Tag Archives: Wall Street multinational corporations

May 15 2022

Republican Senate Leadership Travel to Kyiv, Ukraine to Inspect the Treasury


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 14, 2022

Comrade taxpayers, as the glorious and esteemed senate move through the procedural hurdles to pass a massive $40 billion spending bill for the U.S. altruistic Ukraine money laundering operation, a fabulous diplomatic envoy consisting of Mitch McConnell, John Barrasso, John Cornyn and Susan Collins travel to Kyiv to meet the magnanimous defender of the international treasury and wealth transfer operation, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The magnificent republican leaders went to visit the nicest war zone their bipartisan efforts have created in the past four decades.  As the angels of abundance parted the clouds, many congratulations were shared from the delegation toward their generous host and the expressions of appreciation and respect for the generosity were reciprocated.  WATCH:

No U.S. border security, no gas money, no grocery money, no infant formula, no voting integrity…. Meh, no problem comrades.  We’ve got Ukrainians to support.  We are paying the pensions and benefits of Ukraine government officials and Ukraine citizens.

Keep in mind, the politicians are not tone deaf, out of touch or disconnected; they simply do not care.  We The People are irrelevant to them.

We are in an abusive relationship with our own government.

May 14 2022

Tucker Carlson Explains the Govt Created Subsidized Baby Formula Monopoly and Current Shortages


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 13, 2022 | Sundance 

Tucker Carlson did a pretty decent job tonight outlining the current issues with shortages of baby formula and why it is specifically galling for the Joe Biden administration to claim they don’t know anything about the problem they helped create.  WATCH:

May 14 2022

REMINDER: Judge in Sussmann Trial is Married to Lisa Page’s Lawyer


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 13, 2022 | Sundance 

Just a brief reminder as you review the decisions in the pre-trial motions for the case against Clinton Lawyer Michael Sussman.

It is worth remembering that Judge Christopher Cooper is married to Amy Jeffries, Lisa Page’s lawyer.

(Foreground left) Lisa Page, FBI Lawyer, (Foreground right) Amy Jeffries (Judge Cooper’s wife)

Additionally, Judge Cooper and Michael Sussmann both worked in the DOJ together.  When he was selected as judge in the Sussmann trial, Cooper revealed the potential conflict of interest in the event the Durham prosecution wanted him to recuse himself from the case.  Special Prosecutor John Durham did not ask Judge Cooper to recuse himself.

September 2021 – The judge in the case of recently indicted Democratic lawyer Michael Sussmann is married to the lawyer who represented a disgraced former FBI official that worked on the Donald Trump Russia probe that Sussmann played some role in advancing. 

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper of the District of Columbia, who is presiding over the Sussmann case, is married to lawyer Amy Jeffress, who represented FBI lawyer Lisa Page in a civil case. 

Cooper, an Obama-appointee, and Jeffress, a former top aide to Attorney General Eric Holder, are well connected in the Democratic party. Current Attorney General Merrick Garland even presided over their 1999 wedding. (read more)

Techno Fog has more on the latest pre-trial details…

…. SEE HERE 

May 14 2022

Baby Formula Crisis is a Major Issue for Democrats and the Dependency Coalition, Half of all U.S. Baby Formula Sales are Made with WIC Subsidy


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 13, 2022 | Sundance

If you’ve noticed the democrats being a bit more worried about the baby formula shortage crisis, there’s a good reason for that.  Baby formula is very expensive for the working family.  Subsidizing low-income parents with free infant formula has been dependency initiative for the democrats for a long time.

It’s not just the regular store-bought formula that is in extremely short supply, the government groups and NGO’s that provide the free formula are also out of stock.   The free formula dependency crowd is far madder than the paying purchaser, that spells trouble for democrats.

Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, noting the extreme political damage her House members could feel from an angry dependency base, said today the baby formula shortage is the worst possible crisis in decades.  She called it “unconscionable and tragic,” and in her statement outlined the scale of the problem for Democrats in office:

…”The shortage has taken an especially dangerous toll on women and children from underserved communities: about half of infant formula sold nationwide is purchased with WIC (Women, Infant and Children) benefits.”  (LETTER)

Half of the infant formula sold nationwide is purchased with WIC subsidy?  That’s why the issue is getting urgent attention from Democrats.

