Posted originally on the conservative house on August 1, 2022 | Sundance
We are seeing the cascading impacts of the energy-driven inflation starting to ripple throughout the globe, specifically worsening economies who are dependent on the export of non-essential durable goods. South Korea manufacturing is the latest example.
The first quarter of 2022 started with a drop in U.S. consumer spending on non-essential durable goods like electronics. The net result of contracted consumer spending was a 1.6% negative GDP.
Inventories of goods started to build and by April/May of 2022 the Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed negative inflation in those sectors as discounts to move inventory were offered.
In June major manufacturer Samsung, headquartered in South Korea, announced they had told suppliers to stop sending component manufacturing parts for finished goods. (link)
By the end of July, the second quarter GDP in the U.S. again showed a contraction of 0.9%. Energy inflation was now creating a consumer spending recession, demand for non-essential goods dropped fast over the first half of the year.
Today, South Korea announces July manufacturing output contracted for the first time in two years, matching the prior announcement by Samsung:
SEOUL, Aug 1 (Reuters) – South Korea’s factory activity shrank in July for the first time in nearly two years, as output and new orders weakened amid continued inflation and supply chain woes, a private-sector survey showed on Monday.
The S&P Global purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to a seasonally-adjusted 49.8 in July from 51.3 in June, falling below 50 for the first time since September 2020. The 50-mark separates expansion from contraction in factory activity from a previous month.
Output fell for a fourth straight month and by the sharpest rate since October 2021, as new orders decreased for the first time in 22 months and those from overseas for the fifth month in a row. (read more)
All economies that are dependent on the manufacturing and export of durable goods are likely now seeing reduced factory outputs as fewer customers exist to purchase the final product. This will lead to a predictable rise in unemployment amid those same nations.
This situation is the reason why the Bank of Japan did not raise their central bank interest rates. They are attempting to offset the drop in global economic activity by keeping their currency value low as compared to the rest of the western countries. This will help move their exported goods at a discount.
Inside countries with large imports, the definition of “non-essential” purchases within each household now starts to shift. Upgrading electronics, jewelry purchasing, and other non-essential goods become the first to feel the impact. That contraction is then followed by appliances, furniture, clothing and eventually vehicles and high-cost durable goods.
As less and less disposable income is available, consumer spending gets increasingly prioritized. The service sector is likely starting to feel the consumer belt tightening, particularly those consumer goods and services that are dependent on middle class families.
Inflation in general is a corrosive issue that eats away at the ability of consumers to purchase products and services. Energy inflation is particularly damaging as it hits every sector of the economy with higher supply-side costs. Food prices, fuel, transportation costs, electricity rates etc. take a larger portion of the paycheck, leaving less room (if any) for non-essential purchases.
A shrinking global economy is the outcome of an intentionally managed decline to support the Build Back Better, climate change, agenda.
Posted originally on the conservative tree house July 31, 2022 | Sundance
The pretending from the federal reserve chairs continues. In this interview, Neel Kashkari, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, says “we keep getting surprised” by data on inflation, which continues to be “higher than we expect, across the broad range of the economy.” Yet, notice that Kashkari refuses to outline the single cause of the broad inflation is the intentional lack of energy production. [Transcript]
Kashkari continues the selling point that demand side inflation is being targeted because demand still exceeds supply. That’s essentially true, however, it is the supply of energy that is fundamentally disrupted by Joe Biden energy policy. It is not consumer demand for goods and services, it is the structural need for consumers to have consistent, affordable energy resources.
The collapse of energy production from domestic coal, oil and gas development is the problem. Everything else is ancillary to the origination problem. However, in order to support the climate agenda, the Federal Reserve must pretend not to know this. WATCH:
Kashkari notes a serious problem can arise when wage inflation starts to catch up with inflation overall. THAT just happened last month. The combination of wage inflation to match the high consumer inflation then drives an even higher cost for goods and services. This is the inflation storm that leads to hyper-inflation, structurally high inflation that cannot be controlled by any monetary measure, and unfortunately, we just entered the first outer bands of this inflation hurricane last month.
A personal sidenote: when we were going through the pandemic crisis and response in 2020/2021, CTH took heat for saying the real objective at the end of the pandemic path was the global climate change agenda. Well, here we are. At the end of this climate change path is full control over human activity using digital currency. Hunger games.
[Transcript] – JOHN DICKERSON: We turn now to the president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, Neel Kashkari. Good morning, Neel. Inflation–
PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF MINNEAPOLIS NEEL KASHKARI: –John, thanks for having me.
