Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi announced his resignation on Thursday after he fell out of favor with the Five Star Movement. Similar to Boris Johnson, once your own people turn their backs on you, it is time to bow out. “I want to announce that this evening I will present my resignation to the President of the Republic,” Draghi said to the pleasure of many. “Today’s votes in Parliament are very significant from a political point of view. The majority of national unity that has supported this government since its creation is no longer there.”
I know people who worked on trading desks years ago with Mario Draghi before he was head of the ECB, and even then he was incompetent. His policy of perpetual low to negative interest rates was a barbaric ancient theory based on the assumption that if you make it insanely cheap to borrow, people will run out and buy everything. Despite his policy failing, he kept it going and accumulated the bulk of European sovereign debt. The ECB made its first rate hike in December 2015, as our models predicted.
I summed it up in 2017: “To make this as plain as possible, the ECB is the largest individual creditor of the euro countries, and is thus a bank that is undermined completely by the poor creditworthiness of the debtors. If the ECB were to apply its own rules to the banks in Europe that say bail-in, not bail-out, then by its own supervision rules, the ECB is insolvent and should be shut down.”
Draghi is responsible for putting Europe on a path from which there is no escape. I noted that Draghi had no way out, and now he has personally upset his own people. He steps down the same week that the euro broke parity. The people are finally seeing that this man is a danger to all of Europe, but unfortunately, the damage has already been done.
Tamara Lich was one of the Canadian Freedom Convoy organizers. She made a cryptic video in February stating that the Canadian government hunting her down. Lich asked protestors to remain peaceful and said that she knew “this too shall pass.” It has not.
Lich remains jailed in Ottawa since defying the government by demanding an end to vaccine mandates. Justice of the peace Paul Harris recently revoked Lich’s bail by stating she violated the conditions of release by attending a gala in Toronto where she was presented with an award for her liberation efforts. “Ms. Lich is not prepared to follow court orders and is prepared to do whatever she feels like doing,” the judge stated. Her lawyer was present at the gala, but since she was photographed with another organizer, the Canadian government has deemed her a threat.
Tamara’s charges: mischief, counseling mischief, obstructing police, counseling to obstruct police, counseling intimidation, and intimidation by blocking and obstructing one or more highways. She has no prior record and did not commit any violent acts.
Tamara Lich is being held as a political prisoner for defying vaccine mandates and garnering more support from Canadians than Trudeau could ever hope to receive. Trudeau wants her to be an example for any dissenters, similar to how Biden is treating the January 6 suspects. Western nations are overtly arresting anyone who does not comply with their agenda and this type of situation has been normalized.
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on July 14, 2022 | sundance
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson resigned. Days later, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated. A few days passed and both the President and Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, resigned and fled the country. Today, with their ruling governments in a state of turmoil, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi have both tendered their resignations.
The collapse of each of these national leaders is not necessarily connected; however, the global political system is reverberating with tremors directly connected to the post-pandemic economic turmoil. It would be naïve not to see these governing issues as consequences. The legitimacy of the governing class is slipping; perhaps it would be fair to say, some have ‘lost’ their legitimacy altogether.
Estonia is part of the EU and a member of NATO:
HELSINKI — Estonia’s president on Thursday asked Prime Minister Kaja Kallas to form a new government after she tendered the resignation of her one-party minority Cabinet, ending a more than month-long political stalemate in the Baltic nation.
President Alar Karis said in a tweet after meeting with Kallas that “I signed the resignation request of Prime Minister @kajakallas but also asked her to form a new government which could start working quickly and deal with all important issues of Estonian life.”
Estonia’s government crisis culminated in early June as Kallas, leader of the ruling center-right Reform Party, kicked out the left-leaning Center Party from the two-party coalition. The parties had substantial differences over spending and welfare policies amid increasing Estonian household costs because of high inflation. (more)
Italy is a member of the G7, a part of the EU and a member of NATO:
ROME — Italian Premier Mario Draghi offered to step down Thursday after a populist coalition partner refused to vote for a key bill in Parliament, but the nation’s president quickly rebuffed him, leaving one of Western Europe’s main leaders at the helm for now.