May 14 2022

Biden Effort to Turn Ultra MAGA into a Disparaging Epithet Came from Six Month Study Headed by Anita Dunn


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 13, 2022 | Sundance 

The Washington Post is reporting the shift from the White House to disparage their political opposition with the terms “MAGA”, “Ultra-MAGA” and President Trump as the “Great MAGA King,” came from a six-month poll study led by Anita Dunn, the latest senior advisor in the White House.

Keep in mind, a few days ago White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said the terminology “ultra-MAGA” was an “organic utterance” from Joe Biden.  Whoops.

WASHINGTON DC – […] Biden’s attempt to appropriate the “MAGA” brand as a political attack was hardly accidental. It arose from a six-month research project to find the best way to target Republicans, helmed by Biden adviser Anita Dunn and by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a liberal group.

The polling and focus group research by Hart Research and the Global Strategy Group found that “MAGA” was already viewed negatively by voters — more negatively than other phrases like “Trump Republicans.”

In battleground areas, more than twice as many voters said they would be less likely to vote for someone called a “MAGA Republican” than would be more likely. The research also found that the description tapped into the broad agreement among voters that the Republican Party had become more extreme and power-hungry in recent years. (read more)

On May 5th the White House announced Anita Dunn would return to the JoeBama administration as senior advisor.  Dunn’s specific expertise is using pressure, blackmail and political leverage to control information distribution by media organizations.  Apparently “ultra-MAGA” was Dunn’s first branding effort for the White House.

The reappearance of Anita Dunn aligns with the expressed intent of the DHS ‘disinformation’ board.  Dunn’s professional political skillset surrounds being a paid media fixer.   She has done this for multiple democrat politicians including Obama.  It was Anita Dunn who used her position in the Biden campaign to demand that media stop allowing Rudy Guiliani to explain the Biden family ‘pay to play’ financial system of selling influence.

Anita Dunn also advised Harvey Weinstein how to remove media stories of his Hollywood rape issues.  Dunn reappearing makes sense, as the U.S. government objective to control information is now in full swing.

Last point.  The group that spearheaded the six month study, Hart Research, is the same outfit who does all the polling for NBC and CNBC.  Partisan much?  lol

Ultra-MAGA

May 14 2022

Mike Pence (“Et Tu Brute?”)Will Rally in Georgia to Support Brian Kemp


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 13, 2022 | Sundance

May 13, 2022 | Sundance | 373 Comments

The good news is more and more people are waking up to the dark arts of Republican politics.  If the awakening continues things will change.  The bad news is we’ve got to plow through a few more losses to get more lions awake.

Mike Pence is going to rally in Georgia on behalf of Brian Kemp’s reelection bid, because of course he is, Club rules.

The GOP club has outplayed the MAGA voters in the state of Georgia by using their private club rules along with the assist from an open primary.

Brian Kemp will win the GA republican (open ballot) primary with the help of democrats and GOP club endorsements.

The defeat of David Perdue will provide the Pence/Bush tenured club officials, ie. ‘the old guard‘, with the opportunity to disparage Donald Trump, claim MAGA is dead and Trump’s endorsements worthless.   The media are all waiting anticipatory glee for the opportunity.

Sometimes you just have to swallow the bitter pill and move along.  Both clubs in Georgia have made a deal, everything now is just watching the illusion of choice unfold.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Vice President Mike Pence will campaign with Georgia’s incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp the day before this month’s GOP primary in his most significant political break with former President Donald Trump to date.

Kemp’s campaign announced Friday morning that Pence will headline a get-out-the-vote rally for Kemp on Monday, May 23rd, the day before the vote. That puts Pence in direct conflict with Trump-endorsed candidate David Perdue, who has been trailing in the polls. Kemp is one of Trump’s top targets this election cycle because of his refusal to cooperate with Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

“Brian Kemp is my friend, a man dedicated to faith, family and the people of Georgia,” Pence said in a statement. “I am proud to offer my full support for four more years of Brian Kemp as governor of the great state of Georgia!”

The news comes as Pence has taken steps to distance himself from Trump as the former congressman and Indiana governor considers a 2024 presidential run that could put him into direct competition with his former boss. (read more)

Get rid of Ronna McDaniel.  Start there.