JOHN DICKERSON: Thank you for being here. Okay. Everybody wants to know inflation, still hot? What is it? What does it look like to you?
KASHKARI: It’s very concerning, you know, we keep getting inflation readings, new data that comes in, and as recently as this past week, and we keep getting surprised. It’s higher than we expect. And it’s not just a few categories. It’s spreading out more broadly, across the economy. And that’s why the Federal Reserve is acting with such urgency to get it under control and bring it back down.
JOHN DICKERSON: Wages within that, what does the wage picture look like in two different ways, we measure it, both just on its own, and then relative to inflation?
KASHKARI: For most Americans, their wages are going up, but they’re not going up as fast as inflation. So most Americans, real wages, real incomes are going down. That’s why families are finding it increasingly hard to make ends meet. When they go to the grocery store, when they buy necessities, they’re not able to buy as much because they’re getting a real wage cut, because inflation is growing so quickly. I mean, typically we think about wage driven inflation, where wages grow quickly. And then that leads to higher prices in a self fulfilling spiral. That is not yet happening. High prices and wages are now trying to catch up to those high prices. Those high prices are being driven by supply chains and the war in Ukraine, among other factors. And so we need to get the economy back into balance before this really does become a wage driven inflation story.
JOHN DICKERSON: Let me ask you about a figure that people may not know as much about, everybody knows about the consumer price index and inflation, the economic cost index came out this week. And some economists look at that as a signal for inflation. Tell me what you saw in the economic cost index this week.
KASHKARI: Well, we have a lot of different measures, for example of wages, of what’s happening to wages. And ECI, as I call it, is one measure that it’s a- it’s a robust measure of what’s happening to wages and what’s happening to benefits, and wages continue to climb. And on one level, that’s a good thing. We want Americans to be making more money. But if wages are climbing, such that the economy shows that it’s overheating, that tells me that the Federal Reserve has more work to do to bring inflation down to bring the economy into balance just at its basic level. Inflation is when demand is outstripping supply. We know supply is low because of supply chains, because of the war in Ukraine, because of COVID. We hoped that supply would come online more quickly, that hasn’t happened. So we have to get demand down into balance. Now, I hope we get some help on the supply side. But that doesn’t change the fact that the Federal Reserve has its job to do, and we are committed to doing it.
JOHN DICKERSON: We have 30 seconds left. Help on the supply side, what does that mean?
KASHKARI: Well, I talked to a lot of global businesses who are trying to get their supply chain sorted out so that they can meet their customers’ needs and make sure that there are products on the shelves. They’re making some progress. There’s some signs, it’s getting better, but it’s taking a lot longer than they thought and that I thought and so that means we cannot wait till supply fully heals. We have to do our part with monetary policy.
JOHN DICKERSON: We’re gonna take a commercial, we’ll be back to continue this conversation with Neel Kashkari. Stick with us.
JOHN DICKERSON: Welcome back to Face The Nation. We continue our conversation with Minneapolis Federal Reserve’s Neel Kashkari. Neel, let’s pick up where you left off on this question of supply. When I was talking with two senators earlier there was this debate about whether taxation on companies that don’t pay a minimum level of taxation will have their supply hurt. So in other words, you tax- tax them supply goes down, that hurts with inflation. What’s your assessment of that?
KASHKARI: You know, long over the long term, that’s probably true. On the margin, people say that about raising interest rates, why raise interest rates, that’s going to make it more expensive for firms to invest. And that’s going to not help with the supply side. That’s true over the long-term. But over the short-term, the demand side effects totally swamped the supply side effects. And so when I look at a bill that’s being considered that your two senators talked about, my guess is over the next couple of years, it’s not going to have much of an impact on inflation. It’s not going to affect how I analyze inflation. Over the next few years, I think long term, it may have some effect. But over the near term, we have an acute mismatch between demand and supply. And it’s really up to the Federal Reserve to be able to bring that demand down, and we’re committed to doing what we need to do.
JOHN DICKERSON: Neel, help me understand recessions. There is a debate in Washington that’s full of political gamesmanship. So take us inside why it matters if America is in a recession, and what the component parts are, that are a part of that and how that helps us understand the health of the economy.
