Category Destruction of Power Distribution System the Grid

Jul 30 2022

Fed Preferred Inflation Index Jumps 6.8% in June, Largest Increase in Four Decades


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on July 29, 2022 | Sundance 

The federal reserve looks carefully at the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index when weighting inflation data.  The Bureau of Economic Analysis just released the PCE index for June [DATA HERE] and the results show a 6.8% increase in June from a year ago, the largest jump in four decades.

Wage growth in the second quarter (April, May, June) was generally strong, rising 1.6%.  However, it now looks like the consumption index and the wage indexes are creating their own inflationary spiral.  In addition to supply-side inflation, driven by Joe Biden’s energy costs, the labor costs are now increasing substantially which adds costs on the production side of the economy.

As wages go up to keep pace with supply side inflation, the prices of goods and services produced/handled by those workers also increases.  This is the inflation spiral that can get out of hand quickly.  The major concern (not necessarily expressed by pundits) is the inability of any institutional economic response to offset the originating inflation caused by the energy policy.  The economic team is pretending supply-side inflation created by energy policy doesn’t exist. They are only directing attention to demand side inflation.

As long as energy policy keeps driving the price of electricity, gasoline and petroleum products higher, workers need higher wages.  Those wage increases, while significant in scale, still lag the rising originating prices of the goods; and the wage growth adds to the final costs. Inflation then becomes structurally embedded, hyper-inflation begins.  This looks like the current situation.

The monetary policy makers (fed reserve) can only impact the demand side of the inflationary cycle.  Raising interest rates does reduce demand; however, it also reduces labor at the same time.   Monetary policy cannot impact the originating source of inflation that starts this spiral.  The core issue is Joe Biden’s Green New Deal energy agenda.

WASHINGTON – […] An inflation gauge closely tracked by the Fed jumped 6.8% in June from a year ago, the government said Friday, the biggest such jump in four decades. Much of the increase was driven by energy and food.

On a month-to-month basis, too, prices surged 1% in June, the biggest such rise since 2005. Even excluding the volatile food and energy categories, prices climbed 0.6% from May to June.

Employees’ wages, excluding government workers, jumped 1.6% in the April-June quarter, matching a record high reached last fall. Higher wages tend to fuel inflation if companies pass their higher labor costs on to their customers, as they often do.

Friday’s figures underscored the persistence of the inflation that is eroding Americans’ purchasing power, dimming their confidence in the economy and threatening Democrats in Congress in the run-up to the November midterm elections.

But more persistent drivers of inflation show little, if any, evidence of slowing. The wage data released Friday — a measure known as the employment cost index — indicated that paychecks were still growing at a robust pace. That’s good for workers, but it could raise concerns at the Fed about its effect on prices. Chair Jerome Powell specifically cited this measure during a news conference Wednesday as a source of concern for the the central bank’s policymakers.

“This is a (report) that’s going to keep Fed officials up at night,” said Omair Sharif, president of Inflation Insights. (read more)

Jul 30 2022

The Biggest Problem


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on July 29, 2022 | Sundance

People often wonder why few solutions are presented for the significant challenges we face.  Perhaps it is worth reminding everyone what the biggest challenge really is, and it has nothing to do with Joe Biden or our political system abusers.

The biggest problem we face as a nation is our unwillingness to admit our current condition is the result of purposeful action.

Cue example # [you_fill_in_the_ blank], a visual demonstration:

The central banks did not “fail to spot” the source of inflation.  The monetary policy makers did not make mistakes. The hands that guide the economic system did not screw it up, make mistakes or fail to recognize the consequences of the policy they put into place.

When they meet together at Davos for collective discussions around opportunities presented by the pandemic, the guidebook known as Build Back Better did not just organically materialize.  Nor did all the western governing central bankers all make a mistake when they followed the agreed consensus.  They knew from the outset the climate change agenda would be a radical transformation of the global energy system, and as a result, the global economy.

