Category Political Corruption

Jun 27 2022

Sunday Talks, World Bank President Discusses Global Solution to Inflation, Food Shortages – Western Government’s Need to Reverse Direction


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on June 26, 2022 | Sundance

World Bank President David Malpass appears on CBS with media propagandist Margaret Brennan, a woman of exceptionally low intelligence, to discuss the current state of global economics and the likely consequences.  I have been saying this for a year and I will repeat, the absence of food will change things.

Within the interview [Transcript Here] the status and solutions that Malpass outlines are accurate and factual, albeit couched in gentle terms acceptable to the globalists. As noted by Malpass, if a shift in messaging and actual policy for energy and finance does not take place, the outcome will be bad for food production and government stability.

The World Bank president accurately states increased production is urgently needed to avoid global shortages.  However, that increase in production is only possible if the leaders of the largest economies reverse their positions on energy development and finance.  The world needs oil and natural gas production to increase dramatically in order to stave off food shortages. Unfortunately, those pragmatic recommendations are falling on deaf political ears.  WATCH:

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: There are a lot of stressors on the global economic system right now, how do you describe where we are?

MALPASS: It’s a sharp slowdown, including even China. So we’ve seen the world growth fall by half since January in terms of GDP growth. But there’s also shortages, there’s inflation. And the food shortages for the poorer countries are becoming a significant concern, they already are.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I mean, global inflation, it’s not just the US it’s other wealthy countries around the world. But you’re also describing a recipe for global instability.

MALPASS: It feeds in when there’s not enough food that for- for weaker countries, poorer countries, that- that causes instability. And it’s a big factor in the turnover of governments that’s been occurring in quite a few of the countries. And then there also has to be much more discussion of what to do about the fiscal challenges that you know, running out of money for government as well as food. And so these all go together into fragility, very concerning.

MARGARET BRENNAN: COVID caused the deepest global recession since World War Two. Now, the world economy is in danger because of this Russian invasion in Ukraine. How do you avoid a global recession with all of these factors?

MALPASS: Some countries, it’s going to be very hard to do that. I think that leadership from the stronger countries is very important. There are a lot of possibilities, tools, for example, the- the central banks have many more tools than in 2008. You know, there were, there are regulatory tools that they have, they now hold huge bond portfolios, those could be- those are all funded by money from banks. So if there is reduction in the bond portfolios, that frees up capital that could be used for these supply chains that are so strained. The bottom line is there needs to be lots more production and that’s most available to the strongest countries. The U.S. is the world’s biggest economy and can increase production more than anybody else. And so that becomes one of the key variables in the outlook. What are you doing today, to increase production of everything, the world needs practically everything that the U.S. makes and there needs to be a process to really boost that production.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So if you were talking to Jerome Powell, that chair of the US Federal Reserve, you would say focus less on interest rates, focus more on what?

MALPASS: He’s got multiple tools. One is regulatory policy, the Fed is a sort of an important regulator of banks. So let the banks lend more. But then also on the bond side, reducing the bond portfolio would return more money to banks, all of the money being used to hold the bond portfolio comes from banks. And if they had more, they could lend and also the non-bank sector of the U.S. economy. That’s one of the most innovative, and it could put more money into the supply chain.

MARGARET BRENNAN: It’s interesting, you say that, the banks, I heard something from a U.S. official talking about that as an impediment to oil companies right now and President Biden’s calling on them to produce more energy. Is that a problem, that you see?

MALPASS: Big problem, and it’s really around the world markets look ahead, and they look at what the regulatory policy is going to be into the future. So if you’re an oil company, you hear the message from all around that, that the- the politicians don’t want your oil. And so- so then you- you drill less you put you make less of your R&D plans. You know, R&D is research and development is critical to the innovation in every sector. In developing countries, they aren’t producing energy either, because they’re constrained by bank regulations by the lack of financing.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But even at this meeting of the largest global, you know, Western economies at the G7, there’s going to be focus on sustainability, there’s going to be focus on climate change, the message there is switch away from fossil fuels. But then at the same time, you’re hearing Germany, build a coal burning once again, the United States urging oil and gas production once again, because of the crisis with Russia. So how do all these pieces fit together without impacting growth in a negative way?