It’s time to stop trying to wake up the sheep, and start waking up more lions.

P

May 13 2022

Pennsylvania GOP Primary Brings Out All The Club Moves


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 12, 2022 | Sundance

Perhaps you’ve noticed. For the past two nights Fox News and a host of corporate allies have been doing a full-frontal attack against Pennsylvania Senate Candidate Kathy Barnette.

The club reaction appears to have been triggered by a GOP Trafalgar poll showing Kathy Barnette in a close second place (23.2%), surging ahead of David McCormick (21.6%) and right on the heels of Mehmet Oz (24.5%).  [Bartos 7.2%, Sands 6.5%]

In this outline I will explain the easily visible GOPe club moves without trying to support any particular candidate, that’s for Pennsylvania voters to decide.  However, once you understand the background play, it might help clarify what the Keystone state voters are witnessing.

BACKGROUND.  President Trump has endorsed Mehmet Oz.  However, many people in the MAGA base are stuggling with that endorsement because they just don’t like the guy and question the bonafides of his sudden, seemingly convenient, MAGA-mindedness.

Meanwhile, David McCormick is the GOPe candidate from the mold of the typically Wall Street Mitch McConnell tribe.

McCormick is the quintessential corporate republican, or what might be described as the ‘establishment’ party choice.  I would call McCormick the club candidate.

Kathy Barnette is the alternative favorite in the race for the MAGA base who just cannot bring themselves to support Oz.  Barnette is the outsider and carries a fierce independent streak that appeals to frustrated voters who have had enough of the nonsense.

As a result, the top three in the race break down into McCormick as the Club candidate, while Barnette and Oz are splitting the MAGA vote.  By my estimation the MAGA support looks like 60%(ish) Barnette and 40%(ish) Oz.  What is happening now in this race is very Karl Rove-ian.

The Club for Growth (CfG) is seemingly more aligned with David McCormick and needs to split the MAGA base, so they funnel money toward Barnette in order to disrupt and diminish the professional MAGA endorsements of Team Trump.

Seeing Mehmet Oz struggling to get support, and seeing a rise in the polling for Kathy Barnette, Fox News Sean Hannity started to attack Barnette on Wednesday with a full-throated ridiculing of her campaign.

Hannity labels Barnette as an ‘unelectable extremist’ with a history of controversial statements, positions and tweets.  After a 10-minute nasty attack segment, Sean Hannity then invites the previously scheduled Mehmet Oz to pile on.  The total Wednesday attack program lasted almost 30-minutes on prime-time television.

Then Thursday (6pm), corporate Fox News Shannon Bream announces David McCormick will appear tomorrow (Friday) on Special Reports segment for a promotional interview.   This makes sense because McCormick would be the corporate Fox News favorite republican in the mold of Marco Rubio.

During the 8pm hour (Tucker Carlson show) Fox News Corp then runs a promotional segment for Sean Hannity who says, “tune in at 9pm when we will go deeper into the controversial past of Kathy Barnette and expose her radical positions.”

As promoted at 9pm Hannity leads with another 15-minute attack against Barnette and then opens the floor to two other PA candidates, Jeff Bartos and Carla Sands, to continue the onslaught.

Destroying Barnette works for the agenda of Hannity (promoting Oz) and for the agenda of Corporate Fox News (promoting McCormick).

As a result, Kathy Barnette is taking fire from the GOPe Club, Corporate Fox News and the entirety of the Trump endorsement team which includes Sean Hannity and Ric Grennell.  Trump Inc supporting Oz, while Fox Inc is supporting McCormick.  This forms the gauntlet of the attack.

The beneficiary of this Rovian strategy is David McCormick.

Team McCormick is likely hopeful this onslaught will bring the destabilized Barnette wing of the MAGA base into his team; because the Barnette wing of the MAGA base will not support Mehmet Oz.

Both Oz and McCormick are sketchy to the ultra-MAGA base, but with McCormick the club alignment is what Mitch McConnell would call a “more approved” fit.

For the ultra-MAGA voter, with McCormick you get the openly Jeb Bush republican (Decepticon).

