Dollar’s Purchasing Power.
Consumer price inflation is not a sign of anything positive, but a sign of the loss of the purchasing power of the consumer’s dollar, including the purchasing power of labor. And it’s cumulative, month after month, year after year. In March, the purchasing power of $100 in January 2000 dropped to a new record low of $58.80, which explains why the mood of Americans has curdled:
Inflation in services is now spiking.
The CPI for services – which includes housing costs – jumped by 0.7% in March from February, the third jump in a row of this magnitude, and by 5.1% compared to March last year, the worst services inflation since 1991. Given how slow the CPI is in picking up the surging housing costs, this portion of the CPI will continue to get worse, even as prices of gasoline and used cars might come down some.
Inflation in housing costs.
The largest component in CPI is “shelter,” a basket of services that is designed to represent housing costs and accounts for 32.7% of total CPI. The largest components in this basket are “Rent of primary residence,” accounting for 7.3% of total CPI, and “Owner’s equivalent rent of residence,” accounting for 24.0% of total CPI.
“Rent of primary residence” jumped by 4.4% in March (red in the chart below). This tracks what tenants reported as their actual rent payments, including in rent-controlled apartments.
“Owner’s equivalent rent of residences” rose 4.5% (green line). This tracks the costs of homeownership as a service, based on what homeowners reported that their home would rent for.
Because both of these rent measures are lagging, they will continue to spike as they catch up, even if over the next 12 months housing inflation actually were to cool down a little. So these housing components that weigh much more heavily than used cars or gasoline are guaranteed to provide upward pressure on CPI well into 2023 (my discussion of this phenomenon).
Note that both measures are still well below the overall CPI and therefore are still holding down CPI, but less than before, and as they rise, they will hold down CPI even less.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00ThePricklyPear.orghttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngThePricklyPear.org2022-04-18 04:05:002022-04-18 04:05:00WHOOSH, Dollar’s Purchasing Power Goes to Heck as Services Inflation Takes Off, Food Spikes, Energy Explodes, But Used Cars Finally Stall
Blaming high inflation on corporate greed has become a favorite pastime of some prominent politicians. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has accused large corporations of driving inflation, a view that is out of sync with the data. More recently, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) joined the chorus. “Corporate greed is Tyson Foods raising the price of beef by 35 percent while its owner became $1.6 billion richer during the pandemic, its profits skyrocketed by 140 percent last quarter to $1.12 billion and its CEO got a 22 percent raise last year to $14 million,” Sanders tweeted, “It’s not inflation. It’s greed.”
If inflation is the result of greed, as Sanders claims, one should expect to see more inflation in more greedy countries and less inflation in less greedy countries. But that’s not the case.
The 2021 CAF (Charities Aid Foundation) World Giving Index ranks countries based on (1) the amount of help given to strangers, (2) money donated to charities, and (3) time volunteered to an organization. The higher the score, the higher the giving. To the extent that giving is (negatively) correlated with greed, one can use the CAF World Giving Index as a measure of how greedy a country is. The higher the score, the lower the greediness of the country.
The following figure plots the CAF World Giving Index score and inflation rate for 66 countries. There is no relationship between greed and inflation. And, to the extent that there is any relationship, it goes in the opposite direction than suggested by Senators Warren and Sanders: Greedy countries have slightly lower inflation rates.
Figure 1. Inflation and greed across countries, 2021
If the Warren-Sanders greed hypothesis were correct, one would observe a negative trend between inflation and the CAF World Giving Index with countries relatively close to the trend line. Instead, there is a slightly positive trend line, with countries located all over the place. Japan and Italy are greedier than the US, but they have significantly lower inflation rates. India and Thailand do not differ much from the US in terms of greediness, but both countries have lower rates of inflation than the US. Estonia and Pakistan, on the other hand, are greedier than the US and have higher rates of inflation. Needless to say, the correlation between inflation and the CAF World Giving Index offers no support for the Warren-Sanders greed hypothesis.
The lack of correlation between greed and inflation is not the only empirical problem for the Warren-Sanders view. The data also show that, at least relative to other countries, the US is not very greedy. Indeed, it is one of the most charitable countries in the world. In terms of greed, the US ranks 54th out of 66 countries. It has the 10th highest inflation rate.
Blaming big corporations for inflation no doubt serves the political interests of Sens. Warren and Sanders. But it is inconsistent with the available data. That is not surprising: It is inconsistent with standard monetary economics as well.
*****
This article was published by AIER, American Institute for Economic Research, and is reproduced with permission.
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President Biden thinks his real title is “Spender in Chief,” not Commander in Chief. He is always throwing our money around. It seems every answer he provides has him committing our money without any clear explanation of his authority. His recent failings have caused him to refocus his efforts on a new, but recurring subject – student loans.
Biden is not the only one who wants to spend wildly. He has gotten immense pressure from his party (particularly the Left). Now that the Build Back Better boondoggle has tanked, the Left and other Democrats feel compelled to spend money somehow. They want to relieve the debt from student loans, and they are using the pandemic as a front for their battle on the issue.
Student loan repayments have again been deferred until August 1, 2022, with no interest accruing during the deferred period. Biden had said the deferral to February 1, 2022, would be it, but that did not hold for long. This is the sixth time the repayments have been deferred during the pandemic with zero evidence that the people who owe the loans are not capable of repayment.
The drumbeat for relief rolls on. Katrina vanden Heuvel who writes for the Washington Post and is a darling of the Left wrote “But the move also raises the question: Why restart payments at all?” She states, “89 percent of borrowers reported they are not ‘financially secure’ enough to resume payments.” That is some new financial standard that has been created. Loans used to be based on whether someone had the financial capability to repay the loan, not their state of mind.
There is extensive duplicity being displayed by the people favoring loan relief.
While people argue to eliminate college loan debt, they likewise encourage people to attend college. They tell young adults how much more they are going to make than with only a high school degree. If you get a bachelor’s degree, it is estimated you will make on average 75% more over your lifetime — or roughly $1.2 million. Those with a master’s degree will earn an additional $400,000 above a bachelor’s degree and it gets even better for a Ph.D. who will earn $1.2 million more than a bachelor’s degree. Coming in at the top is a professional degree which will earn a stunning $1.9 million more over their careers than having a bachelor’s degree.
That begs the question: Why would we let any of these people off the hook for their student loans? It seems like people are making a conscious investment in their future. A lot are obtaining their degrees or advanced degrees with the idea they will make more money, and statistics prove that out.
My favorite Senator, Lizzie Warren, sponsored a resolution with Majority Leader Schumer and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass and Squad member) urging Biden to cancel up to $50,000 of student loan debt which supposedly would relieve 36 million people from their loans. This equates to $1.8 trillion. There is no mention of President Biden’s “authority” to cancel any student debt in the resolution. Once again Congress is shirking its own responsibility by not passing its own bill. Methinks the reason they sponsored the resolution is because they could not get a bill through Congress.
None of these proposals are accompanied by any procedures to change the accumulation of this debt in the future. As has been previously discussed in this column, colleges shovel these loans out to students with one concern – feeding the colleges’ coffers to pay the fat salaries of their overstuffed staff. There is no counseling by perhaps asking someone if it might be a bit nuts to get a master’s degree in sociology with no prospects for a job when you graduate that will allow you to repay the $150,000 you borrowed. There is no explanation that once you graduate from college with your $75,000 debt you will have to start making payments of $600 per month and how long it will take to pay off your debt. There is no mention of the fact that 40% of people with college degrees are working in positions that don’t require having a college degree.
There are three major objections to these proposals:
1. What about parents who went into debt to make sure their child doesn’t acquire these student loans? Or how about the many people who have paid back their student loans? Or the 70% of Americans who do not attend college who will be saddled with this debt.
2. These college graduates earn more than high school graduates. They made investments in their futures so why should they be relieved of their investment obligations?
3. If we relieve these debts if we piled that $1.8 trillion or more onto the national debt, what are we doing to stop the same situation from reoccurring ten years from now? We are doing nothing at present. We are not requiring these universities to be more financially responsible as evidenced by them loading up on average 45 staff for DEI. We are not requiring outside people to advise these students of the risks involved in taking on these loans.
This is a manufactured crisis to continue to feather the beds of a major constituency of the Left – university personnel. We are looking at relieving debts for people who by definition are the less needy of Americans. Relieving this debt will do nothing but put our national government in a bigger hole from which it cannot dig itself out. It is feathering the nest of special interest groups to get them to vote for Democrats for the remainder of their lifetimes. It is inherently un-American for someone to shift their debt onto the backs of other Americans when they are capable of repayment.
Call me when the problem has been fixed going forward by taming costs and properly educating borrowers by a disinterested third party. Until then this is the ultimate boondoggle.
And the ruling party’s number one concern is sexualizing your children.