KASHKARI: Well, it really matters when Americans feel it, when Americans are, especially in the job market. That’s the most important part of the economy, so to speak, for Americans is their job. Do they have a decent place to work and earning decent wages? And typically, recessions are, they demonstrate why job loss is high unemployment, those are terrible for American families. And we’re not seeing anything like that. The labor market so far, is very strong, we are seeing some sectors like the tech sector start to shed workers or start to cool down in hiring. But fundamentally, the labor market appears to be very strong. While GDP, that the amount the economy is producing, appears to be shrinking. So we’re getting mixed signals out of the economy. From my perspective, in terms of getting inflation in check, whether we are technically in a recession or not, doesn’t change my analysis. I’m focused on the inflation data. I’m focused on the wage data. And so far, inflation continues to surprise us to the upside, wages continue to grow. So far, the labor market is very, very strong. And that means whether we are technically in a recession or not, doesn’t change the fact that the Federal Reserve has its own work to do. And we are committed to doing it.
JOHN DICKERSON: Last 20 seconds, Neel, on GDP when it goes down, isn’t that kind of what the Feds trying to do? Slow down growth? So is that a good number?
KASHKARI: Well, we definitely want to see some slowing. We don’t want to see the economy overheating. We would love it if we can transition to a sustainable economy without tipping the economy into recession. There’s not a great record of doing that. Typically when the economy slows down, it slows down by quite a bit, especially if it’s the central bank that is inducing the slowdown. So we’re going to do everything we can to try to avoid a recession. But we are committed to bringing inflation down and we’re going to do what we need to do. And we’re a long way away from achieving an economy that is back at 2% inflation and that’s where we need to get to.
JOHN DICKERSON: All right, Neel Kashkari. Thanks so much for being with us. And we’ll be back in a moment. (read more)
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on July 31, 2022 | Sundance
In a remarkable interview attempting to justify his agreement with the senate Build Back Better climate change bill (fraudulently labeled ‘inflation reduction act’), West Virginia Democrat Senator Joe Manchin says the massive energy spending and tax bill will bring green renewable energy much quicker. In essence, the windmills and solar panels for West Virginia will arrive faster now, and that will improve energy production. [Transcript Here]
When discussing the new energy origination provisions, Senator Manchin catches himself mid-sentence saying, “the battery better be made in America.” He quickly corrected himself knowing the claim was false and followed up with, “better be sourced in North America, it better be processed,” because he is well aware the largest employment and investment beneficiaries for his deal will be Mexico and Canada, not American workers. WATCH:
♦ BRASS TACKS – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was gleeful last week promoting Manchin’s new green energy proposal because, with steel and aluminum tariffs removed, Canada will be one the biggest beneficiaries of $370 billion congressional spending package. Canada has no heavy industry left, they are the assembly economy for foreign manufacturing that uses loopholes, and the senate bill creates a USMCA loophole for this exact purpose.
The West Virginia windmills and solar panels will be shipped as raw materials from China and the EU into Canada. Canada will assemble the parts and ship the finished goods into the United States for placement by illegal alien workers employed by the contractors. The batteries to store the solar and windmill power will come from Mexico, after they receive the raw materials from Africa and Asia.
Canadian workers, Mexican workers, Chinese Workers, African workers and ASEAN workers will all benefit from the generous Joe Manchin spending package.
Unemployed West Virginia coal miners will watch Joe Manchin run for office in 2024 on Japanese televisions powered by China, while eating cheese puff flavored cricket snacks sourced from Canada. Brilliant plan, Joe.
[Transcript] – JOHN DICKERSON: We go now to West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin. Senator, welcome. I hope you’re feeling better from the COVID. Let me start with a- with a–
SENATOR JOE MANCHIN: –John, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
JOHN DICKERSON: Let me start with something you said back in 2010 in a debate when you were running for Senate, here’s what you said:
SEN. JOE MANCHIN SOT: “I don’t think during the time of recession, you mess with any of the taxes or increase any taxes.”
JOHN DICKERSON: So that’s become the- your Republican colleagues favorite quote to roll out now that you’ve made this agreement with Chuck Schumer that has a tax piece to it. Why did you change your mind?
SEN. JOE MANCHIN: John, I didn’t change my not- my mind, I’ve never changed at all this is fighting inflation. This is all about the- the absolute horrible position that people are in now because of the inflation costs, whether it be gasoline, whether it be food pricing, whether it be energy pricing, and it’s around energy, mostly that’s driving these high inflation. This is going to do- take care of that, because this is aggressively producing more energy to get more supply to get the prices down. That’s what we’re doing. But we didn’t raise taxes, John, the taxes were- the corporate tax in America in 2017, before the Republican tax cut was 35%. They cut it to 21% 14% reduction. All the people that I know are paying 21% or more. All the even larger corporations, but some of the largest corporations of a billion dollars of value or more don’t even want to pay the minimum of 15%.