MALPASS: There’s an inconsistency [in energy policy] and it’s a moment in time the world’s trying to reduce the dependence on Russia, and also on China. And it needs to keep markets open and not restrict exports and finance the new investments that’s needed, and there’s not clarity in Europe. You know, some of the countries want nuclear power, some want natural gas, and they’re talking about importing natural gas, but they’re doing it slowly. So that for the poorer countries in the world, this is also- it’s a conundrum, how are we going to get forward when Europe is drawing in so much of the world’s natural gas.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So a state department official said, a few days ago, food crisis will be at least a three-year problem. What time horizon do you put on the food crisis and the energy crisis?

MALPASS: I’ll say one thing, it’s possible to produce enough to soften that crisis. But at the rate that we’re going right now, the fertilizer isn’t being made, you know, fertilizer comes a giant source of fertilizer is from natural gas, through the ammonium channel into the most useful fertilizer. And it also is used to make the electricity that converts the minerals into fertilizer, and that’s just not happening. So a lot of the world is shutting down for lack of fertilizer, and then those shortages of crops will last for multiple years. We need to break that cycle, and do it pretty forcefully now, through announcements. The markets listen to what the governments are saying. And I think if the governments were saying, if the central banks were saying there’ll be currency stability, meaning years and years from now, the currencies won’t have devalued, they won’t be causing inflation, they’re going to be strong and stable for the long term, that would go a long way and the same thing on this production side of the economies, say that you want your strong economies to produce twice as much as they are right now. That’s within reach for many of these innovation techniques.

MARGARET BRENNAN: The Federal Reserve Chair said this week in this country, that recession is certainly a possibility, in part because of higher interest rates. Citigroup puts the odds of a recession at 50%. What’s your projection here for the world’s most important economy?

MALPASS: We put out a report three weeks ago that didn’t have the US in recession. But we said in downside scenarios there could be and so I don’t disagree with those estimates that you’re seeing there. And I would say the key variable is what do you do today to provide more production that addresses both the recession problem and also the inflation problem because you- you just push goods into the market and you make it clear to the world, we’re going to produce so much, you won’t be able to get that price.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So do you agree with Fed officials when they say it’s going to take at least two years, a couple of years before we get inflation back down to 2%?

MALPASS: It’s going to take time to come down, but again, that depends on what our- what’s your forecast for oil prices, for natural gas prices, for fertilizer? I guess it’s- it’s clearly- it’s going to take- months and months and maybe two years to bring inflation back down. It- markets respond, though, to signals. And so I think the important question is, can there be enough signals out of the U.S. but also the other advanced- the big economies, that they’re going to provide more production. And the reason I keep coming back to that central banks have a lot to do with whether businesses feel that they can borrow more money. It’s the regulatory policy, also this, this control of so many bonds, you know, in Japan, they’ve bought up a huge part of the national debt, so the central bank, but takes money from the banking system and buys government bonds. That’s not adding to supply in Japan.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So lastly, before I let you go, you have warned on this program before about a debt crisis in these developing countries, the emerging markets, with interest rates headed up is that now where we are, are we at crisis?

MALPASS: We’re at crisis, and we see more countries falling in one by one, we’ve seen that Sri Lanka in the very grave difficulties there. But it’s, it’s going to be many countries because of as you say, the interest rates going up and also their GDP going down in- in this slow growth environment of the world. The solution is a lot more production intent from the advanced economies.

MARGARET BRENNAN: A perilous moment for the global economy, David.

MALPASS: Dangerous, and I just hope we can push through strongly and with confidence.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Thank you very much for your time.

Jun 27 2022

A Very Dangerous Time Inside Ukraine as U.S. Officials Admit CIA and Pentagon Conducting Proxy War Effort from Kyiv


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on June 26, 2022 | Sundance 

We must always keep focus on the context for information that comes from the U.S. State Dept and the Central Intelligence Agency to the media.  Yesterday, as Joe Biden was en route to the G7 summit in the Bavarian Alps, the New York Times published an article saying the CIA and Pentagon special forces are organizing and conducting the NATO war effort from a secret operation center in Kyiv.

Some viewed the article as the NYT violating operational security for the U.S. led effort. However, that perspective belies the nature of how the media is used in war by Dept of State and intelligence officials.  The details of the Times article are attributed to “three U.S. officials,” and should be looked upon as purposeful.

In addition to the timing of Biden headed to the G7, the admission of CIA officials conducting the war effort from inside Ukraine, comes as NATO partner country Lithuania informs Russia that prior transit treaties to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad will not be honored.  NATO is poking and provoking a response from Russia, the Times article is part of this effort.