The rejection of the tendered resignation left in limbo the future of Draghi’s 17-month-old government, officially known as a national unity coalition, but with its survival sorely tested by increasingly sharp divergences within the coalition.
Draghi’s broad coalition government — which includes parties from the right, the left, the center and the populist 5-Star Movement — was designed to help Italy recover from the coronavirus pandemic. (read more)
The parliamentary coalitions are fracturing. New alliances are being formed. One recent example that stunned everyone in the EU was the far-right and far-left in the French parliament joining forces to defeat the coalition government of Emmanuel Macron as he tried, and failed, to extend emergency COVID rules.
FRANCE – It was the first bill in the new legislature, and the Assemblée Nationale has already embarrassed the government. On Tuesday night, the Assemblée rejected one of the key articles in the bill on Covid-19 aimed at extending certain measures for the fight against the pandemic.
During the debate, the coalition backing President Emmanuel Macron was outvoted several times by parts of the left-wing Nouvelle Union Populaire, Ecologique et Sociale (NUPES), the right-wing Les Républicains (LR) and the far-right Rassemblement National (RN). But the government, represented by Health Minister François Braun, adopted what was left of the bill at 1:45 am, which the help LR votes and Socialist abstentions. (more)
The COVID rules in France are set to expire on July 31st. The first parliamentary goal for President Macron was to extend the COVID emergency and keep his powers. However, the legislative effort was rejected by 219 votes to 195, destroying the goals of Macron. Both populist groups joined forces to defeat the Macron coalition.
Yes, amid all of the economic damage created by western leaders and their Build Back Better efforts, the geopolitical world is having spasms as the rulers are being rejected by the ruled.
In the parliamentary systems, the voices of the angry people are rising up. Those shouts are entering the halls of government through the direct representatives closest to the people. The ruling coalitions are no longer able to hold together as the people demand change. That is the connective tissue behind these resignations and departures.
Western government leaders like Joe Biden, Justin Trudeau, Emmanuel Macron, Boris Johnson and Jacinda Ardern have the audacity to stand atop a two-year mountain of unilateral fiats, rules, regulations and mandates and then decry “autocracy” and threats to the “global order.” All of them have destroyed their own legitimacy by pretending to represent western democracy while carrying out two years of totalitarian power.
[…] “A poll conducted last year by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that just 16% of Americans say democracy is working well or extremely well. Another 38% said it’s working only somewhat well.
The distrust has gone so deep that even groups that seem ideologically aligned are questioning each others’ motives and intentions. (more)
We the citizens of the ‘western democracies’ are in an abusive relationship with our own governments’. The yellow vests in France, the MAGA movement in the U.S., the Australian labor unions, the Canadian Truckers and now the Dutch farmers are the precursor tremors for seismic political shifts.
They all followed the same instructions from the World Economic Forum, and western leaders have shown absolutely no desire to pull back and listen to the people. Quite the opposite is happening.
Collectively those same leaders are charging head strong into their Build Back Better agenda, regardless of what that does to the global economy. The collective sanctions placed against Russia are being felt as increased inflation by the citizens of Europe and the United States. Their “climate change’ agenda and energy policies are creating economic turmoil and now food insecurity
Inflation pressure has built up like a pressure cooker. People are growing increasingly desperate, and now the absence of food stability will change things.
The looming shortage of food could be the pressure point that fractures the tectonic political plates.
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on July 14, 2022 | sundance
The “Producer Price Index” (PPI) is essentially the tracking of wholesale prices at three stages: Origination (commodity), Intermediate (processing), and then Final (to wholesale). Today, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) released June price data [Available Here] showing another 11.3% increase year-over-year in Final Demand products at the wholesale level.
Overall, the wholesale inflation rate is being driven by energy prices. The June calculation shows exactly that problem with energy prices embedded in goods driving 10% of the price increase. However, there is some good news in the short-term for July and August, as the intermediate and raw material costs are leveling off temporarily. Unfortunately, that raw material price plateau is almost certainly the result of a drop in demand.