For the ultra-MAGA voter, with Mehmet Oz you get the closeted Mitt Romney democrat (RINO).

That’s why the majority of the ultra-MAGA voters were supporting Kathy Barnette in the first place, as an alternative to Oz.  That’s why Donald Trump endorsing Mehmet Oz was received with such disdain by the base.

The Republican Club (McCormick) and the Trump Club (Dr. Oz) are both trying to bring down Kathy Barnette and saying she can never win the general election in Pennsylvania.

Are they correct?  Well, that’s up to Pennsylvania voters to decide.  The pundits will all tell you the suburban women’s vote is the deciding factor in Pennsylvania politics.  Supposedly Dr Oz is more liked by that group of voters.  I have no idea.

This type of battle is what primary voting contests are all about.

My only purpose in this outline is to explain why McCormick wants to split MAGA (the move by Rove), and why Trump is trying to avoid a split MAGA vote (to avoid McCormick).

For those still torn over what to do, my own advice is:

♦ Vote your heart in the primary contest.

♦ Vote pragmatically in the general election contest.

Bottom line, VOTE!

May 13 2022

Marjorie Taylor Greene, Food Security is National Security


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 12, 2022 | Sundance 

Earlier today ultra-MAGA representative Marjorie Taylor Greene delivered remarks about the failures of the Biden administration as they are reflected in the continual food security and pricing crisis.   I strongly recommend watching these brief remarks, very impressive.

MTG accurately identifies the origin of the current baby formula crisis, as an outcome of stress within the supply chain caused by government intervention into the overall system.  MTG then notes that FDA rules and regulations make supply interruptions worse.

Additionally, in the background of the federal DHS and HHS contracts for food products, including baby food/formula, most of those federal contracts contain a ‘first right‘ or ‘prioritized continuity‘ provision, creating a distribution outcome (via contractual mandate) where illegal aliens end up with preferential allocation.  WATCH (2:55 mins):

May 13 2022

J6 Committee Issues Subpoenas to Five House Republican Members


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 12, 2022 | Sundance 

The entire premise of the J6 committee is a farce.  The overwhelming majority of Americans fully understand it is a political exercise between Democrats in congress and their hired Lawfare allies.  The goal is to label their political opposition as extremists, block and/or tarnish President Trump and manufacture a false premise to advance the Democrat 2022 election goals.

Despite this reality the effort continues in order to fuel their far-left base and media allies.

Today, the House committee triggered subpoenas against House republican members.  The subpoenas were sent to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (U-DC), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Rep Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Mo Brooks (R-Ala.). All five of the house members had previously rejected investigators’ requests for voluntarily testimony.

The subpoena authority is likely, hopefully, to be challenged in court.  The premise of a House committee issuing subpoena’s to the political opposition of the same House membership appears to violate the function of government on many levels.

WASHINGTON DC – […] The Republican leader indicated he might not comply with the subpoena.

“My view on the committee has not changed,” said McCarthy, who added he had not yet seen the subpoena. “They’re not conducting a legitimate investigation. It seems as though they just want to go after their political opponents.”

The select committee demanded testimony from the five lawmakers in the final week of May.

Members of the select panel have wrestled for months with the question of how to handle their GOP colleagues. The Capitol riot committee’s chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), had previously doubted the wisdom of that subpoenaing lawmakers, as that would likely trigger a lengthy court fight unlikely to be resolved before in the current Congress.

But the select panel’s thinking appears to have changed, as every avenue of the probe led investigators toward fellow House members.

Some of the subpoena targets — and several other GOP lawmakers — were regularly in contact with Trump and the White House in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6. They helped amplify false claims about the integrity of the 2020 election and were among the earliest to call on colleagues to challenge the results.

But members were mindful that demanding testimony from lawmakers would potentially set a precedent. While House and Senate ethics committees have subpoenaed members and staff before, there’s little precedent for an investigative committee — particularly one mainly guided by the majority party — turning its subpoena powers on fellow members of the House.  (read more)

The committee is desperate to find something, anything, that can justify all of the time and expense they have been consuming in the effort.  The clock is running out fast and the pressure is building internally. As a target of their investigation, and as a recipient of one of these subpoenas’, I can assure readers of the ridiculousness of the people conducting the investigation fishing expedition.  It is nonsense.  All of it.