New York Times – … [E]ven as the Biden administration has declared it will not deploy American troops to Ukraine, some C.I.A. personnel have continued to operate in the country secretly, mostly in the capital, Kyiv, directing much of the vast amounts of intelligence the United States is sharing with Ukrainian forces, according to current and former officials.

At the same time, a few dozen commandos from other NATO countries, including Britain, France, Canada and Lithuania, also have been working inside Ukraine. The United States withdrew its own 150 military instructors before the war began in February, but commandos from these allies either remained or have gone in and out of the country since then, training and advising Ukrainian troops and providing an on-the-ground conduit for weapons and other aid, three U.S. officials said.

Few other details have emerged about what the C.I.A. personnel or the commandos are doing, but their presence in the country — on top of the diplomatic staff members who returned after Russia gave up its siege of Kyiv — hints at the scale of the secretive effort to assist Ukraine that is underway and the risks that Washington and its allies are taking.

[…] The commandos are not on the front lines with Ukrainian troops and instead advise from headquarters in other parts of the country or remotely by encrypted communications, according to American and other Western officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. But the signs of their stealthy logistics, training and intelligence support are tangible on the battlefield.

Several lower-level Ukrainian commanders recently expressed appreciation to the United States for intelligence gleaned from satellite imagery, which they can call up on tablet computers provided by the allies. The tablets run a battlefield mapping app that the Ukrainians use to target and attack Russian troops. (read more)

Regardless of debatable opinion on the Russian special military operation in eastern Ukraine, there are multiple motives for NATO and western government to escalate the proxy war against Vladimir Putin.

The proxy war in Ukraine provides a cover justification for the economic consequences driven by western government COVID-19 spending and policy.  We are seeing Russia being blamed for oil shortages, an EU energy crisis, U.S. gasoline prices, global food and fertilizer shortages, as well as global inflation overall.

While there is some latter causation in EU energy disruption related to the Ukraine war, the blaming of Putin is wildly disproportionate to the actual impact from the Russian operation; not to mention disconnected from the reality of those economic consequences surfacing long before the February 24th Russian incursion began.

Factually, it is the NATO and Western sanctions against Russia that have contributed to the Ukraine impact on the global economy.  Russia has no issue selling oil, gas and food related products to the global market.  It is the sanctions that forbid the sales and created the fracture in global trade now impacting the EU and to a lesser extent the U.S.

All of that said, consider the position of Vladimir Putin now as the U.S. openly admits to conducting military operations against Russia from inside Ukraine while NATO allies like Lithuania announce blockades against products to and from Russian civilians in Kaliningrad.

Putin knows the U.S-led NATO alliance would like nothing more than to invoke article 5 of the NATO treaty if Russia takes any hostile action toward a NATO country. The Russian president is likely not going to fall for any bait that can be placed in front of him.  However, that doesn’t mean Vladimir Putin does not have options to strike back against increased provocation.

Russia can strike any region inside Ukraine, including any area they previously did not have as a target, without changing the dynamic of current hostilities.  This puts the capital city of Kyiv in a precarious place, especially given the pronouncements by U.S. officials that CIA and Pentagon operators are working to fight Putin’s forces from inside Kyiv.  Again, a pronouncement that could be looked upon as intentionally publicized in order to provoke such a move.

Russia can also shut down the remaining pipelines out of Russia and sell oil and natural gas, albeit at higher prices, to non-western countries (India, China, etc).

As the ongoing successful effort in eastern continues, Russia has options to ignore NATO’s desire to expand the conflict or he could target very strategic operation centers in Western Ukraine that are being used as bait by U.S. officials promoting their antagonism through the New York Times.

Jun 26 2022

Obama Called the Gas Tax Holiday a Gimmick


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Jun 26, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

President Joe Biden is calling for a three-month gas tax holiday to lower the price at the pump. Interestingly, former President Obama opposed a gas tax holiday when energy prices were much lower. In fact, he called temporarily suspending the tax a “gimmick.” The US government currently charges 18 centers per gallon of gasoline and 24 cents per gallon of diesel.

In his 2020 memoir “A Promised Land,” Obama stated that opposing the temporary suspension was one of the reasons he beat Hillary Clinton in the 2008 US Presidential Election. “I was sure that consumers wouldn’t see much benefit. In fact, gas station owners were just as likely to keep gas prices high and boost their own profits as they were to pass the three-cents-a-gallon savings on to motorists,” Obama stated in his memoir after noting that Clinton and GOP candidate McCain both endorsed the idea.