The June inflation rate for final demand goods (2.4%) is driven mostly by higher energy prices (10%). Energy costs are passed along through every stage of the supply chain contributing to an overall wholesale price increase of 2.4% in June, 11.3% year-over-year.
Notice the slight drop in final demand services; that is important. What we are seeing is a contraction in the service economy overall, as the service sector -which includes restaurants- cannot pass along the scale of energy price increase to customers. People are changing their spending habits – service demand overall is dropping.
Additionally, the producer price index gathers data from inside the supply chain, backwards from the final stage (wholesale) into the intermediate stage (various processing) and also raw material prices. Here is where things are getting interesting, and now I can make some direct forward predictions.
I modified Table-B so you can see how the supply chain for goods is responding to both: (A) energy prices, and (B) consumer spending. You can click on the graphic to expand the image and spend some time on it if needed.
You can see from the left side of modified Table-B that both levels of intermediate goods were heavily impacted by energy prices. “Intermediate” processed goods rising 2.3% in June, 22.2% year-over-year. Intermediate unprocessed goods (raw materials) rose 9.5% in June, 58.0% year-over-year.
However, if you subtract the massive June energy costs, you will note the intermediate price of nonfood processed goods significantly dropped to 0.2% in June. And if you subtract the energy costs, you will notice the raw material prices for nonfood durable goods actually declined 2.2% in June.
Here’s what is going on…
The inflationary impact of Joe Biden’s Green New Deal energy program is running into the inability of consumers to pay for the price increases it creates. That is what is causing the demand side drops in retail economic activity on Main Street. We all know this.
As a result of these high prices, there is less internal demand within the supply chain for both goods and services. Inventories are climbing and the demand for raw materials to produce durable goods is now declining. Subtract the energy costs and nonfood prices are dropping. The decline is a raw material demand outcome.
June energy prices were extremely high. That’s driving the current PPI price outcome at all stages; but behind that issue is low manufacturing activity.
Remember, two months ago we said food prices would plateau in July and August. This PPI report shows the entry into that plateau. However, there is a problem on the horizon that is not measured in this data.
The high energy costs to farmers (fertilizer, diesel, oil, energy, etc.), a cost already seeded (forgive the pun) is right now in the fields…. waiting…. sitting somewhat dormant and ignored by the statisticians… but that higher origination price is growing and lurking….
When the farming harvests take place, those higher field costs will enter the supply chain again and end up finding their way, via wholesalers and supermarkets, to your fork. Big Ag is going to maximize this opportunity.
Farmers will not be the ones benefitting.
♦ For the next two months the Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index will show inflation stability and possibly even price declines.
Those reports will come out in August (for July) and September (for August) and will give the impression that inflation has moderated, and the Fed has been successful. However, in/around Sept and October the harvest cost will hit the stores. At that point, energy prices -already high- will take a backseat to the rate of inflation driven by massive increases in food prices.
Oct, Nov and December, all the way through the winter, will be painful at the grocery stores and supermarkets. Also, restaurants this fall and winter, are going to get hit hard as their suppliers start to deliver food at much higher prices. Those people in the food service industry need to prepare now for what is looming.
Everything I just described above is happening at the same time as consumer demand for durable goods and non-essential services is dropping. The current economic activity on Main Street is tepid at best. Housing values have peaked along with rents.
Every element of the U.S. economy is now entering a phase where success or failure in a Main Street business is directly connected to the customer being able to afford the product or service.
Two-thirds of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is driven by consumer spending. Our borders are open, our wages are flat, our prices are high, our discretionary spending is contracting. Our manufacturing and service driven economy will contract, and we are two months away from food stability, prices, affordability and potentially scarcity, being the primary focus of everyone.
Children suffered the worst long-term consequences of the lockdowns. “The State of Global Learning Poverty: 2022 Update,” found that an alarming 70% of middle and lower-class 10-year-olds across the globe cannot read. There is no greater freedom than knowledge, and reading comprehension is essential to our modern-day existence. “Only the richer segments of the population—those with broadband connectivity, access to devices for the use of each family member, a place to study, availability of books and learning material, and a conducive home environment, among other conditions—were able to maintain a reasonable level of education engagement,” the study cited. We are now in the midst of an education crisis where children have fallen perhaps too far behind to catch up with their peers.