The central banks did not collectively “fail to spot” the inflation they were creating by lowering energy production, disincentivizing energy investment, limiting energy development, shifting policy away from new production, and generally breaking the traditional energy system finances.  They knew precisely what they were doing, and they did it -and continue to do it- with forethought and purpose.

This is where people mistakenly view ‘prior justifications‘ as ‘mistakes.’  When they said inflation was transitory, they were not lying about what they created. They were, however, obfuscating the length of the term “transitory.”   Inflation is transitory, from where and when it started in 2021, all the way to where and when windmills, solar panels and clean energy will take over on (fill_in_date_).  That is the “transition.”

These bankers, bureaucrats and political leaders are not stupid, and factually their intelligence has absolutely nothing to do with the situation.

These governing officials are ideologues, the worst kind of abuser you could ever encounter because they believe they are doing everything for your own good.  Their collective truth is all that matters.

You the citizens within the nations they govern, are not smart enough to know what is best for you.

You, the people who take their magnanimous policies for granted, are not thoughtful enough to understand how to save the planet.

You, the person using resources without caring about the planet, are not bright enough to see how your long-term interests are made better by their short-term actions.

These psychological outlooks are inherent traits of ideologues and abusers.

Once you realize your opinion in their plan means nothing, then you can understand why actions contrast against your opinion of that action are difficult to reconcile.

The actions of the ideologues seem hypocritical only because you are projecting a motive toward them, they do not carry.  You think they are making mistakes; they are not.  You think they made the wrong assumptions in their policies, they did not.  You think they are screwing up the economy, they are not; at least not according to the plan they have.

They met, discussed, planned, organized and collectively came to the decision that they would all act in synergy.  Each individual taking the actions within his/her sphere of influence that would assist the larger agenda.  Each government leader steering his/her internal policy in a direction that befits the larger collective need, regardless of domestic opinion.  None of this was done by mistake.

The western central bankers all show up to the same conferences, symposiums and discussions; and they all follow the exact same approach.  Yet somehow, we reconcile their collective and intentional outcomes as if they are making mistakes that they will soon correct.  Then we sit puzzling over our puzzlers wondering why the correction is not happening.

The biggest problem we face is our inability to accept what is done, and instead we project justifications that are nonexistent.  We are suffering from battered citizen syndrome.

We reconcile our economic collapse by saying they are getting the policies wrong.  No.

Just stop.

They are executing the policies exactly as they were planned from the outset. Your financial abuse is a feature, not a flaw, of your abusers’ behavior.  The policies are working exactly as intended.

The Central Banks did not “fail to spot” anything. They knew what was causing inflation (energy policy) and they needed to ignore it (still do). They pretend higher costs are now some weird demand-side construct, despite no one buying much, in order to support the global Build Back Better climate change policy objective that will save future generations of mankind.  The operational timeline is decades, not weeks or months.

The word “transitory” was used purposefully, in order to hide and obfuscate their prior knowledge. The bankers knew when they said it, that a transition was exactly what the BBB program called for, which was to delay any monetary rate increase as long as possible allowing energy policy inflation to structurally embed.

Once the bankers, ideologues, globalist WEF guides and bureaucrats, got the fully supported climate change energy program (BBB) to take hold globally as an economic control mechanism (no new production), then -and only then- did they modify their policy to support the second phase.

Phase-2 is to reduce global economic activity to match the 2021 deficit in energy production. That phase began in March 2022:

We are in phase 2 now.  The U.S. Federal Reserve and the various central banks now raising interest rates to lower all western economic activity.

The goal in phase-2 is to lower energy demand to offset the massive increases in price, due to *nonproduction* of the energy in phase-1.

Put simply, bring energy use down by raising rates and lowering the economic activity.

This “managing the transition” is being done purposefully and collectively. This is exactly what the Build Back Better agenda called for. They did not get anything wrong. They did not make mistakes. Our current economic state, and/or the pain you feel, is the exact outcome of the plan they followed.

Now, I fully understand why the Wall Street financial pundits and global news corporations do not outline this reality.  After all, this type of elitist behavior is exactly what revolutions are born from. However, it is very frustrating that smart people on the pragmatic and practical side cannot see or accept the political roadmap for what it is.