JOHN DICKERSON: So, this is an issue of fairness?
SEN. JOE MANCHIN: It’s basically closing– this is a fairness in closing a loophole. So, I’m not raising any taxes. I never thought that people weren’t paying at least 21.
JOHN DICKERSON: Let me ask you about–
SEN. JOE MANCHIN: –And I don’t know why. I mean, we went- go ahead I’m sorry.
JOHN DICKERSON: On the raising- Okay, so I understand what you’re saying about closing loopholes. But the Republican criticism, which attaches to what you said in 2010, is, when you increase taxes, by closing loopholes, you hurt supply, and during inflation, you want a lot of supply. And so even though this might not be a tax increase relative to previous rates, the taxes for certain companies will go up, which will make them produce more so the theory goes, and that will hurt inflation.
SEN. JOE MANCHIN: Let me just say this, John, in the last two years, there have been massive record profits across the board by these largest corporations, massive record profits, and it’s been the lowest capital expenditure in the last few years, so that didn’t drive it. What they’ve all told me was we want security, we want to have some type of pathway forward in permitting and regulations. They’re strangling us. And this is what we’re doing. We’re streamlining the regulations that people have to live within. It- basically accelerating how we get things to market, how quick we can produce things, how quick we can basically produce more energy, and how we can develop more technology. And using that for our benefit. We’re talking about also batteries for electric cars. If you want to get a discount on an electric car by buying an EV, the battery better be made in America, better be sourced in North America, it better be processed.
JOHN DICKERSON: Your Republican colleagues think you and Chuck Schumer did something underhanded by essentially, it looked like there wasn’t going to be anything big passed and then set and then you changed course worked out something with Schumer. Senator Cornyn, the Republican from Texas, said that that unveiling this agreement between you and Senator Schumer was “a declaration of political warfare.”
SEN. JOE MANCHIN: It’s such a shame. John Cornyn is a good friend of mine. He’s such a good man. And for the politics to be so toxic right now. First of all, I never thought this would come to fruition. I never spoke with anybody about any of my colleagues, because they were frustrated that nothing happened for so long. On the other, I never could get the Build Back Better, which is a three and a half trillion-dollar spending bill. This is a $400 billion investment bill. And everything my Republicans talked about reducing the amount of debt that we have- we’re paying down $300 billion- first time in 25 years, they gotta like that. And next of all, they wanted more energy, I want more energy, we’re going to be producing more energy. There’s an agreement that we’re going to be drilling and doing more than we can to bring more energy to the market that reduces prices. They like that. I mean, it’s and there’s going to be a streamlining of permitting John, but they got to like that so well. I’m hoping they just- take cool off. Take a good look at the bill.
JOHN DICKERSON: Their argument is and this matters because you are working with Republicans on other pieces of legislation and Susan Collins, one of those Republicans you’re working with says that this, this break of trust, which is what they’re calling it, you made certain representations they would say to Republicans and broke your trust, she said Susan Collins said it’s a very unfortunate move that delay – that that destroys the many bipartisan efforts that are underway. In other words, whether it’s on election reform, or same sex marriage that that the well has been poisoned.
SEN. JOE MANCHIN: Well, here’s the thing, I think Susan Collins is, you know, my very dear friend, we work almost on everything together. But the thing of it, I never told anybody that I wasn’t going to do something. If I had a chance to fix the energy policy of the United States of America, and I didn’t do it, shame on me. If I had the chance to reduce the amount of inflation and people in West Virginia and across the country are enduring right now. Shame on me. And I never thought they would come to an agreement and use a dual path and basically recognizing within this administration, working with President Biden’s administration and working with Chuck Schumer, and all of them who basically were going a different direction, and were very upset with me for so long that they would ever sit down. But I guess, you know, this thing is bigger, become truly horrible for the families all across America. So now to have a piece of legislation, that we have energy, and we have investments for new energy, but basically, that’s a responsibility. You can walk and chew gum, you have a balanced approach. These are solutions Americans want. We were able to provide these solutions. Let’s not make them political, John.