Latin America, the Caribbean, and South Asia saw the most notable declines in learning as schools there completely closed and many did not have access to online education. Sadly, many of the organizations that pushed for the lockdowns and school closures, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, would like to step in to help re-educate these children. They will try to reshape an entire generation of vulnerable children as they see fit. “Fighting this learning crisis is the challenge of our times if we do not want to lose this generation of children and youth,” the report said.
“COVID-19 has devastated learning around the world, dramatically increasing the number of children living in Learning Poverty,” said Jaime Saavedra, Global Director for Education at the World Bank. “With 7 in 10 of today’s 10-year-olds in low- and middle-income countries now unable to read a simple text, political leaders and society must swiftly move to recover this generation’s future by ensuring learning recovery strategies and investments.” They are calling this phenomenon “learning poverty,” but the issue was not based on class. This drastic decline in reading comprehension is a direct result of lockdowns and school closures.
The report tries to claim that “learning poverty” was prevalent before the lockdown, but there is no denying that allowing children to miss 273 days of school in certain areas of the world caused this problem. The report says learning poverty violates children’s right to education, but the lockdowns and tyrannical crackdown on a largely unlethal virus harmed ALL children across the globe.
So now, children risk losing $21 trillion in lifetime earnings, equivalent to 17% of global GDP. Our model has been targeting 2030 for many years as a major turning point. Unsurprisingly, this report claims that if we follow the guidance of the same agencies who forced school closures, we can attain a newly indoctrinated, I mean educated, population by 2030.
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on July 13, 2022 | Sundance
Officials in the state of Texas are worried the emergency measures taken Wednesday to avoid blackouts may not be enough. The utility operators urgently need the wind to start operating the windmills or things might get worse. Reuters News has more:
(Reuters) – Texas’s power grid operator on Wednesday took emergency measures to avoid rolling blackouts as soaring electricity demand threatened to outpace available supplies amid a stifling heatwave.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates the grid that serves more than 26 million customers, initiated a rarely used emergency program that is triggered when supplies fall below a critical safety margin.
Earlier, ERCOT had urged residents to cut power use during the hottest hours of the day and warned of a risk for rolling blackouts. Residents were asked to turn up thermostats, defer the use of high-power appliances and turn off swimming pool pumps.
The emergency notice came after ERCOT began paying suppliers an average of $5,000 per magawatt hour to keep generators running. That price is the highest the grid operator pays. “They were pulling a lot of levers to avoid going into emergency operations and rolling blackouts,” said Doug Lewin, president of consultants Stoic Energy LLC. (read more)
Call me Captain Obvious, but in addition to the population migration, it looks like Texas imported California’s energy policies. The sustainable energy isn’t sustainable. However, on a positive note, their state ESG score is improving.
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on July 13, 2022 | Sundance
Gasoline in Mexico is $3.12/gal. Gasoline in the United States is $4.78/gal
The media did not give this much attention; however, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador thoroughly, albeit diplomatically, dressed down Joe Biden over his economic and energy policy during a Tuesday visit to the White House.
You might remember that together with a host of south and central American leaders, Mexican President Lopez-Obrador refused to attend Joe Biden’s Latin-America summit last month {Go Deep}. With that in mind Obrador’s media remarks in the oval office are quite remarkable in their pointedness.
The video and audio are tenuous, and the delay for interpretation makes following the flow of AMLO’s comments a little challenging. However, if you read the transcript you can clearly see how AMLO is diplomatically undressing Biden over the economic issue of U.S. energy policy. It would appear that AMLO is not part of the great western reset and has no intention on inflicting the pain that is deliberately being created by other western leaders. [Video at 23:30, Transcript Below] WATCH:
Now keep in mind that socially AMLO is a soft-socialist (immigration). However, he is also a strong economic nationalist who has previously expressed a strong dislike for the influence of multinational corporations in Mexico. AMLO is not a World Economic Forum acolyte. AMLO is on team BRICS.