This is being done on purpose. They are not making mistakes.

I don’t care what you want to call it: Build Back Better, Green New Deal, The Great Reset, whatever.  I simply don’t care about the labels. But the truth of a coordinated approach to manage the western economies into useful decline must be admitted *BEFORE* we can expect to change things.

As long as our codependency facilitates our abuse…. As long as denial of intent is a comforting mechanism, allowing us to avoid confronting the abuse we are suffering…. No corrective action is possible.

It starts by changing our thinking.

Brazil, Mexico, and more recently Japan, have started pushing back against the climate change ideologues.  We must do the same.

Act, or be acted upon.

Jul 30 2022

U.S. Postal Service Opens Permanent Political Division, Dedicated to the Delivery and Return of Mail-in Election Ballots, DNC Lawyer Mark Elias is Very Happy


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on July 29, 2022 | Sundance 

With mail-in ballots becoming a feature of all future elections, the United States government, specifically the United States Postal Service (USPS) is now creating a permanent division inside USPS to control the delivery and return of the election ballots.  Do you know the political affiliation of your mail courier?

As often said, it’s not the vote that matters, it’s the counting…. or in this instance, the collection of the votes that really matters.  Democrat lawyer Mark Elias, in charge of protecting all fraudulent voting initiatives on behalf of the Democrat National Committee, is happy with the news.

Keep in mind the union representing 300,000 U.S. postal workers previously endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for president. The National Association of Letter Carriers, is a fully compromised left-wing division of the USPS.

The USPS has just created a division of NALC employees exclusively to handle mail-in voting, just in time for the mid-term election.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States Postal Service is creating a division to handle election mail issues as part of an effort to ensure swift and secure delivery of ballots for the 2022 midterm election, officials said Wednesday.

The idea behind the creation of the Election and Government Mail Services is to have a permanent division dedicated to dealing with election matters, instead of handling issues one at a time as in the past.

Adrienne Marshall, executive director of the division, said Wednesday that the services will oversee “election mail strike teams” in every local and district community to address any problems that might arise.  “We are fully committed to the secure and timely delivery of the nation’s election mail,” she said. (read more)

“Swift and secure delivery”?

“I told ya,… and they spent all that time looking at mules and machines”…

Jul 30 2022

Tucker Carlson Outlines the Great Pretending Around the Biden Economic Policy


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on July 29, 2022 | Sundance 

Tucker Carlson used his monologue tonight to outline how intentional Joe Biden economic policies are destroying the lifestyle of the average American citizen.  As Carlson notes none of this is accidental, all of these policies are being done with intent. Yet almost the entire media system and financial class, are denying the resulting outcomes.

The administration and media are not redefining a recession, they are denying one exists in order to make all of the policies permanent. WATCH:

Jul 30 2022

Shrinking the Economy is a Feature, Not a Flaw – Massive Layoffs and Unemployment Likely Hits in September


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on July 29, 2022 | Sundance 

The distance between Wall Street and Main Street has never been as brutally obvious as it is today.  It is simply stunning to watch the cheerleading and casual nature of the economic and financial pundits as they speak esoterically about how policies intended to reduce the U.S. economy are so wonderful.

Seriously, the disconnect in life impact has never been as stark.  At least in previous times of economic contraction there was a smidgen of appreciation for the pain that unemployment and rising costs bring to the blue collar and middle-income working class.  In this new era, the financial stress and visible outcomes of destroyed families are simply shrugged aside as if these are abstract consequences.

In this segment former Federal Reserve vice-chair Randal Quarles, notes with a casual flippance how the economic policies of the Biden administration are simply doing what needs to be done in order to intentionally reduce the U.S. economy.  Sure, massive unemployment, in direct correlation to the scale of the inflation that precedes it, is almost certain, but hey…. the economy must be collapsed if the Build Back Better, Green New Deal, agenda is to be fully implemented. WATCH:

Maybe this flippancy seems starker because those who consider themselves outside the collateral damage impact zone were not visible in prior generations.  Perhaps it is because modern technology and the information era allows us to see conversations that were previously only described in print newspapers and journals.  Whatever it is, the shameless disconnect between the unaffected rulers and the proles who have to live with the consequences are far more visible today than before.

