Category WW III

Aug 6 2022

Good News, Gasoline Prices Drop – Bad News, Demand for Gasoline Plummets to Pandemic Era Levels


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 5, 2022 | Sundance 

The good news is that gasoline prices have dropped in the past several weeks to an average of $4.13/gal.  However, the bad news is that most of the drop in price is related to gasoline demand dropping to the same level as July 2020 during the pandemic lockdown phase.

Obviously, $4.13/gal is still a very high price for gasoline, and that is leading to fewer people purchasing gasoline.

(Via Fox) – […] New data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows that gas demand dropped from 9.25 million barrels per day to 8.54 million per day last week. That’s 1.24 million barrels per day lower than last year and “in line with demand at the end of July 2020,” when there were widespread virus-related restrictions and fewer people were hitting the road, according to AAA. 

The latest demand figures bolster a recent AAA survey that revealed 64% of drivers had changed their driving habits or lifestyle since March to offset the high prices at the pump. (read more)

If you think about the position of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC or OPEC+), it makes sense for them to recognize the intentions of the western leaders to shrink the western industrial economies and respond accordingly.

OPEC knows North American and European leaders are intentionally reducing economic activity in an effort to lower the economy to match the lower level of energy production. This is the “managing the transition phase” of the Build Back Better agenda, the intentional shrinking of the economy through energy and monetary policy.

Knowing that, it makes sense that OPEC would not produce additional oil into a globally shrinking economic system.  Producing more oil would be against their own economic interests.

Aug 6 2022

Labor Report, 528,000 Jobs Gained in July, Large Gains in Restaurants and Services, Unemployment Rate 3.5%


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 5, 2022 | Sundance 

A few days ago, we were discussing the disconnect within the economy as it relates to corporate valuations.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics report today [DATA HERE] highlights another economic disconnect, this time with labor.  According to the BLS survey 528,000 jobs were added to the economy in July, the unemployment rate drops to 3.5%.

The household data [Table A] shows the number of eligible workers unemployed dropped 242,000; however, the number of eligible workers no longer in the workforce increased by 239,000.  The total labor force is shrinking as unemployment drops.

Keep in mind the previous BLS survey of job openings (JOLTS report) showed available jobs dropped 605,000 in July.  “On the last business day of June, the number and rate of job openings decreased to 10.7 million (-605,000) and 6.6 percent, respectively. The largest decreases in job openings were in retail trade (-343,000), wholesale trade (-82,000), and in state and local government education (-62,000).” [JOLTS survey]

Going back to today’s release, 303,000 part-time jobs were added in July; these are workers working part-time for economic reasons.  The Household Data shows that within the leisure and hospitality sector [Table B-1] restaurants and bars added 74,000 jobs.

If we combine both BLS surveys two days apart is: 605,000 job openings cancelled, and 528,000 new jobs gained.

Of the 528,000 new jobs gained, 303,000 were part time jobs with the largest growth in the jobs in restaurants and bars.

Again, blending data from both reports and focusing on retail.  The retail sector cancelled 343,000 job openings in July, and the retail sector added 21,600 jobs in July.  Within the retail sector (table B-1), jobs at automotive dealers, furniture stores and clothing/apparel stores dropped by a combined 7,200 jobs.

BIG PICTURE:  ♦Energy prices are squeezing consumers and paychecks. ♦Energy driven inflation is high.  ♦Rising housing costs, food costs, gasoline costs and energy costs have hit the consumer hard.  ♦Credit card balances have jumped (highest increase since ’02).  ♦Consumer sales on non-essential items have dropped.  ♦Factory activity around the world (Asia and Eurozone) is slowing or has stopped.  ♦Durable goods inventories have climbed everywhere.  ♦Shippers of durable goods are not shipping. ♦Employment in auto sales, furniture and clothing have all declined.  All of these datapoints align.

Everything in that “big picture” is fact based on current data, and it all makes sense.  However, there is still a disconnect in the big picture.

How does an economy add over 4 million jobs this year, while simultaneously shrinking?