Producer prices rose 11.2% from a year ago in March, the biggest gain on record
The producer price index, which measures prices paid by wholesalers, rose 1.4% in March and 11.2% from a year ago, both records for data going back to 2010.
Prices for final demand goods led with a 2.3% monthly rise, while services prices gained 0.9%.
Wednesday’s release comes the day after the BLS reported the consumer price index for March surged 8.5% over the past year.
The producer price index, which measures prices paid by wholesalers, rose 1.4% in March and 11.2% from a year ago, both records for data going back to 2010. Prices for final demand goods led with a 2.3% monthly rise, while services prices gained 0.9%.
Wednesday’s release comes the day after the BLS reported the consumer price index for March surged 8.5% over the past year.
Producer prices soar 11.2% from a year ago in March, hit new all-time high
The prices that goods and services producers receive rose in March at the fastest pace since records have been kept, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.
The producer price index, which measures the prices paid by wholesalers, increased 11.2% from a year ago, the most in a data series going back to November 2010. On a monthly basis, the gauge climbed 1.4%, above the 1.1% Dow Jones estimate and also a record.
Stripping out food, energy and trade services, so-called core PPI rose 0.9% on a monthly basis, nearly double the 0.5% estimate and the biggest monthly gain since January 2021. Core PPI increased 7% on a year-over-year basis.
PPI is considered a forward-looking inflation measure as it tracks prices in the pipeline for goods and services that eventually reach consumers.
Wednesday’s release comes the day after the BLS reported that the consumer price index for March surged 8.5% over the past year, above expectations and the highest reading since December 1981.
On the producer side, prices for final demand goods led with a 2.3% monthly rise, while services prices gained 0.9%, up sharply from the 0.3% February increase. Goods inflation has outstripped services during the Covid pandemic, but March’s numbers indicate that services are now catching up as consumer demand shifts.
Energy prices were the biggest gainer for the month, rising 5.7%, while food costs increased 2.4%.
EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.
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Critics frequently accuse markets and capitalism of making life worse for the poor. This refrain is certainly common in the halls of left-leaning academia as well as in broader intellectual circles. But like so many other criticisms of capitalism, this one ignores the very real, and very available, facts of history.
Nothing has done more to lift humanity out of poverty than the market economy. This claim is true whether we are looking at a time span of decades or of centuries. The number of people worldwide living on less than about two dollars per day today is less than half of what it was in 1990. The biggest gains in the fight against poverty have occurred in countries that have opened up their markets, such as China and India.
If we look over the longer historical period, we can see that the trends today are just the continuation of capitalism’s victories in beating back poverty. For most of human history, we lived in a world of a few haves and lots of have-nots. That slowly began to change with the advent of capitalism and the Industrial Revolution. As economic growth took off and spread throughout the population, it created our own world in the West in which there are a whole bunch of haves and a few have-more-and-betters.
For example, the percentage of American households below the poverty line who have basic appliances has grown steadily over the last few decades, with poor families in 2005 being more likely to own things like a clothes dryer, dishwasher, refrigerator, or air conditioner than the average household was in 1971. And consumer items that didn’t even exist back then, such as cell phones, were owned by half of poor households in 2005 and are owned by a substantial majority of them today.
Capitalism has also made poor people’s lives far better by reducing infant and child mortality rates, not to mention maternal death rates during childbirth, and by extending life expectancies by decades.
Consider, too, the way capitalism’s engine of growth has enabled the planet to sustain almost 7 billion people, compared to 1 billion in 1800. As Deirdre McCloskey has noted, if you multiply the gains in consumption to the average human by the gain in life expectancy worldwide by 7 (for 7 billion as compared to 1 billion people), humanity as a whole is better off by a factor of around 120. That’s not 120 percent better off, but 120 timesbetter off since 1800.
The competitive market process has also made education, art, and culture available to more and more people. Even the poorest of Americans, not to mention many of the global poor, have access through the Internet and TV to concerts, books, and works of art that were exclusively the province of the wealthy for centuries.
And in the wealthiest countries, the dynamics of capitalism have begun to change the very nature of work. Where once humans toiled for 14 hours per day at backbreaking outdoor labor, now an increasing number of us work inside in climate-controlled comfort. Our workday and workweek have shrunk thanks to the much higher value of labor that comes from working with productive capital. We spend a much smaller percentage of our lives working for pay, whether we’re rich or poor. And even with economic change, the incomes of the poor are much less variable, as they are not linked to the unpredictable changes in weather that are part and parcel of a predominantly agricultural economy long since disappeared.
Think of it this way: the fabulously wealthy kings of old had servants attending to their every need, but an impacted tooth would likely kill them. The poor in largely capitalist countries have access to a quality of medical care and a variety and quality of food that the ancient kings could only dream of.
Consider, too, that the working poor of London 100 years ago were, at best, able to split a pound of meat per week among all of their children, which were greater in number than the two or three of today. In addition, the whole family ate meat once a week on Sunday, the one day the man of the household was home for dinner. That was meat for a week.
Compare that to today, when we worry that poor Americans are too easily able to afford a meal with a quarter pound of meat in it every single day for less than an hour’s labor. Even if you think that capitalism has made poor people overweight, that’s a major accomplishment compared to the precapitalist norm of constant malnutrition and the struggle even 100 years ago for the working poor to get enough calories.
The reality is that the rich have always lived well historically, as for centuries they could commandeer human labor to attend to their every need. In a precapitalist world, the poor had no hope of upward mobility or of relief from the endless physical drudgery that barely kept them alive.
Today, the poor in capitalist countries live like kings, thanks mostly to the freeing of labor and the ability to accumulate capital that makes that labor more productive and enriches even the poorest. The falling cost of what were once luxuries and are now necessities, driven by the competitive market and its profit and loss signals, has brought labor-saving machines to the masses. When profit-seeking and innovation became acceptable behavior for the bourgeoisie, the horn of plenty brought forth its bounty, and even the poorest shared in that wealth.
Once people no longer needed permission to innovate, and once the value of new inventions was judged by the improvements they made to the lives of the masses in the form of profit and loss, the poor began to live lives of comfort and dignity.
These changes are not, as some would say, about technology. After all, the Soviets had great scientists but could not channel that knowledge into material comfort for their poor. And it’s not about natural resources, which is obvious today as resource-poor Hong Kong is among the richest countries in the world thanks to capitalism, while Venezuelan socialism has destroyed that resource-rich country.
Inventions only become innovations when the right institutions exist to make them improve the lives of the masses. That is what capitalism did and continues to do every single day. And that’s why capitalism has been so good for the poor.
Consider, finally, what happened when the Soviets decided to show the film version of The Grapes of Wrath as anticapitalist propaganda. In the novel and film, a poor American family is driven from their Depression-era home by the Dust Bowl. They get in their old car and make a horrifying journey in search of a better life in California. The Soviets had to stop showing the film after a short period because the Russian audiences were astonished that poor Americans were able to own a car.
Even anticapitalist propaganda can’t help but provide evidence that contradicts its own argument. The historical truth is clear: nothing has done more for the poor than capitalism. AUTHOR
Steven Horwitz is the Distinguished Professor of Free Enterprise in the Department of Economics at Ball State University, where he also is Director of the Institute for the Study of Political Economy. He is the author of Austrian Economics: An Introduction.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-14 01:51:502022-04-14 01:51:50Capitalism Is Good for the Poor
Dump your stock. Take the kids to Dollywood. Unsubscribe to Disney plus. These cretins are sexually grooming your kids. Protect the children. Do not support sexualizing children.
NEW: Disney corporate president Karey Burke, the “mother of two queer children,” says the company has been “targeting Gen Z and millennials” with LGBTQIA+ “inclusion” content. Her son told her that “Gen Z is 30-40% queerer” and that Disney “better get with it.” pic.twitter.com/CYYD7NqKZg
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) April 7, 2022
In recent weeks, Disney has been emerging as an increasingly vocal activist for the LGBTQ+ agenda.
Disney’s CEO Bob Chapek has argued that Disney is simply seeking more diversity because it is good for business.
In that light, Chapek apologized to the LGBTQ+ community “for not being the ally you needed me to be,” and pledged to be a better ally, in a new video that journalist Christopher Rufo tweeted.
Chapek said that he is working with the “LGBTQIA+ Advisory Council” to discern different suggestions about how to take action to help the LGBTQ+ community.
He added that “words are not enough so we are taking some actions now.”
“I want you to know that your words have made a real impact on me,” he said. “I understand that we have made mistakes, and the pain that those mistakes have caused.”
“I and the leadership team are determined to use this moment as a catalyst for meaningful and lasting change,” Chapek added.
Disney has continued to insist that there is a growing queerness in our culture that now must be catered to in entertainment.
Karey Burke, head of entertainment, said that her son had told her: “Gen-Z is 30-40 percent queerer than the other generations Mom, so Disney better get with it,” the Daily Mail reported.