Take your pick of ultra-MAGA graphics, either one is appropriate…

Classic…

Modern…

May 13 2022

Producer Price Inflation Continues Surging at 11 Percent, Annualized Processed Food Increases Now 34.8 Percent


Posted originally on the conservative tree house on May 12, 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 April price data [Available Here] showing another 11.0% increase year-over-year in Final Demand products at the wholesale level.

Last month when looking at internal economic activity that showed a contraction in consumer purchases of goods, we said pay attention to the service side of the ledger now.  Knowing people have stopped buying ‘stuff’, if people are starting to run out of money, they will cut back in the service sector (dining out, etc).

While the PPI focuses on prices, the PPI data for April shows exactly that service side contraction now taking place.  Wholesale inflation in goods is determined heavily by higher costs for raw materials and processing.  However, the rate of inflation within the service sector is more connected to what consumers can afford.   Modified Table-A, look at the April difference between goods (1.3%) and services (0.0%):

[Ex. The lawn company might pay 50% more for oil and gasoline (goods side), but they may not be able to increase the rate they charge you by 50% to mow the grass (service side).]

The major current production inflation in both goods and services is directly connected to the cost of energy.  Energy prices are embedded in every sector of the economy.  For “goods” higher electricity, heating/cooling and petroleum costs (packaging, materials, transportation, etc) are unavoidable and passed on to consumers. For “services,” individuals and companies raise their prices to compensate for increases in their own costs.  It is a cumulative inflation snowball.

In April the Total PPI of 0.5% was influenced by downward price pressure from the service side.   The price of final demand (wholesale) goods increased 1.3%.  The price of final demand (wholesale) services was 0.0%.  [Note: Wholesale trade services dropped by 0.5%]

Normally I would clean up TABLE-A “intermediate demand goods both processed and unprocessed.” However, in this month the entire field of data tells a very compelling story.

Note that Intermediate Demand Processed foodstuff prices grew at 2.9% in April.  Annualized that is a 34.8% increase in price.  This is the scale of future price increases we are likely to see at the supermarket.   That 35% rate of inflation for center store products is exactly what CTH predicted for the third wave of price increases.

The Intermediate Demand Unprocessed foodstuffs, increased in price by 2.5% in April, those foodstuffs are entering the wholesale market at a 30.0% annualized rate of inflation vs last year.

As an analogy, think of the difference between processed foodstuffs (center store and dairy) and unprocessed foodstuffs (fresh produce, meats) as you would normally think about them in the supermarket.   As you can see the processed product rate of inflation (34.8%) is higher than the non-processed (30.0%).  The difference is the additional costs associated with processing as a major result of energy prices.

What the producer price index at the wholesale level is telling us, is that inflation on consumable goods is still not yet at the apex.   For durable goods the prices are less volatile, but price pressures are still in the upward direction. The price of gasoline and transportation overall will be a big factor in current prices of highly consumable goods.   We cannot and will not start to climb out of the inflation spiral on goods until we see oil, gas and energy prices stabilize first.

On the service side, inflation is going to be determined by how long businesses and operators can continue operations without raising prices.  How long can a restaurant pay 30-to-35% more for their supplies, before those price increases need to show up on the menu?

Joe Biden sucks.

(WASHINGTON) – […] The producer price data captures inflation at an earlier stage of production and can sometimes signal where consumer prices are headed. It also feeds into the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures price index.

Thursday’s figures came just a day after the government released consumer price data for April, which showed that inflation leapt 8.3% last month from a year ago. That increase is down slightly from the four-decade high in March of 8.5%. On a monthly basis, inflation rose 0.3% in April from March, the smallest increase in eight months.

Still, there were plenty of signs in the consumer price report that inflation will remain stubbornly high, likely for the rest of this year and into 2023. Rents rose faster as many apartment buildings have lifted monthly payments for new tenants. Prices for airline tickets jumped by the most on records dating to 1963. And food prices continued to rise sharply.

The Federal Reserve has stepped up its fight against rampant price increases, lifting its benchmark short-term interest rate by a half-point last week to a range of 0.75% and 1%. That increase is double its usual quarter-point hike. (read more)