The value of those jobs has to diminish in proportion to the economic contraction.  The disconnect only reconciles if the wages which lead to eventual spending.  With wage growth at 5.2% and the cost of everything up 9.1% (inflation), the difference between the two is how the economy shrinks even with more jobs added.

Think of all the activity (buying stuff, eating out, ordering food etc) as units. All of the unit activity costs more money, but the earnings of the workers is only keeping pace with half of the increase in price.  Therefore, less units are being engaged made, sold and purchased.

The GDP, which measures the value of everything created in the economy (minus imports) dropped 1.6% in the first quarter and 0.9% in the second.  The unit economy is contracting.

As I have said before, “an intentionally managed decline of western economic activity should have a direct impact on the private corporations within those economies.  If the politicians are collectively going to stop energy development, raise energy prices (inflation), then use monetary policy to shrink the economy down to the level of energy available, we would normally think corporations were going to make less money.”

However, in our current scenario, as long as price increases (energy inflation) can be passed along and wage gains can remain low, the profitability remains strong.  Here’s the worst part of this dynamic.  The people investing in the profit get richer, the workers creating the profit get poorer.

Our Joe Biden economy, and the economy of the western nations that are following this same climate change agenda, is getting smaller.  Within the smaller economy, the rich are getting richer and the workers within the Joe Biden economy are getting poorer.

Aug 5 2022

Waking Up From a Coma in 2022


Awaken With JP Published originally on Rumble on July 30, 2022

Imagine you woke up from a 19 year coma and it’s the year 2022…

Aug 5 2022

COVID Vaccine Lawsuits Begin


Armstrong Economics Blog/Disease Re-Posted Aug 5, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

NorthShore University HealthSystem in Chicago was sued by a nonprofit religious organization called Liberty Counsel. The group claims that NorthShore violated workers’ religious autonomy by dismissing religious exemptions and forcing all workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. NorthShore was in the wrong and decided to settle for $10,337,500.

Over 500 current and past employees will receive a payout, and the group will notify others of the lawsuits and give them the option to submit a claim. “NorthShore will also change its unlawful ‘no religious accommodations’ policy to make it consistent with the law, and to provide religious accommodations in every position across its numerous facilities,” Liberty Counsel stated.

Other groups will follow suit. They may have granted the pharmaceutical companies immunity, but there was a grey area for employers. Countless people lost their jobs due to the vaccine mandate, which likely was a violation of the Constitution.

Lawsuits may begin with large corporations, but if the Republicans regain control, health agencies and government officials may be investigated as well. This lawsuit is a major win for medical autonomy as companies will be less likely to comply with government mandates as they now know they could risk legal retaliation.

Aug 5 2022

Geopolitical Nightmare


Armstrong Economics Blog/Geopolitical Re-Posted Aug 5, 2022 by Martin Armstrong

My mother died at 99. She had her wits about her til the end. Not everyone loses their mind. Henry Kissinger, I regard as the finest geopolitical analyst in history. That person in the Biden Administration who is the real president writing the scripts is only interested in climate change and the Great Reset. They pushed the sanctions against Russia, which have divided the world and ended the global economy. They are already preparing ways for us to eat bugs. Cricket powder is starting to show up in the food supply.

Meanwhile, there is absolutely no evidence that any sanction against a country has ever worked. Iran has been under sanctions for as long as I can remember. These morons are pushing the world into a serious geopolitical confrontation that will not end nicely. We have reached the 8.6-year turning point from the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution. This does not speak well for what we face in 2023. All I can say is I really hope the Democrats do not allow illegal aliens to vote. I fear that will spark a serious uprising, and then you will get a REAL insurrection — not a fake January 6th event to create publicity for the November 2022 election.

Aug 5 2022

Senator Kyrsten Sinema Agrees to Senate Green New Deal Spending and Tax Proposal After Negotiating Minor Changes


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 5, 2022 | Sundance

Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema has announced her support for the senate climate change spending and tax proposal after some modifications to the new taxation.