NEW: Disney corporate president Karey Burke, the “mother of two queer children,” says the company has been “targeting Gen Z and millennials” with LGBTQIA+ “inclusion” content. Her son told her that “Gen Z is 30-40% queerer” and that Disney “better get with it.” pic.twitter.com/CYYD7NqKZg
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) April 7, 2022
Disney keeps pushing the envelope beyond just verbal support of the LGBTQ+ agenda, though, as Chapek said they would.
The entertainment giant also announced to its employees that they have a new benefits program that will allow employees and their families to access gender reassignment surgeries or hormone usage, the Post Millennial reported.
“The other big area is gender identity and expression. So doing all of this work to ensure that our employees and cast can express their gender here authentically and proudly at the company. So, you know, coming up with guides on how to change your photo information about pronouns, working with our benefits team to give information about gender affirmation procedures, both for our employees who are transitioning and trans, but also our employees who have kids who are transitioning,” a man explained in a video of a Disney internal meeting, that journalist Christopher Rufo then tweeted.
NEW: Disney has adopted a benefits program to assist employees and their minor children with “gender affirmation procedures.” This type of treatment typically includes puberty blockers, breast removal, and genital surgeries for “kids who are transitioning.” pic.twitter.com/a2zSSboe0S
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) April 7, 2022
Disney’s strong stance has come particularly to light after Florida passed the Parental Rights in Education bill (which critics inaccurately call the “Don’t Say Gay” bill). The bill prohibits Florida teachers from teaching about sexual orientation to children in kindergarten through third grade.
Disney blatantly declared that they opposed this bill and would try to overturn it, CNBC News reported.
Since then, Disney has grown bolder in its stance of allying with the LGBTQ+ community and more evidence has been published about just how the corporation is planning to do that.
Either through catering to LGBTQ+ employees, or featuring more trans and gay characters in its content, Disney is acting on its promise.
For instance, Disney, alongside three other media corporations, announced that it will air a new public service announcement from GLAAD that will feature a transgender teen and will call for nationwide support for LGBTQ+ youth, CNBC News reported.
Chapek was serious when he announced that Disney would be taking more action.
“By now, I hope you have all read my most recent note in which I pledged to be a better ally for the LGBTQ+ community; apologized for not being the ally you needed me to be; and committed to ensuring that our company lives up to its values,” Chapek said in the video. “I meant every word.”
A new report that ranks each state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed GOP-led states, including Florida, among the top performers, with Democrat-led states dominating the bottom of the list.
The Committee To Unleash Prosperity (CUP) has released the most comprehensive analysis to date on how states handled the COVID-19 crisis. These results have also been published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
“The Report Card on the States measures and compares state performance on three metrics: the economy, education, and mortality from the virus. It answers the question: how did states do in balancing the health of their citizens, allowing their economies to remain operational and keeping job losses low, and keeping their schools open so that school-aged children did not suffer long term educational setbacks,” the committee said in a statement provided to The Daily Wire.
“Each of these three metrics were equally weighted. The states that received an F grade were New Jersey, New York, California, Illinois and Washington, D.C. These states performed poorly on every measure. They had high age-adjusted death rates; they had high unemployment and significant GDP losses, and they kept their schools shutdown much longer than almost all other states,” it added. “The top performers were Utah, Nebraska, and Vermont with Montana and Florida right behind.”
A total of 18 states received a grade of A or B. Of the top-ranking 18 states, 16 are led by Republican governors. No Democrat-led states appeared in the top five.
The “biggest mistake” observed in the study was the long-term closing of businesses and schools.
“Shutting down their economies and schools was by far the biggest mistake governors and state officials made during Covid, particularly in blue states,” said CUP Co-Founder Stephen Moore. “We hope the results of this study will persuade governors not to close schools and businesses the next time we have a new virus variant.”
States with locked down economies averaged about two points higher in unemployment than states that did not engage in more severe lockdowns, according to the study.
Despite the emphasis on Florida’s openness versus California’s restrictions, the study showed that the adjusted death rates in the two states from COVID-19 were nearly the same.
The study also offered an important insight regarding states’ rights from the study, noting “one of the wisest policy decisions was to ultimately let the 50 states and their governors and legislators make their own pandemic response policies. Federalism worked.”
A concerning takeaway from the study regarded the relationship between unemployment and social problems. For example, for each one percentage point increase in the unemployment rate, there were 920 more suicides and 650 more homicides. Increases in mental health concerns, domestic violence, and homelessness were also associated with increased unemployment rates.
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https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-12 13:51:462022-04-12 13:51:46New Study Reveals Florida And Republican-Led States Dominate COVID-19 Best Responses; Democrat-Led States Rank Among Worst
The federal government’s latest inflation indicator showed that consumer prices skyrocketed 8.5% in March, the quickest uptick in four decades.
“We’re seeing strong inflation momentum across the board, both for goods and services,” Blerina Uruci, a U.S. economist at T. Rowe Price Group, told The Wall Street Journal.
“This is a direct result of Biden’s Federal Reserve being too preoccupied with ‘diversity,’ ‘equity,’ and ‘climate change’ while ignoring all the warning signs on inflation for more than a year,” said E.J. Antoni, a research fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis.
A key consumer price metric used by the government to measure inflation soared 8.5% over the last 12 months — the fastest pace of inflation since December 1981 — the Department of Labor (DOL) announced Tuesday.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 1.2% between February and March, the fastest month-over-month figure since 2005, according to the Labor Department report released Tuesday morning. Economists surveyed by the Dow Jones projected that CPI would increase 1.1% last month and 8.4% over the 12-month period ending in March, CNBC reported.
“We’re seeing strong inflation momentum across the board, both for goods and services,” Blerina Uruci, a U.S. economist at T. Rowe Price Group, told The Wall Street Journal.
The White House warned Monday that the CPI figures would be “extraordinarily elevated” ahead of the report, but blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin. Gasoline prices hit record highs in March after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which disrupted global energy markets dominated by Russian supplies.
“Because of the actions we’ve taken to address Putin — the Putin price hike, we are in a better place than we were last month,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at a press briefing. “But we expect March CPI headline inflation to be extraordinarily elevated due to Putin’s price hike.”
“We expect a large difference between core and headline inflation, reflecting the global disruptions in energy and food markets,” she added.
Prices at an Exxon gas station in Washington, D.C. are pictured in March. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
But core CPI, which measures prices of all goods excluding the historically-volatile energy and food categories, still rose 6.5% between April 2021 and March, the DOL said. While lower than the headline figure, the core inflation number reported Tuesday still represented its largest jump since August 1982.
Inflation has surged over the past several months: CPI surpassed the Federal Reserve’s 2% benchmark in May 2021 and has since precipitously climbed higher, according to federal data. Inflation increased a whopping 7.5% and 7.9% in January and February respectively, before Putin ever ordered troops to assault Ukraine.
Prices for new and used vehicles, rent, medical care, commodities and transportation costs like airline fares have all skyrocketed over the past year, the Tuesday report showed.
“As expected, inflation soared in March,” Joel Naroff, the chief economist of the Pennsylvania-based economic consulting firm Naroff Economics, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “But it wasn’t just energy, which continued to spike as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Food, clothing, medical care and transportation were all up sharply as well.”
While recent jobs reports have shown strong growth, Americans are more concerned about inflation when it comes to the economy, according to a CBS News poll released Monday. Just 31% of those surveyed said they approved of President Joe Biden’s handling of inflation.
Small business owners listed inflation as the biggest issue facing them, a survey released Tuesday by the National Federation of Independent Business showed.
Critics, meanwhile, have accused the Federal Reserve of failing to properly act as prices have shot up across sectors over the last 12 months. Fed officials have turned their focus too much toward social justice issues instead of monetary policy, a recent Independent Institute report concluded.
“This is a direct result of Biden’s Federal Reserve being too preoccupied with ‘diversity,’ ‘equity,’ and ‘climate change’ while ignoring all the warning signs on inflation for more than a year,” E.J. Antoni, a research fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis, told the DCNF. “The Fed is laughably behind the curve and people are demonstrably poorer because of it.”
Prior to the report Tuesday, Antoni predicted the 12-month figure to reach 8.3% and the month-over-month number to surpass 1.0%. He added that, under his projections, real wages would be down over 4.0% since Biden took office in January 2021.
Republicans on the Senate Banking Committee have repeatedlyslammed the Federal Reserve for its persistent push to address climate change in recent months. The lawmakers said the Fed is increasingly focusing on areas outside of its congressional mandate.
White House wants to blame inflation on the Russia-Ukraine war in Eastern Europe but the US itself went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan and more and we didn’t see inflation like this from it
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-12 13:51:452022-04-12 13:51:45Inflation Under Biden Reaches Staggering New Heights
Forecasting the economy is always difficult, but the number of external and internal variables associated with this business cycle is unusually complex. Forces of recovery from lockdown and gigantic fiscal and monetary stimulation are colliding with record-high debt, overvaluation in many markets, and severe inflationary pressures that must be dealt with. If that is not enough, now we get to mix in war and a serious oil and food price shock.