Numerous politicians from both sides of the spectrum have stated that they cannot guarantee a tax holiday would ease consumer costs. In the face of the current energy crisis, a measly tax break will not help those struggling to afford gasoline in a significant way. Instead, America needs to boost production, reimplement pipeline deals, and begin fracking until a viable alternative option is available.

Jun 26 2022

This is all COLLAPSING and they’re making it worse | Redacted with Clayton Morris


Redacted News  Published originally on Rumble on June 23, 2022 

President Biden keeps trying to spin the inflation as Putin’s Price Hike as he rolls out a ridiculous gas tax holiday. The New York Times now admits Russian sanctions are a failure. And now they’re saying Unions are Putin’s fault.

Jun 26 2022

Inflation Creating Cracks in the G7


Armstrong Economics Blog/Politics Re-Posted Jun 26, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

Phone conversations with sources are revealing that inflation is starting to create cracks in the unity of the G7 against Russia for the summit of G7 nations in Bavaria (June 26-28). Already, the leaders of the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, and Japan are not in accord. The people are not in support of this endless war with Russia and are looking at their personal costs thanks to inflation. The Europeans which include Germany, France, and Italy are expressing that the people want an end to this war and that Ukraine should surrender the Donbas. They are not prepared to see their living standards collapse for a war that they see as a civil war. This is starting to show up in polls that they have been taking.

The UK is taking the position of the Baltic States and Poland who collectively fear that if Russia succeeds in Ukraine that they will be next. This seems to be really propaganda that they have bought from Zelensky. Putin has made NO EFFORT to conquer Ukraine. If that was the objective, you first take out the power grid, then communications, followed by the water supply. Zelensky has been willing to sacrifice his own people for the territory that is occupied by Russians who he hates. It takes a blind politician not to see through Zelensky’s hatred and stuffing hundreds of million offshore.

Indeed, if China is smart, it can continue to reduce exports and force prices up even higher in the West. Likewise, the rising inflation may not be because of the war, but the lockdowns caused the collapse of the supply chain and now many are starting to blame Western sanctions for the rising costs of gas and oil, and the massive shortage of wheat and fertilizer. As I have said before, one major tactic in war is to undermine your opponent’s currency. With this crop of world leaders, we have the worst possible people in place in human history. They cannot see that they have made the West vulnerable. Our computer should that wars will escalate starting next year, but international war is more likely after 2024.

My fear is that the sheer stupidity that now dominates world leaders here in the West are playing checkers while Putin and Xi are playing chess. Even Boris Johnson in the UK has announced he effectively wants to be a dictator for life. He said he has no intentions of leaving his position until the mid-2030s!

And Klauss Schwabs wants to eliminate Democracy!

They do not want any more Trumps to come to play in their sandbox.

Jun 26 2022

Ahead of G7 Germany asks for Urgent Discussion on Inflation, Climate Policy and Worsening Energy Crisis


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on June 25, 2022 | sundance 

For those not paying close attention, the G7 is in serious trouble right now.  The G7 includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Italy, Japan and Germany.  The EU and Japan are on the verge of a central bank financial crisis.  Germany is the heart of the EU and their economy is FUBAR as a result of sanctions against Russia, their energy dependence and an internal inflation rate exceeding 30%.

The G7 spending response to the COVID pandemic, a collective decision outlined by the World Economic Forum and central bank organizers, has created a massive inflation crisis amid all attached economies.  Making matters worse the Build Back Better agenda promoting climate friendly energy policy over fossil fuels is pouring gasoline on the raging inferno of economic disruption.

The EU and Japanese central banks are tenuous at best, and the U.S. has seemingly positioned Europe and Asia for even further economic pain as a result of sanctions against Russia (EU) and a contracting U.S. economy impacting Asia.  The intentional global cleaving is not working out too well as the G7 leaders assemble for their summit in the Bavarian Alps.   This is the backdrop for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.  In essence, the G7 climate policy cannot be sustained simultaneously with the German economy surviving:

GERMANY –  German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said he wants to put soaring inflation, the energy crisis and climate change at the center of the agenda when he meets fellow G7 leaders at Schloss Elmau in the Bavarian Alps.  

Germany, which holds this year’s G7 rotating presidency, is hosting the gathering of the heads of state and government of the world’s seven leading industrialized nations from Sunday through Tuesday.

“Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine is also having an impact here,” Scholz said in his video podcast on Saturday, pointing to steep rises in the prices of food and energy.

“Many things we buy are more expensive. Food, but especially the prices for energy. We notice that at the petrol station, we notice that when we have to pay the heating bill. Heating oil, gas — everything is much more expensive than a year ago,” he said, adding: “That’s why we have to prepare for it.”

The chancellor said the G7 leaders would discuss the current situation triggered by the war “and at the same time ensure that we stop man-made climate change.”

He stressed the need for a “climate club” to enable countries to work together to combat climate change as well as the current geopolitical and inflation crises. (read more)

For those unfamiliar with history, finance and global economics…  The current geopolitical scenario is coalescing toward one specific outcome, WAR With Russia.

The only way out of the economic crisis the western alliance has created, is to go to war.

These are very serious times.

Beware the needs of the banks, the drumbeats of war always originate against a backdrop of empty vaults.

Jun 26 2022

Woke Corporations Offering Relocation and Travel Cost Services for Employee Abortions


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on June 25, 2022 | sundance 

Yesterday we noted one of the likely downstream consequences from the Supreme Court decision on Roe might be that increased federalism and state control over abortion laws would lead to national ‘red lining.’  Essentially, leftists would avoid red state abortion restrictions and self-isolate in deepening blue regions where abortion is more common and accessible.

Within hours of that prediction, Google Inc sent an internal memo to employees offering to pay relocation assistance for any worker who would want to leave an area where abortion is likely to be restricted.

VIA NBC –  Google sent a companywide email Friday about the historic Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, explaining employees in affected states can apply for relocation without explaining why.

“This is a profound change for the country that deeply effects so many of us, especially women,” wrote Google Chief People officer Fiona Cicconi in an email to workers, viewed by CNBC. “Googlers can also apply for relocation without justification, and those overseeing this process will be aware of the situation.”

The note doesn’t say how many requests the company would approve and makes no promises. The company is still in the process of assigning relocations for employees who don’t want to come back into their assigned physical office due to the company’s return-to-office policy, which began in April.

Google has more than 30 locations across the U.S.  Cicconi also said it will be providing “support sessions” to employees in the coming days. (read more)

Assuming Google does not want to face lawsuits; and taking them at their word about no justification being needed; it would appear the reverse scenario is also true.  Google employees who work in an area of extreme leftism (deep blue), can ask for relocation to an area with a more conservative perspective (deep red).   This will be interesting to keep watching.

Additionally, Variety has compiled a list of several companies that will now pay health benefits to employees to travel out of state or region and terminate their pregnancy via abortion.

VARIETY – Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Comcast, Warner Bros. Discovery, Sony, Meta and several major media and entertainment companies said they will cover travel costs for employees seeking abortions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

In the wake of the ruling, Disney reached out to employees on Friday to stress that they recognize the “impact” of the Supreme Court’s decision and “remain committed to providing comprehensive access to quality and affordable care” for all Disney employees and their families, which includes family planning and reproductive care, “no matter where they live,” an internal source told Variety.

For Disney employees unable to access a medical service, including abortions, in one location, they have a travel benefit that allows for “affordable coverage for receiving similar levels of care in another location.” Walt Disney World, one of the company’s major theme parks is located in Orlando. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has already moved to implement abortion restrictions that limit access to the procedure.

[…] Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish and chief people officer Nancy Phillips sent a memo to staff on Friday, obtained by Variety, confirming the company’s intentions to cover travel costs for employees seeking abortions, writing, “Reproductive health care through company-sponsored health insurance, including coverage for birth control, elective abortion care, miscarriage care and certain related travel expenses if the covered health service, such as abortion, is prohibited in your area.” (read more)

Hopefully the most radical leftists will now self-isolate and stop migrating to regions where traditional American values are being retained.  This would be a natural outcome if the actions of the left-wing democrats were to match their rhetoric.  Unfortunately, I fear the abortion issue is not as big a political issue as the megaphones in media would like to believe.  Recent polling has shown very little political benefit in/around the issue of abortion.

It would be a good outcome if overturning Roe resulted in democrats stopping their migration away from their own left-wing policy madness; however, I’m not sure the abortion issue will overcome their desire to live outside of their insanity.   Leftists are ultimately the best representatives of cognitive dissonance when it comes to living up to their own ideological standards.

Democrats have long been known as “Blue Locusts” because they flee the totalitarianism and consequences they create; then seek to destroy the abundance they desire to have around them.  Modern leftists are dangerous in the destructive outlooks they carry.