To support the hedge fund donors, Senator Sinema insisted the carried interest loophole tax provision be removed and instead replaced with a corporate tax on stock buybacks.  Any time a corporation wants to buy back their own shares of stock, they will now pay the U.S. government a tax for doing so; at least that’s the ¹intent.

[¹Note: taxing shares of company stock will never work, because that’s exactly what shell companies were designed to avoid.  Set up a child shell company to purchase the stock and the parent company doesn’t pay taxes on the child’s purchase.  It’s a shell game]

Additionally, according to reports, there is some kind of agreement to modify the 15% corporate minimum tax.  Details unknown.  Bottom line, Senator Sinema now supports the $700 billion climate change spending and tax proposal.

“We have agreed to remove the carried interest tax provision, protect advanced manufacturing, and boost our clean energy economy in the Senate’s budget reconciliation legislation,” Sinema said, signaling that she plans to vote to begin debate on the bill.  “Subject to the parliamentarian’s review, I’ll move forward,” she said.  (link)

Aug 5 2022

Tucker Carlson Interviews Ron DeSantis After the Florida Governor Suspends Activist Prosecutor


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 4, 2022 | Sundance

August 4, 2022 | Sundance | 112 Comments

Tucker Carlson used his opening monologue tonight to discuss George Soros and the efforts of the Soros foundation to fund activist state prosecutors who will not enforce laws. The Soros agenda is an end-run around the U.S. constitution that empowers We The People to enact laws and rules of society through legislative representation.

By selecting prosecutors who will not enforce laws against criminal behavior, the Soros initiative subverts the voice of the people.  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is the first governor to use his state constitutional authority to remove an activist prosecutor.  Tucker Carlson interviewed him immediately after the monologue. {Direct Rumble Link} WATCH:

The monologue that preceded the interview is below.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=3wg7CYDPKbo%3Ffeature%3Doembed

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Aug 5 2022

AP Calls Arizona Governor Republican Primary for Kari Lake


Post originally on the conservative tree house on August 4, 2022 | Sundance

With ballots continuing to be counted in various counties around Arizona, specifically including the corrupt county of Maricopa, Republican candidate Kari Lake has extended her lead beyond the ability of Arizona election officials to remove it.  The Associated Press calls the race for Kari Lake.

PHOENIX (AP) — Kari Lake, a former news anchor who walked away from her journalism career and was embraced by Donald Trump and his staunch supporters, won the Republican primary for Arizona governor on Thursday.

Lake’s victory was a blow to the GOP establishment that lined up behind lawyer and businesswoman Karrin Taylor Robson in an attempt to push their party past the chaotic Trump era. Lake said she would not have certified President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory and put false claims of election fraud at the center of her campaign.

“The MAGA movement rose up like their lives depended on it,” Lake said as she declared victory prematurely on Wednesday afternoon, a day before the race was called, using an acronym for Trump’s Make America Great Again movement. “And it proved that you can’t buy an election, at least not in Arizona. We the people rose up and spoke.”

Robson, who is married to one of Arizona’s richest men, largely self-funded her campaign. She called the 2020 election “unfair” but stopped short of calling it fraudulent and pushed for the GOP to look toward the future.

[…] Former Vice President Mike Pence, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie all campaigned for Robson in the days before the election. (read more)

Aug 5 2022

Coordination Between J6 Committee and Politically Motivated DOJ is Intended to Break Attorney-Client Firewalls in Trump Targeting Effort


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 4, 2022 | Sundance 

The long-term motives and plans of the J6 committee and their coordination with the DOJ are starting to come into increased clarity as the mid-term elections draw near.

A key indicator of the strategy from within the J6/DOJ effort surfaced when the quasi-constitutional “committee” sent a subpoena to former President Trump legal counsel Pat Cipollone, then leaked the subpoena, then leaked the testimony, then shaped, edited and broadcast the testimony during their prime-time broadcast.   After the J6 broadcast, attorney Cipollene was then subpoenaed by the DOJ and recent reports indicate he is being called to testify before a grand jury.