The odds of recession seem to be growing. We will be very lucky if we can avoid one.
Among the difficulties are the government’s astounding mistakes concerning the Covid policy. While some latitude must be given to the novel nature of the Coronavirus, the government went overboard and basically shut down production with its “stay at home orders” and other restrictions, while at the same time bulling up demand by running huge deficits and handing out money to the public. That decrease in supply and increase in demand is partially responsible for record-high deficits and price inflation.
Apparently, our leaders thought something as complex as the international economy could be turned on and off like a light switch. It obviously has proved to be much more complex than that.
Another government agency, the Federal Reserve Board which feigns independence, deliberately advertised its desire to increase inflation, kept interest rates too low for too long, and kept injecting reserves into the banking system through continual “quantitative easing.” Never in centuries of financial history have interest rates been kept so low, for so long.
This combination of excessive monetary and fiscal policy created massive inflation first in asset prices. It has pushed stocks, bonds, and real estate into record territory. There is significant evidence that the Federal Reserve deliberately set about to elevate asset prices, claiming that a “wealth effect” would prove positive for the economy.
But the wealth effect largely benefited the ultra-wealthy that owned assets and makes large donations to political parties. For working people, homes are now too expensive for many to purchase, and even rent for apartments in most major cities now exceeds the normal rule of thumb of not exceeding one-third of income. Housing costs are squeezing the middle class.
Equity prices too have become quite elevated. The Cyclically Adjusted Price to Earnings ratio (the so-called CAPE ratio) is just one measure among many that indicates high equity prices. The average CAPE ratio for example over the past 10 years is about 17, while the market at the most recent peak was above 37. This would require a drop of more than 50% just to return to the mean average. And during bear markets, there is always a tendency to overshoot to the downside.
Markets that have been elevated by ultra-loose monetary and fiscal policy, tend to weaken and create a “reverse wealth effect” when they decline. While timing such moves is extremely difficult, it would seem reasonable that markets that have been stimulated to high levels by cheap money run the risk of retreating when then cheap money policies are reversed.
With Republicans likely to take the mid-term elections, fiscal policy will hopefully become saner, and Federal spending decline. And the Federal Reserve has vowed to fight the inflation they helped set loose on the country by raising interest rates. So, it would seem easy money policies will be reversed, at least for a while.
Equity markets have held up better. True, some smaller cap indices and foreign markets have fallen more than 20%, but the large-cap indices have not, and hence have had a “correction”, but nothing yet too traumatizing.
Thrown into this mix we must add very high energy costs. It is just not their nominal level; it is the record speed prices rose to these levels. This is taking money away from other purchases. Compounding that problem is the Biden Administration has openly declared war on American energy producers, all the while begging for more oil from dictators and enemies in Venezuela and Iran.
While Putin built up for months his army on the border of Ukraine, the West seemed quite surprised when the invasion took place. Europe seemed astounded to learn their “green” policies left them hostage to a thug like Putin.
But along came another surprise. Both Ukraine and Russia produce a lot of food, especially grain, and the invasion clearly will disrupt both trade in food and the normal planting season.
The spike in energy hits food producers outside of the conflict area. American farmers are reporting difficulties with record-high fertilizer costs, energy costs, and equipment shortages due to continued supply chain and labor issues. This will be equally true of farmers in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Australia.
Food prices will put added pressure on hard-pressed consumers and likely will create social and political turmoil in poorer regions of the world. Once again, it is not just the high prices, it is the speed that prices got to this level. Such rapid moves tend to shock the consumer and hence the economy since consumer spending is 70% of GDP. Such rapid increases in food and fuel are beyond the capacity of most individuals or corporations to adapt.
While economies do have a cyclical nature (that is why it is called the business cycle), this particular cycle seems to have an abnormal amount of government interference written into it.
Just in the last two years, it was the government that shut down the economy, touched off inflation, held interest rates too low for too long, paid people not to work, and disrupted the labor markets.
It is the government that goes to war and it is government policy that is restricting the supply of energy due to their policy of a Green New Deal.
Record high housing costs, high fuel costs, high food costs, and overall inflation coupled with supply chain problems. All brought to you by your government!
All of these factors come together at a time when markets are abnormally elevated in price, and both government and private sectors are carrying huge amounts of debt.
Perhaps the Federal Reserve can raise rates high enough to kill off inflation, without harming the economy too much. This is the much-desired “soft landing.”
But that was argued before in the last two cycles (2000-2002) and (2007-2009) and the goal remained elusive. Particularly the last recession had the dangerous effect of creating a housing crisis, which in turn created a banking crisis, which lead to record bailouts of financial institutions and unprecedented monetary policy which remained in place far past the emergency period.
One of the most reliable indicators of recession has been the “inversion of the yield curve.” Normally, the longer you contract for money, the higher the interest rate. That only makes sense, since over time more bad things can happen such as default and inflation. Higher risk should create a higher interest rate. That would be a normal shape for the yield curve, i.e., longer rates are higher than shorter rates. But when short-term paper carries an interest rate higher than long-term paper, you have a major distortion in the credit markets.
In the chart above, when inversion occurs, the chart goes to zero or below. Notice inversions lead by a year or so, the onset of a recession, the gray vertical bar. The chart is interactive so you can peruse the last 40 years of history.
Very recently, the yield on short paper, the two-year Treasury bond, is about the same as it is on 10-year bonds. If short rates move above longer rates, this is the inversion of the yield curve. Such inversions have had an almost flawless record of preceding recessions.
There are some other indicators as well we can briefly touch on. The rate of change of money supply growth is starting to fall, consumer sentiment looks wobbly, real incomes have been falling for seven months, and Biden plans a massive tax increase. All these are negatives for the economy.
The probabilities grow not just for a slowdown, but a slow down with persistent price inflation. This is the dreaded “stagflation” of the miserable years of Jimmy Carter.
If indeed we do nose into recession, we hope citizens will remember all the governmental factors involved in this particular business cycle. This one the Left can’t blame on the “inherent contradictions” of capitalism.
Almost all of the factors mentioned stem from the failure of government policy or are the consequence of government manipulation and intervention which distorted values, debt levels, and market forces.
No, this recession will be caused by the inherent contradictions of socialist intervention.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00ThePricklyPear.orghttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngThePricklyPear.org2022-04-12 04:00:002022-04-12 04:00:00The Inherent Contradictions of Socialism
As gas and other energy prices continue to soar, Americans are desperate for relief. The question is, what does Congress plan to do about it?
Rep. Debbie Lesko, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has some answers on today’s edition of “The Daily Signal Podcast.”
Lesko, R-Ariz., pledges that if the GOP regains the majority in Congress, lawmakers will act swiftly to reduce gas prices and increase America’s energy independence.
“Republicans will introduce legislation to codify into law some of the rules and regulations that the Trump administration put forward … to reduce the time for permitting of new production facilities, reduce the time of permitting for new pipelines, and help Americans increase U.S. oil and gas production,” Lesko says.
“When Republicans come into control, we want to put America first,” she says.
Lesko discusses the Biden administration’s failure to manage gas prices, and what congressional Republicans see as the solutions.
We also cover these stories:
President Joe Biden extends a freeze on repaying federal student loans until Aug. 31.
The U.S. and over 30 allied nations impose a new round of sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
Oklahoma is set to institute an almost total ban on abortion.
Listen to the podcast below or read the lightly edited transcript.
Doug Blair: My guest today is Congresswoman Debbie Lesko, who represents Arizona’s 8th Congressional District and is a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Congresswoman, welcome to the show.
Rep. Debbie Lesko: Thank you for having me.
Blair: Now, we recently had a meeting from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce titled “Gouged at the Gas Station: Big Oil and America’s Pain at the Pump.” This was a meeting that was called by Democratic representatives and is seemingly placing all of the blame for the current gas crisis and energy crisis on big business and big oil. Is that an accurate representation of where these price hikes that we’re seeing are coming from?
Lesko: Well, it’s very clear to me that [President Joe] Biden and the Democrat policies are to blame for the high gas prices. I mean, just look at this chart and it shows that as soon as Biden and the Democrats took one-party Democrat control, the gas prices started soaring, and it wasn’t until later on that the war actually broke out.
So I know that Biden and the Democrats know that this is a No. 1 polling issue throughout the nation and so they want to deflect blame. They want to deflect blame onto the oil and gas industries. They have a constant war against oil and gas industries. And this hearing today is just another reflection of their war against U.S.-produced oil and gas.
Blair: As a representative in Congress, are you seeing that the Biden administration is trying to use Congress to get this solution solved or are they ignoring you entirely?