JOHN DICKERSON: You and Senator Schumer have a deal. A lot of Democrats who used to be very angry at you are suddenly now saying nice things about you, Senator Kyrsten Sinema. Have you talked to Senator Sinema whose vote is still unknown on these bills? And where do you think she’ll go? Because if she doesn’t vote for it, it doesn’t happen.
SEN. JOE MANCHIN: Yeah, Senator Sinema is a dear friend of mine. And we’ve worked very close together on so many pieces of legislation. And she’s- she’s so involved in this legislation. When you think about it, she’s the one that really negotiated and worked very hard on getting Medicare allowing them to negotiate for lower drug prices saving $288 billion. That’s tremendous, which I support her completely on that she’s always been adamant about we’re not going to be raising taxes. And I agree with her wholeheartedly. I made very, very, very carefully evaluations that we wouldn’t raise any taxes. That was the last scrub that was done.
JOHN DICKERSON: Have you tried to lobby her?
SEN. JOE MANCHIN: No, I don’t. We don’t. I’ve never lobbied my- my colleagues on that. I just basically put the facts out try to answer questions. I’m always trying to negotiate with them if- if they want and I tried to and sometimes we don’t get there. They get frustrated. But we’re always looking at the next opportunity to improve the quality of life in America. And that’s what we’re doing.
JOHN DICKERSON: Finally, Senator, there was a vote on a bill this week that would provide health care to millions of veterans exposed to toxic fumes in burn pits during their deployments. Republicans who had previously voted for it, voted against it. Pat Toomey, Republican from Pennsylvania, who will be on who you’ve worked with extensively in your career is worried that it adds to the deficit. That’s something you care about. Does Pat Toomey have a point here?
SEN. JOE MANCHIN: Sure. Well, Pat Toomey is going to get a- he’s gonna get an amendment. He- he’ll have a vote on that. So Pat, come on, let’s go. Let’s put- put it out there, put the facts out there. Pat’s a good man and good friend of mine. I’m sorry, he’s not going to be running again. And he’s leaving the Senate because he’s been a quality valued member of the Senate. And he represented Pennsylvania extremely well. So he’s been a friend. We’re going to work through this. I haven’t seen the amendment. I’m – I’ll be briefed tomorrow morning on it and everything. But Pat is going to get his amendment and let’s see where it goes.
JOHN DICKERSON: Senator Joe Manchin, thanks for being with us. Face the Nation back in one minute. Stay with us. (link)
“There’s a lakeside retreat near Winnipeg with a 5-bedroom cabin he built just for you”…
World-renowned Economist Martin Armstrong joins Maria Zeee to discuss what he describes as “Hell” in 2023, the recession we are already in, the rise of civil unrest, and more – but he says Schwab WILL fail! Click here to learn more!
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on July 30, 2022 | Sundance
It was the Fourth Quarter of 2019…..
Right before the pandemic would hit a few months later…. Despite two years of doomsayer predictions from Wall Street’s professional punditry, all of them saying Trump’s 2017 steel and aluminum tariffs on China, Canada and the EU would create massive inflation, it just wasn’t happening!
Overall year-over-year inflation was hovering around 1.7 percent [Table-A BLS]; yup, that was our inflation rate. The rate in the latter half of 2019 was firmed up with less month-over-month fluctuation, and the rate basically remained consistent. [See Below] The U.S. economy was on a smooth glide path, strong, stable and Main Street was growing with MAGAnomics at work.
A couple of important points. First, unleashing the energy sector to drive down overall costs to consumers and industry outputs was a key part of President Trump’s America-First MAGAnomic initiative. Lower energy prices help the worker economy, middle class and average American more than any other sector.
Which brings us to the second important point. Notice how food prices had very low year-over-year inflation, 0.5 percent. That is a combination of two key issues: low energy costs, and the fracturing of Big Ag hold on the farm production and the export dynamic:
(BLS) […] The index for food at home declined for the third month in a row, falling 0.2 percent. The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs decreased 0.7 percent in August as the index for eggs fell 2.6 percent. The index for fruits and vegetables, which rose in July, fell 0.5 percent in August; the index for fresh fruits declined 1.4 percent, but the index for fresh vegetables rose 0.4 percent. The index for cereals and bakery products fell 0.3 percent in August after rising 0.3 percent in July. (link)
For the previous twenty years food prices had been increasingly controlled by Big Ag, and not by normal supply and demand. The commodity market became a ‘controlled market’. U.S. food outputs (farm production) was controlled and exported to keep the U.S. consumer paying optimal prices.