The legal strategy, hereafter called by what it is, a Lawfare strategy, is now clear.

The legislative branch, specifically the J6 committee, is attempting to use their self-created legislative legal authorities, to fracture long established attorney-client privileges, and then send the results to the DOJ for use against the client of the attorney.  This explains the importance of former White House attorney Lisa Monaco taking up her position as Deputy Asst Attorney General.

The DOJ would be shut down by any ordinary court of jurisdiction, even in the heavily political Washington DC system, if they attempted to get a lawyer to give testimony about his legal advice to a client.  It is one of the most basic tenets and legal privileges in our system.

Attorneys cannot be compelled to give testimony against their clients, it is a standard long accepted in our legal system.  Any attorney who would break the confidence of the attorney-client privilege would lose their license.

Additionally, as the president, other privileges exist for President Trump, specifically the executive privilege to receive counsel or advice -from any person- on any issue that would pertain toward the administration of the executive office.  The president needs to be able to receive information in confidence, and the people giving advice and counsel need to be able to speak freely without fear the content of the conversation would later be used by another entity not involved in the issue at hand.

By compelling testimony to a non-court of manufactured quasi-legal jurisdiction, such as the J6 committee demanding testimony from Cipollone, it now appears the resulting information is being transferred to the DOJ for use against Cipollone’s client, President Trump.

This is an example of lawfare at its worst.

The J6 committee demands testimony and asserts the testimony must be offered without conflict because the J6 committee itself has no criminal authority.

As the issue is argued, the witness cannot be criminally charged by the committee, therefore no criminal liabilities exist for the witness, therefore the testimony can be compelled by the committee (the legislative branch).  However, what we are seeing is the committee being used as a legal shield and enforcement tool by/for the DOJ who could never -on their own- force the same testimony.

The result is President Trump legal counsel Pat Cipollone being compelled to testify before a criminal grand jury, and within that questioning he will be asked about about his prior testimony before the J6 committee.  Essentially, this is one big Lawfare workaround; and likely a legal and constitutional issue that will end up at an appellate court level or higher.

Political elements within the legislative branch (J6) are colluding with political elements within the executive branch (DOJ), to fracture the constitutional protections that exist not only for presidents’ (exec privilege), but also for all Americans (attorney/client privilege).

In ordinary times, this approach would be a jaw-dropping controversy that would come under rebuke from everyone involved in the media and justice system.

What is being described, well, actually what is happening, is what happens in third-world banana republics when presidents of various political regimes take office and then target their opposition using the state police or military.  What is being done under the auspices of the J6 committee and DOJ is an identical scenario using a longer approach that works around the foundation of the U.S. political and legal system.

More alarmingly, there is no one doing anything or saying anything to stop this process.  The republican politicians in Washington DC are as willfully blind to the unconstitutional lawfare scheme as they are to the victims of the J6 FBI and DOJ targeting operation who are languishing in DC prisons.

No doubt former President Obama and his crew are laughing as they watch this play out, while the media cheer.  After all, these are all former Obama officials who are carrying out the targeting operation. [ SEE WHY HERE ]  The Republicans and Democrats created the Fourth Branch of Government as a political targeting mechanism.  Both parties are now protecting themselves from discovery of its intent.

~ Support CTH Here ~

Aug 5 2022

DC Dick Begs Wyoming Voters to Support DC Liz


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on August 4, 2022 | Sundance

Despite the overwhelming support of mainstream corporate media, Wyoming DeceptiCon Liz Cheney is likely to be crushed in the republican primary race on August 16.

In addition to voting to impeach President Trump and being removed from her congressional leadership position, DC Liz was one of only two republican votes to support the formation of the J6 Committee (the other was Adam Kinzinger).  DC Liz has been begging Wyoming Democrats to vote for her in the republican primary contest so she can save her seat.

In an embarrassing and genuinely pathetic last-ditch effort, her father, DC Dick, recorded a campaign commercial begging the people in Wyoming to support his daughter.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=H6Nq9SpGzic%3Ffeature%3Doembed