Lesko: No, the Democrats ignore us entirely. I mean, they have one-party control. They have since January of 2021. They have control of the House, control of the Senate, control of the presidency, and they’re basically doing whatever the heck they want, whether it’s on their open-border policies or now their war against American-made energy.
It shows and people are starting to wake up. They have woken up. They’re not buying Biden in the Democrats pointing blame to the oil and gas industry or pointing blame [at] the chicken farmers for a while for the high price of chicken, if I remember right.
I mean, they just want to deflect blame from them and come up with anything. It’s like throwing spaghetti at the wall. They’re like, “OK, let’s blame this group, let’s blame this group, so that maybe one of these will stick and the American people will actually buy it.”
Well, I don’t think the American people are buying it. And that’s why it’s always fun for me to see at the gas pumps in Arizona those little stickers like this one, it’s like, “I did that.” And they keep popping up and I think the gas stations take them down because you can see all the little sticker marks, but then people keep putting them up. I don’t know where all these stickers come from but it’s great fun to watch.
Blair: So in that vein, do you see the American people may be responding to this claim that it’s big oil or it’s big business that is causing these gas prices? Do you think that they’re responding with, “That’s just not true”?
Lesko: Well, I think it’s up to us commonsense Republicans to point out that it’s not true. And I think that’s why I had this chart, because at first, President Biden and the Democrats were blaming it totally on the war in Ukraine.
Now, that does have some price pressures to go up because after all, prices are based on supply and demand. And when we ban the imports of Russian oil into the United States, that will decrease the supply of oil and thus the prices will go up.
I find it very sad and embarrassing, quite frankly, that Biden reached out to the Saudi Arabian prince and [is] begging them basically to produce more oil and the prince wouldn’t even take his call.
And then he goes in March, and they go to talk to the Venezuelan president, which, this guy has all kinds of atrocities that he does against his people. And so now they’re apparently in some negotiations to say, “OK, we’re going to relieve you from some of the sanctions we placed on you, Venezuela, and in exchange for you producing more oil.”
So far OPEC has said no to President Biden and said, “We’re sticking with our contract that we made with Russia, and we’re only going to produce X amount of oil and gas.” And basically said, “We don’t care what you think, Biden.”
It’s really a sad state of affairs and shows the American people how quickly policies can change. Under the Trump administration, we were really energy-independent here in the United States and he promoted America first. Let’s produce more American gas and oil. Let’s free up the regulatory burden that we’re placing on U.S. companies so they can compete fairly with the world market.
And the Biden administration, as soon as he took office, did the exact opposite. He says one thing—it really frustrates me. At the State of the Union address, President Biden says, “Let’s buy American.” But he does the opposite.
In fact, their administration has an all-out war against oil and gas. And it’s not just that he stopped leasing of federal lands for new oil and gas production, but it’s the financial pressures he’s putting on businesses that want to produce new oil and gas with all of these restrictions.
Even the [Securities and Exchange Commission] has now more burdensome restrictions on all companies reporting their emissions and their supplier’s emissions and their supplier’s emissions. It’s so much burdensome regulatory that the financial markets and the capital people are like, “Wow, we don’t want to lend new oil and gas production, capital money, because the Biden administration is so against it.”
And so it’s from all angles that the Biden administration is trying to hurt oil and gas. And Biden’s answer is so out of step with the American public, saying, “Buy an electric car.”
I mean, first of all, an electric vehicle costs quite a bit of money. Now, I think electric vehicles are becoming more and more popular, but let’s face it, electric vehicles need a lot of critical minerals that are not made or mined in the United States because the Biden administration has closed down mining permits in the United States.
So now we’re going to have to be more reliant on China for the processing of lithium. China processes most of the lithium that we use in the United States for our lithium battery backups, for utility-scale solar, and for electric vehicles.
In Arizona, the Biden administration shut down a copper mine that the Trump administration had greenlighted. And that copper mine can produce 25% of all of the demand in the U.S.
So like I said, Biden says one thing, he does another thing. And I hope the American people don’t buy it.
Blair: There does seem to be this recurring pattern of failure of the Biden administration to deal with these issues. Now, we talked a little bit about how Republicans will need to be the commonsense people in the room to make sure that these gas prices go down. If Republicans are to gain back power, and if they are able to regain a majority in the House, what is the plan to give relief to Americans struggling from these gas prices right now?
Lesko: Well, we’re going to incentivize that there is U.S. production of oil and gas and that we again become energy-independent. We’re going to reduce the regulatory burden on producing new oil and gas. We’re going to reduce the permitting time it takes for new pipelines.
I mean, that’s another thing that Biden and the Democrats are against. They’re against pipelines. This is ridiculous. Of course Biden shut down the XL Keystone pipeline on Day One, I think, that he was the president. And so this even affects what the Democrats like, their renewable clean energy.
Let’s say it’s green hydrogen. How are you going to transport the new, clean green hydrogen to the places where it’s needed because they’re against the pipelines for transporting hydrogen? It makes no sense at all, their policies, and that’s what’s causing prices to go up.
Blair: We’ve heard that the president has been very open about his desire to use the sort of weight of the federal government to push for climate-friendly/climate change initiatives, including those pipelines that you mentioned, and a lot of these other natural gases and natural resources in America. Do Republicans in Congress have any plans on how to push back against this type of legislation that makes us less energy-independent?
Lesko: Well, Republicans are going to introduce legislation when and if we are back in the Republican majority. And so I think that we will put more leverage on the Biden administration, especially if both the House and the Senate go back to Republican majority. And then Biden will have to decide if he’s going to veto our bills or not.
I certainly hope we get back to a Republican majority because Republicans want America to be first. We do not want to rely on Russian oil. We do not want to rely on Venezuelan oil. We do not want to rely on Iranian oil. We want to be energy-independent.
Recently I was at a meeting and former Secretary [of State Mike] Pompeo spoke. And he talked about how just about every meeting he met with foreign countries, he negotiated using U.S. energy as a tool because other countries want U.S. energy. They need energy. And if we have enough to provide to them, that is an advantage for our economy, for our national security. But obviously, if we are now reliant on Russia for oil or Venezuela for oil, that puts us at a terrible national security risk.
Blair: We are seeing that there are massive differences between the Trump-based energy policies and the Biden-based energy policies. Where would you say that those differences are the most pronounced?
Lesko: The Biden administration has a war against oil and gas made in America. The Trump administration wanted more oil and gas to be produced in America because we want more Americans to have great jobs. We want to be energy-independent. We want to have the political power that comes along with that for national security, that we don’t have to rely on hostile adversaries for our oil and gas and energy needs.
Blair: Is there any particular Trump-era policies that you think would be particularly effective at dealing with this energy crisis right now? And does Congress have any plans, if the Republican majority is to come back, to reinstitute that legislatively?
Lesko: The Trump administration did a lot of great policies by reducing regulations on American businesses to produce oil and gas and other American businesses.
So I believe Republicans will introduce legislation to codify into law some of the rules and regulations that the Trump administration put forward when he was in office in order to reduce the time for permitting of new production facilities, reduce the time of permitting for new pipelines, and help Americans increase U.S. oil and gas production, U.S. energy production, and quite frankly, all things.
As I said, in Arizona, the Biden administration shut down a mine that could produce 25% of all of the copper consumed in the United States. Now, why they would do that is just beyond me.
Blair: Now, you did mention Arizona, and obviously, as a Western state, natural resources are something that you would rely on. How has the energy crisis impacted the citizens of Arizona?
Lesko: Wow. Arizona, and especially the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, are ranked the No. 1 inflation in the entire country. Ours is at 10.9% inflation rate, so almost 11% in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. This has a huge impact on everyday Americans.
Our gasoline prices, I think today we’re averaging $4.65 a gallon. That is higher than the national average. This affects the pocketbooks of everyone. I don’t care who you are. It affects your pocketbook and so you have less money to spend on other things.
And quite frankly, Biden and his administration and the Democrat policies have really tanked just about everything that’s going on in the United States. I mean, my husband went to the grocery store last week. He couldn’t find spaghetti on the shelves.
So first of all, the prices are higher for groceries, meat, for gasoline, for electricity prices, because we need air conditioners in Arizona in the summer months. And all of those prices have gone up.
And I have a huge constituency of senior citizens that live on fixed incomes. I have about 70,000 senior citizens that live in my district, at least 70,000, and these folks are limited on how much they can spend. And when their utility prices go up, when their gasoline prices go up, when their medicine prices go up, their health care costs go up, they often don’t know where to turn.
This is a serious impact. And quite frankly, politically, this is going to be a hard year for U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, between the inflation that’s going on in Arizona and the border crisis that’s going on in Arizona’s border and across the nation.
Blair: As we continue to see federal mismanagement of energy and of energy policy, are we seeing that your state has done anything to maybe mitigate some of the worst consequences of these gas prices?