In these remarks, AMLO is very pointedly telling Joe Biden that his U.S. energy policy is seriously flawed. It is really quite remarkable.
AMLO tells Biden that Mexico will continue investing in expanded refining of gasoline, and he is willing to sell that gasoline to American companies because Joe Biden will not issue permits to expand gasoline refining capacity in the United States. Additionally, AMLO affirms his position on further oil development in Mexico and then, here comes the kicker,…. offers to expand electricity sales to the United States, including supplying Texas with electricity because both the Biden administration and Texas are not developing their own energy resources.
AMLO is telling Biden that Mexico will increase energy subsidies to the United States if Biden asks him to. Think about that.
[Transcript] – PRESIDENT LÓPEZ OBRADOR: (As interpreted.) Yes, I fully coincide with what you have proposed, President Biden. And I could summarize everything we’ve been saying in five basic items of cooperation.
Number one, since the energy crisis started, Mexico has used 72 percent of its crude and fuel oil exports to United States refineries — 800,000 barrels a day.
Therefore, we decided that while we’re waiting for prices of gasoline to go down in the United States — and I hope that Congress approves or passes your proposal, Mr. President —
PRESIDENT BIDEN: It has gone down for 30 days in a row. (Laughs.)
PRESIDENT LÓPEZ OBRADOR: (As interpreted.) — of lowering — lowering prices, yes. That’s it.
In the meantime, while we’re waiting for prices to go down, we have decided that it was necessary for us to allow Americans who live close to the borderline so that they could go and get their gasoline on the Mexican side at lower prices.
And right now, a lot of the drivers — a lot of the Americans — are going to Mexico, to the Mexican border, to get their gasoline.
However, we could increase our inventories immediately. We are committed to guaranteeing twice as much supply of fuel. That would be considerable support.
Right now, a gallon of regular costs $4.78 average on this side of the border. And in our territory, $3.12.
Let me clarify something, and I also want to take advantage of this opportunity to thank you, Mr. President. Most of this gasoline, we are producing it in the Pemex refinery that you allowed us to buy in Deer Park, Texas.
Two, we are putting at the disposal — or sending at the disposal of your administration over 1,000 kilometers of gas pipelines throughout the southern border with Mexico to transport gas from Texas to New Mexico, Arizona, and California for a volume that can generate up to 750 megawatts of electric energy and supply about 3 million people.
Three, even though the USMCA has made progress for the elimination of tariffs, there are still some others that could be immediately suspended. And we could do the same with some regulations, regulatory measures, and tedious procedures or red tape in terms of trade related to foodstuffs and other products so that we can lower prices for consumers in both our countries, always being very careful in the protection of health and the environment.
Four, starting a private-public investment plan between our two countries to produce all those goods that will be strengthening our markets so that we can avoid having importations from other regions or continents.
In our country, we shall continue producing oil throughout the energy transition. With the U.S. investors, we are going to be establishing gas-liquefying plants, fertilizer plants, and we shall continue promoting the creation of solar energy parks in the state of Sonora and other border states as well.
And we’re going to accomplish this with the support of thermal electric plants and also through transmission lines to produce energy in the domestic market, as well as for exports, to neighboring states in the American union, as for instance, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.
It’s also important to mention that, two months ago, we took the sovereign decision of nationalizing lithium in Mexico. This is a fundamental mineral, a fundamental input to advance in our purpose not to depend on fossil fuels. And this will be available for the technological modernization of the automotive industry among our great countries — the countries of the USMCA.
Five, orderly migration flow and allowing arrival in the United States of workers, technicians, and professionals of different disciplines. I’m talking about Mexicans and Central Americans with temporary work visas to ensure not paralyzing the economy because of the lack of labor force.
The purpose of this plan would be to support and to have the right labor force that will be demanded by the plan you proposed and that was passed by Congress of using $1 trillion for the construction of infrastructure works. (read more)
Mexican President Lopez-Obrador is offering to bail out the United States energy crisis.