If the Roe decision resulted in these leftists self-isolating away from conservative states, this would be of great benefit.  Alas, I doubt they are as committed to the issue as they claim.

If all the leftist democrats were to isolate themselves in geographic safe spaces, the non-breeding Moonbat population would decline and eventually disappear.   Unfortunately, I doubt we could be this lucky.

Jun 26 2022

Retailers Preparing for Recessionary Drop in Spending, Many Outlets Will Not Survive…


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on June 25, 2022 | sundance 

All things considered, a remarkably honest article from CNBC outlines the likelihood for a wave of retail bankruptcies.   In part the issue is driven by COVID bailout and stimulus funds that inflated the balance sheets and hid the natural contraction that was taking place in the last half of 2021 through today.  However, bar far the biggest issue is a contraction in current consumer spending due to severe cost increases in housing, food, fuel and energy.

As we have discussed at length, consumer spending patterns shifted radically in the last year.

Despite the 2021 third and fourth quarter giving the artificial impression of strong demand, inventories were climbing and productivity in the manufacturing and services dropped dramatically.   In combination these two data points both indicated a contraction in demand.

The first quarter of 2022 showed a -1.5% overall GDP.  The second quarter ends next week, and the government data will be released in the last week of July.  I predict that Q2 data will be heavily manipulated in two ways: (1) manipulation of import data via the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles; and (2) the intentional use of a lower inflation rate than currently exists in all goods.   My best guess on the fake BEA numbers is a +0.2 to +0.5% positive GDP, thereby barely avoiding the technical definition of a recession.

That said, the CNBC article outlines a very bad scenario for retailers, as the consumer spending contraction hits their profit and loss statements.

(CNBC) – […] There could be an increase in distressed retailers beginning later this year, experts say, as ballooning prices dent demand for certain goods, stores contend with bloated inventory levels and a potential recession looms.

[…]  The latest retail sales data shows where consumers are pulling back the most. Advance retail and food service spending fell 0.3% in May versus the prior month, the Commerce Department reported last week. Furniture and home furnishings retailers, electronics and appliances stores, and health- and personal-care chains all saw month-over-month declines.

“Consumers aren’t just buying less stuff, they are shopping less, which means a loss of the impulse-shopping moments that are critical to retail growth,” said Marshal Cohen, chief retail industry advisor at NPD Group, a market research firm.

In the first three months of 2022, consumers bought 6% fewer items at retail than they did in the first quarter of 2021, NPD Group said in a survey issued in late May. More than 8 in 10 U.S consumers said they planned to make further changes to pull back on their spending in the next three to six months, it said.

[…] Rising inventory levels are also on bankruptcy advisors’ radar because they have the potential to lead to much bigger problems. Retailers from Gap to Abercrombie & Fitch to Kohl’s have said in recent weeks that they have too much stuff after shipments arrived late and consumers abruptly changed what they were shopping for.

Target said earlier this month that it’s planning markdowns and canceling some orders to try to get rid of unwanted merchandise. As other retailers follow suit, profits are going to contract in the near term, said Joseph Malfitano, founder of turnaround and restructuring firm Malfitano Partners.

And when a retailer’s profit margins shrink as its inventories are reappraised — a routine practice in the industry — those inventories won’t be worth as much, Malfitano explained. A company’s borrowing base could fall as a result, he said.

“Some retailers have been able to cancel orders to not create more of a bubble on inventory. But a lot of retailers can’t cancel those orders,” Malfitano said. “So if the retailers that can’t cancel orders don’t knock it out of the park during the holiday season, their margins are going to go way down.”  (read more)

Jun 26 2022

Neil Oliver Outlines Madness of New Push to Vaccinate Children 6 Months to 5 Years Old


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on June 25, 2022 | sundance

In this week’s discussion monologue, Neil Oliver outlines a recent push by U.S. and U.K. authorities to vaccinate children under 5-years of age.   Despite almost zero risk to their health from COVID-19 or any variant, in the U.S. the FDA has recently approved vaccinations for babies 6-months and older.

Mr. Oliver notes the risk vs- reward in this health protocol is ridiculous on its face.  There is no substantive risk from COVID19 to any healthy child or young adult, yet the government institutions of healthcare are seemingly blind to the medical evidence.   Oliver says, “leave our kids alone,” WATCH:

[Transcript] – In the USA they are jabbing babies with the COVID vaccine, six months old and upward.  Here in Britain the NHS has been targeting children at primary school – five to 11 years old – with posters and letters depicting those youngsters who submit to the procedure as ‘Superheroes’.