Lesko: Well, we have a Republican governor and a Republican-led state Legislature, both in the Arizona House and the Senate. So we’re a pretty free market-type state. And so we promote free markets, less regulations. Gov. [Doug] Ducey, the Republican that on Day One that he became governor, he reduced government regulation at the state level.
So we’re doing what we can in Arizona. But when President Biden and the Democrats who are in control go against us and go against the Arizona citizens all the time, it’s hard to overcome. Their policies are ruining America.
Blair: Now, as we begin to wrap-up, is there a conservative solution that we can pursue to lower these gas prices while still being aware of the fact that we have a hostile administration who’s going to try and prevent conservative policies from being instituted?
Lesko: Yeah. If we get back the Republican majority in the House and the Senate, we’re going to introduce legislation that will incentivize new oil and gas production in America. We’ll incentivize new other energy sources in America. And we need to get control of our spending as well.
I mean, it’s one thing to help people that are in need, and it was important when government shut down businesses during the pandemic to help make sure that the workers kept their job, but now the Democrats want to spend more. They just keep on wanting to spend money. And that is going to really adversely affect not only are national debt, the amount of interest that we are paying, but our national security as well.
And so when Republicans come in control, we want to, again, put America first. Now, it depends kind of how much majority we have, and wouldn’t it be nice if we had 60 Republicans in the Senate? That would be great. But it depends on what the outcome is and what Republican majority we have. It’s going to be tough, quite frankly, with Biden in there. He’s gone so liberal. But hopefully, if Republicans control both the House and the Senate, we’ll have a bit more leverage with him.
Blair: That does occur to me as I mentioned, it will be difficult, obviously, with President Biden in the White House, who is not particularly conducive to these types of policies that we’re proposing. What are Republicans going to do if we keep seeing veto after veto after veto of these types of bills?
Lesko: Well, I think if President Biden vetoes every single bill that Republicans put forward, assuming we get back the majority in the House and the Senate, then I think it will lead to a Republican president in 2024.
Because the American people will see that we are trying to reverse some of the bad policies that Biden and the Democrats put forward, and we have to do it. We have to put forth the legislation, whether we think that President Biden is going to veto it or not, because we have to show to the American public that we are working for them and we are working for America.
And I think it would be a mistake for President Biden to thwart us repeatedly because then it will have an impact on the presidential election and I think it will help elect a Republican president.
Blair: Excellent. That was Congresswoman Debbie Lesko, who represents Arizona’s 8th Congressional District and is a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Congresswoman, thank you so much for your time.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00ThePricklyPear.orghttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngThePricklyPear.org2022-04-11 04:00:002022-04-11 04:00:00Rep. Debbie Lesko Reveals GOP Plan to Lower Gas Prices
If there is one thing we can expect from the Green Movement is that it will do its best to mislead the public with very clever public relations. But a lie is a lie, even if cleverly told.
This has manifested itself in two ways rather recently.
First, they continue to claim that “renewables” specifically wind turbines and solar, can replace quickly the energy output of coal and natural gas. A subset of that argument is that wind and solar are less impactful to the environment than oil and gas.
Neither of these assertions is true.
We urge you to view the adjacent video by Michael Shellenberger, an environmentalist who has come to see the contradictions and errors in Green policy.
Secondly, they claim that since the Russian-Ukrainian War has left especially Europe, and the rest of the world, short of energy, the only way to get energy “independence” is to double down on their Green agenda. But it was their Green policies that made the West so vulnerable and dependent on Russian oil and gas. Having succeeded in making Europe especially vulnerable, their solution is more windmills and solar panels.
The latter position explains the nonsensical response of the Biden Administration, which has done everything possible to suppress domestic oil and gas production while at the same time putting enormous funds towards wind and solar, some $555 Billion, in his so-called Build Back Better Plan.
Obviously, expanding U.S. oil and gas production is an alternative answer, and a good one. We benefit economically from the expansion, our citizens find employment, and our extraction of hydrocarbons is more efficient and cleaner than other sources outside of the U.S.
But Biden and the Greens are opposed to that, even as a short-term expedient.
It wasn’t the choice of consumers or utilities, but the European government’s top-down policy to shut down coal, oil, and nuclear, and then put total reliance on renewables. And because renewables are so expensive and unreliable, they then had to get the energy they need from Russia.
So, dependence was not a natural development but a byproduct of mostly German policy. France gets 70% of its electricity from nuclear power and is not nearly as vulnerable as Germany.
Given the evidence that Russian money is behind many of the environmental groups, it could be said dependence was not a byproduct of policy, but in fact the purpose of the policy.
Thus, the Green movement offers this twisted proposition: Our Green policies have made you dependent when you need not be, but the further adoption of our plans is the only road to energy independence! Heads we win, tails you lose.
The hidden losing proposition they have for us is they want to substitute energy dependence on Russia or Saudi Arabia ( because they won’t let us produce our own energy) and shift to solar, wind, and electric vehicles, so we can be dependent on China, Congo, and Peru for rare earth metals. This is a false choice. At least for the US, we need not be dependent. The Green policies make us dependent. Not long ago, we were a net exporter of oil and gas. Even Europe has considerable oil and gas production they could tap into. So the trade they propose, if solar and wind actually can be brought to scale, is to substitute mineral dependence for energy dependence.
Besides mineral dependence, there also is manufacturing dependence. Overwhelmingly, solar panels and windmills are made in China.
We have just seen how Russia is squeezing Europe over energy. Why would we want to become more dependent on China for the production of energy equipment and vital minerals? That seems beyond naive and into the realm of a national security death wish.
Biden joined the European Greens by shutting down a pipeline from Israeli gas fields that would have brought gas to Europe, and felt somehow the environment would find Russian gas more wonderful that Israeli gas. This is the same sort of thing we saw domestically: Biden shuts down U.S. production and goes begging for oil from Iran and Venezuela as if their hydrocarbons are “better” than ours for the environment.
Biden and California Democrats also have joined the European Greens by inflicting German-like policies in the United States. There is no reason why clean natural gas from Pennsylvania cannot be augmented by clean natural gas from adjacent New York. The US has lots of clean-burning gas. Expensive gas is purely a political decision by Democrats.
It is also obvious that green technology, even after years of subsidies, is not ready to take over the heavy lifting of energy production. Natural gas has to back up “renewables” because they are intermittent and storage of electricity is not yet feasible. If this transition to total renewables is even technically feasible, it is likely at least 30 to 40 years out. Yet the Green Movement insists there are no technical, environmental, or economic problems. For them, it is simply a lack of political will. With political will, they believe it can all be done NOW. That is simply impossible.
One sure sign of an environmentalist that tells you they simply are not serious about their dreams, is their opposition to nuclear power.
As Shellenberger shows, nuclear power is safe, reliable, and clean, and even with all the environmentalist’s lawsuits driving up costs, it is far cheaper. It has much less impact on the land and animals. And very importantly, we are not dependent on the Chinese.
The Greens also have a very narrow view of oil and gas. They see it only in terms of energy. All they can think about is closing down production, and driving up the price of hydrocarbons, to make their pet projects look better by comparison.
What they fail to notice are the second-order side effects. Two of these have become quite evident.
Greens don’t seem to understand that thousands of products from plastic, chemicals, and fertilizer are derived from oil and natural gas. Drive up the price of natural gas, and it not only makes windmills look more viable, but it also drives up the price of fertilizer, which drives up the price of food, which will kill millions in the third world.
It also heavily contributes to “cost-push” inflation, which causes interest rates to rise, and lowers the standard of living for everyone, especially the elderly on a fixed income, which in turn could induce severe economic recession and privation in both the developed world and less developed countries.
Thus, in order to make their pet projects look better in relative terms, they in essence are willing to literally starve people to death and cause millions to lose their jobs. We are already seeing food riots in Peru and Sri Lanka, and likely food turmoil is just starting.
Inflation and recession, coupled with food shortages, are a prescription for social and political turmoil.
Such turmoil could not only destroy the standard of living for many people, but it can also create social violence and a loss of personal freedom.
Covering massive amounts of land with windmills and solar panels itself has a significant environmental impact. And, a lot of energy is consumed to make these things.
As Shellenberger notes, we may be destroying the environment to save the climate, which fluctuates by itself anyway.
What kind of a dream is this?
Add up all the first and second-order problems with the Green agenda and you realize what a high price we will all pay for their unrealistic dreams.
Their dream is our nightmare.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00ThePricklyPear.orghttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngThePricklyPear.org2022-04-11 04:00:002022-04-11 04:00:00The Green Con Job on Energy Independence: Their Dream is Our Nightmare
CEO of Germany’s multinational BASF SE, the world’s largest chemical producer, has warned that curbing or cutting off energy imports from Russia would bring into doubt the continued existence of small and medium-sized energy companies, and further would likely spiral Germany into its most “catastrophic” economic crisis going back to the end of World War 2.
