Power prices did not climb 61%: The consumer price index for electricity was up 6.1% year over year, and the average price of electricity was up 7.2% year over year

The Bloomberg headline linked to by Drudge meant that the rate of inflation for the consumer price electricity index at 6.1% year over year was 61% higher than the overall consumer price index rate of inflation of 3.8% year over year.

 

A different measure, the average price of electricity, climbed 7.2% year over year to a new high of 19.4 cents per kilowatt-hour.

 

It will be of little comfort to many to note that it could be worse.

 

While the price of a barrel of oil has far outrun inflation over the long haul, electricity has not. At 4.6 cents in November 1978, its inflation adjusted price today would be 22.73 cents.

 

  

 

Yes 6.1% is a rate 60.5% higher than 3.8%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many things have an explanation, if you think about them long enough.

Liberal democracy must solve the problems of Gen Z globally, which works a lot but stays poor, or it will perish

 Crushed by soaring rents and living costs and staring down a future where robots and AI threaten their jobs, Gen Z is unleashing a wave of protests that is rattling governments worldwide. ...

More. 

There's a lot of BS and fear-mongering being circulated about the preliminary total nonfarm payrolls benchmark revision of -911,000 from two days ago

It all betrays an inability to think. 

Bloomberg here said:

... The number of workers on payrolls will likely be revised down by a record 911,000, or 0.6%, according to the government’s preliminary benchmark revision out Tuesday. The final figures are due early next year. ...

No, it's not at all likely.

It's a preliminary number for crying out loud, the size of which reflects more on the increasing difficulty BLS is having gathering the monthly data in more or less real time than it does on the data itself. 

Bloomberg then followed that up with a scary chart of previous preliminary benchmark revision estimates, as if those represented reality, too. And then people who should know better repeated the scary chart.

This story went particularly hysterical about it: The BLS Hallucinated a Million Jobs. The Fed Can't Fix This. 

But we've known since February what the BLS really thinks the final numbers are, in thousands, and all these irresponsible sources just leave that out, because . . . clicks:

2024: -598, not -818

2023: -187, not -306

2022: +506, not +462

2021: -7, not -166

2020: -121, not -173

2019: -489, not -501

2018:  -16, not +43

2017: +135, not +95

2016: -81, not -150

2015:  -172, not -208.

 

But what does it all mean, Bertie? 

 

Over ten years BLS is saying it overestimated in its regular monthly total nonfarm payrolls reports by a net 1.03 million jobs, not by 1.722 million as in the preliminary benchmark revision reports.

 

The reality's not even 9,000 jobs a month too many, in a payroll universe where nearly 160 million people are working, but I'm supposed to be scared because they thought it might have been more like an overestimate of 14,000 a month?

 

C'mon, man. 

 

They're doing a damn good job at BLS, and it's time more people said "thank you" for a change.

 

If you want to politicize the February benchmark data, they show Biden's record over four years had a net 286,000 fewer jobs in reality, but Trump I had 491,000 fewer.

 

But you won't hear that from this flock of idiots. 

 

  

 

 

 

OMG the dumbest line in this story: people who buy trucks often use them to haul things

 Well no shit, Sherlock.

The Electric Pickup Truck Boom Turned Into a Big Bust

... many electric versions just aren’t up for the task. ... 

Pickup sales, first half of 2025:

EVs 35,000

Internal Combustion: 1,600,000 

Iran's last gasp, ship signals in the Strait of Hormuz jammed from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas

Bloomberg reports: 

Ship Signal Jamming in Persian Gulf Worsens as Conflict Widens

 Navigation signals from more than 900 vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf went awry over the weekend, creating confusion in the shipping chokepoint as the fighting between Iran and Israel intensified. ... The Joint Maritime Information Center, an international naval task force monitoring the area, warned on Sunday that there are instances of “extreme jamming” of signals from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. ...

 

 Update:

Two oil tankers collide, catch fire near Strait of Hormuz...

 

Two oil tankers collided and caught fire on Tuesday near the Strait of Hormuz, where electronic interference has surged during conflict between Iran and Israel, but there were no injuries to crew or spillage reported.

With Iran and Israel firing missiles at each other since Friday, interference has disrupted navigation systems near the vital sea route between Iran and Oman which handles about a fifth of the world's oil. ...