Smiling cartoon characters, children in superhero outfits, surely designed to persuade children as young as five years old that they might join the ranks of superheroes if they will just line up and bare an arm to the needle.

Looking for all the world like an invitation to a party, with large writing in bright colours, child-superhero branding and headlined – “Calling All Superhero Kids” – the blatant attempt to appeal to the fantasies of innocent children is clear.

The inference to be drawn by any child looking at such a poster is that they are lesser mortals – cowards even – if they would rather not take the jab.

That the NHS is targeting our youngest and most vulnerable in this way is, I say, morally reprehensible, unforgivable. Where in this shameful play on childish imaginations and urge to please is the compliance, demanded by the laws and ethical codes for informed consent, the necessary full disclosure of risks, benefits and alternatives?

And that is before we get to Advertising Standards Agency’s rules shaped to protect children from advertisers’ tricks. Among much else, it has long been the case that advertisers are not, when targeting children directly and specifically, to take advantage of, and I quote from the ASA rules, “… their credulity, loyalty, vulnerability or lack of experience.”

Last week on this channel Mark Steyn drew attention to figures used by the JCVI – the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation – that estimated how many children would need to be jabbed in order to stop one person – just one person – being admitted to an Intensive Care Unit with Covid. That figure is two million children – each jabbed not once, but twice – to stop one admission to ICU.

The average age of death from Covid, calculated early on in the pandemic, was 82 years, the same age as national life expectancy or even older. In the last three months that figure for average age at death from Covid has risen to 85 or 86 years of age.

How many grandparents and great grandparents would countenance the injection of 5 year olds – and who knows, if we follow the lead set by the USA perhaps 6 month old babies – to protect those elders … from any disease … up to and including the Black Death? My hunch is not many.

So far only nine percent of youngsters in the UK aged between 5 and 11 have taken the jab – so that all is not lost – not yet at least. Remember anyway that it’s estimated three quarters of British children have had Covid already, and so have natural immunity.

And that much is before we come to contemplate the increasing certainty that the vaccines are, anyway, causing deaths and harms of all kinds, and in huge numbers. Long behind us now are the days when anyone could say any of the jabs prevent infection with Covid or transmission of Covid.

Last gasp claims that the vaccines reduce the risk of severe symptoms and therefore hospitalisation are similarly undermined.

But the Internet is still awash with people – from the president of the US on down – saying that if you take the jabs you won’t catch Covid, that you won’t transmit Covid, that you won’t die of Covid.

By any sane person’s assessment, that is Covid misinformation, and yet the so-called fact checkers, paid for by billionaire technocrats, and the media platforms themselves leave those erroneous, nonsense statements untouched while continuing to censor and delete reports of death and harm.

Health secretary Sajid Javid bragged last week that those vaccines we’ve had forced upon us so far are just the start. He tweeted that NHS patients would benefit from the “next generation” of vaccines thanks to a new deal with Moderna.

A state of the art mRNA manufacturing and global Research & Development centre will be built here in the UK. According to Javid, it will cement our “science superpower status” – so it’s not just five year olds who are supposed to swoon at the prospect of super powers.

While our Health Secretary celebrates a new deal with Big Pharma, let us consider the latest figures from the VAERS – Voluntary Adverse Event Reporting System – in the US. The latest data, released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, showed 1,301,356 reports of adverse events experienced by all age groups after vaccination.

Remember too that it is a crime in the US to log false claims on the VAERS system, so that medics put their reputations on the line with every posting and are highly unlikely, to say the very least, to report nuisance or other likely erroneous claims of hurt. Among that figure are 28,859 reports of deaths and 238,412 of serious injuries between December 14, 2020 and June 10, 2022.

And yet now, while the figures rise concerning the risks associated with the present vaccines … while compensation is beginning to be paid out to victims’ families here in Britain, and while so much still remains unknown about the safety of mRNA vaccines, we are already invited by our Health Secretary to look forward to more of the same.

I said on this channel months ago that they should leave the children alone – but in my heart I knew they wouldn’t, and they haven’t.

These two years past have not been about taking care of people’s health. They have been about and continue to be about seizing and exploiting the control of the people themselves. Covid was used as a key, and it unlocked a door.