Company CEO Martin Brudermuller issued the words in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper just ahead of German officials by midweek giving an “early warning” to industries and the population of possible natural gas shortages, as Russia appears ready to firmly hold to Putin’s recent declaration that “unfriendly countries” must settle energy payments in rubles, related to the Ukraine crisis and resultant Western sanctions.
According to Bloomberg he mused that while “Germany could be independent of Russia gas in four to five years” it remains that “LNG imports cannot be increased quickly enough to replace all Russian gas flows in the short term.”
But in the meantime, Brudermuller described that “It’s not enough that we all turn down the heating by 2 degrees now” given that “Russia covers 55 percent of German natural gas consumption.” He emphasized that if Russian gas disappeared overnight, “many things would collapse here” – given that “we would have high levels of unemployment, and many companies would go bankrupt. This would lead to irreversible damage.” He continued:
“To put it bluntly: This could bring the German economy into its worst crisis since the end of the Second World War and destroy our prosperity. For many small and medium-sized companies in particular, it could mean the end. We can’t risk that!”
The dire warning of coming disaster in the event Russian gas is shut off came in response being questioned over whether it’s at all possible to abandon Russian energy.
Asserting that this issue is not “black and white” – and that the German economy stands on the brink of catastrophe,the BASF CEO said that if this standoff continues to escalate it will “open the eyes of many on both sides”…
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00ThePricklyPear.orghttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngThePricklyPear.org2022-04-11 03:50:002022-04-11 03:50:00German Chemical Giant Warns Of “Total Collapse” If Russian Gas Supply Cut
FOX Business host gives his take on the company’s reaction to the Parental Rights in Education Bill on ‘Making Money.’
Disney corporate President Karey Burke told company staff that Generation Z is “30-40% queerer” than previous generations, according to video of a company video call.
“As my son texted me this morning, Gen Z is 30-40% queerer than other generations,” Burke said on the video call, published by writer Christopher F. Rufo. “So Disney better get with it.”
“When I was at Freeform, it was very much in the brand ethos to be the tip of the spear when it comes to inclusion,” Burke explained earlier on the same call. Freeform is a cable television channel owned by the Disney corporation.
“In part, I think nobody stopped us because we were targeting Gen Z and millennials. We were targeting younger and more open-minded …,” Burke added before cutting herself off.
Burke said in another video that she would like to see at least 50% of Disney’s characters in the future identify as LGBT or as a racial minority.
The in-house videos of Disney pushing the progressive agenda come after some Disney employees walked off the job last week protesting a perceived lack of company opposition to a Florida bill that prohibits teachers from providing instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third-grade classrooms.
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https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-10 11:52:072022-04-10 11:52:07Disney Corporate President Karey Burke Says Next Generation ‘Queerer, so Disney better get with it.’
Remember when America was rich and free under Trump?
Oh how the mighty have fallen. We went from an economy of abundance to an economy of scarcity in little over a year. The Democrats couldn’t have done it harder or faster. How long before we are looking at Peru-style riots?
A national shortage of baby formula has forced US retailers such as Walgreens to ration the product
The company – the second-largest pharmacy chain in the US behind CVS – said it is limiting customers to three formula purchases at a time, at its 9,021 locations
A spokesperson said the shortage stems from an ‘increased demand and various supplier issues’
A recent study by Datasembly, a company that tracks retail records, revealed 29 percent of all top-selling formulas are out of stock at stores across the nation
Walgreens announced on Friday that it would limit customers to three infant and toddler formula purchases at a time as shortages for the product brought on primarily by COVID-era supply chain issues continue to worsen, the Daily Mail reported.
The outlet noted that the company is the second-largest drugstore chain in the United States behind CVS and has 9,021 locations in the country.
Along with COVID supply issues, the baby formula shortage was compounded after severe weather in the South created delivery disruptions for distributors. A recall of several Abbott formula products over a possible bacterial infection did not help either.
Nearly 30% of the top-selling baby formula products were out of stock in U.S. stores as of mid-March, up 11% from November, according to a data analysis of 11,000 stores by Datasembly.
The data company’s CEO, Ben Reich, told CBS News that the 11% jump was ”a shocking number that you don’t see for other categories.”
”We’ve been tracking it over time, and it’s going up dramatically. We see this category is being affected by economic conditions more dramatically than others,” Reich said.
Some specific states reported even worse numbers. In Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, North and South Dakota, Rhode Island, and Texas, over 40% of baby formula products were out of stock. In Minnesota, that number was above 50%, the Mail reported.
The Infant Nutrition Council of America recently updated its website to address concerns caused by the shortage of formula products, emphasizing steps the agency and producers are taking to tackle the issue.
”Manufacturers have increased production and are working with retailers and government agencies to help ensure availability and continued access to infant formula,” the page reads.
The council also pleads for parents to ”avoid unnecessary stockpiling” of baby formula products to ”help ensure all parents and caregivers can obtain the formula they need.”
Quick note: Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here. We will not waver. We will not tire. We will not falter, and we will not fail. Freedom will prevail.
Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here — it’s free and it’s critical NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America’s survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.
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https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-10 11:52:062022-04-10 11:52:06Walgreens Starts RATIONING Baby Formula as Shortage Worsens Under Democrat Regime
Biden’s energy policies are even worse than gunning acceleration of a car in stop-and-go traffic … more like trying to move forward with one foot jamming the gas pedal and the other simultaneously clamping down on the brake.
What you wind up with is lots of smoke, a burned-out engine, and a vehicle destined to go nowhere.
Take, for example, Joe’s recent offer to help self-inflicted energy-starved Europe replace Russia as its main natural gas supplier as he works to put American producers out of business.
The White House posted a joint March 25 statement by President Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: “We’re going to have to make sure the families in Europe can get through this winter and the next,” it said in announcing a deal to “provide 15 billion cubic meters of gas this year, though not all from the U.S.”
The statement added: “At the same time, this crisis also presents an opportunity” that will “drive the investments we need to double-down on our clean energy goals and accelerate progress toward our net-zero emissions future.”
So, according to plan, this is somehow magically to be accomplished by maintaining a regulatory environment in which U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports will only be permitted to the extent that they reduce overall greenhouse emissions — for instance, by running on “clean energy.”
Read that clean energy means their preferred intermittent wind and solar panaceas.
And by the regulatory environment, the Biden administration is referring to a very formidable army of die-hard climate crusaders who are dedicated to eliminating fossil energy in all forms.
As White House Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy clarified to attendees at a March American Council on Renewable Energy forum, U.S. climate policy “is not a fight about coal anymore. It is a challenge about natural gas and infrastructure investments because we don’t want to invest in things that are time-limited. Because we are time-limited.”
Herein lies one of the big obstacles to Joe Biden’s European LNG export bailout offer: a shortage of pipeline capacity due to permitting delays that discourage industry investment.
The time required to obtain federal Energy Department permitting can take four to five years for a pipeline that can be constructed in six to nine months. Since it can require decades to recoup the costs, McCarthy’s comment about “time limits” will lend no investor confidence to future such ventures.
Although the Energy Department scrambled to finally approve two LNG export permits that it had been sitting on for more than two years, Secretary Jennifer Granholm again made it clear that this was a temporary circumstance premised upon the Ukraine invasion.
Speaking on March 9 in Houston, Granholm said: “We are on a war footing — an emergency — and we have to responsibly increase short-term [oil and gas] supply where we can right now to stabilize the market and to minimize harm to American families. … And that means you producing more right now, where and if you can …”
Adding to this investment discouragement, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently voted 3-1 on a proposed rule requiring public companies to disclose climate risks attributed to greenhouse gas emissions generated both by their operations (e.g., refining oil) and from their energy consumption.
Republican SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, who voted against the proposal, warned that the rules will enrich “the climate-industrial complex” while hurting investors, the economy, and the SEC.
In November, the Labor Department also proposed a new rule that scraps and reverses a Trump administration proviso within the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) requiring retirement plan fiduciaries to act “solely in the interest” of participants and based upon a “material effect on the return and risk of an investment.”
Many LNG projects are stalled due to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) pipeline constraints. Encouragingly, FERC recently voted 3-2 to revise a gas pipeline and export terminal approval policy which added greenhouse gas emissions to its permission analyses premised on climate impacts.
Meanwhile, Europe is finally waking up to the fact that its dependency on Russian natural gas and oil for about half of its energy in the wake of the current Ukraine experience presents greater threat risks than climate change.
Germany, a dominant EU economic power that now depends on Russia for over half of its natural gas and a quarter of its oil imports, has sabotaged itself to become even more dependent on that imported gas by already shutting down three nuclear plants in December, with three more to be mothballed this year.
Recognizing Russia’s opportunity to weaponize Germany’s vulnerable dependency, President Donald Trump sanctioned the Nord Stream 2 trans-Baltic gas pipeline development, a policy that President Joe Biden reversed upon taking office.