 

Pizza chains struggle because low income consumers can no longer afford prices up 30% since 2019

 Bloomberg reports here.

 

 

The US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent is under fire for market manipulation because he made closed-door comments yesterday morning to big shots gathered for IMF and World Bank meetings

 Bloomberg published the story just before noon on Tuesday reporting the closed-door meeting where Bessent said he expected the tariff stand-off with China to de-escalate, and that the current situation, which amounts to a trade embargo, is unsustainable and will de-escalate in the very near future.

Markets opened Tuesday morning strongly higher and by 11:00 AM were up 110 points on the $SPX. 

The Secretary of the Treasury shouldn't be having closed door meetings with the very people most likely to profit from what he has to say.

This is quite literally fascist economics.

Bloomberg is reporting Kamala Harris has the nomination clinched

 Kamala Harris has more than enough pledged delegates to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, following an extraordinary two-day blitz that saw the vice president consolidate her party’s backing to challenge Donald Trump in November.

Harris sealed her status as the presumptive nominee Monday night after crossing the magic number of 1,976 pledged delegates, according to an unofficial Associated Press tally. While delegates who indicated their support are not required to back her nomination, the achievement — and lack of credible opposition — underscores the vice president’s hold on the Democratic ticket.

More.

But look at those big stretches of light blue in places like New York, Michigan, and Illinois, among others. The resistance to Kamala Harris is real, even in California.

 

Good Lord man, that "wave" is just 291,400 people, 0.086% of the entire population

 Record Wave Leave Big Cities for Small Ones...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They expect to be paid for this news.

Dubai seeds clouds on the weekend, gets floods by Tuesday, but no, it was climate change

Dubai Grinds to Standstill as Cloud Seeding Worsens Flooding

 

The Gulf state’s National Center of Meteorology dispatched seeding planes from Al Ain airport on Monday and Tuesday to take advantage of convective cloud formations, according to Ahmed Habib, a specialist meteorologist. The NCM on Wednesday said the seeding had taken place on Sunday and Monday, and not on Tuesday. ... The latest storms followed heavy rains earlier this year, according to Habib at NCM. The seeding planes have flown seven missions, he added. “For any cloud that’s suitable over the UAE you make the operation,” he said.

Fearful of UAE speech laws, craven AP Obama never mentions that government cloud-seeding operations turbocharged Dubai rains leading to historic flooding and deaths

AP Obama can always be counted on to lie by omission.

 Storm dumps heaviest rain ever recorded in desert nation of UAE, flooding roads and Dubai’s airport

One couple, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to speak freely in a country with strict laws that criminalize critical speech, called the situation at the airport “absolute carnage.” 

But Bloomberg makes it the lede.

Dubai Grinds to Standstill as Cloud Seeding Worsens Flooding

Paragraph two:

The heavy rains that caused widespread flooding across the desert nation came after cloud seeding. The UAE has been carrying out seeding operations since 2002 to address water security issues, even though the lack of drainage in many areas can trigger flooding.

Bug spray and vanilla extract flying off the shelves in South America amid dengue fever outbreak expected to top record 4.5 million cases from 2023

Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina are the hardest hit, with more than 3.5 million cases, 83% of which are concentrated in Brazil, according to the Pan American Health Organization.

More.

Record 549 cases of dengue fever in Puerto Rico

 Story here.

There have been nearly 25,000 cases so far this year in Peru, double the 2023 year to date figure.

Fascist Joe Biden makes $20 billion in grants and loans to Intel in Arizona under the $114 billion Chips Act, which is all borrowed money, to buy votes

Democrats are more than willing to hand Joe Biden slush money to buy votes, but $25 billion for a wall? No way. 

Bloomberg doesn't even hide it:

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden said his $20 billion award to Intel Corp. demonstrated his investments in US industries that had withered under Donald Trump’s tenure, touting a flurry of government spending he hopes will help him defeat his Republican rival in a general-election rematch. ...

Biden trails Trump in several crucial states, including Arizona, as voters remain skeptical of the president’s handling of the economy. Biden is responding by using his bully pulpit, as well as federal dollars, in states to show the public the results of his plans. The president said Wednesday’s announcement would support 10,000 manufacturing jobs, including 3,000 in Phoenix. ...