The World Economic Forum is praising Denmark for implementing the world’s strictest carbon tax laws. Companies will soon be forced to pay $159 for every tonne of CO2 emitted, marking an additional $53 per tonne. The government claims this will cut CO2 levels by 3.7 million tonnes in just one year.
“This incentivizes companies to clean up for themselves,” the WEF reported. In the midst of an extreme energy crisis, punishing energy suppliers will undoubtedly backfire. These costs will be passed along to the already struggling consumer. Even the World Bank admitted that the poor will suffer from the carbon tax.
The World Bank stated on its blog:
“There are good reasons why governments may not want to use carbon taxes, and one of them relates to their welfare impacts. For example, a carbon tax on fossil fuels is often regressive in its impact- hurting poorer people relatively more than richer ones. Even when it might be progressive, poorer people still suffer a welfare loss when prices rise, making their consumption basket more expensive.”
Furthermore, they admitted that the carbon tax “aims to restructure economies by raising the cost of a critical resource – the juice that makes it run.” Precisely. We NEED fossil fuels right now, there is no other viable alternative available to provide energy to the world. Since nations have succumbed to the climate change agenda, they have lost their energy-independent status. Europe shot itself in the foot by eliminating any diplomatic relations with their number one supplier of gas for a country that they did not acknowledge prior to February 2022.
Other nations with the ability will drill and sell oil to those under WEF leadership at a premium. India is already buying Russian oil at a discount, refining it, and selling it to the US for a premium. This is more than just bad business as it is a clear attempt to cut off a “critical resource” to “restructure economies” as seen fit by the WEF.
Officers in plain clothes disrupted a peaceful protest outside the capital of Henan, as seen in the video above. Depositors were protesting to demand that their savings be returned as thousands have been unable to access their money for over a month. Banks in Henan first froze client assets, and then the Chinese government changed the victims’ COVID QR passes to red to deny them the freedom of movement. The most recent protest was among the largest seen in China since the pandemic began.
Over $6 billion (39 billion yuan) is missing. A reported 400,000 people have been affected. Imagine going to the bank only to realize that your entire life’s savings were gone instantly? You worked hard, saved, and did everything right for years or decades, only to have it all abruptly taken away. Even the most ruthless government is in trouble when the people have nothing left to lose. Imagine if the Chinese were permitted to own guns? There would be uncontrolled civil unrest.
So where is the money? Chances are that the banks do not have the liquidity to pay out all of the depositors. Instead of cracking down on the banks, the government is coming after innocent people. Officers in plain clothes attacked protestors, including the elderly and women, and civilians were left wondering why their own people would attack them when they were clearly the victims. Governments are completely ruthless and DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE PEOPLE.
Posted originally on the conservative tree house on July 13, 2022 | Sundance
During an extensive opening monologue on Tuesday evening, Fox News host Tucker Carlson walked through the origin of the modern American push for a transformation in the U.S. energy system; as outlined in the Green New Deal advocacy of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and how Joe Biden is implementing the agenda by executive fiat.
The Green New Deal is domestically to the U.S. as the Build Back Better agenda is to the rest of the western nations who follow the instructions from the World Economic Forum. Collectively the economies of western government are starting to collapse as the underlying energy policies (climate change) are being implemented.
Carlson walks through several examples of countries who have tried and failed to switch from oil, gas and coal to the “green renewable” energy programs. Everything from farming to home heating is now under attack by the governmental energy policies of western nations. Civil society is starting to collapse in according to the schedule of the nations who have tried to transition. Perhaps the worst part about it, is that western politicians -like Joe Biden- do not care how much damage is done, they are doing it anyway. WATCH:
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Something has to change, and soon. As a nation we are going to self-destruct if we do not stop this mad effort to use windmills and solar energy as alternative power sources to oil, coal and natural gas. Already there are signs that states like Texas are bordering on an energy crisis because there is not enough wind to power their windmills.
From the complete restructuring of farming under the guise of climate change (the intentional shift to eating bugs and lab-grown meat), to the complete collapse of stable energy as a result of chasing climate change goals, we are fast approaching the point of no easy return.
We are not going to like the civil unrest and national instability that comes along with public desperation.
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
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