Smiling while describing a future where working men are emasculated by their inability to support their families. Smiling and shrugging while explaining a landscape where moms are worried about how to feed their children, as the checkbook in the household creates a type of stress these ‘betters’ have likely never experienced, is almost psychotic in its detachment.

Desperation is not a good situation for any society.

Worse yet, laughing in the face of desperation leads to the type of outcomes that eventually hits the ‘betters.’

[ SOURCE ]

Jul 30 2022

Interview: The World According to Martin Armstrong


Armstrong economics Blog/Armstrong in the Media Re-Posted Jul 30, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Click here to listen to Martin Armstrong’s latest interview. 

By Kerry Lutz:

“We’re seeing oil price shocks, commodity booms and busts, and various factors that are threatening to de-throne the US dollar. Why is this happening, and what does this mean for the global economy? I have Martin Armstrong on the show to discuss this, and he explains the various changes that have occurred—such as sanctions in Russia and countries opting to not borrow in dollars—that put the dollar at risk. Not only is the dollar in danger in these conditions—this shift in currency use greatly affects the world economy. Tune in for more information.”

Jul 29 2022

First Major German City Turns Off Hot Water and Public Building Electricity to Save Gas


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on July 28, 2022 | Sundance 

Hanover, a city in the northwest of Germany, has become the first major metropolitan area to try and reduce the use of natural gas by removing hot water from public buildings.  The move comes as natural gas supplies from Russia are reduced to 20% of capacity.  Germany is attempting to fill up storage facilities of natural gas in order to survive the winter.

Germany, together with several European countries, are telling their citizens to expect large increases in their electricity bills as energy costs continue to skyrocket.

Germany does not have any LNG terminals to receive shipments of natural gas into ports, they are dependent on pipelines from Russia.  They are urgently trying to reduce the current amount of natural gas being consumed.

(Via Daily Mail) – […] Other desperate gas-saving measures include switching off public fountains and blacking out night-time lights on major buildings such as the town hall and museums. The city’s mayor, Belit Onay, spoke of an ‘imminent gas shortage’ that meant they had to reduce the city’s energy consumption by 15 per cent.

[…] There will also be a ban on portable air conditioners, heaters and radiators among the general populace as the average German begins to pay a price for standing up to the Russian dictator.

[…] Germany, like most of Europe, has been enjoying a hot summer which should soften the blow of the cold showers, but public officials are introducing the measures now in fear of what awaits them when the season turns.

Gazprom, the Russian state energy giant, has been giving European leaders sleepless nights by disrupting the flow of gas via its Nord Stream 1 pipe line.

They cut the flow to 40 per cent in June, citing maintenance issues, and this week they reduced the gas supply through the pipe to just 20 per cent.

These reductions, which EU energy chief Kadri Simson dismissed as ‘politically motivated’, have seen energy bills soar, governments struggle to fill gas storage facilities and energy-intensive heavy industries wondering if they can keep the factories running.

Russia denies that it is deliberately throttling supply to cause pain and instability in Europe, but few doubt that it is a deliberate ploy to punish what it calls ‘unfriendly countries.’

In response, European Union countries agreed to a controversial, bloc-wide 15 per cent reduction in gas usage on Tuesday that is hoped will reduce the pressure on European countries most vulnerable to Russian energy blackmail. (read more)

Jul 29 2022

To Lower Natural Gas Use World’s Largest Chemical Company Announces Making Less Ammonia, Fertilizer Production Will Shrink Further


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on July 28, 2022 | Sundance 

The energy crisis in Germany is now a confluence of terrible events that will snowball well into next year.

The world’s largest chemical company, BASF, has announced they will cut down the production of ammonia in order to use less natural gas.