President Trump’s trade reset was disrupting this process. As farm products were less exported the cost of the food in our supermarket became reconnected to a ‘more normal’ supply and demand cycle. Food prices dropped and our pantry costs were lowered.
The Commerce Dept. then announced that retail sales climbed by 0.4 percent in August 2019, twice as high as the 0.2 percent analysts had predicted. The result highlighted retail sales strength of more than 4 percent year-over-year. These excellent results came on the heels of blowout data in July, when households boosted purchases of cars and clothing.
The better-than-expected number stemmed largely from a 1.8 percent jump in spending vehicles. Online sales, meanwhile, also continued to climb, rising 1.6 percent. That’s similar to July, 2019, when Amazon held its two-day, blowout Prime Day sale. (link)
Despite the efforts to remove and impeach President Trump, it did not look like middle-class America was overly concerned about the noise coming from the pundits. Likely that’s because blue-collar wages were higher, Main Street inflation was lower, and overall consumer confidence was strong. Yes, MAGAnomics was working.
Additionally, remember all those MSM hours and newspaper column inches where the professional financial pundits were claiming Trump’s tariffs were going to cause massive increases in prices of consumer goods?
Well, exactly the opposite happened [BLS report] Import prices were continuing to drop:
This was a really interesting dynamic that no-one in the professional punditry would dare explain.
Donald Trump’s tariffs were targeted to specific sectors of imported products. [Steel, Aluminum, and a host of smaller sectors etc.] However, when the EU and China respond by devaluing their currency, that approach hit all products imported, not just the tariff goods.
Because the EU and China were driving up the value of the dollar, everything we were importing became cheaper. Not just imports from Europe and China, but actually imports from everywhere. All imports were entering the U.S. at substantially lower prices.
This meant when we imported products, we were also importing deflation.
This price result is exactly the opposite of what the economic experts and Wall Street pundits predicted back in 2017 and 2018 when they were pushing the rapid price increase narrative.
Because all the export dependent economies were reacting with such urgency to retain their access to the U.S. market, aggregate import prices were actually lower than they were when the Trump tariffs began:
[…] Prices for imports from China edged down 0.1 percent in August following decreases of 0.2 percent in both July and June. Import prices from China have not advanced on a monthly basis since ticking up 0.1 percent in May 2018. The price index for imports from China fell 1.6 percent for the year ended in August.
[…] Import prices from the European Union fell 0.2 percent in August and 0.3 percent over the past 12 months.
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on July 30, 2022 | Sundance
At first blush I’m inclined to see Jose Ruben Zamora as the Latin version of Jamal Khashoggi; which is to say, he glows CIA.
Yesterday in Guatemala, the government arrested a “journalist” and “businessman” named Jose Ruben Zamora who was the publisher of a national newspaper and strong opposition voice against the conservative government of President Alejandro Giammattei [WSJ link]. Today, Guatemalan President Giammattei is reported to have survived an assassination attempt, leaving people injured as a result of gunfire [details sketchy].
(Via WSJ) – […] Guatemalan police arrested José Rubén Zamora, a businessman and renowned journalist who heads the elPeriódico newspaper, at his house in a tree-lined residential neighborhood in the capital after a judge issued an arrest warrant against him, the country’s attorney general’s office said.
“This is a political persecution,” Mr. Zamora told reporters, flanked by policemen, in front of his house. A group of people gathered at the site, shouting: “You are not alone! You are not alone!”
The head of the anticorruption unit at the attorney general’s office in charge of the investigation, Rafael Curruchiche, said the arrest had nothing to do with Mr. Zamora’s work as a journalist but with his business activities.
[…] Associations of journalists, human-rights advocacy groups and some legal experts denounced Mr. Zamora’s arrest as an assault on freedom of speech and open intimidation in reprisal for the newspaper’s coverage. (read more)
I’m sorry to say this, but in this new political era – when associations of multinational media organizations and NGO type human rights groups suddenly start protesting the arrest of a journalist suspected of criminal activity, I no longer grant the benefit of doubt.
In this new era, we have passed through the looking glass. NATO now represents the manipulative globalist bad guys in collusion with corporations; Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is a corrupt grifter and transparent tool of the U.S. State Dept and CIA; WaPo’s Jamal Khashoggi held all the optics and behaviors of a western intelligence agent; and the U.S. media have become narrative engineers who willingly feed on a constant stream of false information by intelligence assets intent on shaping American opinion.