The Trump administration, which had presided over an America that was not only energy independent, but also a leading global exporter, had pressed Germany to build LNG import terminals to diversify its gas supply, as Poland, the Netherlands and Lithuania have done.
All that has changed over slightly more than a year as the Biden White House and Democrat-controlled Congress have devolved U.S. energy prosperity to conditions of an energy pauper pathetically pleading with Russia, OPEC, Venezuela, and Iran for help to reduce painful fuel price and inflation consequences of their policies here at home ahead of 2022 midterm elections.
Recall that soon after taking office, Joe Biden revoked a permit essential for the Keystone XL pipeline to deliver oil from Canada, empowered his agencies to slow-walk others, and launched an effort to overturn an oil drilling program in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska.
Let’s also remember that U.S. gas prices began going up long before Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine recently provoked a bipartisan ban on Russian oil, gas, and coal imports, as did most all of America’s 40-year high of 7.9% inflation.
There should be an obvious message in all of this for Europe.
If it can’t continue to rely on Russia as a reliable energy supplier, then why would it imagine that it can count on America to make up any substantial difference so long as we have an administration headed by someone who campaigned on the pledge that “I guarantee you we’re going to end fossil fuels.”
Meanwhile as Joe, with one foot on the gas, the other on the brake — revving the engine and belching lots of smoke — America urgently awaits what may be described as a “MAGA tow truck,” driven by our 45th commander in chief; that vehicle that can’t possibly arrive soon enough.
*****
This article was published by CFACT, Committee for A Constructive Tomorrow and is reproduced with permission.
https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00ThePricklyPear.orghttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngThePricklyPear.org2022-04-10 03:55:002022-04-10 03:55:00Biden Pledges His U.S. Penalized Energy to Europe
Personal income rose 0.5 percent in February, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (see first chart). Personal income data over the past two years have been sharply distorted by lockdown policies which caused massive layoffs, and government stimulus programs that sent transfer payments skyrocketing. As distortions fade, personal income is returning to recent trend growth around 4.5 percent (see first chart).
Excluding personal transfer payments, personal income rose 0.7 percent in February and is up 9.0 percent over the latest 12-month period. It is also 2.2 percent above the 4.1 percent trend line (see first chart).
In real terms (adjusting for price changes), personal income excluding transfers rose 0.1 percent in February, leaving that measure up 2.5 percent for the year but 2.2 percent below the 2.5 percent trend line, and about equal to its September 2021 level (see first chart).
Weak growth for real personal income excluding transfers is a concern for the outlook for real consumer spending. Total personal consumption expenditures (PCE) rose 0.2 percent in February following a 2.7 percent jump in January. Among the components, durable goods fell 2.5 percent while nondurable-goods spending fell 0.1 percent but spending on services increased 0.9 percent for the month.
In real terms, PCE fell 0.4 percent as real durable goods spending fell 2.5 percent, real nondurable goods spending decreased 1.9 percent and real services spending rose 0.6 percent. Despite the fall, real PCE remains 1.8 percent above the 2.2 percent trend growth line (see second chart).
Personal savings rose 3.5 percent for February, but the level remains below the December 2019 level and about on par with the July 2019 level. The personal savings rate also ticked up in February, coming in at 6.3 percent of disposable income following rates of 6.1 in January and 8.4 in December, but it is below the December 2019 pre-pandemic rate of 7.3 percent and in line with December 2013 (see third chart).
The price indexes from the report on personal income and spending are the primary measures followed by the Federal Reserve. The total PCE price index increased 0.6 percent in February as durable-goods prices were flat, nondurable-goods prices increased 1.8 percent, and services prices increased 0.3 percent. The PCE price index excluding food and energy rose 0.4 percent for the month.
Over the past year, the PCE price index is up 6.4 percent, versus 6.0 percent in the prior month. The core PCE index, which excludes food and energy prices, is up 5.4 percent from a year ago. Both measures have been running well above 2 percent since April 2021.
Overall, ongoing disruptions to labor supply and production, shortages of materials, and logistics and transportation bottlenecks continue to exert upward pressure on prices. While cresting numbers of new Covid cases in late January and early February had the potential to support businesses’ efforts to improve supply chains and expand production, geopolitical turmoil surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine has had a dramatic impact on capital and commodity markets, launching a new wave of potential disruptions to businesses. For consumers, rapidly rising prices are hurting real incomes and fraying confidence in the outlook for personal finances, suggesting a threat to real spending. The outlook for the economy has become highly uncertain and extreme caution is warranted.
*****
This article was published by AIER, American Institute for Economic Research, and is reproduced with permission.
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While the Democrats and RINOs bray for WWIII, they fund the opposition axis of evil.
Exposed: The Russian Companies That Will Get Billions From New Iran Nuclear Deal
U.S.-government document shows Russia’s top state companies stand to cash in when sanctions drop
By: Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, April 8, 2022:
Several of Russia’s top state-controlled nuclear companies stand to gain billions of dollars in revenue as part of a new nuclear accord with Iran that will waive sanctions on these firms so that they can build up Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure, according to a U.S. government-authored document reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.
Russia’s state-controlled Rosatom energy firm and at least four of its major subsidiaries will receive sanctions waivers under a new accord so that they can complete nuclear projects in Iran worth more than $10 billion, according to the 2019 document, which details all the Russian entities involved in these projects.
The document’s authenticity was confirmed by a former senior U.S. official, who said it was used by the Trump administration during internal talks about potential sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program and its Russian enablers.
With a new nuclear accord being finalized, the Biden administration has repeatedly guaranteed Russia that it will not face sanctions for its work on Iranian nuclear sites, even as Moscow faces a barrage of international penalties for its unprovoked war in Ukraine. Already, the Biden administration renewed a series of sanctions waivers to permit Russia’s nuclear work in Iran as part of a package of concessions meant to entice both countries into signing a new accord. These waivers were rescinded by the Trump administration in 2020 as part of its “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran.
The removal of nuclear sanctions on Iran will hand Russia’s Rosatom a financial lifeline, even as the United States and European nations seek to isolate Moscow for its ongoing assault in Ukraine. Republicans and Democrats are sounding the alarm on these concessions, criticizing the Biden administration for undermining its own pressure campaign on Moscow to ensure that a nuclear deal is inked. Critics of the deal have in recent days seized on the carveouts for Russia following a series of Free Beacon reports outlining how sanctions relief would turn Iran into a “sanctions evasion hub” for Russian president Vladimir Putin.
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Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here — it’s free and it’s critical NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America’s survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.
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https://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.png00DrRichSwier.comhttps://libertyfirst.org/wp-content/uploads/logo_v6_225x110.pngDrRichSwier.com2022-04-09 22:52:232022-04-09 22:52:23Exposed: The Russian Companies That Will Get Billions From New Iran Nuclear Deal
Each week 2ndVote takes a look at popular companies that either score well or score poorly. We then provide alternatives that either better align with the 2ndVote values, or that should be avoided to the best of your ability. This weekly series is called The Company Contrast, and the company we will be focusing on this week is The Daily Wire (4.01).
The Daily Wire is an American conservative news outlet that’s based in Nashville, Tennessee. Ben Shapiro and Jeremy Boreing, in partnership with Caleb Robinson, launched the DW in 2015 with the original episodes of The Ben Shapiro Show and The Andrew Klavan Show. Since its inception, the company has seen huge success, largely in part due to the Ben Shapiro Show which is one of the most popular podcasts in the nation. At this time the DW boasts five hit shows and is even starting its own children’s tv network, DW Kids.
The Daily Wire scores a 4.01 with 2ndVote primarily due to their unwavering support of life, basic freedoms, and the 2nd Amendment. Additionally, in response to Disney’s policies on forcing the LGBT lifestyle on children, the CEO of the DW announced it will be starting a children’s tv network. The aim is to allow kids the opportunity to enjoy appropriate material for their age without being subjected to the twisted liberal left attacks on the traditional family structure. According to CEO Jeremy Boreing, the Daily Wire will commit $100 million to the kid-friendly network and already has two shows in production.
Unfortunately, every hero has a nemesis, and today that nemesis is Disney (1.55.) The Walt Disney Company is a leading international “family” entertainment and media enterprise with five business segments. Disney scores a 1.55 with 2ndVote due to their support for pro-abortion organization, their blatant disconcern for Christian values, attacks on the American right to bare arms, and support of sanctuary cities. What’s worse is that as the parent company to numerus mainstream brands such as Pixar, Marvel, and ESPN, it has the full attention of children around the world. While their innocent eyes are simply looking to them for cartoons or superheroes, Disney seems hell bent on exposing children to inappropriate content. As highlighted in last weeks “In the News” article, such actions include exposing kids to the sexual preferences of the gay community and sexualizing children’s characters. Don’t let Disney get away with its immoral action, stop supporting their services and let them know you are informed thanks to 2ndVote.