In the short term this will help Germany build up natural gas supplies to survive a cold winter with predicted rationing still planned.  However, in the long term the shortage of ammonia means less fertilizer which will mean future shortages and increased costs for farmers; ultimately creating lower yields next year.

FRANKFURT, July 27 (Reuters) – Germany’s BASF (BASFn.DE), the world’s largest chemical company, is cutting ammonia production further due to soaring natural gas prices, it said on Wednesday, with potential ramifications from farming to fizzy drinks.

Germany’s biggest ammonia maker SKW Piesteritz and number four Ineos also said they could not rule out production cuts as the country grapples with disruption to Russian gas supplies.

Ammonia plays a key role in the manufacturing of fertiliser, engineering plastics and diesel exhaust fluid. Its production also yields high-purity carbon dioxide (CO2) as a byproduct, which is needed by the meat and fizzy drinks industries.

“We are reducing production at facilities that require large volumes of natural gas, such as ammonia plants,” BASF Chief Executive said in a media call after the release of quarterly results, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

[…] Unlike many European countries, Germany has no liquefied natural gas (LNG) port terminals to replace Russian pipeline gas. That means companies are under political and commercial pressure to reduce gas intensive activities if gas deliveries are cut further.

[…] Russia resumed pumping gas via its biggest pipeline to Europe, Nord Stream 1, on July 21 after a 10-day maintenance outage, but Gazprom (GAZP.MM) on Monday said supplies to Germany would drop to just 20% of capacity. (read more)

Like I told Olaf, food is so overrated…

Jul 29 2022

Secretary Yellen Reminds Good Citizens Their “Household Finances are Strong”, We are Experiencing Abundance and Not Being Happy is Disinformation


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on July 28, 2022 | Sundance

July 28, 2022 | Sundance | 134 Comments

Comrades, Secretary Janet Yellen reminds everyone how important it is to smile and support the policies of Dear Leader as they manage our overwhelming happiness through this period of exceptionally wonderful abundance.

The secretary reminds us that our “household finances are strong” and we have good employment to keep ourselves industrious and valuable on behalf of the state.  WATCH:

The beet and potato harvest will provide soup for everyone, but only if we continue to do our best.  All of the best comrade citizens are cheerful and happy.

.

“I’m told that’s what it looks like… but we just don’t see it”…

Jul 28 2022

The Power of Siberia


Armstrong Economics Blog/China Re-Posted Jul 28, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Sanctions strengthened Putin and caused “unfriendly nations” to form a closer alliance against the West. As the West suffers from an energy crisis with no solution in sight, Russia is benefitting from this in more ways than one. You may have heard of the China–Russia East-Route Natural Gas pipeline or the Yakutia–Khabarovsk–Vladivostok pipeline. Construction was approved in 2007, and in 2012, Putin ordered Gazprom to begin construction and renamed the project “Power of Siberia.” China and Russia signed a 30-year deal for $400 billion in 2014, and by December 2019, the pipeline was functional.

The mainstream media focuses on the failure of the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline at the hands of German politicians but forgets that Russia has alternative options for exporting fuel. Deliveries through the Power of Siberia have only reached $3.81 billion since December 2019, but China and Russia have plans to ramp up distribution. China received 16.5 billion cubic meters of gas from the pipeline in 2021. The deal has become so lucrative that Beijing and Moscow created a second pipeline – the Power of Siberia 2. This could double exports from Russia to China with a pipeline that would pass through Mongolia as well.

In the first six months of 2022, Gazprom exported 7.5 billion cubic meters of gas to China, marking a 63.4% uptick in volume. Prior to the invasion of Ukraine in early February, China and Russia agreed to ramp up distribution by 10 billion cubic meters. Reuters believes this could increase sales by $37.5 billion in the next 25 years, but this could increase given the high demand and low availability.

The West, namely Europe, needed Russian energy; Russia did not need Europe. President Biden admitted long ago that sanctions do not work, but in this instance, they completely backfired and have left the West with no leverage over Russian energy.