As a result, when all the betters who tell me that J6 was a bigger threat to democracy than 9/11; the same people who call Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro a dictator; the same people who claimed Chairman Kim Jong-Un was a mad man; are also telling me to suspect Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei of being a strong-armed dictator arresting the poor and virtuous journalist Jose Zamora, who uses his hair to knit sweaters for homeless kittens, my suspicious cat crawls atop the tree of cynicism and gives me the side-eye.
Then we overlay how much various central American nations are influenced by the United States government, and, well, we find ourselves being predisposed toward the opposite of what the narrative engineers claim.
Public skepticism is the result of what Senator Grassley recently called “institutionally corrupt” U.S. government behavior.
Guatemalan police have arrested José Rubén Zamora, president of elPeriódico and a vocal critic of the country’s government https://t.co/M7OoRq2rxc
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on July 30, 2022 | Sundance
In fact, there are several western nations who see the ‘climate change” energy transformation as an economic kamikaze mission… and that reality is upsetting those who control the larger western alliance agenda.
When we outlined the ‘biggest problem‘ we noted: Brazil, Mexico, and more recently Japan, have started pushing back against the climate change ideologues. We must do the same.
So, let’s get everyone up to speed.
Factually, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is not only a nationalist leader for his country, Brazil itself is in an emerging economic relationship within the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa). The BRICS group are not in ideological or geopolitical alignment with the World Economic Forum (WEF) climate change instructions known as Build Back Better. This lack of ideological synergy is one of the reasons we see a joint effort between the U.S. State Dept and U.S. intelligence group to target Jair Bolsonaro for removal. [Watch Bolsonaro w/ Tucker Carlson]
Recently, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador (AMLO) visited the White House. AMLO is basically soft-socialist, a nationalist who does not like the influence of multinational corporations on the economic politics within Mexico. When he visited with Joe Biden, AMLO’s public comments in the oval office (he actually had them written down so he would not be deterred from his delivery) about the U.S. chasing a short-sighted and dangerous energy policy, were just ignored by media. However, watching AMLO deconstruct the Biden energy policy was very telling. [Review Outline Here].
In addition to so-called geopolitical adversaries like Russia, China and Iran, there are also geopolitical allies who clearly see that fracturing the global economy based on energy development, the center of the Build Back Better agenda, is going to create major issues for the citizens within the countries determined by ideological quest to change their energy system. As noted with Brazil and Mexico, not everyone in the “west” is on board with the program.
Even in Germany and the U.K. we see evidence indicating pragmatic discussion is starting to surface.
There will eventually be an inflection point within the EU as the desires of the ideological leaders run into the reality of the situation. [ex. Dutch farm protests]
The Build Back Better climate agenda is essentially a process to deindustrialize economies, then rebuild them. Will Germany really accept a lower standard of living, just to be equitable in economic malaise? If you know any German people, you know the answer to that is an emphatic NO.
Additionally, southeast Asia (ASEAN group) represents an almost impossible region to shift away from traditional oil, coal, gasoline and food derivatives that need fertilizer and natural gas etc. And everyone knows China is not going to go along with the ‘climate’ nonsense.
Even if Beijing puts a smiley-faced panda mask on the Beijing dragon, they are going to use the climate change suicide mission of the west as a geopolitical advantage toward their own expanded economic influence. Hell, who wouldn’t.
♦ Which brings me to the recent appearance of Japanese pushback, which comes with a typically Japanese subtlety.
Keep in mind that Japanese industry is still the largest investor in U.S. manufacturing and jobs.
Despite Japan signing-on with the western alliance sanctions against Russia, almost assuredly a decision intended to stay in alignment with the G7 politics, recently Japan has refused to join the collective western approach to raise central bank interest rates to facilitate the BBB ‘transition’ (link).
This has caused the Japanese yen to fall rapidly against western currency, specifically against the U.S. dollar. The dollar has gained 25.5% against the Japanese yen (link).
Now, inflation in Japan is still an issue, but it is less an issue than in the EU and North America (Canada/USA with Mexico excluded). Part of that lower inflation dynamic is caused by Japan not driving supply-side inflation as a result of the energy transition.
The decision by the Bank of Japan (BoJ) has created some anxiety within the western alliance group of central bankers. Additionally, Japan is remaining in good standing with Russia for energy resources and continues to purchase all oil and LNG at the lowest rates possible, regardless of origination. Japan is also the top investor and buyer of LNG from Russia’s Sakhalin-2 plant, so they are the most exposed to Moscow’s new demand to pay for energy through a Russian bank.