Intel is the first company to land a preliminary funding deal from the Chips Act for advanced manufacturing facilities. The law provided $39 billion in grants, plus loans and guarantees worth $75 billion to persuade companies to build factories on US soil and reverse a decades-long shift of semiconductor production to Asia.

Shithole Chicago commie mayor Brandon Johnson drives out the wealthy and property prices down

 From Bloomberg here:

The historic Gold Coast, featuring 100-year-old mansions, opulent condos and designer boutiques, has lost some of its most illustrious residents and appeal in recent years as the city’s high taxes and crime encouraged the wealthy to relocate. Those staying in Chicago are opting for more modern homes in trendier areas, leaving Gold Coast properties sitting on the market for months.

Now a plan to boost taxes on the sale of homes of $1 million or more could further depress deals in the neighborhood, whose residents include the billionaire Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. Known as the “mansion tax,” the measure will be on the ballot during the Illinois primary on Tuesday. ...

It’s unclear what impact the tax will have on property prices and whether it will generate the revenue that the mayor’s office expects. Los Angeles passed a similar measure increasing transfer taxes for properties over $5 million in 2022, but the measure only generated $142 million, a tiny fraction of the over $900 million it was expected to bring in. ...

The Gold Coast currently has 113 homes on the market at $1 million or more, according to Zillow. Only Streeterville, directly south of the Gold Coast and along the famous Michigan Avenue shopping strip, has more.

In the broader area of the Near North Side, which includes the Gold Coast and Streeterville, homes over $1 million have spent an average 123 days on the market, almost double the average in the rest of the city, according to Chicago Association of Realtors data collected from 2021 to 2023.

Biden surrendered Afghanistan to the terrorists of the Taliban, backs two wars in Israel and Ukraine which risk world war with Russia and maybe China, but Americans think Trump is dangerous

 Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll of nearly 5,000 (all online smh):

Biden Is Too Old But Trump Is Dangerous, Swing-State Poll Shows :

Less than half of respondents said his almost-certain rival, 77-year-old Donald Trump, was too old. Still, Trump faces his own vulnerabilities with swing-state voters, with a majority saying the former president is dangerous. ...

Almost six in 10 swing-state voters labeled Trump as dangerous — a concern far more pronounced among undecided voters, who make up less than one-tenth of the swing-state electorate. Even 28% of those who plan to vote for him in November agree that Trump is dangerous. Fewer than half as many Biden supporters said the same about their candidate.

Swing-state voters who volunteered that they had heard something about his recent comments degrading NATO were especially lopsided in thinking Trump was the more dangerous of the two candidates.

 

Bloomberg: Covid vaccine study of 99 million vaccinated people in 8 countries proves there were vaccine injuries

 I use ... and [  ] to weed out and address some of the propaganda still displayed in this slanted and quite abbreviated story, here, which still tries to minimize the danger inherent in these vaccines:

 Vaccines ... against ... a coronavirus infection were linked to small increases in neurological, blood, and heart-related conditions in the largest global vaccine safety study to date.

The rare events — identified early in the pandemic [but systematically minimized, questioned, vilified, and censored] — included a higher risk of heart-related inflammation from mRNA shots made by Pfizer Inc., BioNTech SE, and Moderna Inc., and an increased risk of a type of blood clot in the brain after immunization with viral-vector vaccines such as the one developed by the University of Oxford and made by AstraZeneca Plc. ...

The new research, by the Global Vaccine Data Network, was published in the journal Vaccine last week, with the data made available via interactive dashboards to show methodology and specific findings. ...

Myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, was consistently identified following a first, second and third dose of mRNA vaccines, the study found. The highest increase in the observed-to-expected ratio was seen after a second jab with the Moderna shot. A first and fourth dose of the same vaccine was also tied to an increase in pericarditis, or inflammation of the thin sac covering the heart. 

The study vindicates the many European countries which stopped recommending the shots for young men under the age of 40, but the story doesn't mention this.

The story laughably claims 1 million lives in Europe alone were saved compared with 13.5 billion doses administered worldwide, which is an improper comparison on its face. 

Over 3 million people in Michigan alone never got one single jab and OMG they are still alive.