We have been isolated, divided and placed under house arrest. Many have had their livelihoods destroyed. We have been made to watch the economy driven off a cliff. We had our travel privileges revoked.

We have had our physical and mental health pushed to breaking point and beyond. Just as Covid ran out of steam, war broke out in Europe – a war with no end anywhere in sight. Now they’re telling us to once and for all bid farewell to coal, gas and oil to heat our homes and power our cars.

Everything everywhere is divisive, frightening, enraging or a mix of all three.

Apparently unstoppable illegal immigration on the southern coastline; fuel shortages, price hikes of hundreds of percent at a time.

The prospect of a summer of industrial action; travel chaos for millions. Most recently the overturning of Roe v Wade in the US and more riots in response. Division, division, division.

Take a breath and look at all of it: the fury and the hopeless impotence felt by millions of people is setting us at each other’s throats in every way imaginable. Like water flowing into cracks and fissures in rock, the fear must one day create so much pressure that the rock shatters. The more divided we become, the better it suits the agenda of those that would have us forget the world of before and just bend over ready to take it from the new world to come.

I say it will only get worse. Covid might as well be viewed as a dry run – or perhaps more accurately as an opportunity to probe defences in the minds of the public and so gauge reactions in preparation for the next, more determined assault. Isolated, frightened and angry people … cut off from work and social lives, trapped in their homes for weeks and months, turned to the Internet as a means to reach out to others, to find information different from the paid-for propaganda pumped out by the government and servile media outlets.

And what do we see now? – an Online Safety Bill. This, we are told, will clear out all that pesky misinformation and disinformation – which is to say information the government doesn’t like people seeing and hearing because it runs counter to official stories.

How very, very convenient. As one door closes, another one is slammed in our faces.

All over the world, under the cover of Covid darkness, new laws were passed in one country after another to limit the possibility of protest and dissent.

President Biden is already warning about the next pandemic. There’s Monkeypox – or whatever they decide to call it next – and most recently the discovery of Polio in a British sewer.

If they don’t seek to curtail yet more of our freedoms in response to a disease, they will surely try to have us submit to restrictions designed to save the planet, or stop the war in Ukraine, or whatever cause they can drum up next.

And now, as was always inevitable, and that could be seen from outer space if you had your eyes open, it comes down to our children. Adults have had some time to work things out for themselves, to take advantage of understanding and experience spread over years.

The brains of children are much more malleable, however, ready for imprinting and indoctrination. I have long wondered just how safe British schools are for our children anymore.

This latest scam by the NHS – calling all superhero kids – is only another glimpse among too many to mention of the enthusiasm for abandoning the need to teach children how to think and telling them what to think instead, what to do.  [VIDEO ENDS]

Look closely now and you can see another escape route for the uncooperative, the independently minded, being prepared for closure. For those uncomfortable with the education their children are receiving from their schools, home schooling has been an option. Away from an agenda pushed by the state, home schooling parents and guardians were free to nurture and encourage young minds in other ways.

Last month the government announced a new Bill to, and I quote, “level up education”. One way or another, I suspect there will be more control exerted over home schoolers, tendrils of control tightening, because this is about control, pure and simple.

It is about frightening people and keeping them frightened, and so infinitely more likely to take their medicine, real medicine or perhaps the cure for climate crisis, however bitter, who knows.

More and more it will be about our children. Their hearts and minds. The final obstacle to any totalitarian is always the family, and the protection afforded to children by their families.

They were always going to try and reach the children in the end. Whatever happens next – or indeed does not and must not happen next – is up to every one of us. (link)

Jun 26 2022

Pfizer CEO Says Annual COVID Vaccine Booster is Almost a Certainty


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on June 25, 2022 | sundance 

June 25, 2022 | sundance | 320 Comments

This brief soundbite from last week is somewhat of a precursor to the points raised by Neil Oliver this week.  The financial interests of the Big Rx corporations are directly tied to government.  This is the origin of the biggest issue behind government mandating the forced vaccination program for SARS-CoV-2 and any COVID-19 variant.

The adverse medical consequences from the COVID-19 vaccination program are only just now starting to surface while the government and Rx corporations continue to hide data showing adverse impacts.  At the same time as this massive conflict of interest and general health controversy is being debated, Pfizer CEO Albert Poula says he is “almost certain” that mandatory vaccine boosters will be part of the requirement by government each year.  WATCH (1 minute):

There is something very disturbing about these people.