(Reuters) – SINGAPORE — Russia’s Sakhalin Energy Investment Co has requested its liquefied natural gas (LNG) customers to make payments via a Moscow unit of a European bank and is in talks to change the payment currencies away from U.S. dollars, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. (link)
Again, another geopolitical dynamic that breaks Japan away from the collective western suicide mission.
From the perspective of Japan, all of these moves -while not aligning with the demands of the BBB agenda- make perfect sense.
While their currency is suffering from not following the western agenda, they have several upsides. First, exports from Japan to the United States and the EU now become even cheaper. With a higher dollar value, Japanese imports into the United States come at a discount. This will help Japan export goods and retain a strong export economy.
Second, with Japan already a massive investor inside the United States, the dollars that are generated in profit from their operations are delivered back to Japan at a higher value. A higher dollar value, the outcome of their breaking from the western central bank decision to raise rates, does not hurt Japan. They bring back high valued dollars from their decades in investment into North America, and they continue exporting to the U.S. at a discount.
So, the nationalist outlooks of Japan, Brazil and even our Mexican neighbors are reflecting a pragmatic self-interest that so far has withstood the pressures from the western alliance to fall into line. This is how those three countries are positioned to push back against the insufferable BBB agenda.
We can use the example of those western industrialized nations to show that not everyone is in alignment with this globalist multinational finance and corporate takeover.
If we can get more people to see how short-sighted and dangerous the agenda of the World Economic Forum is, we can further expose the real nature of the BBB agenda, to accumulate wealth and control amid a very small conglomerate of WEF corporate and banking interests.
The ‘climate change agenda‘ has always been about a small group of multinational interests having more assembled power, influence and affluence. As they now take their Davos effort onto the world stage, they will encounter resistance and push-back. Not everyone in the western alliance is on board with the objective.
Stay smart, avoid the shiny things, stay focused, and look for ways to throw sand into the machinery.
Argentina’s economy has collapsed. Around 57% of adults in the nation are currently unemployed. The Socialist nation has programs in place to compensate, costing the country around $6 million daily. However, socialism no longer works when you run out of other people’s money. July’s inflation report showed an uptick over 60%.
Harry Lorenzo, chief finance officer of Income Based Research, told The Epoch Times, that the government’s constant spending has exacerbated the problem ten-fold. “The Argentine government has been grappling with a collapsing economy for some time now. The main reason for this is the government’s unsustainable spending, which has been funded in part by generous welfare programs,” Lorenzo stated. This is the same issue we see in the US, Canada, Europe, and elsewhere when governments spend without the intention of ever paying off their debt.
Argentina has defaulted on seven separate occasions since gaining independence in 1816. Speaking more recently, Argentina’s economy was already in ruin in the 1980s when they faced a serious debt crisis, and the currency became worthless. Inflation reached 2,600% in 1989, and the nation experienced hyperinflation into 1990. They decided to peg the Argentine peso against the USD in the late 1990s, which proved disastrous. Never in the history of economics has a peg survived because the economy is not a flat line.
By 2001, the peso was completely devalued. US Treasury bonds and Argentine government bonds rose 5,000 bps – bank runs ensued. There was an immediate freeze on bank deposits that December and the people were left with nothing. The International Monetary Fund simultaneously announced it would no longer support Argentina and cut them off from funding. This is when the nation lost its last tie to any foreign capital. The nation had no choice but to default once again at the end of December.
Various leaders, whoever could stick with the job, promised that the government would provide the people with basic needs. Nearly 60% of the nation was below the poverty line by 2002. By 2010, Argentina restructured 92% of its debt. The nation tried to remove trade restrictions and attract investors – but who would want their debt? The IMF granted Argentina one of the largest bailout packages in history in 2018, which totaled $57 billion. The IMF again agreed to restructure $44 billion for the nation in January of this year.
The problem with social programs is that there is never enough money. Rising inflation has increased the poverty level, and the average person can no longer afford an abundance of basic necessities such as food. The people of Argentina have been on strike for months, many refusing to work. The government promised them social programs in exchange for a cut of their pay. Argentina’s economy minister, Martin Guzmán, resigned at the beginning of the month. The Argentine peso continues to decline against the dollar, pushed down further by recent Fed rate hikes. This is what happens when governments spend recklessly, peg their failing currency, and promise the people security that they cannot provide.
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